Iochanan expoundeth the last part of the Lordes preachyng on mount Oliuet three yeeres and a halfe such borders or ledges are not inferiour to that crowne-worke that was on the edge of the incense Altar of the table of Shewbread and the arke of Couenant And that partition onely myght haue tamed all Heathen autorities though there had been some agreement in them Of the Lordes day VVhen Daniel was taught what day shoulde sabbatize Sacrifice he knew also when the Sabbath shoulde rest during which Sacrifice was to continue And so when the first day in order should be the first in dignitie and the Lordes day in which we shoulde meditate of the reuelation of Christ how in all visions and Prophetes he was vnder a coueryng But this coulde not be knowen vnlesse Gabriel had spoken and meant in most full playnnesse otherwyse he shoulde haue mistaken the tyme which thyng we should not soone beleeue of Daniel the wyse To conclude the sweete speach of seauenty seauens a memorie not onely of the first Sabboth but of the late ten Sabbathes of yeres past in Babylon that shoulde haue no season in it but numbred from the delyuery out of Babylon vnto the delyuery from death by our Lord. So it concludeth all by a most pleasaunt sabbatique accompt as elswhere I haue shewed from the buriall of Moses vnto the buriall of his ceremonies And thus I trust all indifferent readers wyll confesse that recorde is in Scripture how often the Sunne went his course before he lost his lyght that the Sonne of glory in the great cloude of our lyfe myght shyne to all men and his worde might haue a most constant bryghtnesse Of the Iubilees AS in all narrations of constant and sure trueth euery part will agree so in diuine narrations the tymes are not onely founde agreeable with mens lyues which is no whit so in the prophane differyng from Iudah but also the feastes of Gods people fal out often in most notable agreement that the Lord of those Sabbathes myght be knowen to be the ruler of the worlde Ancient Diuines Hebrewes Greekes Latines note that Moses was made the seauenth from Abraham by rare counsell no lesse then Enoch the seauenth from Adam Since Israel was placed in a land to haue a famous state the alteration of it falleth out in a goodly order and most pleasant to be considered The conquest of 7. yeeres and partition By the seauenth yeere seauen nations in the lande of Chanaan were conquered Euen that phrase of conquest S. Paule vseth the Talmuds both and the whole thraues of the Hebrew DD. I maruell that a learned man woulde needes be blamyng of this speach in mee onely I thought it lawfull and duetie to speake as other men dyd The proofe of the seauen yeeres is cleere by Calebs age the Hebrew note that plentifully and Theodoret for Greekes His wordes lappe the text within them The speach of Caleb shewes that they hauing warred seauen yeeres space deuided the lande For thus be spake Fourty yeeres olde was I when Moses the seruant of the Lord sent mee from Cadesh Barne to vew the land And now the Lord hath kept mee aliue as he promised This is the fourty fift yeere since the Lorde spake vnto Moses Now after Gods sentence vpon the sixe hundreth thousande they continued thirtie eyght yeeres in the Wildernesse then seauen remayne of the fourtie fiue And this much did the Lord of the whole worlde foretell by Moses When the Lord thy God bringeth thee into the lande which he promised to thy fathers after seauen yeeres thou shalt read this Law to all the people The malicious Iewes say that seauen yeeres the lande was in partyng for their deceit in castyng Ezekiels vision which was in a middle of a Iubilee vnto the iust Iubilee VVhereby diuiding all by fifties they shorten the Kinges 17. yeeres and torment the storie and begin the Iubilees not presently vpon the conquest but from their owne rancorous heades after a full other seauen Rabbi Leui ben Gerson playnely confesseth that he saw no reason why they should do so This I note because my learned friende M. Henry Wolphius foloweth them herein not foreseeing their malice yet in other poyntes he coulde tell that they laboured to obscure all The holy story telleth vs as Theodoret noteth that in the seauenth yeere the lande was parted And the Iewes confesse that the next yeere to the partition must begin the reckonyng of fiftie yeeres for the Iubilee All Hebrewes and Greekes rightly agree that a full fiftie goe to euery Iubilee So that the fiftie one must be the first of a new seauen Here Beroaldus Codoman and Wolphius may not be folowed for 49. yeeres to a Iubilee Moses is playne and hath playnely been vnderstoode By fifties the time from the partition of the lande being parted ioyneth the twenty and eyght fiftie to our Lordes death A profe for the Iewes veyne Of the first Iubilee Iosuah ruled yeeres seauenteene That is euident not by expressed testimony but by a consequent For the 480. which are from the Lambe to the Temple are all in other rulers sauing 17. yeeres which are a remnant and haue none but him to receaue them Fourty yeeres after his death see Othoniels victorie agaynst Chusan and the first Iubilee sixe tymes seauen yeeres since the partition the Iewes helde their lande The seauenth seauen Chusan ouerruled for their idolatry in his eight and in the first fiftieth Othoniel returneth them to their possession So the first Iubilee is famous by a glorious victory Of the seauenth Iubilee The seauenth Iubilee seeth the remoouyng of the Arke from Siloh to Iudah the fall of Ely the ruling of Samuel and much alteration to the better Of the seauenteenth Iubilee The seauenteenth Iubilee receaueth Iechonias in Babylon the first whole yeere that he lyued there And one Iubilee and more was wholly spent in Babylon Of the last Iubilee The twenty eight Iubilee was the last that the Iewes saw in their land In that Iubilee yeere our Lord is the ransome redemption and finisher of Sabbath vnto Israel Then was a resurrection from death the lifting vp of signe the sounde of the best Trumpet the gathering of the skattered Israel the openyng of the heauenly Ierusalem and the workeing of freedome for all that all their lyfe were in danger of bondage that we might all weare Crownes vpon our heades and haue a continuall feast better then that which the seruantes in Iudah enioyed In that yeere euen all was performed which the Iewes vpon Leuiticus 25. and in Talmud Babylonian Sanedrin and Ezekiel the 40. teach that vnder Christ should be accomplished In that Iubilee the clearenesse of the doctrine wringeth good wordes out of the Hebrew DD. though their eyes be shut since their fathers vndertooke according to their owne rule in Talmud Ierusalemy in capitall vniust sentence That the blood of our Lord shoulde be vpon them and their chyldren through all
the phrase made the Geonim the Rabbine DD. of that title conclude that the Prophet was deceyued Their saucinesse was vntolerable to clayme more wysedome then Daniel had Now yf Ierusalems desolation begin from the first surprising as well may the restyng of the land But Daniel thence reckoned as they graunt An obiection from Ezek. 40. Ezekiel beginneth from Ieconiahs captiuitie Aunswere Good reason because then was captiued he his king and first then whole thousandes and it was his duetie to reckon from his king not from the Chaldean Besides it was not safe for hym being in Chaldea to glaunce at the 70. yeeres of the king Sheshac though Ieremy in Iudah tolde that yet Ieremy tolde it obscurely by the king She-Shac by interpretation Which is The Imperiall Dauid Kimchi in the Root Alan telleth that in the Arabique tongue which ioyneth to the Hebrew or Chaldean Shac is a king yet for this worde the Rabbines holde it to inuert the Alphabet to take the last letters for the first So Sheshac should be Babel Darkely he was to speake it and Ezekiel was not to take his accompt from Babel So that obiection concludeth nothyng and some Iew woulde haue touched it yf it had been of force but none did regarde it And the hand wryting MENE He hath numbred Dan 5. endeth cleerely the seauenty of Captiuity that from the first of Nebucadnezars house it must be reckoned And we may see that the Sunne in his twelue Signes can not shew more cleere distinction of tymes then do these Scriptures of most noble stories of the Temples standyng ende and continuance in desolation Of the fourth and last poynt THe fourth and last poynt is most wonderfull reckoned not by the Fathers as the tyme from Adam to Abraham not by the comming from Egypt as the tyme of the Temples buyldyng nor by the kingdome parted vnder Roboam Ieroboam as thence to the burnyng of the Temple and ende of the kingdome Ezekiel gaue one whole summe nor by a strange kingdome as the tyme of the Captiuitie but tolde afore hand so cleerely in an whole partes with such precious matter that Moses on Mount Synai coulde see no greater light then our mindes may from the doctrine of this part delyuered in the first yeere of Darius the Mede or of Cyrus the Persian after they had conquered Babylon and the tyme of Iudah was come that they shoulde looke for a returne home Of it Gabriel is the Messenger to teach and Daniel is the Scholer The text may helpe much beyng layde downe according to the cleere meaning of the Ebrew Seauentie seauens of yeeres are cut out for thy people and for thy holy Citie to consume wickednes and to abolysh sinnes and to make reconciliation for iniquitie and to bring righteousnesse euer-lasting and to seale vision and prophet and to shewe Christ the holy of holy This the Angel speaketh and afterwards doth diuide it The houre of the day when he spake it was the time of the euenyng offeryng that is our three of the clocke as appeareth by Talmud Ierusalemy and Rambam in Tephilla or Prayer and act 4. And at the Iewes ninth houre our Lord gaue vp the ghost saying that all was perfourmed for sufferinges Thus the Lord meant that exactly 490. yeeres after the prayer of Daniel euen to the very houre of the day our redemption should be wrought Assertions touching the certaynty of this text Any common Lawyer would determyne that the terme must begin from the speaking and end when that is performed which is spoken off In the wordes of an honest man spoken in the like sort none woulde doubt what shoulde be the true meanyng The more to blame are wee who peruert the wordes of the lyuing God to make questions hereupon to set light by the Rocke of Salua as though one thing might be spoken and an other tion meant The prophane Iewes who woulde haue the tyme from Babels fall to Ierusalems fourtie yeeres after our Lord his death to be shorter by 90. yeeres then this portion And likewyse the prophane Emperours scholers who feared that prophecie of Christ an vniuersall king who woulde in an other extremity haue the tyme herein conteyned about 90. yeeres longer they both are lyghter then vanity Also they be extreamely ouerseene and iniurious to Gods trueth who fall to eyther of extremities They both sortes should make the dullest thinke that the myddle space shoulde haue liklyhood euen to the iudgement of any Labeo though Gods autority had not been in the Angels wordes Of ancienty it was vsed that when a particuler chronicle was not in writing by successions of liues the matter should be examined that twenty generations one with an other each shoulde make for a distaunce betwixt the byrth of a man and the tyme when he is a father about twenty yeeres So it falleth out in Dauids house in two families Salomons and Nathans before the Captiuity much in that rate We haue in S. Mathew S. Luke for Zorobabel officer at the returne from Babel two other families one of Abiud of very few discentes and an other of Rhesa of 19. generations both those families shoulde be extreamely iniuried if we feigne against Gods worde farre more yeeres for fewer later men then for many aboue So S. Mathew and S. Luke shoulde both be disgraced yf more yeeres shoulde be feigned from heathen for this tyme. A Iew or a Turke woulde cast off S. Mathewes Gospel if he saw in the margent for ten successions from Abiud to Ioseph 527. yeeres where twenty from Nathan had but about 430. yeeres The thrusting of them so long so many millions of them to Geenna fyre hath been a great sinne VVherfore the cause of that ruine the exceeding of the Angels Chronicle should be loathed as extreamely hurtful That errour is most euident For many haue feigned fiue men more then trueth betwixt Zorobabel and Ioseph as Tilemanus Stella and others haue put foorth the Genealogy which thyng was no lesse lothsome then to place Idoles in the Temple of God The Iewes reckonyng of ancienty by Iubilees neyther did misse nor coulde misse in their owne Chronicle If they had missed they woulde haue resisted the Apostes by argumentes from the tyme which is very vsually mentioned in the new Testament As the tyme of the kingdome of heauen Luk. 19. the due tyme of sufferyng Rom. 5. the fulnes of tyme. Eph. 1. Talmud Ierusalemy treatyng of examinyng witnesses bringeth a rule from R. Symeon ben Iochai that it must be examined in what Iubilee any matter in tryall fell out That rancorous Rabbine was of the Apostles age who yet durst not obiect disagreement for the tyme by the Iubilee The 49000. who came home from Babylon vpon Gabriels prophecie they coulde not choose but vnderstande the tyme to begin at their returne and bid their posteritie beleeue that at 490. ende Christ should be their king To depart from that meaning which they once
A SEDER OLAM that is Order of the worlde or yeeres from the fall to the restoring A seconde Apologie for the Angel Gabriels proprietie of trueth in his holy and healthy message of the cleerenes and certainty for our redemption And a further answere to some litle thinking that all humane Libraries may by them selues and must by Scripture be controlde VVith a long Preface touching the humanity of the Gentry of Cambridge and higher in fauour of ancient Learning Iob. 24 25. Yf it be not so now who will disproue me and make my wordes nothing 1594. To the right honorable Henrie Earle of Huntingdon Lorde Hastinges Hungerford Botreux Molins and Moiles Knight of the most noble order of the Garter Lord President of her Maiesties counsell established in the North partes THe register of time right Honorable which the Greekes cal Chronicon the Doctors of the Hebrew kinde tearme Seder Olam that is the Order of the worlde They haue many phrases from ancient holy men doubtlesse which the Apostles do confirme as the Worlde to come Paradise the seconde death and such In lyke sort Seder Olam seemeth to be a phrase vsed from the Prophetes tyme. It conteyneth deepe matter in it For who woulde not be astonished consideryng that God sendeth all men to learne the age â—f the worlde from the recorde of the Fathers vnto Terah vnlesse he knew the purpose to declare the fathers of whom Christ commeth Now it is more strange that thence it is not continued by Abraham Isaak and Iacob three so rare men But the course is broken of at Terahs death and soone after a new order is taken how many dayes or monethes after I dare not discusse But presently thence in the narration from the promise of Christ the Epoche goeth and Abrahams age is tolde what it was then which can not be exactly gathered how from his fathers age it dependeth as the Learned cast all from Adam to Charans byrth at Terahs seuentyeth yeere exactly From the perigrination vpon the promise of Christ vnto the Lambe the yeeres are to the very day and lykewyse thence to the Temple what day of what yeere from the Lambe it was buylt in what yeere of the king the buylder and how long he reigned and how long after the diuision euen to what day of what moneth it was brent for idolatry Then the exact accompt for day and moneth is not layde downe though the whole Captiuity be recorded for the iust yeeres VVhen it is ended thence a new vpon a rare occasion to a rare man by an Angel the onely of any created that hath a proper name of Angel the tyme is pared out in a rare phrase of speach vnto the death of Christ our sauiour vnto the very tyme of the euenyng offeryng when he offered vp him selfe The speach and the matter is so heauenly and precious that as of olde tyme that prophecy was openly read of all the Iewes and knowen of all the East it doubtles Iosephus meant bell Iud. 7 12. So all the worlde from their Childhood should read it and all the learned shoulde styll reduce the new Testament vnto it and expounde the olde Testament by it For it is the abridgement of the New and the key of the Olde The state after our Lordes death is called A new Heauen And his death ended the last Olam or Iubilee or yet the later part of the olde worlde as that part before the flood is tearmed of S. Peter Thus Seder Olam shalbe a goodly title for the Ebrew accompt from since the first Adam stoode on the earth vntyll the seconde Adam arose from the dust and went into the heauens Certaine obseruations I haue writted for this space registred by the wysedome of God to keepe the holy text in his natiue clearenesse agaynst entanglementes of Iewes and Gentiles I coulde wysh the dexterity of Daniels wit For the matter is worthy And that which my paynes coulde breede I was desirous to commende to your Lordshyp Some remembrance I woulde leaue how much I am beholdyng to your Honour though none writes in a Calender all good thinges done to him Of your Lordshyp I may say out of Homer that you haue been vnto me as a father to the sonne and I wyll neuer forget that tenderyng I founde many honourable Patrons but your Lordshyps charges were the greatest The Archbyshop of Canterburies grace was the meanes sone after my comming to Cambridge in my young yeeres to procure me a continuall profession of Homers tongue Whervpon with al speede the rest of my successe proceeded vntyll Sir VValter Mildmayes Lecture in Greeke with the gyft of six Scholershyps as I woulde and his fatherlike fauour better encoraged my paynes And I shoulde iniury all the Gouernoures of Cambridge yf I woulde not acknowledge continuall singuler cherishing and one poynt in offering whether Lecture I woulde of Iapheth and Sems chiefe tongues But there to me your Lordshyps charges was fiue and twentie times more then the priuate Greeke profession and about ten tymes the Value of a Felowshyp by yeere The greatest alowance that any Noble man graunted any Scholer So great a desire you had that my paineful and chargeful race of study which you iudged by your experience able to go through the pikes agaynst common errours shoulde there haue practise and tryall And when good desart and the best then taken in hand vpon graue request and orderly vsed was least regarded and worst recompenced in all mens sight by a good mans errour not of yll wyl yet so that you heard and hundreths more saw an iniury the same alowance you continued to my priuate labour VVhereby my Greeke translation of the Hebrew Prophetes was wrought That diligence calling all East and VVest forces of study togeather Hebrew Babylonian Chaldean Syrian Arabian al together mixt in the Cabala Greekes of all sortes Latines of all sortes all vsed skilfully seruantes to the Temple That diligence made me enterprise the Herculean labour of the Harmony I thinke you remember D. Penyes censure vttered to your Lordshyp of the Table entituled A Sinay sight how by conference in those poyntes he thought that he learned the whole frame of the Bible better then by all his Englysh and foraine paynes and conference and that one yeere vpon such tryed groundes woulde doe more then ten from the common course The learned D. tolde me what he told your Lordshyp to harten me agaynst the busy but hartened already enough by rare olde tendering I must heere craue leaue of a further digression to leaue a memoriall of tenderyng shewed to my young studies For as sone as I coulde be Graduate vpon sodayne disputations in the Greke tongue wherin the readiest of the ancient Maisters came to reply many were encoraged to the tongue worde was sent me that I should choose where I woulde be Felow I choose to be where first an election was euen foure dayes after I was eligible and to that
Against curiosity from our weakenes I write the positions folowing to make that cleere which if men would not resist their owne iudgement had neuer ben thought obscure but by vs hath been perniciously encombred Positions opening the Chronicle of Scripture HE that wyll deny the course of tyme to be in Scripture cleerely obserued euen vnto the fulnes the yeere of saluation wherin our Lord dyed may as wel deny the Sunne to haue brightnes The particulers are set downe in my booke chayning the Text. And though many do differ in their Chronicles yet these poyntes being cleered all stryfe ceasseth 1 One that the Greeke translaters added for a close purpose yeeres betwixt Adam and Abraham 1350. which yeeres are all feigned VVhereof I wrote at large in Melchisedek how in trueth the Hebrew must stande with yeres 2083. and hath alwayes in these west partes of the worlde been folowed though the Arabique and Ethiopian helde after the Greeke The seconde is 2 That presently after Terahs death Abraham at 75. yeeres receiued the Promise 430. before the Law 480. more before the Temple and 36. more before Salomons death The thirde is 3 That 390. yeeres Ezek. 4. are from Ieroboams drawyng Israel away vnto the 19. of Nebucadnezar That from his 19. yeere or thirde Captiuitie of Iuda 52. from his taking of Ierusalem are of captiuitie and 70. from his first yeere to Baltasars death The fourth and last is 4 That vpon the seauenty of captiuity the 70. seauens of deliuerie for eternal freedome must begin and must ende when our Lord by death findeth vs an euerlasting redemption These last three I endeuour to cleere Obseruations touching some doubtes stirred concernyng Abrahams age and the Promise with a controlment of 60 yeeres errour and of 5. where some fall into 60. onely some 5. onely some 60 and 5. 1 SAint Stephen saying that God remooued Abraham from Charan after his fathers death may not be excused as though he had spoken necligently as Bucholcherus doth qualifie his wordes but requireth beliefe in the simple sence of his wordes 2 The Greeke Philo the true Philo not the forged telleth truely that after the death of Terah God remooueth Abraham from Charan and that then Abraham was 75. 3 Iewes malicious were the fyrst that feigned Abraham to leaue Terah 60. yeeres in Charan 4 All they do the lyke who make Terah father to Abraham at 70. and not at 130. for adde the 75. of Abraham to the 70. of his father and it maketh but 145. yeeres and there remaine 60. of Terahs 205. 5 It is a fayre consequent that Abraham being 75. yeeres olde at his fathers death was borne at Terahs 130. 6 The playne order of the text at the first woulde haue taught so much For thus the wordes he in order And the dayes of Terah were 205. yeeres and he died in Charan and God sayd vnto Abraham Get thee from thy fathers house and in thee all the nations of the earth shalbe blessed and Abraham was 75. yeeres olde 7 VVhen Moses sayth that Terah lyued 70. yeeres and begat Abraham Nachor and Charan he placeth Abraham first not as though he had been eldest but for other respectes 8 As Moses reckoneth Noahs sonnes not in senioritie thus Iapheth Sem and Cham but beginnyng with the worthiest and so goyng to the next in yeeres to hym and endyng with the eldest so he beginneth with Abraham the worthiest and endeth with the eldest 9 Also for the weakenes of men Moses hideth his minde that the prophane should not soone spie the paradoxe that Nachor at 29. yeeres olde begate Terah and dyed at 148. and Terah begate Abraham at 130. They who knew not how strangenesse for Abraham to be father of the worlde was fittest to styrre studie woulde at the first stumble at the vnequalitie And for the same cause it may well be thought the Greeke interpreters added 100. yeeres to each father that was not 100. yeeres olde at his fatherhood as is declared in the treatise of Melchisedek How the malitious Iewes condemne them selues THe Iewes generally graunting Sem to be Melchisedek and that truely shoulde make hym delyuer the blessing to one that dyed before the blesser which thyng cannot agree with the wisedome of a Prophet yf Abraham were borne at Terahs 70. for he shoulde die not onely before Sem 34. yeeres but also before Selah 3. yeeres It is the Rabbines generall opinion that Ischa the daughter of Charan is Sarai who was but ten yeres younger then Abraham in Zakuto VVherefore Abraham euen by them selues is determined to be younger then Charan in Sanedrin Of Gilbert Genebrard Genebrard enclyneth to make Charan father to Sarai at 8. yeeres though the Iewes reuoke that but his errour sheweth that the Chronicle must stande to make Abraham borne at Terahs 130. yeeres of age Of the Promise that it was not made fiue yeeres afore God speaketh to Abraham In thee all nations shalbe blessed nor afore Abraham left Charan Ch 4. THe doubt herein aryseth from malitious Iewes seekeing the disgrace of S. Paul Gal. 3.17 where he telleth that the Lawe came after the Promise 430. yeeres The doubt is coloured from Gen. 15 13. Thy seede shalbe a stranger in a lande that is not theirs and shall serue them and they shall entreate them euill 400. yeeres Questions hereupon aryse two 1 VVhether the terme beginneth since Abraham left the seede on a strange lande and both markes go to one tyme Or 2 VVhether the affliction be after the fift of Isaak These Iewes begin the tyme from Isaaks birth Sal. Iarchi Aben Ezra Ramban Abrabbaneel Baal Shemoth Rabba Baalsedar Olamzuta Baalseder Olam Rabba Bochai Chizkuny And Rambam in his agreeable Total sum for the worlde in Halacoth Iobal Elias Misrachi is more vehement reasoning that the affliction was but in Egypt and therefore from Isaaks birth wyll needes haue the terme of yeeres and not from the affliction How these Rabbines shoulde disanull S. Paul If 400. yeeres onely be from Isaaks birth to the Law 30. before the birth of Isaak shall fall to Abrahams 70. Now that promise was not tyl Abrahams 75. Therefore the consentyng to the Iewes herein should disanul S. Paul and that goodly promise of Christ A confutation of these Rabbines from them selues 1 Aben Ezra sayth that the wordes in Gen. 12. were spoken 5. yeeres afore Abraham left Charan Abrabbaneel telleth hym that that is a flat lye vpon Gen. 12. And iust cause had he so to do Ralbag is confuted with hym for so much 2 But Abrabbaneel and Iarchi and the seder Olam Rabba and the more ancient the Middras and the other troupes they begin the 430. yeeres from the tyme of Abrahams sacrificing Gen. 15. and feigne that Abraham was twyse called from Charan once fiue yeeres before that which is mentioned But this is nothing els then to bring a leprosie vpon Scripture to feigne a storie 3 Moreouer the blynde may see that the speech had in
thy countrey and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house vnto the lande that I wyll shew thee And I wyll make of thee a great nation and wyll blesse thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing I wyll also blesse them that blesse thee and curse them that curse thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed So Abram departed euen as the Lord spake vnto him and Lot went with him And Abram was seuentie and fiue yeeres olde when he departed out of Charan Then Abram tooke Sarai his wife and Lot his brothers sonne and all their substaunce that they possessed and the soules that they had gotten in Charan and they departed to go into the land of Chanaan and to the land of Chanaan they came Now the former text of S. Stephen is relied vpon Gen. 15 7. where the Lord saith I am EL the Lord that brought thee out of VR of the Chaldees to giue thee this land Moses in the due place closely passeth ouer the appearing to Abraham as he doth the idolatrie of Terah And to shew Terahs repentaunce he maketh hym as principall of the iourney saying And Terah tooke Abram Lot and Sarai and they went forth with them from VR of the Chaldeans to goe into the land of Chanaan And they came to Charran and stayed there and Terah died in Charan Here only closely he maketh Abram autour of the iourney when he sayth And they went foorth with them not with him When Iosuah sayth Our fathers beyonde the Riuer woorshypped strange Gods euen Terah the father of Abraham he maketh Moses more cleere that to Abraham in VR God appeared by whom Terah was mooued to goe with Abraham Now Moses mentioneth onely the appearyng to Abraham and the bringing of hym out of VR but leaueth the speach to be gathered by the argument whence S. Stephen doth frame it by the lyke from Genesis the .12 sauing that after Terahs death God biddeth him leaue his fathers house and not his lande and kindred onely They who referre the latter speach to the first callyng make the departure from Charran to haue no calling though it be sayde And Abraham went as God sayde vnto him Of this also Bucholcherus hath written well but that he can not see how VR Chasdim should be in Mesopotamia But Abrabbaneel taketh part with S. Stephen for that and proueth VR and Charran to be neare togeather and both in one countrey and both to be the countrey of Abrahams kindred And thus much for the seconde knot of the Chronicle Of the thirde knot MAister Ioseph Scaliger affirmeth that the Temple stoode 427. yeeres that is 37. vnder Salomon and 390. after Israel fell from Iudah For the 390. I haue cited els where many Christians rightly agreeing But one Iew against their malicious and deceitefull crew is of more force then all our testimonies in our owne cause when we make the Iubilees fall out with our Lord his death and they woulde rather leape into Gehenna then suffer that brightnes of Moses and the Gospel So one Iew in this case hath more auctoritie then many of vs for Ezekiels 390. yeeres Thus sayth R. Abraham ben Dauid in Kabalah The Temple stoode 427. yeeres Of this testimony I wyll speake as Paul speaketh of Epimenides verse that it is a true testimony An Obiection VVhen we reckon the kinges of Iudahes yeeres their particulers ouerreach this summe Aunswere They are not all perfect and absolute yeres which are geuen to those kinges Amongst those kinges many fathers and sonnes reigned togeather as in Iosophat and Ioram eight of their yeeres in the one of them must be drowned vp in the accompt So three of Ioas are drowned in Amasia as many of Iotham are also common with Achas And that must be tryed by comparison with the yeeres of the kinges of Israel as of ancientie the Iewes noted in Talmud Ierusalemy in Rosh hashana Perek 1. Many learned men haue taken right paynes that way Thedoret for Geeekes Genebrard for Romistes and Math. Beroaldus whom I holde to haue the right summe they differ but yeeres a peece for the whole tyme of Israel that is vnto the sixt of Ezekias afterwardes when Iudah is reckoned alone the lyke synarchy or felowshyp in gouernment falleth not out because they were not in such dayly troubles then as whyle Israel stoode Also great summes from place to place geue great light where by broken vnperfect yeeres the matter woulde be somewhat doubtfull Examples of helpes by great summes The warres of Baasa with Asa were in the 36. yeere of Asas kingdome yet Baasa dyed in the 26. of Asas reigne So the accompt from the beginnyng of Asas kingdome that of Iudah parted from Israel was the best note which was the 16. of Asas owne reigne The yeeres of Omry his house are also tolde in one summe when Achazia being but 22. yeeres olde and his father dying at 40. yet then Achazia is Ben of 42. As Saul was Ben of two yeeres not of his owne age but of the kingdome in Omryes house whence Athalia his mother was The not obseruing of that hath bred notes that trouble our teachers and learners Of the 65. yeeres in Esay 7. The head of Aramis Damaskus and the head of Damaskus is Rezin But when 65. yeeres come he shalbe broken to Ephraim from being any people Kimchi doth expound this place to take the accompt from the tyme that Amos prophecied that Aram shoulde be captiued to Kyr Iarchi and Abrabbaneel holde it spoken of Ephraims captiuity But that can not stand without denial of the 22. yeres vacation of king which was after the death of Ieroboam Ben Ioas. For it is from the death of Ieroboam Ben Ioas whereas he must die in the 15. of Vziah vnto the sixt of Ezekias and ende of Israels kingdome aboue 70. yeeres There this text of Esay putteth all to seeke better Of which place I wyll not detemine but onely would shew how great summes call many particulers to a grosse summe Such are many accomptes in Ieremy and Ezekiel The prophet Ieremy reckoneth 23. yeeres from the 13. of Iosias vnto the first of Nebuchadnezar Ezekiel reckoneth 40. yeeres alone whiche the learned many rightly make to be the time from Ieremyes prophecying to the burning of the Temple Also Ezekiel beginneth from the 18. of Iosias in the accompt of his 30. yeeres Ch. 1 1. as he is vnderstoode of Hebrewes Greekes and Latines And agayne he hath an accompt double for one vision which was In the 25. yeere of our captiuity as he speaketh and in the 14. yeere after the citie was stroken Ezek. 40 1. These places call to a further tryall any errour that falleth out in accomptes within these spaces whereby the trueth wyll be sone knowen Of vniuersall errours of the Iewes inuented continued and helde yet of malice against Christ and folowed by Christians of no small note THe last place
had of the text it cannot be agreeable to iudgement Some of them were Prophetes Euery part of the Gospel belongeth to some part of Gabriels oration where he telleth Daniel of Christ and abridgeth all the Prophets VVherby they who call the time in doubt wound euery part of the Gospel For one part wounded equally greeueth all the rest being no lesse depending togeather then the members of one body And the same spirite was in the Prophetes The ending of all Moses ceremonies is prefixed by the Angel which matter touching the Iewes and all nations shoulde be so certayne that no Iew nor any of any nation coulde striue for the meanyng of that so weighty a doctrine And God hath omitted nothyng that shoulde make that playne to the simplest VVherefore they deale agaynst the wysedome and honour of God who seeke to bring doubt to the matter The deadliest enemies who vnderstoode not the christianitie of Gabriels oration yet they graunt the wordes in as playne speach as any Christian coulde meane them Aben Ezra is my warrant a Iew most spiteful wanting not wit but grace His testimony myght ende the cause The seauenty seauens are from the going-foorth of the worde at Daniels prayer vnto the sealyng of Christ the most holy vpon Dan. 9 24. The ancient Diuines who exceede Gabriels accompt runne into the extremity of vnheedinesse For by their myghtiest defenders they are found to condemne them selues For they make the tyme from Cyrus permission to returne not to be aboue 32. yeeres and the best learned of their defenders make it but 93. thence to Alexander And neyther I nor they wyll haue it aboue 360. thence to our Lord his death So the force of the trueth dryueth them to agree with it when by partes they try it The Greeke wryters prophane who made the ancient Diuines giue the Persians 230. yeres for 130. those Greekes rightly examined wyll bryng the Persians vnto 130. As I haue proued in an Apologie for Daniel and may take occasion to handle agayne VVho so defendeth Olympiades to haue any certentie of accompt shall finde him selfe deceyued when he seeth whole troupes extreamely disagreeing which disagreement I haue elswhere put forth This I dare say that the cyting of Olympiades to measure the space of yeeres betwixt the Alter and Temple built both in the office of Zorobabel and Iosuah and buylt both by the returners from Babylon that citing of Olympiades to teach all Iewes and Gentiles to take a new iudgement for the Bible no more stoode with iudgement then it can stand with iudgement to take a reede of 400. ynches broken into 400. peeces and skattered to meate a yarde of cloth or any thyng of 36. ynches For men differ no lesse then 400. yeeres touching their beginning and in al ancient ages brake of began new games and new accomptes which are vsuall in autours and serue no more for vse in diuinity then the idol of Iupiter Olympius beseemed the holy Temple And as Antiochus Epiphanes with his Idole polluted the Temple so the ancient marred their owne autority when they agree with the vnreconcileable the Iewes and Gentiles writing vpon Daniel and the other last Prophet speaking vnspeaking writing blotting Euen whole workes of prophane Greekes must be denied to be the autours whose they haue alwaies been counted by the ouerreachers of the Angels summe as Dionys Halicarnass reiecteth certayne orations of Lysias because his Chronicle wyll not agree with theyr argument yet later Greekes condemne him Yet Plutarch and Vlpian admit that oratation To the like plundge haue Lilius Gyraldus and Hieronimus Wolphius been put who censured that Suidas must be amended because in hym Cyrus and Cambyses reigne at the 25. Olympiade Though all printes the Basil the Venice the Millen agree in that So Heathen shalbe counted as Madianites when they fight against God and must alter euen prophane recordes for theyr cause or whole prophane workes wil fight for Daniel And to satisfie heathen recordes this may be now briefly touched that Darius Hystaspeos age in Ctesias and Herodotus wyll not suffer Xerxes warre to be aboue 30. yeeres from Babels fall Thereabout Pericles began his glory of Rethorique Eunomus Thriasius in Plutarch able to iudge in youth of Pericles tremblyng in his beginnynges and in olde olde age of Demosthenes tremblyng lykewyse whereas Demosthenes began neare Philip Macedons reigne 26. yeeres afore Alexanders Monarchy this man and whole troupes of the lyke woulde make Greeke grammarians babes in deede who from Olympiades feigne distances whereof the lyues and writers of the present age wyll skantly graunt oft tymes the thyrde part of their accompt I had whole flockes of this kinde to haue ioyned here in defence of Diuines the best learned Protestantes and Romistes of all Christendome agaynst brauers in Heathen studies as was Nicholas Vignier to disgrace them But short positions wyll not admit that store of large discourses Seuerally they must be handled for better taming of our boysterous young Studentes who triumph how in theyr conceite Gabriel and Daniel myght be disgraced What paradoxes they fall into which exceede for the Persians tyme to make it 200. yeeres or more how they must feigne 107. betwixt the Alter and Temple which opinion was neuer heard of vntil 1584. and shaketh all iudgementes vttered for the holy wryters of that age THe ouerreachers when they are resolued to exceed yet when they choose theyr place where to aduenture might as well sounde wordes against the Sunne lyke the Lybians in Herodot as shoote theyr wordes agaynst the Prophet Daniels counters For they are fayne to inuent new accomptes not in vre before and farre from the common opinion that from the returne 107 are to the building of the Temple A strange thing So shoulde Zorobabel and Iosuah be 107. yeeres officers both togeather but neuer any were so long So all the millions thousandes hundrethes and tens of the Iewes and Gentiles must alter their opinions for the age of Mardochai Ezra Nehemia and the generation returned from Babylon which in Ezra buildeth the Temple all that haue written of this matter and come to notice or may be thought to haue considered the cause For by them which haue wrytten we may thinke of the rest And the penners of those bookes must be counted eyther Sophisters to haue deceyued continually or vnlearned as vnable to speake to mens capacity The lyke may be spoken for Aggei and Zachary as for Ezra And all errours that woulde herein fall out are more in number then can be spoken So no place shall be founde wherein one may go about to exceede Daniels accompt but the endeuour wyll appeare in faultes to match the number of the sandes of the Seas Of the Angels partition The 490. yeeres the Angel parteth and bestoweth the fyrst part for the buylding of Ierusalem and the last halfe seauen of yeeres for our Lord his preachyng Aben Ezra euen so expoundeth the fyrst part and R.
generations as the blood of Abel was vpon Cayn And as those Iewes which sayd We haue no King but Caesar knew a better and confesse with R. Akiba in Massecheth Taanith O our father our king we haue no king but thee O our father our king for thy owne sake take pittie So to this day Daniels last wordes O Lord heare O Lord forgiue O Lord attende and doe and differ not for thy owne sake O Lord These wordes are in their dayly prayers once twice thrice neare togeather that yf they would heare yf they would haue forgiuenesse yf they would attende for the next wordes for Christ they myght see that our Lord differred not but in due tyme performed all goodnesse Yet they so often resisted the light that their sinne came to the highest degree as them selues expounde Esai the sixt that they sinned agaynst the holy Ghost the certainty of the tyme being no lesse cleere then the brightnesse of the Sunne Iosephus confesseth not onely that Iesus was vniustly killed by Pilate and arose the thirde day and was the Christ for which name he went to Gabriel in Daniel but also that al the nation did then looke vnto the prophecie that a king should be amongst them which shoulde rule all the worlde That prophecie doubtlesse can be no other then that of Daniel of whose prayer to this day they keepe euen the last wordes them which were yet in Daniels mouth when the Angel came flying vnto him told of the time which fel out with the last Iubilee to ende at once all the ceremonies of the partition wall And this farre the iourneyes of the Sunne be recorded by the holy Ghost and no farther then to our Lords death that his name Shemesh in the holy tongue in our Albion A Seruant shoulde herein shew his chiefest seruice and we not onely know that Christ is come but be able to shew out of the Prophetes when he was to come for our owne strength for conuicting the aduersarie and cleereing of the manifolde Scriptures for tymes which hereupon depende and haue no lesse vse in the body of the holy volume then the Nerues in a mans body for the vse of motion And for my resolution touching my aduersaries in this case I wyll speake from Iob All the while breath is in mee God forbid that I shoulde graunt your cause to be right For in the holy recorde of tymes is the wysedome found and there is the place of vnderstanding The Cethem from Ophir the Paz from Vphaz the Topaz the Onix the Gabis the Pearle the Saphir the Christall are not so goodlie The name of Christ Palmony the wonderfull numberer hither vnto belongeth how from the beginning he draweth out the tyme vntyll he becommeth Eschol Copher the cluster of Redemption which ought to finde a lodging betwixt all faythfull brestes FINIS * Ierusalemy in Rosh hashana ‡ Odyss 1. § At Terahs death That worke is ancient compiled about our 300. yeeres * Exod. 12 4. Gal. 3 17. Act. 7 3. Gen. 11 26. Gen. 12 1. ‡ Gen. 11. Ester 2. Ezek. 4. Ier. 52. * Aben ezra vpon Dan. 9. * Tull. 1. off ‡ About so much shoulde be by some late Chroniclers § Before the 36 yeere after the returne the Temple for stone worke was finished § Iude. 7 22. * As namely two of Oxf. M Koph and M. Car-warden Vpon Dan. 9. Mid. Psa 10. Rambam in Iobal Tal. Ierus in Hauebodekin In tryalles it must be examined in what Iubal the matter fell out Cha 10. Pag. 22. Cha. 9. In Chether malcuth Crowne of kingdome pag. 315. 316. 318. t◠be vsed thrise in expiation feast Rambam Repentance cha 6. Mat. Mark Luk. Iohn Act. § Ioseph Antiq lib. 18. cap. 4. ‡ as all the east did Ioseph de Bello Iud. lib. 7. cha 12. Tacit. li. 21. Sueton in Vespasian ‡ For the expiation feast Cyppur for Christ is taught of Capper in that feast and in Daniels 9. cha Dan. 9. ‡ Song 1.