DISC. to his holy mother, "for he shall save his

As the Salvation to be wrought by King Meffiah was to be fo different from that wrought by all other kings and conquerors, different likewife was to be his appearance. and demeanour. Behold, thy King com"eth unto thee; he is juft, and having

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falvation, lowly, and riding on an afs." This is demonftration against the Jews, that how great foever, in the end, the external glory of Meffiah is to be (and neither they nor we can set that too high), yet he was once to vifit his people in great humility; he was to appear, at his first advent, in a state of humiliation.

The na

ture of his undertaking required it, and their own law and prophets are clear and exprefs upon the fubject. Though God, he was to become man; "A virgin shall "conceive, and bear a fon, and they shall "call his name IMMANUEL, which is, be"ing interpreted, GOD WITH US *." He * Ifai. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.

i Matt. i. 21.

was

V.

was to be "a man of forrows, and ac- DISC. "quainted with grief;" a man without "form or comelinefs'," without the glare of outward fplendor to recommend him; "his vifage," on the contrary, by fuffering affliction, was to be "marred more than "any man, and his form more than the "fons of men"." He was to keep the law, and to die for fin. "Sacrifice and of

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fering thou wouldest not-burnt offering " and fin offering haft thou not required. "Then faid I, lo I come: in the volume "of the book it is written of me; I de

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light to do thy will, O my God; yea,

thy law is within my heart". He made "his foul an offering for fin; he was cut

off out of the land of the living; he "made his grave with the rich"." If words can render any thing plain, it is plain from these paffages, that Meffiah was to be an humble and a suffering character. The types and the prophecies are as pofitive for his humiliation, as they are for his exalta

1 Ifai. liii.

n Pf. xl. 7. Heb. x. 7.

m Ifai. lii. 14.

• Ifai. liii.

DISC. tion; nor could any one person accomplish

V.

them all, without being equally remarkable for lowlinefs and meeknefs, glory and honour. The modern Jews, fenfible of this, have framed to themselves two Meffiahs; one, Ben Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, defigned to be poor and contemptible, and to undergo great indignities; the other, Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, who is to be victorious, to conquer all the earth before them, and to live for ever in temporal grandeur. This idle dream, contrary to the tenor of the whole Old Testament, and unknown to their expofitors before Chrift came, fhews us, that blindness hath happened to Ifrael not for want of light, but because they have shut their eyes against it till they cannot now open them, to behold the brightnefs of it's fhining; to view Jefus of Nazareth, as the end of their law, and the accomplishment of their prophecies. To an unprejudiced perfon, acquainted with that law, and those prophecies, the fight of the lowly Jefus, entering Jerufalem in great humility, and in fill greater,

V.

greater, bowing his head and expiring on DISC. mount Calvary, is a no lefs ftriking evidence of his being the Meffiah, than his glorious refurrection from the dead, and triumphant afcenfion into heaven. The Scriptures muft needs be fulfilled, in one refpect, as well as the other. Thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and thus it behoved him to humble himself, in order to his fuffering. Through pride Adam fell, and therefore by lowliness must Christ be exalted. "An haugh

ty spirit goeth before a fall; but before "honour is Humility"."

In this ftate of meeknefs and lowlinefs, was Chrift to gain a complete victory over the enemies of man's falvation. The warfare was new, and it is no wonder that the weapons employed in it should be uncommon. Other warriors prepare their horfes and their chariots, their bows, their fpears, and their fhields. But Meffiah difarms his followers, in order that they may overcome. For thus our prophet goes on;

P Prov. xviii. 12.

"And

DISC. "And I will cut off the chariot from

V.

Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, " and the battle bow fhall be cut off: And " he shall speak peace unto the heathen." Could a plainer declaration have been made, that the conquefts of Meffiah were not to be of a fecular nature; that his kingdom was not of this world? "If my king"dom were of this world," faith he himfelf, "then would my fervants fight "." But lo, he taketh from them the weapons of war. Was there a fhield or fword feen among the thousands of the Ifrael of God? No fhield, but that of faith; no fword, but that of the Spirit. Like their great leader, they encountered their adversaries with patience, and overcame by fuffering. So far was the advent of Chrift from carrying with it any appearance of war, that the nations at the time lay hushed in the tranquillity of an univerfal peace. "He fpake peace to the heathen," as well as to his own people the Jews. The waves of this troublefome world ceafed to tofs

John xviii. 36.

themselves,