is, "God SAID, Let there be, &c." He made every thing by his word; that is, not by any intermediate instruments or organs, but by his mere command or word spoken. And the creative power communicated through the word spoken was his own power. This is confirmed and illustrated by many passages of the holy scriptures. Ps. xxxiii. 6. "By the WORD of the Lord were the heavens made." v. 9. "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. cxlviii. 5. "He commanded, and they were created." "The word of the Lord came unto Hosea," (Hos. i. 1) and "The Lord said to Hosea" (v. 2.) are equivalent expressions. In like manner, "God SAID, Let there be light, and there was light," and, "God created the light by his word," express the same meaning. The efficiency of the word, spoken of as a personal existence,* are perceived from the following citations. Isa. Iv. 11. "So shall my word be, that goeth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, &c." Ps. cvii. 20. "He sent his word and healed them." Isa. ix. 8. "The Lord sent a word unto Jacob, and it lighted upon Israel."

The mode of speaking now taken notice of is owing to the genius of the Hebrew language, and does not arise from the nature of the subject treated of; for the same idiom is adopted on a great variety of occasions, and in relation to widely different objects. I think it here necessary to exemplify and illustrate this idiom considerably in detail, in order that the reader may more

fully perceive the ground and propriety of the explication, which has been given.

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Ps. xxxiii. 6. "And all the host of them [were made] by the breath of his mouth." Ps. cxv. 5. "For they are all the work of his hands." Job xxvi. 13. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." Isa. i. 20. "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Exod. xxxiii. 14. 66 My presence shall go with thee:" that is, "I will go with thee." v. 19. "I will make all my goodness to pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." v. 20. "And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see Me, and live." 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. 3. "The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue: the God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me." Isa. xi. 2. "And the spirit of the

the spirit of wisdom and

Lord shall rest upon him, understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of the fear and knowledge of the Lord." Deut. xxx. 8. "And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord." Ps. xxix. 2. 3. 5. 8. "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters......... The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon......... The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh." Isa. i. 14. "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto

A

Me." Act. vii. 30-32. "And when forty years expired there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him- I am the God of thy fathers, &c." See the corresponding history in Exod. iii. 2-6. See also Gen. xlviii. 16. xxvi. 11. 13-The name of the Lord, or of God, in particular, often idiomatically occurs. Deut. xxviii. 58. "That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God." Ps. xx. 1. "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name Jacob of the God of Israel defend thee." Dan. ii. 20. “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever." 1 Tim. vi. 1. "That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." This idiom is used in the New Testament. in speaking of Christ, and even of Paul. Act. xvi. 9. “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." 1 Cor. i. 13. "Were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" It may be observed that in 1 King. xiii. 6. "The face of the Lord thy God," is used twice in the Hebrew ; but in the latter instance it is only "the Lord" in the common version. Again, 2 King. xiii. 4. "The face of the Lord" in the original is translated in our version only "the Lord.”

The scriptures of the Old Testament every where abound with examples of phraseology analogous to the above, which unfolds the genius of the Hebrew language; and a careful attention to this phraseology is indispensable to the correct interpretation of much of the

language of the Christian scriptures; because, though written in Greek, they closely imitate the Hebrew idioms and turns of expression. And for this reason, the word of the Lord, the name, the spirit, the mouth, the presence, the soul, the face, the hand, &c. of the Lord, are in numerous instances used for God himself; and they have not, to my knowledge, been misinterpreted, except for giving an unavailing support to the unscriptural doctrines of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ.* I therefore think that we are fully authorized to maintain the justness and truth of the explication offered— that the word of God means God himself, when it is used in a connection necessarily implying the actual exertion of divine power, or some specific act of God. The word of God, when it commanded the creation into existence, was God. The word of God is the fiat of the Almighty effecting his purposes, whether in creation, providence, or the revelation of his will to men for their salvation.†

It was affirmed in the preface, that there is in the New Testament no instance of the expression in question [oyos] being used as a personal title or name for Jesus Christ, equivalent for instance to Jesus, or Christ, or even to Messiah, or Son of God, (which are rather official than proper names.) If λoyos, the word, be the most appropriate title for designating the godhead of the second person; if it be the most favourite name in modern times for denoting his proper deity, and the only one which bears that import exclusively, it must

See Appendix, Note II.

+ Ibid, Note III.

appear very surprising that it is never incontrovertibly used in that sense by the sacred writers; and, even if that point were conceded, only two or three times by one of them. The word hoyos occurs in instances innumerable; but where is it incontestibly used for God the Son, for the second person in the Trinity, or even for Christ in any capacity as a personal name or title? Are any personal actions which Christ performed, any sayings which he spoke, any extraordinary attainments which he possessed, ascribed to him as the λoyos? In Justin Martyr, and many subsequent writers, the personal character and existence of the 20yos ARE clearly expressed and maintained. This change in the meaning and use of the word 20yos in them is most clear and incontrovertible. Its use in them must strike every attentive reader as a manifest departure from the usage of the New Testament. It was, however, continued with resolute perseverance until the Athanasian doctrine supplanted the Arian. Then the change in the doctrine was followed by a corresponding change in the language. In both the systems, indeed, the term λoyos was applied personally to Christ, in the Arian, as to a subordinate God, in the Athanasian, as to God the Son, in every sense equal to the Father. But I particularly insist upon THE FACT, that the appropriation of hoyos to Jesus Christ, as a personal title, is not authorized either by the writers of the New Testament, or any Christian writer before Justin.

It is not improper here to notice, that the terms word, and words [20yos, hojos, 'gnua, gnuara] often with the explanatory addition annexed-" of God, of truth, of