tween his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him fhall the gathering of the people beb.There fhall come a Star out of Jacob, and a fceptre fhall arife out of Ifrael ̊. — I will alfo give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayeft be my falvation unto the ends of the earth.-I faw in the night-visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came in the clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of days. And there was given unto him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all Gen. xlix. 10. Some have objected that this Prophecy was fulfilled in Mofes. But what fceptre had Judah before Mofes? The word Shiloh fignifies fent ; and was always interpreted by the antient Jews of the Meffiah. It is fuppofed indeed by many interpreters, that Mofes himfelf alluded to this Prophecy, when he exprelles his backwardnefs in going to Pharaoh. Send I pray thee by the hand of him, whom thou wilt fend that is, by the Shiloh, whom thou haft promifed. How very exactly this Prophecy was fulfilled, is very apparent. The difperfion of the Jews, independent of Prophecy, is one of the most fingular events in the hiftory of mankind: but when we confider it as the completion of Prophecy - when we confider this people difperfed, and wandering among all the nations upon earth-without temples -- without laws, without government-connected with none; but diftinct from all - as if preferved to complete future Prophecies- the whole together, I think, forms an argument of fufficient force to weigh against all the cavils of infidelity. Numb. xxiv. 17. S 3 Ifaiah xlix. 6. people, people, nations, and languages, fhould ferve. him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which fhall not pafs away, and his kingdom, that which fhall not be deftroyed. The God of heaven shall fet up a kingdom, which fhall never be deftroyed: but thall ftand for ever f.-Behold I will give to Jerufalem one that bringeth good tidings.—O Zion, that bringeft good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain : O Jerufalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength: lift it up, be not afraid: fay unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God 1.—Sing, O hea vens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into finging, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted. -Unto you that fear my name, fhall the Sun of Righteousness arife with healing in his wings *. SECTION II. Containing thofe Prophecies, which relate to the birth of the Meffiab. The voice of him that crieth in the wildernefs, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make ftraight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and bill fhall be made low: and the crooked fhall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord fhall be revealed, and all flesh fhall fee it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it'. Behold I will fend you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.-I will fend my meffenger, and he fhall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom he feek, fhall fuddenly come to his temple- -even the meffenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold be fhall come, faith the Lord of hosts". n I 1 Isaiah xl. 3, 4, 5. By mountains, and rough ways, the Prophet indicates the moral difficulties, which the Gospel tended to remove. Mal. iv. 5. Mal, ii. 1. have $4 have fet my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou art my Son; this day have begotten thee. I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy poffeffion. -The Lord himself shall give you a fign, Behold, a Virgin fhall conceive, and bear a fon, and fhall call his name Immanuel P. And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall he come forth, who is to be the ruler in Ifrael: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting a, -The people that walked in darkness have feen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government fhall be upon his fhoulder: and his name fhall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government peace there fhall be no end". and Pfal. ii. 6, &c. This Prophecy of the heathen, and the utmost parts of the earth as a possession, is, in other language, the old patriarchal promise, In thee fhall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Ifaiah vii. 14. * Ifaiah ix. 2, 6. 1. Mic. v. 2. SEC SECTION III. Containing thofe Prophecies, which relate to the Life of the Meffiah-his Preaching, and his Miracles. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren (faid God to Mofes) like unto thee; and will put my words in his mouth," and he shall speak unto them all that I fhall command him. He hath no form nor comelinefs: and when we thall fee him, there is no beauty that we fhould defire him. He is defpifed and rejected of men a man of forrows, and acquainted with grief and wel hid as it were our faces from him. He was defpifed, and we efteemed him not. - He Deut. xviii. 18. That no Prophet ever did arise in Ifrael, like unto Mofes, is taken notice of by Samuel, or whoever added the concluding part of the Pentateuch. See Deut. xx. 10. The great leading characters in Mofes, is his delivering Ifrael, and introducing a new law. These characters agree only in the Meffiah. The great difference was, that his deliverance and his law were univerfal, and perpetual; thofe of Mofes, local, and tranfitory. Ifaiah liii. 2, 3. fhall |