But if there had not been choice enough of kin of either side at hand better an Alien of any other Countrey than of Canaan which he knew to be the very Land that God had promised to his Father and Forefathers for an everlasting possession not without the destruction of the inhabitants as the very Seed of the Serpent and Coar of enmity Thou shalt not therefore take a Wife of the Daughters of Canaan had Isaac said unto his Father Iacob For must such a mixture be Or such a Seed proceed from the Bowels of a Canaanitish Woman as shall be proper to destroy the Canaanites Was not this then as just an exception against Iudah now as it had been against Esau before and for the sake of which his own Mother could not love him but procured his disherison For Esau when he was forty years old married two Hittites before Ishmael's Daughter which were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekkah and she said I am weary of my life because of the Daughters of Heth. Now if any one ask here Why what choice had he or the other Brothers Whither should they go Whom did the other Brothers marry Did not Ioseph for his part marry the Priest of On 's Daughter an Egyptian for whose sake it may seem that he left the Egyptian Priests demesns intire when he cunningly bought all the rest of Egypt for his bread into bondage unto Pharaoh Or who ever blamed Abraham for his taking of Hagar or Keturah for his Concubines Or Iacob himself for taking Bilhah into his bosom who proved not honest to him or Zilpah and had been bred amongst the Idols of Laban which Rachel stole whether for love or hatred is a Question Although it hath been taken for an opinion that the Hebrews took their Wives only ex Ingenuis out of free-born women and their Concubines ex Ancillis out of Handmaids yet M r Selden proves that these did not differ in the quality of Wives but only in the inequality of conditions forasmuch as Keturah in Genesis is called Abraham's Wife and in the Chronicles his Concubine which some do therefore improbably think to be the same with Hagar re-assumed We may observe that Hagar had been seasoned with the same Religion before Abraham took her by being bred in his house insomuch that she prayed in her distress and had an Angel to comfort her But she was repudiated for her rebellion against her Mistress and her Son sent away with gifts which followed because it is said that unto the Sons of the Concubines both of them which Abraham had he gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his Son while he yet lived And by Keturah whose true Religion we have no ground to question he had some Issue which retained their profession in the time of Moses who married a Wife out of Iethro's house descended from Midian a Son of Abraham by this Keturah Among some or other of these therefore the Sons of Iacob might have found Wives as well as Moses who is not blamed for it Or else among the Women that Rebekkah Rachel and Leah had brought with them if they were more than two or the Daughters born of them in the space of a hundred and fifty years or as they might give their Sisters to their choicer Servants so they might take their Daughters and so contain themselves within themselves which might be the reason of their leviration which God did after establish by a Law or Brothers marrying of a Brother's Widow in case he dyed before he had any Issue by her Indeed it is not mentioned whence the other Sons had their Wives only Iudah seemeth to be blamed As for Ioseph's taking the Priest of On 's Daughter 1. Pharaoh gave her 2. God himself who was able to sanctifie her unto him as it is like he did by the towardly Children which she bare him which pleased Iacob when he blessed them 3. If Ioseph spared the Priests Lands it is an Argument that he feared Sacriledge as many of the Heathen after did with the like regard unto the Iewish Priests And this is delivered by Iosephus as a Law among the Iews Let no man speak evil of those Gods which other Countries and Cities suppose to be Gods Let no man spoil any strange Temple nor take that which is dedicated unto any God And as for Iacob's taking of Bilhah and Zilpah the same may be said as of Abraham taking of Hagar and Keturah They came from Padan-aram with him and abode with their Mistresses after he had purged his house from Idols Labans and all if any did remain which it may seem that Rachel stole away to please her Husband Iacob when time should serve to discover it not fearing her Fathers displeasure rather than out of any love to them because she may be understood to have been of the forwardest when Iacob purged his house to bring all the strange Gods and ear-rings unto him As also because she had the blessing of the two more pious Sons CHAP. XLI Pursuing the same Argument and opening the Law of Leviration by which Pharez was restored Other marked persons not blot to the Genealogy of Christ. BUT the failing of Iudah concerning Tamar if it were not greater might yet seem more unlucky of the two and more prejudicial in the consequence unto the house of Israel than the other inasmuch as two misbegotten Children came thereby to be reckoned to the ruling Tribe of Israel and not only to have equal part with others but to have inheritance from Iudah all alike with Shelah Doth God abhor incest and adultery and yet suffer the choicest Blessings of all to descend to their Issue Or how is it that David and Christ should come to descend from this Pharez rather than from Shelah Now about the first failing of Iudah we may say That if Iacob had had the power of the blessing in his own hands as he had not it was not exception enough against him to put him by nor in the streights wherein they were can one be sure that there were no more strange Wives within the Tents of Iacob but only Shuah's Daughter However God was pleased to take the punishment of Iudah's fault home unto himself and he brought it home to Iudah for whatever Shelah was he gave him but three Sons in all two of which he permitted to be such wicked Canaanites as were not to be born withal so that the Lord himself slew them and in the stead thereof made him father other two which he least intended But on second thoughts neither was the latter fault so great as the first nor the consequence so bad as you imagine See what an Acquaintance had Iudah gotten by wandring away from the Tents of Israel and searching out for some good house or other wherein to solace and caress himself He turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah And he
whom the Serpent was to be sped at last In the mean while there are two further Points to be discreetly traversed 1. That Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and it is likely Eve somewhat near the matter whether more or less and begat other Sons not mentioned and Daughters whereof the name of never an one is at all recorded 2. That some penitent issue is not obscurely shewn to have issued from Cain himself For all the Sons of Adam not named we may take it for granted that they either abode in their Fathers Tents taking their Sisters to Wives who were next to be taken or went off with Cain to help him build and replenish his City being nevertheless of the Seed of the Woman or of the true Church so long as they retained the Worship the Rites the Rules and the Moral Laws that they carried off from their Fathers house And others of them cleaved unto Seth and holp to make up his Family because the Earth must needs be replenished and Children go off to further distance And thus we may conceive that the true Church was far from failing betwixt the death of Abel and the birth of Seth howsoever the necessity of livelyhood or civil accommodation might divide the Members of it But as Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years before he had Seth so Seth live a hundred and five years more before he had Enos In which long tract of time and encrease of Generations when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth and that Daughters were born unto them so that the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and took them Wives of all they liked then the true Worshippers were â—ain to gather unto one House or Tribe And how they might attain to any consistency there I refer you to the Letter of a learned Gentleman in the Postscript All that remains to be said here is this That when the House of Seth came to degenerate too God brought a Deluge on the World as it is commonly accounted 1656 years after the Creation CHAP. XII Why God preserved Cham and Japhet in the Ark as well as Sem. That though they followed the way of the old World yet they were encreased in dominion which was not the blessing promised more than Sem Nay that he himself was greater in temporal accessions by other Sons than by Eber. NOW one might think since God Almighty was so much offended with the sins of the old World as to say It repented him that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at his heart that he would have taken such caution about the next succession that no generation like to that of Cain's should have survived the Deluge Yet as he preserved some of all kinds even of noxious Creatures in the Ark so he dealt by the intire Family of Noah He would not prejudge the Cases of Iaphet and Cham who were under the same protection discipline and common blessings with Sem till they came to be severed in their habitations and progenies Among the Sons of Noah saith Sir Walter Raleigh there were found strong effects of the former poyson For as the Children of Sem did inherit the Vertues of Seth Enoch and Noah so the Sons of Cham did possess the vices of Cain and of those wicked Giants of the first Age. As for Iaphet we read no hurt of him but it is rather recorded to his commendation that he joined with his Brother Shem to make some amends for the villany of Ham. who had exposed his Fathers nakedness However it is not obscurely implyed that Iaphet was either fallen or about to fall off to degenerate worship because this is added to his blessing for that act of silial Grace and Duty That God would at last enlarge or perswade Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Sem who though chosen by God is for the most part concluded to have been the younger Brother Which Prophetick Promise to Iaphet as the like Curse to Ham were not to be accomplished in either of their persons but in their posterities some Ages after Wherefore for all the love and great savour that God shewed unto Noah he would not hinder the accursed race of enmity from spreading out of his Loins also to be two ways branched for the greater afflictions of Sem's choicest Descendents until the time appointed For as the Sons of Noah descended from Mount Ararat where the Ark rested whether it was Caucasus or Taurus Ham and his Sons seized on all that they were able to occupy from the parts of Mesopotamia to the ends of Africk which was the Road that a part of them took Of his Son Cush descended Nimrod the Founder of the ensuing Babylonian Greatness as also Ashur who gave the Name of Assyria that built Niniveh And of his Son Canaan descended the Sidonians Hittites Iebusites Ammonites Girgasites Hivites Arkites and other reprobate Hoards or Nations Of his Son Mizraim descended also Pathrusim the Father of the Philistines and Casluhim the original of some of the Bordering Arabians And such of his Race as aimed further Southwards peopled all Egypt and Ethiopia to the Lands end so far as their number or encrease could seize on Lands without resistance So that out of Ham proceeded the Princes and people which held the great Kingdoms as they grew of Babylon Syria and Egypt for many Descents together towards the future oppression of the Sons of Sem the blessings of Shem and Iaphet as my Authour hath it taking less effect until the time appointed So that the first great Lords of the Earth were of this accursed Race that they might thresh in the Theshingfloors of Israel and bring their Fans in their hands whensoever the House of God was to be purged by the affliction of his people And to shew besides that God accounteth not as men do of Worldly Greatness he letteth it go to chuse unto the Heathen who thereupon do idolize the Fortunes of their Princes and set them up for Gods The first of which this Ham is counted to have been by the Name of Iupiter Hammon and the places where he was adored most do countenance that opinion And who was ever set up for an Idol but the worst of men From Iaphet also and his seven Sons the Medes Seythes Thracians Macedonians Grecians and the most part of Lesser Asia were replenished together with the Isles of the Gentiles by which name the ends of the habitable World were only known unto the Hebrews From whence came Alexander first and his Captains and after them the Romans to subdue and to waste Eber. Which events seem to have been more clearly revealed unto Balaam than unto any of the better Prophets even in the infancy of this people while they travelled in the Desart towards this Land of Promise And Ships shall come saith he from the Coasts of Chittim and shall
habetur Circumcisio ut non passim Vulgo ignobili sed solis Sacerdotibus aut Mystis credatur Nam apud Aegyptios qui in Superstitionibus vestris vetustissimi habentur eruditissimi à quibus propè omnes reliqui Ritum sacrorum Caeremoniarum mutuati sunt apud hos inquam nullus avt Geometriae studebat avt Astronomiae ...... nise Circumcisione susceptâ .... Hoc igitur apud Iudaeos turpe obscoenum judicatis quod apud vos ita honestum habetur ac magnum Now if any one ask How come the Egyptians who were fully peopled before Abraham's time and of the Off-spring of Cham to have any Circumcision at all among them Was Circumcision ancienter than He Some are of opinion that they might learn it in after-times from the Ishmaelites who when they traded into Egypt sold Ioseph there But that they rather learned it from the Israelites themselves while Ioseph was in much authority there relieth on the opinion of divers ancient Fathers and modern Interpreters and that with reason since Ioseph lived in Egypt about ninety three years in all and Israel came to him thither when he was but young viz. about thirty seven years of Age Time enough to bring the Egyptians to some odd conformity or other To go on with Philo a little further Another reason saith he is for the sake of better propagation for the circumcised Nations are said to be most populous But this agrees little with a passage of R. Moses Ben Marmon who hath carried away the reputation from all the modern Iews and who seems also to philosophize for plausibility as Philo had done before him for he says That in his judgment Circumcision was instituted unto this end that the lust of men should be thereby abated and that Member which is the Instrument thereof impaired which he taketh to be the principal reason If impaired never the better to propagate but if debilitated one would think as the Rabbi says the less prone to lust But this saith Lorinus is not much credited amongst us who hear that the circumcised Turks and Saracens are more inordinate in their lust than the generality of uncircumcised people Secondly To consider therefore this Question not as it is wire-drawn to avoid prejudice but as it is to be accommodated to the state and times of the Old Testament CHAP. XVI The true ends of Circumcision I. Civil to distinguish them from other Heathen people or corrupted Worshippers which was a Bridle to them as restraining them from mixt marriages and fornication and given as a mark to make them odious to the Gentiles and the Gentiles an abhorrency to them 2. Moral to put them in mind of purity of heart 3. Spiritual and Mystical in respect First Of Abraham Secondly Of his Seed and thirdly houshold 4. Of the whole Church Why Ishmael must be circumcised Arminius taxed why the Sons of Keturah were also to be circumcised and in fine all the Servants THE ends of Circumcision in reality seem to be partly Civil whereby the Jewish Nation should be severed from others partly Moral to teach them purity and partly Typical or Spiritual in respect to the holy Seed and the Mysteries thereafter to be revealed 1. For the first of these Maimonides himself striketh in with the right immediately after the words cited before But saith he there is also another reason viz. That all such as are of this Faith have one certain sign of conjunction against any that should thrust in amongst them For Circumcision is such a thing as no man will admit but for Religion sake And thus Circumcision is a Covenant S t Paul calls it a sign and seal of a Covenant which our Father Abraham made and so many as are circumcised enter into the same viz. to believe the Unity of God as God faith I will be a God unto thee and unto thy Seed after thee And this reason saith he is as firm and valid as the former and it may be more solid To which Iosephus was agreed before viz. That God commanded Abraham that his Posterity should be circumcised in their Privities by reason that he would not that Abraham's Posterity should be intermingled with other Nations To which purpose S t Chrysostom speaketh thus See saith he the wisdom of God For knowing what evil impressions the Hebrews were like to take he imposed the Sign of Circumcision as a Bridle on them lest they should mix themselves with other Nations that so the Seed of the Patriarch Abraham might remain unmixed and undefiled in them to the end that the promises of God might be accomplished in his Seed But how a Bridle Why when men began to multiply and Daughters were born unto them the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all which they chose Which brought in both Idolatry and all uncleanness and provoked God before to send a Deluge Now Circumcision was not only given them as a mark to warn them against the like wandring but to shame them if they did if they should but offer to uncover their nakedness unto any Stranger for it served both to make the Israelites a scorn to Foreigners and the uncircumcised a like abhorrency unto them that the due enmity betwixt the Seed of the Woman and the Serpent might be the better stated Among the Romans Iudaes Apella was a term of derision Neither may there seem to be any greater reason why Tacitus should write foeda superstitio upon the Jewish Religion than this since in their worship there was nothing like to the Rites of Bona Dea or Priapus to be observed And on the other hand it was the greatest reproach which the Iews thought they could cast upon other people to call them Uncircumcised We cannot give our Sister say the Sons of Iacob to one that is uncircumcised for that were a reproach unto us Let us go over unto the Garison of these uncircumcised Philistins said Ionathan Who is this uncircumcised Philistine said David And it may be for this reason S t Paul reckoneth the Maltese but as Barbarians while he counts it an honour to himself that he was a free-born Roman Nay whereas the Greeks and Romans looked upon other Nations as barbarous only out of scorn the Iews looked on all alike as barbarous with the more bitterness because they were not circumcised But of this we shall have somewhat to observed further when we come into the Wilderness 2. Circumcision was also ordained for a Moral End In which alone Philo doth acknowledge some part of the truth but in such an Heathenish manner that his similitude is not only filthy but as false and unworthy to be conceived to have ever entred into the purer thoughts of God but that the outward Circumcision taught the Israelites the circumcising of their hearts ears and lips the Phrase of the Scripture doth
more or less profusion being partly Eucharistical even their very Sin-Offerings according to the wealth or liberality of the Offerer as also because the thing signified was of more worth than the sign thereof Yet it shall not be amiss to consider the headship of Christ two ways viz. as to 1. Power and 2. Mediation whatsoever Offices may be comprized under these during the state of the Old Testament Of the first we read That Moses when he was come to years did by faith refuse to be called Pharaoh's daughters son esteeming the reproaches of CHRIST to whose Kingdom he belonged greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward viz. in the Kingdom of Christ. And of all the people of Israel it is said That by faith they passed under Christ's conduct through the Red Sea as by dry Land Which passage of theirs is more fully cleared in another place Moreover Breâ—hren I would not have you ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea And were all baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea And did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was CHRIST But with many of them God was not well pleased Which things were our examples Let us not therefore lust as they did neither let us tempt CHRIST as some of them also tempted HIM and were destroyed of Serpents neither murmur as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the Destroyer that is the Pestilence Was not therefore the Regiment of the Church of the Old Testament under God the Father Or if any delegation of Government was unto Christ under compromise as was mentioned before did he himself destroy who was said to be the Mediator likewise before of either Testament The Answer unto this will fall in better with the next consideration viz. of the Mediation or Mediatorship of Christ which may chance to clear more obscure Texts all together 2. Wherefore as Mediator our Blessed Lord under the state of the Old Testament at least seemed in one respect to have been but as a Moderator unto temporal punishments and in another an Intercessor not only that all punishment should be remitted both temporal and spiritual but also that all Grace and Favour necessary unto that estate should be afforded Neither will I be curious to divide these Parts of his Office of Mediator more than of the other but I shall shew what I find in reference unto any part at all relating unto this Head or remaining Headship of Christ as it may happen to conduce unto the first purpose First The Apostle tells us That the Law it self was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator And that When Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law he took the bloud of Calves and Goats with Water and Scarlet Wool and Hysâ—op and sprinkled both the Book and all the people saying This is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoined unto you Whereupon neither the â—irst Testament was dedicated without bloud for almost all things were by the Law purged with bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission As the Apostle would therefore have the Corinthians know that by the ministry of Moses all the Israelites were baptized into Christ by the Type of the Cloud over their heads and the Sea round about their bodies and did in effect and virtue partake of the like Sacraments by which they ate and drank of the fulness of Christ the Rock that followed them when they left the other behind and so had the like priviledges as the Corinthians had Yet as God was displeased with many of them to their destruction so he might with these too He taketh not the Government from God the Father while he sheweth who had the conduct from the beginning hitherto Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa But if the Son be despised now as heretofore God the Father may extend his justice where the Mediator is wickedly set aside by men for whose redemption he had satisfied But whether it was ever committed unto Christ to destroy his own enemies in any other than a spiritual way before his coming or since his exaltation is beyond the Question But S t Paul would have his Galatians and the Hebrews know not only that Christ is the Mediator of a new and better Covenant than that which Moses made in the behalf of the people but also that Christ himself in the person of Moses was indeed the Mediator of that too or else that it had been the worser for them CHAP. XXIV It was necessary by reason of the Curse annexed to the first Covenant that it should be delivered in the hands of a Mediator who could be no other than Christ himself God caused the Covenant of Works to be shut in a Chest under the Mercy-seat and why The benefit of Christ's mediation otherwise The Vnity of the Spirit in both Testaments THE thing that troubled S t Paul and the Churches of his Plantation more than any other was this Certain men which came down from Iudaea taught the Brethren saying Except ye be circumcised according unto Moses ye cannot be saved Against whom S t Paul disputeth in most of his Epistles and having shewed the Churches that this Doctrine made them Debtors to the whole Law as to keep the Iewish Sabbaths New-moons and other Fasts and Feasts as also to their vows and purifyings to their abstinence from all unclean meats and from all such Companies as ate so and from all uncircumcised persons whatsoever though Believers in Christ In sine to repair to Ierusalem to sacrifice as the Head-City and Mother-Church as oft as the Law of Moses required he takes the Question it self soundly to task to discover the danger and the ill consequents of it Amongst his other Arguments these are strong and pressing 1. That the free promise was made to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the Law was given by Moses so that Abraham being justified by faith without the Law the Law could not render the promise void to any that believed as Abraham had done before 2. But that the Law so far as it contained Types and Figures of things to come was it self abolished by Christ in whom they were all accomplished 3. And as for the Moral Law That none was ever justified by that or ever could be neither was it given for that end but only added because of transgressions or deliveâ—â—d in a terrible manner to that backsliding 〈◊〉 corrupting people as a Bridle till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made 4. In fine Because the whole Law had this dreadful Codicil annexed to it Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
way Or what might they have to divide amongst them when they came home Certainly so little that there would have been no end of going or coming whereas by virtue of what they brought they were able to subsist it seems a good while e're Iacob could be prevailed with to venture Benjamin though Simeon lay at stake till their return And for the way it was never to be passed without a lusty Caravan for fear of the Ishmaelites of whose Progenitor it was said That he should be a wild man and that his hand should be against every man and every mans hand against him and the Arabians who wanted Cornespecially And now the Answer is the easier to the second viz. That in the search they went not so much by Pole as by Companies the Heads of which were the Leaders and the Purse-bearers for all the rest of their Retinue And in Benjamin's own Sack as it was designed the prize was found To the third we answer That if there were any Servants at all there might be Asses enough so that the Masters needed not to foot it back or to return home with so slender provision as is imagined And if there were no Servants Ioseph gave his Brothers not a little trouble when he gave them Waggons also without any one man mentioned to assist them It may seem rather by Iudah's fear about the losing of the Asses that they were not a few than that his Father was poor and for Iacob's Present let it be compared with other Presents of the same time nay with Abigail's a long time after when one would think that she should have stretched to pacifie the wrath of David That the seventy are recounted only to keep the Genealogy of the Headâ— of Israel Wherein the Servants had no share CHAP. XXXV The last Objection answered by shewing That the circumcised Servants were part of Jacob's household that could not be parted withal without loss scandal and prejudice to the Church of God as being 1. Children of the faith of Abraham 2. Graffed into his Seed by intermarriages 3. Distinct in Genealogy 4. Yet possibly some snare unto the Israelites by retaining a smack of their old Idolatry NOW I cannot be unsensible how loth some will be to admit many rude Herdsmen who were still apt to be at debate with their Neighbours into the number of Abraham's Seed the only Church of God lest it should be prophaned by them and prove an interruption to the promise yet I must needs shew them that these were no Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel but were really constitutive members of that growing Body 1. I think it will not be questioned but that these were part of Iacob's house or houshold who dwelt in the Tents of Iacob and then it is expresly said that Israel took his journey with all that he had And Ioseph said unto his Brethren and unto his Fathers house distinct from them I will go up and say unto Pharaoh My Brethren and my Fathers house which were in the Land of Canaan are come unto me And the men are Shepherds for their trade hath been to feed Cattel and they have brought their Flocks and their Herds more than twelve men could manage and all that they have that ye may dwell in the Land of Goshen which was a fertile Tract about the mouth of the Nile or the tongue of the Red Sea nearest unto Canaan and neglected by the Egyptians For every Shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians Out of superstition say some because they worshipped some fort of Beasts and say others out of niceness because they more affected Towns and Trades And Ioseph placed his Father and his Brethren in the best of the Land in the Land of Rameses as Pharaoh had commanded And he nourished them and all his Fathers houshold with bread according to their Families Which shews that some of the Servants also were of some account and had their own Families enough to people the rest of Goshen So that Ioseph wisely kept them at a distance from the sight of Pharaoh for fear of State-jealousie 2. As these could not be left behind without loss so neither wâ—s it lawful for Iacob or his Sons to turn them off or abandon them For their Circumcision was an indelible Character so that it would have been a reproach to Israel to have exposed any of his unto the Heathen or to have cast them into temptation of revolting to Idolatry after once they had been joined to the Church by the sign and seal of the righteousness of faith even of the same faith with Abraham in whose Seed all the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed and these in particular as the first-fruits of the Gentiles Children of the faith of Abraham and Heirs of the better part of the promise and not excluded from their lots in the other part neither as we trust to shew hereafter Neither was there need to put off these for any misdemeanour since every Head of an house had power of life and death and other punishments and that without appeal to the Supreme as is manifest in the Case of Iudah and Tamar when it was told Iudah that she was with Child of whoredom saith he Bring her forth and let her be burnt And though specious things are said about the ancient use of Excommunication in the Church yet it seems to me that hitherto and long after there was no cutting off from the people but by death wherefore an Angel met Moses with a drawn Sword and sought to have slain him for his neglect of circumcising of his Child 3. Nor let any one admire at this that follows They became the Children of Abraham by a kind of adoption or insition into the Stock of Abraham by marrying of the Daughters of Israel and so in course of time they became one Kindred with them For who should they give them to besides We cannot give our Sister to one that is uncircumcised said the Sons of Iacob for that were a reproach unto us But if ye will be as we be then will we give our Daughters unto you and take your Daughters unto us and we will dwell with you and we will become one people Trouble not your self about disparagement for they were bene nati well-born who were born in the same house emancipate also tanquam liberi aut liberti by Circumcision and they lived all upon one Stock so that there could not be any want amongst them But the truth is the dignity of Degree and Pedegree went to the prime Descendents male from the Loins of the twelve Patriarchs of Israel which may seem to be the true reason why we find in the Genealogies such an account as this viz. These are the Sons of Ephraim for instance of one after their families of Shuthelah the family of the Shuthalhites of Bacher the family of the Bachrites of Taban the
family of the Tabanites And the rest are numbred in gross only to be in all thirty two thousand and six hundred Families But the Patriarchs themselves were put to harder shift for Wives even unto trespass because they could not take their Sisters or go any more to their Unkles houses to be matched as Isaac and Iacob had done before It remaineth therefore that these Hinds Husbandmen or Stewards such as Eliezer was to Abraham were far from being Supernumeraries or Aliens from the Covenant or Church of God and that they never went out of it after once they were called or brought in and joined to it by the sign of Circumcision Only this may be doubted viz. That these people taken out of Chaldea Syria Arabia or any other parts and joined only by Circumcision some of them no doubt by compulsion lest others should be cut off for them might not prove so good Members as could be wished but they retained still a smack and had an hankering after their old Idolatry Which sin continued uncontroulably amongst all one seducing another till the captivity of the Tribes And after their return when Hyrcanus forced the Edomites to be circumcised he prepared a way for Herod to come and to subvert their whole Estate But however it was for that God himself foresaw these inconveniences and yet he would not prevent them as some of the Separation think they are able to do in their Societies by so often drilling of them that at last they lose their first matter order and consistency CHAP. XXXVI That the simplicity of the Scripture contrary to the Romances of the Heathen Writers maketh little state of great Secular matters relating to the Church Shewed by instances of Abraham and Jacob yet Joseph as a Statesman in Egypt observed Ceremonies in the reception and introduction of his Father and Brethren That the Israelites built not in Egypt but by constraint WE may see in part by this how little state the simplicity of the Scripture maketh of great matters in things Secular that are incident unto God's Elect who are also as humble in themselves as Servants in all Conditions For after Abraham had obtained a famous Victory over four Kings that had immediately before been themselves victorious over five we find him sitting at his Tent-door in the heat of the day and he espied three men and when he saw them he ran to meet them from the Tent-door and bowed himself toward the ground and said My Lord if now I have found favour in thy sight pass not away I pray thee from thy Servant Let a little water I pray you be fetched and wash your feet and rest your selves under the Tree And I will fetch a morsel of bread And Abraham hastened into the Tent unto Sarah and said Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal knead it and make Cakes upon the hearth as if poor Sarah had never a Maid to help her And Abraham stood by them under the Tree while they did eat And after they had eaten Abraham went with them to bring them on the way And when he was to bury Sarah and to sue for a Sepulchre he bowed himself to the people of the Land even to the Children of Heth who complemented him saying Hear us my Lord Thou art a mighty Prince amongst us In the choice of our Sepulchers bury thou thy dead And when he sent Eliezer the eldest Servant of his house who ruled over all that he had he set him forth indeed in some Equipage with Jewels and other Presents that he might obtain Rebekkah the Daughter of Bathuel the Son of Nahor the Brother of Abraham for his Son Isaac But Rebekkah who was to be presented with Jewels and had ten Camels to bring the errand to her is brought forth with a Pitcher on her shoulder as ready to make the Camels drink as the Stranger wondring at the fine things and straining no courtesie about accepting of them but as coming and forward as a simple Country-Lass and her Brother Laban no less officious Yet this Rebekkah it was that over-reached the Old Man Isaac and her elder Son Esau. As for Iacob himself though he went forth with his Fathers Blessing and not by meer flight on his way to Laban his Mothers Brother yet we read neither of Ass nor Camel nor Camerade nor any Servant given to attend him in his journey which was for a Wife too of one of Laban's Daughters and it was a long step further I trow than into Egypt His adventures are thus described first He lighted on a certain place and tarried there all night because the Sun was set and he took the Stones of that place and put them for his pillow and lay down in that place to sleep And by his vision there it appears no otherwise but that he was alone save only that it is said He took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a Pillar and poured Oil upon the top of it Which it is not like that he should carry about him with other necessaries unless you should imagine him to have been a kind of Walking-Tavern in a Wilderness However that we may be assured that Iacob was not overmuch accommodated let us hear his own devout acknowledgment unto God I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant for with my Staff I passed over this Iordan and now I am become two Bands With a Staff saith Bishop Hall goes he over Iordan doubtful and alone not like the Son of Isaac and is fain to lye sub dio when an Angel appeared to comfort him And when Laban heard of his Sisters Son he might expect a like Equipage as fetch'd Rebekkah but now as he comes so he uses him He fled from a cruel Brother to a cruel Unkle And as his Mother had cunningly by deceiving Isaac substituted him for Elder so now Laban as cunningly deceiveth him by giving him the Elder instead of the Younger whom he loved Wonder not therefore that the Equipage of the Sons of Iacob and of their whole descent into Egypt is described without any pomp at all for so I could lead you forward to Gideon's Threshing-floor and to David's Flocks and shew you how great thing were always veiled and good men lowly But these also were both of the principal Families of Israel as may be observed hereafter In the mean while considering that Ioseph was a great Courtier and a Politician and that we have observed his cunning in getting the fairest and fertilest Tract of the Land of Egypt for his Father and his Brethren on colour of their being Shepherds In the next place let us note some of his Ceremonies howsoever whereby he wrought the ingratiating of his own Kindred with Pharaoh and his Egyptians When his Brethren came first into his presence he knowing them but they
respect to the house of Jacob wherein all were chosen whereas in the house of Abraham and Isaac there was but one received as Heir of the promise Reasons to be given for their rejection and so might have been in Jacob's house too whose errours are recorded NOW concerning the Unity of the Church this hath been taken for a general Rule That the Church is as large as the Election and the Election so determined within its Bounds or spaces that extra Ecclesiaâ—â— non est salus without the Church there is no salvation Which occasioning a distinction betwixt the Church visible and invisible it hath made the wide World the Subject of some mens charity as much as any Church visible the rather because some men think there may be an inward Call by the Spirit where there in so outward Call of the Church visible And so for Election Whereas S t Paul gives us ground for two distinctions uncontroulable viz. 1. Of a general Election both of Jew and Gentile unto the state of Grace by believing of the Gospel answering to the Election of the Jews alone from the times of the Law unto special Covenant and priviledge 2. Of a certain Election of persons not so large as the other unto eternal life according to the foreknowledge of God This hath occasioned the Schoolmen and the modern Polemical Divines by scanning of the terms and sisting what might be drawn from them to come in with a distinction between like a kind of superfoâ—tation of particular Election absolute or conditional for of the general Election of some people more than others unto special means they dare not question over boldly or enter farther into this Secret of Providence than Travellers dare into that Stove of S t Germans in Italy the mouth wherof I have been in only some presume to say that there are sufficient means granted unto all which modern distinction of the Popish Schoolmen and our Common-place-men hath raised much stir and heats both in the Roman and Reformed Churches For if theâ—e be an absolute positive Election of a â—ew the Question is not so much Whether it be without respect of persons as without respect of sin If there be a particular Election of persons conditionally only then Whether Election hangeth in suspense or being from eternity proceedeth according to God's foreknowledge vel saltem per scientiam mediam with a respect to his own Decree according to works foreseen of merits condign or congruous as the Schoolmen speak or according to faith or Evangelical obedience at the least foreseen and foreknown which pleaseth some of ours well enough though they have much difficulty and difference in the explaining of their meanings In the mean while perhaps there cannot be much more proved from S t Paul than that Election beareth no respect to the Works of the Law by which neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified but that both must be brought to cry Grace Grace unto the Gospel But the Bounds of my Discourse confine themselves naturally within the general Election of Grace whereby it pleased God to chuse some particular persons to be the Body Constitutive of his Church to the exclusion of â—â—hers that might seem to have stood as fair as they If it be asked Why Abel was accepted and Cain not it is ready to be answered That Abel offered a better Sacrifice and that from a better mind wherein God himself is our Warrant for he said unto him Why art thou wroth and why is thy countonance fallen If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lyeth at the door If it be asked again Why was Sem chosen rather than Ham and Iaphet A reason may be given against Ham but there is no manifest reason against Iaphet but the Oeconomy or Providence of God secundum beneplacitum Whoever presseth further may engage himself beyond recovery unless he do content himself in this that there was a time to be when it pleased God that the fulness of the Gentiles should come in So a reason may be given against Ishmael He was not only the Son of the Bondwoman that misbehaved her self towards her Mistress but a malicious Scorner of the true Heir the Son of the Free-woman and a Wild-man but of the Sons of Keturah what have we to say more than of Iaphet save only that of Midian one of them came Iethro and the Kenites friends and partakers of the house of Israel What wonder though Esau was permitted to seek his Fortunes in Mount Seir he having matched with the Daughters of Heth and Ishmael to the grief of his Parents and so without their liking and being otherwise prophane not only as a common Hunt but as an Hunter like to Nimrod so far as God permitted But what have we to say at last that all the Sons of Iacob his Concubines and all should be taken in and never an one rejected Did ever Ishmael or Esau play such pranks as some of these Reuben the eldest went in to Bilhah the Concubine which Rachel and not his Mother Leah had given unto Iacob and lay with her and defiled his Fathers bed Simeon and Levi fell upon the Shechemites not only cruelly but perfidiously after they had made them Proselytes Iudah the next preferred above all went down from his Brethren who had little converse beyond their commerce with the people of the Land and turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah And Iudah saw there a Daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shuah and he took her and went in unto her And she bare him Er Onan and Shelah Er married Tamar and was wicked following his Mothers kind and the Lord slew him and Onan after him And then Iudah dissembled about giving the third Son Shelah unto Tamar lest he should perish too So Iudah himself fell into Tamars Gin and was disgraced by her at the present but got more honour from her incestuous Issue at the last than from his own marriage with the Canaanite For the Sons of the Concubines Dan Naphtali Gad and Asher Ioseph was wont to bring their ill report unto his Father for which they envied him And for Issachar and Zebulun they were also in the Conspiracy against the life of Ioseph Only Reuben's pity was commended though he was agreed with the rest to conceal it with fraud from Iacob in that he would have saved Ioseph altogether which might be a reason why Ioseph bound Simeon the second when he let Reuben the first go free and Iudah so far as that he would rather fell him for a Slave than slay him Thus the Scripture concealeth not their vices Only Ioseph the Son of Rachel is extolled and his Brother Benjamin blameless CHAP. XL. The Sons of Jacob compared in their vertues and vices The latter aggravated and excused Why Pharez born of incest should be so great in Judah and inherit the promise at
the last NOW to compare the good and bad qualities of these Patriarchs with one another It seems to some that when Reuben had committed his incest with his Mother-in-Law and that Israel heard of it his Father was afraid to take notice of it quia Reuben ferox erat because Reuben was a fierce man It may seem likewise as if he defiled his Father's Bed in contempt of Bilhah Rachels Handmaid and so that there was some malice mixed with his lust But the pity that he alone had of Ioseph the Son of Rachel shews that he was neither fierce as Simeon and Levi nor yet so envious as the rest But most like it is that the beauty only of Bilhah did inflame him as a fine Creature for Rachel to present to Iacob whereby to estrange him a little more from Leah since Iacob who was to denounce his punishment to him at the last said no more but that though he was the beginning of his might he should not excel only because he was unstable as water when he went up to his Fathers bed and defiled it high water being such as will break any Bounds whatsoever And though some Expositors doubt not of his repentance by the tokens of his good nature towards Ioseph both when he was betrayed and after in his Embassy yet God did not think fit to remit the temporal punishment unto him and his posterity of being deprived of Primogeniture and number But whether it was Iudah or Ioseph that had his Right we shall consider by and bye As for Simeon and Levi after their bloudy fact when their Father said unto them Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the Land so that I being few in number incomparison of the Canaanites and Perizzites they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me and I shall be destroyed I and my house shewing their blind and rash folly as well as wickedness they had so little Grace as to return this surly Answer Should he deal with our Sister as with an Harlot Nor had they any more remorse about their Brother Ioseph afterwards in whose bloud they would for their parts have had an hand Which might occasion Ioseph to seize on Simeon to chuse as hath been noted Yet no doubt he was famous in his Generation for some Vertue or other because so many bore the name of Simeon or Simon in the succeeding Ages So that he had but one and the same Sentence with his Brother in iniquity even with Levi I will divide them in Iacob and scatter them in Israel Which was accomplished in Simeon's posterity by having their lot shut up in a manner within the Confines of Iudah and its Borders and in Levi's by having no lot at all among the rest in the Land of promise saving a lot extraordinary which God had assigned to them they say as good as the best So God over-ruleth in his gracious Providence even turning his chastisements into blessings And for Levi's own person he lived a hundred and thirty years what Age he might be when he came with Iacob into Egypt is uncertain And a hundred and thirty years after Iacob's descent was Moses born the younger Brother of Aaron the Redeemers of Israel descended both immediately from Levi Now for Iudah his faults and failings have not been spared upon which saith Bishop Hall I find not many of Iacob's Sons more faulty than Iudah But Bishop Montague says according to Iosephus that Iudah being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bold daring putting-forth man was well enough disposed in his own person to be the Law-giver and to have the Scepter although it was not indeed conferred on his person but his Tribe Methinks in truth he was like Peter among the Disciples the forwardest to undertake with his Father to lead his Brethren to expostulate with Ioseph to be Iacob's Harbinger and the likeliest to be presented as one of the five in the presence of the great King Pharaoh And though he consented to Ioseph's slavery yet said he Let not our hand be upon him for he is our Brother and our flesh And as he was of a fervent Spirit and presently passed Sentence upon Tamar to be burnt so when she convinced him he did not deny or hasten execution to conceal it but ingenuously said She hath been more righteous than I And he knew her again no more To him therefore as a man of great sufficiency was the Scepter given and the promise of Christ which was much more and yet the birth-right of Reuben was translated unto Ioseph Of which peradventure more at large when I come unto the lots Only this is too much to my purpose and design to be omitted Not only Iudah with all his faults which poor Iacob's pious soul must bear withal amongst them is admitted to the prime Prerogative but his base-born Pharez after him becomes the immediate Heir of the Promise and not his elder Son Shelah begotten in the state of Wedlock to the disparagement likewise as it might seem of the rest of the Seed of Iacob Let us make the account thus Reuben is deprived of his birth-right for the Cause of Bilhah Simeon was next and Levi next to him but they are both removed farther off for the sake of Shechem Iudah is thereupon the next in order and if there be any fault in him or however if it were possible one would think that Iacob should transfer this blessing unto Ioseph who was the eldest Son of his best beloved Wife and now a Father to his Brethren as he was to his own Father too so far as he was a Father unto Pharaoh under whose protection and beneficence they were to be cherished and flourish or else by Ioseph's leave to his own Brother Benjamin the Son of Iacob's right hand with whom no fault is found nor it may be ever was since his posterity held stedfast to the Covenant and the blessing when Ioseph's had revolted Why there was fault enough to be found with Iudah to stop his mouth and barr his claim to any Excellency amongst his Brethren It was a kind of debauch in him to go rambling among the accursed Canaanites from whom he ought to have kept an holy distance and there to be enamoured or inveigled with their Shuah and to marry according to his lust rather than his reason It was like that sin of the old World which hastened the deluge when the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they chose If you ask Why where should he have had another Think you not that Esau guessed shrewdly though he hit amiss when hearing that Iacob was to be sent to Padan-aram for a Wife of the Mothers kin he himself was resolved to mend the matter by taking one of the Fathers side in marrying the Daughter of Ishmael the Son of Abraham
populum sicut Iob. Et iplorum etiam corda â—âdem mundabantar Mediatoris side dissundebatur in â—is charitas per Spiritum Sanctum qui ubi vult spiraâ— non merita sequens sed â—tiam ipsa merita faciens Lab. de pecc origin cap. 24. Quaescunque sacrae scripturae â—nca probant neminem salvari sme Christo Mediatore eadem valent ad probandam fidei necessitatem Est. in lib. 3. diâ—â— 25. sâ—ct 4. Quicunque ab exordio generis bumaâ—i in eum crediderunt eumque 〈◊〉 intelleâ—erant secundums ejus Praeceptapiè justè vixerunt quandolibet ubilibet suerint per eum proculdubio salvi sacti sunt Aug. Ep. 49. ad Deogratias Qu. 2. Summ. 1 2. Qu. 2. Artic. 5. Lumbard lib. 3. disâ— 25. b. Eft. in 1.3 d 25. sect 2. Etiamâ—i multitudo nihil cognitum perceptùmue habuisset de Messia nihilo tamen minus Coeâ—estem beatitudinem dari illis potuisse propâ—er Patriarchas qui Messiam mente intuiti sunt Foaderis hanc Promissionem accepâ—re à Numine Ero Deus vester Posâ—eritatis vestrae Hinc persaepe vâ—niam magna impeâ—trant beneficia majoruma suorum gratiâ ... Sic Infantibuâ— ad salutem piâ—tas Parentum valet Ubi supra Quod si Prophetae illâ—sâ—riores qui videbantâ—r in illo populo non omnes omnia liquido â—â—â—â—liter agnoscere valueruâ—t sed alii plus alii minus quanto magis simpliciores quâ—que juâ—ti sine detrimento salutis salvationis modum tempus ordinem â—escire pâ—tuerunt quâ— tamen certâ spe side â—ti promissa suerant firmissiâ—è tenâ—erant Bern. in Ep. 77. ad Hugonem Exod. 19.8 Exod. 37.6 c. Temple chap. 15. sect 4. 2 Kings 19.15 c. So Psal. 80.1 99.1 1 Sam. 4.4 2 Sam. 6 â— c. Psal. 24 1 Sam. 4.22 1 Kings 6.16 Exod. 25.12 Psal. 110. Heb. 7.15 Heb. 7.19 Chap. 6.19 20 * Nec quis miretur insupâ—r auratam mensam cui panes sacierum apponi solebant tanquam oblationes in Ararum censum referri Sicut enim Ara Mensa Dei Mal. 1.12 ita Mensa Dâ—i Ara quedam â—rat Araeque plane vicera praeslabat Neque viro apud Iudaeos tantum sed etiam apud prophanas Gentes Mensas ritè dedicatas Ararum vices praeslitisse legimus In papyriaâ—o enim jâ—re evidentèr relatum esâ— Arae vicem pâ—estare posse mensam dicatam Outr. lib. I. cap. 8. Rev. 8.3 c. Heb. 8.4 c. Gal. 3.17 Exod. 3.13 Obj. 3. Resp. Gal. 3.19 21 23. Heb. 9.2 3. Lev. 16 * Quod sacit tale to magisesâ— tale So that if we suppose a third Altar we do not â—rigere Altare contra Altare but rather set all three to agree in one according to the Mystery of the Trinity * Quod sacit tale to magisesâ— tale So that if we suppose a third Altar we do not â—rigere Altare contra Altare but rather set all three to agree in one according to the Mystery of the Trinity P. Cun. l. 2. c. 4. * Non solum â—rbes Levitarum Asyli gandebaut privilegio verum Altare Templi licèt perquam dispari tum respectu sacinorum tum more c. Joan. Seld. de jure Nat. Gent. juxâ—a Heb. lib. 4. cap 2. Levit. 16.2 13. 1 Kings 8.22 2 Chron. 6.12 c. Gal. 3.17.19 1 Chron. 16. But in the Psalm v. 6. it is O ye seed of Abraham his Servant Exod. 34.5 6 1 Kings 23. Ezra 8. Nehem. 8. 9. Jonah 2.4 7. Lect. 11. on Ionah Dan. 6.10 Dan. 9. Nos cum Synodo Sardicensi simplicitèr hâ—c verba accipimus Propter Dominum h. e. propter Messiam sive christum Junius in locum Eadémque suit in Veteri Novo Testamento salutis impetrandae ratio Nec Iudaei hîc renitâ—ntur quo minus hec verba de Messia intelligantur Yarii Matth. 14.33 26.63 27.43 54. Joh. 1.49 6.69 11.27 20.31 c. Levit. 1.4 3.13 4.24 D r Lightfooâ—'s Temple-Service ch 8. sect 1. Et Outr. l. 1. c. 15. Levit. 16.9.22 Psal. 30.10 11. Psal. 51. Mark 12.32 33. Isai. 63.7 8 9. Ut Bâ—za Zanchius c. ut etiam videre est in Tactic sacr D. Arrowsmith * Crediderunt quidem in Chrislo per promissa prophetias partim revelato intra Cherubinos tamen in Typis aliter velato 2 Cor. 1.20 Heb. 11.10 c. Licet magnam jucunditatem habuâ—rint Prophetae quando in Spiritâ— videbant â—utura de Chrislo tamen volebant si ficri posset in hoc tempore nobiscum vivere videre impleta quae Spiritâ— prophetabant Praef. in Psal. 96. Matth. 13.16 17. Quare voláerunt videre audire Vt videlicet clarius â—argiúsque perciperent quod vix ten â—itèr obscuréque praesinserant Alioqui quid erat opus soris videre carnem carnis audire sermones si intus â— Spriritu su rint instructi perfectè de omnibus Epist. 77. ad Hug. de S. Victore Luke 18.8 Acts 3.15.17 Luke 9.44 45. Matth. 16.21 22 23. Luke 24.27 Matth. 2.4 Talmudicorum omnium Rabbinorumque gravissima judicia semper apud omnes cordatos permagnum pondus habueÌ„re quoties de Patriis Ritibus eorum Ceremoniisque orta disceptatio est l. 2. c. 4. M t Vines in his Treatise of the Sacramâ— chap. 1. Alib. in l. praed Chemn in examp 1 par Conc. Trident pag. 12 Agens de similitâ—dine assinitate Traditionum Pontificiarum cum Pharisaicis Talmudicis Matth. 15.9 Dix illud inter homines eruditissimos disceptalum est quid de summo salutis auspice speraverit olim credidertive antiquior illa Hebraeorum Natio Habit â—a res magnum momentum ad rectam interpretationem otius sacri codicis Adio latè patet illius ambitus Lib. 3. cap. ult Gen. 46.26 27. Deut. 10.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. 1.2 c. 4. Numb 1.45 46. Chap. 3.15.39 Gen. 21.22 23. D r Simson Gen. 26.12 c. Gen. 35 27. 32.10 ‖ See Gen. 46.7 Iacob came into Egypt with his Sons and Sons Sons his Daughters and his Sons Daughters c. yet again ver 15. Dinah alone seems to make up the number of seventy souls * Chap. 37.35 it is said that all Iacob's Sons and all his Daughters rose up to comfort him after Ioseph's loss Chap. 34.25 Bish. Hall Acts 7.14 Obj. I. Gen. 42. Obj. 2. Chap. 44. Obj. 3. Obj. 4. Chap. 43.10 18. Obj. 5. Gen. 46 Obj. 6. Gal. 3.22 23. Answer to Object 1. Gen 37.7 9. Ch. 41.38 Ver. 54. Ch. 42.1 Gen. 47.19 Ch. 43.35 Ver. 21. We opened our Sacks and behold every manâ— money waâ— in the mouth of his Sack our money in full weight Gen. 16.12 Answer to Object 2. Answer to Object 3. Chap. 45. â—1 Answer to Object 4. 1 Sam 25.18 Answer to Object 5. Answer to Object 6. Gen 46.1 31 c. Videsis Cun. de Rep. Heb. l. 1. C. 5. Chap. 47.11 12. Gen. 38.24