by tearing off ten of its Skirts But to return As I have been forc'd to prove that before our Saviour the Scepter was not departed and therefore this Prophecy of Jacob is not applicable to any before him So I shall now shew it is not applicable to any since by demonstrating the Scepter to have departed at that time by such Effects of its departure as are acknowledged for such by the Jew himself and pointed to as such by his own Scriptures and invelop that Nation in a Darkness that may be felt and far exceeds the blackest Darkness which befel that State in its greatest Eclipses The Sanctuary half Shekel paid to the Capitol It is Doctor Lightfoot's Observation out of Xiphilinus apud Dionem in the Place fore-cited that in acknowledgment of their Subjection to the Emperour the Jews were enjoyn'd by Vespasian to pay to the Capitol that Didrachma or Half-shekel that they usually paid to the Temple for their Lives A ransom for their souls unto the Lord Exodus 30. 12 13. The mony of the soul's estimation of every one that passeth the account 2 Reg. 12. 4. for I take both these places to speak of one and the same Shekel though Master Weems makes them two calling this latter Argentum transeuntis that is the Half-shekel which they paid to the Lord when they were numbred by head making a distinction where there is no difference for in that Text which he quotes for the first Ex. 30. 12. there is mention made that that was to be payed when they were numbred three times in two verses When thou takest the sum of the Children of Israel after their number then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numbrest them ver 12. and ver 13. this they shall give every one that passeth among them that are numbred Xiphilinus indeed does not expresly say it was that Half-shekel that was paid to the Temple that Vespasian appointed every Jew to pay to the Capitol but Josephus speaks home Bel. Judaic 7. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Emperour Vespasian laid this Tribute upon the Jews wheresoever they lived that they should pay to the Capitol that Didrachma which thitherto they had paid to the Temple 1. That this was the Half-shekel which they paid to the Lord for their Lives as his Tribute is manifest from both those fore-quoted Texts for Moses Exod. 30. orders the high Priest to imploy it in the service of the Tabernacle and Jehoash appoints the Priests to repair the Temple with it 2. Reg. 12. as also from another passage in Josephus Antiqu. Judaic 14. 12. where he calls it sacred mony because every Jew yearly paid it for his Life to God and sent it to the Temple from all parts of the World where they were dispersed from whose numerousness he saith it came to pass that Crassus found such vast summs in the Treasury of the Temple when he plunder'd it and that Mithridates surprized eight hundred Talents at Cons which the Jews of the lesser Asia had deposited there during those Wars not daring to send them to Jerusalem lest they might be snap'd up in the passage 2. And that this Shekel was never by any Conqueror before Vespasian required as Tribute is manifest from Josephus affirming that till then it had been used to be paid to the Temple from Pompeius reputing it so sacred as he durst not lay hands on it when he enter'd into the Temple from men's imputing Crassus his overthrow to God's avenging himself upon him for robbing the sacred Treasury where these Half-shekels were deposited that it was paid to the Temple in Caligula's Reign is manifest from that place of Josephus Ant. 18. 12 16. where he writes that the Jews of the Province of Babylon made choice of Neerda because of the strength and inaccessibleness of that place for their sacred Treasury where they deposited the sacred Didrachma till at certain Seasons they could send it to Jerusalem which they used to do with a Convoy of many thousands both for the greatness of the charge and danger of being robb'd by the way by the Parthians But this is most clearly evinc'd from the sacred Gospels informing us that the Tribute-money St. Mat. 22. 18. 19. St. Mar. 12. imposed upon the Jews by the precedent Emperours had Caesar's Image and Superscription upon it and was a Roman Coin hence stiled both in St. Matthew and St. Mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Latine name and the Tribute it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 census in all printed Copies and Manuscripts that I have seen or heard of save that old Greek and Latine M S. which Beza sent to the University of Cambridge where it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pole-mony a word coin'd at the fingers end of the Scribe for the Tribute laid upon them by Augustus or Pompey and taken off by Agrippa was not paid by the head but by the house as Josephus expresly affirmeth Josoph Jud. Ant. 19. 5. Remisso ei tributo quod soliti erant in singulas aedes solvere 2. And upon this very account our Saviour determin'd it to be Caesar's due in which determination he proceeded according to their own Concessions as Lightfoot observes Harmony Sect. 77. quoting the Jerusalem Talmud bringing in David and Abigail talking thus Abigail said What evil have I or my Children done David answereth Thy Husband vilified the Kingdom of David She saith Art thou a King then He saith to her Did not Samuel anoint me King She saith to him The Coin of our Lord Saul is yet current And again in Sanhedr A King whose Coin is current in those Countreys the men of the Countrey do thereby evidence that they acknowledge him for their Lord but if his Coin be not current he is a Robber And that with as much advantage as could be desired in order to his convincing them that the Tribute of that Denarium was due to Caesar but the Tribute of the Didrachma due to God that bearing Caesar's Picture with this Inscription say Antiquaries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caesar August such a year after the taking of Judea Hammond ann c. in Mat. 22. But this if it were the Kings or common Shekel being stamped on one side with a Tower standing betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Inscription with that which was written beneath amounting to this Motto Jerusalem the holy City the rundle being fill'd with this David King and his Son Solomon King or if it were the Sanctuary-shekel having on one side the Pot of Mannah or Aaron's Censer with this Inscription The Shekel of Israel on the Reverse side Aaron's Rod budding with this Motto in the Rundle Jerusalem the Holy City that is Jerusalem the Royal City of the great King Goodwin antiq lib. 6. cap. 10. Beza on Mat. 17. 24. makes the same Description of that Shekel which was given
Christ that speak him unlike that Messiah whom the Prophets delineate but this was but a Copy of his Countenance a Flourish of his Pen as Origen tells him for he pulls in his Horns as soon as he had shown them and is content to wave that discourse Orig. Con. Cels. lib. 2. cal 8. In the date of whose Face Times past present and to come Prophecy History bear that admirable proportion as the oldest age shews no wrincles but only shadows youth and the greenest Youth represents the sober look of gravest Age where yesterday and to day are the same Let the whole brood of Helicon's Brats the whole Fraternity of the Muses Sons compose such a Poem and with me they shall be no longer Semi-pagani half-witted Sciolists provided that till then the Apostles may not be such with them Christian Religion 's APPEAL To the BAR of Common Reason c. The Third Book We have as good Grounds of Assurance that the Matter of Fact and Delivery of Doctrine contain'd in the Gospel were done and delivered as they are reported there as we have or can have of any the most unquestionable Relation in the World CHAP. I. The Universal Tradition of the Church a good Evidence of the Gospels Legitimacy § 1. The inconquerable force of Universal Tradition § 2. No danger of being over-credulous in our Case § 3. Reasons interest in Matters of Religion § 4. We have better assurance that the Evangelical Writings and History are those mens Off-spring whose names they bear than any Man can have that he is his reputed Father's Son § 5. The Sceptick cannot prove himself his Mothers Son by so good Arguments as the Gospel hath for its Legitimacy § 6. Bastard-slips grafted into Noble Families The Sceptick in Religion is a Leveller in Politicks § 1. ANd doubtless nothing can hinder any man in his wits from giving assent to this Proposition That the Framers of the Gospel were Persons endowed with Reason But then the Atheist puts in this Bar against his own and others Belief That Christianity possibly may have been lick'd into this form wherein the Scripture presents it after the Age of the Apostles by such Politicians as conceived it a good Epedient to keep men in Order out of an awe and reverence of Religion For the removal of this Scruple I shall prove in this third Book That we have as good Grounds of assurance that the Matters of Fact and Doctrine contain'd in the Gospel were done and delivered by Christ and his Apostles as we have or can have of any other the most certain and unquestionable Relation in the World Though we who live at this great distance from the Time wherein those Occurrences fell out are so far disadvantaged as 't is scarce to be hoped that obstinate and captious Gain-sayers who hate the Gospel for its Holiness and Strictness will acquiess in the clearest Demonstration we can lay before them Necsi solem quidem ipsum gestemus in manibus fidem accomodabunt ei doctrinae quae illos jubet c. Lactantius de divino praemio l. p. c. 1 Debaucht persons will not yield assent to a Doctrine that commands Holiness Justice and Temperance though for demonstration of the truth of it we should carry in our hands the Sun it self Before I make my defence saith Origen against Celsus lib. 1. calum 23. let me premise this That to vindicate the Truth of any History though never so true is a matter of exceeding difficulty and in some cases impossible If a man be frowardly bent to deny that the Grecians fought with the Trojans that Oedipus married his Mother Jocasta c. there 's no convincing of him there 's no remedy against the biting of a Sycophant Yet the abovesaid disadvantage hath this convenience attending it that it necessitates us to the use of soberness of Mind in seeking and receiving satisfaction For the things in question being done many generations before us it were the highest act of unreasonableness imaginable to expect or demand any other grounds of satisfaction than such as all men that are not besides themselves and incapacitated for rational Discourse in all other the like cases acquiess in without the least hesitancy that is Universal Tradition which is of that force as to leave all wise men as much assured of those Matters that are so communicated to them as of those they themselves are eye-witnesses of I can no more force my self out of an assurance that there were such men as Caesar Pompey Alexander such Cities as Troy Carthage Jerusalem than I can perswade my self to believe that I am not now writing Nay I should sooner be brought to doubt of this than that for I may perhaps for this once be but in a Dream but that the whole World of Authentick Historians who have conveighed the Tradition of those things to us should dream waking for so many Successions of Ages bids that manifest defiance to Reason and common Sence as I must grow blind on both these eyes before I can swallow that Flie. When I sift my Mind to find out the bottom of this invincible Assurance such thoughts as these comes to hand It is not any way my own Interest that byasseth me whether there ever were any such Men or Cities or no mihi nec seritur nec metitur I am no way concern'd in it I cannot possibly discover the least Atom of self in my tenacious and even obstinate adhering to such Propositions It must be therefore some pure Beam of refined Reason by which I clime up to this degree of Confidence I take up and hold to these Conclusions meerly as a Man as a reasonable Creature without circumstantiating my self with those moveable those separable Attributes of poor of rich wise foolish c. But find all Men in all Ages since have with one mouth either reported or assented by their silence to these Stories and Vox populi vox Dei The common vote of Man-kind is the voice of God If I deny the validity of such Testimony I banish all humane Converse out of the World It may here perhaps be objected that in these cases we suffer our Reason to be captivated to the general Vogue by slender presumptions and because we may without any considerable detriment ride with the stream we are willing to save our selves the labour of rowing against it but in Matters of so high a Concern as Religion Prudence should dictate to us the use of more Caution than to be born down with the Current But what we take up in trust of the Publick Faith upon such Universal Testimonies is not credulously imbraced but forceth it self upon us with main force of common Reason I was almost saying of demonstration for else these Confidences might possibly be dismounted If these assurances were not built upon the firmest Grounds they might be undermined if they were not mann'd and garrison'd by the strongest Reason other Reasons might enforce to a surrender as we
to this holy Book or take from it to add to the Prophane Surely no if we take in one thing more out of Josephus preceding this fact of Ptolemy viz. that Demetrius summoning all the Jews of Alexandria read to them the Translation in the presence of the Translators and yet the whole Assembly approved it with one voice making suit to the King that he would with his Royal Sanction ratifie the unalterableness of it could he have devised a form of Sanction more Royal and Obliging than this Scaliger's Fourth Objection If Eleazar and the Jerusalem Sanhedrim had approved this Translation why did the Hebraizing Jews so hate it as to keep an Annual Fast and day of afflicting their Souls in remembrance of it why did they say there was three days of darkness when the Law was translated and apply to this time and action that of Solomon Eccl. 3. There is a time to rent Thus proceeds that learned Man to Catechise his Readers If a Puny whose ambition it is to sit at the feet of that great Oracle may have leave to solve these queries I would thus unty these knots with which he snarles this story The great Council appointed the Seventy to translate the Bible to gratifie Ptolemy but never intended that Translation should be used in Synagogues Neither does Josephus Antiq. 12. 2. assert any thing of that tendency but that the whole Assembly of the Jews of Aegypt with their Magistrates and Elders passed their joynt Vote that it should be allowed to be read in their publick Assemblies Now it was this Vote which the Hebrews abominated it was not to the Translation it self but what past towards the ratifying of it for this use in those three days of darkness wherein it was read to the Jews of Aegypt and obtained this approbation to which they applyed that Sentence of the Royal Preacher There is a time to rent the Aegyptian Jews giving hereby to their Brethren of Judaea the like scandal to that which the Latines gave the Greeks by inserting de filioque into the common Creed without common consent and laying a Foundation for that Schism which about an hundred Years after this was perfected by Onias who with the consent of Ptolemy Philometor Jos. Antiq. 13. 6. in pretence of fulfilling that Prophesie Isaiah 19. 18. There shall five Cities in Aegypt speak the Language of Canaan and one of them shall be the City of the Sun erected at Heliopolis a Temple after the similitude of that at Jerusalem and a Church of Jews there whereof he became High Priest distinct from that in Judaea whereof Alcimus was his Priest by the name of Helenists or Grecians as Scaliger observes and Doctor Hammond demonstrates from Act. 11. 20. where they that upon St. Steven's Martyrdom travell'd to Antioch are said To preach the Lord Jesus to the Greeks that is to the Grecizing Jews for it is said of the same men in the preceding verse that in that their Perambulation they preached to the Jews only A plain proof that the compellation of Greeks was not imposed upon them from their living in Greece but their holding of that Church which used the Greek Translation of the Seventy § 5. Scaliger's Fifth Objection His objecting the Story of some Neoterick Jews touching their razing out the Golden Letters of the Name Jehovah in that Copy which was presented to Alexander the Great and writing them with Ink as an Argument that Josephus is lead by Aristaeus beside the way of Truth when he saith that the Copy of the Law which Eleazar sent to Ptolemy was writ in Golden Letters had never been raised by him upon so Sandy a Foundation neither had such Rabbinical Fables obtained that High Place among his Golden Lines as he here assigns them had he call'd to mind either what St. Origen writes in answer to Celsus In Cels. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writings of Modern Jews are mere Fables and Trifles Or what sometimes dropp'd from his own Pen. de em temp l. 6. Manifesta est Judaeorum inscitia multa quae ad eorum Sacra Historiam pertinent nos melius tenemus quam ipsi The Ignorance of the Jews is most manifest we are better acquainted with their Religious Customs and the Histories of their Affairs than the Jews themselves are Josephus his single word hath more weight with me than hundreds of Modern Rabbies Scaliger's Sixth Objection The last Stone which Scaliger turns is Ptolemy himself under this indeed he finds those Worms of Parricides committed upon his Brethren those Moths of Incest committed with his Sister as fret his Surname Philadelphus till they change it from its natural Gloss and make it look as imposed upon him abusively but not Aristaeus his Credit For first these Immoralities hinder not but that he might be ambitious to have his famous Library grac'd with Books so much commended not only by publick fame and inkling of the Nations speaking in the language of that Prophecy Deut. 4. 6. What Nation is there so great that hath statutes and Judgments so righteous as this Law but by the suggestions of Demetrius that the Jewish Scriptures contein'd a most wise sincere and divinely-inspired Law and that Hecataeus Abderita assigned that as the reason why neither any Poet nor Historian made mention thereof because 't is sacred and not to be taken into a prophane mouth How must this set an edge upon his curiosity and incite him after the obtaining a sight and coming within view of those Books which at a distance cast so alluring a smell into his quick-scented nostrils Ptolemy was in Tertullian's Judgment Omni literaturâ sagacissimus Apol. cap. 18. Secondly had we learnt to extend the line of Christian Charity but half as far as it will reach we should pass a milder sentence than that of Scaliger and Weenobus upon him whom God anointed to be his Servant to bring his Law from Jewish Captivity and conceive him to have been almost if not altogether a Proselyte for upon the assurance that Aristaeus gave him that so far as he could find by most diligent enquiry the best and highest God the Maker of the World whom he worship'd under the name of Jupiter was worshipped among the Jews after a more excellent rite and form of Divine Service than among any other people upon earth that that God who gave to him his Kingdom had given to them their Law he presently ordered the Manumission of all the Jews in his Dominion at his own vast charge in redeeming above 120000 out of the hands of those they were Vassals to And upon Demetrius his suggesting to him that the Jewish Scriptures contein'd a most wise sincere and divine Law he ordered Embassadors to be sent to Eleazar the High Priest with Letters after this Tenure After I had obtained the Principality I set at liberty above an hundred thousand Jews c. thinking that this would be an acceptable thank-offering to God for that providence
the most daring enemies of our Jesus and the Nation to which they are peculiarly calculated being dispersed and ceasing to be a Nation Nay after themselves have in effect renounc'd the Religion of Moses and betaken themselves to the Religion of the Patriarchs which yet is unpracticable among them in the point of Sacrifices so that they worship God in a way which neither their Fathers nor their Fathers-fathers knew A way taken up by themselves since the demolishing of their Temple and dispersion of their Nation wherein they add and take from their own Law contrary to the Divine Sanction In vain do they urge those Texts that seem in the Letter to import the perpetuity and irrevocableness of Moses Law such as Deut. 29. 29. Things revealed belong to us and our children for ever Lev. 23. 14. First fruits a statute for ever and the passover a statute for ever Ex. 12. 17. For if they will allow David to speak in Moses his Language when he applies ever to the Temple Psal. 132. 13. This is my rest for ever and allow their own eyes to interpret David's ever now they see the place of his residence for ever demolished the Chain wherein they think themselves still bound to Moses will fall off of its own accord can the ever of Oblations possibly be stretched beyond the ever of that Sanctuary to which they are limitted As vain is the exception against the cogency of this Argument from the Instance of the first Temples laying waste during the Babylonish Captivity during which time though the Law as to the practise of it was in some points suspended yet it was not abolished For 1. The Law had a shrewd shake and was loosen'd in its sinews by the ruine of the first Temple Gods withdrawing then the Ark of his Presence and Covenant from them was a sign he would quickly grow weary of sitting on Mount Sion now that his foot-stool was removed his not vouchsafing to give them Fire from Heaven for their Sacrifices in the second as he had done in the Tabernacle and first Temple and yet accepting their Offerings made by strange fire so directly contrary to the Law was an Argument that he stood not so much upon Levitical punctilios as he did at first when he punish'd Nadab and Abihu with suddain death for offering with strange fire If the Jews will avouch their own story upon Dan. 6. 4. Ut invenirent occasionem Danieli ex latere regis where interpreting latus regis to be the Queen or the King's Concubines they tell us that Daniel was an Eunuch they must be forc'd to a confession that God stood not much upon the Ceremonial Law when he preferr'd an Eunuch who by that Law was not to come into the Congregation into that intimate Communion with himself as to reveal to him more of his Counsel than he did to any Prophet beside Moses Jerom. in locum I urge these Instances as Arguments ad hominem they being the Jews concessions though in themselves not true as I shew elsewhere It is from their own Premisses I infer this Conclusion That God weaned them by degrees from Moses antiquating one Ceremony after another till at last Christ cancell'd the whole Hand-writing of Ordinances breach upon breach was made in that wall of partition till Christ took it wholly away and rac'd it to the ground 2. God promised to return that Captivity to restore to them their own Land and to repair the ruines of the first Temple but this Captivity will never be return'd the second Temple will never be repair'd but both Nation and Place are to be perpetual Desolations Of this I make proof elsewhere and therefore here shall propound this only Argument to evince the truth of it viz. That during the desolations of the first the Spirit of Prophecy was not with-held from them God raised them up Prophets in Babylon he then set them up Way-marks guides to their Cities again he whistled to his Flock scatter'd in that gloomy and dark day of their wandring to prevent their total dispersion and to keep them within the hearing of Cyrus his Proclamation But since the desolating of the second Temple they have had no Voice no Vision none to answer how long no Prophets have risen up among them but false ones as themselves acknowledg such as Ben Cozba of whom their Taba in Taanith per 4. halac 6. and Maymon in Taanith per. 5. quoted by Dr. Lightfoot Vespacian 1. Sect. 1. thus write It was on the 9. day of the Month Ab that the great City Bitter was taken where were thousands and ten thousands of Israel who had a great King over them whom all Israel even their greatest wise men thought to have been Messias And before him and Jerusalem's fall according to our Saviour's Prediction the many false Christs of whom Josephus in the History of that Age gives many instances § 3. As the Ceremonial Law fell with its own weight was disannull'd by its own Vote and cancel'd by vertue of its own Ordinances So that Old Testament-law which cannot be shaken 1. Is confirm'd and establish'd in the Gospel upon better Principles and more powerful Motives 2. And improved by our Royal Lawgiver in many branches of it that budded not under that Testament 3. And in the whole of it to the utmost heroick degree of Christned Morality 1. That an humane Soul cloathed with Mortality is capable of 2. Or can be drawn to by the most powerful Attractives of the Spirit of Grace 3. Most plentifully poured forth upon all that sincerely embrace the Gospel Of all which points I shall speak distinctly not only because they demonstrate that Christ came not to destroy but to perfect and fill up the Law but do also present Christ and the Gospel to us in a quite other form than the faithless Solifidian draws them in whose Models of Christianity look as if they were designed to shame Religion 1. The Salvifick Grace teaches us in the Gospel to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts to live godly righteously and soberly with more masculine and strenuous Motives than were propounded under the Law The Argument then was I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage but that which was but implyed in that is in the Gospel clearly expressed and obedience prest from our deliverance from the bondage of Satan the vassalage of our own Lusts the chambers of eternal Death The motive expressed there was That thy days may be long in the land a land slowing with milk and honey here the darkness of Type that was upon the face of that earth is dissipated the waters that overwhelm'd it are divided from it and the dry Land made to appear that Land that is very far off far above all visible Heavens The Childrens Rattles and Nats being laid aside the Gospel openly hangs out Prizes becoming men of full age to run for in that Race
apply themselves forthwith to the Guards at every Gate to the Watchmen that went up and down the City with a Saw ye not heard ye not can ye tell no tydings why was not Jerusalem all in an uproar at the news How easily might the Discipies have been taken in the manner who by the Soldiers own confession could not be gone far before they awoke for they had not time to shut the Cabinet after they had stoln the Jewel to roll the stone to the Sepulchres mouth again after they had taken out the Corps which certainly they would have done had they not been prevented on purpose to hide from the Soldiers so certain an indication of the removal of the Body till they were got out of their reach It had been worth the while to have turn'd every stone to find whither the Disciples had convey'd it that they might have laid it forth to open view of the people to affront the Apostles preaching of the Resurrection But the proud are robbed they have slept their sleep as their own Prophes in a holy scorn and derision of them had foretold and in the hands of the mighty there is found nothing Nothing but this palpably feigned Tale can be invented to prejudice the truth of Christ's Resurrection by a Council of the subtilest and most implacable enemies Christs name ever had and that after whole nights plotting upon their pillow for they suspected Christ would rise from the dead what to do what to say in case their fears should come to pass yea after comparing notes and taking counsel together Had they so drain'd their heads of devilish policy in compassing Christs Death as they could invent nothing to disprove his Resurrection by but this pitiful shift as Euphranor bestow'd so much art in carving the Image of Neptune as he could not tell how to go to work with the other Gods I begin now less to wonder at the observation I am upon than I did when I first took it up It seemed strange to me that Gospel-history should pass through so many Ages so currently as not to meet with the least rational Contradiction as to any Clause or Tittle of it from any of those millions of desperate enemies it hath met with all along in its passage down to us save only in this case But I see in this very case the Devils good will to oppose it especially in this Article of the Resurrection this being that wherein Christ triumphed over him and we in Christ 'T is Christ that dyed yea rather that rose from the dead is the acme of the Apostles glorying And his want of skill or power or heart to oppose it ever since Christ triumphed so gloriously over him and his Instruments in this Debate about his Resurrection as no man how great soever his enmity was against it would so far under value his own Reputation as to hazard it in gainsaying the Reports of the Gospel So that this little Stone ever since it was cut out of the Mountain has not met with any contradiction that could put it to a stop but what it has with ease run over I would not be too peremptory in affirming what hath not been done there may be more Antagonists against our Religion than I have read but this I may safely say that after some considerable enquiry and most serious perusal of all the ancient Authors opposing Christianity that I could compass a sight off I have not read nor heard of one person who offered to assert himself an Eye-witness of any one thing contrary to the Evangelical Story § 2. These Testimonies of Adversaries are sufficient to evince the Truth of the delivery and though the impossibility of the Apostles either deceiving or being deceived which hath been demonstrated in the first and second Book does manifestly evince that they delivered nothing but the Truth yet that the Atheists mouth may for ever be stopt I shall ex abundanti produce the Testimonies of strangers and enemies for the proof of the Truth of the things delivered There is we see no Comparison betwixt the Allegations of Plaintiff and Defendant Their exceptions are to our Evidences as the dust upon the Ballances to the weight in the Scales lighter than vanity Were it a drawn match betwixt us were the Scales equally ballanced the weight of the Testimony of By-standers of persons that did not interest themselves in the quarrel as it relates to Religion but nakedly record the great Emergencies of the World as Historians especially of such of them as in point of Religion side with our Adversary will add over weight to our Scale and cast the ballance on our side so irrecoverably as it shall not be in the power of Scepticism it self by injecting Queries to pull down the other Scale or with all the doubts it can raise to with-hold its assent to the indubitable Truth of our Evangelist in those things that are hardest to be believed and of that importance as the belief of them necessarily inforceth and demonstrateth the Truth of the rest of their Histories Josephus a Jew and a Priest of Aaron's Order as himself informs us in the History of his own life in that part of his Jewish Antiquities for the truth whereof he appeals against the Exceptions of one Justus a bold lying Pamphleter to the Roman Records in the custody of Vespasian and King Agrippa that Agrippa who was so zealous of the Law as he wish'd he might no longer live than he might be serviceable towards the promoting of the Jewish Religion and therefore fell down dead at Caligula's feet when he perceived him inexorably set against the Jews for refusing to erect his Statue in their Temple Philo Legatione ad Caium And if the Testimony of such an Author confirm'd by such Evidences in the custody of so great an enemy to our Religion be not sufficient to prove the Truth of it in those parts of it it hath relation to what will satisfie Now this Josephus Jud. antiq lib. 18. cap. 9. relates the whole History of John Baptist exactly in the tenour of the Evangelists thus Herod putting away his own Wife the Daughter of Aretas the King of Arabia and taking from his Brother yet living his Wife Herodias had not long after War with Aretas in which Battle Herod's host utterly perished after which for Herodias her sake and through her ambition he was deprived of his Kingdom and with her banish'd to Vienna in France What manner of man doth this speak the Baptist to have been in the opinion of the people when they impute Herod's mishap to the murthering of him rather than the Sanhedrim reputed sacred persons or his own Children a cruelty more than salvage against which Barbarities though Josephus declaims yet he does not impute to them Herod's falling into the displeasure of God but to his beheading John lib. 16. cap. ult and his following the counsel and humours of Herodias 18. 9. wherein he had the
a divine Person yet they retain'd still their old Heathenish Religion and these are the Christians of which Adrian writes that they worship'd Serapis and that their Bishops for all they said they were Christians were yet devoted to Serapis and that there was none of that Sect be he a Ruler of the Jewish Synagogue a Samaritan or a Christian Presbyter who was not a Conjurer a Wizzard and an Anoynter Insomuch as when the Patriarch came into Aegypt some solicited him to adore Serapis some Christ. Though Adrian of all others had least reason to condem these mungrel Christians for he himself notwithstanding his adhering to the Gentile Religion had that honourable esteem of Christ as he had a mind to build a Temple to him and canonize him for a God Lampridti Alexand. Severus 2. What if Josephus had been a Pharisee could he not lay the corruption of that Sect down when he went to write truly if he keep promise with his Reader he every where faithfully performs the office of an Historian in recording Occurrences as they fell out without favour and affection and I think never Pen that was not guided by infallible Inspiration went more evenly or directly to the point of Truth than he did or let fall less Passion A suspicion of this Nature could not have entred into the head of any man to whom Josephus is not a perfect stranger 3. Had the Pharisees enmity against no Sect but the Christian do not we find them in opposition to the Sadducees who denyed the Resurrection and said there were neither Angels nor Spirits and consequently no Miracles nor Prophesies siding and going along with St. Paul as far as Josepus doth in this Text for what is there in these words that are excepted against as not becoming the mouth of a Pharisee or inclining any further to the approbation of Christianity than their opposition to Saducism might bend a Pharisee to without prejudice to his own Sect. 1. Not in that If it be lawful to call him a man for first that may be taken in as bad a sence as those paradoxical wits put upon the immediat following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who interpret them as a defamation of the blessed Jesus which joyn'd together if the Context did not reclaim and Christian ears abhor the sound may by a sinister interpretation be made to speak Josephus to have had this opinion of our Saviour that he was not a Man but some Changeling or Fairy-elf who shewed apish Tricks play'd strange Pranks mimi histriones quoque dicti sunt paradoxi Vos Etymol If therefore the Christians had had a mind to periwigg Josephus to make him look more favourably upon Christ they would never have put upon him such a border as this out of which he looks more a squint upon him than he did without it Had Josephus in opprobry called Christ a doer of paradoxical actions it would have been neither Piety nor Policy in Christ's friends to have added by way of Preface I cannot tell whether I should call him a man the worst sence which the first clause is capable of alone being better than the best bad sence that can be put upon it in conjunction with such a Preface If it cast a bad aspect upon Christ alone it will cast a worse in such company 2. Take them both as Josephus delivers them with the right-hand as speaking in consort with the whole series of his Discourse the commendation of our Saviour and what is gain'd by taking in or lost by leaving out these words if we may call him a man that deserves the raising of so much dust does not Christ's doing miraculous Works his rising from the dead according to the Prophecies that went of him speak him to have been more than an ordinary Man either the Messias or that Prophet or Elias which is all that Josephus intends or can be deem'd to intend in those words which import no more but his being of an Opinion equivolent to that Pagan Opinion of Christ mention'd by St. Austin de consensu Evang. 1. 7. tom 4. pag. 162. honorandum enim tanquam sapientissimum virum putant non colendum tanquam Deum They thought he was to be honoured as a most wise man but not to be worship'd as a God for he was so far from thinking Christ to be God as in the question about Messiah he preferr'd Vespasian before him de Bel. Jud. 7. 12. an Argument that he did not apprehend the Messias himself to be God only he perceiv'd by the great Works Christ did that he was more than a common Man and by the Analogy which those Works bare to Prophecie that he was one of those extraordinary persons to whom those Prophecies had relation Either the Christ or Elias or that Prophet or one of the Prophets as some of the Jews conjectured our Saviour to be who were far enough from believing in him as Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 6. 2. Nor in that that is Christ whereby it was not in Josephus his thought to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth for the Christ but only to distinguish him by that appellation from others his Coetanians who were called Jesus as the Son of Ananus who for seven years together before the ruin of the City denounced wo against it Bel. Jud. 7. 12. Jesus the son of Damneus whom Albinus made high Priest in room of Ananus the younger the murderer of St. James our Lords Brother which James Josephus in the same Chapter calls the Brother of Jesus Christ to distinguish him from that other Jesus Jud. antiquit 20. 7. there mentioned as also from Jesus the Captain of those Cut-throats whom the Imperialists of Sephorim hired to surprise Josephus vita Josephi and Jesus the son of Saphias that fire-flinger who incens'd the Galileans against Josephus Ibid. Jesus the son of Tobias that Captain of Robbers who near Tiberias surprised five of Valerian's Soldiers Bel. Jud. 3. 16. Jesus the son of Thebath to whom Titus gave quarter at the taking of the upper part of the City Jerusalem Bel. Jud. 7. 15. and Jesus the son of Gamaliel who succeeded that other Jesus already named in the high Priesthood antiq Jud. 20. 7. So that besides our Jesus there were six who in that Age bare that name and two of them mention'd in the same Chapter where he is named Jesus Christ Ant. Jud. 20. 7. Briefly so ambiguous was the name Jesus in that Age as the Jewish Exorcists that they might not leave the unclean spirits which they adjured in the name of Jesus in doubt who that Jesus was annex to it in their form of Conjuration this discriminating Circumstance whom Paul preacheth without which they might have pleaded they neither knew Jesus nor Paul there being Jesusses many and Pauls many but no Paul that preach'd Jesus saving the Apostle nor any Jesus whom Paul preach'd but Jesus Christ and therefore the Spirits are forc'd to confess Jesus
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the incautelousness of the Scribe put in room of the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else is explicative and should be rendred by etiam i. e. he begot Herod even or to wit Philip. 2. Josephus in his mentioning the Sons of Herod the Great does no where name more Herods than three to wit Herod by Malthace Herod by Cleopatra Simon 's Daughter and Herod by Mariamne the Daughter of Alexander the High Priest Now this last Herod dyed while he was at School at Rome Bel. Jud. 1. 18. and therefore he could neither be that Herod by whom nor that Herod from whom Herodias was taken 3. Herod in his last Will provides for no other sons but Archelaus Antipas and Philip and therefore both these Herods must have starved if their Father had not provided for one of them under the name of Antipas and for the other under that of Philip. 4. Josephus puts a Key into our hands Bel. Jud. 2. 8. The Kingdom of Archelaus being reduc'd to a Province the remainder of Herod's sons to wit Philip and Herod called Antipas govern'd their own Tetrarchates In this honour they both continued from within one year after our Saviours Birth to within one year after Tiberius his Death and one of them unto the Reign of Caligula Of both which Josephus giveth this account viz. Agrippa this was that Herod Agrippa who was eaten up of worms after six months grievous imprisonment by Tiberius was at Tiberius his Death not only set at Liberty by Caligula but had the Kindom of Judaea bestowed on him and the Tetrarchate of Philip but then newly deceas'd This Preferment of Agrippa did so sting Herodias as Herod could have no rest from her importunities till she had got him to Rome in order to his strengthning his Court interest for his own and against Agrippa's Promotion But Agrippa so well plays his Game against his Uncle Herod as he is forc'd to flee to Spain and leave his Tetrarchate by Caligula's order unto Agrippa Antiq. 18. 9. 14. Neither doth Josephus only mention these two Tetrarchs as then in being when our Saviour was upon earth but all the Circumstances relating to them recorded in sacred Writ We read in the Gospel of Caesarea Philippi St. Matt. 16. 13. so called because Philip the Tetrarch of a Village named Paneas made it a City and named it after Cesar as Josephus writeth Jud. Ant. l. 18. cap. 3 where he describes its Scituation ad Jordanis fontes answerable to the Topography of the Evangelists who describe Christ's peregrination after he departed from Jerusalem to avoid the treachery of the Jews who sought to kill him into that part of Galilee which appeartain'd to Philip's Tetrarchate so as though the Cities about the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias or the Lake of Geneseret all in Philip's Precincts he passeth over that Sea and along the Coasts of Jordan till he came to Caesarea Philippi A wealthy Inhabitant of which City he had before that cured at Capernaum who in a grateful memorial of that mercy had caused to be ingraven the History of that Cure to wit two Statues one representing her self kneeling before the other of our Saviour with a garment down to his feet where there grew an Herb which when it became so high as to touch the Hem of his Garment had the medicinal virtue to heal all Diseases these Statues remain'd intire till by the command of Julian the Apostate they were cast down and his own erected This Statue Eusebius affirmeth to have stood there in his time and that when he went to Caesarea on purpose to inform himself of the truth he saw it with his own eyes Eccl. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 14. I therefore mention this story at large that the Romanists may see how little it makes for their Image-worship seeing it was erected only as a Monument of that benefit this Woman receiv'd and had not divine honour conferr'd upon it for all this miraculous effusion of divine Virtue into its Neighbour plant And that our Divines may learn a more substantial way of resolving the Popish Sophisms than by denying what is most apparently true upon such weak Reasons as a learned man offereth viz. why all this at Caesarea since the Woman was cured at Capernaum But whoever affirm'd the memorial of this Cure to have been erected in the place where it was done and not of the Womans aboad on whom it was wrought or who can think but she whose Faith was so strong as to believe she should be healed if she could but touch the Hem of Christs Garment and Wealth so competent as she could erect those brazen Statues at her door could want either will or means to travel for the Cure of so tedious and noisome a disease as far as from Caesarea to Capernaum not half so far asunder as London and the Bath or that she could think to meet with Christ any where more likely than at the place of his home Capernaum or of fixing the memorial of so great a Mercy any where more conveniently than at her own door This touch given for the Cure of such impetuous Fluxes of indigested Notions I return to Caesarea concerning which Josephus hath this story That antiently the head of Jordan was reputed to be in its Confines till Philip the Tetrarch by observing that the Chaff which he caused for trials sake to be cast into a Well an hundred and twenty Furlongs from it called Phiale came out at the Springs of Jordan near Caesarea discover'd that Well to be the head of it from whence working like a Mole underground till it came to Paneas and there breaking out in two Fountains it made those two Whirl-pools in the Caverns under the Earth which swallowed up the Sacrifices which the Pagan Priests once a year cast into Paneas making the silly people believe it was miraculous This I report not for any mention is made hereof in sacred Writ but for the illustration of that Story in Eusebius Eecl hist. l. 7. c. 14. which he receiv'd from the mouth of Astyrius his familiars how Astyrius by invocating the Name of Christ caused the Sacrifice to swim at the top by a miraculous power contrary to that natural motion of it downward and sucking of it in by the subterraneal Vorago whence the Priests took occasion to abuse the Credulity of the Vulgar If we slide down the Stream of Jordan thirty four Miles we arrive at the Sea of Tiberias or the Lake of Genesareth and on the Bank of that Lake at Bethsaida another of Philip's Towns improved by him into a City whence St. Luke stiles it the City Bethsaida as it is called Chap. 9. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating it had but newly commenc'd a City And now we are upon this Lake we will take notice of the Issue which Christ's Execration of Bethsaida Corazin Capernaum and the other Towns bordering upon it had of which Josephus Bel. Jud. l. 3.
that Summer baptized our Saviour about September that indeed gives him time enough but then the fifteenth of Tiberius would have been expired and his sixteenth began before our Saviour's Baptism And besides this supposition leaves our Saviour more time unto the Passover for the effecting those things which he is reported to have done in that space than his zeal to the work of Redemption would permit him to take who came into publick as a Gyant refresh'd with Wine ready to run his race But now all these inconveniencies are avoided by dating Christ's Birth and Baptism at Christmas For 1. the Baptist being in respect of Age capable of a call to the Ministry at Mid-Summer had a sufficient time to prepare himself for the exercise of it after his call by fasting in the Wilderness so that by that time that Tiberius his fifteenth year commenc'd he might begin to perambulate the Regions about Jordan and by Christmas his fame might be spread so far abroad as to bring persons of all ranks out of all Judaea to his Baptism that Nation being at that time big with the expectation of the Messias then to be exhibited which is hinted by St. Luke in his saying that all men were musing of John whether he were the Christ. And 2. Our Saviour by this account had time sufficient and no more than sufficient before Easter for his forty days fast in the Wilderness for his coming to Bethabara where the Baptist gave Testimony of him that he was that Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that Christ the Son of the living God whom they looked for for his setting his Fathers Seal to the Testimony of John three days after in Cana of Galilee for his going down with his whole retinue to Capernaum where he continued not many days before the Passover was at hand at the approach whereof he went up to Jerusalem purged the Temple c. Briefly for it were endless to enumerate particulars The perspicuity of this Calculation as it gives light to several sacred Texts otherwise unintelligible so it discovers the Vanity of all attempts to pitch Christ's Birth upon any other day but that wheron it hath been commemorated in all Ages the 25. of December whether of those that go in that Analytical way which Beroaldus chalk'd out who though he hath sufficiently invalidated the Argument of the Decembrians drawn from the Feast of Exipiation yet he hath not offer'd any Arguments against the practice of the Church which is not presently to be concluded unreasonable and groundless as soon as some weak defenses which some of more zeal than knowledge make of it are cast down but what proceeds upon more manifest mistakes Such are that I may for the honour I bear to his Learning and Parts particularly confute them his professing he will shoot at an hairs-breadth ad unguem to the mark in Daniel's Bow But he casts that Bow so as it shoots not near Daniel's scope 1. In assigning the Term of Daniel's seventy Weeks at Christ's Passion which Daniel aim'd at the Fall of Jerusalem as hath been prov'd in my Discourse upon those weeks 2. In expounding Daniel's middle of the Week to denote the precise middle of the year of Christ at his Passion he pareth the Prophet too close for as Mr. Meed observeth that Phrase of speech implys no more than that the Messias should be cut off within the space of the last Septimane the last not of the 70 but 62. 3. He is wide of Daniel's mind in expounding the cutting off of the Messias to be his death for Daniel meant it of his rejection by the Jewes from being their King So that he fixeth not one of these steps upon firm ground which he maketh in travelling for this Conclusion Christ was born at the Autumnal Equinox from this medium His Passion fell out in the midst of this last year at the Vernal Equinox His Argument from the Type of expiation stands upon no better ground yea makes against him for grant the world was created at the Autumnal Equinox that then the ancients began to reckon the year that then the Promise of Expiation was made in Paradise that then the Feast of Expiation was observed did not God himself alter the beginning of the year to the Vernal Equinox at what time Christ expiated for sin by his death and recreated the World by his rising from the dead and what fitter expedient could Wisdom it self have found out to draw peoples minds from expecting to see the Redeemer come in September Or of those who are not so industriously but more subtilty vain in their reasonings than Beroaldus that pack of lazie Curs that will not take the pains to range Chronology for Arguments against the Churches Practice but lye barking in Chimney-corners and manage their attempts against it not by hunting out the account and marks of time set out by the holy Ghost but by representing to us the complexion of the Season when these things and others accompanying them fell out Such is the objection from the coldness of that Winter-month Calculated indeed to the effeminacy of this degenerate Christian Age wherein nothing passeth for Gospel-preaching but Flesh-indulgency wherein men's love to Christ and Zeal for their own Souls welfare is grown so cold as they will scarce wet their foot in serving Christ or in working out their own Salvation and therefore shrug at the thought of men's watching their Flocks by night of such multitudes descending into the Water of the Virgins travelling to Bethlehem and of Christ's travelling for our salvation in the greatness of his strength into the deep of Jordan in the depth of Winter but not bottom'd upon any thing will go for Reason among any persons but such as live by Sense As to the Virgins journeying in that Brumal season it may put to a stand the Faith of the Sibarites who were so dainty as they would not permit those Manufuctures that made a din to come within the hearing of their City or those mincing Daughters of Jerusalem who could not walk but where they could make a tinckling with their feet nor abide that wind that would ruffle their well-set Hair But how Credulity should stick so deep in this mire as it cannot get out amongst us whose high-ways are never unoccupied but terms and Markets frequented by both Sexes Winter and Summer is scarce conceivable except we think the Air be full of frosty Daemons in Christmasweek above all the weeks in the year and that upon that account the Country carriers come not up to London that week As to the Shepherds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abiding in the Field c. Though Scaliger render it sub dio in the open air or rather if we speak properly in translating sub dio in the open Sun-light or day-clarity of the Air and that will be very proper to the night but we must first imagine that the Light which those Shepherds saw shining
not see the approaching Light of that Pretious Stone God was about to lay in Sion to the proximity of that Age to the appearance of that true Light of that only infallible living Oracle This by the way To this Testimony of Josephus for the Second Temple's enjoyment of this Oracle the Son of Sirach seems to give his Suffrage Chap. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law is as faithful as the Responses of Urim and Thummim of that Oracle which from its Clarity and Veritie had these names given it interpreted by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Light and Truth The first used by Siracides and is the Radix of that Sirname of Apollo Delius so called properly enough if Apollo be the Sun but cannot be applied but abusively to his Daemon or Genius that gave Oracles most of which were darker than darkness it self The latter given to that famous Saphire which the Antient Kings of Aegypt who were also Priests wore about their neck as Aelian reports Var. Hist. 14. 34. This for the illustration of the Terms as to the Text it self it imports that at the making of that Book of Wisdom which the Author saith was in the Reign of Evergetes the Oracle of Urim and Thummim was still in being for he brings that in as a thing Notius notorious and well known to illustrate the perspicuity and faithfulness of the Law Lastly though it was wanting at their first Return before the Temple was finish'd yet they expected it would be restored and therefore Ezra 2. 62 63. the Tirshata would not take them into the number of Priests that could not shew their Pedigree Till there should rise up a Priest with Urim and Thummim and in all reason was restored as soon as the Temple was finish'd a Vision whereof Zachary seeth c. 3. where Joshua is cloth'd with that change of Raiment wherein it is promised him He shall judge Israel Post ablationem vestium sordidarum restitutam mundi sacerdotii dignitatem promittitur quòd ipse judex sit domus ejus After the taking away of his filthy Raiment and restoring to him the dignity of a clean High-Priest-hood it is promised to him that he should judge Gods house as St. Jerom from the Hebrews expounds that Text a clear Paraphrase of the Pectoral of Judgment of the stones whereof Zachary affirms that they are the ingravings of God c. and in the 6 Chapter of Zach. vers 14. and 10. I find Tobijah among those that attend upon the holy things who was one of those whose Pedigree could not be found and were therefore excluded from the Sanctuary till a Priest should arise with Urim Nehem. 7. 62. § 4. As to the Spirit of Prophesie its being under the Second Temple in both those Degrees of it implied Revel 4. 2. that which inspired holy men with Prophecy or to be Prophets and to Preach and that which inspired them to be Penmen or to write Prophecies Is so palpable by the date of the Prophecies of Haggai and Zachary as nothing but malice can hoodwink the Jew from seeing it And though it be true the Sun set upon their writing Prophets about the Reign of Alexander the Great yet they had speaking Prophets as long as the Temple stood of which Josephus gives many instances of Judas whose Prophecies used to prove so infallible as when he saw Antigonus going to the Temple the afternoon of that day on which he had prophesied he should die and that at Straton's Tower which was 600 Furlongs distant he cried out to his Disciples in the words of the Prophet Jonah when God spared Ninivie after he had threatned the destruction of it within 40 days I now grow weary of my life seeing Antigonus his life convinceth me to be a false Prophet for it is impossible he should die this day at Straton's Tower who is here alive after so much of the day is spent and at so great a distance from that place But there was a Tower in the Palace of that name in the Vault whereof Antigonus was Murdered in his return from the Temple and news thereof brought to Judas while he was tormenting himself for fear of the miscarriage of his Prophesie Joseph an t 13. 19. Of one Jesus who four years before the beginning of that War which ended with the Desolation of Jerusalem at what time the City enjoy'd as much peace and plenty as ever coming up to the Feast of Tabernacles suddenly broke out into these Exclamations A Voyce from the East a voyce from the West a voyce from the four Winds a voyce against Jerusalem and the Temple a voyce against the Bridegroom and the Bride a voyce against this whole Nation and without ceasing day or night carried this burthen of Prophesie through all the Streets and Lanes of the City from which no punishment could restrain him And to spare the alledging of more Examples Of himself who prophesied to Vespasian that he should be Emperour against which Vespasian making this Exception How canst thou foreknow my Fortunes that couldst not foresee thine own Captivity nor the taking of Jotopata of which thou was Governour Why replied he I told the Jotopatanes that within 47 days they should be destroyed and my self become a Prisoner to the Romanes By this we see how false as well as blasphemous this Assertion is that the Second Temple wanted the Spirit of Prophecy and how far wide of Daniels sence the modern Jews are in expounding The sealing of Prophecy whereby he means the fulfilling and ratifying thereof by the Blessed Jesus to be the cessation of it of which cessation of all Prophecy they sometimes make the Aera to concur with that of the defiling the Temple by Epiphanes sometimes with that of the League which Judas Maccabeus made with the Romanes sometimes to the first year of Seleucus Nicanor Whereas speaking Prophets continued to the end of the Jewish State and writing Prophets ceas'd long before the eldest of these Dates and therefore the Author of the Book of Maccabees speaks of that as falling out a considerable time before the discumfiture of Judas by Alcimus and Bacchides 1 Mac. 9. 27. So there was a very great Affliction in Israel the like whereof was not since the time that a Prophet was not seen amongst them that is a writing Prophet Vide comput Jud. Scal. de emend temp lib. 7. pag. 628. 654. That the Shechina or Majesty of the Divine presence wherein God appeared to be present by the appearance of Angels those Courtiers of Heaven either in a lucid flaming shining appearance as that Host of Heaven those Angels of God's presence that pitcht their Camp before Israels Camp in the Wilderness appeared in the night or in a thick Cloud or Smoak such a bodily appearance as they assumed on the day vide Hamond an on Mat. 3. 16. that this Majestick presence of the Lord did fill the Second Temple as well as the First is attested by the
the Daughter of Eleazar a wealthy Matron and of a noble Family who flying to Jerusalem moving counter to Christs direction was there among the many thousands that upon the occasion of the Passover were at that time in the City when the Romans lay siege to it cooped up and being by the rude Souldiers plunder'd of her goods and at last of all provision for the Belly she takes her child and saying to him poor Child thou must be meat for me a Fury to fright those sedicious Zealots who have brought us to this extremity and a Fable to all posterity sacrificeth him to the asswaging of her hunger and at one meal devours one half of him reserving the remainder till the strong man that breaks stone walls should return again so arm'd as to force her to break the bonds of Nature and Female delicacy once more but she was prevented of the second Course of that Thiestean Banquet by Souldiers that had got the scent of it breaking in upon her and threatning her with death if she did not bring forth and present to their eye that roast-meat which they had the smell of in their Noses The wretched woman sets before them the reliques of her Babe bids them fall too if they had an appetite but if they were more nice than a Matron more pittiful then a Mother they might be wellcome to leave it for her to sustain her loathed life with Of which and the like Immanities Titus being inform'd made a solemn appeal to the Gods that they whom his Clemency could not induce to accept of Peace and an Act of Oblivion by him offer'd were worthy to feed on such cates protesting he would bury this abominable fact in the ruines of the Country where it was committed and not leave that City standing for the Sun to behold where Mothers fed on so detestable food 5. Of that degree and measure of the Wrath that was then to be poured out upon that Place and People of Gods Curse according to the Predictions of Christ that it should be levell'd with the ground not have one stone left upon another be an utter and perpetual desolation if I would give a punctual Account I must transcribe all Josephus his Books of the Jewish Wars whose Theme that is and a great part of Tacitus his fifth Book of Histories I therefore referr my Reader to those Authors whose Relations if he compare with Christs Predictions he will find them accomplish'd in every Circumstance And as to that Cities never being able to this day to obtain a Resurrection from those Ruines wherein Titus buried it Infidelity it self need no other proof than ocular Demonstration nor can require a better reason why it has not so much as been attempted for above this thousand years than the frustration of Julians purpose to rebuild it meerly to affront Christs Predictions of which Ammianus Marcellinus an Heathen Historian gives this account lib. 23. initio Ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam Templum quod post multa interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano posteáque Tito aegre est expugnatum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis negotiúmque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi qui olim Britannias curà verat pro prefectis Qúum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius juvarétque provinciae rector metuendiglobi flammarum propè fundamentum crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum hócque modo elemento destinatiùs repellente cessavit incaeptum Julian had purposed to be at excessive charge in the Restauration of that sometimes stately Temple at Jerusalem which after many and mortal skirmishings being besieged first by Vespasian and then by Titus had been with much difficulty demolished The care of managing this work is committed by Julian to Alypius of Antioch who had formerly been the Deputy-governour of Britain Alypius therefore setting amain upon the rebuilding of this Temple and the Governour of the Province assisting him dreadful Balls of fire breaking out and squibbing about the foundation and many times burning the labourers made the place inaccessible and the Element thus obstinately resisting the place it self peremptorily rejecting the stones which were laid upon it as refusing to bear such a structure the enterprise was given over And no man ever since hath been so fool hardy as to put his hands to that work which burnt the fingers of Julian's Labourers § 5. Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem How art thou faln from Heaven God was thy wall of Fire once to burn up them that besieged thee but he sent now Balls of Fire to consnme those that would have rebuilt thee Who would have believed that this would have befaln thee and thy children when thy rejected Christ dropt his Tears and with them those Predictions upon thee which we now see fulfill'd What Sign was there in Reason or Nature or Politicks of this thy fatal Catastrophe didst thou ever lift thy cloud threatning head higher above or cast a more supercilious look upon Mount Olivet than when Christ from thence facing the sumptuousness of thy building and the Ornaments of thy goodly stones pronounc'd this fatal Sentence against thee Thou wast then adorn'd with Donatives sent thee from Caesar's houshold honour'd with dayly Sacrifices offer'd at Caesars cost and by his appointment on thy Altar to the most high God who dwelt between thy Cherubims Philo Jud. legat ad Caium tells how high the Jews were in Augustus his favour in particular a great part of the trans-Tiberine City was possest by Jews who were allowed their proseucha's there and permitted to send their first fruits and offerings to Jerusalem whither most of Caesars family sent gifts which remain saith Philo to this day where Augustus commanded Sacrifices to be offered at his own charges to the most high God for the Emperours health which custom saith he continueth to this day and will for ever continue as a Monument of his Royal virtues he proved a false prophet in this but in what follows he is a true Historian He appointed the Jews at Rome to have their share of the monthly largesses of corn and mony and if the day of distribution happen'd on the Sabbath he order'd the Jews should have their shares the day following These privileges were continued to them during the reign of Tiberius notwithstanding the spight of Sejanus against the Jews Thy Children were indulged thy Sabbaths reverenc'd by Augustus and Tiberius whose ears were always open to their Complaints against their own Deputies whose greatest friends at Court could not procure their continuance if thy peoples Legates made motion for their removal out of Office If Caligula's Sacrilegious Pride would prophane thee by affronting the divine presence with his own Image it was no greater an indignity than he put upon the Temples of his own Gods and what they wanted thou found an Agrippa to intercede for thee and a Petronius to suspend the execution of the Imperial Decree against thee Claudius banish'd thy
him by Ambrose Blaucerus And Arias Montanus saith that while he was at the Council of Trent there was brought unto him by a friend an ancient piece of Jewish Coyn with the very same Figures and Characters weighing half an Ounce vide Aster sol in numb cap. 3. 40. 47. which soever it was in which they paid that Tribute for their Lives it was Gods Coyn and bare upon it God's Claim and their Acknowledgment of his peculiar Supremacy over them and therefore as Caesar's demanding of that Tribute of the Jews would have been in truth a taking away from God what was God's as Goodwin well observes so the Jews paying of it to Caesar would have been a giving of Caesar what was Gods This Tribute which Caesar exacted and Christ ordered them to pay was not the Half-shekel due to God for then Christ would have bid them give it to God Weems which I wonder they observed not as well as Weems there being so near a relation betwixt taking and giving and their scruple propounded to and determination of it given by Christ not respecting Caesar's Act in demanding but their own in giving that what was God's as this Half-shekel was must be given to God not to Caesar. In which resolution of their Question as Christ cleaves the hair betwixt not only God and Caesar but the two extream and vitious Opinions touching Tribute the one of the Pharisees Galileans and Zealots who denied all Tribute to Caesar The other of the Herodians or Court-party who held all kind of Tribute to be Caesar's due so this very prudent and equal partition of his is afterwards by malicious Persons improved into an accusation against him at his Arraignment before Pilat St. Luk. 23. 2. as if he forbad to give Tribute to Caesar. A most false and groundless Suggestion for he did not only pay that Tribute himself but punctually determined Caesar's Right to Caesar's Penny 3. As to that other Tribute of the Half-shekel due to God neither he nor his Countreyman paid it to nor was it demanded of them by Caesar till their City was demolished their Temple burnt the Race of their Priests made unuseful as Titus told them and the Lineage of David cut off by Vespasian but was paid to their own Collectors for the use of the Temple as is manifest not only by the Arguments before hinted but these supernumerary ones 1. Our Saviour's Plea for Exemption from payment of that Tribute Mat. 17. 25. The children of Kings are free cannot with any colour be applied to any other Tribute but that of the Half-shekel which that holy Nation paid to their holy King whose Son Christ was and not of the Emperour and therefore by the Rule of common Custom was not lyable to pay that Tribute It being the use of all Kings to exact Tribute of Strangers that is of the children of other men their Subjects not their own For that by Aliens and own in Christ's Speech is not meant Subjects and Forreigners is apparent from Kings exacting Tribute from their own native Subjects as well as from them that are become their Subjects by Conquest yea from their own that is Subjects and not from Forreigners Christ pleads not here the privilege of being a Roman or had he done so that Plea would not have exempted them from paying the Tribute due to the Imperial Crown had he indeed been the Emperour's Son he had been exempted from paying it From which Analogy he argues that he being the Son of God the Collectors of Gods his Fathers Tribute should not have demanded that Tribute of him Notwithstanding he being Man also and under an Obligation to fulfil the Law rather than offend in not paying his Church-duties he fetched Money out of a Fishes mouth Briefly the Tribute then demanded of and paid by Christ was both demanded for and paid to that King whose son Christ was 2. Had that been a Roman Tribute it would have been gather'd by the Roman Collecters the Publicans who in all probability would have been here named whereas on the contrary the persons are here stiled as by a known Title they that received the Didrachma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Erasmus They that used to receive the Didrachme or Half-shekel § 5. Hence I draw these Corrolaries 1. Their reasoning is too short who from Tullies mentioning the Romans to have had the Tribute of Land in Syria paid by way of Tythe argue that God's Tythe of Jewry was by Pompey diverted from his Treasury to the Roman Coffers A conclusion which as it wholly subverts the grand Foundation of Christian Religion to wit the Verity of the old Testament by asserting the Departure of the Scepter before the coming of our Jesus that is Shilo for what greater evidence of that than their paying their King's God's Tribute unto any other but himself so it appears to be without ground for grant we the Assumption That the Roman State tythed Judaea yet it will not follow that they paid those Tythes in kind which were due to God but only that the Romans at their Conquest of that Nation finding it under the Government of the High Priest to whom the Tythes were payable by the Law of God might demand a Tribute in the same proportion and yet not the same in specie that was paid to the Temple but leave that still to be received by the High Priest for his maintenance and those uses to which their own Law had appointed Which that they did is manifest from the Decrees of Julius Caesar Joseph an t 14. 17. made when he was second time Consul that Hircanus and his Sons should enjoy the High Priesthood with the same Rights and Privileges that his Ancestors had done and when he was the fifth time Consul that Hircanus and his Sons High Priests should receive the Tythes as till then their Ancestors had done A clear Testimony that whatever Tribute Pompey and Crassus had imposed upon the Jews albeit it were in proportion of Tythe it was not the Tythe which belonged to the Priests for that saith Caesar had till then been paid to the High Priest 2. That though the Jews had paid a yearly Tribute to the Emperour bearing Proportion to that Didrachma which they were by Law enjoyn'd to pay to God yet it was not that in specie the Didrachma being paid to the Temple when that yearly Tribute was paid to Caesar as hath been proved already so fully as no more need be added only because I am now in Josephus I shall out of him produce one unanswerable Argument to evince that it was not the intention of the Romans in the Tribute they imposed upon the Jews to encroach upon God's Right or to impede their payment of Church or Temple-duties Julius Caesar after he was created perpetual Dictator writes in his own and Senate and People of Rome's name to the Magistrates of the Parians telling them how ill he resented their prohibiting the Jews to keep