i Logos, cuts and divides all things, even all things fenfible; yea, atoms, and things indivifible. He reprefents him as very quick-fighted", and as capable of feeing all things that are worthy to be seen. And he fometimes fpeaks of him as the Mediator between God and men ; as one that makes atonement, and is an advocate with God. He fays that he is the true High Prieft *, who is free from all fin voluntary and involuntary'; which is just fuch an high priest as the apostle Paul fays Jefus Chrift is, Heb. vii. 26. But to go on. The apostle Paul uses this phrafe juft in the fame fenfe, and afcribes the creation of the world to him, as the evangelist John does, when in Heb. xi. 3. he says: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the "Word of God." And alfo the apostle Peter, in his 2d Epift. chap. iii. 5. where he observes, that the fcoffers were "willingly ignorant; that by the "Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth ftanding out of the "water and in the water." And adds, in ver. 7. That, "by the fame Word, "the heavens and the earth, which are now, are kept in ftore referved unto "fire." And in 1 Peter i. 23. the faints are faid to be "born, not of cor"ruptible feed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth "and abideth for ever;" which Word is diftinguished from the gofpel in. ver. 25. From all these paffages it may be concluded, that this phrase was not peculiar to the evangelift John, but was used, though not with fo much. frequency, by the other apoftles. I proceed,. Thirdly, To enquire the reafon or reafons, why the fecond Perfon is called. the Word. He may be fo called, because As the mental word, or the conception of the mind, which is Aéy indiadir", is the birth of the mind, begotten off Β' Ουτω καὶ ὁ θεῖος ΛόγΘ. οξυδερκές αλός ἐσιν, ὡς πανὰ ἐθορὰν εἶναι ἱκανὸς, ᾧ τὰ θέας άξια καλόψονται. τὶ γὰρ ἂν εἴη λαμπρότερον ή τηλαυγέςερον θείε Λόγε. Ibid. Leg. Alleg. 1. 2. p. 92. · Τῷ δὲ ἀρχα[γέλω καὶ πρεσβυτάτῳ Λόγῳ δωρεαν ἐξαίρεῖον ἔδωκεν ὁ τὰ ὅλα γεννήσας παλὴρ, ἵνα μεθόριος τὰς, τὸ γενόμενον διακρίνη το πεποιηκότος. Ὁ δ' αυτὸς ἱκέτης μέν ἐςι τῷ θνητῶ κεραίνοντος ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄφθαρτον, πρισβευθὴς δὲ τῇ ἡγεμόνος πρὸς τὸ ὑπήκοον. lbid. Quis rerum divina Hæref p. 509. κ Ὅτι ὁ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ μὴ ψευδώνυμος, ἀμέλοχος ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐςὶν. Ibid. De victimis, p. 843. Λέγομεν γάρ, τὸν ἀρχιερέα ἐκ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ λόγον θεῖον εἶναι, πάντων ἐκ ἱκεσίων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκεσίων αδικημάτων αμέτοχον. Ibid. De profugis, p. 466. - Αύγος εἰ ῥητὸς, ἀλλὰ ἐσιώδης, εἰ γὰρ ἐσι λαλιᾶς ἐνάρθρα φώνημα, ἀλλ' ἐνεργείας θεϊκῆς ἐσία γεννητή.. Ignat. Major epift. ad Magnef. p. 147. Ed. Vol. Ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς, τῆς αἴδιος ὤν, ἔσχεν αὐτὸς, ir iaulŵ tòv Moyòr aiding dogszòs ŵr. Athenag. Legat. pro Chrift. p. 10. Edit. Par. "Exwv uv ò ☺ròs,.. τὸν ἑαυτῷ λόγον ἐνδιάθετον ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις σπλάγχνοις, ἐγέννησεν αυτὸν μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτῷ σοφίας ἐξερευξάμενος pow. Theophilus Antioch. ad Autolyc. 1. 2. p. 88. Ed. Parif Andría dinystraι Tòr Abyor. τὸν ὄντα διαπαντὸς ἐνδιάθετον ἐν κάρδια Θιῦ. Idem, p. 100. Αυτός καὶ ὁ λόγος ὃς ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ ὑπίσησε θρήματι δὲ τῆς ἁπλότητος αυτῷ προπηδά λόγος, Tajian. Contr. Gentes, p. 145. Ed. Parif. of it intellectually, and immaterially, without paffion or motion; and is the very image and representation of the mind, and of the fame nature with it, yet fomething diftinct from it: fo Chrift is the begotten of the Father, the brightness of his glory, and the exprefs image of his Perfon; of the fame nature with him, though a Perfon diftinct from him. And he may also be called the Word, from fome action or actions which are predicated of him, or afcribed to him. He spake in the ancient council, when the methods of man's falvation were confidered, confulted and agreed on; and declared, that he would be a furety for all the elect. He spoke for every bleffing, and every promise in the covenant of grace. He affented to every propofal his Father made; and agreed to every article in the covenant between them. He spoke all things out of nothing in the firft creation: he faid, Let it be fo, and it was fo; he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood faft. He is the Word that was spoken of to all the Old Teftament-faints, and prophecied of by all the prophets, which have been fince the world began; this is the fum and fubftance of all the promises and prophecies of the Old Teftament. Moreover, he is the interpreter of his Father's mind, even as our word or fpeech, which is Aéy #gopopixès, is the interpreter of our minds; for which reafon he may be called the Word". "No man hath feen God at any time, the only begotten, "which is in the bofom of the Father; he hath declared him." Being privy to all his thoughts, purposes, and defigns, he was capable of declaring his mind and will to his people; which he has done in all generations. It was he, the Word of the Lord God, whofe voice Adam heard in the garden; and who faid unto him, "Adam, where art thou?" And it was the fame Word of the Lord who continued his difcourfe with him, and his wife, and the ferpent; and made the firft difcovery of grace to fallen man. It was the Word who appeared to the patriarchs and prophets in after-ages, and made yet greater difcoveries of God's mind and will; but never so fully and clearly as when he was made fiefh, and dwelt among us; for then " God, who at fundry "times, and divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers, in these last "days spoke unto us by his Son." Befides, Some in Juftin Martyr's time called him the Word, for this reason: 'Eweidh xal ras wapa To walpos óμiñías pipes rois and futros. Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 358. Ed. Parif. Theophilus of Antioch, calls him Λίγα προφορικός, ad Autolych. 1. 2. p. 100. Τῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐγέννησε προφο ρικόν, πρωτότοκον πάσης κλίσεως ε κενωθεὶς αυτός το λόγε, ἀλλὰ λόγον γεννήσας, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ αὐτῶ διαπαντὸς ὁμιλῶν. Clemens of Alexandria denies him to be fo : O γὰρ τῷ πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων λόγω, Ex ärès isiv i @gopoginos. Stromat, 1. 5. p. 547. Ed. Sylburg. Let it be observed, that thofe writers who have used these phrases, did not defign them in the fame fenfe which the Sabellians do, as though the Aéy was a mere attribute, and not a real perfon. See the Targums of Onkclos and Jonathan, in Gen. iii. 8. and of Jerufalem in ver. 9. Befides, he, as the Word speaks for the elect in the court of heaven, where he appears in the presence of God for them; acts the part of a Mediator on their account; calls for, and demands the bleffings of grace for them; as the fruit of his death; pleads their caufe, and answers all charges and accufations exhibited against them. So that upon thefe confiderations, he may be properly called the Word, and Word of God. AVING confidered the character of the Aéyos, or Word, I shall now proceed, II. To give proof of his proper Deity, which I fhall do in the following method: First, I fhall endeavour to prove it from the divine names which are given to him. Secondly, From the divine perfections, which he is poffeffed of. First, I fhall endeavour to prove the proper Deity of Chrift, from the divine names which are given to him; fuch as, 1. Jehovah, which is a name expreffive of the divine effence, being well explained by I AM THAT I AM, in Exod. iii. 4. And it is truly deciphered by John, in Rev. i. 4. By "him which is, and which was, and which "is to come." This is the name by which God made himself known to Mofes, and by him, to the people of Ifrael; by which he had not made himself known to their Fathers, Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; that is, so fully and largely as he had to them; which name has always been had in great esteem among the Jews; and has been highly revered by them, even to a fuperftitious abstinence from the pronunciation of it, which arofe from a mistaken fenfe of Lev. xxiv. 16. It is indeed that glorious and fearful name which ought to be feared and reverenced by us; it being proper and peculiar to the divine VOL. III. Being, Ι P Vide Buxtorf. Lexic. Ĥeb. in Rad. 7. Being, and incommunicable to any creature: For "the Moft High over all the "earth," is he "whose name alone is Jehovah." If therefore I prove that Jefus Chrift is called Jehovah, or that this name is given to him, I prove him to be the Most High God. Which will be best done by comparing some texts of fcripture in the Old with others in the New Teftament. And to begin, 66 With Exod. xvii. 7. "And he called the name of the place Masab, and "Meribab, because of the chiding of the children of Ifrael, and because they "tempted the Lord, or Jehovah, faying, Is the Lord, or Jehovah, among us "or not?" From hence it plainly appears, that he, whom the Ifraelites tempted in the wilderness, was Jehovah. And yet nothing is more manifest, than that this was the Lord Jefus Chrift; as is evident from 1 Cor. x. 9. "Neither let us tempt Chrift, as fome of them alfo tempted, and were deftroyed of ferpents." And if fo, then Christ is Jehovah, and confequently the Moft High God. Again, in Ifa. vi. 1. it is faid: "That in the year that king Uzziah died," Isaiah "faw the Lord, Adonai, fitting upon a throne ;”. whom the Seraphim, in ver. 3. call Jehovah Sebaot; as does Ifaiak, in ver. 5. which fame glorious divine person, in ver. 8, 9. sent him with a message to the Jews, faying, "Hear ye indeed, &c." Now these words our Lord Jefus Christ applies to himself, in John xii. 39-41. and obferves, that "these "things faid Efaias, when he faw his glory, and spake of him." Moreover, in Ifa. xl. 3. it is faid, it is faid, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, or Jehovah; make strait in the defart, a high86 way for our God." Which words are, by the evangelift Matthew, chap. iii. 1-3. applied to John the Baptift. Now the Lord, or Jehovah, whose way he was to prepare, could be no other than Jefus Chrift, whofe harbinger and forerunner John was; and whose way he did prepare, and whose paths he did make strait, by preaching the doctrine of repentance, administering the ordinance of baptifm, and declaring that the kingdom of heaven, or of the Meffiah, was at hand. Besides, the Meffiah is exprefsly called, in Jer. xxiii. 6. the Lord, or Jehovah, our righteoufnefs, it being his work and bufinefs to bring in everlasting righteousness, and well fuits with Jefus Christ, who is "the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth." Once more, in Zech. xii. 10. it is promised by Jehovah, that he would " pour upon the houfe of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerufalem, the spirit of 66 grace and of fupplications :" and adds, "They shall look upon me, that is, Jehovah, whom they have pierced." Which words the evangelift John fays, were fulfilled, when one of the foldiers, with a fpear, pierced the fide of Christ; Chrift; and forthwith there came out blood and water, John xix. 34, 37. The fame paffage is also referred to in Rev. i. 7. and applied to Jefus Chrift. Now in these, and many other places, Jefus Chrift is intended by Jehovah, and if he is Jehovah, then he must be truly and properly God, fince this name is incommunicable to any other. It is objected, that this name, Jehovah, is fometimes given to created beings; as to angels', Gen. xviii. 13. Exod. iii. 2. and xxiii. 20. to the ark', Numb. x. 35. and xxxii. 20. Deut. xii. 7. Joh. xxiv. 1. 2 Sam. vi. 2. Pfalm xxiv. 8. to Jerufalem, Jer. xxxiii. 16. Ezek. xlviii. 35. to altars, Exod. xvii. 15. Judg. vi. 24. to the mountain where Ifaac was to be facrificed, Gen. xxii. 14 and to judges and priests, Deut. xix. 17. To which I answer, That as to the proof of angels being called Jehovah, I have fhewn already, that in all the paffages cited, not a created angel, but an uncreated one, even a divine Person is intended; who is no other than Jefus Chrift, the angel of the covenant; and are so many proofs of his being Jehovah, and confequently of his proper divinity. Nor is the ark any where called Jehovah. Numb. x. 35, 36. is a prayer of Mofes to the true Jehovah, and not to the ark, to which it could not be made without idolatry. The fenfe of the words is beft understood by comparing them with Pfalm cxxxii. 8. In many of the places produced, the ark is not mentioned, nor intended; not in Numb. xxxii. 20. nor in Deut. xii. 7. nor in Josh. xxiv. 1. nor is the word Jehovah, there used, but Elohim. And as for 2 Sam. vi. 2. not the ark, but God, whofe the ark was, is called by the name of the Lord of Hofts; nor is the ark intended in Pfalm xxiv. 8. nor could it be called the King of Glory, or the Lord mighty in battle, without manifeft impiety. Nor is the name Jebovak, given to Jerufalem, in Fer.. xxxiii. 16. but to the Meffiah, as is manifest from Jer. xxiii. 6. for the words may be rendered thus: "This is the name wherewith he shall be called by her, The Lord our righteoufnefs." Nor is this name given to her in Ezek. xlviii. 35. absolutely, but in compofition, or with an addition; and is only fymbolical of Jehovah's prefence being with her. Juft as the Lord calls her Hephzibah, and Beulah; because he delighted in her, and was married to her, Ifaiah lxii. 4. The fame may be faid of mount Moriah, and the altars, referred to in the objection, which were called Jehovah-jireh, Niffi, Shalom; which names do not express the nature or effence of God, but are only fymbolical, and defigned to call to remembrance the divine help, gracious affiftance, and wonderful appearance of Jehovah, for his people. Nor are priests and judges called Jehovah, in Deut. xix. 17. for Jehovah is not to be explained by them; I 2 Crellius de Deo & ejus attributis, c. xi. p. 8o. he • Enjedin. Explic. loc. Vet. & Nov. Teft. p. 25. In which he is contradicted by Crellius, ibid. p. 83-85. |