See Gen. xvi. 7-13. Nothing however is more to the purpose than the relation, Exod. iii. The angel of JEHOVAH (or the Lord) appeared to Moses in a -flame of fire in a bush. "And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned; and when JEHOVAH saw, that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. Moreover, he said I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and Moses hid his face*" It is very observable that this relation is circumstantially preserved in that memorable speech of Stephen, Acts, vii.; wherein he expressly endeavours not only to convince the Jews, that the Christian dispensation was foretold by Moses, but to satisfy their minds as to the propriety of the legal œconomy being superseded by the coming of Christ. It cannot possibly be doubted but that the angel of God, extracts from this part of my book, and charging me with the very contradiction noticed above. "He that said, I will send my Angels, cannot be the Angel whom he said he would send." Such sort of publications provoked Bishop Patrick to a more full acknowledgment of his belief in the doctrine of a visible Jehovah. See him on Leviticus, v. 19. And Dr. Waterland complains in terms so true and applicable, that I cannot refrain from copying them: "These pamphleters," says he," apply themselves to the English and unlearned Reader, whom they hope to satisfy; the rather, I suppose, because the argument is learned, and must lose much of its force and strength on our side, when stripped of its additional advantages from History and Antiquity; besides that the unlearned Reader (especially in this controversy) may be easily imposed upon by little turns and fallacies, such as have been tried and examined and despised long ago, by those that have been thoroughly read and conversant in these matters."-Introduction to his Lady Moyer's Lecture, p. xxx.]

in

*It is somewhat remarkable, and cannot be made appear our English Versions, that this title of the Deity in the 3d Chapter of Exodus is thus expressed: "Tell the Children of Israel, says God to Moses, that JEHOVAH, the ELOHIM of the Fathers, the ELOHIM of Abraham, the ELOHIM of Isaac, and the ELOHIM of Jacob, hath sent me unto you."

G 4

under

under the patriarchal and legal economy, had the name of God in him, was called JEHOVAH, spake in the first person as JEHOVAH, calling himself the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared in the visible glory of God, was worshipped as God, yet we know and are assured upon testimony the most unexceptionable, that no man has seen the Father at any time. But this great and ineffable name of JEHOVAH was also by the Prophets given to the Mes siah; the prophecy of Jeremiah we have already cited, in which he declares, that the NAME by which the Messiah shall be called, is JEHOVAH our righ

teousness

In the xliiid ch. of Isaiah, JEHOVAH is styled the SAVIOUR, and is said to save and redeem in almost every line. "I, even I, am JEHOVAH, and beside me there is NO SAVIOUR;" but Jesus Christ is declared to be emphatically, THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD, John, iv. 42. But it is the NAME of God on which I lay most stress. The Hebrew NAMES are well known to have been all significant; so significant, that perhaps there was more of Revelation contained in the Hebrew titles of God, than in any thing else. JEHOVAH alone was indicative of many prime attributes; Elohim and Adonai, also had their several meanings. It is easy to raise the cry of Cabala, Mysticism, &c. against those who refer to such remote matters; but sacred Scripture is sacred

* See before, p. 47. That Christ, as the visible JEHOVAH, was always the God of Israel, is evident also from a comparison of Ifaiah, xliv. 6, and Rev.i. 1, or Isaiah, xli. 4, and xlviii. 12 with Rev. i. 17, ii. 8, and xxii. 13. In the Prophet, we read, "Thus saith JEHOVAH, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hofts, I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides me there is no God." Now this very character of the God of Israel, Christ assumes to himself, in the Revelations, "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Laft."

Scripture:

Scripture we must not give up the Bible; and there is much recondite learning to be derived from thence, when all the Rhapsodies of the Talmud, Targumists, and Cabalists, are set aside.

It may appear cabalistical to insist much upon the twelve lettered name of Rabbi Hakkadosh, or the forty-two lettered name expository of the Arcana Legis; but it is not cabalistical, but scriptural, and strictly so, to lay some stress upon that remarkable passage of Deut. vi. 4, "The Lord our God is one Lord." What a difference does it make when we read the original JEHOVAH our ELOHIM, is ONE JEHOVAH *? We cannot get rid of these peculiar expressions. ELOHIM is undoubtedly a very particular expression; it is applied in Scripture as a plural † noun to

the

*[How very similar to this mode of expression is the passage in Lucian, so often cited in proof of the early prevalence of the Trinitarian doctrine, where, in banter of the Christian Oath, after saying that they must swear by three persons, One in Three, and Three in One, he adds, Taula (plural) ve Za (singular).] + Dr. Geddes has in a most dictatorial manner contradicted the conclusions that have been drawn from this circumstance; he re fuses to admit that the word Elohim, when applied to the true God, does necessarily denote any plurality at all, much less any plurality of persons: but this decides nothing in the present case, for I contend not merely for the plurality implied by Elohim, but for the indissoluble Unity of the ONE JEHOVAH. The purport of my remarks is to show that notwithstanding the very em. phatic manner in which that Unity is asserted, the title Jehovah, in its fullest acceptation, appears to be ascribed to more persons This then gives the real strength and weight to the plural form of Elohim, when applied to the true God; and the Unitarians will blunder greatly if they think they derive any advantage from Dr. Geddes's strange comment, so contrary to the sentiments of other eminent biblical Critics, antient and modern, Christian and Jewish. At all events, it was a word, or form of speaking, to be avoided rather than adopted, from the very circumstance of its having been applied by the Polytheistical heathens to their false Gods; and yet we find it even in the second command

than one.

ment

the false gods of the Heathens; applied therefore in this emphatic manner to the true God also, it must be considered as remarkably consistent with that doctrine which we conceive to be co-eval with, or rather anterior to, the creation, that in the Godhead of JEHOVAH, there is a plurality, namely, an ELOHIM. It may seem in these days to be a matter of deep research, but truth is thus only to be discovered. Truth still lies in a well; a deep one; but not altogether unfathomable; let us only be patient while we draw it thence.

Certain it is, that the great NAME of Jehovah, is by the prophets given to the Messiah, and by implication at least, if not directly, ascribed to Jesus Christ by the writers of the New Testament. Can we wonder then, to find the Apostle to the Hebrews insisting so much on the superiority of Christ, above the Prophets of the Old Testament, describing him as the brightness of God's glory,

ment so directly pointed against polytheism and idolatry: I Jehovah am thy Elohim. See Ben Mordecai, Dr. Randolph's admirable works, and Bishop Huntingford on the Trinity, note xxxiii. The plural form seems to be chosen and particularly selected, in order to show that no plurality in the true God, infrin ged the unity. A modern writer (Mr. Tomlinson) well observes, Why say Elohim is ONE Jehovah, if Elohim be not plural? It would be indeed, as Waterland well observed a long time ago, as much as to say, "David our King is one David; or Abraham our Father one Abraham."] And the learned author of Hora Solitariæ remarks, that such a declaration would have been unnecessary, if the word Elohim conveyed one single and similar idea with the word Jehovah; while, being directed evidently against all idolatry and polytheism, it must have been intended to express that the plurality in the real Godhead of Jehovah was consistent with the Unity. See the Essay on the Trinity annexed to the first Vol. of the Hora Solitariæ, 3d Edit. 1804. [We may add the following remark from the notes of Marefius contra Volkelium: "Neque eft de nihilo quod non semel Deus se unum esse Jehovah asserat, nunquam vero se dicat unum Elohim."]

and

and the express image of his person, as sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on High; being made so much better than the ANGELS, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more EXCELLENT NAME than they; "for unto which of the ANGELS said he at any time, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" Hebrews, i. Psalm cx. 1. Matt. xxii. 44. And thus does the Apostle to the Philippians speak of the NAME given to the Saviour of the World; a NAME, which is above EVERY NAME;" "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in Earth, and things under the Earth, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the Glory of God the Father.”

66

The Name Jesus itself, though a common name among the Jews, was yet peculiarly significant, as given to the Christ of God. "And thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his People from their sins." Matth. i. 21. Luke i. 31. Being the Saviour of God's people, is every where in the Old Testament mentioned as the peculiar work of the Deity. They pray unto a God that cannot save; there is no God beside me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none beside me.' Isaiah, xlv. 2c, 21. Yet is it said of Christ, that "He is able to save unto the uttermost ;" yea, the Messiah in this very book, is spoken of as mighty to save; saving by his own arm; and by the greatness of his strength. Isaiah lxiii. 1—6. compared with Revelations xix. 15.

I am aware that Socinian writers have endeavoured to turn all these passages against us, bringing them forward as proofs, that the name JEHOVAH was given to created Angels, Places, Altars, Temples, &c. Of the latter I shall take no notice, as the cases are totally different: it is the application of it

to