De Confus Ling. p. 258. A. This place of Philo deserves a very particular consideration For it teaches us what Notion the Jews had of the Messias before our Lords Ministry and discovers the Tricks and Fopperies of the modern Jews who having a mean opinion of the Person of the Messias have invented quite another sense of the Memra so frequent in their Paraphrases than what the ancient Jews had of it Nor is it of less use to confound the Socinians For it is a proof not to be denied of St. John's following the Language of the old Synagogue when he speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first Chapter of his Gospel and shews that they have no other answer to the many Testimonies of the Targum objected against them but what they borrow of the Jews 3. Another place of Philo in the same Book p. 266. F. is much to the same purpose where he calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man We know the Messias is intimated to be a Man in many places as Psal xxii 22. I will declare thy name to my Brethren Psal lxix 9. I am become a stranger to my Brethren Psal cxxii 8. For my Brethrens sake For these Psalms do all regard the Messias So also where he is called David Ezek. xxvii 25. as the Targum and the Modern Jews do own he is Hos iii. 5. and where he is called Solomon as in the Targum on Canticles But saith Philo the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called a Man which must be understood either upon account of his frequent Appearances as a Man and so he is called Exod. xv 3. or to his intended manifestation in human shape as a Servant This latter is the Notion of Psal xxii above quoted and of Isa xlii 1. Behold my Servant which Jonathan refers to the Messias And again of Isa liii where the Messias is represented as a Man afflicted and tormented which has been their sense so constantly that from hence the Jews since Jesus Christ have taken occasion to assert that the Messias was Leprous As for the Chaldee Paraphrase it is visible from Isa xlix where the Messias is spoken of throughout that the Memra should become the Messias These are the words of Isaiah v. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Listen O Isles unto me and hearken you people from far The Lord hath called me from the womb from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me and made me a polished shaft in his quiver hath he hid me and said unto me Thou art my Servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified Then I said I have laboured in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob again to him tho Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength And he said is it a light thing that thou shouldst be my Servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou maist be my Salvation unto the end of the Earth Now as Philo hath observed that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only called a Man but Israel De Confus Ling. p. 266. which hath a natural relation to this place of Isaiah so the Targum expresly ascribes v. 5. as also v. 16. to the Word which speaks of the calling of the Gentiles And so every Jewish Writer confesses that the Restauration of the Ten Tribes which is foretold there shall be the work of the Messias We read Isa lxiii 14. As a beast goeth down into the valley the Spirit of the Lord causeth him to rest so didst thou lead thy people to make thy self a Glorious name Where notwithstanding the Text hath the Spirit of the Lord the Targum reads the Word whom it treats as Redeemer v. 14. that guided them through the Wilderness that is in the Heavens v. 15. and hath the name of Redeemer from everlasting v. 16. Indeed that the Word should become the Messias i. e. should reveal himself in him according to the judgment of the old Jewish Church may be gathered from the method of the Jews in explaining certain places of the Messias which they referred to the Word of the Lord. Till now they do agree that Moses spake of the Messias Exod. iv 13. Send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send R. Meyr Aldabi so interprets it as he treats of the Messias in his Book Sevile Emunoth ch 10. But the Jews formerly referred it to the Word of the Lord as we see in Onkelos on Exod. iii. 12. And God said certainly I will be with thee and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt you shall serve God upon this mountain On which words Onkelos observes that God promised Moses to assist him by his Word in the trust committed to him and repeats it on Exod. iv 12 15. from which it is to be concluded that it is whom he intends v. 13. The like remarks are made by Jonathan's Targum on the same Texts from whence the like inference may be drawn I shall only mention a few more places as 1. It was the Word that promised to march among the Israelites and to be their God Philo de Nom. mutat p. 840. this saith Philo in an 100 places it was the Word that promised Israel his Presence saith Onkelos on Levit. xxvi 9 11 12. But it is certain the Word was to manifest himself in the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middle of him as saith Rashi whom I have quoted before 2dly The Ancient Targums acknowledge that the Messias should be a Prophet So Jonathan owns on Is xi 2. The same Isaiah declares liv 13. That they shall be all taught of God which is explained by Jonathan of the Messias as also Is liii 5.10 11 12. From whence it is evident that they took the Messias and the Word of God to be the same 3dly You see that God having said Hos i. 7. that he would save his people by Jehova their God which is translated by the Targum by the word of the Lord the Jews kept always for a Maxim that the Eternal Salvation was to come to them by the Messias Rashi refers to that which we read in Isaiah ch xlv 17. and he follows in this the Targum of Jerusalem upon Gen. xlix 18. where the Salvation by the Messias is called by Jacob the Salvation by the Word of the Lord. 'T is upon the same foundation that they refer to the Messias which is spoken Isai xliv 6. that the Messias shall be the last
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
by what the Apostle saith Joh. xii 41. that this was no other than our Lord Jesus Christ For there the Apostle having quoted the words that Isaiah heard from the Lord that spoke to him Isai vi 9 10. tells us These things said Isaiah when he saw his Glory and spoke of him That the Apostle here speaks of the Word made flesh is clear enough from the Text. But besides it has been proved by our Writers beyond all contradiction See Plac. lib. ii Disput 1. In like manner that which the Prophet Ezekiel saw was an Appearance of God represented to him as a Man sitting on a Throne of Glory Ezek. i. 26 27 28. x. 1. Which Throne was then upon Wheels after the manner of a Sella Curulis They were living Wheels animated and supported by Cherubims i. 21. each of which had four Faces i. 6. such as were carved on the Walls of the Temple xli 19. In short that which Ezekiel saw though he was then in Chaldea was nothing else but the Appearance of God as yet dwelling in his Temple at Jerusalem but quite weary of it and now about to remove and to leave his dwelling-place to be destroyed by the Chaldeans To shew that this was the meaning of it he saw this Glorious Appearance of God first in his place iii. 12. i. e. on the Mercy-seat in the Temple ix 3. Next he saw him gone from his place to the Threshold of the House Judges use to give Judgment in the Gate so there over the Threshold of his House God gave Sentence against his rebellious people v. 5 6 7. Afterward from the Threshold of the House x. 4. the Prophet saw the Glory departed yet farther and mounted up from the Earth over the midst of the City x. 18 19. And lastly he saw it go from thence and stand upon the Mountain on the East-side of the City xi 23. That is on Mount Olivet which is before Jerusalem on the East Zech. xiv 4. and so the Targum has it on this place After this departure of the Divine Presence Ezekiel saw his forsaken Temple and City destroyed and his People carried away into Captivity xxxiii 21 c. After this he saw no more Appearance of God till his People's return from Captivity And then the Temple being rebuilt according to the measures given from God xl xli xlii the Prophet could not but expect that God would return to it as of old So he saw it come to pass in his Vision xliii 2. Behold the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East where the Prophet saw it last at M. Olivet So again v. 4. The Glory of the Lord came into the House by the way of the Gate whose prospect is toward the East And v. 5. Behold the Glory of the Lord filled the House So again xliv 4. It filled the House now as it had done in Solomon's time 1 King viii 11. All along in this Prophecy of Ezekiel it was but one Person that appeared from the beginning to the end In the beginning of this Prophecy it was God that appeared in his Temple over the Cherubims and there we find him again in the end of this Prophecy But that it was no other but the Word that so appeared in the Temple according to the sense of the ancient Jewish Church has been proved so fully out of their Targums elswhere that we need not trouble our selves about that any farther though we cannot find it in the Targum on this Book In the Books of Chronicles there is nothing remarkable of this kind but what has been considered already in the account that we have given of the Divine Appearances in the Books of Kings And there is no mention of any such Appearance in any of the other Books that were written after the Babylonian Captivity except on the Books of Daniel and Zechariah Of Daniel the Jews have not given us any Targum therefore we have nothing to say of that Book They have given us a Targum such as it is of the Book of Zechariah which is the last we have to consider In this Book of Zechariah we read of three Angels that appeared to the Prophet The first appeared to him as a Man i. 8 -10. But is called an Angel v. 9. In Zechary's words The Angel that talked with me By which Title he is often distinguisht from all others in the same Book i. 13 14 19. ii 3. v. 5 6. vi 4. A second Angel appeared to him also as a Man with a Measuring Line in his hand ii 1. But whosoever compares this Text with Ezek. xl 3 4 5 c. will find that this who appeared as a Man was truly an Angel of God Next the first Angel going forth from the place where he appeared ii 3. Another Angel comes to meet him and bids him Run speak to this young man whether to the Angel Surveyor or whether to Zechary himself and tell him Jerusalem shall be inhabited c. ii 4. He that commands another should be his Superior And yet this Superior owns himself sent from God But he own'd it in such terms as shew'd that he was God himself This the Reader will see more than once in his speech which is continued from v. 4. to the end of the Chapter It appears especially in v. 8 9 11. of this Chapter First in v. 5. having declared what God would do for Jerusalem in these words according to the Targum The Lord hath said my Word shall be a wall of fire about her and my Glory will I place in the midst of her He goes on to v. 8. and there he delivers a Message from God to his People in these words Thus saith the Lord of Hosts After the Glory * After the Glory of his Shekinah being returned into the Temple when that was rebuilt they should soon after see Babylon it self taken and spotled by their ancient Servants the Persians hath he sent me to the Nations that spoiled you c. Here the sense is ambiguous for it seems strange that the Lord of Hosts should say another hath sent me But so it is again and much clearer exprest in v. 9. where he saith Behold I will shake my hand upon them and they shall be a spoil to their Servants This none but God could say But he addeth in the next words And ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me which words plainly shew that though he stiled himself God yet he came as a Messenger from God This is plainer yet v. 11. where he saith Many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee Thee Thou Thee are all Feminines in the Hebrew and therefore all three refer to Zion Thee Oh Zion v. 10. This again none but God could say And yet it followeth Thou Oh Zion shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent
the Son of God in time Quod Deus sit immut p. 232. that his Word is his Image and his First-born De confus ling. p. 266. 267. B. that the Word is the Son of God before the Angels Quis rer div h. p. 397. F. G. that the Unity of God is not to be reduced to number that God is unus non unicus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews say in their Book of Prayers which are the very steps we take to shew that an Eternal Generation in the Divine Nature is no contradiction Nothing can be more express for to prove that there is a Son in the Godhead than what we read in the Targum of Jerusalem Gen. iii. 22. The Word of Jehovah said Here Adam whom I created is the only begotten Son in the World as I am the only begotten Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the high Heaven 3. The Prophets positively teach the Son of God who the Jews thought as under the former Head appears was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal Wisdom of God to be the Messiah Thus David Psalm ii brings in God speaking of the Messiah Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee 6. V. 8. Kiss the son lest he be angry and lest you perish For thus it ought to be rendred according to Aben-Ezra and the Midrash on this Psalm and the Zohar in the place I have quoted just now which Expression is also used by Solomon Cant. i. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth which the old Jews refer to the Messias in Shir hashirim Rabba fol. 5. Col. 2 3. and in Midrash Tehillim ad Ps lxviii v. 4. I confess that we read in Tehillim Rabbathi upon this iid Psalm a kind of answer to this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth not say thou art a Son to me but thou art my Son and they pretend that God speaks to the Messias as a Master to his Servant The Inquisitors of Italy take great care to blot out that Answer in the Books which they give leave to the Jews to keep in their Houses But it is a ridiculous fear for the solution is so absurd that it is exploded as soon as you look upon the description of that Son which is in the Book of Proverbs Chap. xxx 4. I own also that we find not in the body of Philo's Works any formal Explication of these words This day have I begotten thee from whence we can directly conclude that he understood them of an Eternal Generation But we find something equivalent to it For speaking of these words You who were obedient to the Lord are alive this day he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De profug p. 358. E. That this is not a simple Conjecture appears from the manner of Philo's explicating of himself as he speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in two places cited by Eus Praep. Ev. vii p. 323. out of Phil. de Agric. 1 11. For in the first place he calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First-born of God And in the other the Eternal Word of the Eternal God begotten by the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Title of Son is given to the Messias Psal lxxii 17. That this Psalm was understood of the Messias by the Ancient Jews 't is acknowledged by Raschi who against their unanimous Consent thinks fit to apply it to Solomon now the Hebrew word there is Innon being formed from Nin which signifies a Son Hence it is that the Jews make Innon one of the Titles of the Messias in Midrash Tillim on Psalm xciii and in the Talmud Sanhedrim c. 11. fol. 98. col 2. and in Rabboth fol. 1. col 3. And it follows in the Text that he had this Name before the Son that is before the Creation as Eternity is described Psal xc 2. Prov. viii 22 29. Again Psal lxxx 15. where the Psalmist prays God to look down and visit his Vine and the Vineyard which his right hand hath planted the Targum renders these last words and the Plant which thy right hand hath planted that is King Messias The Psalmist goes on in these words and the Branch which thou madest strong for thy self The Targum reads them even for thy Son's sake and interprets them even for the sake of King Messias So likewise in v. 17. where we render the words Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thy self the LXX have only on the Son and the Targum interprets them of King Messias God saith Psal lxxxix 25 26. I will set his hand in the sea and his right hand in the rivers He shall cry unto me thou art my father The Ancient Jews refer this to the Messias and also many of the Modern Jews finding such difficulty in applying to Solomon many of the Characters in this Psalm agree with the Ancients in their Interpretation The following Writers of the Holy Scriptures are as express as David is in this matter Prov. viii 22 23 24 25. is well worth perusing principally for this Title given Wisdom of a Son in the bosom of her Father Upon which take Philo's Reflection de Profug p. 358. A. To the Question Why is Wisdom spoken of in the Feminine he Answers it is to preserve to God the Character of a Father from whom he thought the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drew his Nature as being as he elsewhere de Agric. calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal Son of the Everlasting Father And nothing is more common amongst the Jewish Writers than 1. To maintain that the Shekinah the Wisdom and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same 2dly To refer to the Messias as being the same with the Shekinah those very Places which are to be understood of the Shekinah and to the Shekinah those Places which are to be understood of the Messias If any man cast his eyes upon Jonathan Targum and the Targum Jerusalami commented by R. Mardochay and printed lately at Amsterdam he shall find that by the common consent of the Jewish Interpreters whose words he fully relates the Wisdom which is spoken Prov. iii. and Prov. viii is the same by which the World hath been created 2dly That this Wisdom is the same which is called the Shekinah the Memra it is called by Philo the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him now look upon the Places of the Prophets which are constantly spoken of the Messias and he shall find that they are referred by the best Authors of the Synagogue to the Shekinah so that it is clear they had the same Idea of the Shekinah and of the Messias and must have lookt upon the Messias as he that must have been the proper Son of God I will shew some Instances of what I advance to spare the trouble to my Reader 1st They maintain that this Wisdom by
Exposition Page 52. Chap. V. Of the Authority of the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament Page 66. Chap. VI. That the Works which go under the Name of Philo the Jew are truly his and that he writ them a long while before the time of Christ's Preaching the Gospel and that it does not appear in any of his Works that ever he had heard of Christ or of the Christian Religion Page 75. Chap. VII Of the Authority and Antiquity of the Chaldee Paraphrases Page 84. Chap. VIII That the Authors of the Apocryphal Books did acknowledge a Plurality and a Trinity in the Divine Nature Page 99. Chap. IX That the Jews had Good Grounds to acknowledge some kind of Plurality in the Divine Nature Page 115. Chap. X. That the Jews did acknowledge the Foundations of the Belief of the Trinity in the Divine Nature and that they had the Notion of it Page 138. Chap XI That this Notion of a Trinity in the Divine Nature has continued among the Jews since the time of our Lord Jesus Christ Page 158. Chap. XII That the Jews had a distinct Notion of the Word as a Person and of a Divine Person too Page 181. Chap. XIII That all the Appearances of God or of the Angel of the Lord which are spoken of in the Books of Moses have been referred to the Word by the Jews before Christ's Incarnation Page 201. Chap. XIV That all the Appearances of God or of the Angel of the Lord which are spoken of in Moses have been referred to the Word of God by the ancient Jewish Church Page 214. Chap. XV. That all the Appearances of God or of the Angel of the Lord which are spoken after Moses his time in the Books of the Old Testament have been referred to the Word of God by the Jews before Christ's Incarnation Page 233. Chap. XVI That the ancient Jews did often use the Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word in speaking of the Messias Page 253. Chap. XVII That the Jews did acknowledge the Messias should be the Son of God Page 265. Chap. XVIII That the Messias was represented in the Old Testament as being Jehovah that should come and that the ancient Synagogue did believe him to be so Page 278. 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 Page 293 Chap. XX. That both the Apostles and the first Christians speaking of the Messias did exactly follow the Notions of the Old Jews as the Jews themselves did acknowledge Page 313. 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 Page 327. Chap. XXII An Answer to some Exceptions taken from Expressions used in the Gospel Page 339. Chap. XXIII That neither Philo nor the Chaldee Paraphrases 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 Page 413. Chap. XXIV An Answer to some Objections of the Modern Jews and of the Unitarians Page 365. Chap. XXV An Answer to an Objection against the Notions of the Old Jews compared with those of the new Ones Page 380. Chap. XXVI That the Jews have laid aside the Old Explications of their Forefathers the better to defend themselves in their Disputes with the Christians Page 392. Chap. XXVII That the Unitarians in opposing the Doctrines of the Trinity and our Lord's Divinity do go much further than the Modern Jews and that they are not fit Persons to Convert the Jews Page 413. A Dissertation concerning the Angel who is called the Redeemer Gen. XLVIII Page 433. THE JUDGMENT OF THE Ancient JEWISH Church Against the VNITARIANS c. CHAP. I. The Design of this Book and what Matters it treats of IF the Doctrines of the Ever-Blessed Trinity and of the Promised Messias being very God had been altogether unknown to the Jews before Jesus Christ began to preach the Gospel it would be a great prejudice against the Christian Religion But the contrary being once satisfactorily made out will go a great way towards proving those Doctrines among Christians The Socinians are so sensible of this that they give their Cause for lost if this be admitted And therefore they have used their utmost Endeavours to weaken or at least to bring under suspicion the Arguments by which this may be proved It is now about sixty years ago since one of that Sect writ a Latin Tract about the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Chaldee Paraphrases in Answer to Wechner who had proved that St. John used this word in the first Chapter of his Gospel in the same sense that the Chaldee Paraphrases had used it before Christ's time and consequently that it is to be understood of a Person properly so called in the Blessed Trinity which way of interpreting that word because it directly overthrew the Socinian Doctrine which was then that St. John by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood no other than Christ as Man it is no wonder that this Author used all his Wit and Learning to evade it The Construction which Socinus put upon the first Chapter of the Gospel of St. John was then followed generally by his Disciples But some years since they have set it aside here as being absurd and impertinent And they now freely own what that Socinian Author strongly opposed That the Word mentioned by St. John is the eternal and essential Vertue of God by which he made the World and operated in the Person of Christ Only they deny that Word to be a Person distinct from the Father as we do affirm And whereas Socinus taught That Christ was made God and therefore is a proper Object of religious Worship now the Unitarians who believe him to be no other than a meer human Creature following the Principles of Christianity better than Socinus condemn the Religious Worship which is paid to him As they do believe that the Jews had the same Notions of the Godhead and Person of the Messias which they have themselves so they think they have done the Christian Religion an extraordinary service in thus ridding it of this double Difficulty which hinders the Conversion of the Jews Mr. N. one of their ablest Men having read Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho in which Trypho says that he did not believe that the Messias was to be other than Man makes use of this Passage of Trypho for proof that the Doctrines of the Divinity of the Messias and by consequence of the Trinity were never acknowledged by the Jews This he does in a Book the Title whereof is The Judgment of the Fathers against Dr. Bull. His design being to prove that Justin Martyr about 140 years after Christ was
their Disciples and the Object of David's and all other Prophet's Longings and Desires Reuchl Ib. p. 634. They maintain that David did not think himself to be the Messias because he prays for his Coming Psal xliii 3. Send out thy Light i. e. the Messias as R. Salomon interprets it And from hence they conclude that he speaks also of the Messias in Psal lxxxix 15. They did think Isaiah spake of him ch ix 6. So R. Jose Galilaeus praefat in Eccha Rabbati as it is to be seen in Devarim Rabba Paras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of it and in Jalk in Is § 284. And indeed what he there saith could not be meant of Hezekiah who was born 10 years before nor was his Kingdom so extensive nor so lasting as is there foretold the Messias's should be but was confined to a small part of Palestine and ended in Sedecias his Successor not many Generations afterwards And it is the general and constant Opinion of the Jews that Malachi the last of the Prophets spake of him ch 4. under the Name of the Son of Righteousness for this see Kimchi 4. It ought to be well considered that we owe the Knowledge of the Principles on which the Holy Ghost has founded the Doctrine of Types to the Jews who are so devoted to the Traditions of their Ancestors which Types however they who read the Scripture cursorily do ordinarily pass by as things light and insignificant yet it is true what St. Paul hath said 1 Cor. x. 11. That all things happened to the Fathers in Types and were written for their instruction upon whom the ends of the World are come or who live in the last Times as the Oeconomy of the Gospel is called and the last days by Jacob Gen. xlix 1. That is acknowledged by the Wisemen of the Nation in Shemoth Rabba Parasha 1 and by Menasseh ben Israel q. 6. in Isaiah p. 23. Indeed the Jews besides the literal sense of the ancient Scriptures did acknowledge a mystical or spiritual Sense which St. Paul lays down for a Maxim 1 Cor. x. 1 2 3 c. Where he applies to things of the New Testament all these following Types namely the Coming of Israel out of Egypt their passage through the Red Sea the History of the Manna and of the Rock that followed them by its Water We see in Philo the figurative sense which the Jews gave to a great part of the ancient History He remarks exactly and often with too much subtilty perhaps the many Divine and Moral Notions which the common prophetical Figures do suggest to us We see that they turned almost all their History into Allegory It plainly appears from St. Paul's way of arguing Gal. iv 22 c. which could be of no force otherwise Wee see that they reduced to an Anagogical sense all the Temporal Promises of Canaan of Jerusalem of the Temple in which St. Paul also followed them Heb. iv 4 9. quoting these words If they shall enter into my rest from Ps xcv 11. which words he makes the Psalmist speak of the Jerusalem that is above and this also is acknowledged by Maimonides de poen c. 8. This Remark ought to be made particularly on the mystical Signification which Philo the Jew gives of several Parts of the Temple of which the Apostle St. Paul makes so great use in his Epistle to the Hebrews Josephus in those few words which he has concerning the Signification of the Tabernacle Antiq. iii. 9. gives us reason enough to believe that if he had lived to finish his design of explaining the Law according to the Jewish Midrashim he would have abundantly justified this way of Explication followed by St. Paul with respect to the Tabernacle of the Covenant It is hard to conceive how the Apostles could speak of things which came to pass in Old time as Types of what should be accomplished in the Person of the Messias without any other proof than their simple affirmation As for instance that St. Peter should represent Christ as a New Noah 1 Pet. iii. 21. and that St. Paul should propose Melchisedeck as a Type of the Messias in respect to his Sacerdotal Office Heb. vi vii unless the Jews did allow this for a Maxim which flows naturally from the Principle we have been establishing namely that these Great Men were look'd on as the Persons in whom God would fulfil his first Promise but that not being completely fulfilled in them it was necessary for them that would understand it aright to carry their View much farther to a Time and Person without comparison more august in whom the Promise should be perfectly completed It may be demanded why the Prophecies seem sometime so applied to Persons then living that one would think he should not need to look any farther to see the fulfilling of them as namely the prophetical Prayer as in behalf of Solomon which is in Psalm lxxii as the Birth of a Son promised to Isaiah ch vii and ch ix 6. and where Isaiah seems to speak of himself when he saith Isa lxi 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and the like But it is not hard to give a reason for this with which the ancient Jews were not unacquainted And it is this That though all these Predictions had been directed to those persons yet they had by no means their accomplishment in them nor these persons were in any degree intended and meant in the Prophecy To be particular Solomon was in Wars during the latter part of his Life and so he could not be that King of Peace spoken of in the Prophecy and his Kingdom was rent in his Son's time the smaller part of it falling to his share as the greater was seized by Jeroboam so far was the Kingdom of Solomon from being universal or everlasting Isai vii 14. The Son born to Isaiah neither had the Name of Emanuel nor could he be the Person intended by it as neither was his Mother a Virgin as the word in that Prophecy signifies And for the Prophet himself though the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and spoke by him as did it by all the other Prophets 2 Pet. 1.21 Yet that the Unction here spoken of Saadia Gaon Emunoth c. 18 D. Kimchi in rad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isaiah lxi 1. did not belong to him but to the Messias is acknowledged by the Jewish Writers and seems to have been so understood by those that heard our Saviour apply this Prophecy to himself Luk. iv 22. So that nothing was more judiciously done and more agreeable to the known Principles of the Synagogue than the Question proposed to Philip by the Eunuch who reading the liii of Isaiah asked from him Of whom did he speak of himself or of another Again It may be asked Why the Prophets called the Messias David and John Baptist Elias Not to trouble the Reader with any more than a mention of that fancy of
Christ and his Apostles spake to the Jews according to the Notions which were received among them What I say will clearly appear if we reflect on some of the Citations made by Christ and his Apostles from the Old Testament For altho Jesus Christ had in himself all the Treasures of Wisdom and altho his Apostles were divinely inspired yet they ought 〈◊〉 proportion what they said to the capacity of their hearers Their Miracles were to move and dispose them to the receiving of the Truth but their proofs and arguments were the proper means to convince their hearers of it 1. The Doctrines of the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection from the Dead being deny'd by the Sadducees who required an express Text of Moses for the proof of those Doctrines and affirmed that there was not any such to be found in the Writings of Moses our Saviour proves it against them by these words which stopped their mouths and raised the admiration of the multitude I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob but God is not the God of the dead but of the living Mat. xxii 32. His proof was by a known and necessary consequence from that Text out of the Law which he inferred according to the received method among the Jews For the Jews at this day do gather the same Doctrines from the same words Vid. Mede his Works p. 801. Exod. iii. 6 15 16. which Jesus Christ alledged to prove them by The astonishment of the people on this occasion did not proceed from the newness of his argument as if they had never heard the like before for they gathered also the Doctrine of the Resurrection from Moses his Song as we see in Josephus de Macchab. p. 1012. But it arose from another cause to wit his giving them such a Spiritual notion of the Resurrection as was not clogged with the difficulties drawn from that instance of a Woman's Marriage to more Husbands than one which the Sadducees justly urged against that gross Idea of a Resurrection that many of them had wherein Marriage and other actions of mortal life should have place 2. Our Blessed Saviour in the same 22th ch of St. Matth. asked the Pharisees whose Son the Messias was to be they answered the Son of David i. e. the Scripture saith he should descend from the Line of David Against which Christ raises this Objection How then does David in spirit or inspired by the Spirit call him Lord And he alledges for proof that David calls him Lord the words of Psal cx 1. The Lord said to my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool If then David by the Spirit called him Lord how is he then his Son It appears that Jesus Christ in making this Objection did take these three things as granted by the Jews at that time 1. That Psal cx was the work of the Prophet David 2. That this Psalm concerned the Messias 3. That the name Adonai is in this place equivalent to the name Jehovah There is not any of these things which the Jews will not dispute at this day But that their Forefathers did hold that these words were spoken to the Messias it appears by their Midrash on the Psalms and Saadia Gaon on Dan. vii 13. Indeed their Targum justifies all that our Saviour said in this place not only in acknowledging that this Psalm was composed by David but also that it was written for the Messias who is therefore instead of Adonai called Memra or the Word according to Fagius his reading which is most natural to the place But that Memra the Word denotes the Messias shall be shown in the sequel of this Discourse St. Paul has taken the same way Act. xiii 24. where he quotes these words from Isa lv 3. I will give you the sure mercies of David He refers this passage to the sending of the Messias altho the Text seems obscure enough for such a reference But he does it in pursuance of the explication given of it by the ancient Jews who understood this Chapter of the Messias So does R. David Kimchi upon this verse and Aben Ezra and Sam. Laniado and R. Meir Ararma and Abarvanel Upon the same ground he applies to the Messias in the same Chapter the words of Psal xvi 10. Thou wilt not leave thy holy One to see corruption He proves that they could not be understood of David seeing that his Sepulchre the Monument of his Corruption remained till that day He ought first to have proved that this Psalm was spoken of the Messias and then have proved that it could not belong to David But this method was needless since he went on this known Maxim among the Jews That whatever Psalm was not fulfilled in David ought to be understood of the Messias Let us proceed to another clear proof of this Proposition St. Paul in Heb. i. 6. quotes a Text from Moses Song Deut. xxxii 43. according to the LXXth Version 'T is commonly believed that the Quotation is out of Psal xcvii 8. but the very words Let all the Angels of God worship him are not found in that Psalm They are in the Greek of Moses Song without the least alteration though it must be confessed they are not there in the Hebrew Text. I will not dispute whether the Jews have lost out of their Bibles this part of the ancient Text since St. Paul's time They may in their Vindication shew that neither the Samaritans have in their Text this Quotation which is extant in the LXX It seems therefore that this Song of Moses was copied separately from the rest of the Pentateuch for their convenience who were to learn it by heart to which some pious People added a few Verses out of the Psalms that concerned the same Subject Which Copy with the Additions was translated by the LXX because the People had generally committed this to their Memory What I conclude from hence is this That St. Paul made no difficulty to quote words that were only in the LXX Version because they contained things conformable to the ancient Sentiments of the Jews and following the Genius and Doctrine prevailing in his Nation he referrs these words to the second Appearance of the Messias when all the Angels of God shall pay him adoration If we read St. Paul's Citation Gal. iii. 8 16 of the Promise God made to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the Earth should be blessed which he understands of the Promise of the Messias we shall quickly judge that he followed herein the sense of the ancient Synagogue I know the greatest part of the Modern Jews do understand it of Isaac As if God had said All the Nations of the Earth shall wish their Friends the Blessing which God gave to Isaac But the Ancients understood it otherwise as we can judge by the Book of Ecclesiasticus ch xliv 25. They referred it to the Calling of
Gentiles by the Messias as we see in Sepher Chasidim § 961. and to the abode of the Sekinah or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is explained by R. Joseph de Carnisol Saare Isider fol. 3. col 4. fol. 4. col 1. And so St. Peter supposes it to be spoken of the Messias Act. iii. 25. We may reflect in like manner on the promise God made the People Deut. xviii 15. To raise them up a Prophet like unto Moses St. Peter makes use of it as being spoken of the Messias that he should give a new Law Act. iii. 22. But the Modern Jews do all they can to evade this Application Nevertheless it appears to have been the Idea of the ancient Synagogue because we read that they speak of the Law which was to be given by the Messias as of a Law in comparison to which all other Law was to be lookt upon as meer Vanity So Coheleth Rabba in c. ii and in c. xi It is not without some surprize that we read the Application St. Mat. ii 15. has made of these words in Hos xi 1. Out of Egypt have I called my son which seem only to be spoken of the Children of Israel and not of the Messias And yet in the Book Midrash Tehillim Rabba on Ps ii we may see the Jews referred to the Messias what is written of the People of Israel Exod. iv 22. Which is an argument that St. Matthew cited this passage from Hosea according to the sense the Jews gave it with respect to the Messias The Actions of the Messias are related in the Law in the Prophets and in the Books called Hagiographa or in the Psalms In the Law Exod. iv 22. Israel is my first-born In the Prophets Isai lii 13. Behold my servant shall deal prudently In the Psalms as it is written The Lord said to my Lord Psal cx i. St. Matth. viii 17. referrs the words of Isai liii 4. to the miraculous Cures that Christ wrought And he follows herein the ancient Tradition of the Jews which taught that the Messias spoken of in this Chapter of Isaiah should pardon Sins and consequently heal their distempers which were the effects and punishments of their Sins From hence it follows that according to their Tradition the Messias should be God even as Jesus Christ did then suppose when he healed the Paralytick Man by his own power Matth. ix 6. and proves that he did not blaspheme in forgiving Sins which the Jews thought belonged only to God St. Matth. i. 23. applies the words of Isai vii 14. to Christ's being born of a Virgin Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son c. This he did likewise according to the ancient Idea of the Jews which was not quite lost in the time of Adrian the Emperor For R. Akiba who lived and died under his Reign makes the following Reflection on this Prophecy He had considered that Isaiah in the beginning of the following Chapter received Order from God to take to him two Witnesses Uriah the Priest who lived in his time and Zechary the Son of Berachiah who lived not as he thought till under the second Temple Upon which he saith that God commanded the Prophet to do thus to shew that as what he had foretold concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz was true by the Witness of Uriah who saw it accomplish'd so what he had foretold concerning the Conception and Delivery of a Virgin must be accomplished under the second Temple by the Witness of Zechary who lived then See Gemara tit Maccoth c. 3. fol. 24. 3. We see that Jesus Christ Joh. iv 21 c. alludes tacitly to the Prophecy of Mal. i. 11. concerning the Sacrifices of the New Testament This is a matter at present controverted between Christians and Jews But Christ deliver'd the sense of the Synagogue as it is evident from the Targum on those words of Malachy which applies them to the Times of the Messias 4. One would think it were only by way of Similitude that Christ applied to himself the History of the Brazen Serpent in saying Joh. iii. 14. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up But there appears to be more in it than so The ancient Jews lookt upon the Brazen Serpent as a Type of the Messias so we find by their Targum on Numb xxi 8. which expounds this Serpent which Moses lifted up by the Word of the Lord who is also called God Wisd xvi 7. compared with chap. xv 1. Although Philo while he hunts for Allegories gives another Idea of it de Agric. p. 157. 5. It may also seem to be only by way of Allusion that Christ calls himself the Bread that came down from Heaven alluding to the Manna which came down from Heaven as we read Exod. xvi But he that looks into the ancient Jewish Writers shall find that herein also our Saviour followed the common Jewish Idea For Philo who writ in Egypt before Jesus Christ began to preach tells us positively that the Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Manna Lib. quòd Deter pot insid p. 137. St. Paul Heb. 1.5 cites God's Words to David concerning one that should come out of his Loins 2 Sam. vii 14. I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son as if they respected the Messias How could he do thus When on the one hand he calleth Jesus Christ holy undefiled harmless separate from Sinners and on the other hand in that Promise to David God takes it for granted that that Son of his might be a Sinner and thereupon threatens in the very next words 2 Sam. vii 14. If he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men which suits well with Solomon but not at all with the Messias The reason is St. Paul followed the sense of this place which was commonly received among the Jews who as they refer to the Messias the Psal lxxii cx and cxxxii where the same Ideas occur so they must have referred to the Messias whatever is great in this Prophecy and to others whatever therein denotes humane infirmities And Indeed it was not very hard to give to that Oracle a further prospect viz. to the Messias 1st Because Solomon was made King in the Life of his Father whereas the Son which God speaks of was to be born after David's Death 2dly Because it is spoken of a Seed not born from David but from David's Children 3dly Because the Mercy of God was to make the Kingdom of David last for ever whereas the Kingdom of Solomon was divided soon after his Death and but two parts of twelve were left to Rehoboam his Son St. Paul Gal. iv 29. alludes to the History in Gen. xxi 9. as a Type of the Persecutions which the Jews should exercise on the Christians Whereon does he build this First having proved it his way that the Christian Church was typified in Isaac
Martyr having been formerly a Platonist and then turning Christian was the first that invented this Doctrine or rather adopted it out of the Platonick into the Christian Divinity and that neither the Jewish nor the Christian Church had ever before conceived any Notion of a Trinity or of any Plurality in the Divine Essence The Doctrine of the Trinity supposes the Divine Essence to be common to three Persons distinguished from one another by incommunicable Properties These Persons are called by St. John 1 Joh. v. 7. the Father the Word and the Spirit There are Three saith he that bear Witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these Three are One. This Personal distinction supposes the Father not to be the Son nor the Holy Ghost and that the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit Revelation teaching that the Son is begotten of the Father and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son or from the Father by the Son And this distinction is the foundation of their Order and of their Operations For although the Unity of the Divine Nature makes it necessary that these three Persons should all co-operate in the Works of God ad extra as we call them nevertheless there being a certain order among the Persons and a distinction founded in their Personal Properties the Holy Scripture mentioneth an Oeconomy in their Operations so that one work ad extra is ascribed to the Father another to the Son and a third to the Holy Spirit But this distinction of Persons all partaking of the same common Nature and Majesty hinders not their being equally the Object of that Worship which Religion commands us to pay to God I touch this matter but very briefly because my business is only to examine whether the Jews had any notion of this Doctrine And our Opinion is this that though the Gospel has proposed that Doctrine more clearly and distinctly yet there were in the Old Testament sufficient notices of it so that the Jews before Christ's time did draw from thence their Notions concerning it On the contrary the Socinians maintain that this Doctrine is not only alike foreign to the Books of the Old and New Testament but that it was altogether unknown to the Jews before and after Christ till Justin Martyr first brought it into the Church In opposition to which I affirm for truth 1. That the Jews before Jesus Christ had a notion of a Plurality in God following herein certain Traces of this Doctrine that are to be found in the Books of Moses and the Prophets 2. That the same Jews following the Scriptures of the Old Testament did acknowledg a Trinity in the Divine Nature I begin the Examination of this Subject by considering the Notions of the Authors of the Apocryphal Books Now one cannot expect that these Authors should have explained their mind with relation to the notions of a Plurality and of a Trinity in the Godhead as if they had been Interpreters of the Books of the Old Testament But they express it sufficiently without that and speak in such a manner that no body can deny that they must have had those very Notions when it appears that their Expressions in speaking of God supposes the Notions of a Plurality in the Godhead and of a Trinity in particular Let us consider some of those Expressions 1. They were so full of the notion of a Plurality which is expressed in Gen. i. 26. that the Author of Tobith hath used it as the Form of Marriage among the Jews of old Let us make unto him an aid So Chap. 8.6 Thou madest Man and gavest him Eve his Wife for an helper and stay of them came Mankind Thou hast said It is not good that Man should be alone Let us make unto him an aid like unto himself whereas in the Hebrew it is only I shall make 2ly We see that they acknowledg the Creation of the World by the Word of God and by the Holy Ghost as David Psal xxxiii 6. So the Book of Wisdom Ch. ix 1. O God of my Fathers and Lord of mercy who hath made all things with thy Word or more properly by thy Word as it is explained in the 2. vers and ver 4. he asketh Wisdom in these words Give me Wisdom that sitteth by thy Throne And v. 17. Thy counsel who hath known except thou give Wisdom and send thy Holy Spirit from above Where he distinguisheth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom and the Holy Spirit from God to whom he directs his Prayer And so the Book of Judith ch xvi 13 14. I will sing unto the Lord a new Song O Lord thou art great and glorious wonderful in strength and invincible Let all creatures serve thee for thou speakest and they were made thou didst send forth thy Spirit and it created them and there is none that can resist thy voice 3ly They speak of the Emanation of the Word from God Those are the words of the Book of Wisdom ch vii 25. For she is the breath of the power of God and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty therefore can no defiled thing fall into her That description of Wisdom deserves to be considered as we have it in the same place ver 22 23 24 25 26. For Wisdom which is the worker of All things taught me for in her is an understanding spirit holy one only manifold subtil lively clear undefiled plain not subject to hurt loving the thing that is good quick which cannot be letted ready to do good Kind to man stedfast sure free from care having all power over-seeing all things and going through all understanding pure and most subtil Spirits For Wisdom is more moving than any motion she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness For she is the brightness of the everlasting Light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the image of his Goodness And indeed St. Paul Heb. i. 3. hath borrowed from thence what we read touching the Son that he is the brightness of God's glory and the express Image of his Person So the Book of Ecclesiasticus saith ch xxv 3. That it is come out of the mouth of the most High 4ly There are several Names in Scripture which serve to express the second Person the Son the Word the Wisdom the Angel of the Lord but who is the Lord indeed Now those Authors use all these Names to express a second Person For they acknowledge a Father and a Son by a natural consequence Thus the Author of Ecclesiasticus ch li. 10. I called upon the Lord the father of my Lord in the same way as David speaks of the Messias Psal ii and Psal cx and as Solomon in his Proverbs ch viii 25. as of a Son in the bosom of his Father and ch xxx 4. What is his Sons name if thou canst tell They speak of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as
the Creator of all things so the Author of Wisdom ch ix 1. O God of my Fathers and Lord of mercy who hath made all things with thy word Or more properly by thy Word And so they call that Wisdom the Worker of all things Wisd ch vli 22. They speak of the Wisdom in the same words as Solomon doth Prov. iii. and ch viii 22. where he expresseth the true notion of Eternity And indeed they attribute to her to have been eternal Ecclus ch iv 18. They refer constantly to God himself that is to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God as we shall hereafter shew at large what is attributed to the Angel of the Lord in many places of the Books of Moses as to have delivered the Israelites from the Red Sea so Wisd ch xix 9. They went at large like horses and leaped like lambs praising thee O Lord who hadst delivered them Again to have had his Throne in a cloudy Pillar Ecclus xxiv 4. To have been caused by the Creator of all things to rest and to have his dwelling in Jacob and to have his inheritance in Israel Ibid. v. 8. and so to have given his memorial to his Children which is the Law commanded for an heritage into the Congregation of Jews Ib. 23. So they attribute to him to have spoken with Moses Ecclus ch xlv 5. He made him to hear his voice and brought him into the dark cloud and gave him commandments before his face even the Law of life and knowledg that he might teach Jacob his Covenants and Israel his Judgments Again to come down from Heaven to fight against the Egyptians Wisd ch xviii 15 16 17. Thine Almighty Word leapt down from Heaven out of thy Royal Throne as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction And brought thine unfeigned Commandment as a sharp sword and standing up filled all things with death and it touched the Heaven but it stood upon the Earth So they maintain that the Angel who appeared to Joshuah ch 5. was the Lord himself so the Author of Ecclesiasticus ch xlvi 5 6. He call'd upon the most high Lord when the enemies pressed upon him on every side and the great Lord heard him And with hailstones of mighty power he made the battle to fall violently upon the Nations and in the descent of Bethoron he destroyed them that resisted that the Nations might know all their strength because he fought in the sight of the Lord and he followed the mighty one They refer the Miracles wrought by Elias to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you see in Ecclesiasticus ch xlviii 3 4 5. By the Word of the Lord he shut up the Heaven and also three times brought down fire O Elias how wast thou honoured in thy wondrous deeds and who may glory like unto thee Who didst raise up a dead man from death and his soul from the place of the dead by the Word of the most High As there is nothing more common in the Old Testament than to call the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel of the Lord because the Father sent him to do all things under the Old Dispensation so one can see that there is nothing more ordinary in the Apocryphal Books than to speak of an Angel in particular to whom is attributed all things which could not be performed but by God Three things prove clearly that they did not conceive a created Angel but an Angel who is God 1. Because they have this Maxim according to the constant Divinity of the Jews built upon Scripture Deut. xxxii 9. that God did take Israel for his Portion among all the Nations of the World as if he had left other Nations to the conduct of Angels so Esth ch xiii 15. 2ly Because they refer to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Histories of the Old Testament which the Jews till this day refer to an Uncreated Angel or to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Shekina or Memra da Jehova as I shall prove afterwards We see that Wisd ch xvi 12. For it was neither herb nor mollifying Plaister that restored them to health but thy Word O Lord which healeth all things So Wisd ch xviii 15 16 17. Thine Almighty Word leapt down from Heaven out of thy Royal Throne as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword and standing up filled all things with death and it touched the Heaven but it stood upon the earth I thought fit to repeat this place here to make Mr. N. ashamed who hath exposed those Ideas and laught at them which I believe he would not have done if he had reflected upon two things one is That this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is spoken of is that very man of war mentioned in Moses his Canticle Exod. xii 3. and in Juâ—lith ch ix 7. The other is that St. Paul hath followed the Notions of the Book of Wisdom speaking of a sharp sword which is to be understood not of the Gospel but of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. x. 12. But Mr. N. was in the right to laugh at such an authority which destroys to the ground the Unitarians Principles for nothing can be more clear than that this Author acknowledges a Plurality in God that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be a Person and a Person equal to the Father being set upon the Royal Throne 3ly Because they bring such appearances of that Angel which shew they conceived him as the God who ruled Israel and who had taken their Temple for the place of his abode And on the contrary they speak of God whom they considered as dwelling in the Temple in the same words which are used in Scripture when it is spoken of the name of God Exod. xxiii 21. and 1 Sam. viii 16. of the Angel of the Covenant Malach. iii. 1. and such expressions So you see in the 1. Book of Esdras ch ii 5 7. If therefore there be any of you that are of his people let the Lord even his Lord be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem that is in Judea and build the House of the Lord of Israel for he is the Lord that dwelleth in Jerusalem And ch iv v. 58. Now when this young man was gone forth he lifted up his face to Heaven toward Jerusalem and praised the King of Heaven And Judith ch v. 18. and ch ix 8. and 2 Macch. i. 25. The only giver of all things the only just Almighty and Everlasting thou that deliveredst Israel from all trouble and didst chuse the fathers and sanctifie them And ch ii 17. We hope also that the God that delivered all his people and gave them all on heritage and the Kingdom and the Priesthood and the Sanctuary And ch xiv 35. Thou O Lord of all things who hast need of nothing was pleased that the Temple of thine habitation should be
among us I can add 4ly that they distinguish exactly the Angel of God from the Prophets although they are call'd by the same name of Angels or Messengers and they distinguish him from Angels which as creatures they exhort to praise God as in the Song of Azaria v. 36. O ye Angels of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise and exalt him above all for ever Such a distinction appears in the 1. of Esdras ch i. 50 51. Nevertheless the God of their Fathers sent by his Messenger to call them back because he spared them and his Tabernacle also But they had his Messengers in derision and look when the Lord spake unto them they made a sport of his Prophets So in Tobith ch v. 16. So they were well pleased Then said he to Tobias prepare thy self for the journey his father said Go thou with this man and God which dwelleth in heaven prosper your journey and the Angel of God keep you company Just according to the Prayer of Jacob Gen. 48.16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads And that very Angel is called God by Jacob in the verse before So in Ecclus ch xvli 17. For in the division of the Nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people but Israel is the Lord's portion So in the Epistle of Jeremy v. 5 6. But say ye in your hearts O Lord we must worship thee For mine Angel is with you and I my self caring for your souls Where in the Greek that caring for their souls is referred to the same Angel So 2 Mac. xi 6. Now they that were with Maccabeus heard that he besieged the holds they and all the people with lamentation and tears besought the Lord that he would send a good Angel to deliver Israel To shew that the Jews before Jesus Christ had such a notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was to save his people we must take notice of two things the first is that the Author of the three Books of Maccabees speaks of God at the end of his Book in the same terms which are used by Jacob Gen. xlviii 15 16. and are to be referred to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to a created Angel as I have explained it in a particular discussion of that very place of Genesis The second is that the Greek Interpreters of Scripture have used such method in translating some places of the Prophets which sheweth they understood that the Messias should be the very Angel of the Lord who is called the Counsellor and that the Angel of the Lord was the Lord himself Two examples will shew that clearly the first is in that famous Oracle of Isaiah ch ix 6. they have these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel of the Great Counsel whereas in the Hebrew it is said he shall be called the admirable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very Word that the Angel of the Lord gives to himself Judg. xiii 18. the Counsellor of the mighty God and it is clear that they did understand these words of the Messias who is spoken of as the Son of David v. 7. in the same words which are used in Psalm lxxii The other example is in this other famous place of Isai lxiii 9. they have translated neither an Angel but himself saved them as if they had read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we read now Some of the new Jews are mightily intangled in explaining that place but it appears that these Interpreters of Isaiah look'd upon the face of God to have been God himself which is the reason of their translation and shews that they understood the face of the Lord which is so often spoken of by Moses to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Jehovah I can add a reflection upon their Version of the 3d of Daniel v. 25. Species quarti similis filio Dei as saith Aquila a Jew who lived under Hadrian but the ancient Greeks had translated it similis Angelo Dei as saith an old Scholion related by Drusius in Fragmentis p. 1213. which shews that the ancient Hellenist had the same Notion of the Angel of God as of the Son of God But all those things shall be more cleared when we come to the authority of the other Jews which we are to produce Some perhaps may think that the Book of Ecclesiasticus supposeth the Wisdom which we maintain to be eternal to have been created and so saith that Author ch 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ch xxiv 9. But I take notice of three things 1. That such an Objection may be good in the mouth of an Arian but not at all in the mouth of a Socinian and much less in the mouth of an Unitarian of this Kingdom after their Writers have owned that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word of God signifies the essential vertue of God 2ly That the Author of Ecclesiasticus follows in that expression the very words of the Greek Version of Proverbs ch viii 22. in which it answers to the word possessed which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3ly That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although we should suppose it to be the true reading hath a very large signification and indeed Aristobulus a Jew of Alexandria who lived about the same age of the Authors of those Apocryphal Books and whose words are quoted by Eusebius de Praep. Ev. L. vii § 14. p. 324. declares that the Wisdom which Solomon speaks of in the Book of Proverbs was before the Heaven and Earth and the very Author of Ecclesiasticus calls it positively eternal ch xxiv 18. There is another Objection which is backed by the authority of Grotius who by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom understands a created Angel but I shall shew afterwards the absurdity of that opinion of Grotius and his error is so plain that Mr. N. and the Unitarian Authors have been ashamed to follow his authority in this point daring not to maintain that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first of St. John signified an Angel which they would have done if they could have digested the absurdity of Grotius his Notions upon that place of Wisdom ch xviii 15. As for the Holy Ghost that they acknowledged him for a Person and for a Divine one there is as much evidence from the same Apocryphal Books 1. I have noted they attributed to him the Creation of the World as you see in Judith ch xvi 14. Thou didst send forth thy Spirit and it created them which is an imitation of David's Notions Psal xxxiii 6. 2ly They call him the mouth of the Lord so in the 3d Book of Esdras ch i. 28. and 47 and 57. Howbeit Josias did not turn back his chariot from him but undertook to fight with him not regarding the words of the Prophet Jeremy spoken by the mouth of the Lord.
And 47. And he did evil also in the sight of the Lord and cared not for the words that were spoken unto him by the Prophet Jeremy from the mouth of the Lord. 3ly They speak of the Bina or Understanding by which is to be understood the Holy Spirit from Prov. iii. and viii So in Eccles c. i. 4. Wisdom hath been created before all things and the understanding of prudence from everlasting So the Book of Wisdom chap. i. 4 5 6 7. For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit and remove from thoughts that are without understanding and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in For Wisdom is a loving spirit and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words for God is witness of his reins and a true beholder of his heart and a hearer of his tongue For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice 4ly They acknowledg him as the Counsellor of God which knew all his Counsels So you read in the Book of Wisdom ch ix 17. And thy counsel who hath known except thou give wisdom and send thy Holy Spirit from above 5ly They speak of him as of he that discovers the secrets of God so Ecclus ch 39.8 He shall shew forth that which he hath learned and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord. And ch 48.24 25. He saith of Isaiah He saw by an excellent spirit what should come to pass at the last and he comforted them that mourned in Sion He shewed what should come to pass for ever and secret things or ever they came 6ly They acknowledg him to be sent from God Wisdom ch ix 17. And thy counsel who hath known except thou give wisdom and send thy Holy Spirit from above After all if we consider what Notions they had of the Messias which was promised to them we shall find that they had much nobler Ideas than those which are now entertained by the last Jews and more like to them which we find among the Prophets 1. It is clear that they lookt upon him as the Person which was to sit upon the Throne of God the Title of my Lord which is given by the Author of Ecclus ch li. 10. shews that beyond exception by so clear an allusion to the Psal cx and ii which both speak of the Messias 2ly They did not look upon it as an absurd thing to suppose that God is to appear in the earth as you see in Baruch ch iii. 37. Afterward did he shew himself upon earth and conversed with men For they refer that either to his appearance upon Sinai or to the Incarnation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3ly They suppose another coming of the Messias and then the Saints are to judge the Nations and have dominion over the people and their Lord shall reign for ever Wisd ch iii. 8. which words have been borrowed by St. Paul 1 Cor. vi 2. 4ly They acknowledg such Appearances of God as we have an example in 2 Macc. ch xi 6. and ch xxi 22 23. Now when they that were with Maccabeus heard that he besieged the holds they and all the people with lamentation and tears besought the Lord that he would send a good Angel to deliver Israel 5ly They speak of the Appearances of God as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very word used by St. Paul for the first and second Appearance of Jesus Christ So the 2. of Macc. ch xv 27. and 34. So every man praised toward the even that glorious Lord saying Blessed be he that hath kept his own place undefiled So that fighting with their hands and praying unto God with their hearts they slew no less than thirty and five thousand men for through the appearance of God they were greatly cheared 6ly They expected at the second coming of the Messias such a manifestation of his Glory as in the Consecration of the Temple So 2 Macc. ch ii 8. Then shall the Lord shew them these things and the glory of the Lord shall appear and the cloud also as it was shewed under Moses and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified I believe these Proofs are sufficient to demonstrate 1. That there was before Jesus Christ's time a Notion of Plurality in the Godhead 2ly That they believed that such a Plurality was a Trinity 3ly That they look'd upon the Son or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Holy Ghost as not created Beings but as Beings of the same Divine Nature with the Father by an Eternal Emanation from him as having the same Power and the same Majesty But these Ideas of the Apocryphal Books will appear more clear when we take them in conjunction with the explication of the like Notions among other Hebrew Writers which I shall now consider more particularly And withal those places of Scripture on which they ground their Explications CHAP. IX That the Jews had good Grounds to acknowledg some kind of Plurality in the Divine Nature AFter what I have quoted from the Authors of the Apocryphal Books which are in the hand of all people to prove 1. That the Jews before Jesus Christ had a Notion of a Plurality in God following herein certain Traces of this Doctrine that are to be found in the Books of Moses and the Prophets And 2ly that the same Jews did acknowledg a Trinity in the Divine Nature I will proceed to consider in particular the Grounds which they build upon to admit such Notions I begin with the first of those two Articles which is That the Stile of God in the Jewish Scriptures gave them a Notion of a Plurality in God To establish this Proposition I do not intend to gather all the Texts of the Old Testament which might be brought to prove a Plurality in the Divine Nature nor will I answer the several Solutions which the Unitarians have invented to darken this truth which they oppose It shall suffice me to do two things 1. To shew that the Stile of God in Scripture and of the Sacred Authors leads one naturally to the Notion of a Plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence 2. That this Stile made the like Impression on the Jews before Jesus Christ as was made by it anciently and is still made on it by the generality of Christians So that the Jews generally have acknowledged that the Divine Nature which is otherwise perfectly one is distinguishable into certain Properties which we call Persons For the proof of the first Point to wit that the Scriptures of the Old Testament suppose a Plurality in God I make these following Reflections 1. Moses the chief End of whose Writings was to root out of the minds of Men the conceit of Polytheism does yet describe the Creation of the World in words that insinuate a Plurality
In the beginning saith he Bara Elohim the Gods created Gen. i. 1. He might have said Jehovah Bara Jehovah being the proper name by which God made himself know to Moses and by him to his People Ixod iii. 15. or he might have said Eloah Bara and so he had joyned the Singular Number of Elohim which signifies God with the Verb Bara which is also the Singular Number and signifies created But Moses uses the Plural word Elohim with a Verb of the Singular Number and he repeats it thirty times in the History of the Creation only although this word denotes a Plurality in the Divine Nature and not one single Person Had Moses joyned always the Noun Elohim which is Plural with a Verb or Adjective in the Singular we might have judged that by calling God by a name in the Plural he had followed the corrupt custom which then obtained among the Heathens of speaking of the Gods in the Plural and that he designed to rectifie it by expressing the single action of God by a Singular Verb or Adjective But here this Excuse will not serve for 1. he had the word Eloah God in the Singular which he uses Deut. xxxii 15 17. and in other places He had also several other Names of God which he uses in other places all of them Singular and consequently any of them had been fitter for his use to root out Polytheism 2. Moses himself sometimes joyns the Noun Elohim with Verbs and Adjectives in the Plural There are several examples of this in his Books and more in the other Sacred Writers that imitated him in it you may see it in Gen. xx 13. xxxv 7. Job xxxv 10. Jos xxiv 19. Psal cxlix 1. Eccles xii 3. 1 Sam. vii 23. Es liv 5. which shews the impudence of Abarbanel who to elude the force of this Argument maintains that the word Elohim is a Singular In Pent. fol. 6. col 3. 6. Another Reflection on the Stile of Moses which ought to be every where Singular and yet intimates a Plurality is this That Moses in the History of the Creation brings in God speaking to some one thus Let such a thing be made and it follows it was made and again God said and God said This expression is repeated no less than eight times within the compass of one Chapter which is a thing very surprizing in so concise an History For to whom did God then speak to whom did he issue out his Orders or who was he that did execute them There were then neither Men nor Angels to obey him nor to hear him speak 3. There is no one that reads the account of Man's Creation but if he considers what he reads is struck with these words of God Gen. i. 26. Let Us make man after our Image and likeness These words in the Plural Number denote plainly a Plurality Let US make and OUR Image are too lively Characters of Plurality to be passed over without particular regard 4. We may make the same reflection on those words Gen. iii. 5. which point out a Plurality of Persons And you shall be as Gods and a little after Adam is become as one of Us ver 22. We find a like example Gen. xi 7. where God saith Let Us go down and confound their Language Again Gen. xx 13. When God caused me to wander from my Father's house the Hebrew is when the Gods caused me to wander Again Gen. xxxv 7. Jacob built an Altar and called the place El-Bethel because there God or Gods as it is in Hebrew appeared unto him All this is contained within one Book only that of Genesis We meet with the same Notion in these words of Deuteronomy ch iv 7. Who have the Gods so nigh unto them We may trace the Idea of Plurality still further in the following Books as in Joshua xxiv 19. And Joshua said You cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God where in the Hebrew it is the Holy Gods So Solomon Prov. xxx 3. I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledg of the Holies instead of the Holy And Eccl. xii 1. Remember thy Creators Upon the whole we should remark 1. That this Plurality is expressed in several passages of the Old Testament and not in one place only 2. That there is no kind of speaking by which a Plurality in God may be signified but is used in the Old Testament A Plural is joyned with a Verb Singular Gen. i. 1. In the beginning the Gods created Heaven and Earth A Plural is joyned with a Verb Plural Gen. xxxv 7 And Jacob called the name of the place Beth-El because the Gods there appeared to him A Plural is joyned with an Adjective Plural Jos xxiv 19. You cannot serve the Lord for he is the holy Gods 2 Sam vii 23 What one nation in the earth is like thy people like Israel whom the Gods went to redeem for a people to himself So Eccles v. 8. There be higher than they Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which stands for Gods God being called the Most High And in Eccles xii 1. Remember thy Creators in the days of thy Youth In conformity to which manner of speaking Isaiah says ch liv 5. For thy Makers are thy Husbands the Lord of Hosts is his name A Verb in the Plural is joyned with a name in the Singular as you read Eccles ii 12. as it has been observed by R. Bachaie in Parash bresch fol. 11. col 2. of the Edit in fol. from which he infers that God and the house of his Judgment are expressed there for by the King which is there spoken of he doth not understand Solomon but God as they do in the Targum upon 1 Chron. iv 23. which hath been followed by R. Bachaje Ibid. fol. 11. col 3. and by Lombroso in his Heb. Bible you have the same remark of St. Jerome upon Jer. xxiii 36. when you read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Living Gods and from which he draws an argument for the Doctrine of the Trinity 3. That though there is but one only Jehovah yet in the Holy Scripture we meet with several Elohim to whom the Title of Jehovah is given this we see in a hundred places in the Law where the words are Jehovah Eloheka i. e. the Lord thy Gods which does certainly deserve to be considered This also we more particularly see in the History of the destruction of Sodom Gen. 30.24 where it is written That Jehovah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of Heaven There is Jehovah and Jehovah and if they do not make two I know not what will express a Plurality But we shall have more to say of this afterwards I have given in short some Marks of a Plurality in the Divine Nature which may be gathered out of the Writings of the Old Testament For the fuller satisfaction of my Reader I am next to shew that the ancient Jews made the same Reflections and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they conclude that there were two persons that appeared to her and so they think Moses and Samuel to be the Persons Midrash Sam. Rabbatha cap. 27. Tanchuma fol. 63. col 2. It is natural for Christians to conceive that where it is said so often Gen. i. And God said there God spoke to his Word by which St. John writes that all things were made Joh. i. 3. Socinus will not have it that St. John speaking of the Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does mean it of the first Creation but of the second His Disciples here being convinced that this cannot be maintained have forsaken him in it and do now agree in what he denied But then they suppose the Word signifies no more than the virtue and power of God and therefore by this Phrase Let it be done and it was so no more is imported than God's exciting of himself to do this or that thing or that God said to himself Let such a thing be done and he did it accordingly But if this Evasion can satisfie an Unitarian as it easily may one that cannot maintain his opinion without it yet it cannot satisfie an impartial Reader For this we have the judgment of the ancient Synagogue which looked on the Word of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a true Cause and Agent to whom God spoke and who by an infinite power wrought the several works of the six days Now that this was the judgment of the ancient Synagogue and consequently that they acknowledged a Plurality in God will be evident to any one that will be at the pains to consult Philo and the ancient Targums For Philo he hath drawn so full a System of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to leave himself nothing more to add on that Subject According to him it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom were represented the first Ideas of all things and who afterwards stampt the impressions of them on matter Whence he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De opif. p. 4. G. p. 24. C. It is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that created the World as I shall have occasion to shew from several parts of his Works in the following part of this Discourse And for the Targums to cite all the passages in them that confirm this truth would be a trouble next to that of transcribing those Books I shall therefore collect only some of the principal places Jonathan on Isa xlv 12. declares his opinion that the Word created the Earth and again on Isa xlviii 13. Thus Onkelos assures that the Heavens were made by the Word of the Lord on Deut. xxxiii 27. And he almost constantly distinguishes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as another Person from the Father of which I shall in the following Chapters produce many proofs Indeed in this Paraphrase of the History of the Creation he uses not the Word Memra which in Chaldee answers to that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek Nor was there any need since he used all along the Verb Amar from whence comes the Noun Memra and so interprets the Text word for word which seems to be his chief design in this Paraphrase And here I must take notice of one thing which is of great moment in this Question viz. that the Jews make a great difference between that word Vajomer which is found in the History of the Creation and this word Vajedabber the first having a natural and necessary relation to the Memra and the last signifying no more than the speech of God or of any Man R. Menach de Rekan in Pent. fol. 124. col 2. fol. 152. col 1 2. But Onkelos does three things which are equivalent to it the one is that instead of Elohim he uses the word Jehova which the Jews read Adonai because it has the Vowels of the word Adonai and both the word Adonim which is the Plural out of Regimen so as God uses it in speaking of himself Mal. i. 6. and the Vowels of the word Adonai in regimen which they put under the Letters of Jehova being also Plural both these things do express a Plurality in God as much as the word Elohim did in the Hebrew Text. The second is that he doth render the words in the beginning not by the Chaldaick word which answers to the Hebrew but by another which signifies the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is observed by all the Jewish Writers who make the same reflection upon the Translation of the Targum Jerusalami in which we read not in the beginning but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Wisdom As you see in a Comment upon the Targums Printed at Amsterdam not long ago where he follows those Notions as the ancient and the common Doctrine of the Synagogue The third is that in the sequel of his Paraphrase he uses the word Memra as signifying a Person by whom God acts and speaks in all his Appearances to Men. That these words Let us make Man after our Image c. have made a like impression on the ancient Jews appears clearly from the pains they take to explain them I am sure Philo was convinced that they note a Plurality when he writing on this Text maintained that God had fellow-workers in the Creation of Man De opif. p. 12. B. E. It is true he sometimes advances that God spoke these words to the Angels or to the Elements and he has been followed herein by some Jews after Jesus Christ as we see in the Explication of them in Bresh Rab. § 8. and in Jalkut § 12 13. wherein they pretend that God consulted the Angels also in the Creation of the World although according to the Talmudical Jews the Angels were not created till the second or the fifth day and such a consultation between God and his Creatures is rejected with scorn by Abarbanel in Pental Fol. 19. Col. 4. But it is to be observed that Philo's reason for this Exposition was to give the better account of the Original of Sin which after the manner of divers of the Philosophers with whom he was much conversant he searched for in the matter of which Man was composed in respect of his Body as may be seen in the place which I have now quoted For in other places he maintains 1. That God took his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word for his fellow-worker De Opif. p. 24 p. 25. 2. That Man was created after the Image of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word De Plant. Noae p. 199. D. But he saith nothing of the Image of Angels or of Matter which yet he ought to have spoken of had he writ coherently and suitably to that other Explication I say it again that in many of his Pieces he asserts The Word made Man and after the Image of the Word was Man created which he shews very largely Alleg. 11. p. 60. C. D. De Plant. Noae
p. 169. 3. He maintains that God spake this to his Powers as may be collected from his Exposition of this Text. De Confus Ling. p. 270. A. C. and as he saith expresly Lib. de Profug p. 357. G. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is he shews that Man only was formed by God with fellow-workers for Moses tells us that God said Let us make Man after our Image implying a Plurality in the expression Let Us make God therefore speaks here to his Powers 4. He expresses himself in so particular a manner on this head as to leave no doubt concerning his opinion of this place It is in his first Book of Questions and Solutions which is now lost all but a fragment preserv'd by Euseb Praep. Evang. vii 13. p. 322 323. His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why does God say in the Image of God made I Man and not in his own Image as if he had spoken of another God This Scripture-expression is for wise and good reasons for nothing mortal can be fashioned after the Image of the Supreme God and Father of all things but of his Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is the second God For the rational part of Man's soul ought to receive its impression from the Word or Reason of God because God himself who is Superior to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vastly beyond the nature of all Rational Beings and consequently it was not fit that any created Being should be made after his likeness whose Nature doth subsist in the highest degree of Excellence To speak next of the ancient Targums they are not unacquainted with this Notion which they shew as far as the nature of their Versions would permit God made Man by his Word saith the Jerusalem Targum Gen. i. 26. and the same thing Jonathan teaches Es xlv 12. The Jerusalem Targum Gen. i. 1. does indeed say God made all things by his Wisdom but then he shews that this is but another name for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by saying elswhere ver 27. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Word of the Lord created Man after his Image I know that in Jonathan's Targum on Gen. i. 26. God is brought in as speaking to the Angels when he said Let Us make Man But he who reads this and the following verse in the Targum of Jonathan and compares them with the Jerusalem Targum will soon see that these are not the words of the ancient Paraphrast but an Addition made to them by the Jews since Christ's time What I have said above is a convincing proof of it The Socinians cannot avoid being shockt a little with the expression Gen. xix 24. The Lord rained from the Lord out of Heaven Menasseh ben Israel confesses the place too hard for him unless by the Lord who is on Earth you understand the Angel Gabriel who as God's Ambassador bears the name of God q. 44. in Genesis But the ancient Jews found no such difficulty in it as he and the Socinians do at present find For Philo the Jew holds De Abr p◠290. B. that it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that rained fire from Heaven de Somn. p. 449. F. As he otherwhere saith it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that confounded the Language at Babel Again Philo saith in his History of Sodom God and his two Powers are spoken of The Targum of Onkelos though it speaks of Angels in this 19th Chap. yet it treats one as Jehova who rains fire from Heaven v. 24. and thus it Paraphrases the Text The Jehova rained from before the face of the Jehova from Heaven 3. This Notion of Plurality must have sunk deep into the minds of the Jews seeing they have constantly read the word Jehova which is singular with the Vowels of the word Adonai which is Plural instead of Adoni which is Singular And this notwithstanding their dispute with the Christians whom they accuse of Tritheism I am not ignorant that this manner of reading Jehova was long in use before the Birth of Jesus Christ But this it is that renders my Remark the more considerable For all the other names of God which represent him by some one of his Attributes are Singular as well as the name Jehova is Singular which is the proper name of God And yet the Jews all agree to forbear rendring the name Jehova by any of his many Names that are Singular but interpret it by that of Adonai whose Plural Vowels make Jehova to signifie Plurally as much as to say my Lords and that for this reason as it seems because there is more than one in the Godhead to whom the name Jehova is given in Scripture It is clear how sensible the Jews have been that there is a Notion of Plurality plainly imported in the Hebrew Text since they have forbidden their common people the reading of the History of the Creation lest understanding it literally it should lead them into Heresie Malmon Mor. Neboch p. 11. c. 29. The Talmudists as I before noted have invented this excuse for the Seventy as to their changing the Hebrew Plural into a Greek Singular they say it was for fear Ptolomy Phil. should take the Jews for Polytheists And to this they have added another Story that Moses himself was startled at God's speaking these words Let Us make Man in which he thought a Plurality was expressed and that he remonstrated to God the danger which might arise thereby and at length resolved not to write them till he had God's express order for it which God did give him notwithstanding the danger that Moses represented might follow Beresh Rab. § 8. Another thing relating to this Head which deserves our consideration is this That the Samaritans who were originally of the same Religion with the Jews but receive only the five Books of Moses have shewn that they had in the Apostles times the same Notions that are met with in Philo of a Plurality in God We have a proof of it Act. viii 9. where we read that Simon Magus had bewitched that people giving out that himself was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some great one he did not say what but gave them leave to understand it their own way And how did they take it This follows v. 10. They said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this person is the great power of God This they would not have said if they had not believed that besides the great God there was also a person called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say a Person for I suppose Mr. N. can 't think they took Simon Magus to be only an Attribute But looking yet nearer into this Text I conceive it is plain that they understood there was more than one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as it is in the Text they said this is the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which seems to imply that they believed there was another power less than this It seems yet plainer
in another reading of the Text which I take to be the true reading for we find it not only in the now vulgar Latin but also in Irenaeus i. 20. which sheweth it was the current reading in his time and we find it also in several Manuscripts some of which are of the highest esteem with Learned Men as namely the Alexandrian in the King's Library and the ancient Manuscript of Lions in the Cambridge Library In all these the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This person is the power of God which is called the great power For their calling him the power of God what that means we cannot better learn than from Origen who speaking of Simon and such others as would make themselves like our Lord Jesus Christ saith they called themselves Sons of God or the Power of God which he makes to be two Titles of one and the same signification Orig. cont Celsum lib. 1. p. 44. And both these Titles are given to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Philo in more places than we can number For their calling him the Great Power of God which implies that there was another power besides this also perfectly agrees with the Notions of Philo who so often speaks of the two Powers of God describing them as true and proper Persons We have a farther proof of the Samaritans having these Notions in the account which their Country-man Justin Martyr hath given us of the honour they had for Simon Magus in his time which was about eighty years after the writing of the Acts of the Apostles It may seem very strange that when the charms of that Magus wherewith he had bewitched that poor people were so intirely dissolved by Philip's Preaching and Miracles that not only they but the Impostor himself had embraced the Christian Religion yet after this he could so far bewitch them a second time as to raise himself in their opinion from being the great power of God as they called him before to be in their new style the God above all power whatsoever Yet that was the Title they gave him in Justin's time as he sheweth in his Dialogue with Tryphon Justin Dial. cum Tryph. p. 349. G. elswhere Justin saith Apol. 11. p. 69. E. of Simon they confess him as the first God and as such they worship him This Notion of a first God is manifestly the same with that of Philo who called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second God Euseb Prep Evang. vii 13. p. 323. But if the Samaritans in the Apostles time took Simon to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or second God as I have shewn it more than probable that they meant it by calling him the Great power of God Who should be the second God now since Simon was so advanced in their opinion that now they accounted him to be the First Justin sheweth in the place before mentioned p. 69. E. that in his time as they called Simon the first God so they called his Companion Helen the second God His words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is that one may easily guess for certainly the first emanation from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so according to Justin himself the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies For in the same Book he interprets it of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 11. p. 97. b. So that as the second God was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Philo's account so was Simon 's Companion the same in the opinion of the Samaritans This poor bewitched people were almost Singular in this opinion in Justin's time for he saith then there were but few of their way in other Nations And Origen who wrote within sixty years after saith That when he wrote there were of Simon 's Sect scarce thirty at Samaria and none any where else in the World Orig. cont Cels 1. p. 44. Possibly there might remain some of them till those times when other Writers give other accounts of their Opinions and possibly their Opinions might vary so that those later accounts are not to be much heeded we can't be certain of any thing concerning them but what we have from Justin Martyr who lived when they were at the highest and writing as he did to the Emperour an Apology for the Christians and acquainting him with the Errors of his Country-men at Samaria which as he more than intimates was not without some hazard of his being torn in pieces by the Mobb Just Dial. cum Tryphon p. 340. we may be very sure he would write nothing of them but what was so evidently true that it could not be denied by any that lived in those days But from the account that Justin Martyr gives of them together with what we read in the Acts of the Apostles I think it is sufficiently proved that the Samaritans held a Plurality in the Divine Nature which not a little confirms that which I undertook to prove of the Jews having these Notions in the times of Christ and his Apostles I shall not insist longer on the Arguments which confirm a Plurality in the Divine Nature because I shall touch on some of them again in the Sequel of this Discourse where I shall shew that those places of the Old Testament that speak of the Angel of the Lord are to be understood not of a created Angel but of a person that is truly Jehova and that this has been acknowledged by the ancient Jews which alone is proof enough of this Notion's being sufficiently known by that Nation to which God committed his Sacred Oracles Rom. ix 6. Pass we now to the second Article that the Jews did so acknowledg a Plurality in God as that at the same time they held that this Plurality was a Trinity CHAP. X. That the Jews did acknowledge the Foundations of the Belief of a Trinity in the Divine Nature and that they had the Notion of it IN pursuance of the Method laid down in the foregoing Chapter I am now to shew these two things 1. That there are in the Scriptures of the Old Testament so many and so plain Intimations of a Trinity in the Divine Nature as might very well move the Jews to take them for a sufficient ground for the Belief of this Doctrine 2. That these Intimations had that real effect on the Jews that as they found in their Scriptures a Plurality in the One Infinite Being of God so they found these Scriptures to restrain this Plurality to a Trinity of which they had though much more darkly and confusedly the same Notions that are now among Christians 1. To shew that there is ground for this Doctrine in the Scriptures of the Old Testament I might shew this oftentimes in these Scriptures where God is spoken of there is some kind of intimation given of Three in the Divine Nature But of this I shall only touch upon it my intention being chiefly to shew That there are Three that are called God
in the Old Testament and to shew who they are I need not prove it of the Father since it will not be denied that he is called God by them that will deny it of any other But I shall shew that sometimes the Son is called so whether by that name of the Son or of the Word or some other name without mention of the Spirit Next I shall shew that the Spirit is spoken of as God even he is mentioned without the Son And lastly That the Father the Son and the Spirit are all Three mentioned as God and all Three spoken of together in some Texts of the Old Testament Scriptures To keep to this order I am first to shew that there is some kind of Intimation of a Trinity in places where God is spoken of in these Scriptures I shall name but two or three Texts of many for I call it but an Intimation and it may amount to thus much that we find the Name of God repeated three times over for it was certainly no vain Repetition Thus in the Blessing of Israel Numb vi 24 25 26. 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 So Isa xxxiii 22. The Lord is our judge the Lord is our lawgiver the Lord is our king he will save us So Dan. ix 19. O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thy own sake O God The like Intimation we find in those words of the Prophet Isaiah which do both shew a Plurality in the Divine Nature and restrain it to a Trinity Isa vi 3. The Prophet heard the Seraphims cry one to another Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hosts These are Titles which taken together can belong to no one but God and the Repetition of them shews something in it which cannot but seem Mysterious especially to any one that considers those other words of God speaking in the same Chapter ver 8. Who will go for us words which clearly note a Plurality of Persons as also in Hos xii 4 5. and in some other places To shew who these are we must consider those places of the Old Testament where the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinctly spoken of as several Persons The Son is expresly spoken of by David who himself was a Type of the Messias and is so acknowledged by the Jews Psal ii 7. The Lord said unto me Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who as has been already proved is called Wisdom according to the Jewish Notions is the Son of God by Eternal Generation himself sheweth Prov. viii 23 24. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was when there were no depths I was brought forth So in Prov. xxx 4. Who hath established all the ends of the earth What is his name or what is his Son's name The Son can be understood of no other than of that Eternal Wisdom that assisted in the Creation as was before mentioned Elsewhere the Son or the Word is spoken of according to the Jewish Expositions of such Texts where he is not named and yet he is called God and Lord as Psal xlv 7. O God thy God hath anointed thee And Psal cx 1. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool It was the same Son who appeared oftentimes under the Character of the Angel of the Lord though he was not a Created Angel but the Lord Jehovah himself This I only mention here being to treat of it largely in some of the following Chapters That the Spirit is spoken of as a Person in Scripture none can be ignorant of that reads but the beginning of Genesis where in the 2d Verse he is named the Spirit of God and said to have his part in the Work of the Creation The Jews could not make this Spirit to be an Angel because they all agree the Angels were not yet created when the Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters Nor was the Spirit of God a mighty Wind as some render it in that place for as yet there was no Air much less Exhalations till this Work was past But that Moses meant a Person sufficiently appears by that which followeth Gen. vi 3. Where God saith My Spirit shall not alway strive with man It was the Holy Spirit of God that inspired the holy Patriarchs to give those Admonitions and Warnings to the wicked World of Mankind before the Flood by which he strove to bring them to Repentance It was the same Divine Spirit whose Operations the Israelites were sensible of in his inspiring the Seventy Elders Numb xi 25 26. The Psalmist no doubt thought of those words of Moses in the beginning of Genesis when he said in speaking of the Works of the Creation Psal xxxiii 6. All the hosts of them were made by the Spirit of his mouth and this Spirit he sensibly knew to be a Person for thus he saith of himself 2 Sam. xxiii 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his Word was in my tongue Lastly In some places of the Old Testament there are plainly Three Persons spoken of together and especially in the beginning of Genesis where it ought to be remembred that the word Elohim Gods does naturally import a Plurality R. Bechai in Gen. chap. i. 1. and others quoted in the former Chapter Now there can be no Plural of less than Two in number and therefore at least God the Father and the Word are to be understood in the first Verse the second Verse adds the Spirit of God as it has been just now mentioned And it is very natural to think that God spake to these Two the Word and the Spirit in Verse 26. of that Chapter when he said Let Us make man after Our Image as also afterward Gen. iii. 22. Behold the man is become as one of Us And again speaking of the Builders of Babel Gen. ix 7. Let Us go down and confound their Language This must be to Two at least for had he spoke to One only he would have said in the Singular Number Come thou and let us confound their language The manner of speaking plainly imports a Plurality and they could be no other than those Three which were spoken of in the first Chapter As Moses brings in these Three Persons into his History of the first Creation so does the Evangelical Prophet in speaking of the Mission of Christ Isa xi 1 2 c. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him i. e. upon the Messias according to the received Opinion of the Jews Isa xlviii 16. The Lord hath sent Me and his Spirit Again Isa lix 19 20 21. When the enemy shall
In particular Though he doth not directly name these Two Powers yet it is clear that by the first he means the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he saith it is the Power by which all things are created or to which God spoke when he made Man Which two Characters are ascribed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Philo in many of his Tracts The other which we call the Holy Spirit is often acknowledged by Philo Lib. Quod Deus sit immut p. 229. B. 5. These things being considered he saith it appears how God is Three and yet he is but One He sheweth how this was represented in that Vision to Abraham Gen. xviii where it is said Verse 1. That Jehovah appeared to him And Verse 2. Abraham looked and behold Three men stood by him Yet he spoke but to One Vers 3. saying My Lord if now I have found favour in thy sight pass not away I pray thee from thy servant c. This Vision according to the Literal Sense he expounds of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Two Angels as I have quoted him elsewhere * V. Phil. All. 11. p. 77. E. But he saith here was also a Mystery that lay under this Literal Sense like to Sarah's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the LXX calleth the Cakes that were hid under the Embers According to this Mystical Sense he saith here was denoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Great Jehovah with his Two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which one is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are Philo's words De Sacrif Ab. Cain p. 108. B. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God attended with his Two Supreme Powers Principality and Goodness being himself but One in the middle of these Two makes these Three Appearances to the seeing Soul which is represented by Abraham That these words did not drop from Philo by chance the Reader may see in another place where he speaks purposely of this matter De Abrahamo p. 287. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In the middle is the Father of all things on each side of him are the Two Powers the oldest and the nearest to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Jehovah whereof one is the Creative Power the other is the Royal Power The Creative Power is called God the Royal Power is called Lord. He therefore in the middle being attended by these Powers on each side of him represents to the seeing Faculty the appearance of sometimes One and sometimes of Three Philo after all warns his Reader that this is a Mystery not to be communicated to every one but only to them that were capable to understand and to keep it to themselves By which he sheweth that this was kept as a Cabala among the Jewish Doctors for fear if it came out the People might misunderstand it and thereby fall into Polytheism As for the Targums they likewise are very clear in this matter For besides the Lord Jehova without any addition they speak of the Word of the Lord or the Shekinah of the Lord and that so often that it will be endless to quote all the places some of them however must be cited to put the thing out of dispute 1. Where ever the words Jehovah and Elohim are read in the Hebrew There Onkelos commonly renders it in his Chaldee Paraphrase the Word of the Lord as Gen. xxviii 20 21. xxxi 49. Ex. ii 25. xvi 8. xix 17. xxxii 20. Lev xx 23. xxvi 49. Numb xi 20. xiv 9. xxiii 21. Deut. i. 30 32. ii 7. iii. 12. iv 24 27. v. 5. ix 3. xx 1. xxxi 6 8. The Targums commonly describe the same Person under the Title of Shekinah which signifies the Divine Habitation The Origin of that expression is in the Hebrew word which we find in Gen. ix 27. and is repeated in many places of the Old Testament I acknowledg freely that in some few places of the Targums it seems to be employed to express the Holy Ghost so that Eliah in his Dictionary and some others who have followed him and transcribed his Book in their Lexicons takes the Shekinah and the Holy Ghost to be the same But after all I believe that Eliah hath been mistaken by not being fully acquainted with the Ideas of the most learned of his people And indeed we see that the most famous Writers of the Synagogue put quite another sense upon the Targums and decide that question against Eliah looking upon the Memra and the Shekinah as the same So doth R. Moses Maimonides R. Menachem de Rakanaty and Ramban and R. Bachaye It is very easie to be satisfied that these famous Authors are in the right For if you consider the places where Philo the Jew speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall see that they are in the Targum explained either by the Memra da Jehova or by the Shekinah And on the contrary if you except very few places you shall find that the Targums employ the term of Holy Ghost as the proper name which we have in the Original And even to this day the Jews do oftner call the Spirit as by his proper name Ruach hakkodesh the Holy Spirit That the Targumists had the same Notions of these two that Philo had is I think plain if we compare what Philo saith of the two Powers of God De Plant. Noae p. 172. whereof as we shewed before he hath one on each side of himself with what we read of the two Hands of God in Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum on Ex. xv 17. The like expressions are to be found in other places too many to be here collected but we shall consider them afterwards The mean while we cannot but take notice how that Doctrine of the Trinity past current among the Jews of the ancient Synagogue though they were as zealous Asserters of the Unity of the Godhead as our Socinians can pretend to be at this day No doubt the ancient Jews could have found as many Contradictions in these two Doctrines of Trinity and Unity as the Socinians do if they had not been more disposed to study how to reconcile them together being satisfied that both these Doctrines were part of the Revelation which God had made to their Fathers We cannot say so altogether of the Modern Jews who are very much alienated from the Doctrine of the Trinity by seeing much clearer Revelations of it in the New Testament and especially since they are treated with disputes against the Christians that make Christ to be the Messias or second Person in the Trinity which they can by no means endure now to hear This has set them to hunt for ways to avoid the Evidence of these Texts that speak of a Plurality in the Divine Nature and in this pursuit they forsake their ancient Guides and strangely intangle themselves and contradict one another Some of them flatly deny that any of those Plural words do denote any Plurality in God but
say they ought to be understood as if they were written in the Singular Others confess that truly they do denote a Plurality But that Plurality consists of God and his Angels whom he joyns with himself as his Counsellors Ask but what instance they have in Scripture of such a strange way of speaking which makes God and his Angels as it were Fellows and Companions they presently alledg that one passage of Dan. iv 17. This matter is by the decree of the Watchers and the Demand of the Holy Ones Now these Watchers and these Holy Ones say they are the Holy Angels But admit they are Angels all that is said of them in this Text will not prove what they infer from it For 1. the thing that they would prove is false and contrary to Scripture Es xl 13. which expresly denies that God has any Companions or Counsellors as hath been already shewn 2. The nature of the Works consulted on in those Texts to which they would apply this is such as is infinitely above the power of any Creature such as the Creation of Man and the confounding of Languages c. 3. In this very Text their most Learned Commentators R. Saadia Gaon and Aben Ezra do not find any such Consultation of God with his Angels as these Jews imagin they do indeed find that these Watchers and Holy Ones are the Holy Angels but they say for the Decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they pronounce it from the mouth of God and it is called their Decree because they are the Ministers of God to do whatever he commands them Thus Jer. i. 10. that Prophet is said to be set over Nations and Kingdoms to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant not that God shared that power with his Prophet or took him into Councel for such things but only that he by the appointment of God as his Minister was to declare the Sentence and Judgment of God for the doing of such things 4. This appears in the very Decree here spoken of which concerns a revolution in a great Empire But the disposal of Kingdoms is that which properly belongs to the Eternal Wisdom of God as Solomon declares Prov. viii 15 16. and not to Angels any farther than they are employed by God for the publishing or for the executing of his Sentence But after all this though I have admitted it that the Angels are here called Watchers and Holy Ones yet I am rather of opinion that these words do not signifie Angels but the three Persons in the Trinity My reason is because however that Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Angels has obtained among the Jews I do not find them called so any where in the Old Testament Scriptures But God is often said to watch over his People Gen. xxxi 49. Psal vii 6. cxxvii 1. Jer. xxxi 28. xliv 27. and even by this Prophet Dan. ix 14. And for the other word that is here joyn'd with the Watchers viz. the Holy Ones however this may be used of Angels elswhere yet here it is certainly used of God in this Chapter v. 8 9 18. and that in the Plural as it is in Josh xxiv 19. and yet as there in Joshua the Holy Gods in the Plural are the same with the Jehovah in the Singular Number so here the Watchers and the Holy Ones in the Plural are the same with the Watcher and Holy One in the Singular v. 13. and the Decree of the Watchers and Holy Ones in this verse is called the Decree of the Most High v. 24. and it is he whom Nebuchadnezzar glorifies as the sole Author of his abasement and also of his restauration I hope the Reader will easily pardon this digression if he thinks it is one It seemed necessary that I should consider this Text at large because it is as far as I know the only place in Scripture which is brought by the Jews to colour that Interpretation with which they think to elude the force of our Arguments After all that I have alledged from Philo and the Paraphrases I do not pretend to affirm that they had as distinct Notions of the Trinity as we have nor do I deny but that sometimes they put a different construction on the Texts which we have cited in proof of this Mystery Nay I own that their Ideas are often confused when they speak of these things and particularly they refer sometimes that to the second Person which should be ascribed to the third and that to the third which properly belongs to the second Nay more I acknowledg that Philo by the Spirit Gen. i. 2. understands the Wind de Gig. p. 223. which is something strange seeing the Greek Interpreters whom he followed read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Spirit of God and not simply the Spirit which might have stood for Wind here as it does in some places of the Old Testament But Philo's Error is easily accounted for He fell into it by endeavouring to accommodate Moses his Notions to the Notions of the Philosophy that makes four Elements of all things And probably for such a reason some of the Targums might come into the same Interpretation But for the other ancient Jews they expounded this Spirit not by Wind but by that Spirit which was to rest on the Messiah in Isaiah's Language Isa xi 1. See Bresh Rabba in Gen. i. 2. And truly Rashi on these words affirms that the Throne of Glory was in the Air and that it warmed the Heavens by the Spirit of the Goodness of God blessed for ever Where by the way the Spirit of Goodness is the same with the latter of Philo's two Powers above mentioned De Sacr. Ab. 108. Those among the Jews who take the Spirit of God for the Will of God as R. Abr. doth in Tzeror hammor and some mentioned in the Book Cozri p. 5. p. 329. are not far from this Opinion And this is the sense Maimonides gives to those words The Spirit of the Lord in explaining of Isa xl 13. Mor. Neb. i. 40. It appears from Psal xxxiii 6. That the Hosts of Heaven were made by the Spirit of his mouth words which no Jew has yet interpreted of the Wind. I know Philo expresses his thoughts obscurely speaking of the two Powers of God de Cherub p. 86. he saith that the Word joyns these two Powers which he afterwards calls his Principality and his Goodness But this can raise no prejudice against our Position It shews indeed that our Author who had gathered his Notions as other Jews did from reading the Books of the Old Testament together with their Traditional Interpretations was not so much a Master of them as to make them always consist with one another Others perhaps will say he was not always constant to himself nor am I concern'd to have it granted that he was so We look not on him nor any of these Writers to be inspired but esteem them only as
he may be the meaning of this It seems that Moses should have said Who have God so near them But saith he there is a Superior God and there is the God who was the Fear of Isaac and there is an Inferior God and therefore Moses saith The Gods so near For there are many Virtues that come from the only One and all they are one See how the same Author supposes that there are Three Degrees in the Godhead in Levit. col 116. Come and see the Mystery in the word Elohim viz. There are Three degrees and every degree is distinct by himself and notwithstanding they are all One and tied in One and one is not separated from the other And again in Exod. col 75. Upon the words of Deut vi 4. Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord they must know that those Three viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are One unum and that is a Secret which we learn in the Mystery of the Voice which is heard The Voice is One unum but it contains Three Modes viz. the Fire the Air and the Water Now these Three are One in the Mystery of the Voice and they are but One unum So in this place Jehovah our Lord Jehovah are one unum You have this Remark of the same Author in Gen. fol. 54. col 2. de Litera ש That the Three Branches of that Letter denote the Heavenly Fathers who are there named Jehovah our Lord Jehovah R. Hay Hagahon who lived Seven hundred Years ago said there are Three Lights in God the Ancient Light or Kadmon the Pure Light or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Purified Light or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that these make but One God And that there is neither Plurality nor Polytheism in this The same Idea is followed by R. Shem Tov in his Book Emunoth part 4. cap. 8. p. 32. col 2. See again R. Hamay Hagaon in his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Speculation cited by Reuchlin p. 651. Hi tres qui sunt unum inter se proportionem habent ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum uniens unitum He said before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt principium medium finis haec sunt unus punctus est dominus universi R. Joseph ben Gekatilia and the other Cabalists are in effect for three Elohims when they treat of the three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or three first Sephiroth For they agree that the three first Sephiroth were never seen by any body and that there is no discord no imperfection among them The Note of this R. Joseph Gekatilia is very remarkable The Jews saith he have been under the severity of judgment and shall continue so till the coming of the Messias who shall be united saith he with the second Sephirah which is Wisdom according as it is written Isa xi 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom c. And he shall cause the Spirit of Grace and Clemency to descend from the first Sephirah who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Infinite and he follows in that Rabbi Salomon Jarchi who saith upon Isa xi that the Cochma which is the second Sephira shall be in the middle of the Messias In a word this Notion of Plurality and Trinity expressed in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets hath not only been observed by the Jews but they have found and acknowledged it as well as the Christians to be a great and profound mystery And for the explaining of it the Jews have employed very near the same Ideas that the Christians use in speaking of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity For they conceive in God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faces and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistences which we call Persons as one may see in Sepher Jetzirah Moreover we may observe 1. That when they speak of the three first Sephiroth they understand the same thing by them as we do by three Personalities three Modes of Existence active or passive Emanations or Processions which are the foundation of the Personalities 2ly That though they hold ten Sephiroth in all yet they make a great difference between the three first Sephiroth and the seven last For they regard the first as Persons but the last as Attributes according to which God acts in the ordinary course of his Providence or according to his several dispensations towards his Creatures Hence they call the seven last Middoth or Measures that is to say the Attributes and Characters which are visible in the Works of God namely his Justice and Mercy c. And this is confessed in plain words by the great Cabalist R. Menachem de Rekanati Tres primariae numerationes quae sunt intellectuales non vocantur mensurae i.e. they are not Attributes as are the seven last which he explains under that Notion Rittangel hath already quoted that place in his Notes upon Sepher Jetzira p. 193. It may be objected that the ancient Jews were ignorant of the Names of Father Son and Holy Spirit which Names the Christians give to the three Persons in the Deity But this if it were true would not weigh much with a reasonable mind For who can doubt but a new Revelation may distinguish those Notions clearly by proper and suitable Names which the Jews by what Revelation they had knew but more confusedly And yet to remove the Objection wholly it is certain the ancient Cabalists were acquainted with the Names of Father Son and Holy Ghost They gave the Name of Father to the first of their Sephiroth whom they called En Soph i. e. Infinite to express his Incomprehensibility This we have in Zohar from whence it is easie to conclude that they must own the Son also the Name of Father being relative to the Son But further they knew that second Person by the name Coema Wisdom even that Wisdom by which the Word was created c. according to Prov. 3.19 The Lord by Wisdom hath founded the Earth This Notion was so ancient among the Jews that the Jerusalem Targum hath rendred the first verse of Genesis thus The Lord created by his Wisdom The Christians call'd him the Word and Wisdom alluding to divers places especially Psal xxxiii 6. and Prov. viii 14. The Jews commonly call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second Glory and the Crown of the Creation Rittanget brings their Authorities for this in Seph Jetzira p. 4 5. They knew the third Person by the name of Binah or Intelligence because they thought it was he that gave Men the knowledg of what God was pleased to reveal to them In particular they called him the Sanctifier and the Father of Faith nor is any thing more common among them than to give him the name of the Spirit of Holiness or the Holy Spirit The same Doctrine is to be found in several other Books of the Cabalists which are known to most Christians because they are Printed
and the same thing is to be found in their Manuscripts which are more rare because the Jews have not yet Printed them Of this sort is Iggereth Hassodoth cited by Galatinus whose Authority is vindicated by Plantavitius Bibl. Rabb p. 549. Of this sort also is the Manuscript called Sod Mercava Eliona quoted by Ritt p. 35. where are mentioned the three Modes of Existence in God Notwithstanding which they are all unanimous that the Lord is one and his Name is one If you would know on what foundations it was that the Cabalists built this Doctrine you need but look over the Texts on which they have reflected and you 'l find them almost all the same with those that were quoted to the same purpose by the Apostles and Apostolical Men in their Writings Particularly if you would know their opinion to whom it was that God did speak at the Creation Gen. i. 26. R. Juda will tell you God spoke to his Word If you would know of them who is the Spirit of whom we read Gen. i. 2. that he moved on the face of the Waters Moses Botril will inform you it is the Holy Spirit If you would learn of them to whom it was that God spoke Gen. i. 26. saying Let Us make Man Moses Botril tells us that these words are directed to the Wisdom of God If you would know what Spirit it was that is spoken of Job xxviii 12. Again Moses Botril will tell you it is the Holy Spirit If you would know of whom they understand those words in Psal xxxvi 6. They say plainly that they are spoken of that very Trinity If you would know what they think of that Wisdom Psal civ 24. R. Moses Botril describes it to you as a Person and not an Attribute If you would know to whom that is to be referr'd which we read of Isa xl 14. R. Abraham ben David will tell you to the Three Sephiroth All this is to be found in their several Comments on the Book Jetzira which were printed at Mantua in the last Century A. D. 1562. 1592. and have been quoted in Latin by Rittangelius But it may be said That the Jews have adopted this Doctrine inconsiderately without reflecting upon the Absurdity of it For how is it possible to conceive such Emanations in God who is Immutable and Eternal and such an Idea of Plurality and of Trinity in God who is over and above all Ideas of Composition But I answer 1. All these they have considered and yet have owned this Distinction in the Divine Essence as a Truth not to be contested But assert these Three Sephiroth which they call sometimes Spirits to be Eternal and Essential in God which they say we ought not to deny because we can't easily conceive it For the Divine Nature is Incomprehensible far exceeding the Limits of our narrow Understandings And the Revelation God hath given us does no more put us in a capacity to judge of the nature of the things revealed than the borrowed Light of the Moon which is all that the Owls can behold does render them able to judge of the Sun 's far more glorious Light Such are the Thoughts of R. Sabtay in Rit on Jetz p. 78 79 80. Such are the Reflections of R. Menach who cites Job xxviii 7. to this purpose and the Caution of the Jewish Doctors who forbid to undertake the Examination of things that are incomprehensible 2. They have expressed their Notions of this matter much after the same manner as the Thomists have done theirs The Book Jetzira chap. 1. distinguishes in God Sopher Sepher and Sippour which R. Abraham explaining says they answer to Him that understands to the Act of Understanding and to the Thing understood All this is still the more remarkable 1. Because the common Jews have well nigh quite lost the Notion of the Messias being God and they generally expect no other than a mere common Man for their Redeemer 2. Because the main Body of the Jews are such zealous Asserters of the Unity of God that they repeat every day the words of Deut. vi 4. The Lord our God is One Lord. It is a Practice which though now they have turn'd against the Christians yet doubtless was taken up first in opposition to the Gentiles whose Polytheism was renounced in this short Confession of the Jewish Faith And hence it is that they do so much celebrate R. Akiba's Faith who died in Torments with the last Syllables of the word Echad in his Mouth which signifies the Unity of God 3. Because the Jews at the same time dispute against the Christians Doctrine of the Trinity as doth R. Saadia for instance in his Book entituled Sepher Emunah chap. 2. 4. Because from the beginning of Christianity some Rabbins have applied themselves to find out other Senses of those Passages which the Christians urge against them This we see in Gem. of Sanhedr chap. 4. sect 2. And yet notwithstanding all this opposition the Cabalists have past and do still pass for Divines among the Jews and the Targumists for Inspired Men. Nor is it to be imagined that these Notions of the Cabalistical Jews are new things which they pick'd up since their more frequent Converse with the Christians For we find them in the Book Zohar the Author of which is reputed one of the chief Jewish Martyrs Jebhamoth tr 1. fol. 5. col 2. and to have lived in the Second Century I know some have suspected that this Book is a counterfeit and falsly fathered on R. Simeon whose Name it bears The Zohar was not known say they till about the time of R. Moses Bar Nachman So saith the Book Juchazin p. 42. R. D. Ganz in Tzemach David p. 106. But we find these Notions in the beginning of the Rabboth which Books they will have to be more Ancient than the Talmud Furthermore we see in the Gemara of Sabbath that R. Simeon was dispensed with the necessity of his being present at Prayers in the Synagogue because he and his Scholars were at work upon the Study of the Laws which supposes that he was writing some such Comments as we have now although 't is probable that they have been increased in following Ages Besides who can imagine that in all places the Jews should have adopted Opinions unknown to their Religion and in effect destructive of those Points for which they then zealously contended if they had not been convinced of the Truth of such a Doctrine And now give me leave to propose one Argument to the Unitarians which I believe they will not be able to answer and adhere to their new-advanced Position That the Nazarenes were the true Primitive Christians and the only Depositaries of the Apostolick Doctrine It is a Passage taken from the Gospel of the Nazarenes as cited by St. Jerome on Ezek. xvi Where after noting that the word Ruach Spirit in the Hebrew Tongue is Feminine he adds In Evangelio quoque Hebraeorum quod
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is begotten of God Alleg. ii p. 76. B. Which can agree only to a Person And 2. where he proves that the Word acted and spoke in all the Divine Appearances that are mentioned in the Old Testament which certainly supposes a Person 3. Where he describes the Word as presiding over the Empires of the World and determining the Changes that befall them Lib. quod Deus sit Immutab p. 248. D. 4ly Where he brings in the Word for a Mediator between God and Men Quis rer Div. haer p. 393. that renders God propitious to his Creatures de Somn. p 447. E. F. That is the Instructer of Men Ib. p. 448. and their Shepherd alluding to Psal xxiii 1. The Chaldee Paraphrases are full of Notions and Expressions relating to the Word conformable to those of Philo touching the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that he must wink hard who does not see that in their sense the word is truly a Person And 1. they almost always distinguish the Memra or Word of the Lord which answers to Philo's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the word Pithgama which signifies a Matter or a Discourse as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does in Greek 2. They ascribe the Creation of the World to the Word 3. They make it the Word that appeared to the Ancients under the name of the Angel of the Lord. 4. The Word that saved Noah in the time of the Flood and made a Covenant with him Onkelos on Gen. vii viii 5. They say that Abraham believed in the Word which thing was imputed to him for Righteousness Onkel on Gen. xv 6. 6. That the Word brought Abraham out of Chaldea Onk. on Gen. xv 7. and commanded him to Sacrifice Gen. xv 9. and gave him the Prophecy related v. 13. 7. That Abraham swore by the Word Onk. on Gen. xxi 23. 8. That the Word succoured Ishmael Gen. xxi 21. and Joseph in his Bondage Gen. xxxix 2 3. The like Notions has Onkelos in his Targum on Exodus 1. It is the Word's assistance that God promises Moses Exod. iii. 12. iv 12. xviii 19. 2. It is the Word in whom Israel believed as well as in Moses Exod. xiv 32. 3. It is the Word that redeems Israel out of Egypt Exod. xv 2. 4. It is the Word against whom Israel murmur'd in Sin Exod. xvi 8. 5. It is the Word before whom the People marched to receive the Law Exod. xix 17. 6. It is the Word whose Presence is promised in the Tabernacle Exod. xxx 6. xxxvi 42. which is repeated Numb viii 29. 7. It is the Word between whom and Israel the Sabbath is made a Sign Exod. xxxi 13 17. and so Lev. xxxvi 46. 8. It is the Word whose Protection was promised Moses when he desired to see God Exod. xxxiv 22. Much the same has Onkelos on Leviticus and Numbers 1. It is the Word whose Commandments the Israelites were to observe carefully Lev. viii 35. xviii 30. xxii 9. Numb ix 19. xx 23. 2. It is spoken of the Word that he will not forsake the People if they continue in their Obedience Lev. xxviii 11. 3. By the Word God regards his People Ib. 4. The Majesty of the Word did rest among the Israelites Numb xi 20. 5. It is the Word whom Moses exhorts the Jews not to rebell against Numb xiv 9. xx 24. 6. They believed in the Word Num. xiv 11. xx 12 7. The Word meets Balaam Numb xxiii and opens his Eyes xxii 31. The same things or the like we find in Onkelos on Deuteronomy 1. The Word brought Israel out of Egypt and fought for them Deut. i. 30. iii. 22. viii 2. xx 1. 2. The Word led Israel in the Pillar of a Cloud Ch. i. 32. 3. The Word spake out of the fire at Horeb V. 34 36. Moses was Mediator between the Word and his People V. 5. 5. Moses Exhorts the Jews to obey the Word xiv 18. xv 5. xxvii 14. xxviii 1 3 15 45 62. xxx 8 19 20. 6. The Word conducts Israel under Joshua to the Land of Canaan xxxi 6 8. 7. The Word created the World Chap. xxxiii 27. So agreeable as you see are the Notions of Onkelos to those of Philo though the one writ in Egypt the other in Palestine and both before the time of our Lord Jesus Christ But besides Onkelos on the Pentateuch we have two other Paraphrases the one which is very diffuse is said to be Jonathan's the other which is called the Jerusalem Targum and is short and as it seems imperfect The Reader may soon judg by comparing them whether they differ from Philo and Onkelos or no. The Jerusalem Targum saith That God Created the World by his Wisdom which he grounds on the word Bereshith Gen. i. 1. And Philo means the same things when he calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Emanation de Confus Ling. p. 267. B. The same Targum saith the Word made Man after his Image Gen. i. 27. Jonathan's affirms the Garden of Eden was planted by the Word for the Just before the Creation of the World Gen. ii 8. And both Jonathan's and the Jerusalem Targum say the Word spoke to Adam in the Garden Gen. iii. 9. the Word lifted up Enoch to Heaven Gen. v. 24. Jonathan's affirms that the Word protected Noah and shut the Door of the Ark upon him Gen. vii 16. That the Word threw down the Tower at Babel Gen. xi 6. And both have it That God promised Abraham that his Word should protect him Gen. xv 1. Jonathan's makes it the Word that plagued Pharaoh for Abraham's sake Gen. xii 17. The Jerusalem Targum saith it was the Word that appeared to Abraham at the Door of the Tent Gen. xviii 1. And that the Word rained Fire from before the Lord Gen. xix 24. And both that Targum and Jonathan's say That Abraham taught his People to hope in the Name of the Word of the Lord Gen. xxi 33. The Jerusalem Targum makes Abraham say The Word of the Lord will prepare a Sacrifice Gen. xxii 8. And asserts that Abraham invoked the Word and called him Lord in his Prayer Gen. xxii 14. Jonathan's Targum brings in Abraham swearing by the Word of the Lord Gen. xxiv 3. And God promising his Word should succour Isaac Gen. xxiii 24 28. repeated Gen. xxxi 3 5 42. xxxii 9. The same Targum says That the Word of the Lord made Rachel bear a Child Gen. xxx 22. Which is consonant to what Philo saith That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caused Isaac to be born Alleg. l. 2. p. 77. According to this Targum the Word sent Michael to save Thamar Gen. xxxviii 25. The Word went down with Jacob into Egypt Gen. xlvi 1 2 3 4. The Word succours Joseph Gen. xlix 25. Which Joseph acknowledges Gen. l. 20. We may trace the same Notions in their Targums on Exodus According to Jonathan's The Word built Houses for the Midwives that feared God Exod. i.
21. The Word caused that miraculous Heat which disposed Pharaoh's Daughter to go and bathe her self in the Nile Exod. ii 5. It was He that spake and the World was made according to Jonathan's Targum or the Word of the Lord according to the Jerusalem Targum that spoke to Moses Exod. iii. Which clearly shews that they made use of the word Memra to express what is so often repeated Gen. i. And God said It is the Word who as God promised Moses was to be his Mouth Exod. iv 12 15. According to the Jerusalem Targum the Word appear'd to Abraham by the Name of the God of Heaven and the Name of his Word was not declared to the Patriarchs Exod. vi 3. The Word of the Lord slew the First-born of Egypt Exod. xii 29. The Word of the Lord hath appeared on Three remarkable Occasions First At the Creation of the World Secondly To Abraham Thirdly At Israel's departure out of Egypt And a Fourth time he shall appear at the coming of the Messiah Thus Jonathan and Targ. Jerusalem Exod. xii 42. The Word wrought Miracles by Moses Exod. xiii 8. The Word raised up those Israelites which were killed by the Philistines that left Egypt Three Years before the Departure of their Brethren out of Egypt Exod. xiii 17. For the neglect of the Commands of the Word were the Israelites killed Exod. xiii 17. It is the Word that looked on the Host of the Egyptians and to him the Israelites cried Exod. xiv 24 31. It is the Word that gives the Law concerning the Sabbath Exod. xvi 25. and he against whom Israel murmur'd ver 8. The Israelites hear the voice of the Word Exod. xix 5. who speaks v. 9. and pronounces the Law xx 1. being the same that redeemed Israel from Egypt Ib. and Lev. i. God promises to send his Word with his People and Israel is strictly enjoyned to obey him Exod. xxiii 20 21 23. The Word punishes Israel for the Golden Calf Exod. xxxii 35. The Word talks with Moses in the Tabernacle and the People worship him Exod. xxxiii 9 11. Lev. i. It is the Word whose Appearance is promised Moses Exod. xxxiii 19. and the Word is distinguished from the Angels that attend him Exod. xxxiii 23. It is the Word to whom Moses prays and who is called the Name of the Lord Exod. xxxiv 5. The Word makes Statutes Lev. xxiv 11. Numb xxii 18. according to the same Jonathan It is the Word of whom the Jerusalem Targum understands what is spoken by Jonathan of the Face of the Lord Numb ix 8. By the order of the Word of the Lord the Israelites Encamp Numb ix 19 23. It is the Word to whom Prayer is made upon removing the Ark of the Covenant Numb x. 35 36. The Word spoke to all the Prophets before Moses Numb xii 6. The Word gives Answer Numb xiv 20. The Word sent fiery Serpents and those that were healed were healed by the Name of the Word of the Lord Numb xxi 6 9 10. It is before the Word that the Idolatrous Isralites were hanged Numb xxv 4. It is the Word that wrought Wonders in the Desert in behalf of Israel Deut. i. 1. iv 34. vi 22. and whom the Israelites provoked Deut. i. 1. The Word multiplied Israel and fought for them yet they believed not in him Deut. i. 10 30 32. and iii. 2. both in Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum The Word punished Israel for the Business of Peor Deut. iv 3. The Word sits on a raised Throne and hears the People's Prayers and speaks from the midst of the fire and gives the Law Deut. iv 7 12 33. v. 23 24 25. Moses is a Mediator between the Word and the People Deut. v. It is by the Name of the Word that Israel ought to swear Deut. vi 13. The Word was to drive out the Nations before Israel Deut. xi 23. The Word chose the Levites for his Service Deut. xxi 5. and the whole People of Israel Deut. xxvi 18. The Word protected Jacob from Laban Deut. xxvi 5. The Word destroyed Sodom Deut. xxix 23. The Word sware to the Patriarchs Deut. xxxi 7. The Word shall Judge the People Deut. xxxii 36. The Word saith of himself that he was is and is to come v. 32 39. The Word takes Moses up to Mount Abarim and Moses prays to him for a Sight of the Land of Canaan Deut. xxxii 49. The Word shews Moses the Generations of the Great Men of Israel Deut. xxxiv 1. The Word said he had sworn to give Israel the Land of Canaan xxxiv 4. To conclude Moses dies according to the decree of the Word of the Lord that is to say the Word recalls his Soul with a Kiss and with a huge Train of Angels Inters his Body being the same Word that had appeared to him and sent him into Egypt and by so many Miracles redeemed Israel from thence Deut. xxxiv 5 6 10 11 12. There is no need of making any profound Reflections on these many places of Philo and the Chaldee Paraphrases to convince the Reader that the Jews before Jesus Christ did regard the Word as a true and real Person The consequence is easily drawn by him that looks them over but with half an eye I know the word Memra in Hebrew is sometimes taken in another sense as well as that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the Greek But all the Personal Characters of Action of Commanding of Speaking of Answering of giving Laws of Issuing out Decrees of being prayed to of receiving Worship and the like are so expresly given that Word we now Treat of as render it absurd to take it for any thing else but a Person Let us next enquire into the Nature of this Person according to the same Testimonies of the ancient Jews whether it be Angelical or Divine and consequently whether this Person be truly God I propose this not that I think there is any necessity of proving it after all that I have already observed from the ancient Jews touching the Word but for the clearer manifestation of the absurdity into which our Adversaries fall in their striving to force another sense upon the word as the more knowing Men among them cannot but see when they consider these Proofs with attention He who writ against Vechnerus Endeavours in general to perswade us that in those places of the Targums where the Memra is spoken of it is used to express the Divine Providence over the Faithful of ancient times or else in particular it signifies the Attributes of God his Affections or Actions his Miracles his Appearances his Inspirations and the like This he repeats in several parts of his dissertation and at the end of his work he trys to apply it to several Texts in the Targum One might reasonably doubt whether he himself were satisfied with his own performance in this I have two great reasons to think he was not The first is that it seems he never
Israel or that is worshipp'd spoken of in the Old Testament were not referred by the Ancient Jews to created Angels who personated God And further I maintain That generally the Ancient Jews referred these Appearances to the Word whom they distinguish'd from Angels as they do God from the Creature and thereby justified the Patriarchs in paying him that appeared to them Divine Worship and Adoration To prove this I must return to Philo's Opinion which I have had occasion to alledge in several places I would willingly spare my self the Trouble and my Reader the Nauseousness of repeating the same things But this is a matter of such Importance as necessarily obliges me by a particular Enumeration of Passages to produce Philo's Judgment in this Point as I have done in the former He is indeed so ample and so much ours in his Testimony concerning the Dignity of the Angel that appeared to the Fathers as more he could not well be if we had hired him to depose on our side In general he asserts That it was the Word that appeared to Adam Jacob and Moses although in the Books of Moses it is only an Angel that is spoken of De Somn. p. 461. It was the Word that appeared to Abraham Gen. xviii 1. according to Philo for he saith It was the Word that promised Sarah a Son in her Old Age and that enabled her to conceive and bring forth Lib. 11. Alleg. p. 77. E. It was the Word that appeared to Abraham as an Angel and that called to him not to hurt his Son when he was about to sacrifice him De Somn. p. 461. A E. It was the Word that appeared to Hagar De Cherub p. 83. C. De Profug p. 352. De Somn. p. 446. B. It was the Word that appeared so many times to Jacob although he be called the Angel that delivered him out of all his Trouble Alleg. 11. p. 71. D. E. It was the Word that appeared to Jacob in Bethel Lib. de Migr. Abr. p. 304. E. p. 305. A. De Somn. p. 460. G. And afterwards directed him how to manage Laban's Flock De Somn. p. 461. F. and advised him to return to the Land of his Kindred De Somn. p. 460. G. It was the Word that appeared to Jacob in the form of an Angel and wrestled with him De Somn. p. 454. E. and changed his Name to Israel De nom mut p. 819. C. It was the Image of God which in other places is the same with the Word that appeared to Moses in the Bush De Vit. Mosis 1. p. 475. E. It was God that called to him at the same time De Somn. p. 461. D. Even the Word p. Ib. A. Whom Moses desired to see Alleg. 11. p. 61. A. De Sacr. Ab. p. 102. A. C. It was the Word who led Israel through the Wilderness Exod. xxiii De Agric. p. 152. B. He was the Angel in whom God placed his Name De Migr. Abr. p. 324. E. F. That Word which is called the Prince of Angels and who was within the Cloud Quis rer Divin Haer. p. 397. F. G. and is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Vit. Mosis p. 534. G. And this Angel was he that appeared to Moses and the Elders of Israel on Mount Sinai Exod. xxiv De Confus p. 261. E. De Somn. p. 447. C. It was the Word whom those Jews rejected that said Let us make a Captain and return into Egypt Num. xiv 4. Alleg. 11. p. 71. B. It was the Word that governs the World that appeared to Balaam like an Angel De Cherub p. 87. F. G. Quod Deus sit immut p. 248. G. 249. A. It was the Word by whom Moses when he was to dye was translated De Sacr. Abr. p. 162. C. D. II. Let us come next to the Chaldee Paraphrases and see how they render those Texts that speak of the Divine Appearances in Scripture and let the Reader take these Remarks along with him 1. That whatsoever he finds in those Paraphrases he may be assured that it was the General Sense of the Jewish Church in Ancient Times 2. That any Judicious Writer can justly suspect those who first published those Targums to have cut many parts of them to favour the new Method of their last Writers which I have explained in the beginning of this Chapter The first Appearance of God to Man was when having created our first Parents Gen. i. 27. He blessed them and said unto them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth Gen. i. 28. He that gave them this Blessing was he that created them as we read in the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. i. 27. The Word of the Lord created Man in his own Image For his giving them the Blessing we have it in that Targum on Gen. xxxv 9. We have these following words O Eternal God thou hast taught us the Marriage-blessing of Adam and his Wife for thus the Scripture saith expresly And the Word of the Lord blessed them and the Word of the Lord said to them Be ye fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth God appeared again to our first Parents after their Sin Gen. iii. 8. Where it is said that they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the midst of the garden Now as Philo said to us that it was the Word of the Lord that appeared to Adam so both Onkelos and Jonathan have it that Adam and his Wife heard the Voice of the Word of the Lord God walking in the garden Likewise in the Jerusalem Targum ver 9. it is said The Word of the Lord called to Adam c. And again ver 10. Where Adam makes this Answer to God I heard thy Voice in the garden both Onkelos and Jonathan have it I heard the Voice of thy Word in the garden In the History of the Deluge we see that there was a Revelation to Noah the Preacher of Righteousness to build the Ark and to warn others while that was preparing 1 Pet. iii. 20. But who gave Noah that warning Jonathan saith That the Lord said this by his Word And the Jerusalem Targum It was the Word of the Lord that said this And accordingly Jonathan has it in Gen. vi 6. That the Lord judged them by his Word and said I will destroy them by my Word Likewise for the saving of Noah Gen. vii 16. all the Paraphrasts attributed this to the Word The Jerusalem Targum saith The Word of the Lord spared Noah And Gen. viii 1. Jonathan has it That the Word of the Lord remembred Noah Lastly according to Onkelos and Jonathan The Lord said by his Word I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake Gen. viii 21. After the Flood God appeared often to Abraham Now according to Jonathan on Gen. xv 6. a Promise being made unto Abraham that his Seed should be as the Stars of Heaven for Number Abraham's believing in the Word of the Lord was accounted to him for
Righteousness Therefore it was the Word of the Lord that came to him in a Vision ver 1. and that made him that Promise ver 5. It followeth ver 7. that he said to Abraham I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees Who said this to Abraham Even the Word of the Lord according to Jonathan's Targum for there is no other Nominative Case of the Verb in his Paraphrase You see the same upon Abraham's dividing the Beasts in order to his making a Covenant with God it was done at God's Command who thereupon did appear between the Pieces to Abraham and did solemnly enter into a Covenant with Abraham Gen. xv 9 c. Now saith the Jerusalem Paraphrase on Exod. xii 42. It was the Word of the Lord that appeared to Abraham between the Pieces And according to Onkelos and Jonathan Exod. vi 8. It was by his Word that God made this Covenant with Abraham We must take notice that he that appeared then to Abraham saith I am El Shaddai which is here translated The Almighty God For according to Onkelos on Gen. xlix 25. in the Blessing of Jacob to his Son Joseph these Names The Word of God and El Shaddai are of the same Extent Thus it runs according to Onkelos The Word of the God of thy Father shall help thee and El Shaddai shall bless thee Where plainly El Shaddai is the same that is called The Word of the God of thy Father As Philo taught us that the Appearance of God to Abraham mentioned Gen. xviii 1. was an Appearance of the Word Alleg. 11. p. 77. E. where he calls one of the Three Angels that appeared to Abraham the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of God and Josephus L. 1. Ant. c. 12. calls him God So the Jerusalem Paraphrase has it in the end of the next Verse The Word of the Lord appeared to Abraham in the Valley of Vision as he sat warming himself in the Sun because of his Circumcision Elsewhere the same Paraphrase quotes these Words as being the Words of Scripture saying on Gen. xxxv 9. The Scripture hath declared and said And the Word of the Lord appeared to him in the Valley of Vision Jonathan also in his Paraphrase on Deut. xxxiv 6. hath these words The Lord hath taught us to visit the Sick in that he revealed himself by the Vision of his Word to Abraham when he was sick of the cutting of Circumcision When God gave him a Command for the sacrificing of his Son Gen. 22.2 then as Abraham was doing it the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven and told him Now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from ME. This last word plainly sheweth that this Angel was God himself even the same that spake to Abraham and gave him that Command ver 1 2. And that Command was given by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word according to Philo as it has been already shewn The Jerusalem Paraphrase hath the same on ver 8. where upon Isaac's enquiring for the Lamb that was to be sacrificed Abraham answereth him My Son the Word of the Lord will prepare me a sheep And so when Abraham found that the Word did provide him a Sheep and accepted of that for a Sacrifice instead of his Son Abraham worshipped and pray'd to the Word of the Lord saying among many other things Thou O Lord didst speak to me that I should offer up Isaac my Son In the other Targums ver 16 17. where the Angel of the Lord calls to Abraham out of Heaven the second time which last word sheweth that this Angel was God himself for it was God that called to him out of Heaven the first time as it has been already shewn and saith to Abraham By my self I have sworn saith the Lord because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thine only son from me From me is in the Samaritan and LXX therefore in blessing I will bless thee c. There both Onkelos and Jonathan have it By my Word I have sworn saith the Lord. What should be their meaning in this For the manner of speaking Thus saith the Lord it was properly used by the Word appearing here as an Angel and not according to his own Natural Being But for the Form of the Oath where according to the Hebrew Text chap. xx God swore by Himself the Paraphrasts render it that God swore by his Word and well they might who understood that the Word was God And indeed these Targums shew elsewhere That where this Form of Swearing was used it was the Word of the Lord that swore and held himself obliged to perform what was sworn Compare Exod. vi 8. with Deut. xxvi 3. And Numb xiv 30. with Deut. xxxi 7. We read of an Angel appearing to Hagar in the Wilderness Gen. xvi 7. He bid her return and submit to Sarah her Mistress ver 9. telling her withal what a numerous Issue she should have by the Child she now went with and what sort of man he should be But as this Angel spoke in the Stile of God saying I will multiply thy seed exceedingly ver 10. So she owned it was the Lord that spake to her and she said to him Thou God seest me ver 13. 'T is clear that it was God himself that appeared tho he is called an Angel in the Text. And therefore not only Philo calleth him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those places above-mentioned but the Targums likewise shew that he was the Word of the Lord according to the Sense of the Jewish Church for so Jonathan renders ver 13. She confessed before the Lord Jehovah whose Word had spoken to her And the Jerusalem Targum She confessed and prayed to the Word of the Lord who had appeared to her Again an Angel called to Hagar out of Heaven Gen. xxi 16. But he also said to her that which no created Angel could say speaking of her Son Ishmael I will make him a great Nation ver 18. Philo saith that it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And who perform'd it 'T was God the Word according to the Targums For whereas the Text saith ver 20. God was with the Lad it is thus rendred both by Onkelos and Jonathan The Word of the Lord was his Support or Assistance We read also of Two Divine Appearances to Isaac one in Gerar Gen. xxvi 2. and the other at Beersheba ver 24. In the former of these places Isaac being ready to have gone down into Egypt God bid him continue in Canaan and gave him a Promise in these words Gen. xxvi 3. I will be with thee and will bless thee for unto thee and thy Seed I will give all these Countries and I will perform the Oath which I sware unto Abraham thy Father So then he that appeared now to Isaac is the same that swore this to Abraham so much we learn from
this Text But according to the Targums it was God the Word that swore all this to Abraham Elsewhere they also tell us That it was the Word that swore as well to Isaac as to Abraham that he would give them the promised Land Exod. vi 8. xxxii 13. At the second Appearance that God made to Isaac Gen. xxvi 24. he told him I am the God of Abraham thy Father But as the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. xxii 16. saith That Abraham worshipped and prayed to the Word of the Lord So according to Jonathan's Targum on Gen. xxvii 28. Isaac prayed for his Son Jacob in these Words The Word of the Lord give thee of the Dew of Heaven And in the same Targum on Gen. xxxi 5. where Jacob saith The God of my Father hath been with me Of thy Father so the Samaritan and LXX it is rendred The Word of the God of my Father or The Word being the God of my Father Amongst the Divine Appearances to Jacob those two at Bethel were more remarkable than the rest one at his going to Padan-Aram Gen. xxviii 13. the other at his Return from thence Gen. xxxv 9. where it is said expresly that then God appeared to him the second time The History of the first of these is given us at large Gen. xxviii 13 16. Jacob himself gives this account of the last to his Son Joseph Gen. xlviii 3 4. God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said unto me Behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee c. That it was the Word that appeared to him we have shewn already from Philo in several places and that this was the Sense of the Jewish Church in his time we have reason to believe For as to this first Appearance in the Introduction ver 10. where the Text speaks of Jacob's setting out from Beersheba to go to Haran there both Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum tell us of the Sun 's making haste to go down before his time because the Word had a desire to speak with Jacob. Again in the Conclusion of this History Gen. xxviii 20 21. Where Jacob vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me c. then shall the Lord be my God Here we read in Jonathan's Targum That Jacob vowed a Vow to the Word saying If the Word of the Lord will be my help c then shall the Lord be my God Why should the Paraphrast say That Jacob made this Vow to the Word and not rather to God as it is in the Hebrew Text but that they believed that it was the Word that appeared to him And this being so we cannot be to seek who that Angel was that spake to Jacob Gen. xxxi 11. for he declares ver 13. I am the God of Bethel where thou vowedst a Vow unto me We see in the Targum on Gen. xxviii 20. That it was the Word to whom Jacob vowed a Vow at Bethel therefore according to this Targum it must be the Word that is called an Angel in the place next before mentioned The second time that God appeared to Jacob was in his Return from Padan-Aram Gen. xxxv 9. and it is expresly said in the Jerusalem Targum The Word of the Lord appeared to Jacob the second time when he was coming from Padan-Aram and blessed him which is as clear a Testimony as can be desired for our purpose Whosoever will reflect with some attention upon those Appearances of God to Jacob and compare them with what we read Gen. xlviii 15 16. and with what Hosea the Prophet saith ch xii concerning the Angel who was God could not but take notice of two things The first is that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is call'd an Angel was God indeed The second is that the wrestling of that Angel with Jacob was a preparation for the belief of the Mystery of the Incarnation by which the Apostles were made able to say which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life this is our Message 1 Joh. i. 1.5 But we must go on upon such important a Subject CHAP. XIV That all the Appearances of God or of the Angel of the Lord which are spoken of in Moses his time have been referred to the Word of God by the ancient Jewish Church WE read of no other Appearance of God or of an Angel of the Lord till that which Moses saw on Mount Horeb Exod. iii. 2. There we read that the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a Bush This is the only place where Moses calleth him an Angel that now appeared Elswhere he always calleth him God as particularly v. 4. where he saith that upon his turning aside to see why the Bush was not burnt When the Lord saw this God called to him out of the midst of the Bush and said to him I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob v. 6. whereupon Moses saith of himself that he hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God After this he goeth on still calling him God as we read almost in every verse so ver 16. He saith God commanded him to go to the Elders of Israel and say to them The Lord God of your Fathers the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob appeared to me God would not have him tell them that which was not true and therefore we may be sure that it was not a Created Angel but God that appeared to him But why then should Moses once call him an Angel as we see he did in the second verse A created Angel he could not be for the reasons now mentioned he must therefore be God and yet he must appear as an Angel that came on a Message from God This is what Philo saith in one word He was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word who is both God and the Messenger of God as we have shewn from him in several places As for the Targums the matter is clear for when Moses was sent to the Children of Israel to tell them that their God had appeared to him and sent him to bring them forth out of Egypt and that Moses askt him his Name and that God said unto Moses tell them I AM THAT I AM or in fewer words say I AM has sent me unto you that which here God calls himself is the sense of the Name Jehovah that signifieth the Eternal Being Now see how this is rendred in the Jerusalem Targum There we read that the Word of the Lord said to Moses He that said to the World let it be and it was and shall say Let it be and it shall be Here Moses askt God and the Word answereth his question But certain it is that he that answered the question was the same that he had been speaking with
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
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
the Targums but these are abundantly enough to shew the sense of the ancient Church what they thought of him that so often appeared to their Fathers in the Wilderness and spoke to them by his Servant Moses When Moses understood that God was not willing he should live to bring his People into the Promised Land thereupon he besought God to send him a Successor in these words according to Jonathan's Targum Numb xxvii 16. Let the Word of the Lord who has dominion over the souls of men appoint a faithful man over the Congregation of his People God having appointed Joshua in his stead Moses gave him this Charge in the hearing of the People Deut. iii. 21 22. according to Onkelos and Jonathan Thy eyes have seen what the Lord hath done to Og and Sihon so shall he do to all the kingdoms where thou art to pass therefore fear them not for the Word of the Lord your God shall fight for you The same he repeated afterward to all the People telling them first Deut. xxxi 2 3. according to Jonathan The Word of the Lord hath said to me Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan but the Lord your God and his Shekinah will go before you Josh iv He addeth And Joshua will go over before you as the Lord has spoken And for all your Enemies ver 5. The Word of the Lord shall deliver them up before you therefore saith he ver 6. according to Onkelos Fear them not for the Word of the Lord your God goes before you he will not fail nor forsake you After this he calleth to Joshua and saith to him before them all ver 7. according to Jonathan Be strong and of a good Courage for thou must go with this People into the Land which the Word of the Lord has sworn to their Fathers that he would give them and the Shekinah of the Word of the Lord shall go before thee and his Word shall be thy help he will not leave thee nor forsake thee fear not therefore neither be dismay'd He repeats it again from God to Joshua ver 23. according to Onkelos and Jonathan Thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the Land which I have sworn to them and my Word shall be thy help It was the same day that together with this Charge Moses gave to Joshua his Prophetical Song Deut. xxxi 22 23. And the self-same day xxxii 48. God bade him Get thee up into Mount Nebo and dye After which Moses staid no longer than to give the Tribes of Israel his Blessing before his Death xxxiii 1. That being done he went up to Mount Nebo xxxiv 1. There according to Jonathan It was the Word of the Lord that gave that Satisfaction to his Bodily Eyes to see all the Land of Canaan before they were closed So ver 5. Moses the Servant of the Lord died there according to the Word of the Lord. He was translated by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Sacr. Abr. p. 162. C. D. according to Philo. It was certainly the current Tradition of the Church in his Age that his Soul was taken out of his Body by a Kiss of the Word of the Lord as Jonathan renders it or according to the Jerusalem Targum at the Mouth of the Decree of the Word of the Lord. After his Death Joshua entred into the Government ver 9. and according to the Jerusalem Targum the Children of Israel obeyed Joshua and they did as the Word of the Lord had commanded Moses Besides all these Divine Appearances to Moses and the Children of Israel there are also some few that were made to Balaam on their account and are therefore recorded in the same Sacred History Where these are first mentioned Numb xxii 9. both Onkelos and Jonathan have That the Word came from before the Lord to Balaam and said what followeth in that place So again the second time ver 20. according to the same Targums The Word came from before the Lord to Balaam by night and said to him what followeth in that second place It is plain that so far the Ancient Jewish Church took these Appearances to have been made by the Word But what Opinion had they of the Angel's appearing to Balaam ver 22. Others may ask what they thought of the Dialogue between Balaam and the Ass that he rode upon occasioned by the Fright that the Beast was in at the Angel's appearing to him All this as Maimonides * More Nebochim 11. p. 42. saith happened only in Vision of Prophecy But that it was a thing that really happened we are assured by St. Peter who tells us 2 Pet. ii 16. God opened the mouth of the dumb beast to rebuke the madness of the Prophet As it cannot be doubted that Balaam was used to have Communication with Devils that spake to him in divers manners so there is reason to believe they spoke to him sometimes by the mouth of dumb Beasts and if so then to hear the Ass speak could not be strange to him And why God should order it so there is a reason in Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum The Reader may see other Reasons elsewhere †Muis Varia p. 95. but they are not proper for this place But we are here to consider whether this that appeared to Balaam was a created Angel or no. It appears by the words ver 35. to have been the Lord himself that appeared as an Angel to Balaam for thus he saith to him Go with the men but only the word that I shall speak to thee that thou shalt speak Now it doth not appear after this that any other spoke to him from God but God himself Therefore Philo saith plainly that this Appearance was of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as has been already shown And that this was the Sense of the Church in his Age we may see in the two following Appearances to Balaam where as well as in the two that were before this the Targums say It was the Word that met Balaam and spoke to him Thus both Onkelos and Jonathan on Num. xxiii 4 and 16. CHAP. XV. That all the Appearances of God or of the Angel of the Lord which are spoken after Moses his time in the Books of the Old Testament have been referred to the Word of God by the Jews before Christ's Incarnation THUS far it has been our business to shew that it was the Word that made all those Appearances either of God or of an Angel of God that was worshipt in any part of the five Books of Moses We have been much larger in this than was necessary for our present occasion But whatsoever may seem to have been too much in this Chapter it is hoped the Reader will not wish it had been spared when he comes to reflect upon the use of it to prove that the Word was a Person and that he was God At present there will be some kind of amends for the prolixity hitherto in the
shortness of what we have to say in the following part of this Chapter For being now to treat of those Divine Appearances that are recorded in the other Books of Scripture after the Pentateuch we shall find those Appearances fewer and fewer till they come quite to cease in the Jewish Church For when once the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was setled as the King of Israel between the Cherubims He is not to be look'd for in other places And of those Books of Scripture in which the following Appearances are mentioned we have not so many Paraphrases as we have of the five Books of Moses One Paraphrase is all that we have of most of the Books we now speak of But after all we have reason to thank God that that Evidence of the Divine Appearances of the Word of God has been so abundantly sufficient that we have no need of any more So that of the following Appearances of God or of a Worshipt Angel it will be enough to shew that the ancient Jewish Church had the same Notion that they had of those already mentioned out of the five Books of Moses We read but of one Divine appearance to Joshua and that is of one that came to him as a man with a drawn-sword in his hand calling himself the Captain of the Lord's Host Josh v. 13 14. Some would have it that this was a created Angel But certainly Joshua did not take him to be such otherwise he would not have fallen down on his face and worshipped him as he did v. 14. Nor would a created Angel have taken it of him without giving him a present reproof as the Angel did to St. John in the like Case Rev. xix 10. xxii 9. But this Divine Person was so far from reproving him for having done too much that he commanded him to go on and do yet much more requiring of him the highest acknowledgment of a Divine Presence that was used among the Eastern Nations in these words Loose thy Shoo from off thy foot for the ground whereon thou standest is holy Now considering that these are the very same words that God used to Moses in Exod. iii. 2 3. We see a plain reason why God should command this to Joshua It was for the strengthening of his faith to let him know that as he was now in Moses's stead so God would be the same to him that he had been to Moses And particularly with respect to that trial which required a more than ordinary measure of faith the difficulty of taking the strong City of Jericho with such an Army as he had without any provision for a Siege the Lord said unto him Josh vi 2. See I have given Jericho into thy hand None but God could say and do this and the Text plainly saith It was the Lord. And that the Lord who thus appeared as a Warrier and called himself Captain of the Lord's Host was no other than the Word this was plainly the sense of the ancient Jewish Church as appears by what remains of it in their Paraphrase on Josh x. 42. xxiii 3 10. which saith It was the Word of the Lord that fought for them and v. 13. which saith It was the VVord which cast out the Nations before them And indeed this very judgment of the Old Synagogue is to be seen not only in their Targums till this day but in their most ancient Books as Rabboth fol. 108. col 3. Zohar par 3. fol. 139. col 3. Tanch ad Exod. 3. Ramb. ad Exod. 3. Bach. fol. 69. 2. The learned Masius in Josh v. 13.14 hath translated the words of Ramban and he hath preferred his Interpretation which is the most ancient amongst the Jews to the sense of the Commentators of the Church of Rome Of Divine Appearances in the Book of Judges we read of one to Gideon that seems to have been of an Angel of God for so he is called Judg. vi 11 12. And again v. 20 21 22. In this last place it is also said that Gideon perceived he was an Angel of the Lord i. e. He saw that this was an Heavenly Person that came to him with a Message from God And yet that he was no created Angel it seems by his being oftner called the Lord v. 14 16 23 24 25 27. And Gideon in that whole History never address'd himself to any other but God The Message delivered from God by this Angel to Gideon ver 16. is thus rendred in the Targum Surely my Word shall be thy help and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man The Word that help'd Gideon against the Midianites was no other than he that appeared to Joshua with a Sword in his hand Josh v. 13. That was now the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon Judg. vii 18 20. And what the Ancient Jewish Church meant by the Word of the Lord in this place one may guess by their Targum on Judg. vi 12 13. Where the Angel saying to Gideon The Word of the Lord is thy help he answered Is the Shekinah of the Lord our help whence then hath all this happen'd to us It is plain by this Paraphrase that they reckoned the Word of the Lord to be the same with the Shekinah of the Lord even him by whom God so gloriously appeared for their deliverance And indeed they could hardly be mistaken in the Person of that Angel who saith that his Name is Pele the Wonderful which is used Isaiah ix amongst the Names of the Messias which Name the Jews make a shift to appropriate to God exclusively to the Messias The Angel that appeared to Manoah Judg. xiii could seem to have been no other than a created Angel but the Name which he takes of Pele the Wonderful shews that he was the Word of the Lord or the Angel of the Lord l. lxiii 8. In the first Book of Samuel we read of no other such Appearance but that which God made to Samuel 1 Sam. iii. 21. and that was only by a Voice from the Temple of the Lord where the Ark was at that time ver 3 4. The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Temple and a Palace and so the Tabernacle was called in which the Ark was then in Shiloh There it was that God revealed himself to Samuel by the Word of the Lord ver 21. But that in the Opinion of the Ancient Jewish Church the Word of the Lord was their King and the Tabernacle was his Palace where his Throne was upon the Ark between the Cherubims and that from thence the Word gave his Oracles all this has been so fully proved before in this Chapter that to prove it here again would be superfluous and therefore I take it for granted that in their Opinion it was the Word of the Lord from whom this Voice came to Samuel In the Second Book of Samuel we read how upon David's Sin in numbring the People â—â—d sent the Prophet Gad to give him his
choice of Three Punishments either Three Years Famine or Three Months Destruction by Enemies or Three Days Pestilence throughout all the Coast of Israel This last being a Judgment from Heaven that falls as soon upon the Prince as the Peasant David made choice of it rather than either of the other saying withal Let me not fall into the hands of Man but into the hands of the Lord for great are his Mercies 1 Chron. xxi 13. Thereupon God sent a Pestilence upon all the Coasts of Israel by which there fell Seventy thousand Men 2 Sam. xxiv 15. And to represent to David's Bodily Eyes an extraordinary Instance as well of God's Justice in punishing Sinners as of his Mercy to them upon their Repentance and Prayer God made him see an Angel standing between the Earth and the Heaven having a drawn Sword in his hand stretch'd out over Jerusalem to destroy it 2 Sam. xxiv 16 17. And 1 Chron. xxi 16. And when at this Sight David fell upon his face and prayed as it followeth ver 17. God said to the destroying Angel It is enough stay now thy hand Then the Angel came down and stood by the Floor of Ornan the Jebusite on which Place God designed that Solomon should build his Temple and declared it to David upon this occasion There according to the Angel's Order by the Prophet Gad David now built an Altar and sacrificed thereon upon which the Lord commanded the Angel and he put up his Sword into his sheath 2 Sam. xxiv 17. This was no other than a Created Angel whom God that employ'd him in that Service appointed to appear in that manner for all those purposes before-mentioned What the Ancient Church thought of all this Passage of History we may easily guess by what has been already shewn of their ascribing all Rewards and Punishments to the Word that had the Conduct and Government over God's People And though it seems that Care has been taken to conceal this Notion of theirs as much as was possible in the Targums of the Books now before us yet here is a Passage that seems to have escaped the Correctors by which we may perceive the Church's Sense here was agreeable to what we find of it in all other places For in 2 Sam. xxiv 14. where we find in the Text that David said ver 6. Let us fall now into the â—â—nd of the Lord for his Mercies are great the Targum thus renders these words Let me be delivered into the hand of the Word of the Lord for great are his Mercies It was therefore the Word of the Lord into whose hands David fell It was his Angel by whom the Judgment was executed And it was also his Mercy by which the Judgment was suspended and revoked The Targum on this Text sufficiently shews that all this was the Sense of the Jewish Church In short the Ancient Church considered the Word as being their Sovereign Lord and King of the People of Israel All those Kings whose Acts are described in the Two Books of Kings they look'd upon as his Lieutenants or Deputies that held their Title from and under him by his Covenant with David their Father This Solomon declared in these words 1 Kings viii 15. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who by his Word made a Covenant with David my Father Whatsoever God did for his People under their Government in protecting and delivering them from their Enemies they own'd that it was for his Word's sake and for his Servant David's sake 2 Kings xix 34. xx 6. When they had quite broken his Covenant then God removed them from before his Word and gave them up to be a Scorn to all Nations as he threatned he would 1 Kings ix 7. according to their Targum In these Books we read of no more but Two Divine Appearances in Solomon's time and both these were made to Solomon himself 1 Kings ix 2. The first was at Gibeon chap. iii. 5. where the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and said to him Ask what I shall give thee He asked nothing but Wisdom which so pleased the Lord that he gave him not only that but also Riches and Honour above all the Kings then in the Word The Targum as it is come to our hands doth not say It was the Word of the Lord that appeared to him and that gave him all this But that it was so according to the Sense of their Church may be gathered from the Text which tells us ver 15. That as soon as Solomon was awake he went presently to Jerusalem which was about seven Miles distant and there he stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord which was there in the Tabernacle set up by David his Father and he offered up both Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings and made a Feast to all his Servants The haste in which all this was done brings us presently to the Occasion of it for of all Peace-Offerings for Thanksgiving to God the same day that they were offered the Flesh must be eaten Lev. vii 15. the Breast and Right Shoulder by the Priests all the rest by the Offerer and those that he had to eat with him It is plain therefore that this was a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God But why should not Solomon have staid at Gibeon and there paid this Duty where he had received the Obligation Especially since there at Gibeon was the Tabernacle which Moses made by God's Command and there was the Brazen Altar which Bezaleel made 2 Chron. i. 2 3 4. and Solomon had come on purpose to Gibeon to sacrifice upon that Altar at that time The very day before this Appearance of God he had offered a thousand Burnt-Offerings upon it ver 6. and in that very night did God appear to him ver 7. Now Solomon having found that good Success of his sacrificing at Gibeon that presently God appeared to him and gave him so great a Boon would certainly have staid there to have paid his Thanksgiving in that Place but that he understood that he that appeared to him was the Word whose especial Presence was with the Ark at Jerusalem as we have abundantly proved To Him therefore he hasten'd immediately to pay his Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings of Thanksgiving to the Word of the Lord. This we cannot doubt was the Sense of the Ancient Jewish Church though it doth not appear now in their Targums And if it was the Word that made that first Appearance to Solomon then it must be He that made the second also for both these Appearances were of the same Person So it is said expresly in the Text 1 Kings ix 2. The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time as he had appeared to him at Gibeon But of this second Appearance that it was of the Word of the Lord there is a clearer Proof than of the former as the Reader will certainly judge if he considers the Circumstances of this second Appearance and the
Words which God spake to Solomon on this occasion First the time of this Divine Appearance to Solomon was when he had finish'd the building of the House of the Lord 1 Kings ix 1. He had brought the Ark into the most Holy Place even under the Wings of the Cherubims 1 Kings viii 6. The Glory of the Lord had taken possession of this House ver 10 11. and Solomon had made his Prayer and Supplication before it ver 12 61. Thereupon God appears and tells him I have heard thy Prayer and Supplication that thou hast made before me I have hallowed this House which thou hast built ix 3. that is I have taken it for my own to put my name there for ever 1 Chron. vii 12. I have chosen this place to my self for a House of Sacrifice This was a plain declaration from God that it was of this House that he had spoken by Moses in these words Deut. xii 5 11. There shall be a place which the Lord your God shall chuse to place his Name there thither shall you bring all that I command you your Burnt-offerings and your Sacrifices c. Now see how those words of Moses are rendred in Jonathan's Targum on Deuteronomy There will be a place which the Word of the Lord will chuse to place his Shekinah there Thither shall you bring your Offerings c. Here the Reader cannot but see that he that appeared to Solomon and said to him I have chosen this place c. all along in the First Person is the same of whom Moses said all the same things speaking of him in the Third Person And that as it appears in Jonathan's Targum both ver 5. and ver 11. of that Chapter this was no other than the Word according to the mind of the Ancient Jewish Church though in their Targum on 1 Kings ix which also is called Jonathan's but how truly the Reader may see by this Instance there is not the least mention of the Word upon this occasion The Word of the Lord being now in his Resting-place in Solomon's Temple 1 Chron. viii 41. and having put an end to his Theocracy by setting up Kings of Solomon's Race that came in by Hereditary Succession and governed after the manner of the Kings of other Nations after this in the Scripture-History of those Times while the first Temple was standing we read of no more such Divine Appearances as we had formerly There is only one to be excepted namely that which was made to Elias in a small still Voice 1 Kings xix Of which something ought to be said more particularly It may be observed that this was in that part of Israel which had no Communion with the Temple It was in Ahab's time when the Children of Israel had not only cast off the Seed of David but seem'd to have quite forsaken the Covenant which God had made with their Fathers by his Servant Moses To reduce them to their duty God had now sent Elias who was a kind of second Moses God shewed he was so by putting him into so many of Moses his Circumstances After a Fast of Forty Days such as none but Moses had ever kept before him he comes to Horeb the Mount of God 1 Kings xix 8. So called first Exod. iii. i in the History of God's first appearing to Moses in that place And as there ver 6. Moses hid his Face being afraid to look upon God so did Elias in this place 1 Kings xix 13. He wrapt his Face in his Mantle and then God spoke to him as he had done at first unto Moses He that spoke now was the same that spoke then as appears by comparing the Circumstances and he that spoke then was God the Word as we have proved before in this Chapter This must needs have been the Sense of the Ancient Jewish Church And to us Christians it cannot but look very agreeable That as when Moses and Elias were upon the Earth the Word appeared to them and spoke with them on Mount Horeb So when he was made Flesh and dwelt among us Moses and Elias came to him on Mount Tabor and spoke with him at his Transfiguration Of those Appearances of Angels to Elias 1 Kings xix 5 7. 2 Kings i. And of the Angel that made that Slaughter in Sennacherib's Army 2 Kings xix 35. we have no more to say in this place because they seem to have been no other but Created Angels and neither of them is called the Word of the Lord in their Targum But we are concerned for that Vision of God which was seen by the Prophet Micaiah 1 Kings xxii 19. although he doth not say that God appeared to him nor that he saw any thing more of God than a meer resemblance of a King sitting in State which was at that time visibly represented before him For we must take notice of one thing which is of some moment that is that when he saith I saw the Lord sitting on his Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left c. the most Learned Jews conceive that he saw the Shekinah with the Angels of his Attendance and that this Vision of Micaiah is the same which was shewn to Isaiah ch vi and to some other Prophets In the Prophetical Books of Isaiah and Ezekiel there are two Appearances of God or of the Shekinah in his Temple which we are obliged to give some account of And of these as I shall shew we have no reason to doubt but that it was the Word that appeared to those Prophets according to the sense of the ancient Jewish Church First for that in Isai vi 1 c. The Prophet saith I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple above it stood the Cherubims c. crying one to another and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of thy glory and the House was filled with smoke That this House was the Temple is expresly said in the end of the first verse And the smoke was the token of the Shekinah of God with which the Temple was filled now as it was at his first entrance into it 1 King viii 10 11. So that here the Lord sitting upon his Throne was no other than God sitting upon his Mercy-seat over the Ark that is He was the Word of the Lord according to the opinion of the ancient Jewish Church as has been abundantly proved before in this Chapter Of which here is also some remain in their Paraphrase for whereas the Prophet speaking still of the Lord whom he saw sitting on his Throne v. 1. saith v. 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send The Targum thus renders it I heard the Voice of the Word of the Lord saying Whom shall I send We Christians need not thank them for this being fully assured as we are
by the Prophets did assume our flesh Joh. i. 14. The second is that the Jews of old did acknowledge the Messias should be the proper Son of God The last is that the Messias was represented in the Old Testament as being Jehovah that should come and that the ancient Synagogue did believe him to be so I begin with the first of these three Articles And upon this I must put my Reader in mind that it should not be a just subject of admiration if we could not prove such a thing by many of the Jewish Books It is clear that when the Jewish Authors did consider the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they considered him as the true Lord of Heaven and Earth and chiefly of their own Nation Whereas the Messias is often represented to the Prophets as one that should appear in a very mean condition and whatsoever glory is attributed to him in other places of the Ancient Revelation which brought them to believe till the last times that the Shekinah was to be in him there were some Characters which could hardly be applied to him as being Personally the Word himself Such are his Sufferings described Psal xxii and Isa liii Such is his riding upon an Ass and coming to Jerusalem which they refer constantly to the Messias as you may see in their Ceremonial Book or Aggada of Pesach But altho we should suppose that the places we are going to cite cannot expresly convince the Reader of this truth yet we might establish it by necessary consequences from them For example It is universally received that Jacob speaks of the Messiah Gen. xlix 10. Onkelos Paraphrases it the People shall obey him And yet Gen. xlix 24. he makes the Word the Governour of the People The ancient Jews hold that the Word delivered Israel out of Egypt and to the Word they apply all the Appearances ascribed to the Angel of the Lord. Does it not follow from hence that they understood the Messiah by the Word since they confess the Messiah is called the Angel of his Presence Isa lxiii 10. the Angel of the Covenant Mal. iii. 1. which words they refer constantly to the Messias The ancient Jews affirm that it was upon the motion of the Word that their Ancestors were to move and that He ordered them to prepare themselves for a sight of God Onk. on Exod. xix 17. And is not this it which Amos demands of the People with respect to the Messiah ch iv 12. The Jews relate that the Temple was built for the Word as was also the Tabernacle where the Majesty of the Word resided After this whom could they understand but the Word of the Lord of whom Malachy promised that he should come to his Temple chap. iii. 1. which words relate constantly to the Messias The Jews thought him to be the Messias that is spoken of by Zech. ch vi 22. And whom else could they think him but the Word who is named by Zechariah the East and the Sun of Righteousness by Mal. iv 2. Especially since Philo interprets that place of Zechariah of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Confus Linguar p. 278. where he speaks of him as of the first-born of God and of the Creator of the World The Jews held that it is said of the Word God is a consuming fire Onk. on Deut. iv 24. which renders it natural to understand him what is to the same sense spoken of the Messias Mal. iii. 2. iv 1. The Jews believed a promise of the Messias Deut. xviii 15. But Onkelos notes here that the Word shall revenge himself of them that disobey the Messias They maintained with Philo de Agric. p. 152. B. de Somn. p. 267. B. that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the first begotten of God Could they then imagin that any other but he was meant in the places where the like Titles are owned even down to our times to be given the Messias as Psal ii 7. lxxxix 28. lxxii 1. They held as did Philo that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 led the People through the desert and referred to him Psalm xxiv wherein he is called the Shepherd And could they do this without reflecting how often this Title of Shepherd is given by the Prophets to the Messias They held that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was adored in his Appearances to the Patriarchs and could they doubt whether the Messias whom all the Kings of the Earth must adore Psal lxxii 11. had any affinity with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They assert that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the great High Priest Phil. de Somn. p. 463. F. And how could they deny that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be the Messias when they constantly ascribed to the Messias what we read of his Priesthood Psal cx 4. Whom did Isaiah see in that Vision ch vi but the Messiah And yet the Targum there calls him the Word of the Lord. When Isaiah speaks of the Messias ch viii 14. that the Lord shall be a stone of stumbling the Targum reads the Word of the Lord using it as one of the Names of the Messias The like it does on ch xxviii 16. where it is manifest the Messias is spoken of Isaiah saith ch xii 2. Behold God my Saviour I will trust in him Jonathan renders him I will trust in the Word of Salvation i. e. in the Word the Saviour The same Prophet ch xli 4. having called Jehovah the First and the Last he attributes to the Word the Title of Redeemer v. 13 14 16. which Title properly belongs to the Messias And so the whole is applied by Jesus Christ to himself Rev. i. 8 17. xxii 13. God is called Isa xlv 15. the Saviour of Israel and the same thing is said of the Word v. 17 22 24. where the Messias is treated of But I foresee these consequences will not seem strong enough to a Socinian Let us therefore produce out of Philo and the Targums some places where the Notions of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Messias do appear positively the same For Philo 1. He declares that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the first begotten of God in Euseb Praep. vii 13. p. 323. which he had from Prov. viii 25. Psal ii 7. But this proves unanswerably that in the judgment of the Old Jews the Messias should be the same Person with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing the Messias is called the first-born Psal lxxxix 28. 2. He explains the last Zech. vi 12. by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Text runs thus Thus speaks the Lord of Hosts saying behold the man whose name is the Branch or as the Greek has it the East he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord. This is understood by the Jews of the Messias But Philo plainly says that this East here spoken of is the Word the first-born of God the Creator of the World
which God hath founded the Earth as David tells us Psal ciii 24. is the same which is spoken by Solomon Prov. iii. 19. 't is the sense of all the Targums Midrashim and Cabalistic Authors upon the first of Genesis as you see in R. Mardochay and in Menachem de Rakanati upon the 1st of Genesis 2dly They take indifferently this Wisdom and the Shekinah or the Memra or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the same Person referring to it the same Actions the same Power the same Worship the same Majesty 3dly They understand the Wisdom which rules the World as it is said Prov. viii to be the same which is spoken of Prov. iii. 19. and to be the Son of the living God the same who spoke by Ezek. xxii 2. see R. Menach in Pent. fol. 1. col 2. from Bereshit Rabba and from Zohar Ibid. fol. 2. col 1. fol. 35. col 1. fol. 44. col 1. And fourthly They refer many Places to that Wisdom which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shekinah and the Son to the Messias for example it is clear that Psalm xlv belongs to the Messias as being the Bridegroom of the Church Now they suppose that the Shekinah is the Bridegroom of the Synagogue R. Menach in Pent. fol. 15. col 1. and they refer to the Shekinah the place of Isaiah chap. lxii 3. which is nothing but the same Idea of Psalm xlv So they refer the Song of Solomon to the Shekinah or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Menach de Rekan in Pent. fol. 58. col 4. fol. 76. col 1. col 3. which is manifestly to be understood of the Messias and so they pretend that the Kiss which is mentioned there Cant. i. 1. signifies mystically the Shekinah R. Menach fol. 44. col 1. It is notorious that the Goel that famous Redeemer which is promised in so many Prophets to the Synagogue is the Messias Now the constant Idea of the Jewish Writers is that the Shekinah is to be that very Redeemer Rab. Menach de Rekanati in Pent. fol. 58. col 4. fol. 59. col 1. fol. 83. col 4. fol. 97. col 4. So that nothing is more evident than that the Jews who took the Wisdom to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the proper Son of God and look upon the Shekinah or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being to be the Messias must have lookt upon the Messias as being the proper Son of God In Isaiah iv 2. the Messias is called the branch of the Lord no doubt as properly as he is called the branch of David Jerem. xxiii 5. In that day saith he the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious which is in Jonathan's Paraphrase interpreted of the Messias From which it is natural to conclude that the proper Son of God was to be the Messias and the Messias was to be the proper Son of God In Isaiah ix 6 7. we read of a Son given and what are the Characters of this Son they follow His name shall be Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace The Jews long after Christ understood this place of the Messias and Solomon Jarchi who dyed in the Year 1180. is perhaps the first after R. Hillel that fell from the common Traditional Sense of his Nation in referring these Titles to God and not the Messias But I have taken notice before in speaking of the several appearances of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Angel who appeared to Gideon and who was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did take the same name of Wonderful which is given here to the Messias Jeremiah keeps to the same notion of a branch to denote a Son Jerem. xxiii 5. xxxiii 15. and the Targum explains it of the Messias Zachary ch vi 12. doth also call him the branch which not only the Jews before Christ as we have shewn from Philo but those after Christ Echa Rabbathi p. 58. col 2. interpreted of the Messias as being the Word And here let me remark to you a few of Philo's Notions which may serve for a Key to the right understanding of the Sentiments of Philo concerning divers Prophecies in the Old Testament One while he saith Lib. de conf Ling. 267. that God is one but without excluding his Word who is his Image and first-born from being one with him Another time he calls the Word an Archangel a Man he that sees Israel c. Whence comes this but that he saw the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was sometimes represented as Head of the Angels in respect of his Divinity and at other times as a Man with regard to his intended coming in the Flesh To this coming he seems to apply the Promise Levit. xxvi 11 12. I will walk among you and be your God De nom mut p. 840. C. I am sure the later Jews as Ramban upon that place after the Author of Torath Cohanim do build here the opinion of a real habitation of the Divinity amongst them in the times of the Messias and that they derive from one of their most ancient Traditions that the Salvation of Israel shall be made by God himself which they prove by Zech. ix 9. where it is spoken of the Messias by the confession of the Jews till this day Again Philo calls the Word of the Lord the Shepherd and quotes for it Psal xxiii 1. The Lord is my Shepherd De nom mut p. 822. 823. A. De Agric. in Euseb p. 323. Now the Word being the same with the Messias c. 13. it is plain this Psalm was in his days applied to the Messias who consequently is the Lord Jehovah and the people his sheep I have before observed the rules by which the Jews were led to the knowledg of this Truth and therefore it is unnecessary to touch again on them It suffices to remark here first that the Synagogue in Philo's time held it a Maxim that the name Jehovah express'd the Essence of God Philo Lib. Deter pot in s p. 143. C. Secondly that the name Jehovah was the proper name of God the name of the first Cause and consequently communicable to no Creature Philo de Abrahamo p. 280. a Truth of great moment which is confessed also by Manass ben Israel q. in Exod. 3. Thirdly that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he takes to be meant by the Branch in Zech. vi 12. was to become the Messias and therefore that the Messias is justly called in this respect the Son of God And now it is easie to judge of the sense the ancient Synagogue had of the Person of the Messias It acknowledges this Son and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Person subsisting from all Eternity Of this if we had no other the Text of Mic. v. 2. is a good proof which the Jews in Christ's time expounded of the Messias Mat. ii 7. Joh. vii 42. But the Notions of Philo
1. That the Targum plainly owns on Psal xlv 6. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever And ver 7. O God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows That the Messias is God This Truth is yet more clear in Isa ix 6. applied to the Messias by Jonathan and the present Jews cannot satisfie themselves with any answer they make to it as appears by their different ways of evasion and their changing the very Text to avoid the evidence of it 2ly The Targum on Isa xxviii 5. hath these considerable words In that day the Messias of the Lord of Hosts shall be crowned with joy instead of the Lord of Hosts as it is in the Text. 3ly The Targum on Jer. xxiii acknowledges the Messias to be there treated of and yet he is called in this place the Lord of our Righteousness See to the same purpose the Targum on Jer. xxxiii 14. The learned M. Edzardi has proved that the same Interpretation of these words of Jeremy hath continued among the Jews from the time of Jesus Christ without interruption till these latter days and this he hath done from a great number of Jewish Authors and even their Liturgies themselves which I have no mind to transcribe His Book was Printed at Hamburgh A. 1670. 4ly They have been so sensible that the Messias is represented by the Prophets as God that in Psal cx where it is said of the Messias that he shall be a Priest according to the order of Melchisedeck they refer the Priesthood of the Messias to God or to the Shekinah which is Jehovah So doth R. Menach fol. 18. col 1. fol. 31. col 1. Without that it is hard to conceive how Philo should so often mention the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Priest and Prophet of God and at the same time believe the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be God unless he gathered it from Psal cx 1. where the Messias that is represented as sitting at the right hand of God and equal to God is also described as an High Priest of a new Order and from Isa xi 2. where the Messias is promised to receive the Spirit of Prophecy in the highest degree I need not cite the Paraphrasts any further on this Subject What I have already quoted out of them is more than enough to shew how common this Idea was among their Nation For the Jews in the Ages next to these Paraphrases I ought to observe this one thing of Pirke Eliezer ch xiv There they assert that God descended nine times and that the tenth time he shall descend in the Age to come i. e. in the time of the Messias The first time was in the Garden of Eden The second at the Confusion of Tongues The third at the destruction of Sodom The fourth at his talking with Moses on Mount Horeb. The fifth at his appearance on Sinai The sixth and seventh where he spake to Moses in the hollow of the Rock The eighth and ninth in the Tabernacle The tenth will be when he shall appear in the times of the Messias Such is their ancient Opinion The Prophecies that speak of it as one end of the coming of the Messias to judge his People and the Nations do constantly ascribe the Name of God or of Jehovah to the Messias We see it in Psalm lxxxii 8. Arise O God and judge the earth for thou shalt inherit all nations Which is followed by Daniel ch vii 13 14. in these words I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and there was given him dominions and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed The Jews confess three things one is that Psalm lxxii is to be understood of the Messias The second is That in the Vision of Ezech. ch i. that form of a man sitting upon the Throne signifies the true God the third That the Vision of Daniel ch vii is the same in substance with that of Ezek. i. So that the Messias as a Man receives an absolute Empire upon all Nations and sits upon a Throne as God Now it should be the most absurd thing in the World to conceive the Messias as only a Man when he is invested with such an Empire which cannot be governed but by a true God and by Jehovah whose Character is represented so often as the Ruler of all Nations See Gen. xviii 25. The Prophecies that speak of Jehovah as the King and Bridegroom of his Church are constantly interpreted of the Messias For example where God said to his People Hos ii 19 20. I will betroth thee unto me for ever I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. This the Jews generally understand of the Messias 'T is the judgment of R. Menachem in Genes fol. 15. col 1. where he reflects upon Isaiah ch lxii 3. And it is agreeable to what is said Psal xlv 7 9 10 11. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of righteousness thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity wherefore O God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Kings daughters were among thy honourable women upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir Hearken O daughter and consider forget thy own people and thy father's house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him Whereas the Targum v. 2. interprets it all of the Messias so R. Meir Arama says all agree that that Psalm is to be understood of the Messias We cannot have a better proof that the Messias should be Jehovah than Zech. xii 10. which the Targum also interprets of the Messias and the new Jews would refer to the feigned Messias Son of Joseph The words are these I Jehovah will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son In Malach. iii. 1. we find this expression Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger or the Angel of the Covenant whom you delight in Now take notice that whereas it is said after in the Hebrew here he is coming the Greeks have read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now since it is certain that he is the Jehovah to whom the Temple is here said to be built and dedicated and who is
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
who was to make a new Covenant as Jeremiah had foretold chap. xxxi 33. And that he had in him the Authority of a Supream Law-giver For who can give Laws to mens Consciences but the only true God In the Treasury of the Temple he tells the Jews that God was his Father that he did nothing of himself but as his Father had taught him Joh. viii 28. That he had spoke that which he had seen with his Father v. 38. naming thus God his Father many times which no Prophet ever had done nor no meer Man could do without the highest presumption He tells the Jews who objected to him that by saying that they who believed in him should never see death v. 51. he made himself greater than Abraham v. 53. That Abraham had seen his day and was glad v. 56. And as they replied that what he said was impossible because Abraham had been dead many hundred years whereas himself was not yet fifty years old v. 57. he answers with a repeated Asseveration Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I AM v. 58. plainly affirming two things first that he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had appeared to Abraham and secondly that he was God whose name is I AM Exod. iii. 14. which the Jews apprehending took up stones to cast at him v. 59. as a Blasphemer who made himself God and equal with God Soon after he restored sight to one that was born blind and had this confession from him which he had before suggested to him that he was the Son of God and accordingly accepted his Adoration Joh. ix 35 38. He said he was the good Shepherd that he gave his life for the sheep Joh. x. 11. That he had other sheep whom he would bring into his Fold v. 16. that is to say that both Jews and Gentiles belonged to him That he laid down his life for them and that he had power to lay it down and to take it again v. 18. shewing by all these Expressions that he was God and the Messias for the Title of Shepherd is given to God Ps xxiii 1. and in many other places which the Jews understood of the Messias Being in the Temple of Jerusalem at the Feast of the Dedication the Jews desired him to tell them plainly whether he was Christ Joh. x. 24. To whom he answered from v. 25. to v. 37. I told you and ye believed not The works that I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep as I said unto you My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand I and my Father are one Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him Jesus answered them Many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of those works do you stone me The Jews answered him saying For a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy and because thou being a man makest thy self God Jesus answered them Is it not written in your Law I said ye are Gods If he called them Gods unto whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken say ye of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God It may be observed from these last words that having been already accus'd of Blasphemy because he made himself equal with God not only he affirms it still but proves it besides by an Argument from a lesser thing to a greater For says he If God names Magistrates Elohim because they are his Deputies how much more may his Son be called so whom he has consecrated and sent into the World Alluding to the Psalms ii and cx in both which Psalms mention is made of the Messias as the Son of God and God Some days before his Passion he declared that the death of Lazarus had happened that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Joh. xi 4. He affirmed that he had power to raise the dead v. 25. I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And he received Martha's Confession in these words Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world v. 27. Having kept his last Passeover with his Disciples he promised them the Holy Ghost as another Comforter Paraclet or Menahem by which last Name the Jews mean the Messias which shews the Holy Ghost to be another Person He speaks of this very emphatically Joh. xiv 16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not neither knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and shall be in you And again v. 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance And John xv 12 13 14 15. He gives the very same Notion about him which the Jews had He exprest himself so plainly concerning his coming from above that his Disciples had no further doubts or difficulties about it John xvi 27 28 29 30. The Father himself loves you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God I came forth from the Father and am come into the World Again I leave the World and go to the Father His Disciples said unto him Lo now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee By this we believe that thou camest forth from God Finding them so well informed in the space of four years Discipline under him he puts up a Prayer to God in their behalf John xvii 1 2 3 4 5. Father the hour is come glorify thy Son that thy Son may also glorify thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was He could not more clearly express his eternal Pre-existence and shew he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had appeared to Abraham but was before Abraham because he was God As Philo affirms it in divers places which I
have already quoted Being by Judas's Treason apprehended he declared that the Angels were his Ministers had he been pleased to make use of their Service Matt. 26.53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father And he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels For what he said about his asking his Father for them was because he was then in a state of Humiliation He did not ask when he came attended with them at his giving of the Law on Mount Sinai nor when Isaiah saw his Glory in the Temple and heard them sing Holy Holy Holy They were then in their Duty which as the Jews understand their Prophets say is to adore the Messias Being brought before Caiaphas at whose House the Counsel of the Jews was met upon Caiaphas his adjuring him by the living God to tell them whether he was the Christ the Son of God Matth. xxvi 63. Jesus said unto him v. 64. Thou hast said Nevertheless I say unto you Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven Upon which he was condemned to dye as a Blasphemer From whence it appears what notion the Jews had of the Messias And that they believed that Son of man spoken of Dan. vii 13 14. to be the very Son of God who had a second Throne set for him and came with the Clouds of Heaven as God This being the ordinary description the Prophets make of him Being condemned as a Blasphemer for taking the Title of Jehovah and of the Son of God the People by way of mockery called him the King of the Jews the Son of God and Saviour which justified his Pretension Luke xxiii 35 36 37 38. And the people stood beholding and the rulers also with them derided him saying He saved others let him save himself if he be Christ the chosen of God And the Souldiers also said If thou be the King of the Jews save thy self And a superscription was written over him This is the King of the Jews And Matt. xxvii 39 40 41 42 43. They that passed by reviled him saying Save thy self If thou be the Son of God come down from the Cross Likewise also the Chief Priests said He saved others himself he cannot save If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him For he said I am the Son of God He cried upon the Cross with a loud voice Eli Eli Lamma sabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. xxvii 46. These words are the beginning of the 22th Psalm and very agreeable to those words in Psal xlv where he that is God himself or the Psalmist for him does nevertheless call the Father his God saying O God thy God has anointed thee Accordingly the Centurion that guarded him having heard this Cry and also that with which he expired saying Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit said Truly this was the Son of God Mark xiv 39. After his Death his side was run through that the Scripture might be fulfilled Joh. xix 37. relating to that Prophecy Zech. xii 10. which the Ancient Jews understood of the Messias Breshit Rabba on Gen. xxviii and Rabbi Abenezra on this Text. And yet the words of that Prophecy come from the mouth of the Lord Jehovah Zech. xii 1 4. saying I will pour upon the House of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon ME whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only Son Being risen from the Dead the third day as he had foretold the Angel that gave the Women the first news of it called him Lord that is Jehovah Mat. xxviii 6. as the Angel had done who gave the Shepherds the tidings of his Birth Luk. ii 11. Soon after he appeared to his Disciples and did constitute them Heralds of the New Covenant which he had made with Mankind in his Blood of which Covenant Jehovah is said to be the Author Jer. xxxii 40. I will make an everlasting Covenant with them And I will put my fear in their hearts they shall not depart from me Afterwards he did promise to send them the Holy Ghost Luk. xxiv 46 47 48 49. He said to them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preacht in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem And ye are witnesses of these things And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you But tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high Before his Ascension he gave them Symbolically the Holy Ghost which he was to send fully upon them forty days after Joh. xx 22. He breathed on them and said receive the Holy Ghost Thomas not being then present nor believing what others told him that they had seen the Lord Jesus Christ appear'd to him and so throughly satisfied him of the truth of his Resurrection that thereupon he remarkably owned him his Lord and his God v. 28. He bids them Baptize in the Name of the Trinity Mat. xxvii 18 19 20. All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World In which words he visibly relates to many Persons and where he represents himself as the Shekinah that was always with the people under his conduct Being ready to go up into Heaven he received their Adorations Luk. xxiv 51 52. While he blest them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven And they worshipt him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy And St. John declares that the end for which he writ his Gospel was That we might believe that Jesus is Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his Name Joh. xx 31. I thought it necessary thus in short to sum up the chief Particulars which the Four Evangelists have observed about the Life of our Saviour To shew plainly and briefly to the Reader that the Gospel follows the same Notions which the Old Testament had given of the Messias and which the Jews in Christ's days had generally received First That in the Divine Nature there is a Father a Son and a Holy Ghost Secondly That the Son which was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the promised Messias Thirdly That the Holy Ghost was to be given by the Messias and to come being sent both by the Father and the Son as the Son was sent
by the Father to save the World This is a Subject of moment our Adversaries are Men of Parts and Wit And because to rid themselves of all Difficulties in these Mysteries they maintain that the Gospel proposes only this one fundamental Article of Faith That Jesus as man is the Messias It will be convenient to add to what has been observed out of the Gospels some more Observations drawn from the Writings of the Apostles and the first Christian Writers to shew what Notions they had of these things Namely the very same which are exprest in the Gospels and were then acknowledged by the Jews CHAP. XX. That both the Apostles and the first Christians speaking of the Messias did exactly follow the Notions of the Old Jews as the Jews themselves did acknowledge IT being of great moment to shew that the Apostles did not make a new Platform out of their own heads when they Preached the Gospel I will examin several Hypotheses of Philo which the Apostles did follow in their Doctrine and ordinary Expressions when they spoke of our Saviour Jesus Christ Philo maintains that the Ideas of the World were in the Word of God therefore he calls him the Vertue which made the World which came out of the True Good as its Original De Opif. p. 3 4 5. That the World was made by the Word Lib. 2. All. Seq p. 60. and Lib. quod Deus sit Immut p. 255. F. He says he is Sermo omnium artifex Lib. Quis rerum divin haeres p. 388. F. That by it as by an Instrument God made the World Lib. de Cherubim pag. 100. That it is the Word of him who is not begotten which made all things Lib. de Sacr. Abel pag. 109. That he is the Wisdom which created all things and that the Wisdom is the Word manifestly alluding to the 3d. and 8th chap. of Proverbs Lib. de Temul pag. 190. E.F. and pag. 144. B. and Alleg. Lib. 1. pag. 36. F. and de eo quod deterior pag. 128. And these very things are taught by St. Paul Col. ii and Heb. i. and by St. John in the first chap. of his Gospel Philo affirms that the Word of God governs the World Lib. de Cherub p. 87. F. G. Lib. de Agric. pag. 152. And he affirms according to the Notion which Solomon gives Prov. 8. that he presides over the Revolutions which happen in Kingdoms Lib. Quod Deus sit Immut p. 248. And this very thing St. Paul affirms Heb. i. 2 3. where he says he is the heir of all things and upholds all things that is guides and governs them Philo says that the Eternal Word appeared to Abraham Lib. de Sacrif Abel pag. 108. And else where he names that Angel or Word Jehovah Lib. de Confus Ling. pag. 290. In the same sense St. John saith that he was the Eternal Word though made flesh in time chap. i. v. 14. Philo maintains that Wisdom which according to him is the same with the Word was the Rock in the Wilderness Lib. 3. Alleg. Seg. p. 853. A. In the same sense St. Paul affirms that the Rock was Christ 1 Cor. x. 4. Philo saith that it was the Word which appeared to the Jews upon Mount Sinai Lib. de Conf. Ling. pag. 265. D. That God spoke to the Jews when he gave them his Laws Lib. de Migr. Abrah pag. 309. D. E. F. That himself immediately gave his Law Lib. de Decal pag. 576. and 592. And Lib. de Praem p. 705. That he created the Voice which was heard by the Jews Lib. de Decal pag. 577. F. And this very thing St. Paul affirms Heb. xii 25 26. where he supposes that Christ uttered that Voice upon Mount Sinai R. Solomon owns that the Messias is pointed at Psal xxxvi 10. by the Light of which the Psalmist there speaks And Psal cxix 105. Isaias likewise means him ch lx 1. and v. 19 20. he says that the Lord was to be that Light naming him God Micah also ch xii 18. says that the Lord was to be a Light to his people Daniel says ch i. 22. that the Light dwells with God And Malachi ch iv 2. names him the Sun of Righteousness These very Expressions St. John has followed ch 1. because the Messias was to be God indeed because he was that Jehovah who had gone before Israel Exod. xiii 21. whom the Jews affirm to have been the Word as we observed before If any one desires to know how the Apostles came to apply to the Messias those things which the Jews understood of God's Word He may for his satisfaction observe the following things Philo owns that the Word was the Eternal Son of God Lib. Quod Deus sit Immut p. 232. F. G. But withal that this Eternal Word is spoken of Zech. v. 12. Behold the Man whose name is the Branch or the East acccording to the Greek Translation Ibid. He calls him the first-born and the Creator of the World Lib. de Confus Ling. pag. 258. Now the Jews did unanimously understand that place of Zechary of the Messias as appears by their Targum by their most ancient Midrashim and by the consent of the latter Jews as Abarbanel who confutes R. Solomon Jarchi by whom they were applied to Zorobabel This being so what could be more natural for the Apostles than to teach that the Messias was to be that Eternal Word and that that Word was to appear as the true Messias Another Ground upon which they applied to the Messias what the Old Jews understood of the Word was this The Old Jews did own that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which guided the Israelites in the Desert was their Shepherd Philo de Agric. pag. 152. From whence they concluded that the 23d Psalm The Lord is my Shepherd was to be understood of the Messias Phil. de Mutat Nom. pag. 822 823. The Apostles therefore did of course apply to the Word as him who was to be the Messias those Prophesies which mention the Messias as the Shepherd whom God was to send to his people Isa xl 10 11. Jer. xxxi 10. Ezek. xxxiv 11 12. and ch xxxiv 24. Mich. ii 12. Zech. xiii 7. For all these places are understood of the Messias by the Ancient Paraphrases and by the Midrashim The Old Jews did own that that Word was God that he had made the World and that he was to be the promised Messias Upon this Ground the Apostles applied to the Messias those places of the Old Testament which say that Jehovah made Heaven and Earth as St. Paul did Heb. i. where he applys to Jesus Christ as the confessed Messias the words of Psal cii 26. Philo affirms that the Word was the true and Eternal Priest Lib. de Profug pag. 364 365. That it was he that divided the Victims when he appeared to Abraham Lib. Quis divin rerum haer pag. 390. A. 399. and 401. That he is God's Priest Lib. de Somn. p. 463. From this common
to St. Athanasius's meaning Jesus Christ himself speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he saith John v. 8. Ye have not the Word of God remaining in you And 't is true that it cannot be understood of the Law and Prophecy which St. Paul affirms to have been trusted to the Jewish Nation And 't is mighty probable that St. John taking the Shekinah and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the same saith that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an opposition to his Absence from the Jews who had rejected his direction and conduct I answer 3dly That many of the Ancient Doctors of the Church did remark that St. Luke Luk. i. 2. Acts i. and St. Paul Heb. iv 12. used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same sense to denote the Second Person of the Trinity and that therefore it was not peculiar to St. John to do so 4thly I say that the word Davar in the room of which the Jews since the Babylonian Captivity do ever use that of Memra to express the Second Person of the Trinity was in use even in David's time as appears by Psal xxxiii 6. where the LXX have render'd it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Version being common among the Jews and generally received St. John could not use a term more proper to express the Divinity of the Second Person taking our Nature upon him And if it is no matter of wonder that the other Evangelists should give to our Saviour the Name of the Messias or that of the Son of God which were first given him by David it ought to be none that St. John has given him that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which likewise was given him by David and does withal so well express the Author of the Creation who was this very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who said Let such or such a thing be and it was For which reason St. Paul says that God made the Worlds by him Heb. i. 2. and St. Peter 2 Epist chap. iii. 5. where he ascribes the Creation of the World to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word as it is acknowledged by Grotius The reason why St. John is more particular in his Expressions about the Second Person whom he makes to be the Creator of the Worlds and then represents as being made Man was because the other Evangelists had given so full an Account of his Birth and Genealogy and every thing else that was needful to prove the Truth of his Human Nature against the Simoniani and other Hereticks that would make him a Fantasm that this Evangelist found himself obliged to be the more express in asserting his Divinity against the Ebïonites who abused some places of the other Gospels to maintain that Christ was a mere Man and against the Cerinthians who affirmed that the Word was not inseparably united to the Flesh Lastly St. John used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Unity of God tho there be Three Persons in the Divine Nature Therefore he says that the Word was with God and that he was God He observes that Christ said that he was in the Father and the Father in him That he and the Father were one as he had before express'd himself in his first Epist chap. v. 7. These Three are One to shew the Unity of the Divine Monarchy after the manner in which the Jews did apprehend it wherein he was followed by the first Christians Another Objection which seems very plausible and therefore is confidently made by the Socinians is grounded upon those places in the Jewish Writers where they attribute to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is affirmed in Scripture to have been said or done by an Angel in very many Apparitions as Exod. iii. 2. and Acts vii 30. where St. Stephen after Moses affirms that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush In which places of Scripture a created Angel not the Son of God seems to have appeared to Moses Whereas the Jewish Writers take this Angel to have been the Word as I shewed before Which Mistake must invalidate their Testimony in this case Accordingly some Interpreters as Lorinus the Jesuit and others Papists suppose him to have been a created Angel but which represented the Person of the Son of God and therefore acted in his Name and spoke as if he had been the Lord himself This Opinion they ground upon two things First Because he is expresly distinguish'd from the Lord both by Moses and St. Stephen who call him the Angel of the Lord. And Secondly Because the Son of God never took upon him the Nature of Angels as he did that of Men and therefore can't be called by their Name This has been thoroughly considered before to which I might refer the Reader for an Answer But to save him trouble we shall here shew him reason enough to believe that those Texts speak of one that was more than a Creature First Because the Angel is presently named the Lord or Jehovah both by Moses and St. Stephen even as Gen. xxxi the Angel which wrestled with Jacob is called God Secondly Because he declared formally that he was the Lord when he said to Moses I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob which can never be said of a mere Creature under whatsoever Commission or Dignity The Prophets did formerly represent God and they acted as well as spake in his Name but for all this they never spoke as the Angel mentioned by St. Stephen They said barely Thus saith the Lord or Jehovah I am God c. Likewise Christ represented his Father as being his Ambassador and his Deputy and yet he never took the Name of Father We read of many Apparitions of Angels in the New Testament yet no man can pretend to shew that any of them either spoke or acted as God though sent by him and speaking to Men in his Name It had been as absurd and as great a crime for them to have done so as for a Viceroy to tell the People whom he is sent to govern I am your King tho' he does represent the King's Person It is true the Angel mentioned by St. Stephen is named the Angel of the Lord and as true that Christ did not take the nature of Angels on him He did this favour only to Men for them only he humbled himself and was made like them in all things sin excepted and for this reason he is truly named Man and the Son of Man as well as the Son of God For Apostate Angels he forsook them and left them for ever in their Rebellion But it must be observed that the word Angel signifies properly a Messenger and denotes rather the Office than the nature of those blessed Spirits sent forth to Minister And consequently their Name may well be given to the Son of God who ever had the care of the Church committed to him and by whom the Father
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
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
above the Heathens both as to Virtue and Knowledge In which he followed Aristobulus's Notions who had writ long before him and was a Jewish Philosopher And of this Opinion the Jews are to this day as may be seen in Cozri p. 29 and p. 131. And as the Egyptians lookt upon the Greeks as Children in learning which they were fain to fetch from Egypt so Philo calls often the Egyptians even of the most ancient times a heavy People and who wanted common Sense by reason of the many gross Errors they entertain'd unworthy of rational Creatures In a word I affirm that if Plato had any distinct Notions in Religion he most certainly had them from the Jews while he sojourned in Egypt as it is maintained by Josephus in his first Book against Appion As for the Chaldee Paraphrasts I do not see how they can be suspected to have had a Tincture of Plato's Doctrine It must be a mere Fancy to suppose it Let those Gentlemen read exactly the Books of Philo and find therein if they can such an Expression as we have in the Targum upon Hag. ii 4 5. I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts with the Word which covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt and my Spirit which abideth in the midst of you M. N. hath been sensible of that and therefore he does not accuse them of having been Platonists but he accuses the Orthodox Christians in general to have inserted in the Jewish Books whatever in them is favourable to the Doctrines of the Trinity and of the Divinity of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But certainly the Unitarians must have very little Correspondence with the Jews to fancy that they are so simple as to be thus abused How can it be imagined that the Jews should be such Friends to Christians as to trust them with their Books in order to falsify them And afterwards so sottish as to spread every where their Books and their Targums which they falsified This Supposition is so ridiculous that I cannot imagine how any Author can write such a thing or even conceive and suppose it What I said of the Gospel Notions in the 15th Chapter shews plainly that neither Christ nor his Apostles did adopt the System of Philosophy which was taught by the Platonists The Angel who declared his Conception used the word Lord or Jehovah to denote his being God But when he named him Jesus because he was to save his People from their sins which no other could do but God he intimated that it was he who was foretold not by Plato but by Habakkuk chap. iii. 8 13 18. I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation In which place the Prophet expresly calls God Saviour or Jesus by which Name Christ by Divine Appointment was named In short a man must be out of his Senses to find any thing in the Gospel that savours of Plato's Hypothesis When the Devils own Christ to be the Son of God were they Platonists When St. Peter owns him to be the Son of God had Plato told him this When he was ask'd in the Council of the Jews whether he was the Son of God was the question made in a Platonick sense It is true St. Paul has sometimes quoted Heathenish Authors he was brought up at Tarsus amongst Heathens he had read Aratus whom he quotes against the Epicurean Philosophers at Athens and he quotes a place out of the Cretan Epimenides in his Epistle to Titus who was Bishop of Crete But we never find that he quoted Plato or used his Testimony Christ chose illiterate men for his Apostles St. John who speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been a Fisherman about the Lake of Tiberias St. Paul only and St. Luke were Scholars St. Paul was brought up under Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law and St. Luke who had been a Physician and was a Learned Man followed St. Paul in his Travels and by his directions writ his Gospel But it does not appear that our Saviour taught his ignorant Disciples the Notions of Plato nor that the Learned ones as St. Paul and St. Luke ever used Plato's Authority in their Preaching This appears plainly in the Book of the Acts in which St. Luke gives an account of it If at any time St. Paul had a fair opportunity to make use of Plato's Testimony it was when he disputed at Athens against the Stoicks and the Epicureans These last laughing at Miracles St. Paul wrought none there to convince them But he might have quoted places out of Plato's Republick to prove the Resurrection and a Judgment in the Life to come yet he quotes never an Author and was contented to argue the Case by strength of Reason and this he did with that force that he converted one of the Judges of Areopagus who probably was an Epicurean and knew what Plato said in his Books and did laugh at it This Method of the Apostles was followed by the first Christians Plato was not mentioned amongst them till some Philosophers turned Christians Justin Martyr amongst others This Justin scorned all other Philosophers as mean-spirited Teachers but commended Plato as being one of a great Genius that made him think of God and the Immortality of the Soul in a more elevated manner than other Philosophers But when all is done How much did he value Plato But indifferently He declares that it was from the Gospel together with the Law and the Prophets that he had the true Notions of the Christian Religion He quotes Plato neither against the Heathens nor against the Jews If we had the Book he writ against Marcion who out of Plato's Writings had broach'd his detestable Opinions we might very probably have seen how little he valued Plato's Authority Tertullian who had read Justin's Book and who saw that both the Gnosticks and the Valentinians made much of Plato's Authority shews plainly how little he valued Plato when he says he was grown omnium haereticorum condimentarium the sawce which all Hereticks used to propagate their Doctrines by which they corrupted the Purity of the Christian Religion And much the same Opinion of Plato had they that opposed the Arian Heresy of which it is thought Origen was the first Broacher However I aver First That the first Christians were no more Platonists than the Jews that is did not use Plato's Notions in their System of Divinity They were so far from it that they declared that what they believed about the Trinity they had it from the Holy Writers Justin Apol. 2. Athenagoras p. 8 9. Theophilus of Antioch p. 100. Secondly It is false that any of the Ancient Christians made any other use of Plato than by shewing that Plato had borrowed from Moses the Doctrine he taught Justin in his Exhortation to the Greeks p. 18 22 24. Clemens of Alexandria Strom. l. 4. p. 517. and l. 5. p. 598. Paedag. l. 1. c. 6. Origen against Celsus l.
1. p. 16. l. 4. p. 198. l. 6. p. 275 279 308. l. 7. p. 351 and 371. Thirdly The very Heathen Authors own that Plato borrowed his Notions from Moses as Numenius who as Theodoret tells us did acknowledge that Plato had learnt in Egypt the Doctrine of the Hebrews during his stay there for 13 years Theod. Serm. 1. If any of the Ancient Fathers have quoted any thing out of Plato concerning the Trinity they look'd upon it not as Plato's Invention but as a Doctrine which he had either from Moses or from those who had it from him Not to say That in what manner soever Plato proposed this Doctrine it is much at one For his Notions about it are not very exact and no wonder since it was natural enough for a Greek to mix fabulous Notions with what he had from others and they to adulterate it The truth which we profess and draw from a Divine Original in this matter is not at all concerned with Plato's Visions And yet since the Notion of the Trinity could not possibly be framed by any mortal Man Two considerable Uses may be made of Plato's Notion about it First To shew That this Doctrine is not of Justin Martyr's Invention since Plato who lived five hundred Years before Justin had scattered some Notions of it in his Books which he had probably learned from the Jews or from some other Philosophers who conversed with the Jews And Secondly To make Men sensible that the greatest Scholars among the Heathens did not find so many Absurdities in it as the now Socinians do There is an Objection of greater moment than all the Objections which the Unitarian Authors can oppose to my using the Authority of the Judgment of the Old Synagogue and I will not dissemble it although they have not been sensible of it It is the Authority of St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy and Titus where he rejects with an abhorrence the Jewish Fables and Genealogies as the fruits of the falsly named Knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. vi 20 21. which he compares with a Cancer I acknowledg freely that Ireneus Lib. 1. c. 20. and Tertul. adv Valentin understood those expressions of St. Paul against the Gnosticks of their time who were come from Simon Magus And I acknowledge with Grotius upon 1 Tim. i. 4. that by those infinite Genealogies which are spoken of by St. Paul as coming from a vain Philosophy and controverted by some of the Heretick Jews Saint Paul had a mind to speak against several Notions of the then new Jewish Cabbala which was in truth a mixture of the true Tradition of the Synagogue and of the Notions of the Platonists and Pythagoreans who had borrowed their Notions from the Egyptians And I will not insist now too much upon the judgment of those who think probably enough that the Egyptians had borrowed their Notions from the Jews But after all I maintain that this Objection against this part of the new Jewish Cabala which I mention as having such an impure birth and having been corrupted amongst the Jews doth not abate the authority of the proofs of the Trinity and of the Notions of the Messias which I have brought from all the Jewish Writers and which hath nothing common with those innumerable aeones which are mention'd by Ireneus and Tertullian as received by the Valentinians and which the Apostle St. Paul hath condemned in some of the Doctors of the Synagogue Let us suppose that there had been in the Body of the Synagogue before Jesus Christ some Sadducees and some Baithusaei whose Birth the Jews say was as old as that of the Sadducees but who seem not so ancient but to have their Origin from one Simon Boethus an Alexandrian Jew mentioned by Josephus Let us suppose that from the time of the Persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes some amongst the Jews had adopted some Platonick or Pythagorean Notions What is that to the Body of the Jewish Nation which was not included in Palestina or Egypt but spread every where To the contrary I maintain justly that when Saint Paul condemns the Jewish Genealogies he confirms all my Proofs from the Jewish Writers who did not ground their Ideas upon the Doctrine of Pythagoras or Plato but upon the Text of the Old Testament When St. Paul hath used the same Notions which are in the Apocryphal Books in Philo and in the Chaldee Paraphrases which no body accuses to have used those foolish Genealogies which were found amongst the Valentinians and are to be found now amongst some of the Cabbalists he hath secured my Argument taken from the pure Traditional Exposition of the Ancient Jews this is all I have a mind to contend for in this matter leaving those Cabbalists who have mixed some heathenish Notions with the Ancient Divinity of the Fathers to shift for themselves and being not concerned in all their other Speculations although since they have quite forgot this impure Origin they have very much laboured to uphold them upon some Texts of Scripture but not well understood and taken in another sense CHAP. XXIV An Answer to some Objections of the Modern Jews and of the Unitarians THAT the Reader may be fully satisfied of the Truth which I have asserted by so many proofs taken out of the Apocryphal Books of the Chaldee Paraphrasts and out of Philo the most ancient Jewish Author we have as to expounding the Scripture I must solve some difficulties made by the Modern Jews and Socinians about the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequent amongst the ancient Interpreters of Scripture Moses Maimonides who lived about the end of the Twelfth Century affirms that the word Memra which in Chaldaick is the same as that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek was made use of by the ancient Paraphrasts on purpose to prevent Peoples thinking God had a Body More Nevoch Lib. 1. c. 21. He says also that for the same reason they often used the words Jekara Glory Shekinah Majesty or habitation But he does manifestly wrong them For if it had been so they would have used that caution on other occasions whereas they often render places of Scripture where mention is made only of the Lord by these words before the face of the Lord which are apt to make people fancy God as being Corporeal Besides if what he says were true they would have used the same caution where ever the Notion of his being Corporeal might be attributed to God But it is certain that in many places as apt to give that Notion of God they do not use the word Memra or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as certain that in many others they use it where there is no danger of fancying God as having a Body As Gen. xx 21. Exod. ii 25. Exod. vi 8. Exod. xix 17. Lev. xxvi 46. Numb xi 20. Numb xxiii 21. and in many more quoted by Rittangel on Jetzira pag. 96. and in his Book Libra
Veritatis Besides it is so palpable that the ancient Jews particularly Philo have given the Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being a Divine Person that Maimonides his answer can be no other than an Evasion Nay it is observable that the word Davar which in Hebrew signifies Word is sometimes explained by that which is a true Person in the Books of the Old Jewish Authors who lived since Christ even in those whose authority Maimonides does acknowledge One of their ancient Books namely R. Akiba's Letters has these words on the Letter Gimel God said Thy Word is setled for ever in Heaven and this Word signifies nothing else but the healing Angel as it is written Psal cvii. 20. He sent his Word and he healed them He must needs mean a Person namely an Angel though perhaps he might mistake him for a created Angel Lastly The Notion which Maimonides does suggest can never be applied to Psal cx 1. which is thus rendred by the Paraphrast The Lord said to his Word where the Word does manifestly denote the Messias as the ancient Jews did fairly acknowledge It is true that in the common Edition that place of the Targum is rendered thus The Lord said in his Word or by his Word but it is a poor shift For in his Word does certainly signifie to his Word or of his Word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Chaldeans having naturally that double signification as appears from many places Thus it signifies concerning or of Deut. vi 7. Jer. xxxi 20. Cant. viii 8. Job xix 18. Psal l. 20. It signifies to in Hos i. 2. Hab. ii 1. Zech. i. 4 9 13 14. Numb xii 2 6. 1 Sam. xxv 39. You may to this observation about Psal cx 1. add that of the Text of Jonathan's Targum on Isa xxviii 5. where the Messias is named in the room of the Lord of Hosts The second Evasion used by Moses Maimonides is More Nevoch pag. 1. c. 23. where he tells us in what sense Isaiah said that God comes out of his place namely that God does manifest his Word which before was hidden from us For says he all that is created by God is said to be created by his Word as Psal xxxiii By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the breath of his mouth By a comparison taken from Kings who do what they have a mind to by their word as by an Instrument For God needs no Instrument to work by but he works by his bare Will neither has he any Word properly so called Thus far Maimonides But it is not true as I shewed before that the Word in the Chaldee Paraphrase signifies no more than the manifestation of the Will of God I have quoted so many places out of the Apocryphal Books out of Philo and out of the Paraphrase it self which shew the contrary that Maimonides is not to be believed upon his bare word against so many formal proofs It is not true neither that Psal xxxiii 6. expresses only the bare act of the Will of God as Maimonides does suppose I shewed before that the great Authors of the Jewish Traditions which Maimonides was to follow when he writ his More Nevochim give another sense to those words and do acknowledge that they do establish the Personality of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Holy Ghost which they do express by the second and third Sephira or Emanation in the Divine Essence That which made Maimonides stumble was that he believed that Christians made the Word to be an Instrument different from God which is very far from their opinion For they do as well as Philo apprehend the Word as a Person distinct from the Father but not of a different nature from his but having the same Will and Operation common to him and the Father and this they have by Divine Revelation A famous Socinian whom I mentioned already being hard put to it by the Authority of the Targums has endeavoured in a Tract which he writ and which has this Title Disceptatio de Verbo vel Sermone Dei cujus creberrima fit mentio apud Paraphrast as Chaldaeos Jonathan Onkelos Targum Hierosolymitanum to shake it off by boldly affirming that the Word of the Lord is barely used by them to express the following things The Decree of God His Commands His inward Deliberation His Promise His Covenant and his Oath to the Israelites His design to punish or to do good A Prophetick Revelation The Providence which protected good Men. In short the Word by which God does promise or threaten and declare what he is resolved to do Of which the said Author pretendeth to give many instances I have already proved how false this is what that Author so positively affirms that the term Word is never found to be used by the Paraphrasts to denote a Person The very place which I just now quoted out of R. Akiba's Alphabet were enough to confute him I need not repeat neither what I said that supposing all were true which he affirms of the use of the word Memra in the Paraphrasts yet he could not but acknowledge that Philo gives quite another Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as of a real Person in which he visibly follows the Author of the Book of Wisdom The Unitarians of this Kingdom do for that reason reject Philo's Works as being Supposititious and written after our Saviour's time I say therefore that the sense which he puts upon the Targums is very far from the true meaning of the words which they use when they speak of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in many places I shall not examine whether in any place of the Targums the word Memra is used instead of that of Davar which in Hebrew signifies the Word or Command of God Rittangel positively denies it And the truth is that the Targums commonly render the word Davar by Pitgama and not by Memra To be fully satisfied of it one needs but take an Hebrew Concordance upon the word Davar and search whether the Paraphrasts ever rendered it by Memra But supposing Rittangel should deny the thing too positively however the Targumists do so exactly distinguish the Word when they mention him as a Divine Person that it is impossible to mistake him in all places by putting upon them those senses which the Socinian Author endeavours to affix to them that he may destroy the Notion which they give of the Word as being a Divine Person And though I have already alledged many proofs of it yet this being a matter of great moment I will again briefly speak to it to confute that Author and those who shall borrow his Arguments Let an impartial Reader judge whether any of the Socinian Author's senses can be applied to the word Memra in Onkelos his Targum Gen. iii. 8. They heard the voice of the Word of the Lord. And Gen. xv 1 5 9.
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
than he usually rendered which yet he did for great reasons One great Objection of the Socinian Author which he much insists upon is that the Christians never quoted the Authority of the Targum against the Jews before Galatinus who lived at the beginning of the 16th Century But that since him Heinsius Vechnerus and some others followed him in that fancy Supposing this to be true I cannot see what advantage it would be to him Put case the Ancients were not capable Scholars enough to peruse the Jewish Books can this ever prejudice truth And ought not they to be received how late soever they come by whose care soever they be vindicated and asserted But it is absolutely false that Christians before Galatinus have nothing of the Jewish Opinions about this matter I shewed in the vii Chap. of this Book that Ribera and others which would have these Paraphrases to be written after St. Jerome are much mistaken And consequently this Socinian Author who followed them and Vorstius in his Notes on Tsemach David was also mistaken about the Antiquity of the Targums But our Socinian says if they are so ancient how comes it to pass that they have not been quoted by the Christians that disputed against the Jews in ancienter Times They were very few of ancient Christians that writ upon these matters And of them yet fewer understood the Chaldee or even the Hebrew Tongue most of them rested upon the Authority of Philo of the Book of Wisdom and of other Authors who were famous among the Jews before Christ and who had writ full enough upon this Subject as may be seen by what Eusebius quotes out of them And no doubt those places of Philo and those other Jewish Writers were well known to Clemens of Alexandria and to Origen whose Work Eusebius much followed as appears by reading his Books and as he himself does acknowledge The Socinian Author affirms too positively that Galatinus is the first that used that Authority of the Targums He must not suppose a thing which is absolutely false Origin lib. 4. in Celsum speaks of a Dispute between Jason and Papiscus in which saith Origin Christianus ex Judaicis Scriptoribus cum Judaeo describitur disputans plane demonstrans quae de Christo extant vaticinia Jesu ipsi congruere c. What were those Writings of the Jews but the Targums who had translated Becocma for Breschith according to the Jewish Notion which I have explained so many times and for which St. Jerome reflects upon Jason who hath quoted the Targums as if he hath read them in Hebrew Besides it appears by Justin the Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho That in his time some Jews had already endeavoured to invalidate the Proofs taken out of Scripture in their so frequent Stile about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we see them in the Targums For Justin undertakes to prove that the Word is not barely an Attribute in God nor an Angel but a Person and a true Principle of Action And this he proves by his Apparitions and by other Characters and Signs of a real Person such as are his executing his Father's Counsels his being his Off-spring and his Son properly so called Here I must add one thing which is that St. Jerome hath express'd the Sense of the Targum in many places especially upon the Prophets which Sense he had no doubt from the learned Jews whom he had consulted and they from the Targums I confess that Jerome never made his business to write against the Jews nor did any other Christian that was ever able to make use of the Targums Some indeed of the Fathers took the pains to learn Hebrew because the Old Testament was writ in that Language but those were very few and none of them ever troubled himself with the Chaldee St. Jerome himself how skilful soever in the Hebrew understood not the Chaldee as appears by his Writings The first that set himself to beat the Jews with their own Weapons was Raimundus Martini a convert Jew who lived about the Year of Christ 1260. He writ a Book against them call'd Pugio Fidei which shews he had well studied their Rabbins and he makes use of their Targums to very good purpose Out of this Book there was another compos'd and call'd Victoria adversus Judaeos by Porchetus Salvaticus that is said to have lived in the next Century Neither of their Books was much considered in those ignorant times wherein they lived So that when Learning came more in request one might venture to make use of their labours and set them forth as his own with little danger of being discover'd This very thing was done by Galatinus who lived about the end of the Fifteenth Century He did with great Impudence almost transcribe his Notions and the Arguments against the Jews out of that Work of Porchetus without so much as mentioning his Name That Socinian mentions the Pugio in the close of that Book against Vechner by which it may be supposed he read that Book of Raimundus above mentioned Which if he did and consider'd it with Galatinus he could not but see that this Work of Galatinus was as to the main of it a Stream from that Fountain of Raimund's Pugio And if he saw it he did very disingenuously in making Galatinus the first among Christians that made use of the Jewish Notions The last Objection of the Unitarians against what I have proved about the Word's being a Person from the consent of the Chaldee Paraphrases when they speak of the Memra of the Lord and his Actions is made by the same Socinian Author who affirms that in the Targums the Memra implies no more than that God works by himself because the word Memra is used of Men as well as of God I will not deny but that here and there in the Targums the word Memra has that Sense as Hacspan well observes in his Notes on Psalm cx and produces many Instances of it to which many more might be added But when all is done this Objection much the same with that of Moses Maimonides can't absolutely take away that force of those Texts where the Memra is used of God and to be satisfied of this it is but making the following Reflexions First That Philo one of the most famous Jews of Egypt very well apprehended and clearly declared That by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers to the Hebrew Memra the old Jews understood a real Principle of Action such as we call a Person Secondly That the Jewish Authors more ancient than Philo had the very same Notion of it as may be seen in the Book of Baruch and in that of Wisdom the Notions of which Philo has clearly followed in his Book de Agric. apud Euseb de Proepar Evang. pag. 323. And Lastly That even since Christ the Cabalistical Authors followed and to this day do follow the same Notion making use of those places where the Memra and the Cochma that is
Magog with the Kingdoms of the North shall come to attack the Jews in Palestine but he and they shall be destroyed by Rain and Hail after which the Land shall be purged of the dead Bodies and they shall build the Third Temple and then the Ten Tribes shall return and offer Sacrifices to God in the Temple and God shall pour out his Spirit on all Israel and make them Prophets as Joel hath foretold chap. xi 28. This is the Notion in short of the Two Messias's which R. Meyr Aldabi gives us in his Book Intituled Sevile Emuna ch 10. p. 123. But it is certain 1. the ancient Jews knew but of one Messias Trypho knew not of two as we see in Justin Martyr's Dialogue which is a clear proof that those passages of the Targum which speak of two Messias's are Additions to the ancient Text made since the Jews invented the conceit of a double Messias 2. It is certain the Talmudists did not believe firmly the Return of the Ten Tribes Tr. Sanh c. 10. § 3. Some did hope for it as doth also R. Eliezer Massech Sanh c. 30. § 3. But R. Akiba was of quite another opinion And yet their Posterity hath been so much inclined for R. Eliezer his opinion that one of their greatest Objections against Jesus being the Messias is this that if he had been the Messias he would have gathered the Ten Tribes 3. Their confining of the Messias's Reign to forty years is contrary to the opinion of their Fathers who held that the Messias should reign for ever Some afterward thought that he was to reign forty years others that he was to reign seventy years as you see in the Gemara of Sanhedrim ch 11. fol. 97. col 2. 4. They suppose now that the Messias shall build a third Temple Whereas Haggai describing the second Temple as that under which the Messias should appear expresly calls it the last Hag. ii 9. And this R. David Kimchi and R. Azariah and the Talmud of Jerusalem Megillah fol. 72. col 4. The Talmud of Babylon Tit. Baba batra fol. 3. col 1. and several others do acknowledg Though some few suppose Haggai's Prophecy to have reference to a third Temple See Abarbanel Men. ben Israel on Hagg. 5. It is the remark of one of the most celebrated Authors of the Talmud and received amongst the other Jews that all the times noted by the Prophets for the coming of the Messias are past Dixit Rav Omnes termini de adventu Messiae transierunt nec jam remanet nisi in conversione si Israel convertatur redimetur quod si non convertatur non redimetur Since that they have been forced to quit that miserable shift and now they maintain that all the Promises of the coming of the Messias were conditional and that he shall come when his People the Jews shall be by Repentance prepared to receive him Manas Ben. Isr q. 27. on Es And yet the Ancient in the same place before did affirm that the Messias must come in the most corrupt Age fol. 97. col 1. To be a little more particular the Jews did maintain that all the Prophets spoke of the Messias See Bethlem Juda in the word Goel At present they dispute almost every Text that we urge for the Messias so that instead of convincing them we can only shame them by laying before them the Authorities of their Fathers who understood these Texts in the same sense that the Apostles did The Modern Jews are very sensible of the Notion of a Plurality of Persons in the words Let us make Man after our Image Gen. i. Some of them therefore are for changing the reading and instead of Let Us make Man would have it Let Man be made though the Samaritan Text the Old Seventy Version and the Talmudists and all their Ancient and Modern Translations read as we do See Aben Ezra on the place and R. David Kimchi in Michlol p. 9. They will scarcely allow the Messias to be spoken of in Gen. iii. 15. Although Jonathan's Targum and that of Jerusalem do clearly understand it of the Messias The Old Jews affirmed that the Angel who appeared Gen. xix and in other places and who is called the Lord was as I have before shewed the Word of the Lord but many of their Disciples do say it was a created Angel as we learn from R. Shem Tov in his Book Emun Men. ben Israel q. 64. on Genesis Such a thing cannot be done but by an extream impudence since we see that they profess just the contrary in their own Prayers where you read in their Office of Pesach And he brought us out of Egypt Not say they by the hand of an Angel neither by the hand of a Seraphim nor by the hand of an Envoy but the Holy Blessed by his Glory and by himself as the Scripture saith Exod. xii 12. And so there they refer almost all the appearances of the Angel of the Lord to God himself exclusively to any created Angel And such are those Appearances Gen. xiv 15. Gen. xx 6. Gen. xxxi 24. Gen. xxxii 24. where they say that Israel wrestled with God Exod. xii 29 c. The present Jews are not for applying the Text Gen. xlix 10. to the Messias but some refer the words to Moses himself as R. Bechay others to David others to Ahijah the Shilonite and others to Nebuchadnezzar Notwithstanding both Jonathan's and the Jerusalem Targum note expresly this Prophecy to be spoken of the Messias And thus in the same Text the Scepter there spoken of was explained in the Old Talmudists by Power and Dominion which should not depart from Judah till the coming of the Messias Though now among some of the Modern Jews it signifies only Affliction and Calamities R. Joel aben Sueb At this day the Jews do obstinately deny any Promise to be made of the Messias Deut. xviii 18 19. And some of them will have it spoken of Joshua some of David So the Author of Midrash Tehil in Psal i. and some of Jeremy But it is visible that in and before the times of Jesus Christ they were of another opinion as may be gathered from 1 Mâ—c xiv 41. and is clear from what the multitude say Joh. vi 14. This is that Prophet who was to come into the world See also Luc. vii 16. Joh. i. 19. Mat. xxi It was not questioned in St. Paul's time whether the 2d Psalm did relate to the Messias else St. Paul could not have applied it to Christ as he doth Act. xiii 33. nor was it questioned for some Ages after the Talmudical Doctors agreeing to it You see that in the Gemara of Succoth c. 5. in Jalkuth in Psal ii in Midrash Tehillim But their new Expositors have done their utmost to make it belong to David only or to apply these words Thou art my Son Psal ii to the People of Israel So doth R. Mose Israel Mercadon upon that Psalm in his
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
him or which may not from the circumstances of the Text be well explained otherwise This is his Position in examination of Gen. xlix 10. where he doth his utmost to evade the Text v. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah c. 3. He looks on the Article of the Messias's Coming to be a matter of that small importance to the Jews that he leaves it doubtful whether the Messias be come since the time of Onkelos their famous Paraphrast who expresses his expectation of this Promise in many places of the Books of Moses and if he be not already come whether he shall come in the Glory of the Clouds of Heaven or whether he shall come poor and riding on an Ass and because of Men's sins not distributing those great Blessings promised at his Coming nor Men on the other hand regarding him as the Messias Certainly R. Lipman in his Nitzachon where he examines the above mentioned Text Gen. xlix 10. advances a Rule which quite overthrows all Proofs from the Holy Scripture This Rabin seeing the Jews give such opposite Interpretations of Jacob's Prophecy concerning the Scepter 's continuance in Judah as were impossible to be reconciled some understanding Empire by the Scepter and some Slavery and oppression he lays this down for a Maxim That the Law was capable of divers Explications and all of them though never so incompatible and contradictory were nevertheless the words of the Living God This is very near the Sentiment of R. Menasseh Ben Israel in his Questions on Genesis where he collects the several Jewish Expositions of this Text. But granting this once for a Principle it is in vain to consult the Scriptures or to think of ever discovering the meaning of them The sense of them must absolutely depend on the Authority of the Rabins and what they teach must be all equally received as the Word of God though they teach things contradictory to one another Such Positions put one to a loss whether their blindness or their spite is therein most to be pitied CHAP. XXVII That the Unitarians in opposing the Doctrines of the Trinity and our Lord's Divinity do go much further than the Modern Jews and that they are not fit persons to convert the Jews WHAT I have observed of the alteration made by the Modern Jews in their Belief is enough to shew that they were forced to adopt new Notions because of the evident Proofs drawn from the Opinions of their Ancestors which the Christians used against them The very same prevarication may be charged on the Socinians in their Explications of those places of Scripture that prove the Blessed Trinity and the Divinity of our Saviour And 1st They have borrowed many of the Jews answers to the Christians and often carried them much further than the Jews themselves did intend them 2dly They have invented the way of accommodation for the evading of those Quotations in the New Testament that are taken out of the Old Testament as finding this the most effectual means to escape those difficulties which they can no other way resolve 3dly The Unitarians especially those of England to make short work do not stick to assert that the Christians have foisted those Texts into the Gospel which speak of the Trinity and the Divinity of our Lord. It is fit I should give particular Instances of each of these in proof of what I say Smalcius * De Divin Chr. c. 10. maintains in the general That the Books of the Old Testament are of little use for the Conversion of the Jews He gives this reason for it That almost all that which is said to be spoken of the Messias in the Old Testament must be interpreted mystically before it can appear to be spoken of him and by consequence very remotely from what the words do naturally signify Then in particular When we would prove a Plurality of Persons in the Deity against the Jews from those Expressions of Scripture that speak of God in the Plural Number although the Jews as you may see in their Comments on Gen. i. 26. xi 7. and especially on Isa vi 8. are forced to own that a Plurality is imported in those Expressions and therefore pretend that the Number is Plural because God speaks of himself and the Angels his Counsellors yet the Socinians as Enjedinus witnesses for them do deny that these Plural Expressions do denote any Plurality in the Deity no more than Expressions in the Singular Number do As for Socinus he solves it by a Figure by which as he saith a single Person speaks plurally when he excites himself to do any thing A Figure of which we have no Example in the Writings of the Old Testament Socinus has followed the Jews Evasion on the words Gen. iii. 22. Behold the Man is as one of Us in maintaining that God does herein speak of himself and of the Angels And Smalcius has followed him in this Solution The very same Eplication they give of the words Gen. xi 7. Let us go down and confound their Language borrowing entirely the Subterfuge of the Jews who at this day teach that God spoke it to the Angels Crellius on Gal. iii. 8. espouses the Jewish Sense of the Text Gen. xii 3. In thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed by which he overthrows the force of St. Paul's Citation and makes it nothing to the purpose He supposes that St. Paul did herein allude only to the Passage in Genesis but on the contrary it appears that he followed the Literal Sense as we have it Gen. xii 3. xviii 18. xxii 18. xxvi 4. xxviii 14. and as the Ancient Cabalists do acknowledge at large in Reuchlin L. 1. Smalcius ch 2. Ib. asserts That the Promise of the Seed of the Woman Gen. iii. 5. can very hardly be understood of the Messias And yet the Ancient Jews acknowledged it in their Targum of Jerusalem and by the Cabalists Tikunzoh 21. fol. 52. col 2. Bachaie fol. 13. col 3. in Gen. Schlichtingius affirms that Psal xlv does literally relate to Solomon and that this is its first and principal sense Altho the Ancient Jews do all agree that it treats of the Messias and cannot be understood of Solomon Socinus persuading himself that St. Paul cites Heb. i. 6. from Psal xcvii 8. And let all the Angels of God worship him does maintain that he cites it in the mystical Sense because Jesus Christ could not be adored by the Angels before he was advanced to be their Head And yet the Jews of old did refer it to the Messias adding these words in the end of Moses's Song Deut. xxxii as we see there in the LXX Version from whence it was indeed that St. Paul took the words in Heb. i. 6. Again Socinus to rid himself of Psal xxiv where according to the Ancient Jews Opinion the Messias is spoken of does pretend that the Messias is not meant here in this Psalm or at least he is
described only as the Messenger of God A Salvo as ridiculous as his Answer For most of the Characters and Works of God are ascribed to him that is there spoken of and he is expresly called the Lord of Hosts But this is not all For our Socinians not only follow the Jews but exceed them in the bold ways they take to get over those Authorities which make against them Because that the words of Psal xl 7. Thou hast bored my ears are cited by St. Paul in this manner A Body hast thou prepared me Heb. x. 5. who follows herein the LXX Text which thus paraphrases the Psalmist's words from thence Enjedinus takes occasion to accuse the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews for not having cited the Original and to traduce him as an Apocryphal Writer They go further than the Jews do on Psal xlv 6. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever A Text cited by St. Paul and applied to Jesus Christ Heb. i. 7 8. The LXX translate it as we do But the Jews have tried all ways to deliver themselves of this Authority which proves so evidently that the Messias is God As for Socinus he pretends to reject the Jews Solutions But his Disciples have invented another which is worse than that of the Jews as may be seen in Enjedinus and Ostorodius Psalm xc throughout relates to the Messias Jesus Christ applies it to himself Matth. xxii and from thence proves that he is David's Lord although he is the Son of David But Enjedinus refutes this Argument of Jesus Christ And Schlichtingius treats it as absurd This is a thing that deserves to be reflected on because these Gentlemen pretend that among them only true Christianity is continued The like way they take to answer what the Apostle saith of Christ's creating the Heavens and the Earth Heb. i. 10 11. and his Proof of it from Psal cii 27 28. And with the same Impudence do they elude the Citation from Psal cxviii 22. which is quoted Mat. xxi 42. Altho R. D. Kimchi among other Jews refers it to the Messias It is strange to see how they take the Jews part in explaining as they do Isa vii 14. A Virgin that is say they a Prophetess Crell on Matt. i. The only reason of this Explication is the word Immanuel which there follows to their great perplexity They therefore say that Immanuel is spoken of the Father in Isaiah's Prophecy and of Jesus Christ in St. Matthew's Gospel in a Mystical Sense Isaiah chap. xxxv 5. has distinctly noted the Miracles which the Messias should work and has given us a clear Character of his Person R. Solomon Jarchi endeavours to shift off this Text and to explain it of the deliverance of the People out of Babylon Socinus who could not but know how the Evangelists have referred it to the Miracles of Jesus Christ does nevertheless establish as well as he can the Explication of the Modern Jews And this he does for no other reason but because the Appearance of God himself is spoken of in the 4th Verse of this Chapter How audaciously does Crellius destroy the Proof of the Place where Christ should be born Matth. ii 5. taken out of Micah v. 2. Saith he The Jews cited it only according to the Mystical Sense But we know the Jews took it to be the Literal Sense as appears by their Targum The viiith Chapter of Proverbs was understood by Philo of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeed such Attributes are given to Wisdom in that Chapter as belong only to a Person such as being conceived born creating governing exercising of Mercy and the like But Socinus is not content it should go so He will have all this attributed to the Wisdom of God by a Prosopopeia just as our later Jews do interpret it of the Law Jer. xxiii 5 6. relates to the Messias in the Judgment of all the Ancient Jews Our Socinians will not allow this but rather than own that the Messias is named God they refer the Title of The Lord our Righteousness to the People there spoken of We have a remarkable Prophecy for the Proof of the Divinity of the Messias in Zech. xii 10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced The Jews anciently did and still do understand it of the Messias And Jesus Christ does apply it to himself Rev. i. 7. What saith Socinus to this He declares that this Text which is so like Psal xxii has been corrupted by the Jews and thus he trys to render its Authority useless Here you have a Sample of their conduct in rejecting the Literal and setting up a Mystical sense But there are other Quotations cited in the New Testament from which it is manifest that our Lord Jesus Christ is the God spoken of in the Old Testament the Authority of which Texts cannot so easily be eluded And to take away the evidence of these they have invented the way of accommodation David speaking of the God of Israel has these words Psal lxviii 19. Thou art ascended on high c. Hence we conclude that Jesus Christ is the God of Israel because St. Paul saith they had their accomplishment in our Lord's Ascension into Heaven Ephes iv 8. The Jews say those words in the Psalm were spoken of Moses The Socinians cannot deny they were spoken of God but deny they were spoken of the Messias literally But say they these words were applied to Jesus Christ by St. Paul only by way of accommodation Strange Is it not plain that David saith no more in this lxviii Psalm of the Messias than he saith in Psal cx which the Jews do refer to the Messias Is not the calling of the Gentiles here clearly foretold v. 33 34. which is owned on all hands to be the work of the Messias Is it not then visible that St. Paul in citing these words has followed the sense of the Ancient Synagogue who understood Psal cx of the Messias according to the Literal sense Socinus owns that the words Psal xcvii 7. which are applied to Jesus Christ Heb. i. 6. do respect the Supreme God He cannot therefore deny Jesus Christ to be the Supreme God to whom they are applied But he does it as he pleases by this way of accommodation which he saith the Sacred Author used in applying this Text to Jesus Christ And so the Adoration commanded to be given him terminates not in him but is referrable to the Supreme God who commanded this Adoration Isa ch viii 13 14. has these words Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts The Jews interpret them of the Messias Gemar Massech Sanhedr in ch iv and they are cited by St. Paul Rom. ix 32. St. Luke ii 34. St. Peter 1 Pet. ii 7. who apply them to Jesus Christ The Socinians whose Cause will not bear this that Jesus Christ should be called the Lord of Hosts do therefore deny that the Massias is here treated of or that any one else is here meant
Cat. xii the Concil Sirm. c. 13. Gregor Baet tr de fide Theodor. Q. 5. in Exod. Leo. i. Ep. 13. ad Pulch. and many others In like manner they refer to the Word those Appearances of God which be vouchsafed to Abraham Isaac and Jacob himself as you may see in Just Mart. Apol. for those to Abraham and Isaac and for those to Jacob in Clem. Alex. Paed. i. 7. Novat I. de Trin. c. 26 27. Proc. Gaz. in h. l. The ancient Christians did in this no more than the ancienter Jews did before them who by Elohim in this place did not understand a created Angel but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom the Targumists and the strictest Followers of their Fathers Traditions are wont to express by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo makes all the Appearances which we meet with in the Books of Moses to belong to the Word and the latter Cabalists since Christ's time not only do the same but deny that the Father ever appeared saying it was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only that manifested himself to their Fathers whose proper name is Elohim For this consult R. Menachem de Rekanati from Beres Rabba on the Parasch Breschit f. 14. c. 3. Ed. Ven. and on Par. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f. 30. c. 1. I have often wondred how it came to pass that most of the Divines of the Church of Rome who would seem to have the greatest veneration for Antiquity should so much despise it in this Question wherein the ancient Jewish and Christian Church do agrees Sanctius in his Notes on the Acts ch 7. says it is a difficult question among Divines whether God's Appearances in Scripture were performed immediately by God himself or by his Angels And then having cited several ancient Fathers who thought it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that appeared he adds Sed Theologis jam illa sententia placet quae statuit Angelorum ministerio antiquis hominibus oblatam esse divinam speciem quae est sententia Dionys de caelest Hier. c. 4 c. To the same purpose Lorinus another Jesuit speaks in Act. vii 31. But this is not the worst of it that they forsake the judgment of the Ancients they do herein make bold to contradict the plain words of Christ himself Joh. i. 18. Christ saith thus No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him And parallel to this Text is Joh. vi 46. Certainly he must be very blind who does not see that Christ in these words not only denies the Father to have shewn himself in those Appearances that were made to the ancient Patriarchs but also asserts them to himself and not to the Angels Away then with such Divines who setting aside the Authority of Christ do chuse to Theologize in the principal Heads of Religion according to the sense and prejudices of the Moderns We desire to be no wiser in these matters than the Primitive Christians were among whom it passed for an establisht truth that the Elohim in Jacob's Prayer was the very Jehovah of the Jews termed by them sometime Shekinah and sometime Memra SECT III. As to the second Question it would be no Question at all but for the obstinacy of some latter Jews He that reads the Hebrew Text without prejudice cannot but see the Elohim in v. 15. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the following verse whence it follows that this Redeeming Angel is Jehovah But because this opinion is contradicted by some of the chief Modern Jews as Abarbanel and Alshek on this place and by most of the Popish Divines as well as some few of the Reformed that have not sifted this matter accurately we will offer some proofs for the conviction of them that are not obstinately bent against it And 1. If Jacob had had two Persons then in his mind so different as God and a created Angel are he would have coupled them together by the particle ז which is not only conjunctive but very proper to distinguish the Persons of whom we speak and said God before whom my Fathers walked God who fed me from my youth and the Angel that delivered me bless the Lads But Jacob is so far from doing thus that on the contrary he puts a ה demonstrative as well before the Angel as before God without any Copulative between which sufficiently demonstrates he means the same Person by God and the Angel Munster was well aware of this and therefore being willing to distinguish the Redeeming Angel from God he Translates it with an addition the Angel also 2. It cannot be easily supposed That Jacob would in a Prayer use the Singular Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in common to Persons in Nature so very different the Creator and a Creature He certainly ought to have said God and the Angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may they bless the Lads if he had spoken of two But his speaking in the the Singular may he bless is an Argument of his having in his Eye one Person alone whose Blessing he prayed for on his Seed Otherwise it would have been a Prayer of a strange Composition For according to Athanasius we do no where find that one prays to God and the Angel or any other created Being at the same time for any thing Nor is there any like instance of such a Form as this God and an Angel give thee this 3. But setting aside those Rules with which the contrary Opinion can never be reconciled consider the thing it self in Jacob's Prayer and you will find it absurd to distinguish between the Offices of God and those of a created Angel toward Jacob. The Office ascribed to God is feeding him from his Youth the Office ascribed to the Angel is delivering him from all Evil which must be very distinct Offices if the Persons be distinguished And so R. Jochanan accounts them Gem. Pesasch f. 118. Tho he believes the Angel to be the same with Elohim yet he contends that feeding the greater Work is attributed to God and delivering the lesser Work to an Angel The same thing is said by the Author of Jalkut on this place and R. Samule on the Book Rabboth abovementioned But in the Phrase of these Jewish Masters this Distinction is very insipid it is harshly formed without considering that Jacob in this Blessing reflected on the Words of the Vow which he made at Luz afterwards called Bethel because of God's appearing to him there Now these were the Words of Jacob's Vow If God will be with me and keep me in the way in which I shall walk if he will give meat to eat and cloathing to put on and bring me home in safety to the house of my Father then shall the Lord be my God Gen. xxvii 20 21. Here you see it is from God that Jacob expects to be kept in his way i. e. to be redeemed from
all Evils that might happen and that he esteems this to be no less a benefit than Sustenance or Cloathing which he mentions in the second place Here is no Angel spoken of here and since the redeeming Angel is to be expounded from this place he cannot be a created Angel for here is no other spoken of but the Lord. 4. By fancying him a created Angel who delivered Jacob from all Evil they make Jacob to be a mere Idolater as ascribing that to a Creature which belongs only to the Lord of the Creation The Scripture appropriates to God the Title of Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor do godly Men ever say of a Creature that it delivers them from all Evil. David I am sure never does but when he speaks of the Tribulations of the Righteous he adds but the Lord delivers him out of all Ps xxxiv 20. And Jacob on another occasion directs his Prayer to the Lord that appeared to him at Luz saying Save me from the hand of my brother Esau for I fear him much Gen. xxxii 9 10 11. 5. God as I said has so appropriated the Name of Redeemer to himself that Jacob could not without Sacriledge communicate this Title to any Creature though never so excellent We cannot be ignorant that David makes this the proper Name of God Psal xix 14. as does Isaiah Chap. xliii 14. xlvii 4. And this Jonathan confesses on Isa lxiii 16. in these words Thou art our redeemer thy name is from everlasting i. e. this is the Name that was designed for God from the beginning which yet can't hold true if in this place Gen. xlviii 16. it be ascribed by Jacob to a created Angel 6. It appears plainly from Gen. xlix that Jacob neither desired nor expected any Blessing from a created Angel but only from God Thus he prays c. The God of thy Father shall be thy helper and the Almighty shall bless thee with the Blessings of Heaven above c. Not a word of a mere Angel that redeemed him from all Evil so far was the Patriarch in his former Blessing from begging of an Angel the Multiplication of his Seed which was the only thing which he could now expect of God as the Jews own Bechai Praef. in Pent. f. 1. c. 1. 7. The same Conclusion may be drawn from the very Order of Jacob's Prayer Had Jacob intended a created Angel by him whom he names in the last place as a Redeemer from Evil and whose Intercession with God he bespeaks in behalf of his Children would he not have prayed to the Angel in the first place It is most rational so to do He that wants the Interest of a great Man to introduce him to the King he does not in the first place direct his Petition to the King immediately but first to the great Man and afterwards by him to the King Let the Papists therefore look to the Absurdity of their proceeding while they first pray to God and then to Saints and Angels Let those Jews who are of the mind of Isaac Abarbanel and Franco Serrano in his Spanish Notes on this place and stickle for Angel-worship see how they can clear themselves of this difficulty as well as reconcile themselves with those ancienter Jews who abhor this sort of Idolatry Maim Per. Misna ad tit Sanh c. xi SECT IV. How firm these Reasons are to shew the Angel here spoken of to be an uncreated and not a created Angel is I hope evident to every one Something however of great importance may be still added to illustrate this weighty Argument and that is the Judgment of the Ancient Synagogue The most ancient Jewish Writers and they that received the Traditionary Doctrine from them though mortal Enemies of the Christian Religion yet agree with the Christians in the Sense of this Text. For God be thanked such Truths were not renounced all at once by these Enemies of our Faith but they began to dissemble them by degrees as they found them turning against them in their Disputes with the Christians To begin with the Writings of the Jews before Christ we find it is God the Word ver 12. who is described as he that delivers from all Evil in the Book of Wisd xvi 8. no doubt with respect to this place where he takes the Angel that delivered Jacob from all Evil to be God The same Doctrine is to be met with in Philo the Jew that lived before Christ and in Christ's time He * Allegor ii p. 71. D. expresly affirms of the Angel that delivered Jacob from all Evil that he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so does Onkelos in his Chaldee Paraphrase translating the Words of Jacob simply as they lie in the Text without any Addition Jonathan indeed seems to be of another mind in his Paraphrase that runs thus God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac worshipped the Lord that fed me from the time I began to be till this day may be pleas'd that the Angel may bless the Lads whom thou hast ordained to deliver me from all Evil. Here he distinguishes the Angel from God but that he did not mean a Creature by this Angel is clear for that in other places he translates this Angel by the Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and especially in that remarkable place where the same Angel is treated of Isaiah lxiii 8 9 10. he saith it was the Word that redeemed Israel out of all their Afflictions Let us pass to the Jews after Christ's time and shew that they did not immediately renounce the Doctrine of their Forefathers The Author of the Book Zohar in Par. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 123. hath these words which he repeats often afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come see the Angel that redeemed me is the Shekinah that went along with him This is sufficiently intimated by the ancient Author Tanchuma in his Book Jelammedenu who notes on Exod. xxxiii that the Jews would not have a created Angel go before them but God himself in these words Moses answered I will not have an Angel but thy own self Now the Jewish Commentators on this place of Exod. xxxiii explain of the Shekinah the words thy own self and always distinguish the Shekinah from all created Beings R. Salomon in his Notes on this Text has these words The Angel that delivered me i. e. the Angel who was wont to be sent to me in my affliction as it is said Gen. xxxi 11 13. And the Angel of God spake to me in a dream saying Jacob I am the God of Bethel c. The Note of R. Moses Ben Nachman on this Text Gen. xlviii 16. is very remarkable The Redeeming Angel saith he is he that answered him in the time of his affliction and who said to him I am the God of Bethel c. he of whom it is said that my name is in him The like he has on Exod. iii. where the appearance in the Bush
but God only adding that the Holy Writers of the New Testament in applying them to Jesus Christ turned these Texts to quite another sense than was intended by the Holy Spirit at the inditing of them The Prophet Isaiah again has these words ch xxxv 4 5 6. Behold your God will come and save you c. Sal Jarchi and D. Kimchi expound them of the Deliverance from Babylon contrary to the ancient Jews opinion who as these Rabbins confess understood them of the Messias The Socinians will not deny that Jesus Christ assumed them to himself but to shew how little ground he had for so doing they insist on it that he only accommodated the words to himself The same Isaiah writes thus ch xli 4. I am the first and the last and Jesus Christ has the same expressions of himself Rev. i. 17. The Chaldee Paraphrast thought they belonged so properly to the True God as to Paraphrase them in this manner I am the Lord Jehovah who created the World in the beginning and the Ages to come are all mine Joseph Albo makes this Text a proof of the Eternity of God and notes that it is a parallel Text to Isa xliv 6. But if you 'l have Socinus opinion of the place when it is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ it does not at all regard his Eternity Once more we read Isa xlv 23. I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear St. Paul refers these words to Jesus Christ Rom. xiv 11. nay he proves our standing before Christ's Judgment-seat by this Quotation Notwithstanding the Socinians believe them only a simple accommodation and not the prime scope of the Text. I know the Apostles have sometimes cited Texts from the Old Testament which have not their exact accomplishment in that sense wherein they are used As for example 2 Cor. viii 15. St. Paul exhorting the Corinthians to supply the wants of their Brethren with their abundance addeth As it is written He that had gathered much had nothing over and he that had gathered little had no lack Thus alluding to the History of the Manna Exod. xvi 18. it is plain that he accommodates that Story to the Beneficence of the Christians without any thing either from Letter or Allegory to justifie this accommodation They who think that John ch xix 37. does allude to Exod. xii 46. Neither shall you break a bone thereof go upon this ground that Christ was typified by the Paschal Lamb and therefore what was spoken of the Paschal Lamb is truly applicable to Christ But some others believe that St. John cited this passage from Psal xxxiv 21. and applies what David saith of all the just in general to the Messias who is often called the Just One as being eminently so I know that some think that a Prophecy which has been already accomplish'd literally was accommodated by the Holy Penmen to a like event And thus they think St. Matthew ch ii 17. applies the voice that was heard at Ramah and Rachel's weeping for her Children to those Expressions of sorrow used by the Women of Bethlehem when Herod slew their Children Although this Prophecy was before accomplished in the Captivity of Judah and Benjamin under Nebuchadnezzar But besides what I have said upon such places the Examples of this nature are but few and those may be easily discerned by a careful Reader from such Citations as are not Accommodations but Proofs and for the Texts which are commonly and generally quoted by the Holy Writers they expose the Books of the New Testament to the scorn and contempt of Jews who suppose that the Apostles went about to make Converts from the Synagogue by such passages of the Old Testament as had nothing of strength or reason to convince any Man for such are the places quoted by way of Accommodation and let any one but consult the Writings of the Jews against Christianity and he will find that the main Argument they make use of against the Proofs brought by the Apostles is that the passages they cite were never designed by the Spirit to that purpose Literally taken but were only made use of by them by way of Accommodation But the most wonderful thing of all in the Unitarians management of this Controversie especially in our English Unitarians is this that they do not only side with the Jews and dress up their sense of those Texts of the Old Testament which are cited in the New as Proofs of our Lords Divinity or which are objected in confirmation of the Holy Trinity and that they have not been content to bring in the Notion of Accommodation to elude the force of those Quotations on which the Apostles grounded several Doctrines but for the most part they give broad intimations as if the New Testament Writings were on purpose falsified by the Christians and many things there inserted which were never thought of by the Authors of those Writings If they could have made good this accusation it would have saved them a great deal of pains which it has cost them to find out Answers to the several Objections proposed to them 'T is the most easie natural and shortest way to joyn with the Deists in destroying the Authority of the Gospel and to endeavour to shew that nothing certain can be drawn from thence seeing that since the Apostles Times the Christian Faith hath been corrupted and new Doctrines have been foisted into their Books which from the beginning were not there For my part I see no other way left them for the defence of their bad Cause But by ill luck Socinus has stopped their retreat even to this last Refuge by the Treatise he writ concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures When they have solidly refuted this Book of their great Leader it will be then time to take their Charge against the Sacred Books into more particular consideration Let them do this when they will We promise them when they have done it to reproach them no more with Socinus's Authority in defence of the Integrity of the Scripture But for the present we refer them to the Book of a famous Mahometan called Hazzadaula who has handled this matter with length and force enough to confound both the Unitarians and Deists I mean his third Book of the comparison of the three Laws the Jewish Christian and Mahometan of which there is an Extract in Jos de Voisin de Lege Divina in a Letter from Gabriel Syonita It has been thought by some that Mahomet and his Followers did accuse the Jews and Christians of corrupting the Old and New Testament Writings But we see this Accusation is proved false by such as have managed the Controversie against Mahometanism And the more knowing Mahometans do insult the Christian Missionaries for charging it on them when Mahomet accused the Christians only for wresting several passages in Scripture and putting a false