"our faces from him. He was defpifed, and we efteemed him not; "furely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our forrows: yet we did " esteem him ftricken, fmitten of God, and afflicted. But he was "wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities: "the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes "we are healed. All we like sheep have gone aftray: we have turned ઠંડ every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the ini"quity of us all. He was oppreffed, and he was afflicted, yet he "opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the flaughter;' "and as a fheep before her fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his "mouth.' He was taken from * prison and from judgment: and "who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the "land of the living;' for the tranfgreffion of my people he was ftricken. • And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his "death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in "his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruife him, he hath put "him to grief: when thou fhalt make his foul an offering for fin, he "fhall fee his feed, he fhall prolong his days, and the pleasure of "the Lord fhall profper in his hand. He fhall fee of the travel of his "foul, and shall be fatisfied: by his knowledge fhall my righteous " fervant justify many; for he fhall bear their iniquities. Therefore "will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the "fpoil with the ftrong; because he poured out his foul unto death, "and he was numbered with the tranfgreffors,' and he bare the fin "of many, and made interceffion for the tranfgreffors." It is impoffible for any one, who is the leaft acquainted with the hiftory of Chrift, not to perceive many circumftances of his life, his fufferings and his death, plainly pointed at in this prophecy; and indeed fo apparently and fo completely was it fulfilled in Chrift, that the later Rabbins, to avoid the conclufions which the Chriftians might draw from this and other prophecies in favour of the Gospel, have invented a distinction of a double Meffias; "one + who was to redeem (6 us, and another who was to fuffer for us: for they fay, that there 66 are two several perfons promised under the name of the Meffias; one "of the tribe of Ephraim, the other of the tribe of Judah; one the "son of Joseph, the other the son of David; the one to precede, fight, " and fuffer death; the other to follow, conquer, reign, and never to "die." But Bifhop Pearfon, from whom I have borrowed this remark, has clearly fhewed this diftinction to be not only falfe in itfelf, but advantageous to the Chriftian faith, as admitting a fuffering Meffias to be foretold by the Prophets; and has alfo proved, that the ancient Rabbins did understand this fifty-third chapter of Isaiah to be a description of the Meffias, without any intimation of a double Meffias, an invention introduced by the modern Jews, to favour their vain expectations of a temporal prince and deliverer. Bb 4 *The margin of the Bible has it," he was taken away by diftrefs and judgment," For For what is farther to be confidered out of the other prophecies, and especially the Pfalms, relating to this fubject, I cannot do better than to give it to the reader in the words of the fame Bishop Pearson, whose observations upon the feveral articles concerning the fufferings, &c. of Jefus, I would with him to confider.. "All which [the predictions of his fufferings, and particularly "this fifty-third chapter of Ifaiab, compared with his life] if we look upon in the grofs, we must acknowledge it fulfilled in him [Jefus] to the highest degree imaginable, that he was a man of lorrows and acquainted with grief. But if we compare the particular pre"dictions with the hiftorical paffages of his fufferings, if we join the "prophets and evangelifts together, it will moft manifeftly appear "the Melias was to fuffer nothing which Chrift hath not suffered. "If Zachary fayt, they weighed for my price thirty pieces of fil"ver; St. Matthew I will fhew, that Judas fold Jefus at the fame rate; for the chief priests" covenanted with him for thirty pieces of filver. If Ifaiah fay that he was wounded;' if Zachary, they fhall look upon me whom they have pierced;' if the prophet "David yet more particularly**, they pierced my hands and my "feet; the evangelifts will fhew how he was faftened to the cross, and Jefus himself ++ the print of the nails.' If the Pfalmift tells us, they fhould laugh him to fcorn, and shake their head, faying, He trufted in the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, faying he delighted in him;' St. Matthew will defcribe "the fame action, and the fame expreffions: for $$ they that paffed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and faying, He trufted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him; for he said, I am the fon of God,' Let David fay, My God, my God, why "haft thou forfaken me?' and the fon of David will fhew in whofe "perfon the Father fpoke it, 'Eli,Eli, lama fabacthani?'*** Let Ifaiah εσ 86 < foretell +++He was numbered with the tranfgreffors,' and you fhall find him‡‡‡ crucified between two thieves, one on his right"hand, the other on his left.' Read in the Pfalmift §§§, in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink;' and you fhall find in the evangelift, Jefus, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, faid, I thirst; **** and they took a fponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.' Read farther yet ††††, they part my garments among them, and caft lots upon my vefture and to fulfil the prediction, the foldiers fhall make good the dif tinction, who took his garments, and made four parts, to every foldier a part, and alfo his coat: now the coat was without feam, woven from the top throughout. They faid therefore "amongit themfelves, let us not rend it, but caft lots for it, whose it fhall be.' Laftly, let the prophets teach us, that he fhall 86 "be brought like a lamb to the flaughter, and be cut off out of "the land of the living;' all the evangelifts will declare how like a "lamb he fuffered, and the very Jews will acknowledge that he was "cut off." These inftances, I imagine, are fufficient to fhew, that according to the prophets, "thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to die." That his burial alfo, and his refurrection, were in like manner foretold, will appear by the following paffages. Ifaiah, in the above-quoted chapter, ver. 9. fpeaks of his burial in thefe words," and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the "rich in his death," the circumftantial accomplishment of which is too remarkable not to be taken notice of. * The power of life and death had been taken from the Jews, and lodged in the hands of the Roman governor, from the time that Auguftus annexed Judea to the province of Syria; which was done fome years after the birth of Chrift. The chief priefts therefore and rulers of the Jews were obliged to apply to Pontius Pilate, not only to put Jefus to death, but for leave to take down his body and thofe of the two malefactors executed with him, "that they might not remain 66 upon the cross on the Sabbath-day." For among the Romans (with whom crucifixion was the ufual capital punishment for flaves, robbers, &c. under the degree of Roman citizens), it was cuftomary to let the carcass hang on the crofs till it was either confumed by time or devoured by birds and beafts. Upon a petition, however, of the executed perfon's friends or relations, leave to bury them was feldom or never refufed; and hence Pilate without any difficulty yielded to the application of the Jews for taking down the bodies, and gave permiffion to Jofeph of Arimathea to bury that of Jefus. What became of the bodies of the two thieves after they were taken down from the crofs, is not mentioned by any of the evangelifts. That they were buried is almoft certain; because not only the cuftom of the Jews, but the exprefs words of Mofes †, required, "If a man have committed "fin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body fhall not remain all night upon the tree, but "thou fhalt in any wife bury him that day, that thy land be not de"filed." Which precept was doubtlefs the reafon of their petitioning Pilate to have the bodies taken from the cross that day, enforced by the additional confideration of the particular folemnity and fanctity of the pafchal fabbath then immediately enfuing. And that they were buried in or near the place of crucifixion is, I think, most probable, for the following reafons. First, the place where they were executed was called Golgotha, i. e. " a place of a skull," a name in all like, lihood derived to it from the number of fkulls which (if it was the ufual place of execution, as from this inftance it is moft reasonable to conclude it was) might frequently have been found there, either fallen from bodies left to putrefy on the crofs, or turned up by the opening the ground for fuch malefactors as the governor permitted to be buried. Secondly, <6 66 See Pearfon on the Creed, art. 4: † Deut. xxi. 22-23• Matth. xxvii. 23, Secondly, the pafchal fabbath was drawing on apace. For as among the Jews the day was always reckoned to commence from the evening, fo, for the greater caution, were they accustomed to begin the fabbatical reft from all kind of work an hour before fun-fet; but on this day, which was the preparation of the paffover, the holy hours (if I may fo fpeak) began still earlier; because the † pafchal-lambs were always flain between the ninth and eleventh hours, within which space of time the whole multitude of Jews repaired to the temple ‡, where alone the paffover was killed, and having there offered the blood and entrails of the pafchal victims, they brought back the remaining carcass to drefs and eat it at their homes, according to the Mofaical inftitution. The Jews could not then be much preffed in time, for the ninth hour was begun before our Saviour expired; and the foldiers corning after that time to the two malefactors, found them not yet dead; and therefore, by a cruel kind of mercy to put an end to a painful life, and to dispatch them the more fpeedily, broke their Jegs, the Coup de Grace obtained for.thofe miferable wretches of the Roman governor by the Jews, and intended likewife for him, who, though innocent, and delivered up by their malice to that infamous and horrid death, yet, with a benevolence and generosity unparalleled, interceded for them even upon the cross, in thefe compaffionate terms, "Father, § forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Now as Jefus, and confequently the two thieves, did not expire till after the ninth hour, as the Jews were obliged to repair to the temple before the eleventh hour, at the expiration of which the fabbatical reft from all kinds of work began; and as they were folicitous that the bodies fhould be taken down and buried before the commencement of that high and folemn day; it is moft likely they buried them at or near the place where they were crucified; because they had not time to carry them to any great diftance; becaufe Golgotha, from its name, feems to have been a place of burial for those who had been executed there; and because the want of time is the very reafon given in the evangelift for laying the body of Jefus in the fepulchre of Jofeph of Arimathæa, which was near adjoining, as St. John tells us in these words: now in the place where he was crucified there was a gar"den, and in this garden a new fepulchre, wherein was never man "yet laid." There laid they Jefus therefore, because of the Jews preparation, for the fepulchre was nigh at hand. Here then we may fee and admire the exact completion of this famous prophecy of Ifaiah: "he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in "his death." He was buried like the wicked companions of his death under the general leave granted to the Jews for taking down their bodies from the cross; and was like them buried in or near the place of execution. But here the diftinction, foreseen and foretold many hundred years before, took place in favour of Jefus, who, though "num"bered with the tranfgreffors, had done no violence, neither was "there any deceit in his mouth :" for Jofeph of Arimathæa **, “a "rich 66 Grotius, ad ver. 58. 27. Mat. Luke xxiii. 34. +Ibid. xxvi. Mat. 2. Lamy, Differt. de Pafch. || Ch. xix. 41, 42. ** Mat. xxvii. 57. Mark xv. 43. "rich man, and an honourable counfellor, and Nicodemus *, a "man of the Pharifees, a ruler of the Jews, a mafter of Ifrael, con"fpired + to make his grave with the rich, by wrapping his body in "linen-clothes, with a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hun"dred pound weight, and laying it in a new fepulchre" hewed or hollowed into a rock, which Jofeph of Arimathæa had caused to be made for his own ufe; circumftances which evidently fhew, that he was not only buried by the rich, but like the rich alfo according to the prophecy. The words of David ‡ foretelling the refurrection of Chrift, together with St. Peter's comment upon them, I fhall infert entire as they stand in the second chapter of the Acts, the 25th and following verses. "For David fpeaketh concerning him, I forefaw the Lord always "before my face; for he is on my right-hand, that I fhould not be "moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flefh fhall reft in hope, because thou wilt not "leave my foul in hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thine holy one to fee corruption. Thou haft made known to me the ways of life; "thou fhalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and "brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that "he is both dead and buried, and his fepulchre is with us unto this "day; therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had fworn "with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to "the flesh, he would raise up Chrift to fit upon his throne; he feeing "this before, fpake of the refurrection of Chrift, that his foul was "not left in hell, neither his flesh did fee corruption." The apostle's reafoning was very well underftood by the Jews, and fo convincing, that "three thousand fouls were that day added" to the church, and baptized into the faith of Chrift. His argument ftands thus. You acknowledge David to be a prophet, who under his own person often spake of the Meffiah. To the Meffiah therefore belong these words; "thou shalt not leave my foul [life] in hell "[hades, the grave]; neither fhalt || thou fuffer thy holy one to fee "corruption;" because they are by no means applicable to David, who it is not pretended ever rofe from the dead: on the contrary, he was buried, and his body remained and putrefied in his fepulchre, which is with us even to this day." But by divine illumination he forefaw that the Meffiah, or Chrift, who according to the flesh was to defcend from him, fhould be raifed up from the dead, to "fit upon "his throne," i. e. to reign like him over the people of God; and therefore he foretold the refurrection of Chrift in words moft exactly fulfilled in Jefus, who rofe alive out of the grave in fo fhort a time after his death, that "he faw no corruption," whereof, adds he, we are witnesses." Concerning these words no other queftion can be raised, than whether they relate to the Meffiah, for to David moft certainly they can never be applied. If they relate to the Meffiah, then was Jefus the Meffiah ; • John xix. 39, 40. + Ifa. liii. 9. Pfal. xvi. 8, &c. § Acts ii. 41. |