P. 39 1. 14.. 'When he is sent he will be the ' leader.' The Messiah, as leader of the company is not mentioned. In a preceding part of the chapter indeed he is, but not exactly so as to suit Mr. C.'s argument. "Behold, I have given him "for a witness to the people, a leader and com" mander to the people. Behold thou shalt call " a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that "knew not thee, shall run unto thee, because of "the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of " Israel, for he hath glorified thee." 1 The nations here spoken of must be the gentiles; and this is the only place in which Israel is mentioned throughout the chapter. P. 39. 1. 18. Who being,' &c. Here Mr. C. charges Jesus with wishing to set up for himself, and to be " equal with God:" (1.21:) but in another passage he says, 'Jesus himself never 'thought of such a thing; therefore he called himself the Son of man: but had he thought 'that he was God, he would have called himself. 'the Son of a woman.' (p. 17. 1. 8.) -That Jesus did prosper and accomplish astonishing things has already been shewn. Mr. C. might have rendered his statement, in the next words, (p. 39.1. 24,) more convincing, if he could have quoted the words, which he puts into the mouth of the Messiah, from "the scriptures of the prophets," instead of "speaking them out of his own heart," and according to what he supposes will be the case. P. 39. 1. 29. Was the Messiah of the gentiles ' a prophet, or not?'-The questions concerning Is. lv. 4, 5. our Lord's predictions will come before us, more regularly in another place. (p. 89, 90.) Indeed, after Mr. C. had decided that Jesus was justly put to death, the question itself seems to come too late. The clause however from the seventy-fourth Psalm requires a brief notice. (p. 39. 1. 32.) It is plain, from the whole of this Psalm, that it was written at a time, or at least that it referred to a time, when the sanctuary lay in ruins.1 Either this was during the Babylonish captivity, or after the destruction of the temple by the Romans. If it related to the Babylonish captivity, it can be nothing to the purpose; for several prophets arose subsequent to that event. If it refer to the times following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; it does most affectingly describe the state of the Jews during above seventeen centuries: but, as Jesus lived, and died, and arose again, many years before the destruction of the second temple, it can prove nothing against his character as a Prophet; for it relates exclusively to subsequent times. P. 40. 1. 12. The prophecy of Daniel has been considered; but "the sealing up of the vision " and prophecy," or " Prophet," relates to times three or four hundred years subsequent to Malachi; namely to the end of the seventy weeks, which Christians calculate to have been about the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. Mr. C. computes them to end, either with the death of king Agrippaand his son Monves, or at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. There was no prophet Ps. lxxiv. 3 --9. in Israel, from Malachi, till near the times of Jesus; but the scripture does not say there never would be any: and, however satisfied Mr. C. may be on the subject, the scribes, and priests, and elders, in our Lord's time, confessed that they did not know whether John the Baptist was a prophet or not. P. 40. 1. 20. One thing,' &c. If this proposition can be established, the business is settled: for, as Israel is not restored, if the restoration of 'Israel, and the coming of the Messiah be the 'same thing,' it is plain that the Messiah is not come! Indeed, if the Messiah is Israel and ' Israel the Messsiah,' (1. 23, 24.) then the Messiah came, when God surnamed Jacob by the name of Israel; the Messiah is now dispersed throughout the earth; the Messiah is to be restored, and not to restore others. What Mr. C. means by this, I know not: but, if he speaks the language of his nation, it proves that the Jews are apt to think of themselves as the whole world; and that nothing is of much consequence, in the dispensations of Providence, except as it tends to the aggrandisement of their nation. P. 40. 1. 25. The next,' &c. It has generally been thought that Elias, or Elijah, the prophet, either personally, or by one "in his spirit and " power," would precede the coming of the Messiah. This the prophets foretold;1 and this the ancient Jews fully expected. 2 But, not to dwell on this, Mr. C. here allows that the Messiah will be a prophet: and we allow that, if Jesus were Is. xl.3-9. Mal. iii. 1. iv. 3, 4. 2 Johu i. 19-28. not the Messiah, he could not be a prophet; and, from the fulfilment of the prophecies of Jesus, we draw a most conclusive argument that he was the Messiah. With whom then does Mr. C. contend; when, assuming that 'Jesus was not the Messiah,' he attempts to prove, 'that he was not a prophet?' Not with Christians certainly. But, in truth, the fulfilment of our Lord's prophecies stands very much in the way of the Jews; and they seem sometimes to have great misgivings on the subject; and almost to say among themselves:‘If not the Messiah, but a deceiver, how could he be a prophet? And, if not a prophet, how could he predict the state of Jerusalem, and of the Jews, for so many hundred years to come, and with such wonderful particularity?' This obstruction Mr. C. repeatedly labours to remove; but, I must think, completely without success. The reader must determine, whether the right interpretation of the prophecy in Joel is given by the apostles, or by Mr. C. (1.28.) 1 One thing should be noted, that, after the prediction " of the pouring out of "the Spirit," and its effects, it is added, “I will "shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, "blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun "shall be turned into darkness, and the moon " into blood, before the great and terrible day of "the Lord come." 2 The extraordinary appearances in the heavens would be presages of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and of the subversion of the Jewish church and state; which 'Joel ii. 28-32. Acts ii. 16-21. Rom. x. 11-15. * Joel ii. 30, 31. would be attended by immense bloodshed, terrible conflagrations, and " pillars of smoke," such as ascend from the flames of burning cities. Now is not this a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and of the dissolution of the civil and ecclesiastical state of the Jews, with dreadful massacres, and miseries? Yet this is predicted as subsequent to "the pouring out of "the Spirit:" and only a remnant would be rescued from these tremendous judgments. The events predicted in the New Testament, and recorded in Josephus's History of the Wars of the Jews, confirm this interpretation. The third chapter of Joel contains a prediction of Israel's restoration, but the second predicts those events. which made it necessary. P. 41. 1. 5. Thus far,' &c. Mr. C.'s inferences, at least, are not deficient in perspicuity and decision. P. 41. 1. 7. The gentiles' question. Only 'one,' &c. P. 41. 1. 10. 'The answer of the Jews. Mir'acles,' &c. This and the following pages suggest a most important question-How FAR AND IN WHAT CASES, MIRACLES ARE THE PROOF OF A DIVINE MISSION? But, before we proceed to the more direct answer to it, a few particulars require a cursory notice. P. 41. 1. 17. The wise men of Pharaoh performed also the same miracles,' &c. Indeed! The magicians imitated, or rather aped, a few of Moses's miracles; whether by Satanical aid or not, or by what power, forms no part of our present question. Their rods were turned into serpents, |