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Bethlehem of Judea, which was accordingly fulfilled, the providence of God so ordering it, that Joseph and Mary should be brought up to Bethlehem, by a general tax which Augustus then laid; not only that she might be delivered, but that their names might be there entered, and their family ascertained and proved, without doubt to have descended from David. The person of whom our Saviour was born, was likewise foretold; according to Isaiah, she was to be a virgin, which was accordingly fulfilled and thus Christ was emphatically the seed of the woman, according to the promise made to our first parents, being, as the gospel tells us, born of a pure virgin, which never knew man.

Q. What prophecies related to the life of the Messiah, which were fulfilled in Jesus?

A. The meanness and obscurity and sorrows of it are expressed by Isaiah; he was spoken of by the prophets as of a person that was to be reputed vile and abject, despised and rejected of men ;" and accordingly, in the gospel, Christ is called a Nazarene, and had not where to lay his head; and yet, notwithstanding these circumstances, he was to be eminent for his patience and meekness. His abode was to be chiefly in Galilee, and accordingly he was brought up at Nazareth, and dwelt at Capernaum. His character of a prophet was asserted by Moses and Isaiah, which was eminently fulfilled, in that he foretold future contingencies.' His power of working many and great miracles was foretold by the same prophet," and accomplished by himself in such a manner that many of the people believed in him,

k

Isa. vii. 14. Mat. i. 23. Gen. iii. 15. h Psal. lxix. 9, 10. Isa. xlii. 2, 3.

* Isa. liii. 2, 3.

* Isa. ix. 1.

and said, When Christ cometh shall he do greater miracles than this man hath done." It was foretold that the people should receive him with joy and triumph, when he came riding upon an ass, which was afterwards fulfilled; and that he should be sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price which Judas received for betraying him." Q. What prophecies related to the death of the Messias which were fulfilled in Jesus?

A. His violent death was foretold by the prophets, and by several types which did represent and prefigure his death. Thus Abraham's offering up of Isaac was a type of Christ's being offered up on the cross; and Isaac's carrying the wood on his shoulders, was a type of Christ's carrying his own cross; and the brazen serpent, and the Paschal Lamb prefigured Christ's being lifted up, and his being made a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Our Saviour was buffetted and spit upon, according to the prophecy of Isaiah." He had vinegar given him to drink mingled with gall, and his garments were parted among the soldiers by casting lots, according to David. He was numbered with the transgressors, being condemned as a malefactor to suffer with malefactors, being crucified between two thieves. He cried out under his sufferings, according to David, and prayed for his wicked persecutors, according to Isaiah. And as to the circumstances of his burial, it was foretold he should make his grave with the rich,' which was accomplished in that he was put into Joseph of Arimathea's own tomb.

and ascension of the Messias which were fulfilled in Jesus?

X

A. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was prophesied of by David; thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption,' for to this purpose it is applied by St. Peter;" the time foretold by Hosea to be after two days, as several of the Rabbies understood that place. It was prefigured by the type of Isaac's deliverance when he had been offered up; and by the type of Jonas being three days and three nights in the whale's belly.' And his sitting at the right hand of God, which supposes his ascension into heaven, was foretold by the royal prophet, sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.z The accomplishment of the fore-mentioned prophecies was a sufficient proof to the Jews, who saw them fulfilled, that our Saviour was a person sent from God.

Q. How was Jesus proved to be sent from God by a voice from heaven?

A. Just before he began his public ministry; when he was baptized by John in the presence of a great assembly of the people, the Holy Ghost descended upon him, with a voice from heaven, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice was again repeated, though not so publicly, at his transfiguration on the mount; and is mentioned by St. Peter as a considerable argument of Christ's divine authority; For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we have made known unto you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his Majesty; for he received from God the

b

Father, honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. And a third time there came a voice to him from heaven in the hearing of all the people. Q. What further evidence is there that Jesus was a person sent from God.

A. The power with which he was endowed of working miracles, which, when they are great and unquestionable, and frequently wrought in public, is one of the highest evidences we can have of the divine mission of any person. Upon this ground it is, that Nicodemus concludes that our Saviour was sent from God. And our Saviour himself insists upon this as the great proof of his divine authority; and the resisting the evidence of his miracles, he reckons as one of the greatest aggravations of unbelief; If I had not, saith our Saviour, done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. And that our Saviour did many wonderul things, is confessed by his greatest enemies Celsus and Julian, though they attributed them to the power of magic. Q. Of what nature were our Saviour's miracles and how were they wrought?

A. He healed all sorts of diseases, and that in multitudes of people, as they came accidentally without distinction; and the manner of curing them was such as was above the ordinary course of nature; for a touch or a word only produced the cure, and that sometimes upon those at a distance. The most inveterate diseases submitted to his power: he gave sight to the man born blind; he made the woman straight that had been

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crooked and bowed together eighteen years: and the man that had an infirmity thirty-eight years, he bids take up his bed and walk. He multiplied a few loaves and fishes for the feeding of some thousands;" which miracle was twice done, and at both times many thousands were witnesses of it: and, what all men grant to be miraculous, he raised several from the dead, particularly Lazarus, after he had been four days in the grave. All these miracles he wrought publicly in the midst of his enemies, and for a long time together, during the whole season of his public ministry, which was about three years and a half, and sometimes he extorted a confession from the devils themselves of his divine power; and indeed they were so public and so undeniable, that St. Peter applies to the Jews themselves, declaring that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of them, as they themselves also knew.'

Q What objections were made against the miracles of our Saviour?

m

A. His miracles were such, and wrought in such a manner, and did so plainly prove themselves to be above the power of nature, that none of his enemies attempted to solve them that way; therefore they attributed them to the power of the devil. He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. This the Jews urged at first, and was afterwards made use of by others that opposed Christianity. And some later Atheists have made the credulity and imagination of the people to be a great ingredient in his miracles, because it is said, when Jesus was in his own country, He could not do many mighty works, because of their unbelief."

6 John ix. 7. Luke xiii. 13. John v. 8.

1

m

h Mat. xiv. 21.

'Ch.xv.38. John xi. Acts ii. 22. "Mat. xii. 24. "Mat. xiii. 58.