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ERRATA.

Page 77, line 22, for production, read productions. 163, line 4, insert they before approach.

242, line 8, for sahll, read shall.

JESUS, THE MESSIAH.

CHAPTER I.

I will put enmity between thee and the Woman, and betweed thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.-Gen. iii. 15.

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THIS is the first intimation we meet with of the promised Messiah, and within this one verse is contained, as in the bud, the embryo flower, that goodly plant of renown,* which the Lord hath planted, and not man; he who is the rose of Sharon and the valley's lilly. It is an epitome of the whole plan of Redemption, and contains truths of the first importance; we shall do well to consider them in reference to Jesus of Nazareth. The prophecy declares there shall be enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent. The incarnation and birth of Jesus have, by the Evangelists Matthew and Luke, been so fully stated, that none but a strongly prejudiced mind can

* Isaiah liii. 2. Ezek. xxxiv. 29. t Cant. ii. 1.

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deny that he was the son of Mary, then a virgin, and that Joseph was only his supposed father, because he married his mother.* The old serpent, or as he is frequently called, Satan, discovered his enmity towards Jesus from his birth; he stirred up the mind of Herod to destroy the holy child, Jesus, and thus originated the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem. Though disappointed, he personally attempted his destruction, and for forty days and nights did he try the force of his arts to tempt Jesus to sin.† And, though foiled, he again resumed the attack, and suggested to the minds of the Scribes and Pharisees, priests and people, to persecute the man "who spake as never man spake." It is said he entered into, i.e. took full possession of, the mind of Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and also acted as guide to those who took him. Was not Satan the ringleader of those who crucified him, in whom his Judges declared, they could find no fault worthy of death? Let us now behold the opposition displayed by Jesus towards the serpent and his seed. A great part of his life appears

* Matthew i. 18-25. Matthew iv. 1–11.

Luke i. 27. 30-35., ii. 5,6,7.
Mark i. 12, 13. Luke iv. 2-13.

+ Luke xxii. 3. John vi. 70., xiii. 2-27.

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