Ps. cxlvi. 9. The Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widow. Jer. xlix. 11.

Prov. ii. 8. He preserveth the way of his saints.

Isa. xlix. 6. Thou art my servant, to restore the preserved of Israel. 1. Thess. v. 23. I pray God that your whole spirit and soul, and body, be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Tim. iv. 18. The Lord will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.

GOD IS THE CREATOR.

LXXVI. God is the Creator of his people. Ps. li. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me.

cii. 8. The people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. cxlix. 2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

Isa. xliii. 1. Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name, thou art mine.

Ver. 7. I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea I have made him.

Ver. 15. I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king.

Ver. 21. This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise. Ch. xliv. 2, 21, 24.-xlvi. 4.

Ezek. xxxvii. from ver. I to 15. The vision of dry bones raised to life.

Threats against those who apostatised after they had been created. Deut. xxxii. 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise, is he not thy Father that hath bought thee, hath he not made thee, and established thee.

Ver. 15. Jeshurun forsook God that made him.

Ver. 18. Of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

Ver. 19. The Lord abhorred them. Ver. 22.

Ver. 23. He said, I will heap mischief upon them.

Ezek. xxi. 30. Thus saith the Lord, I will judge thee in the places where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. See Jerusalem's birth and nativity described. Ch. xvi. 3 to 14.

Ver. 31. I will pour mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, I will deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy. Ver. 32.

xxviii. 12. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus.

Ver. 15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Ver. 16. Thou hast sinned, therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. Ver. 18.

LXXVII. God the Creator of Christians, they are new creatures, God's workmanship. Rom. xiv. 20. For meat, destroy not thou the work of God.

2 Cor. v. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Gal. vi. 15. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any

thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

Eph. i. 6. He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Col. i. 12. He hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

ii. 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

Ver. 13. Ye are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Ver. 15,

Rev. i. 6. He hath made us kings and priests to God, and his Fa

ther.

LXXVIII. Duty of Christians as nerv creatures. Rom. vi. 4. We should walk in newness of life.

vii. 6. We should serve in newness of spirit.

xii. 2. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

1 Cor. v. 7. Purge out the old leaven, that ye may become a new lump.

Eph. iv. 22. Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.

Ver. 24. And put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col. iii. 9. Ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

1 Pet. iv. 19. Let those that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls unto him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

LXXIX. God is to his people, their planter, builder, &c. they are his planting, his vine-yard, which he watereth and maketh fruitful, his house his building, &c.

God planted the Jewish nation in the land of Canaan. Exod. xv. 17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the sanctuary which thine hands have established. 2 Sam. vii. 10.

Jer. xxxii. 41. I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart. Ch. xxiv. 6. xxxi. 4, 12, 28. xlii. 10.

Amos ix. 15. I will plant them upon their own land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land, saith the Lord.

LXXX. The Lord planted, watered, and made fruitful, the Jewish church. Ps. lxxx. 8. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Ver. 15. Ps. lxxii. 16.

Isa. iv. 2. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely. Ch. lx. 21.

Isa. v. 1. My beloved hath a vine-yard in a very fruitful hill. Ver. 2. He fenced it, and planted it, and planted it with the choice vine.

Ver. 7. The vine-yard of the Lord of hosts, is the house of Israel. xxvii. 3. I the Lord do keep the vine-yard, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, and I will keep it night and day. Ver. 2, 6. Ch. xxxvii. 31.

xxxv. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.

xli. 18. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys, and I will make the wilderness a pool of water. Ver. 19, 20.

Isa. xliv. 3. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, and I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.

Ver. 4. And they shall spring up as among the grass, and as the willows by the water courses. Ch. xlix. 10. lviii. 11.

lxi. 3. That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.

Ver. 11. For as the earth bringeth forth the bud, and the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all people. Jer. xxxi. 12.

Hos. ii. 23. I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.

xiv. 5. I will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

Ver. 7. They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine. Ver. 8. I am like a green fir-tree, from me is thy fruit found. Mal. iv. 2. Ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. See Jer. xviii. 9.

LXXXI. Apostacy, or unfruitfulness, threats and reproofs against it. Jer. ii. 21. I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? xi. 17. The Lord of hosts that planted thee hath pronounced evil against thee. Ch. xlv. 4. Ezek. xvii. 5, 8, 9. xix. 10, 12.

Jer. xviii. 9, 10. At what instant I speak concerning a nation to pluck up, &c.

Matt. iii. 10. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.

xiii. 3. See the parable of the sower. Mark iv. 4. Luke viii. 5. Ver. 24. The parable of the wheat, and tares.

xxi. 32. The parable of the husbandman letting out the vineyard, and requiring the fruits. Mark xii. 1. Luke xx. 9.

Luke xiii. 6. The parable of the unfruitful fig-tree cumbering the ground. Ver. 7, 8, 9.

LXXXII. The fruitful, whether Jews or Gentiles, are God's planting. Ps. i. 3. The righteous shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf shall not wither. Jer. xvii. 8.

xcii. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God.

Ver. 14. They shall bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing.

Matt. vii. 17. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. Ver. 18. Ch. xii. 33.

John xv. 1. I am the true vine, my Father is the husbandman. Ver. 2. Every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit. Ver. 4, 5, 6, 8.

Rom. vi. 22. Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Ch. vii. 4.

1 Cor. iii. 9. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Eph. ii. 20. Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.

Ver. 21. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple unto the Lord.

Ver. 22. In whom ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

2 Thess. i. 3. We are bound to thank God for you, brethren, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you toward each other aboundeth.

1 Pet. ii. 5. Ye also, as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood.

CHAP. IV.

PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST.

PROPHECY AND MIRACLES.

1. THE testimony of prophecy appealed to as a foundation of faith in Christ. John v. 39. Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.

Ver. 44. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

Ver. 45. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye

trust.

Ver. 46. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. John i. 45.

Ver. 47. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Matt. xxvi. 24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him. Mark ix. 12. It is written of the Son of man that he must suffer

many things.

Luke xviii. 31. All things written by the prophets concerning the Son of man, must be accomplished.

xxii. 37. This that is written must be accomplished in me. xxiv. 44. All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Ver. 46. Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.

II. The testimony of prophecy urged by the apostles. Acts xvii. 2. Paul reasoned out of the scriptures, ver. 3. opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus which I preach unto you is Christ.

xxiv. 14. After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets.

xxvi. 22. I continue witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things, than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, ver. 32. that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead.

Acts iii. 18. Peter said, those things that God before had shewed, by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath fulfilled.

x. 43. To him gave all the prophets witness.

xviii. 28. Apostles mightily convinced the Jews, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

xxviii. 23. Paul expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets.

III. Prophecies concerning Christ fulfilled, in his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Gen. iii. 15. The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.

Isa. vii. 14. The Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. ix. 6. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. See this fulfilled in the conception, and birth of Jesus. Matt. i. 18 to 25. Luke i. 28 to 35.

Gal. iv. 4. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.
John i. 14. He was made flesh.

Heb. xii. 14. He took part of flesh and blood.
Ver. 17. Was made like unto his brethren.
Phil. ii. 7. Was made in the likeness of men.

Ver. 8. Was found in fashion as a man.

IV. The nation, tribe, and family he was to descend from. Gen. xii. 3. Abram, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Acts iii. 25. Gal. iii. 8.

xxi. 12. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Gal. iii. 16. Thy seed which is Christ.

xxvi. 4. Isaac-in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. xxviii. 14. Jacob-in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be

blessed.

xlix. 8. Judah-thy brethren shall praise thee, &c. Ver. 10. Isa. xi. 1. David-A branch shall grow out of his roots. Ps. Ixxxix. 29. His seed will I make to endure for ever. See Jer.

xxiii. 5.-xxxiii. 15. Ps. xviii. 50.-lxxxix. 4, 36.-cxxxii. 11. John vii. 42. Christ cometh of the seed of David.

Matt. xxii. 42. He is David's son.

ix. 27. Thou son of David have mercy on us. Ch. xv. 22. xx. 30. xxi. 9. Hosannah to the son of David.

Mark xi. 10. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David.
Heb. vii. 14. It is evident our Lord sprang from Judah.
Rom. i. 3. Jesus Christ was made of the seed of David.

Acts xiii. 23. Of this man's seed according to the flesh, hath God raised unto Israel a Saviour. See Christ's descent reckoned. Matt. i. 1 to 18. Luke iii. 23 to 34.

V. The time of Christ's life and death fixed by other events foretold in prophecy, well known when they happened. Gen. xlix. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet,