;

SECT. III.

THEIR CONNECTION BY MEANS OF PRO

PHECY.

CHAP. I.

PROPHECIES, WHICH DEFINE THE FAMILY OF THE MESSIAH. I. PROPHECY OF THE MESSIAH DELIVERED TO EVE. 2. PROPHECY OF NOAH. 3. PROPHECY DELIVERED TO ABRAHAM. 4. TO ISAAC. 5. Το JACOB. 6. TO JUDAH. 7. TO DAVID.

THE kingdom of the Meffiah is not only represented under the types and ceremonies of the Law, but it is likewife foretold by the sure word of Prophecy. It has frequently been observed of this strongest evidence of the truth both of Judaism and Christianity, that the first predictions contained in the Old Testament, relative to the advent of the promised Redeemer, are the most obfcure and general; afterwards they gradually become more express and particular in describing, 1. The family, 2. The

VOL. II.

0

SECT. 2. The office, and 3. The univerfal king111. dom of our Saviour.

Prophecies, which de

The honour of giving birth to Christ is fine the fa- in the earlier prophecies left open to the Meffiah. whole race of mankind; but in the later

mily of the

Prophecy

ones, it is more and more contracted, till at length it is limited to one particular family. This continual accession of light, from the beginning of the world to the manifestation of the Messiah, is very commonly, though very beautifully, compared to the gradual opening of the morning. The first faint glimmerings of twilight serve only to render the retiring darkness yet more visible; foon, however, the gloom disperses, and the vivid tints of red diffused over the East announce the near approach of the orb of day; till, at length, every object gleams with the full luftre of the morning.

1. The earliest promise of the Meffiah of the Mef- is made at the earliest period, when a Re

fiah, delivered to

Eve.

deemer was necessary. As foon as our first parents had tranfgrefsed the commandment of God, and by their disobedience brought fin and death into the world, in the midft of just severity, the Almighty did not for

get

get mercy; but infused the balm of com- CHAP. fort into their fouls, even in the denun- I. ciation of punishment. A difference is dif-tinctly marked between the seduced and the feducer. While the former have the sentence of death passed upon them, the latter is cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. This curse too is not mitigated by any foftening circumstances; it is absolute and unconditional. But the other party is comforted by a promise, that the feed of the woman should bruise the head of the ferpent, though it might bruise his heel.

:

The abfurdity of interpreting the Prophecy literally is manifest from this confideration. The promise is designed to comfort our first parents under their affliction, by shewing them, that fooner or later their enemy should meet with the punishment due to his malice, from the hand of one, peculiarly styled the feed of the woman. But it is not very easy to conceive, what great comfort there is for the lofs of Paradise, in being told, that there should be constant enmity between the posterity of the woman, and the whole race of ferpents; and that, although fuch reptiles would

02

1

196

SECT. would be apt to bite men upon the heel, III. yet that men would not fail to avenge -themselves by bruising their heads.

We must, therefore, adopt the Christian explanation, as the most and indeed the only rational one, which the passage will admit. Though the machinations of the infernal ferpent may bruise this mortal part, our bodies; yet hereafter shall an illuftrious character be born of woman alone, without the co-operation of man; who shall attack not merely the extremities of the ferpent's kingdom, but shall completely destroy his power; a circumstance expressed by the natural metaphor of bruising his head.

This Prophecy being made to the first parents of mankind, is of course left open to the whole human race. As no particular time is mentioned for its completion, the eager expectation of Eve seems to have imagined, that it was fulfilled upon the birth of the first manchild; never confidering, that fuch offspring could not be called her feed alone. "Adam knew Eve " his wife, and the conceived, and bare "Cain; and faid, I have gotten a man,

1

I.

"even Jehovah himself." Such is the li- CHAP. teral tranflation of את יהוה ; and, if it be admitted, it shews that Eve entertained proper notions of the peculiar character and nature of our Saviour. The mistake would certainly not be unnatural, when we confider the indefiniteness of the time, and the anxiety with which Eve, the original offender, would look for the promised Redeemer.

2.

Prophecy

2. As the first prophecy, which relates to the Meffiah, opens at the beginning of of Noah. the old world, so is the second delivered immediately after the flood, and in the infancy of the new world. This is the first limitation to a particular family; for hitherto, the honour of being the mother of God incarnate was left equally open to all the daughters of Eve. "Blessed be Je" hovah, the God of Shem-God shall en, " large Japhet, and shall dwell in the tents " of Shem." This prophecy was accomplished, partly by the visible manifestation of God in the Shechinab between the cherubim in the tabernacle; and partly, by the ministry of the second Person of the

* Gen. ix. 26, 27.

In other words, tent.

03

ever