II.

4. 8. 6. 12.

v. 7.

V. 12.

12.

SER M. the Lord to bruife him; he hath put him to grief—when thou fhalt make his foul an offering for fin-he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our Ifa. liii. 5. iniquities: the chaftifement of our peace was upon him, and with his ftripes we are healed-jurely be bath bor e our griefs, and carried our forrows-for the tranfgreffion of my people he was ftricken-the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all :)-his fuftaining all this with a willing, quiet, humble patience, and perfect meekncls, (He was oppreffed, and he was afflicted, yet he. opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the flaughter, and as a sheep before her fhearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth :)-his charitable praying for his perfecutors, and defigning their welfare, (He made interceffion for the tranfgreffors:)--the bleffed confequences and happy fuccefs of his fufferings, in the converfion and juftification of men; in performing God's will and work; in being fatisfied, rewarded, . 10, 11, and exalted himself, (He shall fee his feed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord fhall profper in his hand; he shall fee of the travail of his foul, and fhall be fatisfied; by his knowledge fhall my righteous fervant juftify many-I will divide him a portion with the great, and he fhall divide the spoil with the frong :) which paffages, as they do moft exactly fuit unto Jefus, and might in a fort conftitute a true hiftorical narration of what he did endure, together with the doctrines delivered in the Golpel concerning the intents and effects of his fufferings, fo that they did, according to the intention of the divine Spirit, relate to the Meffias, may from feveral confiderations be made apparent; the context and coherence of all this paffage with the matters precedent and fubfequent, the which plainly do refpect the Meffias, and Ifa. lii. 7. his times, do argue it: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him, that bringeth good tidings! and, Behold my fervant fall deal prudently, &c. are paffages immediately going before; to which this chapter is knit in way of continuation; and im

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mediately

&c.

II.

mediately after it doth follow, Sing, O barren, thou, s ER M. that did not bear, &c. being a no lefs perfpicuous than elegant defcription of the Church, enlarged by acceffion of the Gentiles, which was to be brought fa. liv. 1, to pass by the Meffias. The general fcope of this whole prophecy enforceth the fame conclufion; and the incongruity of this particular prediction to any other perfon imaginable befide the Meffias doth farther evince it; fo high are the things afcribed to the fuffering perfon; as that he should bear the fins of all God's people, and heal them; that he should by bis knowledge juftify many (or the multitude); that the pleafure of the Lord fhould profper in his hand to thefe grand purpofes; that God would divide him a portion with the great, and that he should divide the spoil with the ftrong: the magnificence and importance of which fayings (rightly understood and weighed) do well agree to the Meffias, but not to any other person, or fimple man: whence if the ancient Jews had reafon to believe a Meffias was to come, (as they with general confent did fuppofe they had) they had as much reason to apply this place, as any other, to him, and thence to acknowledge that he was defigned to be an eminent fufferer. And indeed divers of the ancient Targumifts and most learned Rabbins did expound this place of the one Meffias, which was to come; as the Pugio fidei, and other learned Writers do by feveral exprefs teftimonies declare. This place alfo difcovereth the vanity of that figment, devised by fome later Jews; who, to evade it, and to oppofe Jefus, have affirmed there was to be a double Meffias; one, who thould be much afflicted; another, who fhould greatly profper; fince we may obferve, that here both great afflictions and glorious performances concurrently are afcribed to the fame perfon.

The fame things are by parts alfo clearly foretold in other places of this Prophet, and in other prophetical Scriptures: by Ifaiah again in the chapter immediately

SER M. immediately preceding, Behold (faith God there) my 11. fervant bill deal prudently; he shall be exalted, and ex

14.

tolled, and be very nigh: there is God's fervant (he, Ifa. lii. 13, who in way of excellency is fuch, that is, in the style of this Prophet, the Meffias) in his real glorious capacity it followeth concerning his external appearance; His vifage was fo marred more than any man's, and his form more than the fons of men: And again, in Ifa. xlix. 7. the 49th chapter; Thus faith the Lord, the Redeemer of Ifrael, and his Holy One; To him, whom man defpifeth, to him, whom the nation abhorreth, to a fervant of rulers, kings fhall fee and arife, princes alfo shall worship: What can be more express and clear, than that it is fignified here, that the Meffias, who fhould fubject the world, with its fovereign powers, to the acknowledgment and veneration of himself, was to be defpifed by men, to be detefted by the Jewith people, to appear in a fervile and bafe condition? The fame Prophet doth again, in the 50th chapter, bring him in fpeaking thus: I gave my back to the fmiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from fame and spitting. His offending the Jews, fo as thereby to aggravate their fins, and accelerate their punishments, is alfo thus expreffed by Ifa. viii. 14. the fame Prophet: And he shall be for a fanctuary: (Pial. ii. 2 but for a stone of flumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the boules of Ifrael, for a gin and for a fare to the inhabitants of Jerufalem.

Ifa. 1. 6.

The Prophet Zechariah doth also in feveral places very roundly exprefs his fufferings, his low condiZech. ix. 9. tion in thofe words; Behold thy King cometh unto thee lowly, and riding upon an afs; (that is, pauper, mean and forry to appearance.) His manner of death in Zech. xiii. thofe words: Awake, O fword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, faith the Lord of bofs; fmite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be featZech. xii. tered. And again; I will pour upon the boufe of David, and upon the inhabitants of Ferufalem, the spirit of grace and of fupplications, and they shall look upon me,

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10.

whom

II.

whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn, &c. Thes E R M. Prophet Daniel alfo in that place, from which probably the name Meffias was taken, and which moft expressly mentioneth him, faith, that after fixty-two Dan. ix. 26. weeks the Mefias fhall be cut off, but not for himself. Now from all these paffages of Scripture (befide divers others to the fame purpose, obfervable by those, whose industry is affifted by divine illumination) we may well conclude with our Lord, "Ori тw yéуgαπтαι, Luke xxiv, καὶ ἔτως ἔδει παθεῖν τὸν Χριςόν· that thus it was written, 46. and thus (according to the Prophet's forefhewing) it was to happen, that Chrift should fuffer; fuffer in a life of penury and difgrace, in a death of forrow and fhame.

That it was to fall out thus, might alfo be well inferred, by reafons grounded upon the qualities of the Meffiah's perfon, and upon the nature of his performances, fuch as they are defcribed in prophetical Scripture he was to be really, and plainly to appear, a person of moft admirable virtue and goodnefs; but never (as even Pagan philofophers have Plato, Seobferved) was, or can there be any fuch without un-neca, &c. dergoing the trial of great affliction. He was to be an univerfal pattern to men of all forts (especially to the greatest part of men, that is, to the poor and afflicted) of all righteousness; to exemplify particularly the most difficult pieces of duty; (humility, patience, meekness, charity, felf-denial, entire refignation to God's will:) this he should not have had opportunity or advantage of doing, fhould he have been high, wealthy, fplendid, and profperous in fecular matters: he was to exercife great pity and fympathy toward all mankind; toward the doing which it was requifite that he should himself tafte and feel the inconveniences, troubles, pains, and forrows incident to us. He was to advance the repute of fpiritual goods, Vide Theoand eternal bleffings, depreffing the value of thofe doti Orat. corporeal and temporal things, which men do fo Concil. p. fondly admire and dote on: the most compendious 997.

VOL. II.

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and

in Eph. 1.

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SER M. and effectual way of doing which was by an exemplary neglect or rejection of worldly glories and enjoyments; refufing the honours, profits, and pleafures here, adjoined to a high ftate. He was by the moft kindly, gentle, and peaceable means to erect a fpiritual kingdom; by pure force of reason to subdue the hearts and confciences of men, to the love and obedience of God; by wife inftruction to raise in us the hopes of future recompences in heaven; to the accomplishment of which purposes temporal glory (working on the carnal apprehenfions and affections of men) had rather been prejudicial than conducible. He was to accomplish and manage his great defigns by means fupernatural and divine, the which would furely become more confpicuous by the visible meanness and impotency of his ftate. He was also most highly to merit from God, for himself, and for us; (to merit God's high approbation of what he did, God's favour and grace to us;) this he could not perform fo well, as by willingly enduring, for God's fake, and in our behalf, the most hard and grievous things. He was, in fine, defigned perfectly to fave us, and confequently to appease God's wrath, to fatisfy divine juftice, to expiate our fins; whereto it was requifite, that he fhould undergo what we had deferved, being punished and afflicted for us.

Apoc. i. 5.

Now that Jefus our Lord did moft thoroughly correfpond to whatever is in this kind declared by the Prophets concerning the Meffias, we need not, by minutely relating the known hiftory of his life and death, make out any farther, fince the whole matter is palpably notorious, and no adversary can deny it : I fhall therefore conclude, that it is a clear and certain truth, which St. Peter in our text affirmeth, that, Thofe things which God before had fhewed by the mouth of all his Prophets, that Chrift should fuffer, he bath fo fulfilled.

Now, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our