fore-shadowed by David concerning the manner of our Saviour's Ascension or propagation of his Kingdome was more clearly fore-seen by Daniel and as punctually foreshadowed by matter of fact in Mosaicall histories To begin with the testimony of Daniel which was meerly propheticall a pure vision And I beheld invisions by night behold one like the son of man came in the clouds of heaven and approached unto the ancient of daies and they brought him before him And he gave him dominion and honour and a Kingdome that all people Nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall never be taken away and his Kingdome shall never be destroyed In that he saith he was like unto the Son of man this doth not import that hee was not truly man or only like to man but that more glory was due unto him then to any meere sonne of man and that he was the true sonne of that ancient of dayes unto whom hee was brought And as our Apostle saith that being in the forme of God and equall unto God yet he was found in the liknesse and shape of man that is as essentially like to man as like to God The Prophet describes his presentation to his Father by the Angels and coelestiall powers attending him which our Evangelist relateth not because haply this could not be seen by waking and mortall eyes but only by vision or rapture of spirit The same Prophet likewise describes the manner of his Ascension as exactly as if he had been a waking spectator of it with the Apostles and Disciples 2 But to resume the Prophets words Behold saith the Prophet one like the sonne of man came in the clouds of heaven and approached unto the ancient of daies hee doth not say hee was brought up in the clouds of heaven for the motion was his owne Hee was the agent or mover as well as the party moved in this Ascension So the Evangelist saith Act. 1. 9. And when hee had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up for a cloud tooke him out of their sight and whilst they looked stedfastly towards heaven as he went Behold two men stood by them in white apparrell which also said yee men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven Emphasim habent verba hee videntibus illis It was remarkably said that hee was taken up his Disciples looking on for this imports as some of the ancients observe that Christ did ascend by litle and litle as it were by certaine steps that hee might feed the eyes and refresh the soules of his Disciples He was not raught up as Elias was who had but one witnesse nor as S. Paul who had no witnesse besides himselfe scarce himselfe a witnesse of his rapture for whether hee were taken up in the body or out of the body God knowes saith he I cannot tell But our Saviour went by the power of his omnipotency he descended when hee would and when he would ascended appointing what spectators or witnesses it pleased him with the place the time the very day and houre 3 As S. Luke's description of our Saviour's Ascension is a compleat explanation of Daniel's vision so is that vision of the mysticall sense of Mosaicall or other histories concerning the Arke or Tabernacle For the unfolding of this point we are to take the fore-mentioned prenotion for our rule to wit that the Arke of the Covenant wherein God was said to dwell was but a Type or shadow of the humane nature of Christ in which the God-head dwelleth bodily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other branch of this prenotion is as cleare that the Tabernacle which Moses erected in the wildernesse in which he placed the Arke was but a petty modle of that celestiall Tabernacle into which Christ is entred of which the Temple built by Salomon was somewhat a fairer draught yet no more then a litle mappe Now immediately after Moses had finished the worke of the Tabernacle A cloud covered the Tent of the congregation and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle Exod. 40. ver 34. c. More expressly Numb 9. v. 15. And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up a cloud covered the Tabernacle namely the tent of the testimony and at even there was upon the Tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire untill the morning The most memorable history to this purpose is 1. King 1. v. When Salomon had assembled all the Elders of Israel and heads of the Tribes to bring up the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord out of the City of David to the Temple ver 1. And it came to passe when the Priests were gone out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the Glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord. v. 11. The Son of God in whose breast as he is the Son of David the Covenant made with mankind is registred most exactly and kept safer then the Tables of the first Covenant were in the Arke when it was brought into the Temple had his Throne and Sanctuary prepared of old or to use our Apostle's dialect non erat hujus structurae they were not thrones or Sanctuaries made with hands yet to be consecrated by the blood of our high Priest and being thus prepared a cloud did cover this living Arke of God and high Priest upon the day that hee was to enter into the holy place After the cloud tooke him from his Disciples sight hee filled the everlasting Tabernacle with his Glory being more reverently adored by all the host of heaven then he had been either by Salomon or the Elders of Israel when they brought the Arke of his Covenant into the Temple or by his Apostles after his Resurrection 4 At the same time wherein the Arke was brought by the Priest into the most holy place Salomon kneeling before the Altar of the Lord first blessed God and consecrated the Temple by that divine prayer never to be forgotten by good Christians And as soone as he had ended his prayer he rose up and blessed the congregation of Israel with a loud voice saying Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised there hath not failed one word of all his good promises which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant 1. King 8. v. 56. c. His praiers to God and blessing of the people are more then parallel'd by our Saviour's prayers for his owne Consecration and the spirituall blessings thence to be derived upon his Apostles Ioh. 4. 14. c. One part of Salomons praier when he blessed the people was this Let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night that he maintaine the cause of his servant and the cause of his people
solemne calling to be the Sons of God And this part of redemption is common to all who are baptized according to Christs commission given to his Apostles and their Successors to this purpose Another part of our Redemption whether that be altogether distinct from the former or but a consequent to it is our actuall exemption from the rage or tyranny of sinne within our selves whilst we live here in the flesh And this degree of redemption is proper only to those who though they live in the flesh doe not live according to the flesh or the fashions of the world as having their hearts purified by a lively faith in Christs death The last part or finall accomplishment of our Redemption is the exemption of both body and soule from the powers of hell and death by Resurrection unto endlesse glory which is the everlasting salvation here meant And this is proper only unto such as finally shall be sayed by continuance in faith and obedience But let us not deceive our selves for God will not be mocked and wee shall but mock him if we presume to goe to heaven by curious Distinctions or nice Doctrines without a constant progresse in syncere unpartiall obedience Nor will externall conformitie to orthodox all rites or Religion or eye-service suffice to obtaine the salvation here promised to such as obey him or if we be addicted to eye-service or obedience let us performe our obedience not in our own eyes or as in the eyes of sinfull men but as in the eyes and view of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by our Apostle Chap. 4. of this Epistle ver the 9. In whose sight every Creature is manifest all things are open and naked This is that eternall word who is now made our high Priest and shall hereafter come to be our Iudge Let us then account it a principall part of our present and future obedience to powre out our soules in prayers and supplications to this our high Priest for the remission of all our sinnes past and seeing hee was consecrated once for all through afflictions or sufferings for so the current of our Apostles discourse implyes to be a compassionate and mercifull high Priest to his Father for us let us all publiquely and privately dayly and houâ—ely beseech him by his agony and bloody sweat by his Orâ—sse and bitter passion not only to make intercession for us but to powre out the spirit of prayer upon us â—o strengthen us with supplies of grace for â—ubduing the body of sinne which is within us unto the spirit and to quicken our spiâ—ies unto newnesse of life that so we may be able to stand before him in that great day of Iudgment SECT 2. Of the calling or designement of the Sonne of God to be an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech Of the differences and agreements in some particulars betweene the Preisthood of Aaron and the Priesthood of Melchisedech CHAP. 6. Of the Signification or Importance of the word calling used by our Apostle Heb. 5. with the generall Heads or Points to be handled and discust in this 2. 3. 4. Sections THat the making of the Sonne of God perfect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 9. implyes a solemne Calling or Consecration to his high Priesthood is yet more apparant from the words following v. 10. Calledan high Priest after the order of Melchisedech This word Called imports somewhat more then a name imposed upon him though at his Circumcision or at his Baptisme more then a mere title of dignitie But what more then so A solemne Calling or Designement unto this high Office or Prelacy Such a calling but more solemne then Aaron had unto the legall high Priesthood Vnto this Priesthood Aaron is said Chap. 5. v. 4. that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by speciall Designement or destination advanced to the office of the high Driest during the Law But when the same Apostle speakes of the calling of the Sonne of God unto the high Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech v. 10. The word in the original is more significant and more solemne then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it referres to Aaron for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solemnly declared or pronounced by God to be an high Priest after the order of Mechisedech 2 The method of our present inquiry or search into this grand mysterie must be this First who this Melchisedech was according to whose order the Sonne of God was called to be a Priest or how Melchisedech whosoever he were did represent or shadow out the person of the Sonne of God Secondly wherein the Priesthood of Melchisedech did consist or wherein it differred from the Priesthood of Aaron and what calling hee had to such a Priesthood Thirdly what divine Designement or calling the Sonne of God had to his everlasting Priesthood Fourthly a parallel betweene the Consecration of Aaron or other of his Successors to this legall Priesthood and the Consecration of the Sonne of God to his everlasting Priesthood prefigured or foreshadowed not by Aaron or his Successors but by Melchisedech before the Law was given Fiftly the peculiar acts or exercises of the Sonne of God's everlasting Priesthood This fift or last Point must be referred as an appendix unto the Articles of the Sonne of God's Ascension and his sitting at the right hand of God the Father All these are Points of good use and worthy of deeper and better consideration then they usually are taken into by most Interpreters of sacred Writ or Controversywriters The first Question only may seeme to be too curious And so perhaps it is indeed if wee should take upon us to determine the individualitie of Melchisedech's person after whose order the Sonne of God was consecrated or made a Priest But on the other side it would be presumptuous absolutly to deny this Melchisedech to have been the same individuall person whom the later Iewes generally and many late learned Christian writers take him for The greatest difficulty in this Point ariseth from the Apostles description of Melchisedech Chap. 7. v. 3. Without father without mother without descent having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but made like unto the Sonne of God abideth a Priest continually 3 From this place some would peremptorily conclude that Melchisedech could be no mortal man no sonne of Adam but either the holy Ghost or the sonne of God then appearing to Abraham in the similitude or likenesse of man For of this Melchisedech save only in the history of Abraham Gen. 14. and 110. Psalme there is no mention at all in the old Testament To wave or rather dismisse their opinion who think Melchisedech was the holy Ghost the third person in Trinitie seeing it is but a conjecture of some few who rather wave then prosecute it Let us see what probabilitie there is that this Melchisedech should be the eternal Word or Son of God appearing to Abraham in the likenesse of man and exercising
Church or the ministers in it will suffer us to think this Melchisedech should be a Canaanite For although we ought perhaps to be as farre from denying as from affirming that God had many chosen vessels amongst the sonnes of Cham yet is it no way probable or to be affirmed that hee had any visible Church amongst them at that time whereof wee speake much lesse any such orthodoxall authentique high Priest as was ex officio to blesse him with whom the everlasting Covenant was to be established within whose family and posterity the true and visible Church was to be confined almost two thousand yeares after Nor doe we in saying thus tie the Almightie as some haply will accuse us to use no meanes but ordinary in bestowing his extraordinary blessings But this we say that where the manner of his calling is most extraordinary and miraculous it is his pleasure to use the ordinary meanes of lawfull ministers for the ratification or declaring of his calling at least for the admissiō of the parties called unto the emoluments or prerogatives of their calling Paul was plucked away from the Synagogue as a sappie branch from a dying tree by the immediate and strong hand of God but to be ingrafted or inoculated into the true Church which is the body of Christ by means ordinary and ministeriall by the hands of Ananias a civill and visible member of Christs mysticall body 4 In like manner we doe not deny that the manner of Gods calling Abraham out of Haran and the matter of the blessings then promised to him to have been both extraordinary in which blessing notwithstanding hee is to be installed by Melchisedech appointed as Gods Deputie or Vicegerent so the hebrew Cohen properly signifieth to ratifie or seale the former promises unto him The manner of the conveyance is formall and legall such as God ordinarily useth in like cases And by probable consequence this Melchisedech whosoever he were was a true principall member of the visible Church which at that time was no where on earth but in Sem his posteritie Of those Sonnes of Sem which are mentioned in Abraham's genealogy most were dead others for ought we read or by analogy can gather from what we have read no way so fitly qualified for this service as Sem himselfe who was then alive For Sem had beene solemnly blessed by his father And although hee be represented unto us in the fourth of Genesis under another name and shape then he receiv'd the blessing in yet the holy spirit seemes to point him speaking in his owne native language and solemnly bestowing that blessing upon Abraham his sonne which his father Noah had bestowed on him Blessed be the Lord God of Shem and let Canaan be his servant Gen. 4. The implication or importance is as if hee had said Shem shall have cause to blesse the Lord his God for making him Lord of Canaan This blessing or bequest wee know was to beare date aswell in Shem's posteritie as in himselfe but principally in his posteritie Now wee no where read of any conveyance or bequest of this blessing made by Shem unto his Successors besides that solemne blessing which Melchisedech whom for this reason we suppose to have been Shem bestowed on Abraham The tenor of his bequest or conveyance is more expresse Gen. 14. 19. Blessed be Abrahā of God most high possessor of Heaven and earth This propheticall benediction implyes that Abraham and his posterity should have cause to blesse the Lord their God for giving them possession of that earth or land which was the type or pledge of their heavenly inheritance and possessions This was the gaine of godlinesse that merces valde magna to have the promise of this life and of that which is to come And as the land of promise or Kingdome of Canaan once possessed was a true pledge or earnest of their title to the heavenly kingdome so Abraham at the very time when Melchisedech blessed him received the pledges of his posterities hopes unto that temporall kingdome 5 For albeit we utterly deny all sacrifice of bread and wine yet may wee not in opposition to the Papist affirme or maintaine that Melchisedech entertained Abraham and his followers only with a vulgar or common refection These elements of bread and wine being confidered with the solemnitie of the blessing have besides the literall sense a symbolicall or mysticall importance and are thus farre at least sacramentall that they served for earnests to secure Abraham that his posterity should quietly enjoy and eate the good things of that pleasant land wherein he was now a Sojourner Briefly Abraham in that sacred banquet which the King of Salem exhibited unto him did as we say take levery de seisin of the promised land as it is probable in that very place which God had destinated for the Metropolis of the kingdome or at least in that place where Iohn did baptize And albeit Melchisedech did no doubt derive the blessing bestowed on Shem or on himselfe by Noah in more expresse termes unto Abraham by inspiration extraordinary and divine yet Abraham at this time had afforded him a fit text or theame to make these extemporary expositions or declarations upon Of all that had proceeded out of the loines of Shem none as yet had ever given the like proofe of his likely hood to become Lord of Canaan as Abraham now had done whom God had enabled to right the King of Sodome and other Cananitish Kings not being able to right themselves against forreigne usurpers 6 For any man of ordinary understanding that had been an Actor in the late warre so happily managed by Abraham and a by-stander at Melchisedech's blessing of him to have conjectured to this purpose had been as easy and as warrantable as it was for the Israelites to divine that Moses should be their Deliverer by the manner of his killing the Aegyptian which had contended with an Israelite Now the holy Spirit seemes to taxe their dulnesse for not apprehending this mystery from the manner of Moses fact Thus we may derive Gods blessings upon mankind since the flood from Noah to Shem from Shem whom we take to be Melchisedech unto Abraham in whose seede all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed This argues Abraham's promised seede to be greater then Melchisedech for Abraham was blessed by Melchisedech not in Melchisedech's name but in the name of the most high God whose Priest hee was Howbeit this promised seed of Abraham was not greater then Melchisedech in externall beauty or prerogative royall till after his Resurrection or second birth During the time of his humiliation hee was rather destinated then consecrated to be the Author or fountaine of blessednesse unto us For as the Apostle argues Heb. 5. 8. Though hee were the Sonne yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered And being consecrated to wit by his sufferings became the Author of eternall salvation unto all them
in kind alwaies according to the qualitie or specificall nature of his worke or service but for quantity farre beyond all proportion of any gift or service which Abraham could present unto his God though it had beene the sacrifice of himselfe or of his sonne The first remarkable service which God exprest or required of Abraham was to forsake his kindred and his Fathers house Gen. 12. 1. And in lieu of that interest which Abraham renounced in these those being not the ten thousand part of the Country wherein he lived God gives him a just title or interest to the whole land of Canaan and promiseth to make a mighty Nation of his seede to erect more then one or two Kingdomes out of it And yet all this is but the pledge or earnest of a farre better patrimony prefigured by it and bequeathed with it as an inheritance conveyed by delivery of the terrar The spirituall blessing envailed under this great temporall blessing was that God would be a God unto Abraham and to his seede and that they should be unto him a people And to be God's peculiar people was so much greater then to be Lords and Kings over the whole earth as the temporall inheritance which God here promised Abraham that was the whole Kingdome of Canaan was greater then the private temporall patrimony which Abraham for God's service had left in Caldaea or Mesopotamia 4 The next service which God requires of Abraham and his seede that they might become more capable of his promise and that this promise might transire in pactum passe as wee say into a League or Covenant was that Abraham and his seed should circumcise the fore-skin of their flesh and by this ceremony or service they were consecrated to be God's people his peculiar people The reward which God astipulateth or promiseth to this service or ceremony by them performed was that hee would consecrate himselfe by the same ceremony of circumcision to be their God their gracious Protector and Redeemer But Abraham and his sonne Isaac being by this ceremony of Circumcision once consecrated to God's service they might not after they had once received this badge or cogniâ—ance withdraw themselves from any service unto which their Lord God should afterwards call them how harsh and unpleasant soever it might seeme to flesh and blood The next remarkable service whereunto God called Abraham was to offer up his only sonne Isaac whom he loved for a burnt offering And this service AbrahaÌ„ for his part is as willing to undertake to be an Actor in it Isaac as willing to undergoe or be a patient in it as they had been in the former service of Circumcision The reward which God appointed to this second service of Abraham and Isaac was the finall ratification of the former promise or Covenant by solemne oath By my selfe have I sworne that in thy seede shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed The contents of his oath is that God would make his only Sonne such a sacrifice as Abraham was willing to have made his only Sonne Isaac that in him and by him all the Nations of the earth that is all of every Nation that would so rely upon God's promises as Abraham and Isaac did should be made heires with them of the Kingdome which God had promised and that was the Kingdome of everlasting blisse But of this particular the Reader may see more in the eighth Book of these Comments 5 In this sacrifice of the Sonne of God and seede of Abraham the League first solemnized by Circumcision was for the externall rite or manner more exquisitely solemnized than any League ever had been The solemnitie of all other Leagues were eminently contained in it For besides the rites before mentioned in solemnizing Leagues concluded by sacrifice each party had a Priest or vates or else made choice of some indifferent Priest for both Each party likewise had their proper sacrifice or which would give better satisfaction to curiositie they had one common sacrifice in which both parties had equall interest as being provided at their joynt costs and charges or the one brought a Priest and the other a sacrifice Sometimes againe they had one common Temple either built of purpose at their joynt costs as some thinke Ianus Temple in Rome was built by Romulus and Titus Tatius for ratifying the peace betweene the Latines and the Sabines or else made choice of some Temple most indifferently seated for both to meete in All these circumstances were good emblemes of the wished-for peace good emblemes likewise of the equall conditions in such Leagues agreed upon and yet imperfect emblemes scarce good shadowes of the admirable manner how this League of peace betwixt God and man was concluded Wee cannot say that God had one Priest and man another but both had one Priest more indifferent then any two Nations ever could have though his Father had beene of the one Nation and his Mother of the other and himselfe born upon the Sea betwixt them or upon the bounds of their borders The Priest betweene God and man was but one and yet truly God and truly man so truly one that we cannot say the seed of Abraham or son of man did provide the sacrifice and the Sonne of God did offer it but which is more admirable and more indifferent the flesh of this sacrifice was humane or mans flesh as truly and properly as ours is and yet as truly and properly the flesh of God as ours is the flesh of man The blood of the sacrifice likewise was sanguis humanus mans blood as truly and properly as any blood in our veines is and yet as truly and properly the blood of God as our blood is the blood of man It was as hath beene heretofore observed humane blood or mans blood by nature that is of the same substance with our blood and yet the blood of God by personall Vnion or Property by a more peculiar title then the blood in our bodies can be said ours For the Godhead is more nearely united to the manhood of Christ then our soules are to our bodies And by this personall or bodily habitation of the Godhead in his bodie he who was our sacrifice and continues a Priest for confirming this League is also become the Temple His body is become that Tabernacle wherein God promised to meete the children of Israel And unto the glory of the Godhead which was before inaccessible but now dwelling in this Tabernacle wee have dayly accesse through the blood of Christ We may at all times in all places present him in this Tabernacle with the sacrifice of prayer of thankesgiving and of our selves and he from hence as our God and Father indues us with the Spirit of Christ whereby we are made his Sonnes For the blood of Christ as it is sanguis humanus humane blood of the same nature with ours doth symbolize with our nature and as it is the blood
in my praiers that the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that yee may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in his Saints and what is the exceeding greatnesse of his Power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which hee wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his owne right hand in the heavenly places farre above all principalities and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in the world which is to come Ephes 1. v. 15. 16. c. But the high price of the knowledge of these mysteries and the fervency of his prayers for attaining unto such knowledge are more pathetically exprest Phil. 3. v. 7. But what things were gaine to mee those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may winne Christ and be found in him not having mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any meanes I might attaine unto the Resurrection of the dead 2 The considerations of these raptures of our Apostles joy and hope occasion or rather revive the reliques of my private sorrow and griefe even in this subject of publique joy and comfort For the bitterest and deepest sting which wordly crosses or multiplicitie of buisinesses or other vexations past have left in my thoughts is this That my portion for many yeares in all these respectively hath brought a necessity upon me either not at all or in my old and decaying daies to publish the fruits of my former labours in these great mysteries which to my apprehension had beene well set in my flourishing and vivid yeares or to borrow an expression from a more sacred and more authentique Author that the children of my desires should come now to the birth when there is least strength left to bring them forth yet was the Lord his comfort and strength who was the Author of this complaint and on the same Lords gracious goodnesse my weaknesse whether of memory judgment or expression shall repose it selfe As for the Articles of Christ's Resurrection and Ascention the ingenuous Reader cannot expect nor can I hope that I should say much which hath not been said before by many others especially in this ripe age of learning these being the theames or subjects of anniversary Sermons upon the solemne feasts unto which they properly belong as well in the Court as in the Vniversities and all other well ordered Churches throughout this Kingdome yet somewhat I must say concerning these two points as being ingaged to bring this long treatise concerning the knowledge of Christ and him crucified to some period 3 The true or Christian beliefe of any Article in the Creed includes somewhat more then an opinion more then a pious opinion or meere probability of its truth and the knowledge of the mysteries last mentioned in our Apostle's meaning or expression imports somewhat more then a meere beliefe of them more then such a beliefe or the sight or experiment of greatest miracles could produce or establish in most docile Auditors whether of our Saviour Christ himselfe or of his Apostles for even the best most docile of the Disciples or Apostles which had been ear-witnesses of his heavenly Doctrine and eie-witnesses of all his miracles from his baptisme or temptation in the wildernesse unto his reposall in the grave did not know halfe so much concerning the mysteries of his Crosse of his passion and bloody death before his Resurrection as they did after it nor did they so well understand so much of the power and vertue of his Resurrection it selfe for many dayes after their experience of the truth of it as they did after his Ascention into heaven and the descension of the holy Ghost upon them by whose efficacious inspiration or operation in their hearts and soules the knowledge of all the fore-mentioned Articles was much increased and their beliefe of the meanest matters which did concerne Christ much better rooted and strengthened then it had been before his glorification His placing at the right hand of God in his throne of majesty did crowne their former beliefe and glorious hopes with fresh joy and comfort 4 Wherein the knowledge of Christ and the knowledge of other subjects whether philosophicall or mathematicall or in other termes wherein the faculty of Theology and sciences properly so called agree or differ hath been discust at large in the seventh Booke of these commentaries and in the fourth We are then properly said to know any effect or conclusion in sciences properly so called or so reputed when we discerne the true cause why it is so and are assured that it cannot be otherwise And we are then said to know Christ and him crucified according to the scale of speculative knowledge when we can discerne the sweet harmony betweene the evangelicall relations or matters related by the Apostles concerning Christ the predictions of the Prophets or prefigurations by matters of fact in the Law or legall services or in sacred histories Againe as in sciences properly so called there is a regresse or knowledge of the cause by the effect of the effect by the cause So there is a two-fold knowledge of Christ the one speculative such as hath beene described before the other which is the better practicall or experimentall which later is better resembled by morall philosophy then by naturall experiments or mathematicall conclusions 5 This experimentall knowledge of Christ and of the mysteries whereof we treate consists in that solid impression which the fore-mentioned speculative knowledge being liniamented in our brains doth by the finger of God that is by his holy spirit ingrave in our hearts and instampe upon our affections I must beginne with the speculative knowledge of these two Articles concerning the Resurrection and Ascention of the Sonne of God and conclude with the practicall or experimentall 6 The conclusions or declarations of these mysteries are set downe by the foure Evangelists didistinctly and accurately both for substance and historicall circumstances and their severall references to former Scriptures avouched not only by them but by other of the Apostles in their canonicall writings especially by S. Paul in his Epistles to the Ephesians Colossians Corinthians and to the Hebrewes The Evangelicall declaration of this great mystery with the manner how the beliefe or
the most exquisite literall sense referre to David's seede not by carnall generation but by promise or birth spirituall and yet truly verified of Salomon according to a lower degree of the literall sense who was David's seede by carnall generation The establishing of Salomon's Kingdom is here indefinitely expressed without any note of Vniversalitie in respect of time nor was his Line de facto perpetuated until the promised seed was spiritually conceived and made of our flesh and substance If Salomon's Line as is probable did determine in Ieconiah yet this no way excludes it from being part of the literall object verse 13. Hee shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever that is so long as that materiall temple should stand which was untill the captivitie of Babylon The first words likewise of the 14 th v. I will be his father and he shall be my sonne were literally and in the historicall sence meant of Salomon albeit exactly fulfilled in David's seede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the mysticall sense that is Salomon as his Father David before him was instiled the Sonne of God or God's first borne amongst the Princes of the earth and so instiled not by Court-complement or in the adulatorie stile but by the Spirit of God Both their Royalties and prerogatives did beare the same proportion to all the praeeminencies of earthly Kings which lived before them or in their times especially for the perpetuity of the Kingdome which the portion of the first borne did beare by the Law of God or custome of Nations unto younger Brothers But the later part of the 14 th verse and the whole 15 th verse If hee commit iniquitie I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men are to be understood of Salomon and the heires of his body only they are not appliable to the Sonne of God made man or to the sonne of David made King and Priest either according to the literall or mysticall sence The 16 th verse referres to David and to Salomon and their sonnes in the literall but to Christ and his Kingdome only in the mysticall sence as to the true body and substance of which these two great Kings of Israel and Iudah and their Kingdomes were but as briefe Maps or Terrars The Kingdome of David's seede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of Salomon his Successor in the Kingdomes of Israel and Iudah doe differ more in substance then the map of Germany doth from that sometimes goodly Country now wasted with warre and famine 3 But in all these passages before cited there is no intimation of God's Oath for the confirmation of his promise unto David and his Seedes but to his Seede Yet this assurance unto his SEEDE we have in the 132 Psalme which was composed by David himselfe toward the later end of his reigne or after he had brought the Arke of the Covenant unto Mount Sion the place dedicated by this pious King for its perpetuall residence It is a point to me very considerable that as God did not confirme his promise of blessing to Abraham by Oath untill Abraham had yeelded up by faith his only sonne Isaac so did he not give David assurance by Oath that the seede promised to Abraham should be his seede or that this his seede should be the high Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary until David had first bound himselfe by sacred Oath to prepare a place for the Arke of the Covenant an habitation for the Almighty God of Iacob Lord remember David and all his afflictions Psalme 132. v. 1 How he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Iacob Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor goe up into my bed I will not give sleepe unto mine eyes or slumber unto mine eye-lids untill I find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Iacob c. This great service thus consecrated and devoted by the royall Prophet the mighty Lord who will not suffer a cup of cold water given to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet to passe unrewarded doth abundantly recompence not in generall only or by equivalencie but as before he had done Abraham's and Isaac's obedience in kind Thus much is implied ver the 11. The Lord hath sworne in truth unto David hee will not turne from it c. As if he had said he will not reverse his promise nor suffer the blessing promised to faile because both were confirmed by Oath What was the Blessing promised and confirmed by oath Of the fruit of thy body or of thy belly as the originall hath it will I set upon thy throne The object of this Oath reacheth to none of David's seed save only to him who was the promised womans seed the fruit of the Virgins wombe yet were not David's sons or the rest of his seede excluded by oath from reigning in Iudah and Ierusalem untill time should be no more so it followeth ver the 12. If thy children will keepe my Covenant and my Testimony that I shall teach them their children also shall sit upon thy throne for ever But these wee must consider are words of Promise not of Oath and for this reason are exprest not in an absolute forme or tenour And so must other promises not confirmed by oath be interpreted although the condition be not alwaies expressed they alway imply more then a meere possibility a true title to the blessing promised though not a title undefeasable 4 But it is time to review the Paraphrase of the Psalmist Psalme 89. upon this last and other promises made respectively unto David himself to his seede or sonnes The originall occasion whether of that Psalmist's tentations to question the truth of God's promises to David or which I rather think of the general distrust in the discontented multitude of those times which he did rather seek to represent then approve was this Either they did not distinguish at all or else not so well as they should betweene the Articles unto which God did sweare and the Articles unto which he tied himselfe by promise only The later were alway conditionall or subject to a forfeiture or revocation upon the misdemeanour of the parties whose good it did concerne I have found David my servant with my holy oile have I anointed him with whom mine hand shall be established mine arme also shall strengthen him The enemy shall not exact upon him nor the sonne of wickednesse afflict him v. 20. 21. 22. c. All this no good Christian can doubt was literally and punctually meant of the sonne of Iesse As litle question there is of the 25. v. I will set his hand in the Sea and his right hand also in the Rivers This according to the literal meaning expresseth the extents or bounds of David's or Salomon's Kingdome here on earth For that extended from the Sidonian sea
did solemnely confesse and acknowledg Christ Iesus to be as truly God as man The matter or object directly signified by these words is the only true and reall Foundation of faith as Christian of the Catholique Church it selfe Of this ranke or sort of names is the name Iehosadech as it was given unto the Father of Iesus the high Priest but this doth no way import that he was either Iehovah or a man more righteous thē other high Priests had beene and yet so called not by chance or out of vain ostentation of his parents but by divine instinct or appointment of God Or whatsoever intent his parēts might have in giving him this name God did so direct their intentiōs as he did Caiphas his speech to be a kind of prophecy of what was to come We may say of Iehosadech as the Angell said of Iesus and his fellow-Priests that hee was vir portendens his very name and office did portend or bode that Iehovah himselfe the righseous Lord should become our high Priest And in as much as the Sonne of Iehosadech was the first high Priest the first of all the sonnes of Aaron that was called Iesus that is a Saviour this likewise did portend or fore-shadow that the Saviour of God's people the high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech should be the son not of David only but of Iebovah the righteous Lord or Lord of righteousnesse And if he were to be as truly the Sonne of Iehovah the righteous Lord as he was to be the sonne of David then questionlesse hee was to be as truely Iehovah that is as truly and essentially God as hee is truly and essentially man For the relation betwixt the Father and the Sonne is much more strict in the Divine nature then it can be amongst men 9 Amongst men it will follow that if the Father be a man the Sonne must be a man if the Father be mortall the Sonne must be mortall but it will not follow that if the Father be a righteous or potent man the Sonne likewise must be a righteous or potent man The reason is because they are divided in substance But in as much as the Sonne of God is of the same substance or essence with his Father it will directly follow not only that if the Father be God the Sonne is God but also that if the Father be Lord of righteousnesse the Sonne also must be Lord of righteousnesse Yet in as much as not Iehosadech the Father but Iesus the Sonne became legall righteousnesse or a temporall Saviour to God's people in captivity this truly fore-shadoweth this truth unto us that although God the Father be as truly the Lord of righteousnesse as God the Sonne both being of one substance yet is Iehovah become our righteousnesse and our salvation not in the person of the Father but in the person of the Son CHAP. 23. The obiection of the Iewes against the interpretation of the former Prophecy Ierem. 23. answered In what sense Iudah is truly said to be saved and Israel to dwell in safety by Iesus the Sonne of God and Sonne of David YEt here the Iew will object that this prophecy is not yet fulfilled because Iudah is not fully saved nor Israel planted in their owne land But the Apostle hath fully answered this objection if wee could as rightly apply his solution All saith he are not Israel that are called Israel Rom. 9. 6. Yet many are true Israelites indeed which are not so in name Nor is he a Iew that is one outwardly but that is one inwardly The Apostle in the same place gives us to understand that many are Iewes or of Iudah inwardly which are not of Iudah outwardly or so called by name Whosoever is inwardly or in heart that which the name of Iudah importeth he is truly of Iudah though not the seede of Iudah or of Abraham concerning the flesh Now the name of Iudah or Iew importeth as much as a confessor or true professor of Abraham's faith and every one is a true Israelite that is so qualified as Nathaniel was one in whose spirit there is no guile unto all such and only unto such the Lord imputeth no sinne and all they unto whom the Lord imputeth no sinne all such as truly confesse Christ to be the Sonne of God and promised Branch of David are saved by him whether they be the somes of Iacob or of Abraham or Gentiles according to the flesh So that in conclusion all ludah and all Israel according to the full extent of this prophecy are saved by this Iesus for all of them dwell in safety they are not become afraid of themselves but possesse their soules with patience To become Iewes or Israelites in this sense is the first degree of salvation and this degree they likewise have from Iesus through whom and in whom they are to expect the accomplishment of their salvation Christ then first saves us from our sins that are inherent in us or as the Apostle speaks hee first sets us free from the Law of sinne by the spirit of life which is in him and finally exempts us from the wages of sinne which is everlasting death And thus much is contained in that fore-cited promise Ierem. 16. and in the close and conclusion of that prophecie Ierem. 23. concerning the saving of Iudah and Israel by the branch of David whose name or title is The Lord our righteousnesse Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seede of the house of Israel out of the North country The Hebrew phrase Meeretz zaponah according to the usuall and ordinary rate of that language signifies indeed from the North-land yet the originall of this signification or importance of these words was from a conceit which the Iews or such as had their habitation neere unto the Aequinoctiall line had That those parts of the world which were more remote from the Aequinoctiall or Southerne climes were hidden from the sun and were at least in respect of their Country lands of obscurity and darknesse The very prime and native signification of the originall words in the Prophet rendred by our English from the North land or Country is verbatim from the land of obscurity or darknesse And whatsoever the land of Chaldea whereof Babylon was the chiefe City or Metropolis was unto others it was unto the captive Iewes a country of darknesse a land of obscurity the very shadow of death And their deliverance from it was a true type or shadow of our deliverance from the region or land of darknesse it selfe The full importance of the Evangellicall mystery included in the fore-cited passage of the Prophet Ieremy according to the most proper and most exquisite literall sense is expounded unto us by our Apostle S. Paul Coloss 1. 12. 13. God the
Father saith the Apostle hath made us meete to be partakers of the Saints in light and hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and translated us into the Kingdome of his dearly beloved Son 2 So that this part of Ieremie's prophecie 23. 6. In his dayes Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in safety must be fulfilled in every one of us more exquisitely then it was in the whole remnant of Iudab and Israel which returned in safety from Babylon the land of their captivity unto Ierusalem the place of their peace and rest Every one of us must be saved from the land of darknesse and translated into the Kingdome of light before wee can be sure of our salvation before our election and salvation can be made certaine unto us For every one of us is by nature the child of wrath every one of as as he is the sonne of Adam carries a Babel or masse of confusion about with him or rather lives in it as in a walking prison Every one of us is subject to morethen Baby lonish to more then Egyptian slavery Our very soules which are the light unto our bodies our very minds which have the same place in our soules which Goshen had in Egypt are darkened or as the Apostle speakes are darknesse it selfe Now to extract or draw us out of our selves or out of that servitude unto finne in which wee were borne or to bring us out of that darknesse which is within us is a greater miracle a more remarkable document of God's infinite power wisdome then the bringing of Israel out of Egypt then the rescuing of Iudah from the captivity of Babylon were God did make the winde and waters his instruments to overthrow Pharaoh and his hoast in the red sea he made his Angels ministring spirits to conduct Israel in their departure thence but to draw us out of our selves to extract our mindes and spirits from the dreggs of the flesh to translate them from the powers of darknesse to the Kingdome of light the ministry or service of Angels or other creatures did not suffice For accomplishing this great worke the Sonne of God himselfe became a Servant Hee that was essentially Iehovah God himselfe did cloath himselfe with salvation as with a garment and became a Saviour not in the appearance of an Angell not in our meere shape and likenesse nor in the meere forme or shape of any other creature but in our flesh and substance CHAP. 24. That our high Priest the Son of God did not only accomplish that which was fore shadowed by the name and title office of Iesus the Son of Iosedech but withall the legall rites or solemnities nowe of which hoe did destroy or dissolve as he did the works of the Divell but change or advance them into better solemnities to be observed by us Christians That his solemne accomplishment of the feast of attonement at the feast of the Passeover was prefigured in the Law and fore-fignified by God's speciall command THe Son of God saith S. Iohn was manifested to the end that he might destroy or dissolve the workes of the Divell Not only the workes which hee had wrought in the nature of Adam and all his sonnes the manner of whose destruction or dissolution the Reader may find discussed at large in the eighth Booke of these CoÌ„mentaries but besides these all the solemne rites or ceremonies whether sacrifices or other services by which the subtile enemy of mankind had enticed men unto or retained them in obedience to his service All these the Son of God came into the world not to change or accomplish but utterly to abolish or destroy them As for the Aaronicall Priesthood or legall riâ—es dependant on it these hee came not utterly to abolish or destroy but to change or sublimate them into a better kind of service This orthodoxall forme of words the Apostle hath taught us Heb. 7. v. 12. The Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law that is no destruction either of the Law or Priesthood The false witnesses themselves which were set up to accuse S. Stephan of blasphemous words against the holy place and the Law though willing no question to charge him with more then he said yet charge him with nothing but this We have heard him say that this Iesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customes which Moses delivered us Acts 6. v. 14. But these malicious men with their complices and abettors did destroy the materiall Temple by turning it into a denne of theeves or murtherers by practising these and other like workes of the Divell in it Notwithstanding the utter destruction of this denne of theeves by these means the house of God which was the Temple whilst it continued a house of praier was not utterly destroyed but rather changed or translated unto Ierusalem which is above as the Arke of the Covenant had beene before from Shiloh unto Sion As for any intention utterly to destroy any custome which Moses had given them they had no pretence to accuse either S. Stephan or our Saviour who had solemnely protested that hee came not to destroy or dissolve the Law but to fulfill it And none unlesse perhaps some base Mechanicke or meaner metall man who thinkes the matter whereon hee workes to be of all others the best would accuse an Alchimist or ingenious Artist for wasting or destroying copper lead or brasse if hee could change or sublimate them into pure gold 2 The change or accomplishment of the best egall rites even such as were appointed by an everlasting covenant was more admirable then this supposed transmutation of baser metals into refined gold can truly represent for as hath been observed before Albeit our Saviour was no Priest after the order of Aaron either before or after his Consecration yet hee did most exquisitely accomplish the whole Aaronicall Priesthood and other legall rites dependent on it by his Consecration to a more excellent truly everlasting Priesthood Circumcision was enjoyned under this title of an everlasting covenant and so enjoyned under a terrible penalty before the Law was given by Moses to all the seed of Abraham throughout their generations Was this rite or ceremony then destroyed or annihilated by the Circumcision of the Son of God Neither destroyed then nor changed before his death but at his Circumcision designed to be changed into an everlasting Covenant and after his Resrrection and Ascention not so properly changed as advanced into a better Sacrament or Seale of God's love unto mankind under a stricter penalty to the contemners of it or the undertakers for both sexes then Circumcision had been to the Hebrew males The Iewish Sabbath or Seventh day likewise was not so truly nullified for the substance of the precept which was to be a commemoration of God's rest from all his workes upon the Seventh day as clarified or purged from the droffe or dreggs of legall
Apostle Hebr. 7. 26. 27. For such an high Priest became us who is holy harmelesse undefiled seperate from sinners and made higher then the heavens who needeth not dayly as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his owne sinnes and then for the peoples For this hee did once when hee offered up himselfe 2 So farre was our high Priest from standing in need of any sinne-offring or sacrifice for himselfe that hee himselfe became the full and perfect attonement for the sinnes of the whole world even the sinne-offring for the high Priests themselves which yearly made attonement for the people Againe 't was a defect or imperfection in the sacrifices by which Aaron was consecrated in that they were more then one or of diverse kinds for of bloody sacrifices there were three a bullock for a sinne-offring and two Rammes the one for a fire-offring or sacrifice of rest the other the Ramme of Consecration or of filling the hand It argues againe a greater defect in all these sacrifices whether you take them coniunctim or divisim in that they were to be often offered And this defect or imperfection in the substance of these sacrifices or in the sacrificer or his service the Lord sought to recompence or supply by the perfection of the number of severall times or solemnities in which they were offered For these sacrifices were to be offered seven times Aaron and his sonnes were to fill their hands seven dayes together before their Consecration was accomplished Our high Priest as he had no sacrifice but one to wit the sacrifice of himselfe so was he to offer this sacrifice or this sacrifice was to be offered but once either for his owne or for our Consecration And by this once offring of this one sacrifice hee did fully and absolutely accomplish whatsoever was fore-shadowed by the full number of the legall sacrifices or solemnities which were used at the Consecration of Aaron For the number of seven is a full number yea a number full of mysteries and wherein the Spirit of God seemes to delight Herein then as hath been intimated before the high Priest of the New Testament and the high Priest of the Old exactly agree that as the Consecration of the one so the Consecration of the other was to last seven dayes Aaron and his sonnes as you may read Exod. 29. were commanded to attend at the doore of the tabernacle seven dayes together Our Saviour after his entrance into Ierusalem did attend the Temple five dayes together teaching and instructing the people and in curing the blind and lame which were brought unto him Hee was more frequent and diligent in performing those and the like acts of mercy then Aaron and his sonnes were in offering sacrifices or performing other legall services And having purged the materiall Temple from brothery and merchandizing restoring it to the use of prayer which the high Priests of the Law had turned or suffered to be turned into a denne of theeves having thus purged the Temple on the first or second day of his Consecration and afterwards hallowed it by his Doctrine by his presence and exercise of holinesse in it hee went the sixth day into his heavenly Sanctuary into Paradise it selfe to purifie and sanctifie it with his owne blood to consecrate it for us as Moses at Aaron's Consecration did purifie and consecrate the materiall Sanctuary and the Altar with the blood of Bullocks and of Rammes Yet was not this Consecration as yet fully accomplished the period or accomplishing of it is from the moment of his Resurrection or Reunition of his soule and body As Aaron first so every high Priest of the Law after him was to continue seven dayes in his Consecration that the seventh day or Sabbath might passe over him because no man as they conceive can be a compleat Priest untill a Sabbath have gone over his head But the Sabbath of the Lord did never so exactly passe over any high Priest in his Consecratton as it did over the high Priest of the New Testament However it were of Aaron's it was the last day of his Consecration it was to him indeed a Day of rest after six dayes of labour of watching praying fasting and after hee had accomplished the workes which his Father had sent him to doe◠by the torments of his bloody sactifice and whatsoever paines he suffered upon the Crosse But after he had said consūmatum est which was in the end of the sixth day in that day whereon God first had made man and the Son of God had now redeemed man his Consecration was not yet consummate his body was to rest the Seventh day in the grave And his soule in blisse all the Sabbath or Seventh day and after the heavenly Sanctuary had been thus hallowed by the rest and presence of his blessed soule in it on the Seventh day his soule and body were reunited upon the first day in the morning at that time when the light begū to be distinguished from darknesse And this was the time of the accomplishment of his Consecration or of his admission to the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech 3 So then to be seven dayes in Consecration was no imperfection in Aaron and his Priesthood but rather a mystery to be accomplished in the Consecration of the Sonne of God That Aaron should have his hands filled seven dayes together by Moses with the sacrifices which were offered for him was an argument as well of his owne personall imperfections as of the imperfections of his sacrifices Howbe it the mystery or morall implyed by the filling of the hand was no point of imperfection and for this reason was as exactly fulfilled in the Consecration of ou◠high Priest as in the Consecration of Aaron The morall implied by the filling of the hand was to signifie that Aaron did not usurp the dignity of Priesthood or take it up as we say at his owne hand but was hereunto lawfully and solemnly called by God from whom hee had received whatsoever he had The inference hence made by our Apostle is this Heb. 5. 4. 5. No man taketh this honour to himselfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himselfe to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Sonne to day have I begotten thee Hee that had thus said unto him did likewise prepare or fit a body to him for his sacrifice hee did not fill his hand with sacrifices or burnt offrings 4. It was an imperfection likewise in Aaron's person or his sacrifices or in both his Consecration it selfe was imperfect in that his Consecration did not serve for the Consecration of his sonnes or his Successors all of them were to have their severall sacrifices or other solemne rites of Consecration The perfection which this foil sets forth in our high Priest and his Consecration is this that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus
Christ once for all Hebr. 10. 10. Every Priest standeth dayly ministring and offering oftimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sinnes but this man or rather this Priest after he had once offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate downe on the right hand of God and henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool For by one offering he hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified ver 11. 12. 13. 5 As many as have reaped or hereafter shall reape any benefit either from Gods's Oath to Abraham concerning his seede in whom all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed or from the Renewing of this Oath to David concerning his son which was to be the Dispenser of this blessing and to be made a Priest after the order of Melchisedech who blessed Abraham all and every one of them are consecrated to the patticipation of this blessing by the Consecration of this our high Priest the Sonne of God The Law saith the Apostle makes men high Priests which have infirmity but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Sonne high Priest who is consecrated for evermore and by this his Consecration wee even all the Israel of God are consecrated by an everlasting Consecration So saith the Apostle Revel 1. 5. Iesus Christ the first begotten of the dead and Prince of the Kings of the earth hath washed us from our sins in his owne Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests that is Priests after the order of Melchisedech unto God and his Father By this his Consecration likewise to his everlasting Priesthood we are hallowed and consecrated as Temples to our God so saith S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. v. 4. 5. To whom comming as to a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious yee also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priesthood to offer up a spirituall sacrifice acceptable to God by Iesus Christ 5 But to take the severall bloody sacrifices which were offered at the Consecration of Aaron and his sonnes into more particular consideration Albeit these sacrifices were all imperfect not only absolutely or in respect of our high Priest's everlasting sacrifice but even in respect of these spirituall sacrifices mentioned by S. Peter which wee are to offer unto God yet were they all in their kind most perfect The best and chiefest in the whole ranke of legall or Aaronicall sacrifices they are as so many lineaments pourtraying in part or fore-shadowing that body or accomplishment not of them only but of all other sacrifices All meet in it as so many lines in their Center The first bloody sacrifice that was offered at the Consecration of Aaron was a Bullock The Priests might offer no other sacrifice then this for their owne sinne-offering because this was of all other the best and yet in comparison of this saith the Psalmist in the Person of this our high Priest in his affliction I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnifie him with thanksgiving this alâ—o shall please the Lord better then a bullock which hath hornes and hoofes that is beginning to spread the horne and hoofe for at that time they were most fit for sacrifice Psal 69. ver 30. 31. His meaning was that this sacrifice of thanksgiving should be more acceptable unto God then the very best sacrifice of the Law and so it was especially whilst offered by our high Priest even when he offered his bloody sacrifice upon the Crosse and after his enemies had given him vineger in his thirst to drink For after he had uttered that pittifull Song of the Psalmist Psal 22. whether only out of his griefe or anguish or upon other respects and intentions My God my God why hast Thou for saken Me he finally commends his soule his spirit unto his Father in the words of the Psalmists Song Ps 35. Father into thy hands I coÌ„mend my spirit The uttering of both these Songs in this anguish of soule argues hee lov'd his God and our God his Father and our Father with all his soule with all his heart with all his strength and his performance of this great Commandement as the Scribe which approved his answer to the Pharisees to the Herodians and the Sadduces had a litle before confest upon his answer to his Question was more then all whole burnt offrings and sacrifices Mat. 12. from v. 12. to 34. CHAP. 26. In what respects the Bullock offered at the Consecration of Aaron c. and the rites of offering â—â— did prefigure the bloody sacrifice of the Sonne of God especially the circumstances of the place wherein it was offered BVt you will aske wherein did the Sacrifice of the Bullock which was offered for a sinne-offering or Attonement at Aaron's Consecration or the circumstances in offering it punctually fore-shadow the bloody Sacrifice which our high Priest offered at his Consecration or the manner or circumstance of his offering it It did in circumstance at least prefigure the Sacrifice of our high Priest after the same manner or in respect of the same circumstance that the annuall sacrifices of Attonement did prefiure it of which hereafter Inasmuch as the head and flesh c. of the Bullock for sinne-offering or Attonement for Aaron at his Consecation was to be offered or burnt without the campe not to be burnt upon the Altar It fell under the same Law and undergoes the same considerations which the annuall-Sacrifices in the feast of Attonement did For so it is expressely commanded Exod. 29. 14. That the flesh of the Bullock and his skinne should be burnt without the Camp because it was a sin-offering Now it was an universall and peremptory Law that no flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was brought into the Sanctuary to make Attonement should be eaten by the Priests in the Sanctuary 2 It was againe a Law as peremptory that the Priests especially the high Priests might that is had power to eat the flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was not brought into the Sanctuary For to this purpose Moses Levit. 10. 17. expostulateth with Aaron's sonnes which were left after the death of Nadab and Abihu Wherefore have yee not eaten the sinne-offering in the holy place for it is the holy of holies and it vz. the flesh of the sin-offring he hath given to you to beare the iniquity of the Congregation to make Attonement for them before the Lord Behold the Blood of it was not brought in behold indeed you should have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded you Aaron in his Apologie for his sonnes against this accusation of Moses in no case questions the truth or extent of this commandement but rather excuseth himselfe and his sonnes for not observing the purport of the Law as the case stood with them his two sonnes Nadab and Abihu being lately consumed with fire issuing out from before the Lord for offering strange fire which
them It was by so much the welcomer by how much the accomplishment of it was lesse thought on 7 But were these two great Apostles altogether without blame in that before this time they knew not the Scripture that Christ was to rise from the dead They might be more capable or worthy of blame then we to lay any blame upon them wherefore not to pronounce what I think of them much lesse to determine any thing concerning them I must make bold to be the Reader 's remembrancer of that which our Saviour himselfe immediately after his Resurrection said unto two of his Disciples which did doubt of the truth of it albeit they had heard it in a sort testified the story is Luk. 24. 22. 23. Gertaine women of our company say those two Disciples which went with our Saviour to Emmaus made us astonished which were early at the Sepulcher And when they found not his body they came saying that they had also seene a vision of Angels which said that he was alive And certaine of them which were with us went to the Sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said but him they saw not Then hee said unto them O fooles and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory How farre S. Peter and S. Iohn were lyable to this censure of the supreame Iudge that I leave for him to determine S. Iohn from this time did expressely believe Christ's Resurrection So did not S. Peter till afterwards if we may believe the collections of cardinall Tollet upon this place 8 The point which from our Saviour's words unto these Discipels Luk. 24. and from our Evangelist's confession of himselfe in the 9. ver of the 20. Chap. I would commend unto the Reader 's consideration is this that our Saviour's Resurrection from the dead was fore-signified and might haue beene fore-knowne not from one or two places of Scripture only but from many from the current of that which Moses and the Prophets had written So it followes Luk. 24. 27. Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himselfe And when S. Iohn saith that the Disciples as yet knew not the Scriptures this is more then if hee had said that they knew not the Scriptures that hee must rise againe from the dead The phrase imports as much as if the whole drift and scope of Scripture was to fore shadow setforth or exemplifie the power and vertue of Christ's Death and Resurrection from the Dead CHAP. 30. That the Death and Resurrection of the Sonne of God was aenigmatically fore-told in the first promise made to our Father Adam and our Mother Eve That his Resurrection was exquisitely prefigured by Isaac's escape from death and the Propagation of his Kingdome after his Resurrection by the strange increase or multiplication of Isaac's seede A parallel betwixt our Saviour and Ioseph in their affliction and exaltation THe truth of our Saviour's Resurrection is necessarily though but aenigmatically included in the first promise made to mankind Gen. 3. ver 15. And I will put enmity betweene thee and the woman and betweene her seede and thy seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel This sacred oracle as hath been to diverse purposes before observed includes a literall and an emblematicall ormysticall sense To the present purpose by the heele of this womans seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of the ancients understand the Humanity of our Saviour and not amisse so it doe not point out the similitude too precisely The warrantable punctuall meaning of the place is thus As a bruise in the heele to an ordinary man is not deadly so neither was death it selfe unto our Saviour because he was God as well as man and by the vertue of his divine power could as easily recover life againe after he had been put to death as a strong body whose vitall or internall parts are whole and sound can recover health after some bruise in the heele or other infirmity in his outward or extream parts but so could not Saran recover the blow which our Saviour by his Sufferings gave him in the head hee hath been ever since diminuti capit is deprived of his wonted power and dispossessed of such as were before his captives So saith our Saviour Ioh. 12. ver 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out And I if I be lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me And his drawing of men unto him was a drawing of them out of Satan's bondage and dominion So that Lucifer as wee may hence gather had a two-fold fall The one from heaven or his sear of Angelicall glory when hee sought to be like God his Creator The other from his power or dominion over this inferior world or morrall men And this befell him by seeking to make the Sonne of God more miserable than other men by attempting to have him lifted up upon the Crosse as the brasen Serpent was in the wildernesse The same nailes that nailed our Saviour's feete to the Crosse did pierce the old Serpent's head In briefe Christ was to crush the old Serpent's head by conquering death and death could not be fully conquered but by dying So that when it offered it selfe unto our Saviour he was to meete with it and to fight with it not a farre off but hand to hand yea to close with it and to receive the utmost force and power of it in every part Not thus throughly to have tasted it had beene to eschew it or to have fled from it not to have conquered it But thus to abide the extremity of it to receive the full dint of all the blowes that death and hell or all the powers of darknesse could reach mortality and yet to put all off or rather to redouble their forces upon themselves was truly to subdue death and him that had the power of death This is our Apostle's inference Heb. 2. ver 14. For asmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood He also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell 2 Our Saviour as some of the ancients have wittily said did as it were bait his divinity with his humanity that hee might catch Satan in his owne net or with his owne hook Satan being by nature an immortall spirit did take upon him the bodily shape of a Serpent to beguile the first woman and our Saviour being the eternall Spirit and Sonne of God did take our flesh that is the womans seed upō him thereby to deceive or intrappe the great Tempter For unlesse the Godhead had been invested with the weaknesse of mortall flesh the old Serpent would not have so desperately adventured his
of being granted prove only thus much that the only begotten Son of God or first born to Abraham and to David had a just title to the eternall Priesthood They doe not directly prove that Iesus whom the Iewes have crucified to be that Sonne of God and seed of David meant by the Psalmist in the Psalme fore-cited Or this being granted all put together doe not manifest his Consecration or actuall admission to the high Priesthood by whose erection the Priesthood of Aaron was changed which is the conclusion punctually intended by our Apostle 4 For a more satisfactory declaration of the strength of this argument we are to take the words of the Psalmist into a further and more punctuall consideration then hitherto wee had occasion to take them As first of what GENERATION these words ego hodie genuite are principally meant whether meant at all of David or how of him and how of Christ the Sonne of God and Sonne of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many of the Ancients being seconded by more of the Schoolmen and middle ag'd allegorizing Commentators understand this Psalmist's Oracle of that GENERATION of the Sonne of God which is mentioned in the NICEN Creed or that Creed which is to be publiquely read in the second service of our Church Begotten of his Father before all worlds and in these mens construction by the word HODIE is meant HODIE AETERNITATIS the day of eternity or eternal day wherein there is no succession of parts of houres or minutes But this interpretation is dislik'd by Calvin who is alwaies zealous for the literall though sometimes with prejudice to the mysticall or principally intended sense Yet that sense in this place cannot be exprest by HODIE AETERNITATIS or by the eternall Generation of the Sonne of God That it cannot be the literall sense of this Psalmist is apparent because neither the Resurrection of the Son of God nor his Consecration to the everlasting Priesthood can with any colour of probability be inferred or pretended from it much lesse can it be the mysticall or true allegoricall sense of this Oracle for these alwaies must be grounded upon the literall and no Scripture can be said to be fulfil'd according to the mysticall or true allegoricall sense untill it hath been first verified according to the literall sense Now the eternall GENERATION of the Sonne of God cannot follow either his Resurrection from the dead or his Consecration to his everlasting Priesthood nor could ever any Periphrasis or notation of it be either fulfil'd or verified in time seeing it is before all times 5 May we say then with good Commentators as with Calvin for one that these words this day have I begotten thee have no manner of reference to the Son of God's Generation before all worlds Certaine it is that this Generation is no part of the object no part of the immediate subject whether according to the literall or mysticall sense of the Psalmist's words whether we consider them written or intended by him or as avouched by S. Paul and other Apostles for the further confirmation of Christ's Resurrection from the dead All that can be said on their parts whom Calvin censures is this that the eternall GENERATION of the Son of God might be taken as a common notion or presuppos'd truth both by the Psalmist when he writ and by the Apostle when hee avouched these words ego hodie genuite That the Word or Sonne of God was from Eternity this was a common prenotion to all the Ancient learned or faithfull Hebrewes And that he who was the only begotten Sonne of God before all worlds should be begotten by him from the dead that is prov'd at large by S. Paul Act. 13. And that the raising of that Iesus the Sonne of David whom the Iewes had crucified from the dead unto immortall endlesse life was an authentique declaration that this Sonne of David was likewise the Sonne of God their expected Lord and Messias is most sweetly deduced by our Apostle Rom. â— v. 1. 2. 3. 4. Paul a Servant of Iesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Which hee had promised before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son Iesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the Resurrection from the dead This passage rightly infers that Christ was the Son of God the uncreated Word by whomall things were created before hee was made the Son of David â—â—â— he was made so only according to the flesh or humane nature but this eternity of his uncreated Person or essence was no part of our Apostles divine discourse or most concludent argument Act â—3 Men and Brethren children of the stock of Abraham and whosoeuer among you feareth God to you is the word of this salvation sent For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they know â—â—â— not nor yet the voiceâ— of the Prophets which are â—â—â—â— every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him And though they found no cause of death in him yet desired they Pilat that he should be â—â—â—ine And when they had fulfilled all that is written of him they tooke him downe from the tree and laid him in a Sepulchre But God raised him from the dead and he was seene many daies of them which came up with him from Galileo â—â— Ierusalem who are his witnesses â—â—to the people And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus againe as it is also written in the second Psalme Thou are my Sonne this day have I begotten theâ— And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to returne to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David from v. 26. to 34. For the clearer fuller explication of this passage we are to enquire what manner of testimonies or predictions in which the Apostle instances were as whether propheticall only or typically propheticall 6 To begin with the former Ego hodie genui te this day have I begotten thee that with submission of my opinion to better judgments is a prediction typically propheticall which kind of prediction as hath been observed before is the most concludent and this one of the highest ranke in that kind that is an Oracle truly meant of David according to the literall sense and yet fulfil'd of Christ the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead both according to the most exquisite literall and the mysticall or principally intended sense David without all question was the composer of the second Psalme and the joyfull occasions or extraordinary matter of exultation which raised his spirit to that high and majesticke straine of divine
the first day of that weeke wherein our Redemption was wrought our Saviour came in triumphant manner into Ierusalem not only to fulfill the prophecy of Zachary before expounded at large for that might have been fulfilled at any other time or day for its substance but to testifie withall that hee was the true paschall Lambe appointed pointed for the sacrifice of that great Feast that Lambe of God which â—ame too take away the sinnes of the world For upon that very day of the month Abib were it the tenth or ninth in which our Saviour came to Ierusalem saluted with ecchoing cries of Hosanna the Son of David was the legall paschall Lambe according to first institution of the Passeover brought out of the fields unto the place appointed for the publique assembly with greater pompe perhaps and solemnity prescribed by custome than was expressely required in the Law Vpon the fifth day day of this â—acred weeke being as I take it the fourteenth of the month Abib our Saviour being to be offered in sacrifice at the time wherein the paschall Lambe was eaten by seterall families did eate the Passeover with his Disciples and preoccupated the usuall day for eating the paschall Lambe upon necessity In the night following which was the evening of the sixth day hee was apprehended and arraigned in the morning of the same day condemned by the Iewes â— and upon their solicitation adjudged by Pilate to be crucified and executed by the Roman Souldiers In the sixth day or which is all one the sixth evening and morning of the first weeke of times succession God is said to have finished the workes of Creation by making the first man In the sixth day or in the sixth evening and morning of the weeke of our Saviour's Consecration Hee by whom the world was made did solemnely declare the worke of our Redemption to be accomplished in respect of any labour worke or paines to be further undertaken by him For so farie his solemne proclamation upon the Crosse extends consummatum est And so he went into his rest upon the same day about the same houre wherein God was said to rest from all his workes of Creation that is in the close of that day a litle before the evening of the seventh day or Sabbath CHAP. 41. A Parallel betweene the day wherein Adam is thought to have been cast out of Paradise with the day wherein our Saviour was Crucified And betweene the first day of the world's Creation and our Saviour's Resurrection THere is a a tradition or rather a received opinion avouched by many good Authors in their severall writings that Adam the first man should fall and forfeit his estate in Paradise upon the same day wherein he was created The opinion it selfe we cannot disprove nor justly suspect to be a meere conjecture because we know not what warrant the first or immediate Authors of this Doctrine had to commend it to posterity But their language I take it is much mistaken by some later school-men the first Authors meaning or expression of it must be limited or rather extended to the same sense or construction as hath been before observed in the like words of Daniel Chap. 7. That Belshazer was slaine in the same night wherein after his carousing in the boules of the Sanctuary the hand-writing was seen upon the wall or that other 2. of Kings that Senacherib's mighty army was discomfitted upon the night immediately following that day wherein he sent that blasphemous message unto Hezekiah or the day wherein Isaiah returned his message to the good King In both places the same night cannot be understood of the selfe same naturall day and night but of the same night or day after the revolution of one yeare or more In like manner the first man according to the tenor of the former received opinion did fall upon the same day wherein he was created yet not upon the same day numerically individually or identically taken but upon the same day after the revolution of a weeke at least or more that is upon the sixth day and thrust out of Paradise before the Sabbath ensuing for his stealth or presumptuous usurpation of the forbidden fruit Vpon the same day after revolution of many yeares the Son of God or second Adam now consecrated to be a quickning spirit did restore the sons of the first Adam to their inheritance which their Father had lost by giving a true naturall son of the first Adam a thiefe by practise liverie de sezin or actuall possession of the coelestiall Paradise The bequest or legacy was punctuall and solemne Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Vpon the sixth day of the first week or week of Creation or vicissitude of times Adam's body was taken out of the substance of the earth Vpon the same sixth day was the body of the second Adam the Son of God shut up into the bowels of the earth after he had commended his spirit into his Father's hands which had given it him That temporall curse denounced against the first Adam In the day wherein thou eatest thou shalt die the death was exactly now fulfilled in the second Adam For in the sixth day of the weeke of his Consecration he died the death of the Crosse and was delivered to the earth whence the first man was taken only he was not to be resolved to dust but rested there without corruption For as God had rested the Seventh day from his works of Creation though not of Preservation so the Son of God was to rest from all his labour or toile upon the seventh day of the week of his Consecration not only to blesse and sanctify that day and make it his own but withall to hallow the grave or the wombe of the earth whence all flesh was taken and by the course of nature must returne by his sweet rest and presence in it So saith S. Iohn I heard a voice from heaven saying Blessed are the dead which hereafter die in the Lord even so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14 ver 13. Their sleepe or quiet rest in the grave thus hollowed by our Saviour's Death and rest in it becomes the evenings or vespers of their everlasting Sabbath 2 The night immediately following the legall Sabbath wherein our Saviour did rest from all his Labours was part of the first evening and morning or of the first naturall day of the weeke His Resurrection upon that day and at that time of the day and at that season implieth a two-fold mystery or the accomplishment of two remarkable divine Oracles First that of Gen. Chap. 1. ver 1. 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without forme and void and darknesse was upon the deepe The darknesse made the evening and the separation of the light from
the function and Priesthood of the most high God CHAP. 7. In what sense Melchisedech is said to be without Father Mother Heb. 7. 3. Whether he were a mortall man a◠Abraham was though more 〈…〉 where in the similitude betweene Melchisedech's Person and the Person of the Sonne of God doth specially consist THis later opinion is broched and 〈…〉 ptorily maintained by a late learned and smartly elegant writer who though hee he as I conceive as yet no Divine or Priest by profession yet hee takes upon him to censure the most Divines or Interpreters of sacred Writ whether ancient or moderne more sharply then I dare censure him From whom notwithstanding I dissent as freely and as I hope upon better grounds then he doth from them specially if the grounds of his exceptions against thē be not better then the grounds of the opinions which he takes upon him to refute The main ground of his exception against such Divines ancient or moderne as think that Melchisedech who blessed Abraham was either some petty King amongst the Cananites or other Inhabitants of the land promised to Abraham and actually possessed by his feede or Sem the Sonne of Noah is this no Inhabitant of Canaan not Sem himselfe the Sonne of Noah was without father or mother without genealogie without beginning or end of dayes These titles this good writer conceives are peculiar to the Sonne of God though more peculiar in the time of Abraham then at this day But was our high Priest or could he have been at that time the true Sonne of God and the God whose Sonne he was not as truly then his Father as now he is Againe if that Melchisedech who apreared to Abraham at least in the likenesse of man and in the realitie of an high Priest were no other person beside the Sonne of God it will concludently follow that the Sonne of God was then an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech or more then so that Melchisedech was the Sonne of God How then saith our Apostle that the Sonne of God was made an high Priest by the word of the oath which was since the Law and by vertue of this oath consecrated for evermore being as the Author of this opinion supposeth the Priest of the most high God long before the Law was given or if Melchisedech was then the true and only Son of God how is it said by our Apostle Ch. 7. v. 3. that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made like unto the Son of God Was the Sonne of God made like unto himselfe by taking the likenesse of man upon him Or rather was the manhood or likenesse in which he appeared to Abraham made like unto the Sonne of God The former part or division of this dilemma is improbable The later altogether impossible For that man or that likenesse of man who blessed Abraham Gen. 14. had a beginning and an end of dayes unlesse the Author of this opinion will maintaine that the manhood or likenesse of man wherein the Sonne of God appeared to Abraham was coeternall to his person was begotten of God not made before all Worlds and to continue united to him world without end Both parts of this assertion respectively contradict two fundamentall Articles of our Creede The one that all things numerable whether visible or invisible were created of God by his Sonne they had no being from eternity The other that the Sonne of God was made man of a woman in time having no permanent body or likenesse of man when he was so conceived whence it is cleare that the Meichisedech who blessed Abraham was not the eternall Sonne of God nor made like unto him for his eternitie by the body of man which he assumed or appeared in 5 But it is not all one to refell other mens opinions or interpretations of Divine oracles and to maintaine our owne assertions or as the present occasion requireth to clear the forecited place Heb. 7. He to wit Melchisedech was made like unto the Sonne of God being without father without mother without genealogie without beginning or end of dayes For there is an opinion or presumed Doctrine which hath gotten so long possession of many publique Chaires as will hardly brooke any opposition either from the Pulpit or from private writers The opinion is that Melchisedech being without father without mother c. was herein like unto the Sonne of God or the Sonne of God like to him in that he hath no Father in earth nor a mother in heaven But be the Authors of this opinion how great soever their followers how many soever both most acute all the strength which the wit of one can adde unto the authoritie of the other is but as if they should joyne hands or forces to take fast hold on the sheath or scabbard having given the hilts of the sword of the spirit into the hands of the Iew who may at his pleasure turne the points of our own weapons upon us unlesse we learne to keepe them more warily and handle them more skilfully then these men have done For he that hath a Father in Heaven may truly and absolutely be said to have a Father For God is more truly our Father then those whom we call Fathers on earth Hence saith our Saviour Call no man father opon earth for there is but one your Father which in Heaven Math. 23. 9. Yet is this God more truly Christ's Father then he is ours Againe he that hath a true Mother on earth may truly and absolutely be said to have a Mother otherwise all of us should be mother lesse children from our birth For none of us had an heavenly Mother none of our Mothers were brought to bed in Heaven 6 It being then granted that our Saviour had a true Father in Heaven and a true Mother on earth he must needs in both respects be more unlike unto Melchisedech who as our Apostle faith was without father or mother then like unto him in that he had no Mother in Heaven no father on earth Whence if wee should maintaine this similitude intended by our Apostle to consist either in whole or part in Christ's being in this sort without father or mother the Iew might thus retort argumento ad homines efficaci That we Christians were a brood of monsters and not the naturall offspring of men and women because none of us have a man for his mother none of us a woman for his father Besides one of the two Propositions whereon they labour to build our faith by this crosse device is no sound pillar but a broken or crased prop. For if Christ be truly stiled the Sonne of Abraham the Sonne of David he had fathers on earth according to the flesh though not begotten by a carnall generation nor was he the Sonne of Mary by carnall conception yet truly her Sonne and shee truly his Mother and by consequence Abraham as truly his Father Againe to be without father without
mother are but branches of that generall negative without genealogie Now whether we consider him as God or as man he cannot without wrong to the sacred character or sense of the holy spirit be thought or said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without genealogy as Melchisedech is for one generation or descent makes a genealogie Otherwise Cain and Abel should have beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without genealogie which titles notwithstanding cannot in the Evangelists meaning be applyed unto Adam for he derives all others genealogies from Adam's and Adam's from God Luk. 3. Now looke in what sense Abel Cain or Adam may be said to have a genealogie Christ may in the same sense have two One as he is the Sonne of God another as he is the Sonne of Abraham David and of Marie But so it is that even the wisest and most judicious Writers of times swallow such fallacies in historicall narrations or discourses of matters spirituall especially without any sensible disgust or dislike as would be rejected no lesse then poison unallayed were they exhibited to them in the simplicitie of language or logistick forme To instance in an notorious one much like unto this late mentioned 7 The most ancient Editions of Macrobius mention a jest of Augustus broken upon Herod for killing his Sonne at the same time that he butchered the Hebrew Infants Mallem Herodis esse percum quam filium Some ancient Christians to salve the truth of this narratioÌ„ being somewhat suspicious because Herod at that time had no knowne Sonne that was a child have made the old Tyrant father of a young sonne supposed to be borne unto him by a second wife of Iewish if not of Davids progenie which the age wherein hee lived never laid unto his charge Some later criticks better able to disprove this supposititious broode then apt to reforme that error in themselves which unreform'd in others did beget it have not spared to charge their Bretheren in time their fathers with falsification of Macrobius his Text as if the forecited passage had been inserted by some ancient Christians as many verses in Sibylla's oracles have beene unlesse these and the like Aristarchusses faile in their criticismes But for Macrobius his text it is without question uncorrupt and the Christian Fathers free from that falsification of it whereof late Criticks have accused them The zeale of the ancient Fathers and the censorious sawcinesse of later Criticks did alike overreach their judgments But this as I said is a fault common to us and to those that are farre our betters We maintaine our owne posittions as if wee were waking Wee peruse good Authors as if wee had never lookt upon them but in a slumber yet what punie Logician but would scorne to swallow this fallacy in a dreame Chaerilus fuit vir bonus Chaerilus fuit poeta ergo Chaerilus fuit bonus poeta Chaerilus was a good man and a Poet therefore a good Poet. The forementioned criticall collection is in regard of its forme a like false and disjointed only the matter of it is not so vulgar or palpable The roote of the Criticks erronious censure was this Herod killed the Syrian or Hebrew Infants amongst these Infants hee killed his owne son ergo this sonne of Herod when hee killed him was an Infant That Herod about the same time wherein the fants of Iudah and Bethleem were by his appointment slaine did out of his jealous feare command Antipater his turbulent sonne to be put to death no modern Critick shall be ever able to disprove That the killing of his owne sonne being come to maturity of age with these Infants doth better sort with the analogy of Gods Iustice usually manifested in the infatuation of Politicians and with the literall sense and character of Augustus iest taking it as Macrobius hath expressed it then if hee had slaine the same party in his Infancy shall elswhere by Gods assistance be declared 8 The fallacy for whose discovery these two former have beene produced is in my opinion of all three the most grosse the best forme that can be put upon it is this Melchisedech was without father or mother Melchisedech is like unto the Sonne of God ergo Melchisedech is herein like unto the Sonne of God in that he is without father or mother The premisses are most true but the conclusion if I may so speake more then most false for of all the persons that are or have beene in heaven or earth none are so unlike as the Sonne of God and Melchisedech if wee state the comparison betwixt them according to the naturall tenor or importance of these termes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What shall we say then that these titles expressely given to Melchisedech by our Apostle are altogether superfluous needlesse or impertinent to the conclusion intended by him Rather most necessary and most apposite As how Briefly thus This descripâ—tion of him by these titles is a condition or Qualification necessarily supposed or pre-required to the similitude intended betwixt Christ and him It is no proper part or formall terme of the similitude it self That formally consists only in being without beginning or end of dayes and herein they are as like one another as any body and its proper shadow can be 9 Every man that hath a father even AdaÌ„ himself who was without father or mother had a beginning of dayes Every man that hath a Son to succeed him as like wise supposed to have an end of daies Whence it is that no King of Iudah or Israel not Solomon himselfe in all his glory could be any true modell of the Son of God in respect of his eternitie No Priest or Son of Levi not Eleazar Phinehas or Aaron himself though pictured in their pontificall ornaments could beare any colour or resemblance of his everlasting Priesthood For all these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Parents their Sonnes and Successors are exactly registred in the sacred Volume the same Page or Table which expresseth their genealogie doth represent withall their mortalitie that they had a beginning or end of dayes And whosoever hath a beginning or end of dayes can be no true shadow of eternitie or of the Sonne of God as he is eternall CHAP. 8. That the omission of Melchisedech's Genealogie did import a speciall mystery and what that mystery was MAy we hence averre that every man mentioned in Scripture whose birth whose death or genealogie is not expressed may be a true shadow or picture of the Sonne God as he is eternall Wee doe not wee need not say so The day is oftimes mentioned in the Scripture without any mention of the night Yet to seeke after a mysticall sense in all such places were to set our wits a wandring in a waking dream But seeing in the Story of the worlds creation wee find such accurate and constant mention of the evening and morning making one day untill all the works of the sixe daies were