of Daniel, Haggai, and Malachi were accomplished in him will be made appear, when we come to the consideration of his history. It is sufficient at present to confine the attention to the particular point of inquiry; the result of which has been, that during the last years of prophecy the time of the Messiah's coming was fixed to a precise and determinate period.

RESPECTING THE PLACE WHERE THE MESSIAH WAS TO BE BORN.

The next inquiry is, as to what prophecy says respecting the place where the Messiah was to be born.

It has already been seen, according to former prophecy, that he was to come out of Israel; and we are now led to the very spot where he was to be born into the world. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah," says Micah, "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." Out of this city of Judah, where David, the type of the Messiah, was born, it was the common expectation that the Messiah himself would arise;

*Micah, v. 2.

for when Herod demanded of the chief priests and scribes, the expounders of the Law and the Prophets, where Christ should be born, they answered, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel."*

We have another testimony to this effect in the objection of some of the people who fancying that, because Jesus had lived at Nazareth, he was therefore born there, said, "Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" +

Hence we see that not only was the precise time of the Messiah's appearing fixed by prophecy; but also the very city, wherein he was to be born, mentioned by name. He only, therefore, could be the Messiah who should be born at that very time and in that very place.

* Matthew, ii. 5, 6.

↑ John, vii. 41, 42.

RESPECTING THE PECULIARITIES THAT WERE TO IDENTIFY THE PERSON OF THE MESSIAH HIS DIGNITY; TO BE THE SON OF A VIRGIN, GOD, AND A KING.

We are now to search the prophets for the descriptive peculiarities that were to identify the person of the Messiah. In the consideration of these it will be proper, first, to take a view of the prophetic testimonies respecting his dignity.

What had been foretold with regard to the descent of the Messiah from David, and consequently to his being of the tribe of Judah, was now confirmed by the declaration that God would "raise unto David a righteous branch."* The Jews themselves made no question of this matter; for it was their universal acknowledgment that the Messiah was to be the son of David.

But prophecy began now to describe things more minutely, and enter into particulars of a more remarkable and wonderful nature. Intimately and mysteriously interwoven with all the preceding notices, and herein especially with the early promise of the victorious seed of the woman, it foreshewed that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, and that with this generation

* Jeremiah, xxiii. 5,

divinity would be associated; "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel;"* that is, "God with us,"† or God dwelling with us, or as the Apostle writes, "God manifest in the flesh." Here it is distinctly foretold that the conception and birth of the Messiah would be miraculous, out of the established laws of nature, and consequently to be effected by him alone with whom all things are possible. And when we are informed at the same time that the person so born would be "God with us," we surely cannot see any difficulty in admitting that something more than ordinary must be attendant and consequent upon such a birth. This prophecy contains an evident allusion and bears the closest affinity to that great mystery, namely, the union of the divine and human natures in the Messiah.

We have seen that the Shiloh to come was announced under the figures of a star and a sceptre, the splendid emblems of a God and a King. But what says prophecy now with regard to this son of a virgin? "Unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his

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name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this."* Herein it is plainly proclaimed, that the seed of the woman, the son of a virgin, would be a gift of God to man-that he would be entrusted with the whole administration of the purposes for which he was given that he would possess the attributes, and be identified with the being of God that in him the perpetuity of David's throne and kingdom would be established-and that all this would be the result of God's counsel of grace and mercy. And here we behold the Messiah in his highest dignity, even as the Lord God himself, the Everlasting King of heaven and earth.

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TO BE A SAVIOUR.

Prophecy now proceeds to foreshew the grand purpose for which this Immanuel, this God with us, was to be born into the world.

Isaiah, ix. 6, 7.