Christus semper egit in Dei Patris nomine; ipse ab initio conversatus est et congressus cum Patriarchis et Prophetis. adv. Marc. lib. 2. 'Christ always dealt (with men) in the name of God the Father; and so himself from the beginning conversed with the Patriarchs and prophets.' And again, Christus ad colloquia humana semper descendit, ab Adam usque ad Patriarchas et Prophetas, in visione, in somno, in speculo, in ænigmate, ordinem suum præstruens semper ab initio ; et Deus, in terris cum hominibus conversatus est, non alius, quam sermo qui caro erat futurus. Adv. Praxeam. • It was Christ who descended to commune with men, from Adam unto the patriarchs and prophets, in visions, dreams, and appearances, or representations of himself, instructing them in his future condition from the beginning; and God who conversed with men on earth, was no other but the word who was to be made flesh.' The other is Justin Martyr, whose words need not be produced, seeing it is known how he contends for this very thing, in his dialogue with Trypho.

$21. That which is more direct unto our purpose, is to inquire into the apprehensions of the Jewish masters, concerning these divine appearances, granted unto the patriarchs and church of old, with what may thence be collected for their conviction concerning the person of the Messiah. The most part of their expositors do, I confess, pass over the difficulties of the places mentioned, (I mean those which are difficult to them because of their present infidelity) without taking the least notice of them. Some would have the angel mentioned to be Michael, to whom they assign a prerogative, above the other angels, who preside over other countries. But who that Michael is, and wherein that prerogative doth consist, they know not. Some say that Michael is the high priest of heaven, who offers up the prayers of the righteous: so R. Menachem. The priest above, that offereth, or presenteth the souls of the righteous, saith another, more agreeably unto the truth than they are aware of. One signal instance only, of the evidence of the truth insisted on, in the words of Moses Nechmanides Gerundensis, on Exod. xxiii. which hath been taken notice of by many, shall at present suffice. His words are; Iste Angelus, si rem ipsam dicamus, est Angelus Redemptor, de quo Scriptum est quoniam nomen meum in ipso est. Ille inquam Angelus, qui ad Jacob dicebat, Gen. xxxi. 13. Ego Deus Bethel. Ille de quo dictum est, Exod. iii. 4. et vocabat Mosen Deus de rubo. Vocatur autem Angelus quia mundum gubernat. Scriptum est enim Deut. vi. 21. eduxit vos Jehovah ex Ægypto; et alibi Num. xx. 6. misit Angelum suum et eduxit vos ex Egypto. Præterea scriptum est Isa. lxiii. 9. et Angelus faciei ejus salvos fecit ipsos. Nimirum ille Angelus qui est Dei facies; de quo dictum est Exod. xxxiii. 14. Facies mea praibit, et efficiam ut quiescas. Denique ille Angelus est de que vates Mal. iii. 1. et subiVOL. I.

Q

de

to veniet ad templum suum dominus quem vos quæritis, et Angelus fœderis quem capitis. And again to the same purpose. Animadverte attente quid ista sibi velint. Facies mea praibit. Moses enim et Israelitæ semper optaverunt Angélum primum, cæterum quis ille esset vere intelligere non potuerunt. Neque enim ab aliis percipiebant, neque prophetica noticne satis assequebantur; Atqui Facies Dei, ipsum Deum significat, quod apud omnes interpretes est in confesso. Verum ne per somnium quidem ista intelligere quisquam possit, nisi sit in mysteriis legis eruditus. And again, Facies mea præcedet, h. e. Angelus fœderis quem vos cupitis in quo videbitur facies mea: quo dictum est, tempore accepto exaudiam te; nomen meum in eo est. Faciamque ut quiescas; sive officiam ut ipse tibi sit lenis et benignus: neque te ducat per rigidum, sed placide et clementer. This angel, if we speak exactly, is the angel the Redeemer, concerning whom it is written, my name is in him, Exod. xxii. 21. that angel who said unto Jacob, I am the God of Bethel, Gen. xxxi. 13. He of whom it is said, And God called unto Moses out of the bush, Exod. iii. 4. And he is called an angel because he governeth the world. For it is written, Deut. vi. 21. The Lord our God brought us out of Egypt; and elsewhere, Num. xx. 6. He sent his angel and brought us out of Egypt. Moreover it is written, Isa. lxiii. 9. And the angel of his face (presence) saved them. Namely, that angel who is the face of God; of whom it is said, Exod. xxxiii. 14. My face shall go before thee, and I will cause thee to rest. Lastly, it is that angel of whom the prophet speaks, Mal. iii. 1. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come unto his temple, the angel of the covenant whom ye delight in.' His following words are to the same purpose. Mark diligently what is the meaning of those words, My face shall go before thee. For Moses and the Israelites always desired the highest angel, but who that was they could not truly understand. For neither could they learn it of any others, nor obtain it by prophecy. But the face of God signifieth God himself, as all interpreters acknowledge. But no man can have the least knowledge hereof, unless he be skilled in the mysteries of the law.' He adds moreover; My face shall go before thee, that is the angel of the covenant whom ye desire; in whom my face shall be seen; of whom it is said, in an acceptable time have I heard thee; my name is in him; I will cause thee to rest; or cause that he shall be gentle or kind unto thee, nor shall lead thee with rigour, but quietly and mercifully.'

§ 22. This Ra. Moses bar Nachman, wrote about the year of our Lord, 1220, in Spain, and died at Jerusalem, An. 1260, and is one of the chief masters of the Jews. And there arem any things occurring in his writings, beyond the common rate of their present apprehensions. As in the places cited, he doth

plainly evert one of the principal foundations of their present infidelity. For he not only grants, but contends and proves, that the angel spoken of was God, and being sent of God as his angel, he must be a distinct person in the deity, as we have proved. The reason indeed on which he fixeth why he is calfed an angel, namely, because he governeth the world, although the thing itself be true, is not so proper. For he is so called, because of his eternal designation, and actual delegation by the Father, unto the work of saving the church in all conditions from first to last. And as he acknowledgeth that his being called the face of God, proves him to be God, so it doth no less evidently evince his personal distinction from him whose face he is; that is, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. And what he adds of the mercy and benignity which by the appointment of God he exerciseth towards his people, is signally suitable unto the tenderness and mercy which the great captain of our salvation exerciseth by God's appointment, towards all those whom he leads and conducts unto glory.

§ 23. It will be also not unsuitable to consider what some of them write in Tanchuma, an ancient comment on the five books of Moses. Speaking of the angel that went before them from Exod. xxiii. 20. God,' say they, said unto Moses, Behold I send my angel before thy face. But Moses answered, I will not have an angel, but I will have thyself. But when Joshua the son of Nun first saw the angel, he said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? then the angel answered, I am the captain of the Lord's host, and now I come; as if he had said, I am come a second time, that I may lead the Israelites into their possession. I came when Moses thy master was the ruler, but when he saw me, he would not have me to go with him, but refused me. As soon as Joshua heard this, he fell on his face and worshipped, saying, What speaketh my Lord unto his

servant ?'

Answerable hereunto in the Talmud. Tractat. Saned. cap. 4. Echad dine Mamonoth, they have a gloss on those words, Exod. xxiii. 21, oywab w Rh, he will not pardon your transgres

לא יכול הסלוח לפשעכם ומה יתרון בהאמר ליה ; sions הימנותא בידן שאין בוכה לשאת פשעינו ואנו כמו מאסכוהו He cannot - ומאינו לבלו אפילו לפרוונקא שליח מוציא זמביא

.

spare or pardon your transgressions: what then doth he do, or could he do; wherefore we said unto him, (to God) we believe that he cannot pardon our transgressions, and therefore we refuse him, and will not accept of him; no not for a leader to go in and out before us.' They greatly mistake in supposing that the angel whom alone Moses refused, was he that afterwards appeared unto Joshua; for he was the same with him in whom

was the name of God, and who was promised unto them under the name of the face or presence of God. But in this they were right enough; that, not Moses, but their church under the law, refused that Angel of God's presence, who was to conduct them that obey him into everlasting rest. And the church of believers under Joshua, which was a type of the church of the New Testament, adhering unto him, found rest unto their souls.

$24. And this angel of whom we have spoken, was he whom the Talmudists call, 1, Metatron. Ben Uzziel in his Targum on Gen. v. ascribes this name unto Enoch. He ascended, saith he, into heaven by the word of the Lord,

w

and his name was called Metrato the great מיטטרון ספרא רבא

the Tal

the prince n, the

scribe. But this opinion is rejected and confuted in mud. There they tell us that Metatron is by of the world; or, as Elias calls him in Tishbi, prince of God's presence. The mention of this name is in Talm. Tract. Saned. cap. 4. where they plainly intimate that they intend an uncreated angel thereby. For they assign such things unto him as are incompetent unto any other. And as Reuchlin informeth us from the Cabbalists, they say

noon, Metatron was the master or teacher of Moses himself. He it is, saith Elias, who is the angel always appearing in the presence of God, of whom it is said, my name is in him. And the Talmudists add, that he hath power to blot out the sins of Israel, whence they call him the chancellor of heaven. And Bechai a famous master among them affirms, on Exod. xxiii. that his name signifies both a Lord, a messenger, and a keeper. A Lord, because he ruleth all; a messenger, because he standeth always before God to do his will; and a keeper, because he keepeth Israel. The etymology of that name which he gives unto this purpose, is, I confess, weak and foolish. Nor is that of Elias one jot better, who tells us that Metatron is a, in the Greek tongue, One sent. But yet the person who is intended by these obscure intimations, which are the corrupted relicts of ancient traditions, is evident, namely the uncreated Prince of glory, who being Lord of all appeared of old unto the patriarchs, as the angel or messenger of the Father. And as for the word itself, it is either a corrupt expression of the Latin Mediator, such as is usual amongst them, or a mere gematrical fiction to answer unto ", the Almighty, there being a coincidence in the numerical signification of their letters.

And this was another way, whereby God instructed the church of old in the mystery of the person of the Messiah who was promised unto them.

EXERCITATION XI.

Oc

1. Messiah promised of old. § 2. Faith of the ancient church of the Jews concerning him. § 3. State of the Jews at his coming. 4. Expectations of it. Exposed to the seduction of impostors. Faith of their fore-fathers lost among them. Sadducees expected a Messiah. On what grounds. Consistency of their principles. § 5. True Messiah rejected by them. General reason thereof. 6. Story of Barcosba and Rabbi Akiba. Miracles to be wrought by the Messiah. § 7. State of the Jews after the days of Barcosba. Faith of their forefathers utterly renounced. § 8. Opinion of Hillel, denying any Messiah to come. casion of it. Their judgment of him. §9. The things concerning the Messiah mysterious. Seeming inconsistencies in the prophecies and descriptions of him. § 10. Reconciled in the gospel. That rejected by the Jews. 11. Their imagination of two Messiabs: Messiah Ben Joseph, and Messiah Ben David. Story of Messiah Ben Joseph. § 12. Of Armillus. § 13. Rise and occasion of the fable concerning him. Jews acquainted with the revelation. § 14. Their story of the building of Rome. § 15. Death of Ben Joseph. § 16, 17. The fable concerning him disproved. The same with that of the Romanists concerning antichrist. § 18. Of Messiah Ben David. The faith and expectation of the Jews concerning him. § 19. The opinion of Maimonides. 20. Sum of the Judaical Creed. § 21. Ground and reason of their present unbelief. § 22. Ignorance of their miserable condition by nature. § 23. Ignorance of acceptable righteousness. 24. And of the judgment of God concerning sin. § 25, 26. Also of the nature and end of the law. § 27. Corrupt affections. § 28. Envy against the Gentiles. Because of the privileges claimed by them. § 29. And of their oppressions 30. Judaical faith concerning the Messiah. §31. The folly of it. 32. Of the promises of the Old Testament. § 33-36. Threefold interpretation of them.

.what אבא קלון

§ 1. WE have proved that there was a promise of a person

to be born, and anointed unto the work of relieving mankind from sin and misery, and to bring them back unto God. And what kind of person he was to be, we have also shewed. It remains that we consider what was the faith of the ancient church of the Jews concerning him; as also what are, and have been for many generations, the apprehensions and expectations of the same people, about the same object of faith, with the occasions and reasons of their present infidelity and obstinacy.

§ 2. For the faith of the ancient church, it hath been already sufficiently discoursed. What God revealed, that they believed. They of old saw not indeed clearly and fully into the sense of the promises, as to the way and manner whereby God would