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
came For if Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa and reigned but four and twenty years as 1 King 15. 33. asserteth then was Baasha dead nine full years before the six and thirtieth year of Asa came and therefore he could not then possibly come up against Judah for he was rotten in his grave But it is thus to be understood that in the six and thirtieth year of Asaes Kingdom that is of the Kingdom of Judah since the revolt of the ten tribes Baasha came up against that Kingdom and warred against it the Kingdom that God would not have to be fought against Now as Jeroboam had made the division which had now continued six and thirty years viz. 17 of Rehoboam 3 of Abijah and 16 of Asa so doth Baasha go about now to confirm that division for he setteth on to build and Garrison Ramah that he might stop all entercourse betwixt Israel and Judah and therefore the Holy Ghost reckoneth the time of this act of Baasha by a computation from the first division And he calls it the Kingdom of Asa the rather also because he had lately confirmed and established it to himself as far as it was possible for him to do namely by a Reformation and a Covenant But now doth Asa exceeding ill for he relieth upon an arm of flesh the King of Syria he hireth him with dedicate things which himself had dedicated but a year or two before he bringeth a forraign enemy in to the Land of Israel and imprisoned the Prophet that reproved him for it Here is the first Captivity of any Israelites and Dan the place of the golden Calf falleth under the sword Because Asa leaned upon the King of Syria therefore was the King of Syria escaped out of his hand 2 Chron. 16. 7. for the Syrian was in league with Baasha and had Asa let him alone he had sided with Baasha and Asa if he had relied on God had conquered Israel and the Syrian both but now he had lost that victory over Syria by seeking thereunto for help 2 CHRON. XVI ver 1. to ver 7. World 3065 Asa. 16 Baasha 14 Division 35 BENHADAD son of Tabrimmon Asa. 17 Baasha 15 Division 36 now King of Syria Baasha cometh up against Judah and beginneth to build and to fortifie Ramah which was a frontier upon the very skirt of Ephraim towards Benjamin and Judah 2 CHRON. XVI vers 7. to vers 11. Asa 18 Baasha 16 Division 37 ASA upon this reliance upon Asa 19 Baasha 17 Division 38 Syria declineth excee-dingly Asa 20 Baasha 18 Division 39 from his former goodness Asa 21 Baasha 19 Division 40 for he grows not only harsh to Asa 22 Baasha 20 Division 41 the Prophet Hanani that reproved Asa 23 Baasha 21 Division 42 him but he also began to Asa 24 Baasha 22 Division 43 use harshness and to tyrannize Asa 25 Baasha 23 Division 44 over his Subjects and for this his alteration he is in continual Baasha 24 wars and troubles World 3074 Asa 26 Elah 1 Division 45 Asa seeth an end of his great Enemy World 3075 Asa 27 Elah 2 Omri 1 Division 46 Baasha and the ruine of that family as he had seen the ruine of the family of Jeroboam 1 KINGS XVI vers 1. to vers 23. Asa 18 Baasha 16 Division 37 AS Hanani the Seer reproved Asa 19 Baasha 17 Division 38 Asa for his reliance Asa 20 Baasha 18 Division 39 upon Syria so Jehu the son of Asa 21 Baasha 19 Division 40 Hanani reproveth Baasha for his Asa 22 Baasha 20 Division 41 Idolatry and threatneth destruction Asa 23 Baasha 21 Division 42 to him and to his family Asa 24 Baasha 22 Division 43 and the same fate is denounced Asa 25 Baasha 23 Division 44 to his house that had befallen the Baasha 24 house of Jeroboam World 3074 Asa 26 Elah 1 Division 45 ELAH reigneth in the of Asa 1 King 16. 8. World 3075 Asa 27 Elah 2 Omri 1 Division 46 OMRI reigneth having slaign Zimri who had slain Elah This is a year of great turbulency in the State of Israel Elah a drunkard of Ephraim is slain by Zimri and Baasha's house is utterly destroyed with him Zimri reigneth at Tirzah but Omri is made King in the Camp at Gibbethon In that very place had Baasha gotten the Kingdom by the slaughter of Nadah five and twenty years ago 1 King 15. 27. a siege being there then as it is now Omri besiegeth Zimri in Tirzah and Zimri destroyeth himself and the Kings Pallace together Then there is another competition and war betwixt Omri and Tibni which continueth till the thirty first year of Asa 1 King 16. 23. And then Tibni is overthrown and Omri becometh sole and intire King Howbeit in the account that the Scripture giveth of Omri's raign saying That he raigned twelve years The beginning of these years is to be taken from the death of Zimri which was in the seven and twentieth of Asa 1 King 16. 15. Therefore whereas it is said in vers 23. That in the one and thirtieth year of Asa King of Judah began Omri to raign over Israel twelve years it is to be understood that his whole raign from the death of Zimri was twelve years which expired in the eight and thirtieth of Asa ver 29. but that the first year of his sole and single Government was Asa's thirty first 2 CHRON. XVI ver 11 12 13 14. World 3076 Asa 28 Omri 2 Division 47 ASA seeth now a third change Asa 29 Omri 3 Division 48 in the Kingdom of Israel Asa 30 Omri 4 Division 49 first the family of Jeroboam then Asa 31 Omri 5 Division 50 of Baasha now of Omri Thus Asa 32 Omri 6 Division 51 speedily doth Idolatry root Families Asa 33 Omri 7 Division 52 out and thus little stability Asa 34 Omri 8 Division 53 is there with those that forsake Asa 35 Omri 9 Division 54 God Athaliah a spawn of Asa 36 Omri 10 Division 55 this last family setteth hard in Asa 37 Omri 11 Division 56 time to bring in the like ruine and confusion into the royal stock Omri 12 of Judah that is now in Israel when she goeth about to destroy the Kings Seed Ahab 1 ASA falleth diseased of Ahab 2 the Gout and seeketh too much to Asa 38 the Physitians 2 Chron. 16. 12. World 3086 Asa 39 Division 57 His name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Physitian World 3087 Ahab 3 Division 58 in the Chaldee Tongue Asa 40 Division 59 Asa still diseased in his feet 1 KING XXII Vers. 41 42 43. World 3089 Asa 41 Ahab 1 Ahab 4 Division 60 JEHOSHAPHAT reigneth upon his fathers death in the fourth year of Ahab 2 Ahab 5 Division 61 Ahab 2 King 22. 41 42 c. and walketh uprightly before the Lord and prospereth 1 KINGS XVI vers 23. to the end World 3076 Asa 28 Omri 2 Division 47 FROM this second of Omri Asa 29 Omri 3 Division 48 42 years are reckoned to
conquer Hell then If he did what was it with What did his Soul there to conquer Hell How he conquered Hell and Death by dying and rising we can tell but how his Soul conquered with bare going thither who can tell you Or did he augment the torments of the Devils and damned That needed not nor indeed could it be done as I shall shew afterwards What then did Christs Soul there in its Triumph unless as He Veni vidi vici I came I saw I overcame it conquered Hell by looking into it Natura nihil facit frustra Nature does nothing in vain much less the God of nature And Christ in his life time never did spoke thought any thing in vain And it is unhansom to think that his Soul after death should go out of the bosom of his Father into Hell to do no body can imagine what For who can tell what it did in Triumphing there II. Was not Christ under his Humiliation till his Resurrection Was he not under it whilst he lay in the grave He himself accounts it so Psal. XVI 10. Thou wilt not suffer my Soul being in the state of separation my Body to see corruption to be trampled on by death to be triumphed over by Satan that yet had it there If you imagine his Soul triumphing or vapouring in Hell for I cannot imagine what it should do there unless to vapour how might Satan vapour again Thou Soul of Jesus dost thou come to triumph here Of what I pray thee Have I not cause to triumph over thee Have I not procured his death Banished thee out of his body and got it into the grave And dost thou come to triumph here Let us first see whether he can get out from among the dead before we talk of his triumph over him that had the power of death So that if we should yield to so needless a point as Christs going to triumph in Hell yet certainly it would be but very unseasonable to have gone thither when he had not yet conquered but his body was still under death and as yet under the conquest of Satan This had been to triumph before Victory as Benhadads vapour was to Ahab when he received that answer Let not him that girdeth on his sword boast himself as he that putteth it off The beginning of Christs Kingdom was his Resurrection for then had he conquered death and him that had the power of death the Devil And so the Scripture generally states it I need cite no proof but two of his own speeches Matth. XXVI 29. I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom that is after my Resurrection when I have conquered the Enemies of God and set up his Kingdom And Matth. XXVIII 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth And this was after his Resurrection But is it not improper to dream of a Triumph before a Conquest That Christ should Triumph as King before he had put on his Kingdom As Esth. V. 3. On the third day she put on the Kingdom For so it is in the Hebrew The days before she had been under fasting mourning humiliation and that was not a time of Royalty and Triumph So on the third day Christ rose and put on his Kingdom the days before he had been under death had abased himself a very unfit and unseasonable time for his Soul to go and triumph III. As concerning Christs triumphing over Devils His Victory over Satan was of another kind of nature than to go amongst them to shew terribly or speak terribly for what else can we imagine his Soul did in that Triumph in Hell It is said Heb. II. 14. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil Destroy him How We may say of him as he of the Traitor Vivit etiam in Senatum venit He lives yea he comes into the Council-house So Is the Devil destroyed He is alive walketh rageth ruleth He walked about the Earth before Christs death Job I. So hath he done ever since 1 Pet. V. 8. Your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour He was a murtherer from the beginning to Christs death Joh. VIII 44. So hath he been ever since he goes about seeking to devour and he doth devour He wrought in the children of disobedience before and he now worketh Eph. II. 2. And how hath Christ conquered destroyed him You must look for the Conquest and Triumph of Christ over him not so much in destroying his Person as destroying his Works 1 Joh. III. 8. For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil I might here speak of many things I shall only mention two or three particulars wherein the Victory of Christ over the Devil by his death doth consist 1. By his death he hath conquered the very clamors of Satan paying a ransom for all his people Rom. VIII 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Satan is ready to say I lay a charge and claim to them for they have been disobedient But Christ hath paid a satisfaction for all their disobedience Satan thou art cast in thy suit the debt is paid How is the Devil confounded at the loss of such a prize as he expected And how does the Death and Merits of Christ here Triumph Now Goliah David defies thee touch one in the Camp of Israel if you can or dare they are all redeemed and ransomed thou hast nothing to do with them And the ransomed of the Lord shall go to Sion with everlasting joy Rejoyce O Heathens for the false accuser is cast out Here is a glorious Triumph by the righteousness and holiness of Christ delivering all his people 2. By his death he brake the partition wall and brings in the Heathen Oh! how did Satan hold them in slavery Pharaoh let my people go No. I know not the Lord nor will I let them go But thou shalt be brought to it and by the death of a Paschal Lamb they shall go whether thou wilt or no. Two thousand years had they been in his slavery sure thought he this shall be for ever But by the death of poor despised Jesus at Jerusalem the prison doors are open and all these captives are gone free Rejoyce ye prisoners of hope as they are called Zech. IX 11 12. I cannot but think of the case of Paul and Silas Act. XVI in an inner prison their feet in the stocks the doors fast and a strong guard and there comes one shake and all fly open and all the prisoners are loosed Jaylor what sayest thou now Thou mayst even draw thy sword and end thy self all thy prisoners are gone 3. Nay yet further Jaylor thou must to prison thy self Ponder on those words Rev. XX. 1
Months 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 19. which the Rabbins interpret And one Officer which was in the Land for the Leap-year or for the thirteenth Month which befel every third year Solomon had four thousand Stables of Horses and Chariots 2 Chron. 9. 25. that is forty thousand Stalls of Horses for his Chariots 1 King 4. 2. one Horse in every Stall and ten Horses to a Chariot and in a Stable So seven hundred Chariots 2 Sam. 10. 18. is rendred seven thousand 1 Chron. 19. 18. that is seven thousand men with seven hundred Chariots ten to a Chariot Solomon is said to be wiser then Heman and Ethan and Chalcol and Darda that is in humane learning for these men lived in Egypt in the time of Israels affliction there and it seemeth were singularly skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Yet Solomon went beyond them in Philosophy CHAP. II. from vers 39. to the end And CHAP. III. vers 1 2. ABout the latter end of Solomons third year or beginning of his fourth Shimei compasseth his own death by breaking the bonds and bounds of his consinement And as the Jews held Solomon after that marrieth Pharaohs daughter The time is uncertain and the determination of it not much material Solomon preferreth her before the rest of his wives for they were of Nations that were his Subjects but she the daughter of an intire King and by this match he allieth that potent King to him and secureth himself the better abroad especially from Hadad his Enemy who had married a Lady from the same Court 1 King 11. 19. CHAP. VI. all And VII from vers 13. to the end 2 CHRON. III IV. World 2993 Solomon 4 THE foundation of the Temple laid on Mount Moriah where Isaac had Solomon 5 been offered It is said That the foundation of the house of the Lord was Solomon 6 laid in Solomons fourth year in the month Zif or the second month and in the eleventh year in the month Bul which is the eighth month it was finished and Solomon 7 Solomon 8 so was he seven years in building it It was exactly seven years and six months Solomon 9 in building but the odd six months are omitted for roundness of the sum as Solomon 10 the six odd months are of Davids reigning in Hebron Compare 1 King 2. 11 with 2 Sam. 5. 5. Now the beginning of the seventh Chapter of 1 Kings relateth the Story of Solomons building his own house before it come to mention the furniture of the Temple because the Holy Ghost would mention all Solomons fabricks together or the piles of his buildings before it come to speak of the furniture of any CHAP. VIII all 2 CHRON. V. VI. VII to ver 11. World 3000 Solomon 11 THE Temple finished in the three thousand year of the world and dedicated by Solomon with Sacrifice and Prayer and by the Lord with fire from Heaven and the cloud of glory This dedication of the Temple was in the month Tisri or Ethanim the seventh month answering to part of our September at which time of the year our Saviour whom this Temple typified Joh. 2. 19. was born and 29 years after Baptized And thus have we an account of three thousand years of the world beginning with the Creation and ending with the finishing of Solomons Temple CHAP. VII From vers 1. to vers 13. World 3001 Solomon 12 SOLOMON after the building of the house of the Lord buildeth his Solomon 13 own house in Jerusalem and buildeth a summer house in Lebanon and an Solomon 14 house for Pharaohs Daughter and his own Throne so sumptuous as there was Solomon 15 not the like And thus doth he take up twenty years in this kind of work in Solomon 16 building the house of the Lord and his own houses His wisdom power Solomon 17 Solomon 18 peace and magnificence exceeding all Kings upon earth did make him not only Solomon 19 renowned among all people but also in these he became a type of Christ. Solomon 20 Thus high in all eminencies and perfections that earth could afford did the Solomon 21 Lord exalt him and yet afterward suffered him so fouly to fall that he like Solomon 22 Adam in happiness might exemplifie that no earthly felicity can be durable and Solomon 23 that here is nothing to be trusted to but all things vanity but the Kingdom Solomon 24 that is not of this world CHAP. IX From beginning to Vers. 10. 2 CHRON. VII From Vers. 11. to the end SOLOMON hath an answer to his prayer made in the Temple thirteen years ago Then the Lord made a return to it by fire and a cloud and here he doth the like again by an apparition this is the second time that the Lord appeareth to him The first was when he was even entring and beginning upon his Kingdom and this is now he is come to the height of settlement and prosperity in it CHAP. IX From Vers. 10. to the end 2 CHRON. VIII all Solomon 25 SOLOMON buildeth Cities up and down the Country conquereth Solomon 26 Hamath Zobah setleth Pharaohs Daughter in the house he had built for her Solomon 27 setteth out a Fleet at Ezion-Geber for Ophir is growing still more and Solomon 28 more potent rich and magnificent Is constant still and forward in Religion Solomon 29 and offereth a constant rate of Sacrifices every day and extraordinary ones at Solomon 30 the solemn festivities The Book of the PROVERBS AMong the Stories of Solomons renown in other things may be inserted also and conceived his uttering of his Proverbs three thousand in number as is related 1 King 4. 32. and the making of his Songs one thousand and five as is storied in the same place Now it is no doubt but the most of these are lost as also are his Books of Philosophy But these that are now extant in the Book of the Proverbs and the Song of Songs we may very properly conceive to have been penned by him in some of those times that have been mentioned The very exact time is uncertain and therefore not curiously to be enquired after but the time at large betwixt his Sons growing to capacity whom he instructeth and his own fall by the inticement of his Idolatrous Wives The Book of the Proverbs falleth under several divisions As 1. From the beginning of the first Chapter to the end of the ninth which whole piece seemeth to have been compiled by him more especially for the instruction of his Son 2. From the beginning of the tenth Chapter to the latter end of the four and twentieth wherein are lessons framed for the instruction of others 3. From the beginning of the five and twentieth Chapter to the end of the twenty ninth are Proverbs of Solomon found in some Copy of his in the time of Ezechiah as Moses his Copy of the Law was found in the days of Josiah 4. The thirtieth Chapter is a script of Agur the Son of Jakeh
Nebuchad-nezzar mad Captivity 39 Nebuchad-nezzar mad Captivity 40 Nebuchad-nezzar mad Captivity 41 Nebuchad-nezzar mad Captivity 42 Nebuchad-nezzar mad Captivity 43 Captivity 44 Nebuchad-nezzar restored to his wits and Kingdom again Captivity 45 2 KINGS XXV vers 27 28 29 30. JEREMY LII vers 31 32 33 34. World 3446 NEbuchad-nezzar dieth and Evil-merodach reigneth This is the thirty Captivity 46 seventh year of the Captivity of Jechoniah On the five and twentieth Captivity 47 day of the twelfth moneth Evil-merodach bringeth him out of Captivity 48 prison and on the seven and twentieth day he promoted him above all the Captivity 49 Kings of Babel and feedeth him all his life it may be Nebuchad-nezzars seven Captivity 50 years madness and misery had wrought some humility and gentleness upon Captivity 51 this his Son Jechoniah was now fifty five years old and had indured seven Captivity 52 and thirty years imprisonment and now the Lord releaseth him and he nameth Captivity 53 Salathiel as his next heir to Davids Throne and Principality for Jechoniah Captivity 54 had no heir of his own The time of the three Babylonian Kings that Captivity 55 took up the whole space of that Monarchy are easily to be collected by the Captivity 56 Scripture namely Nebuchad-nezzar to have reigned five and forty years current Captivity 57 Evil-merodach three and twenty current and Belshazzar three The Captivity 58 first is plain by this that the seven and thirtieth of Jechoniah is called Evilmerodachs Captivity 59 first The last will be made plain by and by and the apparency of Captivity 60 the second will result from both these Evil-merodach by the Septuagint in Captivity 61 Jer. 52. is called Ulamadachar but he is called far nearer to his own name by Captivity 62 them in 2 King 25. Josephus calleth him Abilamaridochus Antiq. lib. 10. cap. 12. Captivity 63 There is a general silence in Scripture of any thing done in his time besides Captivity 64 his inlarging of Jechoniah whereas there are very wondrous and remarkable Captivity 65 matters mentioned and recorded to have been done in Babylon in the time of Captivity 66 Nebuchad-nezzar his father and of Belshazzar his Son World 3468 Captivity 67 Belshazzar reigneth three years DANIEL VII IN this first of Belshazzar Daniel seeth the Vision of the four Kingdoms that troubled the World but especially the Church from the first rising of Nebuchad-nezzar till the coming of the everlasting Kingdom of Christ in the Gospel viz. Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syrogrecian All the time of the Kingdoms before the Babylonian is not medled withal because handled before along in the Bible and all the times of the Roman State after the coming of Christ is not medled withal neither but left to be treated of by a beloved Disciple as these are by a beloved Prophet viz. in the Revelation The dislocation of this Chapter will easily be spied by any eye that looketh but upon the two Chapters next before it for the fifth speaks of Belshazzars end of reign and this of his beginning and the sixth speaks of matters done in Darius his time which was after Belshazzars death and this of matters done in the first of Belshazzers reign but the reason of this dislocation is almost as conspicuous as the dislocation it self and that is because the Historical things of this Book are set by themselves first and the visionary or prophetical things afterward Captivity 68 Belshazzar 2 In this second of Belshazzar there is no particular occurrence mentioned DANIEL V. World 3470 Captivity 69 Belshazzar 3 BABYLONS Sins are now come to the full Belshazzar toppeth them up by abuse of the Vessels of the House of God at a drunken and Idolatrous Feast to the despite and scorn of him that owed them and to the grief of those that had concernment in them Hereupon that Divine hand that had written the two Tables for a Law to his people writeth the doom of Babel and Belshazzar upon the wall viz. the ruine of these his enemies This turneth the night of the Kings pleasure into fear unto him as Esay had Prophesied of him long ago Esay 21. 4. and Jeremy Jer. 50. 43. The Wise Men of Babylon are become fools and cannot read this writing though it were in their own Language Daniel readeth and interpreteth it and that both in an Hebrew and a Chaldee construction for the words were both Languages Mene Mene He hath numbred and finished Tekel in Chald. He hath weighed In Heb. Thou art too light Parsin in Heb. The Persians Paresin in Chald. Dividing and Daniel interprets it according to the extent of the words in both Tongues for both Hebrews and Chaldeans were concerned though differently in the issue of the matter Presently the enemy that lay about the Town began to storm and the Centinels and Watch-men in the Watch Towres give the Alarme Arise ye Princes and anoint the Shield see Esay 21. 5. And one Post runs to meet another to shew the King of Babylon that his City is taken at one end Jer. 51. 31. and that night is Belshazzar slain And Darius the Median took the Kingdom being sixty two years old and so it appears he was born in the year of Jehoiaâ—ims and Jehoiachins captivity and thus did the Lord provide that in that very year when the Babylonian was most busie to captive and destroy the captiver and destroyer of Babylon should be born The Reader will here observe in the Chronicle in the Margin that the third of Belshazzar proves but the sixty ninth year of the Captivity and not the seventy But if he do but withal observe that part of Jehoiakims third was properly the beginning of those seventy years he will also see that part of Belshazzars third was in the like reckoning some of the seventieth year and the rest of that year was taken up in Cyrus and Darius setling the Monarchy before the Decree for building Jerusalem come forth Cyrus the Persian was joyned with Darius the Median in the expedition against Babel and so in the rule of the Monarchy when they had obtained it and therefore the Prophet Esay describeth the enemies of Babel by a Chariot with a couple of Horse-men a Chariot of Asses and a Chariot of Camels Esay 21. 7. 9. and Daniel interprets the hand-writing on the wall that the Babylonian Monarchy should be divided betwixt the Median and the Persian But Darius only carrieth the name here because he was far the older man and because indeed he was Cyrus his Grand-father If we may conjecture any thing from the Heathen Writers They speak of Astyages the Median King who had one only Daughter called Mandane and she the Mother of Cyrus by Cambyses the King of Persia vid. Xenoph Herod Justin. Now this being the general consent of all the Writers of the best repute among the Heathen that there was no King of Media at that time but only Astyages Cyrus his Grand-father we may very well conclude that this
from the time of Onias who built there a great Temple and an Altar and all the men of Egypt went thither c. And there was a great Congregation there double to the number of those that came out of Egypt Fol. 14. Of this Temple built by Onias in Egypt Josephus maketh mention Antiq. lib. 13. cap. 6. And the Talmud in Menachoth cap. 13. So that Christ being sent into Egypt was sent among his own Nation who had filled that Country The time that he was in Egypt was not above three or four months so soon the Lord smote Herod for his butchery of the Innocent Children and murtherous intent against the Lord of Life Joseph and Mary being called out of Egypt after Herods death intend for Judaea again thinking to go to Bethlehem but the fear of Archelaus and the warning of an Angel directs them into Galilee They knew not but that Christ was to be educated in Bethlehem as he was to be born there therefore they kept him there till he was two years old and durst not take him thence till fear and the warrant of an Angel dismisseth them into Egypt And when they come again from thence they can think of no other place but Bethlehem again till the like fear and warrant send them into Galilee There is none of the Evangelists that recordeth any thing concerning Christ CHRIST III from the time of his return out of Egypt till he come to be twelve years CHRIST IV old which was for the space of these years For the better understanding CHRIST V of which times let us take up some few passages in Josephus CHRIST VI Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. Herod saith he reigned 34 years from the time that CHRIST VII Antigonus was taken away and 37 years from the time that he was first declared CHRIST VIII King by the Romans CHRIST IX And again in the same Book cap. 15. In the tenth year of the reign of Archelaus CHRIST X the People not enduring his cruelty and tyranny they accused Archelaus to CHRIST XI Caesar and he banished him to Vienna And a little after Cyrenius was sent by Caesar to tax Syria and to confiscate Archelaus his Goods And lib. 18. cap. 1. Coponius was also sent with Cyrenius to be Governour of Judea And ibid. cap. 5. Coponius returning to Rome Marcus Ambibuchus becometh his Successor in that Government And after him succeeded Annius Rufus in whose time died Caesar Augustus the second Emperor of the Romans Now when Augustus died Christ was fourteen years old as appeareth from this that he was 29 years old compleat and beginning to be thirty in the fifteenth year of Tiberius the Emperor next succeeding Luke 3. 1 2. Reckon then these times that Josephus hath mentioned between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus namely the ten years of Archelaus and after them the Government of Coponius and after him Ambibuchus and after him Rufus and it will necessarily follow that when Herod slew Bethlehem Children Christ being then two years old it was the very last year of his Reign SECTION VIII LUKE Chap. II. from Ver. 40. to the end of the Chapter World 3939 Rome 765 Augustus 42 CHRIST XII Archelaus 10 CHRIST at twelve years old sheweth his Wisdom among the Doctors At the same Age had Solomon shewed his Wisdom in deciding the Controversie between the two Harlots Ignat. Martyr in Epist. ad Magnos IT is very easie to see the subsequence of this Section to that preceeding since there is nothing recorded by any of the Evangelists concerning Christ from his infancy till he began to be thirty years old but only this Story of his shewing his Wisdom at twelve years old among the Doctors of some of the three Sanhedrins that sate at the Temple for there sate one of 23 Judges in the East Gate of the Mountain of the House called the Gate Shushan Another of 23 in the Gate of Nicanor or the East Gate of the Court of Israel And the great Sanhedrin of 71 Judges that sate in the Room Gazith not far from the Altar Though Herod had slain the Sanhedrin as is related by Josephus and divers others yet was not that Court nor the judiciary thereof utterly extinguisht but revived again and continued till many years after the destruction of the City His Story about this matter is briefly thus given by the Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 3. facie 2. Herod was a servant of the Asmonean Family he set his Eyes upon a Girl of it One day the man heard a voice from Heaven Bath Kol which said Any servant that rebelleth this year shall prosper He riseth up and slayeth all his Masters but left that Girl c. And whereas it is said Thou shalt set a King over thee from among thy brethren which as the gloss there tells us their Rabbies understood of the chiefest of thy brethren he rose up and slew all the great ones only he left Baba ben Bota to take counsel of him The gloss upon this again tells us That he slew not utterly all the great ones for he left Hillel and the Sons of Betirah remaining and Josephus relateth also that he spared Shammai to which Abraham Zaccuth addeth that Menahem and 80 gallant Men of the chief of the Nation were gone over to his service and to attend upon him So that these of themselves and by ordination of others did soon repair that breach that his Sword had made in the Sanhedrin he not resisting its erection again when he had now taken away the Men of his displeasure Hillel was President and sat so forty years and died by the Jews computation applied to the Christian account much about this twelfth year of Christ. For they say that he lived an hundred and twenty years the last forty of which he spent in the Presidency of the Sanhedrin entring upon that dignity an hundred years before the destruction of the City Menahem was at first Vicepresident with him but upon his going away to Herods service Shammai came in his room and now two as eminent and learned men sat in those two Chairs as ever had done since the first birth of traditions Hillel himself was so deserving a man that whereas in the vacancy of the Presidentship by the death of Shemaiah and Abtalion R. Judah and R. Jeshua the Sons of Betirah might have taken the Chairs they preferred Hillel as the worthier person Talm. Jerus in Pessachin fol. 33. col 1. He bred many eminent Scholars to the number of fourscore the most renowned of which by name were Jonathan ben Uzziel the Chaldee Paraphrast and Rabban Jocanan ben Zaccai both probably alive at this year of Christ and a good while after The latter was undoubtedly so for he lived to see the destruction of the City and Temple and sat President in the Sanhedrin at Jabneh afterwards And till that time also lived the Sons of Betirah mentioned before Shammai was little inferior to Hillel
with the Jews and motions the release of the Prisoner and whether him or Barabbas and leaves it to their thoughts and goeth to his Judgment seat again By this time is his Lady stirring and understanding what business was in hand she sends to him about her dream He goes to the gate again inquires what is their vote about the Prisoners release they are all for Barabbas He puts it to the vote again and they are the same still he urgeth a third time and pleadeth the innocency of Jesus but they still urge for his crucifying Then calls he for water and washeth his hands but instantly imbrues them in his blood By this time it was the third hour of the day or about nine a clock the time of the beginning of the morning Sacrifice Hence Mark begins to count Mark 15. 25. namely from the time that Pilate delivered him up He is whipped by Pilate led into the Praetorium by the souldiers Crowned with thorns remember the Earths first curse Gen. 3. 18. arraied in scarlet and a reed put into his hand for a Scepter and in this garbe Pilate brings him forth to the gate to them again and publisheth again that he found no fault in him They urge that he ought to die because he said he was the Son of God This startles Pilate and in he takes him again and re-examines him but he would give him no answer but only Thou couldst have no power over me unless it was given thee from above c. Hereupon he goes out to the gate again and urgeth for his release more then ever They answer Then he is no friend of Cesar and this knocks the business dead In therefore he goes again and brings out Jesus and sits down upon another Tribunal in publick and Jesus standing before him in his scarlet Robes and thorny Crown he tells the Jews Here is your King Our King say they A way with him crucifie him What saith he Shall I crucifie your King They answer We have no King but Cesar. Compare Zech. 11. 6. where their destruction is threatned to be by their King Cesar as it was by Vespatian Then he delivers him up to be crucified and it was the preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour Joh. 19. 14. John seemeth the rather to have added this circumstance not only to state the time which indeed was of weighty concernment but also to brand these Jews impiety and neglect of their Religion for the satisfying of their malice This day was a very high day of their appearance in Temple and their Chagigah as we touched before and in the morning they durst not to go into Pilates Palace for fear of defiling and lest they should be prevented of these great devotions and yet the day is thus far spent and nothing done but only they have purchased the shedding of so innocent blood But John in this passage laies two visible scruples before us Quest. 1. How is it possible to reconcile him and Mark together when Mark saith It was the third hour and they crucified him Mark 15. 25. whereas he tells us It was the sixth hour when Pilate delivered him up Answ. 1. If we cast up in our thoughts how many things were done this day before his nailing to his Cross it cannot be imaginable that they were all done before the third hour of the day The Sanhedrin meet sit in Counsel examine the prisoner and vote him guilty Bring him to Pilates Palace there have manifold canvases with Pilate pro and contra about him Bring him to Herod where he is questioned about many things his garments changed and gorgeous Robes put upon him and sent back to Pilate again Then a fresh canvass about him or Barabbas to be released and Pilate puts them to a three-times deliberation upon it Then overcome with their importunity washeth his hands scourgeth him and delivers him up to them to be abused The Souldiers lead him into the Hall make a Crown of Thorns divest and vest him anew and make sport with him at pleasure Pilate again brings him forth and anew seeks and labours his release brings him in again and enters a new serious examination of him hearing mention of his being the Son of God Goes out again and labours all he can for his deliverance but being taxed that then he could not be Cesars friend he goes to the bench and formally passeth sentence upon him writes the title of his Cross the Jews in the mean while abusing him Then he is lead forth out of the City bearing his Cross and brought to the place of execution which was a good way off stript hath wine mingled with myrrh given him to drink which he refuseth is nailed to the Cross his garments parted and then Mark brings this in And it was the third hour and they crucified him Now this great multitude of various passages can hardly be conceived possible to have been gone through by the third hour of the day or nine of the clock in the morning no not though the Jews had bent themselves to dispatch before that time which was far from their thoughts 2. Mark therefore in that calculation of the time takes his date from the first time that Pilate gave him up to their abusings and his Phrase may be taken of so comprehensive an intimation as to speak both the time of his first giving up at the third hour of the day and the time of his nailing to his Cross the third hour from that And much after the same manner of account that our Saviours six hours sufferings from Pilates first giving him up to his dying are reckoned So the 430 years of sojournying of the Children of Israel in Egypt Exod. 12. are computed namely the one half before they came into Egypt and the other half after Quest. 2. But it may justly move a second quaere How Christ could be on his Cross and darkness begun from the sixth hour as the other Evangelists record it when John saith that it was but about the sixth hour when Pilate delivered him up Which words of John as they raise the scruple so they may give the answer For it might very properly be said and that according to the usual speech of the Nation that it was about the sixth hour when the sixth hour was but now beginning and by the time that it was compleated all that might be dispatched that passed betwixt his sentencing and his being raised upon the Cross. Crucified Sentence of death was passed upon him as he stood in his scarlet Robes and thorny Crown and when the Jews have now their desire they mock him suddenly strip him and put on his own clothes Then taking him away to the place of Execution they lay his Cross upon him such engines of death doubtless lay alwaies ready about the Judgment Hall and so as Isaac in the figure he first bare the wood that afterward must bear him Gen. 22. 6 9. The place of
by the consent of the Senate make him King of Judea a man composed as if they were his four elements of fawning policy cruelty and unconscionableness Of whose life and actions Josephus Egesippus and others have discoursed at large and it is not seasonable to insist upon them here This only is not impertinent to inquire after what year it was of the reign of Herod when this story of the Wisemens coming to Bethlehem and the butchery upon the children there fell out that it may be seen how long our Saviour was in Egypt before his return upon the tyrants death and how soon it was that the Lord overtook this and the other cruelties of the tyrant with deserved vengeance Josephus Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 26. hath placed the beginning of Herods reign under the hundreth eighty and fourth Olympiad and under the Consulship of C. Domitius Calvinus II. and C. Asinius Pollio and hath summed the length of it to four and thirty years from the death of Antigonus his competitor and seven and thirty from the Romans first declaring of him King Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. And with this reckoning of the years of his reign agreeth Egesippus de Excid Jerosol lib. 1. cap. 45. and so doth Eusebius in his Chronicle for the latter sum of seven and thirty but differeth far from the beginning of his reign placing it under the last year of Olympiad 186. eight years at least after the time prefixed by Josephus And reason he hath indeed to differ from his beginning For if Herod began his reign in the Consulship of the men fore-named and reigned but thirty and seven years from thence it will result in the conclusion that he dyed the year before our Saviour was born as may be easily cast by the Catalogue or number of Consuls from Cn. Domitius and Asinius Pollio which was after the building of the City Anno 714 to Cornelius Lentulus and Valerius Messalinus under whom our Saviour was born which was Anno urbis 751. So that this account of years that Josephus hath given though it be true for the number yet can it not be so from that beginning from whence he hath dated them What shall we say then by beginning the thirty seven years of his reign from the time that he was King intire and sans corrival in the Kingdom by the death of Antigonus the last spark of the Asmonean fire Why herein also I find Dion differing from Josephus and Eusebius from them both For whereas Josephus hath related that the sacking of Jerusalem by Socius and the death of Antigonus were under the Consulship of M. Agrippa and Canidius or Caninius Gallus which was Anno urbis conditae 717. Dion in his Roman History lib. 49. hath placed the crucifying of Antigonus and the making of Herod King by Antony under the Consulship of Claudius and Norbanus which was Anno V. C. 716. or a year before And Eisebius hath still laid Herods beginning a year or two after Baronius hath found out a date different from all these namely that Herods years of his Reign are to be begun from the time that he received his Crown from the hands of Augustus after his victory of Antony at the battle at Actium Caesar being then in Rhodes of which story Josephus maketh mention Antiq. lib. 15. cap. 10. Augustus being then a third time Consul and Valerius Messala Corvinus his partner By which account it will follow that our Saviour was born in the nine and twentieth year of Herods reign and that Herod lived till he was about nine years old Which opinion though it best suited to the salving of other passages of Josephus in Chronologie about this time yet it seemeth to be something too corrosive an application and a remedy very harsh upon these respects First Because by this account of his both about the Wisemens coming and Herods death he will have Christ to be nine years in Egypt or thereabout or according to our reckoning seven years or little under Now in his banishment from his own Country the means of his Parents and of his own subsistence in a forreign Land for so long a time is so hard to imagine that it will breed another and no less a scruple then that in hand Secondly the transition of St. Luke from his presenting in the Temple to his coming into Nazareth will seem a great deal the more harsh if eight or nine years are to be taken in between especially with such as Baronius himself who will have nothing to come between at all Thirdly by this opinion must our Saviour be ninteen years old and more at the death of Augustus and then how could he be but beginning to be thirty in the fifteenth of Tiberius Luke 3. For suppose with the Cardinal that he was nine years old at the death of Herod then was he ninteen at the banishment of Archelaus who reigned ten years as appeareth by Josephus Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 15. After Archelaus was removed from his kingdom the same Josephus nameth Cyrenius and Coponius as rulers and disposers of Judea for a season And after Coponius Marchus Ambibuchus was Ruler and after him Annius Rufus and then dyed Augustus Now lay all these together and it will follow that our Saviour could not be less then above twenty years old at the death of Augustus whereas it is most plain by the Gospel that he was but about fifteen Let us therefore take these parcels backward and as they confute the opinion under question so do they help to settle and resolve the question in hand For grant that Coponius Ambibuchus and Rufus ruled their single years apiece after the exile of Archelaus as it is most like they did and more then years apiece they could not do all things well laid together and take before them the ten years current of Archelaus and we have thirteen years backward of our Saviours fifteen at the death of Agustuss and this doth bring us to his two years of age or thereabout which was the time when the Wisemen came to him So that since Archelaus began to reign when Christ was not very much above two years old for that he was something above it may be some months the time that Archelaus wanted of ten years reign compleat will allow and that he could not be more then such a space above the premises well ponderated will conclude it will readily and plainly follow that our Saviours birth was in the five and thirtieth year of Herod and this murder of the children of Bethlehem in his seven and thirtieth but a month or two or such a space before his death Now whereas some stick not to say that he was struck with the wound of death that very night that the children were slain and dyed not many days or hours after in that we cannot be so punctual but that he lived not many months after is more then probable by the collections and computations mentioned well weighed and laid
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.
her husbands promotion may not unfitly be yoaked the mother of Sex Papinius that made her own lust her sons overthrow Whether this were the Papinius that was the last years Consul or his son or some other of the same name and family it is no great matter worth inquiring but whosoever he was infortunate he was in his mother for she caused his end as she had given him his beginning She being lately divorced from her husband betook herself unto her son whom with flattery and loosness she brought to perpetrate such a thing that he could find no remedy for it when it was done but his own death The consequent argueth that the fault was incest for when he had cast himself from an high place and so ended his life his mother being accused for the occasion was banished the City for ten years till the danger of the slipperiness of her other sons youth was past and over PART II. The JEWISH Story §. 1. Preparations of war against Aretas THE terrible and bitter message of the Emperor to Vitellius against King Aretas must be obeyed though more of necessity than of any zeal of Vitellius in Herods quarrel He therefore raising what forces he accounted fitting for his own safety in the Emperors favour and for his safety with the enemy marcheth toward the seat of the war intending to lead his Army through Judea But he was diverted from this intention by the humble supplication of the Jews to the contrary who took on how contrary it was to their ancient Laws and customs to have any Images and pictures brought into their Country whereof there was great store in the Romans Arms and Banners The gentleness of the General was easily overtreated and commanding his Army another way he himself with Herod and his friends went up to Jerusalem where he offered sacrifice and removed Jonathan from the High-priesthood and placed Theophilus his brother in his stead This was saith Josephus at a feast of the Jews but he named not which and Vitellius having stayed there three days on the fourth receiveth letters concerning Tiberius his death I leave it to be weighed by the Reader whether this festival were the Passover or Pentecost For on the one hand since Tiberius died about the middle of March as the Roman Historians do generally agree it is scarce possible that the Governor of Syria and the Nations of the East should be unacquainted with it till Pentecost which was eight or nine weeks after For all the Empire must as soon as possible be sworn unto the new Prince as Vitellius upon the tidings did swear Judea and so long a time might have bred some unconvenience And yet on the contrary it is very strange that the intelligence of his death should be so quick as to get from Rome to Jerusalem between the middle of March and the middle of the Passover week Vitellius upon the tidings recalleth his Army again and disposeth and billeteth them in the several places where they had wintered for he knew not whether Caius would be of the same mind with Tiberius about the matter of Aretas and Herod you may guess how this news was brooked by the Arabian King and yet was it no other than what he looked for if he believed what he himself spake For hearing of the preparations of Vitellius against him and consulting with Wizards and Augury This Army saith he shall not come into Arabia for some of the Commanders shall die Either he that commandeth the war or he that undertaketh it or he for whom it is undertaken meaning either Tiberius Vitellius or Herod §. 2. An Omen to Agrippa in chains Such another wizardly presage of the Emperors death had Agrippa at Rome as Josephus also relateth who relateth the former For as he stood bound before the Palace leaning dejectedly upon a tree among many others that were prisoners with him an Owl came and sate in that tree to which he leaned which a Germane seeing being one of those that stood there bound he asked who he was that was in the purple and leaned there and understanding who he was he told him of his inlargement promotion to honour and prosperity and that when he should see that bird again he should die within five days after And thus will the credulity of superstition have the very birds to foretel Tiberius his end from the Phenix to the Owl The Roman Story again §. 1. Tiberius near his end TWice only did Tiberius proffer to return to the City after his departure from it but returned never The later time was not very long before his end For being come within the sight of the City upon the Appian rode this prodigy as he took it affrighted him back He had a tame Serpent which coming to feed as he used to do with his own hand he found him eaten up by Pismires upon which ominous accident being advised not to trust himself among the multitude he suddenly retired back to Campany and at Astura he fell sick From thence he removed to Circeii and thence to Misenum carrying out his infirmity so well that he abated not a whit of his former sports banquets and voluptuousness whether for dissimulation or for habitual intemperance or upon Thrasyllus his prediction let who will determine He used to mock at Physick and to scoff at those that being thirty years of age yet would ask other mens counsel what was good or hurtful for their own bodies §. 2. His choise of a successor But weakness at the last gave him warning of his end and put him in mind to think of his successor and when he did so perplexity met with such a thought For whom should he choose The son of Drusus was too young the son of Germanicus was too well beloved and Claudius was too soft should he choose the first or the last it might help to disgrace his judgment should he choose the middle he might chance to disgrace his own memory among the people and for him to look elsewhere was to disgrace the family of the Caesars Thus did he pretend a great deal of care and seriousness for the good of the Commonwealth whereas his main aim and respect was at his own credit and families honour Well something he must pretend to give countenance and credit to his care of the common good In fine his great deliberation concluded in this easie issue namely in a prayer to the Gods to design his successor and in an auspicium of his own hatching that he should be his successor that should come first in to him upon the next morning which proved to be Caius It shewed no great reality nor earnestness for the common good in him at all when so small a thing as this must sway his judgment and such a trifle be the casting voice in a matter of so great a moment His affection was more to young Tiberius his nephew but his policy reflected more upon Caius he had rather Tiberius
meditation of so great a Prince When Agrippa cometh to Claudius he is now more urgent than before that he stand to his challenge because he had now groped the mind and strength of the Senate and he prevaileth with him so far that the Souldiers go to the Senate house and there demand a confirmation of their choice It was now come to it in the Councel that they were resolved to choose one Monarch for they saw the Souldiers would so have it but now the question was who that must be some were for one some for another but the conspirators against Caius were against Claudius howsoever This division had like to have caused another tumult but the end of all was that the power and fear of the Souldiers prevailed and the Senate was glad to accept him for their Prince whom they durst not refuse §. 8. His demeanor at his beginning Agrippae had perswaded him to deal gently with the Senate but he either perswaded not or prevailed not with him for the like towards the conspirators of his nephews death Chereas and Sabinus the slayers of Caius and Lupus the Executioner of Caesonia and her child were not like the Senate either perswaded by reasons or affrighted by forces to accept of Claudius or to owe him homage but they boldly and resolutely gainsay his election even to the death Claudius therefore causeth Chereas to be slain and Lupus with him which doom they underwent with different demeanours Chereas stoutly but Lupus weeping Chereas at one blow for he met death half the way but Lupus at many for he shrunk it all he could But Sabinus fool-hardy as he was when Claudius had granted him his pardon and not only so but also restored him to his former honors he disdaining to be singled from his fellow conspirators in their end any more than in their design fell upon his own sword and died Such a beginning did the new made Emperor make into his Empire mingling severity and clemency together in the censure of offendors of the same knot that he might also mingle fear and love in the hearts of the people This Claudius was the son of Drusus the son of Livia a man dull and diseased even from his childhood and for that brought up most in the converse with women or nurses hence his effeminacy and luxuriousness at all times and his readiness to be led away by the counsel of women at some He was now about fifty years of age when he began to reign at the very ripeness of all the discretion he had but that it was often blasted with fearfulness drunkenness and wicked counsel When he was set quietly in the Throne the first thing he did was to get the two days in which the agitation was about the change of the Government quite out of memory and for that end he made an Act of Oblivion of all things that had passed either in Words or Actions of all that time yet had he not wrought his own security so far but that he caused all that came near him to be searched for weapons and while he sat at any meal he had a strong guard about him For the motion that had been so lately and so strongly carried for the abolition of Monarchy and the other which proposed others thereto when Monarchy was agreed upon and would have excluded him had taken such an impression upon him that he reputed no safety in his holding of the Royalty but by that strong hand and power by which he had gotten it Yet tried he fair and gentle dealing though he durst not trust it Those from whom he had received any affront in the days of Tiberius and Caligula for sometimes in those days to abuse Claudius was to curry favor he freely pardoned if he found them guilty of no other crime but if he did he paid them then for all together The unjust fines of Caius he remitted his illegal decrees he revoked his innocents imprisoned he released and his causless banished he called home The poisons which he had prepared for the Nobles and a list of their names for whom they were prepared being found in the Palace though Caius had pretended to have burnt them he shewed publickly to the Senate and then burnt them indeed He forbad any one to adore him or to sacrifice to him he restrained the great and loud acclamations that were used to be made to the Emperor and carried himself with such sweetness and moderation that happy had the Republique been in the continuance of the Monarchy had he been so happy as to have continued in this his first demeanor But his wicked Empress Messallina and her wicked consorts first provoked him to mischief and his too much delight in the bloody sports did by degrees habituate him unto cruelty He had recalled Julia and Agrippina the two sisters of Caius out of banishment whither they had been sent by their own Brother after he had defloured them and he restored them to their Estates and Revenues again But Messallina stomacking that Julia did her not honour and homage enough and envying her beauty and being jealous of her privacy with Claudius she caused her to be banished again and in a short time she compassed her death These were but ominous beginnings when Caesars love to his own neece was cause enough to work her ruine but was not strong enough to stand between her and the fury of his own wife And it did but fatally presage what mischief her wretched counsels would work the cowardize and indiscretion of her husband to when their first effect was upon one so near allied Nor did cruelty and bloodiness enter thus only in at his ears by the suggestion of his cursed wife but the like it did also at his eyes by his frequent and delightsom beholding of the bloody sports that growing by degrees to be his delight to act which had grown by degrees also to be his delight to see Sometimes beasts with beasts as twelve Camels and Horses at one time and 300 Bears and 300 African wild beasts at the same sometimes beasts with men and sometimes men with men and at all times hideous bloodshed that he that can look upon such barbarousness and slaughter with content it may be suspected that he in time will grow to act the like with the same delight PART II. ACTS XI Vers. 26. And the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch §. 1. The name of Christian. THE Jews and Gentiles being now since the calling of Cornelius knit up together into one Church they are this year tied up into the rosie and glorious knot of the same name and Epithet the name of Christian A new name which the Lord himself did give them as we may well understand that prophesie Esa. 65. 15. that the two distinguishing names of Jews and Heathen might no more continue the ancient distance that was betwixt them but that that and all differences arising therefrom might be buried
by the Council were not to be buried in the Sepulchres of their fathers but two burying places were appointed by the Council one for those that were slain by the sword and strangled the other for those that were stoned who also were hanged and burnt There according to the custom Jesus should have been buried had not Joseph with a pious boldness beg'd of Pilate that he might be more honourably Interred which the fathers of the Council out of spight to him would hardly have permitted if they had been asked and yet they did not use to deny the honour of a Funeral to those whom they had put to death if the meanness of the common burial would have been a disgrace to their family As to the dead person himself they thought it would be better for him to be treated dishonourably after death and to be neither lamented nor buried for this vilifying of him they fancied amounted to some attonement for him as we have seen before And yet to avoid the disgrace of his family they used at the request of it to allow the honour of a funeral h h h h h h See Bab. Sanhedr fol. 46. 2. 47. 1. CHAP. XXVIII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the end of the Sabbath IN the Jerusalem Talmudists it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the coming forth of the Sabbath vulgarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the going out of the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Avodah Zarah fol. 44. 4. On a certain eve of the Sabbath namely when the Sabbath began there was no wine to be found in all Samaria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But at the end of the Sabbath there was found abundance because the Aramites had brought it and the Cuthites had received it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies all the night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Toward the first day of the week The Jews reckon the days of the week thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One day or the first day of the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two or the second day of the Sabbath i i i i i i Bab. Maccoth fol. 5. 1. Two witnesses come and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first of the Sabbath this man stole c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and on the second day of the Sabbath judgment passed on him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third of the Sabbath A Virgin is married on the fourth day of the week for they provide for the Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the third day of the week k k k k k k Bab. Chetub fol. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the fourth day of the week they set apart him who was to burn the red heifer l l l l l l Gloss on Parah Chap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the fifth of the Sabbath Ezra ordained that they should read the Law publickly on the second and fifth day of the Sabbath c. He appointed that Judges should sit in the Cities on the second and fifth day m m m m m m Hieros Meg. fol. 75. 1. Ezra also appointed that they should wash their clothes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the fifth day of the Sabbath n n n n n n Bab. Bava Kama fol. 82. 1. The sixth day they commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eve of the Sabbath To wash their clothes on the fifth day of the Sabbath and eat onions on the Eve of the Sabbath p p p p p p Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the fifth day of the Sabbath or week and the eve of the Sabbath and the Sabbath o o o o o o Id. fol. 3◠2. The first day of the week which is now changed into the Sabbath or Lords-day the Talmudists call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Christians or the Christian day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p p p p p p Bab. Avoda◠Zarah fol. 6. 1. 7. 2. On the Christians day it is always forbidden for a Jew to traffick with a Christian. Where the Gloss saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Nazarean or Christian is he who followeth the error of that man who commanded them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the first day of the week a Festival-day to him and according to the words of Ismael it is always unlawful to traffick with them three days before that day and three days after that is not at all all the week through We cannot here pass by the words of the Glossers on Bab. Rosh hashanah q q q q q q Fol. 22. 2. The Baithuseans desire that the first day of the Passover might be on the Sabbath so that the presenting of the Sheaf might be on the first day of the week and the feast of pentecost on the first day of the week With good reason did our blessed Saviour remove the Sabbath to this day the day of his resurrection the day which the Lord had made Psal. CXVIII 24. when now the stone which the builders refused was become the head stone in the Corner For I. When Christ was to make a new world or a New Creation r r r r r r Esai LXV 17. it was necessary for him to make a new Sabbath The Sabbath of the old Creation was not proper for the new II. The Kingdom of Christ took its beginning principally from the resurrection of Christ when he had now overcome death and Hell The Jews themselves confess that the Kingdom of the Messiah was to begin with the resurrection of the dead and the renewing of the world Therefore it was very proper that that day from which Christs Kingdom took its beginning should pass into the Sabbath rather than the old Sabbath the memorial of the Creation III. That old Sabbath was not instituted till after the giving the promise of Christ. Gen. III. 15. and the rest of God on that seventh day was chiefly in having perfected the new Creation in Christ that also was the Sabbatical rest of Adam When therefore that was accomplished which was then promised namely the bruising of the Serpents head by the resurrection of Christ s s s s s s Heb. II. 14. and that was fulfilled which was typified and represented in the old Sabbath namely the finishing of a new Creation the Sabbath could not but justly be tranferred to that day on which these things were done IV. It was necessary that the Christians should have a Sabbath given them distinct from the Sabbath of the Jews that a Christian might be thereby distinguished from a Jew For as the Law took great care to provide that a Jew might be distinguished from an Heathen So it was provided by the Gospel with the like care that partly
name of him that is deceased for instance if one dies without a Son and his name be Joseph or Johanan whether the Son that is born to this man's Brother taking his Brother's Widow to Wife should not have the name after him that first had her and be called Joseph or Johanan Otherwise indeed it was very seldom that the Son bore the name of the Father as is evident both in the Holy Scriptures and the Rabinical Writers It cannot be denied but that sometimes this was done but so very rarely that we may easily believe the reason why the Friends of Zachary would have given the Child his own name was meerly either because they could by no means learn what he himself designed to call him or else in honour to him however he lay under that divine stroke at present as to be both deaf and dumb VERS LXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The day-spring from on high I Would readily have rendred it the branch from on high but for what follows to give light c. I. It is known and observed by all that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Seventy rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jerem. XXIII 5. Zech. III. 8. VI. 12. Now every one knows that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a branch And as to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 II. There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. XVI 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the bud or spring of the the field Ibid. cap. XVII 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall wither in the clod where it grows And well may Christ indeed in this sense be said to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the branch or spring from on high in opposition to that branch from below by which mankind was undone viz. the forbidden Tree in Paradise VERS LXXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the desarts WHether John was an Eremite in the sense as it is now commonly taken we may enquire and judge by these two things I. Whether there was ever any Eremite in this sense among the Jews II. Whe he absented himself from the Synagogues from the Feasts at Jerusalem and to this may be added whether he retired and withdrew himself from the society of mankind If he absented from the Synagogues he must have been accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked neighbour a a a a a a Maimon Tâ—phâ—l cap. 8. If from the Feasts he transgressed the command Exod. XXIII 17. If from the society of mankind what agreeableness was there in this It seems very incongruous that he that was born for this end to turn the disobedient c. should withdraw himself from all society and converse with them Nothing would perswade me sooner that John was indeed an anchoret than that which he himself saith that he did not know Jesus Joh. 1. 31. whereas he was so very near akin to him One might think surely he must have layen hid in some Den or Cave of the Earth when for the space of almost thirty years wherein he had lived he had had no society with Jesus so near a kinsman of his nay not so much as in the least to know him But if this were so how came he to know and so humbly refuse him when he offered himself to be baptized by him Matth. III. 14. And this before he was instructed who he was by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him Joh. I. 33. From this question may arise two more I. Whether John appeared or acted under the notion of a Prophet before his entrance into the thirteenth year of his age I am apt to think he did not and hence I suppose it is said concerning him that he was in the desarts that is he was amongst the Rusticks and common rank of Men as a Man of no note or quality himself till he made himself publick under the notion and authority of a Prophet II. Whether he might not well know his Kinsman Jesus in all this time and admire his incomparable sanctity and yet be ignorant that he was the Messiah Yea and when he modestly repulsed him from his Baptism was it that he acknowledged him for the Messiah which agrees not with Joh. I. 33. or not rather that by reason of his admirable holiness he saw that he was above him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Till the day of his shewing unto Israel John was unquestionably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Priest by birth and being arrived at the thirtieth year of his age according to the custom of that Nation he was after examination of the great Council to have been admitted into the Priestly Office but that God had commissioned him another way b b b b b b Middoth cap. 5. hal 4. In the room Gazith the great Council of Israel sate and judged concerning the Priesthood The Priest in whom any blemish was found being cloathed and veiled in black went out and was dismist but if he had no blemish he was cloathed and veiled in white and going in ministred and gave his attendance with the rest of the Priests his Brethren And they made a gawdy day when there were no blemish found in the Seed of Aaron the Priest CHAP. II. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Caesar Augustus THE New Testament mentions nothing of the Roman Government but as now reduced under a Monarchical form When that head which had been mortally wounded in the expulsion of the Tarquins was healed and restored again in the Cesars Rev. XIII 3. All the world wondered saith St. John and well they might to see Monarchy that had for so many hundred years been antiquated and quite dead should now flourish again more vigorously and splendidly than ever But whence the Epocha or beginning of this Government should take its date is something difficult to determine The foundations of it as they were laid by Julius Cesar so did they seem overturned and erased again in the death he met with in the Senate-house It was again restored and indeed perfected by Augustus but to what year of Augustus should we reckon it I would lay it in his one and thirtieth the very year wherein our Saviour was born Of this year Dion Cassius lib. 55. speaks thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third decennium or term of ten years having now run out and a fourth beginning he being forced to it undertook the Government Observe the force of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then was Augustus constrained or compelled to take the Empire upon him The Senate the people and as it should seem the whole Republick with one consent submitting themselves entirely to a Monarchical form of Government did even constrain the Emperour Augustus who for some time stiffly refused it to take the reins into his hands I am not ignorant that the computation of Augustus his Reign might reasonably enough commence from his Battel and victory at Actium nor do the Gemarists
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
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
should be that that is chiefly offered And let our hearts speak to us if they will but learn to speak truth how many of us think we are fit for the hands of Christ to present us at his own Altar and to offer us to his Father Will his pure and most holy hands meddle with any thing that is impure and filthy to bring us to his Altar A man is worldly and covetous filthy and lascivious cruel and envious is such a beast such an unclean beast fit for Christ to hand to his Altar to make him a sacrifice to God Do we believe that ever he will or can say to his Father Father I present this filthy man to thee to be accepted of thee as a well pleasing sacrifice Who of us would be willing that Christ should present us to God to take us as we are and deal with us as we deserve Who of us can think that we are such as that Christ may call us Brother or Sister or Mother and commend us unto Gods acquaintance and favour under such titles Let us compare the case with those the Apostle speaks of here that have no right to eat of our Altar viz. those that serve the Tabernacle of the Levitical Priesthood And why have they no right I. It may be said they had no right to eat of the sin-offering of attonement for that was all to be burnt and nothing to be eaten of it as the Apostle toucheth immediately after Now in this regard the parallel will not hold because Christ was not consumed as that sin-offering was but he was sacrificed that he might be eaten or spiritually fed upon II. What the Priests did eat of the Sacrifices they ate within the verge of the Temple and might not bring those holy things out of the holy ground But as the Apostle tells here Christ was sacrificed without the Gate whether it was not lawful for them to come to eat any sacrifice But this I believe is not the reason why the Apostle saith They had no right to eat of the Altar that we have III. The Jews have a tenet which is considerable and not impertinent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Priests eating of the Sacrifices was for expiation of them that offered them It is very true that God allowed the Priests such and such parts of the beast sacrificed for their diet and maintenance But that was not all but there was some religious concern in their eating them viz. for the benefit of the offerer Now if you take the Apostle speaking in reference to this matter the Priests that served the Tabernacle could not eat of the Altar or Sacrifice that we have under any such notion For the offering of Christ as it was not by men but by himself and God so the feeding on him cannot benefit either them or any other but him only that feeds on him IV. Therefore the Apostles reference is to the Priests very serving in the Tabernacle that they themselves that stood upon those Sacrifices and services in the Temple as sufficient enough to attone for sin by that very conceit outed themselves out of benefit by Christ our Altar who is the only attonement and they that can feed upon any other way of attonement have nothing to do with him We cannot but be affected with the expression of Having no right to eat of our Altar as a very doleful accent which speaks having no right at all to Christ. Which very sound may make a heart to tremble No right to Christ No portion in the Son of God The very mention of the thing may justly move us to the examination of our selves whether we think we have any portion in him yea or no. Take heed it be not with too many as it was with the Church Rev. III. that said I am rich and encreased in riches and want nothing whereas she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Take heed that we think not we have share in Christ and have none at all and that we perish not with such a dead child in our bosoms such a fancy and delusion in our hearts Look upon these men that served the Tabernacle they are men that are careful and attendant upon their service blameless in their lives zealous in their Religion and servently looking after attonement and salvation And yet because they relyed upon their services and thought to be saved by the very works they did they miss of Faith and so miss of Christ and have no right in him and so perish from him for ever and ever How many of us have gone so far in a religious way as we may suppose these men to have gone and sought for justification and salvation so earnestly as they have done have been so constant in devotion and duty as they have been and yet they had no right in Christ. What just fears may this create in us that we also have no right at all in him A SERMON PREACHED upon LUKE XV. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance THE occasion of these words is at vers 1 2. where the Evangelist tells us that all the Publicans and Sinners came unto our Saviour to hear him Which is something strange to hear For it was much that any such came to him but exceeding much that all should come And not a much unlike expression you have at vers 1. of Chap. XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Tens of thousands of the multitude or common people were gathered to him twenty thousand at least according to the strict propriety of the Greek expression Which was a very vast company But if you observe the beginning of the Tenth Chapter it gives light to these stories A little above half a year before our Saviours death he sends forth Seventy Disciples by two and two to every City and Town and Place whether he himself was to come These were to certifie the people of his Person that he was Messias and to certifie them of his coming to them and to prepare them for the receiving of him against he should come This raises vast multitudes to harken to him hearing of Messias coming and knowing where to meet him And amongst others a very great and general conflux of Publicans and Sinners men of an infamous name and scandalous conversation among the Nation The Scribes and Pharisees quarrel our Saviour for entertaining such and conversing with them An evil business but proves occasion of good and light ariseth out of that darkness For thereupon our Saviour proposeth the three Parables of this Chapter And in them transmits comfort to all posterity that should repent and encouragement to all to repentance The words of the Text are the Application of the first Parable As a man that hath lost one sheep out of a flock of an hundred rejoyceth more for the finding again that one
The Wicked one in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy one As the unclean Spirit is opposed to the holy Spirit so the wicked to the holy As the Children of God and the Children of the Devil are opposed vers 10. so here in regard of their nature There are some therefore that define the Devil by what is most contrary to God 1. He is become contrary As Christ and Belial light and darkness 2 Cor. VI. 14 15. In what Not in regard of his essential subsistence as he is a spirit intellectual immortal nor in regard only of want of righteousness and holiness but in regard of the bent of his will As in our selves we may read too much of the Devil in that respect that our Wills run so contrary to Gods No contrary to that that will be contrary as Hannibal was to the Romans For 2. He sets himself to be contrary He is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that opposeth His contrariety is resolved and wilful In the first Fall he set himself up against God to be head He despised his charge and would head the creature against him And he continually fights against Gods Will and ways See those two things vers 10. which distinguish the Children of God and of the Devil Love and Righteousness the same make the distinction between God and the Devil God loves Man He hates him God loves Righteousness He opposeth it He stands up against Christ. There are two Heads in the world Christ and the Devil and he by his own pride and putting on Secondly He is the Wicked one as he is the Father of Wickedness As Joh. VIII 44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do Ask who begat wicked works the answer must be The Devil 1. He is Father of his own wickedness He is his own Tempter and begat his sin within himself Whereas Adam had something ab extra from without that tempted him 2. He is the Father of others wickedness vers 8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil He was the Father of the first Sin How might Adam have stood if not tempted by one above him He could not have believed a Creature could be against God but believed him one that was as a Messenger from God as Angels were He is the Father of all sins He hath concurrence to every sin we commit A general concurrence by poison infused into our Nature As sin hath a general concurrence to death so the Devil hath such a concurrence to sin And such a particular concurrence as we cannot say any sin is without him As no grace is without the spirit I shall not speak of his presence with all his influence with all Thirdly He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wicked one in that he is perfectly wicked That is perfect Cui nihil addi potest vel detrahi To which nothing can be added or taken away So God is perfect and so is the Saints Happiness in Glory perfect happiness The Devil can be no more wicked or less as God can be no more or less good In Satans first sin he could sin no more than he did nor against more light nor could his sin be of more pride and malice He knew he should be damned if he fell yet he sinned and fell His continual sinning cannot be more than it is he cannot have more hate of God than he hath For he hates every thing that is like God or likes him And that not because God damned him but because God is God above him Nor can he be less wicked For an Angel cannot sin at a less rate than the deepest willfulness and malice cannot be tempted deceived ignorant wants not power to stand And thus we see how the Devil is the Wicked one Now II. We come to the Description that is given of Cain and that is twofold viz. by his extraction he was of that wicked one And by his action And slew his Brother I. Let us consider him with relation to his Extraction He was of that wicked one Such a phrase you have Joh. VIII 44. mentioned before You are of your Father the Devil It may be Questioned Whether all in an unregenerate state may be said alike to be of the Devil They are all Children of wrath Eph. II. 2. Whether are they all alike Children of the Devil I Answer 1. All are alike guilty and Children of corruption Sin is come over all One hath as much original guilt as another Because Adams whole sin is on all as Christs whole righteousness is on His. 2. One hath as much sinfulness and depravation of nature as another Abel as much as Cain For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. III. 23. Because all alike from Adam 3. All Children of wrath alike Eph. II. 2. That is First Quoad meritum in respect of merit Secondly Quoad indignationem Dei in peccatum in respect of Gods indignation against sin But not Quoad aeternam iram in respect of Eternal wrath 4. All slaves to Satan alike which that expression doth suppose where it is said That we are delivered out of the power of darkness But all are not under the claim of Satan alike The Elect have God claiming something in them even before they escape from the bondage of Satan As Israel in Egypt before their redemption God had a claim to them Therefore Men are not said to be of the Devil but where the visible acting is according to the Devil So in the place quoted already Joh. VIII 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Works of your Father ye will do 1 Joh. III. 8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil And in the Text Cain was of that wicked one and slew his Brother So the Pharisees were of the seed of the Serpent Elymas was the Child of the Devil And from hence I lay down this Doctrine That wicked mens wicked actings shew they be of the wicked one See vers 8. Cain had pious education taught to sacrifice His Parents could tell him more of God and the Devil than almost any since He made an outward profession for he brought his Sacrifice to God Yet his works manifested him to be of the wicked one So wicked ones by their wicked actings shew that they belong to the Wicked One. They are of him That is 1. Of his Kingdom and pay a subjection to it 2. Of his Spirit 3. Of his Acting And this brings us to the next particular Viz. II. To consider Cain with relation to his action He slew his Brother He was of that wicked one and slew his Brother Here we may observe three things obiter by the way First That malice and murther is justly referred to the first Murtherer As Joh. VIII 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a murtherer from the beginning Ye would murther me because
ye are of the murtherer Secondly The first man dying was Christ in figure as the first death that of Sacrifice was Christ in figure also The Jews say that when Cain killed his Brother he made wounds in his hands and feet Thirdly That Cain who was first born into the world should so miscarry So the first estate of Man miscarried Eve hoped well of him when she named him Cain saying I have gotten a man from the Lord or a man the Lord. But the first born miscarried And so Esau the first born lost his birth-right But to return to our subject He slew his Brother We may cry Murther Murther with a witness If it had been a stranger that had been slain or an enemy or one that had been too many in the world but a Brother an only Brother the only man in the world this vastly aggravates the crime Fratricide is horrid this without parallel or possibility of parallel It is justly said that he was of that Wicked one Else this story would have choaked all belief How think you was Adam amazed when he heard it but when he resolved it thus he is of him that murthered mankind this ceased his wonder From hence I raise this Doctrine How much devilishness can the Devil infuse into Mans Nature This story is set first after the Fall to shew how much of Devil breathed in our Nature and how far it may be enhanced to devilishness Seth was begotten in the image of Adam Cain of the Devil See against how many Divine and Humane Laws and bonds he did this Act. 1. It was besides reason There was room enough in the world for both It was not with them as it was afterwards with Lot and Abraham Gen. XIII 6. The Land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together Nor as it was after that with Jacob and Esau Chap. XXXVI 7. Their riches were more than that they might dwell together and the Land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their Cattel 2. It was contrary to reason 1. In that they should have been mutually helpful And 2. Why should not Abel live as well as he 3. It was contrary to Nature He was his Brother-twin with him 4. Contrary to the tender dealing of God 5. Contrary to all reason and Religion He slew him because his works were righteous As Caligula slew a man because he was a proper man But Cain was not alone I might shew as much Devilishness appearing in others as in Pharaoh Ahab Nero c. Men in all things like the Devil and Cain And the reasons of this are I. Because the Soul of Man is capable of all evil to all extremity Not only that Gen. VI. 5. that the wickedness of Man was great and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually but he is capable of all manner and degrees of evil Not only that in Matth. XV. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Murthers Adulteries Fornications Thefts false-witness Blasphemies but these to the utmost extremity That in Rom. VII 18. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing is short of the utmost extremity by far 1. The Soul is large enough to hold all evil Immensity is part of the Image of God in it desires it hath never satisfied covetuousness voluptuousness never satisfied it is a gulph that never says Enough 2. The spawn of Original Sin contains all sin in it As a spark is enough to consume all if fuelled As the Mud after the overflowing of Nilus produceth all Monsters And the Leprosie spreads all over if let alone Consider these three things of our Nature First It being contrary to God contains all evil as he all good It is a question in the Schools whether sin is contrary to Gods Nature or Will Our sinful nature is contrary to both To his Will 1 Thess. IV. 3. For this is the will of God even your sanctification To his Nature He light but we are darkness He holiness but we sin and impurity Other Creatures are not contrary to God but divers and different from him but sinful Creature is contrary Our nature as evil is contrary to the Divine Nature Our misery is not only in the loss of the Image of God but in the obtaining the contrary Image Secondly There is nothing in our nature to limit its breaking out to evil It is an untamed Heifer will bear no yoke It is like waters running downwards without bounds Nay there is that in us that breaks all bounds as the stirring of Conscience the Motions of the Spirit Education Laws all bounds but those of Grace Our principle is to please self to have our own Wills Now this consists of an hundred unsatiable gulphs to satisfie Pride Covetousness Envy Lust. Self Conjures up these Devils but there is nothing in us to conjure them down again The body breeds a disease but can master it but the Soul cannot because it is overcome with content in its disease Thirdly These distempers of our Nature are boundless in themselves No bottom no stop but Grace or Death II. Another reason how it comes to pass that there is so much Devilishness in some Mens nature is because the Devil is still urging and never saith Enough As we are ever stirring evil in our selves so he is hatching evil in us We read of some that were taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. II. 26. But I will not insist any longer on the proof Let us consider in the next place what sins are most devilish and how men come up to them James III. 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish There are degrees of sin first earthly then sensual and lastly devilish The Devil himself is without an earthly mind and without sensuality He is not covetous he offers Christ all the Kingdoms of the world Matth. IV. Nor is he lascivious They misconstrue Gen. VI. 2. that thought from thence that the Angels lay with Women Nor is he luxurious No the Devil flies at higher game to defy God and damn souls All sin bears his stamp but some his picture As namely these that follow 1. Pride and to be puffed up against God and his charge and bounds which he hath set This is the Devils peculiar sin See 1 Tim. III. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil 2. Hatred and cruelty Satan is an Enemy a Murtherer Joh. VIII 44. a roaring Lion and devours them that serve him 3. Enmity against Righteousness and the ways of God See vers 10. of this Chapter His name is Satan that is an Enemy to what is good 4. Lying and falshood That appeared sufficiently in the story of the Fall And in Joh. VIII 44. He is a Lyar and the Father of it Now are not some as devilish as the Devil himself in these 1. In Pride Some will be