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not separable or distinguishable from God himself : so much , in short , of the Deity as dwelt in Christ . I did not pre- > teud to explain the nature of this Word farther than by referring to the few particulars detailed by the Evangelist himself respecting it . Indeed , I am of opinion , that all that can pertinently be said on this question lies , in fact , within very narrow limits ; for though the nature of the Logos should continue to be
discussed for ages , yet , after all , half a dozen brief and simple clauses of John , the only writer who treats of the subject , will , I trust , for ever remain the sum total of the evidence that can be produced . And when we consider the peculiar nature of those few oracular sentences , so simple in terms , while their subject matter is so deep and inconceivable , how can we hope that any discussions will be of much avail to
render them clearer than they are , or to ease our labouring faculties of that difficulty which the nature of the subject itself throws upon them ? I will now talce notice of ray opponent ' s objections more particularly . Lardner paraphrases the Word , by the wisdom and power of God ; to which it is objected that the term Koyoq never
signtfies wisdom and power . True ; it shall readily be granted that the term Logos does not mean wisdom and power , but speech , command , or discourse ; and that , on the whole , no more proper English representative of it can be found , at least as far as concerns our present subject , than this very term the Word , which our vulgar translation employs .
But I presume that the design of Lardner was not to translate the term , but to point out the thing signified . Every real existence may be viewed in many lights , and consequently described under a variety of terms , which , though not equivalent in sense to each other , may , notwithstanding , be very fitly predicated of the same thing . So , in the present instance , that divine energy which , having at first called the world into being .
afterwards spoke life and light into it afresh through the agetactf o ] f Cnrist , ' may be called In one place the Word , by a somewh&t peculiar and expressive title , ( in which , by a metonomy , the cause or efficient principle receives the name of tile effect , ) and in another it may be indicate *! by the commoner descriptive periphrasis of tfhe prower and wisdom of God ; the thing dignified in either way being In effect the same . Although , therefore , the term Logos does not in itself signify -wisdom and power , yet may a
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certain exertion of the Divine perfections be called the Word , which shall also be very properly spoken of as the Divine wisdom and power ; and hence , I think , it appears that my opponent ' s critical objecrjon does not in truth much concern the question . I readily allow that the interpretation 4 or which I plead obliges us to understand the term , " the Word" in a sense
which can hardly be precisely paralleled in any other passage of Scripture ; but , till the passage itself can be paralleled in its general strain and conception , 1 see in this no objection . When a new turn of ideas is introduced , some novelty in the application of the leading terms is a natural consequence . It is an obvious remark , that wherever the word of God is mentioned , there the Deity is represented as speaking ; although sometimes , as when the natural creation is
concerned , it be only a figurative mode of expressing the going forth of bis will . Now , in general , by what is called the Word of God , we understand that which God says ; the doctrine or command which he delivers . Sometimes , however , the phrase implies the efficient potver accompanying what is said , as , for instance , in that passage , " By the word of the
Lord were the heavens made , " &c . ; or in that ( Psa . cxlvii . ) , "He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth , his word runneth very swiftly . " Passages such as these certainly introduce a phraseology near akin to that of onr text ; and it is well known that among the early Jewish commentators , the term the Word of God was very extensively employed , instead of
the name of God himself , when his efficient power was to be signified . Although , however , the phraseology of the text may in this way be illustrated , 1 do not pretend to match it with a perfect parallel . That distinctness of subsistence , and ,, at the same time , esseutial identity with God here ascribed to the Word , are , as already observed , something -peculiar to this place , and belong to a new train of conception . 1 have
only to remind my opponent , tnat while my hypothesis encounters here no greater objection than that of slightly irnodifyibg the acceptation of a terna in order to give expression to a new mode of conception , his , although ft niay preserve to the term a more familiar sense , involves us in the far heavier difficulty of making concerning it assertions without parallel , and I had almost said , without meaning . For how Can we speak otherwise of propositions which assert of a scheme of doctrine , ttiat * ' it was God , " or that
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714 Alisc ellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 714, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/42/
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