(6.) As alfo by the Rock, whence the Waters flowed out to give them Drink in the Wilderness: And that Rock was Chrift, 1 Cor. x. 4.

(7.) And he was not only their Meat and Drink, but he was alfo their conftant Guide, and led them in a Pillar of Fire by Night, and of a Cloud by Day. And the Cloud of Glory in the Temple, in which God appeared, was by the Jews understood as a Type of the Meffiah, who is the true Shechina, or Habitation of God.

(8.) The Sabbath is called a Shadow of Chrift, Col. ii. 17. It was a Figure of that eternal Reft procured to us by Chrift: Therefore it is called a Sign of the perpetual Covenant, Exod. xxxi. 16, 17. Ēzek. xx.

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(9.) And fuch a Sign was the Temple at Jerusalem : At which Place, and none other, the Sacrifices of the Jews were to be offered, Deut. xii. 11, 13, 14. Becaufe Chrift was to be facrificed there; and, as a Token of it, thofe Sacrifices, which were Types of him, were to be offered only there.

And fo great Stress was laid upon this, that no Sin of the Jews is oftener remembered than their Breach of this Command. It was a Blot fet upon their feveral Reformations, otherwife good and commendable in the Sight of God, that the high Places (where they used to facrifice) were not taken away. This is marked as the great Defect in the Reformation of Afa, 1 Kin. xv. 14. of Jehoshaphat, 1 Kin. xxii. 43. of Jeboah, 2 Kin. xii. 3. of Amaziah, 2 Kin. xv. 4. of Jotham, ver. 35. But they were taken away by Hezekiah, 2 Kin. xviii. 4. and the People inftructed to facrifice and burn Incense at Jerufalem only, 2 Chr. xxxii. 12. Ifa. xxxvi. 7.

There was likewife a further Defign of Providence in limiting their Sacrifices to Jerufalem; which was, That after the great propitiatory Sacrifice of Chrift had been once offered there, God was to remove the Jews from Jerufalem, that they might have no Sacrifice at all (as, for that Reason, they have not had, in any Part of the World, near these eighteen hundred Years paft); to in

struct them, That (as the Apostle speaks to them, Heb. x. 26.), there remaineth no more (or other) Sacrifice for Sin. And, fince by the Law their Sins were to be purged by Sacrifice, they have now no way to purge their Sins: And, till they return to that, they must have no Sacrifice at all, but die in their Sins. As Jefus faid unto them, I go my Way, and ye shall die in your Sins.

For if you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your Sins, Joh. viii. 21, 24.

And Daniel prophefied exprefly, That, foon after the Death of the Mejiah, the City of Jerufalem, and the Sanctuary, fhould be deftroyed; and that the Sacrifice fhould ceafe, even until the Confummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the Defolate, Dan. xi. 26, 27.

And this Defolation of theirs, and what was determined upon them, was told them likewife by Hofea, Chap. iii. 4. For the Children of Ifrael fhall abide many Days without a King, and without a Prince, and without a Sacrifice. But he fays, in the next Verfe, That in the latter Days they fhall return and feek the Lord their God, and David their King; that is, the Son of David their Prince and Meffiah; as he is called Mejiah the Prince, Dan. ix. 25.

Thus as Salvation was of the Jerus, because Christ was to come of them, fo this Salvation was only to be had at Jerufalem, where he was to fuffer, and by which only Salvation was to be had.

(10.) DE. This Argument is to the Jerus. And if I were a fet it would move me; because they never were fo long before without King, Temple, or Sacrifice.

CHR. But the Prophecies of it, and thefe fulfilled as you have seen, and Chrift being fo plainly pointed at, and the Place of his Paffion, by limiting the Sacrifices to Ferufalem only, and by that caufing the legal Sacrifices to ceafe throughout the World, to fhew that they were fulfilled; all this is a ftrong Evidence to you of the Truth of thefe Things, and of our Jefus being the Mafiah, or Chrift, who was prophefied of.

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DE. I cannot deny but there is fomething remarkable in this, which I will take Time to confider. I do not fee how the Jews can stand out against this : Because this Mark, given by Daniel of the Meffiah, that foon after his Death the Sacrifice fhould ceafe, cannot agree to any After-Meffiah, who fhould now come fo many Ages after the Sacrifice has ceafed.

CHR. Since we have fallen into the Subject of the Jews, I will give you another Prophecy, which cannot be fulfilled in any After-Meftah whom the Jews expect: And it will be alfo a Confirmation to you of the Truth of the Prophecies of the Holy Scriptures.

Thus God fpeaks, Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 22. Thus faith the Lord, if you can break my Covenant of the Day, and my Covenant of the Night, and that there should not be Day and Night in their Seafon: Then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant, that he should not have a Son to reign upon his Throne; and with the Levites, the Priefs, my Minifters. As the Hoft of Heaven cannot be numbered, neither the Sand of the Sea measured: Sa will I multiply the Seed of David my Servant, and the Levites that minifter unto me.

Now let the Jews tell in which Son of David this is fulfilled, except only in our Chrift: And how this is made good to the Priefs and Levites, otherwise than as Ifaiak prophefied, Chap. lxvi. 21. And I will also take of them (the Gentiles) for Priefts and for Levites, faith the Lord. And as it is thus applied, 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. and Rev. i. 6. And this evangelical Priesthood is multiplied as the Stars of Heaven (which they are frequently called), not like the Tribe of Levi, which could not afford Priefs to all the Earth.

And as I faid before of Jerufalem, and the Sacrifices there, that they are ceafed, to fhew they are fulfilled; fo here, after this Son of David was come, and his other Sons ceased; and the very Genealogy of their Tribes, and fo of Judah, is loft, as also of the Tribe of Levi ; fo that the Jews can never tell, if any After-Meffiab fhould appear, whether he were of the Tribe of Judah; far lefs, whether he were of the Lineage of David ;

nor

nor can they fhew the Genealogy of any they call Le vites now among them.

This is occafioned by their being difperfed among all Nations, and yet preferved a distinct People from all the Earth; though without any Country of their own, or King, or Prieft, or Temple, or Sacrifice. And they are thus preferved by the Providence of God, (fo as never any Nation was fince the Foundation of the World) to fhew the fulfilling of the Prophecies concerning them, and the Judgments pronounced against them, for their crucifying their Meffiah; and that their Converfion may be more apparent to the World, and their being gathered out of all Nations, and restored to Jerusalem (as is promised them) when they shall come to acknowlege their Meffiah.

And God not permitting them to have any King or Governor upon Earth, ever fince their last Difperfion by the Romans (left they might fay, That the Sceptre was not departed from Judah), is to convince them (when God fhall take the Veil off their Heart) that no other Meffiah, who can come hereafter, can answer this Prophecy of feremiah, or that of Jacob, that the Sceptre fhould not depart from Judab till Shiloh came.

(11.) And it is wonderful to confider how exprefly their prefent State is prophefied of, that it could not be more literal, if it were to be worded now by us who fee it. As, that they should be scattered into all Countries, fifted as with a Sieve among all Nations, yet preferved a People; and that God would make an utter End of thofe Nations who had oppreffed them, and blot out their Names from under Heaven (as we have feen it fulfilled upon the great Empires of the Affyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, who, one after the other, had miferably wafted the Jews); but that the Name of the fers (the fewest and the poorest of all Nations) fhould remain for ever, and they a People diftinct from ali the Nations in the World, though fcattered among them all. Read the Prophecies exprefs upon this Point, Jer. xxx, 11. xxxi. 36, 37. xxxiii. 24, 25, 26. xlvi. 28. Isai. xxvii. 7. xxix. 7, 8. liv. 9, 10. lxv. 8.

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Ezek. vi. 8. xi. 16, 17. xii. 15, 16. Amos ix. 8, 9. Zech. x. 9. And it was foretold them long before, that thus it would be, Lev. xxvi. 44. and this in the latter Days, Deut. iv. 27. 30, 31. Thus Mofes told them of it fo long before; as the After-Prophets frequently. And you fee all thefe Prophecies literally fulfilled and fulfilling. The like cannot be faid of any other Nation that ever was upon the Earth! So deftroyed, and fo preferved! And for fo long a Time! Having worn out all the great Empires of the World, and ftill furviving. them, to fulfil what was further prophesied of them to the End of the World!

DE. I cannot fay but there is fomething very furprizing in this. I never thought of it before. It is a living Prophecy, which we see fulfilled, and still fulfilling at this Day, before our Eyes. For we are fure these Prophecies were not coined Yefterday: And they are as exprefs and particular, as if they were to be wrote now, after the Events are fo far come to pass.

(12.) CHR. As the Door was kept open to Chrift before he came, by the many and flagrant Prophecies of him, and by the Types reprefenting him, fo was the Door for ever but after him, by thofe Prophecies being all fulfilled and completed in him, and applicable to none who should come after him, and by all the Types ceafing, the Shadows vanishing, when the Subftance was come. No Meiab can now come, before the Sceptre depart from Judah, and the Sacrifice from Jerufalem; before the Sons of David (all except Chrift) fhall ceafe to fit upon his Throne. None can come now, within four hundred and ninety Years of the Building of the second Temple; nor come into that very Temple, as I have before fhewed was exprefly prophefied by Daniel and Haggai.

DE. I know not what the Jews can fay, who own thefe Prophecies.

CHR. They fay, That the Coming of the Meffiah, at the time spoken of in the Prophets, has been delay'd because of their Sins.

DE