as they did certifie him of the distinct place of his birth This they learned out of the Prophet Micah Chap. 5. ver 2. 3. That of our Apostle Hebrewes 1. ver 1. is exactly verified in respect of the article now in handling The Prophets and holy men of God or God by their ministery spake of our Saviours conception and birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at sundry times onely or in severall ages of the Fathers but piece-meale or by scattered predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sundry wayes sometimes literally and plainely sometimes mystically or aenigmatically But in this later age he hath spoken unto us by his Sonne or in his Sonne For even the historicall passages of his conception and birth though delivered unto us by his Evangelists spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his very conception his birth and actions as well as the words uttered by him have their plaine and full language and if wee take them as set downe by the Evangelists are as the putting together of all what the Prophets had spoken scatteredly or represented by broken pictures or portions of truth After that maine head or fountaine of Prophecies was opened and had his course drawne by God himselfe not by any Prophet I will put enmity betweene thee and him c. Every succeeding age especially from the deluge addes some new rills or petty streames unto it the full current of which is conspicuous only in the Gospell CHAP 32. Saint Lukes narration of our Saviours conception and birth and its exact concordance with the Prophets TO begin with S. Lukes narration of his cōceptiō Cap. 1. ver 26. In the 6. month the Angel Gabriel was sent frō God unto a Citie of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgins name was Mary In these few lines wee have the exact Chorographie of those generall or more obscure descriptions which Isaias and Ieremiah had made of the place of his conception and in the words following wee have the particular and most exact survey of all Gods promises made to David or related by other Prophets concerning that sonne of David who was to rule over Iacob for ever When Saint Luke saith in the words forecited the Angel Gabriel was sent in the sixth moneth this may referre either to the time of Iohn Baptists conception as in all probability it doth ver 36. Behold thy Cosin Elizabeth shee also hath conceived a sonne in her old age and this is the sixth moneth with her who was called barren Or it may referre unto the sixth moneth of the yeare according to the ancient and civill accompt of the Hebrewes for untill the time of Israels deliverie out of Egypt the moneth wherein Iohn Baptist was conceived which answeres for the past part to our September was the first moneth in which as most later Divines are of opinion the world was created The moneth Abib which answers unto March with us became observable to the Israelites from their deliverance in that moneth out of Egypt and continues in their Ecclesiasticall accompt the first in order In the same moneth the conception of our Lord and Saviour was denounced by the Angell and our deliverance by him from the powers of darknesse afterwards accomplished and well deserves the title of the first moneth since his conception and passion but in whether of these two respects or whether in both the moneth wherein the Angell was sent be termed the sixt moneth is no matter of such moment or consideration as the tenour of his message ver 31. 32. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus Hee shall be great and shall be called the sonne of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David When the Angell said He shall be great and his mother shall call his name JESVS it is implied that as yet he was not great that he had not the beginning of that greatnesse which is here promised And may it not be as rightly implied that when hee saith Hee shall be called the sonne of the highest as yet he was not the sonne of the highest but first to brooke the name of Iesus and then first to be made and called the sonne of God when he was become great and had received the throne of his Father David But it is not without observation that the Angell saith not Hee shall be the sonne of the highest nor doth hee say that the blessed Virgin his Mother should bestow this name upon him as shee did the name of Iesus The intent and meaning of the holy Ghost in this place is that this fruit of the Virgins womb who was to be named Iesus by his mother from his circumcision should be called the sonne of the highest not in regard of his future greatnesse as man or as he was the promised sonne of David but by reason of his peculiar assumption or union into the person of the sonne of God who was Davids Lord before he was conceived and was publiquely to be declared the sonne of God by his resurrection from the dead At which time and not before hee tooke the especiall government of that Kingdome upon him which had so often beene promised to the sonne of David This meaning of the holy Ghost the Evangelist doth open unto us ver 33. Hee shall raigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end 2. Unlesse this holy of holyes who was now to be borne of the blessed virgin Mary had beene the sonne of God before this time hee should in reason be called the sonne of the holy Ghost For unto the virgin Mary demanding how this should be seeing shee know not a man ver 34. The Angel answered The holy Ghost shall come upon thee c. An Emphaticall expression of that which we beleeve in the Creede That the holy Ghost should worke his conception Now hee who is Author of the conception of any person which before such a conception had no existence is in propriety of speech to be reputed the Father of the party or person conceived But this very person whom we now adore under that name or title of Christ Iesus our Lord being before all World 's the true and only sonne of God albeit the holy Ghost was the Author of his conception as man a more principall cause and Author of his conception then any mortall Father is of his mortall sonne yet was not the fruit of the virgins womb to be reputed the sonne of the holy Ghost but of him alone who was the true and only Father of that person unto whom the fruit of the Uirgins womb was by the operation of the holy Ghost personally united The holy Ghost was not then the cause or Author of any new person but onely espoused or betroathed the humane nature of Christ which
kept secret from the foundation of the world Matt. 13. 35. This was the mysticall sense of the Psalmists words and according to S. Matthewes literall expression of them they necessarily import the mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven and so all the parables which our Saviour used in that Chapter as he there useth many respect the Kingdome of Heaven and were hard and darke to such as were not of Christs disciples or such as the Psalmist there describes A stubborne and faithlesse generation It is true therefore which Maldonat in his second animadversion saith that the cause why our Saviour spake to his common Auditors in parables was because they were unworthy of cleerer revelatioÌ„s uncapable for the time of greater talents having used their former ordinary talents so ill Thus our Saviour resolves his Disciples ver 11 12. Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven but to them it is not given For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that hee hath And to the same effect the Psalmist had prophecied or forewarned this generation even all generations following It was then an allegation unconcludent and impertinent and no way beseeming Maldonat to say our Saviour did not speake in parables to the end that Davids sayings might be fulfilled but because this present generation did deserve no other language For these two are no way opposite but subordinate And if it be ill for men to separate those things which God hath conjoyned it is much worse to set things at oddes or in opposition which the Spirit of God hath made coordinate or set in concord Now both these assertions as well that which Maldonat refuses as that which he approves have a divine truth in them First it is most true that our Saviour did speake unto the multitude and to the Pharisees on whom they relyed in parables because they were for the time unworthy of such declarations as he made to his disciples for the increase of their talent which they had used not so much amisse as the others had done And no lesse true it is that the Psalmist did foreprophecy that the posterity of Israel from his owne time untill the comming of the Messias should be more unworthy hearers of divine mysteries then their forefathers had beene unlesse they seriously repented both their owne sinnes and the sinnes of their forefathers So that our Saviour did speakâ—â—nto them in parables for these two reasons First because they were unworthy hearers Secondly to the end his disciples might know and beleeve that this manner of speaking was foreprophecied by the Author of the 78. Psalme 4. Maldonats first animadversion was that this Latine particle ut or the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alwayes signifie the cause of what is said or spoken but sometimes the event only How true soever this be it no way prejudiceth the truth now delivered by us For it will not follow that this particle ut either in this place of S. Matthew or in any other place where it imports the fulfilling of Scriptures doth not signifie the cause because it sometimes or oftentimes signifieth the event only But seeing the right use of this particle or the knowledge of its severall references is much conducent to the just valuation of many testimonies which have beene and must be hereafter alleaged out of Scriptures it will be very usefull in this place to unfold its severall significations or importances once for all Sometimes this particle as well in the Greek as in the Latine and in our English is transitive only and imports neither any true cause nor the event as in that of our Saviour Iohn 17. 3. This is life eternall that they may know thee the only true God The resolution of which words without any wrong either to their full importance in logicall construction or to their grammaticall elegancy is but this Cognoscere te esse verum Deum est vita aeterna To know thee to be the onely true God is eternall life From this use or importance of this particle ut that other which Maldonat makes is not different or no otherwayes different then the end of a transition or passage is from the passage or transition it selfe as when our Saviour saith Mat. 23. 34. I send unto you Prophets and wisemen c that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel c. God forbid any good Christian should referre this particle That unto the first words Behold I send unto you Prophets c and by this meanes conceive the end and cause why God did send wisemen and Prophets unto them should be this that all the righteous blood shed by their Fathers should be required of this generation it refers only to those words Some of them shall yee kill and crucifie c. The true importance is as if he had said yee shall or you will goe on in your Fathers sinnes so farre and so long untill at length the blood of all the righteous whom your Fathers have slaine shall come upon you Or as S. Luke hath it shall be required of you So that the importance of this particle ut in this place denotes the event of their practises or resolutions not the finall cause of the Prophets comming unto them And it is the same with that which S. Paul expresses in the infinitive moode Rom. 1. 20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearely seene being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and Godhead so that they are without excuse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end why God did manifest himselfe unto men in the booke of his Creatures was that they might know him to be God and glorifie him as God And it was the ample measure of manifestations made to this end which left even the Heathens themselves without Apologie or just excuse and according to this importance of the particle ut as it noteth onely the event or some transition to the event many good writers would value that of S. Iohn chap. 12. 37 38. Though he had done so many miracles before them yet they beleeved not on him That the saying of Esaias the Prophet might bee fulfilled which he spake ut impleretur ille sermo Lord who hath beleeved our report and to whom hath the arme of the Lord beene revealed And I could wish that Maldonats animadversions upon the forecited 35. verse of Mathew the 13. had beene as Orthodoxall or discreet as they are upon this place of Iohn For of such Commentators as I have read none speakes more pertinently or more discreetly to the difficultie wherewith that place is charged unlesse it be his brother Tolet who hammers out Athanasius his exposition as learnedly and more fully as Maldonat doth upon the expositions of other Greeke
Fathers However I cannot assent to them or to any others in this one point in that they would make the particle ut here as elsewhere it doth to poynt onely at the event not any cause That it cannot in this place denote the finall cause Athanasius carryes it clearely against some heretiques of his time or before him who did so interpret it who yet spake consequently enough to their wicked opinions in that they acquit these unbeleeving Jewes from blame and lay their charge upon Esayas whose prediction they thought did either cause or inferre the necessity of these Jewes infidelitie after so many glorious miracles as had beene done by our Saviour in their sight 5. But that this particle ut doth in this place denote and import more then the event that it refers unto some true Cause is most evident in that the use of it ver 38. is in S. Iohns meaning aequivalent to that other particle used by him ver 39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore they could not beleeve because Isaiah said againe c. Now that this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore ideo quia and such like do alwaies referre immediately unto some true cause wee cannot deny without some wrong to Priscian or without some non obstante or such licentious dispensation as it is said a Pope once gave ut fiatur contra omnes grammaticos It is certaine againe that neither particle doth immediately referre to any reall cause of the thing it selfe avouched by S. Iohn or that Esaias his saying or the fulfilling of it should be any cause at all of the Jewes infidelity neither the principall cause as the Heretiques whom Athanasius refutes did conceive nor any accessory or lesse principall cause as some moderne writers imagine whō Maldonat without naming them well confutes But wee should consider how that which is the true effect of some reall cause is oft-times the true cause of our true knowledge or apprehension of the cause it selfe or of its connexion with the effect and such a causality these and the like causall particles or conjunctions ideo quia propter c do usually import As if one which had never seene the King or Court before should say Sure this is the King because the rest stand bare before him this speech imports a true cause not of the thing it selfe avouched or why this is the King but of the parties knowledge or notice of him as King And so we know that Mary Magdalen had many sinnes forgiven her because she loved much but her love was the effect not the cause of this plentifull forgivenesse as the more intelligent sort of Pontifician writers now grant and the circumstance of the text will clearely evince it against all that shall avouch it to be any more thē a cause of our knowledge However seeing every cause is a cause of some effect or referres to some things produced or occasioned by it The question still remaines of what effect the fulfilling of Isaiahs prophecy or the cōtemplation of the event which he foretold should be the true cause if it were no cause at all of these Jewes infidelity 6 The serious contemplation of this Prophets saying after the holy Ghost had called thē and the matter which they so have fitted unto our Evangelists minde was a true cause why he did cease to wonder at the stupiditie of this people For if Isaiah had not long before decyphered their froward stubborne disposition posterity would have suspected either that S. Iohns taxation of their stupidity had beene more hyperbolicall than true or else that our Saviours miracles had not beene so all sufficient in themselves as the Evangelist makes thē for winning credēce to his doctrine or respect unto his person But seeing nothing breakes forth in this last generatiō whose seeds roots had not beene discovered by Isaias in their forefathers this takes away all occasion in posterity to suspect either the truth of S. Iohns narration or sufficiency of our Saviours miracles No these causall particles onely as ut or propter but adversative also as verunt amen sed doe sometimes referre not to any written clause or sentence precedent or any matter conteined in them but unto the secret or tacite thoughts of the writer or speaker or to some strong affection seeking to vent it selfe in such abrupt or unusuall language To begin a speech with nam or veruntamen would be a ridiculous soloecisme unlesse it were by way of decorum in some appointed to act or utter a ridiculous part And yet an exquisite Poet did thus begin his doleful Elegie Hîc tamen umbrosum nactus nemus hîc loca sola Ne mea quis nimiùm carpsit lamenta severus The particle Tamen without soloecisme or breach of Grammar rule hath an elegant reference to his former thoughts or affections which had beene these or the like It is an unseemely part for a man of my place and breeding to blubber and weepe for the death of his Parents notwithstāding seeing the place affords opportunity nature shall take her forth for a while And after this manner the Psalmist begins the 73. psalme Veruntamen Bonus est Deus Israel Notwithstanding God is good to Israel This particle referres to his precedent thoughts or secret disputations with his owne heart which had beene these or the like Surely God hath forgotten his promise unto Israel or else he never meant them so much good as he seemed to promise in that he suffers them to be trod under feet by their wicked and blasphemous enemies and in the crisis or conquest of these and the like cogitations which he afterwards confesseth of himselfe he bursts out into the former expression Notwithstanding God is good to Israel And after this manner these two causall speeches ut impleretur ille sermo Isaiae Joh. 12. Propterea non potuerunt credere c. referre to these or the like precedent cogitations of S. Iohn Is it possible that men of Abrahams linage that any creatures indued with reason should not beleeve after so many miracles done in their sight Yes I know it to be more then possible because the Prophet Isaiah hath foretold as much Yea but S. Iohn goes further and sayes they could not beleeve because Isaiah had foretold their unbeleife Yet if wee scan his words aright S. Iohn doth not resolve the impossibility or difficulty of their unbeliefe into Esaias his prediction formally taken but into the hardnesse of heart which Esaias had foretold For so his words are Therefore they could not beleeve because that Esaias said againe He hath blinded their eyes and her deued their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart◠and be converted and I should he 〈…〉 These things spake Esaias when he saw his glory The most that can be made of these words the strongest collections that can be inferred from them for inferring any divine causality of their unbeleife will
amount to no more then this It is not possible that the greatest part of men in our times should understand many divine truths about which they dispute or be wise unto salvation because it is said by a good Author Wisdome cannot enter into a froward heart This speech is Canonically true of all such men sensu composito that is whilest they continue perverse and froward but not true iu sensu diviso for though it were absolutely true that it is impossible for wisedome to enter into a froward heart yet it is possible for a froward heart to put off frowardnesse and for such as are now a stifnecked and stubborne people in good time to brooke the yoake of Christian obedience 7 But doth this period of S. Iohn after so many miracles done before them they did not beleeve that the saying of Esaias might be fulfilled import no more than if a man should say the factious spirits of our times cannot beleeve aright because it is written that wisdome cannot enter into a froward heart In Maldonats exposition on this place of S. Iohn and of that other Mat. 13. 34. c this is the utmost value of both allegations that the Prophets words do so well fit the evēts related by these two Evangelists as that they could not fit them better although 't were granted that it were meant of them alone or had beene spoken to no other end than to notifie these two events Yet if we may have the libertie to expresse the Prophets meaning or to speake consequently unto the truth it selfe acknowledged by all good Christians or to some speciall truths formerly delivered the prophecy of Isaiah alleaged by S. Iohn was in a more peculiar manner fulfilled in the strange infidelity of the Jewes which saw our Saviours miracles then any Proverbs of Salomon or other generall Maximes can be fulfilled or verified of any misbeleevers in these our times either of such as deny Christ in expresse words or confessing him in words deny him in deeds For the words of Salomon or other moral sayings of Canonicall writers how well soever they may fit the errors or infidelity of our times had no punctuall aspect to them but were uttered as absolute truths without respect of age time or persons and fit all men and every sort of men of what condition age or nation soever they be Whereas the former forecited prophecy of Isaiah was punctually or literally meant of the Jewish Nation which lived after his time unto the destruction of the City and Temple and to the returne of the Babilonish captivitie For so it followes in the 6. chap. ver 10. Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavie and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long And he said untill the cities be wasted without inhabitants and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate and the Lord have removed men farre away and there be a great forsaking in the middest of the Land But yet in it shall be a tenth and it shall return and shall bee eaten as a Teyle tree and as an Oake whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof This very prophecy was more exactly fulfilled in the excecation and obduration of the Jewes which did not beleeve our Saviours miracles and in that desolation of Judea which ensued upon his death But whether the last part of this prophecy concerning their returne againe to God shall bee as exactly fulfilled in these out-casts of Israel future times would better resolve us or such as shall live after us then any living interpreter of Scriptures can With this question S. Iohn meddles not but besides that the former part of that prophecy doth according to the literall sense as truly point at this later generation of the Jewes as at the former The reall event it selfe or matter of fact foretold was more conspicuously remarkable in this later generation then it had beene in the former For it was a prediction prophetically typicall The first desolation was such a reall type of the later as Israels casting off God from being their ruler in the time of Samuel was of that solemne abrenunciation of Christ which these later Jewes made before Pilate when they cryed Wee have no King but Caesar Or the like desolation was such a Crisis of that deadly disease whereof the excecation and obduration mentioned by S. Iohn was the symptome as that calamity which befell Iudah the next yeare after Zacharias death was of the calamity which befell the whole Nation within forty yeares after our Saviours death 8. So then the particle Vt neither in this place of S. Iohn nor in any other doth ever import any true causality of excecation or obduration on Gods part or his Prophets but in this place of S. Iohn and in every other where it is said that this or that was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled the same particle doth alwayes import that whatsoever was so done whether positively or directly by God himselfe or with permission of his just providence by the positive intentions of Sathan or incorrigible stubbornnesse of men was alwayes ordered by God to this end and purpose that posterity might beleeve and know no such event did follow by chance or that the Prophet did foretell such events only in generall without speciall reference unto the particular events related by the Evangelist Seing every finall cause is purposed or projected by some intelligent nature one and the same particle That or the like with reference to severall projectures may sometimes denote a true finall cause sometimes the event or consequent only in one and the same proposition as in that of our Saviour Matth. 23. 34. Some of them you shall kill and crucifie c. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth The finall cause projected by Sathan was to bring righteous blood upon these Jewes but this was the event or consequent only no finall cause of their projects against Gods messengers But these messengers were sent by God onely to this end that they might recall his people to their allegiance yet this end or purpose did include this condition that if they continued or made up the measure of their Fathers stubbornnesse they were to suffer more grievous punishment then if they had not beene forewarned by the Prophets In like manner the excecation and obduration of these later Jewes was the marke at which Satan aimed no true cause though a necessary consequent of their continued abuse of that talent which God had given them but no finall cause no cause at all why our Saviour did so many miracles amongst them their excecation and perdition was from themselves 9. That Prophecy of Isaiah and that other of our Saviours Matt. 23. 35. that
dwelleth in him is the expresse image of him as he is man he is the Tabernacle or Temple of the living God The inference is our Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yee are the Tēples of the living God at God hath said I will dwel in thē and walk in thē and I will be their God and they shall be my people Our Evangelist S. Iohn Revel 21. 3. exegetically dilates the former testimonies of Moses and the Prophets a great deale further thē S. Paul here doth I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes And there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shal there be any more paine for the former things are passed away But this mortalitie must put on immortality and our corruptible flesh become incorruptible before this last clause of S. Iohns prophecy can be literally fulfilled in us or begin to beare date in esse And before this happy change of our mortall bodies none of those other prophecies Exod. 29. Levit. 26. Ezek. 37. shall be finally accomplished albeit all of them have beene already fulfilled in differēt measure manner both according to the literall and mysticall sense For God hath dwelt and doth dwel more properly in the man Christ Iesus then at any time he did in the Tabernacle or Temple These were in their times the seats of Gods peculiar presence of the manifest appearances of his divine Maiestie from which all the blessings upon Israell or Abrahams posteritie by bodily descent were derived after such a manner as the visible light in this inferiour world is derived from the body or sphaere of the sunne Yet such as were partakers of these blessings all the particular Synagogues through the land of Iury did not by this participation of his presence in the Temple or Tabernacle become Temples or Tabernacles of the God of Israel these were never conceived to be or instyled the seat of his rest or of his peculiar presence But since the Word was made flesh since the seed of Abraham was made the Temple of the living God every particular Church truely Christian becomes a more proper seat of Gods peculiar presence then the materiall Temple in its glory and splendour was and farre more communicative of all blessings spirituall to every true particular member of them Every individuall or particular man who is incorporated into this Church and made a living member of it doth by the participation of that Spirit which dwelleth in it become a true Temple or Tabernacle of the living God Whosoever truely beleeves in Christ whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood Christ who is the prototypon and true temple of God doth dwell in him and he in Christ he is in God and God in him after a more peculiar manner then either the patriarks or Prophets were in God or God in them But this peculiar manner of Gods dwelling in us by faith and wee in him hath his peculiar place in other principall Articles of the Creed or in the Treatise of the Sacrament concerning the mysticall union betwixt Christ and his members The next Quaere which in this Section offers it selfe to be discussed and must be the Title of the next Chapter is briefly this CHAP. 27. Why S. John doth rather say the word was made flesh then the sonne of God was made flesh albeit the sonne of God and the word denote one and the same person TO this Quaere some judicious Divines make answer that the second person in Trinitie was at least implicitely knowne unto some heathen Philosophers under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long before his incarnation and longer before S. Iohn wrote his Gospell Now it is not improbable that those heretiques which did call the Divinity of Christ in question against whose heresie the Evangelist did put in that Caveat in the beginning of his Gospell at the least such as were in danger to be seduced by them were to his knowledge better versed in the writings of Plato and Trismegist then in Moses and the Prophets And men naturally both conceive and imbrace the truth with more facility when it is delivered unto them in termes whereunto they have been inured Now such as were well read in Plato or Trismegist or would be willing to read them could not be ignorant of an eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called the sonne of the eternall minde or essence And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word or image of the eternall minde was not in their apprehension meerly notionall or representative only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word or reason or however we expresse it truly operative the invisible cause or maker of all things visible Unto these the like prenotions which the heathen Philosophers had of an eternall Father in his eternall sonne S. Iohn in the judgement of some great Divines did purposely apply himselfe and frame his expressions to their capacity whom he sought to reclaime or to instruct Nor is it either unusuall or unbeseeming the Apostles themselves to alter both the matter and forme of speech according to the diversity of the parties whom they seeke to reforme S. Paul did not dispute with the Athenians after the same manner he did with the Jews nor did he instruct the Hebrew converts in the same language or forme of catechisme which he used amongst the Gentiles S. Iohn then in the conjecture of the former ancient Divines did make the 〈◊〉 advantage of the prenotions which the heathens had of this truth which S. Paul did from the inscription of the Athenian Altar that God saith hee whom yee ignorant by worship him declare I unto you But did these harmelesse speculations of these Philosophers require any such reformation from S. Iohn as the Athenians superstitious worship did from S. Paul Sure their followers were to bee better catechized in this truth then they had been or could be by any Philosophy their best speculations though in themselves true were to their Professors altogether fruitlesse and as I take it without any prenotion or expectance that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word by which they acknowledge all things were made should be made visible in our flesh should exhibit a more exquisite representation of the divine nature and essence in the microcosme or little modell of mans body then had beene exhibited in the making and governing this great universe They knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was truly God without beginning but they did not either adore him as God neither did they adore their eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God or by him All this they were to learne from S. Iohn for this is a mystery which farre surpasseth the capacitie of man to conceive or comprehend without
before had no actuall existence unto him who was the sonne of God from eternity Now not he that gives but hee that takes the spouse given in marriage is the true husband And the spouse so taken from her espousall becomes the daughter not of him that gives her in marriage but of the Father of her husband with whom shee is now made one flesh Thus God the Father by this espousall thus wrought by the holy Ghost becomes the Father of the humane nature of Iesus which was now united unto his sonne after another manner then before hee had beene of any man and after another manner then the holy Ghost was or is the Father of the man Christ Iesus Christ then as God and man is the only sonne of God the Father The same Iesus only as man is the sonne of David 3. That the promised Messias was according to the Prophecies to be the sonne of David is evident but by what line all descent hee was to be the sonne of David or by what legall right the Kingdome of David was derived unto him is not without question amongst Christians David we know by Gods free donation was King of Iudah and Israel and Solomon by legall right did succeed him in his Kingdome And Solomons heires or Successours by bodily descent had as firme a title to the Kingdome of David as any other Kings or Monarchs have to the Crownes and dignities of their Ancestors But whether Solomons line by bodily descent were utterly extinguished before the conception or birth of our Saviour is a point neither much debated nor agreed upon by Divines If it were extinguished before that time yet Davids line did not determine with Solomons And for this reason haply our Saviour is instyled by the holy Ghost the sonne of David not so of Solomon albeit Solomon was as true a shadow of him as King as David had beene And Solomons Kingdome and raigne a fairer map of his Kingdome then Davids was And though our Saviours intermediate Ancestors according to the flesh from David downward were many as S. Luke and more then S. Matthew relates Yet he did immediatly succeede David in the Kingdom For so by the law of most Countries in case the elder brethrens sonnes or issues faile the third or fourth brother succeeds as lawfull heire not unto his elder brothers or their children but to their Grandfather or first donor Many may be immediate heires unto thē to whō they are no immediate Successours in lineall descent That Solomon and his line had no such perpetuity bestowed upon them by vertue of Gods Covenant with David as that it might not determine before the promised seed of David was exhibited the tenour of that Covenant as it is exemplified by the Author of the 89. Psalme puts out of question I have found David my servant with my holy oyle have I annointed him ver 20. He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first borne higher then the Kings of the earth my mercy will I keepe for him evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven ver 26 27 28 29. This last he speakes of Davids seede as of one not of his seedes as of many For so it followes ver 30. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements if they breake my statutes and keepe not my Commandements then will I visite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes This visitation with rods and stripes imports more then fatherly chastisements true and reall punishments Yea heavie judgements upon Davids other children according to their deserts None are utterly exempted from Gods heavie displeasure besides the promised seede or Davids sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose prerogative is in the next words reserved by oath Never the losse my loving kindnesse will I not take from David nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ver 33. This is in effect as if he had said however Davids other sonnes provoke me I will not repent of that loving kindnesse which I promised to him it shall be accomplished in Davids seede for in respect of things alterable or reversible whether promised for the good of men or threatned for their woe God is usually said to repent but to whatsoever hee sweares of that he never repents Every event ratified by oath is either unalterable or irreversible The Lord hath sworne saith David Psal 110. and will not repent that is he will not change or alter that which hee hath promised To alter that which was only promised but without oath is in the phrase of the holy Ghost as we usually render the originall to faile or breake Covenant that is in more proper language to reverse a blessing promised Hence it is added in the next verse of the 89. Psalme Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David that is I will not make void my covenant His seeds shall endure for ever and his throne as the Sunne before mee It shall be established for ever as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in Heaven This is that throne and that Kingdome which the Angel Luke 1. 32 33. foretold should be given unto the seed or fruit of the Virgins womb As for Davids other children or for Solomons race their title to the temporary Crowne of David was at the first but conditional or rather mutable for every conditionall estate presupposeth a state in being but a state mutable or reversible Such was the state of Solomon or the heires of his bodie aswell unto the kingdome of Judah as of Israel The Kingdome of Israel they utterly lost in the second descent The next Quaere is whether this their estate unto Judah or Israel which was by originall tenour reversible were de facto utterly reversed and the Covenant as it concerned them finally cancelled 4 And of this Quaere the branches are two first whether Salomons line were utterly extinguished before the returne of Iudah from the Babylonish Captivitie or in any age before the son of God and the promised seed of David was manifested in the flesh The second whether in case the utter extinguishment of Salomons line be a point doubtfull or by any authentick Author or record indeterminable This line were not in the same desperate case for recovering the Kingdom that Elies race was for regaining the Priesthood from which it was by solemne oath deposed That Solomons line was utterly excluded from inheriting the Kingdome of Iudah and Iacob the Jews and Christians for the most part agree And the tenour of that terrible sentence against Ieconiah according to the principles acknowledged by both will inferre no lesse As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of