Representations made of Him in the Old Tefta

ment?

A. Befide the Types or Emblems of Chrift and his Gospel, which are found in the Jewish Worship, there are alfo feveral plain Expreffions in the Books of the Old Teftament, which are Predictions or Prophecies concerning Him, long before he came into the World. See fome of the Types in Chapter V. Question 116.

2 Q. What is the first and earliest Prophecy of Chrift?

A. Gen. iii. 15. Where God faid to the firft Woman, that is, to Eve, that her Seed fhould bruife the Head of the Serpent.

3 Q. Wherein is this Prophecy fulfilled?

A. Gal. iv. 4. God fent forth his Son made of a Woman. I John iii. 8. The Son of God was manifefted, that he might deftroy the Works of the Devil; that is, he fhould deftroy the mifchievous Defigns and Deeds of the Devil, who lay hid in the Serpent, when he tempted Adam and Eve to fin; and this, in the Language of Prophecy, is called Bruifing the Serpent's Head.

4Q What is the next plain Prophecy of Chrift? A. Gen. xviii. 18. and chap. xxii. 18. Where God tells Abraham, that in him and in his Seed fhall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed.

5 Q. How does this appear to have a Reference to Chrift?

A. Gal. iii. 8. The Scripture preached the Gofpel unto Abraham, faying, In thee fhall all Nations be blessed, ver. 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promifes made: He faith, To thy Seed, which is Chrift; who was to be derived in a long Course of Generations from Abraham; and therefore Chrift may be called the Son of Abraham, Matt. i. 1.

6Q To

6 Q. To whom was this Promife given befide Abraham?

A. It was given to Ifaac, the Son of Abraham, Gen. xxvi. 4 and to Jacob, his Grandfon, Gen. xxviii. 14. In thee, and in thy Seed, fhall all Nations be blessed.

7Q. Did Jacob prophefy concerning Chrift?

A. Yes, in his dying Speech to his Son Judah, Gen. xlix. 10. The Scepter (or Tribe, as the Word fignifies) shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his Feet, until Shiloh come; and till the gathering of the People be unto him.

8 Q. How can you prove that this Prophecy relates to Chrift?

A. Shiloh fignifies one that is fent, which is the frequent Character of Chrift, that he was fent by the Father, John x. 36, &c. and ch. xvii. 18,21,23, (And indeed the Jews themselves own that it fignifies the Meffiah :) Now Judah did continue to be a Tribe, and to have fome Sort of Government amongst them till Chrift came: He was about ten or twelve Years old when Archelaus was depofed,. and Judea reduced to the Form of a Roman Province, and then the Power of Life and Death was taken from them. See Chapter XIX. Queft. 36. And when the People, that is, the Jews and Gentiles, were gathered in great Numbers unto Chrift, then the Tribe of Judah, or the Jewish Nation, was broken to Pieces and fcattered, Jerufalem was deftroyed, and all Appearance of Government among: them was loft; which is an effectual Argument against the Jews that their Meffiah is already come. 9 Q. Who was the next Peifon that prophefied concerning Chrift?

A. Mofes, in the xviiith Chapter of Deuteronomy, ver. 15, 18. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a

M 5.

Prophet

Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy Brethren, like unto me and to him shall ye hearken.

10Q How does it appear Mofes defigned Jefus Chrift in this Prophecy?

A. St Stephen the Martyr cites thefe Words in his Dying-Speech, when he was put to Death for the Sake of Chrift, and applies them to him, Acts vii. 37.

11 Q. But were not many Prophets, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, and several others, like unto Mofes ?

A. None of them, befide Jefus Chrift, came to inftitute a new Religion, as Mofes did; or wrought fuch numerous and various Miracles, to atteft their Doctrine.

12 Q. Who was the next eminent Prophet that Spake plainly of Christ?

A. David speaks often of him in his Book of Pfalms, in many remarkable Expreffions; and defcribes his Incarnation, his Sufferings, his Exaltation, and his various Offices of Prophet, Prieft, and King; namely,

1. His coming into the World, to preach the Truth of God, and the Doctrine of Righteousness, for the Salvation of Men, and the Weakness and Infufficiency of the Jewish Sacrifices, Pfalm xl.. 6, 78. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not defire;, that is, the Jewish Sacrifices were not required as real and effectual Expiations, because they could not take away Sin: But mine Ears theu haft opened: Then faid I, Lo, I come; in the Volume of the Book it is written of me: I delight to do thy Will, O my God. I have preached Righteousnes in the great Congregation, I have declared thy Faithfulness and thy Salvation, &c. The first Part of this Pfalm is exprefsly applied to Chrift, Heb. x. 5, 86.

5, &c. and instead of the Words, Mine Ears haft thou opened, the Apoftle expreffes it, A Body haft thou prepared me: And then he goes on to fhew how Chrift made himself a perfect and effectual Sacrifice, inftead of all the imperfect Sacrifices under the Law.

2. His being chofen out of the Jewish Nation to be the Saviour and the King of Ifrael, is foretold under the Emblem of David, Pfalm lxxxix. 18, &c. Then thou fpakeft in Vifion to thy holy One, and faidft, I have laid Help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chofen out of the People: -I will make him my Firft-born, higher than the Kings of the Earth, &c. Chrift is called the Firstborn of the Creation, and King of Kings, Col. i. 15. Rev. xix. 16.

3. The Children in the Temple finging his Triumph when he entered into Jerufalem, is early intimated, Pfalm viii. 2 Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou haft ordained Strength, or perfected Praife; and in Pfalm cxviii. 25, 26. you have the very Words of their Song, Save, now, I beseech thee, (which in the Hebrew is Hofannah :) O Lord; bleffed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord: Which is applied to Chrift, Matt. xxi. 9. And as the Scribes and Pharifees raged, and had Indignation against him on this Account, fo this very Rage is intimated in the fame viiith Pfalm, ver. 2. The Babes and Sucklings cried out, and did fill or filence the Enemy and the Avenger, that is, the revengeful Enemy. And this is further hinted in the cxviiith Pfalm, ver. 22. where David calls Chrift, the Stone which the Builder's refufed, and which is become the head Stone of the" Corner: The Teachers and Rulers of the Jews, who fhould have been the Builders of the Church, rejected

rejected Chrift, and on this Occafion he applies thefe Words to himfelf, Matt. xxi. 42. and they are applied to him by the Apostles Paul and Peter, Eph. ii. 20. Jefus Chrift himself being the chief Corner-ftone; and 1 Pet. i. 7. The Stone which the Builders difallowed, is made the Head of the Corner.

4. His Perfecution by Princes and People, is declared in Pfalm ii. 1. Why do the Heathen rage, and the People imagine a vain Thing? The Kings of the Earth fet themselves, and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed; that is, againft his Meffiah, or Chrift; which was cited and fulfilled, As iv. 26, 27. when Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the People, both Gentiles and Jews, all rofe up against Jefus of Nazareth, and put him to Death.

5. His bitter Reproaches and Sufferings, and the Manner of his Death, is foretold by David in the xxiid and Ixixth Pfalms. Inthe Beginning of the xxiid Pfalm, David, by way of Emblem, in Prophecy fpeaks the Words of Chrift upon the Crofs, My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me? ver. 16, 18. They pierced my Hands and my Feet: They parted my Garments among them, and caft Lots upon

my

Vefture: And that he was brought down to the Duft of Death, ver. 15. All thefe Things were fulfilled when they nailed his Hands and Feet to a Crofs, when they caft Lots for his Garments, and flew him, Matt.xxvii. 35, 46. John xix. 23, 24.

His Reproaches and his cruel Treatment are defcribed farther, Pfalmlxix. 20, 21. Reproach hath broken my Heart; I am full of Heaviness: They gave me alfo Gall for my Meat, in my Thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink, Matt. xxvii. 48.

6. His Refurrection from the Dead, Pfalm xvi. 10. For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell; that is,