in her Cosin Elisabeth Thirdly confirming her from the power of God to which nothing is impossible Now whereas this unrestrained power of God was the onely cause of such examples as the childing of Elisabeth and other barren women in this birth of the Virgin something more and of more extraordinarinesse is to bee looked after In it therefore two actions are expressed to concurre First The Holy Ghost his comming upon the Virgin Secondly The power of the most High overshadowing her and two fruits or consequents of these two actions answerable to them First The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee therefore that that is borne of thee shall bee holy Secondly The power of the most High shall overshadow thee therefore that that is borne of thee shall bee called the Son of God The comming of the Holy Ghost upon her was First In the gift of Prophecy whereby shee was both informed of the very instant when the conception was wrought and also more fully of the mystery of the Incarnation then before Secondly Hee did prepare and sanctifie so much of her flesh and blood or seed as to constituâ—â— the body of our Saviour The worke was the worke of the whole Trinity but ascribed more singularly to the Holy Ghost first because of the sanctifying of that seed and cleering it of originall taint for sanctification is the worke of the Holy Ghost Secondly for the avoiding of that dangerous consequence which might have followed among men of corrupt minds who might have opinionated if the conception of the Messâ—as in the wombe had been ascribed to the Father that the Sonne had had no other manner of generation of him The power of the most High His operating power supplying the want of the vigour and imbraces of the masculine Parent For to that the word overshadow seemeth to have aliusion being a modest phrase whereby the Hebrews expressed the imbraces of the man in the act of generation as Ruth 3. 9. Spread the skirt of thy garment over thine handmaid Therefore that holy thing This title and Epithet first not onely sheweth the purity and immaculatenesse of the humane nature of Christ but also secondly it being applyed to the preceding part by way of consequence as was touched before it sheweth that none ever was borne thus immaculate but Christ alone because none had ever such a way meanes of conception but onely hee Ver. 36. Thy Cosin Elisabeth hath conceived a Son As hee had informed the Virgin of the birth of the Mâ—ssiâ—â— of her selfe so doth he also of the birth of his fore-runner of her Cousin Elisabeth For that hee intended not barely to informe her onely that her Cousin had conceived a Childe but that hee heightens her thoughts to think of him as Christs fore-runner may bee supposed upon these observations First that hee saith A Son and not a Childe Second that such strangely borne Sonnes were ever of some remarkable and renowned eminency Thirdly that if hee had purposed onely to shew her the possibility of her conceiving by the example of the power of God in other women hee might have mentioned Sarah Hannah and others of those ancient ones and it had been enough Ver. 39. And Mary arose c. And went with haste into the hill Country into a City of Juda. This City was Hebron For unto the sons of Aaron Joshua gave the City of Aâ—ba which is Hebron in the hill countrey of Judah Josh. 21. 11. And Zacharias being a sonne of Aaron and dwelling in the hill Countrey of Judâ—â—â— it were senselesse to seek for his house in any other place then Hebron This place had been excellently renowned in ancient time Here was the promise given of Isaac here was the institution of Circumcision here Abraham had his first land and David his first Crowne and here lay interred the three couples Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leah and as antiquity hath held Adam and Eve Now there are many reasons given by Expositors of Maries hasting hither after the Message of the Angel As either to know the truth of what was told her about Elisabeth or to congratulate and rejoyce with her or to minister to her in her great bellyednesse or that the Baptist in Elisabeths wombe might bee sanctified by the presence of Christ in hers c. But I cannot but conceive this to bee the very reason indeed That shee might there conceive the Messias where so many types figures and things relating to him had gâ—â—e before namely in Hebron For First this suited singularly with the Harmony and Consent which God useth in his workes that the promise should begin to take place by the conception of Messias even among those Patriarchs to whom the promise was first given Secondly A kind of necessity seemeth to lie upon it that this Shiloh of the Tribe of Juda and the seed of David should bee conceived in a City of Juda and of David as hee was to bee borne in another City that belonged to them both Thirdly the Evangelists so punctually describing this City seemeth rather to referre to Christ then John who being of the Priests might indifferently have been born in any of the Tribes whatsoever Only the Holy Ghost giveth us to observe this which may not bee passed That John that should bring in Baptisme in stead of Circumcision was borne in that very place where Circumcision was first ordained in the City Hebron It is generally held indeed that the Virgin conceived in Nazaret and in the very instant of the Angels talking with her but whether there bee not as much probability for this opinion as for that I referre to the equall and judicious Reader Ver. 40. And saluted Elisabeth This seemeth to have beene at some distance and a wall or floore between as consider seriously on ver 42. 44. Ver. 41. The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the Lxx. for Jacobs and Esaus stirring in the wombe Gen. 25. 22. And the leaping of the mountains at the giving of the Law Elisabeth in ver 44. addeth The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not that hee knew what hee did when hee leaped any more then they but that either this was the first time or this time was extraordinary The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth outward gesticulation or exultation as well as inward joy yea though there bee no inward joy at all as Psal. 65. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the little hils shall bee girded with exultation And so is it to bee understood here The babe in my wombe leaped with extraordinary gesticulation or exâ—ltation and 〈◊〉 to signifie the manner of the thing done and not the cause of the doing Ver. 45. And blessed is shee that beleeved Elisabeth in this clause seemeth to have an eye to her owne husbands unbeleefe and the punishment that befell him for the same Hee a Man a Priest aged learned eminent and the message to him of more appearing
consent of Romane Historians that say that Augustus Reigned six and fifty yeeres and of Christians that hold that Christ was baptized in the fifteenth of Tiberius then may it bee readily concluded that hee was borne in the forty second of Augustus The time of the yeere at which hee was borne hath beene much mistaken being concluded upon at the latter end of December This mistake did first arise by another for it being misunderstood that Zacharias was the High Priest and that hee was in Sancto Sanctorum on the expiation day when the Angel Gabriel appeared unto him they could doe no lesse then conclude that John was borne in the middle of Summer and Christ in the middle of Winter A time very unfit for people to travaile to their severall Cities to be taxed but far more unfit for Shepherds to lye abroad in the fields all night For finding out therefore the true and right time of his Nativity these things are to bee taken into consideration First That the time that Christ lived here upon the earth was two and thirty yeeres and a halfe exactly And so long did David Reigne in Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5. 4 5. This time was divided into two unequall parts twenty nine yeers compleat hee spent as a private man before hee was baptized for it is said hee began to bee thirty or was entring upon his thirtieth at his Baptisme Luk. 3. 23. And three yeeres and an halfe from his Baptisme to his death This summe was precisely told of by the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9. 27. In halfe that week shall hee cause sacrifice and oblation to cease And is plainly parcelled out by Passeovers and other circumstances of time Mat. 4. 2. Job 1. 29. 35. 44. 2. 1. 13. 5. 1. 6. 4. 13. 1. Secondly That the time of Christs death was at Easter or their Passeover as is most plaine by all the Evangelists Thirdly That hee living just two and thirty yeers and a halfe and dying at Easter it must needs follow that hee was borne about the middle of the moneth Tisri which answereth to part of our September And it is not only probable but also necessary if he lived thirty two yeeres and a halfe exactly that then as hee died upon the fiftheenth day of the moneth Abib or at the Passeover so that he was borne about the fifteenth day of Tisri at the Feast of Tabernanacles a moneth and a Feast that had been exceedingly renowned in ancient times In this moneth the World had begun and sin had entred into it In this moneth were all the Father born before the Flood as the Jewes averre and reason confirmes it From this moneth began the circle of the yeere from the Creation to the redemption out of Egypt From this moneth began the typicall yeere of Jubile in the ages after And in this moneth were the three famous Feasts of Trumpets of Expiation and of Tabernacles And like glorious things may bee observed upon the Feast of Tabernacles it selfe At that very time did Israel fall upon the making of the Tabernacle in the wildernesse Exod. 35. At this very time was the consecration of the Temple 1 King 1. 8. 2. And at this very time was our Saviour borne and began to carry the Tabernacle of his flesh and at this very time was hee Baptized and began the Ministery of the Gospel So that here appeareth one addition more to the present misery and subjection of the Jewes at the time of this taxe that not onely they must leave all their occasions to wait upon thier own taxing and promote their own bondage but that they must neglect a maine part of the service of God the Feast of Expiation and the Feast of Tabernacles as Zech. 14. 16 17. to attend the Conquerour and their owne thraldome And now it being considered that John the Baptist was but halfe a yeere older then our Saviour it will be observable how the foure points of the yeer as it may be so said were renowned with their conception and nativity John conceived at the Summer Solstice and our Saviour at the Winter John born at the vernall Equinox and our Saviour at the Autumnall SS And wrapped him in swadling cloaths This passage is one ground-work whereupon Expositors conclude that Christ was borne without paine to his mother for that shee performed the Midwives pâ—t her selfe and none to help her A second is this That he was borne without his Mothers paine because hee was conceived without her pleasure A third Argument may bee fetched from the blessing of propagation given to our first Parents in the Garden And a fourth from the example of the delivery of the Hebrew women in Egypt For first when God gave this blessing to Adam and Eve in their innocency increase and multiply Gen. 1. 28. it inabled them to beget children agreeable to their owne perfection that is holy righteous and without any symptomes or consequents of sinne either in themselves or in the mothers But they never begat any child thus because of their sudden fall What did this first blessing then utterly faile and never take effect in its proper sense and full extent Could such emphaticall words of God to man in innocency fall to the ground without performance No they took place in the second Adam who was borne according to the full extent and intent of that blessing to our innocent parents in perfect holinesse and righteousnesse and without paine to his mother Secondly if the Hebrew wonien in Egypt had so quicke and easie a delivery as that they were not like to other women much more may we thinke the travaile and delivery of the Virgin to have been quicke lively miraculous and painlesse as Esa. 66. 7. Before her paine came she was delivered of a man child SS Because there was no roome for them in the Inne At the returne out of Babylon the Children of Bethlehem were a hundred twenty three persons Ezra 2. 21. Now that being foure hundred and fifty yeers past and somewhat above to what a multitude might the stock or breed of that City be growne by this time of Christs birth This multitude pressing together to their own City according to the Emperours edict the weakest goe to the walls and Joseph and Mary are excluded out of the Inne and thus the free-woman and her Son are cast out of doores as the bond-woman and her Sonne had been Gen. 2. Vers. 8. And there were Shepheards c. The Patriarchs to whom Christ was more especially promised were of this vocation Gen. 47. 3. especially Abraham and David to whom the promise was more clearly made peculiarly David who was feeding Sheepe neere to Bethlehem when hee was taken a Father and type of Christ 1 Sam. 16. 11 12. And it doth illustrate the exactnesse of the performance the more and doth Harmonize with the giving of it the better when to Shepheards it is first revealed is to Shepheards it was first promised Compare
Mother or in Capernaum the Town of his supposed Father and so his birth in Bethlehem is utterly grown out of the thoughts and observation of the people Fourthly That hee hath now three yeeres and a halfe to labour in the Gospell from his Baptisme to his crucifying Rabbi Janna said Three yeeres and a halfe the glory of God stood upon Mount Olivet and preached saying Seek the Lord while hee may bee found call upon him while hee is neere Midr. Tillin Fifthly That hee lived but two and thirty yeeres and an halfe and that his thirtyeth yeere was the first yeere of his preaching and not the last yeere of his private life Compare the date of Davids Reign in Hierusalem 1 Chro. 29. 27. The time that David Reigned over Israel was forty yeeres Seven yeeres reigned hee in Hebron and thirty three yeeres reigned hee in Hierusalem Exactly Seven yeeres and six moneths reigned hâ—e in Hebron 2 Sam. 5. 5. and then thirty and two yeeres and six moneths reigned hee in Hierusalem Sixthly That if Hierusalem were destroyed exactly forty yeeres after our Saviours death as it is apparent it was both in Christian and Heathen Stories then that destruction of it befell just in the foure thousandth yeer of the world and so as the Temple of Solomon had been finished Anno mundi exactly 3000 so in Anno mundi exactly 4000. both the City and the Temple that then was was destroyed never to bee repaired or rebuilt againe And from that time most properly began the Kingdome of Heaven and the new Hierusalem when that earthly Kingdome and that old City were utterly ruined SS Being as was supposed the sonne of Joseph which was the sonne of Heli. At every descent in this Genealogy the word Jesus is to bee understood otherwise the first and last descents are improper and different in stile from all the rest For Joseph was not the Sonne of Heli but onely his Sonne in Law and Adam was no more the Son of God then any of the other holy men that were named before The supply therefore is thus to bee made to make all proper Jesus being as was supposed the Sonne of Joseph Jesus the Sonne of Heli Jesus the Son of Matthat c. Jesus the Sonne of Seth Jesus the Sonne of Adam Jesus the Sonne of God And the like stile of Genealogy Moses useth Gen. 36. 2. Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon where Anah is not called the daughter of Zibeon for hee was a man and not a woman nâ— more was Joseph the Sonne of Heli for hee was onely his sonne in Law but the word Aholibamah is to â—ee supplyed thus Aholibamah the daughter of Anah Aholibamah the daughter of Zibeon Heli or Eli for the name seemeth to bee the same with his in 1 Sam. 1. 3. c. was not the naturall Father of Joseph for Matthew told us plainely before that it was Jacob that begot Joseph but Heli was the Father of Mary and Father-in-law of Joseph onely Now because it is not used in Scripture to mention any women in a pedegree or to run the line from the Mother but from the Father to the Son therefore Mary is not here named at all but intimated or included when the line begins from her Father and calleth her husband his sonne which hee was onely because of her So that Luke intending to shew Christ the seed of the woman must of necessity reckon by Mary the daughter of Heli as Matthew intending to shew him the heire of the Crown of David doth reckon by Joseph the heire male apparent In comparing and laying together these men that Matthew and Luke have named in the ancestry of Joseph and Mary betwixt the returning out of the captivity and the times of our Saviour wee finde that every one man in the â—â—ock of Joseph did almost outlive two of those in the line of Mary the one line affording twenty descents betwixt those two periods and the other but one above halfe so many which easily and readily conâ—â—teth that opinion that some have strangely held that the persons iâ— the two Genealogies have been the same men onely under different names and it helpeth somewhat to settle the times between those two periods against the different miscountings of severall men some stretching them longer then the eleven persons named in Matthew could stretch to live and some cutting them shorter then the twenty named in Luke could bee comprehended in Ver. 27. Which was the Son of Salathiel which was the Son of Neri Neri was the naturall father of Salathiel hee seemeth to have been so named from the candle which the Lord reserved for David and his house 2 Chron. 21. 7. Ver. 31. Which was the Sonne of Nathan 2 Sam. 5. 14. 1 Chron. 3. 5. It is like that hee was named after Nathan the Prophet who brought David word of the promise 2 Sam. 7. and of the continuance of his house which failed in the race of Solomon but continued in the race of this Nathan till the King came that was to sit on Davids Thron for ever Here again the number of persons in the Genealogy of Mary betwixt David and the captivity exceed the number in the Genealogy of Joseph in Mat. 1. Ver. 36. Which was the Sonne of Caiâ—an which was the Sonne of Arphaxad In Moses it is said Arphaxad begat Shelah and Shelah begate Eber Gen. 10. 24. and 11. 12. And so is it briefly reckoned 1 Chron. 1. 24. Shem Arphaxad Shelah without any mention of Cainan at all nor is there any memoriall of such a sonne of Arphaxad throughout all the old Testament nor indeed was there ever any such a man in the world at all Here therefore is an extraordinary scruple and a question of no small difficulty meeteth us where Luke found the name of this man which is not to bee found else-where in all the Bible and whether it bee not an error in the Text and were not a miscarriage in the Evangelist to reckon a man for an ancestor of Christ that the world never saw or that never was upon the earth Answer It is 〈◊〉 indeed to resolve where Luke found this name of Cainan and from whence hee took it namely from the Greek Bible or the Septuagint which hath inserted it in those places of Moses that are alledged but when this is resolved the greater scruple is yet behind of his warrantablenesse so to doe and of the purity of the Text where it is so done The Seventy translatours indeed read Gen. 10. 24. thus Arphaxad begat Cainan and Cainan begat Sala and Sala begat Eber. And in Chap. 11. they say Arphaxad lived 135 yeeres and begat Cainan And Cainan lived 130 yeeres and begat Sala and Cainan lived after hee begat Sala 330 yeeres And from hence hath Saint Luke without controversie taken in Cainan into this Genealogy a man that never was in the world but the warrantablenesse of this insertion will require divers considerations