was any deceit in his mouth; yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him," &c. But what is before recited out of your prophets, and much more could be added to the same purpose, shew plainly, that you have been bruised for your own great wickednesses. And the opinion of your own righteousness is not the least part of your delusion. But you oppose yourselves, and set up contrary pretences; for when you come to give an account why your Messiah has delayed his coming so long beyond the time which was limited by the prophets, you have no other answer, but that it is because of your sins. And they must be sins more than ordinary, which have provoked God to break his promises, so oft repeated, concerning the time of the Messiah's coming. So that here you make yourselves the greatest sinners that can be; but in answer to Isaiah, liii. then you are righteous altogether, and there is no deceit in your mouth; your nation is the "Righteous servant of the Lr 1," there spoke of!

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But of that servant it is said, (ver. 8,) "For the transgression of my people was stricken." Therefore he was not that people, but he suffered for that people.

The learned Jew says, (Limbor. Coll. p. 53) That the death which the Christians would infer of the Messiah from this of Isaiah, liii. means not a real death (for they suppose rightly, but misunderstood, that their Messiah will live for ever,) but only labores et flagella (as he words it,) great labours and afflictions, which they suppose he may endure ante perfectam regni revelationem, before the full establishment of his kingdom. And he brings, as a parallel place, (2 Cor. xi. 23,) In deaths oft," which the apostle speaks of himself, but it means no more than dangers.

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Ans. 1. The Messiah's undergoing stripes and afflictions, though in order to his kingdom, is as adverse to the Jews' notion of the Messiah, as death itself. For they suppose him to go on gloriously in conquests and victory, and not to be scourged, or ignominiously treated.

Ans. 2. Being in deaths, shews itself to be a figurative expression: for a man can be in death but once, therefore not, in that sense, often in deaths. But as a man in battles, or storms at sea, may be said to be often in deaths, so the apostle in the many dangers which he there repeats. But far otherwise are the expressions concerning the death of the Messiah: (Isaiah, liii. 8, 9, 12,) "He was cut off out of the land of the living. He made his grave with the wicked. He poured out his soul unto death." And, "Messiah the prince shall be cut off, but not for himself," &c. (Dan. ix. 25, 26.) If these expressions do not signify death, what others can? And the Jews struggling against it, shews only that they are resolved not to be convinced by any words whatsoever that can be spoken.

They try all ways, but dare stick to none. For they are contradictory to one another, and if one of their excuses hold, the rest must be false; which confusion, of itself, were enough to convince them. You shall see more of them.

To avoid this, and other prophecies which speak expressly of the poor and low state in which the Messiah was to appear, "Behold thy king cometh unto thee poor," or as we translate it "lowly," &c. (Zech. ix. 9,) the modern Jews have framed to themselves two Messiahs-one, Ben Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, who was to be poor and contemptible, and undergo great indignities, the other, Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, who was to be victorious, and conquer all the earth before them, and to live for ever in temporal grandeur; that he was to raise again from the dead all the Israelites of former ages, and among them the first Messiah, Ben Joseph. Thus the Jews, shutting fast their eyes, do dream, and invent Messiahs on purpose, because they will not be concluded by the plain prophecies of the one and only Messiah. Where do the prophets speak of two Messiahs? But speaking all along of one and of the Son or Messiah, does necessarily exclude any other. If there were two, one would not be the Messiah. And by the same rule they make two, they may make two score of Messiahs. But this shameless contrivance shews how hard they are put to it to elude the plain prophecies of the Messiah, and is a confirmation of the true import and meaning of these prophecies, which are not answerable but by such poor and guilty shifts. It is for this reason that I have been so long upon this prophecy of Isaiah; and shewn the dream of your modern Rabbies, of two Messiahs, unknown to all your expositors before Christ came, but invented since, on purpose to avoid the plain and undoubted characters which our Jesus bore of the Messiah. 4. The famous prophecy of Daniel's seventy weeks, (Dan. ix. 24, &c.) which, according to the prophetical computation of a year for a day, makes four hundred and ninety years. In which time it was then foretold that the Messiah should come; and our Messiah did come within that time. And all there spoken of him were punctually fulfilled as, that the Messiah should be cut off; and soon after, that the city of Jerusalem, and the sanctuary should be destroyed; and the sacrifice and oblation should cease; and that even after all this, desolations were determined against your nation.

And the end of the Messiah's coming is likewise there told, not temporal conquests, as you dream of, but, "To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness."

This prophecy pinches so close, that the modern Jews, to avoid it, would endeavour to discredit the whole book of Daniel: They dare not quite throw it off, because it was indubitably received by their forefathers before Christ came. And the high rank in which Daniel is put, (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20,) rather gives him the preference before all the rest of the prophets, than excludes him out of their | number. It makes him, at least, the most highly favoured of God, of all the men living in the world in his time. And his visions of the four great empires of the world, and prophecies of the state-revolutions which followed so remarkably, made his prophecies more noted than those of any of the other prophets. And God sets him forth as the standard of wisdom amongst men, (Ezek. xxviii. 3.) For these reasons, the Jews after Christ could not expunge this book of Daniel. But about a hundred years after Christ, they quite inverted the method of the books of the Old Testament, which to that time had been received amongst them, and made a new distribution of them; and a distinction of those they called Ayıóygaça, or “Holy Writings;" but put them in a class below the inspired and canonical Scriptures. And into this lower class they thrust the book of Daniel, at the end of the prophets, which before was placed in the middle of them.

But this book of Daniel, if it be not among those which are inspired in the highest degree, it cannot stand among any holy or good writings, but it must be reckoned false and blasphemous, because it speaks of itself all along as immediately inspired by God and if those visions and revelations there related be not true, then it is telling of lies, in the name of the Lord, which is high blasphemy.

Therefore, since the modern Jews dare not place the book of Daniel lower than among the holy or pious writings, they confess it to be inspired and canonical, and have only discovered their own guilt in seeking to avoid the witness of their own prophets to our Messiah.

5. That promise concerning the temple of Solomon, (2 Chron. vii. 16,) that God's name should be there for ever, and perpetually, cannot be verified but as it was a type of the Christian Church, which shall last for ever. For types, as pictures, are often called by the name of what they represent, and by them is meant that whereof they are the types.

6. As that promise to the temple of Solomon, so neither can that made to the second temple, be otherwise verified than as fulfilled in our Messiah,-that "the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former," (Hag. ii. 3, 7, 9.) And yet it was as nothing in comparison of the former. How then should the glory be greater? It is told, because "the Desire of all nations" should

come into it, and "In this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts." Here was given the eternal peace and reconciliation of God with men, in the person of Jesus Christ, in whom God was, by his means, reconciling the world unto himself, (2 Cor. v. 19.)

Some Jews, to avoid the force of this prophecy, do now pretend, that, by "the latter house,” (Hag. ii. 9,) is not to be meant that second temple, but some other yet to be built. This is very precarious, and a guilty plea. But it will not bear; for it is plain, that it was of that very second temple which the prophet spoke. The comparison (ver. 3,) is betwixt that temple which they then saw, and the first temple of Solomon. And (ver. 7,) God, speaking of that temple then built, says, “I will fill this house with glory." And (ver. 9,) "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former." If it were spoken of a third or a fourth temple, the word "former" would not relate to the first temple. And there was no other "former," when this prophecy was given forth. It was the second temple that seemed as nothing, in the eyes of those who had seen the first, who therefore wept, (Ezra, iii. 12.) And, to comfort these, it was here promised, that the glory of that second house should exceed that of the former.

But there were other glories, much greater than that of the building, which the first temple had, and the second had none of them; as your own Rabbies do reckon them under five heads:-1. The holy ark, wherein were the tables of the covenant, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded; and where God was said to dwell, between the cherubims that covered it, (Psal. lxxx. 1.) 2. The Schechina, or divine presence in the cloud of glory. 3. The miraculous Urim and Thummim. 4. The holy fire that came down from heaven. 5. The gift of prophecy, or of the Holy Ghost. These all ceased under the second temple; which made its glory much more inferior to that of the first, than the difference as to the magnificence of the building. But all these glories were much exceeded under the second temple; they were fulfilled, and more divinely exhibited in their archetype the Messiah; who was the true Schechina, God not only appearing in, but personally united to our nature; whose Holy Spirit descended miraculously in fire upon his apostles, the same day (of Pentecost) wherein the law was given in fire from Mount Sinai; and filled them with the gifts of tongues, of miracles, and of prophecy, which were now departed from the temple; and placed that infallible Urim and Thummim in their hearts, which was but faintly represented in the breastplate of your high priest.

7. Again, of this second temple it was said,

1 R. Kimchi and R. Solom. in Hag. i. 8. and R. Bechai in Legem. f. 59.

(Mal. iii. 1.) “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; even the angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts." Therefore it was necessary that the Messiah should come during the standing of the second temple; and that prophecy can never now be fulfilled.

You have several times attempted to rebuild your temple, in the reigns of Adrian, of Constantine, of Julian, when having gained not only that apostate emperor's consent, but that he was willing to bear the expenses of it; and gave orders for the rebuilding of your temple at Jerusalem, in odium to the Christians; and the heathens did with great zeal (for the same reason) assist you in it: even then, when you seemed on all hands to have gained your purpose, behold, God did immediately himself interpose, and by a terrible earthquake threw up the stones out of the very foundation with that violence, as destroyed many of the workmen and spectators; and by overthrowing the building near adjoining to the temple, killed and maimed many more of the Jews, who were there gathered together, for the carrying on of this work.

And when, not terrified with this, they again attempted to lay the foundations of the temple, globes of fire bursting out of the very foundations, not only destroyed the workmen, but devoured the stones. This is recorded in Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 3. c. 20, and in Sozom. 1. 5. c. 22, who appeals to several witnesses of it, then living. And our Chrysostom says, (Orat. 2. contr. Jud.) "We all are witnesses of this thing." But besides these testimonies of Christians, this is likewise told by Ammianus Marcellinus, who was not a Christian, in his twenty-third book. Thus the building of the temple was defeated at that time, A. c. 361, and to this day; though, if you had a new temple to-morrow, that could not solve the prophecies that were made either to the first or second temple, which last has been destroyed now more than sixteen hundred years; much less could it satisfy all those prophecies that speak so particularly of the time of the Messiah's coming, which are longer since past.

IV. The prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the time of the coming of the Messiah, were so noted and known among the Jews, that when it drew near, namely, about the time that our blessed Saviour came into the world, the Jews were generally looking out for him, and expected his coming. Some thought that Herod (who repaired the temple, and made it more glorious) was he, and took the name of Herodians. Others followed Theudas; others Judas of Galilee.

Both of which are mentioned in our history of the Acts of the Apostles, (v. 36, 37;) and likewise by your Josephus, (Antiq. 1. xxviii.

c. 1, 2. l. xx. c. 2.) If it was not another Theudas, who, as he tells, pretended to miracles, namely, to divide the river Jordan by his command, and give his followers passage through it on dry land. He mentions another impostor, (ibid. c. 7.) who led the Jews into the wilderness, and promised them deliverance, if they would follow him thither: whom Festus destroyed, with all his followers. This our Saviour literally foretold, (Mat. xxiii. 23-26.) and cautions against following these false Christs and false prophets into the desert. And Josephus says, (Antiq. 1. xx. c. vi.) that there were at that time (which was about fiftyseven or fifty-eight years after the nativity of Christ) many enchanters and deceivers, who persuaded the common people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to work miracles, &c. He says, that the country of Judea was stored with such so intent were they then to find out their Messiah, and so persuaded that that was the time of his coming. The two brothers Asinæus and Anileus, (Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 12,) both weavers, had mighty successes, but were at last destroyed, and were the occasion of the destruction of many of the Jews, who followed them, about forty years after the birth of Christ. And about seventy-four years after, another weaver, one Jonathan, (Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. vii. c. 31,) led many of the Jews after him into the wilderness, where he promised to shew them signs and wonders. He was burnt alive, and multitudes of the Jews were massacred about Cyrene. This was two years after the destruction of Jerusalem. And Josephus tells, that the great cause of that, was their expectation of their Messiah, then to come. For he says, (Bell. Jud. 1. vii. c. 12,) "That the chief thing which incited them to that war (with the Romans) was a doubtful prophecy (as he calls it) found in the Holy Scriptures, that, about that time, one of their country should be monarch of the whole world." He said (after the destruction of Jerusalem) that they were deceived in this interpretation of the prophecy; which he (then) applied to the reign of Vespasian, as if fulfilled in him.

V. But what is more remarkable, the Romans themselves had the same notion current among them. And not only they, but all the eastern part of the world, which may well include all that was then known. Thus says Suetonius, in the Life of Vespasian, "Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore, Judæa profecti rerum potirentur," that is, "That an ancient and constant tradition had obtained throughout all the East, that in the fates it was decreed, that, about that time, some who should come from Judea, should obtain the dominion, or government," that is, of the world, which the Romans then possessed. And Corn. Tacit. (Hist. 1. 5.) speaks almost

in the same words, telling of the great prodigies which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. He says, that many understood them as the forerunners of that extraordinary person, whom the ancient books of the priests did foretell should come, about that time, from Judea, and obtain the dominion, "Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret oriens, profectique Judæa rerum potirentur."

These ancient books of the priests, must either mean the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, in the hands of the Jewish priests, and which were known to the Romans; and if so, it shews the sense of the Jews at that time, and before, that that was the time of the Messiah's coming. Or otherwise, which is more probable, by these books, were meant the oracles of the Sibyls, which were kept with great veneration by the Roman priests, and which very plainly foretold the coming of Christ, and pointed out the very time. And this raised so great an expectation, and a jealousy in the Roman government at that time, with a watchful eye particularly upon the Jews. The same year that Pompey took Jerusalem, one of the sibyl oracles made a great noise, namely, that "nature was about to bring forth a king to the Romans." Which, as Suetonius tells in the Life of Augustus, did so terrify the senate, that they made a decree, that "none born that year should be educated; and that those whose wives were with child did each conceive great hopes, applying the prophecy to themselves." "Senatum exterritum censuisse, ne quis illo anno genitus educaretur, eos qui gravidas uxores haberent, quod ad se quisque spem traheret, curasse ne Senatus consultum ad ærarium deferretur." And Appian, Plutarch, Sallust, and Cicero, do all say, that it was this prophecy of the Sibyls which stirred up Cornelius Lentulus at that time, he hoping that he was the man who should be king of the Romans. Some applied it to Cæsar, which Cicero (de Divinatione) after Cæsar's death, ridicules, and cautions that those prophecies should not be interpreted of any future king to be in Rome. "Cum anstititibus agamus et quidvis potius ex illis libris, quam regem proferant: quem Romæ post hæc nec dii, nec homines esse patientur." Virgil, in his famous fourth eclogue, written about the beginning of Herod the Great, compliments the Consul Pollio with this prophecy, by supposing it might refer to his son Saloninus, then born. But the words are too great to be verified of any mere mortal man, and speak of such a golden age and renovation of all things, as cannot be fulfilled in the reign of any earthly king. And Virgil does express it, almost in the words of the Holy Scriptures, wherein they tell of the glorious age of the Messiah; of new heavens, and a new earth,

then to begin, and to be finally completed at the end of the world, (Isaiah, Íxv. 17; 2 Pet. iii. 13.)

Ultima Cumæi venit jam carminis ætas :
Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo
Jam nova progenies cælo demittitur alto.
Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo.

Now the last age decreed by fate is come,
And a new frame of all things does begin :
An holy progeny from heaven descends;
Auspicious be his birth, which puts an end
To the iron age, and from whence shall rise
A golden state far glorious through the earth.

Then the poet runs a division upon the peaceable state of that reign, perfectly a paraphrase of Isaiah, lxv. from verse 17-25. "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw as the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt, nor destroy, in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.'

-Nec magnos metuent armenta leones.
Occidet et serpens et fallax herba veneni
Occidet.

-Nor shall the flocks fierce lions fear.

No serpent shall be there, or herb of poisonous juice.

Nay, the very atonement for our sins, which Daniel attributed to the Messiah, (ix. 24,) "To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity," is thus expressed in this eclogue:

Te duce, si qua mannent sceleris vestigia nostri,
Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras.

Thus

By thee, what footsteps of our sins remain Are blotted out, and the whole world set free From her perpetual bondage, and her fear. And the very words of Haggai, (ii. 6,) seem to be literally translated by Virgil. says the prophet of the coming of the Messiah, "Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come." And thus the poet,

Aggredere O magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores,
Chara Deum soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum.
Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum.
Terrasque, tractusque, maris, cælumque profundum.
Aspice venturo lætenter ut omnia seclo.

Enter on thy high honour, now 's the time,
Offspring of God, O thou great gift of Jove!
Behold the world, heaven, earth, and seas do shake.
Behold how all rejoice to greet that glorious age!

And as if Virgil had been learned in the doctrine of Christ, he tells that these glorious times should not begin immediately upon the birth of that wonderful person, then expected to come into the world; but that wickedness should still keep its ground in several places. Pauca tamen suberunt priscæ vestigia fraudis. -Erunt etiam altera bella.

But yet some remains shall still be left
Of ancient fraud, and wars shall still go on.

Now, how Virgil applied all this, is not the matter; whether in part to Augustus, or partly to Pollio, and partly to Saloninus, his