or from any of the Books of the Prophets, that the Jews had at this Time any Notion of the Mefiah) and that the Child, who was to refufe the Evil and chufe the Good, before the Land was to be forfaken of both her Kings, was not, and could not be SHEARJASHUB; who, firft, does not appear to accompany his Father on this Occafion, and who, if he did accompany his Father, is excluded, from being the Child meant, in the plainest Manner. For the Words of the Prophet are, behold a Virgin fhall conceive and bare a Son, and before the Child (That is, the Child to be born of the Virgin, according to the immediate preceding Relative, there being not the least Ground to correct the Prophet ISAIAH'S Grammar and Context by a mere imaginary Suppofition of ISAIAH's leaving fo important a Matter, as the pointing to SHEAR JASHUB, to be found out by Conjecture, in Oppofition to the plain grammatical Senfe, and That a Suppofition, of fuch a Nature, as, if allow'd and applied, whenever Men have Purposes to serve, will confound the Senfe of any Book whatfoever,) fhall know to refufe the Evil and chufe the Good, the Land shall be forfaken of both ber Kings. Nor does the Threat contain'd in the Words immediately following the Affair of the Promife of a Conception of the Virgin and the Affurance of the unfuccefsful Defigns of the two. Kings, at all contradict the Comfort promised in the Matter of the two Kings, which was That, which then moved the Heart of АHAZ, and the Hearts of his People, as the Trees of the

Wood

Wood were moved with the Wind. It is very confiftent for God to give Men Comfort, as to one particular Evil, about which they have prefent Apprehenfions, and yet to threaten them with another Evil; and Mr. GREEN'S fuppofed Contradiction feems a most flight Observation to set aside the plain and obvious Senfe of the Prophet. Mr. GREEN ádds, to fupport what he has faid, "that (u) it may caft fome "farther Light upon this Prophefy, as well as confirm what he has above observed, to add, that if God meant to have given АHAZ and his People a Sign for their Comfort, and <c to affure them that their Enemies fhould in a "little Time be confounded, a Virgin's (or a young Woman's) conceiving and bearing a "Son would by no Means anfwer his End; because there was nothing extraordinary in "it. For what Miracle is This, a young Wo"man's conceiving and bearing a Son, in the "natural Way? Marvellous, adds he, in the

Way of Ridicule, is this Work, the Concep"tion and bearing a Child!" And he obferves, that This is a Matter, wherein Men may (x) guefs right. To which it is fufficient to fay, that This is arguing againft, and ridiculing the Word of God, and That alfo by falfifying it, when he says, marvellous is this Work, the Conception and bearing a CHILD! when the Word of God fays a Son; and that it would have been more juft in itself, and more becoming a Regard to the Bible, to take the

(u) Letters, p. 69.

(x. Ib. 71.

Fact,

Fact, as there related, and to obferve upon it, that no one could tell with Certainty, except miraculously, first, that a young Woman or Virgin fhould in a fhort Time conceive a Child; and fecondly, that that Child should be a Male, and live a certain Time. The Text of the Bible is to be taken, as we find it, and to be accounted for as it is, when there is no various Reading, or Pretence for Corruption or Interpolation. Otherwise, we make a mere Nofe of Wax of it, and fubject it to our Whimfies, Ignorance, Enthusiasms, and Intereft.

He adds, by Way of farther Attack on this fuppofed Sign, that it was (y) not fuited to the Circumftances, that AHAZ and his People were in, whofe Fears and Diftrefs were present and immediate; and he attacks it for its Impropriety, as you do the Interpretation of it, as a Sign to happen eight hundred Years after. As if a Sign, given to fall out within a Year's Time, of Relief to happen foon after to the People, to whom the Sign was given, was not fuited to the prefent Circumstances of those People! and as if fuch a Sign was to be parallell'd with a Sign, which has no Relation to the present Diftrefs, and is not to take Effect till eight hundred Years after the Generation, to whom it was given, is dead!

III. Mr. GREEN having, as he thinks, proved that the Prophefy cannot relate to a young Woman in the Days of AHAZ, proceeds

(3) Letters, p. 72.

upon

1

upon that Foundation, in the next Place, to fhew that it relates to the (≈) Virgin MARY and the Birth of JESUS.

That Foundation I have deftroy'd already, by fhewing that it wholly consists in interpreting away the plain Text, by mere Chimeras, all inconfiftent with the exprefs Letter thereof. I have therefore nothing to do, but to confider merely the additional Arguments here, which he urges to fhew it relates to the Virgin MARY and the Birth of JESUS.

He (a) fays, every Circumftance, apply'd "by St. MATTHEW, agrees with the Prophefy. For MARY was a pure Virgin, (b) "knew not a Man; and the only Perfon we KNOW of, who conceived in fuch Circumftances. And as JESUS only was born of a Virgin, fo he ALONE could properly be "call'd IMMANUEL, God with us. And of "him ONLY it could ftrictly be faid, (c) the "Government fhall be upon his Shoulder, and "his Name fhall be call'd Wonderful, Counfeller, the mighty God, the everlasting Fa"ther, the Prince of Peace, of the Increafe of his Government and Peace there fhall "be no End, &c. Which are Things evidently too high for MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAS, "HEZEKIAH, or any other Person in "that Age."

re

•

These are all the Circumftances he urges to prove, that every Circumftance literally agrees

(z) Ibid. p. 77: (a) Ibid. p. 77. Luke i. 34. (c) Ifa. ix. 6, 7.

(4) Mat. i. 18.

with the Prophefy. Whereas, he should have produced the whole Prophefy, and shew'd the literal Agreement in every Circumftance. But as the whole Prophefy difagrees literally in every Circumftance, fo he enters not into a juft and proper Comparison, and confines himfelf to what feems to have a Shadow of literal Agreement; I fay, to what seems to have a Shadow of literal Agreement, for the Circumftances he produces have no real literal Agree

ment.

1. For MARY'S being a pure Virgin, and conceiving in thofe Circumftances, has no literal Agreement with ISAIAH, who fpeaks only of a young Woman, (as appears both by the Context in ISAIAH, and by the Ufe of the original Word, Almah, throughout the Old Teftament) who is to conceive, and That without the leaft Intimation of any miraculous or even remote Conception, but on the contrary who was immediately to conceive, in order to be a Sign to AH AZ and his People, and who did, naturally, conceive a Son, as it is related in ISAIAH. And the Miracle itself of a pure Virgin's conceiving is well known (tho'Mr. GREEN profeffes to know nothing of the Matter) to have been very frequent; as is fhewn by the learned (d) HUETIUS, who gives divers Inftances thereof, among the Pagans, to make it credible that the Virgin Mary might conceive without the Intervention of Man.

(d) Huetii Alnetanæ Quæft. 1. 11. c. xv.

Let