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God, notwithstanding they well knew what he was, and whence his Original; but left any one fhou'd object, that we can fhew no Reason why our Chrift fhou'd not be look'd upon as a mere Man, and his Miracles the Effects only of Magick, and therefore cry'd up for the Son of God, I fhall enter upon the Proof of his Divinity, not fo much trusting to the Reports of Men, as the Predictions of Prophets, and neceffitated to believe, because we fee things with our own Eyes already fulfill'd according to thefe Predictions, and a fulfilling on ev'ry Day; and this, I believe, you your felves will grant to be the strongest Demonstration of the Truth imaginable.

XXXVIII. There were of old, among the Jews, certain Prophets of God, by whom the Prophetick Spirit made Proclamation of things to come, long before they were in Being; these Prophecies, juft as they were deliver'd, were committed to Writing by the Prophets themselves in their own Hebrew MotherTongue, and the Books put into the Custody of the Kings of Judea then in Being. When Ptolomy therefore, King of Egypt, was setting

up his Library, and very inquifitive about the most curious Collection of all forts of Books, being inform'd of thefe Prophetick Writings, he dispatch'd an Embaffador to the Jewish High Priest, who was at that time invested with

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z To MS 'Ixdaíav TÓTE Barindo Head] This is another Paffage which that Orbilius Patrum, John Daille, has chofen to expose what he thinks to be the Nakedness of this Father; for (fays

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with the Regal Power, to request of him a Present of these Prophecies, and accordingly the Royal High Priest' fent them in their Original Language, but the Contents of these Books being not intelligible to the Egyptians in the Hebrew Tongue, he fent a fecond Embaffy to defire him to fend over Men to tranflate 'em into Greek; and by these Means these Books are in Being with Egyptians to this Day, and this Tranflation is in the Hands almost of every Jew all the World over; which tho' they read, they understand not, but blindly take Christians for their Enemies, and when ever it is in their Power treat us as cruelly as you which I doubt not but you will readily grant me. For in the last Jewish War, Barchochebas, the Ringleader of the revolting Jews, order'd the Christians only to be dragg'd to the most grievous Torments, unless they wou'd renounce and blafpheme Jesus Christ.

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XXXIX. Now in thefe Books of the Prophets, we find it foretold, that there was one a coming into the World, who being born of a Virgin, and grown up to Man's Estate,

he) Justin Martyr, fpeaking of the Tranflation of the 70 Interpre ters, affirms, That Ptolemy King of Egypt fent his Ambaffadors to Herod King of Judea, whereas the Truth of the Story is, that he fent to Eleazar the High Prieft, two hundred, forty, and odd Years before Herod came to be King of Judaa: Dr. Grabe, who makes it his Bufinefs to do Juftice to the Primitive Fathers, who deserve fo well of the Chriftian World, well knew that his Fultin was a Perfon too well qualify'd to be guilty of fo notorious an overfight in point of Chronology, and in a matter fo near his own time, has by a happy Conjecture reftor'd him to himself, by fubftituting iege inftead of Head, which, no doubt, was a Blunder in the Transcriber, Vid. Notes upon this Place.

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fhou'd cure ev'ry Disease and Malady in Nature, and raise the Dead, and be treated with Spite and Ignominy, and at length this Jefus our Chrift fhou'd be faften'd to a Cross, and dye, and rise again, and afcend up into Heaven and that he was truly the Son of God, and fhou'd be worshipped under that Title, and that he shou'd send out fome to preach these Tidings to every Nation, and that the Gentiles fhou'd come over to the Faith in greater Numbers than the Jews; and these very Prophecies went of him, before his Coming, fome a five thousand, fome three, fome two, some one thousand, and fome eight hundred Years only; for in all thefe fucceeding Generations there was a Succeffion of fome Prophets or other.

XL. And the great Prince of Prophets, Mofes, thus exprefly fignify'd: The Sceptre fhall not Genef. 49 depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from be-10, &c. tween his Feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him Shall the gathering of the People be, binding his Foal unto the Vine, and washing his Garments in the Blood of Grapes. 'Tis incumbent therefore

upon you, to make diligent Enquiry how long the Jews had a Prince or Ruler properly their own, and you will find, until the Appearance of Jefus Chrift our Mafter, the great Expofitor of thefe Prophecies, little understood before; and you'll fee it exactly verify'd according to what the Divine, Holy, and Prophe

a Some five thousand, fome three, &c.] The more Curious will find the Chronology of thefe feveral Periods adjufted by Dr. Grabe in his Notes upon this Place.

tick Spirit foretold by Mofes, That a Law-giver fhou'd not depart from Judah,' until Shiloh come; for Judah was the Father of the Jewish Nation, and from whom they took the Name of Jews. But after the Coming of Shiloh, you your felves reign'd over the Jews, and reduc'd their whole Kingdom into a Roman Province; that Part of the Prophecy which fays that unto him fhall the gathering of the People be, or that he shall be the Expectation of the Gentiles, denotes the general Expectation of his fecond Coming; a Truth your own Eyes bear witness to, and the thing proves it felf; for you fee all forts of Men big with the Hopes of his fecond Coming in Glory, who was crucify'd in Judea, after which Crucifixion you immediately became Masters of their whole Country.

XLI. Moreover, the binding his Foal unto the Vine, and washing his Garments in the Blood of Grapes, was a fignificative Symbol of what Christ was to do and fuffer; for there stood the Foal of an Afsty'd to a Vine at the Entrance of a certain Village, which he order'd his Disciples to go and bring him, upon which he got and rode into Jerufalem, where the stately Temple of the Jews then was, which you fince have raz'd to the Ground: And to fulfil the Sequel of the Prophecy, he was afterwards crucify'd. For washing his Garments in the Blood of Grapes, prefigur'd the Paffion he was to undergo, purifying by his Blood fuch as fhou'd believe in him; for what, by the Prophet, the Divine Spirit calls his Garments, are the Faithful, in whom

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whom the Logos, the Seed of God dwells. The Blood of Grapes typifies that he who was to come, fhou'd have Blood, but not of Humane, but of Divine Generation; and the first Power next to God the Father, and Lord of all, is his Son the Logos; but how this Logos was incarnated and made Man, shall be declared in order. But as Man had no Hand in making the Blood of the Grape, but God only, fo this is an Emblem that the Blood of the Logos was of no human Extraction, but defcended from the Power of the most High, as I have already declar'd.

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XLII. Ifaiah, another Prophet, foretels the fame things, but in other Words: There hall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Rod fhall come if. ii. 4. i? forth out of the Root of Jeffe, and to it fall the bid: 1. to. Gentiles feek. Now this fhining Star out of Jacob, and this Rod out of the Root of Jeffe, is Chrift; for he was conceiv'd by the Power of God, and born of a Virgin of the Seed of Jácob, the Father of Judah, from whence arose the Jewish Nation; and Jesse, according to this Ora

• Tò way to bed aségua, i λóf.] I take the Liberty to diffent from Dr. Grabe in this Place, who thinks that ardua ought to be reftor'd in the room of agua, because of the Word olxel, but Chrift is faid to dwell in the Faithful, as well as the holy Spi fit. Κατοικήσαι ἢ χειςὸν διὰ τ πίςιως ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, that Chrift may dwell in your Hearts by Faith, Ephef. cap. 3. v. 17. and in many other Places to the fame purpofe; but moreover, the main Defign of Juftin in this Prophecy, is to eftablifh the divine Generation of Chrift, and therefore he emphatically calls him 70 ώρα το θεῖο σπέρμα, the Seed of God, in Oppofition to ανθρώπειον aigua, the Seed of Man, which immediately he twice repeats in expounding the Blood of the Grape.

Avalene asev i 'Ianw6] See Dr. Grabe's Conjecture upon this Prophecy

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