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describes the Perfon of the Meffiah; * There shall come a Rod out of Jeffe, and a Branch fhall grow out of his Roots and our Saviour's dwelling at Nazareth might give occafion to the Evangelift's calling him a Nazarene, or an Inhabi, tant of Netzary (for fo the Place was called in Hebrew) which had fo great an Affinity to the Character, which the Prophet had given him.

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The other way of deriving the Appellation is from the Word Nazir, which fignifies a feparate Perfon, in which Senfe Jofeph is faid to be Separate from his Brethren, as being defpis'd and rejected by them. Now the Prophet Isaiah, fpeaking of the Meffiah, gives us this Defcription of his State and Condition; He is defpifed and neglected of Men, a Man of Sorrow, and acquainted with Grief, and we hid, as it were, our Faces from him; and what might contribute to his farther Reproach, was his Living at Nazareth, a mean Place, fituate in the obfcure Country of Galilee, and inhabited with Fishermen, and People of fo low a Rank, that it paffed into a Kind of Proverb, Can any good thing come out

b

Ifa. ix. I. Exod. xlix. 29.

of

Vid. Bp. Chandler's Defence.
Ifa, liii. 3. John i. 46.

*

of Nazareth? Thus, which way foever we deduce the Word, we find fuch plain Footsteps of it in the Prophets, that the Evangelift cannot be charg'd with any Mifapplication of Scripture, efpecially confidering what a Jewish Commentator tells us, "That the Pro"phets do frequently employ equivo"cal and metaphorical Words, with "Intent not to fignify the Thing, " which is obvious in their firft Senfe, "but what is to be collected from ano"ther Etymology and Derivation of

<< them.

We readily grant again, that, accor- Matt. ding to our present Copies, there is a xxvii. 9. Paffage in St. Matthew, quoted under clear'd. the Name of Jeremiah, tho' it is only to be found in the Prophet Zechary: But whoever confiders that St. Matthew's manner is, not to name any particular Prophet, when he makes his Citations; and that both the Perfick and Syriack Verfions have no name, but barely mention the Prophet, will be apt to imagine that the Name of Jeremiah was not originally there, but has fince crept into the Text of the Gospel. Or, granting that it was originally in it,

yet

* Maim. Mar. Nebach, 11. 29. • Vid. Kidder's Demonft. Part 2.

yet still we may fuppofe (with St. Jerom) that the Words of the Prophecy were written in fome Apocryphal Book of Jeremiah, which St. Matthew might, with good Authority quote, or rather, that the ninth, and fome following Chapters in Zechary's Prophecy were in Reality written by Jeremiah, because there are feveral Things contained in them, fuch as the Fate of Gaza and Askelon, the Downfal of the Pride of Affyria, and the Departure of the Sceptre of Egypt, &c. which agree very well with Jeremiah's Time, but not at all with that of Zechary; and, confequently, that St. Matthew made no Blunder, when he cited the Name of Jeremiah for what was properly written by him, though, in the prefent Difpofition of the prophetical Books, it commonly goes under another's Name.

f

That there are several Books expressly cited in the Old Teftament, of which we have now nothing remaining, is obvious to every Reader; and that, in

*

the

d He tells us that he read the very Words here. quoted in an Hebrew Volume, communicated to him by a few of the Nazarene Se&t, being an Apocryphal Work of Jeremiah. Kidder, ibid.

Zech. ix. 5. Ibid. Ch. x. II. 8. Vid. Kidder, ibid.

*Clarke's Evidence of Natural and Revealed Religion.

the Books, which remain, there fhould fometimes, for want of Infallibility in Transcribers, happen Omiffions and Tranfpofitions, is no more than may be expected. What Wonder is it then, if, among the many Texts, cited in the New Teftament out of the Old, one or two should now not be found in our present Copies; and that fome others fhould be read differently in the Old Teftament from the Citations of the fame Texts recorded in the New? Or how does this at all affect the Authority of either; when much the greateft Part of the Texts cited agrees perfectly, either in Words or in Senfe, and the whole Series, Harmony, Connexion, and Uniformity of both, compared with the Syftem of natural and moral Truths, and with the History of the World, and the State of Nations, through a long Succeffion of Ages, from the Days of Mofes to this present time, fhew, that the Books are not the refult of Random and Enthufiaftick Imaginations, as fome pretend, but of long Forefight and deep Defign.

the

And now to Sum up what has been A Sumfaid: If the Declarations of the Evan- mary of gelical Authors themselves, or the acknowledgment of their Cotemporaries and immediate Succeffors; if the Rea

fon

whole.

fon and End of their committing their Doctrines to writing, which were to be an unerring Rule of Faith to all Ages; and if, to make them fo, a neceffity there was of fome uncommon Affiftance, be Confiderations of any Moment; then is the Inspiration of thefe facred Penmen built upon a good Foundation: And, though the Extent and Measure of it may not improperly fall under fome Restrictions, (which folve all the Difficulties, that can be alledg'd against it) yet was it certainly fuch, as fecur'd them from the Danger of falling into Errors in any Points of Doctrine, from h walking in Craftiness (as one of them expreffes it) or from handling the Word of God deceitfully, that, by Manifeftation of the Truth, they might commend themfelves to every Man's Confcience in the Sight of God.

2 Cor. iv. 2.

SECT

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