20.

२

Predictions as had really favour'd their Fancies in that Point. The Meffias was, indeed, Ifa. 9. 6. to be the Prince of Peace and Righteoufnefs; but we have never yet heard of any fuch Kingdom under Heaven: And therefore the blessed Jefus, tho' laying Claim to fuch a Sovereignty, John 18. tells them, that his Kingdom is not of this World. 36. The Jews had the Time of the Meffiah's Appearance pointed out by that Prophecy, that, Gen. 49. The Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a Langiver from between his Feet till Shilo should come: And that very Prophecy was now accomplished: They had no Scepter in any of their Tribes, nor any Lawgiver under any of their Protection: But the Government of their Nation was by their Roman Conquerors tranflated to a Tributary Edomite, who had a kind of Natural Antipathy to the Jewish Nation. They were told before, that their Meffias Jer. 23.5. fhould be of the Stock and Lineage of David: They made no Doubt, but that he would be fo: But they faw that Family now reduced to a very mean and low Condition, to fuch a State as none had any Reafon either to fear or envy them in. Their Prophets had affir'd Mal. 3.1. them, that God would fend his Meffenger, before the Face of the Meffias, and that he fhould prepare his Way before him, and that then the Lord whom they fought, fhould fuddenly come to bis Temple, even the Meffenger of the Covenant whom they delighted in. John the Baptift was. the Perfon prefigured in that Prophecy, as our Lord himself interpreted it. He was a a Son of Wonders too, and he came in the Spirit and Power of Elias: But to caft a Mift before their Eyes in that Point too, the Jews"

Mat. 17.

11.

had

had entertain'd an unhappy Conceit, that Elias muft come perfonally, and fet all Things in order, before the Appearance of the C hrift An Expectation which thofe who call themfelves Fews, but are not, pretend to keep up at this Day, which Conceit prevented their taking Notice of John the Baptift, as perfonating Elias:And yet what may feem very strange, tho' the Baptift appear'd in almost as mean Circumftances as the bleffed Jefus himself; tho' he was not deriv'd directly from the Stock of David, nor from the Tribe of Judah; tho they could not poffibly affign any Forerunner at all to him, tho' he never pretended to do any Miracles; and tho' before the whole Multitude of his Hearers, he own'd the Superiority of the bleffed Jefus to himself, and told his own Difciples, that Jefus was the Lamb of God who took away the Sins of the World; yet the Jews feem, as if they could almoft have fwallow'd all thefe Difficulties, when they fent their Priefts and Levites to inquire of him, who and what he was, and he acknowledg'd that

he was not the Chrift: And this they believ'd John 1.19.
him in, but they could not believe him when 20.
he told them plainly what he was; nor would
they receive his Teftimony concerning Chrift.

In fhort, there was nothing foretold of the
Meffias, which was not in every Particular
made good in the Perfon and Circumftances
of the holy fefus: And yet the Emiffaries of
Darkness and Enemies to the Souls of Men had
conjur'd up in them fo ftrong an Opinion, that
the-Chrift, whenever he came, was to be fome
great and powerful Temporal Prince, and that
he was to be their Redeemer, ont of the

Hands

1

Hands of their Roman Conquerors, only by
Force of Arms; and that he fhould erect a
Fifth Monarchy in this World, the Capital
Seat of which was to be Jerufalem; (a Whim as
abfurd and unfcriptural as that of our modern
Enthufiaftick Fifth Monarchifts;) that That one
Prejudice outweigh'd all thofe Arguments
which fpoke for the bleffed Jefus; and they
chose rather to afcribe the Effects of irrefifti-
ble Divine Power, exerted every where for
their own Good and the Good of all Mankind,
to the Devil, than to own an humble Saviour.
Thus Literal Antichriftianifm came to be deep-
ly rooted and fettled in the Minds both of
Jews and Gentiles. And it is obfervable, that
as nothing could fatisfy the Jews as a Redeem-
er, but one, who fhould be an Universal Mo-
narch; fo thofe Reports fpread among them,
anfwerable to their lofty Expectations, had no
fmall Influence upon the Neighbouring Hea-
then Princes and Potentates, ro the Hurt of
the Jews themselves. The Eastern Sages faw
his Star in the Eaft, who was born King of the
Jews, which exprefs Title given him by the
wife Men feems to have fomething more in
the Recefs: For why fhould any come out of
the fartheft Quarters of the Eaft, to worship and
to make Offerings to him who was born King of
the Jews only? This Reflection perfuades, that
they look'd upon him as really born King of
the whole World, and of the Jews, only as
the Country which they inhabited, was Part
of that World: But to have call'd him by that
larger Title would have put all the Potentates
in the World into an immediate Uproar. The
new born Monarch could have had no fafe

Place

Place to have retired to, from the Jealoufy of his Perfecutors: Nor could the Wife Men themfelves, who had the firft Publishers of fuch terrible News, have efcaped the Infults of those, thro' whofe Territories they had made their Pilgrimage: Therefore fince he was to be found in Judea, they very cautiously reported him only as born King of the Jews; and even among the Jews, the Report they fpread rais'd Difturbance enough.

That fingle Report troubled Herod, the then King of Judea, under the Romans, and all Fe-Mat.z. i rufalem with him. The People who knew He-2, 3. rod's Temper by dear Experience, were terrify'd under an Apprehenfion of what Means he might make Ufe of to punish the Concealers of fuch a Secret; efpecially being exasperated by the Slight put upon him by the Eaftern Sages: And therefore, the Priefs and Scribes, that he might have no Sufpicion of their being ready or inclined to adore the rifing Sun, told him very honestly where Chrift was to be born, according to the Prophets. All that was in Herod's Thoughts, was not to worship this newborn King; but to fecure his own Government by the Deftruction of his Competitour: But the ingenuous Declaration of the Priests and Scribes, made him confine his cruel Researches to Bethlehem only, and its bordering Villages, and to the Male-Infants only, from two Years old, and under. The Report of one to be born in Judea, who fhould be King of all the World, made the Romans curb the Jews the more feverely, endeavour to keep them the more under, and to crush any Infurrections among them the more haftily. This made jealous VOL. II. Domi

R

{י

Domitian, tho' the Day was then pass'd, make fo fevere a Scrutiny into the Survivours of the Family of David: And they who understood not any thing of the late Appearance of this great Man, frown'd yet the more upon the Chriftian Religion, as deriving it felf from the bare Expectation of a Perfon fo dangerous to their Crowns and Scepters as he was reprefented.

As this Denial of the Incarnation of the Son of God,was a Humour fpreading so far, and fo immediately after his actual Incarnation; fo it has continued among thofe, who pretend to be the scatter'd Relicts of that unhappy Nation to this Day. And if we look into the Province of Chriftianity, we shall find Samofatenians, Arrians, Photinians, and the Followers of Servetus, Socinus and others, to have been but fo many Antichriftian Sects: For, while they deny the real and eternal Divinity of the Son of God; tho' they own that fuch a Perfon as Jefus Chrift the Son of a Virgin, did once live in the World; yet they moft effectually deny That true Meffias who was promis'd to the Fathers, to have appear'd yet among Men. For the Infinity of Man's Sin and Guilt, the defperate and perpetual Aggravations of it, the Inevitability of that immenfe Juftice threatning all Tranfgreffors, and the boundless Horrors of eternal Vengeance, requir'd a Mediator and Saviour of infinite Compaffion, Merit and Power, to divert their Punishment. To affign then that Mediatorial Office to an incompetent Perfon, to one, who was but a meer Man, however admirably qualify'd; was really to thrust a Creature into the Throne of his Almighty Creator,