accomplishment of it, gives light unto the whole prediction. Some
of the Jews from these words have fancied unto themselves another great prophet, whom they expect, as they did of old, before the coming of the Messiah. So in their dealing with John the Baptist, they asked him whetlier he were Elias; which he denied, because, though he was promised under that name, yet he was not that in- dividual person whom they looked for,—that is, the soul of Elias the Tishbite, as Kimchi tells us, with a body new created, like unto the former: whereon they further demand whether he were 6 spopqrne, “the prophet” promised by Moses; which he also denies, because that prophet was no other than the Messiah, John i. 21. To this pur- pose also isit that the Spirit of the Lord is promised to rest upon the Messiah, to “make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lor,” that he might “not judge after the sight of his eyes,” etc., Isa, xi. 8-5. So also chap. lxi. 1, 2. And from this great prophet were the isles of the Gentiles to receive the law, chap. xl. 1-4. The sum of all is, the Messiah was to be a prophet, a “prophet like unto Moses,”—that is, a lawgiver,—one that should finally and perfectly reveal the whole will and counsel of God; and with that authority, that whosoever refused to obey him should be exterminated and cast out from the privilege of being reckoned among the people of God.
36. We are then, in the next place, to consider the accomplish- ment of this promise in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, this
398 JESUS OF NAZARETH [EXERC. XVII.
the story of him and the event do abundantly testify. That he was a prophet, and so esteemed by the Jews themselves, until, through the envy of the scribes and Pharisees, and their own unwillingness to admit of the purity and holiness of his doctrine, they were stirred up to oppose and persecute him,—as they had done all other prophets who, in their several generations, foretold his coming,—is evident from the records of the evangelical story. See John vi. 14, vii. 40; Acts ii. 22,23. Their present obstinate denial hereof is a mere contrivance, to justify themselves in their rejection and murder of him, But this is not all. He was not only a prophet in general, but he was that prophet who was foretold by Moses and by all the prophets who built on his foundation, who was to put the last hand unto divine revela- tion, in a full declaration of the whole counsel of God,—the peculiar work of the Messiah. And this we shall evince in the ensuing consi- derations of his doctrine and prophecy, with the success and event of them.
37. First, The nature of the doctrine taught by this prophet gives testimony unto our assertion. Whatever characters of that truth which is holy and heavenly can rationally be conceived or appre- hended, they are all eminently and incomparably imprinted on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Whatever tends to the glory of God, as the first cause and last end of all things; as the only sovereign ruler, judge, and disposer of all; as the only infinitely holy, wise, righteous, good, gracious, merciful, powerful, faithful, independent Being,— is clearly, evidently, and in a heavenly manner, revealed therein. Whatever is useful or suitable to excite and improve all that is good in man, in the notions of his mind or inclinations of his will; and to discover his wants and defects, that he may not exalt himself in his own imagination above his state and condition: whatever is need- ful to reveal unto him his end or his way, his happiness or the means conducing thereunto: whatever may bring him into a due subjection unto God and subordination unto his glory: whatever may teach him to be useful in all those relations wherein he may be cast, within the bounds and compass of the moral principles of his nature, as a creature made for society: whatever is useful to deter him from and suppress in him every thing that is evil, even in those hidden seeds and embryos of it which lie beneath the first instances that reason can reach unto the discovery of, and that in an absolute universality, without the least indulgence, on any pretence whatever ; and to stir him up, provoke him unto, and direct him im, the practice of -whatever thing is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, that is virtuous or praiseworthy, that may begin, bound, guide, limit, finish, and perfect, the whole system of moral actions in him in re- lation unto God, himself, and others:—it is all revealed, confirmed, and ratified, in the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It hath
SECT. 37, 38.] THE ONLY TRUE AND PROMISED MESSIAH. 399
stood upon its trial above sixteen hundred years in the world, chal- lenging the wit and malice of its adversaries to discover any one thing, or any circumstance of any thing, that is untrue, false, evil, un- comely, not useful or not convenient in it; or to find out any thing that is morally good, virtuous, useful, praiseworthy, in habit or exer- cise, in any instances of operations, in any degree of intension of mind, any duty that man owes to God, others, or himself, that is not taught, enjoined, encouraged, and commanded by it; or to discover any motives, encouragements, or reasons, unto and for the pursuit of that which is good and the avoidance of evil, that are true, real, solid, and rational, which it affordeth not unto them that embrace it. This absolute perfection of the doctrine of this prophet, joined with those characters of divine authority which are enstamped on it, doth sufficiently evidence that it contains the great, promised, full, final revelation of the will of God, which was to be given forth by the Messiah. Add hereunto, that since the delivery of this doctrine, the whole race of mankind hath not been able to invent or find out any thing that, without the most palpable folly and madness, might be added unto it, much less stand in competition with it, and it will itself sufficiently demonstrate its author.