no room left for imposture: neither is a man any more the master of his death; wherefore, to give a certain character to his prophecy, he foretels his dying at Jerufalem; which accordingly was accomplished in all its circumftances. Can any thing be more exact?

But one may fay, that it was eafy for the Difciples to forge predictions fuitable to the event, in like manner as Virgil hath done, in the fixth of his Eneids, of Marcellus. One may indeed contrive an impofture which fhall be poffible, and which may anfwer to fome few oracles; but 1 fhall hereafter fhew the folly of that thought, when I come to prove the faithfulness of the Apoftles and Evangelifts.

But can we conceive fuch a fufpicion concerning the converfion of the Gentiles, the ruin of Paganifm, the victory of Chriftianity after ten perfecutions? It is now above 1600 years that the Chriftian Religion fubfifts; whereas, who could have affured the Difciples of Jefus Chrift, that their doctrine would have had fo much as one or two followers after their death? The greatest empires, that of the Chaldeans, of the Perfians, of the Grecians, and that of the Romans, have been overturned; and none of them fingly have been of fo long continuance as the kingdom of Jefus Chrift, which nevertheless was attacked by all that was great and powerful in the world. Who fees not that this is the empire whereof Daniel speaks in the feventh of his Revelations, which was never to have end.

Jefus Chrift foretold, as it is fet down by his Difciples, according to the prophecy of Daniel, that the temple of Jerufalem fhould be destroyed, and never built again: who could tell the Apoftles, if they had forged this oracle themselves, that the endeavours of Julian to confound this prophecy, when he began to rebuild the temple, would be in vain, as indeed they proved by an effect of the Divine vengeance against the Jews, who were engaged in the rebuilding of it, under the authority of that emperor? (x)

Indeed, if one reflects on the oracles of Jefus Chrift, one fhall find them a thousand times more known than thofe of the Jews.

1. The greatest part of them were penned at one and the fame time. 2. They were writ by feveral authors, who lived in different places. 3. They were read over the whole earth every Lord's day : they have been explained and commented upon foon after, every one endeavouring to take notice of their accomplishment.

4. They have been alledged in difputes against Jews and Gentiles, and have ferved for a foundation to the faith of the Chriftian church, whofe teachers have made it their bufinefs to fhew their uniformity with the oracles of the Old Testament, which are in the hands of the Jews, though the Jews have always confidered the Chriftians as their muft mortal

enemies.

But one may alfo find that thefe oracles being for the most part much more clear and exprefs, their accomplishment alfo hath been fo much the more eafily difcernible: from whence it evidently follows, that Jefus Chrift ought to be be acknowledged as the Prophet that was like unto Mofes, as is mentioned in the eighteenth of Deuteronomy, that is indeed the true Meffiah.

Gg3

(x) Ammian. Marcellin. lib. 23.

CHAP. XII.

CHA P. XII.

That JESUS CHRIST died precifely in the fame Manner as it was foretold that the MESSIAH fhould die.

I

HAVE fhewed, in my third part, that God had given to his church feveral oracles to explain diftinctly this great truth concerning the Meffiah.

1. He had fet this up for a rule by Mofes, Curfed is he that hangeth on

a tree.

2. He had propofed by David the idea of the Mcffiah, as having his hands and feet pierced; the Gentiles and Jews uniting themselves against

him.

3. He had foretold by Ifaiah, that the Meffiah was to be accounted a malefactor, and put to death.

4. He had repeated the fame ideas by the Prophet Zechariah, who defcribes the manner of his being pierced, which has a natural reference to the notion of crucifixion.

I have alfo fet down the reafons for which God feparated the feveral parts of those prophetical defcriptions of fo furprising an event: the difficulty there was on the one hand to make thefe ideas to be received, which feem full of contradictions, the Meffiah having been at firft fet forth as the Fountain of Bleffing; and, on the other hand, their feeming incompatibility with the glory which God had promifed to the Meffiah, and by him to the Ifraelites.

And at last, I have fhewed that thefe oracles do exactly and clearly defcribe the things which were to happen to the Meffiah; which was to be fo, becaufe of the nature of thofe events, which were fo ftrange, and at such a distance from the common ideas which men have, for the moft part, of fuch things.

Our business therefore only is to confider at prefent, whether indeed Jefus Chrift died in the fame manner as the Prophets had foretold that the Meffiah fhould.

This character is a very illuftrious one, to confirm that Jefus Chrift is the Meffiah; for it is well known that a prifoner is no longer matter of the things that happen to him, neither of the kind of his death, nor of the manner of his burial.

In fhort, nothing can be imagined more foolish than to fuppofe that the Difciples of Jefus Chrift fhould apply to their mafter, that he might pafs for the Mefliah, fuch oracles as had not ufually been applied to the Meffiah by the Jews, amongst whom they lived, and whom they endeavoured to difpofe for the receiving of Jefus Chrift as the promised Meffiah.

Now we cannot conceive any thing more exact than the agreement which we find between the prophecies and the event.

1. When Jefus Chrift, by his triumphant entry into Jerufalem, riding on an afs, had put his Difciples in mind of one paffage in Zachary, he obliged them allo to caft their eyes upon another, when he foretold his

death,

death, and their flight, as the accomplishment of this oracle; I will fmite the shepherd, and the flock shall be scattered, Zach. xiii. 7. (y).

2. He was befet with a band of Roman foldiers, and the fervants of the principal men amongst the Jews, who apprehended him, under the conduct of Judas; which exactly answers, firft, to the defcription which we find Pfalm xxii. Dogs, that is Heathens, whom the Jews treated as fuch, and ftrong Bulls, that is Jews, reprefented by clean Beafts, have befet me round; and fecondly, to that other prophecy, He that eats bread with me hath lift up his heel against me.

he

3. He offers himfelf freely to death, according to that of Ifaiah, that gave his foul an offering for fin. This appears, not only by his going into the garden, where he knew that he fhould be taken, but also by his telling the foldiers that he was the man they looked for. He oppofed St. Peter's attempts towards his refcue, and declares that he did not fly from death, but was willing to fatisfy the intent of the prophecies.

4. He is forfaken by his Difciples, as he himself had teftified of it as foretold by the Prophets, Zach. xiii. 7.

5. He is ftruck on the face before Annas, as Jeremiah had foretold, Lament. iii. 30. He giveth his check to him that fmiteth him.

6. He appears hetore Caiaphas, furrounded by every thing that was great amongst the Jews, whether lawyers or churchmen, according to Pjalm ii.

7. He is filent before his unjuft judges, and neglects to answer the accufations which the falfe witneffes depofed againft him, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, As a sheep before his hearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth, Isaiah liii. 7. and the defcription which David gives of him, P. xxxi. and xxxix.

8. They opened their mouths against him, in accufing him of blafphemy, as David had figuratively expreffed it, Pfalm xxii. 13.

9. They fpit in his face, they buffeted and abufed him the wholenight, according to that oracle of Ifaiah, xlix. 6.

10. When Judas faw that Jefus Chrift was delivered to Pilate by the Jews, who demanded his crucifixion, he returned the thirty pieces of filver, wherewith they purchased the Potters field, afterwards called the Field of Blood, and fet apart by the Jews for the burial of strangers, as was foretold by Zechariah, xi. 12. and by Jeremiah, xxxii. 25.

II. He is accufed before Pilate, and brought before Herod, without juftifying himself of the crimes laid to his charge, as it is Pfalm xxxviii.

and xxvi. 12.

12. Pilate and Herod agree in confpiring the death of Jefus Chrift, according to the defcription of Pfalm ii.

13. Pilate defiring to fave Jefus, the Jews demand Barabbas might be releafed; and Jefus punifhed, as David had foretold, Pfalm xxii. 14. 14 Jefus Chrift was fcourged by Pilate's order, which was foretold, Pfalm xxxviii. and Ixix. Ifaiab liii. ver. 5, and chap. lxiii.

15. He is brought forth by Pilate to the people with an Ecce Home, Behold the Man, which was foretold by Ifaiah: When we fhall fee him, there is no beauty that we should defire him; he is defpifed and rejected of men: we did efteem him ftricken, fmitten of God, and afflicted.

G.g 4

() Matth. xxvi. 31.

16. He

16. He is afterwards delivered to the foldiers, who, before they crucified him, infulted over him with a thousand indignities, and fcourged him again, according to the prophecies fo often before alledged.

17. They crucify him with two robbers, which answers to that prophecy, Ifaiah liii. 12. He was numbered with tranfgreffors.

18. They give him gall and vinegar to drink, as was foretold Pfalm

1xix.

19. They pierce his hands and feet in nailing him to the cross, which anfwers to Pfalm xxii. 17, 18.

20. They part his garments, which is reprefented in the fame Pfalm, verfe 19. and caft lots on his vefture, according to the fame Pfalm, in the very fame place.

21. He fuffers a thousand reproaches upon the crofs, according to what we find Pfalm xxii. verfe 8, and Pfalm lxix. verse 8, 10.

22. And in particular, the Jews and Scribes reproach him in the very words of Pfalm xxii. verfe 8.

23. Jefus Chrift cries out, applying to himfelf the beginning of Pfalm xxii. My God! My God! Why haft thou forfaken me ? as he had before applied to himself the prophecy concerning the Meffiah in the third of Daniel.

24. He commends his foul into the hands of God, in the very words which we read Pfalm xvi.

Thefe are the principal circumftances of the death of Jefus Christ, which one fees to be exactly agreeable to the prophecies going before concerning them: let us now confider thofe which followed his death, which we fhall not find to be lefs particular.

1. The bones of Jefus Chrift were not broken, as thofe of the two thieves; which one may fee foretold, Pfalm xxxiv. verfe 21.

2. They opened his fide with a fpear, according to the idea of Zecha riah, chap. x. verfe 12. They fhall look upon him whom they have pierced. 3. His body is buried by Jofeph of Arimathea, in a new fepulchre ; which anfwers to the prophecy of Ifaiah, chap. liii.

These remarks do, in my judgment, clearly prove, that in the death of Chrift all the characters by which the Prophets have diftinguished the death of the Meffiah, are actually found.

But, that we may yet be more fenfible how juftly thefe oracles are applied to Jefus Chrift, here are fome reflexions upon the application which the Apoftles make of thefe particular facts which happened to Chrift, to thofe oracles which I have now mentioned.

The firft is, That the relation of thefe facts is joined with an account of the weaknefs whereinto they all fell: they relate their own flight, and forfaking their mafter, with St. Peter's denying of him; whilst they fet down the courage of thofe women, and that entire love which they fhewed to the perfon of Jefus.

The fecond is, That the account of the accomplishment of these ancient oracles is interwoven with the accomplishment of thofe which were uttered by Jefus Chrift, which alone are fufficient to make good his claim.

The third is, That our Saviour did never on any occafion more openly. ftand to his pretenfion of being the Melah, than when he applied to

himfelf

himself those oracles which by their public confent were referred to the Meffiah, which the Jews at that time more obftinately contefted than

ever.

The fourth is, That there never was a more exact description of all circumstances which might affure us of the truth of any relation, than that which the Evangelifts have given us of the death of Jefus Christ, in which we find the places, the time, the perfons, their difcourfes, and other things of that nature, fet down with extreme care.

The fifth is, That as this fact, with all its circumftances, is the most exactly described of any thing that ever was, fo it was a matter concerning which it was fearce poffible to impofe upon any one. All was done in the face of the whole nation, who were met together at their most folemn feftival: all was done in the prefence of the fovereign Heathen magistrate, of the council of the Jews, of Hered, and of those who followed him to Jerufalem.

The fixth is, That we find an account of fome miracles interwoven with this relation of the Evangelifts concerning the death of Chrift; and those miracles as public, and as little fubject to fufpicion, as the death itself of Jefus Chrift, if we take the pains to examine them.

They who come to take Jefus, fall down backward to the ground; Jefus Chrift reftores the ear of the high pricft's fervant, which was cut off: there was darkness over all the land, from nine o'clock in the morning till noon; the vail of the temple is rent. These are miraculous actions, and such as the Jews might eafily have refuted, wherefoever they had been propofed, if the truth of them had not been beyond all question.

From all these remarks it evidently follows, That it is impoffible to difpute the application which the Apoftles make of thefe oracles, which are fo particular, to the perfon of Jefus Chrift, as the true Meffiah: we find every part of their relation exactly anfwering to the prophecies. How then can any one doubt of their being fulfilled in him? efpecially seeing it is evident, by fo many other proofs, that he was indeed the Meffiah, and that God has been pleafed fo many other ways to confirm the fame truth.

That JESUS CHRIST was raised again the third Day, according to the PROPHETS, and afterwards afcended into Heaven.

HAV

AVING fhewed, in the foregoing Chapter, that Jefus Chrift was crucified under Pontius Pilate, for maintaining that he was the promifed Meffiah; I am now to fhew, that, according to the prophecies fet down in my third part, he rofe again the third day, and afterwards afcended into heaven. As thefe two facts are the most im

portant