And not only did all the people, on this most solemn occasion, hear "the voice of the living God," and not only was "the sight of the glory of Jehovah like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel," but Exodus xxvi. 9, &c. -“ Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel" "went up," "and they saw the Elohim of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire-stone; and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw Elohim, and did eat and drink." When locality and motion are ascribed to the omnipresent Deity, and especially when a similitude of the invisible Godhead is presented to the eye, "that the scripture be not broken," we must have recourse for its explanation to the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation. "They saw the God of Israel;" this is positively asserted. Now "no man has seen the Father at any time. The only-begotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him." "Only-begotten God," the ancient Syriac translates in this place: it pertains, I doubt not, to the eternal sonship within the Deity; and means no less than "God of God," "Light of light," "Very God of very God," "Being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made." It was God therefore in the person of the Son, that on this, and all other occasions where the Deity is visible, appears to the gaze of his adoring creatures. But then, the eternal Son, as to his Deity, is equally invisible as the Father and the Spirit, alike "without body, parts, or passions," (impassabilis) we must therefore advert to the doctrine of the Incarnation, where we are instructed that Deity, in its second person, takes a form. "The WORD," who is "God," and "with God," assumes to his person a created substance; and that substance, by his pleasure, the human nature; "he was made flesh." So that " of God and man is made one Christ;" one only person, but of a twofold substance. Now, in this his created nature, even in its highest exaltation, though he be very God, yet locality and motion must be ascribed to him, he may become an object of sight. Such is the "God-man" Jesus Christ. "The image of the invisible God," "the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person," or "substance." This then was the appearing person, who on the top of Sinai shewed himself as Jehovah, the Elohim of Israel. It is true, God the Son had not as yet actually united to himself the created, human nature; as to his substance, he was as yet, simply Deity, but by his almighty power, he takes the appearance of his predestinated form, and of the future glory which he was to assume in his creation, and had indeed, "with the Father, before the world began," as the first-begotten of the Father, "the anointed King and Lord of all;" "the first-born of every creature ;" "the Son over his own house." These appearances of the Divine Being under the old dispensation, we consider, therefore, as prophetic types of the manner of the future manifestation of God in his name Jehovah, "the Everlasting One, coming into and being born into his own creation, God incarnate in the person of the Son." The setting up of this great Lord and Christ, to be a manifestation of the otherwise invisible Deity, is contemplated in scripture as the oldest of all things, since here the glory of God is chiefly shown as the first in design, and as the final cause in the everlasting counsels of Deity respecting creation. It has been very generally believed in all ages of the Church, that this transaction, the going forth of the Son as the predestinated Christ before all time began, is shadowed forth in that personification of Wisdom in the eighth chapter of Proverbs. "Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, I was set up* from everlasting, When there were' no depths I was brought forth, Before the mountains were settled, While as yet he had not made the earth, Nor the surface, nor the upper soil of the habitable world. When he prepared the heavens I was there, When he set a compass on the face of the deep; When he established the clouds above; When he strengthened the foundations of the deep ; When he gave the sea his decree, That the waters should not pass his commandment; * Or "anointed." When he appointed the foundations of the land : And I was daily his delight, Rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, If this passage be indeed considered as altogether metaphorical, which I can hardly conceive, yet that "the Word" which "was God," was "with God in the beginning," in the assumed relation of the predestinated Lord and Christ is plainly set before us in scripture: John i. 2.-"The same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Speaking of "the unsearchable riches of Christ, the apostle says, Ephesians iii. 9.-"The mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by" or "in Jesus Christ." Colossians i. 17, &c. -" Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth; visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers: all things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." "The goings forth," therefore, of God the Son, in his assumed relations to the Father, and as the head of a future creation, must be considered as being "from everlasting," or before all time began. And being set forth in this capacity, though it was late in time when he actually took upon him his created P human nature, he is called "the beginning of the creation of God:" a personal manifestation of the Godhead, through the created nature of the Son, to the glory of the Invisible Father, was, so to speak, the first design of the creating mind; and the universal creation is but a grand theatre erected for the exhibition of this manifestation of God, to the glory of the unseen, the God and Father of his Christ, who has appointed him to be "heir of all things." In subserviency to this purpose of "bringing the only begotten into the world" at the appointed time, all creation was ordained and arrayed and brought into being, every change and alteration devised and settled, in the visible and invisible world, in the natural and in the spiritual, every intelligent being, in justice or in grace, fixed in his eternal relations to his Lord, whether as his Judge or as his Saviour. As in the shifting scenes of the drama, though much may pass before the view, ere the hero of the piece appears, yet the unity of design makes the developement of his character and achievements the beginning, the middle, and the end, in the author's well conceived plan. Or as we may have seen on the canvas of some large picture, or in some group of statuary in being executed, the principal figure is hardly sketched to the view; or is concealed perhaps by a temporary awning; yet in all the group of figures, which are already finished, or as fast as we watch their production under the artist's hand, all has reference we perceive to this centre figure: they are placed around the yet vacant or concealed place, on that the eye is directed, to it the suppliant hand |