665 which proceeded from some secret, unknown cause, was, in the popular language, said to proceed from the agency of an angel." "Who having received the law by the disposition of angels,' &c. (Acts vii. 53.) "It [the law] was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator." (Gal. iii. 19.) These angels, in the first instance, are said to be "Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and the succession of prophets in the Jewish church." In the second instance, Moses is represented as the mediator; and "the angels are the loud sounds, the cloud, the fire, the quaking of the mountain, and the voice by which Jehovah gave his commands." The apostle speaks of our Saviour as "being made much better than the angels," &c. "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son," &c. "Let all the angels of God worship him." (Heb. i. 4-6.) These angels are represented as the preceding prophets, Moses, David, Solomon, &c.-"Of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." (verse 7.) Angels here are thought, "beyond doubt," to signify the winds." Are not they [the angels] all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (verse 14.) Here again the angels are represented as "the former prophets." The prophets are also said to be the angels spoken of by Peter, when he affirms, "Into which things the angels desired to look." (1 Pet. i. 12.)—Angels, in other parts of this commentary, are made to signify, " armies," p. 40; "human messengers," p. 236; "servants," p. 495; rulers and teachers in the Jewish church," p. 427 ; &c. 7. We find, in these Annotations, a very singular and suspicious interpretation of certain passages which relate to the general judgement. Take the following as examples. "It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgement, than for you." (Mat. xi. 22.) Here, and in the many parallel passages, there is said not to be "the least reference to the day of general judgement," but only to the calamities which were coming on the Jewish nation. pp. 20, 68, 104. Speaking of the declarations, that "the saints shall judge the world," and "judge angels," (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3,) and "of Christ's putting some on his left hand, and others on his right," it is said, "All this is figurative language." "What it is that is to be understood by it, we cannot at present know." p. 341. As has been observed already, "the judgement of the great day," to which the fallen angels are reserved "in everlasting chains under darkness," is interpreted to mean "the day of the plague," in which the spies, who brought back an evil report of Canaan, were destroyed.* (See Numb. xiv. 36, 37.) * Many of our readers will recollect an article lately published in the Christian Examiner, (vol. v. p. 443.) one object of which was to show, that "judgement is something which takes place in each one's own soul;" that "there is no outward mode 8. We may note, further, the singular interpretation given in this work of many passages which speak of salvation and heaven. "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?" (Luke xiii. 23.) This question is represented as not relating to eternal salvation," but to deliverance from "the destruction impending over Jerusalem." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.) The salvation spoken of in this verse is said to be, not eternal salvation, but "healing," or "restoration to soundness." "What must I do to be saved ?" (Acts xvi. 30.) This question of the jailer is supposed to "refer entirely to his personal security with his superiors, about which he was naturally concerned, upon awaking in alarm," and finding the doors open. * "If the righteous scarcely be saved," &c. (1 Peter iv. 18.) The meaning of this is said to be, "If the believing Jews shall with difficulty escape the destruction of their city." 66 Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." (Luke x. 20.) Heaven here is thought to signify, not heaven, but “a state of peculiar privileges and means, which the disciples would not forfeit without great folly and guilt."--In various places in this commentary, heaven is made to signify "the Jewish church;" "the whole body of believers," the general community of Christians, &c. See pp. 428, 448. 9. There are many passages of Scripture, not falling under either of the preceding heads, the interpretation of which in the work before us is so very singular, and in several instances so ridiculous, that we cannot forbear to notice them. Of the temptation of our Saviour, (Mat. iv. 1-11.) the following account, we are told, "has been preferred by most rational Christians." "This narrative imports simply, an internal or mental conflict. Jesus, emaciated in body, as from his severe and abstemious living, he may well be supposed; pondering on the late extraordinary scene (at his baptism); his thoughts, in consequence, anxiously turned to the future; his mind tends not unnaturally, under the influence of a solitude so deep, silent, and romantic, to doubt and despondence. Thus circumstanced, the obstacles and trials with which he would have to contend, and doubts as to the evidence of his own Messiahship!! spread themselves out in formidable array before his mind, which after the Jewish modes of thought and expression, are described by an adversary coming and making to him successive propositions. The faith and piety of Jesus, though severely exercised, surmounted these trials, and they, who were to succeed him as preachers of his religion, were taught under this parable, a lesson of constancy, and of confidence in God." p. 7. "The world was made by him, and the world knew him not." (John i. 10.) The world that was made by Christ is represented or form to it" that "this spiritual judgement takes place, in a measure, and perhaps very often, in the present world ;" and that "the last day, spoken of in the Scriptures, is the last day of each individual's mortal life." Consequently, the apostle directed him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might be saved-from the displeasure of his superiors!! as the new creation, new and holy creatures, who are made such through the influence of his doctrines. But this "world knew him not." Is it true, then, that those, who are new created in Christ Jesus, do not know him!! It is represented in this commentary, that Christ did not "continue all night in prayer to God," (Luke vi. 12.) but only that he tarried all night "in an oratory" that the "one thing needful," (Luke x. 42.) means "one dish only for my refreshment;" that the crowing of the cock, which aroused the backslidden Peter, was not the crowing of a cock, but the sound of a trumpet," p. 132; that the declaration, " by one man's disobedience many were made sinners," (Rom. v. 19.) only means, that many were "brought into a state of mortality;" that the Rock in the wilderness, which the apostle says "was Christ," (1 Cor. x. 4.) was not Christ, but "Moses;" that "this present evil world," (Gal. i. 4.) means "the bondage of the Mosaic economy;" that "the reproach of Christ," which Moses preferred to "the treasures in Egypt," (Heb. xi. 26.) was not the reproach of Christ, but "of the anointed people;" that "the spirit of Christ," which moved the ancient prophets, (1 Pet. i. 11.) was not the spirit of Christ, but only a "prophetical spirit;" and that the Lord who bought" even those that deny him, (2 Pet. ii. 1.) is not Jesus Christ, but the Father. Several of the interpretations in the work before us, if divested of their set phraseology, and exhibited distinctly to the mind, become the merest truisms. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Mat. xviii. 3.) The meaning of this, we are told, is, "Unless ye be changed in your views and notions, ye cannot become my followers." But the being "converted," or "changed," in the sense here intended, is actually to commence following Christ. The sense put upon the passage is therefore this, Unless ye become the followers of Christ, ye cannot become his followers'!! "In the beginning was the Word." (John i. 1.) "The Word," here, is 'allowed to signify Christ; and "by the phrase, In the beginning, is meant " the beginning "of the ministry of Christ." The following, then, is the sense of the passage; 'In the beginning of Christ's ministry, Christ was;' or Christ actually existed when his public ministry commenced'!! "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts ii. 47.) "The salvation in this text" is interpreted to mean, the mere "admission, by baptism upon faith and repen tance, to the Christian society," or church. Consequently, the declaration in the passage amounts to no more than this: The 'Lord added to the church daily such as were added to the church'!! In quoting from these Annotations, we have given what is published with approbation in the work, as the sentiment of the work, without specifying the different authors from whom Mr. D. has selected his explanations. We have been obliged in some instances to abbreviate, but have endeavored to give the true sense of passages, and to represent them fairly. Our object has been to expose, rather than refute, the interpretations on which we have remarked. Indeed, it would be idle to attempt refuting them. We might as well refute the theology of the Iliad, or of the sixth book of Virgil. The impression, and the permanent effect, produced by this publication, will be different, upon different classes of readers. Some, into whose hands it may fall, will, doubtless, be shocked by it. As they read, they will exclaim, 'Is this then Unitarianismwith its lofty pretensions, and with all its boasted respect for the Bible! Is this the system which has been palmed upon these churches, in place of the holy religion of the Pilgrims! No atoning Saviour, no sanctifying Spirit, no soul separate from the body, no world of spirits, and no Bible of intelligible meaning; what is there left to us which is worth our keeping? And why should we adhere to a system thus empty, negative, and lifeless?" The effect of the work upon other minds will be, to break whatever hold religion has had upon them, free them more entirely from restraint, and make them the victims of a cold and cheerless skepticism. If this man may put such strange and whimsical interpretations upon the Bible, another may put others equally strange, and who can determine anything about it? And why should we trouble our hearts concerning that, about which we must be in endless uncertainty? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' There is indeed a class, who will be pleased with this work; who will consider it an advance, as it really is, upon the speculations, or rather the disclosures, of rational Christians in this country; and who will echo back the commendations which leading Unitarians have already passed upon it: "We have no hesitation in saying, that there is not another volume in the English language, of the same size, from which the unlearned student of this portion of the sacred writings can derive so valuable assistance in his biblical inquiries."* The religious disputes which agitate this part of the country have already come to the point, where it was long ago predicted they must come, 'Is the Bible the word of God? And, in its plain obvious meaning, is it to be received, or not? If these questions are to be answered in the affirmative, Orthodox Christians desire no more. But if they shall be decided in the negative, leading Unitarians will have gained their object. If the Bible is the word of God, and if all which it plainly teaches respecting * Christian Register. the Father, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and angels, and devils, and the souls of men, and the world of spirits, and the endless rewards and punishments of the future state, is to be received as truth; then is Orthodoxy established. But if the Bible is to be formally rejected, or (what amounts to the same) if it is to be interpreted, much as we interpret the Greek and Latin poets, making all due allowance for its fictions, its machinery, of angels, demons, and spiritual beings-for the ignorance and prejudices of the writers, and their prudent accommodations to the superstitions of the times;*-if the Bible is to be regarded and treated in this way; then-in the wreck of our precious religious institutions, our Sabbaths, our Gospel, and our everlasting hopes-Unitarianism and infidelity may prevail. A question of greater interest and importance never was submitted to this, or any people. Our hope is in the God of our fathersthat his care for the vine which he hath planted in this wilderness will be continued, and that he will not suffer it to be rooted up. SELECTIONS. THE EXPERIMENT TRIED; or the Effects of Unitarian NEAR the beginning of the last century, more than a hundred years ago, Arianism first made its appearance among the English Dissenters, particularly the Presbyterians. It commenced with Messrs. Pierce and Hallet at Exeter, and was the occasion of the Salter's Hall controversy at London, as explained in the last number of the Spirit of the Pilgrims, p. 588. As Unitarianism in this country, at least avowed Unitarianism, is of comparatively recent origin, it has not yet had sufficient opportunity to produce its legitimate effects. But in England, the experiment has been tried, and the result is witnessed. And as facts are worth so much more than theories, it is proposed to make our readers acquainted with this result.-The following extracts are from the third and fourth volumes of Bogue and Bennett's History of Dissenters, a work which we sincerely wish might be re-printed and circulated in this country." The Second Period" embraced in this History, extends " from the death of Queen Anne to the accession of George III." "Before the conclusion of this period," say the authors, “ Arianism was not only embraced, but openly acknowledged by not a * Mr. D. supposes it not inconsistent with the inspiration of the apostles, that their writings contain unfounded opinions and mistakes; since their inspiration "secured them from error ONLY on what belonged to the system of Christian doctrine." p. 322. What if they did believe that the second coming of Christ was near at hand; or in the existence of angels, demons, and disembodied souls; or in various other superstitious notions; these do not "belong to the system of Christian doctrine." And who can tell, without a new revelation, what does belong to it, and what not? |