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SER M. xviii. 18. xxii. 18. This Promife was firft
I. made to Abraham in Perfon; In thee shall all

Families of the Earth be bleffed, Gen. xii. 3.
fee also c. 18. because the Meffiah was then
included in his Loins, the Promife, faith St.
Stephen, being made to him, when as yet he
had no Child. But when Isaac was born,
the Meffiah was then no longer in Abraham,
but in his Seed; and therefore the Terms of
the Prophecy were altered. In thy Seed fhall all
Nations of the Earth be blessed, Gen.xxii. 18.
But Abraham, it is well known, had two Sons,
one by a Bond-woman, the other by a Free
one, and he seeming to be in doubt in which of
them it was defigned the Promise should be
fulfilled; God graciously appears to him again,
more than
once, and is pleased to affure him,
that though both his Sons should become the
Heads of mighty Nations, yet it was with Isaac
that he purposed to establish his Covenant,
and that in him the Seed of Abraham should
be called, Gen. xvii. 18, 21. xxi. 12. Ifaac
accordingly has the Covenant renewed to him
in his own Perfon, when God appeared to
him at Gerar, and renewed the Promise he
had made to his Father, that in HIS Seed
fhould all the Nations of the Earth be blessed.
4. The Holy Patriarch undoubtedly

ch. xxvi.

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rejoiced

rejoiced at the Continuance of these Hopes in his Family, but was willing to expect the Completion of them from a rejected Branch, c. xxv. 28. Efau had engaged the Affections of his Father, and therefore upon him the Patriarch endeavours to confer the glorious Prerogative of having the promised Seed conveyed to the World through him. But it was not for him who had profanely set his Birthright to fale, to enjoy the Privileges that always went with it. Jacob by a divine Impulse undoubtedly had purchased it, and confequently the Bleffing that belonged to it: And therefore when his old Father would have entailed it upon Efau, God interpofes to guide his Hands, and to direct them to Jacob's Head where they ought to have been laid.

SER M.

And to convince Jacob that the Promise was now confirmed to HIM, God appears to him in a Dream at Padan Aram, and there renews with him the Covenant he had made to his Fathers, to Abraham and to Ifaac, and affures him that in HIM and in his Seed fhould all the Families of the Earth be blessed, Gen. xxviii. 14. Jacob was happy in a very numerous Iffue; Gen. xlix. twelve Sons and a Daughter were born to him in his House, and of thefe Judah was chofen to be Progenitor of

the

I.

SER M. the Meffiah, ver. 4.

I.

Reuben had afcended

his Father's Couch; Simeon and Levi were Brethren in Iniquity, ver. 5. and Instruments of Cruelty; and therefore Judah the fourth born, was the first that was found worthy from whom should come the chief Ruler in Ifrael. To him therefore the dying Patriarch, when he called together his Sons to receive his final Bleffings, confines the Promise of the Meffiah to come, declaring that the Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his Feet, until Shilob come, and unto him fhould the gathering of the People be, ver. 10. A Promife much more express than any that had been before. To Abraham, to Ifaac, and to Jacob it was only revealed in general, that in their Seed all Nations of the Earth should be blessed. But here there is not only a Limitation of his Stock and Tribe, but the Time alfo and ConSequence of his coming are declared. It was to be before the Scepter fhould depart from JUDAH, or a Lawgiver from between his Feet, i. e. (as the Jerufalem Targum here expounds it) Kings fhould not ceafe from the House of Judah till Shilob, i. e. He who fhould introduce Profperity and Safety, should make his Appearance in the World. The

Con

Confequence of which is declared in the next Words, and to him shall the gathering of the People be. Bishop Sherlock in his Difcourfe on Prophecy, p. 321-5, refers these Words not to Shiloh, but to Judah, i. e. all Nations both Jews and Gentiles fhall fubmit to and obey him; but though the Time and Confequence was here foretold, the Prophecy was nevertheless sufficiently obfcure. It implied, it is true, plainly enough that Shiloh fhould come when the Scepter fhould depart from Judah, and a Lawgiver from between bis Feet: But when that Defect fhould hap pen, is ftill left undetermined. It seems too that all Nations fhould be gathered to this Shiloh; but in what manner, or to what end is not clearly expreffed. Thefe Particulars were left to be explained by clearer Revelations afterwards: So that all that the Patriarchs could with any Certainty conclude from the Prediction, was only this; that as he who fhould blefs all Nations of the Earth was to defcend from Abraham, from Ifaac and Jacob; fo fhould he fpring from the particular Tribe of Judah, and that too before the ordinary Government fhould ceafe from thence. About 470 Years indeed after the firft Promife made to Abraham, Mofes gives the Jews

SERM.

I.

fome

I.

SER M. fome glimmering Light into the Nature of this univerfal Bleffing. Deut xviii. 5. The Lord thy God (faith he) will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the Midst of thee, of thy Brethren, like unto me, unto him fhall ye bearken. Which words expressly declare that he should be a Prophet, and his being a Prophet like unto Mofes plainly inferred, that he should not only deliver them from the Tyranny and Oppreffion of those that held them in Bondage, but be alfo a Lawgiver as he was, and the Author of a new Difpenfation, or the Mediator of a new Covenant, as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews declares Jefus to be. Heb. xii. 24. And that these Words of Mofes fhould not be understood of any Prophet among the Jews, but be neceffarily interpreted of the Meffiah, we are told in the laft Chapter of the Book of Deut. ver. 10. that there arose not any other Prophet in Ifrael like unto Mofes.

other

And thus I have fhewn you what Light we may gather from Mofes or the Pentateuch towards finding out the Meffiah. From whence we find that he must be born of a Woman, defcended from Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob; must be of the Tribe of Judah, and must make his Appearance before the Sceptre or

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