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

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

servant ?'

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

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

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

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

$24. And this angel of whom we have spoken, was he whom the Talmudists call poo, Metatron. Ben Uzziel in his Targum on Gen. v. ascribes this name unto Enoch. He ascended, saith he, into heaven by the word of the Lord, Pt. X27 N750 117, and his name was called Metraton the great scribe. But this opinion is rejected and confuted in the Talmud. There they tell us that Metatron is by the prince of the world; or, as Elias calls him in Tishbi, DW, the prince of God's presence. The mention of this name is in Talm. Tract. Saned. cap. 4. where they plainly intimate that they intend an uncreated angel thereby. For they assign such things unto him as are incompetent unto any other. And as Reuchlin informeth us from the Cabbalists, they say be an poop, Metatron was the master or teacher of Moses himself. He it is, saith Elias, who is the angel always appearing in the presence of God, of whom it is said, my name is in him. And the Talmudists add, that he hath power to blot out the sins of Israel, whence they call him the chancellor of heaven. And Bechai a famous master among them affirms, on Exod. xxiii. that his name signifies both a Lord, a messenger, and a keeper. A Lord, because he ruleth all; a messenger, because he standeth always before God to do his will; and a keeper, because he keepeth Israel. The etymology of that name which he gives unto this purpose, is, I confess, weak and foolish. Nor is that of Elias one jot better, who tells us that Metatron is a, in the Greek tongue, One sent. But yet the person who is intended by these obscure intimations, which are the corrupted relicts of ancient traditions, is evident, namely the uncreated Prince of glory, who being Lord of all appeared of old unto the patriarchs, as the angel or messenger of the Father. And as for the word itself, it is either a corrupt expression of the Latin Mediator, such as is usual amongst them, or a mere gematrical fiction to answer unto 7, the Almighty, there being a coincidence in the numerical signification of their letters.

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

EXERCITATION XI.

1. Messiah promised of old. § 2. Faith of the ancient church of the Jews concerning him. 3. State of the Jews at his coming. § 4. Expectations of it. Exposed to the seduction of impostors. Faith of their fore-fathers lost among them. Sadducees expected a Messiah. On what grounds. Consistency of their principles. 5. True Messiah rejected by them. General reason thereof. 6. Story of Barcosba: and Rabbi Akiba. Miracles to be wrought by the Messiah. 7. State of the Jews after the days of Barcosba. Faith of their forefathers utterly renounced. 8. Opinion of Hillel, denying any Messiah to come. casion of it. Their judgment of him. 9. The things concerning the Messiah mysterious. Seeming inconsistencies in the prophecies and de. scriptions of him. 10. Reconciled in the gospel. That rejected by the Jews. 11. Their imagination of two Messiahs: Messiah Ben Joseph; and Messiah Ben David. Story of Messiah Ben Joseph. § 12. Of Armillus. 13. Rise and occasion of the fable concerning him. Jews acquainted with the revelation. § 14. Their story of the building of Rome:

Oc

p 2 what. 15. Death of Ben Joseph. § 16, 17. The fable concerning him disproved. The same with that of the Romanists concerning antichrist. § 18. Of Messiah Ben David. The faith and ex pectation of the Jews concerning him. § 19. The opinion of Maimonides. 20. Sum of the Judaical Creed. § 21. Ground and reason of their present unbelief. 22. Ignorance of their miserable condition by nature. 23. Ignorance of acceptable righteousness. § 24. And of the judgment of God concerning sin. § 25, 26. Also of the nature and end of the law. § 27. Corrupt affections. 28. Envy against the Gentiles. Because of the privileges claimed by them. § 29. And of their oppressions §30. Judaical faith concerning the Messiah. 31. The folly of it. $32. Of the promises of the Old Testament. § 33-36. Threefold interpretation of them.

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

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

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

work out and accomplish the mercy and grace, which they liv ed and died in the faith and hope of. But this they knew, that God would in his appointed time, in and by the nature of man, in one to be born of the seed of Abraham and house of David, cause atonement to be made for sin, bring in everlasting righteousness, and work out the salvation of his elect. This was abundantly revealed, this they stedfastly believed, and in the faith thereof obtained a good report, or testimony from God himself, that they pleased him, they inherited the promises and were made partakers of life eternal. And farther we need not at present inquire into their light and apprehensions, seeing they must be considered in our exposition of the Epistle itself, to which we are now advancing.

3. It may be interesting to consider the state of the Jews, since by their unbelief they were deprived of the privileges of their forefathers. Their condition during this period may be best seen by attending, First, to their history from the time of the actual exhibition of the promised seed, or of the Messiah, to the time of the composition of their Mishna, and Talmuds, that ensued thereon. Secondly, from thence unto this present day; and in both these seasons we may consider the prevailing opinions amongst them concerning the promised Messiah, concerning his coming, and the work that he hath to do. That towards the close of prophecy in the church of old, the hearts and spirits of men were intently fixed in a desire and expectation of the coming of the Messiah, the last of the prophets clearly testifies, Mal. iii. 1. "The Lord whom ye are seeking, the Angel of the covenant whom you are desiring, shall come suddenly." As the time of his coming drew nigh, this expectation was encreased and heightened, so that they continually looked out after him, as if he were to appear amongst them every moment. No sooner did any one make an appearance of something extraordi nary, but instantly they were ready to say, Is not this the Messial? This gave advantage to various seditious impostors, as Theudas, and Judas of Galilee, who deceived many of them to their ruin. John the Baptist also they inquired about, Johni. 19, 20. Yea, and they had divulged such a report of their expectations, with the predictions and prophecies on which these expectations were built, that the whole world took notice of it; as hath been elsewhere manifested out of the best Roman historians. This was the state of the Jewish church not long before the destruction of the second temple. And so fixed were they in their expectations, that he was to come about that season, that during the last desolating siege of the city, they looked every day when he would come and save them.

4. But though they retained the earnest desire and expectation, they had utterly lost the light and faith of their fore

fathers, about the nature, work and office, of the promised Messiah. For having grown carnal, and minding only things earthly and present, they utterly overlooked the spiritual genealogy of the seed of the woman from the first promise, and wrested all prophecies and predictions, to their ambitious, covetous, corrupt inclinations and interests. Thus, regardless of sin and the curse, and deliverance from these, they fancied him unto themselves as one that was to deliver them from all outward trouble, and to satisfy them with the glory and desirable things of this world. And hence the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, and consequently all rewards and punishments in another world, yet no less desired and expected the coming of the Messiah, than the Pharisees and their disciples. And the truth is, they had brought their principles unto a better consistency than the others had done. For if the promised Messiah was only to procure them the good things of this world, and that whilst they lived in it; it was in vain to look for the world to come, and the blessings thereof. To look for eternal life, and yet to confine the promise of the seed to the things of this life only, was to form expectations without ground or reason. So that the Pharisees laid down the principle, and the Sadducees drew the natural conclusion from it. Some in the mean time among them, God's secret ones, as Simeon, Anna, Joseph, Zacharias and Elizabeth, but especially the blessed Virgin, with many more, retained no doubt the antient faith of their forefathers. But the body of the people, with their leaders, being either flagitiously wicked, or superstitiously proud, fancied a Messiah suited unto their own lusts and desires, such an one as we shall afterwards describe. And this their headstrong opinion, of an outward glorious kingdom, in and of this world, was that which wrought in them a neglect of those spiritual and eternal purposes for which he was promised, and hardened them to an utter rejection of the true Messiah, when he came unto

them.

§ 5. That this was the ground on which they rejected the promised Messiah, is evident from the story of the gospel, and we shall farther prove it in our ensuing discourses. How they acted to the Messiah, and the issue of their conduct, is well known. But after they had done this, and murdered the Prince of Life, to justify themselves in their wickedness and unbelief, they still with all earnestness looked after such a Messiah as they had framed in their own imagination. And in this they grew more earnest and furious than ever. They had now not only their own false pre-conceived opinion, strengthened by their carnal interests and desires of earthly things, to actuate and provoke them; but also, a regard to their reputation, and their pretensions to the love and favour of God, tended to heighten their