labours our studies are inriched both with Arts and wisdome but rather with the Bee let vs worke the hony out of euery flower and according to the precept of the Apostle try the worke by the fier of Gods word The Romanist Iohn Lucidus deceiued by a forged Philo and Niâ—… cholas Lyra our Country-man corrupted by study of malitious Rabbins together with Annius Eusebius Africanus and many others haue in Glosses verie much intangled the truth of these pedegrees For Lucidus allowing that Vtopian Hebrician from him doth end the line of Salomon in Ochozias otherwise called Achaztah the seuenth King succeeding and vnto Ieconiah the last King of Iudah doth name al the Kings mentioned by Saint Mathew to bee the same men whom S Luke recordeth from Nathan whose words thus follow S. MATHEVV  S. LVKE Ioas otherwise Simeon Amasia Leui. Ozias Matthat Iotham Iorim Achas Eliezar Ezechias Iose. Manasses Er. Amon Elmodam Iosias Cosam Iehoahaz Addi Iehoiachim Melchi Ieconiah Neri The like fainings of double names he continueth from Zorobabel through the line of Rhesa vnto Eli the father of Mary though to little purpose and lesse explanation Eusebius likewise citing the Epistle of Africanus to Aristides as ancient as Origin in these descents of Christ his parents both by legall mariages and in double venters of sons so troubleth the truth with vnwarrantable inuentions as may dazell the eies of the best sighted searcher his words somewhat abridged I will here insert The kindred saith he of Salomon and of Nathan is so knit together by reuiuing of the deceased without issue by second mariages by raising of seede so that not without cause the same persons are posted ouer to diuers fathers whereof some were imagined and some others were their fathers indeed both the allegations being properly true though in Ioseph diuersly yet exactly by descent determined And that that which I go about to proue may plainely appeare I will declare the orderly succession of this Genealogie making a recitall from Dauid to Salomon The third from the end is Matthan found which begat Iacob the father of Ioseph but from Nathan the son of Dauid decending according to the Gospell of Luke the third from the ende is Melchi whose sonne is Hely the father of Ioseph For Ioseph is the son of Hely the sonne of Melchi Ioseph being the proposed marke to shoote at wee must shew how either is termed his father deriuing the pedegree of Iacob from Salomon of Heli from Nathan And first how Iacob and Heli being two brethren then their fathers Matthan and Melchi borne of diuers kindreds may be prooued grandfathers to Ioseph Matthan therefore and Melchi marrying the same wife begat brethren by the same mother the law not forbidding a Widow either dismissed from her Husband or after the death of her husband to be coupelled vnto another man First therefore Matthan descending from Salomon begat Iacob of Estha for that is said to be her name After the death of Matthan Melchi which is said to haue descended from Nathan beeing of the same Tribe but of another race hauing maried this widow to his wife begat Hely his sonne Thus doe wee finde Iacob and Heli of a different race but by the same mother to haue bin brethren Of the which Iacob taking to wife his sister the wife of Heli his brother beeing deceased without issue begat on her the third to wit Ioseph by nature and the order of generation vnto himselfe whereupon it is written Iacob begat Ioseph by the law vnto his brother Heli deceased whose sonne Ioseph was For Iacob being his brother raised seede vnto him wherefore neither that Genealogie which concerneth him is to be abolished the which Mathew the Auangelist reciting Iacob saith he begat Ioseph and Luke of the other side which was the sonne saith he as it was supposed adding this withall of Ioseph which was the sonne of Heli which was the sonne of Melchi And the word of begetting hee ouer skipped with silence vnto the end with such a recitall of sonnes making relation vnto Adam which was of God nor is this hard to proue or to small purpose proposed In this tedious speech of Eusebius you may see how Ioseph is forced to bee naturally from Salomon and adoptiuely from Nathan but by imagined fathers as himselfe confesseth and Mary whose parentage concerneth Christs humanity most not once spoken of in this Epistle how weake a reconciliation therefore is made of our holy Euangelists let the vnsatisfied Christian iudge and yet in these fainings he hath beene followed in the labours of those that otherwise haue done wel which their pedegrees to shew the present defect is here from them presented to thy sight In this intricate Labirinth who can but lament where neither Scripture is followed nor propagation allowed and how farre from truth Eusebius hath straied in this his pretended reconciliation is euidently seene namely in making Melchi to be the immediat father of Heli and the third from the end in S. Lukes catalogue when by the said Euangelist it is most apparant that he was the fifth from the end and not the father but the great grandfather of Heli for Melchi begat Leui and Leui begat Matthat and Matthat begat Heli whose sonne in law Ioseph was Then could not Melchi be the naturall and next immediate father of Heli two generations comming betwixt howsoeuer Eusebius vnderstandeth his ranke from the end Nor could the issues of double mariages so begot and borne bee brothers of one venter twines as Iacob and Heli are said to bee by the said Estha and by two seuerall men Matthan and Melchi a thing strange in nature and the like in Scripture neuer seene And though Lyra from Africanus and Hierome allow of the double mariages for the raysing of seed to the issulesse deceased yet he ioyneth Matthat and not Melchi vnto Estha for her second husband and maketh Heli her sonne by the same man But in following these Rabbins too neerely that bring Christ from Salomon Nicolas Lyra in his annotations both vpon the first booke of Chronicles and the Gospell of Saint Mathew ouerrunneth the truth into a most dangerous error For he would haue Nathan to bee but the adopted sonne of Dauid and the naturall sonne of Vriah the Hittite borne vnto him by Bathsheba his wife before Dauid tooke her for his For vpon Dauids sonnes borne in Ierusalem and 1 Chro. 3. 5. thus he commenteth Onely Salomon was Dauids naturall sonne the other three were Vriahs whom Dauid made his by adoption So our Lord should come and take flesh not of blessed Sem and beloued Dauid as by the Prophets was promised but of cursed Cham and irreligious Heth without all warrant of the sacred Text. But vnto these their assertions let vs assay further the answer to cleere our Euangelists from the least touch of disagreement First then though Lucidus bee greatly deceiued
whether from father or husband most certen it is by the Euangelist Iohn shee was the sister of Mary the Virgin and that by the mother and not by the father And that shee had either beene or then was the wife of Alpheus S. Mathew doth inferre Chap. 10. 3. for Alpheus was the father and she the mother of Iames the lesse as also of Ioses Math. 27. 56. vnto whom Iudah was brother Luke 6. 16. and Simon is reckoned a brother among them Mat. 13. 55. But this Simon the sonne of this Mary and Bishop of Ierusalem saith Aegesippus was of the kindred lineage of Dauid for which and for his Christianity hee was accused vnto Traian the Emperour and patiently suffered death vnder Atticus the Consull as likewise many others of Iudahs Tribe for the same occasion of kindred vnder him and other Emperours did had done So as it may be obiected Iesus stood not sole heire vnto Dauids Crown but that this Simon and others also were interested therein But thereunto may be answered that albeit these and many others in those daies also were of Iudahs Tribe and Dauids kindred yet that prooueth not they were of the children either of Abiud or Rhesa the sons of Zorobabel from whō the right is deriued by both the Euangelists Nor were these men Zebedee and Alpheus the husbands of these Maries nor Cleopas whether husband or sonne knowne to bee of Dauids line or of Iudahs Tribe by any apparancy of text and therefore neither themselues nor sonnes could be heires vnto Dauids throne and Iudahs Kingdome But Christ being the sonne of the first borne Mary and himselfe the first borne of euery Creature is therefore before any of these Sons or parents in title to the Crowne the law hauing established the first borne to inherit For if in al things he was to haue the preheminēce then most especially in that of Iudahs Crowne it being reserued for him vnto whom it most rightfully belonged and hee the onely rightfull heire vnto Dauid as wee haue said Neither had Mary Cleopas the mother of Iames Ioses Iudah and Simon beene a former wife vnto Ioseph the Carpenter as consequently shee must had Ioseph been father to any of these her borne sons For it is euident that shee liued after the death of Ioseph the Carpenter for with Mary her sister she beheld Christ vpon the Crosse wherby is most manifest that with Mary her sister shee could not haue beene a wife vnto Ioseph nor Ioseph haue beene a iust man as Saint Mathew records him had hee enioyed two sisters at once but rather a transgressour of the law which saith Thou shalt not take a wife with her sister during her life to vex her And that Iames the lesse the son of this Mary was the sonne of Alpheus we haue shewed and how hee and the rest were called the brethren of Iesus wee may soone perceiue if wee consider that the vsuall custome of the Iewes was to call not onely any of their kindred brethren but them also of their Countrey and Tribe as Moses did the Striuers and as they of Israell were brethren to them of Iudah And in that sense did the Iewes call them the brethren of Iesus when seeing his person his wisedome and workes and knowing his parents kindred and education in the trade of a poore Carpenter with great admiration they obiected and said Whence hath hee this learning is not this the Carpenter Maries sonne the brother of Iames and Ioses and Iudah and Simon and are not his sisters here with vs And Iames the lesse being the son of Mary who was the sister of Mary the Virgin was then the Cosen-german as we speake vnto Iesus euen his Ants sonne and from that his neere consanguinity was called the Lords brother and not from Ioseph by a former wife as some haue imagined nor any similituder likenesse that he had vnto Iesus as Lyra saith he was of both in face and lineaments of body But much more propperly was Iesus euer taken and reputed to bee the sonne of Ioseph for that Ioseph was his bringer vp in the trade of a Carpenter and his maintainer of liuelihood the space of twenty nine yeeres And hauing no father vpon earth amonst men but Ioseph the Carpenter is therefore commonly called the sonne of Ioseph the Carpenter And Ioseph likewise for the foresaid causes is often reputed and called the father of Iesus and so doth Mary her selfe call him when finding Iesus among the Doctors in the Temple disputing shee said Sonne why hast thou thus dealt with vs behold thy Father and I haue sought thee sorrowing And vpon the same ground that Ioseph had no issue of himselfe begot is built the Perpetuitie of Maries Virginity who being blessed aboue women doubtlesse had not been subiect to the curse of barrennesse had Ioseph euer knowne her as his wife And the childe so begot and borne had beene heire to Iudahs Kingdome in the right of the Father Iesus being but sonne to the mother nor shee any wise interrested vnto Salomons Crown whilst Ioseph her husband liued or any childe from him But Ioseph being a iust man and beleeuing the Angell that told him his wiues conception was by the holy Ghost forbare to touch by mariage knowledge that her Virgins blessed wombe wherein the Sonne of righteousnesse had been incarnate For as the outward Eastgate of Ezekiels glorious Temple was commanded to stand shut and no more to bee opened and no man to enter in by it because the Lord God of Israell had entred in that way so that sanctified Virgins * blessed body remained vnknowne by man for euer because the Prince of Princes Christ Iesus her Sonne had entred the passage vnto his humanity through that holy gate of his Tabernacle Mary of all weomen the most blessed And as the Spices confection compounded in the f◅st Tabernacle was onely to bee imployed vpon and in the first Tabernacle where God did make his Couenant with Moses so the sweete composition of the eternall deity with the then assumed hamanity in the wo◅b of that Ros◅ or Lilly of Zion was no more to bee attempted in that sanctified Tabernacle wherein Gods couenant was performed in becomming the Immanuel for the saluation of man which wrought no doubt in Ioseph the husband a reuerend fo◅ bearance though the bed of mariage be holy and vndefiled These things being so as by the Scriptures we find them not otherwise Iesus his title stands firme for Iudahs Crowne for hee hauing neither brother nor sister vncle nor kinsman by any descent either from Abiud or from Rhesa any kindred at all is himselfe then the only immeate and next heire vnto them both both by Ioseph his father and by Mary his mother And by that do◅ble line
person the Crown was intaled euen by God himselfe neither was there any before him besides or with him that could be his competitor in that right though himselfe was no King but a poore Carpenter nor had hee any after him from his lovnes descended or of his kindred that could debarre Iesus to bee his heire The opinion therefore of one Iraeneus and others is not to be approued who suppose that Ioseph had children of his owne body begot and wil haue Iames and Ioses Iudah and Simon to bee the naturall brethren of Christ either by Father or Mother or both And Heluidius the Heretick with the Ebionites vrgeth that Iesus was not the onely sonne of Mary his Mother because saith hee his brethren and sisters are so particularly named in the Euangelists Others from the words of the Apostle Saint Paul who calleth S. Iames the Lords brother doe take Iames to bee the brother of Iesus indeed and doe iudge him to bee borne vnto Ioseph by a former wife Vnto which conceit Eusebius seemeth to leane and Cestrenfis alleageth but not alloweth for then had Iames the eldest son both by birth-right and parantage beene King of the Iewes and the title vsurped and impropper to Iesus who was but the Legall sonne of Ioseph by whom the claime came For the right resting in Abiud the eldest of Zorobabels sonnes must likewise descend to Iosephs eldest sonne otherwise the Law debarreth the claime and Christ was to accomplish euery iot of the law And how the law intaled it to his person alone let vs heare the Euangelists for his title speake where wee shall finde three Maries recorded to bee Mothers vnto Christ his Apostles which were Mary the Uirgin Mary surnamed Saloâ—…e and Mary Cleopas for other Maries not to this purpose of purpose we omit Mary the Virgin and Mother of Christ neither by Saint Mathew nor by Saint Luke hath her Parents expresly recorded For the Euange lists setting downe the Lineage of our Sauiour they doe not by the line of Mary from whom he tooke flesh but from Ioseph by whom hee was to deriue the Kingdome Therefore it is consequent that the Euangelists in that point did principally intend to set forth our Sauiours Kingly right That so Christ might bee accounted from the man and not from the woman according to the vsuall manner of the Scriptures for which cause Ioseph is called the sonne both of Iacob his begetter and of Eli her father by the mariage of her his daughter And that shee was the daughter of Eli the Rabbins themselues doe acknowledge and so tearme her and doe bring her from Dauid from Iudah and from the Towne Bethlehem as the Euangelists haue done Ioseph her husband neither haue wee Christians euer seene any contrary record and so it must be For Christ could not truely be the seed of Dauid vnlesse Mary whose seede he was immediatly were truely the seed of Dauid But Christ was truely the seed of Dauid therefore Mary whose seed he was immediatly was truly the seed of Dauid This Mary then the daughter and sole heire of Eli her father hath her fathers right in the title of Iudah for so saith the Law If a man haue no sonne his daughter shall inherit And by matching with Ioseph in whom the right lay from Abiud the eldest of Zorobabels sonnes after his decease is also his heire For shee being descended from Rhesa the younger brother and Abiuds house failing in Ioseph her husband Abiuds inheritance was to descend vnto Rhesa his line and Mary then of Rhesa was heire vnto Abiud for so doth the same law establish that if a man haue neither sonne nor daughter as Ioseph had not the neerest of his kindred shall inherit And Mary the neerest by any record though many descents passed betwixt must be the only heire of Ioseph her husband he dying issulesse as hee did and of Eli her Father he hauing no other child to in herit And none suruiunig either Ioseph or Mary in that royall line Christ Iesus who was knowne and reputed to bee the onely sonne of them both by that double right and most inst title is stiled and called King of the Iewes Mary surnamed Salome in Marke 15. 40. by 〈◊〉 Flinspachio in his draughts of the Scriptures Genealo gies is set to be the daughter of Iacob and the sister of Ioseph the Carpenter but without any proof for his so doing alledged or warrant of any before him And so to admit â—…er were to intitle both her selfe sons to be next heires vnto Iudahs Crowne For Iosephs title standing from Abiud and dying 〈◊〉 as he did had shee beene his sister and from the same stem shee then had beene inheretriâ—… vnto Ioseph her brother deceased and must haue inioyed his rights by the same law before alledged And so her sons Iames Iohn had stood in estate before Iesus and the Euangelists too farre ouerseene to annihilate them the next in bloud and â—…uer to intitle Iesus King of the Iewes But antiquity hath brought this Mary Salome from Anna the mother of the blessed virgin Mary and how from Anna let me here insert from Authors worthy of credit Saint Hierom and others besides him affirme that this Anna had three husbands and by each of them had a daughter and each of the daughters named Mary The first Mary say they was borne by Anna vnto Ioachim or Eâ—… her first husband who was of the Tribe of Iadah lineage of Dauid and this his daughter a wife and a virgin was made most blessed in bearing of Christ. Annaes second husband was Salome of whom or from whence is no where recorded that I haue seen Vnto him shee bare the second Mary for so in the vulgar translation shee is named but by the later is called onely Salome and is as it seemeth so called from Salome her father This Mary was the wife of Zebedee as is inferred by Saint Matthew chap. 27. 56. where shee is calâ—…ed the mother of Zebedees sonnes and those were Iohn and Iames the beloued Apostles of our Lord who for their zeale were called the sons of thunder and may well bee accounted the kins-men of Christ but â—…o wise interested vnto Dauids Crowne The third and last Mary is calâ—…ed Mary Cleopas being borne vnto Cleopas the third and last husband of Anna. But of this Maries surâ—…ame resteth some doubt for some â—…o call her from her father birth and some from her husband and mariage That shee had the surname Cleoâ—…as from her father Saint Hierom and many ancient manuscripts of the Scriptures Genealogies so affirme but the text in Iohn Chap. 19. 25. as it is translated doth call her the wife of Cleopas and so by consequence shee should from her husband beare that surname But
of these are the vaine Genealogies whom Saint Paul condemneth and so proceede forward to their further vses CHAP. 5. Some difficult places of the Scriptures Genealogies explaned The difference of Saint Luke in the Greek from Moses in the Hebrew and Saint Matthewes omission of foure Kings in his Catalogue examined and resolued IT is the saying of an ancient Father that the Scriptures are a Sea wherein the Lambe may wade and the Elephant swimme God so ordering his word as it is made sufficient for all For vnto the humble and meeke therein is meate giuen to feede vnto life and vnto the wise wisdome to vnderstand But to the high conceited and naturall man for reach is so deepe as he hardly can comprehend what a spirituall motion is according to the demand of Symonides who still doubled the time to make answere what God was How plaine or profound soeuer this is commanded that the booke of the Law bee meditated day and night and the Scriptures searched to finde eternall life for God in sluggards takes no delight Among the search then of the sacred Word none seemeth more plaine then doth the frequent succession or naturall generation of man and yet in them such profound deepenesse is found as may make vs with the Apostle to cry out and say O the depths of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how vnsearchable are his Iudgements and his wayes past finding out I meane not onely in that mystery that God would become man in the flesh and be made like vnto vs sinne onely excepted but in them also which were procreated according to naturall course and breathed their beings as all others did For if we looke into the Kingly line of Christ or into the other collaterals of Iudahs and other Tribes we shall find such diuersities of Father-hoods as may cause vs with Iob to lay our hands on our mouthes and admire the purpose whereunto God worketh Not to mention then the first age or long life of man wherein some saw fiue hundred yeeres before they were Fathers though the peopling of the World stood then more vpon necessity Iudah is the person of eminent note who in the space of forty three yeeres saw himselfe after a sort a great Grandfather in his fourth descent For Phares might haue beene the sonne of Shelah as is seene by Thamars discontent for that shee was not made his wife he then being of yeeres sufficient for mariage And Phares we know was the Father of Hezron who was one of the seuenty that went with Iacob into Egypt and from the yeere of Iudahs birth vnto this of the descending into Egypt were no more then forty three as before is proued by Iosephs age accounting two yeeres more for the births of Er and Onan that died in their sinnes A matter strange and yet is againe exemplified in Salomon Achaz and Amon Kings of Iudah each of them fathers at as yong yeeres But let vs obserue the next generations following namely Hezron Aram Aminadab and Naasson the last three of these being borne in Egypt and the time no lesse then two hundred and fifteene yeeres by which account they could not bee fathers before each one of them attained vnto threescore yeeres of age though Naasson as truth is was aboue twenty at his comming out of Egypt Num. 1. 3. 7. And that he died in the Wildernesse is manifest by the Text where it is saide Among them that were to enter Canaan there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron numbred when they numbred the children of Israel in the Wildernesse of Sinai for the Lord had said of them they shall surely die in the Wildernesse Now from Naasson let vs continue the succession thorow Salmon Boaz Obed and Iesse all of them Fathers not much younger then Abraham was when Isaac was borne and Rachabs brest as drie to giue sucke as were Saraes when she bare her sonne For from the first yeere in the Wildernesse vnto Salomons Temple were yeeres foure hundred and eighty 1 Kings 6. 1. And Dauid was borne but seuenty foure before the foundation thereof was laid for he was thirty when he began to raigne and raigned forty And in the fourth yeere of Salomon that worke was begun by which Texts these foure were each of them Fathers at an hundred yeeres old for among these foure foure hundred yeeres were runne Which so long a time and but foure generations betwixt hath moued Fasciulus Temporum to imagine that Saint Mathew hath made a leape of two hundred seauenty two yeeres betwixt Boaz and Obed and Lyra to thinke that there were more Boazes then one the Grandfather the Father and the Sonne in Ruth cap. 4. Gods purposes therefore touching the vnusuall courses of begettings in these ten generations must be admired and the depths of Scriptures therein searched according to the precept of Christ who affirmeth that Heauen and Earth shall passe but not a iot of his Word euer perish In the search whereof many learned haue diligently laboured to vnfold the mysteries in the sacred Genealogies as Iacob did to vncouer the well in Haran and doe make these as all others are a meanes to withdraw the vaile from before Moses his face that Christ in them may be seene a Sonne of promise aboue all naturall meanes or hope For none of the Fathers betwixt Iudah and Dauid receiued such pregnant promises of the Messiah as the former Patriarkes before them had done neither was there any of Christ his Parents either Prince Captaine or Iudge in that first established gouernement that might allure expectation wherby the world might perceiue a farre greater glorie was to proceede through them then either worldly pompe or meanes of naturall procreation could beget Which thing also was not more manifested in these his Fathers then it was made apparant in most of his Mothers according to the flesh who beyond expectation receiued their fruit and wrestled as Iacob did to obtaine that blessing Such were Lea and Rachel who stroue for their husband for no wanton dalliance doubtlesse but to be faithfull Mothers of that blessed Seed So likewise Ruth left her Countrey and abandoned her kinreds to be a Mother of the Messiah And in the rest wee may see nature as it were both oppressed and quite dissolued for did not the drie wombes of Sara and Rachab as hopelesse of conception force nature the acts of Thamar and Bersheba as they were cōmitted offend nature And the conception of the most blessed Virgin wholly dissolue and breake nature when her most happy wombe was made the Tabernacle of GOD and Cradle of Christ Vpon whose conception birth learned Erasmus paraphraseth thus As Christ in the first time was promised to the Virgin Euah in Paradise so Christ in
the affections of the people or both and therefore Saint Mathew spareth to record them among the Catalogue of Salomons other successors that so the title of Iesus to the Kingdome might stand firme without any debarre or exceptions howsoeuer First then of Ahaziah the first it is said that he was the youngest sonne of his father for the Philistines and Arabians that were neighbours to the Ethiopians had carried away King Iorams wiues and his other sonnes so that there was not a sonne left him sauing Ahaziah the youngest 2 Chro. 21. 17. And albeit in the next Chapter it be said that the Philistines with the Arabians had slayne all the eldest sonnes yet before their slaughter which was in Ethiopia for thither they were brought the Inhabitants of Ierusalem had made Ahaziah the youngest sonne King contrary to the Law ordained in Deuteronomy which giueth the royalty alwayes to the eldest And Ahaziah himselfe being as wicked as any walked in the wayes of the house of Ahab for his mother Athalia counselled him to doe wickedly for which and his other defects hee was lastly slaine by Iehu King of Israel when hee executed Gods threats vpon the House of Ahab Ioash the second in Saint Mathews omission after the slaughter of Ahaziah his father and of other his kinsmen the Princes of Iudah of himselfe was vnable saith the Text to retaine the Kingdome and for six yeers space was neither acknowledged King nor vulgarly knowne to be aliue For in the rage and vsurpation of Athaliah he was hid in the Temple by his Aunt Iehoshabeath and lastly preferred to the Throne by Iehoiada her Husband which kindnesse he requited with the slaughter of Zechariah their sonne slaine at his commandement in the Court of the Lords house for which and for the bloud he had spilt his seruants conspired against him in his house at Millo and slew him his body not permitted to haue the honour of buriall in the Sepulchers of the Kings and therefore vnworthy of name or of future remembrance Amaziah the third was not a preseruer of the Commonwealths state as Kings ought to be but rather the destroyer of state Kingdome as by his raigne is seene For besides his Idolatry to the Idols of Edom and the prouoking thereby of Gods wrath in his head-strong rashnesse hee prouoked Ioash King of Israel to fight against Iudah wherein himselfe was taken the treasures of the Temple and of the Kings house carried away and the wall of Ierusalem broken downe in length foure hundred cubits and afterwards he liued in dislike without loue in so much as his people pursued him from Ierusalem vnto Lachish there slew him his death not reuenged but his murtherers escaping all condigne punishments And after his death for the hatred the people bare him his Crowne for an eleuen yeeres space was helde from Vzziah his sonne and an interregnum in Iudah betwixt the death of the father and the raigne of the sonne so long for by the parerellizing raignes of the Kings of Iudah and Israel Amaziahs death fell in the fifteenth of Ieroboam King of Israel and Uzziah beganne not to raigne til the twenty seuen yeere of the same King These things considered might wel moue an omission of his name by Saint Mathew And in Iehoiakim the last some disliked defects were knowne for that the people of the Land reiected him for their King and annointed Iehoahaz his yonger brother by two yeeres in his stead contrary to the vsuall custome of succession And Iehoiakim himselfe being made King by Necho King of Egypt his title standeth litigious for the Law commanded by Moses thus speaketh From among thy brethren shalt thou make a King ouer thee thou shalt not set a stranger ouer thee which is not thy brother If then a stranger must not be permitted a King to raigne ouer Gods people then by the same Law a stranger could not impose his substitute ouer them as Iehoiakim was And Iehoiakims title it selfe seemeth to stand in a double defect The one is that he did assume the title and authority of King his brother aliue annoynted and established whereas Dauid though chosen of God and annoynted by Samuel acknowledged Saul for his Soueraigne neither seeking to shorten his life nor disquiet his raigne And the other is the vnlawfull meanes hee had to the Crowne which was by the strong hand of Necho of the cursed Egyptians the ancient enemies to Israel Gods people And Iehoiakims life as wicked as any in cutting of Ieremiahs Role was cut off by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel and his carkasse cast out of the gate of Ierusalem to the heate of the day and frost of the night was lastly vnlamented buried as an Asse is buried so contemptible was his life death and buriall These I assume were the causes of these foure Kings omissions that is to say the first and last not lawfully succeeding in the Throne were omitted and the other the one of them not able to attaine the Crown for the space of sixe yeeres after his fathers death did not raigne King and the sonne of the other for the space of eleuen yeeres after his fathers death was not admitted to be King so vnwilling were the people that his issue should raigne It is Augustines obseruation that Salomon was reckoned for Dauid his fathers sake and that Rehoboam was recorded for Assa his sonnes sake If so in them such respect was had for the goodnesse of the father and the son then in these such contempt was had for the badnesse both of father and sonne as they are omitted and vnnamed and themselues slaine by their seruants and subiects doth confirme the cause of their omissions more strongly And albeit that bad Ammon and good Iosiah were likewise slaine the one by his seruants and the other by Necho King of Egypt and that Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar a stranger was likewise made King and all of them notwithstanding recorded by Saint Mathew yet are not their estates alike For Ammons death was reuenged by the people of the Land and Iosiahs death lamented both by the people and the Prophet neither of which the other were And Nebuchadnezzar made the great Monarch of the World euen by God himselfe had thereby a lawfull power both to set vp and to depose Kings which Necho had not and therefore Zedekiah his title is not to be called in question as Iehoiakims is Whereupon wee conclude that the Euangelist Saint Mathew to shew the right that Iesus had vnto Iudahs Crowne recordeth his title onely from those Kings that were without all exceptions estated vnto Iudahs Throne and omitteth those against whom any exceptions are found that so Christ who came to fulfill all Lawes might haue a lawfull succession vnto that Kingdome whereunto he was borne for other materiall reason of omission we find none And
omission of the three former in the former diuision of three Kings in a direct line and all to shew as is said the lawfull succession that Iesus had vnto Iudahs Crown This last collection I see not how to be excepted against it hauing so sure a warrant by the holy Scripture it selfe for heauen and earth shall passe ere the word perish Salathiel his Sonne Pedaiah and the sonne of Pedaiah Zorobabel But why Pedaiah is not recorded for a naturall father of Christ in the Catalogue of his naturall fathers by the Euangelist Saint Luke where all vnto Adam are nominated is hid from me and therefore with Nazianzen will I say Where I vnderstand I will thankefully praise thee and where I vnderstand not I will fall downe and admire thee And with Dauid pray that thy word may be a lanterne vnto our feete And with Paul that our darknes may be made light in Christ. Another meditation ariseth in other families of Iudahs tribe so deep and doubtfull that Hugo de Saint Victor thinketh it a question vndissoluable and without further search so leaueth it which is how Caleb of Hezron at forty yeeres old could be either great Grand-father vnto Bezaleel the skilfull workmen in the Tabernacle or the searcher of the Land at the same yeere and time He being the fifth in an equall equipage pararellising Bezaleel and both of them borne in Aegypt from Hezron of Iudah and actiue men together in the wildernesse the one in ordering the curious workes from the patterne shewed by God himselfe vnto Moses and the other a Captaine that descried the riches of Canaan by his owne trauaile whose dissents for more plainnesse I haue here set downe to sight The Descents of Caleb and Bezaleel How Caleb and Bezaleel were actiue men together though differing in their descents The Sercher of the Land of Canaan Both actiue men in one age The skilful workman in the Tabernacle In this descent then whether the first Caleb the sonne of Hezron and great Grand-father vnto Bezaleel or the last Caleb paralelising Bezaleel through so many degrees were the Lands-searcher both of them come from the same Hezron and actiue men together at one time in the wildernesse hath been much controuersed and many opinions maintained with variable iudgements That the Lands-searcher was the great Grandfather vnto Bezaleel Rabbi Salom a great Doctor of the Iews bringeth a strange vnexemplified descent vnto Bezaleel for saith hee Caleb at eight yeres old married his first wife Azuba who died the first yere of her mariage in his ninth he took Ephrath otherwise called Miriam the sister of Moses for his second wife of whom in his tenth yeere was borne Hur and Hur in the tenth yeere of his owne life begot Vri when Caleb was twenty one yeeres old and Vri in his ninth begat Bezaleel Caleb then being thirty and Bezaleelten when hee began to frame the Tabernacle at which time Caleb was forty yeeres old But how many ouersights are in these his sayings is soone perceiued first that Caleb should haue not a child but children as hee is said to haue by Azuba 1. Chron. 2. 18. he being but eight yeeres old is vncredible secondly that Azuba should be a mother of children she dying the first yeere of her marriage vnlesse they were twinnes which is not apparant is vnpossible thirdly that Caleb aged but nine should take to wife Miriam the sister of Moses she being about nintie is not agreeable for shee was elder then Moses and of discretion to call her mother for his nurse when the daughter of Pharaoh found him in the Arke of Bull-rushes since when we know fourescore and one yeeres to bee fully expired To make her then a mother at ninty and to beare a Sonne in that age of her life is so vnlikely that Iosephus will haue her not to be the mother of Hur but the wife of Hur and mother vnto Vri his son which is far more probable their yeres agreeable fit for marriage For Hur was in the same degree from Hezron of Iudah who went with Iacob into Egypt as Miriam was from Kohath of Leui one of the seuenty that descended also for Kohath begot Amram and Amram Miriam so Hezron begot Caleb and Caleb Hur. Fourthly that Hur and Vri should bee either of them Fathers at tenne yeeres of age is vnexemplified in Scripture though Genebrard allow that Haran might bee father vnto Sara at eight And lastly that Bezaleel should haue the aduantage of Christ by two yeeres to be as skilfull at ten in the worke of the Tabernacle as Christ was at twelue to build the true Temple when with admiration hee opposed the Doctors and expounded the Law These impossibilities therefore our ancient Lyra well perceiued but in seeking to redresse them hee fell into as great an error himselfe in saying that these men Hur Vri and Bezaleel mentioned in the first of Chronicles chap. 2. 20. were not the same that were spoken of in Exod. chap. 31. but were other men of the same name of the same tribe But so to expound the text is dangerous lest a liking liberty loose thereby the ioynts of the holy scriptures frame and to giue the water that passage the breach will bee great Vatablus in his annotations and Cumanus Flinspach in his Arca Dei doe take Hezron to be Iephunneh so consequently the first Caleb the sonne of Hezron to be the same Caleb the sonne of Iephunneh and the great Grand-father vnto Bezaleel But therein then must bee followed all Rabbi Solomoh his errours for Calebs forty yeres age wil inforce it so But that Hezron could bee either Iephunneh or the Father of Caleb the Lands-surueyour is by the text manifestly contradicted for Hezron was borne vnto Phares before that Iacob went downe into Egypt and in Egypt Hezron begot his sonne the first Caleb when he was threescore yeers of age as 1. Chron. 2. 21. by which account that Caleb must needes haue been an hundred fiftie fiue yeeres old in the first yeere of the wildernesse for in Egypt the abode was two hundred and fifteene as before we haue shewed But Caleb the sonne of Iephunneh the lands-searcher was then but forty yeeres old wherby it is euident these Calebs could not be one and the same but two seuerall men Now as it is impossible for the first Caleb the great Grand-father vnto Bezaleel to be the lands-searcher so the last Caleb being the seuenth in descent from him and the fifth in degree after Bezaleel ministreth matter of much seeming difficultie for that both of them at one time were imployed in most serious affaires As touching Calebs successors I know there are many doubts made some making but two Calebs some three and some foure and the first and last hauing either of them a daughter called Aâ—…hsah doth no whit lessen the doubt Again whether Ezer mentioned in
of Israell to be the God of Heauen aboue and of the Earth beneath Ruth as Abraham forsooke kindred and Countrey protest◅ng that Israels people should bee her people and Is raels God her God And that penne which wrote the last of the Prouerbs makes Bathsheba a mirrour of weomen and a worthy Counsellor to Salomon the wise Thus through these bright Clouds we see the Son of righteousnes shine vnto the world frō this holy stem the Branch of Dauid to grow in beauty as the Oliue tree in smell like vnto Lebanon spices of Salomō set vs Lord vnder the shadow these sweet leaues and let vs eate of this tree of life in the Garden Paradise of God Now seeing that this beautifull Rod of Iesse as Isaiah cals him tooke no sappe from the bitter roots of Iudahs Kings wee must bring the growth thereof from another Stem vnto Dauid euen from the branch Nathan as our Euangelist Luke hath recorded But vpon this Stone the Iewes haue stumbled and haue made it the rocke of offence the ginne and snare to both the houses of Israel as their Isaiah hath prophecied and our Peter hath spoken For they seely men in reading the old Testament haue their mindes blinded and the vale of Moses vntaken away from before their hearts euen vnto this day dreaming of a pompous kingdome which they thinke to possesse and of a potent Messiah that should triumph and make subiect vnto them the Gentiles on euery side and promise to themselues as much voluptuous pleasure vnder that earthly Monarch as the Turkes doe after death in dalliances with Virgins and great eyed weomen in Paradise and that this their daily expected Messiah should come of Salomon they hold it for a principall article of their faith and accurse them that affirme the contrary for thus standeth the twelth Article of their Creede A man must beleeue that Christ the King shall haue excellency and dignity and glory aboue all the Kings that euer haue beene as of him is prophecied of all the Prophets from Moses who so doubteth of him or holdeth his honour small denieth the law for so it testifieth of him in the meaning of Balaams prophecy and in the meaning of this section You stand all here this day before the Lord your God Deut. 29. 10. and cap. 30. And this is a rule of foundation that Israell shall haue no King but of the house of Dauid and of the seede of Salomon and who so maketh a schisme touching that family denieth God euen the blessed God and the words of his Prophets And vpon this opinion of rule and gouernment Christians also haue been ouermuch affectionated when they bring Christ naturally from those Kings that gouerned of Salomons line and make Rhesa the younger sonne of Zorobabell and his successors to gouerne when al gouernment was taken from those Holy High Saints the space of two hundred ninety sixe yeeres and this no doubt wrought deeply in Lyra to speake as he did of Dauids sonnes For hee being by nation a Iewe though by birth English and baptised stood much vpon the outward letter for the glory of his nation And Nathan obscure in comparison of Salomon he makes more obscure to come from Vriah as his note hath thus gone vpon the 1. Chroni◅ 3. 5. Only Salomon was Dauids naturall Son the other three were the sonnes of ◅riah whom Dauid made his by adoption His reason is taken from the fourth of the Prouerbs where Salomon saith I was my Fathers sonne tender and only beloued in the sight of my Mother which thing I take was rather spoken of Salomons election to the kingdome whom God had chosen and Dauid to Bersheba had sworne that Salomon her Sonne should succeed him in the Lyra thus infected with malitious Iewes studies and partly following Christians that brought Christ from Salomon held the Iewish Article touching the Crowne but otherwise in most of his paines spent in commenting vpon al the bookes of both Testaments he was an excellent Organe sounding alowd the verity of Christian Religion against the erring opinions of the Rabbins in whose Schooles hee had so profited by the testimony of Tritemeus as that he had the Hebrew language ad vnguem But that Christ should come from Dauid by Nathan and his obscure successors whereof neuer any bare rule but onely Zerubbabel and he no longer then the Temple was in building he could not conceiue neither that Ieconiah should beget Salathiel but for his successor seeing he is called his sonne indeed he could not easily yeeld vnto the Rabbines so expounding it and their Creed so inforcing it and being a frier Minor and liuing in none of the cleerest daies of the Gospell the man is the more to bee borne with whose paines were spent as Bale hath it in his Centuria when the vnfortunate our second Edward ware the English Crown Ano. 1327. And now the assertions of Africanus cited by Eusebius which are that Ioseph the husband of Mary was naturally descended from Salomon and by intricate mariages made the legall sonne of Nathan remaineth to be answered I cal them intricate for that Iacob and Eli are made brethren and twinnes of one venter by Estha wife vnto Matthan of Salomon and vnto Melchi of Nathan and those halfe brethren likewise marying one woman Iacob by her is said to raise vp seede vnto Eli deceased whereby Ioseph was sonne vnto both A strang inuention truly to bring Ioseph from Ieconiah and Salomon who with lesse paines and more truth might haue beene found from Zerubbabel Neri and Nathan and stranger it seemeth that such search should be made to shew how Christ by nature is the sonne of Dauid and yet neuer to make knowne his naturall Parents from Dauid neither can I perceiue what necessity constraineth Ioseph to bee the proposed marke of that aime seeing he is but the supposed father of Christ vnto whom excepting his title to the kingdome his humanity no whit appertaineth Either to bring Iosephs naturall decent from Salomon and his legal from Nathan seeing he enioyed no possessions appertaining to Salomons Crowne nor Mary his wife an inheritrix of any patrimony in Iudea For which end only that law of marying the brothers wife was ordained and at this aimed that no family should be extinguished in Israell It was the case of the Daughters of Zelophehad and the debar of mariage and not the death of the daughter of Iphtah was the cause of the yeerely lamentations of the Virgins of Israell that a family was to faile by her in the Tribe of Manasses But for brethren by the Mothers side onely no such law was either ordained or practised for the son by the man and not by the woman euer succeeded in the inheritance and in the name of the family excepting such as
as by the Prophets they are termed For Ioel saith that their teeth were like the teeth of Lyons and that they had the iawes of a great Lyon and Ieremy calles them a mighty and very strong Nation whose quiuer was an open sepulcher Ezekiel saw the tops of the Cedars of Lâ—…banon broken off and carried into the Land of Merchants by the Eagle of Babel and Daniel 〈◊〉 Babels King like a Lyon with wings being himselfe carried thither captiue in the first captiuity with periured Iehoiakim But the last and greatest rent of Salomons Kingdome was when the earth was commanded to take knowledge that his successour and sonne Ieconiah should die childlesse and that none of his seede should sit vpon Salomons Throne any more as by Ieremy was proclaimed and to Iechoniah told I wil giue thee saith he into the hand of them that seeke thy life and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest euen into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel and into the hand of the Chaldeans And I will cause them to carry thee away and thy mother that bare thee into another countrey where ye were not borne and there shall ye die But to the I and whereunto they desire to returne thither they shall not returne Is not this man Coniah as a despised and broken Idoll or as a vessell wherein is no pleasure wherefore they are cast out into a Land which they know not O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord thus saith the Lord write this man childlesse a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for no man of his seede shall prosper to sit vpon the Throne of Dauid or to beare rule any more in Iudah Of whose successor Crowne and Kingdome the Prophet Ezechiel further speaketh when Nebuchad nezzar after he had captiuated Ie coniah in Babylon had set his Vncle Zedekiah vpon Iudahs throne Thou Prince of Israel saith he polluted and wicked whose day is come when iniquity shall haue an end Thus saith the Lord God I will take away the Diademe and take off the Crowne this shall be no more the same I will exalt the humble and will abase him that is hie I will ouerturne ouerturne ouerturne it and it shall be no more vntill hee come whose right it is and I will giue it him And for the reuersing of that Crowne into another Family the words of the Prophet Ieremy and Haggai doe witnesse The one speaking thus As I liue saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Judah were the signet of my right hand yet would I plucke thee thence iâ—… not this man Coniah as a despised and broken Idoll And the other thus In that day saith the Lord of Hosts I will take thee O Zerubbabel my seruant the sonne of Salathiel saith the Lord and I will make thee as a Signet for I haue chosen thee saith the Lord of Hosts If seuen thunders of wrath should sound the period of any posterity how could they be lowder or plainer then these vniuersall speeches pronounced against Ieconiah O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord write this man childlesse Or the change of state in any Kingdome then this of Zedekiahs crowne I will ouerturne ouerturne ouerturne it it shall be no more the same Or what could be more distinctly said who should be cast off then this of Iechoniah by name a vessell without pleasure and who chosen Gods Signet then Zerubbabel that built the Lords Temple and brought forth the head stone thereof with shouts crying grace grace Let vs then that haue eares to heare heare what the Spirit hath spoken of Iudahs temporall Crowne and speaketh of him vnto whom it spiritually belongeth Behold the dayes come saith the Lord I will raise vnto Dauid a righteous Branch and a King shall raigne and prosper and shall execute iudgement and iustice in the Earth In his dayes Iudah shall be saued and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby he shall be called THE LORD OVR RIGHTEOVSNESSE Which speech of Ieremy is farre milder then that which was thundered out before and not much vnlike vnto the still voyce that spake to Elijah after the tempest of winde earth-quake and fier had rent the rockes and mountaines in peeces This righteous Branch then must not be brought from Salomons Stem of wicked Kings nor from the halfe bloud of Achab by his daughter Athaliah that died in their sinnes seeing that both roote and branch were cut off in Iechoniah and all threats of destruction as well to the house of Israel as Iudah accomplished when the want of issue in him was declared to the World But against this proclamation of Ieremy the Iewes haue their answere namely that these words are not meant for a childlesse posterity but for a Seed that should not inherit the fathers possession for thus Dauid Kimchi comments vpon this Text Write him childlesse If Ieconiah had sonnes saith he they died in his lifetime if hee had none then should hee haue none to gouerne for not Salathiel his sonne but Zerubbabel his Nephew ruled in Iudah after him And the threats in the Law of a childlesse posterity they expound in the same sence for where it is said He that lieth with his Ant or with his brothers wife to vncouer their nakednesse shall diâ—… childlesse That is meant say they that a seede so begot shall not inherit the patrimony whereas in truth it inforâ—…th a farre greater defect For 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew from the roote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is vsed some times in the old Testament and signifieth one rooted vp oâ—… one who hath not in himselfe a roote for heires of his owne body A dee per signification by much then the want onely of an heire for inheritance as in the answer of Abraham to God is apparant What wilt thou giue me saith he seeing 〈◊〉 goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 childlesse and the Steward of mine house is this Eliezer of Damascus behold to me thou hast giuen no seede and lo one borne in my house is mine heire Here it is most manifest that his speech was a complaint for want of issue from his body and not for want of an heire which we see hee had ordained and prouided and so must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ieremy be taken against Ieconiah that childlesse man And no otherwise can the malicious Iewes force it but by forcing a glosse vpon Gods decree saying that Ieconiahs repentancâ—… altered Gods purpose and oath for in their Gemera or Babylonian Talmud thus they write 〈◊〉 maketh reconciliation for three things spoken of by Ieremy the sword hunger and plague which they that abode in the City should suffer but hee that did yeelde to the Caldeans should haue his life for a prey Naâ—… saith Rabbi Iochanan
〈◊〉 maketh reconciliation for all things for though it be written Write Ieconiah childlesse yet was it afterwards written the sonne of Ieconiah was Salathiel and his sonne Zerubbabel a Signet vpon Gods finger Rambam also in his Treatise of Repentance bringeth in Ieconiah for an example who saith he was a Signet pluckt off and in Zerubbabell was a Signet placed againe And Kimchi the Spanish Iew is so farre from hauing him die childlesse that hee will haue the word Assir in 1. Chro. 3. 17. to be the propper name of a man that man Ieconiahs sonne But let vs see how Ephraim herein fighteth against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim for this was a principall point held of the ancient Rabbins that repentance could not put back a decree made with an oath And the Babylonian Thalmud in Sanedrim expoundeth Assir for an adiectiue bound vp or hard kept restraint or prisoner and not for the proper name of a man Moreouer their Sedar olam zuta affirmeth that it was but the Rabbins report that Salathiel was the naturall sonne of Ieconiah And Kimchi with Salomoh Iarchi vpon the twelfth of Zacharie confesse that Nathan there named was the sonne of Dauid who should not haue been mentioned as a principal man to Zerubbabel vnlesse he were of his family But as touching that it could not put backe a decree made by oath Did that of Zedekiah and them that were carried away with him make them the bad figges that could not bee eaten any better Could that of Moses notwithstanding his earnest prayer preuaile for his entrance into Canaan or the Israelites whereof no doubt many were repentants to enter the Rest when God had sworne the contrary Nay if Noah Daniel and Iob should not be heard against Gods decree of famine pestilence and sword shall wee thinke that Ieconiah whose repentance is not read of and whose captiuitie remained thirty seuen yeeres in Babylon euen all his life long could alter Gods oath as touching posteritie And yet these miserable men seeke to continue a succession from this childlesse man For Aben Ezra in his preface to Salomons Song calleth the Messiah Salomon because saith he hee should be the sonne of Salomon as from Dauid he is called Dauid the Prince euerlasting But had that Rabin considered that no such promises were spoken concerning Salomons sonnes nor that Prince Dauid there named was named before that Salomons House failed in Ieconiah hee might haue knowne how Christ had been Salomons sonne His sonne he was indeed as a King and Successor but not as a man as his heire to his crowne but not of his loynes And I could haue wished that Christians also had not been so forward in following the Rabbins herein and in vrging the text of Saint Matthew in Ieconiahs begetting of Salathiel somewhat too naturally as Lyra Lucidus 〈◊〉 Messeus and many others haue done who leane so waightily vpon the outward phrase of begetting that the maine prop of Diuinitie is thereby ouerburdened For they by Saint Matthew and the first booke of Chronicles would make a line all and naturall succession from Ieconiah to Salathiel as the Rabbins haue done and would continue Salomons line vnto Ioseph the husband of the virgin Marie without breach of succession The words of either texts are these in the Chronicles thus And the sonnes of Ieconiah Assir Salathiel hâ—… sonne 1. Chron. 3. 17. And in Saint Matthew thus And after they were brought into Babylon Ieconiah begat Salathiel Matth. 1. 12. But if speeches here spoken must be taken in a procreating sense then was Zedekiah as well as Salathiel sonne vnto Ieconiah for in the first of Chronicles chap. 3. vers 16. thus it it standeth And the sonnes of â—…oakim Ieconiah his sonne Zedekiah his sonne Which Zedekiah in the verse immediately before is said as truth is to be the sonne of Iosiah But in the seconâ—… of Chronicles hee is called the brother of Ieconiah Chap. â—…6 10. And yet in the second of the booke of Kings he is said to be the brother of Ieconiah his father 2. Kings 24. 17. So that by these places hâ—… is both vncle brother and sonne to Ieconiah and yet all of them tâ—…ue either in nature inheritance or succession And if these seeme not strange in him nor that line why should Salathiels sonneship bee so naturally vrged in Matthew whom Saint Luke cleareth to be the Sonne of Neri and so doth Zachariah in naming Nathan for a chiefe family of Dauid And that Saint Matthew meant no otherwise of begetting then of heires to Salomons Crowne appeareth by himselfe who in recording his successors followeth neither a naturall succession nor an exact descent For he maketh Ioram to beget Ozias whereas the Chronicles tels vs that Ozias was the immediat sonne of Amaziah and was foure descents after Ioram his great Grandfather who died 69. yeeres before Ozias was borne So likewise he saith that Iosias begat Ieconias who notwithstanding was his Grand-child and sonne vnto Iehoiakim the second sonne of Iosiah Whereby we see no naturall succession vrged by the Euangelist but rather such as makes a Successor a sonne to the childlesse or an heire of what consanguinitie soeuer to bee a sonne to the issulesse possessor So Moses was meant the sonne of Pharaohs daughter So Iair of Iudah was the sonne of Manasseh And so Baasha was father vnto Ahab though sauing the Throne he was no kin vnto him for Baashas house ended in his sonne Elah So that another intent moued Saint Matthew to continue a continuall succession from Ieconiah vnto Salathiel And that the Euangelist spake of the heires of the Crowne and not of the kindreds in bloud it further appeareth in that he ascendeth by the legall line through Ioseph Abiud Ieconiah and Salomon no higher then vnto Abraham who first of the Fathers had promise either of King or Kingdome whereas Saint Luke our other Fuangelist in the naturall line by Marie Eli Rhesa and Nathan ascendeth vp vnto Adam the first man to whom the promise was made of Christ his humanitie And how from Adam to omit the other collaterals that in another kind leade vnto Christ let vs here insert that so the whole generations of his Manhood may fully appeare so carefully recorded in all former ages by the holy Ghost himselfe and in the later time continued by the same Spirit of truth in his Instrument Saint Luke our holy Euangelist vnto his Mother the Virgin Marie her selfe The first Table endeth at Dauid as the Writer of Ruth doth And the other from Dauid by Salomon to Ieconiah are recorded by the books of the Chronicles where they end are againe continued by the same spirit vnto Ioseph the Husband of Marie by the Euangelist Saint Matthew Both which their descents from Dauid downeward that the eiemay witnesse what the purpose of the holy Ghosts pen was in the hands of these Scribes
is here in this ensuing Table expressed to sight so plaine and for truth so strong that a man running may reade and imbrace it with faith A generall Table of the Ancesters of Christ. ADAM Seth. Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Iared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Sem. Arphaxad Salah Eber. Peleg Reu. Serug Nahor Terah Abram Isaac Iacob Iudah Pharez Hezron Aram. Aminadab Naasson Salmon Booz Obed. Iesse Iesus Christ by law is heire vnto these DAVID Salomon Roboam Abia. Asa. Josaphat Ioram These with Joakim are omitted by S. Matthew Achaziah Joash Amaziah Ozias Ioatham Achaz Ezechias Manasseh Auion Josiaâ—… Ioakim Jeconiah dying child Jesse his sonne is Salathiel Pedaiah Zerobabel Iesu Christ supposed and by law is son vnto these The Saints of the most High Dan. 7 Abiud Eliakim Azor. Sadoc Achim Elihud Eliazar Matthan Iacob Ioseph the husband of Mary JESVS CHRIST Iesus Christ by nature came of these DAVID Nathan Matthathi Menan Melea. Eliahim Ionan Joseph Iuda Simeon Leui. Matthat Jorim Eliezer Jose Er. Elmodan Cosam Addi Melchi Neri Salathiel Pedaiah Zerobabel Iesus Christ by nature is Son vnto these The holy Seed the Substance Esa. 6 Rhesa Ioanna Iuda Joseph Semel Matthathias Maath Nagge Essi Naum. Amos. Matthathias Joseph Ianna Melchi Leui. Matthat Heli. Ioseph the husband of Mary JESVS CHRIST CHAP. IX How the Euangelists Saint Matthew and Saint Luke doe agree in recording Christ Iesus to bee the sonne of Salomon by Law and the sonne of Nathan by Nature SAlomons House ending in Ieconiah according to the Prophets and Zerobbabel of Nathans familie made Prince of Iudah the right that Christ had to Dauids Throne is diuersly from them by our holy Euangelists inserted for Saint Matthew from Salomon Ieconiah Abiud and Ioseph legally interesteth Iesus vnto Dauids Crowne but Saint Luke naturally from Marie Eli Rhesa and Nathan asâ—…ndeth to the first man Adam to shew him the Immanuel according to the promise of God in Paradise both of them breathing from one and the same spirit that Christ is Dauids sonne and Iudahs King And with the former Prophets agreeing that in his person alone met al the promises that Goâ—… had made for his sonne Christ and so carrie themselues in making him heire of all as no discord is heard in their heauenly sounds But that the spirits of the Prophets may be subiect to the Prophets and the text not forced to a prâ—…uate interpretation let vs see how Salathiel is brought to be a sonne to Ieconiah by law and by Saint Matthew whom Saint Luke makâ—…th to be by nature the sonne of Neri vpon which seeming disagreement rests the supposed difference betwixt our Euangelists The affirmation of Saint Matthew is taking his record out of thâ—… first booke of the Chronicles that Iâ—…coniah begat Salathiel with this addition annexed After they were brought into Babylon In which place as Ieremie tels vs Ieconiah liuing Assâ—…r a captiue the space of thiâ—…tie seuen yeeres euen to the last of Nebucadnezzar was in the first of Euilmerodach King of Babel taken out of prison placed amongst his Princes and maintained in Kingly estate to the day of hâ—… death When hauing no issue of his owne body begot Salathiel his neerest kinsman must needs be his heire as the law required for thus by Moses it standeth written If a man dâ—…e and haue no sonne then yee shall turne his inheritance vnto his daughter and if he haue no daughter â—…ee shall giue his inhâ—…ritance vnto his brethren and if hee haue no brethren ye shall giue hâ—… inheritance vnto his fathers brethren and if his father haue no brethren â—…e shall giuâ—… his inheritance vnto hâ—…s kinsman that is next to him of his family and this shall be vnto the children of â—…srael a statuâ—…e of iâ—…dgement In this state then stooâ—… Ieconiah without son without daughter without brother without vncle or fathers brother 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 was pro claimed a childles man When according to the prescript of the law Salathiel his neerest kinsman was declared successor and in that sense is hee called his sonne who was by nature the sonne of Neri as Saint Luke in recording the naturall line hath laid downe Salathiel thus made a sonne in succession his owne successor likewise is said to be his sonne which was Zerubbabel his grand-child the sonne of Pedaiah as 1. Chron. 3. 19. But the said Pedaiah dying in Babylon before his fathers adoption and Zerubbabel made Prince ouer the people returned hee is therefore called the sonne of Salathiel and in the bookes of Ezra Nehemiah and Haggai where the gouernment is touched Pedaiah is euer omitted and with the like silence for that cause is ouerpassed by both the Euangelists Lyra vpon Matthew iudgeth that his mention was smothered with the roles of Genealogies which Herod consumed when he burnt all the princely pedegrees of the Kings of Iudah intending thereby to deriue himselfe of some great parentage as saith he by the same combustions the old Testament is silent from Abiud to Ioseph either for names or actions onely the bookes of the Macchabees are some stay for stories of those times This silence then ouershadowing Abiud and Rhesa by those names vnknowne in the old Testaments record are notwithstanding by the learned iudged to be Meshullam Hananiah the sons of Zerubabel therin mentioned whose Genealogies as now they stand in our Euangelists escaping the flames of Herods destruction were preserued they thinke by some faithfull Iew or else were receiued from God by holy reuelation as many other things were at the comming of Christ. Which later opinion liketh some well who make a symptome betwixt the first age and this last thus As the first Fathers were reuealed by Gods owne oracle vnto Moses without president of writ so the last Fathers by the same Spirit were reuealed vnto the Euangelists without any prescrit of record which notwithstanding seemeth rather a shadow then any shew of truth But by what warrant soeuer they wâ—…ot this is most certen that their Records were neuer contradicted by any Pharise Scribe or Priest then liuing who daily waited occasions to impugne their Doctrines which thing in that age then yeelded vnto by the most malicious Iewes may not now with out offence be called in question among vs the beleeuing Christians And that the sonnes of Zerubbabell continued a race of posterities the Rabbins themselues doe auerre who in their Commentaries as some haue obserued auouch that Dauid in case of succession ordained if Salomons issue failed then the posterity of Nathan his other son by Bersheba should succeed which in Salathiel it did and those great Doctors daily expecting their King that should come with such power vndoubtedly kept the Genealogies as carefully for the times following as they had been diligent obseruers of the families before But to the purposes of the Euangelists Saint Mathew recording the heires of
is by Saint Mathew and Saiâ—…t Luke deriued from Abraham Iudah and Dauid and by the foure Euangelists in that his double right is 〈◊〉 times foure times recordded stiled and called King of the Iewes Anâ—… thus much of the third point Now remaineth the last in the acknowledgment of that title to rest onely in the person of Iesus the expected sonne of Dauid whose raign doth continue for euer The first acknowledgment then of this promised King was obserued by the Gentiles when by his Starre they were led vnto the new-borne Babe King of the Iewes which was in the forty two yeere of Augustus Caesar when Cereâ—…ius was Gouernour of Syria and when in token of a vniuersall peace the Temple of Ianus stood shut in Roome Which peace was so famous as the mostfamous among the heathen Writers found matter enough to enlarge their wits vpon as Virgil in his Aeneidos and speech of Iupiter doth make him a Prophet to foreshew the peace that should be enioyed when as Mars his Temple should bee neglected and his hands bound in chaines of brasse And in his Eclog speeches of an vnspotted Maide a blessed Babe and of golden daies And Marcus Tullius Cicero as himselfe reporteth saw in his dreame A Childe of an engenius and beautifull countenance let downe from Heauen by a golden chaine And Suetonius after him from Iulius Marathus obserued that euen then Nature was about to bring forth a King that should raigne ouer the whole World And albeit these men in their flatteries did appropriate these their speeches either to the Emprour Augustus himselfe or vnto some of his fauourites yet Micah tels vs that in these daies the weapons of Warre should be made the instruments of Peace for saith he in the last daies Swords shall bee broken into mattockes and speares into Sithes and that euery one should sit vnder his owne Vine and vnder his Fig-tree and none should make them affraid And Isaiah speaking to the same purpose particularly applieth it vnto Christ for saith he Vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen the gouernment is vpon his shoulder and his Name is wonderfull Counseller the mighty God the euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace Which Peace was declared to the world by the Angels from Heauen in this last age of the Iewes common wealth when the Stone cut without hands fell vpon Daniels Image that then stood but vpon his toe of Clay Euen then and at that time the wisemen of the East comming from Chaldea in whose language Daniels vision was writ followed his Star into Iury and in Ierusalem inquired for him that was borne x King of the Iewes Which title was acknowledged without any contradiction confirmed by the Priests and Scribes themselues both in affirming the place of his birth in acknowledging his office to be a Ruler in Israel And the malicious Iewes to hinder his right to that kingdome could name none but Caesar a stranger and that contrary to their own law enioyned by Moses which said Thou shalt not set a straÌ„ger which is not thy brother to be King ouer thee And that Iesus was the acknowledged King of the Iewes these speeches and demands of Pilat the Gouernour doth manifestly shew Behold your King Will yee that I release vnto you the King of the Iewes What shall I doe vnto him whom yee call King of the Iewes Shall I crucifie your King and the like Yea and the holy Ghost enforced his own wicked hand to subscribe his most iust title thus IESVS OF NAZARETH KING OF THE IEVVES which he wrote in Hebrew Greeke and Latine that all might reade and fixed it ouer his head vpon the Crosse and that all might see as himselfe had said behold your King And being admonished by the Iewes States-men to alter the in scription as too much derogatory vnto Caesars title and no lesse then a matter of high treason in himself answered What I haue written I haue written euen to the danger of his owne life And Christ himselfe that needeth no testimony of men answered Pilat to his question Art thou a King thou sayest that I am a King To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the World that I should beare witnesse vnto the truth and euery one that is of the truth heareth my voyce And the same opinion of his kingly title after his resurrection it seemeth the Iewes in Thessalonica had when they accused Iason before the Rulers that against the decree of Caesar hee subborned them that taught there was no other King euen one Iesus Thus then we conclude that this Iesus the Sonne of the Virgin was the expected King of the terrestriall Kingdome the reall King without any Competitor to that Crowne And the acknowledged King of the Iews both by the Gentiles and by the Iewes themselues But because in Dauid and in the rest there was a figure of a Priestly or spirituall King and Kingdome aswell as of a reall and earthly Some haue thought the figured only and not the real did belong vnto Christ for that himselfe disclaimed all regall authority vpon earth But if we well consider that he alone is the Alpha and Omega through whom and for whom all that is writ was writ in whom all the promises of God are vea and Amen wee must then include as much vnto him the substance as was propper vnto Abraham and his other figures else was not Christ the heire of all and the first among Brethren Therefore as we began in Abraham for the Terrestriall let vs likewise begin in him for the Celestial who in his daies was both a King and a Priest and in them both a true figure of him his seede that was to come That Abraham was a King his kingly authority in his leagues ofensiue and defensiue made with the Kings of the Canaanites doth sufficiently shew For as a King he bare himselfe among those his conâ—…ederates both in the victory and deuision of the spoiles gotten and taken at Sodom in the recouery of his brother Lot And a Priest likewise he was for he built Altars and sacrificed vnto the Lord and would haue done his owne sonne Isaac had not his hand beene stayed by an Angell from heauen so that in both hee was really a King of that earthly Canaan and personally a Priest in his ministeriall Sacrificings and in them both was tipically a true figure of Christ. To both these functions Isaac was his heire Iacob his and Iudah his for the three brethren Ruben Simeon and Leui were disinerited both of kingly Priesthood and Lay Kingdome vpon their trespasses against Iacobs bed and in Shâ—…chems slaughter But the ministeriall setled vpon Leui Iudah possessed not for these were seperated when Moses waâ—… the messenger
King of the Iewes so called and acknowledged liuing after death the same humane body though being also glorified had the same faculties preheminence and prerogatiues of life and rights thereunto belonging as before in his body was subsisting For death hauing no power to retaine him in the graue his humane body after his resurrection was againe verily a humane man among men vpon earth the space of forty daies In which at sundry times hee was seene both saith the Apostle of the Apostles and at one time of aboue fiue hundred brethren at once All of them being faithfull witnesses of his presence in the flesh for of the vnfaithfull after his resurrection hee was neuer seene in his flesh And now Dauids Kingdome come to the full period and the wall of seperation betweene Iew and Gentile puld downe when the vaile of the Temple was rent assunder Christ Iesus then that was heire of of all before all beginnings is thenceforth King ouer all vnto all eternities For being the Seede the Shiloh and the Sonne promised to sit on Dauids throne for euer Acccordingly came of Abraham of Iudah Dauid of Mary in the town Bethlehem as the Prophets had tould and by the title of King of the Iewes was sought for acknowledged and so stiled as the onely next heire to Salomons Crowne as we haue shewed But that earthly Canaan vsurped by Herod and the Caesars hee came not by strength to recouer the terme of that tennor so neerely expired but rather taught that Caesar should haue Caesars paid tribute as a subiect though himselfe the Sonne was free and would not giue iudgment of death for Adultery when it was not lawfull for the Iewes his nation to put any man to death For his comming as the Angell tould Daniel was to a farre more heauenly intent namely to expiat sinne to abolish iniquitie to establish righteonsnesse to seale vp vision and prophecie and to annoint the most holy But of the earthly he shewed that both City and Sanctuary should bee destroyed And so much Sain Stephen whose face shone Angel-like affirmed vnto the cheife Priest of the Iewes when he said that Iesus of Nazareth should destroy that place and change the ordinances that Moses had giuen them Which most manifestly hee did when his body the true Serpent was lifted vp betwixt Heauen and Earth to make an Attonment betwixt heauen and earth his bloud as the Lambes sprinkled vpon the Altar of his Crosse making cleane the conscience of the offender and lastly his voyce vttering this last Period of people and state it is finished when ended the Ceremonies and holinesse of the place And hauing conquered Sathan Sinne and the Graue is entred into his Kingdom of glory is set in Maiesty and power at the right hand of God his Father and his enemies made his foot-stoole for euer O thou that hast the Key of Dauid that openeth and no man shutteth open our hearts to beleeue in thee the King of glory and the Gates of thy Kingdome that wee may enter in the day of thy Mariage and behold thee our King crowned with Salamons Crowne CHAP. XI A touch of some Iewish and vaine Genealogies which hinder truth Against which Saint Paul warneth with answere to Master Liuelies Iewish obiections HAuing thus shewed some principall vses of the sacred Genealogies for Story for Christ and for his Kingdom therein haueing vrged no more then the Scriptures inforce it followeth by order and desired satisfaction that some-what bee spoken of their forced abuses falling vnder the check of the holy Ghosts pen. That there are Gâ—…nealogis endles which with fables breed questions rather then godly edifying the Apostle sheâ—…eth and among foolish Questioâ—…s Contentions and Wranglings about the Law ranketh Genealogies that are vnprofitable and vaine And vpon these texts some presume so farre as they thinke themselues freed from the search of all Genealogies and others demand whether saluation consisteth vpon their pregnant knowledge or damnation vpon the ignorance therein That wee are not freed from the search the commandement of Christ doth inforce who enioyneth the search of the Scriptures and the reading of Moses in whose writ and whose pen wee finde all the Patriarks recorded from Adam in Paradise to Ioshua the Captaine that placed the Tribes in the Land Whence the writers of the Chronicles of Ezra Nehemiah and Ruth continue their memorials vnto Zorobabel and thence likewise by the same Spirit they are recorded to Ioseph and Mary and euen vnto Christ Iesus himselfe That Paul therefore should contradict Moses being brought vp in his lawes at the feete of Gamaliel and should condeme those for foolish which he maketh the pillars of his stories may not bee consented vnto neither that in his Apostleship hee should account the search and knowledge how Christ was come in the flesh for vaine seeing among the many graces of the Iewes for Adoption Glory Couenants the Law seruice of God and the promises himselfe she weth that Christ from those Fathers came and tooke flesh vrging the doctrine of his humanity in most of his Epistles and putting his Disciple Timothy in minde To remember that Iesus Christ was made of the Seede of Dauid And that the Scriptures are of an equall esteeme the Rabbins in that thing onely commendable affirme who hold these words in Genesis The sonnes of Cham were Cush and Mizraim with the like wisedome from God as these words in Deuteronomie Heare Israel Iehouah our God Iehouah is one being both of them breathed from the same Spirit And Rambam witnesseth that Manasses was of old time condemned because he held that the Families of Ishmael Esau and such like had not the like vse for histories as the others had and therefore hee forbade the reading of Moses as bookes not penned by the wisdome of God But how true so euer this accusation is of Manasses most certen it is that the Rabbins and others their like haue fained many and so false Genealogies as might very wel moue the Apostle to forbid their abuse For vnto our first Parents the faire foure children to be begotten and borne of Adam and Eue in the first day of their Creation And in the first world they say that Giants were begotten by the falne Angels vpon the faire daughters of men Noah the righteous they make vnrighteous in faining him to take to wife Naamah the daughter of the double wiued Lamech and sister to Tubalcain so should that holy Patriarke not onely sinne with the Sonnes of God in choosing a wife of the daughters of men but the latter world also should bee replenished from a branch of that cursed roote Cain Dinah the daughter of Iacob hauing no husband in the Scriptures record they marry to Iob the great man in the East
though shee was elder then his afflictions by an hundred and seuenty yeeres And more obsurdly they marrie her to Simeon her brother naming her the Canaanit mother of Saul Iacob they faine to haue had a twin daughter borne with euery of his sons as Adam by them is fained to haue had And good Thamar that got Iudah vnto her bed they make to be the daughter of Melchisedeck king of Salem who died ninty seauen yeeres before Iudah was borne So likewise Ruth the Moabite hauing no father named in Scripture nor Eglon king of Moab any daughter Rabbi Iarchi and others faine Ruth therefore to bee daughter to King Eglon. Keturah likewise the second wife of Abraham the Rabbins will haue to be the same Hagar that had bâ—… him Ishmael lest incontinency should be imputed vnto him for marrying another woman hauing knowne Hagar before And from the sonnes of the said Keturah they bring both Balaam the Gentile Prophet and Queene Sheba that came to heare the wisedome of Salomon As also doubtlesse from the Rabbins the Christians Origen and Chrysostom from the said Balaam doe bring the wise men that from the East followed the Starre vnto Christ and so Dorotheus and Epiphanius make Ionas the Prophet to bee the widowes sonne of Sarepta whom Elias raised from death In like sort when some great personages are but once named in the Scriptures they make them to be some other famous men by other names So Ethan the Ezrathite the Author of the 89. Psalme Kimchi Iarchi affirme to be Abraham because that Psalme goeth before the Psalme of Moses the man of God and because Ezrathite may be translated Orientall So Chalcol and Darda whose wisedome Salomon is commended to exceede they feine to be Moses and Aaron Elihu the Buzite to bee Balaam Ibsan to bee Boos and Putiel to be Iethro So likewise the forenamed Rabbins Kimchi and Iarchi make Uriah mentioned in Esay to be the same man that Iehoiakim slew though there were an hundred twenty yeers betwixt And Zechariah mentioned in the same Prophet to be the same Zechariah that with Haggai prophecied after the returne from Babylon betwixt whom were aboue two hundred yeeres But the writer of the Booke Tobit falleth into farre greater sinnes in making an Angell to bee of the seede of man as hee affirmeth Raphael to acknowledge his kinred from Azarias and Ananias men well knowne vnto Tobit contrary to the Doctrin of the whole Scriptures which teach that Christ Iesus the great Archangel tooke onely mans nature vpon him and that the Angels haue neither flesh nor bones but are ministring Spirits to attend his Elect. Which blasphemie the blasphemous Rabbins further teach in affirming that there should come two Christs the one of Dauid and the other of Ioseph vpon which ground they build who say that Hee whom the Iewes crucified was not the same man that had beene borne of the virgin Mary but another in his similitude and likenesse In the contrary extreamity I would to God Christians had not offended in denying Christ to bee the Messiah mentioned in Daniel the ninth a text most pregnant shewing his office of Redemption in abolishing Sinne and the effecacie of his Death in ending Sacrifice and oblation in the place once holy For whereas the Angell Gabriel in the first yeere of Cyrus and last of Babels seuentie was sent vnto Daniel to declare the present liberty for his people decreed and to assure a future and fuller by the death of the Messiah determined after the expiration of seuentie times seuen yeeres they deny the words to bee meant of Iesus the sonne of Mary and â—…abbinically apply the text to other purposes and persons whereby a stumbling blocke is laid before the blinde Iewes and an vnchristianlike testimony left of Christian Iudaâ—…sme For more to shew conteÌ„tion â—…hen truth or Religion in a booke of that kind thus it stands written Of all the places in the old Testament touching the comming of Christ whereof there is great store that verse 〈◊〉 Daniel meaning the 24. of the ninth Chapter is most excellent and â—…leere yet withall I deny saith the Author that by the Name of Messiah in the verses following Christ our Sauiour is vnderstood for neither the true account of yeeres will suffer it nor the text of holy Scriptures beare it Two strong supporters verily if the foundation be sure but seeing hee setteth the one vpon the vncertaine Olympicks and the other vpon a priuate and vnchristian interpretation wee may safely deny what he doth affirme Concerning the first then or credit of the Olympiads to the disabling of other Chronologies the iudgment of Marcus Varro the learned Roman is brought who will haue all vncerten before the first Olympiad for from the beginning of men to the first flood for the ignorance of things therein happening he calleth obcure or vnknown From the first flood to the first Olympiad for the vaine tales contained therein hee calleth false or fabulous But from the first Olympiad to his owne age for the truth and certenty of things therein recorded he calleth Historicall prouided alwaies by master Liuely that yee seeke them no higher then Iphitus their restorer And these Olympicks doth that holy tongues reader make the onely computators of the Suns course in incirculating the earth for the space of 530. yeeres and by them doth order that time which is of most moment in the Scriptures of God For by them hee will haue the Angels speech for the death of Christ accounted by them the raignes and yeeres of the Persian Kings from Cyrus to Alexander numbred and by them the time from the rebuilding of Ierusalem by â—…he returned to the finall destruction thereof by Titus the Romane calâ—…ulated Affirming them to bee of a sure Bulwark for Chronologie warranâ—…ed by the mouth of Heauen it self â—…y the Astronomicall eclipses therâ—… happening and the only Key to â—…nlocke the shut and hid meaning â—…f Daniels oracles without which â—…y Scriptures alone saith hee can â—…euer be opened whereunto wee â—…nswere That Varro was a heathen and â—…ad not read Moses who seeth not whose writings notwithstanding were extant of things done from the first Creation vnto the entrance into Canaan nor the sacred Histories from his death by others continued vnto Nebuchadnezzar the great King else would hee not haue made these times obscure that are most plaine nor that the plainest which is most obscure And if wee shall throughly examine those his so highly commended Olimpicks either of beginning continuance restoration or agreements wee shall finde them to be but a Babel of confusions anâ—… the truth of time by them as harâ—… to be trased as is the way of a Shâ—… in the waues of the Sea or the flight 〈◊〉 an Eagle in the ayre the tract of
Behold the daies shall come vpon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee shall besiege and lay thee euen with the ground But so farre was her fall from the peoples conceit and so incredulous was the date of their pollicie predicted by the Angell as when Saint Stephen whose face was like his and words the very same touched the string to that sound their hearts were cut for anger and they stoned him to death as a blasphemer For holding themselues the onely and peculiar people of God though for a time now made subiect to the Romans they daily attempted to free their estates and vnder pretext of the Law commanded by Moses that a Stranger should not rule ouer them as also an opinion rife in those daies that the kingdome of God would immediately appeare which the proud-hearted tooke to bee their potent and conquering Messiah they were euer ready vpon the least occasion giuen or gotten to cast off subiection vnto the Romans As vnder Tiberius they did by the leading of Theudas with whom foure hundred Iewes perished and after him arose vp Iadus of Galile in the dayes of the tribute and drew away much people Vnder the gouernment of Felix an Egyptian Sorcerer seduced them to rebell And vnder Festus a certaine Enchanter promised them liberty Vnder Coponius Simon of Gallile reuolted Vnder Florus Eleazer the sonne of the high Priest raised sedition and Manahemus among them made himselfe King But nothing mooued more their many rebellions then did a prediction rife in the mouthes both of Iewes and Gentiles namely that about that time there should come out of ◅urie hee that should bee Lord of the whole world as Suetonius in the life of Vespatian hath written Vpon which expectation and constant opinion the Iewes made their powers against the Romans and in a head of rebellion slew Sabinus the President and put to flight Gallus Lieutenant of Syria that came to his ayde taking from him the maine standard the Eagle the chiefest Ensigne borne in their battels To recouer whose subiections Uespatian the onely man of repute for military affaires was sent who with his sonne Titus so accomplished the threats of the Law and the woes that Christ pronounced against Ierusalem as is most lamentable to be read For from the death of Christ to the subuersion there of Iosephus their owne story writer recordeth nine hundred seauentie fiue thousand three hundred fiftie one to haue perished whereof eightie seauen thousand died at times in the Citie and forty one thousand foure hundred in those wars sold for slaues The hunger in the Citie so raging as the tender women were forced to eate the flesh of their owne children as Moses had said and Iosephus then saw The sword so keene vnto slaughter that the streames of bloud were imploied to quench the flames of the City breaches made vp with the bodies of the dead and so many Iewes crucified as to vse the words of the Writer there wanted Crosses for more executions and space sufficient to set vp more crosses And not onely men but the heauens also in whirlewinds thunders and earth-quakes fought against the place and pollicie that now must end And the sword of Gods wrath still vnsheathed against them in the raignes of the following Emperours Domitian Traian that their slaughter vnder them is noted to be the greatest in the world And vnder Hadrian their subiection so engrauen that a Sow was set ouer the West gate toward Beth-lehem and by an Edict he made it death for any Iew to looke backe toward Ierusalem or to behold it through the chinke of a doore For as themselues had refused Christ for Caesar and required his bloud vpon their heads and childrens so by their Caesars cruelties their own seditions they were consumed and their children made vagabonds vpon the earth Their Citie laid waste as the destruction of Sodom the walles remoued mount Sion excluded and the name thereof changed from Ierusalem into Aelia When also such search was made to roote out the whole race of Dauid and Iudah as that themselues did manifestly corrupt their owne pedegrees for the safegard of their liues insomuch as at this time there is not a Iewe knowne in the world that can truely say hee hath his Genealogie certen or can shew any coniecture that hee is of Dauid or Iudahs Tribe but all of them to this day remaine without King without Gouernour without Priest without Iudge without Genealogie and without succession and are a scattered and a contemptible Nation throughout the whole earth And yet their later Rabbins fill their Talmuds with so many pedegrees and faire seeming Genealogies so certen and true as they hold it a sinne to examine them further for of their Rabbins thus they write Rabby Iannai say they descended from Eli Ben Kalba Shabuah from Caleb of Iudah Rabbi Hillel from Dauid Rabbi Hakkados or S. Rabbin frō Shephatiah the sonne of Abitall Dauids wife Rabbi Iesse of the sons of Ionadah Ben Rechab Rabbi Nehemiah from Nehemiah the Tirshethite others by many yeers later frō Zorobabel Ezra Dauid Yea and many Proselites likewise they bring from the children of Senacherib King of Ashur With these and the like Abraham Zakuto is full and all to pretend that their Scepter is not yet taken away but that the Law-giuer is betweene Iudahs feet still CHAP. XII That according to the Scriptures of God Christ came at the fulnesse of time in his flesh And that in him all Genealogies of the sacred Scriptures are ended Isaiah 49. 6. I will giue thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou maiest be my Saluation vnto the end of the World THus hath God giuen them the Spirit of slumber eyes that will not see and eares that wil not heare vntill this day for hauing the vaile in the reading of Moses the old Testament as yet vndrawn from before their hearts they stumble vpon the Stone of offence and grope after a great Messiah that shall gather againe the dispersed of Israel But seeing that God in Christ would haue all men saued and hath reserued to himself a remnant through the election of Grace our duty is to prouoke them to Christ as the Apostle applyeth the speech of Moses vnto vs Gentiles who haue found him whom wee sought not after and with them are now made the people of God for if by their fall saluation commeth to the Gentiles and their casting off was the reconciling of the world what shall their receiuing be but life from the dead That they are beloued for their fathers sake is testified were credited with the Oracles of God is manifest and honoured with the humanity of Christ the Scriptures euery where declare for which causes and for whose saluation their Paul was so zealous
19. g Heb. 11. 40. h Esa. 7. 14 i Efay 53. k Ier. 52. 5. l Ezek. 34. 23. m Dan. 2. 34. n Dan. 9. 24. o Hos. 3. 5 p Io. 2. 23. q Amos 9. 11. r Oba 1. 21. s Io. 1. 17. t Mi. 5. 2. u Nah. 1. 15. x Hab. 3. 3 13. y Zeph. 〈◊〉 11. Chap 3. 9. z Hag. 2. 8 10. a Zech. 9. 9 b chap. 11 12 13. c Mal. 4. 5 The Euangelists begin where Malachi leaueth d Luk. 1. 17 e Esay 40. 〈◊〉 Iohn Baptist the Elijah f Mat. 11. 14. g 1. King 17. 6. h Mat. 3. 4. i 2 Kings 18. k Mat. 1. 6 l 1. Kin. 18 m Mat. 14. 4. n 1. Kings 19. 8. o Math. 3. 16. p Iohn 1. 29. q Luk. 3. 16. r Ioh. 1. 1. Christ begaÌ„ his functioÌ„ at his Bap tisme The reconciliation of S. Matthew S. Luke s Esay 6. 13. t Dan. 7. 18. Of Zorobabelâ—… sons came both the father mother of Christ. u Exo. 25. 20. x Heb. 9. 5 y Apo. 5. 8 z Cant 3. 11. a 1. Tim. 3 16. b Psal. 〈◊〉 12. c Luke 7. 23. Psal. 45. 1 King 1. GeÌ„ 13. 14. GeÌ„ 17. 8. GeÌ„ 49. 10. Talm. Senad in cap Mâ—…lec De Ples in verit Chist Relig cap. 29 Deut. 32. 49. Ezek. 5. 5. Num. 32. 1 Dan. 7. Gen. 49. The 2. Obseruation a Ioh. 6. 14 b Luk. 19. 10. The expectation of the Iewes set vpon an earthly Kingdome c Act. 1. 6. d Luk. 24. 21. e Ioh. 4. f Iohn 3. * A prophecy of a potent king * Sueton. in vit Aug. The RomaÌ„s durst not place a King in Egypt g Ioh. 11. 49. Herod feared a temporall King h Math. 2. i Ioh 19. 19. k Mat. 21. 25. l Luk. 20. 42. The Saddu ces acknow ledged nei-Angell nor Spirit The Rabbins applications The 3. Obseruation Iesus his right to the kingdome Iesus his right to the Kingdome Jesus the next in succession â—…nto Salomon m Luk 2. 4 No competitor wâ—…th Iesâ—…ss * Eusebius l. 5. cap. 8. Ieraen lib. 3 cap. 25. n Mat. 13. 55. o Gal. 1. 19 * Euseb. eccle hist. l. 2. c. 1. * Polich l. 3. c. 44. Iames not the natural brother of Christ. p Deu. 21. 17. Three Maries are mothers q Mat. 1. 18 r Mar. 15. 40. s Iohn 19. 25. Why maries parents are not directly set down Ioseph is called both the son of Iacob and of Eli Rab Hacanas the son of Nehumia The Rabbins proue what wee desire t Num. 27 The Law maketh a woman capable of inheritance Abiuds house ended â—…n Ioseph Mary is heire vnto Eli her father and Ioseph her husband Iesus his right vnto Iudahs Crowne * In Arcano dei Tabula 18. Mary Salome is not the sister of Ioseph Mary Salome was not heire to vnto Ioseph Mary Salome from whom descended * S. HieroÌ„ vpon Saint Mathew Anâ—…a had three husbands and three daughters Mary the virgin daughter of Eli. Mary Salome the second daugh ter Mary Salome the wife of Zebedees * Mat. 4. 21. y Mark 3. 17. This Iohn writ the Apocalips Mary Cleopas the 3. Daughter Her surname doubfull z Ioh. 19. 25. Mary Cleopas was sister to Mary the virgine Mary Cleopas was the wife of Alpheus a Mar. 15 40 * Aegesippus Simon Bishop of Ierusalem saffred vnder Atticus Obiect Answ. Zebede Alpheus Cleopas vnknowne to be of Iudah b Col. i. 15 c Deut. 21 17. d Col. i. 18 e Ezek. 21 27. f Iohn 19. 25. Mary Cleopas could not be wife vnto Ioseph her sister being aliue g Le. 18. 18 Iames the lesse was not the naturall brother of Iesus h Act. 7. 26 i 1. King 12 24. k Mar. 6. 3. l Ioh 19. 25. Iesus and Iames were Cosen-germans * Lyr. annota vpon Gal. 1. 19. Iesus brought vp vnder Ioseph the space of twenty nine yeeres m Mat. 13. 55. Ioh. 6. 42. Ioseph is commonly called the father of Iesus n Luk. 2. 46. Maries perpetuall virginity confirmed â—…er virginity proued by consequence Why Ioseph forbare the bed of matrimony n Eze. 44. 2. See * S. Hierom and Lyra vpon Exeliel chap. 4. o Exo. 30. 37. Maâ—…ies wombe the holy Tabernacle p CaÌ„t. 2. 1. q He. 13. 4 Iesus solely heire vnto Dauids Crowne by his double line Iesus is twenty eight times stiled and called king of the Iews The 4. Obseruation The Gentiles first sought aâ—…ter Christ. r Luk. 2. 2. Avniuersal Peace wâ—…e Christ was borne * Virg. Aeneid sib 1. Christs coÌ„ming in the flesh obserued by the heathen * Eclog. 4. * In vit Aug. Sec. 94. The Scriptures confirmes what the heathen spake s Mich. 4. 3 4. t Esa. 9. 6. The attrubuites of Christ. u Dan. 2. 41. When the gouernmeÌ„ts fel of which Daniel spake Daniels prophecy written in Chaldea was the cause that the Chaldeans first sought after the king of Iewes Mat. 2. y Ioh. 19. 15. z Deu. 17. 15. a Ioh. 19. 14. Iesus acknowledged to bee king of the Iewes b Mar. 15. 9. 12. c Ioh. 19. 15. 22. Pilat forced to testifie the truth Pilat his resolution of what he had writ Christ acknowled ged himself a King d Ioh. 18. 37. Act. 17. 7. e Apo. 〈◊〉 8. f Rom. 11 36. Christ is heire of al. g 2. Cor. 1 20. Christ the substance in nothing inferior to his figures Abraham a King in power h Gen. 14. Abraham a Priest in sacrificing i Gen. 22. 11. Abraham was both King and Priest k Gen. 35. 22. l Gen. 34. 25. m 1. Chro. 23. 13. n Exo. 4. 14. Dauid in state both a King and a Priest o 〈◊〉 Chro. 14. SalomoÌ„ in state both of king and priest p 〈◊〉 King 8. 2. Ezekiah in state of a king and priest q 2. King 8. 4. r 〈◊〉 King 2â—… Iosiah in state of king and priest Christ was the subâ—…ce of these his figures s â—…e 33. 17 Christ Iesus the heire in all things vnto these his foregoers t Heb. 1. 2 Rom. 4. 13 Christ figured in Mel chizedeck u Heb. 7. 3 16. x Psa. 110. 1 y Mat. 12. 42. z Luk. 19. 45. a Mark 14 22. b Ioh. 1. 29 The end of Christs comming c Luk. 22. 29. d Mat. 19 28. Christs refusal of Ma gistracy no impediment to his authority Why Christ refused Magistracy e Mat. 13. 55. Christ Parents poore f Luk. 2. 24. g Leuit. 12. 8. Christs pouerty h Luk. 2. 7 i Mat. 8. 20. k Luk. 19. 42. Christs triumphs was teares Christ poore after death l Mat. 27. 60. m Isay. 53. Christs appearance according to the Prophets n Luk. 24. 27. Christ caled the son of man yet had no man to his father The ancestors of Christ kept from the crown which Christ came not to recouer o DaÌ„ 7. 17 p 2. Sam. 7. 16. Christ had the title of King of the Iewes in his death Christ body resuming life had the same faculties as before