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    * tended for the prevention or the refutation of error . The whole structure of the sentences and the tone of the sentiments prove this . The style throughout is direct and dogmatical , corrective and controversial . "—P . 19 . To us , we own , the evidence of this controversial character is by no means plain and decisive . We find only a succession of short but connected sentences , arising naturally out of each other , intimately related to the

    subject of the narrative , forming a suitable introduction to it , intelligible and pertinent in themselves , and by no means requiring the supposition of allusions to existing errors and prejudices . We doubt very much the supposed allusion in the eighth verse , which may , perhaps , be admitted to be as p lausible as any of the others . But what can be more evident than that the Baptist himself institutes the comparison between himself and the Messiah ?

    After some metaphysical speculations as to its origin , our author describes the frequent periphrasis for Jehovah to be met with in the Chaldee paraphrases , of which we find the occasional use , he says , in the original Scriptures . Perhaps his first example , Psa . xxxiii . 6 , " By the word of the Lord , " can hardly be considered to the purpose ; as it is clearly parallel to the subsequent phrase , " by the breath of his mouth ; " nor are we quite

    satisfied with the second instance from Psa . cv . 19 , " Until the time that his word came . " There is some strange mistake in the note subjoined to these passages , " In the Septuagint Version , what in these instances is rendered ' the Lord , ' is translated by Aoyos . " This would powerfully corroborate the author's argument ; but yet it is certain that Kvpioq , and not Aoyoq , is employed by the Septuagint , as the representative of the original

    word ri ) TV—Lord in the author ' s note must evidently be a mistake for Word , In the Targums or Chaldean paraphrases of the Scriptures , which were made for the use of the common people after the captivity of Babylon , this circumlocution of the " Logos of the Lord , " for the simple name of Jehovah , is almost universally adopted . Thus the Jerusalem Targum translates Gen . i . 27 , " God created man , " by this phrase , " the Word or Logos of the Lord created man . " In Gen . xv . 6 , " And he , " Abraham , " believed in the Lord" the version of the Pentateuch made by Onkelos

    says , " He believed in the word of the Lord . " Numb . xiv . 9 , " Rebel not against the Lord ; " Onkelos , " against the word of the Lord , " &c . P . 28 . Of the fact there can be no doubt , but we are not exactly prepared to admit that the phrase " was evidently adopted for the purpose of preserving the idea of the unity and spirituality of the Supreme Being . " The scriptural writers themselves must obviously have been quite as much alive as any succeeding writers to these important ends , and yet they generally avoid the periphrasis ; it is even doubtful whether there be a clear example of their use of it .

    Letters III . and IV . contain an elaborate and accurate statement of the principles of Gentile philosophy and theology . We meet , however , with a sentiment which we can scarcely reconcile with that which we have just noticed . The author conceives that the great obstacle to the Grecian philosophers , in the way of reaching truth , was an ignorance of the possibility of the co-existence with material objects , and of the diffusion throughout the universe , of one Spirit , every where intelligent , every where and simultaneously active .

    " If it be asked , why the knowledge of the existence of this one all-pervading" Spirit was not obtained from the Jews ; the answer is , that the reve-

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    Pamphlets on the Logos . 689

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    VOL . II . 3 C

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/33/