10 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of Our BLESSED `C5tIgUcg- g,t'Wk C H A P T E R II. Of the Promifes and PrediElions, in the various Ages of the World, relating to the Dignity, Charahler, Office, and Birth, of our Great and Glorious Redeemer. mIHE great Kingof the univerfe, having in his eternal counfels, determined to fend his only Son, at an appointed period of time, to accomplilh the falvation of loft, undone (inners; he was gracioufly pleafed, in the various ages of the world, to give fuch intimations of this great event, as were confiflent with the nature of his moral government, and the defigns of his grace : and that his offending creatures might not grope in darknefs and diftrefs, without any hope of his mercy, or know- ledge of the way in whichhe would accept his rebellious fubjeéfs, and reflore them to his favour; he was pleated, as foon as fin had entered into the world, to give ourfirth parents fome hope of their reftoration; and in palling fentence on the ferpent who had feduced them, he declared that the feed of the woman fhouldbruife his head ; which, though it could not give them a clear idea of the nature of their deliver- ance, nor of the glorious perfon who fhould accomplifh it, yet it might be fufficient to quiet their minds, and infpire them with a diftant hope. What further difcoveries of the divine will, in the redemption of fin- ners by the Son ofGod, were made to the antediluvian patriarchs, are not clearly re- vealed in the word ofGod ; but from the prophecy of Enoch, recorded by the aponle Jude, it may be concluded that the world was not ignorant of this greatevent; for the patriarch, who could fo clearly de- clare, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thou- fend of hisfaints, to executejudgment on all mankind, cannot be fuppofed to be to- tally ignorant of the great perfon who was to fit in judgment : and the hard fpeechcs, which he charges ungodly finners with (peaking against God, may have no indi- 3 ref reference to the fcorn, contempt, and reproach, which our great Redeemer fuf- fered from the ungodly and unbelieving Jews. What further difcoveries . of the great Redeemer were made to the patri- arch Noah, and his defcendants, after the flood,are'not tobe learned from the volume of infpiration ; but there we learn, that Abraham was called from his idolatrous countrymen, by a divine manifeflation, learnt the uncorrupted worship of the true God, and informed that in his feed all the nations of the world fhould be bleffed. That this patriarch had a full expeEtation of fome exalted perfon, who was to rife out of his family, and that the notion, of this prevailed among(( his defcendants, are evi- dent from the bleffing which Jacob, at his death, pronounces on his fon Judah, Gen. xlix. so. ThefceptreJhall not depart from Judah, nor a lazágiver front between his feet, till Shiloh conte, and unto himfzall the gathering of thepeople be. The fceptre not departing from Judah, is here a predic- tion; but the coming of Shiloh at an ap- pointed time, is mentioned as a thing al- ready known. There is no mention di- reEtly madeofourexaltedSaviour, amongft the moral precepts of the law ; but it is univerfally allowed, that the various rituals of the Jewifh religion were typical of his exalted perfon, his offices, and the great atonement lie made to divine juftice, when he made his foul an offering for fin: and Mofes could declare to Ifrael, in plain terms, A prophet (hall the Lord thy God raife unto thee from amongfì thy brethren like unto me, and it(hall come to pats that - whofoever will not hear that prophet, hefhall be cut of irons anzong/t his people. During the conqueff of Canaan, the anarchy and confufion
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