God the Word that spoke this to the People the ancient Church could not doubt as we see in the Book of Deuteronomy where Jonathan tells us that thus Moses minded his People of what they had heard and seen at the giving of the Law Deut. iv 33. Is it possible that a People should have heard the voice of the Word of the Lord the Living God speak out of the middle of the fire as you have heard and yet live Again v. 36. Out of Heaven he hath made you hear the voice of his Word and ye have heard his words out of the midst of the fire Again he puts them in mind of the fright they were in Deut. v. 23. After ye had heard the voice of the Word out of the midst of the Darkness on the Mount burning with fire all the Chiefs of you came to me and said Behold the Word of the Lord our God has shewed us the Divine Majesty of his Glory and the Excellence of his Magnificence and we have heard the voice of his Word out of the midst of the fire why should we die as we must if we hear any more of the voice of the Word of the Lord our God for who is there living in flesh that hears the voice of the Word of the Living God speaking out of the middle of the fire as we do and yet live Again Deut. xviii 16. he minds them of the same thing in some of the same Words Many more such Quotations might be added but these are sufficient to prove that it was the undoubted Tradition of the ancient Jewish Church That their Law was given by the Word of God and that it was he that appeared to Moses for this purpose As the Word gave the Law it was he that made those many Appearances to Moses throughout his whole Conduct of the People of Israel through the Wilderness To begin with that Divine Appearance which was continually in sight of all the People of Israel for forty years together throughout their whole Travel in the Wilderness namely the Pillar which they saw in the Air day and night Where this Pillar is first spoken of namely at the coming of the People of Israel up out of Egypt there it is expresly said That the Lord went before them in the Pillar of Cloud by day and fire by night Exod. xiii 21. Afterward indeed he is called the Angel of God Exod. xiv 19. where we read that the People being come to the Red-Sea and being there in imminent danger of being overtaken by the Egyptians by whom they were closely pursued the Angel which had gone before the Camp of Israel all day removed at night and went behind them That this Angel was God it is certain not only because he is called God Exod. xiii 21. xiv 24. Numb xii 5. But also because he was Worshipped Exod. xxxiii 10. which was a sure Proof of his Divinity Being therefore God himself and yet the Messenger of God it must be that this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word and that this was the Tradition of the ancient Church we are taught not only by Philo in the place above mentioned Quis rer Div. haeres p. 397. F.G. but also by the Jerusalem Targum on Exod. xiv 24. and Jonathan on Exod. xxxiii 9. and by Onkelos on Deut. i. 32 33. as has been mentioned When the Children of Israel after the first three days march found no other Waters but what were too bitter for them to drink at which they murmured Moses cried unto the Lord who thereupon shewed him a Tree which they threw into the Waters and thereby made them sweet Exod. xv 25. Here was a Divine Appearance and it was of the Word of the Lord according to the Jerusalem Targum A Month after their coming out of Egypt for want of Bread they murmured against Moses and Aaron at which God shewed himself so much concerned that he made his Glory appear to them in the Pillar of Cloud Exod. xvi 7 10 That according to the sense of the ancient Church this was the Shekinah of the Word has been newly shown both from Philo and from all the Targums and the same we find here in this place v. 8. where Moses tells them your murmurings are not against us but against the Word of the Lord according to Onkelos and Jonathan When Exod. xvii 8 c. the Amalekites came against this poor people that had never seen War and smote the hindmost of them God not only gave his people a Victory over them but also said unto Moses write this for a Memorial in a Book That I will utterly put out the Remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven Exod. xvii 14. See how Moses performs this v. 15. In the place where they had fought he set up an Altar inscribed Jehovah Nissi The Lord is my Standard meaning that it was the will of God they should be in perpetual War against Amalek and this reason for it he entreth in his Book v. 16. according to Jonathan for the Word of the Lord has sworn by his Glory that he will have war against Amalek for all Generations The next Divine Appearance we read of was at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai whereof enough has been already said and we must avoid being too long For which reason we omit much more that might be said of the following Appearances in the Wilderness which are all ascribed to the Word in one or other of the Targums But I ought not to omit to take notice of some special things So for their places of Worship God promised according to the Jerusalem Targum Exod. xx 24. Wheresoever you shall mention my Holy Name my Word shall appear to you and shall bless you and the Temple is called the place which the Word of the Lord your God will chuse to place his Shekinah there according to Jonathan's and the Jerusalem Targums on Deut. xii 4. Especially at the Altar for Sacrifice which was before the Door of the Tabernacle God promised Moses both for himself and the People according to Onkelos and Jonathan on Exod. xxix 42. I will appoint my Word to speak with thee there and I will appoint my Word there for the Children of Israel Above all at the Mercy-seat where the Ark stood God promised to Moses according to those Targums on Exod. xxv 22. xxx 36. Numb xxvii 4. I will appoint my Word to speak with thee there And in sum of all the Precepts in Leviticus it is said at the end of that Book according to those Targums on Levit. xxvi 46. These are the Statutes and Judgments and Laws which the Lord made between his Word and the Children of Israel When they entred into Covenant with God obliging themselves to live according to his Laws Hereby they made the Word to be their King and themselves his Subjects So Moses tells them Deut. xxvi 17. according to the Jerusalem Targum You have
all this while even the same that appeared to him in the Bush Moses being thus employ'd by the Word of God as his Messenger to the Children of Israel for the discharge of his Ministry had both his Instructions and Credentials from the Word according to the Targums For the first of these God appeared to him oftener than to any before him R. Akiba who lived since Christ's time saith that Moses acted as Mediator between the Gevura that is the Word of God and the People of Israel and observeth that God spake to him 175 times They were times without number that God spake to him from off the Mercy-seat upon the Ark of Testimony from between the two Cherubims Numb vii 89. But those which R. Akiba reckons were Appearances upon extraordinary occasions In both these Appearances ordinary and extraordinary it was the Word of God that spake to Moses according to the Targums Thus of God's speaking to him from the Mercy-seat to appoint my Word for thee as God promised there according to Onkelos and Jonathan on Exod. xxv 22. xxx 36. So Numb vii 89. Jonathan saith it was the Word that spake to him And thus likewise in those Occasional Appearances both Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targums tell us once for all Deut. xxxiv 10. The Word of the Lord knew Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking to Moses as oft as Moses spake to him on any occasion For his Credentials were as we see Deut. xxxiv 11. All the Signs and Wonders which the Lord sent him to do or according to the Targums which the Word of the Lord sent him to do in Egypt to Pharaoh and his Servants and all his Land and in all that mighty Land and that great terrour which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel For the Acts of his Ministry they were chiefly these three 1. His bringing the People out of Egypt 2. His giving them Laws and Statutes and Judgments from God 3. His Leading them through the Wilderness to the Confines of Canaan In each of these was the Word that appeared to him according to the Targums His bringing the People out of Egypt is wholly ascribed to the Word by Onkelos and Jonathan on Deut. xx 1. and by Jonathan on Deut. xxiv 18. The People were commanded to teach this to their Children that it was the Word of the Lord that did all those Signs and Wonders in Egypt saith Jonathan on Exod. xiii 8. It was the Word that sent all those Plagues on Pharaoh and his Servants and all the Land of Egypt saith Jonathan on Deut. xxviii 6. and xxix 2. Especially it was the Word that gave that stroke which finisht the work according to the Jerusalem Targum Exod. xii 29. namely It was the Word of the Lord that appeared against the Egyptians at midnight and his right hand kill'd the first-born of the Egyptians and delivered his own first-born the Children of Israel After this the Word of the Lord led the People through the Desert to the Red-Sea saith the same Targum on Exod. xiii 18. The Word of the Lord being their Leader in a Pillar of Fire by night and of a Cloud by day saith Onkelos on Deut. i. 32 33. And when the People being come to the Red-Sea and seeing Pharaoh with his Army behind them were in a rage against Moses and he cried to God Exod. xiv 15. according to the Jerusalem Targum the Word of the Lord said to Moses How long dost thou stand and pray before me Bid the Children of Israel come forward and do thou reach out thy Rod and divide the Red Sea He did so and according to the Jerusalem Targum on Deut. i. 1. The Word divided the Sea before them So that the Children of Israel went into the midst of the Sea on dry ground Exod. xiv 22. the Egyptians following them And at morning v. 24. according to the Jerusalem Targum The Word of the Lord lookt upon the Army of the Egyptians and threw upon them Bitumen and Fire and Hail out of Heaven and v. 25. The Egyptians said Let us fly from before the People of Israel for this is the Word of the Lord that gets them victory But their flight was in vain for by the Word of the Lord the waters were made heaps according to Onkelos on Exod. xv 8. And according to him also when God spoke by his Word the Sea covered them v. 10. Thus as the whole work of the People of Israel's Deliverance out of Egypt so every part of it has been ascribed to the Word of the Lord by the Targums For the giving of the Laws by which they were to be formed into a Church and Kingdom First immediately after their coming out of the Red-Sea Exod. xv 25. according to the Jerusalem Targum the Word of the Lord gave them Precepts and Orders of Judgments particularly as Jonathan has it the Word of the Lord gave them there the Law of the Sabbath and that of Honouring Father and Mother and Judgments concerning Bruises and Wounds and for the Punishment of Transgressours Afterwards when they were come into the Wilderness of Sinai Exod. xix 3. the Text saith Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him out of the Mount saying Thus shalt thou say to the House of Israel c. there Onkelos saith according to one of Clark's various Readings Moses went up to meet the Word of the Lord Exod. xix 8. Moses returns with the People's Answer to the Lord then v. 9. according to the Jerusalem Targum the Word of the Lord said to Moses Go to the People and sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their Clothes and be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the People upon Mount Sinai Accordingly the People having prepared themselves on the third day according to Onkelos Exod. xix 17. Moses brought the People out of the Camp to meet the word of God Yet the People only saw Thunder and Lightning and the Mountain smoking and felt the Earth quake under them They also heard the noise of the Trumpet which so affrighted them that they removed and stood at a distance and said to Moses Speak thou to us and we will hear but let not the Word from before the Lord speak with us lest we die Exod. xx 19. according to Onkelos in one of Clark's various Readings Moses therefore according to Jonathan on Deut. v. 5. Stood between them and the Word of the Lord to shew them the Pithgama the matter and words that were spoken to him from the Lord. What they were we read Exod. xx 1 c. where according to the Jerusalem Targum the Word of the Lord spoke the tenor of all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage then follow the Ten Commandments commonly called the Decalogue That it was
made the Word of the Lord King over you this day that he may be your Glory And v. 18. The VVord of the Lord is become King over you in his own Name as over his beloved and peculiar people In consequence hereof as being their King he ordered them by his chief Minister Moses to make him a Royal Pavilion or Tabernacle and to set it up in the midst of their Camp Both that and all the furniture of it he ordered Moses to make according to the Pattern show'd him in the Mount Exod. xxv 40. Especially for the Presence of the great King there must be an Apartment in the inner part of the Tabernacle separated from the rest with a Veil Embroidered with Cherubims Exod. xxvii 31. which part was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies Exod. xxvi 33. There was to be placed the Ark overlay'd with pure Gold and having a Crown of Gold round about it In the Ark were contain'd the Tables of the Law Upon it was placed the Mercy-seat overshadowed with the Wings of two Cherubims that stood on the two Ends of the Mercy-seat Exod. xxxvii 9. looking each of them toward the other and both of them toward the Mercy-seat This Provision being made for the place of his Shekinah the Word which shewed it self before in a Pillar of Cloud by day and fire by night that stood over the Camp now from thence came to take possession of his Royal Seat in the Tabernacle over the Ark from whence out of the void space between these Cherubims it was that the Word used to speak to Moses and to give him Orders from time to time for the Government of his People according to the Paraphrasts on Exod. xxv 22. xxx 36. Numb xvii 4. and especially Numb vii 8 9. as has been above mentioned Henceforward throughout their whole Journey through the Wilderness the Pillar was constantly over the Tabernacle and the People attended his motion But whensoever he gave the Commandment then the Pillar removed and shewed which way the Camp was to go Upon notice of that then Moses first gave the word in a set form of Prayer which we have in the first six verses of the lxviii Psalm The first verse of it is Numb x. 35. in these words according to the Jerusalem Targum Arise now Oh Word of the Lord in the might of thy strength According to Jonathan's Paraphrase Appear now Oh Word of the Lord in the strength of thy wrath In both the Targums it followeth as in the Hebrew Text and the enemies of thy people shall be scattered and they that hate thee shall flee before thee When they had performed their Journey according to the will of their King which they knew by seeing the Pillar stand still then Moses used the Form for the resting of the Ark Numb x. 36. according to the forementioned Targums Return now Oh Word of the Lord to thy people Israel make the Glory of thy Shekinah dwell among them and have mercy on the Thousands of Israel This being said the Priests who carried the several â—ins of the Tabernacle took down their Burdens and set up all things as before and the Pillar returned to its place over the midst of the Tabernacle In this State of Theocracy their keeping of God's Laws is called by their Targums The believing and obeying of the Word their breaches of his Laws are called their despising and rebelling against the Word Of the use of both these manners of speaking there might be given more instances than can be easily numbred The Targums likewise ascribe to the Word both the rewarding of their Obedience and the punishing of their Transgressions On their Obedience according to the Targums it was the usual promise that the Word should be their help or support Numb xxiii 8 21. that he should bless them and multiply them Deut. xxiv 19. that he should rejoice over them to do them good Deut. xxviii 63. xxx 9. They were told that he would be a consuming fire to their enemies Deut. iv 24. particularly that he was so to the Anakims Deut. ix 3. That it was he that delivered Og into their hands Deut. iii. 2. That it was he that would cast out all the Nations before them Deut. xi 22. On the other hand according to the sense of the ancient Church it was the Word that punished them for their disobedience and also it was he that forgave them upon their Repentance Of both these kinds there are many remarkable instances as particularly of the punishing of their disobedience according to Jonathan on Exod. xxxii 35. It was the Word that destroyed the people for worshipping the Calf that Aaron made For their lusting at Kibroth-hattaava Moses told them whom they provoked by it Numb xi 20. according to Onkelos and Jonathan You have despised the Word of the Lord whose Shekinah dwelleth among you Their refusing to go forward toward the promised Land upon the Spies evil report of it Moses tells them according to those Targums Deut. i. 26. It was rebelling against the Word of the Lord. Afterward when they would go up contrary to order Numb xiv 41. Moses asks them Why do you transgress the decree of the Word of the Lord In their murmuring at Zalmona Polyglot Vol. IV. Numb xxi 5. according to Onkelos in one of Clerk's various Readings They spoke against the Word of the Lord and against Moses Wherefore v. 6. according to the Jerusalem Targum The Word of the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the People Upon their Whoring with Baal-Peor Numb xxv 4. according to the Jerusalem Targum The Word of the Lord said to Moses take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord. In short according to the Targums on Deut. xxviii 20 21 22 c. It was the Word of the Lord that would send all his Judgments and Curses that are there denounced against impenitent Sinners But on the other hand according to those Targums the Word had the dispencing of pardon to them that were Qualified for it So when Moses beg'd pardon for his People that had sinned beyond mercy if it had not been infinite Numb xiv 20. according to the Jerusalem Targum the Word of the Lord answered him and said behold I have forgiven and pardoned according to thy word And in case upon the inflicting of God's Judgments above mentioned God's People should be thereby brought to repentance It was promised Deut. xxx 3. according to Jonathan's Targum that then the Word should accept their repentance according to his good pleasure and should have mercy on them and gather them out of all Naons c. So likewise c. xxxii 36. according to the same Targum it is promised that the Word of the Lord by his mercy should judge the judgment of his people and should repent him of the evil that he had decreed against his Servants It were easie to add many more such Instances out of
has communed with Man ever since his fall into sin Upon this Ground Malachi ch iii. v. 1. names the Son of God the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant Which Prophecy is owned to this day by the Jews to speak of the Messias Isaiah ch lxiii v. 9. names him the Angel of the Presence of the Lord who saved and redeemed the Israelites According to what the Lord said to Moses Exod. xxiii 23. My Angel shall go before thee And Exod. xxxiii 14. My presence shall go with thee The Primitive Christians never doubted but that the Angel which appeared to Moses in the Desart and guided the Israelites was the Son of God St. Paul says expresly thus much 1 Cor. x. 9. when he affirms that the Israelites tempted Christ in the Wilderness by their Rebellions Lorinus himself quoting some places from the most Ancient Fathers is forced to acknowledge it on Acts vii And I shewed before that St. Paul has affirmed nothing upon this Point but according to the common Notion of the Jews It ought not therefore to seem strange that St. Stephen does distinguish the Angel of whom he speaks from the Lord himself when he names him the Angel of the Lord For the Son is distinct from the Father and the Son was sent by the Father But because they so partake of the same Divine Nature that they are in reality but one and the same God blessed for ever the Son in this regard might well say I am the God of Abraham c. and be called the Lord Jehovah If it be askt why Moses did rather call him an Angel than otherwise I answer that he did so for these two reasons First because the distinction of the Divine Persons was not so clearly revealed under the Old Testament by reason that it did not so well suit that Oecomy Secondly because God since he created the World commonly imploying Angels in those works which were not above their power and capacity It may very well be that the Son of God when he appeared to Men used the Ministry of Angels either to form the voice and the words which he spoke to his Prophets or to make the Body or the Figure under which he appeared It is objected in the last place that St. Paul seems to suppose that an Angel gave the Law upon Mount Sinai and not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Son of God and that that Angel is called God because he spoke in God's Name Thus Gal. iii. 19. he says that the Law was ordained by Angels Heb. ii 2. that it was spoken by Angels And Heb. i. 1 2. making opposition between the Law and the Gospel he says to elevate this last above the former that God having formerly spoke to Men by his Prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his Son which could not be true if he had before made use of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give his Law to the Jews The Socinians look upon this Argument as unanswerable And the truth is it has imposed upon many Learned Writers as Lorinus Grotius and others But it will be no difficult business to answer it if it be observed First that it hath been always the opinion of the old Jews that the Law was given by Jehovah himself Secondly that it was likewise their opinion that Jehovah who gave the Law was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 3ly that 't is affirmed by Moses Deut. xxxiii 2. That when the Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir He came with ten thousands of Saints from his right hand went a fiery Law I say that 't is enough to prove those three things to convince any Man that when St. Paul says that the Law was spoken by Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means only that they were present as witnesses where it was given not that they represented God's person The first appears by Philo who affirms that it was God who spoke when he gave the Law de Migrat Abrah p. 309. D. E. F. And de Decal p. 576. D. C. and p. 593. F. he spoke by a voice which he created And Lib. de Praem p. 705. The Targum affirms the same that Jehovah revealed himself with multitudes of Angels when he gave his Law 1 Chron. xxix 11. The second is clear by Hag. ii 6. where the Lord speaking of the time when he brought his People out of Egypt saith that he had shaken the Earth which relates to his giving the Law as appears from Psal lxviii 8. and Heb. xii 25 26. where St. Paul applies that place to our Saviour And it is acknowledged also by the Jews as the Author of Rabboth fol. 135. col 3. Onkelos Deut. iv 33 36. the People heard the voice of the Word of the Lord out of the fire And also Deut. v. 24. And likewise Exod. xx 7. Deut. v. 11. and vi 13. where the third Commandment is mentioned in these words None shall swear by the Name of the Word of the Lord. The third Point is evident according to the constant Maxim of the Jews that the Shekinah or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is always accompanied with several Camps of Angels who attend him and execute his Judgments Those things being noted I maintain that when St. Paul saith that the Law hath been Ordained by Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. iii. 19. the Text must be rendred between Angels as St. Paul hath used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. ii 2. not to say by many Witnesses but among or before many Witnesses 2ly That when St. Paul speaks Heb. ii of the Word that hath been spoken by Angels he doth not speak of the Law but of the several threatnings which were made by the Prophets to whom the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent his Angels to bring back the People of Israel from their wickedness And of the several punishments which fell upon Israel and were inflicted by Angels as Executors of the judgment of God It must be understood so necessarily or it is impossible to save St. Paul from having contradicted himself in the same Epistle For he supposeth ch xii 25 26. that 't was Jesus Christ that being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shook the Earth in which he follows the words of Haggai the Prophet and of the Psalmist Psal lxviii 8. and who can reconcile that with St. Paul saying that many Angels Ordained the Law Did they all personate God in that occasion No body hath ever imagined such a thing It cannot be objected to me that St. Paul opposes the Person of Jesus to Moses as it hath been done by St. John ch i. where he saith that the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ The reason is clear and it is because he opposes the Ministry of Reconciliation to the Ministry of Condemnation Moses hath been the Mediator of the first Covenant but Jesus Christ is the Minister of the second although both
Comment Printed at Amsterdam The Jews in Christ's time did believe the xxiid Psalm to be a Prophecy touching the Messias And Jesus Christ to shew the accomplishment of it in his own Person cites the first verse of it on the Cross Mat. xxvii 46. Yet soon after as we see in Justin Martyr's Dialogue they denied that Psalm to belong to the Messias But their folly appears because they cannot agree among themselves some referring it to David others to Esther and others to the whole People of the Jews Menass q. 8. in Psalm The 16th ver of the same xxiid Psalm is thus Translated by the Seventy They pierced my hands and my feet This reading is proved by de Muis on this place and by Walton in Prolegom p. 40. But our Jews now read it As a Lion my hands and my feet which is not sense Their own Masora Notes that it should be read they have pierced However they have espoused the other reading and will not be beaten from it by any Argument because they think this reading will best destroy the Inference which the Christians draw from this place to shew that the Messias was to be Crucifyed according to this Psalm The Psalm lxviii by the ancient Jews was referred to the Messias and so doth R. Joel Aben Sueb refers the last part to the time of the Messias p. 158. in h. Ps It was also by St. Paul Ephes iv 8. referred to the Ascension of our Lord Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men The very same subject is handled in Psal xlvii 5. which Psalm David Kimchi does acknowledg belongs to the Times of the Messias and there they cannot deny but the true God is spoken of the same Memra who conducted the People in the Desert and gave the Law at Sinai as it is spoken v. 8 9. And yet the Modern Jews will apply those words of Psal lxviii 10. to the Ascension of Abraham or Moses or the Prophet Elias to any rather than the Messias It is granted by the Modern Jews that their Fathers understood Psal lxxii of the Messias So R. Saadia on Dan. vii 14. Salom. Jarchi on Psal 72.6 and Bahal Hatturim ad Numb xxvi 16. and yet now they stick not of which R. David Kimchi is a witness to interpret it only of Salomon In Jesus Christ's time the Jews confessed Psalm cx did belong to the Messias v. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Christ's argument Mat. xxii 44. necessarily supposes it So it was understood in the Midrash Tehillim and by R. Saadia Gaon on Dan. vii 13. But notwithstanding this our later Jews affirm that it was made for David or Abraham 'T was of old constantly believed that Wisdom Prov. iii. and viii did denote the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have shewed it from Philo the Jew from the Apocryphal Book and from the Cabalists and yet at this day they explain it of the Law of Moses or the Attribute of Wisdom Jonathan in his Paraphrase on Isa ix 6. interprets the Text of the Messias For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and his Name shall be called Wonderful Counseller the mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace And so did the most ancient Jewish Writers But after Jesus Christ the Jews having broken up a new way it has pleased some of their late Writers to tread in the steps of R. Hillel and to apply it to Hezekiah So does Salomon Jarchi David Kimchi Abenezra and Lipman As for the rest they quite change the present Text by referring to God all the Names which are evidently given to the Messias except that of the Prince of Peace For much the same reason do the latter Jews make Zorobabel to be spoken of in Isa xi 12. Manas q. 18. on Isaiah Though not only St. Paul understood it of Jesus Christ Rom. xv 12. 2 Thes ii 8. But the ancient Jews did generally refer it to the Messias as appears all along in the Targum of that Chapter and the Jews shewed they understood it so by their rejecting Barcochba when they found he could not smell Souls as they thought the Messias should do according to the second verse of the said Chapter And St. Jerome witnesses upon that Chapter that all the Jews agreed with Christians that all that Chapter was to be understood of the Messias The old Jews as St. Jerome witnesses upon this Chapter ascribed Isa xxv 6. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped Then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert to the times of the Messias But the Modern Jews have endeavoured to wrest it and to make it agree to other times because they saw how the Evangelists applied it to the Miracles of our Lord. See Menass q. 17. on Isaiah And they are gone so far in that fancy that they give it out now for an Axiom amongst their People that the Messias shall not work any Miracle So Rambam R. Meyr Aldab and R. Menass ben Israel who would have the Miracles which are there spoken of either to be understood Metaphorically or to be referred to the time of the Resurrection The Impudence of R. Salomon on Isa xlviii 48 16. is amazing The words of the Text run thus From the time that it was there am I and now the Lord God and his Spirit have sent me From hence it appears that the Messias who is here spoken of according to the Targum was on Mount Sinai when God gave the Law from thence This R. Salomon will by no means grant of the Messias but affirms that it is spoken of Isaiah But how was he on Mount Sinai when the Law was given Why he answers His Soul was there as were the Souls also of all the Prophets God then revealing to them all those things that were to come which each of them in his time have since Prophesied of A fancy that R. Tanchuma who lived a long while before R. Salomon never hit on For he maintains from Isa lvii 16. that the Souls are then created as God orders Men to be born in every Generation We see how positive they are in expounding the Sufferings of the Messias which are described Isa liii of the People of the Jews And yet they can't but know that Jonathan refers the end of the lii Chap. and the beginning of the liii to the Messias as the Apostles refer it to Jesus Christ following herein John the Baptist Joh. i. 29. And so did R. Alexandri among the Talmudist as we see in Sanhedrin fol. 93. col 2. and in the Midrash Conen in Arze Levanon fol. 3. col 2. The Prophet Micah ch v. 2. speaks of the Messias But
is mentioned This is he of whom it is said and God called Moses out of the Bush He is called an Angel because he Governs the World for it is written in one place And Jehovah that is the Lord God brought us out of Egypt and in another place He sent his Angel and brought us out of Egypt And again The Angel of his Presence saved them viz. that Angel who is the face of God of whom it is said My face shall go before you Lastly that Angel of whom the Prophet Malachi mentions And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Angel of the Covenant whom you desire At length he adds The face of God is God himself as all Interpreters do acknowledge but no one can rightly understand this without being instructed in the Mysteries of the Law R. Menachem of Rekan on Gen. xlviii 16. the same that afterwards commented on the whole Pentateuch was no stranger to this Notion Saith he He means the Shekinah when he speaks of the Redeeming Angel f. 52. See also f. 55. The like has R. Bechai the famous Jewish Writer whose Comments are constantly in the hands of the Jewish Doctors He proves that this Blessing is not different from that which is afterwards repeated Gen. xlix where no Angel is mentioned Whence it follows that the three terms in Gen. xlviii God God that fed me the Angel that redeemed me are Synonimous to the mighty one of Jacob Ch. xlix which Title the Jews in their Prayers do frequently ascribe to God Bech f. 71. c. 4. Ed. Rivae di Trento He also there teaches that this Angel was the Shekinah As does R. Joseph Gekatilia in his Book called Saare Ora according to Menasseh Ben Israel q. 64. in Gen. p. 118. Aben Sueb on this place a Man of Name among his Party writes much to the same purpose on this place These are followed by two Eminent Authors of the Cabalists The one in his Notes on Zohar f. 122. toward the end saith the Angel that delivered me from all evil is the Shekinah of whom Exod. xiv 19. And the Angel of the Lord which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them and may God bless us in the age to come The other is he who contracted the Zohar on Genesis and is called R. David the less He in that Book Ed. Thessalonic f. 174. professes to follow the opinion of R. Gekatalia in his Saare Ora. Nor does Menasseh Ben Israel himself much dissent from these in the above-mentioned place For though he attempts to reconcile Gen. xxviii 16. with the first Commandment Exod. xx Thou shalt have no other Gods before me by saying it was the opinion of several of their Masters that there was no contradiction between them yet at length he produces the opinion of the Cabalists for the satisfaction of his Readers who possibly would not acquiesce in his former reason drawn only from Modern Authorities I mention not R. Levi ben Gersom's opinion who denies the Angel here spoken of to be a Creature but calls him the Intellectus Agens because he seems to have borrowed the Notion from the Arabian Philosophers nor is it commonly received by those of his Religion Many others might be added to these Jewish Testimonies but what I have already produced is I think very sufficient SECT V. Having thus shewed the Opinions of the ancient Jews concerning Jacob's Angel and that to this day the Tradition is not quite worn out that exalts him above a created Angel I now proceed to the third Question the clearing of which will fully justifie that Opinion of the Ancients concerning this Text. And that is Whether this form of Blessing be not an express Prayer The soundest and most part as well of Jews as Christians do agree That we can't worship Angels without Idolatry This Maimonides affirms as I quoted him above and the Protestants as all Men know do abhor this Idolatry in the Roman Church I do therefore positively assert That these words contain a Prayer to the Angel as well as to God for a Blessing on his Children This the Jews can't gain-say since Jonathan their Paraphrast and other Writers after him do commonly term this Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Prayer And for this reason R. Menasseh thought it necessary to endeavour to reconcile this Prayer of Jacob with the first Commandment which forbids Angel-Worship according to the Jews Interpretation R. Menach de Rek in Pent. f. 97. c. 4. It is true Jacob's form of Blessing does seem to proceed from him either as a Wish or a Prophecy A Wish as if he had said Would to the Lord God and his Angel would bless the Lads A Prophecy as if he had foretold that God and his Angel should in after-times fulfill what he now wished But it might be both Wish and Prophecy and notwithstanding be a direct Prayer to God and the Redeeming Angel 'T is well known how the Jews commonly delivered their Petitions to God in this form And yet I can't forbear giving one instance to confirm it You may read it in Deut. vi 22 c. And the Lord said to Moses saying Speak to Aaron and his Sons thus shall you bless the children of Israel and say The Lord bless thee and keep thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace And they shall invoke my name for the children of Israel so our Translation is to be mended and I will bless them So that in plain terms the form of Blessing here prescribed by God is called Invocation I cannot therefore see what should hinder but that we after Jacob's example may offer up our Prayers to a created Angel supposing as some do that Jacob prayed for a Blessing to such a kind of Angel De Sanct. Beat. l. 1. c. 29. Corn. A Lap. on Gen. xlviii It is a necessary consequence that Bellarmine and others of his Communion draw from this instance Holy Jacob invoked an Angel therefore it is not unlawful for the pretended reformed to do the like therefore one may worship others besides God these things saith he cannot be denied unless you reckon Prayer to be no act of Worship not peculiar to God alone But let them of his Church get out of these difficulties as they can who believe Jacob's Angel to have been a meer Creature Let them try how they can convince a Socinian from Ephes i. 2. and other places of Scripture where Worship is ascribed to Christ The Socinian has his answer ready he may wish and pray to Christ for Grace though he be not God since he does no more than Jacob did when he prayed for a Blessing on his Children to a meer Angel I am more concerned for these Divines of the Reformed Church who have given the same Interpretation of Jacob's Angel
that this place was related to the Messias that it was used at our Saviour's Entry into Jerusalem Mat. xxi 16. Since that time it is related to the Messias as we see in the Midrash upon Cant. i. 4. where these very words are referred to God whom the Babes of Israel were to bless which shews plainly that the praises which are spoken of are praises which are acts of Adoration and so in the Midrash upon Eccl. ch ix 1. The same positive order for the Worship of the Messias is given in Psal xlv 11. He is the Lord worship thou him There is no doubt but that Psalm is to be referred to the Messias It is so acknowledged by the Targum and by all the Jewish Interpreters What then can be said against the Worship of the Messias If the Jews of old had denied that the Shekinah was to be in the Messias then it should be rational to conclude that they did not acknowledge the Worship which is to be paid to him But they have acknowledged the Divinity of the Messias as we read in Midrash Tehillim in Psal x. Stetit Divinitas Messiae praedicavit From whence it follows by necessary consequence that they thought themselves obliged to worship him We have the same Worship of the Messias setled in Psal lxviii 32. where it is said that the Princes shall extend their hands to him from Egypt All the Jews agree that such a thing is to happen at the coming of the Messias which we call the second So Rashi We read the same in Psal lxxii where it is said v. 11. that they shall fall down and worship him No body doubts but that Psalm relates to the Messias I have taken notice in the second Chapter of this Book that the Jews refer constantly to the time of the Messias all the Psalms from the xc to the c. Now in Psal xcv v. 6 7. the words seem to be spoken of Jehovah but they were understood by the Jews of the Messias who was to have the name of Jehovah as you see in Midrash in Echa i. 6. After David what saith Isaiah of the Worship of the Messias he speaks as distinctly as can be ch xlix v. 23. The Jews understand it of the Messias whom they look upon as the Redeemer to whom all people are to make their confession from their heart as you see in Breshit Rabba upon Gen. xli v. 44. where they refer these words to the Messias Isa xlv 23. You see the same in Midr. Tehin in Psal ii 2. these words when they have seen his great tribulation they shall come and shall worship the King Messias as it is said Isa xlix 23. Some perhaps shall think they can avoid the strength of this Argument drawn from the Worship to be paid to the Messias by allowing that it is spoken in those places which I have quoted of a civil worship to be paid to the Messias as a great King But it should be in vain for a Socinian to employ such an evasion because we find that the ancient Jews have prevented it by giving us instances of all the several Parts of such a Worship either Faith Vows or Prayers or Sacrifices which cannot be paid but to a true God and I have quoted so many places upon that point that I do not think fit to enlarge more upon it I shall then conclude this matter by the solemn Prayer of the Jews in the Feast of Succoth where they have these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego ille Salva nunc p. 53. of the Venice Edit in 8 o. which words the Jews labour very much to explain who is that ille but which the most understanding explain to the two first Middoth viz. to the Father and to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we have shewn before Having now produced the Sentiments of the old Jews as to several points that concern the Trinity and the Divinity of our Lord we ought next to consider how Jesus Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Christians did follow these Notions of the Synagogue CHAP. XIX That the New Testament does exactly follow the Notions which the Old Jews had of the Trinity and of the Divinity of the Messias WHoever shall attentively examine the method which our Saviour and his Apostles follow in the New Testament will find it exactly suited to the Notions which the Jews had entertained and which they had from the Writings of the Prophets It was absolutely necessary it should be so because the Doctrine concerning the coming of the Messias began to be more narrowly inquired into among the Jews when they saw Herod who was an Idumean setled in the Throne of Judaea it being at the just time markt out for the coming of the Messias by Jacob's Prophecy Ge. xlix 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shilo come and unto him shall the gathering of people be An Angel therefore appears to the Virgin Mary that was to be the Mother of Christ and shews the manner of his Conception which was to be by the operation of the Holy Ghost He names the Child who was to be born of her Jesus and declares that he should be the Son of the Highest and that of his Kingdom there should be no end Alluding to Psal ii and to many other places of Scripture where the Messias is described as one that was to be the Son of God Next the Angel appeared to Joseph who was upon parting with his betrothed Wife the Blessed Virgin and told him she should bring forth a Son and must name him Jesus because he should save his People from their sins Whereupon the Evangelist saith that this Child was he of whom the Prophet foretold he should be Emanuel God with us He was to do that for his People which none but God was able to do to save them from their sins How could he shew it better that he was the God of the Jews to whom Judea belonged as his Country and the Jews as his People as it was foretold Is vii and viii That God whose very Name Habakkuk had named Hab. iii. 18. the God of my Salvation so called saith Jonathan's Targum because of the wonderful things that God would do by his Messias Another Angel brings to the Shepherds the news of Christ's Birth and what words does he use He names him the Christ the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Jehovah God's own proper name Luk. ii The Wisemen came from the East to Bethlehem guided by a new Star to worship him and amongst other Gifts presented him with Frankincense which by the Law was to be offered to God alone Shewing thereby that they owned him for that heavenly Star spoken of by their Countryman Balaam Numb xxiv 17. And for that King of whom it was foretold Psal lxxii 10 11. The Kings of Tharshish and of the Isles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba
that Christ was God according to the Prophecy in Hosea ch ii 19 20. I will betroth thee unto me for ever This John's Disciples well knew and that the Messias was spoken of Psal xlv in which he is expresly named God That Solomon's Song did speak of him And the Jews believe to this day that God was spoken of there by Solomon And this has obliged the Holy Writers to give to the Messias the name of Bridegroom and to the Church that of a Bride as may be seen in St. Paul and in the Revelation John the Baptist further tells his Disciples that Christ was before him in Dignity because he was in being before him Joh. i. 15 30. and yet John was born six Months before our Blessed Saviour Jesus tells them that he came from above whereas himself though inspired and a Prophet was only of the Earth That Christ was come from Heaven and above all That God was his Father and that he had given all things into his hand Joh. iii. 31 35. shewing thereby that it was he whom God spoke of Psal ii 8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Christ said Luk. v. 20 21 24. to a man sick of the Palsie thy sins are forgiven thee which the Pharisees taking ill because as they told him God alone could forgive sins he cured the poor man to shew that he had power to forgive sins and consequently that he was God by their own confession And he performed that according to the Prophecies which attribute to God and to the Messias the forgiveness of sins Jer. xxxi 34. The Jews being angry with him because he had cured an impotent man on the Sabbath-day Joh. v. 16. he tells them to justify what he had done My Father works hitherto and I work v. 17. At which words they sought more to kill him because he had not only broken the sabbath but said also that God was his Father making himself equal with God v. 18. What would a good man have done in this case one that had been only Man as we are He would certainly have declared his abhorrence of such Blasphemy as was contain'd in these words But then he would have told them these were not his words but theirs He would have them understand him aright by saying he did not make himself equal with God but that in working a Miracle on the Sabbath he only acted as the Prophets did to whom say the Jews it was lawful to break some one Precept of the Law But instead of making any such Interpretation he goes on in the same tenor of words and a second time gives himself the title of the Son of God and tells them that whatever his Father did he might do likewise v. 19. That he would raise the dead to prove himself equal with God That as the Father raised up the dead and quickens them even so the Son quickens whom he will v. 21. That that extraordinary Power was given him by his Father it being his will that all men should honour the Son even as they did the Father v. 23. He proves again that he was the Son of God by the power he had to raise up the dead As the Father has life in himself so has he given to the Son to have life in himself And has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man v. 26 27. He applies to himself what was said in Daniel xii 2. concerning the Resurrection of the Dead v. 28 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation He appeals to John the Baptist who had testified he was the Son of God v. 33. At last he bids them search the Scriptures v. 39. in which they would find that he was that Son of Man described Dan. vii 13 14. and consequently equal with God For who can sit on God's Throne besides the true God as it is declared Psal cx 1. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool Which words the Jews understood of the Messias agreeably to other Prophecies in which he is so often called Jehovah and the Son of God He justified his curing Sick People on the Sabbath-day because he the Son of man was Lord of the Sabbath But how could he be so but because he was that Word which had given the Law to the Jews that Son of God equal with his Father who consequently was Master of his own Laws He opened the Eyes of the Blind and made the Lame to walk to fulfil the Prophecy Is xxxv 4 5 6. Behold your God will come he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopt Then shall the lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing He multiply'd the Loaves in the Desert to shew that he was that same Word to which the Jews attributed the Miracle of Manna in the Wilderness He tells the Jews to the same purpose that he was the Bread come down from Heaven Joh. vi 51. upon which it may be observed that Philo maintains that the Word was Manna or at least Manna the Type of the Word Lib. quod deterior p. 137. Having wrought so many great Miracles before the Jews he askt his Disciples what People said and thought of him To which St. Peter answering according to the People's various Opinions and at last confessing the Faith of himself and the other Disciples that he was Christ the Son of the living God he commends this Confession in Peter though he had before refused to receive it from the Devil and tells Peter that God even his Father had revealed it to him and therefore it must be true Matth. xvi 16 17. And so it was for God had spoken of it by many of his Prophets as I shewed before by the very confession of the Jews He shews his Disciples how Elijah was come in the Person of John the Baptist Matt. xvii That therefore himself to whom John had born witness was the Messias the true Jehovah whose Fore-runner Elias was to be according to the Prophecy Mal. iii. 1. Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before ME and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in saith the Lord of hosts He gives his Disciples the power of Binding and Loosing that is of forbidding some things which Moses had permitted and permitting some which he had forbidden reserving still to himself the power of directing them infallibly by his Spirit in those Acts of their Ministry To shew that he was that very God
and the property of God is to forgive sins as the Jews did object to Christ They answered This is our opinion therefore we did not receive him as Ambassador 4ly In time they took this prudent method in their divisions they forbad their people to dispute with Christians upon those Subjects unless they were well used to the Controverversie Let him dispute with Hereticks that can answer them as R. Idith But if a man can't answer them let him forbear disputing This was the Counsel or Law of Rab. Nachman one of the Authors cited in the Ghemara de Sanhedrin ch 4. § 11. In Beth Israel For R. Eliezer who lived under Trajan had observed that the reading of the Old Testament made the Jews turn Hereticks i. e. Christians Himself was suspected to be inclinable that way So that in after times they preferred much the study of the Mishna that is to say of their Traditions before that of the Law it self CHAP. XXI That we find in the Jewish Authors after the time of Jesus Christ the same Notions which Jesus Christ and his Apostles grounded their Discourses on to the Jews ALtho what I have said shews clearly that all the Notions which are in the New Testament are exactly agreeable to those that are in the Old Jewish Church yet I believe that I can add some light to it by some particular remarks upon some places of the New Testament which are mightily cleared if compared with the Ideas of the Jews since Jesus Christ his time And this I hope will serve to shew that the Apostles did advance nothing but what was commonly received by the Learned Men of the Synagogue and that they have offered no violence to the Sacred Context of the Old Testament but that they quoted it according to its natural sense those very Ideas being common till this day among the Learned Jews and among those very Men who applying themselves fully to the Studies of the Holy Scripture are lookt upon as the Keepers and Depositaries of Tradition I will bring those remarks without an exact niceness or care as to their order choosing to follow only the order of the New Testament If any one would know why St. Matthew ch ii 18. has quoted the words of Jeremy ch xxxi 15. Rachel weeping for her children because they were not He may conceive the reason of such a quotation if he knows that the Jews do look upon the Messias as the servant which is spoken of by Isaiah ch liii See Zohar fol. 235 in Genesis and the Messias being described there as a Sheep that is called Rachel in Hebrew by the Prophet they have taken occasion to apply that Oracle of Rachel's weeping not to the Wife of Jacob but to the Shekinah which they call Rachel See R. Menach of Reka fol. 41. col 2. fol 42. col 4. No body can read the 5th of St. Matthew but he must take notice with what authority Jesus Christ speaks upon the Mount in that famous Sermon in which he vindicates the Law from the corruption of the Pharisees But I say unto you But he will be more sensible of that if he reflects upon the common Notion of the Synagogue in which the proper name of the Shekinah is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I the Lord have spoken R. Menach fol. 33. col 4. fol. 40. col 4. and that 't was the Shekinah which gave the Law upon Mount Sinai R. Menach fol. 67. col 3. 68. col 1. They cannot but take notice of the Title of the Bridegroom which is given by John Baptist to Jesus Christ and which Jesus Christ assumes Mat. ix 15. It is evident that they make an allusion to Psal 45. and to the Song of Songs which is of the same argument But this will be clearer to those that know that the Jews maintain that 't is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Shekinah which gave the Law and then sought after Israel as his Bride that St. John Baptist speaks of himself as the Paranymph and as Moses who said that he came out to meet God Exod. xix 17. as it is noted in Pirke Eliezer ch 41. and that 't is the Shekinah that is spoken of in that Psal xlv under the name of the King that the name of the King exprest the Messias when absolutely used Zohar in Exod. fol. 225. and that they acknowledg in this an inexplicable mystery R. Menach fol. 7. col 3. fol. 143. col 4. Jesus Christ saith to the people who followed him Mat. xi 29. Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie If a Man ponders that expression he shall find that Jesus Christ speaks as God And indeed nothing is more common than to see the Prophets reproach the Jews that they have cast off the yoke of God Jer. ii 20. and ch v. 5. But who doth not see that he speaks as the very Son of God who is spoken of Psal ii 3. the Shekinah who gave the Law upon Mount Sinai and so had the Sovereign Authority to bring Men under his Law let their authority be never so great We see Mat. xxi 13. why Jesus Christ speaks of the Temple as the House of his Father and as his own House and the Jews perceived well enough that he made himself God But he did that according to the Notions of the Jews who maintain till this day that the Shekinah or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same and that the Temple was dedicated to God and to his Shekinah R. Men. fol. 63. col 1. fol. 70. col 2. fol. 73. col 3. 4. fol. 79. col 3. So in the same Chapter v. 42. Jesus Christ quotes these words from Psal cxviii 22. The stone which the builders refused c. and applies them to himself But he did that to shew them that he was the true Shekinah For this is the constant Title that they give to the Shekinah or to the Messias See R. Menach fol. 8. col 2. fol. 53. col 1. 3. He is the Stone and the Shepherd of Israel How often saith Jesus Christ Mat. xxiii 37. would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings What signifies that expression A Jew understands it very well that Jesus Christ had a mind to tell them that he was the Shekinah For 't is the common Notion of the Jews till this day That the people of Israel is under the Wings of the Shekinah R. Men. fol. 107. col 4. Jesus Christ speaks to his Disciples Matth. xxvi 53. He shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels Those who read those words do not understand them well if they do not know that Jesus Christ speaks as the Shekinah in the Camp of Israel and that he hath the twelve Legions of Angels as the twelve Armies of the twelve Tribes at his Command and under his Authority this is the Doctrine of the
Ministries were originally from God I need not spend much time to confute the fancy of those who say that the Angel of the Lord is named Jehovah because he was Jehovah's Ambassador For it is a Notion which the Unitarians have borrowed from the Modern Jews such as Menasseh Ben Isr in Gen. i. 44. But I have fully proved that it is a new Notion forged by them to save their new System It is so certain that the Old Jews believed that an Angel could not say I am Jehovah as we read Exod. xx that even the Talmudists affirm that Jehovah himself spoke these words I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Though they say that the rest of the Law was spoken by Moses Shir. Hashirin Rabba fol. 5. col 1. CHAP. XXIII That neither Philo nor the Chaldee Paraphrasts nor the Christians have borrowed from the Platonick Philosophers their Notions about the Trinity But that Plato should have more probably borrowed his Notions from the Books of Moses and the Prophets which he was acquainted with HAving in the foregoing Chapters shewn that the Doctrine of the Trinity has its Ground in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and that the ancient Jews before Christ did acknowledge it as appears from many places in the Apocryphal Authors in Philo and the Chaldee Paraphrasts who were exactly followed by Christ his Apostles and the Primitive Christians It may be seen how falsly the Socinians pretend that Justin Martyr was the Author of the Doctrine of the Trinity But to put them altogether from this Evasion I will shew that nothing can be more absurd than to say that if Philo was not a Christian he was at least a Platonist and that the Fathers particularly Justin Martyr brought into the Christian Religion a Doctrine which they borrowed from Plato As to Philo's being a Platonist I say first that though this were granted yet it would do the Unitarians no good The reason is because whatever Notions the Greeks had of Divine matters they had from Pherecides a Syrian who lived a long time before Plato and was Pythagoras's Master Pythagoras who afterwards was much followed by the Greeks travelled into Egypt into Arabia and into Chaldea after he had had Pherecides to his Master Plotinus does ingenuously confess that the three Original Hypostases were not of Plato's inventions but were known before him and this he makes out from Parmenides his Writings who had treated of this Notion Plot. Enn. 5. Lib. 1. Now Parmenides had the Notion of the Trinity from the Pythagoreans whose Master Pythagoras had probably borrowed it from the Jews with whom he conversed in Egypt Secondly I own that Philo was compared by many with Plato as to his Stile and that lively Eloquence for which Plato was so admired One may see by his Book Quod omnis probus sit Liber and many other of his Works that he was very conversant in these Greek Authors both Poets and Philosophers But he had been so little acquainted with Plato's Works that he brings some of Plato's opinion upon the credit of Aristotle We see that in his Book Quod mundus sit p. 728 729. He never proves his Doctrines by the Authority of Plato He Grounds all he says upon the Divine Authority speaking in the Old Testament well reflected upon as you see p. 288. where he speaks of the Three who appeared to Abraham A Jew as he was could not well have suited his Notions with Plato's For Plato believed for instance That Matter was Eternal and uncreated which is positively contrary to what Moses says of the Creation of the World and as positively rejected by Philo in his Books of Providence and that Matter had a Beginning As to the Doctrine of the Trinity Plato speaks of it so obscurely that one may justly wonder how some Christians formerly made use of his Testimony to prove it Probably he had heard of it in Egypt But what he says about it in his Parmenides though quoted by Eusebius shews that he had not a very true Notion of it He speaks of an Eternal and unbegotten Being He attributes to that Being which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a first Understanding and a first Life And Proclus does distinguish those three Principles of Plato as three different Beings But Plotinus does not agree in this with Proclus and affirms that these Three are but one and the same thing The reason why many Christians have so much esteemed Plato is the nobleness of his Morals the Maxims of which are much more elevated and Christian-like than those of other Heathen Philosophers It is true Philo seems to have followed Plato's Expressions when he calls the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a second God But it must be observed First that Philo never owns above one God And secondly that he used that expression to mark the distinction which is between Jehovah and Jehovah as I shewed already Let the thing be considered in its self It is certain that the Notion of the Trinity cannot be had from Reason It must therefore be a Doctrine either revealed by God or devised by Plato or some other from whom he received it But the Platonists are so far from believing their Master to be the first inventer of it that Proclus affirms it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a piece of Divinity delivered by God himself And Numenius a famous Platonist who lived under the two Antonines and was therefore Justin's Contemporary expresly maintains that Plato during his thirteen years stay in Egypt had learnt the Doctrine of the Hebrews as Theodoret tells us in his first Sermon against the Greeks For it is certain that many Jews fled into Egypt after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and after the death of Gedaliah These two Testimonies are enough to prove that Plato was not the first Inventer of the Notion of a Trinity And that Philo borrowed not his Notions from Plato may further appear because Philo lived at a time when Plato's Philosophy had long ago lost much of its credit Aristotle did much lessen it But it was much more crest-fallen when the opinions of Zeno and Epicurus prevailed Zeno's Philosophy spread it self as far as Rome although the Maxims of it were barbarous and unnatural And in St. Paul's days that of Epicurus was much followed at Athens That of the Pyrrhonians got much Ground likewise So that Plato had but a very few Disciples left him In Plato's days there started up at Alexandria a Sect of Philosophers the Head of whom was one Polemo who lived under Augustus These freely rejected the most famous Opinions and pickt out what they found most rational in the several Sects of Philosophers for which reason they were called Electicks or Chusers And one needs but read Philo with Judgment to find that he followed this Sect. It appears that Philo's great design in all his Works is to shew That the Jews were infinitely
where the Word appeared to Abraham brought him forth and commanded him to offer a Sacrifice to him And suppose that the word Memra should in some places have some of the senses which the Socinian Author mentions does it follow that it has not in many other places the sense we give to it and which Philo gave to it before Christ Let it be granted it signifies sometimes the Command of God as Gen. xxii 18. can it have the same sense in a number of places where mention is made of the Laws of the Word of the Lord Let the word Memra be taken sometimes in the Targums for the Decree of God can it be taken in that sense in Jonathan's Targum on Hag. ii 6. where it is distinguisht from that Decree or in those lately Printed in the Books of Chronicles where mention is made of the Decree of the Word of the Lord as 1 Chron. xii 23. Were it not a ridiculous Tautology if in that place the Word should be said to signifie the Decree The same may be said of all other places where the Decree of the Word is spoken of as 2 Chron. vi 4 15. xxix 23. xxxiii 3. Supposing that Memra signifies sometimes the Word of God can it signifie so too where we read according to the word of the Memra 1 Chron. xxix 23. Let it be granted that the Word signifies sometimes the Oracles of God can it signifie them also where it is expresly distinguisht from them as 2 Chron. xx 20. ch xxxvi 12. And from the Law of God in the same place The truth is the Paraphrast does suppose that it was the Memra who gave the Law and the Oracles to the Jews And that it was for refusing to offer Sacrifices to him that the Jews often fell into Idolatry 2 Chron. xiii 11. ch xxviii 19. xxix 19. xxx 5. There are so many proofs that the Paraphrasts mention it in many places in the very same sense the Old Jews gave to it who acknowledged the Word of God to be a Person that no Man can mistake unless he does it wilfully Many of their Works have been Printed almost two hundred years and I have produced so many proofs out of them that I need not alledge any more I shall therefore only produce a few out of the two Books of Chronicles which the Learned Beckius publisht about sixteen years ago The Targum on those two Books of Chronicles affirms the following things That it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who appeared in most Apparitions in which God appeared to the Patriarchs To Abraham to whom he spoke from between the Victims Gen. xv 1 Chron. vii 21. To Solomon 2 Chron. vii 12. To Phinehas 1 Chron. ix 20. To David 1 Chron. xvii 2. To Solomon 1 Chron. xxii 11. That the Angel who hindered Abraham from killing Isaac was the Word of God 2 Chron. iii. 1. He plainly distinguishes the Angel from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Chron. xiv 15. and xv 1. He affirms that the Word sent Gabriel to help Hezekiah 2 Chron. xxxii 20. whereas David had said he sent his Word and healed them Psal cvii. 20. See Cosri pag. 45. He affirms that to the Word the Temple was built 1 Chron. xxviii 1 3. and 2 Chron. vi 1 10. and xx 8. To whom Sacrifices were offered 2 Chron. xxxiii 17. David exhorts Solomon in the presence of all the People and of the Word of the Lord who chose him King to keep the Law of God 1 Chron. xxviii 8 10. He says that the Judges judg before the Word and before the Holy Spirit 2 Chron. xix 6. He affirms that it was the Word who helped David 1 Chron. xi 9. xii 18. And Solomon 1 Chron. xxviii 20. And Abijah against Jeroboam 2 Chron. xiii 15. That the faithful seek the Word of the Lord and his Power and ever regard his Face 1 Chron. xvi 10 11. He says the Word decreed with God 2 Chron. vi 4. That the Word helps them that trust in him and destroys the wicked 1 Chron. xii 18. xvii 2. 2 Chron. xiii 18. and xiv 11. and xv 2. and xvi 7 8. and xx 20. and xxv 7. and xxxii 8. and xvii 3. and xviii 31. and xx 22 29. That the Word drove out of Canaan the Inhabitants of it 2 Chron. xx 7. and fought for Israel 2 Chron. xxxii 8. That by Solomon's Orders the Word was pray'd to 2 Chron. xx 8. That Men are adjured by the Name of the Word 2 Chron. xviii 15. Speak according to the mouth of the Word 2 Chron. xxii 7. That it was the Word that gave Moses leave to shew the Tables of the Law 2 Chron. xxxii 31. That the Word saved Hezekiah from being burnt in the fire through which Ahaz made his other Children to pass 2 Chron. xxviii 3. That the Word blest the People 2 Chron. xxxi 10. That the Prophets spoke to Manasseh in the Name of the Word of the Lord who is the God of Israel 2 Chron. xxxiii 18. That Men repent before the Word of the Lord 2 Chron. xxxiv 27. That the Word of the Lord the God of Heaven commanded Cyrus to build him a Temple 2 Chron. xxxvi 23. In a word the Author of this Targum leaves no room to doubt but that by the Word he understood and meant in many places a Divine Person a Principle of Action such as we conceive him to be Though in some others he might use the word Word in those other different Significations which the Socinian Author who writ against Wecknerus was pleased to put upon it Another Objection of the same Socinian Author which seems more plausible is this That there are some places in the Targum where instead of the Holy Spirit as it is in the Hebrew they render it by Memra or the Word of which he gives some instances as Isa xxx 28. Zech. iv 6. To which may be added Isa xlviii 16. which in the Hebrew is the Lord and his Spirit has sent me and in the Paraphrase the Lord and his Word I answer that though in some few places the Targums have a confused Notion of the thing yet this ought not to ballance the constant stile of those Books in others and much more numerous places It being easie to confound those Notions before the Gospel-times when they were not by much so clearly apprehended as they have been since Otherwise the stile of the Targums is pretty equal And here comes in very naturally Maimonides his observation about the stile of Onkelos his Paraphrase which he was well versed in He thinks in his More Nevochim p. 1. c. 48. that three or four places of the Targum in which his remark about the constant method had no room might have been altered and wishes he could get some Copies of it more ancient than those he used and owns that he did not well apprehend the reason which had obliged the Paraphrast to render in some places otherwise