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SERM. of time, we must understand that time, which God in his infinite Wisdom thought fit to appoint; And we may confider it either with refpect to God's Fore-determination; and then it was therefore the fulness of time, because determined and fore-appointed of God; or we may confider it abfolutely as the fittest and most proper season; and then it was fore-appointed by the Wisdom of God, because it was in itfelf the fulness of time. 1ft, We may confider it with refpect to God's Fore-determination; and then it was therefore the fulness of time, because determined and foretold by the prophets.

ACCORDING to that antient prediction of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 10. the Meffiah was to appear before the total diffolution of the Jewish Government. The Scepter fhall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come; and unto him fhail the gathering of the people be. By the word Shiloh, the antient Jewish interpreters conftantly understood the Meffiah; and the Jews at this day are not able to interpret it to any other tolerable Senfe: Now 'tis certain, that after our Saviour's Coming; affoon

as

IV.

as the gathering of the people, (or as the S E R M. word may no less properly be rendred, the obedience of the people) was come in to him; viz. affoon as he had fettled that institution of Religion, which he came into the World to establish; Jerufalem was deftroyed, the whole nation of the Jews difperfed, and scattered among all people; and the conftitution of their government intirely diffolved. Our Saviour therefore did appear exactly at that period of Time, which the prophecy of Jacob had fo many ages before expressly determined. Again; the prophecy of Malachi, ch. iii. 1. determines the Coming of our Saviour to be before the destruction of the Second Temple; Behold I will fend my messenger, and he shall prepare my way before me, and the Lord whom ye feek fhall fuddenly come, he shall fuddenly come to his temple; even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold he shall come, faith the Lord of hofts. And That no lefs remarkable prediction of Haggai, ch. ii. ver. 6, 7, and 9; Thus faith the Lord of bofts, Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth,

VOL. V.

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and

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SER M. and the fea and the dry land; And I will fbake all nations, and the defire of all nations fhall come, and I will fill This house with glory, faith the Lord of hofts; The glory of this latter boufe fhall be greater than of the former; and in this place will I give peace. The folemn and fublime introduction with which this prophecy is ushered in, shows plainly that fomething

of

very great moment is therein foretold and promised; And the Words of the Prediction itself fufficiently intimate, when and in whom they were to be fulfilled,

The defire, or (as the word may more properly be rendred,) the expectation of all nations; is a clear and undisputed character of the Meffiah: And as to the filling That Houfe with greater Glory than the former, 'tis well known that That Second Temple was very far from equalling the Glory of Solomon's, in the magnificence of its Building, or in its rich ornaments: And befides the Jews themfelves confefs, that the Second Temple always wanted thofe five things, which were justly esteemed the great Glory and Excellence of the firft. It wanted the U

rim and Thummim, the Ark of the Cove-S ER M. nant, the Fire from heaven which burnt IV. continually on the Altar, the Shecinah or vifible appearance of the glory of God, and the Spirit of Prophecy. It remains therefore that the Glory wherein this Second Temple was to exceed the First, could be no other than This; that it was to be honoured with the prefence of the King of Glory, even the promifed Meffias; Which would indeed be a far greater Glory, than all the riches of Solomon's Temple. Accordingly our Saviour did appear, during the standing of that Second Temple; he was prefented therein by his parents, and acknowledged by Simeon and Anna, who praised God for him, and Spoke of him to all those that looked for redemption in Ifrael; He also frequently Taught therein, and by his Gracious prefence filled that houfe with glory; with the Glory, as of the only-begotten Son of God, full of Grace and Truth; with the Glory of God, manifefted in the most illuftrious miracles; with the glorious Doctrine of Peace and Salvation, of Grace Righteousness and Truth. And

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IV.

SER M. And to demonftrate that this prophecy was fulfilled in him, and could not poffibly belong to any other, God in his righteous judgment, not many years after our Saviour's Paffion, fuffered this Temple, at the final destruction of the City and People, to be fo utterly overthrown and destroyed, that not one ftone was left upon another, nor could it ever by any industry be built again. Laftly, That most clear prophecy of Daniel, ch. ix. ver. 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, to finish the tranfgreffion, and to make an end of fins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to anoint the most Holy; (who in the next verse is called by name, Meffiah the Prince ;) This prophecy, I fay, determines the time from the rebuilding of the city after the captivity to the coming of the Meffias, to be feven times Seventy, viz. Four hundred and ninety years: Exactly after which period of time, (the different computations of Chronologers in this point, being but small Niceties;) exactly, I fay, after this period of time, the History