100. yeares and Xenophon that he very yong began warre so his glory might well by Greekes begin where scripture placeth the Chaldean to whom Heathen Greekes giue no superioritie over the Persians After Cyrus tooke Babel he reigned three yeares when Daniel fasted because the building of the Temple was hindred by letters written to Artaxata named in Ezra 4. and called Prince of Persia Dan. 10. And soone Cyrus might dye Otherwise Daniel would stirr him to further his own decree and Herodot bringeth his death neare Babels fall by Scythian Thamar Artaxata or Cambyses had reigned so long with his father that he had put to death all the chief Nobility By Lucian citing Persique writers and after his hinderance of the Temple Christ with his eyes like a flame of fire Dan. 10. would rewarde him according to his workes being Can-byshes a Prince of shame and Herodot sheweth his badnes and quick death after his sole governement And as counsellers prevayled al his dayes to hinder the Temple which counsels hardly could be long vniforme that record in Ezra 4. argueth that he reigned not long sole Emperour though Heathen in Clemens giue him 19. yeares which might be almost all vnder his Father Next cometh the King which maried Atossa Hester famous in Hellanicus for inventing Epistles as he thought Mardochai telleth of her Letters through 127. Provinces for the Iewes safety And of them Hellanicus might speake Hester was maried to him in his seaventh yeare So her sonne Darius Artaxasta mentioned Ezra 6 ver 14. might be six yeares old in his fathers twelfth mentioned by Mardochai then actiue though he were caried to Babel with King Iechonias This King Esters husband is called Darius in Herodot and Ctesias and he liued by Ctesias 43 yeres and by Herodotus he was 20. when Cyrus went to Scythia vpon the taking of Babel and dreamed of his Empire So if Cambyses called Artaxata by his Imperiall name reigned after Babels fall 7. yeares Darius had 16. who by his Imperiall name is Oxyares Assuerus or Xerx Two sonnes he left who gently strove for the Empire while neither sought to defeate the other as Iustine recordeth and Herodot recordeth that Athossaes sonne borne after the father was Emperour prevailed The wisedome of Mardochai and Nehemias and Ester might cause that quietnesse Seeing Mardochai was a chief in the kingdome And somwhat the yong yeares of Atossaes sonne ten at his fathers death So the other brother hath his fathers Imperiall name Xerx Est. 10. by the Ierusalem copy in the Massoreth This Xers six yeares prepared warre for Grecia in his brothers minority When he was in Grecia then was Atossaes sonne 16. and might well licence the building of the Temple and take the other Imperiall name Artaxasta being king of Assur or Babel before he was sole Emperour and mention prayer for the Kinges sonnes and acknowledge Gods wrath in the overthrow of Xerx for hindering the Temple And the style of Aggei sheweth that he exhorted the returned whereof some had sene Salomons Temple to build before the King gaue leaue otherwise exhortation were cold And seeing Hester was of Beniamin in whose tribe the Temple was built Sems sonne by Elam and Arphaxad was fit to be the builder And God prospered him and his sonne and his grand child No other would so favour Iuda In his second he authoriseth the Temple with great charges for sacrifice with menacies vpon the hinderers in his sixt it is built In his seaventh he sendeth Ezra to set forward lawes with great giftes from the Persian worthies being taught with the King the religion of God In his twentieth Nehemias the third in the Cataloge of the returned walleth the City by seaven seavens from the seaventieth of Babel And Ierusalem is not more walled by stones then trueth of storie to check Heathē by the Chronicle Whē 49000. Iewes teach vs to make frō Cyrus decree to build Ierusalē vnto the building but 49. yeres wher Persians haue since their own chalēge of Empire 149. So that 100. must be cut off when we examine their time as they touch the 490. yeares told vnto the Kings of Sem and Iaphet for persuading Iapheth to dwell in the tentes of Sem And there the Heathen deceyue where prophets most clearly correct their deceipt that Daniels ch 10. and 11. and Ezra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. And Nehem and Ester and Aggei Zacharie and Malachi chase their errour who can not stick to Heathen but will wrest Gods word more grossely then any thing is spoken in all the Alkoran Yet our Ecclesiasticall bragg what Maister Liuely hath done against all these holy bookes Particular texts and stories of Kings shal be compared with his learning and our right reverend fathers shal see who be the lyers against all duty and raylers against all honesty foming out their owne shame as the raging waves of the Sea they shall resume their owne phrases and by their eares heare their tongue Of 2. Chro. 36. or Ezra 1. THus saith Cyrus King of Paras The Eternall the God of heaven hath given me all the kingdomes of the earth and hath commaunded me to build him a Temple in Ierusalem which is in Iudah Who is amongst you of all his people The Eternall his God be with him and let him go vp c. Of Cyrus first yeare what it meaneth SEeing Cyrus came vp as a warrier vnto all the kingdomes of the earth reason would tell that in his first yeare of reigne in Persia he overcame not 120. countreis but his first yeare of Empire aboue all mightie is meant yet our Ecclesiasticall make the FIRST here the first of Cyrus thirty in M. Liuelies thirty yeares skill for Ebrew writers when he bringeth one Ebrew of his minde the Earth shall beare starres and the sky shal be plowed Of Ezra Chap. 3. ver 8. IN the second yere after returne vnto the house of God in Ierusalem the second moneth Zorobabel sonne of Salathiel and Iesus sonne of Iosadak and the rest of their brethren the Sacrificers and the Levites and all they which came from the captiuity to Ierusalem began to lay the foundation of the Temple c. then this Epistle was written to hinder the building to Artax King of Paras Ezr. 4.12 Be it knowen to the King that the Iewes which are come from him to vs are come to Ierusalem and builde the rebelleous and mischevous Citie c. And ver 24. Then the worke of the house of God was stayed For this staying Daniel fasted as he writeth Cha. 10. v. 1. 2. And the Ebrewes that write vpon Daniel would tell M. Liuely so And reason telleth that this Artax was ruler whē the Iewes vnder Cyrus came home M. Liuelies corruption Cyrus reigned 30. yeares Cambyses 7. Darius 36. Xerxes 21. Artaxerxes 40. And by him the Temple was hindered by M. Liuely So he would make about 100. yeares of a few monethes and Zorobabel and Iesus aliue all the while and the
Melea. Eliakim Ionan Ioseph Iuda Simeon Levi. Matthaâ— Iorim Eliezer Iose Er. Melchi Neri Salatthiel Elmodam Cosam Addi * These bad three and worse Iehoiakim Saint Matthewe omitteth ZOROBABEL Abiud Abiud or Mesullam 1. Chro. 3. to whom the Crowne belonged and from whom Heathen toke it Eliakim Azor. Sadoc Achim Eliud Elâ—azar Matthan Iacob Ioseph * Ioseph should haue bene King if Tyrants would haue given all men their right and our Lord his Sonne by lawes esteeme so had bene Kinge of the Iewes And would haue it in no other right that his heavenlie Kingdome might bee knowne Rhesa Ioanna Iuda Ioseph Semei Mattathias Maath Nagge Essi Naum. Amos. Mattathias Ioseph Ianna Melchi Levi. Matthan Eli father in lawe to Ioseph only y e note was good in the former table Marie IESVS our Lord Thus the Table neuer had doubt For seeing Salathiel was the sonne of Neri by S. Luke a priuate man who must needs be a father naturally not as K. Baasa whose family was rooted out was father to King Achab in the speach of King Benadad and seeing God sware that Iechonias should dye childlesse as auctour of the Kingdomes ruine there and not in Ochosias should the Iewes place the Catachresis of begetting Our Lord doeth nothing but he telleth his servants the Prophetes But he told not that hee would end Salomons house in Ochosias and would not passe so great a matter in silence a matter the greatest for the kingdomes of this world Therefore Salomons race ended not in Ochosias but our right Reuerend Fathers are vnspeakably to seeke for the trueth of holy story And Aggei with Zacharie help S. Luke to be vnderstood Aggei bringeth wordes from God for Zorobabel that he shal be a signet vpon the finger of God at the day of glory when the Macedonian kings should be shaken and our Lord should come into the world 29. yeares by Num. 4. before hee entred into the worke of the Tabernacle And so by Moses and Daniel in Aggeis time his nation knew in what yere the west Cittim named Num. 24. generally and Dan. xi more distinctly should haue a full token of Empire the Macedonians should be vtterly bestript of all gouernement Then Zorobabel in Christ should be a signet vpon the finger of God Zorobabel a poore gouernour of 49000. captiues which left Babel hauing litle but what Daniel gote by his wisedome to help the Iewes home Zorobabel poore in spirit and looking for a citie whereof God was the builder soone called away from Sion to Susan as a Pilgrome and stranger on the earth But God sware as was noted from Ier. 22. that if Iechonias were a signet vpon the finger of the Lord he would pluck him thence Therefore Salathiel may no further be sonne to Iechonias then a succeeder in governement as Achab is sonne to Baasa rooted out 1. K. 20.34 Heathen vsed Adoption but Dauids house was bound to the next man of kindred And in adoption the terme begetting is vsual as in a naturall father So Ovid the mirrour of plaine Latin speaketh of Iulius and Augustus Metam 15. being of seuerall families by the father side and Augustus is progenies of Iulius and Nec enim de Caesaris actis Vllum maius opus quam quod Pater extitit huius And againe Scilicet aequoreos plus est domuisse Britannos c. quam tantum genuisse virum As they are very simple in learning that know not Britanie famous 2000. yeares agoe Before Brennus spoiled Delphos and Graecia with his Trimarchiâ of our Britanie and are bare Chorographers that know not all borne within our Iland seas to be Penitus toto diuisos orbe Britannos So they haue litle stomake against Italy that would not remember this place of Naso And as the Emperours are famous Diui So the first beginning in Diuus Iulius and Diuus Augustus is famous thus Ne foret hic igitur mortali semine cretus Ille Deus faciendus erat Hence to all learned and specially to vs the terme of begetting for a successour should bee familiar Thus I speak only for the simple as for our right Reverend Fathers they doe take it for successioÌ„ in all after Ochosias as begotten of him by succession and all that like of them for the phrase there caÌ„not mislike the Catachresis in Iechonias and Salathiel And all must graunt that Salomons house must be brokeÌ„ off vnlesse they will make two Salathiels and two Zorobabels the one couple fathers to Ioseph the other to Mary So doe some learned but vnlearnedly For Zorobabel Aggei 2. was both heyr to Salomon and father to our Lord. And they had bene rash namegeuers that should name a couple of ech family with the same names to disturbe all the world Now that Zorobabel the gouernour in Salomons house cometh of Nathan Zacharie sheweth naming Leui and his chief family Simeon Dauid with Nathan as chief in his family Ch. 12.10 So this cause is past doubt to cleare the Table that in Iechonias not in Ochosias Salomons house was buried that family kingdome should end togeather That Ier. 22. all lam might be plain And an other as great a dotage as any euer came from brainsick head haue the right revereÌ„d Fathers sold to torment the simple who over the realme haue marked them how they make Ochosias to be two yeares Elder then his Father and many yeares Elder then his Mother Of Ochosias or Achaziah made Elder then his Father OF King Ioram thus it is written 2. Chr. 21.20 When he beganne to reigne he was thirty and two yeres old and reigned in Ierusalem eight yeres and liued wretchedly Howbeit they buried him in the city of David but not among the sepulchres of the Kings And the inhabitants of IerusaleÌ„ made Achaziahu his youngest sonne King in his steed for the men of warre that came with the host of the Arabians had slayne all his eldest sonnes and so Ahaziahu the sonne of Iehoram King of Iuda was made King Two and fourtie yeares old was he when he began to raigne and he raigned one yeare in Hierusalem his Mothers name was Athalia the daughter of Amry Of the errours how many very grosse follow vpon one 1. OChosias is called the youngest and made king by the people That had bene needles if he had reygned twenty yeares afore 2. Besides his father reigned but 8. yeres And foure of them with Iosaphat And it were senseles to make him reigne 16. yeres or 12. at the lest afore his father 3. MoÌ„reover nether was Iosaphat king in Iuda nor Achab king of Israel nor Ioram borne 42. yeres afore Achazias death So elder then his Father and Mother and Mothers house should he be For Omri was not theÌ„ setled King but only made King by his souldiers vpon the death of Zimri And Tibni was made King by his men and foure yeares were spent before the people made Omri King Now by our Bishops notes
difference This much 46. yeres England held that in the last seauen our Lord should die M. Livelies difference BY M. Liuely yeres 137. passe before the decree of building Ierusalem doth come forth so that Gabriel could not be vnderstood of Daniel nor of any Angel in Heauen when the accompt began The present age and Nestors two the later begotten in his fathers last had bene dead before the time should begin And the thirty yeares professour neuer heard of a company of men to liue so long since Israel beleeved the 10. spies to misbeleeue Gods promise for the land of Chanaan when 600000. at once cast of God Then mans ordinary old age was brought to 70. by Moses Psal 90. So M. Liuely contemneth our Church befooleth the Angel as speaking past all capacity and befooleth Daniel as seeming to know that which his wordes cary otherwise Secondly Christendome holdeth Messias to be the Redeemer of the world and Nagid or Governour his attribute from Esay 55. which Aben Ezra the very Iew citeth vpon the same text But thus M. Liuely writeth IN The times before the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romanes there were two rulers of the citie one of their owne people a Iew by profession or birth after their maÌ„ner anointed to the governemnt of the coÌ„mon wealth amongst them here named in the verse going before Messias Nagid the annointed Prince the other a stranger appointed Deputy by the Roman Emperour called Nagid Habba a ruler not borne in the countrey or one of the same nation but a stranger come from an other place Thus writeth M. Liuely TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD his very honorable good Lord my Lord the Archbishop of CANTERBVRIE his grace And Dux gregis ipse capex de errauerat to lend Q. Elizabeths oth to the Gospell and auctoritie to extinguish the name Messias where only it standeth propre in Ebrew and to referre it to a common Iew officer And his G. could not see that so the realme denyeth their own christianitie Besides the Iewes had not alwayes since the return one their own an other a stranger to gouerne them Againe M. Liuely feigneth from his owne head newe matter against all Ebrews He sayth the civill officer was annointed in Iuda None of Ebrews ever heard that Zorobabel was anointed or Nehemias And of Dauids house we read of none that bare stroke besides them For heathen ruled till the Machabees of Levi vsurped an vnlâ—full ill government And thus by M. Liuely the Angel should talke of idle matter in steed of Messias Christ our Lord. And Maymoni the best of al about the Talmud noteth that Halacoth Melachim Perek 1. That no King but the first of the family was annointed as Saul as David or vpon strife As Salomon for Adonias Ioas for Athalia Ioachaz for his elder brother Ioakim But Iosua the first King next Moses was not anointed So M. Liuely wil be farre to seeke in Rabbines Of the word Ba To come ill meant A STRANGER THe Ebrew word BA vsed by the Angel Dan. 9. is To come never vsed for a stranger but in men the age folowing And so the Angel meant that Christ in the age folowing would destroy the Iewes his owne kindred the vnbeleeving Tremelius might haue wised M. Liuely Of accentes whereby M. Liuely bringeth a bad translation and farre a worse sense THe holy Ebrew hath kingly acceÌ„tent 19. and servants eleven The kings stay vpon the chief woord in argument the servantes hasten being on lesser in force of argument Any king for the most will make a full sense as we expresse them in other tongues and some times not so much as a comma Athnah is in Gen. 1. ver 1. and hath not the force of a comma And Rebiang Ezr. 4.8 hath a pause Vpon new supposed force of these two accentes M. Liuely would pervert all the Angels oratioÌ„ to make by the later abolished from stay this sense Dan. 9. ver 25. vnto Messias the governour there shal be seaven seavens and 62. seavens the city shal be builded againe That is by him it shall coÌ„tinue builded And he setteth 137. yeares afore the seaven seavens as though 137. and 49. that is 186. it were not built To be short the Angel spoke matter of salvation plain and fortified by all scripture by learned expositions receaved in our Church But by M. Liuely Iudaique trifling and false matter The Church shal be iudge The Angell continueth the Chronicle M. Liuely doth break it of 137. yeares to be gathered by Heathen The Angel telleth of our L. his passion M. Liuely denyeth that The Angell nameth the Redeemer of the world Messias M. Liuely doth vtterly deny that The Angel saith Messias shall confirme the covenant for many that is for all nations as in Dan. 12. Many shall arise that is All. And Rom. 5. In Adam many died that is All. And our L. in the supper for his blood shed for the Iewes many that is al nations expresly toucheth the Angels phrase By M. Liuely he tolde a tale of a sure covenant betwixt the faithles Romanes and faithles Iewes The Angel prescribed for our Lord his preaching three yeares and an halfe And that is the coÌ„passe of Saint Markes Gospell And Saint Iohn hath bene noted by the Greeke Church as Eusebius noteth calling back his errour which M. Liuely would quicken that by four Paschata after our Lord his baptisme and manifesting him selfe to much glory he shewed the half seaven applyed vnto his function And Venerabilis Beda noteth the same and telleth that in the Apocalyps also the same is taught And Carthusianus foloweth Beda vpon Apoc. 11.12.13 All this M. Liuely disgraceth The Angell taught how long Ierusalem should be an holy Citie for vse of Sacrifice that God should be sought there and how long from the day of Daniels prayer M. Liuely telleth how long the stones shall stand in building vndisturbed after his gueshed 137. yeres as though the Citie were not restored and builded by the decree of Cyrus And to be short he by strong coÌ„sequents denyeth that our Lord his death did end sacrifice and offringe An open denyall of the New Testament THus M. Liuely writeth for a lâ—full continuance of sacrifice after our Lord his death When Vespasian was come into Iudea and wasted the countrey then the vnruly rebels abolished the lawfull custome of sacrificing c. And soone after fol. 220. Not without cause in my iudgement may those wordes of Daniel touching the sacrificse ceasing in the middest of the last weeke bee referred vnto these times of this warre wherin by meanes therof the sacrifices of the Lords house were hindered so many wayes some were quite abolished and others done either not by those to whom they perteyned or not so safely and freely as they ought Iulian the Apostata only or one no better and no true Christian would subscribe to this And this denyall
Iosephus the Iew for a work foūd once at Rome but neuer shewed to any againe wherein he writeth that Zacharie ministred in the seuenth moneth and then was spoken to by the Angell Gabriel and soone went home and his wife conceaued and bare Iohn six moneths elder then our Lord after the flesh This auctoritie though it were true were nothing Scripture should be our ground And seeing God telleth not the day we should not say that according to our feastes the trueth of stories fell And if we relyed vpon Iosephus we should haue kept his workes Of confounding S. Mathew and S. Luke and the Kings A Table is prefixed afore the N.T. which dasheth al the Gospell if it be regarded in these wordes it standeth A Table to make plaine the difficulty that is found in S. Matthew and S. Luke touching the generation of Iesus Christ the sonne of Dauid and his right successour in the kingdome which description beginneth at David and no hygher because the difficultie is only in his posteritie Saint Matthew  Saint Luke David begate Salomon king  Nathan the kings brother Roboam The posteritie of Solomō leaft in Ochosias wherby the kingdom was transported to the line of Nathan in the person of Ioas sonn to Iuda Mathatha Abia. Menna Asa Melcha Iosaphat Eliacim Ioram Iona. Ochosias Ioseph  Iuda Simeon called Ioas which begate Amasias The names here conteyned aswell on the leaft side as on the right issuing frō Ioas haue diuers names yet are all one person Therefore note that the persons on the leaft side named by Saint Ma. are the very same that are otherwise named by S. Lu. on the right side till Salathiel Leui. Azari◠Matthat Ioatham Ioram Achaz Eliezer Ezechias Jesu Manasses Her Amon. Holmadā Iosias Cosan Achaas Addi Ioacim Melchi Iechonias Neri Salathiel Salathiel Zorobabel which begate Abiud Eliacim Azor. Sadoc Achin Eliud Eleazar Mathan Iacob Ioseph the husbande of Mary the virgin mother to our Sauiour Christ After the people were returned in to the land with Zorobabel being delyuered from the captivity of Babylon he governed the same people 58. yeres left diuers childrē among whō Resa and Abiud were the cheefe So the governement rule ouer the people remayned to Resa his posteritie vntill Janne and thēce discended the virgine Marie as is declared in the generatiō described by Sa. Lu. Ioseph her husband descended frō the said Zorobabel by Abiud brother to Resa as S Matt. delareth in the generation by him described Resa which governed 66. yeares Ioanna 53 yeares Iuda 14. Joseph 7. Semei 11. Mathathias 12. Nathat 9 Nagge 10 Heli. 8. Naum. 7. Amos. 14. Mathathias 10. Ioseph 66 Ianne 16. Melchi Leui. Matthath Hely called Ioachim Mary the mother of Christ. IESVS CHRIST Of the faultes conteyned in this Table THE cockles of sea-shores and the leaues of a forest and the granes of the Popy may as well be numbred as the grosse errours of this Table disgracing the ground of our owne hope That Salomons house ended not in Ochorias THat Ioas was sonne to Ochorias properly we may bee sure because six times the Scripture termeth him so And if he had not bene sonne in proprietie the repetitions must haue opened that Prophets repeat not narrations without some change if the matters could suffer And if Salomons house had there ended some speach had bene of it in the holy story And all the Thalmudiques holde that the kings of Iuda vnto Sedekias were of Salomons loynes And if our Gospel crossed the plain story all Iewes would sweare God neuer penned it And well might they So our Diuinitie giueth strong occasion to reiect the Gospell of our owne salvation That King Ioas Matth. 1. is not Simeon Luk. 3. 1 SAint Luke writing of the true light was to refuse darknes But if hee had called king Ioas Simeon all the world would haue sayd hee loued darkenes Ioas was famous Symeon was not heard off but in priuate record 2 Again if Salomons house was ended for badnes in Ochosias he that first of Nathan should succeed had bene a good man As God changeth dignities for a better to succeed But Ioas the king was worse then Ochosias For he fell to strange Gods and kild Zacharie the sonne of Barachias or Iehoiadagh And our Lord Mat. 23. maketh him as a new Cain And the Iewes in Ierusalemy in their treatise of poenance fol. 69. hold that for his sinn the temple and nation was destroyed and 80. thousand sacrificers destroyed for the blood of Zacharie And thus they augment the matter saying fo 69. Col. 1. Seauen transgressions Israel transgressed that day They kild a Priest and a Prophet and a Iudge and shed innocent blood and polluted the court betwixt the altar and the Temple as our Lord telleth them the same and it was the expiation day And when Nebuzaradan came thither he saw the blood vpon the pauement and asked whose blood was this They say the blood of a Sacrificer and a Prophete and a Iudge which prophecied against vs all that thou hast done vnto vs and we stood vp against him and kild him Then he caused 80000. youthes of the sacrificers race to be there killed for him Thus they write in their Rhetorique amplification of murthering the prophet as their maner is feigning narrations to make lively short speaches And this much doeth the Scripture speake 2. Ch. 24. of Zacharias and Ioas. The spirit of God came vpon Zacharia the sonne of Iehoiada the priest which stood by the people sayd vnto them thus sayth God Why transgresse you the cōmaundements of the Lord that ye can not prosper For because ye haue forsaken the Lord he also hath forsaken you And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commaundement of the King euen in the court of the house of the Lord. And so Ioas the king remembred not the kindnesse which Iehoiada his father had done to him but slue his sonne and when hee died hee sayd The Lord looke vpon it and require it And when the yeare was out it came to passe that the host of Siria came vp against him and they came against Iuda and Hierusalem and destroyed all the Lords of the people from among the people and sent all the spoyle of them vnto the king to Damascon For the Sirians came with a small company of men and the Lord delyuered a very great host vnto their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers and they gaue sentence against Ioas. And when they were departed from him they left him in great diseases and his owne servants conspired against him for the blood of the children of Iehoiada the priest and slue him on is bed and he died and they buried him in the citie of David but not in the sepulchres of the King Thus shamefull King Ioas lyeth in the holy Scripture and yet our right reuerend Fathers would make
all the rest by Iewes thus Seaven yeares the Lande had for conquest and partition wherevpon the next yeare Iubilies were to begin Seaven Iubiles Iosephs house had the Arke till Sylon lost it thence the Philistines did cary it after six monethes Iuda had it in their power Thence are seaven seaventies to the first of Nebuchadraezar when hee tooke Ierusalem and caried King Iehoiakim to Babel whom he soone sent home againe And caried thither Daniel the Noble the Godly the Wise the wealthier then the King of Tyrus the beloved of Christ and his Angells and cariried the three noble men that quenched the fire So that part of Iudahs story hath famous Limites and old Theodoret and Iewes when they are not malicious generally hold the disputable partes aright when as we they say The Temple stood 427. yeares And very many of our men here speake trueth even folowing particulars not marking how Ezekiel 4. God bringeth all past doubt by paynes in particulars they agree with a trueth vnknowen So hitherto we haue a pleasaunt measure of times Now the captivitie of Babel was but of 70. yeres from Nebuchadrezars first yeare Three captivities there were The first of king Ioakim when he was sent home The second when he was taken vpon rebellion and caried for Babel but was cast away vnburied as an asse by Gods iudgement Ier. 22. for burning Ieremies Lamentations then was his sonne made king and after three monethes caried to Babel with many thousands among whom were Ezekiel and Mardochai who made Hester mother to the Persian King Artaxerxes that a Persian king of Beniamin his Iasper Exo. 28. should be the first foūdation of Ierusalem as Iapis hath place Ap. 21. This second captivitie was 8. yeares after the first and then was Darius borne to proclayme Daniels God when he was 62. yeares old and tooke Babel The third warning brought flames to the Citie and Temple and captivitie tenne yeares after the former Then the Arke and golden Covering were spoyled by Babel and the Candlestickes and the Tables broken with fire For seeing wee haue no other record of them we must hold that the Temple being set on fire the heat would breake the Tables that goodly monument graving by the finger of God And as Moses for Idol-worship of few brake the first tables Gods anger destroying the kingdome for comon Images wold much more breake the second tables And full 18. yeares are spent in these three captivities Ezra maketh famous the third captivitie Being an other Moses drawen out of the waters of troubles when Saraias his father was kild by Nauocodrosor king of Babel with king Sedekias children And Ezra lived to Philip Macedons times seeing he saw the Persians later times by the record of his captivitie hee captiveth Heathen writers and by his record of kindred vp to Adam he cōfuteth Aristotle that denieth the worlds creation This third captivitie was but of 52. yeares and the whole from the first 70. As Moses Levit. 26. and Ieremie 25. foretold And Daniel cha 9. Ezra 2. Chr. 36. Zach. 1. and 7. observe what fell out Then Daniel stopped the Lions mouthes and Darius Iapetionides proclaymeth the God of Daniel over 120. nations and the Angel Gabriel which beginneth the first speach of the New Testament to Zacharie at the Altar of incense and telleth Mary that the Power of the Highest will shadowe her otherwise then the Tabernacle Exo. 40. where the same phrase is vsed Gabriel twise named in the New Testamēt a teller of comfort and twise in Daniel a teller of affliction for comfort terming Daniel a man full of Grace sheweth when Daniels prayer was like the evening offring of Christ his offring of all offringes that the captivitie time seaven times being measured shall see the redemption to life eternall for Iapheth for Elam and all when the Iewes haue served Heathen at home learne obedience hating strange Gods so long as they ruled at home but never could rule them selves from strange Gods but only vnder David against whom yet they rebelled This geometricall frame of Temple S. Paul doeth force vs to acknowledge seaven yeares of conquest seaven Iubilies for Ephraims glory seaven seaventies for Iudahs glory seaventy for captivity to feele Ieremies Lamentations and againe the former measure of time seaven times 70. or 490. yeares to finde comfort in servitude whiche none but the poore and mourning will euer find Also this last part Aben Ezra doeth confesse full sore against his will putting full many long Parenthesis into one litle saying that he should be vnspied of Christians how vpon his graunt all Iudaisme fayleth Now as David 27. times in Psalme 137. repeateth of God that his mercy endureth for euer so I may well iterate the testimony of Aben Ezra for our strenght vpon Dan. 9. THE SEAVENTIE SEAVENS are from the beginning of Daniels prayer vnto sealing Messias which is Christ the Holy of Holy This much Aben Ezra confessed the most head-strong and most learned Rabbin and most bent to his skill to over-reach vs. And the commentarie vpon Daniel he finished in the yere 4916. by the Iewes 172. yeres they steale from the Scripture to disturbe vs. So he wrote in Rhodus city in the 5088. in October as he recordeth 423. yeares agoe for we are now in 5531. The plain trueth forced him as Balaam yet we missed vntill good Calvin brought the trueth into the open Church with a sound hart though he could not answeare all obiections of forged astronomers whose fragmentes the great astronomer Aben Ezra held but fables and of Greak toyes never heard while Graecia was free in glory and eloquence And but for saint Paul we could never haue brought about the Iewes consent from Midras Rabba for Iudges and Samuel from Abraham sonne of David for the Kings and from the Thalmud for Babels 70. and from Aben Ezra the time thence to our Lord his death without S. Paul we could neuer haue found the heauēly measures of the time And this much for our disturbance of all our owne building by bad vnderstanding of S. Paul and as ill translating of a most rare heauenly sentence worthy to be written in great characters of gold that they who passe by may read it with delite how God gaue Iudges offenders and defenders after a sort 450. yeares and not about 450. vnto the time of Samuel and then God gaue them Saul Forty yeares this much of these poinctes where one text euill translated and expounded marreth all Moses Of Moses fiue bookes disannulled by ill translating of one verse Exo. 12.40 and by speaking the same in the argument of the same THis was the text The dwelling of the children of Israell while they dwelt in Egypt was four hundreth and thirty yeres Now in the argument this cometh 40. They dwelt in Egypt four hunderth and thirty yeres This one errour overthroweth all Moses 1. He writeth of Cohath
could thinke that Iuda was in Babylon aboue 130. And their millions will rather come short then come so farre as 130. yeares And M. Livelies 230. marre the strongest prophecie for the salvation of the world and light of the New Testament So the holy story doth receyue extreeme disgrace What kinde of testimonies M. Liuely bringeth to rent all the last holy Prophetes the stretch the liues in them 100. yeares more then their liues will suffer MAister Liuely citeth Iulius Africanus for Cyrus first yere to be in Olympiad 55. And ill set by Beroldus in Olympiad 80. Aunswere to Olympiades MAister Liuely hath seene or might three treatises iustly checking them which holde Olympiades in any accompt or accompt by Rome or the Archontes of Apollodorus or the distances which Exatosthenes maketh betwixt Cyrus and Xerx thence to The Peloponnesian warres and how Thucidides and Demosthenes make fifty yeares for 35. And how from Lysanders vnwalling of Athens he maketh 34 yeares where Isocrates Strabo with Lysias would make but ten twelue thence to Phil. Macedon for never an one And the true accomptes of Greekes living in Persicq times were brought forth against one that had better skill then M. Liuely in Greeke and did all that Greeke could doe for defence that he might well say as Hector in Vergil Si Pergama dextrâ Defendi possent etiam hâc defensa fuissent And as careles VC-alegon had soone his house on fire for resistance past all hope so M. Liuely might haue seene what would become of his Librarie For Olympiades this was part EZekiel prophecied in Olympiad 48. by Clemens and by him Aggei ninety yeares after in Olympiad 48 So our Ecclesiasticall skill maketh Ezekiel and Aggei of one age This wil be small commendation for right reverend Fathers that haue taken so many hundreth thousande poundes sterling for teaching Diuinitie To make Ezekiel prophecying in the fift of King Sedekias kild by Nabucodonosor Aggei that built the Temple by his tongue to be of one and the same Olympiad in sad trueth and trueth to examine an Angels prophecie Reuerend Fathers should haue dealt more reuerendlie then to check Gods word for the very houre of our redemption set in Daniels time sure for all the world more reuerendly they should haue dealt then to alter the borders which Prophetes and Angels had settled More of this stuffe shal be shewed Xexes in of Esthers time and Oebotas a Greeke and Gelo King of Syracusa were of one time and dealers in the same warres Yet Oebotas warred then in Olympiad the sixt and so Gelo built Camarina in Olympiad the third by the commētarie vpon Pindarus So by our Ecclesiasticall men King Cyrus should be in Antiochus Epiphanes dayes Or Xerxes in King Ezekias time Thus we corrupt religion by ignorance of all groundes of study This ground is sure worthy of all interteynment which Thalmud Ierusalemy citeth but cōfirmed afore in the Gospel Ein dibre Thorah zaricin chizuk Thaaniut fol. 66. col 1. The words of the Law need no fortification So our Lord sayth I receaue no testimony from men When Abraham saw Ismael persecute Isaak he knew that that time four hūdreth yeares Israel should come from Egypt as well as Moses in the end So Ezekias knew fiftine yeres afore he died when he should die so well as they that saw his death So Ieremy knew seauenty yeares before Babel fell when it should fall as well as Daniel that saw it fall so Daniel knew that 490. yeares from his prayer Christ our Lord should confirme the covenant for Heathē as well as the Disciples knew that it was done And all Iewes of any religion in the Gospell looked at the same time for the kingdom of heaven to appeare by the plain proprietie of Gods word Further dotage in Olympiades may be wayed Chilon the wise the Old Lacedemonian of Solons age was Ephorus in Sparte in the fiftie sixt Olympiad of Solons age and much ancienter then Cyrus Sosigenes in Laertius is the authour By Pamphyla a learned Romane woman which wrote of Olympiades whose worke Photius honoreth in his Librarie it was the sixt Olympiade when this Chilon was Ephorus So by Olympiades there is a doubt of 200. yeares that is 50 Olympiades when Chilon one of the seaven sages florished Whose time without Olympiades helpe is knowen wel enough So for the deceaved these Olympiades if they be not farre enough out of the way by them selues these Olympiades would prick them forward And it must needes be counted a most grievous iniurie against the Maiestie of God to torment all the Byble by them and to deny the gracious light of Salvation whiche the holy Angel Gabriel left as mount Sion that can not be mooved And as the mountaynes are about Ierusalem so are holy Scriptures about that oration of the holy Gabriel who taught all at Babels fall that 490. yeares after that yeare the King of Glory should be kild but death should not holde him but his iustice should appeare by his Resurrection that he was kild not for him selfe but to make reconciliation for our sinnes and to seale Vision Prophet and to make Heathen syssoma one body with Israel The Lord knew that as plain a prefixed time as time could bee prefixed was needfull for all the world And the holy Angel might not speake deceipt as Iuppiter in Homer by a dreame deceaved Agamemnon by the word NOW saying Now thou shalt take Troy Agamemnon tooke it for THAT DAY but Iuppiter meant that yeare and so caused for amendes to Achilles infinite slaughter of Greekes By M. Liuely the Angel deceaued all that ever read his wordes till M. Liuely came to teach their right meaning and he should no more be an holy Angel then Iuppiters dreame was a God Our reverend fathers might haue spared the Princes authoritie frō cōfirming such Agamemnonean dreames They that adventure their eternall state on this that they will with all hart might and strength that Gods grace will graciously afford further the trueth and light of the Gospell will not reioyce to haue their authority vsurped to the Eternall destruction of their People and them selves This cosinage to check the holy Angel by Olympiades to turne the prophecy from light to darknes from trueth to falshood from Christ his name to prophane Atheistes from his covenaunt in the Lords supper vnto a covenant of Romane dogges with as dogged Iewes from the times beginning certen and cleare to all heartes of sage vnto one never knowen afore M. Liuely told and to end not at our Lordes death to ende Moses there but to ende at Ierusalems fall and sacrifice to be lefull so farre this matcheth Eves fall by the Serpent and passeth the building of Babel And Esay thought and taught that by Cyrus Decree Ierusalem should be built And seeing he gaue them vnder letters Patentes leave to returne to Ierusalem to builde the Temple the Decree for City and Temple
must needes be at that time and so Daniel would vnderstand him that from that yeare all the world might date their writinges thus Dated 490. yeares afore the kingdome of Messias Cyri primo Dated 460. Darij Artax 20 when Aggei prophecieth Dated 442. vicesimo Artax before Messias kingdome when Ierusalem was walled And as Men on a iourney knowen know stil how fewer miles they haue to their Inne or rest so all the world yere by yere since the Angell taught Daniel might know how neare they were to the opening of the kingdome of heaven by our Lord his most holy soule going through the veile of his flesh into heaven by Saint Paule into Paradise by the Gospell into Hades by the Greeke but in Hades to the Gardens of the godly and not Tartarus to make reconciliation for vs having found Eternall redemption Such limites are fitt markes for a Chronicle The first yeare of Cyrus Empire who had revenged Babel that oppressed Gods children 70. yeares that yeare which saw an Angell tell Daniel of an Eternall kingdome in hope of which 49697. leaue Babel for Ierusalem sure to be still in affliction and a Proclamation of the God that made the heavens over six score nations and a willing subsidie from so many for them that goe to Ierusalem in this hope Such noble stories should be the mark of a Chronicle for Christ chayned from Adam 3470. yeares thither and thence seaven times the captivities length that is 490. yeares vntill the King of glory doth open freedom for all when the sun darkened three houres when the earth trembleth when the stones burst when the curtine of the Temple rent as a Draper would part a peece of cloth when the dead arose when our Lord forty dayes was seene of the faithfull to send his spirit and a fiery law to teach all nations Such noble markes should the Angel Gabriels Chronicle haue and not obscure dennes of Cacus to bring errours in numbre as the leaues of a forest And yet let vs more consider the vanity taken by the Games of Olympia renued every fift yeare having full foure yeares to an Olympiade That by a fuller discourse such wicked toyes might be banished for ever and made a lothsomenes to all men of iudgement Olympiades miracles for Thales the wise man THales Milesius was well knowen that he liued in Solons times Croesus King of Lydia whom Cyrus cōquered and yet Croesus was of King Iosias times as Greekes cōferred will convict This Thales is said by some to be borne in the thirty fift Olympiade and to florish in the seaventh that is about 120. yeres afore he was born And this stuffe is goodly to obscure the time of Salvation shining in Daniel more then doth the sunne in his greatest brightnes Mast. Liuely hath drawne Olympiades into our Ecclesiasticall authoritie to make vs a skoff to all Iewes of the world that wee looke by them how to vnderstand an Angel of light sent by the grace of God to teach all the simple world into whose lippes if grace were not powred to be vnderstood as soone as he spake heathen would say Daniel sawe no Angel And M. Lively neuer heard of any Iew that more regarded Olympiades thē we regard Lucianes true stories And if he had read such Grecians as marke them how they iarre he would haue helde them as weake as Cobwebbes which a fly would breake Of Cyrus and Cambyses to what Olympiad M. Lively might apply them Suidas in the name Anacreon the Poët sayth he liued in the dayes of Polycrates the tyrant of Samos in the fiftie two Olympiade But others place him in the twenty fift Olympiade vnder Cyrus and Cambyses So by Suidas Cyrus Cambyses reigne togeather And by Olympiades an hundreth yeares sooner then M. Liuely would and almost an hundreth yeares before Nebuchadnezar if Ezechiel prophecieth in Olympiad 48. as Clemens of Alexandria writeth he did And so the Ebrew professour may see to what passe his Musae Olympiades bring Ebrew writers if his penne were regarded The recordes of his Eclipses are lesse regarded of Iewes and Grekes and of Arabians cited by Christmannus vpon Alfragan which euen from great Alexander whence Greekes better agree make lesse yeares by much then Ptolemies recorders of Eclipses And they from Nabonassar Mardocempad Nabopollasar Cambyses Darius the first compared with King Ezekias calling back of the sun Esthers time can haue no possibility of agreement or likelyhood Galen vpon Hippocrates sayth well that the most part of the bookes in Alexandria Librarie were forged And Laertius telleth of forging many thousand yeres with pretense of marking eclipses odde monethes and dayes Chrysostome the learned regarded them not Maximus Monachus bringeth other reckonings Epiphanius other and Clemens of Alexandria infinite varieties and yet no care of those calculations and expressely telleth there was no Chronique observation in record before Eratosthenes vnder the Ptolemeis times cōpiled one ROME also is brought in Chronicle who before great Alexander had no writers And Onuphrius Panvinius wondereth at varieties when by whom Rome should be built Also ARCHONTES or Maiors of Athenes are brought to fight with an Angel Three writers wrote of thē Demetrius Stesichorus Apollodorus the third auctour was late and of Chroniclers that would seeme exact folowed But their names many together running vpon a letter shew that from some Alphabet table they wee fetched and very vnlearnedly For many extant in Demosthenes Aeschines and Lysias oratours speaking of their owne times are not in Apollodorus And beyond the times of Xerx there is no table of them extant As Athenes saw not to what purpose they should keep any record of times And Apollodorus hath about 40. where the life of Euripides the Tragique will confute him That shal be shewed in few wordes Of Euripides thus writeth Suidas in Euripides Euripides c. was borne the very same day that Greekes turned the Persians vnto flight c. he lived seaventie five yeares This writeth Suidas in the terme EVRIPIDES And in the terme Timotheus thus Timotheus the Lyrique was in the dayes of Euripides the Tragique when Philip Macedon reigned So it is a sure demonstration that Xerxes flight Philip Macedones reigne are not sundred aboue 75. yeares So M. Liuely is convicted to bring about 40. Mayors of Athenes for Euripides life time more then his dayes saw there It is great pity that our Archepiscopall authoritie should check the Date for salvation to all the world with such Acherontean bables where even Greekes fight for scripture Of the distance from Xerxes flight to the taking of Athens by Lysander to be 65. yeares and thence but ten to Philip Macedon WHen the Athenians dealt most manfully against the Persianes they had the superioritie of Grecia commēded vnto them That they helde till Lacedemon vnwalled their towne after 27. yeares warre That space of rule is in Lysias in Epitaph and in Isocrates Panygyrico 65. yeares And both they being