〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text. Evasions of Abarbinel Kimchi and Aben Ezra examined Their Opinion of the Glory promised to the second House Of the greatness of it Things wanting in it by their own confession The Glory of this House not in the dayes of the Hasmonaeans or Herodians Not in its continuance Circumstances proving the true Messiah to be the Glory Anomalous Construction of the Words removed Mal. 3.1 explained Confession of the antient Jews WEE shall now proceed to other Testimonies of the same evidence and importance § 1 with the foregoing The end of calling and separating the people of the Jews from the rest of the world the forming of them into a Nation and the setting up of a Political State and Rule amongst them being solely as we have declared to bring forth the promised Messiah by them and to shaddow out his Spiritual Kingdom It was necessary that he should come before their utter desolation and final rejection from that state and condition which also he did according to the promise and prediction before insisted on and explained The same was the end of their Ecclesiastical or Church-State with all the Religious Worship that was instituted therein Whilest that also therefore continued and was accepted of God in the place of his own appointment he was to be brought forth and to accomplish his work in the world This also in sundry places of the Old Testament is foretold one or two of the most eminent of them we shall consider and manifest from them that the true Messiah is long since come and exhibited unto the world according to the Promise given of old to that purpose The first we shall fix upon is that of Haggai Chap. 2. v. 3 4 6 7 8 9. whereunto we shall add Mal. 3.1 The words of the former place are Who is left among you that saw this house in her first Glory and how do you see it now Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts and the Glory of this latter House shall be greater then the former saith the Lord of Hosts And in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts Those of the latter are Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom I seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts Both to the same purpose The occasion of the former words must be enquired after from the story of § 2 those times in Ezra and the whole Discourse of the Prophet in that place The people returning from their Captivity with Zerubbabel in the dayes of Cyrus had laid the foundation of the Temple but having begun their work great opposition was made against it and great discouragements they met withall as it will fall out with all men that engage in the work of God in any Generation The Kings of Persia who first encouraged them unto this work and countenanced them in it Ezra 1.7 8 9. being possessed with false reports and slanders as is usual also in such cases at first began to withdraw their assistance as it should seem in the dayes of Cyrus himself Ezra 4.5 And at length expresly forbad their proceedings causing the whole work to cease by force and power v. 23. Besides this outward opposition they were moreover greatly discouraged by their own poverty and disability for the carrying on their designed work in any measure so as to answer the beauty and glory of their former House builded by Solomon Hence the Elders of the people who had seen the former House in its glory wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundations of this laid Ezra 4.12 13. As fore-seeing how much the splendor and beauty of their Worship would be ecclipsed and impaired for as the measures of the Fabrick it self assigned unto it by Cyrus Ezra 6.3 did no way answer Solomons Structure so for the Ornaments of it wherein its magnificence did principally consist they had no means or ability to make any provision of them Being therefore thus hindered and discouraged the work ceased wholly from the end of Cyrus Reign unto the second year of Darius Hystiages For there is no reason to suppose that this intercision of the work continued unto the Reign of Darius Nothus Between the first year of the whole Empire of Cyrus to the second of Darius Nothus there were no less then a hundred years as we shall afterwards declare Now it is evident in Ezra that Zerubbabel and Joshuah who began the work in the Reign of Cyrus were alive and carried it on in the dayes of Darius And it is scarcely credible that they who it may be were none of the youngest men when they first returned unto Jerusalem should live there an hundred years and then return unto the work again Outward force and Opposition then they were delivered from in the second year of Darius Hystiages But their discouragements from their poverty and disability still continued This the Prophet intimates v. 4. Who is there left among you who saw this House in its first glory and what do you now see it Is it not as nothing in your eyes There is no necessity of reading the words with a supposition As Scaliger contends if there were any amongst you who had seen For it is much more likely that some who had seen the former House of Solomon and wept at the laying of the foundation of this in the dayes of Cyrus should now see the carrying of it on in the second year of Darius Hystiages that is about ten or twelve years after then that those who began the work in the Reign of Cyrus should live to perfect it in the second year of Darius Nothus an hundred years after However it is evident that the old discouragement was still pressing upon them The former House was Glorious and Magnificent Famous and Renowned in the world and full of comfort unto them from the visible pledges of the presence of God that were therein To remove this discouragement and to support them under it the Lord by this Prophet makes them a Promise that whatever the streightness and poverty of the house were which they undertook to build however short it came of the glory of that of old yet from what he himself would do he would render that House far more glorious then the former namely by doing that in it for which both it and the former were instituted and erected Saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ark propitiatory and Cherubins one that is the whole furniture of the Sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Majesty or Presence the second It entered not into the House in that glorious and solemn manner that it did into the Temple of Solomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost which is Prophecy the third all Prophesies ceasing under that House from the dayes of Malachi unto John Baptist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vrim and Thummim the fourth thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fire from Heaven to kindle the everlasting fire on the Altar the fifth thing They that acknowledge all these things to have been wanting in the second Temple as the Jews generally do and the Talmud in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 5. expresly cannot well compare the glory of it with the glory of that Temple wherein they were and whereof they were indeed the chiefest glory and the most eminent pledges of the presence of God therein The pretence about the glory of this House from the riches of the Hasmonaeans and § 15 Herod is no less vain That which amongst the Hasmonaeans had the greatest appearance of glory was their High Priest who also came irregularly unto that Office assuming the Royal Power and Titles But this as themselves confess was a sinful disorder and their whole race was quickly extirpated for Herod the great it is well they are on this occasion reconciled unto him whom elsewhere they execrate as an Usurper cruel Tyrant and Slave to the Romans all which he was indeed Little glory came to the Temple by his Rule and Soveraignty Besides during his Reign and the Rule of the remainder of his Race the High Priests were thrust in and out at the pleasures of Brutish Tyrants no order in their Succession no beauty in their Worship being observed or sought after Hence comparing the number of High Priests under the Second Temple with that of them under the first which it trâ—bly surmounts they apply unto it that of Solomon because of the wickedness of the people the Rulers are many To seek for the Glory mentioned among these things and persons is assuredly vain Wherefore others of these Masters waving these empty pretences would have the § 16 glory of this second House to consist in its duration So R. Jonathan in Bereshith Rabba Jarchi on this place and Kimchi whose opinion is repeated by Abarbinel Kimchi tells us that their Masters are divided in this matter and Jarchi that it was Raf and Samuel that were the Authors of this different opinion one affirming that the glory of this House consisted in its greatness the other in its duration and their Dispute in this matter is in Perek Kama of Baba Bathra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first House saith he continued four hundred and ten years The second four hundred and twenty This is their account though in truth it continued longer as did the first House also But is this the Glory promised What was the condition of that House in those ten years and almost half ten times ten years before The whole Nation during this space of time was shattered and wasted with Oppressions Seditions and Miseries inexpressible and the House it self made a Dâ—n of Thieves and for the greatest part of the ten years they boast of was filled with cruel bloodshed and daily murders And is it likely that a meer duration in that season wherein for what it was put unto it was abhorred of God and all good men should in this prediction of its State deserve that Prophetical Eulogie of obtaining more glory then the House of Solomon was ever made partaker of There is then nothing more evident then that these inventions are evasions of men who diligently endeavour to hide themselves from Light and Truth not in the least answering either the letter of the Prophecy or the intention of him that gave it It remaineth then that we enquire from the Text what is the truâ— Glory promised § 17 unto this House wherein it was to have the preheminence above the former Now this is expresly said to be the coming unto it of the desire of all Nations The desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with glory and the glory of this latter House shall be greater then that of the former This is directly affirmed to be the glory promised and nothing else is in the least intimated wherein it should consist And there are three circumstances of this glory expressed in the Text. 1. The way whereby it should be brought in I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations Secondly The season wherein this was to be done Yet once it is a little while Thirdly The Event of it and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts all which are severally to be considered and the intendment of the Holy Ghost in them vindicated from the objections of the Jews The first thing we are to enquire after is the Glory it self that is promised in these § 18 words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the desire of all Nations shall come The Jews by these words generally understand the desirable things of the Nations their Silver and Gold which above all things are unto them most desirable These they say the Nations being shaken did bring unto the Temple and therein the glory of it did consist Herein all their Expositors on this place Jarchi Aben Ezra Kimchi and others of them whose Judgements are repeated by Abarbinel do agâ—ee Aben Ezra briefly The Nations shall be shaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall bring gifts unto my house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they shall bring the Treasures of Gold and Silver saith Jarchi as it is recorded in the Book of Joseph Ben Gorion Kimchi to the same purpose somewhat largely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if it had been said they shall bring in their hands all desirable things that are found in their Lands Vessels of Silver and of Gold Garments and pretious stones and this as I said is their general sâ—nse But First It is directly contrary unto the Context for it is the plain design of the Holy Ghost to take of the thoughts of the people from that kind of glory which consisted in coacervation of ornaments of Silver and Gold which being all of them alwayes in his power he could at that time have furnishâ—d them withall but that he would have them look for another glory Secondly It is perfectly false as to the event for when was there such an outward shaking of all Nations under the second Temple as that thereon they brought their Silver and Gold unto it and that in such abundance as to render it more rich and glorious then the House of Solomon So to wrest the words is plainly to averr that the Promise was never fulfilled
Christ upon his coming into the Temple Though the words of the Promise are thus clear in themselves we may yet see § 21 what further light is contributed unto our interpretation from the Circumstances before observed as First the way of bringing in this Glory is there expressed by the Prophet from the mouth of the Lord I will shake the Heavens and the Earth the Sea and the dry Land and I will shake all Nations All the Jewish Expositors agree that these words are to be interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Metaphorically and figuratively Yet it cannot be denyed that a great concussion and shaking of the World and all the Nations of it is intended in them otherwise nothing is signified by them And this must be with reference unto that house and the Worship thereof and that in a tendency unto its glory Now I desire to know what work among the Nations in the whole World it is that was wrought with respect unto the Temple which is here intended The Nations indeed under Antiochus and almost ruined it under Crassus and robbed it under Pompey and prophaned it under Titus and destroyed it But what tended all this to its glory But refer these words unto the coming of the Messiah and all things contained in them were clearly fulâ—illed Take the words litterally and they suit the event At his Birth a New Star appeared in the Heavens Angels celebrated his Nativity Wise men came from the East to enquire after him Herod and all Jerusalem was shaken at the tidings of him and upon his undertaking of his work he wrought Miracles in Heaven and Earth Sea and dry Land upon the whole Creation of God Take them Metaphorically as they are rather to be understood for the mighty change which God would work in his Worship and the stirring up of the Nations of the world to receive him and his Doctrine and the event is yet more evident All Nations under Heaven were quickly shaken and moved by his coming Some were stirred up to enquire after him some to oppose him untill the world as to the greatest and the most noble parts of it was made subject unto him Evident it is that since the creation of all things never was there such an Alteration and Concussion in the world as that wherewith the Messiah and his Doctrine was brought into it and which is therefore so expressed by the Prophet Abarbinel affirms that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christian Doctors would argue and prove § 22 from hence that it is not thâ— Temple of the Jews but their own House of Worship that is intended in these words and that because there was no such confluence of the Nations unto the Jews either under the first or second Temple as is here promised But unto their Church and Faith all Nations were converted But he mistakes and confounds things as all of them constantly do in their Disputations against Christians We contend not that it is the Christian Church that is here intended by the House that Glory was to come unto Only we say that he to whom the Nations or Gentiles were to be gathered whom they were shaken and stirred up to receive did actually come unto the Temple at Jerusalem and thereby gave it a greater Glory then what ever the Temple of Solomon received This first Circumstance then clears our intention from this Text. § 23 The season wherein the promised glory was to be brought in is next noted in the Context It is expressed v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jews generally refer these words unto the Rule or Kingdom of the Hasmonaeans under whom the people were to enjoy their liberty which is said to be a little season as continuing seventy or eighty years For it is said to be little because they had but a small Dominion in comparison of their former Kingdom and Empire But it is evident from the Context that the Prophet had no respect unto Rule or Dominion in these words For what ever is intended in this Expression it hath a direct and immediate influence into the bringing in of the desire of all Nations and the glory promised which the Rule of the Hasmonaeans reached not unto Our Apostle Heb. 12.24 renders these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 literally and properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet more once or yet once more God had before done some work whereunto that which he promised now to do is compared Such a concussion of all things had been before and this as is evident from v. 5. was the work that he wrought at the giving of the Law and the erection of the Judaical Church State and Ordinances In answer hereunto he would bring in the everlasting Kingdom of the Messiah and the spiritual Worship to be celebrated therein the Old Church-State of the Jews in this shaking of all things being removed and taken away And this plainly is evinced from the comparison that God makes between the work here promised and that which he wrought when he covenanted with the people upon their coming up out of Aegypt Concerning the work which God will thus do once more it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little while that is ere it be accomplished It is not the nature or quality of the work but the season or time wherein it shall be wrought that is denoted in these words In that sense is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often used in the Scripture as we prove elsewhere As the same work Mal. 3.1 is promised to be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suddenly speedily It is then foretold that it should be but a little space of time before this work should be wrought And hence Abarbinel would prove that it cannot respect the coming of our Messiah which was about four hundred years after But this season is not called a little while absolutely but with respect unto the former duration of the people or Church of the Jews either from the calling of Abraham or the giving of the Law by Moses And this space of four hundred years is but a little in comparison thereof and is so termed to stir up Believers unto a continual expectation of it and desire after it It being now nearer unto them then unto their Fore-fathers who beheld the time of its performance a very great way off And this also serves for the conviction of the Jews for whereas their fore-fathers of old did confess and themselves at present cannot with any modesty deny but that the Messiah is here intended whom they suppose not yet to be come how can this space of time from the days of Haggai in any sense be called a little while seeing it far exceeds all the space of time that went before from the Call of Abraham which is the first Epocha of their priviledge and claim § 24 The last circumstance contributing light unto our interpretation of this place is taken from the event or the coming of the desire of
and Grace it will yield men no satisfaction which makes them constantly turn aside to other means and wayes of knowing and serving God This being so eminent in the Jews and the Medium they have fixed on to supply that want which they suppose to be in the Scripture but is indeed in themselves proving to be the great Engine of their hardening and obstinacy in their Infidelity I shall first declare what it is that they intend by the Orall Law and then briefly shew the absurdity and falseness of their pretensions about it though it must not be denyed that it is one of the most Antient Fables that is credited amongst any of the Sons of men at this day in the world § 6 This Orall Law they affirm to be an unwritten Tradition and Exposition of the written Law of Moses given unto him in Mount Sinai and committed by him to Joshua and the Sanhedrim to be by them delivered over by Orall Tradition unto those who should succeed them in the Government of that Church It doth not appear that in the dayes of Christ or his Apostles whilest the Temple was standing that there was any stated opinion amongst them about this Orall Law though it is evident that not long after it began to be received by the body of the People Nay it is evident that there was no such Law then acknowledged For the Sadduces who utterly reject all the main Principles of it were then not only tolerated but also in chief Rule one of them being High Priest That they had multiplyed many superstitious Observances amongst them under the name of Traditions is most clear in the Gospel and it doth not appear that then they knew whom to assign their original unto and therefore indefinitely called them the Traditions of the Elders or those that lived of old before them After the Destruction of their Temple when they had lost the life and spirit of that Worship which the Scripture revealed betaking themselves wholly unto their Traditional figments they began to bethink themselves how they might give countenance to their Apostacy from the Perfection and Doctrine of the written Law For this end they began to fancy that these Traditions were no less from God than the written Law it self For when Moses was forty dayes and forty nights in the Mountain they say that in the day time he wrote the Law from the mouth of God and in the night God instructed him in the Orall Law or unwritten Exposition of it which they have received by Tradition from him For when he came down from the Mount after he had read unto them the Written Law as they say he repeated to Aaron and Eleazer and the Sanhedrim all that secret instruction which he had received in the night from God which it was not lawfull for him to write but in especial he committed the whole to Joshua Joshua did the same to Eleazer as he did to his Son Phiâ—eas after whom they give us a Catalogue of several Prophets that lived in the ensuing generations all whom they employ in this service of conveying down the Orall Law to their Successors The High Priests also they give a place unto in this work of whom there were eighty three from the first Institution of that Office to the destruction of the Temple Joseph lib. 20. cap. 18. From Aaron to the building of Solomons Temple thirteen from thence to the Captivity eighteen all the rest take up the troublesome time of the Apostacy of their Church unto the finall ruine of it their Rulers being many because of their wickedness as themselves observe The last Person whom they would have to preserve the Orall Law absolutely pure was that Simeon whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Just mentioned by Jesus the Son of Syrach Chap. 50. And it is very observable that the latter Jews have left out Simeon the Son of Hillel whom their antient Masters placed upon the Roll of the Preservers of this Treasure supposing he might be that Simeon who in his old age received our Saviour in his arms when he was presented in the Temple Luke 2.25 a crime sufficient among the Jews to brand him with a perpetual ignominy neither are they alone in turning mens glory into reproach and shame After the destruction of the Temple and City when the evil Husbandmen were slain § 7 and the Vineyard of the Lord let out to others the Kingdom given to another Nation and therewith the Covenant sanctified use of the Scripture the remaining Jews having lost wholly the mind of God therein betook themselves to their Traditions and as I said before began to fancy and contend that they came from God himself whereas their Predecessors durst not plead any thing for them but that they came unto them from thâ—m of old that is some of the Masters of preceding Generations Hereupon a while after as I have elsewhere shewed at large one of them whom they call Rabbi Judâ— Humâ—si and Hakkadosh the Prince and the Holy took upon him to gather their scattered Traditions and to cast them into form order and method in Writing that they might be unto the Jews a Rule of Life and Worship for ever The Story of his work and undertaking is given us by Maimonides in Jad Chazacha the Authors of Sedar Olâ—â—n Halicoth Olam Tzemach David and many others and they all agree that this their great Master lived about the times of Marcus Antoninus two hundred years or thereabouts after the destruction of City and Temple This Collection of his they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mishne or Mishnaioth being as is § 8 pretended 〈◊〉 repetition of the Law in an Exposition of it indeed a farrago of all sorts of Traditions true and false with a monstrous mixture of Lyes useless foolish and wicked The things contained in it are by themselves referred to five heads 1. The Orall Law received by Moses on Mount Sinai preserved by the means before declared 2. Orall Constitutions of Moses himself after he came down from the Mount 3. Constitutions and Orders drawn by various wayes of arguing 13. as Rambam tells us out of the written Law 4. The Answers and Decrees of the Sanhedrim and other wise men in former Ages 5. Immemoriall Customs whose original being unknown are supposed to be divine The Whole is divided into six parts noted with the initial letter of the word which § 9 signifies the chief things treated on in it As the first by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 z that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeraim Seeds which is divided into eleven Massicktot or Treatises containing all of them seventy five Chapters The second by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moad or appointed feasts which is distributed into Twelve Massicktot containing in them eighty eight Chapters The Third by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Women and is distributed in
the Targum its self is here silent of the Messiah for the very same Reason and perverts the whole Psalm to apply it unto David and yet is forced on v. 4. to refer the things spoken of unto the World to come or Dayes of the Messiah And the most of their Masters when they mention this Psalm occasionally and mind not the Controversie they have about it with Christians do apply it unto him So doth the Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 2. v. 7. and also on this Psalm v. 1. though there be an endeavour therein foolishly to wrest it unto Abraham Ra. Saadias Gaon on Dan. 7. v. 13. whose words are reported by Solomon Jarchi on Gen. 35. v. 8. Ra. Arama on Gen. 15. as he is at large cited by Munster on this Psalm Moses Haddarshan on Gen. 18. v. 1. Ra. Obediah on the place All whose words it would be tedious here to report It is sufficiently manifest that they have an open conviction that this Psalm contains a Prophecy concerning the Messiah and what excellent things are revealed therein touching his Person and Offices we shall have occasion to declare in the Exposition of the Epistle its self wherein the most material passages of it are applied unto our Lord Jesus Christ. § 27 In the Targum on the Canticles there is frequent mention also of the Mâ—ssiah as Chap. 1. v. 8. Chap. 4. v. 5. Chap. 7. v. 14. Chap. 8. v. 1 2 3 4. But because the Jews are utterly ignorant of the true Spiritual sense of that Divine Song and the Targum of it is a confused Miscellany of things sufficiently heterogeneous being a much later endeavour than the most of those on the other Books I shall not particularly insist on the places cited but content my self with directing the Reader unto them The like also may be said of Eccles. Chap. 1. v. 11. Chap. 7. v. 25. where without any occasion from the Text the mention of him is importunely inculcated by the Targumists § 28 We are now entring on the Prophets the Principal Work of some whereof was to testifie before hand the sufferings of Christ and the Glory that was to follow 1 Pet. 1. v. 11. And therefore I do not at all design to gather up in our passage all that is foretold promised declared and taught concerning him in them a work right worthy of more peace leisure and ability than what in any kind I am entrusted withal but only to report some of the most eminent places concerning which we have the common suffrage of the Jews in their general Application unto the Messiah Among these that of Isaiah Chap. 2. v. 2 3 4. occurreth in the first place And it shall come to pass in the last dayes that the Mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted in the top of the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Wayes and we will walk in his Paths For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares The same Prophesie is given out by Micah in the same words Chap. 4. v. 1 2 3. And by the common consent of the Jews the Messiah is here intended although he be not mentioned in the Targum The Talmudical Fable also of the lifting up of Jerusalem three Leagues high and the setting of Mount Moriah on the top of Sinai Carmel and Tabor which shall be brought together unto that purpose mentioned in Midrash Tehellim and in Baba Bathra distinc Hammocher is wrested from these words But those also of them who pretend to more sobriety do generally apply them to the promised Messiah Kimchi gives it for a Rule that that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter dayes doth still denote the times of the Messiah which I suppose is not liable unto any exception And as he giveth a tolerable Exposition of the establishing of the Mountain of the Lord on the top of the Mountains assigning it to the Glory of the Worship of God above all the False and Idolatrous Worship of the Gentiles which they observed on Mountains and High Places so concerning those words v. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall judge among the Nations he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Judge or He that judgeth is the King Messiah The like also saith Aben Ezra on the same place and Jarchi on the same words in the Prophesie of Micah And as this is true so whereas Jehovah alone is mentioned in the foregoing Verses unto whom and no other this expression can relate how it is possible for them to deny that the Messiah is the Lord the God of Jacob also for undeniably it is he concerning whom it is said that he shall judge among the Nations And by their confession that it is the Messiah who is the Shophet the Judge here intended they are plainly convinced out of their own mouths and their infidelity condemned by themselves Abarbinel seems to have been aware of this entanglement and therefore as he wrests the Prophesie by his own confession contrary to the sense of all other Expositors unto the times of the building of the Second Temple so because he could not avoid the conviction of one that should judge among the Nations he makes it to be the House it self wherein as he sayes Thrones for Judgement were to be erected the vanity of which figment secures it from any further confutation We have then evidently in these words three Articles of the Faith of the Antient Church concerning the Messiah as First That as to his Person he should be God and man the God of Jacob who should in a bodily presence judge the People and send forth the Law among the Nations v. 4. Secondly That the Gentiles should be called unto faith in him and the Obedience of his Law v. 3. Thirdly That the Worship of the Lord in the dayes of the Messiah should be far more glorious than at any time whilest the first Temple was standing for so it is foretold v. 2. and so our Apostle proves it to be in his Epistle to the Hebrews And this whole Prophesie is not a little perverted by them who apply it to the defeat of Resin and Pekah when they came against Jerusalem and who in their Annotations on the Scripture whereby they have won to themselves a great Reputation in the world seldom depart from the sense of the Jews unless it be where they are in the Right Isa. 4. v. 2. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be Beauty and Glory Targ. § 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at that time shall the Messiah of the Lord
〈◊〉 and work he carries on to the beginning of the next verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and work it coheres in sense with the following Verse or this word if you do the work that I covenanted with you and so leaps over those words in the end of ver 4. and whereon the whole fifth verse doth evidently depend For I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts And these following words so my Spirit remaineth among you he interprets for a Promise depending upon the same condition If you do the word that I covenanted with you that is observe the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But after they sinned and observed not the Law the Holy Ghost and Prophecy-ceased from amongst them in the dayes of Zachariah and Malachi And to the same purpose Abarbinel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The glorious Presence Prophecy and the rest of the Holy thâ—ngs that were then wanting should return unto them if their wayes were right and good And in this fancy they all agree But this wresting of the Text is evident There is no condition intimated in the § 13 words but rather the contrary God promising to be with them as he was in the days of their coming out of the Land of Aegypt wherein the work that he wrought for them depended not on their Obedience but was a meer effect of his own faithfulness as he often declares And those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and my Spirit standing abiding or remaining in the midst of you among you is no Promise of any thing that was future but a declaration of the presence of God by his Spirit then amongst them to carry them through all difficulties and discouragements that they had met withall And this is evident from the Inference that is made thereon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear ye not For as the presence of God with them by his Spirit and power was their great encouragement so a Promise of any thing that was future was not suited unto that purpose And hence the Targum of Jonathan supposing the Spirit of Prophesie to be intended referreth the words to the Prophets that wâ—re then amongst them who instructed them in the Will of God But by the Spirit nothing is there intended but the efficacious working of the Providence of God in their Protection as it is explained Zech. 4.6 Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts And the trajection of the words invented by Kimchi is a bold corruption of the Text and contrary to the whole design of the Prophets message to the people His business was to encourage them to go on with the building of the Temple To this end he bids them be strong and do their work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Rabbi Levi Work on this building carry on this Fabrick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Jonathan fall to your labour and thereunto he adds the encouragement from the presence of God who was powerfully present with them by his Spirit as in the dayes that he brought them out of the Land of Aegypt § 14 This Evasion being of no use something more satisfactory must be enquired after something wherein the glory of the latter House must excell that of the former That they may not be utterly silent the Masters of the present Judaical Infidelity fix upon two things which they would perswade us this Glory might consist in First They say the Structure it self either as built by Zerubbabel or at least as restored by Herod was Higher as more capacious then that built by Solomon and the glory of it was encreased by the great riches of the Nations that were brought into it in the dayes of the Hasmonaeans and of Herod when that was accomplish'd which was here foretold that the riches of the Nation should come to that House So Kimchi I will shake this is an Allegorical Expression saith he of the great glory and good that God would bring to Israel in the dayes of the second Temple and when was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was in the dayes of the Hasmonaeans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in the time of Herod for which he refers us to the Book of Joseph Ben. Gorion the Plagiary of the time of Josephus And this also is repeated by Jarchi and Aâ—arbinel for the Glory of the House its self The same man tells us that his Masters of blessed Memory were divided some referring it unto the time of the standing of the second House of which afterwards Some to its greatness And for its greatness he informs us The second House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Structure of it was great as it is written in the words of our Rabbins of blessed memory and in the Book of Joseph Ben Gorion namely that there was no building in the whole world to be compared with that Structure which Herod built for beauty and excellency But there are not many of this opinion and those that pretend themselves so to be speak contrary to their own Science and conscience They know well enough that the latter Temple was in nothing to be compared unto the former And this Abarbinel acknowledgeth in the entrance of his Exposition of this Prophecy affirming that the people were troubled at the remembrance of the House built by Solomon which was great and high filled with multitudes of Vessels of pure Gold and pretious Stones whereas that which they were building was small according to the Command of the King of Persia and without treasure because of the poverty of the people and though this House was built higher by Herod yet it was not at all enlarged by him but erected precisely on the old foundation But not to enter at present into consideration of the measures of the former Structure Let the latter Temple be thought as wide and long as the former and some Cubits higher doth this presently give it a greater glory then the other a Glory so much greater as to be thus eminently promised and intimated to be brought in with the shaking of Heaven and Earth Sea and dry land Can any thing more fondly be imagined It were endless to reckon up the particular instances wherein it came short of the Glory of the first House Let but the heads of the Beauty and Magnificence thereof above recounted be run over and this will quickly appear In a word notwithstanding the imaginary greatness pretended it had not the hundredth part of the Glory of Solomons House which also these Masters on all occasions acknowledge for besides all the Golden Glorious Vessels and Ornaments of it Besides all the treasures disposed in it besides sundry of the most magnificent parts of the building it self they generally acknowledge that there were five things wanting in the last wherein the principal glory of the first House consisted These are diversly reckoned up by them but in general they all agree about them and they are given us by the Author of Aruch in the
all Nations and the glory of the second House ensuing thereon in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in this place I will give peace saith the Lord of Hosts From these words Abarbinel seeks to overthrow our Exposition by this place saith he is intended Jerusalem Well let that be granted what will thence ensue Why saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold from the day that the Messiah was born there was no Peace in Jerusalem but Wars Destruction and Desolation We say then that by Peace here must be understood either outward Temporal Worldly Peace or Spiritual Peace between God and man between Jews and Gentiles in their joint communion in the same Worship of God If they say the former was intended I desire to know when this promise was accomplished under the second Temple before dayes of the Hasmonaeans the whole people was in perfect bondage and slavery First To the Persians then to the Graecians and bondage is not especially peace in the Hebrew Dialect wherein that word denotes an affluence of all good things The Rule of the Hasmonaeans was wholly spent in bloody Wars and intestine Divisions Their power issued in the Dominion of the Romans and their Vassals the Herodians What signal peace they had in those dayes they may learn from their own Joseph Ben Gorion To say then that this was the peace intended is to say directly that that God promised what he never performed which is fit only for these men to do Besides though God promised to give this peace at Jerusalem that is amongst the Jews yet he promised not to give it only to Jerusalem unto the Jews but to all Nations also whom he would shake and stir up to bring in this Glory Now what pretence of peace had the Jews under the second Temple wherein all Nations were concerned I suppose they will not say they had any Moreover the peace promised was that which was to be brought in by the Messiah This Abarbinel grants and thence seeks to strengthen his Objection for saith he Then we shall have Peace Rule and Dominion according to the manifold Promises given us unto that purpose I answer those Promises are of two sorts Some express Spiritual things Allegorically by words literally signifying things outward And they are all of them fulfilled in and unto them that do believe Others of them that really intend outward Peace and Glory are made concerning them to be fulfilled not when the Messiah came to them but when they shall come to the Messiah At his Coming unto them they rejected him and he rejected them but when their blindness shall be taken away and they shall return unto the Lord all these Promises shall have a blessed accomplishment amongst them But we have sufficiently proved that the principal work of the Messiah was to make peace between God and man by taking away sin that was the cause of their separation distance and Enmity This then is the peace here promised This God gave at Jerusalem whilest the second Temple was standing For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the Enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the Enmity thereby and â—ame and preached peace to them that were afar off and to them that were nigh Thus did God give peace at Jerusalem both to the Jews and Gentiles by him that was the desire of all Nations and so by this Circumstance of the Context also is our interpretation fully confirmed Although we have sufficiently confirm'd our Argument and vindicated it from § 25 the exceptions of the Jewish Masters yet because it is most certain that the constant faith of their Church of old was that the Messiah should come whilest that second Temple was standing which they have now Apostatized from and renounced countenancing themselves in their infidelity by the miserable evasions before mentioned I shall add yet farther strength unto it from a parallel Testimony and from their own confessions The parallel place intended is that of Malachi 3.1 Behold I send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me even the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts the time future of his coming is by Haggai said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little while and he i.e. Malachi answerably affirms that he shall come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suddenly in the sense before declared he who by Haggai is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desire of all Nations with respect unto the Gentiles all desirable things being laid up in him is by Malachi called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto the Jews the Lord whom ye seek whose coming they looked for so long and prayed for so earnestly And what Haggai expressed absolutely shall come afterwards intimating the respect his coming should have unto the Temple Malachi sets down fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall come unto his Temple Further to clear what it is that in both these places is intended he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel of the Covenant Gods Messenger who was to confirm and ratifie the New Covenant with them that is the Messiah The Targum of Jonathan expresseth it on Jer. 30.21 closing the Promise of the Covenant with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their King shall be annointed from among them and their Messiah shall be revealed from amongst the midst of them He who was the desire of all Nations the Lord whom the Jews sought the Messenger by whom the New Covenant was to be ratified that is the Lord the Messiah was to come and he did come unto that Temple § 26 And here the Jews are at an end of all shifts and evasions It cannot be avoided but the Messiah must be here intended Rashi would fain yet evade the Lord whom ye seek that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the God of Judgement because they had said before Chap. 2.17 Where is the God of Judgement Vain man these words which he himself had but just before interpreted to be the Atheistical Expression of wicked men questioning the Judgement of God are now to serve his turn an earnest desire of seeking after the Lord which in these words is evidently set forth the Lord whom ye seek the Angel of the Covenant whom ye delight in for both these are the same as Aben Ezra acknowledgeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord he is the Glory and the Angel of the Covenant the same things being intended under a double expression And it is evident whom he intends thereby by his interpreting the Messenger to be sent before him to be Messiah Ben Joseph whom they make the forerunner of Messiah Ben David Kimchi
interprets the Angel to be sent before him the Angel of Gods presence from Heaven to lead the people out of their Captivity as of old he went before them in the Wilderness when they came out of Aegypt But we are better taught who this Messenger was Matth. 11.10 Mark 1.2 As for the Lord whom they sought he speaks plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the King the Messiah and this the Angel of the Covenant he adds indeed the old Story about Elijah and his zeal for the Covenant whence he had the honour to preside at Circumcision to see the Covenant observed and may be thence called the Angel of the Covenant But it is plain in the words and confessed by Aben Ezra that the Lord whom they sought and the Angel of the Covenant are the same And as to these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall come suddenly unto his Temple he adds in their Explication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the time of the end is not revealed nor unfolded in the Book of Daniel It is said he shall come suddenly because there is no man that knows the day of his coming before he came We grant that the precise day of his coming was not known before he came but that the time of it was foretold limited and unfolded in the Book of Daniel so far as the season and age of it would admit was made evident all future expectation declared to be void and that in the Book of Daniel we shall immediately demonstrate At present we have proved and find that they cannot deny but that he was to come unto the second Temple whilest it was yet standing § 27 Once more we may yet add the consent of others of their Masters besides these Expositors Some Testimonies out of their Doctors are Cited by others I shall only name one or two of them in Talmud it self Tractat. Sanâ—d caâ— 11. the application of this place of Haggai unto the Messiah is ascribed unto Rabbi Akiha his words as they report them are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little glory will I give unto Israel and then the Messiah shall come And this man of so great repute among them that Rabbi Eleazar affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the wise men of Israel were like a little Garlick in comparison of that bald Rabbi This then is their own avow'd Tradition and the other place of Malachi concerning the Angel of the Covenant is expounded of the Messiah by Rainbain in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the dayes saith he of the Messiah the Children of Israel shall be restored unto their Genealogies by the Holy Ghost that shall rest upon him as it is said Behold I send my Messenger before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall come unto his Temple We have then found out both from the clear words of both these Prophesies and the consent of the Jews themselves who it is that is here promised in them that he should come to his Temple § 28 This is the glory of the second house promised in Haggai The end of the Temple and of all the glory of it and all the Worship performed in it was to prefigure the promised seed who was the true and only substantial glory of them all and of the people to whom they were committed for he was to be a Light to light the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Therefore in all the Worship of the Temple those who believed and in the use of the Ordinances of it saw unto the end of their institution did continually exercise faith on his coming and earnestly desire the accomplishment of the promise concerning it The great glory then of this Temple could consist in nothing but this coming of the Lord whom they sought the desire of all Nations unto it Now that he should come whilest the Temple stood and continued is here confirmed by this double Prophetical Testimony and the Temple being utterly and irreparably destroyed now above 1600. years ago It must be acknowledged that the Messiah is long since come unless we will say that the Word of God is vain and his Promise of none effect The General Exception of the Jews unto this Argument taken from the limitation § 29 of the time allotted unto the coming of the Messiah we shall afterwards consider In one word that which they relieve themselves withall against the prediction of Haggai and Malachi that he should come unto the Temple then built amongst them which they acknowledge is so truly ridiculous that I shall not need to retain the Reader with the consideration of it They say the Messiah was born at the Time determined before the destruction of the second Temple but that he is kept hid in the Sea or in Paradise or dwells at the Gates of Rome among the Lepers waiting for a Call from Heaven to go and deliver the Jews with such follies do men please themselves in the great Concernments of the glory of God and their own eternal welfare who are left destitute of the Spirit of light and truth sealed up under the efficacy of their own blindness and unbelief But hereof we shall treat further in the Consideration of their General Answers to this whole Argument in hand Exercitatio XIV Daniels Weeks Chap. 9.24 25 26 27. proposed unto consideration Attempt of a Learned man to prove the coming and suffering of the Messiah not to be intended examined First Reason from the difficulties of the Computation and differences about it removed Whether this place be used in the New Testament Objection from the time of the Beginning of this computation answered Distribution of the LXX Weeks into VII LXII and one Reason of it Objectiâ—n thence answered The cutting of the Messiah and the destruction of the City not joyned in one Week Things mentioned v. 24. peculiar to the Messiah The Prophecy owned by all Christians to respect the Messiah The Events mentioned in it not to be accommodated unto any other No Types in the words but a naked prediction The Prophecies of Daniel not principally intending the Churches of the latter dayes Streights of time intimated when they fell out Coincidence of Phrases in this and other Predictions considered Removal of the daily Offering and causing the Sacrifice and Offering to cease how they differ The Desolation foretold Distribution of the LXX Weeks accommodated unto the Material Jerusalem Objections removed Distribution of things contained in this Prophecy Argument from the computation of time warranted First neglected by the Jews then cursed yet used by them vainly Concurrent Expectation and Fame of the coming of the Messiah upon the Expiration of Daniels Weeks Mixture of things good and poenal Abarbinels Figment rejected Four hundred and ninety years the time limited Fancy of Origen and Apollinaris The true Messiah intended Proved from the Context The Names and Titles given unto him The work assigned to him That work particulary explained the expressions vindicated To make an
Jesus of Nazareth setting aside that knowledge and worship of God which was in Judea a little corner of the earth and that also by their own confession then horribly defiled and profaned the whole world especially the greatest and most potent and flourishing Nations of it in particular the whole Roman Empire especially concerned in these predictions was utterly ignorant of the true God and engaged in the Worship of Idols and Devils and that from time immemorial 2. That although the Jews had taken great pains and compassed Sea and Land to make Proselytes yet they were very few and those very obscure persons whom they could at any time or in any place prevail withall to receive the knowledge or give up themselves unto the Worship of the God of Israel of converting People or Nations unto his obedience they now entertained the least hopes 3. It is manifest to all the world that not only upon the coming of Jesus but also by vertue of his Law and Doctrine all the Old Idolatry of the world was destroyed and that whole fabrick of Superstition which Satan had been so many Ages engaged in the erection of was cast to the ground and those Gods of the Earth which the Nations worshipped utterly famished Hence it is come to pass at this day that no People or Nation under Heaven doth continue to worship those Gods which the Old Empires of the World adored as their Deities and in whose service they waged War against the God of Israel and his people And all that knowledge that is at this day in the world of one true living God and the reception of the God of Israel for that true God however abused as it is by some Mahumetans and others it did all originally proceed from the Doctrine of Jesus Christ whom these ungrateful people hate and persecute Had it not been for him and his Gospel the true God the God of their fore-fathers had been no more owned in the world at this day then he was at his coming in the flesh and yet these poor blinded creatures can see no glory in him or in his Ministry 4. The Lord Jesus Christ by his Spirit and Word did not only destroy Idolatry and false Worship in the world but also brought the greatest and most potent Nations of it to the Knowledge of God that in comparison of what was past it covered the earth as the Waters cover the Seas This the Jews saw and repined at in the flourishing times of the Roman Empire when the Lord was one and his Name was one in the whole earth as that Expression is used in the Scripture 5. The Way whereby this Knowledge and Worship of the true God was dispersed over the face of the earth and spread its self like an mundation of saving waters over the world was by such a secret energy of the spirit of Christ accompanying his Word and the Ministration of it that it wholly differed from that operous burdensome and for the most part ineffectual way of teaching which was used by the Priests Levites and Scribes of old there being much more of the efficacy of Grace then of the pains of the Teachers seen in the Effects wrought and produced according to the Words of the Promise Jerem. 31.34 6. In this diffusion of the knowledge of God there was way made for the Union Agreement and joint Consent in Worship of those that should receive it For both the partition wall between Jews and Gentiles was removed and both people did actually coalesce into one body worshipping God with one lip and shoulder and also an holy and plain way of spirituall Worship was prescribed unto all that should or did embrace the Law of the Messiah 7. Notwithstanding all that hath been already accomplished yet there is still room and time left and remaining for the further accomplishment of these predictions so that before the close of the Kingdom of the Messiah not one Tittle of them shall fall to the ground And thus also the open Event known to all the world doth manifest the due and full accomplishment of these Promises making it unquestionable that the Messiah is long since come and hath fulfilled the work that he was designed of old unto Neither are the Exceptions of the Jews of any force to invalidate our Application § 19 of these Promises Two things they object unto us First the Idolatry that is yet in the world especially among Christians Secondly The differences in Religion that every where abound amongst men For 1. We have shewed already that these and the like Predictions are to have a gradual accomplishment not all at once in every place It is sufficient that there is an everlasting foundation laid for the destruction of all false Worship which having had a conspicuous and glorious Effect in the most eminent Nations of the world sufficient to answer the intention of the Prophecy shall yet further in the appointed seasons root out the remainder of all superstition and Apostacy from God 2. For what concerns Christians themselves it cannot be denyed but that many who are so called have corrupted themselves and contracted the guilt of that horrible iniquity which they charge upon them But this being the crime and guilt of some certain Persons and not of the whole society of the Professors of Christianity ought not to be objected unto them And I desire to know by what means the Jews suppose that themselves and the Nations of the world shall be kept from Idolatry and false Worship in the dayes of their Messiah if it be because their Messiah shall give such a perfect Law and such full instructions in the mind and will of God that all men may clearly know their duty we say that this is already done in the highest degree of perfection that is conceivable but what if notwithstanding this men will follow their own vain reasonings and imaginations and fall from the rule of their obedience into Will-worship and Superstition what remedy have they provided against such backsliding if they have none but only the pressing upon them their duty to the Law Word and Institutions of God we have the same and do make use of it to the same end and purpose If they shall say that their Messiah will kill them and slay them with the sword we confess that ours is not of that mind and desire them to take heed least in the room of the holy humble merciful Kings promised the Church they look for and desire a bloody Tyrant that should exercise force over the minds of men and execute their revenge and lusts on those whom they like not 3. This Apostacy of some Professors of Christianity into false Worship Idolatry and Persecution is foretold obscurely in the Writings of the Old Testament it self but most plainly in those of the Gospel or Revelations made by the Lord Christ unto his Apostles concerning the state of the Church unto the end of the world so that from thence
Worship they laboured to keep them up and to restore them being cast down that so they might prolong their expectation of that to come which indeed was already past This in the righteous and holy Providence of God proved the means of their ruine For their endeavour to maintain their Liberty Rule and Government after the coming of the Messiah was the cause of the utter overthrow of all Rule Authority and publick Worship amongst them by Vespasian and Titus his Son Their endeavour to restore themselves into a State and People under their false Messiah Barcosbi was the means of their utter desolation from all hopes of being a people and Nation any more by Adrian as also of their extermination for ever out of that Countrey wherein they were separated from all Nations for that End which God appointed unto them After this once more still to avoid the thoughts that the Messiah was come and had put an end unto their former condition they endeavoured and were encouraged by Julian the Emperour to rebuild their Temple and restore their Sacrifices And this attempt also God turned to their further confusion For whereas in former dayes in the building of the Temple he encouraged and supported them against all difficulties and oppositions being now upheld and strengthened by the favour and wealth of the Roman Empire in the same work he sets himself against them and scatters them with no less indignation than he did the builders of Babel of old When he would have a Temple amongst them he punished them with famine for building their own houses and suffering his to lye waste Hag. 2. v. 8 9 10 11. Now they may build houses for themselves where they please but if they take in hand to build a Temple God is against them This State of theirs being now continued sixteen hundred years were not blindness come upon them to the utmost they could not but see that it is not the Will of God that they should be a People State or Church on the former account any more What then is become of their Messiah who was to come unto them whilest they were so seeing they were so by their own confession only for his sake This puts their latter Masters to their last miserable shifts For 2. Contrary to the open nature of all things relating unto them from the appropriating of the Promise to the Family of Abraham contrary to the whole design of the Scripture and the express testimonies of it before mentioned with many other to the same purpose they deny that their Messiah was to come to them or at least to abide with them for the work whereunto he was destinated whilest their State Temple and Sacrifices continued In the management of this shift of unbelief they are wofully divided amongst themselves 1. For the Continuance of their State untill the coming of the Messiah Gen. 49.11 Some say that by Shilo the Messiah is not intended who are confuted by their own Targums all rendring the word Messiah and the constant Tradition of the Elder Doctors Some that by the Scepter and Scribe that the Rod of Affliction and Instruction only are intended which is a gloss evidently contrary to the design of the Prophecy the use of the words in all places where their sense is not restrained by evident circumstances the Targums all Old Writers asserting that which was not peculiar to Judah nor true in its self that Tribe having for so long a season enjoyed as flourishing a condition as any people in the world as good as the Jews look for under the Messiah This State then is utterly gone and their Messiah as it seems not come 2. What say they unto their Temple that second House whereunto he was to come and so render the glory of it greater than that of the former Hag. 2. Mal. 3. Of old they unanimously agreed that he was born whilest the Temple stood or that day that it was destroyed as Aben Exra confesseth on Isa. 53. Many stories out of them might be told to this purpose where he was born how and of whom to whom it was revealed by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who saw him where he was disposed of where he is but being all the fancies of idle curious heads and unbelieving hearts which St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4.7 prophane and old wives fables we shall not trouble the Reader with them Abarbinel who in corrupting the Prophecies concerning the Messiah hath a reach beyond his fellows affirms that Haggai speaks not of the Second but of a Third Temple to be built under the Messiah but this is nothing but a bold contradiction of the Prophet who three or four times signally declares that he spake of that House which was then building which their eyes saw and which so many contemned as not to be compared with the former Ch. 1.4 this House Ch. 2.7 This House v. 8. This House so v. 18. Others say that the glory of that House did not consist in the coming of the Messiah unto it but in its duration and continuance for it stood ten years longer than the former But this also is contrary 1. To the Catholick perswasion of their fore-fathers Targums Talmuds and all antient Doctors 2. To experience for what could the miserable languishing of ten years by that House whilest it was by their own confession a Den of Thieves contribute unto it to enable it to vye for glory with that wonder of the world the Temple of Solomon in comparison whereof their fore-fathers thought it no more than some of them of old thought themselves compared to the Sons of Anak 3. To the Truth affirming that the glory of that House was to consist in the coming of the Lord whom they sought the desire of all Nations unto it All which things are vindicated in our Prolegomena 3. Their Temple being utterly destroyed as well as their State and their Messiah not yet come what think they of their Sacrifices Daniel tells them that he was to come and to be cut off before the ceasing of the daily Sacrifices But they must confess that all Sacrifices are long since utterly ceased for surely their offering of a Cock to the Devil on the day of Expiation is no continuance of them Some say that the Messiah intended by Daniel was King Agrippa whom Vespasian slew at Rome But this obstinacy is intolerable that a Semi-Pagan as Agrippa was should be their Messiah so honourably foretold of is a figment which whatever they pretend themselves believe not Nor was Agrippa slain or cut off but lived in peace to the day of his death The most of them know not what to say but only object that the computation of Daniel is dark and obscure which Christians themselves are not agreed about Concerning which I must refer the Reader to our Proiegomena as also for the full and large handling of the things here by the way only touched upon This makes it evident
from thence doth he proceed to the consideration of his condescension in his regard and love to man v. 4. And to direct us in this duty with the Psalmist we may observe First That the Works of God those especially which were the peculiar subject of his Meditation the heavenly bodies which we behold are indeed in themselves exceedingly glorious Their Frame Greatness Beauty Order Course Usefulness all speak them admirable and glorious The naked view of them is enough to fill the mind of man with Admiration and Astonishment And the more we contemplate on them the more skilful are we in the consideration of their Nature Order and Use the more excellent do they appear unto us and yet it is the least part of their Greatness and beautiful disposition that we can attain a certain knowledge of So that still they remain more the objects of our Admiration and wonder than of our Science Hence the wisest among the Heathen who were destitute of the teachings of the Word and Spirit of God did with one consent ascribe of old a Deity unto them and worshipped them as Gods yea the very name of God in the Greek Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to run which they derived from the constant course of the heavenly bodies They saw with their Eyes how glorious they were they found out by Reason their Greatness and dreadful motion Experience taught them their Use as the immediate fountains of Light Warmth Heat Moysture and so consequently of Life Growth and all useful things It may be they had some Tradition of that Rule and Dominion which was at first allotted unto the Sun and Moon over day and night Gen. 1.16 On these and the like accounts having lost the knowledge of the true and only God they knew not so well whither to turn themselves for a Deity as to those things which they saw so full of Glory and which they found to be of so universal a communicative Goodness and usefulness And in them did all Idolatry in the world begin And it was betimes in the world as we see in Job where it is mentioned and condemned Chap. 31.26 27. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand he condemns the Idolatry but yet withall shews that the Lustre Brightness and Glory of those heavenly lights had a great influence on the hearts of men to entice them unto a secret Adoration which would break out into outward Worship whereof salutation by kissing the hand was one part and act And therefore God cautions his people against this Temptation Deut. 4.19 Lest thou lift up thine eyes up unto Heaven and where thou seest the Sun and the Moon and the Stars even all the Host of Heaven shouldst be driven to worship them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all Nations under the whole Heaven If men forget the true God and then lift up their eyes unto or fall into the contemplation of the Heavenly Bodies such is their Glory Majesty and Excellency that they will be driven and hurried unto the Adoration and Worship of them And so universal was this folly of old that from those latter words which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all Nations the Jews affirm that God hath given the Sun Moon and Stars to be the Deities of the Gentiles for them to worship But the distribution there mentioned is as unto their common use unto all Nations and not as to their Veneration nor is God the Author of Idolatry as they blasphemously imagine But this their Glory and Excellency lead them unto And when any of them ascended higher to apprehend living intelligent Spirits for their Deities they yet conceived at least that they had their glorious Habitation in the Heavenly Bodies Yea and some Christians have fallen into vain imaginations from a false Translation of the latter end of the fourth Verse of Psalm 19. by the LXX and the Vulgar Latin who read the words he hath placed his Tabernacle in the Sun instead of he hath set in them that is in the Heavens a Tabernacle for the Sun as the words are plain in the Original What should I mention the madness of the Manichees who affirmed that Christ himself was gone into if not turned into the Sun I name these things only to shew what Influence upon the minds of men destitute of the Word the Glory and Excellency of these heavenly bodies hath had And what inestimable Grace God sheweth unto us in the benefit of his Word for we are the posterity of them and by nature not one jot wiser than they who worshipped these things which are not God But exceeding glorious works of God they are and the more we consider them the more will their Glory and Greatness appear unto us And as the children of Israel said of the Sons of Anah we were before them in our own sight as Grashoppers and so we were in their sight May we not much more say concerning our selves compared with these Glorious Works of the hands of God we are all but as Grashoppers in comparison of them and whence is it that God should set his heart upon us Secondly These glorious works of God do indeed shew the infinite Glory of him that made them This is the use that men should have made of their Contemplation of them and not have chosen them for their Gods as they did when their foolish hearts were darkened and they waxed vain in their imaginations This use the Psalmist here makes of them and this the Scripture every where directs us unto This David brings them in Preaching unto all the world Psal. 19.1 2 3 4 5 6. They have a Voice they speak aloud unto all the world and by their Beauty Greatness Order Usefulness they make known the incomprehensible glory of him that made them The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be known of God is manifest in them saith Paul Rom. 1.19 And what is that even his Eternal Power and Godhead v. 20. That is his infinite Power Alsufficiency and self-subsistence These things are clearly seen in them Being all made and created by him in their season doth it not manifest that he was before them from Eternity and that existing without them in perfect blessedness And that he hath made them so beautiful so glorious so excellent and that out of nothing doth it not declare his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness Do they not all lead us to the contemplation of his Infinite Excellencies And whence is it that he who made all these things of nothing should have such regard to the weak frail nature of man But that this consideration may be the more effectual let us take a little weak view of some of those Excellencies of the Nature of God which his works declare and which set an especial lustre on his
Disputation before the Pope and Cardinals at Rome which they have recorded in Shebat Jehuda they openly professed that they never expected so great glory by their Messiah as that which they saw them attended withall And Manasseh confesseth that it is no great or extraordinary matter which they looked for by him De Resur lib. 2. cap. 21. Non est saith he tantum miraculum si Messias veniat subjugatum regna sibi imperia multa cum non raro accidisse videamus ut humiles aliqui abjectique ad regna imperia pervenerint terrarumque multarum Domini fierent It is no such Miracle that the Messiah should come and subdue many Kingdoms and Empires unto himself seeing it often falls out that men of mean and abject condition do come unto Kingdoms and Empires and are made Lords of many Countreys It is so indeed they say nothing of him but what may be paralelled in the Stories of the Nations of the world especially considering the shortness of his reign which they begin to think shall not be above forty years § 31 But do these things answer the Promises made concerning him from the foundation of the world Is this the meaning of the Promise given unto Adam Was this the End of the Call and Separation of Abraham This the intendment of the Promise made unto him that in his seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Is this only the importance of it that towards the end of the world many of them shall be conquered Was this the intent of the Oath made unto David and of the sure mercies confirmed unto him and his thereby Do all the Promises in the Prophets set out in words glorious and magnificent end in a Warriâ—ur inferior it may be unto many of those whose destruction they Prophesied of Or is not this rather a way to expose the whole Old Testament unto scorn and reproach as making the Promises thereof not to extend unto that Glory which in others the Penmen of it despised or at least to regard only things of the same nature with them Was this the Expectation of the Fathers of old Is this that which they desired prayed for longed for esteeming all the Glory of their present Enjoyments as nothing in comparison of it What is in this Messiah that he should be the Hope and Desire of all Nations Did God set him forth as the great Effect of his Love Grace Goodness and Faithfulness towards them and then bring forth a Military King in whose exploits they were not all to be concerned Was the Church in travail for so many Generations to bring forth this Fighter Had they no Eye of old unto Spiritual and Eternal things in the Promise of the Messiah Of late indeed Josephus Albo tells us that the Doctrine of the coming of the Messiah is not fundamental And Hiliel of old maintained that Hezekiah was the Mâ—ssiah He should have been so saith another had he composed a Song unto God Barcosba a seditious Negromancer is the Messiah sayes R. Akiha He shall come it may be immediately before the Resurrection saith Manasse But do these thoughts suit the Faith Hope Prayers and Expectations of the Church of old Do they answer any one Promise of God concerning him No man not utterly unacquainted with the Scripture can give the least countenance unto such imaginations What all this while is become of the work every where in the Scripture assigned § 32 unto the Messiah Who is that cast off unto Who shall break the Serpents Head Who shall take away the curse that entered on Sin Who shall be a blessing unto all Nations To whom shall the Gentiles be gathered to be saved by him Who shall be a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck Who shall have a Body prepared him to offer in stead of the Sacrifices of the Law Who shall have his hands and feet pierced in his suffering and his Vesture parted by Lot Who shall make his Soul an Offering for sin Who shall be bruised grieved and afflicted by God himself because he shall bear the Iniquities of his People Who shall make Attonement for Transgressors and bring in everlasting Righteousness Who shall for ever make Intercession for Transgressors And who shall sit at the Right Hand of God in his Rule over the whole world All these things and sundry others of the like kind are openly and frequently promised concerning the true Messiah whereof not any of them is to be accomplished in or by him whom they look for But these men indeed take a way to destroy all Religion and to turn the whole Bible into a story of earthly things without either Life Spirit or Heavenly Mystery in it It is acknowledged that there are many Promises of Mercy and Glory unto the § 33 Church in the Dayes of the Messiah expressed in Words whose first literal sense represents things outward and temporall And there is a threefold Interpretation of them contended for The first is that of the Jews who would have them all understood according unto their literall importance without the allowance of any Figure or Allegory in them But no thing can be more vain then this imagination nor do they make use of it but where they suppose that it will serve their present design For whereas the Wisest of them do grant that in the dayes of the Messiah the Nature of things shall not be changed but only their use many of these Promises in their first literall sense import a full and direct alteration in the Heavens and Earth and all things contained in them So Isa. 11. v. 6 7 8. Lions Bears Leopards Cockatrices Aspes Calves and young Children are said all to live feed and play together And Chap. 60. v. 7. That the Flocks of Kedar and the Rams of Nebaioth should minister unto the Church ver 16. that they shoâ—ld suck the Milk of Kings and ver 19. that the Sun should no more give light by day and yet ver 20. that it should no more go down Chap. 65. v. 17. That new Heavens and a new Earth shall be created and that the old shall be remembered no more that Trees and Fields shall rejoyce and clap their hands for gladness with other things innumerable in the same kind Now if they grant as they must unless they intend to expose all Sacred Truth to the scorn and contempt of Atheists that these expressions are figurative and Allegorical they must do the same in all other Promises of earthly things as of Peace Plenty Victory long Life Dominion Wealth and the like being set out in the same kind of Allegorial Expressions At least they cannot make them in the strict literal sense of the words the object of their Faith and Expectation unless they can by some infallible rule declare what is figuratively to be understood in them what properly or which Promises are expressed Allegorically which not And this they can never do The Event therefore is the
only infallible Interpreter of the meaning of such Prophetical Predictions what ever precedes that is but conjecture Wherefore § 34 Secondly Some interpret all these Promises and Prophesies Spiritually without the least respect unto those outward terrene things which are made use of in figurative Expressions only to shaddow out those spiritual heavenly and eternal things which are intended in them And indeed this way of Interpretation which Calvin follows in all his Commentaries is attended with great probability of Truth For the main Ends and work for which the Messiah was promised being as we have proved Spiritual and eternall and whereas it is evident that many promises of things relating unto him and the condition of them that believe in him are Allegorically expressed it being the constant way of the Old Testament to shaddow out spiritual and heavenly things by things earthly and carnall this way of interpreting the Promises seems to have great countenance given unto it both from the nature of the things themselves and the constant tenour of the Prophetical Style According unto this Rule of Interpretation all that is foretold in the Psalms and Prophets of the Deliverance Rest Peace Glory Rule and Dominion of the Church of the subjection and subserviency of Nations Kingdoms Rulers Kings and Queens thereunto intends only either the Kingdom of Grace consisting in Faith Love Holiness Righteousness and Peace in the Holy Ghost with that spirituall Beauty and Glory which is in the Worship of the Gospel or the Kingdom of Heaven its self where lyes our Happiness and Reward And indeed this Interpretation of the Promises as in respect of many of them it is evidently certain true and proper they being so expounded in the Gospel it self so in respect of them all it is safe and satisfactory to the souls of Believers For they who are really made partakers of the spiritual good things of the Messiah and are subjects of his spiritual Kingdom do find and acknowledge that Liberty Rest Peace and Glory those durable Riches therein as they are abundantly content withall what ever their outward condition in this World may be And unto this Exposition as to the main and prime intendment of the Promises the whole Doctrine of the Gospell gives countenance § 35 Thirdly Some acknowledging the Kingdom of the Messiah to be Heavenly and Spiritual and the Promises generally to intend spiritual and heavenly Glory and Riches that is Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus do yet suppose moreover that there is in many of them an intimation given of a blessed quiet peaceable flourishing estate of the Church through the power of the Messiah to be in this world But this they do with these limitations 1. That these Promises were not made unto the Jews as they were the seed of Abraham according unto the flesh primarily and absolutely but unto the Church that is the children of Abraham according unto the Promise Heirs of his Faith and Blessing That is they are made unto all them who receive and believe in the promised Messiah Jews and Gentiles with whom as we have proved the Priviledge of the Church and interest in the Promises was to remain 2. That the Accomplishment of these Promises is reserved unto an appointed time when God shall have accomplished his work of severity on the Apostate Jews and of Tryal and Patience towards the called Gentiles 3. That upon the coming of that season the Lord will by one means or other take off the Veyl from the eyes of the Remnant of the Jews and turn them from ungodliness unto the Grace of the Messiah after which the Jews and Gentiles being made one Fold under the great Shepheard of our souls shall enjoy Rest and Peace in this world This they think to be intimated in many of the Promises of the Old Testament which are brought over unto the use of the Church as yet unaccomplished in the Book of the Revelation And herein lyes all the Glory which the Jews can or may expect and that only on such terms as yet they will not admit of But these things must all of them be spoken unto at large when we come to answer the Objections which they take from them unto our Faith in Jesus Christ. That which above all things manifests the Folly and Irreligion of the imagination § 36 of the Jews about the Person and Work of the Messiah is the Event The true Messiah is long since come hath accomplished the work assigned unto him made known the nature of the first and consequent Promises with the Salvation that he was to effect no way answering the expectation of the Jews but only in his Genealogie according unto the flesh And this is that which is the second Supposition on which all the Discourses and Reasonings of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews is founded and which being absolutely destructive of the Judaical Infidelity shall be fully confirmed in our ensuing Dissertations Exercitatio XII Second Principle supposed by the Apostle Paul in his Discourses with the Hebrews The Promised Messiah was then come and had done his Work The first Promise recorded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Promise with the limitation of time for his coming necessary First determination hereof made by Jacob Gen. 49. The Promise confined to Judah afterwards to David no more restrained Jews self-contradicting exceptions to the words of Jacob's Prophesie Interpretation of Jarchi Of Aben Ezra examined Who meant by Judah The Tribe Not his Person proved Scepter and Scribe how continued in Judah The same Polity under various Forms of Government How long they continued Did not depart on the Conquest of Pompey Nor Reign of Herod Continuance of the Sanhedrim The name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Place and Court of Judges Jews Etymologie of the Word Institution of that Court Numb 11.16 The order of the Court. Place of their meeting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 19.13 Qualifications of the Persons Who excluded Their Power Punishments inflicted by them The lesser Courts Mistake of Hilary Shilo who and what the word signifies Judaical Interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refuted Argument from the words Rule granted unto Judah Proved by the Context Consent of Targums Judaical Evasions removed Rise and signification of the word Shilo Messiah intended thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opened and vindicated Consent of Targums Talmuds and most Learned Rabbins Scepter long since departed Story of Benjamin Tudelensis examined Messiah long since come § 1 THE second great Principle supposed by the Apostle in all his Discourses with the Hebrews in his Epistle to them and which he layes as the foundation of all his Arguments is that the Messiah whom we have proved to have been promised from the foundation of the world was actually come and had finished the work appointed for him then when he wrote that Epistle This the Jews pertinaciously deny unto this very day and this denyall is the center
For nothing can be more ridiculous then to make a comparison between the Riches and Treasures of Solomons Temple and those which at any time were laid up in the second Temple Besides what was so It was but Gifts and Oblations of the people of the Jews which the Nations sometimes took away but never brought any thing unto it And therefore themselves which use this evasion dare not place the excelling glory of this House herein though the Text do plainly affirm that it doth consist in what these words intend but turn to other imaginations of largness and duration Thirdly Open force is offerâ—d unto the words themselves for they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all Nations shall bring their desirable things but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desire of all Nations shall come So woful is the condition of men rebelling against light that they care not into what perplexities they run themselves so they may avoid it Abarbinel having repeated all these Expositions and seeing no doubt that they would not endure a tolerable Examination would have the desire of all Nations to be Jerusalem because they should all come up to War against it with a desire to take it in the dayes of the third Temple which he fancieth to be here intended There are scarce more words then Monsters in this Subterfuge It may suffice for its removal that we have already demonstrated that his Figment of a third Temple is devoid of any pretence to cover it from open shame § 19 We say then that these words contain a Prophecy of the Messiah and of the real glory that should accrue unto the second Temple by his coming unto it whilest it was yet standing This is the importance of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The LXX give us a corrupt interpretation of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and choice things of all Nations shall come in which error they are followed both by the Syriack and Arabick Translators 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth in nothing answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used by the Prophets and retained by Jonathan in the Chaldee Targum who indeed is not unfaithful in places relating unto the Messiah so as to exclude him although he pervert the true meaning of many of them The Vulgar Latin hath rightly to the sense rendred these words Et veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus and he shall come who is the desired of all Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly desiderium desire but is no where used in the Scripture but for a thing or person desired or desirable loved valued or valuable as is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also Dan. 9.23 Chap. 10.11 Chap. 11.8.43 Gen. 27.15 Ezekiel 23.6 Amos 5.11 Jer. 3.19 Isaiah 2.16 This I say is the constant use of the words to denote the person or thing that is desired or desirable And it being said here emphatically that this desire shall come nothing but a desired or desirable person can be intended thereby And this was no other but the Messiah the bringing of whom into the world was the end of the buildâ—ng of that Temple and of the whole Worship performed therein and therefore by his coming unto it it had the complement of its Glory The Promise of him of old unto Abraham was that in him all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Untill his coming they were generally to be left to walk in their own wayes and in the issue everlastingly to perish by him were they to be relieved and so is rightly called their desire or he that de jure ought to be desirable above all things unto them the desire of all Nations and he to whom the gathering of the people should be that is the Shilo are one and the same It is true being filled with blindness and ignorance the ages past before his coming had de facto and actively no desire after him but as there was a secret groaning and tendency in the whole nature of things after his production So he when he came who was alone to be desired by them was actually received and embraced as the full accomplishment of their desires That then wherein all their blessedness and deliverance were laid up may be properly called their desire because containing all things truly desirable and because like desire fulfilled it was perfectly satisfactory unto them when enjoyed The only difficulty in the interpretation of these words lyes in their unusual construction § 20 The Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall come is of the plural number venient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desire whereunto we refer it of the singular desiderium omnium gentium venient Kimchi observing this anomaly to suit the words unto his own sense affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wanting which should be prefixed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so be rendered all Nations shall come with their desire that is their desirable things their Silver and Gold but there is no need of this Arbitrary supply of the Text and the sense contended for by him we have sufficiently disproved Nor is it unusual in the Hebrew Tongue where two Substantives are joyned in construction that the Verb agrees in number and person not with that which directly and immediately it respects but with that whereby it is regulated As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is put in statu constructâ— by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Verb from thence put in the plural number so 2 Sam. 10.9 Joab saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the face of battle was against him The Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was which refers directly to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the face agrees not in number with it but with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the battel by which the other is put in construction So Job 15.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the number of years is hid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are hid it agrees with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 years and not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the number in the very same kind of construction with that of the words here used by the Prophet So likewise 1 Sam. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arcus fortium confractorum The Adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 broken agrees in number with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mighty though it be apparently spoken of the bow and likewise Hos. 6. v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy Judgements shâ—ll go forth as the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall go forth agrees in nâ—mber with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light though it respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy Judgements in the plural number and many other instances of the like kind may be alledged to the same pâ—rpose This construction then though anomalous yet is in that Language so frequent as not to create any difficultie in the words and yet possibly the words may not be without a further sense intimating the coming of the Nations to
the notions of their more antient Masters For a Close then of these considerations I shall add some of the confessions of the Jews themselves which the evidence of the Truth contended for hath at several seasons extorted from them And this I shall not do as though they were of great importance in themselves or unto us but only to discover their entanglements in contending against the light for the present Masters of their unbelief are more perplexed with the convictions of their Predecessors then with the plainest testimonies of the Scripture The Authority of their Predecessors being equal with them unto if not more sacred then that of the word of God its self First then Being pressed with the Testimonies before insisted on out of Haggai concerning the glory of the second Temple and the coming of the desire of all Nations thereunto they have a Tradition that the Messiah was born the same day that the second Temple was destroyed The story indeed which they make it up with is weak fabulous and ridiculous and he who is offended with the citation of such things out of their Talmudical Doctors is desired only to exercise patience until he shall be able himself to report from them things more serious and of greater importance and yet from them must we learn the perswasions and convictions of the Antient Jews or be utterly ignorant of them Be their storiâ—s what they will also the powerfull convincing Evidence of Truth and the miserable shifts that the poor wretches are put unto to keep off the Efficacy of it from their minds do sufficiently appear in them The Tradition mentioned they give us in Tractat. Bezaroth distinct Hajakorr in § 14 these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Joden in the name of Rabbi Ibbo said the Messiah was born in the day that the house of the Sanctuary was destroyed and the story they tell to this purpose is as followeth It came to pass that as a Jew was plowing his Ox before him lowed and there passed by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Arabian and he heard a voice saying O Jew the Son of a Jew loose thy Oxen for behold the house of the Sanctuary is destroyed the Ox lowed the second time and he said O Jew the Son of a Jew Yoke thy Oxen for behold Messiah the King is born he said unto him what is his name he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menachem that is the Comforter And in Bereshith Rabba on Gen. 30. they have a long story to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Samuel the son of Nachman said as Elias of good memory was walking on the way on that very day that the house of the Sanctuary was destroyed he heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voice from Heaven crying unto him the house of our holy Sanctuary is brought unto destruction when Elias of good memory heard this he thought the whole world should be destroyed he went therefore and finding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men plowing and sowing he said unto them the holy blessed God is angry with the world or all this generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will destroy his house and send his children into captivity among the Nations of the world and you are solicitous about this temporal life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came forth again and said unto him Let them alone for unto Israel is born a Saviour he said unto the voice where is he the voice said unto him in Bethlehem Judah he went and found a woman sitting in the door of her house and her Child lying in its own blood before her he said unto her my daughter hast thou born a Son she said unto him yea he said and why doth it lye so long in its own blood she said unto him because of the great evil for on this day wherein he is born the house of the Sanctuary is destroyed he said unto her my daughter be of good Courage and take care of the Child for great salvation shall be wrought by his hand and she was streightway encouraged and took care of him In the process of this story they tell us that this Child was carried away by the four winds of Heaven and kept in the great Sea four hundred years of which afterwards I doubt not but this Tale is hammered out of the second of Luke about the appearance of the Angels to the Shepheards and their finding his Mother in a stable All the use that I intend to put this confession of theirs unto is to urge the present Jews with a conviction and acknowledgement of their fore-fathers that the Messiah was to be born under the second Temple § 15 Again They have a Tradition out of the School of one Elias a famous Master amongst them of the Tannarei or Antetalmudical Doctors which they have recorded in the Talmud Tractat. Saned distinct Chelec about the continuance of the world which is as follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a Tradition of Elias that the world shall continue six thousand years two thousand void which the gloss of Rabbi Solomon Jarchi reckons from the Creation of the world unto the Call of Abraham two thousand to the Law from thence to the destruction of the second Temple and two thousand to the dayes of the Messiah It is incredible how the latter Rabbins are perplexed with this Tradition of their Masters which is recorded in the Talmud as sacred In the account they give in Shebet Sehuda of a Disputation they had with one Hierom a converted Jew before the Bishop of Rome they know not how to disintangle themselves from the Authority of it The summ of their answer is that the next words in the Tradition are that that time is elapsed because of their sins but as others have already manifested that that gloss is no part of the Tradition but an addition of the Talmudists so we shall immediately manifest the vanity of that pretence Others of them say that it sufficeth to maintain the truth and credit of the Tradition if the Messiah come at any time within the last two thousand years But besides that even they also are now drawing towards their period not a fifth part in their computation of that space of time remaining so this gloss is directly contrary to the very words of the Tradition For as two thousand years are assigned to the world before the Law and two thousand to the Law which they reckon from the Call of Abraham to the ruine of the second Temple so the two thousand years allotted to the time of the Messiah must begin with his coming as the other portions do one of them with the Creation the other with the Call of Abraham or else the space of time above sixteen hundred years between the expiration of the second two thousand years and the third must be left out of the computation And the time limited for the duration of the world extended
by the Jews But the truth is although they continue in their desires of the coming of the Messiah yet they have lost the reason why they do so only this they find that their fore-fathers from the dayes of Abraham placed all their happiness in his coming and therefore they think that they also ought to do so though why they cannot tell or will not understand But this is that which we have proved to be the object of their faith and expectation of old namely that the Messiah was promised to be a Spiritual Redeemer to save them from Sin Satan Death and Hell to procure for them the favour of God and to bring them to an enjoyment of him Set this aside and what have we to do to contend with the Jews about one that shall come and make War for them conquer their enemies and make them rich Much good may it do them with such an one when he comes They say indeed that having the affluence of all things under him they shall be the better enabled to keep the Law of Moses and so the way to Heaven will be easier for them But I fear that which they manifest their hearts to be set upon as their chiefest end and aim will scarcely much farther them unto any other end whatever the last end will not be made the means to another Nor was it otherwise with their fore-fathers Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked According to their pasture they were filled and forgot the Lord Prosperity ruined them nor did they ever reform but under sore afflictions The Messiah then that we contend with them about is a Spiritual Redeemer such an one he was promised to be as we have abundantly proved And all Promises of that nature are perfectly accomplished He is come and hath saved his people from their sins He hath made an end of sin and made Reconciliation for iniquity and brought in everlasting Righteousness There is not one Promise concerning Grace Mercy Pardon the Love of God and eternal Blessedness by the Messiah which contain the whole of his direct and principal work but they are all yea and ámen in Christ Jesus are all exactly made good and accomplished And this is testified unto by millions of souls now in the unchangeable fruition of God and all that seriously believe in him who are yet alive And this is firstly to be considered in our enquiry after the accomplishment of the Promises concerning the Coming Grace and Kingom of the Messiah Secondly Hence it follows That all Promises concerning temporal things at his coming § 4 or by it are but accessory and occasional and such as directly appertain not to his principal work and main design of his coming Certain it is that the whole work for which God of old promised the Messiah might have been effected and fully accomplished if not one word had been spoken of any outward advantage to ensue thereon in this world These Promises then belong not directly and immediately to the Covenant of the Redeemer but are declarations only of the Soveraign Will and Wisdom of God as to what he would do in the dispensation of his Providence at such and such a season Hence two things will ensue First That all these Promises may be conditional Those which concerned the sending of the Messiah for the accomplishment of his principal work were absolute and depended not upon any thing in any or all of the Sons of men The whole of it was a meer effect of Soveraign Grace He was therefore infallibly to come at his appointed season But those that concern the dispensation of Gods Providence in temporal things may all of them be conditional And evident it is that they have one Condition annexed to the fulfilling of every one of them and that is that those who would partake of them do submit themselves unto the Law and Rule of the Messiah For in the midst of the greatest collection of Promises in the whole Old Testament which at first view seem to express the glory of the Kingdom of the Messiah in outward things it is added the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve them shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted Isa. 60.12 So that all the happiness intimated depends on the condition of mens submitting themselves to the Law of the Messiah without which they are threatned with desolation and utter wasting This condition belongs unto them all and what other particular considerations there may be on which their accomplishment may be suspended we know not Secondly It follows also from hence that as to the times seasons and places of their accomplishment they are left unto the designation of Gods Soveraign Will Wisdom and Pleasure as are those of all other works of his Providence whatever It is not necessary that they should all of them be accomplished at the same time or in the same place or after the same manner God may and God doth fulfill them when where how and towards whom he pleaseth so that in the issue they shall all have that accomplishment which he hath designed unto them and which the Church hath ground to expect And thus hath God provided that they should be a ground of comfort and direction to the Church in all Ages containing encouragements unto obedience and consolations in what his Saints may expect to fall upon their persecuting adversaries The Jews indeed who know not even how to fancy the Kingdom of their Messiah to be any other but what the Roman Common-wealth of men only was like to prove res unius aetatis the business of one age would have all these temporal promises to be fulfilled all at once momento turbinis all on a sudden But the real Kingdom of Christ being to continue through many Generations even from his coming unto the end of the world and that in such a variety of states and conditions as God saw conducing unto his own glory and the exercise of the faith and obedience of his people the accomplishment of these promises in several Ages and at several seasons according to the counsel of the will of God is exceedingly suited unto the Nature Glory and Exaltation of it And this one observation may be easily improved to the frustrating all the objections of the Jews from the non-accomplishment pretended of these promises § 5 Thirdly Whereas spiritual things have the principal place and consideration in the work and Kingdom of the Messiah they are oftentimes promised in words whose first signification denotes things temporal and corporeal And this came to pass and was so ordered on several accounts For first the very way and manner of the Prophets expression of their Visions and Revelations wherein after the way of the people of the East they made use of many Metaphors and Allegories lead them so to set forth spiritual things That this was the custom of the Prophets as they expresly own it and is manifest in their writings so it is confessed by the Jews
people and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more This Prophesie is in the same words repeated Micha 4.1 2 3 4. where there is added unto the close of it But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree and none shall make them afraid And the like things are spoken of in sundry other places of that Prophesie § 14 In this we agree with the Jews that this is a prophesie of the time of the Messiah of his Kingdom in this world and do willingly subscribe to that rule of Kimchi on the place on those words in the last or latter days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In every place where there is mention of the last days the days of the Messiah are intended which we have formerly made use of We also consent unto him that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the teacher that shall from Jerusalem instruct us in the Law and will of the Lord is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Messiah the King which manifests him to be a Prophet no less then a King and he also is the Judge that shall judge among the Nations Only we differ from them in the Exposition of the Mountain of the house of the Lord which they take to be mount Moria we the worship of God it self And whereas both of us are necessitated to depart from the Letter and allow a Metaphor in the words for they will not contend that the hill Moria shall be plucked up by the roots and taken and set on the tops of other mountains they know not where nor can they tell unto what purpose any such thing would be so our interpretation of the words which admits only of the most usual figurative expression the place being taken for the worship performed in it on the account whereof alone it was ever of any esteem is far more easie and natural then any thing they can wrest the remainder of the words unto supposing mount Moria to be literally understood And in this sense we affirm the first part of the Prophesie to be long since really and to the full accomplished For whereas the worship of God before the coming of Christ was confined unto the Temple at Hierusalem attended unto by one poor small enslaved Nation and that in such outward contempt and scorn that it was no way to be compared with the glory of the false worship of the Nations and the compliance of multitudes of people unto it the mountains being far more visible conspicuous and stately then that at Hierusalem upon his coming and giving out the Law of God unto the Nations of the world the most the greatest and the most glorious of them consented unto the acceptance of it and with one consent gave themselves up to the worship of the God of Jacob whereby the worship of the true God was not only exalted and made more conspicuous then the lofty hills and high places of the world wherein they worshipped their Idols but the most eminent mountains of the whole earth as that of Diana at Ephesus and of the Capitol at Rome were destroyed and deserted and the glory of the worship of God was lifted up above them So that what the Jews think to plead for themselves doth indeed in a manifest and open Event wholly evert their unbelief But avoiding the consideration hereof that which they principally insist upon is the Peace promised under the Kingdom of the Messiah which as it seems to them is not accomplished Yea saith one of them Men are so far from heating their swords into Plow-shares that within a few hundreds of years new instruments of war never heard of in the world before have been invented among them who pretend to believe in the Messiah And this as they think makes it appear that really he is not as yet come into the world the vanity of which pretence may easily be discovered from our former Rules which we shall briefly make application of unto its removal For first The temporal outward Peace of the world if any such thing be here § 15 intended is not the principal part matter or subject of the Promise but only an accessory unto it the chief part of it which concerns the spiritual worship of God is evidently and openly fulfilled That which is temporal for the times and seasons of it is left unto the sovereign Will and Wisdom of God for its accomplishment Neither is it necessary that it should be fulfilled amongst all Nations at once but only amongst them who at any time or in any place effectually receive the Laws of God from the Messiah What ever then of outward peace is really intended in this promise as it hath in part already received its accomplishment as we shall shew so the whole shall be fulfilled in the time and way of Gods appointment 2. That the words are not to be understood absolutely according to the strict exigence of the letter is evident from that complement of the prediction of that in Micah Every one shall sit under his own vine and fig-tree there being many not only persons but great Nations in the world that have neither the one nor the other 3. The Jews themselves do not expect such peace upon the coming of their Messiah War great and terrible with Gog and Magog they look for which also the Scripture mentions and that with Amillus is their own faith or fancy only it may be they would have no body to wage war with but themselves For whereas they tell us that all Nations shall come with their controversies to be ended by the Messiah at Hierusalem and by that means prevent war among them I suppose they will not do so untill they are subdued and those Nations broken in pieces which will not serve them which what ever expedition they fancy to themselves may take up at least half the Reign of their Messiah if he should live an hundred years about which they differ yea plainly and openly great wars and desolation of the enemies of the children of God are fore-told under the Messiah Isa. 63.1 2 3 4 c. 4. I shall not much insist on that universal peace which God gave unto all the known Nations of the world at the coming of Christ in the Reign of Augustus though it look more like an accomplishment of this Prophecie then what the Jews imagine therein but because it was only coincident with by the Providence of God and not an effect of his coming I shall pass it by only as a diagnostick of the season wherein the Prince of peace was to be born and was so accordingly But I say 5. That Christ at his coming wrought perfect peace between God and Man slaying the enmity and difference which by reason of sin was between them This alone absolutely and properly is peace without this all other outward quiet and prosperity is ruinous
into Covenant with him in the promise of the Land of Canaan v. 7. And this Call of his was the great foundation whereon God afterwards built the whole Structure of his Worship under the Old Testament For herein he both appropriated the promise of the Messiah unto him designing his person as the spring from whom he should proceed according to the flesh and set both him and his posterity a-part to be visibly subservient unto the great design of his Grace in the accomplishment of the promise of a Deliverer made unto our first Parents This we have elsewhere at large declared and shewed how that after his Call every thing was disposed unto a significancy of that which was for to come and was suited for a continuance unto that season and no longer § 10 When Abraham was ninety and nine years old that is also he had been twenty four years in the Land of Canaan The Lord confirms his Covenant with him and his seed by the sign and token of Circumcision Gen. 17.8 9 10 11 12. which Paul calls the seal of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.12 because God thereby confirmed and assured unto him an interest in the promised seed who is the Lord our Righteousness Isai. 45.24 25. Jerem 23.6 And because he had accepted of the righteousness and salvation which in and by him God had prepared for sinners in believing the promise Gen. 15.6 And herein did God manifest that he took his seed together with him into the Covenant as those who no less then himself were to be made partakers of the righteousness exhibited therein as also to be used for the chanel where the holy seed was to be carried on untill the Word was to take it and to be made flesh John 1.14 Mar. 1.1 Rom. 9.5 And by this Ordinance of Circumcision were his posterity separated from the rest of the world and united among themselves For however Ishmael and Esau carried the outward sign of circumcision out of the pale and limits of the Church communicating it unto the Nations that sprang of them unto this day unto whose observance they also adhere who being of another extract have received the Law of Mahomet who was of the off-spring of persecuting Ishmael as the Turks and Persians with very many of the Indians yet their observance of it was never under the Law of God nor accepted with him but is rather accursed by him But as it was continued in the posterity of Abraham according unto the promise it was the fundamental uniting principle of the Church amongst them though dispersed into innumerable particular families For as there were as many Churches before as there were families Ecclesiastical and Oeconomical or paternal Rule being the same now the Covenant being one and the token of the Covenant being one and the same unto all the families that sprang of Abraham which in their several generations were as the sands of the Sea shore or as the Stars for multitude were incorporated into one body among themselves and separated from all the rest of the world Not that this Ordinance alone was sufficient to constitute the whole Nation one Ecclesiastical Body or Church which was done by the following Institutions of Worship but that the foundation thereof was first laid herein Neither without some such general initiation into union could it have been orderly accomplished And as it was the Glory of the people of old whilst they walked in the steps of the faith of Abraham So it was the carnal boast of their degenerate posterity Hence have we so often mention of those who were uncircumcised in the way of reproach and contempt and when they renewed the administration of it among themselves upon their first entrance into the Land of Canaan after its commission in the Wilderness it is said that they rolled away the reproach of Aegypt Josh. 5.9 because they were now no more as the Aegyptians uncircumcised And it was their glory both because God made it the token of his receiving them to be his peculiar people out of all the Nations of the Earth as also because it was the pledge of their obedience unto God which is the glory of any person or people But their posterity being carnal and degenerating from the faith and obedience of Abraham having quite lost the Grace betokened by it which as Moses often declares unto them was the circumcision of their hearts to hear and obey the voice of God did yet and do yet to this day boast of it as a sign of their separation unto God from other people not considering that these things were mutual answering one another and that this latter is nothing where the former is not also attended unto And these are the chief heads that are looked I upon by our Apostle in the Call of § 11 Abraham which also we have been more brief in the explication of because its consideration hath elsewhere occurred unto us Now from this Call of Abraham unto the deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt was as Moses assures us four hundred and thirty years Exod. 12.40 41. and so saith our Apostle Gal. 3.17 But because the Lord tells Abraham that his posterity should be afflicted in a strange Land four hundred years Gen. 11.13 which words are repeated by Stephen in his Sermon to the Jews Acts 7.6 the reason of this different account may be briefly enquired after Here is a double limitation of time 1. of four hundred and thirty years by Moses and Paul 2. Of four hundred years by God himself unto Abraham repeated by Stephen The words of Moses are recorded Exod. 12.40.41 Now the sojournings of the Children of Israel in Aegypt were four hundred and thirty years and it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years even on the self same day it came to pass that all the Hosts of the Lord went out of the Land of Aegypt It is evident that there is an ambiguity in the words of Moses for if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sojourning or dwelling in the beginning of the Verse do relate unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dwelt in Aegypt it can design no longer space of time then they dwelt there after the descent of Jacob which by an evident computation of the times containeth but half the space limited of four hundred and thirty years If it refer only to the children of Israel then it takes in all the sojournings and peregrinations of that People who dwelt in Aegypt from the first day of their being the people of God Now this ambiguity is perfectly removed by our Apostle Gal. 3.16 17. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made and the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul The giving of the Law was as we shall see immediately upon their coming out of Egypt and saith he the 430 years are to be reckoned from the