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prophecy, which relates to the act of the piercing, was accomplished when your anceftors pierced the fide of the crucified Jefus with the fpear of the Roman soldier, See John xix. 34, for, though the Roman foldier pierced him, yet, as this was done in common with his other fufferings, in confequence of their delivery of him into the hands of the Roman Governor, Pilate, and their importunate request to that governor to crucify him, it is most truly afferted, that they pierced him.

Zechariah xiii. 7. prefents us with the next paffage, which has a reference to the Meffiah, 'Awake, O fword,against my fhep

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herd, and against the man that is my low, faith the Lord of Hofts: Smite the fhepherd and the flock fhall be scattered.' This prophecy was fulfilled by its correspondent event, when Jefus Christ was crucified, and his flock, his disciples, dispersed in confequence of their lofs of their pastor in him their mafter. It would be abfurd to fuppofe, that Jehovah here calls him his ‘fellow,' in a metaphysical sense, as

though

though he were equal to himself, the Supreme Being, in point of effence, and of the incommunicable attributes of Deity: But Chrift might be faid to be his fellow, or equal with God, in a rational sense, as co-operating with God in the great work of man's falvation, by being faithful to God, who anointed or appointed him to preach his will to mankind, or as being empowered by God to work miracles in attestation to the truth of his divine commiffion.

With respect to the following words, Zech. xiv. 4. And his feet shall stand in

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that day upon the Mount of Olives,' it appears to me uncertain whether this be a mode of expreffion, importing that the glory of the Lord God, or a fymbolic luminous manifestation of his presence, shall reft on this mount, or whether the Meffiah in person shall defcend from heaven on the mount; but I rather think the former, though probably accompanied with the defcent of the latter, as it is evident from Luke, both in his Gospel, and in his narrative of M 3 the

the Acts of the Apoftles, that Jefus afcended from that mount into heaven, and

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especially as it is declared in the 11th verse of the 1ft chapter of the Acts, that this 'fame Jefus, which is taken up from you into heaven, fhall fo come in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven.' This feems to allude to the commencement of the perfonal reign of the Meffiah, agreeably to the express prophecy in Daniel vii. 13, 14. behold one, like the Son of man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought • him near before him; and there was given ' him dominion,' &c.

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Laftly, in Malachi iii. 1. the Meffiah is ftiled the Meffenger of the Covenant;' and I hope, my Jewish friends, you will not grudge the pains to bestow a serious thought on the obvious meaning of the preceding large affemblage of paffages, extracted from God's prophecies to your anceftors. They feem to me decifive of this great point, that the crucified Jefus was

your

your promised Meffiah. If you should be happily convinced of this incontestable truth, and, in confequence of your conviction, acknowledge him as fuch by embracing Christianity, I here repeat my intention, to accompany you, with God's permiffion, in your return to your own land ; nay, if but a thousand of you can be collected together, whether British, German, or other Jews, who are from the heart convinced that this Jefus was your Meffiah, and should want a leader among your own people, to bring you back to your own land, I think you will find me ready to undertake the office, trufting in my God for the fuccefs of the enterprize, in that God of your fathers, Jehovah, the Lord your God, the one fupreme Lord God of heaven and earth, who has promised not to forfake you, but to remember his promise to Abraham, that he would give you the land of Canaan as an heritage for ever, and that in his

you

feed all the nations of the earth fhall be • bleft. But it is neceffary, you should indulge me with evident proofs of your converfion, before I engage in it. M 4

Now

Now this crucified Jefus, or Savior, your Christ or Meffiah, whom you ftill despise,' whom your nation ftillabhorreth,' forefaw by that spirit of prophecy, which God had given him, that your ancestors would, in confequence of their rejection and crucifixion of him, be punished with that fignal deftruction of their city and temple by Titus, fo feelingly and minutely recorded by your own faithful hiftorian, Jofephus, and with that difperfion into all lands of thofe, who escaped from the fword, peftilence, and famine, which is continued in you their pofterity to this very hour, a ftanding miraculous proof of the Meffiahfhip of Jefus,

But how did this compaffionate Savior conduct himself in confequence of his foreknowledge of events fo tragical and disastrous to his mistaken countrymen ? He did not infult over Jerufalem with bitter taunts. No, he wept over it, and expreffed his grief in the tenderest accents of heartfelt lamentation, Luke xiii. 34, 35. 'O Je'falem!

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