saith the Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, the almighty." Supposing these two last mentioned passages to be actually ascribed to Jesus, conveying a manifestation of his own omnipotence, would they not be esteemed as directly contradictory to his positive disavowal of omnipotence found in the foregoing and in hundreds of other passages? How then are we to reconcile to our understanding the idea that the author of true religion disavows his almighty power on one occasion and asserts it on another? But in fact we are not reduced by the texts in question to any such dilemma, for the passage quoted from Isaiah (LXIII.) has no more allusion to Jesus thau to Moses or Joshua; whence and under what plea the Editor and others apply this passage to Christ I am quite at a loss to know. The prophet here speaks of the destruction of Edom and Bozrah, under the wrath of God, for their infidelity towards Israel. These places were inhabited by the sous of Esau (the brother of Jacob) who was also called Edom: Genesis XXV. 30. "And

Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom." So Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of Edom and Bozrah XLIX. 7. " concerning Edom,

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thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is council perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedau; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him the time that I will visit him (13.) For I have sworn by myself saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes." And also the whole of Obadiah's prophecy foretels the slaughter of Edom by the wrath of God. I quote here only one or two verses (8) Shall I not in that day saith the Lord even destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the mount of Esau? (9.) And thy mighty men, O Teman shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter" (11.) “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side; in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and forigners entered into his gate and cast lots upon Jerusalem even thou wast as one of them." What expression does Isaiah make use of in ch. LXIII. that the passage can be interpreted as speaking the language of Jesus? nothing of the kind that I can perceive. It contains rather such denunciations as are considered totally inconsistent

in

6.

Can

with the office and character of the meek and lowly Jesus, the messenger of peace on earth and good will in heaven towards men. the following expressions I will tread them my anger,"-" their blood shall be upon my garment," (v. 3.) be ascribed to Jesus, who so far from treading down the inhabitants of Edom and Bozrah, or of any other land, and sprinkling their blood upon his garment, came to reconcile them to God, and labored in behalf of them and of all men; even suffering his own blood to be shed rather than refrain from teaching them the way of salvation? What particular connection had Jesus with the destruction of the sons of the children of Edom to justify the Editor in referring ch. LXIII. to the Messiah? I should expect to find such language as is used by Isaiah in that chapter referring to God; for in the poetical language of the Prophets similar expressions are abundantly ascribed to the Most High in an allegorical sense. Isaiah LIX. 15-17. "And the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgement. And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breast plate and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he

put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak" Daniel VII. 9. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow."

As to Revelation I. 8. let us refer to the contexts, commencing with v. 4th. In this John addressing the seven churches of Asia says "Grace be unto you and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ." He proceeds to describe Christ as a faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, adding "unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kiudreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so. Amen." Having thus stated what Christ had done and is to do, John reverts to the declaration of the eternity of God with which he commenced "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord; which is, and which was,

and which is to come, the almighty." All this appears so very plain; the eternal attri butes of the almighty in verse 4th. are so dis tinct from the description of the character and office of Christ in verses 5, 6 and 7, the identity of the definition of God in v. 4. with that in v. 8. is so obvious, that I should have thought it impossible for any not to perceive how totally unconnected v. 8. is with that which precedes it, and how far it was from John's intention to declare the almighty and his faithful witness to be one. Moreover we find the term

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almighty" in the book of Revelation men tioned seven times besides in verse the 8th and referring always to God; at the same time notwithstanding the frequent mention of the Lamb or Jesus throughout the whole book neither the term "almighty" nor the designation" who is and who was and is to come" equivalent to the term " Jehovah" is once ascribed to the Lamb. Let the candid reader judge for him

self.

The Editor again introduces the subject of the angel of Bokim (page 565.) quoting Psalm LXXVIII. "He divided the sea and caused them to pass through and made the waters to stand in a heap" &c. Whence he concludes that the son was with Israel in the