(or other) "sacrifice for sins." And since by the law their sins were to be purged by sacrifice, they have now no way to purge their sins; to force them (as it were) to look back upon that only sacrifice which can purge their sins. And till they return to that, they must have no sacrifice at all, but die in their sins. As Jesus said unto them, "I go my way, and ye shall die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."

And Daniel prophesied expressly, that soon after the death of the Messiah, the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary should be destroyed, and that the sacrifice should 66 cease, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate," Dan. ix. 26, 27.

And this desolation of theirs, and what was determined upon them, was told them likewise by Hosea, chap. iii. 4. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a sacrifice." But he says, in the next verse, that "in the latter days they shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King;" that is, the Son of David, their Prince and Messiah. As he is called Messiah the Prince, Dan. ix. 25.

Thus, as salvation was of the Jews, because Christ was to come of them, so this salvation was only to be had at Jerusalem, where he was to suffer, and by which only salvation was to be had.

D. This argument is to the Jews; and if I were a Jew it would move me, because they never were so long before without king, temple, or sacrifice.

C. But the prophecies of it, and these fulfilled as you have seen; and Christ being so plainly pointed

at, and the place of his passion, by limiting the sacrifices to Jerusalem only; and by causing the legal sacrifices to cease throughout the world, to show that they were fulfilled: all this is a strong evidence to you of the truth of these things, and of our Jesus being the Messiah, or Christ, who was prophesied of.

D. I cannot deny but there is something remarkable in this, which I will take time to consider. But I do not see how the Jews can stand out against this; because this mark, given by Daniel, of the Messiah, that soon after his death the sacrifice should cease, cannot agree to any after-Messiah, who should now come so many ages after the sacrifice has ceased.

C. Since we have fallen into the subject of the Jews, I will give you another prophecy, which cannot be fulfilled in any after-Messiah whom the Jews expect. And it will be also a confirmation to you of the truth of the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures. Thus God speaks, Jer. xxxiii. 20-22. "Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me." Now let the Jews tell in which Son of David this is fulfilled, except only in our Christ. And how this is made good to the priests and Levites, otherwise than as Isaiah pro

phesied, chap. Ixvi. 21. "And I will also take of them" (the Gentiles) " for priests, and for Levites, saith the Lord." And as it is thus applied, 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. and Rev. i. 6. And this evangelical priesthood is multiplied as the stars of heaven, (which they are frequently called,) not like the tribe of Levi, who could not afford priests to all the earth.

And as I said before of Jerusalem and the sacrifices there, that they are ceased, to show they are fulfilled, so here, after the Son of David was come, all his other sons ceased, and the very genealogy of their tribes, and so of Judah, is lost, as also of the tribe of Levi: so that the Jews can never tell, if any after-Messiah should appear, whether he were of the tribe of Judah, far less whether he were of the lineage of David; nor can they show the genealogy of any they call Levites now among them.

This is occasioned by their being dispersed among all nations, and yet preserved a distinct people from all the earth, though without any country of their own, or king, or priest, or temple, or sacrifice. And they are thus preserved, by the providence of God, (so as never any nation was since the foundation of the world,) to show the fulfilling of the prophecies concerning them, and the judgments pronounced against them for their crucifying their Messiah; and that their conversion may be more apparent to the world, and their being gathered out of all nations, and restored to Jerusalem, (as is promised them,) when they shall come to acknowledge their Messiah.

And God not permitting them to have any king or governor upon earth, ever since their last dispersion by the Romans, (lest they might say, that the

sceptre was not departed from Judah, is to convince them (when God shall take the veil off their heart) that no other Messiah who can come hereafter can answer this prophecy of Jeremiah, or that of Jacob, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came.

And it is wonderful to consider, how expressly their present state is prophesied of, that it could not be more literal, if it were to be worded now by us who see it as that they should be scattered into all countries, sifted as with a sieve among all nations, yet preserved a people; and that God would make an utter end of those nations who had oppressed them, and blot out their names from under heaven, (as we have seen it fulfilled upon the great empires of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, who, one after the other, had miserably wasted the Jews); but that the name of the Jews (the fewest and poorest of all nations,) should remain for ever, and they a people distinct from all the nations in the world, though scattered among them all. Read the prophecies express upon this point, Jer. Xxxiii. 24-26. xlvi. 28. 7, 8. liv. 9, 10. lxv. 8. xii. 15, 16. Amos ix. 8, 9. Zech. x. 9. And it was foretold them long before that thus it would be, Lev. xxvi. 44. and this "in the latter days," Deuti iv. 27, 30, 31. Thus Moses told them of it so long before, as the after-prophets frequently; and you see all these prophecies literally fulfilled and fulfilling. The like cannot be said of any other nation that ever was upon the earth! So destroyed, and so preserved! And for so long a time! Having worn

xxx. 11. xxxi. 36, 37. Isaiah xxvii. 7. xxix. Ezek. vi. 8. xi. 16, 17.

out all the great empires of the world, and still surviving them! To fulfil what was further prophesied of them to the end of the world.

D. I cannot say but there is something very surprising in this: I never thought of it before. It is a living prophecy, which we see fulfilled and still fulfilling at this day before our eyes. For we are sure these prophecies were not coined yesterday; and they are as express and particular as if they were to be written now, after the events are so far come to pass.

C. As the door was kept open to Christ before he came, by the many and flagrant prophecies of him, and by the types representing him, so the door was ever shut after him, by those prophecies being all fulfilled and completed in him, and applicable to none who should come after him; and by all the types ceasing, the shadows vanishing when the substance was come. No Messiah can come now, before the sceptre depart from Judah, and the sacrifice from Jerusalem. Before the sons of David (all except Christ) shall cease to sit upon his throne, none can come now, within four hundred and ninety years of the building of the second temple, nor come into that very temple, as, I have before showed, was expressly prophesied by Daniel and Haggai.

D. I know not what the Jews can say, who own these prophecies.

C. They say, that the coming of the Messiah at the time spoken of in the Prophets, has been delayed because of their sins.

D. Then it may be delayed for ever, unless they can tell us when they will grow better. But, how