see one joyfull day the light of Gods Countenance did not shine upon them as the history of the Old Testament especially of the Bookes of Kings and Chronicles do sufficiently testifie Nor did this Nation from the day of our Saviours death enjoy one quiet or secure day not one houre wherein there either was not apparent danger or some secret breeding of new calamities nor shall they enjoy any till it please him whom they crucified to restore them againe to the land of their Inheritance from which they are scattered or at least to their spirituall state from which they are fallen 6 That the forementioned lamentation or threne did in the literall and historicall sense referre unto the untimely death of good Iosiah that the calamities which ensued upon his death did typically portend just matter of greater sorrow for the death of the Lords Anointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messias that one place of the Prophet Zachariah to omit others perswades me They shall mourne for him as one who mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne In that day shall there be a great mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zachar. 12.10 11. c. For in the valley of Megiddo Iosiah was slaine as it is recorded 2 Chron. 35.22 23. And all Ierusalem and Iudah mourned for Iosiah and Ieremiah lamented for Iosiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Iosiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations This disaster occasioned by his owne oversight or forwardnesse to fight with Necho befel Iosiah after he had wrought that remarkable reformation in the house of the Lord and after hee had celebrated the Passeover with such solemnity as had not been seen before in Jerusalem nor after It was the eminency of Iosiah his zeale and fidelity in setting forth that solemnity and other services of God which occasioned this people even the Prophets first to conceive that they should prosper under his shadow and after these hopes had failed to lament his death in such passionate expressions as the faithfull amongst his people even our Saviours Disciples did his death But we trusted that it had beene he who should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.20 The extremity of sorrow upon our Saviours death foreshadowed by the Lamentations for Iosiahs losse was fulfilled pro illâ vice in that compunction of heart and spirit in Saint Peters Auditors Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we doe But the full accomplishment of those mournfull Lamentations for our Saviours death whether foreshadowed or foretold or inchoated whether in the Old Testament or in the New is not to be expected before the conversion of the Jews which will not be publick or Nationall untill they seriously and publiquely repent them of their owne sinnes and of the sinnes of their forefathers for putting the Lord of life and King of glory to a bitter and shamefull death Nor is the Nation of the Jews onely but all the kinreds of the Earth to bewaile him and repent for all were causes of his death Behold he commeth saith Saint Iohn with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kinreds of the earth shall waile because of him Rev. 1.7 7 A fitter Subject for meditations to make either a private Christian truely wise or wise men especially Governors whether Ecclesiasticall or civill truly Christian I could not commend unto the one or other though bound so to doe upon my deathbed then the sacred historie concerning the estate of Judah from the death of good Iosiah to the end of the Babylonish Captivitie and the history of Iosephus and others who have decipherd the estate of the Jews since they put the Lord of life to death This parallel betweene Jerusalems two progresses to her first and second destruction was the maine theame of my first ministerial meditations the contents wherof would bee too laborious to collect and their expressions too long to bee interserted in this Treatise To returne therefore to the former path from which I have somewhat though not impertinently digressed 8 Of that glory of Christ which shall be revealed when every eye shall see him when they that crucified and pierced his body shall mourne after such a manner as Zacharie and St. Iohn in the places forecited import Hee himselfe in the houres of his greatest humiliation immediately after his agony in the garden and as I take it before Iudas did deliver him up to the high Priest and Officers did exhibite some rayes or glimpses by striking the Armed band which came to attach him backwards downe to the ground with the sole words or breath of his mouth And again by the deliverance of his followers from such rage and tyranny as they practiced against him that the words of the Prophets not their projects and his exposition of their meaning might be fulfilled I will smite the Shepheard and the sheep shall be scattered This prophecy wee have Zachar. 13.7 The accomplishment of this prophecy was in part exemplified by the scattering of his Apostles and Disciples upon his apprehension and death And so were the words immediately following in the Prophet punctually verified and really exemplified in recollecting them again after his Resurrection and the feast of Pentecost next ensuing The full accomplishment of the prophecy as it concerns the scattering of the flock or sheep was not publiquely declared or exemplified before the destruction of the second Temple and dispersing of the Jewish Nation The other parts of the same prophecy must be afterwards accomplisht in the conversion of the Jews CHAP. XXIIII Of the predictions or prefigurations of our Saviours sufferings after his apprehension in the High Priests hall c. 1 ALL these rayes or glimpses of the Sun of Righteousnesse did interpose themselves in the dayes of his humiliation and obscuritie before he was led bound to Caiaphas the high Priest But after Iudas of a close Ahitophel or cunning traitour became an open Dalilah and had betrayed his Master into their hands with a kisse this Sampson the Sun of righteousnesse became like another man or like the moone in eclipse More weak and impotent for any attempt of resistance or escape then Samson was after the razor had gone over his head and taken off the Ensigne of the Nazarite These enemies of the God of Israel did sport themselves more cruelly with the bodily miseries and calamities of the true Nazarite then the Philistines had done themselves with Sampson untill he resumed his former strength by dying So then Sampson in his strength and weaknesse or dejected estate was a lively type of JESUS of Nazareth in both his estates and conditions of life whilest he
busie himselfe about small matters It must be a thing either visible or invisible and if it bee comprehended under either part of this division why are wee taught to beleeve that God the Father Almighty is the Maker not onely of heaven and earth but of all things visible and invisible in them If all things were made by him what could be left for Satan to work or make The apparance of this difficulty moved that acute and learned Father S. Austin sometime to say that sinne was nothing and oftentimes to allot it a cause deficient onely denying it any true positive efficient And many good Writers since his time in our dayes especially overswaid with this Fathers bare authority will have sinnes of what kinde soever to be privations onely no positive entities But they consider not that the selfe same difficulties besides other greater more inevitable inconveniences will presse them no lesse who make sinne to bee a meere privation or to have a cause deficient onely than they doe others who acknowledge it to have a positive efficient cause and a being more then meerly privation 6. What then bee the speciall inconveniencies wherewith their opinions are charged which make sinne either nothing or but a meere privation First wee account it a folly in man a folly incident to no man but an Heautontimorymenon to bee angry or chasing hot for nothing Hence seeing the Almighty Judge doth never punish either man or Devill but for sinne we shall cast a foule aspersion on his wisdome and Justice by maintaining sinne to bee nothing But fewer in our times there be though some I have heard out of the Pulpit which under pretence of St. Augustins authority make sinne to bee meere nothing But many there bee who hold it to be a meere privation which is a meane betweene meere nothing and a positive entitie Yet admitting not granting the nature of sinne to consist formally in privation meere privations for the most part have causes truely efficient fewer causes merely deficient if there can bee any causality in deficiencie Blindnesse deafenesse dumbnesse are privations and yet more men lose the sense of hearing sight or feeling in some particular members by violent blowes or by oppression of raging humours than by meere defect or decaying of spirits And where one man drops into his grave for meere age as ripe apples doe from the trees they grow on to the ground without blasts of winde or shaking a thousand die a violent or untimely death by true and positive efficient causes either externall or internall 7. That which either hath deceived or emboldned many Divines to allot sinne a being onely privative is a Philosophicall or metaphysicall Maxime most true in it selfe or in its proper sphere but most impertinently applied to the point now in question The Maxime is Omne ens quà ens est bonum Every entity in that it hath a being is good Most true if wee speake of transcendentall goodnesse or bonum entis for every thing which hath a true being is accompanied with a goodnesse entitative But the question amongst Divines is or should be about moral goodnesse or that goodnesse which is opposed to malum culpae that evill which wee call sinne Now if every positive entitie or nature were necessarily good according to this notion of goodnesse every intelligent rationall creature should be as impeccable as his Creator and wee should truely sinne if to speake untruly bee a sinne when wee say the Devill is a knave or any man dishonest For if every nature or entity as such were morally good it were impossible any nature or positive entity should bee evill qualified should be laden with sinne that is with that evill which is opposed to goodnesse moral or to holinesse whether this evill be a meere privation or positive entitie For in as much as the sight or visive facultie is the property of the eye or in as much as this proposition is true Oculus quà oculus videt this conclusion is most necessary when the eye hath lost the sight or visive facultie it is no more an eye unlesse in such an equivocall sense as wee say a picture hath eyes though not so properly If a man cannot see as we say stime but with one eye we account it no solecisme to say hee hath lost the other The case in the former instances is more cleare If Satan or man were morally good because they have a positive entity or nature neither of them could possibly be morally evill neither of them sinfull creatures albeit wee should grant sinne to bee as meere a privation as blindnesse is 8. It is a maxime in true Logick that is in the faculty or science of reasoning absolutely true and therefore true in Divinity also for truth is but one and it is her property not to contradict her selfe though examined in severall subjects Quicquid convenit subjecto quà tale non potest abesse sine subjecti interitu No naturall property can cease to bee or perish but together with the subject which supports it Whence if that Angel which is now the Devill had been truely good quà Angelus or if goodnesse moral had belonged unto him as he was a positive entitie or rationall creature hee had ceased to be either a rationall creature or any thing else when hee lost his goodnesse 9. Of sinnes of omission it is most true that they finde place in our nature rather by deficiency than efficiency and yet even this deficiencie for the most part is occasioned by some formall positive act or habit For this cause it is questioned among Schoolemen Whether there is or can bee any sinne of meere omission that is not occasioned by the commission of some other sinfull acts precedent or linked with some such act present To deny all sinnes of meere emission in nature already corrupted would bee more probable than in the first sinne whether of man or Angel Neither of them could possibly have committed sinne or done that which they ought not to have done without some precedent omission of that which they ought to have done But of this elswhere more at large and somewhat of it briefly in the next Chapter 10. Sure I am that the work which Satan wrought in our first Parents and in our nature had a cause truely efficient hath a being more than meerely privative For it was a work so really great and so cunningly contrived that the strength and wisdome of the Sonne of God was required as being onely all-sufficient to dissolve or destroy it and is it possible that any so great a work could be wrought by deficiencie or a defective worker Not Satan onely but his instruments are as positive as industrious efficients as effectuall workers of iniquity as the best man which ever lived the man CHRIST JESUS onely excepted was or is of righteousnesse But it is true againe that neither Satan nor his instruments can produce or make any substances or subjects these
THE HVMILIATION of the SONNE of GOD BY HIS BECOMMING the Son of man by taking the forme of a Servant and by his sufferings under Pontius Pilat c. OR THE EIGHTH BOOK OF COMMENTARIES VPON the Apostles CREED CONTINVED BY THOMAS JACKSON DR. in Divinitie Chaplaine to his Majestie in ordinarie and President of Corpus Christi Colledge in OXFORD Divided into foure Sections LONDON Printed by M. FLESHER for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDCXXXV A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL Arguments of the severall Sections and Chapters contained in this BOOKE SECTION I. OF the Humiliation of the Son of God and the end why he did so humble himselfe in the generall Page 3. 1. Chap. In what sense the Son of God is said to have humbled himselfe 3 2. That the dignity from which the Son of God had descended and unto which the Son of man was to bee exalted were testified by many signes and documents during the time of his humiliation 9 3. Whether our sins could have been remitted without the humiliation of the Son of God is a point not determinable by men That the maner of the remitting our sins by his humiliation was the most admirable way which Wisdome Justice or Mercy could require 17 4. From what beginning the Divell is said by S. Iohn to sin Whether sin consist in meere privation or have a positive entity or a cause truly efficient not deficient onely 29 5. Of the first sin of Angels and man and wherein it did especially consist 41 SECTION II. OF the more speciall qualifications and undertakings of the Son of God for dissolving the workes which the Devill had wrought in our first Parents and in our nature and for cancelling the bond of mankindes servitude unto Satan 51 6. Chap. Of the peculiar qualifications of the Son of God for dissolving the first actuall sinne of our first Parents and the reliques of it whether in them or in us their sinfull posterity ib. 7. Of Legall servants and of the analogie betwixt their Civill estate and the estate of wicked men 63 8. The Son of God was properly a servant to his Father yet not by birth as he was the sonne of his handmaid but by voluntary undergoing this hard condition for the redemption of man 69 9. Gods servant Iob the most illustrious Type of the Son of God as hee was invested with the forme of a servant 81 10. How the Sonne of God did conquer Satan at those weapons wherewith hee had conquered our first Parents 89 11. A parallel between Iobs second temptation and the Son of Gods sufferings in our flesh before the houre of his Agony or his Crosse 97 12. Of Christs full satisfaction for the sinnes of men and whether to this satisfaction the suffering of Hel paines were necessarily required And of the Circumstances of his Agony 111 13. The bloody sacrifice of the Son of God was all sufficient to make full satisfaction for the sins of the world without his suffering of any supernaturall or unknowen paines 138 14. That our Saviour in his Agony at least did suffer paines more then naturall though not the paines of Hell or Hellish paines That the suffering of such paines was not required for making satisfaction for our sins but for his Conquest over Satan 152 15. Christs suffering of the unknowen paines or of pains greater then ever any of his Martyrs or others in this life have suffered requisite for his qualification as he was to become the high Priest of our soules 163 SECTION III. OF the harmonicall parallel between the predictions or types of the old Testament and the Evangelicall relations concerning our Saviours triumphant comming unto Ierusalem and of his entertainment there untill the institution of his Supper 172 16. Chap. Of the King of Sions comming to Jerusalem and how the maner of his comming was for circumstance of time prefigured by the Law or rite of the Paschall Lambe and for other circumstances expresly foretold by the Prophet Zachary ib. 17. A Comment or Paraphrase upon the first eight verses of the ninth of Zachary And of the connexion betwixt them and the ninth verse in which the maner of our Saviours comming to Jerusalem was most expresly foretold 179 18. The fulfilling of Zachariah his Prophecy Cap. 9. ver 9. recorded by all the Evangelists but most fully and most punctually by S. Matthew 196 19. Of the meaning or importance of Hosanna to the Son of David 213 20. At what time and upon what occasions the 118. Psalme was composed And at what solemne Feast especially used 219 21. That the Messias was to be proclaimed King of Sion at some one or other of their great and solemn Feasts was a prenotion or received opinion amongst the Jews 234 22 That the honour done to our Saviour at his comming to Jerusalem did though not in the distinct apprehension of the multitude or of his Disciples concludently declare him to be the Son of God or the God of their Fathers 245 SECTION IV. THe Evangelicall relations of the indignities done unto our Saviour by sinfull men and of his patience in suffering them respectively prefigured and foretold by the Prophets and other sacred Writers Or a Comment upon the Evangelicall History from the institution of his Supper unto his death and buriall 256 23. Chap. Of the betraying of our Saviour of his apprehension and dismission of his Disciples And how they were foretold or prefigured in the old Testament ib. 24. Of the predictions or prefigurations of our Saviours sufferings after his apprehension in the high Priests hall c. 270 25. The unjust proceedings of the high Priest and Elders against the Son of God were punctually foretold by the Prophets 284 26. The false accusations made by the Priests and Elders against the Son of God when they brought him before Pilat foretold by our Saviour himselfe and by the Prophets 292 27. Of such repentance as Iudas found of his casting downe the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple and of the difficulties or varietie of opinions by which of the Prophets it was foretold 301 28. The cleare resolution of the third difficulty proposed of the fearefull end of Iudas and how it was both forepictured and foretold 317 29. Of the Harmony betwixt the Evangelists narrations or historie from the time our Saviour was sentenced to death untill his expiration upon the Crosse and the Mosaicall prefigurations or Prophecies concerning his death and sufferings 327 30. That the Son of God should be offered up in bloody sacrifice was condudently prefigured by the intended death of Isaac 349 31. That the Son of God should be offered upon a tree or crosse was prefigured by Moses his erection of the brazen Serpent in the wildernesse 355 32. That the Son of God should suffer without the gates of Jerusalem prefigured by the sacrifice of the atonement 364 33. At what houre of the day our
Moses in those men which were excluded by oath from the land of Canaan Num. 14.20 21 22 23. And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word But as truely as I live all the earth shall bee filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seene my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have tempted mee now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it All these which were all the Males of Israel above twenty yeares of age save Caleb Ioshua and Moses who was in part involved in this sentence did beare a true type or shadow of those who offending in like manner against Christ and his Gospel we call Reprobates yet not so true types of such a sinne against the holy Ghost as those which went to search the land of Canaan And the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the Congregation to murmure against him by bringing up a slander upon she land Even those men that did bring up the evill report upon the land after they had seene the goodlinesse and tasted the pleasant fruits of it died of the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the sonne of Nun and Caleb the sonne of Jephunneh which were of the men that went to search the land lived still and many happy dayes after that time Numb 14.36 37 38. 6. Very probable it is though I will not determine pro or con that the irremissible sinne whereof our Saviour and S. Paul speake for which there remaineth no satisfaction was if dot peculiar yet Epidemicall unto those primitive times wherein the kingdom of heaven was first planted here on earth by our Saviour and the holy Catholike Church was in erection by the ministery of the Apostles or in times wherein the extraordinary gifts of the holy Spirit were most plentifull and most conspicuous Even in those times into this wofull estate none could fall which had not tasted of the heavenly gift of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come and had not beene partakers of the holy Ghost Nor did such men fall away by ordinary sinnes but by relaps into Iewish blasphemy or heathenish Idolatry and malicious slander of the kingdom of heaven of whose power they had tasted God was good to all his creatures in their creation and better to men in their redemption by Christ of this later goodnesse all men werein some degree partakers The contempt or neglect of this goodnesse was not irremissible the parties thus farre offending and no further were not excluded from the benefit of Christs satisfaction or from renewing by repentance but of the gifts of the Spirit which was plentifully poured out after our Saviours ascension all were not partakers This was a speciall favour or peculiar goodnesse whose continued contempt or solemne abrenuntiation by relapse either into heathenisme or Jewish blasphemy was unpardonable not in that it was a sinne peculiarly committed against the person of the holy Ghost but because it did include an extraordinary opposition unto the indispensable law of justice or goodnesse which God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are 7. Some sinnes then there be or some measure of them which being made up no satisfaction will be accepted for them It is impossible according to the sacred phrase that the parties thus delinquent should bee renewed by repentance But whether according to this dialect of the holy Ghost that grand sinne whereof our Saviour and the Apostle speakes be absolutely irremissible untill death hath determined their impenitency which committed it or onely exceeding dangerous in comparison of other sinnes I will not here dispute much lesse dare I take upon me to determine either branch of the maine question proposed As whether satisfaction were absolutely necessary for remitting the sinnes of our first Parents or their seed Or whether the Son of God could have brought us sinners unto glory by any other way or meanes than that which is revealed unto us in his Gospel It shall suffice me and so I request the Reader it may doe him to shew that this revealed way is the most admirable for the sweet concurrence of Wisdome Justice Mercy and whatsoever other branches of goodnesse else bee which the heart of man can conceive more admirable by much than wisdome finite could have contrived or our miserable condition desired unlesse it had been revealed unto us by God himselfe 8. For demonstration of this conclusion and for deterring all which pretend unto the priviledge or dignity of being the Sonnes of God from continuance in sinne no principle of faith or passage in the sacred Canon can bee of better use then that 1. Ioh. 3.8 He that committeth sinne is of the Devill for the Devill sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Sonne of God was manifested that hee might destroy the works of the Devill However the words which severall translations doe render one and the same word in the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee of different signification in point of Grammar yet is there no contradiction betwixt them upon the matter Our later English which I alledged readeth that he might destroy the former that hee might dissolve the works of the Devill Neither of them much amisse and both of them put together or mutually helping one another exceeding well Some works of the Devill the Sonne of God is said more properly to dissolve others more properly to destroy Sinne it selfe as the Apostle tells us is the proper worke of the Devill his perpetuall worke for he sinneth from the beginning And for this cause the man that committeth sinne is of the Devill the Devills workman or day labourer so long as hee continues in knowne sinnes Sinne the best of men dayly doe But it is one thing to sinne and doe a sinfull Act another to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the phrase used by our Apostle a worker or doer of evill operarius iniquitatis Such workmen the sonnes of God or servants of Christ cannot be at lest so long as they continue sonnes or servants The points most questionable in those forecited words of S. Iohn now to bee discussed in this preamble to the manner how the Son of God did dissolve or destroy the works of the Devill are two The first from what beginning the Devill is said to sinne or to continue in sinne The second what speciall workes of the Devill they were which the Sonne of God did or doth undoe or for whose dissolution or destruction hee was manifested in our flesh CHAP. IV. From what beginning the Divell is said by S. John to sinne Whether sinne consist in meere privation or have a positive entity or a cause truely efficient not deficient onely 1 THe word Beginning is some times taken universally and absolutely
little before his death My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The collections which many learned writers of the Romish Church have drawen from Calvins Comments upon these words are too plentifull to be here inserted and the imputations which they lay upon him and his followers unanswerable if he meant or spake as they expresse his meaning to wit that these words should argue a sensible experience of Hell paines or the worst symptomes of such paines as either despaire distraction of minde or discontent I should be very sory to reade them in Calvin or in any other writer of the reformed Churches very unwilling distinctly to call to memory some passages in late English Writers which to my remembrance incline too much this way All I can say in Calvins defense if hee peremptorily affirme that our Saviour did suffer the paines of Hell upon the Crosse is this If it be an heresie as the Romish Church doth make it and I cannot gainesay them if it bee stifly maintained the heresie was broached by a great and learned Romish Cardinall before Calvin wrote And when the Pope who is the pretended Judge of all heresies shall condemne his books for hereticall or his opinion in this particular for an heresie I shall be ready to perswade the Church of England as farre as I am able to doe the like The true importance of our Saviours exclamation or proclamation rather upon the Crosse for hee uttered it voce magna with a proclamatory voice will come to bee scanned in the next Treatise But if Satan either by his owne strength or by speciall permission from God the Father did tempt our Saviour upon the Crosse whether immediatly or mediatly by the malicious stratagems of the Jews and by the prophanesse of the Roman Souldiers so farre as to proclaime his owne despaire or diffidence of Gods favour towards him or to the least degree of impatience or discontent it would bee hard to make any construction of our Saviours prediction Ioh. 14.30 The Prince of this world commeth and hath nothing in me or as some have more fully exprest the Hebraisme nothing against mee As certainly he had no matter to work upon no occasion of solace either to himselfe or to his infernall associats as if they had moved him to the least degree of diffidence or impatience For our Saviour questionlesse was more then certaine by a more excellent certainty than the certainty of faith that he should be saved from the second death that he should never fall away from Gods favour nor be for a moment forsaken of him Otherwise he had been a lesse faithfull servant of God lesse mindfull of speciall revelations made to him as man then they are who beleeve their owne speciall election or predestination onely upon application of Gods generall promises to themselves in particular For besides the internall revelations made to him as man he had many publique assurances such as others besides himselfe did heare none of which hee did ever distrust or doubt much lesse could hee feare lest his Father should be so farre displeased with him as ever to forsake him Now his pains upon the Crosse were grievous and the indignities done unto him to flesh and blood intolerable yet his apprehension of celestiall joyes due unto him was never interrupted And out of this never interrupted apprehension or rather view of these joyes hee endured the Crosse and despised the shame as our Apostle tells us Hebr. 12.2 Not onely his apprehension of these but his most circumspect observance of all opportunities to doe his Fathers will and to see all the Scriptures concerning him fulfilled was neuer more conspicuously remarkable whilest hee was upon the Crosse than in his last conflict with death The fulfilling of the Prophecies concerning his sufferings requires a peculiar Treatise For his extraordinary circumspection about that very point of time wherein hee uttered these words Eli Eli lamasabacthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me that is abundantly testified by S. Iohn who was an eare witnesse of his speeches Now there stood by the Crosse of Iesus his mother and his mothers sister Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene When Iesus therefore saw his mother and the Disciple standing by whom hee loved hee saith unto his mother Woman behold thy Sonne Then saith he to the Disciple Behold thy mother And from that houre that Disciple took her unto his owne home Joh. 19.25 26 27. CHAP. XIII The bloody Sacrifice of the Sonne of God was all sufficient to make full satisfaction for the sinnes of the world without his suffering of any supernaturall or unknowen paines 1 BUt however the former pretended conclusion concerning Christs suffering the paines of Hell or any of their symptomes cannot bee inferred either from his bloody sweat in the garden or from any speeches of his or any effect related by the Evangelists yet the favourers of this conclusion rather than they would give it over endeavour to prove it by reason drawen from the finall cause of all his sufferings The suffering of the paines of hell say they was necessarily required to the full satisfaction for all our sinnes which all good Christians confesse hee did beare both in his Agony and upon the Crosse But the very foundation of this assertion is very weak and the superstructive worse most derogatory to the infinite worth of Christs bloody Sacrifice First it is not required by the rules of equity whether Divine or humane that satisfaction for wrongs done should alwayes be made in kinde or by way of counterpassion It is in many cases more full and more sufficient when it is made by equivalencie than if it were made in kinde As in case a man in his rage should cruelly beate his neighbour or butcher his cattell to permit the party which suffered the wrong whether in his person or in his goods to exercise the like rage or cruelty upon his person or live-goods which did the wrong could be no true satisfaction either to the law or party wronged but rather beastly revenge The best satisfaction which in this case could be awarded to the party wronged would be to give him such contentment in one kinde or other as might in reason though not to passion be as beneficiall and usefull to him as the effects of his fury and rage which did the wrong were in just estimation hurtfull and yet such withall as should make the offender as unwilling to doe the like wrong againe as the party wronged or any in his case would be to suffer it This is the onely true satisfaction which in the same or like case could be justly made to the Law whose true intendment alwayes is to make all men willing to doe to others as they desire should bee done unto them unwilling to doe any thing to others which they would not have done unto themselves Our father Adam had wronged our common nature and all of us had offended
saxa quod in manibus fo rs dederat ingerentes subeuntibus did anoy the Assailants from the tops of their houses with stones or whatsoever came first to hand So this their last and desperate fury did blow the fire of Gods wrath which was kindled against them from the Prophet Zacharies time For as this Heathenish Writer addes Alexander exceptis qui in templa confugerant omnes interfici ignemque tectis injici jubet commands that all should be slaine besides such as fled into the Temples that their dwelling houses should be burnt This great Conqueror in all this warre though he expresly knew not his Commission was but Gods Sheriffe and though intending no such thing did see the execution should be according to the Prophets sentence How much Tyrian blood was shed in this siege as Curtius saith may in part be hence gathered besides all that died in that miserable Sea-fight or those fierce skirmages about the walls after the Macedonians had made entry both by Sea and Land sixe thousand of such as bare Armes were forthwith slaine two thousand hanged on gibbets along the shoare that Askalon as it followeth in the Prophet ver 5. might see it and feare and the hopes of Ekronbe confounded And as Arrianus Iosephus and some other tells us Tyre being thus miserably ransackt the other Cities of Syria or Palestina yeelded without resistance Onely the strength of Scituation store of provision the resolution and fidelity of the Governour to Darius the Persian Emperour emboldned Gaza to hold out for a time as stoutly as Tyre had done For that part which God had appointed her and her King or Governour to act was not feare but sorrow Askelon shall see it and feare Gaza also shall see it and be very sorowfull and Ekron for her expectation shall be ashamed and the King shall perish from Gaza and Askelon shall not be inhabited ver 5. 3. The greater danger the Conqueror himselfe did in the assault of Gaza incurre the more grievous was her ransack and the greater was the cruelty practised upon the conquered Alexanders wounded body did exasperate his heroicall minde to imitate Achilles his pretended Progenitor as much at this time in despightfull revenge as at other times hee had done in valour For by Alexanders appointment Batis as Curtius instiles him the Governour of Gaza or Deputy King for Darius being yet as full of life and spirit as of bleeding wounds was dragged by the heeles after a Chariot through the streets as Hector had been by Achilles about the walls of Troy Thus doth confidence in causes accursed by God inevitably bring their undertakers to those disastrous ends whereto the just will of the Almighty Judge had for their sinnes appointed them All this and much more which Curtius and Arrianus relate concerning the desolation of Gaza wee need not be afraid to speake it came to passe that the word of the Lord spoken by Zachariah might be fulfilled The King shall perish from Gaza c. ver 5. Yet would I not have these words concerning Gaza and her Governor being for quantity indefinite restrained to this particular time or accident For that were to make this disaster the compleat object of the literall sense of which it is at the most but a principall part This wofull accident might and I take it did portend the like in successe of time and I have ever held those Interpreters short sighted rather than overseene who thinke the severall passages in this Prophecie must literally referre onely to the warres of Alexander or of the Maccabees For multitude of like events though different onely in time not in proportion to Propheticall predictions can neither argue any diversity in their former object nor any plurality of literall senses All in their order may be alike literally meant by the same Prophet all alike properly signified by the same words No man questioneth whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek or homo in Latin have more significations then one although in strict propriety of speech they denote or signifie as well men now living as those that died a thousand yeares agoe 4. Hitherto we have seene how God by Alexander begun to pull downe the pride of Tyre and of the Philistines not with purpose utterly to destroy them as he did the old world but rather by this castigation or contusion to prepare and fit them for that mixture with the Jews their ancient Enemies which was foretold by the Prophet Zachariah ver 6 7. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines And I will take away his blood out of his mouth and his abominations betweene his teeth but he that remaineth even he shall be for our God and he shall bee as a Governour in Iudah and Ekron as a Iebusit The literall truth of this last cited passage we may see experienced after the warres of Alexander and of his Successors with the Maceabees partly in that great place which Herod of Askelon held amongst the Jewish Nation partly in the Philistines Proselytes who were admitted as Communicants with the sonnes of Abraham in their Sacraments and Sacrifices partly in the admission of the Jews as free Denizens into the Cities of Palestina and in such quiet cohabitation of the Philistines and these moderne Jews as had been betweene the Jebusits and their Ancestors Every part of this observation might be concludently proved out of unpartiall Historians Heathenish or Jewish which wrote before our Lord and Saviour was borne Divers parts of it are abundantly proved out of the Author of the first Book of Maccabees Chap. 10. ver 88 89. Now when King Alexander heard these things to wit the victory over Azotus and the submission of Askelon upon the ransack of it he honoured Ionathan yet more and sent him a buckle of gold as the use is to bee given to such as are of the Kings blood hee gave him also Accaron with the borders thereof in possession Chap. 11. ver 60 61. Then Ionathan went forth and passed through the Cities beyond the water and all the forces of Syria gathered themselves unto him for to helpe him and when he came to Askalon they of the City met him honourably From whence he went to Gaza but they of Gaza shut him out wherefore he laid siege unto it and burned the suburbs thereof with fire and spoiled them Chap. 13. ver 33 c. Then Simon built up the strong holds in Iudea and fenced them about with high Towres and great walls and gates and barres and laid up victuals therein Moreover Simon chose men and sent to King Demetrius to the end hee should give the land an immunity because all that Tryphon did was to spoile Vnto whom King Demetrius answered and wrote after this maner King Demetrius unto Simon the high Priest and friend of Kings as also unto the Elders and Nation of the Iews sendeth greeting The golden Crowne and the
fitly pretended for the first composing of it then the extraordinary joy of the whole Communitie of the people of Juda and Israel aswell Priests as Laicks upon the erection or finishing of the second Temple For within the compasse of this season Haggai had prophecied that the desire of all Nations should come unto that Temple The precise time according to exact calculation of his comming to Jerusalem and of his death there had beene notified by Daniel not long before The sacred history of the times wherein Zerubbabel Ieshua Haggai and Zechariah lived beare plentifull record that the people of Judah Benjamin or Israel had no just cause or great occasions of rejoycing according to that scale of joy and gladnesse which is charactered in the 118. Psalme immediately after their returne from Babylonish captivitie For both neighbour Nations and the principal Officers of this side Euphrates of those kings unto whom they were subject did partly by violence partly by malicious suggestions for divers yeares prohibite the erection of the Temple and the re-edifying of Jerusalem More feare then joy did possesse this great people when they begun to erect the Altar of the Lord as may appeare from Ezra 3.4 And that was divers months before the foundation of the Temple was laid at which time indeed there was much joy especially amongst the people and younger sort Yet joy mixt with many teares of the Ancient especially Priests and Levites which had seene the former Temple at least the foundation of it Ezra 3.12 13. 5 However it is probable that this 118. Psalm was in part composed upon the sight or view of the first foundation of the second Temple For Ezra tells us that the Priests and Levites after the ordinance of David King of Israel sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel And in this forme of thanksgiving the 118. Psalme begins and ends O give thanks unto the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever ver 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever ver 29. I am not forgetfull nor can the Reader be ignorant that there is another Psalme videlicet 136. in which this forme of praise is more perpetuall as being the close or fall of every verse But that Psalme as I have many inducements to conceive was composed long before the foundation of the Temple was laid But other Psalmes of thanksgiving there are besides these two which were composed upon speciall occasions and afterwards continued in their solemne feasts with further additions and amplifications as the like occasions of publique joy did minister For later Prophets or men otherwise inspired by the holy Ghost for that purpose to intersert or adde more plaine or fuller expressions of Davids or former Prophets intent or meaning in their forme of thanksgiving or to paraphrase upon them was never unlawfull although they had added the same curse to such as should adde unto or diminish their writings which is annexed unto the law of Moses and the booke of the Revelations For no addition is forbidden but such as includeth a vitiation of the text or such as pretendeth Divine authority when it hath it not 6 But however this 118. Psalme or most part of it might be begunne upon the occasions forementioned by Ezra yet some passages in it there are which in particular refer unto some one of the three great and anniversary solemnities as that This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Save now O Lord I beseech thee c. ver 24 25. Now after the foundation of the Temple was laid there was no solemn feast in which this peoples expression of joy and thanksgiving was so remarkeable or so peremptorily required as in that feast of Tabernacles or booths recorded by Nehemiah cap. 8. A feast of Tabernacles there was some few months after the foundation of the Temple was laid by Zerubbabel and Ieshua the sonne of Iozadeck recorded by Ezra 3.4 c. But that feast of Tabernacles was solemnised secundùm quid onely in respect of the peculiar daily sacrifices which the Law in that month appointed to be offered There is no mention in Ezra of their dwelling in boothes either in their publique streets upon their publique houses or in the Courts of the Lords house which was not at that time builded This part of that great solemnity had not beene observed from the daies of Ioshua the sonne of Nun untill Nehemiah had put his peremptory commission for re-edifying Jerusalem in execution Nehemiah which is the Tirshatha and Ezra the Priest the Scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people This day is holy unto the Lord your God mourne not nor weepe for all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law c. And they found written in the Law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Children of Israel should dwell in boothes in the feast of the seventh month And that they should publish and proclaime in all their Cities and in Ierusalem saying Goe forth unto the Mount and fetch Olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and Palme branches and branches of thick trees to make booths So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths every one upon the roofe of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the water gate of Ephraim And all the congregation of them that were come againe out of the captivity made boothes and sate under the boothes for since the dayes of Ioshua the sonne of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so and there was very great gladnesse Also day by day from the first day unto the last day he read in the booke of the law of God And they kept the feast seven dayes and on the eighth day was a solemne Assembly according unto the manner Nehem. 8.9 10 11. c. This great day of the feast was that anniversary solemnity wherein our Lord and Saviour after the revolution of many years how many I leave to the calculation of Chronologers did make that solemne proclamation unto the people assembled at the feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7.37 In the last day that great day of the feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on mee as the Scriptures have said out of his belly shall flow rivers of running water But this spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive For the holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 7 It is very observable which is recorded by Saint Iohn Chap. 7.14 That about the midst of the feast Iesus went into the