Custom of all Religions of all Nations of all Vassals the Lord Iehovah Creator of Heaven and Earth ordained to his people this Observation of the Sabbath-day for a Sign and Cognisance that he should be their God and no other It is for a sign saith he between me and you that I Iehovah am your God And besides in the place I quoted before the 31. of Exod. 16 17. are these words The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested As if he had said It is a Sign that the Creator of heaven and earth is your God But for the more distinct understanding of this signification we must know that the Sabbath includes two respects of time First the quotum one day of seven or the Seventh day after six days labour Secondly the designation or pitching that Seventh upon the day we call Saturday In both the Sabbatical observation was a sign and profession that Iehovah and no other was the God of Israel the first according to his attribute of Creatour the second of Deliverer of Israel out of AEgypt For by sanctifying the Seventh day after they had laboured six they professed themselves vassals and worshippers of that only God who created the Heaven and the Earth and having spent six days in that great work rested the Seventh day and therefore commanded them to observe this sutable distribution of their time as a baâ—ge and livery that their Religious service was appropriate to him alone And this is that which the Fourth Commandment in the reason given from the Creation intendeth and no more but this But seeing they might profess this acknowledgment as well by any other six dayes working and a seventh's resting as by those they pitched upon there being still what six dayes soever they had laboured and what seventh soever they had rested the same conformity with their Creator let us see the reason why they pitched upon tâ—ose six dayes wherein they laboured for labouring dayes rather than any other and why they chose that Seventh day namely Saturday to hallow and rest in rather than any other And this was that they might profess themselves servants of Iehovah their God in a relation and respect peculiar and proper to themselves to wit that they were the servants of that God which redeemed Israel out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage and upon the morning-watch of that very day which they kept for their Sabbath he overwhelmed Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea and saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians This I gather from the repetition of the Decalogue Deut. 5. where that reason from the world's Creation in the Decalogue given at Horeb being left out Moses inserts this other of the Redemption of Israel out of Egypt in stead thereof namely as the reason why those six dayes rather than any other six for work and that Seventh day rather than any other seventh for rest were pitched upon as Israel observed them Remember saith he V. 15. thou wert a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-Sabbath-day Namely not for the quotum of one day of seven â—or of that another reason was given the example of God in the Creation but for the designation of the day But whether this day were in order the seventh from the Creation or not the Scripture is silent for where it is called in the Commandment the seventh day that is in respect of the six dayes of labour and not otherwise and therefore whensoever it is so called those six dayes of labour are mentioned with it The seventh day therefore is the seventh after the six dayes of labour nor can any more be inferred from it the example of the Creation is brought for the quotum one day of seven as I have shewed and not for the designation of any certain day for that seventh Nevertheless it might fall out so by disposition of Divine Providence that the Iews designed Seventh day was both the seventh in order from the Creation and also the day of their deliverance out of Egypt But the Scripture no where tells us it was so howsoever most men take it for granted and therefore it may as well be not so Certain I am the Iews kept not that day for a Sabbath till the raining of Manna For that which should have been their Sabbath the week before had they then kept the day which afterward they kept was the fifteenth day of the second moneth and which day we read in the 16 of Exod. that they marched a wearisom march and came at night into the wilderness of Sin where they murmured for their poor entertainment and wished they had died in Egypt that night the Lord sent them Quailes the next morning it rained Manna which was the sixteenth day and so six dayes together the seventh which was the twenty second day it rained none and that day they were commanded to keep for their Sabbath Now if the twenty second day of the moneth were the Sabbath the fifteenth should have been if that day had been kept before but the Text tells us expresly they marcht that day and which is strange the day of the moneth is never named unless it be once for any station but this where the Sabbath was ordained otherwise it could not have been known that that day was ordained for a day of rest which before was none And why might not their day of holy rest be altered as well as the beginning of the year was for a memorial of their coming out of Egypt I can see no reason why it might nor not find any testimony to assure me it was not And thus much of the Iews Sabbath How and wherein it was a Sign whereby they professed themselves the servants of Iehovah and no other God Now I come to the Second thing I propounded to shew How far and in what manner the like observation binds us Christians I say therefore that the Christian as well as the Iew after six dayes spent in his own works is to sanctifie the seventh that he may profess himself thereby a servant of God the Creator of Heaven and Earth as well as the Iew. For the quotum therefore the Iew and Christian agree but in designation of the day they differ For the Christian chuseth for his Holy Day that which with the Iews was the First day of the week and calls it Dominicam the Lord 's Day that he might thereby profess himself a servant of that God who on the morning of that day vanquished Satan the Spiritual Pharaoh and
thy self to Christ become a disciple and a member of his Kingdom S. Paul likewise taught the Gospel in like manner for himself tells us so Acts 20. 21. that he testified both to Iews and Gentiles Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance therefore and the Gospel cannot be separated If Repentance includes newness of life and good works the Gospel doth so For Christ is the way of Repentance without Repentance there is no use of Christ and without Christ Repentance is unavailable and nothing worth for without him we can neither be quit of the sins we forsake nor turn by a new life unto God with hope of being received He is the blessed Ferry-man and his Gospel is the Boat provided by the unspeakable mercy of God for the passage of this Sea As therefore in Repentance we forsake sin to serve God in newness of life so in the tenour of the Gospel Christ delivers us from sin that we might through Faith in him bring forth the fruits and works of a new life acceptable to our heavenly Father Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive our sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Forasmuch as ye have done these things unto the least of my brethren ye have done them unto me Lord how do those look to be saved at that day who think good works not required to Salvation and accordingly do them not Can our Saviour pass this blessed sentence upon them No assuredly he will not But if the case be thus in the Gospel What is the reason will some men say that the Apostle tells us that we Christians are no longer under the Law nor justified by the works of the Law but under Grace and justified by Faith only I answer It is true that we are justified that is freed and acquitted from sin by Faith only But besides Iustification there is a Sanctification with the works of piety towards God and righteousness towards men as the Fruits yea as the End of our Iustification required to eternal life For therefore we are justified that we might do works acceptable to our heavenly Father through the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ which of our selves we could not and so obtain the reward he hath promised the doers of them As for the Law it is to be considered either as a Rule and so we are bound to conform and frame our actions to it for who dare deny but a Christian is bound to fear God and keep his Commandments or the Law may be considered as it is taken for the Covenant of works The Apostle when he disputes of this argument by the Law means the Covenant of works which he also calls The Law of works and by Faith and the Law of Faith he understands the Covenant of grace the condition whereof is Faith as will easily appear to him that shall diligently read the third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians where he expresly changeth those terms of Law and Faith into the equivalent appellations of the Two Covenants Now as the Law is taken for the Covenant of works the Seal whereof was Circumcision 't is true we are not under it For the Covenant of works called by the Apostle the Law is that Covenant wherein Works are the condition on our part which if we perform in every point as the Law requires we are justified before God as keepers of his Covenant otherwise if we fail in the least thing we are condemned as guilty of the breach thereof Under this Covenant we are not for if we were and were to be judged according to it alas who could be saved For all saith the Apostle have sinned and come short of the glory of God There is none righteous no not one But the Covenant we are under is Believe and thou shalt be saved the Covenant of Grace the condition of which Covenant on our part is not the doing of works which may abide the Touch-stone of the Law but Faith in Iesus Christ which makes our works though of themselves insufficient and short of what the Law requires accepted of God and capable of reward This is that S. Iohn saith 1 Ep. 5. 3 4. That to love God is to keep his commandments and his commandments now under the Gospel are not grievous For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith c. Whence our Saviour also saith that his yoke the yoke of the Gospel was easie and his burthen light The condition of the first Covenant was that which we could not do the condition of the second Covenant is that which enableth us to do and makes accepted what we can do and this is the Covenant of the Gospel a Covenant of savour and grace through Iesus Christ our Lord. And thus we have seen what the Apostle's meaning is when he saith we are not under the Law but under Grace Not as though a Christian were not bound to walk after God's commandments but that the exact fulfilling of them is not the condition whereby we are justified in the New Covenant but Faith in Iesus Christ in whom whosoever cometh unto the Father is accepted be his offering never so mean so it be tendered with sincerity and truth of heart Most unworthy therefore should we be of this so great and unspeakable favour of Almighty God our heavenly Father offered us in the Gospel if when he hath given us his only Son to make the yoak of our obedience easie and possible to be born we contemning this superabundant grace should refuse to wear and draw therein Far be it from the heart of a Christian to think it possible to have any benefit by Christ as long as he stands thus affected or ever to win the prize of eternal life without running the race appointed thereunto Shall we sin that grace may abound saith S. Paul God forbid THUS much of the Gospel Now of Faith whereby we are partakers of the grace therein being the condition of the New Covenant which God hath struck with men Faith is to believe the Gospel that is to attain Salvation through Christ. But there is a three-fold Faith wherewith men believe in Christ. 1. There is a false Faith 2. there is a true Faith but not a saving and 3. there is a saving Faith A false Faith is to believe to attain Salvation by Christ any other way than God hath ordained as namely to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of
which is given for the relief of the poor the Orphan and the Widow which is called Alms. For not only our Tithes but our Alms are an Offering unto Almighty God So Prov. 15. 17. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and Chap. 14. 31. He that hath mercy on the poor honoureth his Maker And our Saviour will tell us at the day of Iudgment that what was done unto them was done unto him This then is the Reason why we must give Alms because they are the Tribute of our Thanksgiving whereby we acknowledge we are God's Tenants and hold all we have of him that is of the Mannor of Heaven without which duty and service we have not the lawful use of what we possess Whence our Saviour tells the Pharisees who stood so much upon the washing of the Cup and Platter left their meat and drink should be unclean Give alms saith he of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you Luke 11. 41. Now that this Acknowledgment of God's Dominion was the End of the Offerings of the Law both those wherewith the Priests and Levites were maintained and those wherewith the poor the Orphan and the Widow were relieved appears by the solemn profession those who pay'd them were to make Deut. 26. where he that brought a basket of first-fruits to the house of God was to say I profess this day unto the Lord that I am come unto the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us And when the Priest had taken the basket he was to say thus verse 5 c. A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few and became there a Nation great mighty and populous And the Egyptians evil intreated us c. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm c. And brought us into this place and hath given us this land even a land that floweth with milk and honey And now behold I have brought the first-fruits of the land which thou O Lord hast given me And thou shalt set it saith the Text before the Lord thy God and worship before the Lord thy God This was to be done every year But for Tithes the profession was made every third year because then the course of all manner of Tithing came about For two years they pay'd the Levite's Tithe and the Festival Tithe the third year they pay'd the Levite's Tithe and the poor man's Tithe So that year the course of Tithing being finished the party was to make a solemn profession When thou hast made an end saith the Lord of Tithing all the Tithes of thine increase the third year which is the year of Tithing that is when the Tithing course finisheth and hast given it to the Levite the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow that they may eat within thy Gates and be filled Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God I have brought away the hallowed thing out of mine house and also have given it to the Levite and to the Stranger to the Fatherless and to the Widow according to all the Commandments which thou hast commanded me Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a land that floweth with milk and honey What we have seen in these two sorts is to be supposed to be the End of all other Offerings for pious uses which were not Sacrifices namely To acknowledge God to be the Lord and Giver of all As we see in that royal Offering which David with the Princes and Chieâ—tains of Israel made for the building of the Temple 1 Chron. 29. 11 c. where David acknowledgeth thus Thine O Lord is the Kingdom and thou art exalted as Head over all Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious Name For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee For this Reason there was never time since God first gave the Earth to the sons of men wherein this Acknowledgment was not made by setting apart something of that he had given them to that purpose In the state of Paradise among all the Trees in the garden which God gave man freely to enjoy one Tree was Noli me tangere and reserved to God as holy in token that he was Lord of the garden So that the First sin of Mankind for the species of the fact was Sacriledge in prosaning that which was holy For which he was cast out of Paradise and the Earth cursed for his sake â—ecause he had violated the sign of his Fealty unto the great Landlord of the whole Earth Might I not say that many a man unto this day is cast out of his Paradise and the labours of his hands cursed for the same sin But to go on After man's ejection out of Paradise the first service that ever we read was erformed unto God was of this kind Abel bringing the best of his flock and Cain of the fruit of his ground for an Offering or Present unto the Lord. The first spoils that ever we read gotten from an Enemy in war paid Tithes to Melchisedâ—k the Priest of the most High God as an Acknowledgment that he had given Abraham the Victory Melâ—hisedck blessing God in his name to be the possessor of heaven and earth and to have delivered his enemies into his hand To which Abraham said Amen by paying him Tithes of all Iacob promiseth God that if he would give him any thing for at that time he had nothing he would give him the Tenth of what he should give him which is as much to say as he would acknowledge and profess him to be the Giver after the accustomed manner For the Time of the Law I may skip over that it is well enough known no man will deny it But let us come to the Time of the Gospel which though it hath freed us from the bondage of Typical Elements yet hath it not freed us from the profession of our Pealty unto God as Lord of the whole Earth 'T were strange methinks to affirm it I am sure the ancient Church next the Apostles thought otherwise I will quote for a witness Irenaeus who tells us that our Saviour when he took part of the Viands of his last Supper and giving thanks with them consecrated them into a Sacrament of his body and bloud set his Church an example of dedicating part of the creature in Dominicos usus Dominus saith he dans discipulis suis consilium Primitias Deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti
unruly and obvious to be surprised for such things we are wont to keep and so much therefore is implied in that they are to be kept else they needed no keeping This is therefore the condition of our Hearts 1. They are untrusty The heart is deceitful above all things Ier. 17. 9. Therefore it stands in hand to watch it to suspect it and deal with it as we would with a notable Iugler or with an untrusty and pilfering servant to have a jealous and a watchful eye over it For if our eye be never so little off it will presently break out into some unlawful liberty or other 2. It is an unruly thing if it be once lost a man cannot recover it again without much time and labour For it is like unto a wild horse if the bridle be once let go he will be gone and not gotten again in haste yea it may be we shall be forced to spend as much time in recovering him as would have served to have dispatched our whole journey So if the bridle of watchfulness be once let go and our Hearts get loose they will not easily be regained it will ask us no small time to temper and tune them again for the service of God Lastly our hearts are continually liable to surprise we walk in the midst of snares encompassed with dangers on every side What is that almost which will not entice and allure so fickle a thing as the Heart from God We can be secure of it at no time neither sleeping nor waking in no place neither house not street neither bed nor board not in our Closet no not in the Church and Pulpit THUS much shall suffice to have been briefly observed by way of implication from the Act Keep Now I come to the Object it self The Heart Keep thy Heart By Heart we must understand the inward thoughts motions and afâ—ections of the Soul and Spirit whereof the Heart is the Chamber But not a natural man's Heart for that is not worth a keeping but such a Heart as lives to God-ward a good and gracious heart which consists in two properties in Purity and Loyâ—lty This is the state and temper we must keep our Hearts in I will speak of them in order And first of Purity and Cleanness We must keep our Hearts in Purity and Cleanness For Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God and none but such shall ever see him It behoves us therefore to know what this Cleanness is the having or not having whereof concerns us so nearly Know then A clean or pure Heart is that which loaths sin and loves righteousness For the better understanding whereof we must further know That an absolute cleanness and pureness of the heart and soul from sin is not attainable in this life Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Yet is there a cleanness of heart which must be had and without which we shall never see God as you heard before Such was that which David prays for Psal. 51. 10. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me And 2 Tim. 2. 22. true Christians are described to be such as call upon the Lord out of a pure heart 1 Tim. 1. 5. The end of the Commandment saith the Apostle is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned And himself 2 Tim. 1. 3. thanks God whom he served from his forefathers with a pure conscience But if this Purity of the heart were no other than a total freedom thereof from all unclean thoughts and sinful motions and desires in such sort as a man should never be troubled and defiled with them alas who then should see God who should be saved That Claenness therefore that measure of Purity which God requires to be in the heart of every one who shall see him and with whom he will vouchsafe to dwell is as I told you the loathing of sin and the love of righteousness that is an accepted Cleanness through Faith when the hate of impurity and love of cleanness in the heart is accepted with God for cleanness and pureness it self Though not a cleanness of all our affections yet at least and what can God require less an affection to all cleanness For God accepts the will for the deed If we love if we desire if we delight heartily in that which is clean and pure in the eyes of God if we hate and abhor if we loath in our selves all sinful impurities and pollutions both of flesh and spirit howsoever we find in our selves a great want of the one and our hearts much and often vexed and troubled with the other yet is this affection of our hearts accepted with God for a pure and cleansed heart indeed And where this disposition is the heart cannot chuse but grow cleaner and cleaner even with real and formal cleanness For a man cannot but cherish that which he loveth and rid himself as much as may be of what he loatheth So he that loveth and affecteth cleanness of heart will cherish and make much of every good motion which the Spirit of God shall put into it and if he indeed loath and abhor unclean and sinful thoughts will do his best to stifle them and remove them far from him This Cleanness and Purity of Heart is that which the Scripture slyleth Holiness even that Holiness without which S. Paul tells us Heb. 12. 14. no man shall see the Lord. For in the Law the legal cleansing washing and purging of that which any way belonged to God or was prepared for his presence and service is called sanctifying or hallowing Exod. 19. 10. When the Lord was to come down upon Mount Sinai Go unto the People saith he to Moses and sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their clothes 2 Chron. 29. 5. Hezekiah saith to the Levites Sanctifie now your selves and sanctifie the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place And accordingly in the 16. ver the Priests go in to cleanse it which cleansing in the next verse is called their sanctifying it In Deut. 23. 14. where a law is given for cleanness and neatness in the Camp the reason is rendred in these words For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee therefore shall thy Camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee The same expression S. Paul applies to spiritual cleansing 2 Cor. 7. 1. Let us saith he cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Here with S. Paul also Holiness is Cleansing and Cleansing is Holiness So Eph. 5. 26. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. As therefore under the Law that
prevail with him than his subtile motives were to overcome him and indeed the Event prov'd he was not much deceiv'd Hence we are to observe That the Devil taketh advantage of the vehemency of our Passions to work our overthrow if he once find these to fasten his hold by he then thinks he may lead us whither he lift To have gained our affections is as it were to have gotten a party within which is a dangerous advantage to further the invasion of an enemy especially when most of our Passions are our Favorites which we can deny nothing they ask and if they be once bribed will work us wholly to the dispose of our Arch-enemy That we may not therefore afford the Devil this advantage and as it were reach him a rope to hang us withal it behoves us so to govern and temper our Passions and Affections that they transport us not into the Devil's jurisdiction which that we may the better do it will not be unfit to set down some Rules for performance thereof First therefore It is best to resist our Passions at the beginning and to use the same policy which Pharaoh did with the Israelites that they might not over-run his Country in killing all their Infants as soon as they were born While the sore is green Chirurgeons seldom despair but festered once they hardly cure it So it is with the Passions of our Mind when they are first growing they are soon curbed but being a little entertained they will hardly be subdued The second means is To inure our selves to cross our Passions when there is no danger and to bridle our selves sometimes from ordinary and lawful desires that we may do it with more ease when we are in danger For how can he hope to be able to master his Passions when dangerous temptations assault him who never used them to it in the time of his security We know that men who would fit themselves for the Wars will practice in the time of Peace when there is no enemy near and will toil and labour when they might be at rest will lie hard when they may command a soft bed will watch when they might sleep and all to make them able to endure the like when they shall have need The like must we do that we may get an habit to cross and subdue our Passions when we shall have need The third means is To fly occasions which may incense the Passions whereunto we are inclined Occasiones faciunt latrones saith the Proverb Occasion makes him a thief which else might have been an honest man Wherefore he that commits himself to Sea in a boisterous tempest is worthy to suffer Shipwrack and he that willingly puts himself in the company of infected persons may blame himself if he fall into their diseases Lastly but chiefly When thy Passions are most vehement then seek for succour from Heaven Fly under the wings of Christ as the Chickens under the Hen when the Kite seeks to devour them Beat at the gates of mercy and crave grace to overcome thy misery He is thy Father and will not give thee a Serpent if thou ask him Fish Humble thy self before him open thy sores and wounds unto him and the good Samaritan will pour in both wine and oyl and thy Passions shall melt and fall away as clouds are dispelled and consumed by the Sun DISCOURSE XLI GENESIS 3. 14. And the Lord God said unto the Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattel and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life THESE words contain in them the Serpent's Doom and Destiny pronounced upon him by the great Lord of Heaven and Earth They contain in them two parts First The Reason of this Sentence in the words Because thou hast done this Secondly The Sentence it self in the words following Thou art cursed above all cattel c. The Reason of this Heavy doom is Because thou hast done this What This namely Because he had beguiled the Man and Woman which God had made and caused them to transgress his great Commandment He therefore that is the cause and occasion of anothers sin is as hateful to God as the doer and is liable to as great or rather a greater punishment than he For the Serpent here for causing hath this doom as well as the Man and Woman for doing Nay which is to be observed his doom is the first read unto him as if he were the Arch-offender and not to the Man or Woman till he was done with What should this mean but that his fault being the mover was more grievous in the eyes of God than theirs which is the reason also why the Woman comes in the next place to have her Sentence because she had been a sin-maker and was guilty not only of her own personal sin but of her husband 's also whence the Man who had sinn'd only himself and not caused others to sin had his judgment last of all I might also confirm the same from the quality of their several judgments in that the Serpent alone is doom'd to be accursed and no such word spoken either of the Man or the Woman But I shall not need to tarry here to prove How horrible and fearful a thing it is to be the Author of another's sin We know they are the words of our Saviour Matt. 18. 6 7. Wo unto the world because of scandals and wo unto the man by whom a scandal cometh it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea And S. Paul 1 Cor. 8. 13. would eat no meat as long as the world lasteth rather than make his brother to offend Would they would consider this who are not content alone to sin themselves but play the Devil in corrupting others It seems they long to be double damn'd I would also they would think of this who make no conscience at all by extremities and vexations and other grievances to drive a man to Perjury and other grievous sins and yet think themselves free when they should know that he that is the Author of another's sin makes another's guilt his own and shall share in the punishment every whit as deep as he But this shall suffice to have observed in the first part The Reason of the Serpent's doom Now I come to the second The doom it self wherein the words as you see have all relation to the Serpent For the Lord said unto the Serpent Thou art cursed c. Thou shalt go upon thy breast c. But because this Serpent was more than a brute Serpent the Devil himself being the chief Agent in this his Instrument it is a thing much controverted Vpon which of these this curse is here pronounced 1. Some would have it spoken only of the brute Serpent because here is a comparison made
as the Courts but covered is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence you never read that Christ or his Disciples came into or taught in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely in the Outer Court where the multitude assembled to pray This Outer Court was a most stately Building with Columns and Cloisters round about and also within divided as it were into Partitions with stately Rows of Pillars S. Iohn seems by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mean the whole Sacrificing-place and not only the Altar specially so called viz. whereon the Sacrifice was laid as may appear by the words which follow And those that worship therein The Outer Court he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Court without the Temple because the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Temple stood not in this but in the other Court which was also the Place or Court of Sacrifice I. M. CHAP. IV. Mr. Mede's further clearing and vindication of some passages in the foregoing Paper with some Observations concerning the 7. Thunders contemporary with the 7. Trumpet as also concerning that in Dan. 12. 7 11 12. and that in Apocal. 11. 19. chap. 15. 5 8. Retegat Deus oculos utriusque nostrûm ut intue amur mirabilia ejus Mr. Wood I Received your last doubt not but with like acceptance I did the former which I not only keep but use to read over 5 or 6 times at the least and though I always assent not yet I am always better'd by them either to strengthen what I found weaker than I took it to be or to learn to express my self with more caution and perspicuity than as I perceived by their Objections I had done or oftentimes they minister the occasion of some new Notion which before I thought not on But for answer to your last I know not well how to deal for that unless I misconceive you all is grounded upon a mistake almost total of my meaning It may be I have committed some fault in my expression and I must therefore desire you to amend my defect therein with a second reading of that Letter if it be worthy for you to take so much pains In the mean time I suppose you mistake me in these particulars following 1. First You suppose that I oppose the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Courts whereas I oppose the Courts one to the other viz. the Inner Court wherein the Temple and the Altar stood and where the Priests and Levites only worshipped to the Outer Court whither every body came 2. You suppose that in my Interpretation I oppose the Invisible or latent Church to the Visible and apparent whereas I oppose the Primitive Visible Church which was pure to the After-Visible Church which was corrupt For both the Courts both Inner and Outer were sub dio open and uncovered and therefore both signifie A Patent and Open Church that is a Visible one 3. You suppose if I understand you that when I say Measured Church I mean Actively as though the Angel continually were measuring the Church during the Six Seals whereas I mean Passively that the Church during that time was measured that is pure conformable and keeping measure even in the Outward Visible Form which afterward it did not 4. You suppose I make the Temple with its Courts a Type of the whole body of the Church partly Visible partly Invisible at the same time whereas I mean of the Visible Church only and that considered as Successive according to the diverse times thereof Concerning the rest of your Letter I have no time to answer as I would only in brief I say thus much 1. That concerning the Thunders of the seventh Seal seventh Trumpet and seventh Vial I cannot yet conceive your meaning For I acknowledge no other Seventh Seal but the Seven Trumpets and cannot understand how any thing of the Seventh Vial should concern the present times since you make all the Vials yet to come nor how any thing of the opening of the Seventh Seal should concern the times which are now seeing the greater part of the Seventh Seal viz. six Trumpets thereof is already past Indeed the seven Thunders after the sixth Trumpet may be if not present yet very near if we could understand them 2. Concerning the Time Times and half a Time and the 1290 and 1335 days in the twelfth of Daniel I labour not to reconcile them because I suppose they are diverse Times and of diverse Subjects and of a diverse beginning and ending Namely the Time Times and half a Time are of the Tyranny of the little Horn with eyes and a mouth speaking great things c. Dan. 7. 20 25. at the expiring of whose blasphemous Tyranny the scattering of the Holy people and the great Mystery shall be finished Dan. 12. 17. But the 1290 and 1335 days are the times of sealing and closing up of the knowledge of these Wonders to be at length disclosed and revealed at the expiration of these times 3. I cannot yet conceive how the Opening of the Temple in the Seventh Trumpet Apocal. 11. 19. makes any thing for proof of the Contemporation of the Two Courts or for the understanding what is meant by measuring or unmeasuring them For our Question N. B. is about Courts and not the Temple howsoever the Angel describes the Inner Court by the Temple Altar and Priests-worshippers therein which are the Contents thereof But this Opening of the Temple at the Seventh Trumpet that the Ark of the Testimony might be seen should I think rather be compared as a Synchronistical Character with the 5. verse of the 15. Chap. where in the end of the General description of the Vials as a consequent of their pouring out it is said that the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony was opened And verse 8. in the entrance of the Particular description of the Vials N. B. begun in the former verse it is answerably said that the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled as if then this smoke or cloud should be removed and the Temple thereby become open to be seen and entred into Which should come to pass at the blast of the Seventh Trumpet In all which there seems to be an Allusion to Solomon's feast of Seven days dedication of the Temple 2 Chron. 7. 8. during which the Cloud of the glory of the Lord filled the Temple not the Courts so that the Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud 2 Chron. 5. 13. nor enter thereinto chap. 7. 1 2. So that the pouring out of the seven Vials may seem as it were a Dedication of the Church of Christ after it had been so long prophaned by Antichrist till the finishing of which Dedication the Nation of Priests or Priestly nation of Israel cannot
Haud temerè suspicatus sum de argumento nam eandem planè tuetur de Die suo Novissimo sententiam quam ego de Die Iudicii conceperam Ut Libro prelecto non mediocriter in sententia mea confirmatus sim tum propter hoc ipsum tum quòd multa Scripturae loca in eo reperi adeò ad meam mentem interpretata ut consensionem in talibus à communi sententia abeuntibus oppidò mirarer Vides Reverende Praesul quò me rapit Contemplatiunculae meae nimium fortaâ—se studium ut etiam tibi hisce narrandis importunus sim. Sed ultrà Paternitatem tuam à gravioribus tuis meditationibus non distinebo Deus te Reverendissime ac Illustrissime Domine quà m diutissimè incolumem superstitem velit Ecclesiae Patriae tuae bono E. Collegio Christi 24 Aprilis An. 1628. Reverendissimae Paternitatis tuae studiosissimus Iosephus Medus EPISTLE IV. Mr. Mede's Second Letter to Archbishop Usher touching the Millennium and the Chronology of the Samaritan Pentateuch c. My Reverend Lord HAving understood by Mr. Lowe's Letter to Mr. Chappel that my Books were lost between Dublin and Droghedah as they were coming to your Lordship I presumed a second time to obtrude upon your Grace three or four more of them howsoever the worth were not such that the first loss was much material I sent with them a Letter and a Speculation or two with it which yet through some defect in sending I fear will come after them I beseech your Lordship pardon me if I have offended as I am afraid I have either against discrâ—tion or good manners For I confess I have been since somewhat jealous that the Books I first sent were not so lost but that they were found again which if they were how can I but blush to think that I have with such either shew of self-love or unmannerly importunity again troubled your Lordship with them who should noâ— have presumed at the first to have offered any more than one But my confidence is in your Grace's experienced humanity to accept any thing in good part from a Scholar's hand though perhaps accompanied with some melancholick vanity My Lord I sent in the Letter I mention the last Paragraph or piece of some Specimina Interpretationum Apocalypticarum namely that which concerned the Millennium Whereto I added for further probability of my Conceit somewhat more out of my Adversaria and in special that one of Carpentarius's Com. in Alcinoum Platonis p. 322. Septimum Millenarium ab universa Cabbalistarum Schola vocari MAGNVM DIEM IVDICII Wherein I had no intent or thought not yet have to avow that old conceit of the Chiliasts That the World should as it were labour 6000 years and in the Seventh thousand should be that glorious Sabbath of the Reign of Christ I inclined to think it much nearer But only to shew how fitly in the Hebrew notion not only a long time of some Years and Ages but even this very time of a Thousand years might be styled a Day Howbeit I desire your Lordship to give me leave if but for your recreation to relate the event of a piece of my Curiosity since that time the rather because the means thereof is beholding to your Grace I chanced to light upon Mr. Selden's Marmora Arundelliana and found therein together with an honorable and deserved mention of your Grace's name the Chronology of your Samaritan Pentateuch published to the view of the whole world I had thereby opportunity to take more curious notice thereof than I had done when your Lordship was in England and observed that it much more exceeded the Iewish in the Genealogy of the Patriarchs after the floud then it came short in those before it It came therefore into my mind to try how near the 6000 years of the world would be by that computation I found it would be Anno AErae Christianae 1736 which is just the very year when the 1260 years of the Beast's reign will expire if it be reckoned from the Deposition of Augustulus the last Roman Emperor Depositio Angustuli Anno AErae Christ. 476 Anni Regni Bestiae 1260 Sum. 1736 A Condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. juxta Scaligerum 3949 Adde quadriennium quo idem anticipat initium Nebuchadnezzaris nam in caeteris nihil muto 4 Excessus Chronologiae Samaritanae supra Iudaicam 311 Ità à condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. erunt Ann. 4264 Adde annos AErae Christ. quando exibunt Tempora Bestiae seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si ducantur à depositione Angustuli 1736 Sum. 6000 I began here to consider whether this difference of the Account of the years of the world were not ordered by a special disposition of Providence to frustrate our Curiosity in searching the time of the Day of Iudgment My Lord I would trouble your Lordship with a Conceit or two more if I had time As that I conceive Nebuchadnezzar's dream Dan 2. to have been some years before he sought for the interpretation which was the reason he had forgotten it the words in ver 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken for the dream and may be well so construed viz. That his dream came upon him or came into his mind Also that the 40 years Ezek. 4. 6. should be the time of Manasses Idolatry for which God threatens so often that he would destroy that Kingdom But Mr. Provost will not stay for me I beseech the Almighty long to bless your Grace and grant you life and thus I end with my humble Service and am Christ's Coll. 22 May 1628. Your Lordship 's most ready to be commanded Ioseph Mede EPISTLE V. Mr. Hayn his First Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation SALUTEM in CHRISTO Worthy and Learned Sir SOme kind friend have lately imparted to me your Synchronisms of the Apocalyps printed and some other written passages on Daniel's times and other parts of Scripture The world must needs give good entertainment to your painful and learned labours who have undertaken paths troden by few with much care of sure footing especially in your Synchronisms Yet see how it falls out as in this kind it cannot be avoided in all things you shall not find assent For my part I know well quà m sit mihi curta supellex yet partly that I may be better instructed my self partly to give you occasion of further clearing the Truth I have sent here included some Positions with Arguments confirming them contrary to some of your Tenets desiring your favourable interpretation of my meaning and your Answer at your best leisure and assuring you that I do this not contradicendi studio sed amore veritatis indagandae and minding if you encourage me thereto to shew hereafter my Reasons of some dissent in other matters I commend you and your studies to God's blessing and rest From Christs-parish in London Iune 5. 1629.
Times But whether your meaning were not That for God to be robbed of such a Sacrifice was a great Sacrilege I know not And by Mr. B. I heard as from your self the practice of Bishop Andrew's Chappel was that which first cast you upon such a way so as from thence to observe the course and practice of Antiquity But in my poor judgment it is very strange that a matter of such importance as you seem to make it should have so little evidence in God's Word and Antiquity and depend merely upon certain Conjectures That which you style your Conjectura de Gogo Magogo in my poor judgment is more rational by far and yet the matter thereof you know to be very strange but it prevails very much with me That Declaration of the Palsgrave's Churches since I came home I have seen I remembered your Censure of it as a laxe thing Others passe other judgments upon it on my knowledge and those Divines were accounted in those days as grave and learned Divines as most in Christendom Indeed the matter of Bowing at hearing the name of Iesus is nothing pleasing to some in these times But how doth B. A s. reading in Antiquity serve his turn for that Cornelius à Lapide is a Papist and a Iesuit he saith ad nomem Iesu in S. Paul is no more than ad Iesum I know it is the Father's pleasure that as we honour the Father so we should honour the Son and all the world shall never bring me to shew more reverence at the hearing of the name of Iesus then at the hearing of the name Iehovah and when we are as we should be intent upon our religious comportment before God according to the inward adoration in spirit that we should watch when a word comes to perform outward obaisance in my judgment is very strange And I remember how faintly Mr. H. carries himself in this and others in pleading for it most of all urge this that no body is troubled about it but now more than enough must yield or suffer I never had experience of the practice till now and that makes me the bolder to write as I do Yet whatsoever we shall be put unto I am glad that I have such liberty to confer with you thereabouts I am lately grown acquainted with my Lord of Armagh being encouraged to write unto his Grace about the matter of the Sabbath which I willingly apprehended and acquainted him with all my Grounds whereupon I proceeded and he justifies them all I intreated also help in Antiquity about the Notion of a Sabbath given to the lord's-Lord's-Day and he profest unto me that he never inclined his mind to observe that in all his reading and added this reason For he never thought to see such times as these to call into question Whether the Moral Law contains Ten or but Nine Commandments And Dr. Reynolds being ask'd what he thought of Beza's judgment concerning the Sabbath made no other answer but this You know the Commandment Thus have I made bold to write freely as to my dear friend I doubt not but whensoever I am put unto it I shall find you the readier to afford me your best satisfaction for certainly I will neglect no means to keep me out of the paw of the Lion as well as I can I commend you to the grace of God and with many thanks for your love and free communication of precious things I take my leave ever resting Newbury March 20. 1636. Yours to love and honour you Will. Twisse EPISTLE LXXI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's several Expostulations together with his judgment of Mr. Potter's Discourse touching the Number of the Beast 666. Worthy Sir I Have received yours and heartily thank you for the Book you sent me which I find to be no laxe but a nervous close and well-composed Discourse as written by an abler hand than Voetius or any Dutch-man of them all yea I believe the ablest in that argument now living Concerning Mr. Potter's Discourse before I tell you my opinion I find I have some things else to answer and such as press me so hard as I cannot deny them the first place especially one of them which complains much of being mistaken As that I bad you hearing Prayers in our Master's Closet to stand up at Gloria Patri I 'le assure you you were mistaken My words were We stand up or They stand up I know not certainly which intending only to have you take notice of our manners and fashions as I did also the night before when they bowed at the name Iesus in the Creed I confess indeed when I saw you so suddenly to alter your posture I had some suspicion lest you misunderstood me and repented me I had spoken and thought of it sometimes afterward Yet mine was but doubting I would yours had been so too For why would you suppose me to be so uncivil as to speak unto a stranger and my better in degree in such a rude manner or note as you call it Surely in this you were to blame Nay I do not remember that ever I bad any one little or great either to stand up at Gloria Patri or how at the name Iesus or to conform to other the like posture all days of my life however my opinion hath been concerning them The plain truth is I had a desire to have talked with you about these things and to have acquainted you with something I had that way which now I find your mind so averse I shall never do For this end it was that I ever anone put you in mind to observe our postures and now and then at other times in our discourse touch'd upon something of that kind to have given occasion of conference about those matters And the rather I desired it because I had declared my self so far in my Letters unto you formerly as I thought might require more to be added to prevent such scruples as might arise from thence You may remember what hint I gave you in our Gate-house the first night concerning that place in Daniel And he shall think to change Times and Laws and they shall be given into his hand for a time times and half a time I would fain have entred with you upon that Scripture and told you I had some Notion thereabout which some friends of mine had termed Dog and Cummin-seed c. As for my Sermon at S. Marie's if I could have enjoyed you privately sine arbitris which I much but in vain desired in all probability you had been together with some other things better acquainted with some of the Contents thereof And as for preaching for Bowing to Altars if my memory fail me not the word Altar unless in citing a place of Scripture was never mentioned in my whole Discourse Sure I am there was no Bowing spoken of either with respect to it or to the Communion-Table but only of Bowing in general without any
the Sacrifice of Messiah which these Sacrifices represented was to be finished the third day by his rising from the dead ◠and therefore the Type thereof determined within that time beyond which time it was not accepted for atonement of sin because then it was no longer a Type of him Thus far the Law As for the Prophets I find no express Prediction in them for the time of Christ's rising For that of the case of the Prophet Ionah I take to be rather an Allusion than a Prophecy only in general That Christ should rise again is implied both in that famous Prophecy of Esay the 53. and that of Zachary 12. In the former forasmuch as it is said that after he had made his soul a sacrifice for sin he should see his seed and prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand And again that the Lord should divide him a portion with the great and that he should divide the spoil with the strong because he had poured out his soul unto death Which argues that he should not only live again but be victorious after he had died In that of Zachary it is said the Iews should look upon or see him whom they had formerly pierced and that in that day he would pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication therefore he was to live again after they had pierced him I come to the Psalms where not only his Rising again is prophesied of but the Time thereof determined though at first sight it appears not so namely in that fore-alledged passage of the sixteenth Psalm Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption All men shall rise again but their bodies must first return to dust and see corruption But Messiah was to rise again before he saw corruption If before then the third day at farthest for then the Body naturally begins to see corruption This may be gathered by the story of Lazarus in the Gospel where Iesus commanding the stone to be rolled from his Grave Martha his sister answered Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days Also by that Rule given by the Masters of Physick That those who die of the Apoplexie suffocation of the Mother or like sudden deaths should not be buried till seventy two hours were past because within that time they might revive and Examples are given of those who have done so They give also a reason of it in nature Because say they in that time the Humors of the Body make their revolution the Phlegm in one day or twenty four hours the Choler in two days or forty eight hours the Melancholy in three days which is seventy two hours and this to be the reason why an Ague founded in an inflammation of Phlegm returns every day an Ague which comes from Choler every other day an Ague from Melancholy every third day Now if a Body may be kept so long unburied it is supposed it may continue so long uncorrupted namely where a corruption is not begun before death as in some diseases but longer it will not continue When therefore it is so often inculcated in the New Testament that our Saviour should rise again the third day the Holy Ghost in so speaking respects not so much the number of days as the fulfilling of Scripture That Messiah's body should not see corruption but should rise before the time wherein dead bodies begin to corrupt and indeed our Saviour rose again within forty hours after he gave up the Ghost and was not two full days in the grave Therefore if there be any other Scripture which implies Messiah should rise before his Body should see corruption that Scripture whatsoever it be shews he should rise again within three days DISCOURSE XIV EXODUS 4. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the fore-skin of her Son and cast it at his feet and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sponsus sanguinum tu mihi es THEN that is when she saw the Angel of the Lord ready to kill Moses her husband in the Inne because his son was not circumcised she took a sharp stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is she took a knife which according to the custom then was made of stone sharped This we may learn out of Ioshuah 5. 2. where the Lord says to Ioshuah Make thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharp knives say we according to the Hebrew knives of stones and circumcise again the children of Israel The Chaldee Paraphrast hath Make thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharp rasors the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stone-knives Thus far all is clear but for the rest we are to seek First on whom the fault lay and what was the reason of this omission of Circumcision then who and what is meant when it is said she cast or made the fore-skin to touch his feet and above all what is meant by Sponsus sanguinum Zipporah is commonly reputed to have been a perverse and froward woman and Moses the meekest man on earth to have had that mishap in his choice which many a good man hath The reason because she not only hindred her child from being circumcised out of some nicety and aversation thereof as a cruel Ceremony but also when she saw there was no remedy but she must do it to save her husband's life yet she did it with an upbraiding indignation telling him that he was a bloudy husband who must have such a thing done unto his poor child But I see no ground either for the one or the other For that the Circumcision of the child was not deferred out of any aversation of hers of that Ceremony may be gathered First because she was a Midianitesse and so a daughter of Abraham by Keturah and therefore well enough acquainted with and inured to that Rite which not only her Nation the Midianites but all the Nations descended of Abraham observed as may be seen in the Ismaelites or Saracens who learned not this Ceremony first from Mahomet but retained it as an ancient custom of their Nation Secondly She had suffered already her elder son Gershom to be circumcised wherefore then should we think she was a verse from the circumcision of this For that this child for whom Moses was now in danger was Eliezer his youngest son it cannot be denied forasmuch as it is evident that Moses at this time was the Father of two sons which by reason as may seem of this disturbance he sent back with his wife unto her Father Iethro as we may read in the 18. Chapter of this Book By which it may be gathered that the cause of this omission of Circumcision was not any averseness in Zipporah from that Rite but rather because they were in their journey when the child was born and so having no convenient time or place to rest in till the wound might be healed and thinking it
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even the Oak where Ioshua here in my Text set up this great Stone for a witness to Israel For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other two places signifie one and the same thing to wit either an Oak Terebinth or some other kind of Tree as the Seventy perpetually render them Yea that of Iudges must of necessity so be rendred by comparing it with this of my Text to which it hath reference Nevertheless our last Translation in the first of these places Gen. 12. concerning Abram chose rather I know not wherefore to follow S. Hierome who follows not himself and translates it a Plain not an Oak to wit the Plain of Morch by which Translation the identity of that place with the other two where it is translated Oak is obscured and made the less observable If there be any difference between the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it should rather be this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie a Tree and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Grove Holt or Wood of such Trees as the Seventy in that place of the ninth of Iudges have expresly rendred it namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Quercetum Oak-toft or Holt of Sichem And so I believe it ought to be understood in the other places that is to be taken collectively of which we shall hear more hereafter But this is no great matter of difficulty that which follows is namely How this Oak or Oaken-holt of Sichem is said here in my Text to have been in for the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by the Sanctuary of the Lord. For how comes the Sanctuary of the Lord to be at Sichem whenas the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Testimony were at Shiloh there set up by Ioshua himself and so remained as the Scripture elsewhere tells us until the time of the Captivity of the Land which without question was not till after Ioshua was dead and buried and is usually understood of that time when the Ark was taken captive by the Philistines And yet is not only here a Sanctuary mentioned at Sichem but in the beginning of the Chapter the Elders and Officers of the Tribes are said upon Ioshua's summons to have presented themselves there before the Lord which speech useth to imply as much If we say the Ark of God was taken out of its place at Shiloh and brought to Sichem by the Levites upon occasion of this general Assembly yet the difficulty will not be removed For first How could the Ark alone give denomination to the place where it stood to be called the Sanctuary of the Lord Or secondly If the Altar were there with it how was the Law of God observed which saith Thou shalt nâ—t plant a Grove of any trees or any tree near unto the Altar of the Lord thy God which thou shalt make thee Neither shalt thou set up a Pillar which the Lord thy God hateth whenas here are both an Oak or Quercetum in the Sanctuary of God and a Pillar or Statue erected under it Thirdly This Sanctuary whatsoever it was must be something which had a constant and fixed station and was not temporary and mutable and that because the Oak under which this Pillar was erected by Ioshua is here designed and pointed out by it as by a constant and standing mark else to what purpose had it been to sign out the Oak by it if it were such as would be here to day and not to morrow For these reasons it appears that this Sanctuary could not be the Tabernacle where the Ark and Altar for Israel were but that it was something else And what that should be is to be enquired I answer It was a Proseucha or praying-place which the Israelites at least those of Ephraim in whose lot it was after the Countrey was subdued unto them had erected in that very place at Sichem where God first appeared to Abram and where he built his first Altar after he was come into the Land of Canaan the place where God said unto him Unto thy seed will I give this Land For the understanding whereof you must take notice that the Iews besides their Tabernacle or Temple which was the only place for Sacrifice had first or last two sorts of Places for religious duties the one callet Proseuchae the other Synagogues The difference between which was this Proseucha was a plot of ground encompassed with a wall or some other like mound or inclosure and open above much like to our Courts the use properly for Prayer as the name Proseucha importeth A Synagogue was aedificium tectum a covered edifice as our Houses and Churches are where the Law and Prophets were read and expounded and the people instructed in divine matters according to that Acts 15. 21. Moses of old time hath in every City them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day From whence also you may gather that Synagogues were within the Cities as Proseucha's were without which was another difference between them as you shall hear confirmed That Proseucha's were such places as I have described them to be I prove out of a notable place of Epiphanius a Iew bred and born in Palestine who in his Tract against the Massalian Hereticks after he hath told us that the Massaliani built themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. certain houses or large places like the ancients places of market which they called Proseuchae he goes on thus And that the Iews of old as also the Samaritans had certain places without the Cities for prayer which they call'd Proseucha's appears out of the acts of the Apostles where Lydia a seller of purple is said to have met with the Apostle Paul and to have heard him preaching in that place of which the Scripture saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it seemed to be a place of prayer of which I shall say more anon He goes on still There is also at Sichem saith he which is now called Neapolis above a mile without the City a Proseucha or place of prayer like a Theatre which was built in the open air and without a roof by the Samaritans who affected to imitate the Iews in all things Out of these words you may collect every part of my Description First That Proseuchae were out of the Cities in the fields Secondly that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Ancients Fora or places of market and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the open air and without roof such as the Courts of the Temple also were whither the people came to pray so that they were as it were a kind of disjoyned and remoter Courts unto the Temple whither they turned themselves when they prayed in them Thirdly That they were ordained for places of Prayer All these are in this passage of Epiphanius
Prophet in the name of a Prophet yet behind namely such as rob and spoil them of their livelihood and daily bread and not only themselves give nothing to enable and encourage them the better to perform their Ministery but take from them several ways that which the Piety and Bounty of their Ancestors hath allotted them yea to many if not to the most no gain or theft is more sweet than that which is gotten out of the Priest's portion But whether it will prove so at that day when the just God shall reward every man according to his works may be greatly feared I told you a little before that the reason why he that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall be partaker of a Prophet's reward is because he that supports and enables a Prophet to do his duty hath thereby an interest in his work and consequently in the reward due to the same If this be so what can they look for who by subtracting their daily bread from them hinder and disenable them from the free and chearful performance of their duty by distracting them with the cares of providing for their bodily life Do they not derive upon themselves the guilt of whatsoever impediment comes hereby to the propagation of the Kingdom of Christ Shall not the loss of every Soul that perisheth for want of due provision to maintain an able Minister be cast to their account at the last day I will speak nothing now of the burthen which Sacriledge it self as being a robbing of God carries with it See Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and after vows to make enquiry nor of those dreadful execrations which the Donors of such things were wont antiquo ritu to lay upon the heads of all such as should divert them to prophane uses wherewith these men willingly and wilfully involve themselves I will I say not speak of these for the present occasion calls upon me and tells me that I came not hither to curse but to bless I therefore change my note and say Blessed be God our heavenly Father who notwithstanding the malignity of many hath not left us destitute but in every Age hath raised up some to shew kindness unto the Prophets and to provide entertainment for them Witness the goodly Buildings and liberal Endowments in our two Seminaries for the entertainment and education of Prophets and Prophets Sons more particularly the Bounty of those Worthies the fruits of whose Piety and Devotion we our selves here assembled by the Divine goodness enjoy Whose blessed names therefore as their deserts challenge at our hands let us remember with all due honour and thankfulness After the mention of the Names of the College-Benefactors this followes in the Authors own Manuscript These are the Names of our pious Founders and Benefactors let their Memory be blessed for ever And when Christ our Lord shall come in his Glory to render every one according to his works and their Bones flourish again out of their graves let all the benefit and enlargement which shall redound to the Church of God by this their Bounty be cast in their account and we with them and they with us hear that comfortable voice Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the World DISCOURSE XXIV S. LUKE 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory be to God on high or in the highest and on earth Peace Good-will towards men AT the Creation of the world when God laid the foundations of the Earth and stretched out his line thereon the Stars of the morning as God himself describes it Iob 38. 7. sang together and all the Sons of God that is the holy Angels shouted for joy This in my Text is so like it that a man would think some new Creation were in hand nor were it much wide of truth to affirm it for if ever there were a day wherein the Almighty Power the incomparable Wisdom the wonderful Goodness of God again the second time appeared as it did at the World's Creation it was this day whereof S. Luke our Evangelist now treateth when the Son of God took upon him our Flesh and was born of a Virgin to repair the breach between God and man and make all things new The news of which Restauration was no sooner heard and made known to the Shepherds by an Angel sent from heaven but suddenly the heavenly Host descended from their celestial mansions and sung this Carol of joy Glory be to God on high and welcome Peace on earth Good-will towards men A Song renowned both for the singularity of the first example for until this time unless it were once in a Prophetical Vision we shall not find a Song of Angels heard by men in all the Scripture and from the custom of the Church who afterward took it up in her Liturgy and hath continued the singing thereof ever since the dayes of the Apostles unto these of ours Yet perhaps it is not so commonly understood as usually said or chaunted and therefore will be worth our labour to enquire into the meaning thereof and hear such Instructions as may be learned therefrom Which that we may the better do I will consider First the Singers or Chaunters The heavenly Host Secondly the Carol or Hymn it self Glorid in excelsis Deo Glory be to God on high c. For the First The Heavenly Host here spoken of is an Army of holy Angels For the Host of heaven in the language of Scripture is twofold Visible or Invisible The Visible Host are the Stars which stand in their array like an Army Deut. 4. 19. Lest thou lift up thine eyes saith the Lord there unto heaven and when thou seest the Sun Moon and Stars even all the Host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship and serve them The Invisible Host are the Angels the heavenly Guard according to that of Micaiah 1 King 22 19. I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left So. Psal. 103. 20 21. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments Bless the Lord all ye his Hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure Where the latter words do but vary that which is expressed in the former From this it is that the Lord Iehovah the true and only God is so often styled the Lord or God of Sabaoth or of Hosts that is King both of Stars and Angels according to that Nehem. 9. 6. Thou art God alone and the Host of Heaven worshippeth thee By which Title he is distinguished from the Gods of the Nations who were some of the Host to wit of the Stars or Angels but none of them The Lord of Hosts himself For the same reason and with the same meaning and sense in
the Books written after the Captivity he is styled Deus coeli the God of Heaven as in Ezra Nehemiah Daniel in which Books together with the last of Chronicles the title of Deus Sabaoth The Lord of Hosts is not to be found but the title of Deus Coeli The God of Heaven only which as may seem was taken up for some reason in stead of the other But to return to what we have in hand It was the Angelical Host as ye hear who sang this Song of joy and praise unto the most High God And wherefore For any restitution or addition of Happiness to themselves No but for Peace on Earth and Good-will towards men He that was now born took not upon him the Nature of Angels but of men He came not into the world to save Angels but for the salvation of men Nor was the state of Angels to receive advancement in glory by his coming but the state of men and that too in such a sort as might seem to impeach the dignity and dim the lustre of those excellent creatures when an inferiour Nature the nature of Man was now to be advanced unto a throne of Divine majesty and to become Head and King not only of men but of the Heavenly Host it self O ye blessed Angels what did these tidings concern you That ruined mankind should be restored again and taken into favour whereas those of your own Host which fell likewise remained still in that gulf of perdition whereinto their sin had plunged them without hope of mercy or like promise of Deliverance What did it add to your eminent Dignity the most excellent of the creatures of God that the Nature of man should be advanced above yours that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth The Observation therefore which this Act of the Angels first presents unto us is The ingenuous goodness and sweet disposition of those immaculate and blessed Spirits in whose bosomes Envy the Image of the Devil and deadly poison of Charity hath no place at all For if any inclination to this cankered passion had been in these Heavenly creatures never such an occasion was offered nor greater could be to stir it up as now But Heaven admits of no such passion nor could such a torment consist with the blissful condition of those who dwell therein It is the smoke of that bottomless pit a native of Hell the character and cognisance of those Apostate Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation and are reserved for chains of everlasting darkness These indeed grieve no less at the Happinâ—ss of men than the Angels joy witness the name of their Prince Satan which signifies the Fiend or malicious one who out of Envy overthrew mankind in the beginning out of Envy he and all his fellow-fiends are so restless and indefatigable to seduce him still The Use of this Observation will not be far to seek if we remember the admonition our Saviour hath given us in the Prayer left unto his Church which is To make the Angels the pattern of our imitation in doing the will of our heavenly Father for so he teacheth us to pray Let thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven that is Grant us O Lord to do thy will here as thy holy Angels do it there And as we should imitate them in all things else so in this affection towards the happiness and prosperity of others And good reason I think if we mean at all to approve our selves unto God our Father why we should endeavour rather to be like unto them than unto Devils But in nothing can we be more like them than in this to rejoyce for the good and not repine at the happiness of our Brethren Hoc enim Angelicum est This is the Character of the Angelical nature and consequently of those who one day shall have fellowship with them To be contrarily affected Diabolicum est is the badge and brand of Devils and Fiends and those who wear their Livery reason good they should keep them company Let every one therefore examine his own heart concerning this point that he may learn upon what terms he stands with God and what he may promise himself of the Blessedness to come Do the gifts of God doth his favour or blessing vouchsafed to thy brother when thou â—eest or hearest of them torment and crucifie thy soul dost thou make their happiness thy misery is thine eye evil to thy Brother because God's is good If this be so without doubt thy heart is not right before God nor doth his Spirit but the spirit of Devils and Fiends reign therein But if the contrary appear in any reasonable measure with a desire to encrease it for we must not look to attain the perfection of Angels in this life but in some measure and degree only if thou canst rejoyce at anothers good though it concerns not thy self the Spirit of God rests upon thee For emulations and envyings saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 19. c. are the fruits of the flesh but the fruits of the Spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindness and goodness So he calls the opposite vertues to those former vices But as any good that betides our brother ought to affect us with some degree of joy and not with grief and envy so chiefly and most of all his Spiritual good and that which concerns his Salvation ought so to do This was that the holy Angels praised God for in my Text on the behalf of men That unto them a Saviour was born who should save them from their sins and reconcile them unto God Which sweet disposition of those good and blessed spirits our Saviour himself further witnesseth when he saith Luke 15. 7 10. There is joy in heaven namely among the holy Angels for one sinner that repenteth But is there any man will you say such a son of Belial as he will not do this will not imitate the holy Angels in this Iudge ye There is an evil disease which commonly attends upon Sects and Differences in opinion That as men are curiously inquisitive into the lives and actions of the adverse party so are they willing to find them faulty and rejoyce at their falls and slips hear and relate them with delight namely because they suppose it makes much for their own side that the contrary should by such means be scandalized and the Patrons and followers thereof disreputed But should that be the matter of our grief whereat the Angels joy or that the matter of our joy whereat the Angels grieve How is this to do our Father's will on earth as the Angels do in heaven Nay if this be not to put on the robes of darkness and to shake hands with hellish Fiends I know not what is O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto
these heavens As the War was long so the Victory was not gotten all at once but by certain degrees as it were beginning with Constantine Anno 300. and ending in Theodosius about as I said the year 390. And though it be hard to pitch the time of this Trophee exactly yet I doubt not but it falleth in some part of the time included in the foresaid limits Thus then have we seen the Truth and Power of God in fulfilling of this Prophecy for so much as is already past and may say with David Psal. 48. 8. As we have heard so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God God will establish it for ever But who would have believed this at the time when the words were spoken when the worshippers of the most high God were at so low an ebbe Hence therefore must we learn to believe the Promises of God be they never so unlikely to humane Reason For he it is that says Esay 46. 11. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass It is he that says Ier. 32. 27. I am the God of all flesh and there is nothing too hard for me Though Abraham be never so old and Sarah's womb be dead yet if the Lord says it he shall be Father of many Though Nations Gideon be the least of the house of Manasses yet if the Lord says it by him shall Israel be delivered from the Midianites Though David follow the sheep yet if God promise he shall be King of Israel Be the famine in Samaria never so extreme that women eat their own children yet if God say it within twenty four hours shall corn be so cheap that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gates of Samaria Let us take heed therefore we say not with him on whose hand the King leaned If God would make windows in heaven it could not be nor with the Israelites when the spies brought them news of the strength of the Inhabitants of Canaan of chariots of iron and the giant-like sons of Anak let us not say with them we shall not enter For that Lord who set humane reason against the Word and Promise of God never eat of the abundance of Samaria and the Iews which distrusted God never entred the land of Canaan But let us know for a conclusion that God is faithful and true and his Promises yea and amen HITHER TO we have spoken of the accomplishment of this Prophecy for so much as is already past now let us see What that is which we expect as yet to come For though in regard of former times when Ethnicisme was so large and the worshippers of the living God so small a scantling the Extent of the Church be now at this day a goodly and large portion of the world yet if we consider the numbers of nations yet Pagans or not Christians it will seem to scant as yet to be the accomplishment of this and other Prophecies concerning the Largeness of Christ's Kingdom before the end of the world For one hath well observed That Christianity at this day is not above the sixth part of the known world whereas the Mahumetans have a fifth and all the rest are Ethnicks and Pagans So that if we divide the World into thirty parts Christianity is but as five in thirty Mahumetanism as six and Ethnicism as nineteen and so is Christianity the least part of all and plain Heathenism hath far above the one half of the known world and the better part of the other is also Mahumetans And though Christianity hath been embraced in former times where now it is not yet it is now spred in those places where in those times it was not And therefore all laid together we may account Christianity at this day as large I think as ever it was since the Apostles time But that this is not that Vniversal Kingdom of Christ that flourishing and glorious estate of the Church which yet we expect and hope for my Reasons are these First Those frequent places of Scripture which intimate that the Lord should subdue all people all kingdoms all nations and all the ends of the earth unto himself and that all these should one day worship and acknowledge him Psal. 22. 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him for the Kingdom is the Lord's and he is governour among the nations And Psal. 47. 1. 2 3. Clap your hands all ye people for the Lord is a great King over all the earth He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet And again v. 7 8. God is King of all the earth and reigneth over the Heathen Psal. â—6 1 c. Make a joyful noise unto God all ye lands Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee All the earth shall worship thee and sing of thee they shall sing unto thy Name The whole 67. Psalm which we read every day is as it were a Prophecy and Prayer for this great Kingdom That the may of God may be known upon earth and his saving health among all nations Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee Then shall the earth yield her increase c. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him And Psal. 86. 9 10. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous things Thou art God alone And Esay 2. 18. which is a Prophecy of Christ's kingdom it is said that the Idols the Lord shall utterly abolish or as some read the Idols shall utterly pass away So Esay 54. 5. speaking of the Amplitude of the Church of the Gentiles Thy Redeemer saith the Prophet the holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth shall he be called Certainly this constant style of Vniversality implies more than this scantling which yet is it being but one of the least parts of the whole earth Secondly The same conclusion may be gathered from 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. compared with Heb. 2. 8. Christ must reign saith S. Paul in the first place quoted till he hath put all his enemies under his feet The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death Hence it follows that Christ shall subdue all his enemies whereof the Prince of this world is the chief before the last rising of the dead For the subduing of death that is the rising of the dead shall not be afore the rest shall be done the vanquishing of death being the last act of Christ's reigning which done he shall yield up the Kingdom unto his Father In the other place Heb. 2. 8. the Apostle speaking of the same thing alledgeth that
in the days of Nehemiah which was the space of a thousand years at the least and the most flourishing time of their Church and Commonwealth Who would have thought but some David Solomon Hezekiah Iosiah or good Iehoiada would in so long a time as a thousand years have reformed so great a neglect of God's commandment But hear what the holy Ghost says Nehem. 8. 17. Since the days of Ieshua the Son of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so A horrible thing to hear but whatsoever was written in former time is written for our learning And who knows whether there be not in this sinful omission of this Feast alone above the rest some special Mystery namely that the Iew should not acknowledge Christ whom this signified to be Emmanuel For that Iesus of Nazareth suffered upon the Cross they acknowledge whereof the Passover was a sign and therefore they blasphemously call him Talui the hanged God They will not deny also that this doctrine was published at the Feast of Pentecost though they believe not the Mystery and fruit of either the one or the other But That he is God in our flesh they could never endure to hear we know this was the cause why their Synod condemned him because he said He was the Son of God Above a thousand years they omitted the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles and now it is sixteen hundred wherein they have not believed that the Divine nature tabernacled in our flesh When they returned from Captivity they began to observe this so-long-neglected Ceremony and when they shall return again from their now-long and woful Captivity we hope they will then with us acknowledge this great Mystery HAVING hitherto spoken of the observation of these Feasts now I am according to my first Division to come unto a second part of my Text wherein is contained a special duty required of all when they came to worship God at these Feasts namely to bring a present with them not a Sacrifice of fire for these were of another nature and for another end but a Heave-offering which kind was a Tribute of Thankfulness unto God and withal of acknowledgment of his Supreme Lordship and Dominion over all For without a Sacrifice or a fiery-offering the Feast could not at all have been kept but without a Heave-offering or religious present it might though nothing dutifully and therefore is this specially added That no man should appear before the Lord empty for the Lord our God is a soveraign King and will be acknowledged so of all who come before him He is not Lord over our Persons only and therefore requires the service both of our Souls and Bodies but he is Lord of our Goods too and so is to have a Tribute of them offer'd unto him in token thereof But for the better handling of this point without confusion we will consider first What was the Iewish practice in this duty secondly What ought to be our imitation For the former The Iewish practice was as far as I can gather besides some special presents at Easter and Pentecost to perform all their Heave-offerings First-fruits Firstlings of Cattel Tithes of all things and their Free-will-offerings at some one of these three Feasts according as the season of the year served for the things they were to offer For the better understanding of which we must promise something of the manner of the Husbandry of Palaestine Egypt and those neighbour Southern Countries because it was much different from ours Pliny affirms that in Egypt and therefore in Palaestine Barley was ripe in the sixth month after it was sown and Wheat in the seventh The same Author affirms that their seed-time for both began in the month of November whence it follows that Barley was ripe almost a month before the Wheat the seed-time being the same and the Wheat not ripening a month so soon as Barley Barley then ripening in the sixth month the Harvest thereof fell about the beginning of April Wheat-harvest nigh a month after their whole Harvest by this means beginning at Easter and ending at Whitsuntide Which is the reason why Pentecost Exod. 23. 16. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Harvest-Feast or The Feast upon the end of Harvest This shews a reason also why upon the Plague of Hail we read Exod. 9. 31 32. that the Flax and Barley was smitten because the Barley was eared and the Flax bolled But the Wheat and Rye were not smitten for they were not grown up The ear yet appeared not for this was about the beginning of the month of March as we may suppose a fortnight or three weeks before their coming out of Egypt which was the fourteenth day of the first month This was a reason also why we read 2 Sam. 21. 9. that seven of Saul's Sons were hanged for the Gibeonites in the first days of Harvest in the beginning of Barley-Harvest All which suppose Barley to begin and Wheat to end their Harvest Which with us is contrary because Barley is sown so long after Wheat viz. when Winter is past because it is a tender grain and will not endure the sharp and piercing cold of these Northern climates As for their Vintage or Harvest of Oyle and Wine it was in the seventh month or beginning of Autumn as in other Countries For their Cattel they had two breeding times the beginning of the Spring and the beginning of September but the Spring-breed was the strongest and are called Becorim that is not the first opening the womb only as most take it but the firstlings of the year for the latter breed was much the worse and weaker Which Iacob knew Gen. 30. 41 42. when he laid his Rods before the Cattel when they were strong in the Spring-time but he put them not in when they were feeble in the Autumn So saith the Text the feeble were Laban's and the stronger were Iacob's This thus explained let us now see what the Practice of the Iews was at these solemn times that they might not appear in the Lord's presence empty handed At the Feast of unleavened bread or Easter upon the second day thereof being the beginning of Harvest they were to bring a Sheaf of the first-fruits of their Harvest unto the Priest and he was to wave it before the Lord and until this were done they might eat no Corn whether parched or otherwise in the green ear as appeareth Levit. 23. 10. 14. And hence this second day of the Feast was called This was that day whereon Luke 6. 1. Christ's Disciples plucked ears of Corn and ate them for S. Luke says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the second day of the first Sabbath or the day after the first Sabbath for I told you that the first and last days of this Feast were days of holy Assemblies wherein no servile work might be done and are therefore in Leviticus called Sabbaths the day
original habitations of the Off-spring of Iaphet First We must seek for them in the Islands of the Gentiles and in Countries divided from the Iews by Sea because by them were divided the Islands of the Gentiles Secondly We must seek them within a reasonable Compass of the Earth and not all the world over For when this Division was made in the days of Peleg the number of mankind was small for besides women and children their number in all could not be above seven thousand as may be gathered out of this Chapter so that it is not like they took the whole world before them Thirdly Those Nations whose Families are named by Moses are to be sought for in places neighbouring to the Iews for therefore did Moses name their Families because they dwelt near unto the Iews or dwelt so that the Iews might readily come at them Fourthly Where we find the Nation there also we must look for the Families of that Nation because the Families were ranged in their Nations Fifthly And therefore for the same reason where we find any one of the Families there we must look for the rest and for the whole Nation But the practice of these Rules I must defer till hereafter Now I come to that which yet remains in my Text viz. Languages for Moses saith they were divided also according to their languages Wherein we may see the very finger of God who so caused them to speak with diverse tongues that their tongues also were ordered after their Families and after their Nations Which leaves no place at all for their opinion who suppose this Confusion of tongues to have been a privation of all language and that they were fain to gather together by companies and â—o impose new names upon things by common consent Nor yet for their opinion who think that this Confusion was a kind of depravation of the Original tongue so that when the builders called for brick they brought them mortar and when they called for mortar they brought them brick or something else For this last the Event confutes in that the Confusion of tongues does not consist in using the same words diversly but in using diverse words And the former cannot be true for then should God have made mankind mute the contrary whereto may be gathered out of God's own words where he saith Let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech he does not say that they might not speak at all It must needs be then that God himself inspired them with diverse tongues else how could their tongues have been ordered according to their families and according to their nations So that the tongues of the same generation though diverse yet have a greater cognation amongst themselves than with the tongues of another off-spring As for Example The languages of Sem in the East agree more one with another than with the tongues of Iaphet in the West But because that some out of this Chapter would pick out the certain number of Languages let us a little also consider of this The number of Languages cannot be fewer than there were Nations nor more than there were Families If there were no more than there were Nations or Heads of Nations then the number is easily counted seven in Iaphet four in Cham and five in Sem. But if they were as many as were Families at the Confusion their number cannot be known because Moses does not make a recension of all the Families or Heads of families The common Opinion hath been That their number was according to the number of Families and this Moses seems to infinuate because he joyns throughout this Chapter Families and Tongues together But this is denied by Iunius because the Families of Canaan the first-born of Cham spake all one language at that time when the Iews cast them out But this Reason compels not because the Canaanites at that time spake a perfect Hebrew as Ioseph Scaliger affirms Nay Plautus brings in a Carthaginian speaking almost pure Hebrew but the Carthaginians were of Tyre and of the off-spring of Canaan But without doubt the Canaanites spake not Hebrew from the beginning this language being left only to Arphaxad the eldest son of Sem of whom came Eber Abram and the Iews It must needs then be brought in by some Nimrodian conquest for the off-spring of Cham seemed to envy God's favour to Arphaxad even as Cain envied Abel and therefore Nimrod of the house of Cush made himself Lord of Mesopotamia which was the lot of Arphaxad and as should seem endeavoured to make this language common to others through a spight he had to the House of Arphaxad And hence it came to pass that all those nations where Nimrod ruled spake Hebrew or a dialect of the Hebrew as the Assyrians the Syrians or Aramites the Canaanites the Arabians and the AEthiopians But I doubt I have waded too far in this Argument and therefore here I 'le end DISCOURSE L. GENESIS 10. 5. By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands c. WHAT was the sum and sense of these words we shewed heretofore namely That they contain a Chorographical Description of the dwellings of the Sons of Iaphet after that great dispersion from the Tower of Babel together with the manner according to which they were seated in their several habitations From whence we picked Five Rules to be as Guides and Lights unto us in finding out their several Countries 1. That we must seek them in the Islands of the Gentiles that is in Countries divided by Sea from Egypt and Palaestine 2. We must seek them all within some reasonable compass of the Earth and not all the world over Because that when this Division was made the number of Mankind was very small as we proved by weighing Sem's generations unto the days of Peleg at whose birth it is said that the Earth was divided Gen. 10. 25. 3. Those Nations whose Families are named by Moses are to be sought for in places most accessible and neighbouring to the Iews For this I proved to be the reason why Moses did name their Families or Heads of Families because the Iews were to have most dealing and commerce with them by reason of their nearness and easiness of coming at them 4. Where we find the Nation there also we must look for the Families of that Nation 5. Where we find any of the Families there we must also look for the rest and for the whole Nation This is very expressly contained in my Text By these were divided the Isles of the Gentiles in their lands every one after his tongue after their families in their nations That other which is the Third in order I confirmed by the like in the Genealogies of Sem and Cham in both which the Fathers of Nations neighbouring upon the Iews are reckoned up particularly the other but generally These Rules then I will take for sure
to this if you please that which Eusebius relates of this Emperor to wit that when Paulus Samosatenus being deposed by the Council from his Bishoprick and Domnus chosen in his room would not yield up the possession of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter being brought before Aurelianus the Emperor he decrees that it should be given to those of the Sect unto whom the Bishops of Rome and Italy should send Letters of communion Sic demum Paulus saith Eusebius à seculari potestate summo cum dedecore ex Ecclesia expellitur For that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here meant the Christians Oratorie or House of Sacred assembly at Antioch and not the Bishop's house as some would have it appears both because Eusebius elsewhere so uses it as namely Lib. 8. c. ult Lib. 9. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also because he expounds himself presently by Ecclesia when he saith Sic Paulus summo cum dedecore à potestate seculari ex Ecclesia exigitur For surely he meant not that he was by the secular arm cast out of the Church as Church is taken for the Company of the Faithful but as it signifies the Place of Sacred assembly where this Paulus kept possession after he was deposed for Heresie by the Council But what need we trouble our selves thus to gather up Testimonies for the latter half of this Seculum I have one Testimony behind which will dispatch it all at once yea and if need be depose for the whole also It is that of Eusebius in his eighth Book Hist. Eccl. in the beginning where describing those peaceful and Halcyonian days which the Church enjoyed for many years from the time of the Martyrdom of S. Cyprian unto that most direful persecution of Diocletian and how wonderfully the number of Christians was advanced during that time he speaketh on this manner Quomodo quisquam infinitâ illos hominum turbâ frequentatos conventus coetuúmque in singulis urbibus congregatorum multitudinem illustrésque in Oratoriis concursus describere valeat Quorum causa quum in Antiquis illis AEdificiis satis amplius loci non haberent vel antiquis illis AEdificiis handquaquam amplius contenti amplas spatiosásque in omnibus urbibus ex fundamentis erexcrunt Ecclesias Lo here how in those Halcyonian days Christians had not only Churches or Houses of worship but such as might then be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Edifices which how far it may reach let others judge Secondly That the number of Christians being grown so great that those ancient Fabricks were no longer sufficient to contain them they erected new and more spacious ones in every City from the foundations And all this testified by one that himself lived and saw part of those times These sacred Edifices Diocletian and those other surrogated Emperours which continued that direful ten-years Persecution begun by him commanded by their Edicts to be every where demolished as we may read in the same Eusebius at large The like whereunto seems never to have happened in any of the former Persecutions in which they were only taken from the Christians but again when the persecution ceased for the most part restored unto them as in the former Persecution they were by Galienus under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worshipping Places And thus I think I have proved by good and sufficient Testimonies That Christians had Oratories or Churches that is appropriate Places for Christian worship in every of the first three hundred years I am well assured whosoever be judge long before the days of Constantine I will add to these Authorities two or three Reasons why they must in all likelihood have had such Places First Because it is certain that in their Sacred assemblies they used then to worship and pray towards the East which how it could be done with any order and conveniencie is not easie to be conceived unless we suppose the Places wherein they worshipped to have been situated and accommodated accordingly that is chosen and appointed to that end Secondly Because of their Discipline which required distinct and regular Places in their assemblies for the Poenitentes Auditores Catechumeni and Fideles and therefore argueth they met not in every place promiscuously but in Places already fitted and accommodated for that purpose Lastly Because they had before their eyes an example and pattern in Proseucha's and Synagogues of the Iews from whom their Religion had its beginning which though as contrary to the Religion of the Empire as theirs yet had places appropriate for the exercise thereof wheresoever they lived dispersed among the Gentiles Who can believe that such a pattern should not invite the Christians to an imitation of the same though we should suppose there were no other reasons to induce them but that of ordinary convenience Answers to the OBIECTIONS I Come now to answer the Objections brought by such as maintain the contrary opinion which are two First say they It is not likely no not possible they should have any such Places living under a Pagan and persecuting State and Empire I answer This Objection is already confuted by matter of Fact For it is to be noted that the greatest and most cruel Persecutions and the five last of the Ten fall within the third or last Centurie in which that Christians had Oratories or Houses of Christian worship we have before proved by most indubitate and irrefragable Testimonies But if in this why not as well in the former Ages wherein the Persecutions were as no more in number so far less bitter For it is to be taken notice of That these Persecutions were not continual but as it were by fits and those of the two first Centuries of no long durance so as the Churches enjoyed long times of peace and quietness between them Besides why should it seem to any one less credible that Christians should have their Oratories or Houses of worship under the Roman Empire whilest the State thereof was yet Gentile and opposite to the Faith of Christ than that they had them in the Kingdom of Persia which never was Christian For that they had them there as old as the days of Constantine Sozomen testifieth Lib. 2. c. 8. The occasion of the demolishing whereof by King Isdigerdes and of that most barbarous persecution of the Christians of those Countries for thirty years together about the year 400. Theodoret relates Lib. 5. c. 38. namely that one Audas out of an indiscreet and unseasonable zeal though otherwise a vertuous and godly Bishop having demolished the Persians Pyraeum or Temple where the Fire was worshipped and refusing to build it up again as was enjoyned him the King thereupon mightily enraged caused all the Christians Oratories or Churches in his dominions to be demolished likewise and that horrible Persecution before mentioned to storm against them Could the Christians find means and opportunity to
place to my self for an house of Sacrifice 2 Chron. 7. 12 plainly implying That to be an house of Sacrifice was to be an house of Prayer Add to these that in 1 Mac. 12. 11. where the Iews in their Epistle to the Lacedaemonians speak on this manner We at all times say they without ceasing both in our Feasts and other convenient days do remember you in the Sacrifices which we offer and in our prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in our prayers at our Sacrifices Certainly it may be gathered hence that Prayers were annexed to their Sacrifices and that Sacrifice was a Rite of Prayer The like we shall find in the first of Baruch where we read that those who were carried Captive with Iechonias made a Collection of Money and sent it to Ierusalem saying Behold we have sent you money to buy you Burnt-offerings and Sin-offerings and Incense and prepare ye the Meat-offering and offer upon the Altar of the Lord our God And pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and for the life of Balthasar his son that their dayes on earth may be as the days of heaven just to that of my Text that they may offer Sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of heaven and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons Hence appears the reason why Iosephus when the Scripture mentions no more but that Noah offered a Sacrifice when he came out of the Ark attributes unto him a Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Noah fearing lest God having adjudged men to a general destruction should every year thus drown the earth offered Sacrifices unto God beseeching him that hereafter all things may continue in that good order and primitive state c. I could be as plentiful in Profane Testimonies to this point as I have been in Sacred and could alledge the Testimonies of Homer where we have Examples of Sacrifices with the forms of Prayer of Herodotus and others But what need we the Testimonies of the Gentiles save to know that in this point the Iews and they agreed It is enough to have proved it out of Scripture that this was the use and nature of Sacrifice wherein I have been so much the longer because though the thing be of it self most apparent and evident yet it is very little taken notice of But you will enquire now What profit hath this Discourse or what use is there of this thing being known I answer Yes it will help our conceit very much to understand in what sense and for what respect the ancient Church called the Eucharist or Lord's Supper a Sacrifice and how harmless that notion was namely They took this Sacrament to have been ordained by our Blessed Saviour to succeed those bloudy Sacrifices of the Law and to be a Medium deprecandi Deum a mean of Supplication and address to God in the New Testament as they were in the Old by representing the Body and Bloud of Christ unto his Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his appointment Forasmuch as they saw them both to be Rites of a like kind as consisting of Meats and Drinks both Epulae foederales Federal Feasts those of the Old Covenant this of the New 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Cup is the New Testament both Rites of atonement or for Impetration of Remission of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is my Bloud which is shed for many for remission of sins Besides the Eucharist was by the time of its institution as it were substituted in place of the Passeover which was a Sacrifice of that kind called Pacifica All these things considered how obvious was it for them to think that it was in the Institution intended for the same End and Use the other were namely for a Commemoration whereby to have access and find favour with God when we address our selves unto him in the New Testament And that this was no new device of later ages but derived from the first times may appear out of Cyril or his Successour Iohn of Ierusalem Author of the 5. Catech Mystag In the last whereof relating and expounding the meaning of that which was said or done at the celebration of the holy Eucharist according to the use of his time which was the Fourth Seculum current amongst other things he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. See this passage quoted in the foregoing Discourse Chap. 6. pag. 366. Yea that it was the use in the days of Constantine thus adhibere Eucharistiam ad preces to use the Eucharist as a Rite of impetration in their prayers appears out of Eusebius in his De vita Constantini lib. 4. c. 45. where speaking of a great Synod of Bishops assembled at Ierusalem by the Emperor's Command to celebrate the dedication of a Church erected over the place of our Saviour's Sepulchre and telling how the Bishops there met employ'd themselves during that Solemnity Some saith he by Panegyrick Orations set forth the Emperor's felicity others were employed in preaching and expounding the Mysteries of Holy Scripture another part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did propitiate God and sought his favour by unbloudy Sacrifices offering unto God humble Prayers for the publick peace for the Church of God for the King the Author of so much good and for his children beloved of God namely as the Iews in their Sacrifices prayed for the life of the King and his Sons according to my Text. But for the more full understanding the notion and practice of this Age take also a passage of S. Austin it is in his 22. Book De Civitate Dei concerning one Hesperius c. See this passage quoted in the foregoing Discourse Chap. 5. pag. 363. But some will suspect perhaps that this Custome began in the days of Constantine No it did not It was in use in the days of Cyprian 60. years before as appears in his 16. Epistle ad Mosen Maximum Nos quidem vestri memores quando in Sacrificiis precem cum pluribus facimus c. See this passage quoted in the foregoing Discourse Chap. 5. pag. 362. Let us ascend a little higher yet unto the days of Tertullian within 200 years after Christ. He in his Book De Oratione makes express mention of Orationes Sacrificiorum Prayers that accompanied the celebration of the Christian Sacrifice such namely as S. Cyprian Bishop of the same City whereof Tertullian was Presbyter to wit of Carthage even now spake of And in his Book ad Scapulam Sacrificamus saith he purâ prece We sacrifice with pure prayer But you will say This is against me rather because he saith purâ prece implying their was nothing else No it is not For by purâ prece he means not nudâ solitariâ prece bare and naked prayer but prayer not defiled with shedding of bloud and smoke of Incense according to the
enter nor the Ark of the Testimony be revealed unto them Consider Exod. 40. vers 36 37. Consider also what happened there at the Dedication of the Tabernacle vers 34 35. Thus with my prayers and best remembrance to your self I rest and am Your assured friend Ioseph Mede Christ's-Coll Iuly 12. 1624. CHAP. V. Mr. Mede's Answer to Mr. Wood's special accommodation of the four first Trumpets in Chap. 8. of the Apocalypse M r. Wood IF I mistake not your meaning your accommodation of the Trumpets appears to me very much intangled in the point of Time for it makes the three first Trumpets to begin at the same instant and all to be concluded within the sixth Seal nay if the sixth Seal be the wounding of the Roman Sovereignty by the Barbarians they will begin before it For the Council of Nice wherein Arrius whom you make the falling Star was condemned and where Contention among Church-men your first Trumpet burst forth and Ambition your second Trumpet was broached this Council was held An. 325. within two years after Constantine was sole Emperor But the wounding of the Empire by the Barbarous Nations your sixth Seal began not till after Iulian 365. and you make not the main stroke thereof till the year 410. by which time the Arrian Heresie was well cooled For it cannot be said that the Barbarous Nations defaced the Roman Majesty in the days of Constantine who was a glorious and when he once reigned alone a most peaceful Emperor And for Diocletian that bloudy Persecutor before him he was a most powerful and victorious Emperor in whose time the Roman Empire was more dreadful to the Neighbours than it had been many years yea almost Ages before I observe also a further confusion of the three Trumpets among themselves For Arrius whom you make the falling Star in chief and so the Head of your third Trumpet will in time rather challenge to be the first of the three for the Arrian heresie began before and occasioned the calling of the Council of Nice where you first begin that Contention and Ambition which you make the first and second Trumpet I had rather therefore yet continue my opinion That the great Earth-quake of the Sixth Seal should be that intestine change of the Romane State begun with Constantine and fully setled with the death of Iulian For an Earthquake implies not a Destruction but an extraordinary Alteration and change of the face of things as an Earthquake changeth the positure of the Earth by depressing Hills and exalting Vallies turning the chanels and the course of Rivers and such like And was not here the whole Politick Government as well as the Religion altered the Imperial Seat removed the Distribution of Provinces and Offices new moulded c. And though Christian Religion be of it self a perfection yet the introducing thereof turned the former state of the Empire topsy turvy when the low and trampled Vallies arose into Mountains and the haughty Mountains were laid as low as the Vallies How many Hills and Islands were by this means displaced And if the Roman Gods be any of the Stars or Hills here mentioned we need not go farther for an Exposition of this Earthquake and the shock it caused in the world Now if this be granted to be the right accommodation of the Sixth Seal then will the Trumpets of the Seventh follow in their due Order according to that Exposition of the four first Trumpets which you related even now as your Friend 's who yet is farr from deserving and acknowledging that Description you there give him I. M. CHAP. VI. Mr. Mede's Answers to those 3 Arguments of Mr. Wood endeavouring to prove That the Vials are immediate Consequents of the Seventh Trumpet Mr. Wood 1. UNto the Seventh Trumpet is attributed the last of the three great Woes Chap. 8. 13. chap. 11 14. But in the Seventh Trumpet 's effect there is no other Woe described but what follows in the pouring out of the Vials Ergo the Vials must needs be that Woe and immediately poured out upon the blast which the Transition Ch. 11. 14. calls for The third Woe cometh quickly viz. with the blast in the next words Mr. MEDE This Reason methinks were satisfied if only the last Vial fell within the seventh Trumpet For the third Woe I take to be that Battel of the Great Day of God Almighty under the seventh Vial which therefore I grant to be concurrent with the Beginning of the blast of the seventh Trumpet not yet blown But the other Vials I see no reason why they may not be referred to those Beginnings of the Ruin of the Beast and exaltation of the Undefiled Church described chap. 11. v. 11 12 13. which is before the second Woe or sixth Trumpet be expired Mr. WOOD. 2. The Temple is not open in Heaven until the seventh Trumpet blow Chap. 11. 19. Now the Angels which pour out the Vials come out of the Temple which was opened in Heaven Ergo the pouring out of the Vials must needs follow the blast of the Seventh Trumpet Chap. 15. 5 6. Which place shews that the 7 Angels come forth of the opened Temple Mr. MEDE It is true that the Temple is not opened in heaven till the seventh Trumpet soundeth But I think also that it shall not be opened till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels be fulfilled For is it not expresly said so chap. 15. 8 And the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled So I understand it as having reference by way of Antithesis to that in the 5. verse The Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony in heaven was opened viz. when the Angels had done their Execution and the Harpers ended their Song of Deliverance Wherefore I grant not that the seven Angels came forth of the open Temple but suppose those five first verses of that Chapter to be a general Description of the Vials with the state of the Church under them newly washed in the glassy Laver of the Temple and yet standing upon the brink or brims thereof chaunting a Song of another Exodus like that of Israel with the conclusion whereof the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven is opened that those might enter which before could not In the following Verses beginning And the seven Angels came out c. the Apostle resumes the Vision ab ovo and makes a more particular Description of the seven Angels Executions which before he but generally touched but now tells their attire whence they had their Vials and what was every ones Plague in particular to the end of the next Chapter which is therefore ill severed from the three last Verses of this 15. Chapter And note that the Complutensis Editio reads not the sixth verse of this Chap. And the seven Angels
have pitched upon 365 because then upon Iulian's death the Dragon was dethroned again from the Imperial rule never to recover it any more howsoever the Draconical or Ethnick worship which Iulian had restored was publickly exercised by allowance of the succeeding Emperors though Christians and not put down for many years after Wherefore the Event hath made manifest that God would none of this Epocha else should we have seen some tokens of it ere this time The next is Anno 376. from whence the 42 months would expire 1636. This hath more probability than any other he hath named because the year 376 was the beginning of the Reign of the Emperor Gratian who first of all the Christian Emperors renounced the great Pontificality long annexed to the Imperial dignity and refused the Pontifical Stole when it was tendred him according to the custom by the Collegium Pontificum saying it was unlawful for a Christian whereas all the former Christian Emperors mirabile dictu had admitted it being installed and instyled still Pontifices Maximi and according to that office ordered all business concerning the Ethnick ceremonies by their deputies So long therefore as the Emperours were still the Dragon's Pontifices he had yet some title at least some titular dignity in the Roman Sovereignty and the losing thereof may be reckoned a remarkable step of his dismounting and downfall and so no marvel if he might then be brought to go seek out some other Pontifex to undertake his service But the doubt will be here whether it were this year wherein Gratian rejected the Pontificality or some other for the year is not yet set down in Story only it may most probably be thought to be the first year of his Reign à morte Patris for he was created Augustus in his Father's life-time Secondly In the same year 376 the Goths entred the Empire and so the foundation was laid also of the Political downfal of the same But what Alstedius his Reasons be to pitch upon that Epocha I know not he seems for this and the rest of his Chronology to rely upon Astrological grounds from the great Conjunction But though I believe these rarer Conjunctions may fit and dispose the Bodies of men for some such work as God will do by them yet I think them not sufficient to determine times especially seeing they have no influence upon Polities and States directly and quà talia but only make some extraordinary impressions upon the Bodies of particular men born under them which being many when they come to years may cause a predominancy of some singular disposition in their lives fit for such alterations and changes as God shall direct and lead them to His third Epocha is 382. which would bring out the 42 months Anno 1642. Of this I see no reason he gives but Astrological the insufficiency whereof for that purpose I have already shewed He might with greater probability have pitched upon 394. when was that famous battel and victory of Theodosius against Eugenius and Arbogastes coming with a mighty Army to restore Ethnicisme which Theodosius had utterly abolished and after which Ethnicisme never made head any more in the Empire This therefore might be reckoned for another remarkable moment of the Dragon's downfal Or he might have pitched upon the year 410. the time when Alaricus took and sacked Rome the Lady of the world a most remarkable moment of the Political ruin of the Caesarean Sovereignty The former of these Epocha's would bring out the 42 months Anno 1654. the latter 1670. But all these things depend upon the Divine will In cujus manu sunt tempora opportunitates His last Epocha is 433. from which the 42 months would expire Anno 1693. For this Epocha of his I find no reason but à posteriori drawn from the expiring of Daniel's numbers Dan. 12. 11 12. which he addeth one upon the head of another and so makes 2625 to the End of the World which reckoned from the destruction of Ierusalem will come out Anno Christi 2694. from which he takes away for the Regnum Sanctorum 1000 years so there remain but 1694 at which time the 42 moneths of Antichrist must be finished because then the 1000 years of Christ's Reign begin Now if the 42 months end then they began about 433. This is the sum of that Computation But for my par◠I think the meaning of those dayes in Daniel to be to another purpose then to design the End of the World Secondly That they are not to be reckoned one upon the head of another but both from one and the same beginning Thirdly That their Epocha is not the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus but that Prophanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes which the Angel but newly mentioned in the same Vision whereas that of the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus was in a Vision some years before and not like to be referred hereunto and that which was so newly mentioned iisdem verbis in the same Vision overslipped Yet I am not of Iunius his mind neither who would have them taken for bare days and determinated in the persecution of Antiochus I suppose them Prophetical days that is so many years and their times already expired But I have no time to enter into this dispute The 42 months extend to the burning and sacking of Babylon not to the extinguishing of Antichrist which shall be some while after as appears Revel 19. The reason of the limitation concealed If I seem to incline to some moments rather than other yet would I still be construed according to my first protestation against precise determination of Years in this business I. M. CHAP. XI A brief Discourse of the Thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20. With some reflexions upon Eusebius and S. Hierom. TOuching the Question of the Thousand years you may see I have demonstrated them to follow the Times of the Beast and of the false-Prophet and consequently the Times of Antichrist And if the Apocalypse be Canonical Scripture it must needs be granted there is such a time to come or we must deny either Rome which now is to be Babylon◠or the Beast to be Antichrist or Antichristendom which those who opposed the ancient Chiliasts found so necessary as forced them having no other way to avoid their Adversaries directly to deny the Apocalypse to be Scripture nor was it re-admitted till they thought they had found some commodious interpretation of the 1000 years And yet the Apocalypse hath more Humane not to speak of Divine authority than any other Book of the New Testament besides even from the time it was first delivered But we see what the zeal of opposition can do This Dogma of the 1000 years Regnum was the General opinion of all Orthodox Christians in the Age immediately following the Apostles if Iustin Martyr say true and none known to deny it then but Hereticks which denied the Resurrection and held that
the Devil is loose but for a little season I. M. A PARAPHRASE AND EXPOSITION Of the PROPHECIE OF S t. PETER CONCERNING The Day of Christ's Second Coming DESCRIBED In the Third CHAPTER of his Second EPISTLE AS ALSO How the CONFLAGRATION or Destruction of the WORLD by FIRE whereof S. Peter speaks and especially of the Heavens is to be understood BY IOSEPH MEDE B. D. The Fifth Edition corrected in sundry places and enlarged with some Additional Observations out of the Author 's own Manuscripts A PARAPHRASE and EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECIE of S. PETER CONCERNING The Day of Christ's Second Coming DESCRIBED In the Third CHAPTER of the Second EPISTLE Verses 1 2. SAint Peter exhorts the believing Iews unto whom he writes to be mindful of the words of the holy Prophets Esay Daniel and Malachi concerning the coming of Christ to Iudgment and the Restauration then promised it being also confirmed by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Verses 3 4. For howsoever it were then believed both by Iews and Christianed Gentiles yet in the last days should come those who walking after their own desires or humors should deny and deride the expectation of any such promise of the Day of Christ saying Where is the promise of his coming Where is the New heaven and New earth you talk of Verse 4. pars altera The reason of this their unbelief being because they imagine there hath never yet since the creation of the World been any example of such a destruction and change ensuing it as this at the coming of Christ should be For since the Fathers fell asleep say they even since Adam died all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation Therefore the expectation of any such change of the World and the state of things therein as is supposed is vain and frivolous and never to be fulfilled Verses 5 6. But those who suppose this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there hath never yet any such destruction and change befallen the Creation and thence conclude there is no such nor shall ever be they weigh and consider not the universal Deluge in the time of Noah when the curse laid upon the creature for man's sin first solemnly took place brought as a like destruction so a like change upon the world for the degeneration of the creature as this at the second coming of Christ shall be for the restauration and renovation of the same in the day of the glorious liberty of the children of God For the Heavens were of old and the globe of the Earth consisting partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of water viz. that of the Great deep and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst water to wit the clouds and floud-gates of heaven hanging about it all framed by the word of God By which waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world which then was being overwhelmed with water perished as it is written Gen. 7. 11 c. In the 600. year of Noah's life in the second month the 17. day of the month were all the Fountains of the Great deep broken up and the Floud-gates or Cataracts of heaven were opened and verse 18. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth And all flesh died that moved upon the earth both of fowl and of cattel and of beast and of every creeping thing and every man verse 21. Verse 7. But the Heavens and the Earth that is the World which is now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto a From this proportion which the Iudgment to come by Fire hath unto that which was by Water in the Deluge Irenaeus calls it Diluvium ignis Lib. 5. cap. 29. juxta Edit Fevardentii fire at the Day of Iudgment and perdition of ungodly men according to the prophecy of Daniel c. 7. v. 10 11. who saw a fiery stream issuing and coming forth before the Iudge of the world and the body of the fourth Beast burned therewith And of Esay chap. 66. 15 16. who saith of that day That the Lord shall come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire And that by fire and by his sword i. e. by his sword of fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord would plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many b It may be it is of this day the same Prophet Esay also speaks chap. 9. 5. where he saith The battel of the Messiah should not be as the battel of the warriour with confused noise and garments rolled in bloud but with burning and fuel of fire For the old Prophets for the most part speak of the coming of Christ indefinitely and in general without that distinction of First and Second coming which the Gospel out of Daniel hath more clearly taught us And so consequently they spake of the things to be at Christ's coming indefinitely and altogether which we who are now more fully informed by the revelation of the Gospel of a two-fold coming must apply each of them to its proper time those things which befit the state of his First coming unto it and such things as befit the state of his Second coming unto his Second and what befits Both alike may be applied unto Both. So also Mal. 4. 1. That the great and terrible day shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble which at the coming of that day shall be burnt up Verse 8. But whereas I mentioned saith S. Peter the Day of Iudgment lest ye might mistake it for a short day or a day of a few hours I would not beloved have you ignorant that One day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day a Thus I expound these words by way of a preoccupation or premunition because they are the formal words of the Iewish Doctors when they speak of the Day of Iudgment or Day of Christ as S. Peter here doth viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 una dies Dei Sancti Benedicti sunt mille anni And though they use to quote that of the ninetieth Psalm Mille anni in oculis tuis sicut dies hesternus for confirmation thereof yet are not those words formally in the Psalm So that S. Peter in this passage seems rather to have had respect to that common saying of the Iews in this argument than to the words of the Psalm where the words One day with the Lord is as a thousand years are not though the latter part of the sentence A thousand years as one day may allude thither as the * Trad. R. Ketinae in Gemara Sanâ—edrin Midrasch iâ—hillim super Ps. 90. Iews also were wont to bring it for a confirmation of the former 2. These words are commonly taken as an argument why God should not be thought slack in his promise which follows in
time of 49 years I would rather chuse to count the LXII Weeks from the same Epocha with them under Artaxerxes Mnemon than from the end of them and yet leave as probable a conjecture to be made of what was done in them as those who follow Funccius from the other Artaxerxes do use to give I have sometimes considered whether if it be translated Seven Weeks those Seven Weeks might not be applied as rotundus numerus to those Fifty and two days Nehem. 6. 15. where it is said So the Wall was finished in the 25 th day of the Month Elul in fifty two days somewhat more indeed than Seven Weeks yet short of Seven and an half and so not regarded in accompt by Weeks If this could be then the reason of the Angel's division of weeks into 7 and 62 would be because of diverse kinds of Weeks understood the first of days wherein the Wall of Ierusalem should be finished the second of years from thence unto the Messiah If it seem impossible or unlikely that the Wall of the City should be repaired in so short a time and therefore those words according to Iunius to be meant of setting up the doors and bars only I could say first that the Wall was not new builded from the foundations but repaired upon the old ruines Secondly the speedy dispatch thereof was taken for a wonder even by the Iews Enemies who thereupon saith the Text perceived that this work was wrought of our God So that were there no worse scruple than this it were easily answered nor would examples be wanting to parallel with it such as might make it seem at least possible As that strange and speedy building of the Walls of Athens by Themistocles after that Xerxes had demolished them reported by Diodor. Sic. lib. 11. Yea to come more near to the thing in question Iosephus l. 6. c. 13. De Bell. Iud. tells us That Titus dividing the work amongst his Army begirt Ierusalem in three days space with a Wall of thirty nine Furlongs and thirteen Bulwarks to hinder the Iews excursions from within and all relief from without What the materials were I know not but he says it was a thing beyond all belief and might have seemed to be a work of some Months But leaving this digression let us see the Computation and Impletion of our LXII Weeks The Computation and Impletion of the LXII Weeks FROM the seventh year of Artaxerxes Mnemon when Ezra had Commission to cause to Return and carry with him as many of the Iews as would to Ierusalem Ezra c. 7. ver 7 13 And from the twentieth year of the same Artaxerxes when Nehemiah obtained leave to build Ierusalem the City of his Fathers Sepulchres Nehem. 2 From both these Commissions though thirteen years distant the one from the other are by divine disposition unto MESSIAH the PRINCE threescore and two Weeks from the first of Solar from the latter of Lunar years For LXII weeks or 434 Lunar years are less than so many Solar as much as is between the seventh and twentieth of Artaxerxes Which admirable concordance I cannot impute to chance but ascribe to Divine providence so ordering it of purpose that these two Epocha's and Commissions To cause to Return and To build Ierusalem might be as one and the same And as the Lunar year is contained within the Solar and by it ordered and directed so is the Period here from Nehemiah's Commission to Build the City contained and reduced to that from Ezra's Commission to cause the people to return In the last of these Weeks according to prediction was Christ our Lord anointed In the beginning whereof exactly between the first and second Passeover after his Baptism when his Harbinger Iohn had now finished his Message and was cast in Prison a time precisely and purposely noted in the Evangelical Story he first began to preach in Galilee the Gospel of the Kingdom ordained his Apostles and proclaimed himself to be the MESSIAH After Iohn was put in Prison saith Mark 1. 14 15. Iesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God And saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time is fulfilled i. the last week of the sixty two weeks is come and the Kingdom of God is at hand From that time saith Matthew c. 4. 17. Iesus began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand This was that day whereof Christ himself said at Nazareth that that Scripture was fulfilled The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor c. and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4. 18 19. This the time and place whence S. Peter reckoned the beginning of Christ's Prophecy in his Sermon to Cornelius That word saith he which was published throughout all Iudaea and began from Galilee after the Baptism which Iohn preached c. Acts 10. 37. In the third year of this Week two years and an half after he began his Prophecy and three years and an half after his Baptism being made our Priest he offered himself upon the Cross a Sacrifice for sin was dead buried and rose again then ascended up into heaven to be installed and to sit at the right hand of God from thenceforth to reign until he hath put all his Enemies under his feet But you will say This was all performed four years before the 434 years which is sixty two Weeks of years were expired I answer as before The Angel reckons not by single years but by Weeks the last whereof should be Messiah's Week as we have shewed it to have been If the Angel had said There shall be 434 years unto MESSIAH then to make good the prediction MESSIAH must have been anointed the last year But when he says There shall be Sixty two Weeks unto MESSIAH it is sufficient he was anointed the last Week But how this Week will at length be compleat we shall see in the next verse But first let us demonstrate our Computation Ezra's Commission Darius Nothus died saith Diodor lib. 13. in the same year but a little while after the Composition of the Peloponnesian war which was in May Olymp. 93. 4. that is An. Olymp. 372. finiente Ergo  The first of Artaxerxes begins about August and concurs with An. Olymp. 373. The seventh of Artaxerxes with An. Olymp. 379. N. B. If Artaxerxes had began before August the number or date of his reign must have altered either in or between the first and fifth Month but they are both of one year Ezra 7. as also the first and the ninth Nehem. c. 1. c. 2. Christ's Prophecy Christ our Lord was Baptized Anno Olympiadico 805 ineunte about the Feast of Expiation in the seventh Month Tisri six Months after Iohn began to baptize and in that year natural and political which began in the 15 of Tiberius towards ending but was the 16 when he
Daniel's Vision of Four Beasts omits the first which was to be while the Fourth Beast yet lived and designs the last only when that ruffling Horn's time being finished and the Beast destroyed The Ancient of daies gives the Son of man a Kingdom wherein all nations tongues and people should serve and obey him Dan. 7. 13. The Reason Nebuchadnezzar a Gentile was a Type of the Gentiles who were to have their part in both estates of Christ's Kingdom wherefore both are shewn him Daniel a Iew was a Type of the Iews whoâ—e nation should have no share in the first but only in the last and therefore the last is only shewn him This Vniversal Kingdom of the Son of man revealed in the clouds of heaven which Daniel here saw and which the Angel expounds to be the Kingdom of the Saints of the most High is the same with that voiced in the Apocalyps upon the sound of the seventh Trumpet All the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Compare them Whence it will follow That those finishing times of the Fourth Beast called A Time Times and half a Time during which that wicked Horn should domineer and ruffle it among his ten Kings are the self-same Time which the Angel in S. Iohn forewarn thâ— should be no longer as soon as the seventh Angel began to sound Chap. 10. 6. The self-same Times whose finishing the same Angel swears unto Daniel in the same form and gesture he doth to S. Iohn should be the period of those wondrous afflictions of the Church and of the scattering of the power of the holy people Dan. 12. 7. And consequently those very Times of the Gentiles whereof our Saviour speaks Luke 21. 24. that the treading down of Ierusalem and dispersion of the Iews should last until the Times of the Gentiles were finished even the same Times whereof Tobit harped Chap. ult That notwithstanding Iudah should again after a while return and build a second Temple yet should not the Vniversal restitution be nor Israel return from all places of their Captivity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly the same Times with S. Iohn's Apocalyptical Times of the renewed Beast's blasphemous reign and profanation of the Temple and City of God forty two months or 1260 days Forasmuch as the same Kingdom of our Lord Christ is the immediate and common consequent to them all Compare them When Daniel's times are done the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven to receive the Empire of all the Kingdoms of the world Dan. 7. 14. When S. Lukes times of the Gentiles are finished then shall be Signs in the Sun and Moon the Son of man comes also in the clouds of heaven ver 27. the redemption of Israel ver 28. and the Kingdom of God is at hand ver 31. When S. Iohn's Apocalyptical Beasts forty two months reign with the Witnesses 1260 days mourning determine the Ark of the Covenant is seen in heaven and all the Kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ Apocal. 11. 15. ad finem An APPENDIX The First coming of Christ was to be while the Fourth Kingdom was yet in being his Second when it should end The hewing of the Stone out of the mountain which is the rearing of the Kingdom of Christ was before it smote the Image upon the feet and upon the destruction thereof became so great a Mountain as filled the whole earth Therefore the hewing out of this Stone was while this Image was yet in being Daniel himself interprets the Stone to be the Kingdom of Christ not Christ himself and saies that the God of heaven should set it up in the days of those Kings or Kingdoms that is adhuc currente horum Regum periodo vel diebus Tetrarchiae hujus nondum expletis whilest the daies of those Kingdoms of the Gentiles yet lasted or before they expired namely whilst the last of those Kingdoms was still current and in being He that shall here expound in the daies to mean after the days shall give me leave not to believe him unless also he can perswade me that the Stone which smote the Image was hewed out of the mountain after the Image was dashed in pieces and vanished The Iews in our Saviour's time expected the Messiah's coming before the times of the Fourth Kingdom expired For they looked it should be destroyed by him after he was come and then the Kingdom restored to Israel According to that of Dan. 7. when the Beast should be slain and his body destroyed the Kingdom should be given to the people of the Saints of the most High Only they thought not the distance between the first coming of Christ and his destruction of the Fourth Beast to be so long Whence was that question of the Apostles to our Saviour at his Ascension Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom to Israel But I am gone much further than ever I intended and therefore will here make an end I make question whether you can read my scribling If you can I hope you will excuse my hast And so I commend you to the divine protection and am Your loving Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Iuly 22. EPISTLE IX Mr. Hayn's Third Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation SIR I Confess that conference by writing multiplies words by giving more scope to deliberation and may justly make you backward to Collations in this kind But the disquisition and finding of truth countervails all than which I seek nothing more by this my pains To that part of your answer received Iuly 22. I have inclosed a Reply and expect the rest of your Answer formerly intended when you should return to Cambridge And now to this present Reply as your occasions will permit Such Writings as I have seen of yours testifie to me both your plentiful reading and diligent observation of matters most remarkable therein as also I am perswaded in this Argument Yet cannot all that yet you have said drive me from my hold I reverence the Learned on both sides and will ever give them all duerespect and will not be found to stand single in any opinion But the persons of men shall not sway me against the native light of the Sacred Text which I know makes for me If Alsted and some others have lest their Masters in some of these points I think we shall find others as Glassius of equal judgment to Alsted to run this way But 't is to be considered herein not so much Qui dicunt pro auâ— contra as Quid dicunt And therefore I will not put into the scales mens Authority but their Reasons And hope that after your perusal of this present Reply you will be more inclinable to a different judgment from some of your former Tenets And thus leaving you to the protection and direction of the God of Truth I rest Your very loving Friend Tho. Hayne
and the Latin call it Imperium orbis terrarum 13. Daniel himself interpreteth the Stone to be a Kingdom which the God of heaven should set up in the days of those Kingdoms and therefore it cannot be the Kingdom of Christ as God coeternal with his Father but the Kingdom of Christ as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which began not before he was incarnate In the days of these Kingdoms saith he that is whilst some of them were yet in being the God of heaven shall set up a Kingdom which should never be destroyed nor left as the former should to another people but should break in pieces and consume all those Kingdoms and it self should sâ—and for ever Forasmuch saith he as thou sawest a Stone was cut out of a mountain without hands and that it brake in pieces the iron the brass the clay the silver and the gold Here make the full point for these words belong not to that which follows as our mis-distinction in the verses seems to refer them but to that which went before of their interpretation See the same reference of Forasmuch in the 40 and 41 verses 14. I will not now dispute of the Prepositionâ—â— though I had enough to say against you but I say that the words In the daies of those Kings are much more likely to be construed by Ellipsis particulae partitivae usual in the Hebrew and Chaldee quâ—si In the daies of some one of those Kings viz. the last of them So Iephtah is said to have been buried in the cities of Gilead that is in some one of them c. There be some other passages not so principal though I dissent from you in them which I omit as I desire to do this whole Disputation That I had reserved to have answered in your former Reply was to that of the Ruffling Horn which by the express words of the Angel was to last until the time came the Saints should possess the Kingdom that is until the Son of man came in the clouds of heaven to take a Kingdom for this is the Angel's exposition of that part of the Vision and therefore it could not be Antiochus Epiphanes Your Answer to this seemed very unsufficient I desire you to weigh it better and I make an end Yours I. M. October 13. EPISTLE IX Mr. Hayn's Fourth Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation 1. SCaliger's or Iunius his Opinion prevail not so much as should their Reasons God had told the Iews plainly the year and by types the time of the year when Messias should work their redemption So that it was not enough to know in what age it should be 2. The coming of the Son of man is to his Kingdom on earth on which the Scripture runs abundantly Dan. 2. 7. Apoc. 1. 7. Luke 17. 20. and was to be before that generation passed Matth. 24. 34. And within that space of time he came on Ierusalem as the Floud on the old world There shall be a Second coming of Christ namely to Iudgment And then he shall give up his Kingdom here to the Father Yet shall this Kingdom here and that in Heaven be one and the same consist of the same men or subjects and have the same bent to the honour of God 3. The Greeks Rule after Antiochus Epiphanes was sufficient to express the clayie legs that is enough for me and the clayie legs are part of the Fourth Monarchy The Romans more the Iews friends full many scores of years after Epiphanes his time Their war against God's people is that for which God paints them out as Beasts And though the Romans conquered Macedon long before Christ's coming yet both Iulius Caesar and Antonie let Cleopatra hold her due of what Rule she had and were but sticklers not opposites at first 4. If Christ's Kingdom took place at his first coming the same is one and but one and that everlasting 5. The seven Trumpets seven Vials two Witnesses c. shew a new matter not particulars of the Fourth Kingdom particularized before in Daniel 6. The late Iews God enlighten them shift abundantly and the ancient both before and after their desertion did but groap in darkness 7. Yet both the late and old Iews and Porphyrie too saw some truth who can deny it 8. The Text saith In the days of those Kingdoms say you as if it were in all of them and the Stone confounds all Why should we allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 typi 9. You deny the duration of the Fourth Kingdom to hold proportion with the parts of the Image I affirm it my reason is If the Three former do then the Fourth also 10. I know there is a Second coming of Christ that at the day of Iudgment But the Kingdom once begun is one for it is everlasting If there were two Kingdoms the one must end the other begin Though there be degrees in the progress of Christ's Kingdom in regard of the world's indisposition to submit to it yet de jure all is Christ's at his Ascension 11. The Mystery which now you speak of I acknowledge and bless God for it namely of the calling of the Gentiles The Iews Rejection also is plain in the time of the Gospel yet was a remnant of their Nation saved And what more were the elect out of other Nations â— few to the many 12. Though de facto the Gospel was not preached to all the world then yet see mentem Legislatoris the mind of the Law-giver Go preach to all Nations 13. Christ is the Stone what is said of him in many things is and may be said of them of his Kingdom He bruises with a rod of von Ps. 2. so do his servants Rev. 2. 27. He the Stone and his kingdom and people here do the same thing 14. For â— the Proposition the authority I brought was sound and good That about Iephtah is though I use not to be sudden in this kind ill translated I wish time would have given me leave to have conferred with Books and men about it I pray you think of it Were it not better Gideon was buried by the cities of Gilead namely the men of them all much honouring him joyned in solemnizing his burial 15. Not the ruffling Horn as you call it but the body of the Beast Dan. 7. 11. continued till the Son of man came Now the Body of the Beast hornless may express the same or be correspondent to the clayie legs and thus the answer is home in this particular also Much more I could have said but must here make an end and leave you to God whom I pray to keep us in his truth Octob. 16. 1629. EPISTLE XII Mr. Mede's Answer to Mr. Hayn's Fourth Letter about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation NOW I have obtained a Release that you might not think I shook off this Collation out of Pride or Contempt but to avoid too great a diversion from other
after so many hundred years And if your self in this difference follow Mr. Broughton's way you may as soon perswade me there is no Sun in heaven as make me believe it And though it mattereth not much what I think or think not yet in this I dare say that all the Learned men of note in Christendom are of my mind And for my part I cannot but think it a prodigium that any man should think otherwise and I suppose your self are so far of my judgment 4. If you make the Fourth Beast hornless before his destruction you will make Daniel both at odds with himself and the Angel his interpreter If the Horn continue until the Ancient of days comes to give Iudgment to the Saints of the most High and until the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom verse 22. or if he continue until the Iudgment sit and they take away his dominion and the Kingdom be given to the people of the Saints of the most High verse 26 27. how was he Hornless when the Ancient of days sat in Iudgment to destroy him and give his body to the burning flame This I should have taken notice of in another place but I then forgat it yet I said there that which was sufficient to overthrow it I would not have such an Evasion in my Opinion 5. Though all the Four Kingdoms have respect to the Iews as those who were all that time to be in bondage under them yet it doth not follow that the beginning of each Kingdom should be counted from the time they were first possessed of Palaestine but from the time the Caput regni should be given unto the people which were next to succeed Nor is that Observation solid That those Kingdoms were called Beasts for the beastly usage of God's people the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies naturally Animal And you will not I know say so of the quatuor Animalia in the Apocalyps though we translate them also four Beasts The congregation of Israel as we translate it Ps. 68. 10. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Coetus Caterva that notion may be applied to Kingdoms and States also So the type is so much the more concise by reason of the ambiguity of the word in those languages But whether it be this or that I affirm nothing nor is it much to the purpose either way And thus I think I have not left any thing of moment unanswered I had no other end in all this but to let you see I have sufficient grounds to be perswaded of my Tenet and to be averse from yours Whether others can be perswaded by them or not that I know not nor do I arrogate so much ability to my self as to perswade others what I am perswaded of my self There is more goes to perswasion than Reasons or Demonstrations and that is not in my power I desire not you should make any Reply but the contrary for I am now resolved to answer no more whatsoever you should send You know as much of my Opinion and my grounds for the same as I would desire of any mans and I think I perfectly understand yours and where your chief strength lies Why should then either of us both spend our time any further to no purpose Thus desiring the Father of lights to guide us in the way of Truth and to open our eyes to see where we see not I rest and remain still Your very loving Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Octob. 21. EPISTLE XIII Dr. Twisse's First Letter to Mr. Mede Good Mr. Mede AMongst many fruits of my acquaintance with Dr. Meddus this hath been one of the chiefest that he hath brought me acquainted with your self though not de facie yet de meditationibus and that in the opening of Mysteries I was so happy as to light upon two Copies of your Clavis Apocalyptica thereby to gratifie both my self and my friend I was beholden to Dr. Meddus for the one and to Mr. Briggs for the other Since that I have seen divers Manuscriptpieces of yours whereof I make precious accompt Your distinction of Fata Imperii Fata Ecclesiae the one contained in the Seals the other in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth exceedingly affect me as a Key of great use for the opening of these Mysteries Your interpretation of the Seals proceeds in my judgment with great evidence of illustration And in the last place your Exposition of the Trumpets hath taken me quite off from the Vulgar opinion that formerly hath been so common For all which I most heartily thank you And did it become me to profess so much who am nothing worth I should be apt to say you are as dear in my affection as to any friend you have I beseech you go on to perfect the good work you have begun in the Revelation and in other mysterious passages for the clearing whereof I well perceive by the blessing of God you have attained to a very singular faculty I seem to discern a providence of God in causing the opinion of a Thousand years Regnum Sanctorum to be blasted as an Error by the censure passed upon the Chiliasts to take men off from fixing their thoughts too much on that in those days when the accomplishment was so far removed but with purpose to revive it in a more seasonable time when Antichrist's kingdom should draw near to an end Concerning which I have something to propose in searching after more particular satisfaction But I know not whether yet I may be so bold with you and besides I fear to divert you from your so weighty and so profitable studies yet they are such as withall I have thought with my self of accommodating an Answer But though my heart serve me not to communicate them to you at this time yet surely I shall make them known to Doctor Meddus A friend of mine also hath this day given into my hands certain Disputations upon divers mysterious points in Daniel and the Revelation In one of them he disputes of this Thousand years Regnum Sanctorum with variety of Reasons pro con but inclining rather to the contrary A very ingenuous man he is and a great student in Mr. Brightman If I may have liberty to communicate these things unto you and that it might be without offence to your more weighty studies I would so use this liberty as not to nourish my self in idleness but withal to imploy my self in answering what soever I find therein to the contrary At this time give me leave to propose to your consideration Whether that fear of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almost of our Protestant profession may not be avoided and the three days and an half Rev. 11. not signify a space of time succeeding the continuance of those Witnesses but intermixed with it My Reason is this The two Witnesses signifie all the Witnesses giving
before me Shall not the Observation of our Christian Sabbath continue after Christ's coming with his Saints amongst the Nations that are saved from that Deluge of fire though it be Irenaeus his phrase yet I learnt it from you wherewith the Earth and all the works thereof shall be burnt up And if it be urged that by the same reason the Festivities of the New-moons shall have their place in Christâ—s Kingdom as well as Sabbaths and by consequence the Ceremonies of the Iews be restored I answer it followeth not the words may be rendred From month to month as the Geneva doth If we read it From New-moon c. with our last English yet it is not necessary to understand it of any peculiar Festivity denoted thereby least of all Iewish And we Christians in Cathedrals Colleges and great Towns have our Monthly Communions all the year over And seeing I am upon it what think you of Matth. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath-day We know Dr. Andrews B. of Winchester as well as Mr. Dod apply it to our Christian Sabbath And to my judgment it is a strange fiction to apply it to unconverted Iews that our Saviour should stir them up to pray who scorned the Gospel whereby alone we come acquainted with such an Admonition and certainly scorned Christ's Instructions and how can we think that God would hear the prayers of such and was it fit that our Saviour should lay such a ground for the countenancing of their prayers yea and their Iewish Sabbath too And now truly Sir there is no Book that I desire to study more than your self I have found great freeness and acceptance with you hitherto I hope I shall do so still I heartily desire God's blessing upon your person and studies as upon my self and mine I shall ever rest Newbury April 5. 1636. Yours in my best respects exceedingly obliged Will. Twisse EPISTLE LXVI Mr. Mede's Answer to Dr. Twisse's 7 Quaere's viz. about the antiquity of Synagogues among Iews the and of Even-song in the Christian Church as also about the meaning of some difficult places of Scripture viz. Matth. 24. 20. Matth. 25. 31 c. Isa. 66. 23 c. SIR I Turned over the leaves both of the Bishop's and D. Heylin's Book when they came newly out that I might see their Principles and the way they went further I am not acquainted with them because I took no pleasure neither in their Conclusions nor their Grounds which if they be urged would overthrow a great deal more than they are aware of 1. If there be any such Author the Dr. opposeth for affirming the Sabbath to have been comprehended under one of the 7 Commandments of the Sons of Noah I suppose it is Godwyn in his Moses and â—aron Lib. 1. cap. 3. 2. That of Aben Ezra upon Exod. 20. 10. seems to me to be very evident for that Opinion For though it be as much as I can do to understand a piece of Rabbinism yet methinks this passage if it be translated will sound thus Ecce non dubium est quin dictio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu comprehend 〈◊〉 unumquemque qui est silius praecepti Ideirco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filius tuus Filia tua sunt parvidi quorum requies est super te tibique incumbit officium custodiendi eos ne quicquamfaciant quod tibi vetitum sit Similiter de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servo tuo Ancillâ tuâ quoniam in potâ— state tua est tui est officii custodire eum neque sinere eum ut serviat alteri Sin minùs tu transgredieris praeceptum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non facies quòd eo spectat ut quiescat Servus tuus Ancilla tua perinde ut tu ipse sunt exposult Moses Dominus noster viâ quam commemoravi Et secundùm hunc Doctorem vovebii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peregrinus qui est intra portas tuas quod non facturus sit opus in Die Sabbati neque in Die Expiationum Propterea scriptum est secundò Peregrinus Similiter atque de praecepto Nuditatis cùm secundùm hunc Doctorem vovebit quòd custoditurus sit praeceptum Nuditatis eodémque modo de Comestione sanguinis This Dominus Moses he here cites I take to be Rabbi Moses Haddarschan who lived an hundred years before him and was Master to R. Solomon Iarchi Maimonides whom Ainsworth cites for the contrary opinion and Aben Ezra were both of an age and contemporaries 3. For Synagogues I am inclined to believe they were before the Captivity and not first taken up there as the more common opinion is But how to evict it against him that shall obstinately maintain the contrary I confess I know not That in Act. 15. 21. Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath in every City them that preach him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day will not reach so far yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I should allege that of Psal 74. 8. They have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the land they would say as Iunius doth that this Psalm was composed under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes and indeed that which follows We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither any among us that knoweth how long may seem to argue it cannot be meant of that vastation by Nebuchadnezzar for then there were both Prophets and those that knew how long But if this be granted there will arise another difficulty viz. That either this Psalm is no Canonical Scripture or That some part of the Canonical Scripture was written long after Malachy when there was no Prophet and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had ceased And if this why not the first Book of Maccabees There remains but yours Lev. 23. 3. which to me hath appearance of probability but he that were refractory would pick some hole or other either in the word translated Convocation or in dwellings especially in the first See Vulgat and LXX But did not the Levites shall we think teach the people out of Ierusalem in the places abroad where they dwelt And did not the people use to resort to such as could teach them on Sabbath-days and New-moons What doth that of the Shunamite argue else 2 Kings 4. 23 where her husband saith unto her Wherefore wilt thou go to him the man of God to day It is neither New-moon nor Sabbath If this had they not some place where to resort and assemble Besides were there not then Colleges of Prophets and Prophets Sons in Israel In the same chapter we shall find they had and an hundred men in a place vers 43. and in chap. 6. initio that they had Houses where they lived together Did not the Israelites erect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Houses of false worship too may Could they think of building Places to transgress God's commandment
reason against it I find my self naturally pliable that way which you take even to superstition as now I find calling my self to examination And to your interpretation of that in Paul 1. Cor. 11. 22. I have been very prone insomuch that the way others take to the contrary seemed to me at first sight wondrous strange that I understood not so much as their meaning at the first nor did I come to understand what they would without some plodding and when I did understand it it seemed harsh unto me untill I came to examine what it is to despise or dishonour a Place and compared it with Dishonouring of Days And surely neither Days nor Places are to be honoured by us but God in them Yet I find a vast difference between Time and Place though you sometimes said there was the same reason of both But I find not the same reason in the more general notions of them much less in the special It is true natural actions require Time and Place for the performance of them the unity whereof together with the unity of the Subject necessarily concur to the individuation of them if I remember aright my old Philosophy And the meeting of many about the same action requires set Times and Places But by Places you mean Churches which are not Places natural the like cannot be said of Times Then as for the special consideration of them It is apparent that proportion of Time is very momentous for the advancing of Morality and Piety as by setting apart one day in a week for God's publick and solemn service a greater advancing of Piety is made by far than by the sequestring of one day only in a month or in a year for this and we find nothing answerable hereunto in Place at all least of all as commanded either by God or man Lastly as touching the particularity of Time and Place compared together will you say there is as little evidence for the particular Day to be kept holy to the Lord as for the particular Place Sure I am S. Gregorie's is going down if not altogether down to be built elsewhere as they think good we never yet heard the like of the Lord's-Day Yet I would you could prevail but so far with your great Lord to draw him to be Assertor eximius sublati discriminis inter sacrum profanum as well in Time as in Place though I despair of ever being brought to acknowledge there is no difference between these least of all to believe that Holiness of Place is more religiously to be observed than Holiness of Time But notwithstanding the difference between us herein you shall always be as dear to me as you have been and that not as a civil Friend only but as my Christian Brother too were our differences in opinion greater than these For I manifestly perceive how easie a thing it is for good men to take your way about the Holiness of Place and hereunto my self have been exceeding prone But do you think indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the word of Ignatius or can you give any instance of the like either in his time or in an 100 years after him I wish you all happiness as to my self and rest Iuly 2. 1638. Yours ever in the Lord much obliged and most assured Will. Twisse An Extract of the above-mentioned Letter of Mr. Potter to Dr. Twisse necessary for the fuller understanding of some passages in Mr. Mede's Letters c. SIR I Should be very glad to hear that my Treatise were translated into Latine either by your self or by any other if there be any such that would do it so perspicuously as I believe you would and I should be glad if your self or Mr. Mede would add his opinion which he mentions in his Letter why the Number 666 was taken rather than another whose Root might also have been said to be 25. That the Number 25 is so conspicuous and remarkable in the Roman Calendar is also a thing remarkable and apposite and a thing which I did 〈◊〉 in a great Roman Calendar in the Library at Oxford but did not then under 〈…〉 of it nor had time at that instant to search the reason why that Number 〈…〉 great red Capital figures I know there are many other things which it hath 〈…〉 which wise and learned men and such as are 〈◊〉 wi◠〈…〉 may and will observe to the same purpose 〈…〉 I kindly thank you for the sight of Mr. Mede's 〈…〉 he came to know that I had his judgment of my Book sent unto me I know 〈…〉 hope it shall be no hurt either to him or me but an help and furtherance of the Truâ—â— My Letter to Dr. T. was written to a proâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 hematician and â—â—â—tude of matter forced me to write briefly and therefore 〈…〉 and therefore it iâ—â—o marvel if my unskilful and confused expressions have caused 〈◊〉 things to be mistâ—ken at the first reading If the Fractions of the Root of 666 being 41 51 be appliable not only to the number of Degrees but also to the number of Minutes of the Latitude of Rome 't is more than I observed and more than I intended I thought it a sufficient exactness that 41 is the greatest number of Degrees of Latitude of that place being there is no City near it that can stand in competition with Rome to be the Seat of Antichrist And if that Parallel which is 41 Degrees of Latitude and that Meridian which is 41 Degrees of Longitude do cross and cut each other in any part of S. Peter's Patrimony or of those Dominions of Italy which are immediately subjected to the Pope and City of Rome this seemeth to me to be in this respect a sufficient manifestation of that individual Kingdom and City in which Antichrist was chiefly to reign and reside And those places and Provinces which were not immediately but mediately ruled by him were at the time of the Council of Trent chiefly confined within that Parallel which is 51 Degrees of Latitude and that Meridian which is 51 Degrees of Longitude For these two Numbers 41 and 51 or rather 41 51 being considered the one as Numerator the other as Denominator of the same Fraction must not be understood the one of Degrees and the other of Minutes but both must be applied to divisions of the same denomination and one be considered as part of the other and the Numerator as the most principal part which is chiefly intended In the second place Because this Fraction 41 51 supposeth one Integrumto be divided into 51 parts or thereabouts I therefore observed that one Degree of Longitude in that Circle or Parallel under which Rome lieth did contain in Longitude about 51 Italian or Roman miles and this supposes one Degree in maximo circulo to be about 68 Italian miles and somewhat more which agrees very well and strangely with that experimental definition of Snellius lib. 2. Eratosthen Bat. cap. 12. where he hath
many Patterns of so many States of the Church succeeding in the like order the Churches are named then surely the First Church viz. the Ephesian State must be first and the Last be the last As for those between though there be no Characters to bound them all exactly yet the mention of false Iews and the Synagogue of Satan Throne of Satan Balaam Iezabel c. Apocal. 2. in the Five middle ones will argue that they belong to the time of the Beast and Babylon And for the Sixth in special viz. Philadelphia we have a good character where to place it viz. partly about the time the Beast is falling and partly after his destruction when the New Ierusalem cometh For Philadelphia is promised that the Synagogue of Satan should bow before her feet that she should be preserved in the general temptation to come upon the whole world that upon her should be written the name of the New Ierusalem Apocal. 3. 9 10 12. If any thinks these Seven Churches are to be put into the Scheme as being perswaded they serve for Prophecies of things to come as well as Descriptions of things present he may easily supply their want by imagining them in that middle empty space between the Two Prophecies or might without any great deformity express them by 7 letters E. S. P c. CHAP. 3. vers 21. I will give him to sit with me in my Throne even as I am set down with my Father in his Throne Here are 2 Thrones mentioned My Throne saith Christ this is the condition of glorified Saints who sit with Christ in his Throne but my Father's i.e. God's Throne is the Power of Divine Majesty herein none may sit but God and the God-man Iesus Christ. To be installed in God's Throne to sit at God's right hand is to have a God-like Royalty such as his Father hath a Royalty altogether incommunicable whereof no creature is capable To receive our devotions in Heaven is a flower of this incommunicable Royalty CHAP. 5. vers 12. Worthy is the Lamb to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Blessing The whole Doxology consists in the acknowledgment of these three Sovereign Prerogatives of the Divine Majesty his Power his Wisdom his Goodness The two first Power and Wisdom are express and Riches and Strength belong to Power the third viz. Goodness is implied in Blessing or Thanksgiving which is the Confession of the Divine Goodness Observe also that these words and those in the parallel place chap. 4. 11. are the summe and argument of that Hymnologie which the Primitive Church used at the offering of Bread and Wine for the Eucharist CHAP. 9. vers 5. tormented five months and vers 10. to hurt men five months For the clearing of this difficulty 1. What if these Five months are not the whole time of the plague of Locusts but the time only of their tormenting with their tail Agreeably to this supposal the Editio Complutensis followed by Plantine reads not vers 10. as we do with the Codex Regius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And they had tails like unto Scorpions and stings and in their tails they have power to hurt men five months And what if this then be the meaning of vers 5. They should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment of a Scorpion when he Striketh a man that is they should be tormented by the tail a◠Scorpions torment and strike with their tail 2. What if by the Head of this Army of Locusts we understand their Foremost troups or Vanguard which infested and setled in the Eastern parts erecting their chief Caliph at Bagdat or Babylon in Mesopotamia and by the Tail of this Army their Latter and hindmost troups which encamped Westward in Africk and Spain as the Rere of that great Army who in process of time erected also a Caliph at Algier and from thence after some ages invaded Sicily and Italy which they held even under the Walls of Rome and Pope's nose just five months or 150 years during which though they killed not the Beast yet they continually frighted vexed and tormented him For it should seem that the Holy Ghost in this number principally aimed at Italy once the Seat of the Empire and now of the Beast whom the Head-troups of these Locusts never came near but only their Tail Vers. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Daemons and Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk See this explained in Book III. pag. 635. CHAP. 10. vers 11. Thou must prophesie again before many c. These words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou must prophesie again which interpret the Symbolum of the Book-eating ver 10. do imply that the Systeme of Visions following do relegere tempus Apocalypticum ab ovo But if any Vision of that Systeme of Visions do begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical time or period as it is not denied but that of the Puerperium in Chap. 12. doth there is no reason to think but that the First Vision beginneth there both because it is the First and because it is the summe and Compendium of all that follow after If then the First Vision after the eating of the Book begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical period surely the Measuring of the Temple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which begins there If the Measuring of the Temple and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begin at the beginning of Apocalyptical time then this Measuring cannot be contemporary with the Treading down of the Outer Court and the Witnesses prophesying in Sack-cloth because these contemporate with the Woman in the Wilderness and the XLII months blasphemy of the Beast which are granted not to be from the beginning of Apocalyptical time CHAP. 11. Vers. 2. the holy City shall they tread under foot 42 months and ver 3. my two Witnesses shall prophesie in Sack-cloth 1260 days and ver 9. three days and an half as in chap. 12. 14. a time and times and half a time That by these Numbers are not meant Three single years and an half see it demonstrated by five Reasons in Book III. pag. 598. CHAP. 12. vers 14. And to the Woman were given two Wings of a great Eagle This alludes unto Exod. 19. 4. where God is said to have born his people upon Eagle's wings and brought them out from the Egyptians unto himself namely in the Wilderness That she might flie into the Wilderness into her place where she is nourished from the face of the Serpent Seeing the whole Apocalyps almost consists of Expressions borrowed from the Types of the Old Testament why should not this of the Woman's dwelling and being fed in the Wilderness have reference to
what 321 Comet not mentioned in Scripture but implied in other expressions 28 Coming of Christ spoken of indefinitely in the Old Testament without that distinction of First and Second Coming more clearly expressed in the Newâ— 98 611. His First Coming was at the time prefixed in Dan. 105. His Second Coming shall have an Harbinger as well as the First 98 99. Whence S. Paul learn'd to confute the Thessalonians false fear of the day of Christ's Coming to judgment to be near at hand 758 763 Coming of Christ sometimes in Scripture implies the destruction of Ierusalem and the Iewish State 701 Commemoration twofold in the Eucharist 373. how this Commemoration is made to God 377 Competency twofold 125. a Competency only to be prayed for 128. it is the best and safest condition 129 Confession of Faith should not be long nor obscure 871. a Fundamental Confession how it may be framed 873. Some Politick considerations against such a Confession examined 875. See more in Fundamentals Constagration of the World whether it implies an utter abolition 614 615 617 Congruity How the Rule of Congruity is observed by God in his dealings with man 81. How it is the Reason and Rule of several Duties God requires at our hands 95 Conscience A good Conscience compared to a Feast in three respects 163. a Scared Conscience what 678. it is the worst estate of the Soul 162 163. how Gods Law alone bindes the Conscience 208 209 Consecrate See Dedicate Constantinople not meant by the mystical Babylon in Apocal. 17. 912 when and how it was taken by the Turke 474 Coâ—rition what the two parts or degrees thereof 108 Conversion the parts or degrees thereof 109 Corban 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 96. more particularly described with the two parts thereof 287. it was called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isâ—â—h or Fire-offering 286. the most Holy Offering 286 287 Cornelius a Proselyte and of what sort of Proselytes 165 Covenant twofold of Works and of Grace 251 c. the open and the secret or hidden Covenant under the Law 251. Covenant of Grace the same for substance under the Law and Gospel 250 c. Covenants The Universal Custom of mankind to contract and confirm Covenants by eating and drinking together 370 Covetous men their great folly 131 Council of Constantinople endeavoured to be wronged by foisting in two Canons for Saint-worship 685. falsely said to be against the words Saint and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 686. the First Nicene Councils Testimony touching the Kingdom of Christ 813. a foul Story made use of in the Second Nicene Council in behalf of Image-worship 687. Council of Trent added more Articles to the Creed 874 Courts of the Templeâ— the Inner and Outer Courts what they signifie 587 588. the Times of both not coincident 586 587. the Outmost Court or Court of the Gentiles 20 The Creature how subject to vanity and bondage 230 812. the Creatures were made and are to be used not only for the Service of the Body but of the Soul 195 S. Cyprian a fabulous story touching the manner of his conversion 681. his opinion about Chiliasme 837 D DAEmoniacks were Lunaticks or Mad-men 29 30 Damons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Tim. 4. 1. not always taken in Scripture for Evil Spirits 634 635. but sometimes for the Deified Souls of men deceased according to the notion of the Gentiles Theology 629 c. Damons were supposed to be a middle sort of divine Powers Mediators and Agents between the Gods and men 627 c. the same with Dii Animales Penates Lares Manii Dii 631. the way of worshipping them by Images Pillars or Columns 632 633. their worship promoted by lying miracles 680. the Gentiles Theology of Daemons revived and resembled by an Idolatrous sort of Christians 634 Daily Bread what meant thereby 86 Dan why not mentioned among the Twelve Tribes in Apocal. 7. 455 456 Daniels LXX Weeks explained 697 c. the purport of them 697. his Prophecy reaches to Christ's Second Coming 787. whether he understood his own Visions 788 Day signifies sometimes in Scripture a long time 86 772 Days The 1260 Days in Apocal. 11. are to be taken for Years proved by five Reasons 598. when they begin and end 600 the 1290 and 1335 Days in Dan. 12. are so many Years 720 Iunius and Broughton who interpret them of so many Days confuted 117 c. their Epocha 720 602. the purport and scope of those two Numbers 719 834. the Events answerable to the Prophecy 720 c. why the fuller Discovery of Antichrist was not to be till toward the end of the Eleventh Century 723 Dead body See Body Death What meant by the Second Death 913 Dedicate Things dedicated unto God how unalienable 120 121 Deliration two kinds of it 29 Devil why called The Prince of the power of the Air 23. and The accuser of the brethren 496. why he took the Serpent's shape 223 c. he assaults us where we are weakest 226. That the Devil durst not blaspheme God before the Coming of Christ was an ancient Tenet of some Fathers 24 Diluvium ignis in Irenâ—us 611 Discalceation a Rite used at their coming into Sacred Places by the Iews and Mahumetans 348. and by the Abâ—ssine Christians 349 Double honour See Honour Dying unto Sin what 107 E EAdem est ratio Loci Temporis vindicared and explain'd 860 Eagle the Ensign of the Roman Empire 492 The Earth is in the Politick World according to the Prophetick style the Peasantry or Vulgus hominum 616 Earth-quake what it means in the Prophetick style 919 East Churches anciently built towards it 330. of worshipping towards iâ— the practice os Antiquity 397. By the East is sometimes in Scripture meant Arabia 467 Ecclesiastical Persons See Clergy and Ministers Edom in the Rabinical Comments is interpreted Rome with an account of some such passages expunged by the Romanists 902 903 Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used sometimes in the Old Testament for Civil Magistrates 72. in the New for Church-Officers 70 c. no ground in 1 Tim. 5. 17. for Lay-Elders in the Church 70 c. under this name of Elders are sometimes included ' Deacons 71. the 24 Elders in Apocal. 4. who meant thereby and why they are said to be crowned 439 Elements why called in Gal. 4. weak and beggarly Elements 250 An Elias to be the harbinger of Christ's Second Coming 98 c. The Encamping of Israel in the wilderness described and how it is in Apocal. 4. alluded to 619 Encanstum Ink of a purple colour appropriate to the use of Kings c. 11 End of the world That the Apostles were not so mistaken as to believe it would be in their days proved against Baronius and others 665 Enemy and Avenger in Psal. 8. meant of the Devil 38 Envy the Image of the Devil 90 Ephraim why he and ' Dan not mentioned among the Twelve Tribes in Apocal. 7. 455 456 Epiphanius his
quaâ—s nec fabulâ—e nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt c. Hieron in vita Hilationis b Heâ— tempore velut per universum Orbem Romanum canentibus buccinis excitae gentes savissimae limites sibi proximos persultabant Gallias Rhaetidsque simul Alemaâ—ni populabantur Sarmatae Pannonias Quadi Picti Saxones Scoti Attacotti Britannos aerumnis vexavâ—re continuis Thracias diripiâ—bant praedatorii globi Gethorum c. Ammian ibid. cap. 10. c Hieâ— Ep. 3. Ante annum 400. vigâ—nâ—i â—o ampliùs anni sunt cum inter Constantinopolin Alpes Iulias quotidie Romanus sanguis essunditur Sâ—ythiam Thraciam Macedoniam Daciam Dardaniam Thessaliam Achaiam Epires Dahnaâ—iam cunctdsque Pannonias Gothus Sarmata Quadus Alanus Hunni Vandali Marcomanni vastant rapiunâ— Romanus Orbis ruit Quid putas nunc animi habere Corinthtes Athenienses Lacedaemmios Arcadas cunctdnique Graeciam quibus imperant Barbari d Synesius Orat. ad Arcadium August Quomodo enim ferre possumus partes viriles in nostra Republica alienorum externorum esse fortissimum Imperium concedere aliis bellicae gloriae principatum Neque enim dubitandum est fore ut illi aliquando armis instructi hominum urbanorum se Dâ—minos esse velint Quod priusquam eveniat revocandi sunt nobis Romanorum animi ita assuefaciendi ut ipsi suo Mario vincere possim velint nec omnino societatem cum Barbaris ineant sed eos omnes despiciant omnique loco funditus pellant Primùm igitur Magistratu ejiciantur procul à Curiae honoribus arceantur quibus per summum dedecus ea obvenerunt quae diu apud Romanos habita sunt reipsa fuerunt apud eos honestissima Nam Deam Themidâ—m quae Senatui Bellonam quae Exercitui praesidet obvelare se arbiâ—ror cùm cernant hominem penulá scorteâ indutum ducem esse chlamydatorum villosam penulam exâ—entem togam sumere de summa rerum cum Romano Magistratu consulere prope ipsum Consulem sedentem longè post eum sedentibus iis quibus bonos ille jure optimo debebatur Paulo post Apud nos Exercitus magni sunt nostrisque servis Scythis sanguine conjuncti qui nescio quo infelici fato in Romanum Imperium irrneâ— unt I le suâ—s duces habent magnae authoritam vâ—râ—s non solâ—â—m apud eos ipsos sed etiam apud nos quod malum nostra dedit socordia nobis Paulo post de Theodosio Ille suâ—plicantes scil Gothos erexit bâ—lli soâ—ios ascivit civitate donavit omnium honorum participes fecit partem Romani agri iis attribuit At illi quòd pater tuus â—â—tem seus praebuit nos in hunc usque diem derident Sed id primus fecerat Valens Anno 374. de quo sic Paulus Dâ—aconus Hist. Misâ—â—ll lib. 12. cap. 14. Hunnes Gothi transito Danubio fugientes à Valente sine ulla foederis pactione suscepti sunt qui tribuit eis â—oraâ— Thracâ—arum ad habitandum arbitratus praeparatum solatium ab eis habere contra omnes Barbaros hac prâ—re Mâ—â—es dâ— caetero negligebat eos qui dudum contra hostes elaboraverant Imperator despiciebat c. Hoc ergo fuit ivitium ut 〈◊〉 tempore Romana Respublica calamitatibus subderetur Barbari namque cùm Thracias tenâ—issent licenter Romanorum vostabant provinciaâ— c. * Vid. Socratem l. 4. c. 27 * Paulus Diaconus Hist. Misc. prout ex codice Palatino edidit Ianus Gruterus Quatuor decim interim diâ—s secutâ liberâ dirâ—ptione omnibus opibus suis miracuâ—is Româ— vacuata est â— in quibus erant Ecclesiastica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tota ex auro lapidibus pretiosis ornata vasa Hebraica quae Titus Vespasiani filius post captivitatem Hiâ—rosolymitarum Romam detulâ—rat mulâ—dque milliâ— captivorum cum Regina Eudoxia quae Gensericum ad hoc facinus invitavâ—rat duabùsque ejus filiabus Carthagiâ—m abducta sunt * Chap. â— Verse 8 24. * Salona Iornandes quem vide cum Paulo Diacono * Vide Can. 9. Concil Laodicen An. 364. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * See this fully proved in Book I Discourse XX. Cyril Hierosol Câ—tech 6 expounds this of Iohn to mean Simon Magus * 〈…〉 Thus must that of S. Iames in chap. 5. 3. be expounded and so Occumenius expounds the words Weep and â—oul yâ—â—richmen for the miserus that shall come upon you Ye have heaped up goods for the last dayes that is when the land of your State is a coming and the Romans shall spoil you of all This being supposed to be the reason why many of the Christian Iews sold their lands and laid the mony at the Apostles â—eet * An. 57. S. 19. An. 72. S. 26. An. 82. S. 3. a Matt. 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. Dan. 9. 24. b Luke 21. 24. c 2 Thess. 2. 7. d lbid v. 8. e Rom. 11. 25. f 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Hebr. 2. 8. g 3 Per. 3. 4. * Ch. 7. 25. Ver. 21. * So Targum Onkelos and Ionathan both render it expresly Servics pâ—puli◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servientibus Idolis Deut. 28. 36 64. also c. 4. 28. necnon Targum Ionathan Ir. 16. 1â— 1 Sam. 26. 19. that is in all the places forecited * 2 Sam. 7 23. God is said to have redeemed Israel from Egypt from the Nations and their Gods See Tr 〈…〉 el. who turns it more to our purpose * Vers. 26. 42. a See the oration of Licinius to his Souldiers Euseb. de vita Constantin lib. 2. c. 5. b Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Altar he there speaks of in his defence was inscribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God saith he I preach unto you c Roma cùm penè omnibus dominatetur Gentibus omnium Gentium serviebar erroribus magnam sibi videbatur assumpsisse Religionem quia nullam â—espuebat falsitatem Leo Mag. in Ser. 1. in nat Apost Petri Pauli Hic confutandi Daemonum cultus hìc omnium sacrificiorum impâ—ie â—as destruenda ubi diligentissâ—ma Superstiâ—ione habeatur collectum quicquid usquam fuerat vanis erroribus institutâ—m ld ib. * See this use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezra 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Angl. with Lev. 16. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. atque LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 33. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 32. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. cùm Angl. with a Under the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 38. b viz. ver 42. of this ch over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vers 3. of the next ch over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where it is unpossible it should distinguish and so elsewhere * Coloss. â— 16. * Some render it not of but is his Aâ—ointed or Messiah that is Messiah is Mahoz Ieshâ—â—â— * 1 Sam.