IV.

"Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem rife! CHAP. "Exalt thy towering head, and lift thy eyes! "See a long race thy fpacious courts adorn; "See future fons and daughters, yet unborn, "In crowding ranks, on every fide arise, "Demanding life, impatient for the skies! "See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, "Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend."

Meffiah.

I cannot conclude this Differtation on the Types of the Old Teftament, without earnestly recommending to the attention of the Reader, that excellent work of the late Rev. W. Jones, "Lectures on the Figurative Language of Holy "Scripture." The pleasure and instruction, which I have derived from the perufal of it, will never be erased from my remembrance.

Opinions
of the Jews.

CHAP. V.

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS.

IN this attempt to interpret the hidden meaning of the Mofaical difpenfation, I have taken the whole tenor of the Epiftle to the Hebrews for my guide, and St. Paul's express declaration for my authority. "The Law" is "a fhadow of good things "to come, and not the very image of the things." Before the subject be entirely difmiffed, it will not be ufelefs to confider the fentiments of the Jews themselves.

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The doctrine of the Law being typical of the Gospel, is frequently afferted to be merely the fanciful reverie of Chriftian divines, and equally unknown and unthought of by the church of Ifrael. Nay, even St. Paul himself has been charged with yielding to the impulfe of a too warm imagination. Suppofing however, for a moment, that the Jews were entirely ignorant of the design of their Law, this would not prove, that it contained no hidden

• Heb. x. 1.

b By Dr. Priestley.

meaning;

V.

meaning; but if it can be fhewn, that the CHAP. very reverfe is the cafe, fuch a demonstration will ferve as a corollary to what has been already advanced.

Many are the teftimonies which the Jews bear to the truth of St. Paul's affertion, that all the facrifices and rites of the Old Teftament relate to the Meffiah. They set out with the following general

כל מה שנזכר בתורה נביאים ;propofition All things * כתובים רומזים אל החכמה :

"which are mentioned in the Law, the

Prophets, and the Hagiographa, relate "to the Wisdom;" under which cabalistic name, they defignated, as it is well known, the Meffiah. To this rule they ftrictly adhere, and maintain, that under the literal fense of the words a myftical meaning lies concealed. Such is the doctrine of the

המתרגם פסוק כצורתו ; Babylonian Talmud Whofoever expounds the : הנה זה בדאי :

"text, according to its form, (i. e. its li-· "teral fenfe) lo! he is a liar." The fame notion is advanced by R. Samuel Laniadu,

בעסק התורה יש שני ; in his Commentaries מינים האחר בפשטיה והשני בסודותיה להבין תעלומות :

"In the study of the Law, a

Heb. paffim.

"double

SECT.." double method is to be obferved; the 1.1, "one, that its. literal meaning may be acquired; and the other, that its hidden fignification may be understood." The Glofs upon the Talmud is yet more expreís;

66

ציורי המשכן לציורים שכליים ולהבנן ; pretis The figures of * מהם האמונות עליו: * :

the tabernacle relate to fpiritual figures, "to learn from thence more fublime truths." R. Bechai is perfectly in unifon

חקים הם ציורי ; with the above citationis The ftatutes • ענינים שכליים של מעלה :

(of Mofes) are a figure of spiritual things; "and thofe fpiritual things are above." In fhort, they all agree, that the ceremonial Law had an immediate reference to the Meffiah himfelf, and to the fublime truths, which it would be his province to inculcated.

Upon the doctrine of the great facrifice to be made by Chrift for the fins of the whole world, the Jews are remarkably exprefs. Let the following paffage from the Jalkut Chadafch declare their fentiments

נשמות הצדיקים מגידות למשיח .on this point יסורין של בני ארם מיד מקבל משיח עליו יסורין

d Præf. ad Maimon. de Vaccâ Rufâ.

ומקביל

.CHAP ומקביל מישראל והוא במקום הקרבנות שהיו The fouls of the * בזמן שבית מקדש קיים :

righteous make their boaft in the Mef"fiah; the chaftifement which is due to "the fons of Adam, the Meffiah immediately taketh away; upon him is the "chastisement, and he taketh it away from "Ifrael. And he is in the place of the offerings, which, during the appointed " time of the house of the fanctuary, were "ftretching forth the neck in eager expectation of his approach f."

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R. Menachim speaks in the following terms of the intent of the facrificial rites;

נמצא שכהן אעלה נפשו מעלוי לעלוי וזהו סוד

The priest, whilft he afcends "the altar, is found raifing up his foul " from the lofty One to the lofty One; "and this is the mystery of the altar." By thefe terms we can only understand the Father and the Son; and indeed the Rabbii are fufficiently explicit in declaring, that this is their meaning. The idea then of the paffage, when divested of its obfcurity, will be, The priest rises in contem

e See Parkhurft under 1.

Differt. in Maimon. de Vaccâ Rufâ, p. 492.

plation

.V.