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*

hath expreffed,

food; Μυσιπό

That there was among the Jews an expectation of fuch a Chrift to come, is moft evident. The woman of Samaria could fpeak with confidence, I know that Meffias cometh. And the unbelieving Jews, who will not ac- John 4. 25. knowledge that he is already come, expect him ftill. Thus we find all men Luke 3. 15. mufing in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not. When Jefus taught in the Temple, thofe which doubted faid, When Chrift cometh, John 7. 27. no man knoweth whence he is; thofe which believed faid, When Chrift co- v. 31. meth, will be do more miracles than thefe which this man hath done? Whether therefore they doubted, or whether they believed in Jefus, they all expected a Chrift to come; and the greater their opinion was of him, the more they believed he was that Meffias. Many of the people faid, Of a truth v. 40, 41: this is the Prophet: others faid this is the Chrift. As foon as John began to baptize, The Jews fent Priefts and Levites from Jerufalem, to John 1. 19. ask him, Who art thou? that is, whether he were the Chrift or no, as appeareth out of his anfwer, And he confeffed and denied not, but confessed, x. 20. I am not the Chrift. For as they asked him after, What then, Art thou . 21. Elias? and be faid, I am not: Art thou that Prophet? and he answered, No: So without question their first demand was, *Art thou the Chrift? and So Nonnus he answered, I am not: From whence it clearly appeareth that there was a general expectation among the Jews of a Meffias to come; nor only fo, Evangelift is but it was always counted among them an † Article of their Faith, which all to be underwere obliged to believe who profeffed the Law of Mofes, and whofoever de-ordernied that, was thereby interpreted to deny the Law and the Prophets. Wherefore it will be worth our enquiry to look into the grounds upon which they u. Tis Cù built that expectation. It is most certain that the Meffias was promifed by God, both before and Auctor Seunder the Law. God faid unto Abraham, a In Ifaac fhall thy feed be called: 1. 4. c. ult. and we know that was a promise of a Meffias to come, becaufe S. Paul hath Maimon. taught us, b Now to Abraham and his feed were the promises made. He faith Tract. de Reginot, unto feeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy feed, which is Chrift. Gen. 21. 12. The Lord faid unto Mofes, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their ↳ Gal. 3. 16. brethren like unto thee. And S. Peter hath fufficiently fatisfied us, that this Prophet promifed to Mofes, is Jefus the Chrift. Many are the Prophecies 4t§ 3. 22. which concern him, many the promises which are made of him: but yet fome of them very obfcure; others, though plainer, yet have relation only to the perfon, not to the notion or the word Meffias. Wherefoever he is spoken of as the Anointed, it may well be firft understood of fome other perfon; except one place in Daniel, where Meffiah is foretold to be cut off: Dan. 9. 26: and yet even there the Greek Translation hath not the Meffiah, but the Unction. It may therefore seem something strange, how fo univerfal an expectation of a Redeemer under the name of the Messias fhould be spread through the Church of the Jews.

πέλεις ; μὴ Χριτὸς ἔφυς:

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bus, c. II.

b

But if we confider that in the space of feventy years of the Babylonish Captivity the ordinary Jews had loft the exact understanding of the old Hebrew language before fpoken in Judæa, and therefore when the Scriptures were read unto them, they found it neceffary to interpret them to the people in the Chaldee language, which they had lately learned: As when Ezra the Scribe brought the Book of the Law of Mofes before the Congregation, the Levites are faid to have caufed the people to understand the Law, because they read in Nehem. 8. 8. the Book, in the Law of God diftinctly, and gave the fenfe, and caufed them to understand the reading. Which conftant interpretation begat at laft a Chaldee Tranflation of the Old Testament to be read every Sabbath in the Synagogues: And that being not exactly made word for word with the Hebrew, but with a liberty of a brief expofition by the way, took in, together with the Text, the general opinion of the learned Jews. By which means it

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came to pass that not only the doctrine, but the name alfo, of the Meffias was very frequent and familiar with them. Infomuch that even in the Chaldee Paraphrafe now extant, there is exprefs mention of the Meffias in above *Celfus the feventy places, befides that of Daniel. The Jews then informed by the plain Epicurean ac words of * Daniel, inftructed by a constant interpretation of the Law and the knowledgeth that both the Prophets read in their Synagogues every Sabbath-day, relying upon the infallible predictions and promiles of God, did all unanimously expect out of Confess that their own Nation, of the Tribe of Judah, of the Family of David, a Meffias, the Prophets of a Chrift, to come.

Jews and

Chriftians did

did foretel a

Saviour of the world. Οἴες μηδὲν σεμνὸν εἶναι ἐν τῇ Ἰυδαίων καὶ Κριςιανῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλως ζητήσει τους συόντων με αμφοτέρων ὅτι στὸ θεία Πνεύματος προεφηλούθη τις ἐπιδημήσων Σωτὴς τῷ γένει ἢ ἀνθρώπων. Orig. adv. Celum. l. 3. And this Saviour, faith Origen, was to be called κ τα Ιεδαίων πάτρια, Χριςός.

ער כי יבא of

שלה

מלכא

משיהא

and Jonathan

ער זמן רייתי

מלכא

terpret it,

יבא שילה

their computa

a

b

Now this being granted, as it cannot be denied, our next confideration is of the Time in which this promise was to be fulfilled: which we fhall demonstrate out of the Scriptures to be paft, and confequently that the promifed Meffias is already come. The prediction of Jacob on his death-bed is clear Gen. 49. 10. and pregnant, The Sceptre Shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver *For inflead from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of bw Onke- the people be, But the Sceptre is departed from Judah, neither is there one los renders it Law-giver left between his feet. Therefore Shiloh, that is, the Meffias is already come. That the Jewish government hath totally failed, is not withU out the greatest folly to be denied: and therefore that Shiloh is already come, andthe Jerufa- except we should deny the truth of divine predictions, must be granted. There lem Targum, then remains nothing to be proved, but that by Shiloh is to be understood the Meffias: which is fufficiently manifeft both from the confent of the anAncient Jews, and from the description immediately added to the name. For Befide the Cabalifts did ge- *all the old Paraphrafts call him expreflly the Meffias, and the words which nerally so in- follow, to him fhall the gathering of the people be, speak no less; as in gibecause ving an explication of his Perfon, Office or Condition, who was but darkly described in the name of Shiloh, For this is the fame character by which according to he was fignified unto Abraham; In thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth tion, made the be blefed: by which he is decyphered in Ifaiah; in that day there fhall fame number be a root of feffe, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall ters of on the Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious: and in Micah, The mountain of the Houfe of the Lord fhall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. Rabbi Joha- And thus the bleffing of Judah is plainly intelligible: Judah thou art he nan asking whom thy brethren fhall praife; thy hand fhall be in the neck of thine enemies, name of the thy father's Children fhall bow down before thee. Thou shalt obtain the priMelias, they mogeniture of thy Brother Reuben, and by virtue thereof fhalt rule over the of the School of reft of the Tribes: the government fhall be upon thy fhoulders, and all fwer, thy brethren fhall be fubject unto thee. And that you may understand this w his name bleffing is not to expire until it make way for a greater, know that this gocording to tha: Vernment fhall not fail, until there come a fon out of your loins who fhall which is writ- be far greater than your felf: for whereas your dominion reacheth only over your brethren, and fo is confined unto the Tribes of Ifrael; his Kingdom fhall be univerfal, and all nations of the earth fhall ferve him. Being then this Shiloh is so described in the text, and acknowledged by the ancient Jews to be the Meffias, being God hath promifed by Jacob the government of Ifrael fhould not fail unto Shiloh came; being that government is vifibly and undeniably already failed, it followeth inevitably, that the Meffias is already come.

with the let

and in the

Tulmud, cod.
Sanhedrim,

what was the

R. Schila an

is Shiloh, ac

ten, until Shiloh come.

bifa. 11. 10.

c Mic. 4. I.

a Gen. 49.

8.

e Mal. 3. I.

הארון הוא מלך

C

In the fame manner the Prophet Malachy hath given an exprefs fignification of the coming of the Meffias while the Temple ftood. Behold, I will fend my Kimchi on the messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye feek

place.

Jhall

fball fuddenly come to his Temple, even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in. And Haggai yet more clearly, Thus faith the Lord of hofts, Tet Hag. 2. 6, 7. once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the 9. fea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the defire of all nations fhall come, and I will fill this house with glory, faith the Lord of hofts. The glory of this latter houfe fhall be greater than the glory of the former, faith the Lord of hofts. It is then most evident from these predictions, that the Meffias was to come while the fecond Temple stood. It is as certain that the second Temple is not now standing. Therefore except we contradict the Veracity of God, it cannot be denied but the Meffias is already come. Nothing can be objected to enervate this argument, but that these Prophecies concern not the Messias; and yet the ancient Jews confeffed they did, and that they do fo cannot be denied. For, first, thofe titles, the Angel of the Covenant, the delight of the Ifraelites, the defire of all nations, are certain and known characters of the Chrift to come. And fecondly, it cannot be conceived how the glory of the fecond Temple fliould be greater than the glory of the first, without the coming of the Meffias to it. For the Jews themselves have observed that five figns of the Divine Glory were in the first Temple, which were wanting to the fecond: as the Urim and Thummim, by which the High Priest was miraculously instructed of the will of God; the Ark of the Covenant, from whence God gave his answers by a clear and audible voice; the Fire upon the Altar, which came down from Heaven, and immediately confumed the Sacrifice; the divine presence or habitation with them, reprefented by a vifible appearance, or given, as it were, to the King and High Priest by anointing with the oil of unction; and, laftly, the Spirit of Prophecy, with which those especially who were called to the prophetical office were endued. And there was no comparison between the beauty and glory of the structure or building of it, as appeared by the tears dropt from thofe eyes which had beheld the former, (For many of the Priefts and Levites, Ezra 3. 12. and chief of the Fathers, who were ancient men, that haa feen the firft Houfe, when the foundation of this Houfe was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice;) and by those words which God commanded Haggai to fpeak to the people for the introducing of this Prophecy, Who is left among Hag. 2. 3. you that faw this Houfe in her first glory? and how do you fee it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Being then the structure of the fecond Temple was fo far inferior to the firft, being all thofe figns of the Divine Glory were wanting in it with which the former was adorned; the glory of it can no other way be imagined greater, than by the coming of him into it in whom all thofe figns of the Divine Glory were far more eminently contained: and this Perfon alone is the Meffias. For he was to be the glory of the people Ifrael, yea even of the God of Ifrael; he the Urim and Thummim, by whom the will of God, as by a greater Oracle, was revealed; he the true Ark of the Covenant, the only propitiatory by his blood; he which was to baptize with the Holy Ghoft and with Fire, the true Fire which came down from Heaven, he which was to take up his habitation in our flesh, and to dwell among us that we might behold his glory; he who received the Spirit without measure, and from whofe fulness we do all receive. In him were all thofe figns of the Divine Glory united, which were thus divided in the first Temple; in him they were all more eminently contained than in those therefore his coming to the fecond Temple was, as the fufficient, fo, the only means by which the glory of it could be greater than the glory of the firft. If then the Meffias was to come while the fecond Temple stood, as appeareth by God's prediction and promife; if that Temple many Ages fince hath ceafed to be, there being not one stone left upon a ftone; if it certainly were before the destruction of it in greater glory than

M 2

ever

*The Jews

have invented

they attribute

ever the former was; if no fuch glory could accrue unto it but by the coming of the Meffias: then is that Meffias already come.

Having thus demonftrated out of the promises given to the Jews, that the Meffias who was fo promised unto them must be already come, because those events which were foretold to follow his coming are already paft; we shall proceed unto the next particular, and prove that the man Jefus, in whom we believe, is that Meffias who was promifed. First, it is acknowledged both by the few and Gentile, that this Jefus was born in Judea, and lived and died there, before the Commonwealth of Ifrael was dispersed, before the fecond Temple was deftroyed, that is, at the very time when the Prophets foretold the Meffias fhould come. And there was no other befide him, that did with any fhew of probability pretend to be, or was accepted as the Meffias. Therefore we must confefs he was, and only he could be, the Chrift.

a

Secondly, all other Prophecies belonging to the Meffias were fulfilled in Jefus, whether we look upon the Family, the Place, or the manner of his birth neither were they ever fulfilled in any perfon befide him; he then is, and no other can be, the Meffias. That he was to come out of the Tribe of Judah and Family of David, is every where manifeft. *The Jews, which mention Meffias as a Son of Jofeph or of Ephraim, do not deny, but rather a double Mef- dignifie, the Son of David or of Judah, whom they confefs to be the greater fias: to one Chrift. There shall come forth a frod out of the ftem of Jesse, and a branch all thofe places hall grow out of his roots, and the fpirit of the Lord fhall rest upon him, which men faith the Prophet Ifaiah. And again, In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, tion his lowe- which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles feek, ferings; to the and his reft fhall be glorious. Now who was it but Jefus of whom the Elother fuch as ders fpake, Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David? power and glo- Who but he faid, I am the root and off-fpring of David, and the bright and morning ftar? The Jews did all acknowledge it, as appears by the question of our Saviour, How fay the Scribes that Chrift is the Son of David? What think ye of Chrift? whofe Son is he? They fay unto him, the Son of David, The Son of - and that of the people, amazed at the feeing of the blind, and fpeaking of the Jo- dumb, Is not this the Son of David? the blind cried out unto him, Jefus alfo the Son of thou Son of David, have mercy on us; and the multitude cried, Hofanna. Ephraim, and the Son of Da- to the Son of David. The Genealogy of Jefus fhews his Family: The first vid the Son of Words of the Gofpel are, the book of the generation of Jefus Chrift the Son of David. The Prophecy therefore was certainly fulfilled in refpect of his lineCant. 4. 5. age; for it is evident that our Lord Sprang out of Judah.

Speak of his

ry. The one they ftile

the other

משיח בן יוסף

משיח בן דור

Judah: As

the Targum.

Thy two breafts are like two young

תרין,roes

מריקיד

בר אפרים

redeemers,

e

b

C

k

Befides, if we look upon the place where the Meffias was to be born, we fhall find that Jefus by a particular act of Providence was born there. When Herod gathered all the chief Priests and Scribes of the People 72 Hwn together, he demanded of them where Chrift should be born. And they faid unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea. The people doubted whether Two are thy Jefus was the Chrift, because they thought he had been born in Galilee, where Jofeph and Mary lived; wherefore they faid, Shall Chrift come Son of Da- out of Galilee? hath not the Scripture faid, that Chrift cometh of the vid, and Mef- feed of David, and out of the Town of Bethlehem, where David was ? of Ephraim. That place of Scripture which they meant was cited by the Scribes to Herod, Ifa. 11.1. 10. according to the interpretation then current among the Jews, and ftill pretwhich the ferved in the Chaldee Paraphrafe. For thus it is written in the Prophet, And raphrafe thus thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of

Meffias the

fias the Son

Chaldee Pa

tranflates,

1

his fons fons. So Rabbi Solomon and Kimchi. b Rev. 5. 5. and 22. 16. c Mar. 12. 35. d Matt. 22. 42. f Matt. 21. 9. 8 Matt. 1. I. h Heb. 7. 14. i Matt. 2. 4, 5. k John 7. 41, 42. Which ex

e Matt. 12. 23.

A King fhall come out of the fons of Je/fe, and the Mefias out of ויפוך מלכא מבנוהי רישי ומשיחא מבני בנוהי יתרבי

out of thee fhall come before me the מנך קרמי יפוק משיחא למהוי עבור שולטן על ישראל,Prefly tranflateth it tbus So Kimchi and ממך לי יצא משיח בן רוך,Se Rabbi Solomon

.6 ,3 .2 .Mat הוא מלך המשיח Abarbine

Meffias, that he may exercife domination in Ifrael.

Judah,

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Judah, for out of thee hall come a governour that shall rule my people Ifrael. This prediction was moft manifeftly and remarkably fulfilled in the Birth of Jefus, when by the providence of God it was fo ordered that Augustus should then tax the world, to which end every one should go up into his own City. Whereupon Jofeph and Mary his efpoufed Wife left Nazareth of Galilee, their habitation, and went into Bethlehem of Judea, the City of David, there to be taxed, because they were of the house and lineage of Luke 2. 4. David. And while they were there, as the days of the Virgin Mary were accomplished, fo the prophecy was fulfilled; for there the brought forth her

first born Son; and fo unto us was born that day in the City of David, a Luke 2. 11. Saviour, which is Chrift the Lord.

But if we add unto the Family and place, the manner of his Birth, alfo foretold, the Argument muft neceffarily appear conclufive. The Prophet Ifaiah fpake thus unto the Houfe of David; The Lord himself fhall give you a fign: Ifa. 7. 14. Behold a Virgin fhall conceive and bear a Son, and Jhall call his name Immanuel. What nativity could be more congruous to the greatness of a Mesfias than that of a Virgin, which is most miraculous? what name can be thought fitter for him than that of Immanuel, God with us, whofe Land Ju- Isa. 8. 8. dea is faid to be? The Immanuel then thus born of a Virgin was without queftion the true Meffias. And we know Jefus was thus born of the blessed Vir

gin Mary, that it might be fulfilled which was thus Spoken of the Lord by Mat. 1. 22. the Prophet. Wherefore being all the Prophecies concerning the Family, Place and Manner of the Birth of the Meffias were fulfilled in Jefus, and not fo much as pretended to be accomplished in any other; it is again from hence apparent that this Jefus is the Christ.

Thirdly, He which taught what the Meffias was to teach, did what the Meffias was to do, fuffered what the Meffias was to fuffer, and by fuffering obtained all which a Meffias could obtain, must be acknowledged of neceffity to be the true Meffias. But all this is manifeftly true of Jefus. Therefore we must confess he is the Chrift. For firft, it cannot be denied but the Mef fias was promifed as a Prophet and Teacher of the People. So God promised him to Mofes; I will raife them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee. So Ifaiah, Ezekiel and Hofeah have expreffed him, as we shall hereafter have farther occafion to fhew. And not only fo, but as a greater Prophet, and more perfect Doctor, than ever any was which preceded him, more univerfal than they all. I have put my Spirit upon him, faith Isa. 42. 1, 4. God: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, and the Ifles fhall wait for his Law. Now it is as evident that Jefus of Nazareth was the most perfect Prophet, the *Prince and Lord of all the Prophets, Doctors and Paftors, * Agxoiwhich either preceded or fucceeded him. For he hath revealed unto us the Pet.5.4. moft perfect will of God both in his Precepts and his Promises. He hath delivered the fame after the most perfect manner, with the greatest authority; not like Mofes and the Prophets, faying, Thus faith the Lord, but I fay unto you; not like the Interpreters of Mofes, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes: with the greatest perfpicuity, not, as thofe before him, under types and fhadows, but plainly and clearly; from whence both he and his Doctrine is frequently called Light with the greatest univerfality, as preaching that Gofpel which is to unite all the nations of the earth into one Church, that there might be one Shepherd and one Flock. Whatfoever then that great Prophet the Meffias was to teach, that Jefus taught; and whatsoever works he was to do, thofe Jefus did.

:

ὁ ποιμι προβάτων ὁ

μilas.

Heb., 13. 20. ὁ ποιμι και

ixionow

xv,

I Pet. 2. 25. a Mat. 5. often.

Mas. 7. 29,

When John the Baptist had heard the works of Chrift, he fent two of his Mat. 11.2, 3. Difciples with this meffage to him, Art thou he that fhould come, or do we look for another? And Jefus returned this anfwer unto him, fhewing the ground of that message, the works of Chrift, was a fufficient refolution of the question

fent ;'

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