OBSERVATIONS ON THE TWO PRECEDING PAGES. Who can read the many pathetic passages contained in the preceding list, without acknowledging that the Being whom Christ addressed in the language of entreaty, of thankfulness, and submission, was no other than the Creator and Governor of the universe the Jehovah whom he declared to be One, and to be alone absolutely good-the only true God-his God and Father, and the God and Father of all? Who would hesitate to admit, that this Being was distinct from, and superior to the humble, earnest, devout Petitioner? Who can conceive that the addresser and the addressed were in essence one and the same?—that he who repeatedly prayed, "O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," was on a footing of perfect equality with Him to whose will he bowed with entire resignation?— that, in short, he who, in the agony of suffering humanity, cried out, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" was himself the ever-blessed and omnipotent Deity? Catechisms, and creeds, and confessions, may and do recognise such absurdities; but the prayers and the thanksgivings of our divine Master protest against them: his words and his actions— his life and his death-were all directed to the worship and the glory of one Person, the Father. Yes: Jesus Christ, the Righteous, devoted to the service of the One almighty and universal Parent every emotion of the heart-every faculty of the soul-every action of the life: commencing in childhood to perform the business of his Father; making it his daily meat and drink to do the will of his Father; presenting his last benevolent prayer to the same gracious Being-HIS FATHER AND OUR FATHER, HIS God and our GOD. Now, if Christ were himself the infinite Source of all power and happiness, he could not possibly have submitted to the will of another, or have required his assistance or support. Suppose, however, that, in order to exhibit to his disciples merely an example of piety and devotion, he considered it fit to offer up petitions and thanksgivings to the Deity; it would surely not be unreasonable to expect, that the Gospels should contain some allusions to the prayers which he in his human nature presented to his divine, if he possessed these two opposite natures, and he were equally with the Father entitled to religious adoration. But, in all the devotional acts of our Lord, no mention is made of any other object of worship, than the one only God; no ascriptions of praise-no humble acknowledgment of mercies-no prayers-no pious aspirations either to himself, or to an ever-blessed Trinity. So far, indeed, was Jesus from countenancing the worship of two divine persons, called God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, that, in the clearest and most unequivocal manner, he requested his disciples to pray to the Father only. This assertion will be fully borne out by the following passages from the Gospels. F (2) Christ desired Religious Homage to be paid to the Father only. ... 17. Matt. iv. 10: Then saith Jesus, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and Him only shalt thou * serve.-Par. Pas. Luke iv. 8. pay religious service to him alone.-Wakefield. Carpenter (similarly). Compare with Deut. vi. 13; x. 12, 20; xiii. 4. 1 Sam. vii. 3. 18. Matt. v. 16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 19. Matt. vi. 6-13: When thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, PRAY TO THY FATHER, who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. ... Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye: OUR FATHER who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, &c. 20. Matt. vii. 11: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him.-Par. Pas. Luke xi. 13. 21. Matt. xviii. 19: Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. 22. Mark xi. 25, 26: When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, &c. 23. Luke xi. 1, 2: As he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, OUR FATHER who art in heaven, hallowed, &c. say, Father, hallowed (or, sanctified) be thy name.-Griesbach, Eds. of Imp. Ver. 24. John iv. 23: The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for THE FATHER SEEKETH SUCH TO WORSHIP HIM. 25. John xv. 16: Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 26. John xvi. 23-26: In that day YE SHALL ASK ME NOTHING. * Ve rily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. In that day ye will have no need to ask me any thing In that day ye shall request nothing of me See note in following page. Wakefield. Campbell. Smith (similarly). Le Clerc. Gen. 1802 (sim.). The verb Aargauw is used 21 times in the New Testament (and always in the sense of religious service); but never once in reference to Jesus Christ.-Carpenter. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING PAGE. If, by any possibility, the example of Jesus Christ be not sufficient to convince the honest inquirer that the one Jehovah, God, the Father, was the only person or being to whom our Lord presented his prayers and his thanksgivings;-if he come to Jesus himself, and, in the language and spirit of one of his first disciples, address him thus, "Lord, teach me to pray," he will find his Master's peremptory command to be, " When ye pray, say, Our Father-Pray to the Father-Worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him." If he further inquire of Jesus, Shall I present my highest gratitude-the supreme homage of my lips and heart to any besides the Father; his Master will reiterate the sublime behest," Pay religious service to Jehovah alone." If, not satisfied with the express affirmation of Jesus, that prayer and praise are to be offered up only to Him who is the God of the Jews and the universal Father;-if he again draw near to the Saviour, and say, Shall I present my petitions to thee? Shall I request thy personal aid, in the hour of doubt, of difficulty, or of distress?-his divine Master will reply, through the teachings of the Gospel: "Ye shall ask me nothing.-Whatsoever ye shall ASK* THE FATHER in my name, HE WILL GIVE IT YOU.”† * We are told that the first ask, in Greek Egwrnoɛre, signifies to ask questions-and the second, airnonre, to beseech. But the former verb occurs in one or another of its tenses, in numerous places of Scripture, in the sense of praying, entreating, and beseeching. Luke xiv. 18; xvi. 27, I pray.—In John xiv. 16, Christ himself says, I will pray, Egwrnow. No fewer than three times does he use the same verb in the same sense, in John xvii. 9, 15, 20. In Phil. iv. 3, it is rendered, I entreat. Thrice in the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, beseech, I. iv. 1 ; v. 12.—II. ii. 1. In 2 John 5. beseech; and in 1 John v. 16, αTE is translated ask, and Egwraw, pray... Dr. Doddridge's paraphrase runs thus, "When I have sent the Comforter, you shall not inquire any thing of me." But if they were not to inquire, much less, a fortiori, were they to pray to him, as is sufficiently clear from the context; for he immediately subjoins, by a solemn asseveration, that if they would ask, or pray to the Father, in his name, their prayers would be heard.-Drummond. To this passage we might add Rev. xxii. 8—10: "And I John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book: worship God."-See chap. xix. 9, 10. Several eminent Unitarian writers are decidedly of opinion, that the angel, or messenger, who refused worship from St. John was no other than Jesus Christ himself. If this opinion be correct, the proper Unitarian doctrine, of the Father alone being entitled to divine homage, must be considerably strengthened. "The angel," says Dr. Drummond, in his eloquent Essay on the Trinity," before whom John fell down was he who said in the 7th verse, 'Behold I come quickly;' and in the 9th, 'See thou do it not: worship God.'-Again in the 12th verse, we have the same words, 'Behold I come quickly. Was it the same angel who uttered these words, or another? The same, as their very repetition indicates; and in the whole passage there is but one agent who is designated by the pronoun he, and no intimation whatever of any change of persons, or the introduction of any new interlocutor. The same person who says, 'I come quickly' in the 7th and 12th verses, says in the 13th, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last;'-or, in other words, the first-born of the new creation, the author and finisher of our faith; -and in the 16th, 'I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.' It is demonstrated, then, that this Jesus was he who refused the worship of John, and prohibited all worship that is not paid to the Father.” (3) The Angels, and other Attendants on the Birth of Jesus, offered up Praise to One Divine Being distinct from Christ. 27. Luke ii. 13, 14: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good will toward men. 28. Luke ii. 20: And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. 29. Luke ii. 28-32: Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. (4) The Witnesses of Christ's Miracles, and the Objects of his Benevolence, glorified and praised the Being who had conferred on him Divine Power. 30. Matt. ix. 8: When the multitudes saw [it], they marvelled, and glorified God, WHO HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER UNTO MEN.— Par. Pas. Mark ii. 12. Luke v. 26. 31. Matt. xv. 31: The multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32. Luke vii. 16: And 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. 33. Luke xvii. 15-18: And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God; and fell down on [his] face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where [are] the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 34. Luke xviii. 43: And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw [it], gave praise unto God. See chap. v. 25; xiii. 13; xix. 37, 38. 35. John iv. 19-22: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. 36. John xi. 21, 22: Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever THOU WILT ASK OF GOD, God will give [it] thee. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING PAGE. In several of these portions of the evangelical narratives, the term Father does not occur. But, from a consideration of the context, as well as from the general tenor of Scripture, there cannot be any doubt that the Being addressed in the language of praise was considered by the worshippers to be distinct from Jesus Christ, and superior to him. It is scarcely conceivable, that the shepherds who joined the angelic host in praising God for the glorious prospect of universal peace amongst mankind, should have adored, as the infinite Jehovah,-whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain,—that frail and helpless babe which they had just seen lying in a manger. It is incredible, that the witnesses of Christ's miracles, and the recipients of his benevolent energies, who were, like the rest of their countrymen, distinguished for their belief in the unity of the God of Israel,-should have offered up their most ardent gratitude to three divine persons, spiritual, immortal, and unchangeable. It is highly improbable, that the followers of the Lord Jesus, many of whom had observed the profound piety that characterised his words and actions, should have paid religious worship to him who required the assistance of the Sovereign of the universe to conduct him in the trying scenes of his godlike ministry. But all conjecture apart: None of these individuals—if we judge from the gospel histories-ever paid religious worship to the Trinity; not one of them ever adored God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost. Though they had witnessed the most astonishing results of divine power in the miracles of Christ, they never once conceived that the visible agent who performed them was himself the invisible, the eternal, the omnipresent, and omnipotent God. They considered him merely as the Messenger or Prophet of the Most High-as one who could not have done the miracles which he wrought unless God had been with him. Some of the devout Jews did, indeed, thank Jesus for the benevolent exertions of the power which his Father had bestowed on him; others, by falling at his feet, or worshipping him, paid him those marks of respect which were usually given to persons of high authority in Palestine, and other eastern nations: but their religious homage, and their supreme gratitude, they restricted to that Being to whom Christ himself prayed to the one God of Israel, whom they acknowledged as the Source of that "wonderful power" whose effects they had witnessed. That the God of the Jews was he whom Jesus called by the endearing name of Father, we cannot have any reasonable doubt; for our Lord himself has clearly established the fact. "Believe me," said he to the Samaritan woman, "the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: WE KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP; for salvation is of the Jews." |