ZECHARIAH.

QUESTION.

Zec. 9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh: he is just, saved, poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Dan. 7:13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, and with the clouds of heaven came one like the Son of man, &c.

Where the prophet Zechariah says that the Messiah will come in the most humble state, mounted upon an ass, how does Daniel shew that he will come gloriously among the clouds of heaven?

RECONCILIATION.

From the apparent contradiction of these verses, some were led to suppose a two-fold advent of the Messiah; that is, firstly, Temporal, in an humble state; and secondly, Spiritual, with majestic pomp. But we are of a different opinion, judging that all the prophets promise him but once; this is particularly proved by Daniel, in that terrible statue of Nebuchadnezzar, which all agree signified the four monarchies; a single stone (that is the Messiah) without being thrown by human hand, struck it on the feet, threw it down, and it (the statue) so decreased that nothing of it was left; and the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth: in explaining the vision, he says, that in the last monarchy the empire shall be divided into divers kingdoms, some of them strong as iron, and some weak and dissoluble as clay; and continues, "In their days the God of heaven will raise a kingdom, that will never perish, and to another kingdom shall not be given; he will reduce and break in pieces all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."2 Whence is collected, that after the entire destruction of the fourth monarchy (the Roman), the fifth temporal one of the Messiah will follow; when he subsequently saw those four monarchies in the vision of the four beasts, he terms the fourth "dreadful and terrible," as stronger than those that preceded; and as it would think to change the sacred times and the law, he says that its body shall be destroyed and given to the burning flames, and that the holy people will receive the kingdom, and shall inherit the kingdoms for ever, until the age of ages; and that it may be understood this monarchy will be terrestrial and temporal, he immediately says, "And the kingdom and dominion and the majesty of the kingdom under the heaven shall be given to the holy people of

"5

the Most High; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers shall serve and obey him." 4 Whence is seen, that at the coming of the Messiah, no relic nor memorial of the Roman empire will remain, for it will be delivered to fire and reduced to ashes; but that single stone will continue, with the temporal and earthly empire" under the heaven," which only the people who are called holy will enjoy ; "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." And as the prophets foretell the future restoration of Israel to their country, and the temporal felicities they will enjoy in it, it is unnecessary to spend more time on this, but I shall proceed to the explanation of the verses, without seeking metaphors-the refuge frequently sought by some, when the literality is opposed to them;-but leave the verses with their plain literal meaning. Zechariah there explains himself, extolling the everlasting peace the world will enjoy on the coming of the Messiah, so lauded by all the prophets; therefore he says he will come mounted on an ass, or tame colt, and not on a proud, fierce horse-the latter being used in war, and the former in peace: that such is the intention, he continues: "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war-bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the heathen, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," meaning, that as vassals usually imitate their superiors, seeing the Messiah used an ass, there will be none in Ephraim (i. e. the Ten Tribes), nor in Jerusalem (the court of Judah), that will use the horse; and as there will be no further occasion for war, the war-bows and offensive arms will be rendered useless; for the Messiah will grant peace to all nations, extending his dominion from the Red sea southward, and to the Northern ocean, and from the Eastern river, whose source is in Paradise, to the ends of the earth westward, which is what David sings, "He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth."

It may also be said, the reason the Messiah will come triumphant on an ass, will be to shew that his victories were not gained by the valour of his arms and troops, but solely by the power of God. Boterus in his "Narratives,” relates, when treating on Adel, that the successor of Grandamet, king of that part, having given battle to Prester John, broke through and overcame his camp; upon which he triumphed on an ass, in sign of acknowledgment that he had not gained the victory through the prowess and valour of his forces, but by the powerful hand of God alone. The same may be here applied. Besides, it is an animal easy to ride; therefore, not alone held as valuable by the Romans, as stated by Pliny and other writers, but is much praised in the Divine writings.

The Ancients draw a comparison between the first Redeemer, Moses, and the last, the Messiah, saying, as it says of the first in going to Egypt, "he took his wives and sons, and mounted them on an ass;' "8 so it is said the last will come mounted on one. The former made manna rain from heaven," the latter, "he will be a handful of corn in the earth, upon the summit of the mountains." "10 Of the first, that he drew water from the rock;11 of the last, a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord." 12

They also allegorise the first reasons, Jacob told his ambassadors to give to Esau, par excellence, in the singular; " I have an ox, and an ass, sheep, a man-servant, and a handmaid;"13 thus, Ox is Joseph, whose symbol was that animal, according to Moses' words, "the firstling of his ox;"14 and ass is the

Messiah, as it is written, "poor, and mounted on an ass;" thus, by speaking in the singular, giving him to understand that on his side he had the Messiah. He told him further, sheep: Israel alone had that title; "Ye are my sheep, the sheep of my flock;" 15 and, lastly, that he enjoyed the title of servant and handmaid, as David said, "As the eyes of servants to the hand of their masters, and the eyes of a handmaid to the hand of her mistress, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us." 16 So that while approaching him, and humbling himself to his power, God induced his words to express the reasons of his superiority, and how lightly he should hold his power.

66

The other titles of the Messiah are just, saved, and poor. Just, from his uprightness, and the justice that will be practised in his days, therefore Jeremiah calls him pyny "the righteous branch :"17 saved, by reason of the battles he will gain, always being victorious, therefore it does not say 'win" saviour," but "saved" poor, not because he will suffer poverty, and experience misery-since all the prophets testify the immense riches he will enjoy, which he himself states, in saying he will have universal empire; for, certainly a sole and absolute monarch cannot be poor-but here signifies the same as 11" humble," for his sovereignty will not inflate him with arrogance and pride, as is too generally the case. David, who was exceeding rich, uses the expression in the same sense, "I am humble and needy." 18 This Messiah is that poor and humble individual the prophet Isaiah speaks of, when treating on the destruction of Rome, "He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low to the ground; he bringeth it to dust; the foot shall trample it, the feet of the 19 &c. poor,

66

In this sense is the prophet Zechariah to be understood; and what Daniel says, is not opposed to it, but, on the contrary, signifies the same: for, that the children of Israel might not be injured at their going out of Egypt, they were protected by the clouds of honour; so, the Messiah, who will in virtue and valour almost surpass human nature, will come accompanied with the clouds of heaven, as of Moses it is said when on mount Sinai, "the Lord called him, and he entered the cloud,"20-so that there is not the least repugnance in these verses.

With which I close the third part of the "Conciliator," hoping the Almighty will grant me His grace shortly to bring to light the fourth and last part. "For with thee is the fountain of life, with thy light shall we see light."

NOTE.

In the introductory address to Vol. I., the Author stated that the work would be divided into three Parts; but it will be found to contain four, arising from his having subdivided the second Part, conformably to the arrangement of the Hebrew Bible, into the early and latter prophets. The work will therefore be found in the following order.

Vol. I., the Pentateuch, containing 190 Questions:

Vol. II., Part II., the early Prophets, contains 143 Questions:

Isaiah...

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

Hosea

Amos...

Part III., containing the latter Prophets, has 69 Questions:

Part IV., the Hagiography, contains 71 Questions:

It may have been expected that the present volume would have been larger, from containing many more apparent contradictions than the former; but it must be borne in mind nearly 80, which by contra-position would have appeared in this, are reconciled in Vol. I.; and many are conciliated in preceding books, as for example, in Samuel and Kings will be found upwards of 40 that otherwise would have appeared in Chronicles. Nothing but what had been previously reconciled, is found in Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, 7 and Malachi.-TRANSLATOR.

If man can attain felicity and salvation by his own actions, as the first verse proves, how does the second attribute it absolutely to the sole election and predestination of God?

RECONCILIATION.

The solution of this involves the difficult and rather weighty subjects of Predestination and Reprobation; to explain which it will be necessary to quote opinions exactly, without mooting difficulties; as our intention is not to oppose any one, but plainly to state that followed by us: which shall be done as briefly as possible.

It must be known that Scot, in defining predestination, says, "Predestination is a pre-ordination of God from eternity; firstly, for the glory of some rational creature, and then the means through which, in time, it is attainable." For the better comprehending this definition, I shall explain it seriatim.

"Is a pre-ordination of God from eternity?" This word goes beyond predestination, for that only extends to the chief end of the personated creature, whose actions, Soares2 says, may beatify him in glory; but pre-ordination also embraces existence and accidents. They say it is an election from affection, and thereby partakes of an act of the Divine mind, as it is an absolute Prescience of the salvation of the chosen, by an act of the Divine Will, it

1 Vol. iii. Diss. 7. Ques. 3.

2 Book i. c. 4.