SERMON VI.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.

GENESIS xlix. 10.

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people

be.

THIS text is adduced by an ancient champion of the Christian faith1, as an indisputable proof of the fulfilment of prophecy in the person of Jesus Christ; and the argument is so convincing to all who believe in the authenticity of the Pentateuch, that it has occasioned the most painful perplexity among the learned and pious

1

Origen contra Celsum, lib. i. p. 39.

"I

of the Jewish nation. Nearly eight centuries ago a learned person of that persuasion writes thus to his friend 1. would fain learn from thee, out of the testimonies of the law, and the prophets, and other Scriptures, why the Jews are thus smitten in this captivity wherein we are; which may properly be called the perpetual anger of GOD, because it hath no end. For it is now above a thousand years since we were carried captive by Titus; and yet our fathers, who worshipped idols, killed the prophets, and cast the law behind their back, were only punished with a seventy years' captivity, and then brought home again; but now there is no end of our calamities, nor do the prophets promise any."

What can be inferred by any man who believes in the superintending providence of the Almighty, but that the Jews have committed some offence incomparably

1 Scott in loco.

more heinous than all the idolatry, the rebellion, and the impiety of their ancestors; and what can that unparalleled crime be, but the rejection of their King, the promised Messiah1?

The promise of His coming was repeatedly renewed to them, and accompanied by marks of time and circumstance, so wonderful as to leave their unbelief wholly without excuse, and completely to vindicate the justice of GOD in making the whole nation a living example of His wrath.

Since the evidences of our own faith are founded upon these promises, let us briefly examine one of the most striking among them, contained in the text, and then pass on to such considerations as naturally arise out of the subject, I mean the danger lest, since they were cut off because of unbelief, we, who stand only by faith, should share their punish

1 Bishop Atterbury's Sermons.

ment, if we suffer ourselves to become infected with that evil spirit of unbelief in departing from the living GOD, which is the awful character of the times in which we live.

The words of the text are, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." They contain the last prophetic blessing of the patriarch Jacob to the family of Judah, whom, in the spirit, he addresses as a tribe, when as yet they were but a small household, and promises the continuance of a royal dynasty, and a legal priesthood among them, although they were not the eldest branch of his descendants. The words may be thus paraphrased: "The monarchy shall remain in the family of Judah, and an established Church shall be maintained under their government, until the Messenger of the new covenant shall come, who will compre

hend all nations in His Church and Kingdom."

The promised Messiah has two distinct characters; He is both a King and a Priest; He holds the sceptre in one hand, and dispenses the law with the other. He is called "Shiloh1," which is by interpretation, the sent, the ambassador of GOD, the messenger of the covenant; and until His coming, these two offices, the kingly and the priestly, were to be exercised in Israel by the posterity of Judah. It is almost unnecessary

to prove that the sceptre denotes royalty, though certainly not in all cases confined to crowned monarchs. It will be sufficient to mention two or three places where the kingly character is expressly attributed to the Messiah in terms similar to those employed here.

The prophet Balaam, compelled to behold in vision the glorious reign of the

1 See John ix. 7.