from motives of curiosity, or perhaps with a disposition to cavil at every line; read without any sincere wish to improve by its laws, without the slightest desire to be experimentally acquainted with its contents; without any idea of finding an example to follow in its pages, with only a confused notion of God, and the salvation offered through his Son; and, above all, read without one prayer, without one ejaculation to the God of the Bible, for the teaching of that same Spirit, who taught the truths therein contained to its holy authors.

If any one asks, why the Jews of this day refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah; I answer by another question: Why did their ancestors rebel against Moses so many times, even while, by the power of God, he worked those miracles which surrounded them on all sides? Why were they so often guilty of idolatry, even under the very denunciations of the Prophets? Wherefore were their severe punishments so soon forgotten? Why were they disobedient again and again? Why did they neglect to repent, though warned and threatened time after time, till their kingdom was destroyed, and themselves carried into captivity?

The infidel is, we know, ready to answer without allowing himself a moment's reflection, that these disorders are strong presumptions that the Jews were not persuaded themselves of the truth of

their religion; and that if they had abandoned it openly, they would have avoided their misfortunes. But how does he make this assertion good, when he sees, by the Jewish history throughout, that the very conduct which he recommends, the occasional abandonment of their religion, brought on them all the afflictions and misfortunes the relation of which forms so large a part of their history?

God promised Abraham, that in his Seed should all nations of the earth be blessed *. In the Saviour of the world, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the house of David, Jesus of Nazareth, born of a pure virgin, we behold this promise performed; and not only do we see that in the person of our Lord those predictions were entirely fulfilled, but we view in him the accomplishment of that prophecy of Moses to the children of Israel, many centuries before his coming, which says, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearkent." These words carry a peculiar emphasis with them, and cannot in any way be applied either to the Prophets in general, or to any individual of them: they can, we shall find by an attentive examination of them, only relate to Jesus Christ. First, we must remember, that

* Gen. xxii. 18.

+ Deut. xviii. 15.

Moses was a type of the Messiah, and that the Jews mystically represented the true people of God of all nations.

:

Now Moses was appointed by God as the deliverer of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage Jesus is the deliverer of each " Israelite indeed * ̧” from the bondage of sin and death. The mission of Moses was confirmed by innumerable miracles: our blessed Lord proved the truth of his mission by the power of his marvellous acts. Moses was authorized by God to teach and prescribe laws to the people: Jesus was a Lawgiver and Teacher, by the authority of his own Divine nature. The laws of Moses were promulgated with mighty thunderings, to convince the terror-struck people of the awful nature of the covenant of works: the laws of Jesus were accompanied with the voice of love and kindness, which filled the people with wonder and admiration, and displayed to them the tender mercies of the covenant of grace. Moses taught the people, that "the wages of sin is death:" Jesus unfolded to his followers, that "the gift of God is eternal life +," through himself. Thus we see, that the covenant of works was established with threatenings; that of grace with promises. And, notwithstanding this difference, we must plainly discover in Moses the type or foreshadow

of the Messiah, of whom alone he could have said, a Prophet "like unto me."

It is true, that in many predictions of holy writ, a two-fold meaning is contained, the first being applicable to the period of their announcement, or to some time almost immediately subsequent to it, and the development of the second being left to future ages. Thus, in this prophecy, it is easy to see, that God permitted it to be in some degree applicable to Joshua, who succeeded Moses as the leader and the lawgiver of the children of Israel : but it would be taking the words in a very confined sense, to suppose that they only alluded to this immediate successor of Moses, particularly when on examination we find the prediction so beautifully fulfilled in the person of our blessed Lord.

We have not space to enter at length into the examination of the predictions of Daniel, which are very clear and full as to the time at which the Saviour was to be sacrificed. We must content ourselves with quoting the Prophet, and with offering a few remarks on this passage, without entering into long arguments, which would not in any degree benefit the reader, but would rather serve to puzzle and mislead those who do not think deeply, and who could only be persuaded to take a cursory view of the subject. Daniel wrote, that the angel said, "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 the 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 the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people and the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate; even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate *."

Now, it appears very clearly that, in the seventy weeks of Daniel, are comprised the total ruin of Jerusalem and the temple; for we must observe, that after the seven weeks, and the three score and two weeks, Messiah was to be cut off, which

* Dan, ix. 24-27.