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tatnent . " Therefore" says the prophet , " will I divide him a portion with the great , and he shall divide the spoil with the strong" ; because he hath poured out his soul unto death , " &c . Isa . liii . 12 . " Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity :
therefore God * even thy God , hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows : " Heb . i . Q , and see Heb . ii . 9 . And given him a name that is above every name ; that in the name of Jesus every huee should bowy of those that are in heaven and in the earth and under
the earth . The first thing observable here is the double sense of the word name , which occurs thtee times in this paragraph . This I conceive to be a distinction of some importance , though it lias escaped , to the best of my knowledge , the notice of
commentators . In the two first places , it is , I believe , generally admitted to denote that power or authority , that pre-eminence of rank or dignity , with which Jfesus was invested , as the Son of God , the Lord of the new creation , the Saviour and Judge of the universe . very opposite to this is the signification which it bears in the third or
last place of its occurrence . It there fefers to the simple humanity of the Messiah ., to the personal name of Jesus , with which his enemies had associated £ very sentiment of obloquy , derision &nd contempt , and which many , even among the professed converts to
Christianity , were reluctant and ashamed publicly to uchnowledye . The obscure son of a carpenter , the humble and persecuted prophet of Nazareth , a condemned malefactor , a crucified Redeemer , were sounds equally abhortent from the feelings ami hostile to the
prejudices both of Jew and Gentile ; fcnd it is a fact , well known to readers of ecclesiastical history , and amply corroborated by the testimony of the sacred writers , that , in those early days , numbers of the professed advocates of the gospel , in order to facilitate its acceptance among the higher
ranks of society * endeavoured to sink the personal name of Jesus under the feplendour of his assumed divinity , and to roll away the reproach of the cross * by representing him *» s a mpem&tural being , incapable of suffering and superior to deattu And this circumstance fifet Wily Sftttsfcctorily explai n * , but
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will be found to throw a new and beautiful light upon several other passages in the New Testament , which without the knowledge of the above fact , must be allowed to be extremely
obscure , if not quite unintelli gible . See 1 Cor . xvi . 22 , Acts ii . < & % 32 , SS , 36 , 1 John iv . 2 , 3 , Rom . i . \ Qf Mark viii . 38 , Gal . vi . 14 , 1 Peter ii . 7 .
The apostle , therefore , by this clause intimates , that whatever odium may be affixed to the name of Jesus by his open enemies or pretended friends , it was a name , beyond all
others , precious in the sight of God ; and that , that very Jesus whom men rejected and anathematized was ap » poiuted sole Mediator between God and man , the honoured instrument of
effecting the subjugation of all created intelligences whatsoever , to the dominion of the one living and true God . And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God the Father .
The apostles , no less than the Saviour himself , uniformly made the glory of God their ultimate end and object . The glory of God required that his Son should be honoured and acknowledged * He had sent him into the world : he had entrusted him with
a most awful and important commission . This commission the Son had executed to the perfect satisfaction of the Father . The Father had already expressed his approbation of the conduct of his Son , by the high state of
exaltation and glory to which he had raised him ; he had given him a kingdom , he had seated him upon a throne , and he now called upon all men to acknowledge his authority and to obey his commands . And so far is
this from derogating from the honour due to God alone , that by it the Father is glorified ; as a monarch esteem * himself honoured when his ambassador is treated with respect . Compare Isa . xlv . 83 , John v . 23 .
I conclude by remarking , that this passage seems to me strongly to inculcate that most consolatory an <* animating doctrine * the final restitution of all men to virtue and to happir ^ st * of all men to virtue and to happin ^ st *
What ! shall the designs of rrpvj * dencev in the redemption of mankind * be frustrated > Shall the puny arm © f a feeble mortal counteract the totentfon * of Omnipotence r If Je *"
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n < $ JBiblUal Criticistn . ~ -Dr . Alexander on Philip , ii . 5—11 *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1817, page 616, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2469/page/44/
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