for ever), but only Labores & Flagella (as he words it) great Labours and Afflictions; which they suppose he may endure, ante perfectam Regni Revelationem, before the full Eftablishment of his Kingdom. And he brings, as a parallel Place, in Deaths oft, which the Apoftle speaks of himself; but it means no more than Dangers.

2 Cor. xi. 23.

Anf. 1. The Meffiab's undergoing Stripes and Afflictions, though in order to his Kingdom, is as adverie to the Jews Notion of the Meffiah as Death itfelf. For they fuppofe him to go on gloriously in Conquefts and Victory; and not to be fcourged, or ignominiously treated.

Dan. ix. 23, 26.

Anf. 2. Being in Deaths, fhews itself to be a figurative Expreffion: For a Man can be in Death but once, therefore not, in that Sense, often in Deaths. But as a Man in Battle, or Storms at Sea, may be faid to be often in Deaths, fo the Apostle in the many Dangers which he there repeats. But far otherwife are the Expreffions concerning the Death of the Meffiah, ver. 8, 9, 12. He was cut off out of the Land of the Living. He made his Grave with the Wicked. He poured out his Soul unto Death. And Meffiah the Prince fhall be cut off, but not for himself, &c. If thefe Expreffions do not fignify Death, what others can? And the Jews ftruggling against it, fhews only, that they are refolved not to be convinced, by any Words whatfoever that can be fpoken. They try all Ways, but dare flick to none: For they are contradictory to one another. And if one of their Excufes hold, the reft must be falfe: Which Confufion of itself were enough to convince them. You fhall fee more of them.

To avoid this, and other Prophecies, which speak exprefly of the poor and low State in which the Messiah was to appear; behold thy King cometh Zech.ix.9. unto thee poor, or, as we tranflate it, lowly, &c. the modern Jews have 'framed to themselves two Meffiahs: One, Ben-Jofeph, of the Tribe of Ephraim, who was to be poor and contemp

tible, and undergo great Indignities: The other, BenDavid, of the Tribe of Judah, who was to be victorious, and conquer all the Earth before him, and to live for ever in temporal Grandeur: That he was to raise again from the Dead all the Ifraelites of former Ages; and among them, the first Meffiah, Ben-Jofeph. Thus the Jews, fhutting faft their Eyes, do dream, and invent Meffiahs, on purpose because they will not be concluded by the plain Prophecies of the one and only Meffiah. Where do the Prophets fpeak of two Meffiahs? But fpeaking all along of one, and of the Son, or Meffiab, does neceffarily exclude any other. If there were two, one would not be the Meffiah: And by the fame Rule they make two, they may make two Score of Meffiahs. But this fhameless Contrivance fhews how hard they are put to it to elude the plain Prophecies of the Meffiab; and is a Confirmation of the true Import and Meaning of thefe Prophecies, which are not answerable, but by fuch poor and guilty Shifts. It is for this Reafon that I have been so long upon this Prophecy of Ifaiah; and fhewn the Dream of your modern Rabbies, of two Meffiabs, unknown to all your Expofitors before Chrift came, but invented fince, on purpose to avoid the plain and undoubted Characters which our Jefus bore of the Meffiah.

Dan. ix.

24, &c.

4. The famous Prophecy of Daniel's Seventy Weeks; which, according to the prophetical Computation of a Year for a Day, makes Four hundred and ninety Years. In which Time it was then foretold that the Meffiah fhould come; and our Meffiah did come within that Time; and all there spoken of him was punctually fulfilled: As, that the Meffiah fhould be cut off; and, foon after, that the Sanctuary fhould be deftroyed; and the Sacrifice and Oblation fhould ceafe; and that, even after all this, Defolations were determined against your Nation. And the End of the Messiah's Coming is likewife there told; not temporal Conquefts, as you dream of, but to finish the Tranfgreffions, and to make an End of

and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity, and to bring in everlafting Righteousness.

Ezek. xiv. -14, 20.

This Prophecy pinches so close, that the modern Jews, to avoid it, would endeavour to difcredit the whole Book of Daniel: They dare not quite throw it off, because it was indubitably received by their Forefathers before Chrift came. And the high Rank in which Daniel is put, rather gives him the Preference before all the rest of the Prophets, than excludes him out of their Number. It makes him at leaft, the most highly favoured of God, of all the Men living in the World in his Time: And his Vifions of the four great Empires of the World, and Prophecies of the State-Revolutions, which followed fo remarkably, made his Prophecies more noted than thofe of any of the other Prophets And God fets him forth as the Standard of Wisdom amongst Men. thefe Reasons, the Jews after Chrift could not expunge this Book of Daniel: But, about one hundred Years after Chrift, they quite inverted the Method of the Books of the Old Teftament (which to that Time had been received amongst them), and made a new Diftribution of them, and a Diftinction of those they called 'Ayoy gaga, or holy Writings; but put them in a Clafs below the infpired and canonical Scriptures: And into this lower Clafs they thruft the Book of Daniel, at the End of the Prophets, which before was placed in the Middle of them.

Ezek. xxviii. 3.

For

But this Book of Daniel, if it be not among those which are infpired in the higheft Degree, it cannot ftand among any boly or good Writings, but it muft be reckoned falfe and blafphemous; because it fpeaks of itself all along as immediately infpired by God: And if thofe Visions and Revelations there related be not true, then it is telling of Lies in the Name of the Lord; which is high Blafphemy.

Therefore, fince the modern Jews dare not place the Book of Daniel lower than among the holy or pious

3

Writings,

Writings, they confefs it to be infpired, and canonical; and have only discovered their own Guilt, in feeking to avoid the Witness of their own Prophets to our Meffiab.

5. That Promife concerning the Temple 2 Chr. vii. of Solomon, that God's Name fhould be there 16. for ever, and perpetually, cannot be verified,

but as it was a Type of the Chriftian Church, which shall laft for ever. For Types, as Pictures, are often called by the Name of what they reprefent; and by them is meant that whereof they are the Types.

Hag. ii.

3, 7, 9.

6. As that Promife to the Temple of Solomo of Solomon, 10 neither can that made to the fecond Temple be otherwise verified than as fulfilled in our Meffiah, That the Glory of this latter Houfe fhall be greater than of the former: And yet it was as nothing, in Comparison of the former. How then fhould the Glory be greater? It is told, Becaufe the Defire of all Nations fhould come into it; and in this Place will give Peace, faith the Lord of Hofts. Here was given the eternal Peace and Reconciliation of God with Men, in the Perfon 2 Cor. 5. of Jefus Chrift; in whom God was, by his 19. Means, reconciling the World unto himself.

Some Jews, to avoid the Force of this Prophecy, do now pretend, that, by the latter Houfe, ver. 9. is not to be meant that fecond Temple, but fome other yet to be built. This is very precarious, and a guilty Plea. But it will not bear; for it is plain that it was of that very fecond Temple which the Prophet fpoke. The Comparifon, ver. 3. is betwixt that Temple which they then faw, and the first Temple of Solomon. And, ver. 7. God, fpeaking of that Temple then built, fays, I will fill this Houfe with Glory. And, ver. 9. The Glory of this latter Houfe fhall be greater than of the former. If it were spoken of a third or a fourth Temple, the Word former would not relate to the first Temple: And there was no other former, when this Prophecy was given forth. It was the fecond Temple that feemed as nothing

nothing in the Eyes of those who had Exr.iii. 12. feen the first, who therefore wept: And, to comfort thefe, it was here promised, That the Glory of that second House should exceed that of the former.

R. Kimchi. &R.Solom. in Hag. 1. 8. and R. Bechai in Legem. f. 59.

J.

But there were other Glories, much greater than that of the Building, which the firft Temple had, and the fecond had none of them; as your own Rabbies_do reckon them under five Heads: 1. The holy Ark, wherein were the Tables of the Covenant, the Pot of Manna, and Aaron's Rod that budded; and where God was faid to dwell between the Cherubims that covered it. 2. The Schechina, or divine Prefence, in the Cloud of Glory. 3. The miraculous Urim and Thummim. 4. The Pfal.lxxx. boly Fire that came done from Heaven. 5. The Gift of Prophecy, or of the Holy Ghoft. Thefe all ceafed under the fecond Temple; which made its Glory much more inferior to that of the firft than the Difference as to the Magnificence of the Building. But all these Glories were much exceeded under the fecond Temple. They were fulfilled, and more divinely exhibited, in their Architype the Meffiah, who was the true Schechina; God not only appearing in, but perfonally united to, our Nature: Whofe holy Spirit defcended miraculously in Fire upon his Apoftles, the fame Day (of Pentecoft) wherein the Law was given in Fire from Mount Sinai; and filled them with the Gifts of Tongues, of Miracles, and of Prophecy, which were now departed from the Temple ; and placed that infallible Urim and Thummim in their Hearts, which was but faintly represented in the Breastplate of your High Prieft.

7. Again; of this fecond Temple it was faid, The Lord, whom ye feek, fhall fuddenly come to his Mal. iii. 1. Temple ; even the Angel of the Covenant whom you delight in : Behold he shall come, faith the Lord of Hofts. Therefore it was necessary

that