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    lute , i& n $ vej ; eujpyed by one man without the participation of a few who carry oa Ms administration and form his „ court . It is in reference to this circumstance , that inmost tongues , a king " , though numerically one , is

    described as if he were many ; and in our own country , the use of the pronouns we and our , in the sense of self , is an exclusive prerogative of royalty . Analogy is sufficiently clear to warrant

    its application to the Almighty , in the relation of a Sovereign . Jehovah himself , indeed , is absolutely one , uncompounded in nature , indivisible into parts or persons ; but he is nevertheless considered as surrounded with

    those spiritual beings called angels , who constitute his celestial court , and execute his will through boundless space . The term Elohim , therefore , is not improperly used to mean God ; but we should remember , that Moses

    uses it not to express his essence as an infinite being , but his sovereignty , as the creator and governor of the universe ; the term , therefore , which comes nearest to the original is Almighty /'

    The term Elohim only is used in the first chapter , and if the above statement be just , the propriety of it consists in holding forth the Almighty , not only as the Creator , but as Sove ^

    reign of the world , presiding over it by his providence , and giving effect to its stated laws by his power and authority . When , in the next chapter , the heavens and the earth are said to

    be finished , the historian calls God Jehovah Elohim . Now , Jehovah means a being that is self-exi 3 tent , eternal and immutable ; a being ihat will be to-morrow what he is to-day , and what he was yesterday . A reader

    of the Mosaic history , arguing from effects to their causes , might suppose that the Creator then only began to exist when he began to create , or > at Jeast , that some change took place in his being and character , corresponding

    to the change produced in the new order of things . , When the world was destroyed by the deluge , the early Pagan philosophers seemed tq have thought that t&e God who presided

    over ^ was JWmaeif involvedf in the universal ruin ; and , this is the origin ot the fable * that Saturn was sup-Plantedi by } $ & $ on Jupiter int the government 0 $ ifc ^ vepae . In oppo-

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    sition to some conclusions like thgse , Moses introduced the term Jehovah , and intimates , by the use of , it , that though the heavens and the earth began to exist , their great Author wasr then what he had been from all eternity .

    In the third chapter , Mose 3 takes up the history of Cain and his descendants , and it is observable * , that , he dropped altogether the title of Elokim designating 0 od by that of Jehovah . The omission must have been the eflfect of design , because it is uniform from

    beginning to end , and the meaning of Elohim as Sovereign or Governor , unfolds the intention of the historian . Cain , by his wicked conduct , became an alien from God , and Moses , by suppressing the term Elohim ,

    intimates that God wa $ no longer related to Cain as Lawgiver * and Kmg . When again he resumes the narrative of Adam , he resumes also the title of Elokim , shewing by this means that God and Adam sustained towards each

    other the relation of a monarch and his subject * These observations will throw some light upon various parts of the Jewish Scriptures , and among the number upon the following : "And God spake unto Moses , and said unto him , * I am

    Jehovah , and I revealed myself unto Abraham and ^ unto Isaac and unto Jacob as an Almighty Sovereign ; but my name , Jehovah , I did not make known to them / " Exod . iv . 3 . The patriarchs might well know Jehovah to be a title of God , and , indeed , must

    have known it , because they kiiew him to be an eternal , unchangeable Being , and because he was so designated in regard to Cain . The meaning * of this passage then must be , that God did not reveal , did not designate , himself as their God under that

    denomination . To them he revealed himself as a sovereign , whose laws they obeyed , whose protection thefy enjoyed , and to whose promise they looked forward with hope and joy . If weg ^ eralize

    the words , they imply , that the Almighty holds the relation of a moral Governor only towards those wk& ktoep his commandments ^ while to ^^ he dinners who break his lawfc < he is but

    Jehovah : in other words , * that b& is related to sudh men merely as - ttygt Author of their being , ^ t&ie < pui ( Ktigjjrii their existence i the verf rektiOi % f | K ^

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    Ben David , on the Mosaic History of the Creation . 25

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    vul . xvii . E

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1822, page 25, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2508/page/25/