Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

essential names-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-but have one will, one intellect, one energy-is, indeed, one and only one absolute, personal, and holy being-JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, even the Lord Jesus Christ. "And this is life eternal, to know thee [Father] the only true God (kai,) even Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John xvii, 3. There is only one true God, and to know Jesus Christ is to know him. For he comes out from God, and returns to God. He is the manifestation of God, his name, his nature, his person. "This is the true God and eternal life." 1 John v, 20. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." Deut. vi, 4; Exod. xx, 3; Mark xii, 29.

II. The attributes of God are set forth as fully in doctrinal statement as in the glow of Revelation, as belonging to Christ.

1. He is Omnipresent. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst." Matt. xviii, 20. The Lord is present with every man. "That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." "Behold," saith he, "I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." Rev. iii, 20. It is our faith that apprehends this omnipresence of Christ. "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down, or, Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ,... but what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach." Rom. x, 6-8. [For we preach Christ.] Let all rejoice, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy, with him also of a contrite and humble spirit." Isa. lvii, 15. And "Lo," he saith, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. xxviii, 20.

2. He is Omnipotent. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" Matt. viii, 27. He raiseth the dead, (John xi, 25–44,) createth all things, (John i, 3,) upholdeth all things, (Heb. i, 3,) and executeth all judgment. (Psa. 1, 6; Acts xvii, 31.) The humble faith which discerns Christ's real inward divineness, always finds the "God of Power." "Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living

God. Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee," etc. (See Matt. xvi, 16-19.) Here Peter receives just what every one receives who acknowledges Christ from an inward light and conviction. He is a rock on the rock, whether his name be Peter or not, or a branch in the vine, and is built up for a habitation of God. He has the "keys of the kingdom of heaven." He has the beginnings of true knowledge. He has faith as a grain of mustard seed, which groweth, if not uprooted, to a great tree.

But great faith was not found in Israel, not even among the Apostles, till after the resurrection. His true omnipotence is illustrated in the case of the centurion, Matt. viii, 6-12: "I am not worthy." That, then, is the occasion of complete divine power. "Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed." This is the second. Christ, he sees, is not only the word made flesh-not merely the Son of the living God, but the Father is in him and he can speak the word, and save at any human distance, without the intervention of time. "Jesus marveled and said, I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel." "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." John xiv, 14. What blessed omnipotence is this!

[ocr errors]

3. He is Omniscient. "Jesus knew their thoughts." Matt. xii, 25; Luke vi, 8. "He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man." John ii, 24, 25. In former quotations it has been shown that he was the Lord God of the holy prophets, and therefore all the passages which speak of the omniscience of God are applicable to him. But he says: "Of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the Son, but my Father only." Mark xiii, 32. How is this to be explained in harmony with what is proved above? Most beautifully, for we have said the Trinity is divine interexistences in one being. A man's personal consciousness discloses to himself three great essentials of his being his affections, his intellect, and his sensibilities. He does not confound sensations with his thoughts, or either of these with his affection. So the Lord, in his personal consciousness, does not confound the essentials of his infinite being. The Father, his own inward affection, knows what his word or intellect cannot know. No word can reveal the truths of the last day. They are intellectually unknown. Only when the

word comes in the glory of the Father will they be known. "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." So often the human heart knows things true, which the mind cannot understand only from it, and cannot then express.

In this distinction we can see how the words, "My Father is greater than I," (John xiv, 28,) may be literally and absolutely true, as the words are "I and my Father are one." For the heart is greater than the intellect, the will is in higher order than the understanding, and love is greater than wisdom; and yet may be co-eternals, and a unity. They cannot, it is true, be two individuals without being two Gods, one of which only is truly supreme, and the other a less God, which is Arianism in spite of all glosses.

Another passage may, by this method, be harmonized with true doctrine. St. Paul says: "Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." 1 Cor. xv, 28. Now observe what John says: "God is love," (1 John iv, 16,) and what Christ says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me." John xiv, 6. Then, under the progress of truth, in the judgment power that destroys death, there comes a time -blessed state! happy hour!-when the truths shall be so clear that we shall see the fullness of God through them. Before this, the mediation of Christ, like smoked glass used to look at the sun, obstructed, while it aided our vision; but then all will be clear as the crown crystal. Christ will appear as he did to John in Patmos, the divine glory itself will flood the human with its ineffable light, or Christ will be so formed in us that we can look on God.

But whether we have given a satisfactory exposition of these passages or not, it is certain that all in heaven ascribe to Jesus Christ the sum of all the divine attributes. There is the place to look to get our theology warmed. A theology not warmed from heaven cannot lead to heaven. Whose heart is not fired with the song, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing?" And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, John heard as they joined in the song of universal redemption.

Here our theology, in fairly striking the note of redemption, reaches out through all the vast fields of creation, and brings into view the spiritual world, which interlies all these outposts of suns and systems. The Lord, in appearing in human nature, becomes visible to the angels. The lower the nature he took, the more clear his perfect holiness became to all finite intelligences, and therefore the real love, goodness, and wisdom of God glow in the upper worlds with a brighter luster, and break out from the Immanuel through all the universe, shine in every ray of light, envelop every circling orb, breathe in all the air, live in all attractive force, and blossom in every flower. The love and the life, the wisdom and the power, the glory and the truth, are all of God.

Thus we see, to sum up the doctrine concerning God, that the Father is not the creator, nor was made flesh, but the word created and was made flesh in whom is the Father. The Father is never seen only in the glory of the word. The Father is not therefore another God, but is the invisible essence, or soul of the word; which is only known by the word, and revealed by the light and love of himself, as a man's person reveals the light and love of his soul and the power of his spirit. Therefore in heaven, when they sing of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, it is not two persons, but one person, in whom is the Father in each instance. Hence we read: "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple [not temples,] of it ;" "throne of God and the Lamb," not thrones; and "the glory of God did lighten it, (kaì) even the Lamb is the light thereof." The Father is not one being and the son another; but it is one being who is manifest, in whom is the eternal essence called the Father. Hence he is always in the Son, as we read in Isa. ix, 6, "Unto us a child is born, a Son is given, . . . and his name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace ;" and hence we have, among many others, the following most blessed parallel expressions:

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death in victory. ... And in that day it shall be said, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us. Isa. xxv, 7, 9.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and beside me there is none else. Isa. xlv, 22.

Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. John xi, 24-26.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. Matt. xi, 28, 29.

ART. VII.-AFFINITY OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK LANGUAGES.

The ethnographical table contained in the tenth chapter of Genesis has derived no little corroboration and illustration from the researches of modern philology. It has thus been clearly established that all the languages which have furnished a polished literature are reducible to two great families, corresponding, with a few sporadic variations, to the lineage of the two older sons of Noah respectively, namely, Shem and Japheth. The former of these, which is in fact usually designated as the Semitic, is emphatically Oriental, and embraces the Hebrew and Arabic, with their cognates, the Samaritan, the eastern and western Aramean, or Chaldee and Syriac, and the Ethiopic. The latter, which is conveniently styled the IndoGermanic group, includes the Sanscrit, with its sister the Zend, and their offshoots the Greek, the Latin, the Gallic, the Saxon, in a word, the stock of the Occidental or European languages. The analogies and coincidences subsisting between the members of the Semitic family have been pretty fully exhibited by Castell, Gesenius, and Fürst in their lexicons, and by Ewald and Nordheimer in their grammars; while the relationship existing among the Indo-Germanic group has been extensively traced by Bopp in his Comparative Grammar, by Pott in his

« ForrigeFortsæt »