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النشر الإلكتروني

THE LORD GOD," or, saith THE GOD JEHOVAH:" not an inferior god, one of the "Gods many and Lords many,"-but the Creator of the Universe: for Kúpios & eos represent here (as has been shown) the Hebrew epithet m DN, Jehovah Elohim. I need hardly remind the Greek reader that the common Greek text

אלהים

is here corrupt, presenting ὁ Κύριος, for Κύριος ὁ Oeos, which is the true reading, as is proved not only by the best Mss., and by the antient versions, and commentators, but by internal evidence furnished by the text itself; the words that follow, namely ὁ ὤν, καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, "The BEING, and The HE WAS, and THE COMING ONE," being, as has been already shown, a definition of the name Kúpios, when put for JEHOVAH, and the next word, i TаvтоxрάTwp, "THE OMNIPOTENT," a definition of eÒS when employed to represent Elohim; which shows that isòs has been dropt from the common Greek, and inserted before Kúpios. Indeed we have this point put beyond all doubt, by what is stated in Ch. iv. 8., "They cease not day nor night, saying- Holy, holy, holy Kúpos i eòs'" (C. V. Lord God), but, according to John's definition of these words, таνтожрάтшр, the omnipotent (i. e. Elohim), óñv xaì ó ‹v xaì ò'épxóμevos, the He Was, and the Being, and the Coming one (i. e. JEHOVAH). In the latter passage the order

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of the definitions is changed, that of Osòs being put before that of i Kópios, but this no way alters the meaning or intention of the Writer; and as the terms in both refer to the same individual, he who is called the Alpha and the Omega in Ch. i. 8. is the same to whom the ascription of praise is given in Ch. iv. 8. : and, observe, the ascription to JEHOVAH ELOHIM is, in v. 9., declared to be addressed τῷ καθημένῳ, ΤΟ THE SITTING ONE upon the throne.

I might have shortened this argument, could I, without laying myself open to the cavils of objectors, have followed the common Greek text in Ch. i. 8., which, after the words "I am the Alpha and the Omega,” adds, “the Beginning and the End:" but many Manuscripts are without the latter words; and different critics have considered them as an interpolation, as also the first clause of v. 11., "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last." I thought it better, therefore, though necessarily by a more circuitous process, to prove the application of these titles, to the individual whom they indicate, by passages, the authenticity of which is admitted by critics; and the more so, as by pursuing this method the evidence is equally conclusive, and leaves no room for those exceptions which might be taken against deductions founded on disputed passages.

To sum up the whole in few words :-JEHOVAH ELOHIM (C. V. the LORD GOD), he "which was, and is, and is to come," ch. iv. 8., is "THE SITTING ONE upon the throne, who liveth for ever and ever," ch. iv. 9, 10.:-He "which is, and which was, and which is to come," is the Alpha and the Omega ch. i. 8.:-in ch. xxi. 6. the Alpha and the Omega (who is THE SITTING ONE upon the throne in ch. xxi. 5.) is called the Beginning and the End; and the Speaker in ch, xxii. 12., who is the Beginning and the End, is also the First and the Last, and the Alpha and the Omega; and in Ch. ii. 8. the one who dictated the epistles to the churches declares himself to be "the First and the Last," and therefore the Alpha and the Omega. This personage, we have seen, was no other than JESUS CHRIST: JESUS CHRIST then, who is the one sitting upon the throne, is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, JEHOVAH the OMNIPOTENT (C. V. THE LORD GOD): and it has before been proved, that the same JESUS, the Root of David (Ch. xxii. 16.) is THE LAMB, who prevailed to open the sealed book; and hence it follows, that "the Sitting one on the throne," and "the Lamb in the midst of the throne," are only different descriptions of the same person, JESUS CHRIST, who, by the Record before us, is proved to be, JEHOVAH THE OMNIPOTENT.

7. Of the manner in which certain passages where common Attributive Nouns are found joined to the Symbolical name, "THE LAMB," should be rendered in English, that they may exhibit the true sense of the Greek text.

THE Reader must have perceived, that the ob ject in view in this Dissertation is, to ascertain, with precision, the manner in which certain names and Attributive Nouns of personal description, and their combinations, in the Apocalypse, should be rendered in a version, so as to convey, in the translation, the precise sense of the writer. For this purpose it became necessary, that the true sense of Kúpios o esòs should be accurately understood; and this expression, as has been shown (Dissert. v.,) had been defined by the amanuensis of the Apocalypse himself, though hitherto overlooked. It was also necessary that the manner in which Attributive Nouns are combined in the Greek language, when referring to one individual, should be ascertained, -a desideratum which we have seen (Dissert. vi.) had been completely supplied by the labors of Mr. Sharp, Dr. Wordsworth, and Bishop Middleton. And, as Attributive Nouns are found, in the Apocalypse, combined, not only with Attributives, but, with Symbolical terms, and particularly with the Hieroglyphical Proper Name,

"THE LAMB," it became also indispensable, that we should ascertain, with precision, to what person or persons this Proper Name, and these Attributives, are applied-and this from the Book itself-as, otherwise, the same uncertainty would still remain which has operated to obscure, in the versions, the sense of the Writer; a consequence not to be avoided, if names and attributes predicated of a plurality, be applied to one individual; or, on the contrary, if predicated only of one person they be applied to a plurality.

The latter we have seen is the error into which translators have generally fallen, from (as it would appear) their treating the Hieroglyphical Proper Name, THE LAMB, as if it were a common Attributive Noun; and hence, as already noticed, they have always rendered such passages as Rev. vii. 10., in a manner that makes the writer speak of two persons, when in fact he is only speaking of one-" The salvation be to our "GOD [who is] THE SITTING ONE on the throne, "and [who is] THE LAMB,"-Words which are usually rendered, "Salvation be to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." The latter method of rendering makes THE THEOS (GOD) and the Kathēmenos one person, and THE LAMB another person; but we have seen that the Kathēmenos is JESUS CHRIST, the Alpha and the

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