teach no more every man his Neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their Sin no more Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a light by night which divideth the Sea when the waves thereof roar the Lord of Hosts is his name If those Ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the Seed of Israel also shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever Nothing can be desired more particular than this Oracle 1. It tells us that God would make a new Covenant with his People which supposes an abolishing of the former 2. That this Covenant was not to be like the foregoing 3. That the old Covenant had been made vain and had been broken by those with whom it was made 4. That this Covenant was to be made after those days that is in the time of the Messiah 5. That this new Covenant was not to be engraven in Tables of Stone but in their Hearts 6. That in the same Covenant full Remission of Sin is promised The same thing is also expressed Chap. XXXII vers 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me And Chap. L. vers 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten To this purpose also Ezechiel who himself was a Priest speaks of a Religious Worship extended to all Nations and of a new Covenant which God was to make with them Chap. XVI vers 60 61 62. Nevertheless I will remember my Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth and I will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy Sisters thy elder and thy younger and I will give them unto thee for Daughters but not by thy Covenant And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Here is first a Covenant differing from the former 2. A Covenant wherein other Nations were to be included clearly intimated by the elder and younger Sisters of the Synagogue 3. A Covenant whereby the Gentiles were to enjoy the same Priviledges with the Jews and be incorporated with them Malachy follows the steps of these Prophets when he calls the Messiah the Angel of the Covenant Chap. III. vers 1. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Messenger Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts I know very well that the Jews apply these words to Elias whose Ministry as they pretend was to consist in leading the Jews to Repentance But if we read the Text with attention we shall find two Messengers mentioned the first who prepare the way of the Messiah and the other is the Messiah himself who is called the Angel of the Covenant as being sent of God to make a new Covenant with men CHAP. XIX That the Jews by a dreadful effect of their blindness were to reject the Messiah THis is a very peculiar Mark which will guide us surely to the knowledge of the Messiah We find the Jews at this day very ready to follow every one that usurps that August Title and to take him for the only true Messiah that was promised them which is no other than what was infallibly to come to pass Neither will this much surprize us if we consider 1. That this People on divers occasions have given very strange instances of a prodigious blindness We see them reject Moses notwithstanding God had authoriz'd his Call by great and avowed Miracles Yea we find them rejecting David also whom God had so signally appointed to be their King and the Father of the Messiah of whom we hear these Prophecies 2. That God upbraids them with this blindness by his Prophets as a sin to which they were peculiarly inclin'd as appears from Psalm LXIX vers 23 24 25 26 27 and 28. Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their Loins continually to shake Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their Tents for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Add iniquity to their iniquity and let them not come into thy Righteousness Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living and not be written with the Righteous One see 's the same thing in Isaiah Chap. VI. vers 9 10 11 and 12. where the Spirit of God foretells that the Jews should shut their eyes against the most evident and convincing proofs imaginable Go saith the Lord to the Prophet and tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long And he answered untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate and the Lord have removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the Land. Nothing can be imagined more particular than this Oracle concerning the Jews resisting the Prophet which God expresses in terms very usual amongst the Prophets as if Isaiah who was only the foreteller of their being hardned should himself be the cause of it The Prophet Hoseah describes the very same Complaints of God against the Jews for their blindness and ignorance for which he denounces their destruction Hos IV. vers 1 2 3 4 5 and 6. Hear the word of the Lord ye children of Israel for the Lord has a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the Beasts of the Field and with the Fowls of Heaven yea the Fishes of the Sea also shall be taken away Yet let no man strive or reprove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Therefore shalt thou fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy thy Mother
so prophane as to deny that if in the same Author and in the same Chapter any man should read in one continued Series Predictions which should explain the miraculous Birth of the Messiah his Family his Preaching his Miracles his Sufferings his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven the Sending of the Holy Ghost the Calling of the Gentiles but that the History of the Gospel would sufficiently justifie Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah But they take it to be a very strange thing that the Apostles should apply several passages in ancient Authors to the History of Jesus Christ tho' the whole Contexture of their Books do not seem to oblige us to make any such Interpretations They therefore suppose that the Apostles made several fortunate Allusions to the more remarkable passages in those ancient Authors which may pass for Predictions of those Events which afterwards happened just as Nonnus wrote the History of the Gospel in Homer's Verses and as Eudoxia made a Cento out of Virgil's Poem which contained the same History tho' neither Homer nor Virgil had any of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion then in view That this apparent Difficulty may be solved it will be necessary to examine Three things I. The Matter of Fact it self II. The Reasons which gave occasion for the doing of it III. The Impression which this Fact has produced in the minds of men to this very time For the First Tho' it is well known that common use do's not allow men to joyn Foreign Idea's in the same Discourse yet we may easily conceive that God might and ought to do it if we will allow what may be easily collected that he resolved to send the Messiah into the World Such a practice was the more natural because the ancient Patriarchs before Moses and Moses himself who form'd the Commonwealth of the Jews had prepar'd the minds of the People to such sort of Expressions as were raised above the present Subject And certainly if one takes but the pains to consider the wisdom and beauty of the Authors who writ these Prophetical Books on the one side and the Character of the Writers of the New Testament on the other he would perceive that if these words That it might be fulfilled were of necessity to be changed into these As one may perceive a sort of Completion of such or such Passages in the Old Testament yet notwithstanding that the most part of those Quotations would evince an exact Accomplishment and the Oracles which they alledge would bear a just proportion to those Events which are related by the Evangelists in our Saviour's Life Can any thing be more singular than the Prophecy in the Seventh of Isaiah of the Messiah's being born of a Virgin of the piercing of his hands and feet Psal XXII of the mixture of Gall which was offered him to drink hinted at Psalm LX. 22. of his being sold for Thirty pieces of Silver Zechar. XI 3. or then several others of a like nature which at present I shall not stand to reckon up It must be confessed however that these Oracles are interwoven for the most part with Matters relating to Events happening in the time when each Prophet lived or which seem to be applicable personally to the Prophets Three Orders or Reasons may be conceived which will justifie the Wisdom of God in the ordering of these Oracles in a way which seems so contrary to the common practice of the World. The first Order contains Reasons drawn from the person of the Messiah himself of whom we speak The second Order contains those which arise from the consideration of the People amongst whom the Messiah was to be born The third contains those Reasons which respect other Nations amongst whom the Messiah was to be preached I shall examine these three sorts by themselves and I hope that we may gather from thence that the Eternal Wisdom presided over this mixture of these Oracles which relate to the Messiah with other Idea's which seem to be wholly foreign to the Subject In short it may be urged That the belief of a Messiah form'd of so apparent Contradictions cannot easily be received of the suddain A Messiah of the Seed of David whom David calls his Lord a Messiah who complains that he is forsaken by God whom however he ought to adore A Messiah born with the weaknesses of Youth who at the same time is called a mighty God and the Father of Eternity c. However these Idea's which seem so opposite ought of necessity to have been so separated by the Prophets least they should have been looked upon as Chimerical Descriptions and incompatible in one and the same Subject A second Reflexion which may be made upon this Matter is That the Jews were bound not only to preserve their Oracles but also to execute them in part Thus for instance there was a necessity for them to reject the Messiah to deliver him up to the Gentiles to be crucified there was a necessity that their punishment should be as signal as their Crime and that they should be dispersed over the World after the Destruction of Jerusalem as the Prophets have clearly shewn Now how could all this have ever been effected if the Description of the Messiah by the Prophets had been as Historical as that of the Apostles or the Evangelists who gave us only a Narrative of Matters of Fact. In a word was it not the interest of the Gentiles to whom the Gospel was to be preached that these Oracles should be scattered up and down the Writings of these ancient Authors They were to be Called upon the Rejection of the Jews The Jews were bound to preserve the Books of the Old Testament after they were cast off by God that the Authority of these Books and these Oracles might be beyond all contest as Testimonies with which we are furnished by the adverse Party which ought to have place until the fulness of the Gentiles should profess Christianity Let any one therefore judge if it was not necessary in this state of Affairs that there should be some obscurity in the Prophetical Descriptions and by consequence that this interweaving of foreign Idea's with those which concerned the Messiah as also this dispersion of the Oracles through different places of the Sacred Writers was not necessary and so much the more as they were uttered upon several Occasions by different Authors And we may affirm it as a certainty That according to the purpose of God this obscurity did not hinder either Jews or Pagans from perceiving those ruling Idea's of a Messiah when they read the Old Testament Neither was the dispersion of these Oracles through so many different places any greater hindrance to their application since the Jews laid it down as a constant Maxime That the accomplishment of every thing which we find to be foretold as great and illustrious by the Prophets ought to be looked for in the Person of the Messiah when the
foretold in the Second Psalm II. He observes That the Empire of the Messiah was to begin at Jerusalem or Sion which was then to be under the power of his Enemies III. He expresly points out the quick extent of the Kingdom of the Messiah with the Character of those who should submit to him without constraint or violence which was much practised under Moses's Law. IV. He positively asserts That the Messiah should be established a Priest after the order of Melchisedech which would overturn the whole Levitical Priesthood which then was to have an end Yet the very same King who designed the Draught of the Temple which Solomon built some time after undermines the Foundations of this material Building and clearly supposes that the Levitical Ministry which was fixed to Solomon's Temple should last no longer than until the Coming of the Messiah V. He particularly takes notice That the Messiah should by the Divine Assistance destroy all that should oppose his power and should bring all things under his Dominion as a Conquerour who should overturn all things with the utmost violence Nothing can be greater than these several Oracles nothing can be more particular than his description of the Glory to which the Messiah was to be advanced after that prodigious Humiliation which is described in the XXII Psalm But what can we suppose to be the reason of David's speaking of the Messiah in this Psalm This I am further to consider One may say that the Jews did not constantly apply these Prophecies to the Messiah before the Coming of Jesus Christ without good grounds They could not apply them to any of David's Successors none of David's Successors was both King and Priest Uzziah was the only man who dared to usurp the Priesthood and he was punished by God himself The Maccabees were not of David's Tribe but were Levites and none of them ever went up into Heaven to set at the right hand of God. Besides their Kingdom did not begin in Sion and they never brought any other Kings under their Authority They applyed it therefore to the Messiah 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 those Prophecies in the person of the Messiah which they could never sind to be fulfilled any where else when at the same time they knew that the exactness and truth of those Predictions could not be any ways contested In short it plainly appears that they did unanimously apply it to the Messiah before Jesus Christ came into the World from the manner of their confessing it to our Saviour when he pressed them with the CX Psalm tho' they could not explain the manner how David should call the Messiah Lord when they allow'd him to be his Son Matth. XXII 48. One see 's nothing so frequently urg'd by the Apostles as this CX Psalm they use it upon all Occasions to prove that Jesus Christ had the Characters of the true Messiah such as David had given him in the CX Psalm supposing still as a thing beyond dispute that David spoke of the Messiah in this famous Prophecy So that what Evasions soever the Jews may endeavour to make use of yet they cannot deny but that their most famous Doctors since Jesus Christ have upon several Occasions follow'd the old Notions of the Synagogue in this matter One finds in their Writings great numbers of Testimonies which confirm this Truth I shall not mention them at present because they are well enough known and because I would make haste to come to that new degree of Revelations which God gave to those Prophets who gave new Characters of the Messiah to the Jewish Nation for some Ages after David's time They are in too great a number to be spoken of one by one and I am forced to range them under certain Heads tho' I intend at the same time to make more particular Reflexions upon some of those which give us an account of the most remarkable Truths and so by that means furnish us with the most sensible Character whereby we may know more certainly the person whom God proposed to his People in such a manner as the Saviour of Israel and whom he had before called The Expectation of the Gentiles CHAP. XII That the Messiah was to have a Forerunner and what was to be his Character WE shall make it manifest in the sequel of the Discourse That the Messiah was to appear in a very despicable state and consequently that his Appearance would be very distastful to those who expected him in the splendour of a great King and Conquerour To oppose this preconceived Opinion of theirs the Divine Wisdom thought fit to appoint one to be his Forerunner who should call the Jews to Repentance and a Reformation of their Lives and form in them a true Notion of the Ministry of the Messiah as of a Person who was to prescribe to them Laws of the greatest purity and holiness And indeed in examining the holy Scriptures we find That the Appearance of the Messiah was to be usher'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 Isaiah verse 3. where the Prophet speaks thus before the Destruction of the first Temple Isai XL. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the Desert a High way for our God. Abenezra The Jews acknowledge that this Chapter speaks of the comfort the Messiah was to procure for his People and that the Voice mention'd here refers to those who were to declare and proclaim his Coming We meet with a second Prophecy in Malachy who prophecied after the Rebuilding of the Temple and who having shut up the Vision precisely points at the Time wherein he was to appear viz. during the second Temple Chap. III. verse 1 2 3 4. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts 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 sope And he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an Offering in Righteousness The Jews own that these words also of Malachy R. Saad speak of the Forerunner of the Messias But we ought to observe in the foregoing Passages 1. That they have a manifest Relation to the Time of the Messiah's coming should the Jews deny this as indeed they unanimously acknowledge it it would be an easie matter to convince them 1. By urging the Authority of the Evangelists
who apply these very Passages to the Ministry of John the Baptist Thus we find that St. Matthew and St. Matth. III. 1 Mark I. 2 Mark make a manifest Allusion to these two Prophecies Zachary also the Father of John the Baptist applyes that of Isaiah to his Son and his Authority is the more considerable because he was a Priest 2. By an attentive considering the Passages themselves 3. By the common consent of the Jewish Church who by a generally received and undoubted Tradition that Elijah the Tishbite the Septuagint in their Translation of that place of Malachy telling us as much was to be the Forerunner of the Messiah and we find that in the time of our Saviour the Multitude and his Disciples supposed the same thing And the Jews at this day have the same perswasion viz. That Elias is to come before the Appearance of the Messiah from which Tradition of the Jews the Christians of old did and many at this day do believe That Elias shall resume the Functions of his Ministry before the last coming of Jesus Christ to Judge the Quick and the Dead 2. We may observe That the Character of the Forerunner of the Messiah 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 whose Ministry was without dispute the most remarkable and illustrious of all the Prophets since Moses which gave the Prophet Malachy occasion to call him Elias much upon a like account as the Prophet Ezekiel calls the Messiah Ezek. XXXIV 23 24. David But above all things we must carefully observe the several Marks the Prophets give us of this Forerunner The Prophet Isaiah gives us these following particulars 1. That his Ministry was to be very signal and attended with general Respect and Veneration 2. That he was to preach in the Wilderness 3. That he was to call Sinners to Repentance 4. That he was to confound those who were most eminent in Authority and to comfort the Poor and Humble 5. That he was immediately to precede the Messiah 6. That his Ministry was to usher 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 Messiah to his Religion according to the express Declaration of the Prophets The Prophet Malachy doth most distinctly represent to us 1. That the Mission of this Forerunner was not far off Behold saith he I send my Messenger He speaks of it as of a thing at the Door Now it is evident and the Jews themselves own it That from the Time of Malachy there was never a Prophet till the Appearance of John the Baptist. 2. It tells us that this Elias was to call Sinners to Repentance and to prepare the way before the face of the Lord. 3. That he was immediately to precede the Messias this he expresses by saying And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddainly come to his Temple even the Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in It is evident that he speaks here of the Messiah whom he calls Psalm II. not only the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant but also the Lord The Lord forasmuch as God had promised him as a King to the House of David and the Angel of the Covenant because God by him was to make a new Covenant with the Nations of the Earth as Jeremy declares Chap. XXXI CHAP. XIII That the Messiah was to be born before the dissolution of the Jewish State and the Destruction of the Second Temple THE preceding Mark of the Messiah leads us to this we are now to speak of and affords it considerable Light. I will not repeat here what I have already set down concerning that Prophecy Gen. XLIX verse 10. concerning the Time when our Saviour was to appear in the World It is evident at first sight That that Prophecy evidences Three things 1. That the Scepter was to be in the House of Judah before ever the Shiloh was to come 2. That the Scepter was to give way to an inferiour Dignity which the Prophet sets forth by the word Lawgiver and which did take place till the time of Zerubbabel and his Successors 3. There was a necessity that this last Dignity also was to come to an end which happened not till the Advancement of Herod the Great to the Throne of Judea And it is easie 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 Succession of several Monarchies until that of the Messiah 2. The Time in which the Messiah was to appear I confess he do's not determine the Time very precisely mentioning only the Monarchy during which he was to be manifested 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 exactness that it is impossible to be mistaken about it See what he saith in the IX Chapter of his Revelations Verse 24 25 26 27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy People and upon thy Holy City to finish the Transgression and to make an end of Sins and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness and to Seal up the Vision and Prophecy and to Anoint the most Holy. Verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks the Streets shall be built again and the Wall even in troublous times Verse 26. And after the Threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH be cut off but not for himself And the People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a Flood and unto the end of the War desolations are determined Verse 27. And he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease and for the over-spreading of Abomination he shall make it desolate even until the Consummation and that determined shall be poured on the desolate For the understanding of this Prophecy which is so exact and all the Events it refers to so particularized it is to be observed 1. That by the Weeks Daniel here speaks of Seven Years are designed according to the Stile of the Law Levit. XXV 8. when it speaks of the Year of Jubilee so that Seventy Weeks make out 490 Years which is acknowledged by the most Learned amongst the Jews Jachiades Abarbanel and Manasseh
shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts One ought to observe two very considerable things in this Prophecy The first That the Messiah was to come suddainly The second That Malachy expresly points to us that the appearing of the Messiah was to be during the second Temple the words of the Prophecy distinctly expressing it And sure it is that all who gave any credit to these Oracles did understand them so For first Both Jews and Gentiles looked for the Messiah during the second Temple We find a passage express to the purpose in Tacitus and it was on this ground that Josephus gave the Title of Messiah to Vespasian 2. They expected him at the end of the Seventy Weeks which was the Third Year after the Death of Jesus Christ This was the occasion of their being deluded by so many false Messiah's about the time of our Saviour and a little after 3. They never despair'd of his coming taking the Promise of the Messiah's coming to be conditional when as indeed it was absolute until they began to believe that the term set down by God himself was expired 4. The reason of their cursing those that compute the times set down so distinctly and precisely by Daniel was because they found themselves disappointed in his Calculation finding that the time which Daniel had pointed at for the coming of the Messiah seem'd to be already expired 5. 'T is but of late that they have try'd to evade it by maintaining that the Temple will be built a third time and that then the Messiah shall appear but this evasion is unanswerably refuted 1. Because Daniel assigns a certain term which is expired 1600 Years since 2. Because he expresly tells us That the desolation of the Temple was to be for ever as will appear in the following Chapters And 3dly Because Haggai in effect calls the Temple of which he speaks The second or third House by which expression he so distinctly points out the second Temple to us that it would be ridiculous to suppose it meant of a third Temple to be built 1700 Years after the ruin of that of which he prophecied CHAP. XIV That the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David HItherto we have seen that the Messiah was to be born of the Posterity of Abraham by Isaac of that of Isaac by Jacob and of that of Jacob by Juda. This hath been sufficiently made out already I have also shew'd from the Oracle in the I Sam. Chap. VII That he was to be born of the Posterity of David and we find the same very particularly and fully set down in the LXXXIX Psalm The following Prophets have exprest themselves to the same purpose Isaiah XI vers 1 2 3. and the Prophet Jeremy hath pursued the same Idea's Chap. XXIII vers 5 6. and Chap. XXXIII vers 15 16 17. Neither do the Prophets only distinguish the Messiah by his being born of a Virgin but also by determining that Virgin to the House of David Neither need I repeat here what I have already observ'd That this is a Truth the Grounds whereof God had laid down in his first promise viz. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head where he makes mention of the Seed of the Woman only without naming that of the Man the word of Seed or Posterity very evidently designing a Man to be born of the Woman which is acknowledg'd by the Jews in another Prophecy and the same which the Apostle St. Paul takes notice of as a Maxim generally owned by the Doctors of the Synagogue Galat. III. It is also evident that the word Woman plainly denotes the Sex of which this person was immediately to be born It was obvious to judge That something miraculous was to attend the Birth of the Messiah We see Isaac born of a barren Mother past the Age of Child-bearing We find also something very singular at the Birth of Sampson and Samuel and 't is well known that the promise of the Messiah was something far greater than the Birth of these now mentioned how illustrious soever they might be and that therefore probably his Birth was to be attended by a greater Miracle But because this was a thing wholly new we ought to observe in what manner God did particularly foretel it The Prophecy of Isaiah expresseth it thus Chap. VII vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz saying Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God ask it either in the depth or in the height above But Ahaz said I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said hear ye now O house of David is it a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary my God also Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the Evil and choose the Good for before the Child shall know to refuse the Evil and choose the Good the Land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings The Lord shall bring upon thee upon thy People and upon thy Father's House days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Juda even the King of Assyria Where we may observe 1. That the Promise here is made to a wicked King but of the Family of David to whom the Prophet particularly addresses himself 2. That this Prophecy was given at a juncture of time very capable of awakening their attention to it at a time when the State of the Jews was reduced to the greatest extremity and the House of David in particular in a very great consternation 3. The Prophecy was utter'd by a very illustrious Prophet who was of the Royal Family 4. It was sealed and confirmed with the Prediction of the Birth of a Child which came to pass accordingly 5. It is set forth as a very extraordinary sign instead of that which the wicked King refused to ask when Isaiah offer'd it him in the Name of God. I am not ignorant that the Modern Jews deny that this Character of being born of a Virgin belongs to the Messiah but it is an easie matter to confute them For first Would it not have been ridiculous for the Apostles to go about to apply this Oracle to their Messiah if it had not been a thing universally own'd by the Jews that this was the meaning of Isaiah's Prophecy Is it not evident that this Character so difficult to gain belief would rather perplex than strengthen their proofs And yet certain it is that St. Matthew has done so Chap. I. verse 23. as likewise St. Luke Chap. I. verse 31. Justin Martyr observ'd That the Notion of this
Oracle as we understand it hath been entertain'd amongst the Heathens who built their Fable of Perseus upon it whom they pretend to have been born of a Virgin. 3. It appears that all those Laws which I mentioned in my Reflexions upon Exodus and the following Books Chap. XX. and which have Relation to the distinct knowledge of the state of Virginity receive much light from this Notion and are without it altogether useless 4. 'T is evident that the Jews did not dispute this Character till after they saw that the Christians apply'd it to Jesus Christ and thereupon have fallen upon such childish Fancies as may justly cover them with Confusion But we shall be yet further satisfied hereof if we add to all these just Prejudices only the following Reflexions on the terms the Prophet makes use of The first is That the LXX Interpreters have in translating this Prophecy made use of a word that signifies a Virgin and not a young Woman as the Jews have understood it since our Saviour's time The first who rejected the Interpretation of the Septuagint was Symmachus In Dialog cum Tryphon Tertull. cont Jud. cap. 9. who lived in the second Century as it is observed by Justin Martyr and Tertullian who for this reason accuse the Jews of having falsified the Holy Scripture The second is That the Hebrew word expresly signifies such an one as according to the Law of Virgins was kept under Lock and Key from the Eyes of Men according to the custom of the Eastern Nations and especially of the Jews which continues amongst them till this day The third is That this word hath been taken by the Africans in the same signification as St. Jerome observes The fourth is That the Prophet doth set forth this Child-bearing as a Prodigy and Miracle altogether unheard of and as a particular Character by which the House of David was to be strongly confirmed in the hope of seeing the accomplishment of the Promise which God had made of setling an eternal Kingdom upon it which could not be accomplished but by means of the Messiah The fifth is That tho' some Jews have applyed this Prophecy to King Hezekiah Raschi in h. l. which yet to others of them seems very ridiculous he being Nine years of Age when the Prophecy was uttered by Isaiah and themselves never making use of this Evasion except in their Disputes against the Christians and so on this occasion have dropt a Confession which alone was sufficient to confound them Yet it hath been a thing so generally received amongst them That this Prophecy did respect the Messiah that after they had applyed it to Hezekiah one of their most famous Doctors concludes Gemar in Sanhed Cap. Chelech That they ought to look for no Messiah since the time of Hezekiah that Prophecy having had its accomplishment in him an Opinion which those that succeeded him have rejected with the greatest abhorrence The sixth is That the Title of Immanuel given to this Son whose Birth is here promised is represented to us Chap. VIII as the Name of him who was Lord of the Land which is a true Representation of the Heir promised to David to whom David said O God thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows Psal XLV 7 8. The seventh is That the Prophet Isaiah having alledged and cited two Witnesses Uriah the Son of Shemaiah a Prophet who was put to death by Jehoiakim and Zechariah the Son of Jeberechiah the former of which lived long after Ahaz and the latter since the Captivity under Darius King of Persia according to the account the Jews themselves give of them he sufficiently hints by this Circumstance That the Prophecy concerning the Birth of the Immanuel he speaks of was to be fulfill'd many Ages after and not in that Age wherein he prophecies CHAP. XV. That the Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem of the Family of David which at that time was reduc'd to a private state GOD had not only pointed out the time in which the Messiah was to appear with the miraculous Manner and Circumstances of his Birth but he had also named the Family the Place with the State and Condition of the Family in which he was to be born as a triple Character by which he might be known I say first That according to the Divine Oracles the Messiah was to be born of the Family of David as will appear if we consider the following Oracles 1. God expresly promiseth as much to David II Sam. Chap. VII a place I have quoted before which proves that the Messiah was to be born of the Family of David 2. It appeareth that David believ'd this himself from Psalm CXXXII vers 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 and 18. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David he will not turn from it of the fruit of thy Body will I set upon thy Throne And after having said Verse 12. That if his Children would keep his Covenant that their Children also should sit upon his Throne for evermore And this because Vers 13 14. the Lord had chosen Zion and desired it for his habitation c. and promised Verse 15. That he would abundantly bless her Provision and satisfie her Poor with Bread that he would Verse 16. Clothe her Priests with Salvation and make her Saints shout for joy He subjoyns Vers 17 18. There I will make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a Lamp for mine Anointed His Enemies I will clothe with shame but upon himself shall his Crown flourish It is very evident That by this Horn of David is to be meant a King the Messiah whom he distinguishes by that Expression from all the rest of David's Children And Zachariah in his Song of Praise Luke I. verse 69. applying it to our Saviour puts the Matter out of all doubt 3. Hence it was the Prophets took occasion to give to the Messiah the Name of David So Ezek. XXXIV vers 23 24. And I will set up one Shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my Servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepherd And I the Lord will be their God and my Servant David a Prince among them I the Lord have spoken it 4. The Jews are and have always been firm in this perswasion grounded on the foresaid and other like places of Scripture which they constantly refer to the Messiah I say in the second place That the Divine Oracles expresly point out Bethlehem for the Birth-place of the Messiah Micah the V. Verse 2. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from the days of Eternity The Jews acknowledge that this Oracle speaks of the Messiah and indeed the Prophet distinguishing by Bethlehem adding the word Ephratah whence the Family
of the shadow of Death upon them hath the light shined Thou hast multiplyed the Nation thou hast encreased the joy they joy before thee according to the joy in Harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil I shall afterwards take notice That the time of the Messiah was to be distinguished by an incredible abundance of Spiritual Gifts and so this shall suffice at present to prove that the Messiah was to be a very great Prophet CHAP. XVIII That the Messiah was to propound a new Covenant from God with all men THis is a Truth which is easily gathered 1. Because all Nations before they could be made partakers of the Blessing of God by the Messiah according to the promise made to Abraham were first to be received into the Covenant 2. From the nature of that Covenant it self of which Moses was the Mediator the end of which was to separate the Jews from other Nations some of which were not capable of being received amongst them till after several Generations whereas they were to be made partakers of this Blessing by the Messiah 3. Because in effect all the Ceremonial Law was only added to the Moral as it were contrary to God's principal intention and only upon occasion of the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf as St. Gal. 3.19 Paul observes in the Third Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians Besides it appears that God at divers times had given sufficient hints concerning this 1. He had proposed a new Priesthood of the Messiah which was to abolish the Levitical Priesthood and this is the more remarkable forasmuch as David who pronounced that Oracle Psalm CX was he who first form'd the design of building the Temple to which all the Levitical Service was annexed 2. We find him rejecting in some sort the Levitical Ministry after he had despised it in comparison of the Spiritual Worship Psalm XL. vers 6. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened Burnt-offering and Sin-offering hast thou not required And Psalm L. vers 8 9 10. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy Burnt-offerings which have been continually before me I will take no Bullocks out of thine House nor He-goats out of thy Folds for every Beast of the Forest is mine and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills And Psalm LI. verse 17. he tells us that the Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit in opposition to the Sacrifices which the Law prescribed and to signifie their imperfection the Law having appointed none for the expiation of Murther or Adultery Isaiah follows David Chap. 1. vers 11 12 13 14 and 15. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats When you come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood And Jeremiah speaks much to the same purpose Chap. VII v. 21 22 23. But besides God directly promiseth this new Covenant by Isaiah Chap. XLII vers 6 7. I the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentiles To open the blind eyes to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness from the Prison house It is natural to observe That in this place where God speaks of the Messiah as the Jews themselves confess he expresly declares two things 1. That the Messiah should be a Covenant of the People that is that he should mediate a Covenant between God and the People 2. That the fruit of this Covenant was to extend to the Gentiles which plainly implyes that it was not the old Covenant forasmuch as from it several were excluded The same Covenant is also mention'd Chap. XLIX vers 8 9. Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the People to establish the Earth to cause to inherit the desolate Heritages That thou maist say to the Prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness shew your selves they shall feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in all High-places He pursues the same Notion Chap. LV. vers 3 4. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you the sure mercies of David Behold I have given him for a Witness to the People a Leader and Commander to the People Than which nothing can be more particular And to the same purpose he speaks Chap. LXI vers 8 9. For I the Lord love Judgment I hate robbery for Burnt-offering and I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them And their Seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their Off-spring among the people all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the Seed which the Lord hath blessed It is as clear as the day That God in these Oracles promiseth an irrevocable Covenant because he calls it an Everlasting Covenant in opposition to the former He takes notice also in the same Book That the said Covenant was to be propounded in the midst of the Nations and that then that Blessing of God should be known according to the ancient Oracles which was promised universally to all Nations This is that which God more particularly explains afterwards by the voice and pen of a Prophet who was of the order of Priests thereby to prevent all sorts of Exceptions Jeremiah in effect speaks to the same purpose Chap. XXXI vers 31 32 33 34 35 and 36. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake altho' I were a husband to them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their heart and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall
he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell asleep and was gathered to his Fathers and saw corruption But he whom God raised again saw no corruption In like manner we find St. Paul alluding to that of Hosea XIII vers 14. in I Cor. XV. vers 55. O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory CHAP. XXII That the Messiah was to ascend into Heaven and send down from thence the miraculous Gifts of Prophecy Languages c. THis was a thing which might rationally enough be expected Deut. XVIII 18. for the Messiah being to resemble Moses who had not only the Gifts of the Holy Spirit himself but also in a manner communicated the same to the Heads of the Congregation of Israel it was reasonable to infer That the Messiah was to receive much more eminent Gifts and to communicate them to far greater numbers But besides this God had expresly promised it by David Psalm CX vers 1 2. where he represents the Messiah sitting at the right hand of God. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool The Lord shall send the Rod of thy strength out of Zion Rule thou in the midst of thine Enemies It is worth our noting that Daniel represents to us the same Notion where he speaks of the Kingdom of the Messiah Chap. VII vers 13 14. I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him And there was given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed Where doth God dwell unless in Heaven David expresses himself in term which import something too great to be applyed to the Symbolical Ark of the Covenant Psalm XXIV vers 7 8 9. Lift up your heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Who is this King of Glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel c. He speaks further of the glorious Kingdom of the Messiah Psalm XLV vers 5 6 7. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies whereby the people fall under thee 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 the oyl of Gladness above thy fellows 'T is evident that David addresses himself there to the Messiah because he stiles him a God anointed above his Fellows And he pursues the same Idea Psalm LXVIII vers 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell amongst them Nothing can be imagined more express than these words which lively represent to us the Ascension of the Messiah and the pouring forth of Prophetical Gifts to bring the Heathens to the Service of God. Isaiah speaks the same Chap. XLIV vers 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thine Off-spring The waters here spoken of according to the ordinary stile of the Prophets are nothing else but the Graces of God's Spirit Joel expresses himself very plainly in this matter Chap. II. vers 28 29 30 31 32. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit And I will shew wonders in the Heavens and in the Earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before the great and terrible Day of the Lord come And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call Nothing can be conceived more particular than this Oracle concerning the effusion of the Prophetical Gifts upon the Servants of the Messiah after his Ascension For 1. he clearly hints at the several ways of Prophecy which shall be bestowed upon the Subjects of the Messiah 2. That this great Event was to be before the Destruction of Jerusalem which St. Peter foretels as a thing at the Door Acts II. vers 30 31 32. after he had shewed that the wonderful effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost was a litteral accomplishing of the Prophecy of Joel he adds Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an Oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne he seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his Soul was not left in Hell neither his Flesh did see Corruption This Jesus has God raised up whereof we all are witnesses Ezechiel goes on with the same views with Joel Chap. XXXVI vers 26 and 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them And Chap. XXXIX verse 29. Neither will I hide my face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit upon the House of Israel saith the Lord God. And Zachariah agrees with both the foregoing Prophets Chap. XII verse 10. And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his First-born 'T is obvious to make these following Observations upon these Oracles 1. That the Messiah was to be raised above the reach of any of his Enemies 2. That he was to ascend to Heaven and to be instated there in Glory in order to his being dignified and glorified above all Nations 3. That he was from thence to send down Prophetical Graces plentifully which made his entrance into Heaven a kind of Triumph 4. That this great Event was to precede the destruction of Jerusalem to which the Prophet Joel in the fore-cited place seems to allude The Messiah was to form