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OBSERVATIONS.

25, 26. To call on the name of Jehovah," and to be called by his name, are phrases of frequent occurrence in the Sacred Volume. The Jews," the city of Jerusalem, the temple, the ark of the covenant, and believing Gentiles, fare all said to have been " called by the name of Jehovah ;" that is, they were his, they belonged to him, they were dedicated to his service. "To call on the name of Jehovah," then, would, in all probability, imply an acknowledgment of being his, and of submitting implicitly to his authority. In like manner, when it is affirmed of the primitive converts to the religion of Christ, that they were called by his name,ꞌ the expression undoubtedly signifies that they were Christians-that they belonged to Jesus, and were dedicated to his service. Thus, too, when it is related of the early believers, that they called on the name of Jesus Christ, the words are, most probably, to be understood as a periphrastical designation of the early Christians-of those persons who made a public profession of the gospel. This interpretation is confirmed by those passages of Scripture in which the apostles are represented as baptizing in the name of Jesus, praying in his name, performing miracles in his name; in other words, by his direction, and under his authority. In this manner we know that they called on, or appealed to, the name of Jesus; but we do not know, and we have no warrant from Scripture in believing, that they presented religious worship to their Lord and Master. The only direct invocation that we read of, made to Christ, is that of the martyr Stephen, who addressed his Saviour, not as Almighty God, but as "the Son of man, standing on the right hand of God;" but whose example it would be improper to imitate, unless we were placed in similar circumstances. (See page 240, No. 8.)

It is worthy of particular remark, that if the phrase, to call on the name of Christ, had been employed by the apostles as a familiar designation of the worshippers of Christ, we should reasonably expect in the Acts and the Epistles, direct examples of prayer to him recorded in explicit, unambiguous language,—and, particularly in St. Luke's account of the apostles, should perceive some traces of those objections which the Jews would undoubtedly have made to the paying a person whom they considered a human being that religious adoration which they justly regarded as due to Jehovah alone. But we find no such allusions ;we read of no such examples; we can trace no such objections. There, however, do we discover, in plain and legible characters, that the Being whom the primitive Christians worshipped' was He who had been the sole object of Christ's adoration, and to whom he had taught his disciples to pray. m Who was this great Being? Was he God the Son?-was he God the Holy Ghost? —or was he a Trinity in unity? No: not one of these. He was the Creator of heaven and earth-" the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."n

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SECT. XIV.-EXAMINATION OF SCRIPTURE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR THE DEITY OF CHRIST, DRAWN FROM SIMILAR LANGUAGE APPLIED, OR SUPPOSED TO BE APPLIED, TO HIM AND TO GOD.

LIVING REDEEMER, ETC.

1. Job xix. 25-27: I know [that] my Redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth: and [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], &c.

I surely do know my Redeemer the Living One:
And He, the Last, will arise over the dust.
And, after the disease has cut down my skin,
Even from my flesh shall I see God.—Smith.
For I know that my Avenger liveth,

And that hereafter he will rise up over the dust,
And after my skin hath been thus torn,
Still from my flesh I shall see God.— Wellbeloved.
See Appendix, page 277.

GOD AND CHRIST OBJECTS OF TRUST.

2. Ps. ii. 12: Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him.— See Matt. xii. 21, comp. with Jer. xvii. 5-7: Cursed [be] the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. ... Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in Jehovah, &c.

JEHOVAH AND CHRIST PIERCED.

3. John xix. 37, with comp. Zech. xii. 10. (Quoted in reference A)

REMARKS.

Many copies in the collations of Kennicott and de Rossi read & unto him; but as the majority of manuscripts, and those both of the best authority and the highest antiquity, and all the ancient versions, consent in the common reading, critical integrity requires it to be preferred.-Smith.

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With Grotius we understand the prophet to use the word pierced figuratively for "treated with insult and injury; but many manuscripts, by the addition of only a letter, read "look on him," instead of on me," which reading is preferred by Kennicott, Newcome, &c. One distinguished critic (Dr. Blayney) thinks the present Hebrew words may be translated "look on him," and others render them "look to me (i.e. for pardon) with respect to him whom they pierced.—Hincks.

ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS.

a Job xiv. 10-14: Man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he? &c.

b Chap. xiv. 14: If a man die, shall he live [again]? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Chap. xlii. 12: So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.

e Isa. Ixiii. 16: Doubtless thou [art] our Father, .. our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.-See chap. xli. 14; xliv. 6, 24; liv. 5. Ps. lxxviii. 35. et al.

d Jer. xvii. 5: Cursed [be] the man that trusteth in man, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.

e John xiv. 1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.- See John vi. 45.

f John v. 45: There is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses, in whom ye trust. See Exod. xiv. 31; xix. 9. Prov. xxxi. 11. 2 Cor. i. 13.

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g Matt. ii. 14, 15: He took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. (Comp. Hos. xi. 1. Exod. iv. 22, 23.) Heb. ii. 6—8: Thou

madest him a little lower than the an

gels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, &c. (Comp. Ps. viii.) et al,

h John xix. 37: And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.- Comp. Zech, xii, 10: I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] first-born.

SECT. XIV.-EXAMINATION OF SCRIPTURE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR THE DEITY OF CHRIST, DRAWN FROM SIMILAR LANGUAGE APPLIED, OR SUPPOSED TO BE APPLIED, TO HIM AND TO GOD.

b

OBSERVATIONS.

1. As, from other portions of this sublime and instructive poem, it does not appear, that the author believed in a future state of existence," the passage quoted has probably no reference to the general resurrection, but to Job's confidence in the Divine Being, that He would at last restore him to health and prosperity. Supposing him, however, acquainted with the doctrine of man's resurrection, it would not follow that he believed Christ, the delegated Judge, to be Almighty God; the title Redeemer being often employed by the Sacred Writers in reference to Jehovah. It is observable that the royal translators have in these verses supplied several words not to be found in the original;-a consideration sufficient to show the unfairness of adducing such an obscure text as a proof of any doctrine.

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2. The trust in man here reprobated is that implicit confidence put in man, which considers him the primary object of affection, and debars God from having any place in our thoughts. But as Christ was appointed by God to be our Guide and Saviour, his disciples may put their trust in him, and at the same time place their highest confidence in the universal Father. The Trinitarian inference is evidently erroneous; for human beings are, to a certain degree, proper objects of trust, particularly those whom the Almighty appointed to act in the capacity of prophets.

3. Many commentators believe, that the apostles sometimes quoted portions of the Jewish Scriptures, not to point them out as containing prophecies of the events or incidents which they related, but merely to illustrate their own narrative or argument by the appropriation of language which in some measure corresponded with their ideas. If this opinion be, as we think it is, correct, the words of Jehovah, as spoken by the prophet, may have been cited by John only because he considered them applicable to the event he was describing; as writers of the present day borrow passages of beauty or sublimity from classical authors, with a view of embellishing or of elucidating their own compositions, or of making a durable impression on the minds of their readers. This observation is the more likely to be true, because the words in the book of Zechariah and those in the Gospel of John are dissimilar in a matter of some importance; the pronoun me being used by the prophet, and him by the evangelist. If, however, the latter did not change the language to the accommodation of his own ideas, but cited it correctly, and as a prophecy of Christ, it will be highly probable, that the passage in Zechariah has been corrupted, and therefore does not refer to the Divine Being.

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That here is an intended application of the passage to Christ, is at least corroborating another reference of the apostle.-Smith.

Has Dr. Smith never noticed, or does he regard as insignificant, a various reading in Rom. xiv. 10, where, for "we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ," a not inconsiderable number of copies read, "of God;" which, if admitted, would at once put an end to his argument?-Hincks.

See Appendix, page 277, second column.

ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS.

i Acts iv. 26, 27: The rulers were gathered together against THE LORD, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, &c. - See ver. 29; chap. ii. 25, 34; iii. 19, 22; vii. 37; xvii. 24. et al.

j 1 Cor. x. 9: Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

k Numb. xxi. 5-7: The people spake against God and against Moses... And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people... The people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned; for we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee, &c.

7 Acts iii. 13: The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, &c.

m Eph. iv. 7: But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Ver. 9-13: Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? (G.) He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers, &c.

n Ver. 8: He gave gifts unto men.Comp. with Ps. lxviii. 18: Thou hast received gifts for men.

o Ver. 5, 6: One Lord, one faith, one baptism; ONE GOD AND FATHER OF all, who [is] above all, and through all, &c.

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OBSERVATIONS.

4. Granting, for a moment, that the Deity of Christ were a doctrine established on the principles of reason and of revelation, this passage could not justly be adduced as affording any support to that dogma; for the term Lord is frequently applied in the writings of Luke, as well as in other portions of the New Testament, to the God and Father of Jesus.

5. The apostle does not inform the Corinthians, that the Israelites tempted Christ; nor does the passage in the Pentateuch to which he alludes mention that the Almighty Being, against whom they rebelled, was any other than Jehovah, the Father of Jesus. Supposing the received text to be genuine, it would not follow that because both God and Christ were tempted, they must therefore be the same being: St. Paul's meaning would rather be to use the words of NEWCOME- -"Nor let us tempt, try, prove, provoke Christ now, as some of them did God at that time." If, however, with the learned Primate, we read Lord instead of Christ, the passage may altogether be applicable only to the Almighty Father.

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6. The words of the Psalmist seem to have been employed by St. Paul because they were adapted to express his views concerning the resurrection and exaltation of Christ, and the various powers which his Master was enabled by the Almighty to bestow on the original members of the church.m That the apostle did not consider his citation to be of a prophetic nature, is evident from his quoting only a part of the passage, and altering some of the expressions." Had he considered the phrase, dwelling of Jehovah among men, to mean the incarnation of "God the Son," it is very improbable that he would have passed over in silence the clause relating to that wonderful doctrine. This passage, then, gives no countenance to the orthodox opinion, that Jehovah and Jesus are the same being: indeed, the preceding verses - which contain the essence of Unitarianism, simply and sublimely expressed are a sufficient guarantee, that the great apostle of the Gentiles did not believe Christ to be Jehovah.

7. It is perfectly consistent with the principles of Unitarianism to say, that standing before Christ, and rendering him an account of our deeds, is virtually standing before God, and rendering an account to him; for Christ, in the judging of the world, will act as the representative of God." Were the principle involved in the argument here employed to support the Deity of Christ followed out generally into the interpretation of the Bible, what a havoc of reason and common sense would ensue! Thus, the children of Israel, by murmuring against Moses, murmured against Jehovah: therefore, Moses is Jehovah. He that receiveth a disciple of Jesus, receiveth Jesus himself: therefore, the disciple is Jesus. When the Corinthians sinned against the brethren, they sinned against Christ: therefore, each of the brethren must be Christ."

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