pretend that the coming of the Meffiah was delayed for the fins of the people, and therefore they still live in expectation of him, tho' they know neither the time nor the place of his appearing. Strange! that he who was to come for the fins of the people, should delay his coming for their fins: and more ftrange ftill! that God fhould falfify fo many of his promises made by the mouths of his holy prophets. (Num. XXIII. 19.) God is not a man that he should lie, neither the fon of man that he should repent :- hath be faid, and would be not do it? or bath he spoken, and would be not make it good?

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3. It may be farther obferved from hence, that the Meffiah was expected to work miracles. Miracles are the credentials of a meffenger from God and it was foretold particularly of the Meffiah, that he fhould work miracles. There was no pretending therefore to the character of the Meffiah without the neceffary qualifications. Had not the power of working miracles been esteemed an effential ingredient in the character of the Meffiah, thefe impoftors would never have had the affurance to pretend to it, or been fo foolish as to hazard their reputation, and venture their whole fuccefs upon fuch an experiment: but all of them to a man drew the

people after them with a pretence of working .. miracles,

miracles, of showing figns, and wonders, and apparitions. Now the very miracles which the Meffiah was to perform, Jefus hath performed, and none other befides Jefus. The prophet Ifaiah foretold, that the Meffiah fhould cure the lame and the blind, the deaf and the dumb; and accordingly these very perfons were cured in great numbers by Jefus. The prophet Isaiah foretold likewife, that these miracles fhould be wrought in the defert; and accordingly in the defert Jefus wrought them and by the way I fuppofe this prophecy was one principal reason why most of the falfe Christs and false prophets led their followers into folitudes and deferts, promising there to fhow figns and wonders, The prophet Ifaiah foretold (XXXV. 1, &c) The wilderness and the folitary place shall be glad for them, and the defert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rofe. They fall fee the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.-The eyes of the blind fhall be opened, and the ears of the deaf fhall be unstopped. The lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb fing. The apostle and evangelift St. Matthew relates (XV. 29, &c.) that Jefus departed from thence (from the coafts of Tyre and Sidon) and came nigh unto the fea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and fat down there. And great multitudes U 2

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came

came unto him, having with them thofe that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others,

and caft them down at Jefus feet, and he healed them: Infomuch that the multitude wondered, when they faw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to fee: and they glorified the God of Ifrael. Since then the miracles of the Meffiah were wrought by Jefus alone, Jefus alone can have any just claim to be the Meffiah: and from his works we may conclude (John VI. 14.) This is of a truth that prophet that fhould come into the world.

4. Very obfervable is the difference between the conduct and fuccefs of thefe deceivers and of Jesus Christ: for in him we have all the marks and characters of fimplicity and truth, in them of fraud and imposture. They were men of debauched lives and vicious principles: He did no fin, (1 Pet. II. 22.) neither was guile found in his mouth; even Pilate his judge declared (John XIX. 6.) that he could find no fault in him. They lived by rapin and spoil, by plunder and murder: He (Luke IX. 56.) came not to destroy mens lives, but to fave them; He fed the hungry, healed the fick, and went from place to place doing good.. Their conduct breathes nothing but ambition and pride, cruelty and revenge: His behaviour was all humility

and

>

and meekness, charity and love of mankind. They were actuated by worldly motives, and proposed to themselves fecular ends and interests: Jefus was the fartheft removed from any fufpicion of that kind, and when the people would have taken him (John VI. 15.) to make him a king, he withdrew himself from them, and departed again into a mountain himself alone. Their pretenfions were accommodated to the carnal expectations of the Jews, and withal were backed by force and violence, and yet could not fucceed and profper: On the contrary, the religion of Jesus was fpiritual, difclaimed, all force, and took the way (humanly speaking) not to prevail, and yet prevailed against all the power and oppofition of the world. Now of these who were the deceivers, think you, who was the true Chrift? Had Jefus been an impoftor, he would have lived and acted like an impos tor. Had his defign been any thing like theirs, like theirs it would have been discovered and brought to nought. Nothing could make his religion stand, but its coming from God. This is the reafoning of one, who cannot be fufpected to favor the caufe of Christianity, the learned Gamaliel in the Jewish Sanhedrim ; and to him that great council agreed. (Acts V. 36, &c.) Before thefe days rofe up Theudas, baafting bimfelf

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himself to be fome body, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves; who was flain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were Scattered, and brought to nought. After this man rofe up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him; he alfa perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were difperfed. And now I fay unto you, refrain from thefe men, and let them alone; for if this counfel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot, overthrow it's left haply ye be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed.

5. But tho the truth will at laft prevail over error and impofture, yet it is a melancholy proof of the weakness, and fuperftition; and enthusiasm of mankind, that thefe falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets fhould delude fuch.numbers as they did to their deftruction. The falfe Meffiahs had for a time many more difciples and followers than the true Meffiah. The Chriftians were once (Luke XII. 32.) a little flock. The number of the names together (Acts 1. 15.) were about an hundred and twenty. Whereas these impoftors

(5) Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. Lib. 6. Cap. 5. Sect. 2. xai ovppinłos όχλος πολειςος εἰς εξακισχιλιες. et plurima multitudo promifcua, ad fex hominum millia, p. 1281.

Edit, Hudfon.

(6) Lib. 2. Cap. 13. Sect. 5. wep througies per a Spoiler Tas a. ufque ad triginta hominum