common in all their Authors When they cite any of the Doctors of their Schools they commonly use these words Amern rabbothenu Zicceronam libhracah in four letters thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus say our Doctors of blessed memory But when they speak of holy men in the Old Testament they usually take this Phrase Gnalau hashalom on him is peace in brief thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus when they mention Moses Solomon David or others this is the memorial they give them The Arabians have the like use in their Abbreviation of Gnalaihi alsalemo on whom is peace The words in Hebrew want a verb and so may be construed two ways On him is peace or on him be peace The learned Master Broughton hath rendered it the former way and his judgement herein shall be my Law To take it the latter way seems to relish of Popish superstition of praying for the dead which though the Jews did not directly do yet in manner they appear to do no less in one part of their Common Prayer Book called Mazkir neshamoth the remembrancer of Souls which being not very long I thought not amiss to Translate out of their Tongue into our own that the Reader may see their Jewish Popery or Popish Judaism and may bless the Creator who hath not shut us up in the same darkness CHAP. XL. Mazkir neshamoth or the Remembrancer of souls in the Iews Liturgy Printed at Venice THE Lord remember the soul or spirit of Abba Mr. N. the son of N. who is gone into his world wherefore I vow to give Alms for him that for this his soul may be bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sarah and Rebecca Rachel and Leah and with the rest of the righteous men and righteous women which be in the garden of Eden Amen The Lord remember the soul of Mrs. N. the Daughter of N. who is gone to her World Therefore I vow c. as in the other before Amen The Lord remember the soul of my father and my mother of my grandfathers and grandmothers of my uncles and aunts brethren and sisters of my cosens and consenesses whether of my fathers side or mothers side who are gone into their world Wherefore I vow c. Amen The Lord remember the soul of N. the son of N. and the souls of all my cosens and cosenesses whether on my fathers or mothers side who were put to death or slain or stabd or burnt or drowned or hanged for the sanctifying of the Name of God Therefore I will give Alms for the memory of their souls and for this let their souls be bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sarah and Rebecca Rachel and Leah and with the rest of the righteous men and righteous women which are in the garden of Eden Amen Then the Priest pronounceth a blessing upon the man that is thus charitable as it followeth there in these words He that blessed our father Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses and Aaron David and Salomon he bless Rabbi N. the son of N. because he hath vowed Alms for the souls whom he hath mentioned for the honour of God and for the honour of the Law and for the honour of the day for this the Lord keep him and deliver him from all affliction and trouble and from every plague and sickness and write him and seal him for a happy life in the day of Judgment and send a blessing and prosper him in every work of his hands and all Israel his brethren and let us say Amen Thus courteous Reader hast thou seen a Popish Jew interceding for the dead have but the like patience a while and thou shalt see how they are Popish almost entirely in claiming the merits of the dead to intercede for them for thus tendeth a prayer which they use in the book called Sepher Min hagim shel col Hammedinoth c. which I have also here turned into English Do for thy praises sake Do for their sakes that loved thee that now dwell in dust For Abraham Isaac and Jacobs sake Do for Moses and Aarons sake Do for David and Salomons sake Do for Jerusalem thy holy Cities sake Do for Sion the habitation of thy glories sake Do for the desolation of thy Temples sake Do for the treading down of thine Altars sake Do for their sakes who were slain for thy holy Name Do for their sakes who have been massacred for thy sake Do for their sakes who have gone to fire or water for the hallowing of thy Name Do for sucking childrens sakes who have not sinned Do for weaned childrens sakes who have not offended Do for infants sakes who are of the house of our Doctors Do for thine own sake if not for ours Do for thine own sake and save us Tell me gentle reader 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whether doth the Jew Romanize or the Roman Judaize in his devotions This interceding by others is a shrewd sign they have both rejected the right Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus The prophane Heathen might have read both Jew and Papist a lecture in his Contemno minutos istos Deos modo Jovem propitium habeam which I think a Christian may well English let go all Diminutive Divinities so that I may have the great Jesus Christ to propitiate for me CHAP. XLI Of the Latine Translation of Matth. 6. 1. ALms in Rabbin Hebrew are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsedhakah righteousness which word the Syrian Translator useth Matth. 6. 1. Act. 10. 2. and in other places From this custom of speech the Roman vulgar Translateth Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis One English old manuscript Testament is in Lichfield Library which hath it thus after the Latine Takith hede that you do not your rightwisnes before men to be seyne of hem ellis ye shullen have no mede at your fadir that is in hevenes Other English Translation I never saw any to this sense nor any Greek copy It seems the Papist will rather Judaize for his own advantage than follow the true Greek The Septuagint in some places of the Old Testament have turned Tsedhakah Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almsdeeds or little or to no sense As the Papists have in this place of the New Testament turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almsdeeds by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness to as little purpose In the Hebrew indeed one word is used for both Tsedhakah for Almsdeeds which properly signifies Righteousness upon what ground I know not unless it be to shew that S◠Chrysostom hath such ◠touch Alms must be given of rightly gotten good or else they are no righteousness or they are called Zadkatha in Syrian Hu ger zadek le mehwo they are called righteousness because it is right they should be given and given rightly The Fathers of the Councel of Trent speak much of the merit of Alms whom one may
say unto him I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us And the Priests shall take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before the Altar of the Lord thy God And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and soiourned there with a few and became there a Nation great mighty and populous c. likewise there was a form appointed to be said over the beheaded Heifer XXI Deut. 6 7. c. And all the Elders of that City that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the Heiser that is beheaded in the Valley And they shall answer and say Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it Be merciful O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy people Israels charge The Priests when they blessed the people had also a form prescribed them VI. Numb 23 24. c. Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons saying On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee peace And David appointed Psalms for the Tabernacle 1 Chron. XVI 7. And the Schools of the Prophets no doubt had Forms delivered to them So John and Christ taught their Disciples to Pray as wellas to Preach He had not been the Great Teacher had he not taught a Form of Prayer We should have been left untaught in not the least thing Consider also in the behalf of prescribed Forms that we poor creatures short fighted in divine things know not what we ought to pray for Peter at the Transfiguration prayed he knew not what IX Luke 33. We often as Adonijah are ready to ask our own Bane There is no man but if God had granted all that ever he asked it would have been worse with him Midas his wish may teach this But that place of the Apostle will be objected against me in Rom. VIII 26. The Spirit helps our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered Therefore we need no forms as long as what we are to pray is dictated to us by the Spirit But I answer T is the Spirit not an Oracle within us to teach us immediately The Word teaches us what and how to ask But the Office of the Spirit is to help our infirmities in asking our infirmities of memory our want of application to ourselves of what we know to be our wants So in the application of Doctrines of Promises the Spirit teaches us no new thing but minds us and brings home to the feeling of our Souls those things we learnt from the Word Consider moreover we had need to be taught of God what language to use when we are speaking to God T is no small thing to betake our selves before him and to speak to him who is the great and living God Now is it an easie thing to speak as we ought to do unto him Jobs friends spake not right things of God XLII Job 7 8. For which God tells them his wrath was kindled against them and requires them to make attonement for it by offering up seven Bullocks and seven Rams Moses could not speak unto Pharaoh IV. Exod. 10. Much less how shall the poor creature address unto the great God Therefore we are advised by the Prophet Hosea when we approach unto God to take words along with us XIV Hos. 2. Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our lips Where you see are express words put into our Mouths to use when we go and make our Confessions unto God Ah! Gracious God how ready art thou to give that biddest us Ak and teachest us to ask also That puttest Words into our Mouths and teachest us what to say to thee He must needs be ready to pardon sin that would prevent sin in our prayers that are begging for pardon Christ well knew the Majesty of God and the necessities of men the need of Prayer and our disability to pray and therefore he left not himself without a witness of infinite mercy and condescention nor us without one of the greatest things that we could have prayed for when he left us this Platform of Prayer When ye pray say c. And so I come to the Prayer or Form it self When ye pray say Our Father c. It is an opinion then that I can rather wonder at then understand that bids when we pray Say not Our Father As I have often grieved to see the neglect and disuse of the Lords Prayer and to hear the reproach that some have cast upon it so have I as seriously as I could considered what ground these have had for the disusing of it and to this hour I rest admiring and no way satisfied why they should refrain it when Christ hath commanded the use of it as plain as words can speak Matth. VI. 9. After this manner pray ye and again in the Text When ye pray say The Cavils that are made against the use of it are obvious I. To avoid superstition for unto such ends it hath been used Here I cannot but think how wild it is to extinguish a thing good per se because another useth it ill To cut down Vines to avoid drunkenness How subject is he that makes it all his Religion to run from a Superstition to run he knows not whether II. Such a narrow Form straitens the heart is too strait stinting the exercise of the gift of Prayer And here I cannot but think of Soloecisms in pride of apparel It is monstrous to make cloths our pride which are only a badge of sin and cover of shame So it is a Soloecism to cast away this Prayer upon presumption that we can pray so well when it is mainly given because we cannot pray at all III. It is generally questioned whether it be a Form of Prayer or a Copy to pray by IV. If a Form yet what warrant have we to subjoyn it to our Prayers as we usually do V. And if both yet that it is not lawful for every one to say Our Father I shall not dispute these Questions The words of the Text plainly answer the most of them Nor that I go about to give the sense of the Petitions There are many good Comments upon them I shall only consider the nature of the Prayer and the manner of its giving that we may be the better satisfied in the manner of its use First As the Ten Commandments are
wandering in the wilderness Here at Kadesh they continued a good space before they removed for so Moses saith Ye abode in Kadesh many days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the days that ye had made abode namely at Sinai as ver 6. and so they spent one whole year there for so they had done at Sinai and whereas God bids them upon their murmuring to turn back to the Red-sea Deut. 1. 40. his meaning was that at their next march whensoever it was they should not go forward towards Canaan but clean back again towards the Red-sea from whence they came Moses 84 Redemption from Egypt 4 And so they do and so they wander by many stations and marches Moses 85 Redemption from Egypt 5 from Kadesh Barnea now till they come to Kadesh Barnea again some seven Moses 86 Redemption from Egypt 6 or eight and thirty years hence Their marches mentioned in Numb 33. Moses 87 Redemption from Egypt 7 were these from Kadesh or Rithmah to Rimmon Parez to Libnah to Moses 88 Redemption from Egypt 8 Rissah to Kehelathah to Mount Shapher to Haradah to Makheloth to Moses 89 Redemption from Egypt 9 Tahath to Tarah to Mâ—â—hcah to Hashmonah to Moseroth to Horhagidgad Moses 90 Redemption from Egypt 10 to Jotbathah to Ebronah to Ezion Gaber to Kadesh again in the Moses 91 Redemption from Egypt 11 fortieth year And thus whereas it was but eleven days journey from Horeb Moses 92 Redemption from Egypt 12 by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea Deut. 1. 2. they have now Moses 93 Redemption from Egypt 13 made it above three times eleven years journy The occurrences of all Moses 94 Redemption from Egypt 14 this time were but few and those undated either to time or place some Moses 95 Redemption from Egypt 15 Laws are given Chap. 15. Korah Dathan and Abiram rebel Chap. 16. Moses 96 Redemption from Egypt 16 Korah for the Priest-hood from Aaron as being one of the Tribe of Levi Moses 97 Redemption from Egypt 17 and Dathan and Abiram for the principality from Moses as being of Moses 98 Redemption from Egypt 18 Reuben the first-born An earth-quake devoureth them and all theirs Moses 99 Redemption from Egypt 19 and a fire devoured the 250 men that conspired with them only Korahs Moses 100 Redemption from Egypt 20 sons escape Chap. 26. 11. and of them came Samuel and divers famous Moses 101 Redemption from Egypt 21 Moses 102 Redemption from Egypt 22 singers in the Temple 1 Chron. 6. 22. c. Aarons Priest-hood that was Moses 103 Redemption from Egypt 23 so opposed is confirmed by the budding of his withered rod and upon Moses 104 Redemption from Egypt 24 Moses 105 Redemption from Egypt 25 this approval divers services for the Priests are appointed Chap. 17. 18. Moses 106 Redemption from Egypt 26 19. and so we have no more occurrences mentioned till the first day of Moses 107 Redemption from Egypt 27 Moses 108 Redemption from Egypt 28 their fortieth year They went under four or five continual miracles Moses 109 Redemption from Egypt 29 as the appearing of the Cloud of glory the raining of Manna the following Moses 110 Redemption from Egypt 30 Moses 111 Redemption from Egypt 31 of the Rock or the waters of Horeb the continual newness of Moses 112 Redemption from Egypt 32 their cloaths and the untiredness of their feet yet did they forget and Moses 113 Redemption from Egypt 33 were continually repining against him that did all these wonders for them Moses 114 Redemption from Egypt 34 Moses 115 Redemption from Egypt 35 They repined when they came out of Egypt that they must come out of Moses 116 Redemption from Egypt 36 Egypt Exod. 14. 12. They repined when they came near Canaan that Moses 117 Redemption from Egypt 37 Moses 118 Redemption from Egypt 38 they must go into Canaan Numb 14. and so they repined all the way between Moses 119 Redemption from Egypt 39 Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee c. Deut. 32. 6. CHAP. XX. World 2553 Moses 120 Redemption from Egypt 40 ISRAEL is now come to Kadesh Barnea again an unhappy place for there they had been eight and thirty years ago and received the doom of not entring into the land and the same doom falleth upon Moses and Aaron there now It is said They came into the desert of Zin to Kadesh in the first moneth but nameth not the year for it referreth to the decree made in that very place of forty years wandering and this is the first month of the fortieth year and so Numb 33. 8. and Deut. 2. 7 14. make it undoubted Miriam dieth at Kadesh and is buried there being a great deal above 120 years old The people murmur here now for water as they had done here before about the land and the Holy Ghost by a most strange word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most sweetly sheweth their confusedness They had lain here a whole twelve-month at their being here before but then no want of water for the rock or the waters of Horeb had followed them hither but how World 2553 Moses 120 Redemption from Egypt 40 that was now departed is not expressed Moses and Aaron are excluded Canaan for not believing the Lord and not sanctifying him before the people their particular fault is diversly guessed at it seemeth to me that it was this What say they ye rebels must we bring water out of this rock as we did out of Horeb Is all our hopes and expectation of getting out of the wilderness come to this We never fetched you water out of a rock but once and that was because ye were to stay a long time in the wilderness and that was to serve you all the while as we have seen it did by experience Now that water is gone and must we now fetch you water out of another rock O ye rebels have you brought it to this by your murmuring that we must have a new stay in the wilderness and a new rock opened to yield you water for your long stay as Horeb did Are we to begin our abode in the wilderness anew now when we hoped that our travel had been ended and so we shall never get out And so he smote the rock twice in a fume and anger And thus they believed not the promise of entring the land after forty years and thus they sanctified not the Lord in the sight of the people to incourage them in the Promise but damped them in it and thus they spake unadvisedly in their lips and so they were excluded Canaan It was a sign that the Promise aimed at better things then the earthly Canaan when the holiest persons in all Israel are debarred from coming thither from Kadesh Barnea they turn back toward the Red-sea again as they had done before Deut. 1. 40. because Edom would not now give them passage Aaron dieth in
them to be humbled some for their fathers guilt some for their own and some for both and to acknowledge that their being alive till now and their liberty to enter into the Land was a free and a great mercy for their own and their fathers faults might justly have caused it to have been otherwise with them 2. They had imitated their fathers rebellion to the utmost in their murmuring at Kadesh at their last coming up thither and in the matter of Baal Peor and therefore he might very well personate them by their fathers when their fathers faults were so legible and easie to be seen in them 4. He reckoneth not their second journy to Kadesh by name but slips by it Chap. 2. 1 4. Nor mentions their long wanderings for seven and thirty years together between Kadesh and Kadesh but only under this expression We compassed mount Seir many days Chap. 2. 1. because in that rehearsal he mainly insisteth but upon these two heads Gods decree against them that had first murmured at Kadesh and how that was made good upon them and Gods promise of bringing their children into the land and how that was made good upon them therefore when he hath largely related both the decree and the promise he hastens to shew the accomplishment of both 5. In rehearsing the Ten Commandments he proposeth a reason of the Sabbaths ordaining differing from that in Exodus there it was because God rested on the seventh day here it is because of their delivery out of Egypt and so here it respecteth the Jewish Sabbath more properly there the Sabbath in its pure morality and perpetuity And here is a figure of what is now come to pass in our Sabbath celebrated in memorial of Redemption as well as of Creation In the fifth Commandment in this his rehearsal there is an addition or two more then there is in it in Exod. 20. and the letter Teth is brought in twice which in the twentieth of Exodus was only wanting of all the letters 6. In Chap. 10. ver 6. 7 8. there is a strange and remarkable transposition and a matter that affordeth a double scruple 1. In that after the mention of the golden Calf in Chap. 9. and of the renewing of the Tables Chap. 10. which occurred in the first year after their coming out of Egypt he bringeth in their departing from Beeroth to Mosera where Aaron died which was in the fortieth year after now the reason of this is because he would shew Gods reconciliation to Aaron and his reconciliation to the people to Aaron in that though he had deserved death suddenly with the rest of the people that died for the sin of the golden Calf yet the Lord had mercy on him and spared him and he died not till forty years after and to the people because that for all that transgression yet the Lord brought them through that wilderness to a land of rivers of waters But 2. there is yet a greater doubt lies in these words then this for in Numb 33. the peoples march is set down to be from Moseroth to Bene Jahaan ver 31. and here it is said to be from Beeroth of Bene Jaahan to Moseroth there it is said Aaron died at mount Hor but here it is said He died at Moseroth now there were World 2553 Moses 120 Redemption from Egypt 40 seven several incampings between Moseroth and mount Hor Numb 33. 31 32 c. Now the answer to this must arise from this consideration that in those stations mentioned Numb 33. From Moseroth to Bene Jaahan to Horhagidgad c. they were marching towards Kadesh before their fortieth year and so they went from Moseroth to Bene Jaahan But in these stations Deut. 10. 6. they are marching from Kadish in their fortieth year by some of that way that they came thither and so they must now go from Bene Jaahan to Moseroth And 2. how Moseroth and mount Hor Gudgodah and Horhagidgad were but the * * * As Horeb and Sinai were though they be counted two several incampings of Israel Exod. 17. 1 6. and 19. 1. compared same place and Country and how though Israel were now going back from Kadish yet hit in the very same journies that they went in when they were coming thither as to Gudgodah or Horhagidgad to Jotbathah or Jotbath requires a discourse Geographical by it self which is the next thing that was promised in the Preface to the first part of the Harmony of the Evangelists and with some part of that work by Gods permission and his good hand upon the Work-man shall come forth 7. It cannot pass the Eye of him that readeth the Text in the Original but he must observe it how in Chap. 29. ver 29. the Holy Ghost hath pointed one clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To us and to our Children belong the revealed things after an extraordinary and unparalleld manner to give warning against curiosity in prying into Gods secrets and that we should content our selves with his revealed will 8. Moses in blessing of the Tribes Chap. 33. nameth them not according to their seniority but in another order Reuben is set first though he had lost the birth-right to shew his repentance and that he died not * * * So the Chaldee renders ver 6. Let Reuben live and not die the second death the second death Simeon is omitted because of his cruelty to Sichem and Joseph and therefore he the fittest to be left out when there were twelve Tribes beside Judah is placed before Levi for the Kingdoms dignity above the Priest-hood Christ being promised a King of that Tribe Benjamin is set before Joseph for the dignity of Jerusalem above Samaria c. 9. The last Chapter of the Book was written by some other then Moses for it relateth his death and how he was buried by the Lord that is by Michael Jude 9. or Christ who was to bury Moses Ceremonies The Book of JOSHUA THIS Book containeth a history of the seventeen years of the rule of Joshua which though they be not expresly named by this sum in clear words yet are they to be collected to be so many from that gross sum of four hundred and eighty years from the delivery out of Egypt to the laying of the foundation of solomons Temple mentioned 1 Kings 6. 1. for the Scripture hath parcelled out that sum into these particulars forty years of the people in the wilderness two hundred ninety and nine years of the Judges forty years of Eli forty of Samuel and Saul forty of David and four of Solomon to the Temples founding in all four hundred sixty three and therefore the seventeen years that must make up the sum four hundred and eighty must needs be concluded to have been the time of the rule of Joshua CHAP. I. World 2554 Ioshua 1 JOSHUA of Joseph succeedeth Moses the seventh from Ephraim 1 Chron. 7. 25. and in him first appeared Josephs birth-right 1 Chron. 5. 1. and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wise man Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not to call him him a Prophet for he did great miracles He goes on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the Christ Matth. XXI 38. The Husbandmen seeing the Son said among themselves this is the heir come let us kill him Now if the rest of that Parable agree with the actions of the Rulers of that Nation in persecuting the Prophets and even Christ himself which any one may discern then why may not this clause be accounted to agree so far with them too as that when it shews that they said amongst themselves this is the heir c. it may intimate that the chief of the Jews who Condemned and Crucified the Lord Jesus knew him to have been the Messiah To proceed in the Historian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He appeared to them his Disciples having revived the third day Let us but consult Matth. XXVIII 13 14 15. and see if there can be any doubt whether the Priests and Fathers of the Sanhedrin were not convinced and perswaded that Jesus had indeed arose from the Dead when they did so knowingly and industriously devise a tale to elude his Resurrection Thus far therefore Josephus if it was he indeed that was the Author of that passage hath uttered nothing but what the Rulers themselves were conscious of if they would have spoken out but what is added in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine Prophets having said these and a thousand other wonderful things of him This I confess is so noble and ingenuous an acknowledgment of Jesus that I would hardly expect it from Josephus and much less from any of his Country-men But however be this passage Josephus his own or no yet III. That which we assert seems confirmed by that of Joh. XI 47 48. The Chief Priests and Pharisees said what do we this man doth many miracles if we let him thus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation Who does not here see that they that speak this had their eye upon that of Daniel IX 26 27. where the Prophet discourseth about the Messiah that he shall be cut off that he shall cause the Sacrifice and the oblation to cease that the people of the Prince that shall come i. e. the Romans shall destroy the City any Sanctuary Whence it may very probable be argued that they both from the agreement of times and from the miracles and Doctrine of Jesus did more than suspect that this was the Messiah of whom the Prophet had there discoursed and that they were in great doubt what to do with him This man doth many miracles and demonstrates himself to be the Messiah and what shall we do To cut off the Messiah would be an horrid thing And yet on the other hand if we should suffer him he would make the Sacrifice and Oblation to cease he would put an end to the service in the Temple our Religion would fall and then what remains but that the people of the Prince that shall come the Romans will come and take away both our place and Nation Object But do we not meet with such passages as these And now Brethren I wot that through ignorance ye did it as also did your Rulers Acts III. 17. For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they know him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets c. Chap. XIII 27. Answ. They knew not indeed the person and office of the Messiah they were ignorant of his Godhead and as to his office dreamt of nothing but Earthly and Temporal things but then this doth not hinder but that they might know Jesus to be the true Messiah whom when they found falling short of the expectations and conceipts they had framed of the Messiah and that his Doctrine tended to the subversion of Judaism they had rather have no Messiah than such an one And let himself and his Gospel perish with him rather than their Judaism VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of a truth they were gathered together AND then follows in some Bibles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this City So Beza the Vulgar the Syriac and the Alexandriam MS. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this City of thine Which might be therefore the rather allowed of because the Jews do remove the insurrection that should be made against the Lord and his Christ so far from their own City It is a thing they will not believe that in Jerusalem or amongst the Jews any rebellion against the Messiah should ever be moved or fomented these things they say were spoken concerning Gog and Magog that rose up against Israel a a a a a a Avodaâ— Zaraâ— fol. 3 2. Or concerning some other heathen Country rebelling against the Messiah b b b b b b â—â—â—r Till fol. 4. 2. VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ioseph surnamed Barnabas c. WHereas there were two very noted Joseph's for distinctions sake as it should seem the one was Joseph Barnabas the other Joseph Barsabas The Apostles gave the name of Barnabas it may be questioned whether they did the name of Barsabas or no Because there is a Judas Barsabas also in Acts XV. 22. It is uncertain whence the name Barnabas derives its self and so much the more because it is uncertain what the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie in this place It is generally interpreted The Son of Consolation In the Syriac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence by a long deduction they would make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naba I contend not but when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equally signifies Exhortation as well as Consolation and the Apostle expressly distinguisheth it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolation 1 Cor. XIV 3. it seems more probably to take its original from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Prophesie under which word every one knows Exhortation is comprehended in the first place and according to this signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we find him behaving himself Cap. XI 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Country of Cyprus So the two Apostles of the Gentiles have Gentile Countries for their native soil Paul in Cilicia Barnabas in Cyprus Where he also sold his Land for it is a question whether he could have sold it in the Land of Israel as also whether he being a Levite was capable of possessing any Land that had not belonged to the Cities of Levi which could not be sold in the same manner that other Lands were Nay It was not lawful for an Israelite to part with the Land of his inheritance unless constrained to it by his poverty according as it is said if thy Brother should become poor and sell his possession c. c c c c c c Maimon Shemittah Vâ—jobâ—l
therefore very much deceived who think that Absalom let his hair grow out of pride when he did so indeed by reason of a vow at least a feigned vow of Nazarite-ship The Jerusalem Talmudists say very truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Nazir fol. 51. 2. Absalom say they was a perpetual Nazarite Very truly I say in this that they assert he was a Nazarite but of the perpetuity of his vow we will not here dispute See 2 Sam. XV. 7 8. There is in Tacitus a wicked Votary not unlike him Civilis by name of whom thus he speaks e e e e e e Hist. lib. 4. cap. 14. Civilis barbaro Voto post coepta adversus Romanos arma propexum rutilatumque crinem c. Civilis by a barbarous vow after armes taken up against the Romans laid down his long red hair the slaughter of the Legions being at last executed The Jews if they were not bound by the vow of a Nazarite cut their hair very often and however they did it at other times certainly always before a Feast and that in honour of the Feast that was approaching Whence a greater suspicion may here arise that these Corinthians by their long hair professed themselves Nazarites These f f f f f f Moed Katâ—n cap. 3. hal 1. cut their hair in the feast it self He that comes from a Heathen place and he that comes out of prison and the excommunicate person who is loosed from his excommunication The sense of the Tradition is this Those who were detained by some necessity before the Feast that they could not cut their hair might cut it in the Feast it self But if no such necessity hindred they cut their hair before the Feast and commonly on the very Eves of the Feast g g g g g g Piske Tosaph at Moed Katon Art 78. When any man cuts not his hair on the Eves of the Festival day but three days before it appears that he cut not his hair in honour of the Feast We cannot here omit this story h h h h h h Hieros Avodah Zarab fol. 41. 1. A certain Travailer who was a Barbar and an Astrologer saw by his Astrology that the Jews would shed his blood which was to be understood of his Proselytism namely when they circumcised him when a certain Jew therefore came to him to have his hair cut he cut his throat And how many throats did he cut R. Lazar ben Jose saith Eighty R. Jose ben R. Bon saith Three hundred VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Her hair is given her for a Covering THE daughter of Nicodemus being reduced to miserable poverty going to Rabban Jochanan to speak to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Chetubb fol. 66. 2. vailed her self with her hair and stood before him The poor woman had no other vail therefore she used that which was given her by nature and she used it shall I say as a sign Or as an Instrument and mark of modesty and shamefacedness VERS XXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one taketh before other his own supper I. I Wonder the Agapae The love Feasts of which S. Jude speaks vers 12. should among Interpreters receive their exposition hence In those Feasts saith Beza which they call Agapae that they used to take the holy Supper of the Lord appears from 1 Cor. XI Of which thing discourse is had in Tertullians Apologetick Chap. XXXIX and in other writings of the Ancients So he also speaks at Act. II. 42. And upon this place The Apostle saith he passeth to another Head of this Discourse namely the administration of the Lords Supper to which the Love-feasts were joyned c. And upon the following verse The Love-feasts although they had been used a long while in the Church and commendably too the Apostles themselves being the Authors of them yet the Apostle judgeth them to be taken away because of their abuse So also Baronius The use of a most commendable thing persevered as yet in the Church that what Christ had done at his last Supper and had admonished his Disciples to do in remembrance of him that Christians meeting in the Church should sup together and withal should receive the most holy Eucharist Which nevertheless when the Corinthians fulfilled not as they ought Paul doth deservedly reprove He that should deny such charitable Feasts to have been used in the Church together with the Eucharist certainly would contradict all antiquity but whether those Feasts were these Agapae of which the Apostle Jude speaks whether those Feasts had Christ or his Apostles for their Authors and whether these Corinthian Feasts were such if any doubt he doth it not without cause nor doth he without probability believe the contrary Of these Corinthian Feasts here what Sedulius saith Among the Corinthians saith he heretofore as some assert prevailed an ill custom to dishonour the Churches every where by Feasts which they eat before the Lords Oblation Which Supper they began a nights and when the rich came drunk to the Eâ—charist the poor were vexed with hunger But that custom as they report came from the Gentile Superstition as yet among them Mark that I should say From the Jewish Superstition The very same is in Primasius II. If I may with the good leave of Antiquity speak freely that which I think concerning the Agapâ— of which the Apostle Jude speaks take it in a few words Those Agapae we suppose were when strangers were hospitably entertained in each Church and that at the cost of the Church And we are of opinion that this laudable custom was derived from the Synagogues of the Jews l l l l l l Gloss in Bavâ— Bathra f. 3. 2. In the Synagogues they neither eat nor drink c. But there was a place near the Synagogue in which Travellers were wont to sleep and eat Hence that in Pesachin m m m m m m Fol. 101. 1. where it is asked why they consecrate the day which was usual over a cup of wine in the Synagogue And it is answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Travellers also may do their duty who eat and drink and feast in the Synagogue Here the Glosser enquires whether it were lawful to eat and drink in the Synagogues when it is forbid by an open Canon n n n n n n Megil fol. 28. 1. And at length among other things he answereth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chambers which joyned to the Synagogue are called Synagogues also and from thence travellers heard the Consecration There was therefore a certain Hospital either near or joyning to the Synagogue wherein travellers and pilgrims were received and entertained at the common cost of the Synagogue Compare Act. XVIII 7. But now that a custom of so great charity was translated into the Christian Church there are many things which perswade as also that
Lords day They celebrated it and made no manner of scruple as appears concerning it but they would have their old festival days retained too and they disputed not at all whether the Lords day were to be celebrated but whether the Jewish Sabbath were not to be celebrated also So they admitted Baptism but it went against them not to admit Circumcision also And so also in some other Articles of Judaism not rejecting the Gospel but superinducing something of Judaism As I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia saith the Apostle so do ye also On every first day of the Week c. And yet the same Apostle saith of the same Galatians Ye observe days and months Not that they refused the Christian Sabbath but that they retained the Jewish Sabbaths II. The Lords day sufficiently commended it self by its own authority nor could the institution of it at all be doubted by the converted Gentiles as never knowing or at least owning any other Sabbath nor by the converted Jews if they acknowledged Jesus for the true Messias because they had learnt in their Schools that Messiah should make a new Law as Moses had made the old And that also which they had drunk in from their cradles that Messiah should not abolish the Institutions of Moses but raise them higher and make them more splendid although it might be more a scruple among them of the abolishing the Jewish Sabbath yet it could make none of superinducing the Christian Sabbath III. In that controversie of the change of the Sabbath from the Jewish to the Christian which some prosecute too much without any cause they reckon the Scriptures silence concerning the Institution of the Lords day for a denial of the thing as if it were by no means to be believed because it is not expressed in plain words Among many things said in that case let us put in these few I. The Holy Text indeed is silent of this matter while the scene of Christian affairs is laying in Judea mention being only made by the Evangelists of the appearances of Christ the first day of the week namely on that day wherein he arose from the dead and the first day of the week following Joh. XX. 26. But when the scene is transferred to the Gentiles then there is very open mention of it namely in this place and Act. XX. 7. and Revel I. 10. II. For the chief care concerning mentioning the Sabbath was this that mention might be made of that Sabbath which was to be among the Gentile Churches and was to endure for ever And of that mention is most evidently made in the history of those Churches III. Therefore the former silence does by no means argue that the Apostles and Disciples in Judea converted to the faith did not celebrate the Lords Day or that they observed it not by Divine Institution but by good right and reason the mention of it is reserved to its most proper place that is in the story of the Gentile Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laying up For these saith Beza are true riches laid up in Heaven c. By occasion of whose words let us add these few passages of the same subject A b b b b b b Bab. Cheâ—ubâ— fol. 66. 2. certain woman came to Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai and said Sir vouchsafe me sustinence To whom he answered And who art thou my daughter I saith she am the daughter of Nicodemus ben Gorion And replied he O daughter what is become of the riches of the family of thy Father She answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Rabbi Do not they use this Proverb at Jerusalem The salt of riches is the want of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But those that stood by said to her But mercy or alms is their salt Where the Gloss is Whosoever will season his riches that is make them not to putrifie let him bestow them in alms and the want of riches arising from such a cause is the seasoning of them VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I do pass through Macedonia THERE is a division about the sense and translation of these words and here indeed the whole hinge of the controversie turns upon the place whence this Epistle was writ There are some that render it to this sense I am now passing through Macedonia which without doubt he did whosoever he were who first joyned those words to the end of the Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first Epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi and they must do the same who think it sent from thence But the Vulgar and Interlineary Interpreter For I shall pass through Macedonia in the future tense is more true and best of all For that this Epistle was sent from Ephesus these and other things make plain I. That the Apostle salutes the Corinthians in the name of the Churches of Asia which it is probable he would not at all have done if he now were in Macedonia But be it granted that he very lately coming out of Asia carried the salutations of those Churches along with him it is as improbable that he would not also salute them in the name of the Churches of Macedonia II. It appears that he wrote this Epistle before he came into Macedonia from what he saith in the second Epistle Chap. II. 12 13. and Chap. VII 5 6 7. For when he met not Titus at Troas whom together with Stephanus Fortunatus and Achaicus he had sent to Corinth with this Epistle nor as yet could know what fruit it had gained among the Corinthians he hastned a journey into Macedonia And when he came thither and found not Titus there he stayed for some time with an unquiet mind until Titus the messenger of good news at last came III. He saith vers 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall tarry in Ephesus as if he would say Here at Ephesus where now I am I shall remain until Pentecost VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I will tarry in Ephesus WHETHER he tarried at Ephesus until the time determined by him that is Pentecost or the uproar of Demetrius drove him away thence sooner is uncertain Being driven thence Macedonia received him as is related Act. XX. Where although among his travails there is no mention of his journy to Corinth yet thither he travailed while his companions went before to Troas and expected him there VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For a door is opened to me c. See Act. XIX 17 18 19 20. VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if Timothy come THIS place deceived him again who added the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Underwriting to this Epistle in whose fancy Timothy was sent with Stephanus Fortunatus and Achaicus to bring the Epistle to the Corinthians by no light mistake for Timothy indeed was sent but from Ephesus into Macedonia with Erastus Act. XIX 22. to see the Corinthians in his return but not at all sent
2. Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the World i. e. know ye not that there shall be a Christian Magistracy that Christians shall be Kings and Magistrates to rule and judge the World And the very same sense speaketh Dan. VII 18. 26 27. from whence both my Text and that passage of Paul are taken know ye not saith he that the Saints shall judge the World How should they know it Why Plainly enough out of that place in Daniel where in vers 18. it is foretold That the Saints of the most High should take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever and ever And in vers 26 27. The Judgment shall sit as in the Text and the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven should be given to the people of the Saints of the most High Two considerations will put the matter out of all question I. That the word Saints means not strictly nor really Sanctified in opposition to men not really sanctified but it means Christians in general in opposition to Heathens And so the Apostle himself clears it in the verse before that I cited Dare any of you go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints What is meant by the unjust there Heathens or Infidels as he calls them vers 6. And then what is meant by Saints But Christians in opposition to Heathens II. Observe the tenor of the contents in Daniel and that will illustrate the sense of these verses that I produced He speaks before of the four Heathen Monarchies the Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syrogrecian that had had the Kingdom and Dominion and Rule in the World and had tyrannized in the World especially against the Church that was then being but at last they should be destroyed and upon their being destroyed Christ should come and set up his Kingdom through the World and then the Kingdom and Rule and Dominion in the World should be put into the hands of Saints or Christians and they should Rule and Judge in the World as those Heathen Monarchies had done all the time before And thus you have the words unfolded to you and I hope according to the meaning of the Holy Ghost And now my Lords and Gentlemen you may see your own picture in the glass of the Text for you are of the number of those of whom it speaketh In it you may see your selves Imbenched Commissioned and your work put into your hands In the first clause The institution of the Function the ordaining of Magistracy and Judicature I saw Thrones set In the second The Commissionating of Christians unto that Office and Function They sat upon them In the last The end of this Office and the employment they are set upon in it Judgment was given unto them Thrones set by whom By him that had been the great agent in the verse before Christ that had bound the Devil and chained him up They sat upon them Who They that are the persons mentioned in the verse before Men of the Nations undeceived from the delusions of Satan and brought into the truth of the Gospel Judgment was given them for what end For Judgment sake that they might execute judgment and righteousness among the Nations And so I have my words fairly cut out before me and the matter and the method of the Text calls upon me to speak unto these three things I. Of the institution of Magistrates as an ordinance of Christ. II. Of Christian Magistracy as a Gospel mercy III. The great work the all in all of Magistracy The execution of Judgment I. Of all the offices of Christ he executed only one of them peculiarly and reservedly himself without the communicating of any acting in it to any other but as to the execution of the other two he partly acteth himself and partly importeth some acting therein by deputation to others His Priestly office that that most concerned and had the greatest stroke in mans redemption he executed intirely himself and no other had share no other could have share in the executing of that with him None could be capable of offering any of his all-sufficient Sacrifice with him none could be capable of offering the incense of mediation with him But in his Kingly and Prophetick offices he acteth himself and he deputeth others to act for him As the great Prophet he teacheth his Church himself by giving of the Scriptures and instructing his holy ones by his Spirit yet withal hath he deputed Ministers to be her Teachers And as the great King of the Church and of all the World he ruleth in both himself in the hearts of his people by his Word and Spirit and amongst his enemies with a rod of Iron yet withal hath he deputed Kings Judges and Magistrates to be Rulers for him These two great Ordinances you have couched in this very place In the verse before the Text Christ chaineth up the Devil that he should no more deceive poor men as he had done before And how did he this By the Ministry of the Word and Preaching of the Gospel And in the words of the Text he setteth up Thrones and sets men upon them for what To execute Magistracy and to administer Judgment And so likewise are they closely hinted in that place of the Apostle that I cited I Cor. VI. Know ye not that the Saints shall iudge the World or Christians be Magistrates and in the next verse following know ye not that we shall judge Angels or we Apostles and Ministers judge Devils and overthrow their Idols Oracles Miracles and Delusions by the Ministry of the Gospel And so if I should take Pastors and Teachers Ephes. IV. 11. for Magistrates and Ministers I believe there were no soloecisme in the thing and I am sure the Jews called their chiefest Magistrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pastores in their common speech And if the Apostle may be shewed there to speak in their vulgar dialect as he doth indeed all along his Epistles it would save a controversie and question that is raised upon that place These two Functions are the two standing Pillars and Ordinances the Jachin and Boaz that our great Solomon hath set up in his Temple to stand with the Temple while it standeth These are two choice strainings and distillings of the precious ointment that was poured on the head of our great Aaron that runs down upon the skirts of his clothing Yours my Lords and Gentlemen is a beam of that lustre that shineth in the Royal Crown of Christs Kingly office It is a coin stamped with the Image and superscription of the great Cesar of Heaven and Earth sitting in his Empire and Dominion over all I remember a Phrase of Pliny in his Epistles speaking of a vertuous and gallant daughter that imitated to the life the vertues and gallantry of a noble Father Filia patreni exscripserat the daughter had copied out her father to the life Magistracy is a daughter of
spoken in Scripture of this righteousness of God and indeed never enough My righteousness is never to be revealed To bring in everlasting righteousness New Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness c. Never enough spoken never enough conceived of this Righteousness the most mysterious acting of Heaven the wonder of wonders among men the Justice of God in justifying a sinner A Divine Justice that exceeds divine Justice Divine Justice turned into Mercy You may think I speak strangely if I do it I am something excusable with Peter ravished with the Transfiguration I am upon a subject that may swallow up all minds with amazement but I clear my meaning In Rom. I. 17. It is said Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith Revealed in the Gospel not in the Law Was there no revelation of Justice till the Gospel came Yes the Law revealed Justice but it was condemning Justice as that Text speaks From faith to faith so from righteousness to righteousness Gods Justice was most divine that appeared in the Law to condemn but that Justice exceeded in the Gospel to justifie Where are they that talk of being justified by their own works Then must they have a righteousness of their own that must out-vy Gods condemning justice which is infinitely just But his own justifying justice doth out-vy it As it is said Where sin abounded Grace did superabound So where condemning Justice was glorious justifying Justice was much more glorious I said Justice was turned into mercy I say the greatest Justice into the greatest mercy How are we justified and saved By Mercy True and yet by Justice become mercy not ceasing to be Justice what it was but becoming Mercy what it was not Here is a lively Copy before you God so loveth so acteth justice that he will satisfie it upon his own Son that he might glorifie it by way of mercy on all justified His greatest mercy appeareth in this acting of his justice and you are the greatest Mercy to a people when you do them the most Justice A third and last Copy that I would set before you all that hear me this day is fairly yet seems strangly written with Gods own hand in the Gospel In divers places of the New Testament where mention is made of the Law and where you would think it meant both the Tables it comes off only with mention of the Second Matth. XIX 17. If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments You would look for all the Ten but look forward and he pitcheth only upon the second Table So Rom. XIII 8. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law You would look for the whole Law to be mentioned there but look forward in vers 9. and only the second Table is mentioned So Jam. II. 8. If you fulfil the Royal Law according to the Scripture c. you would look for the whole Law but he concludes all under this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Why where are the Duties of the first Table See how God put even all religion in the second Table As it is said Behold how he saved Lazarus so Behold how God loveth honest upright charitable dealing 'twixt man and man I shall not insist to shew you the reason of this strange passage I might tell you it is because whatsoever men pretend of Religion towards the Commands of the first Table it is nothing if it appear not in our obedience to the second I might tell you God puts you to that that is more in your own power as to obey the second Table is more so than the first But I leave the Copy in your own hands to read and comment on And when you have studied it the most you will find this to be the result how God requires how God delights in our righteous upright charitable dealings one with another A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 13. 1663. JUDG XX. 27 28. And the Children of Israel enquired of the Lord. For the ark of the Covenant of the Lord was there in those days And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days AND it was time to enquire of the Lord considering their present condition and exigent and it was well they had the Ark in those days to enquire at considering the evil of those days and their exceeding wickedness And it was strange that Phinehas was then there considering the time of the story when he is thus brought in The three clauses in the Text that hint their inquiring and the manner of their inquiring and the Person by whom they inquired of the Lord and they inquired at the Ark of the Covenant and they inquired by Phinehas require each one a serious explication and each one explicated it may be will afford something of information that every one hath not observed before I. They enquired of the Lord. And it was time to enquire indeed when business went so crosly with them that though the Lord himself had encouraged them to that war yet they lose so many thousands in the battel At their first mustering they ask counsel of God and he allows their quarrel and appoints their Captain vers 18. And the Children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and said which of us shall go up first to the battle against the Children of Benjamin And the Lord said Judah shall go up first And yet when they come to fight they lose two and twenty thousand men vers 21. They ask counsel of God again and he bids them go up and yet when they come to fight again they lose eighteen thousand men more And now after the loss of forty thousand men they inquire again and indeed it was very full time But what was it they inquired about If why they thus fell when God himself had encouraged them to the War which was a very just Quaere Had I or you been there we might have resolved them without an Oracle There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel and a very strange accursed thing that it is not strange that thou canst not stand but fallest thus before thine enemies In the Chapter before a Levites Concubine plays the whore and runs from him and as he fetches her again she is paid in her kind and whored with at Gibeah till it cost her her life Hereupon all Israel musters in arms as one man and solemnly vows and resolves to avenge her quarrel But in the Chapter before that Idolatry is publickly set up in the Tribe of Dan. And in the Chapter before that it is publickly enough set up in the Town of Micah and yet not one man that stands up or stirs in the quarrel of the Lord. Oh Israel that art thus zealous in the quarrel of a Whore and hast been no whit zealous in the cause of the Lord it is no wonder if thou fall and fall
contabescere morbo corrodi to languish to pine away to be eaten up with some malady and if I miscount not you have it but three times in the Bible and those in the Psalms Psal. VI. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by our English Mine eye is consumed because of grief by the Interlineary Latine Erosus est prae indignatione oculus meus And the very same words you have Psal. XXXI 9. where our English renders after the same manner and that Latine Contabuit and in the very next verse after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My bones are consumed Now the third person future of that word if you would write it in Greek letters you can hardly do it more properly than in the word Jesus that is before us And to this Hebrew word I cannot but conceive that the Syriack Translator had an Eye when he writes not Bar Jesus but Bar Shuma by which he means not Filius Nominis a man of Name or renown as some would have it and as indeed it might signifie but a man of sores swellings or breakings out for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in Levit. XII 2. in the Targum of Jerusalem and Jonathan upon the Law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Esa. I. 6. and elsewhere in the Targum of the other Jonathan upon the Prophets And how Bar Shuma a man of sores agrees with Bar Jesus a man wasting and languishing I need not tell you But how doth Elymas agree with both vers 8. Elymas the Sorcerer for so is his name by interpretation But there is some scruple which name is meant whether his name Bar Jesus or his title Magus And that that hath been the currentest rendring hath been by the Arabick word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ain inchoante which signifies a knowing a wise man and so may be bowed to the sense of Magus But both the Syriack and Arabick Translators begin the word Elymas with another Letter I learn from that incomparable work for pains and learning the Heptaglot Lexicon that Alima or Elima Eliph inchoant in the Arabian Tongue signifies Dolere or cruciari to be in pain or anguish And I think I need to look no further how Elymas doth interpret Bar Jesus when the one signifies contabescere and the other dolere the one morbo corrodi and the other cruciari the words being so near a kin It were worth inquiring why his Hebrew name is rendred into Arabick and not into Greek as is generally done all along the New Testament with other names But that discussion is not so proper for this time and occasion The mans sickly names therefore Bar Jesus or Contabescens and Elymas or dolens may justly make us to look upon him as some pitiful pining langushing diseased body Which whether that were so or no is not much material but certainly the titles that the sacred Historian and blessed Apostle do give him put it out of all question that he carried a very sad sickly and diseased soul. The Jewish Writers when they would speak out a very wicked man indeed they say that he brake out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the superfluity of naughtiness as our English renders the phrase turned into Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. I. 21. Now read this mans Epithites and guess whether he could have broken out further than he did The holy Pen-man calls him a Jew a false prophet a Sorcerer vers 6. The holy Apostle calls him full of all subtilty full of all mischief the child of the Devil and enemy of all righteousness in the verse before us Titles or Epistles or Stigmata or call them what you will so foul that an hours discourse can speak but little to them of what might be or what were requisite to be spoken to give every of them their due Therefore to confine my self to the time I shall confine my discourse only to his present action upon which the Apostles Eye is more peculiarly intent viz. that he perverted and ceased not to pervert the right ways of the Lord. Into which sink of his as into a common sewer flowed all the rest of his puddles here mentioned some as causes of his so acting and some as instruments Hither flowed as causes his being a Jew a false prophet a Sorcerer these set him on work And hither flowed as instruments his subtilty his mischievousness his Devilishness his enmity against all righteousness these helped him in his work And what his work was or what is meant by his perverting the right ways of the Lord we need not go far to learn the eighth verse resolves it fully he withstood the Apostles Barnabss and Paul and he sought to turn away the Deputy Sergius Paulus from the faith He opposed the preaching of the Gospel and he opposed the conversion of the Gentile And such Emissaries some will tell you the Jews had abroad in the World for such a purpose subtil and mischievous men sent abroad purposely to oppose and contradict and vilifie the Gospel and to hinder as much as possibly the conversion of any Heathen It were too bold to say this man was sent by the Sanhedrin upon such an employment If he were not they could hardly have fitted themselves better for such a business than with him so accomplished and accoutred for so cursed a design The very mildest title that he carries viz. as he was a Jew speaks him capacitated and principled sufficiently for such an Employment had he been neither false prophet nor Sorcerer Accordingly I shall only take up that Epistle and relation of his and let all the rest alone and consider him as a Jew and so acting as a Jew in this his cursed employment Not ceasing to pervert the right ways of the Lord or to oppose the Gospel If you scan and observe the demeanor of the Devil in the two different ages of the World under Heathenism and under the Gospel you will find this to have been his method and his shifting policy viz. That under Heathenism he foisted upon the World the greatest lie that could be forged in Hell to make the Heathen believe that the Devils that they served were Gods And under the Gospel when that lie would not do he set men to oppose and contradict that greatest truth that could be revealed from Heaven the truth and tenor of the Gospel And the first Agents that he employed in this business was the Nation of the unbelieving Jews A generation by the very principles of their Religion fermented into a sowrness and contrariety to the Gospel and the right ways of the Lord in it Our Apostle in Rom. XI 8. tells us They were under the spirit of slumber And 1 Thes. II. 15. he intimates how they were under a spirit of contradiction They are contrary to all men Under the spirit of slumber so that all their Religion was but ◠dream of men that slumbred And under the spirit of contradiction so that all their acting was
the Justice of God that Christ was to satisfie and if he could not have done that then there would have been some reason he should have suffered his wrath The Justice of God challenged obedience of men or no coming to Heaven satisfaction for disobedience or they must to Hell Here is enough saith Christ to serve for both ends They have disobeyed here is obedience more than all their Disobediences do or can come to They cannot obey as they should here is that that makes it out viz. Obedience infinite III. The truth was that Christ had to deal with the wrath of the Devil but not at all with the wrath of God Consider but these passages and see what was the stress that Christ had to deal withal in his Passion First That Gen. III. 15. He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Satan the seed of the woman shall destroy thee This is explained Heb. II. 14. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And 1 Joh. III. 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil And then observe that Joh. XIV 30. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me And Luke XXII 53. When I was daily with you in the Temple ye stretched forth no hands against me but this is your hour and the power of darkness While I preached there was a restraint upon you because my hour was not come but now you and Hell are let loose to have your full swing against me There was a Combate proposed in the sufferings of Christ before God and Angels Twixt whom Christ and the wrath of God No but twixt Christ and Satan and all his power What doth God in this quarrel Doth God fight against Christ too as well as the Devil Was his wrath against him as well as the Devils wrath What against his own Champion his own Son No he only tries him by affliction not overwhelms him with his wrath He only lets him alone to him to be the shock of Satan He little assists Satan by his wrath laid on his own Champion See the great Mystery of this great Dispensation in brief God had created the first Adam and endued him with abilities to have stood Thus endued he leaves him to stand of himself and permits Satan to tempt him and he overcomes him and all mankind are overthrown God raised up a second Adam endued with power to foil Satan do he his worst and not only with power to withstand Satan if he will but a will that could not but withstand Satan He sets him forth to encounter and leaves him to himself lets Satan loose to do his worst Satan vexeth him with all the vexation Hell could inflict upon him Did not God love his Son look with dear bowels upon him all this while It is a very harsh opinion to think that Christ undertaking the combate for the honour of God against his arch-enemy that obeying the Will of God even to the death that retaining his holiness unmoveable in the midst of all his tortures paying God an infinite obedience it is harsh I say to think that God should requite him with wrath and look upon him as a wretched damned person No it was the wrath of the Devil that Christ had to combate with not the wrath of God at all IV. Though Christ is said to bear sins yet for all that God did not look upon him any whit the more wrathfully or in displeasure but rather the more favourably because he would bear the sins of his people For God looked on Christ not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice and the Lord was not angry at him but loved him because he would become a Sacrifice Joh. X. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life Esa. LIII 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his Soul unto death Do those words speak the anger of God No his wel-pleasedness his rewarding him for that he would be numbred with transgressors being none but a Lamb without spot and blemish Some say That Christ was the greatest sinner murderer c. because he bare the sins of those that were so which words border upon blasphemy and speak besides a great deal of imprudence and inconsideration See Levit. XVI 21 22. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat and consess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities Is it not sensless now to say That the Goat was the greatest sinner in Israel Was he any whit the more sinful because the sins of the people were put upon him And so of other sacrifices on whose heads hands were laid and sins put was the wrath of God upon the Sacrifice No the pleasure of God was upon it for attonement In such sense are those places to be taken Isa. LIII 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. II. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. V. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin He bare our sins not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice And that Joh. I. 29. makes it plain Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World As a Lamb at the Temple bare the sins of the people so Christ bare our sins How Was the Lamb guilty or sinful No as an attonement and sacrifice And so God looked on Christ as a Sacrifice well pleasing to him not as sinful at all Need we any more illustration Observe that Exod. XXVIII 36 38. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet Holiness to the Lord. And it shall be upon Aarons forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Holiness to the Lord because he bare iniquity It should rather have been Unholiness if Aaron had been any whit the more sinful for bearing the peoples iniquities But he is said to bear their iniquities because he by his office undertook to attone for them How did God look upon Aaron in his Priesthood With anger because he bare the iniquity of the people Nay with favour and delight as so excellent an instrument of attonement Such another passage is that Levit. X. 17 c. Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place