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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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magistrates . " Satan stood at his right hand to resist him , i- e . to pj * e- * vent his prosecuting the work in wfyiqh he was engaged . « ' And the Lord said unto Satan , The Lord rebuke thee , O Satan : even the Lord that
hath chosen Jerusalem , rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked out of tbs fire ? " Jude ascribes this saying to Michael the archangel : both are right , both mean the same thing ; because God never spake to men immediately , but always through some medium or instrument , for no one ever " heard
his voice at any time , or saw hia shape , " * md that instrument by which he speaks , be it what it may , is his angel or messenger . It was " the Lord that stirred up the heart of Cyrus , and charged him to build him an hou&c at Jerusalem , which is in Jud ^ U ; " that he marie proclamation for the return of the Jews to build the House of
the Lord , and by that proclamation he spake and effectually rebuked and restrained the opposition of their adversaries . From the preceding investigation we learn , that the Michael of Jude is
the angel of Zechariah ; and that this Michael was the prince of Daniel , who was then in Babylon , and who stood up for , and was the deliverer of his people . Now no other prince but Cyrus could be Daniel ' s prince at thai time , nor can the restoration of the
Jews from their captivity in Babylon be ascribed to any other . It m % y be proper to observe here , that Cyrus is the first instance which we have on record of God's raising up , anointing and sending a Heathen prince to be the deliverer of his
people . See Isa . xjv . J—4 , 13 . He was , therefpre , in the most strict and proper sense of the term , the angel or messenger of Jehovah ; and being the first or chief of the Pagan princes , the Divine Being was pLea&ed so to
employ ; and being styled by Daniel , "Michael , one of the chief princes , ' * or aa it is in the margin , the first of the princes , Jude , writing , in Greek , naturally denominates him Michael the archangel , L e . the fir&t or chief messenger of God .
We learn . further , that the Devil of Jude is the Satan or adversary of Zechariah . Jude refers to a contention between Michael and the Devil .
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" Michael the archangel , " he says , ' * disputed with the Devil , " In the vision of Zechariah , he is shewn Joshua , the high-priest , the representative of the Jewish people , standing before the augel of the Lord , and Satan , ( in the
Septuagint version , the Devil , ) the representative of their adversaries , standing at his right hand to resist him . Jude informs us that this dispute was about the body of Moses ; the history , of which the vision in Zechariah is a
prediction , informs us that the dispute was about the building of the temple and the restoration of the church and worship of God , according to the institutions of Moses , which Jude calls the body of Moses . Joshua and Satan are both said to stand before the
angel : Satan , by letters of false accusation , and hired counsellers , to oppose and resist the carrying on of that work , and Joshua as the advocate and representative of the Jews and their rulers , to plead their cause , and to protect them in the zealous prosecution of the work .
Michael in Jude refers the matter to God , imploring his interposition in favour of the Jews , and his vengeance against their adversaries , saying , " The Lord rebuke thee" The angel ( in
Zechanah ' s vision ) , or the Lord , by his angel , is represented as pronouncing the same sentence against the adversary , saying , "The Lord rebuke thee , O Satan , even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem , rebuke thee i" and we
learn from the history that they were effectually rebuked and restrained from further opposition by the confirmation of the decree of Cyrus , and by a decree of Darius to carry it into effect , by which the Jews obtained a complete victory over their adversaries , and were enabled to finish the work of
building the temple and of establishing the worship of God in Jerusalem . It only remains now to point out the analogy there is between the contention of Michael and the Devil , mentioned by Jude , and Michael ' s war with the dragon , mentioned ch . xiL of the Revelation . In l > oth eases the
combatants were the same , for the dragon i 3 expressly called , " The old Serpent , the Devil and Satan / ' In the former , the contention was , whether Judaism should * be re-established in Judah and Jerusalem , or whether
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Attempt to illuttrvte Jud 0 gjf ^_ 9 0 Letter 1 IL 742
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1822, page 741, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2519/page/21/
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