bring that these names, peculiar to God, such as wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, were applied to certain kings in Israel; I therefore beg to refer him to the passages mentioned in pages 315 and 316 of the Second Appeal, in which he will find the same epithets given to human beings, and even to inanimate objects.

With a view to deduce the deity of Jesus Christ from the comparison of Isaiah xxviii. 16, with Isaiah viii. 13, and with 1 Peter ii. 8, the Reverend Editor thus comments (page 570): "The declaration is, that Jehovah of hosts shall be for a stumbling-stone, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel: but after the delivery of this prophecy, was he this to them prior to the coming of Christ? As the house of Israel was carried away captive a few years after the delivery of this prophecy, if not a year or two before, it is doubtful whether they ever saw this prophecy while in their own land; but Christ has been a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to all of every tribe for nearly eighteen centuries, while he has been a sanctuary to all who have trusted in him." I need not prolong the discussion by pointing out, that Isaiah delivered this prophecy in the reign of Ahaz; that the captivity of one of the houses of Israel took place in the reign of Hezekiah, his son, and that of the other house, in the reign of Zedekiah, the ninth king of Judah, from the time of Ahaz. As the Editor ac

knowledges the fact of the house of Israel being "carired away captive a few years after the delivery of this prophecy," he will undoubtedly be persuaded to confess also, the circumstance of their distress and misery just before, as well as during the time of captivity, by an attentive reference to the sacred histories, 2 Kings and 2 Chron. The necessary consequence, then, will be, that he will clearly perceive that the above-stated prophecy of Isaiah had been duly fulfilled long before Christ's birth, the Lord of hosts having become for a stumbling-stone and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, soon after the prophet's declaration; and that I Peter ii. 7, 8, ("The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, even to them who stumble at the word, being disobedient,") is but a general statement of the ill consequences attached to disobedience, whether on the part of Israel, or of the Gentiles, to the word delivered to them by Jesus in his divine commission. Jesus is here represented as a stone, rejected by men but chosen by God; and, consequently, he must be a stumbling-stone to those who reject him, stumbling at his word. Common sense, if not biassed by early prejudice, is sufficient to decide, that a stone, which is chosen and made the head of the corner by a maker, must not be esteemed as the maker himself.

The Editor comments, however, on the phrase, "made the head of the corner," in verse 7, saying,

"As to his being made the head of the corner by his heavenly Father, this can no more affect his unchangeable deity, than his being made flesh." This is as much as to say, that the circumstance of his being made the head of the corner is as much a proof of his changeable nature as the fact of his being made flesh; for were we to admit, that the circumstance of an object being made flesh, or matter, which he was not before, does not evince the changeableness of the nature of that object, we must then be at a loss to discover even a single changeable object in the world. If one's being made flesh, and his growth and reduction, in the progress of time, should not be considered as an evidence of a change in him, every man might claim the honour of an immutable nature, and set up as God made flesh.

The Editor says, (page 571,) that I " attempted to evade Isaiah xl. 3, ('The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God,') by coupling it with Malachi iii. 1, ('Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts,') and confining his animadversions to the latter." I trust the Editor, by referring to Mark i. 2, 3, will find, that in coupling the above verses, I did no more than follow the

example of that evangelist, who also coupled them in his gospel. As the explanation, adopted by me, of the prophecy of Malachi, fully explains the passage of Isaiah, I confined my animadversion to the former; for, "we find in the book of that prophet, distinct and separate mention of Jehovah, and of the Messiah, as the messenger of the covenant: John, therefore, ought to be considered as the forerunner of both, and as the preparer of the way of both; in the same manner as a commander, sent in advance to occupy a strong post in the country of the enemy, may be said to be preparing the way for the battles of his king, or of the general, whom the king places at the head of his army." (Second Appeal, pp. 285, 286.) On which explanation the Editor observes, that "The fact is, that Malachi does not mention two; it is Jehovah who was suddenly to come into his temple; and afterwards, Jehovah and the messenger of the covenant are identified by the prophets," adding, "he shall come," not "they." But we find, in the original Hebrew, Mal. iii. 1, "and the messenger of the covenant," with the conjunction "and," after the mention of the Lord. It is, therefore, evident, that the messenger of the covenant is distinctly and separately mentioned. How the Editor supposes that "Malachi does not mention two," I am unable to guess. We find also, immediately after the mention of "the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in," the prophet adds, "Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of

or בא verb

of

hosts," as the saying of Jehovah.-How can the mention of the messenger of the covenant, in the third person, by the Deity, prove the unity of that messenger with the Deity? Were we to admit, that every being spoken of in the third person by God, is identified with God, the number of iden tified gods must, in that case, amount at least to thousands in the sacred writings. It is worth observing, that in the original Hebrew, "the messenger of the covenant" stands as nominative to the "shall come," with the pronoun "he." The verse thus stands in the original: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, (or, IS COMING,) saith the Lord of hosts." The Editor adds, "That Jesus is Jehovah, mentioned in Isaiah xl. 3, whose way John was sent to prepare, is confirmed by the testimony of Zechariah, and John his son." As to the nature of Jesus, Zechariah gives us to understand, (Luke i. 69,) that God" hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David." In the evangelical writings of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we find Jesus represented by John, as mightier than himself. In John we find still more explicit testimony, (i. 29,) "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." (30.) "This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before