true Those things that are absolutely necessary to be known and practis'd in order to Salvation they are plain and evident in the Scripture more especially to the good and honest heart to the sincerely-obedient Soul they are as clear as if they were written with a Sun-beam its Tertullian's expression yea they are as S. Chrysostome hath phrased it higher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In those things that pertain to life and godliness which lead to an happy life hereafter and constitute that Holiness here which is the only way to that Happiness the Scripture is clear and intelligible without any Paraphrase or Comment without any Criticisms or Philological learning they are not hard to understand but hard to practise nor are they hard in this latter respect but through our own fault through our unwillingness to implore and use those aids which God is ready to afford to such as diligently seek him Yet that the man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished to every good work and particularly to that good work which most properly becomes the man of God the understanding and explaining of many other considerable parts of H. Scripture it is requisite that he should be well read in Histories and Antiquities both Iewish Christian and Ethnick and withal be indued with an happy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Sagacity for the better discovering what Events recorded in History do particularly answer the Scripture-Prophecies And that Mr. Mede was excellently accomplish'd for such purposes is manifest to all judicious Readers of his Works in particular his Commentary upon the Apocalyps is an illustrious proof of the great and successful use he made of his acquaintance with the best Historians that treat of the successive Changes and States of the Roman Empire together with the Degrees of its Ruine represented in the Vision of the Seven Seals and Trumpets as also of the Saracens those Locusts that came out of the smoky and darkening Seduction of Mahomet together with their Successors the Turks those Horsemen from Euphrates and likewise of the Christian Church whether in its primitive Purity chap. 11. 12. or in its Degeneracy and Apostasy ch 13. 14 c. His acquaintance with the Iewish Antiquities enabled him to discover what was meant by that Glorious Session of the Divine Majesty upon a Throne as it is described in Apocal. 4. and by those Four Animalia the Ensigns of the Four Standards of the Israelitish Camp in the Wilderness that were placed about the Tabernacle or Throne of God From the same Antiquities he explain'd the Two Courts of the Temple mention'd Apocal. 11. the Inner Court for the Priests the Outer for the Israelites between which and the Atrium Gentium was a Wall of stone about three cubits high with an Inscription upon it forbidding any alien or uncircumcised Gentile to come within the Sacred limits and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 2. 14. Middle wall of partition between the Iews and Gentiles does plainly allude hereunto But not to mention any more Observations of this nature there are several Phrases also in the Scripture illustrated by him out of the same Monuments of Antiquity as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second Death an expression four times used in the Apocalyps and that which occurs thrice in the same Book the being arayed or walking in white garments Other Instances might be added but these may suffice for a Specimen His acquaintance with the Ethnick Antiquities enabled him to explain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Tenth part of the City Apocal. 11. 13. the two Eagle's wings chap. 12. 14. the receiving the Beast's mark in their right hands or in their foreheads chap. 13. 16. as there is mention also of the Virgin-Company having the Lamb's and his Father's name in their foreheads chap. 14. 1. with sundry other Passages in that Book of the like import But besides these and the foregoing Instances I might here mention several other Passages in Scripture which the Author had not occasion to touch upon in his Discourses whether Words and Phrases or whole Paragraphs if not almost whole Chapters sometimes not to be illustrated without skill in History and Antiquities as to name only some few 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 1 Cor. 4. 9. and the white Stone with a new name written therein given to him that overcometh Apocal. 2. 17. as also that in Acts 19. 2. where the Christians at Ephesus tell S. Paul We have not so much as heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether there be an Holy Ghost or as the Hebrew Masters phrase it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And for that Paragraph in S. Iohn 7. from vers 37. to vers 40. containing what was spoken by our Saviour in the last day that great day of the Feast of Tabernacles the elegancy and fitness as well as the genuine importance of those expressions is most clear to such only as apprehend the reference they have to the Customes and practices of the Iews on that day recorded in their ancient Authors Nor can that in 1 Cor. 9. from vers 23. to the end be illustrated without skill in the Ethnick Antiquities the whole Paragraph alluding to the Customes of those Exercises and Games kept at Corinth as they were also in 3 other places of Greece and call'd Isthmia certamina from that Isthmus on which that great and wealthy City of Corinth was situate and where those Sports were celebrated every fifth year Upon the knowledge of which Customes it would appear that the Apostles expressions in this Paragraph are most pertinent and Emphatical Much of S. Matth. chap. 24. relating to the Destruction of Ierusalem together with the Signs and Forerunners thereof is to be explain'd out of Iewish and Ethnick Historians and very particularly and clearly too out of those Authors who yet knew nothing of our Saviour's Predictions therein nor of that ancient Prediction in Micah ch 3. 12. quoted also by the Prophet Ieremy Zion shall be plowed as a field which was also most punctually fulfilled as were the other I will name but one Book of Scripture more and it shall be that of Daniel where the Interpretation of both the 8 th and 11 th Chapters do wholly depend upon History as also what in Ch. 7. is said of the Four Monarchies and particularly the fitness of representing the Third Monarchy that of the Greeks by the Leopard with four wings vers 6. and in chap. 8. by the He-goat and the first King thereof by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or notable Horn vers 5 21. together with the Four Horns that came up after it was broken vers 8. as likewise the fitness of representing the Second Monarchy that of the Medes and Persians by the Ram with two Horns vers 3. of which the Author has a short hint in his Com. Apoc. p. 474. to which might be added that Moris erat
Five Directions and Helps prove a succesful labour and therefore far from being excessively hard or incumbred with invincible difficulties so would it likewise be far from vain and useless for these Scriptures as well as the other being written for our learning and use as I have briefly and I think clearly proved in this Preface under the Second Head of Advertisements there would accrue to us this peculiar Advantage besides many others That by a right understanding of the genuine meaning of these Prophetick Visions we should be the better enabled to vindicate the Prophecies from those corrupt Glosses which unlearned and unstable Souls ill-willers also to the stability and peace of Christian States and Kingdoms would force upon them perverting these Scriptures for their own Self-ends to the favouring of their unquiet humors and unpeaceable practices which being rightly understood are the grand Interest and Concernment of Christendome and certainly make for the Support and Encouragement of the Reformed part thereof of which through God's mercy we are Members In the Second sort of Advertisements I have observed some few things of the Author and his Writings and shall not need here to superadd any thing to court the Reader to a due esteem of them His own works will praise him I say not in the Gates as the phrase is Prov. 31. ult but in the private Closets and quiet Retirements of the studious enquirers after Truth if read there with serious attention which is most necessary in the perusing of his Labours upon the Prophetical Scriptures and with a mind as free from prejudice as from distractions It is not to be doubted but that some parts of these Writings may generally please and as the Author of the Book of Wisdom observes of Manna agree to every tast nor is it unlikely but that some other parts though highly pleasing to some may be less grateful to others of a different perswasion as Manna itself was lothsome to some murmuring Israelites But for the better disposing of them to what is fair and ingenuous this may be fit to be added That the Author in his life-time did not affect any dominion over the faith of others as if he were Infallible nor was he ambitious after his death to be Idoliz'd but this was clearly his disposition as he expresseth himself in a Letter to Dr. T. not to be affected how much or how little others differ'd from him and this disposition he said did so much the more increase in him as he took the liberty to examine either his own or other mens perswasions so desirous he was that the Apostle's Rule should in this case prevail Try all things hold fast that which is good And therefore such men would shew themselves very ill-natur'd and ill-bred as well as indiscreet and unmindful of the Fallibility of Humane nature as also unacquainted with ingenuous Learning of which the old Verse is most true Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros if they should unwisely disvalue and peevishly reject the whole for some passages not agreeing to their particular Sentiments or prove so rigid and tenacious as not to afford that Candor and Charity which is but a just respect as well easie as fit to be paid to the Labours of Worthy men highly meriting de Republica literaria And their Rudeness and Incivility would be the greater because Mr. Mede doth propound his sense not with any either magisterial or provoking language but with such modesty calmness and sobriety as may deserve rather a fair reception than any churlish and unkind usage in the world In the First Head of Advertisements I have given the Reader for his fuller satisfaction some account of those long and toilsome labours which I could not think too hard and grievous to undergo both for the honour of the Author's memory and the Reader 's greater benefit chusing though at an humble distance to follow that great Labourer in God's Vineyard Blessed S. Paul who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than to do this work of the Lord negligently May the Reader with ease and delight with profit and advantage peruse these Writings thus prepared for him with a diligence and industry not very ordinary nor over-easie and therefore not over-hasty and yet not more leisurely or slow than the labour and weightiness of the undertaking together with the urgency of other intercurrent cares did exact HE who is the Father of mercies and the God of all grace that giveth power to the faint and reneweth their strength who wait upon him who worketh both to will and to do and to continue patiently in so doing unto the end to his Name alone not unto me not unto me be the Glory and Praise for his Mercy and for his Power sake The same Father of lights who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shine into our Hearts unveil our Eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of his Law purifie our Souls from Prejudice and Passion from every false Principle and corrupt Affection that we may receive the love of the Truth and know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God that being filled with all wisdom and spiritual understanding we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing To whom be Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power for ever and ever Amen I. W. The Additional Pieces First published by the Reverend and Learned Dr. WORTHINGTON IN Book I. Discourse 49 50 51 53. In Book II. His Concio ad Clerum pag. 398. In Book III. Among his Remains upon the Apocalyps Chap. 4. pag. 589. Chap. 8. pag. 594. In Book IV. Epist. 34 41 51 56 66 67 68 69 71 73 75 85. many of them in answer to some Letters of enquiry from Learned men which for the fuller understanding of the Author's Answers are also published as that large Letter from Lud. de Dieu viz. Epist. 48. and those from others Epist. 55 57 59 62 65 70 72. together with a large Extract of Mr. Potter's Letter about the Number 666. In Book V. Those Tracts that make Chap. 4. Chap. 7. Chap. 10. Chap. 12. In all XXXII Discourses Tracts Epistles enlarged out of the Author's Manuscripts with several Additions IN Book I. Discourse 11 31 32 33. In Book II. The Christian Sacrifice and Disc. upon Ezra 6. 10. pag. 379. In Book III. In Comment Apocalypt are several marginal Notes added by the Author since the first Edition In the Remains upon the Apocal. Chap. 3. Chap. 6. Chap. 9. Paraphrase on S. Peter 2 Ep. Chap. 3. In Book IV. Epist. 43 54 58. whereof almost all in the first and last pages is added Epist. 61. besides several other Epistles with large additions In Book V. Chap. II. Besides the smaller additions of some Words or a few lines in several other parts of these Volumes too many to be here particularly mentioned The Discourses Tracts or Epistles whereof there
of them by the breath of his mouth◠Psal. 33. 6. So doth Christ vanquish his enemies and enable his Ministers to vanquish them Verbo Spiritu oris by his Word and the Spirit of his mouth according to that Hos. 6. 5. I have hewed them by my Prophets and slain them by the words of my mouth I come now to the Second thing I propounded namely to shew that our Saviour in the Gospel when he cited this place alledged it for and according to this and no other meaning The Evangelist relates it thus When the chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things that Iesus did and the children in the Temple crying and saying Hosanna to the Son of David they were sore displeased and said unto him Hearest thou what these say how they ascribe the power of salvation which is God's peculiar to thee who art a Son of man Is that solemn acclamation of Save now wherewith we are wont to glorifie God fit to be given to thee Our Saviour answers Yes For have ye not read saith he Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained strength Consider what that means You will wonder perhaps that a thing so plain could be taken in a differing meaning for it is commonly supposed to be alledged only to prove that children should glorifie Christ whilest the great ones of the world despised him And there are two things which have occasioned this mistake and drawn the sense awry The first is because the Seventy according to which the Evangelist reads this place in stead of strength translate here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praise Out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained praise Secondly because those that made this acclamation are said to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children When they saw the wonderful things which Iesus did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Children crying in the Temple To the first I answer Our Saviour alledged not the words of the Psalm in Greek but in Hebrew where it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ◠Strength which is the constant signification thereof through the whole Bible and never Praise nor do the Seventy themselves ever translate it otherwise save as it seems in this place But whatsoever the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be otherwise it must be here regulated by the Hebrew verity according to which our Saviour alledged it and must signifie not simply Praise but Robur praedicandum or Robur laude dignum Robur celebrandum Strength worthy to be celebrated or praised or the like To the second That they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children who made this acclamation of Hosanna to our Saviour I answer Be it so yet I am sure they were no Babes and Sucklings but of reasonable years How then would our Saviour's quotation have in such a sense been pertinent Besides Young children are not properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again the Pharisees found no fault with the speakers but with the thing spoken which they thought too much for a man and therefore our Saviour when he alledged this Scripture answered to that and intended not to apologize for the speakers Fourthly In all reason those who cried here Hosanna in the Temple were the same company that brought him crying Hosanna all the way thither But these saith S. Mark were of the multitude which followed him as S. Luke of the multitude of the Disciples who also tells us that the Pharisees who were offended thereat bad him rebuke his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore here signifies either Christ's Disciples or the retinue which followed him and brought him up thither as a King Take which you will you shall not fasten upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any notion other than usual I shall not need to tell you that the Disciples of the Prophets are called the Sons of the Prophets that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Herod's Courtiers Matth. 14. 2. are termed his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is Iohn the Baptist c. DISCOURSE X. ZACHARIAH 4. 10. These Seven are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth IT is hard to keep a mean which as it appears in many things else so in the Doctrine and Speculation of Angels whereunto men were heretofore so much addicted as they pursued it not only to vain and ungrounded Theories but even to Idolatry and Superstition There were in the Apostles times who intruded into things they had not seen There were then who beguiled men with a voluntary humility in worshipping of Angels Col. 2. 18. What after-times brought forth I shall not need speak That ancient and high-soaring though counterfeit Dionysius describes the Hierarchy of Angels as exactly as if he had dwelt amongst them delivering unto us nine Orders of them out of nine words found partly in the Old partly in the New Testament Seraphims Cherubims and Thrones Powers Hosts and Dominions Principalities Arch-angels and Angels and tells us the several natures distinctions and properties of them all Whereas it cannot be shewn out of Scripture either that some of these names concur not as Angels not to be a common name to all the rest especially to comprehend Arch-angels or that these are denominations of the natures of Angels and not of their offices and charges only yet have these nine Orders passed for current through so many Ages of the Church But we who together with divers Superstitions have justly rejected also these vain and ungrounded curiosities are fallen into the other extreme having buried the Doctrine of Angels in silence making little or no enquiry at all what God in his Word hath revealed concerning them which yet would make not a little for the understanding of Scripture wherein are so many passages having reference to them and therefore questionless something revealed concerning them I shall not therefore do amiss if I chuse for my Discourse at this time a particular of that kind which Dionysius in all his Speculations hath not a word of and yet seems to have strong footing in Scripture It is this The Iews have an ancient Tradition that there are Seven principal Angels which minister before the Throne of God and are therefore called Arch-angels some of whose names we have in Scripture as Michael Gabriel Raphael and in the second Book of Esdras mention is made of Ieremiel the Arch-angel This Tradition we shall find recorded in the Book of Tobit whose antiquity is before the Birth of our Saviour For there the Angel who in the shape of Azariah had accompained his son into Media when he discovers himself speaks in this manner I am Raphael one of the Seven Angels which stand and minister before the Holy Blessed One that is God The Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which present the Prayers of the Saints and go in
laying an imputation on the Mellenaries as if they dreamed of Earthly Pleasures in this Kingdom of our Lord for he saith that as Dr. Gerhard thinks of the Cerinthians and Iews not of the ancient Fathers how truly I leave it to your consideration and judgment In the Margin of your Notes on Iustin Martyr I noted a place to the same purpose in Lactantius It is in black lead and may easily be wiped out if it be nothing to your purpose Dr. Potter signified in a former Letter that he had a purpose to write to you perhaps he is not yet ready for that which he meaneth to say but if he send his Letter this way I will take care to send it down by your Carrier In the mean while and ever I commend you and your studies to the Blessing of the Almighty and so for this time I leave you Your ever assured Friend Henry Mason S. Andrew's Undershaft Decemb. 10. 1629. EPISTLE XIX Dr. Potter his Letter to Mr. Mason touching the Millenaries Good Mr. Mason I Have read those two large and learned Discourses of Gerhard against the Millenaries and find him as his woâ—t is to be very diligent both in recounting the Opinions of other men and in the establishing of his own By him I see the conceit is ancient among our later Writers and favoured by many ignorant and fanatical spirits which I confess casts much envy upon the Conjecture But yet methinks First the consent of so many great and worthy Lights of the ancient Primitive Church doth more honour and countenance the opinion than it can be disgraced or obscured by these late blind abettors Secondly The Anabaptists and their fellows are confident where Mr. Mede doth but modestly conjecture and that Thirdly upon other and better grounds than their dreaming doting heads ever thought of Lastly The Devil himself may sometime speak truth and so may his disciples with an ill intention or at hazard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I suppose no Learned man or Christian can deny that the Nation of the Iews shall be once hereafter called by God's mercy to the Faith and that their general Conversion will bring with it a great and glorious alteration in the Church and therefore that Kingdom of our Lord upon earth howsoever in some circumstances it may not answer our hopes which may be ungrounded and deceived yet for substance it seems an indisputable Truth But Prophecies are Mysteries till their accomplishment let us therefore leave them to God and to Posterity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have received Philostrates and Origen c. C. P. EPISTLE XX. Mr. Mede's Second Letter to Dr. Meddus containing four grounds why the First Resurrection Rev. 20. is to be taken literally with some other Observations concerning the difference between the State of the New Ierusalem and the State of the Nations walking in the light thereof as also concerning the time of the Regnum Christi Worthy Sir I Sent the fourth sheet I promised to the Bury-Carrier yesterday with a note therein promising to make some Answer to your Quaere to day to be delivered to the Carrier as he passed through Newmarket but some 4 or 5 miles from the place where I am When I had thus done some hour or two after I received a transcript of another of yours dated August 14 of the conformation of the taking of Wesel But to the Quaere which I must answer but briefly till I have a better and more free occasion to enlarge upon particulars The full resolving thereof depends upon so large an explication of the Oeconomy of God in the restitution of Mankind as cannot be comprised in a Letter And I am somewhat unwilling to discover what I think unless I could do it fully which made me abstain in my Specimina from any explication of that First Resurrection save to name it only But howsoever when at first I perceived that Millennium to be a State of the Church consequent to the times of the Beast I was a verse from the proper acception of that Resurrection taking it for a rising of the Church from a dead estate as being loth to admit too many Paradoxes at once yet afterward more â—etiously considering and weighing all things I found no ground or footing for any sense but the Literal For first I cannot be perswaded to forsake the proper and usual importment of Scripture-language where neither the insinuation of the Text it selfe nor manifest tokens of Allegory nor the necessity and nature of the things spoken of which will bear no other sense do warrant it For to do so were to lose all footing of Divine testimony and in stead of Scripture to believe mine own imaginations Now the 20 th of the Apocalyps of all the Narrations of that Book seems to be the most plain and simple most free of Allegory and of the involution of Prophetical figures only here and there sprinkled with such Metaphors as the use of speech makes equipollent to vulgar expressions or the former Narrations in that Book had made to be as words personal or proper names are in the plainest histories as Old Serpent Beast c. How can a man then in so plain and simple a narration take a passage of so plain and ordinarily-expressed words as those about the First Resurrection are in any other sense than the usual and Literal Secondly Howsoever the word Resurrection by it self might seem ambiguous yet in a sentence composed in this manner viz. Of the dead those which were beheaded for the witness of Iesus c. lived again when the thousand years began but the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were ended it would be a most harsh and violent interpretation to say that Dead and consequently Living again from the dead should not utrobique be taken in the same meaning For such a speech in ordinary construction implies That some of the dead lived again in the beginning of the thousand years in that sense the rest should live again at the end of the thousand years and è contrà In what manner the rest of the dead should live again at the end of the thousand years in that manner those who were beheaded for Iesus lived again in the beginning of the thousand years which living again of those some is called the First Resurrection Thirdly Though the ancient Iews whilest they were yet the Church of God had no distinct knowledge of such an order in the Resurrection as First and Second but only of the Resurrection in gross and general to be in die Iudicii magni yet they looked for such a Resurrection wherein those that rose again should reign some time upon earth as appeareth Wisd. 3. from the first to the eighth verse inclusivè where it is expressely said That the Souls of the Righteous which were departed should in the time of their visitation shine and that they should judge the nations and have dominion over the people
before me Shall not the Observation of our Christian Sabbath continue after Christ's coming with his Saints amongst the Nations that are saved from that Deluge of fire though it be Irenaeus his phrase yet I learnt it from you wherewith the Earth and all the works thereof shall be burnt up And if it be urged that by the same reason the Festivities of the New-moons shall have their place in Christâ—s Kingdom as well as Sabbaths and by consequence the Ceremonies of the Iews be restored I answer it followeth not the words may be rendred From month to month as the Geneva doth If we read it From New-moon c. with our last English yet it is not necessary to understand it of any peculiar Festivity denoted thereby least of all Iewish And we Christians in Cathedrals Colleges and great Towns have our Monthly Communions all the year over And seeing I am upon it what think you of Matth. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath-day We know Dr. Andrews B. of Winchester as well as Mr. Dod apply it to our Christian Sabbath And to my judgment it is a strange fiction to apply it to unconverted Iews that our Saviour should stir them up to pray who scorned the Gospel whereby alone we come acquainted with such an Admonition and certainly scorned Christ's Instructions and how can we think that God would hear the prayers of such and was it fit that our Saviour should lay such a ground for the countenancing of their prayers yea and their Iewish Sabbath too And now truly Sir there is no Book that I desire to study more than your self I have found great freeness and acceptance with you hitherto I hope I shall do so still I heartily desire God's blessing upon your person and studies as upon my self and mine I shall ever rest Newbury April 5. 1636. Yours in my best respects exceedingly obliged Will. Twisse EPISTLE LXVI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's 7 Quaere's viz. about the antiquity of Synagogues among Iews the and of Even-song in the Christian Church as also about the meaning of some difficult places of Scripture viz. Matth. 24. 20. Matth. 25. 31 c. Isa. 66. 23 c. SIR I Turned over the leaves both of the Bishop's and D. Heylin's Book when they came newly out that I might see their Principles and the way they went further I am not acquainted with them because I took no pleasure neither in their Conclusions nor their Grounds which if they be urged would overthrow a great deal more than they are aware of 1. If there be any such Author the Dr. opposeth for affirming the Sabbath to have been comprehended under one of the 7 Commandments of the Sons of Noah I suppose it is Godwyn in his Moses and â—aron Lib. 1. cap. 3. 2. That of Aben Ezra upon Exod. 20. 10. seems to me to be very evident for that Opinion For though it be as much as I can do to understand a piece of Rabbinism yet methinks this passage if it be translated will sound thus Ecce non dubium est quin dictio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu comprehend 〈◊〉 unumquemque qui est silius praecepti Ideirco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filius tuus Filia tua sunt parvidi quorum requies est super te tibique incumbit officium custodiendi eos ne quicquamfaciant quod tibi vetitum sit Similiter de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servo tuo Ancillâ tuâ quoniam in potâ— state tua est tui est officii custodire eum neque sinere eum ut serviat alteri Sin minùs tu transgredieris praeceptum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non facies quòd eo spectat ut quiescat Servus tuus Ancilla tua perinde ut tu ipse sunt exposult Moses Dominus noster viâ quam commemoravi Et secundùm hunc Doctorem vovebii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peregrinus qui est intra portas tuas quod non facturus sit opus in Die Sabbati neque in Die Expiationum Propterea scriptum est secundò Peregrinus Similiter atque de praecepto Nuditatis cùm secundùm hunc Doctorem vovebit quòd custoditurus sit praeceptum Nuditatis eodémque modo de Comestione sanguinis This Dominus Moses he here cites I take to be Rabbi Moses Haddarschan who lived an hundred years before him and was Master to R. Solomon Iarchi Maimonides whom Ainsworth cites for the contrary opinion and Aben Ezra were both of an age and contemporaries 3. For Synagogues I am inclined to believe they were before the Captivity and not first taken up there as the more common opinion is But how to evict it against him that shall obstinately maintain the contrary I confess I know not That in Act. 15. 21. Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath in every City them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day will not reach so far yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I should allege that of Psal 74. 8. They have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the land they would say as Iunius doth that this Psalm was composed under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes and indeed that which follows We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither any among us that knoweth how long may seem to argue it cannot be meant of that vastation by Nebuchadnezzar for then there were both Prophets and those that knew how long But if this be granted there will arise another difficulty viz. That either this Psalm is no Canonical Scripture or That some part of the Canonical Scripture was written long after Malachy when there was no Prophet and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had ceased And if this why not the first Book of Maccabees There remains but yours Lev. 23. 3. which to me hath appearance of probability but he that were refractory would pick some hole or other either in the word translated Convocation or in dwellings especially in the first See Vulgat and LXX But did not the Levites shall we think teach the people out of Ierusalem in the places abroad where they dwelt And did not the people use to resort to such as could teach them on Sabbath-days and New-moons What doth that of the Shunamite argue else 2 Kings 4. 23 where her husband saith unto her Wherefore wilt thou go to him the man of God to day It is neither New-moon nor Sabbath If this had they not some place where to resort and assemble Besides were there not then Colleges of Prophets and Prophets Sons in Israel In the same chapter we shall find they had and an hundred men in a place vers 43. and in chap. 6. initio that they had Houses where they lived together Did not the Israelites erect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Houses of false worship too may Could they think of building Places to transgress God's commandment
either did or do yet demurr for the present and it need be no wonder if in so Voluminous a Collection as this enrich'd with so great a variety of Notions one should chance sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor would the Author himself have taken it ill in his life-time if he had not been thought Infallible and if every Hypothesis of his were not readily swallowed down I know no Book but the divinely-inspired Bible of which it may be said as it was of the Roll to Ezekiel and of that little Book to S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas of any other Writing or Composure of a fallible and uninspired man it may generally be said as Clemens Alexandrinus somewhere in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observes of the Greek Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet have I in those very Passages express'd as great a diligence and faithfulness as in any other particulars of those Discourses and Treatises wherein I did most fully accord with the Author 2. As the Prints have been examin'd by the Original Manuscripts so likewise the Quotations that frequently occur therein not only those out of the H. Scripture but out of the ancient Liturgies Councils Fathers the Hebrew Writers Historians Poets or any other Monuments of Antiquity have been carefully collated and also set down more largely where they were but briefly referr'd to sometimes in the Author's Papers This care though not over-easie I have found upon trial not to be needless it being ordinary and scarce possible to be otherwise where there are many Quotations to mis-write the numbers of some Books or Chapters that are quoted and being well assured it would be much for the Reader 's Benefit the desire thereof did animate me to this laborious service which became yet more laborious in that the Authors were not always mention'd or if the Authors yet the Book and Chapter were not always express'd But in this Edition these are all particularly set down except some among so great a number of Quotations might possibly escape me but if any were pretermitted I am sure they were only some short ones or such as rather added some little ornament to the matter in hand than any necessary support and strength to any of his peculiar and principal Notions There is one thing more that is not impertinent to be here advertis'd That whereas the Author did use in several of his Chappel-exercises and other Discourses delivered in publick to quote the Hebrew Chaldee Syriack and sometimes also the Greek Testimonies especially if they were long not in those Languages but in Latine as judging it perhaps more fit and useful to quote them in a Language which might be understood by all that heard him even by the younger Students than to make an astonishing clatter with many words of a strange sound and of an unknown sense to some in the Auditory I thought it would be most for the advantage of this Edition now that the forementioned reason of his then quoting in Latine did cease his Discourses being now exposed to the publick view to set down these Authorities all or part of them in their own Language especially where it is more significant and emphatical And this is the reason why the Reader will find some passages out of the Hebrew Writers as also some out of S. Basil Greg. Nazianzen his brother Caesarius Epiphanius Chrysostome Theodoret and other Greek Authors represented in their Original and proper Language Which I thought would be a greater satisfaction to the more learned and yet that others might be also gratified they are done into English 3. That several passages in the Author's Works and such as I think the Author himself would have taken care for had he revis'd them for the publick use I have endeavour'd to make more evident and instructive by Marginal illustrations not to mention the many places of Scripture added also in the Margins which were pretermitted in the Original MSs. as to name some amongst many in Book I. Discourse XXXV pag. 177. where he relates the several opinions of some Hebrew Doctors concerning Urim and Thummim I have set in the margin their very expressions as also the places not mentioned by him where their other Notions of the same argument are to be found And in Discourse L an elaborate piece of Sacred Geography as also in Discourse LI part of which treats of all the kinds of Sacrifices and Offerings under the Law there is set down in the margins what I thought might give farther light to his Observations besides a summary account of the Author's Method in those Discourses set all along in the margins The like care I thought needful for his Concio ad Clerum Book II. pag. 398. As for those Three Pieces published in his life-time viz. His Clavis Commentationes Apocalypticae his Tract about Churches and that about the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there needed nothing of Marginal observation for the explaining of the Author's sense they were so exactly perused by himself There are indeed in this Edition of his Commentary upon the Apocalyps some Marginal notes that were not extant in the former but these are not mine but were the Author 's own Additions and were transcribed out of the printed Book where he himself had written them in the margins as he had also corrected some few faults in the print Only sometimes in the margins of this learned Treatise I thought it might be of use besides some marginal references to set down where the Greek reading he chose in some few places to follow is confirm'd by the authority of Tecla's or the Alexandrian Copy a Manuscript of most venerable antiquity and inserted in the Biblia Polyglotta and to this very purpose besides many other advantages himself would have made use of that noble Edition had it been extant in his life-time 4. That besides that some of the formerly-printed Discourses and Tracts are now published with several Enlargements out of the Author's Manuscripts there are XXXII Additional Pieces in this Edition no slight nor inconsiderable accession to the Author's Works Nor do I know of any one Tract or Fragment of a Tract that contain'd any Notion worthy of the Author that is not brought into this Edition in Book V. which consists of Miscellanies or set somewhere in the Margins of the other Books There were indeed among his Papers Three Discourses one upon Zech. 8. 19. which was deliver'd by him in publick in the year 1611. after he was newly made Master of Arts and one upon 1 Iohn 3. 9. and another upon Matth. 6. 33. which were made a little after but these did seem less fit for the publick upon the same reason that he was unwilling some Latine Dissertations written by him in his younger days should be made publick As for two short Discourses of his upon Genes 28. 16. and upon Exod. 3. 5. found among his Papers they had been published but
that I found they were both inserted by the Author partly into his Discourse on Eccles. 5. 1. intituled The Reverence of God's House and partly into that Epistolary Tract of his touching The Holiness of Churches nor is there any thing in them but what is incorporated into those Tracts except this one Notion in the beginning of that forementioned short discourse upon Genes 28. 16. Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not where the Author hath this Observation They are the words of Iacob when he awoke out of the Vision he saw at Bethel He dream'd he saw a Ladder reaching from Heaven to Earth and the Angels of God ascending and descending thereon Above it stood the Lord himself saying I am the Lord the God of Abraham thy Father and the God of Isaac the Land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed I will multiply thee and in thy seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed I mean not to expound the Vision unto you it would be besides my scope but only will tell you thus much that the Author of the Book of Wisdom Chap. 10. 10. calls it a Vision of the Kingdom of God meaning as I suppose the Kingdom of Messiah which is here promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shewed him saith he relating this history of Iacob the Kingdom of God and gave him knowledge of holy things Which passage I think so much the more worthy to be observed because the term of Kingdom of God so frequent in the New Testament is no where to be found save in this place only This Observation I thought good to preserve by inserting it here upon this occasion There are several Texts of Scripture set down in the beginning of a thin paper-Paper-book in Quarto which the Author it's likely intended to discourse upon but whether he perfected his intentions or only laid in some general materials for such a purpose in some other Papers some such thing seems to be intimated appears not to me from any Papers of his that have come to my hands Howsoever it may not be amiss but rather a gratification to some to set down here those Passages of Scripture which he had made choice of as fit objects for his deep-searching Thoughts to be exercis'd upon And they are these Acts 7. 43. Ye took up the Tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of your God Remphan c. Gen. 2. 9. The Tree of life in the middle of the Garden Iam. 5. 14. Is there any sick among you let him call for the Presbyters of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick c. Gen. 14. 18. And Melchizedek King of Salem brought forth bread and wine and he was the Priest of the most high God Gen. 20. 7. For he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live Matth. 12. 39. And there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the Prophet Ionas 2 Sam. 21. 1. It is for Saul and his bloudy House because he slew the Gibeonites 1 Sam. 8. 7. And the Lord said unto Samuel They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them 2 Cor. 3. 6 7. Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life But if the ministration of Death written and engraven in stones was glorious How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious Matth. 2. 18. A voice was heard in Rama lamentation and weeping Rachel weeping for her children c. 1 Cor. 8. 10. For if any man should see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the Idol's temple c. Ioh. 16. 8. And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Heb. 11. 4. By faith Abel offered unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than Cain 2 Ep. Ioh. v. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ios. 22. 19. If the land of your possession be unclean then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth c. Nehem. 8. 6. And all the people answered Amen Amen with lifting up their hands c. 1 Cor. 11. 16. But if any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome nor the Churches of God These Seventeen Texts of Scripture together with that Title of several Psalms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I found set down in the beginning of that paper-Paper-book the rest is wanting and these it seems he designed for the matter of his Chappel-exercises and if any such Diatribae or Discourses perfected by him upon these Scriptures be in the possession of any worthy persons for the Author was very communicative of his Papers it is both desired and hoped that they would impart them for the common benefit 5. That upon the View of all the Author's Writings it seem'd most accommodate for the Reader 's benefit that they should be digested into Five Books The First Book to contain his Discourses on several Texts of Scripture and of a different importance All of which were delivered in publick either in the Colledge-Chappel or in some greater Auditory except that one only Discourse upon Esay 2. 2 3. which was dictated by the Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the satisfaction of a Friend of his who desired his opinion touching that Prophecy and as it was related by the Author's Friend the original Paper is thus subscribed More time and more leisure might have afforded you better but for this you are beholden to your Cousin B. whose pains in writing was more than mine in dictating Vale. Yours I. M. The Second Book to contain such Tracts and Discourses on several Texts of Scripture as were of the like Argument and design viz. about Churches and the worship of God therein There are among the first 21 Discourses in the foregoing Book some Diatribae of the like import but those being published by the direction or with the liking of the Author's Executor I would not break the order in which they are so dispos'd The Third Book to contain his Treatises upon Prophetical Scriptures viz. The Apocalypse S. Peter 's Prophecy concerning The Day of Christ's second Coming S. Paul 's Prophecy touching The Apostasie of the Latter Times Tobie 's Prophecy De duplici Iudaeorum Captivitate Statu Novissimo And Three Treatises upon some obscure Passages in Daniel The Fourth Book to contain his Epistles to several Learned men whose Letters are also published otherwise his Answers to them had been less intelligible There are several large and learned Epistles of his added in this Edition besides some elaborate Letters of others as that of L. De Dieu not heretofore published but there is nothing
left out among the Epistles only some of them are placed in another but their due order as also some other Tracts that were mingled with them are removed to their proper places There is one only Tract printed among the Epistles in pag. 517. of the former Edition viz. Specimina Interpretationum Apocalypticarum ad Prophetiam Sigillarem spectantium which deserved to be left out it being nothing else but a ruder draught and Specimen of what he afterwards perfected and printed in his Commentary upon the Apocalyps But as for other Tracts and Discourses wherein the Author did pursue the same Notions and sometimes for some lines together in much-what the like expressions as he might well be bold with his own and accordingly the Lord Verulam does sometimes in several Tracts of his harp upon the same string repeating some Notions discoursed of in his other Papers and of old the same was practis'd by Plutarch as every one knows that is acquainted with that excellent Author yet because where these Notions are repeated by him in other Tracts they are express'd with some variety and sometimes with farther advantage and clearness I thought it safest not to leave out any thing nor to go about to contract them For the same Notions being represented with some enlargements or some difference of expression may haply enlighten and affect some Readers in this form of words others in another The Fifth Book to contain Fragmenta Sacra or such Miscellanies as could not well come under any of the forementioned General Heads The Three last Chapters of which Book containing a Collection of whatsoever was found among his Papers that related to the Apocalyps and did seem to afford some light to some expressions therein might have been fitly placed in the Third Book among the Remains upon some passages in the Apocalyps but they came not soon enough to my hands to he inserted there There were written in some papers of his some Half-sentences and Memorials best understood by himself or short Hints of what was afterward at large treated of and made out in several Tracts perfected by him which Hints he usually wrote in Latin These were too imperfect and unfit to be number'd among his Fragmenta Sacra and to have published them would have been as dishonourable to the Author as it would be greatly injurious to a famous Artist after he had with all care imaginable and to the life perfected his designed Picture to make publick his first strokes and essays the imperfect rudiments of his Pencil One thing more and I shall conclude this Advertisement That for the farther accommodation of the Reader besides the dividing the whole into Five Books Two of the largest and most elaborate Treatises next to that upon the Apocalyps viz. The Christian Sacrifice and The Apostasy of the Latter Times are divided into Chapters with Contents briefly but particularly representing the chief matters therein discoursed of This I thought would be much for the Reader 's both ease and advantage The same care is taken for the Remains on the Apocalyps which being divided into 12. Chapters with Contents is also thereby made more accommodate to the Reader ' s use and any part thereof may be the more easily referr'd to And the like accommodation of the Reader is endeavour'd not only as to the forementioned Treatises but as to the rest of his Works which could not be without great inconvenience divided into Chapters namely by the Alphabetical Tables of Words and Things as also by what is set in the top of every Page which doth summarily import what is contain'd therein 6. And now after all this when I could not think there was any thing uncared-for wherein I might be farther instrumental to the Reader 's accommodation and the publick good I was sollicited and with some continued importunity to another trouble It was desired by some That the Hebrew Greek and Latin Quotations in these Writings especially in the Treatises and Discourses upon any passages of Scripture might be render'd into English for the benefit of those Readers who had not the advantage of such Education as would have enabled them to understand Words in those Tongues though otherwise of good abilities to understand Things and the best Notions when represented in a Language known to them It was easie for me to foresee how tedious such an employment would be both where any Author 's style is entangled and not so properly and clearly expressive as it might have been or where the Original Greek being lost an old barbarous Latin Translation is all that is to be had as in some parts of Irenaeus as also where the Quotations are many as in the Christian Sacrifice the Tracts about Churches and the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the Apostasie of the Latter Times and likewise large some whole pages being fill'd with Testimonies of ancient Authors as pag. 373 c. 377. to the end of that Tract and to name no more pag. 641 642. Yet it was less difficult for me to deny my self some ease by undertaking this new labour than to deny the importunity of others their desire especially being back'd with this consideration That it would conduce more to the benefit of all Readers And therefore in compliance with their request the several Testimonies that occur especially in his Treatises and discourses upon Scripture are done into English except where the sense of the Quotation is sufficiently intimated in the either foregoing or the following lines As for some Quotations in Book IV which contains his Epistles they being most of them written to Learned men and several of the Quotations not to mention such as are here repeated and were translated in the foregoing three Books relating to some Criticisms and other points of Learning most proper for Scholars to busy themselves about I was less solicitous about every thing therein that was in other Languages And as for some Epistles which are wholly in Latin I thought good to give a summary account of them in English either in the Margin or in the Contents The Translation keeps close to the letter for the most part it does not always for that would be not only Pedantick and servile but infinitely inconvenient and would render the Translation sometime as insignificant and unintelligible to some Readers as the Original it self And therefore in some places I found it absolutely necessary to enlarge the Translations and so to improve them that they might seem also a little Commentary upon some Quotations out of the Fathers and Councils particularly such as related to Ecclesiastical Antiquities which would otherwise have been too obscure and impossible to be understood by every Reader a Specimen whereof to omit other places the Readers may observe in Pag. 383. and in Pag. 331. where the Author speaks of the 5 degrees of Penitents in the ancient Church And for the better clearing the sense of some Authors in such places as seem'd most intricate
yet they cannot be retrived notwithstanding all imaginable diligence has been used of which they were well worthy as containing not mere lines of Ceremony and Complement such as usually pass between Friends nor little matters of News or of private concern but what is of greater importance Instructions and Advices about the study of Theology the Arts and History and from one who was versatissimus and excellently accomplish'd in them all And for the attaining a rare perfection in that which was last named History he had a singular advantage from his great Memory without which all studies of this nature would signify but little His Memory was so officious and faithful to him that he relyed much upon it and made little use of Common-place-Books Accordingly in the Catalogue of his Manuscripts written by his worthy Executor the learned Mr◠Iohn Alsop then Fellow of Christ's College are set down Two thick Paper-books in folio prepared by the Author when he was a young Student but withal this note is there added That little or nothing was written in them Yet did he not wholly trust to his Memory for he had a lesser Paper-book wherein he wrote down besides what he had briefly observed out of the Ancients and others some short Notes of his present Conjectures and Thoughts upon either some obscure Text of Scripture or some other difficult argument That he had some such Repository for his Notions and it were well if those that are more knowing and Contemplative would be thus commendably provident is intimated in the Appendix to the Author's Life By other Letters of his if they could be had might farther appear his equal skill in the History of Nature and Philosophy they being written in answer to several Enquiries of Sr. W. Boswel an excellent Philosopher and Mathematician some De motu Gravium Levium as likewise touching the Equality of Natural Motions with some reflexions upon the common opinion of their being velociores in fine quam in principio others about the Nature of Comets particularly about that Comet in 1618. its figure and Disposition c Besides several other ingenious Quaere's mention'd in Sr. W. Boswell's Letters as to name two or three about Shooting or managing the long Bow as also about the possibility and best methods of teaching the Deaf and Dumb from birth to cast accompts with other Mathematical calculations to know moneys and the use thereof to understand by sight of others writing and express by their own whatsoever may pass for civil life and conversation For the Languages particularly the Oriental although his Modesty would not permit him to speak otherwise of himself than in such an humble strain as this In Hebraicis modicum forte possim as he writes in one of his Ep. to L. de Dieu yet that his knowledge herein was more than mean and ordinary yea such as shew'd him to be a man of a rare perspicacity in the Genius and Proprieties of the Sacred Language may be sufficiently evinced from the many useful Criticisms and Observations upon several Words and Phrases of Scripture scattered throughout his Writings and particularly to omit other Instances from his clear and smooth rendring and explaining that difficult Paragraph in Dan. 11. 36. c. about Mahuzzim c. and from his unexampled accuracy in translating and glossing upon that which is the most important of all the Prophecies in the Old Testament for the interest of Christianity I mean Daniel's LXX Weeks in chap. 9. from vers 24. to the end Concerning which not to meddle with his Epocha of the LXX Weeks wherein perhaps he did not fully satisfie himself for he was unwilling his Papers about this subject should be imparted otherwise the most communicative of his Notions of any man living this is to be observed That those expressions in vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those in vers 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are very intelligible and there is scarce any tolerable sense made of them in some other Versions but in his Translation and Notes the importance of them is very easie and natural and agreeable to the mind of the Original whereby is verified what he in a Letter of his to L. de Dieu observes of himself Eo ingenio sum delicatulo an moroso ut nisi ubi interpretatio commode absque salebris eat nunquam ntihi satisfacere soleam And indeed his singular ability for interpreting the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and clearing the Obscurities of the Holy Scriptures was out of those Great Accomplishments which were most illustrious in him His insight into the inmost Recesses of these Sacred Writings was so quick as well as sure that it was a most true Elogium which Sr. Will. Boswel gives of him in one of his Letters That Mr. Mede did discern Day before others could open their eyes Nor might that Cognomen be unfitly applied to this Ioseph which was given to the Patriarch Ioseph I mean that Egyptian name Zophnath-paaneah which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Revealer or Interpreter of hidden things according to Philo Iosephus both the Targumists Ionathan and Onkelos several Hebrew Writers and to name only one more but one whose judgment is the more considerable because of his peculiar skill in the Coptick language Athanas. Kircherus And from this famous Parallel between the two Iosephs which lies more open to every ones observation I might take occasion to adorn this Preface with several other not less memorable though less obvious Resemblances betwixt them But I must not give way to a Digression that would take up more room than I can well spare in the Preface especially having several other Memorials to bring in that are more useful and proper to the design thereof which I shall dispatch with all convenient brevity The most Mysterious of all the Books of Scripture is the Apocalyps and yet though it be more mysterious and dark than the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was as well as the rest of Scripture written for our learning for our comfort for the encouragement of our Patience Faith and Hope and therefore written to be understood Otherwise the Promise of Blessedness to them that read that is that read with understanding and hear and keep the words of this Prophetical Book and the things written therein would be but a Mock-promise of a Blessedness promised upon a condition impossible after the use of all endeavours to be perform'd and withal promised to a blind obedience or to the keeping and observing they know not what Which to imagine and affirm were an unworthy reproch and high dishonour done to the Divine Wisedom and Goodness In the Interpretation of this Book of Mysteries as also of Daniel's Visions how well the Author hath quitted himself let others judge such as are of a free and discerning spirit and not
acknowledgments for such peculiar knowledge of the Mysterious and Prophetick Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of that Hymn in the Alexandrian Liturgy for the Interpretation of Prophecy is a Grace and Favour as well as Prophecy it self Accordingly those two persons one under the Old Testament the other in the New that were favour'd above all others with the discoveries of the greatest Mysteries were such as were peculiarly dear to God Daniel was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of desires or greatly beloved and Iohn was the Disciple whom Iesus loved so he is styled five times in Scripture that leaned on his breast at Supper and lay in his bosome and to this his bosome-Disciple did our Lord impart the deepest Mysteries of Prophecy as also of Evangelical Truth whence he was worthily styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divine a Title more fitly applied to him than of old to Orpheus Linus and Musaeus or any the Divinest Writer among either the Philosophers or Poets of the Gentiles III. His serious diligence in the use of such means as were most proper and instrumental to the attaining of that Knowledge he prayed for Where the most seemingly-earnest Prayer is not attended with as earnest Endeavours it is but a lazy insignificant wish and in some a piece of vain Enthusiasm But our Saviours advice is not barely to ask but to seek and such was that of Solomon not only to lift up the voice for Wisdom and Understanding but to seek her as Silver and search for her as for hid Treasures And of these counsels Mr. Mede was a careful observer who failed not to accompany his Prayers with his best Endeavours And as he was not slight and sudden in any thing but proceeded with the greatest care and caution imaginable in any important argument his Thoughts were fixed upon so was he more especially serious and thoughtful in his endeavours to interpret the Apocalyps and any other Prophetical Scriptures a work to which he was peculiarly design'd and fitted by God and moved to it by some interiour invitation and gracious Instinct of his Spirit as the Author himself does somewhere acknowledge in his Epistles where he also looks upon any abilities he had for interpreting such Scriptures as that particular Talent God had intrusted to him to improve to the best advantage in his service and therefore as became a good and faithful Servant desirous to approve himself to his Master in Heaven whatsoever his hand did find to do herein he did it with all his might And that he might wholly give himself to these studies according to that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and attend upon them without distraction he prudently made choice of his most still and vacant hours wherein he might be most free from the noise and tumult of other cares and distractive but less pertinent business for he would tell his Friends that he could do nothing in these things but in silence and security of not being distracted by company and business S. Iohn received his Apocalyps in his Solitude at Patmos and our Author found those seasons to be the most favourable and advantageous for gaining any abilities to reveal this Apocalyps when he could be most retired and recollected in his Cell or Study where he might gather in and intend all the Powers of his Mind and possess his whole Soul the Soul never acting so strongly as when its whole force is thus united in such Recollections One Instance and a very remarkable one of his great Diligence and Faithfulness in this Work he mentions in a Letter of his to Dr. T. where acquainting him with the leisurely and deliberate progress he made in his Exposition of Apocal. chap. 14. he adds I am by nature cunctabundus in all things but in this let no man blame me if I take more pause than ordinary and he gives this Reason for it Altius enim hoc animo meo insedit saith he That rashly to be the Author of a false interpretation of Scripture is to take Gods name in vain in an high degree Words worthy to be written to use Ieremy's expression with a pen of iron or with the point of a diamond upon the table of the heart in the most legible and lasting characters Words arguing the Authors most serious and pious spirit full of reverence for the Word of God and most sadly to be considered by the over-confident and superficial Expositors of the Divine Oracles and Mysteries Thus much in general The particular Means whereby he attain'd so great an insight and skill in the Apocalyps and other abstruse Prophecies of Scripture were such as these 1. His accurate and judicious comparing of Scripture with Scripture and observing the proper and genuine use of the like Words and Phrases in several passages of Scripture as they are either in the Original Languages or in the ancient Versions thereof especially the Chaldee Greek and Syriack For he found by good experience that some Scriptures do excellently illustrate others where the like Expressions are to be found and consequently that the Word of God is a Lamp unto our feet and a Light unto our path not only as to the guiding of our life and practice but also as to the directing our progress in the safest and clearest method of interpreting it self and that such comparing of places is as needful for our conduct in the more solitary and dark passages of Scripture as that burning Pillar of fire was to the Israelites in their journeying through a wast and desolate Wilderness which God gave them to be both a guide of the unknown journey and an harmless Sun by night as the Author of the Book of Wisdom does elegantly express it in chap. 18. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Particularly he observ'd that the Style of the New Testament doth frequently imitate the Construction and Propriety of the Hebrew in the Old as also the Greek of the LXX and that the use of many Words in the New Testament was not Vulgar but Hellenistical and agreeable to the use and importance of them in the Greek Bible As for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apocal. 14. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 16. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 54. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 9. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apocal. 13. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9. 5. Several other examples might be mentioned but it is a Truth so generally acknowledged by those that are but competently acquainted with Sacred Philology that it would be a needless task to produce the very many Instances which might be brought in confirmation thereof 2. His exact skill in History and the Customes both of the Iews and other Nations was a singular aid and advantage to him for explaining the obscurer passages in the Apocalyps and Prophets 'T is
Bent of the Times the Rule of his Opinion For being free from any aspiring after Applause Wealth and Honour and from seeking Great things for himself he was consequently secured from Flattery and Temporizing the usual artifice of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that will be rich that are resolved to make it their chief design and business to be great and wealthy in the world their heart is wholly upon it they are dead to the World to come and relish not the things above and are alive only to this present world being as eagerly intent and active about earthly things as if their portion were to be only in this life But such was the excellency of his spirit that he could not but abhor all Servile obsequiousness whatsoever as accounting it a certain argument of a Poorness of spirit either to flatter or to invite and receive Flatteries and withal considering that if those of Power and high degree were men of inward worth and excellent spirits they would shew themselves such in their valuing him not the less but rather more for his not applying himself to those ignoble arts and course policies proper to Parasites and ambitious men who speak not their own words nor seem to think their own thoughts but wholly enslave themselves to the thoughts and words the lusts and humors of those by whom for this pretended doing honour to them they seek to be advantaged Besides he might well think that he should rather undervalue and lessen them if he suppos'd they would regard him the more for those or the like Instances of an officious flattery as if they were not able to discern that Frankness and Openness of Spirit and Conversation Singleness of Heart and a Cordial readiness to serve others in love out of a pure heart is truly Christian Generous and Manly and on the contrary that Flattery and Fawning is Dog-like Base and Mercenary and lasts not long for though Parasites pretend to serve their Masters with great devotion a devotion so great as if they thought themselves rather their Creatures than God's yet in truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rather serve their own belly and when their Masters cease to be in a capacity of serving them these men also cease to regard them and value them no more than an useless Tool or to use the Prophet's expression a broken Vessel wherein there is no pleasure Other particulars might be added but these may suffice to shew how Free he was from that which is apt to tempt men to judge amiss For it appears from the nature of the things themselves that Partiality Prejudice Pride and Passion Self-love Love of the World Flattery and Covetous Ambition do importunely sollicite men to make a false judgment corrupt their Affections wrong their Understandings enfeeble their Faculties unhappily dwarf their growth in useful Learning and keep them back from such an excellent improvement in Knowledge especially Divine Knowledge as otherwise they might attain And therefore had not Mr. Mede been free from the power of these Lusts he could never have perform'd so well as he hath done in any of his Tracts or Discourses especially upon the more abstruse and mysterious passages of H. Scripture Those therefore that are not of such a free and enlarged spirit but are fondly addicted either to themselves or Parties and are enslaved to Honour Wealth and particular narrow Interests and are under the power of Pride Passion serving divers Lusts and Pleasures they must needs be less excellent less improved in their studies less succesful in their Intellectual adventures than otherwise they might have been had they been established with a Free spirit Nor had some Authors of great reading and fame for Learning ever fallen into such mistakes but their Writings had been freer from imperfections and a greater respect they had secured to their Memories had they been less Passionate less Envious Proud and Self-conceited more Free and unbiassed more Humble and Modest as also more faithful to that excellent Rule of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is somewhat of that great deal more which might be observed of the Author's Largeness and Freedom of spirit which yet in him was not accompanied with any unbecoming reflexions upon others as if he design'd to lessen the due esteem of what was laudable in their performances much less with any irreverence and opposition to the established Articles of Religion and prejudice to the Peace of the Church or State but on the contrary was an innocent ingenuous peaceable Freedom of enquiring into such Theories only as do not at all clash with the Doctrine established and was ever attended with a sweet Modesty a singular Sedateness and Sobriety of spirit and a due regard to Authority And whosoever would read the Author with most profit and judgment must read him also with a free unpassionate and unprejudiced spirit That Saying Omnis Liber eo spiritu legi debet quo scriptus est is true as well of every useful Book as of the Divinely-inspired Books of Holy Scripture Thus much of the Fourth Help or Instrument of Knowledge I shall mention but one particular more but it is a very weighty and important one of singular use and absolute necessity for the gaining the Best Knowledge wherein I might be as large as in the foregoing but because I would hasten to conclude the Preface I shall dispatch it in fewer lines V. The Fifth and Last Means whereby the Author arrived at such an Eminency of Knowledge was His faithful endeavour after such a Purity of Soul as is requisite to fit it for the fuller and clearer discerning of Divine Mysteries The necessity of such a Purity of Heart and Life in order to this End appears by several express places of Scripture as where it is said The Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge of the holy ones is Understanding Prov. 9. their way of knowing is Knowledge and Understanding indeed and again The pure in heart shall see God Matth. 5. But none of the wicked shall understand says the Angel to Daniel concerning the Mysteries mentioned in Chap. 12. And agreeable to these and many such passages of H. Scripture is that in the Book of Wisdom chap. 1. Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto sin The same Truth is plainly acknowledged by the Best and more Divine Philosophers and accordingly they frequently discourse of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purgative Vertues as necessary to prepare the Soul for the knowledge of the most Excellent and Highest Truths as the Mystical or Contemplative Divines speaking of the way to Divine knowledge place the Via Purgativa before the Via Illuminativa and it is a known Maxime of Plato in his Phaed◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying that
as also several others very familiar to him For his constant Readings upon Homer did not only make him perfect in that Author but he being a diligent Collator of the Greek with the Hebrew Chaldee and Syriack acquainted himself familiarly with the Idiotisms of all those Languages at once He had besides made a Collection of such Greek Latine and English words as he had observed to have a near sense and like sound with the Hebrew as we have been informed by some that saw in his study a Book of his in Quarto containing the Hebrew Radices c. with Greek Latine and English words derived from many of them By which means as he made the Language more familiar to him so he consulted the pleasure and advantage of his Friends being from this store furnish'd with what might render his converse more acceptable to them in whose contentment he had a true satisfaction 13. He preserv'd his knowledge in Academick Learning by the private Lectures which he read to his Pupils to whom he was an able and faithful Guide For being a Fellow of a Colledge he esteem'd it a part of his Duty to further the Education of young Scholars which made him undertake the careful charge of a Tutor and this he managed with great Prudence and equal Diligence After he had by daily Lectures well grounded his Pupils in Humanity Logick and Philosophy and by frequent converse understood to what particular Studies their Parts might be most profitably applied he gave them his Advice accordingly And when they were able to go alone he chose rather to set every one his daily Task than constantly to consine himself and them to precise hours for Lectures In the Evening they all came to his Chamber to satisfie him that they had perform'd the Task he had set them The first question which he us'd then to propound to every one in his order was Quid dubitas What Doubts have you met in your studies to day For he supposed that To doubt nothing and To understand nothing were verifiable alike Their Doubts being propounded he resolved their Quaere's and so set them upon clear ground to proceed more distinctly And then having by Prayer commended them and their studies to God's protection and blessing he dismiss'd them to their lodgings Thus carefully did he discharge the Trust of a Tutor though he well knew and was us'd to say That the Office of training up young Scholars in the University proved oftentimes but a thankless business In short He was not for a soft and easie self-pleasing course of life but was most willing to spend himself in a laborious endeavouring the best emprovement not of himself only but of others those especially committed to his care And here we might take occasion to recount several of his Pupils upon whom his excellent Instructions were not bestow'd in vain Some of them Persons of Honour and Eminency in the State Honourable as well for the noble Accomplishments of their Minds and their exemplary Vertues as for the height of their Descent and Parentage others of great Merits and Esteem in the Church both for their personal Endowments and for their adorning their holy Function by an agreeable Conversation But we must respicere titulum and remember that our present business is to write Mr. Mede's Life and what concerns his Story rather than the Characters of others though otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of renown and the Glory of their times 14. To return therefore to our Author He did so entirely devote himself to the study of all excellent Knowledge that he made even the time which he spent in his Recreation serviceable to his design He allow'd himself little or no Exercise but Walking and oftentimes when he and others were walking in the Fields or in the Colledge-Garden he would take occasion to speak of the Beauty Signatures useful Vertues and Properties of the Plants then in view For he was a curious Florist an accurate Herbalist throughly vers'd in the Book of Nature not unseen in any kind of ingenuous Knowledges such especially as were both for delight and use The chief delight which he took in company was to discourse with Learned friends particularly for several years he set apart some of his hours to spend them in the conversation of his worthy Friend Mr. William Chappell afterward Provost of Trinity Colledge near Dublin in Ireland and L. Bishop of Cork and Ross who was justly esteem'd a rich Magazine of Rational Learning and who again did as highly value the interest he had in Mr. Mede and the singular advantage of his Converse Accordingly when he was to leave the Colledge and prepare for Ireland he made it his particular request to Mr. Mede that he would favour him with his Papers and permit the transcribing of them for his private use So high and yet so just an esteem had he for those Papers richly stored with unvulgar but not unuseful Notions Mr. Mede who was made up of love and kindness did readily gratifie him herein as he did also afterwards when he wrote to him from Ireland for more of his Papers desiring that some that had been his Pupils might transcribe what he would please farther to impart to him who was one that did highly prize all that came from his deliberate pen They were the very words of his Letter 15. In his retirement to his private Studies he employ'd himself principally in a curious enquiry into the most abstruse parts of Learning and endeavour'd for the knowledge of those things which were remote from the vulgar track Among other things he spent no small pains in his younger years in sounding the depths of Astrology and much paper he blotted in calculating the Nativities of his near Relations and Fellow-students having to this Art as he would say above all other Studies a natural propension Yet did not that propension so far sway his Iudgment as not to discover the vanity and weakness of those grounds upon which the Professors of that pretended Art very often build their too confident Predictions That which he thought himself to have found by all his search was only this That the Celestial Luminaries having an unquestionable Influence upon all sublunary Bodies in the like position of the Heavens may reasonably be thought to have a similitude in their Operation and thereby to cause a Sympathy in things produced under like Constellations and an Antipathy under different But this not extending farther than a Natural inclination and being in men alterable by Custom Education and infinite external impediments he judged it not without extream vanity to be presumed upon as any infallible ground of Prediction of future actions especially in such things wherein men acting out of choice run counter many times to their Natural inclinations But to give the Reader his positive judgment as near as we can in his own most apposite and fit words thus he was wont in familiar discourse to determine
Bitterness their enormous Affections and the Lusts that war in their members howsoever they may vainly conceit and fansy themselves to be upon easier and cheaper terms Kings and Priests to God fit and worthy to reign with Christ though they never suffer'd with him nor was their old man crucified with him that the body of Sin might be destroyed as the Apostle speaks Rom. 6. And thus we have seen that our Author's Notion of the Millennium was both Pure and Peaceable and consequently right and genuine these being the two first Properties of the Wisdom from above in S. Iames's account As for any other representation of it which is Earthly Sensual Devilish the three Properties of the Wisdom from beneath our Author had nothing to do with it nor with the Patrons thereof his Soul came not into their secret And therefore if any ill-temper'd persons men of wild Principles and Practices should abuse his name to the countenancing of any bad purposes and selfish designs as Antinomians have in like manner abused the names of some ancient Protestant Worthies to the gracing of their unwholsome Opinions if any unlearned and unstable souls wrest S. Iohn's Apocalyps and the Prophetical Scriptures as well as some did in S. Peter's time the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Paul's Epistles and do so still they shall bear their own condemnation they do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their own destruction But in the mean while S. Iohn S. Paul the Prophetical Scriptures are holy harmless and without fault nor ought our Author and those Protestant Writers to bear the blame of other mens either misapprehensions or misdoings but let every man bear his own burthen It is no new thing but is and hath been an usual artifice of worthless men to derive some reputation to their Opinions and Practices from the pretended authority of some worthy and excellent Writers and we are the less to wonder at it since they have not spared in the same kind to abuse the divinely-inspired Prophets and Apostles Yet should not this or the like abuse of S. Iohn's Apocalyps and other Prophecies be deem'd a sufficient ground to disswade from the study of the Prophetical Scriptures no more than the abuse of some passages in S. Paul's Epistles to Antinomianism and evacuating of the Law should be of force to take men off from the study of S. Paul's Writings Nay rather should all serious and judicious persons out of an holy indignation against such wrongful perverting of the Holy Oracles of God excite and oblige themselves unto a more studious enquiry and diligent search into the genuine meaning of those Scriptures that thereby they may be the better enabled to detect the falshood of those Glosses which men of corrupt minds have for their own ends put upon them and by discovering the true importance and scope of such Prophecies put to silence those men of Noise and Confidence rather than of Reason and Iudgment And certainly this would be the happy effect of such studious diligences For they should find that S. Paul's Epistles afford no favourable countenance to Antinomian principles nor do in the least disparage the indispensable necessity of internal Righteousness and uniform obedience to the Divine Law It would also appear to them that S. Iohn's Apocalyps contains nothing that may in the least encourage to disobedience and disorder but on the contrary represents Christian Kings and Princes those that are Defenders of the Holy Apostolical Faith under a fair Character as Friends to the Holy and Beloved City the New Ierusalem but Enemies to the Whorish City the mystical Babylon which they shall hate and make desolate They shall do it not the People without their Princes but Kings with the help of their Subjects so hard a work requiring many hands and the concurrence of several aids These Three Considerations and more such might have been added may amount we hope to a full Answer to the second Exception And these severals being laid together may be available through God's blessing to recover some from their inward malady of an Uncharitable Censorious humour and to sweeten others who have some disgust against the Author and particularly upon the score of this Exception Nor was this an unnecessary Digression if any Digression at all it being of so grand importance for the vindicating of the Author in whose Story and Character we are now concerned as also of those Holy and most Ancient Fathers of the Church and withal of their sober and harmless Notion of the Millennium yea and for the vindicating of the Holy Scriptures themselves from all unworthy misconstruction 23. Having thus somewhat largely though not without good cause evinced both the great Exquisiteness and the no less Usefulness of Mr. Mede's Labours in that Master-piece of his his Key and Commentary upon that mysterious Book of the Apocalyps a well-chosen Object for his great Understanding to exercise itself upon we proceed now to observe to the Reader That besides these his Endeavors were happily employ'd in other though neither easie nor ordinary undertakings For his noble Genius leading him on to encounter difficulties he ever seem'd most delighted with those studies wherein he might strain the sinews of his brain And as if he accounted them but Half-scholars that did only ex commentario sapere and knew only so much as taken up from others they held in memory he was not wont to take Expositions of Scripture upon the credit of any Author how great or plausible soever nor to look upon their Resolves as if they were Hercules's Pillars with a Nè plus ultrà upon them And therefore he used as occasion offer'd itself to set upon those difficult places of Scripture which seem'd to be of more use and concernment and much time did he spend that way to give light to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dark places in Holy Writ so that scarce could the question be propounded to him about any obscure and knotty passage therein whereabout he had not bestowed many serious thoughts before-hand He was taken notice of by many for his singular faculty in this kind and sent too by several Learned men for his resolution of such Doubts which was usually so clear that there was no person who loved Truth and was not addicted to jangling but would be satisfied with his Answers if not as certain and unquestionable yet as ingenious and very probable insomuch that Strangers of other Universities who had never seen him gave him this high Elogy That for assoiling of Scripture-difficulties he was to be reckoned amongst the best in the world It is agreeable to this which the learned Mr. Alsop spake of him in his Funeral Commemoration before the University That if he had been encouraged to write in difficiliora loca Scripturae and that God in mercy to the world had been pleased to lengthen out his days assuredly he would have out-gone any Author then extant and
natam Salutem MDCXXXVIII AEtatis Suae LII Some Additionals to Mr. Mede's LIFE by One who had the Honour and Happiness to be intimately known to him many years UNderstanding what rich Materials are prepared for Mr. Mede's Life and into what accurate Hands they are come for the Composure I can never give my consent that these course and ragged Papers be admitted otherwise than Post-script wise or as a Godicill which may pass through any ordinary hand annexed to an exactly-penn'd Testament yet so as that the one may justly pretend to the same Veracity and Authentickness with that of the other Upon this condition I proceed and in this Order contriving what I have to say into certain distinct Particularities Which I humbly conceive will be less unacceptable to the Reader As for the purpose 1. Remarkables concerning Mr. Mede's Election into his Fellowship together with the Occasion of his devoting the Tenth of his Estate to Pious uses MR. Mede had now continued in the University until after he took the Degree of Master of Arts and had already received some strange Preteritions at Elections Dr. Carey after Bishop of Exceter the then Head of the Colledge entertaining a very causeless Iealousie of him that he looked too much towards Geneva About this time a worthy Gentleman in the North earnestly invited him to live with him and upon very handsome Terms Yet Mr. Mede took time to consider of it It was then Sturbridge-Fair and there in a Stationer's shop Mr. Mede lighted on a Book of Mathematicks which he had great use of and had long thirsted after The lowest price was 50s. He thought the Book worth the money But the great Question was Whether the taking so much Money out of his Purse would not be as the taking away too much Bloud from an extraordinary weak Body Hereupon he retiring into a private walk hard by entered into a serious Consultation with himself what he should do whether he should buy the Book and leave the University embracing the Gentleman 's noble Proposal or else whether he should leave the Book and continue there longer For his slender Income would not allow him to enjoy both Conveniences together nor could have possibly afforded his Continuance in the Colledge so long had it not met with the great felicity of so Frugal and Prudent a Manager of it as himself was Whilest he was busily pondering and weighing Conveniencies and Inconveniencies one against another on both sides who should accidentally pass by but that Excellent Person and his very dear Friend Sir William Boswell then Fellow of Iesus Colledge and a rare Ornament to the whole University He perceiving who it was that walked there in such a deep study drew near to him closed with him and as he mought well do it demanded the Reason of that his solicitous Thoughtfulness Mr. Mede glad of the Opportunity readily disclosed all to him Mr. Boswell that was his Title then at first encouraged him to accept of the Gentleman's Propositions who himself knew to be a Worthy Person Noble Ingenuous Learned and Master of a well-furnished Library alleging farther that the good Leisure the good Conversation the now good Competency that honest Salary being twisted with what he had of his own and other good Accommodations he should there enjoy would enable him to do the Church and Commonwealth of Learning more service with his Pen than perhaps his Impediment of Speech would suffer him to do in the Pulpit Mr. Mede easily consenting to the Advice of so great and good a Friend parted from him with a Resolution to go that way He was not gone many steps when Mr. Boswell called him back again But Ioseph saith he it is great pity though that thou shouldst leave us for want of a Book Lo here is all my stock at present shewing him 5 pieces but come we will divide Go and buy the Book Mr. Mede began modestly to refuse this Courtesie as too great to be received and objected How shall I be able to be solvent in convenient time Mr. Boswell as importunately forced it upon him with these friendly words I pray thee take no care of repayment let that be when thou canst or in what small parcels thou wilt or whether it be ever or never it will be all one to me And so Mr. Mede is possessed of his Book and become a Continuer again Within a short time after the Colledge had privy notice of a Stranger who had got a Mandamus for a Fellowship either Fallen or Falling This news hastened them to a preventing Election and now the Master is contented to hear of Mr. Mede He is chosen but conditionally and provisionally that if the Mandamus be not diverted and shall be over-powerfully urged he must recede Mr. Mede therefore maturely makes his Applications to that Great both Oracle of Learning and Protector of Learned men the thrice Renowned L. B. Andrews by whose propitious Assistence he is now confirmed Fellow of that Colledge to which he owed his Education and for which he had so Filial a Dearness This Signal Providence and Goodness of Almighty God Mr. Mede was so piously sensible of that he solemnly vowed and as Religiously kept that Vow to lay aside every Tenth shilling he should ever receive in the Colledge and to dedicate it to Pious uses This Story to me not inconsiderable left so deep an Impression in me that I am able to warrant not only the Substance but even almost every Circumstance of it as I have related it And as to the Interlocutory part I verily believe I scarce vary in a word as I received it and all the rest immediately from the lips of that Miracle of Worth whether as a Scholar or a Statesman or a Friend or a Patriot or a Christian Sir William Boswell whiles he was Ambassadour Resident in the Nether-lands As concerning this strange Vow I had heard of it accidentally in Mr. Mede's life-time and once I took the freedom to ask him about it He startled at it that I should come to the knowledge of it and after a pause he only said this I charge you as a Friend to keep it to your self which I faithfully did till after his death And now if the Reader will not think his Patience too much imposed upon I could furnish him with another like Instance and that out of Mr. Mede's own Colledge one who was Contemporary with Mr. Mede but a long and early Discontinuer and one I think not unknown to him I am sure a great Admirer of him And this was Mr. William Whately sometime Vicar of Banbury that famous and perfect Preacher and that not only ad Populum as some great Wits have liberally acknowledged who would often slip out of Oxford on purpose to hear him and came at first with prejudice enough This Rare Preacher and therefore the Rarer because so Frequent had in his Pulpit upon a Holy-day when there was a very full Auditory with great Zeal
in brief his present Conjectural thoughts which afterwards at better leisure he would bring to the Test and pursue with more accurateness Pitching upon some of these he hath done me the honour to promote me to be his Amanuensis And then first causing me to turn to Texts in the Hebrew Fountain and in the LXX he would Critically give the Importance of the words and here drop many a rich Observation That done he would take down many of the Ancients whether Church-Historians or Fathers Greek and Latin c. and directing me to what places I should turn make me read them to him Upon which again he would by the By give out very considerable Notes and still as he had done with each Author would say You see it holds yet and yet c. So at last one of those Conjecturalls and What Ifs as he call'd them became an adopted Verity And this he called Hunting of Notions At this Sport no less profitable than pleasant we have upon Fasting-days continued from three after Mid-day until the knocking of the Colledge-gates at Night and then he has dismissed me richly laden 3. Of his Advice to young Students in Divinity TO those who intended Curam Animarum he would give among many other these Three Counsels 1. That they familiarly acquaint themselves with and constantly make use of that Golden Observation of Is. Casaubon viz. Vniversam Doctrinam Christianam Veteres distingâ—ebant in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest ea quae enunciari apud omnes poterant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arcana temere non vulganda It is in his Exercit. XVI ad Annal. Eccles. Which whole Exercitation he would commend to their often reading and indeed the whole Book And here he would sadly complain to the same effect and almost in the same words with the Admired Lord Verulam It is a Point of great Inconvenience and Perill to entitle the People to hear Controversies and all kinds of Doctrine They say no part of the Counsel of God is to be suppressed nor the People defrauded So as the Difference which the Apostle maketh between Milk and Strong Meat is confounded and his Precept That the weak be not admitted unto Questions and Controversies taketh no place Upon neglect of which sage Counsel we have lately seen those Dismal and Tragical Consequences which Mr. Mede did indeed Prophetically presage would be thereupon And for the present he gave some Instances but not without Indignation of them who under pretence of Revealing the whole Truth to the People would make choice of strange Texts in Leviticus and elsewhere and out of them vent such Stuffe as no modest Ear could endure to hear 2. His next Counsel was That with other Practical Doctrines they should not forget to preach and press Charity and this not in a slight perfunctory manner but Studiedly and Digestedly to give the People the true Nature of it the full latitude of it the absolute and indispensable Necessity of having it both Praecepti and Medii and as the L. Verulam hath express'd it to bring down Doctrines and Directions ad Casus Conscientiae otherwise the Word the Bread of Life they will but toss up and down and not break it 3. His last Counsel was When they had some Necessary Truths to deliver against which the present Humour of the Times ran counter that in this case they should go Socratically to work as to lay down at a convenient distance first one Postulatum and then another that will be clearly inferred from the former and so a third and a fourth c. still depending upon and strengthning each other A Truth brought in thus Backward saith he will be swallowed down unawares Whereas if you first shew its Horns there will be such startling and flinging that there will be no coming near with it 4. How far he was from Ambition FOR proof hereof we cannot desire a clearer Evidence or Demonstration then his so constant declining Preferments even then when they sought him out Witness his Answer to the Letter of the Fellows of Trinity Colledge near Dublin And by the way that Election into that Provostship was so firm as well as free that he was desired to make a Formal Resignation before his Successor could be elected and admitted into it which he did as himself hath told me more than once Witness again his Third Letter to the then Lord Primate what time some new hopes began to be raised of his acceptance of the same Provostship upon the remove of Bishop Bedel To all this I can add two more Instances which I believe are not known to many One That divers years after the refusal of the Provostship he received a Letter from a Friend in Ireland assuring him there was then kept for him a Dignity worth at the least 1000â— per ann and staied only for his acceptance To persuade him to which he used many potent arguments among the rest this The great freedom from molestations and incumbrances that place would indulge him in c. This Letter he was pleased to communicate to my self when freshly received concealing indeed the Name subscribed though that was not hard to guess at But here again his Modesty proved inflexible The other Instance is this When he newly related to his then Grace of Canterbury and now glorious Martyr neither of whom I believe had seen each others face in all their lives I am sure he told me so not long before his death he desired me to tell him freely what I heard men say concerning his Chaplainship c. The sum of my Answer was That I perceived he was looked upon as a Rising man and that many rejoyced at it because of his known merits c. To the latter part of my Answer he replied I am much beholden to my Friends for their good opinion of me c. But no man knows my Defects so well as my self And this was but the native Language and Dialect of his innate Modesty But when he came to reply to the former part which spake him a Rising man here he used more than ordinary Solemnity and with a grave composed countenance uttered these words At to my Rising come now I will make you my Confessor I can safely appeal to that Infinite Majesâ—y who hears me which words were accompanied with a gesture of great Reverence that if I might obtain but a Donative sine cura sine cura he repeâ—ted it which I may keep with my Fellowship I would set up my staffe for this World And the reason why I desire this is that I mought be able to keep a Nag for my Recreation sometimes in taking the air and in visiting my friends in the Countrey since this my Corpulency then growing upon him makes me unwieldy for walking In pursuance of this discourse I chanced to smile at a Conceit then coming into my mind which he quickly observed and was very earnest to know the reason of it
by the Prophets for so Prophets are here to be understood and not of predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to fulfil them that is to supply accomplish or perfect those Rules and Doctrines of Iust and Unjust contained in them by a more ample interpretation and other improvement befitting the state of the Gospel For surely this must be the meaning of this speech of our Saviour if we be more willing as we should to take a sense from Scripture than to bring one to it Doth not the whole context following evince it Indeed the Law that is the Legal Covenant or Covenant of works as Law is oft taken in the New Testament together with all the Rites depending thereon is dissolved by the coming of Christ and a better Covenant with new Rites established in stead thereof but the Law that is the Doctrine and Rule of life given by God contradistinct from those ordinances which were only appendages of that Covenant though these were also in some sense perfected by bringing the truth and substance in stead of the figure and shadow thereof is not disannulled but confirmed and perfected by him in such manner as became the condition of the Covenant of the Gospel For that this confirmation is not to be restrained to the Decalogue only is manifest because our Saviour in the following words insists upon other Precepts besides it If it be said they are reducible thereto this will not serve the turn for so are all the rest of God's Commandments Unless therefore it can be shewn that to honour God by an oblation of his creature is no part of the Law here confirmed by our Saviour let no man be so daringly bold as to exempt himself and others from the obligation thereof unless he means to be one of them of whom our Saviour speaks immediately saying Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so to do mark it he shall be called i. he shall be the least in the Kingdom of heaven The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is loose or dis-bind as he doth both that abrogates and that observes it not much more he that affirmeth it unlawful to be observed Nay how dare we dis-bind or loose our selves from the tye of that way of agnizing and honouring God which the Christian Church from her first beginnings durst not do Irenaeus witness of that age which next succeeded the Apostles is plain Lib. 4. c. 34. Offerre oportet Deo saith he primitias creaturae ejus sicut Moses ait Non apparebis vacuus ante conspectum Domini Dei tui Et non genus Oblationum reprobatum est oblationes enim illic sc. in V.T. oblationes autem hîc sacrificia in populo sacrificia in Ecclesia sed species immutata est tantùm quippe cum jam non à servis sed à liberis offeratur Vnus enim idem Dominus proprium autem character servilis oblationis proprium liberorum uti per oblationes ostendatur indicium libertatis It behoveth us saith he to offer unto God a present of his creature as also Moses saith Thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God emptie For offerings in the general are not reprobated there were Offerings there viz. in the Old Test. there are also offerings here in the Church but the specification only is changed forasmuch as offerings now are not made by bond but free-men For there is one and the same Lord still but there is a proper character of a bond or servile offering and a proper character of free-mens that so even the offerings may shew forth the tokens of freedom Now where in Scripture he believed this doctrin and practice to be grounded he lets us know in the 27. chap. of the same Book Et quia Dominus naturalia Legis per quae homo justificatur quae etiam ante legisdationem custodiebant qui side justificabantur placebant Deo non dissolvit sed extendit sed implevit ex sermonibus ejus ostenditur That is That our Lord dissolved not but enlarged and perfected the natural precepts of the Law whereby a man is just which also before the Law was given they observed who were justified by faith and pleased God is evident by his words Then he cites some of the passages of that his Sermon upon the Mount Mat. 5. 20. And a little after addes Necesse fuit auferre quidem vincula servitutis quibus jam homo assueverat sine vinculis sequi Deum superextendi verò decreta libertatis augeri subjectionem quae est ad Regem ut non retrorsus quis renitens indignus appareat ei qui se liberavit Et propter hoc Dominus pro eo quod est Non moechaberis nec concupiscere praecepit pro eo quod est Non occîdes neque irasci quidem et pro eo quod est Decimare omnia quae sunt pauperibus dividere That is It was needful that those bonds of servitude which man had before been inured to should be taken off that so he might without Gyves follow God but that the laws and ordinances of freedom should be extended and his subjection to the King encreased lest that drawing backward he might appear unworthy of him that freed him And for this reason our Lord in stead of Thou shalt not commit adultery commands not so much as to lust in stead of Thou shalt not kill not so much as to be angry in stead of To Tithe to distribute all we have to the poor c. All which saith he in the same place are not solventis Legem sed adimplentis extendentis dilatantis not of one that dissolves the Law but fulfils extends and enlarges it alluding still to that in our Saviour's Sermon upon the Mount Besides those who are acquainted with Antiquity can tell that the Primitive Christians understood the holy Eucharist to be A commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ's death upon the Cross in an oblation of Bread and Wine 'T is witnessed by the Fathers of those first Ages generally Whereupon the same Irenaeus also affirmeth that our Saviour by the institution of the Eucharist had confirmed Oblations in the New Testament Namely to thanks give or bless a thing in way to a sacred use he took to be an offering of it unto God And was not David's Benediction and thanksgiving at the preparation for the Temple and Offertory Where note well That as he upon that occasion blessed the Lord saying Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory all that is in heaven and earth is thine thine is the Kindgom Both riches and honour come of thee Ergo because all things come of theâ— of thine own have we given thee so do Christ's redeemed in their Evangelical Sâ—â—â— Apoc. 5. ascribe no less unto him saying v. 12. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and
New the Christian Clergy or Clerus so called from the beginning of Christian Antiquity either because they are the Lord 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Portion which the Church dedicateth unto him out of her self namely as the Levites were an offering of the Children of Israel which they offered unto him out of their Tribes or because their inheritance and livelihood is the Lord's portion I prefer the first yet either of both will give their Order the title of Holiness as doth also more especially their descent which they derive from the Apostles that is from those for whom their Lord and Master prayed unto his Father saying Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctisie them unto or for thy Truth thy Word is Truth that is Separate them unto the Ministery of thy Truth the word of thy Gospel which is the truth and verification of the promises of God It follows As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world this is the key which unlocks the meaning of that before and after And for them I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified for thy Truth that is And forasmuch as they cannot be consecrated to such an Office without some sacrifice to atone and purifie them therefore for their consecration to this holy function of ministration of the new Covenant I offer my self a Sacrifice unto thee for them in lieu of those legal and typical ones wherewith Aaron and his sons first and then the whole Tribe of Levi were consecrated unto thy service in the old An Ellipsis of the first Substantive in Scripture is frequent So here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth for the Ministery of Truth Now that the Christian Church for of the Iewish I shall need say nothing hath alwayes taken it for granted that those of her Clergy ought according to the separation and sanctity of their Order to be distinguished and differenced from other Christians both passively in their usance from others but especially actively by a restrained conversation and peculiarness in their manner of life is manifest by her ancient Canons and Discipline Yea so deeply hath it been rooted in the minds of men that the Order of Church-men binds them to some differing kind of conversation and form of life from the Laity that even those who are not willing to admit of the like discrimination due in other things have still in their opinions some relick thereof remaining in this though perhaps not altogether to be acquitted of that imputation which Tertullian charged upon some in his time to wit Quum excellimur inflamur adversùs Clerum tunc unum omnes sumus tunc omnes Sacerdotes quia Sacerdotes nos Deo Patri fecit Quum ad peraequationem Disciplinae Sacerdotalis provocamur deponimus insulas impares sumus When we vaunt and are puffed up against the Clergie then we are all one then we are all Priests for he made us Priests to God and his Father But when we are called upon to equal in our lives the example of Priestly Discipline then down go our Miâ—res and we are another sort of men Another sort of things Sacred which I named was Sacred Places to wit Churches and Oratories as the Christian name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implieth them to be that is the Lord's A third Sacred Times that is dedicated and appointed for the solemn celebration of the worship of God and Divine duties such are with us for those of the Iews concern us not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lord's dayes with other our Christian Festivals and Holy-dayes Of the manner of the discrimination from common or sanctifying both the one and the other by actions some commanded others interdicted to be done in them the Canons and Constitutions of our Church will both inform and direct us For holy Times and holy Places are Twins Time and Place being as I may so speak pair-circumstances of action and therefore Lev. 19. 30. and again 26. 2. they are joyned together tanquam ejusdem rationis Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary The fourth sort of Sacred things is of such as are neither Persons Times nor Places but Things in a special sense by way of distinction from them And this sort containeth under it many particulars which may be specified after this manner 1. Sacred Revenues of what kind soever which in regard of the dedication thereof as they must not be prophaned by sacrilegious alienation so ought they to be sanctified by a different use and imployment from other Goods namely such a one as becometh that which is the Lord's and not man's For that Primitive Christian Antiquity so esteemed them appears by their calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they did their Place of Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their Holy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all of the Lord as it were Christening the old notion of Sacred by a new name So Can. Apostol XL. Manifestae sint Episcopi res propriae si quidem res habet proprias manifesta sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. res Dominicae Let it be manifest what things are the Bishop's own if he have any things of his own and let it be manifest what things are the Lord 's Author constitut Apost Lib. 2. c. 28. al. 24. Episcopus ne utatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicis rebus tanquam alienis aut communibus sed moderatè Let not the Bishop use the things that are the Lord's as if they were another's or as if they were common but moderately and soberly See also Balsamon in Can. 15. Concilii Ancyrani and the Canon it self 2. Sacred Vtensils as the Lord's Table Vessels of ministration the Books of God or Holy Scripture and the like Which that the Church even in her better times respected with an holy and discriminative usance may be learned from the story of that calumnious crimination devised by the Arrian Faction against Athanasius as a charge of no small impiety namely that in his Visitation of the Tract of Marcotis Macarius one of his Presbyters by his command or instinct had entered into a Church of the Miletian Schismaticks and there broken the Chalice or Communion-Cup thrown down the Table and burnt some of the Holy Books All which argues that in the general opinion of Christians of that time such acts were esteemed prophane and impious otherwise they could never have hoped as they did to have blasâ—ed the reputation of the holy Bishop by such a slander Touching the Books of God or Holy Scripture which I referred to this Title especially those which are for the publick service of God in the Church I adde this further That under that name I would have comprehended the senses words and phrases appropriated to the expression of Divine and Sacred things which a Religious ear cannot endure to
company that is go to that accursed place and condition which they are in That this construction of Coetus Rephaim is not improbable may appear First by the gloss of Rabbi Solomon upon this Text In Coetu Rephaim that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Coetu Gehennae This notion therefore is not altogether new Secondly it is strengthened by comparing with other places of Scripture where the like expression is used as twice more in this Book of the Proverbs First Chap. 2. 18. where we read according to the Vulgar Domus mulieris alienae inclinata est ad mortem ad inâ—eros semitae ipsius The house of the strange woman inclineth unto death and her paths unto Hell Here for ad inferos unto Hell the Hebrew hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Giants and the Seventy render it with an Exegesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She hath put or set her paths in Hades or Hell with the Giants Again Chap. 9. 17 18. Aquae furtivae dulciores sunt panis absconditus suavior Et ignoravit quòd ibi sint Gigantes in profundis Inferni convivae ejus Stollen waters are sweeter and hidden bread is more pleasant but he knoweth not namely he that goes in to a Strange woman that the Giants are there and that her guests are in the depths of Hell Here in some Editions of the Vulgar are added these words Qui enim applicabitur illi descendet ad inferos qui abscesserit ab illa salvabitur For he that is joyned to her shall go down to Hell but he that departs from her shall be saved An Argument how this place hath been understood for the meaning of both these places seems to be no other but that the strange woman will bring them who frequent her to Hell to keep the Apostate Giants company There is another place in the Hagiographa where these Rephaim are mentioned to wit Iob. 26. 5 6. which though of a more ambiguous sense and scope yet as it is translated by the vulgar Latin and well enough to agree with the Hebrew seems to be no other than a description of Hell with the former Gigantes saith he gemunt sub aquis qui habitant cum eis Nudus est infernus coram illo id est Deo nullum est operimentum perditioni The meaning hereof seems to be this The place where the old Giants mourn or wail under the waters and their fellow-inhabitants the rest of the damned with them even infernus and the place of Perdition it self is naked and open to the eyes of God from whom nothing is hid Which is agreeable to that Proverbs 15. 11. Hell and Destruction are before the Lord how much more then the hearts of the children of men In this place the Iews take the word Abaddon which we render Destruction for Gehenna that is Elliptically for Beth Abaddon the House of Destruction And why then should not the same word be so taken in that place of Iob and Nullum est operimentum perditioni There is no covering for Destruction be as much as Nullum est operimentum loco perditionis or Gehennae There is no covering for the House or Place of Destruction or for Hell Compare with these places in the Hagiographa two in the Prophets One in the 14. of Esay v. 9 10. where by way of a Poetical or Prophetical hypotyposis of the destruction or fall of Babylon the King thereof is brought in coming to the Rephaims or Giants in the other world Hell saith the Text from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming it stirreth up the Rephaims for thee even all the chief ones of the earth And they shall say unto thee Art thou also become weak as we art thou become like unto us The other is the 32. of Ezekiel concerning the fall of Egypt where their slain are bestowed in like manner in the nethermost parts of the earth with the Gibborim which signifies not only mighty men but Giants and so is rendred in this place by the Seventy And thus much from comparison of places of Scripture A third Argument to make this notion probable which I have represented is this Because all the expressions almost in Scripture whereby this place of eternal punishment is represented relate and allude to some places or Stories remarkable for God's exemplary vengeance executed upon sinners As that of Gehenna to the notorious Iudgments of God in the valley of the sons of Hinnom for Idolatry and Blasphemy that of the Lake of fire and brimstone so often mentioned in the Apocalyps to the Lake Asphaltites the lasting monument of those showrs of fire and brimstone from heaven wherewith Sodom and Gomorrah with the rest of the Cities of the Plain perished for their abominable Lusts. Our Saviour's expression in his sentence of condemnation Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels seems to relate to the punishment of the Apostate-Angels who for their rebellion were delivered unto chains of darkness against that great day And was not the destruction of the old world by the general Deluge of water as famous as any of these yea not to be parallel'd by any but that second Deluge of fire at the last Iudgment How improbable is it then that this should not lend a denomination to the place or state of eternal punishment as well as the rest Nay which is more S. Peter in his second Epistle and second Chapter recites these last three together as if they had been intended as Patterns of the eternal Iudgement and punishment of sinful men V. 4. For saith he if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them to chains of darknessâ— to be reserved unto judgment 5. and spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a Preacher of righteousness bringing in the Floud upon the world of the ungodly that is of the Rephaim for so the Seventy sometimes turn it 6. And turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an Ensample or Pattern mark it well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the punishment of such as should after live ungodly Hence as I told you was the Lake Asphaltites or the Lake of fire and brimstone borrowed by S. Iohn for a denomination of Hell 7. And he delivered just Lot vexed with the silthy conversation of the wicked If God did this 9. He knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of Iudgment to be punished Ye see the application or reddition and accordingly how prone the destruction of the world of the Rephaim or ungodly by the Deluge is to give denomination to the punishment of Hell as well as the other two And now I suppose you look for my Application and putting of the whole Text together
votes are tendered Secondly He praies for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his Word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawful to pray unto God for a blessing from an Instrument which he is wont to give us by an Instrument Secondly It may be said it being a Salutation that the words Grace and Peace need not be taken in that special and strict sense but in the large and general wherein Grace sounds favour at large and Peace all manner of prosperity In which sense no man will deny but the blessed Angels have an interest in the dispensation of the favours and blessings of God to his Church and so God may be prayed to to give them as he is wont by their Ministery Grace and Peace from him which is which was and is to come as the Author and Giver and from the Seven Spirits as the Instruments and from Iesus Christ as the Mediator There is yet one place more in the Apocalyps to confirm this Tradition Chap. 8. 2. I saw saith S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seven Angels which stood before God Is not this as plain as Tobit Why should then the one be accounted Magical rather than the other I add moreover that these Angels are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principes primarii or chief Princes mentioned in the 10. of Daniel 13. Michael one of the chief Princes saith the Angel there came to help me Now Michael we know is one of the Arch-angels and why therefore may not these chief Princes be those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof S. Paul speaks in his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the Elect Angels not the good Angels at large but those Angeli eximii the Seven Arch-angels which stand before the Throne of God And it may not without reason be conjectured that those Seven chief Princes famed in the Persian Monarchie took their beginning from hence namely that Daniel who in respect of his account for wisdom and of his power under Darius the Mede had a main stroke in the moulding and framing the Government of that State caused the Persian Court to resemble that of Heaven ordaining Seven chief Princes to stand before the King Of which we find twice mention in Scripture as in the Book of Esther where they are recorded by name and styled the seven Princes of Media and Persia who saw the King's face and sate first in the kingdom and in the Commission granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 14. they are called the King's seven Counsellors Forasmuch as thou art sent by the King and his seven Counsellors c. And it may be the Church of Ierusalem when they chose Seven Deacons to minister unto their Bishop had an eye the same way HITHERTO of the Number of these Arch-angels now a word or two of their Office And that is First to be the universal Inspectors of the whole world and the Rulers and Princes of the whole Angelical host which appears in that they are called Principes primarii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Princes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archangels i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chief of the Angels their universal jurisdiction is meant by the words sent forth into the whole world whereas the rest are limited to certain places Secondly to have the peculiar Charge and Guardianship of the Church and affairs thereof whilst the rest of the world with their Polities Kingdoms and Governments is committed to the care of subordinate Angels who according to their several charges may seem to carry those names of Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions That the charge of the Church quà talis belongs thus peculiarly and immediately to the Seven Arch-angels may appear by S. Iohn's saluting the Churches with a Benediction of Grace and Peace from their ministery and the typing of them by the Seven Eyes and Horns of the Lamb as Powers which the Father since he exalted Him to be Head of his Church hath annexed to his Iurisdiction Hence it comes to pass that we find these Angels peculiarly both before and in the Gospel to have been employed about the Church-affairs In the Old Testament the Angiel Gabriel one of the Seven revealed to Daniel the time of the restauration of the Iewish State and coming of Messiah and the Angel Michael one of the chief Princes was his assistant when he strengthened Darius the Mede who founded the Monarchy which should restore them and is in special termed Dan. 12. 1. the Prince that stood for Daniel 's people In the Gospel we find the same Angel Gabriel imployed both to Zachary and the Blessed Virgin with the Evangelical Tidings and that Zachary might take notice that he was one of the Seven he says unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Likewise in the Churches combate with the Dragon Apocal. 12. 7 c. Michael and his Angels are said to be her Champions and in her quarrel to have cast the Dragon and his Angels down to the Earth And in this Prophecy of Zachary it is said that these Seven eyes of the Lord took care of one stone which Zorobabel laid for the foundation of the Temple and therefore the work could not be disappointed but should certainly at length be finished So as by this time we may guess the meaning of that which Hanani the Seer told King Asa 2 Chron. 16. 9. The Eyes of the Lord that is these Seven Eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him DISCOURSE XI S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour when he cast the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers out of the Temple and forbad to carry any vessels through it Concerning which story it is worth observâ—â—â—on that our Saviour whilst he was upon earth never exercised any Kingly or coactive Iurisdiction but in vindicating his Father's House from prophanation And this he did two several times Once at the first Passeover after he began his Prophesie whereof you may read Iohn 2. 14 c. and now again at his last Passeover when he came to give his soul a sacrifice for sin This is that which S. Mark relates in this place as do also two other of the Evangelists S. Matthew and S. Luke The vindication of God's House from Prophanation how little account soever we are wont to
from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was it not when it was sold in thy power that is was not the price it was sold for in thine hands For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must here be understood for the price of what was sold or the Field reduced to money otherwise the contrary would be true to that which Peter intimate◠namely That when it was sold it was now no longer in his power because he had sold it But the latter words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thy power I understand to be as much as in thy possession or in thine hand meaning as I have said that he had received the price For not only that which a man hath dominion and propriety in but that also which he hath but in bare possession is rightly said to be in his power For in the Law Ius possessionis extends farther than Ius dominii namely as far as Habere to have a thing Habere autem dicitur non solùm qui rei dominus est sed qui rei quidem dominus non est sed rem tenet that is as they speak corpore possessioni insistit And in this sense the price which Ananias had received is said to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his power that is in his possession Which will not seem a forc'd exposition if we consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in manu in the Hebrew which implies not dominion only but also bare possession As it is said of Abraham's servant Gen. 24. 10. that all the goods of his Master were in his hand as well as of the rich miser's son Eccles 5. 14. that there was nothing in his hand that is he was a beggar Both which might be expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as manus in Hebrew yea and in Latin too is well enough known to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power I confess there is another Exposition usually given of these words but it is such an one as directly contradicts the story namely that Was it not in thy power should be Was it not in thy power to have kept the price when it was sold But first there is no such word in the Text as to keep it and so we are not bound to understand it It is only said Was it not in thy power And if any Verb be to be understood to supply the sense why should it not as well be the contrary Was it not in thy power to dispose it according to thy Vow intimating there might be some just impediment after the sale whereby he could not especially if he could not get the money But to expound Was it not in thy power to be Was it not in thy power to have kept it is directly against the drift of the story For how did Ananias sin in bringing but part of the price if he might have kept all Is not his sin expresly placed in that he purloined of the price what other Fact of his is mentioned save only this Nay if this should be the meaning of the words it would follow a man might vow a thing unto God and yet be at liberty when he had done whether he would perform it or not he might lie unto God and yet be guiltless Without doubt this Exposition was it that so obscured the whole Narration that it could not appear wherein Ananias his Sin consisted But his Sin as I have already shewed out of the Fathers was Sacriledge and of that kind whereof Solomon speaks Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devours that which is holy and after vows to enquire He had dedicated the whole value of the Field in his conscience and the purpose of his heart as was evident by his sale thereof to that end and yet when he had done he repented him and brought but part thereof This meaning is evidently contained in the body of the Narration and therefore such a sense of any part as cannot stand with this is in no wise to be admitted He that considers it will perceive the necessity of what I say HAVING thus cleared the words of the Text where there was any doubt or obscurity let us come to the Observations to be deduced thence whereof the Relation affords us three evident ones 1. That Sacriledge is a Sin against God and not against men 2. That that which is consecrate to God must not be alienated to other uses 3. That it is an hainous Sin which God thus severely punished For the First That Sacriledge is a sin against God and not against men is plain by the Text Thou hast not lyed said Peter unto men but unto God For whatsoever is sacred is his yea to be sacred is nothing else but to be set apart from man's interest to be God's in a peculiar propriety and relation To steal then or alienate that which is sacred is to rob God and not man for he is robbed whose the propriety is but of sacred things God is the Proprietary and not man It is an error therefore to be observed among the Expositors of the Decalogue who rank Sacriledge as a Sin of the Eighth Commandment when Sacriledge as Sacriledge is a Sin of the First Table and not of the Second a breach of the loyalty we immediately owe to God and not of the duty we owe to our neighbour True it is He that committeth Sacriledge indirectly and by consequent robbeth men too namely those who live of God's provision but Sacriledge it self is the robbing of God This is evident by that of the Prophet Malachi Mal. 3. 8. Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me saith the Prophet in the person of God Lut ye say Wherein have we robbed thee In Tithes and Offerings Ver. 9. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole Nation Ver. 10. Bring ye all the Tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it c. The observation of this would be useful in the Question of the due of Tithes for the state thereof is not rightly framed when the Quaere is made Whether Tithes are due to the Ministers of the Gospel meaning as a duty of the people unto them We should say rather Tithes are due unto God for so is the style of the Scripture All the Tithes are mine these I give to Levi and not you God maintains not his Ministers at others charges but out of his own Revenue which he had reserved to himself As was well observed by Philo the Iew in his Book de Sacerdotum honoribus where speaking of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that honourable maintenance and without bodily toil which God
they are imperfect and whatsoever they were we owed them to him in whom we live and have our Being whether there were any Reward or not promised for them Neither do we hereby any whit detract from the truth of that Axiome That God rewardeth every man according to his work For still the Question remaineth the very same Whether there may not be as well merces gratiae as merces justitiae that is Whether God may not judge a man according to his works when he sits upon the Throne of Grace as well as when he sits upon his Throne of Iustice. And we think here that the Prophet David hath fully cleared the case in that one sentence Psal. 62. 12. With thee O Lord is Mercy for thou rewardest every one according to his work Nay more than this We deny not but in some sense this Reward may be said to proceed of Iustice. For howsoever originally and in it self we hold it cometh from God's free Bounty and Mercy who might have required the Work of us without all promise of Reward For as I said we are his Creatures and owe our Being unto him yet in regard he hath covenanted with us and tied himself by his Word and Promâ—â—e to confer such a Reward the Reward now in a sort proveth to be an Act of Iustice namely of Iustiâ—ia promissi on God's part not of Merit on ours even as in forgiving our sins which in it self all men know to be an Act of Mercy he is said to be Faithful and Iust 1 Iohn 1. 9. namely in the faithful performance of his Promise For Promise we know once made amongst honest men is accounted a due debt But this argues no more any worthiness of equality in the Work towards the obtaining of the Reward than if a Promise of a Kingdom were made to one if he should take up a straw it would follow thence that the lifting up of a straw were a labour or a work worth a Kingdom howsoever he that should so promise were bound to give it Thus was Moses careful to put the children of Israel in mind touching the Land of Canaan which was a Type of our Eternal habitation in Heaven that it was a Land of promise and not of merit which God gave them to possess not for their righteousness or for their upright heart but that he might perform the word which he sware unto their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob Whereupon the Levites in this Book of Nehemiah say in their Prayer to God Thou madest a Covenant with Abraham to give to his seed the Land of the Canaanites and hast performed thy words because thou art just that is true and faithful in keeping thy promise Now because the Lord hath made a like promise of the Crown of life to them that love him S. Paul sticks not in like manner to attribute this also to God's Iustice Henceforth saith he 2 Tim. 4. 8. is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his appearing Upon which S. Bernard most sweetly as he is wont Est ergo quam Paulus expect at corona Iustitiae sed justitiae Dei non suae Iustum quippe est ut reddat quod debet debet autem quod pollicitus est There is therefore a crown of righteousness which Paul looks for but it is of God's righteousness not his own it being a righteous thing with God to give what he owes now he owes what he hath engaged himself to by promise Lastly for the word Merit â—t is not the name we so much scruple at as the thing wont now-a-daies to be understood thereby otherwise we confess the name might be admitted if taken in the large and more general seâ—se for Any work having relation to a reward to follow it or whereby a reward is quocunque modo obtained in a word as the Correlate indifferent either to merces gratiae or justitiae the reward of Grace or of Iustice. For thus the Fathers used it and so might we have done still if some of us had not grown too proud and mistook it Since we think it better and safer to diâ—use it even as Physicians are wont to prescribe their Patients recovered of some desperate disease not to use any more that meat or diet which they find to have caused it And here give me leave to acquaint you with an Observation of a like alteration of speech and I suppose for the self-same cause happening under the Old Testament namely of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness into That which findeth mercy For the Septuagint and the New Testament with them render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness not only when it is taken for Beneficence or Alms as in that Tongue it is the ordinary word in which use we are wont to expound it Works of mercy but where there is no relation to Alms or Beneficence at all Whence I gather that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Septuagint meant not as we commonly take it Works of mercy but rather Works whereby we find mercy at the hands of God I will give you a place which methinks is very pregnant Deut. 6. 24 25. where we read thus And the Lord commanded us to do all these Statutes you may see there what they are to fear the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as at this day And it shall be our Righteousness if we observe to do all these Commandments before the Lord as he hath commanded us Here the Septuagint for And it shall be our Righteousness have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that whereby we shall find mercy at the hands of God if we observe to do all these Commandments c. This place will admit no evasion for there is no reference to Alms here And indeed all our Righteousness is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that whereby we find mercy at the hands of God and no marvail if Works of mercy as to relieve the poor and needy be especially so called for they above all other are the works whereby we shall find mercy and receive the reward of Bliss at the last day And thus much of my second Observation I come now to my third That it is lawful to do good works Intuitu mercedis with an eye or respect to the recompence of Reward It is plain that Nehemiah here did so Remember me O my God concerning this c. So did Moses of whom it is said Heb. 11. 25 26. that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspiciebat vel intuebatur 〈◊〉
fulfilled or accomplished But it seems to me that the Fulness of the Gentiles and the Fulfilling or Accomplishment of their times should not be the same howsoever they may be coincident It should rather seem that our Saviour hath reference as to a thing known unto the Prophecy of Daniel where the Times of the Gentiles or the times wherein the Gentiles should have dominion with the misery and subjection of the Iewish Nation are set forth in the Vision of a fourfold Image and four Beasts which are the four Monarchies the Babylonian Persian Greek and Roman The first began with the first captivity of the Iewish Nation and through the times of all the rest they should be in subjection or in a worser estate under them But when their times should be accomplished then saith Daniel The Saints of the most High God shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever and ever that is there shall be no more kingdoms after it but it shall continue as long as the world shall endure Three of these Monarchies were past when our Saviour spake and the fourth was well entred If then by Saints there are meant the Iews which we know are called the holy People in that sense their country is still called the holy Land and their city in the Scripture the holy City viz. relatively then is it plain enough what Daniel's and our Saviour's words import namely a glorious revocation and kingdom of the Iews when the time of the fourth Monarchy which then remained should be expired and accomplished But if here by the Saints of the most High are in general meant the Church yet by coincidence of time the same will fall out on the Iews behalf because S. Paul saith that at the time when the Fulness of the Gentiles shall come in the Iew shall be again restored For a conclusion The last limb of the fourth Monarchy is in Daniel The Horn with eyes which spake proud things against the most High which should continue a time times and half a time that is a year years and half a year In the Revelation it is The Beast with so many heads and horns full of names of blasphemy which was to continue forty two months the same period with the former which was expressed by times or years and the same time with a thousand two hundred and sixty days of the Churche's remaining in the wilderness When these Times whatsoever they be shall be ended then is the period of the Times of the Gentiles and of the Iews misery whereto our Saviour seems to refer in the Gospel then by S. Paul shall the Fulness of the Gentiles enter in then saith S. Iohn shall the kingdoms of the earth be the Lord's and his Christ's then saith Daniel in the former place Chap. 7. 27. shall the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven be given to the people of the Saints of the most High whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him The Use we are to make upon this long Discourse is Hope and comfortable Expectation Experience saith S. Paul Rom. 5. 4. worketh hope Let therefore our experience of God's Power and Truth in that which is past be as a pledge and pawn unto us of the future We have seen a great part of this Doom of false Gods fulfilled already what though we see not the means of the full accomplishment If thou shalt say in thy heart saith Moses Deut. 7. 17 18. These nations are more than I how can I dispossess them Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt So if any of us shall say How can this be let us remember what the Lord hath done already in subduing so great a part of the world unto himself which once sate in darkness and in the shadow of death DISCOURSE XXXVII PROVERBS 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all keeping For out of it are the issues of life EVERY way of man saith the same mouth which uttered this is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts Prov. 21. 2. And chap. 16. 2. All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits Which words have this Discretive sense that Although the eyes of men judge of the rightness of the ways of men by that which appeareth to the eye yet God he is not as man nor judgeth like him but he pondereth the heart and spirit Therefore in Scripture he is styled A God that searcheth the heart and reins Ier. 17. 10. I the Lord search the heart I trie the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Which words our Saviour useth Rev. 2. 23. in his Epistle to Thyatira I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works that is Men esteem of works as they see but I judge and reward them as I see Men punish and reward according to the outside only which comes under the view and stands in awe of men but God judges and rewards according to the Heart or inward man which he only sees and which therefore stands in awe and fear of none but him For as for the outward act it may as well be done for the praise and awe of men as for love and fear of God and therefore by it cannot be discerned whether our obedience be to God or man But the Heart is that divine Touch-stone as that which hath none to fear none to please none to approve it self unto but him who alone sees it and is only able to try and examine it If therefore any Precept any Admonition in the whole Book of God deserve the best of our attention to hear and greatest care to put in practice this of my Text is worthy to be accounted of that number Keep thy heart above all keeping For out of it are the issues of life The words divide themselves into two parts An Admonition and A Motive The Admonition Keep thy heart above all keeping The Motive For out of it are the issues of life that is Even as in the life of nature the Heart is the fountain of living and the well-spring of all operations of life so in the life of grace we live to God through it In the Admonition consider 1. The Act Keep 2. The Object what we are to keep our Heart 3. The Manner and Means how it must be kept with all diligence or above all keeping Of the Act Keep I shall not need say much it is an easie word and we shall not forget it in that which follows but ever and anon have occasion to repeat it Only here observe in general That our Hearts are untrusty
as we should For as corporal food doth rather hurt than nourish a body abounding with evil humors So the Soul being fraught with vices this heavenly food rather killeth than comforts it As Adam in the state of his Integrity might freely take and taste of all the Trees in the Garden one only excepted but after his transgression he was justly restrained So doth the Lord admit us unto his Table if we come worthily otherwise we are no welcome guests unto him Therefore as it was said to Moses when he came near the presence of God Pluck off thy shooes for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground So let all of us put off the shooes of our corruptions and then we may approach with comfort to the holy Table of the Lord. DISCOURSE XLVII DEUTERONOMY 16. 16 17. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of Vnleavened bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee THESE words are a commandment for the observation of the great and chiefest Festival times of the Law not only here mentioned but elsewhere injoyned in the Books of the Law as I think in three several places Exod. 23. 14. and again 34. 23. and also Levit. 23. The words I read consist of two parts First The Observation it self 2. A special duty required thereat The Observation it self comprehends four things 1. The Work or Action commanded which is To appear before the Lord 2. The Persons who every Male all thy Males 3. The Place where in a select place in the place which the Lord shall chuse 4. The Time when Three times in the year In the Feast of Vnleavened bread in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles The second part A special duty required at this solemn service and that is a duty of real thanksgiving viz. a holy present or oblation to be given unto God and that expressed First in the kind They shall not appear before the Lord empty Secondly in the measure Every one shall give as he is able c. Of these I am to speak in order and first of the first The Action enjoyned To appear before the Lord. To appear before the Lord is in an Holy Assembly to perform a Religious service unto him For in every such Assembly and Service he is present after a special and peculiar manner according to that of our Saviour in the Gospel Where two or three are gathered in my Name there am I in the midst of them And as when one man speaks unto another or hears another speaking unto him either is said to be in others presence So he that comes to speak unto God in Confession Prayer and Thanksgiving and hath God likewise speaking unto him either in the publishing of the Law in the promises of his Gospel in the receiving of his Sacraments and ministerial benediction is truly said to appear or come into the presence of the Lord. To appear therefore in God's presence is to be assembled in his publick Worship where there is as it were a mutual entercourse between him and us and in this it is differing from private Devotion where the one part only is acted and not the other Every day is a day of private Devotion yea every hour if occasion serveth but a Holyday's work is the publick service of God in a Holy Convocation Seeing therefore as often as we come together for the Worship of God in the Holy Assembly of the Church we appear in the presence of the Majesty of God himself it may admonish us of the reverence we are to use in such Assemblies If when we come into the presence of a Prince we think an awful fear and a more than ordinary reverence doth best beseem us in whatsoever we speak or do much more is this required of us when we approach the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Hosts No gesture we use no word we speak no action we do but should be framed to express the awe and regard we owe unto so great and high a presence If Order be any where required it is here If idle and vain words be in a far less presence taken as contemptuous in this they cannot be less than merely blasphemous If any unseemly or unsutable gesture if any neglectful or regardless demeanour be elsewhere culpable here it is abominable when we are in his presence who is the God of Order and Beauty and gives us an express command to perform all points of his Service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to order and with comeliness This makes him say to Moses when he appeared in the Bush Pluck off thy shooes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is Holy ground Whence Solomon borrows his speech Eccles. 5. 1. Keep thy foot or look unto thy feet when thou enterest into the House of God This being as much as if he had â—aid Behave thy self in God's presence reverently Which in the words following he enlarges saying Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of Fools v. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth c. And hither belongs that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 4 5 c. requiring a seemly habit and gesture of men and women in the Holy Assemblies the woman to pray covered in token of her subjection the man uncovered as a sign of his head-ship and superiority over the woman according to the use of those times and places And it is specially to be observed which he speaketh in the 10. Verse For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head that is the ensign of power to which she is subject because of the Angels i.e. because of the presence of God attended with multitudes of Angels For these are the Train of the Almighty and as it were the Guard attending and ministring unto his presence wheresoever he keeps his station they pitch round about him When Daniel saw him in the Vision thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him Revel 5. 11. I beheld saith S. Iohn and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands So when God appeared to Iacob going to Padan-Aram he saw the Angels of God descending and ascending upon a Ladder Whence it appears that wheresoever God keeps his Court his Train is with him and perhaps it were no error to affirm That the peculiarity of God's presence in one place more than another
most High THE Book of Psalms is a Book of Prophecies witness the frequent citing of them by our Lord and his Apostles witness the Surname of King David who being the penman of no other but this Book is styled the Prophet David I say the Psalms are Prophecies and that both Concerning Christ himself and also the Church which should be after him Concerning Christ himself it needs must be Saith he in the Gospel Luke 24. 24. These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written of me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the PSALMS and more especially concerning his Beginning S. Paul quotes the words of the Psalm speaking in the Person of God Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again concerning his Office Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek Now for the Church of the Gospel and calling of the Gentiles as many parts of many Psalms do foretel thereof so is this whole Psalm a description of the same 1. What manner of one it should be 2. What worship God would establish therein For the first it should be Catholick and gathered out of all Nations The God of Gods saith the beginning of the Psalm v. 1 2. even the Lord hath spoken and called the Earth from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof Out of Sion the perfection of beauty hath God shined Agreeable to the words of the Gospel it self That it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem and that it did begin at Ierusalem where Christ himself began where the Holy Ghost came down in cloven tongues So out of Sion God shined our God came and kept not silence for a fire came before him and a tempest moved round about him Now for the Worship and service which Christ would establish in his new reformed Church it concerns either the First or the Second Table For the First Table it tells us What Offerings God would abolish namely all Typical Offerings or all the Offerings of fire and then What Offerings he would accept to wit the Offerings of Praise and Prayer Offer unto God Praise and pay thy Vows unto the most High For the Second Table it commands a right and upright conversation from the 16. verse unto the last and the last is the Summe or a brief summary of both Tables He that offereth Praise shall glorifie me and to him that disposeth his way aright will I shew the Salvation of the Lord. But to return again to the reformation of the First Table whereof my Text is the Affirmative part where as I said we are told both What Offerings God will not have offered and What Offerings he requireth He will no longer have any Typical Offerings any Offerings of fire or bloudy Sacrifices For I will not saith he reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings I will take no bullock out of thine house nor goats out of thy folds For all the beasts of the forrests are mine and the beasts on a thousand hills If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine and all that therein is Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the bloud of goats Nevertheless he still requireth Offerings of Thanksgiving and a Present when we come to pray unto him so faith my Text Offer unto God Praise c. And so here is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul saith in a like case He taketh away the first that he may establish the second But as in Typical Speeches it often comes to pass that the things which are spoken are true both in the Type and Antitype as that in Hosea 11. 1. Out of Egypt have I called my Son was in some sense true both of Christ and Israel and that in Exod. 12. 46. Thou shalt not break a bone thereof was true literally both of Christ and the Paschal lamb and that in Psal. 22. 18. They parted my garments among them was true figuratively in David and literally in Christ Even so it comes to pass in Prophecies and namely in this That it so foretells of things to come that it concerned also the time present it foretells the estate of the Church in the Gospel and yet meant something that concerned the present Church of the Law To which purpose we must frame the sense after this manner That God even then did not so much regard the Offerings of fire and Expiatory sacrifices as he did the Offerings of Praise and Thanksgiving because the first were Ceremonial the other Moral the first their End was changeable the other everlasting So that in respect of the Catholick Church the words of my Text are an Antithesis or Aphaeresis with the former I will in no sort have any Typical and Bloudy Offerings but only Offerings of Praise and Prayer But in respect of the Legal Church or the Church of the Law they are a Protimesis or Estimation I require not so much any Typical offerings as I do that you should offer unto me Praise and pay your Vows unto the most High For so when God saith elsewhere I will have mercy and not sacrifice it is no Antithesis but a Protimesis that I had rather have mercy than sacrifice So again Matth. 6. 19. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven this is no Antithesis or Aphaeresis as though Christ would not have us at all provide for things of this life but a Protimesis he would not have us take so much care for this life as for the life to come The Scope therefore of my Text is to shew What kind of Offerings God did chiefly accept under the Law and doth only require in the Gospel to wit two sorts of Offerings Eucharistical and Euctical or Votal Eucharistical Offerings are such whose End is Thanksgiving to God for Benefits received which are here termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offerings of Praise Euctical I call such as are made to God upon occasion of suit we have unto him that is when we come to pray before him that he might accept our supplications and we find favour in his sight And this is performed two manner of ways either by promise if God shall hear us and grant our petition which is called a Vow or by actual exhibition at the time we do pray unto him An example of the first kind is that of Iacob If the Lord shall be with me and bring me back again of all I have the Tenth will I give unto him The second was much used in the first times of the Christian Church and of it in the Law we understand
of Menander cited by Iustin Martyr in his De Monarchia Dei hath reference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No God pleaseth me that gads abroad None that leaves his house shall come in my Book A just and good God ought To tarry at home to save those that placed him According to this notion of a Temple these Authors alledged grant that Christians neither had any Temples no nor ought to have forasmuch as the God whom they worshipped was such a one as filled the Heaven and the Earth and dwelt not in Temples made with hands And because the Gentiles appropriated the name of a Temple to this notion of encloistering a Deity by an Idol therefore the Christians of those first Ages for the most part abstained therefrom especially when they had to deal with Gentiles calling their Houses of worship Ecclesiae or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence is the Dutch and our English Kurk and Church in Latine Dominica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Oratories or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the like seldom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Templa that appellation being grown by the use of both sides into a name of distinction of the Houses of Gentile Superstition from those of Christian Worship Which that I affirm not upon bare conjecture these Examples will make manifest First that of Aurelian the Emperor before alledged in his Epistle to the Senate De Libris Sibyllinis inspiciendis Miror vos Patres sancti tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubitâsse libris perinde quasi in Christianorum ECCLESIA non in TEMPLO Deorum omnium tractaretis And that of Zeno Veronensis in his Sermon de Continentia Proponamus itaque ut saepe contingit in unum sibi convenire diversae religionis diem quo tibi ECCLESIA illi adeunda sint TEMPLA He speaks of a Christian woman married to a Gentile That also of S. Hierom in in his Epistle ad Riparium saying of Iulian the Apostate Quòd Sanctorum BASILICAS aut destruxerit aut in TEMPLA converterit Thus they spake when they would distinguish Otherwise now and then the Christian Fathers use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Templum for Ecclesia but respecting the Temple of the true God at Ierusalem not the notion of the Gentiles That this Answer is true and genuine I prove first Because the Gentiles themselves who objected this want to the Christians neither were nor could be ignorant that they had Oratories where they performed their Christian service when they were so notoriously known as we saw before to the Emperors Galienus and Aurelian and a controversie about one of them referred unto the latter when also the Emperor's Edicts flew about in every City for demolishing them Why therefore do they object in this manner but because for the defect of something they thought thereto necessary they esteemed not those Oratories for Temples Secondly Because in that dispute between Origen and Celsus it is supposed by both that the Persians and Iews were as concerning this matter in like condition with the Christians neither of both enduring to worship their Gods in Temples Hear Origen speak Lib. 7. p. 385 386. Licet Scythae AfrÃque Numidae impii Seres ut Celsus ait aliaeque gentes atque etiam Persae aversentur TEMPLA ARAS STATVAS non candem aversandi causam esse illis nobis and a little after Inter abhorrentes ab ARARVM TEMPLORVM STATVARVM ceremoniis Scythae Numidae impiÃque Seres Persae aliis moventur rationibus quà m Christiani Iudaei quibus religio est sic numen colere Illarum enim gentium nemo ab his alienus est quòd intelligat Daemonas DEVINCTOS haerere CERTIS LOCIS STATVIS sive incantatos quibusdam magicis carminibus sive alià s incubantes locis semel praeoccupatis ubi lurconum more se oblectant victimarum nidoribus Caeterùm Christiani homines Iudaei sibi temperant ab his propter illud Legis Dominum Deum tuum timebis ipsi soli servies item propter illud Non erunt tibi alieni Dii praeter me Non facies tibiipsi simulacrum c. Lo here it is all one with Origen to have Templa as to worship other Gods as it was a little before with Minutius Felix his Octavius if you mark it to have Delnbra Simulacra Yet certainly neither Celsus nor Origen whatsoever they here say of the Persians and Iews were ignorant that the Persians had their Pyraea or Pyrathaea Houses where the Fire was worshipped though without Images or Statues also that the Iews had both then and also formerly their Synagogues and Proseuchae in the places and Countries where they were dispersed and once a most glorious and magnificent Temple or Sanctuary Ergo by Temples they understand not Houses of prayer and religious rites in the general but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Places where Demons were incloistered by the position of an Idol or consecrated Statue And here let me add because it is not impertinent what I have observed in reading the Itinerarium of Benjamin Tudelensis the Iew namely that he expresses constantly after this manner the Oratories of Iews Turks and Christians by differing names those of the Iews he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Houses of assembly or Synagogues the Turkish Mosquees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Houses of prayer but the Christian Churches because of Images yea that renowned Church of S. Sophie it self he called always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 BAMOTH the name of the Idol-Temples in the Old Testament which we translate High-places This I note for an example of that proneness in Religions of a contrary Rite thus to distinguish as other things so their Places of worship by diversity of names though they communicate in the same common nature and use Thirdly That the Answer I have given to these objected passages is genuine I prove Because some of these Authors acknowledge elsewhere that Christians had Houses of Sacred worship in their time As namely Arnobius whose words were as pressing as any of the rest yet in the self-same Books acknowledges the Christian Oratories by the name of CONVENTICULA or Meeting-places by that name endeavouring I suppose to express the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The place is about the end of his fourth Book adversùs Gentes Quòd si haberet vos saith he aliqua vestris pro religionibus indignatio has potiùs literas he means the Poets absurd and blasphemous fictions and tales of their Gods hos exurere debuistis olim libros demoliri dissolvere Theatra haec potiùs in quibus infamiae numinum propudiosis quotidie publicantur in fabulis of this their scurrilous dishonouring of their Gods upon the Stage he had spoken much before Nam nostra quidem scripta cur ignibus meruerint
dari cur immaniter CONVENTICVLA dirui in quibus summus oratur Deus pax cunctis venia postulatur Magistratibus Exercitibus Regibus Familiaribus Inimicis adhuc vitam degentibus resolutis corporum vinctione c. He alludes unto the burning of the Books of Scripture and demolition of the Christians Oratories by Diocletian of which see Eusebius Lib. 8. c. 2. And know from hence when Arnobius wrote Nay Origen himself one of the first brought to depose against us if Rufinus his Translator deserve my credit will in his Homily upon the 9. chap. of Iosua testifie both for Churches and Altars among Christians in his time For thus he allegorizeth there the story of the Gibeonites whose lives Iosua and the Elders spared but gave them no better entertainment than to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Congregation and for the Altar of the Lord Sunt quidam in Ecclesia saith he credentes quidem habentes sidem in Deum acquiescentes in omnibus divinis praeceptis quÃque etiam erga servos Dei religiosi sunt servire eis cupiunt sed ad ornatum ECCLESIAE vel ministerium satis prompti paratÃque sunt in actibus verò suis conversatione propria obscoenitatibus vitiis involuti nec omnino deponentes veterem hominem cum actibus suis sed involuti vetustis vitiis obscoenitatibus suis siâ—ut isti i. Gabaonitae pannis calceamentis veteribus obtecti praeter hoc quòd in Deum credunt erga servos Dei vel ECCLESIAE cultum i. ornatum videntur esse devoti nihil adhibent emendationis vel innovationis in mores c. And a little after Veruntamen sciendum est quantum ex hujuscemodi figurarum adumbrationibus edocemur quòd si qui tales sunt in nobis quorum fides hoc tantummodo habet ut ad ECCLESIAM veniant inclinent caput suum sacerdotibus mark here a custom officia exhibeant servos Dei honorent ad ornatum quoque ALTARIS vel ECCLESIAE aliquid conserant non tamen adhibent studium ut etiam mores suos excolant actus emendent vitia deponant castitatem colant iracundiam mitigent avaritiam reprimant rapacitatem refraenent sciant sibi qui tales sunt qui emendare se nolunt sed in his usque in senectutem ultimam perseverant partem sortémque ab Iesu Domino cum Gabionitis esse tribuendam Thus Origen by his Interpreter And if any where Rufinus may be trusted sure he may in this forasmuch as in his Peroration in Epist. ad Romanos he hath given us his word that in his translation of this and the next Book he took not his wonted liberty to insert or alter any thing but simply expressed every thing as he found it Hear his words Illa saith he quae in Iesu Nave in Iudicum librum in 36 37 38. Psalm scripsimus simpliciter expressimus ut invenimus non multo cum labore transtulimus Vide locum Erasmi Censuram Lib. Origen Besides he that but considers the matter together with the brevity of this Homily cannot see a possibility how these passages can be an addition or supplement of the Translator's unless he made the whole Homily because the contents of them are the only argument thereof and being taken from it nothing would be remaining Lastly Because the fore-alledged words of Lactantius are so usually brought against us though they be nothing urgent and his time be altogether repugnant to any such inference yet absolutely to take away all scruple let us hear him also Instit. Lib. 5. c. 2. expresly giving evidence for us and that even by the name of Templum Ego saith he cum in Bithynia literas oratorias accitus docerem contigissét que eodem tempore ut Dei Templum everteretur duo exstiterunt ibidem qui jacenti atque objectae veritati the Christian verity nescio utrùm superbiùs an importunius insultârunt See the rest which follows This was when the Edict of Diocletian came forth for the demolishing of the Christian Churches And thus having removed that stumbling-stone which hath been the main inducement to the contrary opinion so prejudicial to those works of religious bounty and piety I hope my Proofs will find the freer passage with those of understanding and judgment to whose pious consideration I have devoted this my Discourse THE REVERENCE OF GODS HOUSE ECCLESIASTES 5. 1. Look to thy foot or feet when thou comest to the House of God and be more ready to obey than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they do evil SOLOMON whom God chose to build that sacred and glorious Temple to his Name it hath pleased his holy Spirit to make also our principal Instructor how we ought to demean our selves in such sacred places This appears as by that his solemn and famous Prayer made at the Dedication thereof so also by this Scripture which I have now begun to read the first seven verses of this Chapter if we will rightly understand them being wholly spent upon that argument and containing precepts and instructions fitted to the several duties of holy worship we are to perform both at our coming thither and whilest we remain there To unfold them all were too much for the shortness of the time allotted me May it please you therefore to vouchsafe me your Christian patience and charitable attention whilest I utter my thoughts upon the words I have now read For the better and more distinct explication whereof consider in them these two parts An Admonition and a Caution 1. An Admonition of reverent and awful demeanour when we come to God's House Look to thy foot or feet when thou comest to the House of God 2. A Caution not to prefer the secondary Service of God before the first and principal Be more ready to obey than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they do evil In the first or Admonition I will consider two things 1. The Place God's House 2. The Duty of those who come thither Look to thy feet Of these in order and first of the Place God's House SECTION I. THE House of God is the place set apart for his Worship and service and so hath peculiar Relation unto him wherewith being invested it becomes sacred and holy not only whilest Divine duties are performed therein as some erroneously affirm but as long as it is for such use namely according to the nature of other Sacred things which continue their state of separateness and sanctity so long as that relation they have unto God wherein this Sanctity consists is not quite abolished To erect and set apart such Places as these for the exercise of the Rites of Religion is derived from the Instinct of Nature and approved of God from the beginning It began not with that Tabernacle or ambulatory Temple which Moses caused to
be made by God's appointment at Mount Sinai but was much more ancient Noah built an Altar as soon as he came out of the Arkâ— Abraham Isaac and Iacob wheresoever they came to pitch their Tents erected Places for Divine worship that is Altars with their septs and enclosures without any special appointment from God Iacob in particular vowed a place for Divine worship by the name of God's House where he would pay the Tithes of all that God should give him Gen. 28. 19 c. Lo here a Church endowed Yea Moses himself Exod. 33. 7. before the Ark and that glorious Tabernacle were yet made pitched a Tabernacle for the same purpose without the Camp whither every one that sought the Lord was to go And all this was done tanquam recepti moris as a thing of custom and as mankind by Tradition had learned to accommodate the Worship of their God by appropriating some Place to that use Nature teaching them that the work was honoured and dignified by the peculiarness of the place appointed for the same and that if any work were so to be honoured there was nothing it more beseemed than the Worship and service of Almighty God the most peculiar and incommunicable act of all other Nay more than this It was believed in those elder times That that Country or Territory wherein no Place was set apart for the Worship of God was unhallowed and unclean Which I think I rightly gather from that Story in the Book of Iosua of the Altar built by Reuben Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh upon the bank of the River Iordan which Iosua and the Elders as their words intimate supposed they had done lest the land of their possession being by the River Iordan cut off from the land of Canaan where the Lord's Tabernacle was and so having no place therein consecrated to the worship of their God might otherwise be an unclean and unhallowed habitation Hear the words of Phinehas and the Princes sent to disswade them Iosua 22. 19. and judge whether they import not as I have said If the land say they of your possession be unclean then pass ye â—ver unto the land of the possession of the LORD where the LORD'S Tabernacle dwelleth and take possession amongst us but rebel not against the LORD nor against us in building you an Altar besides the Altar of the LORD your God Now concerning the condition and property of Places thus sanctified or hallowed what it is whence can we learn better than from that which the Lord spake unto Moses Exod. 20. immediately after he had pronounced the Decalogue from Mount Sinai where premising that they should not make with him gods of gold and gods of silver but that they should make himâ— an Altar of earth as namely their ambulatory state then permitted otherwise of stone and thereon sacrifice their burnt-offerings and peace-offerings he adds in all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee and bless thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where the remembrance or memorial of my Name shall be or Wheresoever that is which I have or shall appoint to be the remembrance or memorial of my Name and presence there I will come unto thee and bless thee Lo here a description of the Place set apart for Divine worship It is the Place where God records his Name and comes unto men to bless them Two things are here specified The Monument Record or Memorial of God's Name secondly His coming or meeting therewith men Of both let us enquire distinctly what they mean I know it would not be untrue to say in general That God's Name is recorded or remembred in that place upon which his Name is called or which is called by his Name as the Scripture speaks that is which is dedicate to his worship and service But there is some more special thing intended here namely the Memorial or Monument of God's Name is that token or Symbole whereby he testifieth his Covenant and commerce with men Now although the Arkâ— called the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony wherein lay the two Tables namely the Book or Articles of the Covenant and Manna the Bread of the Covenant were afterwards made for this purpose to be the standing Memorial of God's Name and Presence with his people yet cannot that be here either only or specially aimed at because when these words were spoken it had no being nor was there yet any commandment given concerning the making thereof Wherefore the Record here mentioned I understand with a more general reference to any Memorial whereby God's Covenant and commerce with men was testified such as were the Sacrifices immediately before spoken of and the seat of them the Altar which therefore may seem to be in some sort the more particularly here pointed unto For that these were Rites of remembrance whereby the Name of God was commemorated or recorded and his Covenant with men renewed and testified might be easily proved Whence it is that that which was burned upon the Altar is so often called the Memorial as in Leviticus the 2. 5. 6 and 24. chapters Accordingly the son of Sirach tells us chap. 45. 16. that Aaron was chosen out of all men living to offer Sacrifices to the Lord incense and a sweet savour for a Memorial to make reconciliation for his people Add also that Esay 66. 3. Qui recordatur thure quasi qui benedicat Idolo He that without true contrition and humiliation before the Lord recordeth or maketh remembrance with incense is as if he blessed an Idol But I must not stay too long upon this You will say What is all this to us now in the time of the Gospel I answer Yes For did not Christ ordain the holy Eucharist to be the Memorial of his Name in the New Testament This saith he is my Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do this for my Commemoration or in Memorial of me And what if I should affirm that Christ is as much present here as the Lord was upon the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims Why should not then the Place of this Memorial under the Gospel have some semblable sanctity to that where the Name of God was recorded in the Law And though we be not now tied to one only Place as those under the Law were and that God heareth the faithful prayers of his Servants wheresoever they are made unto him as also he did then yet should not the Places of his Memorial be promiscuous and common but set apart to that sacred purpose In a word All those sacred Memorials of the Iewish Temple are both comprehended and excelled in this One of Christians the Sacrifices Shew-bread and Ark of the Covenant Christ's Body and Bloud in the Eucharist being all these unto us in the New Testament agreeable to that of the Apostle Rom. 3. 25. God hath set forth Iesus Christ to be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through faith in
Paul says was written in the Book of life and the other Ignatius Clemens in his undoubted Epistle ad Corinthios a long time missing but now of late come again to light In this Epistle the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is three times used of the Christian Service Pag. 52. All those duties saith he which the Lord hath commanded us to do we ought to do them regularly and orderly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Oblations and divine Services to celebrate them on set and appointed times And a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They therefore that perform their Oblations on set and appointed times are acceptable to God and blessed for observing the Commandments of the Lord they offend not The other Ignatius in his Epistle ad Smyrnenses hath both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non licet saith he absque Episcopo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not lawful without the Bishop either to baptize or to celebrate the Sacrifice or to communicate Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he calls in a stricter sense the first part of this sacred and mystical Service to wit the Thanksgiving wherein the Bread and the Wine as I told you were offered unto God to agnize his Dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he calls the mystical Commemoration of Christ's Body and Bloud and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the receiving and participation of the same For know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are sometimes used for the whole Action and sometimes thus distinguished Of the genuineness of this Epistle the learned doubt not but if any one do I suppose they will grant that Theodoret had his genuine Epistles Let them hear then a passage which he in his third Dialogue cites out of the Epistles of Ignatius against some Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do not admit or allow of Eucharists and Oblations because they do not acknowledge the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Iesus Christ which suffered for our sins Here you see Oblations and Eucharists exegetically joyned together And so I think I have proved these terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have been in use in the Church in the latter part of the Apostles Age. But what if one of them namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were used sooner even in S. Paul's and S. Peter's time In the first Epistle of Peter chap. 2. 5. You are saith he speaking to the Body of the Church an holy Priesthood to offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritual Sacrifices to God by Iesus Christ. In the Epistle to the Heb. 13. 15. By him that is through Christ our Altar let us offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacrifice of praise to God continually Why should I not think S. Paul and S. Peter speak here of the solemn and publick Service of Christians wherein the Passion of Christ was commemorated I am sure the Fathers frequently call this sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacrifice of Praise And in some ancient Liturgies immediately before the Consecration the Church gives thanks unto God for chufing them to be an holy Priesthood to offer sacrifices unto him as it were alluding to S. Peter Thus you see first or last or both the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were no strangers to the Apostles Age. I will now make but one Quaere and answer it and so conclude this point Whether these words or names were used seeing they were used properly or improperly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the subject we speak of I answer briefly This Christian Service as we have defined it is an Oblation properly For wheresoever any thing is tendred or presented unto God there is truly and properly an Oblation be it spiritual or visible it matters not for Oblatio is the Genus and Irenaeus tells me here Non genus oblationum reprobatum est oblationes enim illic oblationes autem hîc sacrificia in populo sacrificia in Ecclesia sed species immutata est tantúm For Offerings in the general are not reprobated there were Offerings there viz. in the Old Testament there are also Offerings here viz. in the New Testament there were Sacrifices among the people that is the Iews there are Sacrifices also in the Church but the Specification only is changed But as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice according to its prime signification it signifies a Slaughter-offering as in Hebrew so in Greek of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 macto to slay as the Angel Acts 10. 13. says to S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peter kill and eat Now we in our Christian Service slay no offering but commemorate him only that was slain and offered upon the Cross Therefore our Service is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 improperly and Metaphorically But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be Synecdochically taken for an Offering in general as it is both in the New Testament and elsewhere then the Christian Sacrifice is as truly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. V. The Second Particular That the Christian Sacrifice is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer proved from Iustin Martyr Tertullian Clemens Alexand c. The Altar or Holy Table anciently the place of the publick Prayers of the Church Prayer Oblation and Sacrifice promiscuously used by the Fathers when they speak of the Christian Sacrifice The Conjunction of Prayer and the Eucharist argued from Acts 2. 42. and from Ignatius ad Ephes. The three parts of which the Christian Synaxis consisted NOW I come to the Second particular contained in my Definition To prove that the Christian Sacrifice according to the meaning of the ancient Church is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer My first Author shall be Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Iew where to the Evasion of the Iews labouring to bereave the Christians of this Text by saying it was meant of the Prayers which the dispersed Iews at that time offered unto God in all places where they lived among the Gentiles which Sacrifices though they wanted the material Rite yet were more acceptable unto God in regard of their sincerity than those prophaned ones at Ierusalem and not that here was meant any Sacrifice which the Gentiles should offer to the God of Israel to this Evasion Iustin replies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Prayers and Thanksgivings made by those that are worthy are the only Sacrifices that are perfect and acceptable unto God I do also affirm for these are the only Sacrifices which Christians have been taught they should perform If you ask where and how he tells you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that thankful remembrance of their food both dry and liquid wherein also is commemorated the Passion which the Son of God suffered by
What can be more express than this is Primasius is short but no less to the purpose Offerunt quidem saith he Sacerdotes nostri sed ad recordationem mortis ejus in 10. cap. ad Hebraeos Our Priests indeed offer but it is in remembrance of his death S. Augustine calls it Memoriale sacrificium a Sacrifice by way of remembrance in his Book against Faustus In a word The Sacrifice of Christians is nothing but that one Sacrifice of Christ once offered upon the Cross again and again commemorated Which is elegantly exprest by those words of S. Andrew recorded in the History of his Passion written by the Presbyters of Achaia where AEgeas the Proconsul requiring of him to sacrifice to Idols he is said to have answered thus Omnipotenti Deo qui unus verus est ego omni die sacrifico non thuris fumum nec tanrorum mugientium carnes nec hircorum sanguinem sed immaculatum Agnum quotidie in Altari crucis sacrificio cujus carnes postquam omnis populus credentium manducaverit ejus sanguinem biberit Agnus qui sacrificatus est integer perseverat vivus I sacrifice daily to Almighty God but what not the smoke of Frankincense nor the flesh of bellowing Bulls nor the bloud of Goats No but I offer daily the unspotted Lamb of God on the Altar of the Cross whose Flesh and Bloud though all the Faithful eat and drink of yet after all this notwithstanding the Lamb that was sacrificed remains entire and alive still This Riddle though AEgeas the Proconsul were not able to unsold I make no question but you are And here I conclude EZRA VI. X. That they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons THE words of the Decree of King Darius for the building and furnishing of the service of the Temple of God at Ierusalem That saith he which they have need of for the burnt-offerings of the God of heaven both young bullocks rams and lambs wheat salt wine and oyl let it be given them day by day without fail That they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of Heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons I have made choice of this Scripture to shew that Sacrifice was Species Orationis or a Rite of Supplication unto God Such a one namely wherein the Supplicant came not with naked Prayer but presented something unto his God whereby to find favour in his sight The nature and quality of the thing presented was Munus foederale a Federal Gift consisting of meat and drink in the tender whereof as a sinner agnized himself to be his God's vassal and servant so by acceptance of the same he was reconciled and restored to his Covenant by the atonement and forgiveness of his sin Forasmuch as according to the use and custom of Mankind to receive meat and drink from the hand of another was a sign of amity and friendship much more to make another partaker of his Table as the sinner was here of God's by eating of his Oblation hence those who came to make supplication unto the Divine Majesty whom they had offended were wont by this Rite to make way for their sute by removing the obstacle of his offence For what hope of speeding could there be whilest the party to whom we tendred our supplication should be at enmity with us when God might say What hast thou to do to take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee For the foundation of all Invocation is Remember thy Covenant and of Impetration the Remission of our sin For this cause therefore was Sacrifice used as Medium deprecandi Deum as a Rite of address unto God when we were to make prayer and supplication unto him yea or to bless or give thanks But this is not to my present purpose but the use for Prayer only which to have been thus addressed as I speak appears not only by the words of my Text That they may offer c. and pray c. but sundry other places of Scripture which I mean to rehearse As first by that so often inculcated of Abraham and Isaac that where they pitched down their Tents they built also an Altar and there called upon the Name of the Lord But an Altar was a place for Sacrifice Therefore Sacrifice must be a Rite whereby they called upon the Name of God The same appears by that speech of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 12. when Samuel reproving him for having offered a Burnt-offering I said saith he The Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the Lord I forced my self therefore and offered a Burnt-offering Therefore to offer a Burnt-offering was to make Supplication It is yet more plain out of 1 Sam. 7. 8. The Children of Israel said to Samuel Cease not or be not silent to cry unto the Lord our God for us that he will save us out of the hands of the Philistines And Samuel saith the Text v. 9. took a sucking Lamb and offered it for a Burnt-offering unto the Lord and Samuel cryed unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him It is further proved by that in the 116. Psalm v. 13. I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord For this Cup of Salvation is the Libamen or Drink-offering annexed and poured upon the Sacrifice at what time they used as here you see to call upon the Name of the Lord. 'T is a Synechdoche where the part is put for the whole Also to take is here to offer by that Figure quâ ex Antecedente intelligitur Consequens The same is implied by that of Micah 6. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the most High Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old And by that Antithesis Prov. 15. 8. The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the Prayer of the upright is his delight For here the words of Sacrifice and Prayer are taken the one for the other it being all one as if it had been said for Prayer of the upright the Sacrifice of the upright or for Sacrifice of the wicked the Prayer of the wicked Hence it follows That Sacrifice was Species Orationis or a Rite of Supplication unto God The like may be inferred out of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple and the Lord's answer to the same For in that dedicatory prayer is no mention at all of Sacrifice to be there offered but only that the Lord would be pleased to hear from heaven the Prayers of such and such as should be made in that Place or towards it Nevertheless when God appeared to Solomon in the night he saith unto him I have heard thy Prayer and have chosen this
it more than the jealousie of God can endure as is manifest by his so strict prohibition and frequent detestation thereof But as for the two other ways of using a creature in the act of God's worship by way of Instrument only or Local circumstance neither of them is impious or unlawful First Not to use it therein as or by way of an Instrument whereby it is performed For then it would be unlawful to use a Table or a Chalice in the celebration of the holy Eucharist or the like to use a Book when we pray sing or give thanks unto God to praise him with Instruments of Musick as David ordained to use a Book to swear upon when we take an oath for to swear is as much an Act or Religious worship and as much appropriated unto God in Scripture as any other worship due unto him Wherefore the Rites used therein as to turn toward lay our hands upon and kiss the Book of the holy Gospels as the Tables of the new Covenant of God with men in Christ if they be well examined will afford much light toward the decision of this Question of posture in our adoration of God in the Church especially if it be considered that the very same Rites for the same purpose have been anciently used upon an Altar But this by the way Secondly Neither is it impious or unlawful in God's worship to use a creature in way of a Local circumstance thereof namely as that whereby the place of our worship is determined for then it would be unlawful to use Temples or Churches to worship God in or to have any designed place there accommodated for the Priest to minister or officiate at But this our practice shews we esteem and acknowledge lawful Now if it be lawful to make use of a creature for the Vbi or place where of the worship we give unto God why not as well for the place WHICH-WARD or which-way we worship him VBI QVO Where and Which-way being both alike differences and relations of Place and the worship of God no more communicated thereby with the Creature whereby we determine the one than whereby we determine the other Indeed the Creature by this means is honoured and dignified but that honour the Creature receiveth lies only in this in being chosen and preferred before any other for such sacred use Which honour I trow is of no other or higher nature than what any Sacred thing according to the fitness and propriety it hath may be respected with Moreover if it should not be lawful in Divine worship to direct our posture towards a Creature and that too in great regard of some special relation it hath to God-ward it would be unlawful to set our faces and lift up our hands and eyes to Heaven in our prayers and invocations tendered unto the Divine Majesty which I know not any that makes scruple of And yet if the determination of our posture only by a creature in Divine worship be Idolatry why might we not justly scruple lest this posture of our hands and faces to Heaven-ward at such a time might make us guilty of worshipping the Host of Heaven that is the Sun Moon Starrs and Planets as the Gentiles and Israelitish Idolaters did But for our warrant herein our Blessed Saviour in that Prayer he hath left unto his Church hath taught us to say Our Father which art in heaven For without doubt if we may without impiety determine the Divine presence thus in our speech we may also yea fit I think we should do the like at the same time with our posture which is no more but to express that visibly by our gesture which we utter vocally wâ—th our mouths For not that which is before us only in our posture but that which is the terminus of our Act is the Object of our Worship Nor to determine our posture only by a creature but to communicate the Worship we give unto God therewith is that which the Divine Law forbiddeth And that this difference must be admitted is evinced by the severe and peremptory prohibition of the one and the frequent examples of the other practised by holy men in Scripture Besides that the admission thereof openeth the true way how to answer our adversaries when they alledge the aforementioned places of Scripture in patronage of their Idolatrous worship Now then to apply all this to the Hypothesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the HOLY TABLE or ALTAR for the difference is but verbal in our Christian Churches answers unto the Ark or Mercy-seat in the Iewish Temple being Solium Christi and in the language of Antiquity the Christian Sanctum Sanctorum where the Book of the Gospels by ancient custom laid thereon parallels the two Tables the holy Eucharist the golden Pot of Manna that is the sacred Monuments and Symbols of the new Covenant those of the old Why may not then a like respect be had to it in the posture of our Christian adoration which the Iews in their worship had not only to the Ark of the Testimony but to the Altars which stood before it yea even to the Temple it self when they could not come to perform their devotions therein and that too as I have already observed when that Ark which Moses made by Godâ—s appointment with those two sacred Symbols the two Tables and Pot of Manna were no more there as in the Second Temple they were not but only the place ordained for them or at the most if that some imitative Ark only with a Roll of the Law put therein such as the Iews at this day are known to have in their Synagogues and to direct their posture toward it when they worship as formerly they did to that in the Temple See Buxtorf Synagog Iudaic. cap. 5. Lastly all Nations and Religions have been wont to use some reverential gesture when they enter into their Temples And our Blessed Saviour in the Gospel would not have his Disciples to enter into a man's house without some salutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when ye enter into an house salute it Why should we not think it to be a part of Religious manners to do as much when we come into the house of God Now of all Gestures Adoration or bowing of the Body seems to be the most comely and ready for that purpose and of all postures in the doing thereof and some posture there must needs be that which is directed towards that which is the most sacred and of most preeminent relation to God in the Church that namely where he is commemorated and the blessed Symbols of his Body and Bloud reached forth unto us who is our Propitiatory through faith in his Bloud and by whom alone and whose Sacrifice we have access unto his Father the HOLY TABLE or ALTAR What place then so fit to be both in our eye and mind when we make our addresses
the Ground and Rule of it III. If the Order Method and Connexion of the Visions be framed and grounded upon supposed Interpretation then must all Proofs out of that Book needs be founded upon begged principles and humane conjectures But on the contrary if the Order be first fixed and setled out of the indubitate Characters of the letter of the Text and afterward the Interpretation guided framed and directed by that Order then will the variety of Expositions be drawn into a very narrow compass and Proofs taken from this Book be evident and infallible and able to convince the Gain-sayers IV. This is that Method which I endeavoured to represent in my Scheme and demonstrate in the Tractate annexed In which therefore you shall find all Interpretation set apart and as it were disclaimed and all the Reasons founded upon the bare letter of the Text taking no notice at all of any Event or Interpretation whatsoever but leaving all at full liberty only reserved that the Order and Synchronism which I represent out of the Text be no way violated thereby and so let the Interpretation be what it may be V. I dare not be confident that this Order and Series which I have deduced and represented is in no part thereof faulty and swerving howsoever for the main I am well perswaded and think that if not this yet something like it ought to be thought on But he that shall espy the errors of mine I desire him to shew me them by such Arguments only as my self make my grounds namely from the Characters which the letter of the Text affordeth and not from Interpretation because Interpretation as I said is to be fitted unto the Order and not the Order to follow it VI. But for example sake yield me a-while that this which I have exhibited is indeed the true Representation of the Order and Connexion of the Apocalyptical Visions See then how admirable the use thereof will be for Interpretation For if we can once be assured of the meaning of some one principal Vision how evident then and ruled will the way be from it to find and discover the rest Will it not be like a Mariner's Card to guide our way in this mystical Sea For example Are we assured what the Prophecy of the Whore of Babylon means For here here I say we must first pitch and therefore mark it the Angel himself of purpose expounds this Vision only of all the Visions this Book or Scheme representeth Do we know then what this meaneth If we do then behold the Scheme and see there what will follow viz. 1. That all the Visions contemporating with Babylon's times must be expounded of such things only as belong to the times of Babylon's whoring 2. All Visions preceding must be interpreted of things foregoing it 3. All Visions following of things to be after it c. Verbum intelligenti sat est What a number of ambiguities uncertainties and varieties of interpretation will this cut off and strike dead at a blow It would be as fetters and cords to hold in yea as a ginn to intangle our desultorious and shifting Interpreters especially our Adversaries who do súsque déque miscere omnia The Consideration of these things will make the Apocalypse to appear for the frame and quality thereof the admirablest Prophecy in Scripture And as much as the divine Revelation of Spiritual Truths in the New Testament surpasses the Old for evidence and clearness so the Prophetical part of the New for the fabrick and sureness of the grounds for Interpretation exceeds all the Prophecies of the Old CHAP. II. Particular Considerations for the understanding of the Scheme c. I. OMitting the Vision of The seven Churches which is not generally granted to be a Prophecy The whole Prophetical part of the Apocalypse following consists of Two main Prophecies both of them beginning their race at the same Epocha or Terminus à quo of time and concluding together likewise at the same Goal or Terminus ad quem that is they begin ab iisdem carceribus as we speak and run ad candem metam The first of these is Prophetia Sigillorum The Prophecy of the Seals reaching from the 4. Chap. until almost the end of the 10. which is represented in the upper-half of the Scheme The second is Prophetia Libri The Book-Prophecy beginning at the 8. verse of the 10. Chap. and reaching to the end of the Book which is represented in the lower or under-half of the Scheme So that the Book of The Revelation might fitly have been divided into two Tomes and the second Tome to have begun at the 8. verse of the 10. Chap. at these words And the voice which I heard from Heaven namely chap. 4. 1. spake unto me again i. e. begun anew and said Take the Book And I took the Book And he said unto me Thou must prophesie again that is begin a new Prophecy ab ovo Consider it Certainly such a division would be most easie for interpretation if also every several Vision in each Tome was cast into a several Chapter or Section And it cannot be denied but the division of Chapters especially in the New Testament being but of humane institution is sometimes so ill ordered that it doth much prejudice the Reader in understanding the meaning of the Holy Ghost II. That the Times of the Inner Court begin with the Beginning of the Seals Now if this Second or Book-Prophecy do begin ab ovo from the same Beginning of time whence the Seals began and without doubt the Seals begin at the Beginning of the Apocalyptical time and runs over anew those times which the Seals before traced till it concludes with them will not then this reasoning be very reasonable viz. If the whole Prophecy of the Book comprehends the whole time of the Prophecy of the Seals then the Beginning of the Prophecy of the Book begins at the Beginning of the Times of the Seals But the Beginning of the Book-Prophecy in the Text is The surveying of the two Courts of the Temple the first Court measured the second uncapable of measure One of these two then must begin at the Beginning where the Seals began But the Second Court cannot for it synchroniseth with the Times of the Beast Ergo the Former must that is The Inward Court within which the Temple it self stood being capable of the Divine measure must note some condition of things and times which forewent and preceded the Rising of the Beast and the Treading down of the Second and Outward Court by the Gentiles And is there not as much need and use of a measure to distinguish of the different States of the Visible Church in the diverse Times and Ages thereof as of the differing Members of one and the same time Consider it And this granted will open a door for discovery of far more admirable matter than doth the confounding of both Courts into one Time I confess I was
have pitched upon 365 because then upon Iulian's death the Dragon was dethroned again from the Imperial rule never to recover it any more howsoever the Draconical or Ethnick worship which Iulian had restored was publickly exercised by allowance of the succeeding Emperors though Christians and not put down for many years after Wherefore the Event hath made manifest that God would none of this Epocha else should we have seen some tokens of it ere this time The next is Anno 376. from whence the 42 months would expire 1636. This hath more probability than any other he hath named because the year 376 was the beginning of the Reign of the Emperor Gratian who first of all the Christian Emperors renounced the great Pontificality long annexed to the Imperial dignity and refused the Pontifical Stole when it was tendred him according to the custom by the Collegium Pontificum saying it was unlawful for a Christian whereas all the former Christian Emperors mirabile dictu had admitted it being installed and instyled still Pontifices Maximi and according to that office ordered all business concerning the Ethnick ceremonies by their deputies So long therefore as the Emperours were still the Dragon's Pontifices he had yet some title at least some titular dignity in the Roman Sovereignty and the losing thereof may be reckoned a remarkable step of his dismounting and downfall and so no marvel if he might then be brought to go seek out some other Pontifex to undertake his service But the doubt will be here whether it were this year wherein Gratian rejected the Pontificality or some other for the year is not yet set down in Story only it may most probably be thought to be the first year of his Reign à morte Patris for he was created Augustus in his Father's life-time Secondly In the same year 376 the Goths entred the Empire and so the foundation was laid also of the Political downfal of the same But what Alstedius his Reasons be to pitch upon that Epocha I know not he seems for this and the rest of his Chronology to rely upon Astrological grounds from the great Conjunction But though I believe these rarer Conjunctions may fit and dispose the Bodies of men for some such work as God will do by them yet I think them not sufficient to determine times especially seeing they have no influence upon Polities and States directly and quà talia but only make some extraordinary impressions upon the Bodies of particular men born under them which being many when they come to years may cause a predominancy of some singular disposition in their lives fit for such alterations and changes as God shall direct and lead them to His third Epocha is 382. which would bring out the 42 months Anno 1642. Of this I see no reason he gives but Astrological the insufficiency whereof for that purpose I have already shewed He might with greater probability have pitched upon 394. when was that famous battel and victory of Theodosius against Eugenius and Arbogastes coming with a mighty Army to restore Ethnicisme which Theodosius had utterly abolished and after which Ethnicisme never made head any more in the Empire This therefore might be reckoned for another remarkable moment of the Dragon's downfal Or he might have pitched upon the year 410. the time when Alaricus took and sacked Rome the Lady of the world a most remarkable moment of the Political ruin of the Caesarean Sovereignty The former of these Epocha's would bring out the 42 months Anno 1654. the latter 1670. But all these things depend upon the Divine will In cujus manu sunt tempora opportunitates His last Epocha is 433. from which the 42 months would expire Anno 1693. For this Epocha of his I find no reason but à posteriori drawn from the expiring of Daniel's numbers Dan. 12. 11 12. which he addeth one upon the head of another and so makes 2625 to the End of the World which reckoned from the destruction of Ierusalem will come out Anno Christi 2694. from which he takes away for the Regnum Sanctorum 1000 years so there remain but 1694 at which time the 42 moneths of Antichrist must be finished because then the 1000 years of Christ's Reign begin Now if the 42 months end then they began about 433. This is the sum of that Computation But for my par◠I think the meaning of those dayes in Daniel to be to another purpose then to design the End of the World Secondly That they are not to be reckoned one upon the head of another but both from one and the same beginning Thirdly That their Epocha is not the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus but that Prophanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes which the Angel but newly mentioned in the same Vision whereas that of the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus was in a Vision some years before and not like to be referred hereunto and that which was so newly mentioned iisdem verbis in the same Vision overslipped Yet I am not of Iunius his mind neither who would have them taken for bare days and determinated in the persecution of Antiochus I suppose them Prophetical days that is so many years and their times already expired But I have no time to enter into this dispute The 42 months extend to the burning and sacking of Babylon not to the extinguishing of Antichrist which shall be some while after as appears Revel 19. The reason of the limitation concealed If I seem to incline to some moments rather than other yet would I still be construed according to my first protestation against precise determination of Years in this business I. M. CHAP. XI A brief Discourse of the Thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20. With some reflexions upon Eusebius and S. Hierom. TOuching the Question of the Thousand years you may see I have demonstrated them to follow the Times of the Beast and of the false-Prophet and consequently the Times of Antichrist And if the Apocalypse be Canonical Scripture it must needs be granted there is such a time to come or we must deny either Rome which now is to be Babylon◠or the Beast to be Antichrist or Antichristendom which those who opposed the ancient Chiliasts found so necessary as forced them having no other way to avoid their Adversaries directly to deny the Apocalypse to be Scripture nor was it re-admitted till they thought they had found some commodious interpretation of the 1000 years And yet the Apocalypse hath more Humane not to speak of Divine authority than any other Book of the New Testament besides even from the time it was first delivered But we see what the zeal of opposition can do This Dogma of the 1000 years Regnum was the General opinion of all Orthodox Christians in the Age immediately following the Apostles if Iustin Martyr say true and none known to deny it then but Hereticks which denied the Resurrection and held that
could such a one lead but Gentiles But that Messiah himself should command over an Army of Idolaters this needed a special intimation And surely the Roman Army though an Army of Abominations was in this service the Army of Messiah So the Parable aiming at this Prophecy tells us Matth. 22. 7. When the King heard how spitefully they entreated his Messengers who came to tell them the Wedding whereunto they had been bidden was ready He was wroth saith the Text and sent forth HIS Armies and destroyed those Murtherers and burnt up their City Whence it is that the coming of this desolating Army of the Romans is called the coming of Christ Iames 5. Weep and houl ye rich men he writeth to Iews for the miseries that shall come upon you for you have heaped up goods for the Last days that is according to Oecumenius when the End of your State is a coming and the Romans spoil you of all which is expressed in the seventh verse by Christ's coming Be ye patient saith he until the coming of the Lord he speaks to the believing Iews whom the rest persecuted and in the next Stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh He meaneth saith Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the expedition of the Romans and their carrying away the Iews captives into all Nations So he takes that of Iohn chap. 21. 22. If I will that he stay till I come that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till the Destruction of Ierusalem and proves that this Coming of Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destruction of Ierusalem by that of Malachi Chap. 3. 1 2. Behold the Lord shall come and who shall abide the day of his coming And thus would I understand that Heb. 10. 37. For yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry Messiah therefore himself seems to be that Desolater here meant who should command over an Army of Abominations when he came to destroy the City and the Sanctuary Thus it appears our Saviour's citation in the Gospel is not of the very words of Daniel in this passage but of the sense only summarily expressed and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Abomination or Abominable Army over which he should be who should make desolation As for the Seventy or whosoever else for S. Hierome doubts translated this Book if their Translation here were originally as we now have it and not translated thither out of our Saviour's words in the Gospel they seem to have accommodated the place though of unlike construction and circumstance of sense unto two other places Chap. 11. 31. Chap. 12. 11. where some such kind of Abomination is mentioned and likewise the participles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in all three of them not well understanding what subject these Participles included they contented themselves only to express by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a general relation of desolation in the abstract which might be diversly interpretable otherwise it is not possible by any alteration of the points to express their Translation verbatim out of this place unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were in statu constructo as it is not And until the final time even that which is determined it shall continue upon the desolate Here I have chosen to translate the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continue as the Targum renders it Ier. c. 7. 20. c. 42. 18. and the Vulgar here perseverabit as a Metaphorical signification taken from a continued pouring of water It is the Feminine Gender and therefore to be referred to a Feminine supposâ—um which I take to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ala. This wing of Abominations that is metonymicè the Desolation wrought by it or forein possession brought in by it should continue upon the Desolate until the final time which was determined should be accomplished Or those Gentile people of the Roman Empire by whom Ierusalem was destroyed should continue their dominion and possession either of the place or desolate inhabitants once thereof until that final time be accomplished Whether this or that sutes best the meaning in S. Luke's language is thus expressed The Iews shall be carried captive over all Nations and Ierusalem troden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled that is as was said before until the Monarchies of the Gentiles should be finished For these times of the Gentiles are that last period of the Fourth Kingdom prophesied of a Time Times and half a Time at the end whereof the Angel swears unto Daniel chap. 12. 7. That God should accomplish to scatter the power of the Holy people This is that Fulness of the Gentiles which being come S. Paul tells us The Deliverer shall come out of Sion and all Israel shall be saved And the Angel in Apoc. 10. 6. renews the same oath to S. Iohn which he sware before to Daniel That when these Times N. B. should end and be no longer the mystery of God should be finished as he had declared to his servants the Prophets Amen APPENDIX ALthough I think that preciseness of days is not to be much stood upon when the Events and their Times do in the whole answer to Prediction yet have I been so curious as to enquire whether the Desolation of the City and Sanctuary to be in the middle of the Seventieth Week were fulfilled to a very day or not And as I think I have so found it very near if not altogether For Anno Iudaico 3344. AErae mundi Scaligerianae 3533. the year the Temple was finished Neomenia Tisri according to the Iews Calendar fell upon the 9 of September Calendarii Iuliani Feriâ 1. Cyclo Solis 12. Literâ Dominic G. Ergò Neomenia Adar was Feb. 4. Fer. 2. Cyclo Solis 13. Literâ Dominicali F. So the 3 of Adar the day whereon the Temple was finished Ezra 6. 15. will be the 6 of February From whence to the 8 of August whereon the Temple was fired and two days after consumed are exclusive 182 days that is half a year adunguem But this year according to the Iudaical Calendar was Annus Embolimaeus and so had two Adars which of them the Scripture meaneth is doubtful But the Neomenia of the second Adar was March 5. Feria 4. So the 3 day of this Adar was the 7. of March From whence to the 8. of September the day whereon the City was fired are exclusive 184 days which is a day or two too much But it is more than probable that the Iewish Calendar was not in Darius his time so exact nor the Moon 's motion so well known but the New Moon might sometimes anticipate the beginning of their Months a day or two Howsoever those who begin their reckoning from the 2 d year of Darius as Scaliger doth cannot from the 24 th day of the 6 th
time and gives me no leisure to perfect that whereby I might perhaps prevent a great part of the Objections which now are made Thus hoping you will accept this tumultuary Answer I rest commending your Studies and endeavours to the Divine Blessing Christ's Colledge Iune 17. 1629. Your loving Friend Ioseph Mede EPISTLE VII Mr. Hayn's Second Letter to Mr. Mede about several Prophetical passages in Daniel and the Revelation To the First THESIS BEfore Christ's time all the East as Tacitus saith expected a King to rule over all the world whence could this be but from the expectation of the Iews of the Kingdom which was to spread over all the world after the ruine of the fourth Beast in Daniel and that they now saw the divided Kingdom of the Greeks after Antiochus Epiphanes his time decaying and likely to be extinguished And in Christ's time the faithful the rest were blind guides not to be followed believing Christ and the Apostles preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God against which Hell gates should not prevail must necessarily conceive that the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel was at the last cast and therefore understand the Fourth Kingdom to be the parted Greeks lately expiring in Cleopatra her Brother Ptolemy or others and not the Roman still flourishing and not likely yet to fall For the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel was to fall before the setting up of the everlasting Kingdom of Christ. And if in Christ's time the faithful did conceive thus of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel then succeeding Ages to those Primitive times so long as they retained a right judgment were of the same mind The Iews in after-times went about to perswade that the Romans calling them Edom also were the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel because they might be thought to hold aright that Messias was not yet come who should be the Stone falling on the toes of the Fourth Kingdom Eusebius and some others have fallen into this trap set by Iews Seeing it is a course to harden Iews against the true Messias already come we shall do well to avoid it If you demand Why then did not Christ and the Apostles use this Argument to prove him the true Messias In effect they did They preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand the coming whereof implies the Fall of the Fourth Kingdom and that was then ocular and to be understood of the Successors of Antiochus falling not of the Romans flourishing And seeing that in the preaching of Christ's Kingdom it was to be taught that his Kingdom was not of this world at which point the Iews stumbled Christ's main Argument was The works which I do they testifie of me To the Second THESIS You affirm that the Roman Kingdom was revealed to Daniel in imagine confusa but explicated to Iohn by specification of the Fates and the order rerum gerundarum This cannot stand good For the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel is more particularly and distinctly set down then any of the other Three And of the other Three be not revealed in imagine confusa but fully enough for the specification of their Fates and the order of their acts then much more the Fourth Kingdom which is far more amply in types and explication set out in Daniel Then secondly It cannot be said to be set down in imagine confusa for it is orderly and in special manner handled First for the Original It rises out of the Sea Then for the power It is strong as iron able to break in pieces and subdue all Dan. 2. 40. It is fearful very strong and hath ten horns It hath iron teeth and nails of brass In conclusion It hath one little horn that pulls away three of the former ten It hath ten Kings and one unlike the rest It in the end shall be partly strong as Iron partly weak as Clay For the stirs it should make and the persecution brought on the Church thereby It subdued and did break in pieces all things as Iron bruiseth and breaketh all Dan. 2. 40. It devours and breaks in pieces and stamps the residue under feet Dan. 7. 7. As the ten horns do mischief so especially the little horn which made war with the Saints and prevailed against them and consumed them It waxed great even to the host of heaven and cast some of the host and the stars to the ground and stamped on them Chap. 8. 10. It thought to alter times and laws Chap. 7. 25. Then also as you hold in your Explication of Dan. 11. ver 36. and after the Roman Kingdom is there prophesâ—ed of that he should conquer Macedon and every King and Nation should persecute mock and crucifie Christ and persecute Christians till Constantine's times Then the Pope should arise worshipping Daemonia and countenancing single life shall not regard any God but magnify himself above all In the Seat and Temple of God should worship Mahuzzims with gold and with silver and precious stones and distribute the earth among his Mahuzzims deal with Saracens and Turks enter into Palaestine c. Chap. 11. Then for the blasphemy of this Kingdom mention is made of the mouth speaking presumptuous things Chap. 7. 8. speaking against the most High Verse 25. and speaking marvellous things against the God of Gods Chap. 11. 36. The Fall also of this Kingdom is plainly expressed Chap. 2. 34 45. Chap. 7. 11 26. by being broken in pieces and blown as chaffe by being destroyed and given to the fire by perishing unto the end Lastly the time of this Fourth Kingdom 's domineering or at least of the chief violence of it is expressed A times time and half a time answerable to the time of the woman's keeping from the Serpent Apoc. 12. 14. Then the time of taking away the daily sacrifice continues 2300. days Thus it is evident how particularly Daniel hath laid open the Original the Acts the Sufferings and Fall of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel And yet I have not brought all particulars Hence it is manifest that this cannot be a general decyphering of the Roman Kingdom but a particular description of some other Kingdom which fell before Christ's time Here now if you shall object that the Beast Dan. 7. doth shew the very same kingdom that is set out Apoc. 13. because in Original and Power and Persecution and Fall and Time it so much agrees with the same I answer That God is unchangeable and inflicts punishments alike on sinners alike and expresses after-matters by words used in narrations of former matters of like nature which much helps our weakness for understanding of these depths And therefore the Apocalyps is as it were made up with the Allusions Metaphors and Formulae loquendi of the Books of the Old Testament yet do not almost all the Visions of the Apocalyps as one unjustly judges handle imprimis Res Iudaeorum but Res Christianorum in the words of former Prophets So we may express a matter that Tully never
and their Lord should reign for ever See the place and consider it This opinion is here and there also dispersed in the Chaldee Paraphrase and in the Talmud as of ancient Tradition and is the opinion of the Iews at this day who as they look not for the Kingdom of their Messiah until Dies Iudicii magni so they expect that their forefathers at least such as were just and holy should rise at the beginning of the same and reign in the land of Israel with their off-spring under Messiah I can hardly believe that all this smoke of Tradition could arise but from some fire of Truth anciently made known unto them Besides why should the holy Ghost in this point speak so like them unless he would induce us mutatis mutandis to mean with them In fine the Second and Universal Resurrection with the State of the Saints after it now so clearly revealed in Christianity seems to have been less known to the ancient Church of the Iews than the First and the State to accompany it Lastly This was the Opinion of the whole Orthodox Christian Church in the Age immediately following the death of S. Iohn when yet Polycarp and many of the Apostles Disciples were living as Iustin Martyr expresly affirmeth whose passage to that purpose when I return again to Cambridge I will send you illustrated with some Notes and the reading in one place restored from a corruption crept thereinto by fraud or otherwise A testimony absolute without all comparison to perswade such as rely upon Authority and Antiquity It is to be admired that an Opinion once so generally received in the Church should ever have been cried down and buried But those Times which extinguished this brought other Alterations into the Church besides this Et quidem sic fieri oportuit I will say something more observed perhaps by few of those which have knowledge enough of the rest namely That this Opinion of the First Resurrection was the true ground and mother of prayers for the dead so anciently received in the Church which were then conceived after this manner Vt partem haberent in Resurrectione prima See Tertullian who first mentions them The reason was because this having part in Resurrectione prima was not to be common to all but to be a priviledge of some namely of Martyrs and Confessors equipollent to them if God so would accept them Moreover the belief of this Prerogative of Martyrs in Resurrectione prima was that which made the Christians of those times so joyously desirous of Martyrdom These things will perhaps seem strange but they will be found true if duly examined Thus I have discovered my opinion of the thing which I suppose the Scripture hath revealed shall be But de modo how it shall be I would willingly abstain from determining We must be content to be ignorant of the manner of things which for the matter we are bound to believe Too much adventuring here without a sure guide may be dangerous and breed intolerable fancies as it did among some in those ancient times which occasioned as may seem the death and burial of the main Opinion it self so generally at first believed Yet thus much I conceive the Text seems to imply That these Saints of the First Resurrection should reign here on earth in the New Ierusalem in a state of beatitude and glory partaking of Divine presence and Vision of Christ their King as it were in an Heaven upon earth or new Paradise immutable unchangeable c. Secondly That for the better understanding of this Mysterie we must distinguish between the State of the New Ierusalem and State of the Nations which shall walk in the light thereof they shall not be both one but much differing Therefore what is spoken particularly of the New Ierusalem must not be applied to the whole Church which then shall be New Ierusalem is not the whole Church but the Metropolis thereof and of the New world The State of the Nations which shall walk in her light though happy and glorious yet shall be changeable as appears by the commotio◠of the Nations seduced at the end of the Thousand years But the State of those wh◠dwell in the New Ierusalem shall be extra omnem mutationis aleam Blessed are thos◠who have part in the First Resurrection for on them the Second Death hath no power I differ therefore from Piscator and agree with Alstedius That the Saints of th◠First Resurrection should reign on Earth during the Millennium and not in Heaven I differ from both in that I make this State of the Church to belong to Secundus Adventus Christi or Dies Iudicii Magni when Christ shall appear in the clouds of Heaven to destroy all the professed enemies of his Church and Kingdom and deliver the creature from that bondage of corruption brought upon it for the sin of man Whereas they make it to precede the Day of Iudgment and Second coming Though this Notion may seem to make but little alteration of the thing believed yet it is of no small moment to facilitate the understanding of Scripture and puts upon the thing it self another nature than is conceived by those who apprehend it otherwise In a word Ours conceive this State to be ante Diem Iudicii Others though wrongfully suppose the ancient Chiliasts to have held it to be post Diem Iudicii But the truth is it is neither before nor after but ipsa Dies Iudicii ipsum tempus Secundae apparitionis Christi And it is to be remembred here that the Iews who gave this time the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment and from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took it never understood thereby but a Time of many years continuance yea some mirabile dictu of a thousand years and the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Day of Iudgment is more frequent in their Writings than in the New Testament it self It is mentioned I know not how many times in the Chaldee Paraphrase of that little Book of Ecclesiastes The word Day is in the Hebrew notion used ordinarily for tempus yea longissimum as in the Prophets for the seventy years Captivity for the time of their great and long Captivity for the time of their pilgrimage in the wilderness Psal. 95. according to the LXX and S. Pauls translation Hebr. 3. The day of temptation in the wilderness when your Fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works forty years See the thirteenth verse of that chapter where a Day includes every Day So should Day be taken in the Lord's Prayer for the time of this our life Compare it with S. Luke whose words are Give us every day our daily bread See the longest day of all days in the last words of S. Peter's last Epistle in the Greek and Latin for our English obscures it with a general expression It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies
rest of the Beasts together with the fourth Beast and so not to admit of such a distance Let others judge Thirdly But I will not conceal that I have suspected there might possibly be a third Interpretation farâ—d â—â—ering from them both and which would make the Vision fully to agree with the Angel's interpretation But the words then must be construed much otherwise than they use to be viz. Daniel in the former verse mentioning precisely the Body of the Beast to be given to the flames it should follow thus And as the Body was burned and destroyed so the rest of the Beast viz. the tâ—n Horns and ruffling Horn had their dominion at the same time the Body was burned taken away and prolongation of life was given them for a season and time viz. until I saw one like to the Son of man coming in the clouds c. that is they reigned till the Son of man came in the clouds c. The reason why I thought of this Interpretation is because the word which we traâ—slate here plurally is as it is pointed in the Original of the singular number namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas if it were the plural it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that say the Chaldee Grammarians is the difference between the singular and the plural Emphatick that the one hath Scheva â— in the penultima the other hath Camets â— And so we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Scheva in this Chapter singularly Beast twice in the following verses of this Chapter viz. verse 19 23. The reason which moved the Interpreters to translate it here plurally was because the Affixes following are all plural their dominion their lives But this may be because that remainder of the Beast under the Horns consisted of many Kingdoms and in that respect the dominion and duration thereof is expressed with plural Affixes as of many March 31. Yours Ioseph Mede Post-script My paper streightens me and my time and I have been a 3. or 4. times troubled while I was writing this last way of Interpretation which made me so blurr and blot and scarce know what I did I should else have expressed my self more plainly and fully EPISTLE XXV A more distinct and perspicuous expression of the last of those three ways to interpret that twelfth verse of Dan. 7. I Confess my skill in the Chaldee is no more but Grammatical yet thus much a little smattering in Grammar could teach me and so made me seek in what sense it might be translated singularly notwithstanding the plural Affixes following it and what this rest or remainder of the Beast if it be so turned might be First I observed that in the destruction of the Fourth Beast immediately before mentioned the Body of the Beast was precisely and particularly named whereby I began to conceive the Remainder here spoken of might be the Beast's Horns that is the eyed and mouthed Horn with that Decarchy of Horns subject to him which the Holy Ghost would tell us was destroyed at the same time and together with the Body of the Beast And so the Text to be construed thus The Body of the Beast was destroyed and given to the burning flame And the rest of the Beast also viz. the Horns had their dominion taken away after that a continuance of life had been given them for a season and a time Thus interpreted it would answer to that part of the Angel's interpretation verse 25. which saith that the State of the Beast under the wicked Horn's dominion should last a time and times and half a time whereunto otherwise there will be nothing answering in the Vision Secondly The Kingdom of the Son of man immediately following the expiration of this season and time in the Vision would answer to that in the Interpretation verse 22. The Horn prevailed against the Saints until the Ancient of days came and the Saints possessed the Kingdom Thirdly It is certain that the Session of Iudgment described in the Vision sate to destroy the wicked Horn for so saith the Angel verse 26. But the Iudgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion And Daniel himself in the Vision exspected to see that in special for as soon as the Bench was set and the Books were opened verse 10. I beheld then saith he verse 11. because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake viz. he looked what would become of the Horn. Something then should seem to follow in special concerning it else Daniel was frustrate of his looking But what follows I beheld until the Beast was slain This is something but general only And his Body destroyed This indeed is special but not that which Daniel looked after For how would these hang together I looked to see what would become of the Beast's horn and I saw his Body destroyed should it not seem rather to follow to answer Daniel's looking And the rest of the Beast also that is not the Body only or people of the Beast's dominion were destroyed but the Horns also with their Captain-horn who spake the big words that is the State then domineering had their dominion taken away after they had enjoyed it a season and a time Lastly Those words of the Angel's interpretation verse 26. The Iudgment shall sit and take away his dominion that is the Horn's dominion seem to have reference to that passage in the Vision which saith in the same words that the rest of the Beast had their dominion taken away The reason of the plural Affixe's answering to a singular Antecedent being because this rest of the Beast had in it a plurality of Kingdoms according to the rule of the Grammarians That a singular Antecedent to be taken collectively or distributively may have a plural number answer to it This was my adventure I. M. EPISTLE XXVI Mr. Burnet's Letter to Mr. Mede touching the Provostship of Trinity Colledge near Dublin SIR I Am bold to write unto you though a stranger to certifie you that I hear Dr. Bedle Provost of Trinity Colledge in Ireland is chosen Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland which is valued worth 600 l. per annum appointed thereto by the King howbeit some time will be ere he leave the Colledge in the mean space I am bold to intreat your Answer to know if you will accept the place of Provost if you be chosen thereto as you were wrote to by my Lord. Primate formerly before Mr. Bedle went I am now writing to my Lord Primate an Answer of Letters this day I received from him and do certifie him of this accident for it was but this week that the King granted it and no Letter is yet gone over I sent the Book you sent me long since to my Lord Primate I dwell at the sign of the Golden fleece in Lombard-street and shall expect your Answer next return and so I commend you to God Almighty resting London April 12. Your loving Friend Francis Burnet
also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be paragogical or an ancient slip of the Scribe For the Syriack translates it dedi and in the Hebrew it answer to to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All this to be so the words following evince viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How will it cohere else They gave c. as the Lord commanded me Must it not needs be I gave c. Thirdly the Evangelist for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would as should seem have us read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is adverbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as S. Matthew more freely translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esther chap. 1. v. 8 15 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often in that Book If it be considered how aukwardly those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stand in that sentence and how disturb'd they make the Syntax it will breed suspicio mendi And if one of the Apostles of our Lord play here the Critick it is no sin to follow him say the Masorites what they will 2. Reg. 20. 12 c. Esay chap. 39. tot are but two Copies of the same history yet are there two or three differences questionless from the hand of the Scribe as  2 Reg. 20. Esay 39  Ver 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. If it be apparent one letter is changed for another here why may it not be in other places I durst shew no such conceits as these but to so great an Antiquary as your Lordship to whom the possibility of corruption by writing is so well known or rather the impossibility of the contrary Who knows what time will discover cum Elias venerit EPISTLE XXXII Mr. Mede's Answer to Mr. Osbourn's Quaere's touching some passages in Daniel and the Revelation Qu. 1. WHether Daniel and the Revelation are Prophecies transfused into one another or that Daniel reaches no farther than the destruction of Ierusalem Answ. I conceive Daniel to be Apocalypsis contracta and the Apocalyps Daniel explicate in that where both treat about the same subject namely what was revealed to Daniel concerning the Fourth Kingdom but summatim and in gross was shewed to S. Iohn particulatim with the distinction and order of the several Fates and Circumstances which were to betide and accompany the same And that therefore Daniel's Prophecie is not terminated with the First but reacheth to the Second coming of Christ as appears by the description of that glorious coming and the great Iudgment Dan. 7. and his prophecie of the Resurrection Chap. 12. This hath been the constant Tradition of the Church from the Apostles days to this last Seculum and was of the Church of the Iews before and at our Saviour's time And if the Apostles had ever taught the Church otherwise it could never so timely so wholly so generally have been forgotten Quest. 2. How was the Book of Apocalyptical predictions sealed until the Lamb opened it Apoc. 5. if Daniel and the other Prophets wrote any thing of them Answ. Whatsoever the meaning be of that sealing and unsealing the Apocalyptical Book it cannot be so far urged as to infer the Contents thereof were in no wise â—evealed until that unsealing that is until S. Iohn saw his Revelation For the contrary is apparent First of the Day of Iudgment and Resurrection at Christ's glorious coming in the clouds which is the main But and scope of the Apocalyps and yet was foretold by Daniel or some other of the Prophets or else upon what Scripture did the Church of the Iews found their faith concerning both Secondly The Reign of Antichristâ— which should precede that glorious coming is no small part of the argument of the Apocalyps yet was that revealed before S. Iohn saw his Visions if you will not grant to and by Daniel yet you must by S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. which was at least 40 years before the Apocalyps was given But he that considers S. Paul well will find that he borrowed that piece and the ground of his Demonstration from Daniel of which more by and by In a word The Fourth Kingdom and that tyrannical Dominion which should foregoe the Son of mans coming in the clouds of heaven was revealed summatim in genere before S. Iohn's Visions but the series rerum gerendarum therein from the First to that Second and glorious appearing of Christ particulatim in specie was never revealed or unsealed till then Quest. 3. All things go round That which is is that which was and that which shall be What therefore though the expressions in S. Iohn be the same with those in Daniel yet may the times and things prophesied of not be the same Answ. 'T is true all things go round and the course of Divine government runs in a circle or repetition of the lame things So that the Fates and Sequels of things foretold in the Prophets may be again and again repeated and the Prophecies of them as it were often fulfilled namely by way of Analogy but not of Propriety But whither tends this I suppose to make the ruffling Horn in Daniel and S. Iohn's blaspheming Beast to be diverse though the expression and description be the same If this be it I meet with it thus The Vision of the Son of mans coming in the clouds of heaven Dan. 7. is in propriety the Second and Glorious coming of Christ as appears by that coming so often described from thence in the New Testament and our Saviour's using of the title of the Son of man with reference thereto as who though now he appeared in humility yet was the same which one day as Daniel prophesied should appear so gloriously Vid. Matth. 26. 64. Mark 14. 62 c. Adhibe Iohn 12. 34 c. But if this be so then that Dominion which Daniel saw immediately to precede this coming must be in propriety that Tyranny of the wicked one which should precede that Second and Glorious coming of Christ. Ergo not the Tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes but of Antichrist And upon this ground did S. Paul build that Demonstration of his 2 Thess. 2. That the Day of the Lord could not be at hand to wit because the Kingdom of that wicked one which Daniel had foretold he should abolish at the appearance of his coming was not yet in the world Quest. 4. Whether Nebuchadnezzar's Image contained more Kingdoms than were then in the world or whereof himself was Master Answ. More Kingdoms than were then in the world I see no reason why it might not nay why it should not For it was a Vision of Kingdoms that were to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterward verse 29 45. and the Kingdom of Christ one amongst them Yet was Rome a
corruptione itidem mutatione liberabitur Itaque hominis causà in cujus gratiam major hic mundus creabatur primùm renovatus tandem faciem induet multò â—ùm jucundiorem tum pulchriorem M. Deinde autem quid superest Aud. Vltimum generale Iudicium Veniet namque Christus ad cujus vocem mortui omnes resurgent animâ corpore integri atque in throno Majestatis suae residentem videbit totus mundus post excussionem autem conscientiae cujusque extrema sententia pronunciabitur Tunc temporis filii Dei perfectè possidebunt Regnum illud immortalitatis aeternae vitae quod illis praeparatum fuit ante jacta fundamenta mundi regnabunt cum Christo in aeternum Impii verò qui non crediderunt abjicientur in ignem aeternum destinatum diabolo angelis ejus I send you this passage as I did the former that you might admire with me what this Author meant whether such expressions could fall from him by mere chance or whether they argue not some further notion in this Mystery than was common and ordinary though those to whom the review and approbation of the Book was committed were not capable to observe it CONCERNING Ezekiel's Vision of the measuring of the Temple I have no no Notions either general or special worth relation Only I suspect some Mystery to be in the Numbers as in the New Ierusalem in the Apocalyps I observe all the Numbers to be 12 or multiplied thereof with reference I suppose to the 12 Apostles But whether the Number of Ezekiel's measures should have reference I cannot yet so well comprehend I have been sometimes tampering that way and methought they seemed to suit very well with the Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the letters whereof are 3 in each and the Numbers they signifie 1. 5. 6. 10. 30. For these are the Numbers or the Radices of the Numbers of nigh all Ezekiel's measures Notwithstanding I give my self but little satisfaction in so Cabbalistical a conceit Yet seeing the measures of the City in Ezekiel cap. ult in sine are diverse from those of S. Iohn in the Apocalyps if the Cities be the same the Numbers also must have some identity in a Mystery which they have not in the Letter one fitted to the time of the Law the other to the time of the Gospel But he that can tell me how to unfold this Mystery shall be my Master CONCERNING my application of the King of the South and the King of the North to the Saracen and Turk who should plunder the Roman Empire in his latter end 't is not my conceit alone but Mr. Brightman's upon that part of Daniel And 't is true which you guess that I incline to apply the King of the North's going forth upon the tidings from the East and the North in a fury to destroy and to that purpose to plant the Tabernacles of his palace in the glorious mountain of Holiness to the Iews return and the expedition of Gog and Magog into the Holy land For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place is constantly in this Book a description of the Holy land See chap. 8. 9. and this chap. vers 16 and 41. The tidings from the East and North may be that of the return of Iudah and Israel from those quarters For Iudah was carried captive at the first into the East and Israel by the Assyrian into the North namely in respect of the Holy land and in those parts the greatest number of each are dispersed at this day Of the reduction of Israel from the North see the Prophecies Ier. 16. 14 15. and chap. 23. 8. also chap. 31. 8. Or if this tidings from the North may be some other thing yet that from the East I may have some warrant to apply to the Iews return from that of the Sixth Vial in the Apocalyps where the waters of the great River Euphrates are dried up to prepare the way of the Kings of the East If you can digest this application of the Kings of the South and North to the Saracen and Turk I will then desire you to consider the notation of the Time when which saith the Holy Ghost v. 40. should come to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the time of the End that is of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Roman Kingdom which what they are you will find in my Discourse upon 1 Tim. 4. And to this you may refer that Question of Daniel in the next chap. vers 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How long shall this latter end of wonderful things be which the Angel answers For a time times and a half referring to his former Vision thereof chap. 7. 25. Of the same Latter times he asketh yet again vers 8. incertus mirabundus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord what are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translation turns but untowardly And further than this I cannot go in Daniel The next is all dark But it may seem the Angel tells the Prophet in those last Numbers when and how long it should be before this Mystery of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be understood For so he intimates both vers 4. Shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the End and again vers 9. The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the End and then None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand vers 10. Now you know the Mystery of Antichrist whereon the knowledge of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly depends was not discovered till a good part of them were run out What if those Numbers vers 11 12. point out that time counting from the Prophanation of Epiphanes But I confess I know not here which way to take This I intimate was an old Notion which I can neither satisfie my self in nor yet meet with another better grounded Io. Mede EPISTLE LV. Dr. Twisse's Seventh Letter to Mr. Mede desiring to know his thoughts touching Genuflexio versus Altare Worthy Sir and my dear Friend THese are only to give you to understand that your Packet is arrived safely in my hands your Letters your Manuscripts two larger upon 1 Tim. 4. and the other of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a third less Time will not serve me to express the content I take in them the satisfaction you give me in your Letters I am taken with the meditation of the slavery of the Creature ever since the Fall of Adam in bondage to them that are slaves to sin and what that bespeaks of better times both for the Creature and for us the passages of the Form of Doctrine prescribed by the Council of Nice the Catechism in K. Edward's days and the rest And like enough the land of Canaan shall have preeminence above all the
some brand or stamp upon them which points at the Sin for which they are inflicted you may call it a Sin-mark If the passages and ground of the continuance of this German War be well considered would not a man think they spake that of the Apostle Thou that hatest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge But I dare go no further it may be I have said too much already For I well know the way that I go pleaseth neither party the one loves not the Pope should be Antichrist nor the other to hear that these things should not be Popery Thus you see I have at length brought both ends together and end where I began Pardon me this one Letter and I will trouble you no more with this Theme your Reply to my short Answer to your Quere occasioned it I forget not my best respect unto your self nor my prayers to the Almighty for blessing to you and yours Thus I rest Christ's Coll. Iuly 15. 1635. Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede I sent by Mr. B. 4. or 5. Exercises upon passages of Scripture such as I had in separate papers and fit to be communicated For those that were in Books joyned with other things I could not and some that were apart for some Reasons I would not expose to danger of censure I hope those which I sent are safely arrived with you EPISTLE LIX Dr. Twisse's Ninth Letter to Mr. Mede thanking him for his pains in the foregoing Letter and desiring his resolution of a Doubt concerning the 7 Lamps signifying the 7 Angels in Zach. 4. Right dear and Right worthy Sir I AM somewhat of a more chearful spirit than when I wrote my last I have gotten more liberty of spirit to consider your large Discourse savouring of great Learning no less Iudgment and a distinctive Apprehension of things of good importance and that not in my judgment only but in the judgment of others though all require serious and further consideration And for mine own particular I cannot but reflect upon my self how deeply I am beholden unto you for intrusting me in so liberal a manner with these your Speculations We can never offend in putting difference between the Holy and Prophane neither can we offend in presenting our selves too reverently at the Lord's Table Never was the Mercy-seat so well known in the days of the Old Testament as in these days of the New We now behold the glory of the Lord with open face and accordingly our Saviour tells us the Lord requires the true worshippers should worship him in spirit and in truth in distinction from worshipping him either at Ierusalem or in the Mount the woman spake of And in this kind of worship we cannot exceed But as for outward Gestures I doubt I shall prove but a Novice as long as I breath and we affect not to make ostentation of our Devotion in the face of the world the rather because thereby we draw upon our selves the censure of Hypocrisie and sometimes if a man lifts up his Eyes he is censured for a P. and I confess there is no outward Gesture of Devotion which may not be as handsomly performed by as carnal an heart as breaths I am confident you are far from studia partium so should we be all and be ambitious of nothing but of the love and favour of God and of our conformity unto him in truth and holiness I heartily thank you for all and particularly for these Pieces which now I return I hope they will arrive safely in your hands What I wrote the last time I have almost utterly forgotten saving the clearing of one Objection concerning the Seven Angels standing before the Throne represented by the Seven Lamps which I much desired it arising from the Text it self the Lamps being maintained by the Oile which drops from the Two Olive-trees which are interpreted to be Zorobabel and Ieshua But I have troubled you so much that I fear the aspersion of immodesty in troubling you any further I cannot sufficiently express my thankfulness for that I have already received I desire ever to be found Newbury Iuly 27. 1635. Yours in the best respect Will. Twisse EPISTLE LX. Dr. Twisse's Tenth Letter to Mr. Mede desiring him to reveal unto him those Pluscula in Zach. chapters 9 10 11. which fit not so well Zachary's time as Ieremy's as also to resolve a Doubt about the 7. Lamps in Zach. 4. with some reflexions upon Mr. Mede's large Letter about Temples and Altars and the Christian Sacrifice Worthy Sir DO you not miss your Letter ad Ludovicum de Dieu And do you not find it strange it is not returned with the rest I assure you I took no notice of it till Wednesday last two days after the last week's Letter I wrote unto you In every particular it was welcome unto me as all yours always are But your Variae lectiones concerning the Old Testament and the pregnant evidences thereof which you alledge do astonish me and above all your adventure to vindicate unto Ieremy his own Prophecy which so long hath gone under the name of Zachary I never was acquainted with any better way of reconciliation than that which Beza mentions of the likeness of abbreviations of each name which might cause a mistake by the Transcribers O that you would reveal unto me those Pluscula which in those three Chapters of Zachary 9 10 11. do more agree as you observe to the time of Ieremy than to the time of Zachary Why may you not have a peculiar way also to reconcile the Genealogie in the LXX with that in the Hebrew where Kainan is found in the one which is not in the other Thus I make bold to put you to new trouble but I presume it is no more trouble to you than the writing like as that other whereabout I moved you How the Seven Lamps are maintained by the oyl derived from the two Olive-Trees if by the Seven Lamps are meant the Seven Angels that stand before the Throne of God Yet have I not done with your large Letter concerning Temples and Altars Since the writing of my last while I was reading that large Letter of yours to some Divines who were much taken with admiration at the Learning contained therein in an Argument wherein we had been so little versed I say in the reading of it I observed one thing which in all my former readings I took no notice of and that is in these words This is a point of great moment and consequent worthy to be looked into by all the Learned of the Reformed Religion lest while we have deservedly abolished the prodigious and blasphemous Sacrifice of the Papists wherein Christ is again hypostatically offered to his Father we have not but very implicitely and obscurely reduced that ancient Commemorative Sacrifice of Christians wherein that one Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross was continually by that sacred Rite represented and inculcated to his Father his Father
seven Archangels which stand before the presence of God That in Zachary was but a Vision of that and chosen there to represent Synecdochicè the Throne of God's Majesty the Temple â—nd his Service therein The two Olive-branches on each side ministring after an unseen and unusual manner Oyl unto those Lamps figured Zorobabel and Ieshua the Prince and High Priest by whom this Throne of presence had and should be first and last re-erected and together with the service thereat continued and fully established But this not by armed might and power but by the secret way of God's Spirit and Providence working with them and giving success more than credible to their endeavours even as these Lamps in the Vision were supplied with Oyl from the two Olive-branches not according to the wonted but an extraordinary and imperceptible way The supplying therefore of Oyl to the Lamps from the two Olive-branches hath no respect or reference to the seven Angels which the Lamps signified but to the Place pitched for God's presence and service which the Candlestick in this Vision stood to represent and so was accordingly accommodated as the scope of the Vision required or more briefly thus The Olive-branches had reference to what the Candlestick stood for in this Vision not to what it immediately signified in the Temple 'T is one thing to set up maintain and continue the Type and Symbol which represents another the thing thereby represented Zerubbabel and Ieshua did the one but not the other namely no more than the Priests in their courses in the Temple were wont to do who were to renew the Lamps every day morning and evening Besides in Types and Parables non oportet quidlibet in significationem trahi because some circumstances may be of decorum and some of necessity But Lastly If none of these ways be sufficient to discharge this rub by declining it then say that Zerubbabel and Ieshua in this Vision in that work of building the Temple of the Lord and of bringing the people out of captivity were intended for Types of Christ according to his twofold Office of Kingdom and Priesthood from whom when he should be exalted to the Throne of Divine Majesty and sit at the right hand of God the seven Archangels were to receive their instructions and commissions i. e. the Oyl wherewith they burn as from the Head of the Church and therefore in the Apocalyps are made to be the Eyes and Horns of the Lamb that is Ministers and Instruments of his jurisdiction both to see and execute and that this was mystically implied in this Vision of Zachary For that these two were Types of Christ it appears of Ieshua in chap. 3. of this Prophecy ver 8 9. and chap. 6. ver 11 12 c. Of Zerubbabel if not by this Vision yet by the last of Haggai in the very end besides that our Saviour descended from his loyns Concerning the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of Zachary and what therein befits not so well his time as Ieremie's You press me here to discover my fancy For the allegations will not be convictive though of force to incline him who out of that citation in the Gospel can be pliable to think those Prophecies Ieremie's For Zachary's no Scripture saith they are though they are inserted into his volumes But this proves them no more to be his than the like doth Agur's Proverbs to be Solomon's or all the Psalms in the psalm-Psalm-Book to be David's For as for the Titles in the tops of every page it matters not it is a later device The Iews wrote in Rolls or Volumes and the Title was but once If ought were added to the Roll ob similitudinem argumenti or for some other reason it had a new Title as that of Agur or perhaps sometimes none but was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Well then that which I fansie or conceive is 1. That those Prophecies against Damascus and the Philistins chap. 9. would better befit Ieremie's time of their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar than if of Zachary's time by Alexander See the Prophecy against Damascus Ier. 49. 23. against the Philistins chap. 47. 2. and Ezek. 25. 15. For where do we find Damascus destroyed from Zacharie's to our Saviour's time For to come under the hands of new Masters or suffer some direption or pillaging doth not seem to satisfie the intent of the Prophecy And for the Philistins though it be true that Alexander destroyed Gaza because it held out long against him and he was wounded there yet it appears not that any such desolation befell Askelon whereby it should not be inhabited or Ashdod nor should they seem in Zacharie's time to have so well recovered that Clades by Nebuchadnezzar as to be a subject ripe for a new Prophecy to that purpose 2. That of Tyre in the third verse of that chapter That she had built her self a strong hold and heaped up silver as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets I doubt whether it so well befits her that had so lately been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar Sure not so well as it would the time of Ieremy See Ezekiel's Prophecies thereabout chap. 26 27 28. Sed transeat 3. That which moves me more than the rest is in chap. 11. whence that in the Gospel is quoted which contains a Prophecy of the destruction of Ierusalem and a description of the wickedness of the Inhabitants for which God would give them to the sword and have no more pity upon them It is expounded of the destruction by Titus but methinks such a Prophecy was nothing seasonable for Zacharie's time when the City yet for a great part lay in her ruines and the Temple had not yet recovered hers nor agreeable to the scope of Zacharie's Commission who together with his collegue â—aggai was sent to encourage the people lately returned from Captivity to build their Temple and instaurate their Commonwealth Was this a fit time to foretel the destruction of both whiles they were but yet a building and by Zachary too who was to encourage them would not this better befit the desolation by Nebuchadnezzar I confess I am not so well skilled as to interpret the particulars thereof supposing they be of that time But you see now what those Pluscula are I fansie not so well to fit Zacharie's time as Ieremy's Valeant quantum valere possint 'T is certain that Ieremie's Prophecies are digested in no order but only as it seems they came to light in the Scribe's hands Hence sometimes all is ended with Zedekiah then we are brought back to Iehojakim then to Zedekiah again c. Whereby it seems they came not to light to be enrolled secundùm ordinem temporis nor all together but as it happened in so distracted a time And why might not some not be found till the return from Captivity and be approved by Zachary and so put to his Volume according to the time of their finding and
rise from the dead Resurrectione primâ ii praeerunt viventibus tanquam Iudices You see he puts a difference between those who shall be then living and those who shall rise from the dead The last shall live vitam coelestem Angelicam even on earth without marrying or giving in marriage but not the first He saies indeed the one shall generare but of the other only that praeerunt viventibus tanquam Iudices and presently in the words following describes that Regnum to be the Mille anni coelestis Imperii in quo Iustitia in orbe regnabit But of gormundizing ingluvies gula I find no word unless you think it must needs follow upon the taking away the curse of the creature and the restitution thereof to the perfection it lost through mans sin For Lactantius means no more but that such as then lived should live the life that Adam should have done in Paradise had he not sinned but those that should then rise from the dead should live in a far more Heavenly and Angelical condition even the life of the Blessed Spirits in Heaven But S. Ierom is wont to relate the opinion as if those who rose again should generare and give themselves to feasting and gormundising Besides you say S. Austin intimates that some held some such carnal Beatitude I answer So he intimates that some did not and that himself was once of that opinion and that to hold so was tolerable Quae opinio esset utcunque tolerabilis si aliquae deliciae spiritales in illo Sabbato affuturae Sanctis per Domini i. Christi praesentiam crederentur Nam nos etiam hoc opinati fuimus aliquando De Civit. Dei Lib. 20. c. 7. But where can I shew Cyprian to be a Chiliast You see it is tedious to answer a Question in writing which may be asked in a few words Yet I will say something I say therefore he shews himself plainly a Chiliast to such as know the mystery of that Opinion Lib. de Exhortatione Martyrii In the Preface whereof he speaks thus Desiderâsti Fortunate charissime ut quoniam persecutionum pressurarum pondus incumbit in fine atque consummatione mundi Antichristi tempus infestum appropinquare nunc coepit ad praeparandas coroborandas Fratrum mentes de divinis Scripturis hortamenta componerem quibus milites Christi ad coeleste spiritale certamen animarem paulò pòst Sex millia annorum jam penè complentur Si imperatum invenerit Diabolus militem Christi c. But he that as you see expected the coming of Antichrist should be at the end of the sixth thousand year which he supposed then near at hand yet thought the world should last 7000. viz. a thousand years after the destruction of Antichrist ut patet ex iis quae disserit cap. 11. in these words Quid verò in Maccabaeis septem fratres natalium pariter virtutum sorte consimiles Septenarium numerum perfectae consummationis implentes Sic Septem fratres in Martyrio cohaerentes ut primi in dispositione divina Septem dies annorum Septem millia continentes ut consummatio legitima compleatur c. This to him that knows Chiliasm is plain Chiliasm Look and compare your Austin cap. 7. lib. 20. de Civit. Dei from those words Qui propter haec hujus Libri verba primam Resurrectionem c. Compare also what Câ—prian hath in the end of that Book out of the Gospel Mark 10. 29 30. and Apocalyps 20. and you will acknowledge him to be as he was wont to profess himself Tertulliani Discipulum But I must not follow you too far in this kind of answering 't is tedious I send you some more Papers and so with my love I rest Christ's College Novemb. 16. Yours Ios. Mede EPISTLE LXV Dr. Twisse's Twelfth Letter to Mr. Mede containing Seven Quaere's relating partly to Iewish and Christian Antiquities and partly to some difficult places of Scripture Worthy Sir I Have been a stranger from you too long I come now to renew my acquaintance I presume you are acquainted with Dr. Heylin's Book of the History of the Sabbath Do you know the Author whom he opposeth about the Precepts of Noah for making the Commandment of the Sabbath one of them though he name him not Yet the question is not whether it be one of them but whether not comprehended under one of them But he allegeth Rambam to the contrary out of Ainsworth I have read enough in Cocceius to discredit Rambam and I pray let me know whether Aben Ezra upon Exod. 20. on those words the stranger within thy gates doth not maintain that it was one of them coupling it with that of Nakedness and Shedding of Bloud And though you doubted whether Solomon Iarchi on Gen. 26. 5. did deliver that which he doth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two of them as out of his own opinion yet Dr. Heylin confesseth that Abulensis and Mercerus testifie that the Rabbins upon that place are opinion that Abram kept the Sabbath I pray what think you both of his and Dr. White 's opinion concerning Synagogues that the Iews had none before the Captivity and their Inference thereupon That the Sabbath was nowhere observed save in the Temple by any publick congregation but only in private Dr. Andrews was of another opinion as hath been shewed me in some Notes of his and his ground in my judgment is fair Levit. 23. 3. The Seventh day is a Sabbath of rest an holy Convocation it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings The holy Convocation here mentioned seems to be in reference to all their dwellings whereas the other Feasts and holy Convocations belonging thereto were to be celebrated at Ierusalem But I have not yet consulted any Rabbines about this Then I pray What think you of Dr. Heylin saying That Evening-prayer on the Lord's-day is but a late invention Yet I find it in the Iewish Synagogue and Nocturnae after Vespertinae like as I find the like in one of Austin's Epistles de Tempore and in Cassian it appears that the Sabbath-Solemnity was not ended until the time of their Evening-repast corporal Doth your plough stand still in the Revelation and such like passages of a mysterious nature I hope it doth not Is not that Matth. 25. spoken of the last period of the Day of Iudgment It seems it is for the Resurrection is general both of Sheep and Goats yet to the Sheep it is said Receive the Kingdom Shall they receive a Kingdom when Christ resigns his unto his Father and in Heaven it seems there are none for them to reign over Or is it a Figure of speech representing the glory of that State when God becomes all in all by the greatest glory that we are acquainted with which is the glory of a Kingdom I pray what think you of that in Esa. 66. 23. From Sabbath to Sabbath shall all flesh come to worship
statu optima facturi Proindéque stultum est Quanam vitae ratione usura sunt corpora in Resurrectione quaerere si nec Aer neque Terra neque quicquam caeterorum sit ampliùs futurum Whether do you not think this man to have been a Chiliast But no man desires to be acquainted with Notions that way wherefore then should I go about to cram them I think scarce any of you of my acquaintance knows the tenth part of my adventures that way I can be content to satisfie my self without troubling others unless I see them seriously desirous to be informed But no man I find loves any Speculations but such as he thinks will advance his profitable ends or advantage his Side or Faction Mundus amat decipi But there will be a time one day when God thinks fit Christ's Coll. Nov. 15. I. M. EPISTLE LXIX Mr. Mede's Fourth Letter to Mr. Estwick with part of another Letter the beginning whereof is wanting in answer to several Enquiries 1. FOR my Paradox of the American World I could say that to make it probable and so much as would be too tedious to write For the present I will add this more concerning it That I believe it was not inhabited in Christ's and his Apostles times nor some Ages after it nor are there any vestigia found therein of any elder habitation thereof I believe it to have been first inhabited since the days of Constantine when the Devil saw he could no longer reign here without control and the continual affront of the Gospel and Cross of Christ. Then he sought out another World to plant him a Kingdom in ubi nec Pelopidarum facta neque nomen audiret Upon this ground may be answered many scruples concerning that World as of Noah's Deluge of the Creatures there not found here where Noah's Ark rested of the Apostles preaching the Gospel why it was contained within out World and yet said The sound thereof went into the ends of the Earth c. Some of them you say are converted But the New-Englanders have not yet converted one the Spaniards have but unto Antichrist not to Christ and the Story of their Conversion is such as may make a man justly suspect there hath scarce yet been ever a true Christian of that race Yet I speak in my Conjectura de Gogo Magogo of a General Conversion only not of a Conversion of some few or of some small and scarce considerable part in regard of the Vastness of the whole 2. To your Case of Conscience I answer thus Though the teaching of a School be in some sort reducible to a Sacred Function as it may be managed and intended yet for Titius to leave a Pastoral charge for it when he hath been once dedicated to that Sacred Office I hold an inexcusable Sacrilege unless perhaps in a case of Necessity I would rather therefore advise the continuance of both than to forsake the one for the other 3. For that of the Ark of the Covenant what do you mean There is nothing more indubitate in Scripture than that the Ark was under the wings of the Cherubins in the Sanctum Sanctorum or most Holy place as Exod. 26. 33 34 1 Kings 8. 6 c. and Heb. 9. Or do you mean for I have not the Bishop's Book that it was not there when Hilkiah found the Book of the Law That place of the Chronicles indeed if it be rightly translated should argue it had been taken thence during Manasseh's prophanation of the Temple and that it may be by the true worshippers for what fellowship had the Ark of God with Idols and so not restored again to his place till Iosiah purged the Temple Or what if Manasseh himself had caused it to be taken thence when he dedicated the Temple to his Idols lest it might serve them as it once did Dagon But Tremellius or Iunius turns the place otherwise and yet methinks somewhat forcedly Videsis 4. How often is the Resurrection of the Vnjust mentioned in the Epistles either together with that of the Iust or by it self And where both are mentioned elsewhere it is not said they should be together though they be mentioned together for there is difference between mentioning and being As for the Last Trump it proves nothing until you define what is the First Trump yea what Trump is It is no where said The Resurrection of the dead shall be in a moment but that those who are alive shall be changed in a moment And what though the Resurrection in respect of each Individuum be in a moment Yet would it not follow that all that rise shall rise in one and the same moment To that of the 25 of Matthew you shall have a sufficient answer when you have made progress enough to understand it For out of chap. 24. which you cite I see not any thing toward your purpose For those in ver 39. are not the dead but the living nor is the Resurrection at all mentioned in that Chap. but at the most implied only In the mean time I send you the Copie of an Epistle written once to Mr. Chappel to satisfie a friend of his who had desired him to know my Answer to certain Quaere's and Objections somewhat like those of yours His Letter being directed to Mr. Chappel and not to me I made my Answer accordingly as you see Keep it clean and send me it again when you have done with it and as I see occasion I may perhaps send you some more of the like Argument 5. For reading the Service at the Altar c. was it not enough to give you the Premisses but I must put the Conclusion into your mouth I add now That the Priest or Deacon came down from the Altar to read the Gospel unto the Ambo or other eminent place where he might be seen and heard of the people And in such place were all Lessons of Scripture read whosoever read them and not at the Altar The Altar was the place to speak to God at the Ambo or Pulpit or such like place to speak to the People Besides those Prayers at the Altar whereto the People were to say Amen were read in a high distinct and singing tone which might be heard and understood at great distance of all the people That submiss reading in Churches sine cantu which we use now was not then in use If it had it could never have been heard of half the Congregation in so large Churches and where some stood so far off as the Catechumeni Auditores Penitentes who were to be partakers of the Readings and Sermons and nothing else and yet stood at the remotest distance from the place both of it and Prayer I love not to answer to things in Hypothesi but in Thesi. The world is right on no side Let them look to the hypothesis whom it concerns Quo jure ego qui Thesin tantùm defendo ad
messenger of this ill news May 2. Vale. EPISTLE LXXII Dr. Twisse's Fourteenth Letter to Mr. Mede touching Mr. Potter's Discourse of the Number of the Beast viz. 666. Worthy Sir and my dear Friend YOV have communicated unto me many precious things which makes me to acknowledge my self more indebted to you than to all the men in the world And the more glad I am when I light upon any thing that is worth your knowledge This last week I received a Letter from Mr. Potter enclosing two other Letters one of his own to Dr. Turner in answer to another of his both which I have sent you Therein you shall see how Mr. Potter's discovery works already like wax before it sees the light of the Press I had formerly wrote unto him what your judgment was upon the Abstract I sent you as your self wrote unto me and as I heard also from Mr. Hall But lately Mr. Hartlib sent me a Copy of your judgment morefull since you received the compleat Copy wishing me to send it over unto Mr. Potter which I did and he is glad as he professeth to me to hear that you esteem so well of his Interpretation and over and above adds that if any man think so well of it as to translate it into Latine he will not be sorry for it Nay he is willing to add something to it concerning the First Beast and the Second Beast and the Image of it He is exceedingly desirous to know his judgment of it in such sort that he hath a mind either to write or to go over unto him I pray let him have a sight of it and entreat him to set down his judgment concerning it Now Sir concerning the occasion of these Letters I will shew you what he writes to me Mr. Potter had understood from Oxford that Dr. T. who is one of the Mathematick Professors there had alledged against his Book That the Root of 666 was not 25. but this was by those who told him of it accounted so slight and untrue an Objection that Mr. Potter did not regard it But after this being with he told him that Dr. T. told the Vice-chancellor that Mr. Potter was out in the Mathematical part of it Hereupon Mr. Potter wrote unto Dr. T. and receiving no Answer wrote a second time thereupon Dr. T. answered which Answer of his I here send you with Mr. Potter's large Answer unto him wherein you shall find not only the vanity of Dr. T 's Exception but a strange Mystery discovered even to admiration I have sent you Mr. Potter's own Letter for fear lest in transcribing I should miss in the calculation of the Numbers He desires to have the Letters again when we have perused them and transcribed them I pray return them by Mr. Hartlib I commend me heartily to the continuance of your love and rest Newbury Aprill 30. 1638. Yours ever in true affection and great obligationâ— Will. Twisse I pray remember my due respect to Dr. Bainbrigge the Master of your House EPISTLE LXXIII Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's Fourteenth Letter touching Mr. Potter's Notions of the Number of the Beast with some Observations of his own concerning his Book Worthy Sir I Thank you heartily for Mr. Potter's Letter I confess I have an especial esteem of his Discourse but little looked that what I wrote carelesly to Mr. Hartlib demaning my opinion thereof should have come to his hands Concerning this Letter I am perswaded the Doctor 's Exception is fully and sufficiently answered namely That the Root of a Number ought to consist of Unities of the same denomination with the Unities of the principal whose Root it is and that if the Unities be of another denomination it is not the Root of that Number but of another I see also a fair possibility of a discovery of new Mysteries even in the Fractions but perhaps it will not be so safe to discover them until they be well armed unto those who are not well affected to the main For it is sufficient with a great many to discredit a Tenet if they can but find any thing not defensible brought toward the maintenance thereof Verbum sapienti I care not if I acquaint you with what came into mind upon my first cursory reading of the Letter the one an Observation the other as I found afterward a mistake of Mr. Potter's meaning 1. First when I read him applying the Fractions 41 51 to the Latitude of Rome I called to mind that the old Astronomers and most of our Maps make the Latitude of Rome to be 41 degrees and about 50 or 51 minutes The later Mathematicians promote it some minutes farther Northward but Rome was big enough when time was to bear the difference of a few minutes And if that which Mr. Gellibrand observed be true it is possible that the Latitudes of some places may be a little changed since Ptolemy's time by some motion of the Earth whatsoever it be The Mistake was this 2. As I ruminated upon his application of the Denominator of the Fractions 51 to so many Italian miles which I well understood not at my first cursory reading I fell into this conceit that his meaning had been that a Degree in a great Circle had contained but 51 Italian miles whereas we suppose 60 and that therefore 41 51 was as much as 41 fifty one Italian miles that is 41 Degrees a Degree being 51 Italian miles That which led me into this conceit was his mention of Snellius who in his Eratosthenes Batavus which I had sometime look'd upon but it is many years since as I remembred made a Degree to contain some miles less than 60. Whether my memory fails me I know not for the Book I never saw but once in the Stationer's shop But when I read the Letter the second time with more deliberation I found his meaning to be That Rome lay under such a Parallel as whereof every Degree contained 51 Italian miles but this supposes I think that a Degree of a great Circle should be above 60 Italian miles which how near or far off it be from Snellius his experimental definition I know not My skill in Mathematicks is but little only so much as makes me able to understand a Discourse in that kind In my younger time I studied the Grounds of those Sciences but ever since neglected them and therefore if I commit any Soloecisms in talking of such matters I must be excused I will add also some of my thoughts concerning his Book 1. That there is no such Argument to prove the Divinity of the Apocalyps and consequently to convince an Atheist of the Divinity of the whole Scripture whereto this Book gives testimony as the strange agreement between Ezekiel's Lineal and S. Iohn's Cubical measures of the city Ierusalem for the compass and Area thereof both the numbers and denomination of Measures being so differing as they are and those of S. Iohn besides to be derived from 12.
with great evidence of truth and probability defined ambitum terrae in maximo circulo to be 123120000 Roman feet that is 342000 feet to one Degree which makes 68 Italian miles and somewhat more As concerning that which Mr. Mede adds in his Letter about my Book I do believe that as Daniel understood not many Visions which were shewed unto him so neither did s. Iohn understand the meaning of the Number of the Beast nor the Measures of the New Ierusalem when he wrote the Revelation And the strange and wonderful Wisdom of God in discovering so many so different things concerning Antichrist by one Number only and in laying a foundation for this discovery by making the Number 12 〈◊〉 able in the Old Testament in respect of the City Ierusalem and the Patriarchs and Tribes long before our Saviour came in the flesh hath been to me a great if not the greatest of all external Testimonies for the Divinity of the Scriptures and I doubt not but that it will be so to others that do believe it and understand it I should be glad to hear what those Exceptions were which Mr. Mede writeth that some made against some things which he related out of my Book I am confident that all material Objections may be fully answered Perhaps that which he mentioneth of the Virgin Company was one thing which was objected against it To which I answer That it is most true that the Beast having two horns like the Lamb is opposed to the Lamb and that the Followers of the Beast which receive his Mark are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Followers of the Lamb But it is also to be observed That the Number 666 is not said to be the Number of the Followers of the Beast but of the Beast and it is also to be observed That the Number 144000 is not said to be the Number of the Lamb or of that Hierarchy which is most appositely opposed to the Beast but to be the Number of the Followers of the Lamb. Now although the Lamb be properly opposed to the Beast and the Followers of the Lamb to the Followers of the Beast yet the Beast is not so properly opposed to the Followers of the Lamb nor the Lamb to the Followers of the Beast and therefore the Number of the Beast is not so directly opposed to the Number of the Followers of the Lamb as it is to that Number which typeth out chiefly that Hierarchy of the Lamb which is most directly and most eminently opposed to the Beast Now the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of the Church of Christ is chiefly typed out by the Wall of the New Ierusalem and by the Number 144 and therefore I have said in my Book That the Number 144 is an Idea not of the Church in general although that be also true and affirmed in a general sense but of the Hierarchy of the Church Forasmuch therefore as the Number 144 is a type of that which is more properly and directly opposed to the Beast than the Followers of the Lamb are opposed to the Beast I therefore conceive this Number 144 to be more directly and immediately opposed to the Number of the Beast than the Number 144000 which is a type of the Followers of the Lamb and therefore must be opposed not to the Number of the Beast but rather to the Number of the Followers of the Beast And although there be no such Number expressed in the Scriptures yet if there had been occasion to express the Anti-numerus to 144000 I believe it would have been said to be 666000 For as the Number of the Lamb's Followers is derived from 144 so is 666000 from 666. I have more to say of this but 't is now time to hasten my Letter As for that Copy of my Book which you sent to my L. S. if you have received it I desire you to keep it still in your hands that it may be a witness from whence those divers Copies have proceeded which are now abroad in the world If any Copy of my Book having come into some malevolent hands should be corrupted and have any thing inserted into it which might be offensive to the State then that Copy which you have would acquit me from it If you had any Copy which you can spare to return unto me I had rather it were another than the same I sent you And of all other I should desire to see one that hath Mr. Mede's Notes upon it it should be safely returned again unto you and I should be thankfull to Mr. Mede for any thing which he hath added or illustrated or corrected I kindly thank you for the sight of such Papers as I have here returned and shall still rest Kilmington Iune 27. 1638. Yours to be commanded and for your sincere love and many kindnesses greatly obliged Francis Potter EPISTLE LXXV Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's and Mr. Potter's Letters His Vindication of that Elogium in the Inscription of his Discourse upon 1 Cor. 11. 22. viz. Sublati inter sacrum profanum discriminis Assertori His Vindication of that Maxime Eadem est ratio Loci Temporis from the Exceptions of Dr. Twisse The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the first 200 years the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not found in any Ecclesiast Writing for 200 years An Objection from the taking down S. Gregorie's Church answered Worthy Sir I Thank you heartily for communicating Mr. Potter's Letter with me I understand now his reason why he took not in the Number of the Virgin-Company to ground his discovery of the Mystery of the Beast's Number upon as by an Anti-numerus of an Anti-company and I am in some degree satisfied therewith yet so as I could still wish he had made some more use of it in his Argument and not wholly passed by it with silence I confess the observation of this supposed defect was mine own and no bodies else For those I related the Contents of his Book unto had never I believe looked so much into the Apocalyps as to be able to make such an Exception so far as I could discover by their Discourse Yet how this Number might be taken in though not as a principal yet at least to bear a part I am yet to seek which before I read his Letter I thought I had not been now methinks I see some possibility only aâ—ar off and am as one loth to lose it The Exceptions I made mention of were not worth specifying being of the same nature with Dr. T s viz. want of exactness both in the Root and in the Application Whereupon I desired them to instance in any one Prophecy in the whole Scripture which they would affirm and could shew to be more exactly fulfilled than Mr. Potter if his Authorities were true had shewn this to be yea I urged them as far as the Prophecies concerning Christ himself the time the place and manner of his Coming offering to parallel one
us was none of the Sublata though somewhere it be as well as the rest And the field of my defence is so much the larger if it be considered that one of the three Res sacrae is capable of Subdivision But enough of this it being no well-becoming Theme to dispute upon I said there was eadem ratio Loci temporis not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but eadem ratio Loci Temporis sacri to wit for the Sanctification i. e. holy and discriminative usance due unto them both and the formal reason in respect whereof it is due For the reason why a thing is to be Sanctified or Sanctè habendum is because it is Sanctum or Sacrum Now whatsoever is appropriate unto God and his Service is such whether the determination thereof be by God's own immediate Ordination or mans Devotion it is all one in this respect so the Appropriation or Dedication thereof be supposed lawful and agreeable to the Divine will For this Sanctification we speak of depends not either upon the difference of the cause or manner whereby the thing is consecrated nor upon the diversity of Natural and Artificial being but upon the Formalis ratio of the Object because it is Holy or Sacred therefore to be sanctified with holy usance For to Sanctifie in Scripture is not only to make holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to do unto a thing as becometh its holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moreover I believe the Sanctification of Place to be intended in the Fourth Commandment as well as that of Time and that not only from the Rule observed in the interpretation of the rest of the Commandments by one of the kind named to understand all the rest ejusdem generis but especially the Lord himself hath conjoyned them as pairs Levit. 19. 30. Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary And why not when they are so near a-kin being both Circumstances of Action why may I not then say Quae Deus conjunxit nemo separet And it may be if it be well looked into the Sanctification of the Lord's-day might be urged with far more advantage upon the ground I intimate than upon that other which is so much controverted But it is partialitie that undoes all It seems by this Objection I have now answered you supposed the Argument of my Book to be The Reverence of holy Places which is only The Antiquity of them You ask me if I believe indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Ignatius his word I say I do till I hear some sufficient reason why I should not For that of my not being able to give an instance of the like either in his time or within 100 years after seems to me to have no force of concluding at all When I affirmed in my Altare That the name of Table could not be shewed given to that whereon the Eucharist was celebrated in any Ecclesiastical Writer confessed to be genuine before 200 years after Christ I inferred not therefrom that therefore the name Table was never used all that time nor if I had would you have believed me And yet to tell you the truth when I wrote that I had some persuasion or suspicion that that Name could not be shewed in any Writer for 3 hundred years after Christ but durst not affirm so much as I thought because I was not sure of Origen But when a Friend of mine soon after wondred how I durst avouch in publick a thing so incredible as this to him seemed to be I discovered that I had affirmed somewhat less than I believed and desired him to make trial whether he could find it in 300 years or not wherein when he had spent some time he could not He alledged indeed Cyprian de Coena Domini but I told him that was confessed of all sides to be none of his c. And now see the luck of it The week before I received yours a Friend shewed me the New Articles of the New Bishop of Norwich his Diocesan wherein besides some other unwonted things which some body will startle at the Bishop avouches upon the credit of his reading That the name Table in that sense is never to be found in any Ecclesiastical Writer of the first 300 years save only once in an occasional passage of Dionysius Areop agita Now Sir what think you of this Yet you see I can shew the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oftner than once in those first 300 years Yea if you would grant me that the Author of that Hierarchical Treatise whosoever he were lived but within the compass of 200 years after Christ I could give you an instance both of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within the time by you limited For this Dionysius in his Mysterium Synaxeos describes the Deacons standing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in his Theory of the same mentions the sending of the Euergumeni at the time of the Eucharist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However it be it follows not that because I can shew it but once within that 200 years therefore I should believe it was used never Besides methinks I observe some unreasonableness used in this kind viz. Notwithstanding such paucitie of Monuments remaining unto us of those first Ages upon every unconcluding suspicion to discredit those we have and then when we have done to require proof that such things were in those times which we without proof deny when those who alone could give testimony are disenabled and sometimes for no other reason but because they give such testimony Is this dealing reasonable As for the taking down of S. Gregorie's Church I answer In the Law some things Sacred were unalienable even quoad Individuum as for example such as were consecrated by way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Levit. 27. 28 29. Others were unalienable as touching the kind only and therefore if need were the Individuum might be changed so it were for the better and with the Lord's advantage which the Law provides should be by adding a fifth part thereunto See the rest of the Chapter quoted But what is this to the deciding of the lawfulness or truth of what is in question to alledge that which men do Is not all the world full of Contradictions I verily believe that even those who are zealous for the Sanctification of the Lord's-day do in their practice if not in their Theory too overthrow the Principles whereupon it stands I think I have no more to make answer to and I confess I have done this not without some tediousness For you must pardon me if judging as a Stander-by I am not persuaded you are by nature so prone and pliable as you think to the way which you say I take Yes I now find one thing more S. Gregorie's Church you say is going down at least is to be built elsewhere but we never yet heard the like of the Lord's-day◠No but I have namely that
Potter's Book but by a sure hand for the Carrier I dare not trust It cost me to be written out to my mind besides mine own pains in distinguishing it and dividing the whole into 8 Sections and prefixing the Contents of every Section at the beginning and writing the margins with mine own hand and therefore I would not willingly lose it If I light upon a convenient messenger I shall send it The Analytical Table of the Apocalyps if you had not charged me therewith I should not have believed it had been still in my hands for I verily thought I had sent it back long before this and was a while very much afraid I must have sent you word it was lost yet at length I found it and have sent it herewith The Author of the Analytical Table differs from me wholly in the 20. Chapter and follows Mr. Brightman What I conceive you may find in my Commentationes Apocalypticae My difference will appear by these particulars 1. I hold but one Millennium and that to begin at the destruction of the Beast He holds two one beginning at Constantine another at the destruction of the Beast 2. I deny that Satan was ever yet tied up much less at the time of Constantine 'T is one thing to be dethroned and thrown down from Heaven that was at the time of Constantine another thing to be bound and close prisoner and not so much as peep out of his dungeon See my Synchronisms Clav. Apocal. Part. 2. Synch 4. pag. 22 23. 3. I take the Resurrection both of them First and Second to be proper and real he Metaphorical 'T is not safe to deprive the Church of those Texts whereon her faith of the Resurrection is builded For this interpretation will necessarily rob us of that of Daniel Chap. 12. also whereon I believe the Church of the Old Testament built her faith of that Article there being no such evident place besides in all the Old Testament 4. He seems to appropriate the Second Millennium which I think the only to the glory of the Iews only I extend it to the whole Catholick Church of the Gentiles when the Iews shall come into the fold and that the Apocalyps is properly and primarily the Gentiles Prophecy I mean of the Church of the Gentiles and of the Iews but by accident and coincidence only The Iews have prophecies enough of their own in the Old Testament In my Books and the papers I once sent you concerning this Point all this is easily to be seen With my best and wonted affection I rest Christ's Colledge April 16. 1638. Your assured Friend Ios. Mede EPISTLE XCVI Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib modestly excusing his own abilities and intimating what cause he had to decline coming forth in print with his Observation touching the Latitude of Rome Mr. Hartlib TOuching the Letter you sent me De necessitate Textualis interpretationis S. Scripturae I so fully agree with the Author in the former part thereof that I could not have expressed mine own thoughts thereabouts in mine own words better than he hath done in his But for the latter part alas it is nothing so I know my self better than any man else and I am conscious that I am infinitely far from any such ability as he collecteth out of a little diligence perhaps in a Discourse or two If I have hit upon any Truth it is wholly to be attributed to my indifferency in such searches to embrace whatsoever I should find without any regard whether it were for the advantage of one side or other and not to any ability beyond others Freedom from prejudice studium partium or desire to find for this side rather than that which I confess I endeavour as much as I can possibly to subdue my self unto is sufficient with a little diligence to discover more than I have yet done without any such great learning I confess I know my self to have so little of that this Gentleman supposeth me to have that the very reading thereof hath made me more than half melancholick ever since I am bound to love him and take it kindly that he hath any good or favourable conceit of me or ought of mine But no man can make me believe that I have those abilities I have not yea 't is somewhat burthensome and unwelcome to me to bethought to have Ex animo loquor Yea I am almost so uncharitable as to suspect this is some stratagem to work me to something I know not what But let it go I could tell some tales of my Altare of another strain that would make you think I have no great joy to come in publick as I think I can safely say I did never yet plenâ voluntate but yielding to other mens importunities or desires yet I know not whether I shall yet rest and keep my thoughts and my self in my Cell In a word Mundus amat decipi magis quà m doceri and will never entertain any man well that shall deal ingenuously with them He must look to have Micaiah's luck He must say true and yet not prophesie against Ahab If he does he must to Pound and to hard meat for it For mine to Dr. Twisse there is something wherein I had not fully informed my self about the Latitude of Rome as having not Ptolemy by me I said the old Astronomers made the Latitude thereof 41. 50. minutes the later promoted it some minutes more to the North. When I wrote so I trusted to Io. Stadius who makes it so and supposed he had derived it from those before him But after looking upon Maginus his Ptolemy I find that Ptolemy according to him makes it but 41. and 40. min. and some others and some Maps less The sum is this Ptolemy 41. 40. Stadius and others 41. 50. Maginus himself 42. 2. Origanus 42. 4. The Middle is about 41. 51. I have no time to enquire further nor Books at hand I pray transcribe this in yours to Dr. Twisse lest he send my notion or mistake to Mr. Potter without this correction though it be not material For by his words to you I suspect he means to do it which occasioned me to add this Thus with my wonted affection I rest and am Christ's Coll. Iune 4. 1638. Yours Ioseph Mede EPISTLE XCVII Mr. Mede's Letter to a worthy Friend touching some Papers of his printed without his privity Worthy Sir I Thank you very heartily for your Book and kind Letter as I should have done long ago for another Book you sent me But I have entangled my self a long time with so much needless writing to no purpose as it makes me sometimes glad of any pretence to be idle when I should not For what you say of a Scribe it was I that took order to have such a one sent to you not you to me I 'le assure you you have performed more than I durst have thought of doing though you please to profess yourself my Disciple
Anno Christi 486. which is presently after the deposition of Augustulus in whom the Empire of Western Rome expired And this comes much nearer the point than 792. Howbeit far be it from me to affirm any thing thereof or of the verity of the Samaritan Computation or to prefer it in the general before our Hebrew though some things be found therein which dissolve a knot or two which make our Chronologers at theiâ— wits end As one for example How Abraham could come into Canaan after the days of his Father as S. Stephen says and yet be but 75 years old Gen. 12. 4. whenas his Father Terah lived 205 years and himself was born in the 70 year of his age Gen. 11. 26. But the Samaritan saith chap. 11. 32. That the days of Terah were but 145 years which is just for then Abraham was 75 years old at his Father's death and Moses and S. Stephen are reconciled which yet no man can imagine that the Samaritan Scribe ever thought of But the thing â—aim at in representing these differences and would propound to the consideration of the pious sober and judicious and with due reverence to the Divine Writ is Whether there may not be some secret disposition of Divine Providence in this variety of Computation to prevent our Curiosity in counting the exact time of the Day of Iudgment and second appearing of Christ. And that as the ambitious Tower of Babel was hindred by the Confusion of Languages so our Curiosity in this particular be not by a like Providence prevented by such a diversity of Computationsâ— For these things concern not matter of Salvation We know the first Ages of the Church followed the Computation of the Seventy altogether though it were most wide of truth and the chiefest Doctors the Church then had through ignorance of the Hebrew for a long time knew not or believed not there was any other Computation But for contents of Faith and the way of Salvation over such the Providence of God watcheth with a careful eye though man be heedless wicked and careless of preserving the integrity of that precious treasure committed to their custody Besides I nothing doubt if our Books be in any such particular as we speak of deficient or corrupted but that the true reading is yet extant in some of the two named or some other Copy some-where preserved by Divine Providence though we cannot yet know and discern which those righter readings be The Iews having a saying Cùm Elias venerit dissolvet nodos And without doubt when they shall be called and meet together from all places of the world which must be before that great Day cometh strange things will be discovered which we little dream of Now if any man ask if such a corruption of Computation be suppoâ—ed where it is most like to be I answer Not in those generations before the Floud where the Hebrew Computation being the middle between the excess of the Septuagint and defect of the Samaritan seems to be crucified as our Saviour between two Thieves but in the generations immediately after the Floud 1. Because in those the Seventy and the Samaritan for the most part agree which argues their difference from our Bibles not to have been voluntary 2. Because S. Luke in the Genealogy of our Saviour inserts as the Seventy do the generation of Cainan immediately after Arphaxad which our Bibles have not who knows what it means or whether it argue not a defect thereabout in the Hebrew Copies Time may discover the meaning thereof 3. Because Peleg at whose birth the Scripture seems to say the Earth was divided was born according to our Copies but 101 years after the Floud which troubles our Chronologers as seeming too small a time for eight persons to multiply unto such a number as may be presumed to have been at the building of the Tower of Babel and at their dispersion thence which will be much holpen if either Cainan be to be inserted to whose generation the Septuagint allow 130 years or if any of the other generations of Arphaxad Salah and Eber be to be read as both the Septuagint and Samaritan have them To conclude if the years of but three of those generations between the Floud and Abraham as of Arphaxad Salah and Nahor should prove to be as the Septuagint and Samaritan agreeingly read them and the generation of Cainan mentioned by S. Luke and four times by the Septuagint also to be added unto them the duration of the World hitherto will have been 350 or 360 years more than we count of If therefore such Suppositions as these may be admitted which I determine not but leave to such as are able and fit to judge Apagite indocti prophani then that Tradition of the Seventh Thousand year to be the Day of Iudgment and of the glorious Reign of Christ will in respect of those Septenary Types of the Old Testament have good probability of Truth Otherwise I cannot see how possibly it can be admitted 1 Thess. 5. 21. Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete I. M. CHAP. IV. An Explication of Psal. 40. 6. Mine ears hast thou bored compared with Hebr. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me PSalm 40. v. 6 7. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not have mine ears hast thou bored Burnt-offering and Sin-offering thou hast not required Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God In which words an allusion is made to a Custom of the Iews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual Servants and to enroll their names in a Book or make some Instrument of the Covenant Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have but because I am thy vowed Servant bored with an awl and enrolled in thy Book I said Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God These words of the Psalm are alledged by S. Paul Heb. 10. But the first of them with a most strange difference For whereas the Psalmist hath according to the Hebrew Verity Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not mine ears thou hast bored or digged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Paul reads with the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A body thou hast prepared or fitted me What Equipollency can be in sense between these two This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most Interpreters make the life of the Quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is viz. That the words A body thou hast prepared me are brought by the Apostle to prove our Saviour's Incarnation whereunto the words in the Psalm it self Mine ears hast thou bored or digged or opened take them how you will will in no wise suit I answer therefore That the life of the Quotation lies not in the words of difference nor can do because this Epistle was written to the Hebrews and so first in the Hebrew tongue
many Patterns of so many States of the Church succeeding in the like order the Churches are named then surely the First Church viz. the Ephesian State must be first and the Last be the last As for those between though there be no Characters to bound them all exactly yet the mention of false Iews and the Synagogue of Satan Throne of Satan Balaam Iezabel c. Apocal. 2. in the Five middle ones will argue that they belong to the time of the Beast and Babylon And for the Sixth in special viz. Philadelphia we have a good character where to place it viz. partly about the time the Beast is falling and partly after his destruction when the New Ierusalem cometh For Philadelphia is promised that the Synagogue of Satan should bow before her feet that she should be preserved in the general temptation to come upon the whole world that upon her should be written the name of the New Ierusalem Apocal. 3. 9 10 12. If any thinks these Seven Churches are to be put into the Scheme as being perswaded they serve for Prophecies of things to come as well as Descriptions of things present he may easily supply their want by imagining them in that middle empty space between the Two Prophecies or might without any great deformity express them by 7 letters E. S. P c. CHAP. 3. vers 21. I will give him to sit with me in my Throne even as I am set down with my Father in his Throne Here are 2 Thrones mentioned My Throne saith Christ this is the condition of glorified Saints who sit with Christ in his Throne but my Father's i.e. God's Throne is the Power of Divine Majesty herein none may sit but God and the God-man Iesus Christ. To be installed in God's Throne to sit at God's right hand is to have a God-like Royalty such as his Father hath a Royalty altogether incommunicable whereof no creature is capable To receive our devotions in Heaven is a flower of this incommunicable Royalty CHAP. 5. vers 12. Worthy is the Lamb to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Blessing The whole Doxology consists in the acknowledgment of these three Sovereign Prerogatives of the Divine Majesty his Power his Wisdom his Goodness The two first Power and Wisdom are express and Riches and Strength belong to Power the third viz. Goodness is implied in Blessing or Thanksgiving which is the Confession of the Divine Goodness Observe also that these words and those in the parallel place chap. 4. 11. are the summe and argument of that Hymnologie which the Primitive Church used at the offering of Bread and Wine for the Eucharist CHAP. 9. vers 5. tormented five months and vers 10. to hurt men five months For the clearing of this difficulty 1. What if these Five months are not the whole time of the plague of Locusts but the time only of their tormenting with their tail Agreeably to this supposal the Editio Complutensis followed by Plantine reads not vers 10. as we do with the Codex Regius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And they had tails like unto Scorpions and stings and in their tails they have power to hurt men five months And what if this then be the meaning of vers 5. They should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment of a Scorpion when he Striketh a man that is they should be tormented by the tail a◠Scorpions torment and strike with their tail 2. What if by the Head of this Army of Locusts we understand their Foremost troups or Vanguard which infested and setled in the Eastern parts erecting their chief Caliph at Bagdat or Babylon in Mesopotamia and by the Tail of this Army their Latter and hindmost troups which encamped Westward in Africk and Spain as the Rere of that great Army who in process of time erected also a Caliph at Algier and from thence after some ages invaded Sicily and Italy which they held even under the Walls of Rome and Pope's nose just five months or 150 years during which though they killed not the Beast yet they continually frighted vexed and tormented him For it should seem that the Holy Ghost in this number principally aimed at Italy once the Seat of the Empire and now of the Beast whom the Head-troups of these Locusts never came near but only their Tail Vers. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Daemons and Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk See this explained in Book III. pag. 635. CHAP. 10. vers 11. Thou must prophesie again before many c. These words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou must prophesie again which interpret the Symbolum of the Book-eating ver 10. do imply that the Systeme of Visions following do relegere tempus Apocalypticum ab ovo But if any Vision of that Systeme of Visions do begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical time or period as it is not denied but that of the Puerperium in Chap. 12. doth there is no reason to think but that the First Vision beginneth there both because it is the First and because it is the summe and Compendium of all that follow after If then the First Vision after the eating of the Book begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical period surely the Measuring of the Temple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which begins there If the Measuring of the Temple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begin at the beginning of Apocalyptical time then this Measuring cannot be contemporary with the Treading down of the Outer Court and the Witnesses prophesying in Sack-cloth because these contemporate with the Woman in the Wilderness and the XLII months blasphemy of the Beast which are granted not to be from the beginning of Apocalyptical time CHAP. 11. Vers. 2. the holy City shall they tread under foot 42 months and ver 3. my two Witnesses shall prophesie in Sack-cloth 1260 days and ver 9. three days and an half as in chap. 12. 14. a time and times and half a time That by these Numbers are not meant Three single years and an half see it demonstrated by five Reasons in Book III. pag. 598. CHAP. 12. vers 14. And to the Woman were given two Wings of a great Eagle This alludes unto Exod. 19. 4. where God is said to have born his people upon Eagle's wings and brought them out from the Egyptians unto himself namely in the Wilderness That she might flie into the Wilderness into her place where she is nourished from the face of the Serpent Seeing the whole Apocalyps almost consists of Expressions borrowed from the Types of the Old Testament why should not this of the Woman's dwelling and being fed in the Wilderness have reference to
the Apocalyptick Visions is expounded by the Angel 432 582. why she is said to have a golden cup in her hand and her Name written in her forehead 525 Wilderness Israel's being in the Wilderness and the Churche's abode in the Wilderness compared 906 907 Wing signifies in Dan. 9. an Army the fitness of the word to signifie thus 707. Wing of abominations is an Army of Idolarrous Gentiles ibid. How the Roman Army was the Army of Messiah 708 Witnesses why Two and in sackcloth 480 481. the two Wars of the Beast against them 765. their Slaughter how far it extends 760 761. their Death and Resurrection how to be understood 484 Women Why the Corinthian women are reproved for being unveiled or uncovered in the Church 61. how they are said to prophesie 58 59 Works Good Works 3 qualifications of them 217 c. 3 Reasons for the necessity of them 215 c. God rewards our Works out of his mercy not for any merit in them 175 World Heaven and Earth put according to the Hebrew idiom for World 613. That the World should last 7000 years and the Seventh Thousand be the Beatum Milleunium was an ancient Tradition of the Iews 892. World sometimes in Scripture put for the Roman Empire 705 Worship External worship required in the Gospel 47. Four Reasons for it 349 350. The Iews worshipped versus Locum praesentiae 394. That such Worshipping is not the same with worshipping God by an Image 395 To worship God in spirit and truth what 47. 48. The Worship directed to God is Incommunicable and why 638 639 Y. YEars That the Antichristian Times are more than 3 single Years and an half proved by 5 Reasons 598. The 70 years Captivity of the Iews in Babylon whence to be reckoned 658 Z. ZAchary The 9 10 and 11 Chapters in his Book seem to befit Ieremy's time better 786 833 c. Zebach or The bloudy Sacrifice defined 287 Zipporah deferred not the circumcision of her child out of any aversation of that Rite 52. her words in Exod. 4. 25. vindicated from the common misconstruction 53 c. ERRATA Page 481. line 3. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 790. l. 14. for Page r. Figure pag. 495. l. 10. r. Angelo pag. 496. l. antepenult r. legibus pag. 498. l. 1. r. crudelitate l. 41. r. Caesarum imperium A Catalogue of some Books Reprinted and of other New Books Printed since the Fire and sold by Richard Royston viz. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament by H. Hammond D. D. in Fol. Third Edition Ductor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience in Five Books in Fol. by Ier. Taylor D. D. and late Lord Bishop of Down and Gonnor The Practical Catechism together with all other Tracts formerly Printed in 4 o in 8 o and 12 o his Controversies excepted now in the Press in a large Fol. By the late Reverend H. Hammond D. D. The Great Exemplar or the Life and Death of the Holy Iesus in Fol. with Figures suitable to every Story Ingrav'd in Copper By the late Reverend Ier. Taylor D. D. Phraseologia Anglo Latina or Phrases of the English and Latine Tongue By Iohn Willis sometimes School-master at Thistleworth together with a Collection of English Latine Proverbs for the use of Schools by William Walker Master of the Free-School of Grantham in 8 o new The Whole Duty of Man now Translated into the Welch Tongue at the command of the four Lord Bishops of Wales for the benefit of that Nation By Io. Langford A. M. in 8o. The Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the necessity end and manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour in 8 o By the Reverend S. Patrick D. D. Chaplain in Ordidinary to his Sacred Majesty A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in 8o. Peace and Holiness in three Sermons upon several occasions the First to the Clergy Preached at Stony-Stratford in the County of Buoks being a Visitation-Sermon published in Vindication of the Author The Second preached to a great Presence in London The Third at the Funeral of M rs Anne Norton by Ignatius Fuller Rector of Sherrington in 8 o new A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lords Supper to which are added two Sermons by R. Cudworth D. D. Master of Christs-Colledge in Cambridge in 8o. The Works of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Iohn Gregory sometimes Master of Arts of Christ-Church in Oxon. 4o. The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court to which is now added the Signal Diagnostick by Tho. Pierce D. D. and President of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. in 4o. Also a Collection of Sermons upon several occasions together with a Correct Copy of some Notes concerning Gods Decrees in 4o. Enlarged by the same Author Christian Consolations drawn from Five Heads in Religion I. Faith II. Hope III. The Holy Spirit IV. Prayer V. The Sacrament Written by the Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Hacket late Lord Bishop of Leichfield and Coventry and Chaplain to King Charles the First and Second in 12 o new A Disswasive from Popery the First and Second Part in 4 o by Ier. Taylor late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor The Principles and Practises of certain several Moderate Divines of the Church of England also The Design of Christianity both which are written by Edward Fowler Minister of Gods Word at Northill in Bedfordshire in 8o. A Free Conference touching the Present State of England both at home and abroad in order to the Designs of France in 8 o new to which is added the Buckler of State and Iustice against the design manifestly discover'd of the Universal Monarchy under the vain Pretext of the Queen of France her pretensions in 8o. Iudicium Vniversitatis Oxoniensis à Roberto Sandersono S. Theologiae ibidem Professore Regio postea Episcopo Lincolniensi in 8o. The Profitableness of Piety open'd in an Assize Sermon preach'd at Dorchester by Richard West D. D. in 4 o new A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Honourable the Lady Farmor by Iohn Dobson B. D. Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen-Colledge in Oxon. in 4 o new THE END * All of them except some few mentioned at the end of this Preface * None of which were number'd among the Errata * Pag. 109. lin 21. ‖ These the Author a little before calls the Two parts of Repentance Aversion from sin the first Conversion to God the second part ‖ See p. 280. lin ult ‖ See p. 276 279 281. * Luk. 6. * Chap. 4. 15. * Chap. 2. ‖ Rev. 10. 9. * See a particular account both of the Enlargements and of the Additiâ—nals at the end of this Preface * See a particular account both of the Enlargements and of the Additiâ—nals at the end of this Preface * See Epistle 97. p. 881. * p.
343. p. 347. ‖ p. 823. * Besides some mentioned in another loose paper Acts 1. 3. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Acts 3. 22. Rom. 3. 21. Act. 26. 22 23. * Disc. XXIX p. 13â— * Epist. XLVIII * As in p. 334 to 339. and in many others * Ecclus. 51. 15 * Vers. 20. * See Book I. Disc. II. * Sâ—e Disc. XLIIâ— * See Book IV. pag. â—â—4 * See Book I. Disc. 49 50. not published before * Sect. 2. at the end * In the like strain he somewhere speaks of his skill in Chaldeeâ— as also in the Mathematicks which yet was great in others esteem how little soever it was in his own * See Book III. p. 666 671. * See Ep. 23. p. 777. See pag. 569. * Gen. 41. * Rom. 15. * This is mentioned both in the beginning and in the end of the Apocalyps Ch. 1. 3. and Ch. 22. 7. * For such an impossible condition is the understanding of this Book suppos'd to be according to that Hypothesis * In his way of interpreting 2 Thes. 2. Dan. 7. he departs also â—â—â—m the sense of the Ancients and forsakes those common Sentiments and Notions wherein the Fathers generally agree touching the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the man of Sin the Fourth Beast and Little Horn the Son of Man's coming in the clouds the Stone cut out of the mountain without hards besides other passages in thâ—se ch in ch 11. ‖ See Dr. More 's Mystery of Gâ—dliâ—ess Book 5. ch 15 16 17. and his Synopsis Prophetica Book 2. ch 2 3 4 c. * Gen. 49. * 〈…〉 p. 43. ‖ See Ep. 29. * See pag. â—â—2 * So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used * Vid. Clemâ— Constir Cyrill Hierof Catech. * See pag. 652. * See pag. 531 772. * of this Edition ‖ Disc. XLVIII * Disc. XLIX ‖ Disc. L LI An. 1613. Disc. LII An. 1615. Disc. LIII An. 1614. * Heb. 5. * 1 Cor. 9. * Vid. Enarâ—â—t in Psal. 138. * Book III. pag. 581. * Except that Tract in Chap. 9. of the Remains he of a â—ater date * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—â— in Paneg. Bene saâ—ienter Majores insâ—â—uerunt ut rerum agendarum initium 〈◊〉 Precationibus capeâ—â—â—ur * Psal. 111. * Chap. 1. 5. * In Dâ—al cum Tâ—yphon * Dan. 2. 18. * Vers. 32 c. * Apoc. â— 5. 4. * Chap. 6. 1. * Isai. 22. ‖ Gen. 37. 28. * Prov. 3. * Prov. 3. * Psal. 33. praise is comely for the upright * 1 The Babylonian 2 that of the Medes and Persians 3 The Greek 4 the Roman * Of these Numbers 1290 1335 see Mr. Mede's Revâ—latio Antichristi in pag. 717. * See Ep. 14. pag. 759. * 1 Cor. 14. 30. * See Ep. 41. * Chap. 3. â—9 * Exod. 33. * Num. 12. * Acts 7. * Deâ—t 9. * Chap. 9. 23. * Chap. 10. 11. * Matth. 7. ‖ Prov. 2. 4. * Eccles. 9. 10. * 1 Tim. 4. â—Sis totus in illis * So he calls his Study or Chamber in Ep. 97. * The rest of it is about News and therefore was not published in this Edition * Chap. 17. * Psal. 119. * De Resâ—urr carn ‖ Hom. 2 in Io. * 2 Pet. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Aâ—ex in Proâ—rept * 2 Tim. 3. ‖ Apocal. ch 6. 8. * Chap. 9. 2 3. ‖ Vers. 14 c. * A Lion a Bullock a Man and an Eagle * Vid. p. 913. ‖ Vid. p. 447 pag. 909. ‖ Ch. 26. 18. * See Comment Apoc. p. 473. ‖ Alexander did affect to be call'd and worshipped as the Son of Iupiter Hammon the upper part of whose Image was a Goat and in his Pictures and Coins he would be represented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Iud. 19. ‖ Gal 5. 22. See a particular account of such Prophetick Symbols as these mâ—he Authors Comment Apoc. p. 448 449 459 466. and a yet more particular account in Dr. More 's Prophetick Alphabet in his forementioned Synâ—psis Prâ—pâ—â—â—â—a Book I. Ch 3 6. 7 8 9. * 2 Ep. 1. * De Sophist Elench l. 2. c. ult * See pag. 431 432. See also pag. 381. * See the last lines in his Epistles p. 86â— * Acts 17. 11. * Phil. 1. 10. * Iude 16. * De rita beata * Pag. 550. * 〈◊〉 p. 748. * Ep. 8. p. 742. * Pag. 567 569. ‖ Pag. 567 569. * Hence also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Ager 〈◊〉 aâ—â—s ‖ See pag. 790. c. * Pag. 877. ‖ 1 Esde 4. * l. 5. * Luke 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. 22. 26. Zeph. 3. 4. * 2 Ep. 3. * 1 Kings 4. ‖ Psal. 51. * Ier. 45. ‖ 1 Tim. 6. 9. * 1 Pet. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ Rom. 16. * Psal. 51. * Rom. 12. 3. * 1 Cor. 8. * Phil. 4. * 1 Cor. 2. * Io. 7. * The râ—st of the Letter did not need to be published it treating either of private business or of what he has in other Letters of Tracts more fully spoken of * Matth. 13. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Hos. 8. 12. * Chap. 16. * 2 Cor. 1. * See Epist. 51. * 2 Cor. 11. 27. * Ier. 48. * Isa. 40. * 2 Cor. 4. * Psal. 119. * 2 Thess. 2. * Col. 1. * Apocal. 7. * A Country-town not far from BishopsStoriford * â—nno 1610. * Upon 1 Cor. 11. 22. ‖ Upon Levit. 19. 30. Sanctuarium meum reveremini * See Dr. Iâ—â—son's Life written by E. V. and his Ep. Dedicat. before hiâ— l. Book upon the Creed * Prov. 3. * Gen. 6. ‖ Ecclus. 44. * Psal. 107. * 1 Cor. 13. * See Dan. â— 44. ch 7. 14. Esay 6â— 17. ch 66. â—2 with many other placâ—s in that Prophecy * See Mr. Medes â— Letter to Dr. Meddus p. 77â— * See his Remains p. 603. where he would have us wary and careful that we admit nothing into our imaginations which may cross or impeach any Catholick Tâ—net of the Christian Faith ‖ See his Preface before his Commentary p. 435 and what he adds at the end of his Specimen dâ— mille annis Tubae Septimae p. 532. * See also his Epistle to Lud. de Dieu pag. 571. In quam sententiaâ—â— de Millenario â—e nuâ—â animi levitate aut studio praeâ—â—stero dâ—â—apsum credas velim sed postquam alia omnia frusâ—rà tenâ—âssem tandem rei ipsius claritudine perstrictum Paradoxo succubuissâ— * See his Apolâ—gy edit 3. p. 451. * See this Testimony illustrated and vindicated from a corrupt reading p. 533. * See Epistle LII pag. 813. * See his Remains p. 6â—â— * 2 Ep. c. 3. * Pâ—â—â— 24. * Prov. 17. * Titus 1. a Acts 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Times of cool refreshing b Isai. 59. * 2 Pet. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
2. 13 14 Phil. 2. 10. 〈◊〉 ver 6. Gen. 49. 6◠〈…〉 Verse 9. * Iâ—r 2. 11. Chap. 4. 9. Verse 11. Chap. 5. 12. Verse 13. * Origen contr Celsum lib. l. p. 46. Gr. â—g◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vid. Num. 6. 26. Iudg. 6. 24. Psal. 85.7 c. Ca 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 18. Acts 10. 43. Matth. 6. 15. Eph. 6. 2. * Matth. 6. 14 15. Verse 32 c. Verse 35. * Of the Corban see Discourse 〈◊〉 * Ephes. 4. 26. * Chap. 4. 12. * Verse 17. Matth 17. 10. Luke 1. 76. Verse 17. Mar. 1. 14 15 * Chap. 40. 3. Mal 4. 1. Verse 5. * 〈…〉 Mal. 4. 5. Ezek. 37. 24. * and Matth. 11. 14. Acts 10. 37. * Matt. 11. 21. ‖ Chap 4. 15. * Matt. 4. 15. Acts 1. 11. Acts 2. 7. Matt. 17. 5. Matt. 26. 32. Matth. 28. 7. Verse 10. Esay 9. 1 2 3 c. Iohn 7. â—1 Iohn 7. 41 52. 1 Sâ—m 16. 11. Verse 6. Eccles. 1. 2. Matt. 3. 2. * See 1 Mac cab 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Coram â—oelo â— coram Dâ—o Matth. 1â— Luke 17. 21. * Matt. 26. â—3 Gen. 3. 15. A twofold state of Christ's Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 28. Why Christâ—s Kingdom is called The Kingdom of Heaven or of God Dan 2 32 33. Vers. 34. Vers. 35. Vers. 44. Vers. 45. Dan. 9. 24. Vers. 26. * luke 2. 25. 38. ch 19. 11. * Ioseph de bell Iud l. 7. c. 31. Tacit. l. 5. Hâ—stor Sueton l. 8. Matth. 2. 1. Eph. 2. 12. Rom. 9. 4 5. Repentance iâ— more than a Sorrow for sim. See Rom. 8. 1â— Col. 3. 5. Eph. 2. 5. Col. 2. 13. * Psal. 51. 17. Esay 57. 15. ch 66. 2. Matt. 25. 41. Ezek. 18. 23. 33. 11. Iohn 20. 21. Matt. 11. 28. Matt. 9. 17. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 56. * Gen. 21. 12. Of this see Discourse XIII Luke 2. 14. Rev. 1. 5. 6. Mat. 25. 34. c. Vers. 42. Rom 6. 14. Gal. 5. 18. 2. 16. Rom. 3. 28. and elsewhere * Rom. 3. 27. Rom. 3. 23 10. Matt. 11. 30. * Rom. 6. â— Verse 1. Verse 3. 1 Sam. 10. 27. Acts 5. 3 4. * So in Fâ—th 7. 5. 't is said Who is he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose heart hath filled him we read it that durst presume to do so Lud. de Dieu in Io. 11. Act. 5. Quis tantos spiritus sumpsit tam aud ax evâ—sit ut hoc facere sustineat The like phrase we have in Eccles. 8. 11. The heart of the sons of men is fully seâ— in them to do evil In the former place the LXX hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Serm. 25. De verb. Ap. * Serm. 〈…〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie both a thing cursed and a thing offered or consecrated which had a cursâ— laid upon it viz. a curse to him that medled with it 〈◊〉 Propriety Observat. 1. * See Discourse V. Observat. 2. Observ. 3. Vide Chrysâ—ft in Matt. 21. 12. * S. Ierom on this place affirms this to be one of the greatest Miracles wrought by our Lord. Iosh. 7. 2â— 1 Sam. 2. * 2 Chron. 3â— 21. Levit. 25. 4. * Dan. 5. 2. Veâ—s 6. Vers. 30â— * Hâ—s 6. â— Matt. â— 13. 12â— 7. * Matt. 6. 19. 20. Aâ—ur's Request Prov. 30. 8 9 * Deut. 7. 6 ch 14. 2. 26. 18. Observat. 1. Mark 10. 21. Matth. 15. 24. Matth. 19. 16. Verse 22. Matth. 10. 37. 19. 29. Luke 6. 20. Psal. 120. â— Ier. 49. 28. Num. 6 2. c. Observ. 2. Vers. 11. Vers. 13. Observat. 3. * Horat. Carm l. 2. Od. 10. Aurtam quisquis Mediocâ—â—atem Diligâ—t tutus caret obsolâ—â—â— Sordibus tects 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Sobrius aulâ Seneca in Oedipo Fata siâ—câ—aâ— mihi Fingere arbitâ—to â—â—o c. Tuta me in dâ—â â—hat Vita decurrenâ—â—â—â The Reason of Agur's Reâ—uest Mar. 8. 36. 1 Cor. 10. 31. 〈…〉 Observat. 1. Observat. 2. Observat. 3. Prov. 3. 9. Psal. 24. 1. Iob 2. 4. Lev. 6. 2 c. Observat. 1. Observat. 2. Observat. 3. Observat. 4. Isai. 2. 2 3 4. Roâ— 11. 2â— Of thâ—s see in Book III. Treatise of Tâ—e Apostasie of the latter Times ch 10 1 King 19. 1â— See this more fully discoursed of in the Treatise of The Apostasie of the latter Times Book III chap. 9. Rom. 11. 11. * Acts 13. 46. chap 18. 6. chap. 28. 28. Rom. 11. 25. Verse 12. Dan. 2. 34. See in Book IV. Epistle 8. The Purport of the â—ouâ— Kingdoms in Damâ—â— * Dan. 2. 35. The first Consideration of Adonibezek's words Iudg. 1. 7. Observ. 1. 1 Tim. â— 3. Chap. 21. 13. 2 Sam. 12. 13 Verse 11. Verse 10. Verse 14. See also Psal. 52. 7. Observat. 2. Isaâ— 73. 2. Ier. 12. 1. Rev. 18. 7. Prov. 1. 7. * Var. hist. l. 4. c. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Pliny l. 7. nat hist. c. 5 1. Phereâ—â—dâ—s copiá serpentium ex corpore ejus erumpente exspiravit Gen. 18. 32. Ionah 3 4. Matth. 8. 10. Observ. 3. Matth. 7. 2. Chap. 35. 15. * Exod. 1. 22. 12. 29. * 2 Sam. 11. 4. Chap. 16. 22. * 2 Chr. 21. v. 4 17. 1 Kings 11. 5. 1 Kings 12. 20. Of this Otho or Hatto 11. see Trithemias Isengâ—inâ—us â— 10. Rerum Spir. c. Psal. 106. 18. A 〈◊〉 was kindled in their company seâ— flames burnt up the â—icked * Iudg. 19. 2 25. 1 Sam. 2. 22. c. Chap. â— 1â— Maâ—th 27. 25. Numb 13. 25. Num. 14. 33 â—â— Observat. 4. 〈…〉 Matth 4. 8. Chap. 19. 5. Gen. 3. 16. Verse 17. Verse 24. 2 Chron. 12. 10 Mar. 8. 36. The Second consideration of Adonibezek's words Observat. 1. Gen. 42. 21. Exod. 9. 27. Numb 21. 7. 2. Chro. 33. 12. Psal. 119. 71. Observ. 2. Psal. 73. 2 3. Observat. 3. Gen. 42. 21. Verse 22. Pâ—â—ris libamus auro saith the Poet that is Libamâ—â— patâ—â—â— ex auro Chalyboâ—◠〈…〉 * Exod. 23. 15. Mat. 11. 28 29 Sâ—n a burtheâ— and load in â—eâ—pect of â—â—e we giâ—t of Punisâ—ment Loathsomness The reason of Sin 's Loathsomness Heb. 11. 6. Ioh. 1. 29. â— Tâ—â— 12. 13. Matâ— 19. 6. Mat. 11. 29. Acts 4. 12. Iames 2. 〈◊〉 Matt. 7. 2â— Of Lowliness Matt. 5. â— 1 Sam. 16. 7. Prov. 3â— 8 9. * This was preached Anno 1625. when there was a great plague in London Iames 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Of Meekness 1 Iâ—â—n 2. 3. * Esa. 48. 22. Phil. 4. 7. Prov. 31. 6. Luke 23 34. Nehem. 9. 17. Ioel 2. 13. Verse 11 12. Vers 13. Verse 14. Verse 15. Acts 10. 4. Verse 3. * Verse 4. * Verse 5. * Verse 6. Verse 2. See Discourses III. and XI Acts 15. * Acts 10. 45 46. Verse 20. Hag. 2. 7. See Discourse III. at the end * Exo. 23. 〈◊〉 Deut.
blessed the Congregation which stood in the outward Court 2 Chron. c. 6. v. 12 3. and they sacrificed that day and all the time of the Feast viz. in the Courts though the Priests could not enter the Covered Temple for the glory of the Lord which filled it * Viz. the Trumpets * Chap. 8. 10. See before in Chap. 2. Sect. 6 * See before in Chap. 3. Sect. 1. * Chap. 7. * Chap. 14. 1. * Chap. 13. 11. * Chap. 14. 4. * Vers. 15. * Vers. 18. * Vers. 20. * Decemb. 27. * Num. 2. 2. a Ch. 3. 4. ch 6. 11. ch 7. 13. b Ch. 2. 11. ch 20. 6. 14. ch 21. 8. * The Lxx. have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Israil is often in the Psal. and elsewhere in Scripture called God's inheritance * Vers. 4. * Vers. 4. * 〈…〉 Vide Commâ—ns Apocal ad cap. 8. vers 8. * The Caesars were Pontifices maximi as well as Augusti and received the Pontifical Stole at their inauguration yea Constantine and his sons received the Stole and bore the Title though they executed not the Office Gratian was the first that refused both * The Demi-Caesars kept their Court at Ravenna never at Rome The Numbers of Times in Dan. 12. have also been taken definitely by those who yet differ about their Epocha * This is more fully demonstrated in the next Chapter * Roma meretrix rides the Beast under his last Head * Chap. 9. v. 5. * Vers. 15. * Chap. 16. 12 c. Dan. 10. 2â— * Targum Hierosolym Targum Ionâ—thanis * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * This is the Author 's own Argument to what follows See the meaning of those days in the Author 's learned Discourse De Nuâ—heris Danielis c. which is the last Discourse in this Third Book * Compare Dan. 11. 31. Chap. 12. 11. See page 531. * See pag. 534. * See in Book V. the words of Gaius out of Eusebius with the Author's Animadversions Thâ—s was wroté before his Comment on the Apocal. and so were the other Tracts in these Râ—mains except that in Chap. 9. be of a later date Dan. 7. 13. Zach. 12. 10. See in Book V. the Author 's short Tract styled The Mystery of S. Pauls Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews Revel 20. 4. Chap. 20. 6. * See in Book IV. the Authors 2d Letter to D. Meddus where this is largely treated of See also above in this Book in the Appendix to the Apocal. his Epist. ad Amicum De Resurrectionâ— Prima c. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Vid. Act. Concil Niceni apud Gelas. Cyzicen l. 1. c. 23. â—l 24. ‖ In Catech. 14. * Hades is properly the place of Separate Souls whether good or bad after death * Ezek. 38. 15. chap. 39. 2. a If that which S. Peter here describeth were foretold by the old Prophets then must S. Peter be so expounded as it may be shewn in them and agree with them a This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or last days should seem to be the time of the Churche's Apostasie under Antichrist according to that of S. Paul 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of Daemons For as the times of the fourth and last of Daniel's Kingdoms were the last times in general during which Christ was to come and found his Church and Kingdom so the latter times of the Fourth Kingdom being that period of a Time times and half a time wherein the wicked Horn should domineer are the latmost times of the last times or last times in special b I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been c I take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning viz. The scoffers say Where is the Promise of his coming Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth according to his Promise But here is somewhat Reader in the application wherein thou mayest erre but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure nor think I am For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie which I suppose to be called the last times and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times yet thou must know 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth and of those who led by their authority take it afterward without further examination for an Error 2. To scoff is one thing and barely not to believe is another 3. 'T is one thing to deny a promise simply and another to deny or question the manner thereof as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded and when it is intangled with errors as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been As touching the Iews and the impeachment of this Opinion amongst them in the latter times I find amongst the Doctors of the Gemara or Gloss of their Talmud which was finished about 500 years after Christ a Tenet of one R. Samuels often mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there was to be no difference between the present state of the world and the days of Messiah but in respect of the bondage under the Kingdoms of the Gentiles only thereby opposing the more ancient opinion and tradition of the Renovation of the World After this time there appears to have been amongst the Iews a Sect of the followers of the opinion of this R. Samuel which at length was greatly advanced by the authority of that learned Maimonides who having drunk too deep of the Philosophy of Aristotle wherein he was admirably skilful became a
quaâ—s nec fabulâ—e nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt c. Hieron in vita Hilationis b Heâ— tempore velut per universum Orbem Romanum canentibus buccinis excitae gentes savissimae limites sibi proximos persultabant Gallias Rhaetidsque simul Alemaâ—ni populabantur Sarmatae Pannonias Quadi Picti Saxones Scoti Attacotti Britannos aerumnis vexavâ—re continuis Thracias diripiâ—bant praedatorii globi Gethorum c. Ammian ibid. cap. 10. c Hieâ— Ep. 3. Ante annum 400. vigâ—nâ—i â—o ampliùs anni sunt cum inter Constantinopolin Alpes Iulias quotidie Romanus sanguis essunditur Sâ—ythiam Thraciam Macedoniam Daciam Dardaniam Thessaliam Achaiam Epires Dahnaâ—iam cunctdsque Pannonias Gothus Sarmata Quadus Alanus Hunni Vandali Marcomanni vastant rapiunâ— Romanus Orbis ruit Quid putas nunc animi habere Corinthtes Athenienses Lacedaemmios Arcadas cunctdnique Graeciam quibus imperant Barbari d Synesius Orat. ad Arcadium August Quomodo enim ferre possumus partes viriles in nostra Republica alienorum externorum esse fortissimum Imperium concedere aliis bellicae gloriae principatum Neque enim dubitandum est fore ut illi aliquando armis instructi hominum urbanorum se Dâ—minos esse velint Quod priusquam eveniat revocandi sunt nobis Romanorum animi ita assuefaciendi ut ipsi suo Mario vincere possim velint nec omnino societatem cum Barbaris ineant sed eos omnes despiciant omnique loco funditus pellant Primùm igitur Magistratu ejiciantur procul à Curiae honoribus arceantur quibus per summum dedecus ea obvenerunt quae diu apud Romanos habita sunt reipsa fuerunt apud eos honestissima Nam Deam Themidâ—m quae Senatui Bellonam quae Exercitui praesidet obvelare se arbiâ—ror cùm cernant hominem penulá scorteâ indutum ducem esse chlamydatorum villosam penulam exâ—entem togam sumere de summa rerum cum Romano Magistratu consulere prope ipsum Consulem sedentem longè post eum sedentibus iis quibus bonos ille jure optimo debebatur Paulo post Apud nos Exercitus magni sunt nostrisque servis Scythis sanguine conjuncti qui nescio quo infelici fato in Romanum Imperium irrneâ— unt I le suâ—s duces habent magnae authoritam vâ—râ—s non solâ—â—m apud eos ipsos sed etiam apud nos quod malum nostra dedit socordia nobis Paulo post de Theodosio Ille suâ—plicantes scil Gothos erexit bâ—lli soâ—ios ascivit civitate donavit omnium honorum participes fecit partem Romani agri iis attribuit At illi quòd pater tuus â—â—tem seus praebuit nos in hunc usque diem derident Sed id primus fecerat Valens Anno 374. de quo sic Paulus Dâ—aconus Hist. Misâ—â—ll lib. 12. cap. 14. Hunnes Gothi transito Danubio fugientes à Valente sine ulla foederis pactione suscepti sunt qui tribuit eis â—oraâ— Thracâ—arum ad habitandum arbitratus praeparatum solatium ab eis habere contra omnes Barbaros hac prâ—re Mâ—â—es dâ— caetero negligebat eos qui dudum contra hostes elaboraverant Imperator despiciebat c. Hoc ergo fuit ivitium ut 〈◊〉 tempore Romana Respublica calamitatibus subderetur Barbari namque cùm Thracias tenâ—issent licenter Romanorum vostabant provinciaâ— c. * Vid. Socratem l. 4. c. 27 * Paulus Diaconus Hist. Misc. prout ex codice Palatino edidit Ianus Gruterus Quatuor decim interim diâ—s secutâ liberâ dirâ—ptione omnibus opibus suis miracuâ—is Româ— vacuata est â— in quibus erant Ecclesiastica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tota ex auro lapidibus pretiosis ornata vasa Hebraica quae Titus Vespasiani filius post captivitatem Hiâ—rosolymitarum Romam detulâ—rat mulâ—dque milliâ— captivorum cum Regina Eudoxia quae Gensericum ad hoc facinus invitavâ—rat duabùsque ejus filiabus Carthagiâ—m abducta sunt * Chap. â— Verse 8 24. * Salona Iornandes quem vide cum Paulo Diacono * Vide Can. 9. Concil Laodicen An. 364. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * See this fully proved in Book I Discourse XX. Cyril Hierosol Câ—tech 6 expounds this of Iohn to mean Simon Magus * 〈…〉 Thus must that of S. Iames in chap. 5. 3. be expounded and so Occumenius expounds the words Weep and â—oul yâ—â—richmen for the miserus that shall come upon you Ye have heaped up goods for the last dayes that is when the land of your State is a coming and the Romans shall spoil you of all This being supposed to be the reason why many of the Christian Iews sold their lands and laid the mony at the Apostles â—eet * An. 57. S. 19. An. 72. S. 26. An. 82. S. 3. a Matt. 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. Dan. 9. 24. b Luke 21. 24. c 2 Thess. 2. 7. d lbid v. 8. e Rom. 11. 25. f 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Hebr. 2. 8. g 3 Per. 3. 4. * Ch. 7. 25. Ver. 21. * So Targum Onkelos and Ionathan both render it expresly Servics pâ—puli◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servientibus Idolis Deut. 28. 36 64. also c. 4. 28. necnon Targum Ionathan Ir. 16. 1â— 1 Sam. 26. 19. that is in all the places forecited * 2 Sam. 7 23. God is said to have redeemed Israel from Egypt from the Nations and their Gods See Tr 〈…〉 el. who turns it more to our purpose * Vers. 26. 42. a See the oration of Licinius to his Souldiers Euseb. de vita Constantin lib. 2. c. 5. b Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Altar he there speaks of in his defence was inscribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God saith he I preach unto you c Roma cùm penè omnibus dominatetur Gentibus omnium Gentium serviebar erroribus magnam sibi videbatur assumpsisse Religionem quia nullam â—espuebat falsitatem Leo Mag. in Ser. 1. in nat Apost Petri Pauli Hic confutandi Daemonum cultus hìc omnium sacrificiorum impâ—ie â—as destruenda ubi diligentissâ—ma Superstiâ—ione habeatur collectum quicquid usquam fuerat vanis erroribus institutâ—m ld ib. * See this use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezra 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Angl. with Lev. 16. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. atque LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 33. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 32. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. cùm Angl. with a Under the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 38. b viz. ver 42. of this ch over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vers 3. of the next ch over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where it is unpossible it should distinguish and so elsewhere * Coloss. â— 16. * Some render it not of but is his Aâ—ointed or Messiah that is Messiah is Mahoz Ieshâ—â—â— * 1 Sam.
his Clavis Apocalyptica seven Copies whereof he sent into Ireland ‖ Viz. Dissert Le Numeriâ— Dan. cap. 12. v. 11 12. Speâ—â—men interpret Millen Apocalypt * That the Seventâ— Mâ—â—nary is by the whole School of the Cabâ—alists call'd The Great Day of Iudgment * namely such as Moses Law had prescribed for their Feasts and Solemnities ‖ namely them of old about Sacrificing and Circumcision c. Rev. 10. â— 2 Thess. 2. 8. * Rev. 13. 1. Object Answer Object Answ. Object Answer * Dan. 8. 23. See the last Discourse but one in Book III. Regnum Romanum est Regnum quartum Danielis Argum. 3. * Rev. 10. 7. Rev. 11. 15. * See this Prophesie of Tobit explained in pag. 579. * For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 25. 〈◊〉 Tâ—en shall be Signs So the Hebrews use that copulative and the Greek Testament with them Acts 1. Repl. Bâ—â—â— Iuâ— 7. 12. Ioseph 15. 5. Xiphil Ioseph Bell. 1. 13. S. Ier. in Dan. c. 11. Isocrat Alâ—â—ed Object Answer * Ch. 11. 15. Vâ—d Dâ—n Weeks Dan. 9. v. 25. * Iâ—â—â— 12. 7. * Dan. 7. 22. Matth. 24. 34. 2 Thess. â— 3. * I have had good occasion to know his name and some of his notions too * 〈…〉 * Witnesses and Keepers of the Primitive Doctrine * Chap. 4. * the little Book Revel 10. Vixit â—ndreâ—â— circa annum Christi 500. * Revel 11. verse 12. ‖ Verse 13. * Verse 14. * Verse 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Verse 13. * Verse 8. * Verse 9. * Verse 2. * Rom. 11. 11. See this more fully reâ—ed of in Ep. XVII See alsâ— in Book V. aâ— Trâ—ct styled The Mystâ—ry of S. Paul's Conversion * Vulgar Lat. Donec throni 〈◊〉 sunt LXX Thâ—odotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chaâ—d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpatum de Solo inveniat apud Chald. Paraph â—â—â— â— v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi in 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepâ—uag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Verse 10. ‖ Verse 13. 1 Cor. 6. 2. 2 Thest. ch 2. ver 2 3. * See Epistle VIII * Chap. 11. 9. * Matt. 24. 29. * Because * Therefore Or I could say This apparition might be vouchsafed to some chief ones of them whom God should chuse and they as wiâ—nesses make it known to the rest A remarkable story of a great conversion of Iews wrought by Christ's apparition and voice from heaven according to that Apocal. 5. 10. Wâ— shall reign oâ— the earth N. B. * See Book III. pag. 664. * See Book III. pag. 664. See in Book III. pag. 710. â—rist ad Amicuâ—â— de Resurrestionâ— prima That the word Day in Scripture sometimes implies a long times or many years * See Dr. Twisse his First Letter to Mr. Mâ—de * In a MS. of Dr. Twisse there is a third Answer added in the Margin but whether it was added in the Paper of his Answers sent by Dr. Meddâ—â— to Mr. Mede appearâ— tur Answ. 3. It appears by Esa. 65. 20. that they who are sound alive at Christ's coming shall be â—bnoxioâ—s unto death but after death thâ—y shall rise ere the 1000 years be eâ—pâ—â—â— and reign 〈◊〉 Christ. 1 Thess. 4. * 1. Thesâ— 4. verse 16 17â— * In Geâ—â—ra Abodah Zarah c. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutabitur though we here translate it be moved movâ—bitur * See this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 explained by the Author in his Paraphr on 2 Pet. 3. ver 16. The explication of which verse was written by Mr. Mede in Dr. Twisse's Manuscript and not extant in the former Editions See Book III pag. 612. * See Epist. VIII ‖ See Epist. XV. * Revel 17. * Dan. 7. 24. * Vid. Gen. 22. 13. Exod. 14. 19. Iosh. 8. 2. 2 Kingâ— 9. 18. 2 Chro. 13 13. Ezck. 3. 12. alibi * See Book III. pag 463. pag 661. * In another 〈◊〉 of Mr. 〈◊〉 to Mr. Thoâ— Iohnson of Rochdale in Lancashire Novemb 9. 1636. â—here much of 〈◊〉 letter is transâ—ribâ—d in answer to the like Dâ—ubt is â—â—is added The Aâ—â—i-christian Hâ—rn with eyes and mouth that is qui cum revera Comu tantâ—m sit pro Capâ—e tamen sese â—erit cujus est proprtum oâ— oculos habere * In the Letter to Mr. T. I. this is add d now â—fter the division and dilaceration of the Empire but one of the Kingdoms ‖ The Horn. * this proud domineering Horn. * and invested * Verse 4 5 6. This and the two short Letters that follow though written at some distance of time are in this as in the former Edition joyned together as being preparatory to the better understanding of the large Letter immediately following * Ezek. 4. 6. * Anâ—al Eccles Tom. 4. See also chap. 5. 11. Ia the rest is no tittle difference throughout * For no where else is Messiah so termed but there * See the Scheme in pag. 430. of this Editio * erias * Iconisâ—is This Latin Epistle is of the same import with Epistle XXXVII This Letter containâ— Mr. Mede's thanks returned to M. Testard for his great respectsâ— wiâ—hal his reasons why he cannot concur with him in his notions about the Number of the. Beast's name * Vid. pag. 710. * Vid. pag. 713â— * Whâ—â—h I desire when you have used it to send me back again Ezek. 38. 17. explained * Ezek. 38. 2. Micah 5. Dan. 11. 35 36 explained * Namely of the end of the Greek Monarchy which in the holy account is not extended beyond Antiochus Epiphanes * i. primiâ— * â—on caeditur populus usquedum caedâ—tur princeps ejus in excelâ—o R. Sol. ad Esaiae 34. 5. See Mr. Mede's Conjecture of Gog and Magog in Book III. Pag. 713. * Thâ— Terra Australiâ— yet incognita might in part be peopled through that fry of Islands lying between it and Camboia in the Oriental Sea But of that Continent we know nothing whether it be fully inhabited or not Our Saviouâ—â— proof of the Resurrection from Exod. 3. 6. I am the God of Abraham c. explained Exod. 6. 4. Deut. 11. â—1 Vid. Luc 10. 5â— In the Old Testamâ—nt 〈◊〉 See Gen. 〈◊〉 12. 49. Iudg. 5. 〈◊〉 Mark those words well The land of thy pilgrimage The land whereon thy headlies Gen. 28. The land which thou seest Gen. 13. and the like And in S. Paul The place which he shouâ—d after receive for an inheritance Heb. 11. * 1 Cor. 15. * Of which this Great Author hath given a Specimen in his prefecting and more fully expressing such pieces of that Treause as he had occasion to exceâ—p and make use of in senâ—e Writings in this Volume as the judicious Reader may observe Huâ—us 〈◊〉 pag. 476. This Letter contains Mr. Dury's great respect to Mr. Mede and withal sollicits him to impart his thoughts about the best method of pursuing the design for a Pacification amongst the Protestant