intended to reveal the supposed fact, it is surely reasonable to believe that he would have expressed himself unambiguously, by saying, for instance, (instead of what he does say in v. 16,) "For he (i.e. Jesus) made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them," as in Acts xiv. 15, we find that he actually said, the LIVING GOD, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them;' (4) The Apostle could not mean to assert that the SERVANT of Jehovah did that which JEHOVAH declares HE HIMSELF did, ALONE, and by HIMSELF. (See p. 167.)

The following considerations, in connexion with those just stated, lead me, without hesitation, to refer these verses to the new or moral creation. (1) The connexion directs to this reference: the whole Epistle respects the blessings and moral effects of the Christian dispensation, and the instrumentality of Jesus Christ in executing the gracious purposes of God. (2) The Apostle by the expression all things in heaven or on earth,' obviously means all persons. He himself uses the same expression in v. 20, in a connexion which necessarily restricts it to persons: and what is said in v. 20, (especially if compared with 2 Cor. v. 17-19, and Eph. ii. 10—18,) renders it exceedingly probable, that the creation spoken of in v. 16, is the moral or new creation. (3) After speaking of the great moral change produced among the Gentiles by the Gospel, (Eph. ii. 10), the Apostle says, ' For we

are his workmanship, created, in (sv) Christ Jesus, to good works.' So also (2 Cor. v. 17.) If any man be in (ε) Christ, he is a new creature.'

Following this plan of interpretation, and employing the Apostle's own words in other parts of his Epistles, particularly of those which were written about the same time, his meaning may probably be correctly represented as follows.

Ver. 14. In whom (i.e. God's beloved Son) we have redemption-the forgiveness of our sins: 15 who is the Image of the invisible God-HIS Representative to mankind, manifesting HIS glorious and gracious perfections, and the Ambassador of his love and mercy; and the First-born of the whole creation-pre-eminent among all who share in the inestimable blessings of the Gospel and partake of its spiritual regeneration, the First-born among many brethren,' and, under God, and by HIS appointment, the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. "For all who by faith in him enter into his universal and everlasting dispensation, are created anew to holiness and blessedness;-both Jews and Gentiles, both those in the usual walks of life, and those who live in the seclusion of state, or who exercise their functions in sacred privacy,* (however exalted their greatness, dominion, dignity, and authority,†)-all who have embraced

* Or, both the living and the dead: see p. 176, Note.

+ Θρόνοι, κυριοτητες, αρχαι, εξουσίαι, thrones, dominions, dignities, authorities, denote persons possessing offices of power, dominion, dignity, or authority, of various ranks, ecclesiastical as well as civil. Thrones need not be confined to sovereigns, but may

the sanctifying privileges of his Gospel have been anew created through him, as the Agent of that Great and Gracious Being who by him hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, and to him as his subjects and peculiar people, zealous of good works. "And he is Lord of all; and in him, as the bond of union, all are united, whatever be their civil or religious distinctions,-for in his all-comprehensive dispensation there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.' 18 And he is the Head of the Church, the Beginning of all its privileges, the First-born from the dead, that in every respect he might have the pre-eminence. 19. For it pleased his God and Father that all the fulness of Gospel blessings should dwell in him, and be conveyed by him; and through him to bring into a state of favour with himself, the whole body of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles; he having, by his last great act of love and obedience, completed the ministry of peace and reconciliation.

20

Such appears to me to be the meaning of the Apostle. The Gospel, he says (v. 23), was preached to every creature under heaven. He had seen the most glorious and blessed effects arising from the diffusion of it: he had himself been the honoured instrument in some of its most illustrious triumphs: and he here speaks of its

justly be referred to the higher subordinate magistrates and judges' -such e.g. as the Roman Proconsuls.

power, and of the high dignity of his exalted Lord, in terms which were calculated to impress the minds of the Colossian Christians with his own just sense of them.

I lay no stress, in a doctrinal point of view, upon my explanations of the separate clauses of the passage: but on one point the evidence appears to me perfectly satisfactory, that it has not, and indeed cannot have, any reference to the original natural creation; and that therefore it must refer to the great change effected in the spiritual condition of mankind, by that dispensation of mercy and 'righteousness and true holiness,' of which Christ was appointed the Mediator by his God and Father ;--a dispensation of which the Apostle himself saw only the commencement, but which he knew, by the prophecies of old, should comprehend in one vast dominion, all people, nations, and languages ;' which he saw there foretold, in the words of Jehovah himself, Behold I create new heavens and a new earth;' and which the spirit of Jesus had taught him would be conducted by his exalted Lord, till that glorious period when GOD shall be ALL IN ALL.'-See Chap. VI. Sect. 3.

Before Dr. S. Clarke called the reference of this passage to the new creation "a very forced sense," he should have carefully compared the phraseology of this Epistle with that of the Epistle to the Ephesians. From the considerations already stated, I feel no hesitation in the conviction, that the reference of it to the original creation is attended not only with difficulties, but with inconsistencies; and that that which this eminent Critic reprobates, though not without difficulties, is perfectly consistent with the Scriptures in general, and accordant with the phraseology of the Apostle.

Heb. i. 2. "By whom also he made the worlds :" di ov kaι TOVS

αιωνας εποιησεν.

Awv, in the New Testament, never signifies the material world, but age or duration of time. The clause has been translated, for whom also he constituted the ages,' meaning that the preceding ages were "intended to prepare the way for the age or dispensation of the Messiah ;" or it may be translated by whom also he constituted the age,' that is "of the Messiah, eminently distinguished for moral and religious advantages."*

Heb. i. 10-12. And, Thou, LORD, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed: but thou art the same; and thy years shall not fail,'

This is a citation from the 102d Psalm, where it is obviously addressed to JEHOVAH, that Being of whom the Author of the Epistle had just spoken (v. 9) as the GOD of Christ. By his preceding citation he had referred to the perpetual sovereignty of the Messiah, and to God as the source of this exalted appointment: he here adduces a passage in which God is addressed as almighty, eternal, and unchangeable, obviously

The latter, which is that of Mr. Simpson, depends on the position, that "in the Hebrew idiom, and agreeably to the prevailing style of this Epistle to the Hebrews, the true signification of avas here is the age, by way of eminence." In one respect it has a great advantage over the other; it does not require the unusual, but not unjustified, force of dia, as signifying on account of, with a genitive. For the authority for the first mentioned interpretation, see Mr. Belsham's Calm Inquiry or his Exposition.