II. Vefture they did caft Lots. Pfal. xxii. 18. And SER M. thefe Things therefore (i. e. because the Scriptures had faid it) the Soldiers did. And becaufe again the Pfalmift, in the Perfon of the Meffiah had faid, In my Thirft they gave me Vinegar to drink, Pfal. lxix. 21. he waited till San Spunge filled with it was put to his Mouth, from whence he received it, before he would pronounce his laft Word, it is finished, ór bow bis Head and give up the Ghost, John xix. 28-30. All: thefe Things, and indeed every Thing elfer that Jefus did, he did (as will appear by abundant Inftances hereafter,) because God had declared and required it of him before-hand, according to his own Saying, Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldest not, but a Body haft thou prepared me: In BurntOfferings and Sacrifices for Sin, thou haft had no Pleasure Then faid 1, lo I come (in the Volume of the Book it is written of me) to do thy Will, O God, Heb. x. 5-7. A Think of thefe Things and ponder them in your Minds, and then confider whether the Books of the Old Teftament are of fo little Importance to the Cause of Christianity, as fome Enemies to our Faith, of late Years, have very infidiously reprefented them to be. But the End they aim at is very plain; Jefus, Cont IA you II. SERM. you fee, claims to be the promised Redeemer of the World upon the Teft of his fulfilling the Prophecies of him contained in the Old Teftament. But if the Old Testament be not true, or not infpired, or not applicable to him; then there are no Prophecies to be appealed to concerning him; but all must be put upon the Teft of his Miracles. And this Teft they would endeavour to invalidate next nay, they have already endeavoured it, and thereby to wrest from you the New Teftament also. But the Weakness, the Malice, and the Shame of their Attempts have fufficiently fhewn from whence they are, and what they be. Despise them then, my Brethren, and with Reverence receive both Testaments alike. The Old Teftament as foretelling every Thing in the New; the New Teftament as confirming every Thing in the Old. As the Old Teftament has been my principal Subject of this Difcourfe, I shall add a few Words more concerning it and conclude. ( And that is to exhort you, (fuch of you I mean as are of suitable Capacities) to read and study the several Prophecies, Types and Figures in the Old Teftament, which illustrate and confirm the Evangelical Relation or Hiftory of our Saviour. And if any Perfons neglect J II. neglect this, who are capable of doing it, our SER M. Saviour's Reproof of the two Difciples that were going to Emmaus, is as applicable to the one, as it was to the other, Luke xxiv. 25. Not to observe and believe what the Prophets bave spoken, argues that Fools void of Reason and Attention, and flow of Heart, or backward to believe even God himself, in the Things he had been graciously pleased to reveal concerning the Methods of their future Redemption. Things fo neceffary for the Difciples of Chrift to know and be instructed in; that our Lord, we find, beginning at Mofes, ver. 27. and from thence going through all the Prophets, expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the Things concerning bimself. How that Chrift ought to have Suffered the Things he did, before he entered into his Glory, ver. 26. He had told them this before, while he was yet with them, viz. That all Things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Pfalms concerning him. ver. 44. And that they might now fully apprehend thefe Things a-right, He opened their Understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures; ver. 45. repeating to them again, Thus it is written, and therefore thus 1 SER M. it behoved the Chrift to suffer, and to rife from the Dead the third Day, ver. 46. II. Such Sacred Teftimony is given to the Truth and Divine Authority of the Old Testàment, and how far that will confirm the Di vine Authority of the New Testament, I fhall have an Opportunity to obferve in the Sequel. SER SERMON III. Jefus foretold by Mofes and the JOHN i. 45. We have found him of whom Mofes in the Law, and the Prophets did write, Jefus of Nazareth, the Son of Jofeph. НА III. AVING already taken Occafion from SER M. thefe Words, to enquire into the Predictions of Mofes and the Prophets concerning the Meffiah, or the Chrift, which was promised to the Jews; and alfo to fhew the Use of thofe Prophecies to us Chriftians, and how far we build our Faith in Chrift upon them; my Business next is to enquire how far fefus (called then the Son of Joseph) did truly fulfill them. And here alfo I have already established the Authority of the Teftimonies upon which I must proceed; having fhewn how authentic and indisputable Witnees the feveral Books of the New Testa ment |