"lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping "for her children, and would not be comforted, because they "are not." Matth. ii. 17. Jer. xxxi. 15. Thus likewife St. Paul: "I mean not that other men be cafed, and you burdened: but by "an equality; As it is written, He that had gathered much, had "nothing over; and he that had gathered little, had no lack." 2 Cor. viii. 13, 14, 15. Again, what Ifaiah fays of the Jews (fuppofing he did not fpeak there prophetically, though the folemnity of the introduction makes it much more reasonable to believe he did; but fuppofing he spake of the Jews in his own time), "Go "and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and "fee ye indeed, but perceive not: make the heart of this people "fat, and make their ears heavy, and fhut their eyes: left they "fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with "their heart, and convert and be healed;" Ifai. vi. 9. was fulfilled, was verified, was equally true, equally applicable to the Jews, in our Saviour's days, Matth. xiii. 14. Of the fame kind feems to be St. Matthew's explication, ch. viii. 17, of that paffage in Ifaiah; "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our "forrows," Ifai. liii. 4. The fenfe of the words in the prophecy is, what St. Peter expreffes; "Who his ownfelf bare our fins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. ii. 24; and the apoftle to the Hebrews, Chrift was once offered, to bear the fins of many." Heb. ix. 28. Yet St. Matthew fays, "He healed all that were "fick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Efaias the "prophet, faying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our fick"neffes." Matth. viii. 16, 17. His meaning is, Chrift healed difeafes in fuch a manner, that even in that fenfe alfo the words of Ifaiah were literally verified. To give but one inftance more. "All these things" (faith the evangelift) "fpake Jefus unto the "multitude in parables, that it might be fulfilled which was *fpoken by the prophet, faying, I will open my mouth in parables, "I will utter things which have been kept fecret from the foundation

of the world," Matth. xiii. 34, 35; that is, the words (Pfal. Ixxviii. 2.) of the Pfalmift were as properly, as truly, and as juftly applicable to the things which our Lord fpoke, as to the occafion upon which they were originally spoken by the Pfalmift.

To fuch as are accustomed only to modern languages, and underЯand not the nature of the Hebrew and Syriac fpeech, it may feem very furprifing, that in the two laft-mentioned paffages the citations are introduced with these words, "that it might be ful"filled which was spoken by the prophet, faying, &c." Matth. viii. 17. xiii. 35. But all who understand those languages well know, that the phrafes anfwering to thefe expreffions, a "that it might be fulfilled;" mean nothing more than," hereby

was verified," or, "fo that hereby was verified," or the like. And they who understand not the languages may yet eafily apprehend this, by confidering the nature and force of fome other expreffions of the like kind. As, "They prophecy a lie in my name,

"THAT

"THAT I might drive you out." Jer. xxvii. 15. « Behold, I fend "unto you prophets,-THAT upon you may come all the righte"ous blood." Matth. xxiii. 34, 35. With many other paffages of the fame nature: where the words, "THAT fuch a thing may "be," do not at all fignify the intention, "To the end that it "may be," but merely the event, "So that it will be." In the cafe of the moft direct and exprefs prophecies of all; the words, "This was done, THAT it might be fulfilled which was spoken "by the prophet," Exod. xi. 9. xvii. 3. Numb. xxii. 14. Pfal. li. 4. Jer. vii. 18. Matth. x. 34, 35. never do, never poffibly can fignify literally, that the thing was done for that end, that the prophecy might be fulfilled; becaufe, on the reverfe, the reafon why any thing is predicted always is, because the thing was (before that prediction) appointed to be done. Much more, therefore, in the case of indirect prophecies; the words, "This was done, THAT it "might be fulfilled which was fpoken by the prophet," neceffarily and evidently mean this only, that the thing was fo done, as that thereby or therein was verified what the prophet had spoken.

20. It cannot, therefore, with any sort of reafon or juftice, be inferred from fuch citations out of the Old Teftament as I have now mentioned, that the apostles either misunderstood or enthusiastically mifapplied the writings of the prophets. Nor can any just argument be drawn against the authority of the books of the Old and New Teftament from fuch topics as thefe; that the copies of the law, in the times of the idolatrous kings of Judah and Ifrael, were well nigh loft; that fome texts cited out of the Old Testament by the writers of the New are not now found in the Old Teftament at all; that other texts are read differently in the Old Testament itself from the citations of the same text recorded in the New; and the like. Which things have indeed given occafion to weak and ridiculous writers to invent certain fenfeless rules or regulations; according to which, men may at any time rightly make what wrong quotations they pleafe. But in truth, the things themselves I am here fpeaking of are nothing but what muft of neceffity happen in a long fucceffion of ages.

When "Hilkiah the prieft" (in the days of Jofiah) "found " in the house of the Lord, a book of the law of the Lord, given "by Mofes," 2 Chr. xxxiv. 14; it is very probable, indeed, from the circumftances of the hiftory, that copies of the law were then very fcarce; and that this found by Hilkiah was, to his furprize, an authentic or original copy. But that the whole fhould have been at that time a forgery of Hilkiah, is evidently impoffible; because the very being and polity of the nation, as well as their religion, was founded upon the acknowledgment of the law of Moses; how much foever idolatrous kings might at certain times have corrupted. that religion, and caufed the ftudy of the law to have been neglected. And in the very fame book, wherein the account is given of this particular fact of Hilkiah's finding a copy [an authentic copy] of the law; it is exprefsly and at large recorded, how, in a foregoing

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foregoing reign, the king "fent to his princes-to teach in the cities' " of Judah; and with them he fent Levites and priefts;-and they "taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with "them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and ❝taught the people." 2 Chr. xvii. 7, 8, 9.

That, in length of time, fome whole books fhould have been' loft, is nothing wonderful. There are feveral books expressly cited in the Old Teftament, of which we have now nothing remaining. That in the books which remain, there fhould fometimes, for want of infallibility in tranfcribers, happen omiffions, tranfpofitions, and various readings, is ftill lefs to be wondered at. Nothing, but perpetual miracle, could prevent it. They who have fkill to compare, in the original, certain paffages in the books of Chronicles with the correfpondent places in the books of Kings, or the xviith Pfalm with 2 Sam. ch. xxii. which is a tranfcript of the fame Pfalm, or the xivth Pfalm with the liiid, which are also one and the fame Pfalm tranfcribed; and, much more, they who can compare the Septuagint tranflation with the original, will be able to find inftances of these things, and very often alfo to fee plainly how and whence they happened (all which, far from diminishing the authority of the books, are strong arguments of their antiquity, and against their having been forged by Efdras, or any other hand). What wonder then is it, that among the numerous texts cited in the New Testament out of the Old, one or two should now not be found in our prefent copies of the Old Teftament? and that fome others fhould be read differently in the Old Teftament, from the citations of the fame texts recorded in the New? or how does this at all affect the authority of either; when much the greateft part of the texts cited agree perfectly, either in words, or at least in fenfe; and the whole feries, harmony, analogy, connection, and uniformity of both, compared with the fyftem of natural and moral truths, and with the hiftory of the world and the ftate of nations, through a long fucceffion of ages from the days of Mofes to this prefent time, fhews that the books are not the refult of random and enthufiaftic imaginations, but of long fore-fight and defign? For, the fpirit of enthufiafin is very hardly confiftent with itself through the writings of one fingle perfon. How then is it poffible, that for 3000 years together, and pretending too (through all that time) to an uniform feries of predictions, it fhould HAPPEN never to have fallen into fuch a track of expected events, as the nature and truth of things and the fituation of the kingdoms of the world should have rendered abfolutely IMPOSSIBLE, and altogether INCAPABLE of any farther, much lefs of any final, completion?

In fome few places there is reafonable ground for a worfe fufpicion. As for inflance, Pfal. xxii. 16. where the sense most evidently fhews it ought to be read, and the LXX verfion fhews it anciently was read, 18 or 15, "they pierced my hands and my "feet;" the Jewish masters, in all their correct Hebrew editions, have written it, '782 as a lion my hands and my feet." Which has no tolerable fenfe at all.

21. I fhall

21. I fhall conclude this head with pointing at fome particular extraordinary prophecies, which deferve to be carefully confidered and compared with the events, whether they could poffibly have proceeded from chance or from enthufiafin. Some of them are of fuch a nature as that they can only be judged of by perfons learned in hiftory; and thefe I fhall but just mention. Others are obvious to the confideration of the whole world; and with those I fhall finish what I think proper at this time to offer upon this fubject.

Concerning Babylon," it was particularly foretold, that it "fhould be fhut up, and befieged by the Medes, Elamites, and "Armenians,” Ifai. xiii. 17. xxi. 2; "that the river should "be dried up," Jer. 1. 38. li. 36; "that the city fhould be taken "in the time of a fealt, while her-mighty men were drunken," Jer. li. 39. 57; which "accordingly came to país" when "Belfhaz

zar and all his thousand princes who were drunk with him at the feaft," were flain by Cyrus's foldiers.-Alfo it was "particularly foretold, that God would make the country of "Babylon a poffeffion for the bittern, and pools of water; which was accordingly fulfilled by the overflowing and drowning "of it, on the breaking down of the great dam in order to "take the city." Ifai. xiv. 23. Could the correfpondence of these events with the predictions be the refult of chance? But fuppofe thefe predictions were forged after the event: can the following ones also have been written after the event? or, with any reason, be ascribed to chance?" The wild beasts of the defert-fhall dwell *there, and the owls fhall dwell therein: and it fhall be NO MORE "inhabited for EVER, neither fhall it be dwelt in from genera"tion to generation: as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, " &c." Jer. 1. 39. "They fhall not take of thee a stone for a corner,-but thou fhalt be defolate for EVER, faith the Lord: "Babylon fhall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an "astonishment and an hiffing without an inhabitant:-it fhall_fink,

and fhall not rife from the evil that I will bring upon her." Jer. li. 26. 37.64 Babylon the glory of kingdoms,-fhall be as when "God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: it fhall NEVER be in"habited, neither fhall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: "neither fhall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither fhall the "fhepherds make their fold there: but wild beafts of the defert "fhall lie there, and their houfes fhall be full of doleful creatures, "and owls fhall dwell there." Ifai. i. 19, 20, 21.

Concerning Egypt, was the following prediction forged after the event? or can it, with any reafon, be afcribed to chance?" Egypt"fhall be a BASE kingdom: it fhall be the BASEST of kingdoms, "neither shall it exalt itself ANY MORE above the nations: for I "will diminish them, that they fhall NO MORE RULE Over the "nations." Ezek. xxix. 14, 15.

Concerning Tyre, the prediction is no lefs remarkable; «I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to Prideaux, Connexion, part I. book II. p. 67, edit. fol. Cyropædia, lib. VII.

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"spread

"spread nets upon; thou fhalt be built NO MORE ;-thou shalt be NO MORE," Ezek. xxvi. 14, 21; "the merchants among the people shall hifs at thee, thou fhalt be a terror, and NEVER fhalt "be any more." Ezek. xxvii. 36. "All they that know thee among the people fhall be aftonished at thee." Ezek. xxviii. 19. The defcription of the extent of the dominion of that people, who were to poffefs Judea in the latter days, was it forged after the event? or can it reasonably be afcribed to chance? Dan. xi. 40, 41, 42, 43. He "fhall come with horse-men, and with many ships, and "-fhall overflow and pafs over: he shall enter alfo into the glo❝rious land, [and, ver. 45. fhall plant the tabernacles of his palace "between the feas in the glorious holy mountain]; and many "countries fhall be overthrown; but these fhall escape out of his "hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of "Ammon. He fhall ftretch forth his hand also upon the countries, " and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he fhall have power "over the treasures of gold and of filver, and over all the precious "things of Egypt; and the Libyans and Ethiopians [w] "fhall be as his fteps."

When Daniel, in the vifion of Nebuchadnezzar's image, foretold "Four great fucceffive monarchies," Dan. ii. 38-44, was this written after the event? or can the congruity of his defcription with the things themselves, reasonably be ascribed to mere chance? When the angel fays to Daniel; "Seventy weeks + are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the tranf"greffion, and to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation "for iniquity, &c." Dan. ix. 24. was this written after the event? or can it reasonably be afcribed to chance, that from "the feventh

year of Artaxerxes the king," Ezra vii. 6, 7, 8. (when Ezra went up from Babylon-unto Jerufalem with a commiffion to reftore the government of the Jews) to the "death of Chrift," [from ann, Nabonaff. 290, to ann. Nabonaff. 780], fhould be precifely 490 [70 weeks of] years?

When the angel tells Daniel, ch. ix. 25. that "threescore " and two weeks the ftreet [of Jerufalem] thall be built again, " and the wall, even in troublous times ['non pirai, but "this in troublous times," not like those that should be under Meffiah the prince, when he fhould come to reign]; was this written after the event? or can it reasonably be ascribed to chance, that from the "twenty-eighth of Artaxerxes," when the walls were finished, to the birth of Chrift [from ann. Nabonass. 311 to ann. Nabonaff. 745], fhould be precisely 434 [62 weeks of] years?

When Daniel further fays: " And he fhall confirm [or, never"theless he shall confirm] the covenant with many for one week,'

The fame of which was fo early fpread, that Ezekiel, who was contemporary with Daniel, plainly alludes to it, when he fays of the prince of Tyre, ch. xxviii. 3. "Thou "art wifer than Daniel; there is no fecret, that they can hide from thee."

+ Weeks, or Septenaries, of years. Compare Gen. xxix. 27. Numb. xiv. 34. Ezek. iv. 6. * Τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις ανωκοδομήθη τὸ τεῖχΘ, ὀγδόῳ καὶ εἰκοσῷ τῆς Ξέρξε Βασιλείας έτει, μετά iváty TÍA☺- dì tŵy teixõv kañóviwv, &c. Jofephus, Antiquit. Judaic, lib. XI. cap. 5Dan.