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Covenant by his Death and Paffion, to be anointed to his Prieftly Office by the Sacrifice of himself, to put an End to all other Oblations, and by the Merit of that Sacrifice to finish Tranfgreffion, and make an End of Sin: If the Ruler of Ifrael in Micah cannot be understood of Zerobabel, who was born at Babylon, not at Bethlehem, and never had any fupreme Command in Judea ; but muft relate to the Perfon of the Meffias, and in him, to our Bleffed Lord, who, by his eternal Generation answers exactly the Defcription of the Prophet If the Man of Sorrow and of Grief in Ifaiah, who had afterwards his Portion with the Great, and divided the Spoil with the Strong, cannot, in any Propriety of Diction, agree with the Nation of the Jews in any fuppofeable Cafe of publick Calamity or Refforation, but, according to the tenor of the Text, does moft manifeftly denote the Meffias, and, in him, the Perfon of our Lord, who, in the State of his Humiliation is described by the one, and in the State of his Exaltation, by the other: If all these things, I fay, upon an impartial Examination, appear to be fo; then are the Applications, which the Evangelical Writers have made of the Prophefies in the Old to the TransL actions

actions in the New Teftament, not to be called impertinent or ridiculous; nor can our Bleffed Saviour,with any Juftice, be faid to have mistaken the genuine Senfe of the Scriptures concerning himfelf; fince the Senfe, which he gives us, he prov'd by the Demonftration of the Spirit, i. e. by predicting Events, and working Miracles, which were inconteftibly true.

The Ob

je&tion.

SECT. VIII.

Of the Miracles of Fefus, and the
Senfe, wherein they are to be taken.

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IRACLES indeed, if inconteftibly true, are of some "Importance in this Debate; but the "Miracles of Jefus are of fuch a Na

ture, that we cannot well tell what "to make of them. Had none, at any "time, but the true Servants and Mef<< fengers of God, been entrufted with "this miraculous Power, much more "Strefs might then have been laid upon it: But fince Mofes has informed us, that it be in the Power of a

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may

"falfe

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"falfe Propheta to give a Sign or a "Wonder, that may come to pass; fince "our Saviour has foretold us, that there fhall arife fall Chrifts, and falfe Pro"phets, who shall fhew great Signs and "Wonders, enough (if it were poffible) to deceive the very Elect; fince his A"poftle has affured us, that the co"ming of Anti-chrift is after the work

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ing of Satan, with all Power, and Signs, "and lying Wonders; and, laftly, fince "Hiftory makes mention of several, "fuch as Apollonius Tyanneus, Vefpafian, " and the Irish Stroker Greatrack, who "miraculously cured Diseases, as well

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as Jefus; either we must have the "Art of diftinguifhing true from falfe "Prophets, or we can never account "Miracles alone a fufficient Teftimo

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ny for fuch, as pretend to a Com"miffion from God. Jefus indeed ap"peals to his Miracles, and fome

may imagine that the Words of the "Prophet (then fhall the Eyes of the "Blind be opened, and the Ears of the "Deaf unftopped, then fhall the lame "Man leap as the Hart, and the Tongue "of the Dumb fball fing) in the Cures, "that he wrought, received their full Accomplishment: But that this Pro"phefy

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'Dept. xiii. 1. Matt. xxiv. 24. Theff. ii. 9.
Ifai. xxxv. 5, &c.

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"phefy is to be understood, not in a "literal, but in a figurative Senfe, not "to denote the outward Maladies of "the Body, but the inward Distempers "of the Soul, is apparent from that "whole Context. Both the preceding "and fubfequent Paffages, are certain"ly metaphorical; and therefore (to

"make the whole confiftent and uni"form) the intermediate Expreffions

ought, in the fame manner, to be in"terpreted. And from hence we may "conclude, that when Jefus feems to "appeal to Ifaiah, and to make the "Cure of corporeal Diseases an Indica"tion of his being the true Meffiah, his

purpose is only to denote the fundry "Paffions and Disorders of the Mind, . "which are represented under the Me"taphors of Blindness and Lameness, "and Deafness, &c. The Cure of these " is a godlike Work; far above the Imi"tation of Man, or Anti-chrift, and "infinitely more miraculous, than heal"ing any bodily Diftempers. Let o"thers then admire and adore Jefus, as "much as they please, for his wonder"ful Cures of bodily Difeafes, I am "clearly for the fpiritual Meffiah, who "remedies the Diftempers of the Soul, "and performs all thofe myftical O"perations, whereof the Cure of cor

"poreal

poreal Infirmities is but a Type and "Figure.

the Great

Miracles.

That it was neceffary for our Bleffed AnfwerSaviour, who pretended to come in the ed from Character of a Prophet, or publick Mi- nfs of nifter from God, to be invefted with a Chrif's Power of working Miracles, which have all along been admitted as authentick Proofs of a Divine Miffion, is what we had Occafion to take Notice of before. To this Power, and the Greatness of the Miracles refulting from thence, we find him making frequent Appeals, as a proper Testimony of his being fent from God. And well indeed might he be allowed to make Appeals of this kind, when upon fo many Occafions he exercifed a Power and Authority, not inferiour to that of God; when, by the fame Omnipotence, wherewith he created all Things at first, he multiplied a few Loaves and two Fishes, into a fufficiency to feed five Thoufand; when, at his Command, the Wind and the Sea grew ftill, and unclean Spirits departed from Mens Bodies, confeffing him to be the Son of God; when, acute Diseases and chronical Griefs, fuch as no length of Time, no Skill, no Remedies, no Expence could affwage, were equally cured with a Touch, nay, with a Touch of his Garment,, with a Word, nay, with

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