testably used in the sense of swearing,'' of taking 'an oath,' under the penalty of a' curse,'—or,' of engaging under a curse,' as Archdeacon Sharp and his associates are constrained to admit, it must follow, that Alem,' active and plural, must signify engagers; and that Alue, passive and singular, must signify one engaged,' &c.

That I am not furnished with equal authorities from Scripture, how and where to apply Alue, in this sense, as I have shewn myself to be furnished with, for the sense and application of the word Adoni, I am not in the least afraid to acknowledge, while allowed to call in the aid of a Commentator sufficiently qualified for the task of cnabling me to give to the word Alue,' the same restrictive application, which I have been enabled to give to the word Adoni.' That clear and boldly decisive text of St Paul, for which he produces authority, gives me both the explication and the application of the title Alue;' and, to rest satisfied with what an inspired apostle has declared, can never be to my discredit, or to the discredit of the Christian reader. Christ,' saith St Paul, hath redeemed us from the CURSE of the law, being MADE A CURSE (naraça execratio) for us: For it is written,

• Cursed is every one, that hangeth on a tree'.

I am not ignorant of the shifts and subterfuges

to

Gal. iii. 13.

to which some have resorted, to deprive the christian scheme of this gracious title Alue;' and to make of it any thing, or nothing, rather than admit, that the aτapa' of St Paul is, at the greatest distance, signified by it, or included in it. It is certain, from the tenour of St Paul's reasoning, that our redemption does, in deed, and in truth, depend upon the curse' being laid on him, whom • Jehovah had made strong for himself.' • Let thy

hand be upon him, the man of thy right hand, the 'Son of Man,' exclaims the Psalmist'; in the very terms in which he had invoked Jehovah' when he 'saw the angel, that smote the people,' &c. LET TIIY HAND be against me, and against my Father's house That Christ bore this curse,' the original and legal curse,' pronounced against sin, and bore it for mankind at large, who would have sunk under the insupportable weight of it, is current scriptural doctrine, as well as the positive and explicit affirmation of St Paul, and has been the faith and hope of christians in all ages. And what a delightful reflection is it to think, that this our great Aluc, he who was made a curse for us,' is introduced, by his evangelist, as opening his mouth, on his entrance into his public ministry on earth, with BLESSING.' Nothing indeed but benediction, through the whole course of his ministry, is found

to

1 Psalm 1xxx. 17.

2 2 Sam. xxiv. 17.-" Whose Son is Christ? They say unto him, "The Son of David."

to proceed from his gracious lips. For, until the consummation of all things, when he shall divest himself of the character of Alue,' the Son of God forbears from pronouncing a malediction even on his enemies. Then indeed the case will be altered, when. sitting on the throne of his glory', and having addressed those on his right hand, with a 'Come ye blessed,' he shall at last throw off the naraga,' from himself to those who would not accept a release from it at his hand, pronouncing their awful doom, in that dreadful sentence,

Depart from me, ye cursed,' &c. This at once fixes their doom, or determines its duration; as, according to the christian plan, there can be no restoration to favour, but by Christ; and, from him, from his presence and protection, the cursed on the left hand are to be banished for ever.

The import of the word. Alue,' here contended for, (and I call upon the gainsayers of that import, to produce authorities equally strong for any other), were it properly recognized, and kept in view, would discover to us, in those passages where the word occurs, a particular beauty and emphasis, which the idea assigned to the word GOD,' must of necessity conceal, and, in some cases, wholly destroy. This may be proved from the following example, selected out of many. In that rapturous song of the prophet Habakkuk, upon Sigionoth, we

read

St Matth. xxv. 24. to the end.

read-' God came from Teman, and the holy one • from mount Paran :' the original words are

-literally in our language מתימן יבוא וקדוש מהר פארן

* Alue will come ('nğ↔, LXX. veniet, Latin) from

the right hand, and the sanctified One from the The Alue in the first

'mount of splendour '.'

clause of the sentence is the quedush in the second clause, and' is a title which belongs peculiarly to Christ. While the prophet's declaration being expressed in the future tense will come,'

,אלוה קדוש * must point to the second coming of the

⚫ who now sitteth at the right hand of God, in the

glory of the Father'

This connected view of the words, used by Habakkuk, I find particularly noticed by the learned Witsius, who says, that, by that very curse, of 'which the cross was the symbol, Christ was sanctified". And he quotes a Cloppenburgius to the following effect: In this lay the mystery of expiation, that by a curse, the victims were consecrated; ' for it was necessary to devote them to a curse, for obtaining a blessing from heaven upon them and 'so Christ made expiation for us, by being made a curse, when he sanctified himself for us, and was,

by the Father, sanctified thro' sufferings.' Both these writers lived prior to the time of the contest about the meaning of the terms ' and '

2 St John x. 36. and xvii. 19.

■ Habak. iii. 3.

3 Witsii Miscel. vol. 1. p. 509.

4 Heb. ii. 10.

י אלוה

These,

This, in so far, may serve to rid my interpretation of the charge of novelty; and evidently shews, that St Paul's example was, by them, considered as warrant sufficient to justify their adoption of both his sentiment and mode of expression; which, although Dr Sharp, and the writers on his side, pretend to shudder at, I, for my own part, and I hope many a good christian with me, rejoice in them, as the sure foundation of all our comfort.

LETTER XVIII.

HAVING now shewn, that, according to the uniform style of the Old Testament in "JEHOVAH "ALEIM," (the two most frequent designations of Deity-the first of nature, and the other of office), there is One, to whom Scripture assigns other two titles, or words of designation, peculiarly restrictive to him- ADONI' Lord, and ALUE' God; and that, by the New Testament appeal to the Old Testament record, this One is our CHRIST,' it will be allowed, I hope, that according to the christian scheme,

A a