beene if Israels abode had beene in Egypt fully foure hundred and thirty yeeres with no greater increase God promising to multiply that seede of Abraham as the starres of Heauen and the dust of the earth For in the like space of foure hundred and thirty yeeres the World from the floud was replenished onely by three persons Iaphet Sem and Ham with farre greater increase For in Abrahams story we reade of the preparation of nine Kings and of sixe Nations in Canaan and the Countries adiacent And that the earth was peopled and replenished both continent and Ilands long before wee see by the dispersions of Noahs sonnes through the world neither doth the Text being aduisedly read inforce any such continuance in Egypt for thus doth Moses write and our last translation reade The soiourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was foure hundred and thirty yeeres But that the Israelites dwelt not in Egypt foure hundred and thirty yeeres as Genebrard vnderstandeth Moses a second foundation by the holy Genealogies is laid for Kohath accompanied Iacob into Egypt and his sonne was Amram and his son Moses Then seeing Kohath is the enterer and Moses the departer the time cannot extend to foure hundred and thirty yeeres for Kohath liued but one hundred thirty three yeeres Amram his sonne but one hundred thirty seuen and Moses his son was eighty at the departure All which added together make but three hundred and fifty and yet some of them also must bee deducted where they liued together These ages therfore are so sure and true witnesses of Moses his meaning that Genebrard mistaking it affirmeth some betwixt Kohath and Moses to bee omitted To such extremity Genealogies enforceth And yet further to illustrate the text for story a weake woman may serue to support the truth namely Iochebed the mother of Moses who was the immediate daughter of Leui borne vnto him in Egypt by Elishebah his wife Nom. 26. 59. Now the life of Leui extended but to one hundred thirty seuen yeeres Exod. 6. 16. whereof forty three were spent before hee came into Egypt which thus may be collected Leui was borne of Leah in the third yeere of the second seuen of Iacobs seruice with Laban in the end of which seauen Ioseph also was borne Gen. 30. 25. Chap. 31. 41. So that Ioseph is but foure yeeres yonger then Leui. Now Iosephs age at his expounding of Pharoahs dreame was thirty Gen. 41. 46. And thence the seauen yeeres of plenty and the two of famine were expired Gen. 45. 6. So that Ioseph was aged when his Father and bretheren came into Egypt thirty nine yeeres and Leui his elder was at that time forty three whose continuance then in Egypt must be ninety foure yeeres for ninety foure added to forty three make one hundred thirty seauen his whole age to his death before which time it is manifest Iochebed his daughter must bee borne or be begotten Now if the abode in Egypt were fully foure hundred thirty yeeres then three hundred thirty six yeeres after Leui his death must be the departure thence but so long a time by Iochebeds age cannot be granted for she being borne but ninety foure yeeres after the first entrance and liuing to beare a sonne but eighty yeers before the departure the time betwixt the death of her father and the birth of her sonne must be the age of her owne life for had shee beene borne the day of her fathers death which is not likely and had died the day of her sonnes birth which wee know is contrary yet must shee haue beene two hundred fifty and sixe yeeres old when shee bare Moses A time by much too long for weomen to conceiue and her age farre vnfit to giue sucke or to bee chosen a fit nurse for a Kings daughters sonne And therefore it is certenly gathered by these holy Genealogies that the peregrinations of the Patriarks Abraham Isaac and Iacob for the space of two hundred and fifteene yeeres must be accounted with the time of the continuance in Egypt both which together make the sum of foure hundred and thirty What lights therefore Genealogies are for history let these here alleaged stand for witnesses wherein I appeale to the gaine-sayers themselues whether any text bee forced contrary to the true meaning CHAP. IIII. That the Scriptures Genealogies doe limit Daniels Seuens not to exceede 490 yeeres THE like vse and vtility shall we find in the succeeding times of the sacred Records and most especially in that which concerneth vs most namely â—…he time mentioned in Daniel which â—…oreshewed the death of the true Lambe Christ vnto whom all the sacrifices of the Law pointed and in whom all the Leuiticall rites ended â—…e being our high Priest farre aboue Aarons order Now among many other maleâ—…ictions threatned for the breach of â—…he Law this was one that the Land should lie waste to pay her Sabbaths of rest Which time of waste â—…he Prophet Ieremy affirmeth to haue beene seuenty yeeres and doth begin their account in the first yeere of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel from whence all nations should serue him his sonne and sonnes sonne the space of seuenty yeeres which expired in the third of Belshazzar and first yeere of King Cyrus when the raigne of the Kingdome of Persia beganne as it is in 2. Chron. 36. 20. 22. Vpon which Text of Ieremie Daniel tooke his occasion of Prayer for their deliuerance and the Lord was as ready to accomplish his promise who sending his Angell euen in the same moment certified him that whilest his supplications were in making the Decree of deliuerance was in determining and that not onely from Babels seuenty yeeres captiuity but also thence after seuenty times seuen should bee a full deliuerance from spiritual thraldome by the doctrine and death of the Messiah These seuenty seuens Gabriel diuideth into 3. parts as followeth 1. To the rebuilding of the City and building the second Temple seuen seuens Secondly Sixty two seuens wherein a silence for Prophesie the want of fier from heauen the Vrim and Thummim should be had And thirdly one seuen in the halfe whereof Christ should confirme the Couenant for many and in the end thereof should seale vp mans redemption by his death and passion Notwithstanding this tripple account and plainnesse of Chronologie which the Angell aimeth at as to the true period of times fulnesse hath beene troubled with the vncertaine computations both of Iewes and Christians who haue both shrunke and tentered them from the iust number of foure hundred and ninety yeeres which seuenty seuens make in their owne propriety For some will haue them to containe no fixed certaine time at all but rather thinke they were spoken vnto Daniel as Christ spake vnto Peter in forgiuing his brothers offences I say not vnto thee vnto seauen times but vnto seuenty times
remaine to fill vp the number of Seuenty Seuens or foure hundred ◅nd ninetie yeeres predicted in Da◅iel Which time of the Persians both ◅n the diuision for those first Seuens wherein the Citie was built and ◅heir whole continuance vnto their ◅nd hath bred the greatest distur◅ance of Daniels propriety That their Monarchy began when ◅he word MENE was double writ ◅pon the Pallace wall and Babels◅ingdome ◅ingdome ended by the slaughter of ◅elshazzar the texts both of Daniel◅nd ◅nd the Chronicles doe shew and ◅hat it continued vnto Darius whom ◅e surnameth the Nehemiah◅oth ◅oth record betwixt whom is no ◅reater disagreements for the num◅er of their Kings and their names ◅en there is of yeeres for their ◅aignes and continuance not any ◅ne of them from first to last but ◅ath a differing number assigned e◅en by their best recorders For the number of their Kings ◅ab Saadah will haue them but ◅hree Aben Ezra saith they were foure and Rab. Moses alloweth them fiue of Christian Writers Tertullian Isidor and Annius Viterbiensis accounteth them eight Ioseph Scaliger will haue them nine Bullenger ten Beroaldus eleuen and Hierome with the ordinary Glosse no lesse then fourteene and as in the men so for number of yeeres they disagree For the Iewes generally to crosse the time lest it should meete Christ to be their Messia giue the Persians from the first vnto the last of their gouernment but onelie 52. yeres though Aben Ezra is content to allow them nin more Of Christians Pererius extendeth their time to 23 2. Lyra to 230. yeeres Clem. Alexandrinus giueth them 215. Dyonisius Hallicarnassis 200. Lucidus 190. Isidor◅ 180. Beroaldus Broughton and other late Writers 130 differing in their totals no lesse then 182 yeeres Whereby we may see how the smooth running waters of Shiloh are become a troubled Ocean vnto many ouer which gulfe of disagreeing accounts were not the holy Genealogies the bridge it were vnpossible for vs to passe For in their first number from the first yeere of Cyrus vnto the finishing of the Temple in the sixth of Darius are added vnto the proprietie of those Seuen Seuens fiftie seuen yeeres making of forty nine which they properly import no lesse then an hundred and sixe yeeres And in the like manner the time from that worke vnto the end of the Persians raigne is likewise ouerstretched to bee aboue fourescore yeeres more then the Sunne euer measured The maine cause of whose differences are the variable accounts of the Heathen and the vncertaine computations of the vncertaine Olympiads And therefore to direct these times the holy Genealogies are as the Reede in the Angels hand that measured the Temple and Altar of the holy City and the men then liuing a cloud of witnesses to cōfirme the Times certenty vnto vs. For seeing that the sacred Scriptures for story at the rebuilding of Ierusalem and second Temple did cease the disagreements of profane Writers in Times computation so manifestly apparant and the euer erring Olympiads the onely Chronicle of the Heathen so vncertaine of beginning and neglect for continuance no sure foundation can be laid vpon so sandy or soft a ground Nor may those profane authorities bee held fit pillars to support the waight of the waightiest speech of times measure and promise of mans Redemption reuealed in the old testament of God but are to be reiected in this holy computation as the vnmeasured Court was to be cast out and giuen to the Gentiles And yet wee deny not but where the Gentiles agree with Gabriels account they may be brought as witnesses to the truth and God by them iustified in his promises when he is iudged Therefore to approue the proprietie of Daniels Seuens let vs trauerse them by the Scriptures allowance both in the ages and liues of men That the first diuision of Gabriels Seuens which was from the going forth of the Edict to the rebuilding of Ierusalem fell accordingly and were forty nine yeeres to the finishing of the worke the answer of the Iewes to our Sauiour Christ doth so much import when demanding by what authoritie he droue the market out of the Temple and what signes hee shewed to testifie his authoritie Destroy said he this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it vp speaking of the Temple of his body But they ignorant of his meaning replied thus Forty sixe yeeres this Temple was in building and wilt thou reare it vp in three dayes And whereas some are of opinion that the Iewes vnpremeditated made this answere as they did of Christs age Thou art not yet fifty and hast thou seene Abraham yet seeing the account falleth according to the assignement we may wel think they spake vpon an Historicall knowledge for three yeeres added thereunto which were the yeeres from Cyrus his Edict vnto the hindrance of that worke by his successors and for which Daniel mourned three weekes of dayes Chapter 10. 2. make the number to be fortie nine euen seuen times seuen yeeres vnto which certenty some are so confident that they auouch these forty sixe yeeres did forefigure Christ his age vpon the earth and doe draw the yeeres of his life vnto the like number of forty sixe because as they imagine the body should answer the shadow the substance the figure and the true Temple the materiall in euery degree albeit herein they are much deceiued for that the dayes of Christ vpon earth came not fully to thirty three yeeres as by the yeeres of his birth and death vnder the raignes of the Romane Emperours Augustus and Tiberius is seene But that fifty seuen more should be added and the yeeres tentured vnto an hundred and sixe betwixt the first of King Cyrus and the building of the Temple the ages of diuers men in those daies will not permit and therefore by the holy Scriptures let vs see how the holy Genealogies stay them from rouing too farre First it is manifest that Zerubabel of Iudah was a Prince of yeeres and actiuenesse fit to leade and command the people in their returne from captiuitie in the first yeere of Cyrus and so hee is euer named in the catalogue amongst the returned and that in the second yeere and second moneth after their comming to Ierusalem he began to set forward the worke of the house of the Lord and to lay the foundation of the Temple is by Ezra recorded and as manifestly was it promised that hee should see that his worke finished for said Zechariah from the Lord Zerubbabel laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall finish it What age Zerubbabel was of when he vnderwent that Gouernment wee know not but must coniecture he was of yeeres fit for that charge but to liue from that age to an hundred and sixe yeeres more is more then without warrant can bee credited and yet for any thing
knowne to the contrary he might liue long after the worke was finished Another witnesse wee haue as aged if not more as Zerubbabel and a principall man also who with him returned from Babylon in the first yeere of Cyrus euen Ezra the Scribe the sonne of Seraiah the high Priest whose ancestors both in the seuenth chapter of his booke and in the first booke of the Chronicles are reckoned vp vnto Aaron Now the same Seraiah father to Ezra was carried to Riblah in the land of Hamah and there slaine by Nebuehadnezzar King of Babel in the nineteenth yeere of his raigne So that had Ezra been begot but the day of his fathers death which is not likely yet must he haue been fiftie yeeres aged at the returne from captiuitie in the first yeere of Cyrus since when had there been one hundred and sixe yeeres as some account to there building of the Temple then must Ezra haue been at that time one hundred fifty sixe yeeres old an age by much too long to retaine actiuenesse or to stand as hee did from morning till mid-day to reade and expound the Law to the people But to liue a long time after as it is said he did euen to the end of the Persians raigne which was eightie yeeres more his life must haue seene more yeeres then that shortned age of mans life could attaine vnto And therefore the vncertaine accounts of the Heathen must be measured by those men whom the scriptures haue made their measuring â—…eedes And seeing God hath ordained â—…hat by the mouth and testimonie of two â—…r three witnesses the truth shall bee established Let Mordecai an eminent man of Beniamin stand for another This Mordecai was carried away captiue into Babylon with Ieconiah King of Iudah in the eighth yeere of Nebuchadnezzar and nourished Ester in the dayes of Ahashuerosh King of Persia vnto the twelfth yeere of his raigne And that this Ahashuerosh was Darius Histaspis besides Lyra and others ancient the moderne Writers Beroaldus Broughten Willet More the Geneuian Annotation and many more affirme and Herodotus in his third booke nameth Atossa to bee the wife of Hystaspis sounding so neere to Adassa the other name of Ester as without preiudice we may call Ester his Queene And the rather for that the said Author reporteth she could preuaile in any thing with the King her husband which the Scripture confirmeth euen to the halfe of his Kingdome And likewise Hellanicus another Heathen Author reporteth that Atossa Queene of Persia was the first inuenter of Epistles which vndoubtedly was ministred vpon the Letters by her procured and sent vnto one hundred and twenty seuen Prouinces for the sauing of her people whom Ahashuerosh had condemned at the sute of wicked Haman But that this Ahashuerosh could be Xerxes and he eighty foure yeeres after Cyrus as he hath been set the age of Mordecai may not admit for had Mordecai been but eight yeeres of age when hee was carried away captiue with Ieconiah in the eight yeere of Nebuchadnezzar yet must he haue been seuenty at the returne from Babylon but to adde almost a hundred yeeres more neither humanitie could require his so aged knees to bow nor nature afford his body to bee of such agilitie as it was for State affaires mans terme of life as Solon told Croesus men of the same time to be onely threescore and tenne yeeres I am not ignorant that some will haue the relatiue which to be referred to the antecedent Kish which say they the text doth import in these words Mordecai the sonne of Iair the sonne of Shimei the sonne of Kish and this Kish they will haue the man that had been carried captiue vnto Babilon with Ieconiah But if the words of Esters Apocrypha may be herd it was not Kish but Mordecai for there Mordecai a Noble man that dwelt in Susis and bare office in the Kings Court was he that had the dreame and was the man which Nebuchadnezzar brought captiue from Ierusalem as Chap. 2. 4. Which booke though not Canonicall yet is it ancient and may well be a witnesse in a well knowne historie Besides we see that the intent of that story is not to relate of Kish his captiuitie if any such had been the miseries of those times now ouerblowne but rather the meanes that God then wrought to saue his Church by this his instrument Mordecai that had seene the deliuerance both of himself and others from that Captiuitie of Babylon and now was an acter to blunt the edge of wicked Hamans sword And that the time could extend to those yeeres thus inlarged betwixt Cyrus his Edict and the building of the Citie Nehemiah doth bring a whole Iury of witnesses against it who in his catalogue of twenty two men that returned with him and Zerubbabel from Chaldea vnto Iewrie â—…ameth twelue of them to be liuing â—…n the daies of his gouernment after that the walles of Ierusalem were finished which were Seraiah Amaziah Malluch Hattush Sebaniah Haâ—…im Merimoth Ginnethon Abbiiah Miiamin Bilgai and Shemaiah as in the tenth and twelfth Chapters of Nehemiah apparantly is seene But from these particulars let vs come to the generals That many of the same persons which had been caried captiue vnto Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar were returned and aliue at the building of the second Temple in the second yeere of Darius is manifest by this speech of Haggai who is left saith â—…e among you that saw this house in her first glory and how doe you see it now is it not in your eies in comparison of it as nothing Whereby it is apparant that many of the returned had seene the great beauty of Salomons Temple and were seated againe in Ierusalem according to the Vision of the gooâ—… figges seene by Ieremy concerninâ—… the captiuitie of Ieconiah whom thâ—… Lord had promised to bring again to Iudah to build them and not destroâ—… them to plant them and not to root theâ—… out And albeit that Zecariah told theâ—… that old men and old women shoulâ—… walke the streetes of Ierusalem vpon theâ—… staues through decrepit age yeâ—… such exceeding old age could not bâ—… retained in that age of the world foâ—… had an hundred and sixe yeeres beeâ—… expired from the first yeere of Cyrus to the rebuilding of Ierusalem anâ—… the Temple then should the returneâ—… each of them haue been at that timâ—… an hundred sixty seuen yeeres aged had they been but ten when Salomons Temple was destroyed anâ—… ten yeeres is the least age that caâ—… bee allowed to retaine memory oâ—… obseruation of the Temples curiouâ—… building and passing great beauty Wherefore those tentured timeâ—… of Daniels Seuens must bee again shrunke vnto the staple of the sacred accounts and the Persians raigne shortned vnto halfe the number almost that some ouer-lauishly haue giuen them For the chaine of Chronologie
the affections of the people or both and therefore Saint Mathew spareth to record them among the Catalogue of Salomons other successors that so the title of Iesus to the Kingdome might stand firme without any debarre or exceptions howsoeuer First then of Ahaziah the first it is said that he was the youngest sonne of his father for the Philistines and Arabians that were neighbours to the Ethiopians had carried away King Iorams wiues and his other sonnes so that there was not a sonne left him sauing Ahaziah the youngest 2 Chro. 21. 17. And albeit in the next Chapter it be said that the Philistines with the Arabians had slayne all the eldest sonnes yet before their slaughter which was in Ethiopia for thither they were brought the Inhabitants of Ierusalem had made Ahaziah the youngest sonne King contrary to the Law ordained in Deuteronomy which giueth the royalty alwayes to the eldest And Ahaziah himselfe being as wicked as any walked in the wayes of the house of Ahab for his mother Athalia counselled him to doe wickedly for which and his other defects hee was lastly slaine by Iehu King of Israel when hee executed Gods threats vpon the House of Ahab Ioash the second in Saint Mathews omission after the slaughter of Ahaziah his father and of other his kinsmen the Princes of Iudah of himselfe was vnable saith the Text to retaine the Kingdome and for six yeers space was neither acknowledged King nor vulgarly knowne to be aliue For in the rage and vsurpation of Athaliah he was hid in the Temple by his Aunt Iehoshabeath and lastly preferred to the Throne by Iehoiada her Husband which kindnesse he requited with the slaughter of Zechariah their sonne slaine at his commandement in the Court of the Lords house for which and for the bloud he had spilt his seruants conspired against him in his house at Millo and slew him his body not permitted to haue the honour of buriall in the Sepulchers of the Kings and therefore vnworthy of name or of future remembrance Amaziah the third was not a preseruer of the Commonwealths state as Kings ought to be but rather the destroyer of state Kingdome as by his raigne is seene For besides his Idolatry to the Idols of Edom and the prouoking thereby of Gods wrath in his head-strong rashnesse hee prouoked Ioash King of Israel to fight against Iudah wherein himselfe was taken the treasures of the Temple and of the Kings house carried away and the wall of Ierusalem broken downe in length foure hundred cubits and afterwards he liued in dislike without loue in so much as his people pursued him from Ierusalem vnto Lachish there slew him his death not reuenged but his murtherers escaping all condigne punishments And after his death for the hatred the people bare him his Crowne for an eleuen yeeres space was helde from Vzziah his sonne and an interregnum in Iudah betwixt the death of the father and the raigne of the sonne so long for by the parerellizing raignes of the Kings of Iudah and Israel Amaziahs death fell in the fifteenth of Ieroboam King of Israel and Uzziah beganne not to raigne til the twenty seuen yeere of the same King These things considered might wel moue an omission of his name by Saint Mathew And in Iehoiakim the last some disliked defects were knowne for that the people of the Land reiected him for their King and annointed Iehoahaz his yonger brother by two yeeres in his stead contrary to the vsuall custome of succession And Iehoiakim himselfe being made King by Necho King of Egypt his title standeth litigious for the Law commanded by Moses thus speaketh From among thy brethren shalt thou make a King ouer thee thou shalt not set a stranger ouer thee which is not thy brother If then a stranger must not be permitted a King to raigne ouer Gods people then by the same Law a stranger could not impose his substitute ouer them as Iehoiakim was And Iehoiakims title it selfe seemeth to stand in a double defect The one is that he did assume the title and authority of King his brother aliue annoynted and established whereas Dauid though chosen of God and annoynted by Samuel acknowledged Saul for his Soueraigne neither seeking to shorten his life nor disquiet his raigne And the other is the vnlawfull meanes hee had to the Crowne which was by the strong hand of Necho of the cursed Egyptians the ancient enemies to Israel Gods people And Iehoiakims life as wicked as any in cutting of Ieremiahs Role was cut off by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel and his carkasse cast out of the gate of Ierusalem to the heate of the day and frost of the night was lastly vnlamented buried as an Asse is buried so contemptible was his life death and buriall These I assume were the causes of these foure Kings omissions that is to say the first and last not lawfully succeeding in the Throne were omitted and the other the one of them not able to attaine the Crown for the space of sixe yeeres after his fathers death did not raigne King and the sonne of the other for the space of eleuen yeeres after his fathers death was not admitted to be King so vnwilling were the people that his issue should raigne It is Augustines obseruation that Salomon was reckoned for Dauid his fathers sake and that Rehoboam was recorded for Assa his sonnes sake If so in them such respect was had for the goodnesse of the father and the son then in these such contempt was had for the badnesse both of father and sonne as they are omitted and vnnamed and themselues slaine by their seruants and subiects doth confirme the cause of their omissions more strongly And albeit that bad Ammon and good Iosiah were likewise slaine the one by his seruants and the other by Necho King of Egypt and that Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar a stranger was likewise made King and all of them notwithstanding recorded by Saint Mathew yet are not their estates alike For Ammons death was reuenged by the people of the Land and Iosiahs death lamented both by the people and the Prophet neither of which the other were And Nebuchadnezzar made the great Monarch of the World euen by God himselfe had thereby a lawfull power both to set vp and to depose Kings which Necho had not and therefore Zedekiah his title is not to be called in question as Iehoiakims is Whereupon wee conclude that the Euangelist Saint Mathew to shew the right that Iesus had vnto Iudahs Crowne recordeth his title onely from those Kings that were without all exceptions estated vnto Iudahs Throne and omitteth those against whom any exceptions are found that so Christ who came to fulfill all Lawes might haue a lawfull succession vnto that Kingdome whereunto he was borne for other materiall reason of omission we find none And
is here in this ensuing Table expressed to sight so plaine and for truth so strong that a man running may reade and imbrace it with faith A generall Table of the Ancesters of Christ. ADAM Seth. Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Iared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Sem. Arphaxad Salah Eber. Peleg Reu. Serug Nahor Terah Abram Isaac Iacob Iudah Pharez Hezron Aram. Aminadab Naasson Salmon Booz Obed. Iesse Iesus Christ by law is heire vnto these DAVID Salomon Roboam Abia. Asa. Josaphat Ioram These with Joakim are omitted by S. Matthew Achaziah Joash Amaziah Ozias Ioatham Achaz Ezechias Manasseh Auion Josiaâ—… Ioakim Jeconiah dying child Jesse his sonne is Salathiel Pedaiah Zerobabel Iesu Christ supposed and by law is son vnto these The Saints of the most High Dan. 7 Abiud Eliakim Azor. Sadoc Achim Elihud Eliazar Matthan Iacob Ioseph the husband of Mary JESVS CHRIST Iesus Christ by nature came of these DAVID Nathan Matthathi Menan Melea. Eliahim Ionan Joseph Iuda Simeon Leui. Matthat Jorim Eliezer Jose Er. Elmodan Cosam Addi Melchi Neri Salathiel Pedaiah Zerobabel Iesus Christ by nature is Son vnto these The holy Seed the Substance Esa. 6 Rhesa Ioanna Iuda Joseph Semel Matthathias Maath Nagge Essi Naum. Amos. Matthathias Joseph Ianna Melchi Leui. Matthat Heli. Ioseph the husband of Mary JESVS CHRIST CHAP. IX How the Euangelists Saint Matthew and Saint Luke doe agree in recording Christ Iesus to bee the sonne of Salomon by Law and the sonne of Nathan by Nature SAlomons House ending in Ieconiah according to the Prophets and Zerobbabel of Nathans familie made Prince of Iudah the right that Christ had to Dauids Throne is diuersly from them by our holy Euangelists inserted for Saint Matthew from Salomon Ieconiah Abiud and Ioseph legally interesteth Iesus vnto Dauids Crowne but Saint Luke naturally from Marie Eli Rhesa and Nathan asâ—…ndeth to the first man Adam to shew him the Immanuel according to the promise of God in Paradise both of them breathing from one and the same spirit that Christ is Dauids sonne and Iudahs King And with the former Prophets agreeing that in his person alone met al the promises that Goâ—… had made for his sonne Christ and so carrie themselues in making him heire of all as no discord is heard in their heauenly sounds But that the spirits of the Prophets may be subiect to the Prophets and the text not forced to a prâ—…uate interpretation let vs see how Salathiel is brought to be a sonne to Ieconiah by law and by Saint Matthew whom Saint Luke makâ—…th to be by nature the sonne of Neri vpon which seeming disagreement rests the supposed difference betwixt our Euangelists The affirmation of Saint Matthew is taking his record out of thâ—… first booke of the Chronicles that Iâ—…coniah begat Salathiel with this addition annexed After they were brought into Babylon In which place as Ieremie tels vs Ieconiah liuing Assâ—…r a captiue the space of thiâ—…tie seuen yeeres euen to the last of Nebucadnezzar was in the first of Euilmerodach King of Babel taken out of prison placed amongst his Princes and maintained in Kingly estate to the day of hâ—… death When hauing no issue of his owne body begot Salathiel his neerest kinsman must needs be his heire as the law required for thus by Moses it standeth written If a man dâ—…e and haue no sonne then yee shall turne his inheritance vnto his daughter and if he haue no daughter â—…ee shall giue his inhâ—…ritance vnto his brethren and if hee haue no brethren ye shall giue hâ—… inheritance vnto his fathers brethren and if his father haue no brethren â—…e shall giuâ—… his inheritance vnto hâ—…s kinsman that is next to him of his family and this shall be vnto the children of â—…srael a statuâ—…e of iâ—…dgement In this state then stooâ—… Ieconiah without son without daughter without brother without vncle or fathers brother 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 was pro claimed a childles man When according to the prescript of the law Salathiel his neerest kinsman was declared successor and in that sense is hee called his sonne who was by nature the sonne of Neri as Saint Luke in recording the naturall line hath laid downe Salathiel thus made a sonne in succession his owne successor likewise is said to be his sonne which was Zerubbabel his grand-child the sonne of Pedaiah as 1. Chron. 3. 19. But the said Pedaiah dying in Babylon before his fathers adoption and Zerubbabel made Prince ouer the people returned hee is therefore called the sonne of Salathiel and in the bookes of Ezra Nehemiah and Haggai where the gouernment is touched Pedaiah is euer omitted and with the like silence for that cause is ouerpassed by both the Euangelists Lyra vpon Matthew iudgeth that his mention was smothered with the roles of Genealogies which Herod consumed when he burnt all the princely pedegrees of the Kings of Iudah intending thereby to deriue himselfe of some great parentage as saith he by the same combustions the old Testament is silent from Abiud to Ioseph either for names or actions onely the bookes of the Macchabees are some stay for stories of those times This silence then ouershadowing Abiud and Rhesa by those names vnknowne in the old Testaments record are notwithstanding by the learned iudged to be Meshullam Hananiah the sons of Zerubabel therin mentioned whose Genealogies as now they stand in our Euangelists escaping the flames of Herods destruction were preserued they thinke by some faithfull Iew or else were receiued from God by holy reuelation as many other things were at the comming of Christ. Which later opinion liketh some well who make a symptome betwixt the first age and this last thus As the first Fathers were reuealed by Gods owne oracle vnto Moses without president of writ so the last Fathers by the same Spirit were reuealed vnto the Euangelists without any prescrit of record which notwithstanding seemeth rather a shadow then any shew of truth But by what warrant soeuer they wâ—…ot this is most certen that their Records were neuer contradicted by any Pharise Scribe or Priest then liuing who daily waited occasions to impugne their Doctrines which thing in that age then yeelded vnto by the most malicious Iewes may not now with out offence be called in question among vs the beleeuing Christians And that the sonnes of Zerubbabell continued a race of posterities the Rabbins themselues doe auerre who in their Commentaries as some haue obserued auouch that Dauid in case of succession ordained if Salomons issue failed then the posterity of Nathan his other son by Bersheba should succeed which in Salathiel it did and those great Doctors daily expecting their King that should come with such power vndoubtedly kept the Genealogies as carefully for the times following as they had been diligent obseruers of the families before But to the purposes of the Euangelists Saint Mathew recording the heires of
seuen times or as his that doth begin them fifty yeeres before Babels fall and ends them towards the dissolution of the world as Hierome citeth Hypolitus to haue done or if any certainty be in them yet such it is as may rather dazell the eye vnto dimmer darkenesse then illuminate the vnderstanding with brighter knowledge if we will lend our eares vnto Origen who vnderstandeth these weekes not to be weekes of seauen yeeres but of ten times seauen for euery yeere taking ten and doth beginne their reckoning from the beginning of the world so that seuenty weeks should make foure thousand nine hundred yeeres from the creation vnto Christ and some beginne them at the natiuity of Christ and continueth them vnto the end of the World as Apollianus hath done Others that allow their certainty and propriety of the Angels speech yet doe differ in assigning their beginnings and endings because three other edicts are mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah besides that of Cyrus and yet wheresoeuer they beginne them they still bring their endings â—…ther at the birth of Christ in the â—…me of Herod or at the death of Christ in the raigne of Tiberius as Lord Plessie hath well obserued That they beganne when Babels Kingdome ended is most manifest â—…y Ieremiah the Prophet where hee â—…ith Thus saith the Lord after seaâ—…nty yeeres bee accomplished at Babel I â—…ill visit you and performe my good proâ—…ises towards you and cause you to reâ—…rne to this place And by the last Chapter of the second of Chronicles where it is said In the first yeere â—…f Cyrus King of Persia when the word â—…f the Lord spoken by the mouth of Ieremiah was finished the Lord stirred vp the â—…irit of Cyrus King of Persia and hee â—…ade a Proclamation through all his Kingdome and also by writing saying Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia all the Kingdomes of the Earth hath the Lord God of Heauen giuen mee and hee hath â—…mmanded mee to build him a house in Ierusalem that is in Iudah who is among you of all his people with whom the Lord his God is let him goe vp And the other Edicts made by Darius and Artaxerxes successours tâ—… Cyrus are but confirmations of thiâ—… his Edict and not new Edicts made from which these seuens might hauâ—… their beginnings for so the Record layed vp in the Library at Babel and searched at the command of Darius doth signifie where in a volume iâ—… was thus written as a memoriall In the first yeere of King Cyrus King Cyrus made a decree for the house of God in Ierusalem c. And that they ended at the death of Christ when sinnes were sealed vp and iniquity reconciled by the annointing of the holy of Holies is manifest both by a definite and certaine number in themselues assigned namely seuenty seuens as also by a definite number multiplied from other Seuens thus Ieremiah had shewed the seuenty yeeres captiuity wherein they were to serue the King of Babel his sonne and his sonnes sonne which exactly fell so and were expired at Daniels prayer and thence being multiplied ten times more do bring vs to the certaine time of Christs death and make foure hundred and Ninety yeeres Againe those multiplied yeeres â—…eing diuided into parts definite â—…pproue the whole certaine and the â—…rst and last falling accordingly â—…ake that time to point out his â—…ime for whom time was ordained For the first Seuen The Iewes obâ—…ction against Christ that forty sixe â—…eers the Temple was in building Ioh. 2. â—…0 and the three of hinderance since Syrus his Edict make that number â—…ertaine euen seuen Seuens or forty Nine yeers whereof more hereafter And that the last were as exactly â—…ccomplished from the baptisme of Christ vnto his death euen halfe a seâ—…en of yeeres by the foure Passeouersâ—…lebrated â—…lebrated by himselfe in the last whereof hee died is apparant by â—…e Euangelists records and by the â—…ncient affirmed to bee the three â—…eers and a halfe of Christ his preaâ—…ing to confirme the couenant vnâ—… the which time the Time Times â—…d halfe a Time in the Apocalips is alluded vnto by many Interpreteâ—… And had those seuenty seuens or yeeâ—… of the Angels predicted for Chrâ—… his preaching and death beene vâ—… certaine the Iewes had not beeâ—… so iustly taxed for more negligeâ—… obseruerâ—… of time then were tâ—… Oxe or the Asse the Storke tâ—… Turtle the Crane or the Swalloâ—… neither had beene so blame-worth of times ignorance for their owâ—… visitations Moreouer had these Seuenty Sâ—…uens beene vncertaine then the aâ—…ceptable yeere of Iubile had not bâ—… so certainely expected as in Luâ—… wee see it was neither had any ceâ—…taine Chronology continued from tâ—… old vnto the new Testament Aâ—… what should moue the holy Ghâ—… so carefully to keepe and continâ—… a true Chronology of â—…uery particâ—…lar story from the first creation vâ—… to the first yeere of Cyrus and theâ—… breake it off especially considerinâ—… that all times led vnto Christ whom through whom and for whoâ—… were all things writ that were writ whom bee glory for euer and euer Amen Thus much being spoken of their beginnings and endings let vs now come to the accounts therein contained and for the better vnderstanding follow the yeeres of the Kingdomes wherein they fell beginning at the last and ascending to the first in which and whose raignes the most doubts fall The Roman Writers set Christs death in the eighteenth of the Emperour Tiberius and his birth in the forty two of Augustus whose whole raigne was fiftie sixe yeeres so that by them Christ his age is made to be vpon thirty three yeeres And both Romans and Greekes reckon betwixt the first of Augustus and the last of Alexander two hundred and eightie yeeres namely seuenty Olympiads for Alexander died in the 114. Olympiad and Augustus began his raigne in the 184. But the Grecian Monarchy began sixe yeeres before the death of Alexander by the slaughter of Darius as all Authors acknowledge and ended with the death of Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt being the last of his successours in the fourteenth yeere of Augustus as by the raignes of the Ptolomies are generally gathered Which number sixe before Alexanders death and foureteene likewise after Augustus his beginning being added to 280. make the number to bee compleat three hundred yeeres the whole and exact time of the Grecian Monarchy And the Romans raigne from the fourteenth of Augustus vnto the death of Christ the Messiah where the last Seuen of the Seuenty ended by the remainder of Augustus his raigne which was forty two yeeres more and eighteene likewise expired vnder Tiberius is most apparant that sixty yeeres of the Roman gouernment were spent which being added to the three hundred of the Grecians both together make three hundred and sixty So that one hundred and thirty for the Persians time must
though shee was elder then his afflictions by an hundred and seuenty yeeres And more obsurdly they marrie her to Simeon her brother naming her the Canaanit mother of Saul Iacob they faine to haue had a twin daughter borne with euery of his sons as Adam by them is fained to haue had And good Thamar that got Iudah vnto her bed they make to be the daughter of Melchisedeck king of Salem who died ninty seauen yeeres before Iudah was borne So likewise Ruth the Moabite hauing no father named in Scripture nor Eglon king of Moab any daughter Rabbi Iarchi and others faine Ruth therefore to bee daughter to King Eglon. Keturah likewise the second wife of Abraham the Rabbins will haue to be the same Hagar that had bâ—… him Ishmael lest incontinency should be imputed vnto him for marrying another woman hauing knowne Hagar before And from the sonnes of the said Keturah they bring both Balaam the Gentile Prophet and Queene Sheba that came to heare the wisedome of Salomon As also doubtlesse from the Rabbins the Christians Origen and Chrysostom from the said Balaam doe bring the wise men that from the East followed the Starre vnto Christ and so Dorotheus and Epiphanius make Ionas the Prophet to bee the widowes sonne of Sarepta whom Elias raised from death In like sort when some great personages are but once named in the Scriptures they make them to be some other famous men by other names So Ethan the Ezrathite the Author of the 89. Psalme Kimchi Iarchi affirme to be Abraham because that Psalme goeth before the Psalme of Moses the man of God and because Ezrathite may be translated Orientall So Chalcol and Darda whose wisedome Salomon is commended to exceede they feine to be Moses and Aaron Elihu the Buzite to bee Balaam Ibsan to bee Boos and Putiel to be Iethro So likewise the forenamed Rabbins Kimchi and Iarchi make Uriah mentioned in Esay to be the same man that Iehoiakim slew though there were an hundred twenty yeers betwixt And Zechariah mentioned in the same Prophet to be the same Zechariah that with Haggai prophecied after the returne from Babylon betwixt whom were aboue two hundred yeeres But the writer of the Booke Tobit falleth into farre greater sinnes in making an Angell to bee of the seede of man as hee affirmeth Raphael to acknowledge his kinred from Azarias and Ananias men well knowne vnto Tobit contrary to the Doctrin of the whole Scriptures which teach that Christ Iesus the great Archangel tooke onely mans nature vpon him and that the Angels haue neither flesh nor bones but are ministring Spirits to attend his Elect. Which blasphemie the blasphemous Rabbins further teach in affirming that there should come two Christs the one of Dauid and the other of Ioseph vpon which ground they build who say that Hee whom the Iewes crucified was not the same man that had beene borne of the virgin Mary but another in his similitude and likenesse In the contrary extreamity I would to God Christians had not offended in denying Christ to bee the Messiah mentioned in Daniel the ninth a text most pregnant shewing his office of Redemption in abolishing Sinne and the effecacie of his Death in ending Sacrifice and oblation in the place once holy For whereas the Angell Gabriel in the first yeere of Cyrus and last of Babels seuentie was sent vnto Daniel to declare the present liberty for his people decreed and to assure a future and fuller by the death of the Messiah determined after the expiration of seuentie times seuen yeeres they deny the words to bee meant of Iesus the sonne of Mary and â—…abbinically apply the text to other purposes and persons whereby a stumbling blocke is laid before the blinde Iewes and an vnchristianlike testimony left of Christian Iudaâ—…sme For more to shew conteÌ„tion â—…hen truth or Religion in a booke of that kind thus it stands written Of all the places in the old Testament touching the comming of Christ whereof there is great store that verse 〈◊〉 Daniel meaning the 24. of the ninth Chapter is most excellent and â—…leere yet withall I deny saith the Author that by the Name of Messiah in the verses following Christ our Sauiour is vnderstood for neither the true account of yeeres will suffer it nor the text of holy Scriptures beare it Two strong supporters verily if the foundation be sure but seeing hee setteth the one vpon the vncertaine Olympicks and the other vpon a priuate and vnchristian interpretation wee may safely deny what he doth affirme Concerning the first then or credit of the Olympiads to the disabling of other Chronologies the iudgment of Marcus Varro the learned Roman is brought who will haue all vncerten before the first Olympiad for from the beginning of men to the first flood for the ignorance of things therein happening he calleth obcure or vnknown From the first flood to the first Olympiad for the vaine tales contained therein hee calleth false or fabulous But from the first Olympiad to his owne age for the truth and certenty of things therein recorded he calleth Historicall prouided alwaies by master Liuely that yee seeke them no higher then Iphitus their restorer And these Olympicks doth that holy tongues reader make the onely computators of the Suns course in incirculating the earth for the space of 530. yeeres and by them doth order that time which is of most moment in the Scriptures of God For by them hee will haue the Angels speech for the death of Christ accounted by them the raignes and yeeres of the Persian Kings from Cyrus to Alexander numbred and by them the time from the rebuilding of Ierusalem by â—…he returned to the finall destruction thereof by Titus the Romane calâ—…ulated Affirming them to bee of a sure Bulwark for Chronologie warranâ—…ed by the mouth of Heauen it self â—…y the Astronomicall eclipses therâ—… happening and the only Key to â—…nlocke the shut and hid meaning â—…f Daniels oracles without which â—…y Scriptures alone saith hee can â—…euer be opened whereunto wee â—…nswere That Varro was a heathen and â—…ad not read Moses who seeth not whose writings notwithstanding were extant of things done from the first Creation vnto the entrance into Canaan nor the sacred Histories from his death by others continued vnto Nebuchadnezzar the great King else would hee not haue made these times obscure that are most plaine nor that the plainest which is most obscure And if wee shall throughly examine those his so highly commended Olimpicks either of beginning continuance restoration or agreements wee shall finde them to be but a Babel of confusions anâ—… the truth of time by them as harâ—… to be trased as is the way of a Shâ—… in the waues of the Sea or the flight 〈◊〉 an Eagle in the ayre the tract of
Kingdome of God should shortly appeare and that then Iesus from their Isaiah at Nazaret did preach it they bare him witnesse and wondred at the gracious words that came out of his mouth And surely if wee begin to account them as wee must from the seuenth yeere of Ioshuah when the Lands full conquest was accomplished we shall find twenty eight fiftieths vnto that of the Passion where al freedome was purchased when Christ in his last words vpon the Crosse cryed It is finished Besides these agreements of figure and substance the Prophet Daniel declaring the change of states by the metaline Image shewed to Nebuchadnezzar giues limits to the kingdoms therin contained till a Stone cut without hands from the mountaine should fall vpon and breake to powder the Gold the Siluer the Brasse the Iron and the Clay al which should bee blowne away as the chaffe of the Summer flowers but the Stone that so fell should fill the whole earth Now that the euent was according is euidently seene for Cleopatra the proud and lasciuious Queen of Egypt the last successor or Toe of the Image for the death of Antonius stung herfelfe to death with a Serpent what time Egypt the one legge by Octauian was made a Prouince to Rome as Syria the other by Pompey before had beene And that a full dissolution of euery part of the Image vpon her death happened the taxing of the world then laid by Augustus doth testifie when the Roman Monarchi with acknowledged subiection first began and vpon which occasion Christ was borne in Beth-lehem two yeeres before the death of Herod And that this Stone was Christ all almost acknowledged neither doth the euent fall in any other the Gospell being the Mountaine that spred his kingdome ouer the face of the whole earth And what that Stone signified Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar as Iosephus writeth which though himselfe thought not fit in that his discourse there to expresse yet afterwards in the com motions of the Iewes against Pilat hee speaketh both of Iohn Baptist slaughtered by Herod and of Iesus condemned to the Crosse in these venerable words At that time saith he was Iesus a wise man if it bee lawfull to call him a man For he was the performer of diuers admirable workes and the instructer of those who willingly entertaine the truth and hee drew vnto him diuers Iewes and Greekes to bee his followers This was Christ who beeing accused by the Princes of our Nation before Pilat and afterwards condemned to the Crosse by him yet did not those who followed him from the beginning forbeare to loue him for the ignominie of his death For he appeared vnto them aliue the third day after according as the diuine Prophets had before testified the same and diuerse other wonderfull things of him and from that time for ward the race of the Christians who haue deriued their Name from him hath neuer ceased What testimony can bee greater then this so agreeing with the Miracles death and resurrection of Christ especially from his pen who wrote the History of the Iewes from Moses the first vnto the destruction of Ierusalem and last times of their estate being as all men know by birth a Iew himselfe and in his yong yeeres might haue seene the same Iesus of whom he giueth such commendable reports But to confirme the fall of the Image which Daniel had affirmed by the fall of the Stone is the testimony of the Angel sent vnto him to shew the times that were to succeede For the Prophet praying for a present releasement from Babels captiuity was answered by Gabriel aboue his request namely that after seuentie seuens of yeeres a perfect deliuerance should bee wrought by the death of the Messiah which shoulâ—… end Sinne and the Ceremonies of the place and should bring an euerlasting freedome to all that beleeue And that these yeeres so predicted fell in number weight and measure euen 490. we haue shewed before and now further affirme that the very houres by a skifull Arithmetician may be exactly calculated from the message of the Angell deliuered at the time of the euening oblation vnto the voice vtteâ—…ed by Christ vpon the Crosse at the ninth houre of the day when hee cried aloud and gaue vp the ghost Another marke set forth for the time of Christs comming is gatheâ—…ed by the graces that should bee â—…euealed vnder the standing or conâ—…inuance of the second Temple which was built by b Zerubbabel after the returne from Babylon which worke though later and lesser then that of Salomons had notwithstanding a promise from GOD to exceed Salomons But how glorious his was the building guilding riches and beautie doth euidently declare and the cloud of Gods glory so filling the house as the Priest could not minister doth manifestly shew Whereas contrariwise this second was so inferiour as the olde men that had seene the former wept exceedingly at the laying of the foundation neither was it filled with any such glorious Clowd nor had the like Patternes of Gods diuine presence as Salomons had For in this second Temple as the Rabbins haue obserued these fiue great blessings were wanting 1 The fier from heauen to consume the Sacrifices the visible signe of Gods fauourable acceptance 2. The Vrim and Thummim most sacred monuments put in the pectorall or Brest-plate of Aaron 3. The Arke of the Couenant wherein the Tables of Stone Arons Rod and pot of Manna were kept 4. The Mercy seate and Cherubins from whom the oracles of God were reuealed 5. And the manifest breathing of the holy Ghost vpon the Prophets all which Salomons Temple had Contrariwise before the daies of Christ this later Temple was polluted and defiled by Antiochus Pompey and Crassus and after the death of Christ vtterly destroyed by Titus Domitian Hadrian and other Roman Emperours And being assaied againe to be built by Iulian the Apostata was with earthquakes and fier from heauen so hindred as the foundations of the first Temple left in the former destructions were so shaken asunder that a stone was not left standing vpon astone and the workemen by fier from heauen forced to leaue off the attempt Since which time in seeking to rebuild that which Christ had so accursed more Christian bloud hath been spilt then was in those wars of destruction which Iosephas writeth of and saw Wherein then was the glory of this second Temple greater then Salomons or what should moue the desire of all nations to come thereunto Surely it was the Lord whom they sought and the Messenger of the Couenant whom they desired to behold that should come to this his Temple euen the Messiah promised to restore the desolations of Israell and that should be giuen for a light of saluation vnto the Gentiles which was accomplished onely in the person of Christ Iesus who with his presence filled this later house with
the very names of these Patriarkes and Fathers an hystoricall narration may bee made vnto the Messiah himselfe who was Iesus the Sauiour the Emanuel God with vs. Then let vs not thinke that these names of Christ his Parents or others vpon occasions giuen or changed fell from the mouthes of these Patriarkes as lots fall from the lappe but rather doe those Prophets fore-seeing Christ to come met him with their thankfull remembrances and saw his daies a farre off and reioyced These Etymologies then leade vs vnto the Messiah as the Starre did the Wise-men vnto Christ wherein if our dull apprehensions fall too short as who can comprehend the full mystery that God would become man in the flesh where we vnderstand let vs reioyce and bee thankfull and where wee vnderstand not let vs pray for his Spirit that our darknes may be made light in Christ. CHAP. III. That the Scriptures Genealogies are the Scriptures staies for Chronology AS then the names of these Fathers affoord great light to the sacred stories and heauenly moisture to the thirsting Searcher So are their dayes the bounds of the yeere and their liues the measure of time and of the Sunnes course for neither by the motions of the Planets nor circle of the Moone the Sunne was obserued to passe the twelue Signes in the Zodiake for two thousand eighty three yeeres continuance but onely and altogether by the liues of those first Patriarkes for many generations successiuely This glory God gaue to parents of his Son that so long as they held him for their God Iehouah and with true worship honoured him aright so long that most excellent creature the Sunne the beauty of the heauens and the delight of the world gaue place for his measurings to these earthly men For no otherwise was the world calculated then by this threefolde accounts of begettings ages and deaths of the first nineteene Fathers before and after the floud which account is of such strength as the threefold cord of Salomon is not so strong As for example Adam at an hundred and thirty yeeres of his life begat Seth and liued after his birth eight hundred and died aged nine hundred and thirty yeeres Seth at an hundred and fiue begot Enos he liued after his birth eight hundred and seuen and died aged nine hundred and twelue yeeres Enos liued ninety yeeres and begot Cainan and liued after hee had begot Cainan eight hundred and fifteene yeers so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dayes of Enos were nine hundred and fiue yeeres and so of all the rest vnto Terah the Father of Abraham But Terah falling to Idolatrie with the rest of the profane beyond the Riuer besides that note of infamie to be the first of the holy Lyne that serued strange gods was the last of that Lyne that measured the Sunnes course and had that honour for computation taken from him as one vnworthy to direct the light of the world being fallen into darke Idolatry himselfe and God from that time tied the summe of times in holier bands as from the promise to the Law from the Law to the building of the Temple from thence to the Kingdomes diuision and their continuance by Ezekiels siege and sleep to the destruction of the Temple thence to the end of Babels captiuity and lastly thence to the eternall liberty bought with the bloud and death of our Messiah Christ. But God in Iustice euer remembring mercy hath not so eclipsed these holy Fathers renowne as to stand naked for vse in the computations following but hath rather set them for Stones in times buildings to giue the luster of truth in the Theologicall Chronicle of his sacred decrees and hath made them Iudges how the times set by himselfe fell in number weight and measure For in the sweete promises to Abraham that his seed should inherit the Land of Canaan this pill of bitter digestion came in that they should be afflicted in a strange Land the space of foure hundred yeeres and those expired in the fourth generation they should be deliuered Now the most noted affliction was the thraldome of Egypt vnder the burdens of brick and clay and the deliuery from that Iron furnace was as faithfully accomplished and as mightily performed in the fourth generation of Israels sons For of Iudahs tribe Hezron was one that went downe into Egypt and Nahshon the fourth in desent was a Prince in the Wildernesse So likewise of Leui Kohath was one of the seauentie soules and his fourth Eleazer diuided the Land Againe the dwelling of the children of Israel in Egypt as Moses to some seemeth to auerre was foure hundred and thirty yeers But the Apostle Saint Paul who wrote by the same spirit to proue grace before workes maketh the number no more betwixt the promise and the Law now wee know that the Law was giuen immediately vpon the departure of Israel out of Egypt in the wildernesse of Sinai as also that the halfe of those yeeres were fully expired before that Israel came to dwell in Egypt For Abraham at seuenty fiue receiued the promise and at an hundred of his life which was twenty fiue yeeres after Isaac was borne Isaac at sixty begot Iacob and Iacob was an â—…o when he came before Pharaoh all which added together make but halfe the number euen two hundred and fifteene Thus then by the sacred Genealogies the sure foundations of holy stories wee are taught how to reade Moses with vnderstanding who in these foure hundred thirty yeeres doth include the peregrinations afflictions and dwellings of Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Land of Canaan with the Israelites soiourning in Egypt And so the Septuagints doe interpret the Text The dwelling say they of the children of Israel which dwelt in Egypt and in the Land of Canaan both â—…hey and their Fathers was foure hundred and thirty yeeres And in the same words doth Augustine expound it as Iosephus likewise before him had done The mistaking of this hath beene Gordius knot vnto many and hath â—…oubled Genebrard not a little to vnâ—…ose who to defend the Latine bad â—…anslation rather will haue Moses 〈◊〉 omit some of his owne Ancestors 〈◊〉 his Text then that their Text â—…ould therein be faulty But neuer any Hebrew Greeke or â—…atine euer set Moses further from Abraham then the seauenth nor is â—…is obiection of greater force of the impossibility that from seuenty persons onely sixe hundred thousand men besides women and children should bee proceated within the compasse of two hundred and fifteene yeeres For if we consider the wonderful increase of Israel in Egypt who aboundantly multiplied and waxed exceeding many so that the Land saith the Text was filled with them and that from seauenty persons all of them able and apt for generation we shal find it nothing so strange But stranger had it
of Israell to be the God of Heauen aboue and of the Earth beneath Ruth as Abraham forsooke kindred and Countrey protest◅ng that Israels people should bee her people and Is raels God her God And that penne which wrote the last of the Prouerbs makes Bathsheba a mirrour of weomen and a worthy Counsellor to Salomon the wise Thus through these bright Clouds we see the Son of righteousnes shine vnto the world frō this holy stem the Branch of Dauid to grow in beauty as the Oliue tree in smell like vnto Lebanon spices of Salomō set vs Lord vnder the shadow these sweet leaues and let vs eate of this tree of life in the Garden Paradise of God Now seeing that this beautifull Rod of Iesse as Isaiah cals him tooke no sappe from the bitter roots of Iudahs Kings wee must bring the growth thereof from another Stem vnto Dauid euen from the branch Nathan as our Euangelist Luke hath recorded But vpon this Stone the Iewes haue stumbled and haue made it the rocke of offence the ginne and snare to both the houses of Israel as their Isaiah hath prophecied and our Peter hath spoken For they seely men in reading the old Testament haue their mindes blinded and the vale of Moses vntaken away from before their hearts euen vnto this day dreaming of a pompous kingdome which they thinke to possesse and of a potent Messiah that should triumph and make subiect vnto them the Gentiles on euery side and promise to themselues as much voluptuous pleasure vnder that earthly Monarch as the Turkes doe after death in dalliances with Virgins and great eyed weomen in Paradise and that this their daily expected Messiah should come of Salomon they hold it for a principall article of their faith and accurse them that affirme the contrary for thus standeth the twelth Article of their Creede A man must beleeue that Christ the King shall haue excellency and dignity and glory aboue all the Kings that euer haue beene as of him is prophecied of all the Prophets from Moses who so doubteth of him or holdeth his honour small denieth the law for so it testifieth of him in the meaning of Balaams prophecy and in the meaning of this section You stand all here this day before the Lord your God Deut. 29. 10. and cap. 30. And this is a rule of foundation that Israell shall haue no King but of the house of Dauid and of the seede of Salomon and who so maketh a schisme touching that family denieth God euen the blessed God and the words of his Prophets And vpon this opinion of rule and gouernment Christians also haue been ouermuch affectionated when they bring Christ naturally from those Kings that gouerned of Salomons line and make Rhesa the younger sonne of Zorobabell and his successors to gouerne when al gouernment was taken from those Holy High Saints the space of two hundred ninety sixe yeeres and this no doubt wrought deeply in Lyra to speake as he did of Dauids sonnes For hee being by nation a Iewe though by birth English and baptised stood much vpon the outward letter for the glory of his nation And Nathan obscure in comparison of Salomon he makes more obscure to come from Vriah as his note hath thus gone vpon the 1. Chroni◅ 3. 5. Only Salomon was Dauids naturall Son the other three were the sonnes of ◅riah whom Dauid made his by adoption His reason is taken from the fourth of the Prouerbs where Salomon saith I was my Fathers sonne tender and only beloued in the sight of my Mother which thing I take was rather spoken of Salomons election to the kingdome whom God had chosen and Dauid to Bersheba had sworne that Salomon her Sonne should succeed him in the Lyra thus infected with malitious Iewes studies and partly following Christians that brought Christ from Salomon held the Iewish Article touching the Crowne but otherwise in most of his paines spent in commenting vpon al the bookes of both Testaments he was an excellent Organe sounding alowd the verity of Christian Religion against the erring opinions of the Rabbins in whose Schooles hee had so profited by the testimony of Tritemeus as that he had the Hebrew language ad vnguem But that Christ should come from Dauid by Nathan and his obscure successors whereof neuer any bare rule but onely Zerubbabel and he no longer then the Temple was in building he could not conceiue neither that Ieconiah should beget Salathiel but for his successor seeing he is called his sonne indeed he could not easily yeeld vnto the Rabbines so expounding it and their Creed so inforcing it and being a frier Minor and liuing in none of the cleerest daies of the Gospell the man is the more to bee borne with whose paines were spent as Bale hath it in his Centuria when the vnfortunate our second Edward ware the English Crown Ano. 1327. And now the assertions of Africanus cited by Eusebius which are that Ioseph the husband of Mary was naturally descended from Salomon and by intricate mariages made the legall sonne of Nathan remaineth to be answered I cal them intricate for that Iacob and Eli are made brethren and twinnes of one venter by Estha wife vnto Matthan of Salomon and vnto Melchi of Nathan and those halfe brethren likewise marying one woman Iacob by her is said to raise vp seede vnto Eli deceased whereby Ioseph was sonne vnto both A strang inuention truly to bring Ioseph from Ieconiah and Salomon who with lesse paines and more truth might haue beene found from Zerubbabel Neri and Nathan and stranger it seemeth that such search should be made to shew how Christ by nature is the sonne of Dauid and yet neuer to make knowne his naturall Parents from Dauid neither can I perceiue what necessity constraineth Ioseph to bee the proposed marke of that aime seeing he is but the supposed father of Christ vnto whom excepting his title to the kingdome his humanity no whit appertaineth Either to bring Iosephs naturall decent from Salomon and his legal from Nathan seeing he enioyed no possessions appertaining to Salomons Crowne nor Mary his wife an inheritrix of any patrimony in Iudea For which end only that law of marying the brothers wife was ordained and at this aimed that no family should be extinguished in Israell It was the case of the Daughters of Zelophehad and the debar of mariage and not the death of the daughter of Iphtah was the cause of the yeerely lamentations of the Virgins of Israell that a family was to faile by her in the Tribe of Manasses But for brethren by the Mothers side onely no such law was either ordained or practised for the son by the man and not by the woman euer succeeded in the inheritance and in the name of the family excepting such as
yeer of King Cyrus the holy Scriptures plainely declare and that all that is writ was writ to and for Christ the Apostle doth affirme But how shall that fulnesse of time be knowen for the ending of the Ceremonies by the death of the Messiah which was then taught to the beloued Daniel and now much behooueth all men to know if from Cyrus downward the chaine of Chronologie in Daniels seuens be broken off for the space of 144. yeeres as Liuely doth them in his Olympicks table Where from the fiftie fiue to the eighty nine Olympiad in which and not before he beginneth to account Daniels weekes a Vacuety is left for so long a time Whereas contrariwise we see that Daniel beganne his prayer for their deliuerance immediately at the expiration of the seuenty yeeres captiuity and at the beginning of Daniels prayer the Angell Gabriel was sent from God to shew him that the Commandement for the deliuerance of the people was come forth and from that comming forth of the Commandement to the death of the Messiah seuenty seuens were determined for a full deliuery from the captiuity of sinne by the sacrifice of the Messiah Christ the Lamb figured in the Law And that this Commandement came forth in the first yeere of Cyrus the writers of the Chronicles and the booke of Ezra doe plainly declare both of them affirming and saying that in the first yeere of Cyrus when the Word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Ieremiah was finished the Lord stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia and hee made a proclamation through all his kingdome and also by writing saying Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heauen giuen mee and hee hath commanded mee to build him a house in Ierusalem that is in Iudah Who is among you of all his people with wbom the Lord his God is let him goe vp And of this commandement made by Cyrus for the returne of the Iewes to build their Citie and Temple the Prophet Isaiah foretould aboue an hundred yeeres before Cyrus was borne for saith he He saith to Cyrus thou art my Shepheard he shal performe all my desire saying to Ierusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shal be surely laid By which words of the Prophets wee conclude That not a linke of the sacred chaine of Chronologie is either broken or opened betwixt the commandement giuen by Cyrus the Lords Shepheard and the death of Christ the great Shepheard when hee gaue his life for his Flock For as time is chained linke vnto linke from Adam to Cyrus so is it chained linke vnto linke from Cyrus to the death of Christ by the speech of an Angel without al helps of the disagreeing Olympicks who in this diuine Chronologie do but trouble the waters of Shiloh and can be no let for time but that the Messiah in Daniels text is Christ Iesus our Lord and Sauiour And therefore let vs measure vnto him the true Temple and Altar with the Reed of Gabriel as Iohn did the Temple and Altar with the Reed of the Angel and in this case cast out the accoūts of the heathenish Olympiads as Iohn did cast out and not measure the Court for that was giuen to the Gentiles And so come we to his other Assertion which is that the text of holy Scrip ture in Daniel will not permit the name Messiah to be referred vnto Christ Iesus our Sauiour That Christ Iesus saith hee could be the Messiah mentioned in Daniel the hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not proue it being an attribute giuen to King Priest and Prophet must there be so taken and not appropriated to any one particular person which the text will not beare So that the word Messiah in Daniels text he will haue not to be meāt of Christ as it is in Iohns Gospel and in the second Psalme but rather a succession of gouernors both Iewes and Romans that ruled in Ierusalem from the rebuilding thereof by Nehemiah vntill the finall destruction both of Citie and Temple by Titus the Emprour And those that referre the word Messiah in that place vnto Christ Iesus saith hee cannot so doe without straining or wresting of the text which they who so vnderstād it are driuen vnto For as the Chronologie here fitteth not for Messiah to be vnderstood of Christ our Lord so the very text it selfe is against it And therefore he pitieth that the Message of an holy Angell containing a most excellent prophecy from Gods owne mouth should be so peruerted and depraued as it hath beene by those that picke out that sense But is it not a greater pitie that learning should thus turne edge vpon Diuinity to depraue vs of one of the most pregnant prophecy for Christ his passion reuealed in the whole Scriptures of God or that this most holy message of the Angell should be appropriated onely vnto prophane Gouernours people and place whose period had beene prophecied and whose tennor was shortly to be determined rather then vnto him who by that his foreshewed death was to bring an estate of euerlasting life and whose Kingdom should neuer haue end Therefore to free the text from any such interpretation let vs take the consent of all almost those malicious Iewes excepted that either speake against their owne knowledge and conscience or haue the vaile of Moses as yet vndrawne from before their hearts But the best approued Docters among them as Rabbi Saadias Rabbi Nahman and Rabbi Hadarson expounding that text of Daniel agree rhat the Messiah there spoken of is Christ the very annointed of God so farre are they from attributing that name to any other besids him though God hath giuen them the spi rit of slumber not to insee what themselues say And of Christian expositers wee take the testimony euen of the aduersarie himselfe who saith that the most part and best learned of those who haue laboured for the vnderstanding of this Prophecy haue vnderstood the Messiah here spoken of to bee Iesus Christ. And how generally true that opinion is and hath beene the worthy instrument of Gods truth the learned Du. Plessie in his truenesse of Christian Religion doth testify where he saith That this text is meant of the Messiah Christ is so euident and absolute that it is a starke shame to deny it And Lyra our Countryman against the resisting Iewes from the adiunct giuen vnto the Messiah frameth this argument The Messiah in Daniel saith he is called Messiah Prince for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie but none is called Messiah the prince but only Christ therefore is Christ the very Messiah spoken of in Dvniel Neither doth that Prophet speake of many but of one and the same Messiah and he to bee slaine to
would destroy the Iews his owne kindred the vnbeleeuing Vnto which opinion Tremelius likewise consenteth And these Expositers that by the word Haba Nagid the Prince to come will haue the Romans meant yet meane not as master Liuelie doth for ioynt Gouernours with the Iewes in Ierusalems estate but rather for destroyers of that Commonwealth to fulfill Gods wrath vpon the place as vnder Titus the sonne of Uespasian they did to an vtter desolation both of Citie and Sanctuarie as with a floud To make then this most plaine text of holy Scripture concerning Christ his sealing of mans redemption to be but a Gouernment established betwixt the Gentile Roman and the faithlesse Iew is to adde darknes to night and to make the ignorant more ignorant still But as the day cannot be separated from the Sunne nor mount Sions situation from before Ierusalem so the text in Daniel to finish wickednes to abolish sinnes to make reconciliation for 〈◊〉 to bring righteousnesse euerlasting to seale vp â—…ion and Prophet and to shew Christ the holy of holies cannot bee separated from that which immediatly in the next verses doe follow namely that the Messiah should be killed to make a sure couenant for many and to end sacrifice and oblation The one being so linked into the other with such glory and strength as the go dâ—…n Chaines that bound the Brest-plate vnto the Ephod vpon Aarons breast was nothing so glorious or strong But as Master Liuelies conceit hath been touching Daniels Messiah in making that holy name to import none other then a ioynt gouernment of Iewes and Romans ruling together in the new erected estate vnder the second Temple so is his conceit likewise touching the ceasing of Daniels Sacrifices who will in no wise admit them to end in Christ Iesus when he offered himselfe the most acceptable sacrifice vpon the Altar the Crosse at his death but will haue them to con tinue fortie yeeres after euen to the siege and sacking of Ierusalem for saith he when Uespasian was come into Iudea and wasted the Countrey then the vnruly Rebels abolished the lawfull custome of sacrificing and the Priests being slaine by them for want of men there was no oblation any more And therefore not without cause saith hee in my iudgement may those words of Daniel touching the sacrifice ceasing in the middest of the last weeke bee referred vnto these times of this warre wherein by meanes thereof the sacrifices of the Lords house were hindred so many waies some were quite abolished and others done either not by those to whom they pertained or not so safely and freely as thy ought In which his sayings who seeth not onely Iudaisme maintained but also the very soule of Christianitie offended in shaking these maine principles of eternall saluation For if the paschall Sacrifice did not end in Christ then did not Christ at his death change the ordinances which Moses had giuen as Stephen said hee should nor sealed vp sinnes vision and prophecie as the Angell had foreshewed and then as Saint Paul in another case said We are yet in our sinnes and the Iewes haue exceptions that our Iesus of Marie is not the sauing Messiah It is by Moses forbidden not to lay a stumbling block before the blind nor to suffer a beast to lie vnder his burden But what blocks are heere laid before the blind Iews and what burdens vpon the weake Christians by these interpretations who can reade without griefe wherein the straight waies to the Lords holy Temple are made crooked and the Crosse of Christ not the altar wheron the Lambe that tooke away the sinnes of the world was sacrificed if sacrificing after his death was a reconciliation for sinnes But that the Curtaines are still vndrawne before the Arke and Mercie-seate of Gods couenants vnto the vnbeleeuing Iewes and the vaile of Moses in reading the Law and the Prophets vntaken from before their fleshie hearts with griefe of hart we see when after the most manifest breaking downe the stop of the partition wall and the liuing way laid open into the holiest of holies by the renting his flesh as the earth and vaile did at Christs death they still continue separates and doe straine all their strengths to diuert these texts from Iesus our Immanuell and to attribute the name Messiah to any other rather then vnto him Some making the Messiah there mentioned to be King Cyrus the deliuerer of Gods people as Rabbi Solomoh from Isaiah doth and some will haue him to be Zorobbabel the builder of the Lords Temple as the Hebrew Scholiasts generally doe Some thinke him to bee Ioshuah the High Priest that accompanied the Returned to build againe Ierusalem of which opinion is Rabbi Leui ben Gershon and some hold him to be Nehemiah that finished the walles of Ierusalem of which mind is the enuious Iew Aben Ezra Some will haue the Messiah to be none other then a Succession of Priests and Macchabees gouerning the Common wealth of Iudea as the conuerted Iew Paulus Burgensis thinketh and some will haue him to bee Agrippa the last Gouernour of that state in the time of their miserable calamities vnto which conceite some later haue inclined And all of them almost in their infidelitie attribute the title Messiah Nagid vnto any rather then vnto Iesus our Sauiour the true Annointed indeed Had not then the Apostle iust cause to account these Rabinicall Genealogies both vaine and foolish and to forewarne his Disciples Timothie and Titus not to giue heed to such vnprofitable questions fables and contentions as breede strife and not godly edifying For albeit that most of these Gouernours were nursing Fathers to the Iewes then Gods only people in the time of their liues yet by their deaths for death was the set marke or Seale of Redemption no benefit accrued to the meanest Iew read of And Cyrus the first of them dying long before the last seuen and Agrip pa the last of them liuing after the destruction of the Citie meet not their accomplishments in the last seuen and yeere of Iubilee as the death of Iesus the true Messias did where ended the ceremonies and policie of the place For when the gold of the Temple was become greater then the Temple it selfe righteousnesse vrged in circumcision and the Law Moses expounded no further then the literall sense led the Iewes boasting of Abraham and a continued succession then looke what was done vnto Shiloh as Ieremy had threatned must be done to Ierusalem and with such desolation that a stone must not be left standing vpon a stone but as in the destruction of Sodome all cast downe For the chosen Citie the Royall Seate of the King and place of f holy worship now being become the valley of slaughter and Den of the eues grew towards her period when Christ the great Prophet weeping pronounced this iudgement
24. 2. The glory of the worlds computation taken from the Fathers a Gal. 3 17 b 1 Kings 6. 1. c 1 Kings 11. 42. d Ezech. 4 2. 5. e Ier. 25. 11. f Dan. 9. 24. g Gen. 15. 13. h Gen. 15. 13. The promise for deliueraÌ„ce accomplished in the fourth generation p Exod. 12 Moses his meaning expounded q Gal. 3. 17 The promise 4 o yeeres before the Law a Gen. 12. 4. b Gen. 21. 5. c Gen. 25. 26. d Gen. 47. 9. * Polichro lib. 2. cap. 12. Halfe the yeers of the promise was spent before the Israelites went into Egypt The Septuagints exposition of Moses a Aug. quest 47. in ExoduÌ„ * Ioseph Antiq. lib. 2. cap. 6. Gen. 22. 17. Gen. 14. Exod. 12. 40. The Israelites dwelt not in Egypt 430 yeeres a Gen. 46. 11. b Exod. 6. 18. 20. c Exod. 6. 20. Iochebed the daughter of Leui and mother of Moses Leui his age gathered by Iosephs Leui his age when he came into Egypt Iochebeds age disanulleth the 430 yeeres abode in Egypt The Peregrinations of the Patriarks and the abode in Egypt together make 430 yeeres a Leuit. 26 34. b Ier. 25. 1. 11. c Ier. 27. 7. Daniel his prayer vpon occasion of Ieremies prophecie d Dan. 9. 24. Daniels seuens diuided into three parts Daniels seuens miscast D. R. in M. S. e Mat. 18. 22. * Hierom vpoÌ„ Dan. 9. Daniels seuens mistaken * Origen hom 29. vpon Mat Ezra 6. 1. Ezra 7. 12. Nehem. 2. * True Religion chap. â—…9 Daniels seuens began in the first yeere of Cyrus f Ier. 29. 10 g 2 Ch. 36. 22. 23. The Edicts of Cyrus successors but confirmations of his h Ezra 6. 1 Daniels seuens ended at Christs death i Ier. 27. 7. Foure Passeouers meÌ„tioned in Iohn The first in cha 2. 13. the second in chap. 5. 1. the third in chap. 6. 4. the fourth in chapters 11. 13. 18. k Reu. 12. 14. l Esay 1. 3. m Ier. 8. 7. n Luk. 19 11. Daniels Seuens the onely Chronicle to the new Testament o Rom. 13. 36. In what Monarchies Daniels Seuens fell Clem. Alex strom 1. Alexanders death 280. yeeres before Augustus his raigne The Greâ—… an Monarchy began at the slaughter of Darius The Grecian Monarchy continued 300. yeeres Romans 60 490 Grecians 300 Persians 130 The Persians ragne most trouble Daniels accounts p Dan. 5. 30. q 2. Chro. 36. 22. r Nehem. 12. 22. The number of the Persian Kings not agreed vpon Tertul. lib. aduers. Iudaeos Isidor lib. 5. Etimol Rab. Zota The raignes of the Persian Kings vncertaine s Esay 8. 6. The Genealogies giue passage to Daniels propriety t Ezra 6. 15 * Iunius in his annotation vpon that text of Haggai in his last edition u Apoc. 11. 1. No account to be made of profane Writers for Daniels Seuens The cause too waighty for the he athen to witnesse Apo. 11. 12 The Heathen Writers may serue as handmaids to the Scriptures text u Dan. 9. 25. A certenty in the first diuision of Daniels Seuens x Ioh. 2. 18 * Bullinger Scaliger y Ezra 4. 24. * Alleaged by D. Willet vpon Dan. 9. fol. 304. Zerubbabel of yeers sufficient to gouerne the returned z Ezra 3. 8 Zerubbabel laid the Temples foundation a Zech. 3. 9 The Scriptures must warrant where we must credit a Nehem. 12. 1. b 1. Chro. 6. c 2. King 25. 8. 18. Ezra borne before the nineteenth yeere of Nebuchadnezzar d Nehem. 8. 3. Ezra his age will not admit the Persians raigne a boue 130. yeeres e Deut. 9. 15. f Ester 2. 5 g Est. 3. 7. Darius Histaspis holden to be Ahashuerosh * Herod lib. 3. Ester is called Atossa h Est. 7. 3. * Hellanicus i Est. 8. 9. Mordecai his age will not admit so many yeeres from the returne Herod l. 1 Est. 2. 5. Ioseph Scalliger de men tem lib. 6. Esters Apocrypha Twelue witnesses against the ouerlong raignes of the Persians Many of the returned aliue at the Temples building k Hag. 2. 4. 10. l Ier. 24. m Zach. 8. 4. The Persians scantelized almost to halfe their time n 1. King 6. 21. The holy Genealogies is a chaine as glorious as Salomons Nehemiah saw both the beginning and ending of the Persian Monarchy o Ezra 2. 2 p Nehem. 2. 1. q Nehem. 7. 5. r Nehem. 13. 6. Petrus Gal. contra Iud. lib. 7. c. 12. Ioseph Ant. lib. 11 * Iosephus antiq Iude lib. 11. cap. 8. f Psal. 55. 23. t Neh. 4. 1. u Chap. 6. * Ioseph antiq Iud. bel lib. 11. cap. 5. cap 8. Matth. 1. y Luk. 2. 24 Genealogies in the new Testament do confirme the time by the old z Luke 3. a In his tree-like Genealogie printed in Anno 1555. The vse of the holy Genealogies * Gregorie in Preface in Iob. Psal. 10. 5. * In his answere to Hiero King of Syracusa Tul. lib. 1 de natur Deor. a Iosh. 1. 8 b Iohn 5. 39. c Rom. 11. 33. d Heb. 2. 14. e cap. 4. 15. Profound deepenesse in the sacred Genealogies f Iob 21. 5 The fathers from Iudah to Hezron allowing Shelah mariageable were not aboue 〈◊〉 3. yeeres old when they were Fathers accounting the birthes of Er Onan and Hezron g Gen. 38. * For so by their births and raignes may be gathered Hezron Aram Aminadab NaassoÌ„ saw each of them threescore yeeres before they were Fathers h Num. 26. 64. Salmon Boaz Obed and less were each of them an hundred yeeres old before they were Fathers * Broughton in his consent so placeth Ra chab as she is 830 yeers aged at Boaz his birth i 2 Sam 5. 4 k 1 King 6. 1. Salmon was borne in the wildernesse for in Egypt he could not all dying that came thence nor could hee be born in Canaan for he married Rachab in the first yeere of their entrance and Rachab marriageble then must be an old mother when shee bare her sonne The purpose of God in these vnusuall begettings must be considered l Ioh. 5. 39 m Mat. 5. 18. n Gen. 29. 10. o Exod. 34. 33. p 2 Cor. 3. 13. No apparant promise was made of Christ to any father betwixt Iudah and Dauid The mothers of Christ coÌ„mended q Gen. 32. 26. r Gen. 30. 15. * Rab. Simeon cited by D. Willet vpon Gen. 38. * S. Ambrose of these mothers saith They onely desired to haue issue by that chosen Family s Gen. 17. 17. t Gen. 38. 14. u 2 Sam. 11. 2. Nature forced offen ded and broken x Luk. 1. 31. The Virgins Euah and Mary compared y Ioh. 6. Luk. 3. 36. A Cainan more then Moses hath Genebrard in 1 Chro. 3. Moses doth not omit Ioseph antic lib. 12. cap. 2. Iosephus followeth a true Copy LippomaÌ„ Canus li. 2. de loc Theo. cap. 18. The opinioÌ„s of the learned Nichol. Lyra vpon S. Lukes Gospell August ciui Dei lib. 15. ca 13. Deut. 29. 29.