Serbs, CLXXXI. Of Chríffian ° <eligion, a Flood ; there was a total Devaftation of them 5 which plan ly'hews rile 7o Weeks did alto expire about that Time, where ever we fix the Beginning of them 5 becaufe the Prophecy of Daniel tells us plainly, that toward the Expiration of them, the City and the Saníluary were to be defiroyed; which was fulfih'd with a great deal of Severity; as if therewere time extraordinary Caufè of thofe fear- ful Judgments which came upon them. And indeed we find that after theyhad committed the great Sin of Crucifying the Lord of Life, they gave up themfelves to all manner of Wickednefs, fsßi, g up the Meafure of their Sins, that Wrath might. come upon them to the Vttermofi 5 infomuch that lofephus tells us, " That he did ., verily believe, that if the Romani had not come at that Time to dettroy them, either the Earth would have fwallowed up their City, or a Flood, have over- .c whelmed, or Thunder and Lightning, or Fire fromHeaven, would have coda- " med them like Sodom and Gomorrah 5 for, Pays he, this Generation was much " more wicked than they were.' And which is a very confiderable Argument to the jeivs, he.cárüe at the Tithe when their whole Nation were in Expeítation of the Melias; and indeed the whole World were about that Time in expectation of a Prince out of yu dea. That the Yews did expel the Mesas about than Time, appears by the famous Saying of one of their greaten Rabbies, Elias, that there fhould be 2000 Years before the Law, moo Years the Law should fail, and i000 Years fhould be the Time of the Mejias: and according to the mutt exa& Chronology, it was much about the 4ocotb Year of the World that Chrift was horn. That a great Part of the 'World befides were at that Time in expeftation of a Prince to fixing out of 5udea,. appears from thofe known Teftimonies of Suetonius and Tacitar. Percrebuerat toto Oriente vetee & confiase opinio, effe' in fats, ut yodel profelf% return pctirentur, faith Suetoniar; and Tacitus to the fame Purpofe. ' Both agree in the Words of this Prophecy, which Teem to be taken out of the Prophecy of Micah, fpeaking of Bethlehem in the Land of 7udea 5 Out of thee lhsll come a Governor. And Saetanius tells us farther, That the Belief and Ezpelkation of this among the Yews was fo great at that Time, that this was the Cattle of their rebelling again(' the Romans. A jufl Judgment of God upon them, that thofe who had rejected the true Mefas, fhould be deluded to their own Ruin' by the Hopes of a falfe one. I,. All other Circumftances of thole Promifes and Prophecies, arc: exaékly an -: fwered in the Hiftory and Relation which the Gofpel gives of him. He was em- phatically the Seed of the Woman, according to the firft and very obfcure Promife made to our fir! Parents. Gen. 3.15. The Seed of the Woman (hall bruife the Ser- pents Head 5 I fay he was emphatically the Seed of the Woman, being, as our Booksof the Golpe! tell us, born of a pure Virgin, which never knew Man. He was the Seed of Abraham, according to the fecond Promife of him made to A braham, Gen. at. 3. In thee (hall all the Families of the Earth be hleffed. He was a Prophet like unto Mofes, being a great Worker of Miracles above anyof the Pro- . phets, as Mofes alto was; and by whom God gave a new Law, as he did by Mofes, according, to the other famous Promife of him, Dent. 18. a5. A Prophet (hall the Lordyour God raffle up unto you, like unto me. He was of the Tribe of Judah, and of the Seed of David, as it was foretold the Mejias fhould be; therefore he is call'd in the Gofpel, theSon of David 5 and the Apoftle to the Hebrews, Chap. 7. y. 14, appeals to the. Yews concerning this, as a thing clear and acknowledged among them, le is Evident that our Lord fpran, . out ofJudah ; which he would not have affirmed to the Yews without proof, if it had not been granted by them. For the other, that he was of the Seed of David the Yews will by no means admit as a thing at all Evident from the Hiftory of the Gofpel concerning him : for, fay they, if that appear any where, we fhould find it in his Genealogy; but there we .find no inch matter 5 there indeed we have the Genealogy of 3ofepb very differently related by the two Evangelifts, Matthew and Luke 5 but what is this to the Genealogy of Chrifi, when the Chriftians themfefves avowedly de- dare, tñat Jofeph was not his Father ? 'Tis granted that yofeph was of David's, Y y y 2 Line 5
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