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thew that this blessing is a prophecy, it is enough to say, that Noah spoke it in a train of prophecy concerning the future state of his own fons and their posterity. From Shem descended Abraham, to Abraham was the promise made, and from Abraham, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. From the manner in which the bleffing upon Shem is pronounced, I incline greatly to believe that this defcent was the object of Noah's prophetic vision; it seems to have been the result of his having foreseen, that, in the progeny of Shem, all the families of the earth should be blesfed: and let it be remembered, that Noah was no unconcerned: prophet in whatsoever should happen to any future inhabitants of the earth; for all were then equally to descend from him as their common parent; and well might he rejoice and bless the God of Shem, by one of whose line he forefaw that all his pofterity should be blessed.

To Abraham, because he had obeyed the voice of the Lord, it is foretold, (and this is by the New Testament declared to be spoken of Jesus Christ) that in his feed all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and this promife is from time to time renewed in that line of which our Saviour was to be born; to Ifaac, in preference to Ishmael; to Jacob, in preference to Efau; and to Judah, in preference to his eleven brothers. To Judah, indeed, there is somewhat of more particular revelation made, for the length of time during which he shall bear the fceptre (that is, continue a tribe) is made commenfurate with the coming of Shiloh, upon which the fceptre is to depart from him. Judah alone continued to be a tribe after the Affyrian Captivity, and then only ceased when Christ came; whence, however difficult it may be to explain this passage with certainty, it is to be presumed that the prophecy of Jacob,, concerning the fceptre of Judah and its time

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of departure, bears reference to the coming of the Mefsiah. See Genesis xlix. 9, and Revelation v. 5. See also Ifaiah Ixiii. 1, 2, Lamentations of Jeremiah, i. 15, 16, and Revelation xiv. 19, 20.-xix. 13, 15.

Moses, who is the relater of what was spoken before his day, in his own person also often speaks of a future prophet: And in the compelled prophecies of Balaam, when he poured forth blessings from a heart replete with curses, and, in spight of that indignation with which he afcended the rock to denounce evil, foreshewed the future brightness of the star that shall come forth out of Jacob, there is something which, however obfcure it may be, is certainly referable to our Lord. See Numb. xxiv. 17.

David hoped for one of his feed to fit upon his throne; and though he looked for a defcendent from himself, he has nevertheless " In spirit called him Lord." That our Saviour was the object of David's expectation, though he knew not why he called him Lord, and only trusted that fome great good was promised to him, the declaration of the angel to the Virgin Mary evinces, who fays to her concerning the child which she is to bear, and whom she is to call Jesus, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord fhall give unto him the throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke i. 32, 33.

Every succeeding prophet throughout the Old Testament found a consolation to the several troubles of Judea, in looking forward to that which was revealed to them in a general way by the spirit of Christ, but the full declaration of that which was so revealed was withheld from them; they understood it not themselves, and even when they spoke of the divinity of our Saviour,

like Balaam, they spoke it constrainedly; they uttered only the word which the Lord had put into their mouths. If they who spoke it were ignorant of its meaning, it is no great wonder that they who heard did not understand the full force of the prophecy of the Godhead of him who was to come; nor is their misapprehenfion a reason why we should doubt that the prophets foretold it. The purpose of prophecy is " to tell before it come to pass, that when it come to pass we may believe," John xiv. 29. And the object of the prophecy of the Old Teftament is the coming of a great Deliverer, of whom such seeming contrarieties are declared, that it is not possible the Jews could ever have formed a definite idea of the expected Meffiah. It is foreshewn of our Saviour, (whom all allow to be the Christ) that he was to be a King of the feed of David, and to fit upon his throne; that he was to be cut off, but not for himself; that he was to be exalted and extolled, and to be very high; oppressed, afflicted, bruised and put to grief, numbered with the transgressors, taken from prison, and from judgment, and cut off out of the land of the living; ruling the nations, &c. Ifaiah lii. and liii. With such irreconcileable declarations were the hopes of the Jews kept alive; but in all this there is nothing that could have suggested an expectation that God himself would come; for how should the idea of his infinite majesty unite itself with that of a man of forrows and acquainted with grief, having a cheek turned to the scorner; and how, indeed, could even such an idea as this agree with the expectation of a great King, to overcome all their chemies? It cannot, therefore, be admitted in argument against the divinity of Jesus Christ, that it was not understood by the Jews; for how should they understand it, when the prophets, who prophefied of the grace that should come unto us, have enquired and fearched diligently of this falvation, " searching what, or what manner of time, the spirit of Christ which was within them did fignify, when it teftified beforehand the fufferings of Chrift, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that, not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gofpel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels defire to look into," 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 12; and that "many prophets have desired to fee these things which our Saviour shewed forth, and have not seen them."

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To us then, who have come after the event, it belongs to explain the prophecy, as that which is foretold has come to pafs; and therefore we must cease to look for such teftimony from the prophets as should have explained the fact, to such as had never seen it: of the fufferings of Chrift, and the glory that should follow, they could form no certain idea whatsoever, nor did the prophecy so arrange the events which were its object, as to impart a notion that the glory was to be subsequent to the sufferings; and this I afiert, notwithstanding that Ifaiah had faid " he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured out his foul unto death," Ifai. liii. 12. For even the expectation of a man to arise from the dead, never feems, by the history of the Jews, throughout the Old Testament, in the least degree to have suggested itfelf to them; for if it had, Chrift crucified could not have been to the Jews a stumbling block; and it is even probable, that such a fact, clearly understood, might have withheld their hands from inflicting that death whereby " Christ was perfected:" "For they that dwelt at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Acts xiii. 27.

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Still nearer to the manifestation of Chrift the Angel has declared, that the Prophet, appointed to prepare the ways of the Lord, should be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his Mother's womb; and Zacharias, upon the birth of John, breaks that filence which had been imposed upon him because of his unbelief, and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, cried out, " Blessed be the Lord God of Ifrael, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his fervant David; as he spake by the mouth of the holy prophets, which have been fince the world began," Luke i. 67, 68, 69; and then speaking of his own son, who was the appointed harbinger of the Christ, whom he has already called the Lord God of Ifrael, he says, " and thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways," Luke i. 76. The angel faid also to the Virgin Mary, when he gave her assurance of the birth of her fon to be called Jesus, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Higheft; and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David;" and " that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God," Luke i. 32, 33, 35. The babe leapt in the womb of Elizabeth for joy upon the falutation of Mary; and Elizabeth asks this remarkable question, similar in expression to the prophecy of David already cited, "whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke i. 43. The shepherds are told by an angel, "unta you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Chrift the Lord," Luke ii. 11. At the presentation of the infant Redeemer in the temple, Simeon, to whom it was revealed by the Holy Ghost, that he should not fee death before he had feen the Lord's Christ, taking the babe in his arms " blessed God, and expressed his contentment to depart then, his eyes having seen the promifed

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