ever, these prophecies have failed which spoke of the time of the Messiah's coming; and they can never be a proof hereafter, because the time is past. So that, according to this, they were made for no purpose, unless to show that they were false; that is, no prophecies at all!

But were these prophecies upon condition? Or was it said that the coming of the Messiah should be delayed if the Jews were sinful?

C. No: so far from it, that it was expressly prophesied that the coming of the Messiah should be in the most sinful state of the Jews, and to purge their sins, Dan. ix. 24. Zech. xiii. 1. And the ancient tradition of the Jews was pursuant to this, that at the coming of the Messiah the temple should be a den of thieves. Rabbi Juda in Masoreta. And a time of great corruption. Talmud. tit. de Synedrio, and de Ponderibus, &c.

But more than this, the very case is put of their being most sinful, and it is expressly said, that this should not hinder the fulfilling of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, spoken of as the Son of David, 2 Sam. vii. 14-16. Psal. lxxxix. 30, 33-37. But it was prophesied that they should not know their Messiah, and should reject him when he came; that he should be a "stone of stumbling," and a "rock of offence," to them, Isaiah viii. 14, 15. And that "their eyes should be closed," that they should not understand their own prophets, chap. xxix. 9-11. That their builders should reject the head-stone of their corner, Psal. cxviii. 22. And the like in several other places of their own prophets. And thus they mistook the prophecy concerning the

coming of Elias, whom it is said they knew not, "but did to him what they listed," and so the same of Christ, Matt. xvii. 12. And it is said, 1 Cor. ii. 8. that "had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

D. This indeed solves the prophecies, both those of the coming of the Messiah, and of the Jews not knowing him, and therefore rejecting him; and likewise obviates this excuse of theirs: for if they were very sinful at that time, it was a greater punishment of their sin not to know, and to reject their Messiah, than his not coming at that time would have been.

C. The great sin mentioned for which they were punished by several captivities, was their idolatry, the last and longest of which captivities was that of seventy years in Babylon; since which time they have forsaken their idolatry, and have never been nationally guilty of it since, but always had it in the utmost abhorrence. But since their rejecting their Messiah, they have been now near seventeen hundred years, not in a captivity, where they might be all together, and enjoying their own law, government, and worship, in some manner, but dispersed over all the world, without country of their own, or king, or priest, or temple, or sacrifice, or any prophet to comfort them, or give them hopes of a restoration; and all this came upon them, not for their old sin of idolatry, but from that curse they imprecated upon themselves, when they crucified their Messiah, saying, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Which cleaves unto them from that day to this, and is visible to all the world but to themselves. And what other sin can they think

greater than idolatry, for which they have been punished so much more terribly than for all their idolatries; what other sin can this be, but their crucifying the Messiah ! And here they may see their sinful state, which they allege as an excuse for their Messiah's not coming at the time foretold by the prophets, rendered tenfold more sinful by their rejecting him when he came.

D. This is a full answer, and convincing as to the Jews. But have you any more to say to me?

C. I have one thing more to offer, which may come under this head of types, and that is, persons who represented Christ in several particulars, and so might be called personal types. And I will not apply these out of my own head, but as they are applied in the New Testament, which, having all the marks of the Old Testament, and stronger evidence than these, in those marks we are now upon, their authority is indisputable.

I begin with Adam, who gave us life and death too; and Christ came, by his death, to restore us to life again, even to life eternal. Hence Christ is called the second Adam, and Adam is called the figure of Christ. The parallel betwixt them is insisted on, Rom. v. 12. to the end, and 1 Cor. xv. 45-50. Eve received her life from Adam, the church from Christ. She was taken out of the side of Adam when he was in a dead sleep; and after Christ was dead, the sacraments of water and blood flowed out of his side, that is, Baptism, whereby we are born into Christ, and the Sacrament of his Blood, whereby we are nourished into eternal life.

Enoch was carried up bodily into heaven; as

Elijah. One under the patriarchal, the other under the legal dispensation. In both, the ascension of Christ was prefigured.

Noah, a preacher of righteousness to the old world, and father of the new. Who saved the

church by water, the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, I Pet. iii. 20, 21.

Melchisedec, that is, King of Righteousness, and King of Peace, and Priest of the Most High God; who was made like unto the Son of God; a priest continually, Heb. vii. 1—3.

Abraham, the friend of God, and Father of the Faithful, the heir of the world, Rom. iv. 13. In whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, Gen. xviii. 18.

Isaac, the heir of this promise, was born after his father and mother were both past the age of generation in the course of nature, Gen. xvii. 17. xviii. 11. Rom. iv. 19. Heb. xi. 11, 12. The nearest type that could be to the generation of Christ, wholly with

out a man.

And his sacrifice had a very near resemblance to the sacrifice and death of Christ, who lay three days in the grave, and Isaac was three days a dead man (as we say in the law) under the sentence of death, Gen. xxii. 4. whence Abraham received him, in a figure, Heb. xi. 19. that is, of the resurrection of Christ. And Abraham was commanded to go three days' journey to sacrifice Isaac upon the same mountain (according to the ancients) where Christ was crucified, and where Adam was buried. Again, the common epithet of Christ, that is, "the only begotten of the Father, and his beloved Son," were

both given to Isaac, Gen. xxii. 2. Heb. xi. 17. For he was the only son that was begotten in that miraculous manner, after both his parents were decayed by nature. And he was the only son of the promise, which was not made to the seed of Abraham in general, but “in Isaac shall thy seed be called," Gen. xxi. 12. "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ," Gal. iii. 16.

And as Isaac, which signifies, 'rejoicing,' or 'laughing for joy,' was thus the only begotten of his parents, so Abram signifies, 'the glorious father,' and Abraham (into which his name was changed on the promise of Isaac, Gen. xvii. 5, 16.) signifies, the father of a multitude,' to express the coming in of the Gentiles to Christ, and the increase of the Gospel; whence it is there said to Abraham, "A father of many nations have I made thee, and in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."

Isaac, who was born by promise of a free woman, represented the Christian church, in opposition to Ishmael, who was born after the flesh, of a bond-maid, and signified the Jewish church under the law. See this allegory carried on, Gal. iv. 21. to the end.

Jacob, in his vision of the ladder, (Gen. xxviii. 12.) shows the intercourse which was opened by Christ betwixt heaven and earth, by his making peace; and to this he alludes, when he says, "Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man," John i. 51. And Jacob's wrestling with the angel, (Gen. xxxii. 24. &c. Hos. xii. 4.) and, as it were, prevailing over him, by force, to bless him, shows the strong