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beside that which he hath shown us, there is no other means which can procure it for us but his blood, there is no other person who shall confer it on us but himself. And with this full acknowledgment, I believe in Jesus.

And in Jesus Christ.

HAVING thus explained the proper name of our Saviour, Jesus, we come unto that title of his office usually joined with his name, which is therefore the more diligently to be examined, because the Jews, who always acknowledged him to be Jesus, ever denied him to be Christ," and agreed together, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue, "John ix. 22.

For the full explication of this title, it will be necessary, first, to deliver the signification of the word; secondly, to show upon what grounds the Jews always expected a Christ or Messias; thirdly, to prove that the Messias promised to the Jews is already come; fourthly, to demonstrate that our Jesus is that Messias; and fifthly, to declare in what that unction, by which Jesus is Christ, doth consist, and what are the proper effects thereof. Which five particulars being clearly discussed, I cannot see what should be wanting for a perfect understanding that Jesus is Christ.

For the first, we find in the scriptures two several names, Messias and Christ, but both of the same signification; as appeareth by the speech of the woman of Samaria, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ, John iv. 25; and more plainly by what Andrew spake unto his brother Simon, "We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ;" John i. 41; Messias in the Hebrew tongue, Christ in the Greek; Messias, the language of Andrew and the woman of Samaria, who spake in Syriac; Christ, the interpretation of St. John, who wrote his gospel in the Greek, as the most general language in those days; and the signification of them both is, the Anointed. St. Paul and the rest of the apostles, writing in that language, used the Greek name, which the Latins did retain, calling him constantly

Christus; and we in English have retained the same, as universally naming him Christ.

Nor is this yet the full interpretation of the word, which is to be understood not simply according to the action only, but as it involveth the design in the custom of anointing; for in the law whatsoever was anointed was thereby set apart, as ordained to some special use or office; and therefore under the notion of unction we must understand that promotion and ordination. " Jacob poured out oil on the top of a pillar," and that anointing was the consecration of it, Gen. xxviii. 18. Moses anointed the tabernacle and all the vessels, and this anointing was their dedication. Hence the priest that is anointed signifieth, in the phrase of Moses, the high priest, because he was invested in that office at and by his unction. When therefore Jesus is called the Messias or Christ, and that long after the anointing oil had ceased, it signified no less than a person set apart by God, anointed with most sacred oil, advanced to the highest office, of which all those employments under the law, in the obtaining of which oil was used, were but types and shadows. And this may suffice for the signification of the word.

That there was among the Jews an expectation of such a Christ to come, is most evident. The woman of Samaria could speak with confidence, "I know that Messias cometh." And the unbelieving Jews, who will not acknowledge that he is already come, expect him still. Thus we find "all men musing in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not," Luke iii. 15. When Jesus taught in the temple, those who doubted said, "When Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is;" those who believed said,. " When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" John vii. 27, 31. Whether therefore they doubted, or whether they believed in Jesus, they all expected a Christ to come; and the greater their opinion was of him, the more they believed he was that Messias. "Many of the people said, Of a truth this is the Prophet; others said, This is the Christ." As soon as John began to baptize, "the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou?" that is, whether he were the

Christ or no, as appeareth out of his answer, "And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ," John i. 19; for as they asked him after, "What then, art thou Elias? and he said, I am not: Art thou that Prophet? and he answered, No;" so without question their first demand was, "Art thou the Christ ?" and he answered, "I am not;" from whence it clearly appeareth that there was a general expectation among the Jews of a Messias to come; nor only so, but it was always counted among them an article of their faith, which all were obliged to believe who professed the law of Moses, and whosoever denied that, was thereby interpreted to deny the law and the prophets. Wherefore it will be worth our inquiry to look into the grounds upon which they built that expectation.

It is most certain that the Messias was promised by God, both before and under the law. God said unto Abraham, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called," Gen. xxi. 12; and we know that was a promise of a Messias to come, because St. Paul hath taught us, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ," Gal. iii. 16. The Lord said unto Moses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, Acts iii. 22; and St. Peter hath sufficiently satisfied us, that this prophet promised to Moses, is Jesus, the Christ. Many are the prophecies which concern him, many the promises which are made of him; but yet some of them very obscure; others, though plainer, yet have relation only to the person, not to the notion, or the word Messias.

Wheresoever he is spoken of as the Anointed, it may well be first understood of some other person; except one place in Daniel, where Messiah is foretold "to be cut off," Dan. ix. 26; and yet even there the Greek translation hath not the Messiah, but the Unction. It may therefore seem something strange, how so universal an expectation of a Redeemer under the name of the Messias should be spread through the church of the Jews.

But if we consider that in the space of seventy years of the Babylonish captivity the ordinary Jews had lost the

exact understanding of the old Hebrew language before spoken in Judea, and therefore, when the scriptures were read unto them, they found it necessary to interpret them to the people in the Chaldee language, which they had lately learned; as when Ezra the Scribe brought the book of the law of Moses before the congregation, the Levites are said to have caused the people to understand the law, because "they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading," Neh. viii. 8. Which constant interpretation begat at last a Chaldee translation of the old testament to be read every sabbath in the synagogues; and that being not exactly made word for word with the Hebrew, but with a liberty of a brief exposition by the way, took in, together with the text, the general opinion of the learned Jews. By which means it came to pass that not only the doctrine, but the name also, of the Messias was very frequent and familiar with them. Insomuch that even in the Chaldee paraphrase now extant, there is express mention of the Messias in above seventy places, besides that of Daniel. The Jews then informed by the plain words of Daniel, instructed by a constant interpretation of the law and the prophets read in their synagogues every sabbath-day, relying upon the infallible predictions and promises of God, did all unanimously expect out of their own nation, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, a Messias, or a Christ, to come.

Now this being granted, as it cannot be denied, our next consideration is of the time in which this promise was to be fulfilled; which we shall demonstrate out of the scriptures to be past, and consequently that the promised Messias is already come. The prediction of Jacob on his death-bed is clear and pregnant; "The sceptre 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," Gen. xlix. 10; but the sceptre is departed from Judah, neither is there one law-giver left between his feet; therefore Shiloh, that is, the Messias, is already come. That the Jewish government hath totally failed, is not without the greatest folly to be denied; and therefore that Shiloh is already come, except

we should deny the truth of divine predictions, must be granted. There then remains nothing to be proved, but that by Shiloh is to be understood the Messias; which is sufficiently manifest both from the consent of the ancient Jews, and from the description immediately added to the name. For all the old paraphrasts call him expressly the Messias, and the words which follow, "to him shall the gathering of the people be," speak no less; as giving an explication of his person, office, or condition, who was but darkly described in the name of Shiloh. For this is the same character by which he was signified unto Abraham; "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;" by which he is decyphered in Isaiah; “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious," Isa. xi. 10; and in Micah, "The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it," Mich. iv. 1. And thus the blessing of Judah is plainly intelligible; Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee," Gen. xlix. 8. Thou shalt obtain the primogeniture of thy brother Reuben, and by virtue thereof shalt rule over the rest of the tribes: the government shall be upon thy shoulders, and all thy brethren shall be subject unto thee. And that you may understand this blessing is not to expire until it make way for a greater, know that this government shall not fail, until there come a son out of your loins, who shall be far greater than yourself: for whereas your dominion reacheth only over your brethren, and so is confined unto the tribes of Israel; his kingdom shall be universal, and all nations of the earth shall serve him. Seeing then this Shiloh is so described in the text, and acknowledged by the ancient Jews to be the Messias; seeing God hath promised by Jacob the government of Israel should not fail until Shiloh came; seeing that government is visibly and undeniably already failed; it followeth inevitably, that the Messias is already come. In the same manner the Prophet Malachi hath given

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