DE. Then it may be delay'd for ever, unless they can tell us when they will grow better. But however thefe Prophecies have failed, which spoke of the Time of the Meffiah's Coming: And they can never be a Proof hereafter; because the Time is pat. So that, according to this, they were made for no Purpose, unless to shew that they were false; that is, no Prophecies at all!

But were thefe Prophecies upon Condition? Or was it faid, that the Coming of the Meffiah fhould be delay'd, if the Jews were finful?

CHR. No. So far from it, that it was exprefly prophefied, that the Coming of the Meftah fhould be in the moft finful State of the Jews, and to purge their Sins, Dan. ix. 24. Zech. xiii. 1. And the antient Tradition of the Jews was purfuant to this, That, at the Coming of the Meffiah, the Temple should be a Den of Thieves. Rabbi Juda in Maforeta. And a Time of great Corruption. Talmud. tit. de Synedrio and de Ponderibus, &c.

But more than this, the very Cafe is put of their being most finful; and it is exprefly faid, that this fhould not hinder the fulfilling of the Prophecies concerning the Coming of the Merah, fpoken of as the Son of David, 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15, 16. Pfal. Ixxxix. 30. 33, to 37.

But it was prophefied that they should not know their Meffiah, and thould reject him when he came; that he fhould be a Stone of Stumbling, and a Rock of Offence to them, Ifai. viii. 14, 15.; and that their Eyes fhould be clofed, that they should not understand their own Prophets, chap. xxix. 9, 10, 11. That their Builders fhould reject the Head Stone of the Corner, Pfal. cxviii. 22. And the like in feveral other Places of their own Prophets. And thus they mistook the Prophecy concerning the Coming of Elias, whom, it is faid, they knew not, but did to him what they lifted; and fo the fame of Chrift, Matth. xvii. 12. And it is faid, 1 Cor. ii. 8. That, bad they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

DE. This indeed folves the Prophecies, both those of the Coming of the Meffiah, and of the Jews not knowing him, and therefore rejecting him: And likewise obviates this Excufe of theirs: for if they were very finful at that Time, it was a greater Punishment of their Sin not to know, and to reject their Meffiah, than his not Coming at that Time would have been.

CHR. The great Sin mentioned, for which they were punished by feveral Captivities, was their Idolatry; the laft and longest of which Captivities was that of feventy Years in Babylon. Since which time they have forfaken their Idolatry, and have never been Nationally guilty of it fince, but always had it in the utmoft Abhorrence. But fince their rejecting their Meffiah, they have been now near eighteen hundred Years, not in a Captivity where they might be all together, and enjoying their own Lane, Government, and Worship, in fome Manner; but difperfed over all the World, without Country of their own, or King, or Priest, or Temple, or Sacrifice, or any Prophet to comfort them, or give them Hopes of a Reftoration. And all this come upon them, not for their old Sin of Idolatry, but from that Curfe they imprecated upon themfelves, when they crucified their Miah, faying, His Blood be on us, and our Children: Which cleaves unto them from that Day to this, and is vifible to all the World, but to themselves! And what other Sin can they think greater than Idolatrý, for which they have been punished fo much more terribly than for all their Idolatries? What other Sin can this be, but their crucifying their Meffiah? And here they may fee their finful State, which they allege as an Excufe for their Miah's not coming at the Time foretold by the Prophets, rendered tenfold more finful, by their rejecting him when he came.

DE. This is a full Anfwer, and convincing, as to the Jews. But have you any more to fay to me?

(13.) CHR. I have one thing more to offer, which may come under this Head of Types, and that is, Perfans who reprefented Chrift in feveral Particulars, and fo might be called perfonal Types.

And

And I will not apply thefe out of my own Head, but as they are applied in the New Teftament; which having all the Marks of the Old Teftament, and stronger Evidence than thefe, in those Marks we are now upon, their Authority is indifputable.

(1.) I begin with Adam, who gave us Life, and Death too: And Chrift came, by his Death, to restore us to Life again, even Life Eternal. Hence Chrift is called the fecond Adam, and Adam is called the Figure of Chrift. The Parallel betwixt them is infifted on, Rom. v. 12. to the End, and 1 Cor. xv. 45, to 50. Eve received her Life from Adam, as the Church from Chrift. She was taken out of the Side of Adam, when he was in a dead Sleep; and after Chrift was dead, the Sacraments of Water and Blood flowed out of his Side; that is, Baptifm, whereby we are born into Chrift; and the Sacrament of his Blood, whereby we are nourished into eternal Life.

(2.) Enoch was carried up bodily into Heaven; as Elijah: One under the Patriarchal, the other under the legal Difpenfation. In both, the Afcenfion of Chrift was prefigured.

(3.) Noah, a Preacher of Righteousness to the old World, and Father of the new; who faved the Church by Water. The like Figure whereunto, even Baptifm, doth alfo now fave us, i Pet. iii. 20, 21.

(4.) Melchifedeck, that is, King of Righteousness, and King of Peace, and Priest of the most high God; who was made like unto the Son of God, a Prieft continually, Heb. vii. 1, 2, 3.

(5.) Abraham, the Friend of God, and Father of the Faithful, the Heir of the World, Rom. iv. 13. In whom all the Nations of the Earth are blessed, Gen. xviii. 18.

(6.) Ifaac, the Heir of this Promife, was born after his Father and Mother were both paft the Age of Generation in the Course of Nature, Gen. xvii. 17, xviii. 11. Rom. iv. 19. Heb. xi. 11, 12. The nearest Type that could be to the Generation of Christ wholly without a Man. And his Sacrifice had a very near Refemblance to the Sacrifice and Death of Chrift, who lay

three

three Days in the Grave; and Ifaac was three Days a dead Man (as we fay in Law) under the Sentence of Death, Gen. xxii. 4. whence Abraham received him in a Figure, Heb. xi. 19. that is, of the Refurrection of Chrift. And Abraham was commanded to go three Days Journey, to facrifice Ifaac upon the fame Mountain (according to the Antients) where Chrift was crucified, and where Adam was buried. Again, the common Epithet of Chrift, i. e. The only begotten of the Father, and his beloved Son, were both given to Ifaac, Gen. xii. 2. Heb. xi. 17. For he was the only Son that was begotten in that miraculous Manner, after both his Parents were decayed by Nature. And he was the only Son of the Promife; which was not made to the Seed of Abraham in general, but in Ifaac fhall thy Seed be called, Gen. xxi. 12. He faith not, and to Seeds, as of many, but as of one. And to thy Seed; which is Chrift, Gal. iii. 16.

And as Ifaac, which fignifies rejoicing, or laughing for Joy, was thus the only begotten of his Parents, fo Abram fignifies the glorious Father; and Abraham (into which his Name was changed on the Promife of Ifaac, Gen. xvii. 5. 16.) fignifies the Father of a Multitude, to exprefs the Coming in of the Gentiles to Chrift, and the Increase of the Gofpel; whence it is there faid to Abraham, a Father of many Nations have I made thee. And in thy Seed all the Nations of the Earth fhall be blefed.

Ifaac, who was born by Promife of a Free-Woman, reprefented the Chriftian Church; in Oppofition to Ishmael, who was born after the Flesh, of a Bond-Maid, and fignified the Jewish Church under the Law. See this Allegory carried on, Gal. iv. 21. to the End.

(7.) Jacob, his Vifion of the Ladder (Gen. xxviii. 12.) fhews the Intercourfe which was opened by Chrift betwixt Heaven and Earth, by his making Peace. And to this he alludes, when he fays, Hereafter you shall fee Heaven open, and the Angels of God afcending and defcending upon the Son of Man, John i. 51.

And

And Jacob's Wrestling with the Angel (Gen. xxxii. 24, &c. Hof. xii. 4.) and, as it were, prevailing over him by Force to bless him, fhews the ftrong and powerful Interceffion of Chrift: Whereby (as he words it, Mattb. xi..12.) Heaven fuffereth Violence, and the violent take it by Force. Whence the Name of Jacob was then turned to Ifrael; that is, one who prevails upon God, or has Power over him; God representing himself here as overcome by us. And the Name of Ifrael was ever after given to the Church; but much more fo when Chrift came, as he faid, Matth. xi. 12. From the Days of John the Baptift until now, the Kingdom of Heaven fuffereth Violence, &c.; that is, from the first Promulgation of Chrift being come, thenceforward the Gentiles began to prefs into the Gospel, and, as by Force, to take it from the Jews. This was fignified in the Name Jacob, that is, a Supplanter; for the Gentiles here fupplanted their elder Brother the Jews, and ftole the Bleffing and Heirship from them.

(8.) Jofeph was fold by his Brethren out of Envy ; but it proved the Prefervation of them and all their Families. And Chrift w was fold by his Brethren out of Envy, Mark xv. 10. which proved the Means of their Redemption. And Chrift, as Jofeph, became Lord over his Brethren.

(9.) Mofes calls Chrift a Prophet like unto himself, Deut. xviii. 18. He reprefented Chrift, the great Lawgiver. And his delivering Ifrael out of Egypt was a Type of Chrift's delivering his Church from the Bondage of Sin and Hell.

(ro.) fofbua, called alfo Jefus, Heb. iv. 8. overcame all the Enemies of Ifrael, and gave them Poffeffion of the Holy Land, which was a Type of Heaven. And Chrift appeared to Joshua, as Captain of the Hoft of the Lord, Jof. v. 14. So that Jofbua was his Lieute nant representing him.

(11.) Sampfon, who, by his fingle Valour and his own Strength, overcame the Philiftines, and flew more at his Death than in all his Life, was a Reprefentation of Ghrift, who trod the Wine-prefs alone, and of the People

there