Lord, are expressions that occur throughout the prophecies. These unequivocally speak of the coming of a Saviour. But were every other proof wanting, the prophecy of Daniel is sufficient incontrovertibly to establish the fact, which we affirm in the very words, that the coming of the Messiah is foretold in the Old Testament. The same fact is confirmed by the belief of the Jews in every age. It is so deeply and indelibly impressed on their minds, that notwithstanding the dispersion of their race throughout the world, and the disappointment of their hopes for eighteen hundred years after the prescribed period of his coming, the expectation of the Messiah still forms a bond of union which no distance can dissolve, and which no earthly power can destroy.

As the Old Testament does contain prophecies of a Saviour that was to appear in the world, the only question to be resolved is, whether all that it testifies of him be fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ? On a subject so interesting, so extensive and important, which has been so amply discussed by many able divines, the reader is referred to the works of Barrow, of Pearson, and of Clarke. A summary view must be very imperfect and incomplete; but it is here given, as it may serve, to the general reader, to exhibit the connexion between the Old and the New Testament, and as of itself it may be deemed conclusive of the argument in favour of Christianity.

A few of the leading features of the prophecies concerning Christ, and their fulfilment, shall be traced; as they mark the time of his appearance, the place of his birth, and the family out of which he was to arise; his life and character, his miracles, his sufferings, and his death; the nature of his doctrine, the

Zech. ix. 9. Isa. lix. 20. Isa. lxii. 11. Mal. iii. 1. Isa. xxxv. 4. Psal. cxviii. 26. Dan. ix. 25, 26.

design and the effect of his coming, and the extent of his kingdom.

The time of the Messiah's appearance in the world, as predicted in the Old Testament, is defined by a number of concurring circumstances, that fix it to the very date of the advent of Christ. The last blessing of Jacob to his sons, when he commanded them to gather themselves together that he might tell them what should befall them in the last days, contains this prediction concerning Judah: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." The date fixed by this prophecy for the coming of Shiloh, or the Saviour, was not to exceed the time that the descendants of Judah were to continue a united people-that a king should reign among them-that they should be governed by their own laws, and that their judges were to be from among their brethren. The prophecy of Malachi adds another standard for measuring the time; Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall come suddenly to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."i No words can be more expressive of the coming of the promised Messiah; and they as clearly imply his appearance in the temple before it should be destroyed. But it may also be here remarked that Malachi was the last of the prophets with his predictions the vision and the prophecy were sealed up, or the canon of the Old Testament was completed. Though many prophets immediately preceded him, after his time there was no prophet in Israel; but all the Jews, whether of ancient or modern times, look for a mes

66

h Gen. xlix. 10.

i Mal. iii, 1.

senger to prepare the way of the Lord, immediately before his coming. The long succession of prophets had drawn to a close; and the concluding words of the Old Testament, subjoined to an admonition to remember the law of Moses, import that the next prophet would be the harbinger of the Messiah. Another criterion of the time is thus imparted. In regard to the advent of the Messiah, before the destruction of the second temple, the words of Haggai are remarkably explicit: "The Desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former; and in this place will I give peace." The contrast which the prophet had just drawn between the glory of Solomon's temple and that which had been erected in its stead, to which he declares it was, in comparison, as nothing; the solemn manner of its introduction, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth;" the excellency of the latter house excelling that of gold and silver, the expression so characteristic of the Messiah, the "desire of all nations ;" and the blessing of peace that was to accompany his coming, all tend to denote that he alone is spoken of, who was the hope of Israel, and of whom all the prophets did testify, and that his presence would give to that temple a greater glory than that of the former. The Saviour was thus to appear, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament, during the time of the continuance of the kingdom of Judah, previous to the demolition of the temple, and immediately subsequent to the next prophet. But the time is rendered yet more definite. In the prophecies of Daniel, the kingdom of the Messiah is not only foretold as commencing in the

* Hag. ii. 7, 9.

time of the fourth monarchy, or Roman empire; but the express number of years, that were to precede his coming, are plainly intimated: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks." Computation by weeks of years was common among the Jews, and every seventh was the sabbatical year; seventy weeks thus amounted to four hundred and ninety years. In these words the prophet marks the very time and uses the very name of Messiah the Prince; so entirely is all ambiguity done away.

The plainest inference may be drawn from these prophecies. All of them, while, in every respect, they presuppose the most perfect knowledge of futurity; while they were unquestionably delivered and publicly known for ages previous to the time to which they referred; while there is Jewish testimony of their application to the time of the Messiah,m which was delivered fifty years before Christ; and while they refer to different contingent and unconnected events, utterly undeterminable and inconceivable by all human sagacity;—accord in perfect unison to a single precise period where all their different lines terminate at once-the very fulness of time when Jesus appeared. A king then reigned over the Jews in their own land; they were governed

m

Dan. ix. 24, 25.

R. Nehumias, quoted by Grotius de Verit.

by their own laws; and the council of their nation exercised its authority and power. Before that period, the other tribes were extinct or dispersed among the nations. Judah alone remained, and the last sceptre in Israel had not then departed from it. Every stone of the temple was then unmoved: it was the admiration of the Romans, and might have stood for ages. But in a short space all these concurring testimonies, to the time of the advent of the Messiah, passed away. During the very year, the twelfth of his age, in which Christ first publicly appeared in the temple, Archelaus the king was dethroned and banished, Coponius was appointed procurator, and the kingdom of Judea, the last remnant of the greatness of Israel, was debased into a part of the province of Syria." The sceptre was smitten from the hands of the tribe of Judah; the crown fell from their heads; their glory departed; and, soon after the death of Christ, of their temple one stone was not left upon another; their commonwealth itself became as complete a ruin, and was broken in pieces; and they have ever since been scattered throughout the world, a name but not a nation. After the lapse of nearly four hundred years posterior to the time of Malachi, another prophet appeared who was the herald of the Messiah. And the testimony of Josephus confirms the account given in Scripture of John the Baptist. Every mark that denoted the time of the coming of the Messiah was erased soon after the crucifixion of Christ, and could never afterwards be renewed. And, with respect to the prophecies of Daniel, it is remarkable, at this remote period, how little discrepancy of opinion has existed among the most learned men, as to the space from the time of the passing out of the edict to rebuild Jerusalem,

11

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. xiii.

. Ib. lib. xviii. c. v.