+ Gen. xlix. 10.

come, and to him shall the gathering of the People be +. And that other of Haggai, Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land; and I will shake all Nations, and the Defire of all Nations shall come; and I will fill this Houfe with Glory, faith the Lord of Hofts: The Glory of this latter Houfe fhall be greater than the Glory of the former, faith *Hag.ii.6,7,9. the Lord of Hofts*. For as the antient Jews unanimously apply'd these Predictions to the Meffias, fo is it manifeft, that the Scepter is now departed from Judah, the Jewish Government hath entirely fail'd; and that the Second Temple is long fince destroyed; which being so much inferior to the first in the common Characters and Marks of Glory, the Shekinah, the Fire upon the Altar, the Urim and Thummim, the Ark of the Covenant, &c. a fuperior Glory could accrue to it by nothing but by the coming of the Meffias, in whom all thofe Signs were more eminently united and contain'd.

*Heb. vii. 14.

*Mic. vi. 2.

+ Ifai. vii. 14. xxi. 21.

(c) That Jefus is the Meffias, is infallibly evinc'd from the following Confiderations:

1. He is by Jew and Gentile acknowledged to have been in the World at that time when the Prophets foretold that the Meffias fhould come; and when no other Person, with any fhew of Probability, afpir'd to the fame Character.

2. It is evident (faith the Apostle) that our Lord fprang out of the Tribe of Judah+; and in all the Addreffes of the Supplicants we find him faluted, The Son of David. But to this Tribe, and this Family, the Jews before, and in, our Lord's time upon Earth, expreffly appropriated the Honour of the Meffias. And thofe modern Jews, who have invented a double Meffias, contefs the Son of David to be the Greater of the two. Again, the Birth-place of the Meffias, foretold by Micah *, and acknowledg'd not only by the Scribes and Pharifees, but by all the People, was fulfill'd in our Lord by a moft remarkable Providence, which called his reputed Parents thither. The manner also of his Birth, of a pure Virgin, and his being the true Immanuel, GOD with us, compleated two of the most celebrated Predictions concerning Him t

3. He

3. He taught what the Meffias was to teach, did what the Meffias was to do, fuffer'd what the Meffias was to fuffer, and by fuffering obtain'd all that a Meffias could obtain. The Meffias is promis'd as a greater Prophet, a Teacher of a more perfect Way, and of an univerfally extended Religion; who, when GOD had put His Spirit upon Him, fhould fbew Judgment unto the Gentiles, and make the Ifles wait for his Law. Our Lord has delivered the moft perfect *Ifa. xlii. 1, 4. Will of GOD, both in his Precepts and Promises. He hath deliver'd it in the most perfect manner, with the greatest Authority, Prefpicuity, and Univerfality. it was expected that the Meffias fhould infinitely furpafs all the former Prophets in mighty Signs and Miracles. Our Lord alledgeth this Mark and Teftimony of his Character,on feveral occafions; particularly in his Answer to the Enquiry of J. Baptift; and thofe Jews acknowledg'd it, who faid, when † Mat. xi. 2, 3. Chrift cometh, will be do more Miracles, than thefe which this Man hath done? The Jewish Doctors reckon up Seventy Joh. vi.'31. fix Miracles for Mofes, and Seventy four for all the rest of the Prophets. What proportion would these (if really fo many,) bear to all which our Lord wrought; when St. John affures us with as great Certainty of Truth, as height of Hyperbole, that, There are many other things which Jefus did, the which if they should be written every one, he fuppofed, that, even the World it felf could not contain the Books that should be written +. Nor did our Saviour excel all o- † Joh. xxi. 25. thers in the Number more than in the Power of his Mira

cles. In him dwelt the Fulness of the Godhead bodily *. His *Coloff. ii. 9. Power was fo really immanent and inherent in Himself, that he was able to communicate it to his Difciples, and to the Chriftians of the firft Ages. Whereas Mofes and the Prophets either receiv'd an occafional Power from GOD, or rather by their Prayers prevail'd with GOD to work the Miracles by his own immediate Hand. As to our Lord's Sufferings, if we look on them in the grofs, we fhall find them answering in the highest manner the Prophetical Character of the Meffias, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief t. But this part will be beft illuftrated, by comparing + Mai. liii. 3. the particular Predictions with the Hiftorical Paffages of his Sufferings, and joining the Prophets and Evangelists together: If Zachary fay, They weighed for my Price thirty Pieces of Silver.* St. Mathew will shew Judes covenanting for the Zach, xi. 12

fame

Ifai. liii. 5. Zach. xii. 10.

Pfal xxii. 16.

† Joh. xx. 25.

*Pfal, xxii. 7, Mat. xxvii. 39.

43. *Pfal. xxii. 1.

+ Mat. xxvii. 46. *Ifai. liii. 12.

† Mar. xv. 27.

↑ Matt. xxvii. 15. fame Sum +. If Ifaiah fay, that He was wounded*, if Zachary, They fhall look upon me whom they have pierced +, and David more particularly, They pierced my Hands and my Feet; the Evangelifts will fhew how He was faftened to the Crofs, and Jefus himself the Print of the Nails t. If the Pfalmift tells us, they fhould laugh him to scorn, and shake their Head, faying, He trusted in GOD, that be would deliver Him, let Him deliver Him, feeing He delighted 8. in Him *, St. Matthew will record the fame Action, and the fame Expreffion +. If David fay, My GOD, my GOD, why haft thou for faken me*! The Son of David will fhew in whole Perfon the Father fpake it +. Let Ifaiah foretel, that He was numbered with the Tranfgreffors *, and you will find Him crucified between two Thieves +. Read in the *Pfal. Ixix. 21. Pfalmift, In my Thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink *, and in the Evangelift you will hear Jefus faying, I thirst, that this Scripture might be fulfilled +. Read farther yet, They part my Garments among them, and caft Lots upon my Vesture*, and the Soldiers fhall make good the Prediction +. Laftly, let the Prophets teach us, that He fhall be brought like a Lamb to the Slaughter, and be cut off out of the Land of the Ifai. liii. 7,8. Living, all the Evangelifts will declare how like a Lamb He fuffer'd, and all his Enemies will atteft that He was cut off. And as He taught, and did, and suffer'd, fo He also obtain'd what was promis'd of the Meffias. The Lord faid unto my Lord, (faith David) fit thou at my right Hand †. Now David is not afcended into the Heavens *, but Jefus is afcended, and fet down at the right hand of GOD; and fo all the Houfe if Ifrael may know affuredly, that GOD hath made that Fejus whom they crucified, both Lord and Chrift +.

+ Joh. xix. 28. * Pfal. xxii. 18. + Joh. xix. 23,

24.

+ Pfal.cx. I.

A&ts ii. 34.

† Acts ii. 36.

4. It was the proper Note and Character of the Meffias, that all Nations fhould come in and serve Him, and confequently the diftinction of Jew and Gentile cease. GOD fpeaks to Him thus, as to his Son, Ask of me, and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy poffeffion*. It was one greater than Solomon, of whom thofe Words were spoken. All Kings fall fall down before him, and all Nations shall Pfal.lxxii. 1. ferve him. It shall come to pass in the last days, faith Ifaiah, that the Mountain of the Lord's Houfe shall be establish'd in the Top of the Mountains, and shall be exalted above the Hills,

*Pfal. ii. 8.

and

and all Nations fhall flow unto it *. And again, there Ifai. ii. 2. fhall be a root of Feffe, which shall stand for an Ensign of the People; to it fall the Gentiles feek. And Malachy con- *Hai. xi. 10. cludes the Meffage which all the Prophets had deliver'd; From the rifing of the Sun even to the going down of the fame, my Name fhall be great amongst the Gentiles +. That all † Mal. i.11. Nations did thus come into the Doctrine preached by Fefus, cannot be denied. The first day that the Apoftles receiv'd their Power from on high, by which they were enabled to execute their Commiffion of teaching all Na

tions, there was an acceffion of Three thousand Souls *.* Acts ii. 41. Many of the Greeks which came up to worship at Jerufalem+, + Joh. xii. 10. devout Men out of every Nation under Heaven *, first em- * Actsii. 5. brac'd the Faith; which they were moft capable of, by reafon of their acquaintance with the Scriptures. After them the reft of the Gentiles turned from their Idols to ferve

the living and true GOD *. In St. Paul's time the Gospel *1 Theff. i.9: was preach'd to every Creature under Heaven +. And not † Coloff. i. 23. many Years after, notwithstanding the Rage of Perfecutions, almost the whole Roman Empire became Chriftian, and the Emperors themselves, a little above two Ages after the Death of the laft Apoftle. Thus, according to all the Predictions of the Prophets, the One GOD of Ifrael, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, was acknowledg'd thro' the World, for the only true GOD; the Idols ceas'd, and were rejected; the Law given to Ifrael was taken for the true Law of GOD; but the Ritual Part, was given only to the Jewish People, and therefore to cease with that People, while the Moral Part univerfally and eternally obligd. But now, if we confider either the nature of the Chriftian Doctrine, the fevere Precepts, the remote, and almost incredible, Promifes, the certainty of prefent Sufferings; or the Teachers of it, Men by Birth obfcure, by Education illiterate, by Profeffion low and inglorious, defiring to know and to fpeak nothing but Chrift crucified; or their manner of teaching, without Subtilty of Wit, Art of Perfwafion, or Ornaments of Eloquence; it is not conceivable, that all the World should agree to defert and condemn the Religion of their Ancestors, to embrace Precepts, unacceptable to Flesh and Blood, upon Promises not striking Senfe, and scarce probable to Reafon, by the preaching of those who were defpis'd and perfecuted, and in the Name of Him who was condemn'd and crucify'd;

D

*Ifai.lxi. I.
*Luke iv. 21.

crucified; had not the Doctrine, which did thus prevail, been truly Divine; had not this Light, which difpell'd the Clouds of all former Religions, come from Heaven; had not that Jefus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, been the true Meffias, that is, the Chrift.

(d) It is manifeft, that the Commonwealth of Ifrael, both in the Conftitution, and the Administration of it, was totally order'd and difpos'd with regard to the Meffias. The Conftitution of that People was made by a Separation of them from all other Nations, begun in Abraham, with the Promife of a Seed in whom all the Nations of the Earth fhould be bleffed, and be united in one Religion: Which promised Seed was the Meffias, only typified in Ifaac. This Separation was continued by the Administration of that Commonwealth, which was a Royal Priesthood, confisting in three Functions, Prophetical, Regal, and Sacerdotal, all respecting the Meffias, as the Aim and Completion of the Propheties, the End of the Sacrifices, the Heir of an Eternal Priesthood, after the Order of Melchizedec, and of the Throne of David, as of an Everlasting Kingdom. He therefore who was to break down this Separation, to put an End to this Administration, and to make All one, was alfo to bear these three Functions united in his Perfon. Again, as to the very nature of the thing, fince the Redemption or Salvation by a Meffias confifts in the freeing of a Sinner from the State of Sin and Death, into a State of Righteousness and Life, there is requifite to this End, a Priest to offer the Sacrifice of Propitiation; a Prophet to reveal the more perfect Will of GOD; and a King, to tranflate, by abfolute and irresistible Power, into a glori. ous Condition, the Captives whom he has deliver❜d.

(e) Tho' this need no other Proof than the Prediction of Ifaiah, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor; together with our Lord's own Interpretation, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your Ears t; yet are we furnish'd with other ample Demonstrations of it: 1. From his most remarkable Preparation, by the Prediction of the Angel to his Mother, and from his moft folemn Inauguration, by the Descent of the Holy Ghoft, and the Voice from Hea2. From his undeniable Miffion, by the Testimony

ven.

of