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with the proper evidences of its unto eternal life. But, on the authenticity, they cordially em- contrary," the righteous Lord, brace it, submit to it, and obey it. who loveth righteousness," hath In short, those are God's who act given the sincere and upright, who upon the divine principles of in- truly fear and love God, and are tegrity, sincerity, and a governing desirous to do his will, unto Christ, subjection to God. On the other to be further instructed by him in hand, those are the world's whose his will, and improved in holiness, governing regards are to its in- and made meet for eternal life. terests or pleasures; and who act They are given unto Christ for this on the lusts and passions of the reason, because such is their chaworld, whilst they despise and racter, and therefore they belong trample upon the authority and unto God; and all such will come laws of God. Such is the dis- to Christ for that very spirit which tinction betwixt those who are of possesses and characterizes them the world, and those who are of will incline them to a serious, God. Now place the expression impartial examination into, and in my text in conjunction with cheerful acknowledgment of the these in our Lord's intercessory evidences of his divine mission prayer, and, I apprehend, the and the excellence of his doctrine; meaning of the former will evi, and whosoever thus cometh unto dently appear, and turn out thus: him, he will by no means reject. All that the Father giveth me Having thus gained from our will come unto me; but he hath Saviour himself, an explanation of given me all that are his;" and the the expression in the text, this will persons of sincere and upright easily lead us to the sense of the dispositions, who are governed by other passages. v. 44, “No man a spirit of true piety, who endea- can come unto me except the your to know and to do his will, Father which hath sent me draw these are God's, as distinguished him." This cannot mean compel from those who are of the world. and force him, by irresistible operaAnd therefore all those of such a tions; but draw him, by rational character" he hath given me, and persuasion and moral motive; draw they will come unto me," i. e. all him, by the influence of those good that fear God and love truth will dispositions of a sincere love of come unto me. This interpreta. truth and conscientious reverence tion of this passage our Lord and submission to God, which are himself, you see, leads us into; already in possession of his heart; we may therefore safely depend draw him by the instructions of his on it, as containing his true mean- word already given. Whatever is ing. It is very plain also, that the object of a man's supreme rethe interpretation now given of gards, and influences him to any this passage exhibits a sense per- particular action or engagement, fectly consistent with the moral it may in the most proper use of character of God, and the recti- language be said to draw him to tude and goodness of his govern that action or engagement. God ment. Here are no traces of an is the supreme object of a pious absolute and unconditional gift man's regard, who seeks his faof election of some particulars vour with his whole heart as his

supreme interest and chief good. is plain from the words immediWhatever, therefore, such a man ately following, "It is written in is engaged to undertake, or do, the prophets (see Is. liv. 13) And out of reverence and obedience to they shall be all taught of God. God, he may be properly said Every man therefore that hath to be drawn to it by him. Now heard and learned of the Father, no man can come to Christ, or cometh unto me." You see in believe in him, who is not influ- these words," heard and learned," enced by a sincere reverence for he expressly fixeth the sense of being God, for Christ professes himself drawn of the Father, to the moral to be a teacher sent of God to means of instruction, to hearing reveal his will to the world, and and learning, i. e. from the reve demand the obedience of man- lation which God had already kind; and the proofs of his di- given. vine mission are the works which So, v. 65, he says, "Therefore he professes God had given him to I said unto you, No man can come perform, and the prophecies which unto me except it were given to God had before delivered con him of my Father." Here he cerning him. Now none but those plainly refers to what he had spowho have a sincere reverence for ken in v., 44, and consequently God, and concern to obtain his his sense in this place must be favour, will either pay any regard exactly the same as in that: the to the message with which Christ small variation in the phrase can came into the world, or the di- make no difference. In the one vine evidences that prove his mis place, he says, "Except the sion; this was in fact the case Father draw him :" in the other, among the Jews. They only who "Except it were given unto him truly feared God and desired to do of my Father: phrases which his will, they only who reverenc- are of much the same import: ed the revelations which God had for God hath given it unto men already given of himself, and to come to Christ, and to believe yielded conviction to the proofs in him, by means of that revela. of Christ's divine mission, which tion he had made before unto were drawn from the prophecies, them, of his intentions of sending did or could come to him. him, and by the good impressions Whereas, the prejudiced and sen. he had made on their hearts by sual, who were influenced by the instructions and motives of his corrupt principles and worldly word. Men's coming to Christ views, and not by a governing and believing in him may be proregard to God, did not, nor, in perly said to be the gift of the a moral sense, could come to Father to them, as it is the conhim for they were destitute of sequence of that revelation he had those divine principles of regard given to them, and the effect of to God and his word or will that the good dispositions produced in should draw them to him. That their hearts by the instructions of our Saviour here meant drawing that revelation. Thus, I hope, by rational instruction and moral what hath been said is sufficient motive addressed to the under- to explain these hard and obscure standings and affections pf men, expressions of our Saviour in an

VOL. 111.

which they already enjoyed, wouldcome to him and believe in him ; but that no persons of an opposite. character could come to him, and that this was unhappily their own case, to whom he was speaking. :

easy and intelligible manner; and
to shew, that they contain no sen-
timent but what is perfectly con-
sistent with the moral perfections
and government of God, and the
freedom of human actions; and
that our Saviour only intended to
intimate to his hearers, that all
well-disposed, serious, and sincere
persons, who truly reverenced
God, and desired to know and do
his will, and entertained proper swered.
regards to the revelation of it,

If what hath been offered shall contribute to give satisfaction to. any mind that may have been. unhappily disturbed by these pas-, sages, my intention is fully an。.

CRITICISM ON 1 JOHN, V, 7,

C6 Things which are equal to the same are equal to one another." EUCLID.

1 John v. 7. O Пalys, o 20yos, Hai Ta aylov TV 80 o Τρεις ἓν εἰσι.

I shall endeavour to prove that the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are, literally speaking, one and the same person. And,

I, The Father and the Spirit are one and the same person. For,

1st, What the Father is said to have done in the works of creation, &c. the Spirit is also said to have done.

Though our heavenly Father is so often said to have made all things, nevertheless we read that "the Spirit of God moved (at the creation) upon the face of the waters. "Gen. i. 2. And Job says, "by his spirit he hath garnished the heavens." Job xxvi, 13. And Elihu says, "the Spirit of God hath made me." Job xxxiii. 4. See also Malachi, ii. 15.

So our Lord says, in reference to his miracles, "the Father that

dwelleth in me, he docth theBut in. works." John xiv. 10. Matt. xii. 28, he says, “if I cast. out demons by the Spirit of God."“Jehovah and (or, even) his Spirit, hath sent me." Isaiah xlviii. 16.

As therefore what the Father is: said to do, the Spirit is also said. to do, the Spirit of God must be God himself, as the spirit of a man is the man himself, as the apostle. Paul teaches us to argue in the 1. Cor. ii., 11.

Accordingly the Spirit of Truth is said to proceed from the Father, John xv. 26. But I proceed to another argument, which is this :

2d, That the Spirit of God and the Power of God are the same. thing.

Job says to God, "thine hands have made me." Job x, S. But Elihu says, "the Spirit of God hath made me." Job xxxiii. 4. So that the Hands of God, that is, the Power of God, and his Spirit are one and the same thing.

2

Again," the angel of God an swered and said to Mary, The. Holy Spirit shall come upon thee,

and the Power of the Highest shall forth his word (727) and healed overshadow thee." Luke i. 35. them." And in Ps. cxlvii. 18, From which passage it evidently "He sendeth out his word (177)" appears that the spirit and power So that the word and spirit are of God are one and the same one and the same thing in the thing. Also, our Lord says, "if Hebrew phraseology. For what I cast out demons by the Spirit of the Spirit of God is said to have God "Matt. xii. 28. But in done, his word is also said to have Luke xi. 20, he says, "if I with done. And, the finger of God cast out demons," 2d, The Word and Spirit are Now the finger of God, is cer- the same in the Greek language, tainly the power or energy of For it is said, Gen. i. 2, that the God; and therefore his spirit Spirit (veua, LXX.) of God must signify his power or energy. moved upon the face of the waters. Agreeaby to which, it is said, And in Job xxxiii. 4 "The Spirit when our Lord performed a cer- (TVEUua) of God made me." Also tain miracle," they were amazed in Job xxvi. 13, and Malachi ii, at the mighty power of God." 15. But in Ps. xxxiii. 6, it is said, Luke ix. 42. Like the magicians "By the word (ow) of Jehovah of Egypt, they were inclined to were the heavens made." And say, "this is the finger of God." in Ps. cvii. 20, "He sent forth Exod. viii. 9. That is, this is the his word (70 207or aula) and power of God.. But as the power healed them." And Ps. cxlvii. of God, is God himself, or his 18," He sendeth out his word energy; so the Spirit of God, be- (lov λoyov aule) and melteth them." ing the same as his power, must 2 Pet. iii. 5, "For this they are be God himself or his energy. And willingly ignorant of, that by the so many persons at length pro- word of God (1w 18 OEB XoYW) bably begin to believe. It there- the heavens were of old." fore appears that the Father and the Spirit are one and the same person. And,

II, The Word and Spirit are one and the same, both in the Hebrew and Greek languages.

Ist. They are so in the Hebrew language. For what the Spirit of God is said to have done in the works of creation, the Word of God is also said to have done.

Therefore the λόγος και πνευμα, that is, the word and spirit, are the same; and that the New Testament writers meant by the term 20yos, in relation to the creation &c. the same as the spirit or power of God, and not a distinct person from the Father, appears, not only from their being well acquainted with the Septuagint, and knowing in what sense the It is said in Gen. i. 2. that "the term was used there; but also spirit (m) of God moved upon from what we find in Heb. xi. 3, the waters." And in Job xxxiii. 4, where it is said, "through faith "the Spirit (m) of God made we understand that the worlds me." Also in Job xxvi. 13, and were framed by the word of God,” Malachi ii. 15. But in Ps. xxxiii. (prual se) where cruale is 6, it is said "by the word (727) of put for λoy 8; as we have it Jehovah were the heavens made." in the Septuagint in Ps. xxxiii. 6, And in Ps. cvii. 20, he sent and Ps. cvii. 20.

But as papa does not signify a person, so neither can λ070s in this connexion; for they are evidently used here as synonymous terms. It is also said in Heb. i. 3, that our Lord" upholds all things by the word of his power," (nual δυνάμεως).

INFERENCES.

1st, As the Spirit of God and the Aoyos are the same, and the Spirit is not Jesus Christ, but the power of God; therefore the Xoyos, mentioned in the passages quoted above, is not Jesus Christ, but the power or energy of God. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ may be called the 20yos in some other places of scripture.

But as pux here must signify the spirit or energy of our Lord, and not another person; so, when it is said" the worlds were framed (nual E8, Heb. xi. 3) by the 2d, As the 27 or λoyos of word of God," we should under- the Old Testament, by which God stand by it the spirit or energy of made the world, is the power or God, and not another person energy of God, and God cannot distinct from God. Therefore be supposed to have employed the word and the spirit are the two λoy in the work of creation, same. And it was before proved the one a power and the other a that the Father and the Spirit are real person; therefore, the Aoyos one and the same person: con- mentioned John i. 1-3, by which sequently, the Father, the Word, all things were made (admitting and the Spirit, are, all three, one that it refers to the creation of and the same person. For if the the natural world) must signify a Spirit of God is the power of God, power and not a person; and or God himself; and the Word is consequently the λoyos spoken of the same as the Spirit; then the in John i. 1-3, cannot mean the Word also must be the Power or pre-existent soul of Jesus Christ; Spirit of God, or God himself. and from hence it also follows, 1 In other words; if the first and 3d, That nothing can with certhe third (the Father and Spirit) tainty be inferred from our text are one; and the second and third either in favour of the personality (the Word and Spirit) are also of the spirit or of the deity of our one; then the first and second Lord; and they who believe this (the Father and Word) are also will be in a good state of mind to one. Consequently the Father, judge of the large body of evidence the Word, and Spirit are all three that has been brought against the one, which is what was to be genuineness of this passage. proved, and is asserted in the Dec. 1, 1807. text.

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