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be fatisfied, though Jofeph himself teftified, that the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream Saying Jofeph, thon Son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Mary thy Wifes for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghoft. And his carrying the Infant into Egypt at another appearance of an Angel,and all hisBehaviour fhews,that as he was the most competent perfon to deliver this Meffage of the Angel to the world, fo he was the moft zealous and forward af. ferter of this Article of our Faith.

And befides his firft fufpicions, his other prejudices and difcouragements must be fo great, that nothing but a clear and undoubted Revelation could poffibly remove them; he could expect nothing but trouble and danger to himself; he could not hope to be reputed the Father of the

as, fince the Prophets had foretold, that he was to be born of a Virgin; and nothing could be more contrary to the expectation the Jews had of him, than that he fhould be a Carpenter's Son, this was thought by them a fufficient reason to reject both his Doctrine and his Miracles. And Jofeph had no caufe to flatter himself that it would be otherwife: Simeon prophefied of Chrift, that he was fet for a fign, which hould be spoken against, and Herod presently feeks to take away his Life by a terrible Maffacre yet Jofeph was fo

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well fatisfied of the Angels Revelation to him, and was fo well affured of the certainty of it, that he willingly expofed himself to all the inconveniencies and dangers, which he could not but fee must be the neceffary confequence of it, and which he foon faw come fo thick and violently upon him. A Sword was to pierce through the Virgins own Soul alfo: but all the hazards tand the forrows, which were foretold them, and which accordingly they underwent, may abundantly convince us, that they could have no defign or prospect of any advantage, but of declaring the Truth, and of that Salvation, which was brought to them and to all Mankind by

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Thus we fee that both the Time and Place of our Saviour's Nativity, and the Person of whom he was born, are evident proofs of his being the Chrift. He was to be born whilft the fecond Temple ftood, he was to be born at Bethlehem, . and he was to be born of a Virgin of the Tribe of Judah, and of the Lineage of David; all which most exactly agree in the Birth of our Saviour.

II. The Prophecies concerning the Life of the Meffias, were fulfilled in our Saviour. The meanness and obfcurity, and forrows of it are expreft, Ifa. liii 23. Far he foall grow up before him as a tender plant,

and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall fee bim, there is no beauty that we should defire him He is defpifed and rejected of men, a man of forrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him, he was defpifed and we efteemed him not. His meeknefs and patience are defcribed, Ifai, xliï 2, 3, 4. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor caufe his voice to be heard in the Street; a bruifed reed fhall he not break, and the Smoking flax shall he not quench she shall bring forth judgment into truth; he shall not fail nor be difcouraged, till he have fet judgment in the earth, and the Ifles fhall wait for his Lam. His abode was to be chiefly in Galilee, Ifai. ix. 1. Matt.iv. 14.And according ly he was brought up at Nazareth, and dwelt at Capernaum.

by the Prophets, and this was fo well underftood by the Jews of that time, that many of the people believed in him upon the account of his Miracles, and faid when Christ cometh, Shall be do greater Miracles than thefe, which this man hath done? Jo. vii. 31. And when St John Baptift fent two of his Difciples to enquire of our Saviour, whether he were the Chrift, he gives them no other answer, but that they should ac quaint John with what things they had feen and heard, how that the blind faw, the

His miracles are every where ed

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lame walked, the lepers were cleanfed, the deaf heard,the dead were raised,to the poor the Gospel was preached,Luke vii. 22. which was the literal fulfilling of that Prophecy, Ifaiah xxxv. 5, 6. and it was the very character all the Prophets had given of the Mefuas.St. John Baptift, whom Jof phus gives a high commendation of, and whom all men looked upon as a Prophet, Matt. xxi. 26. had before declared Jefus to be the Christ, though he now fent two of hi. Difciples to enquire of him, not for his own, but for their fatisfaction, that they might be witneffes, how the Prophecies were fulfilled in him. And both the Preaching and Baptifm of John was preparatory to that of Chrift, and was foretold by the Pro phets, Ifa. xl 3. Malach. iv. 5.

But befides the Record of John, the Holy Ghoft gave witness to Chrift, visibly defcending upon him at his Bapifin, with a voice from Heaven, pronouncing the words prophetically delivered before concerning the Meffias, which were always understood by the Jews to be meant of him, Matt. iii. 13. and this voice was again repeated, though not fo publickly as before, at his Transfiguration, Mat.xvii. 5. 2 Pet. i. 17. and at a third time there came a voice to him from heaven, in the hearing of all the people, Jo. xii. 28. By the Hofanna's of the Multitude, and even of the

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Children, and by his driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, feveral known Prophecies concerning the Meffias were fulfilled in him, Matt. xxi. 16. Jo.

it. 17.

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III. The Prophecies concerning the Death of the Meffias were fulfilled in our Saviour His Death was foretold both in the writings of the Prophets, and by feve ral Types or Actions, which did reprefent and prefigure his Death with the manner and circumstances of it, and this was one kind of Prophefying, by the resemblance of Actions and Things, as well as by defcriptions in words. Thus Abraham's of fering up Ifaac was a Type of Chrift's be ing offered upon the Crofs, and Ifaac's carrying the Wood on his Shoulders, was a Type of Chrifts carrying his Cross. The lifting up the brazen Serpent in the wildernefs was a Type of Christ's being lifeed up, and the Pafchal Lamb was a plain Type of the Sacrifice of Chrift; and our Saviour Chrift was facrificed upon the Cross, at the very time of the Paffover. A bone of him was not broken, which was typified of him in the Pafchal Lamb; the breaking of his Legs was prevented by his voluntary giving up the Ghoft, when he had fo much ftrength and vigour after all his pains, as to cry out with a loud voice, which by the courfe of nature, a perfon

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