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ween Jehovah on the one part, and Abraham and his family on the other part: fo that this appearance is reprefented as the divine Oracle, in which Jehovah commands Abraham to walk before him, and to be perfect, and promifes thereupon the bleffing of his Covenant to Abraham. Abraham receives this Oracle with religious reverence and worfhip. And throughout the whole Oracle there is an exact conformity to the character of Jehovah Elohim, as the foevereign Difpofer of the bleffings of Providence, as the Author of the Peculium in his family, the Covenant and Sacrament of that Church, and the Object of their religious worship, and obedience."

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In the xviiith chapter of Genefis, is another remarkable account of a divine appearance, where, befides the three men who came in and did eat with Abraham, it should seem as if the Divine Majefty appeared, in the ufual form of the Shekinah; for Abraham ftood before Jehovah, before the Divine Majesty who had fpoken to him, difcourfed with him, and in whofe prefence he still continued. In this appearance Jehovah is reprefented, as the God of Abraham, who had promised to blefs him, and would be faithful to the Covenant he had made with him. That he is reprefented as the perfon from whom Abraham was to expect his bleffing, who was the proper object of Abraham's worship and prayer, who was alfo the Lord and Judge of the whole earth; who had the fupreme power, and could by his Providence fave and detroy all which circumftances, how ignorant foever Abraham might be of the quality of the perfons, who appeared to him at the firft, are very plain in the account that follows of the appearance itself."

The next appearance taken notice of by our Author, is that to Mofes, in a Flame of Fire, out of the Bufh. Concerning which he obferves,

That it was a proper appearance of Jehovah Elohim, of that fpecial appearance, which is called the Shekinah, in a fenfible manner.

One part of the appearance was fenfible to fight by a Flame of Fire in the Bufh.

Another part was fenfible to the ear by the Voice of an Oracle,

In which the perfon appearing ftiles himself the God of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; the God of the Hebrews, or Ifrael, Jehovah Elohim, I am that I am that is, in the moft natural and eafy interpretation, the Eternal God; the God of Ifrael in covenant with the Jews as his Church and

Peculium,

Peculium, the Object of their hope and worship; to whose • presence direct religious worship and adoration were due.”

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In the fifth fection, the appearance mentioned Exod. xiii. of a Pillar of a Cloud by Day, and the Pillar of Fire by Night, is confidered. The characters given to Jehovah, the per• fon appearing, are much the fame with the characters mentioned in the former appearances; fuch as God, and parti· cularly the God of Ifrael; and they are only varied in ex• preffions, and instances of his favour and blessing, fuited to the then particular state of the Jews and their deliverance. Thus he is represented as giving forth the Oracle to Mofes, • and direction to the whole people; as promifing protection ⚫ and deliverance from the power of Pharaoh and his hoft; "with a defign, as the Oracle itself expreffes it, that the Egyp • tians may know that I am Jehovah. He is accordingly acknowleged by Mofes and the whole people, as the proper Object of their praise and worship, as their God, and as the univerfal Lord of all.' Before we mention the next appearance, we fhall take leave to recommend, to those who may have read Toland's works, (in which are fome abfurd remarks upon the Pillar of Smoke) The critical, hiftorical, philofophical, and theological Remarks of Elias Benoift, upon that Author's Differtations. This Melange de Remarques, &c. is in French, and was printed at Delft, where the author was Paftor of a church, in the year 1712.

The next inftance produced, is, of the appearance in Mount Sinai, The occafion of it, the number of perfons to whom it was made, and the great folemnity with which the Oracle was given, shew it was one of the most proper and folemn appearances mentioned throughout the whole Old Tefta

ment.

• As to the manner of it, it seems in fome respects different from any we have yet obferved. We have met with an audible Voice, the appearance of Men, Fire burning in a • Bush, yet not confuming it; a large Cloud, one fide dark, and the other light but in none have we met with Thunderings and Lightnings, and the Voice of a Trumpet exceeding loud; fuch a thick Cloud, and fuch vehement Fire, that Mount Sinai was altogether on a Smoke, and the Smoke afcended as the Smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. Here then was fo fearful a noife of Thunder, and appear ance of Lightning, fuch a mixture of Smoke and Fire, attended with fuch dreadful Sounds, as fhook the whole Mount, * No wonder it made the hearts of all the people to tremble, and Mofes himself exceedingly to fear and quake."

The

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The character the person here affumes to himself, is, that of Jehovah. He ftiles himself, and is all along ftiled by Mofes, Jehovah, and is acknowleged under that title by all the Children of Ifrael. He is reprefented as that Jehovah who had delivered them from the Egyptians; with whom they * were to enter into a Covenant as their God, and who there→ • upon accepted them as his Peculium; upon account of whose appearance they were to fanctify themselves in the ⚫ most folemn manner; who was in particular the Author of their Law and Religion, and in an efpecial manner, of the most sacred part of their Law, the Ten Commandments : * and Mofes afterwards mentioning the fenfe which the Chil⚫dren of Ifrael had of this appearance, Deut, v. 26. ascribes the title of Living God to him; a distinguishing character of the true God among the Jews.

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Finally, of this Perfon, who thus gave the Ten Commandments, we are to understand the firft Command: Thou • fbalt have no ather Gods before me, as the God whofe Unity was one of the first and principal Articles of the Jewith Faith and Religion, according to the words of Mofes con . cerning him, Deut. vi. 4, 5. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord • our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God • with all thine heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy might.

Not unlike the former inftance, is that of the Cloud, or Glory of Jehovah, entering the Miban, Habitation or Tabernacle, for the refidence of the Shekinah, Exod. xl. The next remarkable appearance is, the entrance of the Shekinah, or Glory of Jehovah, into Solomon's Temple, 1 Kings viii. This was an established building, or fixed temple in the capital city, Jerufalem; whereas the Tabernacle, as a fort of tent, was a moveable dwelling. It is fo much the fame with the former, that if there was no other reason, we might thence fafely conclude it was a proper divine appearance of the Shekinah.' From Solomon's addrefs to this God, he appears to have been the God of Ifrael, the only true God, to whom there is none like in heaven above, or on earth beneath.

Our Author having brought down the appearances to the full fettlement of the Jewish Church, and the state of Religion and Worship under the Temple, proceeds, in the next place, to confider the prophetic reprefentations of the fame divine Appearance after this firft Temple was destroyed, and while the fecond Temple wanted the Shekinah, until the most glorious of all Shekinahs appeared in the prefence of the King

Meffias.

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Meffias. He begins with the vifion of Ifaiah vi. 1-5." faw alfo the Lord fitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it, as furrounding the SheSeraphim, the angels,

kinah feated on the throne, flood the the She

of

minifters, and attendants on the Divine Prefence; and one cried unto another and faid: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hofts, the whole earth is full of his Glory. And the posts of the door moved or fhook at the voice of him that cried, and the whole house was filled with fmoke.Our Author is very unwilling to admit the appearance of Adonai or Jehovah here, in a bodily fhape, or human form. By the fmoke it fhould feem to have been the Shekinah, but there is no mention of fire; and the voice is not faid to come out of the smoke: nor does the expreffion of feeing the Lord fitting upon a throne agree with his notion of the Shekinah. He is alfo unwilling to admit the Divine Appearance in a human fhape, Jerem. i. where it is faid, Jehovah put forth his hand and touched my mouth. But fuppofing both thefe places not to mean any thing like the appearance of Jehovah in a human form, what fhall we fay concerning him who is called a man, Gen. xxxii. 24. and afterwards God, Elohim, who wreftled with Jacob: The name of the place Peniel, which fignifies the appearance of God, and the reason of that name, for I have feen God face to face; and the circumftance that follows, of his life being preferved, notwithstanding he had feen God, are great difficulties in our Author's fcheme, who makes the dread the Jews were under, of dying at the appearance of the Lord, a proof that the perfon who appeared was Jehovah himself, the one and only God. Surely he ought not to have paffed over this inftance as he has done, in dead filence, especially as, in confequence of this memorable tranfaction, the Jews never eat of that finew which is upon the hollow of the thigh, because Jacob's thigh was pu put out, or wrenched. Not that the finew fhrank, nor is it faid to have fhrank in the original, but the word that fignifies that finew, is derived from one that fignifies to fhrink. It is the name of the finew, and that is all that is expreffed in the original text. Some have thought the man who wrestled with Jacob, to have been Efau, or one fent from him, for it was in the night they wreftled, and he came not till Jacob was alone: nor is there any other reason for an appearance, but the change of the name of Jacob into Ifrael. As to the word Elohim, here tranflated God, it is known to fignify Angels, and Magiftrates. But the authority to change the name of Jacob; his acknowleging the appearance of the Lord, by faying he had feen God, and yet his life was preferved; the name he gave the place; the cuftom of the

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Ifraelites

*

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Ifraelites not to eat the finew of the thigh, and their reafon for it; all weigh strongly against the fuppofing this appearance not to have been that of the Lord but leaving this to the determination of our Readers, we now return to Mr. Lowman; who proceeds to confider the Vifion of Ezekiel by the river of Chebar. Chap. i.

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Here alfo is the likeness of a throne, and the likeness as the appearance of a man; which our Author fays, was not fo the hape and form of an human body, but that from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, the Prophet faw as it were, the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about." But did the brightness, or the appearance of fire, deftroy the appearance of a man? Could not the fhape and form of a human body be preferved under the brightest appearance? Are not the loins of a man expressly mentioned, and is not the whole ure faid to have been the likenefs as the appearance of a man fitting on a throne? This figure reprefenting the Lord fhews the abfurdity of fuppofing the Cherubim who were beneath the throne, to be a reprefentation of the Trinity. By their fituation, and by the perpetual ufe of the word in Scripture, it should feem to fignify no other than a guard as we obferved in our account of Mr. Taylor's Hebrew Concordance. See Review for July 1756."

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We come now to the vifions of Daniel, vii. 9. Here alfo mention is made of hair, and head, and feet, and a garment like fnow; and this perfon who fits on the throne of Judg ment is manifeftly

ditinguished from the Son of Man, who

Ω

came to the ancient of days, and was brought near before him, and received from him, dominion, glory, and a kingdom. Hence our Author concludes, that the old Shekinah could not have been the appearance of Chrift reprefenting his Father, or appearing in the perfon or character of the one and only God of Ifrael. But then he would have the appearance of the Son of Man, to be a fignification of the future Shekinah of the fecond Temple; which is not confirmed by any words implying a Shekinah in the manner in which the Son of Man is faid to approach the ancient of Days.

The laft appearance our Author takes notice of in the Old Teftament, is that in Zech. i. 8. his interpretation of it is as follows.

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The Prophet faw fome confiderable Angel, attended with others, as horfemen, among myrtle trees in a bottom, as if refreshing themfelves in a fhady valley, or myrtle grove. Befides thefe there was another Angel, who came nearer to

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