all write with publick allowance after every King's Decease might indeed be so about the latter times as it was practic'd in Egypt but that it is as absolutely false that the Chinese had ever in former times such Publick Historians and as it is false that the Egyptians had formerly any such although they were as confident to say they had in Alexander's time as the Chinese are now But this I think is sufficient for the clearing of that matter We must now answer the last Objection of Atheists against the Authority of the Book of Genesis CHAP. XXI Wherein the last Objection of Atheists is answered AS I intend to clear all the Difficulties which may arise about this important Matter in the Minds of those that shall peruse these Observations I think my self obliged to prevent and resolve the only plausible Objection I know remaining after all what I have said upon this Subject Perhaps some will be apt to reply here that they indeed confess Moses to be the Author of Genesis and that if that Book had really been Supposititious it could never have gone under his Name nor be received as his in after Ages But that yet all this does not prove sufficiently the truth of those Transactions recorded in that Book Because Moses may have forced upon the People of Israel the belief of them by those Laws that he enacted amongst them by which it was Death for any Man to dare to contest the truth of any thing he had written in his Books This I think is all that the most Contentious Atheists can think of to undermine the Authority of Moses's History But this Objection is easily answered for it consutes it self For First It supposes the truth of these great Miracles by which God establish'd Moses the Head and Captain of the People of Israel which Miracles are every whit as hard to believe as the several Accounts of other things which we read of in the Book of Genesis We find accordingly amongst the Heathens themselves many Monuments of those Miracles done by the Ministry of Moses when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt As I intend to shew in my Observations upon the other four Books of Moses Secondly They must at least suppose that Moses hath given a true account of several Passages in which he could not impose upon other Nations which did not acknowledge his Authority as for example all that relates to the building of the Ark the greatest piece of Architecture that was then in the World and to the raising of the Tower of Babel the greatest Building that ever was and part of which is yet extant for all these things were as so many Witnesses of the truth of those Transactions which he related Thirdly They must likewise suppose that he hath related several other Passages as exactly as he did those as for Example That of the Division of Tongues which is an Appendix of the History of the Tower of Babel that of the Destruction of Sodom the Original of the Neighbouring Nations of Canaan that of the Jews of the Moabites of the Ammonites of the Ishmaelites and Edomites for it is ridiculous to conceive that this Law-giver should ever hope to perswade other Nations to believe any false Stories about Matters so well and so generally known as those were amongst themselves Fourthly They must suppose further that he hath given a true account of the Original of the Israelites whose Head and Governor he was How great and absolute soever the Authority of Moses might be it is ridiculous to imagine that ever he would have derived the Original of the Israelites from any other than from their true Ancestors This appears the more necessary in that we see by the accounts he gives of things and Pedigrees in Genesis that he wrote that Book especially from the History of Abraham on to the end of it only to shew the Rights and just Pretensions of the Israelites upon the Land of Canaan Fifthly They must yet further acknowledge whither they will or not the truth of the accounts he gives concerning the Original of the Pretensions and Divisions which were kept up amongst the Twelve Tribes of Israel now these Pretensions having no other ground than the Oracles which are related in his History they sufficiently prove the Authority of those Oracles against all the Pretensions and Objections of the Atheists What violence soever they may pretend that Moses might use to force an Implicit Belief of his History and blind Obedience to his Laws yet no Man of common Sense and Reason can ever think that he would have fill'd the Accounts he gives of things of that nature with Lies or that if he had done it he could ever have expected that his false Accounts of them should ever have been credited by the Neighbouring Nations or even by his own Subjects But without urging here several other Absurdities which plainly shew that there is no distinction to be found betwixt the Accounts of things which Moses recites as publickly known and those which he relates of his own Head and private knowledge there being as I have already shew'd betwixt all those several Accounts such a natural Coherence and necessary Concatenation that they cannot be divided from one another without destroying the whole frame of his History I say that it is impossible that the Law by which he makes it death for any one to contest the truth of his Narration should make the sincerity of it suspected I do not urge here that there is an evident Absurdity to suppose that Moses would ever have related together all those Transactions as the grounds of Religion if they had been absolutely unknown in the World before him Neither do I mention here that suppose Moses had been so imprudent as to attempt such an undertaking yet there is no reason to believe that a whole Nation and that a very numerous one would have long persevered in a Profession forced upon them by meer Violence and Tyranny Nor do I think it necessary to observe here that the People of Israel were neither so patient nor so easily perswaded by Moses nor yet so submissive to him as these Objectors do imagine That is plain and apparent enough from all their Seditions and Conspiracies against him Nor do I judge it necessary to observe here what is plain enough of it self viz. that Moses had no Successor any ways concern'd to countenance and defend these pretended Fictions and Fables of his History Joshua his immediate Successor was of another Tribe and so were all the succeeding Governors of Israel until the Maccabees came But what I think deserves best to be observed here is that after Moses and Joshua's Decease the People of Israel was brought under the Subjection of the Canaanites and consequently freed from the Terror of that Law of Moses's making by which it was Death for any one to contest the Authority of his Laws â—nd the truth of all his Writings there is but a
longer preserve the Tradition of 2000 years as they had done till Moses's time God was of necessity obliged to make use of some other means to supply that defect He had already made use of several before amongst which was that which we find prescribed Deut. XXVII where he ordered the building of an Altar with rough stones whereupon the Names of the twelve Tribes and the whole Law were to be ingraved He afterwards follow'd other Methods and thus we see that Samuel following Moses and Joshuah's Example repeats before a Solemn Assembly of the people met at Gilgal for the Consecration of Saul the things that came to pass during the Government of Bedan or Sampson of Jepthah and his own But yet the best way was to fix this people to one Tabernacle wherein we see that besides the Monuments which preserved the Memory of the great Miracles that God had wrought at the Foundation of the Jewish Common-wealth as the Pot of Manna Aaron's Rod that blossom'd the Plates of the Altar that had been made out of the Censers of Corah Dathan and their Confederates One see 's that the Law and the Books of the Covenant were deposited there by God's order and the principal Transactions and Deliverances that were wrought by God in the behalf of that people were continually Celebrated with Hymns and other Tokens of publick Thankfulness It was no doubt upon this account that he caused the Book of the Law to be laid up there with many Ceremonies and Expiations and that he enjoyned it to be read publickly in the presence of the whole Congregation every seven years One see 's that he commanded that every Family should read this Book continually and that all should entertain their Wives and Children from their tenderest years with the design of the Law Night and Day in the Countrey and in the Town at all times and in all places One see 's that God engaged them to it not only by an express command but also by an indispensible necessity because he made it death for any Man to violate any of those Ceremonial Laws from a principle of obstinacy no pardon could be obtained for the Transgressions committed through ignorance before they were expiated by certain Sacrifices the Forms whereof were scrupulously prescribed in the Law and which could be violated upon no account whatever If one considers those things he may say that the Jews had scarce one moment free in their Lives so pressing was the necessity which lay upon them to consult the Law of God the regulations of which were so very exact and particular that there no actions publick or private could happen but what were regulated and determined by those Constitutions If a Beast was born the Owner was to examine whether it was the first-born or no whither it was clean or unclean and whither it was to be Redeemed with several other things of this nature If a Woman was big with Child there were many questions to be asked When she came to Lie-in several very different Ceremonies were practis'd according as the Child was a first-born or not The Law enjoyned various Purifications according as the Woman brought forth a Son or a Daughter God had prescribed a great number of Laws for all the Accidents of Life for Marriages for Successions for Funerals for Mourning for unforeseen Accidents as the Death of a Man that was kill'd without the design of his Murtherer for the several Crimes that might be committed in their several Pollutions and Sequestrations c. It seems that this whole people from the time that they came to the use of their reason to the time of their Death was still continually obliged to keep up a Correspondence with the Priests and Levites whom God had for this purpose dispersed amongst all the Tribes of Israel and to consult the Law and the Testimony to be instructed in the manner of governing themselves But particularly they were to look upon the Temple and the Tabernacle as the Center of their whole Religion And how could they do this without carrying their Prospect at the same time to those great Promises of the Messiah of which the Israelites were Depositaries I say upon those Promises which raised up so many Jealousies betwixt their Forefathers and the Ancestors of those Neighbouring Nations with whom they had always some Controversie and were to be considered as glorious and honourable to the whole Nation CHAP. XXII That it appears by the Books of Moses that this whole Model which God had framed was to last but until the coming of the Messiah BUt if we find in Moses's Law a severe restriction in all that belongs to the execution of the Promise of the Messiah which shews that God intended to have that Nation distingnish'd from all others till the Blessed Seed was come if we find that he restrained that Promise to one Tribe one Town one Family one particular individual person in that Family that they might not be to seek in a confused Crowd of a whole people made up of several Millions of persons or in a whole Tribe or even in a City filled up with several Families If upon this account his Birth was restrained to one People one Tribe one little Town and one single Family which was setled there the Jews could not but observe that it was God's design to break all those Restrictions and to follow quite another Method when the Messiah was once come For in the First place the first Promise of the Messiah was express'd in very general Terms which mentioned a common benefit to all the Sons of Adam This Promise was made before God had rejected Cain's Posterity by preferring that of Seth it was made before the Restriction was made to Noah in Seth's Family and to Shem in Noah's Family Secondly God who by Circumcision had distinguished Abraham and his Posterity from the rest of the Family of Sem did expresly promise to Abraham that in his Seed all the Nations of the World should be blessed This Promise was made also before God had restrained the Promise to the person Isaac in prejudice of Ishmael and then afterwards to the person of Jacob in the prejudice of Esau Thirdly One see 's this same Truth yet more clearly explained out of Jacob's Oracle concerning Judah Gen. XLIX wherein Jacob expresly foretels that the Messiah should be the expectation of the Nations that is to say the Comfort the Glory the Hope and the Joy of all the Nations of the Universe As this was a Capital Truth so God proposed it by Balaam at the Israelites entring into Canaan that they might thus understand that all those distinctions which their separation living in Canaan from the rest of the World might keep up were not always to last But this particularly appears out of Moses's Law which allows of several sorts of Proselytes receiving some without tying them to the observance of all the Ceremonies in the Law which it would never have done
preferr'd before others used by him without any solid Reason that therefore we must reject the deposition of so many Witnesses who unanimously attest it Since Jesus Christ had raised three persons to life again which then lived in Judea since Jerusalem had continued fourty years after the death of Christ since sixty solemn Feasts were celebrated in that time where all the Jews had an occasion to examine the truth of these Facts and the truth or falsity of the Accusation charged upon the Apostles by the Council of the Jews and that multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were converted at the preaching of the Apostles who reduced all to this Question of the Fact of the Resurrection of our Saviour is not this an invincible proof against all the Accusations and Suspicions of the Synagogue Forasmuch as the Witnesses who maintain the Resurrection of Christ are the very same that attest his Ascension into Heaven and that they assert it with the same proofs and the same zeal the Reflexions here set down may serve for that also and the rather because I am next to consider the sending of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which is an undeniable proof both of the Resurrection of Christ and his Ascension and that these very Gifts of the Holy Spirit enabled the Jews to write preach and publish throughout all the World the truths of that Christianity which we now profess CHAP. XIV That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the Primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies I Have shewn that the Prophecies of the Old Testament speak very plainly of this sending of the Spirit as a Preliminary to the Calling of the Gentiles which was the great design of God. The Prophet Joel speaks of it as such and makes this wonder to precede the destruction of Jerusalem as S. Peter observes in the second of the Acts. Isaiah speaks very particularly of it as such in the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy where he sufficiently intimates that the Spirit of Prophecy should from thence forward so rest upon Jesus Christ that it would not be found any longer among the Jews whose City and Temple should be destroyed At present my business is to shew that this thing has been exactly fulfilled according to the design which God had laid down in the Prophets To be convinc'd of this we need only make some Reflexions upon the Relation which S. Luke gives us of it in the Acts. He tells us therefore that fifty days only after the death of Jesus Christ the Apostles having continued at Jerusalem and being assembled there they received the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost that is the power of speaking all sorts of Languages to make them fit to preach the Gospel to all Nations and to explain the most sublime Mysteries of our Saviour's Religion Every thing is considerable in this Relation of S. Luke 1. That he relates this Fact as happening fifty days only after the Jewish Passover when Christ was crucified the whole Nation of the Jews having been witnesses of his death 2. That he relates it as happening in the same City where Jesus Christ was condemned that the same Multitude who after fifty days were again assembled there at this Feast might be Witnesses of this miraculous Event In short it plainly appears that this new Law from Mount Sion was solemnly promulg'd in the presence of all the Jews who were assembled from all parts of the World as the old Law was when all the People assisted at the foot of Mount Sinai 3. That these Gifts were granted to all the Disciples of our Saviour Gifts which till that time had been wholly unheard of and whereof some part only had been granted to some Prophets and to some Priests and of which none had been made partakers since the time of Malachi God having so ordered it that the desires of the Jews might be the more inflamed for the Messiah's coming as also that upon his coming he might the more easily be discerned 4. That this was a Fact openly known amongst the Jews and differently interpreted by them some saying They they were full of new Wine 5. That the Apostles asserted by the mouth of S. Peter that this was an Accomplishment of the ancient Oracles as well as of the Promises of Jesus Christ 6. That they declared that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ his Ascension into Heaven and this miraculous Donative had been foretold by David and Joel 'T is certainly therefore very natural to make these following Reflexions upon the Relation of so considerable an Event The first will confirm the truth of this miraculous Fact if we consider that it is absurd to suppose that S. Luke a wise man should be so rash as to relate a matter of this nature if he had not been fully convinc'd of it and if it had not been an easie thing to have convinc'd his Readers thereof also nothing more being required for their conviction but the presence of one of those first Christians and to make a trial of this supernatural vertue bestowed on them for which there were frequent occasions 2. We must observe that this Relation of S. Luke is as it were the foundation which he lays down to make his Book of the Acts to appear just and reasonable and to justifie the Apostles conduct in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles not only contrary to the opinion of the Jews who looked upon them as wholly excluded from the Priviledges of the Covenant but also contrary to the seeming Maxim of Jesus Christ who acted only as the Minister of Circumcision and contrary to the pretensions of many Christians who after the Mission of the Holy Ghost took it very ill that S. Peter had preached to the Gentiles 3. S. Luke supposes that this Fact came to pass in such a manner that it was followed by Consequences as illustrious as they were incredible Twelve poor Fishermen undertook to go and preach to all the World that their Master who fifty days before was crucified at Jerusalem at the prosecution of the whole Synagogue and by order of one of the Magistrates of the Roman Empire was not only living not only ascended into Heaven but that he also had given them the power of speaking all sorts of Languages of curing all Diseases and even of raising the Dead 4. They go yet further they boldly maintain that Jesus Christ had given them a priviledge of communicating the same power to all those who would believe that he was the promised Messiah and this without any other mystery but the bare laying on of their hands after they had received them by Baptism into the Profession of Christianity Nothing could have been more easie than to convince them of the contrary unless they had confirmed the truth of their Assertion by the miraculous Consequences of that first Miracle The Fact was publickly acknowledged Simon Magus is convinced thereof and
they passed for Holy Men because they designed to imitate what as they were told had happened to Noah by his Son Ham which introduced the Custom amongst the Assyrians of Castrating themselves that they might be Priests Thirdly Deut. XXII God commanded that any Virgin which was Betrothed to a Husband and was corrupted in her Father's House or that was Ravished without calling for help should be punished with Death so that all the Virgins were indispensably engaged for fear of losing both Life and Honour together to preserve their Virginity with all possible care But here is a fourth Law concerning this matter whereby God obliged the Parents of all contracted Virgins to take a more than ordinary care of them when he commands Deut. XXII 21. That a Virgin for whom the Tokens of Virginity were not found should be brought out to the door of her Father's House and there be stoned to death by the Men of the City for so her Parents were by that means made partakers of the punishment of her Crime and their negligence was severely punish'd by such a shameful Execution as dishonoured their whole Family Fifthly God submitted Women to the Examination of their Husbands to whom they were Married Nay one would think that he intended to raise the Jealousie of Husbands when he gives them leave to bring their Wives to a publick Tryal and to punish them with Death when they did not preserve the Tokens of their Virginity It was for that reason that he commanded that the Parents or near Relations of the young Married Women thus complained of Deut. XXII should produce upon all such occasions the Tokens of the Virginity of those Daughters which they disposed in Marriage which was usually done with many Solemn Circumstances and Formalities And here are three things which deserve to be attentively considered The First is the Custom that was amongst the Jews for Parents never to let their Virgin Daughters go out of their Houses which Custom made them be called Concealed in opposition to those that went abroad that is that were Prostitutes The Second is another Custom which the just desire of preserving the Virginity of their Daughters against all Accidents had introduced amongst that People which was that all their Virgins did wear a sort of Fetters which are called in the Talmud Cevalim which are discribed by the famous Moses the Son of Maimon in this manner Cevalim sunt compedes in forma periscelidis Ad Massec Sabbath c. 6. J 4. inter quos interposuerunt catenulas illis compedibus ornabant se Virgines ut non incederent passu magno ne contigeret ipsis damnum in Virginitate sua This Description may be thought to be one of the foolish phancies of the modern Jews if we did not meet with proofs of the practice of that Custom in more ancient times In short one see 's in the third of Isaiah that Chains are reckon'd up amongst other Ornaments of the Daughters of Israel which God threatneth to take away from them when he would force them to go Captives into Babylon The Third is an ancient Tradition mentioned in the Pirke Eliezer in the XVI Chapter Solent Israelitae digito educere Virginitatem ne incidant in dubitationem vel suspicionem juxta illud Sumat Pater Mater puellae c. In a word it seems that for fear least these Tokens of Virginity should be thought to be obscure and ambiguous by their Husbands that God has provided for the securing of the Virginity of their young Women before Marriage by a Miracle the experience whereof was ordinary and common amongst so jealous a people Numb V. Joseph l. 3. Antiq. p. 95. I mean the Waters of Jealousie which all Women whose Carriage was suspected by their Husbands were obliged to drink by which God did either miraculously justifie them or else he began to inflict a punishment upon them which was so much the more dreadful and exemplary as it proceeded from the hand of God himself This Miracle lasted to the destruction of the second Temple as the Jews themselves tells us in that Title of their Talmud Sota c. 9. which concerns Women suspected of Adultery However as God works no Miracles without great reasons so he here made a Law the observance whereof was very rigorous which was that he would not suffer any Women to be Married when there was the least probability that they had their Courses but that they should be separated at that time as unclean The Reason of this Law was because it was then almost impossible but that the lewd Women might have imposed upon their Husbands in the Marks of their Virginity which at that time are very uncertain not to say that as a politick Law-giver he might prescribe the observation of this Law least the Common-wealth of the Jews should have been overstocked with weak and sickly people Lastly one see 's that God himself has fastned a Blot upon Leprous persons Isidor Pelus l. 5. Ep. 117. Joseph Antiq l. 3 p. 94. because they were supposed to have been Conceived when their Mothers had their Courses And hereupon was that Law of God founded which debarred Lepers for ever from the Right of coming into the Congregations of his people One ought to make the same Observation upon those that were unlawfully begotten for they were deprived of the Right of entring into the Congregation and how innocent soever they were as to the lewdness of those who gave them their Lives yet they were thus with them made partakers of the punishment of their sin If one considers all these several Laws attentively one shall find on the one hand that several of them were of very little moment except we suppose that God intended to secure the state of Virginity by them beyond all danger And on the other hand one shall find that some of them are very severe about things which do not seem to deserve so terrible a rigour But if we consider them according to God's design as he hath afterwards particularly explained it They will appear I am confident to be all very worthy of the Wisdom of such a Law-giver One needs only reflect upon that method of God that I have now explained to see that nothing can be conceived to be better managed than this Model according to the design which God himself had drawn One may make the same Observations and examine the same stroaks of the Wisdom of God in several other precautions which he made use of to make the Messiah be perfectly distinguish'd according to the several Characters under which he was to be proposed afterwards by the Ministry of the Prophets One sees that the Messiah being to be born of a Virgin was to be a first-born and for that reason we find many Laws which distinguish in general the priviledges of the first-born So it appears by the XVIII of Deuteronomy that the Messiah was to be a Prophet and therefore God afterwards
's afterwards that the Prophets explain in a more particular manner all these Idea's which David had already proposed Isaiah speaks of his Birth by a Virgin of his Spiritual Gifts of his Miracles of his Sufferings of his Resurrection of his Calling of all Nations in to his Worship and of his Casting off the Jews Those who come after point out the place particularly and the Town where the Messiah was to be born they describe his Covenant and the Calling of the Gentiles to the Service of the God of Israel In short they describe both the Character of the Forerunner of the Messiah and the Empire under which he was to appear and the very Year in which he was to dye as Daniel particularly doth I cannot undertake to relate all the Oracles which are contained in the Books of the Old Testament they are so very numerous But I hope at least to mark the more principal and the most illustrious ones and to explain them in such a manner that all shall be obliged to acknowledge I. That God designed to give infallible proofs to his Church of his design in sending the Messiah into the World and to preserve the continual remembrance of him as of a Person who was promised to give all Comfort to his Church and whose coming should bring Salvation to all Mankind II. That the care which he took in specifying all the Circumstances of his coming into the World shew that he designed to prevent the Scandal which the abject Life and Death of a Messiah might produce and the false Judgments which Men might form of the Works of a Divine Wisdom when they only judge of them by the outside III. That he designed to give an infallible proof that this sending of the Messiah was the Work of his Wisdom and Fidelity which at last accomplished a thing the Design whereof had been proposed to Mankind immediately after the Fall. CHAP. IX Of those Oracles concerning the Messiah which are to be found in the Book of Genesis I Begin with those Oracles which are contained in the Book of Genesis since it is convenient to touch them all over again in few words The first Oracle is comprized in these Terms Gen. III. 15. I will put Enmity between Thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel This Oracle has considerable advantages tho' it is expressed in figurative Terms God uttered it in the beginning of the World after he had given Sentence against Adam and the Woman and the Serpent in a very sensible manner even under a Human shape if we may dare to affirm it He uttered it before the Head of all Mankind which ought to make it considerable to all his Posterity He expresses it by an Allusion to the nature of the Temptation and to the form of the Serpent which the Tempter had took upon him He preserves thereby the memory of the Temptation by inspiring all Mankind with an invincible Hatred against all Serpents in general tho' the Tempter had took the shape but of one particular kind for an Instrument to accomplish his Design In short this Oracle clearly shews I. That it should be particularly the Seed of the Woman Adam not being touched at II. That the Seed of the Woman that is to say the Messiah should destroy the power of the Serpent expressed by the Head that is to say the power of the Devil III. That this Seed should however receive a considerable wound from the Devil tho' it should only touch his Heel the least considerable part of the Messiah IV. That all the Blessings which God should give to Mankind after the Fall should be grounded upon the sending of this Seed into the World This is more clearly expressed by God's telling Abraham Gen. XXII 18. That in thy Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed That this Oracle Gen. III. has relation to the Messiah is plain I. Because it is the Source and Abridgment of the whole Revelation II. Because all the ancient Jews in effect understood it so III. Because the Apostles in following the Idea's of the Synagogue plainly referred them to the Messiah Targum in h. l. by the Allusions which they make to them John XII Romans XVI II Cor. XI 1 John III. The second Oracle which relates to the Messiah is contained in these Terms when God spoke to Abraham In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed This Oracle is very illustrious I. By the person of Abraham whom God made the Depositary of it and who made himself ready to Sacricrifice his own Son. II. By the frequent Repetitions which God made to this Patriarch using in effect all those ways which he afterwards follow'd in his Revelations to the Patriarchs for fifty years together from the Year 2083. to the Year 2133. of the World. III. Because it was accompanied by the Circumcision so that tho' it foretold that the Advantages should be in common to all Nations yet it limited the Messiah to be born of Abraham's Seed It also intimates very clearly I. That the Blessings which it promises should be in common to all Nations II. That this Blessing should be quite of another nature from Temporal ones as the encrease for instance and the power of Abraham's Posterity which had been promised to him before S. Paul's Reflexion Gal. III. 8. That God spake of Seed in the singular Number is very remarkable and so much the more because the Jews make a like Observation upon a parallel place in the Old Testament As God repeated this Promise when he spoke to Isaac in the Year 2200 and to Jacob in the Year 2245. Gen. XXVIII 14. And thy Seed shall be as the Dust of the Earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the West and to the East and to the North and to the South and in thee and in thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed so one ought to repeat again the same Reflexions This ought only to be added That God restrained the honour of bringing forth the Messiah to Jacob the Son of Isaac that the Edomites might not come in to challenge the right as I have very particularly explained in my Reflexions upon Genesis We come now to the Oracle which Jacob gave in the Year 2315. It is one of the clearest Predictions in the whole Bible and it is expressed in these Terms Judah thou art he whom thy Brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thine Enemies thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee Judah is a Lions whelp from the Prey my Son thou art gone up he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouze him up The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be Binding his Fole unto the Vine
the Messiah forasmuch as none with pleasure do precipitate themselves into Death or are Masters of the Manner and Circumstances of it therefore God caused the same to be expressed by the Prophets with the greatest plainness and exactness possible It can't be denied but that some of the Prophets have been very cruelly persecuted and that some of them have died in the midst of Torments But concerning the Death of Christ we have many more particulars viz. 1. That he was to be forsaken by his own Friends Psalm XXII verse 11. Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help And Psalm LXIX verse 11. I made Sackcloth also my Garment and I became a Proverb to them And verse 20. Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I looked for some to take pity but there was none and for comforters but I found none 2. That he was to be exposed to all manner of reproachful usage Psalm XXII vers 6 7 and 8. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him And Psalm LXIX vers 1 2 3 4. Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my Soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me I am weary of my crying my throat is dried mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head they that would destroy me being my Enemies wrongfully are mighty The same is represented to us Isaiah LIII vers 4 5. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our transgressions he was braised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed They take notice that he should be beaten and abused as appears from Isaiah LIII vers 3 4 5 6 7 8. He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not Surely he hath born our grifs he was wounded for our transgressions c. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth He was cut off from the Land of the Living for the transgression of my people was he stricken 4. They declare that he should be sold Zach. II. vers 12 and 13. And I said unto them if ye think good give me my price and if not forbear so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver And the Lord said unto me cast it unto the potter a goodly price that I was prized at of them And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the House of the Lord. 5. They make mention of his being condemned by the Jews and Heathens Psalm II. verse 2. The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed And Psalm XXII verse 16. For Dogs have compassed me the Assembly of the wicked have inclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet And Psalm LXIX verse 12. They that sit in the Gate speak against me and I was the Song of the Drunkards And Isaiah LIII verse 8. He was taken from Prison and from Judgment and who shall declare his Generation for he was cut off from the Land of the Living for the transgression of my people was he stricken 6. They specifie his Death on the Cross Psalm XXII verse 16. They pierced my hands and my feet And Zach. XII verse 10. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced 7. They intimate his dying between Thieves Isaiah LIII verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he has poured out his Soul unto Death and was numbred with Transgressors 8. They take notice of his being mocked before his Death Psalm XXII vers 6 7 8. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head c. And Psalm LXIX vers 17 18 19. Hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble hear me speedily Draw night unto my soul and redeem it deliver me because of mine Enemies Thou hast known my reproach my shame and my dishonour mine Adversaries are all before thee 9. That they who put him to death should divide his Garments Psalm XXII verse 18. They part my Garments amongst them and cast lots upon my Vesture 10. That the Messiah should complain that God had forsaken him in the hands of his Enemies Psalm XXII vers 1 2. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night season am not silent 11. That they would give him Vinegar and Gall to drink Psalm LXIX verse 21. They gave me also Gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink 12. They set before our eyes the manner of his death on the Cross Psalm XXII vers 14 15 16 17. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of death For Dogs have compassed me the Assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me And Isaiah LIII vers 7 8 9. 13. That not one of his Bones should be broken Psalm XXXIV verse 20. He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken 14. That he was to be buried in the Sepulchre of a rich man. Isaiah LIII verse 9. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was deceit found in his mouth We may make these following Reflexions on the foregoing Oracles 1. That here are many very different Events and Circumstances all meeting in the same end 2. That many of these Passages that might be questioned whether they were particularly applicable to the Messiah are joyned with such hints as
and clearly describe the things which were to happen to the Messiah which was to be so because of the nature of these Events which were so strange and at such a distance from the common Idea's which men have for the most part of such things Our business therefore only is to consider at present whether indeed Jesus Christ died in the same manner as the Prophets had foretold that the Messiah should This Character is a very illustrious one to confirm that Jesus Christ is the Messiah For it is well known that a Prisoner is no longer Master of the things that happen to him neither of the kind of his Death nor of the manner of his Burial In short nothing can be imagin'd more foolish than to suppose that the Disciples of Jesus Christ should apply to their Master that he might pass for the Messiah such Oracles as had not usually been applyed to the Messiah by the Jews amongst whom they lived and whom they endeavoured to dispose for the receiving of Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah Now we cannot conceive any thing more exact than the Agreement which we find between the Prophecies and the Event 1. When Jesus Christ by his triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding on an Ass had put his Disciples in mind of one passage in Zachary he obliged them also to cast their eyes upon another when he foretold his death and their flight as the accomplishment of this Oracle Matth. XXVI 31. I will smite the Shepherd and the flock shall be scattered Zach. XIII 7. 2. He was beset with a Band of Roman Souldiers and the Servants of the principal men amongst the Jews who apprehended him under the conduct of Judas which exactly answers 1. To the Description which we find Psal XXII Dogs that is Heathens whom the Jews treated as such and strong Bulls that is Jews represented by clean Beasts have beset me round And secondly to that other Prophecy He that eats bread with me hath lift up his heel against me 3. He offers himself freely to death according to that of Isaiah That he gave his Soul an offering for sin This appears not only by his going into the Garden where he knew that he should be taken but also by his telling the Souldiers that he was the man they looked for he opposed S. Peter's attempts towards his Rescue and declares that he did not fly from death but was willing to satisfie the intent of the Prophecies 4. He is forsaken by his Disciples as he himself had testified of it as foretold by the Prophets Zach. XIII 7. 5. He is struck on the face before Annas as Jeremiah had foretold Lament III. 30. He giveth his Cheek to him that smiteth him 6. He appears before Caiaphas surrounded by every thing that was great amongst the Jews whether Lawyers or Church-men according to Psalm II. 7. He is silent before his unjust Judges and neglects to answer the Accusations which the false Witnesses deposed against him according to the Prophecy of Isaiah As a Sheep before his shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth Isaiah LIII 7. and the description which David gives of him Ps XXXI and XXXIX 8. They opened their mouths against him in accusing him of Blasphemy as David had figuratively expressed it Psal XXII 13. 9. They spit in his face they buffetted and abused him the whole night according to that Oracle of Isaiah XLIX 6. 10. When Judas saw that Jesus Christ was delivered to Pilate by the Jews who demanded his Crucifixion he returned the thirty pieces of Silver wherewith they purchased the Potters field afterwards called the Field of Blood and set apart by the Jews for the burial of Strangers as was foretold by Zachariah XI 12. and by Jeremiah XXXII 25. 11. He is accused before Pilate and brought before Herod without justifying himself of the Crimes laid to his charge as it is Psalm XXXVIII and XXVII 12. 12. Pilate and Herod agree in conspiring the death of Jesus Christ according to the description of Psalm II. 13. Pilate desiring to save Jesus the Jews demand Barabbas might be released and Jesus punished as David had foretold Psalm XXII 14. 14. Jesus Christ was scourged by Pilate's order which was foretold Psalm XXXVIII and LXIX Isaiah LIII vers 5. and Chap. LXIII 15. He is brought forth by Pilate to the People with an Ecce Homo Behold the Man which was foretold by Isaiah When we shall see him there is no Beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected of men we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted 16. He is afterwards delivered to the Souldiers who before they crucified him insulted over him with a thousand Indignities and scourged him again according to the Prophecies so often before alledged 17. They Crucifie him with two Robbers which answers to that Prophecy Isaiah LIII 12. He was numbred with Transgressors 18. They give him Gall and Vinegar to drink as was foretold Psalm LXIX 19. They pierce his hands and feet in nailing him to the Cross which answers to Psalm XXII 17 18. 20. They part his Garments which is represented in the same Psalm verse 19. and cast Lots on his Vesture according to the same Psalm in the very same place 21. He suffers a thousand Reproaches upon the Cross according to what we find Psalm XXII verse 8. and Psalm LXIX ver 8 10. 22. And in particular the Jews and Scribes reproach him in the very words of Psalm XXII verse 8. 23. Jesus Christ cries out applying to himself the beginning of Psalm XXII My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me as he had before applied to himself the Prophecy concerning the Messiah in the third of Daniel 24. He commends his Soul into the hands of God in the very words which we read Psalm XVI These are the principal Circumstances of the Death of Jesus Christ which one see 's to be exactly agreeable to the Prophecies going before concerning them let us now consider those which followed his death which we shall not find to be less particular 1. The Bones of Jesus Christ were not broken as those of the two Thieves which one may see foretold Psalm XXXIV verse 21. 2. They open'd his side with a Spear according to the Idea of Zechariah Chap. X. verse 12. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced 3. His Body is buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a new Sepulchre which answers to the Prophecy of Isaiah Chap. LIII These Remarks do in my judgment clearly prove that in the death of Christ all the Characters by which the Prophets have distinguished the death of the Messiah are actually found But that we may yet be more sensible how justly these Oracles are applyed to Jesus Christ here are some Reflexions upon the application which the Apostles make of these particular Facts which happened to Christ to those Oracles which I have now mentioned The first is That the relation of these