Paul taketh the world to come in this sense Heb. 2.5 3. Baptisme had been in long and common use among them many generations before Iohn Baptist came they using this for admission of Proselytes into the Church and baptizing men women and children for that end Talm. in Jobamoth cap. 4. and Moym in â—ssure biah cap. 13. A person is not a proselyte till he be both circumcised and baptized Id. in Chittubeth cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A little one they baptize by the appointment of the Consistory And Maym. in Avadim cap. 8. An Israelite that takes a little Heathen childe or that findes an Heathen infant and baptizeth him for a proselyte behold he is a proselyte Hence a ready reason may be given why there is so little mention of baptizing Infants in the new Testament that there is neither plain precept nor example for it as some ordinarily plead The reason is because there needed no such mention baptizing of Infants having been as ordinarily used in the Church of the Jews as ever it hath been in the Christian Church It was enough to mention that Christ establisht baptism for an Ordinance under the Gospel and then who should be baptized was well enough known by the use of this Ordinance of old Therefore it is good plea Because there is no cleer forbidding of the baptizing of Infants in the Gospel ergo they are to be baptized for that having been in common use among the Jews that Infants should be baptized as well as men and women our Saviour would have given some speciall prohibition if he intended that they should have been excluded so that silence in this case doth necessarily conclude approbation to have the practise continued which had been used of old before Iohns baptism differed from that before only in this that whereas that admitted proselytes to the Jewish religion this admitted and translated Jews into the Gospel religion that was a baptisme binding them over to the performance of the Law as their Circumcision did but this was a baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes as was observed before 4. Though some of the Nation expected that the Messias would come and redeem them though they were impenitent as some of the Gentiles plead in Talm. Bab. Sanhedr cap. 10. R. Samuel in articulis fidei Iudaicae yet was it more generally held and with good reason that the Messias would look for a repenting generation and thereupon others of the Gomarists in the place alledged say If Israel repent but one day presently the Messias cometh Upon the consideration of these things it will appear the lesse strange that the people flowed in to Iohns baptisme in so great a conflux this being the time about which the Nation expected the appearing of Messias baptisme being a thing most commonly known and used among them and this baptisme of repentance administred preparatively toward the entertainment of Christ now ready to come being sutable to their own apprehensions of the necessity of repentance against his coming Baptisme was besides other tendencies of it as a badge whereby those that received it and stuck to it were marked out for safety and preservation against that destruction that was to come upon the Nation for unbelief Therefore Iohn construes their coming to be baptized their fleeing from the wrath to come and Peter in the same sense doth say that baptisme doth now save 1 Pet. 3.21 as the Ark had done in the destruction of the old world so this from the destruction now coming And Acts 2.40 to his admonition to Repent and be baptized he addeth Save your selves from this untoward genenation § MATTH Chap. III. from Ver. 13. to the end § MARK Chap. I. Ver. 9 10 11. § LUKE Chap. III. Ver. 21 22. CHRIST XXX CHRIST is baptized being thirty years old initiant Iosephs age at his appearing before Pharaoh Gen. 41.46 The Priests at their entrance into their office Numb 4. and Davids when he began to raign 2 Sam. 5.4 He hath now three years and an half to live and to be a publike Minister of the Gospel as the Angel Gabriel had told Dan. 9.27 that in half of the last seaven of the years there named he should confirm the Covenant R. Iochavan saith Three years and an half the divine glory stood upon the mount of Olives and cried Seek the Lord while he may be found Midr. Till fol. 10. col 4. This space of time had been renowned before by Elias his shutting up Heaven Luk. 4.25 Iames 5.17 and now Heaven is opened by the persecution of Antiochus when all religion was destroyed Dan. 12.7 11. and now redemption and restoring is come Christ therefore living three years and an half and dying at Easter it followes that he was baptized in Tizri about the Feast of Tabernacles at which time of the year he had been born and was now when he was baptized nine and twenty years old compleat and just entring upon his thirtieth to which add his three years and an half after his baptisme and it resulteth that he died being two and thirty years old and an half the exact time of Davids reign in Ierusalem 1 King 2.11 The dayes that David reigned over Israel were fourty years seven years reigned he in Hebron and thirty and three years reigned be in Ierusalem that is in Hebron seaven years and an half 2 Sam. 5.5 and in Ierusalem two and thirty years and an half so the Ierus Talm. counteth well in Rosh hashavah fol. 1. col 2. As Christ by Circumcision was admitted a member of the Church of the Jews so is he by baptisme of the Church of the Gospel being withall installed into his Ministeriall function by baptisme and unction of the holy Ghost as the Priests were into theirs by washing and annointing SECTION X. LUKE Chap. III. from Ver. 23. to the end of the Chapter CHRISTS Genealogy by his Mothers side MATTHEWS Genealogy and this as they run by a different line so they are brought in upon different ends Matthew intends to shew that Iesus Christ was the Son promised to David Luke shews him the seed of the woman promised to Adam Gen. 3.15 who in the next following Section begins to break the head of the Serpent Therefore when that promise to Adam beginneth to take place in Christs entring upon his Ministry and in his being sealed for the Messias by the holy Ghost this Genealogy is divinely woven in Matthew derives his line by the pedigree of Ioseph his supposed Father and drawes it from Solomon Luke by the pedigree of Mary his Mother and drawes it from Nathan For as the Jews looked on him as the Son of David they would regard the masculine line and the line Royall therefore Matthew giveth it at his birth But looked on as the seed promised to Adam the seed of the woman he was to be looked after by the line of his Mother And whereas this seed of the woman was to destroy the
saith over a prayer and yet doest thou say that washing is arbitrary It is said he should go four miles to the washing of his hands and yet doest thou say it is arbitrary How they prized this and other traditions of the Elders above the Word of God and so by and for them made that of no weight may be read too numerously in them in such like blasphemous passages as these The words of the Scribes are more lovely then the words of the Law and more weighty then the words of the Prophets And He that saith there are no Phylacteries and in so saying transgresseth against the words of the Law he is not guilty but he that saith there is five Phylacteries and in so saying addeth to the words of the Scribes he is guilty Jeâ—us Baracoth fol. 3. col 2. The written Law is narrow but the traditionall is longer then the earth and broader then the sea Tanchum fol. 4. col 4. Our Saviour damning these cursed Traditions doth instance only in that unnaturall tenet of theirs that extinguisheth all filiall assistance to needy Parents as if a son said to his father or mother It is Corban c. Their Canons set down the duty of a son to his father as to give him meat and drink if he stood in need and to cloath him to wash his hands feet and face and if he needed to lead him in and out Tosapht in Kiddushin per. 1. And yet with this superinduced Tradition they destroyed all such duty About the word Corban in the sense in which it is used here the Talmudich Treatises Nedarim and Nazir and the Tosaphtoth upon them are good explications where it is often used His resolving the case about meats not defiling the man overthrew a great part of Pharisaism for this washing before meat was meerly out of their Traditions and it was a great part of their sanctimony Moses indeed had forbidden divers things as unclean to be touched and by the touching of which the person was legally defiled but that with this reference that he was unclean as to Gods service or to the Congregation but this pretenced uncleannesse of theirs for which they appointed washing before meat had respect simply neither to the one nor the other Christ to a Heathen woman that begged the dispossessing of her daughter cals the Heathens Dogs and she readily understands his meaning as that being a common title that the Jews put upon them Midr. Titt fol. 6. col 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Nations of the world are compared to Dogs No sign given to the Pharisees when they demand one but the sign of Ionah the Prophet whereby Christ doth not only intimate his own buriall and resurrection but he chiefly intendeth to hint the calling of the Gentiles after his resurrection as the Ninivites were after Ionahs which was a thing the Jews could not endure to hear of SECTION LI. MARK Chap. VIII Ver. 22 23 24 25 26. A blinde man restored to sight at Bethsaida MARKS authority warrants the connexion here especially it being considered that in the preceding Section Christ and his Disciples are crossing over the Sea and here they are arrived at Bethsaida A journey by Sea thither they had when Iesus fed the five thousand in Sect. 47. and now being come up to that place where that miracle was wrought it was a strange construction the Disciples made of the words of their master Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees when they thought he blamed them for not bringing bread the very place where they were might have confuted that misprision Christ openeth the eyes of a blinde man but will not do it in Bethsaida but leads the man out of the Town nor will he suffer him to go into the Town when he is cured nor to tell it there He had a good while ago as hath been said denounced wo against Bethsaida Matth. 11.21 and for her perversnesse he will no more strive with her for her good He had gathered out of her those that belonged to himself SECTION LII MATTH Chap. XVI from Ver. 13. to the end of the Chapter MARK Chap. VIII from Ver. 27. to the end of the Chapter And Chap. IX Ver. 1. LUKE Chap. IX from Ver. 18. to Ve. 28. The Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven given to Peter c. MATTHEW and Mark establish the order Upon Peters confession that Iesus was The Christ the Sonne of the living God 1. He promiseth to build his Church upon the Rock of that Truth and the Rock confessed in it from Isa. 28.16 Psal. 118.22 c. 2. He promiseth the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter only of all the Apostles meaning thereby that he should be the man that should first unlock the door of faith and of the Gospel unto the Gentiles which was accomplished in Act. 10. And 3. he giveth him power of binding and loosing and this power the other Disciples had common with him Matth. 18.18 Binding and loosing in the language and stile most familiarly known to the Jewish Nation and it can little be doubted that Christ speaketh according to common and most familiar sense of the language did referre more properly to things then to persons Therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Matth. 18.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To binde and to loose in their vulgar speech meant to prohibit and to permit or to teach what is prohibited or permitted what lawfull what unlawfull as may appear by these instances a few produced whereas thousands might be alledged out of their Writings Talm. in Pesachim per. 4. halac 5. Our wise men say that in Iudah they did wâ—rk on the Passeover eve till noon but in Galilee not at all And as for the night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The School of Shammai bound it that is forbad to work on it or taught that it was unlawfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the School of Hillel loosed it till sun rising or taught that it was lawfull to work till sun-rise Ierus in Shabb. fol. 6. col 1. They are speaking about washing in the Bathes of Tiberias on the Sabbath And they determine how farre this was lawfull in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They bound washing to them but they loosed sweating meaning they taught that it was lawfull to go into the Bath to sweat but not to bathe for pleasure Ibid. fol. 4. col 1. They send not letters by the hand of a Gentile on the eve of the Sabbath nor on the fifth day of the week Nay on the fourth day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The School of Shammai bound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the School of Hillel loosed it Ibid. fol. 7. col 4. Women may not look in a Looking glasse on the Sabbath But if it were fastned upon a wall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi loosed
he had done Ioh. 1.34 36. 3.29 30. Noâ— that Iohns Disciples were so wilfully ignorant of him as not to be perswaded by their Maâ—ter that he was he but his message to him seems to this purpose Iohn and his Disciples had heard of the great and many miracles that Christ had done healing the sick and raising the dead c. and it may be they thought it strange that Christ amongst all his miraculous workings would not work Iohns liberty out of thraldom who lay a prisoner for him and for the Gospel he preached before him And this may be was â—he bottom of their question Art thou he that shall come or look we for another as expecting somewhat more from the Messias then they had yet obtained They received a full answer to their question by the miracles they saw wrought which abundantly proved that he was he that was to come But as to their expectation of his miraculous enlargement of Iohn his answer was that his work was to preach the Gospel and that it was a blessed thing not to take any offence at him but to yeeld and submit to his wise dispensations And accordingly when the messengers of Iohn were returned he giveth a glorious testimony concerning him to the people but yet sheweth how far one truly and fully acquainted and stated in the Kingdom of Heaven went beyond him in judging of it who looked for temporall redemption by it The Method of Matthew is somewhat difficult here but he seemeth purposely to have joyned the mission of Christs Disciples and Iohns disciples together I suppose Christ was at Ierusalem when Iohns messengers came to him and if it were at the feast of Pentecost Iohn had then been seven or eight moneths in prison SECTION XXXII MAT. Chap. XI from Ver. 20 to the end of the Chapter Chorazin and Bethsaida upbraided BEsides Matthews continuing this portion to that that went before the upbraiding of these Cities is so answerable to the matter contained in the end of the former Section that it easily shews it to be spoken at the same time See Ver. 17 18 19 of this Chapter When Christ saith that if the things done in these Cities had been done in Tyre and Sidon and Sodom and Gomorrhâ— they would have repented and would have remained till now he understandeth not saving grace and saving repentance in them but such an externall humiliation as would have preserved them from ruine As the case was with Nineveh they repented and were delivered from the threatned destruction their repentance was not to salvation of the persons but to the preservation of their City as Ahabs humbling prevented the present judgement and not his finall condemnation SECTION XXXIII LUKE Chap. VII from Ver. 36 to the end of the Chapter Mary Magdalen weepeth at Christs feet and washeth them with tears c. THe continuation of this portion in Luke to that in Sect. 31. will plead for its order and the reader will easily observe that the interposition of the preceding Section in Matthew is so farre from interrupting the story that it is necessarily to be taken in there and is an illustration of it The actings of the two severall parties in this Section the Pharisee that invited Christ to eat with him and the woman sinner that comes and weeps at his feet for mercy may seem to have had some rise from or some occasionall reference to the speech of Christ in the two Sections next preceding In the former he had said The sonne of man came eating and drinking and this possibly might induce the Pharisee to his invitation and in the latter he had said Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy laden and that might invite the woman to her addresse This woman was Mary the sister of Lazarus who was also called Mary Magdalen of whom there is mention in the very beginning of the next Chapter That she was Mary the sister of Lazarus Iohn giveth us ground to assert Ioh. 11.2 as we shall shew when we come there where we shall evidence that these words It was that Mary which annointed the Lord with oyntment and wiped his feet with her hair can properly be referred to no story but this before us And that Mary the sister of Lazarus was called Mary Magdalen we shall prove in the next Section Christ in the story in Sect. 31. when Iohns disciples came to him we supposed to be at Ierusalem and answerably it may be conceived that this passage occurred at Bethany where Simon the Pharisee may not improbably be held to be the same with Simon the Leper Matth. 26.6 where this very woman again annointed him SECTION XXXIV LUKE Chap. VIII Ver. 1 2 3. Certain women that followed Christ. LUKE again is the warrant for the order In the former story he had spoken of one woman that had found healing and mercy with Christ and he speaks here of divers and among them Mary Magdalen Now that she was Mary the sister of Lazarus let but these two arguments be weighed not to insist upon more The first is this If Mary Magdalen were not Mary the sister of Lazarus then Mary the sister of Lazarus gave no attendance at Christs death nor had any thing to do about his buriall or at least is not mentioned as an agent at either which is a thing so incredible to conceive that it needs not much discourse to set forth the incredibility of it There is mention of Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of Iames and Salom Mark 15.40 and Ioanna Luk. 24.10 but not a word of Mary the sister of Lazarus She had twice annointed Christ in the compasse of that very week she had ever been as neer and as zealous a woman disciple as any that followed him and her residence was at Bethany hard by Ierusalem and what is now become of her in these two great occasions of attending upon Christs death and imbalming Had she left Christ and neglected her attendance on him at this time above all others or have the Evangelists whilest they mention the other that attended left her out It is so unreasonable to beleeve either of these that even necessity inforceth us to conclude that when they name Mary Magdalen they mean Mary the sister of Lazarus And Secondly take this argument of Baronius which hath more weight in it then at first sight it doth seem to have who in his Annals ad Annum Christi 32 goes about to prove this thing that we assert and he shews how it also was the opinion of the Fathers and those in former times His words are these We say upon the testimony of John the Evangelist nay of Christ himself that it plainly appears that Mary the sister of Lazarus and Mary Magdalen was but one and the same person For when in Bethany the same sister of Lazarus annointed the feet of Jesus and Judas did thereupon take offence Jesus himself checking the boldnesse of the furious Disciple said
Matth. 5. was not barely to appear to the eleven for that had he done before and that could he have done at Ierusalem but it was an intended meeting not only with the eleven but with the whole multitude of his Galilean and other Disciples and therefore he published this appointment so oft before and after his Resurrection and we cannot so properly understand his being seen of above five hundred brethren at once of which the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 15.6 of any other time and place as of this He had appointed the place and the concourse argueth that he had appointed the time too or at least this concourse waited at the place till his time should come And here may we conceive that he kept the Lords day or the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath with this multitude of his Disciples revealing himself clearly to them and preaching to them of the things that concerned the Kingdom of God Particularly he gives command and commission to go and disciple all Nations For whereas hitherto he had confined them to preach only to Israel now must they preach to every creature Mark 16.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Colos. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Jews ordinary language that is to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solomon in his Proverbs makes known Theory and Practice to the creatures Kafvenaki in Prov. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He causeth the holy Ghost to dwell upon the creatures Mid◠Til. in Psal. 135. Nimrod made Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and caused the creatures to erre Tanch fol. 8.4 The Lord requires that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the creatures should pray before him Id. fol. 16.4 In which and an hundred other instances that might be given the word Creatures signifieth only Men and their charge and commission to preach the Gospel to every creature means to all men the Gentiles as well as the Jews Warrant then and charge is given for the fetching of them in the great mystery Ephes. 3.4 6. who had lain subject to vanity of Idolatry and under the bondage of all manner of corruption ever since their casting off at Babel 2203 years ago They had been taught of the devil his oracles and delusions c. but now they must all be taught of God Isa. 54.13 by the preaching of the Gospel They had in some few numbers in this space been taught by Israel to know the Lord and proselyted into their Religion but now such proselyting should not need for all must come to the knowledge of God Heb. 8.11 the Gospel carrying the knowledge of him and it being carried through all Nations Those of them that had come into the Church of Israel and the true Religion had been inducted and sealed into it by being baptized Talm. in Iebam per. 4. c. And so that proselyte Sacrament as I may so call i◠must be carried and continued among all Nations as a badge of homage and subjection to Christ to whom all power is given in heaven and earth and of the profession of the true God The Father Sonne and holy Ghost against all false Gods and false worship Infants born of Christian parents are to bear this badge though when they undertake it they understand not what they do because none in Christian families should continue without the note of homage to Christs soveraignty and this distinctive mark against Heathenism that worshippeth false Gods as no male among Israel after eight daies old must be without the badge of Circumcision Discipling was not of persons already taught but to that end that they should be taught and if the Disciples understood this word in Christs command after any other sense it was different from the sense of the word which the Nation had ever used and only used For in their Schools a person was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scholar or Disciple when he gave in himself to such a Master to be taught and trained up by him and in the Discipling of Proselytes to the Jews Religion it was of the very like tenour That sense therefore that many put upon these words viz. that none are to be baptized but those that are throughly taught is such a one as the Apostles and all the Jewish Nation had never known or heard of before That wretched and horrid opinion that denieth the Godhead of Christ and the Godhead of the holy Ghost little observeth or at least will not see why the administration of Baptism among the Gentiles must be in the Name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost whereas among the Jews it was only in the Name of Iesus Act. 2.38 namely for this reason that as by that among the Jews Iesus was to be professed for the true Messias against all other so by this among the Gentiles who had worshipped false Gods The Father Sonne and holy Ghost should be professed the only true God And it would be but a wild as well as an irreligious Paraphrase that that opinion would make of this passage Go preach the Gospel to every creature and Baptize them in the Name of the Son a creature and the holy Ghost a creature He promiseth the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost to them that should beleeve not to all but to some for the confirmation of the Doctrine and chargeth the Disciples to return to Ierusalem and there to stay till he should pour down the holy Ghost upon them to inable them for this Ministry among all Nations to which he had designed them Mark and Luke do briefly adde the story of his ascension because they will dispatch his whole story but that is related more amply Act. 1. A seventh appearing To Iames. After the appearing to above five hundred Brethren at once which we suppose and not without ground to have been that last mentioned the Apostle relateth that he was seen of Iames 1 Cor. 15.7 and then of all the Apostles which doth plainly rank this appearance to Iames between that to the five hundred Brethren on the mountain in Galilee and his coming to all the Apostles when they were come again to Ierusalem Which Iames this was Paul is silent of as all the Evangelists are of any such particular appearance It is most like he means Iames the lesse of whom he speaks oft elsewhere and so doth the story of the Acts of the Apostles as one of specialler note in the time of Pauls preaching among the Gentiles We reade oft in the Gospels of Peter and Iames and Iohn three Disciples of singular eminency in regard of the privacy that Christ vouchsafed to them at some speciall times more then to the other Apostles and in that he badged them with a peculiar mark of changing their names and did not so by any of the other But that Iames was the sonne of Zebedee Now when he was Martyred Act. 12. you finde that Iames the sonne of Alpheus called Iames the lesse came to be ranked in the like
till their Synagogue service was done Maym. in Schab per. 30. which was not of a good while after nine a clock His alleadging of Ioel In the last daies I will pour out my Spirit c. teacheth us how to construe the phrase The last daies in exceeding many places both of the Old Testament and the New as Isa. 2.1 1 Tim. 4.1 2 Tim. 3.1 1 Pet. 4.7 1 Ioh. 2.19 c. namely for the last daies of Ierusalem and the Jewish State For to take his words in any other sense as some do for the last daies of the world is to make his allegation utterly impertinent and monstrous Three thousand converted are Baptized In the Name of the Lord Iesus ver 38. which no whit disagreeth from the command Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son c. Matth. 28.19 For the form of Baptism in those first daies of the Gospel of which the New Testament giveth the story may be considered under a threefold condition 1. Iohn the Baptist baptized in the Name of Messias or Christ that was then ready to come but that Iesus of Nazareth was he he himself knew not till he had run a good part of his course Ioh. 1.31 as was observed before 2. The Disciples baptizing the Jews baptized them in the Name of Iesus upon this reason because the great point of controversie then in the Nation about Messias was Whether Iesus of Nazareth were he or no. All the Nation acknowledged a Messias but the most of them abominated that Iesus of Nazareth should be thought to be he therefore those that by the preaching of the Gospel came to acknowledge him to be Messias were baptized into his Name as the criticall badge of their imbracing the true Messias But 3. among the Gentiles where that question was not afoot they baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost And so that baptizing in the Name of Iesus was for a season for the setling of the evidence of his being Messias and when that was throughly established then it was used no more but Baptism was in the Name of the Father and Son c. Of the same cognizance were those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit evidences of Iesus his being the Messias and means of conveying the Gospel through the world and when both these were well established then those gifts ceased for ever All that beleeved were together and had all things common ver 46. The children of those that beleeved must come under the title of Beleevers too or they must famish For this community of goods being for the relief of the poor as we shall shew at the fourth Chapter the children babes and infants of beleeving parents that were poor must be taken in under this expression All that beleeved c. or how did they for support If the community of goods reacht them as well as their parents the title must reach them too When a Master of a family was baptized his children were they never so young were baptized with him and hence the mention of baptizing whole housholds Act. 16.15.33 They that pleading against Infants Baptism do cavill that it may be there were no Infants in those families that are mentioned bewray that they little understand the manner of administring Baptism in its first use For the stress of the business lies not in this whether it can be proved that there were Infants in those families where it is recorded that whole housholds were baptized but the case is this that in all families whatsoever were there never so many Infants they were all baptized when their parents were baptized Thus was the constant custom among the Jews for admission of Proselytes and thence this Canon That a woman proselyted and baptized when she was great with child her childe needed not then to be baptized when it was born Maym. in Issure biah per. 13. For if he had been born before she was baptized he must have been baptized with her And the New Testament gives so little evidence of the altering this custom at those first baptizings under the Gospel that it plainly on the contrary shews the continuance of it when it speaketh of the Apostles baptizing whole housholds ACTS CHAP. III IV. PEntecost Feast lasted eight daies as well as their other Feasts Passeover Tabernacles and Dedication did Ierus in Moed Katon and Chagigah at large The occurrences of the very day of Pentecost it self are related already Now whether the healing of the Creeple and the consequences upon that contained in the third Chapter befell upon the same day in the afternoon or on the next day after which was the day when all the males appeared before the Lord in the Temple or further in the Feast is not certain but that they were within the compasse of the Feast is more then probable by the great multitude that was converted at one Sermon Peter and Iohn go into the Temple at the ninth hour the hour of prayer Talm. in Pesachin per. 5. The dayly sacrifice of the evening was killed at the eight hour and a half and offered at the ninth hour and an half Joseph Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Twice a day nvmely in the morning and about the ninth hour they offered on the Altar There as they go in at the East-gate that led into the Court of the women they finde and heal a Creeple which had been so from his birth The Jews looked upon this miracle as wrought by their own holinesse as appears by the Apostles answer to them ver 12. For such a conceit walked among the Nation that extraordinary holinesse might attain to miraculous workings R. Phinehas ben Iair saith Industry bringeth to purity Purity to cleannesse Cleannesse to holinesse Holinesse to humblenesse Humblenesse to fear of sin Fear of sin to partaking of the holy Ghost Jerus Schab fol. 3. col 3. Yet are they imprisoned that night and the next morning convented before the Councill Among others which are named of the Councill which were Priests Alexander and Iohn mentioned ver 6. seem to be Alexander Alabarcha or his son and Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai the later Vice-president at this time under Rabban Gamaliel They dismissed come to their own company and related what had occurred and upon joynt prayer the place is shaken and they are again filled with the holy Ghost Why What could be added to them they having been so filled with the holy Ghost before In their prayer they petitioned these two things That God would give them boldnesse to speak his Word and that Healings and Signes and Wonders might be done in the Name of Iesus And the power of both these fals now upon them and especially it may be conceived that Wonder of Wonders upon the twelve power to bestow the holy Ghost The community of goods with the mention of which the second and the fourth Chapters conclude may be considered
from thence among the Gentiles Chap. 13. to have been at that time while some of the things in Chap. 12. occurred CHRIST XLII CLAVDIVS II We will therefore take the Chapters up in the order in which they lye and only carry along with us in our thoughts a supposall that some of the stories in either might concurre in time And because we have found here some need to look after the Years of the Emperour which we have not had before and shall have much more forward especially when we come up to the times of Nero it may not be amisse to affix their Years also as they went along concurrent with the Years of our Saviour The famine begun the Church of Antioch send relief into Iudea ACTS CHAP. XII from the beginning to Ver. 20. CHRIST XLIII JAMES beheaded by Herod for so doth the Jews Pandect help us to understand these words He slew Iames with the sword 〈◊〉 Sanhedr per. 7. hal 3. They that were slain by the sword were beheaded which also was the custom of the Kingdom that is of the Romans The ceremonious zeal of Agrippa in the Jewish way bending it self against the Church may be construed as a Jewish act wicked as upon the score of that Nations wickednesse and guilt The underling condition in which they had lain all the time of Caius he having no good affection to that people being now got loose and aloft knows no bounds and being somewhat countenanced by the Edict of Claudius they cannot be content with their own immunities unlesse they seek also the suppression of the Christian Church Though Claudius his Proclamation had this speciall clause and caveat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should not go about to infringe the liberty of other mens Religion This unbounded incroaching of theirs did within a little time cause the Emperour who had now made a Decree for them to make another against them Peter designed by the murderer for the like butchery escapes by miracle and the Tyrant before that time twelve moneth comes to a miraculous fearfull end ACTS CHAP. XIII from beginning to Ver. 14. THe Divine Historian having hitherto followed the Story of the Church and Gospel as both of them were dilated among the Jews and therein pitched more especially upon the Acts of Peter and Iohn the singular Ministers of the Circumcision more peculiarly Peters he doth now turn his Pen to follow the planting and progresse of the Gospel among the Gentiles and here he insisteth more especially upon the Story of Paul and Barnabas the singular Ministers of the uncircumcision more peculiarly Pauls There were now in the Church of Antioch five men which were both Prophets and Teachers or which did not only instruct the people and expound the Scriptures but had also the Prophetick spirit and were partakers of Revelations For though Prophets and Teachers were indeed of a distinct notion 1 Cor. 12.28 Ephes. 4.11 and their abilities to teach were accordingly of a distinct originall namely the former by revelation and the latter by study yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which phrase may not passe without observation according to the state of the Church then being they not only had prophetick Teachers but there was a kinde of necessity they should have such till time and study had inabled others to be Teachers which as yet they could not have attained unto the Gospel having been so lately brought among them Among these five the names of Barnabas and Saul are no strangers to the Reader but the other three are more unknown 1. Simeon who was called Niger If the word Niger were Latine it might then fairly be conjectured that this was Simon of Cyrene the Moorish complexion of his Country justly giving him the title of Simeon the black but since the Patrionymick Cyrenean is applied only in the singular number to the next man Lucius and since the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was then used among the Jews in severall significations as may be seen in Aruch we shall rather conceive this man a Cypriot from Chap. 11.20 and as Barnabas also was Chap. 4.36 and his surname Niger whatsoever it signified used to distinguish him from Simon Peter and Simon the Cananiâ—e 2. Lucius of Cyrene Held by some and that not without some ground to be Luke the Evangelist which it is like hath been the reason why antiquity hath so generally held Luke to be an Antiochian true in regard of this his first appearing there under this name Lucius though originally a Cyrenian and educated as it may be supposed in the Cyrenian Colledge or Synagogue in Ierusalem Chap. 6.9 and there first receiving the Gospel In Rom. 16.21 Paul salutes the Roman Church in the name of Lucius whereas there was none then in Pauls retinue whose name sounded that way but only Luke as we shall observe there 3. Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrach Iuchasin fol. 19. mentioneth one Menahem who was once Vicepresident of the Sanhedrin under Hillel but departed to the service of Herod the great with fourscore other eminent men with him of whom we gave some touch before It may be this was his sonne and was called Manaen or Menahem after the father and as the father was a great favourite of Herod the great the father so this brought up at Court with Herod the Tetrach the sonne As these holy men were at the publick ministration with fasting and prayer the Holy Ghost gives them advertisement of the separating of Paul and Barnabas for the Ministry among the Gentiles A mission that might not be granted but by such a divine warrant considering how the Gentiles had alwaies lain behind a partition wall to the Jews For although Peter in the case of Cornelius had opened the door of the Gospel to the Heathen yet was this a farre greater breaking down of the partition wall when the Gospel was to be brought into their own Lands and to their own doors When God saith Separate them to the work whereunto I have called them it further confirmeth that it was and had been known before that they should be Ministers of the uncircumcision The Romish glossaries would fain strain the Masse out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Rhemists think they have done us a courtesie that they have not translated it to that sense whereas besides that the word naturally signifieth any publick ministration the Holy Ghost by the use of it seemeth to have a speciall aim namely to intimate to us that this was a publick fast as well as another publick ministration Publick fasts were not ordinary services and they were not taken up but upon extraordinary occasions and what the present occasion might be had been a great deal better worth studying upon then how to make the Greek word speak the Masse which it never meant How publick fastings and daies of humiliation were used by the Jews and upon what occasions there is a speciall Treatise
he and they as He came to Derbe ver 1. They went through the Cities ver 4. c. he cometh now to joyn himself and to use the word We and Vs. After he had seen the vision immediatly we indeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us ver 10. Yet was this City mixed also of abundance of Iews living among them as that people was now dispersed and sowed in the most places of the Empire from Rome it self Eastward however it was on this side On the Sabbath by a river side where the women it seemed used their bathings for purification and where was a Synagogue they preach and convert Lydia a proselytesse and she is instantly baptized and her houshold before she go home for ought can be found otherwise in the text from whence we may observe what beleeving gave admission to Baptism to whole housholds In this Roman Colony it is observable that the Synagogue is called Prossucha and that it is out of the Town Paul casteth out a spirit of divination and is therereupon beaten and imprisoned he and Silas but inlarged by an earthquake and the Jaylour is converted and he and his family instantly baptized After a little while Paul and Silas depart having laid the foundation of a very eminent Church as it proved afterward from which Paul in his Epistle thither acknowledgeth as many tokens of love received as from any Church that he had planted and to which he made as many visits afterward When he departeth he had ordained no Ministers there for ought can be gathered from the text and it may be he did not till his return thither again which was the course he had used in other Churches Acts 14.23 He speaketh of divers fellow-labourers that he had there in the Gospel both men and women Philip. 4.3 which cannot be understood of preaching but that these being converted they used their best indeavour to perswade others to imbrace the same Religion c. ACTS CHAP. XVII PAUL and Silas or Silvanus and Timothy come to Thessalonica where they make many converts but withall finde very much opposition In three weeks space or very little more they convert some Jews many Proselytes and not a few of the chief Gentiles women of the City which number considered with the shortnesse of the time in which so many were brought in and the bitternesse they indured from the unbelieving made their piety to be exceedingly renowned all abroad 1 Thessal 1.6 7 8. Persecution driveth the Apostles to Beraea another Town of Macedonia Plin. lib. 4. cap. 10. there they found persons better bred and better learned then that rabble mentioned ver 5. that they had met withall at Thessalonica The Jews called their learned men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filii nobilium it may be Lukes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 11. translates that The rabble from Thessalonica brings the persecution hither also so that Paul is glad to depart to Athens but Silas and Timothy abide at Beraea still At Athens there was a Synagogue of Jews and Proselytes ver 17. so that it is undoubted the scholars of the University had heard from them the report of the true God therefore Paul is not so much cried out upon for telling them of the true God in opposition to the false as for preaching of Iesus crucified risen and glorified which neither they nor even the Jews Synagogue there had ever heard of before for this he is convented before their great Court of Areopagus where his discourse converts one of that Bench Dionysius ACTS CHAP. XVIII FRom Athens Paul cometh to Corinth Vrbs olim clara opibus post clade notior nunc Romana colonia saith Pomp. Mâ—la lib. 2. cap. 3. A little view of the City may not be uselesse It stood in the Isthmus or that neck of Land that lay and gave passage betwixt Peloponesus and Attica upon which Isthmus the sea pointing in on either hand made Corinth a famous and a wealthy Mart Town by two Havens that it had at a reasonable distance from it on either side it the one Iochaeum at which they took shipping for Italy and those Western parts and the other Cenchraea at which they took shipping for Asia Merchandise arriving at these ports from those severall parts of the world were brought to Corinth which lay much in the middle between them and so this City became the great Exchange for those parts It lay at the foot of a high promont called Acrocorinthus or the Pike of Corinth The compasse of the City was some fourty furlongs or five miles about being strongly walled In it was a Temple of Venus so ample a foundation that it had above a thousand Nuns such Nuns as Venus had to attend upon it The City was sacked by L. Mummius the Roman Generall as for some other offence that it had given to that state so more especially for some abuse shewed to the Roman Embassadors there But it was repaired again by the Romans and made a Colony Vid. Strabo lib. 8. Plin. lib. 4. cap. 4. Paul coming hither findeth Priscilla and Aquila lately come from Italy because of Claudius his Decree which had expelled all the Iews from Rome Of this Decree Suetonius speaketh as he is generally understood In Claudio cap. 25. Iudaeos impulsore Christo assiduè tumultuantes Româ expulit Claudius expelled the Iews out of Rome who continually tumultuated because of Christ. In some copies it is written Christo but so generally interpreted by Christians in the sense mentioned that we shall not at all dispute it The same quarrell was got to Rome with the Gospel that did attend it in all parts of the world where it came among the Jews they still opposing it and contesting against it and so breeding tumultuousnesse The Apostle here in a strange place and out of moneys betaketh himself to work with his hands for his subsistence as also he did in other places upon the same exigent His work was to make Tents of skins such as the Souldiery used to lodge in when they were in the field Hence the phrase Esse sub pellibus This Trade he learned before he set to his studies It was the custom of the Jewish Nation to set their children to some trade yea though they were to be students What is commanded a father towards his son To circumcise him to redeem him to teach him the Law to teach him a Trade and to take him a wife R. Iudah saith He that teacheth not his sonne a trade does as if he taught him to be a thief Rabban Gamaliâ—l saith He that hath a trade in his hand to what is he like He is like to a Vineyard that is fenced Tosapht in Kiddushin per. 1. So some of the great wise men of Israel had been cutters of wood Maym. in Talm. Torah per. 1. And not to instance in any others as might be done in divers Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai that was at this
were not that Egyptian that not long before that time had made an insurrection Iosephus giveth his story Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 6. thus At that time there cometh one to Ierusalem out of Aegypt pretending himself to be a Prophet and he counselled the common people that they should go with him to Mount Olivet and that there he would shew them how at his command the walls of Ierusalem would fall But Felix understanding this sent some horse and foot against them and slew 400 of them our text here saies 4000 and took two hundred prisoners ACTS CHAP. XXII PAUL Apologizeth to the people telleth his Education Conversation and Conversion and relating how by a Divine Vision he was appointed to go to the Gentiles they begin a new commotion which the chief Captain again pacifieth but yet thinks Paul some notable villain or else that there would never have been so terrible cries against him He would now have scourged him but that he understood he was a Romane therefore he turns to another course and the next day brings him before the Sanhedrin The sitting of that Bench was little at Ierusalem now For as we have observed they were unnested from Ierusalem divers years ago and their most constant residence at present was at Iabneh only they were now come up to the Festivall ACTS CHAP. XXIII XXIV to Ver. 27. RAbban Simeon the sonne of Rabban Gamaliel Pauls Master was President of the great Councill at this time for Gamaliel was dead some two or tâ—ree yeares ago Of him the Jewes have this saying in Sotah per. 9. From the time that old Rabban Gamaliel died the honour of the Law ceased for till then they read and learned the Law standing but after his death sitting Onkelos the Targumist of the Law burne a great quantity of frankincense for him at his Obsequies Iuchasin fol. 53. Whether Rabban Simeon the President were present at this Session or no Ananias the Highpriest is as busie as if he had been chief President himself But Paul cares for him as little as he busied himself much He cals him whited wall or arrant painted hypocrite And when he was checked for reviling Gods Highpriest I knew not brethren saith he that he is Highpriest for if I took him for such a one I would not â—o have spoken to him since it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of my people It is not possible that Paul should not know who and what Ananias was but 〈◊〉 is very indifferent whether we understand this as not owning this man for a lawfull Highpriest or not owning any lawfull Highpriesthood now at all The man base and usurping and the Function of the Highpriesthood disanulled by the great Highpriest who had accomplished all that it typified and the place of the Highpriesthood being become a common Merchandise obtained by money and favour and disâ—â—â—ching one another By a holy policy he divides the Councill and professing himself by education a Pharisee and of that belief in the point of the Resurrection he not only sets Phariseâ— and Sadduces to a hot contestation between themselves but he makes the Pharisâ—â—s so farre as to that opinion to take his part It had been possible to have set the Hilâ—elian and Shammaean party together by the ears by a bone handsomly cast 〈◊〉 them for the Councill had these factions in it and their feud was as deadly bâ—t Paul could own no article of their divisions that was worth his owning they were so 〈◊〉 and below his cognisance It is the confession of the Ierusalem Gomarists in Iâ—ma fol 38. col 3. That the fault of their great ones under the second Temple was love of money and hatred one of another Paul in the hubbub is rescued again by the Souldiery and that night by revelation is warranted to appeal to Caesar by being informed he must go to Rome A Conspiracy of a pack of cut-throats to murder him is prevented and he is sent to Caesarea to Felix where he lies prisoner two years By such packing and combining of murderers it may easily be conjectured what temper the Nation was now in Iosephus his character of it at these times is That the affairs of the Iews grew daily worse and worse 〈◊〉 that the Country was full of theeves and sorcerers but Felix was daily picking them up to penalty after their desert the greater thief the lesse for his character yields 〈◊〉 no better Tacitus saies enough of him when he speaks but this Antonius Felix per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit Histor. lib. 5. cap. 2. Upon which Iosephus will give you a large comment of his intolerable covetousnesse polling cruelty sacriledge murderings and all manner of wickednesse His injuriousnesse to Paul in the story before us and the very naming 〈◊〉 wife Drusilla may be brand enough upon him for her by inticements and magicall 〈◊〉 he allured to himself from her husband and married her And him he kept prisoner two years wrongfully because he would not bribe him In his pleading before him he makes him tremble but it is but a qualm and away CHRIST LVII NERO. III PAUL is a prisoner this year at Caesarea under Felix A great City of Jews and Greeks mixtly the place where the first spark of Jews Warres kindled afterward A famous University of Jews in time if so be it was not so at this time ACTS CHAP. XXIV Ver. 27. CHRIST LVIII NERO. IV PAUL still a prisoner at Caesarea under Felix for the first part of this year Then cometh Festus into the Government and Felix packeth to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours ACTS CHAP. XXV XXVI PAUL answereth for himself first before Festus alone then before Agrippa and his sister Bernice this Agrippa was his sonne whose death is related Acts 12. he by the favour of Claudius the Emperour succeeded his brother in Law-Uncle Herod for such relations did that Incestuous family finde out in the Kingdom of Chalcis For Berenice his sister had married Herod King of Chalcis her Uncle and his who was now dead and this Agrippa succeeded him in his Kingdom being also King of Iudea Of this Agrippa as it is most probable there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Writers as particularly this that King Agrippa reading the Law in the later end of the year of release as it was injoyned and coming to those words Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt not set a stranger King over thee which is not of thy brethren the tears ran down his cheeks for he was not of the seed of Israel which the Congregation observing cried out Be of good comfort O King Agrippa thou art our brother He was of their Religion though not of their blood and well versed in all the Laws and customs as Paul speaks chap. 26.3 Berenice his sister now a widow lived with him and that in more familiarity then was for their credit afterward she fell into the like