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hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other Gods; even that prophet shall die. And, if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word, which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him.'

1. The great successor of the Jewish Lawgiver is here minutely described, and the people are commanded to hearken to his voice. A question then will naturally arise, who the person is, that is so particularly pointed out.

As he is called a Prophet LIKE unto Moses, he must of course be a legislator; otherwise he would vary from him in the most essential part of his character: nor would there be any sufficient. reason, why his ministry should be predicted, rather than that of any other inspired teacher.* But, if he be a lawgiver, he must, as the name implies, promulge a law, in some respects new; and not merely cause the ancient statutes of his predecessor to remain upon the same footing, on which they had originally been established. For, if no alteration whatsoever took place under his

I Deut. xviii. 17-22.

2 Euseb. Demons. Evan. lib. i. c. 3. lib. ix. c. 11.

ministry, he would be no more entitled to the name of lawgiver, than any of the other prophets. Now, if the new law thus promulged was not to be embraced, the promulgation of it would be useless. But, if it was to be embraced, it must necessarily supersede the other. Thus it appears, that Moses predicted the coming of a prophet, who, by the circumstance of his being also a lawgiver, was consequently to be the founder of a new law, not indeed subverting, but superseding the former; not making it void, but confirming it.

It only remains, therefore, to be shewn that Jesus Christ is this lawgiver.

2. If the person, generally received as the Messiah, be not, this lawgiver, then, the lawgiver spoken of by Moses is not yet come; because none of the prophets ever pretended to such a commission. But, if Christ, who assumed the character of a lawgiver, and who appeared at the very time specified by Daniel for the manifestation of the Messiah; if he answer to the test, which God himself appointed to distinguish true prophets from false ones, and consequently the true legislator (who was to be a prophet) from an impostor: then must Christ be really the legislator in question; because the same test cannot answer both to truth and falsehood, for in that case it would be no test.

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Why they could not be embraced together, has already been shewn, when the shadowy observances of the Pentateuch were considered. Other reasons shall likewise be assigned hereafter, tending to prove the same point.

Now the test, appointed of God to distinguish truth from falsehood, is this.

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing, which the Lord hath not spoken. This proposition being true, the converse must also be true: When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing do follow, and come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath spoken; and such a prophet must be acknowledged as a messenger from God, and no impostor.

Let us now apply this test to our Saviour.

At the celebration of the last supper, Christ declares to his disciples, that one of them should betray him; and, being pressed to point out the person, he fixes upon Judas Iscariot, resting at the same time the truth of his mission upon the completion of his prophecy. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.' His prediction was exactly fulfilled, as appears from all the Evangelists and also from the Acts; and Judas was guilty of the horrible wickedness of betraying the Lord of Life, as Christ had foretold that he would.

Another instance of his prophetic powers is the assurance made by him to Peter, who was very unwilling to believe it, that, ere the crowing of the cock, he should thrice deny his master. Peter, however, did deny him precisely three times before he heard the cock crow.

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The last example, which shall be brought, is the language held by Christ the evening preceding his crucifixion. After promising the gift of the Holy Ghost, and predicting that he should soon leave his disciples, he solemnly adds; Now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe.'

Thus we see, that Christ, in perfect harmony with the test which God appointed through Moses, demands from his disciples, that they should believe him to be the Messiah, because his prophecies were fulfilled.

Were it necessary, several other instances might be produced, such as his foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecutions of the church for his name's sake; all of which had an exact completion but sufficient has already been said to prove, that Christ answers to the test proposed, and consequently that he must be the lawgiver spoken of by Moses.

II. If then (as we learn from Moses) there was to be a new lawgiver, there must also of necessity be a new law. Accordingly, we shall often perceive a change in the Levitical dispensation either strongly implied or plainly alluded to.

Thus, in many of the Psalms, we find the absolute necessity of spiritual worship directly opposed to legal ceremonies and ordinances,

1. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not require; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin

John xiv. 29.

offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo! I come in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.'

The Messiah is here introduced declaring, that the sacrifices under the Law possess no inherent efficacy, and that they are not at all acceptable to God on their own account. Typical indeed they are of the atonement to be wrought out by a better sacrifice but, in a practical point of view, that law alone, which is written upon the heart, is wellpleasing to the Almighty.

2. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor` he-goat out of thy folds-Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High.

Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it thee; thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.3

These two last citations are not so much prophetical as declarative: but they equally tend to shew, that Christianity does not make void the Law by abolishing its ceremonies; since, even under the Law, God so expressly denies, that they

2

1 Psalm xl. 6-8.

Psalm 1. 8, 9, 13, 14.

3 Psalm li. 16, 17.

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