to spread his Doctrine first in Galilee; (a) that he healed all Kinds of Diseases; made the Blind to see, and the Lame to walk: But I shall content myself with one, the Effect of which remains to this Day; and is manifest from the Prophecies of (b) David, (c) Isaiah, (d) Zachariah, and (e) Hosea, viz. that the Messiah was to be the Instructor of all Nations; (f) that the Worship of false Gods should be overthrown by him; and that he should bring a vast Multitude of Strangers to the Worship of one God. Before the coming of Jesus, almost the whole World was subject to false Worship; which began to vanish afterwards by Degrees, and not only particular Persons, but whole Nations and Kings, were converted to the Worship of one God. These things are not owing to the Jewish Rabbies, but to the Disciples of Jesus and their Successors. Thus (g) they were made the People of God who were not so before, and that Prediction of Jacob, Gen. xlix. was fulfilled, that before the Civil Power was taken from the Posterity of Judah, Shiloh should come, (h) whom

(a) That he healed all Kinds of Diseases, &c.] Isaiah xxxv. 9. xi. 1. Matt. xi. 5. Luke iv. 18. and every where else, Further, he also raised the Dead, which R. Levi Ben Gerson reckons among the principal Marks of the Messiah.

(b) David, &c.] Psalm ii. 8. xxii. 28. lxviii. 32. lxxii. 8, 17, (c) Isaiah, &c.] ii. 2. xi. 10. xiv. 1. xix. 18. xxvii. 13. xxxv. xlii, and xliii. particularly xlix. 6. li. 5. lii. 15. liv. lv. 4, 3. lx. 3, and following ones, lxv. 1, 2. lxvi. 19, and following.

(d) Zachariah, &c.] ii. 11. viii. 20, and following, ix. 9, 10, 11. xiv. 16.

(e) Hosea, &c.] . 24.

(f) That the Worship of false Gods, &c.] Isaiah ii. 18, 20, xxxi. 7. xlvi. 1. Zephaniah i. 4, 5, 6. Zach. xiii. 2.

(g) They were made the People of God, &c.]

Hosea ii. 24.

(h) Whom the Chaldee, &c.] Both Jonathan, the Author of the Jerusalem Paraphrase, and the Writers of the Talmud, in the Title concerning the Council; Bereschith Rabba, Jakumnus on

the

whom the Chaldee and other Interpreters explain to be the Messiah, (a) whom foreign Nations also were to obey.

SECT. XVIII.

An Answer to what is alledged, that some Things were not fulfilled.

HERE the Jews commonly object, that there were some Things predicted of the Times of the Messiah, which we do not see fulfilled. But those which they alledge are obscure, and may have a different Signification; for which we ought not to reject those that are plain; such as the Holiness of the Precepts of Jesus; the Excellency of the Reward; the Plainness of Speech in which it was delivered; to which we may add the Miracles; and all together ought to engage us to embrace his Doctrine. In order to understand aright (b) the Prophecies of the sealed Book, as it is commonly called, there is many Times need of some Divine Assistance, which is justly with-held from those who neglect those Things that are plain. Now that those Places, which they object, may be variously explained, they themselves are not ignorant of: And if any one cares to compare the ancient the Pentateuch, Rabbi Solomon, and others, paw, which the Jews now would have to be a Rod of Chastisement; the Targum in Chaldee explains by bw, and the Greeks apxwv, a Governor; Aquilla, pov, a Scepter; Symmachus, la, Power. And nb is explained by jaa his Son, by the Chaldee R. Siloh, R. Bechai, R. Solomon, Abenesdras, and Kimchi. See what is excellently said concerning this Place in Chrysòstom, in his Discourse, that Christ is God.

(a) Whom foreign Nations also were to obey, &c.] See the forecited Place of Isaiah xi. 10. which affords Light to this. (b) The Prophecies of the sealed Book, &c.] Isaiah xxix. 11. Dan. xii. 4. 9. and Jacchiades upon them. See Chrysostom's Dissertation about this Matter, Discourse II. why the Old Testament is obscure

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Interpre

Interpreters, (a) who were in the Babylonish Captivity, or elsewhere, concerning the Times of Jesus, with those who wrote after the Name of the Christians began to be hated amongst the Jews, he will find that Partiality was the Cause of new Explications; and that those, which were formerly received, agreed very well with the Sense of the Christians. They are not ignorant of themselves, that many Things in the Sacred Writings are not to be understood according to the strict Propriety of the Words, (b) but in a figurative Sense; (c) as when God is said to have descended; when (d) Mouth, (e) Ears, (f) Eyes, and (g) Nose are ascribed to him. And what hinders but that many Things, spoken of the Times of the Messiah, may. be explained in this Manner? As (h) that the Wolf and the Lamb, the Leopard and the Kid, the Lion and the Calf, should lie down together; that a

(a) Who were in the Babylonish Cuptivity, &c.] Grotius seems to have Respect to the Chaldee Interpreters of the Old Testament, and to speak according to the Opinion of the Jews, who thought them older than they were. See Brian Walton's

Prolegomena to the Polyglot Bible, Chap. XII.

(b) But in a figurative Sense, &c.] Thus Maimonides, in his First Book, would have that Place of Isaiah xi. 6. of the Times of the Messiah understood allegorically; and thus David Kinchi speaks of the same Place of Isaiah, who also says the same of Jeremiah ii. 15, v. 6.

(c) As when God is said to have descended, &c.] Aş Gen. xi. 5. xviii. 52. See Maimonides of these and the like Forms of Speech, in his Guide to the Doubting, Part. I. Chap. X. XI. and XXIX, and following; and also upon Deut. where he speaks of the King. In the Cabalistical Book, Nezael Israel says, that the Things belonging to the Messiah would be heavenly.

(d) Mouth, &c.] As Jeremiah ix. 12.

(e) Ears, &c.] As Psalm xxxi. 3. xxxiv. 16,

(F) Eyes, &c.] In the Place of the forecited Psalm,

(g) Nose, &c.] Psalm xviii. 9. Jer. xxxii. 37.

(h) That the Wolf and the Lamb, &c] In the forementioned Place of Isaiah xi. 6, and following Verses.

young

young Child should play with the Snakes; (a) that the Mountain of .God should rise higher than the. rest of the Mountains; that Strangers should come thither to perform holy Rites. There are some Promises, which appear from the foregoing and following Words, or from their own Sense, to contain in them a tacit Condition. Thus God promised many Things to the Hebrews, if they would receive and obey the Messiah when he came; which if they did not come to pass, they must impute it to themselves. And if there be any, which are expressly and unconditionally promised, and are not yet fulfilled, they may yet be expected. For it is agreed even amongst the Jews, (b) that the Time or Kingdom of the Messiah was to continue to the End of the World.

SECT. XIX.

And to that which is objected of the low Condition and Death of Jesus.

MANY are offended at the mean Condition of Jesus, but without any Reason; for God says every where in the sacred Writings, (c) that he exalteth the Humble, and casteth down the Proud. (d) Jacob went over Jordan, carrying nothing with him but his Staff, and returned thither again enriched with great Plenty of Cattle. Moses was banished, and poor, and a Feeder of Cattle, (e) when God appeared to him in the Bush, and made him Leader

(a) That the Mountain of God, &c.] Isaiah ii. Micah iv, 1. and following.

(b) That the Time or Kingdom of the Messiah, &c.] Perck Cherek, i. 79.

(c) That he exalteth the Humble, &c.] 1 Kings ii. S. Psalm xxxiv. 19, Prov. xi, 2, Isaiah lvii. 15, lxvii. 2.

(d) Jacob went over Jordan, &c.] Gen. xxxii, and following, () When God appeared to him in the Bush, &c.] Exod. iii,

of

of his People. (a) David also, when he was feeding his Flock, was called to be King; and the Sacred History is full of other such like Examples. And of the Messiah, we read that he was to be (b) a joyful Messenger to the Poor, (c) that he should not lift up his Voice in the Street, nor make use of Contention, but should act mildly, so as to spare a shaking Reed, and to cherish the Heat which remained in the smoaking Flax. Neither ought his other Hardships, and Death itself, to render him more odious to any one. For God often permits pious men, not only to be vexed by the Wicked, (d) as Lot was by the Men of Sodom, but also to be killed; as is manifest (e) in the Example of Abel, slain by his Brother; (f) of Isaiah, who was cut in Pieces; (g) of the Maccabees Brethren, tormented to Death with their Mother. The Jews themselves sing the lxxixth Psalm; in which are these Words: They have given the dead Bodies of thy Servants to the Fowls of the Air, and the Remains of them whom thou lovest, to the Beasts: They have poured out their Blood within the Walls of Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them; and so on. And that the Messiah himself was to arrive at his Kingdom, and to the Power of bestowing

(a) David also, when he was feeding his Flock, &c.] 1 Sam. xvi. 7, 11,

(b) A Joyful Messenger to the Poor, &c.] Isaiah lxi. 1. Matt, xi. 5. and Zach. ix. 9.

(c) That he should not lift up his Voice, &c.] Isaiah xlii. 2, 3, 4. Matt. xii. 19, 20.

(d) As Lot was by the Men of Sodom, &c.] Gen. xix.

(e) In the Example of Abel, &c.] Gen. iv, (ƒ) Of Isaiah, who was cut in Pieces, &c.] So says the tradition of the Jews, to which the Author to the Hebrews has Respect, xii. 37, and Josephus X. 4. Chalcidius on Timæus. "As the Prophets by wicked Men, one cut in Pieces, another overwhelmed with Stones."

(g) Of the Maccabees Brethren, &c.] 2 Maccab. vii. Josephus in his Book, Of the Government of Reason.

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