"giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come," [LXX, iws ä› šhên τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ, till the accomplifhment of the promifes which God has laid up in ftore for him,]" and unto him fhall the gathering of the people be." To which the writer of the Chronicles feems to refer, when he fays: 1 Chr. v. 1, 2. "The genealogy is not to "be reckoned after the birth-right; for Judah prevailed above his "brethren, and of him came the chief ruler, [nb and from "him was it prophefied the ruler fhould arife.]" And the Pfalmift; Pf. lx. 7. cviii. 8. "Judah is my lawgiver.'

The fecond is expreffed in that promife to David; 2 Sam. vii. 16. "Thine houfe and thy kingdom fhall be established for ever " before thee, [LXX, ivúnior μe, before me:] thy throne fhall be "eftablished for ever." Which words might indeed, of themfelves, be understood concerning a fucceffion of kings in the houfe of David. But that God had a further and a greater meaning in them, he very clearly explains by the following prophets. By Ifaiah, ch. xi. I. &c. compare Rev. iii. 7. v. 5. xxii. 16. "There fhall come "forth a rod out of the ftem of Jeffe, and a branch fhall grow out

、

of his roots; and then follows, through the whole chapter, a glorious defcription of an everlafting kingdom of righteousness, over both Jews and Gentiles. By Jeremiah, ch. xxiii. 5. "I "will raife unto David a righteous branch, and a king fhall reign "and profper, and fhall execute judgement and juftice in the "earth-and this is his name, whereby he fhall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." By Ezekiel, ch. xxxvii. 23, 24, 25, 26. They fhall be my people, and I will be their God; and David my fervant fhall be king over them; and they all "fhall have one fhepherd;-and my fervant David fhall be their "prince FOR EVER: moreover I will make a covenant of peace "with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant." And by Hofea, ch. iii. 4. "The children of Ifrael fhall abide many days without a king and without a prince, and without a facrifice :- afterward "fhall the children of Ifrael return, and seek the Lord their God, "and David their king; and fhall fear the Lord and his goodness, " in the LATTER days."

The third particular is expreffed in those words of Micah, ch. v. 2. Matt. ii. 6. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be "little among the thoufands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall he "come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Ifrael: whofe goings "forth have been from old, from everlasting." After the paffages now cited out of the foregoing Prophets, what can be more jejune, than to understand thefe words of Micah concerning Zorobabel, only as having been of an ancient family?

11. In the books of the Old Teftament it is expressly predicted, that the kingdom of the Meffiah fhould extend, not over the Jews only, but alfo over the Gentiles. The promife made to Abraham, and fo often repeated to him, and to Ifaac and to Jacob, that in their feed fhould all the nations of the earth be bleffed, Gen. xii. 3 xviii. 18, xxii. 18. xxvi. 4. xxviii. 14. is thus opened and explained

by

by the Prophets, Ifai. xi. 10. "There fhall be a root of Jefle, "which fhall ftand for an enfign of the people; to it fall the "Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious, Ifai. xlii. 1. 6. Matt. xii. 18. “Behold my fervant-in whom my foul delighteth; - he "fhall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles:-I will give thee "for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." Ifai. xlix. 6. "It is a light thing, that thou fhould't be my fervant to "raife up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preferved of irael: "I will alfo give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayeft "be my falvation unto the end of the earth.' If. lvi. 6, 7, 8. Joh. x. 16. "Alfo the fons of the ftranger, that join themfelves to "the Lord,-even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and "-mine houfe fhall be called an houfe of prayer for all people. "The Lord God, which gathereth the out-cafts of Ifrael, faith; "Yet will I gather others to him, befides thofe that are gathered "unto him." Ezek. xlvii. 22. "The ftrangers that fojourn among you,-fhall have an inheritance with you among the tribes of "Ifrael." Mal. i. 11. "From the rifing of the fun even unto the "going down of the fame, my name thall be great among the "Gentiles; and in every place incenfe fhall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering; for my name fhall be great among "the Heathen, faith the Lord of Hofts."

12. Concerning the fame Meffiah, of whom fo great things are fpoken, and whofe kingdom is to be an everlasting kingdom; it is ftill expressly predicted by the Prophets, that he fhould fuffer and be cut off. Concerning the very fame perfon, who (with refpect to his coming to reign, and to introduce the everlafting jubilee, or reft to the people of God, Heb. iv. 9. cabalos) is ftyled, Dan. ix. 25. Meffiah the prince; concerning the very fame perfon, I fay, it is in the very fame fentence expressly predicted that he should, Dan. ix. 26. " be cut off, but not for himself, [1 and the "people fhould not then be his; unto him fhould not then the gathering of the people be," Gen. xlix. 10.] For which reason, and also because the words can with no tolerable fenfe be applied to any other perfon, and because moreover the connexion of the whole prophecy leads to the fame interpretation; the 53d chapter of Ifaiah likewife is moft juftly understood to be fpoken of the Meffiah If. xi. 1. "There fhall come forth a rod out of the ftem of "Jeffe:"-If. xi. 4. "With righteoufnefs fhall he judge the poor:" -If. xlii. 1, 2, 3. "Behold my fervant, -mine elect in whom my "foul delighteth;-he fhall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice "to be heard in the ftreet: a bruifed reed fhall he not break, and "the fmoaking flax fhall he not quench; he fhall bring forth judgement unto truth."--If. lii. 13. "Behold, my fervant fhall deal "prudently;"-If. liii. 4. &c. "Surely he hath borne our griefs; "-he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our "iniquities:-he is brought as a lamb to the flaughter, and as a "fheep before her fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth: ❝ he was taken from prison and from judgement, and who shall de

«clare

clare his generation?-For the tranfgreffion of my people was he ftricken; and he made his grave with the wicked, and with "the rich in his death :--when thou fhalt make his foul an offer"ing for fin;-my righteous fervant fhall juftify many, for he fhall bear their iniquities:-he was numbered with the tranfgreffors, "and he bare the fin of many, and made interceffion for the tranf"greffors."

13. All prophecies of bleffings to the worshippers of the true God, expreffed either as being to happen in the latter days, or in words which imply a lafting duration, are in reafon to be understood, as having reference to the times of the promised kingdom of the Meffiah; of whom it is exprefsly faid, Dan. ix. 24. that he fhall "bring «in everlasting righteoufnefs;" and, Dan. vii. 14. that "his domi"nion is an everlafting dominion which fhall not pafs away, and "his kingdom that which fhall not be destroyed." Some prophecies of this kind are direct and exprefs. Others, beginning with promifes of particular intermediate bleffings, and proceeding with general expreffions more great and lofty than can naturally be applied to the temporal bleffing immediately fpoken of, are most reafonably understood to have a perpetual view and regard to that great and general event, in which all God's promifes to his true wor fhippers do center and terminate; and of which, all intermediate bleffings promifed by God are justly looked upon as beginnings, types, pledges, or earnests.

r

14. For, fince from the exprefs prophecies before cited of the Meffiah's everlafting kingdom of righteousness, it appears that God had in fact a view to that, as the great and general end of all the difpenfations of providence towards his true worshippers from the beginning, and, 2 Pet. i. 20. "no prophecy of the fcripture is of any private interpretation" (that is, the meaning of prophecies is not what perhaps the prophet himself might imagine in his private judgement of the ftate of things then prefent), because "the "prophecy in old time came not by the wILL of man, but holy "men fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghoft:" there may, therefore, very poffibly and very reasonably be fuppofed to be many prophecies, which, though they may have a prior and immediate reference to fome nearer event, yet by the fpirit of God (whom thofe prophecies which are exprefs fhew to have had a further view) may have been directed to be uttered in fuch words, as may even more properly and more juftly be applied to the great event which providence had in view, than to the intermediate event which God defigned as only a pledge or earnest of the other. For inftance: fuppofe the words of Daniel, ch. vii. 9, 10. "I beheld "till the thrones were caft down [till the thrones were placed], " and the Ancient of days did fit:-a fiery ftream iffued and came "forth from before him; thousand thousands miniftered unto him, " and ten thousand times ten thousand ftood before him; the judgement was fet, and the books were opened:" fuppofe (I fay) thefe words were spoken concerning "the flaying of a wild beast,'

ver. II. or "the deftruction of a temporal empire ;" yet what reafonable man, who had ever elsewhere met with any notices of a judgement to come, could doubt but the deftruction there spoken of was therefore expreffed in those words, that it might be underftood to be the introduction to the general judgement? The exact and very particular defcription of a refurrection in the 37th of Ezekiel, fuppoiing it to be indeed fpoken of a temporal restoration of the Jews, yet who can doubt but it was fo worded with defign, to allude to a real refurrection of the dead? The words of Micah, ch. v. 2. Matth. ii. 6. "Thou, Bethlehem, though thou be little among the thoufands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall he come "forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Ifrael; whofe goings forth "have been froin of old, from everlafting;" fuppofing it poflible they could be fpoken of Zorobabel, yet, if afterwards there fhould arife out of Bethlehem one in whom were found all the other prophetic characters of the promised Meffiah, who could doubt but the words were intended either folely or at leaft chiefly of the latter? The words of Jeremy, ch. i. 7. vi. 5. "Babylon hath been a gol"den cup; the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the "nations are mad: flee out of the midst of Babylon, ---be not cut "off in her iniquity:-my people, go ye out of the midst of her, "and deliver ye every man his foul from the fierce anger of the "Lord;" who, that confiders the nature and character of the Babylon in Jeremiah's time, and compares it with the nature and character of the Babylon defcribed by St. John, can doubt but the spirit which influenced Jeremy, forefaw and intended to allude to that Babylon, which had, Rev. xvii. 4. "a golden cup in her hand, "full of abominations, ver. 2. " and the inhabiters of the earth "have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication," ch. xviii. 3. 4." and the kings of the earth have committed fornica"tion with her :-Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par"takers of her fins, and that ye receive not of her plagues?" For the words of Jeremy are more strictly applicable to this latter Babylon than to that in his own time. Again: the words of Ifaiah, ch. vii. 14. Matth. i. 23. "Behold, a virgin fhall conceive and "bear a fon, and fhall call his name Immanuel, that is to fay, "God with us:" fuppofing Ifaiah himself could poffibly at that time understand them concerning a fon of his own, concerning a fon to be born of a young woman afterwards, who at the time then prefent was a virgin; and that his being ftyled Immanuel meant nothing more than that, before this child was grown up, judah fhould be delivered from the then threatened incurtions of Ifrael and Syria (all which, notwithstanding the feeming connexion of the words in the place they ftand, is very difficult to fuppofe); yet if afterwards any perfon, comparing the folemn introduction wherewith the words are brought in, ("Hear ye now, O houfe of David; "is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my "God alfo? therefore the Lord himfelf fhall give you a fign; "behold, a virgin fhall conceive &c.") If any one, I fay, com

paring this folemn introduction with the promifes repeated to the houfe of David in other paffages of the prophets, that there should be born unto them a fon who (Ifai. ix. 7. Ezek. xxxvii. 25) should fit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom for ever, and of the increase of whofe government and peace there fhould be no end;" and confidering moreover the character of this promised fon, that he (Dan. ix. 24.) fhould « finifh tranfgreffion, and make an end of fins, and make reconciliation for iniquity, and « bring in everlasting righteoufnefs:" if a perfon, confidering and comparing these things, fhould in his own days find a fon really born of a virgin, attefted to by numerous miracles, and by God's command named Jefus (which is fynonymous to Immanuel, a Potent Saviour, or God with us), because he (Matth. i. 21.) "fhould fave his people from their fins," that is, (Dan. ix. 24.) fhould make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteoufnefs:" could fuch a perfon poffibly entertain the leaft doubt, whether God, who fent Ifaiah to repeat the fore-cited words to the house of David, did not intend thereby to describe, if not wholly and folely, at leaft chiefly and ultimately, this latter Saviour? In like manner: fuppofe thofe great promifes to David, 2 Sam. vii. 13, 14. 16. concerning "the establishment of the throne of his Son for ever," were by David and by the prophet himself that delivered them, understood (TM idig iúc, as St. Peter fpeaks) concerning Solomon and a fucceffion of kings in his family; yet, when following prophecies clearly and exprefsly declared, that out of the root of Jeffe thould arife a Meffiah who fhould reign for ever; no reasonable man can doubt, but that the former and lets clear prophecy was likewife intended of God, and therefore rightly applied by the apostles of Chrift to the fame purpose. To give but one inftance more: fuppofe the words, Píal. xvi. 10. "Thou wilt not leave my foul

in hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thy Holy One to fee corruption," were by David fpoken concerning himself (which, however, can no way be proved); yet who, that, Acts ii. 30. knew David himself to be a prophet, and that had compared the other prophecies, concerning the branch out of the roots of Jeffe," Ifai. xi. 1, &c. "the one fhepherd of Ifrael, even God's fervant David," Ezek. xxxvii. 24. who fhould be "their prince for ever," ver. 25and yet was to be "cut off" before he fhould "reign for ever;' Dan, ix. 26. Ifai. lii. tot. and that had himself feen (as St. Peter did) and actually converfed with "Chrift rifen from the dead;" who (I fay) in thefe circumftances could poffibly doubt, but that the fpirit of the Lord which fpake by David," 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. intended the forementioned words fhould be underflood of, and applied to, Chrift? and the like may be faid concerning fome other prophecies, which are vulgarly fuppofed to be applied typically to Chrift.

15. It is not agreeable to reason, or to the analogy of Scripture, to fuppofe that the Jews before our Saviour's time could have a clear and diftinct understanding of the full meaning even of the

exprefs