IX 26. there it seems they lost the Brook that Moses fetcht out of the Rock at Massa and Meriba Ex. XVII This Brook had followed them hitherto but it could not ascend as they did to their next station which was at c Num. XX. 1. and XXXIII 36. Kadesh in the * There it was that Miriam the Sister of Moses dyed by which we know the just Time of their being there For at Mount Hor which was their very next stage there her Brother Aaron dyed which was in a Num. XXXIII 38. the fortieth year of the Peoples coming out of Egypt and on the first day of the fifth month of that year But Miriam's death is remember'd by the Iews on the Tenth day of the first month by which account she dyed not quite four months before him b Ios. Ant. IV. 4. p. 109. G. Iosephus saith she was buried there on a Mountain which they call Sein So it seems it was remember'd in his time wilderness of Zin Num. XX. 1. Hereupon there was a second d Num. XXVIII 14. and Deut. XXXII 51. Massa and Meriba so called on the following occasion There being no water for the Congregation they gather'd themselves together against Moses and Aaron and the People dd Num. XX. 2. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chid with Moses and said would to God we had dyed with our Brethren c. wherefore have you made us to come out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place Here is none of all those good things we were to have in the promised Land e v. 5. neither is there any water to drink This want of water was a Temptation that they had not Faith to withstand And yet even now at this present they could not but see by the Pillar of Chud that the same God which brought them up out of Egypt was still with them And they knew what he could do in this very case by having ee Ex. XVII 6. seen what he did in the like which they could not forget having lived upon the effects of it ever since But besides they had seen many other wonderful proofs of an Almighty Providence over them by which they had been deliver'd out of Egypt brought through the Red Sea and preserv'd and fed for so many years since in the wilderness But all these great works of God they threw back to him with Contempt wishing they had never been They wished that f Num. XX. 3. they had dyed with that Rebellious Crew that perished in the gain saying of Korah This was such a g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 13. quarelling with God as he calls it v. 13. that Moses the meekest Man on the Earth could not bear it It provoked him to that degree that he could not speak to them with Patience Insomuch that when God commanded him to take his Rod and go and speak to the Rock before their Eyes and told him that that being done it should give forth its water abundantly He called the People together to see this work of God and as they stood there h v. 10. together before the Rock v. 10. He said unto them Hear now you Rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rock i v. 11. And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he sinote the Rock twice and the water came out abundantly In his Anger it seems he did so far forget himself as to do things like one that believed not what God had said to him He struck the Rock twice when God had told him only a Num. XX. 8. speaking to it would suffice Aaron was as it seems in the same fault with Moses for which the dignity of their Persons being consider'd God thought fit to lay Exemplary Punishments on both of them and so he declared that b v. 12. neither of them should enter into Canaan As for Aaron God shorten'd his Journey then presently for he dyed at the next station which was at c v. 28. Mount Hor as has been already shewn and Moses dyed at d Deut. XXXIV 5. Mount Nebo within six months after 108. The next Journey of the People of Israel was through a Third Murmuring at Tsalmona tedious and troublesome e Num. XXI 4. way in which they had nothing to live upon but what came by daily and continual Miracles And whereas they ought to have been thankful for this they were so far from it that they spoke as well against God himself as against Moses They joined them both together in this bitter Expostulation ee v. 5. wherefore have You brought us up out of Egypt to dye in the wilderness Num. XXI 5. This was their Third Rebellion and the last that we read of in the History of this Generation For the punishment of this Sin f v. 6. punisht with fiery Serpents God sent fiery Serpents among them v. 6. It was a most venemous sort of Creature with which that Wilderness did abound And they bit the People so as that a Multitude of them dyed of it The rest came to Moses to intercede for them g v. 7. They said we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee pray unto the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us They could not have asked a thing which Moses was readier to do He prayed and God order'd him to h v. 8. set up the Image of such a Serpent made of Brass on the top of a very high Pole that every one that was bitten might look up to it and live It is more than once that our blessed Lord minds us of this as a Type of his being i Ioh. III. 14. XII 32. lifted up on the Cross that they that are bitten with Sin may look up to Him and be saved 109. This last Rebellion was at Tsalmona * This place was so called from Tselem which signifieth an Image in memory of this Brazen Serpent It seems the People took this away with them and had it in so great esteem that in process of time they came to worship it as an Idol for which it was r 2 Kin. XVIII 4 broken in pieces by King Hezekiah 2 Kings XVIII 4. which was the thirty At Zered was an end of this murmuring Generation fift station of God's People in the k Num. XXXIII 41. wilderness Num. XXXIII 41. In four stations more they came to the place called l v. 45. Dibon-Gad in the Valley of Zered There as Moses tells us being m Deut. II. 13. come over the Brook of that name there were now none remaining of that Generation of men that were twenty years old or upward when they came up out of Egypt It was now n v. 14. thirty eight years since they came from Kadesh Barnea and full forty years since God took them first to be his People in Egypt All which time of o
Vers. 23. But yet they could not hurt him Vers. 30. because his HOUR was not yet come So another time Ioh. VIII 20. when they would fain have layd hold on him the same reason is given why they could not because his HOUR was not yet come it could not be till the Passeover The latter time here mention'd was on the 23th of Tisri when our Saviour was teaching in the Treasury In the end of that day upon his saying those words before ABRAHAM was I am they took up Stones to cast at him But not to work Miracles needlessly he escaped from them in the throng and that probably by the help of his Disciples for they were then about him or near him Ioh. IX 2. He had no sooner escaped that storm but another was raised against him upon his working a Miracle on the Sabbath day It was his giving Sight to one that was born blind Ioh. IX 14. for which since they could not reach our Saviour they layd hold on the poor man and cast him out of the Synagogue Vers 34. The mean while our blessed Saviour in his return from Ierusalem met with his LXX Disciples who brought him an account of what they had done in their Ministry The first place he came to was Martha's house Luk. X. 38. She was a widow as Grotius thinks Her House was at Bethany Ioh. XI 1. about fifteen furlongs from Ierusalem Vers. 18. From thence he went on through the Cities and Villages Luk. XIII 22. which were prepared for him by his LXX Disciples No doubt it was by their means that wheresoever he came he found the People so ready to hear him As we reade Luk. XI 29. that in one place they were gathered thick together for that purpose So in another it is sayd there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. XII 1. innumerable multitudes insomuch that they trode upon one another But every where the Scribes and Pharisees got in among them Luk. XI 53 54. who were still laying wait for him seeking to catch something out of his Mouth that they might accuse him No doubt they were these that were still cavilling at his Miracles seeking Signs from heaven Luk. XI 15 16. But it appears they put the people on the same Vers. 29. and so again Luk. XII 56. where he gives them the same answer as he had done before to the Pharisees Matt. XVI 3. Our Saviour thus going on through the Cities and Villages where the LXX had been was now again making his journey to Ierusalem Luk. XIII 22. This was no doubt to the Feast of DEDICATION which was yearly held on the 25th of Cisleu above two months after the Feast of Tabernacles In his way to that Feast we find him at Peraea in Herod's Dominions Luk. XIII 31. There Herod kept his Court at Machaerus as we learn from Iosephus Ant. XVIII 7. and elswhere But he could not like to have the blessed Iesus so near him for His being there could not but mind the people of his forerunner Iohn Baptist whose death was very grievous to them It seems most likely that Herod for that reason sent the Pharisees to try if they could affright him out of those coasts It appears that our Saviour knew they came from Herod for to Him he sends them with this Answer go tell that Fox c. I cannot dye out of Ierusalem And thereupon he pronounced the Fate of that City that it should be layd desolate and should be left so till the time foretold Psal. CXVIII 25 26. even the Time when the JEWISH Nation shall turn to him saying blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. All this our Saviour repeated again Matt. XXIII 37 c. when the Hosanna-time at his coming up to Ierusalem was past and therefore it is not necessary that these words should refer to that particular Occasion That being indeed a fulfilling of that Prophecy Zech. IX 9. of Christ's coming to Ierusalem riding on an Asse in such manner as is therein described with all those Shews of public joy among the common People which were but a low Type of the universal joy that shall be hereafter at their Restauation Our Saviour's coming up now from Peraea to Jerusalem was to the Feast of DEDICATION before mentioned It was now that he had that dispute with the Iews Ioh. X. 24. upon which they were for stoning him more than once Vers. 31 39. but both times he escaped out of their hands And after the Feast he went again into Peraea Vers. 40. About this time on the 25th of December began the 36th year of his Age. 33 36 19 Our blessed Lord being returned from the Feast of DEDICATION made his abode in Peraea with his Disciples for some time Iohn X. 40. and there on the account of what they had heard Iohn Baptist say of him as well as what they saw of the Miracles that he wrought many believed on him Vers. 41 42. From thence at the desire of Mary and Martha he came into Iudaea again to help their Brother Lazarus who was sick unto death Ioh. XI 7 8. At his coming thither he found Lazarus dead and buryed some days before There in the presence of many witnesses our Saviour restored him to life which put his Enemies out of all patience The chief Priests and Pharisees from that day forth were in consultation together how to put him to death Now it was not safe for our Saviour to stay there nor to go to any place that they were acquainted with for they had given a Commandment that if any man knew where he was he should shew it that they might take him Vers. 57. Our Saviour therefore retired into the Country near to the Wilderness It was that which reaches from Iericho to Bethel Iosh. XVI 1. and which is called the Wilderness of Bethaven XVIII 12. There his retirement was in a City called Ephraim which seems to have been that where Absolom had his Sheep-shearing to which he invited David and his Sons II Sam. XIII 23. In St. Ierom's time there was a very great Village called Ephrea about 20 miles North of Ierusalem This long Wildernesse as Ioshua there shews was in the confines between Benjamin and Ephraim or between the Countries of Iudaea and Samaria as they were called in our Saviour's time Our blessed Saviour could not be safer than there in any place at that distance from Ierusalem and he could not well be further off being soon to return to Ierusalem for the Passeover was nigh at hand Ioh. XI 54 55. So near that they that sought his life were enquiring whether he would not come up that year Vers. 56. They were afraid he would stay away from this Passeover as he had done from the two last beforegoing But when our Saviour saw his time to come up to the Feast then out of his retirement he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee Luk. XVII 11. that is as the learned
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that shall come near the Tabernacle of the Lord shall dye God heard this and thereupon for a farther provision against their falling into this Sin he made a fresh Declaration of his mind almost in the same words in which the People had repeated the former They had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that comes near shall dye God repeated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that comes near shall be put to death For the Reason of this enough XVIII 7. has been said in the Context of this Discourse 104. The direful Complaints of the heavy Judgements of God as appeared by their bitter complaints that they had seen inflicted on others and expected the like on themselves do plainly shew that they had no Abhorrence of the Sins by which those their Brethren that died and perish'd had provoked the Righteous God to send these Judgements upon them So far they were from that that in the mind they were in they seem to have thought of no other but that they should a Num. XVII 12. all perish in like manner though they knew that could not be unless they themselves were guilty of the same Sins They did not know but they might all murmur against Moses and do all the rest that Dathan and Aoiram had done 105. But it seems they took a more particular notice of the Sin especially on Kâ—…rah's death of Korah and his Fellows and of the Judgement of God inflicted on them God had appointed b Num. XVI 38. the Censers of those Sinners against their own Souls to be worked into a Covering for the Altar that it might be a Memorial to all that were not of the Seed of Aaron that not c See Num. XVI 40. in the bottom of page 47. oâ—…e Man of them should come near to offer Incense that is to officiate as a Priest that they might not suffer as Korah and his Company had done Moses d Num. XVII 10 11. warned them again of the same at the setting up of that Second Memorial of Aaron's Rod which warning of his seems to have been the immediate occasion of those passionate words Thereupon the Text saith a vers 12. the Children of Israel spake unto Moses saying behold we dye we perish we all perish then adding that which stuck most in their thoughts namely the b XVI 40. words that he spake at the setting up of the former Memorial Num. XVI 40. There it was declared as they here repeated the words c XVII 13. See it here in the bottom Every one that comes near the Tabernacle of the Lord to offer Incense shall dye How then say they have we done dying Is the Danger over No certainly unless we give up our Right of doing the same that Korah did which it seems they would not promise for themselves In short here is nothing else in all their speech but Tokens of the utmost impenitence They neither ask Pardon of God nor of either of his Ministers they did not so much as desire that Moses would Pray for them nor did they make the least confession of any Sin that either they or those Rebels were guilty of The last mention they made of them in all this History was d XVI 41. Num. XVI 41 where they charged Moses and Aaron with killing them They told them plainly you have killed the People of the Lord. For this God justly called them a Num. XVII 10. Rebels ch XVII 10. and provided the second Memorial quite to take away their murmurings that they dye not But they were still for b vers 22 13. dying and perishing rather than they would promise to Amend and give over those Rebellions by which they that did dye and perish had brought those Judgements on themselves 106. By what has been said it abundantly appears that as yet God gives a New Law against intruding into the Priesthood the Murmurings were not quite taken away nor were like to be as long as this Generation was living God was therefore so much the more concerned to take care that they might not destroy themselves by their Rebellions before the Time was run out that he had set them to wander in the Wilderness And since for the preventing of this no sort of Miracles would do for all had been tried and cast away on this stiff-necked People therefore God was pleased to resort to the Ordinary means by enacting Judicial Laws with strict Penalties and making it the business of Persons concern'd to see them put in Execution It was Aaron himself that was chiefly concern'd in all matters of publick worship He was the High Priest that was appointed of God to be Judge in all causes touching Religion and c Deut. XVII 11. 12. from the Sentence of the Law which he should deliver there was to be no Appeal Deut. XVII 11 12. Therefore now to put an end to those disputes about the Priesthood God was pleased to deliver to Aaron a Judicial Law concerning Holy places and things Num. XVIII 1 7. By which in the first place d Num. XVIII 1 7. God laid upon Him and his Sons the whole charge of those places and things that belonged to the Priesthood viz. of the Sanctuary and the Vessels thereof and also of the Priest's Court wherein was the Altar of Sacrifice But for the People's Court and all the Offices in the outer Verge of the Tabernacle God laid the charge of all these on the other Levites that were not of the Sons of Aaron And as well to oblige them both Priests and Levites to look to their respective charges as to deter others from breaking in upon them he ordain'd that if any one who was not of the Tribe of Levi should intrude into any place of their Ministry or should meddle with any of the Vessels belonging to it he should be put to death and so should the Levites that suffer'd him to do it And for those places and vessels that were within the charge of the Priests the Sons of Aaron if any stranger should presume to come near them he must be e vers 7. put to death v. 7. nay though he were a Levite as Korah was he must dye for it and the Priests that suffer'd it must also dye with him f v. 3. Their second Massa and Meriba v. 3. 107. They were by this Ordinance of God kept under a lasting Aw which they could not be by Temporary Miracles So that now from this time forward we read no more of any one 's intruding into the office of Priesthood in Moses's time or his Successors Nor do we read of the People's Murmuring on any other account till 37 years after their departure from Kadesh Barnea Then the Children of Israel being come down to a Num. XXXIII 35. Ezion Geber Num. XXXIII 35. which was by the Red Sea b 1 Kings IX 26. n. 73. 1 Kings
as a Criminal before you hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of heaven meaning this of Himself as the Messiah is described in Dan. VII 13. Our blessed Lord having thus owned that he was the Messiah the High Priest rent his clothes as they used to do at the hearing of Blasphemy 2 Kings XVIII 37. XIX 1. Now he cryed what need we any further Witness Behold you have heard his blasphemy what think you By the Law Blasphemy was a Capital Crime Lev. XXIV 16. And so they all condemned him as being guilty of Death Matt. XXVI 64 66. Mar. XIV 61 64. Now they found a great want of the power of Life Death that was taken from them by the * The Iews say that 40 years before the Destruction of the Temple Capital Judgements were taken away from Israel v. Lightfoot Vol. I. pag. 265. Romans But in this matter they did not doubt to get Pilate to supply that defect The mean while they treated our Lord Iesus with the utmost spite and contempt as if he were the very worst and vilest of men Matt. XXVI 67 68. They that just before had Judged him Guilty of Death came to him and spit in his Face and then in mockery having cover'd his Eyes they Buffeted him bid him Prophecy Mar. XIV 64 65. Their Servants went on with their inhumane Sport striking him with the Palms of their Hands or their Sandals and then saying Prophecy unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee The mean while the whole Sanhedrin having sent no doubt to know Pilate's pleasure when they should attend him with their Prisoner to get Him to put him to Death Matt. XXVII 1. were now consulting together about the Accusation they should bring in against him They knew that to charge him according to their manner with speaking Blasphemous Words against the Holy Place and the Law Acts. VI. 13. would signify nothing And if they should charge him with that which they had condemned him for his making himself the Christ Pilate would not understand it But they knew he would be toucht to the quick with any charge relateing to CAESAR the Emperor that then was Tiberius being a most jealous Prince that would not endure the least seeming Neglect especially of them that were entirely his Creatures as Pilate was This was the reason why they pitched upon that Ensnaring Question about the Lawfullness of paying Tribute to Caesar and put that to our Saviour for this very End that so they might deliver him to the Governor Luk. XX. 20. And though he escaped them then by giving them such an Answer as shewed how unjust it was in them Now to charge him with the same Crime yet to make sure work they resolved that this should be his Accusation And so when the morning was come Matt. XXVII 1. Mar. XV. 1. at or after †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was after Sun-rising See LXX Iud. IX 33. II Sam. XXIII 4. II King III. 22. So here Mar. XV. 1. Censorinus C. XXIV saith vocatur Mane cum lux videtur solis It must signify so in this place for it was Day a good while since Luke XXII 66. Sun-rising they took our Saviour with them to the Iudgement Hall Ioh. XVIII 28. or Pilate's House as it is in the Margin There went the whole Sanhedrin together Mar. XV. 1. to give the more countenance to their Business When they were come thither these bloody Hypocrites that had just now Swallow'd a Camel were presently straining at a Gnat. They held it a Legal pollution for any one of their Religion to go into a Room among the Sinners of the Gentiles as they called them Though there was no such thing in the Scriptures yet according to their Doctrine it would have been such a Defiling of themselves Ioh. XVIII 28. that after it they could not have eaten the Passeover that Friday Evening On this Solemn Occasion so great a part of that Nation being there at Ierusalem together Pilate could not but think it his best way to Humor them in this and therefore upon their sending in their Prisoner to him Ioh. XVIII 28. he went out to them and demanded their Accusation vers 29 He asked it in such a manner as shewed he would willingly have declined this Trouble But they told him plainly it was a Capital Cause and therefore properly belonged to his Cognizance Our blessed Lord being now to be cut off according to Daniel's Prophecy and that Judicially as it has been shewn in the Exposition it was as St. Iohn tells us XVIII 32. so ordered by the Providence of God that he should be brought before a Roman Judge to be condemned by the Roman Law to be Crucified which was the very Death that our blessed Lord himself had foretold he should suffer Ioh. XII 32 33. He could not have come to it otherwise They began to Accuse him in these Words we have found this Fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Luke XXIII 2. What they called now perverting the Nation they called afterward vers 5. Stirring them up no doubt against the Roman Government And if that and all they charged him with had been True then he had been a Messias for their turn as much as Barchochba was to the Iews in the next Age. But their Quarrel against our blessed Lord was onely because he came in a low suffering Condition as it was foretold that he should in Esai LIII and other such Prophecies of Scripture The things which they charged him with being just contrary to what appear'd in all his Life and Doctrine they could not pretend to bring any Proof of them But for that there would be no need of any in the way that they took The last thing in their Accusation being this that he made himself a King it was their way to get Pilate to ask him the Truth of That They knew he would own it to Pilate as he had done already to Them and they reckoned his Owning of this would be taken for Proof of all the rest Pilate could not think by any thing he saw in the Prisoner that they were in Earnest when they charged him with this However since they would have it so he did ask him Art thou the King of the Iews Our Saviour answer'd him thou sayest vers 3. Which Words were an Affirmation in the Syriac that was his Native Language But Pilate either understood not the Idioms of that tongue or would not believe a thing so contrary to what he Saw in him Therefore the chief Priests seeing that would not do went on to accuse him of many other things Mar. XV. 4 But still they offer'd no proof of any thing that they said And the things they charged him with being palpably false our blessed Lord heard them as one unconcern'd He answer'd
to our Saviour Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom vers 42. It is clear that he had such a Faith in Christ at this time as some of his Disciples had not till they were convinced of his Resurrection Luke XXIV 21. No wonder therefore that he received this Gracious Answer to his Prayer Iesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise vers 43. It was About the sixt Hour when these things happened Luke XXIII 44. And when the sixt Hour was Come Mar. XV. 33. that is when it was †At noon the Trumpet sounded for the Beginning of the third Watch. See Grotius on Matt. XXVIII 45. NOON there was Darkness over all the Earth untill the Ninth hour Matt. XXVII 45. Mar. XV. 33. Luk. XXIII 44. that is it was dark from Mid-day till Three of Clock in the Afternoon This Darkness was over all the Land Matt. and Mar. Ibid. that is not onely over all Iudaea but over all the Roman Empire or at least all the Eastern Part of it For according to Phlegon who lived in those Parts and was in favor with Adrian the Emperor there was this * Phlegon Trallianus in the XIIIth Book of his Olympiads saies this happened in the last year of the 102d Olympiad Euseb. Chron. and Chron. Paschale and Philopon de Creat II. 21. That Olympiad ended in the 19th year of Tiberius as Philoponus there shews and some Months after April 3. AD. 33. year the greatest Eclipse of the Sun that ever was known It was Night at the sixt Hour of the Day so that the Stars of Heaven were seen We know that this could be no Natural Eclipse for the Moon was then at Full as it must be at the time of the Passeover But we are not concern'd to enquire how it came to pass being very certain of this that He that made the Sun could take away the Light of it at what time or in what manner it pleased him He did more than this in Ioshua's and in King Hezekiah's Days It happen'd at that very time as the same Phlegon tells us that there was in Bithynia so great an Earthquake that a great Part of the City of Nice was overthrown by it No doubt it was the same Earthquake that we read of in the three first Gospels They tell us that at the time of this Darkness the Vail of the Temple was rent in the Midst Luke XXIII 45. It was rent in Twain from the top to the bottâ—…m Matt. XXVII 51. Mar. XV. 38. and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their Graves and went into the Holy City and appeared to Many Matt. XXVII 51 53. But this last thing of Rising from the Dead was not till After Christs Resurrection as St. Matthew there tells us It must be so for Christ himself was the First Fruits of them that slept I Cor. XV. 20 23. He was the First that rose into a state of Incorruption and Immortality This Darkness and this Earthquake being such things as †See Grot. on Matt. XXVII 45 and 51. who shews this both from Heathen Writers and from Scripture He saies the Iews might now remember that Prophecy of Amos VIII 9 10. which he speaks of as being now literally fulfilled all Mankind look upon as Tokens of God's wrath when either of them happens and the Jews †finding them so accounted in their Scriptures therefore the coming of both these together could not but be very Dreadfull to them by whom they were both seen and felt at the same time Especially it must have been so to them that were there reviling and scoffing at that blessed Man whom many among them took to be the Son of God and none of them could shew any Cause of his Suffering They seem to have been so sensible of this that they all withdrew themselves and went home one after another or at least they forbore giving our blessed Lord any farther disturbance for we read nothing more of them during all the Space of Three hours that the Darkness continued But on the contrary his nearest friends that as it appears were not suffered to come within Hearing of him all this while were now come up to him and he had the freedom of speaking to them as they stood by the Cross. There are named particularly Ioh. XIX 25. the blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord and her Sister Mary * This Mary being as it appears next of kin to our Saviour was Mother to two of the Chief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iames who was the first Bishop of Ierusalem and Cleopas Father of Symeon who succeded Iames in that See She is called by the Evangelists Mother of Iames and Ioses Matt. XXVII 56. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. XV. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XVI 1. It appears that both those Sons were alive when those Gospels were written But now when St. Iohn writ Iames had been dead thirty years Ioses it seems was not living But Cleopas was or at least his Son Symeon for he was then Bishop of Ierusalem And therefore she is here called Ioh. XIX 25. the Mother of Cleopas not the Wife as it is in our Translation Mother of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene and together with them Iohn the Evangelist who speaks of himself as he doth always in the third Person and calleth himself the Disciple whom Iesus loved It was an Extraordinary thing that these Women durst own any Relation or Friendship to our Saviour among so many of his bloody and violent Enemies It could not have been safe for them but that they kept at a distance till now when their Enemies were frighten'd away Now when they were come so near him as they shew'd their Affection in it so he shewed his Care of his Mother together with his Authority over Her and his beloved Disciple He bad her that was now losing Him take Iohn instead of himself to be her Son and bad Iohn take charge of her as his own Mother Which he tells us he accordingly did From that hour he took her to his own home vers 26. 27. It may be observed of those two other devout Women that as they were the last that stayd with our blessed Saviour at his Death so they were the First whom he appear'd to after his Resurrection Our blessed Lord being now to have no more Communication with Mankind in this Life applyed himself wholy to God in Supplications and Prayers For which he had much more Occasion now on the Cross than he had in his Agony in the Garden the night before He was Now suffering the utmost of all that he then onely fear'd He was now in a nearer view of all the Terrors of Death His Spirits were spent with so much Effusion of Blood and Nature was now sinking under the burden His onely Support being