thus being seuerally seperated that Christ from Iudah might bee certainely knowne his immediat parents are accordingly recorded from Dauid and Bethlehem the one of them in expresse words by the Euangelist and the other so acknowledged by the Iewes themselues and lastly the Apostle so confirmes it when hee saith that hee of whom these things are spoken appertained to another tribe whereof no man serued at the Altar Neither did the Pharisees who daily waited occasions against Christ euer cauill at his kindred or tribâ—… otherwise then calling him the sonne of a Carpenter a Seducer and a friend to publicans and sinners But to satisfie Suidas and such as think that by his grand-mothers line he might supply the office of a Leuite in the Temple let vs heare what Rambam writeth concerning their Customes who recordeth the Canons that the Iewes obserued in their Synagogues thus 1. Onely a Leuite must offer the Sacrifice 2. But any of Israel might expound the law 3. The expounder must be an eminent man and of great estimation 4. He that expounded might not leane vpon any pillar deske or board 5. Neither must any reade vntill the Master of the Sinagogue had commanded him 6. He that was to reade was to open the booke to reade the text and to roule vp the booke againe These obseruances done the people with silence attended the exposition vpon which customes doubtlesse Saint Iames spake when hee said that Moses of old time had in euery city them that preached him being read in the Sinagogue euery Sabbath day And according to that custome Saint Luke recordeth the actions of our Sauiour in these words And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought vp and as his custome was he went into the Sinagogue on the Sabbath day and stood vp for to reade And there was deliuered vnto him the booke of the Prophet Esaias and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because hee hath annointed me to preach the Gospell to the poore he hath sent me to heale the broken hearted to preach deliuerance to the captiues and recouering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are brused To preach the acceptable yeere of the Lord. And he closed the booke and he gaue it againe to the Minister and sate downe and the â—…yes of all them that were in the Sinagogue were fastned on him And he began to say vnto them This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares And all bare him witnesse and wondred at the gracioâ—… words which proceeded out of his mouth And said is not this Iosephs sonne Note here how many things of the Hebrewes traditions our Lord then obserued he stood vp to reade the booke was deliuered to him he opened the booke and found the place hee closed the book and the eyes of all that were in the Sinagogue were fastned on him Thus wee see by many circumstances that our Lord read as any of Israel might as well as Leui. So Paul and Barnabas the one doubtlesse of Beniamin though the other were of Leui both at Antioch and neither of them knowne for Apostolike calling were desired by the Rulers of the Synagogue to speake words of exhortation after the reading of the Law If Suidas then had obserued this text or had knowne this practise in the Iewes Sinagogue he would neuer haue thought that a man by the line of his mother might bee accounted a Leuite or by that right vse the function on of a Priest And whether Hismeria the mother of Elisabet that bare the Baptist and Anna the mother of the blessed Uirgin that bare Christ were Sisters and both of them the daughters of Issachar a Leuite as some affirme is not canonicall and therfore I hold it no Article of faith For Christ that was to fulfill all righteousnesse so came and carried himselfe in his office and actions as in that searching age the Prince of the world could finde nothing amisse in him and the seuere punishments shewed vpon them that assaied to beare both the Scepter and Censer in one hand might haue staied their pennes that make this Prince of Iudah to be a sacrificer from Leui. For see we not the death of Uzzah only for touching the Arke and the leprosie of Vzziah for attempting to burne incense both of them of Iudah and not consecrated to minister before the Lord as they of Aaron were And contrariwise when the Leuites Machabees lastly vsurped the Scepter of Iudah and set his Crowne vpon their owne mitred heads they not onely made way by emulations and slaughters each of others vnto an Idumean Herod to obtaine the Kingdome but also became Saduces themselues in Religion which Sect 〈◊〉 â—…he Resurrectioâ—… of the bâ—…y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the soules of men perished wâ—…h their bodies and that there was neither Angell nor Spirit But that Christ was a Priest wee denie not yea our great high Priest which made a reconciliation for the sinnes of the whole world we acknowledge him yet after another order then Aarons was and of another Tribe then that of Leui euen of the Tribe of Iudah and order of Melchisedeck for it is euident saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes that our Lord sprang out of Iudah concerning which Tribe Moses spake nothing touching the Priesthood In which his office hee continueth a Priest for euer and in whom likewise the gouernement of his peace was prefigured so as in his person alone is accomplished the attributes that Isaiah Dauid giue the one prophecying of his Priesthood and the other of his Kingdome thus Touching his Priest-hood saith Isaiah The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because hee hath annointed mee to preach good tydings to the meeke he hath sent me to bind vp the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captiues and the opening of the prison to them that are bound And of his Kingdome saith Dauid Thy throne O God is for euer and euer the Scepter of thy Kingdome is a right Scepter thou louest righteousnesse and hatest wickednesse Therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes Lord seale them both by thy Spirit in our hearts that with thee wee may raigne Kings and Priests as himselfe the true witnesse hath promised CHAP. VIII That Salomons House was rent and all his posterity vtterly extinct long before the comming of Christ in his flesh and that neither from Salomon nor any of his successors the Kings of Iudah Christ Iesus tooke any part of his humanity WHen Dauid was fully established vpon his Throne had brought vp the Arke to the prepared Tabernacle and intended to haue built that more faire and conuenient this message was brought him by the Prophet Nathan from the Lotd Thou shalt not build a house for me to dwell in
yeer of King Cyrus the holy Scriptures plainely declare and that all that is writ was writ to and for Christ the Apostle doth affirme But how shall that fulnesse of time be knowen for the ending of the Ceremonies by the death of the Messiah which was then taught to the beloued Daniel and now much behooueth all men to know if from Cyrus downward the chaine of Chronologie in Daniels seuens be broken off for the space of 144. yeeres as Liuely doth them in his Olympicks table Where from the fiftie fiue to the eighty nine Olympiad in which and not before he beginneth to account Daniels weekes a Vacuety is left for so long a time Whereas contrariwise we see that Daniel beganne his prayer for their deliuerance immediately at the expiration of the seuenty yeeres captiuity and at the beginning of Daniels prayer the Angell Gabriel was sent from God to shew him that the Commandement for the deliuerance of the people was come forth and from that comming forth of the Commandement to the death of the Messiah seuenty seuens were determined for a full deliuery from the captiuity of sinne by the sacrifice of the Messiah Christ the Lamb figured in the Law And that this Commandement came forth in the first yeere of Cyrus the writers of the Chronicles and the booke of Ezra doe plainly declare both of them affirming and saying that in the first yeere of Cyrus when the Word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Ieremiah was finished the Lord stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia and hee made a proclamation through all his kingdome and also by writing saying Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heauen giuen mee and hee hath commanded mee to build him a house in Ierusalem that is in Iudah Who is among you of all his people with wbom the Lord his God is let him goe vp And of this commandement made by Cyrus for the returne of the Iewes to build their Citie and Temple the Prophet Isaiah foretould aboue an hundred yeeres before Cyrus was borne for saith he He saith to Cyrus thou art my Shepheard he shal performe all my desire saying to Ierusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shal be surely laid By which words of the Prophets wee conclude That not a linke of the sacred chaine of Chronologie is either broken or opened betwixt the commandement giuen by Cyrus the Lords Shepheard and the death of Christ the great Shepheard when hee gaue his life for his Flock For as time is chained linke vnto linke from Adam to Cyrus so is it chained linke vnto linke from Cyrus to the death of Christ by the speech of an Angel without al helps of the disagreeing Olympicks who in this diuine Chronologie do but trouble the waters of Shiloh and can be no let for time but that the Messiah in Daniels text is Christ Iesus our Lord and Sauiour And therefore let vs measure vnto him the true Temple and Altar with the Reed of Gabriel as Iohn did the Temple and Altar with the Reed of the Angel and in this case cast out the accoūts of the heathenish Olympiads as Iohn did cast out and not measure the Court for that was giuen to the Gentiles And so come we to his other Assertion which is that the text of holy Scrip ture in Daniel will not permit the name Messiah to be referred vnto Christ Iesus our Sauiour That Christ Iesus saith hee could be the Messiah mentioned in Daniel the hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not proue it being an attribute giuen to King Priest and Prophet must there be so taken and not appropriated to any one particular person which the text will not beare So that the word Messiah in Daniels text he will haue not to be meāt of Christ as it is in Iohns Gospel and in the second Psalme but rather a succession of gouernors both Iewes and Romans that ruled in Ierusalem from the rebuilding thereof by Nehemiah vntill the finall destruction both of Citie and Temple by Titus the Emprour And those that referre the word Messiah in that place vnto Christ Iesus saith hee cannot so doe without straining or wresting of the text which they who so vnderstād it are driuen vnto For as the Chronologie here fitteth not for Messiah to be vnderstood of Christ our Lord so the very text it selfe is against it And therefore he pitieth that the Message of an holy Angell containing a most excellent prophecy from Gods owne mouth should be so peruerted and depraued as it hath beene by those that picke out that sense But is it not a greater pitie that learning should thus turne edge vpon Diuinity to depraue vs of one of the most pregnant prophecy for Christ his passion reuealed in the whole Scriptures of God or that this most holy message of the Angell should be appropriated onely vnto prophane Gouernours people and place whose period had beene prophecied and whose tennor was shortly to be determined rather then vnto him who by that his foreshewed death was to bring an estate of euerlasting life and whose Kingdom should neuer haue end Therefore to free the text from any such interpretation let vs take the consent of all almost those malicious Iewes excepted that either speake against their owne knowledge and conscience or haue the vaile of Moses as yet vndrawne from before their hearts But the best approued Docters among them as Rabbi Saadias Rabbi Nahman and Rabbi Hadarson expounding that text of Daniel agree rhat the Messiah there spoken of is Christ the very annointed of God so farre are they from attributing that name to any other besids him though God hath giuen them the spi rit of slumber not to insee what themselues say And of Christian expositers wee take the testimony euen of the aduersarie himselfe who saith that the most part and best learned of those who haue laboured for the vnderstanding of this Prophecy haue vnderstood the Messiah here spoken of to bee Iesus Christ. And how generally true that opinion is and hath beene the worthy instrument of Gods truth the learned Du. Plessie in his truenesse of Christian Religion doth testify where he saith That this text is meant of the Messiah Christ is so euident and absolute that it is a starke shame to deny it And Lyra our Countryman against the resisting Iewes from the adiunct giuen vnto the Messiah frameth this argument The Messiah in Daniel saith he is called Messiah Prince for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie but none is called Messiah the prince but only Christ therefore is Christ the very Messiah spoken of in Dvniel Neither doth that Prophet speake of many but of one and the same Messiah and he to bee slaine to
of Iudah became thereby eclipsed Notwithstanding in the times of the later Prophets the like prouidence is continued by preseruing the Lights of the holy Genealogies a◅iue when the holy Spirit in the pens of Ezra the Scribe of Nehemiah the Prince their memorials and pedegrees were recorded vnto Iaddua the High Priest in the dayes of great Alexander where ended the Storie of the old Testament And in the New the holy Genealogies are set euen in the frontispice thereof and the first text read in the Gospel is The Booke of the generation of Iesus Christ the Sonne of Dauid the Sonne of Abraham Which well considered if nothing else could moue a reuerend desire to studie them yet at leastwise should it moue a trembling feare to despise them seeing that Christ is the subiect of that diuine text the Alpha Omega through whom they were writ and the Stone that bruseth his contemners to powder Genealogies then being the first step laid in the new Testament are for vse the first step that mounteth from earth vnto heauen as Iacobs Ladder did reach by which the great Archangell Christ from the top descended vnto the lowest staffe the Tabernacle of our flesh In them wee see the dispercions of Families in the peopleing of the World and in them the gouernment of the World when it was peopled In them the state of the holy and sincere worshippers of God and in them the wicked Idolaters and profaners of all his waies Briefly in them we see both the builders and pullers downe of the walles of Sion Gods mercy euer extended vpon his chosen the blessed and his wrath euer seuere vpon the reiected the cursed For from Cain to Lamech his seueritie continued through Ham Canaan Nimrod Amelek Ismael Esau it followed which last found no repentance though hee sought it carefully with teares and Agrippa his last was but almost perswaded to become a Christian. Wheras cōtrariwise the elect were led by Gods Angell through Canaan Egypt the Red Sea and the Wildernesse vnto Canaan their rest where Sion became the Lords delight Ierusalem his chosen Citie and the Lords Temple the very gate of heauen Vnto which without respect of Countrey Person or Tribe whether Iew or Gentile they that looked with the eye of fauour were againe of God fauoured as Salomon prayed for Such were Hiram king of Tyrus that forwarded the building of the Temple the Queene of Sheba that came from the vtmost parts of the earth to heare the wisdome of Salomon Ebedmelech the Black-more that pitied Ieremiah and drew him out of the Dungeon Cyrus the Lords annointed that released Babylons Captiuitie and Darius King of Persia that fauored forwarded the work of the second Temple Againe the healed Naaman was a Syrian the Widow of Sarepta was a Sidonian the supplicant woman was a Greeke a Syrophenician Candaces Eunuch was an Ethiopian the clensed Leper was a Samaritan and Cornelius was Captaine of the Italian Band. And this made Peter to confesse and say that God is no respecter of persons but in euery Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Search then the Scriptures for they testifie of Christ and as hee is sought for so is he found but no where more fully then in the sacred Genealogies which through seuentie fiue generations shew him to be the seed promised to subdue Satan the iust age of Abrahams life when he receiued the promise of seede in whom the World should be saued He is the Light and Life of the World let vs seeke him therefore whilest it is day for the night commeth when no man can work Saul in seeking Asses found a Crowne and we in seeking the Messiah shall find an immortall Kingdome Happy are they that so seeke and so finde for God is a rewarder of them that seeke him CHAP. II. That the Names of the Fathers and Patriarkes in the Scriptures Genealogies doe leade vnto Christ. MOses ready to goe the way of all flesh in his last Booke and leaue-taking of his brethren the Israelites among many other documents to them deliuered gaue this precept continually to be followed That the children should aske their fathers concerning the Lords Couenants euen since the day that man was created vpon the earth And the disputer in Iob from the same text giueth the reason For we are but of yesterday and know nothing because saith he our daies are a shadow vpon the earth If then from the wise wisdome is to be had what truer can be gotten then from the ancient Patriarkes Fathers and high Saints both before and after the floud they being the Parents of Christ and the patterns of all true holinesse The former for length of dayes and holy conuersations are best able to instruct vs ought chiefly to be knowne of vs for the parents of all Nations vpon the earth Whose Religion and seruice to their God Iehouah their sacrificing declareth and the propheticall naming of their sonnes sufficiently sheweth what hope they had of the other and how vaine they held this transitory world For Adam no sooner had Cain a possession but forthwith was borne to him Abel a vanitie and therefore his third sonne in name was Seth a setled foundation vpon the Rocke Christ. And Seth knowing the sinnes that should be wrought by the Sonnes of the holy Stem whē they for beauties sake should match with the profane but faire daughters of Cains race named his sonne Enos the sorrowfull as foreseeing the heauie relapse in religion and the turning of the grace of God into wantonnesse as vpon the like stumbling blocke the Israelites fell when twentie foure thousand fell vnder the plague of death for the like wantonnes with the daughters of Moab Vnto Enos was borne Cainan the Contrite and vnto him Mahalaleel the praise-God whose sonne was Iared the lowly and his sonne Enoch the Consecrated a figure of the resurrection by the translation of his earthly body into heauen from the society of men and the world His sonne was Methuselah the spearedeath and his Lamech the heart-wounded who fore-seeing the generall deluge named his sonne Noah the Comforter that should restore the earth which God had cursed and re-people the world which for sinne was drowned And the like appellations had the Fathers after the Floud when the yeeres of their liues were cut shorter by the halfe for Sem the second son of Noah was named Renowne who in his name Melchizedek is renowned indeed being the first King and Priest mentioned in the world and the figure of Christ in them both His sonne Arphaxad was a Healer and his sonne Sale a spoiler his sonne Heber a Pilgrim and his sonne Peleg a Diuision and so consequently of all the rest Where by
knowne to the contrary he might liue long after the worke was finished Another witnesse wee haue as aged if not more as Zerubbabel and a principall man also who with him returned from Babylon in the first yeere of Cyrus euen Ezra the Scribe the sonne of Seraiah the high Priest whose ancestors both in the seuenth chapter of his booke and in the first booke of the Chronicles are reckoned vp vnto Aaron Now the same Seraiah father to Ezra was carried to Riblah in the land of Hamah and there slaine by Nebuehadnezzar King of Babel in the nineteenth yeere of his raigne So that had Ezra been begot but the day of his fathers death which is not likely yet must he haue been fiftie yeeres aged at the returne from captiuitie in the first yeere of Cyrus since when had there been one hundred and sixe yeeres as some account to there building of the Temple then must Ezra haue been at that time one hundred fifty sixe yeeres old an age by much too long to retaine actiuenesse or to stand as hee did from morning till mid-day to reade and expound the Law to the people But to liue a long time after as it is said he did euen to the end of the Persians raigne which was eightie yeeres more his life must haue seene more yeeres then that shortned age of mans life could attaine vnto And therefore the vncertaine accounts of the Heathen must be measured by those men whom the scriptures haue made their measuring â—…eedes And seeing God hath ordained â—…hat by the mouth and testimonie of two â—…r three witnesses the truth shall bee established Let Mordecai an eminent man of Beniamin stand for another This Mordecai was carried away captiue into Babylon with Ieconiah King of Iudah in the eighth yeere of Nebuchadnezzar and nourished Ester in the dayes of Ahashuerosh King of Persia vnto the twelfth yeere of his raigne And that this Ahashuerosh was Darius Histaspis besides Lyra and others ancient the moderne Writers Beroaldus Broughten Willet More the Geneuian Annotation and many more affirme and Herodotus in his third booke nameth Atossa to bee the wife of Hystaspis sounding so neere to Adassa the other name of Ester as without preiudice we may call Ester his Queene And the rather for that the said Author reporteth she could preuaile in any thing with the King her husband which the Scripture confirmeth euen to the halfe of his Kingdome And likewise Hellanicus another Heathen Author reporteth that Atossa Queene of Persia was the first inuenter of Epistles which vndoubtedly was ministred vpon the Letters by her procured and sent vnto one hundred and twenty seuen Prouinces for the sauing of her people whom Ahashuerosh had condemned at the sute of wicked Haman But that this Ahashuerosh could be Xerxes and he eighty foure yeeres after Cyrus as he hath been set the age of Mordecai may not admit for had Mordecai been but eight yeeres of age when hee was carried away captiue with Ieconiah in the eight yeere of Nebuchadnezzar yet must he haue been seuenty at the returne from Babylon but to adde almost a hundred yeeres more neither humanitie could require his so aged knees to bow nor nature afford his body to bee of such agilitie as it was for State affaires mans terme of life as Solon told Croesus men of the same time to be onely threescore and tenne yeeres I am not ignorant that some will haue the relatiue which to be referred to the antecedent Kish which say they the text doth import in these words Mordecai the sonne of Iair the sonne of Shimei the sonne of Kish and this Kish they will haue the man that had been carried captiue vnto Babilon with Ieconiah But if the words of Esters Apocrypha may be herd it was not Kish but Mordecai for there Mordecai a Noble man that dwelt in Susis and bare office in the Kings Court was he that had the dreame and was the man which Nebuchadnezzar brought captiue from Ierusalem as Chap. 2. 4. Which booke though not Canonicall yet is it ancient and may well be a witnesse in a well knowne historie Besides we see that the intent of that story is not to relate of Kish his captiuitie if any such had been the miseries of those times now ouerblowne but rather the meanes that God then wrought to saue his Church by this his instrument Mordecai that had seene the deliuerance both of himself and others from that Captiuitie of Babylon and now was an acter to blunt the edge of wicked Hamans sword And that the time could extend to those yeeres thus inlarged betwixt Cyrus his Edict and the building of the Citie Nehemiah doth bring a whole Iury of witnesses against it who in his catalogue of twenty two men that returned with him and Zerubbabel from Chaldea vnto Iewrie â—…ameth twelue of them to be liuing â—…n the daies of his gouernment after that the walles of Ierusalem were finished which were Seraiah Amaziah Malluch Hattush Sebaniah Haâ—…im Merimoth Ginnethon Abbiiah Miiamin Bilgai and Shemaiah as in the tenth and twelfth Chapters of Nehemiah apparantly is seene But from these particulars let vs come to the generals That many of the same persons which had been caried captiue vnto Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar were returned and aliue at the building of the second Temple in the second yeere of Darius is manifest by this speech of Haggai who is left saith â—…e among you that saw this house in her first glory and how doe you see it now is it not in your eies in comparison of it as nothing Whereby it is apparant that many of the returned had seene the great beauty of Salomons Temple and were seated againe in Ierusalem according to the Vision of the gooâ—… figges seene by Ieremy concerninâ—… the captiuitie of Ieconiah whom thâ—… Lord had promised to bring again to Iudah to build them and not destroâ—… them to plant them and not to root theâ—… out And albeit that Zecariah told theâ—… that old men and old women shoulâ—… walke the streetes of Ierusalem vpon theâ—… staues through decrepit age yeâ—… such exceeding old age could not bâ—… retained in that age of the world foâ—… had an hundred and sixe yeeres beeâ—… expired from the first yeere of Cyrus to the rebuilding of Ierusalem anâ—… the Temple then should the returneâ—… each of them haue been at that timâ—… an hundred sixty seuen yeeres aged had they been but ten when Salomons Temple was destroyed anâ—… ten yeeres is the least age that caâ—… bee allowed to retaine memory oâ—… obseruation of the Temples curiouâ—… building and passing great beauty Wherefore those tentured timeâ—… of Daniels Seuens must bee again shrunke vnto the staple of the sacred accounts and the Persians raigne shortned vnto halfe the number almost that some ouer-lauishly haue giuen them For the chaine of Chronologie
of these are the vaine Genealogies whom Saint Paul condemneth and so proceede forward to their further vses CHAP. 5. Some difficult places of the Scriptures Genealogies explaned The difference of Saint Luke in the Greek from Moses in the Hebrew and Saint Matthewes omission of foure Kings in his Catalogue examined and resolued IT is the saying of an ancient Father that the Scriptures are a Sea wherein the Lambe may wade and the Elephant swimme God so ordering his word as it is made sufficient for all For vnto the humble and meeke therein is meate giuen to feede vnto life and vnto the wise wisdome to vnderstand But to the high conceited and naturall man for reach is so deepe as he hardly can comprehend what a spirituall motion is according to the demand of Symonides who still doubled the time to make answere what God was How plaine or profound soeuer this is commanded that the booke of the Law bee meditated day and night and the Scriptures searched to finde eternall life for God in sluggards takes no delight Among the search then of the sacred Word none seemeth more plaine then doth the frequent succession or naturall generation of man and yet in them such profound deepenesse is found as may make vs with the Apostle to cry out and say O the depths of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how vnsearchable are his Iudgements and his wayes past finding out I meane not onely in that mystery that God would become man in the flesh and be made like vnto vs sinne onely excepted but in them also which were procreated according to naturall course and breathed their beings as all others did For if we looke into the Kingly line of Christ or into the other collaterals of Iudahs and other Tribes we shall find such diuersities of Father-hoods as may cause vs with Iob to lay our hands on our mouthes and admire the purpose whereunto God worketh Not to mention then the first age or long life of man wherein some saw fiue hundred yeeres before they were Fathers though the peopling of the World stood then more vpon necessity Iudah is the person of eminent note who in the space of forty three yeeres saw himselfe after a sort a great Grandfather in his fourth descent For Phares might haue beene the sonne of Shelah as is seene by Thamars discontent for that shee was not made his wife he then being of yeeres sufficient for mariage And Phares we know was the Father of Hezron who was one of the seuenty that went with Iacob into Egypt and from the yeere of Iudahs birth vnto this of the descending into Egypt were no more then forty three as before is proued by Iosephs age accounting two yeeres more for the births of Er and Onan that died in their sinnes A matter strange and yet is againe exemplified in Salomon Achaz and Amon Kings of Iudah each of them fathers at as yong yeeres But let vs obserue the next generations following namely Hezron Aram Aminadab and Naasson the last three of these being borne in Egypt and the time no lesse then two hundred and fifteene yeeres by which account they could not bee fathers before each one of them attained vnto threescore yeeres of age though Naasson as truth is was aboue twenty at his comming out of Egypt Num. 1. 3. 7. And that he died in the Wildernesse is manifest by the Text where it is saide Among them that were to enter Canaan there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron numbred when they numbred the children of Israel in the Wildernesse of Sinai for the Lord had said of them they shall surely die in the Wildernesse Now from Naasson let vs continue the succession thorow Salmon Boaz Obed and Iesse all of them Fathers not much younger then Abraham was when Isaac was borne and Rachabs brest as drie to giue sucke as were Saraes when she bare her sonne For from the first yeere in the Wildernesse vnto Salomons Temple were yeeres foure hundred and eighty 1 Kings 6. 1. And Dauid was borne but seuenty foure before the foundation thereof was laid for he was thirty when he began to raigne and raigned forty And in the fourth yeere of Salomon that worke was begun by which Texts these foure were each of them Fathers at an hundred yeeres old for among these foure foure hundred yeeres were runne Which so long a time and but foure generations betwixt hath moued Fasciulus Temporum to imagine that Saint Mathew hath made a leape of two hundred seauenty two yeeres betwixt Boaz and Obed and Lyra to thinke that there were more Boazes then one the Grandfather the Father and the Sonne in Ruth cap. 4. Gods purposes therefore touching the vnusuall courses of begettings in these ten generations must be admired and the depths of Scriptures therein searched according to the precept of Christ who affirmeth that Heauen and Earth shall passe but not a iot of his Word euer perish In the search whereof many learned haue diligently laboured to vnfold the mysteries in the sacred Genealogies as Iacob did to vncouer the well in Haran and doe make these as all others are a meanes to withdraw the vaile from before Moses his face that Christ in them may be seene a Sonne of promise aboue all naturall meanes or hope For none of the Fathers betwixt Iudah and Dauid receiued such pregnant promises of the Messiah as the former Patriarkes before them had done neither was there any of Christ his Parents either Prince Captaine or Iudge in that first established gouernement that might allure expectation wherby the world might perceiue a farre greater glorie was to proceede through them then either worldly pompe or meanes of naturall procreation could beget Which thing also was not more manifested in these his Fathers then it was made apparant in most of his Mothers according to the flesh who beyond expectation receiued their fruit and wrestled as Iacob did to obtaine that blessing Such were Lea and Rachel who stroue for their husband for no wanton dalliance doubtlesse but to be faithfull Mothers of that blessed Seed So likewise Ruth left her Countrey and abandoned her kinreds to be a Mother of the Messiah And in the rest wee may see nature as it were both oppressed and quite dissolued for did not the drie wombes of Sara and Rachab as hopelesse of conception force nature the acts of Thamar and Bersheba as they were cōmitted offend nature And the conception of the most blessed Virgin wholly dissolue and breake nature when her most happy wombe was made the Tabernacle of GOD and Cradle of Christ Vpon whose conception birth learned Erasmus paraphraseth thus As Christ in the first time was promised to the Virgin Euah in Paradise so Christ in
the best learned of euery Tribe were sent These comming to Alexandria entred vpon the Translation taking each of them a part of the old Testament amounting about foureteene chapters as wee now distinguish them for a man as saith the learned Hebrecian Master Broughton But well knowing the Kings desire was more to adorne his famous Library then any deuotion hee had to their Lawes they many times hid their minds in translating and being among themselues different in gifts left the rellish of their vaines in a differing degree as by their parts in translating doth euidently appeare For the Translaters of Moses were very eloquent so were they who delt with the stories and they that translated the Psalmes and Prouerbs The Grecian on Iob saith hee was a Poet reader and cared not to yeeld euery saying strictly but what might be to Greekes familiar The Translaters of Ecclesiastes was yonger in Hebrew then in Greeke he of Amos not the best he of Ezekiel very learned so that the diuersities of their gifts telles vs that all did not all Oftentimes they rather abridge then translate as on Hester and infinitely in the Prophets and sometimes they enlarge the Text more like free commenters then bound Translaters In misteries and hard phrases often they deale exceeding well but their now hitting and now missing shewes that they followed copies which were neither vowelled nor accented which without exceeding great skill and paines could not bee truly translated nor vnderstood and the neerenesse in forme of many of the Hebrew Characters might cause a mistaking especially in them that saw no reason of exact care when their labour was required onely for a braue Library Besides Iesus the sonne of Syrac who was a child when these Docters translated telles how hard it is to translate Hebrew into another Language whose words saith hee carry another force in themselues then when they are translated But wee must acknowledge that neuer since their time any age afforded so learned through all the Prophets Emblemes Hebrew subtilties and Greeke elegancy as these seauenty two Translaters were notwithstanding they liued in those disquiet times of the poore Iewes oppressions and the Hebrew tongue for daily vse lost fiue hundred yeeres before But how this narration of their ouerslips and variances doe agree with Iosephus for their exactnesse vnto Moses I see not onely doe I say though an errour be admitted to haue beene committed by these Septuagints yet in the holy Euangelist can be none the Spirit of truth being the only inditer Or that these Hebrew Doctors should mistake the Hebrew Characters they being so learned is not like either so godlesse as to alter and adde vnto Moses knowing it death so to doe Why then may we not rather with Austin thinke that the first Septuagint hath beene corrupted both in matter and meaning seeing they haue beene so infinitely maymed by the Translations of Aquilas Symmachus Theodotion and the namelesse interpretet called the fifth Edition with them of Origens named the Octaplun Yea and Hierome thinketh these seuenty two Doctors translated but only the fiue books of Moses which howsoeuer had been approoued before his time yet in his time stood farre differing and was much corrupted from the Hebrew phrase and therefore not like to be theirs Againe in those bookes of Moses wee see that translation to differ in it selfe for albeit both in Genesis and in Exodus it accounteth seuenty fiue persons to descend into Egypt yet doth it in Deuteronomy reckon but seuenty saying Thy fathers went downe into Egypt with seuenty persons and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the Starres of the heauen in multitude And againe their departing from Moses his text is apparant for wheras he recordeth by name all the seed of Rachel and rekoneth the number to be fourteene they translate them to bee eighteene and for the two soules borne vnto Ioseph in Egypt they translate fiue and not as bound Translaters but as free Commenters from the first book of the Chronicles adde Shuthelah and Tahan the sonnes of Ephraim and Eden his nephew and Machir the sonne of Manasseh and Gilead his nephew to bee the fiue persons that filled the number of seuenty fiue that descended into Egypt And surely this moued Saint Austin to conceiue some great and hid miserie to be contained therein for so reuerend an opinion hee hath of the first Septuagint as hee holdeth firmely that the same Spirit that spake in the former Prophets spake also in these Translators and where they dissent from the Hebrew we must saith he hold it their Propheticall depth for that which was not originally in the Hebrew it pleased God in them to supply But he might haue done well to haue added this saying withall It is I that so speake and not the Lord who hath so perfited his Word that it is eternal death to adde or to diminish Of the like opinion is Ioseph Ben Gorion who will haue these Septuagints likewise indued with the Spirit of the Prophets For saith d he they being separated into diuers chambers apart and not permitted to see each others copies notwithstanding agreed exactly in phrase and in words and in thirteene places of Scripture of purpose altred the text with so vniforme consent as if it had been done by one man and one pen. Vnto the which likewise S. Chrysostome and Saint Augustine do agree but Saint Hierome nothing at all Nor the famous Iosephus Ben-Matthias maketh no such miracle vnlesse it bee in saying that the translation was finished in 72. dayes according to the number of the Translaters But touching the number descending into Egypt hee saith they were seuentie soules and accounting Iacobs seede by his foure wiues summeth vp each particular as Moses hath done Which is a great inducement vnto me to thinke that the first Septuagint was not corrupted before Iosephus wrote nor that the Euangelist Saint Luke followed the faultie but the faithfull copie of those learned Rabbins done in the dayes of Phyladelphus King of Egypt yet will I not herein preiudice any opinion of the learned Fathers ancient and moderne who haue diligently laboured to vnclaspe this great doubt Some thinking as Augustine Pererius that the Septuagint S. Stephen speaking from them are inno error but that the fiue thereunto added being borne in Egypt while Ioseph liued are added by way of anticipation And Eugubinus the Romanist will admit no fault in the originall but that it was rather corrupted by some ignorant pen-man in translating the copie And so Beza the Protestant coniectureth that the word Pantes all by the ignorance of the transcriber was writ pénte fiue contrary to the Text of Moses Iunius iudgeth that Iacobs foure wiues and Iudahs two sonnes Er and Onan Iacob himselfe being deducted make the number to bee seuentie fiue but Rachel Er and Onan were dead
〈◊〉 maketh reconciliation for all things for though it be written Write Ieconiah childlesse yet was it afterwards written the sonne of Ieconiah was Salathiel and his sonne Zerubbabel a Signet vpon Gods finger Rambam also in his Treatise of Repentance bringeth in Ieconiah for an example who saith he was a Signet pluckt off and in Zerubbabell was a Signet placed againe And Kimchi the Spanish Iew is so farre from hauing him die childlesse that hee will haue the word Assir in 1. Chro. 3. 17. to be the propper name of a man that man Ieconiahs sonne But let vs see how Ephraim herein fighteth against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim for this was a principall point held of the ancient Rabbins that repentance could not put back a decree made with an oath And the Babylonian Thalmud in Sanedrim expoundeth Assir for an adiectiue bound vp or hard kept restraint or prisoner and not for the proper name of a man Moreouer their Sedar olam zuta affirmeth that it was but the Rabbins report that Salathiel was the naturall sonne of Ieconiah And Kimchi with Salomoh Iarchi vpon the twelfth of Zacharie confesse that Nathan there named was the sonne of Dauid who should not haue been mentioned as a principal man to Zerubbabel vnlesse he were of his family But as touching that it could not put backe a decree made by oath Did that of Zedekiah and them that were carried away with him make them the bad figges that could not bee eaten any better Could that of Moses notwithstanding his earnest prayer preuaile for his entrance into Canaan or the Israelites whereof no doubt many were repentants to enter the Rest when God had sworne the contrary Nay if Noah Daniel and Iob should not be heard against Gods decree of famine pestilence and sword shall wee thinke that Ieconiah whose repentance is not read of and whose captiuitie remained thirty seuen yeeres in Babylon euen all his life long could alter Gods oath as touching posteritie And yet these miserable men seeke to continue a succession from this childlesse man For Aben Ezra in his preface to Salomons Song calleth the Messiah Salomon because saith he hee should be the sonne of Salomon as from Dauid he is called Dauid the Prince euerlasting But had that Rabin considered that no such promises were spoken concerning Salomons sonnes nor that Prince Dauid there named was named before that Salomons House failed in Ieconiah hee might haue knowne how Christ had been Salomons sonne His sonne he was indeed as a King and Successor but not as a man as his heire to his crowne but not of his loynes And I could haue wished that Christians also had not been so forward in following the Rabbins herein and in vrging the text of Saint Matthew in Ieconiahs begetting of Salathiel somewhat too naturally as Lyra Lucidus 〈◊〉 Messeus and many others haue done who leane so waightily vpon the outward phrase of begetting that the maine prop of Diuinitie is thereby ouerburdened For they by Saint Matthew and the first booke of Chronicles would make a line all and naturall succession from Ieconiah to Salathiel as the Rabbins haue done and would continue Salomons line vnto Ioseph the husband of the virgin Marie without breach of succession The words of either texts are these in the Chronicles thus And the sonnes of Ieconiah Assir Salathiel hâ—… sonne 1. Chron. 3. 17. And in Saint Matthew thus And after they were brought into Babylon Ieconiah begat Salathiel Matth. 1. 12. But if speeches here spoken must be taken in a procreating sense then was Zedekiah as well as Salathiel sonne vnto Ieconiah for in the first of Chronicles chap. 3. vers 16. thus it it standeth And the sonnes of â—…oakim Ieconiah his sonne Zedekiah his sonne Which Zedekiah in the verse immediately before is said as truth is to be the sonne of Iosiah But in the seconâ—… of Chronicles hee is called the brother of Ieconiah Chap. â—…6 10. And yet in the second of the booke of Kings he is said to be the brother of Ieconiah his father 2. Kings 24. 17. So that by these places hâ—… is both vncle brother and sonne to Ieconiah and yet all of them tâ—…ue either in nature inheritance or succession And if these seeme not strange in him nor that line why should Salathiels sonneship bee so naturally vrged in Matthew whom Saint Luke cleareth to be the Sonne of Neri and so doth Zachariah in naming Nathan for a chiefe family of Dauid And that Saint Matthew meant no otherwise of begetting then of heires to Salomons Crowne appeareth by himselfe who in recording his successors followeth neither a naturall succession nor an exact descent For he maketh Ioram to beget Ozias whereas the Chronicles tels vs that Ozias was the immediat sonne of Amaziah and was foure descents after Ioram his great Grandfather who died 69. yeeres before Ozias was borne So likewise he saith that Iosias begat Ieconias who notwithstanding was his Grand-child and sonne vnto Iehoiakim the second sonne of Iosiah Whereby we see no naturall succession vrged by the Euangelist but rather such as makes a Successor a sonne to the childlesse or an heire of what consanguinitie soeuer to bee a sonne to the issulesse possessor So Moses was meant the sonne of Pharaohs daughter So Iair of Iudah was the sonne of Manasseh And so Baasha was father vnto Ahab though sauing the Throne he was no kin vnto him for Baashas house ended in his sonne Elah So that another intent moued Saint Matthew to continue a continuall succession from Ieconiah vnto Salathiel And that the Euangelist spake of the heires of the Crowne and not of the kindreds in bloud it further appeareth in that he ascendeth by the legall line through Ioseph Abiud Ieconiah and Salomon no higher then vnto Abraham who first of the Fathers had promise either of King or Kingdome whereas Saint Luke our other Fuangelist in the naturall line by Marie Eli Rhesa and Nathan ascendeth vp vnto Adam the first man to whom the promise was made of Christ his humanitie And how from Adam to omit the other collaterals that in another kind leade vnto Christ let vs here insert that so the whole generations of his Manhood may fully appeare so carefully recorded in all former ages by the holy Ghost himselfe and in the later time continued by the same Spirit of truth in his Instrument Saint Luke our holy Euangelist vnto his Mother the Virgin Marie her selfe The first Table endeth at Dauid as the Writer of Ruth doth And the other from Dauid by Salomon to Ieconiah are recorded by the books of the Chronicles where they end are againe continued by the same spirit vnto Ioseph the Husband of Marie by the Euangelist Saint Matthew Both which their descents from Dauid downeward that the eiemay witnesse what the purpose of the holy Ghosts pen was in the hands of these Scribes
tending to Idolatry as other Gentile Writers haue but all against the false Gods and their worshippings so that shee seemeth to me to haue been a Citizen of the City of God saith Saint Augustine in his booke so intituled Now that these Sybils were ancient we see in Homer of Ezekiah his time sixe hundred thirty six yeeres before the birth of Christ who inserteth many of their verses in his Rapsodie as Viues in his annotations vpon S. Augustins Ciuitate Dei noteth And also respectiue for that the Romans made doubt to assist King Ptolomy to recouer his Kingdome of Egypt because the Sybils had prophecied that At what time the Romans should set a King in Egypt then should bee borne the King of the whole world Which Oracle Cicero writing to Lentulus who sued to haue that charge alleageth And Tacitus telles vs that wheras many vaine predictions were publisht of the Fate of Rome vnder the names of the Sybils Augustus Caesar after that the Capitoll was burnt in the ciuil wars caused their prophecies to bee sought for in Samum Illium Erthrum through Affrica Sicilia and the Colonies of Italy and to be brought to Rome to the Cities Pretor by a day assigned and to be examined by the Priests to distingush the true from the false as neere as might be by the iudgement of man and those allowed of referred againe to a second examination of the Fifteene In which businesse Suetonius affirmeth no lesse then two thousand bookes to haue been committed to the fier but the approued prophecies of the Sybils saith he at the Emperours commandement were laid vp and kept vnder locke in two golden Chests at the foot of the Image of Apolle in mount Palatine in Rome Where they remained saith Amianus in the daies of Iulian the Apostata and whence Stillico tooke and burnt them when he intended treason towards his double sonne in law Honorius the Emperour lest in mouing the people against him their prophecies should hinder his designes as Claâ—…dian in his verses thus writeth He burnt the Fatâ—… of the Sybils helps Whereby we see both the great antiquity of these receiued Sybils and the reuerend regard that was had of their writings but chiefely the end of all prophecies both diuine and humane concerning Christ Iesus in whom all the types of the Law ended and in whose person al Genealogies ceased that from Adam had beene continued vnto him the blessed seede and Sonne of God and to force them further either for Story or distinction of Tribes Mariages or Issues is to fall into that sin which S. Paul condemneth seeing those Starres did all set at the bright rising of that brightest Sunne Neither doth the new Testament from the first of Saint Mathew to the last of the Apocalyps prosecute any Genealogies no not from the degree of a Grandfather besides them appertaining to the person of Christ though many bookes therein be hystorical and might haue required the staies of Genealogies as most of them in the old Testament haue done For onely Zacharias from his priestly course Elisabet from Aaron Anna from Ashur Paul from Beniamin and Barnabas from Leui are declared in al the rest a still silence is seene and all to shew that the vse of Geneologies ended in Iesus the seede of the promise and that thenceforth the world should not looke for another The Iewes we haue seene blinded in their owne affections affecting an earthly tranquility vnder their daily expected Monarch from Salomon and with Iulian the Apostata do vehemently accuse vs Christians that agree not in the Parents of his person whom we make our Messiah whether Nathan or Salomon But I would to God wee had not followed their Rabbins too far in the line of Salomon and that wee were more exercised in these kinds of Studies so maturely touching the humanity of Christ for by Peter we are commanded to be ready alwaies to giue an answere to euery man that asketh a reason of the hope we hold And by Moses are ordained to prouoke them to the Gospell neither of which wee can doe but by shewing that God is become man and that man come according to the Scriptures of God For in this consisteth life euerlasting to know the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent This Christ then wee Christians worship and know what we worship euen the sonne of Dauid that is Dauids Lord whom all must kisse or else perish and all made blessed that trust in him O then yee Sons of the Couenant be not as Dauids deafe Adder that stoppeth her eare and will not harken to the voyce of the charmer charme he neuer so wisely nor with your questioning Elders answere we cannot tel For you haue had Abraham your father pointing at Christ the seede of the promise in whom all the Nations of the earth are made blessed Moses your Law-giuer shewing the Prophet that the Lord would raise from among your brethren vnto whom ye should harken And the Prophets your Charmers both multiplying visions and vsing similitudes with precept vpon precept line vpon line heere a little and there a little haue declared the Virgins sonne to be the Immanuel the wonderfull Counseller the mighty God the euerlasting father and Prince of peace Christ himselfe teaching himselfe to bee the way the truth and the life and the spirituall rock and Manna sent downe from heauen The Euangelists Apostles Disciples and Proselites all of them clowds of witnesses vnto you of his Life Death Resurrection and Ascention And lastly we Gentiles of the vncircumcision though with stamering lips and another tongue tell you That in these last daies God hath spoken by his Son who is heire of all things by whom he made the world and in whom he that beleeueth shall not perish but haue life euerlasting That a promise was made vnto Dauid you know that he should neuer want a Successor to sit vpon his Throne nor that Leui should euer want a Sacrificer to minister before the Lord But that there is and hath long time beene wants of both cannot be denied And therefore that is not spoken of a temporall but spirituall King and Kingdome and of that Priesthood and order of Melchisedec which continueth for euer Which is Iesus who is gone before vs into the holy place the most holiest To day then if you y will heare his voyce harden not your hearts as your fathers did in the wildernesse for be not deceiued God is not mocked but is a ielous God and a consuming fier His arrowes you reade are sharp that stick in the hearts of the Kings enemies and his bloud you know hath beene heauie vpon thâ—… heads of your children who to-this day are a despised and a dispersed Nation through the world without King without Prince without