as I hope shall bee to the Readers satisfaction and mine owne excuse Harmony and Explanation MARKE 1. Vers. 1. The beginning of the Gospel THe beginning of that age of the world which the Prophets so unanimously pointed out for the time of good things to come and which they expressed sometimes by the terme of The last dayes Esa. 2. 2. Mich. 4. 1. Joel 2. 28. Sometimes of the acceptable yeere of the Lord Esa. 61. 1. Sometimes of the kingdom of God Dan. 2. 44. and 7. 14. and somtimes of a New heaven and a New earth Esa. 65. 17. And which the Gospel it selfe doth begin from the beginning of the Ministery and Preaching of John the Baptist as in this verse and Matth. 11. 13. Act. 1. 22. 10. 37. So that though in our Chronicle account and computation wee begin to reckon from the birth of our Saviour the second Adam as the age of the world before was reckoned from the Creation of the first yet in strict and exact computing the new world as one may call it or the age of the Gospel began not before the setting forth of John to preach and baptize and this his Ministery is most fitly called the beginning of the Gospel both in regard of his preaching and of his baptizing For first the Doctrine and preaching of John was of a differing straine and diverse tenour from the literall Doctrine of the Law For that called all for workes and for exact performance Doe this and live and He that doth not all the words of this Law is cursed But John called for repentance and for renewing of the mind and for beleefe in him that was comming after disclaiming all righteousnesse by the workes and performance of the Law but proclaiming repentance for non-performance and righteousnesse onely to be had by Christ. So that here were new Heavens and a new Earth begun to bee created a new Commandement given a new Church founded justification by the workes of the Law cryed downe and the glorious Doctrine of repentance and faith set up Secondly whereas Baptisme was used before among the Jewes onely for admission of Proselyteâ— or Heathens to their Church and Religion as vid. Aben Ezra Gen. 35. Rombani in Asure Biah per. 13. now it is published and proposed to the Jewes themselves to bee received and undergone shewing unto them 1. That they were now to be entred and transplanted into a new profession And 2. That the Gentiles and they were now to bee knit into one Church and Body The Ministery of John being of so high concernment as being thus the beginning of the Gospel and of a new World it is no wonder that St. Luke doth so exactly point out the yeare by the Reigne of the Emperor the rule of Pilate Herod Philip and Lysanias the High Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas that so remarkable a yeere might be fixed and knowne to all the World and that the condition and the state of the times might bee observed when the Gospel began And here it might have been proper to have begun the second part of this our taske and not to have driven over this Period of time and to stop halfe a yeere after it at the baptisme of our Saviour but since his preaching appearing to the World is the great and maine thing that the Evangelists looke after and since the preaching of the Baptist was but a Preface and forerunner unto that of his it is not unproper may be very excusable to make that our entrance to another part and take this with us in our motion to our lodging and resting there SS Of Jesus Christ the Son of God This title of The Sonne of God is proclaimed of Christ from Heaven at his baptisme when he is to begin to preach the Gospel as it is said here to bee the Gospel of the Sonne of God And it was necessary that so much should bee intimated and learned concerning him as the author of the Gospel Because 1. The Gospel was the full revealing and opening of the will of the Father 2. The overthrow and ruine of the Rites and Ceremonies of Moses 3. The admission of heathen and strangers to bee the Church and people of the Lord whereas Israel had been his peculiar before 4. It was a Doctrine of trusting in another and not ones selfe for salvation and now was fit for doing the three former or for being the object of the latter but Jesus Christ the Sonne of God who came from the bosome of the Father was the substance and body of those shadows and Ceremonies might raze that partition wall which in the giving of the Law himself had reared and did not onely preach the doctrine of the Gospel but also fully perform the Law Vers. 2. As it is written in the Prophets It seemeth by the Syrian Arabicke Vulgar Latine Victor Antiochenus Origen cited by him and others that some Copies read As it is written in Esaias the Prophet and so Jansenius thinketh it was so written by Marke himselfe but purposely changed by the Doctors of the Church as we read it now to avoid the difficulty which the other reading carryed with it But first it were a very strange and impious though an easie way of resolving doubts to adde to or diminish from the Text at pleasure as the Text shall seeme easie or difficult This is not to expound the Bible but to make a new one or a Text of ones owne head Secondly in ancienter times then any of theirs that are produced which read In Esaias the Prophet it was read as wee doe In the Prophets as Jansâ—nius himselfe sheweth out of Irenaeus lib. 3. chap. 11. Thirdly the one halfe of the words alledged in the Text are not in Esay at all but in Malachi and the first halfe also for that is considerable For though sometime the New Testament in Allegations from the Old doe closely couch two severall places together under one quotation as if they were but one yet maketh it sure that the first alwayes is that very place which it takes on it to cite though the second bee another as Acts 7. 7. Sâ—â—ven alledgeth a speech of God as if uttered to Abraham alone whereas it is two severall quotations and two severall speeches tyed up in one the one spoken to Abraham indeed but the other to Moses almost foure hundred yeers after and that to Abraham is set the first for he is the subject whereupon the allegation is produced Fourthly it is a manner of speech not used in the New Testament to say it is written or it is said in such or such a Prophet but by him Wee find indeed It is written in the Law Luke 10. 26. And It is written in the booke of Psalmes Acts 1. 20. Yea It is written in the Prophets Joh. 6. 45. but no where that it is writen in a single Prophet Fifthly To read as wee do As it is writen in the Prophets agreeth with the ordinary
the Rabbines of Tikkun Sopherim The correction or direction of the Scribes or their peculiar and speciall disposing of the text which the Massoreth at the beginning of the booke of Numbers observeth to have been in eighteen places which are reckoned there These Scribes may be conceived to have been either Priests or Levites or both the men of that Tribe being the chiefest Students in the Scriptures and being bound by their calling to bee able to instruct the people in the same Deut. 33. 10. Mal. 2. 7. They had eight and forty Universities as it were belonging to that tribe for the education of the Clergy in the knowledge of the Law the Prophets Josh. 21. and from among the learned of those Students were some set apart for this Office which required profound Learning and skill namely to be the Copiers of the Bible when any copy was to be taken or at least to take care that all copies that should bee transcribed should be pure and without corruption Secondly these also were the publick common preachers of the people being more constant Pulpit men then any other of the Clergy taking on them not onely to bee the preservers and providers for the purity of the Text but also the most constant and common explainers and expounders of it in Sermons Therefore it is said of our Saviour that he taught as one that had authority and not as the Scribes Mat. 7. 29. where the Scribes are rather mentioned then any other order because they were the greatest and most ordinary Preachers And our Saviour himselfe in Marke 12. 25. How say the Scribes that Christ is the Sonne of David instancing in the Scribes onely whereas the Pharisees Sadduces and even all the Nation of the Jewes held the same opinion because the Scribes were the men that were oftest in the Pulpit and preached more then any other and so this Doctrine was heard more from them then others And thus was Ezra a ready Scribe in the Law of Moses Ezr. 7. 6. both for the copying and preserving pure the Text of the Scripture and also for the expounding of it by his Sermons And such a one is the Scribe that our Saviour speaketh of that is instructed to the Kingdome of Heaven that bringeth out of his treasure instructions out of the New Testament and Old Mat. 13. 52. The Chaldee Paraphrast on Jer. 6. 13. 8. 10. and in other-places in stead of The Prophet readeth the Scribe taking as it seemeth the Prophet in the same sense that Paul doth Prophecying 1 Thess. 5. 20. 1 Cor. 14. 5. c. for the Preacher and making the text speake in the same tenor that it doth here the Priests and the Scribes In the Story of our Saviours arraignment and elswhere in the New Testament there is mention of the chiefe Priests and Scribes and Elders Mat. 26. 3. Marke 15. 1. importing that the Great Councell consisted of these three sorts of men The chiefe Priests of the seed of Aaron the Scribes of the Tribe of Levi and the Elders of the people meer lay men These were all deeply and extraordinarily versed and learned in the Law but the practise of this their learning had some difference as the civill common and canon 1. The Elders judged the people and matters of debate and controversie but instructed not the people by way of preaching or ministery The chiefe Priests judged and instructed but it was more by resolving questions and doubts that were proposed to them as our Saviour asked them questions Luke 2. 46. Hag. 2. 11. Mal. 2. 7. then by common preaching Homilies or Sermons The Scribes were they that were the preachers or lecturers and taught the people from the pulpit as well as determined upon doubts and debates And to this triple division of the great and Seraphicall Doctors of the Jewes St. Paul seemeth to allude in 1 Cor. 1. 20. Where is the wise Where is the Scribe where is the questionist or disputer of this world By the first meaning the Elders of the people and by the last the chiefe Priests SS Hee demanded of them where Christ should bee borne The High Priests were rightly consulted say the Rhemists in question of their Law and Religion for whom should Herod aske but those that were most likely to give him an answer But the latter end of their note carryeth a snare with it to intrap the simple And 〈◊〉 they never so ill say they they are often forced to say the truth by priviledge of their function They think they have an undeniable ground work for this their Doctrine from the prophecying of Caiaphas Job 11. 51. as their notes plead there ascribing that his prophecying to his Priesthood and order whereas the Text ascribeth it to the yeere and season This hee spake not of himselfe but being high Priest that yeer hee prophecied where the emphasis lyeth not in the words being High Priest but in the words that yeer which was the yeer of sending down of the gifts of the Spirit in a measure and manner never known before or after Ver. 6. And thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda c. There is no small difference in this quotation of the Scribes or of the Evangelist or indeed of both from the letter of the Text of the Prophet from whom they cite it nor doth this difference rise by the Evangelists following the translation of the Lxx aâ— oft there doth for it differeth much from the letter of the lxx also but it is upon some speciall reason Which disagreement that wee may reconcile and the reason of which that wee may see the better wee will take up the verse verbatim and the differences as they come to hand one by one First then whereas Saint Matthew readeth Thou Bethlehem in the land of Juda the Hebrew hath it onely Thou 〈…〉 without any mention of the land of Juda at all and so the Chaldee and so the Lxx but only with the addition of one word Thou Bethlehem the house of Ephrata art the least c. Answ. First There are that give this generall answer to all the differences in this quotation that the Scribes and the Evangelist tye not themselves to the very words of the Prophet but only think it enough to render his sense And this answer might bee very well entertained and give good satisfaction especially siâ—â—e that in allegations from the Old Testament it is usuall with the New so to do but that the difference between the Text and the quotation is so great that it is not only diverse but even contrary Some therefore Secondly conceive that the Scribes could alledge the Text no better without the book and that the Evangelist hath set it downe in their owne words for the just shame of those great Doctors that were no better versed in the Scripture then to alledge a place in words so very farre different from the Text. But hee that hath been any whit versed in the writings
thus wee see and may observe Rome come to its intire and absolute Monarchy but at this time and the state and power that should persecute Christ in his Members to the end of the world beginning and borne as it were at the very same time when Christ himselfe Augustus as Tacitus recordeth of him did cause an account to be taken of all the Empire and himself had a Book Record of it written out with his own hand Opes publieae continebantur quantum civium sociorumque in armis quot classes regna Provinciae tributa aut vectigalia necessitates ac largitiones quae cuncta suae manu perscripserat Augustus which contained the publick revenue the number of Citizens or confederates in the Armies what Shipping Kingdoms Provinces Tributes or Subsidies and reliefe money and beneficences Dion also in the life of Augustus and much also about this time mentioneth a taxe laid by him upon those that dwelt in Italy whose estates were not lesse then five thousand Sesterces and poorer then these hee taxed not Ver. 2. This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was Governour of Syria The Taxe is dated by the time of Cyrenius his Governing of Syria First because Judea was annexed to Syria as a member of it and in naming the one the other is included Secondly hereby the losse and want of the Scepter and Law-giver in the Tribe of Judah is the better seen for the subjection of the Jewes by this is shewed to bee in the third degree They subject to Herod Herod to Cyrenius and Cyrenius to Augustus Thirdly from Syria had Israel had their greatest afflictions that ever they had in their own Land as by Gog and Magog Ezek. 38. or the house of the North Dan. 11. And Luke deriving the taxing of the Jewes from Syria calleth those things to mind and sayeth as it were the last verse of Dan. 11. and the first of Dan. 12. together The taxing is said first to bee made in his time As first denying that ever there was such an universall taxation in the Empire before for the Empire was never in that case of universall quietnesse to bee taxed before And secondly importing the taxes of that Country that followed after Augustus at this very time laying the platform subjection and submission of the Empire for succeeding posterities And here let it bee said againe in exact propriety beginneth the Romane Monarchy and is farre from being any of the foure Mentioned Dan. 2. or 7. Josephus mentioneth Cyrenius his comming into Syria after Archelaus his death To doe justice and to assesse and taxe every mans goods and hee came into Judea which was now annexed to Syria and did so there Now Archelaus reigned after Herod Mat. 2. and reigned till Christ was about ten yeers old forten yeers hee reigned as saith the same Josephus and therefore either Cyrenius came twice into Syria to lay taxations as Funccius concludeth or else Josephus fayleth here as hee doth not seldome elsewhere in Chronology Ver. 3. And all went to bee taxed This taxing was first by Kingdomes and Countries then by Cities and Townes and then by poll First Kingdomes and Provinces were divided one from another Secondly Cities and Townes in every Kingdome and Province were also particularized and notice given that every one should repaire to the place to which by stock and descent they did belong Thirdly the people being thus convened in their severall Cities their names were taken and inrolled and so the Greek word here used doth signifie in the neerest propriety Then did they make profession of Subjection to the Romane Empire either by some set forme of words or at least by payment of some certaine summe of money which was laid upon every poll And now first are the Jews entring under the yoke of that subjection which they never cast off again but it pressed them into a finall desolation even to this day Secondly They had voluntarily brought this misery upon themselves in calling in the Romans in their civill warres Thirdly No sparke of their former freedome and authority is left among them for their King and Law-giver is cleane gone Fourthly they are now to bee inrolled and registred for vassals to all succeeding generations Fifthly they must now leave their own occasions and many of them their owne houses to attend their owne bondage and misery And thus It is in the words of our Rabbins if thou see a generation that hath many afflictions then looke for the Redeemer from Isa. 59. 17 18. Jer. 30. 6 7. c. D. Kimch in Isa. 59. Ver. 4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee c. Whether it were for the feare of Herod that had a murderous spite at the stock of David or for the more commodiousnesse for his trade or for whatsoever else it was that Josoph a Bethlehemite became a resident in Galilee surely it was the wondrous disposall of the Lord that a decree from Rome should bring him now from Galilee to Bethlehem that the Prophecy of Christs being borne in that place might take effect Ver. 7. Shee brought forth her first-borne This is to bee understood according to the propriety and Phrase of the Law agreeable to which it speaketh Now the Law speaking of the first-borne regardeth not whether any were borne after or no but onely that none was borne before As Hur is called the first-born of Ephrâ—â—â— 1 Chron. 2. 5. and yet no mention of any childe that shee had after So Christ is here called the first-borne not as though shee had any children besides but to shew that in him was fulfilled what was typifyed by the first-borne under the Law who was as King Priest and Prophet in the Family and holy to the Lord. And so likewise in that spâ—â—ch of Matthew chap. 1. 25. Hee knew her not till shee had brought fâ—rth her first-borne It implyeth not that 〈◊〉 knew her after for the word till inforceth no such thing as see the Geneva notes upon the place but the Evangelists intention is to cleere the birth and generation of Christ from any carnall mixture of Joseph and Mary before hee was borne And here it is not unseasonable to looke a little narrowly into the time of our Saviours birth namely the time of the yeere â—â— which hee was borne as wee have done into the yeere it self or the time of the world heretofore The yeere of the world as wee observed then was 3928. The yeere of Augustus is neither so necessary to seek nor so ease to find partly because there is some difference among Historians about the number of the yeeres of his Reigne and partly because there may bee some about the yeere of Tiberius in which Christ was Baptized from which wee should count backward For though it bee said that John came Baptizing in his fifteenth yeere Luk. 31. yet may it bee questionable whether hee Baptized Christ in that yeere or no But not to swarve from the most common
and usuall division of the Old Testament by the Hebrews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Oraictha Nebbyim Chetubhim The Law the Prophets and the Holy writs approved and followed by our Saviour Luk. 24. 44. and alluded to by the Evangelist here Before thy face c. Thy way before thee The former is neither in the Hebrew nor in the Lxx at all the latter is in them both but clean contrary for they both have it The way before mee But First the Evangelists and Apostles when they take on them to cite any Text from the Old Testament are not so punctuall to observe the exact and strict forme of words as the pith of them or sense of the place as might bee instanced in many particulars so that the difference of the words would not prejudice the agreement in sense were there not so flat difference of person as mee and thee Secondly The Majesty of Scripture doth often shew it selfe in requoting of places in this that it alledgeth them in difference of words and difference of sense yea sometimes in contrarietie not to make one place to crosse or deny another but by the variety one to explaine and illustrate another as in corresponding places in the Old Testament might bee shewed at large as Gen. 10. 22 23. cited 1 Chron. 1. 17. Gen. 36. 12. compared with 1 Chron. 1. 36. 1 Sam. 25. 44. paralleled 2 Sam. 21. 8. 2 Chron. 3. 15. with Jer. 52. 21. and very many other places of the like nature wherein the Holy Ghost having penned a thing in one place doth by variety of words and sense inlarge and expound himselfe in another And the same divine authority and Majesty doth hee also use in the New Testament both in parallell places in it selfe and in citations in it from the Old So that this difference in hand betwixt My face in Malachi and thy face in Mark is not contradictory or crossing one another but explicatory or one explaining another and both together do result to the greater mystery For Christ is the face or presence of the Father and so is hee plainly called Exod. 33. 14. and in Christ the Father came and revealed himselfe among men and the words in both places both in the Prophet and in the Evangelist are to bee taken for the words of the Father in the one spoken of the Sonne and in the other to him In Malachi thus Behold I send my Messenger before mee to prepare the way before my face that is before the Sonne as hee is in his own nature the very brightnesse of the glory of the Father and the expresse image of his person Heb. 1. 3. and in Marke thus to prepare the way before thy face that is before thee O Sonne when thou commest to undertake the work of redemption and to publish the Gospel And this change of persons in Grammaticall construction is usuall in the Hebrews eloquence and Rhetorique as 1 Sam. 2. 23. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord I rejoyce in thy Salvation There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee c. Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon mee whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Luk. 3. ver 1. In the fifteenth yeere of Tiberius Caesar. This Tiberius was the third Emperour of the Romanes the son of Livia the wife of Augustus and by him adopted into the family of the Caesars and to the Empire A man of such subtilty cruelty avarice and bestiality that for all or indeed for any of these few stories can shew his parallell And as if in this very beginning of the Gospel hee were produced of such a constitution to teach us what to look for from that cruell and abominable City in all ages and successions Now Tiberius his fifteenth was the yeere of the world 3957. And the time of the yeere that John began to Baptize in it was about Easter or the vernall equinox as may bee concluded from the time of the Baptisme of our Saviour For if Jesus were baptized in Tisri or September as is cleered hereafter hee being then but just entring upon his thirtieth yeere as the Law required Numb 4. And if John being six moneths elder then our Saviour as it is plaine hee was did enter his Ministery at the very same age according to the same Law it readily follows that the time mentioned was the time when hee began to Preach It was indeed Tiberius his fifteenth when John began to baptize but it may very well bee questioned whether it were so when our Saviour was baptized by him For the exact beginning of every yeere of Tiberius his reign was from the fourteenth of the Kalends of September or the eighteenth of August at what time Augustus dyed Sueton in Aug. cap. 100. That fifteenth of the Emperour therefore in the Spring time of which John began to baptize was expired before September when our Saviour was baptized and so his baptisme is to bee reputed in the yeere of the world 3958. which was then but newly begunne and in the sixteenth yeere of Tiberius but newly begun neither unlesse you will reckon the yeere of the Emperour as the Romanes did the yeere of the Consuls from January to January But this wee will not controvert nor crosse the common and constant opinion of all times that holdeth our Saviour to have been baptized in Tiberius his fifteenth SS Pontius Pilate being governour of Judea Hee is called Procurator Judeae by Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. and hath this brand set upon him by Egisippus that hee was Vir nequam parvi facient mendacium De excid Jeruf l. 2. c. 5. A wicked man and one that made little conscience of a lie from which unconscionable disposition those words of his What is truth Joh. 18. 38. seem to proceed in scorn of truth and derision of it Hee succeeded Gratus in the government of Judea managed it with a great deale of troublesomenesse and vexation to the nation and at last was put out of his rule by Vitellius and sent to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours Joseph Antiq. lib. 18. c. 3 4 5. Philo in legatione SS Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee This was Antipas the sonne of Herod the great and called also Herod after his Father a man that after a long and wicked misdemeanour in his place was at last banished by Caius upon the accusation of his Nephew Herod Agrippa and Herodias his incestuous mate with him as shall bee shewed in a more proper place SS Tetrarch Some tying themselves too strictly to the signification of the Greek word understand by Tetrarch him that governeth the fourth part of a Kingdome for the Originall word includeth foure and accordingly have concluded that the Kingdome of Herod the great was divided by Augustus after his death into foure parts and given to his foure Sonnes Archelaus in whose roome they say succeeded