present calamities, the Jews are assured as from God, "Mine Angel is with you, even himself seeking out your souls."* In the same book, "the Eternal Saviour" is represented as the object of prayer and trust:† but the passage merely respects the sufferings of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity. Simon Maccabæus was confirmed in the pontificate, " until a faithful prophet should arise;" not improbably referring to the great Prophet foretold by Moses. In the prayer of the son of Sirach, there is a passage which, if the reading be genuine, it seems impossible not to admit as a recognition of the Messiah as the Son of God: "I called upon the Lord, the Father Lord."S

of

my

* Bar. vi. 7. apparently alluding to Ezek. xxxiv. 11, 12. † Bar. iv. 20—24.

1 Macc. xiv. 41. Bef. C. 143.

§ Wisd. of Jes. li. 14. and so reads the Vulg. but the Syr. and Arab. Versions have, "I called upon my Father from on high, (Arab. from heaven.)"

SECT. IV.

ON THE DOCTRINES OF PHILO, CONCERNING THE LOGOS.

PHILO was a Jew of Alexandria, of a sacerdotal family, eminent above his contemporaries for talents, eloquence, and wisdom; and whose learning it is not probable that any of his nation, in any subsequent period, if we except Josephus, have exceeded or even approached. From the most probable estimation he was about sixty years old at the time of the death of Jesus Christ; and he lived for some years afterwards. But we have no reason to think that he ever visited Judea, or that he was acquainted with the important events which were there taking place. The gospel was not extensively and openly communicated out of Judea till ten years after our Lord's crucifixion. It cannot, then, be reasonably supposed that this distinguished person was a convert to Christianity: at least, it is next to impossible to conceive that a Christian of such character, dignity, and authority as he would have been, and who, on the supposition of his being a Christian, must have been perfectly known and highly esteemed by some, at least, of the New Testament writers, should not

be in any manner mentioned or alluded to by those writers. The coincidences of sentiment, and more frequently of phraseology, which occur in the writings of Philo, with the language of Paul and of John in the New Testament, must be accounted for on some other principles. Yet it would be contrary to all the philosophy of human nature, not to ascribe these different but similar streams to one primary source. That source, I venture to propose, is not to be sought in the writings of Plato, or in the ethical lectures of the learned Jews of Alexandria, or in the sole speculations and invented diction of Philo himself;—but in the SACRED WRITINGS of THE OLD TESTAMENT, transfused into the Alexandrian idiom, and paraphrased and amplified in the terms and phrases which were vernacular to the Grecian Jews. Since the New Testament was written in this idiom, and since the component parts of the Christian dispensation were not so much new ideas as the fuller explication, and the more interesting impression, of truths and promises previously revealed ;* the conformity of which we are treating appears less an object of just surprize than its absence would have been.

But no part of the writings of Philo has excited

"Saying nothing beyond the things which the prophets and Moses spoke of as what should come to pass." Acts xxvi. 22. "The righteousness [dikawσúvn, method of justification,] of God is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Rom. iii. 21.

so much attention and admiration as his frequent expressions on the subject of the Logos, or Word. He has been thought to ascribe to this mysterious object, Personality, Divine Perfections, a Gracious Commission from heaven, the Bestowment of the highest blessings on mankind; in fine, that, under the title of the Word, the attributes of the Messiah were designedly pourtrayed. Hence some have taken up the opinion that Philo was a Christian ;* and others, that, being only a Jew, he furnishes the most authentic statement of the belief and the expectations entertained by the most pious and the best informed of his nation, with regard to the hope and redemption of Israel.

To ascertain satisfactorily what was the doctrine of Philo concerning the Word, it appears necessary to collect the principal passages† which his extant writings furnish on the subject.

* See Note [A] at the end of this Section.

+ Though in translating the following extracts I have endeavoured to convey the closest representation of the meaning and spirit, and as much as possible of the very words, of the author, it has seemed necessary to the satisfaction of a numerous and happily increasing class of readers, to annex the original passages. To one who can read them it will be manifest that no translation can convey a just idea of the remarkable phraseology of Philo, or of the frequent and extraordinary coincidence of his language with that of the New Testament. Had the passages been merely referred to, very few could have enjoyed this pleasure and advantage; on account of the scarcity of the only eligible editions of Philo, that of Mangey, 2 vols. folio, Lond. 1742, and that by Aug. Fred. Pfeiffer, 5 vols. 8vo. Erlangen, 1785.

"Behold the man whose name is the Branch, (or, the Rising Light.) [Zech. iii. 8.] Truly a very unusual appellation, if you regard it as referring to a being consisting of a body and a soul; but if it be admitted to refer to that incorporeal person who shares the divine image, you will acknowledge that the name of the Rising Light is most apposite to him. For him the Father of the universe hath caused to spring up as his Eldest Son, whom he also names the First-begotten, and who, when begotten, imitating the proceedings of his Father, formed species of beings, looking at the Father's archetypal models."*

"God, as a Shepherd and King, according to equity and law, directs his agency, as upon a flock, on earth and water, air and fire, and all things contained therein, both vegetable and animal, both mortal and divine; and also the constitution of the heavens, the periods of the sun and moon, and the revolutions and harmonious movements of the other stars; placing over them his own perfect WORD, his First-begotten Son, who, as the deputy of a mighty sovereign, receives the charge

* Ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος ᾧ ὄνομα Ανατολή. Καινοτάτη γε πρόσρησις, ἐὰν μέν γε τὸν ἐκ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς συνεστῶτα λέγεσθαι νομίσης ἐὰν δὲ τὸν ἀσώματον ἐκεῖνον, θείας ἀδιαφοροῦντα ἐικόνος, ὁμολογήσεις ὅτι ἐυθυβολώτατον ὄνομα ἐπιφημίσθη τὸ ̓Ανατολῆς ἀυτῷ. Τοῦτον μὲν γὰρ πρεσβύτατον Υιὸν ὁ τῶν ὄντων ἀνέτειλε Πατὴρ, ὃν ἑτέρωθι Πρωτόγονον ὠνόμασε, καὶ ὁ γεννηθεὶς μέντοι μιμούμενος τὰς τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁδοὺς, πρὸς παραδείγματα αρχέτυπα ἐκείνου βλέπων, Eμóppov edn. Opera, ed. Mangei, tom. i. p. 414.