SERMON XXVI.

JOHN, i. 45.

WE HAVE FOUND HIM, OF WHOM MOSES IN THE

LAW AND THE PROPHETS DID WRITE

OF NAZARETH, THE SON OF JOSEPH.

JESUS

JESUS had called Philip to be his disciple. Philip, rejoiced to find a person, who appeared marked by the prophets as the Shiloh of Moses the Branch of Isaiah the Holy One of David -and the Messiah of Daniel-could not enjoy the important discovery alone, but went to Nathaniel, a pious friend, to whom he imparted it; "We have found him," said he, " of whom "Moses and the prophets did write-Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph."

Nathaniel, it seems, was not quite so easy of belief. It occurred immediately to him, that Bethlehem

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lehem, not Nazareth, was marked by the prophet, as the birth-place of the Messiah, Can that good thing, said he, or that great personage (for so it might be translated) come out of Nazareth? Philip, not able to answer the difficulty on the spot, desired Nathaniel to go with him to Jesus. The difficulty, it is probable, was immediately removed; for it appeared that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and not at Nazareth but what tended chiefly to fix Nathaniel's faith, was, his learning from Jesus a private circumstance of his own life. Before Philip called thee, said Jesus, I saw thee under the fig-tree. Nathaniel, in astonishment, cried out, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God-thou art the King of Israel: which was a plain confession of his belief in him as the Messiah.

In the following discourse I shall first show you on what evidence these two disciples believed in Jesus as the Messiah; and, secondly, I shall apply their case to that of the Christians of these times.

To show on what evidence these two disciples believed Jesus to be the Messiah, we must first run over, at least slightly, the whole of the evidence contained in what Moses and the prophets did write.

In the contents of these divine books, we shall find three kinds of prophetic evidence, if I may so speak. The first is contained in the history of the Jews; whose singular story, when seen in connection with the whole chain of prophetic evidence, sets forth, in a variety of circumstances, the redemption of the world by Christ. The call of Abraham from a heathen state, represents the gracious call of Christians to forsake the wickedness of the world. -The sacrifice of Isaac was a direct representation of the great sacrifice of Christ; performed on Mount Moriah, which most interpreters suppose to be the very Mount Calvary where our Saviour suffered.*

The faith which led Abraham through all the difficulties of his life, is a just representation of that faith, by which the Christian is exhorted to pass through his earthly pilgrimage to his heavenly habitation. The bondage of the Israelites in Egypt strongly sets forth the bondage of sin, under which mankind was reduced: and the miraculous deliverance by the hand of Moses, that still greater deliverance by Christ from a heavier bondage. The travels of the children of Israel

* See 2 CHRONICLES, iii. 1., where we find Jerusalem stood on this mountain.

through the wilderness were productive of many prophetic events. Their miraculous supply of food from heaven - their thirst quenched with water from a rock, which St. Paul tells us was an emblem of Christ—and the lifting up of the brazen serpent, which our Saviour himself mentions as a representation of his crucifixion may all be called historical prophecies of different parts of the Christian dispensation.-Then again, after the travels of the Israelites through the wilderness, their settling in the land of promise, (the end of all their labours,) aptly represents that great home, which the real Christian hath ever in his view.

The second kind of prophetic evidence, contained in what Moses and the prophets did write, is found in the various ceremonies of the Jewish church, after it became established. Almost every one of these ceremonies pointed at Christ. But we observe here something singular. The history of the Jews, we have just seen, gives us a typical representation of several circumstances with regard to the redemption of man. But the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish church seem chiefly to point out the one great end (which was indeed the peculiar end) of Christ's coming into the world

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the atonement he made by his death for the sins of mankind. Thus the Jewish sacrifices, in all their various kinds, set forth, in different views, the shedding of his sacred blood, and that expiation which it made for sin. Thus again, the scapegoat, which was sent into the wilderness, after the sins of the people had been confessed over it, represented the same great end. The passover too, though instituted in remembrance of the angel's passing over the houses of the Israelites, when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians, had reference to that great paschal lamb, which was slain for the sins of mankind. The veil of the temple also, which separated the Holy of Holies from the other parts of the temple, and which was rent at Christ's death, showed its connection with that great event; intimating that the partition-wall between the Jews and Gentiles was now broken down.- Lastly, the high-priest entering the Holy of Holies to make atonement for his own sins and the sins of the people, respected plainly that great atonement which was afterwards made by Christ.

The third, and last kind of prophetic evidence contained in what Moses and the prophets did write, consists in written prophecies. In the history and ceremonies of the Jews, we see the life B 3

and