darknesse made the morning of the first natural day God faith Moses divided the light from the darknesse and called the light day and the darknesse he called night and the evening and the morning were the first day As was the condition of this visible world or form lesse earth before the Creation of light or the division betwixt it and darknesse such altogether was the condition or state of the intellectuall world before it was new made or redeemed by the Son of God The corrupted masse of mankind was overspread with darknesse and covered with the mantle of Death but this long darknesse became more palpable then that of Egypt during the time of the Son of God's surprizall and his inclosure in the region of Death These were the houres wherein it was permitted the powers of darknesse to domineere but these powers were conquered and the darknesse dispelled by his Resurrection from Death which was on the same day and at the same houre wherein God the Father by him did first divide darknesse from light From this houre of his Resurrection the night is gone and the day is come as many as believe in him raised from death and adore the Son of righteousnesse who as the Apostle saith having abolished death brought life and immortalitie to light they are the Sons of God Heires of Glory but such as love darknesse more then the light of his gospel they must remaine the sons of darknesse and of death All this and more is implied in the circumstance of the time and place which the day and houre of his Resurection had in that holy weeke being the first houre of the first day The other mystery is implied in the circumstance of the time and place which the day of his Resurrection held in that solemne feast of unleavened bread 3 So it fell out by the sweet disposition of God's speciall providence that the day of our Saviour's Resurrection should for that yeare fall upon the second day of the Feast of unleavened bread or the morrow after the Sabbath of that great solemnity Now on that precise day the Israelites were peremptorily bound by a strict Law to offer up the first fruits as eares and blades of corne unto the Lord Lev. 23. 10. 11. When yee become into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof then ye shall bring a sheafe of the first fruits of your harvest unto the Priest and he shall wave the sheafe before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the Priest shall wave it From this peculiar reference or parallel of the circumstance of time between the day of our Saviour's Resurrection and the day appointed for this legall feast of offering the eares of corne The analogy or parallel between the Type and the substance is thus As the use of the corne was not allowable to the people untill some eares or blades of the same kind were offered up in sacrifice by the Priest unto the Lord So neither could the seed of Adam or of Abraham or of any man else seeing all had been sowen in corruption be either holy or acceptable to the Lord or partakers of his Table or prefence or put on incorruption untill the high Priest of our soules the Son of God had offered a sacrifice of the same kind to wit a body subject to like mortality as ours are untill it was consecrated to glory and immortality by the sufferings of Death 4 All were sanctified all were reconciled to God by this one oblation of himselfe as the first fruits of them that sleepe Yet even such as were upon the day of his Resurrection really sanctified and actually reconciled unto God the very Apostles themselves were not made up or wrought into one body or loafetill fifty daies after not until that very day wherein the new reaped corne made into bread was solemnly offered and presented to the Lord. Lev. 23. 15. 16. 17. And yee shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath from the day that yee brought the sheafe of the wave offering seven daies shall be compleat even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall yee number fifty daies and yee shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord yee shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves of two tenth deales they shall be of fine flowre they shall be baken with leaven they are the first fruits unto the Lord. The one holy Catholique Church and Communion of Saints which we professe in our Creed did not begin to be in esse as by God's helpe it shall appeare hereafter or heare true life untill the effusion of the holy Ghost which is the soule of the one holy Catholique Church or of the mystioall Body of Christ And that was upon the fiftieth day inclusively from the day whereon the eares of corne or sheafe of blades was offered unto the Lord. On that fiftieth day the holy Curch received the first fruits of the spirit it being likewise another solemne day appointed for the legall offering up of the first fruits 4 Thus much of the accomplishment of the Type of Ionas his imprisonment in the belly of the Whale and of the mysteries contained in those three speciall daies and nights or evenings and mornings wherein our Saviour was in the wombe of the earth and the time of his rising againe But the two former queries First what our Saviour's abode forty daies on the earth from his Resurrection to his Ascension or which is all one what the signe of Ionas did portend to this evill and adulterous generation of the Iewes Secondly how the space of his forty daies abode upon the earth after his Resurrection was prefigured are points worth the discussion and for ought I know will make the fittest Period of this long work concerning the knowledge of Christ and him crucified CHAP. 42. That the sentence proclaimed against Nineveh by the Prophet Ionas was in a full measure executed upon the adulterous Generation of the Iewes not believing or repenting at our Saviour's preaching THat a state so strong and mighty as Niniveh was then when Ionas was sent unto it should upon these or the like briefe Summons of a forrainer Yet fory daies and Niniveh shall be destroied be so deeply stricken on a suddaine with extreme feare of death and ruine Or that a Court so dissolute luxurious and proud as that Court was should so readily change their soft rayment into sackcloth and laying aside their perfumes and sweet odours as the Text saith the King himselfe did may well seeme a greater wonder to a Reader qui ad pauca respicit then God almost at any time had wrought in Israel But the strangenesse of the suddaine change perswades or rather assures me or any diligent Reader that the constant fame of Ionas his miraculous deliverance or escape out of the Whales belly had come before him into Niniveh and made way for the efficacy of
ceremonies and chang'd into the Lords day And the Lords day besides the representation of God's rest from his workes of creation upon the Seventh day containes a weekly commemoration of our Redemption from the bondage of finne and powers of darknesse represented by the thraldome of Israel in Egypt through the Resurrection of our Lord and Redeemer Againe no solemnity in all the sacred Calender of legall foasts was more peremptorily enjoyned or strictly observed then the feast of Expiation or Attonement yet was not this anniveriary feast so properly abolished as accomplished or advanced by that one everlasting attonement made once for all by the Sonne of God upon the Crosse For albeit that attonement in respect of the sacrifice or offring was but once made yet the vertue or efficacy of it is not circumscriptible by time nor interruptible by any moment or instant of time Though hee dyed but once to make satisfaction for us yet he liveth for ever to make intercession for us and is a perpetuall propitiation for the sinnes which we dayly and hourely commit and for his sake and through his propitiation all our sinnes who truly beleeve in him and supplicate unto him for his intercession shall be not in generall only but in particular freely pardoned Not doth the absolute everlasting perfection of this attonement any way prohibite us Christians to keepe a solemne commemoration of the day whereon it was made once for all But whether this commemoration were ordained or observed by the Apostles themselves or taken up by voluntary tacite consent of the Church after the Apostles had finished their pilgrimage here on earth I dare not take upon mee to determine But whether from this or that authority or example most Christians are ready to humble themselves on the Friday before Easter acknowledge it to be a good day because it is the Commemoration of our Saviour's Passion and attonement made by it And albeit this humiliation were much more ritually and severely observed by all of us then it is by some few we should not transgresse any Law of God nor swerve from the analogie of Christian faith but rather accomplish the true intent and purport of the Law given by Moses for the strict observation of the day of legall Attonement The humbling of our selves upon that day by fasting and Prayer is a like common and lawfull both to the Iew and Christian and the representation or Commemoration of Christ's bloody Death upon that day by Communication of his Body and Blood under the sacramentall signes and pledges is rather an accomplishment then an abolishment of the legall sacrifices or other ceremonies of the Priest's entring into the Sanctum Sanctorum upon the tenth day of the month Tisri A commemoration of which day the moderne Iewes to this day celebrate with foolish and phantasticke ceremonies as by tormenting of a cock especially a white one Yet these phantasticke practices serve as an imprese or embleme of that sacred truth which wee Christians beleeve and acknowledge as hath beene observed at large in the fift Book of Commentaries upon the Creed Chap. 4◠Parag. 2. 3. 4 May wee Christians then call the Friday be fore Easter our day of Attonement or the Dominicall next after it the great Sabbath For assoiling this or the like Querie about the use of words especially such as are legall I know no fitter distinction then that plaine maxime of the Schooles Omne maius continet in se suum minus non formaliter tamen sed eminenter Every greater containeth the lesse of the same kind not formally but by way of eminencie It were no branch of untruth to say that a quadrangle is two and that a five-angled figure is three triangles yet would it be a solecisme to say the one were three triangles and the other two triangles If wee should be directly demanded what manner of figure this or that were the only true and punctuall answer must be that the one is formally a quadrangle the other a quinqangle To deny any King of England for the time being to be Duke of Lancaster would be censured for more then an errour or Logicall untruth for since the annexion of that great Dukedome to the Crowne every King of England hath had as just and full a Title to it as to the Kingdome it selse or ancient Crown-lands And yet if a Lawyer or other skilfull in drawing legall instruments should in those very Charters or donations which the royall power grants not as King of England but as he is Duke of Lancaster enstile him only thus H. by the grace of God Duke of Lancaster c. doe give and grant to N. omitting his royall Titles it would be a dangerous solecisme in Law Now the legall titles or names of feasts or of the services are so contained in the Evangelicall services and solemnities as two triangles are in a quadrangle or as Duke of Lancaster is in the royall Title of King of England It is no sinne to say that the Friday before Easter is the day of our Attonement or that the first day of the weeke on which Christ rose from the dead is the Christian Sabbath but the more Evangelicall or royall Style is to nominate the one the Lords day rather then the Sabbath and the other rather Good-Friday or feria quinta in hebdomade sancta that is the fift day besides the precedent dominicall in the holy weeke then the day of our Attonement The like may be said of all other Christian festivals instituted as solemne commemorations in testimony of the accomplishment of the legall rites or services by the suffrings Resurrection and other glorious actions of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ To conclude this short digression with Erasmus his resolution of a question lesse needfull then the former yet agitated by some as it seemes in his dayes or before him Non hic agitab◠quaestionem An in Christum competat servi vocabulum qui favent ejus dignitati malunt filium dici quam servum quirespiciunt ejus humilitatem ad mortem usque obedientiam non horrent servi vocabulum Filii nomine magis gaudent sacrae literae ipse dominus patrem saepius appellat quam Dominum aut Deum suum tamen Paulus scribit illi susceptam formam servi hoc est hominis ut interpretantur quidam nec servi modo verùm etiam servi mali verberibus digni quemadmodum dictus est eidem venisse in similitudine carnis peccati Sed absit hac de re inter conservos contentio qui servum appellare gaudent imitentur illius obedientiam quibus magis arridet filii nomen imitentur illius charitatem qui utrolibet nomine agnoscunt Dominum Iesum utrumque pro viribus exprimant In rebus enim spiritualibus nihil vetat eundem nunc servum nunc filium appellari Erasmus in Psal 85. ver 2. 5 But seeing wee Christians affirme that our high Priest did
him a name which is above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confesse that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Philip. 2. verses 9. 10. 11. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom yee have crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 2. 36. CHAP. 31. Shewing the concludency of the allegations used by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul to prove the truth of Christ's Resurrection and in particular of the Testimony Psal 2. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee NOt to repeat other Types or propheticall testimonies of Christ's entrance into immortall glory by the sufferings of death of which the Reader may find plenty as well in Postillers as Commentators nor to dilate upon such generall testimonies whether meerly typical or propheticall or typically propheticall as have been heretofore handled in the seventh and eighth Booke of these Comments upon the Creed as that of Psal 82. c. I make no question but those testimonies out of the Psalmes or Prophets which are avouch'd to this purpose by the Apostles themselves specially by S. Peter and S. Paul were expounded by our Saviour himselfe unto the two fore-mentioned Disciples which did accompany him unto Emmaus 2 Now the testimonies most insisted upon by the Apostles as well for convincing the Gentiles as the Iewes are specially three that of Psal the 2. Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee and Psal the 6. Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption the third The Lord hath sworne and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech or which is much what the same The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole The extraordinary successe of all these allegations abundantly testifies that they were most concludent for many thousand soules at two severall times besides others were converted by them The testimony out of Psal 2. is prest home by S. Peter Act. 2. v. 6. to the 37. to the Iewes specially and by S. Paul both upon Iews and Gentiles Act. 13. Though with better successe upon the Gentiles The force and strength of this testimonie and likewise how farre it was meant of David and fulfilled in Christ hath been at large discust before The point at which these present endeavours aime is to declare how these two testimonies 1. Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee and 2. Thou art a Priest after the order of Melchisedech doe concludently and irrefragably inferre the Resurrection of Christ that Iesus whom the Iewes had crucified being both the Sonne of God and sonne of David and his Consecration to his everlasting Priesthood for unto this later point both testimonies are drawne by our Apostle Heb. 5. v. 5. and 6. But how close they reach this point whether jointly or severally is not so cleerly set forth by most interpreters as that the Reader unlesse his understanding farre surpasse mine will easily collect The generall meaning of our Apostle hath been declared in the first Section and in the close of the fourth of this Booke it is punctually thus Seeing Aaron's calling to the dignity of Priesthood was publiquely manifested to be from God no man after might take upon him to erect a new Priesthood no not to the temporall prejudice of Aaron and his successors much lesse to abolish this Priesthood which God had erected unlesse he could manifest to man and Angels that his Commission for thus doing was immediately from God and authentique being sealed by oath and solemnely executed And seeing no man might therefore Christ though God and man did not glorifie himselfe as the Apostle addes to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee did put this dignity upon him Many Interpreters have stretcht their wits to make the literall sense of this Psalmist's words reach home to our Apostle's purpose Others so slight it as if they would give us to understand or cause to suspect our Apostle himselfe did not much stand upon it but only passe by it unto the second testimony Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Albeit in my opinion the later testimony proves his fiat or Commission the former his ordination or execution of his Commission I will not wrong the judicious Reader 's patience with profering variety of such expositors unto his choise as his wisdome cannot approve Cajetan hath Ribera's approbation and of all the expositors which went before him drawes the Psalmist's Oracle Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee neerest to the point in question So farre I am from carping at any thing which those two expositors have said to the point now in question that I will endeavour to explicate and extend their meaning in the best sort I can The Priesthood saith Cajetan as Ribera expounds him before the Law given was annexed as a prerogative to the first borne and descended from Abraham to Isaac and by speciall dispensation to Iacob Now the whole dignity of the first borne being lost by Ruben was divided amongst three of his Brethren The Soveraignty or Principallity fell to Iudah the Priesthood to Levi and the double Portion to Ephraim And in Aaron the sonne of Levi was the Priesthood established long before the Kingdome was established in David the sonne of Iudah and to the Priesthood so established David's sons had as litle right as Aaron's sonnes had to the Crowne or Diadem God's peremptory decree for thus dividing these two prerogatives Azariah is not afraid to plead unto King Vzziah's face Chron. 2. 26. And his speech did take impression for hee had no sooner made an end of speaking but the leprosie begunne to appeare in King Vzziah's face and for his usurpation of the Priest's office and intrusion into the house of God he is utterly excluded from his pallace and enforced to resigne the government unto his Sonne But inasmuch as he of whom the Psalmist speakes is solemnely registred and by him declared to be the first borne and Sonne of God it is not lawfull only but expedient but very necessary that all the branches of the first borne's prerogative which Ruben had scattered should be reunited in his Person Againe in that he is the promised seed hee is the compleat heire of all the blessings bequeathed to Abraham and out of whatsoever tribe this promised seed was to spring the honour of Priesthood was as due unto him as the Kingdome Levi and Aaron were but as foefes in trust for conveying the Priesthood as Iudah and David were for making over the Kingdome unto him 3 All those suppositions and others perhaps more then Cajetan or Ribera though
or knowledge how to use their generall liberty 12 But to conclude the point last proposed and with it this present Treatise When the Evangelist saith that the blessed Virgin with consent of her betrothed husband brought her son into the Temple according to the Law of Moses It is cleare that she did not come to present her selfe or him in the Temple before the fortieth day from his birth For so the tenor of the Law concerning the first-borne males is that his Mother should be seven daies uncleane to wit unto the day of her sons circumcision and thirty three daies after it accounting the day of his Circumcision for one of these daies 13 The parallel before propos'd lies directly between these foure points or termes of proportion The first the day of our Saviour's birth from his Mothers wombe The second the day of the blessed Virgins Purification or the solemnity of his Presentation in the Temple The third the day of his birth from the Grave or of becomming the first fruits of theÌ„ that sleep The fourth the day of his Presentation to his Father in the heavenly sanctuary or of his enthronization both as King and Priest Vpon the fortieth day after his birth from the wombe of the blessed Virgin Simeon blessed Mary and Ioseph and Hunna the daughter of Phanuel a Prophetesse comming at that instant into the Temple gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption Luk. 2. 34. 38. upon the fortieth day after his birth from his maiden-grave the prophecy of Symeon Hanna and their thanksgiving to the Lord were more exquisitely accomplished then can by any mortall voice or pen be exprest As the legal Sabbath was to the Lord's day so was the fourth day of the first weeke on which the sun moon and starres were created but the vespers unto the new creation wherein the Lord of Glory and Son of righteousnesse was placed in his supercelestiall sphere On the first day of that week in which he ascended that joy of the fourth day of the first Creation decyphered by * Iob the morning stars did sing together and all the Sons of God the holy Angels and Archangels Cherubims Seraphims Principalities Powers did shout for joy was accomplished The ditty or manner of their song or joyfull shout is unexpressible uninvestigable God grant we may in this mortall pilgrimage so demean our selves as that we may be able to stand before the son of man at his second comming unto judgment be capable and docile to learn our parts in that heavenly ditty or song wherewith the Church triumphant did entertaine him at his Ascension FINIS * Tunc Gattus iratus inquit nolâ—te mihi prefinire modum theologie quem teneo Nemo enim est tam temerarius qui in Theologicis semecum conferre auderet Nam nibil in hac Divinâ scientiâ mihi est ut puto incognitum Omnes enim Bibliothecas percurri nun quâ—m huius dubitationis occurrit declaratio Tunc Rex Matthias alt ad Gattâ—m Non multos in Theologia libros legi nec etiam in aliis facultatibus A puero enim â—d Regiam dignitatem evectus pauca è multis didici militarem quodammodò literaturam arriput Sed tamen huius rei declaratio ut opinor sacile inveniâ—tur Gattus impatiens sermonem Regium interrumpens inquit Deponite hanc mentem quoniam ut dixi nusquam est c. Si virgo Iohannes in side firmus Pontifex fuisset cum ligandi solvendiâ— potestate nusquam libidinis blanditias vneque expertus qui nullo tumultu a Christo potuit dimoveri ad sum similatadinem humanum genus confirmare per cubuisset Christi fideique desertores libidineque corruptos summâ austeritate depulisset Non enim ex fragilitate peccantes sed ex anuni ne â—uitia homines putasset qui fletibus dolorem fingerent summa igitur ratione factum est ut Petras Iohanni in Pontificatu preferretur quod tu Iohannes Gatte inter illa dei iudicia inscrutabiliâ— connumerabas Galeotus Martius de dictis factis Matthiae inter alios scriptor rerum Hungaricarum elegans Cap. 30. pag. 386. c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hee gaves a good reason for this sentence in the 〈◊〉 following Et si enim Petro dictum est veruntamen in personâ— Coryphaei caeteris apostolis talis potestas data Quandoquidem sequentibus illos sacerdotibus eandem daâ—an esse solvendi ligandique petestatem credimus Photius ex 2. lib bibliotheca Columno 1599. Of this point see more at large in the 3 book of these commentaries upon the creed Sect. 2. cap. 6. In the 8 book of these Comments Cap. 12. par 3. a If they had said Christ was the meritorious cause of salvation to all men or had merited salvation for all not the efficient working cause of salvation to all but only to such as obey him faithfully they had come nearer the truth P. C. lib. 3. c. de repub Iudaeorum Paragr 7. * In a diquisitioÌ„ by way of Homily or sermon upon the Epiphany at what time from what place the Magi or Wise men of the East came to Ierusalem to adore our Saviour Christ whom they rightly beleeved to be the King of the Iewes by birth Parâ— In his Commentar upon the 110 Psalme * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. lib. 1. glaphyr in titul de Abraham Melchisedech Lib 2. sacrae legis allegoriarum pag. 106. I wonder that in this chapter amoÌ„gst so many similitudes wherein Christ is shadowed and represented by Melchisedech there is no mention at all of the sacrifice of bread and wine which Melchisedech offered as before was in timated Gen. 14. 18. being as a symbole or token of our sacrifice and Eucharist concerning which point that I had rather heare other men speak then declare mine owne opinion c. * Sect. 1 cap. 4. * Tortius est status Ecclesiasticus in quo fuerunt Episcopi septem ad quem caeteri etiam Canonici refe runtur Hi ha bent decimas in regno quae tamen in provinciis diversis diverso modo dividuntur dimidiam partem decâ—marum percipiunt Episcopi dimidiam Rex aliquam Canonici pastores pars etiam ad aedificandas Ecclesias contribuitur Et quantum ad pontificium ius attinet semper in hoc regno quem admodum etiam in Gallia nominationes ordinationes praelaturarum Episcopatuumque regibus ad hoc usque tempus collatae fuerunt ut etiam ex responso Waldemariquarâ—i regis Daniae ut arbitror quod bic annectere libuit constat Cum Pontifex Romanus a Rege haec similia postularet fertur rescripsisse Rex Regnum habeâ—â—us a subditis vitam a parentibus religionem a Romana Ecclesia quam si repetis remitto per praesentes Mercator pag. 82. in descriptione Daniae Vide Cyriâ—lum lib 1. glaphyrorum intitulo de Abraham
our Mother Eve That his Resurrection was exquisitely prefigured by Isaack's escape front death and the Propagation of his Kingdome after his Resurrection by the strange increase or multiplication of Isaack's seede A parallel betwixt our Saviour and Ioseph in their affliction and exaltation pag. 225. 31. Shewing the concludency of the allegations used by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul to prove the truth of Christs Resurrection and in particular of the Testimony Psal 2. Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee pag. 237. 32. The concludency of S. Paul's second Argument Act. 13. drawne from the 55. of Isaiah pag. 255. 33. That our Saviour's departure and passing out of this world to his Father or his entring into his glory through afflictions was exquisitely fore-shadowed by divers solemnities in the legall Passover and by the Israelites passing through the red Sea pag. 261. 34. The Resurrection of the Sonne of God and the effects or issues of his birth from the grave were concludently fore-pictured by the Redemption of the firstlings of the flockes and of the first borne males and by the offrings of the first fruits of their corne pag. 269. SECTION 6. HE ascended into Heaven CHAP. 35. How the Ascension of the Sonne of God was prefigured by the translation of Enoch and by the taking up of Elias And foretold by the Psalmist Psal 15. and Psal 24. pag. 277. 36. At what time and upon what occasions the 68. Psalme was composed What reference it hath in the generall unto our Saviours Ascension pag. 286. 37. Of the concludency of the Apostles Allegation Ephes 4. 7. 8. Out of the 18. vers of the 68. Psal pag. 292. 38. That the manner of our Saviours Ascension was more clearely fore seen by Daniel then by David and most exactly fore-shadowed by matters of fact in Mosaicall and other sacred histories A paralleâ— between Salomons Consecration of the Temple and our Saviours Consecration or sanctifying of himselfe and his heavenly Sanctuary pag. 301. 39. Into what place or part of heaven our Saviour did ascend or in what manner hee sitteth at the right hand of God are points not so fit to be particularly inquired after nor so apt to be proved or determined by Scripture as the other Articles of our Creed pag. 307. 40. How the time of our Saviours Ascension into heaven upon the fortieth day after his Resurrection from the grave was prefigured by the signe of the Prophet Ionas with the exposition of that signe given by our Saviour Mat. 12. 39. 40. pag. 313. 41. A Parallel betweene the day wherein Adam is thought to have been cast out of Paradise with the day wherein our Saviour was Crucified And betweene the first day of the worlds Creation and our Saviours Resurrection pag. 325. 42. That the sentence proclaimed against Nineveh by the Prophet Ionas was in a full measure executed upon the adulterous Generation of the Iewes not believing or repenting at our Saviours preaching pag. 332. 43. That place of Zachary Chap. 14. v. 3. expounded shewing that God did fight with the Gentiles against the Iewes as formerly he had done with the Iewes against the Gentiles How the forty daies of Christs abode upon earth after his Resurrection was sore-told pag. 341. Errata PAg. 14. Lin. 7 proposition Cor. preposition p. 19. l. 13. earth c. upon earth p. 38. l. 15. fants c. Infants p. 39. l. 24. as c. is p. 73. l. 27. judaicall c. judiciall p. 75. l. 15. ovve c. ovvne p. 76. l. 15. tagendo c. tangendo p. 76. l. 2. deleatur P. p. 79. l. 12. Pâ—idias c. Cydias p. 115. l. 26. sororom c. sororum p. 34â— l. 9. vvath c. vvrath A TREATISE OF THE CONSECRATION of the Sonne of God to his everlasting PRIESTHOOD And THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF it by his Glorious Resurrection and Ascension 1. WANT sometimes of skill sometimes of industry oftentimes of both to sound the mysteries or discusse the generall maximes contained in sacred Scriptures aright hath been one speciall occasion as of breeding so of nursing and continuing endlesse quarrels amongst the chiefe professors of peace Students I meane or Graduates in Theologie Now for composing the most or greatest Controversies which for these late years have disturbed the peace of Christs Church militant here on earth no maxime in the whole Book of God which is the only Fundamentall and compleat rule of faith and manners is or can be of greater or better use than that of our Apostle Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of everlasting salvation to all that obey him being called a Priest c. The discussion whereof in a fuller measure and as I hope in a more distinct manner then I have found it discussed by others is the maine end or scope of these present undertakings The maxime it selfe though briefe is the true scale or diametrall line or rule without whose knowledge or distinct survey first taken neither the full distance or disproportion nor the parallel approaches or symmetrall vicinities which many different opinions yet still in debate respectively hold or beare unto the infallible doctrine of salvation and life will ever be fully discovered much lesse clearly determined Besides this great and generall use if we could hit the punctuall meaning of this place or take a true value of the very first word in this text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee might with more facilitie cleare that obscure and difficult place Heb. 11. 40. and informe our selves First what better thing it was which God had provided for the faithfull in later ages in respect of former and secondly what the Apostle there means by being made perfect For in this being made perfect consisteth the betterhood of the faithfulls estate in that time in respect of Abrahams the Patriarchs and the Prophets SECT 1. Of Consecration and of the Qualifications of those that were to be consecrated high Priests CHAP. 1. Of the true value or signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of being made perfect WHatsoever good thing or perfection it was which the Apostles or Disciples of our Lord did obtaine in this life over and above all that which the Patriarchs in their Pilgrimages here on earth did attaine unto this was wholly from the perfection here mentioned in my Text. Neither the Patriarchs nor Apostles were made perfect untill the Sonne of God was made perfect Their best perfection is but an effct or branch of his perfection or of his being made perfect That the Patriarchs and Apostles should be made perfect is not a thing strange because they were but men and therefore subject to many imperfections but that the Sonne of God who is perfection it selfe should be made perfect this may seeme more then strange a thing impossible and wee were bound to admit a solecisme in the Apostles expressioÌ„ if wee were to weigh it only according to the grammaticall signification of the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
so truly and sincerely Episcopari nolo as hee did or pray so earnestly that the charge of his Consecration might be mitigated whilst hee was in his agony But how deare soever his Consecration cost him the costs and charges of it though altogether unknown to us were recompenced by the purchase which he gained by it For as it followeth being thus consecrated he became the Author of everlasting salvation to all that obey him and their salvation was and is as pleasant to him as his sufferings whereby he was consecrated were for the present distastfull CHAP. 4. The Consecration of the Sonne of God was not finisht immediately after his Agony in the Garden nor was he then or at the time of his sufferings upon the Crosse an actuall or compleat high Priest after the Order of Melchisedech BVt was his Consecration finished immediately after hee had beene anointed with his owne blood in the Garden or assoone as his prayers and supplications which hee offered up with strong cryes and teares were heard No whatsoever else was required for his Qualification there could be no true and perfect Consecration to his Priesthood without a Sacrifice without a bloody Sacrifice This was one principall part of Aarons Consecration to his legall Priesthood and so of his Successors But here the Iew who is for the most part lesse learned then perverse and captious will in this particular shrewdly object if not thus insult over the negligence of many Christian teachers When your crucified God was convented by the high Priests and Elders when he was arraign'd before Pontius Pilate when he was sentenced to the death of the Crosse tell us plainly whether in any of these points of time mentioned he were truly a Priest or no Priest If no Priest at all what had hee to doe to offer any Sacrifice especially a bloody one For this was a service so peculiar to the legall Priests which were the sonnes of Aaron that it was sacriledge for the sonnes of David For the greatest Kings of Iudah to attempt it If you will say then he was a Priest you must acknowledge him either to have beene a Priest after the order of Melchisedech or after the order of Aaron If you say hee was a Priest after the order of Aaron you plainly contradict this Apostle whom you acknowledge to be the great Teacher of you Gentiles for he saith Chap. 7. v. 14. of this Epistle It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Iudah concerning which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the Priesthood And againe Chap. 8. v. 4. hee saith Hee were not a Priest if hee were earth seeing there are Priests which according to the Law offer gifts Now if he could be no Priest were he now on earth then certainly he could be no Priest after the order of Aaron nor did he offer any legall or bloody sacrifice whilst he lived as sometimes he did here on earth 2 Was he then whilst hee lived here on earth a Priest after the order of Melchisedech and by this title authorized to offer sacrifice This I presume you dare not avouch For Melchisedech was a Priest according to endlesse life his Priesthood was an immortall everlasting Priesthood Now although every man be not an high Priest yet every high Priest must be a man and a man taken from amongst ordinary men to offer gifts and sacrifices for sinne The Priesthood is an accident the humanitie or manhood is the subject or substance which supports it Dare you then say that a mortall man whilst he was such could possibly be an everlasting Priest or a Priest according to an endlesse life when he was to dye a miserable and ignominious death the very same day Durum esset hoc affirmare This indeed is a hard saying a point of Doctrine whose intimation did cause the Iews such as were in part our Saviours Disciples or very inclinable to his service to question the truth of his calling and of his sayings Iohn 12. v. 32. c. And I if I were lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me Now this he said saith S. Iohn signifying what death he should dye to wit the death of the Crosse And so his Auditors conceived his meaning and for this reason the people answered him We have heard out of the Law that the Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou the sonne of man must be lift up Who is that son of man v. 34. This people at that time had a cleare prenotion or received opinion that their promised Messias or the Christ should be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech that is a Priest to endure for ever for the Lord had confirmed thus much by oath Psalme 110. And out of this common prenotion whether first conceived out of that place of David The Lord hath sworne and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech or from some other Scripture the people in the fore-cited place questioned whether it were possible hee should be the Christ seeing by his owne confession he was shortly after to dye the death of the Crosse 3 These objections I confesse could hardly be answered if wee should grant what many moderne Divines out of incogitancy have taught or taken upon trust without further examination to wit that the eternall Sonne of God our Lord and Saviour was an high Priest from eternitie or an high Priest from his birth as man or from his Baptisme when hee was anointed by the holy Ghost unto his Propheticall function or whilst he was upon the Crosse But not granting this as wee have no reason to admit any branch of it the answer to the former objection is clear and easie Betwixt a Priest compleat or actually consecrated and no Priest at all datur medium participationis there is a meane or third estate or condition to wit a Priest in fieri though not in facto or a Priest inter consecrandum that is in the interims of his Consecration before hee be actually and compleatly consecrated Such a man or rather such a Priest was Aaron during the first sixe or seven dayes of his Consecration yet dare no Iew avouch that after the first or second day of his separation from common men he was no more then an ordinary man no Priest at all nor that on the seaventh day he was a Priest actually consecrated but as yet in his Consecration He was not till the eight day qualified to offer up Sacrifices unto God but had peculiar Sacrifices offered for his Consecration by Moses 4 Briefly then the Sacrifice of the Sonne of God upon the Crosse whether we consider it as of fered by himselfe or by his Father as it is sometimes said in Scripture to be offered by both was the absolute accomplishment of all legall Sacrifices or services Aaronicall And yet but an intermediate though an especiall part of his Consecration to the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech not the ultimum
of God in which the Godhead dwelleth personally it is of force and vertue sufficient to purifie and cleanse our sinfull nature and to make us partakers of the divine nature CHAP. 18. What the Interposition of God's oath for more abundant Confirmation of his promise to Abraham did import over and above all that which was included in the literall or assertive sence of the League betwixt God and Abraham LEaving it to the learned Professors of Lawes Canonicall Civill or Municipall what speciall obligement a solemne oath induceth more then a meere Covenant or paction without an oath can require our next inquiry must be what the Interposition of God's oath first made to Abraham and afterwards renewed with more expresse exemplifications unto David did import according to the Charactericall or Emblematicall sence This is a point of Divinitie often mentioned in this long worke of Commentaries upon the Creed and diverse other of my meditations in my younger and better dayes and the oftner intimated because it hath been so seldome handled or thought upon by most Commentators or Controversy-writers although in my opinion continued ever since I began these Commentaries it be the very key without which there can be no Lawfull entrance into no safe retire out of those usuall debates concerning Election Predestination or other positive Points of Divinitie whereon the resolution of these doth most depend Now the resolution of this point wee are to learne not from any practice of humane Courts Iudiciall or Coercive for determining Pleas or Controversies betweene partie and partie For in all Processes of this nature the determination must be according to the literall grammaticall and assertive sence of Lawes in this case provided and of Testimonies produced or exhibited according to Law The Question now in handling with its decision depends much upon Tradition or received rules whether of ancient heathen Iewes or Christians What oath made either by the true and only God or by the imaginary Gods of the heathen did import more then ameere promise or threatning To begin first with the ancient heathen 2 Albeit that which the Apostle saith of the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that hee had no greater by whom hee could sweare could have no place at least suitable to the estimation of the Gods by which the heathens did sweare or call to witnesse yet when Iupiter the greatest God amongst them was either provoked or voluntarily pleased to sweare by such parts of this universe as were conceived to be his coequalls his full peeres if not his betters it was generally presumed or beleeved that the doome or sentence so pronounced were it bliffull or dismall was irreversible For this reason the oath by Styx is called by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grand or greatest oath But so called I take it by a Synecdoche For if Iupiter had sworn by Phlegeton or by the Elysian fields it had beene all one as if hee had sworne by Styx or other parts of the infernall Region all or every one of which were in heathenish Divinitie more venerable then this middle visible region wherein we live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Not Iupiter only but Iuno in Homer's Divinitie did hold the oath By Styx to be inviolable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libro 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such doome or sentences as the heathens accounted fatall even the awards of the weyred sisters themselves the conceived Spinsters of fates and fortune did derive the necessitie of their execution from interposition of some oath or other And in case the fates or weyred sisters had sworne the destruction of any Nation or people Iupiter had no authoritie to release the parties thus design'd from destruction but a power only to punish ultra condignum or beyond the measure of punishment decreed by the weyred sisters or fates A memorable speech to this effect a stately Roman Poet hath put into Iupiter's mouth Vos ô superi meus ordine sanguis Ne pugnate odiis neu me tentare precando Certetis sic sat a mihi nigraeque sororem Iuravere colus Manet haec aborigine mundi Fix a dies bello populique in praelia nati Quod nisi me veterum poenas sancire malorum Gentibus diros sinitis punire nepotes Arcem hanc aternam mentisque sacraria nostrae Testor Elysios etiam mihi numina Fontes Ipse manu Thebas correptaque moenia fundo Excutiam versasque solo super Inacha tecta Effundam turres ac stagna in caerula vertam Imbre superjecto licet ipsa in turbine rerum Iuno suâ—s colles templumque amplexa laboret The last clause of this patheticall oath beares a counterfeit or adulterate character of that solemne oath of the true and only God As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence and I will give thee into the hand of them whose face thou fearest even into the hand of Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans And I will cast thee out and thy mother that bare thee into another Country where yee were not borne and there shall yee die Ierem. 22. 24. 25. 26. c. But unto the land whereunto they desire to returne thither shall they not returne Is this man Coniah a despised broken I dol Is he a vessell wherein is no pleasure Wherefore are they cast out he and his seede and are cast into a land which they know not O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord write yee this man childlesse a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for no man of his seede shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Iudah 3 With the Hebrew Rabbins this tradition or received rule concerning the importance of God's oath is so authentique as it makes them more peremptory in their resolution for the expiration of Soloman's Line in Ieconiah then most Christian Interpreters upon that place have beene unlesse it be such as in this point follow them Yet can I not perswade my selfe nor conceive any suspicion that either the Iewish Rabbins should take their hints for thus interpreting the fore-cited or any other place of Scripture wherein God's oath is interposed from the Divinitie of the heathen Much lesse did the ancient Poets or Philosophers who were the best Divines the heathens had borrow their fancies or conjectures from the Iewish Rabbins who were their punies nor were the Fathers of the Greeke and Latine Church the Fathers or first Authors of this Catholique rule or tradition All of them rather were beholding to the ancient Hebrewes or to Mosaicall or Propheticall writings for such prenotions or confused apprehensions as in this subject they had The consent of the ancient Christian Writers or
Fathers the diligent Reader may find in their Comments upon those places of Scriptures wherein God's oath is mentioned but especially in their Cōments upon the 110 Psalme from which place and the like not they only but our Apostle to my apprehension in the sixt and seventh Chapters to the Hebrewes tooke his directions The Lord saith David Psalme 110. v. 4. hath sworne and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever c. This in the language of Canaan and by consent of many fathers is as much as if hee had said The Lord will not repent or reverse his promise to mee and my seed because hee hath sworne that hee should be a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedech 4 That God doth repent him either of the evill which he denounceth or of the good which he promiseth is a phrase most usuall in Scripture the true and punctuall meaning of which phrase is that God did change or revoke either his sentences of calamity or of good which hee in both cases truly intended and irresistibly meant to put in execution And all this hee might doe and often did without any change or alteration in his will or intention but alwaies upon some change or alteration in the parties either truly interessed in his promises or lyable to his heavy judgments when the one party did change from good courses to evill hee was immutably free to reverse his promise as hee himselfe somewhere speaketh to breake his Covenant And when wicked men did turne from their wicked wayes he was as free and more willing to reverse sentences of woe not only threatned but decreed against them This freedome in God is perpetually presumed or taken as granted by his Prophets whensoever the promise decree or Covenant is not revealed unto them with the seale of an Oath But the sentence whether for good or evill being revealed under Oath was in their judgment fully declared to be irreversible For this reason the Prophet sometimes wished the speedy execution of plagues threatened by God unto their owne Nation or kindred as knowing it bootlesse either to intreat God's favour after his wrath against them was denounced by oath or to sollicite the fulfilling of his gracious promises towards their posteritie untill his wrathfull sentences confirmed by oath were put in execution In one and the same Chapter it is said oftner then once that God did repent him of making Saul King of Israel What is the reason Hee was made King without an oath yet with sincere promise of continuing the Kingdome to himselfe and to his seede with this condition in the Prophet's construction implyed though not expressed Si bene se gereret But when the Prophet Samuel denounceth the sentence of deposition upon him 1. Sam. 15. 29. The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for hee is not a man that he should repent The meaning is that the strength of Israel will not revoke his sentence denounced by oath against Amaleck and his Associates and Saul by sparing Amaleck incidit in hanc sententiam doth fall under this sentence though not as principall yet as an accessory 5 A true parallel to the history concerning the anointing and deposition of Saul had beene exhibited before by the same Prophet in the election and deposition of Eli who was possessed of the Priesthood by legall title under divine promise to himselfe and to his house The promise we have 1. Sam. 2. 30. and the reversing of the promise or blessing promised in the same verse and verses following Wherefare the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy Father should walke before me for ever but now the Lord saith be it farre from me For them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Behold the daies come that I will cut off thine arme and the arme of thy Fathers house that there shall not be an old man in thy house c. This lamentable message was sent unto him by the Man of God mentioned v. the 27. The same sentence or curse upon him his house is afterwards denounced by Samuel under oath And the Lord said to Samuel behold I will doe a thing in Israel at which both the eares of every one that heare it shall tingle And in that day I will performe against Eli all things which I have spoken against his house when I begin I will also make and end For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity that hee knoweth because his sonnes made themselves vile and he restraied them not And therefore I have sworne unto the house of Elie that the iniquity of Elie's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever verses 13. 14. 15. c. Now when Samuel had imparted this fearefull sentence unto Eli being thereunto adjured he replied no more then this It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good v. 18. Had this message beene delivered by that man of God which brought the former not ratified by oath unto this good old man though an impotent Governour haply he would have sleighted it as 't is probable he did the former or have called the messenger's Commission in question But this later and more terrible doome being delivered to him by a child who for his maintenance and being did depend upon him as upon his foster-Father by a child so farre from secular cunning or sophismes of corrupt Priests or Levites that hee knew not the voice of the Lord from the voice of his Tutor untill he was instructed by him his Commission was to Eli more authentique and his message both for matter and tenour more free from all suspicion of imposture The ananswer of Eli is of the same alloy with Iob's reply unto the sad newes which his servants brought to him The Lord saith Iob hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Iob. 1. 21. Thus he spake after hee had seene himselfe and his familie utterly undone for worldly substance deprived of all earthly contentment Eli knew this sentence against him being denounced by oath as certaine and impossible to be reversed as if it had been already put in execution For this reason I take it the old man did thinke upon a more submissive answer unto Samuel then he had vouchsafed unto the Man of God who was sent unto him upon the same errand The humility and modesty of his answer perswades me that the fearefull sentence denounced against him did extend no further then to the irreversible deposition of him and his family from the legall or temporarie Priesthood unto the poore and meane estate wherein his posteritie after the disaster of his two sonnes were to live here on the earth Nor have I nor any man for ought I know any warrant from God's word to say and Christian charity forbids me to thinke or from this
the Sonne of Iehozadeck's head was the modell of the Crowne of David which was to flourish upon Iesus the Sonne of David's head as it is Psalme 132. v. 18. But upon himselfe shall his Crowne flourish 6 Briefly the protestation which the Angell in the verses following makes to Iesus the Son of Iosedech is but a renewing or repetition of the promise which God had made unto Abraham and David concerning their seede The tenour of God's promise here renewed or repeated unto Iesus the high Priest is the same And the Angell of the Lord protested unto Ieshua saying thus saith the Lord of boasts if thou wilt walke in my wayes and if thou wilt keepe my charge then thou shalt also judge my house and shalt also keepe my Courts and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by These words containe as ample a patent for the temporall or legall Priesthood unto Iesus the Sonne of Iosedech and his posteritie as David had for continuation of the temporall Kingdome in his race or progeny both the promises and patents were conditionall But that there should arise an everlasting Priest as well as an everlasting King one in whom God's promises should not be conditionall but yea and amen that is absolute and irrefragable the Prophet Zachary addes Heare now O Ieshua the high Priest thou and thy fellowes that sit before thee for they are what are they monstrous persons saith our former English or men wondred at saith the later Viri portendentes saith the vulgar The Prophets meaning is that they are men set for types or signes of great matters to come The word in the originall is the same Ezech. 12. 11. Say I am your signe like as I have done so shall it be done unto them that is to the Princes of Ierusalem and house of Israel they shall remove and goe into captivity As Ezechiel his digging through the wall in the peoples sight and carrying forth his stuffe upon his shoulders in twilight with his face covered that hee should not see the ground was a signe or prognostication of Zedechiah's stealth or flight from the Chaldeans army which besieged him So Ieshua the high Priest and all his fellowes in all this action or solemnity specially in laying the foundation of the Altar and Temple were prognosticke signes or prefigurations of Iesus the everlasting high Priest and of the spirituall Temple the holy Catholique Church which he was to build by the ministry of the Apostles So it followeth for behold I will bring forth my servant the branch For behold the stone that I have laid before Ieshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes behold I will engrave the graving thereof saith the Lord of hoasts and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day CHAP. 22. Of the harmony betweene the Prophet Ieremy and the Prophet Zachary concerning the man whose name is the branch How his growth or springing up was prefigured by Zerubbabel the sonne of David His name and title as our high Priest fore-pictured by the name and title of Iesus the Sonne of Iosedech That he was as truly the Son of God before all time as the sonne of David in time THat this man whose name was the Branch was to build the Temple of the Lord that he was to take his investiture unto his priestly dignity by Iesus the Sonne of Iehosadech as by his proxie is apparent from the sixt Chapter of the Prophet Zachary 11. Take silver and gold and make Crownes and set them upon the head of Ieshua the Sonne of Iosedech the high Priest and speake unto him saying thus speaketh the Lord of hasts saying Behold the man whose name is the Branch and hee shall grow up out of his place hee shall build the Temple of the Lord even hee shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall beare the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a Priest upon his Throne and the counsell of peace shall be betweene them both 2 This place and the former are pregnant that the Servant of the Lord whose name was Zemah the Branch whose office was to build up the Temple of God should be a Priest and should sit upon his Throne as Priest But it cannot from either place be gathered it is not so much as intimated that hee should either be a Priest after the order of Aaron or of Melchisedech or of the seede of Aaron as Iesus or Ioshua the Sonne of Iehosedech was But as the Prophet affirmeth not that hee was to be Priest after the order of Aaron or Melchisedech so neither in plaine termes doth hee deny it true but as every Prophet of God speakes nothing but the truth so neither doth one of them speake all the truth or all that is requisite for us to believe concerning Iesus our Saviour That the man whose name was the Branch the same party of whom Zachary here speakes should not be of the seed of Aaron or a Priest after the order of Aaron is evident from the prophecy of Ieremiah Ier. 23. 5. uttered more then seventy yeares before Zachary began to prophecy Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall raigne and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice upon the earth In his dayes Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousnesse It is plaine then out of the fore cited prophecy of Zachary that God's servant the righteous Branch was to be a Priest It is evident againe out of Ieremiah that he was to spring out of the seede of David and to raigne as King over Iudah and Israel as David had done And these two put together will directly conclude that this Branch of David was to be that sonne of David concerning whom the Lord had sworne and would not repent that hee should be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech who was both King and Priest and by interpretation the King of righteousnesse and King of peace both which titles are expressely given to this Servant of God and Branch of David the one by the Prophet Zachary the other by the Prophet Ieremiah 3 But is it intimated or fore-told by either of them that he should be as truly David's Lord as David's Sonne Yes Ieremy implies this in fuller termes then David himselfe doth Psalm 110. for David saith the Lord said unto my Lord Adonai not Iehovah whereas the Prophet Ieremy tells us that the supreame style or title of this Branch of David should be not Adonai Tzadkenu but Iehova Tzadkenu Iehovah our righteousnesse So that hee whom David in spirit calleth his Lord was to be as essentially Lord and God as he that said unto him sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot stoole But was he according unto this name or title
of being granted prove only thus much that the only begotten Son of God or first born to Abraham and to David had a just title to the eternall Priesthood They doe not directly prove that Iesus whom the Iewes have crucified to be that Sonne of God and seed of David meant by the Psalmist in the Psalme fore-cited Or this being granted all put together doe not manifest his Consecration or actuall admission to the high Priesthood by whose erection the Priesthood of Aaron was changed which is the conclusion punctually intended by our Apostle 4 For a more satisfactory declaration of the strength of this argument we are to take the words of the Psalmist into a further and more punctuall consideration then hitherto wee had occasion to take them As first of what GENERATION these words ego hodie genuite are principally meant whether meant at all of David or how of him and how of Christ the Sonne of God and Sonne of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many of the Ancients being seconded by more of the Schoolmen and middle ag'd allegorizing Commentators understand this Psalmist's Oracle of that GENERATION of the Sonne of God which is mentioned in the NICEN Creed or that Creed which is to be publiquely read in the second service of our Church Begotten of his Father before all worlds and in these mens construction by the word HODIE is meant HODIE AETERNITATIS the day of eternity or eternal day wherein there is no succession of parts of houres or minutes But this interpretation is dislik'd by Calvin who is alwaies zealous for the literall though sometimes with prejudice to the mysticall or principally intended sense Yet that sense in this place cannot be exprest by HODIE AETERNITATIS or by the eternall Generation of the Sonne of God That it cannot be the literall sense of this Psalmist is apparent because neither the Resurrection of the Son of God nor his Consecration to the everlasting Priesthood can with any colour of probability be inferred or pretended from it much lesse can it be the mysticall or true allegoricall sense of this Oracle for these alwaies must be grounded upon the literall and no Scripture can be said to be fulfil'd according to the mysticall or true allegoricall sense untill it hath been first verified according to the literall sense Now the eternall GENERATION of the Sonne of God cannot follow either his Resurrection from the dead or his Consecration to his everlasting Priesthood nor could ever any Periphrasis or notation of it be either fulfil'd or verified in time seeing it is before all times 5 May we say then with good Commentators as with Calvin for one that these words this day have I begotten thee have no manner of reference to the Son of God's Generation before all worlds Certaine it is that this Generation is no part of the object no part of the immediate subject whether according to the literall or mysticall sense of the Psalmist's words whether we consider them written or intended by him or as avouched by S. Paul and other Apostles for the further confirmation of Christ's Resurrection from the dead All that can be said on their parts whom Calvin censures is this that the eternall GENERATION of the Son of God might be taken as a common notion or presuppos'd truth both by the Psalmist when he writ and by the Apostle when hee avouched these words ego hodie genuite That the Word or Sonne of God was from Eternity this was a common prenotion to all the Ancient learned or faithfull Hebrewes And that he who was the only begotten Sonne of God before all worlds should be begotten by him from the dead that is prov'd at large by S. Paul Act. 13. And that the raising of that Iesus the Sonne of David whom the Iewes had crucified from the dead unto immortall endlesse life was an authentique declaration that this Sonne of David was likewise the Sonne of God their expected Lord and Messias is most sweetly deduced by our Apostle Rom. â— v. 1. 2. 3. 4. Paul a Servant of Iesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Which hee had promised before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son Iesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the Resurrection from the dead This passage rightly infers that Christ was the Son of God the uncreated Word by whomall things were created before hee was made the Son of David â—â—â— he was made so only according to the flesh or humane nature but this eternity of his uncreated Person or essence was no part of our Apostles divine discourse or most concludent argument Act â—3 Men and Brethren children of the stock of Abraham and whosoeuer among you feareth God to you is the word of this salvation sent For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they know â—â—â— not nor yet the voiceâ— of the Prophets which are â—â—â—â— every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him And though they found no cause of death in him yet desired they Pilat that he should be â—â—â—ine And when they had fulfilled all that is written of him they tooke him downe from the tree and laid him in a Sepulchre But God raised him from the dead and he was seene many daies of them which came up with him from Galileo â—â— Ierusalem who are his witnesses â—â—to the people And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus againe as it is also written in the second Psalme Thou are my Sonne this day have I begotten theâ— And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to returne to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David from v. 26. to 34. For the clearer fuller explication of this passage we are to enquire what manner of testimonies or predictions in which the Apostle instances were as whether propheticall only or typically propheticall 6 To begin with the former Ego hodie genui te this day have I begotten thee that with submission of my opinion to better judgments is a prediction typically propheticall which kind of prediction as hath been observed before is the most concludent and this one of the highest ranke in that kind that is an Oracle truly meant of David according to the literall sense and yet fulfil'd of Christ the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead both according to the most exquisite literall and the mysticall or principally intended sense David without all question was the composer of the second Psalme and the joyfull occasions or extraordinary matter of exultation which raised his spirit to that high and majesticke straine of divine
Creator both of sea and land The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the World and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the seas that is in such a sense as wee say townes and cities are situated upon the rivers on whose bankes they stand and established it upon the flood ver 1. 2. Yet may we not deny that this Psalme may literally referre to the bringing in of the Arke into the hill of Sion and to the exhortation of the Psalmist to admit and entertaine it as the feat of the King of Glory God blessed for ever But this literall sense doth no way prejudice but rather strengthen the force of their argument who hence conclude the deity of the Son of God then admitted in triumph into the hill of Sion or the Tabernacle pitched in it according to his divine nature only this triumphant admission being a sure pledge or earnest of his future admission into his heavenly Sanctuary the place of his everlasting residency as Lord and Christ in our nature No man who acknowledgeth or rightly esteemeth the authority of the Psalmist unlesse abundance of wit hath besplitted his understanding can imagine that the King of Glory whom the Psalmist here mentioneth should be any other party or person besides the Son of God Christ Iesus whom the Iewes when he came to the materiall Temple or Tabernacle wherein his divine nature did in peculiar manner reside did not entertaine in such manner as David enjoyned their fore-Fathers to entertaine the Arke of his presence They would not acknowledge him to be their Messias because they knew him not nor the Scriptures which did foretell this his comming For as our Apostle with speciall reference to the words of this Psalmist teâ—s us had they knowne him to be that Lord of Glory unto whose honour David consecrated this hymne they would not have crucified him But by crucifying or rather by his humiliation of himselfe unto the death of the Crosse he was consecrated as man unto his everlasting Priesthood and made both Lord and King of Glory CHAP. 36. At what time and upon what occasions th 68 Psalme was composed What reference it hath in the generall unto our Saviour's Ascension ANother Psalme there is appointed by the wisedome of the ancient and continued by the discretion of the English Church even since the first reformation to be read or sung as a proper hymne to the festivall of our Saviour's Asoension A Psalme full of mysteries and divine raptures apt to enkindle our hearts with zeal and admiration could we find out or rightly seeke after either the historicall occasions which ministred the matter or ditty of this divine song or the severall parts of Scripture unto which most passages in it according to the literall or historicall sense doe respectively referre The occasion of composing the Psalme to wit 68. Some Iewish Rabbins conjecture to have been that glorious victory which Ezekiah or rather the Lord of hosts in Ezekiah's daies got over Senacherib and his mighty army But the most of the more judicious Christian Commentators with greater probability or discretion referre the occasion of composing this Psalme to that solemne translation of the Arke of God from Kyriath Iearim into Mount Sion at large described 2. Sam. 6. David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel thirty thousand And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Iudah to bring up from thence the Arke of God whose name is called by the Lord of hosts that dwelleth betweene the Cherubbims or at which the name even the name of the Lord of hosts was called upon 2 This later opinion is in it selfe perswasible or rather deserves full credanee from the first words of the Psalme Let God arisâ— let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him ver 1. These were verba solemnia the accustomed solemne forme of prayer used so often as the Arke of the Covenant which was to this people the most authentique pledge of God's peculiar presence and protection and for this reason called by his name did remove from one place to another during their pilgrimage in the wildernesse And they departed from the Mount of the Lord three daies journey And the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three daies journey to search out a resting place for them and the Cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the Campe. And it came to passe when the Arke set forward that Moses said rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested hee said Returne O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Numb 10. ver 33. 34. 35. 36. Moses prayed conceptis verbis that God would arise and take part with his people David out of the fresh experience of God's mighty protection over him his subjects and allies so long as they worshipped him in truth and syncerity in this symbole of his presence seemes to utter Moses song rather by way of congratulation for victories already gotten then by way of instant prayer for present assistance A great part of this most divine most sublime ditty is a recapitulation of the glorious victories which the God of Israel had purchased for his people and upon their deliverance out of Egypt and their other peculiar protections or succours which private men or women in their distresse had found when they were helplesse in the sight of men or oppressed by their neighbours Sing unto God sing praises to his name extoll him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Iah and reioyce before him A Father of the fatherlesse and a Iudge of the widowes is God in his holy Habitation God setteth the solitary in families he bringeth out those that are bound in chaines but the rebellious dwell in a dry land ver 4. 5. 6. The verses following referre to the publique deliverance out of Egypt and the majesticke apparitions about Mount Sinai O God when thou wentest forth before thy people when thou didst march through the wildernesse the earth shooke the heavens also dropped before the Lord even Sinai it selfe was moved at the presence of God the God of Israel c. 7. 8. Some good Interpreters here observe that the Arke itselfe is called Iehovah or the Lord God of Israel by the same forme of speech that the sacrament all pledges are called the one the Body the other the Blood of Christ 3 Now the sweet singer of Israel was confident that the God of their Fathers would be as gracious to himselfe to his people and their successors after he came to dwell in Mount Sinai as he had been to Moses and Ioshun in the wildernesse â—or unto Samuel while the Taber nacle was in Shiloh or elsewhere either in motion or pitched Hence sprung those encomiasticall expressions throughout the Psalme of the
and Embassadours not to the end of the earth but to the ends of the World 4 Some of the Ancients and among the rest S. Austin if my memory faile not thinke they have found out S. Paul charactered in the fore cited prophecy there was litle Beniamin their Ruler c. And assuredly 't was not a matter of meere chance or fancy that this great Apostle of the Gentiles should have his name changed from Saul unto Paul a name borrowed as some thinke from Sergius Paulus and Paulus in the Latine signifies a litle one And this was a name better be fitting this great Apostles disposition after his calling then the name of Saul which was the name of the first King of Israel and one of the greatest of his Tribe That Saul was litle in his owne eyes before hee was King but great after whereas this Apostle Paul was litle in his owne eyes but great in the eyes of the Lord after hee was made Ruler of the people but to wave this conjecture of the Ancients and not to dispute the reason why Beniamin should be called litle by David in that Catalogue wherein hee had the precedency in order of Iudah most other passages throughout this 68. Psal from the 19. ver are eminently propheticall Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Hee that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death ver 19. 20. These are characters of God incarnate or made man or of the man Christ Iesus made salvation it selfe and of this Iesus raised from death for from this title the issues of death or deliverance from it belong to him as his peculiar More apparently are those passages ver 31. c. literally meant at least exactly fulfilled of Iesus Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension to his holy hill or heavenly Sanctuary Princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soone stretch out her hands unto God Sing unto God O yee Kingdomes of the earth O sing praises unto the Lord. To him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens which were of old Loe he doth send out his voice and that a mighty voice Ascribe yee strength unto God his excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Clouds O God thou art terrible out of thy places the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people Bbessed be God ver 31. 32. c. 5 As for the prayer conceived first by Moses afterwards assumed by David after the removall of the Arke Let God arise let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him and all those menaces of fearefull judgments upon God's enemies pronounced by David in this Psalme as appendices to it these were never so exactly fulfil'd either of the Cananites Moabites Philistims or other enemies of Israel whiles the materiall Arke did remove from place to place or setled in Ierusalem as they have been of the seed of Abraham and of Iacob since their God did arise from death in our nature which he consecrated to be the true and living Arke of God Nor can the truth of God's promises unto Abraham David or their seed no not according to the literall sense of the prophecies which concerne them be any way impeached by taking his punishing hand from their heads and laying it more heavily upon his sometimes-chosen people For seeing they became the sworne enemies of the God of their Fathers revealed in the Arke of his flesh the fore-mentioned prayer or imprecation of Moses and David was more literally and punctually directed against them then against Aâ—â—alek Moab Ammon c. For these whether we take them jointly or severally were no greater enemies of God then other heathen Nations were save only in this that they were greater enemies to his Chosen people the seed of Iacob by reason of their vicinity as bordering upon their costs which alwaies nurseth quarrels betweene Nations dis-united in soveraignty or forme of government whereas the Iewish seed of Abraham which had been sometimes God's Elect people without occasion given became the immediate enemies of their God and for his sake more bloody persecutors of the Gentiles yea of their owne brethren according to the flesh after they with the Gentiles had become his Chosen people Now Moses his prayer or David's imprecation did not aime at the persons of men of what Nation soever but at their malicious qualifications or enmities against God whether direct or indirect so that since the seed of Abraham became the enemies of God and his Christ they may be more truly said to have dashed against the Psalmists or Moses curse then it to have falled upon or overtaken them and yet for all this as wee learne from S. Paul Rom. 11. that other prayer of Moses when the Arke rested shall beare date againe shall be fulfilled for the good of these yet cast-awaies When the Ark rested Moses said returnè O God to the many thousands of Israel Numb 10. 36. This strange devolution of God's mercies and judgments from one people to another making the down-fall of one Nation to be the advancement of another to his free grace and mercy not the points of Election and reprobation as there hath been a mist cast upon them by unskilful Controversers whereas S. Paul had left them cleare enough was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whose deeper consideration did extort that patheticall ejaculation from him O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how unsearehable are his Iudgments and his waies past finding out c. CHAP. 38. That the manner of our Saviours Ascension was more clearly fore seen by Daniel then by David and most exactly fore-shadowed by matters of fact in Mosaicall and other sacred histories A parallel betweene SaloÌ„mon's Consecration of the Temple and our Saviour's Consecration or sanctisying of himselfe and his heavenly Sanctuary WHether David did distinctly apprehend the manner of our Saviour's Ascension and propagation of his dominion over all things in heaven and earth both which he did fore-tell and fore-shadow by matter of fact and service done to the Arke or whether he did at all fore-guesse or suspect the turning of God's heavy hand upon his seed and Iacob's seed according to the flesh is a point not altogether out of question were it fit to be inquired into But as hath been observed heretofore our beliefe or right apprehension of the truth of divine mysteries doth not depend upon their knowledge or appehension which did fore-tell or relate their prefigurations but on the contrivance of divine â—inerting all-seeing providence by whose inspiration and secret instinct both the Prophets and Evangelists did both speake and write But be the former doubt concerning David's apprehension of these mysteries waved or determined as it may be this wee know and may resolve whatsoever in the former Psalme was fore-told or
fore-shadowed by David concerning the manner of our Saviour's Ascension or propagation of his Kingdome was more clearly fore-seen by Daniel and as punctually foreshadowed by matter of fact in Mosaicall histories To begin with the testimony of Daniel which was meerly propheticall a pure vision And I beheld invisions by night behold one like the son of man came in the clouds of heaven and approached unto the ancient of daies and they brought him before him And he gave him dominion and honour and a Kingdome that all people Nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall never be taken away and his Kingdome shall never be destroyed In that he saith he was like unto the Son of man this doth not import that hee was not truly man or only like to man but that more glory was due unto him then to any meere sonne of man and that he was the true sonne of that ancient of dayes unto whom hee was brought And as our Apostle saith that being in the forme of God and equall unto God yet he was found in the liknesse and shape of man that is as essentially like to man as like to God The Prophet describes his presentation to his Father by the Angels and coelestiall powers attending him which our Evangelist relateth not because haply this could not be seen by waking and mortall eyes but only by vision or rapture of spirit The same Prophet likewise describes the manner of his Ascension as exactly as if he had been a waking spectator of it with the Apostles and Disciples 2 But to resume the Prophets words Behold saith the Prophet one like the sonne of man came in the clouds of heaven and approached unto the ancient of daies hee doth not say hee was brought up in the clouds of heaven for the motion was his owne Hee was the agent or mover as well as the party moved in this Ascension So the Evangelist saith Act. 1. 9. And when hee had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up for a cloud tooke him out of their sight and whilst they looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went Behold two men stood by them in white apparrell which also said yee men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven Emphasim habent verba hee videntibus illis It was remarkably said that hee was taken up his Disciples looking on for this imports as some of the ancients observe that Christ did ascend by litle and litle as it were by certaine steps that hee might feed the eyes and refresh the soules of his Disciples He was not raught up as Elias was who had but one witnesse nor as S. Paul who had no witnesse besides himselfe scarce himselfe a witnesse of his rapture for whether hee were taken up in the body or out of the body God knowes saith he I cannot tell But our Saviour went by the power of his omnipotency he descended when hee would and when he would ascended appointing what spectators or witnesses it pleased him with the place the time the very day and houre 3 As S. Luke's description of our Saviour's Ascension is a compleat explanation of Daniel's vision so is that vision of the mysticall sense of Mosaicall or other histories concerning the Arke or Tabernacle For the unfolding of this point we are to take the fore-mentioned prenotion for our rule to wit that the Arke of the Covenant wherein God was said to dwell was but a Type or shadow of the humane nature of Christ in which the God-head dwelleth bodily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other branch of this prenotion is as cleare that the Tabernacle which Moses erected in the wildernesse in which he placed the Arke was but a petty modle of that celestiall Tabernacle into which Christ is entred of which the Temple built by Salomon was somewhat a fairer draught yet no more then a litle mappe Now immediately after Moses had finished the worke of the Tabernacle A cloud covered the Tent of the congregation and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle Exod. 40. ver 34. c. More expressly Numb 9. v. 15. And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up a cloud covered the Tabernacle namely the tent of the testimony and at even there was upon the Tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire untill the morning The most memorable history to this purpose is 1. King 1. v. When Salomon had assembled all the Elders of Israel and heads of the Tribes to bring up the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord out of the City of David to the Temple ver 1. And it came to passe when the Priests were gone out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the Glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord. v. 11. The Son of God in whose breast as he is the Son of David the Covenant made with mankind is registred most exactly and kept safer then the Tables of the first Covenant were in the Arke when it was brought into the Temple had his Throne and Sanctuary prepared of old or to use our Apostle's dialect non erat hujus structurae they were not thrones or Sanctuaries made with hands yet to be consecrated by the blood of our high Priest and being thus prepared a cloud did cover this living Arke of God and high Priest upon the day that hee was to enter into the holy place After the cloud tooke him from his Disciples sight hee filled the everlasting Tabernacle with his Glory being more reverently adored by all the host of heaven then he had been either by Salomon or the Elders of Israel when they brought the Arke of his Covenant into the Temple or by his Apostles after his Resurrection 4 At the same time wherein the Arke was brought by the Priest into the most holy place Salomon kneeling before the Altar of the Lord first blessed God and consecrated the Temple by that divine prayer never to be forgotten by good Christians And as soone as he had ended his prayer he rose up and blessed the congregation of Israel with a loud voice saying Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promises which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant 1. King 8. v. 56. c. His praiers to God and blessing of the people are more then parallel'd by our Saviour's prayers for his owne Consecration and the spirituall blessings thence to be derived upon his Apostles Ioh. 4. 14. c. One part of Salomons praier when he blessed the people was this Let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night that he maintaine the cause of his servant and the cause of his people
the first day of that weeke wherein our Redemption was wrought our Saviour came in triumphant manner into Ierusalem not only to fulfill the prophecy of Zachary before expounded at large for that might have been fulfilled at any other time or day for its substance but to testifie withall that hee was the true paschall Lambe appointed pointed for the sacrifice of that great Feast that Lambe of God which â—ame too take away the sinnes of the world For upon that very day of the month Abib were it the tenth or ninth in which our Saviour came to Ierusalem saluted with ecchoing cries of Hosanna the Son of David was the legall paschall Lambe according to first institution of the Passeover brought out of the fields unto the place appointed for the publique assembly with greater pompe perhaps and solemnity prescribed by custome than was expressely required in the Law Vpon the fifth day day of this â—acred weeke being as I take it the fourteenth of the month Abib our Saviour being to be offered in sacrifice at the time wherein the paschall Lambe was eaten by seterall families did eate the Passeover with his Disciples and preoccupated the usuall day for eating the paschall Lambe upon necessity In the night following which was the evening of the sixth day hee was apprehended and arraigned in the morning of the same day condemned by the Iewes â— and upon their solicitation adjudged by Pilate to be crucified and executed by the Roman Souldiers In the sixth day or which is all one the sixth evening and morning of the first weeke of times succession God is said to have finished the workes of Creation by making the first man In the sixth day or in the sixth evening and morning of the weeke of our Saviour's Consecration Hee by whom the world was made did solemnely declare the worke of our Redemption to be accomplished in respect of any labour worke or paines to be further undertaken by him For so farie his solemne proclamation upon the Crosse extends consummatum est And so he went into his rest upon the same day about the same houre wherein God was said to rest from all his workes of Creation that is in the close of that day a litle before the evening of the seventh day or Sabbath CHAP. 41. A Parallel betweene the day wherein Adam is thought to have been cast out of Paradise with the day wherein our Saviour was Crucified And betweene the first day of the world's Creation and our Saviour's Resurrection THere is a a tradition or rather a received opinion avouched by many good Authors in their severall writings that Adam the first man should fall and forfeit his estate in Paradise upon the same day wherein he was created The opinion it selfe we cannot disprove nor justly suspect to be a meere conjecture because we know not what warrant the first or immediate Authors of this Doctrine had to commend it to posterity But their language I take it is much mistaken by some later school-men the first Authors meaning or expression of it must be limited or rather extended to the same sense or construction as hath been before observed in the like words of Daniel Chap. 7. That Belshazer was slaine in the same night wherein after his carousing in the boules of the Sanctuary the hand-writing was seen upon the wall or that other 2. of Kings that Senacherib's mighty army was discomfitted upon the night immediately following that day wherein he sent that blasphemous message unto Hezekiah or the day wherein Isaiah returned his message to the good King In both places the same night cannot be understood of the selfe same naturall day and night but of the same night or day after the revolution of one yeare or more In like manner the first man according to the tenor of the former received opinion did fall upon the same day wherein he was created yet not upon the same day numerically individually or identically taken but upon the same day after the revolution of a weeke at least or more that is upon the sixth day and thrust out of Paradise before the Sabbath ensuing for his stealth or presumptuous usurpation of the forbidden fruit Vpon the same day after revolution of many yeares the Son of God or second Adam now consecrated to be a quickning spirit did restore the sons of the first Adam to their inheritance which their Father had lost by giving a true naturall son of the first Adam a thiefe by practise liverie de sezin or actuall possession of the coelestiall Paradise The bequest or legacy was punctuall and solemne Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Vpon the sixth day of the first week or week of Creation or vicissitude of times Adam's body was taken out of the substance of the earth Vpon the same sixth day was the body of the second Adam the Son of God shut up into the bowels of the earth after he had commended his spirit into his Father's hands which had given it him That temporall curse denounced against the first Adam In the day wherein thou eatest thou shalt die the death was exactly now fulfilled in the second Adam For in the sixth day of the weeke of his Consecration he died the death of the Crosse and was delivered to the earth whence the first man was taken only he was not to be resolved to dust but rested there without corruption For as God had rested the Seventh day from his works of Creation though not of Preservation so the Son of God was to rest from all his labour or toile upon the seventh day of the week of his Consecration not only to blesse and sanctify that day and make it his own but withall to hallow the grave or the wombe of the earth whence all flesh was taken and by the course of nature must returne by his sweet rest and presence in it So saith S. Iohn I heard a voice from heaven saying Blessed are the dead which hereafter die in the Lord even so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14 ver 13. Their sleepe or quiet rest in the grave thus hollowed by our Saviour's Death and rest in it becomes the evenings or vespers of their everlasting Sabbath 2 The night immediately following the legall Sabbath wherein our Saviour did rest from all his Labours was part of the first evening and morning or of the first naturall day of the weeke His Resurrection upon that day and at that time of the day and at that season implieth a two-fold mystery or the accomplishment of two remarkable divine Oracles First that of Gen. Chap. 1. ver 1. 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without forme and void and darknesse was upon the deepe The darknesse made the evening and the separation of the light from
referres unto Gods Oath made to David Psal 110 not to Gods Oath made to Abraham which was long before the Law Legem quidem superius Dei actionem existere docuimus eodem modo semper se habente per petuaâ— immutabilirati one res omnes producentem Iu siurandum deinceps ipsi causam esse dixerimus que omnia is eodem statu ita conservet atâ— retineat ut quae iuramenti fide can firmata sunt legis ordinem tuentur tanquam certus legu effectus in eorum recto ordine quae condita sunt existant Quod enim eadem lege stant onmia sicuti disposita sunt prâ— marium fuerit hoc divini iuri siurandi opus quod quidem inter eos qui Deum semper in telligunt maxime atâ— perpetuo servatur pag. 28. * Numb 13. 8. * Numb 13. 16. * This is as Iunius interpreteth out of Nazareth See the third Book of these Comments Sect. 2. Chap. 7. See this point handled at large in the third Booke of these Comments * In the first and third Sections of this Booke * Vide. Buxdorf Synagogâ Iudaica cap. 20. * In Christ's ansvver to Iohn's Disciples Rev. 1. 13. Psal 110. 1. Cor. 22. * Hezekiah 2. King 19. 3. * â—â—troeâ—nte Petro intravit etiam alter discipulus qui primus venerat Sed ante Petrum ingredi non erat ausus Hic vidit etiam linteamina sudarium sed fecit aliud quod non fecit Petrus credidit enim nempè resurreris se Dominum Petrus intravit quidem vidit Iohannes vero intravit vidit credidit Si credidisset tunc Petrus non utique soli â—ibi Iohannes fidem tribuisset c. Vide plura in annota ibid. so Iohn 20. 8. This cannot be meant of the written Word but of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by S. Iohn Chap. 1. 1. and by S. Paul Heb. 1. * See Heb. 2. 7. and Book seventh of these Comments Chap. 17. Parag. 5. * Seventh Book * That is the Constantinopolitane Creed Mat. 1. 12. * Inter alios Scriptores de Die natali vide MartinuÌ„ de Roa Cap. 16. Suet in Calig decretuÌ„ autem ut dies quo caepisset imperium Palilia vocarentur velut argumentum rursus conditae urbis Spartian in Haedriano Cor. Tacit. l. 2. Histor de imperio Augusti c. * See the first Section of this Treatise Chap. 4. Is 55. 3. Act. 13. Psal 16. 11. Luk. 1. 71. Heb. 2. 11. * In the fourth Sect. of this Book Chap. last * 1. Cor. 2. 8. * Bashan was a goody hill-Country and graced with glorious victories over Og the King of that region unto which and the deliverance from Pharaoh and his host these passages in this Psalme doe literally allude * Haec sunt ipsa Calvini verba Propheta fitum pulchritudinem Ierosolymae commendat acsi diceret 〈…〉 esse optimè munitam inexpugâ—abilem quia aliqua ex parte in his externis not is fulgebat Dei benedictio Quâ—â—quam memoria renendum est quod priâ—â— dixit Deum in eius palatiis concpici in arcem Neâ— enim turreâ— vel muruÌ„ nunc commemorans vult pioâ—uÌ„ mentes in iâ—â—is 〈…〉 sed potâ—â—â— speculum proponit quod Dei faciem representet Circundate ergo Sion inquit hoc est attentè circumspicite Numerate turres studium vestrum applicate ad considerandum murum eius aestimate pro dignitate palatia eius Ita facilè constabit urbem esse 〈…〉 electam quia longe supra alias omnes emine at Nam in hec totos ist ut appareat qualitas illa persons qud Dominus Ierosolymam induerat eam â—â—â—i in sacrarium in domicilium popula suo 〈…〉 Caeterùm Propheta finem notando ut narretur poster is forma splendor urbis 〈…〉 tacitè innuere videtur venturum aliquando tempus quo non ampliuâ— peter it conspici Quor sum eâ—im narratio in re manifesta ante â—â—â—sos posita Quanquam eâ—go 〈…〉 dixit urhem illam perpetuo stabilitam esse nune per modum correction â—â— admenet qualis futura sit perpetuitas nempe quae ad renovationem duntaxat Eâ—clesiâ—â—â—tet Nos enim sumus illa posteritas ad quam pertinet ac dirigitur narratio Quia quacâ—â—◠〈…〉 Deas beneficia contulit nobis communia sunt Non quod splendor ille externus quo admirabilis fuit Ierosolyma hodie inter nos emineat sed quia spiritualibus donis non minus splendidè ornata fuit Ecclesia post exhibitum Christum quam oli◠〈…〉 〈…〉 instructa lerusalem sub legis 〈…〉 is Calvinus in 13. ver Psal 48. * Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive Coppen in v. 19. * In the seventh Book Sect. 2. Chap. 16. * Amongst others Didacus Yanguas * Nunquam ineptè saepius acutè rarius exquiâ—itè Vide Petrum Ramum in scholiis mathematicis lib. 2. * In the eight Book of these Comments Chap. 18. * In the sixth Book upon the Apostles Creed * Chap. 19. v. 35. And it came to passe that night that the Angell of the Lord went forth and smote c. 2. Tim. 1. 10. And for feare of him the Keepers did shake and became as dead men Mat. 28. 4. Exod. 13. 11. 12.