Man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the holy Ghost was upon him 26 And it was revealed to him by the holy Ghost that hee should not see death before hee had seen the Lord Christ. 27 And hee came by the Spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the Childe Jesus to doe for him after the custome of the Law 28 Then took hee him up in his armes and blessed God and said 29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word 30 For mine eyes have seen * thy salvation 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel 33 And Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him 34 And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his Mother Behold this childe is set for the fall and rising againe of many in Israel and for a signe which shall bee spoken against 35 Yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soule also that the thoughts of many hearts may bee revealed 36 And there was one Anna a Prophetesse the daughter of Phanuel of the Tribe of Aser shee was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven yeares from her Virginity 37 And shee was a Widow of about fourescore and foure yeeres which departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day 38 And shee comming in at that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem 39 And when they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their owne City Nazareth Reason of the Order THe dependence of the beginning of this Section upon the end of that that went before doth even prove and confirme it selfe For after the story of the birth of Christs forerunner and the relation of what happened and befell at that time what could bee expected to come next in order but the birth of Christ himselfe Especially since none of the Evangelists mention any thing that came between Harmony and Explanation Ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur and shall afflict Heber Num. 24. 24. THat by Chittim is meant Italy or the Romanes it is not onely the generall opinion of the Jewes as may bee seene in their Targums and in other writers but of the most Christians also yea of the Romanists themselves whom the latter part of the verse doth so neerely pinch As see their vulgar Latine and Lyranus upon the place This Prophecy was fulfilled when the power of Rome first set her foote upon the necke of the Hebrews by the conquest of Pompey but especially when shee tyrannized over Christ the chiefe childe of Eber even before and at his birth as in this story but chiefely in condemning him to death as in the story of his passion As Jacob had before told that the Jewes at Messias his comming should bee under the Subjection of a Foraine Nation so doth Balaam in this Prophecy shew who that Nation should bee And this the more ancient and more honest Jewes tooke notice of and resolved that Christ should come in the time of the Roman Empire and neere to the destruction of the Temple by it So in the Talmud they question What is the name of Messias Some answer Hhevara Leprous and hee sitteth among the poore in the gates of Rome carrying their sicknesses Sanhedrin The Chaldee Paraphrast likewise on Esa. 11. 4. readeth thus With the speech of his lips shall Messias slay Romylus the wicked one or the wicked Roman shewing at once his opinion of Christs comming in the time of the Romans and also of the Romans being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one after a singular manner Augustus was the second Emperour of the Romans or rather the first that was intire Monarch for Julius Caesar his Uncle and Predecessor had hardly injoyed any Monarchicall government at all nor did Augustus of many yeeres neither till hee had outed Lepidus and overcome Anthony which were copartners with him in the dominion His name Augustus was given to him for his worthy administration of the Common-wealth For before-time he was called Câ—pias and Thurinus and Octavianus and had like to have been named Romulus as a second founder of the City but by the advice of Munacius Planous hee was named Augustus which importeth Sacrednesse and reverence SS That all the world should bee taxed To soâ—vast an extent was the Roman Empire now growne from Parthia to England and they two also included that it was a world rather then one dominion And so did their own Authours boast it in those times as Caesar Regit omnia terris Divisum imperium cum Jove Totum circumspicit orbem Terrarum orbis imperium and such like speeches usuall among them both in Poesy and Prose This huge and unweldy body of so large and spacious a dominion Augustus had now reduced to the healthfull temper of peace and quietnesse which is the more remarkable by how much the more warres had been more frequent and more bloody but a little before For never had that Empire felt so great distemper within it selfe as it had done of latter times in the civill warres betwixt Sylla and Marius betwixt Julius and Pompey betwixt Augustus and Antony not to mention the continuall warres that it had abroad It had not been very long before this time that the Evangelist speaketh of when both Rome it selfe and the rest of the world was at that pitifull plight that Polybius speaketh of That the Romans were forced to send to Prolomy King of Egypt for a supply of corne because there was a great scarcity and dearth among them For in Italy all their corne was destrayed even to the gates of Rome by the Souldiers and abroad there was no helpe nor supply to bee had there being warres in all parts of the world But now is there an universall Peace not onely in the Romane Empire so that the Temple of Janus was shut up which it never used to bee when any warres at all were stirring but if wee will beleeve Crantzius even in those parts and Countries where the Romane power had not yet set her foote as Denmark Norway and those Northerne Climates there was so great a peace that in some places there Money and Jewels were hung up by the high way and there was neither Theefe nor Enemy to take them away Such times became the comming of Shilob the Peaceable one Isa. 6. 9. And such a beginning was befitting the Gospel of Peace Augustus having brought the Empire under this quiet obedience like a politicke Prince will have it all taxed and brought into the Subsidie Book that hee might know the extent of his command of his strength and of his revenues And
had speciall warrant and warrant they had none till the Angell dismisse them into Egypt This is not a groping of their thoughts onely by surmisall as was theirs of Herods mentioned before but there is plaine and evident demonstration for it in the text for when Joseph in Egypt was commanded by an Angel after the death of Herod to returne to the Land of Israel it is said Hee was afraid to goe into Judea when hee heard that Archelaus reigned in stead of Herod Now what should hee doe in Judea Or why should he rather thinke of going thither then into his owne Countrey Galilee But that hee thought of returning to Bethlehem againe from whence he had come supposing that the education of the Messias had beene confined thither as well as his birth But being warned and warranted by an Angel in a dreame hee then departed into Nazareth verse 22. By which words it is apparent not onely that he durst not goe to his owne home till hee had divine commission but also that hee had never been in Nazareth since Christ was borne till this his comming out of Egypt otherwise he would have addressed his thoughts thither and not to Judea And by this are wee to expound the text of Luke alledged when they had performed all things according to the Law they departed to their owne City Nazareth namely that he speaketh briefly in what hee saw Matthew had handled at large before and not so much intending to shew Christs quicke departure into Galilee after his presentation in the Temple as to draw you to looke for him in Galilee at the next story following which fell out very many yeeres after And that such briefe transitions are no strange thing in Scripture might be shewed at large but more especially in the Evangelist S. Luke that we have in hand as to spare more in Chap. 4. 14. He bringeth our Saviour as it were from the Pinnacle of the Temple into Galilee as if his journey thither had beene the first thing hee did whereas hee returned with the Devil into the Wildernesse againe and from thence came to John at Jordan before hee set for Galilee And Act. 9. 18 19. c. where under these few words Saul was converted and baptized preached in Damascus a good season was laid in wait for and escaped over the wall and went to Jerusalem hee hath comprehended a story of him of three yeeres and hath omitted his journey from Damascus into Arabia and to Damascus againe before he set for Jerusalem as Paul himselfe hath parcelled it out Gal. 1. Object 6. But why should the Wiseman stay so long after they had seene the Starre as not to come to Jerusalem and to Christ of two yeeres after Answ. So did Moses lie within a daies journey or little more of his wife and children Exod. 18. c. a whole twelve moneth together within a few daies and yet they came not at all together not for the distance of the places where they were but because of the divine disposall of the Lord for a speciall reason And so was it with these men It was not the distance of their Countrey from Judea were it either Arabia or Persia nay had it ben the utmost Judia that kept them away so long for they might have travelled it in halfe the time buâ— it was the divine dispensation of the Lord that detained them backe for so long a time partly that Christs stay in Bethlehem may leave no excuse behind if they would not know him but chiefely that the childe and Mother might gather some competent strength against their flight which God foresaw would follow upon the wisemens comming Harmony and Explanation Ver. 1. In the daies of Herod the King THis Herod was the Son of Antipater an Edomite or of the seed of Esau as was said before although Nicolas Damascen for which Josephus correcteth him averre that hee was of the race of the chief of the Jews that came up out of Babylon His Father Antipater growing into acquaintance and favour with Julius Caesar had the government of Judea committed to him And hee againe substituteth his sonne Phasaelus in the rule of Jerusalem and of the Country thereabout and his other Son Herod who is here spoken of in the ruling of Galilee Herod by his prowesse and policy indear'd himselfe to the succeeding Rulers of the Romane State but more especially by observance and promises to Antonius and by his meanes to Augustus whilest they two kept correspondency in the swaying of the Empire These two by the consent of the Senate make him King of Judea a man composed as if they were his foure elements of fawning policy cruelty and unconscionablenesse Of whose life and actions Josephus Egesippus and others have discoursed at large and it is not seasonable to insist upon them here This onely is not impertinent to inquire after what yeare it was of the reigne of Herod when this story of the Wisemens comming to Bethlehem and the butchery upon the children there fell out that it may bee seene how long our Saviour was in Egypt before his returne upon the tyrants death and how soon it was that the Lord overtook this and the other cruelties of the tyrant with deserved vengeance Josephus Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 26. hath placed the beginning of Herods reigne under the hundreth eighty and fourth Olympiad and under the Consulship of C. Domitius Calvinus II. and C. Asinius Pollio and hath summed the length of it to foure and thirty yeeres from the death of Antigonus his competitor and seven and thirty from the Romans first declaring of him King Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. And with this reckoning of the yeers of his reigne agreeth Egesippus de Excid Jerosol lib. 1. cap. 45. and so doth Eusebius in his Chronicle for the latter summe of seven and thirty but differeth farre from the beginning of his reigne placing it under the last yeere of Olympiad 186. eight yeeres at least after the time prefixed by Josephus And reason hee hath indeed to differ from his beginning For if Herod began his Reigne in the Consulship of the men fore-named and reigned but thirty and seven yeeres from thence it will result in the conclusion that hee dyed the yeere before our Saviour was borne as may bee easily cast by the Catalogue or number of Consuls from Cn. Domitius and Asinius Pollio which was after the building of the City Anno 71. to Cornelius Lentulus and Valerius Messalinus under whom our Saviour was borne which was Anno urbis 751. So that this account of yeeres that Josephus hath given though it bee true for the number yet can it not bee so from that beginning from whence hee hath dated them What shall we say then by beginning the thirty seven yeeres of his Reigne from the time that hee was King intire and sans corrivall in the kingdome by the death of Antigonus the last sparke of the Asmonean fire Why herein also I find
properly meant the custome of the Priests The High Priest burnt Incense when hee would the other Priests by lot and one and the same Priest burnt not Incense twice in all his dayes Abarbin in Penteteuch fol. 241. SS His lot was to burne Incense Sense and reason doth more bind us to understand casting of Lots for this purpose then the Grammaticall construction or literall strictnesse of the word for though it signifie obtaining a thing by lot yet not alwayes by lot onely but even by any other meanes as Act. 1. 17. Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obtained the lot of his ministration And so Julian in Mesopogone Anacreon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sortitus est ludere vel deliciari c. But undeniable reason telleth that it must of necessity be understood of obtaining by lot in this place For the Priests in every one of the twenty foure courses were exceeding many For Josephus relateth that they were thousands in every course And this are wee sure of from evident Scripture that at the crowning of Joash when an insurrection by Athaliah was feared The Priests of two courses onely are reputed as a Guard sufficient for the King and about the Temple 2 King 11. 5 6 7. And when Vzziah would have burned Incense there were eighty Priests ready to with-hold him 2 Chron. 26. 17. So that among so great a multitude there in but one man being onely permitted to burne incense it was necessary that he should bee chosen from among them by lot and the lot at this time fell to Zaâ—harias SS To burne Incense entring into the Temple of the Lord. This his entring into the Temple was not going into the most holy place nor was this his burning of Incense upon the day of expiation but it was according to the daily Service of the Temple which required that incense should bee burned every morning and evening in the Holy place without the vaile Exod. 30. 6 7 8. The High Priest indeed once every yeere offered Incense within the vaile on the day of expiation Lev. 16. 29 30. but neither was Zacharias High Priest nor was this any such service For first Luke when hee speaketh of the High Priest hee useth to call him by that title as Chap. 3. 2. Acts 4. 6. c. but in all this large Story of Zacharias hee never termeth him other then an ordinary Priest Secondly Zachary was of one of the twenty foure courses but the High Priest was of no course at all and if hee had doubtlesse hee had beene of the first But Zachary was of the eight Zacharias at this time came to burne Incense by lot but the High Priest came to doe it in the most Holy place by succession Fourthly there was no Altar of Incense in the most Holy place but there was one where Zacharias ministred Fifthly if these courses began their round either with the beginning of the Service of the Temple or with the beginning of the yeere Ecclesiasticall or with the beginning of the yeere Civill or from any of the three Festivals then was it not possible that the eighth course should light any whit neere the Feast of expiation And where to begin them but from some of these who can imagine Sixthly it was not so very consonant that John the Baptist should bee borne a High Priest which bare the fullest resemblance of the Office of our Saviour but a Priest of an inferiour ranke because a servant to the High The mis-construction of Zacharies offering of Incense gave first occasion to the generall and long continued mistake of the time of our Saviours Birth Vers. 10. And the whole multitude of the people There were constantly in the Temple at the hourâ— of prayer First the Priests of that course that then served Secondly the Levites that served under the Priests Thirdly the men of the Station as the Rabins call them that is certaine men that were to represent the whole Congregation in putting their hands upon the heads of the Sacrifices Fourthly those whom devotion moved to leave their other imployments for that time and to bee present at the service of God All these might amount to a great number indeed but the Text in naming the whole multitude of people seemeth to have some further meaning as if it would intimate that this was not upon an ordinary day of the week but upon the Sabbath day when the Congregation was full Not onely of the Priests of the seventh course that went that day out of their service but also of all the multitude of the City which were tyed that day in a more speciall manner to the publike worship Upon this day if we might conclude it to be a Sabbath the portions of the Law and the Prophets which were read in the Synagogues were excellently agreeable to the thing was now in hand namely the Law of the Nazarites Numb 6. and the conception of Sampson like this of the Baptist Judg. 13. SS Were praying without When the burnt Offering began in the Temple the Trumpeters and Singers began to sound and sing and the whole Congregation to pray and worship and all this continued untill the burnt Offering was finished 2 Chron. 29. 27 28. Then the Priest tooke a Censer full of coales from off the Altar Lev. 16. 12. for by the custome of that day may bee guessed the custome of the rest in this ordinary circumstance and went into the holy place and burnt it upon the Altar Exod. 30. 7. In the meane time the people in the outer Court were imployed in prayer 2 Chron. 29. 29. And on the day of expiation they were in feare while the High Priest was within till hee came out in peace and then there was great joy among them because they were accepted R. Tanchum on Ex. 33. Ver. 11. And there appeared an Angel c. As there were two great mysteries to be shewed in the birth of Christ First that God should become a man And secondly that a Virgin should become a Mother So the Lord to make way for the beleefe of these two when they should be exhibited did use two Harbingers or preparatives as if it were of old and of long time before First apparition of Angels in humane shape Secondly Womens bearing children that were old and barren For it would be the easier beleeved that the invisible God might converse visibly among men in humane flesh when it was so ordinarily seen that the invisible Angels did so in humane shapes And it would not be so very incredible that a Virgin might beare a child though she were not come to it by the course of nature and though shee had not known a man when it had been so often knowne that old women had done the same though they were past child-bearing by nature and even past the knowledge of man And this was the maine reason why want of children is alwayes in Scripture imputed to the defect of the women that the miracle appearing
in her Cosin Elisabeth Thirdly confirming her from the power of God to which nothing is impossible Now whereas this unrestrained power of God was the onely cause of such examples as the childing of Elisabeth and other barren women in this birth of the Virgin something more and of more extraordinarinesse is to bee looked after In it therefore two actions are expressed to concurre First The Holy Ghost his comming upon the Virgin Secondly The power of the most High overshadowing her and two fruits or consequents of these two actions answerable to them First The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee therefore that that is borne of thee shall bee holy Secondly The power of the most High shall overshadow thee therefore that that is borne of thee shall bee called the Son of God The comming of the Holy Ghost upon her was First In the gift of Prophecy whereby shee was both informed of the very instant when the conception was wrought and also more fully of the mystery of the Incarnation then before Secondly Hee did prepare and sanctifie so much of her flesh and blood or seed as to constituâ—â— the body of our Saviour The worke was the worke of the whole Trinity but ascribed more singularly to the Holy Ghost first because of the sanctifying of that seed and cleering it of originall taint for sanctification is the worke of the Holy Ghost Secondly for the avoiding of that dangerous consequence which might have followed among men of corrupt minds who might have opinionated if the conception of the Messâ—as in the wombe had been ascribed to the Father that the Sonne had had no other manner of generation of him The power of the most High His operating power supplying the want of the vigour and imbraces of the masculine Parent For to that the word overshadow seemeth to have aliusion being a modest phrase whereby the Hebrews expressed the imbraces of the man in the act of generation as Ruth 3. 9. Spread the skirt of thy garment over thine handmaid Therefore that holy thing This title and Epithet first not onely sheweth the purity and immaculatenesse of the humane nature of Christ but also secondly it being applyed to the preceding part by way of consequence as was touched before it sheweth that none ever was borne thus immaculate but Christ alone because none had ever such a way meanes of conception but onely hee Ver. 36. Thy Cosin Elisabeth hath conceived a Son As hee had informed the Virgin of the birth of the Mâ—ssiâ—â— of her selfe so doth he also of the birth of his fore-runner of her Cousin Elisabeth For that hee intended not barely to informe her onely that her Cousin had conceived a Childe but that hee heightens her thoughts to think of him as Christs fore-runner may bee supposed upon these observations First that hee saith A Son and not a Childe Second that such strangely borne Sonnes were ever of some remarkable and renowned eminency Thirdly that if hee had purposed onely to shew her the possibility of her conceiving by the example of the power of God in other women hee might have mentioned Sarah Hannah and others of those ancient ones and it had been enough Ver. 39. And Mary arose c. And went with haste into the hill Country into a City of Juda. This City was Hebron For unto the sons of Aaron Joshua gave the City of Aâ—ba which is Hebron in the hill countrey of Judah Josh. 21. 11. And Zacharias being a sonne of Aaron and dwelling in the hill Countrey of Judâ—â—â— it were senselesse to seek for his house in any other place then Hebron This place had been excellently renowned in ancient time Here was the promise given of Isaac here was the institution of Circumcision here Abraham had his first land and David his first Crowne and here lay interred the three couples Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leah and as antiquity hath held Adam and Eve Now there are many reasons given by Expositors of Maries hasting hither after the Message of the Angel As either to know the truth of what was told her about Elisabeth or to congratulate and rejoyce with her or to minister to her in her great bellyednesse or that the Baptist in Elisabeths wombe might bee sanctified by the presence of Christ in hers c. But I cannot but conceive this to bee the very reason indeed That shee might there conceive the Messias where so many types figures and things relating to him had gâ—â—e before namely in Hebron For First this suited singularly with the Harmony and Consent which God useth in his workes that the promise should begin to take place by the conception of Messias even among those Patriarchs to whom the promise was first given Secondly A kind of necessity seemeth to lie upon it that this Shiloh of the Tribe of Juda and the seed of David should bee conceived in a City of Juda and of David as hee was to bee borne in another City that belonged to them both Thirdly the Evangelists so punctually describing this City seemeth rather to referre to Christ then John who being of the Priests might indifferently have been born in any of the Tribes whatsoever Only the Holy Ghost giveth us to observe this which may not bee passed That John that should bring in Baptisme in stead of Circumcision was borne in that very place where Circumcision was first ordained in the City Hebron It is generally held indeed that the Virgin conceived in Nazaret and in the very instant of the Angels talking with her but whether there bee not as much probability for this opinion as for that I referre to the equall and judicious Reader Ver. 40. And saluted Elisabeth This seemeth to have beene at some distance and a wall or floore between as consider seriously on ver 42. 44. Ver. 41. The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the Lxx. for Jacobs and Esaus stirring in the wombe Gen. 25. 22. And the leaping of the mountains at the giving of the Law Elisabeth in ver 44. addeth The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not that hee knew what hee did when hee leaped any more then they but that either this was the first time or this time was extraordinary The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth outward gesticulation or exultation as well as inward joy yea though there bee no inward joy at all as Psal. 65. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the little hils shall bee girded with exultation And so is it to bee understood here The babe in my wombe leaped with extraordinary gesticulation or exâ—ltation and 〈◊〉 to signifie the manner of the thing done and not the cause of the doing Ver. 45. And blessed is shee that beleeved Elisabeth in this clause seemeth to have an eye to her owne husbands unbeleefe and the punishment that befell him for the same Hee a Man a Priest aged learned eminent and the message to him of more appearing
World begâ—n 71 That we should be delivered from our enemies and from the hands of them that hate us 72 To performe the mercy promised to our fore-fathers and to remember his holy Covenant 73 The oath which he sware to our Father Abraham 74 That he would grant unto 〈◊〉 that wee being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare 75 In holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life 76 And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the â—most Highest for thou shalt goâ— before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins 78 Through the tender â—mercy of our God whereby the day-spring from an high hath visited as 79 To give light to them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace 80 And the child grew and waved strong in Spirit and was in the desert till the day of his shewing unto Israel Reason of the Order THe order of this Section may bee briefly contrived and illustrated thus Elisabeth when Mary commeth to her waâ— about sermoneths gone with child Luke 1. 26. 36. and about nine moneths when shee departed from her vers 56. Shee comming to her owne house is suspected by Joseph to have played the harlot and is in danger of a secret divorce while these things are thus passing betwixt them two at Nazaret the time of Elisabeths delivery is fully come Harmony and Explanation Verse 59. They came to circumcise the Child IN Hebron and about the time of Easter was Circumcision first ordained Gen. 17. And in the same place and at the same time of the yeere was John Baptist borne and cicumcised who was to bring in Baptisme in stead of Circumcision as may bee apparent by observing the time of the Angel Gabriels appearing and message to his father Zacharias in the preceding Kalendar and it shall bee to the full explained and proved hereafter when we come to treat of the time of our Saviours birth § And they called his name Zacharias A thing hardly to be parallel'd againe in all the Scripture that a child should be named by the name of his father an extraordinary action in an extraordinary case Because Abraham and Sarah had their new names given them at the giving of circumcision therefore did after-times reserve this custome to name their children at their circumcising The name was sometime given to the child by the mother but that was ever at the birth and it was upon some weighty and speciall reason as Gen. 29. 32 33 34 35. and 30. 6 7. c. 1 Sam. 4. 21. 1 Chron. 4. 29. and sometimes by the standers by at the birth as Gen. 38. 29. and 25. 25. Ruth 4. 18. but the father at the Circumcision had still the casting voice whether the name should bee so or no as appeareth by Jacobs changing Ben-oni into Benjamin Now Zacharie being dumbe and the mother having given it no name at the birth the persons present undertake to call it by the name of the Father And now is hee in circumcising that is the man appointed to bee the first overthrow of Circumcision by bringing in Baptisme instead of it R. Solomon from the Talmud in Sanbedrin expoundeth Jerem. 25. 10. I will take from them the sound of the milstones and the light of the candle to this sense The sound of the milstones signifieth the Feast at a Circumcision because they ground or bruised Spices for the healing of the sore and the light of the Candle signifieth the Feast it selfe Thus doe they confesse a decay of Circumcision to be foretold by the Prophet and yet they sticke not to deny most stiffely that Circumcision must ever decay Vers. 63. Hee wrote saying That is expressing or To this purpose as Exod. 18. 6. And Jethro said to Moses I Jethro come to thee That is he signified so much by Letter as the serious viewing of the story will necessarily evince And so 2 King 5. 6. And bee brought the Letter to the King of Israel saying not that Naaman that brought the Letter spake the words that follow but the Letter it selfe spake them John The Lord hath been gracious A name most fit for him that was to bee the first Preacher of the Kingdome of grace and to point out him that was grace it selfe Rabbi Jochanan said what is the name of the Messias Some said Haninah Grace as it is said I will not give you Haninah that is the Messias who shall bee called gracious Jer. 16. 13. Talmud bab in Pesach cap. 4. Vers. 64. And his mouth was opened Infidelity had closed his mouth and now faith or beleeving doth open it againe And herein may this case of Zachary be fitly compared with the like of Moses Exod. 4. For he for distrust is in danger of his life as Zachary for the same fault is strucke dumbe but upon the circumcising of his child and recovery of his faith the danger is removed as Zacharies dumbnesse is at such a time aâ—d occasion as Psal. 116. 10. He beleeveth and therefore doth he speak And the tongue of the dumb doth sing Esay 35. 6. And his tongue Out English hath added loosed for illustration as also hath the French and some say it is found in some Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But first no such word is expressed either in the Syrian Arabick Vulgar Latine Italian Erasmus or other Translators Nor secondly needeth there any such word to make a perfect sense but it may well help the simple and vulgar capacity what our English hath added Vers. 66. Laid them up in their hearts It could not but affect all that heard of this strange birth of the Baptist with wonder and amazement and singular observation both in regard that so many and great miracles were wrought in this time when miracles were so much abated and decayed as also in consideration that there was never birth before that had so many concomitants of wonder and miraculousnesse as the birth of this child Not of Isaac the glorious Patriarch not of Moses the great Prophet nor of any other whatsoever that had beene in former times And the hand of the Lord was with him Either the speciall favour and assistance of the Lord as Ezra 7. 6. and 8. 22 c. or the gift of Prophecy at capable yeers as 1 Sam. 3. 19. for so the hand of the Lord doth signifie Ezek. 1. 3. 37. 1. 40. 1. Psal. 80. 17. 1 Chron. 28. 19. Vers. 68. Redeemed Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee hath made or wrought redemption In the very phrase implying a price paid for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth It is used againe Chapt. 2. 38. and by the Lxx Psal. 111. 9. and 130. 7. and by Theodotion for satisfaction Prov. 6. 35. Vers. 69. An horne
consent of Romane Historians that say that Augustus Reigned six and fifty yeeres and of Christians that hold that Christ was baptized in the fifteenth of Tiberius then may it bee readily concluded that hee was borne in the forty second of Augustus The time of the yeere at which hee was borne hath beene much mistaken being concluded upon at the latter end of December This mistake did first arise by another for it being misunderstood that Zacharias was the High Priest and that hee was in Sancto Sanctorum on the expiation day when the Angel Gabriel appeared unto him they could doe no lesse then conclude that John was borne in the middle of Summer and Christ in the middle of Winter A time very unfit for people to travaile to their severall Cities to be taxed but far more unfit for Shepherds to lye abroad in the fields all night For finding out therefore the true and right time of his Nativity these things are to bee taken into consideration First That the time that Christ lived here upon the earth was two and thirty yeeres and a halfe exactly And so long did David Reigne in Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5. 4 5. This time was divided into two unequall parts twenty nine yeers compleat hee spent as a private man before hee was baptized for it is said hee began to bee thirty or was entring upon his thirtieth at his Baptisme Luk. 3. 23. And three yeeres and an halfe from his Baptisme to his death This summe was precisely told of by the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9. 27. In halfe that week shall hee cause sacrifice and oblation to cease And is plainly parcelled out by Passeovers and other circumstances of time Mat. 4. 2. Job 1. 29. 35. 44. 2. 1. 13. 5. 1. 6. 4. 13. 1. Secondly That the time of Christs death was at Easter or their Passeover as is most plaine by all the Evangelists Thirdly That hee living just two and thirty yeers and a halfe and dying at Easter it must needs follow that hee was borne about the middle of the moneth Tisri which answereth to part of our September And it is not only probable but also necessary if he lived thirty two yeeres and a halfe exactly that then as hee died upon the fiftheenth day of the moneth Abib or at the Passeover so that he was borne about the fifteenth day of Tisri at the Feast of Tabernanacles a moneth and a Feast that had been exceedingly renowned in ancient times In this moneth the World had begun and sin had entred into it In this moneth were all the Father born before the Flood as the Jewes averre and reason confirmes it From this moneth began the circle of the yeere from the Creation to the redemption out of Egypt From this moneth began the typicall yeere of Jubile in the ages after And in this moneth were the three famous Feasts of Trumpets of Expiation and of Tabernacles And like glorious things may bee observed upon the Feast of Tabernacles it selfe At that very time did Israel fall upon the making of the Tabernacle in the wildernesse Exod. 35. At this very time was the consecration of the Temple 1 King 1. 8. 2. And at this very time was our Saviour borne and began to carry the Tabernacle of his flesh and at this very time was hee Baptized and began the Ministery of the Gospel So that here appeareth one addition more to the present misery and subjection of the Jewes at the time of this taxe that not onely they must leave all their occasions to wait upon thier own taxing and promote their own bondage but that they must neglect a maine part of the service of God the Feast of Expiation and the Feast of Tabernacles as Zech. 14. 16 17. to attend the Conquerour and their owne thraldome And now it being considered that John the Baptist was but halfe a yeere older then our Saviour it will be observable how the foure points of the yeer as it may be so said were renowned with their conception and nativity John conceived at the Summer Solstice and our Saviour at the Winter John born at the vernall Equinox and our Saviour at the Autumnall SS And wrapped him in swadling cloaths This passage is one ground-work whereupon Expositors conclude that Christ was borne without paine to his mother for that shee performed the Midwives pâ—t her selfe and none to help her A second is this That he was borne without his Mothers paine because hee was conceived without her pleasure A third Argument may bee fetched from the blessing of propagation given to our first Parents in the Garden And a fourth from the example of the delivery of the Hebrew women in Egypt For first when God gave this blessing to Adam and Eve in their innocency increase and multiply Gen. 1. 28. it inabled them to beget children agreeable to their owne perfection that is holy righteous and without any symptomes or consequents of sinne either in themselves or in the mothers But they never begat any child thus because of their sudden fall What did this first blessing then utterly faile and never take effect in its proper sense and full extent Could such emphaticall words of God to man in innocency fall to the ground without performance No they took place in the second Adam who was borne according to the full extent and intent of that blessing to our innocent parents in perfect holinesse and righteousnesse and without paine to his mother Secondly if the Hebrew wonien in Egypt had so quicke and easie a delivery as that they were not like to other women much more may we thinke the travaile and delivery of the Virgin to have been quicke lively miraculous and painlesse as Esa. 66. 7. Before her paine came she was delivered of a man child SS Because there was no roome for them in the Inne At the returne out of Babylon the Children of Bethlehem were a hundred twenty three persons Ezra 2. 21. Now that being foure hundred and fifty yeers past and somewhat above to what a multitude might the stock or breed of that City be growne by this time of Christs birth This multitude pressing together to their own City according to the Emperours edict the weakest goe to the walls and Joseph and Mary are excluded out of the Inne and thus the free-woman and her Son are cast out of doores as the bond-woman and her Sonne had been Gen. 2. Vers. 8. And there were Shepheards c. The Patriarchs to whom Christ was more especially promised were of this vocation Gen. 47. 3. especially Abraham and David to whom the promise was more clearly made peculiarly David who was feeding Sheepe neere to Bethlehem when hee was taken a Father and type of Christ 1 Sam. 16. 11 12. And it doth illustrate the exactnesse of the performance the more and doth Harmonize with the giving of it the better when to Shepheards it is first revealed is to Shepheards it was first promised Compare
and thence his journey to Hierusalem to the first Passeover of the foure Joh. 2. 13. So that it being thus apparent that the length or space of his Preaching was three yeeres and an halfe from his baptizing to his suffering it being withall considered that hee dyed at Easter it will readily follow that hee was baptized halfe a yeere before that time of the yeere namely in the moneth Tisri or September And it being againe considered that hee was baptized when hee was just entring upon a new yeere of his age as shall be observed anon it will thence likewise follow that hee was born at the same time of the yeere also And who is hee that can imagine that the renownednesse and fame of this month in the Old Testament both before the Law and under it was for any other thing so much as in reference and prefiguration to and of these glorious things Now though there bee these assured evidences of the time of the yeere when our Saviour was baptized yet is there but conjecture of the time of the moneth And that may most consonantly bee conceived to have been at the Feast of Tabernacles which beganne the fifteenth day of the moneth Levit. 23. 33. upon these probable and not altogether unsatisfactory reasons First because hee dyed on the fifteenth day of the moneth Abib or Nisan the day after the Passeover and to make the odde halfe yeere spoken of before an exact and just halfe yeere indeed his baptisme must bee fixed on the fifteenth of Tisri Secondly the two other of the three solemne Festivals the Passeover and Pentecost Christ accomplished or fulfilled what they signified by his death at the one and by the giving of the holy Ghost at the other and there is no reason to thinke the third or the Feast of Tabernacles any lesse figurative or typicall then the other and as little to think that hee should leave the equity of that unsatisfyed more than the other and if hee answered not that in his birth and baptisme hee answered it in nothing at all Thirdly the very nature of the Feast of Tabernacles and the occasion and reason of its institution have a forcible reference to such a thing For though Moses hath given but this reason for one Custome and practice which they used in the Feast Yee shall dwell in boothes seven dayes that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in boothes when I brought them out of the Land of Aegypt Levit. 23. 42 43. Yet had the originall and institution of the Feast a great deale more in it For the maine occasion was this Moses having after long fasting and prayer made the peace of Israel with God about the golden Calfe and having obtained the Tables renewed which himselfe had broken and regained the commission to build the Tabernacle which had beene suspended because of that sin on the tenth day of the moneth Tisri which according to our account was about the two or three and twentieth day of our September he comming down from the Mount bringeth these glad tydings of peace reconciliation to the people for which that day was observed for the day of reconciliation or expiation ever after and the people now hearing that they must make the Tabernacle in which God would dwell among them and that they must not remove from the place where they were viz. from Mount Sinai till that be finished they then addresse themselves to pitch their tents and make them booths for their winter abode there and instantly fall upon the worke of the Sanctuary and this was it that was the occasion of that solemne Feast in succeeding times Now let the substance bee laid unto the shadow and the Antitype and figure brought together and the application is not onely sweet but also somewhat evincing For since the occasion of that feast was God comming to dwell among the people in his Tabernacle and that now first begun or exhibited and this just halfe a yeere after their first delivery from Egypt observe how fully these are answered in Christs shewing himselfe to the world at his baptism in whom God dwelleth among men and this the first revelation of him to the world and this just half a yeer since John began to publish the delivâ—ry of men from the bondage of Sin and Satan by the preaching of the Gospel Fourthly the Consecration of the Temple of Solomon was at this very time namely in the seventh moneth or the moneth Ethanim which is all one with Tisri and thence the service of it began 2 Kings 8. 2. Now since Christ himselfe averreth that the Temple was a figure of his body John 2. wee may follow the Allegory with the more boldnesse and apply the dedication of that and the time of the dedication to his consecration by his baptisme to his ministeriall service and parallel them both in the very same time Secondly the certaine and determinate place where our Saviour was baptized cannot absolutely bee fixed and resolved upon by any warrant of Scripture though many have been so confident as to point it out and to shew a crosse set in the very place of the River and miraculous curing of Leperâ— in the water The Evangelists have given no more settlement of it then this that it was in Judea and that it was in Jordan Two circumstances the more remarkable First because that after that baptisme of our Saviour we cannot certainly find John baptizing either in the same Country or in the same River ever againe For whereas there is mention of his being about six weekes after this in Bethabara Joh. 1. 28. that was both on the other side Jordan and it was a water different from Jordan Judg. 7. 24. and of his baptizing in Enoâ— a whole twelve-moneth after this Joh. 3. 23. that was also out of the precincts of Judea and distant somewhat from the banks of Jordan and the waters there the waters of the place it selfe and not of that river And this sheweth the reason more plainly why Luke in the clause next before this that we have in hand summeth up the baptism of all the people before hee speake of our Saviours because that there were now collected out of Judea all the harvest of beleevers that might bee gathered in by the preaching of John and when Christ was baptized John was to remove to another place Secondly from this that Christ was baptized of John in Jordan and in Judea it will almost inevitably follow that he was baptized in the place where the river was dried up and the Israelites first entred into the Land of Canaan For if it bee considered 1. That the Army marched through the channel in two maine bodies the one on the one side of the Arke and the other on the other 2. That â—ither of these maine bodies were two miles distant from the Arke on either side and consequently foure miles from each other Thirdly That these