After this, a strong figure of the deliverance of mankind by the great captain of our salvation, was given to the world, in the preservation of Noah and his family, with a portion of every species of living creatures, in the ark, during the universal deluge.

Soon after, we find the promise more explicitly made to Abraham, who had been obedient to the call of God, and left his father's house and his country (which was sunk in idolatry, having forsaken the worship of the one only living and true God) to go whither soever God should lead him. To him the plan of salvation by the mediator, was further opened, by showing him the Messiah, his humiliation or state of suffering, and his coming in glory. Thus Abraham saw his day, and was glad, for it was then that God did promise that he would assuredly give to Abraham, as the reward of his faith and obedience, the whole land of Canaan, in which he then sojourned (a type of the heavenly inheritance,) but of which he held not the least possession; and though at that time a private individual, without power, infiluence or authority-in a strange land; yet in him, God did promise, that all the nations of the earth should be blessed; still directing the eye of his faith, to the glorious and triumphant state of the Messiah, who, according to the flesh, was to proceed from his loins.

"Thus he who was promised to Adam immediately on the fall, under the more obscure description of the seed of the woman, who should bruise the head

of the serpent, was now announced to the world, as the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. And henceforward we have prediction upon prediction-ordinance upon ordinance-promise upon promise-event upon event, leading to, rising above, improving and enlarging upon each other, like the gradual light of the ascending sun, from the early dawn to the perfect day. We perceive types, shadows, ceremonies, and sacrifices, disappearing little by little; patriarchs, priests, prophets, lawgivers and kings, retiring one after another, and giving place to the Lord our judge, our lawgiver, our king to save us, as the twinkling fires of the night hide their diminished heads, and as the vapors disperse, before the glorious orb of day.*

There are particular and express referrences to the Messiah, as well to his incarnation, sufferings, death and resurrection, as to his second coming in glory, in almost every book of the Old Testament, particularly in the numerous types and shadows of the law given to Moses in the Holy Mount, till we come to the Psalms; and sir Isaac Newton, who, though so great a philosopher, thought the study of the scriptures among his highest honors, says, "That there is scarce a prophecy in the Old Testament concerning Christ, that doth not, in something or other, relate to his second coming."+

* 2d. Vol. Sacred Biography, 17.

† On Daniel fol. 132.

THE PSALMS.

WE shall now begin a more particular examination into the revelation of this mysterious truth, from the Psalms inclusive, to the end of the apocalypse of St. John.

In that book of divine poetry, called the Psalms, David and the other authors of them, under the inspiration of the holy spirit, speak indefinitely of the Messiah's coming into this our world, not particularly distinguishing between his first and second coming. They describe not only his state of humiliation in the flesh, but in the most exalted language, the victorious reign of the Messiah, which in its nature and extent, as there foretold, when compared with what we now know of his first coming, can only be true as it refers to his second coming in glory.

It is expressly foretold therein, " that the Heathen are to be given to him as an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as a possession-He is to break them with a rod (or sword) of iron, and to dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel-He is to judge the world in righteousness, and to minister judgment to the people in uprightness.-His throne, as then established, is to be forever and ever; and the sceptre of his kingdom a righteous sceptre-A fire is to burn before him, and it is to be very tempestuous round about him. All the earth is to worship him, and sing

anto his name. Princes and ambassadors are to come to him from Egypt. Ethiopia is to stretch out her hands unto God. He is to judge (or vindicate) the poor of his people, to save the children of the needy, and break in pieces the oppressor.-The promised Messiah" is to have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," that is, from the Mediterranean sea to the Persian Gulf, and from the river Euphrates to the ends of the earth; figurative expressions, to typify the whole habitable earth. They who dwell in the wilderness are to bow before him, and his enemies are to lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish* and of the Isles, shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba, shall offer gifts: yea all kings shall fall down before him--all nations shall serve him-his name is to remain forever and forever; to be continued (or propagated) as long as the sun and men are to be blessed in him. All nations are to call him blessed-his seed are to be established forever, and his throne built up to all generations he is to subdue the people under him, and the nations under his feet-he is to choose out an heritage for his people, even the excellency of Jacob whom he loved-all the ends of the earth are to remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him, for the kingdom is to be the Lord's and he is to be governor among the nations.-The Psalmist in an ecstacy of joy, on a prophetic view of this glorious event, cries

* That is, Spain or some great commercial country. D

ISAIAH.

ISAIAH, who is with great propriety stiled "the evangelical prophet," speaks very expressly on this head, and foretels, in sublime terms, "that a virgin was to conceive and bear a son, and his name was to be Immanuel, (or God with us.) For unto his people a child was to be born; unto them a son was to be given-The Government was to be on his shoulders-His name was to be called WonderfulCounsellor-The mighty God-The Father of the everlasting age, or the age to come-The Prince of Peace-Of the increase of his Government and Peace, there was to be no end. A rod was to come forth out of the trunk of Jesse, and a cyon to grow out of his roots; and the spirit of Jehovah was to rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and understanding-The spirit of counsel and strength-The spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah."

The same evangelical prophet, distinguishes what was to happen in after times, when he says, " that in the latter days (afterwards explained by Daniel more particularly) as meaning the latter end of the 4th kingdom mentioned in his vision, that is, the Roman empire or government, (as it was always understood by the Jews before the coming of Christ) the mountain of the Lord's House, should be established in the tops of the mountains, and exalted