ing (k) paffage of the fame prophet,

"Unto

us a child is born, and a young man given, " and the government fhall be upon his fhoul"ders;" which, he fays, is a prophetick "defcription of the power of the cross, to which JESUS ESUS apply'd his fhoulder at his crucifixion; tho' the paffage as it ftands in ISAIAH, relates in its obvious and primary fenfe to HEZECHIAH, and that part of it, whereon JUSTIN lays ftrefs, moft manifeftly relates to the bearing the office of a civil magiftrate, and not to carrying of a crefs.

JUSTIN () alfo makes MOSES to (m) prophefy of CHRIST in thefe words, Binding his foal unto the vine, and washing his garments in the blood of the grapes. Which are, according to him, a fignificative fymbol of what CHRIST was to do and fuffer: for there flood the foal of an afs ty'd to a vine at the entrance of a certain village, which he order'd his difciples to go and bring him, upon which he got and rode into Jerufalem, where the ftately temple of the Jews then was. And to fulfil

the

(k) Ifaiah 9. 6. See alfo Origen in John, p. 42. Bafil. Tom. 2. p. 212. Aliiq; Patres.

See Grotius and White in loc. & Clerici Hift. Ecclef.

p. 623.

(1) Reeves, Ib. p. 64.

(m) Geu. 45. II.

See other explications of the Fathers, of this place cited by Whitby, in Stricturæ Patrum, p. 13, c.

1

the fequel of the PROPHESY he was afterwards. crucify'd. For washing his garments in the blood of the grapes, prefigur'd the paffion be was to undergo, purifying by his blood fuch as fhould believe in him; for what, by the PROPHET, the divine fpirit calls his garments, are the faithful, in whom the Logos, the feed of God, dwells. The blood of the grapes typifies, that he who was to come should have blood, but not of human, but of divine generation --And as man had no hand in making the blood of the grape, but God only, fo this is an emblem, that the blood of the Logos was of no human extraction, but defcended from the power of the most High. Upon this paffage, as it again occurs and is urg'd by JUSTIN in his dialogue with Trypho, the ingenious and learned Mr. THIRLBY makes the following remark, very pertinent to the question of the fathers, applying the prophefies of the Old Testament allegorically, whereof I am now treating. (1) Eandem interpretationem ad Gentiles quoq; convertendos adhibuit Apol. 1. p. 52. fatis eam quidem ridiculam bâc atate plerifq; vifuram, at iis autem temporibus tolerabilem. Judai certè non ba"bebant quod aut reprehenderent aut riderent, id quod norunt omnes qui ingenium & doctrinam Judæorum non penitus igno

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(n) Thirlby in Juftin Martyr. P. 246.

rant.

rant. Sed neq; Ethnicis, five doctis five indoctis, Allegorica veterum fcriptorum, præfertim facrorum & VATICINORUM, explanatio, mirum aut novum videri pote

rat.

The fame JUSTIN (0) affords many more inftances of the like kind in his first apology; to which I refer the reader. His dialogue with Trypho alfo abounds with fuch; of which work BASNAGE, the learned author of the late hiftory of the Jews, gives (p) us this account, Je remarquerai, fays he, feulement que comme JUSTIN avoit lu fort exactement les ecrits des Prophètes, il a fait fon fort de les entaffer les uns fur les autres fans beaucoup d'art, & peut-être fans beaucoup des choix; & le Fuif auroit eu raifon de lui dire plus fouvent qu'il n'a fait, que ces citations ne prouvent pas ce qu'il veur prouver.

Thus alfo do IRENEUS, TERTULLIAN, ORIGEN, LACTANTIUS, EUSEBIUS, BASIL, and all the other (q) fathers, both before as well as after JEROM, who cite the books of the prophets, as fulfill'd in the gospel, make application of the paffages they cite from thofe prophets; whofe words are only

per

fo) Reeves, Ib. p. 68-94.

(p) Bafnage Hift. des Juifs, 1. 8. c. 1. §. 13.

(q) See Whitby Stricture Patrum apud Differ. de Scrip. Interp.

pertinent to the purpofe for which they produce them in an allegorical fenfe. This the learned well know. And SIMON, in particular, speaking of EUSEBIUS'S EVANGELICAL PREPARATION, (r) fays, that if you will examine with any care many of the PROPHESIES which EUSEBIUS understands of JESUS CHRIST, his reafonings are not always conclufive, because thefe PROPHESIES feem to have another literal fenfe: but therein be follow'd the method, which was (s) received before him in the church. How could JUSTIN MARTYR (†) pretend to prove from the Books of the PROPHETS; that Jesus who was to come into the world, was to be born of a virgin, should cure every difcafe and malady in nature, and raife the dead, and be treated with fpite and ignominy, and at length should be faftned to a crofs, and dye, and rife again, and afcend up into heaven; and that he was truly the Son of God, and should be worShip'd under that title; and that be Should send out fome to preach_these tydings to every nation; and that the gentiles fhould come over to the faith in greater num bers than the Jews; and that these very prophefies

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(r) Simon Bib. Choif, Vol. 1. p. 40.

(3) See Grabe apud Thirlbii, J. Martyr, p. 82, Se, (†) Justin Martyr's Apology, by Reeves, P. 62, 63◄

phefies went of him, thousands and hundreds of years, before his coming; but by arguing from the allegorical fenfe of thofe prophefies, which, literally understood, have no manner of relation to thefe matters, and fo visibly relate to other matters, that it is hard to conceive JUSTIN could be fo ignorant as not to know he argu'd allegorically, and not from the literal fenfe of them?

[5.] But feveral christian authors before JEROM not contenting themselves with arguing (and that knowingly as it ought to be judged) from the prophefies of the Old Testament, in the fame allegorical manner with the apoftles, do directly affert (contrary to what Mr. WHISTON affirms of them) a twofold fenfe of thofe prophefies, a literal and a mystical, and make them applicable in a mystical sense only to our Saviour.

Thus JUSTIN MARTYR (2) afferts a double fenfe of fome prophefies. He gives us an account, how the devils introduc'd into the pagan religions feveral things in imitation of what they found prophefy'd of CHRIST, in the Old Testament; but fays, they did not caufe (w) one of Jove's fons to be crucify'd, because that being SYMBOLICALLY reprefented in the Old Teftament, they could not spell out the meaning of the SYMBOL; tho' the cross,

(*) Juftin Martyr's Apal. by Reeves, §. 71. (2) Sect. 74.