When we consider the occasion of Joseph and Mary coming to Bethlehem, their being obliged to it by public authority; and when we consider that the decree for the enrolment was of great charge and trouble to the whole empire, and that no public use was ever made of that enrolment; nor is it certain, that it was accomplished in many other parts of the empire; may we not reasonably infer, that the infinitely wise Governor of all the world puts this into the emperor's mind, and incites him thus to set mankind into a motion, that two persons of low condition might be brought out of Galilee into Bethlehem, that Jesus, according to this prophecy, might be born there? Had they gone of their own accord, it might have given advantage to the Jews, to say that the mother of Jesus went to Bethlehem only with a view to be delivered, that she might better report her son to be the Messiah. But by this admirable providence, all such objections are removed; their minds are determined by an authority not to be resisted; a journey they must make, at a time very unseasonable for the holy Virgin, being so near the time of her delivery, and be publicly enrolled of the family of David, upon the command of him who never knew ought of that business, and which none but himself could be instrumental to accomplish. Not long after this, that town of Bethlehem was utterly destroyed; nor hath it been for a thousand and six hundred years, either great or small, among the thousands of Judah.

§8. 3. The manner of the Messiah's birth, that he should be born of a Virgin, is a third characteristical note given of him. The first promise sufficiently in

"be so, because of the profanation of Ruth, the Moabitess, who "was in thee; out of thee shall come forth to me the Messiah, "the son of David."

VOL. I.

timated that he was not to be brought into the world according to the ordinary course of mankind, but was to be (dianpilinas) in a distinguishing manner the seed of the woman, to the exclusion of man. To make this design yet the more evident, God gives it forth directly in a word of promise, Isa. vii, 10-16; "Moreover the "Lordspaketo Ahaz, saying, ask thee a sign of the Lord "thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the height "above; but Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I "tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O house "of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but "ye will weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord "himself will give you a sign: behold, a Virgin shall "conceive and bear a Son, and call his name Emanu"el; butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know "to refuse the evil and choose the good; for, before "the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose "the good, the land that thou abhorrest, shall be for"saken of both her kings." This is the prophetic promise, the accomplishment whereof in our Lord Jesus we have recorded, Mat. i, 22, 23; "All this was "done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by "the prophet: Behold, a Virgin shall be with child, "and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his "name Immanuel." Now, this being a thing utterly above the course of nature, it is an infallible evidence, and demonstrative note of the true Messiah. He, and he alone, was to be born of a Virgin; and Jesus of Nazareth alone was actually so; therefore, Jesus alone is the Messiah.

.

$9. The Jews being greatly pressed with this prophecy, and its accomplishment, try all means to escape, by breaking through one of them. And we might expect that they would principally attempt the story of the evangelist; but circumstances on that side be

ing so cogent against them, they are very faint in that endeavor. For, if it was so indeed, that Jesus was not born of a Virgin, as it is recorded, and his disciples professed, why did they not charge them with an untruth? But though they insist not much upon the denial of the truth of the record; yet, to relieve themselves, they contend, that the words of the prophet are not applicable to the birth of our Lord Jesus, which the evangelist reports them prophetically to

express.

We have formerly evinced, that the foundation and end of the Judaical church and state, and of the preservation of the Davidical family, was solely the bringing forth of the promised Messiah. And this the event hath fully demonstrated in their utter rejection after the accomplishment of that end. And on account of the temporal concernment of that people in the coming of the Messiah, the promise of him was oftentimes mixed, and interwoven with the mention of other things, that were of present use and advantage to them; so that it was not easy sometimes to distinguish the things that are properly spoken with reference to him, from those other things which respected what was present; seeing both of them are together spoken of to the same general end and purpose. Upon these principles we may easily discover the true sense and import of this prophetical prediction.

$10. Upon the infidelity of Ahaz, and the generality of the house of David with him, refusing a sign of deliverance tendered to them, God tells them by his prophets, that they had not only wearied his messengers by their unbelief and hypocrisy, but that they were ready to weary himself also, ver. 13, with their manifold provocations, during that typical state and condition wherein he kept them. However, for the

present, he had promised them deliverance; and although they refused to ask a sign of him, according to his command, yet he would preserve them from their present fears, and utter ruin, and in his due time accomplish his great and wonderful intendment, miraculously by causing a Virgin to conceive and bring forth that Son, on whose account they should be preserved from utter destruction, as a church and state, until his coming. But how may it appear that it was the Messiah who should be thus born of a Virgin? This the prophet assures them, by telling them what he shall be, and accordingly be called: "He shall be called "Immanuel," or God with us, both in respect of his person and office; for he shall be God and man, and he shall reconcile God and man, taking away the enmity and distance caused by sin; a description of the Messiah, whereby he might be sufficiently known. And the prophet farther assures them, that this Immanuel shall be born truly a man, and dwell amongst them, being brought up with the common food of the country, until he came, as other men, to the years of discretion: "Butter and honey shall he eat, until he "know to choose the good, and refuse the evil." And this was enough for the consolation of believers, as also for the security of the people from the desolation feared,

But yet, because all this prophetical declaration was occasioned by the war raised against Judah by the kings of Israel and Damascus, God is pleased to add to the promise of their deliverance, a threatening of judgment and destruction to their adversaries; and because he would limit a certain season for the execution of his judgment upon them (as he had declared the safety and preservation of Judah to depend on the birth of Immanuel of a virgin, in the appointed sca

son) he declares that their enemies should be cut off before the time that any child not yet born could come to the years of discretion, to choose the good, or refuse the evil, ver. 16. Now, that this is the true import and meaning of the prophecy, will evidently appear in our vindication of it from the exceptions of the Jews against its application by Matthew to the nativity of Jesus Christ.

§11. First, they except that it is not a virgin that is here intended by the original word, (ny) which they say signifies any young woman. The whole controversy from this place depending on the determination of this point; I shall therefore fully clear the truth of what we assert; and the Jews themselves will not deny, but that if the conception of a virgin be intended, it must refer to some other than any in those days.

1. The word (ny) here used, is from the root (y) to hide, or (y) in niphal, hidden, reserved. Hence the name of virgins; partly, from their being unknown by man, and partly, from the universal custom of the East, wherein those virgins who were of any account, were kept reserved from all public or common conversation. Hence, by the Grecians also, they are called, (nalandeıçı) shut up, or recluses, and their first appearance in public they termed (avanλUTTape) "the season of bringing them out from their re"tirements." The original signification of the word then denotes a virgin precisely.

2. The constant use of the word directs us to the same signification. It is seven times used in the Old Testament, and in every one of them doth still denote a virgin, or virgins, either in a proper, or metaphorical sense. Only one place is controverted by the Jews, Prov. xxx, 19; "And the way of a man with a “maid." But it is used here peculiarly with the pre