VIII. gers, and they distinguish him from angels, whom CHAP. as creatures they exhort to praise God, as in the song of Azaria, ver. 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 first of Esdras, chap. 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 Tobit v. 16. So they were well pleased. Then said he to Tobias, Prepare thyself for the journey, and God send you a good journey. And when his son had prepared all things 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. xlviii. 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. xvii. 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, ver. 6, 7. But say ye in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship thee. For mine Angel is with you, and I myself caring for your souls. Where in the Greek that caring for their souls is referred to the same Angel. So 2 Macc. xi. 6. 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. To shew that the Jews before Jesus Christ had such a notion of the Aóyos who was to save his people, we must take notice of two things: the first is, that the author of the 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. VIII. CHAP. and are to be referred to the Aoyos, 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 ix. 6. they have these words, ὅτι παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐγενήθη ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, the Angel of the great counsel, whereas in the Hebrew it is said, he shall be called the admirable 5, (which is the very word that the Angel of the Lord gives to himself, Judges 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, ver. 7. in the same words which are used in Psalm lxxii. The other example is in this other famous place of Isaiah Ixiii. 9. in which they have translated neither an angel, but himself saved them; as if they had read, instead of 3, which we read now. Some of the modern Jews are mightily entangled in explaining that place, but it appears that these interpreters of Isaiah looked 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 Aóyos, which is Jehovah. I can add a reflection concerning their version of the third of Daniel, ver. 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 Hellenists had the same no VIII. tion of the Angel of God as of the Son of God. But CHAP. all those things shall be better 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, chap. i. Kтío, and xxiv. 9. But I take notice of three things: 1st. 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 Aéyos, or Word of God, signifies the essential virtue of God. 2dly, That the author of Ecclesiasticus follows in that expression the very words of the Greek version of Proverbs viii. 22. in which it answers to the word possessed, which is not ektion, but ékтýłn. 3dly, That the word ektion, 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 Præp. Ev. 1. vii. §. 14. p. 324. declares that the Wisdom which Solomon speaks of in the Book of Proverbs was before heaven and earth, and the very author of Ecclesiasticus calls it positively eternal, chap. xxiv. 18. There is another objection which is backed by the authority of Grotius, who by the Aoyos, 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 Aéyos in the first of St. John signified an angel, which they would have done, if they could have digested the absurdity of Grotius's notions CHAP. VIII. 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 that they attributed to him the creation of the world, as you see in Judith xvi. 14. Thou didst send forth thy Spirit, and it created them; which is an imitation of David's notions, Psalm xxxiii. 6. 2dly. They call him the mouth of the Lord; so in the 3d book of Esdras, i. 28. 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. 3dly. They speak of the Bina, or understanding, by which is to be understood the Holy Spirit, from Prov. iii. and viii. So in Eccles. ch. 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. 4thly. They acknowledge him to be the Counsellor of God who 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? VIII. 5thly. They speak of him as of him who dis- CHAP. covers the secrets of God; so Ecclus. xxxix. 8. He shall shew forth that which he hath learned, and shall glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord. And ch. xlviii. 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. 6thly. They acknowledge him to be sent from God, Wisdom 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 who was promised to them, we shall find that they had much nobler ideas than those which are now entertained by the latter Jews, and more like to them which we find among the Prophets. 1. It is clear that they looked upon him as the Person who was to sit upon the throne of God; the title of my Lord which is given by the author of Ecclus. li. 10. shews beyond exception by a clear allusion to the Psalm cx. and ii. which speak both of the Messias. 2dly. 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 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 Aoyos. 3dly. 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, Wisdom iii. 8. which words have been borrowed by St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 2. 4thly. They acknowledge such appearances of God, as we have an example in 2 Macc. xi. 6. and |