II.

letter of the Scriptures: they did fuppofe every where S ER M. a Midrash, or myftical fenfe; which they very ftudioufly (even to an excets of curiofity and daigence) fearched after it was a conftant and confident opinion of their doctors, that all things in Mofes's law were typical, and capable of allegorical expofition; and Philo's writings (compofed immediately after vid. Capell. our Saviour's time) do fhew that opinion then to in Exerc. have been paffable. We have alto feveral inftances and intimations thereof in the New Teftament: neither is it probable, that our Lord and the Apoftles would, in their difcourfes and difputations with the Jews, have used this way of alleging and interpreting paffages of Scripture, if they in general had not admitted and approved it.

ad Zohar.

To

xvii. 9.

Dan. ix. 1.

Why God should choose to express matters of this v nature in such a manner, we need not to determine; 649, it might be perhaps for reafons only known to him- 658, &c. felf, above our ken or cognizance: yet divers probable reasons may be affigned for it, yea fome more than, probable, feeing they are expreffed or hinted in Scripture. It might be for a decent and harmonious difcrimination of times, of difpenfations, of perfons; it might be from the depth of things to con- Apoc. ii. 7. ciliate reverence to them, and to raise the price of xii. 18. knowing them, by the difficulty of attaining thereto; Matt. xiii. it might be by exercife to improve the underftand- 9. xxiv. 15. ings of men, to inflame their defire, to excite their John induftry, to provoke their devotion, to render them Luke xxiv. modeft and humble; it might be for occafion to re- 1 Cor. xii. ward an honeft and diligent ftudy of God's word, 10. xiv. 26. and to convey ípecial gifts of interpretation; it 10. might be to conceal fome things from fome perfons Matt. xiii. unworthy or unfit to know them, efpecially from vii 6. haughty and felf-conceited perfons; it might be to Acts iii. 17. ufe the ignorance of fome, as a means to produce fome great events; fuch as was the milling and perfecuting our Lord: for fuch reafons it might be, and there is no good reason against it; for it cannot

be

45.

13. xi. 25.

1 Cor ii. 8.

Gal. iv. 4.

SER M. be fuppofed neceffary, that all things fhould be plain11. ly difcovered at all times, and to all perfons; it is evident that fome things are couched in parabolical and myfterious expreffions; it is particularly the Eph. i. 1o. manner of prophetical inftruction frequently to involve things, the full and clear knowledge of which is not congruous to every reafon, nor fuitable to every capacity; but referved for times, and perfons, for which the divine wifdom only knows them most proper.

1 Tim. ii. 6.

Thefe things being thus premifed, we com to our particular cafe, and fay, that (according to what our Lord and his Apoftles teach) the Meffiah's being to fuffer was in divers paffages of the ancient Scripture prefigured. Suppofing the thing itself determined to be, there are peculiar reafons, why it rather fo, than in a more open manner, fhould be reprefented, contained in thofe words of Tertullian : The Sacrament indeed (faith he) of Chrift's paffion ought to have been figured in the (ancient) predications; for as much as that the more incredible it was, (if it should have been preached nakedly) the more offenfive it would have been; and the more magnificent it was, the more it was to be overshadowed, that the difficulty of understanding it might be caufe of feeking of God's grace". Suppofing it alfo that it fhould be, it is plain that the paffages about Abel, Ifaac, Jofias, Jeremiah, and the like, may congruoufly be applied thereto; that the elevation of the Brazen Serpent, and the flaying the Pafchal Lamb may appofitely reprefent it; the Jewifh priests, with all their facrifices, may alfo with reafon be brought in, and accommodated thereto : these things indeed by themfelves folitarily are not apt peremptorily to evince, that it fhould be; yet do

u

Utique facramentum paffionis ipfius figurari in prædicationibus oportuerat, quantoque incredibile, tanto magis fcandalum futurum, quantoque magnificum, tanto magis adumbrandum; ut difficultas intellectûs gratiam Dei quæreret. Tert. in Jud. 10.

they

II.

they handfomely fuit it, and adorn the fuppofition S ER M. thereof; according to the notion premised about the figurative relation between the matters of the old world before the Meffias, and the new one after him. But with a clearer evidence and ftronger force we may affirm, that the Meffiah's fufferings were implied in the afflictions afcribed to his reprefentative king David, iuch as he in feveral Pfalms (in the 35th, 69th, 109th, 118th, and efpecially in the 22d Plalın) defcribeth them; wherein divers paffages, expreffing the extreme fadnefs and forlornnefs of his condition, occur, which by the hiftory of his life do not fo well, according to the literal fignification of words, appear congruous to his perfon; which therefore there is a neceffity, or at leaft much reason, that they fhould be applied to the Meffias, whom that holy King did represent.

6.

4. XXXV.

Which being admitted, comparing the paffages we find there to that which befel Jefus, we inay oblerve an admirable harmony; there being fcarce any part of his affliction in his life, or at any circumftance thereof at his death, which is not in exprefs and emphatical terms there fet out. There we have expreffed his low and defpicable state; (I am a worm, and no Pfal. xxii. man; the reproach of men, and defpifed of the people ;) -the causeless hatred and enmity of the populace and of the great ones toward him; (They that hate me Pfal. Ixix. without a caufe are more than the hairs of my head; they xxxv. 7. that would deftroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty; they compaffed me about with words of hatred, and fought against me without a caufe;)-the ingrateful requital for all the good intended and performed by him; (They rewarded me evil for good, Pfal. xxxv. and hatred for my love;)—their rejecting him; (The fione which the builders refufed is become the head ftone of the corner;)—their infidious and calumnious proceedings against him; (Without caufe have they hid for me their P. xxxv. 7, net in a pit, which without caufe they have digged for 11. cix. 2. my foul. And, falfe witnefjes did rije up; they laid to

my

12. cix. 5. cxviii. 22.

15. lxix.

26.

Pfal. xxii.

7, 8.

cix. 25.

XXXV. 21.

16.

SER M. my charge things that I knew not. And, the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. -their bitter infulting over him in his affliction; Pfal. xxxv. (But in mine adverfity they rejoiced, and gathered themJelves together; yea the abjects gathered themselves together against me:) They perfecute him, whom thou haft fmitten, and they talk to the grief of those, whom thou baf wounded : καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄλγῷ τῶν τραυμάτων με προστ Snav, and to the fmart of my wounds they have added; (fay the LXX.)-their fcornful reviling, flouting, and mocking him; (All they that fee me, laugh me to fcorn; they fhoot the lip, they shake the head; faying, He trufted in the Lord, that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, feeing be delighteth in him. And, I became a reproach unto them; when they looked upon me, they shaked their heads; they opened their mouth wide against me, and faid, Aha, aha, our eye hath feen it. 'Empaσáv μe, ἐξεμυκτήρισαν με μυκτηρισμὸν, ἔἔρυξαν ἐπ ̓ ἐμὲ τὰς ὁδόντας αὐτῶν· They tempted me, they extremely mocked me, they gnafhed their teeth upon me.)-their cruel and contemptuous Pfal. xxii. ufage of him; (Dogs have compaffed me; the affembly of the wicked have enclofed me; they pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones; they look and ftare upon me.)-their abufive dealing with him, when he Pfal. Ixix. in his diftrefs called for fome refreshment; (They gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirft they gave me vinegar to drink.)-their difpofal of his garments upon Pfal. xxii. his fuffering; (They part my garments among them, and caft lots upon my vefture.)-his being deferted of his friends and followers, and thence deftitute of all Pfal. Ixix. confolation; (I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children;-I am full of heaviness; and I looked for fome to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.)-the fenfe of God's withholding his favour and help; Pfal. xxii. (My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me? Why 1. Ixix. 17. art thou fo far from helping me?)-his charitable difpofition and demeanor toward his enemies and per

16, 17.

21.

18.

8, 20.

fecutors;

παρενοχλε

μοι.

fecutors; (But as for me, when they were fick (when S E R M. they did trouble me, fay the LXX.) my clothing was II. fackcloth, I bumbled myself with fafting, and my prayer returned into my own bofom; I behaved myself as though 'Ev Tä aitu; it had been my friend, or brother; I bowed down beavily, aprox. as one that mourneth for his mother.) Which paffages, Plal. xxxv. and the like, how patly and punctually they do square to respective paflages in the Gospels, I need not to fhew; we do, I prefume, all of us well enough remember that both moft doleful and comfortable. hiftory, to be able ourselves to make the application.

13, &c.

2.

But there farther are not only fuch oblique intimations, or fignifications of this matter, fhrowded under the coverture of other perfons and names; but very direct and immediate predictions concerning the Meffiah's being to fuffer, moft clearly expreffed: that whole famous chapter (the 53d.) of liaiah Ifa. liii. doth most evidently and fully declare it, wherein the kind, manner, caufes, ends, and confequences of his fufferings, together with his behaviour under them, are graphically represented: his appearing meannels," (He hath no form, or comeliness; and when we shall fee v. him, there is no beauty, that we should defire him :)—the difgrace, contempt, repulfes, and rejection he underwent, (He is defpifed and rejected of men-we bid our v. 3. faces from him; he was defpifed, and we efteemed him not :)-his afflicted ftate, (He is a man of forrows, and v. 3, 4 acquainted with grief; we did esteem him ftricken, fmitten of God, and afflicted:)—the bitter and painful manner of his affliction (He was firicken; he bare stripes ; v. 4. 5, he was wounded and bruifed:)—his being accufed, adjudged, and condemned as a malefactor, (He was ta-v. 8. 12. ken from prison, and from judgment—he was numbered among the tranfgrefors :)-his death confequent, (He poured out his foul unto death; he was cut out of the land of the living :)-the defign and end of his fufferings; they were appointed and inflicted by divine Providence for our fake, and in our ftead; for the expiation of our fins, and our falvation; (It pleafed v. 10.

the