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
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
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