and he made it his business to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named Rom. 15.20 24. lest he should build upon another mans foundation So that if one of these Itinerants could run over so great a part of the world we may well suppose that the other twelve might with ease divide the rest of the world among them And now what alas were we mad and desperate Idolaters that God should bring us hitherto That the Lord should say to us who were not his people You are my people and that we should say O Lord thou art our God O what a mercy is it that we the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blinde Mat. 22.9 Luk. 14.21 23. who abode in the streets and lanes of the City yea that we who wandred about in the high-wayes and amongst the hedges should be called to the Wedding-Feast of the King of heaven That unto us who sate in darkness and dwelt in the region and shadow of death Light should spring up Let therefore the name of the Lord be magnified by us poor sinners the Gentiles as the Prophet soretold it should from the rising of the Sun Mal. 1.11 unto the going down of the same And since we are through grace become children of Sion let us take the liberty here to sing one of the Songs of Sion so far as we may be concern'd therein O give Thanks unto the Lord for he is Good For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of gods For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the Lord of lords For his mercy endureth for ever To Him who alone doth great wonders For his mercy endureth for ever Who remembred us in our low estate For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of heaven For his mercy endureth for ever Let the Redeemed of the Lord among the Gentiles say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of all lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South not onely to dwell in the house of the Lord here and to see his goodness in the land of the Living but to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of God to all Eternity And let us of this Nation among the rest and above the rest as it is our duty give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name acknowledging his great mercy in that his unchangeable love hath had an extraordinary measure reaching even first unto us Oh how hath the Lord been pleased to send his Gospel upon the wing unto this Nation So wonderfully here prevailing that England hath had this honour in an eminent manner to be the first-born of grace among the Nations Here reigned the first Christian King that ever was in the world King Lucius who submitted to the Law of Christ confirming it by a civil sanction From hence went the first Christian Emperour that put an end to the bloudy persecutions of the primitive Christians Constantine yea and after the general defection from the purity of the faith made by the Romish Church which like the tail of the Dragon threw down to the earth a great part of the Stars of Heaven Here the Reformation of the Christian Religion began first to be established by a Law by the first King that ever cast off the yoke of that Anti-Christian Usurper King Henry the 8. Wherein whether his design was to promote any sinister interest of his own as some imagine or to advance the Kingdom of Christ is not much material for us to know The arme of the Almighty hath hitherto been stretched out for the preservation thereof counter-working all the Machinations of Hell which have been and still are upon the Devil's forge against it Rejoyce therefore in the Lord O England and again I say rejoyce But as it is our bounden duty to ascribe unto the Lord the glory of this mercy and to rejoyce that we are no more strangers and forreiners as the Apostle tells the Ephesians but fellow-citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 that is the Jews and of the house-hold of God So we cannot but abhor the treachery of those false brethren among us called Anabaptists who like a brood of Vipers would if it lay in their power but that Gods mercy towards us triumphs over their falsehood disfranchise us of our liberties in the house of our God and rob us of those priviledges wherein the Lord Jesus Christ hath made us free giving us therein equal right with his Israel that was before us because he is still the Same I might instance in sundry of their Anti-Christian tenents tending hereunto But for brevities sake will make mention onely of one that is their Antipaedobaptisme not allowing the Infants of Believers to be admitted into the house-hold of faith by the Sacrament of Baptisme It is not my purpose here to dispute this point at large being out of my way enough hath been written of it already And it hath been found by experience to be a toylsome task to run the wilde-goose chase as a learned divine now with God once phrased it after a well breathed Opinionist they delight in Vitilitigation Mr. Nath. Ward It is an itch as he said that loves a life to be scrubb'd they desire not satisfaction but satisdiction whereof themselves must be judges I shall not therefore say much to this quarelsome people Let them consider how they will answer the Apostle here who avoucheth Jesus Christ to be thee Same to day which he was yesterday Certainly if the infants of the Jews were by virtue of Christs mediatory office to be received into the bosome of the Church and distinguished from those that were without by a Solemn Sacrament of initiation but the infants of Christian parents to whom belongeth the Kingdom of God as as well as to the Jews before must not be allowed to partake of a like priviledge but be reckoned still as dogs as the Scripture calls all that are without Jesus Christ is not the Same according to the Apostles word Neither is his office now of so much use unto his Church as it hath been formerly Of such blasphemy as this not to be mentioned without horrour must this cursed errour be the foundation But let me ask of these deceivers How came it to pass that Christ hath not obtained this priviledge for our Infants as well as he did for the Jews seeing God is not now the God of the Jews onely but of the Gentiles also Surely it must be either because he would not or because he could not To say he would not doth plainly demonstrate his love of us to be less then it was of the Jews which agreeth not with that abundant grace that hath been now revealed in the time of the Gospel To say he could not contradicteth that universal power which the father had given
Father making intercession for you Your Prophet who gave unto your Fathers Statutes and Judgements so righteous that there was no Nation how great so ever in this World that had the like and who will now again teach you the good and the right way if you will hearken unto him Awake Awake therefore O Israel awake awake gather your selves together yea gather your selves together O Nation that art to be desired behold and see how tenderly careful the Lord hath been of you ever since he took you to be his peculiar people Time was when he carried you about as upon Eagle's wings and the time is now come that he would take yee into his Bosome wherein alone you shall after all your unkindnesses finde rest for your Souls He remembers the kindness of your Youth O that you would now consider the kindness of his Age Fortie years long did your Fathers greive him in the wilderness and will you go on to vex him fortie times forty more He then swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest and accordingly it came to pass for their Carcasses all fell in the wilderness but their little ones which they said should be a prey them did he bring into that Good Land which he promised to give unto Abraham be warned therefore betimes for if you will not turn you shall certainly fall and perish as they did but your Children shall surely see that Glory that shall be revealed for the Lord hath sworn in his Love that Jacob shall not be forsaken for ever Consider it is no novelty that we perswade you unto but that which was from the the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life for the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear Witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that yee also may have Fellowship with us and truely our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Come then I say again and mourn for him whom you have pierced and we also will mourn with you for good cause have we so to do having alas many a time dealt too treacherously with this our great redeemer and put him to an open shame by our frequent swervings and tergiversations from that righteous and holy rule that he hath set us we will abandon this present evil World and all the flattering insinuations thereof our dearest relations shall be of no Value with us in comparison of our fellowship with you and that Brotherly Covenant which shall oblige us both unto our common Lord who hath loved you from the beginning and will love you again more abundantly if you will now turn unto him Return return therefore O Shulamite return return Secondly this may teach us to forbear that Disdain which is commonly found to be in these days against the Ages that have been before us For whatsoever Light hath been in the World at any time it hath been derived from this Father of Lights Jesus Christ And he hath by that tender care which himself had both of the Law and the Fathers who lived under it and before it set us an Example to bear a due respect as becommeth Brethren to that antiquity which hath been enlightned by him in this Day of the Gospel For the Law though it was perverted by such as would not believe in him to a Sinister use even to the utter Abolition of his whole Evangelical institute and was in that respect justly disavowed by his Apostles in their writings yet he professeth the design of his coming was not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it And for the Fathers in their sundry Generations before him who walking in this Light had fellowship with him we have sufficiently seen how he hath owned them Yea and ever since he hath been the leader and supporter of his Church in all the various changes that have come upon it for he is he Everlasting Father of his people Es 9.6 and the Provision whatsoever it was that his family hath hitherto lived upon from the time that he dwelt among us as it hath been as his cost and of his wise and prudent devising so it hath been always ordered and disposed by him How ill then doth it become us in these days to cast forth reproachful speeches against the Light of antiquity or those that walked in it Do we not thereby call into question the Wisdom of Christ himself I speak not here of the unwritten Verities or Traditions of Antiquity as they are called which have neither with them a Catholick Recognition nor any warrant or footstep from the written word That is a Door which hath let in much Corruption into the Church nor of the untrue writings of any Monkish Heterodox Spirits which are the spurious Issue of that man of Sin But that which I do undertake upon this occasion to vindicate is that Holy Venerable Renowned Orthodox Antiquity which hath been alwayes faithful to Jesus Christ and his Gospel which hath borne the burden and heat of the day in maintaining and defending by Writing by Preaching by Living by Dying the Doctrine of Christ crucified against the Prince of Darkness and all his cursed Adherents What though there have been clouds and eclipses of the glorious Light of Truth in former times which notwithstanding have by the brightness of Christs appearance in the Ministery of his old Servants been dispelled scattered and removed What though there have been Differences and Contentions arisen rather about Circumstantials then Fundamentals of the Gospel from which we in this Age are not altogether free Yet since it is so that Jesus Christ hath been the same to them which he is to us we should learn to judge at least more modestly then we do of the dayes that have been before us It is as it hath been observed the common disease of all Ages to applaud themselves above any that have been before them Actions of men being for the most part according to the vogue and sway of times and have onely their upholding by the opinion of the vulgar We deale with Antiquity but as Posterity will with us which ever thinks it self the wiser and that will judge likewise of our errours according to the Cast of their Imaginations Yet I say not but that we have great reason to bless God for those discoveries of his Grace and those Manifestations of his Truth that wee enjoy in these times and I doubt not but God hath some also now that will be valiant for his Truth as there have been ever of old but when we look into the Lives of those who now-a-dayes are most zealous in decrying Antiquity and extolling the present Age and yet finde Spiritual Pride and Censoriousness so common amongst them besides their
compleating of his most glorious design in this day of his power he will most certainly get himself a name in casting it down and having commanded his Light to shine out of Darkness Joh. 1.5 though the darkness of mens hearts will not receive it yet his Commandment still continueth in force and his word runneth very swiftly In a word true and great and marvellous and invincible is the light of this day concerning which much might be spoken from the predictions of the Prophets who prophecyed of this day and much might be added from the triumphant exultations of the Apostles whose eyes were first opened to see the light of this day but there is no need to undertake any further the clearing of the truth of this point for the day it self doth declare it the Sun which is the light and life of this day being not onely risen but ascended and not onely risen and ascended but fixed in his Meridian never more to descend till time be no more Nescit occasum Let us therefore now come to improve it by some close Applications unto us all whose lot it is to live under this Light First Seeing that this time of the Gospel is such a Lightsome day we then that are the Children of the day are to take notice of those Duties which the day requireth of us First whereof is that we rejoyce and be glad in it Truely Light is sweet saith Solomon and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Eccles 11.7 1. Duty Ec. 11.7 How sweet then and pleasant a thing is it to behold the light of this day wherein the Glory of the Lord is risen upon the Church Es 60.1 as the Prophet foretold it should Es 60.1 That glory which since the beginning of the world was out of the reach and apprehension of any Creature which yet notwithstanding was earnestly longed for by the Holy and faithful Servants of God of old How happy would Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses David Hezekiah Josiah Esaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel c. have accounted themselves to have seen that Glory which is now revealed How full of joy would they have been in the light of this day wherein with open face we behold as in a Mirroir the Glory of the Lord saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3.18 Nay wherein all flesh seeth the Salvation of God wherein the Word of God comes with power and evidence and Demonstration wherein the Spirit is shed forth abundantly in the hearts of Believers wherein knowledg covereth the earth even as the waters covers the seas so that God's people now need teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother the sense and meaning of the Shadows and Ceremonies of old saying Jer. 31.34 Know the Lord the Lord whom these things do typifie and so far as such carnal Ordinances are able make known unto you for now is fulfilled that which then the Lord promised saying they shall all know me from the least of them to the Greatest of them The whole Mystery of Godliness is now clearly revealed in so much that they who are endued with the Spirit of God know all things yea 1 Job 2.20 Act. 2.17 even Children and Handmaidens people of all sorts and Sexes understand more fully the Doctrine of Salvation then the Prophets and great Rabbies of old could be able to reach into And therefore it is worth our considering how emphatically the Spirit of God in scripture doth found out this word now in reference to the great glory of this day of the Gospel to that very end that all who are I say Children of the Day may see the Light and rejoyce in it Observe some instances Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is manifested the Righteousness of God Rom. 3.22 2 Cor. 6 2. Rom. 3.22 Eph 3.10 Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 1 Joh. 2.8 Now is made known the manifold Wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 The Mystery which was hidden from Ages and Generations is now revealed Eph. 3.5 Col. 1.26 The Darkness is past the true Light now shineth 1 Joh. 2.8 Now Now Now implying that now and never before the dawning of this day there was a light in the world to be reckoned of the highest value O blessed and happy Day And for ever and ever blessed be that good Providence of Heaven that hath brought us to see the Light of this Day making it unto us a good Day A Day of good tidings A day of Reconciliation with the God of Heaven A Day of joy and gladness Let us therefore I say again and again rejoyce and be glad in it Let the Children of the World glory some in their carnal wisdom some in their strength some in their riches But let us glory in this that we underl and and know the Lord. Now in this serene and joyful day of his gracious visitation did Abraham with great pleasure and rapture of spirit rejoyce to see this day afar off and shall not we now rejoyce when it is at hand yea when it comes upon us and the Light of it shineth round about us Surely we are not Abrahams Children unless we do the works of Abraham and if herein we do not rejoyce we are not of the Faith of Abraham and consequently shall not be blessed with him Objection But alas you 'll say this day is a day of trouble of rebuke and blasphemy of trouble to the Churches of Christ throughout the world of rebuke for God is angry with the world for sin of Blasphemy the Provocations wherewith God is provoked every day being very great reaching up into Heaven And should we now rejoyce Answer I Answer It is indeed a day of trouble to the people of God and possibly if they had rejoyced more for the consolation which their eyes have seen they had not seen so much trouble upon them as they do this day But nevertheless albeit there be so great and sore afflictions lying upon the Churches which all the Children of the Day must be sensible of yet in the midst of all this sorrow there is cause of rejoycing for why it is not a Night of trouble wherein no succour or comfort can be found but the Light of the Lord so shineth out before his people that they may plainly see his good works which with an out-stretched arme he hath wrought and still doth for their deliverance Ps 112.4 Vnto the Righteous saith the Psalmist Ps 112.4 Ariseth Light in Darkness that is in the darkest times of trouble then hath their light of comfort been wont to arise most And therefore though in some respect the day be somewhat cloudy yet it is not a Dismal Day though the Affliction be great yet the consolations of God are not so small with us but we may glorifie God in this day and rejoyce before him True you 'll say But alas we remember
the earth Then with glory to God on high and peace upon earth but hereafter with Vae Vae Vae habitatoribus terrae Thrice wo to them that dwell upon the earth Then to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel into the sheep-fold now to sever the Sheep from the Goats Then to embrace both Jew and Gentile now to divide between servant and Servant at the same Mill between man and wife in the same bed between Jacob and Esau in the same womb and to pronounce the one of them blessed and the other accursed Repent therefore we say unto you for this kingdome of God is at hand to deface all kingdomes to root up the nations to consume the earth with her works and the people with their sins This is the kingdome and no other that is now to be looked for and our Lord is gone to receive it for himself But whosoever they be that will not have him to reign over them whiles he swayeth the scepter of his Grace which is so despicable in the eye of the world Luk 19.12 when he returneth he will have such Rebels and Traytours dragg'd into his presence and see them executed before him Oh then let not the Serpent beguile you any longer with the expectation of a sools paradise Rather come I beseech without any further delay O ye children of Israel and children of Judah together and seek the Lord your God Jer. 5.4 5 who hath promised to be found of you Ask the way to Zion with your faces thitherward and we for our parts will give you the best directions we can Say as it is written of you you shall say Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant that shall never be forgotten Too long alas have you been unmindful of the Rock that begat you and forgotten your God that formed you And will you still continue to be a froward Generation children in whom is no faith Is the Lord Christ a stumbling-block unto you because of the reproach that is cast upon his kingdome by a sinful world A world that accounteth the things of the Spirit of God but foolishness which things it cannot know nor receive because they are spiritually discern'd And will you conform your selves to the guise of the world You that have heretofore with so much zeal declared your abhorrency of it Will you now joyn in a confederacy with it to your shame in that which is so contrary to the concurrent predictions of all your Prophets concerning the kingdome of the Messiah Some of whom I confess do speak of his glory and great atchievements but that must be understood in a spiritual sense as that he will bring the world under the power of his grace And those that do resist it he will by his Word and Spirit most righteously condemn Else how will you free those other Prophets from falshood and errour who speak as much of his poor base and contemptible estate under many miseries and afflictions yea of his death and passion As for that dream of two Messiasses to come the one Ben Joseph of the Tribe of Ephraim who is to suffer and undergo those indignities the other Ben David of the Tribe of Judah who must redeem deliver and restore Israel to their former inheritance and gather them together out of all the earth who must vanquish subdue and make tributary all Princes and Potentates of the world who never must dye but live and reign everlastingly in temporal Glory who shall raise again the dead Israelites unto life and amongst them Messiah Ben Joseph It is so sottish an absurdity that I believe you your selves are ashamed of it The Messiah whom you have expected is the Rock of Ages the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending Would you have him then to vary the form of his Government which he hath alwayes exercised over his Church in a spiritual way to a worldly compliancy with the Princes of the earth What a shameful inconstancy would this be unsutable to his Honour and no whit conducible to the work the great work of Messiah in destroying the kingdome of Satan Yea what fruit would thereby redound unto you in carrying you safely through your pilgrimage here that you might sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of God For us We profess this to be our earnest desire in our own behalf and if you be indeed the children of Abraham it would be your ambition to obtain it rather then any earthly glory Did the Lord ever in all the time of yesterday exercise a temporal Power over the Kings and Princes of the earth Where was his Throne erected What mettal was his Crown made of When Pharaoh kept his people in Egypt What armies of men did he muster up for their deliverance When Amalâ—k came out against them Moses his Deputy betakes himself to prayer whilst Joshua fights the Lords battels But what need the one pray and the other fight if the Lord himself who is the Lord of Hosts not onely of his subjects but of his enemies too was to have exercised such a Power And how ill did the Lord take it of your forefathers when they thus mutinied against him saying Nay but we will have a King over us 1 Sam. 8.7 that we also may be like unto other nations They have saith he rejected me that I should not reign over them meaning in his spiritual mediatory Power as I have before observed which though he still in great mercy continued as formerly during that regal Government which they then chose and which should in time have been mercifully establisht among them had they not been so precipitant in requiring it yet was his Spirit grieved at that their rebellion against him Oh know for certain It is a far greater rebellion against the Lord your God that you are this day guilty of In that you do so causelesly out of a vain affectation of conformity to other nations unwarranted by Moses and the Prophets reject the Anoynted of the most high God that he should not be your King according to that form of Government which is devolv'd upon him by the Father But Non obstante your obstinacy against him hitherto he hath reigned and reign he will still as he hath done Malgrè all the gates of hell He is the breath of our nosthrils and the life of our souls under his shadow we do live and rejoyce yea and we will rejoyce more and more And as for you because of your unkinde refusal of him hath not this our Lord according to his oath hitherto with a mighty hand Ezek. 20.33 and stretched-out arm and fury poured out ruled over you Whence otherwise hath it come to pass that so deep a stain hath been brought upon all your excellency and that your glory is thus eclipsed That you are scattered over the world and whereas you were the head you are now become the tail of
the Posterity of Abraham the friend of God and of Isaac and Jacob Heires with him of the same Promise and Grace And in fine as the Complement of all the rest From among you was the Messiah to come And in the fulness of time did come the Incarnate Son of God taking his flesh of you that he might though he be God blessed for ever be the Mediatour between God and Man yea suffer Death for you and us likewise that believe in him All this we willingly yeild unto you nay more we will be confident of your Restauration because the Lord hath said it and he will not Repent concerning which we shall God willing speak more largely hereafter in the following parts of this Treatise because our Text which is the ground of the whole Matter hath a special respect unto you above all others Come then in the name of God let us joyn together and go up to the Mountain of the Lord Es 2.3 4 5. to the House of the God of Jacob He will teach us his ways and we will walk as Brethren in his Paths for out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem He shall judg among the Nations and shall rebuke many People They shall beat their Swords into Plow-sheares and their Spears into Pruning-hookes Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more O House of Jacob come yee and let us walk in the light of the Lord. But as for those wretched Apostata's who were once inlightned but now turn their Backs upon this Light denying the Lord that bought them and so Crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open Shame pretending to joyn themselves to you in walking in the Light of Yesterday Wo unto them it had been good for them they had never been born and I doubt not but when you shall come to look upon him whom you have Peirced and to Mourn for him according to the Prophecy of Zechariah as one mourneth for his onely Son Zech. 12.10 that you your selves will abhor them as a People most accursed and so I leave them Another sort that grope after the Light of Yesterday are those that seek to be justified by the Works of the Law who do but lose themselves in the Dark and shall never be able thereby to see the Light of Life True it is the Law was once such a Light which if it had been exactly followed would have been a sure Conduct into the Presence of God but being not observed as it ought to have been it seemed good to the Father of Lights to remove it so as that it is now totally and finally Eclipsed in respect of any Influence in that Point of Justification which was the glory of it in the Beginning And whosoever they be that will now pretend to walk in the Light of it so as to be justified thereby in the Sight of God they shall most assuredly finde it to be a dreadful Blazing Comet that portends nothing but inevitable Ruine and Destruction unto them And yet alas how inconsiderate are many People in fixing their Confidence hereupon Though they cannot but know that Do this and live was the Voice of God Yesterday But Live and do this is the Command of the Lord to Day so expressely contrary is the Light that now is in the manifestations of it to that which was formerly yet such is the Cross-grain'd perversness indeed of us all by nature whereby we are wont ruere in vetitum that we are apt still to thwart God in his Dispensations towards us And because we mist of the Tree of Life by not doing that at first which God commanded therefore being led on by that Appetite which is still in us by Nature after that first Estate wherein we were Created we do contrary to Gods express Inhibition foolishly Endeavour by our own Righteousness to recover it again wherein as hath been said we loose our selves utterly God having now propounded another way to Life But it may be Objected was not the Law given since upon Mount Sinai and if we must not be justified by the works of the Law wherefore was it revived I Answer with the Apostle Gal. 3.19 the Law was added because of Transgressions that is Gal. 3.19 not onely for the restraining of them as it is commonly conceived though that be a chief end of giving the Law but because Transgressions so much abounded in the World when the grace of God had so much appeared In which regard God seeing Men so Unworthy of his Grace he revived the Old Covenant again in giving the Law which was saith the Apostle to continue till the Seed came to whom the Promise was made that so men might thereby as by a Schole-Master be whipped out of their old Forme which being come if any will yet hanker after that old Covenant the Law shall no more be revived for that end as formerly but the Condemnation thereof shall be added for the Contempt of the Gospel Away therefore with all this Homespun Inherent Righteousness let it be accounted in the matter of Justification before God even as in truth it is but a filthy Rag and when we have done all that we can given all our Goods to the Poor and our Bodies to be burned let us say we are unprofitable Servants c. And for the Law let it be a Guide unto us as it ought to be in the way of Holiness and Righteousness all the Dayes of our Lives but we must not make it our Guard to preserve us at any time from Incensed Justice of the Almighty mighty for therein it will certainly fail a good Tutour it is to instruct and admonish us but an idle Advocate to plead for us before God's Tribunal its onely Exercise there being to Accuse and Condemn A Third sort that Unseasonably busy themselves with Yesterday are the Papists who have a long time set up the Ceremonial Law of Moses in the Worship and Service of God who are it seems and still will be Children led on by weak and beggarly Elements which notwithstanding at this time are not any Help unto them at all but rather a Hinderance in respect of any Spiritual Edification and whereas they pretend to promote the Gospel and to advance the Honour of Christ they do in effect by their Conformity to the Mosaical Paedagogy deny and forsake them both To what purpose are their Altars their Priests their Sacrifices their Washings Unctions Shaving Sprinkling Purifying c. To what End I say are these many other the like beggarly Ceremonies but to bring a Vail over the Gospel and to call back Yesterday to which the Lord Jesus Christ hath pronounced a consummatum est And if they be not finished Christ himself hath not yet finished his Work for which he was sent into the World and then where are we There need not much be said
He was Which Primogeniture of Christ's into the Brother-hood as it denotes his everlasting Regal Power and Superiority which we shall presently make appear so notwithstanding his Birth which happened to be afterwards in due time it was often signified in those first Ages of the World by the Precedency that was given to the Younger Brethren above the Elder happily that the People then might also discern somewhat of this Mystery which did so neerly concern them For Example those nine Patriarchs before the Floud who succeeded Adam in their several Generations we may say of them with very great Probability I had almost said with apparent Demonstration from the Scripture and so do writers both Antient and Modern Judge that They were not the Eldest Sons and First-born of their Parents Aug. de Civit. Dei Musculus but onely such Holy Eminent Persons whom God had according to the good Pleasure of his Will chosen out from among their Brethren in a successive uninterrupted Line to be the Progenitours of the Messiah The like is to be said of Sem Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Pharez Aram David Solomon all Younger then their Brethren yet preferred before them And this I say Ab sit arrogantia verbo might possibly be so ordered by Divine Providence that the people of God might in all the preceding Ages acknowledge one that was to come after them for their Lord and Governour by virtue of his Primogeniture among them Yea John Baptist doth ingeniously acknowledge so much for himself and which may extend unto all Joh. 1.30 After me saith he cometh a man which is preferred before me for he was before me And in fine all those Types and Figures that were shadows of good things to come were the Praeludiums of his Inauguration to his Office but the effects and consequents of his Primogeniture which was at first given him of the Father The first Begotten then he was from the beginning which argues his Regal Power and Sovereignty that he had over all his Brethren for such Preheminence did belong to the first-born as appeareth in Scripture Gen. 4.7 Gen. 27.29.37 1 Sam. 20.29 And the Apostle saith that the Heir is the Lord of all Gal. 4.1 So S. Peter saith of Christ Act. 10.36 Act. 10.36 He is Lord of all which words are there enclosed with a Parenthesis but the sense and meaning thereof reacheth from the beginning of the World to the end of it Did not Abraham acknowledge Christ to be his Lord when he treated with him about Sodom Gen. 18.3.27.30 31. after he had appeared unto him in the Plains of Mamre And with how low a reverence doth he demean himself in that matter as became a Subject in his Address to his Lord and King Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes And again O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak V. 27.30 Yea again and again with the most proper terms of Homage and acknowledgment of his Power doth he put up his Suit unto him and that it was Christ who then appeared to Abraham is not to be doubted considering the shape wherein he did appear viz. of a man which manner of Apparitions according to the concurrent judgment of Holy and Orthodox Writers was not used by either of the other persons of the Trinity but only by Jesus Christ and was the Prototype to his Incarnation And in regard that Abraham calleth him the Judge of all the World Act. 10.42 which is the Office of Christ For him saith the Apostle hath God ordained to be the Judge of Quick and Dead And because it is so plainly said The Lord that is this Lord who appeared unto and parted from Abraham Gen. 19. Rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord that is as an ancient Council interpreted it who did pronounce an Anathema against all those that affirmed the contrary that Christ the Lord did it from his Father the Lord out of Heaven Thus did Abraham Syrmiensis An. Dom. 356. Cent. 4. cap 9. Ps 110.1 and thus in like manner did David in Spirit call him his Lord as the Lord himself testifieth out of the Psalm when he said The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand that is The Father the Lord said it unto Christ the Lord. If then David and Abraham two eminent persons whom the Evangelist by the Holy Ghost singleth out to be the Coryphaei the principal in the Line of the Progenitours of Jesus Christ did own him in their Generations for their supreme Lord and Governour and that also in a certain way of distinction from the Father though in a subordination unto him it may well be concluded that he was so by all others And let it be observed how Moses saith of himself that he was King in Jeshurun Deut. 33.5 But how could that be Deut. 33.5 1 Sam. 8.9 when the Kingly Government as it is described 1 Sam. 8.9 was not yet set up in Israel I answer this is not to be understood so much with a reference to the Political estate of that People as their Ecclesiastical in respect whereof Israel might in an especial manner be called Jeshurun from a word signifying Uprightness and Righteousness For though their Judicial Law which was the Soul of their Polity was a most righteous Law yet their Ceremonial Law which constituted them a Church was it that made them a righteous Nation before God giving them an interest in the Righteousness of God that is Jesus Christ whose Name is called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23.6 Now because Moses did the work of a King in giving them this Law he might have the Title of a King given unto him when notwithstanding he was therein but Viceroy to Jesus Christ the supreme Lord of his people in all Ages And so a Viceroy is entituled elsewhere in Scripture as may be seen by comparing 2 Reg 3.9 2 Chr. 21.8 1 Reg. 22.47 Neither indeed was Moses any other for he saith the Apostle Heb. 3.5 was but a Servant in the house Christ was the Son and over his own house Moses had the Pattern given him in the Mount not only of the Form of the Tabernacle but every tittle and Iota of every Law by which that People were to be guided was there prescribed unto him and he was to do all things as became a Viceroy exactly according to that Pattern and Tenour neither adding unto it nor diminishing from it but Christ was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ipse dixit the Legislator of the whole Law that Law I say which did distinguish the Israclites in their Polity from other Nations and Kingdoms viz. the Judicial Law and that Law which made them a Church above all people in the World viz. the Ceremonial Law and that Law which was a Rule of Righteousness not only unto them but to all Mankinde unto the end
that Age and to the apprehension of the Prophet though the Judaical observation of Jubilees was to cease long before the expiration of the time that he was insisting upon But enough of this Let us proceed The time of Jacobs going down into Egypt is as hath been said before very remarkable and may be esteemed a fit Epocha for the beginning of these seventy Jubilees The grounds and reasons of which conjecture I do now here offer to consideration First when Jacob went down into Egypt God promised him to make him a great Nation Gen. 46.3 And withall designed that very place for the performance of his word which was there fulfilled For thus Moses tells the people Deut. 10.22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Whence we may collect this journey into Egypt was the beginning or providential occasion of forming this people into a Nation and whereby God did visibly fore-lay his design of proving himself unto them to be the great Jehovah in giving a being to his Promise made before unto Abraham Therefore very fit to be the Epocha of the Vision and Prophecy concerning this people Secondly Egypt was the place where Israel was first as a Childe trained up under his Fathers discipline and for the sins wherewith they there sinned God made them there to pass under the rod and brought them first into the bond of the Covenant Lev. 17.7 Josh 24.14 Ezek. 23.3 so that in all likelihood there did the time of Jacobs trouble begin which in the purpose of the Almighty was as the Angel here speaketh cut out and pared for this people And as they continued in their undutifulness forgetting the God that formed them so was their trouble also continued afterwards by sundry punishments inflicted on them in their several Generations but especially in the Babylonish Captivity and to this day lengthned out in their present dispersion into all Lands where the Lord hath scattered them And have we not good reason then to suppose that Jacobs going down into Egypt at the commandment of the Lord was eminently subservient to these ends that God might enter upon his work his great work which he had determined concerning this people Somewhat surely there is in it that the Spirit would have us to take special notice of because we find it so often mentioned in the Scripture see Gen. 46.6 Deut. 10.22 Deut. 26.5 Josh 24.4 Psal 105.23 Act. 7 15. It may be said Abraham also went down into Egypt two hundred and sixteen years before Jacob this account therefore of Jubilees may as well begin from that time as from Jacobs going thither A negative answer must hereunto be given For first though Abraham went into Egypt yet it was not at the commandment of the Lord Ps 105.14.15 but as a traveller from one Country to another as his affairs called him and it was but for a short time for he went up from thence again and which is remarkable All that he had he brought away with him Gen. 13.1 But as for Jacob he went not thither but at the express word of the Lord and there he continued till the day of his death and his Posterity removed not from thence till the Lord led them forth with a strong hand and stretched-out arm Secondly when Abraham went thither God had not made known unto him the afflictions that his Posterity should endure in that Land and therefore he might be at his liberty before to go thither or not as seemed good unto him but when once this was revealed unto him Gen. 15. there must then be no more journeying into Egypt by these Patriarchs till the very beginning of that time came which is here by the Angel said to be cut out for this people that is as I have said for their growing up into a Nation and suffering such chastisements which the Divine Wisdome had appointed for them Gen. 26.2 And hence it was very probably that an express inhibition was given unto Isaac that he should not go down into Egypt as his Father Abraham had done though it seems a necessity lay upon him to relieve himself and his family at that time by the plenty of Egypt being put to as hard a strait by reason of a second famine in the Land of Canaan as his Father Abraham was Thirdly Jacobs going into Egypt was a Type of our Saviours going thither one resembling the other in sundry notable circumstances and in that regard is the greater notice to be taken of it To instance First Jacob went thither at the commandment of the Lord so was Jesus carried thither by a Message from Heaven Secondly Joseph was a means of bringing Jacob into that Land so did another Joseph carry Christ into it Thirdly Jacob went down into Egypt that being the Countrey chosen of God for Israels infancy for he grew a lovely Childe there God taught Ephraim to go taking them by their arms Hos 11.1.3 So was the Holy Child Jesus carried into Egypt to be there for a while kept at nurse as I may say with his mother and during his * Sabellicus Historiographus scribit Josephum cum Maria puero Jesu in Aegypto 7. annos exulasse tantum scil temporis debuit implendae Herodis malitiae Minority to have that education as was meet and convenient for him Fourthly Jacob went thither to preserve his life from the Famine Gen. 45.5.7 And Jesus was carried thither to keep him out of harms-way and to preserve his life from those that sought to destroy it Fiftly Jacob and his posterity were to stay there till the time came which the Lord had set for their dismission from thence so Jesus was not to be brought out of Egypt till he was called according to the saying of the Prophet Hos 11.1 Out of Egypt have I called my Son and word brought by the Angel for that very purpose Matth. 2.13.19 These things being so may we not infer that the time of Jacobs going into Egypt was a time of great remark in Scripture and that it is the fittest of all other to make an Epocha from whence these seventy Jubilees are to derive their commencement and beginning Another argument there is yet to be considered for the confirmation of this sense of the Angels words taken from the end or final cause for which these 70 sevens were determined which is here said To finish the transgression and to make an end of sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquity that is that no unrighteousness of what kinde or degree soever whether that single transgression of Jacob in the sinful manner of supplanting his brother Esau or that unnatural cruelty of his ten sons against their brother Joseph or the numberless multitude of sins whereof they have since been guilty or their most execrable iniquity against the Lord of life and his Gospel sent among them
in it Upon the whole matter then the Apostle by his variation of the Prophets termes seems to take away all scruples of the Jews Restauration First their Redeemer shall be their Deliverer who is both willing and able so to be willing by his relation unto them able because he is the Lord strong and mighty Secondly he shall come out of Sion because he is come unto Sion that is he shall from his Church by some powerful means that shall be used issue out a deliverance unto them because he came to his Church to be her Redeemer Thirdly neither shall their ungodliness that is their pertinacy in their present infidelity hinder this deliverance as some conceive by it an impossibility of their return for he shall turn it away from them and they shall no more turn unto it again Secondly it is observable Though the Apostle here varyeth from the Prophet in the formality of Israels conversion and deliverance yet he fully agreeth with him in the subject thereof that is Jacob For mark Neither of them both saith Ungodliness shall be turned away from Judah which was the remnant that God had reserved to the end that they should know that he was the Lord Neither do they say from Israel as distinguished from Judah which had been long ago driven into banishment But from Jacob as signifying all his posterity All I say not intending probably every particular person that should come out of his loyns but as ranked into several Tribes not one of them shall be lost but all shall be saved that is All of them in their several generations shall after this deliverance continue faithful with their God and never be separated from him any more Thirdly the Apostle and Prophet both engage the truth and faithfulness of God for the accomplishment of this deliverance in these words For this is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their sins With them that is without all controversie to be understood of the seed and posterity of Jacob as the whole current of the Apostles design in this Chapter makes it manifest and as hath been before sufficiently proved I demand then Hath God Covenanted with this his Israel to save and deliver them from their sinne and captivity when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in and when the Word is gone out of his mouth and past into a record in Holy Writ the Register of his revealed Counsels to his Church will he then retract it and not keep his Covenant O farre be it from any to put such an imputation of inconstancy upon the Unchangeable God Faithful is he that hath Covenanted who also will do it And now let us joyn these two together the Strength of Israels Redeemer and the Faithfulness of their God and who is he then that can doubt of their Restauration Object True indeed say some But that shall not be till the very instant of the consummation of all things when the work of Christ is finished the predeterminate number of Gods Elect filled up and a final period be ready to be put both to the sinnes and sufferings of all Gods people throughout the world Sol. I answer Should this be granted which yet is too tenaciously held by the Lutheran party it may well be demanded What advantage would accrew to the Churches of the Gentiles by the reception of the Jews How shall the world be enriched according to the word of the Apostle by their fulness more then it was by their fall and diminution if the world must be dissolved immediately upon their conversion I will not deny but this may be the glorious and blessed Catastrophe of the mighty acts of God upon the I heater of this world and that it is kept as a reserve by the providence of heaven to crown Messiah's victories and his peoples glory But that at the very first appearance thereof when the consolation of Israel and the riches of the Gentiles so largely promised in the Word and so earnestly expected and desired in sundry generations shall by the good hand of God be produced into act that the I say at the very rise and springing of these glorious manifestations of Gods Power and Faithfulness this stage should be taken down and the scene removed into another world as if the distinction between Jews and Gentiles should be continued there as it is here is not easily to be believed Undoubtedly God will so do this marvellous act that it shall for some time be had here in remembrance to the advancement of his own glory the honour of his people and to the everlasting confusion of the Prince of darkness with all his adherents Neither is this considence without sufficient warrant from the word of God for besides that which hath been already said to this purpose if we consult the Prophet Esay once again in the place before-mentioned and compare him with the Apostle in these very words that we have stood last upon we shall finde ground firm enough whereon to build this assertion viz. That this world shall continue for some generations after the Jews return from their finne and captivity Observe therefore When the Prophet had said The Redeemer shall come to Sion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob he addeth Esa 59.21 As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord henceforth and for ever Which words I confess in the spirit of them are directed to the Church and the children of it assuring them that Gods Spirit and Word shall continue with them for their instruction in all things needful for their salvation But when the Apostle who with the Prophet is guided by the same infallible Spirit shall lead us further to an application of them unto the seed of Jacob after their Restauration we may safely conclude that they do carry also with them this sense as well as the former viz. That Israel shall when they are returned unto the Lord cleave unto him for some generations three at least wherein they shall continue stedfast unto the end Now that the Apostle intendeth the same with the Prophet in this particular as well as in any other before insisted upon seemeth to me very probable He doth not indeed intersert those very words of the Prophet having mentioned that already which was equivalent with them 2 Pet. 3.15 I or as the Apostle Saint Peter will have the long-suffering of God to be accounted Salvation so the Apostle Saint Paul in that he saith All Israel shall be saved reckons the pouring out of Gods Spirit upon Israel and putting his Word into their mouth together with their constant adherency thereunto throughout their generations according to the Prophecy written of them to be Salvation also