a divine Person yet they retain'd still their old Heathenish Religion and these are the Christians of which Adrian writes that they worship'd Serapis and that their Bishops for all they said they were Christians were yet devoted to Serapis and that there was none of that Sect be he a Ruler of the Jewish Synagogue a Samaritan or a Christian Presbyter who was not a Conjurer a Wizzard and an Anoynter Insomuch as when the Patriarch came into Aegypt some solicited him to adore Serapis some Christ. Though Adrian of all others had least reason to condem these mungrel Christians for he himself notwithstanding his adhering to the Gentile Religion had that honourable esteem of Christ as he had a mind to build a Temple to him and canonize him for a God Lampridti Alexand. Severus 2. What if Josephus had been a Pharisee could he not lay the corruption of that Sect down when he went to write truly if he keep promise with his Reader he every where faithfully performs the office of an Historian in recording Occurrences as they fell out without favour and affection and I think never Pen that was not guided by infallible Inspiration went more evenly or directly to the point of Truth than he did or let fall less Passion A suspicion of this Nature could not have entred into the head of any man to whom Josephus is not a perfect stranger 3. Had the Pharisees enmity against no Sect but the Christian do not we find them in opposition to the Sadducees who denyed the Resurrection and said there were neither Angels nor Spirits and consequently no Miracles nor Prophesies siding and going along with St. Paul as far as Josepus doth in this Text for what is there in these words that are excepted against as not becoming the mouth of a Pharisee or inclining any further to the approbation of Christianity than their opposition to Saducism might bend a Pharisee to without prejudice to his own Sect. 1. Not in that If it be lawful to call him a man for first that may be taken in as bad a sence as those paradoxical wits put upon the immediat following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who interpret them as a defamation of the blessed Jesus which joyn'd together if the Context did not reclaim and Christian ears abhor the sound may by a sinister interpretation be made to speak Josephus to have had this opinion of our Saviour that he was not a Man but some Changeling or Fairy-elf who shewed apish Tricks play'd strange Pranks mimi histriones quoque dicti sunt paradoxi Vos Etymol If therefore the Christians had had a mind to periwigg Josephus to make him look more favourably upon Christ they would never have put upon him such a border as this out of which he looks more a squint upon him than he did without it Had Josephus in opprobry called Christ a doer of paradoxical actions it would have been neither Piety nor Policy in Christ's friends to have added by way of Preface I cannot tell whether I should call him a man the worst sence which the first clause is capable of alone being better than the best bad sence that can be put upon it in conjunction with such a Preface If it cast a bad aspect upon Christ alone it will cast a worse in such company 2. Take them both as Josephus delivers them with the right-hand as speaking in consort with the whole series of his Discourse the commendation of our Saviour and what is gain'd by taking in or lost by leaving out these words if we may call him a man that deserves the raising of so much dust does not Christ's doing miraculous Works his rising from the dead according to the Prophecies that went of him speak him to have been more than an ordinary Man either the Messias or that Prophet or Elias which is all that Josephus intends or can be deem'd to intend in those words which import no more but his being of an Opinion equivolent to that Pagan Opinion of Christ mention'd by St. Austin de consensu Evang. 1. 7. tom 4. pag. 162. honorandum enim tanquam sapientissimum virum putant non colendum tanquam Deum They thought he was to be honoured as a most wise man but not to be worship'd as a God for he was so far from thinking Christ to be God as in the question about Messiah he preferr'd Vespasian before him de Bel. Jud. 7. 12. an Argument that he did not apprehend the Messias himself to be God only he perceiv'd by the great Works Christ did that he was more than a common Man and by the Analogy which those Works bare to Prophecie that he was one of those extraordinary persons to whom those Prophecies had relation Either the Christ or Elias or that Prophet or one of the Prophets as some of the Jews conjectured our Saviour to be who were far enough from believing in him as Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 6. 2. Nor in that that is Christ whereby it was not in Josephus his thought to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth for the Christ but only to distinguish him by that appellation from others his Coetanians who were called Jesus as the Son of Ananus who for seven years together before the ruin of the City denounced wo against it Bel. Jud. 7. 12. Jesus the son of Damneus whom Albinus made high Priest in room of Ananus the younger the murderer of St. James our Lords Brother which James Josephus in the same Chapter calls the Brother of Jesus Christ to distinguish him from that other Jesus Jud. antiquit 20. 7. there mentioned as also from Jesus the Captain of those Cut-throats whom the Imperialists of Sephorim hired to surprise Josephus vita Josephi and Jesus the son of Saphias that fire-flinger who incens'd the Galileans against Josephus Ibid. Jesus the son of Tobias that Captain of Robbers who near Tiberias surprised five of Valerian's Soldiers Bel. Jud. 3. 16. Jesus the son of Thebath to whom Titus gave quarter at the taking of the upper part of the City Jerusalem Bel. Jud. 7. 15. and Jesus the son of Gamaliel who succeeded that other Jesus already named in the high Priesthood antiq Jud. 20. 7. So that besides our Jesus there were six who in that Age bare that name and two of them mention'd in the same Chapter where he is named Jesus Christ Ant. Jud. 20. 7. Briefly so ambiguous was the name Jesus in that Age as the Jewish Exorcists that they might not leave the unclean spirits which they adjured in the name of Jesus in doubt who that Jesus was annex to it in their form of Conjuration this discriminating Circumstance whom Paul preacheth without which they might have pleaded they neither knew Jesus nor Paul there being Jesusses many and Pauls many but no Paul that preach'd Jesus saving the Apostle nor any Jesus whom Paul preach'd but Jesus Christ and therefore the Spirits are forc'd to confess Jesus
Grave in that Translation of his de Circo Astrologus may transcribe the Millenary Prophecy out of Alsted quum Deus constituet in Septentrione per Leonem septentrionalem magna cum admiratione illorum qui divinam Apocalypsin harmoniam illam quam hîc exserto digito monstramus nihili faciunt Alsted Chron. 88. axiom 6. of a Lion of the North that should do wonders and bring to full effect whatsoever our whimsical Commenters dream of who if they fall asleep with the Apocalypse in their hand or but under their Pillow they awake Prophets inspired with ten times more Visions than ever St. John saw and apply that Lion to him that proves a dead Lion before that years Almanack be out of Date as Lilly did to the then King of Sweden Yet in the mean while he shall so lord it over the faith of the ductil people as in the expecting the blessings of Heaven they will neither set their faces with the Persian to the warm mid-day-sun nor with the Jew to the West nor with the Christian to the East but with the Loadstone to the North being in this as in all things else singular and cross to all men looking that ab Aquilone should come their chief good whence all others expect nothing but cold Blasts and the worst of Evils But what legitimate Historian did ever apply to well-settled Princes Prophecies that were not of undoubted Credit It could not but add to the esteem of Daniel's Prophecy that Jaddus should tell Alexander the Great out of Daniel that a Grecian Prince should subdue the Persian Monarchy which Alexander interpreting of himself it fell out accordingly Joseph Ant 11. 8. Or what Prince that had a just Title to his own was ever induc'd to grasp at a foreign Crown upon suggestions taken up out of the high way That Oracle therefore which this Pair-royal of incomparable Historians both for Prudence and Sincerity do with joynt consent apply to such Royal Persons the application of which to themselves those Persons shew no disgust against but a relishing of must have been a Nail fastened by Masters of Assemblies so deep in Roman minds as rendred it a sure Nail and able to bear all the weight they hang upon it and of such repute and esteem as to engage the Empire to cast a watchful Eye over the Occurrences in Judea the place assigned for the appearance of this great King of Kings even from the first dawning of of that time which they conceived the Oracle pointed at and an evil and envious Eye upon the Preachers of the Gospel from that time they began to publish the accomplishment of it in our Jesus Of both which points we have sufficient Evidence in those historical Tables wherein we have the Complexion of that Age drawn by the Pagans Pencils § 4. First That the Roman State had a strict Eye upon that Prophecy and upon its account on the Judean Affairs from the time that the Commencement of it was suspected to bear Date and its Effects to take place may be gathered from the appearance of those great Spirits in that nick of time the like of whom the Roman Earth had not produc'd in that long Tract of preceding Ages as to their Ambitions of settling an Universal Monarchy in their own persons Is it not strange that the juvenile Age as Florus calls it of that State which teemed with far braver Spirits in all other respects brought not forth a Caesar or a Pompey who could not brook either Superiour or Equal but that Persons of that temper must be reserved for the confines of that season wherein one was to be born who should Lord it over the World Was it through the defect of favourable Constellations or not rather through the Influence of the Prophecy concerning the the Star of Jacob that the Blood of Ancus Martius ran down so many Generations before it could make so happy a Conjunction with the Blood of Venus running from Aeneas in the Veins of the Julian Family as to produce a Caesar one whom nothing could content but to be in Martial's phrase omnia solus in plain English King of the Company Let the Star-gazer try his skill here in Calculating the Nativities of Caesar and his Progenitors and if in comparing their Schemes he find any so material Difference as this that they were born before but he after the divulging of this Propheey he shall be my great Apollo In the interim I shall take the boldness to opine that that famous Oracle was the Soul of their Courage the Mark of their Ambition 2. In which Opinion I am no little confirm'd when I observe how these Candidates for the Universal Monarchy Pompey Caesar Augustus M. Anthony c. courted the Jews good will just as they did the Peoples of Rome when they stood in Competition for Offices at their disposal with Indulgences unusual to be conferr'd upon Nations far better deserving for all that fidelity and service of theirs to the Romans upon which Josephus grounds those favours being in that more partial to his Country-men than in any other passage of his History for of all Nations they bare the Roman Yoak with most Impatience and with such fawning obsequiousness as was scarce becoming either the Majesty of the Roman State or the loftinefs of those Mens Minds whom the ambitious hopes of obtaining the Penelope of an Universal Monarchy spur'd on to those daring engagements against the whole World and when their united force had conquer'd that against one another had they not conceived that the readiest Expedient to gain the Mistress was to obtain the good Will of the Handmaid that he who was to be King of Clubs in the World to rule it with a Rod of Iron must first be King of Hearts in Jewry and sit upon the Hill of Sion with a golden Sceptre of Benevolence reached out as a Lure to their Affections as a mean to obtain from the Jews an Opinion that he loved their Nation and was therefore worthy of the highest honours that could be heap'd upon him And had not this Conceit been taken up and cherished partly by their misinterpreting Oriundus in the Prophecy as not importing that that King of Kings was to have in Judea a Natural Birth as a man but a Civil one as a Monarch This is manifest from their applying this Prophecie to Vespasian who was not born Man in Judea but only there proclaim'd or as Josephus more sutably to the Roman Notion stiles it created Emperour By this Oracle saith he was manifestly portended the Empire of Vespasian who was Created Emperour in Judea Bel. Jud. 7. 12. For in very deed he was proclaimed Empercur before by the Legion of Maesia which was sent to aid Otho who hearing he had lost the day and kill'd himself march'd on nevertheless plundering and spoiling as far as Apuleia and fearing at their return they should be called to an account they elect Vespasian Emperour but this saith
Taurican Chersonesus who sacrificed all the Strangers they could lay hands on to Diana quoting for this Enripedes That pair-royal of Friends Pylades and Orestes had died no other death if they had slain their Keepers and stolen away the Goddess Lucian Toxaris The next whom Clemens instanceth in are the Thessalians among whom the Inhabitants of Pella sacrifice an Achaean to Releus and Chiron for which he quotes Maninius in his Collection of Wonders The Cretensians among whom the Lycians sacrifice men to Jupiter for this he quotes Anticlides in reditibus The Lesbians who as Dosidas saith pacified Bacchus with humane Hostes. The Phocensians whom Pythocles in his third Book de Concordia affirms to have sacrificed Men to Diana Taurica The Athenians among whom as Demaratus writes in his first Book of Tragical Things Ericthonius for the pacifying of Proserphone sacrificed his own Daughter And the Romans among whom as Dorotheus relates in his fourth Book of the Affairs of Italy Marius sacrificed his Daughter Diis Averruncanis To the Gods that expel mischief Lactantius de falsa Relig. lib. 1. cap. 21. proves this to have been an ancient Custom in Italy to precipitate Men from the Milvian Bridge for the appeasing Saturn's wrath out of Ovid's in Fastis quotannis Tristia Leucadio sacra peracta Deo And to sacrifice to the same God their own Children After whose Dialect Micah 6. 7. the Prophet introduceth apostate Judah querying Shall I give my first born for my trangression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul to which the Spirit returns this pat answer He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee viz. to do justly and love mercy neither of which can be done in this barbarous inhumanity to thy own Bowels and to humble thy self to walk with thy God not to outrun God in thy hastening to bring forth a Saviour before the fulness of Time c. In the same place the same Lactantius relates out of Poscennius Festus this Story That the Carthaginians being overcome by Agathocles King of Sicily and conceiving that to be the effect of God's displeasure against them for the rendring of Heaven propitious sacrificed two hundred Noblemens Sons Of the same bran saith he are the Rites of the Mother of the Gods whose Priests attone her with the Blood of their Genitals and of Bellona wherein her Priests lance and slash their own shoulders with Swords which they carry in both their hands as they run like frantick men about her Altars the very same Oratory which the Priests of Baal used who in their contest with Elijah when he lent a deaf ear to the sound of their Prayers lifted up to him the voice of their blood as that they doubted not but would obtain for them a favourable audience Herodotus in his Euterpe pag. 128. relates how at Busiris in the Festivals of Isis after the Sacrifice the whole Company being many thousands lash themselves till blood come and that in Papremis the Company that assemble to worship the Deity of that place fall together by the ears and wound yea kill one another Dion Roman histor lib. 43. reports that Julius Caesar to propitiate Mars caused to be sacrificed to him two of those Mutineers who raised a commomotion in the Camp because of Caesar's Prodigality in his exhibiting showes and Plays to the Senate and People grudging that so much water should run beside their Mill for which he saith he had neither Sibylline nor any other express Oracle but only Custom Pliny lib. 36. writes that the Moors sacrificed Men to Hercules others say to Saturn as Plato by name in his Minoe and Dionysius Halicarnassus as also Theodoritus Cyrenaeus Tacitus de moribus Germanorum saith That the Germans do on certain stated days appease Mercury with humane Sacrifices That the Semnones the most ancient Stock of the Suevians on certain anniversary holy Days meet together in a sacred Grove and begin the solemnity of the day with sacrificing a man for the Common Good for so I translate his caeso publicè homine That the Reudigni Aviones Angli Varini Eudoses Snardones Nucthones in the service they perform'd to the Mother of Gods whom they call Hertham that is Earth the very English of the Grecian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drowned those that had officiated in the Procession The same Historian Tacitus an 14. fol. 207. tells us that Suetonius Paulinus at the taking of the Ifle of Man found Groves devoted there to bloody Superstition for they used to sacrifice Captives at their Altars and to look into their inwards by way of Auguration Dictys Cretensis who was comrade to Idomenoeus in the Trojan War wrote a Journal of that War which Paxis presented to Nero and Septimius Romanus translated into Latin in which Treatise de Bell. Troj lib. 1. we are told that for the appeasing of Dianas displeasure against Agamemnon for slaying the Hart that was feeding in her Grove his Daughter Iphigenia was required in sacrifice Upon this ground Euryphylus in Virgil perswades the Grecians when they were returning from Troy to appease the angry Deity with humane Blood with the blood of Polixena Aeneid lib. 2. Sanguine placastis ventos virgine caesa Cùm primùm Iliacas Danai venistis ad auras Herodotus Melpomene relates how the Getes the most morallized of all the Scythians send every year to their God Zamolxis a Man whom they had first sacrificed And how the Messagetes immolate in their old Age all Persons of note counting none happy but them that die that kind of death Herod Clio. And lastly how the whole Scythian Nation do sacrifice to Mars whom they esteem the chief God one of every hundred Captives whose Blood they gather into a Basin and with it besmear a Fauchion which with them is the Idol or Representation of Mars Herodot Melpomene This Custom reached to the farthest Western Nations as Plutarch de superstitione observes who if they had Children of their own sacrificed them to Saturn if not bought other mens Children to that purpose as men buy Lambs or Chickens While they were sacrificing their Mothers were to stand by and look on who if they shewed any sign of sorrow they were ever after accounted opprobrious persons Yea as far as the then reputed World's end Hercules Pillars as Timaeus the Historian affirms in his rebus Deliacis for the Inhabitants near to those Pillars saith he use to sacrifice their Kinsfolks if they reach the seventieth year Strabo lib. 11. reports that in Albania a Country near the Caspia◠Sea they used to sacrifice to the Moon their supreme Deity those of their initiated servants that had most of that Goddess in them after they had been sumptuously feasted a whole year before These two last I report upon the Credit of Natalis Comes Mytholog l. cap. 17. de victimis not out of penury for to the best of my knowledge there is not an old Historian extant that gives
Tune was not the work Ambubaiarum of every trivial Ballad-singer but of minds well set and perfectly harmonious A blind fortuitous Concourse of such variety of Herbs could never have produced so-well-ordered a Sallad temper'd to the tasts of all savoury Pallats Seeing the wisest Philosophers were so far from a general consent one with another as not one of their Schools agreed with but contradicted it self Euseb. de praep Evang. demonstrates how the School of Plato jarred with its own Dictates Symphoniam consensum scripturarum commendat per antithesin monstrat â Ethnicae Philosophiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adeò ut invalescente opinionum varietate re pugnantiâ alii in Sectus divisi hostilibus 〈◊〉 decertarent alii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laudarent c. And thence commends the Symphony of the sacred Scriptures from the Untunableness of Gentile-philosophy with it self insomuch as through the prevailing of various and repugnant Opinions some being divided into Sects contended with hostile hatred and others grew to that pass as they would affirm nothing but turn'd Scepticks CHAP. IX Gospel-history agrees with Old Testament-prophesie § 1. Christ's Appeal to the Prophets § 2. The primary Old Testament-Prophesies not accomplishable in any but the blessed Jesus Jacob ' s Shilo Gentiles gathering Scepter departed at the demolishing of their King's Palace § 3. By consent of both Parties Not till the Gentiles gather'd Children to Abraham of Stones Gentiles flock to Christ's Standard § 4. Signs of Scepter 's departure Price of Souls paid to Capitol Not formerly paid to Caesar. Mat. 17. 25. explained § 5. Jews paid neither Tythes nor this Polemoney to any but their own Priests before Vespasian who made Judah a vassal to a strange God such as their Fathers knew not § 1. NO less harmoniously does Gospel History fall in with Old Testament-prophecy touching the Messias His Lineage of the house of David Psal. 132. 12. Act. 2. 30. His Mother a Virgin St. Mat. 1. 22 23. His Place of Birth Bethlehem Mat. 2. 5 6. of Education Nazareth St. Mat. 2. 23. that from his dwelling there he might be known to be the Branch Natzar a name given the Messias Isai. 11. 1. Jer. 23. 5. Zachar 6. 12. c. of Retreat from Herod's Cruelty Egypt St. Mat. 2. 15. Hosea 11. 1. of his greatest Converse during his Ministry Galilee of the Gentiles Mat. 4. 14. Isa. 9. 1 2. The time of his Ministry half seven Years Or the half of a Prophetick Week Dan. 9. 27. So Scaliger de emendatione Pascha Christi The specifick Miracles for confirmation of his Doctrine healing sick restoring sight to the blind legs to the lame c. St. Mat. 11. 4 5. Isa. 35 6. Isa. 61 1. Christ appeals to his working Miracles by the rule of Prophesie His being betrayed by one of his Familiars one that did eat of his bread Judas St. John 13. 18. Psal. 41. 9. The Price he was sold at thirty pence The Fields name that was bought with that price of blood the Potters Field St. Mat. 27. 7 8 9. for which the Evangelist quotes Jeremy though the Text be in Zachary chap. 11. 13. because the 10 11 12. Chapters of Zachary were a part of Jeremy's Prophesie not committed to writing till after the Captivity and then annex'd to the former Chapters of Zachary as other mens Psalms are inserted amongst David's and Agur's Proverbs annex'd to Solomon's as that Jewish Proverb imports The Spirit of Jeremy rested on Zachary Hammonds Annotat. Heb. 8. 9. The flight and dispersion of the Apostles St. Mat. 26. 31 56. Zach. 13. 7. His Crucifiction betwixt two Theives St. Mar. 15. 27 28. Isa 53. 12. His Buffering St. Mat. 26. 67. 27. 29 30. Isa. 50. 6. His Vineger his Gall St. John 20. 28 29. St. Mat. 27. 34. Psal. 69. 21. The dividing of his Vesture The casting lots for his seamless Coat St. John 19. 24 25. Psal. 22. 18. The piercing of his Side Their not breaking of his Leggs as they did theirs that were crucified with him St. John 19. 36. Exod. 12. 46. Psal. 34. 20. Zech. 12. 10. Psal. 22. 16. c. As these things were foretold of the Messiah so they were in every Title fulfill'd in the blessed Jesus I appeal now to all men of Common Sence to judg whether men of dislocated Understandings could have carryed the matter so eavenly as the Evangelists did here making their Gospel-relations as well wrought Wax to take the perfect Impression and Seal of Old Testament Predictions presenting Jesus of Nazareth wearing that very Coat of Arms which the Prophets had blazon'd for the Christ so as the word which they preach'd concerning him differs not in the least Title Tone or Accent from that which the Prophets preached touching the Messia Of which our Saviour was so confident as he made frequent appeals to the Tribunal of Moses and the Prophets offering to put the Issue of the whole Cause to this trial that if he did not express to the life that Model which the Prophets had drawn of the Messiah he would be content they should disown him and esteem him an Impostor No less earnest were the Apostles to have Moses and the Prophets umpire the Controversie making with their Hearers such candid Expostulations as these We preach no other things of Jesus than what Moses and the prophets said would come to pass if you can find one line in the face of your Messiah as 't is drawn by their Pencil which we cannot shew you in Jesus Christ's we will give you leave to spit in our faces A Point wherein the Jews joyn'd issue with the Christians in the Primitive Times but were as often foyl'd as they provoked to this way of determining the great Question in Controversie Whether Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messias Itaque dicunt Judaei provocemus istam praedicationem Isaiae 7. faciamus comparationem an Christo qui jam venit competat c. Tertul. adv Judaeos cap. 9. Let us bring say the Jews this Doctrine of Christians to the Test of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 7. and by comparing it see whether the name Immanuel which he gives to the Messias agree to him who they say is come Why saith Tertullian ask any Christian and he will tell you that Jesus Christ is Immanuel that is God with us as the Prophet expresseth the Importance of that name But how doth that agree to your Jesus which is here said The Child shall receive the riches of Damascus and the Spoils of Samaria against the King of Assyria Do but consider saith Tertullian that the Child is to receive these before he can say Dad or Mam Is. 8. 4. and it will convince you of the vanity of that fancy of yours that the Messias is to be a mighty Warrier and to subdue all Nations by force of Arms for then he must call his Souldiers together not by sound of Trumpet but by blowing his Coral-whistle and ride upon his
Israel and to have born up the Spirits of Idol-worshippers sinking under those burthens which Gods Prophets saw against false Gods whom according to their Prophesies we have seen broken to pieces like a Potters vessel with the Iron-rod of that Son of God whom he hath set up as King upon the Hill of Sion to whom he hath given the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession Who coming out of his Chamber as a Bridegroom that is Conjugatum carni humanae Verbum processit de útero virginali August de consens 1. 16. the Word Married to humane flesh came out of the Virgins Womb. Rejoyceth as a Giant to run his course not only from one end of the Hemisphere unto the other as they would bound Christs Kingdom who exclude America from the hopes of it but from one end of the Heaven to the other and if that be not plain enough nothing is hid from the heat thereof not any part of the round World that the corporeal Sun visits Mankind receives the cherishing warmth of its Beams and basks it self in that Fountain of Light The Serpent feels their scorching heat and flees therefrom Et adhuc isti fragiles contradictiunculas garrientes eligunt magis isto igne sicut stipula in cinerem verti quam sicut aurum à sorde purgari And will the crazy-headed Sceptick yet chatter and gaggle out his petit and bublie Exceptions which break with the least touch with the gentlest blast and choose rather to be consumed to ashes in this fire as stubble than to be purged by it from his dross as Gold § 3. Or is he of so thick-skin'd a Soul as not to feel the heat of Christs Divinity in those Prophetick Rayes emitted from his Spirit before he came in the Flesh as not to conceive that the accomplishments of Old Testament-Prophecies is a demonstration not only of their own but of the Gospels Divine Original which can be the Workmanship of none other Architect but of him who drew the Model and Idea of these new Heavens that new Creation that new face of things which we see produc'd in the Age of Christianity Humane Wit indeed might have drawn another Model perfectly resembling that might have fram'd an History parallel to Prophecy though they that could make the Counter-part so exactly answer the Original and write so perfectly after the Copy as the Apostles have must be Persons of a steady Hand excellently composed Spirits and solid Judgements And therefore all the Inference we drew in our Second Book from the Apostles proportioning every Limb and Line of their Story to the Old Testament-Draught was that they had thereby demonstratively acquitted themselves from all suspicion of being themselves deluded But it is out of the reach of Humane power to bring the Matters there prophesied of unto Birth the erecting of the Structure it self the production of what was fore-told into real existence cannot be the Effect of any but of him alone who hath as great an Infinity of Power to bring to pass as he hath of knowlege to foresee them And therefore having proved the Truth of what the Apostles reported that what they say was done in order to the accomplishment of Prophecy was done indeed he must be a person of very short Reason that from the improvement of the Premisses cannot improve the Conclusion and draw this Inference That as nothing but Omnisciency could foresee so nothing less than Omnipotency could effect That a Virgin should bring forth a Son externally so mean as those among whom he convers'd saw so little comliness in him as they Crucified him as an Impostor for saying he was the Son of God the King of the Jews that Messia promised in the Law and so much predicated by the Prophets and yet really so full of Majesty as he is become King of Kings hath subdued the World to his Obedience abolish'd all the Gods of the Nations and erected every where the Worship of that one God that made Heaven and Earth that God of whom Moses writes known formerly only in Jewry but now no where less known than among the Jews they being the greatest strangers to their own Prophets and their Fathers God being the greatest stranger to them of any Nation upon the face of the Earth § 4. But that I may not put the Sceptick to the expence of all the Reason he hath and that he may not think it is through penury of New Testament-prophecies that I pitch upon those of the Old and that he may grope out the Divinity of the Blessed Jesus in some palpable accomplishments of the Predictions he made in person as well as by Proxy I shall here mind him of this Note That Christ espoused all the Old Testament-prophecies commented upon them applied them and not only attested the coming to pass of what the Prophets had foretold in general but as it were individuated those generals by more particular and punctual Circumstances not so much as hinted by them of old and appeal'd to their accomplishment in that way and with those Circumstances wherewith he cloath'd them The prophets gave only the rough draught of what Christ drew to the life he lickt their rude Lumps into so distinct and explicite forms as the Prophecies became his own his Gleanings were more than their Vintage To instance in one for all Christ in his Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem referrs to Daniel when you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel thereby appealing to its accomplishment as that which he was content to stand or fall by as to mens belief that he was the Messias as if he had said if you see it not within the Term of Daniels Weeks within so many years after my offering an Attonement for sin as Daniel states it after the Oblation of the Messias believe me not that I am he But withal he leaves it not in such curious Calculations as Daniel did but what he had writ in figures Christ transcribes in words at length and applies it to that Generation with that perspicuity and in such particularities as an Historian can scarce tell what has been done more punctually than Christ foretells what should be done 1. As to the time of its taking Effect there be some saith he standing here that shall not tast of Death till all these things shall be fulfill'd and in particular St. John shall tarry till Christ come to avenge himself on the Jewish Nation 2. As to the Instruments to be employed by Christ for the destruction of their place and Nation he describes them by their Banners the Eagles under which the Roman Legions those Birds of prey march'd when divine Justice conducted them into Judaea that they might flesh themselves upon that Nation whose Inhabitants their sins being ripe were as Carcasses fatted and prepared for them signified as Tacitus thinks by that prodigy of a Dog bringing to Vespasian a dead