1

СНАР. .

IV.

Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem rise !
“ Exalt thy towering head, and lift thy eyes!
“ See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
“ See future sons and daughters, yet unborn,
“ In crowding ranks, on every fide arise,
“ Demanding life, impatient for the skies !
" See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
" Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend".”

Meffiah.
I cannot conclude this Dissertation on the Types of the
Old Testament, without earnestly recommending to the at-
tention of the Reader, that excellent work of the late Rev.
W. Jones, " Lectures on the Figurative Language of Holy
« Scripture." The pleasure and instruction, which I have
derived from the perusal of it, will never be erased from my
remembrance.

CHAP. V.

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS.

]

IN Opinions

this attempt to interpret the hidden of the Jews.

meaning of the Mofaical dispensation, I
have taken the whole tenor of the Epistle
to the Hebrews for my guide, and St.
Paul's express declaration for my authority,
“ The Law” is “ a shadow of good things
“ to come, and not the very image of the
“ things.” Before the subject be entirely
dismissed, it will not be useless to consider
the sentiments of the Jews themselves.

The doctrine of the Law being typical of the Gospel, is frequently asserted to be merely the fanciful reverie of Christian divines, and equally unknown and unthought of by the church of Israel. Nay, even St. Paul himself has been charged with yielding to the impulse of a too warm imagination. Supposing however, for a moment, that the Jews were entirely ignorant of the design of their Law, this would not prove, that it contained no hidden

a Heb. x. I.

b

By Dr. Priestley.

meaning

V.

meaning; but if it can be shewn, that the CHAP. very reverse is the case, such a demonftration will serve as a corollary to what has been already advanced.

כל מה שנזכר בתורה נביאים ;propofition

כתובים רומזים אל החכמה

Many are the testimonies which the Jews bear to the truth of St. Paul's affertion, that all the sacrifices and rites of the Old Testament relate to the Meffiah. They set out with the following general ;

“ All things “ which are mentioned in the Law, the

Prophets, and the Hagiographa, relate “ to the Wisdom ;” under which cabalistic name, they designated, as it is well known, the Messiah. Tá this rule they striály adhere, and maintain, that under the literal sense of the words a mystical meaning lies concealed. Such is the doctrine of the

; , “ text, according to its form, (i. e. its lie' “ teral sense) lo! he is a liar.” The same notion is advanced by R. Samuel Laniadu,

; ,

D : naibyn - In the study of the Law, a , ç Heb. paflim.

(6 double

המתרגם פסוק כצורתו ; Babylonian Talmud Whofoever expounds the * הנה זה. בדאי :

בעסק התורה יש שני ; in his Commentaries מינים האחר בפשטיה והשני בסודותיה להבין

תעלומות

II,

SECT. “ double method is to be observed; the

“ one, that its literal meaning may be ac

quired; and the other, that 'its hidden

nification may be understood.” The Clofs upon the Talmud is yet more expreis;

“ " tie tabernacle relate to fpiritual figures, " to learn from thence more fublime • tritos." R. Bechai is perfectly in unison

ציורי המשכף לציורים שכליים והבנן ; א זין The figures of ) מהם האמנות מזעריו:: :

חקים הם ציורי ; th the above citations: 1 The ftatutes ). ענינים שכליים של בעלות 5

(of Moses) are a figure of spiritual things; “, and those spiritual things are above.' In short, they all agree, that the ceremonial Law had an immediate reference to the Meffiah himself, and to the sublime truths, which it would be his province to inculcated .

Upon the doctrine of the great facrifice to be made by Chrift for the fins of the whole world, the Jews are remarkably express. Let the following passage from the Jalkut Chadasch declare their sentiments

. )

נשמות הצדיקים מגידות למשיח

.on this point יסורין של בני ארס מיד מקבל משיח עליו יסורין

& Præf. ad Maimon. de Vaccâ Rufà.

ומקביל

.CHAP ומקביל מישראל והוא במקום הקרבנות שהיו

The Touls of the ): בזמן שבית מקדש קיים

:0“
“ righteous make their boaste in the Mef-
“ fiah; the chastisement which is due to
“ the fons of Adam, the Messiah imme-

diately taketh away; upon him is the s chastisement, and he taketh it

away

from “ Ifrael. And he is in the place of the

offerings, which, during the appointed 66 time of the house of the sanctuary, were

stretching forth the neck in eager ex-
pectation of his approach ".

*

R. Menachim speaks in the following terms of the intent of the sacrificial rites;

נמצא שכהן אעלה נפשו מעלוי לעלוי וזהו סוד

: 031on “ The priest, whilst he ascends “ the altar, is found raising up his soul “ from the lofty One to the lofty One ; " and this is the mystery of the altar.” By these terms we can only understand the Father and the Son; and indeed the Rabbii are sufficiently explicit in declaring, that this is their meaning. The idea then of the passage, when divested of its obscurity, will be, The priest rises in contem

e See Parkhurst under 723.
? Differt. in Maimon. de Vacca Rufa, p. 492.

plation