before had no actuall existence unto him who was the sonne of God from eternity Now not he that gives but hee that takes the spouse given in marriage is the true husband And the spouse so taken from her espousall becomes the daughter not of him that gives her in marriage but of the Father of her husband with whom shee is now made one flesh Thus God the Father by this espousall thus wrought by the holy Ghost becomes the Father of the humane nature of Iesus which was now united unto his sonne after another manner then before hee had beene of any man and after another manner then the holy Ghost was or is the Father of the man Christ Iesus Christ then as God and man is the only sonne of God the Father The same Iesus only as man is the sonne of David 3. That the promised Messias was according to the Prophecies to be the sonne of David is evident but by what line all descent hee was to be the sonne of David or by what legall right the Kingdome of David was derived unto him is not without question amongst Christians David we know by Gods free donation was King of Iudah and Israel and Solomon by legall right did succeed him in his Kingdome And Solomons heires or Successours by bodily descent had as firme a title to the Kingdome of David as any other Kings or Monarchs have to the Crownes and dignities of their Ancestors But whether Solomons line by bodily descent were utterly extinguished before the conception or birth of our Saviour is a point neither much debated nor agreed upon by Divines If it were extinguished before that time yet Davids line did not determine with Solomons And for this reason haply our Saviour is instyled by the holy Ghost the sonne of David not so of Solomon albeit Solomon was as true a shadow of him as King as David had beene And Solomons Kingdome and raigne a fairer map of his Kingdome then Davids was And though our Saviours intermediate Ancestors according to the flesh from David downward were many as S. Luke and more then S. Matthew relates Yet he did immediatly succeede David in the Kingdom For so by the law of most Countries in case the elder brethrens sonnes or issues faile the third or fourth brother succeeds as lawfull heire not unto his elder brothers or their children but to their Grandfather or first donor Many may be immediate heires unto thē to whō they are no immediate Successours in lineall descent That Solomon and his line had no such perpetuity bestowed upon them by vertue of Gods Covenant with David as that it might not determine before the promised seed of David was exhibited the tenour of that Covenant as it is exemplified by the Author of the 89. Psalme puts out of question I have found David my servant with my holy oyle have I annointed him ver 20. He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first borne higher then the Kings of the earth my mercy will I keepe for him evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven ver 26 27 28 29. This last he speakes of Davids seede as of one not of his seedes as of many For so it followes ver 30. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements if they breake my statutes and keepe not my Commandements then will I visite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes This visitation with rods and stripes imports more then fatherly chastisements true and reall punishments Yea heavie judgements upon Davids other children according to their deserts None are utterly exempted from Gods heavie displeasure besides the promised seede or Davids sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose prerogative is in the next words reserved by oath Never the losse my loving kindnesse will I not take from David nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ver 33. This is in effect as if he had said however Davids other sonnes provoke me I will not repent of that loving kindnesse which I promised to him it shall be accomplished in Davids seede for in respect of things alterable or reversible whether promised for the good of men or threatned for their woe God is usually said to repent but to whatsoever hee sweares of that he never repents Every event ratified by oath is either unalterable or irreversible The Lord hath sworne saith David Psal 110. and will not repent that is he will not change or alter that which hee hath promised To alter that which was only promised but without oath is in the phrase of the holy Ghost as we usually render the originall to faile or breake Covenant that is in more proper language to reverse a blessing promised Hence it is added in the next verse of the 89. Psalme Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David that is I will not make void my covenant His seeds shall endure for ever and his throne as the Sunne before mee It shall be established for ever as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in Heaven This is that throne and that Kingdome which the Angel Luke 1. 32 33. foretold should be given unto the seed or fruit of the Virgins womb As for Davids other children or for Solomons race their title to the temporary Crowne of David was at the first but conditional or rather mutable for every conditionall estate presupposeth a state in being but a state mutable or reversible Such was the state of Solomon or the heires of his bodie aswell unto the kingdome of Judah as of Israel The Kingdome of Israel they utterly lost in the second descent The next Quaere is whether this their estate unto Judah or Israel which was by originall tenour reversible were de facto utterly reversed and the Covenant as it concerned them finally cancelled 4 And of this Quaere the branches are two first whether Salomons line were utterly extinguished before the returne of Iudah from the Babylonish Captivitie or in any age before the son of God and the promised seed of David was manifested in the flesh The second whether in case the utter extinguishment of Salomons line be a point doubtfull or by any authentick Author or record indeterminable This line were not in the same desperate case for recovering the Kingdom that Elies race was for regaining the Priesthood from which it was by solemne oath deposed That Solomons line was utterly excluded from inheriting the Kingdome of Iudah and Iacob the Jews and Christians for the most part agree And the tenour of that terrible sentence against Ieconiah according to the principles acknowledged by both will inferre no lesse As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of
Jehoiakim King of Iudah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence And I will give thee into the hand of them that seeke thy life and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and into the hand of the Caldeans And I will cast thee out and thy mother that bare thee into another Country where yee were not borne and there shall ye dye But to the Land whereunto they desire to returne thither shall they not returne Is this man Coniah a despised broken Idoll Is hee a vessell wherein is no pleasure Wherefore are they cast out hee and his seed and are cast into a Land which they know not O earth earth heare the word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord Write ye this man childless a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Iudah Ierem. 22. 24 25 26 c. This last clause is to mee a concludent proofe that the man Christ Jesus was not of Ieconiahs seed because he was to sit upon the throne of David and to prosper yea to be the fountaine of all prosperitie to Prince and people And hee that will avouch our Lord and Saviour to have been of the seed of Ieconiah will hardly be able to fend off that coÌ„tradiction which his assertion directly includes not onely to the Angels promise Luk. 1. 33. but unto the Prophet Ieremiah cap. 23. ver 5 6. Behold the day is come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a King shall raigne and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth In his dayes Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely c. The man Christ Jesus is in this place and elsewhere instyled the branch of David or a stem of the roote of Iesse but no where a branch of Solomon or of his feed which is most probable did determine in Ieconiah whom his Uncle Zedekiah did succeed for a while in the kingdome of Judah but with worse successe For Ezekiels denouncement against him and the Crowne of Solomon was no lesse terrible then this of Ieremiah against Coniah And thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquitie shall have an end Thus saith the Lord God Remove the Diadem and take off the Crown this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturne overturne overturne it and it shall be no more untill he come whose right it is and I will give it him Ezech. 21. 25 26 27. The contents of this denunciation as I take it are these especially Both the Crowne and the Mitre the ensignes of the royall and sacerdotall dignitie were so to be crushed that neither should remaine the same they were The Mitre was to be cast a new but in a farre lesse mould the Crowne to be broken and the reliques of it to be united to the Mitre both put together to remaine but as models of that dignitie which before they generally had untill the royall and princely dignity were united in him that had full right to both that is in the promised seede or Sonne of David The readings upon the 27 verse are various The vulgar Latine following the Septuagint thus iniquitatem ponam eam The Zuricke or Tigurine thus curvam curvam ponam eam And if this reading be just and straight it may serve as a character of that â—â—â—ked descent and tortuous revolution of the civill and Ecclesiasticke power from one Family unto another not settling in any one line untill the coming of the sonne of David unto whom both by right did belong Yet some authoritie in all this Tumble did still remaine in the Tribe of Iudah though not in the race of Solomon or of David untill Shiloh came And I know not whether that cited passage of Ezekiel ver 27. It shal be no more to wit the same that it was untill he come whose right it is have not speciall reference to that Prophecy of Iacob Gen. 49. 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah untill Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be The Septuagint seeme to interpret the name Shiloh according to the same importance that the originall as our English hath it Ezek. 21. 27. whose right it is as if Shiloh had been as much as Asherle cui repositum est But whether according to the ordinary rules of Grammar Shilo may stand for as much as Shello or whether the mysterie conteined in this prophecy might require or dispense with some irregularitie in the grammaticall forme of speech I leave it to accurate Criticks or sacred Philologers and so I do another question which is emergent as well out of the forecited words of Iacob as of Ezekiell whether both prophecies were to be understood of Christs first comming to judge Jerusalem unto which later the words of Ezekiel seeme most to incline for so the originall untill he come to whom judgement belongeth I rest contented with this part of the prophet Ezekiels undoubted meaning that neither the civil nor the Ecclesiastick dignitie of Judah were to be the same they were until the comming of the expected Messiah and yet some reliques of both do remaine untill his comming 5 Some of the Priestly line after this peoples returne from Babylon did take upon them to exercise princely authority as the Maccabees but with more honour for a while then with good successe for posterity Others afterwards did attempt the like but were put by it yet permitted or authorized by the Romanes to exercise the Priestly function some of them executed for their mutinous aspiring to the Crowne Lastly when they became Competitors for the royall dignity it was collated upon Antipater and from him derived or suffered by Augustus to descend on Herod the great in whose daies the promised seede of David the true heire unto the Crowne of Judah was borne But though Herod did exercise royall jurisdiction over Judea aswel as over other neighbouring provinces yet was hee not created King over Judea this was no part of his royall Title bestowed upon him by Antonius The first solemne authorized Title of King of Judah from the captivitie of King Ieconiah and Zedekiah was that inscription written upon our Saviours Crosse written by Pilates command so peremptorily that the Jews could not get a change or reversion of it in any of the three languages wherein it was written Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Pilate I take it did not in this inscription intend the scoffe or scorn of our Saviour or of the Jewish Nation but only the style or Title of the crime for which our Saviour was endited Hee neither affirmed nor denyed him to be the King of the Jews but that which the world might conceive was written in jest or in
of it the hopes of Rezin and Pekah for the extirpation of it were so advanced that they confidently resolved upon the particular man whom they meant to make King of Iudah that was the sonne of Tabeol Isaiah 7. 6. In the height of this their confidence and the perplexitie of Judah and the House of David the Lord sends his Prophet Isaiah to give them assurance of their Delivery by an extraordinary signe In the dayes of Ioseph and Mary his espoused wife the House of David whereof they both were branches was brought much lower then in the dayes of Ahaz it had beene And however no mischief were intended against them in particular as being obscure and private persons neither in possession nor competitors for the Kingdome yet for breaking off the succession of David or preventing any of his line to be Lord of Judah the plot was laid with more cunning then it had been by Rezin and Pekah Three of those ancient Fochoods which had sought to wreak themselves against Judah in the dayes of Ahaz were now revived and united in one man in Herod the great and the Fochood by this union became both greater and stronger He was by birth a Philistine and by royall title bestowed upon him by the Romanes King of Idumaea and Samaria unto which he sought to annex Judea as his inheritance And although the particulars be not mentioned in the new Testament yet is it indefinitely evident out of S. Matthew that Herod had his confederates against the house of David and which assoone as they knew of his birth did seeke the life of the sonne of David When Herod was dead behold an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dreame to Ioseph in Aegypt saying Arise and take the yong Child and his mother and goe into the Land of Israel for they are dead which sought the yong Childs life Math. 2. 19. 20. This argues there were some other that dyed about the same time with Herod which with him had sought the life of Jesus In this low estate whereunto the house of David was brought before the death of Herod and his confederates the Lord did send not a Prophet but an Angel to assure not the continuance only of Davids succession but the restauration enlargement and everlasting establishment of his Kingdome unto Mary the daughter of David and her husband by a greater signe than Isaiah had proffered unto Ahaz The Angel delivers his embassage mostwhat in the same words that Isaiah did to Ahaz Behold saith the Prophet Isaiah 7. 14. this virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne and she shall call his name Emmanuel Unto the blessed virgin then present saith the Angel Luke 1. 30 31. Feare not Mary for thou hast found favour with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus The imposition of this name Jesus is committed to the care of the virgin so was the name of Emmanuel to the virgin to whom the Prophet Isay directs his speech when he delivered his message unto Ahaz For in the originall the word which S. Matthew renders impersonally or in the third person plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to the Hebrew Dialect Hee shall be called is the second person singular and the foeminine tu vocabis thou Virgin shalt call him Emmanuel This variation of the Evangelist from the Prophets precise word is such as breedes no vitiation at all in the reall sense but such as reason it selfe and rules of Grammar require in like cases The Virgin being as wee suppose present when the Prophet exhibited the signe unto Ahaz hee was to speake unto her in the second person But the Evangelist relating the fulfilling of this prophecie not in the literall sense onely but in the mysticall was to change the person or to relate it in the third person plurall which is indeed an impersonall according to the Hebrew Dialect Behold a virgin shall bring forth a sonne and they shall call his name that is he shall be called Emmanuel which is by interpretation God with us 12 But here the Jew demands first how the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is alwayes emphaticall should denote the blessed Virgin and should be transferred from one virgin to another Secondly why the name given our Saviour at his circumcision was not Emmanuel according to the Prophets speech but Jesus To the first demand wee answer that the originall letter is alwayes emphaticall sometimes a note of demonstration or particularity and according to this importance it referres unto the Virgin then present as if the Prophet had said Ecce virgo haec Behold this virgin shall conceive c. Sometime it is a note of Eminencie and according to this importance it referres unto the Virgin of Virgins the blessed Mother of our Lord of whom it is meant not only in the mysticall but in the most exquisite literall sense To the second we say the imposition of the name Emmanuel had beene requisite at our Saviours circumcision if this prophecie had bin meant of Him only in the literall sense But in as much as it was to be fulfilled in Him according to the most exquisite both literall and mysticall sense it was requisite there should be an improvement as well in the significancie of the name as in the thing signified by it Now the name Iesus imports a great deale more than the name Emmanuel as will appeare in the explication of it The importance of the name Emmanuel as it referres unto the Childe instantly promised by Isaiah is applied unto the blessed Virgin by the Angel in his preface to the Annuntiation Luk. 1. 28. Haile thou that art in high favour the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women The Lord was with her in a more peculiar manner whilest the Angell thus spoke unto her then he had beene with Gideon to whom the like salutation was tendred by an Angel Iudg. 6. 12. Or with Iudah in the dayes of Isaiah or Hezekiah But after the Lord was conceived by her he was both with her and with us after a more admirable manner than at any time he had beene before with Gods dearest Saints This manner of his being with us could not be fully expressed by any other name then the name Iesus 13 Ahaz his distrust unto Gods promise being set aside or rather if wee use it as a foyle to set forth the blessed Virgins facile assent and fidelity unto the Revelation made unto her by the Angell the propheticall and Evangelicall story hold better correspondencie both for substance and circumstance thâ—â— is betweene the Model and the Edifice The Emmanuel promised by Isaiah was an assured pledge that Pekah King of Samaria and Rezin King of Syria should die or be deposed before this Childe could distinguish betweene meates or cry My Father my Mother The accomplishment of this signe or of the promise confirmed by it is registred in
head stone of the Corner doth allude or referre unto some historicall event then fresh in memory They containe no prophecy in respect of the event whatsoever that were yet are they a most true concludent Prophecie of Christs exaltation by his father after his rejection by the Priests and Elders So our Saviour interprets it Matth. 21. 42. All these three testimonies mentioned consisting both of word and matter of fact are first typicall then propheticall But oftentimes the same words though not alwayes according to the same sense are propheticall as well in respect of the type as of the antitype and then the proofe or testimony is prophetically typicall or meerely typicall from their first date and afterwards in processe of time both typicall and propheticall Of this ranke is that prediction made to David 2 Sam. 7. 12 13. c. And when thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever I will be his Father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I tooke it from Saul whom I put away before thee And thy house thy Kingdom shal be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever Of the same rank and order is that repetition of this promise Psal 89. from ver 20. to the 37. Both places conteine an expresse prophecie of Gods favour unto David and to his posterity and both include the prerogative of Salomon above all Kings that had gone before him And yet in as much as Salomon in the height of his glory was but a shadow or picture though a faire one of the sonne of God who was to be made the sonne of David likewise the same words which were undoubtedly verifyed of Salomon in his time were afterwards exactly fulfilled in Christ who was the living person or substance whom Salomon did forepicture No Christian can no Jew will deny these words of the Prophet Isaiah cap. 22. 20 21 22. c. to be propheticall in the first place of Eliakims advancement to be chiefe master or high Steward over the house of David in Shebna's steed And it shall come to passe in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the sonne of Hilkiah And I will cloth him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a Father to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem to the house of Iudah And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulders so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open And I will fasten him as a naile in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his fathers house c. But in as much as Eliakim both by name and office did but prefigure or delineate Christ in his acts and office the same words which were literally meant of Eliakim are in a more exquisite sense fulfilled in Christ But of the severall senses of Scriptures and how the Scriptures are said according to these severall senses to be fulfilled somewhat in the two next chapters following These proofes or testimonies whereof we now treat whether typically propheticall or prophetically typicall are in number many and of all the rest most concludent to Readers but ordinarily observant For they containe the intire force and strength of the two former proofes or testimonies meerely typicall or meerely propheticall by way of union and it is universally true Vis unita semper fortier 3. Imagine a man of ordinarie insight in Architecture should come into some large and curious palace or City newly built and after a diligent survey of the form and fashion of every particular roome house or street should finde a model of elder date then the worke it selfe which did beare the just proportion and inscription of every roome or building this would resolve him that such exact correspondency could not fall out by chance but that the Citie or Palace had beene built by his directions which made the model or by some others which made use of his skill albeit no handy-workman imployed in the building albeit none but the Architect or generall director did perceive as much Thus all historicall events related in the new testament concerning Christ his birth his death and passion c. have their exact Maps or Models drawne in the history of the old testament besides the expresse propheticall inscriptions which instruct us how to referre or compare every part of the legall or historicall model unto the Evangelicall aedifice answering to it This to every observant Reader is a concludent proofe that one and the same spirit did both forecast the models and in the fulnesse of time accomplish the worke it selfe to wit the building up of Sion and Jerusalem though this he effected as master builders in like cases doe by the hands of inferiour workmen not acquainted nor comprehensive of his project or contrivances 4. Every house saith the Apostle Heb. 3. 4. is builded by some man but he that built all things is God This power of God by which he made all things even the materialls of all things whereon men doe work doth not farther exceed the power of other builders then the wisedome of the same God which is manifested in the aedifice of the heavenly temple doth surpasse all skill or contrivance of the most skilfull Architects or Projectors For whatsoever is by them forecast or projected doth never prosper never come to any perfection unlesse the workemen imployed by them follow their rules or directions But this greatest worke of God the erection or edification of his Church did then goe best forward when the workmen or builders imployed about it did forsake his counsell and followed the directions of his malitious adversary who sought the confusion both of it and them He built up the Kingdome of Sion and Jerusalem in peace without let or interruption even whilest the master builders designed by him did lay the foundation or chiefe corner stone of it in blood And after it was so laid did accomplish whatsoever he would have done in this great worke by the hands of such workemen as did nothing lesse then what he would have had them to do Though Judas one of the twelve by Satans suggestion did betray his Lord though the high Priest and Elders became the Devills agents to condemne him and though Pilate lastly turned Satans deputie to sentence him to death yet all these did that which the most wise most righteous and most mercifull God
or finisher that they could have desired This saith he was even then acknowledged not to fall out by meer chance or without some further portending meaning or signification The exceptions taken against this tradition avouched by this Author Petrus Comestor are to men acquainted with the manner of sacred expressions of things to come so weake that they adde strength unto it But whatsoever the historicall event were at which these words in the literall sense immediately point wee Christians know that in the Symbolicall or spirituall sense they referre to Christ His exaltation unto Majestie and glory after the chiefe Rulers of the Temple had cast him aside and rejected him as not fit to be entertained amongst Gods people was mystically foreshadowed by that matter of fact or historicall event whereof the Psalmist speakes whatsoever that were yet not expresly foretold according to the direct literall sense of his words but onely signified according to the Symbolicall importance After the same manner the forecited words of the Prophet Isa 22. 23. The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open doe in their literall and native sense immediately point at Eliakim of whose office in the house of David a materiall and visible key was the ensigne or pledge as the like is of some great offices in moderne Princes Courts But according to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance both key and office both inscription and matter of fact referre unto the spirituall invisible power of the sonne of David Who hath the keyes of Hell and of death Rev. 1. The keyes likewise of the Kingdome of Heaven and where he openeth no power in heaven or earth can shut nor open where he is pleased to shut That which some call the morall sense of scriptures is alwayes reducible to this generall branch last mentioned to wit to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance of the words expressed as they concurre with matter of fact or reall representation Only there may be a morall sense where there is no prophecy no representation truly mysticall As when it is written Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corne this law was to be observed according to the plaine literall sense And yet both the law it selfe and its observance from the first date of the letter had that morall which the Apostle makes That such as serve at the Altar should live by the Altar 5. To this branch likewise belong all the significations of legall ceremonies which doe not immediately point at Christ in whom they were exactly fulfilled but at morall duties to bee performed as well by us Christians as by the ancient Jews Christ our Passeover saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. it sacrificed for us Therefore let us keepe the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickednesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth This was the true morall of that legall observance of the feast of unleavened bread which was to be kept according to the strict letter of the law whilest the law of ceremonies was in force Concerning this symbolicall or morall sense especially when it is not propheticall Maldonats advise is very good He that will search after such senses must hold close to the letter Propiùs mihi Rupertus videtur in quaerendo morali sensu ad literalem accessisse quod semper faciendum esse ei qui ridiculus esse nolit saepe monumus And of allegoricall mysticall or symbolicall senses which are propheticall or prefigurative none are current or concludent but such as hold exact proportion with the sense historicall 6. Some good Divines there be which would have an anagogicall sense distinct from all these mentioned The Allegoricall Spirituall or Mysticall sense is by them limited to matters already accomplished in the Gospell whereas the Anagogicall reacheth to matters of the world to come But this difference in the subject or time unto which whether words or matters sacred referre makes no formall difference in the sense or manner of the prediction or prefiguration Whatsoever is in Scripture foresignified or intimated concerning the state and condition of the life to come is either literally foretold by expresse words or mystically foreshadowed by matter of fact or notified by some concurrence of prediction and representation and so may be reduced to one or other of the senses mentioned either to the meere literall or to the meerely mysticall or to the literally or symbolically mysticall or spirituall sense CHAP. 13. Of the literall sense of Scripture not assertive but meerely charactericall BUt divine mysteries as was intimated before are sometimes neither notified by expresse prediction or words assertive nor by matter of fact historicall event or type nor by the persons actions or offices of men but represented onely by words or names by notes or letters or other secret characters of speech Now this manner of representing mysteries divine produceth a sense of Scripture distinct from all the former which can hardly be comprehended under one certaine denomination unlesse it be under this negative the literall sense not assertive Or if the Reader desire a positive expression of it he may terme it the charactericall sense To beginne with the first words of Scripture In the beginning saith Moses Bara Elohim The Lord created c. Although these words be assertive yet the mystery of the Trinity is not avouched in Logicall assertion or proposition but only represented or insinuated in the peculiar forme or character of the grammaticall construction if happily it be here either represented or intimated at all For some both judicious Divines and great Hebricians there be as well in the Romish as in the reformed Churches who will acknowledge no intimation of any mystery in this conjunction of a noune plurall with a verbe singular but tell us this forme of speech is usuall in the Hebrew dialect as the like is in some cases in the Greeke For the Graecians as every grammar Scholar knowes joyne nounes of the neuter gender plurall with verbes of the singular number as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These mens authority would sway much with me if I did not finde it counterpoised by observation of Wolphgangus Capito an exquisite Hebrician and discreet searcher of the mysticall sense of Scriptures Now if his observation doe not faile him the construction of verbes singular with nounes plurall is never used amongst Hebrew writers unlesse the noune doe want the singular number In this case alone they doe not extend the signification of the verb into such plurality as is in the noune Contrary to the use of the Latines who to make the adjective and substantive agree in number stretch Vnum one or unity it selfe into a plurall forme as unae literae una maenia which would be a harsh kind of speech in our English or other modern tongues But
themselves acknowledge to be a note of some mystery as one of them being converted to Christianity observes against his brethren which love darknesse more then light The mystery notified in this particular as this Author tells us is by their owne rules in cases wherein they are no parties ingaged the same with that which is immediately after expressed in words assertive and plaine That of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of hoasts will performe this I referre the observation of the like charactericall representations unto the diligent Readers of the old Testament in the original tongue or of ancient Hebrew Commentators whose testimonies in many cases where they are no parties are no way to bee contemned And amongst other branches of that rule for interpreting Scriptures which was constantly received amongst the ancient Jewes as Peter Martyr and Bucer with others somewhere observe this representation of divine mysteries by letters or characters unusuall might for ought I know be one 7. As for the representation of like mysteries by proper names of men especially who by their place or office were types or forerūners of Christ that I presume no sober Christian will except against or call in question And this representaon or prenotification of future mysteries was exhibited either in the first imposition of names or in the change of names or in the severall use of divers names when the same party retained more names than one There was scarce a sonne of Iacob whose name did not imply a kinde of prophecy Rachell did truly prophecy of the state and condition of the Benjamites when she called the Father of that Tribe at his birth Benoni the sonne of her sorrow And Iacob did as truly prophecy when he changed his name into Benjamin the sonne of his right hand Nun the Ephramite did call his sonne Hoseah by divine instinct or direction And Moses did truly prophecie when he changed his name into Iehoshua With what intention Isaac or Rebecca did call their younger sonne Iacob I know not or whether they had any other motive knowne to themselves to give him this name besides that which the manner of his birth did minister for he caught hold of his brothers heele in the birth But this name Iadgnakab hand in heele made afterwards by close composition as it seemes Iagnakab did as the attempt signified by it in the birth portend that he should supplant his elder brother and get the birthright from him 8. After this name given him by his Parents he was in his full age named Israel by God Himselfe by way of addition only without any change or determination of his former name or the Omen of it But it is not without observation why he is sometimes called Iacob sometimes Israel in the same continued historicall Narration the name Iacob characterizing his present infirmity the name Israel notifying his recovering or gathering of strength But one of the most admirable prerepresentations literall not assertive of mysteries plainely afterward avouched and fulfilled which I have either observed or found observed by others is in the Benedictus Luke 1. 68 c. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David c. To performe the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant the oath which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life The summe of that which God had spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets which had beene since the world began was now reavouched by Zacharias being filled with the holy Ghost in a literall assertive sense plaine and easie even to the capacity of the naturall man And yet the summe of all which Zacharias by the Spirit of Prophecie did now utter was clearely represented to men of spirituall understanding in the Scriptures or experienced in their spirituall sense in the very names of Iohn Baptist and of his Parents For Zacharias the Baptists Father is by interpretation the remembrance of God Elizabeth his mother as much as the oath of God And the name Iohn imports the free grace of God And all these put together sound as much as that God did now remember his people with that grace which he had sworne to bestow upon them in his Covenant with Abraham that is with grace of deliverance from their enemies their owne sinnes were their greatest enemies with grace enabling them to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their life Of more particulars in this kinde as they shall fall within the compasse of Prophecies or prefigurations concerning Christ hereafter CHAP. 14. That the Scripture is said to be fulfilled according to all the former senses that one and the same Scripture may be oftner than once fulfilled according to each severall sense THe fulfilling of any thing written supposeth a foretelling or presignification of the same And because matters related by the Evangelists and other sacred writers of the new Testament were of course and of purpose either foretold or prefigured in the old testament hence it is that this phrase of fulfilling that which was written is in a manner peculiar to these sacred writers not in use amongst secular historians Yet the phrase is not therefore barbarous because not used by politer writers in the same subject that is in historicall narrations For it is used by Tully and other most elegant writers in the same sense which sacred writers use it As because every man as was intimated before may foretell those things which were by himselfe projected or promised they are likewise said implere promissa to fulfill their owne promises or to fulfill the Omen or signification of their owne names so an elegant Poet saith Maxime qui tanti mensuram nominis imples Now seing this phrase This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled is so frequent in the new Testament Maldonat did very well and like himselfe in unfolding the severall wayes as he conceived them according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled almost in the very beginning of his learned Commentaries upon the foure Evangelists Yet some question there may be whether he did all this which was so well and wisely attempted by him so well and so judiciously as might in reason have beene expected from him 2. The Scripture saith he so farre as I could hitherto observe is said to be fulfilled foure manner of wayes First when that very thing is done or comes to passe which was meant by the Prophet or other sacred
the great mystery of the womans seed or incarnation of the sonne of God to bee included in this prophecy extend the native signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the earth too farre Howbeit in this errour or oversight there is no falshood for that the woman or female should enclose or compasse the male or that mighty one the second Adam was a new thing indeed and a wonder to all the earth But this generall truth doth not hit the punctuall meaning of the holy Ghost in that place for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earth is to be restrained unto the Land of Ephraim or of Israel as it was opposed unto the Land of Judah Thus much the literall circūstance of this prophecy alone wil enforce and that prophecy of Isaiah parallel unto this will perswade us Isa 11. 13. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart and the Adversaries of Iudah shall be cut off Ephraim shall not envy Iudah and Iudah shall not vexe or upbraid Ephraim The implication is that the one Kingdome was to share with the other in the fulfilling of this grand mystery foretold by these two Prophets in the forecited Chapters The Kingdome of Ephraim of which Nazareth was a Limbe though a smalone was to be graced with the Messias conception and incarnation and with the Angell Gabriels presence for the avoucher The Kingdome of Judah whereof Bethlem was a remarkable portion was to be dignified with his birth and that was proclaimed by an host of Angells 9. Of this mystery I have treated in other meditations published some fifteene yeares agoe and should scarcely so much as have touched it in this place had not some exquisite Hebricians with whose meditations I have since that time beene acquainted without any reference to what I had then said or conceived altogether waived or slighted the great mystery acknowledged by antiquity as well Jewish as Christian in this place of the Prophet Ieremy In their opinion the new thing which the Lord promised to create in the earth is no more then that the Law Deut. 24. 1 2 3 4. though indispensable in respect of man and wife should be dispensed with or repealed as it did concerne Ephraim or Israel who had beene sometimes Gods spouse but now divorced for her manifold adulteries and yet by Gods speciall grace had libertie to returne unto him againe To this purpose I am not ignorant that some later Rabbines interpret this place as they doe many other to elevate the mystery of the incarnation but so doe not those exquisite Christian Hebricians from whom I must crave pardon to dissent All that they say concerning Gods dispensation with that Law Deut. 24. is most true but not the whole truth nor any part of the Prophet Ieremies true meaning in that 31. Chapter That meaning which they would fasten upon this place was expressely delivered by our Prophet Chap. 3. not to Ephraim but to Judah before shee followed Ephraim into Captivitie and therefore this could be no new thing to bee created afterwards in the Land of Ephraim They say if a man put away his wife and shee goe from him and become another mans shall he turn unto her again shall not the Land be greatly polluted But thou hast played the harlot with many Lovers yet returne again to me saith the Lord. 10. And howerver the originall Bara doe not alwayes include as much as some Schoolemen would appropriate to the Latine creare that is to make something of meere nothing yet it usually imports some great worke of the Almighty maker which one way or other is aequivalent or more then aequivalent to the first creation of Heaven and Earth our of nothing if we may beleeve Capito and Fagius upon whō any Novice in the Hebrew tongue or ordinary professor of it may as safely pitch an implicite beleef or trust as upon any which have lived since their times Againe however the Prophet Ieremy Chap. 3. 1. avouch a relaxation of that peremptory Law Deut. 24. 4. yet doth hee not intimate that this relaxation was such an extraordinary worke as that the Lord might be said to have created it as a new thing whether in the Land of Judah or of Ephraim or in the earth or wide world it selfe Nor is there any other word in that 31 of Ieremie ver 22. besides the word Lord which is the same with any other word used either by Ieremie chap. 3. ver 1. or Deut. 24. 3 4. In both which places man and wife are described by their proper characters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor is the wives returning to her husband decypherd by a circular motion or compasse but by a plaine returne unto him Whereas in the 31. of Ieremie ver 21. the charactericall notion of the persons there meant is first not Ish an husband or vir but Geber that mighty man or womans seed promised Gen. 3. 15. and this Geber not Ishah the wife or woman simply but Nekebah the female was to incompasse or inclose the originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes referres to motion and is as much as the Latine circumire or circumvenire to encompasse or goe about which may be either by a circular or by a sphaericall motion Sometimes the same word referres to station or rest and is as much as our English to begirt or inviron as an Army doth a besieged City or as guests placed at a round table and according to the difference of the subject to inclose or goe round about or to environ on every side And so much it imports in that name which Ieremie gave to Pashur the sonne of Immer the Priest Ier. 20. 3 4. The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur but Magor Missabib For thus saith the Lord behold I will make thee a terrour unto thy selfe and to all thy Friends and they shall fall by the sword of their Enemies and thine eyes shall behold it c. And thou Pashur and all that dwell in thine house shall goe into Captivity and thou shalt come to Babylon and there thou shalt dye and shalt be buried there thou and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophecied lyes verse 6. As this Pashur was every way beset with terrour so was the Geber every way to bee inclosed or incompassed by Nekebah the Female And the new thing which the Lord promised to Create in the earth hath speciall reference to the first Creation of male and female in mankinde Gen. 1. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Male and female created he thē The originall which there notifies the female is the very same which our English in the 31. of Ieremy renders woman that is the weaker sexe But the originall Zakar rendred Gen. 1. 27. by the male is not so much as Geber For though every Geber be Zakar yet every Zakar is not Geber nor was the first Adam enstyled by this name The Prophet Ieremies meaning
6 7. 6 The summe of all that the Iew or heathen can object against us for thus interpreting this place or for adoring Christ Iesus whom they crucified as the very God here meant by the Psalmist must amount from that generall prohibition as they will interpret it ver 3. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the sonne of man in whom there is no helpe or no salvation But yee Christians will they say put your trust in the sonne of man in the sonne of Mary a woman and therefore transgresse the Psalmists precept But admitting these words Put not your trust in Princes c. had beene exprest in this universall forme Put not your trust in any Princes nor in any sonne of man whomsoever for there is no help in any of them Yet such universall rules do usually admit some exception or an exception of some principall particular As when it is said he hath put all things under his feet it is manifest saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 27. that he is excepted who put all things under him though He be more then all things that are put under him And when our Apostle tells us that wee must utterly renounce all workes and only rely on the mercy of God in Christ Yet the renouncing of all workes which is the greatest of all workes must be excepted from this generall rule For he that renounceth this worke cannot come to Christ cannot be partaker of Gods mercy in him And so in this generall prohibition of the Psalmist put not your trust in Princes nor in any son of man that sonne of man must be excepted who is also more then the sonne of man more then any Prince the sonne of God the Lord God of Israell In all other Princes besides this one Prince who was to raigne for ever there is no help no salvation and because they are voyd of help and salvation they are uncapable of our confidence wee may not safely repose our trust in them or upon them But I would demand of the Iew what opinion his Forefathers in the time of Moses Samuel David and the Prophets had of their expected Messias What opinion the seed of Abraham this day living have of the sonne of David whom they expect shal raigne over them Was he in the opinion of their forefathers to be no more then the sonne of man though the son of David If he were to be no more then so there was no confidence by the Psalmists rule to be placed in him they were not to expect help or salvation from him he could be but another David another Sampson another Ioshuah or Moses If he were to be but a King on Earth as many others have beene before him though all others though put together of much lesse power then they expect he shall be yet their expectation of him is fuller fraught with revenge and malice towards others then with hope of any great good unto themselves if so he were to be but a mighty Prince or Monarch not truely God or if his Kingdome were but of this world or to be bounded within the sphere of the Moone for so he might bruise and crush the Nations as Ioshua the Canaanites or David his enemies he could not make all his own followers Kings and Monarchs Nor could Monarchies or Kingdomes make them happy on whom he did bestow them there could be no help or salvation generall either in Prince or Subject The more bountifull he were in bestowing temporall blessings wealth power or honour upon the seed of Abraham after the flesh the greater calamity he should bring upon other Nations How then could he be that promised seed of Abraham in whom all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed Finally if the ancient Iews as I think these moderne Iews will not deny expected help and salvation from their Messias if they taught their posterity to put trust in this promised seed of Abraham whensoever he should be revealed then it is concluded that their expected Messias was to bee that God of Israel whom the Psalmist in the 146. Psalme describeth And this is the fundamentall article of Christian faith unto the acknowledgement whereof this Lord God of Israel in his good time bring the seed of Abraham after the flesh and all others which either deny it or are ignorant of it CHAP 22. That the God of Israel was to become a servant and a subject to humane infirmities was foretold by the Prophets according to the strictest literall sense THough all these Prophecies were punctually fulfilled according to the strict proprietie of the literall sense of God incarnate or whilest he converst with men here on earth in the forme of a Servant which is somewhat more then the forme and essence of a man yet other prophecies there be which more punctually referre unto this estate in particular and unto those grievances which it was impossible for him that was truely God to suffer unjust for any man to suffer who was not by estate and condition a true servant in the strictest sense of this word Now wee read that when Iesus had said to one sick of the Palsey Bee of good Cheere thy sins are forgiven thee the Scribes and Pharisees who were then present begun to reason saying Who is this that speaketh blasphemy who can forgiue sinnes but God alone Luke 5. 21. And for thus censuring his speech they presume they had the warrant of God himselfe Esay 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will remember thy sinnes no more It was most true what from this place they collect to wit that God alone could forgive sins But from the present miracle and the manner of our Saviours conversation with them here on earth and their most wicked dealing with him had they compared these with the words immediately precedent in the Prophet it had beene easy for them to have gathered that he was that only God which did forgive sinnes For so the Prophet had said to this people in the person of his only God Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities This in particular is one of those many places which even by the Jews confession could be literally meant of none but God himselfe and yet could never be literally and punctually fulfilled or verified but of God incarnate For this people did never make God to serve under their sinnes he was never wearied with their iniquities save only whilest he took the forme of a servant upon him and did beare their sinnes in the substance of their flesh 2 Of the same observation is that other place Esay 63. 9 10. In all their affliction he was afflicted and the Angell of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and caryed them all the dayes of old But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Therefore he was turned
as they did certifie him of the distinct place of his birth This they learned out of the Prophet Micah Chap. 5. ver 2. 3. That of our Apostle Hebrewes 1. ver 1. is exactly verified in respect of the article now in handling The Prophets and holy men of God or God by their ministery spake of our Saviours conception and birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at sundry times onely or in severall ages of the Fathers but piece-meale or by scattered predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sundry wayes sometimes literally and plainely sometimes mystically or aenigmatically But in this later age he hath spoken unto us by his Sonne or in his Sonne For even the historicall passages of his conception and birth though delivered unto us by his Evangelists spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his very conception his birth and actions as well as the words uttered by him have their plaine and full language and if wee take them as set downe by the Evangelists are as the putting together of all what the Prophets had spoken scatteredly or represented by broken pictures or portions of truth After that maine head or fountaine of Prophecies was opened and had his course drawne by God himselfe not by any Prophet I will put enmity betweene thee and him c. Every succeeding age especially from the deluge addes some new rills or petty streames unto it the full current of which is conspicuous only in the Gospell CHAP 32. Saint Lukes narration of our Saviours conception and birth and its exact concordance with the Prophets TO begin with S. Lukes narration of his cōceptiō Cap. 1. ver 26. In the 6. month the Angel Gabriel was sent frō God unto a Citie of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgins name was Mary In these few lines wee have the exact Chorographie of those generall or more obscure descriptions which Isaias and Ieremiah had made of the place of his conception and in the words following wee have the particular and most exact survey of all Gods promises made to David or related by other Prophets concerning that sonne of David who was to rule over Iacob for ever When Saint Luke saith in the words forecited the Angel Gabriel was sent in the sixth moneth this may referre either to the time of Iohn Baptists conception as in all probability it doth ver 36. Behold thy Cosin Elizabeth shee also hath conceived a sonne in her old age and this is the sixth moneth with her who was called barren Or it may referre unto the sixth moneth of the yeare according to the ancient and civill accompt of the Hebrewes for untill the time of Israels deliverie out of Egypt the moneth wherein Iohn Baptist was conceived which answeres for the past part to our September was the first moneth in which as most later Divines are of opinion the world was created The moneth Abib which answers unto March with us became observable to the Israelites from their deliverance in that moneth out of Egypt and continues in their Ecclesiasticall accompt the first in order In the same moneth the conception of our Lord and Saviour was denounced by the Angell and our deliverance by him from the powers of darknesse afterwards accomplished and well deserves the title of the first moneth since his conception and passion but in whether of these two respects or whether in both the moneth wherein the Angell was sent be termed the sixt moneth is no matter of such moment or consideration as the tenour of his message ver 31. 32. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus Hee shall be great and shall be called the sonne of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David When the Angell said He shall be great and his mother shall call his name JESVS it is implied that as yet he was not great that he had not the beginning of that greatnesse which is here promised And may it not be as rightly implied that when hee saith Hee shall be called the sonne of the highest as yet he was not the sonne of the highest but first to brooke the name of Iesus and then first to be made and called the sonne of God when he was become great and had received the throne of his Father David But it is not without observation that the Angell saith not Hee shall be the sonne of the highest nor doth hee say that the blessed Virgin his Mother should bestow this name upon him as shee did the name of Iesus The intent and meaning of the holy Ghost in this place is that this fruit of the Virgins womb who was to be named Iesus by his mother from his circumcision should be called the sonne of the highest not in regard of his future greatnesse as man or as he was the promised sonne of David but by reason of his peculiar assumption or union into the person of the sonne of God who was Davids Lord before he was conceived and was publiquely to be declared the sonne of God by his resurrection from the dead At which time and not before hee tooke the especiall government of that Kingdome upon him which had so often beene promised to the sonne of David This meaning of the holy Ghost the Evangelist doth open unto us ver 33. Hee shall raigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end 2. Unlesse this holy of holyes who was now to be borne of the blessed virgin Mary had beene the sonne of God before this time hee should in reason be called the sonne of the holy Ghost For unto the virgin Mary demanding how this should be seeing shee know not a man ver 34. The Angel answered The holy Ghost shall come upon thee c. An Emphaticall expression of that which we beleeve in the Creede That the holy Ghost should worke his conception Now hee who is Author of the conception of any person which before such a conception had no existence is in propriety of speech to be reputed the Father of the party or person conceived But this very person whom we now adore under that name or title of Christ Iesus our Lord being before all World 's the true and only sonne of God albeit the holy Ghost was the Author of his conception as man a more principall cause and Author of his conception then any mortall Father is of his mortall sonne yet was not the fruit of the virgins womb to be reputed the sonne of the holy Ghost but of him alone who was the true and only Father of that person unto whom the fruit of the Uirgins womb was by the operation of the holy Ghost personally united The holy Ghost was not then the cause or Author of any new person but onely espoused or betroathed the humane nature of Christ which
scoffe the God of Israel made good in earnest by making this Jesus whom Pilate and the Jews had crucified both Lord and Christ that is a far greater King then Caesar himselfe whom they acknowledge their only King 6 Ioseph his supposed Father in all probabilitie was dead before this time of our Saviours passion so that the lineall right of the Crowne of David was now in Christ as the only sonne of the virgin Mary who had no child by Ioseph her husband nor hee any sonne by any former wife so that the whole right unto the Crowne of David which either or both of them had was by legall descent devolved upon this dying man who after his great humiliation was to be more highly exalted and in him alone that which was said by the prophet Ezekiel was accomplished exalt him that is low and abase him that is high And yet the same Prophecy had beene at severall times verified or fulfilled in part before And first perhaps in Ieconiah who after the debasing of Zedekiah his uncle by Nebuchadnezzar was exalted above other Captives by Nebuchadnezzars sonne Evil-Merodach And againe more punctually according to the prophets meaning in Zorobabel and others of Davids line after Solomons line was either extinguished or deposed but more fully afterwards in the blessed Virgin as shee expresses her thankfulnesse for it in her sweet song Luke 1. 52. Hee hath put downe the mightie from their seate and hath exalted the humble and the meeke Whether the blessed Virgin in her owne right or Ioseph her husbands while he lived were the next heire unto the Crowne of David is disputed by others unto whose determinations I have nothing to say in this place Whatsoever right either or both of them had was I take it derived from David by Nathan not by Solomon or his successors Ioseph and Mary were heires to the kingdome which Solomon did enjoy though not of his seede and so were Salathiel and Zorobabel from whom they directly descended 7 But whether her sonne should be the lawfull heire of David was no part of the blessed virgins doubt or question to the Angel But how shee should conceive a sonne according to the purport of the Angels promise that she questions Luke 1. 24. Then said Mary how shall this be seeing I know not a man To omit the idle fancies of some who would hence collect that the blessed virgin had vowed chastitie in single life as if I know not a man had beene as much as I am resolved never to know man The truth is that however shee was at this time espoused unto Ioseph yet the marriage was not to be consummated til some competent space after the espousals within which time shee did rightly apprehend the conception foretold her by the Angell was to bee accomplished or rather from the very time of this present dialogue and hence shee demands how it was possible that she should instantly conceive seeing she knew not a man yet are not these words of distrust they have no tincture of such incredulitie or slow beliefe as wee finde taxed in Sarah and Zachariah father to Iohn Baptist yet were both Sarah and Elizabeth the wife of Zachariah types or shadowes of the blessed virgins miraculous conceiving So were Hannah and Sampsons mother The conception of all their sonnes and they were respectively their only sonnes was wonderfull and without the ordinary course of nature peculiar blessings of him that maketh the barren to be a joyfull mother of Children Sarah and Hannah and Iohn Baptists parents had beene petitioners to the Lord of life for children and had their petitions ratifyed one by the Preist and others by the Angel of the Lord. But Sampson was promised to Manoahs wife by the Angel of the Lord without any petition on her part made to this purpose and promised withall to be a deliverer of his people from the Philistins And in this particular or in the maner of the Angelicall Annunciation the birth of Sampson was a most lively type of the birth of our Saviour albeit this conception of Sampson was not so strange as that of Isaac That Sarah in her decrepit age should conceive a sonne was a matter incredible and unparalleld in any age of the world before or since yet not properly miraculous Through faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11. 11. Sarah received strength to conceive seede and was delivered of a child when she was past age either for conceiving seede or for bringing it forth conceived yet both shee did because she judged him faithfull who had promised The faith by which shee conceived strength was the gift of God and the strength which shee conceived by this faith was such a wondrous effect as these gifts which are attributed to the faith of miracles But Sarah having received this strength by faith the conception was according to the course of nature it was with her after the manner of women not so with the virgin Mary who became blessed by beleeving the Angel She did not receive strength to conceive seede the performance of those things which were foretold by the Angel were from the Lord himselfe Vnlesse shee had beleeved shee had not beene established yet her beleefe did not cooperate with the effect promised That was the immediate worke of the holy Ghost by marying part of her substance to the person of the Sonne of God after a manner unknowne to her There was not first a marriage and then a conception nor a conception first and then a marriage both were accomplished at once CHAP. 33. S. Mathewes relation of the maner of our Saviours conception and birth and of the harmony betwixt it and the prophecies IT is well observed by divers good writers that S. Mathew begins the Genealogie of our Saviour Christ not from Adam where S. Luke ordine retrogrado ends it but ordine recto from Abraham because the Covenant of the promised seede was first by oath established in Abrahams line and afterwards more particularly in Davids whose sonne and heire our Saviour was though sonne by adoption or next heire in reversion unto Ieconiah who was the last as these Authors think of Solomons line the last at least that could pretend unto the kingdome of David And though it be said in our Saviours Genealogie according to S. Mathew that Ieconiah begat Salathiel yet this cannot be meant of a naturall begetting but of a civil He was the son of Salathiel in such a sense as the holy Ghost useth in the second Psalme ver 7. Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee to wit unto the Kingdome of Israel if this place be literally to be understood of David as the most probable opinion is though afterwards to be mystically fulfilled only in Christ who is not only Gods only begotten sonne from eternity but his first begotten from the dead and so made King of Kings and Lord of Lords But of these points in their due place 2
upon them the waters of the rivers strong and many even the King of Assyria and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels and goe over all his banks Againe that the name Emmanuel did literally import Gods peculiar presence at that time with his people not only to deliver them from Rezin and Pekah but from the potencie of the Assyrian in future times is evidently included in the 9 and 10 verses Associate your selves O yee people and yee shall be broken in pieces and give eare all yee of farre Countries gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall be brought to naught speake the word and it shall stand for God is with us The strange defeat of the confederacie here foretold was not to be expected in the dayes of Ahaz in whose times the Assyrian did attempt no great matters against them but in the dayes of Hezekiah Thus much the Prophets words in the verses following import ver 16. 17. Binde up the testimony seale my law among my Disciples And I will waite upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him This binding up of the Testimony and sealing of this Law doth argue both the Law and testimony to have beene of speciall moment yet not to be put in execution or fully accomplished for the present Of the accomplishment of both whether wholly or in part the Prophets sonnes in the interim were signes and pledges as is imported ver 18. Behold I and the Children whom the Lord hath given mee are for signes and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hoasts which dwelleth in Mount Sion This last passage is alledged by the Apostle amongst others to prove that the Lord of Hoasts himselfe who in the 14. verse of the 8. of Isaiah had promised to be a Sanctuary to his people was to participate with them of flesh and bloud Hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one For which cause hee is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee And againe I will put my trust in him And againe Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Yet that the 18. verse of Isaiah the 8 to which our Apostle in this place referres us was literally meant of the Prophet and his Children is too apparent to be denied nor will it be safe to stand upon termes of contradiction thus farre with the moderne Jew One of the Prophets sonnes was called Shear-iashub which by interpretation is The remnâ—nt shall returne and of this returne or restauration hee was the signe or pledge The other was called Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us a name portending or foretokening Gods speciall presence with his people at more times than one The imposition of both names and their importance were literally fulfilled in the age immediatly following but mistically fulfilled only in Christ whose comming to visit his people was prefigured by both of them The full importance or abode of the name Emmanuel was fulfilled in our Saviours conception and birth the true importance of Shear-iashub shall be mystically fulfilled when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come or when the Jew shall be called to be againe the seede of Abraham according to promise 9. Two points only remaine The first how the prophecie concerning Emmanuel was fulfilled according to the literall sense in the Prophets time and our resolution in this point wee must take from the sacred records of this theame in the old Testament The second how this prophecie was fulfilled according to the mysticall sense and this wee must learne from the Evangelists which alledge the fulfilling of it and other unpartiall Writers which relate either circumstances or signes of those times in which they wrote Out of these two points the parallel betweene the Prophet and Evangelists will of its owne accord without any anxious inquirie or further discussion result 10 The Histories of the old Testament by which Isaiahs literall meaning may be best interpreted are in the 2 of Kings 17 18. 2 Chron. 28. 16 17 c. We have a constat from the prophet Isaiah himselfe Chap. 7. 1 2. That this prophecy concerning Emmanuel was uttered by him in the dayes of Ahaz King of Judah and of Pekah the sonne of Remaliah but in what certaine yeare of either of these two Kings raignes this revelation was made to Isaiah and the matter of it instantly imparted unto King Ahaz is not so certaine Most certaine it is that Isaiah delivered this message from the Lord to Ahaz before the twelfth yeare of his raigne for in that yeare Hoshea the sonne of Elah begun to raigne in Samaria over Israel 2 Kings 17. 1. and this was after Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was dead And though it be not so certaine yet most probable it is that the former prophecy was uttered about the 8 or 9 yeare of Ahaz or about 3 yeares or somewhat more before Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was slaine One yeare or somewhat under we must allow for the conception and birth of the Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz and some two yeares after untill he were upon the point or period of time wherein ordinary Children in those dayes were enabled to know how to refuse the evill and choose the good that is to distinguish between other meats besides milke butter and honey and betweene his parents and other persons Before this Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz were thus enabled to distinguish betweene meate and meat or his parents and other persons but how long before this time it is uncertaine both Pekah sonne of Remaliah and Rezin King of Syria according to the tenour of Isaiahs prophecy and the astipulation made by him upon the signe profered to Ahaz were to be deprived of their Kingdomes or rather their Land and Kingdomes to be quitted of them Isaiah 7. 16. Chap. 8. ver 4. But before their ruine and before this revelation concerning their ruine was made unto the Prophet Isaiah they had brought Judah and the house of David exceeding low 2 Chron. 28. 5 6 7 8. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria and they smote him carryed away a great multitude of them Captives and brought them to Damascus And hee was also delivered into the hand of the King of Israel who smote him with a great slaughter For Pekah the sonne of Remaliah slue in Iudah an hundred and twentie thousand in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers And Zichri a mightie man of Ephraim slue Maaserah the Kings sonne and Azrikam the governour of the house and Elkanah that was next to the King And the Children of Israel caryed away captive
the sacred story For Pekah was slaine by Hoshea the sonne of Elah within two or three yeares after the signe was given and so was Rezin by Tiglath Pileser at Damascus Within the like compasse of yeares after the Evangelicall promise was made to the blessed Virgin that her sonne Iesus should sit upon her Father Davids throne Herod the great who had usurped it did die a miserable death so did his confederates against the house of Iudah as wee gather from Matthew 2. 20. Arise saith the Angel to Ioseph in a dreame and take the young Childe and his Mother and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young Childes life Now Ioseph returned from Egypt two yeares after our Saviour was borne Whom the Evangelist meanes beside Herod when hee saith they were dead which sought the Childes life is no where in sacred story expressed nor is it to mee certaine whether Syria at that time had a King of their own but it is probable they had seeing in S. Pauls time Aretas was King of Damascus 2. Cor. 11. 32. Some there be which mention the death of one Obedas whom they make King of Syria who died about the same time with Herod but from what authority they expresse not The Evangelist might meane the Roman Governour of Syria by whose favour and potencie Herod was emboldned to tyrannize over the Jews Nation and to worke his projects against the house of David Some have accused Quintilius Varus of this great sinne unto whom and to the Legions under his Governement the right hand of the Lord of Hoasts had reached a more terrible blow than Iudah had received from him or Herod within some few yeares after the butcherie of the Infants 14. The second blessing whereof the Emmanuel was a pledge whose conception had beene foretold by Isaiah was not exhibited till many yeares after and it was this that Judah and the house of David should be more admirably delivered from the Assyrian when he should besiege Ierusalem more fiercely then Rezin or Pekah had done And this was in the dayes of Hezekiah for so the Prophet assures the people that the rod of Ashur should be broken as in the day of Midian Isaiah 9. 4. Which is in effect as if he had said The Lord will be with us after as wonderfull a manner as he was with Gideon when Israel was oppressed by the Midianites And so it fell out in the dayes of Hezekiah that Senacheribs mighty Army was destroyed by a more fearefull destruction then the Midianites had beene by Gideon And unto this strange defeat of the Assyrian the Prophets words Isaiah 9. 4 5. do referre Thou hast broken the yoke of his burthen and the staffe of his shoulders the rod of his Oppressour as in the day of Midian For every battell of the Warrier is with confused noyse and garments rolled in bloud but this shall be with burning and fewell of fire Now of this disaster which befell Assyria and the strange deliverance of Iudah and the house of David by it the Emmanuel there promised by Isaiah was the pledge or assurance as the Prophet in the next word intimates For unto us a Childe is borne and unto us a little one is given c. Isaiah 9. 6. That by this Childe the Prophet meant the Emmanuel mentioned Chapter 7. is acknowledged by all even by such as admit of no more Emmanuels then one to wit our Saviour Christ But seeing the Emmanuel there literally meant was given as a pledge or comfort unto Iudah in this particular distresse certainely hee was borne before him though not borne only as a pledge of this deliverance but of a farre greater Deliverer or Saviour to come for whose sake alone this deliverance and all other of his people from their enemies both bodily and ghostly were sent from God And best Interpreters take those words of Isaiah 2. Kings 9. 34. I will defend this Citie to save it for mine owne sake and for my servant Davids sake to be literally meant not of David but of Davids sonne the true Emmanuel But to returne to the 9. of Isaiah upon that vision of that great overthrow of Senacheribs Armie the Prophet takes his rise to view a greater victory a more potent Enemie in the same place where Senacheribs Armie was overthrowne and that was not neere Ierusalem but in the borders of Zebulun and Napthali neere to Libanus in that Country whose Inhabitants Senacheribs predecessour Tiglath-Pileser had first captivated and in the same place our Saviour gave his Apostles power over Satan and his Angels who had his people in greater subjection then the Assyrians had them in the time of Isaiah For hee had possessed many of their bodies after another manner then any earthly Tyrant could have them in possession Now when the Prophet foretels as well the victory of the Angell of the Lord over the Assyrian as the victory of Christs Apostles over Satan he gives this one signe of both For unto us a Childe is borne and unto us a little one is given c. These words may referre both to the type and to the antitype in the literall sense but immediatly after the light of that great mysterie which all this while had beene under the cloude of the literall sense breakes forth in its proper native lustre For the words following can be meant of none but Christ And his name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace Of the encrease of his governement and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the Zeale of the Lord of Hoasts will performe this As for the former passages concerning the Emmanuel and Mahar-shalal-hash-baz they are literally meant of Isaiah his sonne and yet are withall proofes no lesse concludent against the Jew no lesse pregnant testimonies of our beliefe concerning the miraculous birth of our Lord and Saviour Christ than the testimonies last cited out of Isaiah 9. 6 7. or of his Godhead or everlasting Kingdome For however such immediate visions or unvailed revelations of Christ as Isaiah in these two verses and in the 53 Chapter or elsewhere addes were the most sublime kinde of prophecies such as few other Prophets besides David could ever attaine unto these having the like priviledges amongst the Prophets that Peter Iames and Iohn had amongst the fellow Apostles permitted to ascend the Mount with Christ and see the transfiguration or glory of his Kingdom Yet for our instruction predictions of Christ typically propheticall or prophetically typicall are most admirably concludent as was premised before especially when the same words according to the literall sense fit both the pledge and the mysterie pledged or the Evangelicall mysterie according to the improvement in a more exquisite sense then they did the type or