VEB.I,Z. EpylletotheHEBR$ws. Atqui f ties Dei" ipfum fignif1cat Deum - - -And again , Facies mea pnecedet, hoc eft; Angelus feederis quem Dos cupitis. Gbérve diligently what is the meaning" of there words ; for Mofés and the Ifraelites"alwayes defred the principal Angel, butwho he was they could not perfectlyunderftand : fir they could neither learn it of others, nor attain it byProphecy; but the prefince ofGod, is God him/elf. My prefince [face]. fball go "before thee ; that is, the Angel of the Covenaniwham ye defire. Thus he ; to which purpòfe others alfoof themdo (peak; though how to reconcile theft things to their unbelief in denying the Perfonaiity of theSon ofGod they knownot. This was the Angel whofe i1Y1, Mofei prayed for on .7ohph, Deer. 33. r3. and whom Jacob made to be the fame with the God that fed hint all bis days, Gen. 48.15,16. whereof we have treated largely be- fore. The Son ofGod having from the foundation of the world undertaken the Care and Salvationof the Church, he it was who immediately dealt with it in things which concerned its inftruhon and edification. Neither cloththis hinder but that God the Father may yet be afferted, or that he is in thisplace, tobe the fountainof all DivineRevelation. z: There is a difference between the Son of God revealing the will of God in his DivinePerfon to theProphets of which we have fpoken, and the Son of Godas in- carnare, revealing the will of God immediately to theChurch. This is 'thedifference here inf tied on by the Apoftle. Under the Old Teflament theSon ofGod in his Divine Perfon, iullruéted the Prophets in thewill ofGod, and gavethem that Spiriton Whole Divine Infpiration their infallibility did depend, I Pet. 1. II. but now in the Revela- tion of theGofßel taking his own humanity, or our Nature hypoffaticaly" united unto him, in the room of all the internuiscii or propheticalMeffengers he had made ufe of, he taught it immediately himself. There lyes a feeming exception unto this diftindhion in the giving'of the Law; for as we affirm, that it Was the Son by whom the Law was given, [to in,his fo doing he fpake immediately to the whole Church, Exod. zo. za. The'Lordlaid, Ihave talked with you from Heaven. TheJews fay, that the people underftood not one wordof what was fpoken, but only heard avoice, andfan, the terrible appearances of the.Majeffy ofGod; as v. r8,for immediatelyupón thatfight, they removed and flood afaroff; And the matter is left doubtfulin the repetition of theIlory, Deut.5.4. It is Paid indeed the Lord talkedwithyouface tafape in the Mount;but yet neither do theft wordsfully prove that they underilood what was fpoken, andas it wasfpoken, but only that they clearly dileovered the prefence ofGod deliveringtheLaw:for fo are thofewords expounded in v.5. Iflood faith Moles; ,between the Lord and you at that time, to 'hewyou the word of the Lord, foryou were afraid byreafonof thefire, and wentnot up unto the Mount; that is, you underjicod not the words of the Law,but as I declared them untoyou; and it be- ing fo, though the Perfon of theSon caufed the words to be heard, yet he fpakenot immediately to the whole Church, but byMofs. But Secondly, We (hall afterwards Chew, that all the voices then heard by Mfeesor thepeople, were formed in the air by the Miniflry ofAngels,fo that they heard net the immediate voyce of God. Now in the loft dayes did the Lord take that work into his own hands, wherein from the foundation of the world he had employedAngels and Men. 3. Though the Apoltles argument mite not immediately from the differing wayes ofGods revealing himfelf to the Prophets, and to Chrift, but in the difference that lyes in his immediate fpeaking unto us in Chrif the Son, and his (peaking unto the Fathers in the Prophets, yet that former difference all) is intimated by him, in his af- firming, that he fpake to them varioujly or diverfly, as hath been declared, and there- fore wemultcontiderthat alto; And herein we are toobviate the great Judaicalpre- 'Mice againtt the Gofpel ; to which end obferve, I. That though the Apatite mentions the Prophets in general, yet iris MJis whom he principally intends: This is evident in the Application of this Argument Which he makes inparticular, Chap. 3. 3. where he exprelly prefers the Lord Jefits before Mofes by name, in this matter ofMiniltring to theChurch in the name ofGod. For whereas,as was beforeintimated, the Apoftle mannages this thing with excellent Wif- damin thisEpifIle, confidering the inveterate prejudices of the Hebrews in their ad- hering unto Mofes, he could not mention him in particular, until he had proved him whom he preferred above- him, tobelt.; excellent and glorious, fo far exalted above Men andAngels , that it was no difreputation to 'Moles to be effeemed inferiour to him. z. That the great Reafon why the Jews adhered fir pertinaciouty unto Mofaical fi x z Infitusions
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