that he saith he knew not that day and hour of the destruction of Jerusalem yea it excellently agrees with his Office and Deputation who being the Fathers Servant Messenger and Minister followed the orders of the Father and obeyed him in all things The Son knoweth not that is It is not revealed to him from the Father to reveal to the Church Revel I. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him We omit enquiring concerning the Knowledge of Christ being now raised from death whether and how far it exceeded his knowledg while yet he conversed on earth It is without doubt that being now raised from the dead he merited all kind of Revelation See Revel V. 9. And they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain c. and that he conversing on earth before his death acted with the vigor of the Holy Spirit and of that unspeakable holiness which flowed from the Union of the Humane Nature with the Divine the Divine Nature in the mean time suspending its infinite activity of Omnipotence So that Christ might work miracles and know things to come in the same manner as the Prophets also did namely by the Holy Ghost but in a larger measure and might overcome the Devil not so much by the Omnipotence of the Divine Nature as by the infinite holiness of his Person and of his obedience So that if you either look upon him as the Minister and Servant of God or if you look upon the constitution as I may so call it and condition of his Person These words of his Of that day and hour knoweth not the Son also carry nothing of incongruity along with them yea do excellently speak out his substitution as a Servant and the constitution of his Person as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man The reason why the Divine Wisdom would have the time of the destruction of Jerusalem so concealed is well known to it self but by men since the time of it was unsearchable the reason certainly is not easie to be searched We may conjecture that the time was hid partly lest the Godly might be terrified with the sound of it as 2 Thes. II. 2. partly that the Ungodly and those that would be secure might be taken in the snares of their own security as Mat. XXIV 38. But let secret things belong to God CHAP. XIV VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Spikenard WHAT if I should render it Nardinum Balaninum Nardin of Balanus Nardin a a a a a a Pliny lib. 13. cap. 1. consists of Omphacium Balaninum Bulrush Nard Amomum Myrrhe Balsame c. And again b b b b b b Idem lib. 12. cap. 21. Myrobalanum is common to the Troglodytes and to Thebais and to that part of Arabia which divides Judea from Egypt a growing oyntment as appears by the very name whereby also is shewn that it is the maste of a tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all know among the Greeks is Glans Maste or an Acorn so also is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pistaca among the Talmudists There are prescribed by the Talmudists c c c c c c Bab. Gittin fol. 69. 1. various remedies for various diseases among others this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For a Pluriâ—ie or as others will have it A certain disease of the head Take to the quantity of the Maste of Aâ—moniac The Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the maste of Cedar The Aruch saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the grain of a fruit which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glans The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nard is Hebrew from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nerd and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Syriac from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pistaca So that the Oyntment might be called Unguentum Balaninum Balanine oyntment in the composition of which Nard and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maste or Myrobalane were the chief ingredients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poured it upon his head In Talmâ—dic Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Bab. Chetubh fol. 17. 2. What are the Testimonies that the woman married is a Virgin If she goes forth to be married 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a veil let down over her eyes yet with her head not veiled The scattering of nâ—ts is also a testimony These are in Judea but what are in Babylon Rabh saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If oyntment be â—pon the head of the Rabbins The Gloss is the women poured oyntment upon the heads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Scholars and anoynted them Rabh Papa said to Abai 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Does that Doctor speak of the aromatic oyntment used in bridg-chambers The Gloss is Are the Rabbins such to be anoynted with such Oyntments He answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Orphan that is O thou unacquainted with the Customs Did not thy â—other pour out oyntment for you at thy wedding upon the heads of the Rabins Thus a certain Rabâ—in got a wife for his son in the house of Rabbah bar Ulla and they said to him Rabbah bar ulla also got a wife in the house of a certain Rabbin for his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he poured out oyntment upon the heads of the Rabbins From the Tradition produced it may be asked whether it were customary in Judea to wet the heads of the Rabbins with oyntments in the marriages of Virgins as it was in Babylon Or whether it were so customary otherwise to anoynt their heads as that such an anoynting at weddings were not so memorable a matter as it was in Babylon Certainly in both places however they anoynted mens heads for healths sake it was accounted unfitting for Rabbins to smell of aromatical oyntments e e e e e e Hieros Berac fol. 11. 2. It is undecent say the Jerusalem Talmudists for a Scholar of the Wise men to smell of spices And you have the judgment of the Babylonians in this very place when it is enquired among them and that as it were with a certain kind of disatisfaction whether Rabbins be such as that they should be anoynted with aromatical oyntments as the more nice sort are wont to be anoynted From this opinion every where received among them you may more aptly understand why the other Disciples as well as Judas did bear the lavish of the oyntment with some indignation He out of wicked covetousness but they partly as not willing that so precious a thing should be lost and partly as not liking so nice a custom should be used towards their Master from which the Masters of the Jews themselves were so averse And our Saviour taking off the envy of what was done applies this anoynting to his burial both in his intention and in the intention of the woman that it might not seem to be done out
sung at the Passover which were ordinarily used by the Jews for that occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritual Songs were other Songs in Scripture besides Davids So you read of the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb in XV. Revel 3. 3. Observe the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. V. The English translates it to your selves i. e. inter vos mutuo among your selves as Beza well and as that in Col. III. explains it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admonishing one another Which speaks it a publick exercise and of communion where all joyned and stirred up one another III. Further examples of this Exercise in the New Testament we might observe in the Revelations That Book speaks of the State of the Christian Church and one great work of it is singing Rev. V. 9. And they sung a new song c. The ordinary practise was to sing the Psalms of David but they sung a new song and that is there set down Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood c. So in Rev. XIV 23. And I heard the voice of Harpers harping with their harps And they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the Elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the Earth This place speaks according to the acceptation of the Jews how they shall sing when Messiah brings them out of Captivity for there is mention among them of one hundred and forty four thousand of the twelve Tribes And so upon other occasions you find the Church singing as in XV. Chap. 2 3. But that that I shall fix on is that in 1 Cor. XI 5. Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head What is meant by the woman prophesying Not preaching For that is forbidden them in the Chapter wherein the Text is 34. vers Let your women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted them to speak c. Nay nor so much as to ask any question which in the Jewish assemblies at their Sermons was ordinary vers 35. And if they will learn any thing let them ask their husbands at home Neither is meant by this prophesying prophesying in the proper sense i. e. foretelling things to come For it is a question whether any woman in Corinth nay in rerum natura now Philips daughters excepted Act. XXI 9. did thus prophesie But it is plain the Apostle speaks of the ordinary Service which whole Congregations joyned in and the praying and prophesying here used is praying and praising or singing Psalms Take the Apostles own gloss in this Chapter vers 15 I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Understanding also I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Understanding also As all the Congregation joyned in prayer with the Minister and said Amen vers 16. So all the Congregation Men and Women joyned with him that had and gave the Psalm and sung with him For the Conclusion I might produce even endless Encomiums and Extollings of this work in Christian Writers viz. That it is the work of Angels the Employment of glorified Saints the musick of Heaven c. I confess I want words to express the excellency of this Duty Now to make some Use of what I have said I. If I were in a vulgar or unlearned Congregation I would give rules for singing of Psalms with profit and among divers especially these two 1. To mind what is sung not only that the Heart go along with the Tongue in general but to be carefully observant of what is sung There is variety of matter in most Psalms they pass from one thing to another This we should carefully observe now I pray now I mourn for my sins for the Church of God c. To this I may apply that in vers 15. I will sing with the understanding if the place speaks in reference to a mans own understanding of what he prays or sings but the Apostle there means of singing and praying to be understood by others 2. To apply to our selves the matter we sing as far as it may concern us To bear a part with David not in word and tune but affection This way we must use in hearing or reading the Scripture to bring it home to our own concernment So likewise in this action of singing Thus did they Revel XV. 3. They sung the song of Moses that is they applied Moses song in Exod. XV. unto themselves And this the leisure for meditation gives you opportunity to do At male dum recitas incipit esse tuus He that illy repeats another mans verses makes them ill verses but withal makes them his own But here I will alter the words a little Si bene recitas If you sing right sing Davids Psalms but make them your own Let the skill of composure be His the life of devotion yours II. If I thought there were any here that made scruple of this ordinance I would speak a word or two to them Let me say but two things First There is no plain ground why to refrain from singing but most plain grounds why to sing A thousand times we are bidden Sing never forbidden Sing not So of the holy Sacrament t is commanded in Scripture Do this but never Do it not Secondly Where a Duty is commanded and a scruple ariseth from some circumstance it is safer to go with the Command than from it It is commanded in Psal. XXXIV 3. O magnifie the Lord with me c. The scruple is that some prophane persons sing that set forms are too narrow c. It is warrantable now notwithstanding these scruples to keep up to the Command but not contra not warrantable to omit the Command because of these scruples There is no extinguishing a Duty because of some particular doubts concerning it This rule holds good of the reception of the holy Sacrament III. I might speak by way of incitation to all to make Conscience of this Duty Fail not to joyn with the Congregation in the performance of it stir up your hearts while you are conversant about it Say to your selves as David to his Instruments Awake Lute and Harp I my self will awake right early I will say but this Qui vult cantare in Coelo discat cantare in terris He that will sing in Heaven let him learn that divine exercise on Earth As S. Paul saith of Charity 1 Cor. XIII 8. Charity never faileth but whether there be prophesies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away But charity only remains and goes to Heaven with us So I say of this Duty Praise only of all the Services we perform to God here goes along with us to Heaven There is no
as Egypts did through dreadful apparitions in the dark The drying up of Euphrates for the Kings of the East under the sixth Vial seems to speak much to the tenor of the sixth Trumpet the loosing of the four Angels which were bound at Euphrates Those we conceived the Turks to plague Christendom these we may conceive enemies to plague Antichrist The allusion in the former seems to be to the four Kings from beyond Euphrates that came to scourge Canaan Gen. 14. this to the draining of Euphrates for Cyrus and Darius to take Babylon For having to treat here of a Babylon as ver 19. the scene is best represented as being laid at the old Babylon Now the Historians that mention the taking of Babylon by Cyrus tell us it was by draining the great stream of Euphrates by cutting it into many little channels The Egyptian plague of Frogs is here translated into another tenour and that more dangerous three unclean Spirits like Frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast and false Prophet Spirits of Devils working miracles c. This is named betwixt the sixth and seventh Vial though the acting of the delusions by miracles were all the time of the Beast and false Prophet because of the judgment now coming for though all deluders and deluded received their judgments in their several ages yet being here speaking of the last judgments of Antichrist they are all summed together He is here called the false Prophet as being the great deluder of all The fruit of all these delusions is to set men to fight against God whose end is set forth by allusion to the Army of Jabin King of Canaan Judg. 5. 19. broken at the waters of Megiddo The word Armageddon signifies a mountain of men cut in pieces Here that solemn caution is inserted Behold I come as a thief Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments The Priest that walked the round of the Temple guards by night had torches born before him and if he found any asleep upon the guard he burnt his clothes with the torches Middoth per. 1. halac 2. The seventh Vial concludes the Beasts destruction The great City is said to be divided into three parts either as Jerusalem was Ezek. 5. 11 12. a third part to pestilence a third part to the sword and a third part to dispersion and destruction in it or because there is mention of an Earthquake this speaks its ruining in general as Zech. 14. 4 5. A tenth part of it fell before Chap. 11. 13. and now the nine parts remaining fall in a tripartite ruine REVEL CHAP. XVII MYSTICAL Babylon pictured with the colours of the old Babylon Rome so called as being the mother of Idolatry as Babel was the beginning of Heathenism and the mother of persecution Babylon destroyed Jerusalem so did Rome and made havock of the Church continually She is resembled to a woman deckt with gold c. as Isa. 14. 4. sitting upon a seven-headed and ten-horned Beast as Chap. 13. 1. Which Beast was and is not and yet is it shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and shall go to perdition Rome under the Papacy was not the same Rome it had been and yet it was Not Rome Heathen and Imperial as it had been before and yet for all evil Idolatry persecution c. the same Rome to all purposes It is plainly described as sitting upon seven hills upon which there is hardly a Roman Poet or Historian but makes a clear comment The seven heads denoted also seven Kings or kinds of Government that had passed in that City Five are fallen vers 10. Kings Consuls Tribunes Dictators Triumvirs and one then was when John wrote namely Emperors And one not yet come Christian Emperors which continued but a short space before the Beast came which was and is not He is the eight and he of the seven They that hold Rome to be the fourth Monarchy in Daniel cannot but also hold from this place that that Monarchy is not yet extinct The ten horns upon the Beast in Dan. 7. 24. are ten Kings arising and succeeding one another in the same Kingdom but here at ver 12. they are ten several Kingdoms all subject to the Beasts both Imperial and Papal but at last shall rise up against the mystical Whore and destroy her It is like there must yet be conversion of some Kingdoms from the Papacy before it fall REVEL CHAP. XVIII XIX to Vers. 11. AN Elegy and a Triumph upon the fall of Babylon The former Chap. 18. almost verbatim from Isa. 13. 14. 21. 34. Jer. 51. Ezek. 27. The later also Chap. 19. the phrase taken from the Old Testament almost every word The triumphant Song begins with Halleluja several times over The word is first used at the later end of Psal. 104. where destruction of the wicked being first prayed for Let the sinners be consumed out of the Earth and let the wicked be no more he concludes with Bless thou the Lord O my soul. Hallelujah The observation of the peoples saying over the great Hallel at the Temple or their great Song of praise doth illustrate this The Hallel consisted of several Psalms viz. from the one hundred and thirteenth to the end of the one hundred and eighteenth and at very many passages in that Song as the Priests said the verses of the Psalms all the people still answered Hallelujah Only here is one thing of some difference from their course there for here is Amen Hallelujah ver 4. whereas It is a tradition That they answered not Amen in the Temple at all What said they then Blessed be the Name of the glory of his Kingdom for ever and ever Jerus in Beracoth fol. 13. col 3. But the promises of God which are Yea and Amen being now performed this is justly inserted as Christ for the same cause in this Book is called Amen Chap. 3. 14. The marriage of the Lamb is now come and his Wife is ready ver 7. the Church now compleated REVEL CHAP. XIX from Ver. 11. to the end of the Chapter HERE begins a new Vision as it appeareth by the first words And I saw Heaven opened and here John begins upon his whole subject again to sum up in brief what he had been upon before Observe what is said in vers 19. I saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth and their Armies gathered together to make war against him that sate on the Horse and against his Army and observe withal that there is the story of the destruction of the Beast before Chap. 18. and of the marriage and marriage Supper of the Lamb before Chap. 19. 7 8 9. therefore the things mentioned here cannot be thought to occur after those this therefore is a brief rehearsal of what he had spoken from the twelfth Chapter hither about the battel of Michael and his Angels with the Dragon and his Angels REVEL CHAP. XX. THE preceding Section spake what
upon all that believed but upon the believing Gentiles most especially both because of the multitude that were justified and men that before had been so far from righteousness You may see a picture of what is intended in this Text in the fourth of the Revelation where there is a scheme of this new World that our Apostle speaketh of from the promise in the Prophet There is a scene fashioned of Christ sitting in the midst of the Gospel Church platformed according to the form of Gods dwelling in the midst of the people of Israel in his Tabernacle and upon the mercy seat His throne is said to be in Heaven in the second verse but it means in his Church for so Heaven is taken in most places in the Revelation And observe before his Throne in Heaven is a Sea of glass vers 6. as the molten Sea was before the Temple there is an Altar before the Throne and offering of Incense Chap. VIII 3. as there was at the Temple nay there is the Temple it self filled with smoke Chap. XV. 8. as the Tabernacle and Temple were at their Dedication About his Throne were First four living Creatures on the four sides of it as the four squadrons of Priests and Levites pitched on the four sides of the Tabernacle betwixt God and the people On the outside of them sat four and twenty Elders the representative of the whole Church as the squadrons of the people pitched on the one side of the squadron of the Priests and Levites And it is said these four and twenty Elders were clothed in white which speaks the very things we are speaking of for so doth the Holy Ghost himself explain it in the XIX Chap. vers 8. The fine linnen is the righteousness of the Saints And in Chap. VII 14. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Strange washing washt them white in blood You would think that should make them of another colour but the whiteness that we are speaking of is the pure white of Justification and nothing can purifie to that dye but the blood of Christ. And here let me also crave your patience a little to speak to another Text of Scripture which speaketh fully to the matter we are upon but which is not so clearly rendred to its proper purpose but that it hath produced no little controversie And that is these words in Rom. IV. 11. Abraham received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised Generally all Translations run in the same tenor whereas these words which he had yet are not at all in the Original as you that cannot read the Original may see by that that they are written in a different character The Greek hath it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbatim to be rendred thus He received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith in the uncircumcision And not to be understood of the righteousness of faith which Abraham had in his uncircumcision though it is true he had it but a seal of the righteousness by faith which was to be in the uncircumcision or in the believing Gentiles And that this sense is most agreeable to the intent of the Apostle in that place needs no more proof then the serious observing of the nature of his discourse from those words forward And that it is most agreeable to the end of the institution of circumcision needs no more proof than the serious observing of the story of its institution That you have in Gen. XVII where this promise is given to Abraham Thou shalt be the father of many Nations In what sense the father of many Nations the Apostle clears in the words next following those that we are upon That he might be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed to them also So that this was the Covenant that God makes with Abraham there that the uncircumcision should believe and become the sons of Abraham imbracing his faith This Covenant and promise God confirms with a double seal 1. With the change of his name from Abram to Abraham from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a high father to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the father of a great multitude and 2. With the seal of Circumcision A seal of the righteousness by faith which should be in the uncircumcision or in the Gentiles that should believe Ponder the words and the context and the story of the institution of Circumcision well and you will find this to be the main aim and end of it Not a seal of the righteousness by faith which Abraham had being uncircumcised but of the righteousness by faith that the uncircumcision should have when they came to believe And it speaks the very same thing with the Text that when God should create the new Heavens and the new Earth of the Gentile Church when the Jewish should be cast off that righteousness or justification by faith should dwell and shine in it I have been something long in the explanation of the words but the necessity of the thing may plead my excuse And now they being thus explained they offer three most noble Themes for discourse before us I. Here is mention of a new World II. Of Gods Promise III. Of Justification or Righteousness And upon which of these shall I fix Any of the three would take up the time that is allotted therefore I will lay my right hand upon Ephraims head which is the youngest The word righteousness you see is last born in the Text and yet indeed the birthright is due unto it It is the first aim of our Apostle that he looketh at and the other two are but appendices to it in his aim Follow his eye with yours and see where he sixeth Righteousness is the thing he looketh after the new Heavens and the new Earth are the state and place where he looketh for it and the promise is the prospective through which he looked at it I shall therefore pitch upon that as the main subject of the Text and from the eye of the Apostle so intent upon it Observe How desirable a thing to be looked after righteousness is as it speaks justification Me thinks Peter speaks here concerning this righteousness much like the tenour that the Psalmist doth concerning God in Psal. LXXIII 25. Their is nothing in the new Heaven but thee and nothing in the new Earth that I look after besides thee His brother Paul is of the same mind and song Phil. III. 8 9. I do count all things but dung that I may win Christ. And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but the righteousness which is of God by faith Offer him as Satan once did to our Saviour and try him with haec omnia tibi dabo Paul choose through all the World what thou wilt have honours riches pleasures profits
18. We look at things that are not seen 1284 5. 21. He hath made him sin for us 1243 GALATHIANS Ch. vers  Page 4. 6. ABBA Father what 354 EPHESIANS Ch. vers  Page 1 17. THE Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Christ. 1034 1047 2. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins 1057 1105 4. 9 Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the Earth 1342  24. The new Man is created in righteousness and true holiness 1152  32. Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind 1286 5. 18 19. Be filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves in Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1160 PHILIPPIANS Ch. vers  Page 3. 19. WHOSE God is their belly 184 COLOSSIANS Ch. vers  Page 2. 13. YOU being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh 1057 1 THESSALONIANS Ch. vers  Page 4. 13 14. I Would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleep that ye sorrow not as others without hope c. 1087 2 THESSALONIANS Ch. vers  Page 2. 2. AS that the day of Christ is at hand 626  3. The day of Christ shall not come except there come a falling away first 626  4. Concerning obedience to Magistrates 230 Text and Marg. 1 TIMOTHY Ch. vers  Page 3. 13. OFFICE of a Deacon 133 4. 1. In the later time interpreted of the end of the Jewish State 1074 1117  3. Forbidding to marry 695  8. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come reconciled with Heb. 11. 36 37. 1053 2 TIMOTHY Ch. vers  Page 3. 1. IN the later days not for the end of the World but of Ierusalem 1074 1117  9. Jannes and Jambres 404 HEBREWS Ch. vers  Page 2. 2. IF the word spoken by Angels 1129  12. I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren c. 1037  13. And again I will put my trust in him ibid. 8. 6. He is the Mediator of a better Covenant established upon better promises 1332  11. They shall teach no more every man his Brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me 1071 9. 19. Moses took blood with water 619 10. 26. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sin 1095 1096 1146 11. 32. Gedeon Sampson Japhtha 1215  36 37. Concerning the sufferings of Gods people in this life reconciled with the 1 Tim. 4. 8. 1053  40. That they without us should not be made perfect 1089 12. 11. Chastening yeildeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness 1226 13. 20. Christ was raised from the dead by the blood of the Covenant 1257 JAMES Ch. vers  Page 5. 9. BEhold the Iudge standeth before the door 626  14. Let the Elders of the Church pray for him that is sick anointing him with Oyl 162 343  17. Elias for the space of three years and six months 408 409 1 PETER Ch. vers  Page 1. 2. ELect according to the foreknowledge of God for the elect of the Jews 1146 2. 10. Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God ibid.  13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of God for the Lords sake c. 230 Text Marg. 3. 19. He went and preached unto the Spirits in prison 478 4. 7. The end of all things is at hand For the end of Ierusalem and the Jewish State 626 1074 1117  17. The time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God 241. Text Marg. 2 PETER Ch. vers  Page 2. 10. DEspise government speak evil of Dignities 230. Text Marg.  15. The way of Balaam the son of Boâ—â—r 1144 3. 3. There shall come in the last days For the days immediately foregoing the destruction of Ierusalem c. 1074 1117  10. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat 626  13. We look for new Heavens and a new Earth 626 16. In Pauls Epistles there are some things hard to be understood 1243 1246 1 JOHN Ch. vers  Page 2. 16. THE lust of the eyes 162  18. It is the last time For the end of the Jewish State 626 1047  27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you 1071 5. 16. There is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it 1093 1904 JUDE  Vers.  Page  8. DEspise dominion speak evil of dignities 230. Text Marg.   Filthy dreamers 1297  12. Feasts of Charity 774 c. REVELATION Ch. vers  Page 1. 7. HE cometh with clouds c. 626 3. 17 18. Because thou saiest I am rich c. and knowest not that thou art wretched c. 1136 6. 12 14. The Sun became black as sackeloth of hair c. And the Heavens departed as a scroll c. 626 7. 14. They have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 1076 11. 8. The Streets of the great City which Spiritually is called Sodom 1109 13. 2. The Dragon gave his Power and Seat and great authority unto the Beast 1108 1165  4. The Dragon which gave his Power unto the Beast 614 20. 3. Satan should deceive the Nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled 1056 1057 1233  5. This is the first Resurrection spoken of the calling of the Gentiles 1057 1105  7 8. When the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go about to deceive the Nations Interpreted as fulfilled in the depth of Popery 1057   Gog an Enemy to true Religion 1247 22. 20. Behold I come quickly 626 An Appendix of some Places of Scripture differently Read from the ordinary Translation GENESIS Ch. vers  Page 1. 2. THE Spirit of God was carried upon the face of the waters 643  14. Let there be Light-fats or Light-vessels in the Firmament 1285 4. 1. Eve conceived and brought forth Cain and said I have possessed or obtained a Man the Lord. 792 DEUTERONOMY Ch. vers  Page 27. 4. IN Mount Gerizzim so read by the Samaritan Version 540 33. 2. From his right hand went the fire of a Law for them 1227 JOSHUA Ch. vers  Page 15. 61 62. DIfferently read by the Greek Interpreters 499 JUDGES Ch. vers  Page 4. 5. The Chaldee reads Deborah had white dust in the Kings Mountains 12 16. 3. He carried them to the top of a Mountainous place which is before Hebron 12 21. 19 c. The Daughters go over to the enemy 537 2 KINGS Ch. vers  Page 17. 18. THAT when my Master went c. 409 JOB Ch. vers  Page 19. 25. I Know that my Redeemer liveth and he
flesh which was the message that they were sent upon this violence could add nothing but vexation fear and trouble to Noah and to those that were with him in the Ark whom God had inclosed there not to perplex but to preserve 2 Flood 3 Flood 4 Flood 5 Flood 6 Flood 7 Flood 8 Flood 9 Flood 10 Flood 11 Flood 12 Flood 13 Flood 14 Flood 15 Flood 16 Flood 17 Flood 18 Flood 19 Flood  20 Flood  21 Flood  22 Flood  23 Flood  24 Flood  25 Flood  26 Flood  27 Flood  28 Flood  29 Flood  Sivan the ninth moneth Part of May and June 1  This day the Waters begin to abate 2 Ebbing water This is called the seventh moneth Vers. 4. not from the beginning of the year for from thence it was the ninth but from the time of the flood or waters for the Holy Ghost reckoneth the duration of that and pointeth directly at the end of the 150 days In Cisleu the 40 days rain ceased and the seventh moneth from thence is this in hand 3 Ebbing water 4 Ebbing water 5 Ebbing water 6 Ebbing water 7 Ebbing water 8 Ebbing water 9 Ebbing water 10 Ebbing water 11 Ebbing water 12 Ebbing water 13 Ebbing water  14 Ebbing water  15 Ebbing water  16 Ebbing water  17  The Ark resteth upon the mountains of Ararat that is upon one of them 18 Ebbing water 19 Ebbing water  20 Ebbing water  21 Ebbing water  22 Ebbing water  23 Ebbing water  24 Ebbing water  25 Ebbing water  26 Ebbing water  27 Ebbing water  28 Ebbing water  29 Ebbing water  30 Ebbing water  Tamuz the tenth moneth Part of June and July 1 Ebbing water The Ark drew water eleven cubits as appeareth by this collection On the first day of the moneth Ab the mountain tops were first seen as shall be shewed there and then the waters had fallen fifteen cubits which they had been threescore days in doing namely from the first day of Sivan and so they had abated the proportion of one cubit in four days By this account we find that on the sixteenth day of Sivan they had abated but four cubits and yet on the next day the Ark resteth on a hill when the waters yet lay eleven cubits above it 2 Ebbing water 3 Ebbing water 4 Ebbing water 5 Ebbing water 6 Ebbing water 7 Ebbing water 8 Ebbing water 9 Ebbing water 10 Ebbing water 11 The raven sent out 12 Ebbing water 13 Ebbing water 14 Ebbing water 15 Ebbing water 16 Ebbing water 17 Ebbing water 18 Ebbing water  19 The dove sent out  20 Ebbing water  21 Ebbing water  22 Ebbing water  23 Ebbing water  24 Ebbing water  25 Ebbing water  26 Ebbing water  27  The dove sent out again and returneth at even with an olive leaf in her mouth which she had plucked from a tree that now began to appear from under water 28 Ebbing water 29 Ebbing water Ab the eleventh moneth Part of July and August 1  The mountain tops appear this is called the tenth moneth Vers. 5. not of the year but of the flood for the Text sets it self to measure out the time of the waters 2 Ebbing water 3 Ebbing water 4 Ebbing water 5 Ebbing water 6  The dove sent out returneth no more For now she hath the mountain tops dry to rest upon The waters now being got within the compass of the mountains do abate a deal faster then they did when they lay above them for whereas then they were threescore days in abating but fifteen cubits in threescore days more they abate the depth of the highest mountain For whereas on the first day of the moneth Ab the mountain tops appear on the first day of Tisri which is but two moneths after the face of all the earth is dry Vers. 13. 7 Ebbing water 8 Ebbing water 9 Ebbing water 10 Ebbing water 11 Ebbing water 12 Ebbing water 13 Ebbing water 14 Ebbing water 15 Ebbing water 16 Ebbing water 17 Ebbing water 18 Ebbing water 19 Ebbing water 20 Ebbing water 21 Ebbing water 22 Ebbing water  23 Ebbing water  24 Ebbing water  25 Ebbing water  26 Ebbing water  27 Ebbing water  28 Ebbing water  29 Ebbing water  30 Ebbing water  Elul the twelfth moneth Part of August and September 1 Ebbing water Thus hath the heat of all the Summer helped to the drying up of the waters which by the end of this moneth are clean gone For on the first day of the next moneth which is the beginning of a new year of the world the waters are dried up from off the earth And thus hath passed this sad year of the world in which not only all flesh hath perished from under Heaven save what was in the Ark but even the very course of nature hath been strangely changed for day and night summer and winter have not kept their course The world that then was being overflowed with waters perished but the Heaven and the Earth which now are are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 2 Pet. 3. 6 7. 2 Ebbing water 3 Ebbing water 4 Ebbing water 5 Ebbing water 6 Ebbing water 7 Ebbing water 8 Ebbing water 9 Ebbing water 10 Ebbing water 11 Ebbing water 12 Ebbing water 13 Ebbing water 14 Ebbing water 15 Ebbing water 16 Ebbing water 17 Ebbing water 18 Ebbing water 19 Ebbing water 20 Ebbing water 21 Ebbing water 22 Ebbing water 23 Ebbing water  24 Ebbing water  25 Ebbing water  26 Ebbing water  27 Ebbing water  28 Ebbing water  29 Ebbing water  CHAP. VIII From Verse 13. to the end NOW is begun a new year of the world namely the year 1657. and on the first day of Tisri the waters are clean gone from off the earth and on the 27th day of Marhesvan the earth is clean dry and Noah cometh that day out of the Ark. He staid a moneth and sixteen days after the waters were quite gone that the earth which was moist soft and muddy with so long a flood might be hardned and dried and thus hath he been in the Ark a just complete year of the sun His coming out was about the beginning of November when winter was already come and no provision then to be had for the beasts till the next spring but what they had out of the Ark. Noah instantly after his coming out of the Ark buildeth an Altar and offereth the odd clean beasts that he had taken in of every kind for that purpose and the Lord accepteth him and promiseth never to destroy the world with water again and thus as the old world so also this new beginneth with Sacrifice CHAP. IX AS God had blessed Adam and his wife at their creation with the blessing of increase and multiplication and of dominion over the creatures so doth
thirty years of age or after a manner and in such a way of reckoning as the Scripture ordinarily useth accounting the very first day of a year as that year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One day of the year is reputed that year Tal. Bab. Rosh hashanah fol. 2. 2. John baptized half a year before Jesus came to be baptized of him for he was half a year younger than John Luk. 1. 26. and as Christ was baptized and entred his Ministry just when he was beginning to enter upon his thirtieth year so John had begun his Ministry at the same age and both according to the Law Numb 4. 3. Christ was baptized in September at what time of the year he had been born For the phrase of Luke mentioned before doth plainly confirm that his Baptism was close to that time of the year that had been the time of his Birth 4. For the synchronizing therefore of the year of Christ with the year of Tiberius we must lay Tiberius his fifteenth collateral in Annal accounting with Christs nine and twentieth whether you reckon Tiberius his year from the very time of the year that he began to reign which was the 20th of August and then in September when Christ was baptized his sixteenth year was begun and Christs thirtieth or whether you reckon according to the common accounting of the Roman Fasti from January to January and then though Christ indeed spent three months of his thirtieth year in Tiberius his fifteenth so accounted yet he spent three times three months of it in his sixteenth The fifteenth year of Tiberius then and the nine and twentieth of our Saviour was the great year of the beginning of the Gospel in the preaching and baptizing of John who began this work about Passeover time or in the month Abib otherwise called Nisan The time of the year that Abraham had received the Promise Isaac was born Israel was redeemed out of Egypt and the Tabernacle was erected in the Wilderness The Jews speak more than they are aware of when they say that As in Nisan there had been redemption so in Nisan there should be redemption Tal. Bab. ubi supr fol. 11. The Gospel began and Christ died in that month Now whereas it may seem strange that upon Johns beginning to baptize he introducing so strange a practise and doctrine among them yet the People should flock to him in so great multitudes as the Evangelists shew they did and receive his Baptism with so much readiness besides that general satisfaction that may be given to this from the consideration of Gods special hand and work providing entertainment for his Gospel now setting forth these four things also may be pertinently observed 1. This was the time that the Nation expected that the Messia should appear See Luke 19. 11. Gabriels seventy in Dan. 9. had so plainly and exactly pointed to this very time that not only the pious and the studious among the Nation could not but observe it but it had even raised an expectation through a great part of the World of some great Potency to arise among the Jewish Nation about these times which should subdue and be Ruler of all the World Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus constans opinio esse in fatis ut eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum potirentur Sueton. in Vesp. cap. 4. An old and a constant opinion had grown through the whole East that some coming out of the East should be Master of all Nay so evident was the time and truth in Daniel that the Jerusalem Gemarists that could be well content to deny that Messias was already come as the rest of their Nation do yet they cannot but confess it in Beracoth fol. 1. col 1. in this Story Our Doctors say the Name of King Messias is David R. Joshua ben Levi saith His Name is The branch Zech. 3. 8. R. Judah the Son of R. Ibhu saith His Name is Menahem the Comforter And this helps to prove that which R. Judah saith namely this example of a certain Jew who as he was plowing his Ox lowed A certain Arabian passing by and observing his Ox low said O Jew O Jew loose thine Oxen and lay by this Plow for behold your Sanctuary is destroyed The Ox lowed a second time He saith to him again O Jew O Jew yoke thine Oxen and tie on thy Plow for behold King Messias is born He saith to him What is his Name the other answered Menahem the Comforter And what is his Fathers Name He answered Hezekiah the strong God He saith to him Whence is he He answered from the Royal Palace of Bethlehem Judah He went and sold his Oxen and sold his Plow and Gears and went about from City to City selling swadling-cloaths for babes When he came to that City all the Women bought of him but the Mother of Menahem bought not He heard the voice of the Women saying O Mother of Menahem thou Mother of Menahem Bring some things sold here to thy Child She answered Now I pray that all Israels enemies may be hanged for on the day that he was born the house of the Sanctuary was destroyed He saith to her We hope as it is destroyed at his feet so it will be built at his feet She saith to him I have no money And why saith he doth he suffer for that If thou have no money now I will come again after two days and receive it After the days he came to the City and saith to her How does the Child She answered him Since the time that thou sawest me there came winds and storms and took him out of my hands A clear confession of Christs being already come and of the poverty of his Mother 2. They expected a great change of things when Messias should come That Promise in the Prophet of new Heavens and a new Earth to be created raised this expectation Hence have they this saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy blessed God will renew the World for a thousand years Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John speaks their own Language when he speaks of reigning with Christ a thousand years Rev. 20. 4. which is no more to be understood of the time yet to come then Messias is yet to be expected as not come Hereupon they call the days of the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A new Creation as 2 Cor. 5. 17. In Midras Tillin fol. 4. col 3. R. Houne speaketh of three Ages and the last that he mentioneth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the age of the Messias And when that comes saith he the holy blessed God saith Now it lies upon me to Create a new Creation They likewise call that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World to come because of the change of things that they expected then as if a new World were created Tanchum fol. 77. col 3. In the world to come I will send my messenger speedily and he shall prepare the way before
now over them and neither would they now themselves nor would they suffer others as far as they could hinder to submit unto them 3. The unbelieving Jews were generally sworn enemies and prosecutors of those that believed And 4. which we have observed before multitudes of those that had believed and imbraced the Gospell fell away and became either seduced or the greatest seducers and brought in horrid heresies and pollutitions So that in these various and malignant distempers of men there had been continual confusions tumults firings murderings and plunderings among them for many years and they had been the unquietest and most tumultuous Nation that had been under Heaven and they had often provoked the Roman power against themselves yet till this year had they never so visibly and professedly taken up Arms and open War against that power The first spark kindled in Caesarea upon the sea about an inchroachment that a Gentile there made upon the way that went to the Jews Synagogue and from thence it grew into a flame so fast through the whole Country Florus the Governour helping it on that by the sixteenth of May his Souldiers by his Commission have plundred Jerusalem slain 3600. persons and even Berenice sister to King Agrippa escaped very narrowly with her life The Jews and Romans have divers skirmishes Massada Castle taken and the Roman Garison put to the sword The Temple and several parts of the Cities made Garisons for several parties and suffer much by fire and battery Twenty thousand Jewsslain in Caesarea on a Sabbath whereupon all the Nation rise about to avenge this slaughter and in Syria Phaenicea Samaria Peraea and all round about destroy Towns Cities and persons all before them Cestius the Governour of Syria rises with his forces and destroys the Jews again and their Towns all before him and on the thirtieth of October enters Jerusalem and fires a good part of the City Yet do the Jews give him a brush upon his march away and cut off above 4000 of his men with which success they are so fleshed that they resolve to fight it out and accordingly platform themselves into the model and posture of a long War and the Country is only full of Fire Sword War and destruction The abomination of desolation had now begun to stand in the holy place Matth. 24. 15. when the Temple is made a Garrison and filled with slaughter Antonia the Castle of the Temple besieged taken and the Roman Garrison put to the sword The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabernae or part of the buildings at the East wall of the mountain of the House the place where the Sanhedrin had once sitten fired and burnt down Jerus in Peah fol. 16. col 3. And in a word the Temple from this time forwards never but a Garrison and full of slaughter and confusion till it be raked up in ashes Now it was time for those that were in Judea who believed Christs prediction to get into the Mountains and to shift for themselves for now begins the tribulation beyond parallel such as was not since the beginning of the world nor ever must again Matth. 24. 21. It is commonly asserted that the Christians fled to Pella a City beyond Jordan Euseb Eccles. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 5. which how to reconcile with Josephus who saith Pella was one of the Cities that the Jews destroyed in avengement of the slaughter of the 20000 in Caesarea De Bell. lib. 2. cap. 33. let the Learned find About these times therefore we may well conceive to have been the writing of THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER And that the rather from what he speaks in Chap. 1. ver 14. I know that I must shortly put off this tabernacle as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me In which words his thoughts reflect upon what Christ had spoken to John and him about their ends John 21. where he not only gave intimation to Peter that he should be Martyred ver 18. but that he should be so before his coming in Judgment against Jerusalem which John must live to see but he must not ver 22. He therefore in Babylon understanding how affairs went in Judea and with the Jewish Nation all thereabout and reading therein from the words of his Master Matth. 24. that the desolation was drawing on apace concludes that his time was not long and therefore improves the time he hath remaining the best he can not only in teaching those amongst whom he was but by writing this Epistle instructeth those that were remote and at distance from him in which he doth more especially give them caution against false teachers and characters the terrour of the judgment coming and exhorts to vigilancy and holiness The first character that he gives of the false teachers is that they bring in damnable Heresies denying the Lord that bought them Chap. 2. 1. which he speaketh from Deut. 32. from whence also he useth other expressions ver 6. Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee not meaning that these wretches were redeemed by Christ yet became such wretches as some would interpret it but by buying is meant his buying out of Egypt this people for a peculiar people which these wretches boasted and stood upon yet by their introducing and practising the prophane principles they did of fornication and communicating with Idols they denied the true God which bought that people for his peculiar He calls them spots ver 13. from Deut. 32. 5. and parallels them with the old world Sodom Balaam nay the very fallen Angels He sets forth the destruction of that cursed Nation and their City in those terms that Christ had done Matt. 24. and that the Scripture doth elsewhere Deut. 32. 22 23. 24. Jer. 4. 23. namely as the destruction of the whole world The heavens passing away the elements melting and the earth burnt up c. And accordingly he speaks of a new heaven and a new earth from Isa. 65. 17. a new state of the Church under the Gospel among the Gentiles when this old world of the Jews state should be dissolved He citeth Pauls Epistle to the Hebrews and giveth an honourable testimony to that and to the rest of his Epistles but acknowledgeth that in some places they are hard to be understood and were misconstrued by some unlearned and unstable ones to their own ruine yet neither doth he nor Paul who was yet alive and well knew of this wresting of his Epistles clear or amend those difficulties but let them alone as they were for the holy Ghost hath so penned Scripture as to set men to study And here is the last that we hear in Scripture of this great Apostle Peter His Martyrdom he apprehends to be near and it was to be before Jerusalem was destroyed which was not now full four years to come We may well conceive him to have been put to death by the Jews in Babylonia where he now was a madness having come upon that Nation in all parts and
down of Idolatry and Heathenism in the Earth till the World was become Christian and then the Papacy arising doth Heathenize it again The destruction of which is set down vers 9. by fire from Heaven in allusion to Sodom or 2 King 1. 10 12. and it is set close to the end of the World the Devil and the Beast Rome imperial and the false Prophet Rome Papal are cast into fire and brimstone vers 10. where John speaks so as to shew his method which we have spoken of The Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are He had given the story of the beast and false Prophet the Devils agents and what became of them Chap. 19. vers 20. And now the story of the Devil himself for it was not possible to handle these two stories but apart and now he brings the confusion of all the three together and the confusion of all with them that bare their mark and whose names were not written in the Book of life REVEL CHAP. XXI THE Jerusalem from above described The phrase is used by Paul Gal. 4. 26. and it is used often by the Jews Zohar fol. 120. col 478. Rabbi Aba saith Luz is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jerusalem which is above which the holy blessed God gives for a possession where blessings are given by his hand in a pure Land but to an impure Land no blessings to be at all Compare Revel 21. 27 22. 15. Midras Till in Psal. 122. Jerusalem is built as a City that is compact together R. Jochanan saith The holy blessed God said I will not go into Jerusalem that is above until I have gone into Jerusalem that is below c. Ezekiels Jerusalem as we observed was of a double signification namely as promising the rebuilding of the City after the Captivity and foretelling of the spiritual Jerusalem the Church under the Gospel and that most especially At that John taketh at here and that is the Jerusalem that he describeth And from Isa. 65. 17 18. joyneth the creating new Heavens and a new Earth and so stateth the time of building this new Jerusalem namely at the coming in of the Gospel when all things are made new 2 Cor. 5. 17. A new People new Ordinances new Oeconomy and the old World of Israel dissolved Though the description of this new City be placed last in the Book yet the building of it was contemporary with the first things mentioned in it about the calling of the Gentiles When God pitched his Tabernacle amongst theâ—â— as he had done in the midst of Israel Levit. 26. 11 12. That Tabernacle is pitched in the fourth and fifth Chapters of this Book And now all tears wiped away and no more sorrow death nor pain vers 4. which if taken litterally could refer to nothing but the happy estate in Heaven of which the glory of this Jerusalem may indeed be a figure but here as the other things are it is to be taken mystically or spiritually to mean the taking away the curse of the Law and the sting of death and sin c. No condemnation to be to those that are in Christ Jesus The passages in describing the City are all in the Prophets phrase Ezekiel and Isaiah as compare these The Bride the Lambs wife vers 9. Sing O barren Heathen that didst not bear c. Thy Maker is thine Husband thy Redeemer c. Isa. 54. 1 5. Vers. 10. He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain Compare Ezek. 40. 2. That great City holy Jerusalem c. This refers to great dimensions of Ezekiels Jerusalem as also to the squareness the three gates of a side c. The glory of it described from thence and from Isa. 58. 8. 60. 2 3. 54. 11 12 c. The wall of it twelve thousand furlongs square or fifteen hundred miles upon every quarter East West North and South three thousand miles about and fifteen hundred miles high Wall of salvation Isa 26. 1. 60. 14. The foundations of the walls garnished with twelve precious stones see Isa. 54. 11. as the stones in the Ephod or holy Breastplate three upon every side as these were three and three in a row The first foundation stone here is the Jaspar the stone of Benjamin for Pauls sake the great agent about this building of the Church of the Gentiles The Jerus Talmud in Peah fol. 15. col 3. saith expresly that the Jaspar was Benjamins stone for it saith Benjamins Jaspar was once lost out of the Ephod and they said Who is there that hath another as good as it Some said Damah the son of Nethina hath one c. And I saw no Temple therein c. vers 22. here this Jerusalem differs from Ezekiels that had a Temple this none and it is observable there that the platform of the Temple is much of the measures and fashion that the second Temple was of but the City of a compass larger then all the Land which helpeth to clear what was said before of the double significancy of those things they promised them an earthly Temple which was built by Zerobabel but foretold a heavenly Jerusalem which is described here REVEL CHAP. XXII FROM Ezekiel Chap. 47. and from several passages of Scripture besides John doth still magnifie the glory happiness and holiness of the new Jerusalem Lively waters of clear Doctrine teaching Christ and life by him flowing through it continually Ezek. 7. 1 9. Cant. 4. 15. The Tree of Life lost to Adam and Paradise shut up against him to keep him from it here restored Then a curse here There shall be curse no more vers 3. See Zech. 14. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anathema non erit amplius c. He concludeth These sayings are faithful and true so he had said before at the marriage of the Lamb Chap. 19. 9. and again at his beginning of the story of the new Jerusalem Chap. 21. 5. referring to the several Prophesies that had been of these things and now all those sayings and Prophesies were come home in truth and faithfulness He is commanded not to seal his Book as Daniel was Dan. 12. 4. because the time of these things was instantly beginning and Christs coming to reveal his glory in avengement upon the Jewish Nation and casting them off and to take in the Gentiles in their stead was now at the door within three and an half or thereabout to come if we have conjectured the writing of this Book to its proper year There are two years more of Nero and one of confusion in the Roman Empire in the Wars of Otho Vitellius and Vespasian and the next year after Jerusalem falls And thus if this Book of the Revelation were written last of the Books of the New Testament as by the consent of all it was then may we say Now was the whole will of God revealed and committed to writing and from
hill Luke 4. 29. Nazaret in the Arabick Tongue signifieth Help in the Hebr. a Branch by which name our Saviour is called Esa. 11. 1. Vers. 27. To a Virgin Rabbi Oshua the Son of Levi said Israel was comforted in a Virgin as saith Jeremy The Lord â—roateth a new thing in the earth A Virgin shall compass a Man Jer. 31. 21. Beresh Rabb See also Lyra and Gloss. intenlin in loc Vers. 28. Highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the Greek Scholiast in Psal. 18. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word from which it is derived in Ephes. 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which let the indifferent Reader view and judge of the propriety of our English translation here in comparison of the vulgar Latine The Virgin had obtained the highest earthly favour that ever mortal did or must do to be the mother of the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost useth a singular word to express so much Superstition is ever too officious but it hath shewed it self more so to the Virgin Mary then to any other For as it hath deified her now she is in Heaven so hath it magnified her in all her actions while she was upon the earth So that no relation or story that concerneth her but it hath strained it to the utmost extremity to wring out of it her praises though very often to a senseless and too often to a blasphemous issue As in this story of the annuntiation there is not a word nor tittle that it thinketh will with all its shaping serve for such a purpose but it taketh advantage to patch up her Encomions where there is no use nor need nor indeed any truth of and in such a thing This word that is under hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bears the bell that ringeth lowdest with them to such a tune For having translated it in their vulgar Latine Gratia plena or full of grace they hence infer that she had all the seven gifts of the Spirit and all the Theological and moral vertues and such a fulness of the graces of the Holy Ghost as none ever had the like Whereas first The use of Scripture is when it speaketh of fulness of grace to express it by another phrase as Joh. 1. 14. Act. 6. 5. c. Secondly The Angel himself explaineth this word in the sense of our translation for favour received and not for grace inherent Vers. 30. Thou hast found favour with God Thirdly And so doth the Virgin her self also descant upon the same thing throughout her Song Fourthly Joseph her husband suspected her for an adultress Matth. 1. 18. which he could never have done if he had ever seen so infinite fulness of grace in her as the Romanists have spied and he was the likelier to have espied it of the two Fifthly Compare her with other renowned women and what difference but only this great favour of being the mother of the Messias They had the spirit of Prophesie as well as she they had the spirit of sanctification as well as she and she no more immunity from sin and death then they Sixthly She was one of the number of those that would have taken off Christ from preaching Mark 3. and this argued not such a fulness of grace Seventhly See Jansenius one of their own side expounding this word according to our reading of it in loc The Lord is with thee Many understand this of the Incarnation it self or of the Lords being in her womb Whereas first This is to take a common manner of speech out of the common manner of interpreting it Secondly The Lord was not at this very instant come in that manner into her womb But the words only mean the Lords being with her in regard of that favour and respect which he was about to shew her as Judg. 6. 12. And this among other things sheweth how senseless Popery is in its Ave Maries using these words for a Prayer and if occasion serve for it for a charm As first Turning a Salutation into a Prayer Secondly In fitting these words of an Angel that was sent and that spake them upon a special message to the mouth of every person and for every occasion Thirdly In applying these words to her now she is in Heaven which suited with her only while she was upon Earth As first to say full of grace to her that is full of glory And secondly to say The Lord is with thee to her that is with the Lord. Blessed art thou among women Not above but among them See Gen. 30. 13. Judg. 5. 24. Vers. 29. And when she saw him So readeth the Syrian Arabick and generally all other translations but only the vulgar Latin that swarving as it is to be suspected wilfully from the truth of the Original that hereby there might be the greater plea and colour for the Virgins familiarity with Angels Whereas indeed apparition of Angels till this very occasion to Zachary and the Virgin was either exceeding rare or just none at all What manner of salutation c. Judge how Superstition straineth the Text to the Virgin Maries praises when it infers from hence that she had never been saluted by a man in all her life before An opinion and gloss not worth the examining Vers. 31. Behold thou shalt conceive c. From Esa. 7. 14. the Angel giveth her to understand that she is the Virgin spoken of in that place and of her apprehension of this ariseth her question Vers. 4. And shalt call his Name This followeth the same Prophesie still and is one of the significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it hath more then one For first it denoteth the third person feminine as Deut. 31. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is to be taken in that Prophesie And she shall call his Name Immanuel Secondly It betokeneth also the second person as the Chaldee the Lxx and the other two Greek translations render it and the Angel here And thou shalt call Thirdly It is also applied to the third person plural as in the Greek Matth. 1. 23. and in the Chaldee Esa. 60. 18. Jesus The same with Jehoshua in Hebrew as Act. 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. and Joshua in Chaldee Ezra 2. 2. These were two renowned ones before the one whereof brought the people into Canaan after the death of Moses and the other that brought them thither out of Babel and so were both lively figures of our Jesus that bringeth his people to the heavenly Canaan Vers. 32. The Son of the Highest From 2 Sam. 7. 14. as it is explained Heb. 1. 5. the Angel now draweth the Virgin to remember that glorious promise made to David as the words following concerning an eternal Throne and Kingdom do evince and upon the rumination upon that to reflect upon her self and to consider that she was of the seed of David and so he leadeth her on by degrees to believe and
out of the Inn and thus the free-woman and her Son are cast out of doors as the bond-woman and her Son had been Gen. 21. Vers. 8. And there were Shepherds c. The Patriarchs to whom Christ was more especially promised were of this vocation Gen. 47. 3. especially Abraham and David to whom the promise was more clearly made peculiarly David who was feeding Sheep near to Bethlehem when he was taken a Father and type of Christ 1 Sam. 16. 11 12. And it doth illustrate the exactness of the performance the more and doth Harmonize with the giving of it the better when to Shepherds it is first revealed as to Shepherds it was first promised Compare this with the Visions of Jacob and Moses with their flocks Gen. 31. 10. Exod. 3. 3. and of Sampsons mother in the field §. Keeping watch over the flock by night Greek Keeping the watches of the night For the night was divided by the Jews into four watches of three hours a piece The first or beginning of watches is mentioned Lam. 2. 19. The second and third Luke 12. 38. The fourth Matth. 14. 25. this was called also the morning watch Exod. 14. 24. Howbeit the Talmud from Judg. 7. 19. divideth it only into three Be it the one or the other these Shepherds it seemeth observed such an order as that they watched by course while others slept or not to take it so very strictly they lay now in the fields and watched their flocks all night which had been in a manner impossible to have done in the deep of winter at which time our Kalendar hath placed Christs Nativity Vers. 9. The glory of the Lord shone c. That is an exceeding great glory for so do the Hebrews heighten their expressions as Cedars of the Lord that is goodly Cedars Such an exceeding great glory shone about Paul Act. 26. 13. That at noon day this in the dead of the night Vers. 13. A multitude of the Heavenly host c. It might not unproperly be rendred The multitude as importing that all the Quire of Angels or the whole multitude of that Celestial Militia was now knit together in a consort for the praises and acknowledgment of Christ according to that of the Apostle Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him And thus as all the Angels sang at the beginning of the old World or at the Creation Job 38. 7. So do they at the beginning of the new and of the redemption Angels are called the Heavenly host 1 King 22. 19. Joh. 25. 3. And in this sense Rab. Menahem understandeth Gen. 2. 1. Thus were the Heavens and the Earth finished and all their Host that is saith he the Angels whose Creation Moses nameth not elsewhere Vers. 14. Glory to God in the Highest c. The last words of this verse the Vulgar Latine readeth to men of good will contrary to the Syrian Arabick and to the ancient Greek Copies as appeareth by Greg. Nazianzen Orat. 42. Andreas Jerusolomitanus in Orat. de Salutatione Angeli c. The whole Verse is but one Proposition or Axiom in which the last clause of all is the subject and the two former are predicated of it And it lieth in this sense The good will of God to men shewed in the Incarnation of our Saviour when God himself disdained not to take the nature of man is glory to him in the Highest and is peace upon the Earth And that this is the genuine and proper meaning and posture of the words may be observed First By the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And put between Glory to God and Peace on Earth and none between them and good will And secondly the very sense and matter it self inforceth this construction For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beareth the same sense here that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth Matth. 3. 17. 17. 5. of Gods good-will or well-pleasedness with men Now secondly this well-pleasedness of his with men was expressed and evidenced at this time in the birth of our Saviour in that God had assumed the nature of men and it had never been so cleared and demonstrated before So that thirdly the birth of Christ being the occasion of the Angels singing this song the good will of God towards men revealed in this his birth must needs be the subject of their Song And then fourthly the other two things expressed in the two other clauses glory on High and peace on Earth must needs be understood as Predicates seeing that being laid to this expression of God of his good will towards men they are but as fruits and consequences of it And this reading and construction how facil and plain is it in comparison of these intricacies and obscurities that those readings bring with them that either break the verse into three distinct axioms or into two or that read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Genitive case or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Dative as may be seen in Expositors Now how the good-will and well-pleasedness of God towards men exhibited and shewed in the incarnation and birth of our Saviour did glorifie God in the highest in all his attributes of wisdom truth justice power mercy c. And how it wrought peace on earth betwixt man and himself and man and Angels and man and man and man and his own conscience might be shewed at large if we were common-placing in stead of commenting Ver. 21. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising c. It was necessary that Christ should be circumcised that he might both bear the badge of a child of Abraham and have upon him an obligation to the keeping of the Law For he that was circumcised was a debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. Ver. 22. And when the days of her purification c. At forty days old Levit. 12. 1 2 3 4. the Lord cometh to his own Temple and by an old man and an old woman is proclaimed both to young and old that expected redemption Herod had heard no tidings of him as yet by the Wismen for otherwise this had been an opportunity for him to have put in practice his bloody and malicious intent Mary is purified according to the custom of the Law although she had contracted no pollution by her childing and bringing forth partly that Christ in nothing might be wanting to the Law and partly that this might be an occasion for the first publick declaration of him by Simeon and Anna. Ver. 25. A man whose name was Simeon This Simeon seemeth to be he whom the Jewish Authors name for the son of Hillel and who was the first that bare the title of Rabban the highest title that was given to their Doctors and which was given but to seven of them Hillel was the famous head or principal of that School that is so renowned in the Jewish Authors by the name of Beth
low and the crooked shall be made streight and the rough ways shall be made smooth 6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God 7. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him O generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come 8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance And begin not to say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up Children unto Abraham 9. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire 10. And the people asked him saying What shall we do then 11. He answereth and saith unto them He that hath two * * * * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Joniâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It properly signifieth the upper garment as in the LXX Gen. 37. 3. Matth. 5. 40. Athen. deipnos lib. 1. Tâ—lli as gave to five hundred horsemen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A coat and a suite coats let him impart to him that none and he that hath meat let him do likewise 12. Then came also Publicans to be baptized and said unto him Master what shall we do 13. And he said unto them Exact no more then that which is appointed you 14. And the Souldiers likewise demanded of him saying And what shall we do And he said unto them Do violence to no man neither ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ister in Aâ—ticis saith It is not lawful to carry Figs out of Aâ—tica which grew there because the Inhabitants may enjoy them themselves And whereas many were found out that stole them forth of the Country those that detected any such to the Magistrates were at first called Sycâ—phants Athen. dâ—ipn lib. 3. At the first the honestest and best men of repute were appointed to be Overseers in this matter about Transportation but in time the Office being abused the name came into utter disgrace Idem Ibid. and so a Sycophant was no better then a common Barretor This is the custom of Sycophants that they themselves will begin to speak evil of a man and to utter something against him as in secret that another hearing so much may also be induced to speak the like and so become liable to be accused For this they do without danger because they do it upon a Plot c. Dion Cass. lib. 58. accuse any falsely and be content with your ††††††The Greek here useth a Latin word Opsonium as being spoken to the Roman Souldiers and a word with which they were best acquainted Caius panaria cum â—psonio viriâ—im dedit Sueton. in Calo. cap. 18. Used again Rom. 6. 23. wages 15. And as the people were in expectation and all men mused in their hearts of Iohn whether he were the Christ or not 16. Iohn answered saying unto them all I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier then I cometh the latchet of whose shoos I am not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire 17. Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable 18. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people Reason of the Order ALthough there be a very large space of time betwixt the Section last preceding and the beginning of this yet because the Reader in his Bible can see nothing mentioned in any of the four that may come between he will easily satisfie himself without any further discourse that the order is necessary and the connexion undeniable But it may be he may wonder why the Evangelists have passed so much time in silence without any mention at all of our Saviour Christ or of any thing done or spoken by him But when he shall observe in the very first words of this Section that the Preaching of John and his baptism was the beginning of the Gospel then will he see that they hasten to that and forward as to the main aim and chief intention of their writing but that the conception and birth of Christ and his forerunner were necessarily to be related before In these collateral columns of the Text and forward where we shall have occasion to use them so the Readers eye must sometimes help to lay them together where the pen could not without changing and transposing the natural method of the Text as in this Section now in hand it had been both as easie for me to have written the third verse of Mark after the fourth and fifth as before them and more agreeing to the columns on either side it but that I would not be so bold as to change verses without any reason which Mark not without good reason did dispose as they lie And this cautelousness have I observed all along as I go where occasion is offered presuming rather to trouble the Reader to rank them with his eye then to tear the Text in the whole cloth and then sew it together at other edges It will sometimes be inevitable but that we must invert and alter the order of one Evangelist or other from what he had laid it but wheresoever that shall be so there shall be such a reason given for it as I hope shall be to the Readers satisfaction and mine own excuse Harmony and Explanation MARK I. Vers. 1. The beginning of the Gospel THE beginning of that age of the world which the Prophets so unanimously pointed out for the time of good things to come and which they expressed sometimes by the term of The last days Esa. 2. 2. Mich. 4. 1. Joel 2. 28. Sometimes of the acceptable year of the Lord Esa. 61. 1. Sometimes of the Kingdom of God Dan. 2. 44. 7. 14. and sometimes of a New Heaven and a New Earth Esa. 65. 17. And which the Gospel it self doth begin from the beginning of the Ministry and Preaching of John the Baptist as in this verse and Matth. 11. 13. Act. 1. 22. 10. 37. So that though in our Chronicle account and computation we begin to reckon from the birth of our Saviour the second Adam as the age of the world before was reckoned from the Creation of the first yet in strict and exact computing the new world as one may call it or the age of the Gospel began not before the setting forth of John to preach and baptize and this his Ministry is most fitly called the beginning of the Gospel both in regard of his preaching and of his baptizing For first the Doctrine and Preaching of John was of a differing strain and diverse tenour from the litteral Doctrine of the Law For that called all for works and for
exact performance Do this and live and He that doth not all the words of this Law is cursed But John called for repentance and for renewing of the mind and for belief in him that was coming after disclaiming all righteousness by the works and performance of the Law but proclaiming repentance for non-performance and righteousness only to be had by Christ. So that here were new Heavens and a new Earth begun to be created a new Commandment given a new Church founded justification by the works of the Law cryed down and the glorious Doctrine of Repentance and Faith set up Secondly Whereas Baptism was used before among the Jews only for admission of Proselytes or Heathens to their Church and Religion as Vid. Aben Ezra Gen. 35. Rambam in Issurei Biah per. 13. now it is published and proposed to the Jews themselves to be received and undergone shewing unto them 1. That they were now to be entred and transplanted into a new profession And 2. That the Gentiles and they were now to be knit into one Church and Body The Ministery of John being of so high concernment as being thus the beginning of the Gospel and of a new World it is no wonder that St. Luke doth so exactly point out the year by the Reign of the Emperor the rule of Pilate Herod Philip and Lysanias the High Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas that so remarkable a year might be fixed and known to all the World and that the condition and the state of the times might be observed when the Gospel began And here it might have been proper to have begun the second part of this our task and not to have driven over this Period of time and to stop half a year after it at the baptism of our Saviour but since his preaching and appearing to the World is the great and main thing that the Evangelists look after and since the preaching of the Baptist was but a Preface and forerunner unto that of his it is not unproper and may be very excusable to make that our entrance to another part and take this with us in our motion to our lodging and resting there §. Of Jesus Christ the Son of God This title of The Son of God is proclaimed of Christ from Heaven at his baptism when he is to begin to preach the Gospel as it is said here to be the Gospel of the Son of God And it was necessary that so much should be intimated and learned concerning him as the author of the Gospel Because 1. The Gospel was the full revealing and opening of the will of the Father 2. The overthrow and ruine of the Rites and Ceremonies of Moses 3. The admission of heathen and strangers to be the Church and people of the Lord whereas Israel had been his peculiar before 4. It was a Doctrine of trusting in another and not ones self for salvation and who was fit for doing the three former or for being the object of the latter but Jesus Christ the Son of God who came from the bosom of the Father was the substance and body of those shadows and Ceremonies might raze that partition wall which in the giving of the Law himself had reared and did not only preach the Doctrine of the Gospel but also fully perform the Law Vers. 2. As it is written in the Prophets It seemeth by the Syrian Arabick Uulgar Latine Victor Antiochenus Origen cited by him and others that some Copies read As it is written in Esaias the Prophet and so Jansenius thinketh it was so written by Mark himself but purposely changed by the Doctors of the Church as we read it now to avoid the difficulty which the other reading carried with it But first it were a very strange and impious though an easie way of resolving doubts to add to or diminish from the Text at pleasure as the Text shall seem easie or difficult This is not to expound the Bible but to make a new one or a Text of ones own head Secondly In ancienter times then any of theirs that are produced which read In Esaias the Prophet it was read as we do In the Prophets as Jansenius himself sheweth out of Irenaeus lib. 3. chap. 11. Thirdly The one half of the words alledged in the Text are not in Esay at all but in Malachi and the first half also for that is considerable For though sometime the New Testament in Allegations from the Old do closely couch two several places together under one quotation as if they were but one yet maketh it sure that the first always is that very place which it takes on it to cite though the second be another as Acts 7. 7. Steven alledgeth a speech of God as if uttered to Abraham alone whereas it is two several quotations and two several speeches tied up in one the one spoken to Abraham indeed but the other to Moses almost four hundred years after and that to Abraham is set the first for he is the subject whereupon the allegation is produced Fourthly It is a manner of speech not used in the New Testament to say it is written or it is said in such or such a Prophet but by him We find indeed It is written in the Law Luke 10. 26. And It is written in the book of Psalms Acts 1. 20. Yea It is written in the Prophets Joh. 6. 45. but no where that it is written in a single Prophet Fifthly To read as we do As it is written in the Prophets agreeth with the ordinary and usual division of the Old Testament by the Hebrews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Oraietha Nebhyim Chetubbim The Law the Prophets and the Holy writs approved and followed by our Saviour Luke 24. 44. and alluded to by the Evangelist here Before thy face c. Thy way before thee The former is neither in the Hebrew nor in the LXX at all the latter is in them both but clean contrary for they both have it The way before me But first The Evangelists and Apostles when they take on them to cite any Text from the Old Testament are not so punctual to observe the exact and strict form of words as the pith of them or sense of the place as might be instanced in many particulars so that the difference of the words would not prejudice the agreement in sense were there not so flat difference of person as me and thee Secondly The Majesty of Scripture doth often shew it self in requoting of places in this that it alledgeth them in difference of words and difference of sense yea sometimes in contrariety not to make one place to cross or deny another but by the variety one to explain and illustrate another as in corresponding places in the Old Testament might be shewed at large as Gen. 10. 22 23. cited 1 Chron. 1. 17. Gen. 36. 12. compared with 1 Chron. 1. 36. 1 Sam. 25. 44. paralleled 2 Sam. 21. 8. 2 Chron. 3. 15. with Jer. 52. 21. and very
these two dates sometimes from his resurrection and sometimes from the destruction of Jerusalem from his resurrection whereby he was declared mightily to be the Son of God Rom. 1. 4. as Luke 22. 18. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine till the Kingdom of God be come meaning not till after his resurrection for then he eat and drank with them Act. 1. 4. Luke 24. 43 44. And from the destruction of Jerusalem Luke 21. 31 32. Matth. 16. 28. because then he triumphed over those that had despised his rule and he transferred his Kingdom to another people Matth. 21. 40 41 43. 2. It signifieth the changed administration of the way and things of Salvation from the Ceremonial and carnal rites which were appointed before to a worship of God in spirit and truth Not but that that spiritual service was inwrapped under those formalities if they could have found it out but that now the change was so apparent and so great that those outsides of Ceremonies were to be laid aside and the internal substance only to be looked after In this sense the Kingdom of Heaven is dated from the beginning of John Baptists Ministery when this change did first begin Luke 16. 16. and that time called the beginning of the Gospel Mark 1. 1. this change is called the regeneration Matth. 19. 28. And new Heavens and new Earth Esay 65. 16. 3. It signifieth the planting of the Gospel and of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles Matth. 8. 11 12. 21. 43. 4. It signifieth the work of the Gospel grace wrought in the heart or the vertue and vigour of this spiritual Kingdom of Christ there Matth. 6. 33. 13. 46. 15. 3 c. 5. And sometimes it signifies the state of glory Luke 18. 18 24 25. And now to return to that enquiry that we were about concerning the connexion of our Saviours words to the words of Nicodemus and concerning the meaning of the words themselves we shall observe only these three particulars 1. That Nicodemus in his words in the verse before doth own some appearance and glimpse of the Kingdom of God or coming of the Messias in the wondrous miracles that Christ had wrought We shall not much dispute whether when he saith that Christ was a Teacher come from God he means that he was the Messias or that he was Elias his forerunner or that he was some Prophet that was as the dawning to the days of Messias certainly his argument from Christs miracles doth speak him as thinking those days near at hand and the Kingdom of God now beginning to appear Such arguments we find elsewhere producing such a conclusion and by the observing of them we may the better judge of this Nathaniel concludes Christ the King of Israel because he had wonderfully told him of some secret passage of his under a Fig-tree John 1. 49. And the woman of Samaria because he had told her of her secret villany resolves that he must needs be the Messias Joh. 4. 29. So when he had filled the people with five loaves and two fishes they make this undoubted conclusion Of a truth this is the Prophet and they would have crowned him for Messias John 6. 14 15. And our Saviour himself makes this an undeniable argument I by the Spirit of God do cast out Devils ergo No doubt the Kingdom of God is come among you Luke 11. 20. for such wonders cannot be expected but in the days of Messias Such like arguments are those John 7. 31. 9. 16. 11. 47 48. 15. 24. The blasphemous Jews of those times found these so evincing and undeniable evidences toward such a conclusion that they could find no other way to evade the dint of them but by that cursed tergiversation as sensless as it was impious That Christ wrought these wonders by the power of the Devil Luke 11. 15. John 10. 20. And as the blasphemous Jews in times succeeding have sought to evade them by this assertion that when Messias should come he would do no miracles Talm. in Sanhedr per. 10. Maym. in Melachim per. 11 12. 2. But this was Nicodemus his argumentation upon the miracles that he saw done that undoubtedly this could be nothing but a token of the days of the Messias or Kingdom of God now approached and so our Saviour easily reads his meaning and so the alledged like arguments shew that even any of the learned or observing ones of the Nation would readily have construed his words though he spake not so much in those very syllables and therefore it is needless to say that Christ knew it was in his thoughts to enquire about the Kingdom of Heaven it was legible enough in these very words that he acknowledged an undeniable evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven now demonstrated in those wondrous miracles that Christ wrought which reasoning may be heightned by these two circumstances in that miracles had been so long ceased and should now so break forth and that in the times when miracles were wrought none were wrought such as these 3. The connexion therefore of our Saviours words to his upon these considerations is of no difficulty or harshness at all but as direct and proper as was possible For as Nicodemus by these miracles could not but conclude upon the times of the Messias that they were now come so by his Judaical and Pharisaical principles he conceived that those glorious times that they expected under Messias should take the people as they were and they without any inward change of mind or heart at all should be translated into an outward changed condition of happiness and earthly glory as much as they could desire or imagine No saith Christ there is more required of and in him that desires to see and partake of the happiness of that Kingdom and those days he must also suffer a changedness in himself and in his principles and be cast into a new mold and be as if he were born anew And thus may we make out the connexion of this speech of Christ to that of Nicodemus and now there remains to examine the meaning of the speech it self It is not much material as to sense of the thing it self whether to read it Except a man be born again or Except a man be born from above either of the expressions will very well carry the sense our Saviour intendeth in it but to take it in the latter translation from above doth more properly and pertinently speak out the thing that is aimed at It was the great confidence and boasting of the Jews that they were born and descended of the seed of Abraham and upon this score and priviledge they relied so much that they accounted that very thing to estate them exceedingly in a happy condition as to the favour of God and welfare of their spiritual estate It were endless to shew out of Jewish Authors how great matters they speak of accrewing to them 〈◊〉
from death to life in a spiritual sense which argues that he intends the same sense here 3. In that he ascribeth reviving to his Voice here as he did there to his Word 4. Because he distinguisheth upon hearing his voice The dead shall hear it and as many as hear it shall live which is applicable a great deal more fairly to the bare and to the effectual hearing of the Gospel than to dead in corporal sense And 5. lastly Because there are so great things spoken of the calling of the Gentiles in the Scripture and of Christs work about that matter and their Heathenish condition so expresly called death and their imbracing the Gospel a resurrection that when Christ is speaking of his actings in the New Testament and useth such words as these before us we may not unproperly apply them in that sense It would have prevented many controversies and not a few errors if the Phrases the last days and the day of the Lord and the end and new Heavens and new Earth and the dead raised c. had been cautelously understood and as the Scripture means them in several places But as for the raising of the dead in the verse in hand it needeth not very much curiosity to fix it to either of those as a determinate sense since taken either way that hath been mentioned it carries a fair construction most agreeable to the truth and not very disagreeable to the scope and context Vers. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself It is needless to dispute here how far the second person in the Trinity may be said to have or not to have his being of himself for the words do not consider him simply as the second person but as the Messias God and Man as is the tenour of speech all along And in this acceptation we may give the words this construction 1. That they are a Paraphrase upon the name Jehovah which betokeneth Gods eternal being in himself and his giving of being to the Creature and that they mean that as the Father is Jehovah so also hath he given to the Son the Messias that name above all names as Philip. 2. 9. to be owned and worshipped for Jehovah having life in himself as being the eternal and living God and having the disposal of life in his power as being the God of all living 2. That as the Father is the eternal and immortal God so also is the Messias and though he stand there before the Sanhedrin in humane appearance yet should he never see corruption as Psalm 16. 10. but declare himself mightily to be the Son of God and to have life in himself by his raising himself from the dead Rom. 1. 4. Being the first and last He that liveth though he died and is alive for evermore Amen and hath the Keys of Hell and death at his disposal Rev. 1. 17 18. 3. As the words before may be applied to Christs raising from the dead those that were either bodily or spiritually deceased so these are a reason and proof of that assertion because as the Father hath the absolute disposal of life in his own power so hath he given to the Messias the same disposal Vers. 27. And hath given him authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man By this passage it is apparent in what sense our Saviour useth the term The Son and The Son of God all along this discourse namely for the Son of God as he was also the Son of Man or the Messias There hath been some scruple made as was mentioned before upon the reason given of Christs authority of Judging namely because he was the Son of Man which will be removed by rightly stating the sense of the Son of Man which we may take up in these three particulars 1. The Phrase the Son of Man may be taken to signifie simply A Man and then the words are to be understood in this sense He hath given him authority of judging because he is a man and then is the reason current and apparent under this construction First Because the Son of God humbled himself and became man for the redemption of man therefore the Lord hath given him authority to be judge of man as Phil. 2. 8 9. And secondly He hath given the Messias authority of judging because he is man that man might be judged by one in his own nature as Act. 17. 31. He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead 2. The title The Son of Man which our Saviour so oft applieth to himself in the Gospel doth not speak him barely A Man but it owns him as that singular and peculiar seed of the woman or Son of Man that was promised to Adam to be a repairer of ruined mankind and the destroyer of the works of Satan as the term hath been cleared before And in this construction the reason of Christs authority of judging because he was the Son of Man is yet cleared further namely because he was the Son of that promise the Heir of the world and Redeemer of mankind and Destroyer of Devils therefore the Lord did give authority to him to be Lord of the World and Judge of Men and Devils to destroy the Serpent and his seed that were his enemies and to perfect and save the holy seed that should believe in him and obey him and to do and order all things here in this world that were in tendency either to the one or the other end 3. The Messias is thus charactered in Dan. 7. 13 14. Behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the antient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him Upon which words R. Saadias glosseth thus This is Messias our righteousness But is it not written concerning the Messias lowly and riding upon an Ass Because he shall come in humility and not in pomp riding upon Horses And with the Clouds of Heavens meaneth the Angels the Host of Heaven this is the abundance of greatness which the Creator shall give unto the Messias c. Our Saviour in the words that we are upon seemeth to point at those words of Daniel and whereas it was confessed by the Nation that the Son of Man there spoken of to whom all Dominion was given was the Messias he doth here plainly aver that it was himself and that all Authority and Judicature was given him because he was the Son of Man Observe how purposely he changeth expressions In ver 25. He speaketh of raising the dead by the voice of the Son of God and here of executing judgment because he is the Son
Father had sent among them as vers 38. Him ye believe not vers 40. Ye will not come to me vers 43. I am come in my Fathers name and ye receive me not whereas another coming in his own name ye will receive c. And for this might he deservedly make a return of their contempt of him to the Father which sent him by praying and complaining to God against them but Think not that I will accuse you c. Did they think of any such thing Or did they regard whether he accused them to God or no Answ. 1. There might be places alledged out of their Talmudical writers in which they bring in the Messias sometimes complaining against his generation and it is their confession that in the generation when the Son of David should come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there should be accusations against the Scholars of the Wise Cetuboth in Gemar ad fin 2. It might be supposed they measured the temper of Christ by their own dispositions or by common humane manners He was now before the High Court from which whither should he appeal if he be wronged by it but to God And so would passionate and meer men be ready to do and pray to God against and they might judge that he would be of the same temper and practice But 3. Our Saviours meaning is that he needed not to accuse them to the Father for disregarding him though the Father had sent him for they had their accuser already even Moses in whom they trusted Not the person of Moses accusing them but his doctrine As when the Apostles are said to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel it meaneth by their doctrine and not in their persons They trusted in Moses doctrine as looking to be justified by the works of the Law whereas his doctrine tended all along to drive men to Christ. And therefore a just accusation lay against them even in his writings which mainly aimed to shew justification by Christ when they taking on them to be so observant Scholars of Moses yet utterly disregarded and refused him whom Moses had clearly chiefly and solely proposed as the main and ultimate end of his Law And so our Saviour in these words doth apparently aver the Law of Moses to be a doctrine of Faith The End of the Third Part. A Few and New OBSERVATIONS UPON THE BOOK OF GENESIS THE Most of them Certain the rest Probable all Harmless Strange and rarely heard of before ALSO AN Handful of Gleanings OUT OF THE BOOK OF EXODUS By JOHN LIGHTFOOT D. D. LONDON Printed by W. R. for Robert Scott Thomas Basset John Wright and Richard Chiswell MDCLXXXII A Few and New OBSERVATIONS UPON THE BOOK OF GENESIS CHAP. I. THE Scripture the Word of Knowledge beginneth with the Story of the Creation because first the first step towards the knowledge of God is by the Creature Rom. 1. 20. Secondly the Story of the Creation pleadeth for the justice of God in planting and displacing of Nations as he pleaseth since the Earth is his own and he made it Thirdly the Resurrection is taught by the Creation and the end of the world from the beginning for God that made that to be that never was can much more make that to be that hath been before namely these our Bodies Heaven and Earth Center and circumference created together in the same instant and clouds full of water not such as we see made by evaporation but such as are called the Windows or Cataracts of Heaven Gen. 7. 11. 2 Kings 7. 19. Mal. 3. 10. created in the same instant with them vers 2. The earth lay covered with waters and had not received as yet its perfection beauty and deckage and that vast vacuity that was between the convex of those waters and the concave of the clouds was filled as it were with a gross and great darkness and the Spirit of God moved the Heavens from the first moment of their Creation in a circular motion above and about the earth and waters for the cherishing and preservation of them in their new begun being v. 3. Twelve hours did the Heavens thus move in darkness and then God commanded and there appeared light to this upper Horizon namely to that where Eden should be planted for for that place especially is the story calculated and there did it shine other twelve hours declining by degrees with the motion of the Heavens to the other Hemisphere where it inlightned other twelve hours also and so the first natural day to that part of the world was six and thirty hours long so long was Joshua's day Josh. 10. And so long was our Saviour clouded under death Vers. 6. When the light began to set to the Horizon of Eden and the evening or night of the second day was come God commanded that the Air should be spread out instead of that vacuity which was betwixt the waters upon the Earth and the waters in the clouds and in four and twenty hours it was accomplished and the Air spread through the whole universe with the motion of the Heavens In this second days work it is not said as in the rest that God saw it good because whereas this days work was about separation of waters they were not perfectedly and fully parted till the waters which covered the Earth were couched in their channels which was not till the third day and there it is twice said that God saw it good once for the intire separation of the waters and again for the fructification of the ground Vers. 9. In the new created Air the Lord thundered and rebuked the waters Psal. 104. 7. So that they hasted away and fled all westward into the channels which the Lord had appointed for them And still as they flowed away and dry land appeared the Earth instantly brought forth Trees and Plants in their several kinds This production was only of the bodies and substances of them for their verdure and maturity was not till the sixth day And now was Eden planted with the bodies of all trees fit for meat and delight which by the time that Adam is created are laden with leaves and fruit Vers. 14. The Moon and some Stars created before the Sun She shone all the night of the fourth day in her full body and when the Sun appeared in the morning then was her light augmented yet her body obscured from the World till the sixt day at even which was her prime day and she shewed her crescent and gave light to Adam who was but newly got at that time out of the darkness of his fall by the lustre of the promise Vers. 21. Whales only of all brutes specified by name to shew that even the greatest of living creatures could not make it self Vers. 25. Beasts wild and tame created and all manner of creeping things and the World furnished with them from about Eden as well as with men of clean beasts were seven created three
Christ which they mistook should be a spiritual power which even just now was to begin and of this power he tells they should receive and dilate and carry on his Kingdom §. Certain Articles or Positions tending to the confutation of the Jews in this point and the Millenaries that concur in many things with them 1. That the Book of Daniel speaketh nothing of the state of the Jews beyond the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 2. That the Revelation intendeth not the stories and times that are written in Daniel but taketh at him and beginneth where Daniel left to discourse the state of the new Jerusalem when the old one was ruined 3. That the fourth Monarchy in Daniel is not Rome nor possibly can be Dan. 7. 11 12. well weighed together 4. That the blasphemous horn in Dan. 7. 8 25. c. is not Antichrist but Antiochus 5. That Antichrist shall not be destroyed before the calling of the Jews but shall persecute them when they are converted as well as he hath done the Church of the Christians And that the slaying of the two Prophets Rev. 11. aimeth at this very thing to shew that Antichrist shall persecute the Church of Jews and Gentiles when towards the end of the world they shall be knit together in profession of the Gospel 6. That the calling of the Jews shall be in the places of their residence among the Christians and their calling shall not cause them to chang place but condition 7. That Ezekiels New Jerusalem is bigger in compass by many hundreds of miles than all the land of Canaan ever was in its utmost extent 8. That the earth was cursed from the beginning Gen. 3. 17. and therefore Christs Kingdom not to be of the cursed earth Joh. 18. 36. 9. That the Kingdom everlasting that began after the destruction of the fourth beast Dan. 2. 44. 7. 14. 27. was the Kingdom of Christ in the Gospel and began with the Gospel preached among the Gentiles 10. That the binding of Satan for a thousand years beginneth from the same date 11. That his binding up is not from persecuting the Church but from deceiving the Nations Rev. 20. 3 8. 12. That multitudes of those places of the Old Testament that are applied by the Jews and Millenaries to the people of the Jews and their earthly prosperity do purposely intend the Church of the Gentiles and their spiritual happiness Vers. 8. But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you §. 1. How many of the Disciples were spectators of Christs ascension It is apparent by this Evangelist both in this place and in his Gospel that there were divers others that were spectators of this glorious sight beside the twelve For in the 14 verse he hath named both the women and the brethren of Christ which number of men in vers 15. he hath summed to 120 as we shall see there And so likewise in his Gospel Chap. 24. he hath so carried the Story as that it appeareth by him that the beholders of his first appearing after his Resurrection were also the beholders of his Ascension for at vers 33. he speaketh of the eleven and them that were with them and from thence forward he hath applied the story until the ascension indifferently to them all And this thing will be one argument for us hereafter to prove that the whole hundred and twenty mentioned vers 15. of this Chapter received the Gift of Tongues and not the twelve only Vers. 9. While they beheld he was taken up §. The year of Christ at his Ascension The time of Christs conversing upon earth cometh into dispute viz. whether it were 32 years and an half or 33 and an half mainly upon the construction of this clause Luke 3. 23. Jesus began to be about 30 years of age when he was baptized For though it be agreed on that the time of his Ministry or from his Baptism to his suffering was three years and an half yet is it controverted upon that Text whether to begin those from his entring upon his 30 year current or from finishing that year compleat The Text speaketh out for the former and in that it saith He began to be thirty it denieth his being thirty compleat and in that it saith He began to be * * * So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thirty after a certain reckoning or as it were thirty it denieth his drawing upon thirty compleat likewise For if he were full thirty it were improper to say he began to be thirty and if he were drawing on to full thirty then were it proper to have said he began to be thirty indeed and not began to be as it were thirty Therefore the manner of speech doth clearly teach us to reckon that Jesus was now nine and twenty years old compleat and was just entring upon his thirtieth year when he was baptized and so doth it follow without any great scruple that he was crucified rose again and ascended when he was now thirty two years and an half old compleat which we must write his thirty third year current §. 2. The age of the world at our Saviours death resurrection and ascension We have shewed elsewhere that these great things of our Saviours suffering and exaltation came to pass in the year of the world 3960 then half passed or being about the middle It will be needless to spend time to prove and confirm it here The summing up these several sums which were as so many links of that chain will make it apparent From the Creation to the Flood 1656 Gen. 5. 6 7. c. From the Flood to the Promise to Abraham Gen. 12. 427 Gen. 11. 12. From the Promise to the Delivery from Egypt 430 Exod. 12. 40. Gal. 3. 17. From the coming out of Egypt to the founding of Solomons Temple 480 1 Kings 6. 1. From the founding to the finishing of the Temple 7 1 Kings 6. 38. From finishing the Temple to the revolt of the ten Tribes 30 1 Kings 6. 38. 11. 40. compar From the revolt of the ten Tribes to the burning of the Temple 390 Ezek. 4. 5 6. From the burning of the Temple to the return from Babel 50 Jer. 25. 11 12. 2 Chron. 36. 6. 9 10. 2 King 25. 2 3. presly compar From the return from Babel to the death of Christ. 490 Dan. 9. 24 c. Total 3960  And hereupon it doth appear that as the Temple was finished by Solomon just Anno Mundi 3000. So that it was fired by Titus just Anno Mundi 4000. Jerusalem being dostroyed exactly 40 years after Christs death as was shewed even now Vers. 12. Olivet which is from Ierusalem a Sabbaths days journey §. 1. Why the Evangelist doth measure this distance at this time This is the first matter of scruple in these words and it is material to take notice of it the rather because that this same Evangelist
strange Languages when they did speak them but conceived they had babbled some foolish gibberish and canting they themselves could make nothing of as drunken men are used to do And this caused their so wretched a construction of so Divine a Gift For the Jews of the strange Nations and Languages that perceived and understood that the Disciples did speak in their Languages were amazed and said one to another What meaneth this Vers. 12. But these other Jews Natives of Jerusalem and Judea that understood only their own Syriack and did not understand that they spake strange Languages indeed these mocked and said These men are full of new or sweet wine grounding their accusation the rather because that Pentecost was a feasting and rejoycing time Deut. 16. 11. And according to this conception it is observable that Peter begins his speech Ye men of Judea Vers. 14. But Peter standing up with the eleven said c. Reason it self if the Text did not would readily resolve that it was not Peter alone that converted the 3000 that are mentioned after but that the rest of the Apostles were sharers with him in that work For if Peter must be held the only Orator at this time then must it needs be granted that either the 3000 which were converted were all of one Language or that the one Language that he spake seemed to the hearers to be divers Tongues or that he rehearsed the same speech over and over again in divers Languages any of which to grant is sensless and ridiculous and yet unless we will run upon some of these absurdites we may not deny that the rest of the twelve preached now as well as Peter But the Text besides this gives us these arguments to conclude the matter to be undoubted First It saith Peter stood forth with the eleven vers 14. Now why should the eleven be mentioned standing forth as well as Peter if they spake not as well as he They might as well have sitten still and Peters excuse of them would as well have served the turn It was not Peter alone that stood forth to excuse the eleven but Peter and the eleven that stood forth to excuse the rest of the hundred and twenty Secondly It is said They were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles What shall we do Why should they question and ask counsel of the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter if they had not preached as well as he Thirdly And it is a confirmation that so they did in that it is said Vers. 42. They continued in the Doctrine of the Apostles of the rest as well as Peter Fourthly If that were the occasion that we mentioned why they suspected the Apostles and the rest drunk then will it follow that Peter preached and spake in the Syriack Tongue chiefly to those Jews of Judea and Jerusalem that would not believe because they could not understand that the Disciples spake strange Languages but thought they canted some drunken gibberish And to give some probability of this not only his preface Ye men of Judea but also his laying flatly the murder of Christ to their charge Vers. 22. 23. do help to confirm it and the conclusion of his Sermon and of the story in the Evangelist doth set it home that if Peter preached not only to these Natives of Judea yet that he only preached not at this time but that the others did the like with him in that it is said They that gladly received his words were baptized and then as speaking of another story he saith there were added about the same day 3000 souls Now the reason why Peters Sermon is only recorded and the story more singularly fixed on him we observed before §. Brief observations upon some passages in Peters Sermon Vers. 15. It is but the third hour of the day And on these solemn Festival days they used not to eat or drink any thing till high noon as Baronius would observe out of Josephus and Acts 10. Vers. 17. In the last days The days of the Gospel because there is no way of salvation to be expected beyond the Gospel whereas there was the Gospel beyond the law and the law beyond the light of the ages before it Yet is this most properly to be understood of those days of the Gospel that were before Jerusalem was destroyed And the phrase the last days used here and in divers other places is not to be taken for the last days of the world but for the last days of Jerusalem the destruction of which and the rejection of the Jews is reputed the end of that old world and the coming in of the Gentiles under the Gospel is as a new world and is accordingly called a new Heaven and a new Earth Upon all flesh Upon the Heathens and Gentiles as well as upon the Jews Act. 10. 45. contrary to the axiome of the Jewish Schools 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine Majesty dwelleth not on any out of the Land of Israel Vers. 20. Before the great and notable day of the Lord come The day of Jerusalems destruction which was forty years after this as was observed before so that all these gifts and all the effusion of the Spirit that were to be henceforward were to be within the time betwixt this Pentecost and Jerusalem destroyed And they that from hence would presage prophetick and miraculous gifts and visions and revelations to be towards the end of the world might do better to weigh what the expression The great and terrible day of the Lord meaneth here and elsewhere in the Prophets The blood of the Son of God the fire of the Holy Ghosts appearance the vapour of the smoke in which Christ ascended the Sun darkned and the Moon made blood at his passion were all accomplished upon this point of time and it were very improper to look for the accomplishment of the rest of the prophesie I know not how many hundreds or thousands of years after Vers. 24. Having loosed the pains of death or rather Having dissolved the pains of death meaning in reference to the people of God namely that God raised up Christ and by his resurrection dissolved and destroyed the pangs and power of death upon his own people Vers. 27. Thou wilt not leave my soul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Thou wilt not give my soul up And why should not the very same words My God my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be translated to the same purpose Why hast thou left me and given me up to such hands and shame and tortures rather than to intricate the sense with a surmise of Christs spiritual desertion In Hell Gr. Hades the state of souls departed but their condition differenced according to the difference of their qualities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diphilus apud Clem. Alex. Strom. 5. Vers. 38. Be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that their Baptism was not
when they lead us far further CHAP. XLVI The time and manner of the Creation MOSES in the first verse of the Bible refutes three Heathen opinions namely theirs that thought the World was Eternal for he saith in the beginning c. Secondly theirs that thought there was no God for he saith Elohim created Thirdly theirs that thought there were many gods for he saith * * * Even those that have not Hebrew can tell there is a mystery of the Trinity in Elohim bara but few mark how sweetly this is answered with the same Phrase in manner in the Haphtara which is read by the Jews to this portion of Moses viâ— Esa. 42. 5. Jehovah bore â—a shamaâ—lm venotehem Jehovah being singular and â—otehem plurall which might be rendred Deus creans coelos Deus extendentes eos Elohim he created Heaven and Earth The fird word in the beginning may draw our minds and thoughts to the last thing the latter end and this thought must draw our affections from too much love of the World for it must have an end as it had a beginning I will not stand to comment upon the word Berishith in the beginning for then I know not when to come to an end To treat how the divers expositors labour about the beginning of the world is a world of labour How the Jerus Targ. translates it In wisdom and is followed by Rabbi Tanchum and many Jews How Targ. Jonath useth an Arabian word Min Awwala a primo Onkelos in primis or in principio Jarchi in principio creationis creavit How Basil the great Saint Ambrose and hundreds others do interpret this is a work endless to examine Satisfied am I with this that the world and all things had their beginning from God that in the beginning created Heaven and Earth Some of the Jews do invert the word Bereshith and make it Betisri that is in the month Tisri was the world created This month is about our September and that the world was created in this month to let other reasons alone this satisfies me that the Feast of Tabernacles which was in this month is called the end of the year Exod. 23. 16. And this I take to be the reason why the Jews began to read the Bible in their Synagogues at the Feast of Tabernacles viz. that they might begin the lecture of the Creation in Gen. 1. at that time of the year that the world was created The manner of the Creation shews the workman powerful and wise The making of the Angels concealed by Moses lest men should like those hereticks in Epiph. think they helped God in the Creation For if their day of their Creation * * * Bab. Solom holds they were made the second day which was in most likelihood the first had been named wicked men would have been ready to have taken them for actors in this work which were only spectators Therefore as God hides Many Divines hold for the fourth Moses after his death so Moses hides the Creation of them lest they should be deisied and the honour due to the Creator given to the creature God in framing the world begins above and works downward and in three days he lays the parts of the world and in the three other days he adorns those parts The first day he makes all the Heavens the matter of the Earth and comes down so low as the Light The second lower and makes the Firmament or Air. The third lowest of all and makes distinction of Earth and Water Thus in three days the parts or body of the World is laid in three days more and in the same order they are furnished For on The fourth day the Heavens which were made the first day are deckt with Stars The fifth day the Firmament which was made the second day is filled with Birds The sixth day the Earth which was laid fit the third day is replenished with Beasts and lastly * * * The Seventy Interpreters on Gen. 2. 2. instead of God had finished on the seventh day read he finished on the sixth day Man Thus God in the six days finished all his work of Creation ‖ ‖ ‖ Chaldee Paraph on Numb 22. and Iarch on Deut. 34. and Pirke Abhoth For the ten things that the Chaldee Paraphrast saith God created on the evening of the Sabbath after the World was finished I refer them to their Authors to believe them R. Jarchi on Gen. 2. observes that God created one day superior things and another day inferior his words are to this purpose On the first day he created Heaven above and Earth beneath On the second day the Firmament above On the third let the dry Land appear beneath On the fourth day Lights above On the fifth day let the Waters bring forth beneath On the sixth he must create both Superiour and Inferiour as he had done on the first lest there should be confusion in his Work therefore he made Man of both his Soul from above and his Body from beneath R. Tanchumah shews how the making of the Tabernacle harmonizeth with the making of the World The Light of the first day answered by the Candlestick for Light the first work and the spreading of the Firmament like a curtain answered by the Curtains the second work and so of the rest Every one knows the old conceit of the worlds lasting six thousand years because it was made in six days and of Elias Prophesie among the Jews of the world ending at the end of six thousand which Prophesie of his is flat against the words of Christ Many believe these opinions yet few prepare for the end which they think is so near God hath taught us by the course of the Creation of the old world what our proceedings must be that we may become a new Creation or new Heavens and a new Earth renewed both in Soul and Body 1. On the first day he made the Light so the first thing in the new Man must be Light of Knowledge so saith Saint Paul Heb. 11. He that cometh to God must know that he is 2. On the second day he made the Firmament so called because of its * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hesâ—od 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surness so the second step in Mans new Creation must be Firmamentum Fidei the sure foundation of Faith 3. On the third day the Seas and Trees bearing fruit So the third step in the new Hom. Odys 3 Man is that he become Waters of repentant Tears and that he bring forth Fruit worthy of these Tears Bring forth Fruit worthy of Repentance saith the Baptist Matth. 3. 4. On the fourth day God created the Sun that whereas on the first day there was light but without heat now on the fourth day there is light and heat joyned together So the fourth step in the new Creation of a new Man is that he joyn the heat of Zeal with the light
of his Knowledge as in the Sacrifices fire and salt were ever joyned 5. The fifth days work was of fishes to play in the Seas and the souls to flie toward Heaven So the fifth step in a new creature is to live and rejoyce in a Sea of troubles and to flie by prayer and contemplation to Heaven 6. On the sixth day God makes man and all these things performed man is a new creature To reckon them altogether then as S. Peter does his golden chain of vertues 2 Pet. 1. Add to your light of Knowledge the firmament of Faith to your Faith Seas of repentant Tears to your Tears the fruitful Trees of good Works to your good Works the hot Sunshine of Zeal to your Zeal the winged souls of Prayer and Contemplation Et ecce omnia facta sunt nova Behold you are become a new Creature As the Bible begins so it ends with a new Creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Paradise and a new Tree of Life Apoc. 21. unto all which O thou whom my soul loveth say come CHAP. XLVII Of the fall of Adam THE fall of Adam was the death of himself the death of us and the death of Cypriano di valter Christ. At his fall were three offenders three offences and persons offended Three offenders Satan Adam Eve three offences Ignorance weakness and malice three persons offended Father Son and Holy Ghost Eve sinned of Ignorance and so sinned against the Son the God of knowledge and she was forgiven and so S. Paul sinned and was forgiven 1 Tim. 1. 13. Adam sinned of weakness and so sinned against the Father the God of power and he was pardoned and so S. Peter sinned and he was pardoned Matth. 26. But Satan sinned of set malice and so sinned against the Holy Ghost the God of love and he was not forgiven For he that speaketh against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Mark 3. 29. And in Gods censuring of these three Gen. 3. He questioneth Adam and Evah before he sentenceth because he had mercy for them nay more he promiseth Christ before he inflict punishment but for the Serpent he never questioned because he would shew him no mercy God left Adam to his own free-will and suffered him to fall quia sciebat se c. because he knew how to turn that fall of his to his salvation When Lazarus died Christ was not there that the raising of Lazarus by Christ might be the more glorious So when Adam fell as I may say so God would not be there for he left Adam to his own free-will that the repairing of Adam through Christ might be the more glorious Hereupon one sings O foelix lapsus Unhappy was the fall of Adam since by his fall we all fell but yet happy was that unhappy fall since it must be recured by Christ. Joseph suffered his brother Simeon to go into prison for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort So God suffered Adam to go into Satans Newgate for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort The day thou eatest hereof thou shalt dye there is the prison And the man took and eat there Adam goes into prison The seed of the woman shall break the head of the Serpent there Joseph delivers Simeon out of prison God brings man out of Hell through Christ. Whereupon a Doctor in admiration questions utrum mirabilius homines justos creare an injustos justificare whether is more admirable that God created man righteous or that he justified man when he had made himself unrighteous Whether was more miraculous for God to make man of nothing or to repair him from worse than nothing Wonderful he was in both in his first and his second creation for Justificatio est secunda hominis creatio mans Justification is his new creation CHAP. XLVIII Ophitae Evia SOme Hereticks in Epiphanius think themselves beholden to the Devil for his pains that he took to overthrow Adam for they used to worship a Serpent because say they he brought knowledge into the world Clemens Alexandrinus doth partly think this conceit was got among the Heathens who at their Feasts of Bacchus used to carry a Serpent as it were in procession and to cry Evia Evia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Evia saith Clemens if it be asperated Hevia it signifies in the Hebrew Tongue a female Serpent Where the good man calls the Chaldec Tongue the Hebrew For in the Hebrew I do not find such a word for a Serpent But all the Chaldee translations of the Bible in the third of Genesis and diverse other places do use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hivia for a Serpent which I take to be the word he means CHAP. XLIX Of the Greek Translation of the fifth of Genesis HOW the Septuagint does add hundreds of years to mens ages before and after the Flood few Scholars but they know This bred the difference of computation of the times while some followed the Hebrew some the Greek Hence came two notorious doubts About Methuselah living after the Flood who died a month or two before And of Sem his death before Abrahams birth who lived as long after Abraham came to Canaan as Abraham was old when he came thither viz. seventy five years And so might well be Melchizedek The Greeks had a great deal of stir where to put Methushelah all the Flood-time for fear of drowning At last some laid him on the top of Noahs Ark and there he was all that watry year The Jews lay Og the Giant there also as the Chaldee Paraphrast upon the fourteenth of Genesis ridiculously observeth Whose words for your fuller sport I will not spare to set down The thirteenth verse be renders thus in Chaldee And Og came who was left of those that died in the Flood for he rode upon the Ark and was as a covering upon it and was nourished with Noahs victuals but he was not preserved for his own sake or merit but that the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord and say Did not the Gyants in old time rebel against the Lord of the world and he destroyed them from the earth yet assoon as these Kings make war behold Og is with them Og saith with himself I will go and shew Abraham Lots case that he is taken prisoner that so he may come to rescue him and may himself fall into their hands He goes and comes to him about the Passover day and finds him making unleavened cakes then he told Abraham the Hebrew c. Thus far the Chaldee of whose conceits here and in one thousand of places more and so of his Nation the Jews I know not whether to say Risum or fletum teneatis amici But to return to my purpose The Greek The Chaldee Paraphrase of Jonathan does also mistake in the age of Mathuselah but I think it only false Printing
c. * Doves how offered 935 Dreams intimating various events 20 Dreamers and Interpreters of Dreams were common among the Jews even the most Learned of them taught their Scholars this sort of delusion 371 Drink Offering what 938 939 Drought mingled with fire from Heaven 92 Drought or want of Rain great 116 Dust shaking dust off the feet what p. 291. Dust that was to be put into the Water of Jealousie whence to be taken 1080. * E. EARTH burning up only denoted the destruction of Jerusalem and that cursed Nation p. 338. Earth new Earth and new Heaven denote the new State of the Church under the Gospel 338 Earthly and Heavenly Things what as used by Christ. 576 Easter how old its celebration 548 Edom by this term the Hebrew Writers commonly express the Romans 349 Egyptian Deities what 1027 Elders one of the Titles of the Gospel Ministers p. 223. They were Ordained by Imposition of Hands p. 289. They were of two sorts in every Synagogue one that ruled in Civil Affairs another that laboured dayly in the Word and Doctrine p. 302. This should be imitated in the Christian Churches Christ and the Apostles keeping close to the Platform of the Synagogue p. 302. Their several Qualifications p. 308. Both Peter and John stile themselves Elders intimating that the Apostick Function must ceâ—se but the Ministerial abide p. 340. Every Synagogue had two Elders one that ruled that was a Student in Divinity another that was the Minister of the Congregation called the Angel of the Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Overseer 611 612 Elders for Seniors and Senators of some of the Tribes 760 Eldest son a younger reckoned for eldest 384 Elements melting and Earth burning up only denoted the destruction of Jerusalem and that cursed Nation Page 338 Elias his History p. 82. What opinions the Rabbins had of his first and second coming with his Estate after his first departure and his frequent invisible coming as at every Circumcision c. p. 522 523. What he shall do at his second visible coming p. 523 524. Also multitudes of Ancient and Modern Christian Writers have asserted that before Christs second coming Enoch and Elias should come again visibly to destroy Antichrist to Convert the Jews c. confuted 524 Elisha his History 86 87 Elohim denotes distinction of Persons in the Trinity 394 Elymas which is the same in sense with Magus was a Magical Jew who with tricks and wonders went up and down confronting the Gospel 289 Emblem of the Divine Glory at the Temple mentioned in several Scriptures explained p. 2052 to 2060. * The Moral of it 2055 to 2060* Emmanuel Nomen Naturae 419 End coming Matth. 24. 14. And the coming of the Lord drawing nigh and the Judge standing at the door expressions only shewing destruction and vengeance upon Jerusalem drawing near 332 333 335 End of things the Heavens passing away the Elements melting and the Earth burning up only denoted the destruction of Jerusalem and that cursed Nation 338 England some remarkable Things referring to its antient State p. 328. It was invaded by the Roman General and afterwards by his Master Claudius the Emperor An. Dom. 44. p. 888. England and these parts of the World was planted by Javans posterity 996 Enochs Prophesie was some common Tradition among the Jews p. 339. Enoch many Christian Writers hold that he and Elias should visibly come again to destroy Antichrist and to convert the Jews before the second coming of Christ. 524 Ephah what sort of Measure 545 546 Ephod of the High Priest what 727 905 Epicurus was a term used among the Jews for such as despised the Doctors 297 Epiphany or the Wise-mens coming to Christ on the thirteenth day after his birth or within forty days shewed to be improbable and that they came not till about two years after his Birth 432 to 434 Episcopus an Overseer is a Synagogue Term so are most of his Qualifications fetched thence p. 308. So the Angel or Minister in the Synagogue stood over those that read to see that they read right hence called Chasan that is Episcopus Overseer c. 375 611 to 618 Epistle from Laodicea is an Epistle from that Church to Paul 326 Er and Hezekiah were born when their Fathers were very young 105 Esau all hairy when born like a kid 14 Eser but an additional Title for the Assyrian Monarchs 104 Esseans though they differed from other Hereticks yet they harmonized with the rest to oppose the Gospel and Christianity p. 373. Their Original Name Quality and Principles 457 458 459 Evangelists one of the Titles of the Gospel Ministers 223 Eunuch his Conversion and who he was 281 Eutyches and Valentius averred Christ to have only a Body in appearance confuted 397 Execution of Malefactors among the Jews was attended by their bewailing p. 268. Where and how performed 2006 2007. * Ezra the Sacred Writer considered as President of the Sanhedrin with the time of his Death 2007 2008. * Exorcists Vagabond Jews that went up and down to oppose the Gospel with Magical Tricks p. 289. See Barjesus Expiation day what service belonged to it the High Priest was ingaged in all the Service of it p. 971. The Scape Goat was the principal business besides other Offerings p. 971 c. It was a strict Fasting day Page 972 F. FAction Division and Schism producing sad Effects in the Church of Corinth some of them mentioned Page 301 to 304 Faith it makes improbable things to be accepted of God p. 49. Jewish and Evangelical what p. 247. Faith why set after Repentance 630 Fall of Man p. 2. Of Adam 1022 Fan of Christ is the Gospel with the Preaching and Publishing thereof 468 Fasting and Praying used in the Synagogues p. 925. Of Christ wonderful considering the Time Place his present Posture he fasted nights as well as days 502 503 Fasting Day the Day of Expiation was a strict Fasting Day 792 Fasts of the Captived Jews were kept in several Months p. 143. Publick Fasts what p. 288. They were upon important Occasions used by the Jews 289 Fathers what to teach their Children 295 Festivals Three principal ones The Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles all the Men that were Free were to appear at them 950 951 Feast Governour of the Feast who he was called Architriclinus He was not the same with the Symposiarchus the Governour or Moderator of the Heathen Feasts p. 547. Feast of Tabernacles the Actions attending it p. 243. The Nature Occasion and Reasons of its Institution p. 477. Feast of Charity or Agapae what 315 Feasting among the Jews was performed upon Beds 539. Marg. Feasts Women were not bound to appear at the three solemn Feasts of the Jews yet they usually did 956 Feet anointed of ordinary use among the Jews 252 Felix shewed to be an ill Man 320 Figs ripened at differing seasons 253 First Fruits and first Fruit Sheaf the way of gathering and offering them 969
Firstlings which were sit which were unfit to be offered p. 2014. * Who had the approving of them p. 2014. * Where they were to be killed 2015. * Fleaing the Burnt Offerings the Ceremonies of it 926 Flesh when first eaten and why not the Blood 9 695 Flies not infecting the Temple what 2030. * Flittings of the divine Glory Rabbi Johanan's ten flittings of the divine Glory what p. 1062. * Also his ten flittings of the Sanhedrin what p. 1062. * With the Reason thereof 1063. * Flood of Noah its nature time of beginning and duration 6 to 9 Floor of Christ by it is meant the Church of Israel or the Nation of the Jews alone 469 Flying in the Air Christ tempted to it practised by Simon Magus c. 510 Fornication put for Poligamy 15 Friend of the Bridegroom what among the Jewish Writers 585 586 Fruits First Fruits the manner of bringing and presenting them 984 Fulness of time why so called it denotes Christs Birth which was Anno Mundi 3928 c. 383 G. GAdarens and Gergasens the same People Page 230 Gaius in Greek Caius in Latine there was two of the Name p. 313. What kind of Host. 315 339 Galilee although undervalued by the Jews had been re-renowned for many Atchievments Page 627 Gallio was Brother to Seneca the famous Court Philosopher several things concerning him 296 Gamaliel Paul's Master was a Man of great Original and Excellency p. 765. He was long President of the Sanhedrim and for all his fairness authorised a Prayer against Hereticks that is the Christians and their Doctrine commanding its constant use in the Synagogues 278 Gamaliel Rabban there were three of the Name Presidents of the Sanhedrim part of their History 2009. * Garments of the High Priest described p. 723 905 1077. * The rending of them when used 263. The nature and number of the Garments of the Priests p. 2049 2050. * The Jews think they were the same before the Law p. 2049. * What Garments the High Priest had that other Priests had not p. 2050. * He was consecrated under the Second Temple by putting on the holy Garments 2050. * Gate East Gate what Upon it was pictured the resemblance of the City Shushan and why Upon which account it or part of it was called by that Name it was also called the Kings Gate p. 1052. * The Gate of Shallecheth or Coponius what the names and where situate p. 1055. * The Gate Parbar what the word where the place p. 1056. * The Horse Gate two of the Name where p. 1057. * The North Gate Tedi or Tadde why so called p. 1059 1060. * The Beautiful Gate of the Temple what p. 1091. * The Upper Gate of the Lords House where situate p. 1098. * The New Gate where p. 1098. * The Gate of Nicanor which and why so called p. 1098 1099. * The Brazen Gate what It s opening of its own accord a sign of the Destruction of Jerusalem p. 1101. * The Gate Sur what and where situate p. 1100 1101. * The upper Gate of the Lords House how otherwise called 1098. * Gates of the City of Jerusalem what p. 666 c. Gates of Huldah whence so called p. 1054. * Gates of Assuppim where and what p. 1057 1058. * At which of the Gates Guards were kept by night p. 1062. * The Gates in the Court Wall on the East and South sides what p. 1104. * The Gates Corban where and why so called 2020 2021* Gaza what and where 281 Gazith was the Chamber or Room where the Sanhedrin sat being part common and part holy 2020 2021. * Gedeon called Jerubaal and why 49 Gehenna a form taken from the Jewish Writers 1005 1006 Gemara was one part of the Talmud 997 Gemarists they explain the Mishnah shewing the opinion of the Ancients upon it 369 General Christ was Lord General in the wars of Canaan p. 40. When he ceased to be so p. 45. General of an Army once was a Priest 71 Gentiles brought into the Gospel Religion by the Gift of Tongues p. 276. They receive the Holy Ghost contrary to the Jewish opinion p. 285. How called p. 314. Their Calling was a matter the Jews could never hear of with patience p. 621. The difference between them and the Jews went away when Christ and the Gospel came 845 to 847 Gergasens and Gaderens the same people 230 Giddeons Army 998 Gift of Tongues what 281 Gifts Prophetick Gifts what p. 499 500. They differed very far from the Grace of Sanctification p. 500. These Gifts had their Limitations and restrictions in all Men excepting Christ so that they could not always act a like Page 501 Gihon is sometimes called Siloam 667 668 Girdle of the High Priest what 905 Gizbarin Receivers of Tribute the Councellors of the Temple 914 Glory of God the cause of its removal from Jerusalem 125 Glory ten flittings of the divine Glory what p. 1062. * The Emblem of the divine Glory what p. 2052 to 2060. * The Moral or signification of this Emblem what 2055 to 2060 Goat Scape Goat his choice his sending away into the Wilderness with the manner of it 972 973 974 God it is necessary to think of him and converse with him the Heathens thought there was a God and Plato that he was only one p. 993. The Names of God used among the Jews and Gentiles what p. 993 to 995. God False Caius the Emperor creating himself a God with the Reasons p. 834. He was little better than a Devil p. 836. He made his Whore a Goddess p. 836 837. God speed an usual Salutation p. 339 340 Gog and Magog the Title of the Syrogrecian Monarchy 353 355 Golden Calf Israels punishment for it 715 Golgotha what 267 Goods the community of Goods or the having them in common by the Primitive Christians how practised and of what extent 762 Gospel the Gospel began with the Ministry of John the Baptist. p. 209. It was spread abroad by Persecution p. 280. At its first setling in the World it was much confronted by Magicians p. 289. The Jews had three ways of opposing the Gospel by a Prayer against Hereticks p. 289. by Emissaries whose business was to cry it down and preach every where against it by the use of Magick in doing strange Things exceeding many of them being skilled therein p. 290. Women laboured to advance the Gospel though they did not Preach p. 294. See how they dit it p. 315. Gospel of Matthew was chiefly to the Jews of Luke to the Gentiles p. 471. Extreamly hindered and corrupted in its first planting by the Jews p. 372. Gospel Day or Age began with the entrance of the Preaching and Ministry of John the Baptist sometimes stiled the Last day sometimes the Acceptable year of the Lord sometimes the Kingdom of God and sometimes a new Heaven and a new Earth p. 450. Gospel what in four things Christ the Author of it p. 450. What in the publications of John
and of Christ. p. 630. The Jewish Writers stole some things out of it 1003 Governor of the Feast what 547 Governors both Civil and Sacred were in every Synagogue 302 Grace for Grace largely explained 519 Grecians put for Hellenists 777 c. 815 856 Greek Tongue was the common Language of the Jews in Christs time and the Septuagint their Bible p. 220 230 231. All the World used the Old Testament in Christs time in the Greek Tongue unless such as had the Hebrew Tongue 419 Greek Translation of the fifth of Genesis c. full of false Chronologies 1028 Groaves why consecrated 13 695 Ground holy Ground the circuit of the Wall encompassing it according to our English measure what p. 1051. * Ezekiels holy Ground is bounded and measured Saint Johns in the Revelation is not and why p. 1051. * The length and breadth of the Gates encompassing the holy Ground p. 1052. * All within the Wall which encompassed the holy Ground was called the Temple 1063. * Guards were kept by night within Jerusalem 1062. * Guilt for sin is not to be concluded from sufferings 24 H. H Not used in the Middle and End of Greek words hence it is that we see it wanting in Hebrew words when changed into Greek Page 415. Marg. Habdala Kiddush are words of blessing the Sabbath 218 Hades denotes the State of Souls departed 754 Hallelujah is used among the Jewish Writers and in Scripture 35â— Hallel the Lesser or the Egyptian Hallel was an Hymn gathered out of the Psalms sung eighteen days and one night in the year to commemorate the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt c. p. 957 c. The Greater Hallel sung at the Passover c. what 958 Hand of the Lord for his Assistance or Gift of Prophesie 422 Hand bredth was compounded of four fingers laid close 1051 Hands the imposition of them the use and ends thereof 281 285 289 788 Harel and Ariel what they signifie and how they differ 2034 2035. * Head the Head was not to be uncovered even in the Temple among the Jews at their Prayers 949 Heathenism began at Babel p. 9. It is again advanced by the Papacy 355 Heathens were cast off at the Confusion of Babel 842 Heaven being put for God was of common use among the Jews 568 Heavens new and Earth new denotes a new state of the Church under the Gospel as Isa. 65. 17. p. 338. Heavens opening after Christs Baptism what p. 479 480. And how far seen or not seen by those that stood by p. 481. Heaven opened put for themighty things said and done in Christs Ministry 336 337 Heavenly and Earthly things what were used by Christ. 576 Hebrew Tongue was not the common Language of the Jews in Christs time being then lost and to be Learned or not known p. 215 220. Canaan spoke this Language before Joshua came there p. 1009 to 1011. It was the Tongue of Adam and the Tongue of God it began with the World and the Church The Letters of it The whole Tongue is contained in the Bible Most of the Eastern Tongues use the Hebrew Characters or Letters It s a lofty graceful Language p. 1012 1013. Of the Vowels p. 1013. The Vowels are as ancient as the Letters 1014 Hebrews were Jews inhabiting Judea p. 279. Paul the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews p. 329. What part of the Jewish Nation it was directed to p. 330. It was writ in Greek as was Matthew not in Hebrew as some suppose because Hebrew at this time was only understood by Learned Men the Greek now was their Vulgar Tongue 330 331 Hebron a famous place 60 204 Helenists were Jews inhabiting other Countries dispersed among the Greeks p. 279. They were the greatest enemies to Paul because he had been one of them p. 283. Hellenists Acts 11. 19. means not Jews as it did Acts 6. 1. but Heathens their Language being a mixture of Syrian and Greek p. 286. Called Greatians in our Translation whether they were Greeks that lived among Jews or Jews that lived among Greeks Greeks converted to the Jewish Religion or Jews that used the Greek Tongue The last seems to be the proper meaning 777 Hellena or as some will have it Selene of Tyrus a Sorceress was Simon Magus his Whore supposed to be Jezâ—bel mentioned Rev. 2. 20. p. 787. Hellena the Queen of Adrabeni was famous and a great Benefactor to the Jews 1078 2049. * Heman the Psalmist and Heman the chief Singer were two differing Men. 70 Heresies the most desperate in the first Ages of the Christian Church sprung from the Jewish Talmudical Writers Page 372 Hereticks what p. 371. Simon Cerinthius Menander Ebion Basilides c. Sprung from amongst the Jews 372 373 Herod signifies fear trembling c. p. 397. Marg. His Pedigree Advancement Character and End p. 434 435. His manner of Death and Cruelty before it 444 Herod the Great his Pedigree or Family His numerous and strange marriages and wickednesses p. 588 to 592. He and Herodias lost all and were banished into Lyons in France 852 Herodians what they were 606 Herodias was married to Herod while her former Husband was alive 591 Hezekiah and Er both born when their Fathers were very young p. 105. His sickness when 110 High Places were Synagogues p. 608. They were lawful till the Tabernacle was set up in Shilo 2060. * High Priest disowned by Paul because Christ was the High Priest though he afterwards seems to own him and why p. 320. The High Priest represented Aaron p. 454. His Government what p. 723. His Office descended to the first born he was Installed by the Sanhedrim his Garments Coat Breeches Girdle Ephod Breast-plate p. 905. His Miter and the Golden Plate that was fastened on it he was exceeding Pompous and his Dignity high an eminent Type of Christ his Office was for life p. 906. The Succession of the High Priest till the building of the Temple p. 907. From the Building of the Temple to the Captivity p. 907 908. Under the second Temple p. 908 to 911. High Priest what Garments he had which the other Priests had not p. 2050. * He was consecrated under the Second Temple by putting on the Holy Vestments 2051. * Hillel's and Shammai's Scholars were in constant quarrel p. 514. Hillel President of the Sanhedrim one of the most eminent both for Learning Rule and Children part of his History 2008. * Hin what sort of measure 546 History is put by it self so is Prophesie in the Scriptures in Chapters as well as Books notwithstanding they were not so delivered p. 121 134. History distant in time and place laid together As the mentioning of the Institution of the Sabbath p. 3 220 608. The Death of Noah p. 9. Esaus going to Ismael before Jacob's Vision at Bethel p. 16. Jethros History is Anticipated p. 27. Moses brings in his own Exclusion out of Canaan thirty eight years before it was p. 38. Aaron is said to dye
Judah part of his History 2009. * Judaism is the Body of the Jews Religion differing in it self yet all contrary to Christianity 372 373 Judas twice told of betraying Christ at two distinct Suppers with Jesus one two days before the Passover the other at the Passover p. 260. The Traytor was with Christ at the Sacrament p. 260 261. He was strangled by the Devil in the air and cast down Headlong 744 Judas the Galilean a Sectary led people away under a pretence of Liberty of Conscience and of Persons against the Romans 766 Judas Maccabeus part of his History 2067 to 2069. * Judges were not Monarchs but chief Commanders and Instructors in the way of God and Undertakers for them in danger for the Sanhedrim bore the sway p. 47. There were two Courts of Judges consisting of Twenty three in the Temple beside the Sanhedrim 447 Judgments are against sin p. 921. Just. 1002. Judicial Deaths the manner of them among the Jews 2006 2007. * Justification as by faith in Christ. 314 315 K. KAB what sort of measure Page 546 Kadesh Barnea why so called 35 Kalender or Almanack Jewish with their Feastivals the Attendance of the Priests and the Lessons of the Law and Prophets 401 to 406 Katholikin there was two of them Head Treasurers to the Temple Page 912 Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven what 237 238 Kiddush Habdala words of blessing the Sabbath 218 King how he was to read the Law 980 Kingdom of Christ misunderstood 250 Kingdom of God for the Gospel day or age p. 450. Kingdom of God or Heaven what in the Gospel acceptation 569 570 Kingdom of Heaven and its coming when the Messias came what p. 213. The Kingdom of Heaven signifies the Preaching the Gospel also the Preaching of it to the Gentiles with their Conversion p. 456. The Kingdom of Heaven and the New Jerusalem began Anno Mund. 4000. just when the City and Temple were destroyed p. 487. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God one and the same in sense p. 567 568. The Kingdom of Heaven among the Jewish Writers was taken for the height zeal and strictness of their Devotion joyned with Punctual ceremoniousness and Phylactery Rites p. 568. The Kingdom of Heaven in the Language of the Jews in the Gospel and some of their own Writers did signifie the day of the Messias and the Glorious times that would then be p. 568 569 570. Our Saviour and the Disciples did use the same Phrase but did understand it of Spiritual Things not Worldly the difference between them is shewed p. 569. The Kingdom of Heaven far differently understood and used by the Jews and by Christ and what its being at Hand p. 628 632. The Kingdom of Heaven is put for the receiving the Gentiles into Favour and into the Gospel 845 Kingdom to be restored to Israel i. e. a worldly Kingdom a great mistake p. 737. Articles against this opinion of the Jews and Milinaries that concur with them in many things 738 Kingdom of the World which Satan offered Christ what 507 to 510 Kings were called by several Names in several Countries 423. Marg. Know we know signifies that the thing is well known 566 567 L. LAKE of Genesareth Galilee Tiberias and Cinnereth Sea all one Page 632 633 Lamb Pascal how prepared p. 260. Where the Lambs were kept for Sacrifice 2019. * Lamb of God what and why Christ was so called 529 Lamechs sin he complains of was Poligamy and his staying was by setting an ill example 693 Lamentations of Jeremy an elegant Writing 129 Lamp ere the Lamp of God went out what 1082. * Lamps used in the Temple what 1082. * Language of the Jews much followed in the stile of the New Testament 313 314 Languages of the two Testaments are the Old in Hebrew and Chaldee the New in Greek c. 1014 1015 Languages are not so many as there were Nations at Rabel 694 Laodicea the Epistle from Laodicea is an Epistle from that Church to Paul 326 Last day called also sometimes the Kingdom of God and sometimes a New Heaven and a New Earth Last days in exceeding many places both in the Old and New Testament denotes the Last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish State not of the World 276 Latine Translation renders ill Righteousness for Alms. 1018 Laver for water what 722 Laver where it stood and its cize p. 2042. * The manner of washing in it p. 2043. * Solomons ten Lavers the Holy Ghost is very copious in their description p. 2044. * Their fashion and use Page 2044 2045. * Law and going to Law among unbelievers what and how vile 301 302 Law broken by Adam was both the Tables of the Law 1027 Law Moral and Ceremonial what they were and how Christ is said to fulfil them p. 475 476. They differ much from the Gospel both as to Grace and Truth 500 Law Ceremonial obliged as single Men or as Members of the Congregation and People of Israel the Passover and other Festivals were of the later Form which made Christ observe them against Separatists 548 549 Law unwritten among the Jews was their Cabbalah or Traditions 652 653 Law and the Prophets put for all the Old Testament and how 533 534 Law supposed by the Jews to be new at Christs coming how far it was so p. 631. The Jews Tenet concerning the Law by which they reduce six hundred and thirteen Precepts into One which was living by faith and so witnesseth against themselves because they were altogether for Works 314 Law given at Sinai what p. 1028. Why the Law was published then and not before of the place where it was given and the manner p. 1028. Of the Effects of the Law p. 1029 1030. Of the Ten Commandments 1030 1031 Laying on of hands upon the Head of the Burnt-Offering or Sacrifice before offered what 926 929 Learned Men might of necessity teach the People among the Jews because the Scriptures were in an unknown Tongue to the common People p. 357. Learned Men at Christs coming had filled the Nation by the Tutorage of the two great Doctors Shammai and Hillel p. 440. The Distinction and Division of the Learned Men of the Jewish Nation what 651 to 659 Learning among the Jews at Christs coming was advanced to a mighty height by the labours of the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Sanhedrin p. 207. Learning Jewish what 996 c. Leven the way of the Jews searching for it with the Prayer before they set upon that search 953 Leven of Herod was Sadduceism 235 Lepers the Priests could only pronounce not make them clean nor give them leave to come into Cities c. p. 219 c. The Attonement for their cleansing what p. 983. Their Room for cleansings where 1093. * Leprosie cured by Christ when the Priests could not yet Christ was tender of their reputation 648 Letters who first had the use of them c. 1011 1013 Lethech what sort of measure
Bethsaida p. 237. How Miracles were wrought in the Name of Jesus by one that was not a Disciple p. 241. To change the Form of a Creature is the greatest Miracle p. 504. The first Miracle Christ worketh was at a Marriage with the reasons of it p. 540. They first began when Moses was in the Wilderness before he went into Egypt p. 701 702. Miracles were wrought by the shadow of Peter as it seemeth 764 Mishnah is all the Jews Cabbala or Traditional Law in one Volume compiled by Rab. Judah President of the Sanhedrim about Anno Dom. 190 or 200 and one hundred and fifty years after Jerusalem was destroyed p. 369. The Jews deeply engage themselves to stand by this and the Talmuds p. 372. It s one part of the Talmud 997 Miter and the golden Plate that was fastned on it what 906 Moloch what sort of Idol whence the Name where and how worshipped in his Seven Chappels p. 783 784. Molech Milcham Malcham the same with Moloch which was also called Baal Page 783 784 Monarchies the five Monarchies were the Babilonian the Mede-Persian the Grecian the Syrogrecian and the Roman which begun in the Monarchy of the Cesars 348 Month in the year which the most famous 427 Money changers what 213 550 551 Moon and Sun being darkned signifies the eclipsing the Glory and Prosperity of a Kingdom or People p. 344. New Moon the strange laborious way the Jews had notice of its appearance 950 951 Moral Law what p. 475 476. The Moral and Ceremonial Law differ much from the Gospel 500 Moriah within Jerusalem what p. 1049. Where situate whence the derivation of it 1049 1050 Morning Sacrifice the killing of it 943 944 Moses how born how a Type of Christ. p. 24. How low before his ascending the Government p. 25. He sojourned where Mahomet rose p. 25. Moses and Aaron what their fault that they were debarred the entring into Canaan p. 36. His birth was supernatural p. 700. He was highly guilty of distrust or unbelief concerning Israel's coming out of Egypt p. 25 702 703. He fasted three Fasts of forty days apiece 715 716 Mountain put for Imperial Power 343 Mountain of the Temple how large p. 1050. * It s prospect 1053. * Mountains what 's meant by removing them 254 Mout Acra Moriah Sion were within Jerusalem p. 1049. * Mount Olivet faced Jerusalem and was divided from it by the Valley of Tophet c. 1052 1053. * Mount Olivet why used by Christ to preach in 257 Murder strangely punished 1002 Musick divine among the Jews what 923 924 Musick used in the Temple what 919 to 924 N. NAMES in Scripture are frequently changed or inverted by the Holy Ghost and by the People c. and why p. 78 79 84 88 122. Names given to Children how when and by whom p. 421. Names changed in Scripture is frequent and most commonly for the better p. 531. How and why they are changed p. 531 532. Several Names given to Men in Scripture did arise from some singular Quality or Action referring to them p. 534. Names or Titles among the Egyptians had two distinguishing things to be observed in them p. 704 705. Names in Scripture Phrase denote Men rather than Women 743 Name of God is put for God himself 396 Naming of Children sometimes was by the Mother as soon as born sometimes by the Standers by but the Father at the Circumcision had the casting voice whether the Name should remain so or no. 421 Nazarites where they offered how durable or short their Vow if they cut their Hair in the Country they were to bring it to the Temple at Jerusalem to burn 1092. * Negation sometimes is only of Trial when it seems to be of Denial as Gen. XIX 2. Matth. XV. 26. 544 Negative and Affirmative words are commonly used together in Scripture for Elegancy 513 Neighbour who is such an one 244 245 Nero the Emperor in his first five years did exceed the most in goodness p. 300. But afterwards he destroyed the Christians for a Plot laid by himself against them The Heathens for real Plotting against him p. 334 335. In the close he grew endless cruel Page 334 335 Nestorius made two Persons of the two Natures confuted 397 New Heaven what 450 New Earth what 450 New Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Heaven begun Anno Mundi 4000. just when the City and Temple were destroyed 487 Nicholaitans what 779 Nicodemus one of the great Sanhedrim p. 213. Supposed to be mentioned in some great Story in the Talmud 565 Night for the Study of the Law was highly valued by the Jews 566 Niniveh's Conversion was a very wonderful thing 1006 1007 Ninth hour used for three a Clock in the afternoon 843 Noah's Flood its Nature time of beginning and duration p. 6 to 9. His Drunkenness was some number of years after the Flood 9 Number twenty six is something rare p. 37. Singular put for the Pleural why p. 420. Marg. Number difference in it in Scripture is no strange thing 496 O. OBADIAH who he was and when he prophesied Page 96 Offences there ought to be three causes of their punishing 415 Offending Brother how to be delt with 241 Offering any Woman might come into the Court through the Gate of the Women when she brought an offering 1020. * Offerings were of several sorts c. 926 940 See Burnt Offering Drink Offering Meat Offering Peace Offering Sin Offering Trespass Offering Officers in the Sanctuary their Names and Offices p. 1104. * In the Temple and their Offices 2012. * Officiousness unthanked 801 c. Old Testament how divided by the Jews 264 265 Omer what sort of measure 546 Ophitae Evia what 1022. * Ordination was first performed by Christ near Capernaum p. 223. Ordination till Hillels time a publick Teacher having been ordained himself had authority and used to Ordain his Scholars as he saw them fit but for honour to Hâ—llel Ordination was in time centered in the Sanhedrim 612 Overseers or Presidents over the Times of Service the Doors the Guards the Singers the Symbal Musick the Lots the Birds the Seals or Tickets the Drink-offerings the Sick the Waters the Making of Shew-bread Incense the Vail and Garments for the Priests what 903 904 Oyl to anoint the sick used by the Primitive Christians as Physick not as a charm as the Jews used it and the Elders to be present to pray and instruct p. 333. The Anointing Oyl how compounded p. 2051. * This Oyl was not used in the second Temple and therefore the High Priest was consecrated by putting on the Holy Vestments 2051. * P. PAPACY even at its first beginning helped to set up Heathenism again Page 355 Parbar the Gate where situate 1056. * Parables why Christ spoke so much in them Page 229 Pardon is to be obtained by repentance 1000 Paschal Lamb how prepared 260 Pashur there were two of the Name 118 Passage of Israel through Jordan took up twelve miles which was about
them 243 619 Sixth hour was twelve a Clock or high-noon the Jews used to pray evening morning and at noon so did the Apostles after Converts to the Gospel 844 Slaughter at one time five hundred thousand the greatest ever recorded in History 78 So how used 593 Marg. Sodomites besides the Men of Sodom 80 Solomon was but twelve years old when he made choice of Wisdom above all p. 73 125. He exceeded all Kings upon Earth in Wisdom Power Peace and Magnificence 47 Songs and Musick what was used on the Sabbath and at other times 923 924 Son variously used Page 659 Son of God in Scripture only applicable to Christ In the plural number it belongs to Saints p. 504. Christ called the Son of God 535 Sons of God in Gen. 6. and Job 1. what 995 Son of Man Christ so called often but only by himself to shew his humanity and his being the second Adam p. 471 491 537. Others called by that Name why p. 537. A Title given to Christ what p. 678. As opposed to the Son of David what p. 679. Son of Man is a Chaldean Phrase 996 Sosipater in all probability was Sopater of Berea 315 Souldiers their Duties 462 Space the utmost space within the great Wall was commonly called the first Temple 1089. * Spirit of God is often used in the Scriptures for the Holy Ghost but ever in the Hebrew the Spirit of Elohim plural to shew his descent from the Father and the Son against the Greek Church 482 Spirit being born of it what p. 571 573. In Scripture it is compared to Fire and Water the reasons 600 Spirits seven Spirits put for the Holy Ghost a common speech among the Jews 341 Standing was the posture of the Jewish people when they heard their Teachers 241 Star what it was the Wisemen saw where it was they saw it and how upon the sight of it they could conclude that it related to a King of the Jews 437 438 Stationary Men were Israelites that did attend the Temple Offerings and Service these stood to be a representative Congregation c. 924 925 Stephen his accusation before the Sanhedrim The Heads of his Vindication 279 280 Stile of the Jews much followed in the New Testament 213 214 Stocks in the House of the Lord what and of what use 2017. * Stoned what Criminals were to be stoned with the manner of it 282 Stoning a Capital punishment how used among the Jews 2007. * Strangers which was that part of the Temple into which strangers might not come 1089. * Strangled things about not eating them what 293 Strangling a Capital punishment among the Jews how performed 2006. * Stripes whipping or Scourging upon the censure of the Judges and the receiving forty or thirty nine stripes what 901 Study Ministers were to be fitted for their Ministry by Study so were the Priests and Levites accomplished Prophets and inspired Men were only occasional Teachers but those the constant for Prophesie was but sometimes and now and then long wanting as under the second Temple and the People could only be taught by Learned Men because then the Scriptures were in an unknown Tongue to the common people 357 Sufferings sometimes called Baptism 250 Sun and Moon being darkned signifies the Eclipsing the Glory and Prosperity of a Kingdom or a People 344 Sunsetting began and ended the day among the Jews 642 643 Suppers of Christ several p. 258. The Supper in which Satan entred into Judas was two days before the Passover day came 258 260 Shushan the Palace portraied on the East Gate and why 1052. * Swearing by the Temple the custom of the Jews 256 Swine hated by the Jews loved by the Romans 231 Sychar and Sichem the same p. 593 597. Sychar the reason of the name 597 Sycophants were at the first good Officers but afterwards the Term became a reproach 449. Marg. Synagogue in every great Town the Jews had a Synagogue and a Divinity School p. 299. In the Synagogue were had Prayers Reading and plain Sermons in the Divinity School were the high Dogmatical and Controversal Points about their Law p. 299. Every Synagogue had Civil as well as Sacred Governors and Rulers who Judged and Sentenced in Worldly Matters and that both within and without Judea p. 302. So that the Jews were generally judged by their own Magistrates p. 302. Episcopus an Overseer is a Synagogue Officers Term so are most of his Qualifications fetched thence mentioned in the 1 Tim. p. 308. There were four hundred and sixty Synagogues others say more in Jerusalem p. 363. The Land was full of Synagogues which were frequented every Sabbath day and the second and fifth Days of the Week p. 370. The Antiquity and Divine Institution of Synagogues p. 608 to 613. High Places were Synagogues p. 608. It s the Idolatry rather than the Places rebuked in Scripture p. 609. There were very many Synagogues Page 610 Synagogue Days or Times of meeting there were three every week viz. the second and the fifth Days of the week as well as the Sabbath besides Holy Days 291 610 611 Synagogue Officers how they sat in their Synagogues 611 Syria exceeding numerously inhabited by the Jews and in divers things privileged with Canaan some question whether after Davids conquest of it it was not a part of Canaan p. 219. From thence had Israel their greatest afflictions p. 425. It comprehended all the Country of the Jews both within and without Jordan by which we see the Heathens as well as the Jews came to Christ. 645 646 Syrian Language was the common speech of the Jews 419 T. TAbernacle its Form Idea Representation Dimensions Silver Foundation Walls and Juncture p. 716 717. The Curtains of it p. 718 719. Of the most Holy place p. 719. The Table of Shew-bread c. p. 720. The Motions and Stations of the Ark and Tabernacle p. 2060. 2062. * High places were lawful till the Tabernacle was set up in Shilo p. 2060. * How long it abode there p. 2060. * The removal of it from Shilo to Nob thence to Gibeon was by divine Warrant Page 2061. * Tabernacles The Feast thereof p. 243. Feast of Tabernacles the Nature Occasion and Reason of its Institution p. 477. The manner of the Celebration thereof p. 974 to 979. There was more rejoycing in this Feast than any other p. 974 c. The variety of Sacrifices then used 974 975. The Palm and Willow Branches p. 975 976. The Pomeâ—iteron Apples p. 976. The pouring out of Water with their Rejoycing and Rubrick of every days Service 977 to 979 Tables the two Tables the Golden and the Marble in the Porch described p. 1078. * The Shewbread Table with the manner of placing the Loaves upon it 1082. * Talmud of Jerusalem was compiled by R. Jochanan President of the Sanhedrim about A. C. 230. p. 369. The Talmud hath two parts the Mishneh and Gemera it is the Jews Council of Trent it s the sum of their Doctors
travelleth hath brought forth * * * * * * Mic. V. 3. VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For as the lightning c. TO discover clearly the sense of this and the following clauses those two things must be observed which we have formerly given notice of 1. That the destruction of Jerusalem is very frequently expressed in Scripture as if it were the destruction of the whole world Deut. XXXII 22. A fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn unto the lowest hell the discourse there is about the wrath of God consuming that people See vers 20 21. and shall consume the Earth with her encrease and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains Jerom. IV. 23. I beheld the Earth and low it was without form and void and the Heavens and they had no light c. The discourse there also is concerning the destruction of that Nation Isa. LXV 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred c. And more passages of this sort among the Prophets According to this sense Christ speaks in this place and Peter speaks in his second Epistle third Chapter and John in the sixth of the Revelations and Paul 2 Cor. V. 17. c. 2. That Christs taking vengeance of that exceeding wicked Nation is called Christs coming in Glory and His coming in the clouds Dan. VII It is also called The day of the Lord. See Psal. L. Mal. III. 1 2. c. Joel II. 31. Matth. XVI 28. Re◠I. 7. c. See what we have said on Chap. XII 20. XIX 28. The meaning therefore of the words before us is this While they shall falsly say that Christ is to be seen here or there Behold he is in the desart one shall say another Behold he is in the secret chambers He himself shall come like lightning with sudden and altogether unexpected vengeance They shall meet him whom they could not find they shall find him whom they sought but quite another than what they looked for VERS XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For wheresoever the carcass is c. I Wonder any can understand these words of pious men flying to Christ when the discourse here is of quite a different thing They are thus connected to the foregoing Christ shall be revealed with a sudden vengeance For when God shall cast off the City and People grown ripe for destruction like a Carcass thrown out the Roman Soldiers like Eagles shall straight fly to it with their Eagles Ensigns to tear and devour it And to this also agrees the answer of Christ Luke XVII and the last when after the same words that are spoke here in this Chapter it was enquired where Lord He answered Wheresoever the carcass is c. Silently hinting thus much That Jerusalem and that wicked Nation which he described through the whole Chapter would be the Carcass to which the greedy and devouring Eagles would fly to prey upon it VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Sun shall be darkned c. THAT is the Jewish Heaven shall perish and the Sun and Moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkned and brought to nothing The Sun is the Religion of the Church The Moon is the Government of the State and the Stars are the Judges and Doctors of both Compare Esa. XIII 10. and Ezek. XXXII 7 8 c. VERS XXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man THEN shall the Son of Man give a proof of himself whom they would not before acknowledge a proof indeed not in any visible figure but in vengeance and judgment so visible that all the Tribes of the Earth shall be forced to acknowledge him the Avenger The Jews would not know him now they shall know him whether they will or no as Esay XXVI 11. Many times they asked of him a sign now a sign shall appear that he is the true Messias whom they despised derided crucified namely his signal vengeance and fury such as never any Nation felt from the first foundations of the World VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And he shall send his Angels c. WHEN Jerusalem shall be reduced to ashes and that wicked Nation cut off and rejected then shall the Son of Man send his Ministers with the Trumpet of the Gospel and they shall gather together his Elect of the several Nations from the four corners of Heaven so that God shall not want a Church although that ancient people of his be rejected and cast off but that Jewish Church being destroyed a new Church shall be called out of the Gentiles VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This generation shall not pass c. HENCE it appears plain enough that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last Judgment but as we said of the destruction of Jerusalem There were some among the Disciples particularly John who lived to see these things come to pass With Matth. XVI last compare Joh. XXI 22. And there were some Rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these things that lived till the City was destroyed viz. Rabban Simeon who perished with the City R. Jochanan ben Zaccai who out-lived it R. Zadoch R. Ismael and others VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man knoweth no not the Angels THIS is taken from Deut. XXXII 34. Is not this laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures VERS XXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But as the days of Noe were c. THUS Peter placeth as parallels the ruine of the old World and the ruine of Jerusalem x x x x x x 1 Pet. III. 19. 20 21. and by such a comparison his words will be best understood For 1. See how he skips from the mention of the death of Christ to the times before the flood in the eighteenth and nineteenth verses passing over all the time between Did not the Spirit of Christ preach all along in the times under the Law Why then doth he take an example only from the times before the flood Namely that he might fit the matter to his case and shew that the present state of the Jews was like theirs in the times of Noe and that their ruine should be like also So also in his second Epistle Chap. III. vers 6 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y y y y y y Sanhedr cap. 10. hal 2. The age or generation of the flood hath no portion in the World to come thus Peter saith that they were shut up in prison and here our Saviour intimates that they were buried in security and so were surprised by the flood CHAP. XXV VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ten Virgins THE Nation of the Jews delighted mightily in the number ten both in sacred and civil matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Synagogue consisted not but
more than these might it not have been enough to have said as well as these For what reason had he to expect that Peter should love him more than the rest did especially more than St. John whom Christ himself had so loved and who had stuck so close to him Christ seems therefore to reflect upon Peter's late confidence not without some kind of severity and reproof q. d. Thou saidst O Simon a little while ago that thou wouldst never forsake me no not though all the other Disciples should thou didst profess beyond all the rest that thou wouldst rather dye than deny me thou wouldst follow me to prison to death nay lay down thy own life for me What saist thou now Simon Doest thou yet love me more than these If thou thinkest thou art provided and canst hazard thy life for me feed my sheep and for my sake do thou expose thy life yea and lay it down for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feed my Lambs If there be any thing in that threefold repetition feed feed feed we may most fitly apply it to the threefold object of St. Peters Ministry viz. the Gentiles the Jews and the Israelites of the ten Tribes I. To him were committed by his Lord the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. XVI that he might open the door of Faith and the Gospel to the Gentiles which he did in his preaching it to Cornelius II. In sharing out the work of Preaching the Gospel amongst the three Ministers of of the Circumcision his lot fell amongst the Jews in Babylon James his lot was amongst the Jews in Palestine and Syria And John's amongst the Hellenists in Asia III. Now amongst the Jews in Babylon were mixed the Israelites of the ten Tribes and to them did the Gospel come by the ministry of St. Peter as I have shewn more at large in another Trearise To this therefore have the words of our Saviour a plain reference namely putting Peter in mind that whereas he had with so much confidence and assurance of himself made such professions of love and constancy beyond the other Disciples pretending to a wonderful resolution of laying down his very life in that behalf that he would now shew his zeal and courage in feeding the sheep of Christ. Thou canst not Simon lay down thy life for me as thou didst once promise for I have my self laid down my own life and taken it up again Feed thou my sheep therefore and be ready to lay down thy life for them when it shall come to be required of thee So that what is here said does not so much point out Peter's Primacy as his danger nor so much the priviledge as the bond of his Office and his Martyrdom At last for that our Saviour had this meaning with him is plain because immediately after this he tells him by what death he should glorifie God vers 18. VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I will that he tarry till he come TILL I come that is till I come to destroy the City and Nation of the Jews As to this kind of phrase take a few instances Our Saviour saith Matth. XVI 28. There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kindom Which must not be understood of his coming to the Last Judgment for there was not one standing there that could live till that time nor ought it to be understood of the Resurrection as some would have it for probably not only some but in a manner all that stood there lived till that time His coming therefore in this place must be understood of his coming to take vengeance against those enemies of his which would not have him to rule over them Luke XIX 12 27. Perhaps it will nor repent him that reads the Holy Scriptures to observe these few things I. That the destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of this world were to be dissolved Nor is it strange when God destroyed his Habitation and City places once so dear to him with so direful and sad an overthrow his own people whom he accounted of as much or more than the whole world beside by so dreadful and amazing Plagues Matth. XXIV 29 30. The Sun shall be darkned c. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man c. which yet are said to fall out within that Generation vers 34. 2 Pet. III. 10. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat c. Compare with this Deut. XXXII 22. Heb. XII 26. and observe that by Elements are understood the Mosaick Elements Gal. IV. 9. Coloss. II. 20. and you will not doubt that St. Peter speaks only of the Conflagration of Jerusalem the destruction of the Nation and the abolishing the dispensation of Moses Revel VI. 12 13. The Sun became black as sackcloth of hair c. and the Heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together c. Where if we take notice of the foregoing Plagues by which according to the most frequent threatnings he destroyed that people viz. the Sword vers 4. Famine vers 5 6. and the Plague vers 8. Withal comparing those words They say to the Mountains fall on us and cover us with Luke XXIII 30. it will sufficiently appear that by those phrases is understood the dreadful judgment and overthrow of that Nation and City With these also agrees that of Jerem. IV. from vers 22. to 28. and clearly enough explains this phrase To this appertain those and other such expressions as we meet with 1 Cor. X. 11. On us the ends of the world are come and 1 Pet. IV. 7. The end of all things is at hand II. With reference to this and under this notion the times immediately preceding this ruine are called the last days and the last times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the last times of the Jewish City Nation Oeconomy This manner of speaking frequently occurs which let our St. John himself interpret 1 Joh. II. 13. There are many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time and that this Nation is upon the very verge of destruction whenas it hath already arrived at the utmost pitch of Infidelity Apostacy and wickedness III. With the same reference it is that the times and state of things immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem are called a New Creation New Heavens and a New Earth Isai. LXV 17. Behold I create a New Heaven and a New Earth When should that be Read the whole Chapter and you will find the Jews rejected and cut off and from that time is that New Creation of the Evangelical world among the Gentiles Compare 2 Cor. V. 17. and Revel XXI 1 2. where the old Jerusalem being cut off and destroyed a new one succeeds and New Heavens and a New Earth are created 2 Pet. III. 13. We according
to his promise look for New Heavens and a New Earth The Heavens and the Earth of the Jewish Church and Commonwealth must be all on fire and the Mosaick Elements burnt up but we according to the promise made to us by Isaiah the Prophet when all these are consumed look for the New Creation of the Evangelical state IV. The day the time and the manner of the execution of this vengeance upon this people are called the day of the Lord the day of Christ his coming in the Clouds in his Glory in his Kingdom Nor is this without reason for from hence doth this form and mode of speaking take its rise Christ had not as yet appeared but in a state of Humility contemned blasphemed and at length murdered by the Jews His Gospel rejected laught at and trampled under foot His followers pursued with extream hatred persecution and death it self At length therefore he displays himself in his Glory his Kindom and Power and calls for those cruel enemies of his that they may be slain before him Acts II. 20. Before that great and notable day of the Lord come Let us take notice how St. Peter applies that prophesie of Joel to those very times and it will be clear enough without any commentary what that Day of the Lord is 2 Thess. II. 2. As if the day of Christ was at hand c. To this also do those passages belong Heb. X. 37. Yet a little while and he that shall come will come James V. 9. Behold the judge is at the door Revel I. 7. He cometh in the Clouds and XXII 12. Behold I come quickly With many other passages of that nature all which must be understood of Christ's coming in judgment and vengeance against that wicked Nation and in this very sense must the words now before us be taken and no otherwise I will that he tarry till I come For thy part Peter thou shalt suffer death by thy Country-men the Jews but as for him I will that he shall tarry till I come and avenge my self upon this generation and if I will so what is that to thee The story that is told of both these Apostles confirms this Exposition for it is taken for granted by all that St. Peter had his Crown of Martyrdom before Jerusalem fell and St. John survived the ruins of it VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we know that his testimony is true THE Evangelist had said before Chap. XIX 35. He knoweth that he saith true and here in this place he changeth the person saying We know that his testimony is true I. One would believe that this was an Idiotism in the Chaldee and Syriack Tongue to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We know and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know the same thing which is not unusual in other Languages also Joshua II. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know The Targumist hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you would believe to be We knew 1 Sam. XVII 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I knew Targumist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We knew So amongst the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which seems to be We know we say And indeed sometimes nay most frequently they so signifie But sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I is included So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so of the rest which appears very clearly in that Expression * * * * * * Beracoth fol. 56. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tell me what I am to see in my dream For that so it must be rendred I am to see the Gloss and Context directs us where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We will not therefore in this place take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We know for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know although the sense might not be very disagreeable if we did so But II. We suppose the Evangelist both here and Chap. XIX 35. referreth to an eye witness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For in all judicial causes the ocular testimony prevailed If any person should testifie that he himself saw the thing done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his witness must be received For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 True when it is said of any testimony does not signifie barely that which is true but that which was to believed and entertained for a sure and irrefragrable evidence So that the meaning of these words is this This is the Disciple who testifies of these things and wrote them And we all know that such a testimony obtains in all judgments whatever for he was an eye witness and saw that which he testifies Soli Deo Gloria HORAE Hebraicae Talmudicae HEBREW AND TALMUDICAL EXERCITATIONS UPON THE ACTS of the Apostles And upon some CHAPTERS of the Epistle of Saint PAUL TO THE ROMANS By JOHN LIGHTFOOT D. D. late Master of Katharine-Hall in the University of CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by William Rawlins for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIV HEBREW AND TALMUDICAL EXERCITATIONS upon the ACTS of the Apostles CHAP. I. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The former treatise have I made c. WE may reduce to this place for even thus far it may be extended what our Historian had said in the very entrance of his Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seemed good to me also to write to thee in order where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In order seems to promise not only an orderly series of the History of the actions of our Saviour but successively even of the Apostles too For what passages we have related to us in this Book may very well be reckoned amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which were most surely believed amongst them Indeed by the very stile in this place he shews that he had a design of writing these stories joyntly that is to say first to give us a narration of the Actions and Doctrine of Christ and then in their due place and order to commit to writing the Acts and sayings of the Apostles As to most of the things contained in this Book St. Luke was both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eye-witness yea and a part also but how far he was spectator of those acts of our Saviour which he relates in his other book none can say What he speaks in the Preface of that work is ambiguous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and leaves the Reader to enquire whether he means he had a perfect understanding of things from the first by the same way only which those had that undertook to compile the Evangelical Histories from the Mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word Or whether he came to this understanding of things from the first he himself having been from the beginning an Eye-witness and a Minister Or lastly Whether he does not by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
given unknown Tongues to be unknown to all besides those to whom they were given In what I have said of the Greek Version and of the not reading it among the Hellenists I know I have very learned Men differing in their opinions from me and heretofore I my self was of a contrary judgment Whence I hope the Reader will be the more easily perswaded that I do not speak these things from a desire of contention but from a serious enquiry as far as I am able into the thing from often repeated thoughts and a most hearty desire of searching after truth FINIS THE WORKS OF THE REVEREND LEARNED John Lightfoot D. D. LATE Master of KATHERINE Hall in CAMBRIDGE The Second Volume PART II. CONTAINING SERMONS and DISCOURSES upon sundry Subjects and Occasions A Catalogue whereof with their several Texts you will find in the following Pages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by William Rawlins for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIV A TABLE of the Texts of the Ensuing SERMONS together with an account of the time when the places where and the occasions whereupon the more publick of them were Preached Sermons Preached before the NATIVES of STAFFORDSHIRE AT S. Michaels Cornhil London Novemb. 25. 1658. Ioh. X. 22 23. And it was at Ierusalem the Feast of Dedication and it was Winter And Iesus walked in the Temple in Solomons porch At S. Mary Woolchurch London Novemb. 22. 1660. S. Iude vers 12. These are spots in your Feasts of charity At S. Michaels Cornhil London Novemb. 26. 1663. Rom. V. 1. Being justified by saith we have peace with God Sermons Preached at the ASSISES at HERTFORD March 1660. Revel XX. 4. And I saw Thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them March 16. 1663. Iudges XX. 27 28. And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord. For the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was there in those days And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days March 29. 1663. 2 Pet. III. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness March 17. 1664. Ioh. VIII 9. And they being convinced by their own conscience went out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the last July 16. 1665. Ioh. XIV 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions c. April 6. 1666. 1 Ion. V. 16. There is a sin unto death I do not say that he should pray for it March 27. 1669. Act. XVII 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead August 6. 1669. Ioh. XVIII 31. Then Pilate said unto them Take ye him and judge him according to your Law The Iews therefore said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any Man to death A Sermon Preached at the ASSISES at ELY Septemb. 12. 1671. Iames V. 9. Behold the Iudge standeth before the door Sermons Preached at S. MARIES CAMBRIDGE Octob. 7. 1655. Matth. XXVIII 19. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost At Aspiden April 5. 1660. 1 Cor. X. 2. And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea Febr. 24. 165◠Luke XI 2. When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven April 9. 1658. 1 Pet. V. 13. The Church which is at Babilon elected together with you saluteth you Novem. 27. 1659. Rom. VIII 23. And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves grone within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body June 24. 1660. 1 Cor. XIV 26. How is it then Brethren When ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Doctrine hath a Tongue hath a Revelation hath an Interpretation Let all things be done to edifying Sermons Preached on the Fift of NOVEMBER 1661. Dan. X. 21. And there is none that holdeth with we in these things but Michael your Prince 1669. At Ely Rev. XIII 2. And the Dragon gave him his Power and his Seat and great Authority 1670. At Ely Rev. XX. 7 8. And when the Thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison And shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle whose number is as the Sand of the Sea 1672. At Ely 2 Pet. II. 15. Who have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the Son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness 1673. At Ely 2 Tim. III. 8. As Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth 1674. At S. Maries Cambridge Act. XIII 9 10. Then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his Eyes on him And said O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord A Sermon Preached at Guild-hall LONDON before the Lord Mayor Jan. 24. 1674. Rev. XXI 2. And I Iohn saw the holy City the new Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven More private Sermons Exod. XXX 15. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an attonement for their Souls Judg. XI 39. And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned to her Father who did with her according to his Vow which he had vowed 1 King XIII 24. And when he was gone a Lion met him by the way and slew him and his carcass was cast in the way And the Ass stood by it the Lion also stood by the carcass Act. VII 53. Who have received the Law by the Disposition of Angels and have not kept it Rev. XX. 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection 2 Sam. XIX 29. I have said Thou and Ziba divide the Land Dan. XII 12 13. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days But go thou thy way till the end for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of days Heb. X. 29. And hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing Heb. XIII 10. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Luke XV. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance Luke XXIII 42
be Converted the Spirit of Grace reveals these to him in feeling and experience And further Revelation as to the understanding of Scripture there is not the least ground-work in Scripture whereupon to expect it III. When God had committed the New Testament to writing he had revealed all that he would reveal to men on Earth of his will and way of Salvation The words in Joh. XVI 13. are appropriate to the Apostles None ever were or will be whom God led into all Truth save the Apostles He leads indeed every Saint he hath into all Truth needful for him but the Apostles into all Truth needful both for themselves and the whole Church Because God by them was to give the rule of Faith and Manners to all the Church Now when all the Truth that God would reveal was revealed and compact in the New Testament as all Light in the body of the Sun must we still look for further Revelation to explain this Revealing It was foretold that the Light that God would exhibit under the Gospel should be as the Light of the Sun sevenfold and must we look for another Sun of Revelation to give Light to this Sun The New Testament revealed the Old and must we look for Revelations to reveal the New And so we may look in infinitum IV. The main difficulty of the New Testament requires study to unfold it rather than Revelation The Old Testament needed further Revelation to unfold it and further was promised And accordingly the New Testament was a further Revelation that did unfold it For the great difficulty of the Old Testament was in the Sence the Language every Child could understand for it was their Mother-tongue But when they could understand what the words meant they could not understand what the Sence meant nor was it possible to find it out in abundance of places without further Revelation But the main difficulty of the New Testament is in the Languages unlock that clearly and the Sence ariseth easie The Old Testaments difficulty was in the Kernel the New in the Shell For besides that Greek the Original is not the Native Tongue now of any part of the World there is such intermixture of Septuagint Greek Hebrew Idioms Talmudichal Phrases and Allusions to the Jews Opinions and Customs that the greatest difficulty is to explain the Language that done the Sence is plain Now certainly it is more likely to obtain understanding of Languages by Study than to attain it by Revelation unless any one will yet expect that miraculous gift of Tongues which I suppose there is none will make himself so ridiculous as to say they expect But this only by the way In the Text as there are two Verses so are there two distinct things observable In the former a Festival mentioned in the latter Christs presence there intimated and either of them illustrated by three circumstances I. The Festival 1. By its Name It was the Feast of Dedication 2. By the Place It was at Jerusalem 3. By the Time It was Winter II. Christs presence there 1. By the place where he was In the Temple 2. The particular place in the Temple Solomons porch 3. His posture there He was walking He was at the Feast at Jerusalem though it were Winter and he walked in the Temple belike to get him heat because it was Winter The Feast of Dedication as the Authors before mentioned do inform us was instituted upon this occasion Antiochus Epiphanes one of the Kings of Syria one of the Horns of the fourth Monarchy Dan. VII 24. having the Nation of the Jews under his Power and Tyranny raised against them and their Religion a very sad Persecution He forbad them to Circumcise their Children he restrained the exercise of their Religion burnt the Books of the Law set up idolatry defiled the Temple set up an Idolatrous Altar upon the very Altar of the Lord in the Court of the Temple And all this for a Time two Times and half a Time as Daniel styles it Dan. VII 25. or three years and an half The Jews had never felt such misery of that nature before and Daniel in his twelfth Chapter foretelling of that a long time before it came saith That it should be such a time of trouble as had never been since they were a Nation At last Judas Maccabaeus prevails against his Power and Tyranny shakes off that Yoak restores the People and Religion destroies his Idolatry purges the Temple pulls down his Idol-Altar that he had erected there yea also the Altar of the Lord which it had stood upon and defiled reareth up a new Altar and on the 25th day of the month Cisleu which was the ninth month or their November dedicates the Altar and sets the Publick Service of the Temple afoot again And thereupon he and the generation ordained that day and seven days forward for the Feast of Dedication to be kept annually throughout all succeeding Generations as may be read at large in 1 Macc. IV. and in the Authors beside that I named I might Observe from hence How joyful a thing it is and how joyful and perpetual a Memorial it ought to carry when decayed Religion is restored to a Nation Oh! that England might see that day and come to such a Feast of Dedication But I desire to fix upon the latter Verse of the Text and to observe Christs presence at that Feast which is the more remarkable and strange because there were three things that might not only have warranted his absence thence but even perswaded and urged it according to the three circumstances we observed in the former verse the Feast it self the Time and the Place I. The Time It was Winter An ill time to travail and Jerusalem was a very long journey from Capernaum the place of Christs habitation And the Evangelist seems to have added this circumstance the rather that we might look upon his presence there as the more remarkable II. It is said that Christ was at this Feast at Jerusalem whereas he might have kept it in his own Town For although indeed the three Festivals that God had appointed by Moses Passover Pentecost and of Tabernacles required mens personal appearance at Jerusalem yet the two Feastâ— that were ordained afterwards Purim and Dedication as the Jews Records tell us might be kept at their own homes III. And that which was the main thing indeed this Feast was not ordained either by the immediate appointment of God as those three were to Moses nor was there then any Prophet in those times that by Divine Warrant could authorize its institution but it was only of a Civil and Ecclesiastical Sanction appointed by the Higher Powers in that Generation As our fift of November is indeed of Religious observation and yet but only of Humane Institution These reasons might have kept Christ from going up to Jerusalem at this Feast and yet you see that he is there From whence I Observe and on which I shall
there were no age but there would be some persons Oracular as Moses If any limit then where is it fixed I say at the fall of Jerusalem And I will prove it by what they bring to prove Prophesie for these days Act. II. 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and their sons and their daughters shall Prophesie c. By the last days they would understand it of the World I of Jerusalem So in divers places besides That it is so to be understood in the place S. Peters application makes out Who applies this place of the Old Testament unto himself and the Christians at that time upon occasion of their speaking strange Languages What absurdity would there also be in his applying this place The old Oeconomy is as the old World the Evangelical is the new Heaven and the new Earth So that the last days of the old World are the last days of the old Oeconomy Hence the destruction of Jerusalem is spoke of as the destruction of the old World and Christs coming is said to be in the last days So that if we take not the pouring out of the Spirit in the last days in that sence we swerve from the sence of the phrase in Scripture And hence it appears that Spirit to be in those last days and that it was affixed to them from propriety of phrase To this we might add the manner of imparting the Spirit in those times It was either by effusion upon many together Act. II. X. or by imposition of hands upon some single ones Now who dares think that ever was since the fall of Jerusalem such manner of giving or ever will be And these are the only ways of imparting the Spirit that are spoke of since Christ ascended To all we might add that at the fall of Jerusalem all Scripture was written and Gods full will revealed so that there was no further need of Prophesie and Revelation Therefore those places they cite are misapplied both as to the time and also as to the proper sence of them So that here is a discovery of the third delusion that Prophesie still continues whereas it was to cease at the fall of Jerusalem and there is no promise whereupon any hath reason to expect it in these times IV. The standing Ministry is the ordinary Method that God hath used for the instruction of his Church It has ever been Gods way since he first wrote words to teach his Church by a studious learned Ministry who were to explain the Scripture by study not by the Spirit Mistake not this Ministry consisted not of Prophets they were occasional and of necessity but of Priests and Levites We are sent to them Hag. II. 11. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ask now the Priests concerning the Law Mal. II. 7. For the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts We have mention made of the sons of the Prophets in the Old Testament these were not inspired but understanding was instilled into them by Elias and they sat at his feet such were those of Issachar So the Disciples sat at the feet of Christ. The true Apostles indeed were inspired because there was a necessity of it But when the New Testament was written there was no further need of inspiration And then the Church was sufficiently instructed by ordinary Ministers therefore was Timothy left at Ephesus Titus in Creet Thefore was the Imposition of Hands Hebrews VI. 2. I conclude all with that suitable advise of St. John I Chap. IV. 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE Staffordshire-Natives At St. Michaels Cornhil LONDON Novemb. 26. 1663. ROM V. Vers. 1. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God THIS Text may seem very unsuitable to this occasion but certainly to no occasion no company no season can it be unsuitable can it be unseasonable to speak hear meditate of the infinite mercy of God in justifying men and of the unexpressible happiness of man in having peace with God But I have chosen this Subject to treat upon in a methodical succession to what I have discoursed upon heretofore being called to this Employment At my first being upon this task before you from those words in X. Joh. 22 23. which speaks of Christs being at Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication I shewed you at large how our Saviour held Communion with the Church of the Jews and thereupon I spake of such unity against Schism At my second from those words Jud. vers 12. These are spots in your Feasts of Charity I shewed that the spots spoken of were false Teachers that went abroad pretending to the Spirit and so deceiving and thereupon I spake of taking heed of such delusions against Heresie and Error And now what can I more orderly and methodically speak upon after speaking of keeping Peace with the Church and keeping Peace with the Truth than of having Peace with God Yes you will say To have taken in first having peace one with another True that might not have been immethodical But you speak that in my stead this Loving Friendly Brotherly meeting discourses that for me and makes a visible Sermon of your peace one with another And I have made that as it were a Text whereupon to raise an occasional meditation to the tenor of that which the Text that I have read speaks And let me raise it thus If it be so good and pleasant and happy a thing to see brethren thus live together in unity thus to meet together to walk together to Feast together in Love Unity and Peace Sursum corda lift up your hearts and from this lustre you see of the Sun shining in this water below look up to the light that is in the body of the Sun it self and meditate how excellent how pleasant how happy a thing it is to have peace with God to walk in peace with God in his own ways to converse in peace with God in his own House to Feast in peace with God at his own Table and at night to lie down and sleep in peace with with God in his own Bosom This is the last Epistle the Apostle wrote before his apprehension and imprisonment He wrote it from Corinth where he touched in his journy to Jerusalem his last journy thither He wrote it in the second year of Nero immediately after Easter when Claudius who had hindred the Mystery of iniquity from its working in its full scope by his discountenancing the Jewish Nation had now been taken away above a year and an half ago And now that mystery did find it self loose and acted in its full activity those of that Nation that had not embraced the Gospel persecuting it with all
spoken in Scripture of this righteousness of God and indeed never enough My righteousness is never to be revealed To bring in everlasting righteousness New Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness c. Never enough spoken never enough conceived of this Righteousness the most mysterious acting of Heaven the wonder of wonders among men the Justice of God in justifying a sinner A Divine Justice that exceeds divine Justice Divine Justice turned into Mercy You may think I speak strangely if I do it I am something excusable with Peter ravished with the Transfiguration I am upon a subject that may swallow up all minds with amazement but I clear my meaning In Rom. I. 17. It is said Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith Revealed in the Gospel not in the Law Was there no revelation of Justice till the Gospel came Yes the Law revealed Justice but it was condemning Justice as that Text speaks From faith to faith so from righteousness to righteousness Gods Justice was most divine that appeared in the Law to condemn but that Justice exceeded in the Gospel to justifie Where are they that talk of being justified by their own works Then must they have a righteousness of their own that must out-vy Gods condemning justice which is infinitely just But his own justifying justice doth out-vy it As it is said Where sin abounded Grace did superabound So where condemning Justice was glorious justifying Justice was much more glorious I said Justice was turned into mercy I say the greatest Justice into the greatest mercy How are we justified and saved By Mercy True and yet by Justice become mercy not ceasing to be Justice what it was but becoming Mercy what it was not Here is a lively Copy before you God so loveth so acteth justice that he will satisfie it upon his own Son that he might glorifie it by way of mercy on all justified His greatest mercy appeareth in this acting of his justice and you are the greatest Mercy to a people when you do them the most Justice A third and last Copy that I would set before you all that hear me this day is fairly yet seems strangly written with Gods own hand in the Gospel In divers places of the New Testament where mention is made of the Law and where you would think it meant both the Tables it comes off only with mention of the Second Matth. XIX 17. If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments You would look for all the Ten but look forward and he pitcheth only upon the second Table So Rom. XIII 8. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law You would look for the whole Law to be mentioned there but look forward in vers 9. and only the second Table is mentioned So Jam. II. 8. If you fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture c. you would look for the whole Law but he concludes all under this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Why where are the Duties of the first Table See how God put even all religion in the second Table As it is said Behold how he saved Lazarus so Behold how God loveth honest upright charitable dealing 'twixt man and man I shall not insist to shew you the reason of this strange passage I might tell you it is because whatsoever men pretend of Religion towards the Commands of the first Table it is nothing if it appear not in our obedience to the second I might tell you God puts you to that that is more in your own power as to obey the second Table is more so than the first But I leave the Copy in your own hands to read and comment on And when you have studied it the most you will find this to be the result how God requires how God delights in our righteous upright charitable dealings one with another A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 13. 1663. JUDG XX. 27 28. And the Children of Israel enquired of the Lord. For the ark of the Covenant of the Lord was there in those days And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days AND it was time to enquire of the Lord considering their present condition and exigent and it was well they had the Ark in those days to enquire at considering the evil of those days and their exceeding wickedness And it was strange that Phinehas was then there considering the time of the story when he is thus brought in The three clauses in the Text that hint their inquiring and the manner of their inquiring and the Person by whom they inquired of the Lord and they inquired at the Ark of the Covenant and they inquired by Phinehas require each one a serious explication and each one explicated it may be will afford something of information that every one hath not observed before I. They enquired of the Lord. And it was time to enquire indeed when business went so crosly with them that though the Lord himself had encouraged them to that war yet they lose so many thousands in the battel At their first mustering they ask counsel of God and he allows their quarrel and appoints their Captain vers 18. And the Children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and said which of us shall go up first to the battle against the Children of Benjamin And the Lord said Judah shall go up first And yet when they come to fight they lose two and twenty thousand men vers 21. They ask counsel of God again and he bids them go up and yet when they come to fight again they lose eighteen thousand men more And now after the loss of forty thousand men they inquire again and indeed it was very full time But what was it they inquired about If why they thus fell when God himself had encouraged them to the War which was a very just Quaere Had I or you been there we might have resolved them without an Oracle There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel and a very strange accursed thing that it is not strange that thou canst not stand but fallest thus before thine enemies In the Chapter before a Levites Concubine plays the whore and runs from him and as he fetches her again she is paid in her kind and whored with at Gibeah till it cost her her life Hereupon all Israel musters in arms as one man and solemnly vows and resolves to avenge her quarrel But in the Chapter before that Idolatry is publickly set up in the Tribe of Dan. And in the Chapter before that it is publickly enough set up in the Town of Micah and yet not one man that stands up or stirs in the quarrel of the Lord. Oh Israel that art thus zealous in the quarrel of a Whore and hast been no whit zealous in the cause of the Lord it is no wonder if thou fall and fall
of the Covenant I need not instance hundreds of places do evidence it But what could any one see in the Ark that might speak Gods Covenant There was indeed the Mercy seat upon it and the two Cherubims at the several ends of it and the cloud oft between and this was all that any Israelite could see that looked upon it But this was not that that intitled it to that Title but the two Tables of the Law that were in it And so Moses himself doth make the exposition Exod. XXXIV 28. He wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments Deut. IX 11. At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two Table of stone the Tables of the Covenant And to spare more instances you find the terms Covenant and Commands to be convertible or to mean one and the same thing Psal. CV 8. He hath remembred his Covenant the word which he Commanded And Psal. CXI 9. He Commanded his Covenant for ever He Commanded his Covenant a strange expression and a comfortless expression as one would think his Covenant to be nothing but a company of impossible Commands his Covenant to be nothing but a Law the Ministration of which the Apostle tells us was the Ministration of death II Cor. III. As he I thought he would have stroked his hand over the sore and prayed and he bids only Go wash in Jordan So one would think it should be said He hath promised tendred ingaged his Covenant and it comes off only with this He hath Commanded his Covenant And here we are come to the great question Under what notion the Moral Law stands in the Covenant of grace You know who they were that have held and I doubt too many hold it at this day that to Israel it was a Covenant of Works and thereupon infer that Christians are delivered from the obligation of the Moral Law because they are not under the Covenant of Works but the Covenant of Grace And accordingly they understand that distinction of the old Covenant and new mentioned so much by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the old Covenant means the Moral Law and the new Covenant the Gospel To these men let me first speak in the style of God to Abraham Gen. XV. 5. Look up to Heaven and count the Stars if thou canst number them So look up to Heaven and see the old Moon and the new and observe them Are they really two several Moons No but one and the same Moon under various shapes Or look on the Earth upon a person now Regenerated he was before an old Creature now he is a new II Cor. V. 17. What is he now a really distinct person from what he was before No but of a different condition only the same man but his condition and temper changed So the Covenant of Grace is the same like Christ the chief Tenor of the Covenant yesterday and to day and the same for ever the same from the first day that it was given to Adam to the last day of the World and till Time shall be no more The same under the Law the same under the Gospel but clothed in different garments in administrations of various fashions The Covenant of Grace to the Jew was Believe in Christ and be saved as it is to us as the Apostle clears in all his Epistles more particularly in Heb. XI But to them God added thus Because the Doctrine of Christ is not yet so clear use these Ceremonies which figure out the actings and Office of Christ the Priesthood his Mediating the Sacrifices his Death cleansing with Blood his purging of Sin and the like And because no other people is yet to be admitted to the Church and true Religion but themselves use these Ceremonies to distinguish you from all other people till time come that the Gentiles come to be admitted So that these Ceremonies were not the Covenant of Grace to them nor a Covenant of Works to them but only the manner and mode of the administration of the Covenant of Grace till the Gospel should come which when it came and Christ was come then the Doctrine of Christ was clear and all Nations were come in then were these Ceremonies laid aside and a clean different administration of the Covenant of Grace brought in and under these reasons are these different administrations called the old and new Covenant So that the Ceremonial part of the Law is called the old Covenant but the Moral doth not fall under that title nor vanish as the other did And secondly To these that we are speaking of let me propose this question Did God go backward in his Covenanting first to give a Covenant of Grace to Adam when he had broke his Covenant of Works and after to give a Covenant of Works to Israel and to lay by his Covenant of Grace The Sun in the sky stood still once and went backward once but the glorious Son of Righteousness that rose in the Covenant of Grace the first day of Adam never stood still never went back but is still keeping his course to save by Grace to save in the Covenant of Grace and not by Works If I go to Jonathans house again saith Jeremy I shall surely die and if God send man back to a Covenant of Works when Adam himself failed in his Covenant of Works man is but lost for ever And thirdly Let us read the Draught of the Covenant it self This Indenture made betwixt the great God and poor dust and ashes sinful and miserable witnesseth That God of his infinite Love and Grace and Mercy doth promise and demise and let to this poor creature Grace and Glory interest in himself and Heaven Provided always That man keep his Law and do those Commands that God lays upon him For God could not make a Covenant of Grace but it must include Commandments and a Law unless he would have conditioned thus with him Do what thou wilt live as thou wilt Eat Drink Revel be Epicure be Atheist and yet thou shalt enjoy me for ever thou shalt be blessed for ever We may tremble at such Language The Stool of wickedness could do no more And how cheap and vile a thing were God if to be enjoyed on such terms as these Man as he is a Creature must have a Law from his Creator or else God should resign his authority and let man be his own God Our obedience to God is founded in God himself If God be God serve him an argument so urgent that t is never to be dissolved And therefore that clause is set before the ten Commandments and set after divers Commands afterwards I am the Lord as an argument sufficient to challenge obedience There is nothing can dissolve the bond of mans obedience to his Creator unless God would cease to be God for if God be God serve him And therefore the Covenanting for Grace is so far from abating of a
shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall dye an hundred years old That is there shall be so clear and great means of knowledge by the Gospel that none needed to be a child in understanding if they would but labour to know and that even the young child might speak it self to be as it were an hundred years old for knowledge if men would apply themselves to the means afforded for knowledge They produce that in I Joh. II. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you c. Whereas the Apostle himself doth explain what that anointing is namely Truth But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth which is the very common title of the Gospel in the Gospel To speak fully to this matter I should clear this I. That after God had compleated and signed the Scripture Canon Christians must expect Revelations no more It was promised by God that he would pour down of his Spirit in the last days but it means the last days of Jerusalem and when she had finished her days and seen her last the Spirit in such kind of effusion is to be looked for no more II. I should shew that the Scripture containeth all things necessary for us to know or to enquire of God about T is not for you to know the times and the seasons Act. I. T is not for Peter to enquire what should become of John What is that to him Joh. XXI 22. But what is necessary for us to know to the Law and to the Testimony there you may learn it I need not to tell you that you may enquire there and learn what to believe what to do what to avoid how to demean your selves towards God towards your Neighbours towards your Selves how to come to Heaven and the like For I hope none come hither at this time upon the present occasion but have consulted with this Oracle to direct them Whether to go to suite with their Neighbour or no how to bear Witness how to Counsil how to Determin But the common curiosity of men is ready to enquire how should I know my Fortune Why I may tell them from this Oracle if I may use the term Fortune in such a case Esa. III. 10 11. Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him But shall I propose a case of the greatest concernment that a man can possibly enquire about and that is How shall I know whether my sins are pardoned whether I have the favour and love of God whether I shall be saved At Urim and Thummim they never enquired about any of these things and I believe such questions were rarely proposed by any to any Prophet And yet this Oracle we are speaking of the Law and Testimony will resolve this Quaere as far as is needful for any man to know so little are we behind them in the advantage of inquiring of God Is there any here that proposeth this question from a good heart and for a good end Let me close with him in the words of God Esa. XXI 12. If ye will enquire enquire ye But first let me tell him That a man may be saved though he do not know he shall be saved till he come to Salvation And I doubt not but there are many in Heaven that were never certain that they should come there till they came thither A good man may die doubting fearing trembling and yet his estate be sure for blessedness though he be never assured of it till he enjoy it For it is Faith that secures Salvation and is absolutely necessary for it Assurance is not so absolutely necessary If he kill me yet will I trust in him saith Job A strong Faith but little Assurance and yet his eternal state secure enough Secondly A man may have Faith and yet not know that he hath it As how many of the dear Saints of God have groned under this doubtfulness And answerably a man may have Certainty of Salvation as to the thing it self though not Assurance as to his own apprehension I deny not all this while that Assurance may be had though it be not obtained by all and that it is to be striven after according to that give all diligence to make your calling and election sure But to the coming to satisfaction upon this inquiry do as the Priest in his inquiries put on the brest-plate and go and stand before the Ark of the Covenant and there inquire Bring your Covenant to face the Law and then consult with it For this purpose consider these properties of Conscience 1. The actings of Conscience are only about things twixt us and God 2. The actings of Conscience in this case and indeed in all are not directly but by reflexion the very name of Conscience imports no less a knowledge by reflection Thus a sinner by his Conscience knows he hath sinned How By reflecting on the Law knows he hath deserved wrath by the Law 3. As Conscience condemns in the same method it comforts and acquits In Rom. II. 15. Conscience accuses or excuses in the same way both by reflexion upon a Law For 4. The ultimate resolution in this inquiry must be from the Mandatory part of the Covenant not the Promissory Many a man deceives himself undoes himself by judging his case from the promises and not taking his Resolution thence whence it should come viz. his Conscience and Gods Commandments laid together God hath promised pardon mercy salvation therefore I doubt not saith a secure soul but all will be well with me But how knowest thou these promises belong to thee Go to the Mandatory part of the Covenant the Moral and Evangelical Law and lay Conscience to that as face and glass and there what seest thou The Law commands thus and thus look in Conscience hast thou done thus If so thou mayst conclude that thou shalt participate of the promises that are affixt to such Commandments Thou canst not look on the Sun in Heaven but mayst see it in a pail of water Thou canst not immediately discover whether God loves thee has pardoned thee intend thee for Salvation but thou canst do it by reflexion twixt Law and Conscience twixt this and the Conditions of the Covenant Peter does not conclude Lord thou lovest me but Lord I love thee Look on the Command Love the Lord then look in Conscience and that gives the reflexion and so thou mayest be secured A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 29. 1663. II. PET. III. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousnes IT is well they might so and had warrant of promise so to do
otherwise where had their expectation been The verses immediately before speak nothing but devastation and ruine of Heaven and Earth and if there had been nothing beyond that to be looked after their hopes and expectancy had been ruined also but we says our Apostle look for new Heavens and a new Earth But of what nature they is all the question I doubt some men construe these words of the Apostle as far distant from his sense almost as the Earth is distant from the Heavens whilst they conceive from hence that after the dissolution of all things yet there shall be a renewing of Heaven and Earth and they shall be as before as to their substance and form only their quality changed To this they apply Rom. VIII 19 20. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God c. They would make our Apostle say Sibboleth whether he will or no whereas he speaks Shibboleth plain enough to a far differing sense For the discovery of his meaning have patience a little whilst I make this observation clear unto you which may be useful to you in reading several places of Scripture That the ruine and destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish commonwealth and oeconomy is set forth in Scripture in such expressions as if it were the destruction and dissolution of the whole world Moses beginneth this stile in Deut. XXXII 22. where he is speaking of that vengeance For a fire is kindled in mine anger and it shall burn to the lowest hell and it shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains Would you not think that the dissolution of all things were in mention Look upon the context and you find it to mean no other than the destruction of that Nation Jeremy yet higher Chap. IV. 23. I beheld the earth and â—o it was without form and void and the heavens and they had no light You would think all the world were returning there to her old chaos again Add yet further I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills moved lightly I beheld and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens were fled You would think that the whole universe were dissolving but look but in the 27 vers and it speaks no other than the dissolution of that people For thus hath the Lord said The whole land shall be desolate Our Saviour yet higher Matth. XXIV 29. The sun shall be darkned and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man c. who would not conclude that these expressions mean no other thing in the world than the last dissolution of the World and Christs coming to Judgment yet look well upon the context and it speaketh plainly that the meaning is only of the dissolving of the Jews City and State and Christ speaks it out most plainly at vers 34. where he afferts that that present generation should not pass till all those things were fulfilled The beloved Disciple follows his Masters stile upon the very same subject in the sixth of his Revelation where after he had described the means of the destruction of this wretched people under the opening of certain seals by Sword Famine and Plague he comes at last in vers 12 13 14. to speak their final dissolution it self in the very like terms The Sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the Moon became as blood And the Stars of Heaven fell unto the Earth and the Heavens departed as a scroll that is rolled together and every mountain and Island were removed out of their places One would think the final dissolution of all the world were spoken of but look in the 16th verse and you find the very same words that our Saviour applies to the destruction of that people Luke XXIII 30. They said unto the mountains fall on us and hide us c. Our Apostle Peters meaning is no other in the expression before my Text where when he speaks of the Heavens being dissolved by fire the Earth and the works therein burnt up and the elements melting with fervent heat he intends no other thing then the dissolving of their Church and oeconomy by firy vengance the consumption of their State by the flame of Gods indignation and the ruine of their elements of Religion by Gods fury Not the Elements in Aristotles sense of Fire Air Earth and Water but the Elements in his brother Pauls sense whom he mentions presently after my Text the carnal and beggerly Elements of their Mosaick rites and traditionary institutions By this time you plainly see in what sense The new Heavens and the new Earth is to be taken in the Text but for the fuller and clearer understanding of these things still give me yet a little further patience to shew you that as the destruction of that old World of the Jewish people and oeconomy is uttered by such expressions as if it were the destruction of the whole universe so the times going near before and concurrents going along with that destruction are phrased by expressions also sutable And this I shall observe to you in four heads I. There is much mention of the last days in Scripture which in most places is not to be understood of the last days of the World as some take them and so mistake but of the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish State And indeed the greatest mercies that were promised to that people were promised to occur in those last days as Esa. II. 2. Hos. III. 5. Joâ—l II. 28. as he is cited by this our Apostle Act. II. 17. these things are not to be allotted to the last days of the World but to the last days of that City as Peters very allegation out of Joel makes it plain if there were no more proof Now saith he is fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel In the last days I will pour out c. These are the last days there intended and now the thing hath received its accomplishment For how improper is it to construe him in such a sense as some do This is that which Joel foretold should come to pass in the last days of the world two or three thousand years hence And so on the contrary the worst of men and times are foretold to be in those last days of Jerusalem because they did not improve those mercies I Tim. IV. 4. and II Tim. III. 1. and our Apostle in the third verse of this Chapter let the Apostle John explain all I Joh. II. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time II. In such a sense are such Phrases as these to be understood I Cor. X. 11. Upon
whom the ends of the World are come Not the very best times of the World for the World hath lasted sixteen hundred years since Paul spake that and how long yet it may last who knoweth but the end of that old World of the Jewish State which then hasted on very fast In the same sense are the words of our Apostle in his first Epistle Chap. IV. 7. The end of all things is at hand Not the end the World but of that City Nation and oeconomy the like is that James V. 9. Behold the Judge standeth before the door and divers other of the like nature III. The vengance of Christ upon that people in that final destruction is set out and called his coming his coming in his Kingdom and in clouds and with power and great glory His coming Joh. XXI 22. In his Kingdom Matth. XVI ult In power and glory Matth. XXIV 30. Nor is this any figure for observe vers 34. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled Accordingly the day of that vengeance is called The day of the Lord. IV. The state of the Church and Gospel after that dissolution of that old World is called sometimes the World to come Heb. II. 5. sometimes new Heavens and new Earth as in the Text sometimes all things new as II Cor. V. 17. Old things are past away behold all things are become new So that by this time you see plainly the meaning of our Apostle at this place In the verses before he speaks of the dissolution of the Jewish Church and State in such terms as the Scripture useth to express it by as if it were the dissolution of the whole World And in the words of the Text of the new face and state of the Church and World upon the dissolution when a new people and new oeconomy took place We according to his promise The promise is in Esa. LXV 17. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth Where if you look into the context before you shall find the sense justified that I put upon the words and these new Heavens and new Earth created after the Jews casting off and destruction It is a strange opinion that would perswade you that the most glorious things that are foretold by the Prophets should come to pass when the Jews are called which calling is yet expected whereas those glorious things are plainly enough intimated to come to pass at the Jews casting off I might name many places I shall not expatiate upon that subject here this very Chapter speaks enough to justifie what I say In the second verse God complains I have spred out my hands all the day long to a rebellious people This the Apostle in the tenth of the Romans and the last applies unto that people But to Israel he saith All the day long have I stretched forth my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people The Prophet along the Chapter telleth what shall become of that people At vers 6. I will not keep silence but will recompence even recompence into their basom Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together saith the Lord which have burnt incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills therefore c. At vers 12. I will number you to the sword and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter At vers 13. Behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry c. At vers 15. You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen And then follows the promise that is related to in the Text For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth Though you are gone yet all the World shall not be gone with you For though I destroy my old people the old Heavens and Earth of the old oeconomy yet I shall provide my self a new people of the Gentiles when the Jews shall be a people no more and when that old World is destroyed I will create new Heavens and a new Earth Such another passage is that of our Saviour Matth. XXIV 31. where when he had described the ruine of the Jewish Nation in the terms we have spoken of before and it might be questioned what then shall become of a Church and where shall it be The Son of man saith he shall send his Angels or Ministers with the sound of the trumpet of the Gospel and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the Heaven to the other among all Nations Thus had Peter read this great promise in Esay the Evangelical Prophet thus had he heard it from the mouth of the great Prophet his sacred Master and therefore it is no wonder if when it is confirmed by the mouth of two such witnesses he undoubtedly look for new Heavens and a new Earth according to such a promise But what is meant by righteousness in this place 1. Not Gods primitive or distributive righteousness or justice for that was ever Gen. XVIII The Judge of all the World did right ever since the World was In the old World in all the World and the same for this yesterday and to day and for ever 2. Not that men were more righteous toward the latter end of the World than before as some dream of such glorious things yet to come for there is no such promise in all the Scripture True indeed that promise of such glorious things was in the last days of Jerusalem but where is any promise of any such things in the last days of the World 3. Nor doth it mean the glorified estate for where do you find righteousness applied to that estate It is commonly applied to the state of believers here 4. Therefore it means justification of sinners or that righteousness by which they are justified The righteousness of God which is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe as the Apostle most divinely doth expound it This is the righteousness that is so gloriously spoken of throughout all the Scriptures Dan. IX 24. To bring in everlasting righteousness Esa. LVI 1. My righteousness is near to be revealed to which that is agreeable Rom. I. 17. In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith Why Was not the righteousness of God revealed in all times before Was not his justice revealed in the Law Yea his condemning justice but his justifying justice in the Gospel This the meaning of the Apostle here That as God had promised to Create new Heavens and a new Earth a new Church and People and oeconomy among the Gentiles when the old Judaick one should be destroyed so in this new created World justifying righteousness should dwell most evidently and appear most glorious when such abominable ones as the Gentiles had been should be justified Justifying righteousness had shewed it self in the World in all generations from Adam and righteous Abel
blasphemed Christ 1 John II. 22. Who is ◠lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son And that then was the Jew Secondly When they were destroyed then Rome began to persecute till Constantine Thirdly When that was quieted then the Arian and the Macedonian appeared in the Jewish Spirit Fourthly That cursed Spirit was hardly laid but then the Papacy begins t◠rise and brings in all Judaism against the honour of Christ. And Fifthly That unmasked in the Reformation the Jewish Spirit appears again in the Socinian A SERMON PREACHED AT ASPEDEN April 5. 1660. 1 COR. X. 2. And were all baptised unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea ONE great breach in England is the breach about the Sacraments It is the policy of the Devil to divide Christians even there where there is the greatest bond of Communion As poison is to our Victuals which makes that which in its own nature is the great means of the preservation of our health and lives to become the destroyer of it Our knitting together must be in these Sacraments but they are made the means of our disuniting Therefore if the present occasion called not for it yet the present necessity of our Nation does to inform our selves about these bonds For your instruction in the Sacrament or Bond of Baptism I have chosen these words Wherein we may observe these four things I. Israel was Baptized II. All were baptized III. Unto Moses IV. In the Cloud and in the Sea I. Israel was baptized when they came out of Egypt From whence I make this Doctrine That Baptism was no new thing when Christ ordained it in the Church of the Gospel This Observation is of excellent use It is said concerning the times of the Gospel that there should be new Heavens and a new Earth All new When God set aside that old people he chose him a new people viz. The Gentiles This change of new for old consisted in two things First Some things were laid aside And Secondly some old things were reserved but the end of them changed All the Ceremonial Law laid aside but the Moral reserved and the Doctrine cleared The publick Worship of the Temple laid aside of the Synagogue reserved But some old things were reserved and changed At the Passover the Lamb was laid aside Bread and Wine reserved but the end changed And in this Sacrament where Baptism was added to Circumcision Circumcision was laid aside Baptism received The first mention of Baptism is in Gen. XXXV 2. And Jacob said unto his houshold and unto all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments Be clean the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mundate vos That Baptism is meant here is confest by the Jews The next mention is this in the Text They were all Baptized unto Moses c. And this is the more considerable that they should be Baptized now when they were but newly circumcised to wit in the three days darkness that was upon the Egyptians during which time Israel was circumcised to qualifie them to eat the Passover For no uncircumcised Person may eat thereof Exod. XII A third mention of Baptism is at Sinai So the Jews And they speak of Proselytes Admission now The Anabaptists will not hear this nothing but the letter of Scripture But that is a dangerous Text. T is true we are to require it for the foundation of Faith but by ininsisting upon it too rigorously for other matters we lose infinite profit that may accrue to us by Examples and Explications But let us reason with them that Baptism could be no new thing in those times First The Scribes and Pharisees were not so easie to be brought to follow Novelty But they came in multitudes to Johns Baptism Matth. III. 7. Secondly See I. Joh. 25. The Jews sent Pharisees to John the Baptist and they asked him why baptisest thou then if thou be not that Christ Whereby you may see they never questioned the thing and shewed also that they were easily perswaded that the Messias would make use of their rite of baptizing for the admitting Disciples Take this in the dispute about Poedobaptism They tell us that there is no example in the Scripture of children baptized I answer True but no such example needed to be recorded for Christ took up Baptism as he found it in the Jewish Church and they baptized Infants as well as grown persons And if Christ would not that Baptism should have been administred to children he would have forbidden it Therefore there is no Rule or Example given in Scripture of baptising children Luke wrote enough in XVI Act. 15. 32. where he tells us of the Baptism of Lydia and her houshold and of the Jaylor and all his Now one reading these passages in Judaea how would he have understood it Undoubtedly according to the ordinary practise of Baptism as it was used among them in admitting of their Proselytes which was that when the Master of the house was baptized for a Proselyte all his family children and all were baptized too T is the best rule to come to the understanding of the Phrases of Scripture to consider in what sence they were taken in that Country and among that People where they were written II. They were All baptized Who All our Fathers vers 1. All passed through the Sea Were there not children here How Was there no child in arms did they carry none on their backs when they passed through the Sea What say the Anabaptists here This Text saith All were baptized They say None ought to be baptized that are children because they are not capable of understanding the Ordinance What then Were the Jewish children more capable than the children of Christians There are two opinions of the Anabaptists which we are to be informed in else we may fall into mistake First That Baptism is not to be administred to any that are without knowledge Secondly That it is not to be administred to any unless he be verus filius foederis a true son of the Covenant To these I will put answer into your mouths To the first God never ordained Sacraments that their nature should be changed pro captu recipientis according to the capacity of him that received them Ordinances retain their nature whosoever receives them As sin is sin though not felt and the Word is the Word of God though he that hears it is not benefitted by it So Sacraments are Sacraments as to their nature whatsoever the Receivers be T is true their fruit is pro captu recipientis but not their nature The Sacrament is a seal whosoever receives it Again You read of Baptism without knowledge in Matth. XXVIII 19 20. Go and Disciple all Nations baptizing them in the Name c. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you c. Baptize and Teach
the Numen of Rome which was by no means named or known before Rev. XIII 2. The Dragon gave it his power and seat For that Rome is there meant hath not only the consent of the Interpreters of old and of the Protestants at this day but even of the Romanists themselves if you will but allow them the distinction of Rome Heathen and Christian. And can any good thing be expected thence where the Dragons donation is the Founder of the power I doubt more truly than Constantines And can the Gospel but sind opposition there when there is such a power delegated from the great opposer For you read not of any revocation or alienation of that Conveyance of Power II. As to her Religion in after times and at this day give me leave to use the words written upon the wall of Belshazzers dining room Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin 1. Mene. Number the Doctrines of that Church and Religion one by one and how great a company of them will prove to be like those of the Jews but dreams of men lying under the spirit of slumber Universal Bishopship Primacy Infallibility Power to pardon Purgatory and Deliverance thence Transubstantiation and multitudes more of the like fancy the believing of which is but like his case in the Prophet that dreameth that he eateth and behold he is still hungry and dreameth that he drinketh but behold he is still thirsty and his soul fainteth in him 2. Tekel Weigh their Doctrines in the ballances of Scripture reason and impartial judgment and how great a company of them will prove again like the Jewish of no greater weight than fond traditions and the vain inventions of men even from the Chair wherein the King sitteth upon the Throne to the Souls in Purgatory or the servant behind the Mill. 3. Lastly Perez Divide their Doctrines that every one may have his part to whom it belongs and how great a share will fall to the unbelieving Jew and how great a share to the Apostatizer or him that once believed but was revolted and fallen away These two were the great Enemies and Opposers of the Gospel in the Apostles times before ever the Heathen Rome began to persecute it And these two if my conjecture do not very much deceive me made up the full measure of the stature of the Antichrist that the Apostles St. Paul and St. John speak of as extant in those very times The former the unbelieving Jew was the man in the Parable out of whom the unclean spirit was not yet cast The Apostatized Jew was he out of whom indeed that spirit had been cast but was returned with seven other spirits worse than himself and dwelt there again The former opposed the Gospel by inforcing against it the rites and ceremonies of the Law and justification by it The latter by that also as it would serve his turn but withal abusing the liberty of the Gospel against the Sanctification of it These were the Opposers of the Gospel before the Heathen Roman persecution began to meddle with it And when that ceased after long succession of time whether the same spirit and principles were not metempsychosed into Rome now grown Papal let any impartial Censure judge by comparing her strictness for Mosaick rites and the loosness of her Libertine Doctrines I am deceived if the Jubilee now coming speak not very fair and far toward the attestation of both these Mosaick strictness in proclaiming a Jubilee and Libertine loosness in indulging so easie pardons If mens practises speak their principles as this mans in the Text did we need not to â—ip so much into the principles of this Church elementing and indoctrinating to the opposing of the power purity and sincerity of the Gospel her practises do make them legible abundantly as written in Capital letters of fire and blood This days memorial gives evidence sufficient that I may not trouble you with raking into any more Which commemorates a design of cruelty and horror a design full of all subtilty of all mischievousness of all inhumanity that remote ages to come will hardly believe that a Church that takes on her to be the only holy Catholick Church should ever â—â—eed so horrid a monster And why so cruel against a harmless Nation What had we done that we must be so destroyed Abimelechs plea to God was Lord wilt thou also destroy an innocent Nation And God accepted his plea as good and would not destroy it But these men were deaf to any such pleading and an innocent Nation must perish because it was so innocent As all the crime of Abel that must cost him his life was that he was more righteous than his Brother so all our guilt was because we had the more righteous and pure Religion And therefore Mother and Child our Religion and we must perish together As God by fire sent from Heaven in the days of Elias did determine the question who was the true God the Lord or Baal so he by preventing this fire from Hell hath determined the question betwixt Rome and us which is the true Religion theirs or ours O! England happy in thy Gospel and Religion a Religion doubly lovely and beautiful Tirzah-like both because thou deservest the hate of such a people and because God hath so owned thee against thy haters Blessed be the great God of Grace and Truth that hath planted thee watered thee preserved thee and so shines upon thee And so may it grow and prosper and flourish and bring forth blessed fruit under the same influence of Heaven and let all the people say Amen Hallelujah A SERMON PREACHED AT Guildhall LONDON Jan. XXIV MDCLXXIV REV. XXI 2. And I Iohn saw the holy City the new Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven AND no wonder if there be a new Jerusalem when at the fifth verse of this Chapter God proclaims that he makes all things new And that new Jerusalem must needs be a holy City when it is sent down from God and comes out of Heaven And that holy City coming from Heaven could not but be a most lovely prospect to him that saw it when the old Jerusalem on Earth had been once so lovely that it was the glory and joy of the whole Earth Psal. XLVIII Who it was that saw it he himself tells you speaking out his name John by which I suppose there is none here but understands the blessed Apostle and Evangelist of that name though time hath been that some have dreamed of another John but no account could be given who he was or whence he came I shall therefore in this matter which I believe needs but little dispute now only say these three things I. That it is disagreeable to all reason to think that our Saviour when he intended to do some man so much honour and favour as to impart such noble and glorious visions and revelations to him as are recorded in this Book that he should pass by and skip over his own
Apostles and Disciples and should pick out a man that we all know was no Apostle that no one knows whether he were a Disciple or no. But II. It is agreeable to all reason to conceive that as the man to whom God vouchsafed the revelation and discovery of the times and occurrences that were to intervene betwixt his own times and the fall of Jerusalem was Daniel a man greatly beloved so that the John to whom Christ would vouchsafe the revelation and discovery of the times and occurrences that were to intervene betwixt the Fall of Jerusalem and the end of the World was John the Disciple greatly beloved III. Of that Disciple Christ had intimated that he would that he should tarry till â—e came Joh. XXI 22. that is till he should come in vengeance against the Jewish Nation and their City to destroy them for that his coming both in that place and in divers other places in the New Testament doth mean in that sense it were very easie to make evident should we take that subject to insist upon Now as our Saviour vouchsafed to preserve him alive to see the Fall and destruction of that City so also did he vouchsafe to him the sight of a new Jerusalem instead of the old when that was ruined laid in ashes and come to nothing He saw it in Vision we see it in the Text and upon that let us six our Eyes and Discourse for we need not speak more of him that saw it In the verse before he sees a new Heaven and a new Earth and in this verse a new Jerusalem I. Something parallel to which is that in Esa. LXV 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth And in the verse next following Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing The expressions intimate the great change of affairs that should be in the World under the Gospel from what had been before A new Heaven or a change of Church and Religion from a Jewish to a Gentile Church and from Mosaick to Evangelical Religion A new Earth or a change in the World as to the management or rule of it from Heathenism to Christianity and from the rule of the four Heathen Monarchies Dan. VII to the Saints or Christians to iudge the World 1 Cor. VI. 2. or being Rulers or Magistrates in it And the new Jerusalem is the emblem and Epitome of all these things under this change as the old Jerusalem had been before the change came There is none but knoweth that Jerusalem in Scripture language is very commonly taken for the whole Church then being as well as it is taken particularly and literally for the City it self then standing That City was the Church in little because there were eminently in it all those things that do make and constitute a true Church viz. the administration of the Word and divine Ordinances the Assemblies of the Saints the Worship of the true God by his own appointment and the presence of God himself in the midst of all And can any doubt but that the new Jerusalem meaneth in the like sense and upon the like reason The Church of God under the Gospel this inriched with all those excellencis and privileges that that was yea and much more There was the Doctrine of Salvation but wrapped up in Types and Figures and dark Prophesies but here unfolded to the view of every Eye and Moses vail taken off his face There Ordinances of divine Worship but mingled with multitudes of carnal rites here pure adoration in Spirit and Truth There an assembly only of one People and Nation here a general assembly compacted of all Nations There God present in a cloud upon the Ark here God present in the communication of his Spirit Therefore it is the less wonder that it is called the holy City because of these things II. which is the second circumstance considerable in the words I saw the new Jerusalem The holy City It is observable that the second old Jerusalem for so let me call the Jerusalem that was built and inhabited after the return out of Captivity was called the holy City when goodness and holiness were clean banished out of the City and become a stranger there When the Temple had lost its choisest ornaments and endowments that contributed so much to the holiness of the place and City The Ark the cloud of Glory upon it the Oracle by Urim and Thummim the fire from Heaven upon the Altar these were all gone and Prophesie was utterly ceased from the City and Nation yet even then it is called the holy City in this her nakedness Nay when the Temple was become a Den of Thieves and Jerusalem no better if not worse when she had persecuted the Prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her when she had turned all Religion upside down and out of doors and worshiped God only according to inventions of men yet even then and when she is in that case she is termed the holy City Matth. IV. 5. Then the Devil taketh him up into the Holy City and setteth him on a pinacle of the Temple Nay when that holy Evangelist had given the story of her crucifying the Holy of Holies the Lord of life and glory even then he calls her the holy City Chap. XXVII 53. The bodies of many Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared to many Call me not Naomi but call me Marah might she very well have said then and so might others say of her for it might seem very incongruous to call the holy City when she was a City so very unholy She was indeed simply and absolutely in her self most unholy and yet comparatively The holy City because there was not a place under Heaven besides which God had chosen to place his Name there and there he had and that was it that gave her that name and title And while she kept the peculiarity of the thing she kept the name but at last forfeited both and then God finds out another City where to place his Name A new Jerusalem A holy City a holier City her younger sister fairer than she Holy under the same notion with the other because God hath placed his Name only III. there Holier than she because he hath placed it there in a more heavenly and spiritual manner than in her as was touched before And Holier still because she shall never lose her holiness as the other did as we shall touch hereafter And she cannot but be holy as I said before when she comes down from Heaven and is sent thence by God And this is the third thing remarkable in the Text I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven The Apostle S. Paul calls her Jerusalem which is above Gal. IV. 26. Our Apostle sees her coming down from above and the Prophet Ezekiel in his fortieth Chapter and forward seeth her pitched here below when she is
You have mention of her armies Dan. IX ult but with this brand upon them that they are called The abominable army that maketh desolate there styled by their Vulgar Latine as in Matth. XXIV the abomination of desolation But thirdly That which tops up all is that she is called Babylon in this Book of the Revelations and described there as she is For that by Babylon is meant Rome the Romanists themselves will readily grant you if you will grant them the distinction of Rome Pagan and Christian Imperial and Pontifical And the last verse of Chap. XVII puts the matter out of all doubt where it says that the Woman the scarlet Whore which thou sawest is the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Upon which every one that is acquainted with the Rome-history must needs conclude that no City can there be understood like the City Rome Now it is a very improper inquest to look for the new Jerusalem in a place that must perish for ever to look for the holy City among the abominable armies and to look for Sion the City of God in Babylon that Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth Secondly Whereas old Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation incurred so great a curse and guilt for the murther of the Lord of life as we all know it did it requireth very cogent arguments to prove that Rome that had a hand as deep in that murther should obtain so great a blessing and happiness on the contrary as to be the only Church in the World and the Mother of all Churches There is no Christian but knoweth how deep a hand Jerusalem had in that horrid fact and he knoweth but little that knoweth not that Pontius Pilate was Deputy for Rome there and how deeply also he was ingaged in it as her Deputy And so much be spoken concerning the very Place and how unlikely it is to find the new Jerusalem there How improper it is to imagine that that should be the City of God of which God himself in his Word speaks not one good Word but evil to imagine that he should choose that of all Cities for his dearest spouse that of all Cities had the deepest hand in the murther of his dear Son II. Concerning their Church and Religion If these men that pretend to lead men to the new Jerusalem and lead them to Rome would but speak out and plain and tell them that they will lead them to the old Jerusalem and so lead them to Rome they speak something likely For what is the Church and Religion of Rome but in a manner that of old Jerusalem translated out of Judaick into Roman and transplanted out of Palestina into Italy And there is hardly an easier or a clearer way to discover that she is not the new Jerusalem then by comparing her with the old as God doth most clearly discover the Jerusalem then being Ezek. XXIII by comparing her with Samaria and Sodom divers hours would scarce serve to observe the parallel in all particulars and punctually to compare the Transcript with the Original I shall only and briefly hint two things to you to that purpose And First Let me begin with that distinction that the Jews have in their writings once and again of the Mosaick Law and the Judaick Law or the Law of Moses and the Law of the Jews And they will tell you such and such things are transgressions of the Mosaick Law and such and such are transgressions of the Judaick Law And as they themselves do make the distinction so they themselves did cause the distinction What they mean by the Mosaick Law we all understand and by their Judaick Law they mean their Traditional Law which they call the Law unwritten While they kept to the Law of Moses for a rule of faith and life as they did under the first Temple they did well in point of Doctrine and no heresie and heterodoxy tainted them but when they received and drank in Traditions as they did under the second Temple they drank in their own bane and poison There is in Scripture frequent mention of the last days and the last times by which is meant most commonly the last days of old Jerusalem and of the Jewish oeconomy when they were now drawing toward their dissolution But from what date or time to begin her last days may be some question If you date them from the time she first received and entertained her traditions you do but fit the calculation to the nature of the thing calculated For then did she fall into the consumption and disease that brought her to her grave then did she catch that infection and plague that never left her but grew upon her till it made her breath her last in a fatal end Traditions spoiled her Religion and brought her to worship God in vain teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men Matth. XV. 9. Traditions spoiled her manners and trained her up in a vain conversation received by tradition from the Fathers 1 Pet. I. 18. In a word Traditions as they made the Law so they made the Gospel of no effect and the doctrine of Christ the death of Christ the belief in Christ to be but needless business and things to no purpose Nay Traditions leavened them to hate the Gospel to murther Christ and to persecute his Disciples For by the principles of their Traditions they could do no less than all these Now surely Jerusalem that is above is above this infection and the new holy City certainly brought no such infection from Heaven nor was tainted with this contagion which was the death of the old as a Priest in Israel could hardly be infected with Leprosie But you may see the tokens upon the Church of Rome very thick traditions upon traditions some of so like stamp to those of old Jerusalem that you can hardly know them asunder but all of the like effect and consequence that they make the Gospel of none effect as those did the Law and causing men to worship God in vain while they are taught for Doctrines the commandments of men How great a part of their Religion is nothing else but the commandments of men and other Traditions and how great a part of their Church is built upon nothing else The very chief corner stone in all their fabrick is of no better substance and solidity viz. that S. Peter was Bishop there and there was martyred when the Scripture and reason gives a far fairer probability that he was Apostle to the circumcision in Babylonia and there ended his days Secondly You would hardly think that there was a worse brood in the old Jerusalem than those that we have spoken of the men so infected with the Plague and with a Frenzy with it of traditions And yet I can name you a worse and that was those that had forsaken their Judaism and entertained and embraced the Gospel but at last apostatized from it and revolted to their old
world he being Lord of all What reason can we give but that he by his own proceeding and acting would set the clock of time and measure out days and a week by which all time is measured by his own standard Evening and Morning to make a natural day i. e. day and night and seven natural days to make a week six days of labour the seventh for rest six for man the seventh for God Shall we trace the story of the six days a little that we may the more plainly observe the Rest and blessing of the Sabbath when it came That the world was made at Aequinox all grant but differ at which whether about the eleventh of March or twelfth of September to me in September without all doubt All things were created in their ripeness and maturity Appels ripe and ready to eat as is too sadly plain in Adam and Eves eating the forbidden Fruit. To this we might add that God attributed the beginning of the year to March upon Ecclesiastical account upon their coming out of Egypt Exod. XII Which argues it had begun from some time else before And so the Jews well observe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of the year for telling the year it from September 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of the year for stating of the feasts is from March See Exod. XXIII 16. The feast of in-gathering in the end of the year After which a new year was presently to begin when they had gathered in grapes c. So that look at the first day of the Creation God made Heaven and Earth in a moment The Heaven as soon as created moved and the wheel of time began to go And thus for twelve hours there was universal darkness This is called the Evening meaning Night Then God said Let there be Light and light arose in the East and in twelve hours more was carried over the Hemisphere and this is called Morning or Day And the Evening and Morning made the first natural days twelve hours darkness and twelve light Accordingly did God proceed in the works of the six days as Moses hath informed us at large which I shall not insist upon but come to the works of the sixth day On that day God created creeping things and beasts and lastly man And that which is needful to observe towards the Lords resting and sanctifying the seventh day is that before the seventh day came sin was come into the world and Christ was promised On the sixth day all was marred again Before that day was ended sin was got into the world and spoiled the best of the Creation of God Men and some Angels This we have to speak to wich giveth some illustration concerning the institution of the Sabbath of the seventh day That Adam fell on the very day that he was created needs not so much dispute about for it is easie to be proved as it needs sorrow and wonder Wonder that he placed in so incomparable happyness and having perfect power to continue in it should set so light by that happiness as to pass it off for an Apple and that he should lose that happiness on his first day when he was able to have kept it all his days And Sorrow that the noblest of natures that God had created should be so soon overthrown and overthrown so sorely For proof of this we may have recourse to Scripture to Reason and to the Correspondence that was twixt the Fall and the Redemption I. To prove it by Scripture First Observe that Psal. XLIX 12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not but is like the beasts that perish The Psalmist in the verse before shews the carnal confidence of worldly men Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations c. And in this verse he shews how vain such confidences are For that man hath no abiding here in his house or honour but he must away And he lays it down not only as a thing undoubted in it self in the words that you have before you in your English Bibles but in the Original he includes the most proof of it that could be produced For in the Original the words speak literally thus Adam in honour lodged not all night but was flitted out of his honour before his first night came And if it were so with him in his great honour and in his great ability to have stood and remained in his honour it is much more so with man that is become sinful mortal and nothing but fading I say the words in the Original bear also this sense that Adam in honour lodged not all night And so they speak and prove the thing we are upon that he â—ell and faded on the very day he was created and lost his honour and happiness before night came Secondly Observe that Joh. VIII 44. He was a murtherer from the beginning The Syriac renders it from in the beginning the common phrase whereby the Jewish Nation expressed the days of Creation So is it their common expression whereby they denote the works of the Creation to call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the works in the beginning And the Jews that stood by and heard Christ speak these words He was a murtherer from the beginning could not otherwise understand it than that he was a murtherer even from the days of the Creation that he murthered Adam on the very day that he was created And so Christ meant in the words as speaking according to the common and familiar Language of the Nation For II. To clear this by Reason which the Scripture thus hinteth First It is without all question that the Devil would slack no time but as he was fallen himself through his spite and malice at the happiness and honour of Adam so he would hasten all he could to bring him out of his happiness and honour which he so much spited and maliced It is disputed what day the Angels were created It is the most probable they were created the first day with the Heavens and that they were spectators of Gods works in the creation and praised and magnified the Lord for his works all along so God himself the great Creator tells us Job XXXVIII 4 5 6 7. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth c. Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who layd thâ— corner stone thereof When the morning Stars sung together and all the Sons of God shooted for joy By Stars and Sons of God is plainly meant the Angels and they are singing and shouting when God lays the foundations of the earth as they did at the laying the foundation of the Temple Ezra III. Now the foundation of the earth was laid in the first day the first work of the Creation when God in one and the same instant created Heaven
it did begin So though the Passover be appointed to be in that first month that began the new year and be called an Everlasting Ordinance Exod. XII 16. Yet upon occasion the Lord ordained it to be kept in the second month Numb IX To this we may add Gods changing the very end and memorial of the Sabbath to Israel themselves Changing said I or rather adding a new memorial which it had not before In Exod. XX. the memorial is to remember Gods creating and resting in Deut. V. where the Ten Commandments are repeated it is in memorial of their redemption out of Egypt Not unclothed of its first end and memorial but clothed upon So if Adam had continued innocent he must have kept the Sabbath and then it had been to him but the memorial of Gods creating and resting But when Christ and redemption by him was set up and come in before the Sabbath came in then it was clothed with another memorial viz. the remembrance of the redemption II. Christ had power and authority to change the Sabbath Mark II. 28. The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath He had power over all Divine Ordinances Hebr. III. 5 6. Now Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant c. But Christ as a Son over his own house He is not a Servant in the house but a Son to dispose of the affairs of the house as he sees good He is greater than the Temple and so may order the affairs of the Temple as he saw good If a Jew question why he laid by the Ceremonies of Moses The answer is ready because he was greater than Moses Lord of the house in which Moses was but a Servant Nay it was he that appointed Moses those Ceremonies and he might unappoint them at his pleasure That is observable Act. VII 38. This is that Moses that was in the Church in the wilderness with the Angel which spake to him at Mount Sinai and with our Fathers who received the lively Oracles to give us With the Angel who was that It was Christ the great Angel of the Covenant as he is called Mal. III. 1. The Angel of Gods presence as he is called Esai LXIII 9. Then who spake with Moses at Mount Sinai It was Christ. Who gave him the Lively Oracles Laws Testimonies Statutes It was Christ. And then might Christ that gave them dispose of them as seemed him good So that if a Jew question why Christ changed Circumcision into Baptism the Paschal Lamb into Bread and Wine the Jewish Sabbath into the Christian Sabbath The answer is ready he was Lord of them and might dispose of them Het set up Circumcision the Passover the Jewish Sabbath and might take them down and alter them as he pleased III. Ye read once and again in Scripture of Gods creating a new world Esai LXV 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth 2 Pet. III. 13. We according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth Rev. XXI 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth Now when was this done The Apostle tells us when viz. in his own time 2 Cor. V. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature The meaning of it is Gods creating a new Estate of things under the Gospel a new Church the Jews cast off and the Gentiles taken in new ordinances in his Church Ceremonious worship taken down and Spiritual set up new Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper instead of the Circumcision and Passover a new Command of love to one another a new Covenant a new and living way into the most holy a new Creature and in a word all things become new Then certainly a new Sabbath was fit for a new Creation Lay these two places together Gen. I. 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and Esai LXV 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth In fulness of time God created new Heavens and a new Earth and as the first Creation had the old Sabbath so was it not fit the new Creation should have a new Sabbath As our Saviour speaks Mat. IX 17. New cloth must not be put into an old garment nor new wine into old bottles but new wine must be put into new vessels and both are preserved So in this case a new manner of worship new Ordinances new Sacraments to be committed to the old Sabbath This is improper but a new Sabbath must be for these as well as they themselves are new How pied would Christianity have looked if it had worn a Coat all new in other respects but had had on the shirt or piecing of the old Sabbath And how unfit was it to have tyed Christians to the observation of the old Sabbath of the Jews IV. The Resurrection of Christ was the day of his birth and beginning of his Kingdom Observe the quotation Acts XIII 33. The promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled to us their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee When was the day wherein Christ was begotten In the day that God raised him from the dead That is strange for as he was God was he not begotten from Eternity and as he was man was he not conceived by the Holy Ghost and born three and thirty years and an half before his Resurrection Yes both most true and yet that true too that he was begotten from the day of his Resurrection And the Apostle tells you how to understand it viz. He was the first begotten and first born from the dead begotten that day to the Gentiles and all the world from thenceforward a Saviour to them and by his Resurrection as the Apostle saith Rom. I. 4. Declared to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead So likewise his Resurrection was the beginning of his Reign and Kingdom Consider upon that Mat. XXVI 29. I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom That is when I am risen from the dead And see Mat. XXVIII 18. Now I begin to reign All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth For now he had conquered all his Enemies Devil Death and Hell Now was not the first day of the week the day on which Christ rose fitter to be made the Sabbath to commemorate his Birth-day from the dead and his entrance into his Kingdom than the last day of the week the old Sabbath on which day he lay in the grave and under death Kings and Potentates use to celebrate their Birth-day and the day of entrance into their Kingdom and this King of Kings was it not fit that such a memorial should be of his Birth-day and entrance into his Dominion And compare the Creation and Christs Resurrection whether of
conquer Hell then If he did what was it with What did his Soul there to conquer Hell How he conquered Hell and Death by dying and rising we can tell but how his Soul conquered with bare going thither who can tell you Or did he augment the torments of the Devils and damned That needed not nor indeed could it be done as I shall shew afterwards What then did Christs Soul there in its Triumph unless as He Veni vidi vici I came I saw I overcame it conquered Hell by looking into it Natura nihil facit frustra Nature does nothing in vain much less the God of nature And Christ in his life time never did spoke thought any thing in vain And it is unhansom to think that his Soul after death should go out of the bosom of his Father into Hell to do no body can imagine what For who can tell what it did in Triumphing there II. Was not Christ under his Humiliation till his Resurrection Was he not under it whilst he lay in the grave He himself accounts it so Psal. XVI 10. Thou wilt not suffer my Soul being in the state of separation my Body to see corruption to be trampled on by death to be triumphed over by Satan that yet had it there If you imagine his Soul triumphing or vapouring in Hell for I cannot imagine what it should do there unless to vapour how might Satan vapour again Thou Soul of Jesus dost thou come to triumph here Of what I pray thee Have I not cause to triumph over thee Have I not procured his death Banished thee out of his body and got it into the grave And dost thou come to triumph here Let us first see whether he can get out from among the dead before we talk of his triumph over him that had the power of death So that if we should yield to so needless a point as Christs going to triumph in Hell yet certainly it would be but very unseasonable to have gone thither when he had not yet conquered but his body was still under death and as yet under the conquest of Satan This had been to triumph before Victory as Benhadads vapour was to Ahab when he received that answer Let not him that girdeth on his sword boast himself as he that putteth it off The beginning of Christs Kingdom was his Resurrection for then had he conquered death and him that had the power of death the Devil And so the Scripture generally states it I need cite no proof but two of his own speeches Matth. XXVI 29. I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom that is after my Resurrection when I have conquered the Enemies of God and set up his Kingdom And Matth. XXVIII 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth And this was after his Resurrection But is it not improper to dream of a Triumph before a Conquest That Christ should Triumph as King before he had put on his Kingdom As Esth. V. 3. On the third day she put on the Kingdom For so it is in the Hebrew The days before she had been under fasting mourning humiliation and that was not a time of Royalty and Triumph So on the third day Christ rose and put on his Kingdom the days before he had been under death had abased himself a very unfit and unseasonable time for his Soul to go and triumph III. As concerning Christs triumphing over Devils His Victory over Satan was of another kind of nature than to go amongst them to shew terribly or speak terribly for what else can we imagine his Soul did in that Triumph in Hell It is said Heb. II. 14. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil Destroy him How We may say of him as he of the Traitor Vivit etiam in Senatum venit He lives yea he comes into the Council-house So Is the Devil destroyed He is alive walketh rageth ruleth He walked about the Earth before Christs death Job I. So hath he done ever since 1 Pet. V. 8. Your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour He was a murtherer from the beginning to Christs death Joh. VIII 44. So hath he been ever since he goes about seeking to devour and he doth devour He wrought in the children of disobedience before and he now worketh Eph. II. 2. And how hath Christ conquered destroyed him You must look for the Conquest and Triumph of Christ over him not so much in destroying his Person as destroying his Works 1 Joh. III. 8. For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil I might here speak of many things I shall only mention two or three particulars wherein the Victory of Christ over the Devil by his death doth consist 1. By his death he hath conquered the very clamors of Satan paying a ransom for all his people Rom. VIII 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Satan is ready to say I lay a charge and claim to them for they have been disobedient But Christ hath paid a satisfaction for all their disobedience Satan thou art cast in thy suit the debt is paid How is the Devil confounded at the loss of such a prize as he expected And how does the Death and Merits of Christ here Triumph Now Goliah David defies thee touch one in the Camp of Israel if you can or dare they are all redeemed and ransomed thou hast nothing to do with them And the ransomed of the Lord shall go to Sion with everlasting joy Rejoyce O Heathens for the false accuser is cast out Here is a glorious Triumph by the righteousness and holiness of Christ delivering all his people 2. By his death he brake the partition wall and brings in the Heathen Oh! how did Satan hold them in slavery Pharaoh let my people go No. I know not the Lord nor will I let them go But thou shalt be brought to it and by the death of a Paschal Lamb they shall go whether thou wilt or no. Two thousand years had they been in his slavery sure thought he this shall be for ever But by the death of poor despised Jesus at Jerusalem the prison doors are open and all these captives are gone free Rejoyce ye prisoners of hope as they are called Zech. IX 11 12. I cannot but think of the case of Paul and Silas Act. XVI in an inner prison their feet in the stocks the doors fast and a strong guard and there comes one shake and all fly open and all the prisoners are loosed Jaylor what sayest thou now Thou mayst even draw thy sword and end thy self all thy prisoners are gone 3. Nay yet further Jaylor thou must to prison thy self Ponder on those words Rev. XX. 1
19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise 590   And compared with Iohn 5. 20. Ephes. 2. 1. 1105 28. 16. I lay in Sion a foundation a stone c. 205 35. 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief 1255 40. 3. Wilderness for Heathen World 296 45. 13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. 1057 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs c. reconciled with Matth. 8. 17. 167  7. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter 680  8. Who shall declare his generation 1112 55. 3. Hear and your Souls shall live c. Even the sure mercies of David 1235 56. 1. Keep judgment and do justice 1114 63. 4. The day of vengeance is in my heart c. 351  8. Children that will not lye compared with Iohn 1. 47. 524 65. 13. Behold my servants shall eat but they shall be hungry 552  17. I create a new Heaven and a new Earth 244 626 1075  20. There shall be no more than an infant of days 573 1071 66. 7 8. Before she travailed she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered c. 244 350 351  20. They shall bring their Brethren c. 347  21. I will take of them for Priests and Levites saith the Lord. 1040  24. Their worm shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched 38 346 347 JEREMIAH Ch. vers  Page 2. 31. SEE the Word of the Lord. 1125 4. 23. Earth without form c. 244 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour for they shall all know me 1071 EZEKIEL Ch. vers  Page 8. 17. THEY put the branch to their nose 602 15. 2. What is the Vine-tree more to me than any tree c. 602 27. 7. Wheat of Minith and Pannag 684 38. 39. 17. Concerning Gog and the Land of Magog 1173 1247 DANIEL Ch. vers  Page 7. 9. THrones were cast down c. 220  10. The judgment was set c. 220  13 14. Kingdom of Heaven 115  18 26 27. The Saints of the most High shall take the Kingdom c. 1058 1059  24. The ten horns are ten Kings that shall arise 1035  25. A time and times and the dividing of times 1035 9. 24. Seventy years c. 116  27. He shall confirm the Covenant c. 117 12. 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake 1085 HOSEA Ch. vers  Page 3. 5. IN the later days compared with Acts 2. 17. 1 Tim. 4. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 1. 1 Ioh. 2. 18. 1 Cor. 10. 11. 1 Pet. 4. 7. and interpreted of the end of the Jewish State 1074 4. 8. They eat up the sins of my people 1243 5. 11. Ephraim is oppressed c. Because he willingly walked after the commandment 1098 8. 12. I have written to him the great things of my Law c. 11â—7 AMOS Ch. vers  Page 3. 2. YOU have I known of all the families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities 1226 4. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches c. 673 5. 18. Wo to you that desire the day of the Lord reconciled with Chap. 6. 3. 1120  25. Have ye offered unto me 671  26. The Tabernacle of Moloch c. compared and harmonized with Luke 7. 43. 671 to 673 6 3. Wo to you that put the evil day far away reconciled with Chap. 5. 18. 1120 OBADIAH vers  Page 20. ZArephath 368 HAGGAI Ch. vers  Page 2. 9. THE glory of this later house shall be greater than of the former 531 ZECHARIAH Ch. vers  Page 11. 8. THree Shepherds c. interpreted of Pharisees Sadducees and Esseans 1037 1102 11. 1 2 3 6 7 8 10 14. Concerning the great Shepherd 573 574 14. 16 17. It shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the Nations c. 107 MALACHI Ch. vers  Page 4. 5. BEhold I will send Elijah 382 c. MATTHEW Ch. vers  Page 1. 17. FOurteen Generations c. thrice said but squares not exactly Vindicated 99 100 3. 5. The Region about Jordan 43 298 c.  7. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come 1128 4. 15. Beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles 362 6. 9. After this manner pray ye 1138 c. 8. 17. Himself took our infirmities reconciled with Isa. 53. 4. 167  28. The Country of the Gergasins reconciled with Mark 5. 1. 70 10. 5. Go not into the way of the Gentiles 273  29 30. The hairs of your head are numbred 1251  34 35. Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth reconciled with Isa. 2. 4. 11. 9. 1042 1061 12. 32. It shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come 1095  43 44 45. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of c. Even so shall it be to this wicked generation Meant of the Apostacy of the Jews from Christianity 1044 1096 15. 22. A woman of Canaan reconciled with Mark 7. 26. 202  39. Coasts of Magdala reconciled with Mark 8. 10. 307 16. 28. Shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom 625 1074 18. 17. Let him be to thee as an Heathen or a Publican 1097 19. 28. Ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 1057 21. 19. No figs but leaves why was the figtree cursed when as it was not time for figs 87 225 to 228  38. The Husbandmen seeing the Son said among themselves this is the heir let us kill him c. 654 23. 2 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat Therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do 1038 1080 24. 22 24. For the Elect sake Deceive the very Elect. 1146  29 30. The Sun shall be darkned c. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven 608 1074 1201  31. Son of Man send his Aâ—geiâ— c. 1201 26. 6. And Iohn 13. 1 2. The Suppers here mentioned were the same however otherwise interpreted 252 to 254 260 261 24. This night before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice 1086  37. Thou art a Galilean for thy speech betrayeth thee 78 27. 33 34. Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall reconciled with Mark 15. 23. 267 617  48. Put it on a reed reconciled with Iohn 19. 29. 617 28. 19. Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1122 to 1124 MARK Ch. vers  Page 1. 40. BEseeching him and kneeling to him 347 3. 28 29. All sins shall be forgiven c. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness c. 1130 5. 1. The Country
from other Men. 99 100 Nazareth its situation 495 496 Nazarites they were forbid the total use of Wine whether the Law about the Nazarites had not some reference to Adam while he was under that Prohibition in the state of innocency p. 382. Only two Nazarites were set apart by God viz. Sampson and the Baptist three hundred at once made themselves Nazarites by their own voluntary vow p. 384. They being forbid the total use of Wine how could they keep the commands referring to the keeping the Passover c. in which Wine was used p. 382. They wore long hair among whom Absolom was one p. 774. Why they let their hair grow long 774 Nazaritâ—sin what and how the Vow of it was sometimes laid aside 1219 1220 Neapolis the Jews in scorn called it Sychar 52 53 Neighbour and Brother what the difference between them p. 141. Neighbour the Jews denyed any Gentile to be their Neighbour p. 425. Who is our Neighbour p. 1298. We are to love our Neighbour as our selves what 1301 New Creation new Heaven and new Earth put for the times and state of things immediately following the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State Page 626 New Jerusalem the Holy City why called New and why Holy City p. 1196 1197 1198. What it is not and what it is and where to be found 1197 to 1202 New Testament why it so exactly follows the Translation of the Septuagint in the Old Testament p. 403. New Testament Phrases and Passages the surest and safest way to understand them viz. is not to frame a sense of our own which we think fair and probable but to observe how they were understood by them to whom they were uttered 1041 1042 Nicholaitans that impure Sect did not spring from Nicholas the Deacon but took the Name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Necola p. 662. They impudently did oppose the Decree of the Apostles p. 695 696. They were wicked Hereticks perswading to eat things offered to Idols and to commit Fornication p. 756. Notwithstanding the affirmation of Antiquity they did not spring from Nicolas one of the seven Deacons 756 Nicholaitism and Judaism were two errors on each hand the Gospel into which some Primitive Christians did fall 1097 Nicodemus the reason of his Name and what he was he was also called Bonai he was exceeding rich and yet his Family fell to great poverty 513 532 Nicoplois what 371 Noah's Flood was a prognostication and assurance of the Last Judgment 1104 Nob a City of the Priests from whence one might easily see Jerusalem 42 Numbers and Things near alike are said to be the same 99 100 Nunship or Virginity the vow of it among the Papists is accounted a devout and sacred Thing which is false and never to be proved by them 1216 1217 1219 O. OATHS in the Jewish Writings reduced to a Promissory Oath p. 148. A vain or rash Oath concerning which four Things and an Oath concerning something left in trust and a Testimonial Oath what p. 149. The Jews only took care of the truth of the thing sworn and not of the vanity of swearing it was customary among them to swear by Creatures Page 149 Obedience of Christ made his blood justifying and saving p. 1255. It conquered Satan and satisfied God p. 1256 Christ died meerly out of obedience p. 1257. His obedience does not dissolve the obedience of a Christian. 1263 Obeying and Believing are not to be separated 1263 Obolus what 468 Offering of water used at the Feast of Tabernacles how performed whence derived and what the meaning of it 560 Officiousness a great fault in an Historian 1142 1143 Old Testament how the Jews divided the writings of it p. 483 584. When any place of the Old Testament was cited by the Jews they delivered it always in the very Original Words p. 694. The Sadducees are said by some to refuse all the Books of the Old Testament except the Five Books of Moses 1101 Ono where and what 325 c. Opinion and a Scripture Text distinguished 758 Orbo the City 317 Original Text of the Hebrew whether corrupted or not 131 Orphan Amen or Psalm what 786 Outward Action the Jews thought the Law was to restrain and bind the Outward Action only not regarding the inward Thought Page 1098 Oyntment precious how prized 352 P. PALESTINE the third called Palestine the healthful whence the Name Page 293 294 Paneas or Panias the spring-head of Jordan there being none such thing as two Fountains 62 63 64 298 Papacy it followeth Jannes and Jambres and is the great Resister of the Truth of the Gospel 1188 1189 Papists the improbability ridiculousness and irreligion of their holding that the Patriarchs were in Purgatory 1342 1343 Parables were the Jews most familiar Rhetorick p. 193. Parables were used by Christ among the Jews because they would not see the Light 339 Paradise what the Jews understood by being in Paradise p. 477 478. Paradise put for the state of the blessed 1272 1273 Paras was the space of fifteen days immediately before the Passover Pentecost or the Feast of Tabernacles 635 Pardon and Salvation it s the greatest difficulty to make Men fit and capable for them p. 1276. What are the sure Grounds of hope for Salvation and Pardon p. 1277. Pardon is the gift of God as well as Repentance 1277 Parents It was the opinion of the Jews that Children born crooked maimed or defective was according to some sin of the Parents p. 568. Why the Children suffer for the Parents sins the Justice thereof p. 1316 1317. This only designs corporal or external punishment 1318 Parsa a Parsa was four miles 319 Paschal Supper the whole Method and Order of it in eight Particulars p. 257 258. How Wine came to be there and what quantity they drank 259 260 Passover or Paschal Lamb how made ready in five Particulars p. 255 256. Whether Christ kept his Passover the day before the Jews i. e. on the fourteenth not the fifteenth day of the Month. p. 353 356 357. The difference between the first Month and the second p. 354. Preparation of the Passover what p. 356 to 358. After the Lamb was eaten every Israelite was bound within that seven days Solemnity First To appear before the Lord in the Court and that with a Sacrifice this was called the Appearance p. 356. Secondly To solemn joy and mirth and that also with Sacrifices this was called Chagigah The Festival p. 356 357. Whether was it lawful to depart from Jerusalem till the seven days of the Passover were ended p. 394 395. How the Passover was prepared for many days before it actually began 550 Passovers four intervened between Christ's entrance into his publick Ministry and the time of his Death with the several Actions which he did about the time of each 1033 Patriarchs where they were buried p. 668. Whether their Souls were in Purgatory 1342 c. Paul and Saul his Roman and Hebrew Name and why p. 687 1191.