still Jerusalem and the Temple were preserved Yea Alexanders heart was so changed as Esaus that he went in peaceably And the High Priest shewing him the Prophecie of Daniel how the King of Grecia that is himselfe should overcome the King of Persia he was thereby encouraged to the conquest of the King of Persia and not onely spared them but gave many immunities to the Jewes and in that his expedition against Darius prospered accordingly Now that Monarchie thus raised by him was divided into foure parts Dan. 8. 22. all which are accounted to make up that Grecian Monarchie And in the latter end of their Kingdome sayes the 23. verse when the transgressions are come to the full Joseph Antiq. Jud li. 11. that is when God meant to begin to break it and to put a period to it and to reckon with them for their other sins This his wonted designe sets his providence awork that they should fall foule upon his people and so be broken as the former had been and eminently among and above the rest you have a little horne arising Antiochus the successour of one of them the story is cleare in Dan. 8. who magnified himselfe against the people of God the daily sacrifice against the truth c. ver 11 12. and in this God laid the foundation not onely of his ruine but of the rest of the Grecian Monarchie This I might shew out of Daniel ver 25. He shall be broken without hand c. but I will rather do it out of the 9. of Zachary having already begun with that and shewed out of it the rise and proceedings of that Monarchie in the first horne thereof Alexander let us see what it sayes of the ruine of it in that which followes ver 13. When I have bent Judah for me and filled the bow with Ephraim it is an elegant similitude and raised up thy sonnes O ZION against thy sonnes O GREECE and made thee as the sword of a mighty man And the Lord shall be seene over them and his arrow shall goe forth as the lightning c. Here the Grecian Monarchie in the last remainders of it the Kings of Egypt and Syria the Longidae and Seleucidae who both oppressed the Jewes being therefore called GREECE They are called Greece as the King of Persia is called King of Ashur Ezr. 6. 22. and as Cyrus Ez. 5. 13. and Artaxerxes Neh. 10. 6. are called Kings of Babel because successours to these Kings because they were the Successors of it is ruined and by whom even by the people of the Jewes or for their sakes God raised up the sonnes of Sion against these sonnes of Greece God made Judah his bow and Ephraim his arrowes and when God himselfe will be the Archer weake arrowes and instruments will doe wonders And besides that for their sakes God used miraculous and wonderfull wayes to ruine these enemies The Lord shall be seene over them c. ver 14. God used the Jewes themselves the Maccabees to vindicate themselves against these reliques of the Grecian Empire as the story in the book of the Maccabees shewes plainly as Interpreters upon the Text have observed and particularly how Antiochus came to his end And afterwards the ruine of the whole by the Romans it was for the Jews sake and their quarrell and at their prayer it was by Ephraim being his arrow and Judah his bow and God himselfe appearing from heaven against them So then here the GRECIAN MONARCHY is likewise broken upon the Jewes And thus we have done with the Old Testamet Now let us come to the New Testament NEW TESTAMENT The Observation exemplified in the Jews state and Romane Empire Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who was the eminent anointed one he comes obscurely and as it were stealing into the world who was to be King of all the world in the dayes of him who laid the first sure foundation and settlement of the Romane Empire namely Augustus and he comes to his owne to the people of the Jewes over whom the Romanes having the power and a President amongst them our Saviour came to have to doe at once with both these States And first for the Jewes 1. The Jewish Because that which befell that State for their dealing with Christ and his Disciples is the leading case of the New Testament as what was done to these Kings and Nations here in the Text and in the story of Genesis for their carriage towards Abraham Isaac and Jacob was the leading case of the Old I will therefore begin therewith and spend a little time in the opening of it so farre as it concernes the point in hand And now you shall see that Nation State of which hitherto you have heard that it had beene for the rising or falling of all the Monarchies and also lesser Kingdomes round about it it selfe to be the first of all other that was broken and ruined under the New Testament as an example to all the rest that follow and broken not upon another whole Nation like it self but upon a few a very few anointed ones in that Nation namely Our Lord and his Disciples God altering now the way of his dispensation under the New Testament using but a few Saints in Nations which is the more glorious to effect the same designe he did before by that whole Nation of the Jewes under the Old Revel 5. 9. He hath redeemed us say they out of all Nations who are to him a royall Nation 1 Pet. 2. 9 compared with Chap. 1. 1. typified out by that whole Nation of the Jewes whom now he maketh to be to all Kingdoms where they are found either a stone of stumbling whereby they shall be broken or a sure Basis and foundation of their wel-fare according to their usage of them How the Jews used Christ and his Disciples we all know The interest of that Nation wherein stood it Not so much to have entertained Christ for their Temporall King he avoided that but to have received him for their Messiah and anointed Saviour and that this was the interest of the Nation and its wellfare is cleere by that speech of Christ Luke 19. 42. Oh that thou hadst knowne in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace He therein intending as well the Temporall peace of that Nation as the eternall peace of their soules As Tyre had stood to that day if they had repented as Christ speaks so had Jerusalem also if they had knowne and kept to this their INTEREST But they were so farre from doing this that they clean diverted from it and took up other worldly and politique interests of their owne to save themselves by which were their ruine Yea which I beseech you mark and observe the Lord did order it so in his providence that even REASON OF STATE and a word lye crosse INTEREST to this should be the chiefe motive to them of crucifying Christ and so of
INTEREST that he is entitled KING OF SAINTS Rev. 15. 3. which title is there given him as in relation to the setting up his Worship so to the overthrowing and overcomming the Nations that doe oppose his Saints and this by the seven Vialls which their prayers have filled And at that time it is likewise there said he doth marvellous works being King of Saints In the Old Testament he is called the King of Nations though he was King of Saints also then so Jer. 10. 7. and he gave demonstration of it to purpose by setting up that one Nation of the Jews which he had chosen of all nations that that one nation should ruine all the nations round about them for he was peculiarly their King and the King of all those other nations also But now he hath scattered his Saints in and through all nations Thou hast redeemed us out of all Nations that is the language of the New Testament he is therefore therein called King of Saints he carrying on the same designe by those Saints which he did before and is as able to make it good he being no lesse King of Nations still or Lord Almighty as you have it in that fore-cited place And he being thus peculiarly their King his interest is to maintaine defend and take part with them against all those that doe maligne them as he did the nation of the Jews It is his title and his most royall title and the greatest title that he is King of Saints he preferreth it to his title of being King of Nations that vanisheth and is not mentioned in comparison This therefore answerably must be his greatest interest which of all other he now pursueth And therefore if all those Nations in which his Saints are doe not bow to it and comply with it he will shew himselfe that he is King of Saints and of Nations also by ruining of them As the greatest interest of the Devils Kingdome is to persecute those that keep the commandements of Jesus so it is the greatest interest of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ to preserve his Saints and to confound those that injure them for he is the King of Saints And further in the Old Testament when this his Kingdome was farther off and longer to come and yet you have seene how strongly he drove on this designe then but in the New Testament he is ascended and personally as Man invested into it We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour saith the Apostle Heb. 2. whose faith was as reall in this as our sight can be and he SITS there EXPECTING as thinking the time long till alll his enemies are subdued Heb. 10. 13. which the same Apostle elsewhere interpreteth and therein speaks home to the point in hand the putting downe all rule and dominion that are opposite to his Saints 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. verses compared And accordingly in all those Psalmes where ever his ascension and investiture into his Kingdome at Gods right hand is prophecyed of there the ruine or conversion of Kings and Kingdomes are also spoken and prophecyed of Reade Psalm 2. Psalm 68. Psal 110. And let me adde this to all That as the shorter time Satan hath the more is his rage so the shorter time Christ hath and the nearer he is to the possession of his Kingdome the more is his zeale for his Saints and indignation against his enemies His heart is set upon it and the more eager doth his desire become every day to attaine his long expected Kingdome and to throw donwe all that oppose it and therefore it is that we see in this latter age he hath made such changes in the world We have seen him doe that in a few yeeres that he hath not done in an hundred yeeres before for he being King of Nations and King of Saints he pursues his interest and being more neere his Kingdome he takes it with violence We are now within the whirle of it therefore his motions are rapt Hence therefore all States and Kingdoms had need now of all times else to be instructed and accordingly comply with this interest of Christ it is more especially now then ever their greatest interest It is well for us that Jesus Christ he is our King who is the King of Kings and King of Saints and withall that he is so neere the enjoyment of his Kingdome APPLICATION I Shall come now to a word of Application Application which I shall dispatch exceeding briefly In those fore-rehearsed instances I have carryed you over and given you a prospect of all Kingdomes throughout the story of the Bible and at last I brought you and set you downe and left you in the times of these Tenne Kingdomes of Europe of which the holy Ghost hath prophecyed Revelat. 17. 14. These saith he shall make war with the Lambe and the Lambe shall overcome them for he is Lord of Hosts and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithfull And it is certaine we are in the last times of these kingdoms and we all here live in one of them But a word of Encouragement and Direction to those of this kingdome You have heard in those words I last read 1. Encouragement the greatest security that any kingdoms can have in these times for first in the generall this Text holds forth plainly that Jesus Christ by vertue of his being King of Kings and being King of Saints as you heard even now he will overcome and subdue these kingdomes to himselfe and yet for our encouragement not so as to destroy them why Because these kingdoms as such shall destroy the whore and therefore shall not be overcome by way of desolation but by way of a more happy conquest of Reformation and Conversion Thus the Text seems cleerly to speak for the ten horns which are these ten kingdomes shall hate the whore and make her desolate and burne her with fire ver 16. As I have therefore thought this Text to be a barre to the projected Spanish Monarchy over them even then when it was in the greatest height and in most probability to have carryed it so the greatest security for continuance and preservation of these Kingdomes because they must remaine tenne Kings or supreame States and kingdomes untill the whore is burnt for they must destroy her And first for their number Ten t is true they have indeed been more yet never fewer since the breaking of the Romane Empire And when it is said ten KINGS it is not necessarily to be understood there should be so many Monarchs alwayes in a strict sense as we use the phrase for in the language of this Book Kings is put for Supreame States Thus Rome is said to have had seven Kings and yet five of those Governments were not Monarchicall These kingdomes may fall one upon another there may be civill broyles and divisions and distractions and thereby they may be sorely punisht as wee have beene for dealing
Kingdomes in their ruines My blood upon Caldea shall Jerusalem say Jer. 51. 35. This having beene manifestly the destruction of that Nation and being likewise the pattern of the New Testament Give me leave to give you this further observation by the way about it That God disposed it in his providence so that all States and sorts of men among them should have their hands in it because Gods purpose is not to destroy any Nation for his peoples sake till all sorts therein concur in their ill using of them The second Psalme Prophecying of the crucifying of Christ sayes that the Heathen the people the Kings of the earth the Rulers tooke counsell against the Lords Anointed which the Apostles in their Prayer of which by and by Acts 4. 27. interpret That Herod Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together against his child Jesus both the Ecclesiasticall and the Civill state among the Jewes concurred in it The Sanedrim first and Elders of the people and they with much adoe perswade the people The chiefe Priests and Elders perswaded the multitude Mat. 27. 20. and when that was with difficulty done it was long ere Pilate did consent he kept off and washt his hands though the people Priests and all sought to him but in the end yeelded And what was the reason that Pilate came in at length also Because God would have the Romane Empire which he meant to break upon Christ and his Saints as the former to be wound in even in the guilt of Christs blood and to embrue their hands in it as Pilate the Romane Governour did by his sentence and the Roman Souldiers by execution And therefore we find Rev. 11. 8. Rome to be called the City where our Lord was crucified because by the power and jurisdiction of that State that so the blood of all yea even of Christ himselfe might be found in her at her destruction Revel 18. ult But to proceed in this Jewish story When our Lord was ascended we reade Acts 4. that when Peter and John were preaching to the people the Priests and the Captaine of the Temple and the Sadduces came upon them ver 1. and they laid hands on them and put them in hold ver 3. And then ver 23. they being let goe onely with threatning to speak no more in his name they went to their owne company and there they went to Prayer and what doe they urge to God but the second Psal and spread that before him meerly upon this occasion that they were falne upon and interrupted in his worship and threatned to preach no more in that name which they being the relicts of Christ left behinde him here were to hold forth They prayed over with one accord the second Psalme Lord thou art God which hast made heaven and earth who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vaine things The Kings of the earth stood up and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus WHOM THOU HAST ANOINTED and now anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together c. These his Disciples being his fellowes in his anointing did accordingly as you here see interest their cause in his by putting God in mind what they did unto their Lord in crucifying him to provoke him thereby to consider what was now done to themselves by the Rulers Scribes and Elders Priests and Band of the Temple ver 1. 5. Well still the Jewes goe on and follow the same trade as our Saviour Christ in Luke 21. 10 11. foretold his Disciples that they should and withall he foretold them that there should be wars upon this and commotions Nation rising against Nation c. BEFORE ALL THESE sayes Christ they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the Synagogues and into prison being brought before Kings and Rulers for my Names sake Our Saviour therein shewing that this persecution of the Saints should be the cause of all these wars and so of that Nations ruine as well as his owne death so involving his cause and theirs together But they as afore the warres so after the warres and during the time of them Christ sayes should goe on and take no warning this you find in Mat. 24. 7 8 9. verses compared And this sayes Christ there shall be a testimony unto you Now that second Psalme whither the Apostles have brought us and which the Apostles in the beginning of the Gospel prayed thus over against the Jewes was by the holy Ghost intended against all Nations and Kingdomes that should in like manner deal injuriously with the Saints as the Jews had done with Christ to the end of the world so making this instance the pattern and example to the rest In the next words if you read on you find a solemne inauguration of Christ as King now when ascended into heaven I have set my King on my holy hill with a Proclamation Declaration of Gods Decree and great Designe under the New Testament to be effected and accomplished by this his new King set up I WILL DECLARE the DECRE c. ver 7. which as a Preface refers to all that followes and is in effect no other then the same you have all this while heard out of the Old He gives Christ as a boone upon his Inauguration all the Kingdoms of the world I will give thee saith he the Heathen for thine inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession What to doe Either to break them or convert them Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessell and this drift the Apostles well knew and therefore pertinently urged it in their Prayer to God against the Jewes which Prayer of theirs had a concurrent influence into their ruine Now as the destruction of Jerusalem is made by Christ the fore-running type of the end of the world so the destruction of that Nation for these their doings to Christ and his Apostles and their followers is an example to all Kingdomes that shall doe the like afterwards unto the Saints for which Christ hath and will break them also Therefore how ends the Psalme BE WISE O YE KINGS AND INSTRVCTED YE JUDGES OF THE EARTH c. That is in effect All ye States and Princes of the world learn to know this your INTEREST Although this might be enough in the generall for the whole New Testament Yet come we to the Roman Empire 2. The Romane Empire The Book of the Revel is a Prophesie of the destruction of that Empire either as Heathenish in the whole or else when Christian yet persecuting then in both the parts of it East and West That Book is a Tragy-Comedy
But you will yet say It is true they may be understood as Common persons representing indeed the Nation of the Jews but yet will what is here said be warrantably extended to the Beleevers of Jewes and Gentiles under the New Testament to the end of the world I answer Yes For the Covenant that God made with Abraham was to be heire of the world as well as heire of Canaan so Rom. 14. 13. And accordingly in other things the Analogie holds for them with these here For as these so the Saints they are called Strangers and Pilgrims scattered and dispersed in all Nations So Peter speaks of them even as here he calls these strangers ver 12. when they were but few in number and strangers in the land as the Saints in the world To give parallel places of Scripture to strengthen this In the Old Testament In the forty fift Psalme you have a Prophesie of the Church of the New Testament under the type of Solomon taking Pharoahs daughter who was a Gentile into his bed as Christ of whom he was the Type one day should doe the Gentiles which Church is made that great mother that shall have such multitudes of children Gal. 4. Now of those children of the Church of the New Testament as the Mother and of Christ as the Father the 16. verse of that Psalme thus speaks Instead of THY FATHERS shall be THY CHILDREN whom thou mayst make Princes in all the earth The meaning whereof is this that in the stead of these great Patriarchs and other the Fathers of the Jews spoken of in the Text shall succeed others the children of the New Testament even all the Saints as Successors of them and as they were as Princes in all Lands they came into here so shall thy children be sayes the Psalmist there And the 7. verse of that Psalme calls them anointed and so speaks also in the language of the Text when under that notion he commands not to touch them That verse speaking of Christ saith He is ANOINTED with the oyle of gladnesse above his FELLOWES namely these his fellowes and children spoken of ver 16. you have at once as the great anointed one Christ so all his children called anointed ones also and as they are his fellowes so anointed too Thus you have all meet Abraham and the Fathers the anointed ones of the Old Testament Christ and his Saints the anointed ones in the New in their stead and both Princes and Strangers in all Lands and so of the one as well as the other this charge is here intended Touch not mine anointed c. And to this accords the language of the New Testament the whole mysticall body is called Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. and Beleevers his fellows are said to have received an anointing 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 John 2. 27. yea and elsewhere the reason of this their preservation and Gods protection over them is put upon this very anointing Esay 10. 27. The burthen shall be taken off thy shoulder speaking of the oppression of Gods people and the yoke shall be destroyed BECAUSE OF THE ANOINTING Having thus explained the words I come to those Observations which I shall make out of them and insist on at this time I resolve the words into these three parts 1. Here is the neerenesse and the dearnesse of the Saints unto God They are dearer to him then Kings and States simply considered that is otherwise then as they in their persons are also Saints for you see that for their sakes he reproved Kings and so sheweth that he preferreth them to Kings 2. Here is the great danger to Kings and States to deale with his Saints otherwise then well Which appeareth many wayes For he doth not onely in words give a charge not to touch them but he carryes it in a high way for so God may doe when he pleads their cause Touch them not as if he had said Let me see if you dare so much as touch them and it is with an intimation of the highest threatning if they should upon your perill if you doe for that is the scope of such a speech and accordingly in deeds he made this good for the Text saith He suffered no man to doe them wrong Not that he did altogether prevent all wrong and injuries for they received many as they went through those lands but at no time did he put it up at their hands or let it goe unpunisht in that sense he suffered them not You know how he plagued Pharaoh King of Egypt with great plagues and all his houshold for Abrahams wives sake Gen. 12. And so Abimelech King of Gerar the Lord commeth upon him with a greatnes and his first word is in Gen. 20. 3. Behold than art but a dead man afore he had first told him why or wherefore though then he addes the reason he brings him upon his knees ver 4. bids him look to it that he give satisfaction to Abraham and restore his wife to him againe ver 7. and well he scap'd so and tels him also that he must be beholden to Abrahams prayers for his life He is a Prophet saith he and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live The third is the care and protection which God had over them set out and amplified 1. by the number and condition of the persons whom he defended though few men of number that is soone reckoned for their power and strength a few or very small 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint in the parallel place 2 Chro. 16. 19. As also 2. by what he did for them He suffered no man how great soever to doe them any wrong how small soever not without recompence and satisfaction not to doe it though they had a mind to it though the people had an ill eye at them Gen. 26. 11. God causeth Abimelech to make a Law on purpose Abimelech charged all his people in Isaacs behalf and of his family which I mention because it gives light to the Text and speaks in the very words of the Text He that TOUCHETH this man or his wife shall be put to death although they envied him ver 14. strived with him ver 20. hated him ver 27. I shal passe over the sett handling the first of these namely The neernesse and dearnesse of the Saints to God it will after come in well enough under the second as the reason thereof That maine thing which I have singled forth to insist upon is the danger that is unto States to deale otherwise then well with the Saints Gods anointed And the Observation is plainly this That the dealing well or ill with the Saints of God Obser it is the greatest and highest INTEREST of Kings and Kingdomes on which their welfare or their ruine depends I have the story of the whole world afore me to gleane Demonstrations and instances out of to make good this truth But I shall endeavour to present it to you under
29. he calleth Pharaoh King of Egypt The Dragon of the Rivers which I beleeve hath reference to the Crocodile in those Rivers which is a kind of Serpent and beast also and in the 7. verse after which we are now upon to a staffe of reed Whereas in that 68. Psal you see both are put together The beast of reeds Here in this 29. of Ezechiel the Prophet having in his eye the common Hieroglyphick of the Countrey turnes the similitude to their being a staffe of reed that suiting his present scope which was to expresse their failing that confidence the people of God reposed in them and so becomming the fatall occasion of their miserie BECAUSE saith he verse 6. thou hast beene a staffe of reed to the house of Israel when they took hold of thee thou didst breake They as Cornelius à Lapide upon the place had provoked the Jews to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar promising to assist them But though thou wert Baculus in promissione a staffe in promises yet but Arundinens in executione a staffe of reed vaine and helplesse in the performance as he speaks The Prophet goes on Yea thou didst not onely break but run up and rend all the shoulder and madest their loynes to be at a stand didst not onely hinder but hurt and weaken them The Lord comes upon them with his former THEREFORE ver 8. saith the Lord I will bring a sword upon thee and will cut off man and beast And so he goes on in three or foure Chapters to set forth their punishment and that relating as the former had done to this their unfaithfull dealing with Gods people as that sinne that was the cause thereof which is the point in hand When the Prophet had thus dispatched Egypt 7. A speciall threatning against mount Seir and Edom. and threatned the like to Assyria and Babylon of which enough was touched before he fals afresh upon mount Seir and Edom and contents not himselfe to have put them into the common catalogue which we have gone over with the rest of the Nations in the 25. Esau of whom both came was called Edom for his Rednesse Gen. 25. 30. Seir from his hayrie hands Esau dwelt in Seir Gen. 33. 14 16. and was given as a possession to his seed by God Deut. 2. 5. and Esau was the father of Edom Gen. 36. ult Chap. but he returns again to a peculiar special reckoning with them in the 35. Chapter the reason of it we shall see by and by because they were their brethren Because saith he there ver 5. thou hast had a perpetuall hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity in the time that their iniquity HAD AN END that is when they had already suffered so much for their sins that it might have been thought God had punished them enough yet then doe they begin their misery afresh Therefore as I live saith the Lord I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee c. And ver 10. he addes another reason Because thou hast said These two nations and these two countries shall be mine namely their owne and that of Israel adjoyning and we will possesse it when Nebuchadnezzar had laid it waste they promised to themselves the possession of it whereas THE LORD WAS THERE as the Prophet addes They thought they might as easily conquer and enter upon the possession of it as any of the other Nations whereas the Lords presence was there to keep possession for himselfe and his people that belonged unto it This was their sinne then follows their punishment Therefore as I live saith the Lord I will even doe according to thine anger and according to thine envie which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them I will proportion my punishment accordingly And he doth not content himselfe onely with this bringing of them in again here but besides he spends a whole Prophesie upon them the Prophesie of Obadiah whose message is taken up with nothing but threatnings against Edom and resolving all into the same quarrel For thy violence against thy BROTHER Jacob * Deut. 2. 4 5. God said to the Jewes You are to passe through the coast of your BRETHREN the children of Esau Meddle not with them c. Edom and Seir as was said comming of Esau were brethren to the Israelites and God takes it infinitely more unkindly at their hands then at the hands of the other Nations THEREFORE shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever In the day that thou stoodst on the other side that is behavedst thy selfe as a neuter that stood aloofe in the day that strangers carryed away captive his forces and forreigners entred into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem thou wast as ONE OF THEM didst as much mischief as the Babylonians The Psalmist also hath it Psal 137. 7. Thou shouldst not have entred into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity yea thou shouldst not have looked on their affliction that is as idle Spectators much lesse rejoycers in it nor have laid hands on their substance not have spoiled them of their goods in the day of their calamity c. Therefore is their punishment to a perpetuall ruine more heavy then any of the rest Thus now you have also seene an end of all these Kingdomes that were neighbours about Ierusalem and how they were all reproved yea destroyed upon this quarrell of touching and medling with his anointed as the Text hath it Now let us goe on to the other Monarchies V. The Persian Monarchy an instance of Gods blessing for his peoples sakes the Persian and the Grecian you shall see still that the story of them also makes good this great point in hand The Persian and the Grecian both had to doe with the Church But the first of these the Persian seems rather an instance on the other hand viz. of the welfare and of the raising up of a Nation and of a State for the people of God For God hath given some instances of blessing as well as he hath given of ruine The very raising up of Cyrus and of that Monarchie in him it was for his peoples sake The Scripture is expresse for this reade Esay 44. 28. Thus saith God of Cyrus He is my shepherd and shall performe all my pleasure even saying to Ierusalem Thou shalt be built and to the Temple Thy foundation shall be laid And goe on to Chap. 45. ver 1. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have holden to subdue Nations before him c. He calls Cyrus His ANOYNTED He calls Tyre An anointed covering Cherub also Ezek. 28. and no other Heathen Princes else in all the Booke of God First Tyre an anointed Cherub because he was propitious to the Jewes even as the Cherub covering the Arke Occolampad in loc
Then Cyrus was Anointed because as Sanctius well saith Non minus studiose res curabat Iudaicas quam si Iudaeorum esset non PersaruÌ„ Imperator He took as much care for the people of God and the building of the Temple as if he had been King of Iury himselfe And God calleth him likewise his SHEPHERD even as he had done David that was to look to his sheep In the place I quoted before concerning the Assyrian and Babylonian Kings Ier. 50. you heard how he called them LIONS because they scattered his sheep so the expression is there but here he calls Cyrus HIS SHEPHERD that shall performe all his pleasure and for that end raised him to all this greatnesse for for whose sake was it he had the Nations given him Reade the fourth verse For JACOB my SERVANTS SAKE and Israel mine elect I have even called thee by thy name I have surnamed thee though thou hast not knowne me not for thy sake but for my peoples only And although for a while some of them Kings made Edicts to interrupt the building of the Temple yet the generality of those Kings went on in that course of favour which Cyrus had begun and were more favourable to the Jewes then all of the other Monarchies Darius Histaspis mentioned Ezra 4. ver 24. permitted the Jewes to goe on in building it as their poverty would suffer them and after another interruption Darius Nothus * Thus Calvisius and Master Mede in his account of Daniels Weeks pag. 5 6 7. which doth fall in the best to accord all the yeares of Daniels Weeks But if as most other Chronologers it had beene Darius Histaspis that made that Decree in Ezra 6. for the finishing the Temple then it affords a greater Observation to my purpose in hand namely That God did take away Cambyses Cyrus his sonne whom they would have to be that Artaxerxes Ezra 4. that hindred by force of Arms the building the Temple both in his Fathers dayes whilst he was Prince of Persia as Dan. 10. 13. he is called or Prorex in his fathers absence and in his owne and that without issue and so Cyrus issue male ended being punisht for recalling the favour granted But Darius Histaspis being chosen by the Princes God established the Kingdom in him and his seed for his reviving Cyrus his Edict And however almost all agree in this that this Darius he hindred it not but gave liberty for his time and is that Darius mentioned Ezra 4 24. See Mede Daniels Weeks pag. 7. in his marginall note whom therefore God blessed accordingly and yet regarded Cyrus also in this that by his daughter Atossa wife to this Darius his race continued Ezra 6. did put Cyrus his Decree in force againe and allowes the expence of the finishing it out of his owne revenues and inserts this in his revived Decree that the Jewes might pray for the life of the King and of his children ver 10. They also had of the seed of the Jews great men at Court with them as Daniel Mordecat Ezra and Nehemiah the two latter of whom were sent by Artaxerxes to build the City of Jerusalem yea another of their Kings admitted one of that Nation through the providence of God to the royall bed Ahasuerosh marryed Hester of the seed of the Jews under whom and under other of these Kings they had the greatest prosperity Now as this favour to the Jews was the cause of the erecting that Monarchie at first so surely of the continuance of it so long Historians wonder that it should stand so long it being so loose and dissolute a Court and State * Therefore Daniel compares him to a slow unweildy Ram as it were heavy with wool and flesh Chap. 8 7. and having so many great shocks I can attribute it to nothing but this the eminent favour they shewed to the Jewes the people of God And I shall but cast in this Observation more about it When was it that it came to be ruined and destroyed but in the time of the latter Darius then when Cyrus who had been Gods Shepherd his seed was wholly extinct * Diodo imitio lib. 7. For though his seed by the Male issue continued not to a Grandchild yet in the seed of Atossa Cyrus daughter wife to Darius Histaspis the Kingdom was continued in his race And to make the providence the more remarkable wheras Darius had sons before by another wife yet the intrest of Atossa * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Herodotus of Atossa giving it as the reason of this succession for Cyrus sake carryed the succession to Xerxes her son Cyrus Grandchild But that last Darius in with whom that Empire was destroyed by Alexander was of another race * Alexander the Great in his Letters to Darius and his speech to his soldiers against Darius affirms it Arrianus Cuâ—tius lib. 6. us also Justin Such regard had God to Cyrus his Shepherd and his seed that favoured the Jewes But then it was and not afore that God threw down that Monarchy whether for any thing done against the people of God or no the Scripture is silent Let us come to the Grecian Monarchy VI. The Grecian Monarchy for that was the third some of the story of which you have mentioned in Zech. 9. which is an apparent Prophesie of the expedition of Alexander D. Jackson 8. Book of Commentaries on the Creed sect 3 6. 17. and as a late learned Writer rightly saith you may better know the meaning of the first part of that Chapter out of Quintus Curtius and Josephus then out of most Commentators You reade there of a Prophesie of Tyre that it must be taken againe so vers 3. Now Zechariah writ after the Babylonish Captivity therefore it is not that former taking of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar but that latter by Alexander And what he sayes in the 5. ver of Gaza and those other Cities in Philistia Askelon shall not be inhabited and the cutting off the Governour of Gaza Quintus Curtius exactly relates the performance of it and his cruelty therein and it is usually noted as the first and greatest act of Alexanders degenerating to barbarous inhumanity Now all that his rage against all those Cities that were neighbours to the Jewes was ordered by God and foretold by the Prophet but onely to set forth the wonderfull care and protection of God towards his people recorded ver 8. that although Alexander was as much incensed against the Jews for their answer sent him of their resolution to cleave to Darius to whom they had sworne yet as that 8. verse foretold I WILL ENCAMP ABOUT MY HOUSE sayes God because of THE ARMY because of him that passeth by and because of him that returneth When Alexander went by and when afterwards many other Armies went to and fro God still encamped about his house And though Alexander plundered or destroyed all the Cities round about yet
doctrine it selfe they are dearer to God then Nations simply considered the reason is strong That therefore the Interest of all Nations must needs lye in these Saints Esay 43. 3 4. I gave Egypt for thy ransome Ethiopia and Seba for thee since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life Thus he valued them under the Old Testament But did he give Nations for them then They have cost him more since they have cost him the blood of his Sonne He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us how shall he not with him freely give us ALL THINGS Rom. 8. 32. All things are theirs the world c. because they are Christs Look what reasons the Old Testament gives of this point in hand from their neerenesse to God the New Testament useth the same They are my first borne said God to the Kingdome of Egypt and therefore I will take away thy first-borne The New Testament speaks the same they are the Church of the first-borne written in heaven Heb. 12. 23. Was it the vengeance of the Temple was Babels overthrow the New Testament utters the same and to the same purpose If any man destroyes the Temple of God him shall God destroy FOR THE TEMPLE OF GOD IS HOLY which Temple are YE 1 Cor. 3. 17. Againe Israel is Holinesse to the Lord the first fruits of his encrease and therefore all that devoure him shall offend offend greatly and evill shall come upon them saith the Lord Jer. 2. 3. Thus speaks the Old Testament The same reason and expressions are given you see in the New The Temple of God IS HOLY and they are the FIRST FRUITS of all his creatures Jam. 1. 18. These are the redeemed from among men and the FIRST FRUITS to God and the Lambe and therefore prevaile Revel 14. 4. And as because they are thus deare to God therefore if they be dealt ill withall it is the cause of the ruine of a Nation so on the contrary likewise if a Nation deale well with them it is a cause of his blessing upon them Yea he doth give Nations and States their being for their sakes They are a blessing in the midst of the land Esay 19. 24. In so much as God spareth the tree for a small bunch of grapes so he compareth his people in respect of the rest of a Nation Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it Esay 65. 8. or rather as the same Esay they are to the whole tree the Nation they live in what the pith the heart the substance is As an oke whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the HOLY SEED the Saints shall be the SUBSTANCE OF IT Esay 6. ult That preserves life in a Nation when the branches of it are hewne or it cast its leaves These things are spoken in relation to their being the cause of the preservation of a nation in both these places Saints that are as strangers to a Nation and onely make it their refuge yet their presence is in such a case a preservation to them Moab sayes God Let mine out-casts dwell with thee and be thou a covert to them Esay 16. 4. And ver 5. And in mercy shall the throne be established But much more NATIVE Saints procure this blessing their relation being nearer and dearer Of Sion it shall be said This and that man was BORN in her And what followes The highest himselfe shall establish her Psal 87. 3. Secondly 2. Reason another reason is taken from the great interest the Saints have in God the Governour and the priviledge which themselves have vouchsafed them by God in ruling and governing this world and the providences of God therein They are Privy Counsellors to the great King of Kings who governs all the States and Kingdomes in the world and God doth give these his Saints a Commission to set up and pull down by their prayers and intercessions The Old Testament speakes in a high language in Esay 45. 11. I might have quoted it before for it comes in as the reason of Gods setting up Cyrus for his peoples sake Aske me of things to come concerning my sonnes and concerning the WORK OF MY HANDS COMMAND YE ME. Who speaks this The words afore are Thus SAITH the Lord the holy One of Israel and his Maker It would have been blasphemie for us to have said it but that the Lord himselfe first hath said it and given them this priviledge Concerning the work of my hands command ye me And which makes it the more observable before he doth in this place mentioned confer this honour and priviledge upon them he first as on purpose minds them of that infinite distance and disproportion betwixt himself and them so to put the more wonder upon it he tells them ver 9 10. that they were but the clay he the Potter that could not therefore of right say so much unto him about his matters as Why madest thou me thus Yet behold I that am thus your Maker give you leave to dispose by your prayers the great works of my hands which concerne my children my sonnes the affaires of Kingdoms even so far as they relate to their good And he speaks it upon this occasion that for their sakes he had raised up Cyrus and pulled downe the Babylonian Monarchy because they by their prayers had sought this They are said elsewhere to decree a thing Job 22. 28. so Job and to bring it to passe and God is said to fulfill their counsels Psal 20. And this interest they have either for good or evill to the nations they live in First for evill Thus Revel 11. 6. the two Witnesses have power to smite the earth with plagues as oft as they will And if any man WILL hurt them in THIS MANNER he shall be killed that is with the highest and sorest vengeance and God avengeth them speedily Luke 18. 8. And so for blessing The innocent delivers the Island through the purenesse of his hands Job 22. 30. Thus one righteous Lot was for the present the cause of the rescue of the Sodomites the wickedest people in the world and afterwards ordained to the greatest judgement A third reason 3. Reason is the INTEREST of Jesus Christ himselfe And to shew that he is King even King of Kings and hath a Kingdom ordained to him and his Saints supreame to all theirs in the meane while his design and practice is and hath been to break all Kingdoms that do oppose him or oppresse his Saints This reason I might enlarge out of Daniel The God of heaven shall set up a Kingdome which shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdomes but it shall stand for ever Cha. 2. 44. and Chap. 7. but I shall insist in this Head of Reasons onely upon that eminent title of Christs which holds forth this his