us this Day our daily Bread and in Mark 7. 2 27. Luk. 7. 37. Ch. 9. 3. Ch. 14. 1. 2 Thess. 3. 12. and in other places which is according to the Idiom of the Hebrews with whom all Food is call'd lechem Bread because this is the most Common and Universal Food and the most necessary for the Life of Man and this word with them denotes all the Necessaries and Conveniencies of Humane Life According to the Hebrew Stile a Sword hath a Mouth or the Edg of the Sword is call'd a Mouth Luk. 21. 24. They shall fall by the Mouth we rightly render it the Edg of the Sword Heb. 11. 34. escaped the Edg of the Sword in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mouth of the Sword So you read of a Two-mouth'd Sword Heb. 4. 12. for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Which is the Hebrew Phraseology as you may satisfy your selves from Iudg. 3. 16. Psal. 149. 6. Prov. 5. 4. A Sword is said to have a Mouth because it Devours So lacham is both to Fight and to Eat As I observ'd before that Drinking was applied to Calamity or Suffering so now I will remark that Eating and Drinking are sometimes meant of Holy Instruction of Divine Grace and the most Excellent things of Religion Eat up the Book Rev. 10. 9. i. e. Study it diligently understand the Contents of it Our Saviour expresses his Holy Doctrines his Gifts and Graces the Favour of God and all Spiritual Comforts yea Himself too by Meat and Drink I have Meat to eat which ye know not of saith he Iohn 4. 32. My Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me ver 34. He adviseth to labour for the Meat which endureth to Everlasting Life John 6. 27. And in four Verses together in the same Chapter he uses this Phrase Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal Life For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me Ver. 53 c. And he promiseth his Apostles that they shall eat and drink with him at his Table in his Kingdom Luk. 22. 30. All which is according to the Language of the Antient Hebrews who by Eating and Drinking express things of a Spiritual and Divine Nature as in Prov. 24. 13 14. Chap. 25. 27. Isa. 55. 2. and other Texts R. Ben. Maimon tells us That this was the Stile of the Jewish Doctors and Rabbies in their Writings saith he Eating is to be understood of Divine Instruction and Wisdom This is observ'd by Philo who lets us know that Eating is a Representation of the Spiritual Nourishment The using of the word First-born or First-begotten in the Writings of the Apostles is conformable to the acception of it among the Hebrews The due attending to which will lead us to a right understanding of some Texts which have been generally mistaken by Expositors I shall consider it here only as it is applied to our Blessed Saviour which is done no less than four times first in Col. 1. 15. where he is call'd the First-born of every Creature Erasmus read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first producâ—r of all Creatures and he had it from Isidore of Pelusium who evaded the Arians Assaults by this means But this is an undue Expedient because it alters the received Accent of the Word without any warrant and because in other places where this Word is and is applied to Christ this alteration is not admitted by those that make use of it here Gregory Nazianzen and others interpret the First-born of every Creature thus He whom God the Father begot before he created any thing He that existed before all Creatures But this seems not to be the sense of the words because to be begotten before all Creatures and to be the First-born of them are two different things Others think the First-born here is Synonimous with the Beginner or Author which falls in with the Interpretation of St. Isidore before mention'd and accordingly they quote that as a parallel Text Rev. 3. 14. where Christ is call'd the beginning of the Creation of God i. e. the Cause and Author of all Creatures say they But this though it be very true is not agreeable with the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is no where found to be taken thus Nor is Grotius's Gloss to be allowed of who expounds it thus Christ is the first in the new Creation for the Context shews that there is relation to no such thing But if we consult the antient acception of the Word among the Hebrew Writers of the Old Testament we shall discover what the genuine meaning of it is in this place The First-Born is as much as Excellent Choice Beloved as in Ier. 31. 9. Ephraim is my First-born The Chiefest and most Eminent of Persons and Things have this Name thus the First-born of Death Iob 18. 13. is the most signal and mortal Disease or the cruellest kind of Death The First-born of the Poor Isa. 14. 30. is the poorest of all I will make him my First-born Psal. 89. 28. i. e. I will make him a Great and Eminent Person higher than the Kings of the Earth as it is explain'd in the next words Answerably to this sort of speaking Christ is said here to be the First-born of every Creature i. e. the Chief the Prince the Lord of all Creatures For we must know that this manner of Expression refers to that Dignity and Pre-eminence which were claim'd by the First-born under the Law Primogeniture carried with it the Right of Superiority and Government In allusion to which our Saviour is call'd the First-born that is the Lord of every Creature or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may better be rendred the whole Creation He made he created all things and therefore is Lord of the whole Creation Accordingly it immediately follows For by him were all things created This for gives us to understand that this Verse is the reason and account of what went before St. Paul had stiled Christ the First-born of every Creature and now he gives this satisfactory account of it because by Him all things were created because of this he is deservedly stiled the First-born the Lord and Sovereign of the Creation You must either conclude that the Great St. Paul did not speak Logically and Argumentatively or that this is the genuine Interpretation of the place If the Apostle's Words were to the purpose as be sure they were then this sense which I have offer'd is so too which is as much as I can desire And that this is the meaning of the word First-born is evident from that other Text in this Chapter ver 18. where he is call'd the First-born from the Dead not as some think because he is the Author
Doctrine that it clearly baffles and confutes it I will pass to another Text They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me 1 Sam. 8. 7. They did reject Samuel from being Judg in that they chose a King over them yet God saith They have not rejected thee i. e. Comparatively they have not they have not so much by this Action of despising Samuel their Judg rejected him as they have manifested their Rejection of Me who am their Chief Judg and Ruler and who set Samuel over them as my Deputy They may be said to have rejected Me rather than him The Psalmist faith Against thee thee only have I sinned Psal. 51. 4. But though he speaks Exclusively and in a manner Negatively for it is as much as if he had said Against thee have I sinned and not against any one besides yet he is to be understood Comparatively for it is certain that he sinn'd against Others namely against Uriah in a signal manner whom he made drunk and whose Blood he shed and whose Bed he desiled yea as he was King he notoriously sinn'd against all his Subjects and People But because he Chiefly and Principally sinn'd against God who had raised him to the Throne and done such wonderful things for him because he had most of all offended God he confesses that he had sinn'd against Him and Him only Him and none else A Negative is used for a Comparative And so it is in Hos. 6. 6. I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice which is explained in the next Clause of that Verse and the Knowledg of God more than Burnt-offerings Not is interpreted by more God values Acts of Mercy and Charity and such indispensable Duties of the Moral Law more than all the Performances of the Ceremonial one So that the Antithesis here is but in way of Comparison as we may see in 1 Sam. 15. 22. To obey is better than Sacrifiâ—e The New Testament speaks after this manner there you will frequently observe that our Saviour and his Apostles pronounce many things simply and absolutely which yet we ought to understand and interpret with a Limitation She is not dead but sleepeth faith Christ of Iairus's deceased Daughter She was dead that cannot be denied therefore this Negative must be expounded so as to qualify the Sense She rather sleepeth than is dead Her Departure is a Sleep to her and I will soon awaken her out of it as you shall see Thus our Saviour must be supposed to have spoken Again he faith When thou makest a Dinner or a Supper call not thy Friends nor thy Brethren neither thy Kinsmen nor thy rich Neighbours but call the Poor the Maimed the Lame the Blind The meaning is rather call these than them yea rather wholly omit these Feasts and Invitations than forget to be charitable to the Poor If the Necessitous be not excluded from your Charity you may feast your rich Friends and Relations but you must not feast Them and neglect These yea you must chiefly and most of all take care of these So is that other Passage of our Saviour to be understood Labour not for the Meat which perisheth John 6. 27. i. e. labour more for that Meat which endureth unto Everlasting Life which he immediately after speaks of than for this You may labour for the perishing Meat but let your greatest Care and Indeavour be for that which never perisheth Still you see the Negative is to be explain'd by a Comparative And so it is in Iohn 16. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name i. e. ye have asked little which is comparatively Nothing Thus the Apostle is to be meant when he saith 2 Cor. 2. 5. He hath not grieved me that is me only as is clear from the following Words but in part all for so it should be rendred according to the Greek and a Parenthesis should be made In part saith the Apostle he hath brought Grief and Trouble to you all I say in part that I may not overcharge him that I may not aggravate his Fault too much But to speak Comparatively and with respect to the whole Church he hath not grieved me because I am inconsiderable in comparison of all of you The following Texts of St. Paul are to be explained thus 2 Cor. 5. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we should be unclothed i. e. not for that only or Comparatively not for that Charity seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. i. e. not solely and chiefly In respect of her generous Designs of Good for Others she may be said not to seek her Own Good and Advantage From which Sense of the Words we may know to interpret those other Texts Let no Man seek his own but every Man another's Wealth 1 Cor. 10. 24. All seek their own Phil. 2. 21. When this Apostle faith We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities c. Eph. 6. 12. the Sense certainly must be this We wrestle not only or chiefly against those but rather yea most against these Though we combate with our selves and our corrupt Natures and with evil Men yet our main Conflict is with the Spirits of Darkness the Apostate Angels who are hourly tempting and solicâ—ting us to Vice that they may bring us into the same State of Condemnation with themselves So when we are told that the Law is not made for a righteous Man but for the lawless and disobedient for the Ungodly and for Sinners c. 1 Tim. 1. 8. we must not with an Antinomian Gloss upon the Words exempt righteous and godly Men from their Obligation to the Moral Law for the Negative here hath not the Import of an Absolute Denial but signifies only that the delivering of the Law and especially the Commination of it were not primarily and chiefly designed for the Righteous for those that by the Grace of God observe the Precepts of it but for those notorious Offenders particularly enumerated in the following Words the Comminatory Part belongs to them Women are bid to adorn themselves not with broidered it should be broided Hair or Gold or Pearls or câ—stly Array but with good Works 1 Tim. 2. 9 10. With which we may join that of another Apostle Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the Hair and of wearing of Gold or of putting on of Apparel but let it be the â—idden Man of the Heart 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. None can imagine that all outward adorning and wearing of Gold or putting on Apparel or costly Array are utterly unlawful and consequently forbidden here wherefore the Words are to be taken with some Restriction they are spoken Comparatively that is the Inward Adorning is far better and much more to be look'd after than the Outward and Bodily one Christian Women must adorn themselves rather with Humility and Sobriety than with these They ought not to be so solicitous about Apparel as about the Inward
among other Gifts and Presents which Alcinous gave to Vlysses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are reckon'd That the same Persons had Different Sutes of Clothes appears from Gen. 27. 15. which mentions Esau's goodly Raiment which was very rich and fashionable and which had been laid up by his Mother among those Aromatick Spices and Odours as 't is likely was the Custom then which the Fiâ—lds in those warm Countries supplied them with whence we read of the Smell of his Raiment ver 27. This Perfumed Sute was fetched out and worn by him at solemn Seasons as we may gather from the Occasion of Iacob's using it by his Mother's Order So in succeeding times they were clad on Festival Days and Times of Rejoicing with a better sort of Apparel than they wore at other times These are stiled Garments of Beauty Isa. 51. 1. and Garments of Praise Isa. 61. 3. such as they put on at times of Rejoicing and praising God Especially White Garments were then much in fashion to which refers that of Ecclesiastes ch 9. ver 7 8. After he had said Go thy way eat thâ—â— Bread with Ioy and drink thy Wine with a merry Heart he adds Let thy Garments be always 〈◊〉 Of this particular sort of Garments used at Feasts among the Jews Philo speaks in his Discourse of a Theoretick Life And perhaps such a Linen Vesture or Ephod David wore at a solemn time of Rejoicing 1 Chron. 15. 27. This is certain that the richer sort of People among the Jews were wont to wear especially in publick this White Clothing Whence the Nobles and Great Men were stiled Chorim 1 Kings 21. 11. Neh. 13. 17. Eccles. 10. 17. Isa. 34 12. Ier. 27. 20. 39. 6. i. e. Candidi from the Colour of their Garments This gives an Account of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bright Apparel Jam. 2. 2. Whence it was that the Fullers were an antient Trade and are more than once mention'd in Scripture 2 Kings 18. 17. Mal. 3. 2. But by this Name are not meant those who deal about combing or plucking the Wool but those that wash'd and whiten'd both Woolen and Linen and took out their Spots and Filth which were soon contracted and as easily seen in that White Raiment It is probable that the Fullers Field Isa. 7. 3. was the Place where they dress'd and dried their Cloth and it is likely that it was made choice of by those Tradesmen because it was so near the Pool which they had occasion to use constantly mention'd in the same Verse The Fullers Sope Mal. 3. 2. was useful to this purpose The Hebrew Word Boriâ—â— is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 herba by the Seventy because they used some certaiâ— Plant or Herb of an abstersivâ— and cleansing Nature a kind of Sope-wort In thâ— New Testament likewise this Employment is spokeâ—â— of for the Evangelist speaking of our Saviouâ—â— Garments at his Transâ—iguration â—aith they becaâ—â— shining exceeding white as Snow such as no Fuller on Earth can white them Mark 9. 3. Where it is not improbable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render on Earth should rather be english'd with Earth i. e. with Fullers-Earth which with other things was so useful in scouring and cleansing their Garments and reducing them to their former Whiteness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Theophrastus whom the Learned Hammond quotes signifies much of this Fullers-Earth whence that Excellent Critick is enclined to think that that is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here And 't is certain that the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used in that manner which it is in this Place The Use of White Garments was in great Esteem not only among the Iews of whom I have spoken already but the Persians as may be seen in Esth. 8. 5. But especially the Romans hugely affected to wear Clothes of this Colour and that chiefly at their Feasts and on High Days Then their bright Gowns were put on which with their Eatings and Drinkings they brought home soil'd and thence they had occasion for Fullers very much to cleanse their Gowns of Spots and to make them white again These Garments which they put on when they went out upon solemn Invitations to Suppers were called vests accubitoriae coenatoriae cibarial togal triclinares and are often mention'd by Pliny Martial and other Writers Among the Greeks this Habit was known by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as we learn from Xiphilin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To these belongs the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of before and perhaps that Linen Garment Mark 1 â— 51. which a young Man had cast about him This young Man saith St. Ambrose was Iohn the Evangelist who went with Christ from the Supper into the Garden having on his Festival Garment still I could observe also that Garments of diverse Colours were in great Esteem of old thus the Beloved Ioseph had his Phassim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX Gen. 37. 3. And the Royal Ladies were thus apparell'd 2 Sam. 13. 18. This is call'd Rikmah in Judg. 5. 30. and Tsebagnim in the same Verse To see themselves and how their Apparel sat they had of old no Looking-Glasses properly so call'd for we have no Word for Glass in the Old Testament though in the New we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 4. 16. 15. 2. 21. 18 21. and it is probable that the Artificial making and ordering of it was found out about that time as we may gather from what Pliny saith of it Their Speculums were not made of Glass as now but of polished Brass otherwise the Jewish Dames could not have contributed them towards the making of the Brazen Laver Exod. 38. 8. These are the Miroth here spoken of which are also expressed by other Words as Rei Job 38. 8. and Gilinim Isa. 3. 23. all three from Hebrew Roots which signify to see to reveal or discover because Objects appear and are seen in these Speculums Of this sort of Mirrors made of some bright Metal and particularly of burnish'd Brass Pliny and Vitruvius speak But before this Invention yea and afterwards among all the plainer sort of People the Water in Ponds and Rivers when the Surface of them was smooth and even was instead of Looking-Glasses to them and that might be one Reason why they often of old went down to visit these Places and after they had well viewed themselves in them made use of them for Bathing Men likewise at first used to look themselves in Fountains and Rivers Nuper me in littore vidi saith the Shepherd in Virgil. Thence Speculum udum is the Periphrasis of a River in Apuleius And from other Testimonies it might be proved that they antiently look'd their Faces in Waters So that when the Burnish'd Looking-Glasses of the Hebrew Women were commuted into a Laver they were thereby seasonably put in mind of the first