possibly, in the Apocalypse, as well as in the other New Testament writings, the latter term may be found employed with the same latitude that Elohim is in the Old Testament; that is, applied to earthly ruling powers as well as to the SUPREME RULER OF THE UNIVERSE. This has not, hitherto, been even suspected, but is not, on that account, the less likely to be true; for the words whereby Theos has been translated, in the different European versions, being every where considered in the light of Proper Names, this circumstance could not but operate to prevent readers, generally, from ever starting a question on the subject.

DISSERTATION. THE FIFTH.

ON THE HEBREW NAME JEHOVAH [717'], AND THE GREEK EXPRESSION KÝPIOZ ¿ ®EÓZ, [KYRIOS the THEOS], COMMONLY RENDERED "THE LORD GOD."

THE HE subject which we now proceed to examine is one of the greatest importance. It has been not merely suspected, but, I may say, admitted, by some of the most learned and judicious Biblical Critics, that the words, ô ŵy, naì ô yv, xai

[JE

ipxóuevos, in Rev. i. 4. and other parts of the Apocalypse, rendered in the Common Version, "Which is, and which was, and which is to come," are given by John, as a periphrasis for HOVAH]; but it has never (so far as I have been able to discover) been hitherto even suspected, that, in some of the passages, he actually employs these terms as a definition,-defining thereby the sense in which he uses the word Kúpios [Kyrios], when he employs this Greek word to represent the Hebrew name JEHOVAH. The

fact, however, is so; and it is so obvious, and, at the same time, so strongly marked in the record, that it will not fail to strike every Greek reader, the moment the evidence is pointed out, with as much surprize as it did the author when he was first led to perceive it, that it should so long have escaped observation. Nor is it less surprizing that the Amanuensis of the Apocalypse should, as hinted in the Fourth Dissertation [p. 201 above], have also given a definition of the sense in which eòs [Theos] is used by him, and, consequently, by the other writers of the New Testament, when employed to represent the Hebrew word Elohim (commonly rendered "God" in the English Bible); and that this also should have escaped the notice of the learned.

We have seen (in the last Dissertation) that, in the New Testament, the word Beds [Theos] represents the Hebrew attributive noun Elohim : it is that by which the Evangelists and Apostles translate Elohim, when quoting the Prophets. And we have also seen that this Hebrew term means THE OMNIPOTENT, or ALL-POWERful. Let it be also kept in recollection, that the word Kúpios [Kyrios], when applied to THE SUPREME, in the New Testament, often represents the Hebrew word [JEHOVAH]: thus in Mat. iii. 3, Mark i. 3, Luke iii. 4, John i. 23, "Prepare ye

Thy oddv Kupiou the way of JEHOVAH" (Isai. xl. 3,

777); in Mat. iv. 7, Luke iv. 12, "Thou shalt not tempt Κύριον τον Θεόν σου, C. V. THE LORD thy God (Deut. vi. 14, DOTÓN MITAN); and so in many other places: it follows, then, that, whatever be the sense that attaches to the name JEHOVAH in the Old Testament, the word Kúpios, when representing that name, must be understood in the same sense in the New.

These things being premised, let us attend to the words employed by the Apostle in Rev. i. 8, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ ὤν, καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ παντοκράτωρ. The words Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς here represent the Hebrew words x m [Jehovah Elohim]. The meaning of Elohim we have seen, as indicated by its Radix. The meaning of the word [JEHOVAH] may be ascertained by its etymology. It is compounded of the past, the present, and the future time of the Hebrew verb of existence [Haváh]; viz. the present participle, followed by the perfect tense ♫, and preceded by? [yod], the sign of the future, forming together the word [JEHOVAH]; which, therefore, expresses attributes that belong only to HIM who is" without beginning of days or end of years," present, past, and future existence. But this is precisely what is affirmed by the three terms which follow Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς, in the passage

before us, namely, ὁ ὤν, καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, THE BEING, and THE HE WAS, and THE COMING ONE. The common version gives the sense of the Greek pretty correctly, "which is, and which was, and which is to come;" but the facts connected with the present enquiry demand that the translation should be given as literally as possible, however uncouth it may sound to the English ear. In fact the words here employed by John present a translation into Greek, of the three parts of the Hebrew verb, which enter into the composition of the word [JEHOVAH], as above. But Kúpios [Kyrios] here stands for JEHOVAH: Why then are these terms added?-To inform the reader of the fact, to place it beyond the possibility of contradiction. John writing in Greek, and using the Greek term Kúpios, for the Hebrew term, instantly gives, in Greek, a definition of the sense in which the former is to be taken, when representing that name which belongs only to THE SUPREME. These words then—ὁ ὤν, καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος—are no part of those spoken by HIM who says, in the first clause of the verse, Ἐγὼ εἰμὶ τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω, Ι am the Alpha and the Omega,-words which John informs us were spoken by Kúpios & Oeds [that is, by JEHOVAH Elohim]; but are explanatory terms, added by the writer (writing, however, under Divine guidance), defining, as already said, the