however, his firft coming did not take place, till the fceptre was departed from Judah: and when the government was actually departing, or departed from Judah, that was the time when Chrift came into the world; for when Herod, a ftranger, and of another nation, was made king and governor of Judah, and thereby the fceptre and royal power departed from Judah, our Lord appeared on earth. Therefore, in the narrative of Chrili's nativity, Mat. ii. 1, 2. it is particularly recorded, that he was born in the days of Herod the king, namely, when this notable prophecy of the patriarch Jacob was fulfilled.

The Jews then may hold, their peace, and be filent, otherwife we can condemn them out of their own mouths; for, at the time of Chrift's death, they exprefly owned, faying, We have no king but Cefar, John xix. 15.; no king but the. Roman emperor: and now, the feeptre, that was removed from Judah before this time by conqueft, is departed from them by confent. Now, they folemnly own, that the right of government was fallen into the hands of the emperor, and fo departed from Judah to Cefar; from Judea to Rome. The fceptre here is publicly refigned; We have no king but Cefar; a plain indication, that the time for the Meffias to appear, even the fet time, was now come: for, if the fceptre was departed from Judah, and the law-giver from between his feet; hence our Lord Jefus, by their own confeffion, is He that fhould conie, and we are to look for no other; for he came exactly at the time appointed. Now, from that time, to this very day, they have no king, no magiftracy, no governor among themfelves: their tribes are confounded, they are vagabonds in the earth, without any rule or government at all. This fign of the coming of Shiloh cannot now take place among them: this may confirm our faith of his being come, and condemn their unbelief, who obftinately deny it, though they cannot but acknowledge, that the fceptre hath ceafed from Judah feventeen hundred years ago. So much concerning the fign.

2. The Event is the coming of Shiloh. If the queftion now be, Where is this Meffias, in our text? Here it is faid, Until Shilob come. But what is this to the fign? where is any mention made of the Meflias? It is univerfally received, that this Shiloh is Chrift: but the queftion is, How Shiloh may fignify and be called Chrift? The impofition of the name does agree with the nature of the perfon, and his work; and from divers roots, proceed divers reafons of this name: as the lines drawn in a circle may be many, yet all agree in one centre; fo, among all the divers opinions about the fignification of the word Shiloh, yet all agree that it is the Meffias, who is here meant. I fhall lay before you fome of the fignifications of that word. 1. Some notice, that Shilob fignifies peace, profperity, and happinefs; now, Chrift is the Prince of peace; he preferves againft the gates of hell, fin, and death; and the pleasure of the Lord fhall profper in his hand; and they only are happy that are found in him. 2. Some make it to fignify reft; Chrift is indeed the true refting place for weary fouls, Mat. xi. 28, 29. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,and ye fhall find reft unto your fouls." 3. Some notice, that Shilob fignifies a repofitum, a thing laid up in a ftore: and this agrees to him who is the defire of all nations, kept up in the ftore-houfe of God, until the fit time in which he might come abroad, and appear: "In the falnels of time, God fent forth his Son, made of a woman." And fo, 4. Some obferve, that Shilob, fignifies, Filius ejus, HIS Son; that is, the Son of Judah, or the Son of David; but a certain author puts ejus in the feminine gender, HER Son; that is, the Son of the virgin: and so, in both thefe fentences, Chrift is the Son of David, the Son of the virgin, the feed of the woman. 5. To this purpose is the obfervation of thefe that make Shilob to fignify the membrane; that is, the fkin that wraps up the infant in the mother's womb: Chrift, according to the flesh, was the Son of the womb, even of the virgin's womb. 6. And more especially, Shilob, fignifies Sent; and Christ is indeed the Sent of God, and the best present that ever

God

God fent, John iv. 7. A man that was blind was bid go and wath in Siloam, which is by interpretation Sent, to heal, not bodily difeafes only, but foul difeales. As God faid to Mofes in the mount," Get thee down, and vifit thy brethren, that commit fin below;" fo God faid to Christ, Go down, and vifit thy brethren, which are below in fin, and in the fhadow of death: how frequently is he therefore called, the Sent of God? Whatever of thefe meanings you put upon the word, they are all fignificant, and fhew, that Shiloh agrees to the perfon of Chrift; and put them all together, they make his name to be as ointment poured forth, that fills the whole world with a fweet favour. He is the King of Zion, to whom the fceptre belongs; for, "The fceptre was not to depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, till Shiloh came."--And thus you have the portion of Judah, or that part of the words that belongs to the Jews.

Now, the fecond part of the words is what relates to us, To him fhall the gathering of the people be. Here is a happy confluence, and concourfe of people prophefied of; where you may notice, 1. The place of their refort, to bim. 2. The manner of their reforting to him, there will be a gathering to him. 3. The perfons reforting, or the members of the meeting or affembly; it is a gathering of the people, 4. The certainty of this event, To bim SHALL the gathering of the people be. Notice then, I fay,

1. The place of their refort, or to what centre of rest their motion will tend; even to him; that is, to Shiloh, the promised Meffias; to him, who is the Son of God, the Sent of God; to him, as the only temple, the only shelter and Saviour; to him, who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; to bim, on whom the fceptre is devolved.

2. The manner of their reforting, To bim fhall the GATHERING be. I find this word in the original Hebrew, to be fuch as gives occafion to render it thus, To bim fball the EXPECTATION of the people be; or thus, To bim fhall the OBEDIENCE of the people be: but our own tranflation being moft excellent and agreeable to the original, I fhall especially hold by it, yet, fo as not to

A 4

ex.

exclude the other fignifications; for they agree upon the matter, and declare the manner of this refort of the people to Chrift; that it is not a fimple affembling to him, or an outward gathering, like a confufed mul titude not knowing wherefore they meet together; but that Chrift fhall be fo the defire of the people, the hope of the people; that it is not only a gathering of bodies, but a gathering of fouls, and a gathering of hearts unto Shiloh. They fhall not only lend an outward ear, but an inward heart-obedience; not a gathering of external attendance upon him and his ordinances only, but a gathering alfo of spiritual attendance, and dependence on him, complacency in him, and reverence towards him. In a word, this is fuch a gathering here, as imports all the acts of faith and hope in him, and all the outgoings of the foul after him in the exercife of grace internally, as well as in the performance of duty externally.

3. You have here the perfons thus reforting or affembling unto Shiloh, namely, the people; To him shall the gathering of the PEOPLE be: that is, the Gentiles: for the bleffed Shiloh was to break down the partitionwall betwixt them and the Jews. The promife here refpects the Gentile nations. It is not a particular fett of people here intended; it is people in the plural num. ber. All our Latin commentators tranflate it either aggregatio gentium, or aggregatio populorum; Junius and Tremellius, obedientia populorum *. The coming of Shiloh was to turn the fingular number to the plural; he was to turn Gens to Gentes, and populus to populi; that is to fay, (for I defign not to speak to you in an unknown tongue) he was to turn a nation in particular, to nations in general; and inftead of making a feaft only for one fort of people, to wit, the Jews; he was to make unto all people a feaft of fat things, and wines on the lees, well refined, Ifa. xxv. 6.; yea, he was to turn out the Jews, and take in the Gentiles in their room for hundreds of years. And, alas! they have been turned to

the

*That is, the gathering of the nations, the gathering of the people, or the obedience of the people.

the door thefe feventeen hundred years by-gone, and we need to pray that the time of their rejection may be of no longer continuance; for it will not fare the worfe with us, that they be received in again. Nay, "If the cafting away of them, fays the apoftlé, be the reconciling of the Gentile world, what fhall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Rom. xi. 15. However, at prefent, they that were the only church, are unchurched; they are cut off from Shiloh, and there is a gathering of the people in their room: what people? even the people that were afar off, the Gentiles; for the Jews had been long the people near to him: they were the children of Abraham, and we the ftones; and glory to him that, out of these ftones, can raise up children to Abraham. They were the garden of God, when we were a defolate wildernefs. The Gentiles. were contemned by the Jews: the Levite-prieft would fcarce look upon a poor Samaritan, but paffed by on the other fide. We were the dogs that were without, and looked upon them as a curfed people, as indeed we were: but now, by the gathering of the people to Shiloh, the curfe is turned to a bleffing: the Gentiles are invited, and the Jews neglected. Where nature made a feparation, grace makes a gathering and conjunction; where fin made a disjunction, grace makes an aggregation: To bim fhall the aggregation, or gathering, of the people be.

4. You have here the certainty of this event: To bim SHALL the gathering of the people be. God revealed this counfel of his to old Jacob; and he by the infpiration of God, declares it, that it fall be. It is very true the shall be in the text here is not in the original, but it is very fitly fupplied by our tranflators; and the certainty of this event is as ftrongly afferted, when these two words are left out, as when they are put in, and in my opinion fomewhat ftronger: for, if you read the text without fupplying of these two words, then it runs thus, The fceptre fhall not depart from Judah, nor the law-giver from between bis feet, till Shiloh come, and THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE TO HIM.

And