ral for our first parents to suppose, when a seed appeared in their own image, that that seed was the Jehovah in whose image they were created, and the promised deliverer. But alas! just as many since the days of the Saviour's flesh, have been anticipating his speedy advent, and have found that the vision tarries long, so our first parents found, and so other Old Testament characters found that their brightest anticipations perished in the bud.

Disappointed in her expectations, our first mother called her second son Abel, vanity, and with the birth of Seth, her hopes still appear to be greatly chastened, "For God," said she, "hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew."

At the birth of Noah, the hope of the human race, of the immediate appearance of the promised seed, appears again to have revived. "And he called his name Noah, rest, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

2. Passing over the case of Abel's faith, which must have had its object in Christ, the great antitype of his acceptable offering, and the blessing, Noah pronounced upon Jehovah, the God of Shem, which could have been no other than the guardian God of the Jewish nation, and who, in process of time, came in the flesh, we come to the promise made to Abraham. The grand promise of the Messiah, under the appellation of seed, was more clearly announced to Abraham, than it had been to our first parents. On three different occasions, the assurance was given to him, that through his seed, a blessing should come upon all nations. First, we have a simple promise-" And all

the races of the earth shall be blessed in thee." (Genesis 12: 3.) In the second place, a covenant is made with Abraham—“In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river," &c. (Genesis 15: 18.) This refers more especially to the possessions of his literal seed, promises of which, are more or less blended with those directed to his spiritual seed, of which they were a figure. Lastly, this promise is confirmed by an oath. God swore by himself, and he said: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves. (Genesis 22: 18.) It is worthy of notice that the reflexive form of the verb is here used, (heetbarak,) "shall bless themselves." Thus did the Lord teach, as long ago as Abraham's day, that men were to be blessed in Christ, the true seed, only through their own free agency.

That this promise to Abraham, included spiritual blessings, is evident from the fact that they formed the religion of the patriarch. The New Testament also gives ample testimony that he did not confine such promises to temporal blessings. Our Lord says "Abraham saw his day afar off and was glad." Peter speaks of the promise to Abraham as announcing "the sending of Jesus Christ to bless men by turning them away from their iniquities;" and Paul expressly states that the faith of Abraham was saving faith; and again he declares that "the Scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel, unto Abraham. "In thee shall all nations be blessed;" and, once more: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed which is

Christ." Thus, the fact is announced that the gospel was preached in the days of Abraham, and with great frequency its precious promises were confirmed to the human ancestry of our Lord, until they became concentrated in a particular tribe and family. The promise was especially confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob.

3. We come next to the promise announced to Judah. The aged patriarch Jacob, when about to die, surrounded by his children, thus announces, in sublime poetic stanzas, the destiny of his most favored son Judah:

“Thou Judah (i. e. praise) thee shall thy brethren praise,

Thy hand shall be upon the neck of thy foes;

To thee shall the sons of thy father do homage.
A lion's whelp is Judah;

From the prey my son, thou shalt go up.

He shall lie down as a lion,

And as a lioness-who shall rouse him?

A sceptre shall not depart from Judah;

Nor a law-giver from him,
Until Shiloh (Peaceful One) come,
And him shall the nations obey.
To the vine he shall bind his ass;

To the vine shoot the foal of his shee-ass.

He shall wash his garments in wine,
And his robe in the blood of grapes.
His eyes he shall darken with wine,
And whiten his teeth with milk."

Now, whatever be the etymology of the word Shiloh, it is evident that it referred to Christ, from the fact that the Jews, who ought to know their own language, have thus ever understood it. Onkelos, in his Targum, thus trans

lates the passage :"There shall not be taken away one having the principality from the house of Judah, nor a scribe from his children's children, till Messiah's come, whose is the kingdom." The other Targums and Talmoods of the Jews, take the same view of the

passage.

The idea is, that Judah should keep the supremacy until the sceptre should be put into Shiloh's hands. This tribe did retain its supremacy, even after the return from Babylon, and when under the Romans; but on the appearance of Christ, this natural and temporal supremacy passed into a spiritual and everlasting reign. The lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David, had appeared to order and establish his throne forever.

4. The prediction of Balaam, is the next that claims

attention.

His words are none the less true, because he was not of the Jewish nation, for God evidently took cognizance of the whole transaction. How sublimely this Eastern seer breaks forth in his poetical predictions!

"I shall see him-but not now:
I shall behold him-but not nigh!
There shall come a star out of Jacob,
And a sceptre shall arise out of Jacob,
And shall smite the corners of Moab,
And destroy all the chi'dren of Sheth,

And Edom shall be a possession,

Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies;

And Israel shall do valiently.

Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,

And shall destroy him that remaineth of the city."

The Hebrew word rendered destroy, might be rendered

undermine, as in Isaiah 22: 5, and hence in the Chaldee and Syriac the verse is translated, "He shall subdue all the sons of Seth, and rule over all the sons of men.”

Onkelos, in his Targum, thus paraphrases :-" When a Prince shall arise of the house of Jacob, and Christ shall be anointed of the house of Israel, He shall slay the princes of Moab, and rule over all the sons of men." As the children of Seth comprised the human race, the prediction could not refer to any one less than Him, who was to subdue all men to himself.

The wise men who came to worship the infant Saviour came from the East, the identical country of Balaam, and they were guided on their way by this star which was the Redeemer's emblem.

Peter applies the term star to Christ, when he exhorts Christians to adhere to the "more sure word of prophecy," until the day dawned, and the day-star arose in their hearts; and in the book of Revelation, the Saviour takes the appellation to himself, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

5. The prophecy of Moses may next claim our attention.

"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;" (Deut. 18: 15;) and again, in the 18th and 19th verses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto the words which