us; troubles. Nor will he confine his royal benefits to our pofterity: For when he fhall have finifhed his work, as Lawgiver and Prophet, when he shall have been perfecuted by his bre thren as Abel; when he fhall have been offered for and restored back to us as Ifaac, his law fhall be preached to diftant nations, and he fhall long remain as a couching Lion: But he shall at last be roufed up by the groans of his oppreffed people, and by the crying fins of all mankind. Then fhall his hand be on the neck of his enemies: then fhall he do his ftrange work, as the lion of Judah's tribe: But foon coming up from the laughter, as Abraham, from the defeat of the five kings, he fhall fhew himself, not only the promised Bruiser of the Serpent's feed, but the Prince of peace, both for our pofterity and for all mankind; for all the families of the earth fhall be blefed through him, and unto him fhall the gathering of the nations be the fulness of the • Gentiles coming in, after the Jews, to enjoy the bleffings of his holy, peaceful, and profperous reign. And then fhall be fulfilled another Prophecy: His righteous dominion shall be from • fea to fea, and from the river, to the ends of the earth. I lay his righteous dominion, for when • the kingdoms of this world fhall become the happy provinces of his kingdom, righteoufnefs fhall cover the earth: The whole earth fhall be filled with his glory, and all his fubjects fhall fing, Bleffed be [Immanuel the Lord God, the God of •Ifrael, who only doth wondrous things and • bleffed be his glorious name for ever! Amen, and • Amen! Pfalm Ixxii. 8, 20. You will fee, Sir, that this fenfe of Jacob's prophecy is confirmed by the prophecies of the other men of God; all the other oracles refpecting the tame fubject, being only confirmations and explanations of the three original Promises handed to to us by Mofes. He hath fo clearly defcribed the Meffiah, by the divine works appointed for him, that to prove Chrift's Divinity, by the concurrent teftimony of all the Prophets, I need only prove that they unanimously declare, that the wonderful Perfon, who fhall reverfe the curfe, bruise the Serpent's head, deftroy the wicked, poffefs the gate of his enemies, unto whom all people fhall be gathered, and in whom all the nations of the earth fhall be bleffed, is a Perfon truly divine, even Jehovah the Son or Immanual, God manifeft in the flesh to be both the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world, and the King of the Princes of the earth. OBJECTION. You will probably fay, Sir, that Mofes himself overturns the fenfe, which I put upon the three original Promifes recorded by him, with refpect to the Meffiah; and that when Mofes foretels Chrift's coming, he only speaks of him as of a Prophet, like unto himfelf; and that if Christ were a Prophet like unto Mofes, fo fure as Mofes was a man only, the Meffiah was a mere man. ANSWER. We grant that Chrift, as Son of Man, is like Mofes, in feveral refpects. Was the fon of Amram faved in his infancy from the cruelty of a jealous tyrant, who had doomed him. to die with a multitude of other children? So was the Son of Mary. Was Mofes the Lawgiver of the Jews? So is Chrift the Legiflator of the Christians. Was Mofes remarkable for his meeknefs? So was he who fays, Learn of me, for I am meek in heart. Both being appointed as mediating Prophets, stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of heaven from a guilty people. Both as Shepherds of the Lord, led his ftraying fheep through a wilderness, to a delightful land. Did. Mafes Imite Pharaoh, King of Egypt: Og, King of the Amorites and Schon, King of Bafan? So will Chrift Chrift wound Kings in the day of his wrath. Did Mofes heal the dying Ifraelites, by lifting up the Serpent in the wilderness? So Chrift heals believers, by being lifted up on the crofs. Did Mofes faft forty days, and receive the law on Mount Sinai? So did Jefus faft forty days, and deliver his law on a Mountain of Galilee. Was Mofes rejected, and almost ftoned by the Ifraelites à fo was Chrift, by the Jews. Did Mofes defpife the glory of Egypt, that he might fuffer for, and with the people of God? So did our Lord defpife all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, that he might fuffer for, and with his people. In a word, Is Mofes the great Prophet of the Old Testament? So is Chrift of the New. This was ground fufficient for the comparison, which Mofes made of Chrift with himfelf. But, to conclude that because Chrift, according to his human nature, was a Prophet, like unto Mofes, he must be a mere man as Mofes, is illogical. Dying Jacob, to exprefs the toil, ftrength, and patience of Iffachar's tribe; fays, Ifachar is (like) a ftrong afs, couching down between two burdens: but muft we infer from thence, that Iffachar had long ears, and really carried two panniers as an ass? It is by fuch injudicious preffing of comparisons, that monftrous doctrines are obtruded upon Chrif tians, and that while fome turn Socinians, others become even Materialists. But although the Scriptures fhew there is proper ground for a comparifon between Chrift and Mofes, they take care to keep us from the rock against which you fplit; for they not only tell us that Chrift is anointed with the oil of gladnefs above his fellows, but that he is the chiefef among ten thousand Prophets, Priests, and Kings; because their divers offices join all in his divine Perfon, Perfon. When the Ifraelites were in the Defeit, God was their King, Mofes their Prophet, Aaron their Prieft, and Joshuz their General; but Chrift fuftains alone all their parts. I have fhewn (in Let. ii.) that under the Law, the Logos or God, manifeft fome times in flames of fire, and fome times in a human form, was the King of Ifrael, and Mofes was his Prime Minifter: a leading truth this, which Nathanael acknowledged, when difcovering our Lord's glory, he cried out, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Ifrael: John i. 49. As if he had faid, Thou art He, whofe patience our Father's tried in the defert, and whom they rejected in the days of Samuel, as appears by that Prophet's expoftulation, Ye faid to me, Nay, but a King fhall reign over us, when the Lord our GOD was your KING: 1 Sam. xii. 12. But under the Gofpel, when the Logos is continually manifested in the flesh, he fuftains both characters; and, in that fenfe, may be compared to those great Monarchs, who, like Frederic, the late King of Pruffia, are their own Prime Minifters, Hence it is that, although as a Prophet, or a Minifter, Chrift is like Mofes, yet as Logos, and King of Ifrael, he is infinitely fuperior to the Jewish Lawgiver. Confider Jefus Chrift, fays the Apoftle; He was counted worthy of more glory than Mofes, on two capital accounts: (1) Mofes was faithful as a Servant in the houfe of him who had appointed him: But Chrift was faithful as a Son, over his own houfe: (2) Mofes was worthy of glory, in as much, as he was a fundamental stone in the house of God; but Chrift is worthy of more glory, in as much as he who built the houfe, hath more honour than the houfe, or any part of it: For every houfe is built by fome man; but he who hath built |