one of the Prieft's own raifing, I am now not onely going to fhow, but alfo to produce the receipt for making of it. For a general rule being thus laid down for the Prieft, next follows the matter ver.3---11. of the facrifice he was to offer in the Sanctuary; with the garments he was to wear on this folemn occafion, and the ritual of his adminiftring. Then it is added, he shall take a cenfer-full of burn- ver. 12,13, ing coals of fire from the Altar before the LORD, and his hands full of fweet incenfe beaten small, and bring it within the vail: and he shall put the incenfe upon the fire before the LORD, that the Cloud of the incenfe may cover the Mercy-feat that is upon the Teftimony, that he die not. Here you plainly fee, that it was a, Cloud of smoke, a Cloud of the Prieft's own making, as I promis'd to fhow, and how he did it too. It might likewife be very properly faid, that GOD dwelt in the thick darkness, fince there were no windows at all in the Sanctuary; nor was there any other fort of light in it, unless perhaps fome glimmering rays piercing thro the Vail, from the lamps that were burning without it, in the antichamber of JEHOVAH the King of Ifrael.

r

XX. THIS obfcurity was yet made more obfcure, by the addition of the Cloud of smoke : but in what manner the LORD commun'd there with the High-Prieft, and how he manifefted his prefence to him, is none of my business now to examine. Yet if any be defireous to know what that odoriferous incenfe was, wherof we read in the receipt for making the Smoke or Cloud, there is a particular defcription of it, according to the art of the Apothecary, for the fervice of the Tabernacle, in the thirtieth Chapter of Exodus; but with a Exod. 30. fevere prohibition not to make any of it for a 34-38.

D 2

common

common perfume, or for ordinary ufe. Tis evident therfore, that the Cloud in the Oracle, or holyeft place, whether of the Tabernacle or the Temple, was neither the Cloud which guided the Ifraelites in the wilderness, nor any way miraculous in it felf; and fo nothing at all against my opinion, but a plain confirmation of the fame. I faid juft now, that it was none of my present bufinefs to inquire, in what manner the LORD fpoke in the Oracle to the High-Prieft, or how he manifefted his presence to him in that facred and awful obfcurity. But EPIPHANIUS tells us (with laudable deteftation) a ridiculous story about this matter, out of an apocryphal Christian 26 Book, intitul'd, the Progeny of MARY. In this worthy piece it was among other things contain'd, that the reafon why ZACHARY's mouth Luc. 1. 20. was stopt, and that he was afterwards kill'd between the Temple and the Altar, was; that the Angel of whom we read in LU KE, and whom he faw in the Temple, was a man difguis'd under the figure of an Afs: who, being furpriz'd, throttl'd him, left he fhou'd tell the Jews what a rare GOD they worship'd; but that, when he afterwards recover'd the use of his voice, and told

Ibid. ver.

11, &c.

what he had discover'd, they did actually kill him. Exod. 28. It was added, that the reason why MOSES Com33, 34.35 manded the High-prieft to wear bells on his robe,

was; that as oft as he enter'd the Temple to perform his office, he that was worship'd (being warn'd by the found of the bells) might withdraw, and not be catch'd in that masquerade. But to repeat this incoherent fable, is to confute it and it must be own'd that fuch Chriftians, as the compiler of the Progeny of MARY, carry'd

16. Haeref. 26. n. 12.

their

their averfion to Judaifm an unaccountable length; just as the mob, at this very time in Portugal, wou'd tear a man to pieces, that durft affirm the Virgin MARY had been a Jewels. To return, after this flight excurfion, to the Pillar of Cloud and Fire (which, to fay it in a word, is oftner mention'd under the name of a Cloud than of Fire, because the Ifraelites march'd oftner by day than by night) it is not onely confounded with the thick Cloud of incenfe in the Temple, and with that in the Tabernacle before it; but alfo with the Fire on the Altar, for which I am going to cite the text that is brought to prove it. Then a Exod. 40. Cloud cover'd the Tent of the Congregation, and the 3+, 35Glory of the LORD fill'd the Tabernacle: and MOSES was not able to enter into the Tent of the Congregation, because the Cloud abode thereon, and the Glory of the LORD fill'd the Tabernacle. But how? Not because of the Cloud pitch'd on the top of the Tabernacle, but by reason of the Cloud on the Altar of Burnt-offering at the Door Ver. 29. of the Tabernacle, then plentifully burning for the first time, and covering the place with its fmoke; while the flame, or the Glory of the Ver.26,27. LORD, from the Altar of Incenfe, fill'd the Tabernacle. The like happen'd long after to the Priests in SOLO MON's time; tho we have fuffi- Kings 8. ciently evinc'd, that thefe Clouds were of the Prieft's own making, and farr from being the with 2 guiding Cloud in the wilderness.

10, 11, 12.

compar'd

Chron. 5. 14. & 6.1.

XXI. ANOTHER thing fcarce worth the & 7.1, 2. mentioning, if many did not vehemently infift on it, is the fancy of those who multiply Pillars, tho they diminish Clouds; and will needs have it, that the Pillar of Fire was one thing, and the Pillar of Cloud another. I grant they were fo, in the fenfe that Fire and Smoke are call'd two things:

D 3

Exod.

things: but if I have prov'd, and that the nature of the thing fhows, it was the Flame and the Smoke of the felf-fame FIRE, that ferv'd, the one of 'em, for a guide by day, and the other by night; then I think it a very improper way of fpeaking, to call them TWO PILLARS, as even MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL 27 does, for whom I conceive nevertheless an uncommon esteem, where his Judgment keeps pace with his Learning. MoSES no where fays they were TWO PILLARS, no more than he any where fays they were MIRACULOUS. Nay, he does in more than one place fpeak as of one Pillar, tho the twofold ufe of it has led many Jews and Chriftians into the notion of two diftinct Pillars. Thus in Exodus IT came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Ifrael, and IT was a CLOUD and darkness to them, but IT gave LIGHT by night to thefe. So in Num. 9. Numbers, whether it was by day or by night that the Cloud was taken up, they journeyed; where any man may demonftratively fee, if he did not perceive it before, that the Pillar of Fire by night, and the Pillar of Cloud by day, was one and the fame thing. Neither is there more weight in the next fancy, that the Pillar of Fire was fo extraordinary large and luminous, as not onely to guide the whole Army; but alfo to give fo clear a light to every individual man in it, that, farr from tripping or ftumbling, he cou'd fee a pin or a needle at his feet. When once the wonder

20.

21.

14.

27. Dios protige el pueblo, guiandolos con colunas de Nuve y del Fuego. In the Argument to the 13th of Exodus. Referi [MOSE] Como ha mifma Coluna de Nuve, que cubrio el Tabernaculo el dia que fe levantò, durò de dia todos los 40 annos del deserto; y otra de Fuego, para alumbrar de Noche. In the Argument to the 9th of Numbers, and to the fame purpose elfwhere.

ful

ful has got into a man's head, it wholly poffeffes him; and leaves no room for any thing else, nor knows how to fet any bounds to it felf. Yet Scripture (forfooth) must be quoted for this precarious, or rather monftrous fuppofition. The principal text they bring, is this following out of NEHEMIAH. Yet thou, in thy manifold mer- Nch.9.19. cies, forfookeft them not in the wilderness: the Pillar of the Cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the Pillar of Fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherin they fhou'd go. Here the utmost import of the words amounts to no more, than that the Pillar fhow'd the way to the whole Army, which no body denies; nor wou'd any deny it, fhou'd the first column only fee it, fince the next wou'd follow that, and fo of the reft. It was therfore a general guide or point of view, for the place to which they tended; but not as to every man's feet, much lefs for their private concerns: a thing Jewish and Christian doctors have not been afham'd to affirm, To as little purpose do they cite this of the feventy eighth Pfalm: in the day-time alfo he led them Pfalm, 78.) with a Cloud, and all the night with a Light of 14. Fire. Who denies it? But it wou'd be abufing my reader's patience, to infift longer on this head. I'm fure it wou'd be showing a very mean opinion of his understanding.

XXII. THE laft text, however, puts me in mind of the hundreth and fifth Pfalm, out of which a Paffage is alledg'd to prove, that the ba fis of the Pillar was fo large, as to cover the whole camp of Ifrael, over which it hung perpendicularly. The words are, he fpread a Cloud Pfal for a covering, and Fire to give light in the night. 39 This is a plain allufion, as appears from the verses of that Pfalm going before and coming after, to

D 4

the