of Him, whose hand moves the springs of your happiness or misery; ask him, what will become of you, when your bodies shall be mingled with dust, and scattered to the winds of Heaven? In regard to all these questions the great counsellor will give you more satisfaction than all the mighty masters of philosophy that preceded, yea, more than all that have followed him.

To this great counsellor, my friends, apply for instruction. Like Mary, sit at his feet; listen to all the words which proceed from his mouth; follow him with his disciples from place to place; witness all his miracles; observe all his conduct; treasure up all his declarations; and in life and in death, in time and in eternity, believe me, you will find him a counsellor, whom you will never repent to have consulted, and whom you will never repent to have followed.

The passage we are considering, according to the common translation, goes on to declare that the child that was to be born should be called the mighty God. Upon this expression I remark first, that for the particle the before the terms mighty God and everlasting Father, there is no foundation in the original. And I am happy to observe it expelled from the passage, in a recent translation of it in the most learned orthodox journal* in this country. Leaving out the particle the, the passage will read, He shall be called mighty God. If this translation be correct, the meaning is, that Jesus, in his regal character, as the Messiah, the son of God, and head of the church, should possess such mighty power and such superior wisdom, that he should be called, as it

*The Biblical Repository, printed at Andover, Numb. for July, 1831, p. 522.

were, a God upon earth. It was not uncommon, as is well known, in ancient times, to give the name of God to persons distinguished by the dignity of their stations, or the importance of their office, or the excellence of their character. Thus Moses, on account of the miracles he was instrumental in performing, is said to have been a God to Pharaoh. And if Moses might be called God, without danger of being identified with the Creator of the Universe, a greater than Moses might be called mighty God by a similar use of language. So kings and princes are called Gods, as 'I have said ye are Gods, and all of you children of the most high.'* So our Saviour observes, that He called them gods, to whom the word of God came.' †

That the epithet, mighty God, was used to denote qualities of character, or dignity of station, and not to designate or name the person, to which it is applied, is also evident from the following consideration. All the other epithets, applied to the child in this verse, confessedly denote qualities of character, or circumstances of condition. The terms wonderful, counsellor, everlasting father, prince of peace, are all used to indicate what sort of a person the child should be, not who he should be. And it is extremely improbable that in the midst of four epithets, all descriptive of qualities of character, a fifth should be inserted, giving him a proper name, or declaring who he should be. This would be a violation. of propriety of language, not to be expected from Isaiah. Jesus, then, according to the Jewish use of language, might be called mighty God on account of his miracu† John x. 35.

*Ps. lxxxii. 6.

lous powers and marvellous wisdom, and glorious exaltation, in perfect consistency with the truth that 'he could do nothing of himself,' that all power was given' him, and that all his fulness was derived from the good pleasure of his Father. Thus the prophet is not the author of a proposition so contradictory as that a child to be born, and destined to sit on the throne of David, should be the eternal Creator, the Governor of the Universe. It is only a strange inattention to the use of language among the Hebrews that will allow such a proposition to be drawn from the passage.*

I have thus far considered the expression mighty God to be a correct translation of the original, and endeavored to explain it in consistency with the derived and dependent nature of Jesus. It is a fact, however, that the Hebrew word rendered God in this verse, and which

*The term Immanuel, God-with-us, I regard as an expression somewhat different from that under consideration. The emphatic word in that symbolical name appears to me to be the particle with; which has the same meaning as in Ps. xlvi. 11. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. The true meaning of this symbolical name would appear more clearly, if it were translated, God-will-help-us. This name was undoubtedly given to a child, that was to be a proof to Ahaz, king of Judah, of the speedy deliverance of his kingdom from the invasion of the combined forces of the kings of Israel and Syria. Of course it was applied originally to a child to be born in the time of the prophet Isaiah. For, to use the language of professor Stuart, of Andover, 'How could the birth of Jesus, which happened 742 years afterwards, be a sign to Ahaz, that within three years his kingdom was to be freed from his enemies? Such a child, it would seem, was born at that period; for in ch. viii. 8, 10, he is twice referred to, as if then present, or at least, then living.'-Stuart's Comment. on Hebrews, vol. II. p. 335.

Isaiah vii. 14.

is often correctly rendered so in other parts of the scriptures, has another meaning, and one more appropriate in this verse than that of the common version. It denotes a man of strength, a hero, or potentate. The very same word is applied to Nebuchadnezzar in Ezek. xxxi. 11. where he is styled the mighty one of the nations. Here the original word might be rendered God of the nations, with as much propriety, so far as the word itself is concerned, as in the verse under consideration. In Ezek. xxxii. 21, the same word, in the plural, is translated strong; the strong amongst the mighty.' Here, too, the translation might be, the gods among the mighty.' The same word is rendered the mighty, in Job, xli. 25. And it appears to me that a similar translation is more proper here, where the expressions are evidently borrowed from the language of royalty, and the Messiah is supposed to be represented in his kingly character. In this way Martin Luther, who cannot be suspected of any sectarian bias, translated the word in his German version of the bible. In place of the terms mighty God, he has mighty, hero. In the same way the first living Hebrew scholar in the world, the German Gesenius, renders the word. This expression, therefore, applied to the Messiah, declares that he should be called mighty hero, or mighty potentate, in reference to his exaltation to be a prince and a saviour, anointed by God with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and whom every tongue must confess to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. At the same time, if any prefer the common translation, mighty God, the expression may be explained, in the manner above-mentioned, in perfect consistency with the derived power and entire depen

dence of Jesus upon his Father and our Father, his God and our God.'

The next epithet, applied in the verse to the child that was to be born, is that of everlasting father; by which is meant, that he would be the perpetual father, benefactor, or guardian of his people. In a similar, though a less important sense, a good prince, or ruler, who has conferred great benefits on the land of his birth, is said to have been the Father of his country. The term everlasting has no reference to the past, but only to the future. It means ever-enduring, or perpetual, as in the phrases everlasting happiness, everlasting mercy. Jesus, then, according to the promise, will be the perpetual father of his people. He will watch over the interests of the church, as a father over the interests of his children. He will strengthen their weakness; he will console their sorrows; he will animate their fainting spirits; and he will ever make intercession for them before the throne of God. This prophecy that he will be the everlasting, or perpetual, father of his people, appears to mean nearly the same thing with the promise, 'Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the world;' i. e. I will always aid you, and interpose my good offices in your behalf. Whether Jesus is personally employed on earth as the invisible agent of the Most High for the benefit of the church, or only by means of the instructions, hopes and consolations of his religion, and as their intercessor in heaven, is a question, upon which there may be different opinions.

* In this explanation of the expression everlasting father, I am glad to have the support of professor Stuart of Andover. See Biblical Repository for October, 1831, p. 746.