-the principal foundations of their present infidelity: for he not only grants, but contends and proves, that the Angel spoken of was God; and being sent of God as his angel, he must be a distinct person in the Deity, as we have proved. The reason, indeed, he fixeth on why he is called an Angel, namely, “because he governeth the world,” although the thing in itself be true, is not so proper; for he is so called because of his eternal designation and actual delegation by the Father unto the work of saving the church, in all conditions from first to last. And as he acknowledgeth that his being called “The face of God” proves him to be God, so it doth no less evidently
232 APPEARANCES OF THE SON OF GOD, ETC. [EXERC. X.
evince his personal distinction from him whose face he is,—that is, “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” And what he adds of the mercy and benignity which, by the appoint- ment of God, he exerciseth towards his people, is signally suitable unto the tenderness and mercy which the great Captain of our sal- vation exerciseth by God’s appointment towards all those whom he leads and conducts unto glory.
23. It is also not unworthy consideration what some of them write in Tanchuma, an ancient comment on the five books of Moses. Speaking of the Angel that went before them, from Exod. xxiii. 20, “God,” say they, “said unto Moses, ‘ Behold, I send my Angel before thy face.” But Moses answered, ‘I will not have an angel, but I will have thyself’ But when Joshua the son of Nun first saw the angel, he said, ‘Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?’ Then the angel answered, ‘I am the Captain of the Lorp’s host, and now Icome.” Asif he had said, ‘I am come a second time, that I may lead the Israelites into- their possession. I came when Moses thy master was the ruler; but when he saw me, he would not have me to go with him, but refused me.’ As soon as Joshua heard this, he fell on his face and worshipped, saying, ‘What speaketh my Lord unto his servant?’ ”
Answerable hereunto in the Talmud. Tractat. Sanhed., cap. iv., Echad dine Mamonoth, they have a gloss on these words, Exod. xxii. 2], payinp xo” &> ;—“ He will not pardon your transgressions:” nxwd mov pay pea amon mS aosma pan any poywed mbpm diay xb nraoy ses my spa tad des wad wen wmspN 12 NY DWE — “« He cannot spare or pardon your transgressions;’ what then doth he. do, or could he do? Wherefore he said unto him” (to God), “ ‘We be- lieve that he cannot pardon our transgressions, and therefore we refuse him, and will not accept of him; no, not fora leader to go in and out before us.’” They greatly mistake in supposing that the angel whom alone Moses refused was he that afterwards appeared unto Joshua; for he was the same with him in whom was the “name of God,’ and who was promised unto them under the name of the face or presence of God. But herein they were right enough, that not Moses, but their church under the law, refused that “Angel of God’s presence,” who was to conduct them that obey him into everlasting rest. And the church of believers under Joshua, which was a type of the church of the new testament, adhering unto him, found rest unto their souls.
24, And this Angel of whom we have spoken was he whom the Talmudists call pron, “ Metatron.” Ben Uzziel, in his Targum on Gen. v., ascribes this name unto Enoch. He ascended, saith he, into heaven, by the word of the Lord, 829 35D fNHHD Aw NIpI,— “and his name was called Metatron, the great scribe.” But this
SECT. 23, 24.] | FAITH OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH, ETC. 233
opinion is rejected and confuted in the Talmud. There they tell us that “Metatron” is nbyn ww,—“ the prince of the world;” or, as Elias calls him in Tishbi, o35n \w,—“the prince of God’s pre- sence.” The mention of this name is in Talmud. Tract. Sanhed., cap. iv., where they plainly intimate that they intend an uncreated Angel thereby; for they assign such things unto him as are incompetent to any other. And, as Reuchlin informeth us from the Cabbalists, they say, pond Aw Sw ‘n;—“Metatron was the master or teacher of Moses himself.” “He it is,” saith Elias, “ who is the angel always appearing in the presence of God; of whom it is said, ‘My name is in him,” And the Talmudists add, that he hath power to blot out the sins of Israel; whence they call him “ The chancellor of heaven.” And Bechai, a famous master among them, affirms that his name signifies both a lord, a messenger, and a keeper, on Exod. xxiii. ;— a lord, because he ruleth all; a messenger, because he standeth always before God, to do his will; and a keeper, because he keepeth Israel. The etymology, I confess, which he gives unto this pur- pose of that name is weak and foolish; nor is that of Elias one jot better, who tells us that “Metatron” is » pw2, in the Greek tongue, “one sent.” But yet it is evident what is intended by these obscure intimations, which are the corrupted relics of ancient traditions, namely, the uncreated Prince of glory, who, being Lord of all, appeared of old unto the patriarchs as the angel or messenger of the Father. And as for the word itself, it is either a corrupt expression of the Latin, “ mediator,” such as is usual amongst them, or a mere gematrical fiction, to answer unto “WW, the “ Almighty,” there being a coincidence in the numerical signification of their letters.