Chapter 6.

CHAPTER 6.

That the apostles, in their quotations from the Old Testament, apply to Christ many passages which were most manifestly spoken of the true God, the God of Israel, and consider all the appearances of Jehovah made to the patriarchs and prophets of old, to be made in his person.

1. THE true character of Christ will more fully appear, if we attend to another point, viz. that the apostles not only call him God, and that repeatedly and absolutely, as “The Word was GOD, Emmanuel, GOD with us, GOD manifest in the flesh, My Lord and my GOD;” but they apply to him, without scruple, divers passages of the Old Testament, which were manifestly intended of the true God, the “God of Israel.” Of this we have had two remarkable instances already. “The Lord reigneth, (says David, Psalm 97:1, &c,) let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world. The earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, and boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.” Now to this last clause the inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews undoubtedly refers, in the passage above quoted, from Hebrews 1:6, when, as we have seen, applying it to the Son, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” And with what propriety he could do this, if the Son, the Word, were not, in union with his Father, the true God, I confess I am at a loss to say.

2. The other instance we have had is full as remarkable. “My days,” says David, are like a “shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass: but thou, O Lord, [Hebrews Jehovah,] shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance to all generations: thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion, for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. When Jehovah shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory,” Psalm 102:1, &c. “I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands: they shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years fail not,” verse 24. Now as no one can doubt that the true God is the person spoken of by the psalmist in these words; so no one that compares herewith the above cited passage, Hebrews 1:10, 11, 12, can question Whether the author of that epistle considered the words to be applicable to Christ, and indeed to be intended of him.

3. Another instance of the same kind we find Ephesians 4:8-10, where the apostle quotes and applies to Christ a passage of the sixty-eighth psalm, in which David manifestly celebrates the praises of the true God, the God of Israel, who had brought the people out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, established them in the possession of Canaan, and had taken up his abode first in the tabernacle, and then in their temple. “O God,” says he, “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 God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel,” ver. 7. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place: thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men, [Hebrews µdab in the man, that is, in the human nature,] yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them,” ver. 17. Now, as this last verse undoubtedly had a reference to something farther and greater than the ascent of the ark (an emblem of the Divine presence) to Mount Zion, even to the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven, (as recorded Acts first,) so it is accordingly applied to this remarkable event in the passage above mentioned. And it is applied in such a manner as to show that the apostle considered it as chiefly intended of Christ. “Unto every one of us,” says he, “is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ: wherefore he [David, or the Holy Spirit by David] saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now, he that ascended, what is it? [what does it imply?] but that he descended first into the lowest parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things, and he gave some apostles,” &c. And is it a mere man, or a mere creature, of whom the apostle speaks in this passage: to whom he applies the words of David, thus manifestly spoken of the God of Israel, and of whom he says that he first descended before he afterward “ascended up far above all heavens, and that he fills all things?” Nor is this the only passage in which it appears that St. Paul considered Him who brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the law on Sinai, led them through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night, and dwelt in their tabernacle and temple, to be Christ in his pre-existent and Divine nature. There are sundry other passages of his writings which manifest the same. For instance: “They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents,” 1 Corinthians 10:4 and 9. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but heaven also,” Hebrews 12:25, 26. “They stumbled at that stumbling stone: as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed,” Romans 9:32, 33. The apostle not only refers in these words to Isaiah 28:16, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone; a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste;”—but he also and especially refers to Isaiah 8:14: “Sanctify Jehovah of hosts, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: and he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel:” words to which St. Peter also refers,—”To you who believe, he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, to those that stumble, disobeying the word, unto which also they are disposed,” 1 Peter 2:7, 8. And, to the same passage old Simeon alludes, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against,” Luke 2:34. In all which passages, Isaiah’s words concerning Jehovah are plainly applied to Christ, and represented as fulfilled in him. Compare also Romans 10:13 and 14, with Joel 2:32, and Romans 14:11, with Isaiah 45:23.

5. In this last mentioned passage, the only living and true God, the God of Israel, is undoubtedly the person who speaks: “I am Jehovah,” says he, “and there is none else: there is no God beside me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. They shall go into confusion together, that are makers of idols: but Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. For thus said the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, I am the Lord, and there is none else. Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed: in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.”

6. Now as it is the Lord Christ, the “Word made flesh,” that is in a special and peculiar sense, “the Saviour,” the person to whom we must “look and be saved;” as it is in him especially, that “we have righteousness and strength,” and in him that all the true Israel of God “are justified, and glory;” so we find the apostle, in the passage above named, viz. Romans 14:11, applying these words, so manifestly spoken by the true God, to Christ. “We shall all stand (says he) before the judgment seat of Christ: for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God: so then every one of us shall give an account, of himself to God.” How plain is it, from hence, that the apostle considered the God of Israel the “only living and true God,” as dwelling by his eternal Word in the human nature of Christ, and so intimately united therewith, that he who bowed to the visible man, bowed to the invisible God; and he who gave an account to the man, gave an account to God dwelling in him, and judging mankind by him. For otherwise, that is, on the supposition of Christ’s being a mere man, or a mere creature, how could the words of Jehovah, “Every knee shall bow to me,” be a proof that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ? And if Christ were not God, how could our giving an account to him, be properly termed by the apostle “giving an account to God?”

7. Nor was the conduct of St. Paul, in applying passages of the Old Testament, manifestly meant of the true God, to Christ, any way peculiar. We find other apostles doing the same, St. John in particular. In the twelfth chapter of his Gospel, he applies to the Lord Jesus that remarkable and well-known description of the appearance of Jehovah to Isaiah, recorded in the sixth chapter of his prophecy. “In the year that Uzziah died,” says the prophet, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I, Wo is me, for I am undone: because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us? [Heb. wnl in the plural for us.] Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.” Now, John 12:37, we read, “Though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts: that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” In St. John’s opinion, therefore, it was the glory of Christ which Isaiah saw, and of him that he spake in the above-mentioned passage.

8. In like manner, what is manifestly spoken of the true God in the fortieth of Isaiah, is, by all the evangelists, applied to Christ: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” says “the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,” “make straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, &c. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.” Now, if the reader will be at the pains of examining Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 1:76, and 3:4, and John 1:23, he will find all these evangelists understanding this voice crying in the wilderness, to be John the Baptist, and the God whose way he prepared, to be the Lord Christ: in whom “dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” and through whose humanity the Deity so shone forth, that he could truly say, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” Hence the words of God by Zechariah 11:13, “Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them:” and Zechariah 12:13, “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” are, it is well known, understood by St. Matthew and St. John, as spoken of Christ, and are applied to him accordingly.

9. We have seen, then, that the apostles made no difficulty of applying to Christ those passages of the Old Testament which contain the most essential characters of the supreme God. “Now (as a French writer justly asks) how could they have dared to do this if Christ were not the true and supreme God? Had they been instructed only in the school of nature, they might have learned not to apply to any creature those things which had been spoken of the Creator alone, exclusive of all creatures. If, then, we regard them as brought up in the school of the prophets, we can never suspect them of such madness. For can any thing equal the circumspection of the prophets in this particular? They are continually apprehensive of confounding the Creator with any creature. And this apprehension sufficiently guards them from applying to the one the most essential characters of the other.”

10. To illustrate this let it be observed, “The descriptions which the apostles make of Christ are not more sacred than those which the prophets make of the supreme God. As, then, one would not dare to apply to any other those descriptions of Jesus Christ, neither would one dare (were he not such) to apply to Jesus Christ these descriptions of the supreme God. Should we not accuse him of impiety, who treated a man, suppose St. Peter, as the “only begotten Son of God, the Lamb of God, our Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec, the Father of eternity, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with us: the Word that was in the beginning with God, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last?” Could we suffer man to say of Peter, that he had “bought the Church with his own blood?” Had “made atonement for our sins, and borne them in his own body on the tree?” That Peter “dwells in our hearts by faith,” and that “there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved, neither is there salvation in any other?” That “he is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption?” Would you not regard him who spoke thus of St. Peter as a most impious blasphemer? Although he had told you withal, that St. Peter was less than Christ, this would not satisfy you. You would have reason to say that this very acknowledgment left him without excuse: seeing hereby he flatly contradicted himself; and made his impiety more glaring. It would not excuse him to say that he applied these characters to St. Peter only by way of allusion, or accommodation. You might justly answer, If it be an allusion, it is an impious allusion; if it be an accommodation, it is a profane accommodation: be it an application of whatever kind it will, it is an application full of blasphemy.

11. But if you regard as blasphemous an application of the chief characters of Jesus Christ to so great an apostle as St. Peter, it must be a still greater blasphemy to apply to Christ (if he be not the Most High) the chief characters of the supreme God. For, not to urge that Peter was a teacher sent of God, an inspired prophet, and, according to the Socinians, Christ was no more; allowing that Christ was a greater prophet than St. Peter, and that “there was a great disproportion between Him and his apostle; yet if our adversaries be right, there is a far greater disproportion between Christ and the supreme God; seeing the former, however great, is finite, whereas the latter is infinite. If, then, one cannot, without great blasphemy, apply to St. Peter the most essential characters of Christ, one cannot, without infinitely greater blasphemy, apply to Christ the essential characters of God.”

12. “This will appear still more evident, if we suppose farther, that he who made these applications to St. Peter, knew that it was already a point in debate, whether St. Peter were not equal to Christ: and foresaw that this error would generally prevail, and that men, for several ages, would confound St. Peter with Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. Such a man, in this case, would be guilty of astonishing impiety, to dare to make such an application of the characters of Jesus Christ, as he knew would be attended with so dangerous, so fatal a consequence. There is nothing easier than to apply this to the apostles. They could not be ignorant that the question, whether Jesus Christ was equal with God, had been already started; yea, and that the Jews had persecuted him under colour of this pretended blasphemy, They who foresaw that, in the last times, false teachers would arise, and who characterized their doctrine, were not ignorant that Christians would fall into this error of confounding Christ with the most high God. How, then, could they who knew both these things, without manifest impiety, apply to Christ those ancient oracles which express the glory of the Most High, those in particular which express the glory of God, exclusively of all his creatures?”

13. From all this it is plain beyond a doubt, that the inspired writers of the New Testament considered the King of Israel and God of the Jews, who had anciently dwelt in their tabernacle and temple, and manifested his presence in Divine glory in the holy of holies, as being incarnated in the flesh of the holy Jesus. Hence St. John, speaking of his incarnation, uses the word eskhnwsen, he tabernacled—”The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us,” alluding most manifestly to his having dwelt of old in their tabernacle and temple. And hence God promises, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple,” Malachi 3:1. Observe, “HIS temple,”—for it had been his in all the ages of their government—only before the time of the Babylonish captivity he forsook it; and the glorious tokens of his presence were seen no more, till he was manifested in the flesh of Christ Jesus: then he appeared again in his temple, and by speaking “as never man spake,” and performing miracles such as no man had ever performed, he gave that latter house, built after their return from Babylon, a glory such as even Solomon’s temple had never known. But inasmuch as that was to be only for a very short time, and inasmuch as the human nature of Christ was to be the true and everlasting dwelling place of the Deity, where he would be found by penitent, believing souls, and from whence he would give forth oracles and communicate blessings; therefore the Lord Jesus calls his body a temple, and says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up.” For the evangelist assures us he spake of the “temple of his body,” John 2:21.

14. Well might St. John say, therefore, in the passage quoted above, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” He came to his own, and his own received him not. For, if the apostles had a right view of him, and understood his true character, he was the immediate Creator of the world, and the person who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and styled himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” who led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and gave them the law from Mount Sinai; who took up his abode on that mount, where his appearance was like that of devouring fire, till the tabernacle was prepared for his reception, when he condescended to remove his presence thither, and fill the most holy place, yea, and the whole tabernacle, with such glory that Moses (though accustomed to the Divine presence, having been twice forty days with the Lord on the mount) was not able to enter even into the tent of the congregation, Exodus 40:34, 35. He it was who dwelt first at Shiloh, and then at Jerusalem, and from between the cherubim upon the mercy seat gave answers to the high priest, being the King as well as God of Israel. He it was who manifested his glory to Isaiah and the other prophets; and having been their true King in all ages, and having been “in the world” from the beginning, appearing in various forms, and superintending his ancient Church from the calling of Abraham to the Babylonish captivity, —he it was, I say, who, when he came in the flesh, “came to his own,” but because he came without the ensign of his former glory, having put off the Divine “Shekinah,” the form of God, in which he had been wont to appear, “his own received him not:” nay, they rejected him, they crucified him; but not without his title providentially put over his head: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” a title which had been previously acknowledged by Nathanael: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel.” This the Jews did, not knowing who he was; for had they known it, doubtless “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

15. As a farther confirmation of this doctrine, I would observe, First, That it is the constant testimony of the apostles that the Father in his own proper person, by which we are to understand, perhaps, the simple Divine essence, never was seen by man. “No man hath seen God at any time,” John 1:18, and 1 John 4:12. “The King eternal, immortal, invisible,” 1 Timothy 1. 17. “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or can see,” 1 Timothy 6:16. These declarations of his apostles are confirmed by our Lord: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is of God, he hath seen the Father.” And yet it is manifest from divers passages of the Old Testament quoted already, and from a great many more that might be quoted, that a person did appear, at sundry times, to the patriarchs and prophets of old, who styled himself the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the true God.”

16. One very remarkable appearance of his has been already noticed, as recorded in the sixth of Isaiah: “Mine eyes (says the prophet) have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.” Another is related, “Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand; also they saw God, and did eat and drink,” Exodus 24:9-12. Now as certainly as St. John, St. Paul, and our Lord himself, (who all affirm that no one hath seen the Father,) were not mistaken, so certainly this person whom Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel saw, and whom Isaiah saw, was not the Father in his own proper person. Who then could it be save the Word, the image of the invisible God, the “brightness of his glory, and express image of his person?” And that it was he is certain, from St. John’s declaration, chap. 12:41, above cited.

17. Let it be observed, Secondly, That in most of the appearances of God recorded in the Old Testament, though the person appearing speaks as God, the true God, yet he is called an angel, or messenger, of God, and often appears as a man. Thus Exodus 3:2, “The angel of the Lord appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: and Moses hid his face, for he was ashamed to look upon God. And Jehovah said, I have seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt: and I am come down to deliver them,” ver.

14. “And God said unto Moses, I am that I am.” Now this same person, who here styles himself the “God of Abraham,” appeared to that father of the faithful as a man, and conversed familiarly with him. See Genesis 18. And yet the historian assures us, ver. 1, that it was Jehovah that appeared unto him; and in the course of the narration he is frequently styled Jehovah: as ver. 13, “Jehovah said unto Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh— is any thing too hard for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return unto thee: and Sarah shall have a son. And Jehovah said, ver. 17, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do? They then [two of the three] turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah,” ver. 22. From hence to the end of the chapter follows a long conversation between this person (Jehovah under the form of a man,) and Abraham; in which he is repeatedly styled Jehovah by the historian, and is acknowledged by Abraham, ver. 25, as “Judge of all the earth.”

18. After this, the same person appeared to Jacob at Bethel: “Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it; and Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac,” &c, Genesis 28:12. And yet, Genesis 31:11, we find this person, who is here styled Jehovah, called an “angel of God.” “The angel of God (says Jacob to Rachel and Leah) spake unto me, saying, I am the God of Bethel where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me.”

19. Concerning another remarkable appearance of this same person, we are informed, Genesis 32:24, “Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day: and he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh: and he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me: and he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and men, and hast prevailed; and Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name? And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him, and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, that is, the face of God: for I have seen God (said he) face to face, and my life is preserved.” Hosea manifestly alludes to this, Hosea 12:3, of his prophecy: “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us: even Jehovah God of hosts, Jehovah is his memorial.”

20. I shall only mention two more appearances of this person. “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lift up his eyes, and behold, there stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay: but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What said my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so,” Joshua 5:13. The other passage is Judges 6:11: “And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak that was in Ophrah, and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, O! my Lord, if Jehovah be with us, why then has this befallen us? And Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? And he said, O! my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.”

21. Now as in these and many more appearances of God, the same person is both styled Jehovah and an angel of Jehovah, (or as hwhy Ëalm is, with equal propriety, rendered the angel, messenger, or envoy Jehovah,) surely it was not the Father, in his own proper person, not only because, as the apostles testify, “No man hath seen him, or can see him,” but because, if ever he had appeared, surely it would not have been in the character of a messenger or envoy. For by whom should he be sent? Whose messenger or envoy should he be? And there is no trace, in any part of the Bible, of his ever sustaining any such character as that of angel, messenger, or envoy. But the Son, the Word of the Father, as he may properly be sent by his Father on errands worthy of redeeming power and love, so it is certain he has often sustained this character. Malachi calls him the “angel [or messenger] of the covenant;” and yet, to prevent our thinking him a created angel, styles him, in the same place, “The Lord that should come to his temple,” Malachi 3:1. Isaiah terms him the angel of the Divine presence. “The angel of his presence saved them,” Isaiah 63:9. And doubtless of him is to be understood, “I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee unto the place which I have prepared: beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name [that is my nature] is in him,” Exodus 23:20, &c. And what is still more remarkable, Jacob terms him “the angel that had redeemed him from all evil;” and yet to show that he did not mean any created angel, he prays him to “bless the lads,” and styles him “the God before whom Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God that had fed him all his life long unto that day,” Genesis 48:15, 16.