of his youthful Vigour and Vanity Or Naim Hebrew signifies the moving of them for thus the whole City was mightily moved at this mighty Miracle Luke 7.16 The Third Remark is A Young Man may be a Dead-Man This Widow's Son is call'd a Dead-man Luke 7.12 and a Young-man ver 14. assoon goes the Lambs-skin to the Market saith the Proverb as the Old Sheep Senibus mors in Januis Adolescentibus in insidiis Saith Bâ—rnard Death seizeth upon old men yet lyes lurking as in an Ambushment for the youngest As the Old must dye so the Young may Dye Our Drecrepit Age both Expects Death and Sollicits it but Vigorous Youth looks strangely upon that Grim Sergeant sent of God to Arrest it so soon The Fourth Remark is 'T is no new device or novelty to have burying places without the City 't is said here when Christ came to Naim he meets Men with a Dead Man carried out of the City ver 12. for they might not as holding it unhealthful and unwholesome to Bury within the Walls open Graves and Interr Corps in the City Therefore N. B. Note well Let not any Survivers murmur at the Burying of their near and dear Relations in the Suburbs of this City seeing it was so here and the Resurrection will find them any where The Fifth Remark is 'T is no untrodden path for an only Son to dye as well as an only Husband This good Woman as the sequel demonstrates loses first her only Husband therefore is she call'd a Widow and now as if the loss of her Head were not great enough she must lose her only Son who might have been to her what Obed was to Naomai a restorer of her Life and a hourisher of her Old Age Ruth 4.15 This her only Branch must be lopped off from the Tree also then murmur not at such strokes c. The Sixth Remark is Yet Christ's Compassion is toward such as are under such severe strokes 'T is said v. 13. When the Lord saw her he had Compassion on her and said weep not All this and more was done upon Christ's own accord from his Free-Grace and Unrequested This Widow did neither beseech his Bowels to Pity her nor his Power to Raise her Son Christ had and hath still a most tender Heart and will pity and provide more for his Praying People than they ask of him The Seventh Remark is As Christ touched the Bier and spake to the Dead Arise whereby the Dead-man was raised to Life and Restored to his Mother ver 14 15. N. B. Note well So a word of Christ's Mouth and a touch with his Hand shall suffice to revive the Slain Witnesses and to restore them to the Church their Mother Oh that God may thus visit his People and be Glorified as ver 16. However it shall be enough at the last Day to Raise up all the Dead John 5.29 1 Thes 4.13 c. The Eighth Remark is Sometimes Christ commanded secresie in his working Miracles as Mark 5.43 Luke 8.56 but five Persons were Witnesses of Jairus's Daughters being raised to life c. but this and that of Lazarus was done openly in the sight of the multitude without charge of Privacy as in Capernaum where Christ had been laughed to scorn and had newly denounced a Curse against that City but there were no such causes here All is done in open view Solomon saith Every thing is Beautiful in the right Season So are all Christ's Acts doing all well Mark 7.37 CHAP. XV. NOW follow many more matchless Miracles whereby the Lord backed his Divine Oracles and Doctrine of Truth The first and next now to be gloss'd upon is Christ's Casting out of the Deaf and Dumb Devil Mat. 12. from ver 22 to 46. Mark 7.32 with 9.17.11.17 Luke 11. from ver 14 to 27. This is illustrated by many Remarks The First is Both Matthew and Mark do introduce this Miracle by premising a general account of an Ambulatory Hospital following Christ from all parts Great Multitudes followed him from place to place Mat. 12.15 yea some of Esau's Posterity Idumeans as well as Jews throng to touch Christ Mark 3.7 8 9 10. and he healed the Diseases and Plagues of all that came to him and cast out Devils Mat. 8.16 12 1â— to which is added When the unclean Spirits saw him they fall down before him crying Thou art the Son of God Mark 3.11 The matter was well amended since Satan's first onset upon Christ in the Wilderness c. Where he then doubted saying If thou be the Son of God Mat. 4.3 6. The same Power can change his note to us The Second Remark is As Devils truckled to Christ's Power in his own Person so they did to that wherewith he impowered his Apostles whom he gradually gathered to be with him to see his Glory John 1.14 39 c. to be Witnesses of his Works Acts 10.39 41. And to learn as his Auditors the Doctrine of the Gospel that they were to Preach N. B. Note well So that the very Apostles themselves did not at their first mission into the Ministry Preach by the Spirit but what they had heard about a Twelve-month from the Mouth of their Master When Christ had Called and Chosen them to the number of twelve answerable to the twelve Tribes of Israel and throughly instructed them both for Praying and Preaching work He gives them not only a free Mission Mark 3.13 but also a free Commission both for curing Diseases and for casting out Devils Mat. 10.1 6 8. Mark 3.14 15. Luke 6.12 c. with 10 17. 9.1 Satan falls as Lightning from Heaven before them Luke 10.18 and that Serpent hurts them not Mark 16.18 Nor can he finally or totally hurt either Christ's Ministers or Believers that are his Members The Third Remark is Simon the Pharisee Invites Christ to a Feast Luke 7.36 It was fit he should feast sometimes that fared so hard mostly He is call'd Simon the Leper Mat. 26.6 Mark 14.3 whom Christ had healed of his Leprosie and who therefore entertains his Healer in way of Thankfulness to a Dinner and Christ's foregoing Words The Son of Man is come Eating and Drinking c. Luke 7.34 might possibly induce him to make this Invitation as haply Christ's others words Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 might invite the Woman-Sinner to prostrate her self at Christ's-feet c. leaning on his left Elbow at Meat Luke 7.37 38. This was Mary Magdalen out of whom Christ had cast seven Devils and became a consort with a Court-Lady Joanna c. who had been healed by Christ also Luke 8.2 3. The self same Mary that was Sister to Lazarus John 12.2 3. Mark 15.40 16.1 Luke 24.10 Where we may not imagine Lazarus's Sister must neglect to be about the Burial Seeing Christ foretold that she should do that Office John 12.7 This Mary the Antients say was Married to a Noble Person of
more solid reason of their dying within that term is rather to shew that the life of man though it be never so long yet in respect of Eternity is very short and not a day but a magnum nihil Mine age saith David my World Heb. That is my abode in the World is as nothing Psal 39.5 Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus 't is but a point and less than a point so though never so long yet far off from perfection 'T is but a small space of time that the longest liver hath on Earth compar'd with Eternity in Heaven The Phrase and he died is added at the end of all those ancient Patriarchs to shew how unalterable was that grand Stature of Heaven Thou shalt die the Death Gen. 2.17 And 't is appointed unto all men once to die Heb. 9.27 So that the youngest and strongest should be mindful of their mortality learning to die daily as Paul did 1 Cor. 15.31 And to make death familiar to us at Bed and Board for as young as we and as strong as we do daily drop down into the dust The Proverb saith assoon goes the Lambs Skin to the Market as that of the old Sheep 'T is a witty and yet a worthy saying That while Death was but a young Archer newly come into the World and unexperienced he could not hit the mark for many hundred years Hence it was that those Primitive Patriarchs most of the Ten lived nine hundred years why Death then could not hit them with his Killing Dart any sooner but now he is become a better Marks-man and can strike down right Dead within the term of one hundred nay at seventy years Psal 90.10 which number is there stated as the term of Man's Life few exceed it and fewer attain to it As mens wickedness increased so the length of their lives decreased even in Mose's time who was the Pen-man of that 90th Psalm as the title telleth Yea Death learns to hit the mark sooner now for mens lives are daily shortened and Generations are fast justled out of their Beings to give place for others Eccles 1.4 The Stage of the Earth still standing in its place while the Actors upon it are often changed that so the World may come the sooner to its End and though there be some singular Examples of a longer life yet in the general 't is observ'd that more Die before they be Ten years old since Death became such a cunning Archer than there be that live above Sixty Yea some of Mankind there be whom Death sends out of the World as soon as Life hath led them into the World whose short passage is ab Utero ad Urnam from the Grave of the Womb to the Womb of the Grave There is but a little inter-space 'twixt their lying in the Womb and being laid in their Tomb Living in the former but Dead in the latter Besides how many die in their youth while their bones are full of marrow and their veins full of blood They perish in the midst of their way Psal 2.12 like the Jay pruning her self on the Tree Death shoots his Arrow and down they tumble while they hope in themselves to see many fair Summers The 4th Circumstance concerning Enoch's Appearance is the Function Capacity and Condition wherein he Appeared This is twofold 1. Publick as a Prophet of God and a Preacher of Gods Word or Will 2. Private as a Professor and a Practiser of Godliness both in the Form and in the Power of it in his walking with God 1. Of the first he appeared in the Quality both of a Prophet and of a Preacher both were publick Functions 1. Of a Prophet The Apostle Jude expresly mentioneth Enochs Prophecy Judes Ep. v. 14 15. How Jude came to this is uncertain There be two opinions concerning it the 1. is that the Apostle Jude had these two verses out of a book call'd the Prophecy of Enoch whereof Origen Tertullian Jerom Augustin Bede c. make mention That there was such a Book called by that name in those primitive times of the Fathers is not denied but all the doubt lieth 1. Whether Enoch was its Author Or 2. Whether Jude quoted those his two verses out of that Book considering 1. Because none of the Prophets either Moses Samuel or those after them in the Old Testament quotes any such book as those of Moses are by after-prophets 2. Because no such book is mentioned to be kept either in Moses Tabernacle or in Solomons Temple as the Tables of the Testimony were in the Ark of the Covenant 3. Because the Old Testament Church had no such book among all their Canonical Scriptures before their Babylonish Captivity 4. Because had there been such a book Moses could not have concealed it seeing the Creation of the World the History of all the primitive Patriarchs from Adam to himself were so distinctly revealed to him and had there been any such book in a true being he could not be ignorant of it but would have mentioned it as he doth all other things from the beginning Especially in his History of Enoch 5. Because if Enoch had indeed writ such a book then Moses had not been the first writer which all learned Authors both Protestant and Popish do acknowledge and which the words of our Lord Beginning at Moses he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself Luk. 24.27 do import for had Enoch writ a book before Moses Christ would have begun at Enoch and not at Moses 6. Because neither Philo nor Josephus two learned writers of the Jewish antiquities do make mention of such a book of Enoch now they both being curious observers and careful preservers of all memorable Monuments would undoubtedly have discovered such a precious treasure as could not but be in all generations of the Jews most highly valued both for the Reverend Antiquity and Eminent Piety of the Author as likewise for the sublime excellency of the matter There be indeed other various sentiments about this Enochs Prophecy some say he wrote it upon Pillars of Stone or brick that neither of those two grand destructions of the World which he foresaw by Water and by Fire might destroy it others say that he wrote it in a book which is lost as many other Books mentioned in Scripture as the book of the Wars of the Lord Numb 21.14 the Book of Jashar Josh 10.13 With many others of Nathan Semeiah Gad Ahiah Haddo Hanani c. Named in the Chronicles c. Others say that this book was preserved in Noahs Ark from the Floud or if it were lost yet was it restored by Noah thereunto inspired This was the opinion of Tertullian But all those are uncertain Conjectures having no confirmation from Scripture yea rather are a contradiction to it as it maketh Moses the first writer in the World Herewithal these following considerations introducing the 2d Opinion are worth due observation As 1.
4. and not faint Luke 13.24 Rom. 15.30 till we obtain Benjamins Portion in sitting down at our Brother Josephs or Jesus's Elbow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strife earnestly not for the Cup till we spill the Wine 4. As Jacob buys that which he could not win a Spiritual Priviledge with Temporal Pottage so if we either by strife purchase or suite can attain to true Spiritual Blessings we are happy 5. On the other hand the Profane as Esau are despisers of Grace Gen. 25.34 parts with their Patrimony without regret or remorse and that for trifles Worldly things are no better than a Mass of Lâ—ntile-Pottage a right Son of Adam who sold his own and his Posterities happiness for a Morsel of Meat pretending danger of Death v. 32. whereas 't was more the greediness of his Natural Appetite and the greatness of his Carnal Passion and Affection so priz'd present profit before as he thought an empty Priviledge limiting it to this Life only as Job 21.13 Thus Sensualists sell their Souls for a thing of nought as Amos 2.6 whereas Christ who best knew the worth of a Soul as he alone went to the price of a Soul saith 't is more worth than a World Mat. 16.26 Godly Naboth was of a better mind saying God forbid a should sell away my Inheritance 1 Kin. 21.3 and indeed God had forbid him Levit. 25.23 Numb 36.7 Ezek. 46.18 so he fearing God in that corrupt age would rather be made a Martyr than break Gods Law the Selling of his Inheritance had been the purchasing of Sin and Disobedience but a good Man is bid to sell all that be may purchase not Sin but Christ that Pearl of great Price Mat. 13.45 as Jacob here parts with a part of his Pottage to an Hungry Hunter whom a little will not suffice in a time of Famine to purchase the Primogeniture which was a figure of Divine Adoption Jacob having bought the Birth right had a way made so gain the Blessing also in the getting whereof there be many eminent remarks or remarkable means whereby he got it As 1. Isaac's Blindness did concur towards it 'T is some wonder how Isaac came to be Blind so soon with Old Age seeing he lived above Forty years after this Gen. 35.28 29. being now but an Hundred Thirty seven years Old the very Age that his Brother Ishmael died at Gen. 25.17 which put him the more to mind his own End and to make his Patriarchal Will before he died though he lived long even Forty three years after How he came to be Blind so soon yet live so long is much marvell'd at seeing the same did not befal any of the other Patriarchs yet is he noted to be more Continent and Temperate than any of them having but one Wife Gen. 24.67 We may not think that Isaac's Blindness was caused by the Smoak of the Sacrifices that Esau's Wives Offered to their Idols as the Rabbies say or that it was an extraordinary Judgment of God upon him as hath been upon great Sinners as acts 13.11 c. but his Old Age being now an Hundred Thirty seven years old was incident to this as to other Infirmities Eccles 12.2 3 4 c. it being of it self a Disease and the Sink of all Diseases Yet this was ordered by a Divine Hand upon him at this time not because as Christ saith This Man had finned or his Parents but that the Works of God might be made manifest in him John 9.3 For God then sent this Blindness upon Isaac that by this means the Blessing might be as it ought by the Oracle conferr'd upon Jacob which Isaac with his Eye-sight would not have done This may be strong Consolation that our good God doth marvellously dispose of the Infirmities and Calamities of bis Servants in the best way of Subserviency to his own Glory Oh what mad work had Isaac made had he not been blind he would for his part have brought Destruction upon the World for as much as he wish'd to Bless Esau who upon any occasion would have sold the Blessing as he had done the Birth-right and besides being very wicked by despising this as he had the other he would have brought the wrath and curse of God upon the whole Earth Therefore Isaac's Blindness of Eyes seeing he had such Blindness of Affection to his prophane Son was a great Blessing and let us say with the Apostle All things work together for the good of the Children of God Rom. 8.28 The second Remark is The Expectation of his own death Isaac saith I am Old and I know not the day of my Death Gen. 27.2 no more doth any though never so young as soon saith the Proverb goes the Lambs Skin to the Market as that of the Old Sheep and the Hebrew saying is There be as many young Skulls in Golgotha as old Young men may die for none have or can make any Agreement with the Grave or any Covenant with Death Isa 28.15 18. but old Men must die 'T is the Grand Statute of Heaven Heb. 9.27 Senex quasi Seminex an old Man is half dead yea now at fifty years old we are accounted three parts dead this Lesson we may learn from our Fingers end the Dimensions whereof demonstrate this to us beginning at the end of the Little Finger representing our Childhood rising up a little higher to the end of the Ring-finger which betokens our Youth from it to the top of the Middle Finger which is the highest point of an elevated Hand and so most aptly represents our Middle Age when we come to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Heighth of Stature and Strength then begins our declining Age from thence to the end of our Fore-finger which amounts to a little Fall but from thence to the end of the Thumb there is a great Fall to shew when Man goes down in his Old Age he falls fast and far and breaks as we say with a witness now if our very Fingers end do read us such a Divine Lecture of Mortality Oh that we could take it our and have it perfect as we say on our Fingers end Oh that there were such an Heart in us Deut. 5.29 só wise as to consider our latter end Deut. 32.29 Death to the Young is in insidus lyes in Ambush for them and is ready at all times to fall on if the Lord of Hosts give but the word but as to Old Men Death is prae Januis stands before their Door and is ready to step in over the Threshold to strike c. Hence cometh that saying That Old Men have pedem in cymba Charontis one Foot in the Grave already and the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Old Man is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a looking toward the Ground Decrepit Age goes stooping and groveling as groaning for the Grave It doth not only expect death but oft sollicites it Though we find not Isaac do the latter
of this Prayer for the Dead Lib. 3. Chap. 19. nor supposing Judas did so is this particular Example sufficient to establish a Doctrine no more than Zipporah's was to prove that Woman might administer Sacraments Exod. 4.25 or the single Example of Rhasis that one may lawfully kill himself N. B. 1. It follows then these Apocryphal Books were upon good grounds not received by the Church among those that were accounted Canonical and plainly of Divine Inspiration because most of them are justly suspected to be stuffed with vain Jewish Fables and not penned in a stile any way agreeable with the Majesty of God's Holy Spirit but far off from bearing the Character of those Scriptures divinely inspired Therefore the Author of this second Book of Maccabees not being inspired of God acknowledges his own Infirmity and desires Pardon for what he had done amiss Chap. 15.39 N. B. 2. Though the Apocrypha cannot prove any Point of the Christian Religion save so far as they consent with the Canonical to confirm the same or rather whereon they are grounded yet may they be read as the Works of Godly Men for the Instruction of Godly Manners as also for advancing our Knowledge of the History of the Jews in which Books is declared that God at all Times had a special Care of his Church never leaving her utterly destitute of means to confirm her in the Faith and Hope of the promised Messiah as likewise they declare the fulfilling of foretold Threatnings by the Prophets for her Exercise and for the Destruction of her Enemies Remark the Fourth in General Beside these Apocryphal Additions to the Canonical Scriptures Josephus the Jew is look'd upon by the Learned as the best of Hebrew Historians and the most curious Searcher of the Jewish Antiquities yet not without his foul Faults as hath been occasionally observ'd all along in this History of the Scriptures and therefore the Romanists especially Barclay by Name are justly blame-worthy for saving that the loss of the Holy Bible would be the lesser loss so Jofephus's Antiquities were but carefully preserved because the whole History of the Old and New Testament may be supplied out of that Josephus the Jew 'T is true Jerome calls Josephus the Greek Livy for the excellency of his History and reckons him in the Catalogue of the Ecclesiastical Authors because not only he was so kind to the Christians tho' himself was a Jew but also and more especially because he speaks so Highly and Honourably of Christ himself in Lib. 18 of his Antiquities therefore Jerom listed up his Name among the Writers of Ecclesiastical History saith Sixtus Senensis Bibl. lib. 4. He was certainly most Learned of all the Jews in his Time both in Greek and Hebrew saith Fuller Miscel lib. 2. cap. 3. and so say Spanhemius Dub. Evang. par 2. Dub. 2. and Vossius de Histor Graec. lib. 2. cap. 8. and Bodinus Method Hist c. but above all Cuneus's Character of him is most observable saying He is an Author worthy of all Praise and who next to the Holy Scriptures deserveth best of all other Authors to be believed And tho' he excells all others in Gravity yet he is not found altogether free from the Dotages of his Jewish Nation-Cuneus de Repub. Hebr. lib. 3. cap. 2 c. Josephus is taxed for this fault by Luther Gen. 34. by Rivet on Exod. 2. and by Chamter c. that writing the Antiquities of his Nation with a design to have them published he describes them as Stately as he could and when he thought the Simplicity of the Scripture did not sufficiently set off the commendaetion of Matters done among the Hebrews he then indented and added many Matters of himself Therefore ought he to be Read with a great deal of Christian Care and Prudence N. B. There was another Jew of later Times who out of True Josephus wrote an Hebrew History under the False Name of Joseph Ben-Gorion above-named Translating Josephus out of Greek into Hebrew By this latter Mock-Joseph many of the Jews were deceived taking him for the True one because both were Priests Learned and Noble c. Geneb Chronol lib. 2. cap. 4. Remark the Fifth in General Tho' both the Apocrypha and Josephus as we have seen be but uncertain Guides to Conduct us through the Wilderness of this History of the Jews in this interspace of time when the Spirit of Prophecy was ceased from Recording the Memorials thereof yet have we a more sure word of Prophecy as 't is said 2 Pet. 1.21 c. even somewhat in the Old Testament which was of Divine Infallible Inspiration to wit the Book of Daniel who writes an History as well as a Prophecy of what assuredly came to pass Mark 1. As First Daniel saw the Vision of the four Monarchies call'd the four Mettal Kingdoms in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Dan. 2. which troubled the World but especially the Church in the World from the first Rising of Nebuchadnezzar that Golden Head until the Coming of the Everlasting Kingdom of Christ in the Gospel N. B. Notewel Dan. the 7th which Prophecy is as a General Map of all the whole World his following Prophecies are as particular Tables of several Countries therein So in Ch. the 8th he had his Vision of the Persian Ram with a Golden Fleece and full of Flesh but Conquer'd by the Grecian Goat this introduceth some particular Passages relating to the History of the Jews Nehemiah had mentioned Jaduah or Jaddus Neh. 12.22 who was the very High-Priest of the Jews that met this Capering Goat Alexander the Great who was coming with an intent to Plunder Jerusalem in his way to War with the Ram but Jaddus meeting him in his Priestly Vestments for Glory and Beauty Exod. 28.2 did so Dazle him that his Fury melted into a strange Veneration more especially when Jaddus shewed him this Prophecy of Daniel that he should certainly Conquer Darius the Ram. Alexander hereby was much encourag'd in his Enterprize and not only offer'd Sacrifice to the True God according to the High-Priest's Direction but also granted much freedom and many favours to the Jews yea whatever they demanded of him Josephus's Antiquities lib. 11. cap. 8. N. B. This 8th Chapter of Daniel is a Notable Abridgment of all Great Alexander's Victories wherein his Pacification toward the Jews while he Warred against all the World are Included and looks more like an History than a Prophecy Mark 2. Daniel Prophetically declareth the History of the Jews distinctly after the Death of Great Alexander who was the Great Horn and broken by a Fever in the flower of his Youth which his Surfeiting and Drunkenness cast him into Dan. 8.8 under a little Horn which sprang up out of one of the four Potent Successors of Alexander ver 9. This was Antiochus Sirnamed Epiphanes Illustrious but Polybius call him Epimanes the Mad-man descended from Seleucus who succeeded Alexander in Syria one of his four Notable Captains and is call'd a