CHAPTER III.

Inquiry into the doctrine of the Trinity.

SECTION 1.

The Pentateuch and Psalms.

I Now proceed to examine the doctrine of the Trinity, a term which although it is frequently introduced both in orthodox writings and conversation as the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, yet is not once found in any part of the sacred books.

The first position the Editor advances, in support of the deity of Jesus, (page 556.) is, that the angel who is said in Gen. XLVIII. 16. to have redeemed Jacob was Jesus himself as he appears "in the scripture distinct from the Father and able to redeem," and that the same redeeming being was the angel who spoke to Jacob in a dream" I am the God of Bethel." (Gen. XXXI. 11.) and appeared to Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of an unconsumed bush." (Exodus III. 2.) and who came up from Gilgal to Bochim and said "I made

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you go up out of Egypt" &c. (Judges II. 1.) and called unto Abraham out of the heaven and said "Thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." (Gen. XXII. 12.) whence the Editor concludes that Christ being the redeeming angel, and that redeeming angel being the angel that spoke of himself as God in other instances, Christ is God. The Editor altho' he fills more than two pages with this argument yet never thinks of producing a single authority for his inference that the angel who redeemed Jacob was Christ or for his identifying that angel with those angels whom the Editor considers as Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The only reason he assigns for his first supposition is that the angel appeared "distinct from the Father and able to redeem;" hence he was Christ who is represented as the redeemer of his people. Can the circumstance of the performance of similar acts by two persons identify one with the other? If so, we must on the same ground identify God with the human race, the scriptures having ascribed to them both such attributes as mercy, wrath, reward and punishment; and we also on the same principle must maintain the identity of Jesus with all those that are said in the sacred books to have redeemed people at different times. Isaiah

LXIII. 9. "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them, in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them and carried them all the days of old," Ruth IV. 14. "And the woman said unto Naomi, blessed be the Lord who hath not left thee this day without a redeemer*

that his name may be famous in Israel" Nehemiah V. 8. "we after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold unto the heathen."

Were we to admit for a moment that the angel who redeemed Jacob was indeed Jesus, it would necessarily follow, according to the Editor, that there was Christ-man-Jesus, GodJesus and Angel-Jesus; that is, that Christ is possessed of a three-fold nature and that he is to be esteemed as an obedient servant in his human capacity, as a faithful messenger in his angelical nature, and as an independent master and employer in his divine essence!

In the English Bible the term kinsman is here employed. This however is inaccurate which will appear by referring to the context. It is thereby made evident that, before the birth of this son, Ruth and Naomi had Boaz and others as their kinsmen, and therefore the expression "who hath not left thee this day without a kinsman" cannot have reference to the child then born. Besides the synonimous term "restorer of thy life" used in verse 15th for the child. sufficiently determines the meaning.

If it be alleged that the term angel is here only figuratively applied to Jesus, I shall reply that we find nothing in the verse that can prevent the application of the term "angel" to the angel of God in its literal sense; no one, under such a circumstance, can be justified in adop ing a metaphorical meaning: Nevertheless we will, in conformity to the spirit of the sacred writings, maintain the opinion that God is the only true redeemer, and that his Christ, his angels and his prophets, are redeemers in a secondary sense; that is, they are the instruments in the hand of God in his works of redemption. If the scriptures do not scruple to call angels like Jesus "Gods" and "Sons of God" in a metaphorical sense, we should not wonder if we find the term "redeemer" applied to any angel of God in an inferior sense. Psalm XCVII. 7. " Worship him ye Gods' Judges XIII. 21-22. "Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord, and Manoah said unto his wife we shall surely die, because we have seen God." Job I. 6. " The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord." As to his latter supposition, that the angel who redeemed Jacob was the same that appeared to him in a dream and to Abraham and to others on different occasions, the Editor neither attempts to assign reasons nor does he