III. our Lord was defcended from the fame Per-SER M. fons, from whom the Prophets foretold the Chrift fhould fpring; I fhall therefote proceed in the next Place to fhew, II. Secondly, That they were equally fulfilled as to the Place of his Birth. And as to this I fhewed from the Prophecy of Micab, Chap. v. 2. that Bethlehem, in the Tribe of Judah, was to have the glorious Privilege of being the Place of the Meffiah's Nativity. And this the Jews therefore affirmed; as is evident from the Anfwer which the Chief Priests and Scribes gave to Herod, Matt. ii. 5,6. when he fent for them, and demanded of them, where Chrift fhould be born: For they faid unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the Prophet; And thou Bethlehem in the Land of Judah, art not the least among the Princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my People Ifrael. And indeed the Affurance of the Jews, that Bethlehem fhould be the Meffiah's Birth Place, was so strongly confirmed; that Galilee's being the Place where Jesus Abode, was a ftumbling Block, which they did not know how to get over. Shall Chrift (fay they) come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture faid, that Chrift cometh of the Seed III. SERM. of David, and out of the Town of Bethlehem where David was? John vii. 41, 42. This Doubt and Question of theirs was well founded. The Scripture had faid it, and therefore had not Jefus been born in Bethlehem, we could not have received or owned him for the Chrift. But Bethlehem was the Place where Jefus was born; though Providence was concerned remarkably to interpose, in order to bring it about. For which Reason he fo ordered it, that Auguftus Cæfar, the then Emperor of Rome, fhould fend forth a Decree, that all the World should be taxed; Luke ii. 1-7. and to this End that every one should go into his own City. Whereupon Jofeph also went up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the House and Lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary bis efpoufed Wife, being great with Child. And fo it was, that while they were there, the Days were accomplished that he Should be delivered. And as her Days were accomplished, fo was the Prophecy fulfilled; for there she brought forth her first-born Son; and fo unto us was born that Day, and in the City of David, a Saviour which is Chrift the Lord, ver. II. As III. As foon indeed as the Days of his Mother's SER M. Purification were accomplished, ver. 22. and She had performed (with Relation to herself and her Son) all Things according to the Law of the Lord; (the Evangelift tells us, that they returned into Galilee, unto their own City, Nazareth, ver. 39. And Jefus was there fubject to his Parents during his Minority; when afterwards he came to execute his Ministry, he made Galilee at firft the chief Scene of his Actions. For which Reafon he is ftiled, throughout the whole History of the Gospel, Jefus of Nazareth, Acts xxii. 8. A Title he is pleased to give himself in his miraculous Call of St. Paul from Heaven. But this is fo far from being any Objection to what the Prophets foretel; that it is an actual Completion of another eminent Prediction. For St. Matthew tells us, that the Reason, why Jefus departed into Galilee, was, Matthew iv. 1416. That it might be fulfilled which was Spoken by Ifaiah the Prophet; The Land of Zabulon, and the Land of Nephthalim, by the Way of the Sea beyond Jordan, GALILEE of the Gentiles -The People which fat in Darkness faw a great Light, and to them which fat in the Region and Shadow of Death, Light is sprung up. The Land of Galilee, SERM. or of Zabulon and Nepththali had the Mis III. fortune to be the first that were taken into Captivity by the Affyrians, Ifai. ix. 1-3. Upon Occafion of which Calamity then newly happened, Ifaiah comforts them with this Prophecy; and affures them that in Recompence of that Mifery, they then suffered above the rest of their Brethren, they should have the first and chief Share of the Meffiab when he should come. III. Thirdly, The next Thing I am to take Notice of, in which the Prophecies of the Meffiah are compleated in Jefus, is the Manner of his Birth. which was to be miraculous and divine. The very firft Revelation of him feems to infer that it was to be præternatural; The Seed of the Woman was to bruife the Serpent's Head: For as the Seed, there mentioned, is not to be taken collectively, for Mankind in general, but determi nately and individually for that one Seed, which is Chrift; fo the Woman is not to be understood in Relation to Man; but particularly and determinately of that Sex, from which alone Chrift fhould come. But from Ifaiab and Jeremiah I fhewed more expressly, that the Meffiah was to be conceived and born of a Virgin. And this Prophecy also was most III. moft truly fulfilled in our Jefus; for that his SER M. Mother was a Virgin when the brought him forth, the Evangelifts are exprefs. We have St. Luke's Teftimony and her own too, that she was a Virgin when the Angel Gabriel faluted her. For he was fent to a Virgin efpoufed to a Man whofe Name was Jofeph, Luke i. 27. and fent on such a Meffage as caused her to ask, ver. 34.—How shall this be, feeing I know not a Man?-Elpoused to Jofeph, St. Matthew, as well as St. Luke, tells us fhe was, Matt. i. 18. But then according to the Meffage which, St. Luke relates, Ch. i. 35. the Angel delivered to her, St. Matthew affures us, that before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghoft. And though in fuch Circumftances Jofeph, in Obedience to God's Command by the Angel, took unto him his Wife; yet the Evangelift further affures us, that he knew her not, till she had brought forth her first-born Son, Matt. i. 25. IV. Fourthly, I come now to the laft Thing mentioned under my former Head, and that is the Time when the Meffiah was to make his Appearance in the World. And of this I gave you two Predictions, one out of Mofes, that it fhould be before the Scepter E 4 Lhould |