to Chriftians, and the fole ftandard, by which
the truth of them can be tried. Thus when
the Nature of Prophecy, confidered as an evi-
dence of the Gofpel, was made the fubjedt of a
controverfy, which gave birth to thefe fame
Difcourfes, I endeavoured to inform my felf,
what fort of chara<5ter was given to it in the
New Teftament, and what ufe was actually
made of it by Chrift himfclf and his Apoftles,
towards illuftrating the divinity, of his miflion :
and having fettled in my mind a notion of it,
agreeable to the teftimonies of the facred writers,
I thought it an idle curiofity and waft of time,
to inquire, what any modern Divine had preached
4 * or
Bijhop
or written about it \ becaufe the whole, that
can be known authentically concerning it's re-
lation to Chriftianity, muft be learnt from thofe,
who firft planted Chrillianity, and were inftrud-
cd by the Author of it, on what foundation it
refted, and how far the argument of Prophecy
was ufefull to it's propagation and fupport.
Thefe Difcourfes therefore might have pafTed
ftill unregarded by me, if they had not been
accidentally recommended to my pei-ufa], by a
late converfation, in which they were urged in
contradiction to fomething advanced on the
fubjedl of Prophecy, which I took to be both
reafonable and important. This gave me aii
inclination to review the whole queftion, for the
fake either of confirming or correding my own
notion of it ; and to take thefe Difcourfes at the
fame time into confideration •, Specially, as it
would free me from the reproach of flighting
that information, which I might poflibly receive
from them. Upon this tafl<: I foon after en-
tered, and found this capital work of his Lord-
fhip to be juft fuch as I expeifledi exhibiting a
fpecies of reafoning peculiar to himfc'f, ever
fubtil and refined, yet never convincing •, and
proper rather to perplex, than to illuftrate the
notion of Prophecy •, and to amufe rather, than
ififtrudt an iniquifitive reader. I found much
art and pains employed, to drefs up an imagi-
nary fcheme, of which I had not difcovered die
Icari: trace in any of the four Gofpclsj ajid in
which.
jdd At Ex A M I N AT iou of fJbe
which, as far as I was able to judge, he feemed
to have rejefted the whole evidence of Prophecy,
as it was underflood and appHed by the Apofllea
and Evangelifts •, and to have fubflituted in it's
place a romantic fyftem, or fancifull chain of
antediluvian prsedidlions, as the fole ground,
on which any folid argument of the prophetick
kind could be urged in favor of Chriftianity.
This, though it rliuft needs appear flrangc
in Difcourfes delivered from the pulpit. He
prepares us to expecl^ by a fhort Preface, in
which He fays^- — •" They who confider the
** Prophecies under the Old Teflament, as fo
*' many prasdiftions onely, independent on each
*' other, can never form a right judgemenr, of
*' the argument of the truth of Chriftianity^
" drawn from this topick, nor be able to fatisfy
*' themfelves, when they are confronted with
** the objeftions of unbelievers. It is an eafy
*' matter, for men of leifure and tolerable parts,
" to find difficulties in particular pr£edi<5tions^
" and in the application of them made by
" writers, who lived many hundred years ago,
•' and who had many antient books and records
** of the Jewifh Church, from which they drew
*' many pafiages and perhaps fome Prophecies,
•* which books and records We have not, to
•* inable us to underftand and to Juftify their
•' applications, Ofc. [<3]."
What
l^a] Thefe words are tranfcribed from a Preface, prefix-
td to the third Edition of the Difcourfes, which was the
Bijhop of London's Discourses. 191^
. What the BLQiop here deciares, relates, aa
he afterwards fignifics, to the cafe of a certain
Free-
onely one, that I made ufe of, or had then feen. I have
fuice learnt, that there are two later Editions, in wliich the
Preface is omitted, though without any obfervabJe altera-
tion in the Difcourfes themfelves, or any reafbn given for
that omiflion ; which muil needs afford ma
tion to the reader. The purpofe of the Preface was, ta
give the reader a proper notion of the fubjedl of the Dif-
courfes, and of his manner of treating it. If it was with-
drawn therefore, on the account of any change of fenti-
mcnts with regard to it, we might have expefted from him
fome little eclaircinrnent on that head, efpecially fmce tha
Difcourfes, to which it related, continue ftill unchanged.
Or if, after three fucceffive Editions, the Preface was drop-
ped, as being judged at laft too flight and trivial for a per-
formance of fuch importance ; that, though it would have
been a good reafon for not giving it at the firfl, is but a
paultry one for recalling it, when once given. We love
to retain every fcrap of a celebrated writer, in it's na-
tural and original form, and, after twenty years pofFef^
fion, think it an injury to be deprived of it. As His
Lordfhip however had fome motive undoubtedly, for tak-
ing a ftep fo unufual, fo the reader will naturally be
guefling, what it might probably be ; and many will be
apt to think that the pafTage, which I have cited from
it, carries in it fo direfl a condemnation of that ufe of An-
gle and feparatc Prophecies, which was made by the Evan-
^elifls, that it was omitted for that very reafon, as tend-
ing to raife fcruples in people's minds, to the difadvantage
6f His Lordfhlp's fcheme. But this offence, though now
removed, as far as it was given by the Preface, remains
'ftill in it's full force in the body of the Difcourfes. The
obvious tendency of which, as every one mufl fee, is, to
reprefent the weaknefs of all that prophetic evidence, which
the Evangelifls have applied, to evince the truth of the
^Go^el.
fn
^laZ, Jn Ex A M 1 n A T t ij of thd
Freethlnking Author, who had ridiculed the
Prophecies of the Old Teftament, which are
In the concluiion of the fame Preface, His Lordfhip ex-
prefTes forae diffiuence, concerning the truth or folidity of
an hypothefis, which he labours to inculcate through his
whole fuurth Difcourfe : viz. " That the curfe denounced
" by God againft the earth, for the tranfgreffion of ouf
" iirft Parents, was compleated, and finally ceafed at the
** Deluge, when it's original fertility was rellored to it, by
*' an exprefs covenant with Noa^, according to a Prophecy
" of his father Lantech,'''' [Gen. v. 28.] Now though no-
thing can be more weak and irrational than this hypo-
thefis, yet when the Author propofes it with modefty,
as a conjefture, or hafty thought, not duly confidered by
him, our difgufl of courfe is foftened, and the feverity
cS our criticifm checked : but as the cafe now ft^nds,
when we fee a moft ridiculous conceit enforced with the
greateft zeal and ferioufnefs in an Epifcopal Sermon, and
find the fole excufe, which could be made, and which had
been made for it, deliberately fupprefTed, we are provoked
of courfe to treat it with all that contempt, which it juftly
• deferves.
But to fay the truth, I have never obferved a ftronger in-
llance of the public patience and blind deference to the au-
thority of a Great name, than in the cafe of thefe very
Difcourfes ; which, though in all parts greatly exception-
able, and fuinifhing matter of offence in every page, have
yet paffed through many Editions, not onely without re-
proof, but with fome degree even of approbation. And it
was this experience perhaps of what the world would bear,
which made His Lordfhip refolve to withdraw his Preface,
and to treat us no longer with any ceremony ; having feen»
that notvvithflanding the confcioufnefs, which he had de-
clared, of being in the wrong, the public was Hill difpofed
to think him in the right, and that his nonfenfe would go
down with them, without giving him the trouble of making
an excufe for it.
cited
^/y^(?/ e/ London's DiscotJRSES. ic^
felted in the New, as trifling and impertinent*
i\nd bearing no fort of relation to the particular
cafes or perfons, to which they are applied: yet
in this attempt, that Author has not confidered
thofe Prophecies in ^ny other method, nor undec
any other charader, than, that, in which they
were confidered by the Evangelifts themfelves;.
who applied them, ^ngle and independently on,
each ether, to this or that occafion, as fo many-
different arguments for the general truth of the
Gofpel; fo that by condemning his manner of
confidering them. His Lordftiip condemns that
of the Evangelifts at the fame time : but fince
the ufe, which was made of Prophecy in the
New Teftament, is the fole rule, by which we
can form a juft notion of it, or determine the
propriety either of His Lordfhip's fcheme, or
of thefe Animadverfions upon it, it will be ne-
cefTary in the firft place, to draw out a diftin(5b
account, of what thofe facred Writers have de-
livered concerning it^
It is affirmed then by the teftimonies of all
tlie Evangelifts, how Jefus. himfelf conftantly
taught, that his perfon and charader were par-
ticularly foretold and marked out by Mofes and
all the later Prophets, as the Mejfiah, or that
great Prophet, who was to come : and that he
came accordingly, as it had been foretold to
them, 7iot to dejlroy the lap and the Prophets,
hut to fulfill them. [^] Thus in an expoftulation
[i] Matt. V. 1*7.
Vol. V, N witk
194 -^n Examination of tht
with the Jews, for their obftinate rejeflion of
him, He exhorts them to fearch the Scriptures
for the proofs of his charader and miflion, for
m them, fays he, ye think that ye have eternal
life^ and they are they which tefiify of me. To
which he immediately fubjoins, there is one, that
accufeth you, even Mofes, in whom you truft.
For had ye believed Mofes, ye would have believed
me; for he wrote of me [c]. When he was rifen
alfo from the dead, and appeared to the two
Difciples going to Emmaus, who flill doubted
of his refurredion, though it had been reported
to them by the women •, " He faid unto them 5
*« O fools, and flow of heart to believe all that
" the prophets have fpoken : ought not Chrift
** to have fuffered, and to enter into his glory ?
*^ And beginning at Mofes and all the Prophets^
** he expounded unto them, in all the Scrip-
*' tures, the things concerning himfelf [^]."
Here then we fee our Lord grounding the
authority of his miffion on the evidence of Pro-
phecy i and declaring that Mofes and the Prophets
had written and teftified of him, in a manner
fo exprefs, that thofe, who believed Mofes, muft
of courfe, if they were confillent, believe alfo
in him. In proof of which, he appeals to the
Scriptures •, exhorts the Jews to fearch them ;
and puts the trial of his veracity, on the ifllie
of that fearch : and this, we may imagine, Was
[f] John V. 39—45. M L"l
the
Bifiop of laoymon^ Di SCOURS' \^q
the fubjed of all hi-, tlifcourf^is, ac <
Went into the Synagogues, a* t-.idin^ .
tonftantcuflom, in every place whither he came.
The Evangellfts however, though tliey all ao-ree
in affirming this, to have been his general way
of arguing with the Jews, yet have iccorded
but a few of thofe particular Prophecies, which
were alledged by him on fuch occafions, as
prefigurative of his character and mifTion.
For initance ; at Nazareth^ the place of his
education and ordinary refidence, he applied to
himfelf a Prophecy of Ifaiah, in which the prin-
cipal characters, afcribed by the Jews to the
Mefllah, are particularly enumerated: " For
*^ upon his entrance into the Synagogue on the
" Sabbath, the book of the prophet Ifaiah being
*' put into his hands, he opened it, and found
^^ the place, where it was written: The fpirit
" of the Lord is upon me, becaufe he hath
*' anointed me to preach the Gofpel to the poor;
** he hath fent me to heal the broken-hearted ;
" to preach deliverance to the Captives, and
*' recovering of fight to the blind ; and to fee
" at liberty them, that are bruifed ; to preach
" the acceptable year of the Lord He then
*' clofed the book, and gave it again to the
** Minifter, and fat down ; and all the eyes of
" the Synagogue being faftencd upon him, h^
*' began to fay unto them, This Day is this
** Scripture fulfilled in your ears.'* On which h(5
preached to them in fuch an afiTevfling manner,
N 2 « that"
tg^ //» E X A M I N A T I N of the
** that they all bare him witnefs, and wondered
" at the gracious words, which proceeded out
" of his mouth [
fpeaking to the multitude concerning the cha-
rafter of John the Baptiji, he affirms him to be
the forerunner, fent by God to difjpofe the world
for the reception of his Gofpel, telling them.
This is he of whom it is written. Behold I fend my
tnejfenger before thy face , which Jhall prepare thy
way before thee [/]. In one of his Sermons
alfo to the unbelieving Jews, He declares him-
felf, to be denoted by that corner-flone, of which
the Pfalmifl: prophetically fays, Thefione, which
the builders rejected, the fame is become the head of
the corner [g]. On another occafion, where he
was foretelling to his Difciples the treachery of
Judas, he fignifies it, to have been permitted,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled , where it is
faidy He that eateth bread with me, lifteth up his
heel againji me [h']. And when he was inti-
mating to them the approach of his death and
the manner of it, he applies the words of Ifaiahy
as then ready to be fulfilled in him, faying j
that this, which is writteji., muft yet be accom-
pUJhed in me: And he was reckoned among the
tranfgrejfcrs •, for the things concerning me have a?i
end [/]. There are too or three inftances more,
where he affirms the words of Ifaiah, and of
the Pfalmift, to be fulfilled by the infidelity of
[el Luke iv. i6. [/] Matt. xi. lo. Luke vii. ijf."
[g\ Lukex.Y. 17. \h] John xiii. », S.
[i\ Luke xxii. 37.
the:
Bijhop ^/London's Discourses. 197
the Jews, who would not receive him upon the
teftimony of their own Prophets. In them^
fays he, is fulfilled the -prophecy of Ifaias, which
faith \ By hearing yefhall luar and fh all not under-
Jiandy and feeing ye fhall fee and fhall not per-
ceive \k\ Again ; when he was betrayed by
Judas into the hands of thofe who came to feize
him, Beter having drawn his fword, and wound-
ed one of the company, fefus reproved him, by
faying ; " Put up thy fword thinkeft thou,
" that I cannot now pray to my Father, and
** he fliall prefently give me more than twelve
" legions of Angels ? but how then fhall the
*' Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it muft be ?'*
to which he prefently adds, " But all this was
** done, that the Scriptures of the Prophets
" might be fulfilled [/]," plainly fignifying,
that there was not any circumftance of his life,
which had not been foretold in fuch a manner,
that the accompliihment of it, by it's conformity
with the prediction, might anfwcr the purpofe
intended by God of demonftrating the Divinity
of his charafter.
Laflly; after his refurrcflion, having ipent
forty days ftill on earth, in confirming and in-
flrufting his Apoftles, in things pertaining to
the Kingdom of God, and being jufl ready to
afcend into heaven, and now giving them his
laft inftruclions, " He faid. unto them-, Thefe
\k'\ Matt. xlii. 14. [/] Matt. xx>i. 26.
N 3 ^ .^* grc
jflS An Examination of the
" are the words, v/hich I fpake unto you^
" \yhile I was yet v/ith you^ that all things
** muft be fulfilled, which were written in the
** Law o^ Mofes, and in the Prophet Sy and in the
" Pfalnis concerning me. Then opened he their
" underflandings, that they might underftand
'* the Scriptures; and faid unto them. Thus it
** is written, and thus it behoved Chrift to
" fuffer, and to rife from the dead the third
" day -, and that repentance and remifTion of
" fins fhould be preached in his name among
f all Nations, beginning at Jerufalem: and yc
f are witneffes of thefe things [»/]."
Thefe inftances of the ufe of Prophecy, as it
was applied by Jefus himfelf, fufficiently Ihew,
that the antient Prophecies were confidered by
him fmgly and independently, as fo many di-
ftind arguments, for the truth of his miflion ;
and confequently, that thpfe, who confidcr
them in the fame light, may in contradidion
to what his Lordlhip afferts, form a right
. judgement of this argument, and make a right
ufe of it in favor of Chriftianity, notwithfland-
jng all the objections, with which it may be
confronted by Unbelievers.
^ut if any doubt remain ftill on this point,
it will be abundantly, cleared up by the pradlice
pf the Apoftles and Evangelifts, and by the uf^
\ni\ Luk$ xxiv. 44.
which
i?//j<7^ (?/ London's Discourses. 190
which they made of Prophecy, after they had
been fully inftrudled and enlightened upon it,
as well by the example, as the repeated leflbns
of their Mailer to the iaft moment of his con-
tinuance on earth. The Evangelifts wrote their
feveral Gofpels for the fake of tranfmitting to
all pofberity the genuine evidences, on which
the authority of the Chriftian dodlrine was
founded -, among thefe, the argument drawn '
from Prophecy appears to have been applied "by
them, as the moft effedlual and convincing to
the Jews, to whom alone the Gofpel was preach-
ed by Chrifl: himfelf, and in the firfl: place after-
wards by his Apoftles ; and of whom the firft
Chriftian Church was entirely compofed. But
their notion of Prophecy, confidered as a proof
of the Gofpel was not drawn from any fcheme
of it, deduced from Adam, and the Antedilu-
vian World i nor do they refer us, for the evi-
dences of our faith, to I know not what Pro-
■phecics of Enoch, or Noah, but to Mofes and the
Prophets, whofe writings were in every body's
hands, and of an authority allowed and indif-
putable.
After the example of their Mafter, they begin
with Mofcs, as the firft Prophet, who fpeaks at
all of Chrift, nor ever appeal to any other Pro-
phecies, as applicable to Chrift, but what were
exprelly found in the law, and the later Pro-
phets. Thus Philip, as foon as he became a
follower of Chrift, meeting with Nathanael^
N 4 fait
^00 An E X A M ! N A T I o N of the
faith unto him,, We have found him, of whom
Mofes in the Law, and the Prophets did write,
Jefus i?/ Nazareth the Son
as by the evidence of thefe the Jews had been
previoufly taught to exped a Mefliah, out of
the family of David, who was to pubHfh a new
law of righteoufnefs, more perfed than that of
Mofes, fo the Evangelifts made it their bufinefs
to fhew, from the fame writings, that the Mef-
fiah, whom they had been looking for, was no
other than that fame Jefus, whom they had
crucified. With this view, they colledbed from
every part of the Old Teftament all the fevera]
Prophecies, relating to the Meffiah, and applied
them feparately to each ad: or circumftance of
the life of Jefus, to which they thought them
applicable, and by which they declare them to
be fulfilled.
St. Matthew cfpecially, who publiihed his
Gofpel the firfl, and in the Hebrew tongue, for
the particular information of the Jews, feems
to have been more diligent than the reft, in
collefting thefe prophetic teftimonies, and apr
plying them feverally on all occafions, as fo
many diftindt proofs of the miflion of Jefus.
There is fcarce a fingle occurrence, which ever
happened to Chrift, but what he declares to
have been before told by fome Prophet, and
fulfilled by a correfpondent event. *^ The
]n\ John i. 45- ■
• *' .con-
^//^c^ ^/ London's Discourses. 201
'* conception of him by a Virgin-, his birth
" at Bethlehem i the conveyance of him into
" Egypt 'y and re-conveyance into Judaa\ his
" ciwelhng at Nazareth \ his removal to Caper-
" naum., his cure of difeafesj his cuftom of
*' teaching by parables ; his riding into Jcrti-
'* falem upon an afs ; his being betrayed by
" Judas i fold for thirty pieces of filvcr -, the
" parting of his garments, and calling lots for
'* them ; his crucifixion ; with the particular
^' circumllances accompanying it •■, the Thieves
" who futfered with him-, the vinegar given
" him to drink ; the wound made in his fide ;
" the omilTion of breaking his bones ; his re-
-*' furredion and afcenfion, are all affirmed
*' to have been fo ordered and fo tranfacfled,
" by the fpecial counfil of God, that the Scrip-
'^ tures of the Prophets might be fulfilled by
v them {oy\
All the other Evangelifts purfue the fime
method, of applying the ancient Prophecies
fingly, and independently on each other, as fo
many arguments for the divine authority ot the
Gofpel : and it muft furely be allowed, that any
fingle Prophecy, delivered for that purpofe, and
literally fulfilled, is a ftrong proof of it, though
we had reafoneven to negled: the reft, as uncer-
tain and precarious. But according to the alTer-
tion of this eminent Prelate, the argument
U\ Matt, j. 23. ii, 5, 15, 23. iv, 14, &c.
Aawn
ao2 ' An 'Ex A M 1 jn K T I n of the
drawn from Prophecies, confidered fingly and
independently (as they were in fa6l confidered
by the Evangelifts) can neither fatisfy any body,
nor bear to be confronted with the objedions of
iinbeUevers : and on this principle his fix Dif-
courfes are manifeftly grounded. For when that
Free-thinking Author undertook to Ihew, that
the prophetic teftimonies, which are applied by
the Evangelifts, to evince the truth of the Gof-
pelj are in reality no proofs at all, he plainly
gives up thofe teftimonies, as incapable of be-
ing juftified ; and amufes us with Prophecies,
as old as the world itfelf ; deduced from our
firft parent Adam ; affirming this to be the onely
notion of Prophecy, which can fupply any fatif-
fadiory argument for the truth of Chriftianity.
He adds indeed one good reafon, for his pre-
ference of this comprehenfive fcheme, in a con-
troverfy with unbelievers, to that narrow way,
which the Evangelifts chofe, of appealing to
fmgle predi(5lions, " becaufe it is an eafy mat-
.*' ter, he fays, for men of leifure and tolerable
" parts, to find difficulties in particular pre-
*' diftions, and in the application of them —
'^ but not fo eafy, to ftiew, that a chain of
*' Prophecies, reaching through feveral thou-
" fand years, delivered at different times, yet
" manifeftly fubfervient to one and the fame
" end, is the efted of art and contrivance.'*
Ey this way then of confidering Prophecy, he
has put the labouring oar upon his adverfary,
which
5//^o^ o/ London's Discourses. 203
which in the otl>er way of confidcring it, muft
have been thrown upon himiclf : but whatever
eafe it may give to his Lordfhip in this par-
ticular difpute, to confider prophecy in fo ex-
tenfive a view, yet, with regard to the fervice
pf Chriflianity, I cannot fee the leaft difference
or advantage in his fcheme, except in the
greater length of his prophetic chain, than of
that, which the Evangelifts made ufe of : for
the Prophecies, as they are applied fingly in the
Gofpels, are all of thern fubfervient to one and
the fame purpofe of Providence, as well as in
his hypothefis ; but the Evangelical chain,
which begins with Mofes^ reaches onely through
fevcral hundred years j whereas his chain, which
begins with Adam, reaches through feveral thou-
fand. Yet this extenfion of it into the antedi-
luvian ages can ferve no other end, but to en-
velope a plain queftion of fa6l in clouds and
myftery ; which may afford more ground in-
deed for a fancyful genius, to build it's airy
caftles upon, but none at all on which we can
raife any folid or fatisfaflory argument.
But whatever view his Lordfhip had, in re-
curring to this expedient, it is certain, that
there was no occafion to defert that foundation,
which the Evangelifts had laid, and to take re-
fuge in a precarious Syftem, calculated radicr
to create fcruples, than to cure them. For
fhould we allow, what He Himfelf plainly in-
timates, that the particular Prophecies, as they
arc
^o4 y/« Examination
are applied by the Evangelifts in their feveral
Gofpeii, are clogged with very great difficul-
ties by that Freethinking Author, there is a fo-
lution of them, obvious and natural, fupplied
by the cafe itfelf, which, though not agreeable
perhaps to the principles of fyftem^itic or politi-
cal Divines, cannot poflibly hurt the authority'
of the Gofpel, becaufe it is grounded on fads,
-exprefly delivered by the Gofpel. But this per-
haps I may take occafion to explane hereafter
in a particular treatife, and fhall now precede
to lay my prefent remarks before the reader, in