head, and thou fhalt bruise his heel. - I will establish my covenant (faid God to Abraham) between thee and me, and thy feed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant. Sarah thy wife fhall bear thee a son, and thou fhalt call his name Ifaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlafting covenant, and with his feed after him. And in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed f.-I will perform the oath (faid God to Ifaac) which I fware unto Abraham thy father; and in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed. In thee, and in thy feed, (faid God to Jacob) fhall all the families of the earth be bleffed *.- And it fhall come to pafs (faid God to David) when thy days shall be expired, and thou fhalt go to thy fathers, that I will raise up thy feed after thee, which shall be of thy fons; and I will fettle him in mine house for ever, and his throne fhall be eftablished for evermore. e Gen. iii. 15. • Gen. xvii. 19. * Gen. xxvi. 3. d Gen. xvii. 7. Gen. xxviii. 14. i 1 Chron. xvii. 11, &c. This seems to have been immediately fpoken of Solomon; who was confidered as a type of Chrift; but the Prophetic characters are evidently carried beyond a prince, from whole immediate fucceffor the kingdom was rent. I the Lord have called thee in righteoufnefs: I will keep thee; and give thee for a covenant to the people; for a light of the Gentiles. Thus faith the Lord, I will give thee for a covenant of the people-to establish the earth -to caufe to inherit the defolate heritages *.Thus faith the Lord, If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, that there fhould not be days and nights in their seasons; then may alfo my covenant be broken with my fervant David, that he should not have a fon to reign upon. his throne1.-There fhall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jeffe, and a branch fhall go out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord fhall rest upon him; the Spirit of wif dom and understanding, the Spirit of counfel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord, and fhall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LordTM. * Ifai. xlii. 6. and xlix. 8. If the context be exa mined, the whole is evidently Prophetic of the Meffiah : but I wished here only to retain such paffages, as referred to the covenant. 1 Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21. From this Prophecy also that part only is taken, which belongs to the covenant. It could have no respect perfonally to David, or his immediate pofterity; for it was spoken five hundred years after Da vid's death. Ifaiah xi. I, 2. VOL. I. Be Behold the days come, faith the Lord, that I will raife unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign, and profper, and shall execute judgment, and juftice in the earth, In his days Judah fhall be saved, and Israel shall dwell fafely and this is his name whereby he fhall be called, The Lord our Righteouf nefs".In those days will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; and he fhall execute judgment, and righteousness in the land. Thus faith the Lord God, I will take the highest branch of the highest cedar; and I will plant it on a high mountain; and it fhall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it fall dell all the fowls of every wing, in the shadow of the branches thereof fhall they dwell P. → Hear now, O Joshua the high-prieft, thou, and thy fellows that fit before thee; Behold I will bring forth my fervant the Branch. Thus faith the Lord of Hofts, Behold the man whofe name is the Branch; he shall grow up out of his place, and he fhall build "Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. Here again the fame fucceffor is promifed to David five hundred years after the death of that prince; which promise had been made before to the Patriarchs, and to that prince himself. - Jer. xxxiii. 15. • Zech. iii. 8. Ezek. xvii. 22, 23. the the Temple of the Lord'; and he shall bear the glory, and he fhall fit, and rule upon his throne.-In the laft days it fhall come to pafs, that the mountain of the house of the Lord fhall be established in the top of the mountains, and it fhall be exalted above the bills; and the people shall flow unto it.— The Lord fhall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever".—And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the houfe of the Lord fhall be eftablished, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations fhall flow unto it". -And the ftone, which was cut out of the mountain without hands, fhall become a great mountain, and fill the earth*. And he will deftroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. - And many fhall fay, ↑ Zech. vi. 12. The Reader is referred to the fubfequent part of this Work for the confideration of the predictions relative to the kingdom of the Meffiah, which are not to be looked upon as yet fulfilled, in their complete and ultimate fenfe. • Mic. iv. I. * Ifaiah ii. 2. Mic. iv. 7. * Dan. i. 35 * Ifaiah xxv. 7. There is fomething extremely grand in thus representing the Gospel as removing the darkness spread over all nations by the drawing up of a vaft curtain, to let in the light. Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the houfe of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways; and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall, go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerufalem. And he fhall judge among the nations, and fhall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their fwords into plowshares, and their fpears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not rise against nation; neither shall they learn war any more2. — The wolf alfo fhall dwell with the lamb, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child fhall lead them. And the cow and the bear fhall feed, and their young ones lie down together; and the lion fhall eat straw like the ox. The fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child fhall put his hand on the cockatrice-den. And they shall not hurt nor deftroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jeffe, which shall stand for an enfign of the people. To it fhall the Gentiles seek, and his reft fhall be glorious 2. -The fceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from be * |