throughout the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations, from Enoch, the first of the prophets on record, to Malachi, the last of the Jewish canon; until that clearest and fullest "Revelation

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of JESUS CHRIST which GOD gave “Him,” Rev. i. 1, during "the last” or evangelical dispensation; which "sealed up" or closed "vision and "prophecy." Dan. ix. 24. Altogether composing that various and complicated scheme of Revelation, which the apostle elsewhere styles, ἡ πολυποικιλος σοφια τε Θεε, “ the manifold wisdom of God," Ephes. iii. 10, thus elegantly combining in the epithet πολυποίκιλος the import of the preceding πολυμερώς

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and πολυτρόπως.

2. To mark the superiority of the great "Author and Finisher of our Faith," Heb. xii. 2, above all foregoing prophets, the apostle represents him: 1. Not as a servant, but above a servant, A SON beloved; and by a noble climax, rises to his high prerogatives; 2. not only after, but 3. before his

incarna

incarnation; Whom " HE AP"POINTED HEIR OF ALL," as foretold of Him in Holy Writ: "Arise, "O God, and judge the earth; for "Thou shalt inherit all the nations,' Ps. lxxxii. 8. And our Lord himself declares: "The Father judgeth no one, Himself; but hath given the whole "judgment unto the Son; to the end "that all should honour the Son, ac

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cording as they honour the Father:

He that honoureth not the Son, ho"noureth not the Futher who sent "Him," John v. 22. This was before his resurrection; and he repeats again after his resurrection, "All authority was given to Me in heaven and upon earth," Matt. xxviii. 18.

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Through whom also he made the "worlds."-"The worlds" (785 αιvas) alwvas) here denote "the heavens and the "earth," Gen. i. 1, as in the parallel

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passage; By Faith, we understand "that the worlds (T85 alwvas) were

framed by the oracle of God: to in"timate, that the visible [creation]

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was not made of [material] phæno

mena,” — i. e. was not fortuitously composed of eternally pre-existing atoms, or solid particles of matter, according to the Atheistical, Epicurean philosophy of latter ages, Heb. xi. 3. See Pyle, and Rosenmuller.-This is supported by 2 Mac. vii. 28. AğıW σE, τεκνον, αναβλέψαντα εις τον ερανον και την γην, και τα εν αυτοις ίδοντα, γνώναι, ὅτι εξ εκ οντων εποίησεν αυτα ὁ Θεος, και το των ανθρωπων γενος έτω γεγενηται. "" I en"treat thee, my Son, when thou lookest

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upon the heaven and the earth, to “know, that GOD made them out of non-existing [materials]; and so 66 was the human race made likewise." And accordingly Philo, speaking of the framing of the visible heaven and earth, observes: τω γαρ περιφανέςατῳ και τηλαυγεςατῳ εαυτ8 Λογω, ρηματι, Θεος αμφότερα ποιεί. "For, by his most "illustrious and most glorious LOGOS, "THE ORACLE, God made them

both."-Legis Allegor. lib. i. p. 33. In this remarkable passage, the Jewish philosopher

1

philosopher has combined together the synonymous phrases of ὁ λογος τε Θεό, 2 Pet. iii. 5, John i. 1, 2, and gua дима

,העליון

8, Heb. xi. 3, Luke iii. 2, whom Philo personifies, like these apostles, throughout his works. In the Rabbinical writings, God is also styled, piphy N¬12, “ Creator of the worlds;' -meaning thereby, nin hy, "This "world," or own phy," the lower "world" i. e. the earth; and phy "the upper world; i. e. the heavens. And the terms awv and alwves are frequently rendered by by and its plural in the Septuagint version. (See Trommius Concord.) These observations will, I trust, sufficiently establish the orthodox translation, and refute the Socinian and Unitarian renderings in this place, res aswvas,—“ the "ages," or dispensations.

αιώνες

3. In the parenthetical clause of this verse, the apostle proceeds more fully to unfold the divine character of JESUS CHRIST; styling him, 1. aavyaoμ. της δόξης, και χαρακτηρ της υποςασεως

QUT8.

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auty.—“ An effulgence (or ray) of His "(the Father's) glory, and an impress of His subsistence.”—And this magnificent imagery is familiar to the sacred penman, and also to the early Jewish writers: "We beheld His

(Christ's) glory, a glory suitable to "the only genuine son, [proceeding] from the Father." John i. 14. "Having been made eye-witnesses of his

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majesty," 2 Pet. i. 16,-i. e. at his transfiguration, Matt. xvii. 2; and he appeared after his ascension to Paul, Acts ix. 3-5, and to John, Rev. i. 12-17.-The writer of the Wisdom of Solomon, also, in terms nearly similar to the present, describes WISDOM personified, vii. 25. Aπoggora s τε Παντοκρατορος δόξης ειλικρινης-Απαυγασμα φωτος αίδια. σε 4 pure emanation of the Almighty's glory"- -"an ef

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fulgence of eternal light."-And the following sublime passage of Philo is worthy of the evangelical writers— Πρωτον μεν ὁ Θεος φως και 8 μονον φως, αλλα και παντες έτερα φωτος αρχετυπον

то