SERM.

II.

I. FIRST, to enquire, what thofe Things are, which Mofes in the Law, and the Prophets did write, concerning the Messiah, and

then

II. SECONDLY, to fhew how all thofe Things were really fulfilled in Jefus of Nazareth, the then fuppofed Son of Jofeph.

By the first of these, I told you, we should discover the feveral Marks by which the Meffiah was to be known, when he came : By the fecond it would appear that all these Marks concurred in fefus: From whence it would follow beyond all Contradiction, that Jefus of Nazareth, here called the Son of Jofeph, was the Meffiab foretold by Mofes and the Prophets.

The first of thefe Heads I then went through; by collecting feveral of the plainest Paffages in the Old Testament, fuch as may beft affift us to discover the Meffias, and to diftinguish him from any falfe Pretender to the Character.

From Mofes, or the five Books written by him, I fhewed that the Meffiah was in a peculiar Manner to be the Seed of the Woman ; was to defcend from Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; was to be of the Tribe of Judah';

was

4

II.

was to make his Appearance before the Scep- SER M. tre or Dominion fhould ceafe from that Tribe; was to be a Deliverer of his Church from Bondage and Oppression; was to give them a new Law; and to be the Author of a new Difpenfation. From the Books of the Prophets, we gained the additional Light, that he was to be of the Stock and Lineage of David; that he was to be born of a Virgin, and in the City of Bethlehem; was to make his Appearance in the fecond Temple; and that within 500 Years after the going forth of the Commandment to restore and rebuild the Holy City.

And that the Bleffed Jefus of Nazareth, the then fuppofed Son of Joseph, answered all these feveral Characters, and fo fulfilled all the Prophecies concerning the Meffiah, is the Business of my fecond Head to fhew. And this, if we believe a pretended Reprefenter of the Grounds and Reafons of the Chriftian Religion, is the more neceffary to be done, because it is the beft, and, according to him, the only Proof we have for Chriftianity. But though we contend with as much Seriousness and Reality, as he does with Mockery and Ridicule, that the Prophecies recited in my last Discourse relate to the Mef

fab

.II.

SERM. fiab, and that Jefus did truly fulfil thofe Prophecies; yet we can by no means allow that this is the only Ground and Foundation upon which the Chriftian Religion is built. If it were; hard would be the Cafe of the poor Heathens, who, upon this Supposition, must be brought a strange round-about way, to the Faith of the Gofpel, and cannot be perfuaded of the Truth of the New Teftament before they have made themselves Masters of the Old. But St. Paul thought otherwife, and therefore took quite different Measures: For when he reasoned with the Athenians, Acts xvii. 31. he did not endeavour to convert them to the Faith by fhewing how Jefus had fulfilled the Characters given of him by the Prophets, (whom none of the Athenians knew any Thing of, or if they did, had no Reverence or Esteem for them ;) but he convinced them by appealing to plain Matters of Fact, Things capable of undeniable Evidence and Demonftration; he appealed to the Miracles which Jefus wrote, particularly to that great one of his Refurrection from the Dead; the Fame of which had probably reached the Athenians before, and which, as the Apostle could shew it to be true, the Athenians could not but readily admit, as a certain Proof of his coming from God, And

II.

And indeed if Miracles, wrought in Con- SERM. firmation of a Divine Commiffion, be not of themselves a fufficient Ground whereon to acknowledge fuch a Commiffion in the Perfon that works them; even the Jews themselves must stand condemned for being too eafy of Belief, in admitting Mofes as a Mefsenger from God, upon the Credit of the Mi→ racles, which at God's Command he wrought to convince them. For it is very well known, that there were no Prophecies of Mofes, given of him beforehand, to foretell his coming : And yet the Ifraelites adhered to and followed him, upon Account of his Miracles. This therefore is fufficient to fhew that even the Miracles which Jesus wrought (and which had all the Appearance we can poffibly defire, that they were really wrought by the Power of God) are a Proof and Demonftration that he really and truly came from God; although we knew nothing of any foregoing Predictions, or whether he had fulfilled any Prophecies or not. Confequently the Truth of our Saviour and his Doctrine does not depend fo wholly and entirely, upon the Evidence of Prophecy, as the Adverfary to our Faith, whom I just now mentioned, would infinuate and fuggeft. An Adverfary to our Faith I furely

may

SERM may call him, fince it plainly appears that he would confine us to this Teft of the Truth and Certainty of the Chriftian Revelation, only because he thinks it the most precarious one, and the cafieft to be difputed.

But furely one would wonder what Service could be proposed to the Cause of Infidelity, by endeavouring to render the Prophecies concerning Jefus confufed and obfcure. For it has been asked fince, and very judiciously *; what Ground or Pretence is there, to enquire whether the Prophecies, forefhewing that the Chrift or Messiah fhould die and rise again, do really and truly belong to Jefus unless we are first satisfied that Jefus did die and rife again? And if the Refurrection of Jefus be allowed; what would Unbelievers gain by difcrediting the Prophecies? For the Event will be what it is, let the Prophecies be what they will 'Tis plain then, † that the Matters, related in the Gofpel, do not depend for their Reality upon the Evidence of Prophecy : Since the Facts may be true, though never foretold, or foretold obfcurely; nay they must actually be admitted as true; before we can enquire whether there be any Prophecy that foretels them.

:1

Bilhop Sherlock on the Ufe and Intention of Prophecy. p.

† Ibid. p. 46.

But