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their King, and altogether averfe to the Chriftian Faith; having caft off the Yoke of Chrift in every respect.

Altho' we have not feen thefe temporal or fpiritual good things fulfilled, at leaft with reference to the Jews, we are not therefore to wonder, much lefs to defpair about the Truth of the Promises. There is an appointed time when every particular Promise of God fhall be fulfilled, and the fet time for these Prophecies is not yet come. The Fulness of the Gentiles is not yet come in, as the Apoftle fpeaks. (Rom. xi. 25.) And Christ foretold, that Jerufalem should be trodden down till the times of the Gentiles were compleated; and when they were accomplished, the Veils which had been drawn over the Hearts of the Jews fhould be taken away, together with that Blindness which happened to Ifrael. (2 Cor. iii. 15, 16.) And then shall Chrift reign over the Houfe of Jacob, as well literally as fpiritually; according to the Prophecies which have been repeated out of the Old and New Teftament.

You fee we take in an external and temporal Kingdom, when the Apoftles asked our Saviour after his Refurrection, whether he would at that time reftore the Kingdom to Ifrael: They mean a temporal Kingdom.

Now what Anfwer does Chrift make? Te err (fays he) not knowing the Scriptures. He does not tell them that he was not to reign over Ifrael. His Reply does not fuppofe, that the Difciples were in any Mistake as to the Matter itself, but only as to the Seafon; and he checks their Curiofity in Enquiring after the particular times. It is not (fays he) for you to know the Times, or the Seafons, which the Father has put in his own Power; nor did he reprove, inftruct, or inform them otherwife.

In like manner when the Sons of Zebedee defired the chief Seats in the Kingdom of Chrift, they fpake concerning an external and temporal Kingdom; nor did Chrift deny that he was to have fuch a one, or blame the Sons of Zebedee for their Faith in this Matter, but left thofe Honours, and Dignities to be difpofed of by his Father. From thefe and fuch like Places we learn that Christ, when opportunity offered, never denied that he was to have a future Kingdom, he never renounced his Right and Title, nor transferred the Predictions of the Prophets, concerning his Reign, to a mere fpiritual Signification.

Here is no room for Metaphors. Chrift no more denied that he was the King of the Jews, than that he was God. If the Angel in his Address to the bleffed Virgin, when fhe was about to conceive, had faid, God fhall give him the Throne of his Father David in a fpiritual Manner, and he fhall Spiritually reign over the Houfe of Jacob, then there had been fome Reason for reftraining the ancient Prophecies. But fince the ancient Prophets speak about his temporal as well as fpiritual Kingdom and Glory; nor was there afterwards any Reftriction, or new Interpretation, made either by the Words of the Angel when he was declaring the Royal Dignity of Chrift, then about to be born, nor yet by the Words of Chrift himself, when he was publickly or privately difcourfing about his Kingdom; nor laftly, by any other facred Authority; fince, I fay, things are thus, I do not fee what hinders but that the future glorious Kingdom of Chrift which we have mentioned before, fhould be understood in both Senfes. What hinders, did I fay? nay all Circumstances on every fide perfuade, confirm and convince us that it must be fo. Nor is there any Promise oftener repeated in the Old Testament (at least if you ex

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cept that about the coming of the Messiah) than that which concerns the Prefervation and future Reftanration of the Jews.

Having thus premised and expounded these things, it remains that we enquire, by what Right and Authority Expofitors transfer the Kingdom of the Meffiah, promife in the prophetical Writings to a mere fpiritual Reign. Now Chrift nor the Prophets, neither the Angel nor the Apoftles, as far as we can yet perceive, have ever afferted any fuch thing. What Rules of Interpretation do they then rely on? It is a received Rule among Expofitors, whether Jews or Chriftians, that we must not depart from the Letter, but where we are obliged to do fo by fomé Abfurdity or Contradiction in the Nature of Things. That Chriftian-Interpreters are agreed about this Rule is, I fuppofe, paft doubt; and the Jews have appointed themselves the very fame Rule of Expounding. And this is what we have obferved in our Expofition of the Writings, as well of the Old as of the New Teftament. We do not much refent it, if you contrive to weaken the Force of one or two particular Places by Allegories; but you take away the very Foundations if you affert that thefe Promifes contain nothing eminent and particular, with refpect to the Jews. By this means you not only wreft a particular Prophecy, but ftrive against the whole Stream of the prophetic Writings. We grant there is fometimes Room for

Menafah Ben Ifrael, of the Refurrection. Be it known that the Scripture must always be understood and explained according to the Letter, unless fuch an Explication contains fome. thing that implies a Contradiction. Alfo the fame Author in his Treatife of the Term of Life, &c. fays, the Jews believe the Letter as often as it contains no Abfurdity. But they admit of Allegories when the ftrict Senfe, according to the Propriety of the Words, would be againft right Reafon.

Allegories

Allegories and figurative Expofitions, when the Nature of the Subject calls for them. But I think it is dangerous to diffolve famous and repeated Prophecies to Allegories when there is no neceffity, by this means we fhall make them vanish and come to nothing.

When God promises Heaven and a celeftial Life to pious Men, with Crowns and Rivers of Pleasure, and on the other Hand, threatens the wicked with a Worm which shall never die, we readily grant that we muft a little depart from the Letter in the Interpretation of thefe Places, yet fo as that the Subftance of the Matter must be ftill retained; namely, that the one Sort fhall partake of the higheft Felicity, and the other fuffer the utmoft Torment. Even in Allegories, Parables, Hyperboles themfelves, and fuch like figurative Speeches, there are (if we may fo call them) certain Stamina which muft not be violated..

The Promifes concerning the coming and Kingdom of the Meffiah were given to the Fathers, and Ifraelites, by way of Confolation, and that they and their Pofterity for ever might have Caufe to rejoice and triumph. But by this method of interpreting the Prophets, you cut off all Hope from Ifrael, and deftroy both Root and Branches, as if the Counfels of God were variable, or his Oaths of an uncertain Signification. For hitherto the Jews, instead of enjoying peculiar Bleffings, fince the coming of the Meffiah, have fuffered the greateft Calamities. And, unlefs like Perfons returning from the Dead, they receive again the Land of their Fathers fo often promifed, they are wholly cut off from thofe Bleffings which are fo often promised them in the facred Writings. The bleffed Virgin feemed to expect other things, namely, that the fhould bring forth one who would be a Friend and a Benefactor to Ifrael, (Luke i. 54, 55.) when

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being divinely inspired, and bearing Jesus in her Womb fhe thus fung, He bath holpen his Servant Ifrael in Remembrance of his Mercy. As he spake to pur Fathers, to Abraham and his Seed for ever."

Moreover Zacharias,being filled with the Holy Ghoft when he prophefied about the Birth of Chrift, faid thus, (Luke i. 68, &c.) Blessed be the Lord God of Ifrael, for he bath visited, and redeemed his People. And hath raised up a Horn of Salvation for us in the Houfe of his Servant David. As he spake by the Mouth of his holy Prophets, which have been fince the World began. That we should be saved from our Enemies, and from the Hand of all that hate us. To perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers, and to remember his holy Covenant. The Oath which he fware to our Father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered from the Hands of our Enemies, might ferve him without Fear. In Holiness and Righ teousness before him, all the Days of our Lives.

In this facred Hymn Zacharias offers to God the first Fruits of his Speech after his Tongue was loofed. He in a particular manner praises his Name for the Meffiah that was foon to be born, and triumphs in the Contemplation of thofe good things, which fhould come from thence to Ifrael. He pronounces Salvation, Peace, and Freedom from all Enemies on Ifrael, and produces the Fathers and Prophets as Witneffes from the earlieft) Ages; nor did he do it unadvisedly, he has Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, Mofes, David, Ifaiah, and the reft of the Prophets, as well greater as leffer, to confirm his Opinion. This Promife comprehends the facred Faith of all Ages, ancient and later times, the Oracles of both the Old and New Teftament, even from the Days of Abraham to our Saviour's Birth, Death, Refurrection, and Afcenfion into Heaven. All Authorities agree and confpire in this Series; I fay they

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