LORD and SAvtovR, JESUS C HR I S T. t i' confufion which fucceeded in the time of the Judges, and the reign ofSaul, we hear nothing of the Meífiah. But the royal prophet David, in his Pfalms, gives a very lively and fpirited account of his full be- lief in this great defcendant of his ; and, in language peculiar to himfelf, defcribes the glories ofhis reign, his death, and trium- phant refurreRion : for having a clear and full view of the Meffiah's kingdom and reign, he, in poetic rapture, could cry out, Thou willnot leave myfoul in hell,' neither wilt thoufuller thine Holy One to fee cor- ruption. But clearer, and ffronger frill, our great Redeemer blazes forth in the pro- phecies of Ifaiah; who writes more like an hillorian than a prophet, and minutely particularizes the great events which at- tended the birth, life, and death of the Sa- viour of finners. Full of prophetic fire, the great Ifäiah could cry out, A virgin fhall conceive and bear afose, and call his name Immanuel. And, havingaclear view of his'fufferings and death; he could add, He was led like afheep to the flaughter, and as a lamb before herfhearers is dumb, fo he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prifän and judgment; who (hall declare his generation? For the tranfgregion of my people was hefinitten. He made his grave with the wicked, and the rich in his death. But he was woundedfor our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities, the cha- ftifement of ourpeace was upon hint, and by his Jiripes we are healed. The fucceeding prophets were very clear and exprefs in their defcriptions of the 'kingdom of the Meffiah. The prophet Jeremiah particu- larly mentions the thirty pieces of filver for which he was fold: and the prophet Daniel pointed out the particular time when he fhould make his appearance the world. Seventy weeks, fags the angel, are determined upon thy people; and upon thy holy city ; tofingh the tranfgregion, to make an end offin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlafling righteoi/ nets ; tofeatup the vfon andpro- phecy, and to anoint the Mll Holy. From thefe plain and frequent declarations of their prophets, the Jews had a full and clear experation of the coming of the Mefficeh; and they had an old tradition amongfi them, which was generally re- ceived, and fuppofed to come from Elias, that the Mefliah fhould appear in the four thoufandth year of the world, which ac- cordingly came to pats. Nor was the ex- peflation of our Redeemer's birth confined onlÿ to the Jews ; a tradition prevailed amongfi the eaflern nations that a great king was to be born to the Jews; who would be worthy to be worfhipped which is manifeft from the wife men coming to Jerufalem, -to inquire after this glorious perfon, having feen his llar in the Eaft, and being defirous not only to fee the young king, but to prefent their offerings before him. Nor mull it be omitted, that among the oracles of the Sibyls, at the timeofour Saviour's birth, in fetch high repute at Rome, are various prediélions of the times of the Meffiah : and the poet Vir- gil, who wrote in the beginning of the reign of Augufius, compofed his Follie, which contains the prediélion of a heal venly child foon to be born, whom' he calls the Son of God, and defcribes his kingdom in a manner, which is parallel to feveral fublime paffages in the prophet Ifaiah, defcriptive of the glorious Re- deemer of mankind. C H A P T E R
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