I.

SER M, not pretend to give you all the Prophecies we meet with concerning him, which would be an endless Task; but only to collect some of the plainest and most useful to direct us in finding out the Meffiah. And all the Way I fhall take Occafion to obferve to you how gradually the Notices and Characters of him were given. Infomuch that almost every Time the Promife of him was renewed, or his coming foretold, fome new Revelation relating to him was made, which still gave fome fresh Light, by which he might be discovered from any falfe Pretenders to the Character,

The firft Revelation of him is as ancient as the Offence of Adam in Paradise, who had no fooner broken the first Covenant by eating the forbidden Fruit, and fo fubjected his whole Pofterity to the Power and Dominion of the Devil; but God cuts off the Hopes the Devil might entertain that his Conqueft was compleat, and his Dominion lafting, by affuring him that in Time even the Seed of the Woman, which he had now deceived, should repair the Lofs by destroying his Kingdom, Gen.iii. 15. I will put Enmity (faith God) between thee and the Woman, and between thy Seed and her Seed, he shall bruise

thy

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thy Head, and thou shalt bruife his Heel. This SER M. imported that one, in Time, fhould be born of a Woman, who should trample under Foot the Power of Sin now introduced, and of Satan who introduced it. And fo the anci

ent Jews understood it, as appears from the Paraphrafe of Jonathan on the Place, which concludes thus: They, the Sons or Seed of the Woman, shall have a Remedy, but thou fhalt have none: For they fhall apply a Medicine to their Heel, in the Days of Meffiab their King. But a Promife of a Redeemer in general being here fufficient to allay the Fears of a general Ruin; God does not see fit to be any further particular, than to promife that Man fhall in Time recover his Fall, and that by the Affiftance of one born of a Woman, who shall put an end to the Dominion the Serpent had now gain'd by the Deceit and Guile with which he had impofed upon that Sex.

And upon this general Promise the World relied, without knowing who, or from whence the Deliverer fhould be, for above 2000 Years; till upon the Call of Abraham the Father of the Faithful, God was pleased to reveal to him, that it was in him and bis Seed, that he defigned

all Nations of the Earth fhould be blefed, Gen. xii. 3.

SERM. xviii. 18. xxii. 18. This Promife was first

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3.

made to Abraham in Perfon; In thee shall all
Families of the Earth be blessed, Gen. xii.
fee alfo c. 18. because the Meffiah was then
included in his Loins, the Promise, faith St.
Stephen, being made to him, when as yet he
had no Child. But when Isaac was born,
the Meffiah was then no longer in Abraham,
but in his Seed; and therefore the Terms of
the Prophecy were altered. In thy Seed shall all
Nations of the Earth be blessed, Gen. xxii. 18.
But Abraham, it is well known, had two Sons,
one by a Bond-woman, the other by a Free
one, and he seeming to be in doubt in which of
them it was defigned the Promife should be
fulfilled; God graciously appears to him again,
more than
once, and is pleased to affure him,
that though both his Sons should become the
Heads of mighty Nations, yet it was with Isaac
that he purposed to establish his Covenant,
and that in him the Seed of Abraham Should
be called, Gen. xvii. 18, 21. xxi. 12. Ifaac
accordingly has the Covenant renewed to him.
in his own Perfon, when God appeared to
him at Gerar, and renewed the Promise he
had made to his Father, that in HIS Seed
fhould all the Nations of the Earth be blessed.
4. The Holy Patriarch undoubtedly

ch, xxvi.

rejoiced

SER M.

rejoiced at the Continuance of these Hopes
in his Family, but was willing to expect the
Completion of them from a rejected Branch,
c. xxv. 28. Efau had engaged the Affections
of his Father, and therefore upon him the
Patriarch endeavours to confer the glorious
Prerogative of having the promised Seed con-
veyed to the World through him. But it
was not for him who had profanely set his
Birthright to fale, to enjoy the Privileges
that always went with it. Jacob by a divine
Impulse undoubtedly had purchased it, and
confequently the Bleffing that belonged to it;
And therefore when his old Father would
have entailed it upon Efau, God interposes to
guide his Hands, and to direct them to Jacob's
Head where they ought to have been laid.
And to convince Jacob that the Promise
was now confirmed to HIM, God
appears to
him in a Dream at Padan Aram, and there
renews with him the Covenant he had made
to his Fathers, to Abraham and to Ifaac, and
affures him that in HIM and in his Seed fhould
all the Families of the Earth be blessed, Gen.
xxviii. 14. Jacob was happy in a very numerous
Iffue; Gen. xlix. twelve Sons and a Daugh-
ter were born to him in his Houfe, and of
thefe Judah was chosen to be Progenitor of

the

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SER M. the Meffiah, ver. 4.

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Reuben had afcended

his Father's Couch; Simeon and Levi were Brethren in Iniquity, ver. 5. and Instruments of Cruelty; and therefore Judah the fourth born, was the first that was found worthy from whom should come the chief Ruler in Ifrael. To him therefore the dying Patriarch, when he called together his Sons to receive his final Bleffings, confines the Promise of the Meffiah to come, declaring that the Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his Feet, until Shilob come, and unto him should the gathering of the People be, ver. 10. A Promise much more express than any that had been before. To Abraham, to Ifaac, and to Jacob it was only revealed in general, that in their Seed all Nations of the Earth fhould be bleffed. But here there is not only a Limitation of his Stock and Tribe, but the Time also and ConSequence of his coming are declared. It was to be before the Scepter should depart from JUDAH, or a Lawgiver from between his Feet, i. e. (as the Jerufalem Targum here expounds it) Kings should not ceafe from the House of Judah till Shiloh, . e. He who should introduce Prosperity and Safety, fhould make his Appearance in the World. The

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