them to be humbled some for their fathers guilt some for their own and some for both and to acknowledge that their being alive till now and their liberty to enter into the Land was a free and a great mercy for their own and their fathers faults might justly have caused it to have been otherwise with them 2. They had imitated their fathers rebellion to the utmost in their murmuring at Kadesh at their last coming up thither and in the matter of Baal Peor and therefore he might very well personate them by their fathers when their fathers faults were so legible and easie to be seen in them 4. He reckoneth not their second journy to Kadesh by name but slips by it Chap. 2. 1 4. Nor mentions their long wanderings for seven and thirty years together between Kadesh and Kadesh but only under this expression We compassed mount Seir many days Chap. 2. 1. because in that rehearsal he mainly insisteth but upon these two heads Gods decree against them that had first murmured at Kadesh and how that was made good upon them and Gods promise of bringing their children into the land and how that was made good upon them therefore when he hath largely related both the decree and the promise he hastens to shew the accomplishment of both 5. In rehearsing the Ten Commandments he proposeth a reason of the Sabbaths ordaining differing from that in Exodus there it was because God rested on the seventh day here it is because of their delivery out of Egypt and so here it respecteth the Jewish Sabbath more properly there the Sabbath in its pure morality and perpetuity And here is a figure of what is now come to pass in our Sabbath celebrated in memorial of Redemption as well as of Creation In the fifth Commandment in this his rehearsal there is an addition or two more then there is in it in Exod. 20. and the letter Teth is brought in twice which in the twentieth of Exodus was only wanting of all the letters 6. In Chap. 10. ver 6. 7 8. there is a strange and remarkable transposition and a matter that affordeth a double scruple 1. In that after the mention of the golden Calf in Chap. 9. and of the renewing of the Tables Chap. 10. which occurred in the first year after their coming out of Egypt he bringeth in their departing from Beeroth to Mosera where Aaron died which was in the fortieth year after now the reason of this is because he would shew Gods reconciliation to Aaron and his reconciliation to the people to Aaron in that though he had deserved death suddenly with the rest of the people that died for the sin of the golden Calf yet the Lord had mercy on him and spared him and he died not till forty years after and to the people because that for all that transgression yet the Lord brought them through that wilderness to a land of rivers of waters But 2. there is yet a greater doubt lies in these words then this for in Numb 33. the peoples march is set down to be from Moseroth to Bene Jahaan ver 31. and here it is said to be from Beeroth of Bene Jaahan to Moseroth there it is said Aaron died at mount Hor but here it is said He died at Moseroth now there were World 2553 Moses 120 Redemption from Egypt 40 seven several incampings between Moseroth and mount Hor Numb 33. 31 32 c. Now the answer to this must arise from this consideration that in those stations mentioned Numb 33. From Moseroth to Bene Jaahan to Horhagidgad c. they were marching towards Kadesh before their fortieth year and so they went from Moseroth to Bene Jaahan But in these stations Deut. 10. 6. they are marching from Kadish in their fortieth year by some of that way that they came thither and so they must now go from Bene Jaahan to Moseroth And 2. how Moseroth and mount Hor Gudgodah and Horhagidgad were but the * * * As Horeb and Sinai were though they be counted two several incampings of Israel Exod. 17. 1 6. and 19. 1. compared same place and Country and how though Israel were now going back from Kadish yet hit in the very same journies that they went in when they were coming thither as to Gudgodah or Horhagidgad to Jotbathah or Jotbath requires a discourse Geographical by it self which is the next thing that was promised in the Preface to the first part of the Harmony of the Evangelists and with some part of that work by Gods permission and his good hand upon the Work-man shall come forth 7. It cannot pass the Eye of him that readeth the Text in the Original but he must observe it how in Chap. 29. ver 29. the Holy Ghost hath pointed one clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To us and to our Children belong the revealed things after an extraordinary and unparalleld manner to give warning against curiosity in prying into Gods secrets and that we should content our selves with his revealed will 8. Moses in blessing of the Tribes Chap. 33. nameth them not according to their seniority but in another order Reuben is set first though he had lost the birth-right to shew his repentance and that he died not * * * So the Chaldee renders ver 6. Let Reuben live and not die the second death the second death Simeon is omitted because of his cruelty to Sichem and Joseph and therefore he the fittest to be left out when there were twelve Tribes beside Judah is placed before Levi for the Kingdoms dignity above the Priest-hood Christ being promised a King of that Tribe Benjamin is set before Joseph for the dignity of Jerusalem above Samaria c. 9. The last Chapter of the Book was written by some other then Moses for it relateth his death and how he was buried by the Lord that is by Michael Jude 9. or Christ who was to bury Moses Ceremonies The Book of JOSHUA THIS Book containeth a history of the seventeen years of the rule of Joshua which though they be not expresly named by this sum in clear words yet are they to be collected to be so many from that gross sum of four hundred and eighty years from the delivery out of Egypt to the laying of the foundation of solomons Temple mentioned 1 Kings 6. 1. for the Scripture hath parcelled out that sum into these particulars forty years of the people in the wilderness two hundred ninety and nine years of the Judges forty years of Eli forty of Samuel and Saul forty of David and four of Solomon to the Temples founding in all four hundred sixty three and therefore the seventeen years that must make up the sum four hundred and eighty must needs be concluded to have been the time of the rule of Joshua CHAP. I. World 2554 Ioshua 1 JOSHUA of Joseph succeedeth Moses the seventh from Ephraim 1 Chron. 7. 25. and in him first appeared Josephs birth-right 1 Chron. 5. 1. and
his seed to Molech or useth Sorcery or profaneth the Sabbath or eateth holy things in his uncleanness or that cometh into the Sanctuary he being unclean or that eateth fat or blood or what is left of the sacrifice or any sacrificed thing not offered in season or that killeth or offereth up a sacrifice out of the Court or that eateth leaven at the Passover or that eateth ought on the day of Expiation or doth any work on it or that makes oil or incense like the holy or that anoints with holy oil that delayeth the Passover or Circumcision for which there are affirmative precepts All these if done wilfully are liable to cutting off and if done ignorantly then to the fixed sin-offering and if it be unknown whether he did it or no then to a suspensive trespass-offering but only he that defiles the Sanctuary and its holy things for he is bound to an ascending or descending offering Now that we may the better understand what Death by the hand of Heaven and Cutting off mean we are first to take notice that neither of them was any penalty inflicted by the hand or sentence of man but both of them do import a liableness to the wrath and vengeance of the Lord in their several kinds And the Jews do ever account Cutting off to be the higher and more eminent degree of Divine vengeance As to spare more evidences of this which might be given copiously this passage of Maymonides is sufficient and it is remarkable when he saith f f f Maym. in Biath Mikdash per. 4. Is it possible for a Priest that serveth in his uncleanness to stay so little in the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As that he should be guilty of death by the hand of Heaven only and not guilty of cutting off He had had those words but a little before which were cited even now An unclean person that serveth in the Sanctuary profaneth his Service and is guilty of death by the hand of Heaven although he stay not there and then he comes on and is it possible saith he that he should stay so little as to be guilty only of death by the hand of Heaven and not to be guilty of cutting off Apparently shewing that cutting off was the deeper degree and die of guilt and vengeance by the hand of God and Divine indignation By Death by the hand of Heaven in their sense therefore is to be apprehended some such a sodain avengeful stroke as the Lord shewed upon Nadab and Abihu or Ananias and Saphira to take them away And this may the better be collected by two passages usual in the Rabbins about this matter First In that they give up the offence of the Priests drinking wine before they went to serve which is held to have been the offence of Nadab and Abihu g g g â—â—â— per. 1. to death by the hand of Heaven which argues that they mean such a kind of stroke as they two had And secondly In that wheresoever the Law enjoyneth Aaron and his sons and the people about the affairs of the Sanctuary they shall or they shall not do thus or thus lest they die they interpret this of death by the hand of Heaven But what to understand by Cutting off is not so readily agreed among them h h h Kimchi in Esay â—8 Kimchi alledgeth it as the opinion of their Doctors That Dying before fifty years old is death by cutting off Compare Joh. 8. 57. i i i R. Sol. in Gâ—â— 17. Rabbi Solomon saith It is to die childless and to die before his time Baal Aruch giveth this distinction between Cutting off and Death by the hand of Heaven that k k k Arâ—â—h in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off is of himself and of his children but Death by the hand of Heaven is of himself but not of his children But mean it which of these you will or all these together or which may have good probability to conceive a liableness to cutting off from the life of the world to come both this and Death by the Hand of Heaven were held by that Nation with whom the phrases were so much in use to mean not any censure or punishment inflicted by man but an impending vengeance of God and a continual danger and possibility when indignation should seize upon him that was faln under these gilts Anathema Maran Atha one under a curse whensoever the Lord shall come to inflict it as Joh. 3. 18 36. SECT III. Penalties inflicted upon unclean persons found in the Temple Whipping and the Rebels beating IT was not a small awe that this might work in the hearts of the people towards their restraining from going into the Sanctuary in their uncleanness to have this impressed and inculcated upon them as it was continually that such a venture did hazard them both body and soul and brought them ipso facto into Gods dreadful displeasure and into undoubted danger of accrewing judgment But did they let the offender thus alone that had offended as if he was fallen under the guilt of death by the Hand of Heaven or under the guilt of cutting off that they had no more to do with him but leave him to the justice of God and to judgment when it should fall upon him Many a wretch would make sleight of this matter and because sentence upon his evil work was not executed speedily his heart would be fully set in him to do so again as Eccles. 8. 11. Therefore they let not the Delinquent so escape but as he had fallen under the wrath of God so they also brought him under a penalty by the hand of man And this penalty was twofold either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping by the appointment of the Judges or mawling and beating by the people 1. There was the penalty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping or scourging upon the censure of the Judges according to the Law Deut. 25. 2. Where he was to receive forty stripes but their Tradition brought it to forty save one 2 Cor. 11. 24. And the reason of this was because they would make a hedge to the Law and whereas that commands that they should not give to a Delinquent that was whipt above forty stripes lest their brother should seem vile unto them they abated one of forty to make sure to keep within compass The measure and manner of their whipping is largely described in the Treatise Maccoth thus in their own words a a a Maccoth per. 3. How many stripes do they give him saith the Mishueh there Why forty lacking one As it is said by a certain number forty stripes that is a number near to forty Rabbi Judah saith he is beaten with full forty and where hath he the odd one above thirty nine Between his shoulders They allot him not stripes but so as they might be triplicated They allot him to receive forty he hath had some of them
Sanctuary Eli 18 with a Sacrifice and a Song The year of his birth is not determinable Eli 19 Eli 20 no not so much as whether it were in the Judgeship of Eli though it be undoubted Eli 21 that it was in his Priest-hood Eli's sons commit theft and adultery in Eli 22 the very Sanctuary they ravin from the men that came to sacrifice and they Eli 23 ravish the women that * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 2. 22. Women that had some office and attendance at the Tabernacle As Num. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to do the Sanctuary service Anna was such a woman Luke 2. 37. waited on the Sanctuary and so they cause the Ordinances Eli 24 of the Lord to be abhorred Under such example is Samuel educated Eli 25 Eli 26 yet falleth not under that taint A Prophet sharply reproveth Eli for not reproving Eli 27 his sons This Prophet the Jews held to be Elkanah himself and say Eli 28 that he was one of the eight and forty Prophets that prophesied to Israel In Chap. Eli 29 2. Vers. 11. it is said that Elkanah returned to Ramoth to his own house and yet Eli 30 verse 20. it is said that Eli blessed Elkanah which is to be understood that Eli 31 he had done so from Samuels first dedication and so did as oft as he came to Eli 32 Shiloh Samuel himself becomes a Prophet first against Elies house and then Eli 33 afterward to all Israel Chap. 3. 1. Impiety had exceedingly banished Prophesie Eli 34 Eli 35 in these times amongst them but now the Lord begins to restore it for prediction Eli 36 of ruine and then for direction of reformation Urim and Thummim Eli 37 were ere long to be lost from the Priests with the loss of the Ark Eli 38 and God pours the Spirit of Prophesie upon a Levite to supply that Eli 39 want CHAP. IV. World 2909 Eli 40 THE Ark first touched and taken with the hands of uncircumcised ones The two sons of Eli come to fatal ends at this last service of the Ark as the two sons of Aaron Nadab and Abihu did at the first Eli himself dieth the very death of an unredeemed Ass Exod. 13. 13. Shiloh laid waste Jer. 7. 14. and the birthright lost from Joseph and Ephraim Psal. 78. 60. c. The Tabernacle had been at Shiloh 340 years and somewhat more The Idol of Dan hath now out-lived it Judg. 18. 31. Ah poor Israel World 2910 Eli 1 Here begin the forty years of Samuel and Saul mentioned Act. 13. 20 21. He gave them Judges after a manner four hundred and fifty years that is the years of the oppressors also reckoned in the Judges 299. the oppressors 111. and Eli 40. until Samuel the Prophet And afterward they desired a King and God gave them Saul by the space of forty years that is to the expiration of forty years from Elies death the last of the Judges CHAP. V. VI. THE Ark is all the spring and summer of this year in the land of the Philistims For its sake the Lord smiteth Dagon the god of their Corn and destroyeth the harvest of their Corn as it grew on the ground with an army of Mice He striketh the people with Emerods in their hinder parts Psal. 78. 66. and bringeth a shameful soreness on them in a contrary part and in a contrary nature to the honourable soreness of Circumcision They restore the Ark again with strange presents with abundance of golden Mice Et cum quinque anis vel podicibus aureis quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Kine knew their owner as Esa. 1. 3. Hophni and Phineas knew him not The Bethshemites though Priests yet slain by the Lord for too much boldness with the Ark. CHAP. VII Vers. 1. And the first half of the second Samuel 2 THE Ark setled in Kirjath-jearim the City of the woods to this the Samuel 3 Psalmist speaketh Psal. 132. 6. We heard of it at Ephratah or at Shiloh Samuel 4 in Ephraim we found it in the fields of the wood or at Kirjath-jearim there an Samuel 5 Eleazar looketh to it when both the line of Eleazar and Ithamar are out of Samuel 6 that service And it came to pass while the Ark abode in Kirjath-jearim the time Samuel 7 Samuel 8 was long for it was twenty years This is not to be understood for the whole Samuel 9 time that it was there for it was above six and forty years there before David Samuel 10 fetched it up 2 Sam. 6. namely thirty nine years of Samuel and Saul and Samuel 11 seven David born in the tenth year of Samuel years of Davids reign in Hebron but it is to be thus understood and construed Samuel 12 that the Ark was twenty years in Kirjath-jearim before the people of Israel Samuel 13 minded it or looked after it but they followed and adhered to their former Samuel 14 Idolatries and corruptions and therefore it is said by Samuel afterward vers 3. Samuel 15 Samuel 16 If you do return unto the Lord put away the strange gods Ashteroth from among Samuel 17 you c. Their Idolatry and prophaneness was so deep rooted having been so Samuel 18 long and so customary with them that neither the loss of the Ark nor the Samuel 19 slaughter of Israel had wrought upon them but that twenty years together Samuel 20 they are lost to the Ark though the Ark were not then lost to them CHAP. VII Vers. 2. The latter half of it * * * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be translated not And but Then they lamented Then all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord and so to the end of the 7 Chapter and Chapter 8. all World 2930 Samuel 21 A Spirit of repentance and conversion cometh generally upon all the people a matter and a time as remarkable as almost any we read of in Scripture one only parallel to it and that is in Acts 2. and 3. at the great conversion there There were to that time these sums of years four hundred ninety years from hence to the beginning of the Captivity seventy years of the Captivity and four hundred ninety years from the end of the Captivity thither The seventy of the Captivity are the midst of years Hab. 3. 2. And Samuel according to this chain is the first of the Prophets Acts 4. 24. Samuel 22 Israel is baptized from their Idols Samuel though no Priest yet by special They drew water and poured it before the Lord Chap. 7. 6 To be understood of their washing themselves from their idols as Gen. 35. 2. Exod. 19. 14. Samuel 23 warrant sacrificeth by Prayer destroyeth the Philistims with thunder Chap. 2. Samuel 24 20. Psal. 99. 6. they were subdued in that very place where they had subdued Samuel 25 Israel and taken the Ark one and twenty years before Samuel rideth in circuit Samuel 26 and judgeth Israel Judah recovereth
not otherwise enter into familiar converse and communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they might not use any commerce nor any converse with a person excommunicate as the Samaritans were to the Jews but only so much as for the providing of meat Maym. in Talm. torah per. 7. And therefore though the article in the Greek be not expressed yet it seemeth that in the sense that it is to be understood and that the Disciples marvailed that he would fall into discourse with a woman that was a Samaritan which was strange to the woman her self vers 9. the woman yet no man said What seekest thou Or why talkest thou with her 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the City and saith to the men 29. Come see a man which hath told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. 30. Then they went out of the City and came unto him 31. In the mean while his Disciples prayed him saying Master eat 32. But he said unto them I have to eat that ye know not of 33. Therefore said the Disciples one to another hath any man brought him ought to eat 34. Iesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work 35. Say ye not there are yet four months and then cometh harvest Behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together 37. And herein is that saying true One soweth and another reapeth 38. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour other men laboured and ye are entred into their labours 39. And many of the Samaritans of that City believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified He told me all that ever I did 40. So when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days 41. And many more believed because of his own words 42. And said unto the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world 43. Now after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee 44. For Iesus himself testified that a Prophet hath no honour in his own country 45. Then when he was come into Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all things that he did at Hierusalem at the feast for they also went unto the feast 46. So Iesus came again into Cana of Galilee where he made the water wine And there was a certain Nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum 47. When he heard that Iesus was come out of Iudea into Galilee he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death 48. Then said Iesus unto him Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe 49. The Nobleman saith unto him Sir come down ere my child die 50. Iesus saith unto him Go thy way thy son liveth And the man believed the word that Iesus had spoken unto him and he went his way 51. And as he was now going down his servants met him and told him saying Thy son liveth 52. Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend and they said unto him Yesterday at the seventh hour the Fever left him 53. So the Father knew that it was at the same hour in which Iesus said unto him Thy son liveth and himself believed and his whole house 54. This is again the second miracle that Iesus did when he was come out of Iudea into Galilee Reason of the Order ABOUT the proper time place and order of this story of Christ and the Samaritan woman there is some difficulty and diversity of opinion None questioning whether it do naturally follow the story of the third Chapter but some doubting whether this journey of our Saviour into Galilee was after Johns imprisonment yea or no but conceiving it rather to have been before and supposing that this voyage is not the same with that in Matth. 4. 12. Mark 1. 14. where it is said that when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison he departed into Galilee but it was before that and before John was committed unto prison Ammonius among the Ancients appeareth to be of this opinion and Grotius among the modern to mention no more But Augustine Jansenius Alapide Chemnitius and divers others do rank this story and voiage after Johns shutting up and that immediately after old Tatianus only hath placed it a good while after and so have undoubtingly made this journey into Galilee and that in Mat. 4. 12. but one and the same And indeed if the story and time of it be precisely weighed it will not only be clear that this journey into Galilee is the very same mentioned by Matthew and Mark in the places cited but it will also give some illustration to that story in them and shew the occasion and proceeding of that his journey For 1. Whereas those two Evangelists have laid Christs journey into Galilee upon Johns imprisonment the very next thing to the story of his Temptation John hath told us of a journey thither betwixt the temptation and Johns commitment and that Christ continued there in Galilee some space Now to imagine another journey thither again and that a twelvemonth after the former and this also before John be imprisoned will make that place in Matthew and Mark exceeding hard if not impossible to be understood 2. If this voiage in John and that in them be not the same and both after Johns imprisonment in what time and place will it be possible to bring that story in those two Evangelists into being Let it be supposed as some will have it that John was yet abroad and not yet imprisoned when Jesus undertaketh this journey into Galilee well this Chapter bringeth him to Galilee and the next to Jerusalem again and then when and where and how shall we take in Johns imprisonment after It is true that there are that have found a place to thrust it in but we will not spend time in that dispute let but the present section and the subsequent till the next Passover be seriously observed and I suppose there will be evidence sufficient by their very contexture to clear this order 2. The words of John that relate the occasion of Christs journey into Galilee compared with the words of Matthew and Mark speak but the very same thing though the terms and expressions do somewhat differ Those two Evangelists say the one of them That when John was put in prison the other That when Jesus heard he was put in prison he departed into Galilee And what can the words of John when the Lord
that she was a witch I have therefore cited these passages not only that it may be shewn that there were women Pharisees and so that the name is not taken from interpreting or expounding but that it may be observed also what kind of women for the most part embrace Phariseism namely Widows and Maids under the vail of Sanctity and Devotion hiding and practising all manner of wickedness And so much we gain of the history of the Pharisees while we are tracing the etymology of the word II. That the Pharisees therefore were so called from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Separation is more commonly asserted and more truly and the thing it self as well as the word speaks it so that by a word more known to us you might rightly call the Pharisees Separatists but in what sense has need of more narrow enquiry The differences of the Jewish people are to be disposed here into divers ranks and first we will begin with the Women 1. It were an infinite task to search particularly how their Canons indulged shall I say or prescribed the Woman a freedom from very many rites in which a great part of the Jewish religion was placed How numberless are the times that that occurs in the Talmudic Pandect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Berac cap. 3 hal 3. Women servants and children are not bound to these things e e e e e e Hieros Kiddush fol. 61. 3. Women servants and children are not bound to recite their Phylacteries nor to wear them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Passovers of Women are at their own Will And not to dwell upon things that are obvious let this one serve instead of many f f f f f f Bab. Sotah fol. 21. 2. A certain Matron asked R. Eleazar Why when Aaron sinned in making the Golden Calf the people are punished with a threefold death He answered Let not a Woman be learned beyond her distaff Hirâ—anus his son said unto him Because no answer is given her in one word out of the Law She will withdraw from us three hundred tenth Cori yearly To whom he replied Let them rather go and be burnt than the words of the Law be delivered to Women From hence it appears that the Women that embraced Pharisaism did it of their own free will and vow not by command which the Men Pharisees also did 2. Pass we from the Women to the Men and first to the lowest degrees of Men in the distinction relating to Religion namely to them whom they ordinarily called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illiterate and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The people of the Earth or the Plebeians Of them thus the Gemara in Sotah newly cited g g g g g g Fol. 22. 1. One reads the Scriptures and recites the Mishna and yet he waits not upon the Scholars of the Wise-men what of him R. Eleazar saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is one of the people of the earth R. Samuel bar Nachmani saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold this is an illiterate man R. Jannai saith behold this is a Cuthean R. Achabar Jacob saith behold This is a Magician And a little after Who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people of the Earth R. Meir saith He that recites not his Phylacteries morning and evening with his prayers But the Wise men say He whosoever he be that lays not up his Phylacteries Ben Azzai saith He who hath not a fringe on his garment R. Jochanan ben Joseph saith He that instructs not his sons in the doctrine of the Law Others say He who although he read the Scriptures and repeats the Traditions yet attends not on the Scholars of the Wise men this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people of the Earth or the Plebeian Does he read the Scriptures and not repeat the Tradition Behold this man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illiterate The Gloss upon the place speaks thus The people of the Earth are they of whom there is suspicion of Tenths and cleanness that is lest they tithe not rightly nor take care aright concerning cleansings And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the illiterate person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more vile or inferior than the people of the Earth Compare that John VII 49. The people that knoweth not the Law is cursed The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Collegians or Associates and Scholars of the Wise men were opposed to these Vulgar persons Under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scholars of the Wise men are comprehended all that were learned and studious under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religious as well learned as unlearned There were some of the learned whom they commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Collegians of the Rabbins who as yet were Candidates and not preferred to the publick office of teaching or judging The thing may be illustrated by one Example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Hieros Sanhedr fol. 18. 3. Do the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Collegians enter in to appoint the New Moon R. Hoshaia said When I was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegian R. Samuel ben R. Isaac led me in to the appointment of the New Moon but I knew not whether I were of the number or no. And a little after Do the Collegians or Fellows go in to intercalate the year Let us learn this from the example of Rabban Gamaliel who said Let the seven Seniors meet me in the Chamber But eight entred Who came in hither saith he without leave I answered Samuel the little In this sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegue differs nothing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Scholar of a Wise man in that both signifie a Student and a Learned man But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegue hath a wider sense denoting all such who have more professedly devoted themselves to Religion and have professed a more devout Life and Rule than the common people whether they were learned or unlearned whether of the Sect of the Pharisees or of the Sadduces or some other Hence you have mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Berac fol. 44. 2. a religious Samaritan and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Ioma fol. 8. 2. a religious Baker And the phrase seems to be drawn from Psal. CXIX 63. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am a companion of all those that fear thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They take upon them the habit of Religion See the Babylonian Talmud in l l l l l l Fol. 7. 1. Avodah Zarah in the Gloss. That distinction also is worthy of consideration of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m m m m m m Hieros Bava Bâ—thra fol. 17. 1 The greater and the less Religious Yet the word seems sometimes to be appropriated to the Pharisees as being
together on a sudden Neighbours for civility sake Minstrels perhaps for the sake of gain both the more officious in this business as we may guess by how much the Parents of the deceased Maid were of more eminent quality She died when Christ together with Jairus was going forward to the house Mark V. 35. and yet behold what a solemn meeting and concourse there was to lament her There were two things which in such cases afforded an occasion to much company to assemble themselves to the house of mourning First Some as it is very probable resorted thither to eat and drink for at such a time some banqueting was used s s s s s s Hieros Beracoth fol. 6. 1. A Tradition They drink ten cups in the house of mourning two before meat five while they are eating and three after meat And a little after When Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel died they added three more But when the Sanhedrin saw that hence they became drunk they made a decree against this Secondly Others came to perform their duty of charity and neighbourhood for they accounted it the highest instance of respect to lament the dead to prepare things for the burial to take care of the funeral to put themselves under the Bier and to contribute other things needful for that solemnity with all diligence Hence they appropriated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rendring or bestowing of mercies to this Duty in a peculiar sense above all other demonstrations of charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t t t t t t Hieros Sanhedr fol. 23. 3. One of the Disciples of the Wise men died and Mercy was not yeilded him that is No care was taken of his funeral But a certain Publican died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the whole City left off work to yeild him Mercy Mourning for the dead is distinguished by the Jewish Schools into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aninuth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ebluth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was on the day of the funeral only or until the Corps was carried out and then began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lasted for thirty days Of these mournings take these few passages u u u u u u Bab. Beracoth fol. 18. 1. He that hath his dead laid out before him and it is not in his power to bury him useth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aninuth that kind of mourning For example If any dye in prison and the Magistrate or Governour of the place permits not his burial he that is near of kin to him is not bound to that mourning which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And the reason is given a little after namely because he who hath his dead laid out before him or upon whom the care of his burial lays is forbidden to eat flesh to drink Wine to eat with others to eat in the same house under which Prohibition thou Jairus now art and he was free from reciting his Phylacteries and from prayer and from all such like precepts of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when the funeral is carried out of the door of the house then presently begins the mourning called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From thence he is free from the foregoing prohibitions and now is subject to others Hence 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The bending down of the beds of which the Talmudists speak very much From what time say they are the beds bended From that time the dead body is carried out of the gate of the Court of the house or as R. Josua From that time as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grave stone is stopped up For so it is commonly rendred but the Gloss some where the Cover or the uppermost board of the Bier What this Bending of the beds should mean you may observe from those things which are spoken in the Tract Beracoth x x x x x x Hieros Berac fol. 6. 1. Whence is the bending of the beds R. Crispa in the name of R. Jochanan saith From thence because it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they sat with him to the Earth Job II. 13. It is not said Upon the Earth but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Earth it denotes a thing not far from the Earth Hence it is that they sat upon beds bended down 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that laments all the thirty days is forbid to do his work and so his sons and his daughters and servants and maids and cattel c. y y y y y y Massecheth Semac◠cap. 5 These things concerned him to whom the dead person did belong His friends and neighbours did their parts also both in mourning and in care of the funeral employing themselves in that affair by an officious diligence both out of duty and friendship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever sees a dead corps say they and does not accommodate or accompany him to his burial is guilty of that which is said He that mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker c. But now say they no man is so poor as the dead man z z z z z z Bab. Berac in the place above c. VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Maid is not dead but sleepeth IT was very ordinary among them to express the death of any one by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies to to sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When N. slept that is when he died a phrase to be met with hundreds of times in the Talmudists And this whole company would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Daughter of Jairus sleeps that is she is dead Therefore it is worthy considering What form of speech Christ here used The Syriac hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She is not dead but asleep VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was never so seen in Israel THESE words seem to refer not to that peculiar miracle only that was then done but to all his miracles Consider how many were done in that one day yea in the afternoon Christ dines at Capernaum with Matthew having dined the importunity of Jairus calls him away going with Jairus the Woman with the issue of blood meets him and is healed coming to Jairus his house he raiseth his dead daughter returning to his own house for he had a dwelling at Capernaum two blind men meet him in the streets cry out Messias after him follow him home and they are cured As they were going out of the house a dumb Demoniac enters and is healed The multitude therefore could not but cry out with very good reason Never had any such thing appeared in Israel VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Through the Prince of the Devils c. See the Notes at Chap. XII 24. CHAP. X. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when he had called to him the twelve Disciples COncerning the number of twelve corresponding to the Tribes of Israel See
carries with it a very proper sense if you interpret it To according to its most usual signification Moses to the hardness of your hearts added this that he permitted divorces something that favours of punishment in it self however you esteem it for a priviledge II. But you may interpret it more clearly and aptly of the Inhumanity of husbands towards their wives but this is to be understood also under restriction fo r Moses permitted not divorces because simply and generally men were severe and unkind towards their wives for then why should he restrain divorces to the cause of Adultery but because from their fierceness and cruelty towards their wives they might take hold of and seek occasions from that Law which punished Adultery with death to prosecute their wives with all manner of severity to oppress them to kill them Let us search into the Divine Laws in case of Adultery a little more largely 1. There was a Law made upon the suspicion of Adultery that the wife should undergo a trial by the bitter waters Numb 5. but it is disputed by the Jewish Schools rightly and upon good ground whether the husband was bound in this case by duty to prosecute his wife to extremity or whether it were lawful for him to connive at and pardon her if he would And there are some who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he was bound by duty and there are others who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was left to his pleasure c c c c c c See Hierof Sotah as before 2. There was a Law of death made in case of the discovery of Adultery Deut. XXII 21 22 23. If a man shall be found lying with a married woman both shall die c. not that this Law was not in force unless they were taken in the very act but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be found is opposed to suspicion and means the same as if it were said When it shall be found that a man hath lain c. 3. A Law of Divorce also was given in case of Adultery discovered Deut. XXIV for in that case only and when it is discovered it plainly appears from our Saviours Gloss and from the concession of some Rabbins also that Divorces took place For say they in the place last cited Does a man find something foul in his wife he cannot put her away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he hath not found foul nakedness in her that is Adultery But now how does the Law of death and that of Divorce consist together It is answered They do not so consist together that both retain their force but the former was partly taken off by the latter and partly not The Divine Wisdom knew that inhumane husbands would use that law of death unto all manner of cruelty towards their wives for how ready was it for a wicked and unkind husband to lay snares even for his innocent wife if he were weary of her to oppress her under that law of death And if she were taken under guilt how cruelly and insolently would he triumph over her poor woman both to the disgrace of wedlock and to the scandal of Religion Therefore the most prudent and withal merciful Law-giver made provision that the woman if she were guilty might not go without her punishment and if she were not guilty might go without danger and that the wicked husband that was impatient of wedlock might not satiate his cruelty That vvhich is said by one does not please me That there was no place for divorce where Matrimony was broke off by capital punishment for there vvas place for Divorce for that end that there might not be place for capital punishment That Law indeed of death held the Adulterer in a snare and exacted capital punishment upon him and so the Law made sufficient provision for terrour but it consulted more gently for the woman the weaker vessel lest the cruelty of her husband might unmercifully triumph over her Therefore in the suspicion of Adultery and the thing not discovered the husband might if he would try his wife by the bitter waters or if he would he might connive at her In case of the discovery of Adultery the husband might put away his wife but he scarce might put her to death because the Law of Divorce was given for that very end that provision might be made for the woman against the hard heartedness of her husband Let this story serve for a Conclusion d d d d d d Bab. Berac fol. 19. 1. Shemaiah and Abtalion compelled Carchemith a Libertine woman-servant to drink the Bitter waters The husband of this woman could not put her away by the Law of Moses because she was not found guilty of discovered Adultery He might put her away by the Traditional Law which permitted Divorces without the case of Adultery he might not if he had pleased have brought her to trial by the bitter waters but it argued the hardness of his heart towards his wife or burning jealousie that he brought her I do not remember that I have any where in the Jewish Pandect read any example of a wife punished with death for Adultery e e e e e e Hierof Sanhedr fol. â—4 2. There is mention of the daughter of a certain Priest committing fornication in her fathers house that was burnt alive but she was not married VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eunuchs from their mothers womb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eunuchs which were made Eunuchs of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Talmudists VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then were little children brought unto him NOT for the healing of some disease for if this had been the end propounded why did the Disciples keep them back above all others or chide any for their access Nor can we believe that they were the children of unbelieving Jews when it is scarcely probable that they despising the Doctrine and person of Christ would desire his blessing Some therefore of those that believe brought their Infants to Christ that he might take particular notice of them and admit them into his Discipleship and mark them for his by his blessing Perhaps the Disciples thought this an excess of officious Religion or that they would be too troublesome to their Master and hence they opposed them but Christ countenanceth the thing and favours again that Doctrine which he had laid down Chap. XVIII namely That the Infants of believers were as much Disciples and partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven as their Parents VERS XVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thou shalt not kill c. IT is worthy marking how again and again in the New Testament when mention is made of the whole Law only the second Table is exemplified as in this place so also Rom. XIII 8 9. and Jam. 11. 8. 11 c. Charity towards our neighbour is the top of Religion and a most
when the Judge cometh to plead their cause and behold the Judge standeth before the door If we should take the words in this sence and pointing at such a time and matter I suppose it might not be far from the Apostles meaning But do his words reach no further Are not these things written for our learning as well as for theirs to whom he wrote Is it not a truth spoken to us as well as it was spoken to them Behold the Judge standeth before the door Dispute it not but rather down on our knees and bless and magnifie the patience and goodness of this Judge for that he is standing at the door and hath not yet broke in upon us In handling of the words I suppose I need not to spend time in explaining the Phrases For none that hears of this Judge but he knows who is meant and none can but know what is meant by his standing at the door viz. as near at hand and ready to enter And if the Apostle speak here of the nearness of the destruction of Jerusalem our Saviours words of the very same subject may help to explain him Matth. XXIV 33. So likewise ye when ye see all these things know that it is near even at the doors So behold the Judge is near even at the door But the Judge of whom And at the door of whom These shall be the two things that my discourse shall enquire after The Jews in their Pandect mention several things of which they say they are two and yet are four and when they explain themselves they shew they speak very good sence I may speak much like of the Propositions that rise out of the words that they are two but indeed are four The two are these That there is a Judge or God is a Judge and That this Judge stands before the door But the very stile and expression doth double it That God is the Judge of all and That this Judge stands at the door of all Because there is no exception about whom he judgeth nor any exception at whose door he standeth I cannot say it is as essential to God to be a Judge as it is essential to him to be holy infinite eternal good c. because he had been there had these never been creature to judge as he was these from eternity before the creature was but since there is a creature to judge I may say it is as essential to God to be Judge of his creature as it is to be God For we may truly say if he were not Judge he were not God For what kind of God were that that had not to do about judging the creature I need not to produce places of Scripture to prove that that is before us for what more plain what more frequent than such testimonies That God is Judge himself Psal. L. 6. That he is the Judge of all the Earth Gen. XVIII 25. That he is the Lord the righteous Judge 2 Tim. IV. 8. That he sits upon the Throne judging right Psal. IX 5. That with righteousness he shall judge the world and the people with equity Psal. XCVIII ult But because the language of the Text is Behold the Judge let me speak as I may say unto your eyes according to the expression O generation see ye the word of the Lord Jer. II. 31. So let me lead your eyes to behold some specimens of this great Judges judging and some demonstrations and assurances that he hath given that he will so judge Eternal Judgment is one of the first principles of Christian Religion Heb. II. 6. viz. the judgment that doth determine of every mans state for eternity for of Gods temporal judgments we shall not speak here And that judgment is either particular passed upon every one at death or general which shall be at the last day Of either of these I shall take some prospect I. Concerning the particular Judgment When mans day is done the day of the Lord begins with him and when his work is done he is to receive his wages according as his work hath been good or evil Lazarus and the rich man no sooner dead but the one is in torment and the other in Abrahams bosom And how come they there Conceive you see their passage The souls of all good or bad as soon as ever departed out of the body are slipt into another world And what becomes of them there Do they dispose of themselves Do they go to Heaven or Hell by their own disposal There would never soul go to Hell if it were at those terms But the departed soul meets with its Judge as soon as ever it is departed and by him it is doomed and disposed to its eternal estate The Judge stands at the very door of that World of Spirits to dispose of all that come in there to their everlasting condition according as their works have been here good or evil So that those words of the Apostle as they speak the subsequence of judgment to death so they may very well speak this nearness It is appointed for all men once to die and then cometh the judgment Heb. IX ult Those words of our Saviour are very regardable Luk. XX. 30. He is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Though dead and gone to the World and to themselves yet to him they are not dead but alive and he deals with them as such as are alive And though he be not the God of all that so live yet he is the Judge of them all He calls himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob when they had been now dead and in the dust a long time for they lived though they were dead And so Cain and Cham and Pharaoh lived though they were dead that is were not utterly extinct and yet God was far from owning himself the God of Cain Cham and Pharaoh but he was their Judge And do but think how these men looked upon their Judge when they met him A carnal wretch that never thinks of God never dreams of judgment but is all for his pleasures and delights here when he dies and instantly meets his dreadful Judge to doom him Can any tongue express what a horrid surprizal that soul is taken at I cannot but take some scantling of conception of it from that passage Rev. I. 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead The beloved Disciple to be thus terrified at the sight of his beloved Master He that used friendly to lean in his bosom now to fall at his feet for fear as dead And Christ not coming to him neither with any message of terror but in a friendly manner with instructions concerning things that were to come to pass thereafter And if so dreadful a consternation fell upon him upon meeting and seeing the glory of his dear what is the wretched souls case when it so unexpectedly meets with the dreadful terrors of its angry Judge
govern or rule them It is true the sense of both readings is much the same and therefore the variety of no great consequence For the same reason it is probable that in Hos. XIII 14. the true reading of the Hebrew formerly was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where are which St. Paul follows 1 Cor. XVI Not. Misc. ad poâ— mâ—s cap. 4. 55. not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be thy Plagues O Death Though the conjecture of the very Learned Dr. Pocock observed also by Buxtorf in his ordinary Lexicon concerning a Metathesis or transposition of the letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ingenious But I confess his citation of the Chaldee Paraphrast vers 10. of the same Chapter is so far from proving it that it might as well argue another defect in the Hebrew of the same kind and that there also The Paraphrast as well as the Vulgar and all the rest of the translations did read in the Hebrew formerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be Nor I doubt is there one example of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Metathesis signifying interrogatively And yet Buxtorf in his Lexicon before cited only upon the Authority of these two places hath given us this new word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for where Our English Translation following the present Hebrew hath more truly rendred it O Death I will be thy Plagues and I will be thy King For nothing more ordinary than for the future tense of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be written defectively with an Apocope Again Amos 9. 12. there seems to be three words otherwise read by the Septuagint and followed by St. Paul Act. 15. 16. than is now extant in the Hebrew which much alters the sense for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall possess the Septuagint read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall seek for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Article of the Accusative Case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Edom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man or Mankind The Septuagint and out of them the Arabick reading one way the Chaldee Vulgar Latine and Syriack reading another leave it uncertain which is the right unless it can be determined by other means These things are now almost known to every body and are brought here only for instances with some little additional observation Moreover it may not be amiss to take notice that the punctation of the present Hebrew is not always accurate This is apparent enough as from many other Anomalies not mentioned by the Masora so also from many proper names otherwise written in the Versions and that according to their own Analogy of the Hebrew Tongue As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so likewise in the Vulgar whence it is most likely these words should have been pointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with pathach not scheva before the guttural And to add this upon this occasion It hath been nothing but meer superstition I concieve in the Modern Jews and perhaps in the more ancient even beyond the time of the Seventy to put the vowels of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adonai under 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jehovah the proper Name of the God of Israel For it seems to me more likely that this proper Name of God was pronounced because it frequently made a part of mens names both in the beginning and ending As in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be pointed as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is â—alsly in our Hebrew Bibles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. vulgarly written Isaiah 〈◊〉 Jonathan Nor is it less probable that the true punctation of this proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jehovah as now pointed was antiently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jahavoh As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But this by the bye for a little digression Another use and benefit of the several Versions of the Scriptures is oftimes to suggest to us some significations of phrases or words which otherwise we should not have thought of Thus Isa. XXViii 16. In the Hebrew we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English Translateth He that believeth will not make hast But the Seventy render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and St. Paul Rom. ix 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not be ashamed and the Chaldee Paraph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not be troubled or disturbed and the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not fear Now from these different Translations it may not be unlikely that the Hebrew word may signifie all these four senses especially being of so near an alliance one to another though in our modern interpretations we take notice but of one Which is rendred Not. Miscâ—ll ad port Mos. cap. 1 somewhat more probable by that very learned Orientalist Dr. Pocok who tells us the Arabick verb Hausch answering to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies three things viz. to hast to fear to be ashamed And in the Heptaglott Lexicon of the indefatigable Dr. Castle now the worthy Arabick Professor in Cambridge who with the loss almost of his Senses Limbs and Estate undertook that laborious Work and underwent a great part of the toil in the edition of the English Polyglott Bible such is too often the fate of Learned drudgery I say in this Lexicon appears four or five more significations But as to this last It seems I confess that the arguing from the various significations in one Tongue to the like in another may be too much relied upon For what is more ordinary than for people in a little Tract of time by reason of many accidents to change the signification of words and to give others and for one Country who first borrowed a word from another to add more senses and oftimes quite to lose the first As for example The word concieve hath many significations in English different from those of Concipio in Latine from whence it is derived Nor doth infoelix in Latine signifie both unhappy and mischievous because unluckie in English which answers to the Latine infoelix sometimes signifies both Nor do the French words Trier and Craquer signifie any other thing that I remember at this day than to pick or chuse or cull and to shake or quake not to try attempt make an essay or to boast Though the English words to try and to crack do which are derived from those French words Nor finally doth the word Letten in Dutch signifie Contraries viz. to hinder and to permit because the English word to lett which answers to it doth of which Dr. Pocock takes notice loc cit as one instance of a word signifying contraries amongst many others of other Languages No more will it follow that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
year 1669. writ to him a long Letter desiring him to communicate the sum of his judgment concerning Morinus his Exercitations of the Jews in the second Book of his Exercitationes Biblicae Mr. James Calvert a Learned Man of York begs his advice about the right position of the Priests portion in the holy square of Ezekiel This Learned Man for the clearer understanding of divers passages in the Prophetical writings was inclined to think that that Vision of Ezekiel commonly understood mystically is rather literal and historical The only or main objection against this Hypothesis is the placing of the Priests Portion for if the Temple be either five or thirty miles distant from the City there can be no question but that the Vision is mystical they are his words but if there be an error in placing of the Priests portion and that the City and Sanctuary may meet together the greatest objection against the literal sense will be removed And thus concludes his Letter Sir I do not know your person but I have both read and heard so much of your excellent Learning and your candid and ingenuous nature that it emboldens me to write thus freely to you and to entreat you that as you have hitherto so you would still make this one great end of your rare Learning to illustrate the Scripture Text that instead of too many aerial and subtil speculations the Church of Christ may be fed with solid food I mean the simple and sincere meaning of the Holy Ghost be it History or Mystery It would be too long to tell of young Buxtorph upon whom the Magistrates of Basil conferred his Fathers Hebrew Professors place at seventeen years of age Maximo Parente spe major filius as Dr. Castel characters him John Henricus Ottho a Learned Man of Berne in Switzerland Frederick Miege a Noble Learned and Ingenious German D. Knory a very Learned Man of Silesia Theodore Haac and many other forrainers of divers Nations that came into England chiefly to see Dr. Lightfoot and to be directed in their Rabbinical Studies by him All whom he did with much humanity and affability receive and from him they departed with great satisfaction as by their Letters to him after their departure does appear VII His Correspondences HE held a Learned Correspondence especially with persons most eminent for that recondite Learning that he was so famed for and was dear unto and highly valued by them Namely The great Buxtorph while he lived and at home the Right Reverend Father in God Brian Lord Bishop of Chester deceased Dr. Pocok Hebrew Professor at Oxon Dr. Castel Arabick Professor at Cambridge Dr. Marshal the Reverend and Learned Rector of Lincoln College Oxon Mr. Samuel Clark sometime Keeper of the Famous Library of the University of Oxon Dr. Worthington sometime Master of Jesus College in Cambridge Mr. Bernard of S. Johns College Oxon all Men famous in their generation whose names we need only mention and among the laity he held a most intimate friendship and correspondence with Sir Tho. Brograve of Hertfordshire Baronet his Neighbour and Kinsman a Gentleman well seen in those abstruser Studies Nor did their Letters consist of vain strains of Complements nor were they stuffed with idle and unprofitable News of affairs in the State but they carried deep and Learned enquiries about difficulties of Scripture or doubts in their Oriental Studies they conferred about brave and high Designs for the better promoting of Truth and Religion and solid useful Learning One Conference I meet with between Dr. Castel who was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Propounder and our Doctor The Resolver was upon this subject proposed by the former Whether when the ordinary Interpretation of any Hebrew words renders the sense hard and rough recourse may not be had to the Interpretation of those words according as they signifie in Syriac Chaldee or Arabic This question had been occasioned from Dr. Lightfoots excellent Interpretation of that difficult place Ezek. VIII 17. Upon which place he put a fair sense as it seems by Interpreting some word or words there according to some of those Languages Whereupon he tells him That he met often with many seeming contradictions and absurdities in our English though one of the best as well as in other Versions As Job III. 5. Let the shaddow of death stain it in the margent chalenge A Catacresis I remember not to be found elsewhere But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word there used in the Arabic use is Excipere Colligere as the LXX not there alone best Chap. XV. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou speaking to Job restrainest prayer Whereas Job was often in Prayer in Arabic in which Language many words with him occur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to Protract and Multiply as the Syriac and Arab there render it Thou art much in complaints Chap. XVIII 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aucupia Verborum again from the Arab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contradicendi vices as the Arab and Chaldee both Chap. XVI 18. O Earth cover not thou my blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that there should be no place to my cry Because blood is a Crying sin To pray his Cry should have no place I am a Davus to that sense Prov. XXIII 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he thinks in his heart and yet his heart is not with thee seem very repugnant Whereupon he propounds this Question That meeting with a World of these seeming contradictions every day he â—râ—â—es his judgment Whether the Arab Chaldee Syrian may not sometime sit upon the Bench and pass their Vote concerning their old Mothers meaning All the News communicated between these Correspondents was about the further progress of Oriental Learning the discovery of more Books of that Nature c. which was the best and joyfullest news to them It may be it will not be amiss to communicate a Letter or two of this nature The one is of the aforesaid Dr. Castel written 1664. Sir Though I perish it comforts me not a little to see how Holy Writ flourishes I lately received an Armenian Psalter given me by Professor Golius come newly off the Press where they are Printing at Leyden the whole Bible in that Language The Old Testament is there Printing in the Turkish Language perfected by Levinus Warnerus The New Testament in Turkish done by Mr. Seaman is just now in the Press at Oxford of which I have some sheets by me as I have also of the old Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels now Printed with a Glossary to them at Leyden Mr. Petreus hath Printed some parts of the Old Testament in Ethiopic and hath many more prepared both in that and the Coptic Language The Lithuanian of which I have a good part by me and the New England Bibles I need not name I have a specimen of a Turkish Dictionary Printed at Rome and of a Chaldee Dictionary in folio in the Hebrew Language composed by the Learned Coken
where he made an entrance into his Hebrew studies he resolves to come up to London to take the opportunity of the Divinity Library there thereby to furnish himself with a good stock of Reading and Learning proper to the holy Employment he had undertaken before he engaged himself further in it Here he lay for some years close and private and read over the Fathers and many other Books tending to the furthering his Divinity studies He preached then indeed but seldom or not at all his business now being something else But when some who had a mind to have themselves eased by his labour charged this upon him as a crime of idleness to clear himself of that imputation he published his first Book to let the World see he was not idle though he preached not He never cared to be accused of idleness and his own conscience cleared him of that as he tells us before that Book though he confessed that he was not so hasty as many be to intrude himself where there is no necessity But when he had taken the charge of Souls upon him in all the parts of the Ministerial Function he was very diligent A constant Preacher resorting to his Parish Church which stood a mile distant every Sunday Winter and Summer wet and dry unless abroad or hindred by sickness He failed not to visit the sick whensoever sent for compassionating their condition and administring wholsom counsils and comforts to them He was a great enemy to Schism and Faction and uncharitable separation from the Church and did use to press Communion both in his Sermons and ordinary discourses And it may not be amiss to mention the notable argument he used to manage in the behalf of holding Communion with the National Church which was our Lords Example This he often and convincingly urged in this case and particularly but some few months before his death in one of his ordinary Sermons he had these words Let me ask them meaning the neglecters of the Publick Worship do they think that our Saviour ever let Sabbath day pass in all his time while here but he was present at the Publick Service either in the Temple or in the Synagogue Look the Gospel through and see by the current of the story there whether ever he absented himself from the Publick Congregation on the Sabbath day Read that Luke IV. 16. To spare more He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read It was his custom to go to the Synagogue to the Publick Service and Congregation on the Sabbath day and he never failed of it And he stood up for to read in his own Town-Synagogue as owning himself a member of that Congregation For it is not recorded that he read in any Synagogue beside It was his Custom to go to the Publick Congregation on the Sabbath day it is these Mens custom not to come there He never absented himself from the Publick Meeting these Men account it Religion to absent themselves ever Is our Publick Service more corrupt than theirs was then If it be let them shew it If it be not let them give a reason why they go so directly contrary to our Saviours own practice Generally his Sermons were very plain as preached to a Country Auditory and practical recommending above all things piety and a good life and if he chanced to fall upon controversial points in the course of his Sermons he would strive in few words to pass over the controversie and while he was upon it to render it as useful and serviceable to pious ends as he could His Sermons always carried a sweet and easie strain with them a Rhetorick peculiar to himself notably raising attention and making a quick impression upon the Affections Insomuch as he seldom failed of a great Auditory having scarce one in his Parish that absented from his Ministery And another qualification he had of a good Clergy-man and that was his Charity which was free and large His House was a continual Hospital none went away thence unrelieved which was so well known that he had a more than common charge at his Door For such was his compassionate Spirit that all sorts of comers pretending need partook of his liberality and he would frequently bring poor people within Doors to his fire to warm them as well as feed and cloth them Besides he used in the Winter seasons to find work for the poor of his Parish as spinning c. Whereby at once industry and labour might be encouraged and poverty succored And his secret charities are supposed considerable For he had 300 l. per annum and no charge nor visible expence and yet spent all Take him in his more private Capacity he was a truly pious and devout Christian towards God This was his friend Dr. Castels character of him I know no Man under Heaven whose Voicinity would make my life more patiently tolerated than to be near one who hath in him so much of Heaven as you have On the Lords days abroad as well as at home he always forbore eating or drinking till the Evening Service were over that he might be the more intent upon his Devotions and Meditations in private and the freer from dulness and drowsiness in publick a thing so unbecoming the Worship of God Whensoever he returned home from a journy it was his manner to pass through his House to his retirements without saluting or speaking to any body unless they came in his way till he had performed his private Devotions For his food whatsoever it was he was always very thankful to God never complaining of any thing at his Table but ever expressing a thankfulness for what ever was set before him besides his usual blessing before and after meals He was indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an universal Good Man which reconciled him a reverence wheresoever he came but for some particular Virtues he deserved Monstrari dicier Hic est To be taken notice of and admired I will instance only in his profound meekness and humility a Man so learned of such great abilities beyond most Men and yet so void of all conceit of himself so mean so little so nothing at all in his own Eyes that one would wonder to hear the expressions that he useth of himself In his Epistle to Christs College you have him in this strain Cum repeto quantum sine numero c. When I recollect what a number almost without number of learned eminent Men Christs College hath fostered and brought up I call my self Dunce and Blockhead to come from so learned a bosom and from among so learned a Society so unlearned so mean and obscure and still so to remain Oh! dull creature that I have been and am in and after so many and so great advantages and examples of Learning I rejoyce and triumph Dearest Nurse in the multitude of thy
had seen the figure and pattern of a glorious Tabernacle so now in this second forty days fast he desireth to have a sight of the glory of God On the thirtieth day of the month A◠he goeth up again with the two Tables and beginneth another forty days fast and seeth the Lord and heareth him proclaim himself by most glorious attributes and receiveth some commands from him On the tenth day of the month Tisri he cometh down with the glad tydings that all is well betwixt God and Israel with the renewed Tables in his hand and with commission to set about making the Tabernacle CHAP. XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL. World 2515 Moses 82 Redemption from Egypt 2 AND so do Israel fall about that work which by the first day of the month Abib the first month of the next year is finished and it begun to be erected when it is set up the cloud of glory filleth it and God taketh up his seat upon the Ark in figure of his dwelling amongst men in Christ. The Book of LEVITICUS OUT of the Tabernacle newly erected God giveth ordinances for it and first concerning Sacrifice to represent Christs death as the Tabernacle it self did represent his body The whole time of the story of Leviticus is but one moneth namely the first month of the second year of their deliverance and not altogether so much neither for the very first beginning of the month was taken up in the erecting of the Tabernacle of which the story is in Exod. 40. CHAP. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII RUles given for all manner of sacrifices This is the first Oracle given from off the Mercy-seat There is the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first word of the Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 written less then all his fellows and it seemeth by such a writing to hint and intimate that though this were a glorious Oracle yet was it small in comparison of what was to come when God would speak to his people by his own Son whom the Ark Mercy-seat and Oracle did represent CHAP. VIII IX THE seven days of the consecration of Aaron and his sons follow after the time of the setting up of the Tabernacle and were not coincident or concurrent with that time as the Jews very generally but very groundlesly do apprehend as Seder Olam Tanchum ex R. Joseph Baal Turim Ab Ezra R. Sol and others For 1. this command for their consecration is given out of the Tabernacle now erected as well as the rules for sacrifice were And 2. they abide the seven days in the Tabernacle Chap. 8. 33. and the very first day of the seven the congregation were gathered to the door vers 3 4. which undeniably shew that it was finished and set up when these seven days of consecration began CHAP. X. THE death of Nadab and Abihu was on the very first day that the service of the Altar began namely on that eighth day after the seven of the consecration when Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices for themselves and the people This appeareth plainly by comparing the third and fifteenth Verses of the ninth Chapter with the sixteenth Verse of this tenth Chapter and thus the service of the Sanctuary by an accident began with Death and Judgment NUMBERS IX to Ver. 15. AFter the end of the tenth Chapter of Leviticus in the proper order of story are the first fourteen Verses of the ninth Chapter of Numbers to be taken in which treat concerning the Passover For the Tabernacle being reared on the very first day of the second year of their coming out of Egypt namely on the first day of Nisan these orders and rules concerning Sacrifices and the Priests consecration were given and the eight days of Priests consecration and Sacrifices were accomplished before the fourteenth day of that month came when the Passover was to be kept by an old command given the last year in Egypt and by a second command now given in the wilderness so that this order and method is clear Now the reason why this story of this second Passover is not only not laid in its proper place in this Book of Leviticus but also out of its proper place in the Book of Numbers for the Book beginneth its story with the beginning of the second month but this story of the Passover belongeth to the first month The reason I say of this dislocation is because Moses his chief aim in that place is to shew and relate the new dispensation or command for a Passover in the second month which was a matter of very great moment For the translation of that feast a month beyond its proper time did the rather inforce the significancy of things future then of things past as rather recording the death of Christ to come then their delivery from Egypt when it hit not on that very night This story therefore of the Passover transferred to the second month upon some occasions being the matter that Moses chiefly aimed at and respected in that relation and history he hath set it in his proper place for so is that where it lies in the Book of Numbers and intending and aiming at the mention of that he hath also brought in the mention of the right Passover or that of the first month as it was necessary he should to shew the occasion of the other LEVITICUS XI XII XIII XIV XV. AFter the rules for things clean and fit for sacrifice the Lord cometh to give rules for things clean and fit to eat and clean and fit to touch for this was the tripartite distinction of clean or unclean in the Law Every thing that was unclean to touch was unclean to eat but every thing that was unclean to eat was not unclean to touch every thing that was unclean to eat was unclean to sacrifice but every thing that was unclean to sacrifice was not unclean to eat for many things might be eaten which might not be sacrificed and many things might be touched which might not be eaten And under the Law about clean and unclean there is exceeding much of the doctrine of sin and renovation touched considerable in very many particulars 1. By the Law of Moses nothing was unclean to be touched while it was alive but only man A man in Leprosie unclean to be touched Lev. 13. and a woman in her separation Lev. 12. but Dogs Swine Worms c. not unclean to be touched till they be dead Lev. 11. 31. 2. By the Law of Moses uncleanness had several degrees and Leprosie was the greatest There was uncleanness for a day as by touching a dead beast for a week as by touching a dead man for a month as a woman after Child-birth and for a year or more as Leprosie 3. Every Priest had equal priviledge and calling to judge of the Leprosie as well as the the high Priest 4. The Priests that were judges of Leprosie could not be tainted
One once staid long and they were about to go in after him Some say it was Simeon the Just. They said to him Why didst thou stay so long He answered I was praying for the Sanctuary of your God that it should not be destroyed They say to him Though thou didest so yet shouldest not thou have stayed so long If this Relation carry any truth with it it might be looked upon as the expiring of Vision as Prophesie had also ceased not long before that time for Simeon the Just is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the remnant of the men of Ezra ' s great Synagogue Aboth R. Nathan cap. 4. and upon the death of Zachary and Malachy who were of that Synagogue the spirit of Prophesie departed And here Vision and Prophesie is dawning again Zacharias for not believing the words of the Angel is struck 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deaf and Dumb and doth fore-signifie the silencing of the Levitical Priesthood e're long to be In the Jews Canons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one of the five sorts of Persons that they commonly exclude from all imployments and matters of honour trust or import and it means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that can neither hear nor speak Jerus in chagigah fol. 75. col 4. His Wife Elizabeth conceiving with child retires as a recluse for five months space that she might keep her self from all desilement she carrying as choice a Nazarite in her Womb as she did ver 1. 5. Five months were not the whole time of her retiring for that that urged her to keep close so long had the same tie upon her all the time she went with child but five months are only named by way of introduction to the story and occurrence in the sixth month mentioned instantly after In the sixth month the same Angel appeareth to the Virgin Mary and telleth her of the Birth of the Messios to be of her which she believing though by the course of Nature so impossible she presently goeth to her Cousin Elizabeth into the Hill-countrey of Judea to Hebron see Josh. 21. 11. not only to visit her and to rejoyce with her nor only to see the proof of those things that the Angel had told of her but very probably acted by the Holy Ghost that she might conceive the Messias in Hebron where so many choice and eminent Types of him and references to him had been in ancient time These Tidings come to the Virgin at the very latter end of the year that we are upon or the beginning of the next and her Journey to Hebron is in the middle of Winter SECTION IV. MATTHEW Chap. I. All the Chapter CHRIST'S Genealogy by the Line of Solomon and by his supposed Father Joseph His Mother in danger to be divorced upon false suspition of Adultery WHether it were that Mary conceived with child at the instant of the Angels telling her of her Conception as hath been held most generally or at the instant that she came to her Cousin Elizabeth in Hebron by the time that she had stayed with her three months she might easily be discovered to be with child as Tamar was after the same space of time Gen. 38. 24. Whose case and danger of death in that story compare with the Virgins case and danger of divorce in this The Talmudick Decretals do allot three months for such a discovery Every woman say they that is divorced or become a widow behold she may not be married nor espoused till she have stayed 90 days that it may be known whether she be with child or no and that there may be distinguishing betwixt the Seed of the first Husband and the Seed of the second Likewise a stranger and his Wife which are Proselytes they keep them asunder 90 days that there may be a discerning between the Seed sown in holiness that is when they are come into the true Religion out of Heathenism Compare 1 Cor. 7. 14. and the Seed not sown in holiness Talm. in Jebamoth cap. 4. in Chetuboth cap. 5. Maym. in Gerushin cap. 11. This space of time considered in the present story it sheweth how fitly the last Verse of the preceding Section viz. Luke 1. 56. and the 18th Verse of this do joyn together The Genealogy interposed doth not interrupt but illustrate the story intended And it is not only properly but even necessarily set in the Front of the Evangelical History that satisfaction might be given by it in that main Point concerning Christ which the Scriptures do so often inculcate and which the Jews would first of all look after namely to prove Jesus of Nazareth how ever so meanly born yet to be The Son of David There were two remarkable Maxims among the Jewish Nation 1. That there was to be no King of Israel but of the House of David and Line of Solomon Talm. in Sanhedr cap. 10. And consequently they looked for King Messias from that Line 2. That the Family of the Mother is not called a Family Juchasin fol 55. Hereupon hath Matthew most pertinently brought this Pedigree through the House of Solomon and ended it in Joseph a Male whom the Jews looked upon as the Father of Jesus The last Verse of this Chapter as it referreth to the demeanour of Joseph and Mary in their mutual society till the Birth of Christ lyeth properly in the Harmonizing of the Evangelists in the place where it doth But as it referreth to the Birth of Christ it is coincident with Luke 2. 7. The Reader in his thoughts will place it as he seeth cause in these several Relations SECTION V. LUKE Chap. I. from Ver. 57. to the end John Baptist born WHen Maries three months stay with her Cousin Elizabeth was expired it is easily guessed that if Elizabeth by that time were not delivered of her child yet she was very near it and that consideration doth clear the subsequence of this Section to the preceding John Baptist born in Hebron the place of the residence of Abraham and of the first Royalty of David Here Circumcision was first ordained and here is he born that was to bring in Baptism instead of Circumcision The Priests at the Temple as they looked for break of day used oft to say The face of all the Skie is bright even unto Hebron Talm. in Joma cap. 3. in Tamid cap. 3. Compare the dawning of the Gospel now rising there in the Birth of the Baptist and compare the words of Zacharias a Priest ver 78. The time of the Baptists Birth will be found by setting that Clock from our Saviours to have been in the Spring much about the time of the Passeover about which time of the year Isaac was born SECTION VI. LUKE Chap. II. from Ver. 1. to Ver. 40. World 3928 Rome 754 Augustus 31 Herod 35 CHRIST Born LUKE maketh the coherence clear when he interposeth nothing betwixt the Birth of the Baptist and the Birth of Christ and indeed there is nothing
he hired another to kill him or turned a wild beast upon him which slew him this they accounted not murder for which to be questioned by the Sanhedrin though it deserved the judgment of God Talm. in Sanhedr per 9. Maym in Retsea per 2. but he shews that the command extends to the prohibiting of causless anger and that that deserves the judgment of God that the uncharitable scornings of a brother under their usual word Raka deserved the judgment of the Sanhedrin and especially the calling him fool in Solomons sense or censuring rashly his spiritual estate deserved hell fire They construed the command Thou shalt not commit adultery barely of the act of adultery and that with another mans wife Trip. targ in marg ad Exod. 20. but he tells that it prohibits lustful thoughts and looks and that looking upon a woman to lust after her is adultery in heart Rabban Simeon delighted to look upon fair women that he might take occasion by the sight of their beauty to bless God A fair excuse Tal. Jerusin Beracoth fol. 12. col 3. The Law had permitted divorces only in case of fornication Deut. 24. 1. but they had extended it to any cause and to so loose an extent that R. Ahiba said A man may put away his wife if he see another woman that pleaseth him better than she Gittin per. 9. The Law had forbidden foâ—swearing or swearing falsly thereupon they had made bold to take liberty of vain swearing at pleasure so that what they swore were not false as see Tal. Maym. in Shevâ—oh These cursed constructions of theirs by which they had made the Law of no effect he divinely damneth and stateth the proper and true intent of the Law in these cases 3. He prescribeth Christian duties and especially rules of piety charity and sincerity and condemneth the hypocritical vainglory of the Pharisees about these things They used when they gave almes in the Synagogue to have it openly proclaimed and published what they gave as if a Trumpet had been sounded for every one to take notice of their charity Jerus in Demai fol. 23. col 2. And they had an open proclaiming in the streets for the calling of the poor to gather the corner of the field that they had left them Id. Peah per. 4 c. They loved to be seen praying in the streets especially in their Phylactery prayers morning and evening besides other occasional Oraisons Id. Beracoth per. 1 2. They used to pray those prayers often and often other prayers in the Synagogue apart and distinct from the prayers or service that the Synagogue was then upon and so their particular devotion was the more subject to be observed Ib. fol. 8. col 3 c. They used on their fasting days to use such a carriage and demeanour in face and garb that all might observe that it was fasting day with them Piske Tosaph in Taanith per. 1 c. And in all their devotions and demeanour they hunted after the praise of men which he condemneth and urgeth for sincerity and care to approve the heart to God Throughout all this Sermon this great oracle of divine truth doth not only shew and hold out the sacred doctrines of faith manners duty and eternal life but he evidenceth throughout that he was throughly acquainted with all the learning doctrines and traditions of those times And to the explication of this divine Sermon is required quick and ready versedness in the Jews Records for Christ hath an eye and reference to their language doctrines customs traditions and opinions almost in every line SECTION XXIX LUKE Chap. VII from the beginning to Ver. 11. MATTH Chap. VIII Ver. 1. and then Ver. 5 to Ver. 14. A Centurion servant healed LUKES transition When he had ended all his sayings doth prove the order The four verses that speak about the Leper in Matthew were taken up before and their order spoken to then A proselyte Captain that had so far affected the Jews religion that he had built a Synagogue in Capernaum having seen and heard the works and words of Christ believeth him for the Messias and beggeth of him the healing of his servant Which that Christ could do he concludeth from a comparison of the power of his own word and command among his souldiers for since they were ready to come and go or run at his command much more doth he conclude was the word of Christ of power to command away the disease of his servant if he pleased Christ had often in his Sermon on the Mount asserted the authority of his own word against and above the words of their traditionaries and equalized it with that word that gave the Law And here is a very high and seasonable confession of the authority of that word made by this Centurion and an evidence of the power of it by the healing of his servant at distance The mans faith is justly extolled though he were a Gentile and the casting off the Jews is clearly foretold which Christ had not so plainly spoken out hitherto SECTION XXX LUKE Chap. VII Ver. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. The Widows Son of Naim raised AS Christ yesterday recovered a young man from the point of death so doth he another to day from death it self The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 11. do confirm the order The day after c. Joseph Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 5. speaks of the Village Nais as being upon the edge of Samaria in the way as the Galileans passed to Jerusalem And it is not improbable that Christ was going thitherward at this time to one of the Festivals most like to Pentecost As he comes to Naim he meets with a dead man carried out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Talmudick Language for they might not bury within their Cities no nor at the Levites Cities within the compass of that ground without the City that was allotted for its suburbs Maym. in Shemitah veiobel per. 13. If Jerusalem went parallel with the Levites Cities in this as it did in other things Christs Sepulchre will not prove so near the City as it hath been commonly reputed He raiseth this dead man openly and in the sight of all the company there present which was very great and yet when afterward he raiseth Jairus daughter he chargeth that those that had seen him do the miracle which were but five persons that they should tell no man what was done Luk. 8. 56. which prohibition was given rather in regard of the place where it was done then in any other respect it being in Capernaunt against which City he had denounced a curse before SECTION XXXI LUKE Chap. VII from vers 18. to ver 36. MATTH Chap. XI from ver 2. to ver 20. JOHNS Message to Christ â— Christs testimony of John THE Transition of Luke from the Stories before about the raising of the dead man and healing the Centurions Servant And the Disciples of John shewed him of all these things
testimony of John the Evangelist nay of Christ himself that it plainly appears that Mary the sister of Lazarus and Mary Magdalen was but one and the same person For when in Bethany the same sister of Lazarus annointed the feet of Jesus and Judas did thereupon take offence Jesus himself checking the boldness of the furious Disciple said Let her alone that she may keep it against the day of my burial Now that she that brought the oyntment to the sepulcher for the annointing of the body of Jesus was Mary Magdalen is affirmed by Mark and that she with Mary the Mother of James and Salome did that office When therefore neither in him nor in any other of the Evangelists there is any mention of Mary the Sister of Lazarus who was foretold by our Saviour that she should do that office it may easily be known that both these Maries were but one and the same At Joh 12. 7. we shall shew that that speech must be construed to such a sense as he hath put on it save only that following the vulgar Latin he reads sine ut servet which indeed makes his sense the fuller but though not so read yet will that sense be full enough It is to be objected indeed that Mary was called Magdalen from the place Magdala of which there is mention Matth. 15. 29. and in Tal. Jerus in Maazaroth fol 50. col 3. in This passage R. Jochanan in the name of R. Simeon ben Jochai He had two inclosures one in Magdala the other in Tiberias c. And in Beracoth fol. 13. col 1. there is mention of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Juda of Magdala now Magdala being in Galilee as some seat it or over against Galilee beyond Jordan as others it was so very far distant from Bethany that Mary the sister of Lazarus whose Town was Bethany could not possibly be called Magdalen from Magdala To which we may first give Baronius his answer who also mentioneth this objection That though she were of Bethany by original and the native seat of her fathers house yet might she also be of Magdala by marriage or some occasional residence otherwise And in the second place we may adduce what the Talmudicks speak of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary Magdalen or Megaddala for the word is of doubtful pointing whom they character for a notorious strumpet in those times that Jesus of Nazareth lived Alphez in Gittin fol. 605. Some man finds a fly in his cup and takes her out and will not drink and this was the temper of Papus the son of Judah who locked the door upon his wife whensoever he went out The glossaries R. Solamon and Nissim upon this passage comment thus Papus the son of Judah was husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Mary Magdala and whensoever he went forth he locked the door upon his wife lest she should speak with any man which was a usage unfitting and hereupon there arose discord between them and she plaid the whore against him Now they construe the latter word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as signifying one that broided or plated her hair which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peter blames in women 1 Pet. 3. 3. Tal. Babyl Venet. in Sanhedr per. 7. is speaking of one that inticed to Idolatry and how he was brought to the Sanhedrin and stoned And thus say they they did to Ben Saida in Lydda and hanged him on the Passeover eve Ben Saida was the son of Pandira They call our Saviour blasphemously by this name Ben Saida And a little after His mother was Saida His mother was Mary Magdalen Mary the platter of womens hair vid etiam Schab fol. 104. And in Chagigah fol. 4. The Angel of death said to his messenger Go fetch me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary the broider of womens hair He went and fetched Mary Magdala or Mary the broider of hair for young men Now whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be read Magdela or Magdila a Participle in Hiphil which is most proper and so warranted by Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Kelim per. 15. or Megaddela in Piel either of them in a Greek dress especially the former come so near the sound of the word in hand that we may very well construe Mary Magdalen in this Talmudick construction for a woman of common infamy and that hath this nick-name of Magdila from her lascivious dress and carriage Observe Lukes expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary which was called Magdalen which manner of phrase is rarely used when persons are named after their Country SECTION XXXV MATTH Chap. XII from Ver. 22 to Ver. 46. MARK Chap. III. from the last clause of Ver. 19. And they went into an house to Ver. 31. A Devil cast out Christ called Belzebub Blasphenty against the holy Ghost THe series and consequence of this Section will require some cleering 1. The reader here seeth that Mark hath not mentioned any thing from the ordaining of the twelve Apostles unto this place for the holy Ghost that held all their pens did so dispose them that sometimes one should speak the story sometimes another and sometimes more or all of them together Now though the first clause of this Section in Mark And they went into an house be joyned so close to the Apostles ordaining as if that were the next thing done yet the current of the story in the rest of the Evangelists doth shew that it is not to be taken in at that instant and indeed the progress of the story even in Mark himself doth shew that this is the proper place of it as will appear to him that shall precisely observe it 2. Matthew hath laid this story of casting out a Devil c. next after two stories that occurred before the Sermon in the Mount as hath appeared in its place the reason of which may be supposed to be because he would take up the exceptions of the Scribes and Pharisees together That this story in Matthew lieth in juncture to these next succeeding will readily appear in them 3. There is a story in Luke 11. so like this that one would think it were the very same for there is mention of the same miracle casting out a Devil and the same cavil of the Pharisees and the same answer of Christ and yet the progress of the history of Luke thither and especially the coming off from that story do perswade that it was another story For Luke chaineth such following passages to it that cannot possibly be brought in concurrent with the current of these Evangelists now before us And we shall observe hereafter that Christ in his latter time did repeat over again very many of those things that he had spoken a good while before as Moses his Deutronomy was but a rehersal of things that had been acted and spoken in his former time The same devillishness was in the Scribes and Pharisees in all places and it was accordingly to be met
about to judge in such a matter The Woman was espoused and not yet married as see Deut. 22. 24. for their Judicials punished him that lay with an espoused maid with stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. but him that lay with a married wife with strangling Ibid. per 11. halac 1. Christs words at ver 25. I am even the same that I said to you from the beginning refer to his open and manifest asserting himself for the Messiah a year and a half ago before the Sanhedrin Joh. 5. Their words to him ver 57. Thou art not yet fifty years old mean Thou art not yet come within the compass of old age no not to the first skirts of it for fifty years was the beginning of superannuation to the Levites at the Temple Numb 4. and the Jews had a common opinion that whosoever died before fifty or at least fifty two died untimely and as it were by cutting off SECTION LX. LUKE Chap. X. from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter And Chap. XI and XII and XIII to Ver. 23. THe observing of the beginning and end of this Section will cleer the subsequence of this to the preceding and the order of all the stories comprehended in it It begins with the seventy Disciples returning from the imployment upon which their Master had sent them Now that they returned to him at Jerusalem whither he was gone to the Feast of Tabernacles appears by this that after they are come up to him he is in Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha Luke 10. 38 39. The Section ends with this relation And he went through the Cities and Villages teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem Luke 13. 22. So that in Chap. 10. 17. he is at Jerusalem having come thither to the Feast of Tabernacles And in Chap. 13. 22. He hath been abroad and is now travelling up to Jerusalem again to the Feast of Dedication Therefore this whole Section is the story of his actions from the one Feast to the other Chap. X. Upon the Disciples relating that the Devils were subject to them in his Name he answers I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning Which referreth partly to his death shortly to be by which Satan was overthrown and partly if Heaven mean the Church of the Jews and the state of Religion there as it means not seldome to the power of the Gospel this very year and forward among them casting him out With these words of Christ and the consideration of the time they refer to we may fitly compare several places which give and receive light mutually with it As Matth. 12. 45. where Satan cast out of this nation returns again 1 Cor. 6. 3. Rev. 12. 9. Rev. 20. 1 2. c. Unto a Lawyer Christ defineth who is a Neighbour by the Parable of the wounded man and the good Samaritan vastly differing from the Doctrine of the Pharisees in that case Take these two or three assertions of their own Schools for some illustration of this Parable 1. They accounted none under the term Brother but an Israelite by blood and none under the term Neighbour but those that were come into their Religion Aruch in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By using the word Neighbour are excluded all the Heathen Maym. in Retseah per. 2. An Israelite that slayeth a stranger sojourning among them is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin for it because it is said If a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbour By which it is apparent they accounted not such a one a Neighbour 2. They have this bloody and desperate tenet Hereticks that is Israelites that follow Idolatry or such as commit provoking transgressions as to eat a carcass or to wear linseye woolsey for provocation this is an Heretick And Epicurians which are such Israelites as deny the Law and Prophets it is commanded that a man kill them if he have power i◠his hand to kill them and he may boldly kill them with the sword but if he cannot he shall subtilly come about them till he can compass their death As if he see one of them fallen into a well and there was a ladder in the well before let him take it up and say I must needs use it to fetch my Son from the top of the House and then I will bring it thee again But Heathens betwixt whom and us there is no war as also the feeders of small Cattle in Israel and such like we may not compass their death but it is forbidden to deliver them if they be in danger of death Observe this As if one see one of them fall into the Sea he shall not fetch him up for it is said Thou shalt not stand up against the blood of thy Neighbour But such a one is not thy Neighbour 3. Of all other people in the World they abhorred Samaritans as appeareth by John 4. 9. 8. 43. and by exceeding many expressions to that purpose in their own writings and therefore our Savious urging for cleer and free charity in this Parable exemplifieth in a Samaritan the unlikeliest man in the world to do any charitable office for a Jew and he a Neighbour though so remote in blood religion and converse Christ is at Bethany ver 30. in the house of Mary and Martha Martha was an usual Womans name in the Nation Joshua the Son of Gamla married Martha the Daughter of Baithus Juchas fol. 57. Abba the Son of Martha Id. fol. 72. and Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isaac bar Shemuel bar Martha Jerus in Shab fol. 3. col 4. c. And now let the Reader cast his eye back from hence and calculate when or how it was that Christ came so acquainted with this family and he will find no time or occasion so likely as when the Woman-sinner washed his feet Luke 7. which we proved there was Mary the sister of Lazarus who was also called Magdalen Chap. XI ver 2. The Lords prayer rehearsed Christ had taught it almost a year and a half ago in his Sermon in the Mount and now being desired to teach them to pray he gives the same again They that deny this for a form of prayer to be used either know not or considered not what kind of prayers the eminent men among the Jews taught them John had taught his to pray after the same manner and use of the Nation and Christ being desired to teach the Disciples as John had taught his rehearseth this form which he had given before They that again deny this Prayer is to be used by any but real Saints because as they say none but such can call God Our Father either know not or consider not how usual this compellation was among the Nation in their devotions and Christ speaketh constantly according to the common and most usual language of the Country At ver 14. and forward there is a story of casting out a Devil so like that in Sect. 35. the Jews
Christ from beyond Jordan into Judea again He staies two days after he had received the message in the same place where the messenger found him and in the story of this Section he is set forward And being now upon his last journey to Jerusalem he foretelleth to his Disciples what should become of him there They followed him with fear and amazement before foreseeing that he went upon his own danger and yet when he had spoken the thing out to them at the full they understood him not SECTION LXVIII MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 20. to Ver. 29. MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 35. to Ver. 46. The request of Zebedees sons They are told of their Martyrdom THe order is plain of it self and yet the connexion is somewhat strange for in the last words before Christ had foretold of his death yet the Sons of Zebedee here desire to sit on his right hand and left in his Kingdom Galatius resolves it thus Discipuli in errore aliquando fuerunt credentes Christum illico post resurrectionem terreni regni sceptro potiturum unde quidam eorum super caeteros primatum ambientes c. The Disciples sometimes were mistaken conceiving that Christ presently after his resurrection should obtain the scepter of an earthly Kingdom whereupon some of them ambitious of priority above the rest desired to sit on his right hand and left c. lib. 4. cap. 1. It is true indeed that the Jewish Nation and the Disciples with them erred in judging about Messias his Kingdom Act. 1. but they erred as far also about Messias his Resurrection till experience had informed them better Therefore it cannot well be imagined that the Wife and Sons of Zebedee thought of Christs Resurrection in this their request but conceived of his temporal Kingdom according to the notions of the rest of the Nation about it What therefore our Saviour had spoken instantly before of his being scourged crucified killed and Rising again they understood in some figurative sense or other but the Evangelists plainly tell us they understood it not in the sense that he spake it It may be his naming these two The sons of thunder gave them some blind incouragement to such a request Christ foretels his own death and their suffering Martyrdom under the title of Baptism in which sense the Apostle also useth the word 1 Cor. 15. 29. The Jewish baptizings or dippings in their purifications was a very sharp piece of Religion when in frost and snow and wind and weather they must over head and ears in cold water from which the phrase was used to signifie death and the bitterest sufferings The Jerusalem Gemarists do tell us that the Women of Galilee grew barren by reason of the cold in their purifyings R. Aha in the name of Tanchum bar R. Chaia saith In the days of R. Joshua ben Levi they sought to abolish this dipping because of the women of Galilee which were made barren by reason of the cold R. Joshua ben Levi saith Do ye seek to abolish a thing that fenceth Israel from transgression c. Beracoth fol. 6. col 3. SECTION LXIX LUKE Chap. XVIII Ver. 35. to the end MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 29. to the end MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 46. to the end Blind healed CHRIST in his journey from beyond Jordan to Bethany for the raising of Lazarus passeth through Jericho and he healeth one blind man as he entreth into Jericho of which Luke speaketh and another as he goeth out of which the other two Matthew indeed speaketh of two healed as he came out of Jericho comprehending it may be the story of him that was healed on the other side of the Town and this together in one story for briefness sake Or if there were two healed on this side of the Town Mark only mentions one because he rather aimeth at shewing of the manner or kind of the miracle then at the number as we have observed the like before at Sect. 39. SECTION LXX LUKE Chap. XIX from the beginning to Ver. 29. Zaccheus a Publican converted THe order lies plain in ver 1. Christ was passed through Jericho before he met with Zaccheus c. Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai hath made the name Zaccai or Zaccheus renowned in Jewish writings his Father Zaccai might very well be now alive and for any difference of the times might well enough be the Zaccheus before us but that some other circumstances do contradict it Whosoever this man was it is observable that though his name Zaccheus speak him a Jew yet Christ reputes him not a Child of Abraham till he believe ver 19. Ver. 11. They thought that the Kingdom of Heaven should immediately appear Observe this this they had learned from Dan. 9. where the time is so punctually determined that they that looked for the consolation of Israel could not but observe it and they that observed could not but see it now accomplished SECTION LXXI JOHN Chap. XI from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter Lazarus raised Caiaphas Prophecieth NOw is Christ come up to Bethany Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Talm. Bab. Pasachin fol. 53. facie 1. where they speak of the figs of Bethhene and the dates of Tubni be the same with this Bethany we shall not dispute here Both a Town and some space of ground about it was called by this name Bethany As he had staied in the place where he was when he heard of Lazarus sickness purposely that he might die before he came to him that God might be the more glorified by his raising ver 15. so did he make sure to stay long enough after he was dead before he came that the glory might be the more He had been four days dead ver 39. Compare with this these sayings of the Jews Maym. in Gerushin per. ult If one look upon a dead man within three days after his death he may know him but after three days his visage is changed Jerus in Moed Katon fol. 82. col 2. Three days the Soul flies about the body as if thinking to return to it but after it sees the visage of the countenance changed it leaves it and gets it gone Upon the miracle wrought the Jews seek to kill Jesus and Lazarus both whereupon Jesus goeth to a City called Ephraim ver 54. Talm. Bab. in Menachoth fol. 85. fac 1. Juchne and Mamre Jannes and Jambres said to Moses Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Gloss. Ibi. Juchne and Mamre were the chief Sorcerers of Egypt they when Moses began to do miracles thought he had done them by magick they said Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Ephraim was a place that exceedingly aboundeth with corn and darest thou bring Corn thither meaning Dost thou bring Sorceries into Egypt that abounds so with Sorceries Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephraim was a City in the Land of Israel where there was abundance of Corn. Where is the chiefest provision for Offerings The chiefest
the last meaning The Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Job Ruth Esther c. Then do they tell that the Books were particularly thus ranked The five Books of Moses Joshua Judges Samuel Kings and then the Prophets among whom Jeremy was set first and then Ezekiel and after him Esay and then the twelve But they object was not Esay long before Jeremy and Ezekiel in time Why should he then be set after them in order And they give this answer The last Book of Kings ends with destruction and Jeremy is all destruction Ezekiel begins with destruction and ends with comfort and Esay is all comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore they joyned destruction and destruction together and comfort and comfort together And thus in their Bibles of old Jeremy came next after the Book of Kings and stood first in the volume of the Prophets So that Matthews alleadging of a Text of Zachary under the name of Jeremy doth but alleadge a Text out of the volume of the Prophets under his name that stood first in that volume And such a manner of speech is that of Christ Luke 24. 44. All things must be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalmes in which he follows the general division that we have mentioned only he calleth the whole third part or Hagiographa by the title the Psalms because the Book of Psalms stood first of all the Books of that part In that saying Matth. 16. 14. Others say Jeremy or one of the Prophets there is the same reason why Jeremy alone is named by name viz. because his name stood first in the volume of the Prophets and so came first in their way when they were speaking of the Prophets CHRISTS Arraignment before Pilate The chiest Priests and Elders bring Jesus to Pilate but would not go into his House the House of a Heathen lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover John 18. 28. Why They had eaten the Passover over night at the same time that Jesus ate his and well they had spent the night after it But this day that was now come in was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their day of presenting themselves in the Temple and offering their Sacrifices and peace offerings of which they were to keep a solemn feasting and this John calls the Passover In which sense Passover Bullocks are spoken of Deut. 16. 2. 2 Chron. 30. 24. and 35. 8 9. The School of Shammai saith their appearing was with two pieces of silver and their chagigah with a Meah of silver But the School of Hillel saith their appearing was with a Meah of silver and their chagigah with two pieces of silver Their burnt offerings at this solemnity were taken from among common cattel but their peace offerings from their tithes He that keepeth not the chagigah on the first day of the feast must keep it all the feast c. Chagigah per. 1. Pilate conceives him brought to him as a common malefactor and therefore he bids them take him back and Judge him by their own Bench and Law and in these words he meant really and according as the truth was that it was in their power to judge and execute him and needed not to trouble him with him And when they answer We may not put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. They speak truly also and as the thing was indeed but the words of Pilate and theirs were not ad idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a tradition that fourty years before the Temple was destroyed capital Judgments were taken away from them Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 18. col 1. But how Not by the Romans for they permitted them the use of their Religion Laws Magistracy capital and penal executions and judgments in almost all cases as freely as ever they had and that both in their Sanhedrins within the Land and in their Synagogues without as far as the power of the Synagogues could reach at any time as might be proved abundantly if it were to be insisted on here The words then of these men to Pilate are true indeed That they could put no man to death but this was not as if the Romans had deprived the Sanhedrin of its power but because theeves murderers and malefactors of their own Nation were grown so numerous strong and heady that they had overpowred the Sanhedrins power that it could not it durst not execute capital penalties upon offenders as it should have done And this their own Writings witness Juchasin fol. 21. The Sanhedrin flitted fourty years before the destruction of the Temple namely from that time that the Temple doors opened of their own accord and Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai rebuked them and said O Temple Temple Zechary of old prâ—phecied of thee saying Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may enter c. And also becausâ— that murderers increased and they were unwilling to judge Capital matters they flitted from place to place even to Jabneh c. which also is asserted in Schabb. fol. 51. Avodah Zarah fol. 8. When they perceive that Pilate no more received the impression of their accusation of him as a malefactor like others they then accuse him of Treason as forbidding to pay Tribute to Cesar and as saying that he himself was a King and this they thought would do the business Pilate hereupon takes him into his Judgment Hall for hitherto the Jews conference and his had been at his gate and questions him upon this point and Jesus plainly confesseth that he was a King but his Kingdom not of this world and therefore he needed not from him to fear any prejudice from the Romane power and so well satisfies Pilate that he brings him out to the gate again where the Jews stood and professeth that he found no fault in him at all Then the Jews lay in fresh accusations against him to which he answereth not a word Brought before Herod Pilate by a word that dropt from them understanding that he was of Galilee Herods Jurisdiction sent him to Herod who was now at Jerusalem partly because he would be content to have shut his hands of him and partly because he would court Herod towards the reconciling of old heart-burnings between them And now Jesus sees the monster that had murthered his forerunner Herod was glad to see him and had desired it a long time and now hoped to have got some miracles from him but he got not so much as one word though he questioned him much and the Jews who followed him thither did vehemently accuse him The old Fox had sought and threatned his death before Luke 13. 31 32. and yet now hath him in his hands and lets him go only abused and mocked and gorgeously arraied and so sends him back to Pilate that so he might court him again more then for any content he had that he should escape his hands See Acts 4. 27. Before Pilate again Pilate at his gate again talks
into the Christian Church and the seven are chosen to this work out of the number of the hundred and twenty that are mentioned Chap. 1. 15. and that company only was the choosers of them and not all the Believers in Jerusalem The reason why the Hebrews neglected the widows of the Hellenists may be supposed either because they would stick to their old rule mentioned once before That a widow was to be maintained by her husbands children Talm. in chetub per. 11. Maym. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per. 18. compare 1 Tim. 5. 4. or because the Hebrews of Judea had brought in more into the common stock for the poor by sale of their Goods and Lands then those that had come from forrain Countries had done they not having Goods and Lands so ready to sell. All that had been brought in hitherto had been put into the Apostles hands and they had been burdened with the care and trouble of the disposal of it but now they transfer that work and office to the seven solemnly ordaining them by Imposition of hands into it and here only the Imposition of the Apostles hands confers not the Holy Ghost for these men were full of the Holy Ghost before Stephen an eminent man among them is quarrelled by certain of the Libertines and the Hellenists Synagogue Libertini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are exceeding frequently spoken of in the Jews Writings And the Alexandrian Synagogue one of the Hellenists is mentioned in Jerus in Megillah fol. 73. col 4. and Juchas fol. 26. who tell that R. Eliezer bar Zadoc took the Synagogue of the Alexandrians that was at Jerusalem and imployed it to his own use When they are not able to overpower him by argument and disputation they take a ready way to do it by false accusation and conventing him before the Sanhedrin where being accused of vilifying Moses and speaking of the destruction of that place he is vindicated even miraculously before he pleadeth his own cause by his face shining like the face of Moses and bearing an Angelical aspect and Majesty for indeed he spake but what was spoken by the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9. 26 27. In his Apology he speaketh to the heads of his accusation but somewhat abstrusely yet so as to them to whom he spake to be well understood his discourse being according to their own Rhetorick and Logick To what was laid to his charge for vilifying Moses and saying his customs should be changed he rehearseth in brief the whole history of Moses and shews he was Orthodox to him but yet he driveth all to this that as the times before Moses were still moving and growing on to settlement in Moses so when Moses himself had setled all he had to do yet he pointed them to a Prophet yet to come to whom they should hearken as the ultimate Oracle which was this Jesus that he preached to them And whereas he was accused for speaking of the destruction of the Temple he first shews that fixedness to this or that place is not so much to be stood upon as appears by the flitting condition of the Patriarchs whose flittings he giveth the story of at large and by the moving condition of the Tabernacle before the Temple was built And when the Temple was built it was not because God would confine himself to one place for the most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands ver 48. c. He inserteth two or three sharp and true accusations of them whereas theirs of him had been but false and causeless As that their fathers had persecuted those tha◠foretold of Christ as they did him for now preaching him and they followed their fathers steps nay went further for they had murdered Christ whereas their fathers had but murdered his Prophets And whereas they were so punctual about the Ceremonious rites given by Moses they neglected the moral Law which was given by the disposition of Angels This cuts them to the heart that they pass a rancourous and furious sentence of death upon him but he hath a sight of the high bench of Heaven God and Christ at his right hand their judge and his A most fit prospect for the first Martyr They cast him out of the City and stone him for blasphemy For these were to be stoned He that went in to his mother or to his fathers wife or to his daughter in Law or to a male or to a beast and he that blasphemed or that committed Idolatry c. And the place of stoning was out from the place of Judgment nay out of the City as the Gemarists resolve it because it is said Bring him that cursed out of the Camp And A crier went before him that was to die proclaiming his fault Sanhedr per. 6. 7. When he was come within four cubits of the place of stoning they stript him naked only covered his nakedness before Ibid. And being come to the very place first the witnesses laid their hands upon him Maym. in Avodah Zarah per. 2. and then stripping off their coats that they might be more expedite for their present work first one of them dasheth his loins violently against a stone that lay for that purpose if that killed him not then the other dasheth a great stone upon his heart as he lay on his back and if that dispatched him not then all the people fell upon him with stones Talm. ubi sup Steven in the midst of all this their fury and his own anguish gets on his knees and prays for them and having so done he fell asleep The Jews do ordinarily use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie Dying which properly signifies sleeping especially when they speak of a fair and comfortable death which word Luke translates here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All that were stoned were also hanged up upon a tree Talm. ubi sup Whether Steven were so used is uncertain but it is evident that he had a fair burial and not the burial of a malefactour CHRIST XXXIV ACTS CHAP. VIII A Great persecution followeth the death of Steven in which Saul was a chief agent Scholar of Gamaliel President of the Sanhedrin and it may be the busier for that In Talm. Bab. Sanhedr fol. 43. col 1. they say Jesu had five Disciples Mathai Nakai Netser Boni and Thodah and they are urging reasons there why they should all be put to death c. All the hundred and twenty Ministers mentioned Chap. 1. 15. are scattered abroad only the twelve stay at Jerusalem as in the furnace to comfort and cherish the Church there in so sad a time and they preach all along as they go and so Satan breaks his own head by his own design for by persecution by which he had contrived to smother the Gospel it spreads the more The first plantation of it mentioned is in Samaria and that according to Christs own direction and foretelling Act. 1. 8. Ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and
that performed it not but plainly demonstrated that none could perform it and so left all under a curse and these words Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things c. conclude both So that the Law was not given for justification but to be subservient to the Covenant of Justification not to cross the Covenant but to serve it not purposely to leave under the curse but to shew the curse and to drive men to get from under it So that men might live in it but not by it It was the way in which men were to go to seek for Justification but it was not the cause or means whereby they were justified See Gal. 3. 5. The Jews made the Moral Law cross to the Covenant of Grace whilst they sought to be justified by works and they made the Ceremonial Law cross the Moral whilest they resolved all duty into Ceremony and so the Law which in it self was holy and pure and good they turned to death unto themselves by their abuse They might have lived in the Moral Law had they used it aright though not by it for the more a man sets himself to the exact performance of it the more he sees he cannot perform it and therefore he is driven the more to Christ But they resolved all into Ceremonious performance and so lost sincerity toward the Moral and hereupon the Ceremonial Law good in it self became to them Statutes not good and Judgments wherein they could not live Exek 20. 25. From Rome also and reasonable early in this year Paul wrote THE EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY and in it urgeth Timothy to come to him before Winter Timothy was now at Ephesus when this Epistle was directed to him as may be observed out of the Epistle it self by these collections 1. In that he willeth him to salute the houshold of Onesiphorus Chap. 4. 19. who was an Ephesian Chap. 1. 16 18. 2. In that he biddeth him take Troas in his way as he comes to him Chap. 4. 13. which had been the way that Paul himself had gone from Ephesus 2 Cor. 2. 22. and to Ephesus again Acts 20. 5. 3. In that he warneth him of Alexander Chap. 4. 14. who was an Ephesian 1 Tim. 1. 20. Act. 19. 33. There is one passage in this Epistle which hath caused some to doubt about the time of its writing for about the place there is no doubt and that is what he saith Chap. 4. 6. I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand which would make one think that he was now ready to be martyred and taken away and it hath made some believe that this was the last Epistle that ever he wrote but when we compare his own words again in ver 17 18. and Phil. 1. 25. and Philem. ver 22. it maketh it past controversie that he speaketh not of his sudden Martyrdoom but that he is to be understood in some other sense But what is that Baronius giveth this gloss The words of Paul concerning his speedy death seem not possibly otherwise to be understood then that God had revealed it to him that he should suffer death under Nero. For that time might very well seem near which was to be fulfilled under the same Prince I but Nero for his age might have reigned 50 or 60 years after the Apostles writing of this Epistle and so the last words of this gloss are but a very poor salving And indeed the resolution of the difficulty lieth open and conspicuous in the text it self Paul looked upon Timothy as the prime and choice man that was to succeed him in the work of the Gospel when he himself should be dead and gone as being a young man not only of singular qualifications for that work but of whom there had been special Prophesies and predictions to such a purpose 1 Tim. 1. 18. as was observed before He exhorts him therefore in this place to improve all his pains and parts to the utmost to do the work of an Evangelist and to make proof of his Ministry to the full for that he himself could not last long being now grown old and worn with travel and besides all this in bonds at present and so in continual danger therefore must Timothy be â—itting himself daily to take his work up when he was gone With Timothy he desires that Mark may come along with him to Rome whom we observed to be at Corinth at Pauls last coming thither and one clause in this Epistle seemeth also to speak to that matter Chap. 4. 20. Erastus abode at Corinth but Trophimus I left at Miletum sick Erastus abode at Corinth Why that Timothy knew without any information for he was with Paul all along that journey when Erastus went to Corinth and staied there And Trophimus I left at Miletum sick Why Timothy could not but know that too without Pauls telling him so from Rome Miletum and Ephesus were so very near together nay it is more than probable that Timothy was left at Miletum too when Trophimus was left there But when was he left Not when Paul went towards Jerusalem and sent for the Elders of Ephesus to Miletum Acts 20. for Trophimus went and was with him at Jerusalem Acts 21. 19. But it was when Paul returned from Jerusalem in bonds to Rome as hath been said though it be not particularly mentioned that he touched there Some would have the word Miletum to be read Mileta among whom is Beza who is ever one of the forwardest to tax the Text for corrupt when he cannot clear it Poâ—ius conjicio legendum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he quod vocabulum facile fuit in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depravare Luke saith plainly that at Pauls coming away from Judea in his voyage to Rome it was their resolution to sail by the coasts of Asia Act 27. 2. which had been a far fairer ground to have concluded upon that Paul was at Miletum in that voyage since that was a part of those Asian coasts then to change Miletum into Melita upon no ground at all And certainly the very scope of the Apostle in that passage will not admit of that change for he is not telling Timothy of Erastus his abode at Corinth or of Trophimus his sick stay at Miletum as things unknown to him but as things very well known yet mentioned to him as making to the Apostles present purpose He had sent for Timothy and Mark to come away to him to Rome and to forward them to that journey he doth these two things 1. He sheweth how all his company was scattered from him ver 9. 10. and therefore he had need of them in that destitution 2. He telleth how supply might be made in their places though they came away for though Mark should come from Corinth yet Erastus might be a supply for Erastus abode there And Timothy come away from Ephesus yet Trophimus is there ready to supply his place for
were Claudius who by his expulsion of the Jews out of Rome shewed a frown upon the whole Nation and suffered them not to rage as they would have done he was taken away about ten years ago and they felt their chain much slackned at the coming in of Nero who in his best years though he broke not out to destroy all before him as he did afterward yet was he destructive enough to Christianity as we have observed and loose and careless of the administration of affairs and regarded not how things went so that he might have his ease luxury and pleasure which his Tutors Seneca and Burrhus made but unworthy advantage of But now that he himsef hath given so visible bloody and cursed an example the Jews that stood barking at their chain-end all this while finding themselves so far let loose as such an example might loose them which was too far would fall on without mercy They had been mischievous enough always against the professors of the Gospel but from hence forward they exceeded and the more they grew toward their desolation the more did the Devil make them bestir themselves knowing the shortness of his time there This tenth of Nero there was a blazing star horrid lightnings and thunders and divers monstrous births CHRIST LXV NERO. XI THIS year the eleventh of Nero Silius Nerva and Atticus Vestinus being Consuls very many eminent and gallant men of Rome were cut off by the Tyrant as the last year he had cut off many eminent and worthy Christians The Christians he destroyed by a plot laid against them by himself the Romans for a plot laid by them against him The names of those that perished now best known among us were Seneca the Philosopher Nero's Tutor and his nephew the Poet Lucan Both of them very renowned for their Writings but both of them very ignominious for a several miscarriage Seneca for unparalleled covetousness usury and oppression mentioned before and Lucan for betraying his own mother Let him bear Tacitus his brand Lucanus Quinctianus Senecio diu abnuere Post promissa impunitate corrupti quo tarditatem excusarent Lucanus Atillam matrem suam observe that Quinctianus Glicium Gallum Senecio Annium Pollionem amicorum praecipuos nominavere Lucan Quinctianus Senecio were long before they would confess any thing But at last being corrupted by the promise of impunity that they might make amends for their slowness Lucan accused his mother Atilla c. Hereupon Atilla was wracked one day and would confess nothing and the next day being carried to the wrack again for she was so disjoynted that she could not go she made a shift as she sate in the cart to strangle her self choosing so to dye rather then either to endure the wrack again or to impeach any An indeleble blot to her son Lucan for ever Nor did his base shift serve his turn for he suffered death too by having his veins cut and so bleeding to death which was the end of his Uncle Seneca also The Wars of the Jews are now drawing on apace for they began the next year and the horrid Civil Wars of the Romans are not far off So that here we may properly take notice of that prediction ready now to take place Matth. 24. 7 8 9. Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom c. All these are the beginnings of sorrows Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and then shall they kill you which Luke hath expressed But before all these shall they lay their hands upon you and persecute you Luk. 21. 12. which seemeth to carry some difference as if the one Evangelist shewed that the persecution of the Disciples to death should be before these troubles and the other as if they should not be till these troubles were begun But they may be well reconciled by observing that in the words that Christ is there speaking in both Evangelists there is the intertexture of two stories namely what miseries should befal the Jewish Nation before their ruine and what miseries should befal the Disciples in the middest of those miseries and so the word Then in Matthew and Before in Luke are but as a transition from the one history to the other and yet they are not unsignificant neither as to the pointing out of the time the one speaking the beginning of that persecution foretold and the other the continuance A fitter period of time whence to begin the punctual taking place of that prediction we can hardly point out then this very year that we are upon a center between two critical years the year before beginning the persecution of Christians at Rome and the year following beginning the Wars of the Jews in Judea Although therefore we cannot positively assert the very time of the writing of THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER yet observing the Chronical hint of some passages in it this year may as fairly lay claim thereunto as any other year that can be asserted For to omit that clause Chap. 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand referring to the desolating of the Jewish Commonwealth and Nation the mention of the fiery trial ver 12. and the time now come when Judgment must begin at the house of God ver 17. is but as a comment and accomplishment of that prediction before alledged Then shall they deliver up to be afflicted c. It is true indeed that the Church had never wanted persecution since the Gospel arose and some for its sake had suffered death as Steven and some at the time the two Jameses and some at the time of both their deaths but in the Countries out of Judea where the stroke of their Sanhedrin could not reach so well nor light so heavy there was tumultuousness indeed enough and beating and bitterness against it but rare effusion of blood till the cursed example set last year by the Tyrant at Rome and now forward in the confusions of the Jewish Nation when a madness was come upon them among themselves and a desperate fury against all that would not be as they were And that not only in Judea the seat of the War but even through the whole world as far as they durst and were able to stir Those words of Dion are very remarkable when speaking of the siege of Jerusalem by Titus he saith That the Jews that were in forraign Countries not only within the Roman Empire but also without did send help to their brethren in Judea lib. 66. When Cyrus gave leave to the Jews after the seventy years captivity to return to their own Country multitudes of them found themselves so pleasingly seated and by continuance of time rooted in Babylonia that they would not remove their habitation but fixed there There in time they grew to so great a Nation and distinct a people that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Prince of the Captivity of their own blood over them and three famous Universities Nehardea Pombeditha and
by the plague the vengeance upon the fornicators with Baal Peor REVEL CHAP. IV V. NOW cometh a second vision That before was of things then being see Chap. 1. 19. but this and forward of things to come Chap. 4. 1. A door open in Heaven and the voice of a trumpet talking with John out of it The scene of Johns visions said to be in Heaven is according to the scheme of the Temple and the Divine glory there And hence you have mention of the Altar Candlesticks Sea of Glass the brazen laver made of the Womens looking Glasses the Ark of the Covenant and the like And as at the opening of the Temple doors a Trumpet sounded so is the allusion here The door in Heaven opened and a Trumpet calls John to come in and see what there And immediately he was in the Spirit ver 2. Why Was he not in the Spirit before Chap. 1. 10. and was he not in the Spirit in seeing the door in Heaven opened c. But we may observe a double degree in rapture as inspired men may be considered under a double notion viz. Those that were inspired with Prophesie or to be Prophets and to preach and those that were inspired to be Penmen of Divine Writ which was higher John hath both inspirations or revelations to both ends both in the Vision before and this then he was in the Spirit and saw the vision and was in the Spirit and inspired to pen what he saw and what to be sent to the Churches And in the first verse of this Chapter he is in the Spirit or hath a revelation and in ver 2. he is in the Spirit he is inspired so as to take impression and remembrance of these things to write them also He seeth Christ inthroned in the middle of his Church in the same Prophetick and visionary Embleme that Ezekiel had seen Ezek. 1. 10. and this is a commentary and fulfilling of that scene that Daniel speaketh of Dan. 7. 9 10 22. In Ezekiel the Lord when Jerusalem was now to be destroyed and the glory of the Lord that used to be there and the people were to flit into another Land appeareth so inthroned as sitting in Judgment and flitting away by degrees to another place as compare Ezek. 1. 10. well together So Christ here when the destruction of Jerusalem was now near at hand and his glory and presence to remove from that Nation now given up to unbelief and obduration to reside among the Gentiles he is seated upon his throne as Judge and King with glorious attendance to judge that Nation for their sins and unbelief and stating the affairs of his Church whither his glory was now removing The scheme is platformed according to the model of Israels Camp 1. The Tabernacle was in the middle there so is the throne here 2. There the four squadrons of the Camp of Levi next the Tabernacle so here the four living creatures 3. Then the whole Camp of Israel so here twenty four Elders Representatives of the whole Church built from twelve Tribes and twelve Apostles In the hand of him that sate on the Throne was a Book sealed which no creature could open This justly calls us back to Dan. 12. ver 4. Where words are shut up and a Book sealed unto the time of the end and now that that is near drawing on the Book is here opened REVEL CHAP. VI. THE opening of the six Seals in this Chapter speaks the ruine and rejection of the Jewish Nation and the desolation of their City which is now very near at hand The first Seal opened ver 2. shews Christ setting forth in Battel array and avengement against them as Psal. 45. 4 5. And this the New Testament speaketh very much and very highly of one while calling it his coming in clouds another while his coming in his Kingdom and sometime his coming in Power and great Glory and the like Because his plagueing and destroying of the Nation that crucisied him that so much opposed and wrought mischief against the Gospel was the first evidence that he gave in sight of all the world of his being Christ for till then he and his Gospel had been in humility as I may say as to the eyes of men he persecuted whilest he was on Earth and they persecuted after him and no course taken with them that so used both but now he awakes shews himself and makes himself known by the Judgement that he executeth The three next Seals opening shew the means by which he did destroy namely those three sad plagues that had been threatned so oft and so sore by the Prophets Sword Famine and Pestilence For The second Seal opened sends out one upon a red Horse to take Peace from the Earth and that men should destroy one another he carried a great Sword ver 4. The third Seals opening speaks of Famine when Corn for scarcity should be weighed like spicery in a pair of ballances ver 5 6. The fourth Seal sends out one on a pale Horse whose name was Death the Chaldee very often expresseth the Plague or Pestilence by that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is to be taken Revel 2. 22. and Hell or Hades comes after him ver 8. The opening of the fifth Seal reveals a main cause of the vengeance namely the blood of the Saints which had been shed crying and which was to be required of that generation Matth. 23. 35 36. These souls are said to cry from under the Altar either in allusion to the blood of creatures sacrificed poured at the foot of the Altar or according to the Jews tenet That all just souls departed are under the Throne of Glory Answer to their cry is given that the number of their Brethren that were to be slain was not yet fulfilled and they must rest till that should be and then avengement in their behalf should come This speaks sutable to that which we observed lately that now times were begun of bitter persecution an hour of temptation Rev. 2. 10. 3. 10. the Jews and Devil raging till the Lord should something cool that fury by the ruine of that people The opening of the sixth Seal ver 12 13. shews the destruction it self in those borrowed terms that the Scripture useth to express it by namely as if it were the destruction of the whole world as Matth. 24. 29 30. The Sun darkned the Stars falling the Heaven departing and the Earth dissolved and that conclusion ver 16. They shall say to the rocks fall on us c. doth not only warrant but even inforce us to understand and construe these things in the sense that we do for Christ applies these very words to the very same thing Luke 23. 30. And here is another and to me a very satisfactory reason why to place the shewing of these visions to John and his writing of this Book before the desolation of Jerusalem REVEL CHAP. VII IN the end of the
the beginning of time to this fulness of it hath laid this great wondrous and happy occurrence of the birth of the Redeemer in the year of the world three thousand nine hundred twenty and eight Which that we may make good and fixed among so much variety and difference may the Reader gently have the patience to see and to examine the particular sums by which the Scripture accounteth to make up this total and to study upon those scruples in the several parcels where they come that make the account intricate and doubtful and to judge upon those resolutions and satisfactions that shall be tendred for the cleering and untying of those scruples And surely though the business may be something long and difficult which we shall propose and lay before him yet doubt I not but the profit will fully countervail his labour when he shall not only be resolved of the certainty of the time which we now have occasion and every Christian hath cause to look after but when he shall also see and that I suppose not without admiration the wondrous and mysterious and yet always instructive stile and manner of accounting used by the Holy Ghost in most sacred Majestickness and challenging all serious study and reverence And though also this business may seem to be something too Parergon and excentrick to the main work that we have before us the Harmonizing of the Evangelists yet since a prime thing that we are to inquire after in the very entrance of this story of our Saviours life is the fixed and certain time of his birth the Reader will be pleased to excuse a fault on the right hand rather then on the left and to dispense with too much desire to give satisfaction rather then too little or with none at all SECTION I. From the Creation to the Flood were 1656. years as appeareth Gen. 5. 6. 7. by these parcels ADAM at 130 years old hath Seth ver 3. Seth at 105 years old hath Enosh ver 6. Enosh at 90 years old hath Cainan ver 9. Cainan at 70 years old hath Mahalaleel ver 12. Mahalaleel at 65 years old hath Jared ver 15. Jared at 162 years old hath Enoch ver 18. Enoch at 65 years old hath Methuselah ver 21. Methuselah at 187 years old hath Lamech ver 25. Lamech at 182 years old hath Noah ver 28 29. Noah at 600 years old seeth the Flood Gen. 7. 11. Total 1656. which whole year of the World was taken up with the Flood viz. from the 17 day of the second Month or Marheshvan Gen. 7. 11. to the 27 day of the same month come twelve-month Gen. 8. 14. SECTION II. From the Flood to Terahs death and the Promise then given to Abram were 427 years as appeareth Gen. 11. by these particulars SEM at 2 years after the Flood begat Arphaxad ver 10. Arphaxad at 35 years old begat Salah ver 12. Salah at 30 years old begat Eber ver 14. Eber at 34 years old begat Peleg ver 16. Peleg at 30 years old begat Reu ver 18. Reu at 32 years old begat Serug ver 20. Serug at 30 years old begat Nachor ver 22. Nachor at 29 years old begat Terah ver 24. Terah at 130 years old begat Abram Abram at 75 years old hath the Promise Gen. 12. 4. Total 427. Which sum being added to 1656 which was the age of the World at The promise given to Abram Gen. 12. 1. c. Anno mundi 2083. the Flood amounteth to 2083. and it resulteth that the Promise was given to Abram in the year of the World 2083. But here is the great question moved Whether Abram were the eldest son of Terah yea or no If he were then was he born when Terah was 70 years of age Gen. 11. 26. and not as this Table layeth it at his 130. And if he were not his eldest son why hath Moses named him first of all his sons Answer First He was not his eldest son for 1. He marryed his brother Harans daughter for so all men hold Sarah to have been and she was but ten years younger then himself Gen. 17. 17. which was impossible if her Father were younger then he 2. He is said to be but 75 years old when he departed out of Haran Gen. 12. 4. And this was after his Fathers death Act. 7. 4. Now had he been born at Terahs 70 he had been 135 years old when his Father died We must therefore compute and reckon backward thus that since he was but 75 years old when his Father died it must needs be concluded that he was born when Terah was 130 as is laid down in the Table Answer Secondly He is reckoned first of Terahs sons as Sem is of Noahs not because he was the first in time but the first in dignity For that Sem was not the eldest son of Noah is clear by comparing these places Gen. 5. 32. Noah was 500 years old when he begat his first son and Gen. 7. 11. when Noah was six hundred years old was the Flood of waters upon the Earth and then was one of his sons an hundred years old But Sem was not so till two years after Gen. 11. 10. And yet is he ever named the first of his sons Gen. 5. 32. 6. 10. 7. 13. 9. 18. 10. There are some that not content with this plain necessary and undeniable explication of the difficulty do hold that Abram took two journies into Canaan one before his Fathers death and another after whereas Moses and Steven well compared together do plainly shew the contrary and fully and sufficiently clear the matter under scruple That which hath made men to fall into the mistake of his two journies into Canaan hath been this that they have taken the words of God in Act. 7. 3. Get thee out of thy Country c. and his words in Gen. 12. 1. Get thee out of thy Country c to be of the same time and spoken in the same place whereas there is a vast difference in the words themselves and so was there of the time and place where they were spoken Steven telleth that while Abraham was in Mesapotamia or Chaldea as ver 4. before he dwelt in Horam God appeared to him and said unto him Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred but not a word of departing from his Fathers house for he took his Father and his whole houshold along with him and dwelt with them a good while in Haran Gen. 11. 31. And Terah died in Haran ver 32. Then the Lord said unto Abram for so should Gen. 12. 1. be translated and not Now the Lord had said And his saying was this Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred and from thy Fathers house too for that also he now left behind him namely Nahor and all his Fathers Family but only Lot and Sarah that were fatherless children And this difference considered as necessarily
hill Luke 4. 29. Nazaret in the Arabick Tongue signifieth Help in the Hebr. a Branch by which name our Saviour is called Esa. 11. 1. Vers. 27. To a Virgin Rabbi Oshua the Son of Levi said Israel was comforted in a Virgin as saith Jeremy The Lord â—roateth a new thing in the earth A Virgin shall compass a Man Jer. 31. 21. Beresh Rabb See also Lyra and Gloss. intenlin in loc Vers. 28. Highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the Greek Scholiast in Psal. 18. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word from which it is derived in Ephes. 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which let the indifferent Reader view and judge of the propriety of our English translation here in comparison of the vulgar Latine The Virgin had obtained the highest earthly favour that ever mortal did or must do to be the mother of the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost useth a singular word to express so much Superstition is ever too officious but it hath shewed it self more so to the Virgin Mary then to any other For as it hath deified her now she is in Heaven so hath it magnified her in all her actions while she was upon the earth So that no relation or story that concerneth her but it hath strained it to the utmost extremity to wring out of it her praises though very often to a senseless and too often to a blasphemous issue As in this story of the annuntiation there is not a word nor tittle that it thinketh will with all its shaping serve for such a purpose but it taketh advantage to patch up her Encomions where there is no use nor need nor indeed any truth of and in such a thing This word that is under hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bears the bell that ringeth lowdest with them to such a tune For having translated it in their vulgar Latine Gratia plena or full of grace they hence infer that she had all the seven gifts of the Spirit and all the Theological and moral vertues and such a fulness of the graces of the Holy Ghost as none ever had the like Whereas first The use of Scripture is when it speaketh of fulness of grace to express it by another phrase as Joh. 1. 14. Act. 6. 5. c. Secondly The Angel himself explaineth this word in the sense of our translation for favour received and not for grace inherent Vers. 30. Thou hast found favour with God Thirdly And so doth the Virgin her self also descant upon the same thing throughout her Song Fourthly Joseph her husband suspected her for an adultress Matth. 1. 18. which he could never have done if he had ever seen so infinite fulness of grace in her as the Romanists have spied and he was the likelier to have espied it of the two Fifthly Compare her with other renowned women and what difference but only this great favour of being the mother of the Messias They had the spirit of Prophesie as well as she they had the spirit of sanctification as well as she and she no more immunity from sin and death then they Sixthly She was one of the number of those that would have taken off Christ from preaching Mark 3. and this argued not such a fulness of grace Seventhly See Jansenius one of their own side expounding this word according to our reading of it in loc The Lord is with thee Many understand this of the Incarnation it self or of the Lords being in her womb Whereas first This is to take a common manner of speech out of the common manner of interpreting it Secondly The Lord was not at this very instant come in that manner into her womb But the words only mean the Lords being with her in regard of that favour and respect which he was about to shew her as Judg. 6. 12. And this among other things sheweth how senseless Popery is in its Ave Maries using these words for a Prayer and if occasion serve for it for a charm As first Turning a Salutation into a Prayer Secondly In fitting these words of an Angel that was sent and that spake them upon a special message to the mouth of every person and for every occasion Thirdly In applying these words to her now she is in Heaven which suited with her only while she was upon Earth As first to say full of grace to her that is full of glory And secondly to say The Lord is with thee to her that is with the Lord. Blessed art thou among women Not above but among them See Gen. 30. 13. Judg. 5. 24. Vers. 29. And when she saw him So readeth the Syrian Arabick and generally all other translations but only the vulgar Latin that swarving as it is to be suspected wilfully from the truth of the Original that hereby there might be the greater plea and colour for the Virgins familiarity with Angels Whereas indeed apparition of Angels till this very occasion to Zachary and the Virgin was either exceeding rare or just none at all What manner of salutation c. Judge how Superstition straineth the Text to the Virgin Maries praises when it infers from hence that she had never been saluted by a man in all her life before An opinion and gloss not worth the examining Vers. 31. Behold thou shalt conceive c. From Esa. 7. 14. the Angel giveth her to understand that she is the Virgin spoken of in that place and of her apprehension of this ariseth her question Vers. 4. And shalt call his Name This followeth the same Prophesie still and is one of the significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it hath more then one For first it denoteth the third person feminine as Deut. 31. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is to be taken in that Prophesie And she shall call his Name Immanuel Secondly It betokeneth also the second person as the Chaldee the Lxx and the other two Greek translations render it and the Angel here And thou shalt call Thirdly It is also applied to the third person plural as in the Greek Matth. 1. 23. and in the Chaldee Esa. 60. 18. Jesus The same with Jehoshua in Hebrew as Act. 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. and Joshua in Chaldee Ezra 2. 2. These were two renowned ones before the one whereof brought the people into Canaan after the death of Moses and the other that brought them thither out of Babel and so were both lively figures of our Jesus that bringeth his people to the heavenly Canaan Vers. 32. The Son of the Highest From 2 Sam. 7. 14. as it is explained Heb. 1. 5. the Angel now draweth the Virgin to remember that glorious promise made to David as the words following concerning an eternal Throne and Kingdom do evince and upon the rumination upon that to reflect upon her self and to consider that she was of the seed of David and so he leadeth her on by degrees to believe and
the Nation even ever since the death of Zachary and Malachy but is now begun to be restored to speak of the great Prophet near at hand the Holy Ghost was upon him 26. And g g g g g g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used again in this sense Mat. 2. 12 22. Act. 10. 22. Heb. 11. 7. and by the LXX 1 King 18. 27. and in another sense Act. 11. 26. it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ. 27. And he came by the Spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the Child Iesus to do for him after the custom of the Law 28. Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word 30. For mine eyes have seen * thy salvation 31. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people 32. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel 33. And Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him 34. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his Mother Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against 35. Yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed 36. And there was one h h h h h h Compare 1 Sam. 1. 2. Anna a Prophetess the daughter of i i i i i i In Hebrew it would be written Penuel as Gen. 32. Phanuel of the Tribe of Aser she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her Virginity 37. And she was a Widow of about fourscore and four years which departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day 38. And she coming in at that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Ierusalem 39. And when they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own City Nazareth Reason of the Order THE dependence of the beginning of this Section upon the end of that that went before doth even prove and confirm it self For after the story of the birth of Christs forerunner and the relation of what happened and befel at that time what could be expected to come next in order but the birth of Christ himself Especially since none of the Evangelists mention any thing that came between Harmony and Explanation Ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur and shall afflict Heber Numb 24. 24. THAT by Chittim is meant Italy or the Romans it is not only the general opinion of the Jews as may be seen in their Targums and in other writers but of the most Christians also yea of the Romanists themselves whom the latter part of the verse doth so nearly pinch As see their vulgar Latine and Lyranus upon the place This Prophesie was fulfilled when the power of Rome first set her foot upon the neck of the Hebrews by the conquest of Pompey but especially when she tyrannized over Christ the chief child of Eber even before and at his birth as in this story but chiefly in condemning him to death as in the story of his passion As Jacob had before told that the Jews at Messias his coming should be under the Subjection of a Forain Nation so doth Balaam in this Prophesie shew who that Nation should be And this the more ancient and more honest Jews took notice of and resolved that Christ should come in the time of the Roman Empire and near to the destruction of the Temple by it So in the Talmud they question What is the name of Messias Some answer Hhevara Leprous and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome carrying their sicknesses Sanhedrin The Chaldee Paraphrast likewise on Esa. 11. 4. readeth thus With the speech of his lips shall Messias slay Romulus the wicked one or the wicked Roman shewing at once his opinion of Christs coming in the time of the Romans and also of the Romans being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one after a singular manner Augustus was the second Emperor of the Romans or rather the first that was intire Monarch for Julius Caesar his Uncle and Predecessor had hardly injoyed any Monarchical government at all nor did Augustus of many years neither till he had outed Lepidus and overcome Anthony which were copartners with him in the dominion His name Augustus was given to him for his worthy administration of the Common-wealth For before-time he was called a a a a a a Dion Caepias and b b b b b b Sueton. Thurinus and Octavianus and had like to have been named Romulus as a second founder of the City but by the advice of Munacius Plancus he was named Augustus which importeth Sacredness and reverence § That all the world should be Taxed To so vast an extent was the Roman Empire now grown from Parthia to England and they two also included that it was a world rather then one dominion And so did their Virgil Ovid Florus own Authors boast it in those times as Caesar Regit omnia terris Divisum imperium cum Jove Totum circumspicit orbem Terrarum orbis imperium and such like speeches usual among them both in Poesie and Prose This huge and unweldy body of so large and spacious a dominion Augustus had now reduced to the healthful temper of peace and quietness which is the more remarkable by how much the more wars had been more frequent and more bloody but a little before For never had that Empire felt so great distemper within it self as it had done of latter times in the civil wars betwixt Sylla and Marius betwixt Julius and Pompey betwixt Augustus and Antony not to mention the continual wars that it had abroad It had not been very long before this time that the Evangelist speaketh of when both Rome it self and the rest of the world was at that pitiful plight that Polybius speaketh of That the Romans were forced to send to Ptolomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 2. King of Egypt for a supply of corn because there was a great scarcity and dearth among them For in Italy all their corn was destroyed even to the gates of Rome by the Souldiers and abroad there was no help nor supply to be had there being wars in all parts of the world But now is there an universal Peace not only in the Roman Empire so that the Temple of Janus was shut up which it never used to be when any wars at all were stirring but if we will believe Crantzius even in those parts and Countries where the Roman power had not yet set her foot as Denmark Norway
some machination against himself he had now shut up in prison and intended him presently for the execution but that his sickness whereof he died seizing on him gave some more space to the imprisoned and some hopes and possibilities of escaping His disease was all these mixed together an inward burning and exulceration an insatiable greediness and devouring the Chollick the Gout and Dropsie his loins and secrets crawling with lice and a stink about him not to be indured These wringings and tortures of his body meeting with the peevishness of old age for he was now seventy and with the natural cruelty which always had been in him made him murderously minded above all measure insomuch that he put to death divers that had taken down a golden Eagle which he had set up about the Temple And when he grew near to his end and saw himself ready to die he slew his Son Antipater and caused great multitudes of the Nobility and People to be closed up in a sure place giving command to slay them as soon as he was dead for by that means he said he should have the Jews truly and really to sorrow at his death Vid. Joseph Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 8 9 10. and de Bel. lib. 1. cap. 21. Vers. 20. For they are dead that sought the young childs life The like saying is to Moses Exod. 4. 19. where the word they may be understood of Pharaoh and his servants which jointly sought his life for the Egyptians sake whom he had slain and were now all dead and worn out in the fourty years of his being in Midian But here it is true indeed that the seeking of the childs life may well be applied to Herods Servants as well as himself but that all they died with him or about the time of his death who in flattery or favour or obedience to him had promoted the slaughter at Bethlehem and had sought the childs life I know not upon what ground it should be conceived I should therefore by the they in this place understand Herod and his Son Antipater jointly together For if it be well considered how mischievous this Antipater was against his own Brethren and how he wrought their ruine and misery for fear they should get betwixt him and the throne yea how he sought the destruction of his own Father because he thought he kept him out of the Throne too long it may very well be believed that he would bloodily stir against this new King of the Jews that the wisemen spake of for fear of interception of the Crown as well as his Father He died but five days before his fathers death as it was touched before out of Josephus and thus God brought this bloodliness of the Father and the Son and the rest of their cruelties to an end and upon their own heads at once and in a manner together and thus may the words of the Angel be very fairly understood Take the child and return to the Land of Israel for Herod and Antipater are dead that sought his life Ver. 22. Archelaus did reign in Iudea in the room of his Father Herod Herod had first named Antipater for his Successor in the Throne of Judea but upon detection of his conspiracy against him he altered his mind and his will and nominated Antipas and changing his mind yet again he named Archelaus and he succeeded him a man not likely to prosper in a Throne that was so bebloodied His conclusion was that in the tenth year of his reign he was accused by the Nobles of Judea and Samaria to Augustus banished to Vienna and his estate confiscate Jos. Ant. lib. 17. cap. 15. Ver. 23. He shall be called a Nazarene From Isa. 11. 1. where the Messias is called by the title Nezer which indifferently signifieth A branch and the City Nazaret one and the same word denoting Christ and the place where he should be born SECTION VIII S. LUKE CHAP. II. Christ sheweth his wisdom at twelve years old Ver. 40. AND a a a a a a Compare Exod. 2. 10. 1 Sam. 2. 26. Jud. 16. 24. the Child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him 41. Now his Parents went to Ierusalem b b b b b b Exod. 23. 15. 17. every year at the Feast of the Passover 42. And when he was twelve years old they went up to Ierusalem after the custom of the Feast 43. And when they had fulfilled the days as they returned the Child Iesus tarried behind in Ierusalem and Ioseph and his mother knew not of it 44. But they supposing him to have been in the company went a days journey and they sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance 45. And when they found him not they turned back again to Ierusalem seeking him 46. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the Temple sitting in the middest of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions 47. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers 48. And when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him Son why hast thou thus dealt with us Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing 49. And he said unto them How is it that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must * * * * * * Or In my Fathers house be about my Fathers business 50. And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them 51. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart 52. And Iesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men Reason of the Order THE Order of this Section dependeth so clearly upon the proper Order of that preceding that that being made good to lie where it doth as in the proper place the subsequence of this to it can nothing at all be doubted of For whereas all the Evangelists have unanimously passed over in silence all those years of Christs minority which intervened or passed between his return out of Egypt and this passage of his at twelve years old there is nothing possible to be found in the Gospels that can come between to interpose this order and connexion The carriage and demeanour of our Saviour in the time between is only briefly comprised in the first verse of this portion And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him Harmony and Explanation Ver. 40. And the child grew c. TWO years Old he was when he went into Egypt and there he aboad in his Exile a very small time it may be some two or three months about such a space as Moses had been hid in Egypt in his Fathers house from the fury of Pharaoh When he returned to Nazareth his Mothers City being now about two years and a quarter old he
many other places of the like nature wherein the Holy Ghost having penned a thing in one place doth by variety of words and sense inlarge and expound himself in another And the same divine authority and Majesty doth he also use in the New Testament both in parallel places in it self and in citations in it from the Old So that this difference in hand betwixt My face in Malachy and thy face in Mark is not contradictory or crossing one another but explicatory or one explaining another and both together do result to the greater mystery For Christ is the face or presence of the Father and so is he plainly called Exod. 33. 14. and in Christ the Father came and revealed himself among men and the words in both places both in the Prophet and in the Evangelist are to be taken for the words of the Father in the one spoken of the Son and in the other to him In Malachy thus Behold I send my Messenger before me to prepare the way before my face that is before the Son as he is in his own nature the very brightness of the glory of the Father and the express image of his person Heb. 1. 3. and in Mark thus to prepare the way before thy face that is before thee O Son when thou comest to undertake the work of Redemption and to publish the Gospel And this change of persons in Grammatical construction is usual in the Hebrews Eloquence and Rhetorique as 1 Sam. 2. 23. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord I rejoyce in thy salvation There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee c. Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Luke 3. ver 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. This Tiberius was the third Emperor of the Romans the son of Livia the wife of Augustus and by him adopted into the family of the Caesars and to the Empire A man of such subtilty cruelty avarice and bestiality that for all or indeed for any of these few stories can shew his parallel And as if in this very beginning of the Gospel he were produced of such a constitution to teach us what to look for from that cruel and abominable City in all ages and successions Now Tiberius his fifteenth was the year of the world 3957. And the time of the year that John began to Baptize in it was about Easter or the vernal Equinox as may be concluded from the time of the Baptism of our Saviour For if Jesus were baptized in Tisri or September as is cleared hereafter he being then but just entring upon his thirtieth year as the Law required Numb 4. And if John being six months elder then our Saviour as it is plain he was did enter his Ministry at the very same age according to the same Law it readily follows that the time mentioned was the time when he began to Preach It was indeed Tiberius his fifteenth when John began to baptize but it may very well be questioned whether it were so when our Saviour was baptized by him For the exact beginning of every year of Tiberius his reign was from the fourteenth of the Kalends of September or the eighteenth of August at what time Augustus died Sueton. in Aug. cap. 100. That fifteenth of the Emperor therefore in the Spring time of which John began to baptize was expired before September when our Saviour was baptized and so his baptism is to be reputed in the year of the world 3958. which was then but newly begun and in the sixteenth year of Tiberius but newly begun neither unless you will reckon the year of the Emperor as the Romans did the year of the Consuls from January to January But this we will not controvert nor cross the common and constant opinion of all times that holdeth our Saviour to have been baptized in Tiberius his fifteenth §. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea Here is called Procurator Judeae by Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. and hath this brand set upon him by Egisippus that he was Vir nequam parvi faciens mendacium De excid Jerus l. 2. c. 5. A wicked man and one that made little conscience of a lie from which unconscionable disposition those words of his What is truth Joh. 18. 38. seem to proceed in scorn of truth and derision of it He succeeded Gratus in the government of Judea managed it with a great deal of troublesomness and vexation to the nation and at last was put out of his rule by Vitellius and sent to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours Joseph Antiq lib. 18. c. 3. 4 5. Philo in legatione §. Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee This was Antipas the son of Herod the great and called also Herod after his Father a man that after a long and wicked misdemeanour in his place was at last banished by Caius upon the accusation of his Nephew Herod Agrippa and Herodias his incestuous mate with him as shall be shewed in a more proper place §. Tetrarch Some tying themselves too strictly to the signification of the Greek word understand by Tetrarch him that governeth the fourth part of a Kingdom for the Original word includeth four and accordingly have concluded that the Kingdom of Herod the great was divided by Augustus after his death into four parts and given to his four sons Archelaus in whose room they say succeeded Pontius Pilate Herod Antipas Philip and Lysanias In this strictness hath the Syrian Translator taken the word rendring it thus Herod being the fourth Ruler in Galilee and Philip the fourth ruler in Iturea And the Arabick thus Herod being head over a fourth part even Galilee and so in the rest But if the opinion be narrowly examined these absurdities will be found in it First It maketh a Tetrarchy to be nothing else but exactly the fourth part of a Kingdom whereas Pliny lib. 5. cap. 18. speaketh of Tetrarchies that were like Kingdoms and compacted into Kingdoms and he nameth Trachonitis for one His words are these Intercurrunt cinguntque has Uerbes Tetrarchiae regnorum instar singulae in regna contribuuntur Trachonitis Paneas in qua Caesarea cum supradicto fonte Abila And in chap. 23. he saith Caelosyria had seventeen Tetrarchies Tetrarchias in regna descriptas barbaris nominibus decem septem Secondly It divideth Herods kingdom into four parts whereas it was parted only into three to his three Sons Joseph Ant. lib. 17. Thirdly It maketh Lysanias to be Herods son which he was not at all A Tetrarch therefore seemeth rather to be one that was in the fourth rank or degree of excellency and government in the Roman Empire the Emperor that was Lord of all the Empire being the first the Proconsul that governed a Province the second a King the third and a Tetrarch the fourth So Mishueh and Shalish in the Hebrew
first of these the Evangelist means when he saith He departed from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and indeed includeth the other two The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we render them till a season which is the most natural signification of them may be taken in a double sense either till a season opportune or till a season fixed And I take the latter to be the most proper and very meaning of the words For a more opportune season for his temptations than he had had already Satan could not have wished for he had had Christ alone he had had him so in the bitter inconveniences of hunger cold and watchfulness and had had him so much in his power as to carry him in the air from place to place and yet with all these advantages on his side he could not have his will over him and therefore there was no expecting any better convenience or season to bring him to sin as he would have had him But there was a season fixed when Satan must bruise his heel for God had so told him in the garden and when he must have some power over him in something else though he could have none over him to bring him to sinning and therefore he departs now unsped of what he came about for he could not cause Christ to sin but he will wait till that fixed time come when he is sure he shall speed against him some other way and that was when he caused his death And to this very thing Christ himself seemeth to allude in those words Joh. 14. 30. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me where almost every word in a manner faceth something in this story that we have in hand The phrase The Prince of this world answereth that offer that Satan had made him of giving him all the Kingdoms of the World For they saith he are mine to give The word cometh answereth the words here Departed till the season And the words He hath nothing in me meaneth his not being able to infuse any sin into Christ in any of these temptations that he might thereby lay any claim to him And this coming of this Prince of the world was to work his death as is apparent by the very verse it self and as our Saviour himself doth further explain it Luke 22. 53. This is the power of darkness Satans departure therefore from him at this time when he had ended all the temptation was 1. With intent to assault him again at the fixed season when he knew he should have power over him to do him some hurt though he could not now 2. Then to bruise his heel and to cause his death though he could not now break his head and cause him sin 3. To assault him then by his wicked instruments whom he could not now damage by his wicked self In one instrument not properly his but abused by him for such a purpose he once tempted Christ to sin before he assaulted him to bring him to suffer and that was in the mouth of Peter Mark 8. 32. who received the very same check for his pains Get thee behind me Satan that Satan himself did for his last temptation Matth. 4. ver 11. And behold Angels came and ministred unto him Mark hath told the story of the temptation very short He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan and was with the wild beasts and the Angels ministred unto him In which relation as he hath given us account of his temptation which shewed him man so hath he also of two other things which shewed him more and those were his safety among wild beasts and his visible attendance by Angels Now he mentioneth only his forty days temptation which was by Satan invisibly and speaketh not a word of the three temptations when Satan assailed him in a bodily shape and yet he saith that the Angels ministred unto him which if you will strictly construe according to the very letter of his relation you must conclude that this ministration of Angels was before Satan appeared visibly to him and so it will follow that the Angels ministred to him visibly and Satan tempted him invisibly at the same time But since the briefness of one Evangelist is to be cleared by the larger relation of the other we are to understand Mark by the fuller story of Matthew and so as Matthew doth shew you the full history of the temptation and teacheth you how to construe Marks briefness upon it so must he also explain the time of the Angels ministration namely after all the temptation was ended which Mark hath left undetermined It were no very great Solecism in Divinity to hold that the Angels might be visibly attending of Christ all those forty days that the Devil was invisibly tempting him but since it is most probable that Christ exposed himself in the nakedst manner I mean in the greatest plainness and meanness that might be to Satans tempting that so his victory over him might be the more glorious it is also very probable that he called not for such attendance of Angels but suspended it till his combate was done and the victory obtained And then howsoever they did before The Angels came saith Matthew and ministred unto him When the Scripture speaketh of Spirits or Angels coming or going it doth most generally mean it of a visible and apparent manner as Gen. 19. 1. 32. 1 2. Jude 6. 11. and in very many other places and so is it to be understood here that after the evil Angel or the Prince of the evil spirits was departed who had assailed Christ in a visible shape the good Angels in visible appearances also came and gave their attendance on him Their ministring unto him as to particulars was in bringing to him necessaries and provisions in that his hunger and in that place where it is likely provisions were not otherwise suddenly to be had so the Son of man eateth Angels food and like Elias is fed by the Angels of the Lord in a desert place And thus hath Christ been shewed the Son of God by the voice of the Father and anointed for the great King Priest and Prophet visibly by the Holy Ghost And thus hath he shewed his power and command over the evil Angels and the good Angels have owned his Lordship and dominion over themselves and thus every way attested is he presently to appear amongst men as the Minister of the Gospel SECTION XII S. JOHN Chap. I. Vers. 15. JOHN a a a a a a In the Greek it is John beareth witness and cryed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former word in the present tense and the latter in the praeter tense the tenses being either indifferently put one for another as the the Translator of Cyrill hath rendred them Testatur clamat or Nove hoc as Erasmus phraseth it this strange construction is used by the Evangelists to shew in the former word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to be the proper reason why the Evangelist useth the preterimperfect tense which Beza could see no reason why he should because he speaketh of Christ which had been with John at Jordan and was but newly gone out of his sight So that the first verse of this Section according to this construction doth properly come in its order in the time between Christs baptizing and his getting into the wilderness and accordingly it might have been laid after the very first verse of the last Section and there have made this series of the Story And immediately after the baptism of Jesus the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness and when he was rapt away and but newly out of sight John bare witness and cried saying This was he of whom I spake but I was unwilling to part that story which lieth so joined and it is timely enough to give notice of the order in this place Now the next story in this Section of the discourse betwixt the messengers of the Jews and John they questioning who he was and what he meant to baptize it was just in the time while Christ was under the last temptation or as he was returning from the high mountain wheresoever it was to Jordan again for the Text telleth expresly that on the next day after this dispute Jesus appeareth at Jordan in the sight of John ver 29. and from thence forward the connexion of the stories following is so clear ver 35. 43. that it needeth no further demonstration Harmony and Explanation Ver. 15. Iohn bare witness of him and cried c. THE Evangelist from the beginning of the Chapter to this place and in it doth purposely go about to shew what declarations and demonstrations were given of Christ both before his coming in the flesh and after what before we shewed in their proper place upon the Chapter to the fourteenth vers what after is shewed in this verse and the next that follows In the fourteenth verse he tells that Christ declared himself to be the only begotten of the Father by conversing among his Disciples full of grace and truth And in this verse he sheweth how John declared and published him to all that came to be baptized and in the next verse how his Disciples received of his fulness c. Now Johns manner of testimony of him he expresseth by these two words He beareth witness and cried words of different tenses as was observed before and of some difference of sense in that diversity The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the present tense is properly to be understood 1. Of Johns whole Ministery Function and Office as vers 7. explaineth it He came for a witness not to be restrained to this or that particular vocal and verbal testimony that John gave of Christ no nor to all the vocal testimonies that he gave of Christ but to be dilated to Johns whole course and ministry that he beareth witness to Christ in that God raised up such a one to be his fore-runner And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the praeter tense is to be applied to the particular testimony that John gave of Christ in that his ministery so that the former word referreth to Johns person and his whole function and the latter only to the manner of his executing of one particular of that function 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may also include Johns martyrdom for the truth by which he beareth witness unto Christ even unto this time as Abel being dead yet speaketh as Heb. 11. 4. And in this sense should I understand those words of this same Evangelist in his first Epistle Chap. 5. vers 6 8. Jesus Christ came by water and blood and the Spirit beareth witness And there are three that bear witness in earth the Spirit and the Water and Blood that is the Spirit of Prophesie Baptism and Martyrdom all three agreeing in one testimony of Christ that he is he The Prophets speaking so jointly of him Baptism bringing in so many unto him and Martyrs sealing unto him with their dearest blood The scores that have prophesied of him the thousands that have suffered death for him and the many thousands that have been baptized into him bearing witness of him on earth as the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost do in heaven §. He that cometh after me is preferred before me We do not find that John had at any time before Christs baptism given any such testimony as these words He had said indeed A mightier than I cometh after me whose shoos I am not worthy to bear and whose shoo latchet I am not worthy to unloose as the other three Evangelists agree in the relating of it but these words He is preferr'd before me for he was before me we heard not of till now Yet is it to be conceived that the Baptist speaketh to the same sense now that he did before as vers 27. sheweth his intention though he have altered his expressions For it is a very common custom of Scripture in alledging of former speeches to give the sense but not to keep exactly to the words And yet it is not without its weight that whereas Johns constant testimony of Christ before his baptism was A mightier than I cometh he should as constantly after his baptism use this He coming after me is preferr'd before me as here and vers 27. 30. Now the reason of this seemeth to be because Christ had now appeared and no mighty work had been yet shewed among the people by him no nor any thing done in their eyes or hearing which might give them occasion to conceive that he was mightier or stronger than John The appearance of the Holy Ghost and the voice from heaven they had neither seen nor heard only his catching away from Jordan at this time it is probable they saw therefore John to clear their apprehensions from any carnal misconstruction of his words explains himself that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A mightier than I they were not so to understand as to look for any present visible demonstration of power or miraculousness from him but that they should take notice that he of whom he spake those words was before him in rank and dignity for he was before him in time and office nature and qualifications though he came after him §. Is preferr'd before me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Vulgar Latine hath dangerously translated Ante me factus est he was made before me and accordingly the Arians in ancient time made use of this place in this sense against the eternity of the Son Whereas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Beza well observeth it in the New Testament doth constantly refer to place and not to time as Mar. 1. 2. Matth. 17. 2. Luke 12. 8. 19. 27 28. and divers other places and therefore our English hath well expressed it with an intimation of such a thing is preferr'd before me For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
but a messenger of Death 2 Cor. 3. 7. challenging exact performance which no man could yield and denouncing a curse upon him that performed it not and so concluded all men under sin and a curse but the Gospel cometh and preacheth to another tune and to a more comfortable tenor promising remission to the penitent though they had not performed what the Law required and assuring salvation to the believer though he had no works nor righteousness of his own to own and thus it speaketh grace and pardon whereas the other did a curse and condemnation And therefore is it divinely thus opposed by the Evangelist betwixt the Law and the Gospel in these two particulars according to the two parts of the Law Moral and Ceremonial and according to the two main Doctrines of the Gospel Repentance and Believing For the Moral called for obedience and challenged them under condemnation that obeyed it not but grace and pardon came by Christ and was offered in the Gospel to those that should repent for their not obeying The Ceremonial Law preached Christ under obscure representations and difficult to grope him through but the truth of what those obscurities involved and what those representations figured came by Christ and the Gospel holds it out and calls for faith in him that hath accomplished them And thus is grace and truth said to come by Jesus Christ and these to be the tenor of the Gospel in opposition to the Law not as grace opposeth ungraciousness but as it opposeth condemning nor as truth opposeth falshood but as it opposeth shadows Vers. 18. No man hath seen God at any time This is spoken from Exod. 33. about Moses his desiring to see the Lord. The oregoing verse made a difference between Moses and Christ which this verse pursueth Moses desired to see God but could not see him Exod. 33. 20. for no man hath seen God or can see him and live but Christ hath been in his bosom hath seen him and revealed him Moses beggeth to know the way of God and God promiseth him the company of his presence vers 13 14. He beggeth again to see his glory and God answereth him that he will shew him his goodness vers 18 19. and more of God he saw not and so much of God hath none seen besides him but only the begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father The story of Moses is divinely alluded to in this place for as concerning the presence of God the Evangelist saith he dwelt among us As concerning his glory he saith that they beheld it and as concerning his goodness he concludeth he was full of grace and truth vers 14. And though no man hath seen God at any time yet Christ imaged him forth among his Disciples with a glory agreeing to the only begotten Son of God and he hath declared him plainly in the doctrine of the Gospel a doctrine full of grace and truth §. He hath declared him It is apparent by this clause that the Evangelists main intention hereabout is to speak of the doctrine and declaration of God Christ and the Gospel and the publication of all unto the world He speaks of Johns publishing of this ver 15. and of Johns publishing of this again v. 19. and of Moses publishing of this in his kind ver 17. and of Christs doing it in his kind ver 18. and therefore certainly it cannot but be unconsonant to the scope of the place and to the purpose of the Penman to interpret the 16 verse clean to another tune about receiving grace of remission and sanctification and this is that that hath mainly induced me to interpret it as I have done because I see it plainly that the Evangelist applies himself in the whole context to treat concerning the witnesses and the publication and declaration of Christ and the Gospel Vers. 19. The Iews sent Priests and Levites The Baptism and Ministery of John was of so strange a tenor as was observed before viz. that whereas the Law preached for works he should call for repentance and whereas Baptism had been used hitherto for admission of heathens to the Religion of the Jews he should now use it to admit the Jews to a new Religion it is no wonder if that Court who were to take notice and cognizance of matters of this nature were very inquisitive and scrutinous after the business to know Johns authority and his intention It is rather to be wondred at that they had let him alone all this while and never had him in examination yet John had now followed this course and calling about eight months together and six of these eight had he spent in Judea in their own country and yet for ought we read they had never quarrelled with him till this very time now what the cause of their long-forbearing should be is hardly worthy the inquiring after only this we cannot but acknowledge a chief reason of it namely God so dispensing and disposing that his Ministery might run interrupted or without any let till Christ should begin to shew himself in his Ministery which the very next day after this dispute he did And so the Gospel might have no stop in this beginning of it but while Christ preached not John should preach without trouble and when John began to be troubled Christ should then be ready to preach The scrutiny and judging of a Prophet belonged only to the Sanhedrin or great Council at Jerusalem and so is the Talmudick tradition in the Treatise Sanhedrin Perek 1. They judge not a Tribe nor a false Prophet nor the High Priest but in the judicatory of Seventy and one and to this law and practise of theirs those words of Christ relate in Luke 13. 33. It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem because a Prophet could not be judged upon life and death in any place but there This Court and Councel sent these messengers to John to make enquiry after him and after his authority and so is the word the Jews to be understood in this verse for the representative body of the Jews in the great Judicatory And they send Priests and Levites to examine him as men of the greatest knowledge and learning in the Law and men of the likeliest abilities to try him and to dispute and discourse with him according to that in Mal. 2. 7. The Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth Vers. 20. But confessed I am not the Christ. We do not perceive by the Text that this question whether he were the Christ or no was proposed to him at all yet he giveth satisfaction to this first partly because the time of Christs appearing was now generally thought by the Nation to be at hand Luke 2. 26 38. 19. 11. 24. 31. Joh. 4. 25. c. and partly because the eminency of John had made the people look upon him with some questioning whether he were not the Christ Luke
at Jerusalem as is apparent ver 23. yet would he not do one miracle for the satisfaction of this the Jews curiosity and quaere partly because he would first give them some word of doctrine and partly because for his shewing of miracles he would take his own time and moving and not theirs In all the Gospel Christ doth no miracle where some necessity went not along with it 2. In these words destroy this Temple he commandeth them not to do the thing but he foretelleth that they should do it as Esay 8. 9 10. John 13. 27. c. yeeld examples of the like nature Associate your selves and ye shall be broken in peeces take counsell together and it shall come to nought And what thou dost do quickly c. 3. His answer is very suitable to the present occasion For as he had purged the Temple which they had defiled for which they question his authority so saith he go yet further and even destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it 4. But he spake of the Temple of his body vers 21. Now he used not any such gesture or action as it seemeth as that the Jews could perceive that he spake in that sense but they make a double misconstruction of his words namely ignorant and wilfull Ignorant conceiving that he spake of the very material Temple wilfull in that whereas he only saith do you destroy it they accuse him for saying that he would destroy it himself Mat. 26. 61. 5. Now he speaketh so closely to them and to the matter or occasion before them partly because of the neareness of relation that is between the thing signifying and the thing signified as Mat. 26. 26. and partly because he would speak to them in parables and dark things as Matth. 13. 34 35. § This Temple Meaning the Temple of his body as the Evangelist himself explaineth it which may be understood either because his body was the Temple of the Godhead as Col. 2. 9. or because it was represented by the material Temple in which God dwelt presentially as the Godhead did in Christ bodily The Temple was a glorious figure of Christ in Gods dwelling there amongst men In giving his Oracles there in the services tendred and accepted there c. And therefore it was that wheresoever the Jews were in any part of the world they were in all their prayers to turn their faces towards the Temple 1 King 8. 38 42 44 48. Dan. 6. 10. And thereupon it was that when the Jews destroyed Christs â—ody the Temple rent from the top to the bottom in one of the choicest parts of it Vers. 20. Forty and six years was this Temple in building Although all that space of time and state of the Jews that passed betwixt the return out of Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalem be generally and indeed properly said to be under the second Temple yet in exact strictness and reality there were two Temples in that space namely that that was built by Zorobable and that that was built by Herod Of the former we have the relation in Ezr. 3. 6. Of the latter we have the story in Joseph Antiq. lib. 15. cap 14. Expositots upon this place take no notice of this duplicity because they account that Herod did not build but only repair the Temple and they generally understand this 46 years building of the time and space that the Temple was getting up in the days of Zorobable or instantly after the return from the Babylonian captivity The parcels of which sum every several Expositor almost doth cast and reckon up by several counters It were endless to alledge much more endless to examine them I shall spare that labour since I have given my thoughts concerning the reigns of the Persian Kings of those times in another place and I cannot but hold still unto that account as conceiving it to be the very account of Scripture namely that Cyrus reigned 3 years Artaxerxes Ahashuerosh after him 14 years and Artaxerxes Darius 32 years when Nehemiah went back to him having finished Jerusalem street and wall 49 years in all or 7 weeks as Dan. 9. 25. Out of these 49 years if you seclude the two first of Cyrus for in his second the Temple was begun and the thirty second of Darius as years only current you have exactly 46 compleat years from the beginning of the founding of Zorobables Temple to the finishing of the city and compleating of the buildings and servicedisposal of the Temple with it And reckoning also after such a maner of reckoning namely by casting out years that were only current it was exactly 46 compleat years since Herod began the building of the Temple to this very time that Christ and the Jews have this discourse For Herod fell upon that work in the eighteenth year of his reign as Josephus relateth in the place fore-cited and he reigned 37 years even till Christ was two years old as we have proved in the first part of the Harmony at Sect. 7. or Matth. 2. And Christ at this time of his discourse was in the thirtieth year of his age or just twenty nine years old and an half All which sums if the Reader cast up and count as we did in the account before he will find how fitly if one will so take it these words may be applyed to the Temple of Herod forty and six years hath this Temple been built Vers. 22. They believed the Scripture c. The Scriptures whatsoever had spoken of Christs death and resurrection the Disciples are said here to have believed after his resurrection But did they not believe them before It is undoubted they did with a general historical belief but after the resurection they made use of those texts and words with a more special and peculiar application and experience Vers. 23. Now when he was in Ierusalem at the Passover c. It was the custom of the Nation to come to Jerusalem some space of time before the Festival that they might purifie themselves against the Festival came Now Christ in this space was purifying the Temple by casting out buyers and sellers and driving out the cattle and when he was then asked for a miracle he would do none but when the Feast was come he beginneth to work miracles abundantly and many believed on him Now beginneth he most plainly and publickly to shew himself being now in the chief City in the general concourse of all the Nation and in the greatest solemnity of all the year Vers. 24. But Iesus did not commit himself unto them Some understand this of his not-committing and imparting the whole and full doctrine of the Gospel to them but the very carriage of the Text sheweth that it is to be understood of not-trusting his person with them because he knew their heart and saw that there was mischief and rottenness in some of them against him The End of the Second Part. THE HARMONY OF THE Four
that they are wrought in God 22. ¶ After these things came Iesus and his Disciples into the i i i i i i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is into Judea country meaning in opposition to Judea City For the story next before of the conference with Nicodemus came to pass and was acted in Jerusalem and there had Christ kept the Passover and done divers miracles and stayed some time and after these things mentioned before saith the Evangelist Jesus leaveth the City and goeth into the Country leaveth the chief City of Judea and goeth into the Country of Judea for to this sense do the Evangelists words mean if they be taken up at large And therefore I see no reason why Beza should confine this place to the country that lay near Jerusalem translating it Judeae territorium and expounding it to that sense Nor do I see that it is any such great matter as he makes it to give a reason of this unusual phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 country of Iudea and there he tarried with them and baptized 23. And Iohn also was baptizing k k k k k k Aenon The Syriack and Arab read it in two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some would have to mean the Well of the Greeks as if in the times of the Grecian and Syro-Grecian Monarchies some Greeks had digged and laid up these waters we shall enquire after this place in the exposition of the verse in Aenon near to Salim because there was much f Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The voice thereof For even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things without life are said to yield a voice 1 Cor. 14. 7 8. As blood Gen. 4. 10. waters Psal. 93. 3. miracles Exod. 4. 8. thunder Rev. 19. 6. c. And whereas the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth indifferently signifie either an articulate voice or any other sound the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also used very commonly in the Scripture to the same signification and extent water there and they came and were baptized 24. For Iohn was not yet cast into prison 25. l Therefore there was a question of Iohns disciples with the Iews about purifying 26. And they came unto Iohn and said unto him Rabbi he that was with thee beyond Iordan to whom thou barest witness behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him 27. Iohn answered and said A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven 28. Ye your selves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ but I am sent before him 29. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the bridegrooms voice This my joy thorefore is fulfilled 30. He must increase but I must decrease 31. He that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from above is above all 32. And what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony 33. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him 35. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Reason of the Order THE subsequence and jointing of this story of Nicodemus unto that which is recorded in the latter end of the second Chapter of Christs doing many miracles at Jerusalem at the Passover is so apparent out of Nicodemus his own words ver 2. and out of the words of the Evangelist ver 22. that it needeth no proof and evidence but only to point at these verses for the proving of it Yet that we may observe both the connexion of this Chapter with the former and also the times and juncture of this Chapter within it self let us view it a little at large and take our prospect from the three and twentieth verse of the second Chapter Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover on the Feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles that he did This feast day at the Passover may best be conceived to be the first day of the festival week or the day after the Passover was eaten for on that day was the appearance of the people in the Court of the Temple as the Law appointed that thrice every year they should appear before the Lord. For that appearing mentioned in the Law saith Rambam was that every one appear in the Court the first holy day of the festival and bring an offering In Hagg. per. 1. On that day therefore the concourse of the people being the greatest it is most proper to suppose that Christ began to shew himself in his miraculous power as he had done a day or two before in his Prophetick zeal in driving the market out of the Temple What miracles they were that he wrought is not mentioned it is most rational and most agreeable to his workings afterward to hold that it was healing of diseases and casting our Devils but whatsoever the miracles were for particular and distinctive quality the power shewed in them was so great that it made Nicodemus confess and others acknowledge that none could do such but a teacher come from God and it made the Galileans who were spectators now to receive him when he came amongst them afterward Joh. 4. 45. Such works had never been done in their sight till now and they had never had such miraculous spectacles at their appearances before and so he shewed them at once that it is not in vain to wait upon God in his appointments and that the great Prophet was come among them and yet on that very day come three years they put him to death Nicodemus undoubtedly was a spectator and witness of what was done and so the Syriack translator seemeth to conclude when he rendreth the beginning of this Chapter thus Now there was one of the Pharisees named Nicodemus there and so his own words seem to argue as spoken not upon hearsay but upon ocular witness we know thou art a teacher come from God for none can do such miracles c. He having seen those wondrous workings by day came to Jesus that night as may in most probability be conjectured and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very properly rendred in such a definite and determinate construction For there can be no doubt but he would come with the first conveniency he could being taken with those miracles and desiring to have some communication with Christ and not knowing how soon he might be getting out of Town However if he did not come that night yet doubtless he would delay as
his birth and education could not but acknowledge what he spake and gave testimony to his words they were so gracious And this makes them wonder comparing his present powerful and divine discourse with his mean and homely education and to be amazed among themselves and to say Is not this the son of Joseph as Mark 6. 2 3. Vers. 23. Ye will surely say to me this Proverb c. He taketh occasion of these words from their present wonderment and questioning among themselves about him As if he had spoken out to them thus at large Ye look upon me as Josephs son as one that was bred and brought up among you and therefore ye will be ready to urge me with the sense of that Proverb Physician heal thy self and expect that I should do some miracles here in mine own Town as I have done in other places nay rather in this Town than in others because of my relation to it § Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum Jansenius from this passage concludeth that this Sermon of Christ in the Synagogue of Nazareth was not of a great while after his coming into Galilee but that he had first passed and preached through Galilee because as yet according to the order in which we have laid the story there is but one miracle mentioned that he had done at Capernaum which was the recovering of the Rulers son Now that miracle was enough to have occasioned these words though he had done no more But Capernaum was Christs very common residence upon all occasions and it is like he had done divers miracles there though they be not mentioned for when he came from Samaria the Text relateth that he avoideth his own Town of Nazereth because he knew that there he should find but cold intertainment and little honour but that he went into some other parts of Galilee and the Galileans whither he went received him having seen all that he did at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover John 4. 44 45. Now Capernaum was as likely a place whether he would betake himself and where he would stay if he stayed in any City as any other Vers. 25. When the Heaven was shut up three years and six months This sum lyeth very obscure in the Text of the Book of Kings for there it is only said that Elias said there shall not be dew nor rain these years 1 Kings 17. 2. And that after many days in the third year Eliah shewed himself to Ahab and there was rain c. 1 Kings 18. 1 And it were not strange that Christ the Lord of time did for all the difficulty of the Text determine it but it seemeth by his speech to these Nazarites that it was a reckoning and sum commonly known and received of them And so when the Apostle James useth the same account James 5. 17. it is likely that he speaketh it to the Jews as a thing acknowledged and confessed But how to pick it up in the Book of Kings is very intricate to him that shall go about it Yet thus far we may go 1. That it was a year after the drought began before the Brook Cerith dried up for it is said that at the end of days the Brook dried now for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Days to be used for to signifie a year examples might be given exceeding copiously 2. Those words in the third year God said to Eliah Go shew thy self to Ahab and I will send rain cannot be understood of the third year of drought for this his coming to Ahab was not in the third year but after it for he had told him there should be no rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three years at the least as the learned in the Hebrew tongue will easily observe out of the number of the word which is not dual but plural And therefore the third year is to be referred to Elias sojourning with the Sareptane widow He had been one year by Cherith and above two years at Sarepta and after many days in the third year he shews himself to Ahab and there were rains Now how to bring these many days to half a year is still a scruple how to fix it or to go any whit near thereunto unless it be by casting the times of the year when the drought began and when it ended and there might be very probable reasons produced to shew that it began in Autum and ended in the Spring which two times were their most constant times of rains Joel 2. But truth hath spoken it here and it is not to be disputed but only thus much is spoken to it because it seemeth that he speaketh it to the Jews here as men consenting and agreeing in the thing already The Rabbins do quaintly descant upon the last verse of 1 King 16. where there is mention of Hiels building Jericho and losing his two sons in the work according to the word of Joshua and the first verse of Chap. 17. where Eliah foretels the restraint of rain thus Ahab and Eliah say they went to comfort Hiel for the death of his sons Ahab said to Elijah it may be the word of the servant Joshua is performed but the word of the Master Moses will not be performed who saith Ye will turn away and serve other Gods and the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up heaven that there be no rain c. Thereupon Elias swore and said As the Lord liveth before whom I stand there shall be no rain This number and term of time of three years six months just half the time of the famine in Egypt is very famous and renowned in Scripture as hath been observed before But in nothing more renowned then this that it was the term of Christs Ministery from his Baptism to his death he opening Heaven for three years and six months and raining down the Divine dew of the Gospel as Elias had shut Heaven so long and there was no rain at all Vers. 28. And all they in the Synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath c. Here is such another change of affection in these Nazarites one while giving testimony to the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and presently ready to murder him for his words as there was in the men of Lycaonia Act. 14. who one while would worship Paul and Barnabas for Gods and immediately stone them with stones The matter that gave such offence in these words of Christ to his Countrymen was double 1. Because he so plainly taught and hinted the calling of the Gentiles and refusing of the Jews as was to be seen in the double instance that he alledged that Elias should harbour no where with any Israelite but should be recommended by God to a heathen widow for so were the Sareptanes being of Sidon and that not one Israelite leper should ever be healed but Naaman a Heathen Syrian should be This doctrine about
Heaven And it is also written Lowly and riding upon an Asse Now how agrees this If they be good he comes with the clouds of Heaven If they be not good then lowly and riding upon an Ass Also in their words Rabbi Eliezer saith If Israel repent they are presently redeemed Rabbi Joshua saith to him And is it not somewhere said Ye were sold for nought and ye shall not be redeemed with silver but by repentance and good works So that we see that they scrupled amongst themselves whether the gathering of the captivity should be by the means of repentance or no. And the reason of this was because of the diversity of these Texts But it is possible thus to reconcile them That many of Israel shall repent after that they see some signs of redemption And hereupon it is said And he saw that there was no man because they will not repent till they see the beginning of redemption In such a sense did the Jewish Nation hold repentance an ingredient to the entertainment of the Kingdom of Heaven when it should appear and so both our Saviour and John the Baptist in this argumentation Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand do but apply themselves to them even upon their own doctrines and conclusions Now whereas we said in the explanation of the story of Nicodemus that they expected that the appearing of the Messias would take them as they were and that without more ado they shoul be translated into a glorious condition and happiness should drop into their mouths it doth not cross it though it be said here that they had thoughts of repentance as an ingredient to the intertainment of Messiah when he came for exceeding many of them thought they needed no repentance and for those that needed they allotted such a kind of repentance as we shall see by and by as was far from any inward alteration of spirit or change of mind 3. Nor doth this manner of arguing Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand suit only with the Jews own maxim and opinion and so might convince and win them the sooner but it also agrees most properly with the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven it self For 1. if by the term be understood the coming and appearing of the Messias as that indeed is the first sense of it what fitter intertainment of his appearing than repentance For men when he came to save them from their sins Matth. 1. 18. to repent of their sins and when he came as the true light they to forsake their dark ways And when the Lord by the appearance of Christ for mans redemption did shew as it were that he repented of evil against man how fit was it for man to meet this great mercy by repenting of his own evil And 2. If the term the Kingdom of Heaven be taken for the state of the Church and Religion under the appearance of Christ and the Gospel in comparison of what it was under the Ceremonious administrations in the Law there could be no fitter intertainment of it than by repentance namely by washing purifying and sacrificing the heart when there was no other washing purifying or sacrificing in Religion to be had and such external Ceremonies should be gone out of date 3. And lastly if by this phrase be meant the Kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles and their calling by the Gospel as it also reacheth that sense it was a proper kind of arguing used to the Jews to move them to repentance by minding them of the calling of the Gentiles whose calling in they knew would be their own casting off if they repented not II. A second thing worth our consideration in this our Saviours doctrine is the word by which he calleth for repentance What Syriack word he used speaking that language it is uncertain the Syriack translater useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Return or be converted but the word which the Holy Ghost hath left us in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is exceeding significant and pertinent to that doctrine and occasion The word is frequently used in the Septuagint concerning God when he is said to repent or not repent as 1 Sam. 15. 29. Jer. 3. 9. Amos 7. 3. 6. c. but the use of it applied to man is not so frequent in them as of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ezek. 18. 30. because that word doth most Grammatically and verbatim translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word most commonly used in the Hebrew for Repenting and yet do the Septuagint sometimes use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for mans repentance as Jer. 8. 6. c. The word doth first signifie a reviewing or considering of a mans own self and condition as Lam. 3. 40. and so Brucioli doth render it in the Italian Ravedete vi view your selves or take your selves into consideration Secondly it betokeneth a growing wise or coming to ones self again as Luk. 15. 1. 7. and thereupon it is well rendred by our Protestant Divines Resipicite Be wise again for so the word were to be construed in its strict propriety And thirdly it signifieth a change of mind from one temper to another Now the Holy Ghost by a word of this significancy doth give the proper and true character of repentance both against the misprisions that were taken up concerning it by their traditions in those times and those also that have been taken up since The Jews did place much of repentance in a bare confession of the offence and much of pardon in the Scapegoats sending away and in the service of the day of Expiation and much in induring the penalty inflicted by the Judges And undoubted pardon at the day of death We will take their mind in their own words He that transgresseth against an affirmative command and returns presently he stirs not till God pardon him and of such it is said Return O ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings He that offends against a negative command repentance keeps him off from punishment and the day of Expiation atones for him and of such it is said For to day he will expiate But he by whom the name of Heaven is blasphemed repentance hath no power to shield him from punishment nor the day of Expiation â—o atone for him nor chastisements by the Judges to acquit him But repentance and the day of Expiation do expiate a third part and chastisements à third part and death a third part And of such it is said If this iniquity be purged till you dye Behold we learn that death acquitteth Talm. Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 27. Observe by the way how directly our Saviour faceth this opinion when he saith the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall neither be-forgiven in this life nor in the life to come Matth. 12. 32. that is no not by the expiation of death as they conceived Now what a kind of repentance they mean we may observe
words of Christ the man had received healing though he had said no more to him since none that came to him in faith went away not sped Yet herein lyeth some scruple and question how the forgiveness of his sins could have influence into the healing of his disease Since that is the cure of the soul and not of the body and since justified persons are as incident to diseasdness and to death as those that are not justified There is a passage in the Prophet Esay something agreeable to this matter in hand and that is in Chap 33. 24. The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity Now in such passages as these there seemeth reference to be had to those curses threatned for violation of the Law in Deut. 28. amongst which there are sad diseases of body and mind mentioned and denounced vers 21 22 27 28 35 59 60 61. And from that ground seemeth to have risen their giving up men that were palpable offenders to a Cherem or a curse and the giving up of men to Satan For as for incorrigible offenders that would not be reclaimed by correction and for whom there was no express and positive Law to put them to death what was there to be done with them But to devote them solemnly and to leave them to those curses that God denounced against such violaters of his commandements which Judicial process founded upon the warrant and belief of his word it pleased the Lord very often to follow with answerable effect and such a person became a curse among his people as Numb 5. 27. And this I suppose to be the giving up to Satan mentioned in the Scripture as devoting such a wretch out of the care and protection of God to the power and disposal of the Devil And this that common and proverbial speech among the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pack to Satan which is to be found in their Talmudical writers seemeth to have respect and reference unto And accordingly divers diseases in the Gospel are ascribed to the inflicting of Satan as Luke 13. 16. 11. 14. c. And the giving up of the person to Satan 1 Cor. 5. must be for the destruction of the flesh vers 5. Vers. 5. Whether it is easier to say Thy sins be forgiven thee c. It was indeed a truth that the Scribes aimed at when they said this man blasphemeth namely that none can forgive sins but God only but their ignorance concerning the person about whom they spake did cause themselves to blaspheme when they said he blasphemed In this answer of Christ to them whether it is easier to say c. 1. He meaneth not whether is it easier to pronounce those words but whether is it easier to effectuate those words that is to do those things that the words do mean namely to forgive sins or to heal a palsie 2. He meaneth that it had been an easier thing to have said Rise take up thy bed and walk and so to have recovered the man of his malady as a Prophet or one indued with the gift of miracles might have done But 3. that he said Thy sins are forgiven thee purposely that they might take notice not only by his uttering of the words but also by the effect that was to follow them that he had power to forgive sins As he had mightily revealed his power in the two cures that he had wrought in the stories before in casting out a Devil and healing a Leper so doth he here shew this power a greater power than either of those and it may be conceived That he purposely useth those word Thy sins are forgiven thee for the mans healing rather than Rise take up thy bed not only because he would shew his own power to forgive sins but because he would glorifie the doctrine of forgiveness of sins before these Pharisees who stood altogether upon legal righteousness And so at once would shew the great work of the Messias to save his people from their sins as Matt. 1. 18. and the great tenor of the Gospel faith and remission of sins He saw their Faith and said Thy sins are forgiven Vers. 9. He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the Receipt of Custom Matthew is now writing his own story and he is not ashamed to speak the worst of himself that the grace of God might be the more magnified in him and to tell you that he was of the worst sort of men namely a Publican as he speaks it out Chap. 10. 3. He was also called Levi for so Mark and Luke do style him and whether he carried these names one before his calling and the other after it is but needless to enquire since double-namedness among the Jews was so familiar He was the Son of Alpheus or Cleopas and so Christs kinsman and thus that one man hath four sons that were Apostles namely James called the less and Judas called also Lebbeus and Thadeus and Simon called the Canaanite and Levi called also Matthew Matthew it seemeth was a Publican at Capernaum Custom-house on the Sea side for so it appeareth by the relation of Mark to gather tribute or Custom of Passengers over the water and of those whose imployment lay in that Sea of Galilee And here I cannot but mention a Gloss of Rabbi Solomon on Judg. 5. 10 11. You saith he that walk afoot by the way speak and mention this deliverance which you have from the noise of those that shot at you from Ambushes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thieves and Publicans that lay in wait by stocks to surprise those that came over the waters And the Chaldee Paraphrast at the same place speaketh of the Publicans sitting besides the waters And to this purpose also may be produced that Tradition in the Treatise Sabbath per. 8. To carry out ink on the Sabbath to write with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the Publicans Tickets and to carry out one of the Publicans Tickets was unlawful The Gemarists there explain what these Publicans Tickets were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How big say they was one of these Publicans Tickets It was two great Letters written in Paper or on something else c. And the intent of these Tickets were that he that had paid his whole toll or Custom on this side the water shewing it when he came on the other side of the water he was freed from paying any more Now Publicans were of two sorts either those that voluntarily set themselves to a mony-changing and mony-breaking trade and in that trade by cheating and oppression raised profit and such Baal Aruch meaneth when he speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Publican that sets up of himself or such as were set up by the Romans to gather their Tribute of the Jews as saith Haggaon and they favoured some in partiality and on others they laid load and exacted more than right and proved but thieves Aruch
all appearing exceeding rare ever since the death of the last Prophets or thereabout And upon this reason I cannot but hold that this miraculous virtue was but of a later date because miracles and Angels had not been so conspicuous among them till near Christs coming Vers. 5. A certain man which had an infirmity 38. years Our Saviour is pleased to choose out for his cure a man and malady of the longest languishing and of the greatest unlikelihood of recovery If we run back these eight and thirty years to the first beginning of his infirmity we shall find that he was entred into this his disease seven years and an half before Christ was born for Christ was now compleat thirty years old and an half and it may be his disease was as old as was this virtue of Bethesda waters It began upon him immediately after the Temple was finished and completed by Herod as it will appear to him that will calculate and compute the times Now I should assoon date this healing virtue of Bethesda from about those times as any times I can think upon For as the providence of God did bring on and usher in the coming of the Messias when it drew near by several dispensations and degrees so the bringing of the Temple to the highest glory that ever it must have but only that the King of glory came into it and the restoring of Angelical and miraculous administrations were not the least of those dispensations But be it how it will whether the mans disease were as old as the pools virtue or no it was so old as doubtless the oldest in all the pack and as to glorifie the power of Christ most singularly in the healing of it Vers. 6. He saith unto him Wilt thou be made whole Christ doth not question this as doubting of his desire but to stir up his faith and expectation His lying and waiting there so long did resolve the question That he would be made whole but the greater question was Whether he had faith to be healed as Acts 14. 7. and that our Saviour puts to trial by this interrogation Vers. 8. Iesus saith unto him Rise take up thy bed and walk Here is a question also not unjustly moved Why would Christ injoyn him to carry his bed on the Sabbath day It was contrary to the letter of the Law Jer. 17. 21 22. Bear no burden on the Sabbath day c. It was extreamly contrary to their Traditions For bringing a thing out and in from one place to another was a work and one of the special works forbidden to be done on the Sabbath day Mayim in Shab per. 12. And he that carryeth any thing on the Sabbath in his right hand or left or in his bosom or upon his shoulder he is guilty Talm. in Sab. per. 10. And it was dangerous to bring him either to whipping or to suffer death The most general answer that is given is that Christ would have him hereby to shew that he was perfectly and entirely healed when he that could not stir before is able now to carry his bed and so by this action at once he gives a publick testimony of the benefit received and an evident demonstration of the perfectness of the cure But both these might have been done abundantly only by his walking sound and well seeing that he could not walk nor stir of so long before A man that had been so diseased so long a space and had lain at these waters so great a time for him now to walk strongly and well would shew the benefit received and the cure done as well as walking with his bed on his back There was therefore more in this command of Christ than what did barely refer to the publication of the miracle and that may be apprehended to have been partly in respect of the man and partly in respect of the day In respect of the man it was to trie his faith and obedience whether upon the command of Christ he durst and would venture upon so hazardous an action as to carry his bed on the Sabbath day which might prove death or sore beating to him and he relies upon the word of him that commanded and casts off fear and does it And to this sense his own words do construe the command when the Jews question him upon the fact He that made me whole gave me warrant to do it for he bad me and said Take up thy bed and walk He whose power was able for such a cure his word was warrant for such an action And as our Saviour stirs up his faith in his question before Wilt thou be made whole so he tries what it is in this command Take up thy bed and carry it home for so we must construe that Christ ment by walking from the like expression Mark 2. 9. with vers 11. In respect of the day it was to shew Christs power over the Sabbath And as in healing of the palsick man Mark 2. 9. he would not only shew his power over the disease but also over sin and so forgave it So it pleased him in this passage to shew his power over the Sabbath to dispence with it and to dispose of it as he thought good as he shewed his command over the malady that he cured And here is the first apparent sign toward the shaking and alteration of the Sabbath in regard of the day that we meet withall and indeed a greater we hardly meet with till the the alteration of the day came To heal diseases and to pluck off ears of corn for necessary repast on the Sabbath day had their warrant even in the Law it self and in all reason but to enjoin this man to carry his bed on that day and to bear it home whereas the bed might very well have lain there till the Sabbath was over and his home was no one knows how far off certainly it sheweth that he intended to shew his authority over the Sabbath and to try the mans faith and obedience in a singular manner It was easie to foresee how offensive and unpleasing this would be to the Jews for it stuck with them a long time after Joh. 7. 23. and how dangerous it might prove to the man himself and yet he purposely puts him upon it that he might hereby assert his own divine power and God-head as it appeareth by his arguing for it when they cavil at him all along the Chapter Even the same power that could warrant Abraham to sacrifice his own son and Joshua to march about Jericho on the Sabbath day Vers. 14. Afterward Iesus findeth him in the Temple c. The Faith and Obedience of the man upon Christs command though it were of so nice consequence do argue to us that his appearance at the Temple was to render his thanks for the great benefit he had received The poor wretch had hardly been at this Temple for eight and thirty years together the date of Israels wandring
doth hereby more clearly open that mystery of God in Christ than if he had spoken only of believing himself or only of believing the Father 2. There are some that conceive that he speaketh of believing him that sent him rather than of believing him himself that by this humble reference of all to God he might make his speech more accceptable to the hearers 3. Compare this passage with Exod. 20. 19. and Deut. 18. 16 17 18. His expression of passing from death to life seemeth to refer either to the doom upon Adams not hearkening to the voice of God thou shalt die the death or to the codition under which every man is left by the Law namely under a curse from which hearkning to the voice of the Gospel is deliverance Or it may be it is spoken in some parallel to the case of the man healed for he by hearkening to the Word of Christ received health of body so whosoever heareth his Word obtains life of the Soul And thus doth Christ still make good the word that he had spoken to the man for a dispensation with the Sabbath and argueth that he might do such a thing because he was to give the Law and Word of the New Testament as the Father had done of the Old and sheweth that though violation of the Sabbath deserved and had been punished with death yet obedience to his Word and Command was discharge and a passing from death to life Vers. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God c. 1. These words are most generally understood as aiming at those dead that Christ raised by his voyce or word to life again as saying to Jairus daughter Talitha Kumi to the widdows son of Naim Young man arise and to Lazarus Lazarus come forth And being taken in such a relation the connexion of them to the words going immediately before lyeth thus Christ had spoken there of his spiritual reviving whosoever should believe his Word and here he either produceth a proof and evidence of what he had there spoken or else alledgeth it as another wonder and virtue of his power that by his voyce he would raise those that were bodily deceased And he ascribeth this reviving to the hearing of his voyce partly because he had ascribed the spiritual reviving to the hearing of his Word and partly to distinguish his rasing of those dead from the raising of those that were revived under the Old Testament for they were not raised by a word but by other applications 1 King 17. 21. 2 King 4. 34. 13. 21. 2. It was the opinion of the Jews that there should be a resurrection in the days of Messias The Chaldee Paraphrast glosseth Hos. 6. 2. thus He will revive us in the days of consolation Luke 2. 25. which are to come in the day of the Resurrection of the dead And Hos. 14. 8. thus They shall be gathered out of their captivity they shall sit under the shadow of their Messias and the dead shall revive and good shall be multiplyed on the Earth And Esay 49. 9. I give thee for a Covenant to the people to raise the righteous that lye in the dust And Kimchi on Esay 26. 19. The Holy blessed God will raise the dead at the time of deliverance And in Jer. 23. 20. In that he saith Ye shall consider it and not They shall consider it it intimateth the Resurrection of the dead in the days of the Messias And on Ezek. 37. It may be God shewed Ezekiel the vision of the dead bones reviving to signifie to him that he would raise the dead of Israel at the time of deliverance that they also might see the deliverance Ab. Ezr. in Dan. 12. 2. The righteous that dyed in the captivity shall revive when the Redeemer cometh c. And this was so far the opinion of the Nation that they understood the term The World to come of the state of glory and yet of the days of Messias as shall be shewed when we meet with that phrase Now there was a Resurrection in the days of the Messias accordingly not only of those three that have been named but also of divers Saints whose graves were opened and bodies arose Mat. 27. 52. And if the words that we have in hand be applyed to the raising of dead in a bodily sense they may most properly be pointed to that Resurrection which was so parellel to the expectation of the Jews and Christ asscribing such a matter to himself doth prove himself to be the Messias even they and their own opinion being Judges 3. But the raising of the dead is taken in Scripture also in a borrowed sense namely for the reviving and quickning of those that were dead in trespasses and sins c. as Ephes. 2. 1. And that sense doth seem more agreeable to this place because our Saviour in the verse before doth apparently speak of such spiritual reviving The calling in of the Gentiles to the Gospel is called a Resurrection in divers places of the Scripture as Esa. 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my Body they shall rise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out her dead What dead these are that were to rise with Christs body from the dead is not so much intimated in that passage of the Evangelist The bodies of divers Saints arose Matth. 27. 52. as in that saying of our Saviour There shall no sign be given them but the sign of Jonah the Prophet By which he doth not only signifie his own death and Resurrection but he doth also gall the Jews with an intimation of the calling of the Gentiles upon his Resurrection as the Ninivites were called upon Jonahs Resurrection out of the grave of the Whales belly And that dew of his that should inliven men as the dew doth herbs is the dew of the Doctrine of the Gospel as Deut. 32. 2. And so likewise Hos. 6. 2. speaketh to the very same tenor of Christs raising the dead in a spiritual sense upon his own Resurrection which was on the third day And so is the Resurrection in Ezek. 37. plainly expounded in that very chapter to be in a spiritual sense and so the Apostle construes it Rom. 11. 15. Amd the calling of the Gentiles is styled the first Resurrection Rev. 20. 5. c. That Christ meaneth the dead and the raising of the dead in this sense in this place might be argued upon these observations 1. Because throughout his speech hitherto and some steps further the scope of his discourse is namely to prove his all powerful rule and disposal of the affairs under the Gospel equal to what the Father had under the Law of which the calling of the Gentiles was one of the most eminent and remarkable 2. Because as was said before his very last words preceding were of passing
from death to life in a spiritual sense which argues that he intends the same sense here 3. In that he ascribeth reviving to his Voice here as he did there to his Word 4. Because he distinguisheth upon hearing his voice The dead shall hear it and as many as hear it shall live which is applicable a great deal more fairly to the bare and to the effectual hearing of the Gospel than to dead in corporal sense And 5. lastly Because there are so great things spoken of the calling of the Gentiles in the Scripture and of Christs work about that matter and their Heathenish condition so expresly called death and their imbracing the Gospel a resurrection that when Christ is speaking of his actings in the New Testament and useth such words as these before us we may not unproperly apply them in that sense It would have prevented many controversies and not a few errors if the Phrases the last days and the day of the Lord and the end and new Heavens and new Earth and the dead raised c. had been cautelously understood and as the Scripture means them in several places But as for the raising of the dead in the verse in hand it needeth not very much curiosity to fix it to either of those as a determinate sense since taken either way that hath been mentioned it carries a fair construction most agreeable to the truth and not very disagreeable to the scope and context Vers. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself It is needless to dispute here how far the second person in the Trinity may be said to have or not to have his being of himself for the words do not consider him simply as the second person but as the Messias God and Man as is the tenour of speech all along And in this acceptation we may give the words this construction 1. That they are a Paraphrase upon the name Jehovah which betokeneth Gods eternal being in himself and his giving of being to the Creature and that they mean that as the Father is Jehovah so also hath he given to the Son the Messias that name above all names as Philip. 2. 9. to be owned and worshipped for Jehovah having life in himself as being the eternal and living God and having the disposal of life in his power as being the God of all living 2. That as the Father is the eternal and immortal God so also is the Messias and though he stand there before the Sanhedrin in humane appearance yet should he never see corruption as Psalm 16. 10. but declare himself mightily to be the Son of God and to have life in himself by his raising himself from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Being the first and last He that liveth though he died and is alive for evermore Amen and hath the Keys of Hell and death at his disposal Rev. 1. 17 18. 3. As the words before may be applied to Christs raising from the dead those that were either bodily or spiritually deceased so these are a reason and proof of that assertion because as the Father hath the absolute disposal of life in his own power so hath he given to the Messias the same disposal Vers. 27. And hath given him authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man By this passage it is apparent in what sense our Saviour useth the term The Son and The Son of God all along this discourse namely for the Son of God as he was also the Son of Man or the Messias There hath been some scruple made as was mentioned before upon the reason given of Christs authority of Judging namely because he was the Son of Man which will be removed by rightly stating the sense of the Son of Man which we may take up in these three particulars 1. The Phrase the Son of Man may be taken to signifie simply A Man and then the words are to be understood in this sense He hath given him authority of judging because he is a man and then is the reason current and apparent under this construction First Because the Son of God humbled himself and became man for the redemption of man therefore the Lord hath given him authority to be judge of man as Phil. 2. 8 9. And secondly He hath given the Messias authority of judging because he is man that man might be judged by one in his own nature as Act. 17. 31. He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead 2. The title The Son of Man which our Saviour so oft applieth to himself in the Gospel doth not speak him barely A Man but it owns him as that singular and peculiar seed of the woman or Son of Man that was promised to Adam to be a repairer of ruined mankind and the destroyer of the works of Satan as the term hath been cleared before And in this construction the reason of Christs authority of judging because he was the Son of Man is yet cleared further namely because he was the Son of that promise the Heir of the world and Redeemer of mankind and Destroyer of Devils therefore the Lord did give authority to him to be Lord of the World and Judge of Men and Devils to destroy the Serpent and his seed that were his enemies and to perfect and save the holy seed that should believe in him and obey him and to do and order all things here in this world that were in tendency either to the one or the other end 3. The Messias is thus charactered in Dan. 7. 13 14. Behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the antient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him Upon which words R. Saadias glosseth thus This is Messias our righteousness But is it not written concerning the Messias lowly and riding upon an Ass Because he shall come in humility and not in pomp riding upon Horses And with the Clouds of Heavens meaneth the Angels the Host of Heaven this is the abundance of greatness which the Creator shall give unto the Messias c. Our Saviour in the words that we are upon seemeth to point at those words of Daniel and whereas it was confessed by the Nation that the Son of Man there spoken of to whom all Dominion was given was the Messias he doth here plainly aver that it was himself and that all Authority and Judicature was given him because he was the Son of Man Observe how purposely he changeth expressions In ver 25. He speaketh of raising the dead by the voice of the Son of God and here of executing judgment because he is the Son
of Man not only that he might assert the two natures in the Messias but also that he might distinguish the double power that was in himself natural as he was God and dispensed as he was and because he was the Son of Man Vers. 28. Marvail not at this c. At what Cyrill thinks At the healing of the diseased person and he reduceth the words to this sense Think not the curing of this disease so great a matter for I can and once must raise even all the dead and judge all the world But for ought we find they were as much filled with indignation at that cure as with wonder Therefore it seemeth more likely that their marvailing must rather refer to the words of Christ that he had now spoken than to the work that he had done For comparing his person that they saw standing before them with the power and acting that they heard him speak of it is no wonder if they wondred at his words and it is probable they did little believe his power See vers 38 40 41 42. But how doth he satisfie their wondring and unbelief any whit by the words which follow Had they believed these things that he had spoken hitherto then might it have been proper to have added this about raising all the dead but when they believed not the former to what purpose was it to bring in this for confirmation when they would believe neither this nor that Answ. 1. Christ was to speak in his authority and the guilt of their unbelief was to rest upon themselves 2. They could not deny him for a Prophet because of his miracles Joh. 3. 2. and he would wind them up to believe that he was the great Prophet 3. It was a proper proof of his power and authority to judge all men to assert that he had power to raise all men from the dead and to bring them to judgment And those that did believe his former words would believe these and see the arguing pregnant but those that would believe neither are left highly unexcusable having heard Christ so fully and plainly asserting himself to be the Messias as in all the Gospel he doth it not plainer 4. Here we may add one thing more about the term the Son of man for the clearing of that clause before He hath given him authority of Judging because he is the Son of man It is observable that as the Jews do most constantly call Christ the Son of David both in the Scripture as Matth. 21. 9. 22. 42. Luke 18. 38. and infinitely in their writings so doth Christ most constantly call himself the Son of man and that title is only used by himself and in his own speeches The reason of this his different styling himself from their common title of the Messias may be conceived to be partly because whereas they under the term the Son of David did conceit the Messias for an earthly King as David was he in his term the Son of man would contrary them in that opinion and partly because by that title he would shew what relation his office should have towards all men even towards the Gentiles as well as the Jews whereas they expected the Son of David a King of the Jews only or at the least especially For it is true he was indeed the Son of David and so the Jews had first interest in him but withal he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son of man promised to Adam and so whole mankind had interest in him And his arguing in vers 27. may be understood not only in reference to his authority of judging but also in regard of the generality of that authority that as in ver 25. he was to raise even the Gentiles from their dead condition to the life of the Gospel so in vers 27. he had authority and dominion given him throughout all the Word even among the Gentiles and that because he was the Son of man or the seed promised to Adam in whose loins the Gentiles were as well as the Jews when that promise was made and whose Mediatorship concerned them as well as the other And if these words be taken up in such an interpretation this confirmation of them by asserting his power to raise all the dead cometh on thus Marvail not at these transactions that I speak of with the Gentiles as to raise them by the Gospel and to execute Judgment even through all Nations for I am to raise the dead of all Nations at the general Judgment and that by the Testimony of the Scripture it self Dan. 12. 2. For the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice c. These words do so directly speak the sense of that place cited in Daniel though they differ something in expressions that it is little to be doubted that they were spoken from thence An Angel to Daniel is there relating the grievous times that Israel should undergo under the persecution of Antiochus and because at that time the cursed Doctrine of the Sadduces which denied the world to come a desperate Doctrine in times of persecution should be at a great height and entertainment therefore with the prophetick story of those times he doth joyn the Doctrine of the Resurrection and of everlasting reward for the staying of the hearts of those that should live and suffer under those bitter days and to arm them against fear of death and suffering for the truth I might be observed how Christ in this speech which he maketh before the Sanhedrin which consisted of Pharisees and Sadduces doth meet with both their Heretical principles with a cutting doctrine Against the Pharisees doting upon Traditions he holdeth out his own word as the great oracle of truth to be believed ver 24. and against the Sadduces denial of the Resurrection he holdeth out the Doctrine of that in this verse and his own power to be the Author and effector of it But this I do but note by the way These words might also be applied to a spiritual Resurrection as were the former and so coming out of graves meaneth Ezek. 37. 12. the words of the verse following being only translated and glossed thus And they shall come forth they that do good after they hear his voice in the Gospel to the Resurrection of life And they that do evil after they hear the Gospel unto the Resurrection of damnation But they are more generally understood of the general Resurrection and so will we take them And that the rather because this sense is so exceeding sutable to the method that Christ useth in this speech The main scope of his oration is to justifie himself to be the Messias and from that very notion to justifie the thing that he had done about the Sabbath His Speech he divideth into these two heads 1. To shew what his work and authority was as he was the Messias And 2. To shew what testimony there was of his so
Christ which they mistook should be a spiritual power which even just now was to begin and of this power he tells they should receive and dilate and carry on his Kingdom §. Certain Articles or Positions tending to the confutation of the Jews in this point and the Millenaries that concur in many things with them 1. That the Book of Daniel speaketh nothing of the state of the Jews beyond the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 2. That the Revelation intendeth not the stories and times that are written in Daniel but taketh at him and beginneth where Daniel left to discourse the state of the new Jerusalem when the old one was ruined 3. That the fourth Monarchy in Daniel is not Rome nor possibly can be Dan. 7. 11 12. well weighed together 4. That the blasphemous horn in Dan. 7. 8 25. c. is not Antichrist but Antiochus 5. That Antichrist shall not be destroyed before the calling of the Jews but shall persecute them when they are converted as well as he hath done the Church of the Christians And that the slaying of the two Prophets Rev. 11. aimeth at this very thing to shew that Antichrist shall persecute the Church of Jews and Gentiles when towards the end of the world they shall be knit together in profession of the Gospel 6. That the calling of the Jews shall be in the places of their residence among the Christians and their calling shall not cause them to chang place but condition 7. That Ezekiels New Jerusalem is bigger in compass by many hundreds of miles than all the land of Canaan ever was in its utmost extent 8. That the earth was cursed from the beginning Gen. 3. 17. and therefore Christs Kingdom not to be of the cursed earth Joh. 18. 36. 9. That the Kingdom everlasting that began after the destruction of the fourth beast Dan. 2. 44. 7. 14. 27. was the Kingdom of Christ in the Gospel and began with the Gospel preached among the Gentiles 10. That the binding of Satan for a thousand years beginneth from the same date 11. That his binding up is not from persecuting the Church but from deceiving the Nations Rev. 20. 3 8. 12. That multitudes of those places of the Old Testament that are applied by the Jews and Millenaries to the people of the Jews and their earthly prosperity do purposely intend the Church of the Gentiles and their spiritual happiness Vers. 8. But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you §. 1. How many of the Disciples were spectators of Christs ascension It is apparent by this Evangelist both in this place and in his Gospel that there were divers others that were spectators of this glorious sight beside the twelve For in the 14 verse he hath named both the women and the brethren of Christ which number of men in vers 15. he hath summed to 120 as we shall see there And so likewise in his Gospel Chap. 24. he hath so carried the Story as that it appeareth by him that the beholders of his first appearing after his Resurrection were also the beholders of his Ascension for at vers 33. he speaketh of the eleven and them that were with them and from thence forward he hath applied the story until the ascension indifferently to them all And this thing will be one argument for us hereafter to prove that the whole hundred and twenty mentioned vers 15. of this Chapter received the Gift of Tongues and not the twelve only Vers. 9. While they beheld he was taken up §. The year of Christ at his Ascension The time of Christs conversing upon earth cometh into dispute viz. whether it were 32 years and an half or 33 and an half mainly upon the construction of this clause Luke 3. 23. Jesus began to be about 30 years of age when he was baptized For though it be agreed on that the time of his Ministry or from his Baptism to his suffering was three years and an half yet is it controverted upon that Text whether to begin those from his entring upon his 30 year current or from finishing that year compleat The Text speaketh out for the former and in that it saith He began to be thirty it denieth his being thirty compleat and in that it saith He began to be * * * So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thirty after a certain reckoning or as it were thirty it denieth his drawing upon thirty compleat likewise For if he were full thirty it were improper to say he began to be thirty and if he were drawing on to full thirty then were it proper to have said he began to be thirty indeed and not began to be as it were thirty Therefore the manner of speech doth clearly teach us to reckon that Jesus was now nine and twenty years old compleat and was just entring upon his thirtieth year when he was baptized and so doth it follow without any great scruple that he was crucified rose again and ascended when he was now thirty two years and an half old compleat which we must write his thirty third year current §. 2. The age of the world at our Saviours death resurrection and ascension We have shewed elsewhere that these great things of our Saviours suffering and exaltation came to pass in the year of the world 3960 then half passed or being about the middle It will be needless to spend time to prove and confirm it here The summing up these several sums which were as so many links of that chain will make it apparent From the Creation to the Flood 1656 Gen. 5. 6 7. c. From the Flood to the Promise to Abraham Gen. 12. 427 Gen. 11. 12. From the Promise to the Delivery from Egypt 430 Exod. 12. 40. Gal. 3. 17. From the coming out of Egypt to the founding of Solomons Temple 480 1 Kings 6. 1. From the founding to the finishing of the Temple 7 1 Kings 6. 38. From finishing the Temple to the revolt of the ten Tribes 30 1 Kings 6. 38. 11. 40. compar From the revolt of the ten Tribes to the burning of the Temple 390 Ezek. 4. 5 6. From the burning of the Temple to the return from Babel 50 Jer. 25. 11 12. 2 Chron. 36. 6. 9 10. 2 King 25. 2 3. presly compar From the return from Babel to the death of Christ. 490 Dan. 9. 24 c. Total 3960  And hereupon it doth appear that as the Temple was finished by Solomon just Anno Mundi 3000. So that it was fired by Titus just Anno Mundi 4000. Jerusalem being dostroyed exactly 40 years after Christs death as was shewed even now Vers. 12. Olivet which is from Ierusalem a Sabbaths days journey §. 1. Why the Evangelist doth measure this distance at this time This is the first matter of scruple in these words and it is material to take notice of it the rather because that this same Evangelist
28 45. 12. 19. 42. and divers other places be well weighed and it will be utterly unimaginable that there should be less believers in Jerusalem now than many hundreds much more unimaginable that these one hundred and twenty were all who were all Galileans and no inhabitants of Jerusalem at all This number therefore mentioned by the Evangelist of one hundred and twenty is not to be thought all the Church in that City but only the society and company that were of Christs own train and retinue whilst he was upon earth that companied with him all the time that he went in and out among his Disciples Acts 1. 21. And this company though it be mingled and dispersed among the Congregations in the City for preaching the Word and administring the Sacraments and joyning in acts of worship yet did they keep together as a more intire and peculiar society and standing Presbytery Act. 4. 21. and of the rest durst none joyn himself unto them Acts 5. 13. and thus they continued till the persecution at Stephens death dispersed them all but the Apostles Acts 3. 1. Vers. 16. This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled I apprehend not what the word have doth in this clause for it had been both more proper for the sense and more facil for the reader to have it read This Scripture must needs be fulfilled Now the application of these places so pertinently and home to Judas sheweth the illumination and knowledge that the breathing and giving of the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. 22. had wrought in the Disciples Vers. 18. This man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity Not that he himself bought this field for Matthew resolves the contrary Matth. 27. 7. and tells that it was bought by the Chief Priest for his damned bribe Nor was any such thing in his intention when he bargained for his money but Peter by a bitter irrision sheweth the fruit and profit of his wretched covetise and how he that thought to inlarge his Revenues and to settle his habitation by such horrid means came home by it with the contrary his revenues to purchase land for others his habitation to be desolate and himself to come to so sad an end §. And falling headlong c. Universality antiquity and consent have so determinately concluded that Judas hanged himself that there is no gainsaying yet hath the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 left it so indifferent whether he hanged himself or were strangled by the Devil that if I were not tied up by the consent of all to the contrary I should the rather take it the latter way And if I durst so interpret it I should render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this purpose that Satan took him away bodily strangled him in the air and then flung him headlong and burst out his bowels For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui vel a seipso vel ab alio praecipitatur saith Stephanus And to this purpose may that verse of Matth. 27. 5. be very well interpreted And he cast down the silver pieces in the Temple and departed and going away he was strangled the Devil catching him away and stifling him and then casting him headlong and bursting out of him with the eruption of his intrals and this terrible occurrence would soon be noted of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem Acts 1. 19. Vers. 19. Accldama 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a field of blood by a double relation First Because it was bought with a price of blood Math. 27. 7. And secondly Because it was sprinkled with his blood that took that price for so this verse intimateth Vers. 21. Wherefore of these men that have companied with us §. Observations upon the election of Matthias First That there was a necessity the Apostles be twelve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and this that the Founders of the Christian Church might be parallel to the twelve Tribes the founders of the Jewish for now Jews and Christians were to join together and this is hinted in the twenty four Elders the representative body of the Church so often mentioned in the Revelation and spoken out Rev. 21. 12. 14. Secondly That Matthias and Joses being chosen to the presented to the Apostles the election was not the choice of the whole Church as if every member of the Church and believer in Jerusalem either did or might give his vote to the choosing of them but it was only the choice of the whole Presbytery or the hundred and eight among themselves for so is it most plain vers 15. 21. being compared together Observe the phrase Of these men that have companied with us Thirdly That the Apostles could not ordain an Apostle by imposition of hands as they could ordain Elders but they are forced to use a divine lot which was as the immediate hand of Christ imposed on him that was to be ordained that opinion took little notice of this circumstance that hath placed Bishops in the place of the Apostles by a common and successive ordination Vers. 25. Ioseph called Barsabas who was sirnamed Iustus This seemeth to be he that is called Joses Mark 6. 3. 15. 40. the brother of James the less and the rather to be so supposed because he is surnamed Justus as James was And so saith Beza one old Copy readeth Joses here and the Syriack for Joses readeth Joseph in Chap. 4. 36. so indifferently are the names used one for another And from this indifferency have some concluded that Joseph here and Joses in that Chapter are but one and the same person the nearness of the sound of Barsabas and Barnabas helping forward that supposal But first that Joses or Joseph in Chap. 4. 36. was born in Cyprus this Joseph or Joses here was born in Galilee Secondly Although the Apostles belike had named these two Josephs to distinguish them the one Barsabas and the other Barnabas two names that are not far asunder in sound and utterance yet are they in sense and in the Apostles intention if they named the one as they did the other Barnabas is interpreted by the Evangelist himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred generally the Son of consolation but the Greek may as well bear the Son of exhortation for so it is known well enough the word familiarly signifieth The Syriack useth indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for consolation Luke 6. 24. Phil. 2. 1. Rom. 12. 8. 2 Cor. 1. 4 5. and in the place in hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place last cited before it but whether Barnabas may not equally be deduced from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prophesie or instruct I refer to the Reader Be it whether it will certain it is the Etymology and notation doth very far recede from that of Barsabas Some conceive that this signifieth the son of an Oath others the son of fulness but the notation to me seemeth to be the son of wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if we would be
strange Languages when they did speak them but conceived they had babbled some foolish gibberish and canting they themselves could make nothing of as drunken men are used to do And this caused their so wretched a construction of so Divine a Gift For the Jews of the strange Nations and Languages that perceived and understood that the Disciples did speak in their Languages were amazed and said one to another What meaneth this Vers. 12. But these other Jews Natives of Jerusalem and Judea that understood only their own Syriack and did not understand that they spake strange Languages indeed these mocked and said These men are full of new or sweet wine grounding their accusation the rather because that Pentecost was a feasting and rejoycing time Deut. 16. 11. And according to this conception it is observable that Peter begins his speech Ye men of Judea Vers. 14. But Peter standing up with the eleven said c. Reason it self if the Text did not would readily resolve that it was not Peter alone that converted the 3000 that are mentioned after but that the rest of the Apostles were sharers with him in that work For if Peter must be held the only Orator at this time then must it needs be granted that either the 3000 which were converted were all of one Language or that the one Language that he spake seemed to the hearers to be divers Tongues or that he rehearsed the same speech over and over again in divers Languages any of which to grant is sensless and ridiculous and yet unless we will run upon some of these absurdites we may not deny that the rest of the twelve preached now as well as Peter But the Text besides this gives us these arguments to conclude the matter to be undoubted First It saith Peter stood forth with the eleven vers 14. Now why should the eleven be mentioned standing forth as well as Peter if they spake not as well as he They might as well have sitten still and Peters excuse of them would as well have served the turn It was not Peter alone that stood forth to excuse the eleven but Peter and the eleven that stood forth to excuse the rest of the hundred and twenty Secondly It is said They were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles What shall we do Why should they question and ask counsel of the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter if they had not preached as well as he Thirdly And it is a confirmation that so they did in that it is said Vers. 42. They continued in the Doctrine of the Apostles of the rest as well as Peter Fourthly If that were the occasion that we mentioned why they suspected the Apostles and the rest drunk then will it follow that Peter preached and spake in the Syriack Tongue chiefly to those Jews of Judea and Jerusalem that would not believe because they could not understand that the Disciples spake strange Languages but thought they canted some drunken gibberish And to give some probability of this not only his preface Ye men of Judea but also his laying flatly the murder of Christ to their charge Vers. 22. 23. do help to confirm it and the conclusion of his Sermon and of the story in the Evangelist doth set it home that if Peter preached not only to these Natives of Judea yet that he only preached not at this time but that the others did the like with him in that it is said They that gladly received his words were baptized and then as speaking of another story he saith there were added about the same day 3000 souls Now the reason why Peters Sermon is only recorded and the story more singularly fixed on him we observed before §. Brief observations upon some passages in Peters Sermon Vers. 15. It is but the third hour of the day And on these solemn Festival days they used not to eat or drink any thing till high noon as Baronius would observe out of Josephus and Acts 10. Vers. 17. In the last days The days of the Gospel because there is no way of salvation to be expected beyond the Gospel whereas there was the Gospel beyond the law and the law beyond the light of the ages before it Yet is this most properly to be understood of those days of the Gospel that were before Jerusalem was destroyed And the phrase the last days used here and in divers other places is not to be taken for the last days of the world but for the last days of Jerusalem the destruction of which and the rejection of the Jews is reputed the end of that old world and the coming in of the Gentiles under the Gospel is as a new world and is accordingly called a new Heaven and a new Earth Upon all flesh Upon the Heathens and Gentiles as well as upon the Jews Act. 10. 45. contrary to the axiome of the Jewish Schools 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine Majesty dwelleth not on any out of the Land of Israel Vers. 20. Before the great and notable day of the Lord come The day of Jerusalems destruction which was forty years after this as was observed before so that all these gifts and all the effusion of the Spirit that were to be henceforward were to be within the time betwixt this Pentecost and Jerusalem destroyed And they that from hence would presage prophetick and miraculous gifts and visions and revelations to be towards the end of the world might do better to weigh what the expression The great and terrible day of the Lord meaneth here and elsewhere in the Prophets The blood of the Son of God the fire of the Holy Ghosts appearance the vapour of the smoke in which Christ ascended the Sun darkned and the Moon made blood at his passion were all accomplished upon this point of time and it were very improper to look for the accomplishment of the rest of the prophesie I know not how many hundreds or thousands of years after Vers. 24. Having loosed the pains of death or rather Having dissolved the pains of death meaning in reference to the people of God namely that God raised up Christ and by his resurrection dissolved and destroyed the pangs and power of death upon his own people Vers. 27. Thou wilt not leave my soul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Thou wilt not give my soul up And why should not the very same words My God my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be translated to the same purpose Why hast thou left me and given me up to such hands and shame and tortures rather than to intricate the sense with a surmise of Christs spiritual desertion In Hell Gr. Hades the state of souls departed but their condition differenced according to the difference of their qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diphilus apud Clem. Alex. Strom. 5. Vers. 38. Be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that their Baptism was not
the Syriack translates it until the fulness of the time of all things c. And the Arabick did not much different until the time in which all things shall be perfected or finished c. The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed signifieth a restitution to a former estate a repairing or an amending as might be frequently shewed in Greek Writers but in Scripture doth not so properly signifie this as what the Rabbins would express by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fulfilling or accomplishing and the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not so much stand in the force of Re or again but it stands in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privative in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth unsetled or unconfirmed and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polyb. Hist. lib. 4. Settlement of a City to tumult And to take up these two places where this word is used in the New Testament Matth. 17. 11. and here Elias indeed shall first come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall restore all things What To their former estate Nay that the Baptist did not for he brought them into a clean different estate to their former or he shall amend all things That is true indeed so the Baptist did but how will this place in hand bear that sense which speaketh not of the mending of all things but of their ending And how improper would either of these senses run in this verse Till the restoring of all things to their former estate which God hath spoken by the mouth of his Prophets Or till the amending of all things which God hath spoken by his Prophets But clear and facil is that sense that is given Till the accomplishment of all things that God hath spoken by the mouth of his Prophets The things which God had spoken by the mouth of his Prophets from the beginning of the world were Christs victory over Satan in the Salvation of all his people his conquest of the last enemy Death the calling of the Jews the fulness of the Gentiles c. and how can these things be said to be restored or amended They may most fitly be said to be accomplished perfected or performed and so must the same words be rendred of the Baptist Elias truly cometh and accomplisheth all things that are written of him and so must the Son of man do all things that are written of him as Mark follows the sense Mark 9. 12. Vers. 24. All the Prophets from Samuel He is reckoned the first of the Prophets after Moses First Because Prophesie from the death of Moses to the rising of Samuel was very rare 1 Sam. 3. 1 2. Secondly Because he was the first Prophet after Moses that wrote his Prophesie From the beginning of Samuels rule to the beginning of the captivity in Babel was 490 years and from the end of that captivity to the death of Christ 490 years more and the 70 years captivity the midst of years between as I have shewed elsewhere But I must advertise the Reader here that the beginning of Samuels Prophetickness in this reckoning is not from the death of Eli but from one and twenty years after And here let me take up a verse of as much difficulty and of as little observing of it as almost any in the Old Testament as that is 1 Sam. 7. 2. And it came to pass while the Ark abode at Kiriath-jearim that the time was long for it was twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now the Ark was undeniably above forty years in Kiriath-jearim namely all the time from Elies death till David fetcht it to Jerusalem which was seven and forty years and somewhat above only that first excepted in which it was seven months in the Land of the Philistims 1 Sam. 6. 1. and a little time in Bethshemesh what then should be the reason that it is said to be in Kiriath-jearim only twenty years Why the meaning is not that that was all the time that it was there but that it was there so long a time before the people ever hearkned after it Their idolatry and corruption of Religion had so transported them that they thought not of nor took regard to the Ark of God for twenty years together Then all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord for so must it be rendred and not And all the house of Israel c. And so have we one and twenty years taken up from the Death of Eli till this time of Israels repentance which yet are counted to Samuels forty but are not reckoned in the account of Habakkuk of the extent of the race of the Prophets Upon this place therefore we may take up these pertinent observations First That God did now on a suddain pour a spirit of Reformation generally upon all the people of Israel after a long time of prophaneness and Idolatry They had been exceedingly prophane in the time of Elies sons And therefore the Lord in justice forsook his Tabernacle in Shiloh the Tent which he had pitched besides Adam when Israel passed through Jordan Josh. 3. 16. Psal. 78. 60. and he gave the Ark into the Enemies hand yet was not Israel humbled for it The Ark was restored to them and was among them twenty years together and they continued in their Idolatry still and never sought after it nor took it to heart At last upon a suddain and with a general conversion Israel begins to turn to the Lord and lament after him and forsake their Idols Secondly Here was a strange and wondrous spirit of conversion poured upon the people at the beginning of the race of the Prophets as there was at the end of it in these Chapters of the Acts of the Apostles Thirdly As the practise here in the Acts was to repent and to be baptized so was it then with Israel as that expression may most properly be interpreted vers 6. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord as washing or baptizing themselves from their Idolatry Vers. 25. Ye are the children of the Prophets That is the Scholars or Disciples of them as the phrase The children of the Prophets is ordinarily used in the Old Testament 2 King 2. c. and Amos 7. 14. I was neither Prophet no Prophets son that is nor Prophets Scholar And Matth. 11. 19. Wisdom is justified of her children that is of her Disciples ACTS CHAP. IV. Vers. 1. The Captain of the Temple THIS was the Captain of that Guard or Garison which was placed in the Tower of Antonia for the guard of the Temple This Tower stood in the North-east corner of the wall that parted the mountain of the House from the City It was built by Hyrcanus the Asmonean the High Priest and there he himself dwelt and there he used to lay up the holy Garments of the Priest-hood whensoever he put them off having done the Service of the Temple Joseph Antiq.
Suetonius Quid scribam vobis P. C. aut Sueton in Tibâ—â— c. 67. quomodo scribam aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore Dii me Deaeque pejus perdant quem perire quotidie sentio si scio What I shall write to you O fathers conscript or how I shall write or what I shall not write at all at this time the gods and goddesses confound me worse than I feel my self to perish daily if I can tell Whereupon Suetonius saith that being weary of himself he almost confesseth the sum of his miseries But my other author thus largely Thus did even his villanies and flagitiousness turn to punishment to himself Nor was it in vain that the wisest of men was wont to affirm that if the minds of Tyrants were but opened tortures and stripes might be spied there seeing that the mind is butchered with cruelty lust and evil projects as the body is with blows For not solitariness not fortune could protect Tiberius but that he confesseth the torments of his breast and his own punishment PART III. The affairs of the JEWS §. 1. A commotion of them IF the Method of Josephus were Chronical and the order of his ranking of Stories to be presumed for the order of their falling out at this time or hereabout should be taken in that * * * Egesip de â—â—cid â—eâ—us l. 2. cap â— famosum ludibrium as Egesippus calleth it or villanous abuse of Paulina a noble chaste and vertuous wife and Lady of Rome by Mundus a Knight under pretext of the god Anubis in the Temple of Isis for this hath * * * Ioseph Antiq lib. 18. c. 4. he mentioned the very next thing after the mention of our Saviours death and with this link of connexion About the very same time another grievance troubled the Jews and shameful things happened about the Temple of Isis at Rome c. But since the story concerning the troubles of the Jews that he relateth after seemeth to have some near dependence and consequence to this of the Lady and that * * * Annal. lib. 2 Tacitus hath laid that occurrence of the Jews expulsion out of Rome thirteen years before this under the consulship of Junius Silanus and Norbanus Flaccus we will omit to meddle with them and will take in another story of the Jews which though Josephus hath placed a little before Christs death yet Eusebius hath set it after and upon his word shall it be commended to the reader for its time and upon the others and Philoes for its truth Pilate as * * * Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 4. de bello Iud. 2. c. 1â— saith Josephus having secretly brought into Jerusalem by night certain Images of Caesar and set them up the people when the matter was known repaired to him to Caesarea begging that they might be taken down which when he denied as a thing prejudicial to Caesar they fell flat upon the ground and there lay five days and five nights and stirred not thence On the sixth day he pretending to give them an answer from the judgment seat doth suddenly inviron them with armed men threatning their death if they cease not their importunity But they falling upon the ground again and laying their necks bare return him this answer That they would gladly imbrace death â—ather than transgress the wisdom of their Laws Whose resolution when Pilate saw he caused the Images to be fetched away from Jerusalem to Caesarea To this purpose Joseâ—hus but Philo far differently thus * * * Philo in lâ—gat ad Cajâ—â—â— Pilate saith he dedicated golden shields in the Palace of Herod in the holy City not so much for the honour of Tiberius as to vex the people of the Jews upon them there was neither picture nor any thing that was forbidden but only the inscription shewed who had dedicated them and to whom Yet when the multitude had understanding of the thing and the matter was divulged they chose certain of the highest rank among them for their advocates who besought him that the innovation might be taken away and that their Laws might not When he roughly denied for he was naturally inflexible and self-wilfully sturdy they make fair before him as if they would petition to Tiberius Now that fretted him worst of all for he was afraid lest they should do so indeed and accuse him for his other crimes his bribery wrongs rapines injuries oppressions murders and horrid cruelties and yet durst he not take down again what he had dedicated nor had he any mind to pleasure the people Which when they perceived they sent a most humble petition to Tiberius who understanding what Pilate had done and what he had threatned rebuked and checked him for his innovating boldness and commanded him speedily to take the shields away and so they were removed from Jerusalem to Caesarea Thus Philo and thus differently these two Country men and that in a matter which so nearly concerned their own Country and which also befel so near unto their own times For Philo was now alive and in his prime and so was Josephus less than thirty years after Be it referred to the readers choice which of these relations he will take and when he hath made his choice another difference falleth under his arbitration concerning the time betwixt Eusebius which placeth this occurrence after our Saviours passion and Baronius that hath set it three years before his baptism The Cardinal certainly too forward in bringing it in in the first year of Pilate for it appeareth by Philo that he had done a great multitude of villanies among the Jews before he did this and the Father if any whit too backward in ranking it after our Saviours death yet excusable for a thing of so pregnant application as to shew how soon the Jews that had chosen Caesar before Christ have now their belly full of their Caesar in his Images §. 2. Of James his being Bishop of Jerusalem The two last cited Authors though they differ about the time of the story forenamed yet have they agreed unanimously and many others with them about this in hand namely that James was made this year the Bishop of Jerusalem For thus Eusebius Ecclesiae Hierosolymorum primus Episcopus ab Apostolis ordinatur Jacobus frater Domini But Baronius far larger that he was ordained Bishop by Peter that his chair was preserved and reverenced to posterity that he wore a plate of gold upon his head like the High Priest in the Law from whence he would derive the Miter that he alone might go into the Sanctum Sanctorum that he refrained from wine and flesh that he was a Nazarite that his knees were hardned with continual praying till they were unsensible and such like stuff for which he citeth his seveal Authors that if common sense were not a better informer than common fame we should be made to believe any thing whatsoever The question indeed whether James
his friends to a most miserable and intolerable imprisonment and being solicited and earnestly sued unto that he might be speedily executed and put out of his misery he flatly denyed it saying That he was not grown friends with him yet Such was the penance that he put poor Gallus to a life far worse than a present death for he ought him more spite and torture than a suddain execution The miserable man being imprisoned and straitly looked to not so much for fear of his escape by flight as of his escape by death was denyed the sight and conference of any one whosoever but him only that brought him his pitiful dyet which served only to prolong his wretched life and not to comfort it and he was forced to take it for he must by no means be suffered to dy Thus lived if it may be called a life a man that had been of the honourablest rank and office in the City lingring and wishing for death or rather dying for three years together and now at last he findeth the means to famish himself and to finish his miserable bondage with as miserable an end to the sore displeasure of the Emperour for that he had escaped him and not come to publick execution Such an end also chose Nerva one of his near friends and familiars but not like the other because of miseries past or present but because of fear and foresight of such to come His way that he took to dispatch himself of his life was by total abstinence and refusal of food which when Tiberius perceived was his intent he sits down by him desires to know his reason and begs with all earnestness of him that he would desist from such a design For what scandal saith he will it be to me to have one of my nearest friends to end his own life and no cause given why he should so die But Nerva satisfied him not either in answer or in act but persisted in his pining of himself and so dyed § 6. The miserable ends of Agrippina and Drusus To such like ends came also Agrippina and Drusus the Wife and Son of Germanicus and Mother and Brother of Caius the next Emperour that should succeed These two the Daughter in law and Grandchild of Tiberius himself had about four years ago been brought into question by his unkind and inhuman accusation and into hold and custody until this time It was the common opinion that the cursed instigation of Sejanus whom the Emperour had raised purposely for the ruine of Germanicus his house had set such an accusation on foot and made the man to be so cruel towards his own family but when the two accursed ones had miserably survived the wicked Sejanus and yet nothing was remitted of their prosecution then opinion learned to lay the fault where it deserved even on the cruelty and spite of Tiberius himself Drusus is adjudged by him to die by famine and miserable and woeful wretch that he was he sustaineth his life for nine days together by eating the flocks out of his bed being brought to that lamentable and unheard of dyet through extremity of hunger Here at last was an end of Drusus his misery but so was there not of Tiberius his cruelty towards him for he denyed the dead body burial in a fitting place he reviled and disgraced the memory of him with hideous and feigned scandals and criminations and shamed not to publish in the open Senate what words had passed from the pining man against Tiberius himself when in agony through hunger he craved meat and was denyed it Oh what a sight and hearing was this to the eyes and ears of the Roman people to behold him that was a child of their darling and delight Germanicus to be thus barbarously and inhumanely brought to his end and to hear his own Grandfather confess the action and and not dissemble it Agrippina the woeful Mother might dolefully conjecture what would become of her self by this fatal and terrible end of the poor Prince her Son And it was not long but she tasted of the very same cup both of the same kind of death and of the same kind of disgracing after For being pined after the same manner that it might be coloured that she did it of her self a death very unfitting the greatest Princess then alive she was afterward slandered by Tiberius for adultery with Gallus that died so lately and that she caused her own death for grief of his She and her Son were denyed burial befitting their degree but hid in some obscure place where no one knew which was no little distast and discontentment to the people The Tyrant thought it a special cause of boasting and extolling his own goodness that she had not been strangled nor dyed the death of common base offenders And since it was her fortune to die on the very same day that Sejanus had done two years before viz. Octob. 17. it must be recorded as of special observation and great thanks given for the matter and an annual sacrifice instituted to Jupiter on that day Caius her Son and Brother to poor Drusus took all this very well or at least seemed so to do partly glad to be shut of any one that was likely to have any colour or likelyhood of corrivality with him in his future reign and partly being brought up in such a School of dissimulation and grown so perfect a Scholar there that he wanted little of Tiberius This year he married Claudia the daughter of M. Silanus a man that would have advised him to good if he would have hearkned but afterward he matched with a mate and stock more fitting his evil nature Ennia the Wife of Macro but for advantage resigned by her Husband Macro to the adulterating of Caius and then to his marriage § 7. Other Massacres The death of Agrippina drew on Plancina's a Woman that never accorded with her in any thing but in Tiberius his displeasure and in a fatal and miserable end This Plancina in the universal mourning of the state for the loss of Germanicus rejoyced at it and made that her sport which was the common sorrow of all the State How poor Agrippina relished this being deprived of so rare a Husband can hardly be thought of without joyning with her in her just and mournfull indignation Tiberius having a spleen at the woman for some other respect had now a fair colour to hide his revenge under to call her to account and that with some applause But here his revenge is got into a strait for if he should put her to death it may be it would be some content to Agrippina and therefore not to pleasure her so much he will not pleasure the other so much neither as with present death but keepeth her in lingring custody till Agrippina be gone and then must she follow but her resoluteness preventeth the Executioner and to escape anothers she dieth by her own hand Let us make up the heap
Grecian studies of Philosophy but with more vainglory than solidity He not contented to have been a personal accuser of the Jews to Caius in that their Embassie wrote also bitterly against them in his Egyptian History to disgrace them to posterity Of which Josephus that wrote two books in answer of him giveth this censure That some things that he had written were like to what others had written before other things very cold some calumnious and some very unlearned And the end and death of this blackmouthed railer he describeth thus To me it seemeth that he was justly punished for his blasphemies even against his own Country laws for he was circumcised of necessity having an ulcer about his privities and being nothing helped by the cutting or circumcising but putrifying with miserable pains he died Contr. Apion lib. 2. §. 8. Philo the Jew Philo was a Jew by Nation and Alexandrian by birth by line of the kindred of the Priests and by family the brother of Alexander Alabarcha His education was in learning and that mixed according to his original and residence of the Jews and of the Greeks his proof was according to his education versed in the learning of both the Nations and not inferior to the most learned in either From this mixture of his knowledge proceeded the quaintness of his stile and writing explaining Divinity by Philosophy or rather forcing Philosopy out of Divinity that he spoiled the one and did not much mend the other Hence his Allegories which did not only obscure the clear Text but also much soil the Theology of succeeding times His language is sweet smooth and easie and Athens it self is not more elegant and Athenian For attaining to the Greek in Alexandria partly naturally that being a Grecian City and partly by study as not native Grecians used to do he by a mixture of these two together came to the very Apex and perfection of the language in copiousness of words and in choice His stile is always fluent and indeed often to superfluity dilating his expressions sometimes so copious that he is rather prodigal of words than liberal and sheweth what he could say if the cause required b◠saying so much when there is little or no cause at all And to give him his character for this in short He is more a Philosopher than a Scripture man in heart and more a Rhetorician than a Philosopher in tongue His manner of writing is more ingenious than solid and seemeth rather to draw the subject whereon he writeth whither his fancy pleaseth than to follow it whither the nature and inclination of it doth incline Hence his allegorizing of whatsoever cometh to his hand and his peremptory confidence in whatsoever he doth allegorize insomuch that sometimes he perswadeth himself that he speaketh mysteries as pag 89. and sometimes he checketh the Scripture if it speak not as he would have it as pag. 100. How too many of the Fathers in the Primitive Church followed him in this his vein it is too well known to the loss of too much time both in their writing and in our reading Whether it were because he was the first that wrote upon the Bible or rather because he was the first that wrote in this strain whose writings came unto their hands that brought him into credit with Christian Writers he was so far followed by too many that while they would explain Scripture they did but intricate it and hazarded to lose the truth of the story under the cloud of the Allegory The Jews have a strain of writing upon the Scripture that flieth in a higher region than the writings of Christians as is apparent to him that shall read their Authors Now Philo being a Jew and naturally affecting like them to soar in a high place and being by his education in the Grecian wisdom more Philosophical than the Jews usually were and by inclination much affected with that learning he soareth the Jewish pitch with his Grecian wings and attaineth to a place in which none had flown in before unless the Therapeutae of whom hereafter writing in a strain that none had used before and which too many or at least many too much used after of his many strange and mysterious matters that he findeth out in his vein of allegorizing let the Reader taste but some As see what he saith of the invisible Word of God pag. 5. and pag. 24. 169. 152. How he is a Pythagorean for numbers pag. 8. and pag. 15 16 31. where he is even bewitched with the number Seven and pag. 32 33. as the Therapeutae were 695. from whom he seemeth to have sucked in his Divinity Pag. 9. He accounteth the Stars to presage future things whom in pag. 12. he almost calleth intelligible Creatures pag. 168. and immortal Spirits pag. 222. Pag. 12. He seemeth to think that God had some Coadjutors in mans Creation Pag. 15. God honored the seventh day and called it holy for it is festival not to one people or region only but to all which is worthy to be called the festivity of the people and the nativity of the world Pag. 43. He distinguished betwixt Adam formed and made earthly and heavenly Pag. 57. He teacheth strange Doctrine which followeth more copiously p. 61. about two natures created in man good and bad Pag. 68. Observe his temperance when his list Pag. 86. He believeth that his soul had sometime her raptures and taught him strange profound and unknown speculations as there she doth concerning the Trinity and in pag. 89. He thinketh he talketh mysteries Pag. 94. Faith the most acceptable Sacrifice an unexpected confession from a Jew Pag. 100. He checketh Joseph the Patriarch for impropriety of speech and he will teach him how to speak Pag. 102. Speaking of the death of Moses he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He is not gathered or added fainting or failing as men had done before for he admitted not either of addition or defection but he is translated or passeth away by the Authority of that efficient word by which the universe was made Pag. 122. He is again very unmannerly and uncivil with Joseph and so is he again in pag. 152. he had rather lose his friend than his jest and censure so great a Patriarch than miss his Allegory That Aaron used imposition of hands upon Moses pag. 126. Pag. 127. That Abel slain yet liveth as Heb. 11. Pag. 152. God like a Shepherd and King governeth all things in the world by right and equity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Setting over them his upright word which is his first begotten Son who taketh the care of this sacred herd like the Deputy of some great King Pag. 161. He sheweth his learning is the great Encyclica Pag. 168. He calleth Angels Genii and Heroes according to the Greeks and holdeth that they were created in the air but in the superiour part of it near the Sky and fly up and down there pag. 221 222. Pag.
Agrippa having laid hold upon him deferred his execution till after the Passover e e e Sanctius in Act. 12. either because he would not defile that holy feast with effusion of humane blood or because he would afflict Peter the more and give the Jews the greater content by his long restraint and strait imprisonment or rather because he feared a tumult if he should have slain him in that concourse of people as was there at Passover time Thus lay he guarded with four quaternions or as the Syriack hath it with sixteen Souldiers which as it seemeth watched him by course for the four watches of the night two close by him and two at the gate Besides these two and two successive jaylors he was bound with two chains and if f f f Sanct. ubi supra ex Chrysost some say true his two keepers were tied for the more sureness in the same chains with him Happy men were they sure that had so great interest in these happy chains which if you dare believe g g g Augusti 8. c. 18 19 20. Surius had the virtue to work Miracles to diffuse Grace to procure Holiness to heal Diseases to affright the Devil and to defend Christians They were preserved saith he by some of Herods servants that believed and in process of time laid up for a sacred relique at Constantinople and there either he or they lie That very night that preceded Peters intended execution he being fast asleep between his keepers is waked loosed and delivered by an Angel h h h Anna ad ann Baronius maketh a great matter of it that the whole Church prayed for Peter whilst he was in prison and since the like is not related to have been done by them for any other he will needs from hence infer his primacy the whole flock praying for her universal Pastor whereas the reasons of this expression are apparent to be only these two First To shew that the Church was praying for him whilst he was sleeping for after he had taken a part of his first sleep this night he cometh to the house of John Mark and they are there still out of their beds and at prayer Secondly Because the fruit of their prayers were shewed in his delivery There is no doubt but constant prayers were made for James by the whole Church whilst he was in prison as well as for Peter but so much is not expressed because the story could not answer that relation with relation of his delivery And Atheism and profaneness would have been ready to have scoffed that the whole Church should have prayed in vain The Angel and Peter thus loosed pass two watches and then come to the iron gate there are some that hold these watches to be two prisons and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be taken as it were passively for places where men are kept and that Peter was in a Gaol within these two as in the worst basest and surest place and that all were closed with a gate of Iron But i i i Vid. Baron others hold these watches to be guards of men and that the prison was without the City between or within the two outmost walls but in these things it is not material to insist for determination The latter is far the more probable both in regard of the signification of the Greek word and that Josephus mentioneth three walls about Jerusalem and divers towers in every wall as also in regard of the greater heightning of the miracle in that Peter escapeth not only his own sixteen mens watch at the prison door but also two watches more at the two walls gates and the second which was the Iron gate gave them free passage of its own accord Peter being cleared of the danger and left of the Angel betaketh himself to the house of Mary the mother of John Mark where when Rhoda upon his knocking and speech averred constantly it was Peter the whole company there assembled conclude that it was his Angel Here is some ambiguity about their thus concluding k k k Chrysost. in loc hom 27. Some understand it of his tutelar Angel and from hence would strongly plead the opinion that every man hath his proper and allotted Angel to attend him But first we sometimes read of one Angel attending many men Secondly Sometimes of many Angels attending one man But thirdly If the matter may be agitated by reason if a singular Angel be destined to the attendance of every singular man what doth that Angel do till his man be born especially what did all the Angels but Adams and Eves and a few more for many hundreds of years till the world was full l l l Vid. Salmâ—ron en locum Others therefore understand it of a messenger which the Disciples supposed Peter had sent to them upon some errand But this opinion is easily confuted by Rhoda's owning of Peters voice m m m Arâ—tius in loc There is yet a third opinion as much unwarrantable as either of these That the Disciples concluded that an Angel by this knocking and voice came to give them notice of Peters death to be near at hand and that therefore they call him his Angel and that it was sometimes so used that one Saint should know of anothers death by such revelations The Jews indeed in their writings make frequent mention of Samael the Angel of death but they call him so for inflicting it and not for foretelling it And we have some examples indeed in the Ecclesiastical history of one man knowing of anothers death by such revelations and apparitions as these but because those stories are very dubitable in themselves and that the Scripture is utterly without any such precedent this interpretation is but utterly groundless and unwarrantable The most proper and most easie meaning therefore of those words of the Disciples It is his Angel seemeth to be that they took it for some Angel that had assumed Peters shape or stood at the gate in his resemblance Vers. 17. He departed and went to another place The place whither he went is not to be known because not revealed by Scripture As for his going to Rome which is the gloss that Papists set upon this place it is a thing senseless and ridiculous as was touched before and might be shewed at large were it worth the labour I should as soon nominate Antioch for the place whither he went at this time as any other place at a far distance For I cannot imagine any time when he and Paul should meet at Antioch and Paul reprove him Gal. 2. 11. so likely as this time for it is most probable that Peter being put to flee for his life would get out of the territories of Herod for his safety now there was no place more likely for his safety than in Antioch where not only the distance of place might preserve him but the new born Church would seek to secure
parts of those that went out So that were I to describe the City as I am now about describing the Temple I should place the Gate Sur somewhere in Sion and there also should I place the Gate behind the Guard and it would not be very hard to gather up fair probability of their situation there Now though so strong Guards were set both in the Temple and in Zion yet Athaliah for whom all this ado is made comes up into the Temple so far as to see the young King at his Pillar in the Court before the East-Gate and no man interrupts her partly because she was Queen partly because she came alone and chiefly because they knew not Jehoiadas mind concerning her But when he bids have her out of the ranges they laid hold upon her and spared her till she was down the Causey Shallecheth and then they slew her If by the ranges the ranks of men that stood round about the Mountain of the House be not to be understood I should then think they mean either the ranks of Trees that grew on either side that Causey or the Rails that were set on either side it for the stay and safety of those that passed upon it And to this sense Levi Gershom doth not unproperly expound those words in 1 King X. 12. Of the Almug Trees the King made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the house of the Lord and for the Kings house The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie a Prop or Support yet is expressed in 2 Chron. IX 11. The King made of the Almug Trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high ways to the house of the Lord And q q q Ralbag i◠1 King X I think saith the Rabbin that in the ascent that he made to go up to the house of the Lord from the Kings house he made as it were battlements that is Rails on either side of the Almug Trees that a man might stay himself by them as he went along the highway of that ascent And so in other ascents of the house of the Lord or of the Kings house where there were not steps as the rise of the Altar c. SECT I. A credible wonder of the brazen Gate WE will leave the belief of that wonder that hath been mentioned about the brazen Door of Nicanor in its shipwrack to those that record it but we may not pass over another wondrous occurrence related by Josephus of the brazen Gate whether this of Nicanor or the other which he calleth the brazen Gate as by its proper name we will not be curious to examine which is a great deal more worthy of belief and very well deserving consideration He treating of the Prodigies and wonders that presaged the destruction of Jerusalem amongst others he relateth this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The East-Gate of the inner Temple being of brass and a Ios. de bell lib. 6. cap. 31. extream heavy and which could hardly be shut by twenty men being barred and bolted exceeding strong and sure yet was it seen by night to open of its own accord which the simpler and more foolish people did interpret as a very good Omen as if it denoted to them that God would open to them the Gate of all good things But those of a deeper reach and sounder judgment did suspect that it presaged the decay and ruine of the strength of the Temple And with this relation of his do other writers of his own nation concurr who report b b b Iuchasin s. 10 That forty years before the destruction of the City the doors of the Temple opened of their own accord Whereupon Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai after chief of the Sanhedrin cryed out Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may devour And from that time the great Sanhedrin flitted from the room Gazith and so removed from place to place The like saith Rabbi Solomon on Zech. XI 1. Open thy doors O Lebanon c c c R Sol. in Zech. XI He prophecieth saith he of the destruction of the second Temple and forty years before the destruction the Temple doors opened of their own accord Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai rebuked them and said O Temple Temple how long wilt thou trouble thy self I know thy best is to be destroyed for Zechariah the Son of Iddo prophecied thus of thee Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may devour thy Cedars c. There are three remarkable things which the Jews do date from forty years before the destruction of the Temple namely this of the Temple doors opening of themselves and the Sanhedrins flitting from the room Gazith and the Scarlet List on the Scape-goates head not turning white that are as Testimonies against themselves about the death of Christ which occurred exactly forty years before the Temple was destroyed Then the Lord shewed them by the Temple doors opening the shaking of their Ecclesiastical glory and by the flitting of the Sanhedrin the shaking of their civil and by the not whitening of their Scarlet list which had denoted pardon of sin their deep die of sin and guilt for the death of Christ. Compare this self-opening of the Temple doors with the renting of the Veil of the Temple of its own accord and they may help the one to illustrate the other And methinks the words of Rabban Jocanan upon the opening of the doors O Temple how long wilt thou disquiet thy self do seem to argue that before that opening there had been some other such strange trouble in the Temple at that was which might be the renting of the Veil SECT II. A Sanhedrin sitting in this Gate THIS Gate of Nicanor or the East-Gate of the Court was the place where the suspected Wife was tried by drinking of the bitter waters and where the Leper cleansed stood to have his attonement made and to have his cleansing wholly perfected the rites of both which things we have described in their places In this Gate also did Women after child-birth appear for their purification here it was that the Virgin Mary presented her Child Jesus to the Lord Luke II. 22. a a a Talm. in Sanhedr per. 11. In this Gate of Nicanor not in the very passage through it but in some room above or by it there sate a Sanhedrin of three and twenty Judges Now there were three ranks of Judicatories among the Jews A Judicatory or Consistory of three A Judicatory of three and twenty and the great Sanhedrin of seventy one In smaller Towns there was a Triumvirate or a Consistory set up consisting only of three Judges b b b Ibid. per. 1. these judged and determined about mony matters about borrowing filching damages restitutions the forcing or inticing of a maid pulling off the shoe and divers other things that were not capital nor concerned life and death but were of an inferiour concernment and condition In greater Cites there were Sanhedrins of three and twenty which
c Sanhedr cap. â— hal 1. He is a manslayer Whosoever shall strike his Neighbour with a stone or iron or thrust him into the water or fire whence he cannot come out so that he die he is guilty But if he shall thrust another into the water or fire whence he might come out if he dy he is guiltless A man sets a dog or serpent on another he is guiltless See also the Babylonian Gemara there d d d d d d Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 1. Whosoever shall slay his Neighbour with his own hand striking him with his sword or with a stone so that he kills him or shall strangle or burn him so that he die in any manner whatsoever killing him in his own person behold such an one is to be put to death by the Sanhedrin But he that hires another by a reward to kill his neighbour or who sends his servants and they kill him or he that thrusts him violently upon a Lion or upon some other beast and the beast kill him or he that kills himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one of these is a shedder of blood and the iniquity of manslaâ—ghter is in his hand and he is lyable to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by hand of God but he is not to be punished with death by the Sanhedrin Behold a double manslayer Behold a double judgment Now let the words of our Saviour be applyed to this Gloss of the antients upon the Law of Murder Do ye hear saith he what is said by the ancients Whosoever shall kill after what manner soever a man shall kill whether by the hand of one that he hath hired or by his Servants or by setting a beast on him he is guilty of the Judgment of God though not of the Judgment of the Sanhâ—drin and whosoever shall kill his Neighbour by himself none other interposing this man is lyable to the Judgment of the Sanhedrin but I say unto you that whosoever is rashly angry with his Brother this man is lyable to the Judgment of God and whosoever shall say to his Brother Raka he is lyable to the Sanhedrin These words of our Saviour perhaps we shall more truly understand by comparing some more phrases and doctrines very usual in the Jewish Schools Such as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Hieros Bava Kâ—ma fol. 5. 2. Absolved from the Judgment of men but guilty in the Judgment of Heaven that is of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death by the Sanhedrin and death by the hand of Heaven And in a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off speaks vengance by the hand of God They are very much deceived who understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off of which there is very frequent mention in the holy Bible concerning the cutting off from the publick assembly by Ecclesiastical censure when as it meaâ—s nothing else than cutting off by divine Vengeance There is nothing more usual and common among the Hebrew Canonists than to adjudge very many transgressions to cutting off in that worn phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he shall do this out of presumption he is guilty of cutting off but if he shall do it out of ignorance he is bound to a sacrifice for sin When they adjudge a thing or a guilty person to cutting off they deliver and leave him to the Judgment of God nevertheless a censure and punishment from the Sanhedrin sometimes is added and sometimes not Which might be illustrated by infinite examples but we are affraid of being tedious Let these two be enough on both sides I. Of mere delivering over to the judgment of God without any punishment inflicted by the Sanhedrin those words speak which were lately cited He is absolved from the judgment of men but lyable to the judgment of Heaven II. Of the Judgment of God and of the Sanhedrin joyned together these words in the same place speak If he that is made guilty by the Sanhedrin be bound to make restitution Heaven or God doth not pardon him until he pay it But he that bears a punishment layd on him by the Sanhedrin is absolved from cutting off f f f f f f Bab. Megil fol. 7. 2. All persons guilty of cutting off when they are beaten are absolved from their cutting off as it is said And thy Brother become vile in thy sight When he shall be beaten behold he is thy brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyable or guilty even to the Hell fire He had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty of Judgment and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Councel before but now he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto Hell and that in a higher Emphasis as if he should have said Whosoever shall say to his brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fool shall be guilty of Judgment even unto the Judgment of Hell But what was there more grievous in the word Fool than in the word Raka Let King Solomon be the Intepreter who every where by a Fool understands a Wicked and Reprobate person foolishness being opposed to spiritual wisdome Raka denotes indeed morosity and lightness of manners and life but Fool judgeth bitterly of the spiritual and eternal state and decreeth a man to certain destruction Let the judgings and censures of the Scribes and Pharisees concerning the common people serve us instead of a Lexicon They did not only suffer themselves to be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisemen but also arrogated it to themselves as their merit and due But what do they say of the common people This people that knoweth not the Law is cursed Joh. VII 49. You have a form of speaking not much unlike this which is now under our hands g g g g g g Bab. Kiddushin fol. 28. 1. Cherubb fol. 50. 1. abd elsewhere He that calls his Neigbour Servant let him be in excommunication The Gloss is They therefore excommunicate him because he vilified an Israelite him therefore they vilifie in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he call him Bastard let him be punished with forty stripes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Wicked man let it descend with him into his life that is according to the Gloss Into misery and penury After this manner therefore our Saviour suits a different punishment to different sins by a most just parity and a very equal compensation To unjust anger the just anger and judgment of God to publick reproach a publick Tryal and Hell fire to the censure that adjudgeth another thither VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That thy Brother hath ought against thee c. THE Emphasis is chiefly in the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that which the Jews restrained only to pecuniary damages Christ extends to all offences against our Brother h h h h h h Bava Kama cap. 9. hal 12. He that offers an Oblation not
would do him no more wrong than you would do his brother Matthew when you should say that he was a Publican 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscariot It may be ennquired whether this name was given him while he was alive or not till after his death If while he was alive one may not improperly derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Skortja which is written also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Nedarim fol 55. 2. Iskortja Where while the discourse is of a man vowing that he would not use this or that garment we are taught these things He that tyes himself by a vow of not using garments may use sackcloth vailing cloth hair cloth c. but he may not use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which words the Gloss writes thus These are garments some of leather and some of a certain kind of clothing The Gemara asketh What is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iskortja Bar bar Channah answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Tanners garment The Gloss is A leathern Apron that Tanners put on over their cloths So that Judas Iscariot may perhaps signifie as much as Judas with the Apron But now in such Aprons they had purses sown in which they were wont to carry their mony as you may see in Aruch in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we shall also observe presently And hence it may be Judas had that title of the purse bearer as he was called Judas with the apron Or what if he used the art of a Tanner before he was chose into Discipleship Certainly we read of one Simon a Tanner Act. IX 43. and that this Judas was the son of Simon Joh. XIII 26. But if he were not branded with this title till after his death I should suppose it derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara Which word what it signifies let the Gemarists speak k k k k k k Bab. Berac fol. 8. 1. Nine hundred and three kinds of death were created in the World as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the issues of death Psal. LXVIII 20. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Issues arithmetically ariseth to that number Among all those kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara is the roughest death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the easiest Where the Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara in the mother Tongue is Strangulament By Learned Men for the most part it is rendred Angina The Quinsie The Gemara sets out the roughness of it by this simile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Schabb. fol. 33. 1. The Iscara is like to branches of thorns in a fleece of Wool which if a man shake violently behind it is impossible but the wool will be pulled off by them It is thus defined in the Gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Iscara begins in the bowels and ends in the throat See the Gemara there When Judas therefore perished by a most miserable strangling being strangled by the Devil which we observe in its place no wonder if this infamous death be branded upon his Name to be commonly stiled Judas Iscariot or that Judas that perished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by strangling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who also betrayed him Let that of Maimonides be observed m m m m m m In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 8. It is forbidden to betray an Israelite into the hands of the Heathen either as to his person or as to his goods c. And whosoever shall so betray an Israelite shall have no part in the world to come Peter spake agreeably to the opinion of the Nation when he said concerning Judas He went unto his place Act. I. 25. And so doth Baal Turim concerning Balaam Balaam went to his place Numb XXIV 25. that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went down to Hell VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not OUR Saviour would have the Jews priviledges reserved to them until they alienated and lost them by their own perversness and siâ—s Nor does he grant the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles or Samaritans before it was offered to the Jewish Nation The Samaritans vaunted themselves sons of the Patriach Jacob Joh. IV. 12. which indeed was not altogether distant from the truth they embraced also the law of Moses and being taught thence expected the Messias as well as the Jews nevertheless Christ acknowledges them for his sheep no more than the Heathen themselves I. Very many among them were sprung indeed of the seed of Jacob though now become Renegades and Apostates from the Jewish Faith and Nation and hating them more than if they were Heathens and more than they would do Heathens Which also among other things may perhaps be observed in their very language For read the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch and if I mistake not you will observe that the Samaritans when by reason of the neerness of the places and the alliance of the Nations they could not but use of the language of the Jews yet used such a variation and change of the Dialect as if they scorned to speak the same words that they did and make the same language not the same II. In like manner they received the Mosaic law but for the most part in so different a writing of the words that they seem plainly to have propounded this to themselves that retaining indeed the law of Moses they would hold it under as much difference from the Mosaic Text of the Jews as ever they could so that they kept something to the sense n n n n n n Hieros Sotah fol. 21. 3. Bab. Sotah fol. 33. 2. R. Eliezer ben R. Simeon said I said to the Scribes of the Samaritans Ye have falsified your Law without any manner of profit accruing to you thereby For ye have writ in your Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Near the Oaken Groves of Morâ—h which is Sichem c. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added Let the Samaritan text at Deut. XI 30. be looked upon III. However they pretended to study the religion of Moses yet in truth there was little or no difference between them and Idolaters when they knew not what they worshipped which our Saviour objects against them Joh. IV. 22. and had not only revolted as Apostates from the true religion of Moses but set themselves against it with the greatest hatred Hence the Jewish Nation held them for Heathens or for a people more execrable than the Heathens themselves A certain Rabbin thus reproaches their idolatry o o o o o o Hieros Avodah Zarah fol. 44. 4. R. Ismael ben R. Josi went to Neapolis that is Sâ—chem the Samaritans came to him to whom he spake thus I see that you adore not this Mountain but the Idols which are under it for it is written Jacob hid the strange Gods under the
guilty Let us see whether thou canst smell and judg And when they saw that he could not smell and judg they slew him VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By whom do your children cast them out BY your Children Christ seems to understand some disciples of the Pharisees that is some of the Jews who using Exorcisms seemed to cast out Devils such as they Act. XIX 13. and yet they said not to them Ye cast out Devils by Beelzebul It is worthy marking that Christ presently saith If I by the Spirit of God cast out Devils then the Kingdom of God is come among you For what else does this speak than that Christ was the first who should cast out Devils which was an undoubted sign to them that the Kingdom of Heaven was now come But that which was performed by them by Exorcisms was not so much a casting out of Devils as a delusion of the people since Satan would not cast out Satan but by compact with himself and with his company he seemed to be cast out that he might the more deceive The sense therefore of Christs words comes to this That your Disciples cast out Devils ye attribute not to Beelzebul no nor to Magick but ye applaud the work when it is done by them They therefore may in this matter be your judges that you pronounce these words of my actions out of the rankness and venom of your minds m m m m m m Bab. Joma fol. 57. 1. In the Gloss mention is made of a Devil cast out by a Jew at Rome VERS XXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in that which is to come THEY that endeavour hence to prove the remission of some sins after death seem little to understand to what Christ had respect when he spake these words Weigh well this common and most known doctrine of the Jewish Schools and judg n n n n n n Hieros Sanhedr fol. 37. 3. Bab. Joma fol 86. 1. He that transgresses an affirmative precept if he presently repent is not moved until the Lord pardon him And of such it is said Be ye converted O backsliding Children and I will heal your backslidings He that transgresses a Negative precept and repents his repentance suspends judgment and the day of expiation expiates him as it is said This day shall all your uncleannesses be expiated to you He that transgresses to cutting off by the stroke of God or to death by the Sanhedrin and repents repentance and the day of expiation do suspend judgment and the strokes that are laid upon him wipe off sin as it is said And I will visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with scourges But he by whom the Name of God is profaned or blasphemed repentance is of no avail to him to suspend judgment nor the day of expiation to expiate it nor scourges or corrections inflicted to wipe it off but all suspend judgment and death wipes it off Thus the Babylonian Gemara writes but the Jerusalem thus Repentance and the day of expiation expiate as to the third part and corrections as to the third part and death wipes it off as it is said And your iniquities shall not be expiated to you until ye die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold we learn that death wipes off Note this which Christ contradicts concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost It shall not be forgiven saith he neither in this world nor in the world to come that is neither before death nor as you dream by death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the world to come I. Some phrases were received into common use by which in common speech they opposed the Heresie of the Sadducees who denied Immortality Of that sort were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paradise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hell c. o o o o o o Bab. Bâ—racoth fol. 54. 1. At the end of all the prayers in the Temple as we observed before they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever But when the Hereticks brake in and said There was no Age but one it was appointed to be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For ever and ever This distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This world and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come you may find almost in every page of the Rabbins p p p p p p Targ. in Râ—th Chap. II. 15. The Lord recompence thee a good reward for this thy good work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this world and let thy reward be perfected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the world to come q q q q q q â—aal Tâ—rim Tancâ— in Gen. 1. 1. It that is the History of the Creation and of the Bible begins therefore with the letter Beth in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bereshith because two worlds were created this world and a world to come II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come hints two things especially of which see r r r r r r In Sanhedr Cap. Châ—lâ—k Rambam 1. The times of the Messias s s s s s s â—â—riâ— Cap. 1. Hâ—l ult Be mindful of the day wherein thou camest out of Egypt all the days of thy life The wise men say By the days of thy life is intimated this world By all the days of thy life The days of the Messias are superinduced In this sense the Apostle seems to speak Heb. II. 5. and VI. 5. 2. The state after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t t t t t t 〈◊〉 fol. 5â— The world to come is when a man is departed out of this world VERS XXXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign I. THEIR Schools also confessed that signs and miracles were not to be expected but by a fit generation u u u u u u Hieros Soâ—ah fol. 24. 2. The Elders being once assembled at Jericho the Bath Kol went forth and said There is one among you who is fit to have the Holy Ghost dwell upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that this generation is not fit They fix their eyes upon Hillel the Elder The Elders being assembled again in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an upper room in Jabneh Bath Kol came forth and said There is one among you who is fit to have the Holy Spirit dwell upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that the Generation is not fit They cast their eyes upon Samuel the Little II. That generation by which and in which the Lord of Life was Crucified lay and that deservedly under an ill report for their great wickedness above all other from the beginning of the world until that day Whence that of the Prophet Who shall declare his generation Esai LIII 2. that is his generation viz. that generation in which he
he propounded more plainly and familiarly II. But however it was whether those things were true indeed or only believed and conceived so by a most apt and open comparison is shewn that the Devil was first cast out of the Jewish Nation by the Gospel and then seeking for a seat and rest among the Gentiles and not finding it the Gospel every where vexing him came back into the Jewish Nation again fixed his seat there and possessed it much more than he had done before The truth of this thing appears in that fearful Apostasie of an infinite multitude of Jews who received the Gospel and most wickedly revolted from it afterwards concerning which the New Testament speaks in abundance of places CHAP. XIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that he sate and the whole multitude stood SO was the manner of the nation that the Masters when they read their lectures sate and the Scholars stood Which Honorary custom continued to the death of Gamaliel the Elder and then so far ceased that the Scholars sate when their Masters sate Hence is that passage a a a a a a Sotah cap. 9. hal 15. From that time that old Rabban Gamaliel died the Honor of the Law perished and purity and Pharisaism died Where the Gloss from Megillah writes thus Before his death health was in the world and they learned the Law standing but when he was dead sickness came down into the world and they were compelled to learn the Law sitting VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Parables I. NO Scheme of Jewish Retoric was more familiarly used than that of parables which perhaps creeping in from thence among the Heathen ended in Fables It is said in the place of the Talmud just now cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the time that R. Meri died those that spake in Parables ceased not that that Figure of Rhetoric perished in the Nation from that time but because he surpassed all others in these flowers as the Gloss there from the Tract Sanhedrin speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A third part of his discourses or sermons was Tradition a third part Allegory and a third part Parable The Jewish books abound every where with these Figures the Nation enclining by a kind of Natural Genius to this kind of Rhetoric One might not amiss call their Religion Parabolical folded up within the Coverings of Ceremonies and their Oratory in their Sermons was like to it But it is a wonder indeed that they who were so given to and delighted in Parables and so dextrous in unfolding them should stick in the outward Shell of Ceremonies and should not have fetched out the Parabolical and spiritual sense of them neither should be able to fetch them out II. Our Saviour who always and every where spake with the vulgar useth the same kind of speech and very often the same preface as they did in their Parables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To what is it likened c. But in him thus speaking one may both acknowledg the divine Justice who speaks darkly to them that despise the light and his divine Wisdom likewise who so speaks to them that see and yet see not that they may see the shell and not see the Kernel VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Some fell by the way side c. COcerning the husbandry of the Jews and their manner of sowing we meet with various passages in the Tracts Peah Demai Kilaim Sheviith We shall only touch upon those things which the words of the Text under our hands do readily remind us of There were ways and paths as well common as more private along the sown fields see Chap. XII 1. hence in the tract b b b b b b Cap. 2. Peah where they dispute what those things are which divide a field so that it owes a double corner to the poor thus it is determined These things divide a River an Aqueduct a private way a common way a common path and a private path c. See the place and the Gloss. VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some fell among stony places c c c c c c In Hieros Kilaim fol. 27. 1. DIscourse is had concerning some laws of the Kilaim or of the seeds of different kinds and of the seventh year where among other things we meet with these words R. Simeon ben Lachish saith That he is freed from those Laws who sows his seed by the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon rocks Shelves and rocky places These words are spoken according to the reason and nature of the land of Israel which was very rocky and yet those places that were so were not altogether unfit for tillage VERS VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others fell among thorns HERE the distinction comes into my mind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a white field that is which is all sowen and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a woody field that is in which trees and bushes grow here and there Concerning which see the Tract d d d d d d Chap. 2. Sheviith So there is very frequent mention in the Talmudists of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beds in fields and vineyards e e e e e e Peah cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which speaks the same thing f f f f f f Kilaim c. 3. And of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baldness in a field that is when some places are left not sowen and some places lying between are g g g g g g Kilaim c. 4. VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And brought forth fruit some an hundred c. THESE words are spoken according to the fruitfulness of the land of Israel concerning which the Talmudists speak much and hyperbolically enough which nevertheless they confess to be turned long since into miserable barrenness but are dim-sighted as to the true cause of it h h h h h h Hieros Peah fol. 20. 1 2. They treat of this matter and various stories are produced which you may see we will only mention these two R. Jochanan said The worst fruit which we eat in our youth excelled the best which we now eat in our old age for in his days the World was changed R. Chaijah bar Ba said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Arbelite bushel formerly yelded a bushel of flower a bushel of meal a bushel of bran and a bushel of course bran and a bushel of courser bran yet and a bushel of the coursest bran also but now one bushel scarcely comes from one bushel VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They seeing see not HERE you may observe this people to have been given up to a reprobate mind and a spirit of deep sleep now a great while before the death of Christ Which being observed the sense of the Apostle will more easily appear Rom. XI where these very words are repeated If you there state aright the
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk any more in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him 3. It was not unusal to defer the payment of the half Shekels of this year to the year following by reason of some urgent necessity Hence it was when they sat to collect and receive this Tribute the Collectors had before them two chests placed in one of which they put the h See Shekal cap. 2. Maimon ibid. Tax of the present year in the other of the year past u But it may be objected Why did the Collectors of Capernaum require the payment at that time when according to Custom they began not to demand it before the fifteenth day of the month Adar I answer 1. It is certain there were in every City money changers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to collect it and being collected to carry it to Jerusalem Hence is that in the Tract cited The fifteenth day of the month Adar the Collectors sit in the Cities to demand the half Shekel and the five and twentieth they sit in the Temple 2. The uncertain abode of Christ at Capernaum gave these Collectors no unjust cause of demanding this due whensoever they had him there present at this time especially when the feast of Tabernacles was near and they about to go to Jerusalem to render an account perhaps of their Collection But if any list to understand this of the Tax paid the Romans we do not contend And then the words of those that collected the Tribute Does not your Master pay the Didrachm seem to sound to this effect Is your Master of the Sect of Judas of Galilee CHAP. XVIII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven IT cannot be passed over without observation that the ambitious dispute of the Disciples concerning Primacy for the most part followed the mention of the death of Christ and his Resurrection See this Story in Mark IX 31 32 33. And Luke IX 44 45 46. He said to his Disciples Lay up these discourses in your ears for the time is coming that the Son of man is delivered into the hands of Men. But they knew not that saying c. and there arose a contest between them who among them should be greatest Also Matth. XX. 18 19 20. He said to them Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the Chief Priests c. Then came to him the Mother of Zebedees children with her sons saying Grant that these my two sons may sit one on thy right hand c. And Luke XXII 22 23 24. The Son of man indeed goeth as it is determined c. and there arose a Contention among them who of them should seem to be the greater The dream of the earthly Kingdom of the Messias did so possess their minds for they had suck'd in this Doctrine with their first milk that the mention of the most vile death of the Messias repeated over and over again did not at all drive it thence The image of earthly pomp was fixed at the bottom of their hearts and there it stuck nor by any words of Christ could it as yet be rooted out no not when they saw the death of Christ when together with that they saw his Resurrection for then they also asked Wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel Acts I. 6. However after Christ had oftentimes foretold his death and resurrection it always follows in the Evangelists that they understood not what was spoken yet the opinion formed in their minds by their Doctors That the Resurrection should go before the Kingdom of the Messias supplied them with such an interpretation of this matter that they lost not an ace of the opinion of a future Earthly Kingdom See more at Chap. XXIV 3. VERS VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is good for him in Talmudick Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be said in distinction from those very small Mills wherewith they were wont to grind the spices that were either to be applied to the wound of Circumcision or to be added to the delights of the Sabbath Hence the Gloss of R. Solomon upon Jer. XXV 10. The sound of Mills and the light of the candle the sound of Mills saith he wherewith spices were ground and bruised for the healing of Circumcision That Christ here speaks of a kind of death perhaps no where certainly never used among the Jews he does it either to aggravate the thing or in allusion to drowning in the dead Sea in which one cannot be drowned without some weight hung to him and in which to drown any thing by a common manner of speech implied to devote to rejection hatred and execration which we have observed elswhere VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Their Angels in Heaven do always behold c. THIS one may very well expound by laying to it that which is said Heb. I. 14. The Angels are Ministring Spirits sent to minister for them who shall be heirs of the salvation to come As if he should say See that ye do not despise one of these little ones who have been received with their believing parents into the Gospel Church for I say unto you that after that manner as the Angels minister to adult Believers they minister to them also VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If he lose one does he not leave the ninety and nine c. A Very common form of speech a a a a a a Peah cap. 4. Hal. â— In distributing some grapes and dates to the poor although ninety nine say Scatter them and only one Divide them They hearken to him because he speaks according to the Tradition b b b b b b â—ieros Schabh fol. â—4 â— If ninety nine die by an evil eye that is by bewitching and but one by the hand of Heaven that is by the stroke of God c. If ninety nine die by reason of cold but one by the hand of God c. VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tell him his fault between thee and him alone THE reason of the precept is founded in that charitable Law Levit. XIX 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt surely reprove him and shalt not suffer sin in him Here the Talmudists speak not amiss c c c c c c Bab. â—â—achin fol. 1â— â— The Rabbins deliver Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Perhaps he does not beat him he does not pull off his hair he does not curse him the Text saith In thy Heart speaking of hatred in the heart But whence is it proved that he that sees his brother doing some foul action is bound to reprove him Because it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
that arise from the words of Mark. This tree it seems had leaves which promised fruit and others had not so whereas had they all been of the same kind it is likely they would all have had leaves after the same manner But when others had lost all their leaves of the former year by winds and the winter and those of the present year were not as yet come out this kept its leaves according to its nature and kind both Summer and Winter Mark therefore in that clause which chiefly perplexes Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the time of figs was not yet doth not strictly and only give the reason why he found no figs but gives the reason of the whole action namely why on that Mountain which abounded with fig-trees he saw but'one that had such leaves and being at a great distance when he saw it he went to it expecting figs only from it The reason saith he was this Because it was not the usual time of figs for had it been so he might have gathered figs from the trees about him but since it was not all his expectation was from this which seemed to be of the kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which never wanted leaves or figs. For to take an instance in the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That tree suppose bore figs such a Summer which hung upon the boughs all the following winter it bore others also next Summer and those together with the former hung on the boughs all this Winter too the third Summer it bore a third degree and this Summer brought those of the first bearing to ripeness and so onwards continually so that it was no time to be found without fruit of several years It is less therefore to be wondered at if that which promised so much fruitfulness by its looks that one might have expected from it at least the fruit of two years did so far deceive the hopes it had raised as not to afford one Fig if that I say should suffer a just punishment from our Lord whom it had so much in appearance disappointed An emblem of the punishment that was to be inflicted upon the Jews for their spiritual barrenness and hypocrisie VERS XXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if ye shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the Sea it shall be done THIS is an hyperbolical way of speaking taken from the common Language of the Schools of the Jews and designed after a manner for their refutation Such an Hyperbole concerning this very mountain you have Zech. XIV 4. The Jews used to set out those Teachers among them that were more eminent for the profoundness of their Learning or the splendor of their vertues by such expressions as this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is a rooter up or a remover of mountains b b b b b b Bab. Beracoth fol. 64. 1. Rabh Joseph is Sinai and Rabbah is a rooter up of mountains The Gloss They called Rabh Joseph Sinai because he was very skilful in clearing of difficulties and Rabbah bar Nachmani A rooter up of mountains because he had a piercing judgment c c c c c c Id. Erubhin fol. 29. 1. Rabba said I am like Ben Azzai in the streets of Tiberias The Gloss Like Ben Azzai who taught profoundly in the streets of Tiberias nor was there in his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such another rooter up of mountains as he d d d d d d Id. Sanâ—edr fol. 24. 1. He saw Resh Lachish in the School as if he were plucking up of mountains and grinding them one upon another The same expression with which they sillily and flatteringly extolled the Learning and Vertue of their Men Christ deservedly useth to set forth the power of Faith as able to do all things Mark IX 23. VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Planted a vineyard COncerning Vines and their husbandry see Kilaim e e e e e e Chap. 4 5 6 7. where there is a large discourse of the beds of a Vineyard the orders of the Vines of the measure of the Wine press of the hedge of the trenches of the void space of the places within the hedge which were free from Vines whether they were to be sown or not to be sown c. VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stoned THERE seems to be an allusion to the punishments and manners of Death in the Council 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies the fleaing off of the skin is not amiss rendred by Interpreters Beat and the word seems to relate to whipping where forty stripes save one did miserably flea off the skin of the poor man See what the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly means in that very usual phrase expressing this whipping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beaten with forty stripe 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Killed signifies a death by the sword as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth in the Sanhedrin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Four kinds of death are delivered to the Sanhedrin stoning burning killing and strangling f f f f f f Sanhedr chap. 7. hal 1. VERS XXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This is the heir c. COmpare this verse with Joh. XI 48. and it seems to hint that the Rulers of the Jews acknowledged among themselves that Christ was the Messias but being strangely transported besides their senses they put him to death lest bringing in another worship and another people he should either destroy or suppress their worship and themselves VERS XLIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken c. HERE is a plain allusion to the manner of stoning concerning which thus Sanhedr g g g g g g Chap. 6. hal 4 The place of stoning was twice as high as a Man From the top of this one of the witnesses striking him on his loins fell him to the ground if he died of this well if not the other witness threw a stone upon his heart c. g Ri Simeon ben Eleazar saith there * Bab. Gemard was a stone there as much as two could carry this they threw upon his heart CHAP. XXII VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Go ye into the high ways c. THAT is Bring in hither the travellers h h h h h h Bab. Beracoth fol. 43. 1. What is the order of sitting down to meat The travellers come in and sit down upon benches or chairs till all are come that were invited The Gloss It was a custom among rich men to invite poor travellers to feasts VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With the Herodians MANY things are conjectured concerning the Herodians I make a judgment of them from that History which is produced by the
z Berac sol 5 4 The righteous even in death are said to live and the wicked even in life are said to be dead But how is it proved that the wicked even in life are said to be dead From that place where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no delight in the death of the dead Is he already dead that is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dead And whence is it proved that the righteous even in death are said to live From that passage And he said to him this is the land concerning which I sware to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saith to him Go and tell the Fathers whatsoever I promised to you I have performed to your children The opinion of the Babylonians is the same a a a a a a Berac sol 18. 1 The living know that they shall dye They are righteous who in their death are said to live as it is said And Benaiah the son of Jehojada the son of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— living man c. And a little after The dead knew nothing They are the wicked who even in their life are called Dead as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thou dead wicked Prince of Israel The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly rendred Profane in this place they render it also in a sense very usual namely for one wounded or dead b b b b b b Ibid. col 2. There are further divers stories alledged by which they prove that the dead so far live that they understand many things which are done here and that some have spoke after death c. CHAP. XXIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In Moses seat c. THIS is to be understood rather of the Legislative seat or chair than of the merely Doctrinal and Christ here asserts the authority of the Magistrate and perswadeth to obey him in lawful things Concerning the Chairs of the Sanhedrin there is mention made in Bab. Succah c c c c c c Fol. â—1 2. There were at Alexandria seventy one golden chairs according to the number of the seventy one Elders of the great Council Concerning the authority of Moses and his Vicegerent in the Council there is also mention in Sanhedrim d d d d d d Chap. 1. hal 6 The great Council consisted of seventy one Elders But whence was this number derived From that place where it is said Chuse me out seventy men of the Elders of Israel And Moses was President over them Behold seventy one What is here observed by Galatinus from the signification of the Aorist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sat iâ— too light and aery He saith They sat saith he and not They sit that he might plainly demonstrate that their power was then ceased e e e e e e Chap. 6. Book 4. But if we would be so curious to gather any thing from this Aorist we might very well transfer it to this sense rather The Scribes and Pharises the worst of men have long usurped Moses seat nevertheless we ought to obey them because by the dispensation of the Divine Providence they bear the chief Magistracy Concerning their authority thus Maimonides f f f f f f In Mamrim cap. 1. The great Council of Jerusalem was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g g g g g g See 1 Tim. III. 15. The Pillar and Ground The ground of the traditional Law and the pillar of Doctrine whence proceeded statutes and judgments for all Israel And concerning them the Law asserts this very thing saying h h h h h h Deut. XVII 11. According to the Sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee Whosoever therefore believes Moses our Master and his Law is bound to relie upon them for the things of the Law Christ teacheth that they were not to be esteemed as Oracles but as Magistrates VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heavy burdens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Talmudick Language Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A heavy Prohibition i i i i i i Jerus Roshbashanaâ— fol. 56. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Maim in Mamr chap. 1. Let him follow him that imposeth heavy things There are reckoned up four and twenty things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the weighty things of the School of Hillel and the light things of that of Shammai l l l l l l Jerus Jom Tobh fol. 60. 2. Sotah f. 19. 2 R. Joshua saith m m m m m m Ibid. chap. 3 hal 4. A foolish religious man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A crafty wicked man a shee-Pharisee and the voluntary dashing of the Pharisees destroy the world It is disputed by the Gemarists who is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crafty wicked man and it is answer'd by some He that prescribes light things to himself and heavy to others VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They make broad their Phylacteries THESE four places of the Law Exod. XIII ver 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Exod. XIII ver 11 12 13 14 15 16. Deut. VI. ver 5 6 7 8 9. Deut. XI ver 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. Being writ upon two Parchment-Labels which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tephillin were carried about with them constantly with great devotion being fastned to their forehead and their left arm To the forehead in that place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n n n n n n Bab. Taanith fol. 16. 1. in the Gloss. where the pulse of an Infants brain is This of the forehead was most conspicuous and made broad hence came that Let no body pass by the Synagogue while prayers are saying there But if he hath Rhylacteries upon his head he may pass by because they show that he is studious of the Law o o o o o o Maimon on Tephilla Chap. 8. It is not lawful to walk through burying places with Phylacteries on ones head and the book of the Law hanging at ones arm * * * * * * Bab. Berac fol. 18. 1. They are called in Greek Phylacteries that is Observatories because they were to put them in mind of the Law and perhaps they were also called Preservatories because they were supposed to have some vertue in them to drive away Devils It is necessary that the Phylacteries should be repeated at home anights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drive away Devils p p p p p p Jerus Berac fol. 2. 4. Pisk in Berac Chap. 1. art 6. Rabben Asher ibid. Chap. 1. Col. 1. Concerning the curious writing of the Phylacteries see Maimon on Tephillin q q q q q q Chap. 1. 2. Concerning their strings marked with certain small letters See
* * * Cap. 5. CHAP. XXVI VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Assembled together unto the palace of the High Priest §. Of the present Authority of the Council and of its place THOSE ominous prodigies are very memorable which are related by the Talmudists to have hapned forty years before the destruction of the Temple d d d d d d 〈…〉 fol. 4â— 3. A tradition Forty years before the Temple was destroyed The Western candle that is the middlemost â—â— the holy candlestick was put out And the crimson Tongue that was fastned to the hoâ—ns of the scape Goat or the doors of the Temple kept its redness And the lot of the Lord for the Goat that was to be offered up on the day of Expiation came out on the left hand And the gates of the Temple which were shut over night were found open in the morning Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccat said therefore O Temple wherefore dost thou trouble us We know thy fate namely that thou art to be destroyed For it is said Open O Lebanon thy gates that the flame may consume thy Cedars e e e e e e Idem Sanh d. fol 24. 2. A Tradition Forty years before the Temple was destroyed Judgment in capital causes was taken away from Israel f f f f f f Bab. Avodah Zarah fol. 8. 2. Forty years before the Temple was destroy'd the Council removed and sat in the sheds With these two last Traditions lies our present business What the Jews said Joh. XVIII 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not lawful for us to put any man to death signifies the same thing with the Tradition before us Judgments in capital causes are taken away from Israel When were they first taken away Forty years before the destruction of the Temple say the Talmudsits No doubt before the death of Christ the words of the Jews imply so much But how were they taken away It is generally received by all that the Romans did so far divest the Council of its authority that it was not allowed by them to punish any with death and this is gathered from those words of the Jews It is not lawful for us to put any one to death But if this indeed be true 1. What do then those words of our Saviour mean g g g g g g Chap. X. 17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They will deliver you up to the Councils 2. How did they put Stephen to death 3. Why was Paul so much affraid to commit himself to the Council that he chose rather to appeal to Caesar The Talmudists excellently well clear the matter What signifieth that Tradition say they of the removal of the Council forty years before the ruine of the Temple Rabh Isaac bar Abdimi saith It signifieth thus much That they did not judge of sines And a little after But R. Nachman bar Isaac saith Do not say that it did not judge of sines but that it did not judge in capital causes And the reason was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because they saw murderers so much encrease that they could not judge them They said therefore It is sit that we should remove from place to place that so we may avoid the guilt That is The number and boldness of thieves and murderers growing so great that by reason thereof the authority of the Council grew weak and neither could nor dared put them to death It is better say they for us to remove from hence out of this chamber Gazith where by the quality of the place we are obliged to judge them than that by sitting still here and not judging them we should render our selves guilty Hence it is that neither in the highest nor in the inferiour Councils any one was punished with death For they did not judge of Capital matters in the inferiour Councils in any City but only when the great Council sat in the chamber Gazith saith the Gloss. The authority of them was not taken away by the Romans but rather relinquished by themselves The slothfulness of the Council destroyed its own authority Hear it justly upbraided in this matter h h h h h h Maccoth Chap. 1. Hal. 17 The Council which puts but one to death in seven years is called destructive R. Lazar ben Azariah said whichputs one to death in seventy years R. Tarphon and R. Achiba said If we had been in the Council when it judged of capital matters there had none ever been put to death by it R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said These men have encreased the number of murderers in Israel Most certainly true O Simeon for by this means the power of the Council came to be weakned in capital matters because they either by meer slothfulness or by a foolish tenderness or as indeed the truth was by a most fond estimation of an Israelite as an Israelite they so far neglected to punish bloodshed and murder and other crimes till wickedness grew so untractable that the authority of the Council trembled for fear of it and dared not kill the killers In this sense their saying must be understood It is not lawful for us to put any man to death Their authority of judging not being taken from them by the Romans but lost by themselves and despised by their people Notwithstanding it was not so lost but that sometimes they exercised it namely when they observed they might do it safely and without danger Dat veniam corvis c. Spares Crows but vexeth Pigeons thieves murderers and wicked men armed with force they dared not call into their judgment they were afraid of so desperate a crew but to judg condemn torture and put to death poor men and Christians from whom they feared no such danger they dreaded it not they did not avoid it They had been ready enough at condemniag our Saviour himself to death if they had not feared the people and if Providence had not otherwise determined of his death We may also by the way add that also which follows after the place above cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Hieros Sanhedr fol. 24. 1. In the day of Simeon ben Jochai judgments of pecuniary matters were taken away from Israel * * * * * * Fol. 18. 1. In the same Tract this is said to have been in the days of Simeon ben Shetah long before Christ was born but this is an error of the transcribers But now if the Jewish Council lost their power of judging in pecuniary causes by the same means as they lost it in capital it must needs be that deceits oppressions and mutual injuries were grown so common and daring that they were let alone as being above all punishment The Babylonian Gemarists alledg another reason but whether it be only in favour of their Nation this is no fit place to examine k k k k k k See Avodah Zarah as before That we may
yet further confirm our opinion that the authority of that Council in capital matters was not taken away by the Romans we will produce two stories as clear examples of the thing we assert One is this l l l l l l Hieros Sanhedr fol. 24. 2. R. Lazar Son of R. Zadok said When I was a little Boy sitting on my Fathers shoulders I saw the Daughter of a Priest that had played the harlot compassed round with fagots and burnt The Council no doubt judging and condemning her and this after Judea had then groaned many years under the Roman yoke for that same R. Lazar saw the destruction of the City The other you have in the same Tract m m m m m m Fol. 25. 4. where they are speaking of the manner of pumping out evidence against a Heretick and seducer of the people They place say they two witnesses in ambush in the inner part of the house and him in the outward with a candle burning by him that they may see and hear him Thus they dealt with Ben Sudta in Lydda They placed two Disciples of the wise in ambush for him and they brought him before the Council and stoned him The Jews openly profess that this was done to him in the days of R. Akiba long after the destruction of the City and yet then as you see the Council still retained its authority in judging of capital causes They might do it for all the Romans if they dared do it to the Criminals But so much thus far concerning its authority let us now speak of its present seat n n n n n n Bab. Rosh hashanah fol. 31. 1. The Council removed from the Chamber Gazith to the sheds from the sheds into Jerusalem from Jerusalem to Jasne from Jasne to Osha from Osha to Shepharaama from Shepharaama to Bethshaarim from Bethshaarim to Tsippor from Tsippor to Tiberias c. We conjecture that the great Bench was driven from its seat the Chamber Gazith half a year or thereabout before the death of Christ but whether they sat then in the sheds a place in the Court of the Gentiles or in the City when they debated about the death of Christ does not clearly appear since no Authors make mention how long it sat either here or there Those things that are mentioned in Chap. XXVII 4 5 6. seem to argue that they sat in the Temple These before us that they sat in the City Perhaps in both places for it was not unusual with them to return thither as occasion served from whence they came only to the Chamber Gazith they never went back Whence the Gloss on the place lately cited They sat in Jasne in the days of Rabban Jochanan in Osha in the days of Rabban Gamaliel for they returned from Osha to Jasne c. Thus the Council which was removed from Jerusalem to Jasne before the destruction of the City returned thither at the Feast and sat as before Hence Paul is brought before the Council at Hierusalem when Jasne at that time was its proper seat And hence Rabban Simeon President of the Council was taken and killed in the siege of the City and Rabban Jochanan his Vice-president was very near it both of them being drawn from Jasne to the City with the rest of the Bench for observation of the Passover Whether the Hall of the High Priest were the ordinary receptacle for the Council or only in the present occasion we do not here enquire It is more material to enquire concerning the Bench it self and who sat President in judging The President of the Council at this time was Rabban Gamaliel Paul's Master and the Vice-president Rabban Simeon his Son or Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai which we do not dispute now Whence therefore had the chief Priest here and in other places the precedence and the chief voice in judging For thus in Stephen's case the High Priest is the chief of the inquisition Act. VI. 1. also in Paul's case Act. XXIII 2. see also Act. IX 1. Had the Priests a Council and Judgment-seat of their own Or might they in the chief Council when the President was absent hear causes of life and death To this long question and that enough perplexed we reply these few things I. We confess indeed that the Priest had a Bench and Council of their own yet denying that there was a double Council one for Ecclesiastical the other for Civil affairs as some would have it 1. We meet often with mention of the Chamber of the Councellors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 next the Court which is also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning which thus the Bab. Joma o o o o o o Fol. 8. The Tradition of R. Juda What was it the Chamber of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was it not the Chamber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Councellors At first it was called the Chamber of the Councellors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when the High Priesthood came to be bought with money and changed yearly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Kings Presidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are changed every year from that time forward it was called The Chamber of the Presidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear the Glosser on this place The High Priests were wicked and did not fulfill their whole year and he that succeeded the other changed this building and adorned it that it might be called by his own name Hear also the Gemara The first Temple stood four hundred and ten years and there were not above eighteen Priests under it The second stood four hundred and twenty years and there were more than three hundred under it Take out forty years of Simeon the Just eighty of Jochanan ten of Ismael ben Phabi and eleven of Eleazar ben Harsum and there doth not remain one whole year to each of the rest Behold the Chamber of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Councellors properly so called because the Priests did meet and sit there not to judg but to consult and that only of things belonging to the Temple Here they consulted and took care that all persons and things belonging and necessary to the worship of God should be in readiness that the buildings of the Temple and the Courts should be kept in repair and that the publick Liturgy should be duly performed but in the mean time they wanted all power of judging and punishing they had no authority to sine scourge or put to death yea and in a word to exercise any judgment for by their own examination and authority they could not admit a Candidate into the Priesthood but he was admitted by the authority of the Council p p p p p p Bab. Joma fol. 19. 1. In the Chamber Gazith sat the Council of Israel and held the examinations of Priests whosoever was not found sit was sent away in black clothes and a black veil whosoever was â—ound fit was clothed
in white and had a white veil and entred and ministred with his Brethren the Priests 2. We meet also with mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Council-house of the Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q q q q q q Bab. Joma fol. 66. 1. in Gemara The High Priests made a Decree and did not permit an Israelite to carry the scape Goat into the wilderness But in the Gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Council of the Priests did not permit this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r r r r r r Chetubh chap. 1. hal 5. The Council of the Priests exacted for the portion of a Virgin four hundred Zuzees and the wise men did not hinder it First This was that Council of which we spoke before in the Chamber of the Councellors Secondly That which was decreed by them concerning the carrying away of the scape Goat belonged meerly to the Service of the Temple as being a caution about the right performance of the office in the day of Attonement Thirdly And that about the portion of a virgin was nothing else but what any Israelite might do and so the Gemarists confess If any noble family in Israel say they would do what the Priests do they may The Priests set a price upon their virgins and decreed by common consent that not less than such a portion should be required for them which was lawful for all the Israelites to do for their virgins if they pleased 3. s s s s s s â—â—â— Hashanah chap. 1. hal 7. There is an example brought of Tobias a Physician who saw the New Moon at Jerusalem he and his Son and his servant whom he had freed The Priests admitted him and his Son for witnesses his servant they rejected but when they came before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bench they admitted him and his servant and rejected his Son Observe 1. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Council is here opposed to the Priests 2. That it belonged to the Council to determine of the New Moon because on that depended the set-times of the Feasts this is plain enough in the Chapter cited 3. That what the Priests did was matter of Examination only not Decree 4. t t t t t t Jerus 〈◊〉 fol. 2â— 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Elders of the City Deut. XXII 18. are the Triumvirat Bench. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At the Gate v. 24. means the Bench of the chief Priest The matter there in debate is about a married woman who is found by her husband to have lost her virginity and is therefore to be put to death Deut. XXII 13 c. In that passage among other things you may find these words ver 18. And the Elders of that City shall lay hold of that man and scourge him The Gemarists take occasion from thence to define what the phrase there and in other places means The Elders of the City and what is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word Gate when it relates to the Bench. That say they signifies the Triumvirat Bench This the Bench or Council of the High Priest that is unless I be very much mistaken every Council of twenty three which is clear enough both from the place mentioned and from reason it self 1. The words of the place quoted are these R. Bon bar Chaija enquired before R. Zeira What if the Father of the Virgin should produce witnesses which invalidate the testimony of the husbands witnesses if the Fathers witnesses are proved false he must be whipped and pay a hundred Selaim in the Triumvirat-Court but the witnesses are to be stoned by the Bench of the Twenty three c. R. Zeira thought that this was a double judgment but R. Jeremias in the name of R. Abhu that it was but a single one But the Tradition contradicts R. Abhu for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Elders of the City ver 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is To the Triumvirat Bench. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But at the Gate means the Bench of the High Priest It is plain that the Bench of the High Priest is put in opposition to the Triumvirat-Bench and by consequence that it is either the chief Council or the Council of the Twenty three or some other Council of the Priests distinct from all these But it cannot be this third because the place cited in the Talmudists and the place in the Law cited by the Talmudists plainly speaks of such a Council which had power of judging in capital causes But they that suppose the Ecclesiastical Council among the Jews to have been distinct from the Civil scarce suppose that that Council sat on capital causes or passed sentence of death much less is it to be thought that that Council sat only on life and death which certainly ought to be supposed from the place quoted if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Council of the High Priest did strictly signifie such a Council of Priests Let us illustrate the Talmudical words with a Paraphrase R. Zeira thought that that cause of a husband accusing his wife for the loss of her virginity belonged to the judgment of two Benches namely of the Triumvirat which inflicted whipping and pecuniary mulcts and of the Twenty three which adjudged to death but Rabbi Abhu thinks it is to be referred to the judgment of one Bench only But you are mistaken good Rabbi Abhu and the very phrase made use of in this case refutes you for the expression which is brought in To the Elders of the City signifies the Triumviral Bench and the phrase at the Gate signifies the Bench of Twenty three for the chief Council never sat in the Gate 2. Now the Council of Twenty three is called by the Talmudists the Bench or the Council of the chief Priest alluding to the words of the Law-giver Deut. XVII 9. where the word Priests denotes the inferiour Councils and Judg the chief Council II. In the chief Council the President sat in the highest seat being at this time when Christ was under examination Rabban Gamaliel as we said but the High Priest excelled him in dignity every where for the President of the Council was chose not so much for his quality as for his learning and skill in Traditions He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a phrase very much used by the Author of Juchasin applied to Presidents that is Keeper Father and deliverer of Traditions and he was chose to this office who was fittest for these things Memorable is the story of Hillel's coming to the Presidentship being preferred to the Chair for this only thing because he solved some doubts about the Passover having learnt it as he saith himself from Shemaiah and Abtalion u u u u u u Jerus Pesach fol. 33. 1. We will not think it much to transcribe the story The Sons of Betira once forgot a Tradition for when the fourteenth day on which the Passover was to be
truth as to the thing it self for from the Resurrection of Christ the glorious Epoch of the Kingdom of God took its beginning as we said before which he himself also signifieth in those words Mat. XXVI 29. and when he arose not a few others arose with him What they thought of the Resurrection that was to be in the days of Messias besides those things which we have already mentioned you may see and smile at in this one example y y y y y y Jerus Cheâ—ubboth fol. 35 â— R. Jeremiah commanded when you bury me put shoes on my feet and give me a staff in my hand and lay me on one side that when the Messias comes I may be ready VERS LIV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truly this was the Son of God THAT is This was indeed the Messias Howsoever the Jews deny the Son of God in that sense in which we own it that is as the second person in the holy Trinity yet they acknowledged the Messiah for the Son of God not indeed by nature but by adoption and deputation see Mat. XXVI 63. from those places I Chron. XVII 13. Psal. II. 12. LXXXIX 26 27. and such like The Centurion had learnt this from the people by conversing among them and seeing the Miracles which accompanied the death of Christ acknowledged him to be the Messias of whom he had heard so many and great things spoken by the Jews In Luke we have these words spoken by him z z z z z z Chap. XXIII 47. Certainly this was a righteous man Which I suppose were not the same with these words before us but that both they and these were spoken by him Certainly this was a righteous man Truly this was the Messias the Son of God Such are those words of Nathaniel Joh. I. 49. Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Peter when he declared that Christ was the Son of the living God Mat. XVI 16. spoke this in a more sublime sense than the Jews either owned or knew as we have said at that place VERS LVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary Magdalen THAT Magdalen was the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus Baronius proves at large a a a a a a Annal. ad An. Christ. 32. pag. 147 148 c. whom see It is confirmed enough from this very place for if Mary Magdalene was not the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus then either Mary the sister of Lazarus was not present at the Crucifixion of Christ and at his burial or else she is past over in silence by the Evangelists both which are improbable whence she was called Magdalene doth not so plainly appear whether from Magdala a Town on the Lake of Genesareth or from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a playting or curling of the hair a thing usual with harlots Let us see what is spoken by the Talmudists concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary Magdala who they say was Mother of Ben Satda b b b b b b Bab. Sanhedr fol. 67. 1. They stoned the Son of Satda in Lydda and they hanged him up on the evening of the Passover Now this Son of Satda was Son of Pandira Indeed Rabh Chasda said the husband of his mother was Satda her husband was Pandira her husband was Papus the Son of Juda but yet I say his mother was Satda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely Mary the plaiter of women's hair as they say in Pombeditha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she departed from her husband These words are also repeated in Schabbath c c c c c c Fol. 104. 2. c Chagigah fol. 4. 2. Rabh Bibai at a time when the Angel of death was with him said to his Officer Go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring me Mary the plaiter of womens hairs He went and brought to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary the plaiter of young mens hair c. The Gloss The Angel of death reckoned up to him what he had done before for this story of Mary the Plaiter of women's hair was under the second Temple for she was the mother of N. as it is said in Schabbath See the Gloss there at the place before quoted d d d d d d Gittin fol. 90. 1. There are some who find a fly in their cup and take it out and will not drink such was Papus ben Judas who lockt the door upon his wife and went out Where the Glossers say thus Papus ben Juda was the husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Mary the Plaiter of womens hair and when he went out of his house into the street he lockt his door upon his wife that she might not speak with any body which indeed he ought not to have done and hence sprang a difference between them and she broke out into adulteries See Alphesius on Gittim e e e e e e Fol. 605. I pronounce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ben Satda not that I am ignorant that it is called Ben Stada by very learned men The reason of our thus pronouncing it we fetch from hence that we find he was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ben Sutdah by the Jerusalem Talmudists f f f f f f Sanhedr fol. 25. 4. to which the word Satda more agrees than Stada By the like agreement of sounds they call the same Town both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magdala and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mugdala as we have observed elswhere As they contumeliously reflect upon the Lord Jesus under the name of Ben Satda so there is a shrewd suspition that under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary Magdala they also cast reproach upon Mary Magdalen The title which they gave their Mary is so like this of ours that you may with good reason doubt whether she was called Magdalene from the Town Magdala or from that word of the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Plaiter of hair We leave it to the learned to decide VERS LVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josi A very usual name in the Talmudists g g g g g g Jerus â—â—vamâ—tâ— fol. 2. 2. five were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be R. Josi Ismael Lazar Menahem Chelpatha Abdimus Also h h h h h h Ibid. fol. 4. 3. R. Jose ben R. Chaninah c. g g g g g g See Jathasiâ— fol. 61. 62. One may well enquire why this Mary is called the mother of James and Joses and not also of Judas and Simon as Mark VI. 3. VERS LVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Begged the body of Iesus IT was not lawful to suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree Deut. XXI 23. Nay nor to lye all night unburied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever suffers a dead body to lye all night unburied violates a negative precept but they that were put to death
some outward kindness and more intimate friendship and familiarity And why Because John had promised that he would take care of Christs mother after his death For those words of our Saviour upon the Cross to John Behold thy Mother and to his Mother Behold thy Son And that from thence John took her home do carry a fair probability with them that that was not the first time that John heard of such a matter but that long before he had so promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have loved thee Esa. LX. 10. is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have had pity upon thee which may here also agree very well Jesus had pity upon him VERS XLVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bartimeus the son of Timeus SOME suspect the Evangelist here guilty of a Solecism by making a Tautology for it was neither necessary as they think so to render the Syriac word in Greek nor is it done so elsewhere in proper names of that nature For it is not said by any Evangelist Bartholomeus the son of Tholomeus Bar Abbas the son of Abbas Bar Jesus the son of Jesus nor in the like names True indeed But I. When the denomination is made from a common name and not a proper then it is not so ill sounding to interpret the word which is done once and again Mark III. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boanerges which is The sons of Thunder Act. IV. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barnabas which is a son of Consolation II. Bar Timai may be rendred otherwise then The son of Timeus namely either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A son of Admiration or which is more proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A son of profit The Targum in Ester III. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the King ariseth no profit Timai from them The Evangelist therefore deservedly that he might shew that this Bartimeus was not named from this or that or some other Etymology but from his fathers name so interprets his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bartimeus the son of Timeus III. Perhaps there was a Timeus of some more noted name in that age either for some good report or some bad so that it might not be absurd to the Jews that then conversed there to say This blind Bartimeus is the son of the so much famed Timeus So it is unknown to us who Alexander and Rufus were Chap. XV. 21. But they were without doubt of most eminent fame either among the Disciples or among the Jews IV. What if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thimai be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simai Blind from the use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thau for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samech among the Chaldeans so that Bartimeus the son of Timeus might sound no more than The blind son of a blind Father CHAP. XI VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when he had looked round about upon all things COmpare Mark with the other Evangelists concerning the time of casting out the Merchants out of the Temple and it will appear that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he looked about denotes not a bare beholding or looking upon but a beholding with reproof and correction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admonition among the Jews VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the time of figs was not yet SEE what we have said at Matth. XXI 19. The sum is this I. The time of Figs was so far off that the time of leaves was scarcely yet present II. The other Fig-trees in the Mount were of the common kind of Fig-trees and on them were not leaves as yet to be seen But that which Christ saw with leaves on it and therefore went to it was a Fig-tree of an extraordinary kind III. For there was a certain Fig-tree called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benoth Shuach which never wanted leaves and never wanted Figs. For every year it bare fruit but that fruit came not to full ripeness before the third year And such we suppose was this Fig-tree VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And would not suffer that any should carry any Vessel through the Temple a a a a a a Bab. Ievamoth fol. 6. 2. WHAT is the Reverence of the Temple That none go into the Mountain of the Temple or the Court of the Gentiles with his staff and his shoes with his purse and dust upon his feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that none make it his common thorow-fare nor make it a place of spitting The same thing is ordered concerning a Synagogue yea concerning a Synagogue that is now laid waste much more of one that flourisheth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Megill f. 28. 1. A Synagogue now laid waste let not men make it a common passage And c c c c c c Fol. 27. 2. His Disciples asked R. Eleazar ben Shammua Whence hast thou lived so long He answered I never made a Synagogue a commonth orow-fare It is therefore forbid by the Masters that the Court of the Temple be not made a passage for a shorter way And was not this bridle sufficient wherewith all might be kept back from carrying Vessels through the Temple But the Castel of Antonia joyned to the Court and there were Shops in the Court of the Gentiles where many things were sold and that prophane Vessels were brought hither is scarcely to be denied And these Vessels might be said to be carried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Through the Temple although those that carried them went not through the whole Temple CHAP. XII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A certain man planted a Vineyard THE Priests and Pharisees knew saith Matthew that these things were spoken of them Matth. XXI 45. Nor is it any wonder For the Jews boasted that they were the Lords Vineyard and they readily observed a wrong done to that Vineyard by any but how far were they from taking notice how unfruitful they were and unthankful to the Lord of the Vineyard The a a a a a a Tanchum fol. 54. 3. matter may be compared to a King that had a Vineyard and there were three who were enemies to it What were they One cut down the branches The second cut off the bunches And the third rooted up the Vines That King is the King of Kings the Blessed Lord. The Vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel The three enemies are Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzer and Haman c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Vineyard If b b b b b b Kilaim cap. 4. hal 5. a man plants one row of five Vines the School of Schammai saith that it is a Vineyard But the School of Hillel saith It is not a Vineyard until there be two rows of Vines there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Set an hedge about it c c c c c c Ibid. hal 3. What is an hedge Let it be ten hands bredths high Less than so is not an hedge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Preparation of Pentecost and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The preparation of the Feast of Tabernacles That is the Day and manner of preparing food for the following mirth of the Feast In the same sense was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Preparation of the Sabbath namely The preparation of food and things necessary to the Sabbath Of which we shall speak at Vers. 42. Having thus dispatched these things let us now come to the hour it self It was the Preparation of the Passover saith John and about the sixth hour when Pilate delivered Christ to be crucified And it was the third hour saith Mark and they crucified him It is disputed by the Gemarists l l l l l l In Bab. Pesach fol. 11. 2. how far the evidences of two men may agree and consent whereof one saith This I saw done in that hour and the other saith I saw it done another hour One saith the second hour another the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Testimony consist together One saith The third hour another the fifth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Testimony is vain as R. Meir saith But saith R. Judah Their Testimony consists together But if one saith The fifth hour another the seventh hour their testimony is vain because in the fifth hour the Sun is in the East part of Heaven in the seventh in the West part They dispute largely concerning this matter in the place alledged and concerning evidences differing in words nevertheless as to the thing it self they conclude that both may be true because witnesses may be deceived in the computation of hours Which to conclude concerning the Evangelists were impious and blasphemous But there is one supposes the Copiers were deceived in their transcription and would have the computation of John corrected into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it was about the third hour Too bodly and indeed without any reason For it is neither credible nor possible indeed that those things which went before our Saviours crucifixion should be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of the Talmudists m m m m m m Sanhedr fol. 105. 2. in the three first hours of the day The Harmony therefore of the Evangelists is to be fetched elsewhere I. Let us repeat that out of Maimonides The great Sanhedrin sat from the morning dayly Sacrifice until the afternoon daily Sacrifice But now when the morning dayly Sacrifice was at the third hour the Sanhedrin sat not before that hour Take heed therefore Thou that wouldst have the words of John And it was about the sixth hour to be changed into And it was about the third hour lest thou becomest guilty of a great Solecism For Pilate could not deliver Christ to be crucified about the third hour when the Sanhedrin sat not before the Third hour and Christ was not yet delivered to Pilate But you will say The words of Mark do obscure these things much more For if the Sanhedrin that delivered up Christ met not together before the third hour one can no way say that they crucified him the third hour We do here propound two things for the explanation of this matter Let the first be taken from the day it self and from the hour it self That day was the Preparation of the Passover a day of high solemnity and when it behoved the Priests and the other Fathers of the Sanhedrin to be present at the third hour in the Temple and to offer their Chagigahs that were preparative to the whole seven days festivity but they employed themselves in another thing namely this You may observe that he saith not It was the third hour when but It was the third hour And they crucified him That is When the third hour now was and was passed yet they omitted not to prosecute his crucifixion when indeed according to the manner of the Feast and the obligation of Religion they ought to have been employed otherwise I indeed should rather sit down satisfied with this interpretation than to accuse the holy Text as depraved or to deprave it more with my amendment But Secondly There is another sense also not to be despised if our judgment is any thing which we fetch from a custom usual in the Sanhedrin but from which they now swerved n n n n n n Sanhedr fol. 46. 2. They are treating concerning a guilty person condemned to hanging with whom they deal in this process 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They tarry until Sunset approach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then they finish his judgment and put him to death Note that They finish not his judgment until Sunset draw near If you ask the reason a more general one may be given which respected all persons condemned to dye and a more special one which respected him which was to be hanged I. There was that which is called by the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The affliction of judgment by which Phrase they understand not judgment that is not just but when he that is condemned after judgment past is not presently put to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o o o o o o Sanhedr fol. 35. 1. If you finish his judgment on the Sabbath mark that and put him to death on the first day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You afflict his judgment Where the Gloss is As long as his judgment is not finished it is not the affliction of judgment because he expects every hour to be absolved But when judgment is ended he expects death c. Therefore they delayed but little between the finishing of judgment and execution II. As to those that were to be hanged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They delayed the finishing his judgment and they hanged him not in the morning lest they might grow slack about his burial and might fall into forgetfulness and might sin against the Law Deut. XXI 23. but near Sunset that they might presently bury him So the Gloss. They put him to death not sooner for this reason they finished not his judgment sooner for the reason above said And now let us resume the words of Mark And it was the third hour and they crucified him The Sanhedrin used not to finish the judgment of hanging until they were now ready to rise up and depart from the Council and Bench after the Mincha the day now inclining toward Sunset but these men finished the Judgment of Jesus and hastened him to the Cross when they first came into the Court at the third hour at the time of the dayly sacrifice which was very unusual and different from the custom VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloi Eloi IN Matthew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eli Eli in the very same Syllables of Psal. XXII 1. Mark according to the present dialect namely the Chaldee useth the pronunciation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or at least according to the pronunciation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloi
〈◊〉 Zephaniah the second Priest Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zephaniah the Sagan of the Priests Caiaphas therefore was the High-Priest and Annas the Sagan or Ruler of the Temple who for his independent dignity is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or High-Priest as well as Caiaphas and seems therefore to be named first because he was the others Father-in-law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Chetub fol. 88. 2. fol. 105. 1. There was a dissention between Hanan and the Sons of the chief Priests c. It was in a judicial cause about a Wife requiring her dower c. Where the scruple is who should these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Chief Priests be Whether the Fathers and heads of the Courses or the High-Priest only and the Sagan It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Cap. 1. of the same Treatise hal 5. a Counsel of Priests which we have already spoken to at Matth. XXVI 3. Now the question is whether by the Sons of the chief Priests be meant the Sons of the Fathers of Courses or the Fathers of Courses themselves or the Sons of the High-Priest and the Sagan where the High-Priest in that Court was like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince in the Sanhedrin and the Sagan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of the Sanhedrin k k k k k k Pesikta fol. 11. 4. Moses was made a Sagan to Aaron He put on his Garments and took them off viz. on the day of his Consecration And as he was his Sagan in life so he was in death too VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Every valley shall be filled THE Jews have a Tradition that some such thing was done by the cloud that led Israel in the Wilderness Instead of many instances take the Targumist upon Cant. II. 6. There was a cloud went before them three days journey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take down the hills and raise the valleyes It slew all fiery Serpents in the Wilderness and all Scorpions and found out for them a fit place to lodge in What the meaning of the Prophet in this passage was Christians well enough understand the Jews apply it to levelling and making the ways plain for Israel's return out of Captivity for this was the main thing they expected from the Messiah viz. to bring back the Captivity of Israel l l l l l l Beresh rabb fol. 110. 3. R. Chanan saith Israel shall have no need of the Doctrine of Messiah the King in time to come for it is said to him shall the Gentiles seek Isai. XI 10. but not Israel If so why then is Messiah to come and what is he to doe when he doth come He shall gather together the Captivity of Israel c. VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of these stones to raise up Children unto Abraham WE do not say the Baptist played with the sound of those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Banaia and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abanaia He does certainly with great scorn deride the vain confidence and glorying of that Nation amongst whom nothing was more ready and usual in their mouths than to boast that they were the Children of Abraham when he tells them that they were such Children of Abraham that God could raise as good as they from those very stones VERS XI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath two Coats let him impart to him that hath none IT would be no sense to say he that hath two Coats let him give to him that hath not two but to him that hath none For it was esteemed for Religion by some to weare but one single Coat or Garment Of which more elsewhere VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exact no more than that which is appointed you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m m m m m m Sanhedr fol. 25. 2. When the Rabbins saw that the Publicans exacted too much they rejected them as not being fit to give their testimony in any case Where the Gloss hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too much that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 More than that which is appointed them And the Father of R. Zeirah is commended in the same place that he gently and honestly executed that trust He discharged the Office of a Publican for thirteen years when the Prince of the City came and this Publican saw the Rabbins he was wont to say to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go my people enter thou into thy Chambers Isai. XXVI The Gloss is Lest the Prince of the City should see you and taking notice what numbers you are should encrease his tax yearly VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither accuse any falsly LEVIT XIX 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither lye one to another Job XXXV 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The oppressed See Psal. LXXII 4. CXIX 122. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. n n n n n n Dion Cass. lib. 58. a little from the beginning The manner of sycophants is first to load a person with reproaches and whisper some secret that the other hearing it may by telling something like it become obnoxious himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With your wages A word used also by the Rabbins o o o o o o Midr. Schir fol. 5. 3. The King distributeh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wages to his Legions p p p p p p Sanhedr fol. 18. 2. The King is not admitted to the intercalation of the year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Opsonia That is lest he should favour himself in laying out the years with respect to the Souldiers pay VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like a Dove IF you will believe the Jews there sate a golden Dove upon the top of Solomon's Scepter q q q q q q Bemidb. rabh fol. 250. 1. As Solomon sate in his throne his Scepter was hung up behind him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the top of which there was a Dove and a golden crown in the mouth of it VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being as was supposed the Son of Ioseph A Parable r r r r r r Schemoth rabba fol. 160. 4. There was a certain Orphaness brought by a certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epitropus or Foster-father an honest good man At length he would place her in Marriage A scribe is called to write a bill of her dower Saith he to the girl what is thy name N. saith she What the name of thy Father She held her peace To whom her Foster-father why dost thou not speak Because saith she I know no other Father but thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that educateh the child is called a Father not he that begets it Note that Joseph having been taught by the Angel and well satisfied in
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Coat e e e e e e Epiphan lib. 1. cap. 15. Speaking of the Scribes Moreover they wore garments distinguisht by the Phylacteries which were certain borders of purple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They used long robes or a certain sort of garment which we may call Dalmaticks or Kolobia which were wove in with large borders of purple That he means the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talith the thing it self declares for those borders of purple were no other than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Zuzith certain skirts hung and sewed on to the Talith 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Woolen shirt the inward garment Whence the Gloss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaluk was the shirt upon his skin Hence that boast of R. Jose f f f f f f Schabb. fol. 118. 2. That the roof of his house had not throughout his whole life seen what was within that shirt of his II. And now the question returns viz. whether by those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place before us should be meant those two kinds of garments the Talith and the Chaluk that is that they should take but one of them or those two kinds doubled that is that they should take but one of each Whether our Saviour bound them to take but one of those garments or whether he forbad them taking two of each I conceive he might bind them to take but one of those garments for although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be applied to some particular garment yet when it is not so joyned it may signifie only clothing in general When our Lord commands them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to put on two coats g g g g g g Mark VI. 9. The foregoing words may best explain what he means by it for when he cuts them short of other parts of garments and necessaries such as a scrip a staff and sandals we may reasonably suppose he would cut them short of one of the ordinary garments either the Talith or the Chaluk This may seem something severe that he should send them out in the Winter time half naked But 1. This well enough became that Providence which he was determined in a more peculiar manner to exert toward them as may be gathered from Luke XXII 35. and to the charge of which he would commit them Of such a kind and nature was his Providence in preserving them as was shewn toward the Israelites in the Wilderness which suffered not their garments to wax old which kept their bodies from decay and diseases and their feet unhurt by all their travel 2. It suited well enough with the mean and low estate of that Kingdom of Heaven and the Messiah which the Apostles were to Preach up and propagate so that from the view of the first publishers the Jews might learn to frame a right judgment concerning both the Messiah and his Kingdom viz. they might learn to believe in the Messiah when they should observe him capable so wondrously to protect his messengers though surrounded with such numberless inconveniences of life and might further be taught not to expect a pompous Kingdom when they see the propagators of it of so mean a degree and quality The words of the Baptist h h h h h h Lukt III. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath two coats let him impart c. may be also understood in this sence that he that hath both the Talith and the Chaluk may give to him that is naked and hath neither either the one or the other VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That one of the old Prophets was risen again SO is the expression again Vers. 19. in which sense the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Prophet must be taken John I. 21 25. that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the old Prophets that is risen again Although they lookt for no other Prophet excepting Elias only before the appearing of the Messiah yet doth it seem that they had an opinion that some of the antient Prophets should rise again and that the time was now at hand wherein they should so do and that because they made such frequent mention of it in their common talk that some one of the old Prophets were risen again VERS XXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses and Elias THE Jews have a fiction that Moses shall come with Elias when Elias himself comes i i i i i i Deâ—harin rabba fol. 293. 4. The Holy Blessed God said to Moses As thou hast given thy life for Israel in this world so in the ages to come when I shall bring Elias the Prophet amongst them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you two shall come together But the rise and foundation of this opinion is very ridiculous indeed having its first ground from Nahum I. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Moses when an infant was thrown into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. II. And Elias went up into Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Kings II. This it is for such as these to allegorize the Holy Scriptures They also feign that Moses was raised up at the same time with Samuel by the Witch of Endor k k k k k k Vajicra rabba fol. 195. 3. Samuel thought that day had been the day of judgment and therefore he raised Moses along with himself l l l l l l Pesikta fol. 93. 1. Moses did not dye for the just dye not but went up into the highest to minister before God VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They spake of his decease THE French and the Italian Translation do render this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too loosely The French Dissoyent sur le issue the Italian Dicevane il successo suo And I wish the English have not done it too narrowly They spake of his decease It were better they spake of his departure For the ascent of Christ into Heaven was as well his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his death nay I may say more if at least in the word Exodus there be any allusion to the Israelites going out of Egppt. For that was in victory and triumph as also the ascent of Christ into Heaven was There is no question but they did indeed discourse with him about his death and the manner of it viz. his crucifixion whereas Moses and Elias themselves did depart without any pain or anguish but I should think however that there is more contained in that word and that the expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time of his receiving up Vers. 51. hath some reference to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his departure We meet with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Version Prov. XXX 12. There is a generation accounteth it self righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but yet hath not washed its going out obscurely enough indeed and beside the Text.
there The first given by the Jews according to their custom the second by the Souldiers in abuse and mockery But if you will grant a third Cup then all difficulty vanisheth indeed Let the first be Wine mingled with Myrrhe the second Vinegar mingled with Gall the third meer Vinegar Which the Souldiers gave to Malefactors if they had desired drink being that which they drank themselves Hence the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vessel filled with Vinegar was always in readiness that the Souldiers might drink when they had a mind and persons also upon the Cross if they stood in need of it VERS XLII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord remember me CHrist is now upon the Cross as old Joseph was in the Prison between two Malefactors There one of them was delivered the other hanged Here one obtains salvation the other perisheth The Faith of this Thief is admirable kept even pace with that of the Apostles if in some circumstances it did not go beyond it The Apostles acknowledged Jesus to be the Messiah and so doth he with this addition which I question whether they did so clearly own and know or no viz. that Christ should reign and have his Kingdom after his death He seems to have a sounder judgment concerning Christ's Kingdom than the Apostles themselves as may be gathered from their question Acts I. 6. It pleased God in this last Article of time to glorifie the riches of his grace in a singular and extraordinary manner both in the conversion of a sinner and the forgiveness of his sins I say in such an Article of time which the world had never before seen nor ever was like to see again viz. in the very instant wherein the Messiah was finishing his redemption It was not unknown to either of the Thieves that Jesus was therefore condemn'd to dye because he had professed himself the Christ Hence that of the Impenitent Malefactor If thou art Christ save thy self and us And if the Penitent Thief did for a while joyn with the other in his petulant reproaches which seems intimated to us Matth. XXVII 44. yet was his heart toucht at length and perhaps upon his observation of that miraculous darkness which at that time had covered the world VERS XLIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise I. LET us here first consider the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Paradise In common Jewish speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Garden of Eden In what sense we may collect from these following passages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f f f f f f Chagigah fol 14. 2. The Rabbins have a Tradition There are four that went into Paradise namely Ben Azzai Ben Zumah Acher and R. Akibah R. Akibah saith unto them when you come to the stones of pure Marble do not ye say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Waters Waters i. e. Alas these Waters will hinder us from going forward for it is written he that telleth lyes shall not dwell in my presence Now it would be a lye to call white Marble Water Ben Azzai 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lookt with some curiosity about him and he dyed Of him the Scripture speaks Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints Ben Zumah looked with some curiosity about him and he was disturbed in his intellectuals Of him the Scripture speaketh Hast thou found Honey eat so much as is sufficient for thee lest thou be filled therewith and vomit it Aruch reciting these words saith It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paradise under the signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Garden of Eden which is reserved for the just This place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Heavens where the souls of the just are gathered together And the Talmudick Gloss hath it much to the same sense These four by God's procurement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 went up into the firmament Whiles we are reading these passages that story may easily occur to mind of St. Paul's being caught up into Paradise 2 Cor. XII and perhaps the Legend before us is but the ape of that story In the story it is observable that Paradise and the third Heaven are one and the same thing in the Legend Paradise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the highest Heavens For so the Doctors Comment upon the word in Psal. LXVIII 5. g g g g g g Midras Tillin fol. 11. 3. There are seven Classes or Degrees of just persons who see the face of God sit in the house of God Ascend up unto the hill of God c. and to every Class or Degree there is allotted their proper dwelling place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Paradise There are also seven abiding places in Hell Those that dwell in Paradise they shine like the shining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Firmament like the Sun like the Moon like the Firmament like the Stars like Lightning like the Lilies like burning Lamps h h h h h h Ibid. II. Our Saviour therefore telling the Penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he speaks in the common dialect and to the capacity of the Thief viz. that he should be in Heaven with Christ and with all just persons that have left this world Nor indeed would I fetch the explication of that Article of our Creed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended into Hell from any passage in the Scripture sooner than this here adding this that we must of necessity have recourse to the Greek Tongue for the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they generally use to denote the state of the dead as well the blessed as the miserable Those who would expound that passage in 1 Pet. III. 19. of his going down from the Cross into Hell to preach to the Spirits in Prison there do very little regard the scope of the Apostle and are absolute strangers to his meaning in it For 1. In that he shuts up the generation before the flood in an infernal prison he falls in with the received opinion of that Nation which was that that generation had no part in the world to come And that they were condemned to boiling waters in Hell 2. He compares the present Generation of the Jews with that Generation before the flood That Christ did of old preach even to that Generation and so he hath done to this That that Generation perished through its disobedience and so will this He runs much upon the same parallel in his second Epistle Chap. III. 6. c. We must observe that the Apostle makes his transition from the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Saviour directly to the Generation before the flood passing over all those Generations that came between on purpose that he might make the comparison betwixt that and the Age he lived in VERS LIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wrapped it in Linnen MAR Zutrah saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
mountain than in that cursed place Saith the R. I will tell you what you are like you are like a god greedy after carrion so you when you know that Idols are hid under this mountain as it is said Gen. XXXV 4. and Jacob hid them you are acted with a greedy desire after them They said amongst themselves seeing he knows there are Idols hidden in this mountain he will come in the night and steal them away And they consulted together to have kill'd him but he getting up in the night stole away Somewhat akin to this Temple on Gerizzim was that built by Onias in Egypt the story of which you have in l l l l l l Antiqu. lib. 13. 6. Josephus and the description of it m m m m m m De Bell. lib. 7. cap. 37. Of this Temple also the Gemarists discourse n n n n n n Menacoth fol. 109. 2. from whom we will borrow a few things Simeon the Just dying said Onias my Son shall minister in my stead For this his brother Shimei being older than he by two years and an half grew very envious He saith to his brother Come hither and I will teach thee the rule and way of ministring So he puts him on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and girds him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall have the meaning of the words by and by and then setting him by the Altar crys out to his brethren the Priests see here what this man hath vow'd and does accordingly perform to his wife viz. that whenever he minister'd in the High Priesthood he would put on her Stomacher and be girt about with her girdle The Gloss upon the place saith that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a leathern garment but Aruch from Avodah Zarah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Abba saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stomacher of the heart What the word in this place should mean is plain enough from the story it self Shimei that he might render his brother both ridiculous and odious to the rest of the Priests perswades him to perform his services with his wife's Stomacher instead of the Brest-plate of the High Priest and her girdle instead of that curious one they were wont to be girt with c. The story goes on His brethren the Priests upon this contrive his death but he escaping their hands fled into Alexandria of Egypt and there building an Altar offer'd Idolatrous sacrifices upon it These are the words of R. Meir but R. Judah tells him the thing was not so for Onias did not own his brother Shimei to be two years and an half older than himself but envying him told him come and I will teach thee the rule and method of thy Ministry And so as R. Judah relates the matter the Tables are turn'd the whole scene alter'd so that Onias perswades his brother Shimei to put on his wife's Stomacher and gird himself with her girdle and for that reason the Priests do plot the death of Shimei But when he had declar'd the whole matter as it was indeed then they design to kill Onias He therefore flying into Alexandria in Egypt builds there an Altar and offer'd sacrifices upon it to the name of the Lord according as it is said o o o o o o Isa. XIX 19. In that day shall be an Altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt And now it is at the Readers choice to determine which of these two Temples that in Egypt or this upon Gerizzim are built upon the best foundation the one by a fugitive Priest under pretence of a Divine Prophesie the other by a fugitive Priest too under pretence that that Mount was the Mount upon which the blessings had been pronounced Let the Jews speak for themselves whether they believed that Onias with pure regard to that Prophesie did build his Temple in Egypt and let every wise man laugh at those that do thus perswade themselves However this is certain they had universally much more favourable thoughts of that in Egypt than this upon Mount Gerizzim hence that passage in the place before quoted If any one say I devote an whole burnt-offering let him offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem for if he offer it in the Temple of Onias he doth not perform his vow but if any one say I devote an whole burnt-offering for the Temple of Onias though he ought to offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem yet if he offer it in the Temple of Onias he acquits himself R. Simeon saith it is no burnt-offering Moreover if any one shall say I vow my self to be a Nazarite let him shave himself in the Temple at Jerusalem for if he be shaven in the Temple of Onias he doth not perform his vow but if he should say I vow my self a Nazarite so that I may be shaven in the Temple of Onias and he do shave himself there he is a Nazarite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And ye say that in Ierusalem c. What did not the Samaritans themselves confess that Jerusalem was the place appointed by God himself for his Worship No doubt they could not be ignorant of the Temple which Solomon had built nor did they believe but from the times of David and Solomon God had fixed his name and residence at Jerusalem And as to their prefering their Temple on Gerizzim before that in Jerusalem notwithstanding all this it is probable their boldness and emulation might take its rise from hence viz. they saw the second Temple falling so short of its ancient and primitive glory they observ'd that the Divine presence over the Ark the Ark it self the Cherubims the Urim and Thummim the spirit of Prophesie c. were no more in that place VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know that Messias cometh IF the Samaritans rejected all the Books of the Old Testament excepting the five Books of Moses it may be a question whence this woman should know the name of Messias for that it is not to be found throughout the whole Pentateuch From whence also may further arise a twofold enquiry more one whether the Samaritans were of the same opinion with the Sadducees the other whether those Sadducees that liv'd amongst the Jews rejected all the Books of the Old Testament excepting those of Moses only Perhaps they might so reject them as to forbid their being read in their Synagogues in the same manner as the Jews rejected the Hagiographa but the question is whether they did not use them read them and believe them as the Jews did those holy writings p p p p p p Schabb. fol. 115. 1. They snatch all the sacred Books out of the fire though on the Sabbath day whether they read or whether they read them not The Gloss is Whether they read them that is the Prophets which they are wont to read in their
not own that there is some indication of it in the Law he denies a fundamental So that whereas Moses seemed not clearly and in terminis to express himself as to the Resurrection the Sadducees would not admit it as an article of their Faith though something like it may have occur'd in the Prophets so long as those expressions in the Prophets may be turn'd to some other sense either Historical or Allegorical But if they had apprehended any thing plain and express in the Books of Moses the Prophets also asserting and illustrating the same thing I cannot see why we should not believe they were receiv'd by them It is something of this kind the passage now in hand where we find the Samaritan woman using the word Messias which though it is not to be met with in the Books of Moses yet Moses having clearly spoken of his coming whom the Prophets afterward signaliz'd by the name of the Messias this foundation being laid the Sadducees and the Samaritans do not stick to speak of him in the same manner and under the same title wherein the Prophets had mention'd him But then what kind of conceptions they had of the person Kingdom and days of the Messiah whether they expected the fore-runner Elias or the Resurrection of the dead at his coming as the Scribes and Pharisees did is scarcely credible VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They marvel'd that he talked with the woman THEY marvel he should talk with a woman much more with a Samaritan woman z z z z z z Erubhim fol. 53. 2. R. Jose the Galilaean being upon a journey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am much mistaken if it should not be writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 found Berurea in the way to whom he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what way must we go to Lydda She answered O thou foolish Galilean have not the wise men taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not multiply discourse with a woman Thou oughtest only to have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which way to Lydda Upon what occasion this woman should be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berurea is not our business at present to enquire but that the Reader may know something of her she was the wife of R. Meir a learned woman and a teacher her self a a a a a a Juchasin fol. 40. 2. His wife Berurea was a wise woman of whom many things are related in Avodah Zarah Another story we have of her b b b b b b Erubhin ubi supr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berurea found a certain Scholar reading mutteringly and spurn'd at him c. c c c c c c Kiddushin fol. 7â— 1 Samuel saith they do not salute a woman at all d d d d d d Bâ—mid ir rabba fol. 135. 4. A certain Matron askt R. Eleazar why when the sin of the Golden Calf was but one only should it be punisht with a threefold kind of death he answer'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a woman ought not to be wise above her Distaff Saith Hyrcanus to him because you did not answer her a word out of the Law she will keep back from us three hundred measures of Tythes yearly but he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the words of the Law be burn'd rather than committed to women e e e e e e Vid. Joma fol â—6 2 Ibid. fol. 240. 2. Let no one talk with a woman in the street no not with his own wife VERS XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Left her water-pot T WAS kindly done to leave her water-pot behind her that Jesus and his Disciples whom she now saw come up to him might have wherewithal to drink VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Who hath told me all things that ever I did c. THIS passage doth something agree with the Jewish notion about their Messiah's smelling f f f f f f Sanhedr fol. 93. 2. It is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shall make him of quick scent or smell in the fear of the Lord Isa. XI 3. Rabba saith he shall be of quick scent and shall judg as it is written he shall not judg by the sight of his eyes c. Ben Cozibah reign'd two years and an half and said to the Rabbins I am the Messiah They say unto him it is said of the Messiah that he shall be of quick scent and shall judg let us see if you can smell and judg which when he could not do they killed him The Samaritan woman perceiv'd that Jesus had smelt out all her clandestine wickednesses which she had perpetrated out of the view of men for which very reason she argu'd it with her self that this must be the Messiah And by her report her fellow Citizens are encourag'd to come and see him They see him hear him invite him receive and entertain him and believe in him Is it not probable therefore that they as well as the Jews might have expected the coming of the Messiah about this time if so whence should they learn it from the Jews or from the Book of Daniel VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are yet four months and then cometh the harvest THE beginning of the harvest that is the barley-harvest was about the middle of the month Nisan Consult Levit. XXIII 10 c. Deut. XVI 9. Bava Mezia fol. 106. 2. Half Tisri all Marheshvan and half Cisleu is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seeds time Half Cisleu whole Tebeth and half Shebat is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the winter Half Shebat whole Adar and half Nisan is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the winter solstice Half Nisan all Ijar and half Sevan is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the harvest Half Sivan all Tammuz and half Ab is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Summer Half Ab all Elul and half Tisri is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great heat They sow'd the wheat and spelt in the month Tisri and Marheshvan and so onward Targ. upon Eccles. XI 2. Give a good portion of thy seed to thy field in the month Tisri and withhold thou not from sowing also in Cisleu They sow'd barley in the months Shebat and Adar i i i i i i Gloss. in Râ—sh hashanab fol. 16. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The lateward seed or that which is hid and lieth long in the earth the wheat and the spelt which do not soon ripen are sown in Marheshvan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the early seed the barley which soon ripens is sown in Shebat and Adar k k k k k k Menacoth fol. 85. 1. They sow seventy days before the Passover The Barley therefore the hope of an harvest to come after four months was not yet committed to the ground and yet our Saviour saith Behold the fields are already white unto the harvest Which thing being a little observ'd will help to illustrate the words and design of
Israel The Lord thy God is one Lord. And so being blind as to the mystery of the Trinity are the more hardened to deny that Our Saviour strenuously asserts here the God-head of the Son or Messiah namely that he hath the same power with the Father the same honour due to him as to the Father that he hath all things in common with the Father and hence he makes this reply upon them about healing on the Sabbath my Father worketh on the Sabbath day so do I also VERS XIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son can do nothing of himself THAT is The Messiah can do nothing of himself For he is a Servant and sent by his Father so that he must work not of his own will and pleasure but his Father's Isai. XLII 1. Behold my servant Targ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold my Servant the Messiah So Kemch in loc and St. Paul Philip. II. 7. The Jew himself however he may endeavour to elude the sense of that phrase The Son of God yet cannot deny the truth of this Maxim That the Messiah can do nothing but according to the will and prescription of his Father that sent him Which he also will expound not of the weakness and impotency but the perfection and obedience of the Son that he so doth VERS XXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear c. THE Jews as we have said before looked for the Resurrection of the dead at the coming of Messiah and that truly and with great reason though it was not to be in their sense The Vision of Ezekiel about the dry bones living Chap. XXXVII and those words of Isaiah thy dead men shall live c. Chap. XXVI 20. suggesting to them some such thing although they grope exceedingly in the dark as to the true interpretation of this matter That of R. Eliczer is well enough n n n n n n Chetub â—ol 3. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The people of the Earth the Gentiles do not live which somewhat agrees with that of the Apostle Ephes. II 2. Ye were dead in trespasses and sins Nor does that of Jeremiah Bar Abba sound much differently o o o o o o Sanhedr fol. 92. 2. The dry bones Ezek. XXXVII are the Sons of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom is not the moisture of the Law It is true many bodies of the Saints arose when Christ himself arose Matth. XXVII 52. But as to those places in Scripture which hint the Resurrection of the dead at his coming I would not understand them so much of these as the raising the Gentiles from their spiritual death of sin when they lay in ignorance and Idolatry to the light and life of the Gospel Nor need we wholly expound Ezekiel's dry bones recovered to life of the return of the Tribes of Israel from their Captivity though that may be included in it but rather or together with that the resuscitation of the Israel of God that is those Gentiles that were to believe in the Messiah from their spiritual death The words in the Revel XX. 5. This is the first Resurrection do seem to confirm this Now what and at what time is this Resurrection When the great Angel of the Covenant Christ had bound the old Dragon with the Chains of the Gospel and shut him up that he should no more seduce the Nations p p p p p p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by lying Wonders Oracles and Divinations and his False-gods as formerly he had done that is when the Gospel being published amongst the Heathen Nations had laid open all the devices and delusions of Satan and had restored them from the death of sin and ignorance to a true state of life indeed This was the first Resurrection That our Saviour in this place speaks of this Resurrection I so much the less doubt because that Resurrction he here intends he plainly distinguishes it from the last and general Resurrection of the dead vers 28 29. this first Resurrection from that last which he points therefore to as it were with his finger the hour is coming and now is c. VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To execute judgment also because he is the Son of man DAN VII 13. Behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds and came to the Antient of days and there was given him dominion and glory c. To this our blessed Saviour seems to have respect in these words as the thing it self plainly shews R. Solomon upon the place One like the Son of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the King the Messiah R. Saadias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Messiah our righteousness When our Saviour declared before the Sanhedrin Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the Clouds they all said art thou Christ the Son of the blessed God by which they imply that the Son of God and Christ are convertible terms as also are Christ and the Son of Man And it plainly shews that their eyes were intent up-this place Art thou that Son of Man spoken of in Daniel who is the Son of God the Messiah So did Christ in these words look that way VERS XXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As I hear I judge HE seems to allude to a custom amongst them q q q q q q Sanhedr cap. ult hal â— The Judge of an inferior Court if he doubts in any matter goes up to Jerusalem and takes the determination of the Sanhedrin and according to that he judgeth VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A burning and shining light HE speaks according to the vulgar dialect of that Nation who were wont to call any person famous for life or knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Candle r r r r r r Beresh rabba fol. 95. 4. Shuah the Father-in-law of Judah Gen. XXXVIII was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Candle or light of the place where he lived The Gloss is One of the most famous men in the City inlightning their eyes hence the title given to the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Candle of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lamp of light VERS XXXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Search the Scriptures THIS seems not to be of the imperative but indicative mood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye search the Scriptures and in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they that testifie of me yet ye will not come to me that ye might have life What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 means is not unknown to any that have but dipt into Jewish Authors It denotes a something more narrow search into the Scriptures something between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an enquiry into the literal and Cabbalistical sense of the words as R. Bechai in every leaf shews by several
doubt IT is not ill rendred How long dost thou suspend our mind although not an exact Translation according to the letter But what kind of doubt and suspension of mind was this Was it that they hoped this Jesus was the Messiah or that they rather feared he was so It seems they rather feared than hoped it For whereas they looked for a Messias that should prove a mighty Conquerour should deliver the people from the Heathen yoke and should crown himself with all earthly glory and saw Jesus infinite degrees below such pomp yet by his miracles giving such fair specimens of the Messias they could not but hang in great suspence whether such a Messiah were to be wished for or no. VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the Iews took up stones again THE Blasphemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by judicial process of the Sanhedrin was to be stoned which process they would imitate here without judgment l l l l l l Sanhedr cap. 7. hal 1. These are the criminals that must be stoned He that lieth with his own Mother or with the Wife of his Father He that Blasphemes or commits Idolatry Now however the Rabbins differed in the definition of Blasphemy or a Blasphemer yet this all of them agreed in as unquestionable Blasphemy that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denies the foundation This they firmly believed Jesus did and none could perswade them to the contrary when he affirmed I and my Father are one A miserable besotted Nation who above all persons or things wished and looked for the Messiah and yet was perfectly ignorant what kind of a Messiah he should be VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If he called them Gods c. THE Jews interpret those words of the Psalmist I have said ye are Gods to a most ridiculous sense m m m m m m Avodah Zarah fol. 5. 1. unless our Fathers had sinned we had never come into the world as it is written I have said ye are Gods and the Children of the most high But ye have corrupted your doings therefore ye shall dye like men And a little after Israel had not received the Law only that the Angel of death might not rule over them as it is said I have said ye are Gods but ye have corrupted your doings therefore ye shall dye like men The sense is if those who stood before Mount Sinai had not sinned in the matter of the Golden Calf they had not begot Children nor had been subject to death but had been like the Angels So the Gloss. If our Fathers had not sinned by the Golden Calf we had never come into the world for they would have been like the Angels and had never begot Children The Psalmist indeed speaks of the Magistracy to whom the word of God hath arrived by an express dispensation and diploma ordaining and deputing them to the Government as the whole web and contexture of the Psalm doth abundantly shew But if we apply the words as if they were spoken by our Saviour according to the common Interpretation received amongst them they fitly argue thus If he said they were Angels or Gods to whom the Law and word of God came on Mount Sinai as you conceive is it any Blasphemy in me then whom God in a peculiar manner hath sanctified and sent into the world that I might declare his word and will if I say that I am the Son of God VERS XL. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Iohn at first Baptized THAT is Bethabarah For the Evangelist speaks according to his own History Which to the judicious Reader needs no proof CHAP. XI VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lazarus SO in the Jerusalem Talmud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Lazar for R. Eleazar For in the Hierusalem dialect it is not unusual in some words that begin with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph to cut off that letter As. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What saith the Master for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bar Ba for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bar abba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be R. Bon for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be R. Abon So very frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lazar for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eleazar a a a a a a Taanith fol. 68. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Lazar Ben R. Jose b b b b b b Chagigah fol. 78 4. 80. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Lazar Ben Jacob. c c c c c c Kiddushin fol. 60. 2. R. Lazar the Disciple of R. Chajia Rubba Who also are sometimes called by their name not abbreviated d d d d d d Sotah f. 23. R. Eleazar ben Jacob. * * * * * * Ibid. f. 20. 2. R. Eleazar ben Jose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Martha This name of Martha is very frequent in the Talmudick Authors e e e e e e Hieros Schab fol. 3. 4. Isaac bar Samuel bar Martha f f f f f f Bab. Javamoth f. 120. 1. Abba bar Martha the same with Abba bar Minjomi g g g g g g Ibid. cap. 6. hal 4. Joshua ben Gamla married 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Martha the Daughter of Baithus She was a very rich Widow h h h h h h Juchas fol. 57. 2. She is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mary the Daughter of Baithus with this story of her i i i i i i Eâ—hah rabbâ—bathi fol. 67. 2. Mary the Daughter of Baithus whom Joshua ben Gamla married he being preferred by the King to the High Priestood She had a mind upon a certain day of expiation to see how her Husband performed his office So they laid Tapestry all along from the door of her own House to the Temple that her foot might not touch the ground R. Eleazar ben R. Zadok saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So let me see the consolation of Israel as I saw her bound to the tails of Arabian Horses by the hair of her head and forced to run from Jerusalem to Lydda I could not but repeat that Versicle the tender and delicate Woman in thee c. Deuter. XXVIII 56. k k k k k k Succah fol. 52. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Martha the Daughter of Baisuth whether Baisuth and Baithus were convertible or whether it was a mistake of the Transcriber let him that thinks fit make the enquiry whose Son was a mighty strong man among the Priests VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was Mary which anointed c. THAT is Which had anointed the Lord formerly For I. It is fit the Aorist should have its full force Whoever will not grant this let him give a reason why Bethany which was Lazarus his Town should not be called by his name but said the Town of Mary and her Sister Martha Was it not because those names had been
exercise his power and strength to the utmost of what he either could or would because he knew his Champion Christ was strong enough not only to bear his assaults but to overcome them III. He was to overcome not by his Divine power for how easie a matter were it for an omnipotent God to conquer the most potent created Being but his victory must be obtain'd by his obedience his righteousness and his holiness IV. Here then was the rise of that trouble and agony of Christs soul that he was presently to grapple with the utmost rage of the Devil the Divine power in the mean time suspending its activity and leaving him to manage the conflict with those weapons of obedience and righteousness only It was about this therefore that that petition of our Saviour and the answer from Heaven was concern'd which may be gather'd from what follows ver 31. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Now is my soul troubled saith he and what shall I say It is not convenient for me to desire to be saved from this hour for for this very purpose did I come that therefore which I would beg of thee O Father is that thou wouldst glorifie thy name thy promise thy decree against the Devil lest he should boast and insult The answer from Heaven to this prayer is I have already glorify'd my name in that victory thou formerly obtainedst over his temptations in the wilderness and I will glorifie my name again in the victory thou shalt have in this combat also Luk. IV. 13. When the Devil had ended all his temptations he departed from him for a season He went away baffled then but now he returns more insolent and much more to be conquer'd And thus now the third time by a witness and voice from Heaven was the Messiah honoured according to his Kingly office As he had been according to his Priestly office when he enter'd upon his Ministry at his Baptism Mat. III. 17. and according to his Prophetick office when he was declar'd to be him that was to be heard Mat. XVII 5. compared with Deut. XVIII 15. VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince of this world a sort of phrase much us'd by the Jewish Writers and what they mean by it we may gather from such passages as these l l l l l l Sanbedr fol. 94. 1. When God was about to make Hezekiah the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Prince of the world to him O eternal Lord perform the desire of this just one Where the Gloss is The Prince of this world is the Angel into whose hands the whole world is delivered Who this should be the Masters tell out m m m m m m Bemidb. rabâ— fol. 277. 4. When the Law was deliver'd God brought the Angel of death and said unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world is in thy power excepting this Nation only the Israelites which I have chosen for my self R. Eliezer the Son of R. Jose the Galilean saith The Angel of death said before the Holy blessed God I am made in the world in vain The Holy blessed God answered and said I have created thee that thou shouldst overlook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nations of the world excepting this Nation over which thou hast no power l l l l l l Beresh rabb fol. 86. 4. If the Nations of the world should conspire against Israel the Holy blessed God saith to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your Prince could not stand before Jacob c. Now the name of the Angel of Death amongst them is Samael m m m m m m Targ. Jonath in Gen. III. 6. And the Woman saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samael the Angel of death and she was afraid c. The places are infinite where this name occurs amongst the Rabbins and they account him the Prince of the Devils n n n n n n Ellâ—h haddâ—bharin rabba fol. 302. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wicked Angel Samael is the Prince of all Satans The Angel of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who hath the power of death that is the Devil Heb. II. 14. They call indeed Beelzebul the Prince of the Devils Matth. XII but that is under a very peculiar notion as I have shown in that place They conceive it to be Samael that deceived Eve So the Targumist before And so Pirke R. Eliezer o o o o o o Cap. 13. The Serpent what things soever he did and what words soever he uttered he did and uttered all from the suggestion of Samael Some of them conceive that it is he that wrastled with Jacob. Hence that which we have quoted already The Holy blessed God saith to the Nations of the World your Prince could not stand before him Your Prince that is the Prince of the Nations whom the Rabbins talk of as appearing to Jacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the shape of Archilatro or a chief Robber And R. Chaninah bar Chama saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the Prince of Esau i. e. the Prince of Edom. Now the Prince of Edom was Samael p p p p p p Gloss in Maccoth fol. 12. 1. They have a fiction that the seventy Nations of the world were committed to the government of so many Angels they will hardly allow the Gentiles any good ones which opinion the Greek Version favours in Deut. XXXII 8. When the most high divided the Nations into seventy say they when he separated the Sons of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He set the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Angels of God Over these Princes they conceive one Monarch above them all and that is Samael the Angel of Death the Arch-Devil Our Saviour therefore speaks after their common way when he calls the Devil the Prince of this World and the meaning of the phrase is made the more plain if we set it in opposition to that Prince whose Kingdom is not of this world that is the Prince of the world to come Consult Heb. II. 5. How far that Prince of the Nations of the world had exercised his tyranny amongst the Gentiles leading them captive into Sin and Perdition needs no explaining Our Saviour therefore observing at this time some of the Greek that is the Gentiles pressing hard to see him he joyfully declares that the time is coming on apace wherein this Prince must be unseated from his throne and tyranny And I when I shall be lifted up upon the cross and by my death shall destroy him who hath the power of Death then will I draw all Nations out of his dominion and power after me VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have heard out of the Law OUT of the Law that is as the phrase is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the words
they could not sit in judgment upon them they said let us remove c. So in the case of Adultery which we also observed in our Notes upon Chap. VIII f f f f f f Maimon in Sotah cap. 3. Since the time that Adultery so openly advanced under the second Temple they lest off trying the Adulteress by the bitter water c. So that we see the liberty of judging in capital matters was no more taken from the Jews by the Romans than the beheading of the Heifer or the tryal of the suspected Wife by the bitter waters was taken away by them which no one will affirm But rather III. When the Sanhedrin saw that it was in vain to struggle against the mighty torrent and inundation of all manner of wickedness that played Rex and encroached so fast upon them and that the interposure of their authority could do nothing in suppressing them they being uncapable of passing judgment as they ought they determine not to sit in judgment at all And whereas they thought themselves bound by the Majesty and awfulness of the place while they sate in the Room Gazith In the very Court of Israel before the Altar to judge according to the sacredness of the place but could not indeed do it by reason of the daring pride and resolution of the Criminals they threw themselves out of that apartment and went further off into the place where the Exchangers shops were kept in the Court of the Gentiles and so to other places which we find mentioned in Rosh hashanah * * * * * * Fol. 31. 1. IV. It is disputed whether they ever returned to their first place Gazith or no. It is affirmed by the Gloss in Avodah Zarah g g g g g g Fol. 8. 2. When for a time they found it absolutely necessary they betook themselves again to that room We have the same also elsewhere upon this Tradition h h h h h h Chetubb fol. 30. 1. It is a Tradition of R. Chaia From the day wherein the Temple was destroyed though the Sanhedrin ceased yet the four kinds of death which were wont to be inflicted by the Sanhedrin did not cease For he that had deserved to be stoned to death he either fell off from some house or some wild Beast tore and devoured him He that had deserved burning he either fell into some fire or some Serpent bit him He that had deserved to be slain i. e. with the Sword was either delivered into the hands of an heathen King or was murdered by Robbers He that had deserved strangling was either drowned in some River or choaked by a squinancy But it may be objected why is it said From the time that the Temple was destroyed and not forty years before the destruction of the Temple To this the Gloss answereth Sometimes according to the urgency and necessity of the time the Sanhedrin returned to the room Gazith c. It is further excepted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But they never returned to sit in capital causes or to try Murders For the reason of their removal at first was because the numbers of Homicides so encreast upon them c. V. When the great Council did not sit in Gazith all Courts for capital matters ceased every where else One Gloss saith thus They took no cognisance of capital matters in any of the lesser Sessions so long as the great Sanhedrin did not sit in the room Gazith Another saith What time the great Sanhedrin sate in its proper place where it ought near the Altar then thou shalt make thee Judges in all thy Gates to judge in capital causes but when that removed then all cognisance about those matters ceased VI. The Sanhedrin removed as we have already seen from Gazith forty years before Jerusalem was destroyed and this is the very thing that was said forty years before the destruction of the City judgment in capital causes was taken away from them And now let the Reader judge what should be the reason of their being deprived of this priviledge whether the Romans were in fault or whether rather the Jews nay the Sanhedrin it self had not brought it upon themselves When the Sanhedrin flitted from Gazith all judgment of this kind vanished and upon what reasons they did thus flit we have learnt from their own Pens We will not contend about the time when these forty years should first begin though I am apt to think they might begin about half a year before Christ's death The words which we have under consideration spoken by the Sanhedrin to Pilate seem to referr wholly to the reason we have already mentioned It is not lawful for us to put any man to death Why is it not lawful Because being forced by the necessity of the times we retired from the Room Gazith where if we sit not neither we our selves nor any Court under us can take any cognisance of causes of life and death But what necessity of times could urge you to remove So greatly did the Criminals multiply and grew to such an head that we neither could nor durst animadvert upon them according to what the Majesty of the place might expect and require from us if we should sit in Gazith That must be observed from the Evangelists that when they had had Christ in examination in the Palace of the High-Priest all night in the morning the whole Sanhedrin met that they might pass Sentence of Death upon him Where then was this that they met Questionless in the Room Gazith at least if they adhered to their own rules and constitutions Thither they betook themselves sometimes upon urgent necessity The Gloss before quoted excepts only the case of murder which amongst all their false accusations they never charged Christ with But however suppose it were granted that the great Council met either in the Taberne or some other place which yet by no means agreed with their own Tradition did they deal truly and as the matter really and indeed was with Pilate when they tell him it is not lawful for us to put any man to death He had said to them Take ye him and judge him according to your Laws We have indeed Judged and Condemned him but we cannot put any one to death Was this that they said in fact true how came they then to stone the Protomartyr Stephen How came they to stone Ben Sarda at Lydda i i i i i i Hieros San. hedr. fol. 25. 4. How came they to burn the Priest's Daughter alive that was taken in Adultery k k k k k k Bab. Saâ—hedr fol. 52. â— Juchasin fol. 51. 1. It is probable they had not put any one to death as yet since the time that they had removed out of Gazith and so might the easilier perswade Pilate in that case But their great design was to throw off the odium of Christ's death from themselves at least
And when we speak of him as acting the chief and principal parts we do not believe the rest of the Apostles idle we know they were endowed with equal authority an equal gift of Miracles equal number of Tongues equal wisdom and an equal power of Preaching the Gospel but that he for the reasons above mention'd had shewn his zeal industry and activity in some ways and measures very extraordinary VERS XVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst THE Vulgar and Erasmus have it Suspensus crepuit medius Being hang'd he crackt asunder in the midst So the Italian Translation Appicato crepo pelmezzo rendring St. Matthew rather than St. Luke and I question indeed whether they do rightly take the mind of St. Matthew while they so strictly confine the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to being hang'd I have produced my conjecture concerning this business at Mat. XXVII viz. that the Devil immediately after Judas had cast back his money into the Temple caught him up into the air strangled him threw him headlong and dasht him in pieces upon the ground For I. It is questionable enough whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do necessarily and singly denote he hanged himself and not as well he was hanged or choaked And indeed whether the word always suppose the Halter how the learned Hiensius hath defended the negative we may consult him upon this place and upon Mat. XXVII II. If Judas hanged himself as is commonly believ'd and commonly so painted how could it be said of him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fell headlong Grant that upon the breaking of the Halter he might fall upon the ground yet what matter is it whether he fell on his face or that he fell backward But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Grammarians would have it it may be headlong as well as upon the face that is as upon the face is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to supine or backward III. Histories tell us of persons strangled by the Devil That is a known passage in Tob. III. 8. Asmodeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Heb. of P. Fagius strangled Sarahs seven husbands c. and it may be the less wonder if the Devil being corporally seated in this wretch should at last strangle him IV. There are also Histories of the Devil snatching up some into the air and carrying them away with him Now of all mortals no wretch did ever more deserve so direful a fate than this Traytor not did any other death become the most impious of all mankind than the dreadfullest the Devil to whom he was intirely given up could inflict as what might be of most horrour to himself and terrour to others V. The words immediately following That this was known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem ver 19. argue it was a thing of no common and ordinary event and must be something more than hanging himself which was an accident not so very unusual in that Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all his bowels gushed out w w w w w w Cholin fol. 56. 8. A certain Syrian saw a man who fell from the roof of his house upon the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his belly burst and his bowels gusht out The Syrian brought the Son of him that had thus fallen and slew him before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but at length it seem'd so The Gloss telleth us he did not strike or hurt the boy but made as if he would have killed him because he being loth to meddle with the mans bowels himself for fear lest he should any way displace them he seem'd as if he had kill'd the boy that so the father upon the sight of it groaning and fetching strong and deep sighs might draw in his bowels into their proper place again The Devil had dwelt in this wretch for three days or thereabout from the time that he had enter'd him upon his receiving the Sop Joh. XIII and now by an horrid eruption tearing out his bowels he goes out again VERS XIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aceldama 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A field of blood so call'd both as it had been purchas'd with the price of blood and as it had been water'd with the blood of this Traytor for hither I presume the Devil had thrown him headlong and upon this event it was that the Priests were mov'd to purchase this very field and so in a twofold sense it might be said of this Traytor that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he purchased a field both as it was bought with his money and seal'd with his blood If Aceldama was in that quarter of the City that it is now shewn in to strangers that is between the East and the South as Borchard tells us then it was in the valley of Hinnom or thereabout VERS XXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might go to his own place BAlaam x x x x x x Baal turim in Numb XXIV 25. went to his own place that is into Hell It is not said of the friends of Job that they each of them came from his own house or his own City or his own Country but from his own place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is from a place cut out for them in Hell y y y y y y Midra◠Cohtleth fol. 100. 4. The Gloss is from his own place that is from Hell appointed for Idolaters z z z z z z Maimon in Covel umazzi cap. 8. Whosoever betrays an Israelite into the hands of the Gentiles hath no part in the world to come If so then where must he have his place that betray'd the very Messiah of Israel VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioseph called Barsabas I. AMongst the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jose and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph are one and the same name a a a a a a Bava kama fol. 83. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Jose saith in Babylon the Syrian tongue c. which being recited in Sotah b b b b b b Fol. 49. 2. is thus exprest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Joseph said In Babylon c. So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Jose in Hieros Jom tobh c c c c c c Fol. 61. 3. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Joseph in Bab. Berac d d d d d d Fol. 19. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jose ben Johanan in Avoth e e e e e e Cap. 1. hal 4. is Joseph ben Johanan in Maimonides Preface to Misnah And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Mat. XXVII 56. and Mark VI. 3. is render'd in the Vulgar Joseph See Beza upon the place now before us II. I would therefore suspect that this Joseph who is call'd Barsabas might be Joses the Son of Alpheus the brother of James the less who as James also was
Feast-days the Jews were not wont so much as to tast any thing of meat or drink nor indeed hardly of other days o o o o o o Maimo Sch ib. cap. 30. This was the custom of the Religions of old first to say over his morning prayers on the Sabbath-day with those additional ones in the Synagogue and then go home and take his second repast For he had taken his first repast on the evening before at the entrance of the Sabbath Nothing might be tasted before the prayers in the Synagogue were finisht which sometimes lasted even till noon-day for so the Gloss upon the place When they continue in the Synagogue beyond the sixth hour and an half which is the time of the great Minchah for on a Feast-day they delay'd their coming out of the Synagogue then let a man pray his prayer of the Minchah before he eat and so let him eat And in those days it was that that commonly obtain'd which Targ. in Coheleth noteth p p p p p p Cap. 10. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After they had offer'd the daily Sacrifice they eat bread in the time of the four hours i. e. in the fourth hour In Bava Meziah q q q q q q Fol. 83. 2. a certain officer of the Kings teacheth R. Eleazar the Son of R. Simeon how he should distinguish betwixt Thieves and honest men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go saith he into the Taberne on the fourth hour and if thou seest any person drinking Wine and nodding while he holds his Cup in his hand c. Where the Gloss hath it The fourth hour was the hour of eating when every one went into the Taberne and there eat So that these whom ye deride O ye false mockers are not drunk for it is but the third hour of the day that is it is not yet the time to eat and drink in VERS XVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the last days THE Prohet Joel hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After these things Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After these things Where Kimchi upon the place hath this note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall come to pass after these things is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall come to pass in the last days We have elsewhere observed that by the last days is to be understood the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish Oeconomy viz. when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of the Jewish world r r r r r r Vide Matth. XXIV 3. 1 Cor. X. 11. drew near And there would be the less doubt as to this matter if we would frame a right notion of that great and terrible day of the Lord that is The day of his vengeance upon that place and Nation Which terror the Jews according to their custom and fashion put far off from themselves and devolve it upon Gog and Magog who were to be cut off and destroyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh The Jews cautiously enough here though not so honestly apply this Prophesie and promise to Israel solely as having this for a Maxim amongst them That the Holy Ghost is never imparted to any Gentile Hence those of the Circumcision that believed were so astonished when they saw That on the Gentiles also was poured out the Gift of the Holy Ghost Chap. X. 45. But with the Jews good leave whether they will or no the Gentiles are beyond all question included within such like promises as these All flesh shall see the Salvation of God Isai. XL. 5. And All flesh come and worship before the Lord Isai. LXVI 23 c. VERS XIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And vapor of smoke THE Prophet hath it in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pillars of smoke St. Luke follows the Greek who as it should seem are not very solicitous about that nice distinction between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pillaring smoke or smoke ascending like a staff and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Smoke dispersing it self here and there A distinction we meet with in Joma s s s s s s Fol. 38. 1. where we have a ridiculous story concerning the curiosity of the Wisemen about the ascending up of the smoke of Incense As to these prodigies in blood fire and smoke I would understand it of the slaughter and conflagrations that should be committed in that Nation to a wonder by seditious and intestine broils there They were monsters rather than instances than which there could never have been a more prodigious presage of the ruine of that Nation than that they grew so cruel within themselves breathing nothing but mutual slaughters and desolations VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Him being delivered by the determinate Council and fore-knowledge of God ye have taken c. WE may best fetch the reason why St. Peter adds this clause from the conceptions of the Jews Can he be the Messiah think they that hath suffered such things What! The Messiah Crucified and slain Alas how different are these things from the character of the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t t t t t t Rambam in Artic. fid Iud. Sanhedr fol. 121. 1. To him belongs honour and glory and preeminence above all Kings that have ever been in the world according as all the Prophets from Moses our Master to whom be peace to Malachy to whom be peace have Prophesied concerning him Is he then the Messiah that was spit upon scouged thrust through with a Spear and Crucified Yes saith St. Peter these things he suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God And these things had been foretold concerning him from Moses to Malachy so that he was never the less their Messiah though he suffered these things nor did he indeed suffer these things by chance but by the determinate counsel of God What the learned have argued from this place concerning God's decrees I leave to the Schools VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having loosed the pains of death LET these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be either the pains of death or the hands of death yet is it doubtful whether St. Peter might speak only of the death of Christ or of death in general so that the sense may be that God raised him up and by his Resurrection hath loosed the bands of death with respect to others also But supposing the expression ought to be appropriated to Christ only whom indeed they do chiefly respect then by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are not to understand so much the torments and pangs in the last moments of death as those bands which followed viz. the continued separation of Soul and Body the putrefaction and corruption of the body in the Grave which two things are those which St. Peter acquits our Saviour from in the following words For however it be a great
cap. 11. Here Lands are sold not so much upon the account of their own poverty as the poverty of others CHAP. V. VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Kept back part of the price c. DIDST thou not remember O Ananias what things had been prophesied concerning the Spirit of the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit of the King Messiah viz. a spirit of Wisdom and understanding c. Isai. XI 2. He shall make him quick of scent in the fear of the Lord. d d d d d d Sanhedr fol. 93. 2. Rabba saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He smelleth and judgeth Not after the sight of his eyes doth he judge Bar-Cozbi reigned two years and an half and said to the Rabbins I am the Messiah they reply upon him it is written of the Messiah that he smelleth and judgeth let us see if thou canst do so also c. The Gloss is He smells out a man whether he be guilty or innocent By what apprehension of things Ananias was so deceived as to think to have deceived the Holy Ghost is not easie to conceive or guess He might understand by the instance of Gehazi how quick and â—agacious the Spirit of a Prophet is in detecting all cheats and tricks and did he not suppose the Apostles endowed with a spirit as capable as the Prophet's was whatever it was that had blinded him to that madness or hardened him to that daringness in sin he abides as a dreadful monument throughout all ages of the indignation of God upon all those that shall contemn and vilifie his Holy Spirit whom if he did not blaspheme within his heart how near was he to that sin such mischiefs can Hypocrisie and Covetousness bring about It is not to be searched out of what degree or quality this Ananias was There is some probability he was not of the meer vulgar sort but of some higher rank because the mention of him falls in with that of Barnabas and there are more things that do in some measure perswade us For what hinders why he should not be supposed to have been one of that number upon whom the Holy Ghost had been shed What Judas was amongst the twelve that might he be amongst the hundred and twenty endowed with the gifts of the Holy Ghost and yet a Devil For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may have something more in it than lying to the Holy Ghost Perhaps it may be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falsifying the Holy Ghost and making him a lyar VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Peter said c. WHether St. Peter derived the Authority of sentencing this man to an immediate death from those words of our Lord whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Joh. XXI or whether from some immediate revelation or both he gives a notable instance of his own repentance and recovery after his fall whiles he who by a lie yea even perjury it self had denyed his Master doth such severe execution upon another for a lie he was guilty of VERS VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Wound him up c. THEY having no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burying Cloths at hand do bind up the dead man in what fashion they can and carrying him out of that place commit him to the earth VERS VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 About the space of three hours SO long a space of time being spent for interring the deceased doth seem to hint something as to the distance of the burying place which in the Cities of the Levites we have thus described The Suburbical Lands for the Levitical Cities are defined in the Law to be three thousand cubits from the wall of each side outward According as it is said From the wall of the City and outward a thousand cubits And it is elsewhere said ye shall measure from without the City on the East side two thousand cubits The thousand cubits are the Suburbs of the City and those two thousand which they measure beyond those are for Fields and Vineyards Now they assign the burying place for each City beyond all these bounds because they do not bury their dead within the limits of the City e e e e e e Maimon Shemittah Vejobel cap. 13. The burying place from a Levitical City was above a mile and an half distant Was it so in other Cities that belonged not to the Levites doubtless burying places were at some distance from all Cities but whether so far may be enquired but must not be the matter of our present search 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not knowing what was done Hence probably we may gather the reason why the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wound him up is added Had the deceased been carried to his own House or Lodgings by them who brought him out of the Chamber where he fell down dead to fetch burying cloths his Wife could not have been ignorant of what had fallen out but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They wound him up as well as they could in his own Cloths and so carried him out and buried him VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And of the rest durst no man joyn themselves unto them WHO should these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest be those certainly that were of the number of the hundred and twenty excepting the XII Apostles Of this number I presume Ananias might be one and the rest being terrified by the fate of one of their own order conceived so great a dread and reverence for the Apostles that they durst not joyn with them as their equals VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them AND why the shadow of Peter more than the rest of the Apostles who shared an equal authority and power of miracles with himself ver 12 1. It must be supposed that the sick were not brought out in their beds into the streets unless they had first seen Peter or were assured that he must pass by 2. It is a question whether they that brought out their sick knew any other of the Apostles besides Peter They had heard him speaking they had seen him doing while the rest were silent and sat still And that which these believers here do doth not so much argue his preeminence beyond the rest of the Apostles as that he was more known and noted than the others were VERS XX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The words of this life THERE is no necessity that these words should beget any difficulty if we will observe that ver 17. there is mention of the Sect of the Sadducees So that the words of this life are words that assert and prove this life that is the resurrection which the Sadducees deny For the controversie was about Jesus his resurrection VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gamaliel a Doctor of the Law THIS was Rabban Gamaliel the first commonly and by way of
and sincerely understood them of the sufferings and death of the Messiah Let those answer for them who would have them inspired by the Holy Ghost If they were thus inspired they could not but attain the true sense and scope of the Scripture as well as the Grammatical signification of the words and could not but discern here that the Prophet treats of an afflicted suffering dying buried Messias c. And if so how strange a thing is it that the whole Nation should be carried away with so cursed perverse and obstinate a denial of the Messiah's death What For Seventy two Doctors and Guids of the people and those divinely inspired too so plainly to foresee the sufferings and death of the Messiah foretold in this Chapter and yet not to take care to disperse this Doctrine amongst the people nor deliver and hand it down to posterity But if they did do it how came so horrid an aversness to this Doctrine to seize the whole Nation If they did not what execrable Pastors of the people were they to conceal so noble and so necessary an Article of their Faith and not impart it In like manner do the Jews commonly apply that famed Prophesie of Christ Isa. IX 6. to King Hezekiah I doubt also the Greek Interpreters lean that way that clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will restore health or soundness to him gives a suspition of it VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his humiliation his judgment was taken from him THE Hebrew Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was taken from prison and from judgment which the Seventy read thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. XXI 7. Doeg for devotion saith Kimchi was detained before the Lord then is shewn so much the greater wrong done to Christ. He was snatcht from the place of his devotion and from his work and he was snatched from the place of judgment that he could neither be safe in that nor have just judgment in the other Any one knows what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies namely Being detained upon a Religious account and what affinity the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shut up may have with it every one may also see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who shall declare his generation That is who shall declare the wickedness of that age or generation wherein he lived and by whom he suffered such things This and such like passages are very usual amongst the Jews h h h h h h Midr. Schiâ— fol. 17. 3. In the generation in which the Son of David shall come the Synagogue shall be a common stews Galilee shall be destroyed and Gablan shall be laid wast the wisdom of the Scribes shall putrifie good and merciful men shall fail yea and truth it self shall fail and the faces of that generation shall be as the faces of dogs R. Levi saith The Son of David shall not come but in a generation wherein mens faces shall be impudent and which will deserve to be cut off R. Jannai saith When thou seest the generation after the slandering and blaspheming generation then expect the feet of King Messias that is his coming While I read the Chaldee Paraphrast in Isa. LIII methinks I see a forehead not unlike the faces before mentioned for he wrests the Prophets words with that impudence and perversness from their own proper sense that it is a wonder if his own Conscience while he was writing it did not check and admonish him VERS XL. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Philip was found at Azotus IF this was done at Gaza or near it it was from thence to Azotus about two hundred and seventy furlongs or thirty four miles or thereabout * * * * * * Diod. Sicul. lib. 19. And Azotus was as it seems two miles from Jamnia according to the computation of Antoninus his Itinerarium From Gaza to Askalon sixteen miles from Askalon to Jamnia twenty We have the mention of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabba Philippi as it should seem in the Jerusalem Talmud i i i i i i Megill fol. 70 2. CHAP. IX VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He desired letters of him the High Priest to Damascus THESE letters were written from the whole Sanhedrin k k k k k k Vid. Acts XXII 5. the head of which was Gamaliel Paul's Master yet they are attributed to the High-Priest he being of a more worthy degree and order than the President of the Council that in Acts XXIII 4. hath a peculiar Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's High-Priest and hints to us the opinion that Nation had of the High-Priest namely that he was God's Officer whereas the President of the Council was only an officer of the People and chosen by men The charge of the High-Priest was to take care about holy things the charge of the President was to take care about the Traditions for he was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keeper and repository of Traditions But the words we are upon do occasion a more knotty and difficult question viz. whether the decrees of the Sanhedrin were of authority amongst the Jews in Countries abroad As to Damascus there is the less scruple because Syria in very many things was lookt upon to be of the same rank and condition with the land of Israel But what shall we think of more remote Countries For instance Egypt or Babylon where the greatest number of Jews above all other Countries in the World did reside I. There was no Sanhedrin of Seventy men either in Egypt or Babylon or indeed any where else but that at Jerusalem There were very famous Academies in Babylon viz. that of Nehardea that of Sorah and that of Pombeditha But a Sanhedrin no where There was a very famous Cathedral Church at Alexandria wherein were seventy pompous stalls but it was but a Church not a Sanhedrin l l l l l l Hieros Succah â—c 55. 1. II. In what veneration the Jerusalem Sanhedrin was held every where amongst all sorts of Jews may be collected from this that the rule and determination concerning intercalating the year concerning the beginning of the year and the appointed time of the feasts c. came from it as also that was esteemed the keeper and repository of the oral Law III. The judgment of life and death in the matter of Heresie and heterodoxy belonged only to the Jerusalem Sanhedrin and it is some such thing that is now before us The Christians were to be sent from the Synagogues bound to Jerusalem that if they would not deny their faith they might be condemned to dye The Synagogues by their three men might scourge them but they could not pass sentence of death And these goodly men conceived there was no other way to extirpate Christianity but by the death of Christians
XL. Abimelech III. Tolah XXIII Jair XXII Jepthah VI. Ibsan VII Elon X. Abdon VIII Sampson XX. Eli XL. In all CCCXXXIX The Tyrants Chushan VIII Eglon XVIII Sisera XX. Midian VII Ammon XVIII The Philistins XL. In all CXI So that reckoning three hundred thirty nine and one hundred and eleven together the Sum amounts exactly to four hundred and fifty II. Josephus seems expressly to follow this computation s s s s s s Antiqu. lib. 8. cap. 2. Solomon began to build his Temple in the fourth year of his reign and in the second month which the Macedonians term Artemision the Hebrews Ijar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After five hundred ninety and two years from the Israelites going out of Egypt In 1 Kings VI. 1. there are reckoned four hundred and fourscore years Josephus five hundred ninety two exceeding that number by a hundred and twelve years So as the three years of the Tyrants makes the number to exceed in this place III. In the particular summing up of these years I cannot omit what is said concerning Sampson in the Jewish Writers t t t t t t Hieros Sotah fol. 17. 2. Sampson saith O Lord Eternal give me a recompence for one of mine eyes in this world and for the other in the world to come One place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he judged Israel forty years Another place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he judged Israel twenty years R. Acha saith by this it is hinted that the Philistines were afraid of him twenty years after his death as they had stood in fear of him twenty years while he was alive From these words we might imagine that it was written concerning Sampson that he judged Israel Forty years which yet is no where found only it is said in two places Judg. XV. 20. and Chap. XVI 31. that he judged twenty years Whence the Jewish Writers draw that conclusion as was said before viz. that the Philistines were under the terror of him for the space of twenty years after he had been dead Indeed it is said of Eli That he judged Israel forty years 1 Sam. IV. 18. which when I observe the LXX rendring by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twenty years I cannot but suspect they might somewhat favour the received opinion amongst the Jews VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the second Psalm u u u u u u Hieros Taanith fol. 65. 3. WHY are the daily Prayers to the number of eighteen R. Joshua ben Levi saith it is according to the eighteen Psalms from the beginning of the Psalms to The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble Psal. XX. 1. But if any one say to thee they are nineteen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say thou to him Why do the heathen rage i. e. the second Psalm is not one of them Hence they say he that prays and is not heard it is necessary for him to fast too I. Judge hence whether this second Psalm were joyned or confounded with the first when it seems in some measure sequestred from the whole number And do you observe the Rabbins way of arguing Being to prove that the number of the daily Prayers being eighteen was adapted to the number of the eighteen Psalms from the beginning of the Book to that place The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble c. Psal. XX. he takes refuge in a common Axiom of theirs He that prayeth and is not heard must fast also As if that Maxim was founded upon the equality of numbers and the authors of that Maxim did so design it q. d. He that pours out eighteen Prayers according to the number of those eighteen Psalms and is not head let him Fast and he shall be heard according to the tenor of the Psalm immediately following The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble i. e. in the day when thou troublest and afflictest thy self with Fasting II. I will not make any nice enquiry for what reason they should exclude the second Psalm out of the number We find in it however shut out of the number a considerable testimony to the resurrection of the Messiah and perhaps to this the Apostle may have some respect in these words But if not by this his noting the number and order of the Psalm we may guess he spake to this sense viz. ye have a testimony of the Resurrection of Christ in the very entrance of the Book of Psalms so near the beginning of it that we meet with it even in the second Psalm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee R. Solomon confesseth that the Rabbins do interpret this Psalm of the Messiah but he had rather it should be applied to David For the Jews take special care that the Messias should not be acknowledged as the genuine Son of God Hence Midr. Till * * * * * * In loc Thou art my Son Hence we may answer the Hereticks who say he is Son to God Do thou answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth not say thou art Son to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but thou art my Son A very learned distinction indeed As the Master speaking kindly to his Servant may say to him I love thee like my own Son So the Targumist ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ In loc The Lord said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art beloved to me as a Son is to his Father They do indeed acknowledge that the Messiah is concerned in this Psalm w w w w w w Succah fol. â—2 1. but then if you will be a true Jew indeed you must have a care how you acknowledge him the begotten Son of God It would be a vain and impertinent thing to collect all their little artifices by which they endeavour to evade the force of this place It were much more proper for us to observe the way of the Apostles arguing and by what means he makes it out that these words of the Psalmist point at the Resurrection of the Messiah Take this passage by the way x x x x x x Midr. Tillin ubi supr R. Honna saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are three portions of chastisements divided The Fathers of the world and all generations received one part The generation of persecution another and the generation of the Messias another And when his time cometh then will the Holy blessed say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it lies upon me to make him a new creature And so he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to day have I begotten thee When the Jews asked a sign of our Saviour he constantly gives them the sign of Jonas the Prophet that is that his Resurrection which should come to pass should be a most undoubted proof for him that he is the Son of God the true Messias So Rom. I. 4. He was declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead
For so was he indeed distinguished from all mortals and Sons of men And God saith he had then begotten him when he had given a token that he was not a meer man by his divine power whereby he had raised him from the dead And according to the tenor of the whole Psalm God is said to have begotten him then when he was ordained King in Sion and all Nations subdued under him Upon which words that passage of our Saviour uttered immediately after he had arisen from the dead is a good Commentary All power is given unto me c. Matth. XXVIII What do those words mean Matth. XXVI 29. I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom They seem to look this way viz. I will drink no more of it before my Resurrection For in truth his Resurrection was the beginning of his Kingdom when he had overcome those enemies of his Satan Hell and Death from that time was he begotten and established King in Zion I am mistaken if that of Psal. CX v. 3. doth not in some measure fall in here also which give me leave to render by way of paraphrase into such a sense as this Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power it shall be a willing people in the beauties of holiness it shall be a willing people from the Womb of the morning thine is the dew of thy youth Now the dew of Christ is that quickning power of his by which he can bring the dead to life again Isai. XXVI 19. And the dew of thy youth O Christ is thine That is it is thine own power and vertue that raiseth thee again I would therefore apply those words from the womb of the morning to his Resurrection because the Resurrection of Jesus was the dawn of the new world the morning of the new Creation VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sure mercies of David IT hath been generally observed that this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken from the Greek Version in Isai. LV. 3. But it is not so generally remarked that by David was understood the Messiah which yet the Rabbins themselves Kimchi and Ab. Ezra have well observed the following Verse expressly confirming it The Resurrection of our Saviour therefore by the interpretation of the Apostle is said to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sure mercies of Christ. And God by his Prophet from whence this clause is taken doth promise the raising again of the Messiah and all the benefits of that Resurrection He had fortold and promised his death Chap. LIII But what mercies could have been hoped for by a dead Messiah had he been always to have continued dead They had been weak and instable kindnesses had they terminated in death He promises mercies therefore firm and stable that were never to have end because they should be always flowing and issuing out of his resurrection Whereas these things are quoted out of the Prophet in the words of the LXX varying a little from the Prophets words and those much more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold ye despisers and wonder c. vers 41. it might be enquired in what language the Apostle preached as also in what language Moses and the Prophets were read in that Synagogue vers 15. If we say in the Greek it is a question whether the Pisidians could understand it If we say in the Pisidian language it is hardly to be believed the Bible was then rendred into that language It is remarkable what was quoted above out of Strabo where he mentions four tongues amongst them the Greek and the Pisidian distinct from one another But this I have already discusst in the Notes upon Verse 15. of this Chapter VERS XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Behold ye despisers c. DR Pocock a a a a a a Poc. Miscell 3. here as always very learnedly and accurately examines what the Greek Interpreters Hab. I. read saving in the mean time the reading which the Hebrew Bibles exhibit for it is one thing how the Greek read it and another thing how it should be truly read VERS XLII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Gentiles besought c. IT is all one as to the force of the words as far as I see whether you render them they besought the Gentiles or the Gentiles besought them the later Version hath chiefly obtained but what absurdity is it if we should admit the former And doth not the very order of the words seem to favour it If it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one might have inclined to the later without controversie but being it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is place for doubting And if it were so that the Jews resented the Apostles doctrine so ill that they went out of the Synagogue disturbed and offended as some conjecture and that not improbably we may the easilier imagine that the Apostles besought the Gentiles that tarried behind that they would patiently hear these things again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the next Sabbath I. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Lexicons tell us amongst other things denotes hence forward or hereafter Now this must be noted that this discourse was held in the fore noon for it was that time of the day only that they assembled in the Synagogue in the afternoon they met in Beth Midras Let us consider therefore whether this phrase will not bear this sense They besought that afterwards upon that Sabbath viz. in the afternoon they would hear again such a Sermon And then whether the Gentiles besought the Apostles or the Apostles the Gentiles it dot not alter the case II. Let us inquire whether the Apostles and the Christian Church did not now observe and celebrate the Lord's day It can hardly be denyed and if so then judge whether the Apostles might not invite the Gentiles that they would assemble again the next day that is upon the Christian Sabbath and hear these things again If we yield that the Lord's day is to be called the Sabbath then we shall easily yield that it might be rightly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sabbath after And indeed when the speech was amongst the Jews or Judaizing Proselytes it is no wonder if it were called the Sabbath As if the Apostles had said to morrow we celebrate our Sabbath and will you on that day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have these words preached to you III. Or let 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be the week betwixt the two Sabbaths as that expression must be rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I fast twice in the week then as the sense is easie that they besought them the same things might be repeated on the following week so the respect might have more particularly been had to the second and fifth day in the week when they usually meet together in the Synagogue
Fathers of the Sanhedrin and Rulers of the people and so in reviling him he transgressed that precept Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people as well as if he had reviled the High Priest II. It is very little to the credit of the Apostle to think that when he said God shall smite thee thou whited wall c. That he uttered it rashly and unadvisedly or carried away in an heat of passion and indignation or that he did not know whom he thus threatned or what degree and office he held But he spoke it soberly and as became an Apostle by the Authority and guidance of the Holy Ghost Nor did he nor had he any need to retract those words or make apology for his rashness but they are of the very same tenor with the rest that he uttered III. If this Ananias was that Sagan of the Priests that perished in the destruction of Jerusalem as hath been already said I would conceive his death was foretold prophetically by the Apostle rather than that he rashly poured out words that he afterwards retracted Let me therefore paraphrase upon the words before us I know it is not lawful to speak evil of the Ruler of the people nor would I have said these things to him which I have if I had owned such an one but I did not own him so for he is not worthy the name of an High Priest IV. The President of the Sanhedrin at this time was Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel his Father Gamaliel having been dead about two or three years before Paul knew Simeon and Simeon very well knew him having been fellow Disciples and both sate together at the feet of Gamaliel nor indeed could he be ignorant of any of the Rulers of the people if they were of any age because he had been so long educated and conversed in Jerusalem So that it is very improbable he should not know either Ananias the High Priest if he were now present or Ananias the Sagan or indeed any of the Fathers of the Sanhedrin if they had any years upon their backs Indeed not a few years had passed since he had left Jerusalem But seeing formerly he had spent so many years there and had been of that Degree and Order that he was an Officer of the Sanhedrin and had a Patent from them he could not have so slippery and treacherous a memory but that upon his return he could readily know and distinguish their faces and persons And whereas it is said in the Verse immediately following That Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees c. If it should be asked whence he came to distinguish so well concerning their persons it may be answered That if he had no other ways to know them he might understand that by his former knowledge of them He had known them from the time that he himself had been a Pharisee and conversed among them See Chap. XXII 5. V. Forasmuch therefore as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wist not I do not see how it can argue so much an ignorance of his person with whom he might have had some former transactions in obtaining that accursed commission against the followers of Christ but that it must relate to his affection rather than his understanding So that the sense is I knew not that there was any High Priest at all or I do not acknowledge this person for such an one It was safer to inveigh against the person than the office But if he had said concerning the very office I do not know that there is any High Priest at all I question not but he had uttered his mind being well assured that that High Priesthood was now antiquated by the death of our great High Priest Jesus For let us lay down this Problem Although the Apostle as to other things had owned the service of the Temple for he was purified in it Yet as to the High Priesthood he did not own the peculiar ministry of that doth it not carry truth with it seeing God by an irrefragrable token viz. the rending of the Veil of the Temple from the top to the bottom had shewn the end and abolishing of that office But suppose the words of the Apostle relate to the person and not the office and that they were spoken in reference to the man himself I do not own him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 High Priest that he is not worthy of that title Perhaps St. Paul knew of old how wicked a person he had been or from his present injustice or rash severity had reason enough to make such a reply To know instead of to own and acknowledge is not unusual in Scripture stile that is a sad and dreadful instance enough I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity And in the Jewish Writings when R. Judah being angry with Bar Kaphrah only said to him I know thee not he went away as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one rebuked and took 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rebuke to himself The story is this z z z z z z Moed Katon sol 16. 1. When bar Kaphrah came to visit him he said unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Bar Kaphrah I never knew thee He understood what he meant Therefore he took the rebuke unto himself for the space of thirty days VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sadducees say there is no Resurrection WHAT therefore is the Religion of a Sadducee He Prays he Fasts he offers Sacrifice he observes the Law and yet doth not expect a Resurrection or life Eternal To what end is this Religion It is that he may obtain Temporal good things observing only the promise of them made in the Law and he seeks for nothing beyond the meer letter That the Sadducees took their denomination from one Sadoc a Disciple of Antigonus Socheus is commonly received and that not without reason In the mean time it may not be amiss to enquire whether Sadoc did himself deny the resurrection and whether he rejected all the Books of the Holy Scripture excepting the five Books of Moses which the Sadducees in some measure did I. The Jewish writers do relate his story with so much variety that as some represent him we might think he denies the resurrection and future rewards but as others that he did not For so say some a a a a a a Yuchasin fol. 15. 2. Sadoc and Baithus were the heads of the Hereticks for they erred concerning the words of their Master c. b b b b b b Ramban in Avoth cap. 1. Sadoc and Baithus hearing this passage from their Master be ye not as Servants that serve their Master for hire and reward sake c. they said among themselves our Master teaches us that there is neither reward nor punishment c. Therefore they departed from the rule and forsook the Law c. Others say otherwise c c c c c c
Text agrees with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He finisht his work on the sixth day c. You will say the Greek Version translated according to the Samaritan Text. I say the Samaritan Text was framed according to this Greek Version Who shall determine this matter between us That which goes current amongst the Jews makes for me viz. that this alteration was made by the Seventy two h h h h h h Megill fol. 9. 1. Massech Sopher cap. 1. But be it all one which followeth the other in this agreement we next produce in the same Chapter Gen. II. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord God had formed out of the ground The Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord God formed as yet out of the ground The Samaritan Text agrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We will not enquire here which follows which but we rather complain of the boldness of both the one to add the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as yet which seems to perswade us that God after he had created Adam and Eve did over and above create something anew which as yet to me is a thing unheard of and to whom is it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is no resurrection In my notes upon Matth. III. 9. I take notice out of the Gloss upon Bab. Beracoth if he be of any credit that there were Hereticks even in the days of Ezra who said that there is no world but this which indeed falls in with Sadducism though the name of Sadducee was not known then nor a long time after But as to their Heresie when they first sprung up they seem principally and in the first place to have denyed the immortality of the Soul and so by consequence the resurrection of the body I know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Jewish Writers is taken infinite times for the Resurrection from the dead but it is very often taken also for the life of the dead So as the one denotes the resurrection of the body the other the immortality of the Soul In the beginning of the Talmudick Chapter Helec where there is a discourse on purpose concerning the life of the world to come they collect several arguments to prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of the dead out of the Law for so let me render it here rather than the resurrection of the dead And the reason of it we may judge from that one agrument which they bring instead of many others viz. i i i i i i Sanhedr fol. 90. 2. Some do say that it is proved out of this Scripture He saith unto them But ye did cleave unto the Lord your God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are alive every one of you this day Deut. IV. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is plain that you are now alive when Moses speaks these things but he means this that in the day wherein all the world is dead ye shall live That is ye also though dead shall live which rather speaks out the immortality of the Soul after death than the resurrection of the body So our Saviours answer to the Sadducees Matth. XXII 31 32. from those words I am the God of Abraham c. is fitted directly to confute their opinion against the immortality of the Soul but it little either plainly or directly so proves the resurrection of the body but that the Sadducees might cavil at that way of proof And in that saying of the Sadducees themselves concerning the labourer working all the day and not receiving his wages at night there is a plain intimation that they especially considered of the state of the Soul after death and the non-resurrection of the body by consequence Let the words therefore be taken in this sense The Sadducees say Souls are not immortal and that there are neither Angels nor Spirits and then the twofold branch which our sacred Historian speaks of will the more clearly appear when he saith but the Pharisees confess both It is doubtful from the words of Josephus whether the Essenes acknowledge the resurrection of the body when in the mean time they did most heartily own the immortality of the Soul k k k k k k Iâ—s de excidâ— lib. 2. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This opinion prevails amongst them that the body indeed is corruptible and the matter of it doth not endure but Souls endure for ever immortal So that the question chiefly is concerned about the Souls Imortality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither Angel nor Spirit They deny that the soul is immortal and they deny any spirits in the mean time perhaps not denying God to be a Spirit and that there is a Spirit of God mentioned Gen. I. 2. And it is a question whether they took not the occasion of their opinion from that deep silence they observe in Moses concerning the Creation of Angels or Spirits or from something else There is frequent mention in him of the apparitions of Angels and what can the Sadducee say to this Think you the Samaritans were Sadducees If so it is very observable that the Samaritan Interpreter doth once and again render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels So Gen. III. 5. Ye shall be as Elohim Samar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye shall be as Angels Chap. V. 1. In the similitude of God Samar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the similitude of Angels So also Chap. IX 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the similitude of Angels And whereever there is mention of Angels in the Hebrew Text the Samaritan Text retains the word Angels too Did not the Sadducees believe there were Angels once but their very being was for ever vanisht that they vanisht with Moses and were no more Did they believe that the soul of Moses was mortal and perisht with his body and that the Angels died with him otherwise I know not by what art or wit they could evade what they meet with in the Books of Moses concerning Angels that especially in Gen. XXXII 1. You will say perhaps that by Angels might be meant good motions and affections of the mind The Pharisees themselves do sometimes call evil affections by the name of Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an evil affection is Satan But they do not call good affections Angels nor can ye your selves apply that passage so The Angels of God met him and he called the name of that place Mahanaim i. e. two Camps or two hosts One of those Camps consisted of the multitude of his own family and will you have the other to consist of good affections If the Sadducees should grant that Angels were ever created Moses not mentioning their Creation in his History I should think they acknowledged the being of Angels in the same sense that we do in the whole story of the Pentateuch but that they conceived that after the History of
hardned their faces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gloss renders it h h h h h h Moed Katon fol. 16. 1. He reproacheth the Messenger of the Sanhedrin More particularly i i i i i i â—rach Chaaiâ— cap. 359. Rambam of blessed memory saith For twenty four causes they Excommunicate either man or woman and these are they that are to be Excommunicated 1. He that vilifies a wise Man yea after his death 2. He that vilifies the Messenger of the Sanhedrin 3. He who calls his companion Servant 4. He that sets at nought one word of the Scribes There is no need to say he that sets at nought the Law 5. Who appears not at the day set him by the Bench. 6. Who submits not to the judgment of the Bench they excommunicate him till he do submit 7. Who keeps any hurtful thing for example a fierce Dog or a broken Ladder they excommunicate him till he put it away 8. Who sells his farm to a Heathen they excommunicate him until he take upon himself all the wrong which may thence come to an Israelite his neighbour 9. Who gives evidence against an Israelite before a Heathen Tribunal and by that Evidence wracks mony from him they excommunicate him until he pay it back again 10. A Butcher Priest who divides not a portion to the other Priest they excommunicate him until he gives it 11. Who profaneth the second Feast day of the Captivity although it be according to custom Of this day see Maimonides l l l l l l In Kiddush Hodesh cap. 5. 12. Who doth any servile work on the Passover Eve afternoon 13. Who mentioneth the name of God in vain either in an Oath or in Words 14. Who compels the people to eat the holy things out of the bounds 15. Who compels the people to prophane the Name of God 16. Who intercalates the year or months without the Land of Israel 17. Who lays a stumbling block before the blind 18. Who hinders the people from performing the precept 19. The Butcher who offers a torn beast 20. The Butcher who sheweth not his knife to a wise Man to be approved of 21. Who hardens himself against knowledge 22. Who hath put away his wife and yet hath partnership and dealing with her 23. A wise Man that lies under an ill fame 24. Who excommunicates him that deserves not excommunication These you have likewise in the Learned Buxtorph his Talmudick Lexicon in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niddui By how much the more carefully I look upon the causes and reasons of Excommunication so much the more I persist in my opinion that Excommunication was invented as a punishment for those faults for which no kind of punishment was decreed either by the Law or by any Traditional Canons Consider them singly and perhaps you will be of my opinion III. He against whom they were to proceed by Excommunication was first cited and a day set him wherein to appear by a Messenger sent him by the Bench which certified him of the day and of the persons before whom he was to appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m m m m m m Moed Katon fol. 16. 1. They appoint him the second day of the week on which day they sit in the Court and assemble in the Synagogue and the fifth day of the week on which day also there is an Assembly and a Session and the second of the week following If he appeared not on the day first appointed they look for him unto the day that was secondly appointed and thirdly appointed And this was when the case was about mony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if it were for Epicurism if he made not his appearance on the first day appointed they Excommunicate him without delay IV. They first struck him with simple Excommunication which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niddui in which there was not absolute cursing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n n n n n n Piske 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Moed Katon art 55. In Niddui was not absolute cursing For they said only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let N. be under Excommunication V. This Excommunication was for thirty days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o o o o o o Hieros Moed Katon fol. 81. 3 Excommunication Niddui was not less than for thirty days As it is said Until a month until the flesh come out of your nostrils Numb XI 20. But if the Excommunicated person appeased those that Excommunicated him within that time they absolve him forthwith VI. But if he persisted in his perversness the thirty days being ended they Excommunicate him again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adding also a curse And this second Excommunication they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shammatha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p p p p p p Bab. Moed Katon in the place before Whence is it that we Shammatize In that it is written Curse ye Meroz Judg. V. 23. Rabbenu Asher upon the place q q q q q q Fol. 34. 2. Barak Shammatized Meroz as it is written Curse ye Meroz which is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excommunication and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cursing for in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both Excommunication and Cursing VII They published his offence in the Synagogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r r r r r r Moed Katon in the place before We particularly publish his crime in the Synagogue The Gloss is They said to his fellow Citizens For this and this cause we Shammatize him VIII If he persist still for these thirty days in his perversness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They Anathematized him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They Excommunicate him and after thirty days they again Excommunicate Shammatize him and after sixty they Anathematize Rabbenu Asher s s s s s s In the place above saith They Anathematize saying Let him be under Anathema And this much more heavy than either Niddui or Shammatha For in this is both Excommunication and Cursing and the forbidding the use of any men unless in those things only which belong to the sustaining of life And they Anathematize not but when a man hath hardened himself against the Bench once and again IX They give the reason of these proceedings in Moed Katon t t t t t t In the place alledged in these words Whence is it that they send a messenger to him from the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the house of judgment Because it is written And Moses sent to Dathan and Abiram Whence is it that they summon him to judgment Because it is written And Moses said to Korah Be thou and all thy company present Whence is it that they cite him before some great and eminent man Because it is written Before the Lord. Whence is it that it is before N. or such a man Because it is writien Thou and they and Aaron Whence is it
But read and read again the whole story Act. XIX and there is not a syllable of any wrong that Paul at that time endured in his person VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fool. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would the Talmudists say Sot mad man g g g g g g Gloss. In Taanith fol. 1â— 1. Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai answered the Baithuseans denying also the Resurrection of the dead and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fools whence did this happen to you c. VERS XLV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so it is written c. OF the former no doubt is made for it is written Gen. XI 7. But where is the latter Throughout the whole sacred book thence the Jews speak so many things and so great of the Spirit of Messias and of Messias quickning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last Adam was made a quickning Spirit Job XIX 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth Job seems to me in this place in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last Adam Of the former Adam it was said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return And I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth and he shall arise from the dust another or a latter and I shall see the Lord made of the same flesh that I am of c. Intimating the Incarnation of the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A quickning Spirit The Spirit of the Lord moved upon the face of the waters Gen. I. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Spirit of King Messias So the Jews speak very frequently And also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Messias shall quicken those that dwell in the dust It cannot be past over without Observation by what authority Paul applies those words of Psal. XCII Thou Lord in the beginning hast founded the earth c. to the Messias Heb. I. 10. to prove his Deity and dignity But thou art deceived O Paul would a Hebrew say These words are to be applied to God the Father not to the Messias The Apostle hath what to reply from the very confession of the Jewish Nation You acknowledge that Spirit which was present at and president over the Creation was the Spirit of the Messias It ought not also be past by without observation that Adam receiving from him the promise of Christ and believing it named his wife Chava that is Life So the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Adam called his wives name Life Gen. III. 20. What Is she called life that brought in death But Adam perceived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last Adam exhibited to him in the Promise to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A quickning Spirit and had brought in a better life of the Soul and at length should bring in a better of the body Hence is that Joh. I. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In him was life VERS XLVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second man is the Lord. GEn. IV. 1. Eve conceived and brought forth Cain and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have possessed or obtained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man the Lord that is That the Lord himself should become man For let me so turn it depending upon these reasons I. That this Interpretation is without any manner of wresting the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea it is according to its most proper signification and use II. That without doubt Eve had respect to the promise of Christ when she named her son as Adam had respect to the promise in the denomination of Eve VERS LV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O death where is thy c. HOs XIII 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seventy read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where is thy revenge O Death And thus speaks Aben Ezra There are some which invert the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be as though it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where And very truly as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 10. Where is thy King Where the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not I will be thy King but Where is thy King So that the Greek Interpreters and the Apostle after them translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where properly and truly The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Prophet is rendred by the Targumist and the Rabbins to signifie A Word but some as Kimchi acknowledges understand it to signifie The Plague and that upon good ground because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Destruction is joyned with it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Destruction and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Plague are joyned together Psal XCI Where see the Targum and R. Solomon and compare the Greek Interpreters with them CHAP. XVI VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now concerning the Collection for the Saints UNLESS I am much deceived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Jerusalem Writers denotes in the like sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Collection for the wise men They have this story a a a a a a Hoâ—aioth fol. 48. 1. R. Eliezer R. Josua and R. Akiba went up to Chelath of Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Employed in the Collection for the wise Men. One Abba Judah was there who performed the Law with a good Eye Being now reduced to poverty when he saw the Rabbins he was dejected He went home with a sad countenance His wife said to him Why doth thy countenance languish He answered The Rabbins are come and I know not what to do She said to him You have one field left Go and sell half of it and give to them Which he did And when they were departed he went to plow in the half of his field and found a great treasure c. I produce this the more willingly that it may be observed that collections were made among the Jews in forrain Nations for the poor Rabbins dwelling in Judea in the same manner as they were made among Christians in forrain Nations for the poor Jews converted to Christianity in Judea VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the first day of the Week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the first of the Sabbath would the Talmudists say I. That day was every where celebrated for the Christian Sabbath and which is not to be past over without observing as far as appears from Scripture there is no where any dispute of that matter There was controversie concerning circumcision and other points of the Jewish Religion whether they were to be retained or not retained but no where as we read concerning the changing of the Sabbath There were indeed some Jews converted to the Gospel who as in some other things they retained a smatch of their old Judaism so they did in the observation of days Rom. XIV 5. Gal. IV. 10. but yet not rejecting or neglecting the
the Seventy thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Anathema or devoted of men shall not be redeemed but shall dye the death But what is the Anathema of men The Author of Tosaphtoth answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is condemned to death by the Sanhedrin R. Solomon saith When an Israelite devoted his man servant or his maid servant that were Canaanites to death R. Menahen saith When the Israelites in war devoted their enemies to destruction if they overcame them as was done by them Numb XXI i i i i i i Bab. Chetubb fol. 37. 2. Whence is it that when any condemned to dye by the Sanhedrin is led forth to suffer death another goes forth interceding and saying I will pay for his Redemption Whence is it I say that he saith this to no purpose Namely Thence because it is said Every Anathema of men shall not be redeemed but shall be punished with death If therefore we enquire into the original and proper nature of this Anathema it was certainly the destining of some Malefactor to most certain death and destruction Hence is that in the Chaldee paraphrast in Esa. XLIII ult Where for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will deliver Jacob to Anathema he renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will deliver him to be slain And now in reference to the words Maran-atha very many Commentators agree that this Phrase is a certain form of Excommunication and that it is the highest and heaviest Thus say they is the extremest kind of Anathema marked as though he would say Cursed be he to the coming and in the coming of the Lord. They assert this to be the third kind of Excommunication among the Jews and think that it sounds the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schammatha and interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God cometh to the same sense But let me with the leave of so great men speak freely what I think in this business I. I have not found in my reading in any places although I have sought diligently in any Jewish Writers that I have perused where Maran-atha occurs once for a form of Excommunication Nor have I found in any Christian Writer the least sign whereby might be shewn in what place or in what Hebrew Author that Phrase is found in such a sense Yea to speak out plainer as the thing is I do not remember that I have found this Phrase Maran-atha in any sense at all in any Rabbinical or Talmudic Writer at any time in any place II. But those Commentators mentioned do silently confess that Maran-atha indeed in so many syllables does not occur in the Hebrew Writers but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schammatha which speaks the same thing occurs very frequently and so they interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God cometh But passing over this that this interpretation seems to betray an ignorance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from thence Schammatha is derived the Talmudists to whom that word is sufficiently common and well known produce another Etymology of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schammatha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Bab. Motd Katâ—n fol. 16. What signifies Shammatha Rabba answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sham metha There is Death Samuel answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Death be there or come thither as it is written The curse shall come into the house of the Thief and shall lay it waste Zach. V. They have these and the like sayings but no mention in them of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God cometh What the Apostle means by Maran-atha we shall more easily trace when we shall have observed this first That the Apostle chiefly directs the dint and stroke of this Anathema and Curse against the unbelieving Jews who were most bitter enemies against the Lord Jesus and his Gospel which I cannot but think being induced thereunto by these four reasons I. Because the Jews above all other of humane race loved not the Lord Jesus neither yet do love him The Holy Scripture teaches this abundantly unhappy experience teaches it The Pagans indeed love not Christ because they knew him not but because they know him not neither do they hate him The Turks indeed love not Jesus in that manner as the Christians do but they do not hate him in that manner as do the Jews II. Because he speaks here in the Language and Dialect of the Jews namely in that Syriack phrase Maran-atha He had spoke Greek through the whole Epistle he speaks Greek in all his Epistles but when he speaks here in the Jewish Language the thing it self speaks it without all controversie that he speaks concerning the Jews III. The Jews only of all mortals called Jesus accursed see Chap. XII 1. therefore the Apostle deservedly strikes them above all other Mortals with a curse rendring like for like IV. Hither I or rather doth the Apostle bring those words of Esaiah Chap. LXV 15. Ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen Hither also may be brought that of Malachi Chap. IV. wherewith the Old Testament is concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest I come and smite the land with Anathema a Curse Lest I come this is the same with that which the Apostle saith Maran-atha The Lord cometh And I will smite with Anathema the same with that in this verse let him be Anathema Against whom is the threatning in the Prophet Against the unbelieving Jews Against the same is both his threatning and curse of the Apostle taken methinks out of the very words of the Prophet And now you may easily fetch out the sense of the word Maran-atha The Holy Scripture speaks great and terrible things concerning the coming of Christ to punish the Nation of the Jews for their not loving yea hating Christ and treading the Gospel under foot It is called his coming in his Kingdom in the Clouds in Glory which we observe elsewhere So that I should much more readily interpret this expression Maran-atha that is our Lord cometh in this sense from this common manner of speech and which is so very usual to the Scripture than to run to I know not what Jewish form which yet is not at all to be met with among the Jews To be added to Chap. XIV THAT some light may be added to what we spake at Chap. XIV about the use of an unknown Tongue we thought it not amiss to make a brief discourse for the discussing that Question What Bibles were commonly used in the Religious Meetings of the Iews Which discourse we have laid here that the continuation of the Commentary might not be broken CHAP. I. Concerning the Hebrews and Hellenists WHEN the Hellenists and Hebrews are distinguished Act. VI. 1. it seems to be less obscure than when distinction is made between the Hellenists and the Jews Act. XI 20. For that the Hellenists were Jews almost all agree The reason of the distinction may be fetched either from their Dispersion or
of Christ is to all believers and all to every one As a million of men are in the Sun and one partakes not one of one part of his light and beams and another of another but every one of all So here as the first inhancement of the desirableness of justification it makes us partakers of Christs righteousness Oh what a treasure is this A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 17. 1664. JOHN VIII 9. And they being convinced by their own conscience went out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the last EVEN so be it with all that deal in falshood as these persons do that are spoken of by the Text. So be it with every one who at this time and occasion when Conscience should be stirring and doing its just work toward the forwarding the execution of Justice can find in his heart to hinder it or to perswade it to the contrary Any one that can swallow down and choak his Conscience with a false Oath any one that shall intend a false Testimony lay in a false accusation or maintain a wrong cause Awake Conscience awake and do thy duty fly in his face and make him blush and be ashamed admonish chastise correct and hinder him that he being convinced of his own Conscience may either get him out or at least it may get him off from being so injurious to others or to his own soul. There is hardly any Commentator upon the Gospel or this Chapter but he will tell you that this story of the adulterous woman was wanting and left out of some Greek Testaments in ancient time as appears by this that some of the Fathers setting themselves to expound this Gospel make no mention at all of any part of this story So Nonnus turning all this Gospel into Greek verse hath utterly left out this whole story and so hath the Syriac New Testament first printed in Europe and so Jerome tells us did some old Latine translations When I cast with my self whence this omission should proceed I cannot but think of two passages in Eusebius The one is in his third Book of Ecclesiastical History the very last clause in that Book where he relates that one Papias an old Tradition-monger as he characters him did first bring in this Story of the adulterous woman out of a book called the Gospel according to the Hebrews For so is that passage of Eusebius commonly understood The other is in his fourth Book of the Life of Constantine Chap. 36 37. Where he relates That Constantine enjoyned him and committed to his trust to get transcribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the last Translation renders fifty Copies of such parts of Scripture as he thought might be most useful for the Churches of Constantinople But his Greek expression seems rather to mean fifty Copies of the Gospel compacted into one body by way of Harmonizing them together which I am the rather induced to believe partly because of those Canones Eusebiani which are so famous and were in tendency to such a purpose partly because he relates that he finished the work according to the Emperors command and sent him the books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by ternions quaternions which seems to mean three or four Evangelists compacted together according as they joyntly related the story Now if Eusebius believed that this story was introduced by Papias as he seems to do you may well conclude that he would be sure to leave out this story in all his fifty Copies which he thought unfit to be compiled with the Evangelical Story as having no better authority than the introduction of it by such a man Or if the ages before Eusebius were of the same belief with him in this matter you may see why this story might also be wanting in those times But I shall not trouble you about this matter which is now past all dispute For I believe it is hardly possible in all the World to find now a printed New Testament either in the Original Greek or in any other language either Eastern or Western wherein this story is not inserted without any question Nor had the thing been ever disputed if the story it self had bee searched to the botom for then of it self it would have vindicated its own authority to be Evangelical and Divine It tells of a Woman taken in adultery in the very Act I could easily be perswaded to say And in the very Temple too For as our Saviour saith They had made that House of prayer a den of Thieves so I doubt they made it sometimes a nest of Whores And at this time there was offered an extraordinary occasion and opportunity for such a lewdness For as the Chapter preceding tells you at vers 37. That the day next before this occurrence was the great and last of the Feast of Tabernacles so the Jews Records will tell you that that night as also others of the same Feast was spent by the chief men in the Nation in dancing singing sporting and even revelling in the Temple-Court vast companies of men and women looking on Now if such night-work as that did produce such a deed of darkness as this it was no wonder But I leave this as not asserted The Scribes and Pharisees bring this woman to Christ as he sat teaching in the Temple to have his sentence upon her as it is like she was first brought to them to have theirs If I should construe the Scribes and Pharisees here for the Members of the Sanhedrin or bench of Judicature it might plead the warrant of the words of our Saviour Matth. XXIII 2. where he useth the same expression in the same sence The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair i. e. the Sanhedrin sit in Moses Legislative Magistratical seat As also the warrant of his words in this very story where asking the woman Hath no man condemned thee he seems to intimate that those that accused her had also power to judge and condemn her However it is well known that Scribes and Pharisees in Scripture language speak the men of the most eminency and dignity in the Nation They propose the case to Christ as a point of Scruple though they intend something worse in it This woman was taken in adultery in the very act Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou And indeed there were two scruples in the case One was as to a point in their Civil Law viz. whether a woman taken in the very act of Adultery might not have the benefit of Divorce as well as a woman deprehended an Adulteress by some other discovery since that permission of divorce was to mitigate the sharpness of the Law of putting her to death The second was as to a point of Civil Policy which you may pick out of their words to Pilate Joh. XVIII 31. The Jews said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any man to death It is very generally understood
cursed that Adam and all the Saints of God might not look for blessedness upon the Earth but in Christ nor for Christ nor his Kingdom upon this cursed Earth but in Heaven O Jew the Earth is cursed where canst thou find a place upon it for Messias blessed Kingdom All is but as Meshek and the Tents of Kedar to him he finds not a place here to lay his head I may say the title over Christs head was and is a stumbling block under the Jews feet where it was written Jesus of Nazareth and they looked for Messias of Bethlehem King of the Jews and they saw nothing in him but poverty and contempt In Joh. XVII 24. Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am Where I am where is that Not here wherein is poverty contempt and dishonor as he experienced when he was here but to see my glory there where he is glorified Alas What treatment can he provide for them here Can he spread a table for their full satisfaction in this Wilderness where he found none for himself The dish he sets before them is In this world you shall have tribulation but be of good chear there is better chear provided for you in my Fathers house This is but a Wilderness you are passing through Canaan is the land provided for the flowing with milk and hony In my Fathers house there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many abiding places here you are flitting from place to place and no abiding but I have prepared a Rest for the people of God An unfit place here where there is nothing but changes and vicissitudes and where in a moment Amnons mirth and feasting may be turned into mourning and misery All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change cometh saith Job Why he met with changes enough but he means his great change when he should be changed no more than that that he looks for and trusts in An unfit place this when the house may be blown down whilst we are feasting in it as it happened to Jobs children This World then is no fit place for Christ to entertain his people in Secondly A believer in this World is not yet capable of the Entertainment that Christ has to give him therfore that is reserved for him in his Fathers house As Christ tells his Disciples I have many things to speak to you but you cannot bear them So I say in our present case Christ hath many excellent treatments to entertain them withal but here they are not fit for them while we are in this corruptible flesh we want the wedding garment Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God So corruptible bodies are not garments fit for these divine entertainments 1. The Soul in these bodies does not act to the utmost extent its nature is capable of It is like a bird that let out injoys a whole World of liberty but not before There is a kind of immensity in the Soul and this is one part of Gods image Any one Soul among us could hold as much wisdom goodness c. as God in its degree and capacity but it is straitned in these bodies that it cannot act to such an extensiveness As the River is straitned within its banks till it fall into the Ocean so the Soul here is straitned by ignorance infirmities pressures but at death it slips into the Ocean of Eternity where there is no more straitness 2. How impossible is it in these mortal bodies to see God as he is How hard through the fogs of flesh to see the things of God How impossible to behold God in his essence In the mount will the Lord be seen and not in the low vallies of mortality and corruption Oh! I cannot but with rapture consider of the strange and blessed change that blessed Souls find as soon as ever departed Here we are groping after him and much ado we have to discern a little of him here one cloud or other is interposing twixt our contemplation and that Sun But as soon as we are got out of the body we behold that incomprehensible light as he is Oh! what rapture of Soul will it be to see all clouds dispelled and to look with open full eye upon the Sun Oh! this is our God we have groped we have waited for him What the Apostle saith II Cor. III. ult But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory This is of transcendent comfort for believers it being their happiness here to behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and to be changed into the same image What ravishment of Joy will it be to find it effected to the utmost in Eternity 3. How impossible is it to keep the heart fixed on God here While flesh hangs on it that will be making it to flag aside A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise April 6. 1666. I JOHN V. 16. There is a sin unto death I do not say that he should pray for it AND it is a deadly sin indeed that outvies and excludes the charity of this Apostle A man as his Writings evidence of him and as Ecclesiastical History testifies concerning him composed altogether of Charity His Epistles evidence to you how urgent he is for love one to another and Ecclesiastical History will tell you that his common salutation to all he met was Let us love one another But here he hath met with a wretch to whom he cannot find in his heart to say God speed A deadly sin and a deadly sinner to whom he cannot allow the Christian the Common the needful Charity of his own or other mens prayers O no It is a sin unto death The uttering of the first clause There is a sin unto death may not undeservedly nor impertinently move such another inquiry in the Congregation as the uttering of those words of our Saviour One of you shall betray me did move at his Table every one then to say Is it I and every one here to say is the sin mine As it was time for every one of Israel to look about him lest the thing should fall to his share when Joshua proclaimed among them There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel Josh VII 13. So when the Holy Ghost proclaimeth in the words of the Text There is a sin unto death is it not time is it not pertinent for every one that is within hearing to look about and take heed lest this dead Concubine do lie at the threshold of his door as she did in Gibeah Judg. XIX And what hath any notorious sinner to say for himself why the Law of the Text should not proceed against him and condemn his profaneness uncleanness wickedness unconscionableness under the name and title of a sin unto death seeing it seemeth a great deal more currant that
there is sin unto death than that there should be any sin that is not unto death as our Apostle saith there is in the words immediately going before these that I have chosen In these that I have chosen you see there are two clauses and out of either of them arise two Questions Out of the former I. What sin it is the Apostle means And II. Why he titles it by such a name A sin unto death Out of the latter I. Why he forbideth to pray for it And II. Why he forbideth not to pray for it I mean why he speaketh not out in down right terms I say that he should not pray for it but says only I say not that he should The Rhemists Popish Expositors upon the place will answer you even all these questions with a breath if you will but take their words and little more than their bare word must you expect for the proof and confirmation of what they tell you 1. They will tell you that the sin our Apostle means is any sin whatsoever that any one lives in unrepentant all his time 2. They will tell you that it is titled A sin unto death because he lives in it till his death and so dies in it 3. They will tell you that the Apostle by not praying for him means not praying for him when he is dead but he that sins not a sin unto death that is that lives not in his sin till he die but repents of it before for him you must pray after his death For that the place is most properly or only meant of praying for the departed say they this convinced that neither the Church nor any man is debarred here from praying for any sinner while living nor for remission of any sin in this life And so they go on When I read these mens Annotations on this Scripture they often mind me of Benhadads servants with ropes about their necks catching at any word that fell from the King of Israels mouth that might be for any advantage to their forlorn and lost cause and condition These mens Popish cause hath had the rope about its neck now a long time and been in a lost and forlorn case and I cannot tell whether I should laugh or frown to see what pitiful shift and shameful scrambling they make for it by catching at any word or syllable in the Scripture or Fathers and wresting and twisting and twining it to any seeming or colourable advantage to their condemned cause to save it from execution Certainly they are at a very hard pinch for proof of praying for the dead when they make such a scraping in this portion of Scripture to rake it out thence whereas the words are as far from meaning the living praying for the dead as the dead praying for the living And at the very same game they be in their notes upon our Saviours words concerning the sin against the Holy Ghost that it shall never be forgiven in this World nor in the World to come Matth. XII 32. Their note is that some sins may be remitted in the next life and consequently this proves Purgatory As the poor frantick distracted wretch at Athens that fed and pleased himself with this fancy that every ship that came into the Port was his ship that all the goods that came into the Town were his goods whilst he himself in the mean time was miserably poor naked and ready to famish so these men think every verse in Scripture brings in something to their stock every saying of the Fathers something to their bank whilst in the mean while their pitiful cause walks starven and poor and blind and naked and stands in need of all things The sin against the Holy Ghost indeed is distinct and something different from this sin unto death that our Apostle speaketh of yet since there is such a particular sin against the Holy Ghost that is so deadly why should not these men think that sin in the Text that carries so deadly a name is a particular sin likewise It is true indeed that a sin in which a man continues unrepenting until his death and in which he dies may very justly be called A sin to death that is a sin until his death and it will prove A sin to death eternal but that the Apostle means here a particular sin and that he estimates it not by its length but by its weight not by how long the party continues in it but by how grievous the sin is in it self will appear as we go along partly by discovery of the reason of the title he puts upon it and partly by discovery of the very sin it self that is here intended But before we begin with the discovery of the reason of the title let us a little look first into the meaning of those words of our Saviour Joh. XX. 22. He breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Do not the Apostles here receive a new power or priviledge or guift which Christ had not imparted to them before Else why such an action as he had never used toward them before so breathing on them The common acceptation of these words whose soever sins ye remit or retain are remitted or retained is to make them to mean the same thing with what ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven c. But besides that the expressions are of a vast difference why if Christ had given them the very same power in those words that he doth in these why should he repeat it especially why should he use such a solemn and unusual rite toward them to breath upon them He had given them power of miracles and healing and casting out Devils before without breathing upon them He had given them power of binding and loosing that is of establishing or abolishing the rites and Laws of Moses for so the Phrase in the common acceptation of the Nation did only signifie and this he did without breathing upon them Therefore certainly in this his new action and these his new words as I may call them he gives them some new power and that in two kinds 1. In his breathing upon them and bidding them receive the Holy Ghost he gives the Holy Ghost to give again or he gives them power by the imposition of their hands to bestow the Holy Ghost as the sacred Story tells you the Apostle did and none but the Apostles could do And 2. In his words whose soever sins ye remit or retain he gives them a punitive or executive double power viz. To strike desperate or incorrigible and horrid transgressors with some corporal punishment or stroke or else to give them up to Satan to be tortured and scourged in body and vexed and disquieted in mind Where had Peter his warrant to strike Ananias and Sapphira with death but from these words And Paul
to strike Elymas with blindness and to deliver Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan but from that Apostolick power which Christ granted to the Apostles in these words Well might not these sins very well be called sins unto death that were overtaken with such deadly and dreadful penalties Was not that sin a sin unto death that was to be retained as retaining is set in di rectopposition to remitting Thus may we bring the subjectum quaestionis into a farnarrower compass than the Rhemists bring it who do bewray their ignorance one way that they may serve their own turn another their ignorance of the proper original of the Phrase sin unto death that they may serve their turn about praying for the dead The greatest difficulties of the Scripture lie in the Language for unlock the Language and Phrases and the difficulty is gone And therefore they that take upon them to preach by the spirit and to expound the Scripture by the spirit let them either unlock to me the Hebrew Phrases in the Old Testament and the Greek in the New that are difficult and obscure or else they do nothing Now to attain to the meaning of such dark and doubtful Phrases the way is not so proper to put on them a sense of our own as to consider what sense they might take them in to whom and among whom the things were spoken and written in their common Speech If it were well considered how the Jewish Nation understood binding and loosing in their Schools and in their common Speech we should never need to mint such senses of our own to put upon the Phrase it would so be done to our hands Such an obscure Phrase is that of our Saviours about the sin against the Holy Ghost that it shall never be forgiven neither in this life nor c. And the collection that the Rhemists make upon it may seem very Logical for in that he saith that sin shall not be forgiven in the World to come doth it not argue that some other sins are then forgiven But this is their own sense and Logick it is not our Saviours Now how should we know our Saviours sense By considering how they would understand it to whom the words were spoken in their common acceptation and Language viz. they would soon understand it to be a direct facing and confuting of their foolish opinion concerning forgiveness of blasphemy against God which was that repentance and the day of expiation expiated a third part of the sin corporal punishment inflicted by the Magistrate expiated another third part but death did quite wipe it clean out for say they it is written This sin shall not be purged from you till you die which argues that it was purged by death No saith our Saviour neither in this life either by repentance nor day of expiation nor corporal punishment nor pardon in the life to come by the purging and wiping out of death Such an obscure Phrase is this before us A sin unto deâ—th and it seems a fair sense which the Rhemists have put upon it of their own viz. that it should mean A sin a man liâ—es in till he die But this is their own sense it is not the Apostles Now how should we know the Apostles sense By considering how they understood this Phrase in their common Language to whom he wrote And how was that Take it up by this Observation That in the Jewish Schools and Nation and Language this was a most frequent and ordinary saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a man do such or such a thing as should not be done ignorantly he is to bring a sin offering and that attones for him But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he do it wilfully he is bound over to cutting off And in this they speak but the words of the Law in Numb XV. 27 28. If any soul sin through ignorance he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering And the Priest shall make an attonement for him that sinneth ignorantly But the soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the Land or a Stranger the same hath reproached the Lord That soul shall be cut off from among his people Now what is meant by cutting off If you ask some they will put a sense of their own upon the Phrase and tell you it means a cutting off or separating a person from the Congregation and publick Assemblies by Excommunication But ask the Jews to and among whom the thing was spoken what it means in their common speech and acceptation and they will tell you cutting off means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death by the hand of Heaven Death or destruction by the hand of God Interpreting the matter to this purpose that if a person sinned wilfully and presumptuously there was no sin offering allowed in that case but the party so offending fell immediately under liableness to divine vengance to be destroied or cut off by the hand of Heaven And this interpretation of the Phrase of cutting off the Apostle Paul doth justifie in that passage Heb. X. 26. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment c. That Text of Moses lots out the family of the Achan that we are speaking of the sin unto death and this Text of the Apostle takes him by the poll and tells what sin it is It tells you what sin it is viz. Sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth It limits to you why it is called a sin unto death because there is no other way upon the committing of it but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation And it gives you some intimation why no praying for it because no sacrifice for it Before we come to speak upon the words we have some cause to muse and mourn over them As it is said Origen wept over that passage of the Psalmist that after his Apostasie stung him in Psal. L. 16 17. But unto the wicked God said what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and casteth my words behind thee If there be no sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation when we have sinned wilfully after we have once received the knowledge of the truth Men and brethren what shall we do Take the truth in the sense that may help most to favour us for the Gospel as it means there indeed And take sinning wilfully for as exclusive a term as you can to shut and exclude us out of the guilt here intended yet who can say but he hath sinned wilfully since he received the knowledge of the Gospel over and over If I should take Jeremiahs course in his fifth Chapter and vers 4. and forward sending first to the poor or inferior rank and ask
sin unto death viz. that brought to an immediate liableness to cutting off by divine vengeance Now this was a sin of presumption and despising the Word of God as Moses explains what that presumptuous sinning is in a high degree which as the Apostle tells in the same Chapter that it was a treading under foot the Son of God c. Therefore it is no wonder if with Paul there be no Sacrifice for it and with this Apostle no praying for it But why does not this our Apostle speak out and say I say he should not pray for it but says only I do not say that he should Let me lay to this expression that passage of our Saviour Matth. XVIII 17. If he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen or a Publican By which our Saviour doth not excommunicate such a one out of the Church for he saith not let him be to the Church but thee as a Heathen But he dischargeth and acquitteth the party injured from those duties and offices which he ought otherwise to him as a brother Our Apostles expression is much like to the same tenor He takes care of the Consciences of the people of God as well as he sheweth the two conditions of the sinner he speaketh of There were some that might be in a strait what to do in this case They were commanded by their Lord and Master to pray for their enemies these enemies of theirs were become so like their Father the Devil that it might pose their Consciences whetheâ— they should pray for them or no. Therefore this divine Apostle useth a happy temper that he will lay no charge on them that are so pinched to pray for them nor indeed forbid those to pray for them that are more inlarged for undoubtedly the indifferent expression of the Apostle as I may call it seems plainly to carry with it such a consideration Ye see here in the Text a deadly wounded wretch like Amasa II Sam. XX. wallowing in his own blood if you call in Moses and Paul to give their Coroners verdict concerning the manner and cause of his death from those Texts of theirs that we have cited they will tell you that he is felo de se that he destroied himself and they will tell you that it was by wilful sinning after the knowledge of the truth wilful sinning against the Word of God That sin is the more desperately deadly by how much it is the more desperately wilful Hos. V. 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the Commandment One would think it should be because he did not willingly walk after the Commandment but by Commandment is meant the idolatrous Commandment of Jeroboam the Statutes of Omri and Ephraim was broken in pieces because he walked after them and broke the more because he walked after them willingly If the motions of sin which are by the Law do work in them to bring forth fruit unto death as the Apostle says Rom. VII 5. much more the motions of sin which are clean against the Law I must confess I do not understand the irritating or provoking power of the Law which some collect from this place for to me it is without doubt that the meaning of the Apostle is The motions of sin that were by the Law mistaken not efficiently for such was the Judgment of the Jews concerning the Law viz. That it did restrain only the outward action but regarded not the internal motion and so the Apostle seems to give some hint of his own mistake a while of the Law about the point of lust Now if the fruit of those motions of sin which are by the mistake of the Law be so deadly how must the actings of sin which are against the known Law wilfully committed be much more deadly Among the grains shall I call them or the talent weights that are cast into the scales to make sin weigh exceeding sinful this adds not the least aggravation if it do not indeed the greatest that it was done knowingly and wilfully And therefore in that cousen german sin to this we are speaking of for to me they are clearly distinct the sin against the Holy Ghost the grievousness of it in comparison of sinning against the Son lies not in regard of the persons sinned against as if the Holy Ghost were a nobler person than the Son but in regard of the manner of sinning the Son they knew not in so much humility and so blasphemed him out of ignorance but they saw the apparent evidence of the Holy Ghost in the miracles they saw and yet blasphemed him wilfully This dies the sins of wicked men of so deep a dye above the sins of the Saints of God because those sin with whole propensity of mind these of infirmity and against their wills And I cannot but remember the determination of St. Austin in a point of this nature About chaste Christian matrons and virgins that were ravished by the enemy when he broke into the City he determines well that they were not defiled though they were defiled their minds pure though the body polluted and he concludes Duo fuerunt ast unus adulterium commisit there were two in the action but one of them in the adultery And that here one sinned wilfully the other had no mind to the sin at all This then if there were nothing else doth sufficiently aggravate the grievousness of wilful sinning that it carries the very image and superscription of the sin of the Devil it is as it were flesh and bone of his bone and sin of his sin very Devil of very Devil Does any ask me what was that sin of the Devil It has been conceived by many that it was such a Pride as made him aspire to be equal with God or above him to set his Throne even with God or to unthrone him and to this purpose have those words been applied Esa. XIV 12 13. How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning c. For thou hast said in thine heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God c. I will be like the most High Which words indeed mean only the arrogance and haughtiness of the proud King of Babylon Does any one then ask me what was the sin of the Devil I should answer desperate malicing the honour and happiness of man in which God had placed him and desperate despising and scorning of that charge and command that God had laid upon Angels concerning man that they should attend him and keep him in all his ways And both these desperately wilful for he could sin at no lower rate for he could not sin of ignorance being an Angel and an Angel could have no tempter to sin but himself I shall not go about to define or circumscribe exactly the bounds wherin to conclude wilful sinning I shall not confine this evil spirit with any circle
God the true Messias And the Jews that would not believe that no sign would serve to make them believe That indeed you 'l say gave assurance to all men that he was the Son of God the true Messias but how did that give assurance that there should be an universal Judgment and he the Judge Truly he that knows what the true Messias means needs no more proof and demonstration of that than his very Character He is heir of the World he is Prince and Saviour he is King in Sion he is set up above all Principality and power as the Scripture speaks these and divers other things of him and doth any man need more evidence of his being judge of all the World But our question is how that is inferred or argued from his Resurrection The Resurrection of Christ did beget and effectuate a double Resurrection for you have mention of a two fold Resurrection in Scripture First There is mention of the first Resurrection Rev. XX. 5. The Millenary not able to clear the notion whereof nor to spell out the meaning hath bewildred himself in those wild conceptions as he hath done The first Resurrection began and took place presently after our Saviours own Resurrection for it means no other than the raising the Heathen from their death in sin blindness and Idolatry to the life light and obedience of the Gospel And so the Apostle titles their estate writing to the Ephesians which had been some of them Ephes. II. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins And to that very tenor are those words of the Prophet Esay XXVI 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise The Gentiles to be raised from their spiritual death presently upon his raising from his bodily And who so shall well weigh those words of our Saviour Joh. V. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live will clearly find them to mean nothing else So that the Resurrection of Christ had first influence and virtue to cause this spiritual Resurrection the Resurrection of souls the raising up of the Gentiles from the death of sin And whence it had this influence it is easie to read viz. because by his Resurrection he had conquered the Devil who had so long kept the poor Heathen under that spiritual death Will you have a Commentary upon that passage in Psal. CX 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power First His Resurrection day of power Rom. I. 4. Then look into the story of the Acts of Apostles the history of the times next following his Resurrection You may wonder there to see people coming in by flocks and thousands to the acknowledgment and entertaining of the Gospel three thousand at one Sermon Chap. II. five thousand at another Chap. III. and further in that book in a little time the Gospel running through the World and imbraced and intertained of all Nations Oh! It was the day of his power and thy people shall be willing in day of thy power He had now Conquered Hell and Satan by his death and rising again whose captives those poor heathen had been two and twenty hundred years and now he said to the captives Go free and to the prisoners Go forth and so they did And upon the very like account his Resurrection hath influence to the causing and effectuating the general Resurrection at the last day For though it might be a little too long to hold that the wicked shall be raised by the very same virtue of Christs Resurrection that the godly shall yet it is not too large to hold that they shall be raised by some virtue of his Resurrection viz. as his Resurrection had conquered death and brought him to those articles that he must in time give up and restore all prisoners and dead that they may come and give account to him that conquered him I have the keys of the grave and death faith he in the Revelations he had wrung the keys out of the jaylors hand and opened the prison doors that the prisoners should come out when he calls Very observable to the purpose we are upon viz. that Christs Resurrection did assure that judgment and that he should be judge is that in Phil. II. 8. 9. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him Obedience was that debt that was to be paid to God Whereas much stress is laid upon the torments that Christ suffered it is very true that he suffered as much as I may say God could lay upon him short of his own wrath and as much as the Devil could withal his wrath but that was not the debt that was due and to be paid to God Wrath and torment and damnation was rather the debt that was to be paid to man But the debt was obedience For easie is it to observe how Satan had got the day of God as with reverence I may speak it when he had brought the chief creature of Gods creation and in him all mankind to disobey God and to be obedient to him and had carried it for ever had not an obedience been paid again to God that outvied that disobedience How might Satan triumph Man that is the darling creature to the Creator and that is set up Lord and Ruler of all Creatures and to whom even the Angels are appointed to be ministring Spirits I have brought this brave Gallant to forsake his Creator and to follow and obey me But forth steps this noble Champion of God and in the form of a servant incounters this triumpher and mauger all his spite and power and vexatiousness he pays God an obedience incomparably beyond the obedience that Adam should have paid incomparably outweighing the disobedience that Adam shewed He paid an obedience that should answer for the disobedience of all his people An obedience that should be a stock for all his people Nay he paid an obedience that outvied all the disobediences of all men and Devils For he paid an obedience that was infinite Now his Resurrection did demonstrate that he had made full payment or else Satan and Death might have kept him still in the grave their prison if a farthing had been yet unpaid Now he having by his Resurrection consummated the payment of so great obedience and vindicated the honour and quarrel of God against his enemies In all justice and equity the Lord exalted him above all that all should be subject and homagers to him and that he might take account and reward accordingly those that obey him and that obey him not And so the Lord hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by him whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead And are you assured that there will be
or when or whereupon did they lose this power If the Romans had taken it away from them how then did they afterwards arraign and condemn and execute S. Stephen and would have done no less without all doubt to S. Paul if they might have had their own way And their own stories tell us of their judging and condemning to the fire after this a Priests daughter for playing the whore in her fathers house and execution was done accordingly And yet they say they cannot judicially put any man to death which power indeed if they had lost they lost it more like fools than like slaves and it was not at all taken from them by the Romans but they let it drop from them by their own folly Their own Writers and Records do tell us at what pass it was with them at this time in this manner Forty years say they before the destruction of the Temple did the great Sanhedrin or chief Court or Councel rise and depart out of the room Gazith and then the power of judging in Capital matters was taken away from Israel Gazith the room where this great Court sat was in the Court of the Temple near unto the altar or as themselves express it near to the divine presence which they supposed dwelt upon the altar and looked on them how they acted in judgment They thought therefore that by the very reverence and venerableness of the place and presence they were bound to judge malefactors and to execute them unfailingly which at the last they saw they could not do and therefore they resolve to rise and depart from that place The case was now with them much like to that gloss of some of the Hebrew writers upon the first words of the book of Ruth The words properly are thus It came to pass in the days when the Judges judged But they invert it thus It came to pass in the days when they judged the Judges And a shrewd inversion indeed when the people judge their Judges and malefactors aw and over-power the Magistracy And just such was their case now Their Country did so swarm with all manner of wickedness and villanies that they were grown beyond the correction of the Magistracy that they out dared the Magistracy As Jezebel The Sanhedrin could not durst not judge them Nay these go further than defie and daâ—e they even conquer and master So that not any but is glad to yield and resolve that they will not go about to punish such villanies and wickedness any more for they saw that it was but in vain to go about it and that they could not do it without their own danger And so their own Records tell us That adulteries were grown so common and open that the Sanhedrin determined there should be no more trial of the suspected or adulterous wise by the bitter waters which God had prescribed Numb V. That murders were so common and ordinary that the Sanhedrin determined there should be no more the beheading of a Heifer which God had prescribed for the expiation of an uncertain murder Deut. XXI And Murtherers so numerous and potent and impudent that the Magistrate could not durst not judge them for fear of being themselves murdered And therefore the great Sanhedrin resolves Come let us rise and sit here no longer for it is better for us to rise and depart hence than by sitting here to contract guilt to our selves when the very place challengeth from us that we do judgment and execution and we cannot do it And so they rose and went thence and then ceased and failed the judging of Capital offenders through out all the Courts of Israel And this account do their Writers and Records give how it came to pass that they lost that power that they could not might not put any malefactor to death And so you have a Commentary of their own Nation and Historians upon their words here in the Text. I might yet add further from them 1. That sometimes they returned to the Hall or room Gazith to sit upon Capital offendors as blasphemers false Prophets notoriously incestuous c. when they thought good but never returned thither to sit upon murther 2. That when they did sit there and Judged and Sentenced yet they hardly ever executed but referred the offendors to the punishment of God And they will tell you That God at one time or other did bring them to some kind of death in some sort sutable to that the Sanhedrin should have put them to Sometimes indeed malice and spite made them venture an execution doing when they saw they might do it without their own danger when they executed S. Stephen for a Heretick and Bensatda for a Seducer if by him they meant not our Saviour himself But that that we have the most reason to consider of is how the Nation came to this pass of Vice and Villany that Vice and Villany were not only incorrigible but were grown terrible to those that should correct them Wickedness strong and Magistracy feeble Murthers Plunderings Assassinations all manner of Abominations swarming and no power in them that were in power to punish them Not to speak of the secret disposal of God for the executing of his vengeance upon that sinful Nation in giving them up to themselves and to confusion but to look only at those things that are apparent I. The growth of Villany was from the not punishing of villanies in time and the Magistrates want of executing Judgment made them lose the power of executing Judgment And they could not punish malefactors when they should because they would not do it when they might The sword of Justice rusted in the scabbard that they could not draw it because they let it rest in the scabbard when they should have drawn it As that generation was the wickedest that the Earth had carried in our Saviours character A wicked and adulterous generation a faithless and perverse generation a Serpent and Viper generation a generation wicked above expression as appears by that expression of the Prophet Esay LIII 8. Who shall declare his generation i. e. the generation wherein he lived so the same Prophet speaking of the very same time and generation shews from whence the above wickedness of the generation grew Esay LIX 14. Judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off truth is fallen in the streets and equity cannot enter And it displeased the Lord that there was no judgment Which very Scripture the Jews themselves do produce to prove that the Messias should come in the worst of times and generations Now II. There were two things that hindred and spoiled the execution of Justice and Judgment like two worms lying at the root of Judicature that like the worm that smote Jonas gourd kild execution of Judgment at the very root that that tree was clean blasted dried up and withered The first let me Emblem by this homely Emblem The Ape loving and hugging her young so dearly that
Church of God That Jerusalem for that fact should be a curse a hissing and an everlasting desolation and that Rome that was as guilty every whit should be a blessing a renown and the prime Church of all Churches Let a Papist solidly unriddle me this and he says something And to speak to what he pleads we may first answer with that common saying Ubi lex II. non distinguit c. what the Word of God doth not distinguish we are not to make any distinction about but of any differences of qualities twixt Rome Heathen and Papal the Word of God doth not distinguish unless it shew the Papal to be the worse of the two In this Chapter indeed it distinguishes of the change of state and government from Imperial to Pontifical but for mischievousness and abomination there is no such distinction Rome Heathen in the beginning of the Chapter is a Beast like a Leopard with feet like a Bear and a mouth like a Lion And Rome Papal at vers 11. a beast like a Lamb but it speaks like a Dragon and exerciseth all the power of the former Beast and is not behind it a whit in wickedness and cruelty A Lamb in shew but a Dragon a Devil in speech and the very former beast in demeanor the former beast had the mouth of a Lion this of a Dragon the former bad this worse And look but at several places that speak of this City and you find they speak of it without any such distinction of quality but that Rome all along is her self i. e. stark naught till her latter end and till she perish The first time you meet with any hint of Rome in Scripture is Numb XXIV 24. And I. ships shall come from the coast of Chittim and shall afflict Asshur and shall afflict Eber and he also shall perish for ever Where by Chittim that Rome and Italy are meant it is the consent both of Jews and Christians both of Protestants and Papists and the very intent and story of the passage doth so enforce it to be taken And the words shew how Ships and Souldiers from Rome should afflict and conquer Assyria who had been once the great afflicter and that they should afflict and conquer Heber or the Hebrews the afflicted people yea afflict Christ the chief child of Heber for Rome as I said put him to death All which History sheweth to be most true And he also that is Chittim Rome or Italy shall perish for ever The word also parallels her perdition with Amaleck of which there is mention vers 20. Amaleck was the first of the Nations that is he was the first of the Nations that fought against Israel Exod. XVII and that Nation shall perish for ever So Chittim or Rome is the last of the Nations that shall afflict Heber and the Israel of God and he also shall perish for ever Now do you find any such distinction here as that Rome Papal should be holy blessed and the most excellent Church in the World when the conclusion the period of Chittim is that he shall perish for ever And the last time that there is discourse in Scripture of Rome it makes this distinction II. indeed of the state and government of it that Rome Heathen is the Beast and Papal is the false Prophet but it leaves both under the same condemnation and perishing for ever Revel XIX 20. And the Beast was taken and the false Prophet And both these were taken and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone Antichrist in Scripture is charactered under the character of Apostasie or falling away III. from the Truth 2 Thes. II. 3 4. There must be a falling away first and then the Man of sin shall be revealed And Rev. IX 1. I saw a star fall from Heaven unto the Earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit And he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the Sun and the Air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit And there came out of the smoke Locusts upon the Earth c. He that lets Hell loose and opens the bottomless pit and le ts out smoke that darkneth all the World and le ts out Locusts that devour all before them He is a Star a Churchman an Angel a Minister of the Church as Chap. I. 20. The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches but a Star fallen from Heaven a Minister apostatized and revolted from the Truth or else he would not rightly resemble his father the Devil who abode not in the truth but fell from it and became an enemy Now let any one judge whether Rome Heathen or Papal be this apostatized wretch and whether of them hath departed from the truth Rome Heathen never embraced the truth and so could never fall from it Rome Papal hath done it with a witness And lastly That much mistaken place in Revel XX. speaks to this very tenour we are IV. upon First The old Dragon which is the Devil and Satan is bound by Christ a thousand years that he should no more deceive the Nations vers 3. The old Serpent had deceived the Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heathen for above two thousand years with Idolatry false miracles false oracles and with all blindness of superstition Now Christ sending the Gospel by his Apostles and Ministers among the Heathen or Gentiles bound the Devil and imprisoned him curbed his power and delusion that he should not deceive the World in manner as he had done but the World now becomes Christian and Heathenism is done away and this is there called the first Resurrection viz. the Resurrection of the dead Heathen as Ephes. II. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins And Joh. V. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Well thus the Devil is bound a thousand years during which time the Gospel runs through the World and prevails and makes it Christian. At vers 7. the Devil is let loose again and by Popery he makes the World as blind deluded heathenish as it had been in the worst times under Heathenism And it were no hard thing out of History to shew that Rome Papal did equal nay exceed Rome Heathen in all blindness wickedness cruelty uncleanness and in all manner of abomination But an hour a day a week would not serve the turn to describe that full Parallel The Text gives a full summary of all though in few words when it tells us that the Dragon the Devil gave his power seat and authority to Rome and it hath and doth and will act in that spirit while it is Rome and can any thing but mischief be expected from such a spirit This days memorial is evidence enough instead of more A Plot and Design of
proved both by the order of Ezekiels prophesie especially comparing that prophesie with the book of Daniel and by the story of that Kingdom and that King himself In all that large Prophesie I take up but vers 17. of Chap. XXXVIII Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them His meaning is No thou art not he My Prophets prophesie of the King of Assyria and the King of Babylon that these should come up against them to avenge my quarrel upon them and to be my scourge to punish them for their iniquities But thou art an upstart risen of thy self not to do my work but to work against me and against mine ordinances Read Dan. VII 25. that speaks of this cursed King He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hands for a time c. And of the same Wretch and the same actions speaks he Chap. XII 11. He took away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination that maketh desolate Upon which he that readeth 1 Maccab. I. will find a large comment that he enjoyned upon pain of death the Jews to take up the manner of the Heathen not to circumcise their Children not to use the Law that he caused abominable things to be offered on the Altar Idols and Groves to be set and in a word not to use their own Religion upon pain of death The like may be read of him in Josephus and other Authors and that not only he but other Kings of the same Kingdom bore the same enmity and exercised the same persecution against the Jews and their Religion This is that Gog and Land of Magog that Ezekiel speaks of so bitter and grievous enemies unto Israel To him our Apocalyptick alludes in this place and speaking of a Kingdom and party of the like temper and that imitated him in enmity and persecuting the true Religion he useth the very same name and meaneth that Satan should deceive men into a false Religion that they should hate and persecute the true as Gog and Magog the Syro-Grecians and Antiochus had once done And be it Pope that he intends or be it Turk or both I do not dispute but by the currant of the discourse along the whole Chapter to me the Papacy is plainly meant more especially and how properly it belongs to Rome sad experience hath so copiously evidenced that I need not to insist on any parallel About the fortieth year of Christ the Gospel was brought among the Gentiles then Satan began to be bound and imprisoned that he should not deceive the Heathen as he had done Count a thousand years thence and look what times were in the World about the year of Christ MXL and methinks I see the World turned purely Heathen again for blindness and superstition and Idolatry that Satan was then plainly let loose and the Nations as much deceived then as they were under Heathenism before Christs coming One thing by the way may not be passed unobserved That in one sense he was loose when he was bound and did a World of mischief one way when he was tied up from doing mischief another Within those thousand years from the first going forth of the Gospel among the Gentiles counted thence forward you find as bitter persecution of the Gospel as bloody murthering of the Saints of God as ever was in the World till he was loosed again and Popery fell to that trade a fresh Within the thousand years that Satan is said to be imprisoned were those Ten bloody Persecutions that Ecclesiastical History speaks of in which so many hundred thousand precious Christians were horridly and barbarously murthered for the profession of the truth And is not the hand of Joab in all this Had not Satan a hand in all that butchery No he was imprisoned But can such mischief be wrought and Satan not there All that persecution and cruelty and murther committed and the great Murtherer from the beginning not there By which very thing you may observe that there is a great deal more danger in Satans deceiving than in his persecuting for his persecuting is not here mentioned while he is said to be tied up from deceiving Upon the whole thus unfolded we may Observe these three things I. That Satans great work and business that he follows is to deceive II. That it is his great Masterpiece to deceive in matter of Religion III. That it is his ultimate refuge to raise persecution when he cannot deceive How all these arise out of the Text I suppose none but may easily observe His work before his imprisonment was to deceive the Nations and he sets to the same again when loosed from imprisonment His deceiving of the Nations was by cheating them into false principles and practises of Religion Heathenism before and Papacy after And when he cannot deceive the camp of the Saints and the beloved City he hath his Gog and Magog his army as the sand of the Sea to sight against Need I to spend much proofs to shew that it is Satans trade and work and business that he follows to deceive It was the first thing he did after he was Satan the Serpent deceived me saith Eve and I did eat and he hath been doing the same ever since and will be ever doing whilest he is He is a Lyer and the Father of Lies Joh. VIII 44. And that very name and profession of his speaks cheating and deceit There was a lying Spirit in the mouth of Ahabs prophets to cheat both him and them and there is a lying Spirit in the heart of thousands and thousands to deceive and ruine them I fear lest Satan have beguiled you as he beguiled Eve saith the Apostle to some that were a thousand fold better than some thousands in the World How abundant proof of this that it is Satans work to deceive might be fetched from Scripture how abundant from experience But what testimony would be given of this in Hell If it were asked there Do you think that Satan is a Deceiver Oh! what a howl would be given up of the attestation of this felt by woful and miserable experience Oh! he hath deceived and cheated us all hither he hath led us like the Syrians blindfold into Samaria into the midst of their enemies so us into this misery merely with his cousening and we never dreamed of any such thing He made me believe says one and to say in my heart that there was no God and now I feel there is an angry one with a witness He cheated me say others to think the threatnings and curses of the Word of God were but Bugbears to fright men but now we feel them heavier than Rocks and Mountains He cousened us to believe that the pleasures of
meditate therein when thou sittest down and risest up when thou sittest in the house when thou walkest in the way and various such passages as these require and ingage all sorts and conditions of people to this study and meditation according to their several capabilities and atcheivances In some important points of Divinity some men have sometimes mistaken in stating them by mens benefit rather than by their duty If you did so in this point it would make one very good piece of an argument study the Scriptures for you may benefit by study of them But take the other and it argueth more strongly study the Scripture for it is your duty God calls for it lays his command upon you to do it the best you can II. Therefore upon this we may make such another inference as Samsons mother doth Judg. XIII 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have accepted an offering neither would he have shewed us all these things If the Lord were pleased that the Scriptures should not be understood he would never have written them he would never have charged all to study them God never writ the difficulties of the Scripture only to be gazed upon and never understood never gave them as a book sealed and that could never be unsealed that learned and unlearned alike might never see what is in them but that they might be more seriously read more carefully studied that so being understood and practised they might become the means of Salvation unto all A SERMON Preached upon DANIEL XII 12. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days 13. But go thou thy way till the end for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of days DOTH he not speak riddles T is hard to tell whether verse is harder And I have chosen to speak to them partly that I may explain them partly in subsequence to my late discourse about Gog Rev. XX 8. I shewed that meant an enemy to true Religion and more particularly the Pope styled by the name of the old Enemy Ezek. XXXVIII XXXIX I shewed that Gog was Antiochus that laid wast the Jews Religion and would force them to turn to the manners of the Heathen that forbad them Circumcision Law Religion forbad the daily Sacrifice and profaned the Altar with Swines flesh and sacrifices abominable and offered to Idols I cited that that speaks concerning him Chap. VII 25. He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High c. until a time and times and the dividing of time that is a year two years and half a year or three years and an half In the verse before the Text there is mention of the same matter and there are reckoned only a thousand two hundred and ninety days From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days For the Holy Ghost reckons by round sums near about three years and an half which he calls a time times and half a time and does not punctually fix upon the very exact sum And so in the Book of the Revelations where allusion is made to the same space of time viz. three years and an half it is sometimes expressed by a thousand two hundred and sixty days as Rev. XII 6. The woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days Sometimes by forty two months Chap. XIII 5. And there was given to the beast a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given him to continue forty and two months You have both in Chap. XI 2. They that tread the holy City under-foot forty and two months And vers 3. I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days Now let your thoughts conceive the case and state of the people and Temple in this time a thousand two hundred and ninety days three years and an half or there abouts no Law no Religion no Sacrifice but what is abominable the Temple filled with Idols the Heathen there sacrificing swines-flesh and other abominable things to their abominable gods Ah! Poor Jerusalem what case art thou in How is the gold become dim nay changed to dros What desolation of Religion is come upon thee and what bondage and thraldom under irreligion How it goes against their heart not to circumcise their children But they dare not do it How grievous to see the Books of the Law burnt and they upon pain of death dare not save them nor use them How bitter to see Altar Temple Holy of Holies all defiled with abomination and all Religion laid in the dust and they cannot help it dare not resist it What should these poor people do Wait Gods deliverance for Haec non durabunt in secula These things will not always last Stay but till one thousand three hundred thirty five days but forty five above the thousand two hundred and ninety of the Temples defilement in the verse before and there is deliverance And read two verses together From the time that the dayly sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days Add but forty five days further the sum to come up to a thousand three hundred thirty five days and there is some remarkable thing done as pleading the cause of the people and Religion that had been so abused which in all probability was the death of the Tyrant that had brought this misery upon them or at least some signal thing done by God for the relief of the people who had been so oppressed But I rather believe the former The story of whose actions and death you may read in the first Book of the Maccabees Chap. I. beginning The story of which book goes almost step by step with Josephus However his death was the Mercy or some other special providence the words afford plainly these two Truths I. That the time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God II. That it is a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination The former Observation lies in the latter clause the latter in the former The two things the latter an inference upon the former or the former a Doctrine the latter the Use and Application of it I shall handle in the same method and order The time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God Therefore it will prove a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination In prosecuting either I shall not so much prove as clear
and the first temptation presented to him Now all the power and army of Hell is let loose all the machinations of the bottomless pit put in practise against the second Adam but all to no purpose he stands like a rock unmoved in his righteousness and obedience and by such a death destroys him that had the power over death the Devil II. As the Dâ—â—â—l must be conquered so God must be satisfied And as Christs obedience did the one work so it did the other Obedience was the debt of Adam and mankind and by disobedience they had forfeited their Bonds Then comes this great Undertaker and will satisfie the debt with full interest yea and measure heaped and running over Does not the Apostle speak thus much Rom. V. from vers 12. forward particularly at vers 19. By the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Nor was this all that mans debt must be paid but Gods honour lay at stake too and that must be vindicated God had created man his noblest creature that he might glorifie and honour his Creator by his obedience Satan brings him to disobey his Creator and to obey him How might Satan here triumph and the honour of God lie in the dust I have mastered the chief Creation of God might Satan boast and made him that carried the badge and livery of his image now to carry mine I have frustrated the end and honour of the Creator and now all is mine own How sad a time were those three hours or thereabouts that passed betwixt the Fall of Adam and the promise of Christ Adam in darkness and not the least glimpse of promise or comfort Satan triumphing and poor manking and Gods honour trampled underfoot But then the Sun of righteousness arose in the promise that the seed of the woman should break the head of the Serpent And shall this uncircumcised Philistin thus deâ—ie the honour and armies of the living God saith Christ shall Satan thus carry the day against man and against God I will pay obedience that shall fully satisfie to the vindication of Gods honour to confound Satan and to the payment of mans debt to his reinstating and recovery And that was it that he paid consummatively in his Obedience to the death and in it and to the shedding of his blood Of which to speak in the full dimensions of the height depth length bredth of it what tongue can suffice what time can serve T is a Theme the glorified Saints deservedly sing of to all Eternity I shall speak in little of that which can never be extolled enough these two things only I. That he died merely out of obedience The Apostle tells us in Phil. II. 8. He became obedient to the death the death of the Cross. And what can ye name that brought him thither but Obedience Christs dead body imagine lies before you Call together a whole College of Phisitians to diffect it and to tell you what it was of which he died And their Verdict will be Of nothing but Love to man and Obedience to God For Principles of death he had none in his nature And the reason of his death lay not in any mortality of his body as it does in ourâ— but in the willingness of his mind Nor was his death his wages of sin as it is ours Rom. VI. ult but it was his choise and delight Luke XII 50. I have a baptism to be baptised withal and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Ask the first Adam why he sinned when he had no principles of sin in him and the true answer must be Because he would sin And so ask the second Adam why he died when he had no principles of death in him his answer must be to the like tenor He would lay down his life because he would be obedient to the death He came purposely into the World that he might dye Behold I tell you a mystery Christ came purposely into the World that he might dye and so never did Man but himself never will man do but himself True that every Man that comes into the World must dye but never Man came purposely that he might dye but only He. And he saith no less than that he did so Joh. XII 27. Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour And John XVIII 37. For this cause came I into this World to bear witness to the Truth Even to bear witness to the Truth to Death and Martyrdom II. Now add to all this the dignity of his Person who performed this Obedience that he was God as well as Man That as he offered himself according to his Manhood so he offered himself by the Eternal Spirit or as he was God as this Apostle saith Chap. IX 14. And now his obedience his holiness that he shewed in his death is infinite And what need we say more So that lay all the disobedience of all men in the World on an heap as the dead frogs in Egypt were laid on heaps that they made the land to stink again yet here is an Obedience that out-vies them all For though they be infinite in number as to mans numbring yet lay them all together they are finite upon this account because committed by creatures finite But here is an Obedience a holiness paid down by him that is infinite And now Satan where is thy Triumph Thou broughtest the first Adam to fail of perfect Obedience that he should have paid his Creator and here the second Adam hath paid him for it infinite Obedience And what hast thou now gained Therefore to take account from whence comes that infinite Virtue of Christs blood and death that the Scripture so much and so deservedly extols and magnifies Because as the Evangelist â—aith Out of his side came water and blood so out of his wounds came obedience and blood holiness and blood righteousness and blood and that obedience holiness righteousness infinite because he that paid it down and performed it was infinite And now judge whether it may not very properly be said That Christ was sanctified by his own blood As Aaron was sanctified for his Priesthood by his Unction and Garments Christ was consecrated fitted capacitated by his infinite obedience and righteousness which he shewed to the death and in it to be an High Priest able to save to the uttermost all those that come to him For first as in reference to himself it is said by this Apostle that he was raised from the dead by the blood of the Covenant Chap. XIII 20. And it was not possible but he should be raised for when he had performed such obedience and righteousness as in it was infinite in its validity subdued Satan in its alsufficiency satisfied the justice of God it was impossible that he should be held of death which is the wages of sin and disobedience And as he was thus raised by
move not the question without reason because many men assume vain hopes from such demonstrations of mercy as these without any ground Therefore instead of looking what use may be made of this passage let us consider that we make not an abuse of it And the Apostle Peter gives the proper reason of it Because they wrest the scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. III. 16. Here are things recorded indeed that may justly be admired for their excellency by Men and Angels the wondrous power of grace in converting such a sinner the wondrous readiness of Christ in pardoning such a sinner and the infinite mercy of God in saving such a sinner And yet even Manna it self the bread of Angels proves worms and rottenness and stink to those that use it not aright as well as it proves wholesome and pleasant food to those that do It is but too common with the rotten heart of Man to misconstrue such demonstrations of mercy to the more boldness in sinning and to make most base conclusions from most noble premises Here is a great and notorious sinner pardoned he is pardoned upon his first begging of pardon he begged not pardon till he was just in dying and yet was pardoned And therefore thinks the carnal heart I hope I shall as easily obtain pardon and though I put off my seeking of pardon still and still yet I hope I shall find it as well as he when I seek it And Men that put off repentance and seeking pardon and salvation from day to day and from year to year do but speak too plain that they are of the same thoughts though their tongue do not confess and it may be their hearts take no notice of it neither The Thief 's Petition we may the better understand if we consider some Doctrines of II. the Jewish Nation in which he was trained in his Religion if he had any at all which laid against his present thoughts will make his Petition appear the more pious I. It was the common Doctrine in their Schools and Pulpits That a condemned Malefactor when he was to go to Execution if he made but confession of his sins that that and his death did expiate for his sins To that Doctrine about Death expiating for sin which was their Doctrine in that case and all others do those words of our Saviour relate when he saith The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven neither in this life nor in that which is to come Which words Papists abuse to maintain forgiveness of sins by Purgatory in the world to come whereas our Saviours meaning is that it shall never be forgiven either before death nor by death it self as the Jews held it might Now it is very likely this Man had been at his Confession and by his Confession had been encouraged to expect expiation of his sin by that and by his death But now that serveth not his turn his mind is not satisfied with that but he finds something else is needful viz. To trust in the Messias and to be saved by him And therefore being satisfied now that Christ is He he addresseth himself to him in that Petition That he would remember him and that through him he might find and obtain Salvation For to that tenor does his request run Lord remember me c. II. It was the common Doctrine of the Nation that they needed nothing from Messias for redemption but only that he would deliver them from their dispersion and from under the yoke of the Heathen They speak this out in plain terms in their Writings For as for justification and salvation they thought they could do that by their own works And as for teaching and instruction they concluded that they had as much as they needed or as could possibly be contributed to them by their Traditions which they dreamed God delivered to Moses at Mount Sinai But this man you see looks upon the deliverance by the Messias with another kind of eye He values it at its proper rate viz. That his Redemption is the Redemption of Souls that it is as the Apostle most truly calls it Eternal redemption and thereupon he bequeaths his departing soul to his goodness for its eternal welfare III. The Scriptures had taught that Messias should have a Kingdom and their Schools had taught That this Kingdom must be an earthly pompous flourishing Kingdom that he should restore the Kingdom to Israel as the Apostles phancy Act. I. 6. And that Israel should enjoy that Kingdom in all worldly prosperity and earthly flourishing But this man you see looks upon his Kingdom under another notion he looks for his reigning in Heaven rather than upon Earth and his Saints reigning there eternally with him And accordingly he begs that he may obtain that like felicity from him and that he may have interest in that blessedness Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Who taught him this wisdom we need not to ask if we but consider who or what it was that brought him to his conversion Divine grace must have the honour of all attributed to it and so no doubt did he attribute it with all his soul and ascribed it to his Divine goodness Whose further goodness he still begs that he would consummate that grace in glory and compleat what he had begun in his Everlasting Kingdom And now look upon the Man thus converted thus inlightned and thus praying and we may say of him as our Saviour of the Syro-Phenician Woman the title of the sex only changed O Man great is thy Faith In our Saviours Answer we may observe his ready granting the Thief 's Petition and his II. assuring the Man that it was granted His granting of it Thou shalt be with me in Paradise His readiness of granting it that it should be accomplished that very day This day shalt thou be with me And his giving him assurance of it Verily I say unto thee What is meant by Paradise hath been some dispute Some not thinking it means the compleat state of blessedness in Heaven but something short of it but how much short of it it is not worth the examining I believe the blessed Apostle that was rapt into the third Heaven or into Paradise and he makes them one and the same thing would determine the question after another manner and assure us that where he heard those unutterable things that he heard was in the highest Heavens where is the throne of God and the habitation of the blessed When I think of mens wresting such passages of mercy as these to their own destruction I remember that cross conclusion that the Chief Priests and Scribes make upon very good premises Act. IV. 19. That indeed a notable miracle is done by these men is manifest to all them that dwell at Jerusalem and we cannot deny it What then Therefore let us take care that this doctrine spread no further Whereas the direct contrary had been the
how they undervalue the Scriptures by that very opinion But yet will own and wrest and strain the Scriptures where they think it may serve their opinion Men will have their own minds and would have every thing to serve their humor and to maintain their conceits The Arian and Socinian will have Christ to be a Creature and not God the Holy Ghost a Creature and not God What do they gain by this toward Heaven Do they not set themselves further off when they make him that should redeem them but a Creature like themselves and him that should sanctifie them to be but a Creature like themselves But they must have their own minds These Sadducees what gained they by their opinion against the Resurrection and world to come What either profit or credit or comfort could their opinion carry with it that men should die like dogs or other beasts and there is an endof them But they must have their own minds And it is like they were well content there should be no Resurrection nor World to come For this opinion might very well serve a voluptuous life For a man to live as he pleased in all voluptuousness and pleasure and to hear no more of it never to be judged or called to account for what he had done This is a brave opinion to maintain lust and loosness and all manner of villany They in Esai XXII cry Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die One would think they should have been in another tune when they thought death was so near and left their jovializing to day when they think they must dye to morrow But dying was all the business they looked on and looked no further That was bitter to think of when they must perish with all their delights and pleasures and braveries but beyond death they little thought of any thing And so Historians report of the Egyptians that when they were feasting and in the height of their frolic and joviality a man brought in a dead mans skull and shewed to every one of them with these words added Eat and drink and make merry for you know not how soon you may be like to this One would think that the sight of such a spectacle should have called them to repentance and mourning and weeping and girding with sackcloth But they aimed it a clean contrary way viz. that since they were sure they should die they should take as much pleasure as they could while they lived and lose no time from their voluptuousness because they knew not how long or short their time might be and how soon they might be cut off from those delights It is more than probable that the Sadducees maintained their opinion to the like purpose and were very well content to forgoe the world to come that they might the freer and with less disquieture enjoy this The Pharisee fasted and was of a strict and severe life and conversation but the Sadducee thought it more delightsome to live more at large and not to deprive himself of those contents and pleasures that he might have here And it is more than probable that he so maintained his opinion upon that account at least his opinion did suite most properly with such a course The Sadducees denying of the Resurrection may justly mind us to make it our Hope and Awe unless we also should be Sadducees Let me use the strain of Paul to Agrippa Men and Brethren do you believe a Resurrection I know you believe it May I add and say I know you remember it This I dare say that if you do not I know you have no cause not to remmember it A thing of the greatest concernment that ever will befal you a thing as sure to come to you as you are sure you have come hitherto a thing that you can as little avoyd as you can avoyd death and a thing that must determine of your eternal state And do you not remember it I am sure we have all cause to remember it The Prayer of Moses for the people is very reasonable pathetical and affectionate Deut. XXXII 29. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their later end Do you not consider this out of these words That they that are not wise do not consider this and out of the thing it self we are speaking of that the Resurrection is our later end beyond our later end Death is our later end but the Resurrection is a later end beyond it And if the continual remembrance of death be needful as who will deny it the continual remembrance of the Resurrection is as needful I had almost said is more needful according to the rate that most men think of death Oh! how bitter is the remembrance of death to them that are at ease and in earthly prosperity But upon what account Because they must part with all their delights here and must be no more as they have been jocund and jovial and florid The Roman Emperor of old spoke not only his own sense but the sense of others when dying he cryed out Ah! poor soul wither must thou go now Thou must never jest more nor enjoy thy pleasures more as thou hast done So they thought of death but as an end and determining of their bravery here But the Resurrection must determine of their state for ever hereafter And if Solomons whips be whips Rehoboams whips are scorpions If death be so sharp to them to part them from their present delights what will the Resurrection be that will state them in a state undelightsome for ever Oh! how many sins might we have avoided in the course of our lives if we had had the serious remembrance and apprehension of the Resurrection And how many might we yet avoid In the midst of all our security and mirth and musick to have this as Belshhazzars hand writing upon the Wall in our eye But will this hold in the day of Resurrection Will this follow me in another world In the midst of our Pride and Bravery to think shall I be so drest at the Resurrection at the last day And will this Gallantry stand me in any stead in that day I cannot but fancy how a Sadducee that denies the Resurrection or any that are mindless of it will be surprized at that day He thought none should ever rise from the dead at all and he himself will be raised whether he will or no. Oh! let me lye still in the dust will his heart cry Let the earth cover me and the Mountains and rocks lie upon me No will the alarm of the great Trump sound Arise thou wretch and come to judgment And thou must come and no avoyding Eccles. X. 9 Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment He will do it and thou canst not hinder him And so much concerning the first Article that a Sadducee put out of his Creed He II. would not own that there will be
shews they are hard set when they must make Caiaphas a copy after whom to write the Infallibility of their Papal chair But they gazed so much upon the chair when they wrote this Note that they clean looked off the Book and Text they had before them For had they looked well upon that that would have given them a more proper reason of his prophesying and indeed the proper reason of it namely not so much because he was High Priest as because he was High Priest that year This he spake not of himself but being High Priest that year High Priest that year Why He had been High Priest several years before So Luke tells us Chap. III. that he was High Priest when Christ was baptized three years and an half ago and Josephus tells us as much and more and of his being High Priest after this year also And therefore why that circumstance added He was High Priest that year To speak the proper reason of his prophesying First I might say That was the year nay even the hour of the last gasp of the High Priesthood It prophesied and instantly breathed out its last There is much dispute upon those words of Paul Act. XXIII 5. which our English renders I wist not Brethren that he was the High Priest If I should render it I knew not that there is an High Priest I am sure it hath warrant enough of the Original Greek and warrant enough of the truth of the thing it self Did not the High Priesthood dye and cease and was no more when the great High Priest of Souls died and by death made expiation for his people If you will allow the other Priesthood and the employment of it to live still after the death of Christ and his sacrifice offered by the eternal Spirit till the fall of Jerusalem and dissolution of the Temple yet can you find nothing that the High Priest had then to do that it should survive any longer after Christ was sacrificed The other Priesthood had something to do besides what was most plainly typical in it and referred to the death of Christ as sacrificing and sprinkling of blood did For they had to offer the first fruits of the people for their Thankfulness to purifie women after child-birth to present the first born to the Lord c. But the distinctive work of the High Priest in diversity from the other Priesthood was on the day of Expiation to go within the Vail into the most holy place with blood and make an Attonement Which when Christ had done through the Vail of his flesh through his own blood as the Apostle tells us Heb. X. 20. what had the High Priesthood to do any more To this peculiarly related that which occurred at the death of the great High Priest Matth. XXVII 15. The vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom Which when you come narrowly to examine you will find to be the vail that hung between the holy and most holy place Which the Jews in their writings call by a Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the vail that the High Priest turned aside as we do hangings at a door to go into the room And he went into the most holy place only once a year But now it is rent in pieces no such distinction or separation thenceforward to be had and no such work of the High Priest to be done any more So that if we take these words of Paul to the sense I mentioned viz. I knew not Brethren that there is now any High Priest or any High Priesthood at all that Function is long ago laid in the dust it was spoken like a Paul boldly and as one that very well understood and could well distinguish twixt substance and shadow and how long those Ordinances of that Oeconomy were to last and when to decay And if accordingly we take that circumstance in the Text He prophesied as being High Priest that year in the sense I mentioned namely that last year of the being and life of the High Priesthood it gives a story not much unlike that of the son of King Crâ—sus Who when he had been dumb from the birth and never spake word at last seeing in a battel an enemy ready to run his Father through he forced his Tongue so as that he broke the string of silence and cryed out O man do not kill Croesus So the High Priesthood having been dumb from Prophesying for above four hundred years together and never spoken one Prophetick word when now the King is ready to be slain its Tongue is loosed in Caiaphas and prophesieth of the Redemption of all the Israel of God and presently expireth But Secondly That year was the great year of pouring down the Spirit of Prophesie and Revelation as in Act. II. the great year of sealing Vision and Prophesie as in Dan. IX And then it is the less wonder if this dog get some crumbs that fell from that plentiful table of the children and some droppings from that abundant dew that fell upon the Fleece of Gedeon Something like the case of Eldad and Medad but they were better men Numb XI 26. that in that great pouring out of the Spirit there had their share though they were not in the company of those that were assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation And thus was the case with Caiaphas as it was with Balaam that wretch inspired till then by the Devil but then by God Who went purposely to curse Israel but God so overpowered and turned the stream that he could not but bless them So this wretch inspired with malice from the Devil to plot and compass the death of Christ is now also inspired by the Spirit of Prophesie to foretel his death and to proclaim it Redemption to his people A very strange passage that while he was sinning against the Holy Ghost he prophesied by the Holy Ghost and that in those very words that he spake against Christ to destroy him he should prophesie of Christs death and Redemption to magnifie it So can the Spirit of God overpower the Hearts and Tongues and actions of Men to serve the design of his own glory And this is that that I shall speak to I might observe obiter how great diversity there is twixt the Spirit of Prophesie and Revelation and the Spirit of grace and holiness The same Spirit indeed is the Author of both but there is so much diversity in the thing wrought that a Balaam a Caiaphas have the Spirit of Prophesie who are as far from having the Spirit of Sanctification as the East is from the West Hell from Heaven A mistake hath taken the Spirits of too many to account this good Language and Divinity I am a believer converted sanctified therefore I have the Spirit of Revelation and I can preach and expound Scripture by that Spirit little considering the vast diversity of the gift of Prophesie
understanding immortal substance that is not extinguished by sin nor cannot be by any thing And so when God forbids Murther he doth it with this argument That he that kills a Man destroys one that carries the image of God And yet then the likeness of God in Man Holiness and Righteousness was utterly gone but the image of God in these essential constitutives in soul were still remaining in him Upon that saying of God Whoso sheddeth Mans blood by Man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he Man if any Man question Is this meant of every Man in the world Can any doubt it Unless the Murther of some Men were allowed though of others forbidden Upon the very same argument we may urge the love of every man to every man because in the Image of God he created him And if thou canst find any man without the Image of God in his Soul then hate him and spare not But then it will further be Objected Then by this Argument I should love the Devil for he was created in the Image of Cod that is He is a spiritual intellectual immortal substance as well as any mans Soul I Answer He is so indeed but these two things make now the vast difference First He is in a sinful estate utterly irrecoverable And so we cannot say of any soul in the world The Apostle saith of the Angels that fell That God cast them down into Hell upon their Fall 2 Pet. II. They are damned already irrecoverably but you cannot say of any soul in the World absolutely that it cannot be saved Whether all Souls in the World be salvabiles in a savable condition we shall not dispute nor whence their salvability comes if it be so But certainly you and I nor no Man in the world can say of any Man that he cannot be saved True we may truly and justly say that if he continue and dye in such and such sins and wicked courses he cannot be saved But of his soul considered in its bare essence we cannot say so Nay we must pray for his Salvation This then is that that beautifies a Soul and makes it lovely and upon which we are to love every Man because he hath a soul capable of enjoying God and Salvation Shall I hate any Mans soul It may be united to God Hate any Mans body It may be a Temple of the Holy Ghost any Mans Person He may be an Inheritor of Eternal Glory Scorn not poor Joseph for all his rags and imprisonment he may come to sit upon a Throne Despise not poor Lazarus for all his Sores and Tatters he may be carried by Angels into Abraham ' s bosom Secondly Christ dyed for Souls he dyed not for Devils And this is no small demonstration of the Excellency and preciousness of a Soul viz. That the Son of God himself would dye for it It is therefore the Apostles Argument once and again Offend not him for whom Christ dyed Destroy not him for whom Christ dyed Rom. XIV 1 Cor. VIII Darest thou hate him for whom Christ dyed Darest thou wrong him for whom the Son of God would shed his blood A SERMON PREACHED upon GENESIS III. 20. And Adam called his Wives name Eve because she was the Mother of all living ADAMS story is all wonder Dust so raised to become so brave a Creature that Bravery so soon lost so soon repaired and so hughly repaired to a better condition That he is sensible of in the Text therefore he calls his Wives name Eve because Mother to all living He had named her quoad sexum as to her sex Chap. II. 23. Now he gives her another name of distinction Then she was called Woman because she was taken out of Man Now Eve because all living were to come out of her Adam shewed Wisdom in naming the Beasts here he shews that and more viz. Faith and sense of his better Estate She was rather the Mother of Death having done that that brought death into the world but he sensible of a better life to come in by her calls her Eve Life as the word signifies Lay this to that in Joh. I. 4. In him was life speaking of Christ and the life was the light of men Eve was the Mother of all living viz. of Christ and all that live by him So that hence I make this Observation That Adam and Eve believed and obtained life For the proof of this let us view their story I. God saith I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel vers 15. Satan had accompanied with them till this Promise came He keeps to them to chear them he perswaded them to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. But now she sets him at defyance She sees her error The Serpent saith she deceived me grows at enmity with him having now a surer comfort promised to rely upon II. God clothed them with skins vers 21. Which is an evidence that they sacrificed For they had no need of slaying Beasts for any other purpose Flesh they might not eat They were slain for sacrifice and their skins served for clothing Thus Body and Soul were provided for And in these Sacrifices they looked after Christ and saw him in figure The first death in the world was Christs dying in figure Noah knew clean and unclean Beasts and sacrificed This undoubtedly he had learned from the beginning III. Observe that Luk. I. 70. As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Hinting that from the very beginning of the world there were Prophets of the Messias Thus Adam was a Prophet of Christ and prophesied of him in the name of Eve signifying life And Eve prophesied of him in the name of Cain Gen. IV. 1. She conceived and bare Cain and said I have gotten a man from the Lord Or I have begotten a man the Lord as the words may be rendred And in the name Seth Gen. IV. 25. She bare a Son and called his name Seth For God saith she hath appointed me another seed IV. The promise of the Messiah was not given to a Castaway It was given to Abraham and David and others that were righteous men V. Religion began to be planted by Adam Cain and Abel brought Sacrifice to God Which shews that Religion had been planted before VI. Christ prevailed against the Serpent from the beginning and had a seed The Church began with Adam Else what confusion would there have been in the world VII The Sabbath was given from the beginning and Adam kept it VIII All Gods dealings with him were to forward Faith in him Such were his Cursing the ground his expelling him out of Eden his enjoyning him Sacrifice and the Sabbath IX Adam is ranked with holy ones Gen. V. These things laid together may be sufficient to prove that Adam and Eve believed
2 3. The great Angel is Christ the old Serpent is the Devil there Christ binds and imprisoneth him and that with the great chain of the Gospel Observe the passage He shut him up in the bottomless pit What In Hell for ever That he should never go abroad again Yea you have him loose again vers 7. and he hath been always going about as in 1 Pet. V. but he tyes him up that he should not deceive the Nations vers 3. and when he is loosed again vers 8. it is his being loose to deceive the Nations Observe by the way the phrase He shuts him up that is restrains him from deceiving and seducing people It is Hell and Prison to the Devil not to be doing mischief So the Psalmist speaks of the wicked children of the Devil They sleep not rest not if they do not evil It is a torment to them if they may not be sinning Well how doth Christ bind Satan that he do not deceive By sending the Gospel to undeceive them So that this is the Victory of Christ against the Devil The very telling of his Death and Merits is that that overcomes the Devil the very Word of his Death and Resurrection is that that overthrows the Devil and his power So is 1 Cor. VI. 3. to be taken Know ye not that we shall judge Angels Now needed Christs soul to go to Hell to tell the Devil these tidings and to triumph there He felt the building of his Kingdom fall about his ears every moment He needed no such message to go and tell him he had conquered him This is the Triumph of Christ over the Devil by the virtue and power of his death and not by any Vocal or actual Declaration of it by his Soul now separate from his Body IV. As to Christs Soul triumphing over the damned needed there any such thing Or could his Soul do any such thing Think you Christs Soul doth or could rejoyce in the damnation of the damned There is joy in Heaven when a sinner is saved Is there joy too when he is damned That tender expression of God As I live I delight not in the death of a sinner doth it give us any room to think that he can rejovce in their damnation That tender Soul of Christ that but six or eight days before wept for the destruction of Jerusalem with O! that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace Can we think that that Soul could go to Hell to triumph and insult over poor damned Souls He had cause to triumph and rejoyce over the conquered Devils but had he the like cause or heart to triumph over damned Souls What was the reason of his triumphing over the Devils Because he had subdued themselves only He mastered them while alive in casting them out and commanding them at his pleasure He cast them into Hell by his Divine Power as soon as they had sinned but his triumph over them by his Death and Resurrection was for his peoples sake We cannot say Christ hath any pleasure in the damnation of the very Devils but he had pleasure in the Conquest of Devils because he had delivered his people from them Ah! most Divine Soul of Christ so infinitely full of charity that gave it self a Sacrifice for sin that men might not be damned can that rejoyce and insult over poor Souls damnation Look but upon Christs tenderness and earnestness for Souls here that they come not to damnation and then guess how little delight he taketh in it when they are damned Let us apply these two passages to this Ezek. XVIII 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye And vers 31. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth In the Hebrew it is in the strictest propriety In the death of him that is dead I have not pleasure that he dye and no pleasure in his death when he is dead What is there more plain in Scripture and in all Gods actings than this That God would not have men damned if they would embrace Salvation What speak these expressions 1 Tim. II. 4. Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Pet. III. 9. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Certainly whatsoever else this is plain enough that God had rather men should be saved than damned How is this written in Scripture as in letters of gold that he that runs may read it How was it written in letters of Christs own blood that was shed that men might not be damned but that whosoever believeth might have eternal life And how is this written in Gods patience beseechings in his affording means of Salvation I need not to instance in particulars Well men will not be saved but choose death before life Doth Christ delight rejoyce to damn them when they must come to it Think ye he pronounceth Go ye cursed with as much delight as Come ye blessed That he insults triumphs over poor damned wretches in their damnation Read his heart in such passages as these Gen. VI. 6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at his heart What Because he had made them No but because he having made them must now destroy them Lam. III. 33. He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men So he doth not damn willingly nor destroy the children of men And once for all Esa. XLII 14. I have long time holden my peace I have been still and refrained my self now will I cry like a travailing woman I will destroy and devour at once I will cry and destroy but it is grievous to God as pangs of a travailing woman Thus much as hath been spoken may shew how unlikely and indeed how unchristian a thing it is to conceive that Christs Soul went purposely into Hell to triumph and insult over the miserable and damned And so you see that this Article cannot mean his Souls descending into the place of torment to triumph over the Devils and damned so that we must yet look for another sense of it III. A third interpretation then is this That it means the Torments he suffered in Soul III. upon his Cross. Some word it That he suffered the extream wrath of God some the very torments of Hell some that he was for the time in the state of the damned I reluct to speak these things but this Gloss some make upon this Article and while they go about to magnifie the Love of Christ in suffering such things for men they so much abase and vilifie his Person in making it lyable to such a condition The sense of the Article we must refuse unless we should speak and think of Christ that which doth not befit him The dearly beloved of the Soul of God to lye under the heaviest wrath of God The Lord of Heaven and Earth to
be under the torments of Hell And the Captain of our Salvation to be under the condition of the damned Let it not be told in Gath publish it not in the Streets of Ascalon Let not the Jews hear it nor the Turks understand such a thing lest they blaspheme our Lord of life more than they do The colour which is put upon this opinion by them that hold it is because Christ upon the Cross bare the sins of men and therefore that he was to bear the wrath torments and damnation that man had deserved And for this they produce those places Esa. LIII 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. II. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree And they would have Christ to mean no less when he cried out Eli Eli Lamasabachtani my God my God why hast thou forsaken me For the stating of this matter I lay down these two things I. That it was impossible Christ should suffer the wrath of God the torments of Hell and be in the case of the damned for any cause of his own II. That he did not could not suffer these though he bare the sins of all his people I shall speak to both these under these five observations I. In all the passages of Christ at his suffering you cannot find that he looks upon God as an angry God Begin at his prayer at his last supper Joh. XVII Can you find there even the least hint that he doubted of Gods favour to him It is the rule of the Apostle 1 Tim. II. 8. That we lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting Can we think that Christ ever prayed with doubting Especially look into that Prayer and there is not the least tincture of it vers 1. Father glorifie thy Son Did his heart then any whit suspect that God was angry at him Vers. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life Are these the words of one that suspected he could come under the heaviest wrath of God Vers. 4. I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Are these the words of one that thought he could ever be repayed for so doing with wrath and vengeance and the torments of Hell Vers. 5. And now O Father glorifie me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Vers. 13. And now Father I come unto thee Vers. 21. Thou Father art in me and I in thee Vers. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory Had Christ when he spake these things any suspicion or thought that he could possibly come under the heavy wrath of God It is said Chap. XVIII 1. He went beyond Kidron There he is in his agony then he prays Let this cup pass from me Why What did he see in the Cup Bitterness enough but not one drop of the dregs of Gods wrath Guess his case by the case of sinful men A Stephen a Cranmer a Ridley a Martyr is brought to the Stake He hath a Cup put into his hand and that very bitter but doth he see any of Gods wrath in it Martyrs could not have gone so joyfully to death had they seen God angry in that bitter dispensation Christ could not have gone so readily to his sufferings had he thought he had gone to encounter Gods indignation Look at his words on the Cross Hodie mecum in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Were these the words of one under the torments of Hell to assure the thief of Heaven Pater in manus tuas Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Did he apprehend God angry as at the Damned when he spake these words Nay those words Eli Eli Lamasabachtani speak not that he felt the wrath of God but a bitter providence that God had left him to such wrackings and tortures and to such wicked hands So that look at Christs passages at and near his Passion and you find not one word or action that doth bewray that Christ felt himself any whit at all under Gods fury Nay look through the Scripture whatsoever is spoken of Christ it sets him far from being to be thought liable to the wrath of God Was Christ a child of wrath as well as others Scripture tells you no. Esa. XLII 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my Soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him How far is that from such language as this Behold Christ under my wrath behold him under the torments of Hell And so that passage Matth. III. ult Lo a Voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And at his Transfiguration In whom I am well pleased And does he ever come to be angry at him as at the Damned and to lay his fury on him as on the tormented in Hell It troubles me to think any Christian should hold such an opinion concerning our Saviour and indeed where there is little need to imagine such a thing Could not Christ have wrought Redemption without enduring such heavy wrath then it were not so improper to conceive so But II. Christ in the work of Redemption had not to deal with the wrath of God but the justice of God not with his wrath to bear it but with his justice to satisfie it There is a great deal of difference may be made twixt wrath and justice and twixt satisfying one and the other A Judge condemning a Malefactor weeps and grieves Is there any wrath No but only justice The Malefactor satisfies the justice of the Law no wrath stirring Consider what was the debt men ought to God What owest thou to my Master It will be said Damnation and suffering eternal torments True these were due to them but the debt was of another nature viz. Obedience Damnation was the penalty upon forfeiture of Bonds but the Debt was Obedience that which man ought to God before he became sinful which he owes to God as he is God and which the Law challengeth and which the Gospel does also Does man owe Damnation to God as he is God as he is Creator as he is Lawgiver Or as man is man No God rather owes and will pay Damnation to man for being sinful Therefore that which Christ was properly to pay for his people was that which was properly their debt which they could not pay viz. Obedience And that the Scripture harps upon Rom. V. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Phil. II. 8. He became obedient unto Death Now what was Christ obedient to To say To the wrath of God were hardly sense but To the will of God which would prove and try him and could do it thorowly without wrath It was
the Justice of God that Christ was to satisfie and if he could not have done that then there would have been some reason he should have suffered his wrath The Justice of God challenged obedience of men or no coming to Heaven satisfaction for disobedience or they must to Hell Here is enough saith Christ to serve for both ends They have disobeyed here is obedience more than all their Disobediences do or can come to They cannot obey as they should here is that that makes it out viz. Obedience infinite III. The truth was that Christ had to deal with the wrath of the Devil but not at all with the wrath of God Consider but these passages and see what was the stress that Christ had to deal withal in his Passion First That Gen. III. 15. He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Satan the seed of the woman shall destroy thee This is explained Heb. II. 14. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And 1 Joh. III. 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil And then observe that Joh. XIV 30. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me And Luke XXII 53. When I was daily with you in the Temple ye stretched forth no hands against me but this is your hour and the power of darkness While I preached there was a restraint upon you because my hour was not come but now you and Hell are let loose to have your full swing against me There was a Combate proposed in the sufferings of Christ before God and Angels Twixt whom Christ and the wrath of God No but twixt Christ and Satan and all his power What doth God in this quarrel Doth God fight against Christ too as well as the Devil Was his wrath against him as well as the Devils wrath What against his own Champion his own Son No he only tries him by affliction not overwhelms him with his wrath He only lets him alone to him to be the shock of Satan He little assists Satan by his wrath laid on his own Champion See the great Mystery of this great Dispensation in brief God had created the first Adam and endued him with abilities to have stood Thus endued he leaves him to stand of himself and permits Satan to tempt him and he overcomes him and all mankind are overthrown God raised up a second Adam endued with power to foil Satan do he his worst and not only with power to withstand Satan if he will but a will that could not but withstand Satan He sets him forth to encounter and leaves him to himself lets Satan loose to do his worst Satan vexeth him with all the vexation Hell could inflict upon him Did not God love his Son look with dear bowels upon him all this while It is a very harsh opinion to think that Christ undertaking the combate for the honour of God against his arch-enemy that obeying the Will of God even to the death that retaining his holiness unmoveable in the midst of all his tortures paying God an infinite obedience it is harsh I say to think that God should requite him with wrath and look upon him as a wretched damned person No it was the wrath of the Devil that Christ had to combate with not the wrath of God at all IV. Though Christ is said to bear sins yet for all that God did not look upon him any whit the more wrathfully or in displeasure but rather the more favourably because he would bear the sins of his people For God looked on Christ not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice and the Lord was not angry at him but loved him because he would become a Sacrifice Joh. X. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life Esa. LIII 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his Soul unto death Do those words speak the anger of God No his wel-pleasedness his rewarding him for that he would be numbred with transgressors being none but a Lamb without spot and blemish Some say That Christ was the greatest sinner murderer c. because he bare the sins of those that were so which words border upon blasphemy and speak besides a great deal of imprudence and inconsideration See Levit. XVI 21 22. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat and consess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities Is it not sensless now to say That the Goat was the greatest sinner in Israel Was he any whit the more sinful because the sins of the people were put upon him And so of other sacrifices on whose heads hands were laid and sins put was the wrath of God upon the Sacrifice No the pleasure of God was upon it for attonement In such sense are those places to be taken Isa. LIII 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. II. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. V. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin He bare our sins not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice And that Joh. I. 29. makes it plain Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World As a Lamb at the Temple bare the sins of the people so Christ bare our sins How Was the Lamb guilty or sinful No as an attonement and sacrifice And so God looked on Christ as a Sacrifice well pleasing to him not as sinful at all Need we any more illustration Observe that Exod. XXVIII 36 38. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet Holiness to the Lord. And it shall be upon Aarons forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Holiness to the Lord because he bare iniquity It should rather have been Unholiness if Aaron had been any whit the more sinful for bearing the peoples iniquities But he is said to bear their iniquities because he by his office undertook to attone for them How did God look upon Aaron in his Priesthood With anger because he bare the iniquity of the people Nay with favour and delight as so excellent an instrument of attonement Such another passage is that Levit. X. 17 c. Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place
Souls to be disposed of according to its sinfulness or goodness But why should God thus dispose as to the taking men out of this World Why not the wicked Soul and Body to Hell and no more ado And why not the holy Soul and Body to Heaven I might say That Simeon and Levi that have been brethren in Evil might be scattered in Jacob that they conspire evil no more That Soul and Body that have been compartners in â—inning might be severed from conjoyning to sin any more But what need we say more than that God hath thus sentenced upon sin that the Body that was created immortal should dye and see corruption and that Soul and Body that were in the nearest conjunction in this World should be disunited and the bonds of life dissolved and Soul and Body parted into two several Regions Oh! how bitter is this parting how dreadful the very thought of it to most in the World Why Christ did as really undergo this separation in his death as any other whatsoever Observable is the expiring of Christ upon his cross both in regard of the thing it self and of the manner of it Comparing the Evangelists together we shall see it the better S. John seems to make It is finished his last words Joh. XIX 30. S. Luke Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luke XXIII 46. And add but the construction that the Centurion makes upon his crying out Mark XV. 39. Truly this was the Son of God They all say in our English He gave up the Ghost Which two of them viz. Mark and Luke express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He breathed out his Spirit according as other dying persons do But Matthew and John have expressions very feeling Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He let go his Spirit or his Soul And John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He delivered it up Christ could not dye nay I may say he would not dye till all things were fulfilled that were written concerning his death Therefore when he had hung above three hours and knowing it was written They gave me Vinegar c. he said I thirst He tastes and finds it Vinegar and says It is finished now all is accomplished so he bows his Head and composeth himself to dye and cries Father into thy hands c. And having so said He let go his Soul and Delivered it up into the hands of God Remember that Joh. X. 17 18. and you see the sense of these expressions I lay down my life that I may take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again He had life in his own hand and the Jews could not take it from him but he let it go himself and delivered it up When the Centurion saw that he thus cried out and gave up the Ghost he said Surely this man was the Son of God Doubtless this man hath the Disposal of his own life So strong a cry is not the cry of one that is spent and dying through weakness and faintting but it argues life strong and vigorous to be still in him and therefore he dies not of weakness but gives up his life at his own pleasure Shall we pass this great passage of our Saviour without a meditation Mortal men and women if your Lives and Souls were so at your own disposal could you so readily so willingly part with them and give them up to God They are not and time is a coming when we must part with them whether we will or no. Our Saviour hath taught us what to do against they be called for to get them in readiness to be comfortably willing to part with them and give them up into his hands I remember that passage of a good man dying Egredere anima quid times c. Go Soul depart why art thou affraid Thou hast served a good Master be not affraid to go to him It will be a hard pull to have the Soul and Body parted We had need to be getting the Soul loosned that when God calls it may not be unwilling and hang on and stick and be loth to go It was a hard perplexity with him that cried out Animula vagula blandula c. Ah! poor Soul thou must go and whither art thou to go To leave all thy worldly pleasures and delights and must away thou knowest not whither The hard and dreary parting is when the Soul is chained to the World as well as to the Body when it sticks to these things as well as to the Body and must be torn from all these too He that is dead to the World how easie how comfortable is it for that man to dye When he dies he hath nothing else to do but to resign his Soul to him that gave it So that though the manner of Christs parting Soul and Body were extraordinary yet his Soul and Body were as really parted at his death as other mens are III. His Soul thus parted from his Body went to Hades into another World to the place whither holy Souls go after death which himself expresseth in those words to the good Thief To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise What does a Soul instantly after its departure Some say Walks the regions of Air and sees the secrets of nature there But Souls go not into another World to study but to receive rewards And I may say of any Soul departed as Christ of Peter Joh. XXI 18. When thou wast young thou girdest thy self and walkest whither thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not So when the Soul was in the Body it went whither it would moved the Body whither it thought good did what it pleased was at its own pleasure but now being departed another hath girded it and if it be an evil Soul he carries it whither it would not if even the best Soul he hath fixed it that it is not at its own liberty as it was before The other World is the fixing of Souls in their place and condition that they flit no more change no more that as the Soul then is not in a mutable condition as it is here so not in a self-moving condition as here Observe that Eccles. XII 7. Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it A good Soul returns to God and a bad Soul too returns to God that gave it both return to God How Now they come intirely into Gods hands to be disposed of according to what was done by them in the flesh and he instantly disposeth them into Heaven or Hell That is the very day of retribution See Luke XVI 22 23. And it came to pass that the Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom The rich man also died and was
of the slaughtered this year in the words of Dion Such a number of Senators to omit others perished under Tiberius that the Governours of Provinces were chosen by lot and ruled some three years some six because there were not enough to come in their room THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY THE Jewish and the Roman For the Year of CHRIST XXXV And of TIBERIUS XX. Being the Year of the WORLD 3962. And of the City of ROME 787. Consuls Lucius Vitellius P. Fabius Priscus or Persicus PART I. Affairs of ROME §. 1. Thankless officiousness OF the state and occurrences of the Church this instant year there is neither any particular given by S. Luke nor any else where to be found in Scripture save only what may be collected from the words of Paul concerning himself namely that he is this year either in Arabia or Damascus or both spending one part of it in the one place and the other in the other The Church now this great persecutor is turned Preacher injoyned no doubt a great deal of ease in the ceasing of the persecution and benefit by the earnestness of his Ministry And so let us leave her to her peace and comfortable times now growing on and turn our story to the Romans Tiberius his reign being now come to the twentieth year the present Consuls L. Vitellius and Fabius Priscus do prorogate or proclaim his rule for ten years longer A ceremony used by Augustus whensoever he came to a tenth year of his reign but by Tiberius there was not the like cause One would have thought the twenty years past of his inhumane and barbarous reign should have given the City more than enough of such an Emperor and have caused her to have longed rather for his end then to have prolonged his dominion But she will make a virtue now or complement rather of necessity and will get thanks of him for continuing of that which she cannot shake off and is willing that he shall reign still because she knew he would do so whether she will or no. It is the forlorn way of currying favour to please a man in his own humour when we dare not cross it The flattering Consuls received a reward befitting such unnecessary officiousness for they kept the feast saith Dion that was used upon such occasions and were punished Not with death for the next year you shall have Vitellius in Judea but with some other infliction which it may be was pretended for some other reason but intended and imposed upon a profound policy For while they thus took on them to confirm his rule they did but shake his title as he conceived and told him a riddle that he reigned by their courtesie and not by his own interest but when he punished them that would take on them to confirm this superiority he proved it independent and not pinned upon their will §. 2. Cruelties The vein of the City that was opened so long ago doth bleed still and still as fresh as ever For Slaughter saith Tacitus was continual and Dion addeth that none of them that were accused were acquitted but all condemned some upon the letters of Tiberius others upon the impeachment of Macro of whom hereafter and the rest only upon suspition Some were ended by the executioner others ended themselves by their own hands the Emperor all this while keeping out of the City and that as was thought lest he should be ashamed of such doings there Among those that perished by their own hands was Pomponius Labeo and his wife Paxaea who being accused for corruption in his government of Maesta cut his own veins and bled to death and his wife accompanied him in the same fatal end To the like end but upon different occasions and accusations came Mamercus Scaurus and his wife Sextia He some years before having escaped narrowly with life upon a charge of treason is now involved again in other accusations as of Adultery with Livilla magical practices and not at the least for libelling against Tiberius For having made a Tragedy which he titled Atreus and in the same bringing him in advising one of his subjects in the words of Euripides That he should bear with the folly of the Prince Tiberius not so guilty indeed of such a taxation of being a fool as ready to take on to be guilty that he might have the better vie against the Author personated the matter to himself crying out that Scaurus had made him a bloody Atreus but that he would make an Ajax of him again which accordingly came to pass for the Tragedian to prevent the executioner acted his own Tragedy and died by his own hand his wife being both incourager and companion with him in the same death But among these lamentable spectacles so fearful and so frequent it was some contentment to see the accusers still involved in the like miseries with those whom they had accused for that malady of accusing was grown Epidemical and infectious sparing none and as it were catching one of another The tokens hereof appeared in the banishment of Servilius and Cornelius the accusers of Scaurus and of Abudius Rufo that had done the like by Lentulus Getulicus This Getulicus was then commander of the Legions in Germany and being charged with so much intimacy with Sejanus as that he intended to have married his daughter to Sejanus his son he quitted himself by a confident letter to Tiberius In which he pleadeth that his familiarity and alliance to Sejanus had begun by the Emperors own advice and privacy and he was so far from crouching that he profereth terms of partition to Tiberius namely that he should enjoy the Empire and himself would enjoy the Province where he was This it was to have Arms and Armies at his disposal for for all this affront the Emperor is necessarily calm considering partly his own age partly the hatred of the people but chiefly that he stood in that height and sway and power that he was in rather by the timorous opinion of others than by any strength or firmness of his own This year there arose a feigned Drusus in Greece a man as it seemed neither led by common policy that might have told him that so great a Prince of Rome could not possibly have been so long obscured nor by common opinion which greatly suspected that Drusus was made away by the Emperors own consent He found a party as inconsiderate as himself for he was intertained by the Cities of Greece and Jonia and furnished with aid and had like to have come into Syria and surprized the forces there had he not been descried taken and sent to Tiberius To conclude with some other rarity besides these of cruelty there was seen a Phoenix in Egypt this year as Tacitus hath laid it but as Dion two years after which then exercised the wits of the Philosophical Greeks interpreting the presage either to the State or to the Emperor as their fancy led them and in after times it
would have the Bible turned into Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. 1. Pag. 124. That is For this were the Scriptures interpreted in the Grecians Tongue that they might have no excuse for their ignorance being able to understand our Scriptures if they would CHAP. XXIV Phrases taken from Iews in the New Testament THESE Phrases are by the great Broughton called Talmudick Greek when Jewish and Talmudical Phrases are used in Holy Writ Such is Gehenna frequent in all Rabbins Maranatha 1 Cor. 16. 22. the bitter excommunication The world to come so often used in the Gospel and nothing more often among the Jews and Chaldees Raka Matth. 5. 22. of which see Chap. 19. Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3. 8. whose names I find in the Chaldee Paraphrast with very little difference and a goodly legend of them As in Exod. 1. 15. Pharaoh slept and saw in his dream and behold all the land of Egypt was put in one scale and a * * * Chal. Taâ—la bar imera young lamb in the other scale and the lamb weighed down the scales of himself * * * Chal. Mliadh out of hand a Phrase most usual in Iews Authors and the very same in Eng. oâ—t of hand out of hand he sends and calls all the Sorcerers of Egypt and tells them his dream Out of hand Janis and Jimbres chief of the Sorcerers opened their mouths and said unto Pharaoh there is a child to be born of some of the Congregation of Israel by whose hands all the land of Egypt shall be wasted therefore the King consulted with the Jewish midwives c. And in Exod. 7. 11. He calls them Janis and Jambres And that you might the better understand who these two were the Hebrew comment upon the Chaldee Text saith They were Scholars for their art of enchanting to the noble wizard Balaam and so he fetches Zophar for authority to maintain them And to prove Janis and Jambres either very constant enemies and opposers to Moses or else very good dutiful Scholars to Balaam the Chaldee saith that these two were the two servants that went with Balaam Numb 22. 22. when he went to curse Israel Beelzebub or as the New Testament Greek calls it Beelzebul is a wicked phrase used by the Jews of Christ Mark 3. 22. and elsewhere Now whether this change of the last letter were among the Jews accidental or of set purpose I cannot determine Such ordinary variation of letters without any other reason even use of every Country affords So Reuben is in the Syrian called Rubil Apoc. 7. 5. So the Greek and Latine Paulus is in the Syrian Phaulus in Arabian Baulus But some give a witty reason of l in Beelzebul that the Jews in derision of the Ekronites god Baalzebub which was a name bad enough the god of a flie gave him a worse Baalzebul the god of a Sir-Reverence for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in Chaldean To omit any more Jewish Phrases honoured by the New Testament using them this very thing does shew the care is to be had for the right reading of the Greek since so many idioms and so many kinds of stile are used by it CHAP. XXV Ninivehs conversion Jonah 3. THE book of Jonah is wholly composed of wonders Some hold Jonah to be wonderful in his birth As that he should be the son of the Sarepta widow whom Eliah raised to life And because the mother of the child said Now I know that the word of God in thy mouth is true therefore he is called Ben Amittai the son of my truth whether the story may be called Ben Amittai or a true story let the Reader censure by the two Towns of Sarepta and Gath-hepher Howsoever Jonah was wondrous in his birth I am sure he was wondrous in his life A Prophet and a runnagate before his shipwrack a man drowned and yet alive in his shipwrack and a Preacher of Repentance and yet a Repiner at Repentance after The least wonder in the book is not the conversion of Niniveh It was a great wonder as D. Kimchi says that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights and yet lived And it was another wonder that he was not stupid but continued in his senses and intellectuals and prayed And do but well consider it and it will appear almost as great a wonder that Niniveh so great a Town so long wicked in so short time should be converted To say as Rabbi Joshuah doth That the men of the Ship were got to Niniveh and had told all the occurrence about Jonah how they had thrown him over hatches and yet he it was that was among them and therefore they believed the sooner as it is without Authority so doth it lessen the wonder of the Towns conversion Jonah an unknown man of a forraign people to come into so great a City with a Fourty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed was strange But for the King upon so short a time to send a cryer to proclaim Repentance is as strange if not stranger Jonah proclaims the Town shall be destroyed the King in a manner proclaims the Town shall not be destroyed by proclaiming the means how to save it Repentance To say as * * * Aben Ezra gives 2. Reasons of poor force to provt that Ninlveh feared God in old time 1. Because otherwise he would not have sent his Prophet to them and so he lessens the wonder of Gods mercy 2. Because we read not that they brake their images therefore they had not any How far the Rab. is besides the cushion both for construction and reason one of small skill may â—edge Aben Ezra does That because the City is called Gnir gedholah leelohim a great City of God that therefore they feared God in old time but now in Jonahs time began to do evil is still to lessen the wonder about their conversion a stranger repentance than which the world never saw The old world had a time of warning of years for Ninivehs hours and yet eat and drunk till the flood came and then in the floods of many waters Repentance and Prayers would not come near God Psal. 32. Fair warning had Sodom by the preaching of Lot whose righteous soul they vexed and would not repent till their Hell as it were began from Heaven and fire and brimstone brought them to the lake of fire and brimstone and when the wicked seed of him that derided his fathers nakedness perished for their naked beastliness and their flames of lust brought them to flames on Earth and in Hell The men of Niniveh shall rise up in Judgment against the generation of the Jews and condemn them because these at the Preaching of Jonah Repented and they not for the Preaching of a greater than Jonah that was among them When the Master of the Vineyard sent his Servants nay his own Son they put him to Death In the Conversion
and Delivery of Niniveh I cannot but admire a double mercy of God who to use a Fathers words Sic dedit poenitentibus veniam qui sic dedit peccantibus poenitentiam Who was so ready upon their Repentance to grant them Pardon who was so ready upon his Threatning to give them Repentance Other kind of entertainment than Jonah had had he that came from Gregory Bishop of Rome to Preach to our Realm of England The passage of which story our Countryman Bede hath fully related That when Austen had Preached the Gospel to the King and Dehorted him from his Irreligious Religion your words saith the King are good but I have been trained up so in the Religion â— now follow that I cannot forsake it to change for a new This Argument too many â—â—perstitious Souls ground upon in these days choosing rather to Err with Plato than to follow the Truth with another Desiring rather to be and being as they desire of a false Religion than to forsake the Profession of their Parents and Predecessors Not refusing like good fellows to go to Hell for company rather than to Heaven alone Such a boon companion was Rochardus King of the Phrisons of whom it is Recorded that whereas a Bishop had perswaded him so far towards Christianity as that he had got him into the water to Baptize him the King there questions which way his forefathers went which died Unbaptized whether to Heaven or Hell The Bishop answers That most certainly they were gone to Hell Then will I go the same way with them saith the wicked King and pulls back his Foot out of the water and would not be Baptized at all Hoc animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit CHAP. XXVI Of the Iews Sacraments Circumcision and Passover BOTH these Sacraments of the Jews were with Blood both in Figure the one to carry the Memory of Christ till he came and the other the Passion of him being come Abraham received the sign of Circumcision the seal of the Righteousness of Faith which he had when he was Uncircumcised Rom. 4. The Israelites received the Institution of the Passover in Egypt Exod. 12. I will not stand to Allegorize these matters of the time and manner of receiving these two but only of the things themselves Circumcision given in such a place is not for nothing but in the place of Generation it is given Abraham as a Seal of his Faith that he should be the Father of all those that believe Rom. 4. And especially a Seal to him of Christs coming from those Loins near to which his Circumcision was And appertaining to this I take to be the Oath that Abraham gives his Servant and that Jacob gives Joseph with their Hands put under their Thighs * * * As the Iews think not to swear by their Circumcision but by Christ that should come from those Thighs Circumcision was also used for distinction of an Israelite at the first and hence were they distinguished but in time Ismael had taught his race so much and Egyptians Phaenicians Arabians and the Countries about them grew Circumcised So was Pythagoras Circumcised that he might have access to the recluse Misteries of the Egyptians Religion Circumcision was also used with the Jews as Baptism with us for admission into the Church of Israel And it was Gods express command that the Child on the eighth day should be Circumcised And on that day more than any other saith Saint Austen to signifie Christs resurrection who rested the weeks end in the grave and rose on the eighth day And if Aristotle say true one may give a reason why not before the eighth day because a Child for the seven days is most dangerous for weakness A stranger was so admitted to their Congregation Exod. 2. 48. And of this does Rabbi Eliezer fantastically expound that verse in Jonah 1. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered sacrifice whereupon the wandring Jew saith thus As soon as the Mariners saw when they drew near to Niniveh all the wonders that the blessed God did to Jonah they stood and cast every one his gods into the Sea They returned to Joppa and went up to Jerusalem and Circumcised the flesh of their fore-skin as it is said And the men feared the Lord exceedingly and sacrificed Sacrifices what Sacrifice But this Blood of the Circumcision which is as the Blood of a Sacrifice And they vowed to bring every one his Wife and Children and all that he had to fear the Lord God of Jonah and they vowed and performed This was indeed the way to admit Proselytes by Circumcision but in Salomons time when they became Proselytes by thousands they admitted them by Baptism or Washing as some Jews do witness Whether the neglect of Circumcision as I may so term it in the Wilderness were meerly Politick because of their more fitness for any moments removal and march or whether some Mystery were in it I will not decide Nor need I relate how the Jews use to Circumcise their Children for the great Buxtorfius hath punctually done it Nor can I relate how highly the Jews prise their Circumcision for one might gather volums out of them upon this subject For they consider not that he is not a Jew which is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one within and the Circumcision is of the Heart in the Spirit not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God CHAP. XXVII Of the Passover THE Passover was a full representation of Christs passion though to the Jews the Passover was more than a meer shadow To run through the parts of it might be more than copious A word and away At the Passover the beginning of the Year is changed So. At Christs Passover the beginning of the Week is changed The Passover was either of a Lamb to signifie Christs innocency or of a Kid to signifie his likeness to sinful Flesh as Lyranus The Lamb or Kid was taken up and kept four days to see whether he were spotless and it may be to scoure and cleanse himself from his Grass The Passover slain at Even So CHRIST slain at Even His Blood to be sprinkled with a bunch of Hysop So CHRISTS Blood sprinkled And of this I think David may be understood Psal. 51. Cleanse me with Hysop That is besprinkle me with the Blood of the true Paschal Lamb Jesus Christ. He was to be roasted with Fire So So Christ tried with Fire of Affliction These parts were to be roasted His Head His Legs His Inward parts So was CHRIST Tortured His Head with Thorns His Hands and Feet with Nails His Inwards with a Spear Their Eating of him as it concerned the Israelites in their estate so may it instruct Christians for the eating of the true Passover the Lords Supper The Passover Eaten Without Leaven With bitter Herbs With Loins girt With Feet shod With Staff
them Have you not sinned wilfully since you receiv'd the knowledge of the Gospel in your private deportment Or go to the great ones or to them in power dignity and estate and ask them have you not sinned wilfully since you receiv'd the knowledge of the truth in your publick imployment I cannot say what every one or any one may answer but I am sure the fairest way and upon the justest reason for every one to answer were as t is Job VII 20. I have sinned what shall I do to thee O preserver of men I have sinned wilfully what shall I do to thee O thou giver of the Gospel The word the Apostle useth here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the best and nearest propriety signifies willingly and so it shreds a lapful of gourds the more into the pot of pottage to make it the more bitter For though some conscience may contend to secure it self against the accusation of sinning wilfully yet who can say but he hath sinned willingly since he received the knowledge of the Gospel and that many a time over The allay shall I say or the smartness of this word is best to be judged by the contrary word which the Greek Interpreters used in the case of Moses we have alledged What he speaks of sinning ignorantly they render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinning unwillingly and so they oppose unwilling sinning and pâ—esumptuous sinning one against the other And answerably the Apostle using the word but doth most directly oppose unwilling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that doth most directly oppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sheweth plainly that he takes it in the same direct opposition namely to signifie sinning wilfully or presumptuously But what is this particular sin that he doth intend What is that sinning wilfully with him that with our Apostle is a sin unto death Guess it by the story of those times which shews it plain enough that I may not spend more time than is needful about the discovery of it Our Saviour in the end of his parable of the unclean spirit cast out of a man and walking in dry places and because he could find no rest there returning to the place whence he came out with seven other spirits worse than himself and dwelling there hath this sad cadence Even so shall it be also to this wicked generation Matth. XII 45. Ah! unhappy generation the Devil cast out and returning again absent a while himself but returning with seven other Devils worse than himself how great how sad an apostasie doth this intimate in the Jewish Nation from the Gospel which had cast out the unclean spirit for a while from among them Such an Apostasie very deadly and general from the Gospel after they had received the knowledge of it and so evidently recorded in the Apostles Epistles that I need not to recite it and so copiously that I should but tire you with citing places Take but these two or three Gal. I. 6. The Apostle intimates that they were removed and soon removed from him that called them into the grace of Christ. II Tim. I. 15. All Asia which once had been all for Paul were now departed from him II Pet. II. 22. It was happened to some according to the Proverb The Dog is returned to his vomit Such instances are numerous But this was not all The cast out Devil did not only return but seven worse Devils returned with him They did not only Apostatise from the Gospel they had professed but became bitter enemies and persecutors of the Gospel from which they Apostatized This cursed root of gall and wormwood did sprout forth into Hell as cursed branches fruits of Sodom direct revolting to their old Judaism or downright falling into Nicolaitisme the one gainsaying liberty of the Gospel the other turning it into Libertinism The one an enemy to the Gospel because of its Spiritualness the other because of its Holiness The Jewish Nation were so doting upon their Ceremonies and formal manner of Religion and Worship that as you find all along the story of those times in the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles the unbelieving Jews cried down the Gospel and were bitter enemies to it because it cried down their Ceremonies And many and many of those that had believed Apostatized from it upon the same dotage and became as bitter nay if possible more bitter enemies against them than the other The Nicolaitans stumbled at another block interpreting the liberty of the Gospel and they fell into all loosness and uncleanness to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit Fornication and they became as horrid enemies to the Gospel as the other because it taught and perswaded a better course These things lie so clear in Scripture to be observed that I should do but a needless work to insist on them Thus whereas that was a happy wonder of Paul Gal. I. 23. That he now preached the Gospel which he once destroied the contrary is an unhappy monster with these men they now destroy the Gospel which they once professed and it is not unlikely what some of them preached Instances of this are little less copious than the other I shall offer you but two the one foretelling that such a thing should be and the other telling that such a thing was come to pass Act. XX. 29 30. This I know that after my departure shall grievous Wolves enter in among you spoiling the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things c. To which this ecchoes I Joh. II. 18. Little children it is the last time And as ye have heard that Antichrist should come even so now are their many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time They went out from us c. They went out from us There is their Apostasie from the Gospel They are Antichrists there is their enmity against it And by the way learn from the Apostle there how to construe the last times which Phrase occurs so frequently viz. for the last times of the Jewish State and City And I must crave leave to understand that passage concerning the man of sin in II Thes. II. of these very persons and of those very times I read the Romish Antichrist in the Revelations in great Letters but truly I can read none but the Jewish Antichrist in this place This then more peculiarly is the sin our Apostle meaneth here and the Apostle Paul in that place of the Epistle to the Hebrews that I cited as might be shewed out of that and this Epistle if it were needful but I suppose that is not much needful since the thing speaks it self and it is so plain that there could not be a more deadly sin and there was not a more horrid sin in those times than such horrid Apostasie and such horrid enmity Every presumptuous sin in the Text was cited in Moses was a sin unto death in the sense that the Jewish Nation understood a