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Sir , IN a note to Mr . Wallace ' s remarks on Isaiah , ( p . 23 , ) is the following
passage on the time when the ineffable name of the Supreme Being was changed for that which is now used instead of it , by our elder brethren the Jews .
- " When this superstitious fear of writing or pronouncing the word Jehovah began is uncertain . It appears , however , from the following passage in Josephus ' s Jewish Antiquities , ( Bk . II . chap . xii . sect . 4 , ) to have been at
least as early as his time . * God declared to Moses his holy name , which had never been discovered to men before , and concerning which it is not lawful for me to say any thing further / »
This is certainly a proof that in the tifrte of Josephus , the same regard was p&id t < D thtf hallowed name as prevails
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at the present day amongst his < 5 ouiitryiiaen . But I was rather surprised that the authority of Josephus was appealed to , when a much better was at hand . For the waiters of the New Testament , in their quotations from the Old , rie ^ er use the hallowed name , but substitute for it the terms , the Lord—God—or the Lord God . And our Saviour himself , when he quotes the very words of the first commandment , uses the terras ; the Lord thy
Got ! , 3 Uci not the word by which the hallo \ y £ d name is expressed . The custom then prevailed in pur Saviour ' s time , and I cannot kpply the word superstition to £ ny thing ' which he thought worthy to adopt . I am inclined to believe that some good reasons might be found for this practice , whose origin is perhaps too remote from our times for us at the
present day to assign the true cause . This veneration of the chosen peppie for the sacred name of the Supreme , forms a striking contrast to the very frequent abuse of it in our nation , by which it is disgraced above all the other countries in Europe . For we cannot walk our streets wititw
out frequently hearing this holy tiame applied by the speaker to the most horrid imprecations on himself , his limbs , his friends and his enemies * It is said of a great philosopher of our country , that whenever he used this holy name he made a pause in his
speech ; and I cannot look upon the practice as by any means superstitious ; and if it were generally adopted by those who have a regard for religion , it would tend in a great degree to discountenance the odious practice , which is by no means peculiar to the lower classes .
But I carry my ideas still farther . There is an unhallowed name by which Christians address the Supreme Being , a name unknown to our Saviour and his apostles , adopted from a , barbarous Latin word , and associated with notions too gross to be repeated . With the same attention paid in
former ages to the hallowed name of the Supreme , would I regard this invention of ixian ; but instead of veneration I hear it with very different emotions , and I should be happy to find that the use of it was exploded ia our places of worship . I would never have it Used or alluded to ; or if it should
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"•* ' - " ' ¦ -. Mr ^ I ^ ehd on lneffiible ^ 109
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the character of our heaveiily Fattier , and for the fate of our flesh and blood of the human race , is calculated to weaken our devotion ; but I will admit that controversy , without the utmost cardy has a tendency to disturb our serenity , and , perhaps , to divert our attention from our proper duties . If i ^ be any relief to your mind to continue the practice of bringing under my notice texts of Scripture , ( with or without your own comments , ) which you think are opposed to my opinions , I promise you I will weigh them as though I had never heard them before ; and , what is more difficult to a man of my habits , I will , from a regard to your peace , refrain from offering a
single observation in reply , unless you desire it . Further than this I cannot go , because when I say I will weigh them , I mean that I will do all that in me lies , to open my mind to receive whatever sacred truth the Spirit which
indited them , intended to express . And " may the God of peace , that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus , that great Shepherd of the sheep , through the blood of the
everlasting covenant , make us perfect in every good work to do his will , working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight , through Jesus Christ , to whom be glory for ever and ever . " I . [ To be continued . ]
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 109, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/45/
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