able passages of Scripture, selected from the books of the Old Testament, and which will serve as a key to explain all others of similar construction. 1. 66 They heard the voice of the LORD GOD walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. iii. 8).—The voice which spake, then, to our first parents in Eden, was that of the Son of God. This conclusion is drawn more from the analogy of Scripture generally, than from any direct proof we can offer. He is emphatically the word and wisdom of God, through, and by whom, all divine communications to man proceed. All that is visible and tangible in Jehovah, from the first creation-state in Paradise until now, must be viewed as embodied and personified in Him who is called the Face, the Wisdom, the Life, the Light, &c.

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2. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?" (Gen. xviii. 17).—The Lord who speaks here is one and the same who appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre (verse 1); and by Moses called Jehovah throughout the narrative (verses 13, 17, 19, and 20); and repeatedly addressed by Abraham as his Lord (Adonai) (verses 27, 30-32); and means the great Angel or Messenger of the covenant, accompanied by two ministering angels, by whom he was to execute the divine judgments upon the devoted cities. This will appear evident from a glance at the whole subject; and the things promised, threatened, and foretold by him, are consonant with omnipotence. same is also called "the Judge of all the earth" (verse 25). It is remarkable that, after the Lord had done communing with Abraham, and "went his way," he sent his two attendant angels direct to destroy Sodom (verse 33). Compare chap. xix. 1, 13.

The

That "the Lord" here is the Son of God, in human or angelic form, acting in concert with the LORD in heaven, in reference to the state of the unhappy cities, will appear still more manifest at Gen. xix. 24— "The LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the LORD out of heaven."

Our Lord, at John iii. 13, speaks of himself upon earth and in heaven at one and the same moment, which obviously implies his two natures, God and man in one person; and his words, by some, have been considered as synonymous with this text. But we prefer referring it to the persons of the eternal Father and eternal Son, as co-workers together in executing the divine wrath and vengeance upon the devoted cities. And Jude intimates (as we believe), that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by Christ (Jude 5, 6, 7).

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3. "I have seen God face to face" (Gen. xxxii. 30).—The same Divine Person whom Jacob here calls God, is before called a man. "There wrestled a man with him" (verse 24). The name is then alternated to God, “As a prince, hast thou power with God;" and then comes the text, "I have seen God face to face." We conclude, therefore, that He who wrestled with Jacob was Christ himself, assuming a tem*porary human form for the occasion, typical of his future incarnation.

4. "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God" (Exod. iii. 6).—The same divine person who is here speaking to Moses, is previously called the angel of the Lord (verse 2), appearing to him in a flame of fire; and yet he now declares himself, by a fourfold reiteration, to be God. We conclude, therefore, that he was the Son of God, the great Angel or Messenger of Jehovah, who “ came

down to deliver his people out of the hands of the Egyptians." And as if to confirm this view, the Saviour of the world, in the days of his flesh, appropriates the very title to himself, made known in this chapter at verse 14, as his own peculiar name, viz., "I AM." Compare John

viii. 58.

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5. Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for MY NAME is in HIM" (Exod. xxiii. 20, 21).-The same who went before the camp of Israel, in the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, and called, "Mine angel" (verse 23). This name, used with such emphasis, is not merely nominal, but implying that God, in his essence (Exod. iii. 13, 14), power, and attributes, were inherently in him, to punish, pardon, and bless, according as the people obeyed or rebelled against him. A striking example of the exercise of this power is seen in frustrating the wicked designs of Balaam. Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before ME (Num. xxii. 32). And again, "The angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak" (verse 35). The passage is strictly applicable to the Son of God, in guiding and conducting the Israelites to the promised land (Gen. xxii. 11, 17, 18).

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6. "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen GOD" (Judges xiii. 22).-The same who throughout the narrative is called the Angel of the Lord. The Godhead of Jehovah fills the heaven of heavens, and consists not of bodily form or parts (1 Kings viii. 27), and no mortal can possibly look upon it. But we can see it reflected in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, God-man, and Mediator of the new covenant, which, though but as a beam from the fountain of light, almost overcame Manoah, as it did the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration.

The like fear of death which came upon this good man, was also felt by Gideon at the presence of the same Angel of God" (Judges vi. 20-23); and the miracle which he wrought by his mystic movements and ascension to heaven, in a flame of fire from off the altar, was to give a manifestation of his divinity to the pious couple who looked on (Judges xiii. 20).

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The word angel signifies a messenger or bringer of tidings, and is properly applied to all those purely spiritual intelligences and messengers who surround the throne of God in heaven, and have never fallen from their pristine holiness. It is also applied to ministers of the gospel, and, in short, to all the messengers and servants of God to man, whether spiritual or human. The Son of God is the Head of all the angelic host, the federal Head of his mystical body the Church (Rev. iv. 10), and the Ruler and Governor of all worlds. He was known to Jacob as Angel who redeemed him from all evil" (Gen. xlviii. 16); appeared to Joshua as the Captain of the host of the Lord (Josh. v. 13-15), whom Joshua worshipped, and before whose mandate the walls of Jericho fell down; was the leader of the six men in Ezekiel, who went forth to set a mark upon the foreheads of all those who wept over the wickedness of Jerusalem (Ezek. ix. 2-4); appeared to Daniel (Dan. x. 5), and descended into the burning furnace in human form, to preserve his three faithful confessors in the midst; when the heathen monarch, overawed

and amazed by the miracle, pronounced him to be "like the Son of God" (Dan. iii. 25) the original, like a Son of the gods.*

We e see, in these several instances, the omnipotent Son of God making himself known in characters of love and mercy to the ancients, before his coming upon earth.

The same important truth is also contained in the writings of the inspired prophets, from which we shall select a few passages, as a key to explain numerous others of similar import, with which their works abound.

7. "There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself; the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear (Is. xlv. 21-23).-That the speaker of these words is the great Messiah, and that they have direct application to him as our Lord, God, Saviour, and object of divine worship, is quite evident, from their being quoted or referred to twice, with that view, by the apostle Paul (Rom. xiv. 10—12; Phil. ii. 10, 11).

8. "Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I

am the first, I also am the last." "And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God" (Isa. xlviii. 12, 16, 17). The Three divine Persons are here introduced in the words, "and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent Me." But that the speaker is Jesus, the Redeemer of Israel, is manifest from the phrase, "the first and the last," twice quoted in one chapter in the Apocalypse as his own name, coupled also with the term, "Alpha and Omega," synonymous with it (Rev. i. 8, 11). The character of Redeemer especially belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ. The above words spoken by him of the divine Trinity are thrice repeated in effect by the prophet Isaiah (see chap. xi, 2; xlii. 1; lxi. 1), and applied by our Lord unto himself as being sent by the Father, and anointed by the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the work of his gracious and beneficent mission upon earth (Luke iv. 18).

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9. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan ; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee " (Zech. iii. 2). The Lord, who spake to Satan, is called, in this and the following chapters throughout, "the Angel of the Lord," and can mean no other than the Son of God, the same who talked with the prophet (chap. ii. 3), and who stood among the myrtle trees (chap. i. 11). The words spoken seem to be a prayer to God the Father, "The Lord (the eternal Father) rebuke thee," &c. The same style of expression is used in a passage already considered. "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;" and by David, Lord said unto my Lord," &c. The subject refers literally to the low estate of the oppressed Hebrews who returned from Babylon, preserved from utter destruction as "a brand plucked out of the fire." The "filthy garments" with which Joshua, the high priest representing the people,

"The

*The phrase accords with the polytheistical ideas of Nebuchadnezzar. Whatever his thoughts were, he was obviously made the special witness of the presence of a divine Deliverer, who could be no other than the Great Angel of the Covenant.

was clothed, pourtray the rags of their captivity, now put away and superseded by an entire change of raiment with the "fair mitre" upon his head, a sign of the restoration of the priesthood, and pardon and forgiveness being granted for all their national delinquency and pollution. The instruction we gain from the vision is, that he who is introduced as "the Lord" is the great Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose divine presence gave virtue and life to all the national and religious polity and institutions of the ancient kingdom of Israel.

10. "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation" (Isa. xxv. 8, 9). This great triumph over death at the general resurrection is recited by Paul as directly the power and attribute of the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish (1 Cor. xv. 54-57). The wiping" away tears from off all faces" in the heavenly state is also applied specially to him (Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 3, 4); and the promise, "the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off the earth," belongs equally to him as the avenger of his own cause, in accordance with which the prayer and earnest supplication of the noble army of martyrs is offered up (Rev. vi. 10). The remainder of the text, "This is our God," &c., has always been interpreted, not only by Christian, but by eminent Jewish historians, as prophetic of the Messiah and his great salvation. The like observations apply to other similar Scriptures, "Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you" (Isa. xxxv. 4). "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple" (Mal. iii. 1; see also Matt. iii. 3).

From all these remarkable texts one great truth presents itself to our notice, viz., that Jesus, in his eternal and gracious purposes to man, was the theme and glory of all the prophets, priests, and patriarchs of the Old Testament Church; and what they said prospectively we have seen actually accomplished by our adorable Redeemer; and the same observation applies to his apostles and evangelists, whose works were all directed to the same end.

No truth of the Bible is more clearly revealed than that Jesus is by nature the Son of God, infinitely superior to any mere creature, men, angels, and archangels, none of whom were ever called Sons of God in the same sense as he (John i. 34; x. 36; Heb. i. 8). Moreover, he is of the same nature and substance consubstantial with the eternal Father, called "the only-begotten Son of the Father," being the begotten of the Father, by eternal, ineffable generation. The term only-begotten, μovoyɛvovs is never applied in any single instance to those called sons of God by adoption, creation, nor any temporal nor spiritual dignity whatever (Psa. ii. 7; John i. 14, 18; iii. 16, 18; Heb. i. 5; v. 5; 1 John iv. 9). The great theme of the ministry of our Lord and his apostles was to proclaim his proper divine Sonship. This it was that caused the devil to try to tempt him to an act of presumption (Matt. iv. 3; xxvii. 40; Luke iv. 3, 9), and the apostate Jews to prefer a charge of blasphemy against him, for which they sought to stone him (John x. 33), and conspired to put him to death (Luke xxii. 70, 71).

We shall now make up the perfect and complete proof of the true

Deity of the eternal Son of God, by referring to or introducing an assemblage of scriptural sentences, briefly and promiscuously put together for the consideration of the reader, who can make his own comments and conclusions concerning them.

"Prince

His several divine names and appellations prove indisputably this great truth, viz., Son of God-Son of Man-Messiah-Anointed, or Christ of God. Jesus, or Saviour, given him by the angel. The Word of God. The Wisdom of God in the bosom of the Father from everlasting (Prov. viii. 22, 23). "That eternal life, which was with the Father," &c. (1 John i. 2). "The Word of life" (1 John i. 1). Our divine Lord; the word Lord being emphatically applied by all Christians as his common name. The God of Israel (Luke i. 16). The Lord of Hosts (Isa. viii. 13, 14, compare with 1 Pet. ii. 8). "King of Kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. vi. 15; Rev. xix. 16). of princes" (Dan. viii. 25). "First and last" (Rev. i. 17). 66 Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending" (Rev. i. 8 ; xxii. 13). "God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. iii. 16). "The Lord God of the holy prophets" (Rev. xxii. 6). "The most high God" (Ps. lxxviii. 56, with 1 Cor. x. 9). "God and our Saviour" (2 Pet. i. 1). "God our Saviour" (Tit. i. 3). "Lord God and Saviour" (2 Pet. iii. 18, with Is. xliii. 3). "The only wise God our Saviour' (Jude 24, 25). hovah our Righteousness (Jer. xxiii. 6). "The Lord of glory (1 Cor. ii. 8). "The true God and eternal life" (1 John v. 20). mighty God and everlasting Father" of his Church (Isa. ix. 6). "The great God and our Saviour (Titus ii. 13).* "God over all, blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 5). "The Almighty" (Rev. i. 8). Creator (John i. 3); Upholder (Heb. i. 3); and Conservator of the universe (Col. i. 17; Heb. iii. 4); Redeemer (Heb. ix. 12); Mediator (1 Tim. ii. 5); Intercessor (Heb. vii. 25); Prophet (Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19); Priest (Heb. v. 6); and King (Rev. xv. 3); Maker and Husband (Isa. liv. 5); Root and Offspring of David (Rev. xxii. 16); Shepherd (Heb. xiii. 20); Bishop of souls (1 Pet. ii. 25).

"Je

"The

His divine attributes and powers prove him to be truly God. Omnipotence (Col. i. 17); unchangeableness (Ps. cii. 24-27; Heb. i. 10-12); self-existence (John i. 1, 4; v. 26); eternity (Prov. viii. 23; Micah v. 2; Heb. i. 8); omniscience (John xxi. 17); omnipresence (Matt. xxviii. 20); giver of eternal life (John xvii, 2); discerner of the inmost thoughts (John ii. 24); Judge of the quick and the dead (Matt. xxv. 31–46); miraculous power inherent in him (Matt. ix. 6; Acts ix. 34)); "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever" (Heb. xiii. 8).

His divine and human natures prove him to be truly God as well as man. JEHOVAH'S fellow, or equal (Zech. xiii. 7), and man's fellow, or equal (Eph. v. 30; Heb. i. 9); "thought it not robbery to be equal with God;"" and took upon himself the form of a servant" (Phil. ii. 6-8); God as much as the eternal Father is God (John v. 18); and man in all respects like ourselves (Heb. ii. 17); " Emmanuel, God with us," in our nature (Matt. i. 23; the Lord (Jehovah) who was pierced by the Jews (Zech. xii. 10); John xix. 34); the only visible personification of the divine nature (Col. ii. 9).

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This text properly belongs to Christ, because it speaks of "that blessed hope and his "glorious appearing;" and he is truly our hope; and God the Father cannot be said to appear.