CHAPTERXXI. 537 2. q. What notice was ever given of his coming ? A. God himself and his prophets, throughout all ages, have foretold his- coming as some great deliverer, as the Messiah or anointed of God ; Luke i. 70. Acts iii. 18. 3. Q. Were there any plain marks or characters given- of him whereby he might be known ? A. Yes, many cha- racters of him are found in the books of the Old Testament; as the foregoing chapter declares ; and he has answered them all, both in his life, his doctrine, his death, and his resurrection. 4. Q. Was- such a Messiah expected by the Jews, to whom thebooks of the Old Testament were given ? A, He was long expected by them, and particularly in that age wherein he came ; and that both by the Jews and the Samaritans ; Jelin i. 45. Luke viii. 15. John iv. 25, 29. Note, It is worth our observation, that not only the Jews and Samaritans, but the heathens also, about tltis time, expected- some great king or glorious person to be born. Virgil, the Roman poet, who lived in the time ofAugustus Cursar, in his fourth eclogue, is- sup;,osed to describe the bles- sings of the government and age of some great person who was, or should he born about this time ; and he Both it in language very agreeable to the Jewish prophet's description of the Mes- siah, and his kingdom. Some suppose, that he borrowed this sense from some ancient books ofthe prophetesses, whowere cal- led sibyls ; but it is evidentthat those writings ofthe sibyls which ar deitye.ed down to us, have so manysigns of forgery; that we can give no great credit to them. Suetoaius, a Roman writer, tells us, in the lifeof Augustus Cursar, that there was one Julius Marathus declared, that "nature was about tobring forth a king for the people of Rome :" He says also in the life of Vespasian, " that therehad prevailed over all the eastern part of the world, a constant opinion that, about that time, there should come out of Judea, those who should obtain the empire of the world." Tacitus, another of their historians; saith the. same thing, and that i was contained in the ancient books of the Jewish priests ; so that both Jews and gentiles, expected now some glorious person to arise in the world. 5. Q. Who was the forerunner, or the messenger sent to declare that he was just at hand ? A. John the baptist, the sou of Zacharias and Eliabeth ; Luke i. 5, 76, Mark i.- 2. 6. Q. What was Zacharias ? A. A goodman, and a priest; who lived without a child,;till his wife and he were bothgrown old ; Luke i. 6, 7. 7. Q. What was there remarkable in the birth of John ? A. The angelGabriel appeared to Zacharias, while he was offering incense-in,the temple, and the .people were praying without, and VOL. v, Mai
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