Vers. 23. But yet they could not hurt him Vers. 30. because his HOUR was not yet come So another time Ioh. VIII 20. when they would fain have layd hold on him the same reason is given why they could not because his HOUR was not yet come it could not be till the Passeover The latter time here mention'd was on the 23th of Tisri when our Saviour was teaching in the Treasury In the end of that day upon his saying those words before ABRAHAM was I am they took up Stones to cast at him But not to work Miracles needlessly he escaped from them in the throng and that probably by the help of his Disciples for they were then about him or near him Ioh. IX 2. He had no sooner escaped that storm but another was raised against him upon his working a Miracle on the Sabbath day It was his giving Sight to one that was born blind Ioh. IX 14. for which since they could not reach our Saviour they layd hold on the poor man and cast him out of the Synagogue Vers 34. The mean while our blessed Saviour in his return from Ierusalem met with his LXX Disciples who brought him an account of what they had done in their Ministry The first place he came to was Martha's house Luk. X. 38. She was a widow as Grotius thinks Her House was at Bethany Ioh. XI 1. about fifteen furlongs from Ierusalem Vers. 18. From thence he went on through the Cities and Villages Luk. XIII 22. which were prepared for him by his LXX Disciples No doubt it was by their means that wheresoever he came he found the People so ready to hear him As we reade Luk. XI 29. that in one place they were gathered thick together for that purpose So in another it is sayd there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. XII 1. innumerable multitudes insomuch that they trode upon one another But every where the Scribes and Pharisees got in among them Luk. XI 53 54. who were still laying wait for him seeking to catch something out of his Mouth that they might accuse him No doubt they were these that were still cavilling at his Miracles seeking Signs from heaven Luk. XI 15 16. But it appears they put the people on the same Vers. 29. and so again Luk. XII 56. where he gives them the same answer as he had done before to the Pharisees Matt. XVI 3. Our Saviour thus going on through the Cities and Villages where the LXX had been was now again making his journey to Ierusalem Luk. XIII 22. This was no doubt to the Feast of DEDICATION which was yearly held on the 25th of Cisleu above two months after the Feast of Tabernacles In his way to that Feast we find him at Peraea in Herod's Dominions Luk. XIII 31. There Herod kept his Court at Machaerus as we learn from Iosephus Ant. XVIII 7. and elswhere But he could not like to have the blessed Iesus so near him for His being there could not but mind the people of his forerunner Iohn Baptist whose death was very grievous to them It seems most likely that Herod for that reason sent the Pharisees to try if they could affright him out of those coasts It appears that our Saviour knew they came from Herod for to Him he sends them with this Answer go tell that Fox c. I cannot dye out of Ierusalem And thereupon he pronounced the Fate of that City that it should be layd desolate and should be left so till the time foretold Psal. CXVIII 25 26. even the Time when the JEWISH Nation shall turn to him saying blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. All this our Saviour repeated again Matt. XXIII 37 c. when the Hosanna-time at his coming up to Ierusalem was past and therefore it is not necessary that these words should refer to that particular Occasion That being indeed a fulfilling of that Prophecy Zech. IX 9. of Christ's coming to Ierusalem riding on an Asse in such manner as is therein described with all those Shews of public joy among the common People which were but a low Type of the universal joy that shall be hereafter at their Restauation Our Saviour's coming up now from Peraea to Jerusalem was to the Feast of DEDICATION before mentioned It was now that he had that dispute with the Iews Ioh. X. 24. upon which they were for stoning him more than once Vers. 31 39. but both times he escaped out of their hands And after the Feast he went again into Peraea Vers. 40. About this time on the 25th of December began the 36th year of his Age. 33 36 19 Our blessed Lord being returned from the Feast of DEDICATION made his abode in Peraea with his Disciples for some time Iohn X. 40. and there on the account of what they had heard Iohn Baptist say of him as well as what they saw of the Miracles that he wrought many believed on him Vers. 41 42. From thence at the desire of Mary and Martha he came into Iudaea again to help their Brother Lazarus who was sick unto death Ioh. XI 7 8. At his coming thither he found Lazarus dead and buryed some days before There in the presence of many witnesses our Saviour restored him to life which put his Enemies out of all patience The chief Priests and Pharisees from that day forth were in consultation together how to put him to death Now it was not safe for our Saviour to stay there nor to go to any place that they were acquainted with for they had given a Commandment that if any man knew where he was he should shew it that they might take him Vers. 57. Our Saviour therefore retired into the Country near to the Wilderness It was that which reaches from Iericho to Bethel Iosh. XVI 1. and which is called the Wilderness of Bethaven XVIII 12. There his retirement was in a City called Ephraim which seems to have been that where Absolom had his Sheep-shearing to which he invited David and his Sons II Sam. XIII 23. In St. Ierom's time there was a very great Village called Ephrea about 20 miles North of Ierusalem This long Wildernesse as Ioshua there shews was in the confines between Benjamin and Ephraim or between the Countries of Iudaea and Samaria as they were called in our Saviour's time Our blessed Saviour could not be safer than there in any place at that distance from Ierusalem and he could not well be further off being soon to return to Ierusalem for the Passeover was nigh at hand Ioh. XI 54 55. So near that they that sought his life were enquiring whether he would not come up that year Vers. 56. They were afraid he would stay away from this Passeover as he had done from the two last beforegoing But when our Saviour saw his time to come up to the Feast then out of his retirement he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee Luk. XVII 11. that is as the learned
land they had despised they must now go wandring the rest of their days in the wilderness For this they e v. 45. wept before the Lord. They would have got him to take off that sentence but that could not be only this God was pleased to change in it whereas he had ordered them to begin their Journey to morrow into the wilderness and so on f Num. XIV 45. to the Red Sea Num. XIV 45. Now in compassion to their wounded men he gave them leave to lie still g Deut. l. 46. many daies till they were so well cured as to be able to go with the rest 98. After this they took their Iourney into the wilderness as God They wâ—…nder 38 yeâ—…rs in the wilderness had commanded them Their way was now directly from Canaan toward the h Deut. II. 1. Red Sea But it was not the same way that they came hither For now they were to i v. 4. compass the land of Edom Deut. II. 1 4. first from North to South till they came to the Red Sea and then from South to North still compassing k v. 8. Idumaea till they came to the wilderness of Moab Deut. II. 8. There they were to pass the brook l v. 13. Zered v. 13. And so they did thirty eight years after their coming from m v. 14. 1â—… Kadesh-Barnea In which time all those that came out of Egypt at the age of twenty years old and upward were n v. 16. consumed and dead from among the people It was a long and tedious Journey as God ordered it for them For it was at his Commandment that they journied and at his Commandment they pitched their Camp His pleasure was fignified to them by the Pillar of Cloud by day and of Fire by night When the Pillar was taken up from the Tabernacle then after that they journied and wheresoever that rested there they pitched their Camp The way of it is largely and clearly a Num. IX 15 23. described Num. IX 15 23. And whereas from Kadesh Barnea to the Red Sea it was not above b Bp. Patrick on Nâ—…m XXXIII 19. â—…en days Journey the shortest way they made it a Journey of 37 years in all which time they had no more than 17 Resting places So that if in every one of those places they had rested an equal space of time every time they had rested it would have been more than two years No doubt in some places they rested a less time and in some much longer Then from Ezion Geber at the Red Sea they went somewhat quicker to the Brook Zered which was in the Confines of Moab They went it in one year during which they had no more but eight Resting places But now they had been full thirty and eight years in coming from Kadesh Barnea to the Brook Zered which as we are told by one c Geo. Synceâ—…us in Chronogr p. 142. 〈◊〉 Paris that travel'd it himself is no more than five days Iourney Thus it pleased God to give those Rebel's time to dye in the wilderness as every one of them did within those thirty eight years in all which time a New Generation was growing up which Ioshua and Caleb were to bring into the promised Land and there to shew them how that good Land was belied by their ungrateful and rebellious Fathers 99 Of what they did in those first thirty seven years or what Of their three last Rebellions happen'd to them in all that time we have very little Information in History only Moses gives us an account of three of their Rebellions in that time which shewed how far they were from being reclaim'd by all their warnings and punishments 100. The first of these Rebellions was that which Korah and his 〈◊〉 that of Korah Complices raised against Moses and Aaron It was as the d Ios. Ant. IV. 1. Iewish Historian tells us such a Sedition as never was known among the Greek or Barbarous Nations The chief mover in it was Korah a Levite whose father Izhar was Brother to Amram the father of Moses and Aaron He was himself a chief man among those of his Tribe but he was not contented with that He was for the Chief Priesthood if he could get it But there was no other way to come at that but by breaking through the divine Institution of the three Orders of the Ministry It was by God's immediate e Ex. XXIX Command that Moses had f Lev. IX consecrated Aaron and his Sons to be Priests which Act of his God had confirmed by sending Fire from heaven on their Sacrifice in the sight of all the People of Israel g Lev. IX 24. Lev. IX 24. He had also given them the Levites to assist them h Num. III. 9. VIII 19. Num. III. 9. VIII 19. in all the inferior parts of their ministry But this was it which Korah could not endure He was for the Priesthood himself and so were others of his Tribe Num. XVI 10. Which since God had taken from them they would have it of the People's Gift The People of Israel could not forget that before this Divine Institution the Priesthood had gone by Primogeniture It was i instead of all the First born of Israel that God took the Levites into Num. III. 12 〈◊〉 his Service Num. III. 12 41. For this reason it seems that Korah applied himself to Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Reuben who was the first-born Son of Israel together with them there were a Nuâ—… XVI 〈◊〉 3. two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation that rose against Moses and Aaron It appears that all these took the Priesthood upon them as well as Korah himself For b v. 1â—… they took every man his Censer and put fire in them no doubt from the Altar of God and laid incense thereon to offer it before the Lord. He that was not a Priest and did this was to be put to death Num. III. 10 38. * King Uzzialâ—… attempting to burn incense to God though he was not put to death he was chastised with the utmost severity for it n Câ—…ron XXVI 16 21. The Leprosy rose up in his Foreâ—… at that Instant and they that saw it thrust hâ—… out of the Temple yea himself also hasted to go out and he dwelâ—… ever after in a separate house being a Leper unto the day of his death and Iotham his Son took upon him the Government of Israel 2 Chron XXVI 16 21. This they could not but know But they would venture it thinking perhaps that the Laws which Moses delivered from God concerning the Priesthood were not God's but his Own made in favour of and Combination with his Brother Aaron If they had not thought so they would not have dared to break out into such Language as they c Nuâ—… XVI 〈◊〉 gave Moses and Aaron v. 3. When they
IX 26. there it seems they lost the Brook that Moses fetcht out of the Rock at Massa and Meriba Ex. XVII This Brook had followed them hitherto but it could not ascend as they did to their next station which was at c Num. XX. 1. and XXXIII 36. Kadesh in the * There it was that Miriam the Sister of Moses dyed by which we know the just Time of their being there For at Mount Hor which was their very next stage there her Brother Aaron dyed which was in a Num. XXXIII 38. the fortieth year of the Peoples coming out of Egypt and on the first day of the fifth month of that year But Miriam's death is remember'd by the Iews on the Tenth day of the first month by which account she dyed not quite four months before him b Ios. Ant. IV. 4. p. 109. G. Iosephus saith she was buried there on a Mountain which they call Sein So it seems it was remember'd in his time wilderness of Zin Num. XX. 1. Hereupon there was a second d Num. XXVIII 14. and Deut. XXXII 51. Massa and Meriba so called on the following occasion There being no water for the Congregation they gather'd themselves together against Moses and Aaron and the People dd Num. XX. 2. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chid with Moses and said would to God we had dyed with our Brethren c. wherefore have you made us to come out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place Here is none of all those good things we were to have in the promised Land e v. 5. neither is there any water to drink This want of water was a Temptation that they had not Faith to withstand And yet even now at this present they could not but see by the Pillar of Chud that the same God which brought them up out of Egypt was still with them And they knew what he could do in this very case by having ee Ex. XVII 6. seen what he did in the like which they could not forget having lived upon the effects of it ever since But besides they had seen many other wonderful proofs of an Almighty Providence over them by which they had been deliver'd out of Egypt brought through the Red Sea and preserv'd and fed for so many years since in the wilderness But all these great works of God they threw back to him with Contempt wishing they had never been They wished that f Num. XX. 3. they had dyed with that Rebellious Crew that perished in the gain saying of Korah This was such a g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 13. quarelling with God as he calls it v. 13. that Moses the meekest Man on the Earth could not bear it It provoked him to that degree that he could not speak to them with Patience Insomuch that when God commanded him to take his Rod and go and speak to the Rock before their Eyes and told him that that being done it should give forth its water abundantly He called the People together to see this work of God and as they stood there h v. 10. together before the Rock v. 10. He said unto them Hear now you Rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rock i v. 11. And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he sinote the Rock twice and the water came out abundantly In his Anger it seems he did so far forget himself as to do things like one that believed not what God had said to him He struck the Rock twice when God had told him only a Num. XX. 8. speaking to it would suffice Aaron was as it seems in the same fault with Moses for which the dignity of their Persons being consider'd God thought fit to lay Exemplary Punishments on both of them and so he declared that b v. 12. neither of them should enter into Canaan As for Aaron God shorten'd his Journey then presently for he dyed at the next station which was at c v. 28. Mount Hor as has been already shewn and Moses dyed at d Deut. XXXIV 5. Mount Nebo within six months after 108. The next Journey of the People of Israel was through a Third Murmuring at Tsalmona tedious and troublesome e Num. XXI 4. way in which they had nothing to live upon but what came by daily and continual Miracles And whereas they ought to have been thankful for this they were so far from it that they spoke as well against God himself as against Moses They joined them both together in this bitter Expostulation ee v. 5. wherefore have You brought us up out of Egypt to dye in the wilderness Num. XXI 5. This was their Third Rebellion and the last that we read of in the History of this Generation For the punishment of this Sin f v. 6. punisht with fiery Serpents God sent fiery Serpents among them v. 6. It was a most venemous sort of Creature with which that Wilderness did abound And they bit the People so as that a Multitude of them dyed of it The rest came to Moses to intercede for them g v. 7. They said we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee pray unto the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us They could not have asked a thing which Moses was readier to do He prayed and God order'd him to h v. 8. set up the Image of such a Serpent made of Brass on the top of a very high Pole that every one that was bitten might look up to it and live It is more than once that our blessed Lord minds us of this as a Type of his being i Ioh. III. 14. XII 32. lifted up on the Cross that they that are bitten with Sin may look up to Him and be saved 109. This last Rebellion was at Tsalmona * This place was so called from Tselem which signifieth an Image in memory of this Brazen Serpent It seems the People took this away with them and had it in so great esteem that in process of time they came to worship it as an Idol for which it was r 2 Kin. XVIII 4 broken in pieces by King Hezekiah 2 Kings XVIII 4. which was the thirty At Zered was an end of this murmuring Generation fift station of God's People in the k Num. XXXIII 41. wilderness Num. XXXIII 41. In four stations more they came to the place called l v. 45. Dibon-Gad in the Valley of Zered There as Moses tells us being m Deut. II. 13. come over the Brook of that name there were now none remaining of that Generation of men that were twenty years old or upward when they came up out of Egypt It was now n v. 14. thirty eight years since they came from Kadesh Barnea and full forty years since God took them first to be his People in Egypt All which time of o
the People of Israel and together with him the Daughter of a King of the Midianites who would surely make it a National Quarrel This was such a thing as God would not let vs be ignorant of and therefore he plainly tells us that the Name of the Man was g v. 14. Zimri the Son of Salu a Prince of the cheif family among thr Simeonites and that the Woman was h v. 15. Cozbi the Daughter of Zur who as he tells us i XXXI 8. elsewhere was one of the five Kings of Midian Such an Heroic Action as this was being done in pure Zeal for Gods Cause was so highly acceptable to him that thereupon he stopt his hand and would not suffer the Plague to proceed any farther And not onely so but as well for a Reward to Phineas at present as for a Memorial of it in future times God gave him the promise of continuing the Priesthood to him and his seed after him for ever 120. By this one Act of his it came to pass that this Judgment of The Plague held but one day God was no more than k 〈◊〉 Cor. X. 9. one days work It was l Num. XXV 18. the Day of the Plague as Moses calls it But in that short space of time there dyed m v. 9. of the Plague no fewer than 24000. Moses elsewhere has told us that those were n Deut. IV. 3. all the Men that followed Baal-Peor And that none dyed after this day till the Date of the Book o Deut. I. 3. of Deuteronomy which was but one Month before his death This is certain from what he told them in the next words p v. 4. You that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day 121. No doubt they that saw this terrible Judgment of God Moses's last numbring of the People though they knew how just it was upon them that perished in it yet could not but be in some kind of fear for themselves none of them being secure but that living as they did among those Idolatrous Nations with whom God would not let them be in hostility they might by conversing with them be ensnared into some Sin or other for which they might perish in like manner God was pleased therefore to let them know that the danger they were in on that account was not long to continue There was onely the a Num. XXVI 3. River Iordan between them and the Land which God had promised to their Fathers Their next Remove would bring them thither And when they had taken possession of that Land which God could give them as easily as he had given them all on this side Iordan they were then b 53 ... 55. to divide it for an Inheritance among themselves To let them see it was the Care of Gods Providence that it should be equally shared he was pleased to order c v. 1. Moses and Eleazar the High Priest to make a second Numbring of the People like that which Moses and Aaron had d Num. l. 1. formerly made in the Wilderness of Sinai It could not but comfort them to see that after the dying away of more than e v. 46. 600000 men that had been then Numbred many of them no doubt dying Natural deaths but all the rest save f Num. XXVI 65. onely Ioshua and Caleb having been swept away by those Judgments of God that had fallen upon them within these last 38. Years yet now they were but g v. 51. 1120. men fewer than they were at that former Numbring which small Number of men might very likely have been lost by their own Miscarriages in the h XXI 31 35. Conquering of those two Kingdoms 122. All this while as well they as their Fathers before them They had now all Extraordinary means had continually before their Eyes those i v. 71 86 93. evident proofs of Gods presence among them in the Pillar of fire all night and of cloud all day either moving before them or resting over the Tabernacle They had the k Deut. VIII 3. Manna which their Bread was made of immediately from Heaven They had their l v. 15. Water first out of one Rock and then out of another still following them all the while they were in the Wilderness None of them had his Raiment waxen old nor his m v 4. and XXIX 1. Shoes grown uneasy to his feet in all these 40. Years God was pleased to let them know that his design in all this was as well to n v. 2 3 16. humble them seeing they had nothing they could call their own as also to teach them to live in an entire Dependance on his Providence 123. There was certainly Need of such Extraordinary ways to With little of the Ordinary instruct them and to mind them of their duties there being then so little of the Ordinary means which God gave to his People in after times They had not the Sacrament of o Iosh. V. 5. Circumcision since their coming up out of Egypt They had no p v. 10 12. Passeover since the second Year after that They had no written Rule to walk by but onely that of the q Ex. XX. Ten Commandments r XXXIV 27. written in Tables of stone and they had also those National Judgments which are all conteined in s Ex. XXI XXII XXIII three Chapters of Exodus Whatsoever Teaching they had more it could be no other than what they had from the mouth of Moses for he writ nothing till the last l Deut. XXXI 9 25. year of his life 124. And yet perhaps no people in the world ever needed teaching Their great Degeneracy more than they did For though they were Abraham's Seed by Sarah his wife and that according to the a Gen. XVII 19. promise of God which was their great Privilege yet even that did not free them from Original Corruption that came to them from much nearer Parents than Abraham and Sarah The immediate Fathers of the Twelve Tribes of Israel were the Twelve Sons of Iacob by whose names they were called But for these Patriarchs how any of them lived or what they did we have no Account in any other Book but that of Genesis and even there we have nothing told us particularly but of the four Eldest Sons and of Ioseph And though this last appears to us wholely without Spot yet of those four others the most that we know is of their Crimes We cannot read of the Incests of b Gen. XXXV 22. Reuben and c XXXVIII 18. Iudah the Faithbreach and Cruelty of d XXXIV 27. Simeon and Levi without sad reflections on the Ignorance of those times For the rest of Iacob's Sons God has not been pleased to let us know any thing of them save only this that when those two Bloudy men were for e XXXVII
that for a Reason why he should forgive his People and continue his presence among them which God himself had given for a Reason aa Ex XXXII 9. why he would have consum'd them but for Moses's Intercession and why he b XXXIII 3 5. must do it yet if he continued to dwell with them But those Learned Men seem not to have consider'd how much the case was changed since the time of Gods speaking those words His People had now c v. 4 6. repented of their Sin and obeyed him by â—…iripping themselves and mourned for his withdrawing himself from them Upon these proofs of their Repentance Moses had reason to hope for their amendment and better obedience for the future But yet in Moses's Opinion this was not to be hoped without the Extraordinary assistance of the Shecina of God For still they were a stiffnecked People though not now in Actual Rebellion as they were at the time when God called them so They did still retain the same stubborn disposition which made them so extremely ungovernable as he had found them hitherto Their necks were naturally stiff and would not bend to give ear to any thing he could say to them from God till such time as his Glory appeared in the Shecina and then being †Moses had seen some Instances of this as we may read Ex. XIV 19 20. XVI 7 10. XXXIII 10. He saw many more afterwards which he speaks of Lev. IX 23 24. Num. IX 19 23. XI 25. XIV 10 14. XVI 19 and 42. Though all thâ—…s while as to the generality of them it was true that is said Ps. LXXVII 34 36. They onely flattered and lied as the Text saith they trifled as Ionathan renders it and so it followeth v. 37. their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant But still Moses hoped better of them and he knew if there were any way to bring them to good it must be this which he therefore so earnestly begs of God struck with what they saw of Gods visible presence among them they would bend a little for the present and hear and obey what he said to them This was surely that which Moses thought of in useing this Reason why God should go on to forgive as he had done and continue his Presence among them which they needed so extremely that it seemed impossible without it to keep them from destroying themselves by their wilfulness That the Proof which has been given of our Lord IESUS hit being the promised Messias may be set in a better light it has been thought fit to bring it into the two following sets of Chronological Tables in which the Proof will appear to any man that has but so much skill in Common Arithmetic as is not above the learning of an ordinary Reader THE first of these sets is of Iulian years from the 20th year of King ARTAXERXES which was the 445th year before the common Christian Aera till the 19th of TIBERIUS which was the 33th year of that Aera in which very year that our Lord JESUS was crucisyed on the 3d day of April being the Jewish Passover is the common Opinion of learned men among the Christians and has been sufficiently proved in this Work But here it is proved by PTOLEMIES CANON the undoubted Measure of time among all the Astronomers both Jews and Gentiles That this 20th year of ARTAXERXES being the year on which according to Nehemiah II. 1 8. he gave the Commandment for the building of Ierusalem again and on which it was accordingly built was 476 years and odd days before the said 19th year of TIBERIUS that is there were 483 Chaldee years from the one to the other which is the ground work of the farther Proof that is offered in the second set of Tables The Second is of these Chaldee years whereof every one has 360 Days which way of Measuring Time being unusual among us it is therefore thought necessary for the making of it the more intelligible that every one of these Chaldee years should be adjusted with its concurrent Iulian years so as to shew in what Month and Day of those concurrent years it began and ended and by these any ordinary Reader may know whereabout he is in the time before or after CHRIST in every Chaldee Year that lies before him The use of these Tables will be made the more easy and clear by sorting the 483 years above mentioned into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 septenaries or Weeks whereof there are just LXIX in that Number of years For this being done it will plainly appear that these are the VII Weeks and the LXII Weeks in that Prophecy Dan. IX 25. and whereas there it is said that after those LXII Weeks the MESSIAS shall be cutt off it is here very evident in the last of these Tables that the last of these LXII Weeks ended on the 11th Day of May in the Vulgar year of CHRIST 32 which was within lesse than a year of the 3d of April 33 that was the time of CHRIST'S death as has been already shewed And therefore CHRIST'S death being after the LXII Weeks and that not a year after for that year would have been reckoned into the following Week it cannot be denyed but that he was crucifyed at the very Time when MESSIAS was to be cut off according to DANIELS prophecy After the 1st set of Tables there will be added the years of the IV Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles pag. xviij xix c. And after Daniels VII LXII Weeks there will be added the single Week to make up the LXX IN the first set of Tables every JULIAN year therein contained has a Line belonging to it that runs through all the Columns in that page in which line it is adjusted with 2 other sorts of years that are concurrent with it namely first with DANIEL'S Chaldee years secondly with the years in PTOLEMY'S Canon The Column marked with B under it shews what Iulian years are Bissextile or leap-years which in every 20 years before Christ are the 17 13 9 5 1st in the years after Christ the 4 8 12 16 20 th These are carefully to be observed in Computation because whereas every common year has 365 days every leap-year has 366 one day being added after the 24 th day of February which makes that month to be of 29 days which has but 28 in common years Column C is of the Iulian years before Christ from the year 445 downward till the Vulgar Aera begins then afterward this Column will be of the years of our Lord according to the Vulgar Aera Every one of these Iulian years beginning on the first of Ianuary ending Dec. 31 is divided into 2 Numbers of Days in the Columns of Daniel's years Those of the first number always begin on the first day of Ianuary those of the second end on the last of December except onely
as a Criminal before you hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of heaven meaning this of Himself as the Messiah is described in Dan. VII 13. Our blessed Lord having thus owned that he was the Messiah the High Priest rent his clothes as they used to do at the hearing of Blasphemy 2 Kings XVIII 37. XIX 1. Now he cryed what need we any further Witness Behold you have heard his blasphemy what think you By the Law Blasphemy was a Capital Crime Lev. XXIV 16. And so they all condemned him as being guilty of Death Matt. XXVI 64 66. Mar. XIV 61 64. Now they found a great want of the power of Life Death that was taken from them by the * The Iews say that 40 years before the Destruction of the Temple Capital Judgements were taken away from Israel v. Lightfoot Vol. I. pag. 265. Romans But in this matter they did not doubt to get Pilate to supply that defect The mean while they treated our Lord Iesus with the utmost spite and contempt as if he were the very worst and vilest of men Matt. XXVI 67 68. They that just before had Judged him Guilty of Death came to him and spit in his Face and then in mockery having cover'd his Eyes they Buffeted him bid him Prophecy Mar. XIV 64 65. Their Servants went on with their inhumane Sport striking him with the Palms of their Hands or their Sandals and then saying Prophecy unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee The mean while the whole Sanhedrin having sent no doubt to know Pilate's pleasure when they should attend him with their Prisoner to get Him to put him to Death Matt. XXVII 1. were now consulting together about the Accusation they should bring in against him They knew that to charge him according to their manner with speaking Blasphemous Words against the Holy Place and the Law Acts. VI. 13. would signify nothing And if they should charge him with that which they had condemned him for his making himself the Christ Pilate would not understand it But they knew he would be toucht to the quick with any charge relateing to CAESAR the Emperor that then was Tiberius being a most jealous Prince that would not endure the least seeming Neglect especially of them that were entirely his Creatures as Pilate was This was the reason why they pitched upon that Ensnaring Question about the Lawfullness of paying Tribute to Caesar and put that to our Saviour for this very End that so they might deliver him to the Governor Luk. XX. 20. And though he escaped them then by giving them such an Answer as shewed how unjust it was in them Now to charge him with the same Crime yet to make sure work they resolved that this should be his Accusation And so when the morning was come Matt. XXVII 1. Mar. XV. 1. at or after †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was after Sun-rising See LXX Iud. IX 33. II Sam. XXIII 4. II King III. 22. So here Mar. XV. 1. Censorinus C. XXIV saith vocatur Mane cum lux videtur solis It must signify so in this place for it was Day a good while since Luke XXII 66. Sun-rising they took our Saviour with them to the Iudgement Hall Ioh. XVIII 28. or Pilate's House as it is in the Margin There went the whole Sanhedrin together Mar. XV. 1. to give the more countenance to their Business When they were come thither these bloody Hypocrites that had just now Swallow'd a Camel were presently straining at a Gnat. They held it a Legal pollution for any one of their Religion to go into a Room among the Sinners of the Gentiles as they called them Though there was no such thing in the Scriptures yet according to their Doctrine it would have been such a Defiling of themselves Ioh. XVIII 28. that after it they could not have eaten the Passeover that Friday Evening On this Solemn Occasion so great a part of that Nation being there at Ierusalem together Pilate could not but think it his best way to Humor them in this and therefore upon their sending in their Prisoner to him Ioh. XVIII 28. he went out to them and demanded their Accusation vers 29 He asked it in such a manner as shewed he would willingly have declined this Trouble But they told him plainly it was a Capital Cause and therefore properly belonged to his Cognizance Our blessed Lord being now to be cut off according to Daniel's Prophecy and that Judicially as it has been shewn in the Exposition it was as St. Iohn tells us XVIII 32. so ordered by the Providence of God that he should be brought before a Roman Judge to be condemned by the Roman Law to be Crucified which was the very Death that our blessed Lord himself had foretold he should suffer Ioh. XII 32 33. He could not have come to it otherwise They began to Accuse him in these Words we have found this Fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ a King Luke XXIII 2. What they called now perverting the Nation they called afterward vers 5. Stirring them up no doubt against the Roman Government And if that and all they charged him with had been True then he had been a Messias for their turn as much as Barchochba was to the Iews in the next Age. But their Quarrel against our blessed Lord was onely because he came in a low suffering Condition as it was foretold that he should in Esai LIII and other such Prophecies of Scripture The things which they charged him with being just contrary to what appear'd in all his Life and Doctrine they could not pretend to bring any Proof of them But for that there would be no need of any in the way that they took The last thing in their Accusation being this that he made himself a King it was their way to get Pilate to ask him the Truth of That They knew he would own it to Pilate as he had done already to Them and they reckoned his Owning of this would be taken for Proof of all the rest Pilate could not think by any thing he saw in the Prisoner that they were in Earnest when they charged him with this However since they would have it so he did ask him Art thou the King of the Iews Our Saviour answer'd him thou sayest vers 3. Which Words were an Affirmation in the Syriac that was his Native Language But Pilate either understood not the Idioms of that tongue or would not believe a thing so contrary to what he Saw in him Therefore the chief Priests seeing that would not do went on to accuse him of many other things Mar. XV. 4 But still they offer'd no proof of any thing that they said And the things they charged him with being palpably false our blessed Lord heard them as one unconcern'd He answer'd
Chief Priests on our Saviour that he called himself King of the Iews as Pilate being vexed at their pressing him with this had it seems to vex them called him your King more then once Ioh. XIX 14 15. So now to vex them more he had it written in the Table above mention'd Iesus of Nazareth the King of the Iews It seems before this was Nailed up that many of the Iews had read it as all might that would for it was written in Hebrew Greek and Latin there being scarce any of the Iews but understood one or more of these Languages Hereupon the Chief Priests being disturbed did as it seems hinder the setting of it up for a while till they had spoken with Pilate And fain they would have perswaded him not to write the King of the Iews but that he said I am King of the Iews But Pilate did not fear their complaining to Caesar of This and therefore being as Philo says inflexible in his own Nature and Angry with them besides he Answer'd them accordingly what I have written I have written Ioh. XIX 19 22. While this matter was in Debate the Soldiers expecting the Title and having nothing else to do at present sat down and watched him there Matt. XXVII 36. It seems to have been on that Occasion of Pilate's giving our Saviour the Title of King of the Iews that their Rage which he had quieted a little before by Sentencing him to that cruel Ignominious Death now flamed out afresh to that degree that they were for punishing him More if it were possible They did what they could toward it by falling upon him in several Attaques reviling and scoffing and insulting over his Miseries First we read how the People that stood Looking upon him and the Rulers also with them Dâ—…rided him Luk. XXIII 35. wherein They fulfilld that part of the Prophecy Psal. XXII 6. in which David says in the Person of the Messias They that See me laugh me to scorn Next They also that Passed by reviled him wagging their Heads Matt. XXVII 39 40. Mar. XV. 29 30. therein fulfilling the following part of the same Prophecy But above all the rest the Sanhedrin or a Commitee of them for they were of all three Orders Chief Priests and Elders and Scribes that attended there to set on the People had so much forgot the Sacredness or even the Gravity of their Profession that they stood there mocking at him and jesting among themselves Matt. XXVII 41. Mar. XV. 31. Some of these Scoffers charged him with those Words that the false Witnesses could not agree about that he said he would destroy the Temple and build it again in three Days a plain Wresting of the Words of that Prophecy of his Death and Resurrection which was even now to be fulfilled Others scoffed at his Miracles as if his saving others were nothing unless he did now save himself And yet they could not deny he had newly raised Lazarus from the Dead and they very well knew he had foretold that after three days he would rise himself Matt. XXVII 63. The Scoff they all join'd in was at his being called the King of the Iews the King of Israel the Messias the Christ the Son of God these are severall Words for the same thing and the Scoffers used some one Word some another all agreeing in this that if he were the Christ he must come down from the Cross. But he had told them often before that he was to be lifted up Ioh. XII 34. but not once of his coming down And he was to prove his being the Messias not by his escaping Death but by his Resurrection from the Dead The strangest of all their Scoffs was in these Words He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him Matt. XXVII 43. Strange indeed that they that saw his Hands and Feet pierced when he was Nailed to the Cross and now he was hanging on it they could tell all his Boâ—…es they that saw the Soldiers parting his Garments all which things they had read in that Psalm of the Passion Psal XXII 16 17 18. should themselves use those Words which it is there foretold some would use on that Occasion Psal. XXII 8. A plain Instance of the just Judgement of God upon them for their Obstinacy that though they read the Writings of the Prophets every Day yet they fulfilled All that was written in them of our Saviours sufferings Act. XIII 27 28 29. It is no wonder that the Soldiers also mocked our Saviour when they saw it done by all those of his own Nation But these poor Heathens did it with some kind of Humanity For coming to him they offerd him Vinegar Luke XXIII 36 37. This being mingled with Water was their common Drink †See Mâ—…ill in Ioh. XIX not XXXVI And no doubt it was in compassion that they offer'd it to him it was for the asswaging of his Thirst which could not but be very great after his violent Sweatâ—… and so much loss of Blood The Soldiers at this time having received the Table with that Superscription before mention'd were order'd to Nail it on the Top of the Cross above our Saviour's Head Luke XXIII 38. Which being done they were now at Leisure to do what they had left undone at the time of their dividing our Saviour's Garments They had then laid aside the Seamless Coat and now they cast Lots to know whose it should be So Now they had fulfilled the whole Prophetical verse in that Psalm of the Passion Psal. XXII 18. where David saith not of himself but the Messias They parted my Raiment among them and for my Vesture they did cast Lots They had fulfilled the former part of it before Matt. XXVII 35. Now the latter part also was accomplished Thâ—…se things therefore the Soldiers did Ioh. XIX 23 24. Of all sorts of men Iews and Gentiles that were present at our Saviour's Sufferings there were none but had already taken their Turn in reviling and scoffing at him but onely the two Thieves that were Crucified with him But they also having heard what the Chief Priests said of him that if he were Christ he should now come down from the Cross they cast the same in his Teeth Matt. XXVII 44. Mar. XV. 32. But it was onely one of them did this as we learn from Luke XXIII 39. He said if thou be Christ save they self and Us. The other hearing this rebuked him for it and told him how different their Case was from Christ's We indeed suffer justly for we receive the due Reward of our Deeds but this Man has done nothing amiss vers 40 41. It appears by what this man said of Christs Innocency that he knew of his Holy and Exemplary Life He knew also of his Doctrine and Miracles So far as to be thereby converted though Probably not till since his committing those Crimes for which he suffer'd This appears by his Prayer that he made
to our Saviour Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom vers 42. It is clear that he had such a Faith in Christ at this time as some of his Disciples had not till they were convinced of his Resurrection Luke XXIV 21. No wonder therefore that he received this Gracious Answer to his Prayer Iesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise vers 43. It was About the sixt Hour when these things happened Luke XXIII 44. And when the sixt Hour was Come Mar. XV. 33. that is when it was †At noon the Trumpet sounded for the Beginning of the third Watch. See Grotius on Matt. XXVIII 45. NOON there was Darkness over all the Earth untill the Ninth hour Matt. XXVII 45. Mar. XV. 33. Luk. XXIII 44. that is it was dark from Mid-day till Three of Clock in the Afternoon This Darkness was over all the Land Matt. and Mar. Ibid. that is not onely over all Iudaea but over all the Roman Empire or at least all the Eastern Part of it For according to Phlegon who lived in those Parts and was in favor with Adrian the Emperor there was this * Phlegon Trallianus in the XIIIth Book of his Olympiads saies this happened in the last year of the 102d Olympiad Euseb. Chron. and Chron. Paschale and Philopon de Creat II. 21. That Olympiad ended in the 19th year of Tiberius as Philoponus there shews and some Months after April 3. AD. 33. year the greatest Eclipse of the Sun that ever was known It was Night at the sixt Hour of the Day so that the Stars of Heaven were seen We know that this could be no Natural Eclipse for the Moon was then at Full as it must be at the time of the Passeover But we are not concern'd to enquire how it came to pass being very certain of this that He that made the Sun could take away the Light of it at what time or in what manner it pleased him He did more than this in Ioshua's and in King Hezekiah's Days It happen'd at that very time as the same Phlegon tells us that there was in Bithynia so great an Earthquake that a great Part of the City of Nice was overthrown by it No doubt it was the same Earthquake that we read of in the three first Gospels They tell us that at the time of this Darkness the Vail of the Temple was rent in the Midst Luke XXIII 45. It was rent in Twain from the top to the bottâ—…m Matt. XXVII 51. Mar. XV. 38. and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their Graves and went into the Holy City and appeared to Many Matt. XXVII 51 53. But this last thing of Rising from the Dead was not till After Christs Resurrection as St. Matthew there tells us It must be so for Christ himself was the First Fruits of them that slept I Cor. XV. 20 23. He was the First that rose into a state of Incorruption and Immortality This Darkness and this Earthquake being such things as †See Grot. on Matt. XXVII 45 and 51. who shews this both from Heathen Writers and from Scripture He saies the Iews might now remember that Prophecy of Amos VIII 9 10. which he speaks of as being now literally fulfilled all Mankind look upon as Tokens of God's wrath when either of them happens and the Jews †finding them so accounted in their Scriptures therefore the coming of both these together could not but be very Dreadfull to them by whom they were both seen and felt at the same time Especially it must have been so to them that were there reviling and scoffing at that blessed Man whom many among them took to be the Son of God and none of them could shew any Cause of his Suffering They seem to have been so sensible of this that they all withdrew themselves and went home one after another or at least they forbore giving our blessed Lord any farther disturbance for we read nothing more of them during all the Space of Three hours that the Darkness continued But on the contrary his nearest friends that as it appears were not suffered to come within Hearing of him all this while were now come up to him and he had the freedom of speaking to them as they stood by the Cross. There are named particularly Ioh. XIX 25. the blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord and her Sister Mary * This Mary being as it appears next of kin to our Saviour was Mother to two of the Chief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iames who was the first Bishop of Ierusalem and Cleopas Father of Symeon who succeded Iames in that See She is called by the Evangelists Mother of Iames and Ioses Matt. XXVII 56. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. XV. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XVI 1. It appears that both those Sons were alive when those Gospels were written But now when St. Iohn writ Iames had been dead thirty years Ioses it seems was not living But Cleopas was or at least his Son Symeon for he was then Bishop of Ierusalem And therefore she is here called Ioh. XIX 25. the Mother of Cleopas not the Wife as it is in our Translation Mother of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene and together with them Iohn the Evangelist who speaks of himself as he doth always in the third Person and calleth himself the Disciple whom Iesus loved It was an Extraordinary thing that these Women durst own any Relation or Friendship to our Saviour among so many of his bloody and violent Enemies It could not have been safe for them but that they kept at a distance till now when their Enemies were frighten'd away Now when they were come so near him as they shew'd their Affection in it so he shewed his Care of his Mother together with his Authority over Her and his beloved Disciple He bad her that was now losing Him take Iohn instead of himself to be her Son and bad Iohn take charge of her as his own Mother Which he tells us he accordingly did From that hour he took her to his own home vers 26. 27. It may be observed of those two other devout Women that as they were the last that stayd with our blessed Saviour at his Death so they were the First whom he appear'd to after his Resurrection Our blessed Lord being now to have no more Communication with Mankind in this Life applyed himself wholy to God in Supplications and Prayers For which he had much more Occasion now on the Cross than he had in his Agony in the Garden the night before He was Now suffering the utmost of all that he then onely fear'd He was now in a nearer view of all the Terrors of Death His Spirits were spent with so much Effusion of Blood and Nature was now sinking under the burden His onely Support being
the supernatural Assistance of the Spirit of God it seems he had lost the Sence of that for the present which made him cry out in the first Words of the two and twentieth Psalm My God my God! why hast thou forsaken me But as he shewed the firmness of his Faith in calling God by that Title So it appears he did not forget himself to be the Messias of God for whom David made that Psalm in the Spirit of Prophecy And God appear'd to Answer his Prayer by a visible Token in dispelling that Darkness which had now continued three Hours as was before mentioned It was at the Ninth hour that the Darkness went off Matt. XXVII 45. Mar. XV. 33. That was the hour of Prayer in the Temple Act. III. 1. the Time of the Evening Sacrifice After which imediately followed the killing of the Paschal Lambs And that held from the Ninth hour to the Eleventh as Iosephus tells us de bell Iud. VII 17. At the Beginning of this part of the Day namely at the Ninth hour Iesus cried with a loud voice saying Eloi Eloi lamma Sabachthani My God my God c. Mar. XV. 34. The Words that he spoke were in the Syriac tongue which was our Saviour's natural Language And as Bp. Walton saith they were the Words of the Ierusalem Targum of that Psalm But some of them that stood by when they heard it said behold he calleth for Elias Mar. XV. 35. Grotius thinks they were Hellenists such as understood not that Language and therefore mistook the Word Eloi for Elias After this Iesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that belong'd to his State of Humiliation his Death onely excepted to the end that the Scriptures might be fulfill'd he said I thirst Ioh. XIX 28. Thereupon one run and fill'd a Spunge full of Vinegar whereof there stood a Vessel full probably for the Soldiers use And putting this Spunge on a Reed or Stalk of Hyssop which seems to have been a Shrub or small sort of Tree in that Countrey l. King IV. 33. with this they put it to our Saviours Mouth Matt. XXVII 48. Mar. XV. 36. Ioh. XIX 29. Others that were in the same mistake being pleased with this for the asswaging of his Thirst that he might not die presently said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go on so Grotius renders it Go on keep him alive that we may see whether Elias will come to take him down Matt. XXVII 49. Our blessed Lord did receive the Vinegar Ioh. XIX 30. and so fulfilled the latter Part of that Prophecy Psal. LXIX 21. In my thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink which was the last Prophecy to be fulfilled before his Death Our blessed Lord had no sooner Received this but he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioh. XIX 30. Which Word may be render'd it is fulfilled And so by what he said vers 28. St. Iohn seems to have understood it of the fulfilling of the Prophecy It is render'd in our Translation it is Finished and so the same word is used by St. Paul II. Tim. IV. 7. Our blessed Lord had now Finished his great Work that he had undertaken He had pay'd the last drop of his Blood for our Redemption and had nothing more to do but to resign his Soul to God To shew how willingly he did this he cryed with a loud Voice saying Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luke XXIII 46. They are the Psalmist's words Psalm XXXI 5. to which our blessed Lord added onely the Title of Father which he alone could use in his own proper Right And so in perfect Obedience to his Father he did as it was foretold of him pour out his Soul unto Death Esai LIII 12. He Bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost Ioh. XIX 30. St Iohn tells us in his next Words vers 31. that it was now the Preparation of the Sabbath He further tells us that that Sabbath-day was a High-day So the Iews called the first and last days of their great Feasts Ioh. VII 37. This was therefore the first of the seven days of Unleaven'd Bread which falling upon a Sabbath-day was a High-day more than Ordinary But for this Preparation of the Sabbath the Apostle is carefull to distinguish it from the Preparation of the Passeover mentioned before vers 14. That of the Passeover as he there told us was about the Sixt hour which as it was shewn before in page Lxvj. held from Six till Nine in the morning But this Preparation of the Sabbath was not till three of the Clock in the Afternoon So it is expressly said in Augustus his †Jos. Antiq. XVI 10. p. 561. E. Edict for the exempting of the Iews from giving Bail in Suits of Law that it should not be required of them on their Sabbath-dayes nor on their Preparations or sabbath-Sabbath-day Eves from the Ninth hour that is from three of the Clock in the Afternoon It was some three hours before our Saviours death that as St. Luke tells us XXIII 44 45. The Sun was darkned and the Vail of the Temple was rent in the midst plainly shewing that the Eclipse as Phlegon calls it and the Earthquake came both together as they have been placed before in this Discourse But it seems very likely that there was another Shock of the Earth-quake at the time when our blessed Saviour expired For St. Matthew not only places the Earthquake immediately after our Saviours death but also saies Thereupon the Centurion and they that were with him watching Iesus when they saw the Earthquake feared greatly But that which struck them most was their seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. XXVII 54 Luk. XXIII 47. what happened in the Manner of our Saviour's death Mar. XV. 39. viz. that he So Cryed Out and then immediately gave up the Ghost St. Luke saies The Centurion seeing these things happen together Glorified God Owned that this was certainly his Work and that He must be a Righteous Man for whom God was so much concerned nay he must be what he owned himself to be The Son of God As that Word was what made Pilate afraid Iohn XIX 8. so it did now the Soldiers that had thus ill treated so great a Favorite of God But not only They but all the People that were come together to that sight when they beheld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things that had happened smote their breasts and returned Luke XXIII 48. no doubt with sad hearts thinking what heavy Judgements of God this Great Sin was like to bring upon their Nation But soon after they that had been the Authors of this being still Zealous for the Externals of their Religion were concern'd that the dead Bodies should not be suffered to hang upon the Cross on the Sabbath day Especially that being a High day as was before mentioned They therefore besought Pilate that the Bodies might be taken away Ioh. XIX 31. But to shew that they meant the Condemnd Men no Favor