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
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
he Noah and his sons at their going forth of the Ark but with this difference in the last That whereas Adam in innocency had rule over the creatures with amity and love sin did now put such a difference that Noah must have it with fear and dread And whereas he had restrained Adam from eating of flesh and consined his diet to the fruit of the ground he inlargeth Noah to feed upon beasts and alloweth them for the sustentation of his life for he had been the preserver of theirs This was that that his father Lamech had foretold by the spirit of prophecy when he was born namely That he should comfort them concerning their labour and toil which they had when they might eat nothing but the fruits of the ground which cost them hard labour in the tillage and culture to get them but Noah should be a comfort in reference to this because to him and in him to all the world God would give liberty to eat flesh But with the flesh God permitteth him not to eat the blood partly for avoiding of cruelty and partly because blood was to be atonement for sin And this prohibition of eating blood to Noah now and afterward renewed to Israel was because of that custom which God foresaw would grow and which in the time of Israel was grown common of eating flesh raw as appeareth 1 Sam. 14. 32. And by the prohibition of eating the Paschal Lamb so Exod. 12. 9. This very law of not eating the flesh with the blood confuteth the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or the eating of the very flesh and blood of Christ to all the world The Rain-bow which naturally is a sign of rain is sacramentally made a sign of no more destruction by it The drunkenness of Noah was at some good space after the flood but the very time uncertain for Canaan who was not born of some years after they came out of the Ark is then active and of capacity and is doomed to slavery and subjection his land bequeathed to Sem and the calling of the Gentiles prophecied of The death of Noah is mentioned in the end of this Chapter because Moses would totally conclude his story but as it may be seen in the insuing Table he died not till within two years of Abrahams birth CHAP. X. SEventy heads of Nations grown from the three sons of Noah by the time of confusion of Tongues These became not seventy several languages then though they were so many Nations for it is undoubted that divers Nations joyned in one language as Ashur Arphaxad and Aram in the Chaldee and the most if not all the sons of Canaan in one Tongue When the most High divided the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel Deut. 32. 8. With this 10 of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. from Vers. 5. to Vers. 24. CHAP. XI HEathenism beginneth at Babel when the Hebrew Tongue is lost to all the world but only to one family in that Tongue alone was God preached and the doctrine of salvation published and when that is lost Religion is lost with it and all the earth become strangers to God and closed up in blindness and superstition and in this estate did it continue for the space of 2203. years till the gift of Tongues at Sion began to recure the confusion of Tongues at Babel and the Heathens thereby were so far brought into the true Religion that even Babel it self was among those that knew the Lord Psal. 87. 4. and a Church there elect as well as the Jews 1 Pet. 5. 13. The second Age of the World From the Flood to the Promise given to Abraham The ten Fathers after the Flood Flood World Noah Sem 2 1658 602 100 Arphaxad born 37 1693 637 135 35 Shelah born 67 1723 667 165 65 30 Eber born 101 1757 701 199 99 64 34 Peleg born Languages confounded about the time of his birth 131 1787 731 229 129 94 64 30 Reu born 163 1819 763 261 161 126 96 62 32 Serug born 193 1849 793 291 191 156 126 92 62 30 Nahor born 222 1878 822 320 220 185 155 121 91 59 29 Terah born 292 1948 892 390 290 255 225 191 161 129 99 70 Haran born 340 1996 940 438 338 303 273 239 209 177 147 118 48 Peleg dieth 341 1997 941 439 339 304 274 Â 210 178 148 119 49 1 Nahor dieth 350 2006 950 448 348 313 283 Â 219 187 Â 138 58 10 9 Noah dieth 352 2008 Â 450 350 315 285 Â 221 189 Â 130 60 12 11 2 Abraham born 370 2026 Â 468 368 333 303 Â 239 207 Â 148 Â 30 29 20 18 Reu dieth 393 2049 Â 491 391 356 326 Â Â 230 Â 171 Â Â 52 43 41 23 Serug dieth 427 2083 Â 525 425 390 360 Â Â Â Â 205 Â Â 86 77 75 57 34 Tera dieth Gen. 11. 32. The Promise given to Abraham Gen. 12. 1. With this latter part of the eleventh of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. Vers. 24 25 26 27. Sem in the very front of the generations of the new world standeth without mention of father or mother beginning of days or end of life as Heb. 7. 3. The age of man was shortned at the confusion of Babel for Peleg and those born after him live not above half the time of those born before He dieth the first of all this line to shew Gods dislike of that rebellion which befell in the year of his birth Nahor dieth the next year after him having lived a shorter life then he to shew the like displeasure against the Idolatry which was begun in that line also Terah at seventy years old hath his son Haran and Abraham is born to him when he is an hundred and thirty this appeareth by casting Abrams age when he departs out of Haran to go for Canaan after his fathers death Men frame intricacies and doubts to themselves here where the Text is plain if it be not wrested God in Ur of the Caldees calleth Abram out of his Idolatry and out of that Idolatrous Country where he had caught it to leave his Country and kindred and to go for a Land that he would shew him Acts 7. 2. Abram leaveth his Idolatry and imbraceth this call and so also doth his father Terah and therefore the conduct of the journy is ascribed to him for honours sake Gen. 11. 31. and they depart from Ur and go to Haran and there they dwell and there at last Terah dieth After his death God giveth Abram another call to leave his Countrey kindred and fathers house too now and to follow him whither he calls him and so he did and he was seventy and five years old when he departs from Haran Now taking seventy and five out of two hundred and five years of Terah at which age he died it is
a man not to be certainly pointed out either who he was or when he lived and therefore that Chapter must necessarily be taken up where it lies because it is not possible to find out where else to lay it 5. The last Chapter is some part of it Batshebaes words to Solomon and some part of it Solomons words in her commendation and in commendation of all women like her And the former part which are her words might very well be laid in her Story and in Solomons minority namely after vers 25. of 2 Sam. 12. but yet it is very properly laid here where it is because the words of Solomon in commendation of such women as she were delivered when he delivered his other Doctrines and Proverbs and so the occasion that drew out those words is fitly joyned to the time of the words themselves Solomon is called Lemuel by his Mother as alluding or tuning to Shemuel or Samuel a Son of his mothers vows as Solomon is here averred by his mother to be of hers She giveth him many excellent Lessons in his tender years toward the making him a good man and a good King for which when he comes to mature years he highly commends and extols a good woman such a one as his mother was in an Acrostick or Alphabetical Oration The Song of SOLOMON or The CANTICLES AFTER the building of the Summer House in the Forrest of Lebanon Solomon pens the Book of the Canticles as appeareth by these passages in it Chap. 4. 8. Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse with me from Lebanon And Chap. 7. 4. Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon c. Upon his bringing up Pharaohs Daughter to the house that he had prepared for her 1 King 9. 24. he seemeth to have made this Song For though the best and the most proper aim of it was at higher matters then an earthly marriage yet doth he make his marriage with Pharaohs Daughter a type of that sublime and spiritual marriage betwixt Christ and his Church Pharaohs Daughter was a Heathen and a stranger natively to the Church of Israel and withal she was a Black-moor as being an African as Cant. 1. 4 5. alludeth to it and so she was the kindlier type of what Solomon intended in all particulars CHAP. X. 2 CHRON. IX From beginning to vers 29. Solomon 31 THE Queen of Sheba cometh to hear the wisdom of Solomon and so Solomon 32 condemneth the Generation of the Jews that despised the wisdom of the Solomon 33 Father Matth. 12. 42. Solomon as is probable is yet flourishing in State Power Solomon 34 and Religion And is a Prince of admirable Peace at Salem a figure of the Solomon 35 King of Righteousness and the King of Peace CHAP. XI From beginning to vers 41. Solomon 36 IN his old age Solomon is drawn away by his Idolatrous Wives to forget Solomon 37 God The wisest and the happiest man like Adam undone by women Solomon 38 Hereupon his prosperity and his happiness began to change The Book of ECCLESIASTES AFTER his great fall Solomon recovereth again by repentance and writeth this Book of Ecclesiastes as his penitential dirge for that his folly He calleth himself in it Koheleth or the Gathering-Soul either recollecting it self or by admonition gathering others that go astray after vanity He sheweth in it that all things on this side Heaven are but vanity and he had found it so by sad experience and so the Kingdom promised to David which was to be everlasting must not be expected to be of this world as Joh. 18. 36. 1 KING XI Vers. 41 42 43. And 2 CHRON. IX Vers. 29 30 31. THE Book of Chronicles omitteth to mention the fall of Solomon as he had omitted the fall of David World 3029 Solomon 39 Solomon dieth having reigned forty years as his father David had done and Solomon 40 having had a great fall in his time as his father David had had yet like him is recovered pardoned and saved Kingdom of JUDAH 1 KINGS XII from beginning Division 1 to Vers. 25. World 3030 Rehoboam 1 Ieroboam 1 REHOBOAM through his folly and tyranny looseth the people by threatning them with a heavy yoke Christ seeketh to regain them by promissing a light one Matth. 11. 29 30. Shechem once the stage of blood Gen. 34. is now the scene of this unhappy division Rehoboam was now one and forty years old 2 Chron. 12. 13. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 childish and simple 2 Chron. 13. 7. but of an haughty and oppressive spirit and so proveth himself a very fool Eccles. 2. 19. though he were the son of so wise a Father Kingdom of ISRAEL 2 CHRON. X. all And XI Division 1 to Verse 5. World 3030 Rehoboam 1 Ieroboam 1 JEROBOAM of Ephraim draweth ten Tribes from the house of David from the Temple that stood near it and from the promise of Christ that was affixed to it And this suddain rent of Solomons Kingdom did plainly teach that the King and Kingdom promised to David was not of this world but of another which King and Kingdom the revolting Tribes have now forsaken and by forsaking have lost Christ have lost Religion and have lost themselves And here is a kind of an Antichristian faction now risen in the world before Christs appearing The very foundation of this revolt of the Tribes was laid in the blood of Adoram Rehoboam seeketh to reduce the people with a strong hand whom with a gentle he would not retain PSAL. II. WITH the Story of the Apostacy of the ten Tribes read the second Psalm which was prophetically made by David Act. 4. 25. upon this revolt and rebellion and this is the first aim and intent of it though in a second and more full it hits upon the greater rebellion which this but typified and that is Judahs despising and crucifying the Lord of life being indeed exhibited as Israel despiseth him here being promised And as the Psalmist had touched in the first Psalm upon the fall of Adam who miscarried by walking in the counsel of the ungodly the Serpent and the seduced woman and had shewed a way how to withstand and escape such counsellings namely by meditation and delight in the Law of the Lord. So doth he in this Psalm touch upon the fall of the ten Tribes and how they miscarried by casting away the cords of obligation which God had tied them in to the throne of David and he giveth admonition to them to be wiser and adviseth both them and the generation that put the Lord to death and all ages to come To kiss the Son by a loving and submissive obedience as 1 Sam. 10. 1. and so to escape the wrath to come Matth. 3. when the Lords anger should be kindled and destroy the people that had been his destroyers 2 CHRON. XI From ver 5. to the end of the Chapter REhoboam fortifieth divers Cities Rehoboam 2 Ieroboam 2 Division 2 in Judah and Benjamin Rehoboam 3
at the last be brought into the Gospel as the Protestant party hath been yet that to the end numerous multitudes also shall continue in the Antichristian spirit of unbelief and opposition and blaspheming and both parts of Antichrist the Roman and this so to perish together Nor doth this opinion any whit cross any place of Scripture that is produced about the calling of the Jews but rather settle its sense and explain it That eminent place of the Apostle Rom. 11. carrieth such a limitation throughout and the very intent of his discourse speaketh to such a tenour all along For his drift in that Chapter is not to determine whether all the Jews should be once called but whether all the Jews were wholly cast off and this he states that there is a remnant ver 5. that the election hath obtained but the rest are blinded ver 7. and that blindness in part is happened to Israel c. v. 25. And this is the mystery that he there speaketh of and not as some would wrest it their universal conversion A mystery indeed that God should cast off his old Covenanted people and that they that had always had the light and only seen of all the Nations of the world should now sit in darkness and be blind and that the Gentiles by their blindness should come to see It is remarkable in this place and others of the Apostles Epistles that though the destruction of Jerusalem were the most signal time and evidence of Gods casting them off yet that they were indeed cast off long before as to spare more allegations may be observed in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians Ch. 2. ver 15 16. which was the first Epistle that the Apostle wrote Whence punctually to date their rejection whether from the death of Christ or from the first sending the Gospel among the Gentiles is not much material to inquire after here it is enough for our present purpose to observe that they are given for cast off so early in the dispersion of the Gospel So that the Apostle doth clearly include their conversion even at that first spreading of the Gospel as well as their conversion in future times He saith their casting off was the riches of the Gentiles and the reconciling of the world and their fulness should much more inrich the Gentiles and be as life from the dead By their fulness not meaning the whole number of their Nation but the full number of Gods Elect of them when they should be brought in The casting off of the Nation inriched the Gentiles in that they came in to be the Lords people in their stead but much more shall it be an inriching to them when the full number of them that belong to God shall come in also and be joyned to the Gentiles and help to make their body up This is apparently the drift of the Apostle in those words which that opinion is exceedingly wide of that holds that the calling of the Jews shall not be till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in It is true indeed that he saith that blindness in part is happened to Israel till that time v. 25. and so our Saviour saith that Jerusalem shall be troden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled Luke 21. 24. but this means her final desolation and the final blindness of that part that is blinded not that Jerusalem should be built again when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in which the Jews conceit nor that then the Jews should be unblindfolded and become a Gospel Church as the Gentiles had been for what a strange world doth such a supposal imagine And how often doth the Gospel gainsay any such distinctiveness and peculiarity As we need not to go far for instance that very place of the Apostle that is under our hands doth hold out all along that the Gentiles and the Jews that belong to the election of grace do make up but one Body And that very passage that is chiefly pleaded for their universal Call And so all Israel shall be saved means no other Therefore though it may be hoped that God hath multitudes of them yet to be brought in from under their Antichristian darkness and opposition of the Gospel yet that they shall be generally called and no Antichristian party left behind and that not till Antichrist of Rome be fallen and the fulness of the Gentiles be come in as some circumstantiate the thing needeth clearer evidence of Scripture to evince then yet hath been produced FINIS THE HARMONY OF THE Four Evangelists Among themselves and with the OLD TESTAMENT The First Part. FROM THE Beginning of the Gospels TO THE BAPTISM of our SAVIOUR WITH An Explanation of the Chiefest DIFFICULTIES both in LANGUAGE and SENSE By JOHN LIGHTFOOT D. D. LONDON Printed by W. R. for Robert Scott Thomas Basset John Wright and Richard Chiswell MDCLXXXII The Epistle to the READER Gentle Reader THE veil of the Sanctuary was supported by four pillars and wrought with great variety of works and colours So is the Story of the veil of Christs flesh by the four Evangelists and the Texture of it of like variety For one relateth what another hath omitted one more largely what another more brief one more plain what another less one before what another after one after one manner and another after another And so they bring their several pieces of Imbroidery differing in colours but not in substance various in workmanship but not in the ground-work to constitute and make up a perfect and sacred Tapestry and Furniture in the House of the Lord And carrying several faces in the manner of their writing and composal like those living Creatures in Ezekiel and the Revelation yet they sweetly and Harmoniously meet together in the one body and compacture of a perfect Story To sew these parcels together into one piece and so to dispose and place them in their proper order as the continuance and Chronical method of the History doth require is hic labor hoc opus a thing of no small pains and difficulty and yet a thing that with pains and industry may be brought to pass For in many passages and dislocations the Text hath shewed the proper place of such dislocated parcels and the proper way and manner to join them where they should be joined so plainly and in all places it hath hinted this so surely though sometimes more obscurely that serious study and mature deliberation may certainly fix and settle them Divers great and learned Pens have laboured in this work both Ancient and Modern both Romish and Protestant but hardly any if any at all in our own mother Tongue so fully and largely as a Work of this nature doth require this hath incited me though the unfittest of all others for a task of so much Learning Iudgment and Seriousness to attempt this work and if possibly my dimness might to give some light and facility to the History
his Son two years Chap. 15. 25. yet that Nadab began to reign in the second year of Asa which was in the one and twentieth year of Jeroboam and so Nadabs two years fall within the sum of his fathers two and twenty Now the reason of this accounting is this It is said in 2 Chron. 13. 20. that the Lord stroke Jeroboam and he died that is with some ill and languishing disease that he could not administer nor rule the Kingdom therefore was he forced to substitute his son Nadab in his life time and in one and the same year both Father and Son died Secondly It is said that Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa 1 King 13. 28. and reigned four and twenty years ver 33. then it followeth that he died in the six and twentieth year of Asa as the Text reckoneth the years current 1 Kings 16. 8. And yet in the six and thirtieth year of Asa Baasha came up and made war against Judah 2 Chron. 16. 1. So that this war will seem to be made by him nine or ten years after he is dead But the resolution of this from the original is easie For that Text in the Chronicles meaneth not that Baasha made war against Judah in the six and thirtieth year of Asaes reign but in the six and thirtieth year of Asaes kingdom that is six and thirty years from the division of the Tribes under Rehoboam For Rehoboam reigned seventeen years Abijam his son three years and in the sixteenth year of Asa was this war made thirty six years in all from the first division The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore should there be rendred the Kingdom and not the Reign and the thing were clear Now the Text dateth this war not from the time of Asaes reign but from the time of the division of the Tribes because that though they were divided hitherto in regard of their Kings yet not totally in regard of their converse and affection for some of the revolted ones affected still the house of David but Baasha to make the division sure buildeth Ramah that none might go in or out to Asa King of Judah and this was as a second division and therefore the Text reckoneth from the first Thirdly It is said 1 King 16. 23. that in the one and thirtieth year of Asa King of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel twelve years six years reigned he in Tirzah And yet in vers 29. it is said that In the eight and thirtieth year of Asa began Ahab the son of Omri to reign Now how can there possibly be twelve years reign betwixt Asaes thirty first and thirty eight Answer Omri began to reign as soon as ever he had slain Zimri which was in the twenty seventh of Asa but he was not sole and entire King till his thirty first For Tibni his competitor and corrival for the Crown held him in agitation and wars till Asaes thirty first And then was he overcome and Omri acknowledged absolute King by Tibnies souldiers and so from thence forward he reigned sole King in Tirzah But yet the doubt remaineth how Omri beginning his monarchy in the thirty first of Asa and ending it in his thirty eight can be said to have reigned but six years whereas it was eight current Answer The six compleat years only are reckoned for the thirty first of Asa was even ending when Tibni was conquered and the thirty eight but newly begun when Omri died Such another kind of reckoning may be observed in casting up the age of Abraham and Ismael at their Circumcision compared with the age of Abraham at Ismaels death Fourthly The beginning of the reign of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat hath three dates The first in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat his father compare 2 Kings 22. 51. and 2 King 1. 17. and 2 King 3. 1. The second in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab 2 King 8. 16. This was in the two and twentieth year of his father Jehoshaphat And the third at his father Jehoshaphats death 2 Chron. 21. 1. Now the resolution of this Ambiguity is thus The first time he was made Viceroy when his father went out of the Land for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead and because Ahab the King of Israel went with him Ahaziah his son is made Viceroy in that Kingdom also The second time he was Viceroy again in his Father Jehoshaphats absence upon his voyage into Moab with Jehoram 2 King 3. and from this time doth the Text date the fixed beginning of his reign as is plain 2 King 8. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. For Jehoshaphat after this time was little at home but abroad either in his own Land perambulating it to reduce the people to true Religion or in Moab to reduce that to subjection 2 Chron. 19. 20. Fifthly But a greater doubt meeteth you by far when you come to cast up the times of his son Ahaziah For whereas Joram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign and reigned eight years in Jerusalem 2 King 6. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. and so died when he was forty years old and instantly the inhabitants of Jerusalem set Ahaziah upon his throne who was his youngest son yet was this Ahaziah forty two years old when he began to reign 2 Chron. 22. 1. and so will prove to be two years older then his father Answer The book of Chronicles in this place meaneth not that Ahaziah was so old when he began to reign for the book of Kings telleth plainly that he was but two and twenty 2 King 8. 26. but these two and forty years have relation to another thing namely to the kingdom of the house of Omri and not to the age of Ahaziah For count from the beginning of the reign of Omri and you find Ahaziah to enter his reign in the two and fortieth year from thence as he will readily see that shall make such a Chronical Table as is mentioned The Original words therefore Ben arbaguim ushethajim shanah are not to be translated as they be Ahaziah was two and forty years old but Ahaziah was the son of the two and forty years as Seder Olam hath acutely observed long ago Now the reason why his reign is thus dated differently from all others the Kings of Judah is because he in a kind was an impe of the house of Omri for Athaliah his mother was Ahabs daughter 2 King 8. 18. And she both perverted her husband Joram and brought up this her son Ahaziah in the Idolatry of the house of Ahab therefore is not Ahaziah fit to be reckoned by the line of the Kings of Judah but by the house of Omri and Ahab see the Evangelist Matthew setting a special mark upon the house of Joram at the notes on Matth. 1. 8. Sixthly There is yet one scruple more arising concerning the beginning of the reign of this Ahaziah For the same book of Kings saith that he began to
it might not be contrary either to truth or to good sense so to construe it But the phrase We know is often taken to import that such a thing is commonly and certainly known not so much with regard to such or such particular or definite persons knowing of it but with regard to the thing it self that it is well known and of open cognisance and so it is clearest to understand it here see the phrase Joh. 4. 22. 9. 31. 1 Joh. 5. 18. c. Vers. 3. Except a man be born Expositors do use great variety of piecings to tie these words of our Saviour to those of Nicodemus before in some sutableness or conformity together Chrysostome thus Thou holdest me for a Prophet only here thou comest exceeding far short of the full truth and art not come so much as into the utmost porch of a right knowledge Verily I say unto thee except thou partake of the Spirit by the laver of regeneration thou canst not have a right judgement concerning me And much in the same steps treadeth Theophylact. Cyrill thus Nicodemus thought he had done enough in coming to Christ and confessing him but this is not enough saith Christ but thou must also be born again And much after the same manner goeth Tolet Augustine thus Nicodemus thou comest to me as to a Teacher come from God but I tell thee there is no trusting my self and the Gospel with thee unless thou be born again Beza conceiveth that Christ saw that it was in Nicodemus his thoughts to enquire of him about the Doctrine of Regeneration and he prevents his question Jansenius that he did inquire concerning the way to eternal life but the Evangelist hath not mentioned it and divers more like offertures of connexion between the words of Nicodemus and our Saviviours might be produced which are tendered by several expositors but I shall spare more alleadging and first take up the consideration of what is meant by the Kingdom of God and that understood the connexion that appears so difficult will be made the better §. The Kingdom of God 1. This phrase and The Kingdom of Heaven are but one and the same in sense though they differ in a word as will plainly and easily appear by comparing these places Matth. 4. 7. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 5. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. 14. Suffer little children c. for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. 23. A rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 11. 11 12. The least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than be Matth. 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Vers. 3. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustardseed Vers. 33. The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven Mark 1. 15. The Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye Luke 6. 20. Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Mark 10. 14. Suffer little children c. for of such is the Kingdom of God Luk. 18. 24. How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God Luk. 7. 28. The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he Luk. 8. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luk. 13. 18 19. The Kingdom of God is like a grain of mustardseed Vers. 20 21. The Kingdom of God is like leaven And many more such like parallel places in the Evangelists might be produced in which by the indifferent use of these expressions they shew abundantly that The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of God do mean and signifie but one and the same thing And the reason of this indifferent use of it is because the Jews usually called God Heaven as Dan. 4. 25. Matth. 21. 25. Luke 15. 21. Joh. 3. 27. and their Authors infinitely in such passages as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man is to fear his Teacher as he is to fear Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a one casts off the fear of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The service of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death by the hand of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let a man always fear Heaven in secret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The name of Heaven is blasphèmed c. And they call God Heaven saith Elias Levita because Heaven is the place of his Habitation In Tishbi The Talmudick writers do sometimes use the term or phrase of The Kingdom of Heaven in a wild sense for the strictness height and pompousness of their Ceremoniousness in Religion and most especially about the business of their Phylacteries Rabbi Joshua the son of Korchah saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let a man first take upon him the Kingdom of Heaven and afterward let him take upon him the yoke of the command Thus the Mishueh of the Jerusalem Talmud readeth in Beracoth per. 2. and so likewise doth R. Alphes But the Babylon Mishueh hath it let him first take upon him the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven c. which saying meaneth but this Let a man but first put on his Phylacteries and then fall to his Devotions And so the Gemara in the place cited doth expound it Rabbi Joshua saith He that will take on him the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven let him wash his hands put up his Phylacteries rehearse the sentences of them over say his prayer and this is the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven complete On whose words Alphesi glosseth and descanteth thus Since he reads And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be frontlets between thine eyes If he put not his Phylacteries on he is found bearing false witness against himself for what he saith is not true And although he perform the command of saying his prayers so as to discharge his duty of saying over his Phylactery sentences yet he transgresseth on the other hand because he witnesseth falsly against himself And Rabbi Jochanan meaneth that even the command is not perfectly done if he take not on him the Kingdom of Heaven And he is like to one that offereth a Thanks offering without a meat offering because he rehearseth those sentences without taking on him the Kingdom of Heaven In the same place is another story related and to be understood in the same sense concerning Rabban Gamaliel who on his wedding day at night said over his Phylacteries His Disciples said unto him Sir hast not thou taught us that a Bridegroom is free from saying over his Phylacteries the first night He saith unto them I will not hearken unto you to lay from me the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven no not one hour And the same construction is to be made of that which the Author of Juchasin records of Rabbi Akiba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he died taking on him the yoke of the Kingdom of
tydings of his death came to the City for the Senate did ever allow ten days for the condemned persons after their sentence before their end the poor men emplored the aid and comfort of every one they met because Caius to whom they should have sued was not in the City but they were haled away by the Executioners and strangled §. 6. Agrippa in a perplexity and inlarged Agrippa was partaker of the common joy but withal of some mixture of misery for such variety of fortune had he tasted ever and now must he have a farewel to such vicissitudes Marsyas his freeman hearing the rumour in the City runneth with all speed to certifie his Master and finding him with some company in the ways toward the Bath he beckneth to him with this speech in the Hebrew Tongue The Lion is dead With which tydings Agrippa was so transported with joy that the Centurion his Keeper perceived it and inquiring the reason and being told it by Agrippa he rejoyced with him for the news and looseth him from his Bonds But as they were at Supper there cometh a contrary report that Tiberius was alive and would ere long be in the City What now think you is become of the heart and mettle of Agrippa and his Centurion Both had done enough by this their present joy to procure their endless sorrow and his Keeper the worse of the two but Agrippa must smart for all for the present He therefore casts him into irons again and committeth him to a surer Guard than before And thus as his too much eagerness of Tiberius his death had imprisoned him before even so doth it now but the next morning puts him into life again for the rumor of the old Emperours death is confirmed by Letters from the new and a special Warrant cometh from him for the inlarging of Agrippa out of Prison to the house where he had used to live before §. 7. Caius cometh to Rome The Corps of the dead Tyrant is carried by the Souldiers into the City Caius himself in mourning apparel following the Hearse and there he maketh his Funeral Oration and performeth his Obsequies with great pomp and solemnity And on the very day of his comming to Town he had enlarged Agrippa but that the advice of Antonia perswaded him to hold a while lest the people should suspect that he was glad of the death of Tiberius if he should so sodainly set free one that he had committed for an enemy But within a few days he is inlarged and sent for home unto him And there is he trimmed his garments changed and he crowned King of the Tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias and his chain of iron and of his bondage changed for a chain of Gold of the same weight This is that King Agrippa that slew James and imprisoned Peter and is called Herod Acts 12. §. 8. Caius his dissembling Caius his beginnings were plausible and popular dissembling his cursed dispositions under such crafty colours that the people were transported with so happy a change as they supposed and 160000 Sacrifices were slain for gratulation in his three first months His tears for Tiberius his piety to his dead Mother and Brother his respect to his living Sisters his fair words to the Senate and as fair carriage to the people his paying of Legacies his inlarging of Prisoners his remitting of offences his reviving of good Laws c. made the people to forget either in what School of dissimulation he had been brought up or how soon so great advancement corrupteth men of little education and it made them vainly to hope that they had a Germanicus because they had his son and that a good Prince could be bequeathed to them by Tiberius Yet could he not hide the ilness of his disposition under all these cloaks and coverts of dissembling for presently upon his coming to the City he disanulled the will of Tiberius that he might nullifie the authority of his partner of the same name in the rule and Empire And yet did he pay all the Legacies of old Tiberius with bountiful additions of his own which shewed that he disliked the will only because of partnership of Tiberius the younger Having thus the whole sway and dominion devolved upon himself by the outing of his poor Cousin for the Senate was made and packed by Macro for such a purpose he was received with as much joy and applause as was possible to express upon the old memory of his Father and the present expectation of himself Nor was this jocundness confined in the narrow bonds of Rome and Italy but dilated it self through all the Empire in every corner where the hoped benefit and happy fruit of so great an expectation would have come had it proved right Every Country City and Town was poured forth into exultation and festivity with a common joy in this common hope Now could you have seen nothing but Altars Offerings Sacrifices Feasts Revels Banquets Plays Dancings merry Faces crowned Heads singing Tongues and joyful Hearts that the World seemed to be ravished besides it self and all misery to be banished out of it and all the thoughts of a changing fortune utterly forgot Had Tiberius but spied this work out of his Coffin how would he have laughed for company to behold this deludedness of the people and dissimulation of the Prince And thus lasted this musick and masking for his first seven months in which the new Emperor behaved himself with that moderation and bravery as if vertue it self had been come among them In the eighth month a grievous sickness seized upon him and then was all this mirth and melody turned to mourning and lamentation each man sorrowful and women bemoaning as if all the world had been sick as well as he Now was their songs turned into Tears their revelling into Prayers and their festivals to Vows for his recovery Nay so far did some strain the expression of their affections that they vowed their heads and lives for his restoring Nor could the people be so much blamed for this their sorrow as pitied for being thus deceived nor could it so much be wondred at that they were deceived as it was wonderful that he could so deceive For who could have chosen but have erred their error that had seen what they beheld and who could have brought them into such an error but such a one as he who was both a Caius and a scholar of Tiberius When he paid the Legacies of Tiberius he also discharged those of Julia which Tiberius had stopped and added a considerable sum of his own bounty He gathered the ashes of his Mother and Brother and committed them to their Urne with his own hands choosing a tempestuous season purposely when he travailed about that business that his piety might be blown about the more and he instituted annual Festivals for them Nor must his Father Germanicus be forgotten nor indeed could he nor did he deserve it for his memory therefore
Pot and put a little water into it out of the Laver and going within the Temple door he took up some dust from under a stone that was left loose for that purpose where it lay we have observed in its proper place and this dust he strewed upon the water Then denounced he the curse and wrote it in a Book even those words Num. 5. 19 20 21 22. If no man hath lien with thee and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness c. But if thou hast gone aside c. the Lord make thee a curse c. And this water which causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels and make thy belly to swell and thy thigh to rot And the Woman answered Amen Amen Then blotted he the curses out of the book with the bitter water and gave her the water to drink If upon the donuncing of the curses she were so terrified that she durst not drink the water but confessed she was defiled the Priest flung down the water and scattered her offering among the ashes but if she confessed not and yet would not drink they forced her to drink and if she were ready to cast it up again they got her away that she might not defile the place The operation of these waters say the Rabbins followed after though sometimes it appeared not of two or three years for she bare no children she was sickly languished and died of that death SECT IV. The atoning for a cleansed Leper IN a a a Talm. in Middoth per. 2. the North-west corner of the Court of the Women there was a piece of Building which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chamber or room of the Lepers whither the Leper resorted after his cleansing in the Country or at his own house And now I am sensible of a mistake and inadvertency which fell from me in another place and which I here retract and crave the Readers patience and that was in that I asserted in the Notes on John 2. 15. that the Lepers were tryed in this room by the Priests and had access to the Mountain of the House and to the Publick Service of the Temple It is true indeed b b b Maym. in Tephil that the Lepers had access to the Publick Service in those Synagogues that were not in walled Towns being placed there apart by themselves so that they came not near others but their offering to come into the Temple did fall under a very sharp penalty as was shewed before nay they were excluded even out of Walled Cities Their tryal therefore was in the Country and there they were cleansed by the Priest c c c Id. in Tumi tsor 11. with variety of Ceremony in the business and on the seventh day of their cleansing he shaved himself again for he had done so before and washed himself in water and then he might come within Jerusalem On the eighth day he came up into the Mountain of the House and brought three Lambs with him for a burnt offering sin offering and trespas offering d d d Talm. in Neg. per. 11. and bathed himself in that room in the corner of the Court of the Women that was from hence called the Room of the Lepers e e e Tam. per. 5 When the Migrephah or the Bell for so let it be called was rung by those that went into the Temple to burn the incense the President or chief man of the station then serving went and fetched him and whosoever else had been unclean and came now for their purifying f f f Ib. Sot per. 1. and set them in the gate of Nicanor g g g Maym. in Mechos capp per. 4. Glos. in Sotah But here two contrary exigents were to be provided for for neither might the Leper tread on the ground of the Court because he yet wanted his atonement nor might the bloud of the trespass offering which was to be his atonement be brought out of the Court and yet it was to be put upon his thumb great toe and tip of his ear Lev. 14. 14. A temper therefore for these two repugnacies was this that he went into the Gate as far as possibly he might so that he trod not within the Court. Thither did the Priest bring the trespass offering to him and he stretched out his hands into the Court and laid them upon him And when he was slain the Priest brought the bloud himself standing within the Court and the Leper stretched out his neck and thrust his head within the Virge of the Court and he put some of the bloud upon the tip of his right ear and likewise he stretched out his hand and his foot within the Virge of the Court and he put the bloud upon his thumb and his great toe and so he was cleansed The cleansing of other unclean persons as those that had issues and Women after Child-birth was in the same place and much after the same manner save that the blouding of the ear thumb and toe was not used so that they need not a particular discourse by themselves SECT V. The manner of bringing and presenting their first fruits NOT to insist upon the several sorts of things out of which the first fruits were to be paid nor upon the manner of setting them apart for first fruits at their own homes of which the Talmud doth debate at large this being somewhat out of the Virge of our discourse because so far out of the Virge of the Temple their custom and Ceremony in bringing of them up thither and presenting them there cometh nearer within our compass and that was thus a a a Talm. in Biccur per. 3. Maym. ib. per. 4. All the Cities that belonged to such or such a station met together at the chief City of the station and there lodged all night in the streets and the reason of this their gathering thus together was because they would go together by multitudes according to what is said the multitude of People is the Kings honour and the reason of their lodging in the streets was lest going into houses they should be defiled In the morning the President or chief among them called them up betime with this note Arise and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God and they set away Before them there went an Ox with his horns gilded and a Garland or Crown of Olive branches upon his head and a Pipe playing before them till they came near to Jerusalem and they often rehearsed that saying I was glad when they said Let us go up to the house of the Lord compare Esay 30. 29. They travelled not all day when they travelled but only two parts of it because they would not spoil their solemnity with toyling when they were come near Jerusalem they sent in a Messenger to give notice of their coming and they flowred and deckt their baskets and exposed some of the freshest fruits to
p p Lebachin ubi sâ—pr Sect. 3. The Sin-offering of the Congregation or of a private person and the Goats offered at the beginnings of the months or at the solemn times their slaughter was on the North side of the Altar and the taking of their blood in some of the Vessels of the service was on the North side and it required a fourfold putting on the four horns How was this done He went up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rise of the Altar and turned off to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circuit of it He went to the South-East horn and then to the North-East so to the North-West and lastly to the South-West and the blood that was left he poured upon the Foundation on the South side Either of these ledges the Rabbins sometimes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q q q Vid. R. Sol. in Eztk. XLIII Malben either because they were as sloors whereon the Priests trod for so the word is sometimes taken or because they r Vid. Aruch in voce were often rub'd to keep them white since there was so much blood sprinkled on them s s s Mid. per. 3. For the whole Altar was whited over twice a year namely at the Passover and at the Feast of Tabernacles Rabbi saith that it was rubbed with a Map on the eve of every Sabbath 3. A cubit height above this upper ledge which was called the Circuit there was a narrowing again a cubit bredth and there began the horns of the Altar and now the square was but six and twenty cubits upon every side The horns were at every corner a cubit square being hollow and rising a cubit upward for it is a usual saying among the Jews that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t t t Maym. in Beth habbechir per. 2. The height of every horn was five hands bredth or a common cubit which is to be taken so as that the horns rose but one cubit straight up from their Foundation or first beginning abating by degrees from a cubit square in the bottom into a Pyramidical sharp but so as that for one cubit height it rose straight and then pointed outward like the tip of a horn The lowest part of these horns was seven cubits from the ground and therefore these words bind the Sacrifice with cords to the horns of the Altar Psal. CXVIII can hardly be taken in propriety as if the Sacrifice stood tied to the Altar till it was offered but as the Chaldee paraphraseth it it meaneth Tie the Lamb that is to be offered with cords till ye come to offer him and sprinkle his blood upon the horns of the Altar Joah in fear of his life is said to have fled to the Altar and to lay hold upon the horns of it 1 King II. 29. in which passage the Hebrew Doctors say he was doubly deceived First in that he thought to have refuge and escaping for wilful murder and Secondly in that he looked for safety by taking hold of it whereas the refuge of the Altar was on the top of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u Kimch in 1 King II. Our Rabbins say saith David Kimchi the Altar was no refuge but for Manslaughter committed unawares and but on the top of it But whether Joab or they were the likelier to be deceived in this thing I leave to them to discuss between them But this certainly cannot go unobserved that God in giving of the pattern of the Altar was so punctual for the making of horns to it in the corners of it as that that is a special charge both about the Altar of Burnt-Offering Exod. XXVII 2. Thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof And also about the Altar of Incense Exod. XXX 2. The horns thereof shall be of the same Now what the Lord intended to signifie by this so exact a prescription it is not good to be too bold to go about to determine yet we may not unprofitably look upon them as a lesson for instruction reading to us that as the Altar signifieth Christ who offered himself upon himself the manhood upon the Altar of the God-head and as the double Altar of Sacrifice and Incense typified the offering up of Christ at his death and the continual Inscense of his mediation so the horns of both Altars may well be conceived to signifie the dignity vigor and merit of his death and mediation upon which whosoever layeth hold by assured Faith shall escape condemnation and unto which as the Priests to these horns atevery Sacrifice mentioned a sinner in every service is to make his address and application It is not an improper conception of Rabbi Solomon about the Law concerning the Cities of refuge Exod. XXI 13. w w w R. Sol. in Exod. XXI that as God enjoyned them when they should come into the Land of Canaan to appoint a place for the Man-slayer that had killed a Man at unawares to flee unto so that while they were in the Wilderness God appointed them a place for refuge upon such occasion and that was the Camp of the Levites Now the addition that follows in the next Verse that they should take a wilful murderer from his Altar to put to death doth not only confirm that his supposal but it doth give some intimation that even in the Land of Canaan and when their refuge Cities were set out yet the Altar was then a Sanctuary for those that fled to it in such or such cases A very eminent figure of deliverance from condemnation by laying hold upon Christs merits The x x x Vid. Kimchi ibid. Jews dispute why Joab whom they hold to have been President of the Sanhedrin and knew the Law well enough that a wilful murderer should not escape by the Altar why he should flee thither And they Answer That it was either to save his Estate which had he been slain elsewhere had been forfeit or to obtain his burial which had he been Judged and Condemned judicially he had lost and been cast away unburied But it seemeth rather that the occurrence which is mentioned immediately before and which occurred immediately before namely about Abiathar did give him occasion to do what he did For though Abiathar were in the same fault with Joab in the matter of Adonijah yet had he escaped death being only put from his Office upon these two reasons because he had born the Ark and was High-Priest and because he had been afflicted and partner with David in his afflictions under this later predicament Joab fell as well as he and might hope for favour in that respect equally with him And as for the former Joab indeed was not nor could not be a Priest yet thought he I will do as much towards that as I can that is lay hold on the horns of the Altar and there devote my self to God and his service by that solemn Ceremony and it may be for these two considerations
Kingdom of Heaven to Repentance since they themselves to whom this is preached do acknowledge that thus the Kingdom of Heaven or the manifestation of the Messias is to be brought in For however the Gemarists who dispute of this were of a later age yet for the most part they do but speak the sense of their fathers III. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance as it does very well express the sense of true repentance so among the Jews it was necessary that it should be so expressed among whom repentance for the most part was thought to consist in the confession of the mouth only r r r r r r Maimon in Teshubah cap. 1 Whosoever out of error or presumption shall transgress the precepts of the Law whether they be those that command or those that forbid when he repents and returns from his sins he is bound to make confession Whosoever brings an offering for a sin committed either out of ignorance or presumption his sin is not expiated by the offering untill he makes an oral confession Or whosoever is guilty of death or of scourging by the Sanhedrin his sin is not taken away by his death or by his scourging if he do not repent and make confession And because the scape Goat is the expiation for all Israel therefore the High Priest makes confession over him for all Israel It is worthy observing that when John urgeth those that came to his Baptism to repent it is said that they were baptized Confessing their sins which was a sign of repentance highly requisite among the Jews and necessary for those that were then brought in to the profession of the Gospel that hereby they might openly profess that they renounced the Doctrine of Justification by the works of the Law It is worthy of observing also that John said not repent and believe the Gospel which our Saviour did Matth. IV. 17. And yet John preached the Gospel Mark I. 1 2. Joh. I. 7. for his office chiefly was to make Christ known who when he should come was to be the great Preacher of the Gospel Therefore the Baptist doth very properly urge repentance upon those that looked for the Messias and the Text of the Gospel used a very proper word to express true and lively repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand I. The Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew is the Kingdom of God for the most part in the other Evangelists Compare these places The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. IV. 17. The Kingdom of God is at hand Mark I. 15. The poor in Spirit theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. V. 3. Blessed are the poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Luke VI. 20. The least in the Kingdom of Heaven Chap. XI 11. The least in the Kingdom of God Luke VII 28. The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Chap. XIII 11. The mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luke VIII 10. Little children of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Chap. XIX 14. Little children of such is the Kingdom of God Mark X. 14. And so we have it elsewhere very often For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven is very usually in the Jewish dialect taken for God Dan. IV. 25. Matth. XXI 25. Luke XV. 21. Joh. III. 27. And in these and such like speeches scattered in the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death by the hand of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The name of Heaven is profaned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Worship of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the help of Heaven c. s s s s s s Eâ—ias Levit. in â—â—â—â—â— For they called God by the name of Heaven because his habitation is in Heaven The story of the Jews is related groning out under their persecution these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Heavens that is as the Gloss renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ah! Jehovah II. This manner of speech the Kingdom of Heaven is taken from Daniel Chap. VII 13 14. Where after the description of the four earthly and Tyrannical Monarchies that is the Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syro-grecian and the destruction of them at last the entrance and nature of the reign of Christ is described as it is universal over the whole World and eternal throughout all ages Under whom the Rule and Dominion and Authority of Kingdoms under the whole Heaven is given to the people of the Saints of the most High vers 27. that is Whereas before the Rule had been in the hands of Heathen Kings under the Reign of Christ there should be Christian Kings Unto which that of the Apostle hath respect 1 Cor. VI. 2. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World Truly I admire that the fulfilling of that Vision and Prophesie in Daniel should be lengthened out still into I know not what long and late expectation not to receive its completion before Rome and Antichrist shall fall since the books of the Gospel afford us a Commentary clearer than the Sun that that Kingdom of Heaven took its beginning immediately upon the preaching of the Gospel When both the Baptist and Christ published the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven from their very first preaching certainly for any to think that the fulfilling of those things in Daniel did not then begin for my part I think it is to grope in the dark either through wilfulness or ignorance III. The Kingdom of Heaven implies 1. The Exhibition and manifestation of the Messias Matth. XII 28. But if I by the finger of God cast out Devils the Kingdom of God is come upon you that is Hence is the manifestation of the Messias See Joh. III. 3. XII Chap. 13 c. 2. The Resurrection of Christ Death Hell Satan being conquered whence is a most evident manifestation that he is that eternal King c. See Matth. XXVI 29. Rom. I. 4. 3. His vengance upon the Jewish Nation his most implacable enemies this is another and most eminent manifestation of him See Matth. XVI 28. Chap. XIX 28. 4. His Dominion by the Scepter of the Gospel among the Gentiles Matth. XXI 43. In this place which is before us it points out the exhibition and revelation of the Messias IV. The Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Kingdom of Heaven very frequently occurs in the Jewish Writers We will produce some places let the reader gather the sense of them t t t t t t Beracoth cap. 2. hal 2. R. Joshua ben Kercha saith In reciting the Phylacteries why is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear O Israel Deut. VI. 4. c. recited before that passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it shall come to pass if you shall harken Deut. XI 13. c. To wit that a man first take upon himself the Kingdom of Heaven and then the yoke of the Precept So the Jerusalem Mishnah hath it but the Babylonian thus That
guilty Let us see whether thou canst smell and judg And when they saw that he could not smell and judg they slew him VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By whom do your children cast them out BY your Children Christ seems to understand some disciples of the Pharisees that is some of the Jews who using Exorcisms seemed to cast out Devils such as they Act. XIX 13. and yet they said not to them Ye cast out Devils by Beelzebul It is worthy marking that Christ presently saith If I by the Spirit of God cast out Devils then the Kingdom of God is come among you For what else does this speak than that Christ was the first who should cast out Devils which was an undoubted sign to them that the Kingdom of Heaven was now come But that which was performed by them by Exorcisms was not so much a casting out of Devils as a delusion of the people since Satan would not cast out Satan but by compact with himself and with his company he seemed to be cast out that he might the more deceive The sense therefore of Christs words comes to this That your Disciples cast out Devils ye attribute not to Beelzebul no nor to Magick but ye applaud the work when it is done by them They therefore may in this matter be your judges that you pronounce these words of my actions out of the rankness and venom of your minds m m m m m m Bab. Joma fol. 57. 1. In the Gloss mention is made of a Devil cast out by a Jew at Rome VERS XXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in that which is to come THEY that endeavour hence to prove the remission of some sins after death seem little to understand to what Christ had respect when he spake these words Weigh well this common and most known doctrine of the Jewish Schools and judg n n n n n n Hieros Sanhedr fol. 37. 3. Bab. Joma fol 86. 1. He that transgresses an affirmative precept if he presently repent is not moved until the Lord pardon him And of such it is said Be ye converted O backsliding Children and I will heal your backslidings He that transgresses a Negative precept and repents his repentance suspends judgment and the day of expiation expiates him as it is said This day shall all your uncleannesses be expiated to you He that transgresses to cutting off by the stroke of God or to death by the Sanhedrin and repents repentance and the day of expiation do suspend judgment and the strokes that are laid upon him wipe off sin as it is said And I will visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with scourges But he by whom the Name of God is profaned or blasphemed repentance is of no avail to him to suspend judgment nor the day of expiation to expiate it nor scourges or corrections inflicted to wipe it off but all suspend judgment and death wipes it off Thus the Babylonian Gemara writes but the Jerusalem thus Repentance and the day of expiation expiate as to the third part and corrections as to the third part and death wipes it off as it is said And your iniquities shall not be expiated to you until ye die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold we learn that death wipes off Note this which Christ contradicts concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost It shall not be forgiven saith he neither in this world nor in the world to come that is neither before death nor as you dream by death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the world to come I. Some phrases were received into common use by which in common speech they opposed the Heresie of the Sadducees who denied Immortality Of that sort were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paradise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hell c. o o o o o o Bab. Bâ—racoth fol. 54. 1. At the end of all the prayers in the Temple as we observed before they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever But when the Hereticks brake in and said There was no Age but one it was appointed to be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For ever and ever This distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This world and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come you may find almost in every page of the Rabbins p p p p p p Targ. in Râ—th Chap. II. 15. The Lord recompence thee a good reward for this thy good work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this world and let thy reward be perfected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the world to come q q q q q q â—aal Tâ—rim Tancâ— in Gen. 1. 1. It that is the History of the Creation and of the Bible begins therefore with the letter Beth in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bereshith because two worlds were created this world and a world to come II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come hints two things especially of which see r r r r r r In Sanhedr Cap. Châ—lâ—k Rambam 1. The times of the Messias s s s s s s â—â—riâ— Cap. 1. Hâ—l ult Be mindful of the day wherein thou camest out of Egypt all the days of thy life The wise men say By the days of thy life is intimated this world By all the days of thy life The days of the Messias are superinduced In this sense the Apostle seems to speak Heb. II. 5. and VI. 5. 2. The state after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t t t t t t 〈◊〉 fol. 5â— The world to come is when a man is departed out of this world VERS XXXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign I. THEIR Schools also confessed that signs and miracles were not to be expected but by a fit generation u u u u u u Hieros Soâ—ah fol. 24. 2. The Elders being once assembled at Jericho the Bath Kol went forth and said There is one among you who is fit to have the Holy Ghost dwell upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that this generation is not fit They fix their eyes upon Hillel the Elder The Elders being assembled again in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an upper room in Jabneh Bath Kol came forth and said There is one among you who is fit to have the Holy Spirit dwell upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But that the Generation is not fit They cast their eyes upon Samuel the Little II. That generation by which and in which the Lord of Life was Crucified lay and that deservedly under an ill report for their great wickedness above all other from the beginning of the world until that day Whence that of the Prophet Who shall declare his generation Esai LIII 2. that is his generation viz. that generation in which he
said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this day he sits in Abraham's bosom h h h h h h Hieros Keâ—aim fol. 32. 2. Rabbi Judah had the Toothach thirteen years and in all that time there was not an Abortive Woman throughout the whole land of Israel For to him it is that they apply those words of the Prophet i i i i i i Isai. LIII He was a man of sorrows and hath borne our griefs And for these very pains of his some had almost perswaded themselves that he was the Messiah At length this Toothach was relieved by Elias appearing in the likeness of R. Chaijah Rubbah who by touching his Tooth cured him When he dyed and was to be buried on the Evening of the Sabbath there were eighteen Synagogues accompanied him to his grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 miracles were done the day did not decline till every one was got home before the entrance of the Sabbath Bath kol pronounced happiness for all those that wept for him excepting one by name which one when he knew himself excepted threw himself headlong from the roof of the house and so dyed c. But to add no more for his incomparable learning and piety he was called R. Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy And whither would the Jew think such an one would go when he went out of â—his world Who amongst them when it was said of him that he was in Abraham's bosom would not without all scruple and hesitancy understand it that he was in the very embraces of Abraham as they were wont at table one to lie in the others bosom in the exquisite delights and perfect felicities of Paradise not in a lake without water a prison the very brink of Hell VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus INstead of Commentary take another Parable k k k k k k Midras Ruth fol. 44. 2. Midras Coheleth fol 85. 4. There are wicked men that are coupled together in this world But one of them repents before death the other doth not so the one is found standing in the assembly of the just the other in the assembly of the wicked The one seeth the other this agrees with the passage now before us and saith woe and alas here is accepting of persons in this thing He and I robbed together commited Murder together and now he stands in the Congregation of the just and I in the Congregation of the wicked They answer him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou most foolish amongst mortals that are in the world Thou wert abominable and cast forth for three days after thy death and they did not lay thee in the grave the worm was under thee and the worm covered thee which when this companion of thine came to understand he became a Penitent It was in thy power also to have repented but thou didst not He saith unto them let me go now and become a Penitent But they say O thou foolishest of men dost thou not know that this world in which thou art is like the Sabbath and the world out of which thou camest is like the evening of the Sabbath If thou dost not provide something on the evening of the Sabbath what wilt thou eat on the Sabbath day Dost thou not know that the world out of which thou camest is like the Land and the world in which thou now art is like the Sea if a man make no provision on Land for what he should eat at Sea what will he have to eat He gâ—asht his teeth and gnaw'd his own flesh VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he cryed and said WE have mention of the dead discoursing one amongst another and also with those that are alive l l l l l l Berac fol. 18. 2. R. Samuel bar Nachman saith R. Jonathan saith How doth it appear that the dead have any discourse amongst themselves It appears from what is said And the Lord said unto him this is â—he land concerning which I swear unto Abraham to Isaac and Jacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying m m m m m m Deuter. XXXIV 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy blessed God saith unto Moses go thou and say to Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Oath which I sware unto you I have performed unto your Children Note that Go thou and say to Abraham c. There is a Story of a certain pious Man that went and lodged in a burying place and heard two souls discoursing amongst themselves said the one unto the other come my companion and let us wander about the world and listen behind the veil what kind of plagues are coming upon the world To which the other replied O my companion I cannoâ— for I am buryed in a Cane Mat but do thou go and whatsoever thou hearest do thou come and tell me The soul went and wandred about the world c. The year following he went again and lodging in a place of burial he heard two souls discoursing between themselves Saith the one unto the other O my Companion come let us wander about the world and hearken behind the veil what kind of plagues are coming upon the world To which the other O my Companion let me alone for the words that formerly past between thee and me were heard amongst the living Whence could they know perhaps some other person that is dead went and told them There was a certain person deposited some Zuzees with a certain Hostess till he should return and went to the house of Râ—bh When he returned she was dead He went after her to the place of burial and said unto her wherâ— are my Zuzees She saith unto him go take it from under the hinge of the door in a certain place there And speak to my Mother to send me my black lead and the reed of paint by the Woman N. who is coming hither to morrow but whence do they know that such an one shall dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dumah that is the Angel who is appointed over the dead comes before and proclaims it to them The Zuzees that belonged to Orphans were deposited with the Father of Samuel the Rabbin He dyed Samuel being absent He went after him to the place of burial and said unto them i. e. to the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I look for Abba They say unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abba the good is here I look for Abba bar Abba They say unto him Abba bar Abba the good is here He saith unto them I look for Abba bar Abba the Father of Samuel where is he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is gone up to the Academy of the firmament Then he saw Levi his Collegue sitting without The Gloss hath it the dead appeared as without their Graves sitting in a circle but Levi sate without the circle He saith unto him why dost
ways of glorifying himself and is not tyed to this or that way by any necessity But the reason of the difference lyeth First In his own Will as the Apostle resolves it He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth But Secondly As in reference to the persons raised he raiseth what souls he raiseth by virtue of his Covenant of grace but he raiseth not all the bodies he raiseth by the same virtue It is said concerning Christ himself that God brought him from the dead by the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Heb. XIII 20. So doth he by the blood and virtue of the same Covenant bring from the dead every soul that he brings from the dead but he doth not so every body that he brings from the dead Now the tenor of the Covenant is Hearken to my voice and live Es. LV. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live And to the very same tenor are those word of our Saviour mentioned before Joh. V. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shall live What kind of language is this The Dead shall hear All the Dead shall hear and yet only they that hear shall live What needed more to have been said than that the Dead shall hear his voice and live But his meaning is all the dead Heathen shall have the Gospel and hear the word of it brought among them and they that hear it that is obey it and follow it shall live Let me repeat that which I alledged from Esay LV. 3. and add what follows there Hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Now that by sure mercies of David is meant the resurrection of Christ the Apostle teacheth us in Act. XIII 34. And as concerning that he raised him from the dead now no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David The resurrection of Christ therefore are the sure mercies of Christ. For that by David is meant Christ it were easy to shew and it is so confessed by the Jews themselves in their expositions of that place It was the sure mercy that God gave to Christ himself of which he so rejoyceth Psal. XVI 9. My heart is glad my glory rejoyceth and my flesh also shall rest in hope Because thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell c. And it is the sure mercy of Christ that God gave to the members of Christ that he raised him from the dead and imparts to them the benefit of his Resurrection And this is called there an Everlasting Covenant that he makes with them That as he gave Christ a resurrection so he will give them a resurrection The first and the latter rain the first and the latter resurrection First to raise their Souls by the virtue of his Covenant from the death of sin in his good time and to raise their bodies by virtue of the same Covenant at the last day Of which last our Saviour speaks three times over Joh. VI. ver 39. This is my Fathers will which hath sent me that of all that he hath given I should lose none but raise him up at the last day ver 40. And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life and I will raise him up the last day And ver 44. None can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day Will Christ raise up all persons in the world at the last day upon these terms Ye see No but only those that comply with his Covenant to come to him see him believe in him His power and justice will raise all others the virtue of his Covenant will raise these Now I suppose you easily see how to distinguish twixt the Tenor of his Covenant and the Virtue of his Covenant The Tenor of his Covenant is Hear and obey my voice and live The Virtue of his Covenant is his unfailing truth power goodness that will give life to them that hear his voice and obey him Thus you see one reason of the difference why he raiseth but some souls here from the death of sin but will raise all bodies from the death of the grave Thirdly Another reason of difference may be given for that at the last day he will raise all the persons in the world from their graves that he may glorifie himself but he raiseth only some few from their sins that they may glorify him And there is a great deal of difference twixt Gods glorifying himself upon men as he did upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians and bringing men heartily and laboriously to glorifie him and to live to his glory But Secondly a main difference in these two resurrections the soul from sin and the body from the grave is that the first resurrection is with the desire of him that is raised the latter will be in despite of thousands that will have no mind of it God will bring thee to jugement Eccles. XI 9. is a cutting saying but all the World shall never be able to take the edge of it off But let wicked men struggle and strive and tug never so hard against the resurrection God will bring them to it and no resisting But the first resurrection or the raising a soul from the death of sin how sweet how welcome how comfortable is it to every one to whom it comes Thy people will be willing in the day of thy power and help forward their own rising as much as they can and the Spirit and Bride say come and the soul and heart say Come Lord Jesus come quickly and let me see this resurrection And thus have we seen some circumstances in which the first and second resurrection differ and are at distance let us now consider wherein they agree and shake hands one with another Observe that the Scripture speaks in some places of the Resurrection as if it were to be no Resurrection but of just and holy ones only as you may take notice in 1 Cor. XV. and 1 Thes. IV. That there shall be a Resurrection of the unjust as well as of the just the Scripture assures us over and over again but it more especially calls that a Resurrection that is a Resurrection indeed and and not a raising to be cast down again Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more as the Apostle tells us Death hath no more dominion over him And the Scripture doth more especially call that a Resurrection that is written after his Copy for a man to rise from the dead to die no more That man is but little helped which we read of in the Prophet that in the way met a Lyon and flying
other standers by reviled him with If he be Christ let him come down from the Cross And let God deliver him if he will have him And so it doth magnifie Divine grace the more if it checkt him in his very reviling and made that tongue that reproached Christ in the very next instant to confess and adore him So Saul was happily checked even while he was breathing rage and revenge against the Church and he brought to be a most special member and minister in it The cause of this mans Conversion we must all ascribe to Gods infinite grace and goodness But the means that that grace and goodness used for his conversion I cannot but ascribe to these two things a Doctrine and a Miracle as in those times Doctrines and Miracles went very commonly together I. I cannot but suppose that the darkness that then began to be over all the Land wrought something with this man to bring him to some consideration with himself of the present case which he had not before His fellow Thief it seems was not moved with it at all but I cannot but believe that This was so deeply affected with it that it proved a means of his Conversion They both of them knew very well that Jesus suffered meerly because he professed himself to be the Christ. That is plain by their saying to him If thou be the Christ save thy self and us And now this man seeing so strange an occurence as had been not seen or heard of at any mans Execution before begins to be convinced that he was the Christ indeed for whom such a wondrous miracle was wrought and manifested And then II. It may very probably be conceived that he remembred those passages of the Prophet Esay describing his Passion and suffering Chap. LIII and particularly that vers 12. He was numbred with the transgressors A clause which the Jewish Expositors wrest some one way some another because they cannot abide to hear of Messias sufferings But which we may very well think that as Divine grace brought his Soul to the acknowledgment of Christ so it brought also that prediction of Christs sufferings and with such company to his remembrance as a means to work him to that acknowledgment For how might he argue This Jesus after all the great miracles that he hath done agreeable to the working of Messiah hath asserted and maintained that he is Messiah to the very death this strange and wondrous darkness that is begun over all the Land cannot but bear witness to such a thing And when it is so plainly prophesied by the Prophet Esay that he should suffer and be numbred with such Malefactors as I and my fellow are I am past all doubting that this Jesus is the promised Messiah Therefore He said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom A great faith that can see the Sun under so thick a Cloud that can discover a Christ a Saviour under such a poor scorned despised crucified Jesus and call him Lord. A great Faith that when he sees Jesus struggling for his own life and no deliverer come to him yet sees reason to cast himself upon him for his Eternal state and Everlasting condition and pray to him Lord remember me A great Faith that could see Christs Kingdom through his cross and grave and death and where there was so little sign of a Kingdom and pray to be remembred in that Kingdom I doubt the Apostles reached not to such a Faith in all particulars They acknowledged Jesus indeed to be Christ while he lived but when he is dead they are at it We trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel Luk. XXIV 21. But now they could not tell what to make of it But this man when he is dying doth so stoutly own him They looked for a Kingdom that Christ should have indeed but they little looked that Christ should suffer and so enter into his kingdom as it is intimated in the same Chapter vers 26. But this man looks for it through and after his sufferings That it is no wonder if he sped at the hands of Christ when he brings so strong a Faith with him and that when he pours out his Prayer Lord remember me c. in such strength of believing it is no wonder if he hear from him in whom he so believes Verily I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And could such a Faith be without a parallel and sutable measure of Repentance Our Saviour very well saw that it was not And the Evangelist gives some intimation that it was not For he tells that he confessed his own fault which is one sign of his Repentance We are here justly and receive the due reward of our doings And that he reproveth his fellow and would fain have reduced him which is another Fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And that he pleadeth for the innocency of Christ which is a third This man hath done nothing amiss And in what words and meditations he spent the three or four hours more that he hung alive upon the Cross it is easie to conjecture though the Evangelist hath spoken nothing of it The great sum and tenor of the Gospel is Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved And as Christ himself did seal the truth of the Gospel with his own death so was he pleased that that main truth of the Gospel should be proved and confirmed by this noble and notable example even whilst he was dying And accordingly it hath pleased the Spirit of God to give a demonstration of this mans believing in the Lord Jesus Christ more copiously and apparently than of his repantence though he hath given very fair demonstration of that also That as all posterity was to read that great Doctrine of Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation so they might have this illustrious and lively Commentary of the truth and proof of it in this mans believing and in his Salvation And now having seen this great monument of Faith and Repentance and Pardon What say we to it As the Evangelists tell us that they that had seen the passages at Christs death returned from the Cross striking upon their breasts and no doubt very full of cogitations So what are the thoughts of our hearts upon this passage which was not the least remarkable among them A great matter that the light of the Suu should be so darkned and not a small that such a dark soul should be so enlightned A great matter that the Earth should quake the Rocks rent and the Vail of the Temple be torn from top to bottom and not a small matter that such a stupid soul should be moved that such a strong heart should be dissolved broken and brought to softness The spactators then present considered of those things Our present work is to consider of these and what do we think of them I
2 3. The great Angel is Christ the old Serpent is the Devil there Christ binds and imprisoneth him and that with the great chain of the Gospel Observe the passage He shut him up in the bottomless pit What In Hell for ever That he should never go abroad again Yea you have him loose again vers 7. and he hath been always going about as in 1 Pet. V. but he tyes him up that he should not deceive the Nations vers 3. and when he is loosed again vers 8. it is his being loose to deceive the Nations Observe by the way the phrase He shuts him up that is restrains him from deceiving and seducing people It is Hell and Prison to the Devil not to be doing mischief So the Psalmist speaks of the wicked children of the Devil They sleep not rest not if they do not evil It is a torment to them if they may not be sinning Well how doth Christ bind Satan that he do not deceive By sending the Gospel to undeceive them So that this is the Victory of Christ against the Devil The very telling of his Death and Merits is that that overcomes the Devil the very Word of his Death and Resurrection is that that overthrows the Devil and his power So is 1 Cor. VI. 3. to be taken Know ye not that we shall judge Angels Now needed Christs soul to go to Hell to tell the Devil these tidings and to triumph there He felt the building of his Kingdom fall about his ears every moment He needed no such message to go and tell him he had conquered him This is the Triumph of Christ over the Devil by the virtue and power of his death and not by any Vocal or actual Declaration of it by his Soul now separate from his Body IV. As to Christs Soul triumphing over the damned needed there any such thing Or could his Soul do any such thing Think you Christs Soul doth or could rejoyce in the damnation of the damned There is joy in Heaven when a sinner is saved Is there joy too when he is damned That tender expression of God As I live I delight not in the death of a sinner doth it give us any room to think that he can rejovce in their damnation That tender Soul of Christ that but six or eight days before wept for the destruction of Jerusalem with O! that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace Can we think that that Soul could go to Hell to triumph and insult over poor damned Souls He had cause to triumph and rejoyce over the conquered Devils but had he the like cause or heart to triumph over damned Souls What was the reason of his triumphing over the Devils Because he had subdued themselves only He mastered them while alive in casting them out and commanding them at his pleasure He cast them into Hell by his Divine Power as soon as they had sinned but his triumph over them by his Death and Resurrection was for his peoples sake We cannot say Christ hath any pleasure in the damnation of the very Devils but he had pleasure in the Conquest of Devils because he had delivered his people from them Ah! most Divine Soul of Christ so infinitely full of charity that gave it self a Sacrifice for sin that men might not be damned can that rejoyce and insult over poor Souls damnation Look but upon Christs tenderness and earnestness for Souls here that they come not to damnation and then guess how little delight he taketh in it when they are damned Let us apply these two passages to this Ezek. XVIII 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye And vers 31. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth In the Hebrew it is in the strictest propriety In the death of him that is dead I have not pleasure that he dye and no pleasure in his death when he is dead What is there more plain in Scripture and in all Gods actings than this That God would not have men damned if they would embrace Salvation What speak these expressions 1 Tim. II. 4. Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth 2 Pet. III. 9. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Certainly whatsoever else this is plain enough that God had rather men should be saved than damned How is this written in Scripture as in letters of gold that he that runs may read it How was it written in letters of Christs own blood that was shed that men might not be damned but that whosoever believeth might have eternal life And how is this written in Gods patience beseechings in his affording means of Salvation I need not to instance in particulars Well men will not be saved but choose death before life Doth Christ delight rejoyce to damn them when they must come to it Think ye he pronounceth Go ye cursed with as much delight as Come ye blessed That he insults triumphs over poor damned wretches in their damnation Read his heart in such passages as these Gen. VI. 6. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at his heart What Because he had made them No but because he having made them must now destroy them Lam. III. 33. He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men So he doth not damn willingly nor destroy the children of men And once for all Esa. XLII 14. I have long time holden my peace I have been still and refrained my self now will I cry like a travailing woman I will destroy and devour at once I will cry and destroy but it is grievous to God as pangs of a travailing woman Thus much as hath been spoken may shew how unlikely and indeed how unchristian a thing it is to conceive that Christs Soul went purposely into Hell to triumph and insult over the miserable and damned And so you see that this Article cannot mean his Souls descending into the place of torment to triumph over the Devils and damned so that we must yet look for another sense of it III. A third interpretation then is this That it means the Torments he suffered in Soul III. upon his Cross. Some word it That he suffered the extream wrath of God some the very torments of Hell some that he was for the time in the state of the damned I reluct to speak these things but this Gloss some make upon this Article and while they go about to magnifie the Love of Christ in suffering such things for men they so much abase and vilifie his Person in making it lyable to such a condition The sense of the Article we must refuse unless we should speak and think of Christ that which doth not befit him The dearly beloved of the Soul of God to lye under the heaviest wrath of God The Lord of Heaven and Earth to