God in human form was the prevailing opinion when he wrote his book. The conclusion, therefore, which we have drawn is not the result of Christian prejudice, but the legitimate inference from the language employed common to the Jews before the coming of Christ, as appears from the Septuagint at the coming of Christ, as is evident from the Targum,-and for a thousand years after the coming of Christ, as appears from the Sohar, the Talmud, and most rabbinical writers down to Maimonides, and even after his time, until his opinions acquired authority.

The result, then, of the present inquiry is, that the doctrine of the revelation of God in human form is the universal doctrine of the Old Testament; that, therefore, there is no reason for explaining away the prophecies which, when interpreted according to their grammatical sense, imply that the promised Messiah was to be an incarnation of Deity. The next step is to examine those prophecies; but this must be deferred to another opportunity. We must conclude for the

who asserts that God is corporeal, and has a definite form, is a heretic, where the former rabbi says

ולמס קרf לזס מין וכמס גדוליס וטוניס ממנו הלכו בזו המקסכס לפי מס פרחו במקלחות ויותר ממס סרחו בדברי ההגדות המסנסות את הדעות

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Why does he call such an one a heretic, when many, greater and wiser than he, have walked in this opinion, according to that which they saw in the Scriptures, and still more in the Agadoth, which imply that doctrine."

present with the remark, that the God revealed in the Old and New Testament is not a bare abstraction, utterly removed from the cognisance and the love of his creatures, but a Being who may be known and loved, who created us by an act of his will, who redeemed us by an act of his love, who watches over all our concerns, and is afflicted in all our afflictions, whom, though we see not now, we can know and love until that happy hour when we shall see him as he is. Now, then, let us ascribe unto him, the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, all glory and honour, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for ever.

LECTURE III.

ISAIAH IX. 6.

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

In order to prove the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus Christ, my first position was, that there are prophecies announcing that Messiah should be universally acknowledged as the true God, that Jesus of Nazareth has been acknowledged as such in a manner, and to an extent unparalleled in the history of the world, and that, therefore, He is the true Messiah, and the prophecies themselves are of Divine origin. But to this it is objected, that there can be no such prophecies, because the doctrine of the union of Deity and manhood in one person is contrary to the universal tenour and general analogy of the Old Testament teaching. This objection I answered in the last Lecture, by showing that the revelation which the law and the prophets make of the Divine Being, necessarily implies the doctrine of the incarnation of Deity; our business,

therefore, now is, to examine the particular passages which announce that the Messiah was to be acknowledged as the true God, and to point out their fulfilment.

Of these, some are couched in language which necessarily implies the acknowledgment of Messiah's Deity; there are others expressly asserting it. To the former class belongs the Forty-fifth Psalm, which refers, as the Jews themselves confess, to the Messiah and his glory,* and which concludes with a promise, that to him should be ascribed eternal praise-"I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."† Now,

* Aben Ezra hesitates between David and Messiah his Son. But the Targum, David Kimchi, and even R. Isaac, in the "Chizzuk Emunah," interpret it positively of the Messiah. It cannot apply to any mere earthly king. I. It is found amongst the hymns intended for public worship, and, therefore, cannot be an epithalamium. II. If it be a poem laudatory of a king, it must be either a Gentile or a Jewish king. The first is impossible; the latter inapplicable. Solomon was not a warrior. None of the other kings sufficiently prosperous. III. The anointing by God, the righteousness of the king, the universality of the kingdom, the eternal praise to be offered by all nations, are applicable to the Messiah alone.

The modern translators, as Rosenmüller and De Wette, take in the sense, "I will celebrate thy name in all generations." But this makes no difference. They interpret it of

the king, who is the subject of the Psalm.

Kimchi says plainly,

that it is the Messiah whose name is mentioned in all generations, and whom the Gentiles shall praise.

it is true that praise may be ascribed to man, as well as to God, but not such praise as is here spoken of, which is universal and everlasting, and described in the very same terms as that universal worship which is to be given to the true God.* The Seventy-second Psalm, which the Jews also interpret of Messiah speaks in like manner, and predicts the universal homage of all kings and nations, saying, "They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; yea, all kings shall worship him ; all nations shall serve him" him" (9-11.)†

* Comp. 1 Chron. xvi. 4. "He appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record

and to thank and to praise the Lord God of Israel." (Isaiah xii. 4.) "Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted." (Ps. lxvii.) "Let the people praise thee, O God, yea, let all the people praise thee," &c., &c. Mendelssohn felt the awkwardness of these words when applied to a mere man, and, therefore, substitutes, "Dich soll die Nachwelt glücklich preisen." Dr. Solomon gives the words their natural force"Darum werden dich die Völker preisen immer und ewig."

† So the Midrash in Ialkut Shimoni, Part II., fol. 112, col. 2. The Targum says, that the king is Messiah, the Son of David. Aben Ezra applies it to Solomon, or to the Messiah. But his preference for the latter interpretation is perceptible. And still more so in Kimchi, who upon the words, "They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure"-says, that if applied to Solomon it can only be hyperbolically, and then adds

ולס על מלך סמסיק קול מפורס כי כימי מלך סמסיק תמלל קללן דעס ק' וכן יסיס לעולס לf תפסוק יראת ה' מכני 6לס לעולס : וחינו דרך הפלגה חלה כן יסיס לעולס •