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quently asserted, that the difficulty of comprehending the mystery can in no wise invalidate the truth of a fact enforced throughout the whole Bible.

CHAP. VIII.

V. 21. Let us go speedily to JEHOVAH of hosts I will go also. nations shall come to seek JEHOVAH of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before JEHOVAH. 23. Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that ELOHIM is with you.

pray before JEHOVAH, and to seek 22. Yea, many people and strong

This quotation is strikingly prophetic of the history of the Gospel, when the Magi came to worship the infant JESUS in the manger, when the fame of him was noised abroad, and above all, when, at his circumcision, it was declared that this child was the Being of whom the prophets had spoken under the designation of "EMMANUEL, which, being interpreted, is God with

us."

MALACH I.

СНАР. І.

V. 10.-I have no pleasure in you, saith JEHOVAH of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hands. 14. Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto ADONI a corrupt thing, for I am a Great King, saith JEHOVAH of host, and my name is dreadful among the nations.

CHAP. III.

V. 13. Your words have been stout against me, saith JEHOVAH. 14. Ye have said, It is vain to serve ELOHIM, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, that we have walked mournfully before JEHOVAH of hosts? 18. Then shall ye return and discern between him that serveth ELOHIM, and him that serveth him not.

CHAP. IV.

JEHOVAH saith, 5. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of JEHOVAH.

This prophecy is universally applied to St. John, which decisively proves that the Evangelist thought that CHRIST was the JEHOVAH, whose great and terrible day St. John came to announce. Nay, our Saviour himself says that St. John "is Elias which was for to come" on this awful occasion.

I hope I have succeeded in my design of proving that the diversity of persons in the Godhead is established, by showing the consistent use which the writers of the Old Testament make of the various appellations appropriated to each, and that the awful Elohim is the Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity, designated in the Litany.

My next peculiar aim has been to show, that our Blessed Saviour was promised to mankind from the earliest times, in prophecies which were not pronounced to feed human curiosity, but which were intended to teach faith in the promises of God, and to excite desires suitable to the expected blessing, and therefore they were always adapted to the exigencies of the times in which they were promulgated.

Thus this awful promise-this august prophecy of the future appearance of our Blessed Saviour on earth -was at first declared obscurely, for as his Advent was to be at a very distant period, it was then unnecessary to particularize minutely the signs that were to precede his coming.

But as the time drew nigh for the incarnation of our Blessed Redeemer, God multiplied his promises, the prophecies became more numerous and explicit, till, as will be seen in the New Testament, the full light of the Gospel shone with meridian splendour, when, at the birth of Christ, the angels sang glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will

to men.

The Prophecies, Psalms, and other Jewish Scriptures all refer to the books of Moses as to a common centre-they all rest upon them as an edifice upon its foundation; and thus the Old Testament forms one beautiful body of evidence, for the several books of which it is composed all support and confirm each other.

We shall find the same design and the same dependence on the same foundation, as we proceed in our examination of the Christian Scriptures.

The Old Testament announces and prophesies the events which the New will be found to verify and accomplish.

In the Bible, therefore, we have, as it were, all the proofs, records, facts, and motives congregated together, to convince our reason that the whole was written by divine inspiration; and surely we are bound not only to believe its contents, but also to obey implicitly whatever commands or precepts it may

enforce.

ST. MATTHEW.

CHAP. I.

V. 23.-Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name IMMANUEL, which, being interpreted, is GoD with us.

ISA. Ch. vii. V. 14.-ADONI himself will give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name IM

MANUEL.

Is not this a corroborative fulfilment of the denunciation which JEHOVAH ELOHIM pronounced against the serpent, when he said

GEN. iii. V. 15.—I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

CHAP. II.

The wise men came from the east, saying, V. 2. Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

NUMB. Ch. xxiv. V. 17.-There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

And Herod was troubled, and demanded where CHRIST should be born. 5. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet.

MICAH, Ch. V. V. 2.-But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

This prophecy of Micah ought to have taught the Jews to see the Ruler, or King, of the Jews in the infant JESUS, that was then born in Bethlehem.

E

But as the time drew nigh for the incarnation of our Blessed Redeemer, God multiplied his promises, the prophecies became more numerous and explicit, till, as will be seen in the New Testament, the full light of the Gospel shone with meridian splendour, when, at the birth of Christ, the angels sang glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will

to men.

The Prophecies, Psalms, and other Jewish Scriptures all refer to the books of Moses as to a common centre-they all rest upon them as an edifice upon its foundation; and thus the Old Testament forms one beautiful body of evidence, for the several books of which it is composed all support and confirm each other.

We shall find the same design and the same dependence on the same foundation, as we proceed in our examination of the Christian Scriptures.

The Old Testament announces and prophesies the events which the New will be found to verify and accomplish.

In the Bible, therefore, we have, as it were, all the proofs, records, facts, and motives congregated together, to convince our reason that the whole was written by divine inspiration; and surely we are bound not only to believe its contents, but also to obey implicitly whatever commands or precepts it may

enforce.

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