I.

Dominion Mould cease from thence; must be a S ERM.
Deliverer of his People from Bondage and
Oppression, and give them a new Law to
walk by as Mofes did.

I shall now pursue my Enquiry into the Prophets, and see what additional Light we may get from thence. And under this Denomination in my Text, I told you, are contained all the remaining Books of the Old Testament. I shall not indeed look into them all, but as the Time will let me, shall only pick out a few of the clearest. The Compass of Time we have already gone through is upwards of 2500 Years. I shall now pass down four hundred Years lower, and take Notice of a Prediction given to David: To whom, upon his

purposing to build a House to the Lord, (as he bad built one for himself) God is pleased to promise, by Nathan his Prophet, that he would raise an everlafting House or Family of him; and this he does in the solemn and remarkable Words following: 2 Sam. vii. 12.-16. When thy Days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt seep with thy Fathers, I will set up thy Seed after thee, which shall proceed out of tby Bowels, and I will establiss bis - Kingdom. He fall build an - House for mig Name; I will establish the Throne of his

I.

SERM. Kingdom for ever. I will be his FATHER,

and be shall be mr. Son My Mercy fall
not depart away from him, as I took it from
Saul, whom I put away from before thee,
but thine House and thy Kingdom ball, be efta-
blished for ever before thee : Thy Throne fhall
be established for ever, It is to this Promise
that the Author of the 8gth Psalm appeals,
when the Succession of the Royal Line was
thought to fail in the Time of the Captivity.
Ps. lxxxix. 19, Thou Spakeft in a Vision to
the Holy One and saidft.-V, 35, 36. see also
V. :3, 4.; Once bave I fworn by my Holiness
that I will not lie unto David; bis Seed fball
endure for ever, and his Throne as the Sun
before me. It shall be established for ever as
the Moon, and as a faithful Witness in Hea-

Which Words, though applied by the
latter Fews to Solomon, yet cannot be literally
and properly true of him, whose earthly
Throne was tent in Pieces by Jeroboam prer
sently after his Death, and afterwards utterly
overthrown. They must therefore be necef-
sarily understood of an eternal King to be
born of David's Stock and Lineage. That
the Meffiab was to come of bis Seed is clear
from several Prophecies afterwards, and par-
ticularly from that of Jeremy xxiii. 5. 6.

Bebold

wen.

2

1.

Behold the Days come, faith the Lord, that SERM. I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and fall execute Judgment and Justice on the Earth :

In bis Days Judab shall be saved, and Israel Mall dwell safely, and this is the Name whereby be shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness. Now it is observable that this Seed is proinised here to David, as a Blessing still to come, 400. Years after David himself was dead.: And consequently, it could not be meant of Solomon, or any temporal King of that Line, and therefore must be applied to the Meffiah. And indeed that the Messiab was to spring from the Line and Family of David, was the common Opinion and Expectation of the Jews, which continues fix'd and immoveable amongst them, as a grand Point of their Religion to this very Day. But from these Prophecies it appears not only that the Messiah should be of David's Line, but that he also should be poffeffed of an eternal Kingdom. And in the Book of Psalms we might add abundant Testimonies of his universal Dominion, Psal. ii. 7, 8, his being adored by all Nations, his making all Generations and Families of the Earth blessed, Pfal.lxxii. 5,7, 8,11,13. and several other Characters which

I.

SERM. must therefore be understood as so many Marks

of the Meffab, because they cannot possibly be applied to any temporal King whatsoever.

But not to run into those Prophecies that relate principally to the internal Powers and Characters of the Mesah, which were not to be fulfilled, nor claimed indeed by himself, till after his Inthronement into his regal Authority; I shall return to the Confideration of such Prophecies as relate to his first Appearance, and must directly point him out as soon as born. They being the Prophecies St. Philip must be supposed to mean in the Text, since Jesus of Nazareth, whom he there speaks of, had not then fulfilled

any

others. Of this sort is the Prophecy of Micah, delivered about 260 Years after the Promise made to David. Micah v. 2. But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little

among the Thousands of Judah; yet out of thee shall be come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Ifrael; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. That this is spoken of the Christ is plain from the last Words, whose goings forth have been from of old, even from everlasting; and that the Jews therefore gathered from hence that the Christ was to be born in the Town of Bethlehem,

St.

I.

St. Matthew and St. John both testify, Matt. SERM. ii. 5, 6. John vii. 42. 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 4.

Having here therefore gained the Place of bis Birth, let us next enquire into the Circumstance and Manner of it ; and here Ifaiab, that prophesied soon after Micah, will give us wonderful Light. Behold, faith he, a Virgin Aall conceive and bear a Son, and fall call bis Name Immanuel, Isa. vii. 14. The original Word here was translated Virgin by the Jews themselves some 100 Years before our Saviour's Birth. And did not the signification of the Word, and the Use of it in 'other Places of Scripture import it, the Wonder of the Sign given by the Lord himself would evince as much. · As to that Conceit of the Jews that this Prophecy was fulfilled in Hezekiah, it is fo manifestly false, that nothing can make more against them. For the Sign was plainly given, and the Promise made at some Time in the Reign of Ahaz.' Now Abaz reigned but 16 Years in Jerusalem, and his Son Hezekiah, who succeeded him, was 25 Years old when he began to reign, and consequently not to be born when the Sign was given. This Confideration has obliged several ancient Rabbins to confess that the Prophecy related to the Meffab, as indeed is plain from the Vol. II.

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