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we are informed, Gen. xxxii, 24, "Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day: and he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh: and he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me: and he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and men, and hast prevailed; and Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name? And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him, and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, that is, the face of God: for I have seen God (said he) face to face, and my life is preserved." Hosea manifestly alludes to this, chap. xii, 3, of his prophecy: "He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us: even Jehovah God of hosts, Jehovah is his memorial."

20. I shall only mention two more appearances of this person. "When Joshua was by Jericho, he lift up his eyes, and behold, there stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay: but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What said my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so," Josh. v, 13. The other passage is Judges vi, 11: "And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak that was in Ophrah, and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, O! my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why then has this befallen us? And Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites have not I sent thee? And he said, O! my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."

21. Now as in these and many more appearances of God, the same person is both styled Jehovah and an angel of Jehovah, (or as m is, with equal propriety, rendered the angel, messenger, or envoy Jehovah,) surely it was not the Father, in his own proper person, not only be cause, as the apostles testify, "No man hath seen him, or can see him," but because, if ever he had appeared, surely it would not have been in the character of a messenger or envoy. For by whom should he be sent? Whose messenger or envoy should he be? And there is no trace, in any part of the Bible, of his ever sustaining any such character as that of angel, messenger, or envoy. But the Son, the Word of

the Father, as he may properly be sent by his Father on errands worthy of redeeming power and love, so it is certain he has often sustained this character. Malachi calls him the "angel [or messenger] of the covenant;" and yet, to prevent our thinking him a created angel, styles him, in the same place, "The Lord that should come to his temple," Mal. iii, 1. Isaiah terms him the angel of the Divine presence. "The angel of his presence saved them," chapter lxiii, 9. And doubtless of him is to be understood, "I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way,

and to bring thee unto the place which I have prepared: beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name [that is my nature] is in him," Exod. xxiii, 20, &c. And what is still more remarkable, Jacob terms him "the angel that had redeemed him from all evil;" and yet to show that he did not mean any created angel, he prays him to "bless the lads," and styles him "the God before whom Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God that had fed him all his life long unto that day," Gen. xlviii, 15, 16.

CHAPTER VII.

That the inspired writers give him those names and titles, and ascribe to him those perfections which the true God claims as peculiarly his own, and whereby he is distinguished from all other beings in the world.

1. Ir can hardly have escaped the observation of the attentive and learned reader, that in almost all the passages quoted from the Old Testament in the last chapter, and shown to be applied by the New Testament writers to Christ-the true God, the God of Israel, is spoken of under the name of Jehovah. According to the apostles and evangelists, therefore, the Lord Jesus is repeatedly termed, and is, Jehovah; a name which Jeremiah foretold should be given him, as we learn from the twenty-third chapter of his prophecy, "This is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness."

2. Indeed the appellation Lord, xupios, so continually given to Christ in the New Testament, is the word whereby the name Jehovah is constantly translated in the old. Bishop Pearson reasons very conclusively upon this subject: "It is most certain that Christ is called Lord, xupios, in another notion than that which signifies any kind of human dominion, because, as so, there are many lords; but he is in that notion Lord, which admits of no more than one. They are only masters according to the flesh.' He the Lord of glory, the Lord from heaven, King of kings, and Lord of all other lords.'

3. "Nor is it difficult to find that name [xupios, Lord,] among the books of the law, in the most high and full signification; for it is most frequently used in the name of the supreme God, sometimes for El or Elohim, sometimes for Shaddai, or the Rock,—and often for Adonai,— and most universally for Jehovah, the undoubted proper name of God, and that to which the Greek translators, long before our Saviour's birth, had most appropriated the name of Lord, xupios, not only by way of explication, but distinction and particular expression. As when we read, 'Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high in all the earth,' and when God says, 'I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them.' In both these places for the name Jehovah, the Greek translation, which the apostles followed, hath no other name but upios, Lord, and therefore undoubtedly by that word did they understand the proper name of God, Jehovah; and had they placed it there as the exposition of any other name of God, they had made an interpretation contrary to the manifest intention of the Spirit: for it cannot be denied

but God was known to Abraham by the true import of the title Adonai as much as by the name of Shaddai; as much by his dominion and sovereignty, as by his power and all sufficiency: but by an experimental and personal sense of fulfilling his promises, his name Jehovah was not known unto him: for though God spoke expressly unto Abraham, All the land thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever;' yet the history teacheth us, and Stephen confirmeth us, 'that he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on, though he promised that he would give it to him for a possession.' Wherefore, when God saith that he was not known to Abraham by his name Jeho. vah, the interpretation of no other name can make good that expression. And, therefore, we have reason to believe the word which the first Greek translators, and, after them, the apostles used, [xupios, Lord,] may be appropriated to that notion which the original requires, [viz. the word Jehovah,] as indeed it may, being derived from a verb of the same sig. nification with the Hebrew root,* and so denoting the essence or existence of God, and whatsoever else may be deduced from thence, as revealed by him to be signified thereby.

4. "Seeing, then, this title Lord signifieth the proper name of God, Jehovah; seeing the same is certainly attributed unto Christ, in a notion far surpassing all other lords, who are rather to be looked upon as servants unto him, it will be worth our inquiry next, whether, as it is the translation of the name Jehovah, it belongs to Christ; or whether, though he be Lord of all lords, as subjected under his authority, yet he be so inferior unto him, whose name alone is Jehovah, as that in that propriety and eminency in which it belongs unto the supreme God, it may not be attributed unto Christ.

5. "This doubt will easily be satisfied, if we can show the name of Jehovah itself to be given to our Saviour; it being against all reason to acknowledge the original name, and deny the interpretation in the sense and full importance of that original. Wherefore, if Christ be the Jehovah, as so called by the Spirit of God, then is he so the Lord in the same propriety and eminency in which Jehovah is. Now whatsoever did belong to the Messias, that may and must be attributed unto Jesus, as being the true and only Christ. But the Jews themselves acknowledge that Jehovah shall be known clearly in the days of the Messiah, and not only so, but that it is the name which properly belongs to him.† And if they cannot but confess so much who only read the prophecies as the Eunuch did without an interpreter,-how can we be ignorant of so plain and necessary a truth, whose eyes have seen the full comple. tion, and read the infallible interpretation of them? If they could see 'Jehovah the Lord of hosts' to be the name of the Messiah, who was to them for a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,'-how can we possibly be ignorant of it, who are taught by St. Paul, that in Christ this

"It is acknowledged by all that is from a or ma, and God's own interpretation proves no less, we aas, Exod. iii, 14. And though some con. tend, that futurition is essential to the name, yet all agree the root signifieth nothing but essence or existence, that is το είναι οι υπάρχειν. Now as from , in the Hebrew, so in the Greek, ano TU KUρEIV, Kupios: and what the proper signification of Kupcv is, no man can teach us better than Hesychius, in whom we read κυρεί, υπάρχει, τυγχάνει. Hence was κυροι by the Attics used for εςω, sit." " + As Misdrach, Tillim, on Psalm xxi, and Echa Rabati, Lam. i, 6.

prophecy was fulfilled, 'As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.'

6. "It was no other than Jehovah who spake these words, I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, [or as the Chaldee paraphrase has it, NDD by the word of Jehovah and will not save them by bow nor sword.' Where not only he who is described as the original and principal cause, that is, the Father who gave his Son, but also he who is the immediate, efficient cause of our salvation, and that in opposition to all other means and instrumental causes, is called Jehovah, who can be no other than our Jesus, because there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.' As in another place, Zech. x, 12, he speaketh, 'I will strengthen them in the Lord [Jehovah] and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord, [Jehovah,'] where he that strengtheneth is one, and he by whom he strengtheneth is another, clearly distinguished from him by the personal pronoun, and yet each of them is Jehovah, and Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.' Whatsoever objections may be framed against us, we know Christ is the righteous branch raised unto David: the King that shall reign and prosper, in whose days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:' we are assured that this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness;' Jehovah, the expression of his supremacy, and our righteousness, can be no diminution to his Majesty. If those words in the prophet, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and dwell in the midst of thee,' saith Jehovah, did not sufficiently of themselves denote our Saviour who dwelt among us, (as they certainly do,) yet the words which follow would evince as much: And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day: and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee,' Zech. ii, 10, 11. For what other Lord can we conceive dwelling in the midst of us, and sent unto us by the Lord of hosts, but Christ ?"* (Pearson on the Creed, pp. 145-148.)

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7. Now the name Jehovah is so sacred, that the Supreme Being claims it as peculiarly his own: as for instance,- -"I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me," Isaiah xlv, 5. And, "I am Jehovah, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images," xlii, 8. It follows, therefore, that Christ is the Supreme Being, or that God is so united with man in his person, that the names of the Supreme Being, even the incommunicable name Jehovah, may be properly given to him.

8. As to the name of God: it is not denied that this is frequently given him in Scripture, but it is contended that it is improperly given, and only meant to be taken in a subordinate and metaphorical sense: in other words, that he is only God by office, and not God by nature.

And much

As a farther and demonstrative proof of Christ being called Jehovah, compare Psalm xcvii, 1, 3, 7, with Heb. i, 6; Psalm cii, 1, 12, 18, 19, 25, with Heb. i, 10; Psalm lxviii, 17, 18, with Eph. iv, 8; Isaiah xlv, 23, 24, 25, with Rom. xiv, 11; and especially Isaiah vi, 1, 3, 5, with John xii, 41; Isaiah xl, 3–5, and Mal. iii, 1, with Matt. iii. 3; and Zech. xi, 13, and xii, 10, with Matt. xxvii, 9, 10, and John xix, 34, 37.

VOL. III.

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stress has been laid upon the Greek article in this controversy: and because in John i, 1, the original is eos and not o deos, it has been urged that it ought to be rendered," the Word was a God," viz. a subordinate, inferior God, a God by office, a magistrate. But (as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, and as has been intimated above) "it is impossible Christ should be here called God, merely as a governor, because he is spoken of as existing before the production of any creatures whom he could govern. And there are so many instances in the writings of this apostle, and even in this chapter, see verse 6, 12, 13, 18, where dog without the article is used to signify God in the highest sense of the word, that it is something surprising such a stress should be laid on the want of an article, as a proof that it is used only in a subordinate sense." Add to this, in Matt. i, 23, the article is found o μs' nuwv o sos, " God with us;" as also, John xx, 20, o xugios μs, o ɛos μs," My Lord, and my God,” or rather, "The Lord of me, the God of me."

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9. The pious and judicious author last mentioned, justly remarks on these last words, "The irrefragable argument arising from these words of Thomas, in proof of the Deity of our blessed Lord, cannot be evaded by saying that they are only an exclamation of surprise, as if Thomas had said, "Good God, is it indeed thus ?" For it is expressly declared, he spoke these words to him. And no doubt Christ would severely have reproved him, if there had not been just reason to address him thus." This is set in a clear light by Dr. Abbadie, from whom the following paragraph is extracted:"It is a surprising thing (if Christ were but mere man) that he should permit Thomas to say to him,-" My Lord, and my God," without saying a word to him about the impiety and blasphemy of treating the creature as if he were the Creator. Thomas before was an unbeliever: now he is an idolater. Till that instant he would not believe that Jesus was risen,-he considered him as a man lying under the power of death; but now, on a sudden, he addresses him as God,-he bows and adores. Of the two extremes, the latter is most commendable; for unbelief is not so criminal as idolatry: that dishonouring Jesus Christ, this usurping the throne of God. Better for Thomas, therefore, to have perished in his unbelief, than by renouncing it to fall into idolatry. And yet,--strange indeed! strange to astonishment! who can account for it?-Jesus upbraids him only with the former, not at all with the latter.* Beside, as our Lord could not but know what an impression these words of his amazed and adoring apostle would make on the minds of men; as he knew that the Jews, deceived by expressions less exceptionable than these, had accused him of blasphemy: and as he knew that these very expressions would give occasion to Christians, in succeeding ages, to treat him as the true God; it is evident that he ought, for the good of mankind, to have strictly prohibited all expressions which tended to make such a dangerous impression and yet he not only permits his disciples to speak after this manner, but directs them to record the expressions for the perusal of all future generations; and that without giving the least hint that the terms

Nay, the Lord Jesus is so far from upbraiding Thomas with idolatry on account of this expression, that he even commends him for it: for "Jesus said to him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed."

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