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by a few fishermen. Parvillerius, a Jesuit, whom Huetius, who was acquainted with him, calls a very candid man, and who refided ten years in Syria, faid, that when he approached the ruins of Tyre, and beheld the rocks ftretched forth to the fea, and the great ftones fcattered up and down on the fhore, made clean and fmooth by the fun, the waves, and the winds, and of no ufe but for the drying of fishermen's nets, many of which happened to be at that time fpread upon them, the prospect brought to his mind the prophecies of Ezekiel above-mentioned.

The fulfilment of prophecies concerning EGYPT is alfo very remarkable. They correfponded to feveral fucceffive periods of its history, and the laft of them is completely verified in the present state of that once great and noble, but now enslaved and miferable country. After the defolation of that land, and the captivity of the people by Nebuchadnezzar, Ezekiel prophecied (xxix. 14. 15.) that it should be a bafe kingdom. It shall be the bafeft of kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. xxx. 12, 13. I will fell the land into the hand of the wicked, aud I will make the land waste, and all that is therein by the hand of strangers; and there fhall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.

History

History fhews that, from that time to the prefent, Egypt has never had a prince of its own; but has been fucceffively under the power of the Babylonians, Perfians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamluks, and Turks.

SECTION II.

Prophecies relating to the MESSIAH.

LMOST the whole of the JEWISH HISTORY

was the subject of exceedingly clear and distinct prophecies. The multitudes that fhould defcend from Abraham were repeatedly foretold to that patriarch; the different fates of Efau and Jacob were foretold to Ifaac; and the condition of each of the twelve tribes was the fubject of the prophecy of Jacob when he lay on his death-bed, and also of that of Mofes. The duration of their state of bondage in Egypt was made known to Abraham, and a great number of particular events were foretold by feveral prophets in every period of their hiftory to the Babylonish captivity, which Jeremiah foretold would laft feventy years, and fo long, and no longer, it did continue, from the first captivity under Jehoiakim, to the return of the Jews under Cyrus, or from the destruction of

the

the temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the rebuilding of it under Darius.

But thofe prophecies in which we are moft interested as chriftians, are those which relate to the MESSIAH; whofe coming was kept in view from the first of the communications of God to mankind, to the fufpenfion of prophecy under Malachi.

As Chrift and his apoftles affert that all thefe prophecies are fulfilled, or to be fulfilled in him, it becomes us the more to ftudy them, and to trace the correfpondence between the prophecies and the events. I fhall therefore collect into one view the principal circumftances relating to the Meffiah, which are referred to by the prophets of the Old Teftament, and which are known to correfpond to the hiftory of Chrift.

We learn from thefe prophecies, that the Jews had reafon to expect the appearance of a very glorious perfon, by means of whom both themselves and the reft of the world would receive very great advantages, of a fpiritual nature; that he would make his appearance in mean circumftances, and that though he fhould lead a humble and exemplary life, working benevolent miracles, he should be rejected, and put to death; but that his death would be a principal means of promoting the great end of his coming, namely, the putting away of fin, or the reformation of the world; that after

this state of humiliation and fuffering, he should triumph over all his enemies, and establish a kingdom, which should extend over the whole world, and laft to the end of time. This perfon, who, in the prophecies, is called Shilsh and Meffiah, was to be a defcendant of Abraham and David, to be born at Bethlehem, and to be preceded by a perfon refembling Elijah, to prepare his way. Laftly, he was to make his appearance while the fecond temple of the Jews was ftanding, and about five hundred years after the time of Ezra.

The following paffages from the Old Teftament fcriptures, among many others, feem to describe, or allude to, fuch a person as this; fome of them referring to one circumftance, fome to another, and fome to several of them at the same time.

Gen. xlix. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be. Here is an evident prophecy of fome perfon, to whom the people fhould be gathered, and who was to make his appearance when the fcepter had departed, or was departing from Judah. Now Chrift was born about the time when the. Jews became fubject to the Romans, their country being reduced into the form of a province of the empire; fo that they loft the power of inflicting the punishment of death, of which they had not been de

prived before, or, at least, for any length of time, though they had been tributary to several other nations. But after the death of Herod, they loft it entirely, and finally. This prophecy may also have a reference to the fovereignty departing from the other tribes before that period.

If. xi. 1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the ftem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, &c. and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he flay the wicked, v. 10. And in that day there fhall be a root of Jeffe, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it fhall the Gentiles feek, and his reft fhall be glorious. In this prophecy there is evidently announced to us a person who was to defcend from Jeffe, or David, whofe authority was to extend not only over the Jews, but over the Gentiles alfo.

That the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, fhould derive great advantage from the coming of the Meffiah, was not only the meaning of the promise of God to Abraham, that in his feed fhould all the families of the earth be bleffed; but it seems to be more especially alluded to in Pf. ii. 7, 8, which was always understood by the Jews as referring to the

Meffiah.

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