one onely place of that Country namely Jerusalem whither every man was bound to repair three times every year to wit at the Pasqua Pentecost and the Feast of Taberbernacles there and no where else to offer sacrifice I say this Law of Moses being altogether Ceremonial and peculiar to that Nation it was necessary at the coming of the Messiah the same should be abolished and a more general and perfect Law given and established a Law that should be common to all men serve for all countries times places and persons otherwise how could the Gentiles be made partakers of the Covenant as well as the Jews how could all these nations so far distant from Jerusalem repair thrice every year thither how should every woman dwelling in the East or west India's repair thither for her purification after every Childbirth as by the Law of Moses she was commanded Levit. 12. Therefore it is manifest that this Law of Moses was given to continue but for a time even till the comming of the Messiah and then another to come in place to continue till the worlds end This signified Moses to the people after he had delivered the former Law to them saying The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me from among you even of thy brethren unto him shalt thou hearken As if he had said ye shall hear me till he come who must be a Lawgiver as my selfe but of a far more absolute and perfect Law and therefore more to be reverenced and obeyed And then he addeth in the person of God himself this thundering sentence against all mis-believers Whosoever will not hearken unto my Word which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Which words cannot be verefied in any other Prophet after Moses until Christ for that of those Prophets ' there arose none in Israel like unto Moses Deut. 34.10 They had no authority to be Lawgivers as Moses had but were all bound to the observation of his Law till Christ should come whom Moses here calleth a Prophet like unto himself that is a Lawmaker exhorting all men to hear and obey him Hereunto the Prophets subscribe none of them all presuming to take upon them that priviledge to be like unto him A Prophet like unto Moses they must let that alone to the Messiah whose office it is to change the Law of Moses given upon mount Sinai and in stead thereof to promulgate a new Law to begin at Sion as saith the Prophet Isaiah The Law shall go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Which cannot be understood of Moses Law published eight hundred years before this Prophesie and that from Sinai not from Sion but of the preaching of the Gospel which began at Jerusalem and from thence was spread over al the world Which the same Isaiah foresaw when talking of the Messiah he saith In that day shall five Cities in the Land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan c. In that day shall the Altar of the Lord be in the midst of the Land of Egypt and a pillar by the border thereof unto the Lord And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and do sacrifice and oblation and shall vow vows c. which could not be verified of the Law of Moses for by that Law the Egyptians could have neither Altar nor Sacrifice but it was fulfilled upon the coming of Christ when the Egyptians were made Christians Also in another place And the Isles shall wait for his Law The same was likewise foretold by God in Malachy where he saith to the Jews and of the Jewish Sacrifices I have no pleasure in you neither will I receive an offering at your hands for from the rising of the Sun until the going down of the same my name is great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name is great among the Gentiles saith the Lord of Hosts Wherein we see first a reprobation of the Jewish Sacrifices and consequently of the Law of Moses which dependeth principally thereupon Secondly that among the Gentiles there should be a pure manner of Sacrifice more grateful unto God then the other not limitted either in respect of time or place as the Mosaical Law and Sacrifice was For so saith God in Ezekiel I gave them statutes which were not good and judgements wherein they shal not live that is not good to continue perpetually nor shal they live in them any longer but til the time by me appointed Of which time he determineth more particularly by Jeremiah in these word Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and Judah not according to that Covenant which I made with their Fathers c. Where you see a new Covenant or Testament promised different from the old Whereupon I conclude the old Law of Moses by the Messiah must be changed into a New The time of his manifestation with all other circumstances NOw for the time of his manifestation with all other circumstances of his birth life death resurrection ascension and those things also that fel out afterwards if we shal consider how particularly and precisely they were all foretold by the Prophets and how long before some hundreds some thousands of years before they fel out as also how exactly they were all fulfilled in the person of our blessed Saviour all directed like so many lines to one Center we shal as it were in a mirrour see and behold both the truth of Christan Religion setled upon a most firm and unmoveable center as also the vanity of all other Religions whatsoever especially this most vain expectation of the Jews to this day of their Messiah yet for to come as vain and fond altogether as was that opinion of one of the Philosophers which the word Center hath put me in mind of that the Earth forsooth did move and the Heavens stand still and how far they are degenerate not only from all true light and understanding in heavenly matters but also even from common sense and reason it self in things of that nature tending thereunto And first for the time Daniel who lived in the first Monarchy foretold that there should be three Monarchies more the last the greatest of all to wit the Roman Empire and then the Eternal King or Messiah should come his words are these In the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven ser up a Kingdom which shall I never be destroyed Dan. 2.44 And just according to this time was the Messiah born namely in the days of Augustus Cesar Luk. 2. as both we Christians account and the Jews acknowledge even in those Halcyon days of peace when the Temple gates of Janus were commanded to be shut and upon that very day when Augustus commanded that no man should cal him Lord was this
over Jerusalem the second he denounceth as an angry Judge provoked at length to execute his fierce wrath upon them without any compassion at all His words are these Moreover those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me Which words of our Saviour although they will in no wise believe no more then they did the former yet shal they find his words one day as truly fulfilled to them in the one as they have done already in the other And howsoever hitherto they have esteemed of him as a false Prophet a Deceiver yet hath he been to them but too true a Prophet in all their calamities both first and last And so after this long digression I come to the next The Prophesie of Jeremy THe sixt which confirmeth the former is that of Jer. 23.5 Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch and a King shall reign c. And this is the name whereby they shall call him The Lord our righteousness This was spoken of Davids seed about 400. years after David was dead and buried which proveth manifest that the former promises were not made unto him for Solomon his Son or any other temporal King of his line but only for the Messiah who was called so peculiarly the Son and Seed of David The Prophesie of Ezekiel THe seventh which also confirmeth the other is that of Ezek. 34.23 I will set up a Shepherd over them he shall feed them even my servant David c. In which words the Jews themselves do confesse in their Talmud that their Messiah is called by the name of David for that he shall descend of the seed of David and so it must needs be for that King David being dead so long before could not now come again in his own person to feed them himselfe The Prophesie of Isaiah THe eighth is the Prophesie of Isaiah 2.2 It shall be in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all Nations shall flow unto it c. For the Law shall go forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem He shall judge among the Nations Which very words Michah repeateth Chap. 4.1 and are applied there as also here unto the Messiah they can have no other meaning by the judgment of the Jews themselves In that day shall the Bud of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent Unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given and the Government is upon his shoulders he shall call his name Wonderful Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace the increase of his Government shall have none end And in the 11. Chapter There shall come a rod forth of the stock of Ishai and a graff shall grow out of his root and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him Behold your God commeth c. Then shall the eyes of the blind be lightened and the ears of the deaf shall be opened then shall the same man leap like a Hart and the dumb mans tongue shall sing c. Chap. 35.4 ' And he said It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel I will also give thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou maist be my salvation unto the ends of the earth Chap. 49.6 Out of all which places before aledged I conclude first the comming of a Messiah which the Jews will not deny secondly that he must be King as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews which they cannot deny thirdly that he must be a spiritual a temporal King as they imagin It followeth next to be proved that he must be both God and man even the Son of God the second person in Trinity to be blessed for evermore which also they shall not deny That the Messiah must be both God and Man THe Jews at the first agreed with us in all or most points as touching the Messiah for to come denying only the fulfilling or application thereof in our Saviour but since the latter Jews finding themselves not able to stand in that issue against us they have devised a new plea saying that we attribute many things unto Jesus that were not foretold of the Messiah to come namely that he should be God and the Son of God the second person in Trinity which we will prove both by Scriptures as also by the writings of their own forefathers For Scriptures it is evident by all or the most alledged before that the Messiah must be God even the Son of God indued with mans nature that is both God and man Genesis where he is called the seed of the woman it is apparent he must be man and in the same place where it is said he shall break the Serpents head who can do this but only God So in Isaiah where he is called the bud of the Lord his Godhead is signified and when he is called the fruit of the earth his Manhood And so in another place Behold a Virgin shal conceive and bare a Son and thou shalt call his name Immanuel that is to say God with us which name can agree to none but to him that is both God and man And who can interpret these speeches That his Kingdom shall be everlasting Isa. 9. That his name shall be for ever it shall endure as long as the Sun and the Moon That all Kings shall worship him all Nations serve him Psa. 72 worship him all ye Gods Ps. 97. That no man can tell his age Isa. 53 That he must sit at the right hand of God Ps. 110. Who I say can understand or interpret them but of God seeing in man they cannot be verified with which place of Scripture the Evangelists do report that Jesus did put to silence divers of the learned Pharisees for saith he If the Messiah be Davids Son how did David call him Lord signifying thereby that albeit he was to be Davids Son as he was man yet was he to be Davids Lord as he was God and so do both Rab. Jonathan and their own publick Commentaries interpret this place Michah is plain His going forth is from the beginning and from everlasting And Isaiah is bold to proclaim him by his own name even God and to give him his right stile with all additions as Herolds to great Kings and Princes use to do He shall call his name Wonderful Councellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace c. In vaine therefore is that objection of the Jewes that El or Elohim signifying God is sometimes a plyed to a creature here it cannot be so nor in the next place following Ps.
after me commeth a man that is preferred before me for he was before me and I knew him not but because he should be declared to Israel therefore am I come baptizing with water So John bare record saying I saw the spirit come down from Heaven like a Dove and abiding upon him And I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water he said unto me upon whom thou shalt see the spirit come down and stay stil upon him that is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God According as it is in the other three Evangelists more at large expressed how that Jesus when he was baptized came strait out of the water and lo the Heavens were opened unto him And John saw the spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him And loe a voice came from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am wel pleased The next day John stood again and two of his Disciples and he beheld Jesus walking by and said Behold the Lamb of God and the two Disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus All this was done at Bethabara beyond Jordan in the sight and hearing of a number of people there present as three of our Evangelists do report which they would never have presumed to have done had not the matter been most evident and without all compass of denial or contradiction And truely no one thing in all this story of Jesus life doth more establish certainty of his being the true Messiah then that John the Baptist whose wisdom learning vertue and rare sanctity is confessed and recorded by the writings of all our adversaries should refuse the honour of the Messiah offered unto himself and lay it upon Jesus and also should direct those Disciples that depended upon him to the onely following and imbracing of Jesus doctrine which is most evidently proved that he did for that so many followers and Disciples as himself had not one appeared ever after that was not a Christian These circumstances I say of the birth and comming of the Messiah into this world so long before foretold by the Prophets and fulfilled so exactly in the person of our blessed Lord and Saviour wel considered I may at length conclude Heaven and Earth concurring Men and Angels with all other Creatures applauding thereunto yea and God himself from Heaven pronouncing it This is my beloved Son in whom I am wel pleased That therefore as sure as God is God and cannot lye nor give Testimony to any untruth so sure is Jesus Christ the Son of God the true Messiah and Saviour of the world no other to be expected His preaching or doctrine THus having evicted by the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ together with the circumstances both before and after that he was by birthright the only legitimate as I may say and true born Messiah all others that were before him or since have sprung up or shal do hereafter to the worlds end but bastards and usurpers yea theeves and robbers and that in the highest degree of thee very that may be even robbing God of his honour which he wil not impart to any other it remaineth yet further to demonstrate the same by his life death resurrection and ascension with all other accidents and circumstances accordingly to be observed which may make this mystery more and more manifest or rather palpable as the Apostle witnesseth saying that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with these our eyes which we have looked upon and these hands of ours have handled c. that I say which we have seen and heard declare we unto you what can be more palpable After his baptisme he began to preach having before gotten his living as most conjecture with his own hands and eaten his bread with the sweat of his brows to shew himself true man and that he was made a curse for us as it is written In the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread and what was his doctrine of this world or worldly delights of pleasure or profit no no quite contrary to the humors of this wicked world and to the corruptions of flesh and blood which procured him the more hatred as in all the four Evangelists Matthew Mark Luke and John who recorded both his sayings and doings may appear wholly tending to the sincere service of God in spirit and truth to the exaltation of Gods glory the beating down of mans pride by discovering his misery to the contempt of this wicked world and vain pomp thereof to the mortification of all sins in us patience peace of conscience c. in a word all directed to the manifestation of his Fathers will and amendment of mans life tending wholly to this one ground or principle Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul which is the first and great commandment and thy Neighbour as thy self on which two hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets The manner of his Doctrine was simple plain and easie altogether according to the evidence of the Spirit not in the enticing words of mans wisdom like the Heathen Orators and Phylosophers nor like the Scribes and Pharisees but with power and authority without either fear or flattery of any mans person rebuking all mens sins even to their faces which I say procured him such a general hatred It took away no one spiritual point of Moses Law but the Ceremonial only and Provincial which by the coming of the Messiah was to be taken away yea rather revived interpreted and made perfect the same corrupted much by the Jews false interpretations and glosses That as they taught commanding external observance only this adding internal obedience also For whereas that enjoyned according to the letter and as they interpreted to love our neighbours and friends and no further this adjoyneth love also your enemies bless them that curse you Matth. 5.43 Where that prohibited actually to commit Adultry and no more as they imagined this forbiddeth the adultry of the eye and of the very heart And so of all the rest of the decalogue our Saviours doctrine is nothing else but a most exact and sincere exposition according to the true intent of the Law-giver God the Father Therefore I conclude this doctrine so quite contrary to the gross humors of this wicked world and so repugnant to flesh and blood so wholly devoted to Gods glory and the sincere observation of his Law is the doctrine proper to the Messiah which the Prophets of God foretold should be delivered by him at his coming into the world His life and conversation FOr his life and conversation the express Image of his Doctrine it was stainless and without reproof even by the testimony of his very enemies acknowledged also by the Divels themselves A man of such gravity as never in his life he was noted to
the Apostle in a most fervent manner both prayeth and prophesieth to this effect Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved Then prophesieth at large in the chapter following and that most divinely as of their fall so of their general call in due time with many arguments and reasons to that purpose Which Prayer and Prophesie of hâ—â— proceeding from a Divine Instinct and Revelation no doubt shall one day take effect For it cannot be but that the word of God should take effect For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Grecian To the Jew first there is the promise there is the priviledge Lift up your heads now therefore O ye Jews sons of Abraham children of the promise to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises of whom are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came I say lift up your heads and listen to the heavenly calls of Christ and his Apostle Paul For your Redemption draweth neer This is the generation of them that seek him of them that seek thy face Jacob Selah Lift up your heads ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in And let us Christians also upon whom the ends of the world are come lift up our heads and know remembring that parable of the Fig-tree when we see these things begin to come to pass that the Kingdom of God is near even at the doors Verily I say unto you This generation shal not pass till all these things be done Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away They are the words of our Saviour And now Brethren to return to Paul I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Be favourable unto Zion for thy good pleasure build the walls of Jerusalem Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of righteousness even the burnt Offering and Oblation then shall they offer Calves upon thine Altar O give salvation unto Israel out of Zion when God turneth the captivity of his people then shall Jacob rejoyce and Israel shal be glad When the Lord brought again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with joy Then said they among the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce O Lord bring again our Captivity as the Rivers in the South Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen that we may praise thine holy Name and glory in thy praise Comfort us according to the days that thou hast afflicted us and according to the yeers that we have seen evil Thou wilt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to have mercy thereon for the appointed time is come For thy servants delight in the stones thereof and have pity on the dust thereof Then the Heathen shall fear the Name of the Lord and all the Kings of the Earth thy glory When the Lord shall build up Zion and shall appear in his glory and shall turn unto the Prayer of the desolate and not despise their prayer This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord for he hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary out of the heaven did the Lord behold the earth That he might hear the mourning of the Prisoner and deliver the children appointed unto death that they may declare the Name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem For God will save Zion and build the Cities of Judah that men may dwel there and have it in possession The seed also of his servants shall inherit it and they that love his Name shall dwell therein Surely the Lord will not fail his people neither will he forsake his Inheritance He hath alway remembred his Covenant and promise that he made to a thousand generations Thou wilt think upon thy Congregation which thou hast possessed of old and on the rod of thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed and on mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt Yea when the Lord turneth again the captivity of his people which will be when they turn unto him by hearty repentance not before when they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble he delivered them out of their distress then will he make even their very enemies to become their friends and give them grace and favour in the sight of all those Kings and Princes under whom they now live and groan in most miserable slavery and bondage as in their former captivities may be observed He saw when they were in affliction and heard their cry He remembred his Covenant towards them and repented according to the multitude of his mercies and gave them favour in the sight of all them that led them captive for the hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord as the Rivers of waters he turneth them which way soever it pleaseth him So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia after that their seventy yeers captivity in Babylon as also Darius and others to write in their behalf sundry most favourable Edicts for their return into their own Country again with large liberality for the re-edifying of the Temple of God in Jerusalem For the Lord had made them glad and turned the heart of the King of Asshur unto them to encourage them in the work of the house of God even the God of Israel Therefore Ezra blesseth the Lord for all these extraordinary favours saying blessed be the Lord God of our Fathers which so hath put in the Kings heart to beautifie the House of the Lord that is in Jerusalem c. Yea rather then fail of his promised deliverance to his people when they cry unto him in their distress He will rebuke even Kings for their sakes As he did Pharaoh King of Aegypt in the days of old with this peremptory command by the hand of Moses over and over Let my people go that they may serve me or if thou wilt not c. inflicting upon them one plague after another till at length they were forced to drive them away as it is in that place Rise up get you out from among my people and go serve the Lord as ye have said And the Egyptians did force the people because they would send them out of the Land in hast for they said we die all giving them favour in the mean time in the sight of
45.6 Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever c. Wherefore God even thy God hath annoynted thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Which cannot be applyed to Solomon but as a type of the Messiah Howsoever the name JEHOVAH which is of such reverence among the Jewes that they dare not pronounce it but in place thereof read Adonai that I am sure they will never grant to belong to any creature Then what say they to that of Jer. 23.6 where the Messiah is called in plain terms Jehovah And this is the name whereby they shal cal him Jehovah our righteousnesse So likewise Chap. 33.16 over again is he called by the same name Jehovah our rightousness And so do the ancient Jews themselves expound this place namely Rabbi Abba who asketh the question what the Messiah shal be called and answereth out of this place he shall be called the Eternal Jehovah The like doth Misdrasch upon the first verse of the 20. Psalm And Rabbi Moyses Hadersan upon Gen. 41 expounding that of Zephany 3 9. concludeth thus In this place Jehovah signifieth nothing else but the Messiah And so did one of the Jews at unawares acknowledge to me alledging that place out of the Psalmes The Lord doth build up Jerusalem c. that their Messiah at his comming should build a new City and Sanctuary much more glorious then the former So did he also interpret that place of Hag. 2.10 of a third Temple Whereupon I inferred seeing in those words he alledged The Lord doth build up Jerusalem the Hebrew word is Jehovah therefore by his own intepretation the Messiah must be Jehovah which he could not well shift off but said that Adonai for Jehovah they dare not name must there be understood which point of the Godhead of the Messiah the most ancient Jews did ever acknowledge proving by sundry places of Scripture not onely that he should be the Son of God but also the word of God incarnate First that he should be the Son of God they prove out of Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shal not depart c. til Shiloh come Which Rabbi Kimhi proveth to signifie his Son that is the Son of God Oat of Isaiah where he is called ' The bud of the Lord Out of the Psalms where it is said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And a little after ' Kiss the Son least he be angry and ye perish blessed are all they that trust in him Which last words cannot be understood of the Son of any man for it is written Cursed be the man that trusteth in man Jer. 17.5 Secondly that he shall be the Word of God they prove out of Isaiah as also out of Hosea where it is said I will save them by the Lord their God Ionathan translateth it thus I will save them by the Word of their God So where it is sayd The Lord sayd to my Lord sit at my right hand c. The Lord said to his Word sit at my right hand Also where it is sayd He sent his Word and healed them Rabbi Isaack Arama upon Gen. 47. expoundeth it to be meant of the Messiah that shall be Gods Word So likewise that of Iob I shall see God in my flesh c. Rabbi Simeon upon Gen. 10. gathereth thereupon that the Word of God shall take flesh womans womb Another out of these words Jehovah our God is one Jehovah proveth the blessed Trinity saying by the first Iehovah is signified God the Father by the next which is Elohim God the Son and by the other Johovah God the Holy Ghost proceeeding of them both to all which is added the word one to signifie that these three are indivisible but this secret saith he shall not be revealed until the coming of the Messiah These are the words of Rabbi Ibda reported by Rabbi Simeon in a Treatise called Zoar of great authority among the Jews where also they said Rabbi Simeon interpreteth those words of Isaiah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts in this manner Isaiah by repeating three times Holy saith he doth signifie as much as if he had said Holy Father Holy Son and Holy Spirit which three Holies do make but one Lord God of Hosts which mystery of the blessed Trinity Rabbi Hacadosch gathereth out of the very letters of JEHOVAH upon those words of Jeremy before recited the two natures of the Messiah both Divine and Humane his two filiations the one whereby he must be the Son of God the other whereby he must be the Son of Man concluding thereupon that in him there shall be two Distinct Natures and yet shall they make but one Christ which is the same that we Christians hold Philo that learned Jew shall end this first consideration touching the Nature and Person of the Messiah as himself writeth in his Book De Exulibus By tradition we have it saith he that we must expect the death of an high Priest which Priest shall be the very Word of God void of all sin whose Father shall be God and this Word shal be the Fathers wisdom by which all things in this world were created c. Therefore the Messiah must be both God and Man both by the Scriptures as also by their own Writers they cannot deny it That the Messiah must change the Law of Moses AS the Messiah must be both God and Man even the natural and onely begotten Son of God and the very Word of God incarnate void of all sin able to satisfie the wrath of his Father and to fulfil the Law of Moses for us which Moses himself could not do nor any other after him It was a burthensome law to the Children of Israel A yoak which neither they nor their forefathers were able to bear so having once in his own person most exactly accomplished the same here on earth together with all Rites Ceremonies Prophesies Types Figures and Circumstances of his comming clearly fulfilled in him and by him It was necessary I say the substance being once come those shadows and ceremonies should cease and be abolished I mean the ceremonial Law totally for as touching the moral Law or the Commendments he saith I came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them only thus far hath he abolished that too he hath taken away the curse of it hanging it on his Crosse even the hand writing that was against us together with himselfe crucified This ceremonial Law of Moses I say consisting of such a multitude of Ceremonies Figures Types Sacrifices c. all of them for the most part pointing at the Messiah to come for by those outward signs and services appointed by God to his people they were still put in mind of his Covenant and assured of his promise that the Messiah should come Moreover it being proper and peculiar to one only Nation in all the world namely Jury the exercise thereof permitted but in
Prince of Peace born Therefore to him agreeth this circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time expect another Secondly Jacob who lived many yeares before prophesied of this time very precisely as already hath been alledged that the Messiah whom he there called Shiloh should come at that time when the Scepter or Government Regal was departed from the house of Judah which was in the days of Herod and never till then who first usurped that government his Father-in-Law King Hircanus with all his off-spring of the blood Royal of Judah together with the Sanhedrim put to death The Genealogies of the Kings and Princes burned A new pedegree for himselfe devised In a word all authority regal whatsoever belonging to that Tribe at that time quite extinguished And just according to this time was our Saviour born namely in the days of Herod Mat. 2.1 Therefore to him agreeth this circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time expect any longer Thirdly God himselfe saith by his Prophet Haggai that the Messiah whom he there calleth The desired of all Nations shall come in the time of the second Temple which was then but new built far inferiour in stateliness and glory to the former built by Solomon which the old men in the book of Ezra testifie by their weeping when they saw this second Temple and remembred the glory of the first The words of the Lord by his Prophet Haggai are these Speak unto Zerubbabel who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory and how do you see it now it is not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing yet now be of good cheer O Zerubbabel for thus saith the Lord of Hosts yet a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land And I will move all Nations and the desire of all Nations shal come and I wil fil this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this last house shal be greater then the first c. which must needs be understood of the comming of the Messiah to wit his personal presence in this second Temple in whom is the fulness of glory and therefore could he and none other fil it with glory being himself indeed the King of glory Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shal come in So doth Malachy prophesie in these words The Lord whom ye seek shal speedily come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye desire behold he shal come saith the Lord of Hosts c. And so indeed he did for Christ Jesus came into the world during this second Temple and did himself likewise foretel the destruction thereof which came to pass even in that age Therefore to him agreeth this Circumstance of time very fitly most vainly therefore do the Jews after this time to wit the destruction of the second Temple expect any further Fourthly the Messiah by the true computation of Daniels Prophesie accounting his Hebdomades or Weeks for so many years to be multiplyed by seven that is to say Weeks of Years as they must needs be understood was to come just according to the time before mentioned his words are these Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thine holy City know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the Commandement to bring again the people and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shal be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks And after threescore and two weeks shal the Messiah be slain and not for himself And the people of the Prince that shal come shal destroy the City and Sanctuary and he shal confirm the Covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shal cause the sacrifice and oblations to cease Which Hebdomades or weeks of years whether we account from the first year of Cyrus who first determined the Jews reduction or from the second of Darius who confirmed and put the same in execution or from the twentieth year of Darius for that he then made a new Edict in the favour of Nehemias and sent him into Jury every way they will end in the reign of Herod and Augustus under whom Christ was born or in the reign of Tiberius under whom he suffered And by no interpretation can it be avoided but that this time is now our above one thousand five hundred years Besides this being a clear prophesie of the Messiah howsoever somewhat more intricate and obscure in respect of the years wherein the Prophet alludeth to the Captivity of Babylon as some think must needs be interpreted according to the former prophesies also of the Messiah And so doth the Prophet expound himself in the former words namely That the Messiah should be slain before the destruction of the City and Sanctuary Yet is there one week more to make up the number of seventy in the midst of which week the Messiah should be slain which came to pass accordingly for in the midst of that week that is about three years and an half after his baptisme Christ Jesus the true Messiah was slain and not for himself for Pilate could find no fault in him I finde no fault in the man I find no cause of death in him I am innocent of the blood of this just man look ye to it Not for himself but for us was he wounded as saith the Prophet Isaiah He was wounded for our transgressions Therefore to him doth this circumstance of time bear witness and consequently the Jews after these times by God himself appointed for the Messiah expecting yet for another besides the vanity of this their expectation they make God himself a lyar yea and all their forefathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the holy Prophets whose Children they hold themselves to be who all of them saw these days and prophesied of them Abraham rejoyced to see my day saith our Saviour and he saw it and was glad All these make they Lyars with themselves whereby they shew themselves rather to be the Children of the Devil who is the Father of lyes then of Abraham who is the Father of the Faithful only For so did that vile Serpent at the first even dare to give God himself the lye as it is in Genesis God saith there to Adam In the day that thou eatest of such a tree thou shalt dye the death No saith the Devil it is not so ye shall not dye at all So do these Imps of Satan Generation of Vipers as John the Baptist in his time called them even just after the same manner For saith God by his Prophets at such a time will I send the Messiah into the world and by such and such marks ye shall know him no saith this froward Generation it is not
work be of men it will come to naught but if it be of God ye cannot destroy it lest ye be found even fighters against God Wherefore to conclude at length this main point of the time of Christs appearing which cutteth the very throat of the Jews vain expectation seeing at or about that time there concurred so many signs and arguments together as 1 the establishment of the Roman Empire newly erected for then by Daniels prophesie was the God of heaven to set up his Kingdom 2. The departure of the Rod or Scepter from the house of Juda. 3. The destruction of the second Temple foretold by our Saviour and comming to pass accordingly even in that age 4. The just calculation of Daniels Hebdomades or weeks of years 5. The observation of Rabbins 6. The publique fame and expectation of all the Jews together with the palpable experience of more then sixteen hundred years past since Jesus appeared wherein we see the Jewish people in vain do expect another Messiah they being dispersed over all the world without Temple Sacrifice Prophet or any other pledge at all of Gods favour which never happened to them till after the death of our Saviour for that in all other their banishments captivities and afflictions they had some prophesie consolation or promise left to them for their comfort but now they wander up and down God having set a mark upon them as he did upon Cain as a people forlorn and abandoned both of God and Men His Linage or Pedegre SEcondly the Messiah by the Scripture was to be born of the Tribe of Judah and to descend lineally from the house of David There shall come a rod out of the stock of Ishai c. So did our Saviour as appeareth by his Genealogy set down by his Evangelists Mat. 1. Luk. 3. as also by the Thalmud it self which saith That Jesus of Nazareth crucified was of the blood royal from Zerabbabel of the house of David confirmed by the going up of Joseph and Mary his Mother to Bethlehem to be taxed ' Which was the City of David who was born there as also it is manifest for that the Scribes and the Pharisees who objected many matters of much less importance against him as that he was a Carpenters Son c. yet never objected they against him that he was not of the house of David which could they have proved would quickly have ended the whole controversie His Birth with the Circumstances thereof THirdly the Messiah by the Scripture was to be born of a Virgin so saith Isaiah Behold a Virgin shal conceive and bring forth a son the Hebrew is He emphaticum the Virgin And Isaiah appointeth this to Achaz for a wonderful and strange sign from God therefore saith he The Lord himself will give you a sign behold which he could not have done in reason if the Hebrew word in that place had signified a young woman only as some latter Rabbins will affirm for that is no such sign nor strange thing but very common and ordinary for young women to conceive and bring forth Children and so did the elder Jews understand it as Rabbi Simeon noteth And Rabbi Moses Haddersan upon those words Truth shall bud forth of the Earth saith thus Here Rabbis Joden noteth that it is not said Truth shall be engendered but Truth shall bud forth to signifie that the Messiah who is meant by the word Truth shall not be begotten as other men are in carnal copulation To the same effect and after the same manner to be interpreted is that of Jeremy The Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth a Woman shall compass a Man And Rabbi Haccadosch proveth by Cabala out of many places of Scripture not only that the Mother of the Messiah must be a Virgin but also that her name shall be Mary Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus c that is to say after this strange and extraordinary manner therefore must he needs be the true and undoubted Messiah The Messiah by the Scripture was to born at Bethlehem in Judea for so it is written by the Prophet And thou Bethlehem Ephrathah art little to be among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that shall be the Ruler of Israel c. which place the chief Priests themselves quoted to that purpose to Herod demanding of them where Christ should be born and they answered him at Bethlehem in Judea for so it is written by the Prophet as before So also David after much restless study and industrious search to find out this mystery c. I will not enter into the Tabernacle of my house nor come upon my pallet or bed nor suffer mine eyes to sleep nor mine eyelids to slumber until I find out a place for the Lord c. At length the mystery being revealed unto him he doth as it were point to the very place in the words following Lo we heard of it at Ephratah which is Bethlehem Gen. 35.19 and found it in the fields of the Forrest Then addeth ' We will enter into his Tabernacle and worship before his footstoole foreshewing that divine worship there afterwards done to Jesus by those Magi or wise men who came from the East to worship him in that place even in the Cratch and before his footstoole Presenting unto him gifts of Gold Frankincense and mirrh as was also prophesied in another place that presents and gifts should be brought unto him from far countries and by great personages The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shal bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts Cyprian saith it is an old tradition of the Church that those Magi or wise men were Kings or rather little Lords of particular places which is to be understood such little Kings as Josuah slew thirty in one battel howsoever it is manifest they were men of place and reputation in their countries neither are prophesies always so strictly and literally to be understood They brought with them a great treasure Gold Frankincense and Mirrh yea both Herod and all Jerusalem took notice of their comming They had private conference with the King as touching the star that appeared unto them leading them to that most bright morning star whereof Balaam long before prophesied saying I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not neer there shal come a star of Jacob c. Jesus then being born at Bethlehem in Judea as was prophesied long before the Messiah should be and indeed it standeth with great reason that he that was to be the Son of David should also be born in the City of David the circumstances also of his birth duely considered both before and after first the Angels salutation to his Mother Mary foretelling that his name should be Jesus before ever he was conceived So Esdras prophesied in the person of God himselfe
not cast thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them c. And as before under the Judges so now under the Kings still as they sinned and multiplyed their transgressions so did the Lord inflict and multiply upon them his judgements one plague after another til at length they were carried captives into Babylon After which long captivity yet restored again upon their repentance the time was not long but they fell again to their old byas and forgate the Lord their God which had done so great things for them yea rather now worse then ever persecuting the Prophets from time to time whom God raised up amongst them and killing them one after another even till the coming of the Messiah and him also they crucified Whereupon ensued this last and final desolation as the full measure of their sine deserved and as themselves desired saying His blood be upon us and upon our children which hath continued now almost these sixteen hundred yeers the longest captivity and greatest misery that ever hapned to any people and so shall continue till they as did their forefathers turn to the Lord by true and hearty repentance cry unto the Lord in their trouble and then will the Lord deliver them out of their distress according to the former examples and not before And this is the state and condition of the Jews at this day the miserable state I say with the cause and the remedy which God grant they may make use of Amen AN ALLARUM TO THE JEWS Or the MESSIAH already come FIrst for the promises and prophesies of old as touching the coming of a Messiah whom we cal CHRIST both they and we agree both of us reading dayly in our Churches and Synagogues teaching and holding for canonical the very selfe same Scriptures even the Law and the Prophets In so much that the Gentile is often times enforced to marvail when he seeth a people so extreamly bent one against another as the Jewes are against Christians and yet do stand so peremptorily in defence of those very principles which are the proper causes of their disagreement But in the Interpretation and Application thereof ariseth all the Controversie they understanding and applying all things literally and carnally to their long looked for Messiah yet for to come We after a Spiritual manner understanding all those promises and prophesies to be most truely and realâ— fulfilled in the person of our blesseâ— Messiah already come they expecting a temporal King to rule and conquer in this world we acknowledging a spiritual King whose Kingdom is not of this world as himselfe did many times protest while he was in the world My kingdom is not of this world To begin with Adam and so forward Gods promise to Adam THe first promise as touching the Messiah is this made to Adam after his â—all for the restoring of mankind to wit that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head that is to say one of her seed to be born in time should conquer the Devil Death and Sin as the ancient Jews understand this place which being a spiritual conquest and against a spiritual enemy the Devil he I mean the Messiah must needs be a spiritual and consequently not a temporal King as the Jewes imagine Gods promise to Abraham THe second to Abraham Isaac and Jacob often repeated To Abraham Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the Families of the earth be blessed To Isaac Gen. 26.4 In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed To Jacob Gen. 28 14. In thee and in thy seed shall all the Families of the earth be blessed Therefore the Gentiles as well as the Jewes the blessing is general without exception all the Families of the earth all Nations no Prerogative of the Jew no exception of the Gentile as touching the Messiah I mean the benefit of this so general and great a blessing though otherwise much every way as the Apostle reasoneth to the Romans Whereupon I infer as before that the Messsiah must be a spiritual and not a temporal King otherwise it had been but a very small benediction to Abraham or others after him who never saw their Messiah actually if he must have been only a temporal King and much less blessing had been to us Gentiles if this Messiah of the Jews must have been a worldly and temporal Monarch to destroy and subdue all those Nations formerly blessed and blessed shall they be to the servitude of Jury as the latter Teachers do imagine The Prophesie of Jacob THe third which confirmeth the former is the prophesie of Jacob at his death Gen. 49.10 the rod or scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come and the People or Nations shall be gathered unto him Which the Chalde Paraphrase as also Onkelos both of singular authority among the Jews do interpret thus Until Christ or the Messiah come which is the hope and expectation of all Nations as well Gentiles as Jews the government shall not cease in the House or Tribe of Juda. Whence I infer the same conclusion as before that if the Messiah must be the hope and expectation as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews then can he not be a temporal King to destroy the Gentiles as the latter Jews would have it but a spiritual King as before hath been declared Secondly if the temporal Kingdom of the house of Juda whereof the Messiah must com shal cease and be destroyed at his comming and not before that being a certain sign of the time of his manifestation how then can the Jews expect yet a temporal King for their Messiah the Scepter already departed and gone their Kingdom and Priesthood defaced their City and Temple destroyed themselves scattered amongst all Nations and so have continued almost this sixteen hundred years yea such a fatal and final desolation by Gods just judgement brought upon that woful Nation and that not many years after the death and passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ according to his prophesie in his life time as may fully settle our faith in this point The Prophesie of Moses THe fourth is that of Moses to the people of Israel The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me from among you even of thy brethren unto him ye shall hearken c. and in the verses following I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee saith God to Moses and will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him and whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him Which words cannot be understood of any other Prophet that ever lived after Moses amongst the Jews but only of the Messiah as appeareth most plainly in another place in Deutrenomy where it is said
There arose not a Prophet in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord sent him to do c. no such Prophet except the Messiah ever after to be expected but the Messiah he it is that must match and overmatch Moses every way he must be a man as Moses was in respect of our infirmities even according as the people of Israel themselves desired the Lord in Horeb saying Let me hear the voice of the Lord God no more nor see this great fire any more that I dye not And the Lord said unto Moses they have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee c. He must be a Law-giver as Moses was but of a far more perfect Law as hereafter shal appear he must be such a one whom the Lord hath known face to face as he did Moses but of a far more divine nature For as it is in Isaiah Who shall declare his age Lastly he must be approved to the world by miracles signs and wonders as Moses was which the Lord shall send him to do as he did Moses But no such Prophet hath ever yet appeared in the world nor ever shall who hath so fitly answered this type so perfectly observed the Law of Moses which Moses himself could not do giving us instead therof a far more excellent Law as was prophesied long before that he should And finally so miraculously approved himselfe to the world to be sent from God by signs and wonders done both by himself and his Apostles as hereafter shall appear except this Christ which we profess therefore he alone is the true Messiah and no other to be expected The Prophesie of David THe fift is the Prophesie of David a type also of the Messiah who for that he was a holy man a man after Gods own heart out of whose linage the Messiah was to come had this Mystery most manifestly revealed unto him for the assurance whereof as of a great mystery even that of Christ and his Church God bindeth himselfe by an Oath saying I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant thy seed will I establish for ever and set up thy Throne from generation to generation Selah Which words although the lattter Jews will apply to King Solomon and so in some sort they may for that he also was a type of the Messiah yet properly these words I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever so often repeated cannot be verified of Solomon whose earthly Kingdom was rent and torn in pieces streight after his death by Jerâ—boam and not long after as it were extinguished but they must needs be understood of an eternal King and Kingdom as must also those other words of God in the Psalms Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the ends of the earth for thy possession Thou shalt crush them with a rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel which prophesie was never fulfilled in Solomon nor in any other temporal King in Jury after him And much lesse this that followeth They shal fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endureth from Generation to Generation In his days shall the righteous flourish and aboundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth His dominion also shall be from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth They that dwell in the Wilderness shall kneel before him and his enemies shall slick the dust The Kings of Tharshish and of the Isles shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts yea all Kings shall worship him all Nations shall serve him His Name shall be for ever his Name shall endure as long as the Sun all Nations shall be blessed in him and shall bless him And blessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious Name for ever and let all the Earth be filled with his glory Amen Amen And so he endeth as it were in a trance ravished beyond measure with the sweet and Heavenly contemplation of this spiritual and everlasting Kingdom of the Messiah for to him and to no other can all these Circumstances and Hyperbolical speeches of David rapt with the Spirit of Prophesie properly and primarily appertain though literally the Jews understand them of Solomon as they do many other places in like case applying them only to the type never looking to the substance whereof those types and fitures were but shadows and semblances God of his mercy in his good time take away the vaile from their hearts that at length they may see the true Solomon in all his royalty not any longer to grope at noon days winking with their eyes against the clear Sun like their fore-Fathers as it is in Isaiah a most fearful judgement of God laid upon that Nation of old objected to them many times and oft both by Christ and his Apostles but in vain Go and say unto this people ye shall hear indeed but shall not understand ye shall plainly see and not perceive make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert And be healed Whereupon ensueth even upon this winking and wilful obstinasie a most severe denunciation of final desolation Lord how long saith the Prophet and he answered Untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant the houses without a man and the Land be utterly desolate c. But yet a tenth reserved to return a holy seed remainig in due time to be converted This judgment and desolation hath been a long time upon them they feel it and groan under the burthen of it as their forefathers did in Egypt under Pharaoh and yet winking shut their eys and will not see it I mean acknowledge the true cause of these so great judgements revealed from Heaven upon them even the contempt of Gods holy Prophets sent unto them from time to time but especially of the Messiah whose blood lyeth heavily upon them even to this day as their forefathers desired His blood be upon vs and on our Children which all the world seeth is come to pass yea they themselves feel it yet winking with their eye they will not see it But there is a tenth to return c. The rest which will not this Messiah to reign over them let them look into that Parable in the Gospel there shall they find a far more fearful destruction denounced then the former The first being but for a time but a type of the other but a beginning of woes the other eternal for ever and ever The first he pronounceth with tears