thew that this bleffing is a prophecy, it is enough to fay, that Noah fpoke it in a train of prophecy concerning the future state of his own fons and their pofterity. From Shem defcended Abraham, to Abraham was the promife made, and from Abraham, as concerning the flesh, Chrift 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 vifion; it feems to have been the refult of his having foreseen, that, in the progeny of Shem, all the families of the earth should be bleffed: 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 defcend from him as their common parent; and well might he rejoice and bless the God of Shem, by one of whofe line he forefaw that all his posterity should be blessed.

To Abraham, because he had obeyed the voice of the Lord, it is foretold, (and this is by the New Teftament declared to be spoken of Jefus Chrift) that in his feed all the nations of the earth fhould be bleffed; 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 Ifhmael; to Jacob, in preference to Efau; and to Judah, in preference to his eleven brothers. To Judah, indeed, there is fomewhat of more particular revelation made, for the length of time during which he fhall 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 ceafed when Chrift came; whence, however difficult it may be to explain this paffage with certainty, it is to be presumed that the prophecy of Jacob, concerning the fceptre of Judah and its time

of

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

Mofes, who is the relater of what was spoken before his day, in his own perfon alfo often speaks of a future prophet: And in the compelled prophecies of Balaam, when he poured forth bleffings from a heart replete with curfes, and, in fpight of that indignation with which he afcended the rock to denounce evil, forefhewed the future brightness of the ftar that shall come forth out of Jacob, there is fomething 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 fpirit called him Lord." That our Saviour was the object of David's expectation, though he knew not why he called him Lord, and only trufted that fome great good was promifed 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 he is to call Jefus, "He fhall be great, and fhall be called the Son of the Higheft; and the Lord fhall give unto him the throne of his Father David, and he fhall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there fhall be no end," Luke i. 32, 33.

Every fucceeding prophet throughout the Old Testament found a confolation to the several troubles of Judea, in looking forward to that which was revealed to them in a general way by the spirit of Chrift; but the full declaration of that which was fo 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 fuch feeming contrarieties are declared, that it is not poffible the Jews could ever have formed a definite idea of the expected Meffiah. It is forefhewn of our Saviour, (whom all allow to be the Chrift) 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; oppreffed, afflicted, bruifed and put to grief, numbered with the tranfgreffors, taken from prifon, and from judgment, and cut off out of the land of the living; ruling the nations, &c. Ifaiah lii. and liii. With fuch 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 majefty unite it> felf with that of a man of forrows and acquainted with grief, having a cheek turned to the fcorner; and how, indeed, could even fuch 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 Jefus Chrift, that it was not understood by the Jews; for how fhould they underftand 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

manner of time, the fpirit of Chrift which was within them did fignify, when it teftified beforehand the sufferings of Chrift, and the glory that fhould follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that, not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minifter the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gofpel unto you, with the Holy Ghoft fent down from heaven; which things the angels defire to look into," 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 12; and that "many prophets have defired to fee these things which our Saviour fhewed forth, and have not feen them.”

To us then, who have come after the event, it be longs to explain the prophecy, as that which is foretold has come to pafs; and therefore we must cease to look for fuch teftimony from the prophets as fhould have explained the fact, to fuch 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 fo arrange the events which were its object, as to impart a notion that the glory was to be fubfequent to the fufferings; and this I affert, notwithstanding that Ifaiah had faidhe fhall divide the fpoil with the strong because he hath poured out his foul unto death," Ifai. liii. 12. For even the expectation of a man to arife from the dead, never feems, by the hiftory of the Jews, throughout the Old Teftament, in the least degree to have fuggefted itfelf to them; for if it had, Chrift crucified could not have been to the Jews a ftumbling block; and it is even probable, that such a fact, clearly understood, might have withheld their hands from inflicting that death whereby "Chrift 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.

E 2

Still

Still nearer to the manifeftation of Chrift the Angel has declared, that the Prophet, appointed to prepare the ways of the Lord, fhould be filled with the Holy Ghoft, even from his Mother's womb; and Zacharias, upon the birth of John, breaks that filence which had been impofed upon him because of his unbelief, and, being filled with the Holy Ghoft, cried out, " Blessed be the Lord God of Ifrael, for he hath vifited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of falvation for us, in the house of his fervant David; as he fpake 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 fon, who was the appointed harbinger of the Christ, whom he has already called the Lord God of Ifrael, he fays, " and thou child fhalt be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou fhalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways," Luke i. 76. The angel faid alfo to the Virgin Mary, when he gave her assurance of the birth of her fon to be called Jefus, “He fhall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Higheft; and the Lord God fhall give him the throne of his father David," and "that Holy Thing which fhall be born of thee, fhall 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 queftion, fimilar in expreffion to the prophecy of David already cited, "whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord fhould come to me?" Luke i. 43. The fhepherds 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 prefentation of the infant Redeemer in the temple, Simeon, to whom it was revealed by the Holy Ghoft, that he should not fee death before he had feen the Lord's Chrift, taking the babe in his arms "bleffed God, and expreffed his contentment to depart then, his eyes having feen the

"

promised