VEtC,I,z. EpflIetotheFiESRgws. "much contend about matter of fafk, or what theydid ; but that they might have "done otherwifeis evident from the firft inftitution of it; for the prohibitionmen- " tioned,Exod. 3o. 31; 32... refpeCts only private, perfons. And Jofephus tells us, that " Godceafed to give anfwer by Vrim and Thummim two hundred years before he " wrote, Lib. 3. cap. 12. which proves they had it. "It is indeed certain, that at their firft return from Babylon, they had not the Vrim " andThummim, Ezra 2. 63. Therewas no Prieff withVrim andThummim ; yet it Both "not appear that afterwards, that Jewel, what ever it 'were, was not made upon the "'Prophecies of Haggai and Zechary, whereby the Reftaurationof the Temple and the "Worfhip belonging thereunto, was carryed on to perfection : Efpecially confidering " the vifion ofZecbary about cloathing the HighPrieff faith the Robes of his Office, Chap.3. "after whichtime it feems they were made and in ufe : asJofephtu, thews us Lib i 1. "Chap. 8. treating of the Reverence done by Alexander the Great to"the name of "God engraven in the PlateofGold on the High-Priefts forehead. And Maimanidos "Traelat.Sancd. Chap. lo. Sett. to. Cayesexprelly, that all the eight rohes of the. High "Prieff were made under the ficond Temple, and particularly the Vrimand Thummim s "howbeit as heCayes they enquirednot ofGodby them, becauk the HolyGbof was "not on the Priefis. Of the Ark we (hall have occalion to treat afterwards, and of " its fiétitious hiding by Hieremiab: or Jofia, asthe Jews fancy. This we may ()Verve " for the prefent, that as it is certain, that it was carried away by the Babylonians "amongft other Vef els ofGold belonging to the Temple,either amongftthem that were " taken away in the dayes of 1ehojakim, 2 Chron. 36.7. or thofe taken away with " Jehojachinhid Son, v. 1 r. or whenall that was left before great and finali was carried "away in the dayes ofZedel¿iab, v. 18. So it maybe fuppofed to be reflored by Cyrus, "ofwhom it is (aid, that hereturned all the Veffels of the Houfe of the Lord, that Nebu- "chadneazarbrought from Jemfalem; Ezra. 1. 6. Andit is uncertain to whatend was " the folemn yearly entrance of the High Prieff into the Moff Holy Place obferved to " the verydeftru6tionof the fecond Houfe, ifneither Ark norMercy Seatwere there. "Neither is this impeached by what Tacitas affirms, Hiffor. lib. 5. that whenPompey so entred the Temple, he found nullas Deum effigies, vacuam feeem, et- inania arcana ; for " as he wrote of the Jews with fhameful negligence, fo he only intimates that they " had no fuchimages as werersfedamong other Nations, nor thebeadofan Aft, which "himfelf not many Lyes before, had affirmed to be confecrated in their Sanéfuary: "For ought thenappears to thecontrary, the Ark might be in theJeeondHoufe, and be " carried thence to/tome with theBook of the Law, whichJofephus exprefly mentions. "And therefore the fame Abarbine , in his Comment, on Joel tells us, that *met by Cap- " tivity out ofhis ownLand loft lilpt nytt+i =mac, may011'nÚ7 nine1tthw "three excellent gifts, Prophecy, Miracles , and Divine Knowledge, ( PP. 74.. g.) all "which he grants, were to bereftored by the Mefft"ah; without mention of the other "things before recited. And they confefs this openly in Sota diffine. Egla hampha. .7rntro u1171111 '7th i 1T171 'HP i=1,.11111N11 Ottsznati Irm ; after " the death of the latter Prophets Haggai, Zechariahand Malachy, theboty Spirit was taken " away from Ifrael. " It is thenconfelTed that God ceafed to fpeak to theChurch inProphets as to their "Oral teaching and writing, afterthe dayes ofMalady; which reafonof the want " ofVtfion, though continuing four hundred years and upwards, is called by Haggai, " Chap. 2. 8. 101)0 nett, unumpufihem, a little while, in reference to the continuance " of it from the dayes ofMofees; whereby the Jews may fee that they are long finte "pall all grounds of expeaation of its reftauration , all Prophecy having left " them double the time that their Church enjoyedit,which cannot becalled IIyt nnSP " a little while in comparifon thereof. To return, This was the ,rds a., thefe the times wherein God fpake in the Prophets ; which determinesone inftancemoreof the comparifon ; namely; theFathers to whom he (pakt in them; which were allthe Faithful ofthe Judaical Church from the dayes of róuaarporo. giving the Law, until theceafingofProphecy in thedayes ofMalachy. Inanfwer to this fin} Inftance,. on the part of the Gofpcl the Revelation of it is ,r ezràr affirmed to be made in thee lag dayes, bath fßokn in theft loft dayes, the true flaring of Ord µetâr which time alfo will difcover who thePerfino were toWhom it was made, bathfpoken 767°' to us. Mott Expofitors fuppofethat this exprellion,the Taff dayes, isaPeriphraftr of the times ofthe GaJßel. But it doth not appear, that they are iiy where focalled ; nor were Liu 2 they
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