er; for this is as the waters of Noah unto me;

for, as I have sworn, that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor ' rebuke thee:' to which also St Peter alludes, in these words', While the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight persons, were saved from water; the like figure whereunto, even baptism, 'doth now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' That this bow of God was in the clouds before the flood can hardly be supposed, if what has been said be true, that before the flood there was no rain; and indeed the purpose of setting it there at the flood, for the symbol of a covenant, seems to say, that it had not been there before. It is evident, however, that this sacred bow, (which I may very well call so, since God calls it his bow), was set up so early as the flood, to be a symbol of a Berith or covenant, ", says God, my covenant, as he had called the bow, my bow.

Consequently

II St Peter iii. 20.

2 The word n, translated covenant, properly signifies, a purifier, something that was to be cut off, and is rather the sacrifice of the covenant, (as all ancient covenants were made over sacrifice), than the covenant itself. In this light, 2 is the name of Christ the Messiah, the great sacrifice of the covenant, the purifier, who was to be cut off, &c. So the nwp, the bow, being by God made a token of the covenant, ought to be understood as a symbol of the 2, which God had promised to establish with Noah, Gen. vi. 18. the n promised to be with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 4. compared with Gen. xii. 2, 3. as illustrated by St Paul, Gal. iii. 16. that everlasting 2, in

of God, which was

which

quently it was a type of Christ the Messiah, by whom a general salvation was to come; not only from a flood of water, but from the more terrible flood of God's wrath. And, that this belief of the bow being a symbol of Jehovah the second person was handed down from Noah's time through succeeding generations, may be gathered from the pagan corruption of making their God Apollo, the son of their chief deity Jupiter, the god of the bow. This Apollo was god of the sun too, which we have already seen to have been an eminent type of Christ; and the god of physic, which title belongs properly to Christ the Saviour, who is the physician of souls. So by attributing to this god of the sun and physic the bow, (which, though of another use than the bow in the cloud, is yet in figure the same), it would appear that the heathens had a tradition at first of such a bow being sacred to, and a symbol of, the Son of God, at its first institution. To this it may likewise be added, that, as they made one son-god the god of the bow, so they made the bow itself a goddess, whom the Greeks called Iris, and who, they fancied, was the messenger (or ayyλ—angel) of their superior deities. In these perverted imaginations may there not be traced some vestiges of

the

which David so much rejoices, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. compared with Psalm lxxxix. 3. 28. 34. and with Isaiah lv. 3. as applied by St Paul, Acts xiii. 22, 23, 24. In these passages, the Messiah, or Christ, as he is expressly named, Ps. lxxxix. 51. is pointed to; and this will serve to strengthen the observation, that the bow in the cloud, by being a toen of the covenant, was a type or symbol of Christ the Berith 2.

the, orangel of the Lord,' as we translate it, in the patriarchal times, who, as the holy patriarchs worshipped him, could not be a created being; and who, as it was generally believed that GOD himself could not be seen, must have been Jehovah under some visible exhibition? And not only so, but from the heathen application of the bow to Iris and Apollo, may it not at least be supposed, that this bow had been in the patriarchal times the usual exhibition, by which the, Jehovah the angel or sent one, manifested himself to the world?

This is not the only ancient scripture-truth corrupted by heathen additions, deviations, and compositions. The doctrine of the Trinity has been divided into three distinct gods, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. The incarnation, or the Word's assuming flesh, is to be found in the well-known stories of their gods descending and mixing with earthly women, whence sprung their heroes and half deities, as Hercules, Bacchus, &c. The redemption of the world by the death of the Messiah, (which, as we have seen, was promised immediately after the fall), gave rise to the sacrifices of human victims, so much in use among the several more ancient nations and so it fared with many other mysteries of scriptural institution. Some learned men have accordingly employed their talents, to very good purpose, in searching for the gold of truth among the rubbish of both Jewish and pagan traditions; since throughout the whole of the Old Tes

tament

tament, God Almighty, the true Jehovah Aleim, challenges to himself these abused titles of Deity, and vindicates them from the gross and carnal ideas, under which idolaters had debased them.

As to what I have advanced about the bow in the cloud in particular, it is not from heathen tradition only, that we are to discover its having been an exhibition of them, but we have likewise two inspired writers, that seem to direct us to this idea. The prophet Ezekiel, in his description of this cherubic apparition', after having mentioned the appearance of the likeness of a man upon the throne, above the cherubim, adds, as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud, (np the very expression used by Moscs) so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the

appearance

כבר יהוה of the likeness of the

' of JEHOVAH THE GLORY.' And almost in the same language, St John writes thus 3, A throne was set ⚫ in heaven, and there was a sitter upon the throne; (whom the Psalmist before called the

St

"sitter between the cherubim) and the sitter was to 'look upon, like a jasper and a sardine stone, and 'round about the throne there was a rainbow. John calls it expressly, as the heathen goddess was called, Iris. I know it will be said, that both those of Ezekiel and St John are but visionary descriptions,

I Ezek. i. 28.

2 Gen. ix. 13. 14. 16.

3 Rev. iv. 2.

scriptions, and cannot therefore be drawn into proof for realities. But yet it will be granted, that even these visions had an aspect towards something of reality; and this, it would seem, has been the constant and universal opinion respecting this matter; as appears from what I before said of the universally prevalent custom of encircling the head of Jesus with an arch of glory. I am neither to justify nor condemn this practice; let them justify it, who are required to do so, and let it be condemned by those, who are afraid of paying too much regard to the Saviour. The universality of the custom, supported by these few scripture-texts which I have adduced, seems to prove that there is an old tradition for the practice; and, as I have already shewn that there certainly were frequent visible exhibitions of the glory of Christ, when he was upon earth, I do not see that the scriptures of the New Testament say any thing against these exhibitions being in the appearance of the Iris or bow in the cloud. That he did appear at certain times with an extraordinary light or brightness, is expressly mentioned. At the transfiguration his 'face did shine as the sun '.' All, that St Paul saw of him at his conversion, was a shining of a light from heaven * Hence St John, in his account of the divine word 3, says, he was the light of men,

the true light, which was in the world; and the VOL. II.

N

' world

I St Matth. xvii.

2.

2 Acts ix.

3.

3 St John i. 5. 9.