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Grecians; and after long Wars the Gre cians themfelves, and all the Nations which they had conquered, were subjected to the Romans: And Auguftus was in peaceable Poffeffion of the Empire of the World when Jefus our Meffiah was born; who might well be ftyled the Expectation of the Nations, fince (as Pagan Hiftories have affur'd us) about this Time there went a Rumour thro' all the Eastern Countries, that out of Judæa fhould arife thofe who fhould rule over the whole World. Our Lord during his Abode on Earth frequently honour'd the Temple with his Prefence; and in it He, who by the Prophet Isaiah is called the Prince of Peace, and by St. Paul our Peace, preached the Gospel of Peace. And tho' probably the fecond Temple never equall'd the firft in point of Beauty and Magnificence; tho' the second Temple wanted feveral Tokens of the Divine Favour which the firft enjoy'd; fuch as the Ark of the Covenant, and the Mercy Seat, from whence God gave Anfwers by an audible Voice, the Sheci

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nab or Manifeftation of the Divine Prefence in a bright Cloud over the Mercy Seat, the Oracle of Urim and Thummim, and the Holy Fire which defcended from Heaven; which were greater Ornaments to a Temple than all the Silver and Gold in the World; yet thefe Things were not fo great a Glory to the former House, as the Bodily Prefence of the Meffiah was to the latter; as will evidently ap pear if we confider,

Secondly, THE Character and Defcription which is given of the Meffiah in the Text, viz. That he was the Son of God, made of a Woman, made under the Law.

IN the firft Place then he was the Son of God, to whofe Honour the Temple was dedicated; a Son not unworthy of fuch a Father; being himself both Lord and God, Lord of Lords, and over all, God bleffed for evermore; the Brightnefs of his Father's Glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon. By whose ineffable Miniftry the Almighty Architect built the Worlds; who, according to the unanimous Opinion of Antiquity, fupY 2 ported

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ported by many Teftimonies of Scripture, frequently appear'd in the Form of God to the Patriarchs and Prophets, as the Angel of God's Prefence, his Word, his Oracle, the Interpreter and Revealer of his Will; who converfed with Adam in Paradife; who fhut up Noah in the Ark which he had inftructed him to build, and brought the Deluge upon the World of the Ungodly; who having eceiv'd Power from his Father to judge the Sodomites, rained down Fire upon them from the Lord out of Heaven; who was feen by Jacob ftanding at the Top of the mystic Ladder, which reached from Heaven to the Earth; who spake to Mofes out of the burning Bush; whose Voice fhook the Earth at the Delivery of the fiery Law, when he came down upon Mount Sinai, attended with twenty thoufand Chariots of God, even thou. fands of Angels; who went before the Camp of the Ifraelites, in a cloudy Pillar by Day, and in a Pillar of Fire by Night; who fuftained fix hundred thoufand Men, befides Women and Children,

with Water out of the Rock, and with Bread dropp'd from the Clouds forty Years; before whom Joshua fell on his Face to the Earth, paying to Him that Worship which was due to the Captain of the Hoft of the Lord; whom Ifaiah faw fitting on a Throne high and lifted up, and his Train filled the Temple; whom Daniel in the Night-Visions beheld coming with the Clouds of Heaven, and receiving from the Antient of Days Dominion and Glory, and an everlasting Kingdon over all People, Nations and Languages; to whom upon his Refurrection the Father actually committed all Power in Heaven and in Earth, and advanc'd Him to his own right Hand in the Heavenly Places, to fit down with him in his Throne, far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion, and every Name that is named, not only in this World but in that which is to come; That unto Him our Saviour, our King and our God, according to the good Pleasure of the Almighty Father, who hath put all Things under his Feet, every

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every Knee fhould bow, of Things in Heaven and Things in Earth, and Things under the Earth, and that every Tongue fhould confefs that he is Lord to the Glory of God the Father.

THIS Sublime Perfon, this Lord of Glory, at the Time appointed by his Father emptied himself of the Form of God, and, as the Text informs us, was made of a Woman. By which Expreffion St. Paul plainly afferts the Truth and Reality of our Saviour's Humanity, in oppofition to a Sect of Hereticks as early as the Apostle's Days, who maintain'd that Jefus Chrift was a meer Phantaẩm, and not a real Man; and that He only feem'd to be born, to eat and drink, to fuffer and dye. The fame Expreffion is a fufficient Confutation of another wild Opinion advanc'd by fome, That our Lord did not derive his Body from the Virgin his Mother, but brought it with him from Heaven. If either of these Affertions had been true, the Apostle could not in any Propriety of Speech have faid that Chrift was made of a Woman.

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