death for sorow hasted home with his head couered whereby some haue vnderstood nothing else but dust and ashes laied thereon which is a cerimonie indeed of sorow but not meant in those places The custome in those times was not onely to lay dust on the heade in token of griefe but also to enclose and shut vp as it were the head and face with some cloth or vaile from mens eyes As manie examples out of the Heathen Authors may easily shew Vlysses as Homer declareth hauing heard one Demodicus sing of the glorious worthy acts of the Grecians at Troy couered his head and face with a cloath and wept The souldiers of Aiax in Sophocles hearing of the wofull case of their Captaine for griefe of Vlysses prefermēt before him being bestraught of minde couered their heads with vailes Demaratus a King of Sparta by the subtill practising of his enemies was deposed of his kingdome as not of the Royall blood who after bearing Office in the Citie and opprobriously in way of scorne and derision beeing asked what it was to bee first a King and then an Officer tooke it to the heart and with these wordes vttered that that question should bee the cause either of much ioy or much woe to the Lacedaemonians couered his head and got him home This is recorded by Herodotus in Erato Xenophon in his Symposiō telleth of a certaine iester called Phillip who at a seast where Socrates with other graue cōpany was present assaying once or twice by his ridiculous iestes to mooue them to laughter but all in vaine mufled vp himselfe for sorrow and left his supper Demosthenes the famous Orator of Athens as Plutarch writeth in his life in a certaine Oration of his before the people beeing hissed at hied him home in great heauines with his head couered In his 4. booke It is recorded by Q. Curtius of Darius King of Persia that hearing of his wiues death Capite velato diu fleuit He wept a great while hauing his head couered That the couer was a cloath hiding the face as well as the heade appeareth immediatlye after in these wordes Manantibus adhuc lachrimis vesteque ab ore reiecta the teares yet trickling downe the cloth being cast away from his mouth he lift vp his handes to heauen Sisigambis that Kinges mother was a spectacle of rare miserie Shee lost her Father and foure score brethren all in one day most cruelly killed by Artaxerxes Ochus Her owne childe a mightie King the last Monarch of Persia shee saw twice ouercome by Alexander in the end traiterously slaine by his owne seruants the kingdome of Persia a ouerthrowne her selfe Captiue yet all these crosses she bare in some tollerable manner so long as Alexander liued who honoured her exceedingly as his owne mother But after his death bereaued of all comfort shee tare her haire cast her bodie on the grounde refused succour and wrapping vp her heade with a vaile euer after abstained from meat light till welcome death made an end of her woes Thus Dauid and Hamans couered heades by so manie examples of such as for extreame sorrow or shame of themselues not abiding mens sight muffled their faces are cleared of doubt And herby the vnderstanding of another place in the 53. Chapter of Esay not a little helped where our blessed Sauiour is compared to one hiding his face For this as hath beene prooued beeing an argument of an heart oppressed with griefe is effectuall and notable to declare that which immediatly before was spokē of Christ despised and refused of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefe whereunto the next wordes are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to interpret it aright and as it were hiding the face from vs. This here I may not pretermit that this ceremonie of the couered head is vsed sometimes in scripture and other where in another sence As in the 7. Chapter of Ester where wee reade of Hamans head couered by other against his will to signifie that now in the kings wrath hee was appointed to death For this likewise was an ancient custome vsed of diuers Nations to muffell vp the heads of men condemned to die or guiltie of some grieuous crime deseruing death Polixena king Priamus his daughter by the sentence of Agamemnon and other Princes of Greece adiudged to die was ledde to the slaughter of Vlisses with a vaile ouer her head As we read in the tragedie of Euripides called Hecuba Philotas the sonne of Parmenio one of the chiefe Princes of Alexander the great foūd guiltie of high treason against the king was brought before him to his answer Capite velato hauing his head couered saith Q. Curtius in his 6. booke Festus Pompeius in the word Nuptias saith that the Law commanded his head to bee couered who had killed his Parente Lastlye Cicero in his Oration for C. Rabirius bringeth the verie sentence of iudgement it selfe or verses as he termeth them vsed of Tarquinius superbus the last and most cruell king of Roome Caput obnubito arbori infaelici suspendito Couer his head hang him vp on a wofull tree Let me by thy patience gentle Reader proceed to one argument more in this kind and so an end That which is told by the Euangelist of Saint Iohn Baptist eating Locusts seemed incredible to some greatly doubting of that kind of meat and therefore supposing the place to haue been corrupted by the writers fault by some slip setting downe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though his meat had not bin locusts but choake peares Thus in their owne conceit they were wiser than God by ignorance of trueth witnessed in diuers prophane Authors Galen vpon Hipocrates his Aphorismes the 2. book the 18. Chapter is one declaring there the force which locustes being eaten haue to nourish Plinie in the 28 chap. of his 11. book saith that among the Parthians they were counted a pleasant meate Strabo in his 16. booke of Geographie maketh mention of a certaine people which liued of them Bellonius in the 2. booke of his obseruations the 88. chapter testifieth from the report of some Authors that in Africa they were eaten as dainties not for Phisicke but euen for nourishment Thereby proouing it a thing not vncredible that Iohn Baptist should eat locusts But Diodorus Siculus most fullie of all other declareth this in his 4. booke where hee telleth of certain Aethiopians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is locust eaters who neyther eat fish nor cattel but onely locusts continually which at the spring time of the yeare they get in great abundance and salt them vp to preserue them for meate Thus I haue giuen as it were a taste by this little out of Plinie Pausanias Solinus Horatius Homer Sophocles Herodotus Euripudes Xenophon Plutarch Quintus Curtius Festus Pompeius Cicero Galen Strabo how great seruice Heathen writers doe to the word of God for opening the true meaning thereof A taste
Moone yeres to cut short the time of Daniels prophesie by 13. yeares that is two whole weekes of the 70. within a yeare Seeing that they can neither serue to fill vp the distance from Artaxerxes his 20. yeare to the suffering of Christ for which they are brought nor yet the custome of the Hebrewes reckoning in holie Scripture will beare them The other shift is as bad and sillie as that if not more For some who could not abide that forced wresting of Moone yeares where there is no likelihood of such to be ment went another way to worke making two beginnings and thence two twentieth yeres of Artaxerxes his raigne One beginning was immediatly after the death of his father Xerxes in the 4. yeare of the 78. Olympiad The other nine yeares before in the 4. of the 76. Olympiad wherein he was appoynted king by his father yet liuing nine yeares before his death from which the 20. is the 3. of the 81. Olympiad for the beginning of Daniels weekes sayth Gerardus Mercator Wherein notwithstāding he was greatly deceiued by what error I know not For reckoning from the third of the 81. Olympiad to the last of the 202. wherein Christ dyed wee shall finde no more but 486. yeares at the most And therefore I see not by what reason he sayth that the 70. weekes contayning 490. yeares beginning at that twentieth of Artaxerxes expired in the death of Christ Temporarius therefore making two beginnings and two 20. yeares of Artaxerxes as he doth accounteth from the first twentieth 483. yeares to Christ his baptisme which was aboue three yeares before his passion and so endeth the death of Christ three yeares and more before the end of Daniels weekes But what reason had Mercator and Temporarius to thinke that Artaxerxes begun to raigne whilest his father was yet aliue so long before his death This is a matter worth the examination being the ground of a great errour The reason which they bring is in this manner Themistocles the Athenian in the second yere of the 77. Olympiad being expelled out of Athens by his vnthankfull countrie men and citizens notwithstanding the great and wonderfull deliuerance of all Greece from the power of Xerxes king of Persia by his wisedome and prowesse especially wrought fled to the same Xerxes as Ephorus Deino Cleitarchus Heraclides Diodorus Siculus and other storie writers declare Againe that Artaxerxes the sonne of Xerxes raigned in Persia at such time as Themistocles fled to the king thereof for succour it is testified by an ancient author of credit euen Thucidides himselfe in his first booke of the Pelopōnesian warre writing that Themistocles flying by sea to Ephesus after going higher into Asia with a certain Persian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sent letters to king Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes who a little before begun to raigne If Themistocles flying came to Xerxes king of Persia and sent letters to Artaxerxes his sonne then raigning also in Persia it must needes be that Artaxerxes had been made king a good while before his fathers death for that happened about sixe or seuen yeares after the banishment of Themistocles This is the force of their argument I haue heard it reported of one Doctor Medcalfe who sometime was master of Saint Iohns Colledge in Cambridge a man of no great learning himselfe but for care and earnest endeuour euery way to aduance learning giuing place to none Whereby it maye bee thought that that famous Colledge hath by his meanes the better prospered and flourished euer since with so great a companie of excellent Diuines and skilfull men in other knowledge I haue I say heard it reported of him that hauing on a certain day at supper with him some of the chiefe Seniors of the Colledge hee sent for two Sophisters to dispute before them The one tooke vpon him to proue that his fellowes blacke gowne was greene requiring this only first to be granted vnto him that if there were any greene gowne in that chamber it was on his backe Which was not thought vnreasonable because it was euident that there was none else had any This then being once granted he framed the rest of his proofe in this maner That saith he poynting to a greene carpet on the table there is a greene in this chamber all our eyes witnesse and that there is gowne in it your owne vpper garment on your backes proueth whereof it followeth that here amōgst vs in this chamber there is a greene gowne Doctor Medcalfe hearing this was greatly delighted and affirmed in good sadnesse that it was a good reason withall asked the iudgement of the Seniors there present who smiling commended the schollers wit Such a sophistication is here brought by ioyning things together which ought to bee sundred For neither they which tell of Themistocles flying to Xerxes once euer dreamed of Artaxerxes raigning at the same time nor Thucidides speaking of his cōming to Artaxerxes had this in his mind to think that Xerxes should bee then aliue which I will prooue by good witnesse For Plutarch in the life of Themistocles writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucidides saith Plutarch and Charon Lampsacenus tell that after Xerxes was dead Themistocles came to his sonne Aemilius Probus confirmeth it in these wordes Scio plaerósque ita scripsisse Themistoclem Xerxe regnante in Asiam transiisse sed ego potissimū Thucididi credo quòd aetate proximus crat I know saith Probus that many writers report Themistocles to haue passed into Asia whilest Xerxes was yet aliue but I rather beleeue Thucidides who was neere those times Lastly Lawrence Codoman in the second booke of his Chronologie is as plaine for it as may be That sayth he which Thucidides testifieth in his first booke that Themistocles fled to Artaxerxes of late hauing begun to raigne must bee vnderstoode of the Monarchie of Artaxerxes begun after his fathers death There was some difference betweene them I grant in regard of the persons to whom and the time when Themistocles came some thinking it to bee done when Xerxes was king before the raigne of his sonne Other when Artaxerxes raigned after the death of his father But all agreed in this that at such time as Themistocles fled out of Greece there was not two but only one king of Persia which is most certainly true Let the record of all histories bee sought for the whole time of the Persian Monarchie from the beginning to the ende it shall neuer bee found that the father and his sonne raigned together Herodotus indeed in Polymnia not far from the beginning telleth of a custome and lawe of the Persians that their king going to warre first appoynted an heire who was to succeede him in the Empire And that Xerxes was so appoynted by his father Darius hauing prepared all things readie for his voyage agaynst Aegypt to be next king after him Yet he neuer raigned till his father was dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when
them a people not accepted of God because they had beene ouercome by the enemie and put to their tribute This was the reckoning which Tullie made of them who by diuine knowledge of God his worde were the onelie wise people in the world Deut 4. whereby it appeareth that in his eyes the prophane learning of men was deemed more excellent then the wisedome of God Amongst his sciences no place was left for diuinitie The knowledge of God his word was too base for that companie Much better was the doome of the ancient Fathers of the primitiue Church by the light of God his spirit who vsed all other artes and learning as helps and handmaids to the vnderstanding of diuine scripture beeing Ladie and Mistris of all to the which all humane wisedome oweth dutie and seruice Augustine a rare instrument for the benefite of GOD his Church came notably furnished with much other reading to the studie of diuinity His skill therein he prooued not onely by writing of the liberall sciences but also alleadging of Poets and other Authors and fitting their sayinges to the phrase of holy scripture to make it more plaine wherof one commeth now to my mind in his bookes of speeches taken out of a secular Author as hee termeth him Et scuta Latentia condunt They hide the priuie or secret lying shieldes meaning such as not before but after the hyding lay secret and hid This hee maketh serue for the vnderstanding of a like speech in the 25. chapter of Genesis in the Greeke bible of Esay and Iacob whose birth a little before was mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the young men grew They were new borne babes farre from that ripenes of yeares to bee called young men and therefore the action of growing in this place goeth before the young mens age to signifie that being little children At the length after much growing vp in age they became young men In his second booke De doctrina Christiana hee declareth at large that humane sciences and the learning of the gentiles and prophane histories are very helpfull and profitable to the vnderstanding of holy scripture The learned father Hierom also in many places bringeth much light great seruice from diuerse and sundry prophane writers to the vnderstanding of God his woorde In his commentaries on Esay the thirteenth chapter declaring the true meaning of the prophets woordes there vttered concerning the desolation of Babylon which other leauing the truth of historie expounded allegorically hath these woordes Audiuimus Medos audiuimus Babylonem inclytam in superbia Chaldaeorum nolumus intelligere quod fuit quaerimus audire quod non fuit Et haec dicimus non quòd tropologicam intelligentiam condemnemus sed quòd spiritualis interpretatio sequi debeat ordinem historiae Quod plaerique ignorantes lymphatico in scripturis vagantur errore We haue heard saith he of the Medes wee haue heard of Babylon the glorious city of the Chaldeans we will not vnderstand that which hath bin but we seeke to heare that which hath not beene Neither say I this to condemne tropologicall vnderstanding but that spirituall interpretation ought to follow order of historie which the most parte being ignorante of by mad wandring doe range about in the scriptures The same father being by some blamed as too much addict to the study of Secular knowledge in an epistle of his to on Magnus a Roman Orator taketh vpon him the defence and commendation thereof by the examples of the best and most excellent christian fathers before him I must needes therefore greatly commend the wisedome of our forefathers in ordering our vniuersities VVhere young schollers are first trained vp in the studies of humanity before they enter into God his schoole that by that meanes comming furnished and ready stored with many helpes from their former learning they may find a more easie waye and speedy course in that most graue race of diuine knowledge which is yet behinde for them to runne And surely so it is and euery one shall finde the experience hereof in himselfe It is not to be spoken how much and how cleare light the diligent study and reading of Latin and Greeke writers yeeld to the knowledge of holy scripture Which by some few examples I will let the reader vnderstand The Eleans in time of pestilence brought vpon them by exceding great abundance of flies call vpon their God Myiagrus which being by sacrifice once appeased all those flies forthwith perish This Pline reporteth in his tenth booke the eight and twentith chapter Whereunto for confirmation may be added that which is recorded by Pausanias in the first booke of his Eliaca that Hercules sacrificing in Olympia was mightily troubled with a huge multitude of flies till such time as he had done sacrifice to Iupiter apomytos by whose power all those flies were soone after dispersed And hereof he sayth that the Eleans vse to sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to Iupiter Apomytos which driueth away flies Sotinus also in his Polyhistor the second chapter maketh mention of Hercules his chappell in the beefe market at Rome into the which after sacrifice and prayer made to the God Myiagrus hee entred by diuine power without flies All these testimonies serue to vnderstand the reason of the name Baalzebub in scripture giuen to the God of Ecron in the first chapter of the second booke of the Kings signifying the god of flies or the flies Iupiter If it be true that Augustine affirmeth in his questions vppon the booke of iudges that Baal is Iupiter so called as should seeme by those reportes of Plinie Pausanias and Solinus of the power which was attributed vnto him in driuing away flies whereof hee is termed Myiagrus that is a chaser of flies and Apomyius as it were a defender or preseruer from flies Horatius in his last Satyre telleth of one Rufus Nasidienus who had inuited to a great supper Mecaenas a chiefe Lord in the Emperour Augustus Caesars Court with many other noble men of Rome that whenas in the middest of supper the daintiest dishes being now set vpon the borde the hangings aloft by chance suddenly brake and daubed that honorable company with cobwebs and powdred the costly meates and wines with filth and filled all full of choaking dust Posito capite vt si filius immaturus obisset flere Holding downe his head he wept bitterly as it had been for the vntimely death of a deare sonne So then the casting downe of Cain his countenance in the fourth of Genesis argued sorrow And the virgins of Ierusalem at the destruction of their citie hanging downe their heads to the ground in the Lamentations of Ieremy the second chapter thereby declared their conceaued griefe The prophet Dauid at such time as he fled from his sonne Absolon and likewise all the men that were with him euery one couered his head and wept Haman also being made an instrument to honour Mardochaeus whome hee hated to the
haue beene Therefore Plutarchs doubt for any thing that I can see had no reason at all but seemeth to sauour of an vsuall custome of the Academicall sect which was alwaies readie furnished to dispute on eyther side pro or contra eyther for the truth or against it For this is most certaine that hee followeth that reckoning by Olympiads himselfe in many places as giuing credit thereunto and making no doubt thereof In his treatise of the ten Orators he saith that Andocides was borne in the 78. Olympiad when Theogenides was gouernour of Athens And that Callias was gouernour in the 92. Olympiad and that Isocrates was borne vnder Lysimachus in the 86. Olymp. 22. yeares after Lysias whose birth he setteth in the second of the 80. Olympiad in the yeare of Philocles all which reckonings agree very perfectly to the ancient Olympick account and the Histories of Thucidides Xenophon and Diodorus Siculus Plinie in the fourth Chapter of his 36. booke hath these wordes Marmore scalpendo primi omnium inclaruerunt Dipoenus Scyllis geniti in Creta insula etiamnum Medis imperitantibus Priusquam Cyrus in Persis regnare inciperet hoc est Olympiade circiter quinquagesima The first of all other for grauing of marble were famous Dipoenus Scyllis born in the Iland of Creta whilst yet the Medes bare rule before Cyrus began to raigne in Persia that is about the 50. Olympiad Hereof Matthew Beroald in the second Chapter of his booke of Chronologie gathereth that Cyrus began in the 50. Olympiad by Plinies testimonie herein dissenting from other who placed his beginning in the 55 but whosoeuer commeth with an euen minde to the truth may easilie perceiue another meaning in Plinie that the words hoc est Olympiade circiter 50 ought not to be referred to that which is said of Cyrus priusquam regnare inciperet before he began to raigne but the former part of the sentence giuing vs this to vnderstand the time wherin Dipoenus Scyllis were famous engrauers in Marble to haue beene about the 50. Olympiad in the dayes of the Medes Soueraigntie before Cyrus had got it away from them to the Persians Thus no dissention at all betweene Plinie and other but great agreement is found Much other such like stuffe is brought of Beroaldus from diuers authors by cold coniectures not any sure knowledge all for the most part in that kind as maketh either against himselfe or nothing for him Pericles being a yong man was of some of the aged sort in Athens thought to fauor Pisistratus the tirant in countinance speech as Plutarch telleth in his life which could not bee as Beroaldus supposed except the old men who had knowne Pisistratus had at that time beene a hundred yeres old A thing in his iudgement vnlike to bee true It is not so vnlike as strange that a man of his learning and reading should iudge so of it seeing that we read of many examples of men of those yeares Valerius Corninus who was Consull of Rome six times liued full out a hundred yeares and likewise Metellus Pontifex Solinus in his Polihistor telleth that Masinissa begot his Sonne Methymnus at 86. yeres age In the time of Claudius Caesar one T. Fullonius of Bononia was found to be 150. yeres of age which in Lydia was a common thing as by Mutianus is reported Terentia the wife of Cicero liued 107. Clodia 115. Many other by Plinie are recorded in his seuenth booke the 48 49 50 Chapters in diuers countries betweene a hundred and a hundred and 50. yeares olde But of all other one Xenophilus liuing 105. yeares without anie disease or hurt of his bodie was wondred at That Gorgias Leontinus a famous Oratour much about that time with Pericles liued 109. yeares wee haue the testimonie of Appolodorus his Chronicles in Diogenes Laertius within one yere acknowledged also by Plinie Euen in this our age at home in our own countrie it is no strange thing to find examples of such as liued out that time which Beroaldus accounted so incredible that he could not perswade himselfe of it to be true but his incredulitie is no proofe to weaken the credit of credible writers But I will not strike with him for this to graunt it a thing vncredible let vs examine his reckoning Pericles died in the third yeare of the 87. Olimpiad not the 88. as Beroaldus saith before his death he had beene one of the chiefe gouernours of the Athenian common wealth fortie yeares This Cicero teacheth in his third booke de oratore so the beginning of his authoritie falleth to the three yeares not of the 78. as Beroaldus would but the 77. Olympiad About that time some olde men gaue this iudgement of him that he was like Pisistratus and might not that be done but of such as were then a 100 yeres old surely yes for Pisistratus died not past threescore yeares before whereof 22. had passed from the Marathon battaile and 20. more from the expelling of Hippias out of Athens declared by Thucidides and 18. before from the beginning of Hippias who succeded Pisistratus Yet some more besides these must bee added to the old mens age to haue knowledge of Pisistratus in his life time to deale liberally let that time be twentie yeres before the death of Pisistratus so their age is left foure score yeres very vsuall at this day in diuers lusty men although I would haue this obserued which Plutarch writeth that iudgement to haue bin giuen of Pericles when hee was a young man whereby some aduantage yet might farther be taken if it were a matter worth the standing vpō Aelianus in his third book the 21. chapter saith Beroaldus telleth of Themistocles that being a childe and as hee came from Schoole meeting Pisistratus the tyrant was willed by his ouerseer attending vpon him to goe out of the way which he refused to doe and asked if there were not roome enough for him besides Whereunto is repugnant that which Iustin telleth in his second booke that Themistocles was a young man at the Marathon war when he must needes be at the least 66. yeares olde if Aelianus say true for the sonnes of Pisistratus after their fathers death raigned 36. yeares witnessed by Herodotus in his fift booke then after were twentie more to the Marathon fight and before Themistocles could in such an answer shew so stoute a minde against the tirant it is like he was ten yeares of age Beroaldus here also in his account is deceiued mistaking Herodotus who in Terpsichore indeede affirmeth that the Pisistratan stocke raigned 36. yeares yet not meaning thereby as Beroaldus would faine haue it that Pisistratus his children raigned so long after their fathers death but that the whole time of father and sonne was in all so much This appeareth by Aristotle an author for credit very sufficicient in the fift booke of his politickes the twelft chapter making the whole raigne of the Pisistratan stocke 35. yeares that is 17.
Bikeathauen him that holdeth the Scepter out of Betheden and the people of Aram shall goe into captiuitie vnto Kir saith the Lord. And hee shall haue no beeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there shall not bee vnto him that is hee shall not be He shall haue no beeing he shall be extinct and gone Much like hereunto is that in the 42. of Genesis the 36. verse Simeon is not Ioseph is not where the meaning is that neither of them was remaining aliue or had any being Ieremie 31. Rachel mourned for her children because they were not Genesis 5.24 Enoch was not because the Lord tooke him away That is hee had no longer being among the liuing a speach vsed in prophane authours Homer 2. Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is For the sons of valiant Oeneus were not any lōger neither was he himself yet And more plainly in the Tragedie of Euripides called Hecuba where she bewailing the death of her son Polydorus I vnderstand now saith she the dreame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I saw touching thee my child not being anie longer in the light of heauen Therefore the Hebrew scholiast Solomon Iarchi thinking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here to be alone with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other places of all other interpreters iudged best and the same which my selfe approoued before euer I read it in him or any other As likewise master Fox in a sermon of his entituled De Oliua Euangelica vnderstandeth it so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith hee is an Hebrew phrase whereby is signified mans life taken away and therefore he giueth this interpretation thereof Et vita priuabitur Hee shall be depriued of life His iudgement touching the force of the worde to bee all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall not be is all one with mine and that of Rabbi Solomon yet as I vnderstand the word of cutting off somewhat more largelie of thinges abolished otherwise then by death So this not beeing may bee referred to the gouernment ceasing and extinguished of the gouernour taken away though not dead Of the come Gouernour A come gouernour I call Presidem aduenam a deputie stranger called here in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ruler which is come for in the times before the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans there were two rulers of the Citie one of their owne people a Iew by profession or birth after their manner annointed to the gouernment of the common wealth amongst them here named in the verse afore going 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the annointed Prince the other a stranger appointed Deputy by the Roman Emperour called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ruler not borne in the country or one of the same Nation but a stranger come from another place In which sence the same worde seemeth sometime otherwhere to be vsed In the 42. of Genesis the fift verse The sonnes of Israell came to buy foode 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the commers meaning other strangers which were come to Egypt In the second booke of Chronicles the 30. chapter and 25. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strangers which were come frō the Isralites are opposed to the inhabitants of Iudea Also in the fift of Nehemias the 17. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commers of the gentiles are set against such as were Iewes borne With a floud Vespasians hoste the mightie power of the Roman enemies with great force inuaded and went through the whole land of Israell and Iuda and as it were ouerflowing waters ouerwhelmed all A metaphor taken from flouds as in the 11. of this prophesie the 40 verse The king of the north shall come against him with Chariots and Horsemen ouerflow and passe through Vnto the end of the warre shall bee a precise iudgement of desolations In the time and continuance of that warre partly by the forraine enemies partly by the ciuill dissentions within the citie a great desolation of Ierusalem Iuda was made many of the Iewes for the intollerable miserie of those times leauing their Citie and flying as far as their legges could beare them from their owne natiue countrie into strange landes which likewise happened in the former destruction of that land and Citie by Nabugodonosor and the Chaldeans Ierem. 42.14 We will goe into Egypt that wee may see no more war nor heare the sound of the Trumpet nor haue hunger of bread and there wil we dwell This is it which the same Prophet bewaileth in his Lamentations the first chapter and third verse Iudah went away because of affliction and great seruitude Besides these which fled many were slaine a great number perished by famine All the places about the Temple were burnt vp and the Citie was made a Wildernesse and a solitarie floore as Iosephus writeth who knew it so well as no man liuing better The same Author testifieth that the land which before had beene beautified with goodlie trees and pleasant gardens and orchards became so desolate that none which had seene Iudea before with the faire buildings therein at the sight of such a wofull change thereof could haue contained himselfe from weeping and lamenting For all the beautifull ornaments had beene destroyed by warre so that if any which had knowne the place before comming then againe vnto it on a suddaine could not haue knowne it but would haue asked where Ierusalem was though present in it This wee read in Iosephus his seuenth booke of the Iewes war the first chapter and the sixt book the first chapter some other places therfore the speaking of desolations in the plurall number here wanteth not his force to note the multitude thereof They were manifold comming fast one vpon an other first in one place then in another till all was wasted The 27. verse One weeke This seemeth to pertaine not only to the couenant confirming next before in this verse mentioned but also to all the thinges spoken of in the former verse touching Messias to be cut off and the enemies wasting of the Citie by continuall war to the vtter desolation and ruine thereof All these thinges came to passe in the last weeke of the 70. Halfe of that weeke That is of that last weeke mentioned in the next wordes afore going and not a new halfe of an other weeke besides the 70. For this cause the demonstratiue Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ha is set before the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie no other but the same weeke spoken of before according to the Hebrewes custome and manner of speaking obserued also and retained in the Greeke tongue as the learned knowe A like example wee had in the beginning of the next verse afore going in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing the same Article and referring vs to those same 62. weekes before spoken of and no other Touching this couenant sacrifices abolished I will by God
and nothing but vnto wardnesse and Epicurisme amongst them VVhat is this els but that ouerspreading of abominations which Daniell foretelleth should be in those times of the desolation of Ierusalem which is declared as large by Iosephus pointing out the abominable doings of the Iewes at that time committed against nature and all law of God and man The religious and holy places sayth Iosephus were defiled by the vncleane feete of wicked men The temple of God was held and kept as a tower of defence against the people by the seditious rebels the holy ground was sprinkled with the blood of wounded men contrarie to Gods lawe entering thereunto strangers and towne-borne prophane and holy were mingled together and the blood of diuers men being slayne made a poole in the courtes of the Lords house They abused the diuine vessels annointed themselues with the holy oyle drunke of the consecrate wine In euerie place of the citie was spoyling and robberie Burning with lust they forced women in most filthy and abominable manner for their pleasure liuing in Ierusalem as a stewes or brothelhouse At this their extreame wickednesse God was offended and abhorred his citie and detested his temple All this Josephus testifieth in diuers places And in the 2. chapter of his 5. booke of the Iewes warre All law of God and man sayth he was troden vnder foote and derided The holy oracles of the prophets were counted no better then common fables and tales And contemning of the decrees their forfathers touching vice and vertue by the euent they verified those thinges which long before had beene foretold of their countrie For an ould prophecie as Iosephus witnesseth went abrode that then the citie should bee taken and the temple burnt when sedition should arise amongst them and their own handes first defile God his sanctuarie Thus doe Iosephus Daniel refer the raigning and ouerflowing abhominations of the Iewes to the destruction of Ierusalem which the Hebrew Rabbines applied to the comming of Christ So that is prooued true which the Lorde of Plessie in his booke aforenamed affirmeth that it was a common opinion among the Iewes for their Messias to come about the destruction of the Temple which for any thing that I can see to the contrarie may in some sort not without reason bee yeelded vnto For two commings of Christ are declared in holy scripture The first in humilitie spoken of by Zacharie in his ninth Chapter Reioyce greatly Oh daughter of Sion bee glad O daughter of Ierusalem for loe thy king commeth vnto thee euen the righteous and Sauiour lowlie and simple ryding vpon an Asse and a coult the fole of an Asse The other in glorie wherein Christ came in his kingdome whereof we read in the sixteene chapter of Mathew the last verse Verilie I say vnto you there be some of them that stand heere which shall not taste of death till they haue seene the sonne of man come in his kingdome and before in the tenth chapter of the some Euangelist You shall not finish all the Cities of Israel till the sonne of man be come And in the twentie one chapter of Iohn If I will that hee tarrie till I come what is that to thee whereof this word went abroad that this Disciple should not die All these speeches our Sauiour Christ vttered being once come alreadie after his first comming wherefore that an other second comming of his therein is to be vnderstood is so cleare manifest that it need not bee stood vpon which in my iudgement can not to anie time more fitly agree then that wherein the citie of Ierusalem with the holie Temple of God therein was destroyed according to the opinion of the Hebrewes before declared Then Christ our Lord first begun to appeare a reuenging iudge against the wicked and stubborne Iewes in punishing them for their malice against him at his death and cruell persecution of his Church afterward as Eusebius declareth in the third booke of his ecclesiasticall historie the fift chapter Master Iunius in his annotations on this ninth Chapter of Daniel expounding those wordes From the going forth of the commandement to restore and build Ierusalem vnto Christ shall be seuen weekes and threescore two weekes referreth them to the comming of Christ and that comming of Christ to the last of Daniels weekes wherein the desolation of Ierusalem began yeelding this reason because then Christ declared himselfe a Lord by a most seuere iudgement against Ierusalem and the Iewes and by the benefit of the Gospell a Prince and head of the Church which raigneth in the house of Dauid for euer Master Caluin in his harmonie acknowledgeth that by the iudgement of some expositors that place in the tenth of Mathew was referred to the desolation of the holie Citie made by the Romans In the 24. chapter of Mathew when Christ vpon the Disciples praysing of the glorious building of the Temple had spoken of the destruction thereof to come wherein one stone should not bee left vpon another They asked him when those thinges should bee and what signe should bee of his comming and of the end of the world ioyning these three things together the desolation of the Temple the comming of Christ and the end of the world as it were all pertayning to one time and therefore for that which is asked in Mathew touching the signe of Christs comming and the end of the worlde in the other two Euangelistes Marke and Luke this only is demanded what signe should be of the destruction of Gods holie Temple in Ierusalem wherby may bee gathered that the Apostles of Christ held the opinion of the olde Hebrewes concerning the comming of Christ at the desolation of the Temple and therein a change of the world for after that the state of the old Church should be once ouerthrowne the ancient Hebrewes looked for a new worlde as it were by the new raigne of their Messias which in their writings they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the world to come vnderstanding therby the time of Christs kingdome This appeareth in the Chaldie paraphrasis of Ionathas the sonne of Vzziell in the first of kinges the fourth chapter and 32. verse where he calleth the daies of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come of Messias for the Authors of the Iewes law called Talmud treating of sacrifices in the chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the bullocke of the sinne offering contained the whole time of this life from Adam the first man to the last that euer shall bee borne in two worldes which in Hebrew they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first from the beginning of thinges created to the comming of Christ The second from that time to the resurrection of the dead This tradition of the Hebrewes made an end of the old world in the cōming of Christ The Disciples then asking what should bee the signe of Christs comming and the end of the world may seeme to haue
thought the verie same and vnderstoode the same world which ended at the comming of Messias to raigne in a new world by the Gospell and for this cause those times betweene the preaching of Christ and Ierusalem destroyed were called the last dayes in the second chapter of the Actes of the Apostles the 17. verse In the last dayes saith God I will powre of my spirit vpon all flesh and in the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrewes In these last dayes God hath spoken vnto vs by his son These last dayes are all one with the end of the worlde spoken of by the blessed Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians the tenth Chapter eleuenth verse calling that time the ends of the world These things saith he were writtē to admonish vs vpon whome the ends of the world are come and in the Epistle to the Hebrewes the ninth chapter and twentie sixe verse Now in the end of the world hath Christ appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe That which R. Nehemias said of wickednesse to be multiplied against the comming of Christ is it not in plaine wordes verified by Christ himselfe in the verie same twenty foure Chapter of Mathew the twelft verse giuing this for one token of his comming and the desolation of Ierusalem to be at hand that iniquitie should abound and charitie wax cold If any here demaund how the second comming of Christ can be with any reason referred to the destruction of Ierusalem seeing that it is euident by that verie same twentie foure chapter of Mathew that the comming of Christ to iudgement at the latter day is there described by the suddennes therof by his appearing in the clouds the gathering of the elect with the sound of a trumpet by the doome of the iudge declared in the next chapter where the same argument is continued Come yee blessed of my father inherit yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world depart yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuel his angels I answere that the second cōming of Christ containeth his whole raigne iurisdiction and iudgement in the Citie of God the heauenly Ierusalem by the gospel preached frō the desolation of the outward earthly Ierusalem when it begun to the end of the world at the resurrection of all flesh so that the destruction of Ierusalem and the latter doome being both included within the time of Christs second comming there is no let but that the comming of Christ may be referred to both to one in regard of the beginning to the other in regard of the end and consummation thereof And this is the cause that Christ there speaking of his second comming blendeth these two together the desolation of Ierusalem and his last iudgement because both pertained to one and the same kingdome of Christ And hereof it is that respecting the beginning of that kingdome in the destruction of Ierusalem wherein hee first appeared a rauenging iudge hee saith that that generation should not passe till all those thinges were fulfilled All one with that in the end of the sixteene chapter of the same Gospel Verily I say vnto you some of them that stand here shall not taste of death till they haue seene the sonne of man come in his kingdome What time was there more fit for an other comming of Christ to fall vnto within one generation from those wordes by him vttered a little before his death then this what time more agreeable to that which after his resurrection hee spake of Iohns tarrying till he came then the downefall of the Iewes estate and the vtter desolation of their Citie common wealth which that Euangelist liued to see It is not vnlike or disagreeing to reason that then should begin the spirituall raigne of Christ ouer all Nations by the preaching of the Gospell when the doctrine of the law with all the ceremonies thereof were vtterly abolished That then shuld begin the heauenly kingdome of Christ whē the earthly kingdom of the Iewes and all their law gouernment was first extinct That then should begin the inward subiection of Gods newe people the elect amongst the Gentiles and the spirituall seruice of GOD when the Iewes outward worship had ceased That then should begin the spirituall Sion and new Ierusalem from heauen when the earthly Sion and olde Ierusalem had no more being According to the saying of Esay the Prophet in his second chapter It shall come to passe in the last daies that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be prepared in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted aboue the hils and all nations shall flow vnto it And many people shall goe and say Come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his paths for the Law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Where by the high mountaine of the Lords house and the names of Sion and Ierusalem is vnderstoode not any certaine earthly place or materiall citie but the Church of Christ ruled and guided by the preaching of the Gospell Which the Apostle in the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Galathians calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is high Ierusalem or Ierusalem which is aboue Alluding to the former prophesie of Esay and opposing the high Ierusalem to the earthly and materiall Ierusalem which begot children of bondage by the law like Agar and mount Sinai there called the new Ierusalem or Ierusalem that now is For as there were two kinds of Iewes spoken of by Paul in his Epistle to the Romanes the second chapter one visible the other secret so there were two Ierusalems one outward by the visible ceremonies of the Law the other in ward by the spirituall graces of the Gospell which is Christ his Church termed the heauenly Ierusalem in the Epistle to the Hebrewes the twelfth chapter and 22. verse This heauenly Ierusalem then begun when the earthly Ierusalem was brought to an end being destroyed by the Romane armie and consumed by fire and the Iewes led captiue and dispersed abroad The preaching of the gospel begun long before the destruction of Ierusalem I confesse euen by Christ himselfe while he liued and continewed after by the apostles for the space of 40. yeares All this is true Yet so as withall the outward and ciuill gouernement of the Iewes common wealth with their ceremoniall seruice and law worship remayned still all that while in the holy citie and temple of God And therefore that preaching of Christ and his apostles so long before seemed rather a preparation to this kingdome of Christ then any perfect beginning thereof According to that manner of preaching vsed by Christ and followed of his apostles Mat. 4.17 Mat. 10.7 repent for the kingdome of God is at hand Meaning that Christ in