YOUR mother and I remained on the wharf, and pursured the vessel with our sight till it was no longer visible. From that time you have been continually upon our heart; every thing reminds us of you; and it is our prayer day and night that our beloved daughter may be preserved from all evil, and may be the object of the gracious regard of our heavenly Father.

Till we had parted with you, we did not know how much we loved you. At some times your mother almost regrets that she consented to your leaving us, till I remind her that you are under the care of your dear sister, and that, under her kind tuition, you will enjoy every advantage that can be desired for improvement, both in human accomplishments and in Christian graces.

Since you left us, I have been much employed in reading the prophecies concerning the Messiah. I will select, and send some of them in this letter; for although it is a subject in which we have endeavoured to the utmost of our ability to instruct you, the importance of it is such that you cannot be too well established in it.

This exalted Personage was predicted to Adam under the name of the Seed of the Woman.' Also the enmity of unbelievers against him; I will put enmity between

thy seed and her seed;'-his crucifixion; thou shalt bruise his heel,' (his human nature ;) but yet his final victory; it shall bruise thy head," Gen. iii. 15.

He was to descend from Abraham, Gen. xxii. 18; and from Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 14.

10.

Jacob prophesied of him on his death-bed, Gen. xlix.

Moses prophesied, that God would raise up a prophet from among their brethren like unto him; and that whosoever would not hearken unto him, God would require it of him, Deut. xviii. 18. It is added, probably by Ezra,

'There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses,' ch. xxxiv. 10. This honour was reserved for the Messiah.

He was to be of the seed of David. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto Dayid. His sced shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me, Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36.

Solomon was a type of Christ, and many things are said of him in the 72d psalm which will apply in their full sense only to the Messiah; among others the following: They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. All kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.'

In the days of Isaiah this descendant of David was not come, for he thus prophesies concerning him; And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.'-The prophet proceeds to show, that the subjects of this excellent prince should be persons renewed in the spirit of their mind. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them, And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my

holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious,' Isai. xi. 1—10.—Again, Unto us a child is born (called chap. viii. 14. and vii. 8. Immanuel, or God with us,) unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his 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, ch. ix. 6, 7.

Though the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a kingdom of peace, yet was he to be a great conqueror. • Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness ; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: there. före God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,' P8. xlv. 3—7.

He was to be not only the son of David, but the Son of God. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses sion,” Ps. ii. 7, 8. Well therefore might the apostle assert his superiority to the angels, and say that he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.' Heb. i. 4. It was on this account that David in spirit called him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," Ps. cx. 1.

As the Jehovah-Angel who appeared to our fathers was frequently called Jehovah, by the same name was the - Messiah to be called. Behold, the days come, saith the

Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,' Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.

The time of the Messiah's advent was predicted.

1. It was to be while the second temple was standing. The ancient men who had seen the first temple, wept when the foundation of the second was laid. But the prophet said unto them, 'Fear ye not; for thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations. shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts,” Hag. ii. 5. 9.

2. It was to be before the departure of the sceptre from Judah.The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Jawgiver from beween his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be,' Gen. xlix. 10. There were various steps by which it departed. One was, the going forth of the decree from Cæsar Augustus that the whole land should be taxed. Luke ii. Another was, when the Romans took into their hands the power of inflicting capital punishment. But the sceptre did not entirely depart till the time of Vespasian, when the Romans took away both our place and nation.

3. It was to be before we had lost the knowledge of our tribes; otherwise the Messiah would not have been pointed out to us as being of the tribe of Judah and of the seed of David.

4. The very year was predicted. Seventy weeks, (or 490 years) are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy,' Dan, ix. 24. These VOL. II.

T2

A

eventy weeks are divided into three periods. During the first, the work of restoration and reformation was carried on by Ezra and Nehemiah; the second reaches to the commencement of the ministry of John; and the third extends to the death of Messiah the prince.

A herald was to go before him. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,' Isai. xl. 3. 5.— Again, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and Jehovah, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Angel of the covenant whom ye delight in ; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts,' Mal. iii. 1. This harbinger of the Messiah is also called Elijah. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Mal. iv. 5, 6. These prophecies were accomplished in the person of John the baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and who said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of Jehovah, as said the prophet Isaiah. He acknowledged that he was not the Messiah, but said that he was sent before him. He did not claim to be the bridegroom: he was the friend of the bridegroom, who stood and heard him, and rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. It was no small honour, however, to be the morning star of the gospel dispensation; and it was not without reason that the angel said to Zacharias, Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth,' Luke i. 14.

The place of the Messiah's nativity was to be Bethlehem. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, 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,' Mic. v. 2. The paraphrases written by our ancestors interpret this