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more probable, that a forerunner proclaiming fuch tidings would rather publifh them in populous cities, it is exprefsly foretold, that he would be a voice crying in the wilderness, lf. xl. 3.

The different forts of prophecies that we are comparing, agree in general predictions concerning the Meffiah's humiliation and fufferings: The prophecies confidered in this chapter are, in feveral points, more particular than thofe that were confidered formerly. The 11th of Zechariah contains feveral minute circumftances, evidently applicable to the history of Judas's treachery. The perfon who is there faid to be betrayed, or fold, for a very inconfiderable price, is called the Lord; the betrayer is reprefented as voluntarily offering his fervice to thofe who were to employ him; and not only is the price of that treachery very precisely fpecified, viz. thirty pieces of filver; but alfo the particular ufe to which that fum was to be applied in the event; it was to be beftowed on the potter's field. When it is faid, "Caft it into the "Potter's field;" that fingular way of speaking feems to be a hint at the effect of Judas's remorse, caufing him to caft away with indignation what he had before grafped at with fo much greedinefs. The more minute fome of these things are in themfelves, the greater is the evidence of divine foreknowledge in the prediction of them; because the conformity between the prediction and the history is fo much the more circumftantial.

IV. As to doctrinal characters, which are to be confidered apart more fully afterwards, it is fufficient to obferve at prefent, that the two claffes of prophecies in view agree in defcribing the perfon they fpeak of, as a perfon of fingular and incomparable righteoufnefs himself, and as the fource of righteoufnefs to others. As in the first class he is called God's righteous fervant, who fhould have righteoufnefs for the girdle of his loins, If. xi. 5.

and

and should make many righteous, or justify many, If. liii. 11.; fo in the fecond clafs he is called the righteous Branch, the Lord our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 5. 6. in whom his people fhould have righteousness and ftrength, If. xlv. 24.

As to the instructions concerning divine confolations, and the uncommon exultation and triumph of God's people, fo oft mentioned in the prophecies formerly confidered, inftructions of the fame nature abound alfo in the prophecies concerning a divine perfon incarnate; as will be evident to any who confiders If. xl. 1. 2. 9. compared with If. lii. 7.9. li. 3. Zech. ii. 10.

And whereas the prophecies concerning the light of the Gentiles tell us, that he would feed his people as a flock; that he would cause them to feed in the ways; that their pastures fhould be in all high places; that he that would have mercy on them would lead them; and that by the fprings of waters he would guide them as alfo, that his mouth would be as a fharp fword; that he would be as a polifhed fhaft hid in God's quiver; and that with the rod of his mouth he would fmite the earth, and with the breath of his mouth he would flay the wicked *: the very fame figures, borrowed from the work of fhepherds, and from the weapons of warriors, are made ufe of in the prophecies confidered in this chapter, particularly in If. xl. 2. Mic. v. 4. Pfal. xlv. 3. cx. 2.

V. It is of manifold ufe, in this effay, to obferve the harmony between the doctrine of the prophets, and of the apostles, in various other articles, befides what relates more directly to the Meffiah's perfon; and though fome of thefe other articles have been taken notice of already, yet this matter is of importance enough to deferve more particular confideration.

See If. xlix. 9. 10. 2, & xi. 4.

It has been proved already, as to the Meffiah's offices, that, according to the Old Testament predictions, he was to be the univerfal prophet, priest, and king, of the people of God, in all nations and ages of the world; and particularly, as to his priestly office, that the Old Teftament contains the fame myftery of redemption that is far more fully revealed in the New. It is of importance to obferve, that there is a far greater number of paffages in the prophecies relating to this doctrine than what fome are apt to imagine, feeing it is by this doctrine that we muft explain the paffages where, without exprefs mention of the Meffiah's facrifice and interceffion, the prophets speak of him as a priest, as a priest for ever, as a king and priest on his throne, Zech. vi. 13.; as fprinkling many nations, If. lii. 15; as being God's covenant and falvation to the ends of the .earth, If. xlix. 6. implying evidently that he was to be in a peculiar manner the author of the bleffings included in God's covenant and falvation; and where they fpeak of mens being bleffed in him, Pfal. Ixxii. 17. yea, of all nations being blessed in him, Gen. xxvi. 4.; of the mercies of the everlafting covenant as his mercies, lf. lv.; of the blood of the covenant as that which brings prifoners out of the pit where there is no water, Zech. ix. 11. which in fcripture-ftyle fignifies relief from the greatest misery; of the fountain opened for fin and uncleanness, Zech. xiii. 1.; of finishing the tranfgreffion, making an end of fin, making reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteoufnefs, Dan. ix. 24.; of the Meffiah's being to be cut off, but not for himfelf; and, in general, all the paffages which speak of his humiliation and fufierings, or which speak of his people as the ranfomed or redeemed of the Lord, If. xxxv. 10. li. 11. lxii. ult.

That these various paffages, and others of the fame nature, are to be explained by the doctrine of I redemption,

redemption, is evident from the common rule of interpretation fo oft mentioned formerly, That paffages more obfcure and general fhould be explained by thofe that are more plain and particular. Now the more general expreffions of the prophets * which reprefent the Meffiah as the cause and author of falvation and happiness, in a manner entirely peculiar to himself, cannot be otherwife explained or accounted for than by the doctrine of redemption: efpecially when we confider, that the Meffiah's revealing and confirming the doctrine of falvation are characters that it behoved him to have in common with many others; whereas it is never faid, nor can it be faid, of any of these other teachers, that they themselves are God's covenant and falvation, If. xlix. 6. or that the mercies of God's covenant are their mercies, If. lv. 3. The fingularity of the ftyle and expreffions of the prophets concerning the influence of the Meffiah on the falvation of finners, proves that the thing itfelf would be of a fingular and extraordinary nature and befides all this, feveral of the paffages juft now cited, if we confider the contexts which they belong to, will be found to speak either of the light of the Gentiles, or of a divine perfon incarnate. Thus Zech. ix. 9. 10. fpeaks of an eminently righteous king of Zion, having falvation, fpeaking peace to the Heathen and ruling to the ends of the earth. In Zech. xi. xii. xiii. the prophet fpeaks of a divine perfon incarnate, and in a state of humiliation, befides other characters peculiarly applicable to the times of the gofpel t. And Dan. ix. treats expreffly both of the coming of the Meffiah, and of the de folation of Judea that fhould happen after his coming, as will be made appear more fully afterwards.

It was hinted above, and it is needful to have it

* See above, p. 65.

† See Zech. xiii, 2. 9.

in view all along, that the prophets themselves, instead of saying that God's righteousness and falvation were revealed (or fully declared) by them, fpeak exprefsly of thefe things, as things that were to be revealed at a remarkable future period of time, to which they carry forward the expectations of the church and people of God. Notwithstandthis it may be truly faid, that the mystery of the gofpel is contained in the writings of the prophets, Rom. xvi. 26.; and that not only in the paffages which come nearest to a direct affertion of that mystery, but also in the paffages from which that mystery may, by juft confequence, be deduced.

Whereas the doctrine of the Meffiah's benefits is neceffarily connected with that of his offices, and is in fubftance the fame in the writings of the prophets and of the apoftles, it is of importance to confider this matter more particularly, for refuting false notions concerning the predictions of the Mef1 fiah; as if, in the literal fenfe, they defcribed him only as a temporal deliverer. As the prophecies concerning the humiliation and fufferings of that extraordinary perfon are utterly inconfiftent with the Jewish notions of a temporal Meffiah; fo the prophecies concerning the glory and exaltation of that perfon are applicable only to that fpiritual and heavenly glory formerly explained and proved.

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The above-cited prophecies about the Meffiah's offices, prove, that he was to bring his people into a ftate of falvation, including the following three comprehenfive benefits, together with their neceffary concomitants and fruits. 1. A ftate of fpiritual light and divine knowledge; and particularly of the knowledge of God's covenant and falvation, and of his infinite love, grace, and mercy, towards finners themselves, through the Meffiah; which knowledge is the more immediate effect of the Mef

* See If. lvi. 1. &c.

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