ing this subject does not adequately meet its conditions. His words are, "this glorious being was with God the Father" (St. John says, "God" absolutely), "for no man hath seen him at any time. But he is declared to be Jehovah and God. Are we not compelled to acknowledge that he was the divine Word, the Son, the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of His person? Therefore the Word is Jehovah, God."

ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY.

In proof that Christ, as well as the Father, is eternal, Mr. Bickersteth quotes first Micah v. 2. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Noyes translates the original, "Out of thee (Bethlehem-Ephratah) shall come forth for me a ruler of Israel whose origin is from the ancient age, from the days of old." Newcome has it, "of old, from the days of hidden ages." Parkhurst says seems to be much more frequently used for an indefinite than for infinite time (Heb. Lex. v. D)." The same word occurs in Isa. xxiii. 7, with regard to Tyre, "Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days?” In the original,

עולם Or עלם 6

• ...

different forms of the same word are used for " come forth" and "going forth."* going forth." The interpretation of the passage has been various-some regarding it as having reference to Christ pre-existing as the Logos, others to displays of power in ages long past, others to the antiquity of the race of David, and a fourth

* The word translated "goings forth " is derived from the verb rendered "shall come out of thee," in Gen. xvii. 6.

class would express the meaning by some such paraphrase as "whose birth has been determined or appointed of old." Whichever of these interpretations the reader may choose, he will find that the ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is spoken of, "shall stand and rule in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of Jehovah his God." Vide ver. 4 of the

same chapter.

The next proof is that the Word was in the beginning with God. According to the interpretation already given of the proem to St. John's gospel, it would seem that in the beginning the Logos, or that by which God manifests Himself, was with God. We are not to think of God as remaining for long ages inoperative and solitary. But in what relation the Logos stood to Christ before the Word became flesh is, I believe, not revealed. At all events, while the idea of the Logos, as the first-begotten of God, was entertained by Philo and the more orthodox of the ante-Nicene fathers, they did not maintain that the two were co-equal. (Vide note, p. 65).

Philo calls goodness the most ancient of God's qualities, wisdom older than the universe, Logos the assessor of God prior to all creation, a needful companion of Deity, as the joint originator with Him of all things, the most ancient Son of God, firstbegotten, the most ancient angel, an archangel of various titles.

I proceed to the expressions, "Alpha and Omega,” "First and Last." These words in Rev. i. 11, are not referred to, because upon strong evidence they are omitted by Griesbach; but ver. 8 is not quoted by

It

Mr. Bickersteth with Griesbach's corrections. should be, "I am Alpha and Omega,* saith the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Here we think the Supreme Being is referred to. "Since the description," says J. J. Gurney, "which is, and which was, and which is to come,' is the same as that by which, almost immediately before, the Father is characterized, and distinguished from the Spirit and the Son, it must, I think, be allowed (especially if Griesbach's text be taken for our guide), that these are the words of God, even the Father." (Biblical Notes, pp. 85, 86.) With regard to the remaining instance (xxii. 13) it is a subject on which there has been great diversity of opinion. Those who have, regarded the Holy Scriptures as distinctly revealing that the Father is the only true God have upheld one of the following views-1. In the New Testament a spiritual creation, of which Christ is head, is spoken of in language borrowed largely from that of the Old Testament in reference to the material creation; and, accordingly, the words "Alpha and Omega, first and last," are applied to Christ as the author and finisher of our faith. Some Trinitarian expositors have given countenance to this theory. "Under Heb. xiii. 8," Dr. John Owen says, "He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginner and finisher of our faith." And Dr. Pye Smith says, "He "He is the author, the effective agent, and the end of the scheme of providential government with relation to the church,

* Griesbach omits the clause, "the beginning and the ending," and adds "God" after Lord.

which forms the subject of this prophetic book;" but in order to be this, Dr. P. Smith thinks he must be God. 2. Another view held by Unitarians is, that in this passage the angel speaks in the name of God Himself. In such writings as the Apocalypse the transition from what is said in one name to what is said in another has frequently only the substance to indicate it. In Deut. xxix. 2, 6, we read, "I, Moses, have led you forty years in the wilderness; ... that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." See also Deut. xi. 13-15, etc.

So in the present instance the angel is speaking to John, Rev. xxii. 8-11, and in 9 refuses to receive worship from him, bidding him to worship God; and then we have, without anything to indicate transition, "And behold I come quickly. . . . I am Alpha and Omega," etc.

Nor have Trinitarians escaped difference in this intricate and difficult passage; for while Dr. P. Smith and many others think that undoubtedly Christ, as God the Son, was the speaker, Hengstenberg says, "the speaker here, as in i. 8, is simply God in the undistinguished unity of His being, or God in Christ." On i. 8, he says, "the speaker is not Christ, but neither is it God the Father in contrast to Christ, but God in the undivided oneness of His being, without respect to the difference of persons."

For myself, I incline to believe that the key to a true interpretation here, as in many other controverted passages, is the recognition of the grand central truth of divine revelation that God came, in

F

or by Christ, and was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. By "behold, I come quickly,” I believe was meant that God would come in Christ; and thus the coming might be spoken of both as God's coming and Christ's coming, just as when our Lord raised the widow's son at Nain "there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited His people," Luke vii. 16. By "I am Alpha and Omega,” I understand God's unconditional supremacy over the world. With regard to whether Christ existed from eternity, all we can say is, that he refers his life, as everything else, to his Father, as its source. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me," John vi. 17. "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself," John v. 26. "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father," John x. 18. If I am compelled to think of this subject metaphysically, I know not how to resist the reasoning of Watts, who says, "it belongs to the very nature of a Father (used in reference to the Godhead), to be selfexistent and underived, and it belongs as much to the nature of a son, not to be self-existent, but to be

* It is true Jesus Christ speaks of himself in two instances as "first and last," but in both instances in connection with his death and resurrection. Amidst many differences in exegesis on these words, I think the meaning is to this effect: "As I am head of the kingdom of God, so I shall continue to be to the end; though I was dead, yet I am living and shall live for evermore."