in this passage, alleging that the lower degree of
reverence expressed by the latter applies to the angels; whilst the
former verb, implying the higher degree of worship, alone relates to the
Godhead. But this distinction rests on a false assumption; the two words
being used equally to convey the idea, of the highest religious
worship[36].

[Footnote 36: For example, the first word ([Greek: sebometha]),
"we reverence," is used to mean the whole of religious worship,
as well with regard to the true God, as with reference to Diana
[Acts xviii. 7. 13; xix. 27.]; whilst the second word ([Greek:
proskunoumen]), "we worship," is constantly employed in the same
sense of divine worship, throughout the Septuagint [Exod. xxxiv.
14. Ps. xciv. (xcv.) 6. I Sam. (1 Kings) xv. 25. 2 Kings (4
Kings) xvii. 36. Heb. i. 6.], (with which Justin was most
familiar,) and is used in the Epistle to the Hebrews to signify
the worship due from the angels themselves to God, "Let all the
angels of God worship him." The very same word is also soon
after employed by Justin himself (sect. xvi. p. 53) to mean the
whole entire worship of the Most High God: "That we ought to
worship ([Greek: proskumein]) God alone, Christ thus proves,"
&c. Moreover, the word which Justin uses at the close of the
sentence, "honouring them" ([Greek: timontes]), is the identical
word four times employed by St. John [John v. 23.], in the same
verse, to record our Saviour's saying, "That all men might
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father; he that
honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent
him."]

But in determining the true meaning of an obscure passage, grammatically
susceptible of different acceptations, the author himself is often his
own best interpreter. If he has expressed in another place the same
leading sentiment, yet without the same obscurity, and free from all
doubt, the light borrowed from that passage {110} will frequently fix
the sense of the ambiguous expression, and establish the author's
consistency. On this acknowledged principle of criticism, I would call
your attention to a passage in the very same treatise of Justin, a few
pages further on, in which he again defends the Christians against the
same charge of being atheists, and on the self-same ground, "that they
worship the Father who is maker of all; secondly, the Son proceeding
from Him