PREFACE. THE writer of this work does not claim for it a name or a place in literature, or amongst works of erudition in any way; it has been written amidst many duties, and solemn duties, and has suffered loss and derangement from these causes. Sometimes even the meaning may be intricate, as a great part of it has not only been written in fractions of time, but it has not been rewritten. She could not now undertake the work of such a correction; she therefore leaves it to the leniency of the reader. The work was originally intended to be a cursory glance of the name JEHOVAH throughout Scripture, and thus the first part of the first volume may be a little diffusive, but the writer can only ask her reader to bear with her to the end, and her purpose of setting forth the great name according to the construction of Revelation will be seen. Perhaps the original name in the Hebrew and Greek may not always admit of the name JEHOVAH as substituted in this work, but the mind of the Spirit throughout the sacred volume is the same, it is a theoretic name. The august name grew in importance as the writer proceeded, and hence the work in its present, more lengthened form than it would otherwise have been. It is to The writer having told her readers what the work is not, she will now simply tell them what it is. show, that the name JEHOVAH did prefigure God in Christ, in all His relations to man ; or that the Prototype was the Antitype, save the distinct humanity; or, as Almighty, even this may have been assumed; God being Prescient and Omniscient, the end from the beginning is seen to Him (Gen. xxxii. 24; Dan. vii. 13). And thus this work is a point of theology, a phase of Revelation; an effort to set forth this one grand feature of Revelation, God in Christ in the name JEHOVAH. The work is not for idle readers, not for the mass of readers, but for biblical students. Although the writer has said she does not ask for it a place amongst works of erudition, still, a sentence or two from some Reviews of her works may, perhaps, to some extent be true of them all. "The contents seem of a kind to suit an audience, fit though few, rather than readers at large. . . . This statement will be sufficient to whet the appetite of the curious in such recondite theological studies. "To all students of Revelation this will prove a deeply interesting volume. The Author is a lady, we believe, but she has conducted her investigations in a truly logical and masculine spirit. The tone of the book is also unexceptionable." Then she will only add here, that this work is not for the idle, the thoughtless, or for superficial readers, unless it be to make them more thoughtful. The name JEHOVAH was the covenant name of God, and the memorial name of that covenant. The Majesty of the Almighty God is seen in it. This undertaking is simply a reading of the Scriptures, substituting the name instead of the name LORD as employed in our translation of them. The histories will therefore often appear shortened, and the subject unsustained, from the one purpose of setting forth the great name. The writer repeats, that according to the letter, the name may not always be thus changed; but the mind of the Spirit is the covenant name JEHOVAH, thus connecting the volume, making it one harmonious whole. The JEHOVAH is seen to be everywhere the Author of it, the Editor of it, the Head of the hierarchy of God, of the human family, every command is given by Him, and every providence under his sceptre. The name was only dropped when the people were in exile, captivity, or from some other traceable cause. In this simple reading of the Word of God, the writer wants her readers to lay hold of the great name, and to keep in mind all the effulgence of it, not only as she will show the meaning of it in this Preface, but throughout Revelation, and as it ought to be received. into the soul of every true believer, what God in covenant, and what God in Christ is to himself. Let him see it as it stands in its sublime Majesty down the sacred page, down the page of time, relatively to every human being; what it ever has been to all, and what it ever will be. "All the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in Him, Amen." It was in writing her tract on the Divinity of Christ, that the writer in the book of Jonah first saw the im portance of the great name, the effulgence of the relativeness of it to man. "Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." So to the end of time there will be things new found in the Word of God by every student taught by his Spirit.* Then we must glance here in this Preface at the name JEHOVAH, as the covenant name, and as the memorial name of the covenant; that we may at once take all the grand magnificence of its meaning along with us in our simple reading of the Scripture, employing the prophetic name. "The JEHOVAH had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, unto a land that I will show thee. "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing: "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. "So Abram departed as JEHOVAH had spoken unto him" (Gen. xiii. 1, 2, 4). "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the JEHOVAH appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. "And I will make my covenant between me and thee...... * The writer has since read the little work of Mr. J. Tyler on the name, which helped her to understand the letter of it. |