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Interpretations in consistency with the Divine Unity.

stance attending their birth, distinction, &c. And the present prophetic appellation implies no more, than that, under the person to whom it was applied, Jehovah would confer abundant blessings on mankind."

The following examples will shew, what little weight should be given to the argument from names. Elihu signifies my God himself; Elishaphat, God that judges; Elishama, God that hears; Badjah, the only Jehovah; Tobiah, good Jehovah ; Adonijah, the Lord Jehovah; Eliah, God Jehovah.

(6) Since Jehovah is THE GOD of him whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, it is clear that this person could not himself be truly God. The import is explained by Rev. xiii. 8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.' The coming and death of Christ were fixed in the divine counsels from all eternity.

(7) In this passage the Messenger of the Covenant is called LORD; and from the mode of printing, many have supposed that the appellation JEHOVAH is here applied to him. The error is a great and important one, and exists in many excellent editions of the Bible.

(8) Agreeably to the Hebrew mode of giving names, this appellation signifies, God is with us; and God was indeed with us by Christ. He was with us in his wonderful works; and He was with us in those gracious doctrines which, by our Saviour, He fully revealed to mankind.

(9) Baptizing into, or into the name of, any one, means baptizing into the belief of him. The words simply mean, Baptizing them into the profession of faith in that religion, which had God, even the Father, as its Author, which was revealed by Jesus Christ, and which was confirmed by the miraculous agency or power of God. The Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God, in the Scriptures, denotes, either God himself, or, most commonly, the influence or agency of God, in whatever way employed, and particularly his miraculous agency.

(10) Jesus Christ, (as the word of God, appointed by him to be the special Revealer of his mind and will, favoured at the beginning of the Gospel dispensation, with peculiar and

In support of Trinitariauism. the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.-Ver. 10. He was in the world; and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not.

This passage is supposed to teach, that Christ Jesus was the original Creator of all things, and that he was truly and properly God. Having previously imbibed this opinion, many have been led by a little similarity of expression, to suppose the same implied by the words of the Psalmist, Ps. xxxiii. 6: By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. The perusal of the passages in the next column may serve to remove this unfounded supposition. The word of Jehovah in this text, clearly means, the command of Jehovah so in the 9th verse, He (Jehovah) spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Two or three other passages are supposed strongly to countenance this doctrine; one, Col. i. 16, 17, will be noticed in its place. In Eph. iii. 9, God who created all things by Jesus Christ: the words by Jesus Christ are omitted in Griesbach's Greek Testament, as not written by the Apostle; and if they had

Disproving the common Interpretation. Jehovah !-Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King.

-He hath made the earth by his power; he hath established the world by his wisdom; and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.

Ps. xcv. 5. The sea is his (Jehovah's) and he made it; and HIS HANDS formed the dry land.

Isa. xlv. 18. For thus saith Jehovah, that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it-1 am Jehovah, and there is none else.

Jer. xxvii. 4, 5. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, BY MY GREAT POWER, AND BY MY OUTSTRETCHED ARM.

Neh. ix. 6. Thou, even thou, art Jehovah alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein.

Acts iv. 24. Lord, (Sove reign Lord,) Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.

Rev. iv. 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.

Various other passages di

Interpretations in consistency with the Divine Unity.

express communication with God, and receiving from him the spirit without measure,) is here called a God, agreeably to Hebrew modes of expression, because to him, in so extraordinary a degree, the word of God came. On this same principle our Lord explains the application of the term in the Old Testament: (see John x. 34, 35 :) it is there repeatedly given to judges, magistrates, and prophets; and it is in particular given to Moses, Exod. vii. 1, Behold I have appointed thee a God unto Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be thy prophet.'

The passages in the second column demonstrate that Jehovah, God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the sole Creator of the universe; and that He exercised his creating power without any subordinate agency. If those passages are true, in their plain and unambiguous sense, Jesus Christ could not be the Creator of the natural world.

In the great change effected by the Gospel in the spiritual condition of mankind, (of which the Apostle Paul repeatedly speaks as a new creation,) Jesus Christ was the great appointed agent. Through him, God executed all his gracious purposes to mankind: through him, the world was placed in a new and blessed state; and mankind created anew to righteousness and true holiness.

Following this mode of interpretation, we may consistently employ the language of the common translation: but the meaning of the Apostle may, probably, be more correctly represented as follows:

At the beginning' of this grand æra in the moral world, he was' declared to be the Word; and the Word was with God,' favoured by Him with peculiar divine intercourse and communications, (referring to the period of our Lord's retirement in the Desert ;) and the Word was a God,' since to him the word of God came, and he was the Representative of the Most High. All things' relative to the Gospel dispensation were done through him;' he was the appointed agent in all.— Ver. 10. 'He was in the world, and the world' of mankind were formed anew' (or brought into an enlightened state) by him, and yet the world knew him not.'

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If Jesus Christ had been the agent in the Natural Creation, he could only have been the subordinate agent; it must still have been effected by the power of Jehovah. There have been some, in other respects Unitarians, (believing in the Absolute Unity, Unrivalled Supremacy, Exclusive Worship, and Essential, Unpurchased Mercy of God, even the Father,) who

In support of Trinitarianism. been, the passage clearly refers to the new creation. In Heb. i. 2, By whom also he made the worlds, should be rendered, Through whom also he constituted the age, i. e. the age of the Messiah, called in the original, by way of eminence, the ages.

(11) John v. 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

(12) John v. 22, 23. The Father-hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father: he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who sent him.

From this passage it has been often inferred that Jesus Christ, who derived all his powers and authority from God, even the Father, is the proper object of religious worship equally with the Father. This inference is supposed to be supported by several passages in the Gospels, which (as commonly translated) represent the disciples

Disproving the common Interpretation. rectly attributing the creation of the natural world, and all things therein, to the immediate power of Jehovah,

(11) John v. 30. I can of MINE OWN SELF do nothing. Ch. iv. 34. My meat is to do the will of HIM THAT SENT ME, and to finish HIS WORK. Ch. xiv. 28. MY FATHER IS GREATER THAN I.

(12) Matt. iv. 10. It is written, (says our Lord himself, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve; or, giving the original its real force, to him only shalt thou pay religious service.

Exod. xxxiv. 14. Thou shalt worship No OTHER GOD, saith Jehovah himself.

Mark xii. 29. Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, &c.

John iv. 23. The hour

of Christ and others as wor-cometh, and now is, when the

shipping him; and by some passages in the Acts and Epistles, which represent the Christians as calling upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke xxiv. 52, 53. And

true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Matt. vi. 6. 9. When thou prayest-pray to thy FATHER who is in secret.-After this

Interpretations in consistency with the Divine Unity.

supposed that Christ was the Instrument of Divine Power in creating the universe; but the supposition is directly opposed by numerous plain express declarations of the Scriptures.

(11) If the Jews really meant what is expressed in the common translation, we must not found our faith on their malicious charges, which the words of Christ in the second column shew to be utterly groundless. Probably by the expression, making himself equal with God, they meant, making himself like God, or, putting himself on a footing with him.

(12) The word translated even as, in John v. 23, is the same as in Luke vi. 36. The Father hath committed such powers and prerogatives to the Son, that all may honour the Son with reverence and obedience, as they honour the Father with reverence and obedience: The whole connexion shews that the word honour has here no relation to religious worship.

The honour which Christ requires, is that of reverential obedience, which is due to him as acting under the express authority of God. This honour is shewn him, when, according to his precepts and example, and in his name, we worship the Father in spirit and truth, and confine our religious worship to him alone.

The disciples and others, in the days of our Lord's ministry, did him homage or reverence, as the Messiah, commissioned by the Most High. This the common translation represents as worshipping him. The original word applies to any kind of reverence or homage: Thus we find that the congregation worshipped Jehovah and the king, 1 Chron. xxix. 20. See also Matt, xviii. 26; Luke xiv. 10; Rev. iii. 9. Archbishop Newcome translates the expressions in question, did him obeisance.

In the apostolic age, the Christians called on, or appealed to, the name of Christ, by appealing to his authority, by teaching in his name, by working miracles in his name, by baptizing in his name, by praying in his name, by doing every thing in his name, or under his authority. Or the original may mean, are called by the name of Christ, or, call upon

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