of God. Now in the last days did the Lord take that work into his own hands, wherein from the foundation of the world he had employed angels and men.

3. Though the apostle's argument arise not immediately from the different ways of God's revealing himself to the prophets, and to Christ; but in the difference that lies in his immediate speaking unto us in Christ the Son, and his speaking unto the fathers in the prophets, yet that former difference also is intimated by him, in his affirming, that he spake to them variously or diversly, as hath been declared, and therefore we must consider that also; and herein we are to obviate the great Judaical prejudice against the gospel, to which end observe,

1. That though the apostle mentions the prophets in general, yet it is Moses whom he principally intends. This is evident in the application of this argument which he makes in particular, ch. iii. 3. where he expressly prefers the Lord Jesus before Moses by name, in this matter of ministering to the church in the name of God. For whereas, as was before intimated, the apostle manages this thing with excellent wisdom in this epistle, considering the inveterate prejudices of the Hebrews in their adhering unto Moses, he could not mention him in particular, until he had proved him whom he preferred above him, to be so excellent and glorious, so far exalted above men and angels, that it was no injury to the reputation of Moses to be esteemed inferior to him.

2. That the great reason why the Jews adhered so pertinaciously unto Mosaic institutions, was their persuasion of the unparalelled excellency of the revelation made to Moses. This they retreated unto, and boasted of, when they were pressed with the doctrine aud miracles of Christ, John ix. 28, 29. And this was the main foundation in all their contests with the apostles, Acts xv. 1. xxi. 21. 28. And this at length they have made a principal root or fundamental article of their faith, being the fourth of the thirteen articles of their creed; namely, that Moses was the most excellent and most sublime among the prophets, so far above that excellency, that degree of wisdom and honour which men may attain unto, that he was equal to angels. This Maimonides, the first disposer of their faith into fundamental articles, expounds at large, More Nebuch. p. 2. cap. 39. Declaravimus, saith he, quod prophetia Mosis doctoris nostri ab omnium aliorum prophetiis differat; dicemus nunc quod propter solam illam apprehensionem ad legem vocati sumus; quia nempe vocationi illi qua Moses nos vocavit similis neque antecessit ab Adamo primo ad ipsum usque, neque etiam post ipsum apud ullum prophetam secuta est; sic fundamentum Legis nostræ est quod in æternum finem non sit habitura vel abolenda, ac proptera, etiam ex sententia nostra, alia lex nec unquam fuit, nec erit præter unicam hane Legem Mosis doctoris nostri. We have declared that the pro

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phecy of Moses our master, differeth from the prophecies of all others; now we shall shew that upon the account of this persuasion alone,' (namely of the excellency of the revelation made to Moses,) we are called to the law. For from the first Adam . to him, there was never any such call' (from God) as that wherewith Moses called us, nor did ever any such ensue after him. Hence it is a fundamental principle of our law, that it shall never have an end, or be abolished, and therefore, also it is our judgment that there was never any other' (divine) law, nor ever shall be but only this of our master Moses.' This is their present persuasion, it was so of old. The law and all legal observances are to be continued for ever: other way of worshipping God there can be none: and this upon the account of the incomparable excellency of the revelation made to Moses.

To confirm themselves in this prejudicate apprehension, they assign a fourfold pre-eminence to the prophecy of Moses above that of other prophets, and these are insisted on by the same Maimonides, in his explication of cap. x. Tractat. Sanedr. and by sundry others of them.

1. The first they fix on is this, That God never spake to any prophet immediately, but only to Moses,' to him he spake without angelical mediation. For so he affirms that he spake to him, 75 75,"mouth to mouth," Num. xii. S.

2. All other prophets,' they say, received their visions either in their sleep, or presently after their sleep, but Moses in the day time standing between the cherubims, Exod. xxix. 42. And,

3. That when other prophets received their visions or revelations, although it was by the mediation of angels, yet their nature was weakened by it, and the state of their bodies, by reason of the consternation that befel them, Dan. x. 8. but Moses had no such perturbation befalling him when the Lord spake to him, but it was with him, as when "a man speaks unto his friend."'

4. That other prophets had not inspirations and answers from God at their own pleasures, but sometimes were forced to wait long, and pray for an answer before they could receive. it. But Moses was wont when he pleased to say, "Stay and I will hear what God will command you," Num. ix. 8.' So they.

And to reconcile this to what is elsewhere said, that he could not see the face of God and live, they add, that he saw God not immediately but DNA, in speculo or speculari, (a word formed from the Latin,) in a glass,' an expression which the apostle alludes to 1 Cor. xiii. 12. only they add venjin a

other prophets saw through איספקלריות היו הנביאים רואים but Moses • ומשה ראה מתוך ספקלריא אחת ',nine perspectives

saw through one only,' Vaiikra Rabba. sec. 1. whereunto they add that his speculum was clear and lucid, theirs spotted.

It must be granted that Moses, being the lawgiver and first revealer of all that worship, in the observance whereof the Judaical church state and privilege of that people did consist, had the pre-eminence above the succeeding prophets, whose ministry chiefly tended to instruct the people in the nature, and keep them to the observance of his institutions. But that all these things by them insisted on, were peculiar to him, it doth not appear, nor if it did so, are the most of them of any great weight or importance.

The first is granted, and a signal privilege it was. God spake to him, face to face,' Exod. xxxiii. 11. and, mouth to mouth,' Num. xii. S.; and this is mentioned as that which was peculiar to him above the prophets which should succeed him in the ministry of that church. But that Moses saw the essense of God, which the Jews contend from these words, is expressly denied in the text itself. For even then when it was said, that God spake to him face to face, it is also affirmed that he did not, nor could see the face of God, Exod. xxxiii. 20. See John i. 17, 18. Both these expressions intend only that God revealed himself to him in a more clear and familiar way than he had done to other prophets, or would do while that administration continued. For although the things he revealed to and by other prophets, were more clear, evident and open to the understanding of believers, than they were in the revelation made to Moses, (they being intended as expositions of it,) yet in the way of the revelation itself, God dealt more clearly and familiarly with Moses, than with any other prophet of that church whatever.

The second difference assigned is vain. Of the times and seasons wherein the prophets received their visions there can be no determinate rule assigned. Many of them were at ordinary seasons, whilst they were waking, and some about the employment of their callings, as Amos vii. 15.

The third also, about that consternation of spirit which befel other prophets, is groundless. Sometimes it was so with them, as the instance of Daniel proves, chap. vii. 28. x. 8. and so it befel Moses himself, Heb. xii. 21. which if we attain to that place we shall prove the Jews themselves to acknowledge. Ordinarily it was otherwise, as with him so with them, as is manifest in the whole story of the prophets.

There is the same mistake in the last difference assigned. Moses did not so receive the spirit of prophecy, as that he could at his own pleasure reveal those things which were not discoverable but by that spirit, or speak out the mind of God infallibly in any thing for the use of the church without actual

inspiration as to that particular; which is evident from the mistake that he was under as to the manner of his government, which he rectified by the advice of Jethro, Exod. xviii. 19. And likewise in other instances did he wait for particular answers from God, Num. xv. 34. To have a comprehension at once of the whole will of God concerning the obedience and salvation of the church, was a privilege reserved for " him who in all things was to have the pre-eminence." And it seems that Maimonides himself in his exaltation of Moses excepted the Messiah. For whereas in the Hebrew and Latin copies of More Nebuch. part 2. cap. 45. there are these words, m barw wysi nani, which Buxtorf renders, est gradus hic etiam præstantissimorum consiliariorum Israelis, this is the degree (in prophecy) of the counsellors of Israel, the Arabic or original hath, And this also is the degree of the Messiah of Israel, who goeth before, or excelleth all others,' that is in point of prophecy.

Not to follow them in their imaginations, the just privileges of Moses above all other prophets lay in these three things.

1. That he was the lawgiver and mediator by whom God. gave that law, and revealed that worship in the observance whereof, the very being of the Judaical church did consist.

2. That God in the revelation made to him, dealt in a more familiar and clear manner, as to the way of his outward dealing, than with any other prophets.

3. In that the revelation made to him, concerned the ordering of the whole house of God, when the other prophets were employed only about particulars built on his foundation.

In these things consisted the just and free pre-eminence of Moses, which, whether it were such as would warrant the Jews in their obstinate adherence to his institutions upon their own principles, shall be inquired into. But before we manifest that indeed it was not, the revelation of the mind of God in and by the Son, which is compared with, and preferred before and above this of Moses, must be unfolded, and this we shall do in the ensuing observations.

1. The Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of the union of his person, was from the womb filled with a perfection of gracious light and knowledge of God and his will. An actual exercise of that principle of holy wisdom wherewith he was endued, in his infancy, as afterwards, he had not, Luke ii. 52. Nor had he in his human nature an absolutely infinite comprehension of all individual things past, present and to come, which he expressly denies, as to the day of judgment, Mat. xxiv. 36. Mark xiii. 32. But he was furnished with all that wisdom and knowledge. which the human nature was capable of, both as to principle and exercise, in the condition wherein it was, without destroying VOL. III.

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its finite being, and variety of conditions from the womb. The Papists have made a vain controversy about the knowledge of the human soul of Christ. Those whom they charge with error in this matter, affirm no more than what is expressly asserted in the places of Scripture above mentioned, and by their answers to those places, it is evident how little they care to what scorn they expose the Scripture and all religion, if they may secure their own mistakes. But this wisdom, whatever it were, is not that whereby God so revealed his mind to him, as thereby to be said to speak to us in him. He had it by his union, and therefore immediately from the person of the Son, sanctifying that nature by the Holy Ghost which he took into subsistence with himself. But the revelation, by which God spake in him to us, was in a peculiar manner from the Father, Rev. i. 1. and as we have shewed, it is the person of the Father that is here peculiarly spoken of. And hence the inquiry of some on this place, how the second person revealed himself to the human nature, is not to the purpose of it. For it is the person of the Father that is spoken of. So that,

2. The commission, the mission and the furnishing of the Son as incarnate and as Mediator, with abilities for the declaration of the mind and will of God to the church, were peculiarly from the Father. For the whole work of his mediation, he received command of the Father, John x. 18. and what he should speak, John xii. 49. according to which commandment he wrought and taught, John xiv. 31. Whence that is the common periphrasis whereby he expressed the person of the Father, he that sent him,' as also he that sealed and anointed him.' And on that account he testified, that his doctrine was not his, his own, that is, primarily or originally as Mediator, but his that sent him, John vii. 16. It was from the Father that he heard the word, and learned the doctrine that he declared to the church. And this is asserted wherever there is mention made of the Father's sending, sealing, anointing, commanding, teaching him; of his doing the will, speaking the words, seeking the glory, obeying the commands of him that sent him. See John viii. 26. 28. 40. xiv. 10. xv. 15. Rev. i. 1. and in the Old Testament, Zech. ii. 8. Isa. xlviii. 15-17. ch. 1. 4. That blessed tongue of the learned whereby God spake in and by him, the refreshing word of the gospel, to poor weary sinners, was the gift of the Father.

3. As to the manner of his receiving the revelation of the will of God, a double mistake must be removed, and then the nature of it must be declared.

1. The Socinians, to avoid the force of those testimonies which are urged to confirm the deity of Christ, from the assertions in the gospel that he who spake to the disciples on earth,