earth should know the majesty of the Lord mentioned in the preceding expreffions. Befides that tranfcendent dignity is included in the words, y 2. about the fingular honour redounding to Bethlehem above the thoufands of Judah, from this great perfon's coming out of it. It makes this complex defcription ftill more fpecial and circumftantial, that with all thofe characters of dignity, glory, and exaltation, characters of humiliation are mixed in very remarkable expreffions, y 1. intimating, that no circumftance of this perfon's fufferings, not even his being "fmitten on the cheek," could be too inconfiderable to be matter of infpired prediction. What is faid about his coming out of Bethlehem has a remarkable conformity with the predictions about the Meffiah's defcending from the houfe of David; and alfo fuppofes, as to the time of the event in view, that it would happen during the fubfiftence, not only of Bethlehem, but of the thousands of Judah; in comparifon of which, Bethlehem is mentioned as a little and defpicable place, though fingularly honoured above them all by this ruler's coming out of it. So that this fhort prediction contains, in a few words, a confiderable number of the distinguishing characters of the Meffiah, relating to his perfon, office, benefits, incomparable dignity; his humiliation, his work in enlightening the ends of the earth, and in being the great fhepherd of God's flock; and the time of his coming, as well as the place of his birth. When we compare the prediction with the gospel-history, to which all the above characters prove that it agrees truly and peculiarly, befides the Jews declaring to Herod, that they understood this prediction of their Meffiah, it is remarkable, that the decree of the Roman Emperor, which brought Jofeph and Mary from their ordinary refidence to Bethlehem at the time of Chrift's birth, had been given out fome time before fo that it may be reckoned one end

of.

of providence, not excluding other ends, in retarding the execution of that decree in thefe parts fo long, that it might be a means of accomplishing this prophecy.

IV. In proving the gofpel-interpretation of If. vii. 14. it is needful to obferve, that it can be fhewn from the context, that y 15. is not meant of Immanuel, but of Shearjafhub, Ifaiah's own child; whom the prophet may reafonably be fuppofed to point to, in faying thefe words, "For (or Yea) be"fore the child (or this child) fhall know-" (for fo these particles may be, and by fome are rendered): becaufe God having commanded the prophet to take that child along with him, y 3. that divine command cannot be in vain; which it would be, unless 15. be meant of that child, there being nothing elfe in the chapter applicable to him: And it is one of the most reafonable rules of interpretation, that when a text, confidered by itfelf, is capable of two meanings; if one of them is inconfiftent with the context, or infers an abfurdity in the context, which the other does not, the meaning which infers fuch abfurdity or inconfiftency is to be rejected, and the other to be preferred. This removes one chief difficulty against the gofpel-interpretation of this text. -Another difficulty is, that the birth of the Meffiah being an event at a distance, could not be a fit fign of what the prophet is fpeaking of to Ahaz. But this difficulty is at leaft as ftrong against the Jewith meaning of the text.

A young woman's conceiving and bearing a fon, in the ordinary way, and calling him by what name fhe pleafes, or is advifed to, cannot be a fign of any thing that would be otherwife doubtful, if the word fign fignify a proof. It is certain, that befides the figns which are intended as proofs, (as the figns given to Gi leon, and to Zechariah, the Baptift's father), the prophets fometimes gave figns, which, without containing proofs, were intended to excite atten

tion, and to fortify the prefent impreffion of things foretold; of which kind are the figns mentioned lf. xx. The birth, and the name of Immanuel, by the Jewish interpretation, cannot be a sign merely of this kind; because it was a thing still future, as well as the event to which it is fuppofed to excite attention, as it could not be a probative fign, having nothing in it that is any way fingular. By the Chriftian intepretation, applying the prediction to the Meffiah, it was a very real and fingular fign, or proof, of God's fpecial care of that people, and of the continuance of their civil polity, till Shiloh fhould come, and a fign fit to relieve and encourage God's people among them, amidst the fears mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. To fhew that, in the ftyle of the Old Teftament, a future event is fometimes called a fign, in a different meaning from what is most commonly apprehended, fee Exod. iii. 12.

Others have proved at length, that the word in the text rendered virgin, is juftly fo rendered; as indeed it annihilates the fign or wonder to give that word another meaning. The character of Immanuel, born of a virgin, has a fingular conformity with the myfterious characters given of the Meffiah in other prophecies, as a divine perfon incarnate, who was not only to affume human nature, but to affume it in its lowest and most imperfect ftate; which is implied in the predictions relating to his extraction, and more directly afferted in the next chapter but one to this 7th of Ifaiah, If. ix. 6. And though the miraculous character of being born of a virgin, does not of itfelf infer the far more myfterious character of a divine perfon incarnate, yet the latter of these characters neceffarily includes the former. Befides that this character of miraculous conception has a fingular conformity to the words of the first promife about the feed of the woman; a title not applicable to any that come to the world

3.

in the ordinary way, neither according to the style of fcripture, or common language, or any propriety of words. To which we may add, that when it is foretold in Jer.xxxi. which treats of the times of the Meffiah, and of the new covenant in the last days, that "a woman should compass a man ;" and when attention is folemnly demanded to this, as the creating of a new thing on the earth; by the common rule of interpretation, That parallel places, fome of which speak more obfcurely, and others more clearly, of the fame fubject, fhould be improved for explaining and confirming one another, these two paffages in Genefis and Jeremiah confirm the gospelinterpretation of this prediction in Isaiah.

After this 7th of Ifaiah has mentioned a child that was to be born of a virgin, to be called Immanuel, and to be a fingular fign of God's favour to his people, the very next chapter, y 8. fpeaks of the fame child by the fame name, as one from whom the land of Ifrael fhould receive the denomination of Immanuel's land; plainly denoting fome fingular importance in the prediction concerning him, and implying, in the most literal fenfe, that he fhould be, in a peculiar manner, the proprietor of that land. In the 9th chapter, y 6. there is another paffage, the clearest of all, concerning an extradinary child, to whom fuch fingular characters are afcribed, as imply, that he fhould be Immanuel in the strictest and highest sense of the word, and fhould be born in a miraculous way, and fhould alfo be the true proprietor of the land of Ifrael. Such paffages in three contiguous chapters, all relating to an extraordinary child, and evidently parallel, fhew, that if the first of these paffages is of itself fomewhat obfcure, the reft contain a key to it, efpecially when compared with the other prophecies juft now mentioned. All which is farther confirmed by this plain remark, that if we should receive

the

the Jewish interpretation, (I mean that of the modern Jews), this prediction, fo far as we read in fcripture, was never fulfilled.

Whereas the obfcurity that appears in this prediction, does not lie fo much in the words of the prediction itself, as in its relation or connection with the context, and the most obvious scope of it; befides that this difficulty is proved to be stronger against any other interpretation than that given in the gofpel, it fhould be observed, that it is suitable to the most just rules of connection, to take occafion, from prefent objects of lefs importance, to fpeak of more important objects that are diftant and future, if these present objects have any particular resemblance or analogy to them: and if the characters of the Meffiah be of that importance, as to prove, that, in effect, it could never be out of feafon to put God's people in mind of him; much less could it be out of feafon to speak of his birth and childhood, when mention is made of other children as prophetic figns of divine favour, protection, and deliverance, as in the paffage in view. But of the feeming obfcurity of prophetic conection, it is intended to speak more afterwards; mean time, what is faid fhews, that, by all the most uncontested rules of interpretation, whether we confider the most natural meaning of the words, or fcope of the foregoing and following context, or parallel places, that fpeak either of one to whom the name of Immanuel may be moft ftrictly applicable, or of a conception and birth that must be fuppofed to be extraordinary and fupernatural, the gofpel-meaning must be the true meaning, and the only reasonable meaning that can be put on this remarkable text.

V. The prophecies concerning the family of which the Meffiah was to defcend, fome of the chief of which have been confidered formerly, grow gradually more clear and particular, as the time of his