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opposed to "p 1 fallacious wealth: o papμwras rns adikias (Luke, xvi. 9) means perishable riches, and, by parity of reason, the "mammon of righteousness" may mean certain, permanent riches; прn, therefore, may denote certain wealth: and this clause is rendered " opes firmæ et solida❞ by Doederlein; opes perennes et duratura" by Dathe. According to this, the verse may be translated,

66

Riches and honour are with me,

Even durable and certain wealth.

19. even solid gold]—ani, pin, Onɔ, 7110, 18, 782, all signify gold: there must be some distinction, for so many words can scarcely be quite synonymous; but I have not been able to ascertain the difference satisfactorily to myself.—See Michalis, Supplem. ad Lex. Heb. No. 597.

20. I march in the way, &c.]-That is, my proceedings are in righteousness and justice. Dr. Hodgson gives a • Hiphil sense to the verb, " In the path of virtue I cause men to walk."

21. That I may cause, &c.]-Wisdom proceeds in the way of righteousness and equity, for the purpose of making those who love her to inherit, not frail, perishable wealth, but true, spiritual riches, and of rendering their enjoyment of them full and complete. This is strange language to be spoken of an attribute; but strictly applicable to the Son of God, through whom we are partakers of the riches of his grace; (Ephes. i. 7, ii. 7;) through whom we are made rich, (2 Cor. viii. 9,) rich in the possession of spiritual blessings; and through whom alone we can receive "forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in him."-Acts, xxvi. 18.

22. Jehovah possessed me the Beginning of his way]—This version is supported by LXX, Aq. Sym. Theod. and is

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approved by Aben Ezra, Cocceius, Schultens, Michaelis, Gill, &c. As this and some of the following verses are of the utmost consequence in determining the correctness of our interpretation, they demand a minute and critical examination.

possessed-p" possedit me," Vulgate; ekrŋoato μɛ, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion; that is, possessed me by right of paternity and generation, as is evident from verses 23, 24, 25; and this verb is, undoubtedly, applied to possession by generation Gen. iv. 1.-(Compare Deut. xxxii. 6.) The Father possessed the Son, had, or, as it were, acquired him by an eternal generation; and the same circumstance, the eternal filiation of the Son, is declared in Micah's famous prophecy by the phrase, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."—(Mic. v. 2. See Matt. ii. 6; Bishop Chandler's Defence, ch. ii. p. 150.) But p is rendered

creavit, in the Syriac; '87 creavit, in the Targum; and, in the same sense, ɛktɩσɛ μɛ, in the LXX. By this expression of the LXX, the Arians justified themselves in classing the Son among created beings; " verum antiqui Patres, qui ante concilium Nicænum vixere, per vocabulum KTLσEWC, non eam solum creationem quæ ex nihilo fit, sed omne genus productionis intellexerunt, ipsamque adeo generationem Verbi."-(Valesii Not. in Eusebii Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 26.) Many, indeed, understood this passage as relating to the human nature of Christ; (Suiceri Thesaur. voc, iii. 3;) but in this they were clearly mistaken, since Wisdom expressly declares, that she was born before the earth and its furniture existed. Πολλαχου δε των θείων λογιων γεγεννήσθαι, αλλ' ου γεγονεναι τον υιον λεγομενον εύροι τις αν. vp' ων καταφανως ελεγχονται τα ψευδη περι της του Κυριου γεννήσεως υπολαμβανοντες, οι ποιησιν, αυτου την θειαν και αρρητον γεννησιν λεγαν τολμώντες. "In many places of the sacred Oracles," says Dionysius Romanus, "the Son is said to be born, but

υιος,

nowhere to be made; wherefore they entertain false opinions concerning the generation of our Lord, who dare to call his divine and unspeakable generation a creation."-(In Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ, vol. iii. p. 182.) It is not improbable, that the present text of the LXX is corrupt, and that the true reading should be εкrησaro.—See Schleusneri Opuscula, p. 306.

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the Beginning]-n's means the origin or cause ch. xvii. 14; Jer. xlix. 35; Mic. i. 13, as it does in the passage before us; and is very characteristic of the divine Logos, who was the Beginning, the Origin, the efficient Cause, and Creator of all things; for "all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”— (John, i. 3. See Ephes. iii. 9; Col. i. 15-17; Heb. i. 2, 10; Rev. iv. 11; Waterland's Sermons at Lady Moyer's.) The Son of God is called the "Beginning" Rev. xxii. 13, perhaps i. 8, though Griesbach omits apyn kaι reλos on very respectable authority; but in Rev. iii. 14, he is denominated η αρχή της κτίσεως του Θεου, which is parallel to Prov. viii. 22, and may, indeed, be rendered, "the Lord of the creation of God," but seems rather to mean “ auctor initii," the efficient cause or author of the creation. (See Wolfii Curæ and Rosenmulleri Scholia in loc.) He is also styled the “ Beginning" Col. i. 18, where some suppose apyn relates to his being "the first-fruits of them that slept;" (1 Cor. xv. others to his being the efficient cause and ruler of the church, among whom are Estius and Macknight; others, with more propriety perhaps, to his being the creator and cause of all things.

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In the strict acceptation of the word, the Father alone can be called apyn, as being God, not of any other, but of himself, and as he is the cause and origin even of the Son's divine "The ancient doctors of the church," says the

essence.

learned Bishop Pearson, "have not stuck to call the Father the
origin, the cause, the author, the root, the fountain, and the head
of the Son, or the whole Divinity."-(On the Creed, p. 63,
Oxon. 1797, where he has accumulated abundance of authorities
in the notes. See also Clarke's Scrip. Doct. of the Trinity, part
ii. § 9; Bull, Def. § 4; Suiceri Thes. apyn.) Yet the sacred
writers have given the appellation of n'w, apx", to the Son,
in regard to his being the efficient cause and creator of the
universe; and the ancient fathers have not scrupled to deno-
minate him by the same term. Thus Clemens Alexandrinus
calls the Son τον αχρονον και αναρχον, αρχην τε και απαρχήν των
OVTWV; (Strom. lib. vii. p. 700, C;) and in another place he
says, αρχη θεια των παντων ην και εστιν, scil. ο Λογος.
(Admonit. ad Gent. p. 5, D.) Tatian uses the same term,
την δε αρχην Λογου δυναμιν παραληφαμεν: that by Λογου
dvvapur is meant the Word, is proved at large by Bull.-
(Def. Fid. Nic. § iii. cap. 6.) At the end of the same para-
graph Tatian says, τουτον (scil. Λογον) ισμεν του κόσμου την
αρχήν, "we know that the Word is the Beginning," i. e. the
Principle or Cause of the world.-(Orat. ad Græc. § 7, ed.
Worth.) Theophilus Antiochenus also observes concerning
the Son, ουτος λεγεται αρχη; and immediately after, ουτος
ουν ων πνενμα Θεού και αρχη, και σοφια, και δυναμις υψίστου.
-(Ad. Autolyc. lib. ii. p. 88, C.) Eusebius characterizes him
by the same appellation, αρχην των γενητων απαντων,
Beginning or Principle of all created beings."-(Præp. Evang.
lib. vii. cap. 12, also cap. 15.) The same term is applied to
him by Justin Martyr.-(Dial. cum Tryph. p. 367, D. Colon.
1686.) So the verses" Incerti Auctoris," printed among the
works of Tertullian, (Op. p. 638, ed Rigalt,)

"Hic Deus, hic et homo verus, verumque locutus,
De Patre principium, genitum de lumine lumen,
Spiritus et Verbum, Patris sub imagine virtus,
Cum Patre semper erat, unitus gloria et ævo.”

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If this interpretation should not be admitted, though it appears the true one, and n'w be taken in the sense of beginning, commencement, as it signifies Gen. x. 10; Deut. xi. 12; Eccles. vii. 8; Jer. xxvi. 1, xxvii. 1, xxviii. 1, xlix. 34; then "Jehovah possessed me the Beginning of his way" will refer to the eternal generation of the Son, who was πрWTOTOKOL Taons kriσews, (Col. i. 15,) “begotten before every creature," that is, before any created being had existence.-(Middleton on the Greek Article in loc.) For to call the attribute wisdom "the commencement of God's operation," is totally unwarranted by other texts of holy writ; and, as far as we can judge on a subject so far exalted above us, would be an assertion irreconcilable with all our notions of the Deity. God did not generate or produce wisdom; it is essential to his very nature; and can, in no respect, be called the beginning or commencement of his way or operation.

If ws be taken in the signification of chief or principal thing, as ch. iv. 7; 1 Sam. ii. 29; Dan. xi. 41; Amos, yi. 1, 6; Ps. lxxviii. 51, cv. 36, it may refer to the filiation of the Son, who may be called the chief of God's operations, in as much as he was generated from all eternity, and the whole undivided essence of God was communicated to him. Or it may be explained of his being appointed by the Father chief or head over all his works: which interpretation is generally adopted by the ancient fathers, as may be seen in the passages referred to at the end of the chapter, particularly Eusebius, de Eccles. Theol. lib. iii. cap. 2. This gives no countenance to the Arian notion of a creature, and is not unsuitable to Him to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, and by whom all things consist, (Matt. xxviii. 18; Col. i. 17; Waterland's Second Defence, Qu. 12,) but is wholly inapplicable to wisdom as a quality, for how can an attribute be head, chief, or principal thing?

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