NEW JERSEY
COLLEGE LIBRANT

HORÆ SOLITARIÆ:

OR,

ESSAYS UPON SOME REMARKABLE

NAMES AND TITLES

OF

JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT,

OCCURRING IN THE

Old and New Testaments,

AND DECLARATIVE OF THEIR

ESSENTIAL DIVINITY AND GRACIOUS OFFICES

IN THE

REDEMPTION AND SALVATION OF MEN:

TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, AN ESSAY, CHIEFLY HISTORICAL,

UPON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY; AND A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE HEREGIES RELATIVE
TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHICH HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED

SINCE THE CHRISTIAN ERA.

BY AMBROSE SERLE, Esq.

Complete in One Volume.

NEW YORK:

ROBERT CARTER, 58, CANAL STREET.

PREFACE

TO ESSAYS ON THE NAMES, &c. OF THE MESSIAH
OCCURRING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

It was many years ago, that the subject of these papers began to impress the author's mind with considerable anxiety. He saw it to be of immense importance, affecting the very existence of Divine revelation, the whole truth of the Christian religion, with all the comfort which that religion promises and imparts both here and hereafter. It also occurred, that, if the doctrine of the Trinity be a necessary truth to the church of God now, it must have been equally a necessary truth from the beginning; and that, consequently, some appearances or traces of it, however obscured by the lapse of time, or the corrupt propensity of mankind to innovate, pervert, and confound, must have remained in some, if not in all, ages of the world. This to him was an additional motive for inquiry: and his situation as a layman, having no interest, order, or profession to serve, and feeling no concern but for the information of his mind, in a business of eternal moment, may render it credible, that his inquiry has been at least sincere, if not the most able and extensive. He can truly say, that he wished for nothing so much as to learn, and to learn the truth, and nothing but the truth, as in the presence of God. The most ancient volume in the world was the master-key, as well as the rule, of his researches. For, if this record be not true, which God himself hath given concerning his own being, and his own actions in nature and grace, then it is impossible to find a principle or foundation elsewhere, upon any other authority, which can either impart the right knowledge of God, or warrant the reception of that knowledge in the world. But, if this most ancient book be true, (as true it is to demonstration itself, though this can only be cursorily mentioned here) then it

(RECAP)

24957

must be the original standard or measure of all ideas upon this topic, or, rather, the source from which they should spring. If God hath given a revelation of himself, that revelation must necessarily and infallibly be true, and worthy of all acceptation. In this revelation he found, that there are three Divine Persons, who, among other names, distinctly appropriate to themselves the title JEHOVAH; and that this title is inapplicable, and unapplied to any creature, because it denotes an underived, self-existent, eternal essence. He also found in this book, notwithstanding the threefold personality, a most solemn and positive declaration, that JEHOVAH is one, only one, and one indivisibly. Laying these two principles together, which must be equally true, because equally revealed by the same authority, he could only reconcile them with themselves, and with all other parts of the sacred book; but by conceiving, that the unoriginated essence called JEHOVAH, is an inseparable unity of three coequal and coessential subsistencies, which, beyond the low ideas of human composition' or comparison, are a distinguishable Trinity. If there were no other proof than this application of the name JEHOVAH to three distinct persons (and this proof, it is presumed, is fully given in these essays), it would be sufficient ground for maintaining that JEHOVAH is, in one respect, three, and, in another, absolutely one; and this is that doctrine concerning the Godhead, which the Christian religion professes to maintain. Hence it will follow, that the celebrated text, 1 John v. 7, is not the first assertion of this truth, nor the first explanation of it, nor yet the only, nor the principal foundation on which it stands, but merely a summary of what has been fully expressed before throughout the Bible; so that whether the text itself be admitted or not, (though there is no good reason for its rejection, but the contrary,) the doctrine will remain equally unimpeached, till all the rest of the Scripture be expunged, or all the foundations of revealed religion be done. away. The argument, drawn from this application of the Divine name JEHOVAH, and of the other names in connexion with it, transcends the perversion and sophistry of man, and rather commands, than solicits, the conviction of every mind, which can understand it to be the wisdom and duty of creatures to credit the declarations of God.

Other evidences, less necessary, because subordinate, were not wanting, either in the Jewish or the heathen world. These are

the subject, chiefly, of what, in the former edition, was the introduction, but, in the present, because less calculated for common edification, is the concluding essay of this first part. The author will only observe upon this essay, that the more he read, the more his authorities increased; and that the more notes he made, the more they seemed to multiply upon his hands. He could have been less cursory and superficial; but it must have been by the occupying of more room, than could have been conveniently allotted in this work. In a word, the certainty of this sublime doctrine, which appears, to him at least, infinitely beyond the scale of human invention, stood at length confirmed to his mind, by the wonderfully concurrent testimonies, of both gross and more enlightened heathens, of patriarchs, of prophets, of apostles, and (what is more than all) of Christ and of GOD. Such a majesty of demonstration (if the phrase may be used,) could not but impress the most solemn conviction, that this grand truth, like its Author and revealer, is a truth of "yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

Nor is this doctrine a mere notion or principle, standing with speculative insignificance by itself; but the basis, the cement, the top-stone of the whole building of God. It is most firmly connected with every truth in the Bible, and goes through all the experience of the people of God. The serious reader, therefore, will not be displeased, and, it is hoped, not wholly unedified, by the repeated applications of it in these essays to practice, or by any earnest appeals urged from the understanding to the heart and life. This is the happiest method of proving the reality and spirit of truth, and of rendering it, what must be inexpressibly desirable, a truth for ourselves. Whatever cannot thus be reduced to our spiritual enjoyment, hope, and happiness, we may venture to believe, that the goodness and wisdom of God have not been pleased to reveal.

With many corrections, some considerable additions have been made to the present edition, which, it is presumed, cannot justly displease any who love the truths of God, and who, therefore, must wish to see them set forth with every increase of evidence, clearness, and precision.

This first part principally regards the essential Divinity of the Great Redeemer; and the proof of it is taken from the names and titles which are ascribed to Him in the Bible, and more especially in the Old Testament. This method is used, partly