stances in which Jesus has himself touched upon this subject. In allusion to the brazen serpent, which was raised on high amidst the Israelites dying of the plague, that they might look thereon, and be miraculously cured, our Lord said to Nicodemus ; "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."-After our Lord had fed the five thousand, the people, probably from a recollection of the manner in which Moses miraculously fed the Israelites in the wilderness, said, "This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world." And, finding Jesus, they spoke of "their fathers having been fed with manna in the desert." Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. And when Jesus instituted the feast which is to be kept in remembrance of "his being sacrificed for us as our passover," he noticed the typical nature of the Jewish passover; "for he said unto the disciples, With desire I have desired to eat this

• John iii. 14, 15. Numb. xxi. 6—9. b John vi. 31-63. 24, 25.

Exod. xvi. 14, &c. Psalm lxxviii.

passover with you before I suffer; for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."-And, when he said to the Jews, that "their father Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and saw it, and was glad"," we may justly suppose that he alluded to the typical nature of the sacrifice of Isaac. For it was doubtless on that occasion that Abraham was enabled to foresee, and, in some measure, also to understand, the manner in which the promised Seed would become "a blessing to all nations," by dying for them. And that sacrifice of Isaac, when considered in connection with the predictions of that Seed, who was to descend from Isaac, was a key to the sacrifices even of the law itself.'

Thus did Jesus appeal to the law, of which he declared, when he repeated on another occasion some of the words of our text; "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." We have already noticed in some measure how he appealed to the prophets. But he appealed to them much more largely than the limits of this discourse will allow us fully to lay before you. One other detached example we shall notice, and

c Luke xxii. 15, 16. ἕως ὅτου πληρωθῇ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ TOÙ COÙ.-Exod. xii. and xiii.

d John viii. 52-56. Gen. xxii.

Luke xvi. 16, 17.

we shall then briefly class the principal remaining instances under two general heads.

Jesus was frequently addressed by the title of "the Son of David," nor did he decline it; although it is evident that they conceived that title as synonymous with the title "Messiah the Prince;" and indeed the prophets authorized them so to do. But they doubtless understood by it the heir of David's earthly throne; and therefore our Lord undertook to shew them, that David had himself spoken of him in such a manner, as to shew that the expected Potentate was not such, either as to his original, his character, or the nature of his dominion, as they fondly supposed. "Jesus asked the Pharisees, What think ye of the Christ? whose Son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his Son?

able to answer him a word."

And no man was

This was indeed

not the only difficulty which the same hundred and tenth Psalm, which is so often cited in the New Testament, would present to the Pharisees. For it spoke in figurative language of the sufferings of the Son of David as prior and introductory to his exaltation; and described him also as a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec, and

as therefore being, as Zechariah also had predicted, "a priest upon his throne"."

I. One of the subjects, just alluded to, upon which our Lord very frequently, though not always avowedly, cites the prophecies of the Old Testament, is the infidelity of that generation, and the consequences of it in the persecution of those who believed, and in the vengeance which overtook those who disbelieved, because " they knew not the time of their visitation." "In them, said our Lord, is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." This passage is also cited by the Evangelist St. John, when speaking of the unbelief of the Jews, "although Jesus had done so many miracles before them." And our Lord, when speaking of the same subject, observed, This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their

a Ps. cx. Matt. xxii. 41-46. Mark xii. 34-37. Luke xx. 40-44. Zech. vi. 13.

b Matt. xiii. 14, 15. Isai. vi. 9, 10.-See also Jer. v. 20-23.

law, They hated me without a cause."

For he "had done among them the works which no other man did."—And again, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." And the next verse of that prophet contains a threatening, to which our Lord seems also to have alluded, when he said;

Father, I thank thee, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes c."

When our Lord says, "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household," he adopts the language of the prophet Micah'. And it will also be found that he has very largely cited the ancient prophets in many of his statements respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, of which indeed he expressly says, "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." And it is scarcely needful to re

a John xv. 22-25.

b Matt. xv. 7.

Matt. xi. 25.

racles.

Ps. xxxv. 19; lxix. 4.

Mark vii. 6. Isai. xxix. 13. Ezek. xxxiii. 31.

Our Lord had just been speaking of his miSee ver. 18. of the same chapter of the Prophet. Com

pare also Isai. xxxii. 4; xliv. 18; liv. 13.

d Matt. x. 35, 36. Micah vii. 6, 7.

e Luke xxi. 22. Deut. xviii. 19; xxviii. 15-68. 24-27. Zech. xi. and xii. Mal. iii. and iv.

Dan. ix.