are said to be those of Moses: comp. Exod. XX. 1. 12. Matt. xv. 4. 6. Mark vii. 9. 13. with Mark vii. 10. and Exod. xx. 1. 13. with John vii. 19. Deut. xi. 13. and see also 1 John v. 3. Rom. xiii. 9. Mark xii. 29-31. The ceremonial law also is sometimes ascribed to God and sometimes to Moses, comp. Deut. vi. 17, 20, 24. xxxiii. 10. with Deut. xxxiii. 4. John i. 17. and Gen. xvii. 10-14. with John vii. 22. And Moses swears to give the Israelites the land of Canaan, and promises to be with Joshua when he should go to take possession of it. Deut. xxxi. 23. all which is said to be done by God, in verses 6-8 of the same chapter; and God declares himself to be the doer of it, in Josh, i. 5, 6, 9. And indeed Moses could not be the doer of it, unless he were God; because it was not to take place till after he, in his human nature, should be dead.

Moses may be proved to be God,

6. From its being said (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) by God

himself, "there shall no man see me and live." And yet Moses not only saw God, but conversed familiarly with him, for "the Lord "spake unto Moses face to face, as a man "speaketh unto his friend," Exod. xxxiii. 1 1, And Moses survived the sight. Moses, therefore, must have been more than man. And the comparison of the conversation to that of one friend with another, proves the perfect equality between him and God. As to N 3 what

what is said afterwards, verses 21-23, relative to another interview, when Moses was put in the clift of the rock, and covered with the hand of the Lord, on account of his being unable to bear the sight of his face, that is spoken of the human nature of Moses only.

Moses may be proved to be God, 7. From the celestial splendour of his countenance, which was so great that the Israelites could not steadfastly behold his face, so that he was obliged to put a veil upon it, while talking with them. Exod. xxxiv. 30-35. 2 Cor. iii. 7. 13. This circumstance, compared with the preceding article, is a clear proof of a divine nature in Moses. No man could see the face of God and live. Exod. xxxiii. 20. No man could see the face of Moses and live. Exod. xxxiv. 30, &c. What can be plainer? It is to be observed, too, that the brightness of these glories are jointly mentioned. The chapter which mentions the latter, immediately follows the chapter which mentions the former. So that they are both of the same kind, both supreme. The one was the express image of the other. In Moses dwelt all the fulness of the godhead bodily.

Moses may be proved to be God,

8. From his going up to heaven, and coming

down from heaven. Exod. xix. 3. XX. 21. xxiv. 2. (and comp. verse 1.) 18. xix. 21, 24, 25. xxxii. 1, 7. Deut. ix. 12. and compare the language of these places with Gen.

xvii. 22. XXXV. 13. xi. 5, and 7. N. B. In this last place the plural number is used because the writer of the book, that is, Moses, was one of the persons. God, elsewhere, speaking to Moses in his pre-existent state, uses the plural number, in order to shew the equality between them: "and the Lord God "said" [to the writer of the book, for no mention whatever is made of any body else] "behold the man is become as one of us,' Gen. iii. 22. See for this use of the plural number, the article 4. No. 1. above. The foregoing texts relating to Moses's coming down from heaven, shew also that when he is said, in such a solemn manner, to be sent from God, Exod. iii. 13-15, we are to understand his being sent from heaven. He was emphatically the sent of God.

Moses may be proved to be God,

9. From his being called Lord, in the highest sense of the word. Deut. xxix. 6. [In the Heb. it is Jehovah.] Exod. xxxii. 22. Numb. xii. 11. In these two places, the title being accompanied with prayer, shews it to be used in the highest sense. Numb. xi. 28. Here the sense of the words; my Lord Moses forbid "them" is fixed, not only by their being used in supplication, but by the parallel expression," God forbid," which often occurs, both in the Old and New Testament, as Genes. xliv. 7. 17, &c. Luke xx. 16. Rom. iii. 4. 6. 31, &c. Again, in Exod. xxxii. 26,

N 4

" who

"who is on the Lord's side? let him come

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" unto me ;" and in the 27th verse it is added, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel... slay every man his brother," which, in the 28th verse is; "and the children of "Levi did according to the word of Moses, " and there fell of the people, &c." Again, Deut. x. 12. "what doth the Lord thy God "require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy "God;" but in Deut. vi. 13, we find that it was Moses who required this of them.

Moses may be proved to be God,

10. From his being ordered to say, which no doubt he did say, to the Israelites, "I AM "hath sent me unto you." Exod. iii. 14. For when he told them, that the God of their fathers had sent him unto them, and they asked, what is his name? and he replied, I AM, this is manifestly saying, that the name of God is Moses, which is the same thing as saying that God and Moses are one, two per sons in one nature. If, instead of referring the question to the name of God, as seems to be implied in verse 13, we refer it to the action of sending, as mentioned in the 14th verse, it comes to the same thing: for, if a person be asked who it is that is doing any action, as for instance in this case of Moses being sent by God, if he were asked who is the sender? and he were to reply, I AM, the reply would certainly point to his own person. And no doubt it was intended so to do. And

And in this consists the whole mystery of that name for God, which has so much puzzled the commentators. And I think we may safely infer, that when Pharaoh said to Moses, "who is the Lord ?” Exod. v. 2, he would reply I AM; for though we are not expressly told so, we find God saying to Moses, soon after, Exod. vii. 1. "See, I have made thee

a God to Pharaoh ;" and we read, Exod. xi. 8, that Pharaoh and all his servants were about to bow down themselves [Heb. and Sept. worship] to Moses.

It is no objection to this exposition, that it makes the person sending, to be the same with the person sent; and Moses to be both God and the messenger, or minister, of God. No orthodox expositor ever gives up an exposition for any trifle of this sort, as may be seen in Mr. Lindsey's Examination of Robinson's Plea, p. 178. Nay, this is a recommendation to the exposition, as it not only makes it more of a mystery, proving more clearly two to be one, and one to be two; but also ranks this passage with those others, Zech. ii. 8, 9. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts ye shall know that the Lord of 66 hosts hath sent me.' ." Zech. iii. 2. "The "Lord" (Heb. Jehovah) " said unto Satan, "The Lord" (Heb. Jehovah) " rebuke thee, "O Satan." Genes. xix. 24. "The Lord," (Heb. Jehovah) "rained fire from the Lord" (Heb. Jehovah) "out of heaven." 2 Tim.

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