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SER M. Name of Immanuel, here given him, which

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is, being interpreted, faith St. Matthew, God with us.

From hence then it is evident that the Birth of the Meffiah was to be miraculous and divine, that he was to be conceived and born of a pure Virgin. And this Jeremiah fome Time after again confirms in those Words, The Lord hath created a new Thing upon the Earth, a Woman shall compass a Man, Jer. xxxi. 22. The creating a Woman from Man only had been before, but the bringing a Man from Woman, was what God had never before done; and therefore it is here called a new Thing; and this new Thing is therefore called a Creation, because it was wrought in a Woman only.

And now though one would think here were Marks fufficient to diftinguish the Chrift, whenever he should appear; yet at last to complete and close the whole, God is graciously pleased to foretel almost the very Year he should be born in, that fo none but those who were wilfully blind should help obferving it. Seventy Weeks from the building of the City.

determined by Daniel, c. ix. 24, &c. to end the Jewish Policy, which according to the Jewish Cultom of reckoning seven Years to a Week,

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Week, amount to 490 Years, within which SER M. Time it was fo evidently and peremptorily determined, that Meffiab fhould be cut off, but not for himself, that Nehemiah*, a Hebrew Teacher who lived about the End of that Time, openly declared that the Appearance of the Meffiah, fignified by Daniel, could not be deferred above 50 Years. And, as if this Revelation was not fufficiently clear; Haggai ch. ii, 6, 7, 9. joins his. Teftimony about 12 Years afterwards, by affuring them that the Appearance of the Meffiab fhould be during the Time that the fecond Temple ftood, the Glory of which fhould for that Reason be greater than the Glory of the former. For thus faith the Lord of Hofts, yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the Heavens, and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land; and I will Shake all Nations, and the Defire of all Na tions fhall come, and I will fill this House with Glory, faith the Lord of Höfts.The Glory of this latter Houfe fhall be greater than of the former, faith the Lords of Hofts. Now it is certain that the outward Pomp and Magnificence of the fecond Temple was nothing equal to that of the firft: For we are told that the old Men who faw the first Temple, * Grot. de Veritat. 1. 5. §. 14. C 2

wept

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SERM. wept to fee this fo much inferior, Ezra ii. 12, 13. And the Prophet Haggai in this Chapter infers as much, by afking that Question in the third Verfe, Who is left among you that faw this Houfe in her firft Glory? and how do you fee it now? is it not in your Eyes in Comparifon as nothing? And befides the Difference in the Grandeur, the learned Jews obferve that five Things of great Importance, which added much to the Dignity of the former Temple, were wanted in the latter*, as via. The holy Fire fent down from Heaven to confume the Burnt Offering; The Shechinak, or Glory that appeared between the Cherubim; The Spirit of Prophecy with which those that were called to that Office were endued ; The Prefence of the Ark, from whence God gave his Answers by an audible. Voice, and wherein were contained the two Tables of the Covenant, the Pot of Manna, and Aaron's rod that budded; and the Urim and Thummim, by which the High Prieft was miraculously inftructed in the Will of God: To which may be added the Want alfo and Lofs of the Holy Oil, which was made by Mofes for the anointing and confecrating of the King, the High Prieft and the Sacred

Confule Prideaux, Vol. I. p. 145. and p. 159. ad 161. 8.
Veffels

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Veffels made Ufe of in the Houfe of God, SER M. So that all these Preheminencies being loft, there remains no other Account to be given, why the Glory of the fecond Temple should exceed that of the former, unless we expound it by the coming of him into it, in whom all those Signs of the divine Glory were far more eminently contained; as Malachi, the last of the Prophets, again foretold above 100 Years afterwards; Mal. iii. 1. The Lord (faith he) whom ye feek, shall fuddenly come to his Temple; even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, be fhall come, faith the Lord of Hofts. The Characters here given of the Person that is to come, cannot poffibly be applied to any other than the Meffiah, and therefore fince it from hence again appears, that he was to be born during the standing of the second Temple, it must neceffarily follow that he was to come before that Temple was deftroyed.

And thus I have fhewn that the coming of the Meffiah was foretold and fignified in the plaineft Manner that could be expected or devised; we have feen who were to be his Progenitors, where he was to be born, in what Manner he was to be conceived, and

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SERM. the

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very Time and Year almoft of his com ing, and all this before Chrift or Chriftians were known in the World. It remains therefore now that I examine, whether thefe Circumstances foretold so long before, do really agree in our Jefus, i. e. in Jefus of Nazareth, the Son of Jofeph.

But this must be the Subject of an entire Difcourfe, I fhall therefore at present only draw an Inference from what has been faid and fo conclude.

The Inference from this exact Completion of these Prophecies in the Perfon of our Lord, will better follow from a fubfequent Difcourfe, where that Completion will be fhewn At prefent give me Leave only to point out to you the Goodness of God to the Patriarchs and Fathers of the Old Testament, in revealing and foretelling this Salvation to them. Since without this Revelation, and Renewal of it too, in the feveral Ages of this World, the Hopes of Mankind must entirely have funk, together with their Innocence, and the Sentence denounced upon them in Confequence of the Fall have driven them to Despair. To convey to them new Hopes therefore, and to encourage them to go on with the Practice of Religion, no fooner had our firft Parents

disobeyed

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