kingdom of his dear Son, who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of every creature, (or of the whole creation): for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible, and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: (comp. ch. ii, 10; Eph. i, 21. iii, 10. vi, 12; Tit. iii, 1;) all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things, and by him all things consist:" Col. i, 13 -17. What calm and reasonable critic-what plain and unsophisticated reader of Scripture-can admit that the apostle wrote these things of the Son of God, and wrote them by inspiration, and at the same time refuse to confess that the Son of God is JEHOVAH?

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5 Some critics conceive that the creation attributed to the Son of God, in Col. i, 13-17, is the spiritual or new creation: and were this the true meaning of the passage, the deity of Christ would still be a necessary inference from the apostle's doctrine. "Omnia Christus fecit nova," says Grotius (in Eph. iii, 9) " et divinior hæc creatio quam prior illa." That it is the original, and not the new creation, which is here attributed to the Son, appears, however, to be certain, for the following reasons: 1st, Because the verb xri¿w creo, in the great majority of the passages in which it occurs in the Greek Scriptures, (viz. the Septuagint, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament) denotes an actual, physical, formation. 2. Because all things in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, and especially those angelic beings who are here described as Thrones, Principalities, &c. were the subjects of the original, but were not the subjects of the new, creation: comp. Eph. i, 20, 21. iii, 10, &c. 3. Because the doctrine, that God physically created all things by his Word or Son is elsewhere declared in Scripture, (John i, 3; Heb. i, 2;) and (as has been already stated) formed a leading feature in the theology of the Jews, at or near the Christian era. 4. Because the titles here given by the apostle to the Son—πgoróToxos τάσης κτίσεως, the First-begotten of the whole creation, and εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ, the Image of God, were immediately connected with that Jewish theological opinion to which I have now alluded. Thus Philo declares that the Father first raised up (dvéreiλ) the First-begotten (gwróyovov); and that he being begotten, formed species of beings (quógov ion) De Confus. Ling. Ed. 'Mang. tom. i, 414. Again he denominates the creating Word, the Image of God, and says that "as God is the model of the Image (rñs έixóvos), so the Image becomes the model of other things ; De Alleg. lib. iii, Ed. Mang. tom. i, 106. To these considerations may be added that of the apparently universal judgment of the early fathers, most of whom wrote in Greek, and were of course far better acquainted than we are, with the natural and necessary force of the terms of their own language. That these writers were accustomed to interpret this passage as relating to a physical creation, may be ascertained on a reference to Origen, in Johan. tom. ii, cap. 8. Ed. Ben. iv, 67. Athanas. Contra Arian. Orat. iii, Ed. Col. i, 416. Cyril. Hieros. Cateches. xi, de Fil. Unig. 24, Ed. Ben. p. 161. Chrysostom in Johan. Hom. v, al. 4, Ed. Ben. tom. viii, 37. Theodoret, Ecum. Theophyl. in loc. &c.

THE LIGHT AND LIFE OF MEN.

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VI. But the divine operations of the Word in his preexistence, were by no means confined to the work of creation. He was also the spiritual quickener and enlightener of mankind; and more particularly the celestial leader and governor of God's peculiar people. Immediately after declaring the doctrine, that by the Word all things were made, the apostle John (in reference, probably, to the same stage in the history of the Son of God—namely, that of his preexistence) proceeds to say, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men;" (John i, 4;) and in his first epistle, he describes this divine Person as "that ETERNAL LIFE, which was with the Father, and (afterwards) was manifested unto us:" I John i, 2..

It was Christ who (according to the most probable interpretation of I Pet. iii, 18, 19)6 preached, through his prophet Noah, to the sinful antediluvians. It was he whose Spirit, in other ancient prophets, testified beforehand of his sufferings in the flesh, and of the

.....

6* Οτι καὶ Χριςὸς ἅπαξ περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν ἔπαθε . . . . . θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκὶ, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι, κ. τ. λ.

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins

being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached (i. e. simply preached, comp. Eph. ii, 17, vide Macknight in loc.) unto the spirits in prison, (i. e. unto the spirits who are now in prison) which sometimes were disobedient. ... in the days of Noë," &c. There is surely nothing in the construction of this difficult passage which renders it necessary for us to interpret it as conveying the singular and apparently anti-scriptural notion, (comp. Luke xxiii, 43) that Christ after his death descended into the infernal regions, in order to preach to the spirits of the wicked, reserved in prison unto judgment. I conceive that oug in this passage signifies his human nature, in which our Lord suffered death, (comp. John i, 14)—that πveμα (as in Rom i, 4; I Cor. xv, 45;) denotes his divine nature or power (vide Schleusner in voc. no. 10) which could not be holden of death, and by which even his mortal body was raised again to life; (comp. John x, 18;) and that the apostle is here conveying the doctrine, that in this his divine nature and power, Christ (through the instrumentality of Noë, or by an immediate spiritual influence) preached to the rebellious Antediluvians. These rejected his divine teaching, and are therefore now έv puλàxn-in prison. Macknight explains the passage on the same principle; except only that he understands Tuμari as denoting the Holy Spirit-a sense which it can scarcely bear in the present instance, because it is governed by no preposition, and according to the best readings, is preceded by no article: see Middleton in Gr. Art. p. 618; comp. Pearson on the Creed, and Poole's Syn. in loc.

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THE PROTECTOR AND GOVERNOR

glory that should follow: I Pet. i, 11. It was he who as a "spiritual rock" accompanied the Israelites during their perilous journey, and miraculously supplied all their wants: I Cor. x, 4.8 It was he whom they tempted in the wilderness to their own destruc

7 I Pet. i, 10, 11. "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently..... Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow :" vide E. Sim. Ger. in Poli. Syn. "Dicit ergo Spiritus Christi, ut innueret divinitatem Christi, qui ipse jam olim Spiritu suo prophetas afflavit; simulque diceret Spiritum sanctum a Filio procedere.' As "the Spirit of God" uniformly signifies the Spirit which is God's, and which proceeds from God, so we cannot with any reason interpret "the Spirit of Christ" as importing any thing less than the Spirit which was Christ's, and which Christ sent: see Matt. iii, 16; I Pet. iv, 14, &c. More especially compare Rom. viii, 9, where we again read of Tveμa Xgıçoũ, and where the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God are plainly identified.

8 Ι Cor. x, 3, 4. Καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ βρῶμα πνευματικὸν ἔφαγον· καὶ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ πόμα πνευματικὸν ἔπιον· ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτα gas ndè πérga ñv ó Xgisós. “And (they, the Israelites) did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual (or divine) rock which followed them: and that rock was Christ." Many commentators conceive the doctrine of the apostle to be simply this-that the Israelites all partook of the manna with which they were miraculously supplied; that they all partook also of the water which was, by especial divine favour, made to gush out of the rock; and that the rock which afforded them this supply, and which accompanied them on their journey, represented or typified Christ. That the spiritual meat and the spiritual drink here mentioned, were the manna from the sky and the water from the rock, both of which were afforded them veuμarinãs, that is, by a supernatural exertion of the divine power, may, I think, be freely granted, and appears to be generally allowed by critics. But that the spiritual Rock which followed, or rather accompanied, the Israelites, was not the outward rock, I cannot avoid concluding, from two considerations; first, because though the water was miraculously supplied, and was therefore TVEUμarinòv Tóμa, the rock from which it came was, as far as we learn from the Mosaic history, an ordinary rock, and could not therefore reasonably be denominated vɛʊμarínn; and secondly, because neither that rock nor the stream proceeding from it, accompanied the Israelites on their journey. For, although the Rabbins have constructed a tale of that description, no countenance is given to such a notion in the Old Testament; and the contrary is amply evinced by the fact, that the miracle of bringing water out of a rock was repeatedly performed for the benefit of the Israelites, during the course of their journey: vide Exod. xvii, 6; Numb. xx, 5-8; comp. Numb. xxi, 5. 16. xxxiii, 14. What then was the divine or spiritual Rock of which the Israelites drank-from which they received the miraculous supply of all their wants? The apostle answers, "that Rock was Christ." Now, although the verb substantive sometimes denotes only to represent or to typify, (vide Schleusner, v. eiu, no. 13) there does not appear to be any solid reason why should not here be construed in its literal and usual sense of "was." The Divine Being is often metaphorically described as a Rock; (vide Deut. xxxii, 4, &c.;) and Christ-the Son of God-was the spiritual Rock who led, supported, and protected, the journeying Israelites. Such is the interpretation given of this passage, by the great majority of ancient Greek critics and commentators: see for example, Athanasius de hum. nat. suscept. Ed.

OF THE ISRAELITES.

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tion: I Cor. x, 9.9 It was he who selected, governed, and possessed, them as his peculiar people; for it is declared, in apparent reference to the Jews, that when the Son of God came into the world," he came unto HIS OWN:" John i, 11.

Nor can it with any reason be imagined, that such things should be predicated of the Son of God, on any other principle than that of his real divinity; for the ancient Israelites lived under a theocracy, and Jehovah alone was their King. It was his own province to work miracles for their preservation-to punish them for their iniquities-and to inspire their prophecies.

Here I would remark, that if the reader would

Colon. i, 607; Epiphanius, Hær. lib. i, tom. iii, Ed. Petav. i, 358; Gregory Nyssen, De adventu Dom. Ed. Paris, 1638, tom. ii, 162; Chrysostom, Hom xi, Ed. Ben. tom. xii, 397; Theodoret, Theophylact, Ecumenius, Damascenus, in loc. The same view of the passage is ably supported by Rosenmüller, Schol. in loc.

9 Ι Cor. x, 9. Μήδὲ ἐκπειράζωμεν τὸν Χρισὸν, καθὼς καί τινες αὐτῶν ἐπείρασαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλοντο. “ Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted (him) and were destroyed of serpents." It is evident, that the pronoun aurèv is, in the Greek text, understood after the verb Teigaσav, and, therefore, that in an English version of the passage, the pronoun "him" ought to be expressed. A similar construction in Greek is very common; vide, for example, ver. 6, of this very chapter—εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἐπιθυμητὰς κακῶν, καθὼς κᾀκεῖνοι ἐπεθύμησαν; where the pronoun αὔτα, or the noun κάκα, must be supplied after the verb ἐπεθύμησαν: so Luke xxiv, 39. A precisely parallel passage to I Cor. x, 9, will be found in the Septuagint version of Deut. vi, 16, οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ὃν τρόπον ἐξεπειράσαθε ἐν τῷ πειρασμῷ. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted (him) in the provocation." For rov Xgisòv in this passage some authorities read ròv Kúgiov, which does not alter the sense of the passage; for, with the apostle Paul, ò Kúgros is a distinguishing and proper name of Christ; but the evidence in favour of the commonly-received reading greatly preponderates: vide Griesbach. in loc.

1 John i, 10, 11. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own (rà diα) and his own (oi "d101) received him not." Verse 10 may be described as the mould upon which verse 11 is formed. Verse 10 declares that Jesus Christ was in the world, and that although the world was made by him, the world knew him not. In verse 11, this declaration is followed up by the farther but similar statement, that Jesus Christ was manifested in that country whom he had chosen for his own especial inheritance-that he came to that people which he had consecrated as his own possession,-and that even by them he was rejected: vide Rosenmüller in loc. Grotius on this passage observes, "Docent jurisconsulti, id maximè naturaliter nostrum esse, quod nos ut existeret effecimus."

form a complete view of this interesting branch of our subject, it is indispensably necessary that he should peruse and digest the history of that mysterious angel of Jehovah, who is so often mentioned in the history of the Old Testament as visiting, protecting, and delivering, the people of God-the divine messenger, who comforted Hagar in the desert: (Gen. xvi, 7-13;) who conversed with Abraham on the plains of Mamre: (Gen. xviii, 1;) who afterwards, by a call from heaven, arrested his bloody sacrifice: (xxii, 12;) who redeemed Jacob, from all evil: (xlviii, 16;) who spake to Moses out of the burning bush (Exod. iii, 2;) who guided the Hebrews in the cloud by day, and in the pillar of fire by night: (Exod. xiv, 19;) who withstood the perverse and eager Balaam: (Num. xxii, 22-35;) who strengthened Joshua for his combat with the Lord's enemies: (Josh. v, 13;) who was sent of God to expel the idolatrous nations from the land of promise: (Exod. xxiii, 23;) who pleaded at Bochim with the unfaithful Israelites (Jud. ii, 1;) who gave to Gideon his high commission: (vi, 11-12;) who promised to Manoah the birth of his son Samson: (xiii, 8, 9;) who was manifested in the visions, and inspired the prophecies, of Amos and Zechariah: Amos vii, 7; Zech. i, ii.

On the various narrations now alluded to, it may, in the first place, be remarked, that such is the close resemblance which they bear one to another, and such the singular and characteristic features under which they unitedly depict the mysterious messenger of the Almighty, that it is scarcely possible not to understand them as all relating to a single individual.