again, and is called the Angel of God. Gen. xxxi. "And the angel of God spake to me in a dream," ver. 11. This was not a created angel; for he said, ver. 13. “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto Mr*." And to this God he afterwards built an altar, (chap. xxxv. 1.) and he calls upon this God, this angel, to bless the lads, (the two sons of Joseph,) a little before hist death. (Chap. xlviii. 15, 16.) Now, who was this sometimes called God, sometimes the Angel of God? It was, if we may give credit to his own declaration, "The God of Abraham (chap. xxviii. 13.) and the God of Isaac." And this was the God who now appeared and spake to Moses in the bush, and who afterwards gave the law from Mount Sinai. And of him, even of this very same God, David speaks in the 68th Psalm, ver. 7, &c. " O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of the Lord even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel, ver. 17. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place, ver. 18. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men," &c. And now, who was this?

* God the Father is never called the angel of God. But the God of Bethel is called the angel of God. Therefore the God of Bethel is not God the Father. The God of Bethel is the same who is called the angel of the covenant in Mal. i. 1. But that angel of the covenant is Christ, as is plain from Mark i. 2 Therefore the God of Bethel was Christ. The God of Bethel was the God who appeared to Abraham, ( Gen. xii. 1–7.) to Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 24,25.) to Jacob, (Gen. xxviii. 13. xxxi. 13.) to Moses, (Exod. iii. 2—6.) on Mount Sinai, (Exod. xx.2.) and is usually called the God and King of Israel, through the Old Testament. But the God of Bethel was Jesus Christ. Therefore Jesus Christ was the God and King of Israel. If Jesus Christ was the God and King of Israel, then may St. Paul be justified in representing him as the creator of the universe, Col. i. 16. And in applying to him, in his epistles, what was evidently spoken of the God and King of Israel, in the sacred writings of the Old Testament. Compare Psal. Ixviii. 18. with Eph. iv. 8. And Psal. cii. 25. with Heb. i. 10, &c. And our blessed Saviour may be justified in laying down his life, rather than to give up his claim. And there was more truth in the title set up over his head when on the cross, (Jesus of Nazareth the KING OF THE JEWS,) than his crucifiers were aware of ; For had they known, they would not have crucified the LORD OF GLORY.

Turn to the 4th chapter of Ephesians, and there an inspired Apostle tells us, that it was Jesus Christ, ver. 8. It was He "who ascended up on high, and led captivity captive."

So that it was Jesus Christ, who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses in the burning bush, and on mount Sinai. And He appeared in the " form of God," and spake in the language of supreme deity, as thinking it no robbery to be equal with God," saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Exod. xx. And what could he have said more than this; to set up thus for supreme God, and enjoin that none should be worshipped but himself?

And this God, who thus brought Israel out of Egypt, and gave the law from Mount Sinai, even he was "the KING of the Jews," their civil chief. For their government was a theocracy, and God was their KING, as King George is King of Great-Britain. And therefore, when in the days of Samuel they desired to have a king from among themselves, like the rest of the nations, God said, (1 Sam. viii. 7.) "They have rejected ME, that I should not REIGN over them.” (See also 1 Sam. x. 18, 19.) This was in their hearts; for they were weary of God's government, and did not like to be in a state of such entire dépendence on him, but wanted a king of their own. However, God did not give up his government over them, nor grant them a king, in the sense they desired; but only nominated and constituted one to be his vicegerent, to be his deputy, to govern for and under him, therefore called the Lord's anointed, God himself still their King. Now it was at Mount Sinai God became their King, and they covenanted and promised to be his loyal and obedient subjects. Exod. xix. 3. 8. But that God was Jesus Christ, as has been before proved. Therefore Jesus Christ was the KING of the Jews, and they were his peculiar people. And to this St. John evidently alludes in those words, John i. 11. "He came to his own," his own people and nation, over whom he had "He came unto his own, and his own received him 2, look up, and view him on the cross, and read the

superscription put over him, and that will declare who he is, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. (See John xii. 15. Zech. ix. 9.)

And as their God was their king, their civil chief; so it was suitable he should have a palace built him, that he might dwell among them. And accordingly by his appointment the tabernacle was built in the wilderness. And there he dwelt, in the holy of holies, as their God and King, giving out laws and orders from above the mercy-seat. In allusion to which St. John, speaking of the same God, says, "the word was made flesh and tabernacled among us," (for so it is in the original.) John i. 14. And this God who thus dwelt in their tabernacle, and whom they tempted and tried forty years in the wilderness, St. Paul testifies was Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. x. 9. "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." (See also Isai. lxiii. 9. compared with Exod. xxiii. 20. xxxiii. 14.)

Afterwards, in the days of Solomon, a temple was built, exceeding grand and glorious; however, not equal to his infinite greatness: for " the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens could not contain him." (1 Kin. viii. 27.) But yet in this temple he condescended to take up his abode, “in the cloud of glory which filled the house." (2 Chron. v. 14.) And there he dwelt as God and King of the Jews*. In remembrance of which, and conscious to his own dignity, our Saviour, in the days of his flesh, was filled with indignation to see the temple, once his holy dwelling-place, turned into an house of merchandize, and he drove out the people. And being questioned for this his conduct, he answered, "Destroy this temple, (speaking of his body,) and in three days I will raise it up." John ii. 19. As if he had said, "I am the God who

Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, speaking to the God and King of Israel, said, " for thou, even thou, ONLY knowest the hearts of all the children of men." 1 King. viii. 29. This being peculiar to the God of Israel. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Psal. vii. 9. Jer. xi. 20. xvii. 10. xx. 12. "And all the churches shall know, that I AM HE," says our blessed Saviour," that I AM HE, which searcheth the reins and heart." Rev. xi. 23. i. e. that I am that very being, formerly known by the name of the God of Israel, to whom alone this character belonged. All the churches shall know it.

once dwelt in your temple, now I dwell in this body; this is now my temple; destroy it, as I foresee you will, and in three days I will raise it from the dead; and thereby give you full proof who I be, and by what authority I do these things."

To Abraham he sometimes appeared as a man. (Gen. xviii. 1, 2.) to Moses, in a flame of fire in the bush. To all the host of Israel, in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, from the time they went out of Egypt till they came to Mount Sinai. On the Mount he took up his abode till the tabernacle was built, and his appearance was as devouring fire. Exod. xxiv. 17. After the tabernacle was built, that became the place of his residence; and in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, he led the Israelites through all the wilderness, till he had brought them into the holy land; and the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, (Josh. xviii. 1.) and there he dwelt till the days of Eli, (1 Sam. iii.) when, for the wickedness of the children of Israel, he forsook Shiloh: (1 Sam. iv. Psal. lxxviii. 60.) as he afterwards did the temple of Solomon. (Jer. vii. 14.) and after the Babylonish captivity, this token of the divine presence was never more seen. But the pious Jews were assured by the last prophet under that dispensation, after the building of the second temple, that their God and king would return to their temple again. Mal. iii. 1. "The LORD whom ye seek," longing for his presence as in former days, "shall suddenly come to His temple," where he used to dwell;

even the messenger, (or angel,) of the covenant." But when he "came unto his own, his own received him not.” (John i. 11.) for his ancient glory was laid aside, and he appeared in the form of a servant, and in the likeness of men. Wherefore they put him to death for claiming to be “the Son of God and king of the Jews;" not knowing that he was the LORD OF GLORY. 1 Cor. ii. 8. See Hag. ii. 7. 9.

BUT if we want any further evidence, that Jesus Christ was indeed the very GOD and KING of Israel, let us turn to the sixth chapter of Isaiah, where we shall find the prophet in a vision, seeing "the LORD sitting upon a throne high and lifted up," as sole monarch of the universe, and worshipped by the heavenly hosts as supreme God, crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of

thy glory." And then turn to the twelfth chapter of John, forty-first verse, and we shall find, that this God was JESUS CHRIST. "These things," (viz. the things contained in Isai vi. 9, 10.) " said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him."

out the heavens. ver. 18.

And if we would see the same thing confirmed over again, let us read the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah throughout, where we have the SUPREME God, the God of Israel, saying, ver. 5. "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me. ver. 6. There is none besides me: I am the Lord, and there is none else. ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord, the HOLY ONE of Israel. ver. 12. I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched Thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens; God himself, that formed the earth and made it; I am the Lord, and there is none else. ver. 21. There is no God else besides me. ver. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." And if after all this God-like language, this was Jesus Christ, St. Paul might well say, "who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God;" (nor can we have a plainer comment on his words, nor can we be at a loss for their true meaning,) for he could not have appeared more as SUPREME GOD, nor possibly spoken in more

Of God the Son, John xii. 41. Of The THREE who said, "Let us Whose name was pronounced three

*Holy, Holy, Holy, three times. This vision was a vision of one God in three persons. Of God the Father, Rom. xi. 8. God the Holy Ghost, Acts xxviii. 25. make man in OUR image." Gen. i. 26. times in the Old Testament blessing. Num. vi. 24, 25, 26. As the three persons are distinctly mentioned in the New Testament baptism. Matt. xxviii. 19. And in the New Testament blessing. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. And it is observed by an ancient Jewish writer, that in several texts in the Hebrew Bible, God is called by three names. His words are as follows: "Thus it is said, Exod. xx. 5. I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God. [JEHOVAH, ELOHIM, EL, are the words used.] Three, answering to the Three by which the world was made. And thus the children of Gad, and the children of Reuben say, Josh. xxii. 22.: EL, ELOHIM, JEHOVAH: EL, ELOHIM, JEHOVAH, he knoweth. And why are these mentioned twice! Because by them the world was made, and because by them the law was given." Thus far the author of Midrash Tillim. See Bp. Kidder's Demonstration of the Messiah. Part 111. p. 84.