redeemed him from all evil, he now addresses in favor of the lads; which proves the ANGEL to be the same with GOD in the preceding clause, and the God Almighty who appeared to Jacob at Beth-el.

But this is still more manifest from the construction of the language Jacob uses. For the words here translated GOD and ANGEL, have each a demonstrative prefixed before them, which points them out to be the same, whereas, had they been different, of necessity there would have been a copulative betwixt them. "That God, that angel, that fed me, and redeemed me," must point at the same object. But had it been, "the GoD that fed me, and the angel that redeemed me," it would have pointed out different objects. Many critics read Peter's short confession of faith,-" Thou art that Christ, that son of the living God." None will deny that Peter meant the same person in both; and so the object of Jacob's address must be the same, seeing the demonstratives are prefixed.

And not only so, but the verb here used is singular, which would be a manifest impropriety, if there were two intended so very different as the Almighty God, and a created angel. Could we suppose the absurdity which some maintain, "of joining them together in an address;" yet, to make it sense, it would read, " may they bless:" but to join two very different beings together, and then say, may he bless," is wholly incongruous.

Further, if we suppose the angel here a created one, it will make Jacob's prayer to be very irreligious. For that which the angel is said to do, is only proper for GOD. To deliver his people from all evil is what he has promised, and what they

daily pray for, as expressed in our Lord's summary, "Deliver us from all evil. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all." This is what they neither expect from, nor pray to any angel to do. Indeed those of the popish persuasion, in which angel worship is included, may: and it is most likely that this notion, with many others, have been taken without examination, from their systems, who must hold this to be a created angel, the better to support angel worship.

It is admirable how any can imagine that Jacob would give to any mere creature the sacred title of his Redeemer, seeing it is that which the saints glory in, as proper to GoD only; and what he challengeth as his peculiar prerogative. "O Lord, (saith David) my strength and my Redeemer. Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer. As for our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is his name. O Lord, our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting." (Our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name, margin.) It would be robbing God to give the glory of this title to any creature.

We may justly conclude, that Jacob had the same object of worship in view, when blessing Joseph and his sons, that he had immediately after, when blessing Joseph among his other sons; there he ascribes all to GOD, saying,* "His hands were made strong by the mighty GoD of Jacob: even by the GoD of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee."

I shall only add here, that the angel mentioned in this passage, is the same with the Gon

* Gen. xlix. 24, 25.

before whom Abraham and Isaac did walk, which phrase implies the whole of their religion; as it is said of Enoch, "he walked with GOD." It is the same angel that appeared to Jacob in Padanaram, and said, I am the GoD of Beth-el: the same redeeming angel that answered him in his afflictions: to whom he cried for help at the meeting of his brother Esau. The same that fed and led him and his posterity. The angel that Isaiah calls God's presence, who in his love saved them, and in his pity redeemed them,-who bare and carried them all the days of old,-delivering them from all evil, and increasing them into a multitude in the earth, which was the answer of Jacob's prayer in the text: and on the whole, proves that the angel mentioned here, is the same object with God, whom he addresses under these two names.

There is one thing I have to mention here, which will put the general point I am pleading for, entirely beyond all dispute. And I am surprized, that none of all the disputers for the divinity of Christ, ever took any notice of it, viz. That wherever the word angel is joined with JEHOVAH, there is no possessive affixed to them in the Hebrew. What we have translated the angel of the Lord, is the ANGEL JEHOVAH, which certainly proves them to be the same; and through all the old testament it is so, when they are joined together. For the reader's satisfaction, the following texts may be consulted in the original, which he will find without any possessive sign.

Gen. xvi. 7, 9, 10, 11. Chap. xxii. 11. Num. xxii. 23, 24, 25, 27, 31, 34, 35. Judg. ii. 1, 4. Chap. xiii. 3, 16, 18, 20, 21. Chap. v. 23. Chap. vi. 11, 12, 21, 22. 1 Kings xix. 7. 2 Kings i. 3, 15. Chap. xix. 35.

1 Chron. xxi. 12, 15, 18, 30. 2

Sam. xxiv. 16. Psal. xxxiv. 7. and xxxv. 5. Zech. i. 11, 12. Chap. iii. 5, 6. Chap. xii. 8, with several others.

Though there be no possessive sign prefixed to angel, when joined to JEHOVAH, yet there is, when it is joined with* ELOHIM, which is translated GOD. This may point out to us the humble dependent character, in which the Messiah acted as the messenger of ELOHIM, which is a plural. Notwithstanding, since the word angel is joined with JEHOVAH, without the possessive sign, it shews that his state of dependence was voluntary, and that he loses no claim to supremacy by that voluntary dependence: it fairly points out, that our Savior, the angel, or messenger for us, was never less than JEHOVAH, and that in both characters, as to their signification to his church, he is equally related to them. But when angel is joined with ELOHIM, it shews that the ANGEL JEHOVAH humbled himself to be a messenger by economy of ELOHIM to guilty men, to instruct them in heavenly wisdom. In the character of the ANGEL JEHOVAH, Our Savior shews his oneness or unity, as Emanuel; but in the character of the ANGEL of ELOHIM, he shews his partnership in the scheme of man's redemption with the Father and Holy Ghost. We may therefore conclude, that as Christ's name, as the angel or messenger, and that of JEHOVAH constantly signify the same person, in the old testament, the messenger and JEHOVAH must be one, that is, Jesus Christ the messenger is JEHOVAH. And though he be the messenger of ELOHIM, in the way of partnership in the scheme of man's salvation, yet, as Emanuel, he assumes one of the supreme titles that is attributed to Deity in scripture.

Exod. xiv. 19. 1 Sam. xxix. 9. 2 Sam. xiv. 17, 20.-Chap. xix. 27. In Judg. xiii. 6. it wants the possessive.

As there are but two texts, Gen. xxviii. 12. and xxxii. 1. where the word angel, as a plural, is joined to JEHOVAH, in which it is host or armies, there is no fear of mistaking the meaning for want of the possessive. When angel is joined with berith, or covenant, it has the possessive, Mal. iii. 1. Perhaps for the same reason that it is so when joined with ELOHIM.

Having thus far cleared the subject, I come now to shew that JESUS CHRIST was this ANGEL JEHOVAH,-this GOD,-the ALMIGHTY GOD,-the KING OF ISRAEL, whom they worshipped and adored. It would be far too tedious to consult the narrative of all the appearances he made in the old testament, and shew how they may, or really are applied to him: or enter particularly into all the arguments that might be advanced in proof of this point. I shall only select a few, which I presume, if impartially considered, may not only serve as a key to the rest, but to the scope of the old testament.

I need not stay to prove that Jesus Christ was that image of GOD, after which man was created; this is manifest from the text itself, compared with the new testament character of Christ, as the image of GOD. But this we must observe, that as the image after which man was made, in a particular manner referred to that dominion man was endowed with over the lower creation; it must necessarily infer that Jesus Christ, the image of GOD, after which he was made, had a real and universal dominion over all things. And it seems as evident that GoD appeared to man at first in his own shape, which could not fail to convince him, that even as to his body he was made in the image of God, that is, in such a form as GOD did at that time, and would frequently after assume, in order to converşe