sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last: (a parallel assertion to that contained in Isa. xliv. 6: Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts, I am the first and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.) I am He (the Redeemer) that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more. Amen."* (Rev. i. 12-18.) "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the begining of the creation of God." (iii. 14.) "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (v. 13.) "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head * A parallel with these descriptions will be found Ezek. i. 26: “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." VOL. II. H Bayerische München were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God (and the word we know is God.) And He hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." (xix. 11–13, 16.) "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; (that is, God the Son;) and the books were opened, and the dead were judged ;" (xx. 12;) and they, we know, are to be judged by God the Son; "And he that sat upon the throne, said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." (xxi. 1.) " And there came unto me one of the seven angels, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like a stone most precious." (xxi. 9.) "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it for the glory of the God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (xxi. 22, 23.) "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." (Isa. xxiv.22, 23.) "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev. xxii. 1.) “For the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall see his face." (xxii. 3.) "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (xxii. 13.) I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly;* Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (xxii. 16, 18-21.) By "quickly," as spoken by an eternal Being, unto whom a thousand years are but as yesterday, we are incompetent to judge how near the time may be. CHAPTER V. THE attestations of the various Scriptures just inserted, as to the equality of the Son of God with his Almighty Father, collected like our former recapitulations from so many different inspired authors, handed down by such discordant parties as those of Jews and Christians, (and the testimony of the former is quite and to the full as ample as that of the latter on this last subject of inquiry,) does, we think, fully answer the point in question, by proving that God the Son, according to the whole tenour and perfectly harmonious declarations of Scripture, from the commencement to the conclusion thereof, is equal with God the Father; and that it is an attempt utterly at variance with right reason, to disprove this doctrine by imputing its origin to the misconception of some particular passages of Holy Writ, and an erroneous interpretation of strong oriental idioms. For after the most diligent and scrupulous research, we cannot discover any one passage in the sacred records diminishing the full force of the just stated scriptural assertions respecting this equality, excepting those produced by the superiority necessarily existing between a giver and receiver,-between the great I am, the great, self-existing Being who in himself concentrates all perfection,-between the great inherent source of all perfection, and him to whom perfection it imparts. And this superiority, He who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, uniformly himself asserts; "My Father is greater than I." The giver is greater than the receiver, though, if it please the giver, he can impart equality of greatness to a beloved receiver, making him one with his adored self in greatness, glory, power: and that it has pleased the Father thus to invest the Son the Scriptures plainly tell, for it has pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. The Son of God avows, "I can of myself do nothing;" but he likewise asserts, "That the Father showeth him all things that himself doeth; that whatsoever he doeth so also may the Son;" though He justly styles paternal Deity his Father and his God, and owneth his dependance by prayer to him as such, He being the source from whence proceed his existence, attributes, and powers. Yet He also declares, that He and the Father are one; that as the Father hath life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself; that as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will; that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. And the distinction in the mode of address between the Father and the Son is well worthy observation paternal Deity addresses filial Deity |