of these are the vaine Genealogies whom Saint Paul condemneth and so proceede forward to their further vses CHAP. 5. Some difficult places of the Scriptures Genealogies explaned The difference of Saint Luke in the Greek from Moses in the Hebrew and Saint Matthewes omission of foure Kings in his Catalogue examined and resolued IT is the saying of an ancient Father that the Scriptures are a Sea wherein the Lambe may wade and the Elephant swimme God so ordering his word as it is made sufficient for all For vnto the humble and meeke therein is meate giuen to feede vnto life and vnto the wise wisdome to vnderstand But to the high conceited and naturall man for reach is so deepe as he hardly can comprehend what a spirituall motion is according to the demand of Symonides who still doubled the time to make answere what God was How plaine or profound soeuer this is commanded that the booke of the Law bee meditated day and night and the Scriptures searched to finde eternall life for God in sluggards takes no delight Among the search then of the sacred Word none seemeth more plaine then doth the frequent succession or naturall generation of man and yet in them such profound deepenesse is found as may make vs with the Apostle to cry out and say O the depths of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how vnsearchable are his Iudgements and his wayes past finding out I meane not onely in that mystery that God would become man in the flesh and be made like vnto vs sinne onely excepted but in them also which were procreated according to naturall course and breathed their beings as all others did For if we looke into the Kingly line of Christ or into the other collaterals of Iudahs and other Tribes we shall find such diuersities of Father-hoods as may cause vs with Iob to lay our hands on our mouthes and admire the purpose whereunto God worketh Not to mention then the first age or long life of man wherein some saw fiue hundred yeeres before they were Fathers though the peopling of the World stood then more vpon necessity Iudah is the person of eminent note who in the space of forty three yeeres saw himselfe after a sort a great Grandfather in his fourth descent For Phares might haue beene the sonne of Shelah as is seene by Thamars discontent for that shee was not made his wife he then being of yeeres sufficient for mariage And Phares we know was the Father of Hezron who was one of the seuenty that went with Iacob into Egypt and from the yeere of Iudahs birth vnto this of the descending into Egypt were no more then forty three as before is proued by Iosephs age accounting two yeeres more for the births of Er and Onan that died in their sinnes A matter strange and yet is againe exemplified in Salomon Achaz and Amon Kings of Iudah each of them fathers at as yong yeeres But let vs obserue the next generations following namely Hezron Aram Aminadab and Naasson the last three of these being borne in Egypt and the time no lesse then two hundred and fifteene yeeres by which account they could not bee fathers before each one of them attained vnto threescore yeeres of age though Naasson as truth is was aboue twenty at his comming out of Egypt Num. 1. 3. 7. And that he died in the Wildernesse is manifest by the Text where it is saide Among them that were to enter Canaan there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron numbred when they numbred the children of Israel in the Wildernesse of Sinai for the Lord had said of them they shall surely die in the Wildernesse Now from Naasson let vs continue the succession thorow Salmon Boaz Obed and Iesse all of them Fathers not much younger then Abraham was when Isaac was borne and Rachabs brest as drie to giue sucke as were Saraes when she bare her sonne For from the first yeere in the Wildernesse vnto Salomons Temple were yeeres foure hundred and eighty 1 Kings 6. 1. And Dauid was borne but seuenty foure before the foundation thereof was laid for he was thirty when he began to raigne and raigned forty And in the fourth yeere of Salomon that worke was begun by which Texts these foure were each of them Fathers at an hundred yeeres old for among these foure foure hundred yeeres were runne Which so long a time and but foure generations betwixt hath moued Fasciulus Temporum to imagine that Saint Mathew hath made a leape of two hundred seauenty two yeeres betwixt Boaz and Obed and Lyra to thinke that there were more Boazes then one the Grandfather the Father and the Sonne in Ruth cap. 4. Gods purposes therefore touching the vnusuall courses of begettings in these ten generations must be admired and the depths of Scriptures therein searched according to the precept of Christ who affirmeth that Heauen and Earth shall passe but not a iot of his Word euer perish In the search whereof many learned haue diligently laboured to vnfold the mysteries in the sacred Genealogies as Iacob did to vncouer the well in Haran and doe make these as all others are a meanes to withdraw the vaile from before Moses his face that Christ in them may be seene a Sonne of promise aboue all naturall meanes or hope For none of the Fathers betwixt Iudah and Dauid receiued such pregnant promises of the Messiah as the former Patriarkes before them had done neither was there any of Christ his Parents either Prince Captaine or Iudge in that first established gouernement that might allure expectation wherby the world might perceiue a farre greater glorie was to proceede through them then either worldly pompe or meanes of naturall procreation could beget Which thing also was not more manifested in these his Fathers then it was made apparant in most of his Mothers according to the flesh who beyond expectation receiued their fruit and wrestled as Iacob did to obtaine that blessing Such were Lea and Rachel who stroue for their husband for no wanton dalliance doubtlesse but to be faithfull Mothers of that blessed Seed So likewise Ruth left her Countrey and abandoned her kinreds to be a Mother of the Messiah And in the rest wee may see nature as it were both oppressed and quite dissolued for did not the drie wombes of Sara and Rachab as hopelesse of conception force nature the acts of Thamar and Bersheba as they were cōmitted offend nature And the conception of the most blessed Virgin wholly dissolue and breake nature when her most happy wombe was made the Tabernacle of GOD and Cradle of Christ Vpon whose conception birth learned Erasmus paraphraseth thus As Christ in the first time was promised to the Virgin Euah in Paradise so Christ in
Aaron the mouth to worke and denounce great plagues vnto Pharoah and were neuer turned and ioyned againe But the state standing in a setled pollicy in Dauids daies Daui◅ stood in state both of King an Priest from his fathers Abraham I saac and Iacob and was both a kingly Priest and a priestly King in the land for the Scepter of Iudah hee bare whereunto all were obedient and the Leuites of Aaron he ordered for their seruices in the Temple though the ministeriall still lay in Leui. So did Salomon in assembling the Priests to bring the things of the Tabernacle into the Temple and in praying for and blessing the people This kingly authority and priestly dealings to remooue the defects of Church and commonweale we see in Ezekiah by the reforming the land of their Groues and grauen Images and in breaking to peeces the Brasen Serpent that Moses had set vp when the people thereunto burned incense and committed Idolatry And by the yong king Iosiah in his care for the Temple and continuance of the Passeouer which hee commanded to be kept And this power of Scepter and Censer made the whole throne of Dauid wherein Christ the true substance was to sit for euer as had beene promised to Dauid of Iudah that he should not want one to sway the Scepter nor Leui a Sacri◅cer to stand and minister before the Lord for euer which none could doe but Iesus the sonne who liueth blessed for euer and euer And that Iesus in these things was heire to Abraham Isaac and Iacob to Dauid Salomon Ezekiah and Iosiah and in truth to all the Patriarkes Promises in the law is witnessed by the Apostle who calleth him the Heire of all things the Heire of the World And in the person of Melchizedek proueth his function both of King and Priest A King of Peace without beginning of daies or ende of time and a Priest not made after the Law but after the power of the endlesse life that continueth for euer Dauids Lord he is called by Dauid himselfe greater then Salomon in his wisdome and workes and for zeale to the Lords house exceeded both Ezekiah and Iosiah cleansing the Temple of prophane marchandizings and instituting for the Pasouer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and for the Lambe of the Law the figure his owne body the substance The Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world and raigneth after death Dauids Lord for euer But the date of that earthly pollicy now neerely expired Christ came not to continue it further but as a better Ioshuah to bring the people into a better rest then that transitory Canaan was euen into that kingdom of glory which was appointed vnto him by his Father and which himselfe appointed to his Apostles where they shuld sit vpon twelue Thrones and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israell And therefore to draw their mindes from the one and to fix them on the other he vsed neither worldly pomp nor worldly power but refused al offers of magistracy yet to no preiudice of his right but rather as impedimēts to his functiō For surely had he executed any tēporall authority among them then temporal strength had bin imputed to his spirituall actions so forward were the people to outward things For preuention whereof wee see all outward meanes failing His father was a poore Catpenter of small esteeme read of among the people his mother noted by the pen of the Euangelist to bee of the meanest estate as appeareth by the offering for her purification which was but a paire of Turtle Doues or two yong Pigions the oblation enioyned for the poorest sort of weomen as the Law had said If shee bee not able to bring a Lambe shee shall bring two Turtle Doues or two yong pigions vnto the Priest which Mary did And in the person of Iesus himselfe all outward appearance were likewise preuented For his first entertainment was poore his birth Chamber a Stable and his Cradle a Crach for there was no roome for his Parents in the Inne The prouision for his liuely-hood were scanter then the world affoorded vnto vnreasonable Creatures for the Foxes had holes and the birds nests but the Sonne of man no place to lay his head And in the short passage of his kingly triumph when with concourse he was followed and with shouts of Hosanna saluted King of Israell his reioycing was teares with sighes for Ierusalem that knew not of that her visitation Neither after his death had hee the preheminence as most of them had to bee buried in the graues of their fathers but was laid in the Sepulchre of another man and at another mans charge intombed such fauours the world affoorded vnto this great king And therefore as it hath been of him prophesied that he should be a man despised without forme or beautie meeke lowly as a Sheep to the slaughter a iust and a poore King so was it expedient that all these parts in the person of Iesus should bee fulfilled And so himselfe taught in the way to Emaus when hee began at Moses and all the Prophets and by them proued that Christ ought so to haue liued so to haue suffered as he did And therefore the obiection made by Iulian and others that had Christ beene really king of the Iews than had he exercised the authority really of King of the Iewes deserueth no answeare For as he was called and verily was the Sonne of Man although he had no immediate father among men vpon the earth so was he called and verily was king of the Iewes though he vsed no kingly authority among men on the earth And why should that be obiected more against Iesus then against all his Ancestors the high Saints from Abiud to Ioseph who by birth were the vndoubted heires to that Crowne which notwithstanding was vsurped vpon by the Gentiles aboue the space of 400. yeeres Neither had they any promise that they should euer recouer that that terrestriall kingdome but rather that they should possesse the eternall which none could take from them And that Christ Iesus was King of that Kingdome promised and that Sonne that should sit vpon Dauids Throne for euer which none besides him could euer doe wee may further proue by his life after death For as hee assumed the flesh of Dauid and in the same flesh was the vndoubted heire of Dauid to the very instant of his death and in his death also had the same title devulged to the open view of all which hee caried with him to his graue so after his sleepe for his death was but a sleepe vnto him in his person onely it remained as before and in his person onely shall remaine for euer For the same humane body that was borne
Priest without Statue without Ephod and without Teraphim as Israel aforetime was threatned and you too long a time haue now felt For as many yeeres haue beene spent in your vaine expectations if fortie more were expired as the first age saw from the first Creation to the floud and yet are you as frustrate of your hoped Messiah as when you first refused Christ for your King The Lord for his Annointed sake withdraw the vayle from before your hearts that with vs you may see the veylerent and the way open into the holy of holies and the same made onely by his entrance who is the Great High Priest of our calling Figured by him that bare the names of your remembrance vpon his breast in the engrauen stones of his brestplat but hath himself written both yours and ours with the bloud of his own hart when from the Crosse mount Caluary his veynes streamed Saluation with greater increase into the world then did those waters of life that issued from Ierusalems Temple For whose comming to make all perfect let vs with patience attend and expect his appearance in the clowds and in maiesty when both Iew and Gentile with visible eyes shall see him as hee is the Image of the inuisible God the bright nesse of his glory the engrauen forme of his person Before whose Throne in his holy Ierusalem the Iehouah Shammah the Sealed of Israel and the Saued of Nations with Crownes Harps Psalmes shal sing Hosannah to him the Lamb that hath washed vs in his blood and liueth for euermore Vnto whom with God the Father and God the holy Ghost three in persons but of one substance and vndiuidable Deitie be ascribed all glory power maiesty and might for euer and euer Amen O thou whom my Soule loueth come Come Lord IESVS FINIS A ALPHABETICAL TABLE FOR THE READY FINDING OF any name contained in the Genealogies prefixed before the Bibles of the New Translation Seruing for foure seuerall Editions DEVT. 37. 7. Aske thy father and he will shew thee thy elders and they will tell thee IOB 8. 8. For inquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare thy selfe to the search of their fathers By I. S. LONDON Printed by I. B. 1620. To the Christian Reader TO forward thy study and knowledge in the holy Genealogies of the sacred Scriptures I haue Christian Reader in this following Table directed thee to the ready finding of any person or name contained in the draughts of those that are printed with the new Bible of the last Translation which doe serue alike for foure seuerall volumes with one and the same directions And whereas in some of them the Scriptures cotations could not be inserted in this they are all supplied both for Chapter and verse Wherein obserue that the most noted among them of any Nation Kindred and Tribe vpon whom the chiefest stories in Scriptures depend are noted by a differing letter and by the like letters in the Margent set against them are knowne of what degrees or estate they were Our Lords line is noted by the letter L All Kings in generall by this letter K All Queenes by Q Kings of Iudah are noted by KI Kings of Israel by Dukes in generall by D Iudges by I Prophers by P High Sacrificers by S Dauids Worthies by W And lastly for the ready finding of all obserue this easie direction by the page following first imagine euery page of the Scriptures Genealogies to be so diuided and the letters A. B. C. and D. so placed as thou seest vntowhich the like letters direct the name and may easily be found in the same Section As for example Aaron page 14. sect a. Dauid page 22. sect b. Abraham page 6. sect c. Marie page 34. sect d. and so of all the rest The Lord forward thy desire and guide thee in thy search to make thy darknesse light in Christ. An Alphabeticall Table for the ready finding of any name mentioned in the Genealogies printed with the Bibles with the cotations of the Scriptures thereunto belonging A Aron 14 a. and 16 a. and 22 a. Exod. 6. 20 23. Abdi 13 d. 1 Chr. 6. 44 Abdiel 24 a. 1 Chron. 5. 15 Abdon 28 a. 1 Chron. 9. 36 Abdon 29 b. 1 Chron. 8. 23 Abdon 32 d. Iudg. 12. 13 Abel 1 a. Gen. 4 2 Abelmeholah 32 b. Abi see Abiiah 33 b. Abiah see Abiiah 16 d. Abiah 15 d. 2 Sam. 8. 2 Abiah 18 c. 1 Chron. 2. 24. Abiah 27 d. 1 Chron. 7. 8 Abiasaph 15 a. Exod. 6. 24 Abiathar 14 b. 1 Sam. 22 6 16 b. 1 King 2. 26 Abida 7 c Gen. 25. 4 Abidan 30 b. Num. 1. 11 Abiel 28. a. 〈◊〉 Sam 9. 1 or Ner Chron. 8. 33 Abiezer 16 a. Abiezer 30 c. 2 Sam. 23. 2â—… Abiezer 31 b. 1 Chro. 7. 18 Abiezer see Ieezer 31 b. Abigail 22 b. 2 Sam. 3. 3 Abigail 22 c. 1 Chron. 2. 17 Abihail 13 d. Numb 3. 35 Abihail 18 b. 1 Chron. 2. 29 Abihail 22 b. 33 a. 2 Chron. 11. 18 Abihail 24 b. 1 Chro. 5. 14 Abihail 28 b. Est. 2. 15 Abihu 14 c. Exod 6. 23 Abihud 27 d. 1 Chron. 8. 3 Abijah 16 d. 1 Chro 24. 10 or Abia Luke 1. 5 Abiiah 32 b. 1 King 14. 1 Abijah 33 a. 2 Chron. 13. 1 or Abijam 1 King 14. 31 Abijah 33 b. 2 Chro 29 1 Abimail 3 d. Gen. 10. 28 Abimelech 4 c. Gen. 20. 2 Abimelech see Achish 4 d. Abimelech 31 c. Iudg. 8. 31 Abinadab 20 b 1 Sam. 7. 1 Abinadab 22 a. 1 Chron. 2. 13 Abinadab see Ishui 28 a. Abinoam 23 d Iudg. 4. 6 Abiram 11 c. Numb 26. 9 Abiram 30 c. 1 Kin. 16. 34 Abishag 26 a. 1 King 1. 3 Abishai 22 d. 2 Sam. 2. 18 Abishua 14 a. 16 a. 1. Chron. 6. 4 Abishua 27 d. 1 Chron. 8. 4 Abishur 18 b. 1 Chro. 2. 28 Abital 22 b. 2 Sam 3. 4 Abiud 34 a. Mat. 1. 13 Abner 28 c. 1 Sam. 14. 50 ABRAHAM 3 b. 6 c. 7 a Absalom 22 d. 1 Chron. 3. 2 Absalom 29 a. 2 Chr. 11. 20 or Vriel 2 Chron. 13. 2 Achan 7 d. Iosh. 7. 1. or Achar 1 Chron. 2. 7. or Achor Iudg. 7. 24 Achbor 9 c. Gen 36. 38 Achim 34 a. Matth. 1. 14 Achish 4 d. 1 Sam. 27. 2. or Abimelech in the title of Psalm 34 Achsah 19 d. 1 Chron. 2. 49 Achsah 21 b. 21 b. Iudg. 1. 12. Josh. 15. 17 Adah 1 b. Gen. 4. 19 Adah 9 c. Gen. 36. 2. or Bashemath Gen. 26. 34 Adaiah see Iddo 13 a. Adaiah 17 d. Nehem. 11. 5 Adaiah 29 d. 1 Chron. 8. 21 Adaliah 9 b. Est. 9. 8 ADAM 1 a. Gen 2. 19 Adbeel 6 b. Gen. 25. 13 Addar 27 b. 1 Chron. 8. 3 or Ard Numb 26. 40 ADDI 33 d. Luke 3. 28
A Cloud of VVitnesses AND THEY THE HOLY GENEALOGIES OF THE SACRED SCRIPTVRES Confirming vnto vs the truth of the Histories in Gods most holy word and the Humanitie of Christ Iesus The second Addition MATTH 22. 45. If Dauid then call him Lord how is he his Sonne By Io. Speed LONDON Printed by Iohn Beale To the most reuerend Father in God George Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metrapolitan of all England and one of his Maiesties most honourable priuy Councell THe manifold fauors that your GRACE hath extended to me euen from before I was knowne vnto you by face and euer since hath continued them abundantly without any my deserts hath imboldened me most reuerend Father in God to Dedicate vnto your GRACE and gracious protection these my last labours in this cloud of witnesses of Gods truth An argument it is vnto some of some seeming difficultie and a rough path vnto many vnusuall trode in and therefore requireth a far more able meanes to smooth the way then either my wit or weake ability can any waies aford That the Scriptures Genealogies are vaine some that follow their owne vaine in preferring zeale before knowledge would haue the Apostle to pronounce Others besides their authority for that they are penned by Gods Spirit account them vselesse and empty either to bee knowne or taught To meete with both my selfe of many thousands the least haue assaid first in drawing the lineall descents of all the Tribes and of euery family from first to last to illustrate the text and especially theirs of Iudahs that lead vnto Christ. And now in this small treatise doe endeauour to shew their vses both in the holy stories to whom they are staies and in confirmation of Gods promises to whom they are a great cloud of witnesses But for my refuge against the oposers of this my so weak a performance to whom shall I flie but onely to your Grace whom God and his Maiesty hath appointed to the helme of Christs ship in these Brittish seas And who formerly was one of those reuerend Commissioners that approued and authorised the publication of my draughts of the Scriptures Genealogies vnto the world That I am not a Leuite I confesse and farre vnworthy to offer or to come neer vnto the Altar I acknowledge yet am I not thereby quite exempted from seruice but am inioyned as all others are to labour and to lay hand to the forwarding of Gods worke For not onely the Leuites ministred to the prouision of the first Tabernacle but euery one of them also that were numbred from twenty yeers old and aboue among sixe hundred thousand three thousand fiue hundred fiftie men did offer his halfe shekell for the setting forward of the Sanctuary And for the increase of Gods treasurie the poore widdow did minister as well as the rich Pharisee The seruant that had but one Talent in charge for hiding that one was condemned the frutlesse fig-tree withered in one night The very heathen man could say That man is not borne onely for himselfe we know that all must labour in the Lords vine-yard and not stand idle all the day And sure I am that your GRACE as another Moses wisheth that all the people in the Host could prophesie with Eldad Medad as Gods high Priest continually shaketh the Censer of sweet prayers for the wealth of his Zion peace of our Church in whose hand I pray that Aarons rod may long bud that from your forehead may long shine Holinesse to the Lord. That God therefore who hath indued your GRACE with many blessed graces in this mortall life continue them long to his glory your own comfort and our consolation and after your Pilgrimage in this vale of teares crowne you in the life of immortality to reigne with his Christ and as a starre to shine among his elect and chosen children for euer Your Graces in all most humble and dutifull seruises to bee commanded IOHN SPEED To the Christian Reader Grace and Peace THe holy ascents mounting into those sacred buildings which are laid vpon the foundations of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus himselfe being the Corner stone are the Times the Persons and the Places of the Scriptures Records which are as strong stayes to mount into the historicall sight of the sacred Scriptures as were the steps though supported with twelue Lions that led into Salomons Throne Any of which either so laid or mistaken hindreth the eye of some perfect obiest that otherwise from them lye open to the sight so no man can deny but that in all humane descriptions these are the Sinewes of the narration and in the sacred Text these also are the Cement that couer together the well squared Stones in the Lords building without noise or stroke either of Axe or Hammer And doe still make knowne how sure by Text the holy Spirit vttereth a vniforme truth For the euent of Prophecies falling in any Age vpon any Person People or Place and meeting in the Center of a perfect performance declares the constant accomplishment of Gods determined decrees whether it be in his Iustice vpon the sons of reiection and death or in his mercy vpon the children of Election and life and are to the mind of the thirsting searcher as the watersprings were to Dauids heart and more to be desired then the gold refined in the fier seauen times The discents of the persons the Genealogies annexed to the new translated Bible doe shew and what part they beare for illustration of Scriptures this present Treatise in some part doth witnesse which had it beene written with a more learned pen would haue giuen I know farre more satisfaction especially to such as thinke their doctrine condemned by the Apostle or atleast of lesse vse then other studies of Scripture Upon which occasion and the desire of others more moderatly minded these paines were vndertaken and gone wherein I haue rather chosen to confirme their vses in a continual discourse then to rippe vp the assertions of an ignorant zeale lest in opening the obiection the opinion proposed proue little lesse then blasphemy as Solon in his lawes forbare to mention the punishment for the murtherers of Parents lest in naming the Fact the thoughts of the children might be corrupted And albeit I haue not curiously carued but rather rough hewen the stones to this worke as the least labourer and in the last houre of the day yet the foundation being laid vpon the sacred sure Text cannot bee tempest-shaken howsoeuer for manner and stile it may bee found faultie in the searching eyes of this learned age And the thing especially aimed How God became Man and how the Immanuel Iesus was the Messiah of the world and King of the Iewes beside the hoâ—…y Prophets many testimonies the Iewish Rabbâ—…ins themselues apparantly grant whose owne reports in their many Talmuds as they are collected from the skilfull in that tongue are here laid down without any fainings or
thus being seuerally seperated that Christ from Iudah might bee certainely knowne his immediat parents are accordingly recorded from Dauid and Bethlehem the one of them in expresse words by the Euangelist and the other so acknowledged by the Iewes themselues and lastly the Apostle so confirmes it when hee saith that hee of whom these things are spoken appertained to another tribe whereof no man serued at the Altar Neither did the Pharisees who daily waited occasions against Christ euer cauill at his kindred or tribâ—… otherwise then calling him the sonne of a Carpenter a Seducer and a friend to publicans and sinners But to satisfie Suidas and such as think that by his grand-mothers line he might supply the office of a Leuite in the Temple let vs heare what Rambam writeth concerning their Customes who recordeth the Canons that the Iewes obserued in their Synagogues thus 1. Onely a Leuite must offer the Sacrifice 2. But any of Israel might expound the law 3. The expounder must be an eminent man and of great estimation 4. He that expounded might not leane vpon any pillar deske or board 5. Neither must any reade vntill the Master of the Sinagogue had commanded him 6. He that was to reade was to open the booke to reade the text and to roule vp the booke againe These obseruances done the people with silence attended the exposition vpon which customes doubtlesse Saint Iames spake when hee said that Moses of old time had in euery city them that preached him being read in the Sinagogue euery Sabbath day And according to that custome Saint Luke recordeth the actions of our Sauiour in these words And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought vp and as his custome was he went into the Sinagogue on the Sabbath day and stood vp for to reade And there was deliuered vnto him the booke of the Prophet Esaias and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because hee hath annointed me to preach the Gospell to the poore he hath sent me to heale the broken hearted to preach deliuerance to the captiues and recouering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are brused To preach the acceptable yeere of the Lord. And he closed the booke and he gaue it againe to the Minister and sate downe and the â—…yes of all them that were in the Sinagogue were fastned on him And he began to say vnto them This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares And all bare him witnesse and wondred at the gracioâ—… words which proceeded out of his mouth And said is not this Iosephs sonne Note here how many things of the Hebrewes traditions our Lord then obserued he stood vp to reade the booke was deliuered to him he opened the booke and found the place hee closed the book and the eyes of all that were in the Sinagogue were fastned on him Thus wee see by many circumstances that our Lord read as any of Israel might as well as Leui. So Paul and Barnabas the one doubtlesse of Beniamin though the other were of Leui both at Antioch and neither of them knowne for Apostolike calling were desired by the Rulers of the Synagogue to speake words of exhortation after the reading of the Law If Suidas then had obserued this text or had knowne this practise in the Iewes Sinagogue he would neuer haue thought that a man by the line of his mother might bee accounted a Leuite or by that right vse the function on of a Priest And whether Hismeria the mother of Elisabet that bare the Baptist and Anna the mother of the blessed Uirgin that bare Christ were Sisters and both of them the daughters of Issachar a Leuite as some affirme is not canonicall and therfore I hold it no Article of faith For Christ that was to fulfill all righteousnesse so came and carried himselfe in his office and actions as in that searching age the Prince of the world could finde nothing amisse in him and the seuere punishments shewed vpon them that assaied to beare both the Scepter and Censer in one hand might haue staied their pennes that make this Prince of Iudah to be a sacrificer from Leui. For see we not the death of Uzzah only for touching the Arke and the leprosie of Vzziah for attempting to burne incense both of them of Iudah and not consecrated to minister before the Lord as they of Aaron were And contrariwise when the Leuites Machabees lastly vsurped the Scepter of Iudah and set his Crowne vpon their owne mitred heads they not onely made way by emulations and slaughters each of others vnto an Idumean Herod to obtaine the Kingdome but also became Saduces themselues in Religion which Sect 〈◊〉 â—…he Resurrectioâ—… of the bâ—…y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the soules of men perished wâ—…h their bodies and that there was neither Angell nor Spirit But that Christ was a Priest wee denie not yea our great high Priest which made a reconciliation for the sinnes of the whole world we acknowledge him yet after another order then Aarons was and of another Tribe then that of Leui euen of the Tribe of Iudah and order of Melchisedeck for it is euident saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes that our Lord sprang out of Iudah concerning which Tribe Moses spake nothing touching the Priesthood In which his office hee continueth a Priest for euer and in whom likewise the gouernement of his peace was prefigured so as in his person alone is accomplished the attributes that Isaiah Dauid giue the one prophecying of his Priesthood and the other of his Kingdome thus Touching his Priest-hood saith Isaiah The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because hee hath annointed mee to preach good tydings to the meeke he hath sent me to bind vp the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captiues and the opening of the prison to them that are bound And of his Kingdome saith Dauid Thy throne O God is for euer and euer the Scepter of thy Kingdome is a right Scepter thou louest righteousnesse and hatest wickednesse Therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes Lord seale them both by thy Spirit in our hearts that with thee wee may raigne Kings and Priests as himselfe the true witnesse hath promised CHAP. VIII That Salomons House was rent and all his posterity vtterly extinct long before the comming of Christ in his flesh and that neither from Salomon nor any of his successors the Kings of Iudah Christ Iesus tooke any part of his humanity WHen Dauid was fully established vpon his Throne had brought vp the Arke to the prepared Tabernacle and intended to haue built that more faire and conuenient this message was brought him by the Prophet Nathan from the Lotd Thou shalt not build a house for me to dwell in
is by Saint Mathew and Saiâ—…t Luke deriued from Abraham Iudah and Dauid and by the foure Euangelists in that his double right is 〈◊〉 times foure times recordded stiled and called King of the Iewes Anâ—… thus much of the third point Now remaineth the last in the acknowledgment of that title to rest onely in the person of Iesus the expected sonne of Dauid whose raign doth continue for euer The first acknowledgment then of this promised King was obserued by the Gentiles when by his Starre they were led vnto the new-borne Babe King of the Iewes which was in the forty two yeere of Augustus Caesar when Cereâ—…ius was Gouernour of Syria and when in token of a vniuersall peace the Temple of Ianus stood shut in Roome Which peace was so famous as the mostfamous among the heathen Writers found matter enough to enlarge their wits vpon as Virgil in his Aeneidos and speech of Iupiter doth make him a Prophet to foreshew the peace that should be enioyed when as Mars his Temple should bee neglected and his hands bound in chaines of brasse And in his Eclog speeches of an vnspotted Maide a blessed Babe and of golden daies And Marcus Tullius Cicero as himselfe reporteth saw in his dreame A Childe of an engenius and beautifull countenance let downe from Heauen by a golden chaine And Suetonius after him from Iulius Marathus obserued that euen then Nature was about to bring forth a King that should raigne ouer the whole World And albeit these men in their flatteries did appropriate these their speeches either to the Emprour Augustus himselfe or vnto some of his fauourites yet Micah tels vs that in these daies the weapons of Warre should be made the instruments of Peace for saith he in the last daies Swords shall bee broken into mattockes and speares into Sithes and that euery one should sit vnder his owne Vine and vnder his Fig-tree and none should make them affraid And Isaiah speaking to the same purpose particularly applieth it vnto Christ for saith he Vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen the gouernment is vpon his shoulder and his Name is wonderfull Counseller the mighty God the euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace Which Peace was declared to the world by the Angels from Heauen in this last age of the Iewes common wealth when the Stone cut without hands fell vpon Daniels Image that then stood but vpon his toe of Clay Euen then and at that time the wisemen of the East comming from Chaldea in whose language Daniels vision was writ followed his Star into Iury and in Ierusalem inquired for him that was borne x King of the Iewes Which title was acknowledged without any contradiction confirmed by the Priests and Scribes themselues both in affirming the place of his birth in acknowledging his office to be a Ruler in Israel And the malicious Iewes to hinder his right to that kingdome could name none but Caesar a stranger and that contrary to their own law enioyned by Moses which said Thou shalt not set a straÌ„ger which is not thy brother to be King ouer thee And that Iesus was the acknowledged King of the Iewes these speeches and demands of Pilat the Gouernour doth manifestly shew Behold your King Will yee that I release vnto you the King of the Iewes What shall I doe vnto him whom yee call King of the Iewes Shall I crucifie your King and the like Yea and the holy Ghost enforced his own wicked hand to subscribe his most iust title thus IESVS OF NAZARETH KING OF THE IEVVES which he wrote in Hebrew Greeke and Latine that all might reade and fixed it ouer his head vpon the Crosse and that all might see as himselfe had said behold your King And being admonished by the Iewes States-men to alter the in scription as too much derogatory vnto Caesars title and no lesse then a matter of high treason in himself answered What I haue written I haue written euen to the danger of his owne life And Christ himselfe that needeth no testimony of men answered Pilat to his question Art thou a King thou sayest that I am a King To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the World that I should beare witnesse vnto the truth and euery one that is of the truth heareth my voyce And the same opinion of his kingly title after his resurrection it seemeth the Iewes in Thessalonica had when they accused Iason before the Rulers that against the decree of Caesar hee subborned them that taught there was no other King euen one Iesus Thus then we conclude that this Iesus the Sonne of the Virgin was the expected King of the terrestriall Kingdome the reall King without any Competitor to that Crowne And the acknowledged King of the Iews both by the Gentiles and by the Iewes themselues But because in Dauid and in the rest there was a figure of a Priestly or spirituall King and Kingdome aswell as of a reall and earthly Some haue thought the figured only and not the real did belong vnto Christ for that himselfe disclaimed all regall authority vpon earth But if we well consider that he alone is the Alpha and Omega through whom and for whom all that is writ was writ in whom all the promises of God are vea and Amen wee must then include as much vnto him the substance as was propper vnto Abraham and his other figures else was not Christ the heire of all and the first among Brethren Therefore as we began in Abraham for the Terrestriall let vs likewise begin in him for the Celestial who in his daies was both a King and a Priest and in them both a true figure of him his seede that was to come That Abraham was a King his kingly authority in his leagues ofensiue and defensiue made with the Kings of the Canaanites doth sufficiently shew For as a King he bare himselfe among those his conâ—…ederates both in the victory and deuision of the spoiles gotten and taken at Sodom in the recouery of his brother Lot And a Priest likewise he was for he built Altars and sacrificed vnto the Lord and would haue done his owne sonne Isaac had not his hand beene stayed by an Angell from heauen so that in both hee was really a King of that earthly Canaan and personally a Priest in his ministeriall Sacrificings and in them both was tipically a true figure of Christ. To both these functions Isaac was his heire Iacob his and Iudah his for the three brethren Ruben Simeon and Leui were disinerited both of kingly Priesthood and Lay Kingdome vpon their trespasses against Iacobs bed and in Shâ—…chems slaughter But the ministeriall setled vpon Leui Iudah possessed not for these were seperated when Moses waâ—… the messenger