he was to be eaten to get him roasted and to get bread and wine ready and what other provision was usuall and requisite for that meal At Even Iesus cometh and sitteth down with the twelve and as he ate he gave intimation of the Traitour who was now at the table and eating with him Which might seem to make this story the same with that in Ioh. 13.21 22. and so might argue that this and that were but one and the same Supper But herein is an apparent difference in the stories 1. At the Supper in Ioh. 13. Christ giveth only a private signification of the Traitour by a token given secretly to Iohn but here he points him out openly 2. There he gives him a sop here he only speaks of dipping with him in the dish Only there is some diversity in the Evangelists in relating this story Matthew and Mark have laid this taxation and discovery of the Traytour before the administration of the Lords Supper but Luke after And there is the like variety in their relating the time of these words of Christ I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine c. for Luke hath brought them in as spoken before the Sacrament but the other two after In both which first the main intent of the relation is to be looked after and then may we better state the time The intent in the former is to shew Iudas at the Table and at the Table all the time both of the Paschall and the Lords Supper those symboles of love and communion yet he such a wretch as to communicate in both and yet a Traitour The two Matthew and Mark would shew that he was at the Table and so the mention of that they bring in upon Christs first sitting down and beginning to eat And Luke makes the story full and shews that he was at the Table all the time both at Passeover and Sacrament and the words of Christ upon the delivering of the Cup But behold the hand of him that betrays me c. cannot possibly be mitigated from such a construction As to the later the meaning of Christ in the words I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine c. is that the Kingdom of God was now so near that this was the last meat and drink or the last meal that he was to have before that came By the Kingdom of God meaning his resurrection and forward when God by him had conquered death Satan and hell And whereas he saith Till I drink it nâ—w with you in the Kingdom of God he did so eating and drinking with them after his resurrection This therefore being the aim of his speech it was seasonable to say so any time of the meal This is the last meal I must eat with you till I be risen again from the dead And hereupon the Evangelists have left the time of his uttering of it at that indifferency that they have done And indeed these two passages had such reference one to another that the one might bring on the other and both of them might very well be spoken by Christ twice The observing of the direct order of Christs actions at this meal which the Evangelists have related will help to clear this matter When he was set down with them he first saith I have desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer for this is the last I must eat with you before the Kingdom of God be come And thereupon he taketh the first cup of wine that was to be drunk at that meal and drinks of it and gives it them and bids Divide it among your selves for I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine c. meaning this is the last time I shall eat and drink with you c. And this speech properly brought in the other One of you shall betray me as paraphrased speaking thus I shall no more eat with you for there is one now at the table with me hath compassed my death Hereupon they question who it should be c. After this passage they eat the Paschall Lamb after its rite and after it he ordaineth the Lords Supper Bread to be his Body henceforward in the same sense that the Paschall Lamb had been his Body hitherto and the Cup to be the New Testament in his Blood now under the Gospel as the blood of Bullocks had been the Old Testament in his Blood Exod. 24. And after the administring of the Cup he tels them again that that was the last that he must drink for the hand of him that betrayed him was at the Table SECTION LXXXIV LUKE Chap. XXII from Ver. 24. to Ver. 39. A contest among the Disciples about priority LUKE himself is a clear warrant for the order And withall the joynt consideration of the story before will help to confirm it The question among themselves about the traitour helpeth to draw on this other question about priority An unseasonable and a very unreasonable quarrell To which their Master giveth closely this twofold answer besides proposing his own example of humility 1. That let not them stand upon priority for he would equally honour them in his Kingdom c. 2. That this was not a time to stand upon such businesse as seeking to be preferred one before another for this was a time of sifting and a time when all the care they could take for their safety should be little enough therefore they had now something else to do then to look after precedency SECTION LXXXV JOHN Chap. XV XVI XVII CHRISTS last words to his Disciples and a Prayer for them JOHN in Chap. 18.1 informs us that when Iesus had spoken the words contained in these Chapters he went over the brook Kidron by which it appeareth that they were spoken at his last Supper instantly before he rose and went to the garden where he was apprehended At their Passeover Suppers they used large discourses seasonable and agreeable to the occasion and especially in commemorating what God had done for that people Whatsoever Christ had spoken upon that subject is not recorded but this which was more needfull for the Disciples present condition were agreeable to the great occasion now at hand and most beneficiall for the Church in time to come SECTION LXXXVI MAT. Ch. XXVI from V. 30. to the end Ch. XXVII all MAR. Ch. XIV from Ver. 26. to the end Ch. XV. all LUKE Ch. XXII from V. 39. to the end Ch. XXIII all JOHN Ch. XVIII Ch. XIX all the Chapters CHRISTS Apprehension Arraignment Death and Buriall THere is no difficulty in the connexion of the beginning of this Section to the preceding but only this that the rest of the Evangelists make mention of Christs singing of an hymn as the last thing he did before his setting out for the mount of Olives but Iohn maketh his speech and prayer to be last and speaketh not of his singing of a hymn at all Which indeed is
needless to say he is not to be put to death for a Heathen And it is all one for a man to kill another mans servant or to kill his own servant for he must die for either because a servant hath taken upon him the Commandments and is added to the possession of the Lord. In Rotseahh c. per. 2. By which it is apparent that they accounted all of their own Religion and them only to come under the title Neighbour to which opinion how our Saviour speaketh you may observe in Luke 10.29 30. c. So that in the Jewish Church there were those that went under the notion of Brethren that is Israelites who were all of one blood and those that went under the name of Neighbours and those were they that came in from other Nations to their Religion They shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother Jer. 31.34 c. Now under the Gospel where there is no distinction of Tribes and kinreds the word Brother is ordinarily used to signifie in the same latitude that Neighbour had done namely all that come into the profession of the Gospel and it is so taken also as that had been in contradistinction to a Heathen Any man that is called a Brother 1 Cor. 5.11 If thy brother offend thee c. Let him be as a Heathen Mat. 18.15 17. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English rendereth Is in danger of translates the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are as ordinarily used among the Jewish Writers as any words whatsoever as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of cutting off c. Every page almost in either Talmud will give you examples of this nature 3. Gehenna It is well known that this expression is taken from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The valley of Hinnom of which and of the filthiness and abominableness of which place there is so much spoken in Scripture There was the horrid Idol Molech to which they burnt their children in the fire And thither as D. Kimchi saith was cast out all the filth and unburied carcases and there was a continuall fire to burn the filth and the bones In Psal. 27. From hence the Jews borrowed the word and used it in their ordinary language to betoken Hell And the Text from which they especially translated the construction seemeth to have been the last verse of the Prophesie of Isaiah which by some of them is glossed thus And they shall go forth out of Ierusalem into the valley of Hinnom and there they shall see the carcases of those that rebelled against me c. Vid. Kimch Ab. Ezr. in loc It were endlesse to shew the frequency of the word in their Writers let these few examples suffice Chald. Paraph. in Isa. 26.15 Lord thou wilt drive all the wicked to Gehinnom And on Isa. 33.14 The wicked shall be judged and delivered to Gehinnom the everlasting burning And on ver 17. Thou shalt see those that go down to the Land of Gehinnom R. Sol. on Isa. 24.22 They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in prison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that guilty of Geâ—innom into Gehinnom Targ. in Ruth 1.12 Be thou delivered from the Iudgement of Gehinnom Midras Mishle fol. 69. Do you think to be delivered from the Iudgement of Gehinnom Baal Tur. in Gen. 1.1 Because of the Law they are delivered from the Iudgement of Gehennah c. See the phrase Matth. 23.33 And now we have done with words let us come to sentences and consider the offences that are prohibited which are easily acknowledged to be graduall or one above another About the first viz. Causelesse anger there needeth no explanation the words and matter are plain enough The second is Whosoever shall say to his brother Racha A nickname or scornfull title usuall which they disdainfully put one upon another and very commonly and therefore our Saviour hath specified in this word the rather because it was of so common use among them and they made no bones at it Take these few examples A certain man sought to betake himself to repentance and restitution His wife said to him Rekah if thou make restitution even thy girdle about thee is not thine own c. Tanchum fol. 5. Rabbi Iochanan was teaching concerning the building of Ierusalem with Saphires and Diamonds c. One of his scholars laughed him to scorn But afterward being convinced of the truth of the thing he saith to him Rabbi Do thou expound for it is fit for thee to expound as thou saidest so have I seen it He saith to him Rekah Hadst thou not seen thou wouldest not have beleeved c. Midras Tillin fol. 38. col 4. To what is the thing like To a King of flesh and blood who took to wife a Kings daughter he saith to her Wait and fill me a cup but she would not whereupon he was angry and put her away She went and was married to a sordid fellow and he saith to her Wait and fill me a cup She said unto him Rekah I am a Kings daughter c. Idem in Psal. 137. A Gentile saith to an Israelite I have a dainty dish for thee to eat of He saith What is it He answers Swines flesh He saith to him Rekah even what you kill of clean beasts is forbidden us much more this Tanch fol. 18. col 4. The third offence is to say to a brother Thou fool which how to distinguish from Racha which signifies an empty fellow were some difficulty but that Solomon is a good Dictionary here for us who takes the term continually for a wicked wretch and reprobate and in opposition to spirituall wisdom So that in the first clause is condemned causelesse anger in the second scornfull taunting and reproaching of a brother and in the last calling him a reprobate and wicked or uncharitably censuring his spirituall and eternall estate And this last doth more especially hit the Scribes and Pharisees who arrogated to themselves only to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisemen but of all others had this scornfull and uncharitable opinion This people that knoweth not the Law is cursed Ioh. 7.49 And now for the penalties denounced upon these offences let us look upon them taking notice of these two traditions of the Jews which our Saviour seemeth to face and to contradict 1. That they accounted the command Thou shalt not kill to aim only at actuall murder So in their collecting of the 613 precepts out of the Law they understand that command to mean but this That one should not kill an Israelite Vid. trip Targ. ibid. Sepher Chinnuch ibid. Maym. in Rotseah per. 1. And accordingly they allotted this only violation of it to judgement Against this wilde glosse and practise he speaketh in the first clause Ye have heard it said Thou shalt not kill
so long ago that he had now found some just cause so much time intervening to steer his course another way For 2. It appears that when he wrote this Epistle to the Hebrews he intended very shortly to set for Iudaea if so be he sent the Epistle to the Jews of Iudaea as hath been shewed most probable he did So that trace him in his intentions and hopes and you finde him purposing to go to Philippi Phil. 2.23 24. Nay yet further to Colosse Philem. ver 22. Nay yet further into Iudaea It is like that the Apostacy and wavering that he heard of in the Eastern Churches shewed him more need to hasten thither then to go westward 3. He waited a little to see whether Timothy now inlarged would come to him in that place of Italy where he now was which if he did he intended to bring him along with him but whether they met and travelled together or what further became of either of them we shall not go about to trace lest seeking after them we lose our selves CHRIST LXIII NERO. IX IT hath been observed before how probable it is that Albinus came into the government of Iudea in Festus room in this ninth year of Nero. And if so then was Iames the Apostle who was called Iames the lesse martyred this year Iosephus gives the story of this Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 8. Caesar saith he understanding the death of Festus sendeth Albinus governour into Iudea And the King Agrippa put Ioseph from the Highpriesthood and conferred it upon Ananus the sonne of Ananus Now this Ananus junior was extreme bold and daring and he was of the sect of the Saduces which in judging are most cruell of any of the Iews Ananus therefore being such aâ—one and thinking he had got a fit opportunity because Festus was dead and Albinus was not yet come he gets together a Councill and bringing before it Iames the brother of Iesus who was called Christ and some others as transgressors he delivered them up to be stoned But those in the City that were more moderate and best skilled in the Laws took this ill and sent to the King privately beseeching him to charge Ananus that he should do so no more And some of them met Albinus as he came from Alexandria and shewed him how it was not lawfull for Ananus to call a Councill without his consent Whereupon he writeth a threatning Letter to Ananus And King Agrippa for this fact put him from the Highpriesthood when he had held it but three moneths and placed Iesus the sonne of Damneas in his room THE EPISTLE OF IAMES Although therefore the certain time of his writing this Epistle cannot be discovered yet since he died in the year that we are upon we may not unproperly look upon it as written not very long before his death And that the rather because by an expression or two he intimates the vengeance of Ierusalem drawing very near Chap. 5.8 9. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh and Behold the Iudge standeth before the door He being the Apostle residentiary of the Circumcision in Iudea could not but of all others be chiefly in the eyes of those that maliced the Gospel there and the Ministers of it So it could not but be in his eye to observe those tokens growing on apace that his Master had spoken of as the forerunners and forwarders of that destruction coming False Prophets Iniquity abounding Love waxing cold betraying and undoing one another that he could not but very surely conclude that the Judge and judgement was not far from the door Among other things that our Saviour foretelleth should precede that destruction this was one Matth. 24.14 This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witnesse unto all Nations and then shall the end come And so did the Gospel reach all the twelve Tribes as well as other Nations even the ten Tribes as well as the other two Therefore Iames a Minister of the Circumcision doth properly direct this Epistle to all the twelve Tribes scattered abroad The whole Nation was at this time some at the very height of unbelief and crossenesse against the Gospel and others at the very depth of suffering for it therefore he comforts the one Chap. 1. and denounceth their just doom against the other Chap. 4 and 5. He striveth to beat down four things especially which were not only unbecoming the Christian profession but even enemies against it The first was estimating men according to their gorgeous outside and so the poor preachers and professors of the Gospel were contemned Secondly Their having many masters or teachers whereby errours and schismes were easily scattered and planted among them and much mischief done by unbridled tongues Thirdly Their reliance upon their historicall faith they thinking that enough and neglecting to bring forth the fruits of a faith saving and lively And lastly Their common and vain oaths to which the Jewish nation and that by the lenity and toleration of their own Canons was exceeding loose In the close of the Epistle he speaketh of the Elders anointing the sick with oyl Chap. 5.14 which may receive some explication from these things observed in their own writings 1. That anointing with oyl was an ordinary medicinall application to the sick Talm. Jerus in Baracoth fol. 3. col 1. R. Simeon the sonne of Eleazar permitted R. Meir to mingle wine and oyl and to anoint the sick on the Sabbath And he was once sick and we sought to do so to him but he suffered us not Id. in Maasar Sheni fol. 53. col 3. A tradition Anointing on the Sabbath is permitted If his headake or if a scall come upon it he anoints with oyl Talm. Bab. in Joma fol. 77.2 If he be sick or scall be upon his head he anoints according to his manner c. Now if we take the Apostles counsell as referring to this medicinall practice we may construe it that he would have this Physicall administration to be improved to the best advantage namely that whereas Anointing with oyl was ordinarily used to the sick by way of Physick he adviseth that they should send for the Elders of the Church to do it not that the anointing was any more in their hand then in anothers as to the thing it self for it was still but a Physicall application but that they with the applying of this corporall Physick might also pray with and for the patient and apply the spirituall Physick of good admonition and comforts to him Which is much the same as if in our Nation where this physicall anointing is not so in use a sick person should send for the Minister at taking of any Physick that he might pray with him and counsell and comfort him Or 2. It was very common among the Jews to use charming and anointing together of persons that were sick of certain maladies of this the Ierus Talm. speaketh in Schab fol. 14. col 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
phrase used by the Jews Onkelos renders Deut. 33.6 thus Let Reuben live and not die the second death And Ionathan Isa. 65.6 thus Behold it is written before me I will not grant them long life but I will pay them vengeance for their sins and deliver their carcases to the second death And ver 15. The Lord will slay them with the second death Observe in the Prophet that these verses speak of the ruine and rejection of the Jews now a cursed people and given up to the second death and in Chapter 66. ver 29 30 31. is told how the Lord would send and gather the Gentiles to be his people and would make them his Priests and Levites And then see how fitly this verse answers those In stead of these cursed people these are blessed and holy and might not see the second death and Christ makes them Priests to himself and his Father In this passage of Iohn scorn is put again upon the Jews wild interpretation of the resurrection in Ezekiel They take it litterally think some dead were really raised out of their graves came into the Land of Israel begat children and died a second time Nay they stick not to tell who these men were and who were their children Talm. Babyl in Sanhedr ubi supra After the thousand years are expired Satan is let loose again and fals to his old trade of the deceiving the Nations again ver 8. Zohar fol. 72. col 286. hath this saying It is a tradition that in the day when judgement is upon the world and the holy blessed God sits upon the Throne of judgement then it is found that Satan that deceives high and low he is found destroying the world and taking away souls When the Papacy began then Heathenism came over the world again and Satan as loose and deceiving as ever then Idolatry blindnesse deluding oracularities and miracles as fresh and plenteous as before from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles these had been beating down and Satan fettered and imprisoned deeper and deeper every day and though his agent Rome bestird it self hard to hold up his Kingdom by the horrid persecutions it raised yet still â—he Gospel prevailed and laid all flat But when the Papacy came then he was loose again and his cheatings prevailed and the world became again no better then Heathen And if you should take the thousand years fixedly and literally and begin to count either from the beginning of the Gospel in the preaching of Iohn or of Peter to Cornelius the first inlet to the Gentiles or of Paul and Barnabas their being sent among them the expiring of them will be in the very depth of Popery especially begin them from the fall of Ierusalem where the date of the Gentiles more peculiarly begins and they will end upon the times of Pope Hildebrand when if the devil were not let loose when was he He cals the enemies of the Church especially Antichrist Gog and Magog the title of the Syrogrecian Monarchy the great persecutor Ezek. 38. 39. Pliny mentions a place in Caelosyria that retained the name Magog lib. 5. cap. 23. So that Iohn from old stories and copies of great troubles transcribeth new using known terms from Scripture and from the Jews language and notions that he might the better be understood So that this Chapter containeth a brief of all the times from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles to the end of the world under these two summes first the beating down of Idolatry and Heathenism in the earth till the world was become Christian and then the Papacy arising doth Heathenize it again The destruction of which is set down ver 9. by fire from heaven in allusion to Sodom or to 2 King 1.10 12. and it is set close to the end of the world the Devil and the Beast Rome imperiall and the false Prophet Rome Papall are cast into fire and brimstone ver 10. where Iohn speaks so as to shew his method which we have spoken of The devill was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are He had given the story of the beast and false Prophet the devils agents and what became of them Chap. 19. v. 20. And now the story of the devill himself for it was not possible to handle these two stories but apart and now he brings the confusion of all the three together and the confusion of all with them that bare their mark and whose names were not written in the Book of life REVEL CHAP. XXI THe Ierusalem from above described The phrase is used by Paul Gal. 4.26 and it is used often by the Jews Zohar fol. 120. col 478. Rabbi Aba saith Luz is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ierusalem which is above which the holy blessed God gives for a possession where blessings are given by his hand in a pure Land but to an impure Land no blessings to be at all Compare Rev. 21.27 22.15 Midras Till in Psal. 122. Ierusalem is built as a City that is compact together R. Iochanan saith The holy blessed God said I will not go into Ierusalem that is above untill I have gone into Ierusalem that is below c. Ezekiels Ierusalem as we observed was of a double signification namely as promising the rebuilding of the City after the Captivity and foretelling of the spirituall Ierusalem the Church under the Gospel and that most especially At that Iohn taketh at here and that is the Ierusalem that he describeth And from Isa. 65.17 18. joyneth the creating new heavens and a new earth and so stateth the time of building this new Ierusalem namely at the coming in of the Gospel when all things are made new 2 Cor. 5.17 A new people new Ordinances new Oeconomy and the old world of Israel dissolved Though the description of this new City be placed last in the Book yet the building of it was contemporary with the first things mentioned in it about the calling of the Gentiles When God pitched his Tabernacle amongst them as he had done in the midst of Israel Levit. 26.11 12. That Tabernacle is pitched in the fourth and fifth Chapters of this Book And now all tears wiped away and no more sorrow death nor pain ver 4. which if taken litterally could referre to nothing but the happy estate in heaven of which the glory of this Ierusalem may indeed be a figure but here as the other things are it is to be taken mystically or spiritually to mean the taking away the curse of the Law and the sting of death and sinne c. No condemnation to be to those that are in Christ Iesus The passages in describing the City are all in the Prophets phrase Ezekiel and Isaiah as compare these The Bride the Lambs wife ver 9. Sing O barren Heathen that didst not bear c. Thy Maker is thine Husband thy Redeemer c. Isa. 54.1 5. Ver. 10. He carried me away in the
Ephesus By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one Acts 20.31 And yet Luke in this Chapter specifieth only two years and a quarter ver 8.10 The comparing of which two summes together doth help us to measure the time of his abode there mentioned from ver 20. and forward Namely that he spent three moneths in disputing in the Jews Synagogue and two years in the School of Tyrannus and three quarters of a year after in going up and down Asia The expiration of his three years was about Pentecost in the first year of Nero. CHRIST LV NERO. I ACTS CHAP. XIX Ver. 21 22. After these things were ended Paul purposed in spirit when he had passed thorow Macedonia and Achaia to go to Ierusalem saying When I have been there I must also see Rome 22. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministred to him Timotheus and Erastus but he himself staid in Asia for a season PAuls thoughts of going to Rome do argue the death of Claudius who had banished all the Jews from thence Acts 18.2 and that by the coming in of Nero a new Emperour that Decree was extinct and freedom of access to Rome opened to them again For it can be little conceived that Paul should think of going thither when he could neither finde any of his nation there nor he himself come thither without certain hazzard of his life as the case would have been if Claudius and his Decree were yet alive It is therefore agreeable to all reason that the death of Claudius and the succession of Nero was now divulged and Paul thereupon knowing that it was now lawfull again for a Jew to go to Rome intendeth to take a farewell journey and visit to Macedonia Achaiah and Ierusalem and then to go and preach there Claudius died the 13th day of October as was said before and Nero instantly succeeded him A Prince of so much clemency and mansuetude in the beginning of his reign that Titus the Emperour afterward used to say that the best Princes exceeded not the first five years of Nero in goodnesse And Seneca if he flatter not the Prince or his own tutorage of him gives him this among many other Encomiums of him Lib. de Clementia which he dedicates to him Potes hoc Caesar praedicare audacter omnium quae in fidem tutelámque tuam venerunt nihil per te neque vi neque clam reipublicae ereptum Rarissimam laudem nulli adhuc principum concessam concupisti innocentiam Nemo unus homo uni homini tam charus unquam fuit quam tu populo Romano magnum longumque ejus bonum It must be some space of time before Claudius death could come to be reported at Ephesus it is like the new year after the Romane account might be stept in Whensoever it was that Paul heard the news and that a door of access to Rome was opened for the Jews again he sets down his determination to stay at Ephesus till Pentecost and then to set for Macedon and back to Ierusalem and then to Rome Upon this resolution he sendeth Timothy and Erastus into Macedon before him appointeth them to call at Corinth in the way and intends himself to stay at Ephesus till they should come thither again to him 1 Cor. 16.10 11. Between Ver. 22. and Ver. 23. of this XIX CHAP. of the ACTS falleth in the time of Pauls writing THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS He being now at Ephesus and having set down the time of his removing thence namely at Pentecost coming 1 Cor. 16.8 He had now been at Ephesus well towards three years and had met with many difficulties yet had so prevailed by the power of the Gospel that not only all along hitherto many people were continually converted but even now alate many conjurers and such as used magicall arts devoted themselves to the Gospel and their books to the fire and became the renewed monuments of the power and prevalency of the divine truth This was that great and effectuall door opened to him of which he speaketh 1 Cor. 16.9 and which occasioned his stay at Ephesus still when he had sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia Acts 19.21 In the time of which stay there Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus come from Corinth 1 Cor. 16.17 with Letters from the Church to Paul 1 Cor. 7.1 and he upon their return returns his answer in this Epistle sent by Titus and another 2 Cor. 12.18 Some Postscripts have named Timothy for the bearer antedating his journey to Corinth which was not in his going to Mecedon but in his return back and when this Epistle had already given them notice of his coming that way 1 Cor. 16.10 Apollos when Paul wrote this Epistle was with him at Ephesus and was desired by Paul to have gone along with the brethren to Corinth but he would not 1 Cor. 16.11 it may be because he would not countenance a faction there by his presence which was begun under his name The Church was exceedingly broken into divisions which produced very dolefull effects among them These severall enormities raged in that Church though so lately and so nobly planted and all originally derived from this first mischief of faction and schisme 1. A member of the Church had married his fathers wife yea as it seemeth 2 Cor. 7.12 his father yet living which crime by their own Law and Canons deserved death For he that went in to his fathers wife was doubly liable to be stoned both because she was his fathers wife and because she was another mans wife whether he lay with her in his fathers life time or after his death Talm. in Sanhed per. 7. Maym in Issure biah per 1. 2. And yet they in the height of the contestings they had among themselves did not only not take away such a wreth from among them nor mourn for the miscarriage but he had got a party that bolstered him up and abetted him and so while they should have mourned they were puffed up His own party in triumph that they could bear him out against the adverse and the other in rejoycing that in the contrary faction there was befallen such a scandall Or both as taking this Libertinism as a new liberty of the Gospel The Apostle adviseth his giving up to Satan by a power of miracles which was then in being So likewise did he give up Hymeneus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1.20 The derivation of this power we conceived at Act 5. in the case of Ananias and Saphira to be from that passage of Christ to the Disciples Ioh. 20.22 He breathed on them and said whose sinnes ye retain they are retained c. and so were the Apostles indued with a miraculous power of a contrary effect or operation They could heal diseases and bestow the holy Ghost and they could inflict death or diseases and give up to Satan Now though it may be questioned whether any in the Church of
Corinth had this power yet when Pauls spirit with the power of the Lord Iesus Christ went along in the action as Chap. 5.4 there can be no doubt of the effect 2. Their animosities were so great that they not only instigated them to common suits at Law but to suits before the tribunals of the Heathen which as it was contrary to the peace and honour of the doctrine of the Gospel so was it even contrary to their Judaick traditions which required their subjection and appeals only to men of their own blood or of their own Religion The Apostle to rectifie this misdemeanour first cals them to remember that the Saints should judge the world and this he mentioneth as a thing known to them Chap. 6.2 and it was known to them from Dan. 7.18 27. And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatnesse of the Kingdom shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high How miserably this is misconstrued by too many of a fifth Monarchy when Saints shall only Rule is to be read in too many miseries that have followed that opinion The Apostles meaning is no more but this Do you not know that there shall be a Christian Magistracy or that Christians shall be Rulers and 〈◊〉 the world and therefore why should you be so fearfull or carelesse to judge in your owâ— matters Observe in what sense he had taken the word Saints in the former verse nameâ—ly for Christians in the largest sense as set in opposition to the Heathen And he speaks in the tenour of Daniel from whence his words are taken that though the world and Church had been ruled and judged and domineered over by the four Monarchies which were Heathen yet under the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel they should be ruled and judged by Christian Kings Magistrates and Rulers Secondly he minds them Know ye not that we shall judge Angels ver 3. Observe that he saies not as before Know ye not that the Saints shall judge Angels but we By Angels it is uncontrovertedly granted that he meaneth evil Angels the Devils Now the Saints that is all Christians that professed the Gospel were not to judge Devils but we saith he that is the Apostles and Preachers of the Gospel who by the power of their Ministry ruined his Oracles Idols delusions and worship c. Therefore he argueth since there is to be a Gospel Magistracy to rule and judge the world and a Gospel Ministry that should judge and destroy the Devils they should not account themselves so utterly uncapable of judging in things of their civil converse as upon every controversie to go to the Bench of the Heathens to the great dishonour of the Gospel And withall adviseth them to set them to judge who were lesse esteemed in the Church ver 4. Not that he denieth subjection to the Heathen Magistrate which now was over them or incourageth them to the usurpation of his power but that he asserteth the profession of the Gospel capable of judging in such things and by improving of that capacity as farre as fell within their line he would have them provide for their own peace and the Gospels credit We observed before that though the Jews were under the Roman power yet they permitted them to live in their own Religion and by their own Laws to maintain their Religion and it may not be impertinent to take up and inlarge that matter a little here As the Jews under the Roman subjection had their great Sanhedrin and their lesse of three and twenty Judges as appears both in Scripture and in their Records so were not these bare names or civil bodies without a foul but they were inlivened by their juridicall executive power in which they were instated of old So that though they were at the disposall of the Roman Power and Religion and Laws and all went to wrack when the Emperour was offended at them as it was in the time of Caligula yet for the most part from the time of the Romans power first coming over them to the time of their own last Rebellion which was their ruine the authority of their Sanhedrins and Judicatories was preserved in a good measure intire and they had administration of justice of their own Magistracy as they injoyed their own Religion And this both within the Land and without yea even after Ierusalem was destroyed as we shall shew in its due place And as it was thus in the free actings of their Sanhedrins so also was it in the actings of their Synagogues both in matters of Religion and of civil interest For in every Synagogue as there were Rulers of the Synagogue in reference to matters of Religion and Divine worship so were there Rulers or Magistrates in reference to Civil affairs which judged in such matters Every Synagogue had Beth din shel sheleshah a Consistory or Judicatory or what you will call it of three Rulers or Magistrates to whom belonged to judge between party and party in matters of money stealth damage restitution penalties and divers other things which are mentioned and handled in both Talmuds in the Treatise Sanhedrin per. 1. Who had not power indeed of capitall punishments but they had of corporall namely of scourging to fourty stripes save one Hence it is that Christ foretels his Disciples In the Synagogues you shall be beaten Mark 13.9 and hence had Paul his five scourgings 2 Cor. 11.24 So that in every Synagogue there were Elders that ruled in Civil affairs and Elders that laboured in the Word and Doctrine And all things well considered it may not be so monstrous as it seems to some to say it might very well be so in those times in Christian Congregations For since as it might be shewed that Christ and his Apostles in platforming of the modell of Christian Churches in those times did keep very close to the platform of the Synagogues and since the Romans in those times made no difference betwixt Jews in Judaism and Jews that were turned Christians nor betwixt those Religions for as yet there was no persecution raised against Christianity why might not Christian Congregations have and exercise that double Function of Ministry and Magistracy in them as well as the Jewish Synagogues And if that much controverted place 1 Tim. 5.17 should be interpreted according to such a sense it were neither irrationall nor improbable Nor to interpret Paul speaking to such a tenour here Only his appointing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lesse esteemed in the Church to be appointed for that work is of some scruple what if it allude to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Committee of private men of which there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Doctors See Maymon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 253. col 1. 3. It was the old Jewish garb when they went to pray to hide head and face with a vail to betoken their ashamednesse and confusion of face wherewithall they appeared before God And hence is