SECTION IV. 143.

THE fourth piece of Criticism, (however ftrange and uncommon it may appear,) máy now, after what has been faid in the preceding Obfervations, be, without fcruple, fubmitted to the confideration of the candid and inquifitive.

In the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel we read, concerning John the Baptift.

Chap. i. ver. 2.

Ως γέγραπται ἐν τοῖς προφήταις· ἰδὲ, ἐγὼ ἀποςέλλω τὸν ἄγελόν με πρὸ προσώπε σε, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σε ἔμπροσ

θέν σε.

Which we tranflate,

As it is written in the Prophets, Behold I Jend my Meffenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

But

144. But why not tranflate it fairly, and fully, without any evafion ?

Behold I fend my ANGEL before thy face, who shall lay a foundation for thy way before

thee.

Angels have defcended from Heaven upon Earth, and have appeared vifibly, on many occafions; as our Lord himself also had done, even before his great advent in the flesh; inftances of which the learned are fufficiently acquainted with: who well know that He appeared unto Abraham, and also to Joshua, and was actually worshipped by both of them*.

As then our Lord himself (although fo high above all) condefcended moreover, at last, to be born in the flesh; where is the impropriety, or heterodoxy, of venturing to acknowledge, that an angel alfo might condefcend, in imitation of his Great Mafter, to fuch humiliation, in order to be the harbinger and forerunner of his Lord?

The Septuagint has the original prophecy.

Eufebii Pamphili Hift. Eccl. lib. I. cap. 2. Genefis, ch. xviii. ver. 2, and 22 to 33. Joshua, ch. v. ver. 14.

here

here referred to, in words which, if we will take them fimply, as we find them, are very plain.

Malachi, ch. iii. ver. 1.

Ἰδὲ ἐγὼ ἐξαποςέλλω τὸν ἄγελόν με, καὶ ἐπιβλέψεται ὁδὸν πρὸ προσώπε με, καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν αὑτῷ Κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγελος τῆς διαθήκης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θελετε· ἰδὲ ἔρχεται, λέγει Κύριος Παντοκράτωρ.

.

Ο

Behold I fend forth MY ANGEL, and he 145. fball infpect for prepare] the way before me. And fuddenly the Lord whom ye feek shall come to his temple; and the

whom ye will for.

Angel of the covenant,

Behold be cometh, faith the Lord Who bath dominion over all.

And there feems to have been no other reafon for tranflating the word ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ, in this verse, and in the citation of it in the Gospel, as meaning a messenger, and nothing more, than merely to avoid a conclufion, which perhaps we shall discover to be a real

truth ;

truth; however heretical it might have been thought a few hundred years ago.

Such tranflation of the word, as has been hitherto commonly adopted, is at least contrary to the more ufual mode of tranflating this word in other parts of Scripture; and there is certainly nothing inconsistent either with reafon or revelation in translating of it otherwise.

But the matter does not reft on mere furmife, or on the preferring at pleasure one mode of tranflation to another. Our Lord feems to have taken pains to make the whole clear and intelligible to us; if we will have ears to hear.

In St. Matthew's Gospel we have first the fame words as in St. Mark.

Matthew, ch. xi. ver. 10.

Οὗτος γάρ ἐςι, περὶ ἃ γέγραπίαι· ἰδὲ, ἐγὼ ἀποςέλλω τὸν ἄγ[ελόν με πρὸ προσώπε σε, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σε ἔμπροσ

θέν σε.

For this is He of whom it is written, Behold

I fend my Angel before thy face, who shall lay a foundation for thy way before thee.

And afterwards, according to that Evange- 146. lift, our Lord added,

14. Καὶ εἰ θέλε]ε δέξασθαι, αὐτός

ἐσιν Ἠλίας ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι.

15. Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκύειν, ἀκεέτω.

14. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias who is FOR TO COME.

15. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Which words feem to have been fubjoined, on purpose to lead us to the right explanation of this astonishing fact. For O μénhwv ögxeDal, fignifies moft accurately, who is YET for to come: i. e. yet to come, exactly agreeable to the expectation formed of him, in confequence of another most remarkable paffage in the Prophecy of Malachi; in which he is declared even to be the very Thebite; and which muft, notwithstanding that, relate to the laft times of all, and to our Lord's Second Coming; but in which, nevertheless, (in the latter part of the prediction,) the very pecuVOL. I.

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