Page images
PDF
EPUB

I.

Dominion fhould ceafe from thence; must be a SER M.
Deliverer of his People from Bondage and
Oppreffion, and give them a new Law to
walk by as Mofes did.

Ishall now pursue my Enquiry into the Prophets, and fee what additional Light we may get from thence. And under this Denomination in my Text, I told you, are contained all the remaining Books of the Old Testament. I shall not indeed look into them all, but as the Time will let me, shall only pick out a few of the cleareft. The Compass of Time we have already gone through is upwards of 2500 Years. I fhall now pass down four hundred Years lower, and take Notice of a Prediction given to David: To whom, upon his purpofing to build a Houfe to the Lord, (as he had built one for himself) God is pleased to promife, by Nathan his Prophet, that he would raise an everlafting Houfe or Family of him; and this he does in the folemn and remarkable Words following: 2 Sam. vii. 12.-16. When thy Days fhall be fulfilled, and thou shalt fleep with thy Fathers, I will Jet up thy Seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy Bowels, and I will establish his -Kingdom. He fhall build an House for my Name; I will establish the Throne of his

[ocr errors]

SERM. Kingdom for ever. I will be HIS FATHER,

[ocr errors]

and he shall be MY SON;My Mercy fhall

[ocr errors]

not depart away from Hiм, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before thee & but thine House and thy Kingdom fhall be eftablifhed for ever before thee: Thy Throne foall be established for ever. It is to this Promife that the Author of the 89th Pfalm appeals, when the Succeffion of the Royal Line was thought to fail in the Time of the Captivity. Pf. lxxxix. 19, Thou Spakeft in a Vifion to the Holy One and faidft.-V, 35, 36. fee alfa v. 3, 4. Once have I fworn by my Holiness that I will not lie unto David; his Seed fhall endure for ever, and his Throne as the Sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the Moon, and as a faithful Witness in Heawen. Which Words, though applied by the latter Jews to Solomon, yet cannot be literally and properly true of him, whofe earthly Throne was tent in Pieces by Jeroboam presently after his Death, and afterwards utterly overthrown. They must therefore be neceffarily understood of an eternal King to be born of David's Stock and Lineage. That the Meffiab was to come of bis Seed is clear from feveral Prophecies afterwards, and par ticularly from that of Jeremy xxiii. 5, 6. Bebold

2

I.

Behold the Days come, faith the Lord, that SER M. I will raife unto David a righteous Branch, and a King fhall reign and profper, and shall execute Judgment and Juftice on the Earth: In his Days Judah fhall be faved, and Ifrael fhall dwell fafely, and this is the Name whereby be fhall be called, The Lord our Righteousness. Now it is obfervable that this Seed is promifed here to David, as a Bleffing ftill to come, 400 Years after David himself was dead: And confequently, it could not be meant of Solomon, or any temporal King of that Line, and therefore must be applied to the Meffiab. And indeed that the Meffiab was to fpring from the Line and Family of David, was the common Opinion and Expectation of the Jews, which continues fix'd and immoveable amongst them, as a grand Point of their Religion to this very Day. But from thefe Prophecies it appears not only that the Meffiah fhould be of David's Line, but that he also should be poffeffed of an eternal Kingdom. And in the Book of Pfalms we might add abundant Teftimonies of his univerfal Dominion, Pfal. ii. 7, 8. his being ador ed by all Nations, his making all Generations and Families of the Earth blefed,Pfal. lxxii. 5,7, 8, 11, 13. and several other Characters which

muft

I.

SER M. must therefore be understood as fo many Marks of the Meffiah, because they cannot poffibly be applied to any temporal King whatsoever.

But not to run into thofe Prophecies that relate principally to the internal Powers and Characters of the Meffiah, which were not to be fulfilled, nor claimed indeed by himself, till after his Inthronement into his regal Authority; I fhall return to the Confideration of fuch Prophecies as relate to his first Appearance, and must directly point him out as foon as born. They being the Prophecies St. Philip muft be supposed to mean in the Text, fince Jefus of Nazareth, whom he there speaks of, had not then fulfilled any others. Of this fort is the Prophecy of Micah, delivered about 260 Years after the Promise made to David. Micah v. 2. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the Thousands of Judah; yet out of thee fall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Ifrael; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. That this is spoken of the Chrift is plain from the last Words, whofe goings forth have been from of old, even from everlasting; and that the Jews therefore gathered from hence that the Christ was to be born in the Town of Bethlehem,

St.

I.

St. Matthew and St. John both testify, Matt. SER M. ii. 5, 6. John vii. 42. 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 4.

Having here therefore gained the Place of his Birth, let us next enquire into the Circumstance and Manner of it; and here Isaiah, that prophefied foon after Micah, will give us wonderful Light. Behold, faith he, a Virgin fhall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his Name Immanuel, Ifa. vii. 14. The original Word here was tranflated Virgin by the Jews themselves fome 100 Years before our Saviour's Birth. And did not the Signification of the Word, and the Ufe of it in other Places of Scripture import it, the Wonder of the Sign given by the Lord himself would evince as much. As to that Conceit of the Jews that this Prophecy was fulfilled in Hezekiah, it is fo manifeftly falfe, that nothing can make more against them. For the Sign was plainly given, and the Promise made at fome Time in the Reign of Ahaz. Now Abaz reigned but 16 Years in Jerufalem, and his Son He zekiah, who fucceeded him, was 2.5 Years old when he began to reign, and confequently not to be born when the Sign was given. This Confideration has obliged feveral ancient Rabbins to confess that the Prophecy related to the Meffiab, as indeed is plain from the VOL. II. Name

4

C

« PreviousContinue »