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A Sum

the

whole.

the Old and New Teftament in their Hands: And yet these very Men, after comparing things together, did affent to the Truth of the Apoftles Reasoning, and became Converts to Chriftianity.

In a Word, if the Jews understood the Prophefies of the Old Teftament in their plain and literal Senfe, and the Apoftles, in their Address to them, applied them in a Senfe that was myftical and enigmatical, we cannot fee how they could ever have made one Profelyte; being in the fame Condition with what St. Paul describes, when he tells us, 9 that he, that speaketh in an unknown Tongue (and why not he, that fpeaketh in an unknown Meaning) Speaketh to the Air, and becometh a Barbarian to him, that heareth, but under ftandeth not. So that, every Jew, converted to the Chriftian Faith, is to. us an implicit Proof of the Apostles applying the ancient Prophefies in a Senfe, that was then current and familiar to them.

And now to look back on what has mary of been faid on this Argument. If real and true Miracles can be perform'd only by God, or by Perfons delegated and commiffion'd by him ; and our bleffed Saviour, who was fent to inftitute a new

9 I Cor. xiv. 9, 10.

Religion,

Religion, was, in the Nature of Things, required to fhew his Credentials by working Miracles: If Miracles, thus wrought, are a more pofitive and immediate Indication of a divine Concurrence, than either the Completion of ancient Prophefies, or the Prediction of future Events can poffibly be: If neither the Words of St. Peter, concerning the more fure Word of Prophefy, nor the Words of Abraham in the Parable, concerning the ftanding Revelation of Mofes and the Prophets, need fo to be interpreted, as to impair the Worth and Authority of Miracles: If neither St. Paul, in his Defence before Felix and Agrippa, nor St. Peter, in his Difcourfe before Cornelius, nor any other of the Apostles, in their endeavours to gain Converts, making conftant Ufe and Application of the Prophefies, to prove Jefus to be the Chrift, and Christianity a divine Institution, have exalted them above measure: then will the Evidence of Miracles, upon the Comparison, ap pear to be fuperior, though the Evidence of Prophefies, it must be own'd, is a very good collateral Proof; efpecially when applied to the Perfon or Event, they are to denote, in their natu ral and moft obvious Signification.

SECT

The Objection.

SECT. V.

Of the right Application of fome controverted Prophefies.

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UT why fhould you talk of the natural, and moft obvious "Senfe of Prophefies, when the Mat"ter of Fact is directly against you: "a for look but into Matthew (one E

vangelift for all) and he will tell you, "that Jefus was carried into Egypt, "from whence he returned, after the "Death of Herod, That it might be

fulfilled which was fpoken of the Lord ແ by the Prophet, faying, OUT OF EGYPT "HAVE I CALLED MY SON; which Words 66 are no where to be found, but in the

Prophet Hofea, and yet, according to "their plain and obvious Sense, they

are no Prophefy, but relate to a past "Action, viz. the conducting the Chil"dren of Ifrael out of the Land of Egypt. "Again, the fame Evangelist, speak"ing of John the Baptift, calls him "the Elias, that was to come; wherein

Vid. Grounds and Reafons.
Matt. xi. 14.

"he

b Matt. ii. 15.

σε he is fuppofed to refer to these Words " of Malachi, & Behold, I will fend you "Elijah the Prophet, before the coming

έσ

of the great and terrible Day of the "Lord; which, according to their lite"ral Senfe, are a Prophefy of Elijah's "coming in Perfon, and could be ful“filled in John the Baptift, no otherwise, than in a myftical. Again, in "the fame Evangelift we find Jefus "citing this Prophefy of Isaiah, e By "bearing ye shall hear, and shall not un

derftand; and affuring us, that, in "his time, it was fulfilled, in those, to "whom he fpake in Parables; though “it is certain, that, according to the "primary Senfe, it relates to the obftiσε nate Jews only, who lived in the "time of Ifaiah. Once more, the fame "Evangelift, after having given an "Account of the Conception of the "Virgin Mary, and of the Birth of

Jefus, fays, that fall this was done, "that it might be fulfilled, which was 2 Spoken by the Prophet, faying, Behold સ્પંદ a Virgin fhall be with Child, and fhall "bring forth a Son, and they fhall call "his Name IMMANUEL; but the "Words, & as they ftand in Isaiah (from whom they are fuppofed to be ta

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ken)

f Matt. i

"ken) do, in their obvious and literal "Senfe, relate to a young Woman in the "Days of Ahaz, King of Judah; as

Anfwer'd

by fta

ting the Several

appears both by the Context and "Reason of the Thing, and can no

otherwife, than in a typical and my"ftical Senfe, be applied to the Birth "of Jefus. In fine, moft of the Pro"phefies, cited from the Old Tefta"ment, by the Authors of the New, "do fo plainly relate, in their obvious સ્પંદ and primary Senfe, to other Mat<< ters, than those, which they are pro"duced to prove; that, even that re"markable Paffage in the Pentateuch, "A Prophet will the Lord God raife ແ up unto thee, like unto me, to him shall ye hearken, is fuppofed, by learned "Men,not to denote any one in particular, "but to a Succeffion of Prophets; and "that famous Prophefy of Daniel, urg'd "i by Chrift, as foretelling the Deftru"ation of Jerufalem, has been thought 66 to relate to that Event only, in a fe"condary Sense.

That there are feveral Texts in the Old Teftament, relating to a particular Perfon, who was to make an extraorKinds of dinary Figure in the World, no one can doubt, who has read of the blessed Seed

Prophe

fy, as fome are

express,

"Deut. xviii. 15, 18. 'Matt. xxiv. xxviii. 14.

of

* Gen.

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