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Peculium, the Object of their hope and worship; to whose prefence direct religious worship and adoration were due.' 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 perfon appearing, are much the fame with the characters men⚫tioned in the former appearances; fuch as God, and parti⚫cularly the God of Ifrael; and they are only varied in expreffions, and inftances of his favour and bleffing, 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 exprefles 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, historical, 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, fhew it was one of the moft proper and folemn ( appearances mentioned throughout the whole Old Tefta

ment.

• As to the manner of it, it seems in fome refpects 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 Thunder ings 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. C 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

The character the perfon 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 thereupon accepted them as his Peculium; upon account of "whofe appearance they were to fanctify themselves in the "moft folemn manner; who was in particular the Author of their Law and Religion, and in an efpecial manner, of the * most facred part of their Law, the Ten Commandments: and Mofes afterwards mentioning the fenfe which the Children of Ifrael had of this appearance, Deut. v. 26. afcribes the title of Living God to him: a diftinguishing character of the true God among the Jews.

Finally, of this Perfon, who thus gave the Ten Commandments, we are to understand the firft Command: Thou fhalt have no other 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 concerning 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 s might."

Not unlike the former inftance, is that of the Cloud, or Glory of Jehovah, entering the Mishan, 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 eftablished 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 reafon, 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 ftate 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 deftroyed, and while the second Temple wanted the Shekinah, until the moft glorious of all Shekinahs appeared in the prefence of the King

Meffias,

Meffias. He begins with the vifion of Ifaiah vi. 1-5. I faw alfo the Lord fitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it, as furrounding the Shekinah feated on the throne, ftood the Seraphim, the angels," 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 houfe 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 should 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 these places not to mean any thing like the appearance of Jehovah in a human form, what fhall we say concerning him who is called a man, Gen. xxxii. 24. and afterwards God, Elohim, who wrestled 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 scheme, 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 transaction, the Jews never eat of that finew which is upon the hollow of the thigh, becaufe Jacob's thigh was put out, or wrenched. Not that the finew fhrank, nor is it faid to have shrank in the original, but the word that fignifies that sinew, is derived from one that fignifies to fhrink. It is the name of the finew, and that is all that is expressed 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 wrestled, 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 custom of the Ifraelites

Ifraelites not to eat the finew of the thigh, and their reason for it; all weigh ftrongly againft 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 fhape 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 preserved under the brightest appearance? Are not the loins of a man exprefsly mentioned, and is not the whole figure faid to have been the likeness as the appearance of a man fitting on a throne? This figure representing 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 use 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.

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 Judgment is manifeftly diftinguished from the Son of Man, who 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.

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

the

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the Prophet to commune or talk with him. The Prophet afks the interpreter, what was the meaning of the vifion he faw, of the horfemen in the Valley of Myrtles? The Angel who communed with him, was preparing to explain to him the vifion, when the Angel among the Myrtles gives the Prophet a fhort account,-That they were miniftring Angels. The Angels themfelves give this farther account, ⚫ that upon their view of things, all were in great peace and ⚫ quiet in the world, and therefore it was a proper time to set • forward the building of the Temple, which was the great ⚫ care and concern of Zechariah. Upon this the Angel who talked with the Prophet, farther to encourage him, and by him the Jews to go on with the Work, addreffes his prayer to God, the Lord of Hafts, Jehovah Zebaoth: and by the Jewish law and religion it was not lawful to pray to any one elfe. In this prayer he defires God would reveal to the Prophet, how long his anger fhould remain against Jerufalem, and the cities of Judah; or when their re-establishment, peace, and fecurity fhould be accomplished? Now as this prayer was thus addreffed to God, the Oracle from the Shekinah gives an anfwer, probably from the Myrtle Valley ⚫ where the miniftring Angels ftood, with good and comfortable words. Upon this the Angel who talked with Zechariah, gave him inftructions how he should prophecy for the encouragement of the people: Thus faith the Lord, I am returned to ferufalem with mercies, my houfe fhall be built in it, faith the Lord of Hofts; and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerufalem,-or the ftreets and the walls of it fhall be regularly rebuilt.'

In the conclufion of this fecond Effay, our Author makes fome obfervations on the foregoing appearances of the Shekinah, to explain the intentions and uses of it. I. These appearances were of early ufe, and long continuance. They began with our firft parents in Paradife, and continued as a perpetual evidence of Revelation. 2. It difcouraged Idolatry, all images being forbid, and the frequent appearance at first, and afterwards the fixed refidence of the Shekinah in the Temple, rendered them ufelefs. 3. It fhewed that the prefence of Jehovah among them, was the prefence of an holy God that hated iniquity. All the worship of the Church was directed and offered to the glorious prefence of Jehovah, or the Shekinah.

In the third Tract are the texts of Scripture mentioned in the title-page, relating to the Logos. Mr. Lowman, in his

explications

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