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me that as his name is "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," so he should be born a child, and given as a son. And, therefore, at the same time that the Lord of hosts calls him his fellow, he calls him a man too, "Against the man that is my fellow, says the Lord of hosts."

Object. 3. But if he be born as other men are, he must needs be a sinner, as other men be; for such as are born by natural generation, must necessarily be born also in natural corruption.

To remove this obstacle, this holy book tells me, that "a virgin shall conceive and bear this Son, and his name shall be Emmanuel." And so being begotten, but not by a sinful man, himself shall be a man, but not a sinful man: and so being God and man, he is every way fit to mediate betwixt God and man; to reconcile God to me, and me to God, that my sins may be pardoned, God's wrath appeased, and so my soul made happy in the enjoyment of him.

But there is one thing more yet, that keeps me from settling upon this religion; and that is, the expiration of the time in which this book promiseth this person should come into the world; for it is expressly said, that "seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon the city, to finish the transgressions, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision, and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." From which anointing he is, in the next verse, called Messiah, the Anointed, (under which name he is, from hence, expected by the Jews,) and the begin

ning of these seventy weeks is expressly said to be "at the going forth of the commandment to build and restore Jerusalem." Now if we understand these seventy weeks in the largest sense for seventy weeks, or sabbaths of years, as it is expressed, Lev. xxv. 8. the time of the Messiah's coming must have been but 490 years after the commandment for the building of the city; whereas whether we understand it of the decree and command that Cyrus made, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. Ezra i. 1, 2, 3. or that which Darius made, Ezra vi. or that Artaxerxes made, chap. vii. I say, whichsoever of these decrees we understand this prophecy of, it is evident that it is above 2000 years since they were all made; and therefore, the time of this person's coming hath been expired above 1600 years at least.

So likewise doth this book of the law, as they call it, assure us, that "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come," where the Jews themselves, Jonathan and Onkelos, expound the word Shiloh by Messiah; and so doth the Jerusalem Targum too. Now it is plain that there hath been neither sceptre nor lawgiver in Judah, nor any political government at all among the Jews, for above 1600 years; which plainly shows either their prophecies and expectations of a Messiah are false, or that he came into the world so many ages since, as were here prefixed.

So likewise it was expressly foretold in this book, that "the glory of the second temple should be greater than the glory of the former." Now the Jews themselves acknowledge, that there were five of the principal things which were in the first, want

ing in the second temple, namely, 1. The ark with the mercy-seat and cherubim. 2. The Shechinah,

or divine presence. 3. The holy prophetical Spirit. 4. The Urim and Thummim. 5. The heavenly fire. And from the want of these five things they say, the words "I will be glorified,” Hag. i. 8. wants an he at the end, which in numeration denotes five. Yea, and when the very foundation of the second temple was laid, the old men that had seen the first, wept to see how far short it was likely to come of the former, Ezra iii. 12. To make up therefore the glory of the second temple, to be greater than the glory of the first, notwithstanding the want of so many glorious things, they must, of necessity, understand it of the coming of the Messiah into it, who, ver. 8. is called, "The Desire of all nations." Whereas the Jews themselves cannot but confess that this temple hath been demolished above 1600 years; and therefore, it is impossible for the Messiah to come into it, and for its glory to be greater than the glory of the first temple; and, by consequence, for the word which they profess to believe in to be true.

Indeed, the time of the Messiah's coming was so expressly set down in these and the like places, that Elias, one of their great rabbies, gathered from hence that the world should last 6000 years, 2000 without the law, 2000 under the law, and 2000 under the Messiah, Sanh. c. 11. which computation of the Messiah's coming after 4000 years, from the beginning of the world, comes near the time of the sceptre's departing from Judah, and the end of Daniel's seventy weeks. Which shows, that this rabbi was

fully convinced, that it was about that time that the Messiah should come. And therefore it was, likewise, that above 1600 years ago, the Jews did so generally expect his coming; and that so many did pretend to be the person, as Baz-Cozbah, who about that time, vaunting himself to be the man, almost the whole nation unanimously concurred in following him, insomuch, that, as the Jews report, there were no less than 400,000, or as others, 500,000 men slain by Adrian the emperor, in the city Bitter, all fighting in defence of this pretended Messiah. There were likewise many others that fancied themselves to be the man, and were esteemed by some, till manifestly convinced of their error, as we may read in some of their books. And unto this day many of them hold that he is already come, but that, by reason of their sins, he is not yet revealed unto them.

Hence it is, that my natural reason draws me into this dilemma, that either that book which the Jews receive as the word of God is indeed not so; or else that they do not rightly apply it: and so, that either their religion is a false religion, or else their profession of it a false profession: and therefore, I must go hence and seek me some other religion to fix my soul upon. Not as if my reason told me, that all the prophecies which I have mentioned here, were false in themselves, but only that they appear so to this sort of professors; for, for my own part, I cannot shake off my faith in this law, which they profess to believe in; especially now I have so seriously perused it, and so deliberately weighed and considered of it. Neither can I believe

that ever any Mahometan or Indian, that did, without prejudice, set himself to read it through, and to examine every particular, by the light of unbiassed reason, could say, it was ever hatched in a human brain; but that it is indeed of a heavenly stamp and divine authority. And, therefore, though I am forced by the strength of reason to shake hands with this religion, yet the same reason will not suffer me to lay aside that law, which they do profess, but only their profession of it. So that whatsoever religion I settle upon, my natural conscience still commands me to stick close to this book of the Jewish law, and to receive and entertain it as the word of the glorious Jehovah, the Being of all beings.

Well, there is but one religion more generally professed in the world, that I am to search into; which if, upon good grounds, I cannot fix upon, I shall be the most miserable of all creatures; and that is the Christian religion, so named from Jesus Christ, whose doctrine, life, and death, is recorded by four several persons, in a book which they call the Gospel. And this book appears to me to be of undoubted authority, as to the truth and certainty of those things that are therein recorded. For, if they had been false, both the persons that wrote them, and he of whom they wrote, had so many malicious enemies ready, upon all occasions, to accuse them, that they had long ago been condemned for lies and forgeries. But now, these writings have been extant for above 1600 years, and never so much as suspected; but even, by the worst of enemies, acknowledged to be a true relation of what passed in the world about that time: my reason will not permit

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