that of the former; and in this place will I give peace,
faith the Lord of hosts.

This prophecy limits the coming of Chrift,
whofe prefence made the fecond temple more truly
glorious than that of Solomon, to fome time before.
the deftruction of Jerufalem by the Romans, when
that temple was levelled with the ground.

But the time in which the Meffiah should make
his appearance was moft diftinctly foretold by the
prophet Daniel, who limited it to feventy weeks
after the decree of the kings of Perfia to rebuild
Jerufalem, ix. 24, &c. Seventy weeks are deter-
mined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish.
the tranfgreffion, and to make an end of fins, and to,
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlast-
ing righteousness, and to feal up the vision, and prophe-
cy, and to anoint the most haly. Know, therefore, and
understand; that from the going forth of the command-
ment to reflore and to build Ferusalem, unto the Mef-
fiah the prince, fhall be feven weeks, and threefcore and
two weeks; the streets fhall be built again, and the wall,
even in troublous times.

Though there are feveral methods of computing.
thefe feventy weeks (every day of which is agreed to.
ftand for a year) yet it is plain, that, according
to any of them, that term must bave expired about
the time of Chrift. Accordingly we find that
there was, in fact, about that time, a general ex•
pectation among the Jews, and through all the

Eaft, of the appearance of fome great prince, and reformer of religion.

That fome perfon would be fent to prepare the way for the Meffiah, feems to have been foretold with fufficient clearness, in the following prophecies. We also fee in them, that he was to refemble the prophet Elias; and it appears, that fuch a perfon was expected by the Jews about the fame time.

Ifaiah xl. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make Straight in the defert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made ftraight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord fhall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

This prophecy immediately follows another, concerning the captivity of the Jews by the Babylonians, and is introduced by the following animated confolation, which was, no doubt, written under a profpect of the happy state of things which was to be introduced by the Meffiah, v. 1, 2. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, faith your God, Speak ye comfortably to Jerufalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for he hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her fins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, &c.

Mal. iii. 1, &c. Behold, I will fend my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye feek fhall fuddenly come to his temple: even the meffenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, he fhall come, faith the Lord of hofts, iv. 2. Unto you that fear my name fhall the fun of righteousness arife, with healing in his wings, &c. v. 5. 6. Behold, I will fend you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he fhall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, left I come and smite the earth with a curfe.

These are but a fmall part of the prophecies which pretty plainly refer to Chrift in the Old Teftament; and though fome of them, I doubt not, are to have a much more complete accomplishment than they have hitherto received, yet so many of the particulars are already fulfilled, as abundantly prove, that those prophets wrote by inspiration; no other than God being able to defcribe fo diftant an event with fuch exactness. These prophecies ought certainly to excite our clofeft attention to a character fo diftinguished before hand, and rendered fo confpicuous, as we may fay, even before he made his appearance in the world; and it fhould concur with other proofs, fo ftrengthen our faith in the divine miffion of Chrift, and the divinity of his religion.

SEC

SECTION III.

Prophecies in the New Teftament.

THE fame spirit of prophecy which attended every stage of the Jewish difpenfation, has no lefs diftinguifhed the Chriftian, which is to be confidered as the continuation, and completion of the fame general scheme.

The entire overthrow of the Jewish nation, and the complete deftruction of Jerufalem and the temple, with many remarkable circumftances preceding and attending them, were exprefsly foretold by Chrift. So diftinct was his fore-knowledge of the great calamities that were to come upon his nation, that he was exceedingly moved and affected with the confideration of them, and he always expreffed himself with the greatest tenderness and compaffion whenever he mentioned them; as Mat. xxiii. 37, 38. O Jerufalem, Jerusalem, thou that killeft the prophets, and ftoneft them which are fent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children toge ther, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unta you defolate.

Upon his approaching Jerufalem for the last time it is faid, Luke xix. 41, &c. that when he came

near,

near, he beheld the city, and wept over it; faying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at leaft in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days fhall come upon thee, that thine enemies fhall caft a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every fide, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one ftone upon another, because thou kneweft not the time of thy vifitation.

When he was going to be crucified, the expec tation even of his own immediate suffering did not fo far engross his thoughts, but that he felt the most lively compaffion on the profpect of the future miferies of his countrymen. For, being followed by a great company of people, Luke xxiii. 27, &c. and, of women, who bewailed and lamented him; Jefus, turning unto them faid, Daughters of Jerufalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold the days are coming, in the which they fhall fay, Bleffed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave fuck. Then fball they begin to fay to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

But the most circumftantial of the prophecies of our-Lord, concerning the deftruction of Jerufalem and the temple, was delivered to his difciples, when they defired him to attend to the magnificence of that celebrated ftructure, as they were fitting in

the