Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows This exactly sets forth the august Character of the Messiah and his Anointing to be the King of all Nations their Prophet and their Priest Psalm XLV 1. My heart is inditing a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King my tongue is the pen of a ready writer Verse 7 8. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows Verse 16. Instead of thy Fathers shall be thy Children whom thou maist make Princes in all the Earth One see 's the same Prophets inviting all Nations in the XLVII Psalm to acknowledge the Kingdom of God which Daniel afterwards describes as that which the Jews already knew was to be governed by the Messiah One see 's Asaph describing in the L Psalm the manner of the Messiah's assembling all People and of his rejecting the ancient and Legal Service and prescribing a Spiritual one even Sacrifices of Vows and of Praise Verse 6 7 8 9 10. And the Heavens shall declare his Righteousness for God is Judge himself Hear O my people and I will speak O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy Burnt-offerings to have been continually before me I will take no Bullock out of thy House nor He-goat out of thy Folds For every Beast of the Forest is mine and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills One sees the Author of the LXXII Psalm describing the glory and happiness of Solomon's Kingdom in such a manner that he carries his views as high as the Messiah at the same time He foretels the continuance of his Kingdom as long as the Sun and Moon endures that all the Kings of the World should bring Presents to him and that all the Nations of the Earth should worship before him Verse 5. They shall fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endure throughout all Generations Verse 8. He shall have Dominion also from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth Verse 11. All Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him Verse 17 18 19. His Name shall endure for ever his Name shall be continued as long as the Sun and Men shall be blessed in him all Nations shall call him blessed Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let the whole Earth be filled with all his Glory Amen and Amen One sees that Ethan the Ezrahite who is represented to us as the wisest Man in that Age after Solomon explains the promise made to David of a Son who should reign for ever and whose Throne should be immoveable in the LXXXIX Psalm This agrees to none but the Messiah whom he describes as the First-born of the Princes of the Earth and as the Son of God in a manner which is not applicable to any of David's Posterity except only to the Messiah Verse 19 20. Then thou spakest in Visions to the holy one and say'st I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people I have found David my servant with my holy Oyl have I anointed him Verse 24 25 26 27 28 29. My Faithfulness and my Mercy shall be with him and in my Name shall his Horn be exalted I will set his Hand also in the Sea and his right hand in the Rivers He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my Salvation Also I will make him my First-born higher than the Kings of the Earth My Mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His Seed also will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven Verse 33.34 35 36 37. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my Holiness that I will not lye unto David His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me It shall be established for ever as the Moon and as a faithful Witness in Heaven One needs only read over the Psalms which I have now taken notice of and which are almost all applyed by the Jews to the Messiah to see the great Number of Oracles which God gave in David's time concerning this matter not to speak of those which describe the Calling of the Gentiles which fill up the Book of the Psalms almost entirely I come now to the proof of the second Article which is to shew That the Oracles which David uttered are much clearer and much more particular than those which were given before This I hope to prove beyond all contradiction by considering two Psalms the one whereof describes the prodigious Humiliation of the Messiah and the other describes his Advancement at the right hand of God two of the greatest Truths declared by the Prophets and two the most singular of all the Characters which belong to the promised Messiah CHAP. XI Considerations upon the Sufferings of the Messiah and upon his glorious Ascension into Heaven foretold by David in the XXII and CX Psalms IT cannot be deny'd when one reads the XXII Psalm but that the person there spoken of is described figuratively as one exposed to the severest Sufferings from which he is afterwards delivered by the Divine assistance and advanced to rule an Empire which extends it self over all the Nations of the World and afterwards universally adored I. He that speaks cries out as if God had forsaken him and had stopped his Ears unto his Cry. II. He describes himself as a Worm and no Man as the reproach of Men and one despised by the people III. He takes notice that those who were witnesses of his Sufferings made a mock at them bidding him trust in God that he might deliver him IV. He ranks his Enemies amongst the Bulls of Bashan and raging Lions who according to the Prophetical way of speaking are the chief Men in the Nation Amos IV. 1. Ezech. XXII 25. V. He joyns the Dogs with them that is prophane persons or the Gentiles VI. He represents his Hands and his Feet as pierced with Nails VII He shews that he was stretched out before in such a manner that they might count all his Bones this expresses the Idea of a Man fastned to a Cross and exposed to the view of all the World as he afterwards describes himself to be quite dry'd up from the loss of Blood when he was crucify'd VIII He takes notice of their parting his Garments and IX Of their casting Lots upon his Vesture In short one see 's throughout all the
we read in the eighth Chapter of Genesis about the Deluge doth refer to this custom where we find Noah sending forth the Dove and the Raven on the seventh day which plainly hints to us his observing of that day for it seems that Noah having in an especial manner on that solemn day implored the assistance of God in the Assembly of his Family he expected a particular Blessing from it And we cannot but make some Reflexion on that which we read in the XXIX of Genesis concerning the term of a Week set apart to the Nuptials of Leah Gen. XXIX 27. where at the twenty seventh Verse Laban thus expresses himself Fulfil her Week and we will give thee this also for the Service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other Years This Week here doth so plainly signifie a Week of days that it cannot be more naturally express'd and indeed all generally understand by this Week of the Marriage Feast of Leah that term of time which in succeeding Ages hath been customary to allot to Nuptial Festivals as appears from the Book of Esther where the Wedding Feast of Vasthi lasted seven days this term of seven days having so long since been Consecrated to Nuptial Rejoycings The same we may also gather from the time which was ordinarily allotted to mourning for the Dead to which we find the Patriarchs allotted a term proportion'd to that of their rejoicing For as we see that the Egyptians mourned ten Weeks for Jacob because of his Quality as being the Father of Joseph so we find that Joseph and those that accompanied him mourned seven days at his Enterment in the Land of Canaan And as we find that this Custom was perpetually afterwards observ'd by the Jews as appears from Ecclesiasticus XXII 12. so likewise we find the same observed by the Asiaticks as may be seen in the History of Ammianus Marcellinus at the beginning of his nineteenth Book De fide Resur in obitu Sat. p. 321. Seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smote the River Jalkut in h. l. and from them it passed to the Christians as we find in St. Ambrose Thirdly It appears from Exod. VII 25. that God observed seven days after he had smote the River to change the Waters thereof into Blood from whence the Jews conclude that the three Plagues Viz. that of Blood of Frogs and of Lice abode on the Land of Egypt six days and were withdrawn on the seventh which is the Sabbath We may also gather if we calculate the time exactly that the Jews in Egypt observed the Sabbath We find from the History of their departure out of Egypt that the same happened on a Thursday being the fifteenth of the Month Nisan and the day in which they sung those Hymns of Deliverance was the Sabbath which God had particularly set apart for this Week It is also evident from Exod. XVI that the keeping of the Sabbath was observ'd by the Israelites before the Law was given on Mount Sinai For we find God speaking there concerning the Sabbath not as of a thing newly instituted but as of an antient Law which they wer e not to transgress by gathering the Manna on that day for he orders them to gather a double portion the sixth day and not to gather any on the seventh We see that the Israelites resting on the seventh day is here supposed a known and customary thing prescribed to them by a Law of old They who went forth to gather Manna on the seventh day are represented as Transgressors of a known Law as appears from the words of the Lord to Moses How long refuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws Moses also speaks of the Sabbath which was to be the next day as of a thing customary and received amongst them To morrow saith he at v. 23. is the rest of the Sabbath of holiness unto the Lord words which would have been unintelligible to the Israelites and express'd a Law altogether impracticable in case they had been destitute of any further knowledge concerning it and had not been acquainted that it was the very day in which the great work of Creation had been finished My fourth Observation I take from the very words of the Decalogue where first of all we find God speaking in this manner Remember the Sabbath day which words clearly import Exod. XX. 8. that the Law he gave was not a new Law but indeed as old as the World and which had been observed by their Forefathers It seems probable also that God expresses himself in these terms because the Tyranny of Pharaoh had forc'd them to break this Law by obliging them to deliver their Tale of Bricks every day without excepting the Sabbath which before he had allowed them to keep This is explained very distinctly in the fifth of Exodus and seems to have been the occasion of Moses's demanding Straw of Pharaoh for the Israelites to go and Sacrifice in answer to which demand Exod. V. 5. Pharaoh expresses himself in terms which shew that formerly they had observed a rest on that day However it be yet thus much is apparent that God commands them to make their Bond Servants to observe the Sabbath because the Egyptians by their example inclin'd them not to be very careful in exempting them from all labour on that day Moreover in the second place we are to take notice that in the last words of the fourth Commandment God speaks of it as of a thing formerly appointed and determin'd by him saying For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it which words have a manifest and undeniable reference to that which happen'd the seventh day after the Creation and to the Law then given to Man concerning it We may gather from the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews that the sense which we have put upon the third Verse of the second of Genesis is the same which the Jews have always had of it The Apostle discoursing from those words of David Psal XCV To whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest doth suppose a threefold rest the first of which is the rest of the Sabbath of which mention is made in the second of Genesis where we have the first institution of it the second was the rest in the Land of Canaan promised to the Jews upon their enduring all those Tryals in the Wilderness the third the rest in Heaven of which the two foregoing were but the Figures He argues therefore that these words of David could not be understood concerning the Sabbath day forasmuch as from the beginning of the World Men entred into that rest of the Sabbath and he proves this by that passage in Genesis of which he only cites the first words viz. That God rested the seventh day from all his works as supposing that the Jews
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no Priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children The Prophet Jeremy speaks to the same purpose Chap. V. vers 21 22 and 23. Hear now this O foolish people and without understanding which have eyes and see not which have ears and hear not Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence who have placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart they are revolted and gone And he reiterates the same Chap. VIII vers 7. The stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgment of the Lord. Ezechiel prosecutes the same matter Chap. II. vers 5 and 8. calling the Jews a Rebellious House And Chap. XII vers 1 and 2. he saith The word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of Man thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious House who have eyes to see and see not they have ears to hear and hear not for they are a rebellious House Neither do the Prophets only represent to us in general the blindness of the Jews upon several occasions but they also very particularly inform us that he who was the most considerable person of their State and the great Minister of God should be notwithstanding rejected by them And here first It is worth our noting that Moses threatens the worst of Calamities to those who should refuse to hear the great Prophet like unto him whom God was to raise to his People Deut. XVIII vers 18. Secondly David Psalm CXVIII v. 22. expresses this in these words The Stone which the Builders refused is become the Head of the Corner From which words it is evident 1. That the Messiah was to be rejected 2. That he was to be rejected by those who were intrusted with the care of building the House 3. That this was to be before he should be acknowledged the great Minister of Heaven God speaks the same thing by Isaiah Chap. XXVIII vers 6. Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste Which place is to be understood of the Messiah by the Confession of the Jews themselves Daniel follows the same Notion Chap. II. vers 34 35. Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon his feet and brake them to pieces and the stone became a great Mountain and filled the Earth On all which Prophecies we may make these Remarks 1. That Jesus Christ quotes most of them as such which by the Jews themselves were owned to refer to the Messiah Thus Matt. XXI verse 42. he saith Did ye never read in the Scriptures the Stone which the Builders rejected the same is become the Head of the Corner And St. Peter Acts IV. vers 11. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders which is become the head of the corner St. Paul makes the same allusion Ephes II. vers 20. And are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone And I Cor. III. verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ And when Jesus Christ himself saith to Peter Matth. XVI verse 18. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church c. He alludes to that of Daniel Then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff of the Summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the Stone which smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Our Saviour applyes also to the Jews those Prophecies which foretel their being offended at the Ministers of Heaven in particular that of Isaiah Chap. VI. verse 9. Go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not 2. We may observe that the Jews of old applyed those Prophecies as the Apostles did to the hardning of their own Nation as appears from that of St. Paul Rom. X. verse 21. But to Israel he saith all the day long I have stretched forth my hand unto a disobedient and gain-saying people 3. We must take notice That the same temper which was in the ancient Jews who rejected the Prophets was found in those who lived at the time of our Saviour and for this we need only to read the description which Josephus de Bello Judaico Lib. VII cap. 3. gives of them where he compares them with the Sodomites which is the Comparison Isaiah makes Chap. I. verse 10. And last of all we may take notice That Josephus acknowledges that this Blindness of the Jews was the cause of the final destruction of Jerusalem which was to succeed the Death of the Messiah according to the express Oracle of Daniel Chap. IX verse 26. CHAP. XX. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death TO be convinced of this Truth we need only prove that what is set down in Psalm XXII Isaiah LIII Daniel IX and Zachariah XIII and other prophetical passages of Holy Scripture is to be understood of the Messiah and the reading of them alone is sufficient to satisfie the meanest Capacity that the person they point at was to lose his life by violence with several very infamous Circumstances Now it is certain that both ancient and modern Jews interpret these places of the Messiah and it is as evident that the Apostles understood them so and therefore all along applyed them to Jesus Christ following therein the known explications of the Rabbies of their own Nation It is plain also That the Death and Suffering of our Saviour would have prov'd a more efficaci ous Argument to refute the Apostles than all the Miracles of Jesus Christ could have been to establish their Doctrine if the Prophetical Writings had not so precisely determined his Sufferings and Death with the several Circumstances of them It is also to be noted That the Prophecies referring to the Death of the Messiah are generally interwoven with Idea's which point to other Prophetical passages avowedly owned by the Jews to have Relation to the Messiah Thus if we compare Psalm XXII verse 28. with Psalm LXXII vers 8 9. we shall find the same Idea set forth in them both And because this Character was to be the most proper and distinguishing note of