afterwards in the temple, to be the oracle of God's presence, the particular presence of that person in Jehovah, who had appeared to the holy patriarchs in former times.

This appearance in Jehovah, or rather this person in Jehovah, who thus appeared above, or, in scriptural language, dwelt between the cherubim, was, under the œconomy of the tabernacle and temple, called the glory of the Lord,' or rather Jehovah the glory 3, chabod Jehovah, as we find it so frequently mentioned in the sacred history'. This then is the SHECHINAH SO much boasted of by the Jews, which indeed is no other than one of the eternal persons in Jchovah Aleim, manifesting himself in such a glorious manner, as might be seen by man; and by such a manifestation displaying, under a symbolical institution, the mystery of man's redemption: and, as the heinousness of Aaron's sin consisted chiefly in renouncing this glorious revelation, and, as the psalmist expresses it, in changing their 'glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth hay,* so we find, that after the cherubim of the temple was reared, Jeroboam fell into the same damnable imagination; and, not content with one monument of idolatry, he made two calves, with the same idea which Aaron formerly had, and set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan. For this act he

is

1 See Exod. xi. and xxxiv. Lev. ix. 4. 6. 23. Num. vii. 89. xiv. 10. 1 Kings viii. 11. compared with 2 Chron. v. 14. vii. 2.

2.

2 Ps. cvi. 20.

3 1 Kings xii. 28.

is branded with the wretched character of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin :' and throughout the whole history of the Jews, this seems to have been the principal ingredient of their idolatry, their departing from the cherubic exhibitions, and renouncing Jehovah the glory, to worship before one of the cherubic faces separated from the rest, and set up as a distinct independent Aleim. or God. For this detestable crime it was, that God sold them into the hands of idolaters, and carried them into captivity to Babylon, where idolatry after the flood was first begun; thereby chastising their corruptions, and teaching them, if they would have been taught, to read the nature of their sin in the manner of their punishment. And hence we may assign a reason, which the Jews themselves have never been willing to assign, why this Shechinah, or Jehovah the glory,, was removed, as they themselves acknowledge, from the first times of their second temple, because, as we shall see afterwards, this Shechinah, this same CHABOD JEHOVAH, Jehovah the glory, returned to it, before it was finally demolished. This, then, is the great point of difference between the Jews and us, which having now reached, I shall endeavour to elucidate in a satisfactory manner.

The Jews do to this day affirm, that the Shechinah was still absent from the second temple; we, on the contrary say, that JESUS CHRIST, whom their forefathers put to death, was the very SHECHINAH

of the Mosaic tabernacle and of Solomon's temple, the ATH CHABOD JEHOVAH, the very glory Jehovah, who, from the first ages of the antediluvian, patriarchal, and Jewish churches, had appeared to, and been seen by, men; and not only so, but that even while he was upon earth, in his seemingly low state, and under the oppression of persecution and disgrace, He, at certain times, and in certain places, emitted sufficient displays and exhibitions of this glory before the eyes of his followers.

In proof of this grand important truth, I must indeed make use of the testimonies of his disciples and friends, which may at first sight seem but weak and inconclusive, and in that view, may be rejected by those that are his professed enemies. But, in prosecution of the argument, I shall ask no more for the apostles and historians of Jesus, than the Jews do require for Moses and their writers. In defence of their law against the cavils and objections of heathens, it has been very properly argued, that Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews, was sufficiently capable to know the truth of what he wrote; that he could have no view in advancing a falsehood, nor by so doing serve any interest; and that if he had, as the Jews were set in the midst of so many nations that hated them, he would soon have been contradic⚫ted, and his falsehoods easily exposed and confuted. But so far from this, we find him making frequent appeals to the very enemies of his people; and several of the facts, which he narrates, were acknowledged

ledged by their hostile neighbours to be genuine and true. The same is to be said for the gospel of Jesus; nor can it be thought, that a body of men would have agreed in ruining themselves, or have run the risk of losing their all, and of meeting with nothing but torments and death, for the sake of telling an idle story, and deceiving the world with an imposture. This pleads strongly indeed for their honesty; and to remove any objection as to their want of capacity, from the circumstance of their being but illiterate fishermen, we find that they never appeared in public, nor undertook to write any account of what they saw, until they' were endued with power from on high, and filled with the holy Spirit of God, not in a corner, but openly before all the people of the Jews, assembled at one of their most solemn festivals. If, then, the arguments urged for the law of Moses be valid, the same arguments will, and must be, valid, when urged for the gospel of Christ; and there is as good ground to adduce the authority of the evangelists and apostles for the one, as there is to quote the authority of Moses and the prophets for the other; so that the Jews and we are at least upon an equal footing; and we are no more to be found fault with by them, for quoting the New Testament, than they are to be blamed by pagans or atheists, for the credit they give to the Old. have had authors to defend the christian religion, as well as they have had to extol the Jewish; and the christian Grotius, Stillingfleet, Addison, &c. deserve

We

deserve as much regard as the Jewish Maimonides, R. Kimchi, or other Rabbins. If the present controversy were with direct infidels, or with dissembling Deists, or with freethinkers, there would be a necessity for expatiating upon this topic. But as it is with Jews, who receive one half of our bible, what has been said will be sufficient in vindication of the other half; and they can have no just reason to reject the writings of the gospel, unless they would give a handle to others to reject the writings of the law.

Let us, see, then, if the writings of the gospel, supported by, and in conformity with, the writings of the Jewish prophets, afford us any light in the present case, with relation to the Shechinah, or cherubic glory; and for the better comprehending the state of the question, I shall discuss it in the following three particular enquiries.

I. Whether the bible in general affords any confirmation of this position, that Jesus Christ was the Shechinah of the Jews.

II. Whether from any thing said in scripture, any discovery can be made, wherein this Shechinah of Jesus was displayed.

III. Whether any symbol or symbols of this Shechinah be continued with the christian church, and what this symbol is, or these symbols are.

And,