Let me add, that the Jews, (tho' they never pretended to found their Doctrine (e) of a Meffiah on a literal, but only on the allegorical Senfe of the Old Teftament,) never (f) fo much as refer'd this Paffage of ISAIAH to the Meffiab. And Dr. SHERLOCK'S (g) Observation feems perfectly juft, when he fays, "that probably the Prophefy, a Virgin fhall conceive a Son, was not understood by the "antient Jews as importing a miraculous Conception; and that common Senfe led every Man to understand it in a Sense agree"able to Nature and Experience."

Let me add also an Obfervation for you, against other Adverfaries, that a pure Virgin's conceiving could of itself be no Sign at all to the Jews, because no Body can tell, but the Virgin herself, whether the conceives miraculously or no. And therefore the Sign in ISAIAH muft lie in the Conception of a young Woman or Virgin naturally, which is a visible, manifeft, fenfible Sign; and not in the Conception of a pure Virgin, which, being an invifible Sign, is no Sign at all.

2. As to his Affertion, that JESUS alone could properly be call'd IMMANUEL, God with us, I anfwer that JESUS could not alone be properly call'd IMMANUEL; becaufe that Name was given by God to ISAIAH's Son; to whom (b) GROTIUS obferves it was applicable by his

(e) Simon Hift. Crit. du Nov. Teft. p. 247. (f) More's Mystery of Godliness, p. 328, 329. (g) Sherlock's Ufe, &c. (b) Grotius in Ifa. vii. 14.

p. 31.

being God's Sign to the fews of his Affiftance to them in their Diftrefs. And if it fignify'd in ISAIAH, only, (That is, properly) a Sign of God's Affiftance, it did not fignify, properly, only the Birth and Prefence of God himself; whom the Jews never fufpected was to be born of a Woman, and could not therefore think to be properly fignify'd by the Word IMMANUEL in that Place. It is the common Jewish Way of Speech to give divine Names to Things, and Places, on Account of Things done or to be done.

3. As to the third Circumftance founded on the Agreement of JESUS with the Character given of a Perfon in another Place of ISAIAH, what is That to the Prophefy before us? How does an Agreement to another Place in ISAIAH fhew an Agreement here? There is not one Word in the Context, where the said Paffage ftands, to refer it to the Child of the young Woman in the Prophefy before us. And it is therefore needless to make a juft Translation of the Paffage here, and fhew that it relates to HEZECHIAH, efpecially after the Performances of GROTIUS, and our most ingenious Commentator WHITE.

Under this Head of fhewing an Agreement between MARY's Conception in MATTHEW, and the Birth of a Son in ISAIAH, he makes an Objection to himself from the Prophefy in thefe Words. "There is, fays he, one Difficulty in my Expofition, which I must account for. It is exprefly faid, the Lord himself fhall give you a Sign; and what was this

Sign,

Sign, if not the Virgin's Conception and bearing a Son? For it immediately follows, "behold a Virgin fhall conceive, &c. and of “what could This be a Sign, if not of the confounding the Enemies of Judah? Yet how "could a Virgin's Conception and bearing a Son, above feven hundred Years after, be any Sign to the Jews, who lived in the Time of

"AHAZ."

This, which he calls a Difficulty, is the manifeft Senfe of the Place, and utterly fubverts his pretended Senfe thereof; and nothing can be more abfurd than his Conduct, firft, to coin a Sense of ISAIAH, founded on Chimeras and Inconfiftencies with ISAIAH, and then to confider the real, manifeft, and obvious Senfe only as a mere Difficulty; which as he has taught us, in the Beginning of this Article, has no Weight, though it cannot be anfier'd, in Oppofition to what is fully proved, as he will fuppofe every Thing to be, which he advances, how weak foever it be. This is a most noble Circle of Difputation, and the weak Scheme, into which the Defperatenefs of their Caufe has reduced him and fome others, who fee but little before them.

But let us confider how he gets rid of the Difficulty, and how he fhews that the manifeft Senfe of the Place contain'd in the faid Difficulty is not the Senfe of the Place. He fays, СС we may confider the fourteenth, fifteenth, "and fixteenth Verses (therefore the Lord bimfelf fhall give a Sign; behold a Virgin fhall conceive, and bear a Son, and she shall

Y 2

"call

"call his Name IMMANUEL; Butter and Honey fhall be eat, that he may know to refufe the Evil, and chufe the Good. For before the Child fhall know to refufe the Evil, "and chufe the Good, the Land that thou abborreft fhall be forfaken of both her Kings) as containing two diftinct Predictions; first, "that a Virgin fhall conceive and bear a Son, &c. fecondly, that the Land of the Enemies "of Judah fhould be forfaken of her Kings, "before SHEAR JASHUB fhould know to re"fufe the Evil, and chufe the Good; and one

of thefe Predictions is certainly made a Sign "of the other, and was to be fulfill'd in Token "that the other fhould alfo come to pass in its Seafon. Now, the Queftion is, which "of these Predictions is the Sign of the Accomplishment of the other. You fuppofe "that the Virgin's conceiving and bearing a "Son is the Sign of the Land's being forfaken "of both her Kings within fuch a Time; but

σε

fince I have evidently fhewn the Abfurdity "of this Suppofition, I may reasonably con"clude, that That, which you look upon as "the Sign, is in Reality the Prediction to be "confirm'd by the Sign; and that God, by "the Prophet, does here affure the House of (i) DAVID, that a Virgin should conceive " and bear a Son, who fhould be an IMMANUEL, GOD with us, the promised Meffah. And fince many among them were ftaggering through Unbelief at the Promife

"of God, that the Meffiah fhould be born to "the Houfe of DAVID, then in such melancholy Circumstances; and fince This was a "Matter they had never heard of before, and yet more incredible, that he should be born of a Virgin, God kindly tells them, that This "fhould be the Sign of his making good this gracious Promife, or glorious Prophefy, the Land of their Enemies fhould be forfaken of both her Kings before SHEAR JASHUB, to to whom we may fuppofe the Prophet pointed, fhould know to refufe the Evil, and chufe the Good, though he should eat Butter "and Honey, (have Plenty of Food fuitable to "Men of his Age) that he might be in a

Capacity of doing it as foon as poffible. And "thus we have a Sign, according to your De"fire, foon coming to pass, of a Thing to be perform'd above feven hundred Years to

come."

In answer to thofe Parts of This not before confider'd, I fay,

1. That, instead of answering the Difficulty, he does nothing but endeavour to confound the Order of the Senfe and Words of ISAIAH. The Difficulty is, "it is exprefly faid, the "Lord himself fhall give a Sign; and what

was this Sign, if not the Virgin's conceiving "and bearing a Son? For immediately follows, "behold a Virgin fhall conceive, &c. and of "what could This be a Sign, if not of the

confounding the Enemies of Judah? Yet how "could a Virgin's conceiving and bearing a Son, above Jeven hundred Years after, be any

Y 3

Sign