Salome maried to Alexas and two wives Malthace a Samaritan and Mariamne who was niece to Hercanus by Alexandra his daughter and of the Assamonaean family By Malthace he had three sons Archelaus who raigned after him in Judea of whom St. Mat. 2.22 and Herod Antipas Tetrarch of Galilee and Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis of whom St. Luc. 3.1 By Mariamne the Assamonaean he had two sons Aristobulus and Alexander Aristobulus had to wife Bernice the daughter of Salome his fathers sister and of her he had a daughter whose name was Herodias But these were not all the wives that Herod had for he had also to wife another Mariamne the daughter of Simon Boethus the high priest born in Alexandria by whom he had also a son whose name was Herod this Herod married Herodias and had by her a daughter whose name was Salome and then he dyed After whose death Herodias married Philip Tetrarch of Iturea a second husband the brother of Herod Antipas by father and mother and both of them brethren to Herod deceased by the fathers side Herod Antipas falls in love with Herodias his brother Philips wife and she consenteth to forsake Philip her husband and did so Herod Antipas for so it was agreed betwixt them repuding his lawfull wife who was the daughter of Aretas king of Arabia took unto him this Herodias who was the wife of Philip his owne brother both by father and mother as is said before and had her home to his house together with Salome her daughter but Philip whom she had forsaken lived still and died not till in the twentieth year of Tiberius the Emperour after that he had governed his Province thirty and seven years as Josephus saith a good and quiet man ready to do justice to all men at all times he obtained a sumptuous funerall and was laid into a monument which himselfe had builded Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 6. Such were the incestuous marriages of the Herodian family But hinc illae lachrymae For Saint John the Baptist comming out of Judea into Galilee as before is said and having accesse unto Herods court was had in esteem by Herod himselfe S. Mar. 6.20 who observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly But Saint Iohn knew not how to daube with untempered morter he could not dissemble the sins and vices of the court nor would he permit a sin so hainous to be unreproved but told Herod plainly It is not lawfull for thee to have her S. Mat. 14.4 Levit. 18.16 Levit. 20.21 Saint Iohn spake law for the law of God saith Thou shalt not uncover the nakednesse of thy brothers wife it is thy brothers nakednesse And if a man shall take his brothers wife it is an unclean thing he hath uncovered his brothers nakednesse they shall be childlesse Herodias the cause of her hatred against Saint John Hence sprung the hatred of Herodias against Saint John who for that cause had a quarrell against him and would have killed him if she could She was impudent and was not ashamed of her uncleannesse she was proud and obstinate so that she would not endure reproof Besides it is well observed by venerable Bede she did fear lest that Herod should at length repent or be reconciled to his brother whereby it would come to passe that this her incestuous mariage should be dissolved Therefore watched she all opportunities to destroy him and no doubt had counselled her daughter to do the like having by her importunity so far prevailed with Herod that he had laid hold on him and laid him a prisoner in bonds in the castle of Machaerun which was a frontire town betwixt his and Aretas king of Arabia Petraeaes country Herod also himselfe I suppose was not difficultly induced to imprison him whom he knew to be a just man and an holy justum quoad homines sanctum quoad Deum S. Mar. 6 20. just to men-ward holy to God-ward as the Glosse saith such is the rage of unlawfull lust He was vvilling but durst not put him to death and when he would have done it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he feared the multitude lest they should make insurrection and revolt from his government because they counted him as a prophet S. Mat. 14.5 But Herodias did neither fear nor care what would come after so that she might have her will to wash away her present fear in the innocent blood of the Baptist Therefore attending all seasons at length there came a convenient day It was the birth-day of this Herod Antipas which of custome he did solemnize anniversarily an old custome in the courts of princes especially pagan for the solemnity whereof he made a supper to his Lords high captains and chiefe estates of Galilee and then the foresaid Salome the daughter of Herodias by her first husband Herod came into the presence and danced before Herod Antipas and before all his guests Wherewith he was so much taken that he bad her to ask whatsoever she would swearing that whatsoever she should ask he would give it her to the halfe of his kingdom She who had been pre-instructed by her mother Herodias S. Mat 14.8 upon all occasions to work the destruction of St. John the Baptist went in presently and acquainted her mother how matters had passed betwixt the king and her demanding her advice what she should ask She counselleth that setting all other demands aside she should ask the head of the Baptist as being of more consequence to them both then any thing else which the Tetrarch could give And so it followeth in the Evangelist that she came in straight way with haste unto the King and asked saying I will that thou give me by and by in a charger S. Mar. 6.25 the head of John the Baptist And the King was exceeding sorry yet for his oath's sake and for their sakes which sate with him he would not reject her 26 And immediately the King sent not to the castle of Maehaerun which was in the confines of his countrey remote but to some neerer place whither he had removed him to another prison 27 and from whence he might presently send for his head an executioner and he went and beheaded him in prison 28. S. Mat. 14.9 10 11. And brought his head in a Charger and gave it to the damosell and the damosell gave it to her mother Thus was the blood of that righteous man most unjustly spilt but his body whether at Samaria then called Sebast The body buried by his Disciples in honour of Augustus Caesar or in what other place it is not mentioned was buried by his Disciples who so soon as they heard of it took it up and buried it and went and told Jesus But his head remained in the power of wicked Herodias S. Mat. 14.12 S. Mar. 6.29 by whom they say it was secretly buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Machabeus having received the City cleansed and dedicated the Temple a nevv vvhich the Gentiles had prophaned taking avvay the abomination and reducing every thing to its former state as is to be seen at large 1 Mac. 4. In vvhich state it continued till king Herod most sumptuously repaired and enlarged it to the admiration of all men vvithin the space of one year and six months Joseph lib. 15. cap. 14. And so it stood in its glory to the passion of Christ S. Mat. 27.51 at what time the vaile of the Temple rent in twain from the top to the bottom Afterwards Caligula the Emperour affecting Deity reduced the Synagogue of the Jews to his own worship adorning them with his own statues and the Temple it self which to that day had been kept inviolate he dedicated to his own name Whereby it appeared saith mine Author that the speech which the Jews unadvisedly had spoken before Pilate when they said they would have no other king but Caesar to have deservedly fallen upon their own heads After this the Iews rebelling against Caesar their King Titus Caesar in the raign of Vespasian took the City and whether willingly or unwillingly that is not here to be disputed burnt the Temple upon the same day that it had been burnt by the Babylonians before And that which made the judgement the more remarkable was that after the Souldiers had kindled the fire no humane industry was able to extinguish it Even so doth God by man bring things to pass which no human power can prevent But it was Adrian the Emperour who caused the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet Dan. 9.27 to stand in the holy place For he set up his own Statue and an image of Iupiter in the place of the Temple and when the Iewes rebelled he subdued them laid the City levell to the ground burnt that which remained of the Temple and because he would utterly take away the Iewes Religion he overwhelmed it with earth and dedicated a Temple to Venus in place of it Like as the Temple had the same utensils which the Tabernacle had so had it also the same mysterie The Mysterie Foras much as the Tabernacle was no other but a portable Temple neither was the Temple any other thing but a fixed and immoveable Tabernacle Yet because the Temple did in many things excell the Tabernacle therefore the mysterie must not go unobserved The Temple did succeed the Tabernacle which was to give them to understand that the Evangelical Church figured by the Temple should succeed the legall Tabernacle or Iewish Synagogue The Tabernacle was built by Moses and was so made that it might be dis-joynted and taken down but the Temple was built by Solomon and was made to stand and remain signifying that the Iewish Synagogue and legall worship given by Moses should be dissolved but the Christian Church and Evangelicall worship founded and built by Christ should stand and remain unto the end of the world The Tabernacle had no foundation but the Temple was surely founded upon a strong Rock signifying the weakness of the legall if compared with the Evangelicall worship founded upon Christ the Rock The Temple was more great and glorious then the Tabernacle and all the utensils that Solomon made did excell those that Moses made for the use of the Tabernacle teaching them to know that the Evangelicall Church should be more great and that farre more glorious things should be spoken of it in the time of the new Testament then could be spoken of the Iewish Synagogue or legall worship in the time of the old Testament That it should be both of Iewes and Gentiles That it should be extended all the world over that it should be adorned with gifts more rare and admirable in the persons of the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Teachers that it should be enlightned with a more plentifull measure of Gods most holy and most blessed spirit That it should be directed by the Evangelicall word That it should be confirmed by miracles greater and more abundant That it should have Sacraments more venerable a worship more plain and easie a more glorious and victorious army of Martyrs and Confessors That Kings and Princes and Magistrates and all worldly Rulers should cast down their Crowns and Scepters and all engines of honour and greatness descend from their Thrones do homage unto Christ bend and bow their knees at or in the blessed name of Jesus weare the venerable sign of his Cross in their foreheads fight under his Banner and account it their chiefest happiness to be Christs his servants And therefore it was not without mystery that when Solomon dedicated the Temple he also the same day hallowed the midle Court that was before the house of the Lord and there he offered burnt-offerings and meat-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings two and twenty thousand Oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep because the brazen Altar that vvas before the Lord 1 Kin. 8.63.64 2 Chro. 7.7 vvas too little to receive the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings The Holy Ghost thereby signifying the fulness of the Gentiles to be brought unto the father by Christ his son who should present their bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God For which cause when Christ suffered his passion and dyed the vaile of the Temple rent in twain from the top to the bottom shewing unto all those that looked upon these things with spirituall eyes that then the midle wall of partition was by him broken down that so the fulness of the Gentiles might come in Concerning those who are to administer in or attend upâ—n holy things as St. Paul sheweth Eph. 2. Lastly to the Evangelicall part of the Testament belonged all those who by their place and office were to administer in or give their attendance upon holy things These were first the Priests who were of the sons of Aaron whom God who is the God of order distributed into two orders The first was the Pontificall order of which order there was alwaies one and but one who had it or ought to have had it from Aaron by succession and birth-right if he were in capability of it that is to say if he had no blemish if he were not blind nor lame nor had a flat nose nor had any thing superfluous nor were broken footed or broken handed or crook-backt or a dwarfe or had a blemish in his eye or scurvie or scabbed or had his stones broken c. For every blemish made him uncapable of the pontificall function Then again he must not uncover his head nor rend his clothes nor go into any dead body nor defile himselfe for his father or for his mother nor go out of the sanctuary nor prophane it and might onely take a virgin to wife of his own people and might not prophane his seed among his people for these are
before the Commissioner himself or such as were appointed by him their names surnames parentage alliances estate and condition of life or what else should be demanded of them that so they might be taxed or inrolled accordingly And being come thither they find themselves prevented of lodging and entertainment in the Inne wherefore they turn into a certain Cave as all antiquity affirmeth where was a Stable and a Manger cut out of a Rock and in that Cave they made their present abode which Cave as Beda in the description of Beth-lehem lib. de locis sanct cap. 8. saith was at the East end of the Town seeming to be naturall and in the form of a Semi-center which of all likelyhood was without the city walls the providence of God so disposing it to the end that the shepheards to whom the glad tydings should first be made known might easily have access thither by night though the city gates were shut and see the truth of all that which the Angel had told them And it was so that while they were there S. Luc. 2.6 the dayes were accomplished that she should be delivered 7. And she brought forth her first born sonne and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne It was upon the five and twentieth day of the moneth of December according to the account which the Church maketh Christ his nativity which also celebrateth the blessed nativity yearly upon that day that the blessed virgin St. Mary the daughter of Eliachim and Hanna espoused to Joseph did in the night bring forth that holy thing which vvas called and vvas indeed the sonne of God The time appointed and praedetermined of God for that vvonderful birth being in or about the year of the vvorld three thousand nine hundred threescore and ten and in the tvvo and fortieth year of the raign of the Emperour Augustus at vvhat time the Scepter vvas departed from Judah according to the prophecie of Jacob Gen 49.10 and Herod in the three and thirtieth year of his raign The place also preordained for that purpose being no other but the city of Beth-lehem and there also that Cave and Stable vvhere such a Manger vvas provided for his Cradle Nihilominus fulget etiam novus ille conceptionis modus ut non in iniquitate quemadmodum caeterae omnes sed superveniente Spiritu Sancto sola de solâ sanctificatione Maria conciperet Yet notwithstanding that nevv manner of conception shineth that Mary alone concâ—ived not in iniquity as all other vvomen but by the Holy Ghost vvho came upon her and by sole sanctification saith St. Bernard ser de beata Maria. For the scripture affirmeth and the Church believeth and confesseth that blessed conception to be not of human seed and geniture but by the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost who sanctified the Virgins wombe for such a birth A Childe is borne unto us saith St. Gregory Nyssen by the Holy Ghost and by the power of the highest neither hath the Virgin suffered any thing at all neither hath the spirit been diminished nor hath the power of the highest been dissected into parts For the spirit is whole and the power of the highest remained entire without any manner of immutation And a whole sonne is born unto us neither hath he impaired the integrity of his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moreover flesh was procreated of flesh but yet without perpession Cont. Eunom Orat. 2. The Gospell is the glad tydings of the word made flesh for the redemption of man-kind The Gospell first preached by Angeâ—s upon Christmas day Christ therefore being born God would that the Gospell should be immediately preached I say immediately the same night which was the night of the day following for the Jews did reckon their day to begin when the sun went down and was the first part of that day which we commonly call Christmas day Opus diet in die suo The work of the day upon its own proper day No day more proper to preach and publish the glad tydings then that day The fittest Ministers for the work of the day were the blessed Angells For like as Christ was sent out of the Father's bosome to be incarnate in the Virgin 's wombe and by divine dispensation to be born upon that day Even so were the blessed Angells sent forth from the Fathers glorious presence by divine dispensation to preach and publish the glad tidings of his birth upon that day I should think that great and glorious Angell who by way of excellency is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the angell of the Lord to be no other then the Angell Gabriel himselfe who first brought the glad tidings of so great a mystery and grace of God to the blessed Virgin But because neither the Angell nor the place nor the shepheards are either numbred nor named it will be sufficient to deliver the story thus Not far from Beth-lehem about a mile as is said there were fair and fruitfull pastures convenient for the feeding depasturing and folding of sheep where David also fed the sheep of Jesse his father It was on the east of Beth-lehem 1 Sam. 12.15 where was that tower which of antient times was called the tower of Edar that is to say the tower of the flock where Jacob sometimes dwelt and not far from which place he buried Rachel his wife and retained the name still Gen. 35.20 21. for that many flocks of sheep resorted thither At that time there were certain shepheards three shepheards saith the tradition whether the owners of the sheep or their servants or hirelings that makes no question who abode in the field keeping watch over their flock by night in that very place Where they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping their watches whether under the shelter of the tower in the sheep-coats or in the open aire that differs not Peradventure because that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a word which may not unaptly be compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost thereby also intimating what they were doing at that time while they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sing and pipe with flutes and pipes in the field an usuall recreation of shepheards in the night to keep themselves awake and to beguile the time the Angel Gabriel or some other great and glorious Angell came upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stood over them and nigh unto them in glory and great brightness At which great glorious and unusuall apparition and for that the Jewes also retained an opinion that if at any time they should see those divine and heavenly spirits they should die the shepheards being in a great fear Jud. 6.22.23 13 22. the Angel first dehorteth them from fear and then telleth them what his message was and what God had given him commission to do it was to preach unto
to their lord who expostulateth his cruelty and because he had forgiven him that great debt but upon condition that he should shew the like mercy to his fellow servant which because he had not shewed he cast him into prison till he should pay it 31 32 33 34 35. Such is the case betwixt God and us So likewise shall my heavenly Father doe also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses When Jesus had finished these sayings he departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan And he preached to the people who followed him in great multitudes and healed the sick S. Mat. 19.1 S. Mar. 10.1 Concerning divorcement S. Mat. 19.3 S. Mar. 10.2 So go on St. Matthew and St. Marke with the story Thither came the Pharisees tempting him with a question which they moved concerning the solubility or insolubility of marriage Is it lawfull said they for a man to put away his wife for every cause or to put her away at all Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife Christ his answer is negative and for this cause he alledgeth the originall institution and concludeth with an Epiphonema What God hath joyned together let not man put asunder As if he should say S. Mat. 19.6 because that God made them at the beginning male female because he said that a man shall leave Father and Mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh and because they are no more twain but one flesh therfore that it is not lawful for a man to put away his wife They interrogate why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away Moses indeed did permit the men to put away their wives for uncleanness and the woman divorced to be married to another man this was but a temporall permission to them only Deut. 24.1 2. and for the hardness of their hearts it must not be so now for from the beginning it was not so S. Mat. 19.8 9. S. Mar. 10.11 12. That therefore now neither must the man divorce his wife nor the wife her husband but for fornication onely This seemed to his Disciples an hard saying If the case be so of the man with his wife said they it is not good to mary He tells them that continency is a peculiar gift of God rarely given and that there be three sorts of Eunuches or continent men for that some are born Eunuches and are without natural ability some castrated and made Eunuches by men the antiquity of which injury done to nature Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 14. refers to Semiramis the wife of Ninus Queen of the Assyrians who did first of all as he saith cause it to be done others who have made themselves Eunuches to live chastly and unmarried the better to serve God in a chast and single life by the grace of God S. Mat. 19.11 12. subduing the flesh with the affections and lusts for the kingdom of heavens sake This last is the expetible gift and He that is able to receive it let him receive it The time approaching that he should be received up he stedfastly set his face to go up to Hierusalem and his way from Galilee was through the country of Samaria He is denyed entertainment by the Samaritans Wherefore he sent certain messengers before him to one of the villages of the Samaritans to provide for his comming but they hating the Jewes as the Jews also did them declining to have commerce one with another refused to entertain him upon no other reason but because his face was as though he would go up to Hierusalem Whereupon two of his Disciples S. James and S. John would by his leave have called fire from heaven to consume them as Elias did those two captains of the fifties with their fifties who were sent by king Ahaziah to apprehend him 2 King 1. But Christ rebuked them S. Luc. 9.51 52 53 54 55 56. told them that they did not know what spirit they were of for that his comming was not to destroy any but to save all And so they went into another village which entertained them Ten lepers cleansed At that time it should seem as he went to Hierusalem passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee as he entred into a certain village there met him ten men that were lepers which stood afar off and cryed out unto him to heal them of their leprosie Jesus master have mercy on us The leprosie was a foul disease pertinacissimae scabiei genus a kind of scab most hard and difficult to be cured Some think it to be that disease which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it breaketh out in hard scabs or scales white and black making the skin harsh and rugged like the Elephants Of all other diseases it was most infectious for it did infect the apparell and the walls of the house were sometimes infected with leprosie Therefore were the lepers to be put apart lest they should infect others and to give warning of their uncleanness by wearing a covering upon their upper lippe and by crying out and saying uncleane uncleane having also their clothes rent Levit. 13.45 and their head bare This was the reason why he found these lepers without the village and why also they stood afar off And when he saw them he said unto them go shew your selves unto the priests namely that the priests might see and pronounce the cure which part of their office he would not anticipate S. Mat. 8.4 S. Mar. 1.44 S. Luc. 5.14 neither did he at all cure any of that disease that we read of but he sent them to the priests And it came to passe that as they went they were cleansed Whereupon one of them who was a Samaritane returned back to express his gratitude for the cure which he had received which he did most humbly giving glory to God A duty which he rightly judged meet to be performed in the first place approved accepted and rewarded with a further benefit the spirituall sanitie of his soule for when he lay prostrate at his feet ex procubitu supplicatione fidem suam simul cum benevolentia pandens by prostration and supplication laying open his faith and devotion He bad him to arise saying Arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole S. Luc. 17.14 15 16 17 18 19. As for the other nine although they did hold on their way to go to the Priest as they were commanded yet because they did not first return to give glory to God they were justly blamed So he comes to the feast of Tabernacles of which feast and for what cause it was instituted we have spoken before He goeth to the feast of Tabernacles Howbeit he came not up till the midst of the feast which continued for the space of eight daies