ment. For although the supreme Lawgiver hath power over the law to relax the punishment as to particular persons; yet having declared that according to that rule he would proceed in judgment with man, the perfection of his truth required, that sin should be punished in such a manner, that his righteousness and holiness might eminently appear, and the reasonable creature for ever fear to offend him. Now the God of truth hath by the death of his only Son so completely answered the ends of the legal threatening, that the glory of that attribute is broke forth like the sun through all the clouds that seemed to obscure it. "Mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other." Of this I have so largely treated before, that I shall add nothing more concerning it. There is a secondary respect wherein the truth of God is concerned, as to the accomplishing our redemption by Jesus Christ, which I will briefly explicate. God having decreed the sending of his Son in the quality of Mediator to purchase our salvation, was pleased by several promises to declare his merciful purpose, and by various types to show the design of that glorious work, before the exhibition of it. This was the effect of his supreme wisdom and goodness.

To comply with the weakness of the church, when it was newly separated from the world. For, as a sudden strong light overpowers the eye that hath been long in the dark, so the full bright revelation of the gospel had been above the capacity of the church, when it was first freed from a state of ignorance: light mixed with shadows was proportionable to their sight. Therefore he was pleased by several representations and predictions to exercise the faith, entertain the hope, and excite the desires of his people before the accomplishment of our salvation by his Son.

To render the belief of it easy and certain afterwards. Now for the honour of his truth, he was engaged to make good his word: for although pure love and mercy is the original of all God's promises to man, yet his truth and fidelity are the reasons of his fulfilling them. Not that God is under the obligation of a law, but his own righteous name is the inviolable rule of his actions. Accordingly the apostle lays it as the foundation of our hopes, Tit. 1. 2. that "God who cannot lie, hath promised eternal life." The divine decree alone concerning our salvation by Christ, is a sure foundation: for God is as unchangeable in

his will, as his nature. "In him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning." Jam. 1. 17. But the promise determines the will of God to perform it upon another account: for it is not single inconstancy but falsehood, not to perform what is promised, from both which he is infinitely distant. St. Paul alleges this for the reason why the covenant of grace is unchangeable and of everlasting efficacy, in that the counsel of God was by his promise and oath confirmed, Heb. 6. 17, 18. "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation." For the promise gives a rightful claim to the creature, and the fulfilling of it is the justification of God's fidelity. In this sense it is said, John 1. 17. " the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," i. e. the grace of the gospel is the substantial and complete accomplishment of the types and promises under the law. I will not enter into the discussion of all the prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament, to show how they are verified in Jesus Christ; but briefly consider some special predictions that concern the time of the Messiah's coming, his person, and offices.

1. The prophecy of dying Jacob, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come." Gen. 49. 1. By the sceptre and lawgiver are meant divers forms of government: the first being the mark of regal power, the other title respects those whose power succeeded that of their kings, in the person of Zerobbabel and his successors. Jacob prophetically declares two things, their establishment in Judah, and their continuance till the coming of Shiloh. This oracle doth not precisely respect the person of Judah, for he never ascended the throne, nor possessed the empire over his brethren; nor sold his posterity as a tribe distinguished from the rest, although it had special advantage from that time: for the banner of Judah led the camp in their march through the wilderness, Numb. 2. 3. That tribe had the first possession of the land of Canaan; these were the beginnings of its future glory. And from David to the captivity, that tribe possessed the kingdom; but the glory of his sceptre was lost in the person of Zedekiah: therefore the full meaning of the prophecy regards the people of Israel, in the relation they had to the tribe of Judah : for that tribe alone returned entire from the captivity with some

relics of Levi and Benjamin; so that the nation from that time. was distinguished by the title of the Jews in relation to it; and the right to dispose of the sceptre was always in the tribe of Judah for the Levites that ruled after the captivity received their power from them. "Till Shiloh come," that is, the Messiah, as the Chaldee paraphrase, and the ancient Jewish interpreters expound; so that the intent of the oracle is, that after the establishment of the supreme power in the family of Judah, it should not pass into the hands of strangers, but as a certain presage, and immediate forerunner of the coming of Shiloh. And this was fully accomplished. For in the captivity there was an interruption rather than extinction of their government; their return was promised at the time they were carried captives to Babylon. But at the coming of Christ, Judea was a province of the Roman empire, Herod an Edomite sat on the throne; and as the tribe of Judah in general, so the family of David in particular was in such a low state, that Joseph and Mary that were descended from him, were constrained to lodge in a stable at Bethlehem. And since the blessed Peace-maker hath appeared on the earth, the Jews have lost all authority: their civil and ecclesiastical state is utterly ruined, and they bear the visible marks of infamous servitude.

2. The second famous prediction is by an angel to Daniel, Dan. 9. 25. when he was lamenting the ruin of Jerusalem, who comforted him with an assurance that the city should be rebuilt: and further told him, "that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks the streets shall be built again, and the wall even in troublesome times. And after three-score and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined." The clear intent of the angel's message is, that within the space of seventy prophetical weeks* (that is,

Numerus iste præter allusionem ad 70 annos captivitatis, non sine mysterio intra se occulter & semitas, & annos jubilæos precise exhauriat; 70 enim hebdomadæ sunt totidem semitæ, & denos continent jubilæos. Jam quia annus Sabbatarius & Jubilæus infallibiles sunt characteres chronologiæ sacræ, ex iis certa potest peti ratio connectendi 70 hebdomadas cum annis

CHAP. XXIII.

four hundred and ninety years, according to the exposition of the Rabbins themselves) after the issuing forth the order for the rebuilding Jerusalem, the Messiah should come, and be put to death for the sins of men, which was exactly fulfilled.

The glory of the latter saith the Lord of hosts,

3. The time of the manifestation of the Messiah is evidently set down in Haggai 2. 6, 7, 8, 9. "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. shall be greater than that of the former, and in this place will I give peace." The prophet to encourage the Jews in building the temple, assured them that it should have a surpassing glory by the presence of the Messiah, who is called the Desire of all Nations; and being the Prince of Peace, his coming is described by that blessed effect, "and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts."

The second temple was much inferior to Solomon's, as in magnificence and external ornaments, so especially because defective in those excellencies that were peculiar to the first. They were the ark of the covenant, and the appearance of glory between the cherubims; the fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices; the urim and thummim; and the Holy Ghost who inspired the prophets. But when the Lord came to his temple," and performed many of his miracles there, this brought a glory to it infinitely exceeding that of the former. For what comparison is there between the shadowy presence of God, between the cherubims, and his real presence in the human nature of Christ, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily? How much inferior were the priests and prophets to him, who came from heaven, and had the Spirit without measure, to reveal the counsel of God for the salvation of the world?

The particular circumstances foretold concerning the Messiah, are all verified in Jesus Christ. It was foretold that the Messiah should have a forerunner, to prepare his way by preaching the doctrine of repentance; that he should be born of a virgin, and of the family of David, and in the town of Bethlehem; that he

mundi. Fuit enim annus secundus Darij sabbatarius & jubilæus: rursus annus præcedens excidium Hierosolymorum & ipse sabbatarius fuit & jubilæus postremus; inter quos velut terminos 70 hebdomadæ decurrunt. Vid. Helvic, Diatrib. de Hebdom, Daniel.

should go into Egypt, and be called forth from thence by God; that his chief residence should be in Galilee, the region of Zebulon and Napthali; that he should be poor and humble and enter into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass; that he should perform great miracles in restoring the blind, the lame, the deaf and dumb; that he should suffer many afflictions, contempt, scorn, stripes, be spit on, scourged, betrayed by his familiar friend, sold for a sordid price; that he should be put to death; that his hands and feet should be bored, and his side pierced; that he should die between two thieves; that in his passion he should taste vinegar and gall; that his garments should be divided, and lots be cast for his coat; that he should be buried, and his body not see corruption, but rise again the third day; that he should ascend to heaven, and sit at the right hand of God: and all these predictions are exactly fulfilled in the Lord Christ.

The consequences of his coming are foretold.

(1.) That the Jews should reject him, because of the meanness of his appearance. They neither understood the greatness and majesty, nor the abasement of the Messiah described in their prophecies, Isa. 53. not his greatness, that the son of David was his Lord, that he was before Abraham, who rejoiced to see his day for they did not believe the eternity of his divine nature, they did not understand his humiliation to death: therefore it was objected by them that the Messiah remains for ever, and this person saith he shall die. They fancied a carnal Messiah shining with worldly pomp, accompanied with thundering legions, to deliver them from temporal servitude; so that when "they saw him without form and comeliness, and that no beauty was in him to make him desirable, they hid their faces from him, they despised and esteemed him not." Thus by their obstinate refusal of the Messiah, they really and visibly fulfilled the prophecies concerning him.

(2.) That the levitical ceremonies and sacrifices should ceace upon the death of the Messiah, and the Jewish nation be dissolved. Although the legal service was established with great solemnity, yet there was always a sufficient indication that it should not be perpetual. Moses, who delivered the law, told them, that God would "raise another prophet whom they must hear." And David (Psal. 110. 3.) composed a psalm to be sung in the temple, containing the establishment of a priest, not ae