have to do with do very confidently affirm any thing that comes into their heads be it never so little probable so they may thereby give any plausible Solutions of the Difficulties in which they find themselves entangled and perplext and they are much given to vaunt of their unanswerable Arguments so they call them which are many times but weak Objections such as Men of Learning and Wit should be ashamed of For this reason I thought it necessary to prevent as far as it was possible all that they can object against my Position of the Opinions the Old Jews held concerning those Doctrines which were exactly followed and fully declared by the Apostles and first Christians And because I foresee some Objections may arise I will shew that nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that the Jews or the first Christians borrowed their Notions about the Trinity or the Divinity of Christ from Plato's Disciples whereas Plato hath in truth followed the Jewish Notions of those things After this I shall make it appear that however some of the Modern Jews have changed their Opinions in these Articles yet the Socinians can make no advantage thereof because the Jews have in reality much alter'd their belief since Christ's time and are guilty of great Disingenuity as is common to all those who are obstinately set upon the maintaining of erroneous Doctrines In fine I shall plainly shew that the Socinians to defend themselves against the Orthodox have been forced to imitate those Modern Jews and have much out done them in changing and shifting their Opinions when they dispute with Christians I hope to manage this Controversy with the Socinians so plainly and fully as to satisfy the Reader That as on the one side they most falsly accuse the Church of having corrupted the New Testament to favour the Doctrines of the Trinity and of Christ's Godhead So they cannot on the other side get any ground upon the Jews in their Disputes with them though they fancy they got a great way towards their Conversion by rejecting those Doctrines In a word both the Ancient and Modern Jews do so far agree in those things which make on the Church's side against the Socinians that if they appeal to the Jews they are sure to lose their Cause which when they have better considered they will find it their best way for the maintaining of their Opinions to abandon the Jews altogether as Men that understood not their own Scriptures viz. the Old Testament and to reject both as they have gone a great way towards it in rejecting that traditional sense of the Old Testament for which it was quoted in the New and without which it would have signified little or nothing to those purposes for which it was quoted And so it will appear that for all their brags of the Aptness and even Necessity of their way for the Conversion of the Jews they have taken the direct way to harden them by giving up that sense of the Old Testament Scriptures which Christ and his Apostles made use of for the converting of their Forefathers But we have the less reason to complain of them for this when we see how apt they are to question the Authority of the Books of the New Testament as oft as they find them so clearly opposite to their Doctrines that they cannot obscure the Light of them by any tolerable Exposition To shew that I do not say this without cause I shall show some instances in the last Chapter of this Book CHAP. II. That in the times of Jesus Christ our Blessed Saviour the Jews had among them a common Explication of the Scriptures of the Old Testament grounded on the Tradition of their Fathers which was in many things approved by Christ and his Apostles THE Jews have to this day a certain kind of Tradition received from their Forefathers which contain many precepts of things to be done or avoided on the account of their Religion This they call their Oral Law by which name they distinguish it from the written Law which God gave them by Moses They make five Orders of such a Tradition which are explained by Moses de Trano in his Kiriat Sepher Printed at Venice Anno 1551. The first is of the things which they infer from Moses and the Prophets by a clear consequence and they are certainly of the same Authority as the rest of the Revelation although they call it a Tradition We are not such Enemies to Names as not to like such a sort of Tradition and we receive it with all imaginable reverence we like very well the Judgment of Maimonides who leaves as uncertain whatsoever the Jewish Doctors speak upon many things as being without ground when their Tradition is not gathered from Texts of Scripture de Regib c. 12. The second Order is of the Ceremonies and Rites which they keep as coming from Mount Sinai but of which there is not a word in the Law The third Order is of the Judiciary Laws upon which the two Schools of Hillel and Shammai were divided The fourth is of some Constitutions of the Ancients which they look upon as an hedge to the Law The last is of their Customs which are various in several places of their dispersion Tho' in many things they cannot but see that those last four Orders of Tradition do not agree with the Law of Moses or are quite unknown in it yet they seem to like it never the worse Nay their Rabbins professedly ascribe a much greater Authority to this Oral Law than to the Law of Moses They say in the Talmud Avoda zara c. 1. fol. 17. Col. 2. that a Man who studies in the Law alone without these Traditions is a Man which is without God according to the Prophecy of Azariah 2 Chr. 15.3 Of this sort were all the Traditions which were condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ He plainly calls them the Commandments of Men Mat. XV. 9. and has purposely directed several of his Discourses against them because even where their observing these Traditions would not consist with their Obedience to God as particularly in the case of Corban Mat. XV. 3. yet they gave Tradition the preference and so as our Saviour there tells them Ver. 9. They made the Commandments of God of no effect by their Tradition The Author of these Traditions or new Laws as one may term them did almost all of them live since the time that the Jews were under the power of the Seleucidae and they were the Leaders of those several Sects that corrupted their Religion by adding to it a great number of Observations which were perfectly new We have therefore no reason to look upon this sort of Tradition as the fountain from whence the Jews in Christ's time took their measures of the sense and meaning of the Writings of the Old Testament But for the Interpreting of their Scriptures the Jews in Christ's time had some other kinds of Traditions much different from
the time to have been 430 years from the promise made to Abraham at his coming into Canaan till the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai which was but 50 days after their coming up out of Aegypt In like manner from Tradition they filled up that place Gen. IV. 8. where it is said that Cain talkt with Abel his Brother by adding the words which he spoke Let us go into the field This Insertion is not only in the Alexandrian LXX but the Samaritans have it in their Bibles and they had it there in S. Hierom's time It is also extant in the Jerusalem Targum Lib. qd. det p. 120 124 125. Philo the Jew Philosophises on these words much after the same manner as doth the Targum 4. It is certain that they have had very common among them the knowledge of the most illustrious Prophecies of the Messias This we may see in the Answer of the Samaritan Woman to our Blessed Saviour Joh. iv 25. where she saith I know that when the Messias is come he will tell us all things For though it is no where plainly said yet the Samaritans knew full well that the Messias should explain all things according to the Traditional sense of that Prophecy in Deut. xviii 15 18 19. which hath been so constantly referr'd to the Messiah that we find till this day in the Midrash upon Ecclesiast c. 1.9 that the last Redeemer shall be like the first that is Moses And in consequence of this knowledge commonly received among the Jews Joh. xii 34. did they of Christ's time hold for certain that the Messiah should remain for ever which their Posterity not knowing how to reconcile with their Notion of the Messias they fancied that the Messias should dye after a long Reign and leave his Crown to his Children from Generation to Generation Hence it was that the Sanhedrin answered Herod without delay Mat. ii 5 6. that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem according to Micah's Prophecy though it is not plainly said in the Text of that Prophecy Micah v. 2. Hence also it was that John Baptist Mat. iii. 5 6. found the people of the Jews so disposed to repentance that they might escape God's Judgments threatned on the Nation at the coming of the Messiah according to Joel's prediction recited Act. ii 26. and that other Prophecy in Malach. iv 5. Hence it was that when John the Baptist sent his Disciples to our Saviour to ask him Whether he were the Messias or no our Saviour gave them this Answer Mat. xi 4. Go and tell John the things which you hear and see The Blind receive their sight the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear the Dead are raised and the poor have the Gospel preached to them This is commonly taken to be a Quotation from Isaiah xxxv 1. There some indeed of these Characters do point out the Messiah But our Saviour did not content himself with those but added others that are not in that Text nor in any other but such as no doubt the Jews had at that time in their common Tradition This Remark is of great moment to confound the boldness of some Criticks as Grotius who suppose that some places in the Apocryphal Books which shew that they were exactly acquainted with the Ideas of the Prophets upon the Divinity and the Glory of the Messias such as we see in the Book of Wisdom in Ecclesiasticus and in Baruch have been foisted in by Christians in those Books when to the contrary they were to judge that the Jews have laid aside these Books for that very reason viz. Because they were a strong proof that the Apostles did apply the Prophecies of the Old Testament according to the sense of the Synagogue before Jesus Christ It was from hence that our Blessed Saviour in the same Chapter Mat. xi shew'd the multitude that John Baptist was the Messenger promised by God in Malach. iii. 1. as he that should be the fore-runner of the Messiah and that should prepare his way by exhorting the People to Repentance and he proves that John the Baptist was so by the great Effect of his Preaching in the Conversion of those that seemed the most corrupt of the Nation 5. It is as certain that they had by Tradition sundry Explications of the Scripture grounded upon Allegories Philo affirms this positively lib. de Therapeutis p. 691. St. Paul gives us several Examples of it We have one in Heb. iv 9. where St. Paul thus argues from the Words of David in Psal xcv 11. There remains therefore a Rest for the people of God His Argument depends upon the Jewish Exposition of the six days of the Creation as foreshewing that the Age of the World should be 6000 years and understands the Sabbath or Rest of the times after founding their Exposition on the Words of the 90th Psalm A thousand years in thy sight are as but one day That is to be seen in R. Abraham bar Hiya Hannashi Megillat ha Megillat Saar 2. in Ramban upon Gen. ii 2. in Abarbanel Miphaloth Eloh lib. 1. c. 4. See Menasseh Ben Is Concil q. 30. in Genes de Creat Problem XI Another Example we have in the same St. Paul Galat. iv 24. drawn from Sarah and Hagar as being Types of the two Covenants Philo the Jew de Cherub p. 83. found a Mystery there before St. Paul as we see in a Book of his that was much more ancient than that Epistle A third Example may be found in the same St. Paul who uses it Rom. v. 14. 1 Corin. xv 47. in comparing the first Adam with Jesus Christ whom he calls the second Adam The Jews have the same Idea of the Messias as of the second Adam who shall raise all his Followers from the Sepulchre as we see in Pirke Eliezer ch 32. This method of explaining Scripture ought to be carefully considered because it gives us to understand the Reasons why the Jews have regarded the Song of Songs as a part of Canonical Scripture and have referred it to the Messias as we see they do in their Targum in Cant. i. 8. iv 5. vii 14. viii 1 4. The same reflection may be made on their acknowledging of the Divine Authority of the Book of Ruth wherein their Targum mentions the Messias chap. iii. 15. And the like may be said of Ecclesiastes certain Texts of which as ch i. 18. and ch viii 25. they refer to the Messias which otherwise seem not to have much relation to him In truth one cannot well deny that the Jews had this common knowledge of great Truths of their Religion and a Traditional Exposition of great Prophecies from their Ancestors to clear their Ideas thereof if he considers attentively these following Remarks First That since their return from the Babylonian Captivity they were never guilty of Idolatry Except for a little while in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes when some wicked men apostatiz'd and
lectitant Nazaraei Salvator inducitur lâ—quens Modo me arripuit Mater mea Spiritus Sanctus This Passage of the Nazarene's Gospel would never have been understood if we had not known that the Jews call the Holy Spirit Imma Mother as well as Binah Understanding as we see in Zohar and other Cabalists And perhaps from hence Philo de Temul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of the World Nor are we to fancy that the Talmudists oppose the Cabalists herein No Maimonides who is a Talmudist agrees in this with the Cabalists as appears from his Book de fundament legis ch 2. Mor. Neb. p. 1. ch 68. Lastly Nor is it to be urged against what I have said that the Jews have formal Disputes against the Doctrine of the Trinity as Saadiah Sepher Emunoth ch 2. Maim Mor. Neb. p. 1. c. 71. For we may remember 1. That all their Disputes with the Christians are built on this wrong bottom That the Christians are Tritheists and deny the Unity of the Deity 2. That almost all those who dispute against the Christians on this Head contradict themselves in their Writings that are not Polemical but are drawn up in cool Blood out of the heat of dispute of which Saadiah Haggaen as I have shewed before is a Proof 3. The Study of their Rites having been the great business of the Jews for many Centuries it hath happen'd that their greatest Authors have applied themselves but little to the Study of the Traditions concerning their Doctrines In Maimonides one of the greatest Men the Jews ever had we have a plain Example of it He tells us That it was towards the declension of his Life before he could turn himself to study their Traditions and he laments his Misfortune in that he could not begin this Study sooner This is related by R. Elias Chaiim who saith he had it from a Letter of Maimonides to one of his Scholars I have said before that these Notions of the Cabalist Jews are received in all parts of the World where the Jews are found in any numbers And I say it not without good reason For 1. The Rabboth are Books received whereever there are Jews Now this Book begins with the Notion of a Second Person 2. For the Cabalists they are dispersed with the other Jews and in all places where Learning is cultivated and Study encouraged there they are to be found 3. We may well infer the Universality of this Tradition from the several different Authors that have written alike on this Subject without any Consent or Communication together that we know of R. Saadiah Hagaon writ in Babylon in the Tenth Century He was an Egyptian by Birth and the Translator of the Pentateuch into Arabick and wrote a bitter Book against the Christians which hath been printed at Thessalonica and since at Amsterdam where he disputes against the Christians Trinity yet he teaches not only the Unity but this distinction from everlasting in the Deity R. Moses Bar Nachman in the Thirteenth Century and R. Judas the Levite writ in Spain and yet we see how they agree in their Notions with the Cabalists which flourished other-where R. Aaron writ at Babylon and yet his Notions are as exactly like those of Spain as if he had trod in their Steps R. Moses Botril writ in France and he teaches the same things He that would see the Places at large may consult their Comment on the Book Jetzira It is now time to return to the Judgment of the Ancient Synagogue and to consider how it agrees or differs with us in the other Matters we have in hand CHAP. XII That the Jews had a distinct Notion of the Word as of a Person and of a Divine Person too A Great part of the Dispute we have with the Socinians depending on the true meaning of the first Chapter of St. John's Gospel where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is spoken of as being he that created the World and was at length made Flesh and whom we Christians look upon as the promised Messias I think I can't do the Truth a greater service than in clearing this Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shewing what thoughts the ancient Jews had concerning it Socinus confesses that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Person for he owns that St. John did describe the Man Christ Jesus by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and attributed to him the Creation of the Church which is according to him the new World But here in England the followers of Socinus will not stand by this Exposition but understand by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that virtue by which God created Heaven and Earth as Moses relates Gen. i. They obstinately deny this Virtue to be a Person i. e. an Intelligent Subsistence and rather look upon it as a Divine Attribute which they say was particularly discovered in the Mission of Jesus Christ for the Salvation of Mankind It cannot be denied us that St. John being one of the Circumcision did write with an especial respect to the Jews that they might understand him and receive benefit by it and therefore it cannot be doubted but that when he called Jesus Christ the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he used a word that was commonly known among the Jews of those times in which he lived Otherwise if he had used this word in a sense not commonly known to the Jews he would have signified to them the new Idea he had affixed to it But he gives not the least intimation of any thing new in it though he uses the word so many times in the very beginning of his Gospel It is certain therefore that he used it in the sense wherein it was then commonly understood by the Jews Now the Idea the Jews had of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the same they had of a real and proper Person that is a living Intelligent free Principle of Action That this was their Notion of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word we shall prove by the Works of Philo and the Chaldee Paraphrases To begin with Philo He conceives the Word to be a true and proper cause For he declares in about a hundred places that God created the World by his Word He conceived the Word to be an Intelligent Cause Because in him according to Philo are the Original Ideas of all things that are expressed in the Works of the Creation De Opif. p. 3. G. 4. C.D. He makes the Word a Cooperator with God in the Creation of Man and says that God spake those words to him Let Us make Man Gen. i. 26. It may be added that he calls the Word the Image of God and makes Man the Image of this Image * Lib. Quis rer Divin Haer. p. 400. E. F. These are some of the Characters that represent the Word as a true Person But there are others no less demonstrative of this Truth As 1. where Philo asserts that the 〈◊〉
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
every where do confirm it Eusebius remarks it De Praep. xi 15. p. 533. and his Book de Somn. de confus Ling. de prof p. 466. are full to this purpose To conclude Let it be observed that the Sanhedrim calls the Messias the Son of God Mat. xxvi 63. and when Jesus applied to himself a Prophecy of the Messias in Dan. vii 13. Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven Mat. xxvi 64. We are told by St. Luke what they replied Then said they all art thou then the Son of God Luk. xxii 70. which is an argument that though the Title of Son of Man did very well express the humble estate of the Messias yet they were not ignorant that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be the Messias and that the Messias should be the proper Son of God such a Son as for whom the Clouds the Chariot of the Divinity should be prepared to attend his Triumph in the time when he should reveal himself from Heaven 2. That this Notion is so deeply riveted into the minds of the Jews even since Christ's time that because the word Anan the Clouds is spoken of in this passage of Daniel therefore they have asserted in consequence of this opinion that the Messias shall be called by this name This we see in Targum on 1 Chron. iii. 34. where speaking of the Children of Elioenai it adds the seventh which is Anani is the King Messias And thus it is explained in Sanhedrim fol. 62. in the Comments of Saadia and Jarchi on Dan. vii 13. and in Jalkut on Zech. iv 7. But having shew'd that the Word is God and that this Word should be the Messias we will now shew that the Jews in conformity to their Scriptures did believe that the Messias as being Jehovah should appear for the Salvation of Men. 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 I Have shewed that from David's time the Notion of the Messias was considerably cleared by several Prophets whom God raised up to exercise and increase the desires of his people It is no less certain that the same Prophets do describe the Messias as the true Jehovah and that the ancient Jews so understood them This we may discern in the earnest longings of the Faithful so frequent in all the Writings of the Prophets and in those several passages of the Old Testament which the Jews constantly interpret of the Messias although some of them seem not to be spoken of Jehovah but of the Messias others to be spoken of Jehovah only without mention of the Messias but all have a particular regard to that Salvation which the Jews expected from the Messias Jacob blessing his Sons bursts out in Prayer to God I look for thy Salvation O Lord Gen. xlix 18. which the Jews by their Targums are taught to understand of the Messias Of him likewise they understand those words of Moses praying that God would send him whom he would send Exod. iv 13. which words Raschi himself refers to the Redeemer to come in h. l. and so Ramban and others So they understand David's using this expression Psal lxxx 2 3. Stir up thy strength and come and save us bring back O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved The Targum and Rabbi Salomon Jarchi understand it of the Messias bringing back his people from the present Captivity The Ground which they built upon to refer those words to the Messias is clearly seen to those who shall reflect upon the constant Notion of the Synagogue which believes 1. That the Shekinah is Jehovah a second Jehovah to whom God spake in saying Let us make Man R. Menach fol. 8. col 3. the Jehovah merciful the Wisdom which hath founded the Earth R. Men. fol. 145. col 3. 2ly That it is the only Ruler of Israel R. Men. fol. 153. col 2. 3ly That it is the Shekinah to which all the Prayers of the Jews were directed R. Men. fol. 159. col 2. 4ly That as they look upon the Shekinah as the Angel the Redeemer so all their Ideas of the Redemption and of their Salvation have a necessary relation to that Redeemer who is Jehovah so that all that is spoken of in all the Prophets of the Redemption by the Messias must by a necessary consequence be referred by them to Jehovah's being the Messias or to the Messias as being Jehovah indeed Isaiah ch lxiv. 1. begs Oh that thou wouldst rent the Heavens that thou wouldst come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Who doth not see that he speaks of the coming of God in the time of the Messias by an allusion to the time of the coming of God to give the Law upon Mount Sinai and now the Jews confess 't was the Shekinah who gave the Law upon Mount Sinai R. Menach fol. 57. col 2. fol. 48. col 1. and who can imagin that a meaner person than the same and the very Shekinah it self should raise such desires and such Prayers Micah speaks with great assurance Ch. vii 7. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the Lord of my Salvation Again v. 19. He will again have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and will cast all our sins into the depths of the Sea So Hab. ii 3. Though he tarry wait for him because he will surely come he will not tarry And ch iii. 13. Thou wentest forth for the Salvation of thy people even for Salvation with thine Anointed Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck So Ezek. iii. 15 17. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment he hath cast out thine enemy the King of Israel even the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not see evil any more The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing So Zech. viii 13. And it shall come to pass that as you were a curse among the heathen O house of Judah and house of Israel so will I save you and you shall be a blessing So Mal. iv 2. But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings Which the Jews refer to the Shekinah R. Menach fol. 54. col 2. These are the places that have exercised the thoughts of the Jews and all these are by their Targum referred to the Word or to the times of the Messias and most of them of such a force is Truth are still applied so by the greatest part of their Writers as may be seen in the famous Book of Ginnath Eggoz from which Reuchlin hath almost extracted his Books de Cabala But especially we ought to remark
to say the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are mentioned to make out their second Sephira as I shewed before Neither must it seem strange that the Jewish Paraphrase should use that word in various Senses For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had many Senses in Greek and so might that of Memra have in Chaldee without prejudicing our Arguments For the places which I have quoted are of that nature that there can be no Equivocation in them as any Man will own that is not resolved to dispute against truth CHAP. XXV An Answer to an Objection against the Notions of the Old Jews compared with those of the new Ones A Greater Objection than all these may be very naturally made by a Judicious Reader concerning what I said of the Testimonies of the Jews before Christ about the distinction of Divine Persons and the Divinity of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the one side may he say you own that the Jews after Christ have opposed the Doctrine of the Trinity as being contrary to the Unity of God there are plain proofs of it even in the second Century And it is certain that Trypho did not believe that the Messias was to be any other than a meer Man and so did the Jews believe as it is witnessed by Orig. lib. 2. contr Cels pag. 79. And on the other side you affirm that the Jews in the old times before Christ taught a Doctrine much like that of the Trinity and that all their ancient Authors affirmed that the Messias was to have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dwelling in him In answer to this difficulty I cannot say that the Jews have altered their opinion upon this Subject since the beginning of Christianity for to this day their Cabalistical Doctors whom they respect as great Divines do profess the same which Philo and the Chaldee Paraphrasts did I cannot say neither that they are divided into two Sects the one of which follows these Notions the other opposes them For though the Cabalists are fewer in number than those who stick to the letter of the Law and study only to understand the Ceremonies of it to which they add the Traditions contained in the Misna and the Guemarra yet it is certain that there is no great controversie between them about those Doctrines which I have mentioned I answer therefore first by owning that whatever Notions the old Jews had of these matters they were neither so clear or distinct but that they were mixt with divers Errors of which there are many instances both in Philo and the Targums Secondly I maintain withal that how confused soever some of those Notions are in those ancient Authors yet it is certain that those Jews that turn Christians do it by going upon Principles I have mentioned namely by following what is in them conformable to Scripture and rejecting what is contrary to it And I dare affirm that all Learned Jews who sincerely turn Christians do it by reflecting upon those old Jewish Principles which they originally find in the Old Testament and afterwards to be agreeable with the Principles of Christianity This plainly appears in the Dialogue between Justin the Martyr and Trypho a Jew For Justin having quoted those places out of the Old Testament in which God calls the Messias his Son the Almighty God and one that is to be adored Trypho answers in these words I allow that those so many and so great proofs are enough to perswade Pag. 302. B. All the difficulty he makes is about the Application which Christians and Justin in particular made to Christ of those places of Scripture For it appears that Trypho applying Psal cx and Isa ix to Hezekiah was of the same opinion with Hillel who afterwards affirmed that Hezekiah was the promised Messias and that no other was to be expected Thirdly I say farther that the Jews prepossessed with the opinion of the Messias's coming to have a Temporal Kingdom and offended by the mean Circumstances of Christ and his Apostles did reject Christ's Revelation and were thereby hindered from seeing how conformable it was with their old Notions This will not seem strange to one that considers the force of their prejudices and what was done by their Ancestors in a like case For these killed the Prophets no doubt finding much contradiction at first as they imagin'd between the old Prophecies and the new ones for which cause they rejected the new Prophets and put the Authors of them to death Though afterwards they were forced to receive those very Prophecies the Authors of which they had put to death as going upon the same Grounds with the old Prophecies the Truth and Authority of which they acknowledged Fourthly I say that the Jews who lived immediately after Christ endeavoured to represent his being put to death as a just and legal Act for tho' the Synagogue had Excommunicated him yet he had continued to teach to draw his Disciples from observing the Law so that they pretended that he was a false Prophet that he wrought his Miracles by the power of the Devil and that he had been justly punisht according to the Law Deut. xiii 5. and xviii 20. To this end before the destruction of Jerusalem they sent to their Synagogues all the World over Men of great Authority to make them receive and subscribe the Anathema which they had drawn up against Christ and his Disciples as Justin the Martyr tells us in his Dialogue with Trypho pag. 234. E. To which Anathema it seems St. Paul alludes Heb. vi 6. And 1 Cor. xvi 22. as may be seen in the very place of Justin now quoted and in pag. 266. E. In the fifth place I say that soon after the Preaching of the Gospel they begun to defame our Saviour horribly about the manner of his Birth as may be seen in a Book called Toledoth Jesu which was known long before Origen And about his Life and Conversation as may be seen in the Talmud They likewise defamed the Apostles as Magicians who laboured to draw off the People from observing the Law And though such Calumnies were very gross and visibly false yet they found credit with their people to make them cry down Christianity as it is usual in such cases Thus when Papists impute to Protestants that they believe thus and thus though their Accusations are visibly false and themselves are forced to acknowledge it yet at the same time they prevail with their People and turn them quite from the Protestants I say in the sixth place that afterwards they yet more horribly traduced our Saviour accusing him to have trained up his Disciples to Idolatry and to have himself been guilty of it This they took occasion to do from the superstitious respects some Christians had for the Cross which made them give out that Jesus Christ having been Excommunicated by his Master and refused the Absolution which he begged of him thereupon he had withdrawn himself from him and brought up his Disciples