only over your brethren, and so is confined unto the Tribes of Ifrael; his kingdom fhall be universal, and all nations of the earth fhall ferve him. Being then this Shiloh is fo defcribed in the text, and acknowledged by the ancient Jews to be the Meffias, being God hath promised by Jacob the government of Ifrael fhould not fail until Shiloh came; being that government is visibly and undeniably already failed, it followeth inevitably, that the Meffias is already come. In the fame manner the Prophet Malachy hath given an exprefs fignification of the coming of the Meffias while the Temple ftood. (q) Behold, I will Mal. iii. 1. fend my messenger, and be fhall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye feek fhall fuddenly come to bis Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in. And Haggai yet more clearly, Thus Hag. ii. 6, faith the Lord of hofts, Yet once it is a little while, and 79. I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the defire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, faith the Lord of hofts. The glory of this latter boufe fhall be greater than the glory of the former, faith the Lord of hofts. It is then moft evident from thefe predictions, that the Meffias was to come while the fecond Temple stood. It is as certain that the fecond Temple is not now ftanding. Therefore, except we contradict the veracity of God, it cannot be denied but the Meffias is already come. Nothing can be objected to enervate this argument, but that thefe Prophecies concern not the Meffias; and yet the ancient Jews confeffed they did, and that they do fo cannot be denied. For, first, those titles, the Angel of the Covenant, the delight of the Ifraelites, the defire of all Nations, are certain and known characters of the Chrift to come. And fecondly, it cannot be conceived how the glory of the second Temple fhould be greater than the glory of the firft, without the coming of the Meffias to it. For the Jews themselves have observed that five figns of the Divine

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Divine Glory were in the firft Temple, which were wanting to the fecond: as the Urim and Thummim, by which the High Prieft was miraculously inftructed of the will of God; the Ark of the Covenant, from whence God gave his anfwers by a clear and audible voice; the Fire upon the Altar, which came down from Heaven, and immediately confumed the Sacrifice; the Divine presence or habitation with them, represented by a visible appearance, or given, as it were, to the King and High Prieft by anointing with the oil of unction; and, laftly, the Spirit of Prophecy, with which those especially who were called to the prophetical office were endued. And there was no comparison between the beauty and glory of the structure or building of it, as appeared by the tears dropt from those eyes which had beheld Ezra iii. 12. the former, (For many of the Priefts and Levites, and chief of the Fathers, who were ancient men, that had Jeen the firft House, when the foundation of this Houfe was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice ;) and by those words which God commanded Haggai to speak to the people for the introducing of this ProHag. ii. 3. phecy, Who is left among you that faw this Houfe in her first glory? and how do you fee it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Being then the ftructure of the fecond Temple was fo far inferior to the first, being all thofe figns of the Divine Glory were wanting in it with which the former was adorned; the glory of it can no other way be imagined greater, than by the coming of him into it in whom all thofe figns of the Divine Glory were far more eminently contained; and this Perfon alone is the Meffias. For he was to be the glory of the people Ifrael, yea even of the God of Ifrael; he the Urim and Thummim, by whom the will of God, as by a greater Oracle, was revealed; he the true Ark of the Covenant, the only Propitiatory by his blood; he which was to baptize with the Holy Ghoft and with Fire, the true Fire which came down from Heaven;

Heaven; he which was to take up his habitation in our flesh, and to dwell among us that we might behold his glory; he who received the Spirit without measure, and from whofe fulness we do all receive. In him were all thofe figns of the Divine Glory united, which were thus divided in the first Temple; in him they were all more eminently contained than in those therefore his coming to the fecond Temple was, as the sufficient, fo, the only means by which the glory of it could be greater than the glory of the firft. If then the Meffias was to come while the fecond Temple ftood, as appeareth by God's prediction and promife; if that Temple many ages fince hath ceafed to be, there being not one ftone left upon a ftone; if it certainly were before the deftruction of it in greater glory than ever the former was; if no fuch glory could accrue unto it but by the coming of the Meffias: then is that Meffias already come.

Having thus demonftrated out of the promises given to the Jews, that the Meffias who was fo promised unto them must be already come, because thofe events which were foretold to follow his coming are already paft; we shall proceed unto the next particular, and prove that the man Jefus, in whom we believe, is that Meffias who was promised. First, it is acknowledged both by the Jew and Gentile, that this Jefus was born in Judea, and lived and died there, before the Commonwealth of Ifrael was difperfed, before the fecond Temple was deftroyed, that is, at the very time when the Prophets foretold the Meffias should come. And there was no other befide him, that did with any fhew of probability pretend to be, or was accepted as the Meffias. Therefore we must confefs he was, and only he could be, the Christ.

Secondly, all other Prophecies belonging to the Meffias were fulfilled in Jefus, whether we look upon the Family, the place, or the manner of his

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birth;

V. 10.

birth; neither were they ever fulfilled in any person befide him he then is, and no other can be, the Meffias. That he was to come out of the Tribe of Judah and Family of David, is every where manifeft. (r) The Jews, which mention Meffias as a Son of Jofeph or of Ephraim, do not deny, but rather dignify, the Son of David or of Judah, whom they Ifa. xi. 1. confefs to be the greater Chrift. There fhall come forth a (s) rod out of the stem of Feffe, and a branch fball grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord fhall rest upon him, faith the Prophet Ifaiah. And again, In that day there fhall be a root of Feffe, which fhall ftand for an enfign of the people: to it fhall the Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious. Now who Rev. v. 5. was it but Jefus of whom the Elders fpake, Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David? Who but he said, I am the root and offspring of Da vid, and the bright and morning ftar? The Jews did all acknowledge it, as appears by the question of our Saviour, How fay the Scribes that Chrift is the Son Matt. xxii. of David? What think ye of Chrift? whofe Son is he? They fay unto him, the Son of David; and that of the people, amazed at the feeing of the blind, Matt. xii. and fpeaking of the dumb, Is not this the Son of David? the blind cried out unto him, fefus thou Son of David, have mercy on us; and the multitude Matt. xxi. cried, Hofanna to the Son of David. The Genealogy of Jefus fhews his Family: the first words of the Gospel are, The book of the generation of Jefus Chrift the Son of David. The Prophecy therefore was certainly fulfilled in refpect of his lineage; for it is evident that our Lord fprang out of Judah.

Rev.xxii. 16.

Mar. xii.

35.

42.

23.

9.

Matt. i. 1.

Heb. vii. 14.

Matt. ii. 4. 5.

Befides, if we look upon the place where the Meffias was to be born, we shall find that Jefus by a particular act of Providence was born there. When Herod gathered all the chief Priefts and Scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Chrift Should be born. And they faid unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea. The people doubted whether Jefus was

the

the Chrift, because they thought he had been born in Galilee, where Jofeph and Mary lived; wherefore they faid, Shall Chrift come out of Galilee? hath John vii. not the Scripture faid, that Chrift cometh of the feed of 41, 42. David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? That place of Scripture which they meant was cited by the Scribes to Herod, according to the interpretation then current among the Jews, and ftill preserved in the (t) Chaldee Paraphrafe: For thus it is written in the Prophet, And Matt. ii. thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the leaft 5, 6. among the princes of Judah, for out of thee fhall come a governor that shall rule my people Ifrael. This prediction was most manifeftly and remarkably fulfilled in the birth of Jefus, when by the providence of God it was fo ordered that Auguftus fhould then tax the world, to which end every one fhould go up into his own city. Whereupon Jofeph and Mary his efpoufed wife left Nazareth of Galilee, their habitation, and went into Bethlehem of Judea, the city of David, there to be taxed, because they Luke ii. 4. were of the house and lineage of David. And while they were there, as the days of the Virgin Mary were accomplished, fo the prophecy was fulfilled; for there fhe brought forth her firft-born Son; and fo unto us was born that day in the city of David, à Lukçii. 11. Saviour, which is Chrift the Lord.

But if we add unto the family and place, the manner of his Birth, alfo foretold, the argument muft neceffarily appear conclufive. The Prophet Ifaiah fpake thus unto the House of David; The Lord Ifa. vii. 14bimfelf fhall give you a fign: Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and fhall call his name Immanuel. What nativity could be more congruous to the greatnefs of a Meffias than that of a Virgin, which is moft miraculous? what name can be thought fitter for him than that of Immanuel, God with us, whofe land Judea is faid to be? The Immanuel then Ifa. viii, 8. thus born of a Virgin was without question the true

Meffias.