III. He exprefly points out the quick extent of the kingdom of the Meffiah, with the character of those who should fubmit to him without constraint or violence, which was much practised under Mofes's law.

IV. He pofitively afferts, That the Meffiah fhould be established a Prieft after the order of Melchifedech, which would overturn the whole Levitical priesthood, which then was to have an end: yet the very fame king who defigned the draught of the temple which Solomon built fome time after, undermines the foundations of this material building, and clearly fuppofes that the Levitical miniftry, which was fixed to Solomon's temple, fhould last no longer than until the coming of the Meffiah.

V. He particularly takes notice, that the Meffiah fhould, by the Divine affiftance, destroy all that should oppofe his power, and fhould bring all things under his dominion, as a conquerour who fhould overturn all things with the utmost violence.

Nothing can be greater than thefe feveral oracles; nothing can be more particular than his defcription of the glory to which the Meffiah was to be advanced after that prodigious humiliation which is described in the XXII Pfalm; but what can we fuppofe to be the reafon of David's fpeaking of the Meffiah in this Pfalm? This I am further to confider.

One may fay that the Jews did not conftantly apply thefe prophecies to the Meffiah, before the coming of Jefus Chrift without good grounds: they could not apply them to any of David's fucceffors; none of David's fucceffors was both king and priest. Uzziah was the only man who dared to ufurp the priesthood; and he was punifhed by God himself. The Maccabees were not of David's tribe, but were Levites, and none of them ever went up into heaven to fet at the right hand of God. Befides, their kingdom did not begin in Sion, and they never brought any other kings under their authority. They applyed it therefore to the Meffiah, pursuant to the maxim which they drew from a frequent meditation upon the ancient oracles, that we ought only to look for an accomplishment of thofe prophecies in the perfon of the Meffiah, which they could never find to be fulfilled any where elfe, when at the fame time they knew that the exactnefs and truth of thofe predictions could not be any ways contefted.

In fhort, it plainly appears that they did unanimoufly apply it to the Meffiah before Jefus Chrift came into the world, from the manner of their confeffing it to our Saviour, when he preffed them with the CX Pfalm; tho' they could not explain the manner how David fhould call the Meffiah Lord, when they allow'd him to be his fon, Matth. XXII. 48. One fee's nothing fo frequently urg'd by the Apostles as this CX. Pfaim; they ufe it upon all occafions to prove that Jefus Christ had the characters of the true Meffiah, fuch as David had given him in the CX Pfalm, fuppofing ftill, as a thing beyond difpute, that David spoke of the Meffiah in this famous prophecy.

So that what evafions foever the Jews may endeavour to make use of, yet they cannot deny but that their most famous Doctors fince Jefus Chrift, have upon feveral occafions follow'd the old notions of the Synagogue in this matter. One finds in their writings great numbers of:

teftimonies

teftimonies which confirm this truth. I fhall not mention them at prefent, because they are well enough known, and because I would make hafte to come to that new degree of revelations which God gave to those Prophets who gave new characters of the Meriah to the Jewish nation for fome ages after David's time.

They are in too great a number to be fpoken of, one by one, and I am forced to range them under certain heads; tho' I intend at the fame time to make more particular reflexions upon fome of those which give us an account of the most remarkable truths, and so by that means furnifh us with the moft fenfible character whereby we may know more certainly the person whom God proposed to his people in fuch a manner as the Saviour of Ifrael, and whom he had before called The Expectation of the Gentiles.

*000

CHA P. XII.

That the MESSIAH was to have a Forerunner, and what was to be his

Character.

GE fhall make it manifeft in the fequel of the difcourfe, that the W Meffiah was to appear in a very defpicable ftate, and confequentCly that his appearance would be very diftaftful to those who expected him in the fplendour of a great king and conqueror. To oppose this preconceived opinion of theirs, the Divine Wisdom thought fit to appoint one to be his forerunner, who fhould call the Jews to repentance, and a reformation of their lives, and form in them a true notion of the ministry of the Meffiah, as of a perfon who was to prefcribe to them laws of the greatest purity and holiness. And indeed, in examining the holy Scriptures, we find, that the appearance of the Meffiah was to be ufher'd in by a person thus distinguish'd; the following prophecies are very express to this purpose.

The first of these we find in the XL of Ifaiah, verfe 3. where the Prophet fpeaks thus, before the deftruction of the firft temple; The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the defert a highway for our God (a). The Jews acknowledge that this chapter speaks of the comfort the Meffiah was to procure for his people, and that the voice mention'd here refers to those who were to declare and proclaim his coming (b).

We meet with a fecond prophecy in Malachy, who prophecied after the rebuilding of the temple, and who having fhut up the vifion, precifely points at the time wherein he was to appear, viz. during the fecond temple, Chap. III. verse 1, 2, 3, & 4. Behold, I will fend my meffenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye feek shall fuddainly come to his temple; even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight (b) Abenezra,

(a) Ifai. xl. 3.

in,

in, behold he shall come, faith the Lord of Hofs. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers fope. And he shall fit as a refiner and purifier of filver: and he shall purifie the fons of Levi, and purge them as gald and filver, that they may offer nnto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

The Jews own that these words alfo of Malachy, fpeak of the forerunner of the Meffias (c).

But we ought to obferve in the foregoing paffages, 1. That they have a manifeft relation to the time of the Meffiah's coming; fhould the Jews deny this (as indeed they unanimously acknowledge it) it would be an eafie matter to convince them, 1. By urging the authority of the Evangelifts, who apply thefe very paffages to the miniftry of John the Baptift. Thus we find that St. Matthew and St. Mark make a manifeft allufion to these two prophecies (d): Zachary also, the father of John the Baptift, applyes that of Ifaiah to his fon; and his authority is the more confiderable, because he was a priest. 2. By an attentive confidering the paffages themfelves. 3. By the common confent of the Jewish church, who by a generally received and undoubted tradition, that Elijah the Tifbbite (the Septuagint in their tranflation of that place of Malachy telling us as much) was to be the forerunner of the Meffiah; and we find, that in the time of our Saviour, the multitude and his Disciples supposed the fame thing and the Jews at this day have the fame perfwafion, viz. That Elias is to come before the appearance of the Meffiah; from which tradition of the Jews the Chriftians of old did, and many at this day do believe, that Elias fhall refume the functions of his miniftry before the laft coming of Jefus Chrift to judge the quick and the dead.

2. We may obferve, That the character of the forerunner of the Meffiah, being that which the Jews had much in their eye, it was needful for it to be as notable and extraordinary, as was that of the Prophet Elias; whofe miniftry was without difpute the most remarkable and illuftrious of all the Prophets fince Mofes, which gave the Prophet Malachy occafion to call him Elias, much upon a like account as the Prophet Ezekiel calls the Meffiah, David (e).

But above all things, we must carefully obferve the several marks the Prophets give us of this forerunner.

The Prophet Ifaiah gives us these following particulars: 1. That his miniftry was to be very fignal, and attended with general respect and veneration. 2. That he was to preach in the wilderness. 3. That he was to call finners to repentance. 4. That he was to confound those who were moft eminent in authority, and to comfort the poor and humble. 5. That he was immediately to precede the Meffiah. 6. That his ministry was to ufher in that grand revelation of the glory of God in the presence of all flesh, i. e. before all nations of the earth, who were to be called by the Meffiah to his religion, according to the express declaration of the Prophets.

The Prophet Malachy doth most diftinctly represent to us, 1. That the miffion of this forerunner was not far off, Behold, faith he, I fend my messenger. He speaks of it as of a thing at the door. Now it is evident (c) R. Saad. (d) Matth. iii. 1. Mark i. 2.

(e) Ezek, xxxiv. 23, 24.

evident, and the Jews themselves own it, that from the time of Malachy, there was never a Prophet till the appearance of John the Baptift. 2. It tells us that this Elias was to call finners to repentance, and to prepare the way before the face of the Lord.

3. That he was immediately to precede the Meffias; this he expreffes by faying, And the Lord whom ye feek shall fuddainly come to his temple, even the Angel of the covenant whom ye delight in. It is evident that he speaks here of the Meffiah, whom he calls, not only the Angel or Messenger of the covenant, but also the Lord; (f) the Lord, forafmuch as God had promifed him as a king to the house of David; and the Angel of the covenant, becaufe God by him was to make a new covenant with the nations of the earth, as Jeremy declares Chap. XXXI.

CHA P. XIII.

That the MESSIAH was to be born before the Deffolution of the Jewish State, and the Destruction of the fecond Temple.

T

**HE preceding mark of the Meffiah, leads us to this we are now to speak of, and affords it confiderable light. I will not repeat here what I have already fet down concerning that prophecy, Gen. XLIX. verfe 10. concerning the time when our Saviour was to appear in the world it is evident at firft fight, That that prophecy evinces three things: 1. That the feepter was to be in the houfe of Judah, before ever the Shiloh was to come. 2. That the Scepter was to give way to an inferiour dignity, which the Prophet fets forth by the word lawgiver; and which did take place till the time of Zerubbabel, and his fucceffors. 3. There was a neceffity that this laft dignity alfo was to come to an end, which happened not till the advancement of Herod the Great to the throne of Judea. And it is eafie to confirm this truth, by other oracles which give a further light to this our explication.

We have several that are very remarkable upon this account: the first is that of Daniel, Chap. II. verse 40, 41, 42, to 46. where he first takes notice of the fucceffion of feveral monarchies, until that of the Meffiah. 2. The time in which the Meffiah was to appear. I confefs he do's not determine the time very precisely, mentioning only the monarchy during which he was to be manifefted; but to make amends for this, when he comes to explain the particulars of this prophecy, which before he had propos'd in general terms; he doth not only point at the time of his appearance, but the very year of his death, and he do's it with that exactnefs, that it is impoffible to be mistaken about it.

See what he faith in the IX Chapter of his Revelations, verfe 24, 25, 26, 27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the tranfgreffion, and to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to feal up

(f) Pfalm ii.

the

the vifion and prophecy, and to anoint the moft Holy. Verse 25. Know therefore, and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerufalem, unto the Meffiah the Prince, fhall be feven weeks, and threefcore and two weeks, the streets fhall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. Verfe 26. And after the threefcore and two weeks fhall MESSIAH be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince that fhall come, fhall destroy the city and the fanctuary, and the end thereof shall be awith a flood, and unto the end of the war defolations are determined. Verfe 27. And he fhall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall caufe the facrifice and oblation to cease, and for the over-fpreading abomination, he shall make it defolate, even until the confummation, and that determined fhall be poured on the defolate.

For the understanding of this prophecy which is fo exact, and all the events it refers to, fo particularized, it is to be obferved:

1. That by the weeks Daniel here fpeaks of, feven years are defigned, according to the ftile of the law, Levit. XXV. 8. when it speaks of the year of jubilee; fo that feventy weeks make out 490 years which is acknowledged by the moft learned amongst the Jews, Fachiades, Abarbanel, and Manaffeh Ben Ifrael.

2. That the Prophet writing in Chaldea, followed the account of the Chaldean year, which confifts of 360 days, as appears clearly from other paffages of this book, where he refolves the years into days, without regarding the feveral days which in a juft calculation were to be intercalated.

3. That the Prophet expreffes a certain epocha, from whence the counting of these weeks is to begin, viz. an order to rebuild the temple, which cannot be applyed to that of Cyrus, which was in a manner of none effect; nor to the edict of Darius fon of Hyftafpes, which had regard only to the re-establishing of the temple; nor to that of Artaxerxes given to Ezra, in the feventh year of the reign of that prince, because that contained only fome particular priviledges for the minifters of the temple but to the edict which Artaxerxes granted to Nehemiah in the twentieth year of his reign, which contains a particular grant, to rebuild the temple with its fortifications.

4. That God very diftinctly marks that the last week was not to be immediately joyned with the fixty nine weeks, by saying, that the Mesfiah was to be cut off after the term of feven weeks, and fixty two weeks expired, inftead of faying that he should be cut off in the feventieth week.

5. That according to this calculation, we find these three parts of this prophefie exactly accomplished. The firft which contains their building of the city was performed before the end of the feven weeks. The fecond concerning the cutting off of the Meffiah, has been likewife fullfilled after the fixty ninth week; Jefus Chrift appearing in the 483 year, after the twentieth of Artaxerxes, and being crucified the nineteenth of Tiberius.

As for the last week it is diftinguished by three characters God hath given it, because it was to be feparated from the fixty ninth week by a confiderable interval, but yet was never a whit the lefs exactly accomplished. The first character is, that the people of the prince was to make

peace