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SER M.ment are for the Facts related in them. So that I have nothing to detain me now from entering directly upon my fecond Head; but just to remind you, that the chief Prophecies I made Choice of in my firft Discourse, in order to affift and direct us in finding out the Meffiah, were those which I thought to be most exprefs in Relation to his Lineage, the Place of his Nativity, the Manner of his Birth, and the Time of his Appearing: These being the Prophecies which Philip must be fuppofed to mean in the Text; as being those which must have firft been compleated by him; and by which any one who should affume the Character of Christ would certainly be tried.

I. First then as to his Lineage, I proved clearly from the Old Teftament, that the Mefhab was to defcend from Abraham, from Ifaac, and from Jacob; was to be of the Tribe of Judah, and of the Family of David. And we learn from the New Testament, that the Scribes and Pharifees, both acknowledged he might be of David's House. For when Jefus afked them, saying, What think ye of Chrift, whofe Son is he? Matt. xxii. 41, 42. They readily answer and say unto him, the

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the Son of David. And as to Jefus, we read SER M. that Have Mercy on us thou Son of David, -was the ufual Expreffion of those that came to him for Relief; and that the whole Multitude, when they introduced him with Triumph into Jerufalem, fang Hofanna to the Son of David, Matt. xxi. 9. In a Word, this was a Thing fo uncontefted, that even his mortal Enemies, the Scribes and Pharifees, and unbelieving Jews, who objected to him his being a Carpenter's Son, are yet ne- . ver found to have denied that he was the Sont of David; although that, could they have done it, would at once have put an End to his Claim of being the Christ. But quite contrary to this, the Jewish Talmud itself declares that " Jefus of Nazareth, who was "crucified, was of the Blood Royal from "Zorobabel of the Houfe of David." If then our Jefus was the Son of David; he muft alfo neceffarily be defcended from Judab and the Patriarchs, from whom David himself is known to have fprung. For this Reason the Holy Penman fays; Heb. vii.14. it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judab; and therefore St. Matthew and St. Luke, the two heavenly Heralds who reckon up his Genealogy, the one through Jofeph *, his See Yardley's Genealogy, p. 235, 236. and 251, 252. VOL. II. E

legal

SER M. legal Father, the other through Mary, his

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real Mother, both deduce it from Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, from Judah and from
David, and from him through Zorobabel, a
Defcendant from Solomon as well as from Na-
than; by which means the Perpetuity of So-
lomon's Kingdom, fo folemnly promised to
David by God, was brought to Perfection
and compleated in Chrift. And that the
Evangelifts have given the true Genealogy
both of Joseph and Mary, is not to be
doubted; because if they had fet down a
wrong one, they would have laid themselves
open to the Reproaches of the Jews, who
would not have failed to charge them boldly
with falfifying and adulterating the publick
Records, and fetting out with a Lie. For it
is not to be imagined, "That a Nation fo
"addicted to Genealogies as the Jews were,
"would be wanting in their Diligence, both
"in their private Memoirs, and their publick
"Regifters, to trace all the Defcendants
"from that illuftrious Shepherd of Ifrael, on
"whofe Family God had entailed the Crown,
"and from whofe Stock he had promised
"the Meffiah fhould proceed*." What I
have faid therefore is enough to fhew that
*Yardley's Genealogy, of Chrift, p. 173.

Our

1

t

S

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our Lord was defcended from the fame Per-SER M. fons, from whom the Prophets foretold the Chrift fhould fpring; I fhall therefore proceed in the next Place to fhew,

II. Secondly, That they were equally fulfilled as to the Place of his Birth. And as to this I fhewed from the Prophecy of Micah, Chap. v. 2. that Bethlehem, in the Tribe of Judah, was to have the glorious Privilege of being the Place of the Meffiah's Nativity. And this the Jews therefore affirmed; as is evident from the Answer which the Chief Priests and Scribes gave to Herod, Matt, ii. 5,6. when he fent for them, and demanded of them, where Chrift fhould be born: For they faid unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the Prophet; And thou Bethlehem in the Land of Judah, art not the least among the Princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my People Ifrael. And indeed the Affurance of the Jews, that Bethlehem should be the Meffiah's Birth Place, was fo ftrongly confirmed; that Galilee's being the Place where Jefus Abode, was a ftumbling Block, which they did not know how to get over. Shall Chrift (fay they) come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture faid, that Chrift cometh of the Seed

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SERM. of David, and out of the Town of Bethlehem where David was? John vii. 41, 42. This Doubt and Question of theirs was well founded. The Scripture had faid it, and therefore had not Jefus been born in Bethlehem, we could not have received or owned him for the Christ. But Bethlehem was the Place where Jefus was born; though Providence was concerned remarkably to interpofe, in order to bring it about. For which Reason he so ordered it, that Auguftus Cæfar, the then Emperor of Rome, fhould fend forth a Decree, that all the World should be taxed; Luke ii. 1-7. and to this End that every one should go into his own City. Whereupon Jofeph also went up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the House and Lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his efpoufed Wife, being great with Child. And fo it was, that while they were there, the Days were accomplished that she fhould be delivered. And as her Days were accomplished, fo was the Prophecy fulfilled; for there he brought forth her first-born Son; and so unto us was born that Day, and in the City of David, a Saviour which is Chrift the Lord, ver. 11.

As