concerning the Meffiah are infallible criteria, whereby to diftinguish between genuine and fpurious Gofpels, fo that any paffage in the prefent canon of the New Teftament, which exprefsly militates against thefe predictions, or cannot, without a manifeft perverfion of its meaning, be brought to coincide with them, must be an interpolated forgery.

That the fuffering Jefus, the remote fon of David, and the immediate fon of Joseph, and Mary, was the Chrift or the Meffiah, I will now undertake to prove from your: own prophecies, more fully than I have hitherto done. To the fame perfon, who in the 2d Pfalm is reprefented as the anointed againft' whom your ' rulers 'took council together,' Jehovah declares in the fame Pfalm, I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the • utmost parts of the earth for thy poffeffion.' It is evident from the 49th chapter of Ifaiah, that the fuffering Jefus described in the 7th verfe, under the character of him, whom man defpifeth, him whom the nation,'

your

your people, abhorreth' is the fame with him of whom it is faid by Jehovah in the following verfe, I will give thee for a covenant of the people to establish' or raise

4

• to

cause to inherit the defolate heritages," or, in other words, as the Meffiah, who, on your return to your own land, in confe quence of your converfion to a faith in him, fhall cause you to dwell in the long forfaken land, where he will perfonally reign over you in righteousness, love and truth. His sufferings are thus reprefented in the 6th verfe of the 50th chapter of the fame prophet, 'I gave my back to the fmiters, and my cheeks to them, that pulled off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and

fpitting.' This is the fame perfon of whom it is afferted in the 13th verse of the 52d chapter, 'Behold, my servant shall profper, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.' And again, As many were astonished at thee, (his visage was fo 'marred more than any man, and his form 'more than the fons of men,) so shall he • Sprinkle

fprinkle many nations, the kings fhall fhut their mouths at him; for that, which had not been told them, fhall they fee, ⚫ and that, which they had not heard, shall

they confider.' The following 53d chapter deferves your moft ferious attention, where his lamb-like sufferings and unmerited death as a tranfgreffor, which he experienced at the hands of your ancestors, who' despised

and esteemed him not,' are moft feelingly described. This is the man, who after "he was tormented for," or on account of, the tranfgreffions' of your anceftors, bruised for,' (or on account of) their " iniquities, and cut off out of the land

of the living, faw his feed,' men embrace the divine religion he was fent to teach, confequently faw of the travail of his foul and was fatisfied;' and 'prolonged his

days' in confequence of his being raised by God on the third day from the dead. This is he, of whom it is recorded in the 55th chapter, I,' Jehovah, have given

him,' David, or the Meffiah fo called af

a witness to the people, a leader and com• mander to the people.' This is the redeemer, who,' (chap. lix. verse 20) shall come to Zion and unto them, that turn from tranfgreffion in Jacob, to give unto them,' (chap. Ixi. verfe 3.) beauty for afhes, the oil of joy for mourning, the 'garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." This is that righteous branch,' (Jer. xxiii.

5, &c.) which Jehovah promised to raise ⚫ unto David,' that King, who shall reign and profper, and fhall execute judgment and justice in the earth; in his days Ju

dah fhall be faved, and Ifrael fhall dwell fafely; and this is his name whereby he fhall be called the Lord our righteousness,' ftiled alfo, (Jer. xxx. 9.) David, their king, whom I,' the Lord their God, will 'raife up unto them.' This. is that one shepherd,' (Ezek. xxxiv. 23,&c.)

whom I will fet over them, and he shall feed them, even my fervant David,' the patronymic of the Meffiah, as before obferved, and I the Lord will be their God, and my fervant David,' the Meffiah, a ' prince

prince among them.' Laftly, this is that one king,' (Ezek. xxxvii. 23, &c. who, thall be king to them all,' both to Ifrael and Judah, when I will make them one 'nation in the land upon the mountains of Ifrael,' &c. &c.

His kingdom, prefigured in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel ii. 35. by a stone that fmote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, 'fhall break in pieces and confume all these kingdoms,' the four fucceffive great monarchies, the Babylonian, the Perfian, the Grecian, and the Roman, together with the feveral kingdoms, into which this laft has been divided, typified under the feveral metals, the gold, the filver, the brafs, the

iron, and the clay,' whereof the said vifionary image was compofed, and it shall

ftand for ever,' that is, to the end of the age of the Meffiah, as I formerly obferved. This is that Son of Man,' of whom it is recorded, Daniel vii. 13, &c. that there was given him by the Ancient of Days,' the Lord your God,

Dominion,

and