it was the Prediction of Haggai, and the general Expectation of the Jews, that under this fecond Temple the Meffias was to come. I will fake all Nations, and the Defire or Expectation of all Nations fhall come, and I will fill this Houfe with Glory, faith the Lord of Hofts. The Glory of this latter House shall be greater than that of the former, faith the Lord of Hofts. And Malachi, who lived at the fame Time with this Prophet, after the Dedication. of the fecond Temple, prophefies to the fame purpose. The Lord whom they look for, fall fuddenly come into his Temple, even the Meffenger of the Covenant whom they delight in, behold he fall come, faith the Lord of Hofts. Now 'tis hardly poffible, that any Prophefy could be more exactly accomplished, than thefe are, in the Perfon of our blessed Saviour. I will fake all Nations. And what a mighty Convulfion of the Affairs of the World were there, between the penning of this Prophefy, and the Coming of Chrift? How was the Eastern World turned upfide down, by the victorious Arms of Alexander the Great? And fuch a mighty Change made in all those Nations, as was never known before? And not many Ages after, How were the Grecian Princes, which were his Succeffors, fubdued to the Roman Empire, which either crushed them, or depofed them at its Pleafure, and the poor fews forced to undergo all Hardships, which their unmerciful Conquerors would put upon them, till at laft their City, and Government, were utterly deftroy'd?

And the Expectation of all Nations fhall come. 'Tis plain, that not only the Jews expected a Meffias, but all other Nations, for a confiderable time before the Coming of Chrift, did expect about that Time wherein he was born, That a great Perfon, of an extraordinary and unknown Character, fhould come into the World. Something of this was fuppofed to be found in the Sibylline Books, and other Prophefies which went about; which occafioned Virgil to attribute them to Pollio's Son. Suetonius fays,

Suet, in Tito,

Percre.

per

Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus & conftans Opinio, effe in fá tis, ut Judea profecti rerum potirentur. There was frequent, over the whole Eaft, an old and conftant Opinion, That the Fates had decreed, that fome Coming out of Judea should govern the World. And Tacitus the like. Pluribus fuafio inerat, antiquis Sacerdotum Libris contineri, eo ipfo tempore fore, ut valefceret Oriens, profelliq; Judaa rerum potirentur. A great many were perfuaded, that it was contained in the ancient Books of the Pricfts; That at that particular Time the Eaft fhould prevail, and That fome coming out of Judea fhould govern the World. Is not this a very clear Prophefy of that then prevailing Opinion? If you were able to give any tolerable Account of this Opinion's obtaining in that Age; yet how fhould Haggai, who lived to many hundred Years before, come to know it, and to fpeak fo clearly of it? If you say this was the general Opinion in Haggai's Time too, it makes the Prophefy more ancient ftill, and is a firmer Proof of our Saviour's being the Meffias; because, upon this Suppofition, from all Time out of Mind, the fews expected the Meffias to come into the World, just at the Time when Chrift did come.

Again, I will fill this House with Glory, and the Glory of this latter Houfe fhall be greater than that of the former. What tolerable Senfe can be put upon thefe Words, befides the Coming of the Meffias? As to the Structure and Utenfils, and all other Matters relating to it, it was a poor infignificant Thing to the firft Temple; fo that you can't take this to be the Meaning of the Prophet, unless you will make him contradict himself within two or three Lines; for v. 3d of this Chapter, he fays, Who is left among you, that faw this House in her firft Glory? And how do you fee it now? Is it not in your Eyes, in comparison of it, as nothing? Nay, all the miraculous Powers and Difpenfations, which rendred the first Temple fo glorious, were all wanting in the fecond, as the Jews themselves own; the Urim and Thummim, the Ark, the Oy of Unction, the Schecinah, &c. Now what was there in the fecond Temple, that would make amends for all thefe

Defects?

Defects? What was there therein, that could, with any Propriety, be faid to exceed the Glory of the firft, but only the Coming of the Meffias? But it might be very juftly fpoken of him; who was the Prince and Lord of Glory, who manifefted his Glory to us, and we beheld it as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God, and who has laid up for us an eternal Weight of Glory. From this and other Prophefies, it was the general Opinion of the Jews, that about the latter End of the fecond Temple the Mef fias fhould come *; now because about the latter End of that Temple, no Body, befides our Saviour, had any tolerable Pretence to be the Meffias, therefore our Saviour is the Meffias. This Argument is fo plain and home upon the Jews, who by their Prophefies did always expect the Meffias under the fecond Temple; that they are forced to make use of this filly Subterfuge to evade it, viz. That the very Day, wherein the Temple of Jerufalem was deftroyed, the Meffias was born. As appears by that of R. Samuel in Berifbith Rabba, How do you prove that the Meffias was born in the fame Day, the House of the Sanctuary was destroy'd? Because it is faid in the 66th Chapter of Ifaiah, Before she travailed, he brought forth; before her Pain came, he was delivered of a Male-Child.

And when they are urged upon this, that no other Mef Jias, but that of the Chriftians, appears to have been born in the World about that Time; they are forced to say, That he stays at Rome among the Leprous there. As is plain by the Book Sanedrin, When appeared the Meffiah? Go and ask him: Where does he make his Stay? In the Gate of Rome. What is his Sign? He fits among the Poor and Infirm, (i. e.) the Lepers, according to that of the 53d of Ifaiah, He was wounded for our Offences, and bore our Infirmities, and we reputed him a Leper. The Lepers open one Wound, and bind up another, and fo does the Meffias; nor will he do otherwife, left he should be brought back:

★ Vid. Galatinum. lib. 4. c. 11.

C C

Tis

Ifaiah, a

Chrift.

'Tis plain therefore, That the Jews are fully convin ced, that the Meffias was to come about the Time our Saviour did, before the Destruction of the fecond Temple, according as these Prophefies did foretell; and therefore not being able to deny the Meaning of the Prophefies, they are forced to be at the Expence of a ridiculous Lie, about an unknown Meffias, which no Body ever heard of but out of the Talmud. If they had been able to have faid any Thing else against these Predictions, they would; for 'tis plain, it must be the laft Refuge they could fly too, to ftop the Mouths of Chriftians, to take up this foolish and groundless Fiction to fupport their finking Caufe.

Phil. I fee you are a very warm Advocate for the Prophefies. What prophetick Confirmation of your Faith

comes next in Order?

The 52d Cred. Why I think the 52d and 53d Chapter of Ifaiah, and 53d to be a very plain and unexceptionable Prophesy of our Chapter of Saviour, and which has been moft exactly accomplished, Prophesy of in him. Behold my Servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted, &c. Ifa. lii. 13. Which is the beginning of the Prophefy, and which Jonathan Paraphrafes thus, Behold, my Servant the Meffias fhall be profpered, exalted and multiplied, and greatly fortified. And fo other ancient Rabbins did explain the fame of the Meffias, as is to be seen in those ancient Pieces Tanchuma and Siphre, whofe Fragments R. Simeon, the Author of the Book Falcut, has collected, and in the Book Pefikta; and among the * Moderns in R. Mofes Alfbech, &c. And note, that the Explication of Tanchuma, upon the 13th Verfe is very remarkable. Bebold

my Servant fhall be exalted, &c. This is King Meffias, he shall be greatly advanced, he shall be advanced above Abraham, above Mofes, above the Angels of the Miniftry. And all along after, there is fuch a plain Defcription of the Exinanition, the Glorification, and the Satisfaction of Chrift, that if it was to be wrote fince his Appearance in the World, it could hardly be more exact. Of whom,

* Hullii Theol. Jud. p. 318.

be

befides our bleffed Saviour, could it be thought fuch an incredible Thing, to be born, and to fuffer Afflictions; As the Prophet thinks it to be, when he ushers in this * Prophefy with a Who hath believed our Report? Chap. lii. v. 1. But it was very wonderful to have fuch a Prediction given of the Meffias, whom the Jews generally had the most glorious Conceptions of. 'Twas very ftartling to them to hear, That He should grow up like a tender Plant out of a dry Ground; That He fhould have no Form nor Comeliness That He should be defpifed and rejected of Men; a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief, ver. 2,3. Who, befides our bleffed Saviour, could be faid to have born our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows, to be 12 wounded for our Tranfgreffions, and bruised for our Iniquities; tand that by His Stripes we are healed? Who befides Him had no Deceit in his Mouth? He was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter; and as a Sheep before the Shearer is dumb, * fo he opened not his Mouth; whilft all we, like Sheep, have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own Way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the Iniquity of us all.

This is fo plain a Prediction of our bleffed Lord, that the Jews have little or nothing to object against it; and Hulfus fays, that he has been told by feveral Jews, That they could deal well enough with the Predictions of the other Prophets, which are applied to Chrift, if Ifaiah would but hold his Tongue. And Helvicus reports, That many Jews have been converted to Chriftianity by reading this Prophefy, and among others, Johannes Ifaacus Levita, as he himself confeffes in his Defenfio Veritatis Hebraica. And therefore I am very forry to find Grotius fo far complying with the Jews, as to come in with this pitiful Explication of this noble Prophefy, Prius congruunt ha Nota in Jeremiam, potiùs fublimiufque in Chriftum. Thefe Marks agree first to the Prophet Jeremiah, and in a better and fublimer Senfe to Chrift. For there is no Manner of Ground for any one to furmife, that the Prophet ever thought a Word of Jeremiah, when he indited this