V.

Salvation is the next fign and token DIS C. which Zechariah hath given us, whereby to know the King of Zion. "He is just, " and having Salvation." He was to execute that part of the regal office, which confifteth in rescuing a people from their oppreffors. Whoever reads the history of Ifrael, finds it to contain an account of many Saviours, raised up, at fundry times, for this purpose. Such were Mofes, Barak, Gideon, Sampfon, and many more in the ages after them. But no one of thefe was "He that should come." They, like the legal priests, 66 were not fuffered to con"tinue, by reason of death;" the church was still taught to "look for another" and a more glorious Saviour, in the latter days; the prophecies were full of the great Salvation which he fhould effect; fo great, that, in comparifon of it, former deliverances were not to be mentioned, unless as fhadows and faint resemblances of that grand and complete one. At the time appointed, Jefus of Nazareth appeared in this character, and brought his credentials with him,

K 3

DISC. him, the authenticity of which was fairly V. allowed by a master in Ifrael: "No man

"can do these miracles that thou doeft, ex"" cept God were with him." At the birth of Chrift, an herald from heaven proclaimed him to the shepherds by this ftyle and title. "" Behold, I bring you good tidings "of great joy, which shall be to all peo

st

ple. For unto you is born this day, in "the city of David, a SAVIOUR." And if tidings of Salvation are not tidings of joy, what tidings can be fuch? The greater the Salvation, the greater ought to be the joy. And what is the deliverance of a fingle people from a temporal adversary, when compared with the Salvation of the whole world from the oppreffion of the fpiritual enemy; from fin, and fickness, and forrow, and pain, and death, and hell? This was the falvation which Jesus undertook to effect; and his miracles declared him equal to the mighty tafk. He forgave fin, he healed ficknefs, he difpelled forrow, he removed pain, he raised the dead, he caft out devils. Had not the prophet reafon

reason to cry out, Rejoice greatly, O DISC. "daughter of Zion; fhout, O daughter

" of Jerufalem; behold, thy King, behold,

thy righteous Saviour cometh unto thee?" But the daughter of Zion would have shut her gates against this righteous Saviour ; the daughter of Jerufalem renounced her part and portion in fuch Salvation. She had fet her heart upon being great in this world, whereas Chrift came to make her fo in another. And whenever Chriftians fhall refemble Jews in the turn of their affections, whenever they shall regard religion only as a means of aggrandizing themfelves upon earth, in their hearts they will entertain the fame notion of the Salvation of Jefus, and the fame contempt for it, that the Jews did. But let the fufferings of Jerufalem warn us, that we fhare not in her guilt, left we share alfo in her punishment, and come into the fame condemnation. We acknowlege for our Saviour the person whom Ifrael rejected. Let us not mistake the nature of his Salvation. "He "fhall be called JESUS," faith the angel

V.

DISC. to his holy mother, "for he fhall fave his

As the Salvation to be wrought by King Meffiah was to be fo different from that wrought by all other kings and conquerors, different likewife was to be his appearance and demeanour. "Behold, thy King com"eth unto thee; he is juft, and having "falvation, lowly, and riding on an afs." This is demonftration against the Jews, that how great foever, in the end, the external glory of Meffiah is to be (and neither they nor we can set that too high), yet he was once to vifit his people in great humility; he was to appear, at his first advent, in a state of humiliation. ture of his undertaking required it, and their own law and prophets are clear and exprefs upon the fubject. Though God, he was to become man; "A virgin fhall "conceive, and bear a fon, and they shall "call his name IMMANUEL, which is, being interpreted, GOD WITH US." He

i Matt. i. 21.

The na

k Ifai. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.

was

was to be "a man of forrows, and ac- DISC.

quainted with grief;" a man without "form or comelinefs'," without the glare of outward fplendor to recommend him; "his vifage," on the contrary, by fuffering affliction, was to be "marred more than 66 any man, and his form more than the "fons of men"." He was to keep the law, and to die for fin. "Sacrifice and of

fering thou wouldest not-burnt offering " and fin offering haft thou not required. 66 Then faid I, lo I come in the volume "of the book it is written of me; I de

light to do thy will, O my God; yea,

thy law is within my heart". He made "his foul an offering for fin; he was cut "off out of the land of the living; he "made his grave with the rich." If words can render any thing plain, it is plain from these paffages, that Meffiah was to be an humble and a fuffering character. The types and the prophecies are as pofitive for his humiliation, as they are for his exalta

1 Ifai. liü.

" Pf. xl. 7. Heb. x. 7.

m Ifai. lii. 14.

• Ifai. liii.

V.