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again Zech. iii. 8. "Behold! I will bring forth my fervant, The Branch."

The exact correfpondence here pointed out between the Chriftian and Jewish writings, refpecting the nature and perfon of Chrift, who is in both declared to be a man, (which species of intelligent creature he could not be, if a man were unconcerned in begetting him, at least in that case we are not authorized to call him fuch, without a special direction from God) the precise agreement between the evangelifts of the New, and the prophets of the Old, Teftatament, concerning his birth from parents ⚫ of the house and lineage of David, ;' and the perfect coincidence of the events with the predictions relative to the fufferings, death, refurrection, and future kingdom, of the Meffiah will, I trust in God, operate as the happy means of convincing many of that the Jefus of the Chriftians and the Meffiah of the Jews are one and the fame perfon.

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It is probable, that the whole body of the house of Ifrael will not be converted to the faith of Chrift, till the fulness of the

Gentiles be come in;' an expreffion of the apostle Paul, which probably implies the converfion of the whole, or the greater part, of the Heathen world. However, this is certain, that, when, my dear unconverted friends, you can once be brought to difcern the truth of the past advent of your fuffering Meffiah, who, though foretold under that character, by Isaiah, is still to you 'a ftumbling block;' to lament, that your forefathers fulfilled the prophecies in condemning' and crucifying him by the hands of the Romans; and to acknowledge, that thofe fubfequent difaftrous events, unparalleled either in facred or profane history, the deftruction of your city and temple by Titus, and your long continued difperfion from that time to this, among all nations, are the divine punishments of this their great fin; the Lord your God will,' in conformity to his promife by his prophets, 'gather together again the outcasts of Ifrael from all the countries whither he has • driven

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• driven them, as a shepherd gathereth his

flock,' bring again the captivity of Ifrael and Judah, restore you to your own land, 'build again the wafte places of Jerufalem,' and give you a new city and temple, wherein he will refide among you, as in the former days, under the external symbol of a glorious cloud, or a fire. This future luminous manifeftation of his prefence will not only furpafs that which refided in the temple of Solomon, in fplendor, but exceed it likewife in duration, as it will continue for ever. Moreover, the great fon of David, your Meffiah, will be your king, that is, reign in perfon among you.

The Christians, indeed in general, underftand the kingdom of Christ in a strict fpiritual sense only, viz. that by his kingdom are meant the univerfal establishment of, and practical conformity to, his excellent fyftem of morality throughout the world, or thofe eternal immutable laws of godlinefs, righteoufnefs, temperance, love and peace, which your Jehovah, your one

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and only Lord God, commiffioned him to preach to your finful ancestors. But, as the minute circumstances, predicted concerning the death of the Meffiah, have been in very deed fulfilled, I think that thofe, which relate to the fceptre of his kingdom, stiled a feeptre of righteousness, will receive the fame literal completion.

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When I read in Jeremiah, and Hosea, that the house of Ifrael fhall feek and ferve the Lord and David their king,' when Ezekiel prophefies, that my fervant David shall feed them, be a prince among them, and a king over them,' I believe, that, in God's due appointed time, Chrift, described by these prophets under the name of his royal progenitor, will be, in the ftrict fenfe, their fhepherd and their king, and in his own perfon 'execute,' as it is elsewhere expreft, Judgment and Juftice, among them. When Daniel prefigures the kingdom of the Meffiah under the fimilitude of the ftone, cut out of the mountain, fmiting the image upon his feet,' I verily believe, that God will give him a king

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'dom, which will break in pieces and confume' the ten kingdoms, answering to the ten toes of the image, into which the Roman empire was divided, reprefented in another paffage of the fame prophet, under the character of a beast with ten horns. But this his kingdom will not be confined to the land of Judea only, it will extend itself over the whole earth. • The ftone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.' Under the reign of the Meffiah, the word of the Lord will go • forth from the newJerufalem' to the remoteft countries, and all people, na

tions, and languages, fhall ferve him.' The city indeed will not be called Jerufalem, for Ezekiel xlviii. 35. affures us, the name of the city from that day shall be the Lord is there.'

Moreover, Ezekiel prophetically describes a divifion of the land among the twelve tribes, and the dimenfions of a city and temple, very different from any former partition of the one, or measurement of the other, and therefore thefe are events, which still remain to be, not figuratively, but literally fulfilled.

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