therefore hath God made choice not of the Object but the Act of faith to be imputed to us for our Justification There is indeed a lenitive cast in to qualifie the sharpness of this corroding and poisonous errour graunting faith not to be the meritorious cause of Justification But why then is the Lord Jesus Christ the Object of our faith so plainly shut out from having any part at all in this matter and why are we told that where it is said we are justified by faith it is not to be taken Tropically and Metonymically for the Object as many Orthodox Writers do interpret it whom I could set in opposition to those that are mustered up for the defense of this Errour if they have at least given that suffrage unto it as is pretended yea and why is such an inference derived from the Apostles frequent magnifying of faith Rom. 4. as to say the Holy Ghost had not bound himself so precisely to those words and syllables viz. of justification by faith if he had not meant to give this Honour unto faith it self but rather to some other thing as it is most uncomely called which faith laieth hold upon Alass alass that any who pretend to have a share in the merits of Christ should in this manner detract from his Glory did the Lord Jesus Christ himself Bear our sins in his own body on the Tree yea become sin for us that his righteousness might be imputed unto us and according to the appointment of his Father be made glorious in our justification and shall not the travel of his Soul be his peculiar satisfaction what is faith it self become false to the justling of Christ out of his Throne whose office it is and ever hath been to advance and promote his Crown and Dignity or rather is not the hand of Joab I meane the malice of the Devil as I said before evidently to be seen going along in this matter In vain it is for any man living to make a flourish and to boast of a constant adherency to the Protestant Profession notwithstanding the fury of late persecutions when there is such a manifest agreement avouched with Rome in this particular viz. of justification by works It seems by common report that the Authour of the Book called Theologia Veterum is of late deceased nevertheless what is here written may stand as an antidote to preserve others from the infection of these postilent errours which if there were nothing else to work in the hearts of those that are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ a loathing of that Anti-christian Synagogue this alone were enough to cause an everlasting separation But I have done and do be think my self what I have done how I have raised up some spirits that may possibly be thought not to be easily laid again whereas my hope is they are rouzed to give Glory to God in consenting to what is written Nevertheless so long as I have Truth on our side I shall not be afraid though an Hoste of adversaries how Potent soever they may prove to be did rise up against mee It is not God knoweth out of any unbeseeming contempt or disrespect of any Person that I have medled in this controversy Learning I do reverence wheresoever it is as much as any shall onely I do wish that it may not be used as a Weapon to fight against Jesus Christ But floreat Veritas Ruat Coelum Let the World go which way it will with me I cannot I dare not betray the Truth by a sinful silence when so fair an opportunity of vindicating it is presented unto me I must confess there hath been in this particular some small digression for having an Errour in chase it hath made me go beyond my bounds But we shall return and take into consideration the second Period of Time here mentioned in the Text with a reference unto this third interpretation of it Consider what hath been said and let us pray that the Lord may give unto us a right understanding in all things CHAP. II. Sheweth the meaning of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to day as it is rendred in the Text according to our Third Interpretation and treateth also of Christ's Oeconomy therein Proposition JESUS CHRIST is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Same or the onely Hee to Day Now herein also two things are to be considered by us First The Denomination of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly What is predicated of that Time viz. Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Same to Day First the Denomination of the Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. mansuetus ad differentiam noctis quae immitis â—orrida est to Day from whence we may collect The Time of the Gospel is a time of light The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying it which the former word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not The text we see calleth it a day and it is light we know that formeth the Day without which it vanisheth and cometh to nothing A Day then it is and a light-some day A day which the Lord hath made even the Lord our Light and our Righteousness the Path of that just one having from the beginning been as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day A glorious day wherein is concluded the light of Yesterday For as the light which for the three first dayes of the Creation was dispersed through the Heavens it pleased God to gather and unite into one body of the Sun so that Light of Yesterday which was diffused through so many shadowes and Legal Ceremonies was at last complicated and folded up in Christ the Son of Righteousness who is now in this day of his Power like a strong man running his Race displaying his Beames distilling his Influences filling the Earth with knowledge even as the Waters covers the Seas But let us more particularly behold and see the Glory of this Light First the Light of this Day is the true Light 1 Joh. 2.8 as the Evangelist Saint John calleth it 1 Joh. 2.8 Not like unto that of old which was darkned with the shadowes of the Mosaicall Oeconomy but clear and manifest Lumen illuminans Joh 1.9 A Light that inlightneth every man that cometh into the World non illuminatum not inlightned by Moses or any man in the World Secondly It is a great Light overspreading the whole World shining out into all Nations making a day of Salvation unto all People There were two great Lights which God Created in the beginning the greater Light to rule the Day Gen. 1.16 and the lesser Light to rule the Night Answerably hereunto hath God ordained two great Lights for his Church the lesser Light to rule the time of the Law and the greater to rule the time of the Gospel and as the Evening did precede the Morning in the ordering of the natural
unto him in heaven and in Earth The exercise of which power he would first have to be manifested in discipling whole Nations of the Gentiles Matt. 28.18 19. receiving them into Covenant by the Sacrament of Baptisme as the Jews were by the Sacrament of Circumcision Where the word Nation in order to the Gentiles must without controversie be taken in the same sense as it was with a reference unto the Jews for as the Nation of the Jews was made up of all sorts and sexes old and young so in like manner are the Nations of the Gentiles And because his commission which he then gave unto his Apostles was not formed according to the erroneous fancy of these deluded people who in effect render it thus Go and Disciple all men But thus Go and Disciple all Nations baptising them in the name c. And Children being a part of the Nations we may conclude without any hesitancy that the intent and purpose of the Lord in this commission to his Apostles was that they should wheresoever they came baptise the Children as well as the Parents And seeing he came to break down the wall of partition that was between Jews and Gentiles which was actually done in the execution of this Commission It is not to be imagined that he would by it set up a partition-wall between Parents and their Children so as that they should be at as great a distance the one from the other in point of eternal Salvation as Heaven is from Hell A thing he never did in all the Ages before and undoubtedly whatsoever these Dreamers may blasphemously prate against him He hath not done it now because he is still the Same I will not dwell any longer upon the Conviction of these obstinate people least the more reason be shewed unto them out of the Scripture to lead them into the way of truth they be thereby according to their usual wont the more hardened in their errour The Lord open their eyes that they may see betimes what dishonour they bring unto Jesus Christ in the diminution of his power by their frantick Opinions What disturbance they create unto his Church and consequently what hazard they run notwithstanding their conceited assurance of their own everlasting Salvation We have now done with this second particular viz. Jesus Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Same to day which he was yesterday that is The Same to his Church in the time of the gospel which he was in the time both before and under the Law CHAP. III. Sheweth how JESUS CHRIST shall continue to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same for ever Vnto his Church WE should now according to our prescribed method come to speak of the third course or computation of time here mentioned in the Text and of that which is predicated of it viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ the Same or the onely He for ever But to avoid Prolixity which hath already spun out the former parts into a greater length then was intended we shall not distinguish this into several propositions as hath been done with those before Neither indeed can we be able to speak of what shall come upon the Church in the continuation of this day of the Gospel to the end of the world Onely this we can say because the Holy Ghost witnesseth it That persecutions and Afflictions do abide it but withall that Jesus Christ will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto it which he ever hath been Hereupon therefore shall we fix the short remainder of our discourse deriving some inferences from it for the further edification of those that take pleasure in beholding the immutability of the Lord Jesus Observe then In the midst of all the various changes and chances that may come upon the Church to the end of the world Jesus Christ will be unto it still The Same No variableness nor shadow of turning shall ever be found in him either in his Mediation with the Father or in the dispensation of his power among his people But he will be Semper idem Alwayes the Same Now herein we can but speak of the exercise of Christs Mediatory office as we have already done and therefore it will be needless to spend many words about it As he began so he will continue to be the Prophet Priest and King of his Church The same word of truth which he hath revealed he will still continue no addition unto it or diminution from it will he ever suffer his Gospel is an everlasting Gospel Rev. 14.6 1 Pet. 1.25 His word abideth for ever And if an Angel from Heaven should come and preach any other we must therefore much more will he ho'd him accursed Gal. 1.8 He is a Priest for ever according to the oath of God not to be retracted saith the Prophet Hath an unchangeable Priest-hood saith the Apostle Ps 110.4 Heb. 7.24 A Priest established in his Dignity as master and Lord by virtue of his Son-ship not like unto the servants the Priests of Aaron's order Who when they entred into the most Holy place were not there to sit but otherwise to execute their office according to the order prescribed unto them by Moses Heb. 10 11 They stood as became servants saith the Apostle ministring before the Lord. But Jesus Christ when he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever and according to the Law entred into the holy place to finish the Atonement Sat down on the right hand of God noting the perpetuity of his office according to the dignity of his person and that he ever liveth which was not possible for any other to do to make intercession Dan. 7.14 Mach. 4.7 His Throne in like manner is for ever and ever His Kingdom an everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth throughout all Generations No Salvation then to be expected for ever Act 4.12 but onely by him No other Name under Heaven given among men from the beginning of the world to the end of it whereby we must be saved For before him as he saith of himself there was no God formed Es 43 10 or rather as it may be rendred nothing formed of God for any such purpose as to be a Saviour Ec. 2.12 Ps 145.11 12. neither shall there be after him What alas can the man do that cometh after the King What He may speak of the glory of his Kingdom and talk of his power to make known to the Sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom But to imitate him in his power and his mighty Acts or to compare with him in the Majesty of his Kingdom would not onely be a contempt cast upon his Crown and Dignity but an utter impossibility and a meere vanity for men or angels to attempt it They poor Creatures being infinitely unfit and unworthy must let that alone for ever and they that will expect it of them will finde it to be folly
his own and his own c. John 1.14 The word was made flesh c. Acts 1.6 When they therefore were come together c. Acts 1.7 It is not for you to know the times c. Rom. 8.19 For the earnest expectation of the Creature c. Rom. 8.20 For the creature was made subject to vanity c. Rom. 8.21 Because the creature also it self shall be delivered c. Rom. 8.22 For we know that the whole Creation groaneth c. Rom. 8.29 The first-born among many Brethren c. Rom. 11.25 Blindness in part is hapned to Israel until c. Rom. 11.26 And so all Israel shall be saved c. Rom. 11.27 For this is my Covenant with them when c. Gal. 4.5 To redeem them that were under the Law that we c. Col. 1.15 Who is the Image of the invisible God c. 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediatour c. Tit. 1.5 For this cause left I thee in Crete c. Tit. 1.7 For a Bishop must be blameless c. 1 Pet. 4.17 For the time is come that judgement must begin c. 1 Pet. 4.18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved c. Rev. 1.11 I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last c. The Interpretation of these Texts of Scripture Gentle Reader as they are rendred in this Treatise I do leave unto thy most serious consideration Not but that there are besides these sundry Expositions of other places of Scripture here also given that are not usual yet nevertheless may well be conceived to be according to truth without condemning those that have been commonly received These likewise you will meet with as you go along in your reading and will require your most ponderous meditations Onely I do desire that when you meet with an interpretation of the Holy Scripture which may seem somewhat strange unto you not to be hasty in passing censure upon it till you have found the whole discourse about it to be fully finished Again it will perhaps be objected unto me by some that I do here take but a slight occasion to be very large and vehement in maintaining the honour of our Church against her Adversaries by justifying the Order which she observeth in the Publick Worship of God and Ecclesiastical Government Whereto it may well be answered Is there not a cause When not onely the Church which is our Mother the most eminent Pillar and Stay of Divine Truth hath been miserably rent and torn by Schismes and Divisions but our Lord Jesus Christ himself also was very much dishonoured thereby being made by a sort of wretched people the very Authour and Fautor of their Divisions as if he had not been and were not still to be to his poor Church what the Text here insisted upon proclaims him to be viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same Cause enough then there is for every true Son of the Church to spend his Zeal in this Contrast upon all occasions and to marke them as the Apostle adviseth who cause these Divisions and Offences that they may be avoyded It must be confessed the late Schisme while it grew more and more prevalent in this Kingdome till it pleased God to reduce us to our pristine order by a merciful providence never to be forgotten did bring us especially of the Ministery into such a low despondency and pusillanimity of spirit that we had almost lost that Christian Valour yea and English courage pro aris focis for which our Church and Nation have in times before us been so much renowned But since the Lord God hath spoken who can but prophecy when deliverance hath been sent unto us by the out-stretched arm of an Almighty Power who can forbear to rejoyce in it And when God hath shewed us our Errour in suffering our selves to be deluded by a spirit of seduction who can but lament his back-slidings and appeare with his utmost strength in the vindication of that Truth and Church which have been so treacherously forsaken For my own part I do here in the truth and uprightness of my heart solemnly protest before God and men as I have been ashamed of my credulity in giving heed for some time to the cunning insinuations of those who pretended they were for the cause of God but were found Lyars so now though possibly it may be said of me as it was of Saint Paul 2 Cor. 10.10 that my bodyly presence is weak and my speech contemptible and therefore it is but little that can be expected from me that may be for the advantage of the Church in any kinde all which I will not deny yet I do and must account it my duty with that little strength that I have to endeavour what I can by all wayes and means the undeceiving of those poor seduced people who being bewitched with the like sorceries do yet continue in their perverseness against the Lord and against his Anointed What else should I do after so woful a defection that hath been among us when to my apprehension I hear often the word of our Saviour to his Apostle Saint Peter sounding in mine eares Luk. 22.32 tu conversus confirma fratres when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Let no man therefore blame me for my forwardness and vehemency in this matter upon any occasion for I cannot but speak the things which I have seen and heard as the same Apostle also said yea let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth and my right hand forget her skill how poor and slender soever it be if my tongue and pen both be not now ready for the Churches service to fill up the acclamation at the setting on the Head-stone of this great Work of Omnipotency in the re-establishment of Order among us both in point of Divine Worship and of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government with Grace Grace unto it Lastly I should now also be loth to be so far mistaken as that by giving new experiments of rendring the sense of Scripture otherwise then it hath been generally taken I should thereby incline to favour that upstart Sect of holders-forth of new Lights and new Truths against whom I have alwayes protested my dislike with much loathing and abhorrency and do still account of them no better then the smoke that comes out of the bottomless pit which would in time darken the light of the Gospel as much as the foggy mists of Popery ever did where it prevaileth Deplorable is their estate and accursed be their attempts whosoever they are that set up any of their pretended Lights in competition with the Holy Scripture and are not contented with that truth which hath already been revealed to the Church in those things that are necessary to salvation The bed of divine truth is green all the year long Cant. 1.16 no filthy weeds of spotted Errour so much as once appearing therein nor no room at all to be found
God Whereby surely is not meant that the Father is subservient in either of these respects but the first Mover and efficient cause in both so is the Son also in the work of Creation though the Father is said to work by him for he saith John 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work John 5.17.19 And what things soever the Father doth these do the Son likewise V. 19. As the Father therefore is the sole Creatour of all things so in like manner is the Son John 10.30 because the Father and the Son are both one the Father by the Son and the Son from the Father excluding only all Creatures in Heaven or in Earth from having any concurrency herein To conclude Peter Lombard's sense concerning this Point or rather S. Chrysostom's quoted by him will give us some clear light in this Mystery and it is indeed well worthy to be remembred by us The Father Lib. 2. Dist 13. saith he worketh by the Son Quia tum genuit omnium opificem Because he begat him in that ineffable and eternal Generation the Creatour of all things and if the Father be the cause of the Son secundum quod Pater est As he is Father much more is he the cause of those Creatures which are created by the Son Hence it appeareth John 5.26 that as the Father hath life in himself and hath given to the Son to have life in himself so the Father hath this honour soo modo ordine In his glorious Rank and Order to be the Creatour of all things and he hath given to the Son in his order likewise to be the Creatour too the like we may say also of the Holy Ghost in his Order Since then it is the priviledge of the Son by virtue of his Divine Generation to be entituled to this Honour in an equality with the Father let him be as the Apostle calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bringer forth of every Creature Col. 1.15 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Authour the Beginner Rev. 3.14 the Prince of the whole Creation the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he and none but he He it was that stretched forth the Heavens alone Es 44.24 Psal 104.9 Ps 147.4 and did spread abroad the Earth by himself he made his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire He telleth the number of the Stars and calleth them all by their names or as it is rendred Giveth names unto them He prepared the Light and the Sun Ps 74.16 Ps 104.19 Job 38.28 29. Job 38.22 Ps 135.7 Ps 33.7 Ps 24.1 the Moon also he appointed for seasons And what Father hath the Rain but he Or who but he hath begotten the drops of Dew Out of whose Womb came the Ice And the hoary Frost of Heaven who but he hath gendred it He created the treasures of the Snow the Hail and the Wind and he laid up the Depth in Storehouses The Earth is his and the fulness thereof whether it be in the Surface or in the Bowels of it the round World and they that dwell therein In fine the Apostle sums up altogether Col. 1.16 By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in the Earth visible and invisible Col. 1.16 whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him And the Evangelist agrees in the same account saying All things were made by him John 1.3 and without him was not any thing made that was made Thus was Jesus Christ Yesterday that is in the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only he in the work of Creation He himself undertook it without the assistance of Angels whom Saturnius Basilides Cent 2. cap 5. and other Hereticks of old would obtrude upon him to be his Co-agents in the Work And he was likewise the same in carrying on his work there was no variableness in him whilest he continued in it exercising his Divine Artifice and Dexterity in the Magnitude Variety Multitude Distinction Order Harmony of his Creatures which he produced one day after another till all was finished At which time he look'd upon all with much complacency and delight beholding the Travel that he had gone over and was satisfied therewith not retracting the least thing that had passed through his fingers for he was not ashamed of his Work but set his Seal unto the whole giving this Testimony of it That it was all very good Gen. 1.31 With men indeed there is a marvellous mutability in their Works either they are not able to perfect what they begin and so are not the same when they have wearied themselves about their work as they were at first entrance upon it ashamed and vexed to see their expectations frustrated As it was with Solomon after he had stretched forth his uttermost Abilities which in truth surpassed all others to extract the most exquisite Spirits and purest Quintessence for his delight which the variety of the Creatures could afford how miserably alas was he deluded I locked saith he on all the works that my hands had wrought R◠2.11 and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit Or else they are not wise enough to carry on their Enterprizes to such a progress and maturity as may probably produce any desirable Issue being fain to sit down many times re infectâ even as wise as they began or out of envy they are not willing to impart their Experiments to others Plutarchus in vita Alex. As Alexander would not have Aristotle to publish his Acroamatical Sciences for wherein saith he shall we excel others if those things which thou hast secretly taught us be made common to all O! but the Lord Jesus Christ is the same all along in his Works shewing forth the immutability of his Wisdom Coodness and Power therein for by his Wisdom he made the Heavens and by his Wisdom he made the Worms Gen. 1.25 which though they may be generated by corruption Ps 136.5 Gen. 1.25 yet they had their Original by virtue of the Principles of the first Production caused by that Omnipotent Fiat which gave Being to all things and the smaller the Creature is the more is the Divine Workmanship to be admired both in the shaping and in the using thereof The Hebrews have an opinion as it is observed that Enchanters cannot shew their skill in little things if they be less then a Barley-corn and therefore the Sorcerers of Egypt failed in producing Lice Exod. 8.18 But the Wisdom of the great Creatour is the same in the smallest Creature of the World as in the greatest the organical body of a little Ant is no less to be wondred at then the huge body of Behemoth His goodness also is the same shining clearly throughout the whole Creation It was not out of any need that he began this Work
but what saith the Answer of God unto him I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaime the Name of the Lord before thee And what could a poor Creature in this World desire more Oh what admirable Honour is this that the Lord vouchsafeth unto his Beloved Favourite what an incomparable Priviledge is This Moses now partaker of above his Brethren But it is the Lord who may do what he pleaseth for so he saith I will be Gracious to whom I will be Gracious and I will shew Mercy on whom I will shew Mercy Nevertheless we may with Modesty enquire how and by what means this glorious Goodness came to be presented unto Moses and that we shall finde to be even by this good old Way which we have here been speaking of viz. the Mediation of Jesus Christ I go not about to wrest this excellent Scripture by forcing upon it a sense which may not agree with the minde of the Holy Ghost therein That be far from me what I have to say concerning it I shall leave to the Judgement of the Wise and Godly First I shall by the way take this for granted because it hath been already proved that Moses had to do with Jesus Christ as the rest of the people had while He and they were together in the Wilderness And it must be confessed that there was as much need of the help and interposition of a Mediatour in this matter that we are speaking of as in any thing els which I say was in great Mercy dispensed unto Moses as is manifest First by the Preparation that preceded this glorious Appearance Secondly by the Form and Method of the Proclamation of the Name of the Lord at the time of that appearance As for the Preparation which is mentioned in the three last Verses of this thirty third Chapter the particulars thereof are very remarkable viz. concerning the place that is said to be by the Lord Ex. 33.21 22 23. and the Lord 's putting Moses into the cleft of the Rock and covering it with his Hand which that we may the better understand and see how apposite they are to our present purpose it will be needful for us to take into Consideration that whole intercourse between the Lord and Moses First Moses prayeth unto the Lord V. 13. in these words Shew me now thy Way What is that Thy Way say some that thou meanest to take with this people in bringing them to the Land which thou didst promise to give unto their Fathers I will not deny but that this might be in the minde of Moses now when the Lord was pleased to admit him into his presence because he was ever zealous for the peoples good But there are some Circumstances which follow that do incline me to another sense at least to joyn another with this both which may be allowed together being not inconsistent each with other but tending both to one and the same end It seemeth unto me that Moses here prayeth that the Lord would reveal himself unto him out of the Cloud in some shape and form as he might be visible unto his bodily sight which he therefore calleth his Way because he had been wont to do so to the Patriarchs before him whom he likewise knew by Name And I do the rather conceive this to be the sense because of the ground and reason of his desire which is added by him in the words following Lord saith he Shew me thy way that I may know thee and that I may find grace in thy sight True it is the Lord promiseth him immediately after this that his Presence should go with him as being an Answer to his request in the behalf of the people the necessity whereof Moses also urgeth and insisteth upon V. 15 16. Yet doth the Lord give him a further Answer in the Words that follow V. 17. as to a thing somewhat differing from that which concerned the people I will saith he do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by Name Now since the Lord had before consented that his Presence should go along with him in the Conduct of the people and that Moses had given his Restipulation thereunto resting him fully satisfied with what the Lord had promised to what purpose is this other Consent now superadded and that with a note of difference from what had passed before if it be not this which I have here declared viz. that the Lord would according to his desire Visibly appear unto him out of the Cloud in a humane shape as he had been accustomed to do to others whom he knew by Name which sense being admitted how clear will the Circumstances following that are preparatory to the great discovery of God in the next Chapter be unto us which otherwise will prove very intricate and obscure Behold saith the Lord there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a Rock and it shall come to pass while my Glory passeth by that I will put the in a Cleft of the Rock Now what place upon Earth can be said to be neerer to the Lord then another seeing he filleth Heaven and Earth with his presence And what Rock or Cleft of a Rock could be able to secure Moses from the danger of being consumed by that excellent Glory which did appear seeing the Rocks are cloven to pieces Nah. 1.6 and thrown down before him How then could these things be It is in vain now to produce an Anthropopathy and so stretch it so far as to make it level with every Circumstance for doubtless there was a Reality in this matter and every particular of it was done and effected to Moses sense and to the full satisfaction of his expectation so far as might stand with the safety of his Life Granting therefore that Jesus Christ appeared unto Moses as a Man there might then be a place said to be according to the ordinary course of Nature neerer to him in that Mount where the Lord was wont to meet this his servant then another elsewhere he might also put Moses into the Rock and cover him with his Hand to preserve him from the imminent Danger and then take away his Hand that so Moses might see some glimpse of that Glory that passed by Yea more it is said Exod 34.5 that the Lord Descended in a Cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and yet in the sixth verse it is said The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed to stand still with Moses proclaiming and to pass by before him proclaiming too seemeth in reason not to hold well together the true meaning therefore undoubtedly is this Jesus Christ who is Jehovah the Mediatour came down upon the Mount in a Cloud and then after he was descended appears visibly unto Moses according to his former Promise and stood with him there to protect him from Danger while
Jehovah that is God the Father who is essentially one with the Son passed by in his Glory proclaiming his Name To say nothing of the Lord's stay and abode with Moses and his converse with him as it is at large declared in the following part of the Chapter Ex. 34 28. and that for fourty days and fourty nights as appears V. 28. after the end of this glorious Vision which did also put a glorious lustre upon the face of Moses which never any of God's former appearances unto him did It is I suppose manifest unto all men that this preparation that was here made doth demonstrate clearly that Jesus Christ was a mediatour to Moses for good and that without him he could never have been able with safety to his Life to have endured that excellent glory Secondly The form or method of that divine Proclamation doth also intimate the same unto us Let us consider it so far as I conceive for the present it hath a pertinency to the point in hand and that is in the order and method of the Names wherewith the God proclaimeth himself viz. The Lord the Lord God Observe first Ex. 34.6 The Lord then The Lord God The first implying one that hath his Being of himself and who is the Authour of all subordinate Beings the second signifying the Lord Strong and Mighty The first sheweth Goodness the second Greatness The first puts the Creature into a relation unto God and gives it a dependance upon him Ex. 6.3 Note Moses his former admissions into Gods presence were grantted unto him by an extraordinary condescension possibly because he was then to be Mediatour of the renewed Covenant of Works wherein Jesus Christ was not to be concerned the second advanceth the Divine excellency above the Creature and beyond the descent of a Correlation unto it in a Word The first conferres a Right upon Believers to and in the Mediatour for it is Jehovah that gives a being to all the Promises Exod 6.3 the second makes the Mediatour himself-subordinate unto God Now therefore behold the Goodness of God presented unto Moses in that The Lord is named before The Lord God had this Proclamation of the name of God been without this preceeding Title I doubt it had not been safe for Moses to have seen any glimpse of all that transient Glory such as never was the like manifested unto him or any other mortal man before and if so what can this argue but the necessity of a Mediatour between God and man without whom never could any of the posterity of Adam since the humane nature was defiled by his Disobedience have the least Acquaintance with the Almighty to their Comfort but must for ever have been kept at a distance from him But it is the Lord that is between Moses and the Lord God which makes all that God saith of himself to be very good And now I do here humbly commend this Interpretation which I have given of this place of Scripture to the whole Church of God being partly led thereunto by the consideration of the different manner which also is observable of the Scriptures speaking of God before the expulsion of our first Parents out of Paradise where the promise of Grace was given unto them immediately upon their Fall from that which is spoken of him afterwards before viz. In the second and third Chapters of Genesis Moses speaks of God with the Appellative Title of The Lord God but after in the fourth Chapter and so forwards he maketh mention of the Lord onely not The Lord God which to my apprehension doth plainly imply that God did not appear unto Man after the Fall as he did before but what intercourse soever passed between God and Man was in and through the Mediation of Jehovah that is Jesus Christ the Lord Not but the Father and the Holy Ghost are called in Scripture Jehovah too even as the Son see Ps 2.2 Ps 110.1 1 Cor. 12.4 5. But wheresoever these two Titles Jehovah Jehovah El. The Lord and The Lord God are set together and distinguisht each from other as in that to Moses before mentioned and in this latter mentioned by Moses there is the Son onely Quatenus Mediatour to be understood by it Clearly then Jesus Christ was the Mediatour Yesterday between God and his people as well as to Day And upon the whole it is manifest that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same or the onely He to his Church in point of Salvation under the Old Testament even as now under the New And let this suffice for the Confirmation of this Doctrine But as we have proved the Truth of it so it is very fit that we should now improve it in making some Use thereof for the furtherance of the Gospel In the first place I shall again take this opportunity to make an Address to the dispersed of the Jews whom I do beseech by all that antient Love that hath been between God and them that they would yet look upon him whom they have pierced And herein I do but exhort you O yee that were once a People Zech. 12.10 yea the onely people of God to that which your selves know well enough is prophecyed of you 1 Pet. 1.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which shall surely be accomplished shortly by you And I beseech you will it not be far better for you that the Prophet's words should be made good in this Generation then in those that come after you Look upon your present estate wherein you stand and see whether that honourable Bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ which your Fathers shed do not lie upon you as a stupendious guilt unto this very Day Look upon all that is written by Moses and the Prophets concerning him and see whether it be not all exactly fulfilled to a Tittle in that our blessed Lord who on Mount Calvary by Jerusalem was with wicked hands crucified and slain Nay have not your selves been instrumental in executing that upon Jesus of Nazareth which was prophecyed should be done unto the Messiah Alas alas will you be still wilfully blinde look up and behold your King Pilate once spake it in scorn or out of a Design of Rebellion against Caesar Joh. 19.14 but I speak it unto you as I said before out of a hearty desire of your Restauration to your former Glory Behold I say your King and behold your Priest and behold your Prophet Your King who watched over you in all your Generations of old to defend and protect you and to deliver you from all your Enemies and whom now also to serve you will undoubtedly finde to be your perfect freedom Your Priest whose Sacrifice did virtually accompany all the Sacrifices of the Aaronical Priest-hood making them effectual for your Good and will fully expiate your great sin in sacrificing that is Crucifying even this your High-Priest who is now in the Holy place at the right hand of his
dead light Joh. 8.12 as the light of yesterday was which consisted in carnal Ordinances and dead Sacrifices but a living light that is Jesus Christ himself who though he was dead to extinguish the former Light yet being quickned by the Spirit he liveth to establish this new Light that shall therefore undoubtedly continue to the end of the World For behold saith hee I am alive for evermore affixing his Seale with an Amen to note the unalterableness of his present estate Hee I say again is this light of life not like unto other lights that have no Life in them whoso followeth the Sun in the firmament 't is true hath light but it is a Light wanting life when death cometh it cannot give him life because it hath it not to give There is indeed hope of a tree Joh. 14.7.10 when it is cut down that it may live again saith Job and that the tender Branch thereof will not cease but when Man giveth up the Ghost where is Hee Not the sent of water nor the light nor heat of the Sun can be able to revive him But saith Christ Hee that followeth mee hath the light of Life that is my self Who am the Sun of Righteousness having healing in my Wings Mal. 4.2 Joh. 5.26 Joh 5.2 it being given unto me to have Life in my self Joh. 5.25 So that I quicken whom I will Joh. 5.21 And thus saith the Evangelist of him Joh. 1.4 Joh. 1.4 In him was Life and that Life was the Light of Men. So then here you see what is the light of this day that you are exhorted to receive It is Christ Jesus let him come therefore into your souls He will bring both light and life with him light into your understandings whereby you shall get more intimate Acquaintance in the great Mystery of Godliness and life into your Affections raising them above the World and from groveling in flesh and bloud to a spiritual elevation light to direct you in the way and life to quicken you in it light to comfort you in your troubles and life to deliver you out of them the light of the life of grace here and the light of the life of glory hereafter Awake therefore thou that sleepest rise up from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light Secondly The light of this day is the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. 4.4 shewing to the world such glorious Mysteries which before this day could not be so clearly known such as the Incarnation of God the expiation of sin by his death the freeness of Salvation through faith in a Mediatour remedy against the Curse and mitigation of the rigour of the Law reconciliation with God spiritual Administrations of the New Covenant all which and many more had never been manifested to the Children of Men had not the day sprung from on high even from the Zenith of the Heaven of Heavens visited the Church with this glorious light and therefore is it well worthy to be entertained by us Thirdly It is called the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God then which nothing can to the Saints be more desireable and unto which when the Soul hath in the utmost extent of her Capacity fully attained she is fully satisfied setting up her rest with a Ne plus ultra as the Prophet confessed saying I shall be satisfied when thy Glory shall appear When as therefore this glory now appeareth in some glimpses to the Soule whiles she is shut up in this Corps of Clay such Apparitions being the Praeludium of that perfect happiness that is to come must needs be very welcome Now the Light of this Day sheweth unto the Soule of a Believer so far as it is capable the Glory of God viz. The Glory of his Wisdome the Glory of his Power the Glory of his Grace and Goodness with other his glorious Attributes in the Protection of his people in the fulfilling of his Promises in the propagating of his Gospel yea it filleth the Soule with Joy and Gladness raising it up to a Life Heavenly and Angelical And therefore well worthy of Acceptation Consider I beseech you shall the Glory of the Lord shine round about us and shall not we open our Hearts to let it in Have we a Price put into our Hands to get Wisdome and shall we have no heart unto it God forbid Yea let us not content our selves with that which we have already attain'd 1 Cor. 12.31 but labour to see more and more of this Glory covet earnestâ—y the best things saith the Apostle be still craving Lord shew me thy Glory Let me see thy goings how thou my God and King goest in the Sanctuary in the Dispensations of thy Grace in the manifestations of thy Presence O come into my Soule and let me be Metamorphosed into thine Image from Glory to Glory 2 Cr. 3.18 from one degree of Grace to another till I come in the Light of Glory to see the King in his Beauty beholding him as he is and knowing him even as I am known Thirdly As we must rejoyce in the Light of this Day 3. Duty and receive it into our Hearts so are we to walke in it and by it ordering our whole Conversation according unto it otherwise we are very unworthy of it And here give me leave a while to lead you into that Walke wherein Zachary and Elizabeth a holy couple whose Praise is in the Gospel were wont to walke They Walked saith the Evangelist Lak 1.6 in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord Luk. 1.6 Let us then joyn Hearts and Hands together and go and do likewise First let us walke in the Commandments of the Lord Quid enim est Lex Dei nisi Lux Diei Ps 104.23 doing the work of the Lord in this Day of the Lord. The Day we know is ordained for man to work in Man saith the Psalmist goeth forth unto his work and to his Labour untill the Evening Psal 104. So also is this Day set apart and appointed by God for his people to walk in that is to worke for so is a holy walking before God interpreted in Scripture e. g. I must saith Christ Walke to day and to morrow and the day following Luk. 13.33 Eph. 2.10 speaking of his workes which he wrought at that time And good workes saith the Apostle Eph. 2.10 God hath ordained that we should walke in them This Light therefore must not be consumed in vain not whelm'd under the Bushel of filthy lucre nor hid under the Bed of slothfull Negligence but we must make use of it to shew us our way and to guide us in our worke Let us then arise and walke up and be doing not spend the day in hearing and talking onely as the manner of some is For as the light of the Sun is no help to the Eares and Tongues of men but to their hands and feet to walke
Being literally signifies an Age which English word is observed to have some affinity with that Greek termination and an Age of what extent soever it be hath an uninterrupted being Now this word being here put in the plural number may probably intend the several ages of both worlds First of this present world together with the sundry revolutions that are in it one generation passing another succeeding And secondly of the world to come This sense I conceive with submission may be allowed for where the word is put in the singular number there is often intended the one world or the other Sometimes it is put for this world as Luke 20.34 Matth. 28.20 Sometimes again it is written for the world to come as Joh. 6.51.58 But being here rendred in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may well be said to comprehend the several ages of both worlds Joh. 6.51.58 I confess the world to come is often in Scripture per se rendred in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with an amplification too in sundry places of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but where the sense will bear a further latitude as it doth here too narrow a confinement is not to be set unto it v. g. Consider we the place of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.17 1 Tim. 1.17 the Lord is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Ages or Worlds that is of all Ages in this world and of that everlasting Age in the world to come because indeed as the Psalmist speaketh His Dominion endureth throughout all Ages both here and hereafter So in the Doxologie affixed to the Lords Prayer as Dr. Hammond observeth The same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must intend both Ages or Worlds the present and the future For the Kingdome the Power and the Glory is the Lords not onely in this world but in the world that is to come And therefore we do well in that to ingeminate the words in our English Translation proverbially For ever and ever that is for this world which is one for ever and for the next which is another for ever The same sense and meaning very probably do the words of our Text likewise carry for the Mediatorship of the Lord Jesus Christ to which they do referre hath and shall have its virtual operation between God and his Saints for ever in this world and as we shall presently shew for ever in the world that is to come Let the words then have their utmost extent and full latitude comprehending both worlds viz. This world till time hath spun out it self to the very last mâ—nute And that which follows with all those years of Eternity that shall never cease The second thing to be considered is How Jesus Christ will be the Same to his Church for ever in the world to come For seeing as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.24.28 He must reign till all enemies are put under his feet and That when all things are subdued unto him he shall deliver up the kingdome to God even the Father that so God may be all in all we may inferre that there shall be a change in him and conclude that therefore he cannot be the Same But let us not be too forward to conclude before we have understood the premises aright as we ought to do First therefore to allude unto what I said before As Jesus Christ is the Same to day under the Gospel which he was yesterday under the Law but in a different way of the dispensation of the mysterie of Godliness so he will be the Same to his Church for ever in heaven but not after the same manner As Moses delivered up his dispensation unto Christ when the mystery of God was translated from the shadow to the Substance from the letter to the Spirit so will Christ deliver up the kingdome to the Father when by his Spirit he hath done all that the Father appointed him to do Yet as he was under Moses the Same in effect to his Church which he is now so will he be under the Father Not indeed so darkly with such glimpses of his appearance and secret illapses of his Light and Love into the hearts of his people as now but with a more free and full manifestation of his own and his Fathers glory without the least interposition of any let or hinderance whatsoever For now saith the Apostle we see through a glass darkly but then face to face c. Which Beatifical Vision as Christ hath here obtained for us by his Merit so will he for ever hereafter be the efficient cause of the uninterruptible continuance thereof unto us by his being in us But that I may not seem to deliver any thing in so important a matter without my warrant let us search the Scriptures and see what Testimony they give of Jesus herein It is not expedient to enquire after or to speak of those things which we have not seen It doth not yet appear saith the Evangelist what we shall be much less can we be able fully to discern what the Lord Jesus Christ shall be either in his Subjection to his Father or in his Relation to us when God shall be all in all Good therefore is it for us to be wise unto sobriety and to content our selves with what is revealed First then this we may assert for a most infallible truth that Jesus Christ will for ever be the Same in the Hypostatical union of his Humane nature with the Divine even then when he hath delivered up the kingdome to God even the Father And in this respect shall he then be subject to God For otherwise 1 Cor. 15.28 according to the word of the Apostle seeing he subsisteth ever in the real essential Form of God so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.6 is to be understood as it is taken in the same place Phil. 2 6. where the Apostle speaks of the Form of a servant he shall as he hath ever been according to his proper right without any injurious encroachment upon the Father be equal with him Though I confess his subjection to the Father is not limited to this sense as we shall see hereafter From which Hypostatical Union of his two Natures so inseparably to be continued unto all Eternity Joy unspeakable and full of Glory will undoubtedly arise to all those who are of the same Humane nature with him that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world O what a happiness will it be to behold this our Lord and Redeeming Kinsman sitting at the right hand of the Throne of God exalted sarre above all Principalities and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named Yea and from hence it will come to pass that the Divine nature whereof by Christ we have been made partakers in the state of Regeneration shall never cease to have a being in us but shall be perfected rather by his Presence
the first Adam who was made of red earth white in his holiness and red in his bloud and sufferings white in his own immaculate purity and innocence but red in the imputation of our sins which are like scarlet and crimson Es 1.18 White in his goodness and free grace to humble sinners but red and bloudy to all his enemies that will not suffer him to reign over them Worthy is this our Jesus that we should continually look unto him He looks unto us in all our afflictions and supports us in them In all the deadly hazards that we are liable unto through the malice of Satan and preserves us from them In all our backslidings and recovers us out of them In all the duties of Religion and by his spirit enables us unto them In all the works of our callings and commands a blessing upon them Without him we can do nothing without him we are nothing without him we can hope for nothing He looks upon our graces the fruits of his own spirit in us and cherisheth them upon our infirmities and pities them upon the purposes inclinations desires of our hearts towards him and delights in them upon our bodies and souls and will undoubtedly save them Should his eyes then run to and fro amongst us and be still set upon us for good and should not we look unto him again I call you not to an empty speculation of Jesus Christ in a picture according to the manner of superstitious dawbers who paint him out in a Crucifix sutable to their own foolish fancy for who among them can say expresly such was the fashion of his countenance and other parts of his body as we see here in the draught before us and then Pygmaleon-like dote upon it or rather like the Prophets Carpenter as they are well resembled fall down and worship it when they have done Such vanity as this let us leave to those that have their eyes full of spiritual Adulteries Sic ille manus sic ora seâ—ebat whom a deceived heart hath turned aside so that they cannot deliver their own soul nor say when they take hold of their Crucifix is there not a lie in my right hand But beloved Christians I speak as to wise men Judge ye what I say You that have been in the Holy Mount with Jesus I mean that have been conversant with him in his Word and have the anoynting which ye received of him abiding in you whereby you are made able to see him that is invisible you know better how to look unto him 1 Joh. 2.27 that you may draw virtue from him The Wise mans eyes are in his head Ec 2.14 saith Solomon he considereth well what he doth that he may do it to â—he best advantage or he lifteth them upwards saith Saint Ambrose and fixeth them upon Christ his Head sitting at the right hand of God Pro. 17.24 when the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth poring upon vanity to the seeding of his folly but nothing at all to the satisfying of his soul We waâ—k here by faith as the Apostle tells us and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 The less therefore there is of sight the more answerable to the Rule will our walk be Let Faith then have its perfect work in drawing the whole soul to look uncessantly unto Jesus as the Authour and Finisher of our Faith and Salvation who hath begun his good work in us and will also perfect it who hath given us grace to believe and will surely continue this grace with us even to the end because he is the Same for ever Faith will make us to see what he hath done for us how he was faithful in fulfilling all Righteousness what he hath suffered likewise how he was faithful unto death yea unto wrath for that which we should have been suffering in hell for ever that did he in the short time of his Passion suffer in our stead it will make us see what he is now doing dwelling in our hearts shedding abroad his love in our souls preserving us out of the hand of the enemy that seeks our destruction appearing before God in our behalf preparing a place for us that where he is there we may be also And what he will do present us before his Father proclaim our Integrity and Sincerity before his Angels crown us with Glory embrace us with the everlasting Arms of his Love continue to own us for his brethren unto all Eternity Oh then let us look unto this Jesus that our souls may be more and more ravished with his love They that thus look unto him here with the eye of Faith when their natural bodies shall become spiritual bodies shall most certainly with their eyes behold this their King in his beauty for ever with joy unspeakable and full of glory Which exceeding superlative eternal weight of glory that we may obtain both I that have here according to the grace that is given unto me written of this Subject and you that with an honest and good heart have read and perused it The Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolation grant unto us through the Mediation of that Son of his love our Lord and our Life Christ Jesus Amen Amen Bern. Serm. 22. in Cantic Currimus omnes post te O Domine Jesu in Odore Vnguentorum tuorum in omnem terram exivit Odor Vitae qui vitalem hanc sparsam ubique fragrantiam non sentit ob hoc non currit aut mortuus est aut putidus AN APPENDIX To the former TREATISE Added because of the several ADDRESSES that are therein made unto the JEWS and proving clearly from Scripture that they shall in time become a people again in whom the Lord will delight BEcause mention hath been made of the great hope that is to be conceived concerning the Jews Restauration it is fit here to shew the reason of this Hope and what good warrant may be produced for our confidence therein The rather because there are some amongst our selves who will because they will be Scepticks in this point being too apt to insult and trample upon this forlorn and desolate people though our Apostle hath given sufficient warning to the contrary Neither will our undertaking herein be impertinent to the matter we have had in hand for it will in the issue plainly demonstrate the Immutability of the Lord Jesus Christ towards this people and that his Covenant which he made with their Fathers is not forgotten but shall inviolably be kept and fulfilled to a titâ—le in this day of his power because even because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still the Same unto them as ever he was from the Beginning The ground upon which we do in the name of God proceed is this If Moses and the Prophets be of account with the Jews or the Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles of any value with us there may be great hope for
the Jews to expect and good warrant for us to believe their restauration First Hear what Moses saith of this people Deut. 4.30.31 When thou art intribulation as they are this day and all these things are come upon thee Deut 4.30 31. even in the latter dayes remember that if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto his voice For the Lord thy Ged is a merciful God he will not forsake thee neither destroy thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers which he sware unto them But if God hath now cast away his people in these latter dayes so as that they shall be no more a people hath he not forgotten the Covenant of their Fathers which he sware unto them Possibly it will be replyed That promise was attended with this Proviso If they turn unto the Lord their God and be obedient unto his voice But that will never be because of the hardness of their hearts to which they are given up by the just judgement of God for their contempt of the Gospel when it was sent unto them In answer hereunto hear Moses once again Deut. 30.3 c. If thou return unto the Lord thy God Deut. 30.3 c. then will the Lord thy God turn thy Captivity and haâ—e compassion â—pon thâ—e and wâ—ll return and gather thee from all Nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee If any of thine be driâ—en out unto the utmost parts of heaven from then â—e will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live You 'll say How doth this take away the premised Objection Hear and consider First These promises doubtless are grounded upon the new Covenant for the old admits of no mercy to be shewed unto any upon the violation of it The condition therefore must be understood in an answerable sense If you return and if you obey that is when thou shalt Return and when thou shalt obey being induced thereunto by that Grace which I will give unto thee Secondly Of whom speaketh Moses this Of some few a Tribe or two of the Children of Israel or of the whole Nation Surely of the whole Nation but hitherto is not the Captivity of the whole nation turned neither hath the Lord gathered them from all those nations and the utmost parts of heaven whither he had in his sore displeasure scattered them Thirdly Circumcision being the Sacrament of initiation whereby this people were separated from the World and solemnly admitted to be a peculiar portion to the Lord the promise here of circumcising their hearts doth not so much imply their confirmation in their obedience during their restored estate as the turning of their hearts even at the time of their re-admission to be the Lords Fourthly This promise hath never yet been fulfilled in any of their former deliverances For Saint Steven speaketh to them in this manner after all that God had done for them Act. 7.51 Yee stiff-necked and uncircumeised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do yee It remaineth therefore that the accomplishment thereof is yet to come viz. In these latter dayes Thus Moses The Prophets likewise with one Consent do testifie the same First Isaiah is very free and copious in this matter It shall come to pass saith he Es 11.11 12. in that day Es 11.11 12. that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the Islands of the Sea that is from all quarters of the World And he shall set up an ensign for the Nations and shall asseble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four Corners of the Earth Let us here also take notice of some considerations very pertinent as I conceive to our present purpose First The Prophet we see speaks of the second time of Gods stretching out his hand for the deliverance of all the posterity of Jacob which second time must be in the dayes of the Messiah as appeareth by the tenth verse Secondly Observe this place is not to be understood of the elect both Jew and Gentile as some will have it For the Prophet had in the tenth verse spoken particularly of the Gentiles Therefore the people here intended are without controversie onely the seed of Abraham according to the flesh Thirdly Consider how the Prophet speaks not of Judah alone or the two Tribes that came out of Babylon after the seventy years Captivity but which is very remarkable not onely here but in sundry other places of Israel and Judah together who never yet were united since their first separation Fourthly This assembling and gathering of Israel and Judah together shall be in those dayes when the Lord sets up an ensign for the Nations that is when the Messiah shall be lifted up in the Ministery of the word For he is the rock of Jesse which should stand for an ensign of the peoples See another Prophecy from the same hand Es 43.5 6. Fear not saith the Lord to Israel for I am with thee I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North give up and to the South keep not back bring my Sons from far and my Daughters from the ends of the earth And again Es 45.22 2a Look unto mee Es 45.22.25 and be yee saved all the ends of the earth In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Let it be now hereupon considered Hath there been as yet an universal gathering of Israel to the Lord such as is here mentioned Hath the Lord as yet justified all the seed of Israel that is the Nation of them against their enemies Or doth the Nation yet glory in that salvation which hath been wrought in the world now in the time of the Gospel If not then surely these things are yet to be fulfilled If it be objected as some will not stick to do it that these and the like places are to bee understood Synechdochically as putting a part for the whole viz. Israel for the whole Church of God throughout the World that it should be gathered and justified and that all the people of God should glory and make their boast of the Lord. I answer Though it should be so yet the literal meaning here as it referreth to the posterity of Jacob is not to be wholly sleighted for admit that it be an usual form of speech by a Synechdoche to put a part for the whole Yet such a Synechdoche must needs be accounted a violent assault
will afford us the like Suffrage herein as the other Prophets have done But before we enter hereupon give me leave to premise a word or two It is not my purpose here to launch out too ventrously into this deep I foresee the danger that attends upon it many of late having lost themselves in so doing by a too much confidence of their skill and strength that I may not therefore fall under the guilt of rashnes and inadvertency in this kinde with others who have been peremptory in stating and determining the Epoche's and Periods of times mentioned in this Book and that of the Revelation which have appeared to their shame to be of a larger extent then those limits which they have set unto them I shall onely offer what I have to say to the judgement and examination of the Church not daring to determine in a point of such difficulty and uncertainty as that is which I am now about to insist upon The place which I have singled out for my purpose is in the ninth Chapter of this Prophecy and the twenty fourth verse Where the Angel who is before called the Man Gabriel because he appeared in a humane shape speaks unto Daniel in this manner Seventy weeks as it is translated are determined upon thy people Dan. 9.24 and upon thy Holy City to finish the Transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the Vision and Prophecy and to anoint the most Holy In the exposition of which words I finde Interpreters do gene rally run upon this foot of account making these seventy weeks as they are called to be seventy times seven years and to begin at one of those four Edicts mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah that came forth from those Persian Monarchs Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes for the restoring and returning of the people and for the building of the Temple and City wherein they do much vary one from another and are at a great loss in their computations because not onely the Scripture doth not afford help in this matter not expressing the full years of the reign of those Princes nor yet the series of their succession but those Historians also that have been of old who as a learned Antiquary observeth having so many Bishop Mountague and so great helps at hand which we want of the Persian Babylonian Assyrian Egyptian Writers who at large related the acts of those Princes with whom in their times the state of the Jews did concur and who were abundantly furnished with Histories of the Seleucidan and Lagidan Princes of the Macedonian race with whom the Jews after the Captivity had great negotiations have left unto us so very poor or none at all helps for direction herein in so much that we have little or no cause to thank them for it Upon which consideration I say none of our Expositours before us could nor can any man else to this day conclude precisely upon a certain root of time for the beginning of these years according to this account nevertheless it is the concurrent judgement of writers that at one of these forementioned Edicts must these seventy weeks take their Commencement and Beginning the final Period whereof which must be as uncertain as the Beginning they make to be either at the coming of the Messiah or at his Baptisme or at his Death or at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple the amounty of which time say they makes up 490 years and are afterwards by the Angel branched out into several parcels where every part hath some Cardinal thing of special remarke fixed unto it that should happen within that time But I shall now crave leave to lay down my conceptions of this Scripture differing from the ordinary interpretation of it believing there is enwrapped in it the whole purpose and determination of God concerning his Israel from first to last beginning at some notable Epoche and to be continued untill the final restauration of that Nation which is yet to come This I confess may seem strange at first sight because of the novelty of it But by that time we have duely considered the words as they are delivered by the Angel it may happily be adjudged not altogether impertinent and may give occasion unto some of a more diligent search and enquiry after a further meaning of the Holy Ghost in this Scripture then as yet hath been thought upon Observe then the Prophet understanding by books as he saith in the second verse the number of years whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem which years were then expired he setteth himself as ver 3. to seek the Lord God by prayer and supplication in the behalf of his people and the Holy City that mercy might at length be shewed unto them in their deliverance Whereupon this answer is presently returned unto him by Gabriel but what answer is it Not punctually positive to his prayer which was for the aforesaid deliverance so much desired by him now after the expiration of the terme appointed for the Babylonish Captivity that seems to be the least part of the Angels errand at this time but because Daniel was a man greatly beloved the Angel hath a matter of greater import here to reveal unto him in which he might be assured that the deliverance which he prayed for should also be included But what is this business of greater import Is it the happy consequents which should follow upon their deliverance Thus indeed hath it been conceived But rather is it not as I have said and which I shall undertake here to prove to be the purpose of God concerning his delivering this people out of all their troubles especially those which they endured in Egypt and Babylon and now also in their dispersion into all Lands where they are scattered to this very day from the very time when they were first brought into a preparatory way of being formed into a Nation As for the Holy City that onely is inserted in this answer because the Prophet had mentioned it in his prayer and the Angel speaks more particularly of it in the verses following This with submission of my judgment of the Holy Catholike Church and of my Mother the Church of England I conceive to be the genuine sense of that Scripture and what I have now to say to it I desire may be considered without prejudice My supputation of the time here mentioned is after this manner These 70. Weekes as they are called I take for 70. Jubilees each of which being 49. years they together make up 3430 years Now if we reckon from the time of Jacobs going down into Egypt which is the Epoche that I six upon the reason whereof I shall shew hereafter there will not at this time want much of compleating these seventy Jubilees For from that time to
of the first of the Acts sixth and seventh verses Act. 1.6.7 The words are these When they therefore were come together they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel And he said unto them It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own pâ—wer I know well the Apostles have been and are to this day charged here with an errour common among the Jews as it is reported of them namely That the time should come when the Messiah should reign as Lord and King upon the Earth according to the manner of the world and that all Nations should in that kinde be subject unto him and because the Jews were to have the preheminence among them therefore doth the Apostle speak here of his Dominion in this manâ—er calling it the kingdom of Israel But I must crave leave to enter my dissent unto this charge because it runs on too fast in the world without a warrant yea I cannot but account it too much rashness to impute a fault unto those eminent servants of Christ where the Holy Ghost in Scripture hath not given a clear demonstration thereof A fault indeed here is whereof they were too guilty in busying themselves about the knowledge of a time wherein they were not concerned and for which the Lord rebukes them But that they should now as for what they had done formerly in that kinde it is not here Material look for such a temporal Kingdome of the Messiah as the Jews generally did and do still expect this I confidently deny The grounds of which confidence will appear when I shall have proved that this discourse between Christ and his Apostles is a clear confirmation of the point in hand That we may understand aâ—ight the sense of this Scripture let us consider distinctly three things First the occasion of this Question Secondly the persons that put the Question Thirdly the Answer unto it First the occasion from whence the Question did arise is couched in this word therefore when they therefore were come together they asked of him c. By which word of connexion it is manifest that their Question was not suddainly started as of a thing impertinent to the purport of Christs Doctrine which he had been pressing upon them in those fourty dayes since his Resurrection but rather was produced by them as a result very consonant thereunto He had been speaking to them as it is said vers 3. of the things pertaining to the Kingdome of God that is of the future estate of his Church for as for the Doctrine of Salvation he had fully made that known unto them before as appears Joh. 15.15 Where he saith All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you So that probable it is the Subject of his discourse now was as I have said concerning his Church giving instructions for the planting and governing of it and premonitions also what dangers and difficulties it was like to suffer and how it should prosper and prevaile over them all in the latter end And herein the Lord manifests his provident care and tender compassion which he had of his Church resembling thereby good old Jacob his Type in this very particular who when he was about to leave the world calls upon his sons to gather themselves together that he migh shew unto them what should befall them in the latter dayes Gâ—n 49 1. Whereas therefore the Lord Jesus Christ had been speaking to his Apostles of these things pertaining to the Kingdome of God and they thereupon enquire of him concerning the restoring the Kingdome to Israel is it not past all gain-saying that some at least of the things which he spake had reference to this restauration Especially when as it is well observed by Grotius In his Annota Luk. 21.24 non negat se id facturum sed quo id futurum esset tempore noluit ab ipsis inquiri he doth not deny that such a thing he would do but onely was not willing to be enquired of by them when it should be done Much was to be done as the sequel now proveth before this which they so hastily sought for could come to pass which they thought not of for it could never have entred into their hearts to conceive unless it had been revealed unto them wherein nevertheless they and their Successours for many Ages should be employed as servants and co-workers with Christ to the end that this much desired restauration might by the bringing in of others also to the faith of the Gospel be attended with the greater glory And hence it is that the Lord commands them that they should not depart from Jerusalem because from thence was the word of life to go out into the world till they were baptised with the Holy Ghost which was the promise of the Father whereby they were to be endued with power extraordinary as being the chief intruments under Christ for so great a work and to authorize others in an ordinary way to be their co-agents in it Secondly consider the persons that put the Question First it was the Apostles men not to be despised such as were legati à latere whom Christ had chosen above all others to be his witnesses of what he did and taught and to be his Embassadours to carry his name into all the world Who did eate and drinks with him after he arose from the dead Act. 10. Secondly the Apostles who though they were not yet baptised with the Holy Ghost according to the promise of the Father yet had received the Holy Ghost by Christs breathing on them whereby they had not onely power given them more then ordinary but knowledge also more then ever they had to discern what might be most conducible to the advancement of their Masters honour and so knew more of his minde in order thereunto then any others could or can possibly attain unto Thirdly the Apostles altogether not one or two of them separated from the rest desirous to winde themselves into their Masters favour above their fellows as it had unhappily fallen out in former time but the eleven with one consent joyned as one man to put this Question unto him for when they were come together it is said they asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdome to Israel Which Kingdome if it were never any more to have a being in this World as a thing inconsistent with the manner of Christs Spiritual Kingdome their general agreement about it would doubtless have been adjudged no better then a conspiracy against the Dignity and Prerogative Royal of their Lord and Master and consequently had not gone without a severe check no more then their precipitant disquisition after the time did for which they are reproved Thirdly consider the answer that the Lord giveth It is not saith he for you to know the times or