such as a wise man suffers whose duty obligeth him to the service and sometimes undiscreet commands though in things lawful of a person of much less understanding unless we may rather think that the Holy Spirit by him guided his Parents in all those commands whereto it required his obedience § 124 And among such his mortifications this seems no small one that considering who he was the word and wisdom of God and by whom God formerly made the world he should have a law of silence for so long a time imposed upon him as to any function as yet of his ministry or discovery of his wisdom even when there was in his seeing the great follies of the world occasion shall I say or rather a great necessity thereof Nay in the Sabbaths when all frequented the Synagogues which were in every City and there the law and Prophets read to the people Act. 13.27 and among others his most devout Parents together with himself that after his forementioned dispute with the Doctors at Jerusalem and after he was now arrived to mans estate from 20 years old till 30 he should patiently stand there among the rest in the quality of a mean labourer and this the Law-giver himself in silence hear the expositions of it not alwaies free from errour by others which rendered his fellow-Citizens so astonisht when afterward he who had bin so long an Auditor with them now shewed himself a Doctor A stupendious Humility and Obedience this so long practised in so Soveraign a dignity and an hard lesson for those to imitate who have parts To our Lord therefore stooping by Obedience to such a condition seems principally to be applied that complaint of the Psalmist Psalm 38. Posui ori meo custodiam cum consisteret peccator adversum me Obmutui humiliatus sum silui a bonis sermonibus dolor meus renovatus est Concaluit cor meum intra me in meditatione mea exardescet ignis whilst he whom a fire of Zeal for his Fathers glory and for the salvation of mankind continually burnt and consumed See Jo. 2.17 Conversed among the ignorant and sinners without being permitted either to instruct the one or reprove the other whilst he who to use the expression of Elihu Job 32 was full of words and his belly as new Wine without vent and that breaketh new Vessels was so long to be dumb and as one that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs No discourses I say saving such as did not transcend the appearance of his exteriour condition and manner of Education and emploiment and such conversation as in a private life gave good example to his few acquaintance and friends remaining so many years even whilst repairing in the State of his man-hood to Jerusalem and the Temple and the great Assemblies of the Nation at the publick feasts as it were a Candle hid under a Bushel and not suffered to diffuse its light walking in this most difficult obedience for so many years to the good pleasure of his heavenly Father as also the same obedience practised the like silence whilst he suffered so many false accusations before his Passion § 125 And the Nazarens rude and uncivil entertainment of him when visiting them afterward and his Brethren and kindred their not believing on him shew well how much he had in his youth ecclipsed and made himself of no account among them at least those that were not more intimately acquainted Wherein he gave the world a great lesson and example of trampling under foot any vain honour and Reputation save that with God and the Citizens of Heaven But indeed had our Lord sooner manifested himself to Israel supposed even from his youth we may conjecture such effect thereof either that the glory of his wisdom and mighty works with the envy of the Great ones accompanying these would have hastened his Death and brought it so much sooner Or such his Excellencies and Dignity of his person in a long time of Conversation with them better known to the Nation would have daunted his enemies and prevented his Death and deprived the world of the precious Benefits thereof and we may say his Father was pleased that he should be so long concealed to us that he might dye for us § 126 In this time of our Lords living at Nazareth and before the 30th year of his age is supposed to have happened the death of S. Joseph there being no more mention made of him as of his Mother and our Lord's Brethren after our Lords publick appearance either at the Marriage in Cana or else-where It seeming good unto his heavenly Majesty that after his Manifestation though a Mother did yet no Father real or reputed should appear that God might be the more looked-on as his Father who also was professed by him to be so no other being in sight nor receiving any honour as such Therefore also is our Lord in St. Mark probably after Josephs decease himself called the Carpenter and the Son of Mary But when ever S. Josephs Death happened doubtless it was undergone with great Resignation and content and after our Lord 's having first made known his heavenly Father's good pleasure both to him and his Mother in which all three most affectionately acquiesced though Joseph by his Death in some sense was to leave and lose his most beloved Jesus Viz. as to the presence of his Humanity wherein his Saints by death do now enjoy him § 127 Now that after so profound an Annihilation and latitancy of our Lord in so mean a fortune and obscure place the time drew near of his manifestation to Israel being God at last descended upon earth to reveal to men the whole Will of his Father and all the Secrets of Heaven A great person and one sanctified from the womb and Quo non major inter natos mulierum as our Lord saith of him was sent some time before to proclaim to the world the near approach and appearance of this heavenly Prince for begetting a greater reverence in them to his person And also to prepare all men by a due Confession of and repentance and doing penance for their sins and correction and amendment of their evil lives which is called the levelling Hills and filling Valleys and making the high waies streight and lastly by their being purified by Baptism for a more worthy and Honourable reception of this great Lord whose Kingdom was not temporal but Spiritual that so nothing in his Subjects at his coming might disgust or displease him And lastly was sent after his making such a proclamation of him before hand to shew also and demonstrate with the finger his very person to them for removing all possible mistake or just excuse § 128 The miraculous Nativity of this Forerunner of Christ in the old age of his Parents foretold by the same Angel as was our Lords and his being full of the Holy Ghost from his very first Being his leaping and
An Historical Narration OF THE LIFE and DEATH OF OUR Lord Jesus Christ IN TWO PARTS Printed at the Theater in Oxford 1685. A brief account of what is contained IN THE FIRST PART of The History of our SAVIOURS LIFE § 1 OUR Saviour came about the year of the world 4000 § 2 when the Scepter of Judah was in the hand of Herod a stranger § 3 S. John Baptist being sent before § 4 an extraordinary person both as to his birth and manner of living § 5 but especially as to his preaching § 6 Virtues actions § 7 and sufferings § 8 Our Saviours conception in Galilee § 9 Of a most pure and holy Virgin § 12 of mean condition § 13 espoused to an husband § 14 and informed by an Angel of this great favour intended her by God § 15 whereupon she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth mother of the Baptist § 16 conversing with her § 17 three months § 18 Whence she with some apprehensions returned to her husband § 19 but he being a very discreet righteous and holy person whilst he was thinking of dismissing her privatly § 20 was admonished by an Angel not to do it because that her conception was by the Holy Ghost § 21 to whom Joseph most readily obeyed and continued to cohabit with her § 22 at Nazareth till the time of her delivery drew neer which was § 23 to be at Bethlehem § 24 whither an Edict of Augustus forced them to go § 25 and there they were necessitated to lodg very meanly § 27 in a Stable § 28 where our Saviour was born § 29 A great exaninition and humiliation of the Son of God! § 31 his parents onely being present and adoring him § 33 Mean-while an Angel published this birth to certain Shepheards there in the field watching their flocks § 35 and was seconded by many more § 36 who glorified God for this birth in a song § 36 as all the host of Heaven rejoyced for and in it § 38 The Shepheards immediatly came to Bethlehem to see and worship this new-born child § 39 Gods great wisdom in thus ordering these affairs § 41 The shepheards relation was a great consolation to both the Parents § 42 But his Mother especially kept this and such other favours of God to her self and pondered them in her heart § 43 our Lord was Circumcised § 46 to 55 A Digression concerning circumcision the nature and effects of it § 55 to 61. Of the giving him the name Jesus and his saving his people from their sins § 61 to 71. The history of the coming of the Wise men § 71 to 77 Of the presentation of him in the Temple § 77 to 80 whom Simeon took up in his arms and openly confessed § 80 as did also Anna a Prophetess § 81 Which publick testimonies alarmed Herod § 82 wherefore the Parents being returned to Bethlehem with him § 83 the Angel of the Lord warned Joseph to flee with them into Egypt § 84 to 89 which they did immediatly and 89 to 94 whilst Herod out of great fury slew all the children in Bethlehem hoping thereby to have slain our Lord himself § 94 they arrived safe in Egypt § 95 where they staied not long till § 96 to 100 Herod miserably died and 100 Joseph was commanded to return into his own countrey § 101 Who hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea durst not go thither but retired into Galilee to his own city Nazareth § 102 Which seems foretold by the Prophets § 103 and prefigured by Samson § 104 Little written of his life or actions there till 30 years old § 105 Tho he was then also filled with all wisdom and knowledg § 108 onely at 12 years old he went up to Jerusalem where he § 109 staied after his Parents were gone away § 112 For supposing him in the company they went homeward without him but returning § 113 to Jerusalem found him among the Doctors § 114 Whereat his mother wondring demanded why he had so used his Parents to whom he answered that he must be about his Fathers business § 115 which answer they seemed not fully to comprehend but his mother § 116 laid this up in her heart where the Doctors and learned men seemed to take notice of his great wisdom After this he went § 117 to Nazareth with his Parents was obedient to them and increased in wisdom but the entire history of his life and actions from this his return to Nazareth till his baptism is not written by the Evangelists § 118 yet by some passages in scriptures divers particulars may be collected § 126 In that time seems to have happened the death of S. Joseph § 127 Our Lord being shortly to manifest himself and enter upon the exercise of his calling John Baptist was sent whose mission and preaching in described § 137 our Lord being to enter upon his ministery went to John to be baptized of him § 139 thence immediatly retiring to prayer the Father gave testimony to him by a visible descent of the Holy Ghost in the resemblance of a Dove and by an audible voice from heaven § 141 Which voice was afterwards several times reiterated and § 142 himself often urgeth it in his preaching § 143 But our Lord in the vehemency of the same spirit newly received departed immediatly into the wilderness where he remained in fasting prayer and other spiritual exercises till § 150 The Devil came to tempt him which he failed not to do divers waies till being foiled in all he departed and § 163 John continuing his preaching and openly testifying of our Saviour § 165 our Lord returned out of the wilderness § 166 shewed himself unto John and § 167 the next day entertained two of Johns Disciples one of them S. Andrew § 168 who brought in his brother Simon and § 170 shortly after our Lord himself called S. Philip and he Nathanael § 172 to whom our Lord forerepresented his future glory § 173 Our Savour going thence to Galilee arrived at Cana § 174 where he wrought the first miracle of changing water into wine § 176 thence to 〈…〉 § 177 with his Mother brethren and Disciples § 178 some whereof also were women § 179 Thence he went up to Jerusalem § 180 Where he first clensed the Temple and afterwards preached to the people § 181 Some of whom desired of him a sign for the confirmation of his authority § 182 But he onely told them that if they destroyed the temple of his body he would raise it again in three daies § 183 Yet some did believe in him § 184 particularly Nicodemus a Ruler with whom our Lord held a long discourse § 186. After the Paschal feast our Lord not trusting to the Hierosolymites went and preached in the countrey of Judea § 187 and ordered his converts to be baptized § 188 Whereupon John withdrew further towards Herods Jurisdiction § 189 Meanwhile there growing a little emulation of some of Johns Disciples seeing
13.55 are said to be James and Joses and Simon and Judas besides Sisters there also mentioned See Hegesippus apud Eusebi m l. 3. c. 10 26. and these are thought to be the sons of Alpheus supposed brother to S. Joseph and elsewhere called Cleophas and of Mary his wife See Matt. 10.3 compared with Matt. 27 56. called Mary Mother of James Mat. 27.56 Mark 16.1 and called Mary of Cleophas i. e as some suppose wife of Cleophas Jo. 19.25 and called there Sister to the Blessed Virgin i. e a near Kinswoman Unless we will suppose her to be wife of Alpheus brother to S. Joseph and Father of our Lords brethren and daughter to Cleophas a person distinct from Alpheus and Brother to Joachim the Blessed Virgins Father or to her Mother Anna. But if Cleophas be supposed Brother to S. Joseph then Alpheus may be brother to the Blessed Virgins Father or Mother and thus our Lords brethren will be his nearer Kindred Salome also wife to Zebedee is supposed a daughter of Alpheus and so her sons James and John our Lords Kinsmen I say these brethren of our Lord seem to have removed their habitation to Capernaum For they made not only this journey with him thither but here we find them again Mat. 12.47 compare 13.1 and Mark 3.20 21 31. comp 2.1 13. and 3.1 7. where the Synagogue is that in Capernaum And it seems their so solicitous looking after our Lord Mat. 12.46 was for his taking some refection the importunity and pressing of the multitude disturbing the due times of his repast Mark 3.20 and excluding his nearest friends from him and his zeal also of instructing the people and bringing them into the Kingdom of Heaven whom he campassionately beheld Matt. 9.36 as Sheep having no Shepherd which zeal some of his unbelieving Kindred thought mingled with some excess Mark 3.21 making him neglect his sustenance and the care of his Body Here it was also Jo. 7.3 as appears by the context that his Brethren perhaps having also some little touch of ambition spake to him that he would go and shew himself rather in Judea some of them having as yet some distrust of his Messiasship and high pretences when they saw him keep so much in Galilee though this necessary for prolonging his life till the time was come of his being offered up and far from Jerusalem and the Highest Court of the Nation there as also from the Court of Herod It is most probable also that these his Brethren attended on him in most of his peragrations and excursions through the other Cities and Towns of Galilee and elsewhere they and our Lords Mother are mentioned Act. 1.14 among the attendants of our Lord at his Ascencion and if they had not bin part of his ordinary Train and Auditors he would not have called two of them Viz. James and Jude to have bin of the number of the twelve And it appears that our Lord had many as it were constant followers of him besides the twelve by those 70 that besides the 12 were sent abroad by him by two and two to preach the Gospel Luk. 10.1 and by what S. Peter saith Act. 1.21 § 178 As for his Holy Mother also we cannot think but that she preferred the hearing of his Sermons the beholding of his wonderful works and the consolation of his ordinary Conversation beyond all other things of this world but by which also she became a great fellow-sufferer in all the affronts and reproaches given him in the most of his life time as well as at his death For we find many other women also as well as men that were his usual followers and every where provided necessaries for him and his Apostles As also afterward some of the Apostles in their Peregrinations had the attendance of women for providing them necessaries see 1 Cor. 9.5 And such of these as were rich ministred to him also of their substance Many women were there by the Cross Mat. 27 55 56. saith S. Matthew which followed Jesus from Galilee ministring unto him Among which saith he was Mary Magdalen Mary the mother of James and Joses our Lords Brethren and so she the wife of Alpheus And the Mother of Zebedees children Salome The same is said by S. Luke 23.55 24.10 he adding there Joanna the wife of Herods Steward And chap. 8.1 2 3. the same Evangelist saith that as our Lord went throughout every City and Village preaching c. the twelve were with him and certain women Mary called Magdalen Joanna Susanna and many others which ministred to him of their substance And we find Salome's request to our Lord for her two Sons was not made at Capernaum but some where upon the way in his last journey to Jerusalem wherein she with many other women waited on him as hath bin said See Mat. 20.20 comp 17. 29. So that I may say our Lord had an Holy Court of pious men and women following and attending on him in most of his travels Among these therefore was our Lords Blessed Mother and she most diligent in the same offices and contributing also the little she had to the common charges or supposing she had nothing was by the other more wealthy supplyed with necessaries as our Lord was Yet I say not this of a perpetual but of a frequent attendance whilst they sometimes also were absent and ordered other necessary affairs but then the residence of our Blessed Lady seems to be not at Nazareth but at Capernaum whither our Lord made frequent returns from his journeys about the Country As for the Nazaren's words Mat. 13.56 His Sisters are they not all with us This may be said only of his Sisters exclusively to his Mother or Brethren or may be understood of their ordinary former abode there § 179 Our Lords staying at Capernaum was not long the great solemn Paschal feast of the Jews now approaching He is commonly said to have received Baptism from John January the sixth after which having spent six weeks in the wilderness and some time afterward with the Baptist in collecting some Disciples and then making some little stay at Cana with his kindred and the Paschal Feast being celebrated at the full Moon it March accordingly our Lords abode in this City was not above a fortnight or three weeks In which time is no mention of any publick Predication of his the entrance upon which perhaps was intended to be rather at Jerusalem and in his Fathers house there mean while employed in more private Discourses and instructions of his Disciples and others Though his Miracle done at Cana having so many witnesses must needs be much talked of there and the Dignity of his person and the Baptist's Testimony of him by his Disciples communicated to many others and the same thereof also gone before him to Jerusalem At the great Feast of the Pasch he went up thither accompanied with his Disciples as for the observance of the Feast so there solemnly
therefore He was ordered to appear not in feasting or in glorious array or in some rich and stately Court or populous City or Pallace but in that most rigid fasting and in rough apparel and in an uncultivated desert Thus was he sent before to baptize and clense the whole Nation and to purge them from their former sins by repentance that they might be rendred a people fit to entertain so Holy a Prince and capable to receive the large effusions of his Spirit And so we find Mat. 3.7 the whole Nation as it were upon his appearing and telling them that One followed who brought his Faun in his hand to purge his Floor and who would burn the chaff with fire unquenchable Mat. 3.11 12. flocking unto him confessing sins especially the meaner people Publicanes Soldiers and such as had no high opinion of their own righteousness and receiving baptism and inquiring of him concerning their several duty and amendment of life See Luk. 3.10 c. 7.29 And among others we find also repairing to this forerunner out of the remoter parts of Galilee several of those whom our Lord afterward entertained for his Disciples learning as it were their first rudiments from this Baptist As Andrew John Peter Philip Nathanaiel Jo. 1. c. and not unlikely Matthew also amongst other Publicans Luk. 7.29 Only the Pharisees and Lawyers much conceited of their own Holiness frustrated the Counsel of God against themselves and would not come to confession to or receive baptism from Him Luk. 7.30 and as they first refused John's principles and discipline so afterward they profitted as little under that of the Messias 3. Lastly this Sacred person was ordained to proclaim and bear witness of the Messias before his face to all the people so soon as he should appear and with his finger to point out unto them his very Person Jo. 1.26 Only because he came so near the time of our Lord no miracles were to be wrought by him lest he should turn mens eyes upon himself from him that followed Him to whom these were reserved as a Royal prerogative and therefore our Savior enumerated these to Johns Disciples questioning who he was Mat. 11.5 6. to shew them that he was the Messias and a greater Person then their Master See Mat. 11.5 § 4 St. John Baptist being designed to so high an imployment all things suitably in him were very extraordinary and transcending the common condition of other men His Parents were chosen by God persons eminently holy and near akin to the Mother of the Messias Luke 1.6 36. He was conceived miraculously as Isaac had bin formerly when concupiscence and lust was now ceased in his Parents being very old and past procreation of children as if he was not to be a child of the flesh but of the Spirit Gal. 4.29 He was sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost even in the womb leaping there for joy saith S. Luke 1. c. 44. v. three Months before his Nativity at the approach of our Saviors presence as it were indicating thus early the Messias to his Mother His conception was first foretold to his parents by an Angel and that the same Angel Gabriel who six Months after annunciated our Lords conception to the blessed Virgin and who being singularly admitted into the secrets of God and one of the Angels of special presence Luk. 1.19 had long before those times revealed to the greatly beloved Daniel the punctual time of our Lords coming â—an 9.24 24. The Baptist thus miraculously entred into the world lived also such a life here as never any man lived before him after his infancy as one who was not like other Prophets taken for Gods service from leading a common life but from the womb filled with the Spirit He left his Fathers house who lived in a City in the Mountains of Judah and retired into the Wilderness was never corrupted with any acquaintance with men nor interessed in any affairs of human life nor learned at all the sinfully-compliant acts of ordinary society that so he might afterward as an equal stranger to all and independent on any for the necessaries of his life more freely reprehend the faults of every one whilst none could tax any in himself He lived in a remote Desert where doubtless he had much converse with God and holy Angels for what can we less imagine of him who was from the womb so singularly sanctified He used not at all the ordinary food of men at least after his sojourning in the Wilderness neither eating any Bread nor drinking any Wine so that the Jews seeing such abstinence affirmed he was possessed See Luk. 7.33 His raiment rough and suitable to his diet and such as he might receive from any dead beast for it was but Leather and woven Hair Of both which his diet and his Apparel our Savior pleased to take particular notice to the people as betokening an extraordinary person Mat. 11.8 Luk. 7.33 from whose unerring mouth he received such a testimony as never any had the like See Mat. 11.9 11 14. where tho the 11th verse there seems to intimate that the least of our Saviors disciples or followers should be made greater than he 1. in some sort more happy in hearing and seeing our Saviors words and works in enjoying clearer manifestations of the Gospel lastly in doing greater things than he namely all sorts of Miracles by the power of our Lord yet might they be notwithstanding and were most of them much inferior to him in the eminency of a continued Sanctity from his birth and the dignity of his office Who was chosen to be the first Minister of the Gospel and whose hallowed Tongue first shewed to the world the person of the Messias and whose Sacred hands baptized Him Elias the most eminent of all the Prophets as I said was his Type who prefigured him in his rough apparel and solitary abode and silvestrian fare living for the most part in the Forrest of Mount-Carmel as may be gathered from 1 King 18.19 42. comp 2 King 4.25 the habitation of his successor Elisha fed by Ravens in solitude and drinking of the Brook fasting beyond all others save Moses and Jesus typifying in his passing thro the divided waters of Jordan the baptism there of this his successor Bold in rebuking vice in Ahab as John in Herod and persecuted by Jezebel as he by Herodias § 5 And as the great Elias was the type of John so was John Baptist the most express and near Pattern and Semplar of the Messias both in the course of his life and in the manner of his doctrine and in his sufferings and death Miraculously conceiv'd in one kind as our Savior was in another and both foretold by the same Angel reserved in privacy and solitude all his younger years tho full of the Holy Ghost till about the 30th year of his age then beginning to preach and baptize as afterward did our Savior and preaching in the same new manner
Priest that after their second Captivity at Babylon conducted the People again into the land of promise and rebuilt the Temple of the Lord formerly demolished Against whom in the visions of the Prophet Zachary cloathed in poor and filthy Garments Satan before the Lord bringing great Accusation God rebukes him Satan for it and commands Joshuahs filthy Garments to be taken away from him and him to be clothed with change of Raiment and a Miter and Crown to be set upon his head See Zach. 3.3 c. and 6.11 c. In both which places is joined a promise concerning this our Jesus called there by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Oriens Or as the Hebrew Germen who was typified by the other and who is our everlasting High Priest That he should build the Temple of our Lord and should bear the Glory and should sit and rule upon his Throne and be a Priest upon his Throne c. § 59 But tho Jesuses these two were before him and both sent deliverers of Gods people after a Captivity and both reconductors of Gods people into Canaan yet far short they came of this Jesus who saved mankind from a far higher slavery and of another kind than those other were and indeed from the only Captivity that could make us truly miserable Viz from the Captivity of sin Satan and death Triumphing in his Cross and Resurrection and descent of the Holy Ghost over these three the only terrible enemies of poor mankind who before that this Saviour came sat in chains and darkness and in the shadow of death trembling under Gods wrath and appointed to eternal torments § 60 This great Saviour came saith the Apostle 1 Thes 1.10 that he might save us from the wrath to come 1 For our salvation from Satan By him saith the Apostle Col. 1.15 we are delivered from the powers of Darkness And 1 Jo. 3.8 for this was he made manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Col. 2.15 He spoiled Principalities and Powers and made an open shew and spectacle and triumph over them both in his life and in a Resurrection from the death that they had most cruelly contriv'd against him 2 And so for our saving from sin Sermo omni acceptione dignus saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 a comfortable saying beyond all other sayings this that Jesus came into the world to save sinners Especially when our conscience adds Quorum ego primus 3 Lastly for the salvation from death O Death saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.55 where is now thy sting O Grave where thy victory Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory over these thro our Lord Jesus And for the manner also of our Salvation by this Jesus much more misterious miraculous and indearing it was as to the delivered than that of any other Saviour whatever hath or can be For this Jesus came if I may so say not so much with his power to save us as with his patience and conquered not by his enemies sufferings but his own 1 To conquer those powerful spirits he took upon him weak flesh by this flesh they conquered us and in this flesh he redeemed us 2 To conquer Death Himself under-went and suffered Death but it could not hold him Act. 2.24 and by this his death destroyed Him that had the power of death Heb. 2.14 To save our lives he laid down his own Jo. 10.15 and healed our wounds with his own stripes Esay 53.5 3 So for sin He came in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 And to free us from a Curse became himself a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 Such was this Salvation of this Jesus and such the way of it worthy a God O Blessed Jesu O ever blessed Name A name and the mistery thereof hid from ages and from generations and now made manifest and revealed What comfort could any other name expressing perhaps the Majesty or power or holiness or justice or eternity of this Prince have afforded to a poor guilty sinner trembling and despairing for the judgment to come but only this Or what comfort would this have aforded if it had bin only a Jesus from some temporal Tyranny from a Pharaoh or a Nabuchadnezzar or a Cesar and not a Jesus from the Devil or Hell or the Grave to which these other deliverances though for a time never so glorious would have left us still in bondage and in fear all our lives after a few daies to be devoured and swallowed up by them for ever Blessed name at which all the Spiritual Apolluons and destroyers of mankind all spiritual Pangs and anguishes of souls all the corporal messengers and arrows of death are afraid and tremble and from which only pronounced they do so often fly away Blessed name a poor sinners only consolation on his death-bed when the Grave opens her mouth for him and these spiritual Foes on every side invade him and Hell-fire eternal burns before him Blessed therefore be this name Jesus and exalted above all names at which Name let every knee bow of things in heaven in earth and under the earth and every tongue confess this Jesus Lord to the Glory of God the Father Amen § 61 After our Lord thus had received Circumcision as a Son of Abraham and entered into Gods Covenant and the name of Jesus as ordained the Saviour of the World and whilst Joseph and Mary abode still at Bethleem because this City near to Jerusalem and their own country very remote expecting the appointed time of the Purification of the Mother and presentment of the Child in the Temple certain persons both rich noble and Learned and probably much addicted to the study of Astronomy being directed by a Star came from the Oriental parts much more famed for wisdom to adore and do homage to this new-Born King and to present him with the most precious things those Countries afforded in behalf of the Gentiles as the poor and simple Shepheards being instructed by an Angel had done formerly in behalf of the Jews The Divine Providence so disposing it that our Lord to the Gentiles more contemplating the Creature should be manifested by a Star rather and the Jew as acquainted with the true worship of the Creatour by an Angel For both Jew and Gentile were now to have an equal share and a General Union in this Prince of Peace And the event corresponding exactly to these beginnings hath shewed us that after some few for the most part poorer and meaner and so humbler sort of the Jewish Nation were for the present by our Lord and his followers converted to the Faith represented by the Shepheards the riches and wisdom of the Gentiles hath bin brought into the obedience of the Gospel represented by the Magi till a compleat harvest of both shall be reaped by the Addition to them of the full Body of the Jews § 62 Now the Adoration and doing homage of the
most unreasonably a further sign from him and urged that Moses had given them Manna from Heaven and there also in like manner our Lord presently told them of his Death and his feeding them with his Flesh and Blood and then of their having everlasting life by it and his raising them up at the last day things at which some of them also then took great offence So here also they whether misconstruing his words as if he had said first that he would destroy their Temple for this at his Death they urged against him and the false witness Mark. 14.5 to speak home interposeth that he said he would destroy the Temple made with hands and in three daies raise up another made without hands and then that he in three daies would build it again a Temple that they said was forty six years in building in the one made him impious in the other ridiculous and so turned his mention of this his greatest work for the salvation of mankind into a great scorn and flighting of him and into the cause of a quarel against him till at last they contrived his Death the destroying of the Temple he here speaks of and brought these his words against him to justify it and so He in raising up again this Temple of his Deity thus destroyed exhibited to the World this great Sign which at this beginning of his preaching he engaged here This was the success of our Lords first Sermon and appearance amongst them as to the Pharisees and their followers already much degusted with him and filled with envy § 183 Yet many others there were that seeing his Miracles believed on him at least that he was some great Prophet sent from God among whom was Nicodemus But our Lord saith the Evangelist did not commit himself unto them admitting them not into his familiar society nor relied on their fidelity for he knew well what was in them and that several of them would fall away and especially in his last tryal most unworthily desert him Therefore our Lord usually when at Jerusalem after his publick teaching them in the Temple and his daies work there done withdrew himself and had no private meetings and conferences as he said at his tryal that in secret he had said nothing and many times at night removed with his Disciples out of the City neither though several in the Country are mentioned do we hear of our Lords admitting any entertainments in the City though we may presume he wanted not some Invitations And all this was but necessary for deferring the Conspiracies of his enemies till the due time of his offering-up appointed by his Father § 184 Our Lord continuing his publick teaching in the Temple and doing Miracles during the Paschal feast Nicodemus a Pharisee a ruler of the Jews as he is stiled here vers 1. One of the Sanedrim and a person studied in the law for our Lord chap. 3. vers 10. stiles him a Master in Israel shewing also herein to him that he knew who he was and on that account blames his ignorance being already a Convert as it is said Jo. 12.42 many other among the chief Rulers were afterward but timorous to confess him came privatly to our Lord by night for fear of losing his Reputation with his fellow-Rulers which shews a great envy and hatred toward our Lord already kindled in them to be farther instructed of him in the matters of the Kingdom of God and life eternal confessing to him that his Miracles had convinced him that he was an extraordinary Teacher sent from God Our Lord very courteously received him and in a few words manifested to him fully who himself was and the whole substance of the Gospel At the first he began to acquaint him with the first Foundation of the Christian Religion Regeneration which at the beginning he proposed some what obscurely perhaps to humble Nicodemus his too much conceit of his own knowledg telling him that to enter into the Kingdom of God one must necessarily be born again which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated here again signifies also from above which Nicodemus much wondring at and speaking of entring again into our Mothers womb our Lord graciously explained it to him that he must be born again not of a woman or the flesh which would produce nothing but flesh but of water the external Ceremony appointed by God to be used in the new birth signifying a being cleansed and purifyed from former sin and of the Spirit which might render a man spiritual and enabled therewith to bring forth good works which spirit inspires as it pleaseth 1 Cor. 12.4 Mark 4.27 unperceived by sense and being as the wind of which we know not whence or whither it goes but by its effects do discern the presence thereof and then gently reflected on Nicodemus his ignorance so to render him more docible and humble that he being a Master in Israel should know nothing of this For this Holy Spirit and our Renovation by it is frequently spoken of in the Old Testament and so also many types of Baptism and of the Sacraments of the new Testament found there See Psal 50.12 13 14 9. 142.10 11. Ezec. 11.36 1 Cor. 10.2 3 4. Further told him that these things he now spake to him were the lowest matters but that there was much higher that he came to reveal to mankind from Heaven and from God his Father For that he was the only begotten Son of God descended from Heaven and again ascendeth thither and which also according to his Divinity remains alwaies there who spake nothing but what he knew and had seen with the Father See the like vers 32. and Jo. 8.38 5.19 30. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that men might not perish but have everlasting life i. e so many as believed in him and that as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so he was to be lifted up See the like Jo. 8.28 So acquainting him but obscurely with his death sufferings That whosoever stung with sin beheld and believed on him might not perish but that those whoso did not believe on him were already condemned by occasion of his preaching to them not for their former sins which he came to take away but for their disbelief See Jo. 9.39 12.47 48. without which belief in him no forgiveness of Sin That he was the Light that was come into the world avoided only by those whose works were evil and so who feared the discovery of them by it and therefore made such opposition to him But that he that did truth would come to it as not fearing the manifesting of his deeds by it § 185 All these things he gratiously revealed to Nicodemus which delivered with his accustomed Majesty and Power must needs elevate Nicodemus into the highest admiration and reverence of his person love and gratitude towards his mercy and familiar condescendence especially having already seen his mighty
and as it were unconcerned to the great wonder of the Council where occurred such advantages of clearing his cause and Innocency § 31 At the last two appeared some think by the assurgebant in S. Mark chap. 14. that they were also two of the Assessors that pitched both upon the same matter and this bearing the shew of an high Crimination his threatning to destroy and demolish their Temple which also they reproach'd him with when he hung upon the Cross Mat. 27.40 at the very time when indeed they themselves were dissolving the Temple he spake of But these also in reciting of his words varyed as from the truth of what our Lord said so from one another One testifyed that he said absolutely he would destroy it Destruam Mark 14.58 The other that he could or was able to destroy it in the space of three dayes Possum destruere Mat. 26.61 Whereas his words were neither destruam nor possum destruere but Solvite Destroy ye as now indeed they were about it and his excitabo not long after to follow it One witnessed in general That he said he would destroy the Temple but then he might mean some other Temple as indeed he did the Temple of his Body but the other that he said he would destroy the Temple made with hands that very Temple of Jerusalem and that in three daies also he would undertake to build it up again reaedificabo whereas his own words speaking of the Resurrection of the Temple of his body was excitabo Thus they urged against him things that he knew not Psalm 34.11 and laid to his charge things that he never meant But then his saying he was able to destroy it seems only a vaunting and vain-glorious speech not deserving death or bonds and it he said further that he would do it this argued only a malitious intention where no possibility of acting Words they were also spoken some years before without attempting any such thing in the least afterwards Nay one of his valiantest acts and wherein he most shewed his power was quite contrary to it the cleansing of the same Temple from any profanation of it in the least manner even in the outward Courts thereof of which there wanted not Witnesses many who suffered by it But making the worst we can of his saying yet when the witnesses added the following words also that within other three daies again he would rebuild it the one I hope if they held him such a Miracle-worker would make amends for the other and sure he would not after pulling down rebuild it but to build it better and his good intention in reedifying it may ballance if not disprove a bad one in demolishing it But alas these words now in the scarcity of any other solid accusation so aggravated were before at the time he spake them even according to the Jews understanding them only slighted as a a vain brag and not thought liable to bear an action they then replying to him that he spake impossibilities for that a Temple that had been before forty six years in building could not by one person so speedily be pulled down or reedifyed Jo. 2.20 § 32 Though this was the greatest matter these Witnesses in the Court had to say against our Lord the High Priest well saw the slightness of it and therefore though here the only alleadged not a word was said of it for shame before the Roman Governour Pilat which would but too apparently have betrayed their empty and causeless malice But our Lord all this while that such things were tumultuously objected remaining recollected and silent the Judge seeming well satisfied with what was laid to his charge and observing our Lords resolute silence stood up and asked him whether he did not hear what they urged against him why he answered them not and what he had to say for himself against such mighty accusations As if he had forgot that for the last words he spake for himself he suffered him to be strucken over the face § 33 But our Lord thus provoked to speak and plead for himself continued still silent and that for many good reasons First silent because the witness contradicting and destroying its self needed no further confutation by him Silent out of the highest Prudence and Pity to his Accusers and Judges where he foreknew his speaking could have no good Effect upon their malice but rather served to increase their Guilt Silent again to shew the perfect moderation and Mastery of his Passions and a most entire Resignation to his Fathers will to leave us an example herein saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.23 Tradens se Judicanti illum injuste Silent upon higher grounds yet 1 Pet. 2.24 Heb. 9.28 Now were laid on him all our iniquities Esay 53.5 Now was he who knew no sin made sin and made a curse for us because out of infinite love he would be so Oblatus est quia ipse voluit Now he presented himself before Gods justice in our stead and who were most notoriously guilty of whatsoever he was accused Whether blaspheming Destroying Gods Temples or whatever else and had all reason to stand speechless Languores nostros saith the Prophet ipse tulit dolores nostros ipse portavit quasi leprosus percussus a Deo humiliatus vulneratus propter iniquitates nostras attritus propter scelera nostra disciplina pacis nostrae super eum sicut ovis ad occisionem ducta quasi Agnus coram tondente se the shearers stripping him not only of his clothes but his life obmutescens non aperiens os suum quem propter scelus populi sui percussit Deus As the Prophet at large describes there his condition Esay 53. And so we ought to imagine him now putting himself in our stead before the Tribunal of his Eternal Father and without justifying himself at all speaking to him with a love far transcending that of David 2 Sam. 24.17 Though I have never sinned nor done wickedly before thee yet for what these my Brethren have done let thine hand I pray thee be not against them but against me And so silent and without any Defence of himself for what could he say for us or in our Defence but only confess our guilt offering himself to Gods vindicative Justice for all our Blasphemies Treasons and affronts done to this divine Majesty ever since that of Adam's and amongst the rest even for their sins also that thus unjustly persecuted him with the same Deprecation for them now as on the Cross Dimitte illis Pater Non enim sciunt quid faciunt Luk. 23.34 Lastly silent obediently to fulfil what all the Prophecies had so punctually foretold of him For at this time it was that all those doleful complaints occurring in the Psalmes and elsewhere concerning his innocence and suffering mute and not replying were exactly and perfectly verified Psal 34.11 Surrexerunt Testes iniqui quae ignorabam interrogabant me Psal 38.2.9 10 Posui ori
by our Lord in his Palm-Sunday Triumph when as from Mount Olivet he beheld the City he wept over it Luk. 19.41 and again in the Holy week of his Passion when in the Temple he told them their house was now left unto them desolate Mat. 23.38 and again when he sate on the Mount Olivet over against the prospect of the Temple Mat. 24.1 c. with his Disciples and lastly as he went to Execution and saw the people weeping for him As the cheif Priests in this suddain transmitting of our Lord to Pilat shewed the great zeal they had of his speedy dispatch so this Eve of the great feast of the Passover seems also to be one of the usual daies if not of the tryal yet of the Execution of Malefactors thus made more Exemplary at the time of so great a confluence of People hither Because we find others then executed besides our Lord and because it is said to be the custome in honour of this great Feast for the Roman Governour at this Sessions to release one of the Persons condemned to the Jews who as they had lost the power of putting any to death so of pardoning or releasing any from it § 60 Our Lord brought hither was committed to the Roman Guards and carried by them to the Praetorium or Court of Judgment But the High Priests and Antients of the Jews entred not in with him because this Evening they were to eat the Pasch not performed by them in its proper time as it was by our Lord because the Paschal-Feast-day happening this year to fall on the day before the Sabbath was by a former custome transferred to it Now the eating of the Paschal Lamb was prohibited to all that were any way unclean Numb 9.11 and the Jews held the touching or any Gentile whom they esteemed unclean as not being cleansed at all from their pollutions according to Levit. 5.3 and 15.1 c. to render them so he who touched any thing unclean becoming unclean Lev 5.2 For this cause they stayed without and it happened also opportunely for their better prevailing with and perswading the people by and by that they should save Barabbas rather than Jesus the one a true raiser of Sedition and the other falsly accused of it § 61 This impediment of their entring into the Pallace and there preferring their accusation against the Prisoner made them also hope from Pilat rather a Confirmation of their sentence and an order for his execution than a reexamination of his cause and that his guilt in such an extraordinary case should be taken upon their word But God would not suffer their Injustice so to be huddled up nor yet Pilat who it seems had more intelligence of their proceedings then they imagined for a Roman Tribune and Cohort were also employed in our Lords apprehension Jo. 18.12 and doubtless had heard much of the fame of Jesus and had a vigilant Eye upon his motions and on the concourse of the people made to hear him but without discovering any harm in his actions and also who knew saith the Text that not for any capital crimes of his but for meet envy no small Guilt of theirs they had delivered him He therefore seeing the Prisoner stand before him without his Accusers riseth from the bench and unexpectedly goes forth to them and askes them what accusation they brought against him who now answered him also in general that if he were not a Malefactor they would not have sent him to him Pilat somewhat moved with such their declining his further examination of the matter desires them then since they had found him such they would resume the matter into their own hands and finish the work they had begun and punish the Delinquent themselves according to his demerit Upon which they replyed That his crimes were such as deserved death and that in the most severe and exemplary manner which it was not permitted to them to inflict and so when thus urged to it began to accuse him to the Governour of such things as they imagined might be of most weight with him and the Roman-Militia pressing in particular his forbidding to give Tribute to Cesar and saying that he himself was Christ a King An accusation in the sence they intended it and as it might any way intrench upon Cesars rights very false For as for Tribute he had both actually before paid it when demanded of him to Cesar Mat. 17.26 and also being asked by them the Pharisees joined with the Herodians Mat. 22.16 the question about the lawfulness of it but two or three daies before his apprehension on purpose saith the Evangelist Luk. 20.21 that they might take hold of his words that so they might deliver him into the power of the Roman-Governour he affirmed it and utterly silenced them with that divinely prudent answer of his Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari quae sunt Dei Deo that they should give to Cesar Cesars Coine And as for his Messias-or Kingship he had confessed it indeed but that his sitting upon his Throne should be not here but in Heaven ad dexteram Patris and the Glory of it not present but hereafter Quando veniet cum nubibus The like account whereof he gave afterward to Pilat and also de facto when the Multitude purposed to have made him King Jo. 6.15 he had declined it and presently withdrew himself and elsewhere in a contraversy between two Brothers about dividing Luk. 12.14 a piece of land he refused to be an Arbitrator and sent his Disciples about the countrey without carrying a peny of money or so much as a staff Mat. 10.10 i. e. wherewith to defend themselves or offend others taught them continually Patience and non-resistance if struck on the one cheek to turn the other the fundamental way of the propagation of his Kingdom In his late apprehension he commanded Peter to put up his Sword and forbad the use of it against authority and presently repaired the hurt he had done with it All which fulfils that so often repeated of our Lord in the Psalms Oderunt me gratis without any cause Et quae ignorabam interrogabant me § 62 Pilat upon this their accusation returned into the Praetorium where he had left our Lord in the custody of the Roman-Guards and calling him before him asked him whether he was the King of the Jews meaning that Messias or Christ or King that the Jews had so long expected perhaps because that his Accusers had told him that our Lord had before them openly himself confessed it Our Lord though well knowing what had passed without yet to reduce the Governour the more to reflect on his own observation and experience and on the malice and envy of his Adversaries well known to him desired doubtless with a great appearance of gravity and Majesty to know whether he asked such a Question of himself and from any jealousy our Lord's life and actions had raised in him of his aspiring
so wicked a person polluted with Incest and Murder stood silent before him instead of rendring him by some obsequious answer his Friend and Patron But silent he was with that meek and humble countenance and carriage as that Herod rather took him for a simple person and a fool and not answering the report he heard of him than for any dangerous conspirator against the State Meanwhile the High Priests and Scribes had pursued him thither and before Herod and his Court reiterated the accusations which before Pilat by Herods killing of the Baptist that gave testimony of our Lord having some hopes of his doing the same to him all which unjust slanders our Lord heard and entertained with a profound silence and without any defence of his Innocency But Herod little regarded their clamours as one who had well bin informed of our Lord's actions and integrity and being a crafty Fox as our Lord once stiled him had formerly watched him very narrowly and his Jealousy as the Pharisee truely informed our Lord wanted only some fair occasion to have destroyed him But his generally doing all manner of good and giving heavenly counsel without Wealth without Arms preaching only humility and patience working also great cures ejecting Devils c. our Lords Apology for himself when the Pharisee told him Herod would kill him as also sending his Disciples abroad without any weapon for their defence were things this Tyrant could not make criminous But from such his silence conceiving him without wit to answer for himself and to shew he had no jealousy of his Crown from such a poor Rival thought fit only to make sport with him and treat him as a Fool and a Mock-King for his Kingship was the thing his Accusers most pressed And so after he himself resenting his silence had shewed some scorn and neglect of him he gave order to his men of war to array this their new King according to his dignity in a white Garment the Ornament of Priests and Princes some old cast-off Robe taken out of his wardrobe and after much jeering and slighting of him and some Giuoco di Mano's doubtless mixed the like usage to that received over-night from the High Priests Officers he returned him in this dress to Pilat with his Guards commanded to wait upon his Majesty and the people deriding and hooting at him as he passed according to the Prophecy concerning him Psalm 21.8 Omnes videntes me deriserunt me locuti sunt labiis moverunt caput But Herod by this dress sufficiently signifyed his mind to Pilat that his person was rather an object of scorn or pity then of his Justice which no doubt gave little satisfaction to the cruel Higst Priests in whom neither Pilat's nor Herod's absolving him nor yet the admirable meekness of our Lord who they well knew wanted not words to defend his Innocency and who by his silence seemed to conspire with them against himself and to long for his Cross before it was brought him could work any relentment or reflection on their Guilt § 67 Meanwhile this civility of Pilat shewen to Herod in a place where the Judicature belonged to himself was kindly accepted and repaired their broken friendship and Herod also thus became an Accessary and party in the unjust proceedings against the common Saviour This friendship also of theirs mystically signified our Lords reconciling and the union to God both of Jew and Gentile in the benefits of his sufferings and death Ipse enim est pax nostra qui fecit utraque unum Eph. 2.14 And the white Garment wherein he was arrayed in derision was truly a symbol of his purest Innocency and a vestment suting to his Sacerdotal as well as Regal office And as for Herod his unjust Judge he as also Pilat by the divine Justice was ejected from his Government and dyed miserably in Exile and disgrace § 68 The Prisoner thus returned treated more like a Fool than a Criminal and his mock-Robe pulled off Pilat calling together again the cheif Priests and the Rulers and the People also Luk. 23.13 who at this time had a custome by the common suffrage to free a Prisoner and setting him before them told them that whereas they had brought him to him as a seditious person and a Perverter of the people he upon due examination of him before them could clear no such thing That he had also sent him to Herod the Tetrarch of Galilee and ruling where this man most converst and where he was said to have done most of his works and that neither had Herod done any thing to him worthy of death that therefore he would chastise him perhaps guilty of some smaller imprudences and excesses of undiscreet zeal in his former behaviour and so release him And in speaking thus of releasing he put them in mind of the custome at this great Feast of his releasing such a Prisoner to them but probably of such whom he thought fit to nominate as they should demand which also the people that stood about as readily called for Luk 2.18 compared with Mark 15.8 And it is said to have bin a custome first instituted as a grateful remembrance of their freedome at that time from the Egyptian bondage used long before their subjection to the Romans and so indulged still after it Or perhaps rather some later favour of the Roman Governours allowed them after the power of condemning or pardoning any capital offender taken from them So the Governour upon this account motioned to them that is to the people whom he knew better affected to our Lord the release of Jesus § 69 Now there was another Prisoner a person well known who was in bonds for really committing that of which our Lord was falsly accused viz. the causing an Insurrection among the people and in it also committing Murther So either some other making mention of this Barabbas to be released or Pilat in whose power was the proposal of the persons left to their choice he fulfilling the Prophecies Esay 53. cum sceleratis deputatus est matched the chiefest offender he could find with Jesus to determine the people's election on him rather And it seems the people were not so ill inclined toward our Lord as rather to free the Murtherer but the cheif Priests and great ones using their authority and perswasions with the multitude and perhaps representing our Lords pretended blasphemies and destroying the Law of Moses c. as much more hainous and perilous to the Nation than the other mans Guilt at last prevailed with them And those who cried Hosanna to our Lord men women and children and spread their garments in the way but five daies before are now as loud for the Release of Barabbas before him Away with this man cry they Luk. 23.18 and release to us Barabbas And Pilat much displeased at it asking them what then they would have done with Jesus whom this Heathen by a particular divine instinct called also the Christ and
see Acts 10.34 15.7 And as S. Paul had an extraordinary Mission from Christ Acts 9.11 So had he one from the Church of Antioch Act. 13 3. and both his Baptism and Mission from the Ministry of those who received this Power from the Colledge of the Apostles of which Peter was the Head Our Lord to make this charge effect the deeper impression on Peter and all his Successors ceased not thus but repeated it asking him again and again only omitting the first comparison till Peter was grieved Jo. 21.17 and ashamed whether he loved him and upon the same Answer of his appealing to our Lords omniscience made now three times from whom our Lord may seem to require this trinal confession to expiate and reverse his former trinal Denyal he thrice iterated to him the same charge that in the absence of himself he should return this love to his little ones whom he sometimes called Lambs sometimes Sheep to shew all in his fold old or young committed to his government and that all strong or weaklings have need of the Pastors feeding them and were subjected to him After our Lord had thus instructed this chief Servant and Steward of his houshold Peter what he should do he began to preacquaint him also with what he should suffer for him the more to pre-arm him for future Events and that nothing hapning unexpected or that was not known to be by the divine Providence predesigned such things might afterwards less surprise him and that the conceit of a present secular Kingdom of our Lord and their advancement in his Court might be removed out of his mind He then began to tell him with a double serious Amen pronounced before it That as in his yonger age he had gone whither and done what he pleased so hereafter in his old age he must expect a change That as he must undertake great labours for his sake so undergo great afflictions and be made like unto his Master he so loved Mat. 26.35 as in his preaching of so in his sufferings for the truth and fulfil the promise he had once engaged of dying if not with yet for him That one day as himself had done he must stretch out his hands and another gird him and carry him away whither he would not to Prison and to the Cross signifying to him that he should glorify God his Father by Martyrdom and the Cross as himself had done Which accordingly happened in the thirteenth year of Nero after he had diligently fed Christ's sheep after this transiens universa visiting all places Acts 9.32 for thirty five years § 138 And so our Lord rising up and saying to Peter chiefly intended in a mystical sense follow me i. e. my example in undergoing such Events as he had discovered to him with all valour alacrity and constancy he walked on the shore Peter at a nearer distance attending him Who turning him about and seeing John coming after them probably somewhat before or faster than the rest presuming on the love our Lord bare to him to whom also Peter as well as our Lord had an extraordinary affection he took the boldness having heard his own doom to inquire of his al-knowing Master concerning this his dear friend what the Divine good pleasure had ordeined also touching him To whom our Lord repressing the Apostles curiosity returned somewhat a dubious Answer That if he would have John tarry till his coming this nothing concerned him but that he should prepare himself to follow him in that way of death and suffering as himself had trod before him See Jo. 13.36 Now Johns stay till our Lords coming being capable of several senses viz. either our Lords last coming to the general Judgment in those times imagined not far off or his coming in that signal Judgment of his upon the Jewish Nation at the destruction or Jerusalem which St. John only out-lived or his coming when he calleth and removeth his Servants away from hence by natural death ordinarily in Scripture-language called his coming see Mat. 24.42 46 50. Apoc. 2.24 3.5 this last we may imagine from the Event was our Lord's meaning though the Disciples either hearing these words from our Lord or related to them by St. Peter from hence gathered that John our Lords Favorite should not dye but remain till his second coming then commonly thought near at hand to which imagination of theirs as also of others following St. Johns long life and some miraculous deliverances gave still more strength who died not till sixty seven years after this was spoken by our Lord and remained alive almost thirty years after the Destruction of Jerusalem This opinion St. John now much aged when he writ this his Gospel endeavoured to remove telling them our Lord had expresly said no such thing but left our Lords words any further unexpounded as not seeming any way to decline or wave his own Martyrdom which doubtless he much thirsted for and had in some manner already undergone and outlived it Tertull de Praescript Cap. 36. being in Domitian's persecution of the Christians sent by the Proconsul of Asia as a chief Heresiarch to Rome and there cast into a vessel of scalding Oil to have taken away his life but was miraculously preserved to make good our Lords words and so banished into Patmos from whence returned he writ his Gospel shortly after which our Lord came to call him away in a natural and peaceable death when above ninety years old § 139 After these occurrences besides the Sea of Galilee related by S. John in a Post-script chap 21. after he had finished his Gospel Chap. 20. One Motive of which Postscript perhaps was the rectifying a mistake in some of the Disciples concerning our Lords Prophecy of his staying till he came Our Lord suddainly disappeared leaving them in a longing expectation of his return to them and a more publick manifestation of himself in Galilee at the time and place preappointed § 140 At which time a great Multitude of our Lords Converts in Galilee having notice of it from the Apostles were gathered together this being supposed the Apparition St. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 15. when he saith he was seen of above five hundred Brethren at once in a certain Mountain of Galilee imagined the same upon which he was transfigured and where Moses and Elias appeared to him and which was by St. Peter called the Holy Mount This Mount is by many thought to be Mount Tabor a most beautiful Hill exactly round and ascensible only on one side not so steep as the others and having a Plain for about half a mile Diameter at the top which hill our Lord living so near it situate about some three or four miles from Nazareth perhaps had sometimes frequented in his youth But it seems rather to be another Mountain nearer to Capernaum the place of his ordinary Residence in Galilee where also a-nights he frequented Prayer called his twelve Apostles delivered the Beatitudes