xxxiii. 2, 3, &c. "If the people take a man and set him for their watchman; if he blow the trumpet, and warn the people," &c. Particularly it is so represented in the prophecies of the Messiah's times. Isai. xxvii. 13. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come that were ready to perish," &c. Psa. lxxxix. 15. "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." God destroyed the host of Midian by setting every man's sword against his fellow. Agreeably to this is Hag. ii. 22. "And the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother." Ezek. xxxviii. 14. “Every man's sword shall be against his brother." Gideon led captivity captive agreeably to Psa. lxviii. He led those kings and princes in chains that before had taken them captives; agreeably to Psa. cxlix. 7-9. "To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people: to bind their kings in chains and their nobles with fetters of iron: to execute upon them the judgment written. This honour have all the saints."

There is a no less remarkable agreement between the things said of Samson in his history, and the things said of the Messiah in the prophecies of him. His name Samson signifies Little Sun, well agreeing with a type of the Messiah, that Great Sun of righteousness, so often compared in the prophecies to the sun. The antitype is far greater than the type, as being its end. Therefore, when the type is called by the name of the antitype, it is fitly with a diminutive termination. Samson and other saviours under the Old Testament, that were types of the great Saviour, were but little saviours. The prophets, priests, kings, captains, and deliverers of the Old Testament, were indeed images of the great light of the church and the world that was to follow. But they were but images: they were little lights, that shone during the night. But when Christ came, the great light arose and introduced the day. Samson's birth was miraculous; it was a great wonder in his case, that a woman should "compass a man," the prophecies represent it to be in the case of the birth of the Messiah. Samson was raised up to be a saviour to God's people from their enemies, agreeably to prophetical representations of the Messiah. Samson was appointed to this great work by God's special election and designation, and that in an eminent and extraordinary way, agreeably to the prophecies of the Messiah. Samson was a Nazarite from the womb. The word Nazarite signifies separated. This denotes holiness and purity. The Nazarite was, with very great and extraordinary care and strictness indeed, to abstain from the least legal defilement; as appears by Num. vi. 6; and the reason is given in the Sth verse. "All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord;" and

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with the utmost strictness he was to abstain from wine and strong drink, and every thing that appertained in any respect to the fruit of the vine; wine being the liquor that was especially the object of the carnal appetites of men. And he was to suffer no razor to come upon his head, any way to alter what he was by nature, because that would defile it, as the lifting up a tool to hew the stones of the altar would defile it. The design of those institutions concerning the Nazarite, about his hair and about wine is declared, Num. vi. 5." He shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair grow." This sanctity of the Nazarite representing a perfect holiness both negative and positive, is spoken of in Lam. iv. 7. "Her Nazarites were purer than snow: they were whiter than milk they were more ruddy in body than rubies: their polishing was of sapphire." Therefore Samson's being a Nazarite from the womb, remarkably represents that perfect innocence and purity, and transcendent holiness of nature, and life in the Messiah, which the prophecies often speak of. The great things that Samson wrought for the deliverance of Israel and the overthrow of their enemies, was not by any natural strength of his, but by the special influence and extraordinary assistance of the Spirit of God, Judg. xiii. 25, and xiv. 6. 19, and xv. 14. xvi. 20; agreeably to many prophecies I have already observed of the Messiah's being anointed and filled with God's Spirit, and being upheld, and helped, and strengthened, and succeeded by God. Samson married a Philistine, and all the women that he loved were of that people that were his great enemies. Agreeably to those prophecies that represent the Messiah as marrying an alien from the commonwealth of Israel: as Ps. xlv. : and his marrying one that was the daughter of the accursed people of Canaan, Ezek. xvi. 3. 8, &c., together with the latter end of the chapter, and the many prophecies that speak of Christ's calling the Gentiles and his saving sinners. Samson was a person of exceeding great strength; herein he is like the Messiah, as he is represented, Ps. lxxxix. 19. "I have laid help on one that is mighty." Ps. xlv. 3. "Gird on thy sword on thy thigh, O most mighty, in thy glory and in thy majesty." Isai. lxiii. 1. "Who is this-travelling in the greatness of hisstrength?" When Samson was going to take his wife, a young lion roared against him. So the enemies of the Messiah and his people are compared to a lion roaring upon him, gaping with his mouth ready to devour him. Ps. xxii. 13. " They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion." Ver. 21. "Save me from the lion's mouth." Samson rent the lion as the lion would have rent the kid; which is agreeable to the prophecies which represent the Messiah destroying his enemies as a strong lion devouring his prey. Gen. xlix. 9, &c., and the many prophecies that speak of his punishing leviathan

with his great, and sore, and strong sword, his mightily and dreadfully destroying his enemies, treading them down as the mire, treading them in his anger and trampling them in his fury, sprinkling his raiment with their blood, &c. Samson is fed with honey out of the carcase of the lion, which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the glorious benefits of the Messiah's conquest over his enemies, to himself and his people, his own ascension, glory and kingdom, and the glory of his people. Samson made a feast on occasion of his marriage, which is agrecable to Isai. xxv. 6. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things; a feast of wines on the lees of fat things, full of marrow; of wines on the lees well refined." Isai. lxv. 13, 14. " My servants shall eat-my servants shall drink-my servants shall rejoice-my servants shall sing for joy of heart;" and innumerable prophecies that speak of the great plenty and joy of God's people in the Messiah's times; and this accompanying the Messiah's marriage with his spiritual spouse. See Isai. Ixii. 4, 5. 7-9, and Hos. ii. 19-22, and Cant. ii. 4, and v. 1. When Samson visited his wife with a kid, he was rejected, and her younger sister, that was fairer than she, given to him; Judg. xv. 2. Which is agreeable to what the prophecies represent of the Messiah's coming to the Jews first, when he was offered up as a lamb or kid, and making the first offer of the glorious benefits of his sacrifice to them, and their rejecting him, and the calling of the Gentiles, and the more glorious and beautiful state of the Gentile church than of the ancient Jewish church. In Judg. xvi. 1, 2, we have an account how Samson loved an harlot, and from his love to her exposed himself to be compassed round by his enemies. So the prophecies represent the Messiah as loving a sinful people, and from love seeking such a people to be his spouse, as that which occasions his suffering from his enemies. Isia. iii. taken with the following chapter. Samson, while his enemies are compassing him round, to destroy him, rises from sleep, and from midnight darkness, and takes away the strength and fortification of the city of his enemies, the gate of the city, which his enemies shut and barred fast upon him to confine him, and the two posts, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill. Judg. xvi. 3. So the prophecies represent the Messiah, when compassed round by his enemies, rising from the sleep of death, and emerging out of the thick darkness of his sorrows and sufferings, spoiling his enemies, and ascending into heaven, and leading captivity captive. Samson was betrayed and sold by Delilah, his false spouse or companion. So the prophecies do represent the Messiah as sold by his false and treacherous people. Samson was delivered up into the hands of his enemies, and was mocked and derided, and very cruelly treat

ed by them; agreeably to what is foretold of the Messiah. Samson died partly through the cruelty and murderous malice of his enemies, and partly from his own act: agreeably to what is foretold of the Messiah. Ibid. 51. 58, 59. 72. Samson at his death destroyed his enemies, and the destruction he made of his enemies was chiefly at his death; which is agreeable to Isai. liii. 10-12, and Ps. lxviii. 18. Samson overthrew the temple of Dagon, which is agreeable to what the prophecies say of the Messiah's overthrowing idols and idol worship in the world. Samson destroyed his enemies suddenly in the midst of their triumph over him, so that their insulting him in the prospect of his destruction, instantly issues in their own destruction; agreeably to Isai. xxix. 5-8.

There is a yet a more remarkable, manifest and manifold agreement between the things said of David in his history, and the things said of the Messiah in the prophecies. His name David signifies beloved, as the prophecies do represent the Messiah as in a peculiar and transcendent manner the beloved of God. David was God's elect in an eminent manner. Saul was the king whom the people chose. 1 Sam. viii. 18, and xii. 13. But David was the king whom God chose, one whom he found and pitched upon according to his own mind, without any concern of man in the affair, and contrary to what men would have chosen. When Jesse caused all his elder sons to pass before Samuel, God said concerning one and another of them, "The Lord hath not chosen this;" neither hath the Lord chosen this, &c. See 1 Chron. xxviii. 4. There David says, "The Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father, to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel." See Psa. lxxviii. 67-90, and lxxxix. 3. "I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my servant, agreeably to Isai. xlii. 1. "Mine elect," &c. 49. "And he shall choose thee." He was a king of God's finding and providing, and he speaks of him as his king. 1 Sam xvi. 1. "I will send thee to Jesse for I have provided me a king among his sons." 2 Sam. xxii. 51. "He is the tower of salvation for his king." Agreeably to Psa. ii. "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." He is spoken of as a man after God's own heart, and one in whom God delighted. 2 Sam. xxii. 20. "He delivered me because he delighted in me;" agreeably to Isai. xlii. 1. "Behold my servant whom I uphold; mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." David was in a very eminent manner God's anointed, or Messiah, (as the word is,) and is so spoken of, Ps. xxii. 51. "He showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David ;" and xxiii. 1, "David, the

son of Jesse ;- the man who was raised upon high, the anointed of the God of Jacob." Ps. lxxxix. 19, 20. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people; I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him." Samuel anointed him with peculiar solemnity. 1 Sam. xvi. 13. See how this agrees with the prophecies of the Messiah. David's anointing remarkably agrees with what the prophecies say of the anointing of the Messiah, which speak of him as a being anointed with the Spirit of God. So David was anointed with the Spirit of God, at the same time that he was anointed with oil. 1 Sam. xvi. 13. "And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." David is spoken of as being a poor man, of a low family, and in mean circumstances. 1 Sam. xviii. 23. "I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed." 2 Sam. vii. 18. "Who am I? and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" Agreeably to this, it is said of the Messiah in the prophecies, that he was a root out of a dry ground; that he was a low tree. David is spoken of as an eminently holy person, a man after God's own heart. He is spoken of in the history of the kings of Judah, as one whose heart was perfect with the Lord his God; 1 Kings xi. 4; one that went fully after the Lord; 1 Kings xi. 6; one that did that that was right in the eyes of the Lord. 1 Kings xv. 11. 2 Kings xviii. 3. 2 Chron. xxviii. 1, and xxix. 2. He is spoken of as pure, upright, and righteous; one that had clean hands; that kept the ways of the Lord, and did not wickedly depart from God; 2 Sam. xxii. 21-27. This agrees with what is said in the prophecies of the Messiah. David was the youngest son of Jesse; as the Messiah in the prophecies is spoken of as coming in the latter days. He has frequently the appellation of God's servant. It would be endless to mention all the places: see them in the Concordance under the word servant DAVID. So has the Messiah often this appellation in the prophecies. Isai. xlii. 1—19, xlix. 3—6, lii. 13, liii. 11. Zech. iii. 8. David's outward appearance was not such as would have recommended him to the esteem and choice of men, as a person fit for rule and victory, but, on the contrary, such as tended to cause men to despise him as a candidate for such things; 1 Sam. xvi. 7. "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature- -for man looketh on the outward appearance; but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Sam. xxii. 42. "And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth. Ver. 56. " Inquire whose son this stripling is." Eliab, his elder brother, thought him fitter to be with the sheep, than to come to the army. 1 Sam. xvii. 28. Agreeably to Isai. liii. 2, "He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we