not wanting. See Acts iv. 10, 11. and x. 16. 2. Thess. ii. 8, 9. 2 John 7. Compare also John xvii. 3. with which passage the verse in question seems to correspond exactly in sense, the position of the words alone being changed. But it will be objected, that according to some of the texts quoted before, Christ is God; now if the Father be the only true God, Christ is not the true God; but if he be not the true God, he must be a false God. I answer, that the conclusion is too hastily drawn; for it may be that he is not he that is true, either because he is the only image of him that is true, or because he uniformly declares himself to be inferior to him that is true. We are not obliged to say of Christ what the Scriptures do not say. The Scriptures call him God, but not him that is the true God; why are we not at liberty to acquiesce in the same distinction? At all events he is not to be called a false God, to whom, as to his beloved Son, he that is the true God has communicated his divine power and glory.

They also adduce Philipp. ii. 6. "who being in the form of God"-But this no more proves him to be God than the phrase which follows-" took upon him the form of a servant"-proves that he was really a servant, as the sacred writers nowhere use the word form for actual being. But if it be contended that the form of God is here taken in a philosophical sense for the essential form,' this consequence cannot be avoided; that when Christ laid aside the form, he laid aside also the substance and the efficiency of God; a doctrine against which they protest, and with justice. To be in the form of God, therefore, seems to be synonymous with being in the image of God; which is often predicated of Christ, even as man is also said, though in a much lower sense, to be the image of God, and to be in the image of God, that is, by creation. More will be added respecting this passage hereafter.'

The last passage that is quoted is from the epistle of Jude, v. 4. "denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Who will not agree that this is too verbose a mode of descrip

videre est.' Glassii Philologia Sacra, edit. Dathe, I. p. 156. The remainder of the paragraph shews, in an able examination of the passage, that the pronoun is here used in the regular manner, and refers to the immediate antecedent.

See Sherlock's four admirable discourses on this text, vol. iv. 9 So Diodati in loc. 1 See page 145.

tion, if all these words are intended to apply to one person? or who would not rather conclude, on a comparison of many other passages which tend to confirm the same opinion, that they were spoken of two persons, namely, the Father the only God, and our Lord Jesus Christ? Those, however, who are accustomed to discover some extraordinary force in the use of the article, contend that both names must refer to the same person, because the article is prefixed in the Greek to the first of them only, which is done to avoid weakening the structure of the sentence. If the force of the articles is so great, I do not see how other languages can dispense with them.

The passages quoted in the New Testament from the Old will have still less weight than the above, if produced to prove anything more than what the writer who quoted them intended. Of this class are, Psal. lxviii. 17-19. "the chariots of God are twenty thousand, &c. .... the Lord is among them, &c. thou hast ascended on high.... thou hast received gifts for men. Here (to say nothing of several ellipses, which the interpreters are bold enough to fill up in various ways, as they think proper) mention is made of two persons, God and the Lord, which is in contradiction to the opinions of those who attempt to elicit a testimony to the supreme divinity of Christ, by comparing this passage with Eph. iv. 5-8. Such a doctrine was never intended by the apostle, who argues very differently in the ninth verse- now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?"-from which he only meant to show that the Lord Christ, who had lately died, and was now received into heaven, gave gifts unto men which he had received from the Father.

It is singular, however, that those who maintain the Father and the Son to be one in essence, should revert from the gospel to the times of the law, as if they would make a fruitless attempt to illustrate light by darkness. They say that the Son is not only called God, but also Jehovah, as appears from a comparison of several passages in both testaments. Now Jehovah is the one supreme God; therefore the Son and the Father are one in essence. It will be easy, however, to expose the weakness of an argument derived from the ascription of the name of Jehovah to the Son. For

2 So Beza in loc.

God

the name of Jehovah is conceded even to the angels, in the same sense as it has been already shewn that the name of God is applied to them, namely, when they represent the divine presence and person, and utter the very words of Jehovah. Gen. xvi. 7. "the angel of Jehovah found her," compared with v. 10. "the angel of Jehovah said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly," and v. 13. "she called the name of Jehovah who spake unto her.” xviii. 13. “and Jehovah said," &c., whereas it appears that the three men whom Abraham entertained were angels. Gen. xix. 1. "there came two angels." v. 13. "and Jehovah hath sent us"-compared with v. 18, 21, 24. “Oh, not so," : and he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee.... then Jehovah rained from Jehovah out of heaven." Gen. xxi. 17. "the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, &c. ... hath heard".. compared with v. 18. "I will make him a great nation." So Exod. iii. 2, 4. 'the angel of Jehovah when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him"-compared with Acts vii. 30. "there appeared to him an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush." If that angel had been Christ or the supreme God, it is natural to suppose that Stephen would have declared it openly, especially on such an occasion, where it might have tended to strengthen the faith of the other believers, and strike his judges with alarm. In Exod. xx. on the delivery of the law to Moses, no mention is made of any one, except Jehovah, and yet Acts vii. 38. the same Stephen says, "this is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sina;" and v. 53. he declares that "the law was received by the disposition of angels." Gal. iii. 19. "it was ordained by angels." Heb. ii. 2. "if the word spoken by angels was steadfast," &c. Therefore what is said in Exodus to have been spoken by Jehovah, was not spoken by himself personally, but by angels in the name of Jehovah. Nor is this extraordinary, for it would seem unsuitable that Christ the minister of the gospel should also have been the minister of the law: "by how much more also he is the mediator of a better covenant,” Heb. viii. 6. On the other hand it would indeed have been wonderful if Christ had actually appeared as the mediator of the law, and none of the apostles had ever intimated it. Nay, the

contrary seems to be asserted Heb. i. 1. "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Again it is said, Num. xxii. 22. “God's anger was kindled.... and the angel of Jehovah stood in the way for an adversary unto him." v. 31. "then Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Jehovah." Afterwards the same angel speaks as if he were Jehovah himself, v. 32. “ behold I went out to withstand thee, because

thy way is perverse before me :” and Balaam says, v. 34, "if it displease thee-;" to which the angel answers— "only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak.' v. 35. compared with v. 20. and with chap. xxiii. 8. 20. Josh. v. 14. " as captain of the host of Jehovah am I come," compared with vi. 2. "Jehovah said unto Joshua." Judg. vi. 11. 12. “an angel of Jehovah.... the angel of Jehovah' -compared with v. 14. "Jehovah looked upon him, and said—.” Again, v. 20, 21. "the angel of God.... the angel of Jehovah;" and v. 22. "Gideon perceived that he was an angel of Jehovah," compared with v. 23. "Jehovah said unto him”—although the angel here, as in other instances, personated the character of Jehovah ::-v. 14. "have not I sent thee?" v. 16. "surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites:" and Gideon himself addresses him as Jehovah, v. 17. "show me a sign that thou talkest with me," 1 Chron. xxi. 15. "God sent an angel-" v. 16, 17. " and David saw the angel of Jehovah.... and fell upon his face, and said unto God—.” v. 18, 19. "then the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say unto David.... and David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of Jehovah."

But it may be urged, that the name of Jehovah is sometimes assigned to two persons in the same sentence.* Gen. xix. 24. "Jehovah rained.... from Jehovah out of heaven." 1 Sam. iii. 21. "Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Jehovah." Jer. xxxiv. 12. "the word of Je

3 With reference to the preceding subject, see the able argument of Randolph to prove that the angel, called Jehovah in the Old Testament, is not a creature; Vindication of the Doctrines of the Trinity, and View of our Saviour's Ministry, &c. Compare also Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith, chap. i; Schoettgen, Hora Hebraicæ, tom. ii.; De Messia, i. 1, and iii. 3.

4 On texts of the kind here quoted, see Whitaker's Origin of Arianism Disclosed, p. 143.

hovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying". Hos. i. 7. "I will save them by Jehovah their God." Zech. iii. 1-3. "standing before the angel.... and Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee"-and again, "before the angel." I answer, that in these passages either one of the two persons is an angel, according to that usage of the word which has been already explained; or it is to be considered as a peculiar form of speaking, in which, for the sake of emphasis, the name of Jehovah is repeated, though with reference to the same person; "for Jehovah the God of Israel is one Jehovah.' If in such texts as these both persons are to be understood properly and in their own nature as Jehovah, there is no longer one Jehovah, but two; whence it follows that the repetition of the name can only have been employed for the purpose of giving additional force to the sentence. A similar form of speech occurs Gen. ix. 16. "I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature ;" and 1 Cor. i. 7, 8. “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 1 Thess. iii. 12, 13. "the Lord make you to increase, &c. to the end he may stablish your hearts.... before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here whether it be God, even our Father, or our Lord Jesus, who is in the former verse called Lord, in either case there is the same redundance. If the Jews had understood the passages quoted above, and others of the same kind, as implying that there were two persons, both of whom were Jehovah, and both of whom had an equal right to the appellation, there can be no doubt that, seeing the doctrine so frequently enforced by the prophets, they would have adopted the same belief which now prevails among us, or would at least have laboured under considerable scruples on the subject: whereas I suppose no one in his senses will venture to affirm that the Jewish Church ever so understood the passages in question, or believed that there were two persons, each of whom was Jehovah, and had an equal right to assume the title. It would seem, therefore, that they interpreted them in the manner above mentioned. Thus in allusion to a human being, 1 Kings viii. 1. "then Solomon assembled the elders or Israel.... unto king Solomon in Jerusalem." No one is so absurd as to suppose that the name of Solomon is here applied