8 An Exìo/tron of the CH A P. L " their aV. All depended on their Meßah, all was written for him. They fee by ex- "perience that there was a coincidence ofall there things in the laif dayes when f i fns " came. No fooner had hedone his work,but Scepter and Scribe departed fromJudah. " Theyceafed to be a Church and Natica.. The Temple which the Lord rohern they `' formerly fought came to, was deflroyed; their Sacrificer wherein they rrutled,caufed " toceafe , and the Nations of the Earth were gathered into the faith of Abraham. " From that time theyhave no more been a people, nor have had any ditlinelion of " Tribes, or Families,Temple, PrieJihood, or Sacrifice; nor any hope ofa retrivement into their priftine condition. Let us then fee what courfè they do, or have taken to " countenance themfelves in their infidelity. Two wayes to relieve themfelves they have fixed on. " I. Grantingthat theMeßah was to come to their Government andWorfhip, they la- " boured tokeep them up, and to rellore them being call down, that fo they might " prolong their expeelationof that to come, which indéed was already pag. This in " the righteous and holyProvidence of God proved the means of their ruine. For " their endeavour to maintain theirLiberty, Rule, andGovernment after the coming of the Mefah, was the caufeof the utter overthrow ofall Rule, Authority and publick "Worfhip among(} themby Veffiafian and Titus hisSon. Their endeavodr, toreliore " themfelves into a State and People under their falte Meßah Barcosbi, was the means of " their utter defolation from all hopes of beinga people and Nation any more by c< Adrian ; as alto of their extermination for ever out of that Countrey, wherein " they were feparated from all Nations for that End which God appointed "unto them. After this, once more; ffìll to avoid the thoughts that the "Meah was come, and had put an end unto their former condition, they endea- " voured and were encouraged by Julian the Emperour to rebuild their Temple, and re- " flore their Sacrifices. And this attempt alto God turned to their further condution. " For whereas in former dayes in the building of the Temple he encouraged and tap- " ported themagain(} all difficulties and oppofitions s being now upheld and fireng- " thened by the favour and wealthof the 'Roman Empire in the fame work, he fets "himfelf againd them, and fcatters themwith no left indignation, than hedid the " builders ofBabel of old. When he would have a Templeamongd them, he punilhed " them with famine for building their oum haufs, and fìsffering his to lye maße, Hag. Z. "v.8, 9, r o, t r. Now they maybuild houfes for themfelves where they pleafe; but if " they take in hand tobuild a Temple, God isagainfl them. ThisState of theirs be- " ing nowcontinuedfixteen hundred years, were not bllndnefl come upon them to the " utmoff, they could not brat fee, that it it not the Will ofGod, that they fhould be " a People, State, orChurch on the former account any more. What then is become " of their Mffiab, whowas to come unto themwhile!} they were fo ; teeing they "were fo by their own confellion only for his fake ? This puts their latter Mailers to " their lad miferable fhifts. For, z. Contrary to the open nature of all things relating unto.them from the appro- " printing of the Promife to the Family ofAbraham, contrary to the whole defign of is the Scripture, and the exprefs tellimonies of it before mentioned, with many other " to the fame purpofe, they denythat their Meffiah was to come to them, or at lead to " abide with them for the work whereunto he was dedinated, whiled their State, "Temple andSacrifices continued. In the management ofthis thift of unbelief, they are " wofully divided amongtl themfelves. "s. For the Continuance of their State, untill the coming of the Meffiab, Gen. " g9 r t. Some fay, that by Shilo the Meffiah is not intended; who' are confuted by " their own7argums, all rendring the word Me)liah, and the confiant Tradition of the "Elder Dollors ; Some that by the Scepterand Scribe,that the Rod ofAffliltionand Infirm- "Ilion only areintended t which is a gloß evidently contrary to the deGgn of the "Prophecy, the ufe of the words in all places where their fenfe is not redrained by " evident circumflances, the Targuinf, all OldWriters; afferting that whichwas not " peculiar to Judah, nor true in its fell, that Tribe having for fo long a feafon enjoy- " ed as flourifhing a condition as anypeople in the world, as good as the f ems look "for under the Meffiah. This State then is utterly gone, and their Mefftah as it feems "not come. "2. What fay they unto their Templet, thatfeesid Houfe whereunto he was to come, " and fo render theglory of itgreater than that of the former, Hag. z. Mal. 3. Of old " they unanimoufly agreed, that he was born whiled the Templefood, or that day that
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=