tifies the Completion of it in our Jefus. Mo-SER M. fes truly faid unto the Fathers, &c. To treat of these Words in a Method ferviceable to my general Design, I shall I. FIRST premife, what the Office of a Prophet was. II. SECONDLY, I fhall fhew that Mofes, in this famous and celebrated Prediction, fpoke of the Chrift; and confequently foretold that Chrift should be a Prophet. III. THIRDLY, I fhall prove that Jefus was that very Prophet whom Mofes means; that he did every Thing which that Prophet was to do, and fo far anfwered the Character of the Chrift. J. FIRST, I shall premise what the Office of a Prophet was. And here it is necessary to obviate a Mistake which fome Perfons are apt to conceive, (from the bare Etymology or Derivation of the Word in the Greek) that the Office of a Prophet is always to FORETEL Things to come, by the Spirit of God. Whereas, in Truth, their Office was not confined to future Events only, but extended to the declaring and revealing the Will of God, at large (whatever Time it refpected) by Divine VII. VII. SERM. Infpiration. So that the Word PROPHESYING, fignifies no more, in its firft Acceptation, than the * Speaking from, or, instead of another. For thus we read that God faid to Mofes, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron fhall be thy Prophet, Exod. vii. 1. And what God means by Prophet in this Place, he himself explains in another, viz. He fhall be thy Spokesman unto the People; and he fhall be, even he shall be unto thee inftead of a Mouth, and thou shalt be to him inftead of God, Chap. iv. 16. From whence it appears that Prophefying, as I faid, is not to be confined, in the true Acceptation of it, to the foretelling only what is future ;-but denotes at large the declaring the Mind and Will of God, in any Matter (when it relates to Things future, present, or paft) by Divine Infpiration. Accordingly we find the Woman of Samaria, John iv. 19, 29. inferred that our Saviour was a Prophet, not from his foretelling her any Thing to come, but from his having told her all Things that ever she had done. And it was on this Account chiefly, that Mofes was always accounted by the Jews, the Prince of their Prophets: For we know that *Пeò, in Compofition, fignifies fometimes the fame as mo. See Hammond on Luke i. Note (2). . VII. his Predictions are the leaft Part of his Writings; SER M.. that they are even as nothing in Comparison with the Predictions of other Prophets; and therefore the fuperlative Character, he fuftained, was owing to his other numerous, clear, and manifeft Declarations of the Commands of God. But here let me, by Way of Caution, put in, that, although I represent the Office of a Prophet to confift in declaring the Will of God (whatever Time it refpects, whether it be paft, prefent, or to come ;) yet I acknowledge and carefully fubjoin, that such Declaration even of the Will of God, to denominate it prophetical, must be made by immediate InSpiration from God. That is, a Prophet, in order to be received as a Prophet, must not only proclaim the Will of God to others; but must understand that Will by direct Revelation from God HIMSELF. For (as St. Peter fpeaks) Prophecy came not in old Time by the Will of Man; but Holy Men of God fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i, 21. Accordingly God himself declares, If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a Vision, and will speak unto him in a Dream; intimating that even in the meaneft of the Prophets (as I fhall SERM. I fhall have Occafion to mention by and by) VII. he himself would be the Infufer of his own Oracles. Hence it is that we fo frequently meet with those Expreffions in the Prophets, The Lord Spake unto me; and The Word of the Lord came unto me; which Expreffions plainly fhew, that as it was God's Will which the Prophet was to reveal; fo he was to underftand it from God himself. And I will further allow, and also affert it neceffary, that (befides his speaking the Will of God, and speaking it also by his Command) the Prophet must be able to give fufficient Proof to the World, that what he fpeaks he does speak from him. For though the Prophet may be very well fatisfied and affured in himself, that the Revelation he declares comes really from God; yet fince others are not able to difcern what paffes between God and the Prophet's Soul; therefore the Prophet (before he is received) ought certainly to give a Proof of his Infpiration by Evidences in which we cannot be deceived. Accordingly the Scripture itself allows us to put all Prophets whatever to the Test: i. e. to try and examine them by proper Tokens and Proofs; fuch as their working fairly and openly fome fignal Miracle, which nothing but VII. but the Finger of God could effect, in Con- SER M. firmation of their Miffion, Deut. xviii. 21, 22. and Chap. xiii. 1. And fo reasonable did God himself allow it for a Prophet to be able to give this Teft, that when he fent Mofes to the King of Egypt, he endued him with a Power to work Miracles, and commanded him, if either the Ifraelites or the Egyptians required it, to work Signs before them, Exod. iv. 1— 9. and vii. 9. Having thus fhewn what the Office of a Prophet was, I fhall now to proceed to fhew II. SECONDLY, that Mofes in the famous and celebrated Prophecy, referred to in my Text, spoke of the Christ; and confequently foretold that Chrift fhould be a great and eminent Prophet. Mofes truly faid unto the Fathers, Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19. Now thefe Words (as they ftand in the Writings of Moses himself) being immediately fubjoined to a Caution he had given against Diviners, and Obfervers of Times, and Enchanters, and Witches, and Charmers, and Confulters with familiar Spirits, and Wizards, and Necromancers, ver. 10, 11. therefore fome learned Men have inferred, that his Meaning was to fay, that what they fought to thofe Diviners for, fhould |
