1 1 1 1 3. They desire to be informed in what sense Jesus Christ can be said to have had a Portion divided him with the Great? We answer, That he had this Portion divided him with the Kings and | Princes of the World, who submitted themselves to the Scepter of his Word, having laid their own Scepters at his Feet; Or rather, that it is an Hebrew Phrafe, which signifies only in general terms, that Jesus Christ has had the best Share. But this we have already explained, and is of too little moment to be insisted any longer upon. 'Twas this wonderful Proportion betwixt the Event and the Prophecy, which is so clear and fo easy, so undeniable, and at the same time so sensible, that converted the Eunuch of Candace Queen of the Ethiopians, after that Philip had made him understand and discern the excellence of it. But he stop'd not at the Explication of this Oracle, but proceeded to expound to him the other Prophecies: and fince we ought to imitate his Example, 'tis now time we should pass on to the confideration of the others likewife. CHAP. Χ. Where we further examine those Prophecies, which concern the Messias, and especially those which denote the Place and Manner of his Birth. Though the Birth, Life and Death of the Meffias are contained in the Prophecy we just now examined, 'twill not be however belides our present Kk present Parpose, to lay down some other Oracles, wherein all these Events are more particularly represented to us. But before we enter upon this Undertaking, 'tis necessary to observe, that there are three forts of Oracles which concern the Meffias: some that are Proofs without Types; others that represent Types without Proofs; and others that may ferve for Types and Proofs both together. Ifaac, Jofeph and Sampson, &c. are the simple Types of the Meffias, and very fit Images to reprefent him, nay designed by the Wisdom of God for that very purpose; but these Types only suppose the Truth of his coming, without proving it. On the contrary, we may very well affirm of the Oracle which we have examined in the foregoing Chapter, that it is a contexture of very exprefs and evident Prophecies, which cannot belong to any but Jesus Christ himself, and which immediately belong to him, without being concealed un-der any Image or Cover whatever. Thesel call Proofs without Types. The first of these Oracles represent him, but prove him not; and the others prove him, but represent him not. But for the greater Evidence-fake, it was very meet that | Divine Wisdom should join the Proof and the Representation together, to give us those Types of Jefus Chrift, as should ferve for a Proof of themselves. On this account therefore, the Holy Ghaft chusing David, and fome other remarkable PerTons, to be the Types of the Messias, ascribes to them such things as could never belong to any but the Meffias himself; at the fame time describing, under the cover of that which happened to those noble Perfons, whatever concerned him; but yet with this particular difference, that the fenfe of the te these Oracles appeared to have so great a Latitude, as to make us understand, that they concern two Objects, viz. the one immediate and near, as for example, David; and the other remote, viz. the Meffias: and these are those Oracles which contain both the Proofs and the Types together, which we shall chiefly treat of hereafter. Thus I confefs, that the Oracle which is contained in the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Verses of the 7th Chapter of the second Book of Samuel, concerns Salomon only. For of him alone these words must be understood; If he commit Iniquity, I will chaften him with the Rod of Men, and with the Stripes of the Children of Men. But then 'tis also true, that the Promise it contains is too great and too magnificent to be wholly limited to Salomon. Nay, 'twould even appear to be false, had it no other Object to be ascribed to besides him: 'tis only in the Person of the Meffias, that we perceive it is fully accomplished. I will set up thy Seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy Bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom, &c. I will be bis Father, and be shall be my Son, &c. and thine Hause, and thy Kingdom, shall be established for ever before thee: thy Throne shall be established for ever. For who fees not, that this everlasting Dominicon, which the Scripture speaks of in another place, saying, That the Seed of David should fit upon the Throne as long as the Sun and Moon endureth; cannot truly be understood of the temporal Dominion of Salomon; but that it agrees only to the Spiritual Kingdom of the Meffias ? In like manner we freely consent that the Jeros should make as many Reflections as they please on the Oracle contained in the 7th Chapter of Efaiab verf. 14. and quoted by St. Matthew; A Virgin Kka hall shall conceive, &c. to shew us that the literal Sense of these words are to be applied to a Virgin, that lived in the Days of the Prophet, or even to a married Woman, (for the Original Word may bear either fignification) which was to bear a Son, who should no fooner have Knowledg to difcern Good and Evil, but should rescue the Land of Judah from the Power of the Kings of Ifrael and Affyria, who being come to ravage that Country, had put Ahaz, and all Jerufalem with him, into a very great Consternation. For they will be still obliged to own, that the Sign of this Oracle extends further than so, and that to preserve it in its full Sense, we must apply it to the Meffias, in whom we find it accomplished in a very excellent and most noble manner. For, 1. The Prophet thinks it not fufficient to say, that a Virgin shall conceive, but he gives it also for a Sign that God intended to preferve his own People, a Sign that was to encourage Abaz, and fill his Heart with Joy, and a Sign that God himself had given, of his own accord, and which Ahaz himself durst not prefume to ask for, having answered the Prophet who encouraged him thereto, that he would not tempt the Lord. Now 'tis certain, that a Child that is born in the World, by the ordinary course of Nature, has nothing in him that deserves to be looked upon as a Sign, and much less the Sign of an extraordinary and fignal Deliverance. 2. The Child that is there mentioned, was to be called Immanuel, or God with us: A very remarkable Expression indeed, and not only too disproportionable to an ordinary Child, but too great also for the greatest of the Prophets; ard which not being to be parallel'd in all the Scrip ture, : : ture, and denoting something nobler than an humane Character, cannot reasonably be ascribed to any other but to the Messias.. 3. 'Tis observable that the fulfilling of this same Prophecy is related in the following Chapter, in these Words. And Chap.8.v.3. I went unto the Prophetess, and she conceived and bare a Son, &c. For before the Child Shall have knowledg to cry, my Father, and my Mother, the Riches of Damafcus, and the Spoils of Samaria, &c. Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the Waters of the Rivers, &c. And be shall come up over all bis Channels, &c. and the stretching out of his Wings, shall fill the breadth of thy Land, O Immanuel. 'Tis evident that the literal Sense of this Oracle, which the Jews urge so much against us, is absurd and incomprehentible, if confidered by it self. For, I pray, what's the meaning of the Prophet, thus to call so many times an ordinary Child, who was not to contribute any thing towards the Deliverance of the People, by the name of Immanuel, i. e God with w, fince the People were to be delivered, before he should have the knowledg to cry, my Father, or my Mother ? Wherefore should he turn his Speech to this Child? Wherefore should he make him to be look'd upon, as the Lord and Master of the Holy Land, when he ascribes to him the Care and Dominion of it in the following words, And the stretching out of his Wings, shall fill the breadth of thy Land, O Immanuel? : But the Prophecy of the Birth of Jefis Chrift in the City of Bethlehem, is not so easily to be called in question by the Jews, as they do thè other Oracles, without down-right contradicting themselves; because their Fathers have exprefly Kk 3 ) |