the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not

man.

SECTION VI.

PROOF PROPHECY.

THE glorious Person, of whose work we are now treating, is He of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph. From the legal institutes we naturally pass to prophetic intimations, in proof of Christ's atonement. In proceeding thus, we advance into still clearer light. The evidence adduced, it will be remarked, is not merely cumulative, each successive proof being only an addition to the number of arguments; but progressive, each being, in its own nature, stronger than that by which it is preceded, inasmuch as it is drawn from a source in which the light is more perfect, the evidence more direct, and the reasoning less open to dispute. The light derived from the law is brighter than that derived from the ancient and universal practice of mankind; and the light derived from prophecy is brighter still than that furnished by the law. If, on the one hand, the law may be regarded as a key to unlock the more difficult wards of prophecy; on the other, prophecy may be looked upon as an exposition, an inspired exposi

tion, of the law. Prophecy lifts the veil which had previously concealed the mystery of man's redemption, and rescues it from the shade of those ceremonial rites, through which, comparatively speaking, it could be but faintly discerned.

The mystery of redemption forming the proper subject of a revelation from heaven, it was to be expected that the prophecy which came not in old time by the will of man, but which holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, should treat distinctly of this matter. This expectation is justified by fact, and by the assertions of the new testament. The apostles not only declared that 'the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,' but protested that, in their public ministrations, they 'said none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer.' Nay Jesus himself, in conversation respecting his sufferings with two of his disciples after his resurrection, made express reference, more than once, to the writings of the prophets on this very subject:-O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? and beginning at Moses and ALL THE PROPHETS, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself- These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with

1

11 Pet. i. 11. Acts xxvi. 23, 24.

U

you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer."

2

The passages in the prophecies which treat of the sufferings of Christ are innumerable. Indeed 'God hath showed, by the mouth of ALL the prophets, that Christ should suffer.' But, instead of going over the whole of the prophetical testimonies, it will serve our purpose better to confine our attention to two, in which not merely the fact, but the nature and the reason, of the Messiah's sufferings, are stated with great fulness, clearness, and force.

ISAIAH liii.

The first of these is the distinguished description of the sufferings and death of Christ given by Isaiah in his fifty-third chapter, which has been justly called one of the brightest constellations in the prophetic hemisphere.

I. The prophecy, which commences at the 13th verse of the preceding chapter, notwithstanding the objections of certain enemies of the truth, bears an obvious reference to the MESSIAH.

The Targum or Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan Ben Uzziel supports this view, as well as other early Jewish expositors: not to speak of the earliest Christian fathers. Indeed the testimony of the new tes

2 Luke xxiv. 25-27, 44-46.

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tament writers is too decided on this point, to admit of any room for doubt, in the minds of all humble and candid interpreters of the word of God. Matthew quotes, with reference to Jesus of Nazareth, the fourth verse of this chapter:-'Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.' Mark and Luke refer, with the same view, to the twelfth verse:-'And he was numbered with the transgressors.' John, speaking of the unbelief of the people with regard to the miracles of Christ, finds in it a fulfilment of the first verse:-'Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?'5 In the Acts of the Apostles, that beautiful part of the prophecy which speaks of the Messiah being led as a sheep to the slaughter, is represented as the text from which Philip preached to the eunuch concerning Christ:-"Then Philip began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus." And Peter, in his first epistle, has obviously a view to the prediction of Isaiah, when he speaks of Christ thus:-'Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree-by whose stripes we are healed." These testimonies will be sufficient to convince all who regard Christ and his apostles as correct interpreters of the old testament scriptures, that this prophecy of Isaiah refers to the Messiah. That this should ever have been called in question, by any

3 Matt. viii. 17.

4 Mark xv. 28. Luke xxii. 37. 6 Acts viii. 35.

71 Pet. ii. 22, 24.

5 John xii. 38.