The reasonableness and certainty of the Christian religion by Robert Jenkin ...

CHAP. XII. Of the Person of our Blessed Saviour.

THat in the reign of Tiberius there lived such a Person as Jesus Christ, who suffered (a) under Pontius Pilate, is ex∣presly written by Tacitns: and that he cured Diseases and wrought other Miracles, was never denied by the worst Enemies to the Christian name and Doctrine. So that the substance of the History of the Life and Death of our Saviour, is acknowledged by our very Adversaries, and the Power, by which he wrought his Miracles, is the thing which was in dispute between them and the Primitive Christians. And there∣fore I shall take the observations which I make concerning our Blessed Saviour, from that account which the Evangelists give of him, which is in great part confessed by the Jews and Heathens, and which de∣serves at least the same credit that all o∣ther Histories do, till it can be disproved, and in the following Chapters I shall shew, that it is infallibly true.

The Divine Nature of our B. Saviour is of another consideration: we are in this place to consider him, according to the Appearance he made in the World: and

this was such as shewed him to be void of all ambitious and aspiring thoughts, and to be meek and humble, and perfectly vertuous and holy: his Miracles were wrought without vanity and ostentation, and never out of Revenge, or to shew his Power over his Enemies, but always with a gracious and merciful design: he avoid∣ed all opportunities of Popularity; he would not intermeddle in private affairs, when he was appealed to; and made his escape, when the people would have ta∣ken him by force to make him a King, af∣ter they had seen the Miracle of the Loaves; by which it appeared that he, who was able to sustain so many thousands in the Wilderness, might have raised and main∣tained what Army he pleased, and might have made himself as great as he would, notwithstanding any opposition.

He dealt freely and generously with his Disciples, not deluding them with vain hopes, nor promising them great Matters, but checking their aspiring Thoughts and telling them truly and plainly, that they were to expect nothing but miseries in this World from the Profession of his Doctrine; he put it to their own choice, whether they would take up their Cross and fol∣low him; and when he was betray'd by one of those very Disciples, he uses no up∣braiding or reproachful Language, but

bespeaks him with a Divine Patience and Meekness: Noman ever suffer'd with so much injustice and cruelty, nor ever any man with so great compassion and cha∣rity towards all his Enemies.

He lived a mean and despised Life, and never was in such a condition as could tempt any man to flatter him, or to con∣ceal any fault, if he had been guilty of any: and he had always many Enemies, who endeavoured to fasten the worst ca∣lumnies upon him, but their malice tended only to render his Innocence the more manifest and illustrious.

The person who betray'd him, and de∣livered him into the hands of his Enemies, was one of the Twelve, one of his own Dis∣ciples and Apostles, whom he had sent out to gain Proselytes, and had commit∣ted to him a Power of working Miracles, and of doing whatsoever was requisite to gain Reception for his Religion in the World. Judas was one of the Twelve, who were nearest to him, and were admitted to all the secrets of his Kingdom, and were entrusted with the most hidden Mysteries, and obscure Doctrines of his Religion; what∣soever was spoken to others in Parables, was explained afterwards to them in pri∣vate: nothing was with-held from them, which it was convenient for them to be ac∣quainted withal, or which they were capable

of knowing. Nay, Judas seems to have had a particular mark of Favour plac'd upon him, in that he was the keeper of the Bag; for it was an Office of some Trust and Confidence; however, it gave him an opportunity of knowing, whether his Master had any such ambitious designs, as he was accused of. For if he had perverted the Nation, and forbidden to give Tribute to Caesar, and had endeavour'd to set himself up as King of the Jews, which was the charge laid against him before Pilate, such a Project could not have been carried on without amassing a great Treasure, which therefore, if any such thing had been in hand, Judas had been best able to give an account of. But when one who had constantly at∣tended upon him and was so intimately ac∣quainted with all the secrets of his Life and Doctrin, had nothing to alledge against him, after he had betray'd him, what could make more for his Justification, or be a clearer De∣monstration of his Innocence? When men are once prevail'd upon to turn Traytors they seldom do things by halves, but if there be the least pretence or colour to be found, they will be sure to lay hold of it to justify their villany. And it is the most undeniable proof our Saviours's Innocence, that Trea∣chery it self could discover nothing to fasten upon him: but tho' Judas had been suborned by the chief Priests to betray his Master for thirty pieces of Silver, yet nei∣ther

that nor a greater sum, (which we may be confident would not have been denied him) could prevail with Judas himself, to undertake to appear as a witness against him.

When one of his own Disciples was per∣swaded, or rather had offer'd of his own ac∣cord to betray him, it could not be imagin'd, but that the Chief Priests would urge him to come in, as a witness to the Accusations which they had framed against him; this had been a much a more acceptable service to them, than barely to deliver him up; for what could have brought a greater disgrace upon his Person, or more discredit upon his Religion, than for one of his own Disciples to witness against him, that the had committed things worthy of Death? Men, who were at such a loss for matter to charge Christ with and at last could not make their Witnesses agree together, would never, we may be sure have omitted such an opportunity as this of loading him with infamy, and stifling his Doctrine in his death. And he who was so ready and forward to betray his master wou'd never have stuck at accusing him, if he had had any thing to say against him; and no other reason can be given why he did not do it, but that he was over-awed by that Innocence and Holiness, which he knew to be in him, and was seiz'd with that remorse of Conscience and terrour of Mind, as not to be able to bear up under the guilt of what he had

already done. For Judas, who had be∣trayed him, when he saw that he was con∣demned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of Silver to the Chief Priests and Elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood: And they said, What is that to us, see thou to that; And he cast down the pieces of Silver in the Temple, and went and hanged himself, Matt. xxvii. 3, 4. How could the Chief Priests themselves have contrived a better way to vindicate our Saviour's Innocence, if they had never so much endeavour'd it, than for one of his own Disciples after he had betrayed him, instead of witnessing against him, which it was natural to suppose he would have done, to be so far from that, as to come before them all, and fling down the Money in the Temple, which they had given him as the hire of his Treache∣ry, and declare publickly, that he had betrayed the Innocent Blood; and then to give a further proof of all this, out of meer anguish and horror of Mind, to go imme∣diately from them, and hang himself?

If our Saviour had done any thing, whereby he could deserve to be put to Death, Judas must needs have known it, and when he had once betray'd him, it cannot be supposed he would forbear to discover any thing he knew of him. But when on the contrary he was so far from

accusing him, that as soon as he saw him condemned at the Accusation of other false Witnesses, he could not bear the Agonies of his own mind, but went and made away with himself; this is as evident a proof of Christ's Innocence, as any of the other Apostles themselves could ever give; and Judas is so far an Apostle still, as to proclaim his Master's Innocence in the face of the Sanedrim, and then to Seal that Testimony with his Blood.

It has been thought by some, that Judas, as wicked as he was, had never any de∣sign to cause his Master to be put to Death, or to be any way instrumental towards it, but he supposed that Christ would be secure enough against the Chief Priests in his own Innocence and Holiness, or that they would not dare to hurt him for fear of the People, which had been a restraint upon them in their former attempts; or that he could easily make his escape from them, as he had formerly done, and therefore his Covetousness tempted him to believe, that though he should betray his Master, yet he would come to no harm by it. How∣ever, it is certain, that Judas himself clear∣ed our Saviour's snnocence by betraying him more than any other man could have done, who had not been his Dlsciple, and his making that confession, and then his dying upon that account, and in that manner,

may afford us that evidence, which we must have wanted, to certify us in the Truth of the Christian Religion, if Christ had not been betray'd, or had been betrayed by any but one of his own Disciples.

When he was condemned and crucify'd one of the Thieves, who was crucified with him, made an open Profession of him; when there could be no Temptation of flattery, nor leisure or patience for a man in that condition to speak in that manner, but by the special Providence and Grace of God, and to give an early instance of the great efficacy of his Cross, and of the Mercy, which it reacheth forth to all re∣penting Sinners, our Saviour assures him, that that very day he should be with him in Paradise. A strange discourse upon the Cross! To speak of Kingdoms, and pro∣mise Paradise, under so much infamy and torment! That one should have the Faith to ask, and the other the Power to pro∣mise so great things in that condition! Who could have had the courage to pro∣mise so much upon the Cross, but he, who was able to perform it?

And as no ill could ever be proved a∣gainst him, but all circumstances concur∣red to confirm his Innocence; as Herod dis∣missed him, and Pilate often declared him to have committed nothing worthy of Death: so the Devils themselves, during

his Life here upon Earth, confessed him to be the Son of God, and after his Death, (b) by their Oracles acknowledg∣ed him to have been an holy person, whose Soul was translated into Heaven.

And this person, thus Innocent and Ho∣ly both in his Life and Doctrine, was pro∣phesied of many Ages before his Birth, and all the Prophecies concerning the Messias were exactly and in a wonderful manner fulfilled in him. These Prophecies con∣cern either his Birth, or his Life, or his Death, or his Resurrection and Ascension.

1. The Prophecies concerning the Birth of the Messias were fulfilled in our Saviour. For his Birth was prophesied of in all the circumstances of the Time, and the Place of it, and the Person of whom he was born.

1. As for the Time; by Jacob's Pro∣phecy, Gen. xlix. 10. The Messias was to come about the time of the Dissolution of the Jewish Government. The Scepter was not to depart from Judah, that is, the Pow∣er and Authority of the Jewish Govern∣ment was not to cease, until Shilo came, which the ancient (c) Jewish Interpreters expounded of the coming of their Messias. To (d) which purpose it is held by the Jews, that the great Sanhedrim sat in the Tribe of Judah, tho' but part of the Court in which they sat was of that Tribe, and the rest in the Tribe of Benjamin. And

the Jews among all their objections, never objected against the time in which our Sa∣viour came into the World, but many of them have confessed that the Messias was born at that time, but say, that because of their sins he has (e) concealed himself ever since. And the latter Jews have, by a great many stories, endeavoured to make it believed, that there is a Kingdom still of their Nation, in some unknown part of the world; tho' if this were true, it could prove nothing to their purpose, the pro∣phecy being concerning their Power and Authority in the promised Land.

It is certain, that soon after our Savi∣our's coming, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jews dispersed, and upon severe Penalties forbidden to come to their de∣solate and ruined City, or so much as to look upon Zion, the City of their Solemnities, unless it were once every year to lament their calamity; and they have ever since been a wandring and despicable People. And several times, when they have at tempted to re-build their Temple, they have not been suffered to do it; particu∣larly, when they had the favour and en∣couragement of Julian the Apostate, who, out of malice to the Christian Name and Doctrine, was forward to promote the work, they were hindred by an Earth∣quake, and a miraculous eruption of Fire

bursting out from under the foundation, which burnt down what they had erected, and destroyed those that were employed in it; and this we have attested not only from Christian writers, who lived near that time, (f) but by an eminent Heathen Historian of the same Age. Now it was foretold by the prophets Haggai and Malachy, that Christ should come before the destruction of the Second Temple, and the destruction of this Temple was fore∣told by Daniel, with the precise time of our Savour's coming; and to manifest to the world that Christ is come, and that therefore the Jewish Worship and Govern∣ment is utterly at an end, as the Prophets had foretold, God has been pleased in so mira∣culous and terrible a manner to shew, that he will not suffer their Temple to be re∣built, and whereas the Messias was to come to the Second Temple, now for so many hundreds of years, they have had no Tem∣ple at all for him to come to.

2. As the time of Christ's Birth was foretold by the Prophets, so was the place likewise, and that was Bethlehem, a small City, and therefore the more unlikely in all humane account to have that honour bestowed upon it, to become the Birth place of him, who, the Jews expected, should be a Temporal Prince: yet this when so well understood by the Jews of

that time, notwithstanding their mistaken notion of a Temporal Messias, that when Herod gathered all the Chief Priests and Scribes of the people together, and demanded of them, where Christ should be born, they answered him with one consent, in Beth∣lehem of Judaea, and quoted the Prophecy of Micah for the proof of it, Matt. ii. And many believed that Jesus was the Messias or the Christ, which they then were in expectation of; others made this objecti∣on, that he could not be the Christ, be∣cause he came out of Galilee: but hath not the Scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the Town of Beth∣lehem, where David was? This was the great objection against our Saviour, that he could not be the Christ, because he did not come out of Bethlehem, but out of Ga∣lilee: for they thought he had been born at Nazareth in Galilee, not at Bethlehem in the Tribe of Judah, whereas he was in∣deed born at Bethlehem, and that by so strange and particular a providence, as doth evidently prove him to be the Christ.

For it came to pass in these days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed, and registred according to their Families; and all went to be taxed, every one into his own City, into the City, which belonged to his

Lineage and Family. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth into Judaea unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the House and Lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused Wife, being great with Child; and so it was, that while they were there the days were accomplished, that she should be delivered, Luke ii. 1, &c. Here we see, that their going from Nazareth to Bethlehem was not in the least designed by the Virgin Mary and Joseph, but they were obliged to go thither by a new and strange decree of the Emperor, and accordingly they went in Obedience to this Decree. If the Blessed Virgin had dwelt at Bethle∣hem, though the Prophecy had been fulfilled, yet there had been nothing in the circum∣stances extraordinary; if she had gone thither of her own accord, or if some pri∣vate business had called her thither, this might have been looked upon as a contri∣vance, and a design to be thought the Mother of the Messias; if God himself had by an immediate Revelation sent her thi∣ther, yet this still had been liable to cavils, and might have been suspected of impo∣sture. But when at the Command of an Heathen Prince, and such a command as had never been given out at any time be∣fore, the Virgin Mary was forced upon a long and tedious Journey, at an unseason∣able

time of the year, being then great with Child, and therefore very unfit for such a Journey, and not in a condition to have the least inclination or thought of un∣dertaking it, when she was obliged by so unexpected and unwelcom a command to repair to Bethlehem, and was at that very time delivered of her Son; all these cir∣cumstances so wonderfully concurring, have something more convincing in them, than can well be express'd.

And 'tis observable, that this Tax or Register was designed and begun in some parts of the Empire 27 years before, but was hindred by disturbances, which hap∣pened, upon which account anciently the Spaniards begun their Aera 27 years before the computation of other Christians, sup∣posing that the Taxing mentioned in St. Luke, had been at the same time, that it was begun amongst them so many years be∣fore; but the divine Providence so order∣ed things, that it should not be carried on then, but should be deferred till that very time when Christ was to be born, that by this means Bethlehem might be the place of his Birth.

And by the same special Providence it came to pass, not only that this Prophecy was fulfilled concerning his being born at Bethlehem, but that it should be registered in the Publick Records of the Empire, to

which Justin Martyr and Tertullian appeal in their Apologies for the proof of it; and St. Chrysostom mentions them, as extant at Rome in his time, near four hundred years after the Birth of our Saviour. And his being born there, proves that he was of the Seed of David, as it was prophesied that the Messias should be: for the Decree required that all should resort to the City of their Lineage or Family, and Bethlehem was the City of David. So that from our Saviour's being born at Bethlehem, and that by so re∣markable a Providence, without any hu∣mane foresight or design: we have two evident proofs that he is the Christ, he was of the Seed of David, and was born at Bethlehem, and this was attested by the Publick Records, or Censual Tables at Rome, which were often appealed to for the Truth of it, and were remaining to be con∣sulted for several hundred years afterwards. (g) And the Jerusalem Gemarists do con∣fess, that the Messias was born at Bethle∣hem before their times.

3. The person of whom our Saviour was born, had been likewise foretold. For not only the time of his Birth, that it was to be before the destruction of the Tem∣ple, and the Place, that it was to be at Beth∣lehem, but the Tribe of which he was to be born, the Tribe of Judah, and the Fami∣ly, the Family of David, and the very

person, that she was to be a Virgin: all were particularly foretold by the Pro∣phets, and accordingly expected at that time by the Jews.

Concerning the Tribe and Family of which our Saviour was born I shall ob∣serve, that effectual care was taken by the Law of Moses to keep a perpetual distincti∣on of their several Tribes and Families: for by the Law of the Inheritances, no in∣heritance could pass out of a Family ei∣ther by sale of Lands (for every fiftieth year was a year of Redemption, and every man returned to his own Possession, and eve∣ry man to his own Family, Lev. xxv. io.) Or by defect of Heirs Male; for if there were Daughters, they were to inherit, and if there were no Daughter, it was to Pass to the nearest Kinsman, Numb. xxvii. and the Daughters who were Heiresses, were obliged to marry to one of the Family of the Tribe of their Fathers, Numb. xxxvi. 8. But if a man died without Children, his Brother, or his next Kinsman was to raise up Seed unto the deceased, and the First born was to succeed in the name of him that died without issue, Deut. xxv. 5, 6. Ruth iii. 12. So that he had a Natural and a Le∣gal Father, the names of both which must be enroll'd in their Registers, to intitle him and his Heirs to their Inheritance. All which was appointed with a peculiar re∣gard to the Messias, that the Prophecies

concerning his Tribe and Family might be known to be fulfilled at his Birth. The Genealogies of the Jews therefore were of two kinds, one of their Natural, and the other of their Legal Descent and Parentage; and we have both these Ge∣nealogies of our Saviour set down the one by St. Matthew, and the other by St. Luke, which must be exactly the same with the Registers of the Genealogies then extant, which both in their publi••k (h) Records, and in their private Books, were kept with great care and exact∣ness, their expectation of the Me••••••as ob∣liging them to it, and the constitution of their Government necessarily requiring it: for all the Title and Claim they could have to their Inheritances entirely be∣pended upon it, and they were so care∣ful herein, that their Genealogies were preserved to the destruction of Jerusalem; and if the Genealogies in St. Matthew and St. Luke had been different from those in the publick Registers this had for ever silenced and extinguished all pretences to our Saviour's being the Messias; but they being exactly the same, did prove that the Prophecies concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him. For the Virgin Mary being the only Child of her Father, it was lawful for her to be espoused to none out of her own Family, and there∣fore

the Pedigree of Joseph, as was cu∣stomary in such cases, is set down, this shewing her Lineage and Family, as cer∣tainly as her own Pedigree could have done: for the poorest amongst the Jews observed the Law of Inheritances, as strict∣ly as the rich, and even in exile it was observed, as well as when they were in possession of their Inheritances, Tob. vi. 10, 11.

Isaiah had prophesied, that the Messias should be born of a Virgin and (i) so his Prophecies had been constantly under∣stood. And that a Virgin should bear a Son can seem to no man incredible who will but consider, that the God of Nature cannot be confined to the Laws of his own Institution, and that to make Man of the Dust of the Earth, or by other means than by natural Genera∣tion, as the first Man and Woman must certainly be made, whatever Hypothesis be admitted is as unaccountable, and as wonderful as this can be. But to make this Conception of the Blessed Virgin the more easily believed, the Birth of Isaac, when his Mother Sarah was old, and had been barren, and other Births of the like nature, were both Types of Christ's Birth, and an evidence of the power of God above the course of Nature; particularly St. John Baptist, being born of a Mother,

who was both old and barren, was in this as well as in other things, the fore-run∣ner of Christ.

But this Virgin was to be espoused to Joseph, a just and good man, both that he might be a security and protection to her, and might be assisting to her, in her care and tenderness for the Blessed Infant; and likewise that he, who was most concern∣ed to make the discovery, if it had been otherwise, might testify to the world, that an Angel from Heaven had satisfied him, that she was with Child of the H. Ghost. Jealousy, the wise man says, is the rage of a man, therefore be will not spare in the day of vengeance: he will not regard any ransom, nither will he be content, though thou givest him many gifts, Prov. vi. 34, 35. And the Jewish Law in this case was as severe, as any could well be: For a Virgin betroth∣ed, who had been thus found guilty, was to be stoned to Death, Deut. xxii. 23. And though Joseph not being willing to make her a publick example was minded to put her away privately, yet this shews, that if it had prov∣ed, as he at first suspected, he was not a man, that would have been insensible of the Injury; and it is a good evidence that there was nothing to be objected, when there was nothing that jealousy could object; and no Testimony could possibly have satisfied those, who will not

be satisfied though Joseph himself testified, that the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream, saying Joseph, thou Son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Mary thy Wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And his carrying the In∣fant into Egypt at another appearance of an Angel, and all his Behaviour shews, that as he was the most competent person to deliver this Message of the Angel to the world, so he was the most zealous and forward as∣serter of this Article of our Faith.

And besides his first suspicions, his other prejudices and discouragements must be so great, that nothing but a clear and un∣doubted Revelation could possibly remove them; he could expect nothing but trou∣ble and danger to himself; he could not hope to be reputed the Father of the Messias, since the Prophets had fortold, that he was to be born of a Virgin; and nothing could be more contrary to the expectation the Jews had of him than that he should be a Carpenter's Son, this was thought by them a sufficient reason to reject both his Doctrine and his Miracles. And Joseph had no cause to flatter himself that it would be otherwise: Simeon pro∣phesied of Christ, that he was set for a sign, which should be spoken against, and He∣rod presently seeks to take away his Life by a terrible Massacre: yet Joseph was so

well satisfied of the Angels Revelation to him, and was so well assured of the cer∣tainty of it, that he willingly exposed himself to all the inconveniencies and dan∣gers, which he could not but see must be the necessary consequence of it, and which he soon saw come so thick and violently upon him. A Sword was to pierce through the Virgins own Soul also: but all the hazards and the sorrows, which were foretold them, and which accordingly they under∣went, may abundantly convince us, that they could have no design or prospect of any advantage, but of declaring the Truth, and of that Salvation, which was brought to them and to all Mankind by it.

Thus we see that both the Time and Place of our Saviour's Nativity, and the Person of whom he was born, are evi∣dent proofs of his being the Christ. He was to be born whilst the second Temple stood, he was to be born at Bethlehem, and he was to be born of a Virgin of the Tribe of Judah, and of the Lineage of David; all which most exactly agree in the Birth of our Saviour.

II. The Prophecies concerning the Life of the Messias, were fulfilled in our Savi∣our. The meanness and obscurity, and sorrows of it are exprest, Isa. liii. 23. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,

and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed him not. His meekness and patience are described, Isai. xlii. 2, 3, 4. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the Street; a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoaking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth; he shall not fa•••• nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the Isles shall wait for his Law. His abode was to be chiefly in Ga∣lilee, Isai. ix. 1. Matt. iv. 14. And according∣ly he was brought up at Nazareth, and dwelt at Capernaum.

His miracles are every where inculcated by the Prophets, and this was so well un∣derstood by the Jews of that time, that many of the people believed in him upon the account of his Miracles, and said when Christ cometh, shall he do greater Miracles than these, which this man hath done? Joh. vii. 31. And when St John Baptist sent two of his Disciples to enquire of our Saviour, whether he were the Christ, he gives them no other answer, but that they should ac∣quaint John with what things they had seen and heard, how that the blind saw, the

lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead were raised, to the poor the Gospel was preached, Luke vii. 22. which was the literal fulfilling of that Prophecy, Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. and it was the very character all the Prophets had given of the Messias. St. John Baptist, whom Josephus gives a high commendation of, and whom all men looked upon as a Prophet, Matt. xxi. 26. had before declared Jesus to be the Christ, though he now sent two of his Disciples to enquire of him, not for his own, bu•• for their satisfaction, that they might be wit∣nesses, how the Prophecies were fulfilled in him. And both the Preaching and Baptism of John, was preparatory to that of Christ, and was foretold by the Prop∣phets, Isa. xl. 3. Malach. iv. 5.

But besides the Record of John the Holy Ghost gave witness to Christ, visibly descending upon him at his Baptism, with a voice from Heaven, pronouncing the words prophetically delivered before con∣cerning the Messias, which were always understood by the Jews to be meant of him, Matt. iii. 13. and this voice was a gain repeated, though not so publickly as before at his Transfiguration, Mat. xvii. 5.2 P••••. i. 17. and at a third time there came a voice to him from heaven, in the hearing of all the people, Jo. xii. 28. By the Ho∣sanna's of the Multitude, and even of the

Children, and by his driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, several known Prophecies concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him, Matt. xxi. 16. Jo. ii. 17.

III. The Prophecies concerning the Death of the Messias were fulfilled in our Saviour: His Death was foretold both in the writings of the Prophets, and by seve∣ral Types or Actions, which did represent and prefigure his Death with the manner and circumstances of it, and this was one kind of Prophesying, by the resemblance of Actions and Things, as well as by de∣scriptions in words. Thus Abraham's of∣fering up Isaac was a Type of Christ's be∣ing offered upon the Cross, and Isaac's carrying the Wood on his Shoulders, was a Type of Christs carrying his Cross. The listing up the brazen Serpent in the wilder∣ness was a Type of Christ's being lifted up, and the Paschal Lamb was a plain. Type of the Sacrifice of Christ; and our Saviour Christ was sacrificed upon the Cross, a•• the very time of the Passover. A bone of him was not broken which was typified of him in the paschal Lamb; the breaking of his Legs was prevented by his volunta∣ry giving up the Ghost, when he had so much strength and vigour after all his pains, as to cry out with a loud voice, which by the course of nature, a person

who had endured so much before, and had hung bleeding and languishing for three hours at least upon the Cross till he expired by the force and extremity of his Torments, could not have done, and his being dead sooner than was expected, and sooner than the Malefactors were, caused the fulfilling this prophetical Type, a Bone of him shall not be broken, Exod. xii. 46. Numb. ix. 12. (k) He died likewise in the year of Jubilee, (as Dr. Lightsoot proves) by which the release and redemption, which he purchased for Mankind was ty∣pified: And as the fulfilling of these several Types concurred in our Saviour, so the fulfilling of them was brought to pass by the malice and cruelty of his Enemies, and of those very Jews, who had ever under∣stood these Types to relate to the Mes∣sias.

The Prophecies in like manner were fulfilled in him, not by any design or con∣trivance of his own, but by the mere envy and malice of his Murtherers. The thirty pieces of Silver, for which he was betray∣ed, were by the Chief Priests given to buy the Potters Field, by which wa•• ful∣filled a noted Prophecy, that stands re∣corded in the Book of Zachariah, but be∣cause Jeremiah had Prophesied of the same thing before him, or for some other rea∣son, it was better known among the Jews

by the name of Jeremiah's Prophecy, un∣less, as some suppose, Jeremy be put for Zachary by a mistake of the Transcriber, which was obvious enough in transcribing the Abbreviation of the name of Zachary, as it is now to be seen in some of the Ancient MSS. z. not much differing from I. Ou•• Saviour was buffeted and spit upon ac∣cording to a Prophecy of Isaiah, Is. l. 6. He had Vinegar given him to drink ming∣led with Gall, and his Garments were parted amongst the Souldiers by casting of Lots, both which were foretold Ps. xxii. 18. lxix. 21. They pierced his hands and his feet, Ps. xxii. 16. They that pass'd by reviled him in the very words of the Psalmist, and in his Agony he cried out in the words of the same Psalm, v. 1.7, 8. His death was voluntary, for though it was in the power of his Enemies to crucify him; yet his Life was in his own power, which he resigned in the words of another Psalm, Ps. xxxi. 5. and he caused another Pr••∣phecy to be fulfilled by dying at that very point of time, which, if his death had been deferred a little longer had not been ful∣filled; for the Soldiers broak the Legs of the two other that were crucified with them, but finding him de••d, they broak not his Legs, though one of them suspecting that he could not be so soon dead, pierced his side, to try whether he were really

dead or not, by which that Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, they shall look on him, whom they pierced, Joh. xix. 34. Zach. xii. 10. which (l) Text the Ancient Jews inter∣preted of the Messias. The liii. Chapter of Isaiah is a clear description of our Sa∣viour's Passion almost in every circum∣stance of it. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; he was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities; he was oppres∣sed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter, and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth; his Si∣lence being taken special notice of by Pi∣late himself, and his meekness towards Ju∣das, his most ungrateful Disciple, is won∣derful beyond all example. He made his Grave with the Rich in his Death, though he died in that shameful manner, under the imputation of so much wickedness, yet Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable Coun∣sellor, was suffered by Pilate to bury him, which he did in his own new Tomb. He was numbred with the Transgressors; and in that sense made his Grave also with the wicked, being crucified between two Thieves; and so was not only reputed a Malefactor, and underwent the punish∣ment of Transgressors, but was executed at the very time and place with them, and

buried when they were. He made inter∣cession for the Transgressors, for the Penitent Thief in particular, whom he promised, that he should be with him that day in Paradise, and for his Persecutors them∣selves, praying that they might be for∣given. The Prophecies of this Chapter are so very plainly and directly fulfilled, that I have known a Child apply them to the Passion of Christ.

One of the most glorious Characters, by which the Messias was described by the Prophets, was, that he should be their Prince and King, and this led the Jews into that fatal mistake of a Temporal Messias: for Messias or Anointed, signifies King as well as Prophet or Priest, (in which three Offices Unction was used, and they were all united in our Saviour, who was the Messias anointed and inaugurated by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him in a visible shape, and with a distinct and au∣dible voice declaring him to be the Son of God. And that all the world might know our Saviour to be the King of the Jews, that Title was fixt upon his Cross in three several Languages, the most vulgar Tongues then in the world, that no Nati∣on might be ignorant, that Christ the King of the Jews was then crucified. For Pilate would not alter the Inscription; but though they had frighted him before by

observing to him, that it was Treason against Caesar to call any one King besides him, yet when they would now have had him change the Inscription, and have written only, that he said, I am King of the Jews, Pilate gave a short and resolute An∣swer, what I have written, I have written. How much soever it were at his Peril to provoke a malicious people, in a point wherein they thought the honour and safe∣ty of their Nation so much concerned, and in a point, which could not but be exceeding tender to so jealous an Emperor as Tiberius; but Pilate had suffered himself to be carried too far already against his own Conscience, and had shewn great a∣version to their proceedings, in the whole management of his Tryal; and the same providence, which had ordered every cir∣cumstance to the manifestation of the Truth, and the conviction both of the Jews and Gentiles, now so disposed this remarkable particular, that the last period of his Life, in opposition to all the spight of the Jews, should be adorned and dig∣nified with his true Title and Character, under which he had been foretold by the Prophets, in Capital Letters upon his Cross.

Thus were the Prophecies concerning the Birth, and Life, and Death of the Messias, exactly fulfilled in our Blessed Sa∣viour,

which were so many, that they could not be fulfilled by chance, and the fulfilling of them depended so much upon the words and actions of others, and even of his worst Enemies, that it could pro∣ceed from no design or contrivance of him or his Disciples: They were fulfilled in him by the malice chiefly of his Enemies, and according to the interpretation which they themselves were wont to give of them.

IV. His Resurrection likewise and Ascen∣sion were the fulfilling of express Prophe∣cies, as the Apostles proved to the face of his Crucifiers, Act. ii. And these were such Accomplishments of Prophecies as depend∣ed upon the sole Will and Power of Al∣mighty God, and yet as certainly came to pass, as the Birth, and Life and death of Christ did. As shall be proved in due Place.

Notes

• (a)

  Tacit. Annal. lib. 25.
• (b)

  Por∣phyr. a∣pud Eu∣scb. De∣monstr. Evang. lib. 3. c. 6.
• (c)

  See Bp. Pearson on the Creed.
• (d)

  Light∣foot's Pro∣spect of the Temple, c. 21.
• (e)

  Mun∣ster de Messiâ.
• (f)

  Ammi∣an. Mar∣cellin. lib 23. c. 1.
• (g)

  Lightf. Choro. Graph Cen∣tur. c. 51,
• (h)

  Ligh••f. on Mart. i. 1.
• (i)

  See Bp. Pea••so•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Cr••••••.
• (k)

  Ligh. Harm. N. T. Sect. lix. p. 243.
• (l)

  See Bp. Pearson.