this Trinity (rpiádos) that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested. The whole Scriptures then proclaim this truth.' "1 I am deeply conscious of my inability adequately to write upon such a theme; I have been induced to do so, partly by the earnest desire to lead any who may read these pages to a closer and more loving study of the Sacred Volume, and partly because I am not aware of any book especially devoted to the subject of the Theophanies ("direct appearances of a Person in the Godhead") and the immediate Revelations of GOD Himself as recorded in the Old Testament. It is a subject on which the believing student of God's written Word, from the earliest days of the Church, has delighted to ponder, and beginning from the Fathers down to the present time, very much has been written on this glorious portion of Bible History. There are many works of immense interest and value which treat upon it more or less fully; but these are for the most part large and elaborate; and we do not know of any small book on this grand series of events. As we study these accounts with the faith of a little child, does not their intrinsic grandeur become more and more evident? Does not our faith grow till we can fully believe in the reality of these scenes, and adore GOD, Who has caused us to know 1 66 so much of His converse with our race in the earliest days? Does not our faith go beyond this and reach forward to the invisible but no less certain future, and undoubtingly believe that 'This God,' of Whom David wrote, is our God, and that He will be our Guide even unto death,' and afterwards will receive us into His glory? We desire to trace the history which GOD has given us in the Old Testament, of His making Himself known to His creature man, whether by Voice, or Vision, or Personal Appearance. I say the history, for we are examining this portion of the Sacred Narrative, not so much in its strictly Theological aspect as in its connection with Religion-that Religion which Jehovah gave to the people whom He chose, and to whom "were committed the oracles of God." Necessarily must the history of the Israelites to some extent be brought in, as well as the personal history of a few conspicuous characters, conspicuous as having been selected by the LORD to receive Revelation immediately from Himself, and to be His witnesses to the truth of it throughout all future ages. 1 1 Rom. iii. 2. "The phrase 'Oracles of God' is employed by Philo to denote not only the Pentateuch, but also the Book of Joshua; and therefore must be understood to apply to the entire Old Testament as a generic term. Now this is the very expression employed by St. Paul in my text to describe the inestimable value of the treasure committed to the Jews; and the word is of no unfrequent use in the New Testament, in the same sense." "The Inspiration of Holy Scripture," 4th Ed., p. 61, W. Lee, D.D. 2 We would state at the outset, in order to prevent any misapprehension, that we use and apply the name GoD,1 as it is used and applied in the Bible, and that when commenting on those portions of Holy Scripture, which allude to the appearing of GOD in visible Form to man, we remember that the LORD said to Moses, Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live," and that JESUS CHRIST Himself said, when speaking of the FATHER, Ye have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His shape.' 'No man,' said St. John, hath seen God at any time.'s But the next sentence clears away the apparent contradiction: The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.' the Inspired Volume there are no real contradictions, and even as we believe that GOD was manifest in the flesh, so we believe that He held converse with the Patriarchs; 'that He spake unto Moses, face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend,' that He was none other than God our Saviour.' As we believe that it pleased Him to become partaker of flesh and blood, to be made in all 6 In 1 "If the Father and the Son are alike to be invoked, I shall call the Father God,' and invoke Jesus Christ as 'Lord' [Rom. i. 7]. But when Christ alone is [mentioned] I shall be able to call him 'God;' as the same Apostle says, ‘Of whom is Christ who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Tertullianus adversus Praxeau, ch. xiii. 2 Ex. xxxiii. 20. 8 John i. 18, and 1 John iv. 12. C 2 points like unto His brethren, sin only excepted, and to dwell for more than thirty years on earth, so we believe. that whenever it pleased Him He could appear and speak 'face to face' with any of His servants: while it was equally true that no man should see God' the Son, that is to say in the fulness of His glory, the glory that He had with the Father,' and live. 6 We desire to approach this subject with humble and reverent devotion; but we know that it is GOD's will that we should search the Scriptures which testify of Him; we believe in GoD the FATHER, GOD the SON, and GOD the HOLY GHOST, and that these Three are One. And is it not our highest privilege to learn that which GOD has in infinite love condescended to teach us of Himself? The more we dwell upon the subject the larger and wider does it become,-can it be otherwise, if in reverence and deep humility, we approach this grandest of all themes which it is permitted to the mind of man to contemplate, a theme of which the culminating glory is CHRIST crucified? He Who was promised as the Redeemer before man was driven out of Eden; The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,' 'the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.' ་ In its sublimity it is altogether beyond our finite comprehension, "past finding out," but in another sense, and blessed be GOD for this, 'that which hath been revealed, belongs unto us and to our children,' even to those to whom the LORD has given 'the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,' and to those who are filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.' It is also written that 'the secret things belong unto the Lord our God.' That which in His inscrutable counsel GOD has hidden, we by no power which He has given us, can possibly find out. During this life we see but darkly, yet how much more light and knowledge has been bestowed upon us in this glorious dispensation, when much that was hidden from the Jewish Church, has been made known to us. Things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the world,' are by the Gospel and preaching of Jesus Christ,' according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Gospel of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.' If therefore we study the Bible as a whole, comparing the Old Testament with the New, and especially where we meet with the same form of expression, the same style of imagery and words as nearly as possible identical, applied to the same subject, we shall find, if we may use the simile, that one chain binds its many parts together, and in each link of that chain there is engraved a hieroglyph, and these taken in their right order, can be read either backward or forward-'The Word of |