way that where ever any thing occurs in the Holy Scripture that is either terrifying or disgraceful or threatning the Jews commonly apply it to the Gentiles as by numberless instances might be confirmed These Interpreters therefore having gotten such a subject in this Psalm and according to the custom of the Nation applying it to the Gentiles they heap together passages from other places of the Scripture which they either believe or would have to look the same way loading and stigmatizing the poor Heathen with odious characters enough for to them the Jews make no doubt but assuredly believe all those things do appertain III. Our Apostle follows their quotations exactly transcribes their words approves the truth of the thing but disproves the falshood of the application vers 19. q. d. You Jews expound these things of the Gentiles only as if they did not in the least belong to your selves And with the same design likewise have your Interpreters multiplied this heap of quotations having their Eye on them But ye must know that whatever things the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law CHAP. VIII VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For the earnest expectation of the creature c. THERE is a twofold key hanging at this place that may unlock the whole and make the sense plain and easie 1. The first is this phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we render the whole Creation vers 22. and we meet with it twice elsewhere in the New Testament Mark XVI vers 15. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Preach the Gospel to every creature Col. I. 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Gospel which was preached to every creature Now it is apparent enough what is meant by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in both these places viz. all Nations or the Heathen World For that which in S. Mark is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã preach the Gospel to every creature in S. Matthew is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã go and teach all Nations teaching them The very phrase in this place lays claim to that very Interpretation I have also observed upon that place of S. Mark that that phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã every creature is applied by the Jews to the Gentiles and that by way of opposition to Israel 2. The second is that word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vers 20. which indeed is not unfitly rendred vanity but then this vanity is improperly applied to this vanishing changable dying state of the Creation For ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vanity doth not so much denote the vanishing condition of the outward state as it doth the inward vanity and emptiness of the mind So the Apostle speaking of the Gentiles concerning whom he speaks here tells us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they became vain in their imaginations a a a a a a Rom. I. 21. And again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind b b b b b b Ephes. IV. 17. So also that The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they are vain * * * * * * 1 Cor. III. 20. To all which let me add this observation further that throughout this whole place the Apostle seemeth to allude to the Israelites bondage in Egypt and their deliverance out of it with a comparison made betwixt the Jewish and the Gentile Church When God would deliver Israel from his bondage he challengeth him for his Son and his first-born Exod. IV. 22. And in like manner the people of the Gentiles do earnestly expect and wait for such a kind of manifestation of the Sons of God within and among themselves The Romans to whom this Apostle writes knew well enough how many and how great predictions and promises it had pleased God to publish by his Prophets concerning gathering together and adopting Sons to himself among the Gentiles the manifestation and production of which Sons the whole Gentile World with a neck as it were stretched out doth now wait for VERS XX. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. For the creature was made subject to Vanity THE Gentile World were subject to Vanity of mind but how ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same May we not say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it became vain willingly but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it was made subject to Vanity not willingly For let us recur to the very first original of Gentilisme that is to the first confusion of Languages by reason of the attempt to build the Tower at Babel I confess there are some passages in the Gloss of the Targumists upon this matter Gen. XI that might move laughter but as to the sum and scope of the thing they are worth weighing c c c c c c Targ. Hieros Ionath They said Go to let us build us a City and a tower and let its head reach unto the top of Heaven ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and let us make us an house of worship in the top of it and let us put a sword into his hand that he may wage war for us against our enemies before we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth We may smile indeed at that sigment about the Idol and the Sword c. But certainly they do not altogether miss the mark when they hint to us that this Tower was built upon an Idolatrous account So the Talmudists d d d d d d Sanhedr fol. 109. 1. It is a tradition R. Nathan saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they were all intent upon Idolatry And hence it is that they commonly say That that generation hath no part in the world to come Nor indeed does the severity of the punishment viz. the confusion of Languages by which true Religion was lost in the World argue any less but that they sinned against God in the highest degree in that wicked enterprize They were inclinable to Idolatry willingly and of their own accord but that they were subjected to that Vanity proceeded from the just indignation and vengeance of God The whole World lay under Heathenism from the first confusion of Languages to the bringing in of the Gospel among all Nations two thousand years and upwards And in this its most miserable condition who could not but observe that God was angry VERS XXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption THE word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sometimes yea very frequently in the Holy Scriptures denotes sinful corruption so 2 Pet. I. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã corruption through lust 2 Cor. XI 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Your minds should be corrupted 1 Cor. XV. 33. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Evil communication corrupts good manners c. So that the sense of the Apostle in this place seemeth to be this The Gentile World shall in
be touched meaning Mount Sinai but ye are come to Mount Sion One would think when he spake of Mount Sinai he should rather have called it the Mount that might not be touched for God charged that neither man nor beast should touch it Exod. XIX But you may see the Apostles meaning That the Mystical Mount Sion is not such a gross earthly thing as Mount Sinai was that was subject to sense and feeling to be seen and felt and trod upon but that Sion is a thing more pure refined and abstract from such sensibleness spiritual and heavenly And from this undeniable notion of a Church invisible we may easily answer that captious and scornful question that you know who put upon us Where was your Church and Religion before Luther Why it was in the Jerusalem that is above out of the reach and above the ken of mans discerning it was upon Mount Sion above the sphere of sight and sense It was in such a place and case as the Church and Religion was in when there were seven thousand men that never bowed the knee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the Golden Heiser at Dan or Bethel and yet the greatest Prophet then being could not discern the least sign of any Church at all Now Thirdly The new Jerusalem must be known by her Pearls and Jewels upon which it is founded and built up True Religion is that that must distinguish and discover the true Church And where that is it is like the Wisemens Star over the house at Bethlehem that points out and tells Jesus and his Church is hero I must confess I do not well understand that concession of some of our Protestant Divines that yield That the Church of Rome is a corrupt Church indeed but yet a true Church For I do not well understand how there should be a true Church under a false Religion If the Church of the Jews under the great corruption of Religion that was in it might be called a true Church that was all it could look for And it must have that title rather because there was never a Church in the World beside it than from any claim by Religion But what do you call true Religion 1. First That which is only founded on the Word of God as the Wall of the new Jerusalem in vers 14. of this Chapter is founded upon twelve pearls engraven with the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 2. That Religion that tends directly to the honouring of God and saving of souls and is adequate to these ends In short That Religion that can bring to Heaven For I so little believe that any man may be saved in any Religion that I believe there is only one Religion in which any man may be saved And when Moses can bring Israel only to the skirts of the Land of Promise I hardly believe that any Religion will bring them into it Though one should not stick to grant that a person may be saved in the Church of Rome yet should I question whether in the Faith of Rome And it is the Faith or Doctrine of a Church more especially that I mean by the Religion of it Let a Romanist ride all the stages of his Religion from his uncouth kind of Baptism to his extream Unction through his auricular Confessions and Absolutions through his Penances and Pardons through his Massings and Crossings through all his Devotions and Austerities will all these bring to Heaven if the main fundamentals of Faith be faulty and failing Nay if the main fundamentals of belief be clean contrary to the way of God to Heaven A Scribe or Pharisee in old Jerusalem is as devout in Religion and as strict and severe in outward conversation as is imaginable that you would think sanctity it self were there yet will all this bring to Heaven when the chief principles of his Faith are directly contrary to the way of Salvation while he believes to be justified by his own works and places all in opere operato in a little formal and ceremonial service Like him in the story and on the stage that cried O! Heaven and pointed down to the Earth these pretended for Heaven in their practical Devotions but pointed downward in their Doctrinal principles I shall not insist to illustrate those particulars that I mentioned I suppose they carry their own proof and evidence with them that they are most proper touchstones whereby to try the truth of a Church and Religion And it is our comfort that we can that we do that we desire to bring our Religion to such Tests and touchstones and refuse not but most gladly appeal to the impartial Judge the Word of God to give judgment of it I shall not therefore undertake so needless a task as to go about to prove the truth of our Faith and Religion since so many Protestant pens have so clearly and so abundantly done it far more learned than my Tongue And since I may make such an Appeal to you as the Apostle did to King Agrippa King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know thou believest Fathers and Brethren believe you the Truth of our Religion I know you believe it Then I have no more to do but to offer two or three words of humble exhortation and entreaty viz. Prize it Cleave to it Beautifie it I. Prize it for it is the chiefest jewel in all our Cabinet And the wisest Merchant in all your City cannot find out a Pearl of greater price It is the life of our Nation at home and it is the honour of our Nation abroad It is that that makes our Land a Royal Street of the new Jerusalem It is that that must make your City a holy City We see a new London as our Apocalyptick saw a new Jerusalem The buildings stately and magnificent the furniture sumptuous and very splendid the shops rich and bravely furnished the wealth great and very affluent but your Religion the all in all As it was said in old time that Athens was the Greece of Greece and as it may be said at this time that London is the England of England so let your Religion be the London of London It is that by which your City must stand and flourish by which your prosperity must be watered and maintained and the Anâile which kept in safety will keep us in safety II. Keep therefore close to your Religion and leave it not Dread revolting from the true Religion The Apostasie in the Apostles times was the sin unto death in our Apocalypticks first Epistle and last Chapter And there is an Apostasie in our time but too common and to be deplored with tears to a Religion but too like to that to which they then revolted I would therefore that those that are tempted either by the lightness of their own hearts or by the Emissaries of Rome to revolt from their Religion would remember that dreadful saying of the Apostle Heb. X. 26. If we sin wilfully after
what is contrary to Right and Good Sometimes Heresie is bred of ignorance sometimes of too much knowledge sometimes of too much carlesness about the word of God sometimes of too much curiosity sometimes of leaning too much to sence and sometimes too much to carnal reason most commonly of pride of mens seeking themselves of crosness of boldness about divine things and ever of mens wilfulness to have their own minds Might I not instance and give example in all these things And hath not the Church had too sad experience of these things in all generations Weeds ever creeping up in that garden out of one peice of cursed ground or other and is never free of them There must be Heresies saith the Apostle there have been Heresies saith Experience and there will be Heresies saith the corrupt nature and heart of man that will be seeking it self and hath no mind of obeying the truth Weighty is that saying of the Apostle 2 Thes. II. 10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved For this cause God sends them strong delusion that they should believe a lie It is more proper to say and it is more commonly done that men rather fall into Heresie than that Heresie falls upon them That is that they rather choose it themselves than that they are any way inforced to it Heresie is a Greek word put into an English dress And the word in Greek as Grammarians will tell you signifies a Wish a choise Heresie is a thing that a man takes up of his own wish and choice And I think it might be a disputable poynt Whether a Heretic ever took up and maintained his opinions purely out of conscience The great Heresie abroad in one party is Popery And can I or you believe that the ring-leaders of that Religion that lead the poor silly people blindfold do maintain that Religion purely out of the principles of a good conscience when we see they make no conscience of Massacres Powder-Plots killing Kings and disquieting Kingdoms The great Heresie abroad in another party is Socinianism And can I think or believe that the ring-leaders in that doctrine do maintain that doctrine purely out of the principles of conscience when even the whole System and Body of that Divinity doth clearly speak it self to be a crossing even all the Articles of Religion of what hath been received for sound and orthodox in the Church in all ages And I must be excused if I take Quakerism to be a direful Heresie and that it is hard to find out that the ring-leaders in it do maintain it purely out of the principles of conscience while they are so bitter high cross and censorious You remember the saying of the Apostle The Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated Jam. III. 17. If their wisdom or profession carry those marks and if their Doctrine carry even any badg of Truth we do not yet understand it or them And as for the Heresie that the Text speaks of the Sadducees denying those great Articles of Religion The Resurrection Angels and Spirits Can we think they maintained their opinions meerly out of the princiâples of conscience and not rather out of Faction Sectarism or some other by respect and regard Our Saviour chargeth them with Ignorance in the Scripture and in judging concerning God Do ye not err saith he not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God And it is not very suspicious that there was wilfulness in the matter too that they were resolved to stick to their opinion for some by-ends that they had of their own Let us a little consider of the Persons and then of their Opinions I. Of the Persons We read not of Sadducees but under the second Temple or after the return out of Captivity but when and how they rose then is something questionable Some think there were Sadducees in the time of Ezra and the Prophets that lived after the Captivity Haggai Zechariah and Malachi And they think that those words Mal. III. 13. Your words are stout against me do refer to the Sadducees And there are of the Jewish Writers that say that in the time of Ezra there were Sadducees that denyed the World to come And therefore to affront that Heresie they of the great Council ordained that in the end of some prayers instead of saying Amen they should say for ever and ever As instead of Blessed be the Lord Amen they should say Blessed be the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For ever and ever or as the words do properly signifie To worlds of worlds or to ages of ages Others ascribe the original of Sadducees to a later date and that one Sadoc was the first author of the Heresie divers years after these holy Prophets were dead and gone Which opinion is most embraced both by Jews and Christians II. Well be it the one way or the other the first singularity of this sect was that they would receive no poynt of Faith but what they could see plainly grounded in the Books of Moses For the other Books of the Old Testament they admitted not of to be of such authority as were the Books of Moses And because they could not find the I. Resurrection and the World to come spoke of in plain terms in all Moses therefore they would not take those Articles into their Creed They would be their own choosers and what they will have to be Scripture must be Scripture and what they would not have must not be The great cause of Heresie which we mentioned before mens wilfulness to have their own minds It is a blessed thing to be led by Scripture for that will lead to Truth and to Heaven But on the contrary a cursed thing to lead the Scripture whether a man would have it For that will certainly end in error and miscarriage It is but too common a thing for men to take up an opinion or doctrine of their own heads or minds and as please themselves and then to lead and strain the Scripture to speak to their opinion and to maintain it to make the divine Oracles of God to truckle to their fancies Like that that Solomon accounts so absurd and preposterous to set Servants on horseback and Princes to lacquy by their horse side and to trudge afoot These Sadducees had learned from their Master Sadoc that there was no Resurrection nor world to come And to maintain that opinion they will make so bold with Scripture that that which speaks not plainly of those things shall be Scripture but that that does shall not be at all How the Church of Rome dealeth in this kind is very well known That Church hath taken up cursed and abominable Opinions and Doctrins and she cries down the Scriptures and would not have them meddled with And you know who among us talk so much of the light within them as all-sufficient for their guidance and salvation and
bloods in the plural number That is not of the kindred descent or continued Pedegree from the Patriarchal line or the blood of Abraham Isaac Jacob and successively For John the Evangelist speaketh much to the same tenor here that John the Baptist doth Mat. 3. 9. That Christ would adopt the Heathen for the Sons of God as the Jews had been though they had no relation at all to the Jewish blood or stock Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man The Evangelist hath traced Moses all along from the beginning of the Chapter and so he doth here He used the Phrase of the Sons of God in the Verse preceding from Gen. 6. 2. And this Clause that we have in hand he seemeth to take from the very next Verse after My Spirit shall no more strive with man because he also is flesh Where as Moses by flesh understandeth the brood of Cain men that followed the swing of lust sensuality and their own corruption and by Man the Family of Seth or Adam that was regulated by Religion and reason till that Family grew also fleshly like the other so doth John here the like For having in the next foregoing words excluded one main thing that was much stood upon from any claim or challenge towards the adopting of the Sons of God or forwarding of the new birth and that is descent from Abraham and from those holy men successively that had the promise So doth he here as much for two other which only can put in for title to the same and those are first the will of the flesh or ability of nature Secondly the will of man or power of morality Ver. 14. And the word became Flesh Now hath the Evangelist brought us to the Apollinaris from this clause the word became flesh would wickedly conclude that the word assumed not an humane soul but only humane flesh and that the Godhead served that flesh instead of a reasonable soul Conâuted Luke 5. 52. Mat. 26. 38. great Mystery of the Incarnation in the description of which may be observed First the two terms the word and Flesh expressing Christs two natures and the word was made or became their hypostatical union Secondly the word flesh is rather used by the Evangelist then the word man though oftentimes they signifie but the same thing as Gen. 6. 12. Psal. 65. 2. Isa. 40. 5 6. First to make the difference and distinction of the two natures in Christ the more conspicuous and that according to the common speech of the Jews who set flesh and blood in opposition to God as Matth. 16. 17. Gal. 1. 16. Secondly to magnifie the mercy of God in Christs incarnation the more in that flesh being in its own nature so far distant from the nature of God yet that he thus brought these two natures together as of them to make but one person for the reconciling of man and himself together Thirdly to confirm the truth of Christs humanity against future Heresies which have held that he had not a true and real humane body but only Fantastical or of the air Fourthly to explain what he said before that Believers became the Sons of God that is not by any change of their bodily substances but by participation of divine grace for Christ on the contrary became the Son of Man by assuming of flesh and not by changing into it Fifthly to shew the Plaister fitly applyed unto the Sore and the Physick to the Disease for whereas in us that is in our flesh there dwelleth no good but sin death and corruption he took upon him this very nature which we have so corrupted sequestring only the corruption from it that in the nature he might heal the corruption Sixthly he saith he was made or became flesh and not he was made man lest it should be conceived that Christ assumed a person for he took not the person of any man in particular but the nature of man in general Was made flesh Not by alteration but assumption not by turning of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God not by leaving what he was before that is to be God but by taking on him what he was not before that is to bo man And the Evangelist saith rather He was made flesh then he assumed it i. e. that he might set out the truth and mystery of the Incarnation to the life both for the hypostatical union of the two natures and their inseparablity being so united For first whereas Nestorius said that the word was not that man that was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary but that the Virgin indeed brought forth a man and he having obtained grace in all kind of vertue had the word of God united unto him which gave him power against unclean Spirits And so he made two several Sons and two several persons of the two natures his Heresie is plainly and strongly confuted by this phrase he was made flesh which by the other he assumed it might have had more pretext and colour Secondly whereas Eutyches Valentius and others averred that Christ had not a true humane body but only a body in appearance This also confuteth them home and taketh away all probability of any such thing which the word assumed might have left more doubtful since we know that Angels assumed bodies and those bodies were not truly humane So that in this manner of speech The word was made flesh is evidently taught First that there are two distinct natures in Christ the God-head and the Man-hood for he saith not the word was turned into but was made or became flesh Secondly that these two natures do not constitute two persons but only one Christ for he saith he was made flesh and not assumed it Thirdly that this union is hypostatical or personal for he saith the word was made flesh and not joyned to it And lastly that this union is indissoluble and never to be separated For Angels in assumed bodies laid them by again and were parted from them but the word being made flesh the union is personal and not to be dissolved And dwelt among us c. That is among us his Disciples for so the next clause we saw his glory importeth And this Evangelist speaketh the same thing more at large 1 Joh. 1. 1. Full of grace and truth For these words follow next in Grammatical construction and connection lying thus And the word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth The reason of the Parenthesis and we saw his glory may seem to be First because he would explain what he meant by Us before he left it viz. us Disciples that saw his glory Secondly because the Apostles beheld not the very fulness of his grace and truth till they had beheld the fulness of that glory which he shewed on earth Grace and truth As the Soul hath tow noble faculties the understanding and the will the objects of which are
of himself and other men 1. That Christ came from Heaven but he and others are but earthly men 2. That Christ was above all men and all things for so the Greek word may indifferently be rendred but himself and others were but of earthly and low esteem and glory And 3. that Christ spake the words of God the things which he had heard and seen but himself and others spake of the earth and could not reach to Divine things So that the first clause ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He that is of the earth is of the earth may be understood He that is of an earthly original is of an earthly temper and glory as vers 6. He that is born of the flesh is flesh And the latter clause He speaketh of the earth may be understood two ways and the better understood by laying it in opposition to Christ. 1. Christ speaketh the words of God for he could do no other the purity of his nature could not utter a vain idle or earthly word but all Divine But he that is a meer earthly man cannot speak but earthly things altogether and not heavenly things at all as 1 Cor. 2. 14. 2 Cor. 3. 5. And herein it seemeth the strength and sense of this Antithesis betwixt Christ and meer mortals lieth and that this is the proper meaning of the Baptist for as he holds out this clear difference betwixt Christ and mortals in regard of their Original that Christ is from Heaven they from earth so doth he as clear a difference in regard of their constitution that Christ could not naturally but speak the words of God but they cannot naturally speak any such words but of the earth And 2. If the men here spoken of be of the Prophetick rank as John Baptist himself was then the Antithesis lies in this that what Revelation they have of Divine things is but obscure in comparison of what Christ hath for he witnesseth what he hath seen and heard and he hath not the Spirit by measure and what they speak of Divine things is but low and slender and by earthly expressions in comparison of the high and sublime Doctrines that he uttereth But I take the former interpretation to be the more genuine Vers. 33. Hath set to his Seal that God is true Christ spake and testified nothing but what he had seen and heard of the Father as Chap. 1. 18. 5. 20. as Moses saw and heard from God what he delivered to Israel And no man receiveth his testimony that is very few as All seek their own and none the things of Christ when neither the Jews no nor Johns Disciples would entertain it But those few that did or do they seal to the truth of God for whosoever believeth the Word of God doth as it were subscribe and set to his seal that the Word is true and God true that gave it And so they that received the testimony of Christ did both seal to the truth of his Words and also to the truth of all the promises that God had made concerning Christ see 1 Joh. 5. 10. and thus is there a mutual sealing to the covenant of Grace betwixt God and man God sealeth the truth of it by the Sacraments and man by believing Vers. 34. For God giveth not the Spirit by measure Those translations that add the words To him as divers do do readily fix the sense of it upon Christ that God poured the Spirit upon him above measure but that expression To him is not in the Original and therefore some do understand it generally of all the Prophets whom the Lord sent that they spake the words of God every one of them for God had abundance of Spirit to pour upon them had they been never so many and he measured not out the same stint of the Spirit to every one of them but what measure seemed good to his good pleasure And to bring it up to the drift and scope of Johns speech in this place they apply it thus Think not much of the honour of Christ which troubles you because it seems to eclipse mine Although I have much of Gods Spirit why may not he have more For God giveth not the Spirit by measure But the Baptist seemeth to aim the speech concerning Christ alone SECTION XV. St. LUKE Chap. III. Vers. 18. AND many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people 19. But Herod the Tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which Herod had done 20. Added yet this above all that he shut up Iohn in prison Reason of the Order NOW that John is no more to appear in publick being committed close prisoner by Herod as this Section relateth the very looking back to the preceding Section which concludeth with a solemn speech of Johns and the casting forward that there is not one speech more of his to be found henceforth in all the Evangelists this doth sufficiently prove and assert the proper order and subsequence of this Section to the former especially this being added and observed that all the Evangelists do unanimously relate that our Saviours journey into Galilee which is the very next thing that any of them do mention was not till after John was shut up in prison John speaks it the least plain and yet he speaks it plain enough as shall be observed at the next Section Now if it be scrupled or wondred at why Luke should mention Johns imprisonment before the mention of Christs being baptized by him the considerate observing of Lukes method will give an answer to that doubt for there the Evangelist in one story comprehendeth the whole Ministery of John having no more to speak of it in all his Gospel He relateth what John preached to all that came to be baptized by him and what particularly to the Pharisees what to the Publicans and what to the Souldiers and divers other things saith he besides those particulars mentioned He preached to the people And he was also as plain and round with Herod as he had been with the rest of the people so that Herod at last shut him up in prison And so he compileth and wrappeth up the story of the tenour and success of Johns Ministery in general to all sorts of people in that brief relation and then he cometh to the particular relation of his baptizing Christ. And if it be scrupled again why I take not in the very fame story with this of this Section which is related in Matth. 14. 3 4 5. and Mark 6. 17 18 19 20. as most Harmonists of the Evangelists do it is because that relation will fall and come in very pertinently and methodically as the story of a thing past in the place where it lies and seeing that this Section tells the story very full the bringing of those Texts of Matthew and Mark hither would inevitably cause a chasma or hiatus in the story there when we come to
of Man not only that he might assert the two natures in the Messias but also that he might distinguish the double power that was in himself natural as he was God and dispensed as he was and because he was the Son of Man Vers. 28. Marvail not at this c. At what Cyrill thinks At the healing of the diseased person and he reduceth the words to this sense Think not the curing of this disease so great a matter for I can and once must raise even all the dead and judge all the world But for ought we find they were as much filled with indignation at that cure as with wonder Therefore it seemeth more likely that their marvailing must rather refer to the words of Christ that he had now spoken than to the work that he had done For comparing his person that they saw standing before them with the power and acting that they heard him speak of it is no wonder if they wondred at his words and it is probable they did little believe his power See vers 38 40 41 42. But how doth he satisfie their wondring and unbelief any whit by the words which follow Had they believed these things that he had spoken hitherto then might it have been proper to have added this about raising all the dead but when they believed not the former to what purpose was it to bring in this for confirmation when they would believe neither this nor that Answ. 1. Christ was to speak in his authority and the guilt of their unbelief was to rest upon themselves 2. They could not deny him for a Prophet because of his miracles Joh. 3. 2. and he would wind them up to believe that he was the great Prophet 3. It was a proper proof of his power and authority to judge all men to assert that he had power to raise all men from the dead and to bring them to judgment And those that did believe his former words would believe these and see the arguing pregnant but those that would believe neither are left highly unexcusable having heard Christ so fully and plainly asserting himself to be the Messias as in all the Gospel he doth it not plainer 4. Here we may add one thing more about the term the Son of man for the clearing of that clause before He hath given him authority of Judging because he is the Son of man It is observable that as the Jews do most constantly call Christ the Son of David both in the Scripture as Matth. 21. 9. 22. 42. Luke 18. 38. and infinitely in their writings so doth Christ most constantly call himself the Son of man and that title is only used by himself and in his own speeches The reason of this his different styling himself from their common title of the Messias may be conceived to be partly because whereas they under the term the Son of David did conceit the Messias for an earthly King as David was he in his term the Son of man would contrary them in that opinion and partly because by that title he would shew what relation his office should have towards all men even towards the Gentiles as well as the Jews whereas they expected the Son of David a King of the Jews only or at the least especially For it is true he was indeed the Son of David and so the Jews had first interest in him but withal he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Son of man promised to Adam and so whole mankind had interest in him And his arguing in vers 27. may be understood not only in reference to his authority of judging but also in regard of the generality of that authority that as in ver 25. he was to raise even the Gentiles from their dead condition to the life of the Gospel so in vers 27. he had authority and dominion given him throughout all the Word even among the Gentiles and that because he was the Son of man or the seed promised to Adam in whose loins the Gentiles were as well as the Jews when that promise was made and whose Mediatorship concerned them as well as the other And if these words be taken up in such an interpretation this confirmation of them by asserting his power to raise all the dead cometh on thus Marvail not at these transactions that I speak of with the Gentiles as to raise them by the Gospel and to execute Judgment even through all Nations for I am to raise the dead of all Nations at the general Judgment and that by the Testimony of the Scripture it self Dan. 12. 2. For the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice c. These words do so directly speak the sense of that place cited in Daniel though they differ something in expressions that it is little to be doubted that they were spoken from thence An Angel to Daniel is there relating the grievous times that Israel should undergo under the persecution of Antiochus and because at that time the cursed Doctrine of the Sadduces which denied the world to come a desperate Doctrine in times of persecution should be at a great height and entertainment therefore with the prophetick story of those times he doth joyn the Doctrine of the Resurrection and of everlasting reward for the staying of the hearts of those that should live and suffer under those bitter days and to arm them against fear of death and suffering for the truth I might be observed how Christ in this speech which he maketh before the Sanhedrin which consisted of Pharisees and Sadduces doth meet with both their Heretical principles with a cutting doctrine Against the Pharisees doting upon Traditions he holdeth out his own word as the great oracle of truth to be believed ver 24. and against the Sadduces denial of the Resurrection he holdeth out the Doctrine of that in this verse and his own power to be the Author and effector of it But this I do but note by the way These words might also be applied to a spiritual Resurrection as were the former and so coming out of graves meaneth Ezek. 37. 12. the words of the verse following being only translated and glossed thus And they shall come forth they that do good after they hear his voice in the Gospel to the Resurrection of life And they that do evil after they hear the Gospel unto the Resurrection of damnation But they are more generally understood of the general Resurrection and so will we take them And that the rather because this sense is so exceeding sutable to the method that Christ useth in this speech The main scope of his oration is to justifie himself to be the Messias and from that very notion to justifie the thing that he had done about the Sabbath His Speech he divideth into these two heads 1. To shew what his work and authority was as he was the Messias And 2. To shew what testimony there was of his so
Heathens that is lost p p p p p p Nedarin cap. 3. hal 4. It is lawful for Publicans to swear that is an Oblation which is not that you are of the Kings retinue when you are not c. that is Publicans may deceive and that by Oath VERS XVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth c. THESE words depend upon the former he had been speaking concerning being loosed from the office of a brother in a particular case now he speaks of the Authority and Power of the Apostles of loosing and binding any thing whatsoever seemed them good being guided in all things by the Holy Ghost We have explained the sense of this Phrase at Chap. XVI and he gives the same Authority in respect of this to all the Apostles here as he did to Peter there who were all to be partakers of the same Spirit and of the same Gifts This power was built upon that noble and most self-sufficient Foundation Joh. XVI 13. The Spirit of Truth shall lead you into all Truth There lies an Emphasis in those words Into all truth I deny that any one any where at any time was led or to be led into all Truth from the Ascension of Christ unto the worlds end beside the Apostles Every holy man certainly is led into all truth necessary to him for salvation but the Apostles were led into all truth necessary both for themselves and the whole Church because they were to deliver a rule of Faith and Manners to the whole Church throughout all Ages Hence whatsoever they should confirm in the Law was to be confirmed whatsoever they should abolish was to abolished since they were endowed as to all things with a Spirit of Infalibillity guiding them by the hand into all truth VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. That if two of you shall agree upon earth c. AND these words do closely agree with those that went before There the speech was concerning the Apostles determination in all things respecting men Here concerning their Grace and Power of obtaining things from God I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Two of you Hence Peter and John act joyntly together among the Jews Acts II. III. c. and they act joyntly among the Samaritans Acts VIII 14. and Paul and Barnabas among the Gentiles Acts XIII 2. This bond being broke by Barnabas the spirit is doubled as it were upon Paul II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Agree together That is to obtain something from God which appears also from the following words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Touching any thing that they shall ask suppose concerning conferring the Spirit by the imposition of hands of doing this or that Miracle c. VERS XX. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For where two or three are gathered together in my name there I am in the midst of them THE like do the Rabbins speak of two or three sitting in Judgment that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The divine presence is in the midst of them VERS XXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Shall I forgive him until seven times THIS Question of Peter respects the words of our Saviour Ver. 15. How far shall I forgive my brother before I proceed to the Extremity What Seven times he thought that he had measured out by these words a large Charity being in a manner double to that which was prescribed by the Schools q He that is wronged â Maimon in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cap. 5. say they is forbidden to be difficult to pardon for that is not the manner of the seed of Israel But when the offender implores him once and again and it appears he repents of his deed let him pardon him and whosoever is most ready to pardon is most praise worthy It is well but there lies a snake under it r r r r r r Bab. Jomah fol. 86. â For say they they pardon a man once that sins against another Secondly they pardon him Thirdly they pardon him Fourthly they do not pardon him c. CHAP. XIX VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He came unto the coasts of Iudea beyond Iordan IF it were barely said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Coasts of Judea beyond Jordan by the Coasts of Judea one might understand the bounds of the Jews beyond Jordan Nor does such a construction want its parallel in Josephus for Hyrcanus saith he built a fortification the name of which was Tyre ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Between Arabia and Judea beyond Jordan not far from Essebonitis a a a a a a Antiq. lib. 12. chap. 5. But see Mark here Chap. X. 1 relating the same storie with this our Evangelist ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He came saith he into the coasts of Judea taking a journey from Galilee along the Country beyond Jordan VERS III. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause OF the causes ridiculous shall I call them or wicked for which they put away their wives we have spoke at Chap. V. ver 31. We will produce only one example here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When Rabh went to Darsis whither as the Gloss saith he often went he made a public proclamation What woman will have me for a day Rabh Nachman when he went to Sacnezib made a public proclamation What woman will have me for a day The Gloss is Is there any woman who will be my wife while â tarry in this place The Question here propounded by the Pharisees was disputed in the Schools and they divided into parties concerning it as we have noted before For the School of Shammai permitted not divorces but only in the case of Adultery the School of Hillel otherwise b b b b b b See Hierof Sotah fol. 16. 2. VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Because Moses for the hardness of your hearts suffered c. INterpreters ordinarily understand this of the unkindness of men towards their wives and that not illy but at first sight ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hardness of heart for the most part in Scripture denotes rather obduration against God than against men Examples occur every where Nor does this sense want its fitness in this place not to exclude the other but to be joyned with it here I. That God delivered that rebellious people for the hardness of their hearts to spiritual fornication that is to Idolatry sufficiently appears out of sacred Story and particularly from these words of the first Martyr Stephen Acts VII 42. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. God turne d and gave them up to worship the host of heaven c. And they seem not less given up to carnal fornication if you observe the horrid records of their Adulteries in the holy Scripture and their not less horrid allowances of divorces and polygamies in the books of the Talmudists so that the Particle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
by the forsaking of those rites partly by the bringing in of different manners and observances a Christian might be distinguished from a Jew The Law was not more solicitous to mark out and separate a Jew from an Heathen by Circumcision than the Gospel hath been that by the same Circumcision a christian should not Judaize And the same care it hath deservedly taken about the Sabbath For since the Jews among other marks of distinction were made of a different colour as it were from all nations by their keeping the Sabbath It was necessary that by the bringing in of another Sabbath since of necessity a Sabbath must be kept up that Christians might be of a different colour from the Jews VERS IX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All Hail IN the vulgar Dialect of the Jews ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã t t t t t t Hieros Taaniââ fol. 64. 2. The Rabbins saw a certain holy man of Caphar Immi and said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All hail u u u u u u Ib. Sheviith â 35. 2. 36. 1 How do they salute an Israelite All hail uu uu uu uu uu uu Id. Gittin fol. 47. 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They held him by the feet This seems to have been done to kiss his feet So 2 Kings IV. 27. For this was not unusual As R. Janni and R. Jonathan were sitting together a certain man came and kissed the feet of R. Jonathan x x x x x x Hieros Kiddâshin â 61. 3. Compare the Evangelists here and you will find that this was done by Mary Magdalen only who formerly had kissed Christs feet and who had gone twice to the Sepulchre however Matthew makes mention but of once going The story in short is thus to be laid together At the first dawning of the morning Christ arose a great earthquake hapning at that time About the same time Magdalen and the other women left their houses to go to the Sepulchre While they met together and made all things ready and took their journey to the Tomb the Sun was up When they were come they are informed by the Angels of his resurrection and sent back to the Disciples The matter being told to the Disciples Peter and John run to the Sepulchre Magdalen also followed after them They having seen the signs of the resurrection return to their company but she stayes there Being ready to return back Christ appears to her taking him for the Gardiner As soon as she knew him she worships him and embracing his feet kisseth them and this is the history before us which Matthew relates in the plural number running it over briefly and compendiously according to his manner VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them c. I. THE enclosure is now thrown down whereby the Apostles were kept in from preaching the Gospel to all the Gentiles Matth. X. 5. For first The Jews had now lost their priviledge nor were they hence forward to be counted a peculiar people nay they were now become Lo-ammi They had exceeded the Heathens in singing they had slighted trampled upon and crucified the Creator himself appearing visibly before their eyes in humane flesh while the Heathens had only conceived amiss of the Creator whom they neither had seen nor could see and thereby fallen to worship the creature Secondly Christ had now by his blood paid a price for the Heathens also Thirdly he had overcome Satan who held them captive Fourthly he had taken away the wall of Partition And fifthly had exhibited an infinite righteousness II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is make Disciples Bring them in by baptism that they may be taught They are very much out who from these words cry down Infant-baptism and assert that it is necessary for those that are to be baptized to be taught before they are baptized 1. Observe the words here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã make Disciples and then after ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã teaching in the twentieth verse 2. Among the Jews and also with us and in all nations those are made Disciples that they may be taught * * * * * * Bab. Schab fol. 31. 1. A certain Heathen came to the great Hillel and saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Make me a Proselyte that thou maist teach me He was first to be Proselyted and then to be taught Thus first make them Disciples ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by baptism and then Teach them to observe all things c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã III. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Baptizing There are divers ends of Baptism 1. According to the nature of a Sacrament it visibly teacheth invisible things that is the washing of us from all our pollutions by the blood of Christ and by the cleansing of grace Ezek. XXXVI 25. 2. According to the nature of a Sacrament it is a Seal of divine truth So circumsion is called Rom. IV. 11. And he received the sign of Circumcision the Seal of the righteousness of Faith c. So the Jews when they circumcised their children gave this very title to circumcision The words used when a child was circumcised you have in their Talmâd y y y y y y Hieros Berac fol. 13. 1. Among other things he who is to bless the action saith thus Blessed be he who sanctified him that was beloved from the womb and set a sign in his flesh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and sealed his children with the sign of the holy Covenant c. But in what sense are Sacraments to be called Seals Not that they seal or confirm to the receiver his righteousness but that they seal the divine truth of the covenant and promise Thus the Apostle calls Circumcision the Seal of the righteousness of Faith that is it is the Seal of this truth and doctrine that Justification is by Faith which justice Abraham had when he was yet uncircumcised And that is the way whereby Sacraments confirm Faith namely because they do doctrinally exhibite the invisible things of the Covenant and like Seals do by divine appoyntment sign the doctrine and truth of the Covenant 3. According to the nature of a Sacrament it obligeth the receivers to the terms of the Covenant for as the Covenant it self is of mutual obligation between God and man So the Sacraments the Seals of the Covenant are of like obligation 4. According to its nature it is an introductory into the visible Church And 5. it is a distinguishing sign between a Christian and no Christian namely between those who acknowledg and profess Christ and Jews Turks and Pagans who do not acknowledg him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Disciple all nations baptizing When they are under baptism they are no longer under Heathenism and this Sacrament puts a difference between those who are under the discipleship of Christ and those who are not 6. Baptism also brings its priviledge along with it while it
Fathers of the Sanhedrin and Rulers of the people and so in reviling him he transgressed that precept Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people as well as if he had reviled the High Priest II. It is very little to the credit of the Apostle to think that when he said God shall smite thee thou whited wall c. That he uttered it rashly and unadvisedly or carried away in an heat of passion and indignation or that he did not know whom he thus threatned or what degree and office he held But he spoke it soberly and as became an Apostle by the Authority and guidance of the Holy Ghost Nor did he nor had he any need to retract those words or make apology for his rashness but they are of the very same tenor with the rest that he uttered III. If this Ananias was that Sagan of the Priests that perished in the destruction of Jerusalem as hath been already said I would conceive his death was foretold prophetically by the Apostle rather than that he rashly poured out words that he afterwards retracted Let me therefore paraphrase upon the words before us I know it is not lawful to speak evil of the Ruler of the people nor would I have said these things to him which I have if I had owned such an one but I did not own him so for he is not worthy the name of an High Priest IV. The President of the Sanhedrin at this time was Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel his Father Gamaliel having been dead about two or three years before Paul knew Simeon and Simeon very well knew him having been fellow Disciples and both sate together at the feet of Gamaliel nor indeed could he be ignorant of any of the Rulers of the people if they were of any age because he had been so long educated and conversed in Jerusalem So that it is very improbable he should not know either Ananias the High Priest if he were now present or Ananias the Sagan or indeed any of the Fathers of the Sanhedrin if they had any years upon their backs Indeed not a few years had passed since he had left Jerusalem But seeing formerly he had spent so many years there and had been of that Degree and Order that he was an Officer of the Sanhedrin and had a Patent from them he could not have so slippery and treacherous a memory but that upon his return he could readily know and distinguish their faces and persons And whereas it is said in the Verse immediately following That Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees c. If it should be asked whence he came to distinguish so well concerning their persons it may be answered That if he had no other ways to know them he might understand that by his former knowledge of them He had known them from the time that he himself had been a Pharisee and conversed among them See Chap. XXII 5. V. Forasmuch therefore as he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I wist not I do not see how it can argue so much an ignorance of his person with whom he might have had some former transactions in obtaining that accursed commission against the followers of Christ but that it must relate to his affection rather than his understanding So that the sense is I knew not that there was any High Priest at all or I do not acknowledge this person for such an one It was safer to inveigh against the person than the office But if he had said concerning the very office I do not know that there is any High Priest at all I question not but he had uttered his mind being well assured that that High Priesthood was now antiquated by the death of our great High Priest Jesus For let us lay down this Problem Although the Apostle as to other things had owned the service of the Temple for he was purified in it Yet as to the High Priesthood he did not own the peculiar ministry of that doth it not carry truth with it seeing God by an irrefragrable token viz. the rending of the Veil of the Temple from the top to the bottom had shewn the end and abolishing of that office But suppose the words of the Apostle relate to the person and not the office and that they were spoken in reference to the man himself I do not own him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã High Priest that he is not worthy of that title Perhaps St. Paul knew of old how wicked a person he had been or from his present injustice or rash severity had reason enough to make such a reply To know instead of to own and acknowledge is not unusual in Scripture stile that is a sad and dreadful instance enough I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity And in the Jewish Writings when R. Judah being angry with Bar Kaphrah only said to him I know thee not he went away as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one rebuked and took ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the rebuke to himself The story is this z z z z z z Moed Katon sol 16. 1. When bar Kaphrah came to visit him he said unto him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã O Bar Kaphrah I never knew thee He understood what he meant Therefore he took the rebuke unto himself for the space of thirty days VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Sadducees say there is no Resurrection WHAT therefore is the Religion of a Sadducee He Prays he Fasts he offers Sacrifice he observes the Law and yet doth not expect a Resurrection or life Eternal To what end is this Religion It is that he may obtain Temporal good things observing only the promise of them made in the Law and he seeks for nothing beyond the meer letter That the Sadducees took their denomination from one Sadoc a Disciple of Antigonus Socheus is commonly received and that not without reason In the mean time it may not be amiss to enquire whether Sadoc did himself deny the resurrection and whether he rejected all the Books of the Holy Scripture excepting the five Books of Moses which the Sadducees in some measure did I. The Jewish writers do relate his story with so much variety that as some represent him we might think he denies the resurrection and future rewards but as others that he did not For so say some a a a a a a Yuchasin fol. 15. 2. Sadoc and Baithus were the heads of the Hereticks for they erred concerning the words of their Master c. b b b b b b Ramban in Avoth cap. 1. Sadoc and Baithus hearing this passage from their Master be ye not as Servants that serve their Master for hire and reward sake c. they said among themselves our Master teaches us that there is neither reward nor punishment c. Therefore they departed from the rule and forsook the Law c. Others say otherwise c c c c c c
difference between ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou shalt leave and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have left or reserved which is no little one we will only examine the difference between the two Articles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ahab had introduced Baal the Idol of the Tyrians amongst the Israelites 1 King XVI 31. And were there but seven thousand amongst the whole ten Tribes of Israel that did not worship this Baal Perhaps there were seventy thousand nay perhaps seven times seventy thousand For consider the story in 2 Kings X. 21. and it will appear that the worshippers of this Baal were not so numerous that they could amount to many thousands perhaps not many hundreds But what did it avail them not to have worshipped Ahab's Baal if in the mean time they worshipped Jeroboam's Calves Jehu himself that rooted out Baal and his worshippers out of Israel yet did not he depart from the sin of Jeroboam namely the Golden Calves And what great matter was there in this divine answer to Elijah if it had said I have reserved to my self seven thousand men who have not worshipped ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Baal the God of the Tyrians if in the mean time they worshipped the Calves in common with the rest of that Nation Elijah himself had slain these worshippers of Baal before he had this answer from God and therein indeed had done a great act But it was a small matter if all Israel excepting seven thousand only should still worship this Baal By ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã therefore with the femine Article the Apostle teacheth us that it must be understood not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the image of Baal but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Calf of Baal For all will confess that Baal was a common name for all Idols And that which follows 1 Kings XIX 18. Every mouth which hath not kissed him takes light from that in Hos. XIII 2. Let them kiss the Calves Now Jeroboams Calves are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the feminine gender 1 Kings XII 28. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he made two Calves of gold So Josephus g g g g g g Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Jeroboam making two golden Calves places them c. And instead of more the Book of Tobit comments sufficiently upon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Tob. I. 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And all the Tribes that revolted together sacrificed to the Calf Baal To this sense therefore the words of God to Elijah come I have left or I have reserved to my self seven thousand men that have kept themselves untoucht with the common Idolatry of the Nation in the adoration ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Baal or of Jeroboam's Calf VERS V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant c. HOwever we suppose the Jewish Nation as to the more general mass of it was cast off before the times of Christ yet no question there was in all ages ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a remnant according to the election of grace and in that age more especially wherein Christ and his Gospel began to shine out And that he meant the calling of this remnant in that age and time wherein the Apostle wrote and not any call of the whole Nation to be hereafter what can be more plainly said than what is said in these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at this present time Let us take a view of the Apostle's reasoning Hath God cast away his people No for I also am an Israelite and he hath not cast me off And as in the days of Elijah there was a remnant even so it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at this very present time How unfitly would this argue that the calling of the Nation was to be after a great many ages But if we will suppose that the Jews had for the greatest part of them been cast off blinded and hardned before the times of Christ and the Apostle then this reasoning will run easily and smoothly let it be granted that the Nation as to the main body of it was cast away for some ages past yet is it so cast away that there is no hope for any Jew By no means For ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at this present time there is a remnant as it was in the days of Elijah I my self am one of that remnant VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. God hath given them the Spirit of slumber c. SO the Greek Interpreters in Esa. XXIX 10. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Lord hath made you drink into a Spirit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of compunction The difficulty lies in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which properly denotes remorse or compunction very wide from the meaning both of the Prophet and Apostle I. The Greek Interpreters what Jews soever they were do sometimes frame a sense of their own and that not seldom very forreign from the Hebrew truth And very often use Greek words in a sense very different from the common idiom of the Greeks There might be instances given abundantly both for the one and the other if this were a place for it II. This very word we have in hand they frame to their own sense different from the common acceptation of it And whether they take it from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã To prick or from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to grieve or have any Eye to the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã night they attribute such a sense and signification to it as denotes silence astonishment horror c. Gen. XXVII 38. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a clause of their own inserting we may equally render it Isaac being amazed and astonisht or grieved and prickt with sorrow Psal. LX. 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou hast made us to drink the wine of compunction The Hebrew is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the wine of horror So that the meaning of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in them must be fetcht from themselves and in this place from the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Prophet rather than from any Greek Lexicon VERS X. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bow down their back always THE Apostle follows the Greek Interpreters and they their own Paraphrastic and allusive way The Hebrew hath it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã make their loins to quake continually And so the Chaldee Paraphrast renders it too but these Bow down their back to which the Syriac and Arabick incline It is very true that they whose loins are weak and feeble do go bowing and trembling but perhaps the Interpreters might allude to that in Deut. XXV 2 3. where the Malefactor condemned to be beaten with stripes must be bowed down To which that passage in the Psalmist seems to allude Psal. I. The wicked shall not rise up or stand in judgment The Greek Interpreters do frequently
Atheist Oh! give me that word Christian again that I speak not contradictions And yet there are too many in our times O! that I might not say in our Nation that were Baptiz'd into the Christian Faith that live in a Christian Church and would go under a Christian Name and yet that deny these great points of Christian Religion and greater too if there may be greater There are too many of Atheistical principles now adays that say what you can for the assuring that there is an Eternal Judgment yet you never assure them Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris You cannot perswade them though you do perswade They will make but a puff at such a Doctrine and tell you that Religion and such Doctrines preached are but as bugbears of policy to keep men in awe and order I need not to inlarge their sayings to this purpose they are but too large and broad in themselves I have only this to say to them at this time Let me mind you of that passage Zech. XI 8. where the Prophet speaking in the person of Christ hath these words Three Shepherds also I cut off in one month and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me The three Shepherds that he means were the Pharisee Sadducee and Essean the ringleaders and the wrongleaders of the Jewish Nation Shepherds that caused the unfortunate sheep to go a stray and there fed them not but did destroy them Now how can it be said that Christ cut them off and especially now in one moneth When it is most apparent that these three Sects and Heresies continued many years many scores of years after our Saviour was ascended into Heaven Nay Pharisaisme is alive among all the Jewis Nation unto this day The meaning is this that Christ delivered a Truth and Doctrine enough and enough again to confound and destroy those cursed Heresies and to direct into the way of Truth but if those Hereticks will not be convinced and imbrace that Doctrine and Truth that Doctrine and Truth in time will confound condemn and destroy them The World that I speak saith Christ shall judge you at the last day God gives his Word and whether men will hear or whether they will forbear it is and will be the Word of God for ever And if men will not believe it God will not be beholden to them to believe it let them believe it at their own peril A Papist will not believe the Divine Authority of the Scriptures for themselves God and the Scripture will never be beholden to him to believe it they need not to beg his believing of it but let him look to it if he do not believe it If God have given such demonstrations of the Judgment to come as may assure all the World of the certainty of it and an Atheist an Epicure a Fool will not believe it if he will not believe what a Felix believed and trembled at if he will not believe what Devils believe and tremble at God will never come crouching to him to beg of him that he will believe it but let him disbelieve it at his own peril and take what comes When God gave the Scriptures he never intended they should stand at the curtesie of every curious carping Atheist whether they should be of Authority and be believed or no but God gives them in their Divine Authority and Majesty and laid them a sure foundation in Sion elect precious and glorious that he that will build upon them may build and prosper but if any cross or quarelsom or wilfully blind Bayard will stumble at them where he might walk plain let him take his own hazard and stumble and fall and be broken and snared and taken while in the mean while the foundation of God remaineth sure and the Divine Scriptures will be the Divine Scriptures and retain their Truth and Author when such a wretch is dasht all to pieces III. There cometh the Disputer of this World such as these Scholers of Athens that Paul was now discoursing with that will have nothing believed but what may be grasped by humane reason and he will tell that it is very unlikely there should be an universal judgment because it is very unlikely there should be a Resurrection That bodies in the grave that have been dust these thousand thousand years should live and rise again the same Oh! how many arguments he frames to shew you that it is against all Logick Philosophy nature reason I shall first reply to him as Paul to Agrippa King Agrippa believest thou the Scriptures I know that thou believest Oh! thou disputer believest thou there is a God I hope thou believest If not I shall give thee the answer much like that I gave the Atheist before God will be God whether thou wilt or no as Scripture will be Scripture whether thou believest it or no. But if thou believest that God is and that he is what he is then why doest thou go about to measure the great things of God by the pitiful scant measure of poor humane reason I remember the check in the story of him that went about such a thing He was deeply studying upon the mystery of the Trinity and went about to fadom it by reason and to suit it to reason as he was thus studying at the Sea side he saw a child that was about to empty the ocean into a ditch with a spoon and when he told him how simple and vain a thing he went about Even so dost thou saith the child or an Angel in likness of a child when thou goest about to draw out the profound and bottomless mystery of the Sacred Trinity by thy silly reason What Must we then believe things that are clear contrary to reason I Answer There are no points in all the mysteries of Divinity contrary to reason if we resolve them into the right Principle that is if we resolve them into the power will and working of God That this vast Universe should be created of nothing in a moment that God should become man that dead bodies should be raised again that this mortal should put on immortality are high mysteries many regions above natural reason but not a whit contrary to reasonâ if you resolve them as I said before into the Power Will and Working of God Let Philosophy and humane reason therefore cavil as much as they can against the Resurrection as a thing unlikely incredible impossible I shall only answer in the tune of them that when they saw a thing as unlikely and incredible yet brought to pass by Divine Power viz. Elias pouring water on and about the Altar and bringing fire they fell on their faces and cried The Lord he is God the Lord he is God And if the Lord he be God the Lord be God he can raise all the dead in a moment and bring them to Judgment as he Created the World in a moment by the Word of his Power If it be but his
him What could be said to the comfort of such a bleeding soul Should a soul wounded with these words of the Apostle cry out as that Prophet in another case My bowels my bowels I am pained at the very heart my liver is cut through as with a javelin to hear that there is no sacrifice for sin that sinneth wilfully after receiving the Knowledge of the Truth and I have sinned so of and so wilfully against that Knowledge and Truth as I have done What plaister What lenitive could be applied to allay the aking smart and torture of so sad a cut As our Saviour of the smarting and cutting days of affliction before the ruine of Jerusalem Except those days should be shortned no flesh should be saved So if there were no allay to the foreness of such a stroke and case what flesh could but perish But there is some allay and that is this That the Apostle speaks not of that common willing or wilful sinning to which who is not incident at one time or other in one degree or other But of a willing wilful total apostatizing and revolting from the Truth and Gospel once professed and received If you observe in the Epistles of the Apostles and in the story of the New Testament you will find that the very topping up of the wickedness of the Jewish Nation and of their perdition was this that as the unbelieving part of the Nation continued enemies to Christ and his Gospel so those that had believed did by infinite numbers and drovâs revolt and apostatize from what they had belived and became if possible worse enemies than the others and drew as many of the believing Gentiles as they could into the same Apostasie and condemnation with themselves I might evidence this by instances heaps upon heaps And hardly any one of the Apostolick Epistles but it is so plain in it that he that runs may read it I shall only give you three passages instead of scores that might be given First Weigh that 1 Joh. II. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist should come even now there are many Antichrists And who were they vers 17. They went out from us but were not of us Once Professors and following the Apostles now revolting and fallen from them once Disciples and now Apostates and Antichrists Secondly Who can pass that of the Apostle without serious observing 2 Tim. I. 15. This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia are turned away from me A sad Apostasie Ah poor Paul all turned away from thee Where now hast thou any friend Nay rather Ah poor souls ah unhappy souls that turned away from S. Paul and the blessed Gospel that he brought with him Thirdly And that for all How sadly does our Saviour foretel this in the Parable of the Devil cast out of the possessed but comes again with seven other spirits worse than himself and repossesses And observe the cadence at Matth. XII 45. Even so shall it be also with this wicked generation The Application is easie Of such Apostasie it is the Apostle speaks at vers 26. where he calls it wilful sinning after receiving the knowledge of the Truth And of such an Apostate he speaks in this verse when he saith He hath trod underfoot the Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing Many think that the Apostle speaks here of the sin against the Holy Ghost I am sure he speaks of that sin unto death of which the Apostle John hath mention 1 Joh. V. 16. Not but that the sin against the Holy Ghost is a sin unto death but the sin unto death may be distinguisht from the sin against the Holy Ghost in this respect that the Scribes and Pharisees whom our Saviour layeth under the guilt of sinning against the Holy Ghost never received the knowledge of the Truth and acknowledgment of the Gospel But this wretch that sins this sin unto death had received that knowledge but was apostatized and revolted from it Their Apostasie or falling back from the Truth was into a two fold gulf Some fell to horrible Libertinism to abuse the liberty of the Gospel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication Of which you have intimation in several places of the Epistles and particularly in Revel II. 15. But the most general Apostatizing was from the true liberty of the Gospel to the slavery of Judaism again to seek justification by the works of the Law Against this you find the Apostle speaking copiously almost in all the Epistles and particularly S. Paul the pen-man of this Epistle For I make no doubt at all to ascribe it to him sets himself purposely to stay the Hebrews to whom he writes from staggering and falling in such Apostasie And you may observe how in the whole current of his discourse he bends himself to shew that those Mosaick ceremonies and services by which they thought and looked to be justified and saved were but shaddows that did but signifie greater things to come but shaddows that were but for a time and were to fade away The same subject that he is upon at this portion of Scripture he is handling in Chap. VI. 4 5 6. Where we may have an exposition of some words or passages in our Text. Receiving the knowledge of the Truth he calls there Being inlightned tasting of the heavenly gift of the good Word of God of the powers of the World to come Sinning wilfully here is falling away there with him and the fate and punishment of such a wretch here is no sacrifice for sin there in few words it is impossible to renew them again to repentance His wickedness in this verse is threefold and his judgment in the verses before threefold also I. He hath trodden under foot the Son of God For as the Apostasie generally was from the grace of the Gospel to seek to be justified by their own works then what need of Christ at all What value is he of to such wretches any more than the mire under their feet As S. Paul Act. XIV was first accounted a God then presently stoned So these wretches used Christ not much unlike First They professed him embraced him looked to be justified and saved by him presently they looked to be justified by the works of the Law and cast away Christ and scornfully trample upon him as a thing altogether useless II. He accounted the blood of the Covenant a thing unholy or a thing common as the Greek word most strictly signifies Not so holy not so valuable as the blood of Goats and Calves For that blood was shed for something but this wretch makes Christs blood shed for nothing And indeed what was his blood shed for if men can justifie and save themselves III. He hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace Or hath reproached despised the Spirit of grace and the grace of the Spirit he is now
reliance upon Christ comes not into date till a man do the best he can to fit himself to be a sacrifice for that Altar The Altars sanctifying of the gift came not in date till the offering was fit for the Altar There must be these concurrents First It must be of the clean kinds of Beasts or Birds Oxen or Sheep or Goats Sparrows Pigeons or Turtles not Dog Cat Ass Bear not a Crow Raven Owl or Vultur Then it must be viewed by some skilful person that it be without blemish as well as that it be clean viz. That it be not a blind Bullock or Lamb that it be not broken diseased c. And lastly the Offerers free-will and mind in his offering must be concurrent And thus qualified it was fit for the Altar and the Altar sanctified it Now was there all this care about the offering of a beast upon a material Altar of brass or stone and is not as much at least required for the offering of a souls own self on Christ the Altar Must any thing polluted or unclean come near that Altar Faith in Christ is not so easie a matter as men take it for a man must first do all he can in purifying himself before he can believe For his believing is his refuging to Christ to make out for him when he sees he cannot do it himself And by this appears the vast difference 'twixt the believing of a Jew and the faith of a true Christian. The Jew as he thought performed the Law and believed that he should be justified by his performance and looked no further A true Christian observes the Law the best he can but when he hath done all he finds himself but an unprofitable servant and that he comes infinitely short of Justification by all he can therefore casts himself upon Christ to satisfie for him The sacrifices of God are a broken heart a broken and a contrite spirit O God thou wilt not despise Psal. LI. 17. Under the Law nothing that was broken or bruised was to be offered under the Gospel no heart but broken or bruised is to be offered And whereupon bruised and broken not only upon sight of the evil they have committed but also upon sense how little they can do of good when they have done their best And then lay such an heart upon the Altar Christ and the Altar sanctifies the gift and makes out for it Brethren take heed you be not deceived about Faith by which you must stand or fall to all eternity It is more than fancy or thinking or hoping you shall be saved by Christ it is more than taking on you to pray in the name of Christ more than begging mercy for the sake of Christ. It is working and labouring in the way of Gods Commandments till you be weary and heavy laden and then resting your selves in Christ for safety and refreshing It is doing your duty all you can and still leaning on Christ to make out all failings for you It is that that must bring up the reer of your best endeavours As Simon of Cyrene was laid hold upon to bear the Cross of Christ after him when it was too heavy for him So on the contrary lay hold on Christ and get him to bear your burthen for you when you your selves are not able to bear it II. By this also we may observe the absolute necessity of keeping Gods Commandments for salvation as well as the absolute necessity of faith for salvation and the amicable and indeed unseparable agreement 'twixt these two It is impossible to find acceptance with God for justification and salvation unless by faith in Christ we be presented as living sacrifices upon him the Altar And it is impossible to be fit sacrifices for that Altar unless by keeping the Commandments of God we be purified and fitted For as Faith purifieth the heart where it is once come Act. XV. 9. So keeping the Commandments of God is purifying the heart that Faith may come Consider of that 1 Pet. I. 22. Seeing you have purified your hearts in obeying of the truth Now what is obeying of the truth but doing what God in the word of truth directeth and commandeth and this also purifieth the heart toward believing as Faith doth when a man now believes And thus believing and obeying are so twisted together that without keeping of Gods Commandments the best you can you cannot come by Faith and Faith when it is come it cannot be without keeping of Gods Commandments the best you can For as to the former we may not unproperly apply those words of the Apostle Gal. III. 23. For before faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed And as to the later that in Jam. II. 26. As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also And now to make some Application upon what hath been spoken and to take up the words in order First From the title here given to our Saviour that he is our Altar upon and through whom to offer our selves and all our services to God we may observe that the bare offering of Christ himself upon the Cross is not the all that a Christian hath to look after for his salvation but he himself is also to offer himself through Christ to God Christ was a dying sacrifice a Christian must be a living and as Christ voluntarily offered himself to God so is he also to do in his place and station How oft do we find in Scripture that the death of Christ doth challenge our dying to sin and not living to our selves 1 Cor. V. 7. Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us 2 Cor. V. 15. And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them And so there are divers other places to the like tenor The obedience of Christ does not dissolve the obedience of a Christian but enhance it For his obedience was not to disannul our obedience but to challenge it to love him who loved us first His offering himself was to lead us the way and to teach and engage us to offer our selves also He to die according to the will of God and we to live according to his will that is to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness Secondly Now since every one that is accepted of God is to be presented to him as a sacrifice offered through Christ as the most Sacred Altar it may give us just cause daily to examine our selves how fit we are to be presented to that Altar and from that Altar to God The Sacrifice under the Law was to be examined whether it were fit or no by one that was skilful in such a scrutiny The work now under the Gospel must be our own every one to examine his own heart since the heart
will become of thee when those thy Treasures those thy Teachers are no more Why naught become of them For presently after the death of those Prophets and the departure of the Spirit of Prophesie the Nation parted into two deadly heresies viz. The Pharisees teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men Mat. XV. And the Sadducees teaching for doctrines the very dictates of Devils That there is no resurrection nor Angel nor Spirit nor world to come The first thing that I observe hence is That two such different Parties should be in the Nation together should sit as they do here in council together So great a difference betwixt the parties and a continual contestation about that difference and yet both parties admitted to be in the Church to bear office in the Church and to sit Judges in the great Council There were Sadducee-Priests as well as Pharisee And the Jews Records have a story of a Sudducee-Priest that was to offer the drink offering upon the Altar at the Feast of Tabernacles and because he missed something of doing exactly as he should have done all the Company present fell a pelting him with Pomecitrons which every one used to carry at the Feast And there were Sadducee Magistrates and Judges as well as Pharisee And the Jews Records do give us notice that there was once a time that the great Council at Jerusalem consisted almost all of Sadducees if not altogether In reading of the Context at your leisure you will see that in that great Council now as Paul stands before it there were not a few Sadduces as well as there were divers of the other Sect. And what toleration there was of a dissenting Party in that Church is worth the considering of those that have to dispute about that Case Another Gloss that I should make upon both these opinions should be this question II. Was it possible that a Sadducee and a Pharisee should be saved Some will maintain that a man may be saved in any Religion in any opinion so that he live honestly toward men and devoutly towards God Whereas a man may take up an opinion and belief which may put such a bar against his salvation as to make it impossible for him to be saved let him live never so honestly For it is not bare civil honesty nor blind devotion will bring to Heaven Let a Sudducee live never so honestly never so devoutly was it not utterly impossible for him to be saved while he held the opinions that he did which were directly against Salvation And a Pharisee while he made it the great Article of his Faith that he could be justified and saved by his own works put a bar against all possibility of his justification and salvation Men think it a small thing to be medling with this or that new strange opinion or should I not say they think it a great thing a brave matter to invent and vent some new opinion or other when that very thing and opinion may be the very lock and key and bar to keep them out of Heaven Instance and example of such opinions might be given in men of several professions and religions in too great plenty But we will look more particularly on this before us The Sadducees say there is no resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit The Sadducees here are marked for their Heretical opinions about some main Articles of Faith and it gives us occasion I. To observe that they denyed such Articles II. To consider the Articles they denyed As to the First we may first remember that saying of the Apostle 1 Cor. XI 19. For I. there must be heresies among you that they that are approved may be made manifest among you That is a sad accent there must be heresies And whence comes that must be or that necessity Hath God any hand in it that it must be because he will have it Or is there any such necessity that it must be because the Church hath need of Heresies There must be weeds in the garden Is it because the garden hath need of weeds It hath need of weeding rather than of weeds But the must be proceedeth from the corruption of men of evil minds that will raise up heresies And it cannot be otherwise while their minds are and will be so evil That we may take some view of this unhappy necessity proceeding from such an unhappy cause let us gradually observe these things I. That God gives forth his word and truth to men authoritatively that men should beleive them at their peril He sends forth his word not to go a begging for belief of it and obedience to it but let men disbelive and disobey it at their peril Ezek. I. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear yet shall they know that there hath been a Prophet among them And let them answer it according as they have recieved him II. Now the causes of mens not believing the World and not obeying the truth are in themselves and not at all in God He that gave his word to be believed and obeyed would not be the cause that it should not be believed nor obeyed It is the wickedness of mens own hearts that causeth it and it is the voluntary doing of their hearts not to obey it It is said Joh. XII They could not believe but the first cause was because they would not believe And so by the continual practise of not willing to believe they came to the fatal distemper that they could not believe The Prophet Esa. Chap. LIII cryeth out Who hath believed our report Why no body And what is the reason Was not the word worth believing Or could they say they could not believe it The truth was they had no mind to it They had a mind against it They in Jeremy Chap. XLII deal plainly and speak out We will not hear the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken to us And what was their reason They had no mind to it because it was not to their mind Now had they been disputed with and questioned Do you not think that God is wiser than you Are not his Councils better than your Councils and the words of his mouth more to be valued than the suggestions of your hearts What answer do they make Be it what it will we will have our own minds This is the cause of the must be because men will have it so and no perswasion to the contrary can prevail with them We have the mind of Christ is the Apostles rejoycing but we will have our own minds is the worlds language and practice And upon this mad wilfulness it is that there must be Heresies III. Now it is too tedious to enquire into all the immediate causes and originals of Heresies they are so many The Father of them was an Amorite and the Mother an Hittite the whole breed a Canaanite a cursed generation a monstrous generation bred very oft of clean contraries bred ever of
like freedom and gave great proofs both of his courage and learning also in opposing many of those Tenets which the Divines were endeavouring to establish of which I shall give some instances which I do not take upon hearsay and uncertain report but from better grounds and such as are unexceptionable It is very well known that those Divines spent much time concerning Lay Elders and their power of ruling This they endeavoured to prove from 1 Cor. XII 28. Helps Governments This opinion our Author did not forbear to oppose and did with great truth and judgment affirm that the Seventy two used the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Prov. 1. 5. XI 14. XX. 18. XXIV 6. to translate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which word imports not the act but the ability of gifts fit to govern And that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the place in hand imported helps to interpret the Languages and sense of those who spake with Tongues as may be gathered by a diligent comparing of the 28 29 and 30 verses together And whereas some would have founded Lay Elders upon the Elders of the Jewish Church and did affirm that there were two Consistories in every City and that they were Civil and Ecclesiastical Our Author replied that the two Sanhedrin's or Consistories in every City are not owned by the Jewish Authors and for that he alledged Maimonides at large He proved that there were three Courts in Jerusalem but that they were not distinguished into Ecclesiastical and Civil and that there was but one Court or Consistory in every other inferior City He granted indeed that there were Elders in the Sanhedrin that were not Priests or Levites but withal they were Civil Magistrates At another time when they were for making a Court to consist of Lay Elders mixed with Presbyters to decide Ecclesiastical matters and that from the Jewish practice Our Author shewed that in divers things the Priest had a propriety and was only concerned and the Civil Magistrate had nothing to do as in the case of Leprosie and the trial of Jealousie and judging between clean and unclean c. and that in those things where the Lay Judges were concerned as in Blasphemy Idolatry false Doctrines c. the censure was Civil it being Capital And when some of them affirmed that the Civil Elders in the Sanhedrin judged in all cases our Author replied that this was impossible in the case of Leprosie It being evident that Leprosie was infectious to all Israel but only to the Priests And as for that place Deut. XVII he affirmed that it spake not of Appeals but of Advice not of Judicature but of Direction For that the Judges of the inferior Courts were to go to the place which the Lord should choose to inform themselves in a matter too hard for them in judgment In that Assembly in discoursing of Church Officers there was a certain Divine who affirmed that Widows were to be esteemed as such and for the confirmation of his opinion he alledged that it appeared from hence viz. that they were chosen at sixty years of age Our Author opposed that fond opinion from that very argument on which the Divine aforesaid grounded it alledging that under the Old Testament the Officers at the Temple were dismissed at fifty years of age and that it was therefore unreasonable to suppose that in the New any should be admitted to Office who were not under sixty And whereas another Divine in that Assembly affirmed that the Priests were dismissed from their Service because of the burden of carrying the Ark c. our Author replied that the Ark was fixed in Solomon's time and that the courses of the Priests were so full as that eighty opposed Uzziah and that Josephus saith That the courses had five thousand a piece at least in them and their service but one week in about half a year and that therefore they could not be supposed to be overladen with Work Our Author was against the Peoples election of their Ministers which some in that Assembly attempted to prove from the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which they would have to signifie not Laying on of Hands but Election He argued against this opinion from Zonaras and Balsamon and from an Apostolical Canon and from the notation of the Greek word To which he added That it was not possible for the people in those early times of Christianity to Elect their Ministers because none were fit in those times to be such but by the gift of the Holy Ghost and that it was not reasonable to suppose that the People did nominate and choose such who were to receive that heavenly gift I find also that upon a consultation whether they should add something forbidding the Directory to be turned into a set Form that our Author spake against it as a dangerous thing so much as to intimate any thing against a set Form of Prayer Upon that Proposition relating to Baptism it is lawful and sufficient to sprinkle the child our Author opposed them that worded it in that manner it being unfit to vote that as lawful only which every one grants so to be And whereas one of that Assembly attempted in a large discourse to prove that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies Baptism imports a dipping overhead Our Author replied at large and proved the contrary 1. From a passage of Aben Ezra on Gen. 38. 2. From R. Solomon Jarchi who in his Commentary on Exod. 24. saith That Israel entred into Covenant with sprinkling of blood and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews expounds by sprinkling Heb. IX 3. From this That John the Baptist sometimes Preached annd Baptized in places where he could not possibly Dip those who were Baptized In conclusion He proposed to that Assembly to shew him in all the Old Testament any one instance where the word used de Sacris in actu transeunte implied any more than Sprinkling It is said indeed That the Priests washed their Bodies and that the unclean washed himself in Water but this was not a transient action And when they came to the Vote whether the Directory should run thus The Minister shall take Water and Sprinkle or pour it with his Hand upon the Face or Forehead of the Child some were unwilling to have Dipping excluded so that the Vote came to an equality within one For the one side there being twenty four and for the other twenty five The business was thereupon recommitted and resumed the day following where our Author demanded of them who insisted upon Dipping the reason of their opinion and that they would give in their proofs Hereupon it was thus worded That pouring on of Water or Sprinkling in the administration of Baptism is lawful and sufficient Where our Author excepted against the word lawful it being all one as if it should be determined to be lawful to use Bread
Lightfootii Talmudice Doctissimi c. In these I do very often make use of the Works of Doctor Lightfoot a man well studied in Talmudical Learning c. What Doctor Worthington contributed to this Work besides the using his interest with his Learned Friends for the same purpose let me mention though not so much to our present Theam At the Library at S. James's there was a Josephus in Greek Printed at Basil probably once belonging to the very Learned Isaac Casaubon for in the Margin were various Lections written by his hand which he had gathered out of MSS. and some conjectures and hints of his own there were also marked in it other Notes of Patrick Young written most in Greek These the aforesaid Doctor transcribed and numbred the Pages and the Lines which made three Sheets of Paper close written a matter of no small pains and sent them over to the said Monseir Le Moyn But to return to our Author III. Some account of him as a Divine HE gave no small specimen of his skill also in Divinity as well as in Oriental and other Learning when he proceeded Doctor which was Anno 1652. The Question upon which he disputed was Post Canonem Scripturae consignatum non sunt novae Revelationes expectandae Which he managed against the Enthusiasts against whom he by all means opposed himself as being greatly sensible how that Sect tended to the overthrow of the Holy Scriptures which were his dearest Care and Delight He managed this Question by discoursing first Concerning the Sealing of the Canon of the Holy Scriptures And secondly Concerning not expecting Revelations after it was once Sealed His meaning he stated in these three particulars That now after the Scripture Canon is sealed Revelations are not to be expected I. To reveal new Doctrines of Faith Nor II. To discover the sense of the Scriptures or to explain the Doctrines of Faith Nor III. To direct our Lives and Manners And among other Arguments whereby he proved his Question he produced two Historical passages for that purpose The one was That in those very Times wherein Revelations Inspirations and Prophesies abounded even then Men were directed to the written Word Yea which is more and most worthy of notice from the first founding of the Church of Israel unto the expiration of it though for the most part Prophets and Men inspired were at hand yet God ordained not these for the standing and constant Ministry whereby the People were to be instructed but Priests that were skilled in the Law and studied the Scripture How far do our Enthusiasts saith he swerve from this Divine Institution concerning the publick Ministry Who suffer none to be a Minister who is Learned and Studious but he only who is inspired with the Spirit and who can preach by the Spirit The other is That the Apostle S. Paul after the first age of the Gospel in which Revelations were often very necessary would no longer use the Imposition of his hands which conferred the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost because he well knew that God saw good no further to make use of such a Ministry and therefore placeth Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Creet and other excellent Men elsewhere who though they could not confer the Spirit yet they ordained Ministers not inspired by the Spirit but Learned by Study He the next day determined Learnedly upon that Question An mors Christi fuerit in Redemptionem universalem His Clerum which he Preached was upon 1 Cor. XVI 22. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The sum whereof was afterward by him published in his Horae upon the first Epistle to the Corinthians And since we are considering him now as a Learned Divine having before taken notice of him as a Learned Man let us hear him arguing and shewing his great abilities among the Divines at Westminster Whose notions he did not seldom oppose even to a chalenge sometimes by the strength and clearness of his reasonings and evidence of Scripture for he seemed to deserve that character that was given to Apollos a Man mighty in the Scriptures he turned the whole Assembly and sometimes such was his honesty and courage he would in some cases dissent from the whole Company and be the only Negative in the Assembly Some passages of his judgment in that Assembly are related in the Account of his Life there are divers more that deserve to be recorded to his fame and memory Doctor Lightfoots judgment was for general admission to the Holy Sacrament and spake for it by these arguments I. That though the Law forbid the unclean to come ad Sacra yet it gave not power to any to repel those that offered themselves to come Nor find we any such example II. That in Matth. VII Sanctum canibus Give not that which is holy to the Dogs is spoken in reference to the Apostles safety For the Jews themselves who use this Proverb by Dogs and Swine understand the bitter Enemies and Persecutors of the truth And so our Saviour hereby warrants his Disciples though they Preach not to Persecutors and Enemies lest it cost them their lives III. Circumcision was indifferently ministred to all the Seed of Abraham Ergo. IV. Judas received the Sacrament Ergo. And when Mr. G. instanced in Uzziah his being repelled our Doctor answered That it was ab Officio loco and withal said Grant the Priest did and might repel the unclean yet the case was different For that uncleanness was external and it might be known whether they were purified or no. But so cannot a Minister now judge of a Mans Conscience For though he were scandalous yesterday yet may his repentance be unfeigned by to day for ought he knows Dr. B. urged That though Christ was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet Judas his Villany was not now known among the Disciples Our Doctor answered Christ had publickly marked him out for a Traitor before Dr. H. urged After the sop he went out The Doctor answered That was no Passover nor Sacrament but before it Upon this the matter arose to a great heat for he seemed herein to oppose the whole Assembly and leave was publickly given to our Author and Mr. P. to debate the point about Judas And they did it somewhat largely And the next day Dr. H. offered to dispute the same matter against him but the Assembly thought fit not to allow it Again Matth. VII was taken up which Dr. Lightfoot again opposed and desired that the verse might be taken in this sense which they would have Give not the Sacrament to Dogs lest they rend you and then that they would consider how doth this agree And further urged that Dogs in Scripture doth most constantly signifie An Enemy and where Dog once signifies a prophane Man at large it signifies many time for that one either those without or utter enemies of the Truth Mr. S. pleaded for the place thus The Ordinances are not to be administred where they will be
year 1669. writ to him a long Letter desiring him to communicate the sum of his judgment concerning Morinus his Exercitations of the Jews in the second Book of his Exercitationes Biblicae Mr. James Calvert a Learned Man of York begs his advice about the right position of the Priests portion in the holy square of Ezekiel This Learned Man for the clearer understanding of divers passages in the Prophetical writings was inclined to think that that Vision of Ezekiel commonly understood mystically is rather literal and historical The only or main objection against this Hypothesis is the placing of the Priests Portion for if the Temple be either five or thirty miles distant from the City there can be no question but that the Vision is mystical they are his words but if there be an error in placing of the Priests portion and that the City and Sanctuary may meet together the greatest objection against the literal sense will be removed And thus concludes his Letter Sir I do not know your person but I have both read and heard so much of your excellent Learning and your candid and ingenuous nature that it emboldens me to write thus freely to you and to entreat you that as you have hitherto so you would still make this one great end of your rare Learning to illustrate the Scripture Text that instead of too many aerial and subtil speculations the Church of Christ may be fed with solid food I mean the simple and sincere meaning of the Holy Ghost be it History or Mystery It would be too long to tell of young Buxtorph upon whom the Magistrates of Basil conferred his Fathers Hebrew Professors place at seventeen years of age Maximo Parente spe major filius as Dr. Castel characters him John Henricus Ottho a Learned Man of Berne in Switzerland Frederick Miege a Noble Learned and Ingenious German D. Knory a very Learned Man of Silesia Theodore Haac and many other forrainers of divers Nations that came into England chiefly to see Dr. Lightfoot and to be directed in their Rabbinical Studies by him All whom he did with much humanity and affability receive and from him they departed with great satisfaction as by their Letters to him after their departure does appear VII His Correspondences HE held a Learned Correspondence especially with persons most eminent for that recondite Learning that he was so famed for and was dear unto and highly valued by them Namely The great Buxtorph while he lived and at home the Right Reverend Father in God Brian Lord Bishop of Chester deceased Dr. Pocok Hebrew Professor at Oxon Dr. Castel Arabick Professor at Cambridge Dr. Marshal the Reverend and Learned Rector of Lincoln College Oxon Mr. Samuel Clark sometime Keeper of the Famous Library of the University of Oxon Dr. Worthington sometime Master of Jesus College in Cambridge Mr. Bernard of S. Johns College Oxon all Men famous in their generation whose names we need only mention and among the laity he held a most intimate friendship and correspondence with Sir Tho. Brograve of Hertfordshire Baronet his Neighbour and Kinsman a Gentleman well seen in those abstruser Studies Nor did their Letters consist of vain strains of Complements nor were they stuffed with idle and unprofitable News of affairs in the State but they carried deep and Learned enquiries about difficulties of Scripture or doubts in their Oriental Studies they conferred about brave and high Designs for the better promoting of Truth and Religion and solid useful Learning One Conference I meet with between Dr. Castel who was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Propounder and our Doctor The Resolver was upon this subject proposed by the former Whether when the ordinary Interpretation of any Hebrew words renders the sense hard and rough recourse may not be had to the Interpretation of those words according as they signifie in Syriac Chaldee or Arabic This question had been occasioned from Dr. Lightfoots excellent Interpretation of that difficult place Ezek. VIII 17. Upon which place he put a fair sense as it seems by Interpreting some word or words there according to some of those Languages Whereupon he tells him That he met often with many seeming contradictions and absurdities in our English though one of the best as well as in other Versions As Job III. 5. Let the shaddow of death stain it in the margent chalenge A Catacresis I remember not to be found elsewhere But ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word there used in the Arabic use is Excipere Colligere as the LXX not there alone best Chap. XV. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou speaking to Job restrainest prayer Whereas Job was often in Prayer in Arabic in which Language many words with him occur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to Protract and Multiply as the Syriac and Arab there render it Thou art much in complaints Chap. XVIII 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Aucupia Verborum again from the Arab ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Contradicendi vices as the Arab and Chaldee both Chap. XVI 18. O Earth cover not thou my blood ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so that there should be no place to my cry Because blood is a Crying sin To pray his Cry should have no place I am a Davus to that sense Prov. XXIII 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As he thinks in his heart and yet his heart is not with thee seem very repugnant Whereupon he propounds this Question That meeting with a World of these seeming contradictions every day he ârââes his judgment Whether the Arab Chaldee Syrian may not sometime sit upon the Bench and pass their Vote concerning their old Mothers meaning All the News communicated between these Correspondents was about the further progress of Oriental Learning the discovery of more Books of that Nature c. which was the best and joyfullest news to them It may be it will not be amiss to communicate a Letter or two of this nature The one is of the aforesaid Dr. Castel written 1664. Sir Though I perish it comforts me not a little to see how Holy Writ flourishes I lately received an Armenian Psalter given me by Professor Golius come newly off the Press where they are Printing at Leyden the whole Bible in that Language The Old Testament is there Printing in the Turkish Language perfected by Levinus Warnerus The New Testament in Turkish done by Mr. Seaman is just now in the Press at Oxford of which I have some sheets by me as I have also of the old Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels now Printed with a Glossary to them at Leyden Mr. Petreus hath Printed some parts of the Old Testament in Ethiopic and hath many more prepared both in that and the Coptic Language The Lithuanian of which I have a good part by me and the New England Bibles I need not name I have a specimen of a Turkish Dictionary Printed at Rome and of a Chaldee Dictionary in folio in the Hebrew Language composed by the Learned Coken
which was a comfortable word for Baruch in Egypt in the threatnings of Egypt the 46 Chapter which was also delivered in this fourth of Jehoiakim is laid next that all the threatnings against Egypt though at several times delivered yet might come together and that the accomplishment of this Prophesie delivered in Jehoiakims time and fulfilled upon Pharaoh Nechos Army might be a confirmation that Israel in Egypt must expect the like truth of the Prophesies against it delivered to them there of misery to come upon it by Nebuchadnezzar Of the same date with the 46 Chapter we may well suppose the 48 49 Chapters to be also because the second verse of Chapter 46. doth use a comprehensive expression The Word of the Lord against the Gentiles as concluding all these Sermons and Prophesies against these several Nations under one date and head only Chap. 47. and vers 34. of Chap. 49. are of several specified dates of which when we come to them JEREMY XXXVI from vers 9. to end World 3403 Divvision 374 Years of Captivity 2 Iehoiakim 5 IN the fifth year of Jehoiakim in the ninth month Jehoiakim cuts in pieces and burns Jeremies Prophesie a wickedness not to be paralleld Let the Reader weigh whether Baruchs reading the Book in the fourth year of Jehoiakim on the Fast day vers 6. and his reading it now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim at an extraordinary Fast in the ninth month be above the space of two months asunder It is very well worth the pondering I cannot but conclude affirmatively and I believe upon very good ground and this observed and concluded doth help to count the seventy years captivity the more exactly if it do not also teach us to begin the year from the time of the first captivity from its antient date in Tisri till Redemption altered the date and brought it to Abib which I believe Captivity hath now altered again The preceding Chapter and this and divers forward are Historical and therefore they are laid together after those that are more fully Prophetical we shall observe the like in the Book of Daniel ere it be long Divvision 375 Years of Captivity 3 Iehoiakim 6 There is no particular occurrence mentioned this sixth year of Jehoiakim 2 KING XXIV the latter end of vers 1. and vers 2 3 4. JEHOIAKIM rebelleth against the King of Babel for which he is miserably invaded and Judah spoiled and this misery continueth all his time DANIEL I. from vers 18. to end World 3405 Divvision 376 Years of Captivity 4 Iehoiakim 7 DANIEL and his three fellows are presented to the King and higly approved of JEREMY XXXV THE Story and matter of Jeremies setting wine before the Division 377 Years of Capt. 5 Iosiah 8 Rechabites c. is said to be in the days of Jehoiakim but in Division 378 Years of Capt. 6 Iosiah 9 what year is not mentioned only this may be collected out of the Division 379 Years of Capt. 7 Iosiah 10 Text that it was after Jehoiakims rebelling against Nebuchad-nezzar for they say in vers 1. that they fled to Jerusalem for fear of the Army of the Chaldeans and the Army of the Syrians which are the Army mentioned to have come against him upon his rebelling 2 King 24. 2. This Story therefore fell out in these latter years of Jehoiakim Now it is laid so far in the Book as after divers Prophesies dated by the times of Zedekiah partly because it is Historical and so is set after Prophetical things and partly because this Story of the Rechabites doth set off the impiety of the Jews mentioned in the preceding Chapter the more for there he sheweth how false the people were to their Covenant with God in recalling their freed servants and here how faithful the Rechabites were to an ingagement of their father 2 KING XXIV vers 5 6 7. 2 CHRON. XXXVI vers 6 7 8. World 3409 Division 380 Years of Capt. 8 Iosiah 11 JEHOIAKIM captived slain and buried with the burial of an Ass. JER LII vers 28. NEBUCHAD-NEZZAR captiveth three thousand and twenty three Jews This is to be understood of the captivity of Jehoiakim it is called the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar because his siege against Jerusalem began in his seventh and he took the City in the beginning of his eight and partly to distinguish this from the captivity of Jehoiakin which was in his eight when he carried away many thousands 2 King 24. 12 14 16. 2 KING XXIV vers 8. 9. 2 CHRON. XXXVI vers 9. JEHOIACHIN the son of Jehoiakim reigneth three months He is called also Jeconiah and Coniah the name Jeho or Jahu a contraction of Jehovah being sometime set before his name and sometime after and the first syllable of his name sometime cut off and he called Coniah That his three months are to be taken in in Jehoiakims last year there is evidence sufficient in 2 King 25. 2 8. where the eleventh year of Zedekiah and the nineteenth of Nebuchad-nezzar are coincident or fall in together And in 2 Chron. 36. 10. where it is said that when the year was expired the King of Babel captived him thither There is one main doubt and scruple ariseth in comparing his Story in the Book of Kings and Chronicles together for the Book of Chronicles saith he was eight years old when he began to reign and the Book of Kings saith he was eighteen Now in expressions that are so different propriety is not to be expected in both but the one to be taken properly and that is that he was eighteen years old when he began to reign and the other that he was the Son of the eighth year or fell in the lot of the eighth year after any Captivity of Judah had begun for the beginning of his reign was in the eighth year of Nebuchad-nezzar 2 King 24. 12. and in the eighth year of the seventy of captivity And so the Holy Ghost dealeth here as he doth about Ahaziah 2 King 8. 26. and 2 Chron. 22. 2. compared together as was observed there JEREMY XXII from vers 24. to the end JEHOIACHIN or Jeconiah is no sooner upon the Throne but Jeremy denounceth his captivity and the failing of Solomons house in him And this doth but as it were take at that Prophesiy which he uttered before against Jehoiakim his father Chap. 36. 30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David When the ending of Solomons House is to be denounced he calleth the Earth Earth Earth to hear the word of the Lord that the earthly Kingdom was now to decay and therefore a Kingdom of another nature was to be looked after JEREMY XXIII all THIS King and Kingdom is described in this Chapter and when he had denounced the failing of Solomons house and the ruine of the earthly Kingdom of the house of David in the Chapter before he now telleth of the everlasting King and Kingdom of David vers 5. 6. and denounceth woe against those cursed
this seed of the woman was to destroy the power of Satan by the word of truth as Satan had destroyed men by words of falshood Luke doth properly draw up his Line to Adam now when he is to begin to preach the Word The Line on this side the Captivity for which there is no record elsewhere in Scripture Matthew and Luke took from some known Records then extant among the Nation R. Levi saith There was found a Book of Genealogies at Jerusalem in which it was written Hillel was of the Family of David Ben Jatsaph of the Family of Asap c. Tal. Jerus in Taanith fol 68. col 1. They kept the Records of Pedigrees and of all other they would be sure to keep those of the Family of David because of the expectation of the Messiah from it SECTION XI MATTH Chap. 4. from the beginning to Ver. 12. MARK Chap. 1. Ver. 12 13. LUKE Chap. IV from the beginning to Ver. 14. The Seed of the Woman and the Serpent combating MARK and LUKE by these words immediately the Spirit driveth him and Jesus returned from Jordan do make the order necessary so that as for the subsequence of this to what preceded there can be no scruple Only there is some difference 'twixt Matthew and Luke in relating the order of the temptations which Matthew having laid down in their proper rank as appeareth by these particles then ver 15. and again ver 8. Luke in the rehearsing of them is not so much observant of the order that being fixed by Matthew before as he is careful to give the full story and so to give it as might redound to the fullest information As our Mother Eve was tempted by Satan to the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as 1 Joh. 2. 16. for she saw it was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise Gen. 3. 6. so by these had it been possible would the same tempter have overthrown the seed of the woman For he tempted him to turn stones into bread as to satisfie the longing of the flesh to fall down and worship him upon the sight of a bewitching object to his eyes and to fly in the air in pride and to get glory among men Luke for our better observing of this parallel hath laid the order of these temptations answerable to the order of those Jesus being baptized about the Feast of Tabernacles toward the latter end of our September is presently carried into the Wilderness of Judea by the acting of the Holy Spirit to enter that combate with the Serpent which was designed Gen. 3. 15. Forty days and forty nights He being all the while in watching fasting and solitude and among the wild beasts but sate as Adam among them in innocency the Devil tempteth him invisibly as he doth other men namely striving to inject sinful suggestions into him but he could find nothing in him to work upon as Joh. 14. 30. therefore at forty days end he taketh another course and appeareth to him visibly in the shape of an Angel of Light and so had Eve been deceived by him mistaking him for a good Angel and trieth him by perswasion by Scripture and by power but in all is foiled mastered and banished by a word SECTION XII JOHN Chap. I. from Ver. 15. to the end of the Chapter CHRIST is pointed out by John and followed by some Disciples COnceive the continuance of the Story thus Christ newly baptized goeth immediately into the Wilderness and leaveth John at Jordan on Judea side In the time of the forty days temptation John having now gathered his Harvest of Disciples on that side the River goeth over into the Country beyond Jordan and baptizeth in Bethabara Thither came some Pharisees by commission of the Sanhedrin to question him about the Authority whereby he baptized making no strangeness at baptizing which had been so long in use among them but questioning his Authority to baptize in that tenor that he did The next day after their questioning of him Christ cometh into sight is pointed out by John and followed by some of his Disciples For half a year John had baptized in the Name of Christ and knew him not ver 31 33. Only as all the Nation expected the Messias to come in time and John had it revealed to him that he was now ready to appear so John baptized and the People came to him upon this account He professed to all that came to him to be baptized and so he did to the Jews Commissioners now that he baptized only in the Name of him that was to come after him whose shoos latchet he was not worthy to unloose ver 27. Let a passage in Tosaphtoth comment upon these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What is the token of a Servant He ties his Masters shoos or looses his shoos and bears his things after him to the bath In Kiddushin cap. 1. And the like saith Maymony in Mekerah cap. 2. A Canaanite Servant is like Land as to buying and he is bought by Money or by Script or by service in way of earnest And what is the earnest in buying Servants Namely that a man use them as they use Servants before a Master As to loose his shooe or to tie his shooe or to carry his things after him to the bath c. So that those that were baptized in this time of whom there was a very great number knew not of Jesus of Nazareth his being the Christ nor knew they more of Christ than they had known before but only that he was ready to come only they were baptized into faith in him and to repentance But when Christ himself came to be baptized John had discovery of him and so is able now upon the sight of him to point him out to his Disciples whereupon Peter and probably John and Andrew and Philip and Nathanael follow him SECTION XIII JOHN Chap. II. All the Chapter Water turned into Wine CHRISTS first Passeover after his Baptism THe words The third day in ver 1. mean either the third day from Christs coming into Galilee Joh. 1. 43. or the third day from his conference with Nathanael or the third day from the Disciples first following him they give demonstration enough of the series and connexion of this Chapter to the former It was about the middle of our November when Christ came out of the Wilderness to John at Bethabara and then there were about four months to the Passeover which time he spent in going up and down Galilee and at last comes to his own home at Capernaum Those two passages being laid together The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee Joh. 1. 43. And After this he went down to Capernaum and continued there not many days and the Jews Passeover was at hand Joh. 2. 12. do make it evident that Jesus had now a perambulation of Galilee which took up
to shew that they had the man sure whom he so much desired to be secured and to take his grave advice what further to do with him He was brought bound to him and so bound he sends him to Caiaphas His Arraignment before the Sanhedrin At Caiaphas his house was the Sanhedrin now assembled Whether we take this for his lodgings in the Temple or his house in the City it is not much material Peter follows thither and by another Disciple that was acquainted there he is helped into the Hall and sits with the Servants by the fire The Chief-Priest and Elders were busie to find out Witnesses that might accuse him and though many false Witnesses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Talmudick language come in yet all will not do for it was not possible to touch him of any offence He all this while standing silent Isa. 37. 7. Caiaphas adjures him to tell whether he were the Christ or no he confesseth it and withal tells them that the time should come that they should find the truth of this by experience when he should shew his power and vengeance in his judgment against them and their City coming in clouds c. This confession and words they account blasphemy and that they might have the surer impression of so construing them Caiaphas rent his garments and by that action would as it were force them to agree with him that it was so when his garments had paid so dear for the confirming of it Their custom and reason of renting their clothes upon the hearing of blasphemy is handled in Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 25. col 1. 2. and in Maym. in Avrdah Zarah per. 2. where those two Canons being observed Every one that hears Gods Name blasphemed is bound to rent his garments And the Judges hearing blasphemy must stand upon their feet and must rent their clothes and may not sew them up again It will cause us to observe something in it that the Highpriest only rent his clothes and not the rest of the Bench with him Which though they did not yet they vote with him that it was blasphemy and therefore he was guilty of death which had it been executed must have been by stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. And now they begin to spit on him to buââet him and abuse him Peters denial Here Peter first denies him for being challenged as he sate by the fire by the damsel porter for one of his company he denies it and shrinks away into the porch and then the first Cock crew Luke saith that the maid came to him as he sate by the fire Matthew and Mark that he was now beneath in the Palace and without in the Palace meaning beneath or without from that place or room where the Bench sate Betwixt this first denial and the second there was but a little while Luke 22. 55. In the space between the Highpriest is questioning Jesus of his Disciples and Doctrine and because he answers Ask them that have heard me c. an officious Officer smites him as if he had not answered with reverence enough Peter this while was in the porch where he was when the Cock crew after his first denial and there another maid sees him and brings him to the company that stood by the fire and challenges him for one of his Disciples and now he denies with an oath And about an hour after Luke 22. 59. which space of time the Bench took up in examining Christ about his Disciples and Doctrine a kinsman of Malchus challengeth him and tells the company he saw him with Jesus in the Garden and he pleading the contrary is discovered to all the company to be a Galilean by his Dialect but he denies with execrations and presently the second Cock crew And Jesus looking back upon him he remembers what he had done and goes out and weeps bitterly And so presently after the second Cock the Bench riseth and leaveth Jesus in the hands of their Officers by whom he is taunted stricken and shamefully used His being delivered up to the Roman power In the morning the Sanhedrin met formally in their own Council chamber and again question Jesus brought there before them and they resolved to put him to death Whether he were the Messias or no he giveth the same answer as before that though they would not believe him if he told them he was which was the truth yet the time was coming when they should find it true They question him again Art thou the Son of God which he not denying they judge him a blasphemer again and deserving to die and so deliver him up to the secular power It is observable in both these questionings of him upon this point both in the night and now in the morning how convertible terms the Son of God and the Son of man are made In the night they question him Art thou the Son of God He answers Ye shall see the Son of man c. Mat. 26. 63 64. And now in the morning again he saith Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and they reply Art thou then the Son of God Luke 22. 69 70. Iudas his Recantation and Ruine Judas unquiet in mind for what he had done in betraying attends the trials and waits the issue and when he now saw that he was condemned by the Bench to be delivered up to the Heathen power he steps in and offers his money again and confesseth he had betrayed innocent blood and this probably as Christ stood by Having received a surly answer again from them he flings down his money in the Temple where they sat Gazith or Hhanoth it is not seasonable to question here and departing is snatched by the devil who was bodily in him into the air and there strangled and flung down headlong to the earth and all his bowels burst out With the thirty pieces of silver his wages of iniquity the Priests consult to buy the Potters field And here a quotation of Matthew hath troubled Expositors so far that divers have denied the purity of the Text. His words are these Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet And they took the thirty pieces of silver c. Matth. 27. 9. Whereas those words are not to be found in Jeremy at all but in Zechary they are found Zech. 11. 13. Now Matthew speaks according to an ordinary manner of speaking used among the Jews and by them would easily and without cavil be understood though he cited a text of Zechary under the name of Jeremy For the illustration of which matter we must first produce a record of their own The Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 14. facie 2. is discoursing concerning the order in which the Books of the Old Testament were ordered and ranked of old And first they shew that there was this general division of it into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Law the Prophets and the Hagiographa By
the last meaning The Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Job Ruth Esther c. Then do they tell that the Books were particularly thus ranked The five Books of Moses Joshua Judges Samuel Kings and then the Prophets among whom Jeremy was set first and then Ezekiel and after him Esay and then the twelve But they object was not Esay long before Jeremy and Ezekiel in time Why should he then be set after them in order And they give this answer The last Book of Kings ends with destruction and Jeremy is all destruction Ezekiel begins with destruction and ends with comfort and Esay is all comfort ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Therefore they joyned destruction and destruction together and comfort and comfort together And thus in their Bibles of old Jeremy came next after the Book of Kings and stood first in the volume of the Prophets So that Matthews alleadging of a Text of Zachary under the name of Jeremy doth but alleadge a Text out of the volume of the Prophets under his name that stood first in that volume And such a manner of speech is that of Christ Luke 24. 44. All things must be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalmes in which he follows the general division that we have mentioned only he calleth the whole third part or Hagiographa by the title the Psalms because the Book of Psalms stood first of all the Books of that part In that saying Matth. 16. 14. Others say Jeremy or one of the Prophets there is the same reason why Jeremy alone is named by name viz. because his name stood first in the volume of the Prophets and so came first in their way when they were speaking of the Prophets CHRISTS Arraignment before Pilate The chiest Priests and Elders bring Jesus to Pilate but would not go into his House the House of a Heathen lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover John 18. 28. Why They had eaten the Passover over night at the same time that Jesus ate his and well they had spent the night after it But this day that was now come in was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their day of presenting themselves in the Temple and offering their Sacrifices and peace offerings of which they were to keep a solemn feasting and this John calls the Passover In which sense Passover Bullocks are spoken of Deut. 16. 2. 2 Chron. 30. 24. and 35. 8 9. The School of Shammai saith their appearing was with two pieces of silver and their chagigah with a Meah of silver But the School of Hillel saith their appearing was with a Meah of silver and their chagigah with two pieces of silver Their burnt offerings at this solemnity were taken from among common cattel but their peace offerings from their tithes He that keepeth not the chagigah on the first day of the feast must keep it all the feast c. Chagigah per. 1. Pilate conceives him brought to him as a common malefactor and therefore he bids them take him back and Judge him by their own Bench and Law and in these words he meant really and according as the truth was that it was in their power to judge and execute him and needed not to trouble him with him And when they answer We may not put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. They speak truly also and as the thing was indeed but the words of Pilate and theirs were not ad idem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is a tradition that fourty years before the Temple was destroyed capital Judgments were taken away from them Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 18. col 1. But how Not by the Romans for they permitted them the use of their Religion Laws Magistracy capital and penal executions and judgments in almost all cases as freely as ever they had and that both in their Sanhedrins within the Land and in their Synagogues without as far as the power of the Synagogues could reach at any time as might be proved abundantly if it were to be insisted on here The words then of these men to Pilate are true indeed That they could put no man to death but this was not as if the Romans had deprived the Sanhedrin of its power but because theeves murderers and malefactors of their own Nation were grown so numerous strong and heady that they had overpowred the Sanhedrins power that it could not it durst not execute capital penalties upon offenders as it should have done And this their own Writings witness Juchasin fol. 21. The Sanhedrin flitted fourty years before the destruction of the Temple namely from that time that the Temple doors opened of their own accord and Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai rebuked them and said O Temple Temple Zechary of old prâphecied of thee saying Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may enter c. And also becausâ that murderers increased and they were unwilling to judge Capital matters they flitted from place to place even to Jabneh c. which also is asserted in Schabb. fol. 51. Avodah Zarah fol. 8. When they perceive that Pilate no more received the impression of their accusation of him as a malefactor like others they then accuse him of Treason as forbidding to pay Tribute to Cesar and as saying that he himself was a King and this they thought would do the business Pilate hereupon takes him into his Judgment Hall for hitherto the Jews conference and his had been at his gate and questions him upon this point and Jesus plainly confesseth that he was a King but his Kingdom not of this world and therefore he needed not from him to fear any prejudice from the Romane power and so well satisfies Pilate that he brings him out to the gate again where the Jews stood and professeth that he found no fault in him at all Then the Jews lay in fresh accusations against him to which he answereth not a word Brought before Herod Pilate by a word that dropt from them understanding that he was of Galilee Herods Jurisdiction sent him to Herod who was now at Jerusalem partly because he would be content to have shut his hands of him and partly because he would court Herod towards the reconciling of old heart-burnings between them And now Jesus sees the monster that had murthered his forerunner Herod was glad to see him and had desired it a long time and now hoped to have got some miracles from him but he got not so much as one word though he questioned him much and the Jews who followed him thither did vehemently accuse him The old Fox had sought and threatned his death before Luke 13. 31 32. and yet now hath him in his hands and lets him go only abused and mocked and gorgeously arraied and so sends him back to Pilate that so he might court him again more then for any content he had that he should escape his hands See Acts 4. 27. Before Pilate again Pilate at his gate again talks
much augmented and inlarged The Jews the first as we observed at the second Epistle to the Thessalontans and this the second Antichrist at his full stature It is true indeed that Rome Heathen is one part of him but observe how little a part reputed in comparison of Rome Papish the Star fallen from Heaven So that though that did woful things yet you see the first wo is fixed here The way of his bringing wo upon the Earth is by filling the World with smoke and darkness of ignorance and humane traditions and inventions and out of this smoke come his locusts of his votary orders The locusts described much like those in Joel 1. for their terror and destroying only their having the faces of men speaks them men-caterpillers and their Nazarite-like hair long as the hair of women speaks them votaries or such as take on them vowed Religion Their trading is not with grass or the green things of the Earth as other Locusts do but with Men and they are Locusts in name but Scorpions in action wounding with the sting of their tails the teacher of lies is the tail Isa. 9. 15. but not killing leaving men indeed in a Religion and a profession of Christ but no better then a venomed and dying one The time of their tormenting is five months the time of Locusts ravening ordinarily from the spring well shot forth to harvest This is the first wo. These Locusts stings mind me of a story or two in the Roman History which let me mention here though I cannot apply them hither Dion in his story of the life of Domitian saith thus About that time divers began to prick many whom they pleased with poysoned needles whereof many died hardly feeling what was done to them And this was practised not only at Rome but almost through all the world And again in the life of Commodus About that time saith he there was so great a mortality that oft times there died two thousand in Rome in one day And many not only in the City but also through the whole Roman Empire were killed by mischievous men who poysoning needles pricked others with them as also it had been in Domitians time and so innumerable people died by this means But there was no greater plague then Commodus himself c. The sounding of the sixth Trumpet begins another wo. Four Angels loosed which were bound in Euphrates and come with a terrible Army and horses breathing fire and smoke and brimstone and having stings in their tails c. The Turks and Mahumetans coming as a plague upon the Eastern part of the World as the Papacy on the Western These hurt with their tails false doctrine as well as the other did in the former Trumpet but these have also heads in their tails which the other had not for these hold out another Head and Saviour Mahomet REVEL CHAP. X. A Little Book in the hand of Christ speaketh the restoring of Religion and Truth after all the darkness and confusions mentioned before The words in ver 6 7. do help to state the intent of this Vision He sware by him that liveth for ever that there should be delay of time no longer but in the days of the seventh Trumpet the mystery of God should be fulfilled The mystery of God is his gathering in of his Elect more especially of the Gentiles Rom. 16. 25 26. Ephes. 3. 5 6. and hitherto there had been great hinderance by Rome Heathen by Heresies Papacy Turcism but at last Christ swears that there should be no more delay the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã must be taken so here and not unconsonant to the signification of the word and very consonant to the context and to the place from whence this verse is taken That is Dan. 12. 7. where the Angel is brought in swearing as here that the trouble of Antiochus and his persecution and hindrance should be so long and there should be no delay further but there should be a restoring That place laid to this and Antiochus looked upon as a figure of Antichrist the construction of this place is easie Only the great Angel would have the speech of the seven thunders which refer to these times to be concealed The Prophesie in general intimates the restoring of the Gospel in these later times which is handled in the next Chapter but very generally and very briefly Johns eating of the little Book as Ezek. 2. 8. and the words to him Thou must Prophesie again before many People and Nations and Tongues and Kings do not so much infer Johns going abroad after this to preach to many Nations himself as it doth the progress of the truth that he preached through Nations and People which had been supprest so long aiming at these times when the Gospel last broke out from under Popery The passage is parallel to the last words in the Book of Daniel Go thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of days Not that Daniel should live till the end of those miseries by Antiochus but that his doctrine and the truth should stand up and be restored in those times The phrase is such another as when Christ telleth his Disciples that they should sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel which is not meant of their personal sitting to judge but that their doctrine should judge and condemn that unbelieving Nation REVEL CHAP. XI THE Vision of this Chapter is in order to the accomplishing of the mystery of God which was spoken of Chap. 10. 7. As Ezekiels measuring of a new Temple shewed the restoring of Religion and of the Lords people and foretold of the new Jerusalem and calling of the Gentiles To the same purpose is the measuring of the Temple here The Church was under the mystical Babylon Chap. 9. as the Jews were under the Eastern when Ezekiel wrote those things now as that description of the measures of the Temple was a prediction and pledge of their coming forth so this speaketh to the same tenor John is commanded to leave the Court which is without the Temple forth and not to measure it Because it was given to the Gentiles and they should tread the holy City fourty and two moneths Not in an hostile way but as the flock of the Lord tread his Courts there worshipping him as see the phrase Isa. 1. 12. Psal. 122. 2. and the meaning seemeth to be this Measure not the Court of the Gentiles for their multitudes that come to attend upon the Lord shall be boundless and numberless The two and forty moneths and a thousand two hundred and sixty days ver 3. and Chap. 12. 6. and a time and times and half a time Chap. 12. 14. are but borrowed phrases from Daniel who so expresseth the 3 years and an half of Antiochus his persecution and treading down Religion Dan. 7. 25. 12. 7 11. and they mean times of trouble and are used
henceforth must Vision and Prophesie and Inspiration cease for ever These had been used and imparted all along for the drawing up of the mind of God into writing as also the appearing of Angels had been used for the further and further still revealing of his will and when the full revelation of that was compleated their appearing and revelations to men must be no more So that this Revelation to John was the topping up and finishing of all revelations The Lord had promised that in the last days of Jerusalem he would pour down of his Spirit upon all flesh Act. 2. 17. And Christ promised to his Apostles that he would lead them into all truth John 16. 12 13. To look for therefore the giving of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit beyond the fall of Jerusalem there is no warrant and there is no need since when the inspired penmen had written all that the Holy Ghost directed to write All truth was written It is not to be denied indeed that those that had these extraordinary gifts before the fall of Jerusalem if they lived after had them after for the promoting of these ends for which they were given but there is neither ground nor reason whereupon to believe that they were restored to the next generation or were or are to be imparted to any generation for ever For as it was in Israel at the first setling of their Church so was it in this case in the first setling of the Gospel The first fathers of the Sanhedrin in the wilderness were indued with Divine gifts such as we are speaking of Numb 11. 25. but when that generation was expired those that were to succeed in that Function and Imployment were such as were qualified for it by education study and parts acquired So was it with this first age of the Gospel and the ages succeeding At the first dispersing of the Gospel it was absolutely needful that the first planters should be furnished with such extraordinary gifts or else it was not possible it should be planted As this may appear by a plain instance Paul comes to a place where the Gospel had never come he stays a month or two and begets a Church and then he is to go his way and to leave them Who now in this Church is fit to be their Minister They being all alike but very children in the Gospel but Paul is directed by the Holy Ghost to lay his hands upon such and such of them and that bestows upon them the gift of Tongues and Prophesying and now they are able to be Ministers and to teach the Congregation But after that generation when the Gospel was setled in all the world and committed to writing and written to be read and studied then was studdy of the Scriptures the way to inable men to unfold the Scriptures and fit them to be Ministers to instruct others and Revelations and Inspirations neither needful nor safe to be looked after nor hopeful to be attained unto And this was the reason why Paul coming but newly out of Ephesus and Crete when he could have ordained and qualified Ministers with abilities by the imposition of his hands would not do it but left Timothy and Titus to Ordain though they could not bestow those gifts because he knew the way that the Lord had appointed Ministers thenceforward to be inabled for the Ministry not by extraordinary infusions of the Spirit but by serious study of the Scriptures not by a miraculous but by an ordinary Ordination And accordingly he gives Timothy himself counsel to study 1 Tim. 4. 13. though he were plentifully indued with these extraordinary indowments 1 Tim. 4. 14. And Paul himself had his Books for study or he had them to no purpose 2 Tim. 4. 13. And indeed it had been the way of God he hath instructed his people by a studious and learned Ministry ever since he gave a written word to instruct them in 1. Who were the standing Ministry of Israel all the time from the giving of the Law to the Captivity into Babel Not Prophets or those inspired men for they were but occasional Teachers and there were often long spaces of time wherein no Prophet appeared but the Priests and Levites that became Learned in the Law by study Deut. 33. 10. Hos. 46. Mal. 2. 7. And for this end as hath been touched they were disposed into forty eight Cities of their own as so many Universities where they studied the Law together and from thence were sent out into the several Synagogues to teach the people and had the Tithes paid them for their maintenance whilest they studied in the Universities and for their preaching in the Synagogues And it may be observed that even they that had the prophetick spirit did not only study the Scriptures themselves Josh. 1. 8. Dan. 9. 1. but sent the people for instruction to the Priests who were students and the standing Ministry Hag. 2. 11. Mal. 2. 7. 2. If you consider the times under the second Temple then it was utterly impossible that the people should be taught but by a studious and learned Ministry for the spirit of Prophesie was departed and the Scriptures were then in an unknown Tongue to all but Students And hence they had an interpreter in every Synagogue to render into the Vulgar what was read in the Law and the Prophets in the Original So that the Spirit of God inspired certain persons whom he pleased to be the revealers of his will till he had imparted and committed to writing what he thought fit to reveal under the Old Testament and when he had compleated that the Holy Ghost departed and such inspirations ceased And when the Gospel was to come in then the Spirit was restored again and bestowed upon several persons for the revealing further of the mind of God and compleating the work he had to do for the setling of the Gospel and penning of the New Testament and that being done these gifts and inspirations cease and may no more be expected then we may expect some other Gospel yet to come PARERGON Concerning the FALL of JERUSALEM AND The Condition of the JEWS in that Land after BEING come so near to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem as that it is but three years and an half and a little more from the time we have concluded with unto it and having so frequent occasion to mention that destruction and vengeance upon that Nation as we have had It may not be amiss to drive so for further as to take a view of such a spectacle not that we go about to write the History of their Wars and ruine which were but to transcribe Josephus who is in every mans hand but to take a brief account of the times thither and of the condition of the Nation in that Land afterward the History of which is not altogether so obvious as the other by both which we may not only see the performance of those threatnings of
of the work of the Masorites for this purpose who altered not added not invented not a tittle but carfully took account of every thing as they found it and so recorded it to posterity that nothing could be changed We shall only bring in their own expositions which will attest to this truth to both those words that our Saviour hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is little to be doubted that Christ speaking in their language meaneth the letter Jod which is far the least of all their letters And about this letter the Jerusalem Talmud hath this passage Sanhedr fo 20. col 3. The book of Mishneh Torah Deuteronomy came and prostrated it self before God and said unto him O Lord everlasting Thou hast written thy Law in me A Testament that fails in part fails in the whole Behold Solomon seeks to root Jod out of me viz. in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He shall not multiply wives The Holy blessed God saith to it Solomon and a thousand such as he shall fail but a word of thee shall not fail R. Houna in the name of R. Acha said The Jod that the blessed God took from the name of our mother Sarah was given half of it to Sarah and half to Abraham There is a tradition of R. Hoshaiah Jod came and prostrated it self before God and said Lord everlasting thou hast rooted me out from the name of a righteous woman The holy blessed God saith to it Heretofore thou wast in the name of a woman and in the end of it Henceforward thou shalt be in the name of a man and in the beginning This is that which is written Moses called the name of Hoshea Jehoshua ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one Tittle It most properly means those little Apiculi that distinguish betwixt letters that are very like one to another You may have the explanation of this in this pretty descant of Tanchuma fol. 1. It is written saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã You shall not prophane my holy Name He that makes the Cheth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a He ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã destroys the world for he makes this sense You shall not praise my holy Name It is written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord He that makes the He ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Cheth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã destroys the world for he brings it to this sense Let every thing that hath breath profane the Lord. It is written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They lyed to the Lord He that maketh Beth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Caph ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã destroyes the world for he maketh this sense They lyed like the Lord. It is written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There is none holy like the Lord. He that makes Caph ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Beth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã destroys the world for he maketh this sense There is no holiness in the Lord. It is written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Lord our God is one Lord. He that makes Daleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Resh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã destroys the world for he bringeth the sense to this The Lord our God is a strange God c. In Chagig fol. 77. col 3. they speak more of the letter Jod and so doth Midras Tillin in Psal. 114. In Deut. 32. 18. this little letter is written less then it self in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and yet preserved in that quantity and not altered and observed so by the Masorites 2. Yet could they not for all their care but have some false Copies go up and down amongst them through heedlesness or error of transcribers In Shabb. fol. 15. col 2. they are disputing how many faults may be in a part of the Bible and yet it lawful to read in The books of Hagiographa say they If there be two or three faults in every leaâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He may mend it and read The Books of Hagiographa they read not in their Synagouges as they did the Law and the Prophets therefore this is to be understood of a mans private reading and of his own Bible which if faulty there were true Copies whereby he might mend it and so read Nay in Taanith fol. 68. col 1. there is mention of a faulty Copy that was laid up in the publick records They found three books in the Court of the Temple The book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In one they found written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and in two it was written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Deut. 33. 27. And they approved the two and refused the one In one they found written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and in two it was written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Exod. 24. 5. They approved the two and refused the other In one they found written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and in two it was written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They approved of the two and resused the other That alteration ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is the second mentioned the Babylonian Gemarists and Massecheth Sopherim per. 1. say was one of the thirteen alterations that the Septuagint made in the Law for Ptolomy King of Egypt Which seems to argue that as they translated the Bible into Greek in which they made thousands of alterations from the text so that they copied an Hebrew copy for him and in that made these and this that was found in the Court of the Temple a transcript of that Copy 3. In every Synagogue they had a true Copy And it was their care every where to have their Bible as purely authentick as possible as may be seen by the curious rules that are given to that purpose in Massecheth Sopherim newly cited and Megillah For this they accounted their treasure and their glory And in the reading of the Law and the Prophets in the Synagogue it was their great care that not a tittle should be read amiss and for this purpose the Minister stood over those that read and oversaw that they read aright and from this as Aruch tells us he was called Chazan that is Episcopus or Overseer In Jerus Sotha fol. 21. col 3. the Samaritans are blamed by the Jews for wilfully corrupting their own Pentateuch R. Eliezer ben R. Simeon said I said to the Scribes of the Samaritans You have falsified your Law and yet reap no advantage by it for you have written in your Law By the plain of Moreh which is Sichem And was it not manifest enough without that addition that it was Sichem But you construe not a pari as we do It is said here The plain of Moreh and it is said elsewhere The plain of Moreh there it is no other but Sichem no more must it be here The addition cavilled at which is Sichem is so in the Samaritan Pentateuch now extant at Deut. 11. 30. But amongst all the wickedness that Christ and his Apostles laid
hill Luke 4. 29. Nazaret in the Arabick Tongue signifieth Help in the Hebr. a Branch by which name our Saviour is called Esa. 11. 1. Vers. 27. To a Virgin Rabbi Oshua the Son of Levi said Israel was comforted in a Virgin as saith Jeremy The Lord âroateth a new thing in the earth A Virgin shall compass a Man Jer. 31. 21. Beresh Rabb See also Lyra and Gloss. intenlin in loc Vers. 28. Highly favoured ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This word is used by the Greek Scholiast in Psal. 18. 26. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the word from which it is derived in Ephes. 1. 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. which let the indifferent Reader view and judge of the propriety of our English translation here in comparison of the vulgar Latine The Virgin had obtained the highest earthly favour that ever mortal did or must do to be the mother of the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost useth a singular word to express so much Superstition is ever too officious but it hath shewed it self more so to the Virgin Mary then to any other For as it hath deified her now she is in Heaven so hath it magnified her in all her actions while she was upon the earth So that no relation or story that concerneth her but it hath strained it to the utmost extremity to wring out of it her praises though very often to a senseless and too often to a blasphemous issue As in this story of the annuntiation there is not a word nor tittle that it thinketh will with all its shaping serve for such a purpose but it taketh advantage to patch up her Encomions where there is no use nor need nor indeed any truth of and in such a thing This word that is under hand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bears the bell that ringeth lowdest with them to such a tune For having translated it in their vulgar Latine Gratia plena or full of grace they hence infer that she had all the seven gifts of the Spirit and all the Theological and moral vertues and such a fulness of the graces of the Holy Ghost as none ever had the like Whereas first The use of Scripture is when it speaketh of fulness of grace to express it by another phrase as Joh. 1. 14. Act. 6. 5. c. Secondly The Angel himself explaineth this word in the sense of our translation for favour received and not for grace inherent Vers. 30. Thou hast found favour with God Thirdly And so doth the Virgin her self also descant upon the same thing throughout her Song Fourthly Joseph her husband suspected her for an adultress Matth. 1. 18. which he could never have done if he had ever seen so infinite fulness of grace in her as the Romanists have spied and he was the likelier to have espied it of the two Fifthly Compare her with other renowned women and what difference but only this great favour of being the mother of the Messias They had the spirit of Prophesie as well as she they had the spirit of sanctification as well as she and she no more immunity from sin and death then they Sixthly She was one of the number of those that would have taken off Christ from preaching Mark 3. and this argued not such a fulness of grace Seventhly See Jansenius one of their own side expounding this word according to our reading of it in loc The Lord is with thee Many understand this of the Incarnation it self or of the Lords being in her womb Whereas first This is to take a common manner of speech out of the common manner of interpreting it Secondly The Lord was not at this very instant come in that manner into her womb But the words only mean the Lords being with her in regard of that favour and respect which he was about to shew her as Judg. 6. 12. And this among other things sheweth how senseless Popery is in its Ave Maries using these words for a Prayer and if occasion serve for it for a charm As first Turning a Salutation into a Prayer Secondly In fitting these words of an Angel that was sent and that spake them upon a special message to the mouth of every person and for every occasion Thirdly In applying these words to her now she is in Heaven which suited with her only while she was upon Earth As first to say full of grace to her that is full of glory And secondly to say The Lord is with thee to her that is with the Lord. Blessed art thou among women Not above but among them See Gen. 30. 13. Judg. 5. 24. Vers. 29. And when she saw him So readeth the Syrian Arabick and generally all other translations but only the vulgar Latin that swarving as it is to be suspected wilfully from the truth of the Original that hereby there might be the greater plea and colour for the Virgins familiarity with Angels Whereas indeed apparition of Angels till this very occasion to Zachary and the Virgin was either exceeding rare or just none at all What manner of salutation c. Judge how Superstition straineth the Text to the Virgin Maries praises when it infers from hence that she had never been saluted by a man in all her life before An opinion and gloss not worth the examining Vers. 31. Behold thou shalt conceive c. From Esa. 7. 14. the Angel giveth her to understand that she is the Virgin spoken of in that place and of her apprehension of this ariseth her question Vers. 4. And shalt call his Name This followeth the same Prophesie still and is one of the significations of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for it hath more then one For first it denoteth the third person feminine as Deut. 31. 29. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so it is to be taken in that Prophesie And she shall call his Name Immanuel Secondly It betokeneth also the second person as the Chaldee the Lxx and the other two Greek translations render it and the Angel here And thou shalt call Thirdly It is also applied to the third person plural as in the Greek Matth. 1. 23. and in the Chaldee Esa. 60. 18. Jesus The same with Jehoshua in Hebrew as Act. 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. and Joshua in Chaldee Ezra 2. 2. These were two renowned ones before the one whereof brought the people into Canaan after the death of Moses and the other that brought them thither out of Babel and so were both lively figures of our Jesus that bringeth his people to the heavenly Canaan Vers. 32. The Son of the Highest From 2 Sam. 7. 14. as it is explained Heb. 1. 5. the Angel now draweth the Virgin to remember that glorious promise made to David as the words following concerning an eternal Throne and Kingdom do evince and upon the rumination upon that to reflect upon her self and to consider that she was of the seed of David and so he leadeth her on by degrees to believe and
Region round about Jordan Preaching the baptism of repentance Luke 3. 3. And Matthew of the former thus There went out unto him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Region round about Jordan and were baptized of him A space of ground not to be travelled over with resting in many places by the way and a number of people not to be baptized in a short space of time Now the reasons why Christ that needed no cleansing being purity it self would be baptized are given divers As first that by this Symbole he might enter himself into the society and fraternity of the Christians as by Circumcision he did of the Jews like a King it is Jansenius his comparison that to unite and indear himself to any City of his Subjects condescendeth to be made a freeman of it as are the ordinary Citizens Secondly that he might bear witness to the preaching and baptism of John and might receive testimony from him again Thirdly that by his own baptism he might sanctifie the waters of baptism to his Church Fourthly that he might give example himself of the performance of that which he injoyned to others and by his own coming to be baptized teach others not to refuse that Sacrament Fifthly that he might receive testimony from heaven that he was the son of God Sixtly that he might occasion the revealing of the Trinity Seventhly that he might shew the descending of the Holy Ghost on the waters of Baptism But eightly the main reason of all and that which is equal to these all is that which is given by Christ himself namely that he might fulfill all righteousness of which anon Ver. 14. But Iohn forbad him So Peter forbad Christ to wash his feet not in any surly frowardness but in an holy humility having an eye upon his own unworthiness This refusal of John being of the same nature seemeth to have had respect to three things according to the several persons there present Christ the people and himself First in regard of Christ because he needeth no baptism in that he needed neither repentance nor remission of sins Secondly in regard of the people lest they might mistake and seeing Christ baptized as well as they might judge him sinful as well as themselves Thirdly in regard of the Baptist himself who had told the people so oft and so constantly of him that came after him that he was greater then he and that his baptism was more excellent then his and how would this cross that testimony of his in the eyes and hearts of the people when they should see him as an inferiour come to be baptized of John But Fourthly and chiefly this his reluctancy proceeded from his true and right comparing of Christ and himself together the Majesty and purity of him with the baseness and sinfulness of himself and therefore he saith I have need to baptized of thee c. Not refusing the service nor crossing the will of Christ but confessing the unworthyness of himself and ponderating the inequality of the persons But it may not unfitly nor unseasonably be questioned here how the Baptist knew that this was Christ seeing that he saith himself I knew him not but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me on whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost Joh. 1. 33. Now the descending of the Holy Ghost was after he was baptized and these words I have need to be baptized of thee were spoken before To this doubt and scruple many answers are given but not so many resolutions First some take the words I knew him not c. to be spoken by John to make his testimony to be without suspition For John and Jesus being a kin by birth for their Mothers were Cousins Luke 1. 36. it might be surmised that John gave so high and large a testimony of him for kindred and affections sake therefore he protesteth that he knew him not in any such a way but only by divine revelation Thus Chrysostome and Theophylact In which answer if there be any satisfaction at all which is but little yet is it not to our whole quaere but only to the least part of it Secondly some thus that John before his baptism knew that he was the Christ but not that it was he that should baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire till he saw the Spirit descend upon him and thus Theophylact again and upon this he fixeth as on the most genuine and proper resolution which is very hard to apprehend or collect out of the words of John in his whole Sermon for this maketh him to distinguish betwixt Christ and him that should baptize with the Holy Ghost and to make them two distinct persons in his opinion whereas both his own words and no doubt the expectation of the people did take him for one and the same to be Christ. Thirdly their opinion is yeâ far more strange that think that the Baptist took not Christ for Christ when he gain-sayeth his being baptized by him but for some extraordinary holy man and continued in this opinion till the descending of the holy Ghost confimed him in the Truth that he was the Messias For it is not imaginable that John having the peculiar Commission from God to baptize all that should come unto him should himself desire to be baptized by another man And again his words I have need to be baptized by thee shew that he understood that it was he that Baptized with the Holy Ghost as will appear by and by Fourthly little less improper and equally strained is the Exposition of Augustine that John knew indeed that he was the Christ and that it was he that should baptize with the Holy Ghost but till he saw the descending of the Holy Ghost he knew not that it was only he that should baptize with the Holy Ghost or that he reserved the propriety of the power of baptizing to himself alone and did not communicate it to his Ministers And this propriety the Schools make to consist in these four particulars 1. That he reserved to himself the power of instituting baptism though he communicated the power of baptizing to others 2. That he can confer the grace or effect of Baptism without the administration of the Sacrament which the Ministers cannot 3. That he giveth efficacy to baptism by his death 4. That Baptism is administred and given in his name Which gloss as the Father strained out of the Text to retort upon the Donatists that maintained that this Sacrament administred by a wicked minister availed nothing so is it but strained and that strangely too for how can it possibly be collected that John should collect any such thing from the descending of the Holy Ghost Fifthly More plausible is their resolution that hold that John knew Christ indeed in some measure before his baptism but not so fully as after when the Holy
fidelity than barely what will keep the Translatours out of danger Thirdly Therefore they strive as much as they can to conceal the Truth and Treasure of the Scripture from the Heathen and as much as they dare to delude them Their chief means for this is to use an unpricked Bible in which the words written without vowels might be bended divers ways and into divers senses and different from the meaning of the Original and yet if the Translation were questioned they might prick or vowel the word so as to agree to their Translation How they have dealt in this kind there is none that ever laid the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint together but hath observed Fourthly Their differences from the Original which were innumerable were partly of ignorance they themselves not being able to read the Text alway true in a Copy unvowelled But this ignorance was also voluntary in them they not caring to mistake so that they might do it with their own security Their general care was that since of necessity they must Translate the Bible as little of it might be imparted and revealed by the Translation as was possible Their particular and special heed was also that those places of the Text which Translated Literally or according to the true meaning might prove dangerous any ways to the Nation of the Jews or bring them into distaste with the potent King for whom they Translated should be so tempered and qualified that no hazzard might arise nor any such matter might be seen Fifthly It was a common speech among the Jews and rang ordinarily in their Schools and Pulpits That the seventy Souls of Jacobs family that went down into Egypt were equivalent or answerabe in worth to all the seventy Nations of the World This was a dangerous doctrine for the Jews if it should come to be known as it could not choose but be especially when their puissant enemies should find the numbers agreeable of seventy Souls Gen. 46. and seventy Nations Gen. 10. To prevent any such danger the Translators thought it a sure way to spoil the just number in both places and so they did reckon seventy five Souls and seventy two Nations both which accounts are followed by Saint Luke Act. 7. and in this place Sixthly The several persons reckoned Gen. 10. Every one of which was the Father and original of a several Nation be just seventy The Translatours to spoil the sum which might prove perilous have added two more and both of the same name Cainan the one the immediate son of Sem the other his Grandchild or the son of Arphaxad For ver 22. of that Chapter they read thus The sons of Sem were Elam and Ashur and Arphaxad and Lud and Aram and Cainan and vers 24. thus Arphaxad begat Cainan and Cainan begat Sala In which additions these two things are very observable First The place where they have thrust in these two men Namely so close to Sem as could not possibly be closer unless they would have had him to have had two sons of the same name Cainan Secondly The name it self that they have thus chosen twice over namely Cainan which signifieth mourning or lamenting So Enosh called his son Gen. 5. 9. Because of the lamentable corruption of Religion in those times And it is without doubt the Translatours in the iterated choice of this word or heavy and doleful name intended to shew some inward sorrow the cause of which may be best imagined by laying the name and the place of it together The blessing of Noah upon Japhet God shall inlarge Japhet and he shall dwell in the tents of Sem Gen. 2. 27. The Jews themselves of old understood to aim at the Greek Tongue viz. that God should use that as a means for the admission of the Heathen to the secrets and mysteries of the Jews Religion This was their vexation at all times to hear or to think of the Gentiles being called as appears by Jonah Chap. 4. 1. by the Nazarites Luke 4. 28. and by them of Jerusalem Act. 22. 21 22. For Moses had plainly told them that their calling in should be the others casting off Deut. 32. 21. Therefore it could not but be a most vehement sorrow and main vexation to these Translators that they perforce and so sore against their wills must be made the instruments by translating the Bible into Greek to let Japhet or the Heathen into the tents of Sem. This sorrow as their Nation expressed by a mournful Fast so did they themselves among other things by a lamenting and sorrowing name Cainan twice over put in so close to Sem as if they called on him to mourn with them because his tents were now unlocking for the entrance of the Gentiles Seventhly God using the Septuagint as the Key for admission of the Heathen and as an Harbinger to the New Testament left it not there but therein used it also in allegations from the Old yet oftentimes differing from the letter of the same but never without special reason Eighthly Saint Luke as he followed the Doctor of the Gentiles Saint Paul so he wrote his Gospel for the Gentiles therefore whereas Matthew writing his for the Jews deriveth the Genealogy but from Abraham the first Father of the Jews This Evangelist writing for the Gentiles fetcheth the Line from Adam the common Father of all both Jews and Gentiles This is the aim and scope of this Genealogy and the reason why it is set at Christs Baptism First To shew that there was no distinction of persons in the promise given to Adam for all Nations were then equally in his loins for this the holy line runs down to him Secondly That therefore all Nations have equal interest in the Messias and that in the Preaching of the Gospel which Christ began from his Baptism there should be no difference of people made as there was before This being the intent of the Pedegrees placing here as the very placing of it doth inevitably evince it is not only warrantable but also admirably divine that Luke taketh in Cainan from the Seventy For first writing for Heathens he must follow the heathens Bible in his quotations Secondly In Genealogies he was to be a Coppier not a Corrector Thirdly and chiefly In following this insertion of the Seventy he imbraceth not their error but divinely draweth us to look at their intent When Jude mentioneth Michaels striving with Satan about the body of Moses he approveth not the story as true which he knew to be but a Talmudick Parable but from the Jews own Authors he useth this as an argument against them and for their instruction So though Luke from the Seventy the Bible of the Heathen have alledged Cainan the son of Arphaxad he alledgeth it not as the truth more than the Hebrew but from the Septuagints own authority or from the matter which they inserted in distaste of the calling of the Heathen he maketh comfortable use and instruction to the
coming nearest to creating and therefore when the power of miracles was first given the first that was wrought was transforming Exod. 4. 3. And such a one was the first that was wrought by our Saviour John 2. 9. The Devil therefore assaying Christ in a work of wonder tryeth him in one of this nature and when he cannot move him to shew his power upon another Creature in Changing the form of it in this temptation he seeketh in the next to move him to shew his power upon his own body in altering the quality of it and making it fly Now to enquire what sins they were that the Devil would have perswaded him to in this temptation in turning stones into bread whether to gluttony or distrust of providence or what else is not so material and pertinent as to consider why he tryed him first by such a manner of temptation And the satisfaction to this is facil and obvious namely 1. because he took advantage of his present hungring And 2. because he had sped so successfully to his own mind by a temptation about a matter of eating with the first Adam he practiseth that old manner of his trading with the second Ver. 4. It is written This is the first speech that proceeded from our Saviours mouth since his entrance into his Ministerial function that is upon record and though it be very short yet is it very material for observation of these things 1. That the first word spoken by Christ in his ministerial office is an assertion of the authority of Scripture 2. That he opposeth the word of God as the properest incounterer against the words of the Devil 3. That he alledgeth Scripture as a thing undeniable and uncontrolable by the Devil himself 4. That he maketh the Scripture his rule though he had the fulness of the Spirit above measure § Man shall not live by bread only but c. He doth most properly and divinely produce this place of Moses Deut. 8. 3. it being a Lesson which the Lord had read to Israel when they had fallen into and in a temptation not much unlike to this that Satan would have tript Christ in at this time Now the sense of the Text alledged is somewhat controverted some take it to mean that man hath not only a life of the body to look after which is sustained by bread but also and rather a life of the soul which is supported by the Word of God And some again by the Word of God understand the Word of Doctrine others the Word of Gods power providence and decree as meaning that mans life doth not depend upon bread only but that God can support and sustain it by other means as he shall see fit Any of which carry a most proper and a most considerable truth along with them But the most facil interpretation of these words and the most agreeable to the context in Moses with which they lye is by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God to understand Gods commandments by the observing of which a man shall live prosper and it shall go well with him for to this sense the first verse of that Chapter in Deuteronomy speaketh All the commandments that I command thee this day shall ye observe to do that ye may live c. Now our Saviour retorteth this in this sense against the Devils temptation that incited him to have turned stones into bread 1. To shew that it was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him and to finish his work as John 4. 34. And 2. that obedience of Gods commandments is more propely the way to live than by the use of the Creature Matth. 4. ver 5. Then the Devil taketh him up Here it is controverted whether this were done really and truly or only in vision and apparition And there be that assert the latter conceiving that Christ was brought no otherwise to the pinnacle of the Temple or to the high mountain than Jeremy went to Euphrates to hide his girdle Jer. 13. or Ezekiel slept on his right and left side c. Ezek. 4. or other things of this nature mentioned in Scripture which it is past all denial were done only in vision vid. Jansen in loc But that these transportings of our Saviour from place to place were really and actually done even in the body and not in vision may be strongly confirmed by these considerations 1. Otherwise they had been no temptations which the Evangelists tell plainly that they were For what had it been for Christ to have seen a thousand of such things as these in a vision and to have nothing more to do with them but only see them what temptation could this be to him 2. The next place that we hear Christ was in after the temptations were finished was beyond Jordan as shall be shewed in the next Section now it will be hard to find how he was got instantly after his temptations to the other side Jordan if he were not carryed thither in the next temptation after this that is now in hand For in the temptation before this he is in the wilderness of Judea in this temptation he is at Jerusalem on the top of the Temple and in the next on the top of an high mountain and the next tydings of him after is that he is beyond Jordan Now this taking him up was bodily and locally and really the Devil catching him up into the air and carrying him in the air to the battlements of the Temple and from thence in the next temptation to the high mountain And here may the Reader fix his meditations upon four or five material things very pertinent and profitable to consider of upon this passage As 1. the horrid impudency of the Tempter that cannot but suppose him the Son of God and yet dare assail him as the basest of men 2. The wonderful humiliation of the Redeemer that was even now proclaimed the Son of God from heaven and now is hurryed by the Devil in the face of heaven 3. The power of evil Spirits over mens bodies if they be permitted and let loose to execise their power upon them 4. The constant and continued providence shewed in our preservation that we are not hurryed away bodily by Satan every moment who is thus busie here even with our Redeemer who was the Son of God 5. That in all the Scripture there is no mention of the like story that the Devil ever thus carryed any man in the air unless he had first bodily possessed him For having first done so it is said of the poor wretch among the Gaderens That he was driven of the Devil into the Wilderness And so we have observed elsewhere that it is probable that the Devil took Judas into the air and there strangled him and threw him down to the earth and burst out his bowels for the Devil was bodily in him before but for one not possessed to be so transported
to be the proper reason why the Evangelist useth the preterimperfect tense which Beza could see no reason why he should because he speaketh of Christ which had been with John at Jordan and was but newly gone out of his sight So that the first verse of this Section according to this construction doth properly come in its order in the time between Christs baptizing and his getting into the wilderness and accordingly it might have been laid after the very first verse of the last Section and there have made this series of the Story And immediately after the baptism of Jesus the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness and when he was rapt away and but newly out of sight John bare witness and cried saying This was he of whom I spake but I was unwilling to part that story which lieth so joined and it is timely enough to give notice of the order in this place Now the next story in this Section of the discourse betwixt the messengers of the Jews and John they questioning who he was and what he meant to baptize it was just in the time while Christ was under the last temptation or as he was returning from the high mountain wheresoever it was to Jordan again for the Text telleth expresly that on the next day after this dispute Jesus appeareth at Jordan in the sight of John ver 29. and from thence forward the connexion of the stories following is so clear ver 35. 43. that it needeth no further demonstration Harmony and Explanation Ver. 15. Iohn bare witness of him and cried c. THE Evangelist from the beginning of the Chapter to this place and in it doth purposely go about to shew what declarations and demonstrations were given of Christ both before his coming in the flesh and after what before we shewed in their proper place upon the Chapter to the fourteenth vers what after is shewed in this verse and the next that follows In the fourteenth verse he tells that Christ declared himself to be the only begotten of the Father by conversing among his Disciples full of grace and truth And in this verse he sheweth how John declared and published him to all that came to be baptized and in the next verse how his Disciples received of his fulness c. Now Johns manner of testimony of him he expresseth by these two words He beareth witness and cried words of different tenses as was observed before and of some difference of sense in that diversity The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the present tense is properly to be understood 1. Of Johns whole Ministery Function and Office as vers 7. explaineth it He came for a witness not to be restrained to this or that particular vocal and verbal testimony that John gave of Christ no nor to all the vocal testimonies that he gave of Christ but to be dilated to Johns whole course and ministry that he beareth witness to Christ in that God raised up such a one to be his fore-runner And the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the praeter tense is to be applied to the particular testimony that John gave of Christ in that his ministery so that the former word referreth to Johns person and his whole function and the latter only to the manner of his executing of one particular of that function 2. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may also include Johns martyrdom for the truth by which he beareth witness unto Christ even unto this time as Abel being dead yet speaketh as Heb. 11. 4. And in this sense should I understand those words of this same Evangelist in his first Epistle Chap. 5. vers 6 8. Jesus Christ came by water and blood and the Spirit beareth witness And there are three that bear witness in earth the Spirit and the Water and Blood that is the Spirit of Prophesie Baptism and Martyrdom all three agreeing in one testimony of Christ that he is he The Prophets speaking so jointly of him Baptism bringing in so many unto him and Martyrs sealing unto him with their dearest blood The scores that have prophesied of him the thousands that have suffered death for him and the many thousands that have been baptized into him bearing witness of him on earth as the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost do in heaven §. He that cometh after me is preferred before me We do not find that John had at any time before Christs baptism given any such testimony as these words He had said indeed A mightier than I cometh after me whose shoos I am not worthy to bear and whose shoo latchet I am not worthy to unloose as the other three Evangelists agree in the relating of it but these words He is preferr'd before me for he was before me we heard not of till now Yet is it to be conceived that the Baptist speaketh to the same sense now that he did before as vers 27. sheweth his intention though he have altered his expressions For it is a very common custom of Scripture in alledging of former speeches to give the sense but not to keep exactly to the words And yet it is not without its weight that whereas Johns constant testimony of Christ before his baptism was A mightier than I cometh he should as constantly after his baptism use this He coming after me is preferr'd before me as here and vers 27. 30. Now the reason of this seemeth to be because Christ had now appeared and no mighty work had been yet shewed among the people by him no nor any thing done in their eyes or hearing which might give them occasion to conceive that he was mightier or stronger than John The appearance of the Holy Ghost and the voice from heaven they had neither seen nor heard only his catching away from Jordan at this time it is probable they saw therefore John to clear their apprehensions from any carnal misconstruction of his words explains himself that by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A mightier than I they were not so to understand as to look for any present visible demonstration of power or miraculousness from him but that they should take notice that he of whom he spake those words was before him in rank and dignity for he was before him in time and office nature and qualifications though he came after him §. Is preferr'd before me ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the Vulgar Latine hath dangerously translated Ante me factus est he was made before me and accordingly the Arians in ancient time made use of this place in this sense against the eternity of the Son Whereas the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Beza well observeth it in the New Testament doth constantly refer to place and not to time as Mar. 1. 2. Matth. 17. 2. Luke 12. 8. 19. 27 28. and divers other places and therefore our English hath well expressed it with an intimation of such a thing is preferr'd before me For ãâã ãâã ãâã
grace some another De Dieu taketh it one grace because of another the latter because of the former the first grace is the cause of the second and the second of a third and so on Some take for one grace upon another or graces multiplied Others for grace in us agreeable to the grace in Christ the like in kind though not in degree And for conclusion there is that supposeth that grace for grace meaneth only grace freely bestowed and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth only interpret the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or gratis All which interpretations are Indeed true in regard of the matter contained in them yet whether they are pregnant expositions of this place the scope of the place and the intention of the Evangelist in it may give occasion to doubt and scruple For the Evangelist is apparently hitherto and here speaking of manifold declarations that were of Christ or of the several ways and means by which he was revealed as hath been observed and therefore it is the surest way to interpret these words suitable to that scope and intention And accordingly I cannot but apprehend and render these words so as that the word grace in the first place should signifie the grace of Apostleship and grace in the latter place mean grace in the hearts of the hearers and the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or for should denote the final cause which construction being taken up in this paraphrase will more easily be understood And of his fulness all we his Disciples have received exceeding full and eminent gifts and withal we have received the grace of Apostleship for the doctrine of the free grace of God and for the propagating of grace in the hearts of others And as the scope of the Evangelist draweth the verse unto such a sense so doth the force and vertue of the language justifie it For first the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is sometime in Scripture applied to such a construction as we put upon it in the first part of the clause as Rom. 1. 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We have received grace the very word used here and Apostleship which Beza well glosseth Gratiam Apostolatum id est gratiam Apostolatus that is the grace of Apostleship Beneficium eximiae plane liberalitatis quod alibi vocat ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. And in the same sense the Apostle speaking 1 Cor. 15. 9. I am the least of the Apostles which am not worthy to be called an Apostle he addeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace on me was not in vain c. Secondly The Preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth sometimes and very properly denote the end and intention of a thing and hath regard to the final cause as 1 Cor. 11. 15. Hair is given to a woman ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it may be a covering Heb. 12. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Because of the joy that lay before him Matth. 20. 28. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A redemption in behalf of many c. And so among prophane Authors it is not seldom used in the sense of Gratia or for the sake as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cujus gratia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non nullius gratia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hujus doctrinae gratia c. And so may it very fitly be interpreted in this place we received grace because of or for the sake of grace or in behalf of grace that is that it may be advanced in the thoughts and propagated and wrought in the hearts of others Ver. 17. For the Law was given by Moses c. He had in the verses preceding treated concerning the declaration of Christ before his coming and after it both in the Law and under the Gospel And in the three last verses before he had handled this latter head viz. how he was declared in the Gospel after his coming 1. In his own person and converse vers 14. The Word became flesh and dwelt in us full of grace and truth and we saw his glory c. 2. In the Ministery of John the Baptist ver 15. John bare witness of him and cried saying c. 3. In the Ministery of the Apostles ver 16. Of his fulness we have all received c. And now he cometh to weigh the tenor of the Law and of the Gospel in both which Christ was thus declared and to compare them together and the two persons that were the chief Ministers in the exhibition of them Christ and Moses the two persons in regard of their Ministery of the doctrine of salvation and the two things in regard of their tenor clearness and exhibition of that doctrine The word For in the beginning of the verse joyneth this verse and that that went before together and it pieceth either to the whole verse to make up this sense We received the grace of Apostleship for the preaching of the Gospel as Moses did the Law or rather to the last word grace to the result of this sense we received Apostleship for the propagation and advancement of grace whereas Moses gave the Law for the advancement of works for so the opposition that is in this verse doth hold it out as may be observed §. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. These two words grace and truth stand here in Antithesis or opposition to the moral and ceremonial Law which was given by Moses For though Christ was the giver of the Law as well as of the Gospel and though the giving of the Law was a work of grace and the doctrine of the Law a work of truth yet if the tenor of the Law and the Gospel be compared together they will be found to differ mainly in these particulars though there be a grace and truth to be found in either of them First The Law indeed held out the doctrine of Salvation and taught of good things to come but it was so darkly and obscurely and in such vailed types and shadows that it was rather groped after than seen and therefore those things are called darkness at the fifth verse of this Chapter and the Jews that lived under them yea and gained salvation from the knowledge of them yet are said to be not perfect without us Heb. 11. 40. that is imperfect in the knowledge of the doctrine of Salvation till the Gospel brought us Gentiles in But the Gospel revealed Christ and the way of salvation so clearly and in so evident and plain a manner that all those types shadows predictions and representations received their equity accomplishment and fulfilling and it shewed apparently what was the substance and intention of them so that what the Law held out in figures the Gospel did in truth Secondly Although the Law were in the spirit and marrow of it a Doctrine of Faith yet in the letter and outward administration of it it was
all it will be pertinent here to take up the meaning of it once for all and to consider these two particulars concerning it 1. What our Saviour doth properly intend and mean by Amen when he useth it so oft And 2. Why John the Evangelist doth constantly use it doubled when the other three never use it so at all 1 As to the first it is to be observed and that is well enough known that the word Amen is an Hebrew word and is very commonly used in the old Testament but this withall is to be observed which it may be is not so commonly noted that it is never used in the Old Testament but by way of wishing or apprecation the sixteenth verse of Esay 65. only excepted of which anon As when it cometh single as Deut. 27 twelve times over where the LXX render it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be it done 1 Kings 1. 36. where the LXX have it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so be it Nehem. 5. 13. Jer. 28. 6. Psal. 106. 48 c. Or when it cometh double Numb 5. 22. Psal. 41. 13. 72. 19. 89. 52. which the LXX express ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be it done be it done or so be it so be it In all these places it is used by way of prayer or imprecation according as the subject matter was to which it was applyed as David Kimchi expresseth it in Micol in the root ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is spoken saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã either by way of prayer or by way of undertaking as that they take upon them a curse if they transgress But in these utterances of our Saviour the sense of it is altered from precatory to assertory or from the way of wishing to the way of affirming for what one Evangelist expresseth Amen I say unto you This poor widdow c. Mar. 12. 43. another uttereth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of a truth I say unto you c. Luke 21. 2. Mathew saith Amen I say unto you That some that stand here c. which Luke giveth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of a truth I say unto you Luke 9. 27. So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Matth. 23. 36. is rendred ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã truly Luke 11. 51. c. For indeed the word Amen doth properly betoken and signifie truth at is apparent by the construction of that verse forementioned Esay 65. 16. He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the God of truth and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the God of truth as not only our English but also R. Sol. and David Kimchi do well render it and the gloss of Kimchi upon the place is worth the citing He saith in the earth saith he because in all the world there shall be one truth and that shall be the truth of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the God of truth Now Christ is called Amen Rev. 13. 14. as being not only the faithful and true witness but even he in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. and even truth it self Therefore when he cometh to publish the Gospel which is that one truth that should be in all the world for the prophet Esay speaketh there apparently concerning the times of the Gospel he speaketh of his own as he saith the Devil doth when he speaketh a lye Joh. 8. 44. and useth a different stile from the Prophets which used to authorize their truths with Thus saith the Lord and speaketh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã upon his own Authority as the God of truth Amen I say unto you In this word therefore is included two things namely the truth spoken and the truth speaking it and the expression doth not only import the certainty of the things delivered but also recalleth to consider that he that delivers it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Amen the God of truth and truth it self And this consideration will help to give a resolution to the second scruple that was proposed and that is why John alone doth use the word doubled and none other of the Evangelists I am but little satisfied with that gloss that is given by some upon this matter namely that John doth constantly double this word because the matters spoken by him are of a more celestial and sublime strain than the matters spoken by the other Evangelists and therefore the greater attention is challenged to them by this gemination for neither can I see nor dare I think of any such superiority and inferiority in the writings of the Evangelists Nor do I suppose that Christ used this gemination himself for it is very strange that in those speeches that this Evangelist mentioneth he should do so and in the speeches that the others mention he should not do so when it may be sometimes it was the very same speech but I conceive that the Evangelist hath doubled the word that he might express the double sense which the single word in our Saviours mouth and in the other Evangelists includeth And so he addeth nothing to what Christ spake but explaineth his speech to the utmost extent He saith in the other Evangelists Amen singly but he meaneth thus doubly This is truth and I am truth that speak it Now John that he might clear this double meaning doth double the word Amen Amen the one whereof doth refer to the thing that is spoken and the other to the person that speaketh it But the question proposed is not yet resolved why John should do thus rather than any of the other but the same answer that resolveth why John should relate so many things that none of the other three do ever mention will resolve this namely that it was Gods will and disposal that there should be four that should write the Gospel and that some writing one thing and some another some after one manner some another the Story should be divinely made up to its full perfection Now John wrote last and he had warrant and opportunity to relate what the others had omitted And as for the particular in hand he saw that the other had only produced this word single as Christ indeed had continually uttered it and that they had some of them expounded it in a place or two ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to shew that it was to be taken in these speeches in a meaning different from that precatory strain in which it was constantly used in the Old Testament but yet that there was something more included in the word and therefore he is warranted by the holy Ghost to explain it to the full in two words Amen Amen And thus the counsels of the Lord of old uttered and revealed by the Prophets do in the preaching of the Gospel by our Saviour prove ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Truth truth Esay 25. 1. § Hereafâer ye shall see Heaven opened Observe the manner of our Saviours answer the text saith he saith to him but his words are
19. 48. 22. Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Iacob gave to his son Ioseph 6. Now Iacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his journy sate f f f f f f Sate thus that is in a weary posture or after the manner as tired men use to sit down De Dieu taketh it only for an elegancy in the Greek which might well be omitted and accordingly the Syriack hath omitted it and not owned it at all But see it Emphatical in other places also 1 Sam. 9. 13. Samuel is come this day to the City for the people have a sacrifice in the high place and when you are come into the City ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã you shall So find him that is newly come to Town and going to a sacrifice 1 King 2. 7. Shew kindness to the sons of Barzilla c. for So they came to me that is they came kindly to me Act. 7. 8. he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac that is he begat him in circumcision c. thus on the well And it was about the sixth hour 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesus saith unto her Give me to drink 8. For his Disciples were gone away into the City to buy meat 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that thou being a Iew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria For the Iews have no dealing with the Samaritans 10. Iesus answered and said unto her If thou knowest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water 11. The woman saith unto him Sir thou hast nothing g g g g g g ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Camerarius out of Plautus Latins this Situlam Beza out of Austin Hauritorium ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Hebrew Esa. 40. 15. Numb 24. 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Kimchi in Michol A vessel where withal they drew water the Septuagint in the former place cited renders it Cadus and in the latter they translate the metaphorical sense It seems they brought their buckets with them to draw with as well as their vessels to carry water in unless they made the same vessel serve for both uses by letting it down to draw with a cord to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that h h h h h h Springing or running water was called by the Hebrew living water Gen. 26. 19. Isaacs servants digged in the valley and found there a well of living water The Chaldee renders it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã springing water for the bubbling of the spring is like the lively beating of the heart or pulse And hence it was that this woman did so readily mistake our Saviours meaning He spake of the lively waters of grace that spring up in him that hath them to eternal life but she interpreted him according to the propriety of the language as if he had spoken only of waters out of a spring And so had Nicodemus misinterpreted another expression in the former Chapter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or living waters were taken in opposition to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a gathering of waters as Rambam evidenceth saying thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Any waters saith he are fit for the purifying of the Priests hands and feet whether living springing or running waters or waters gathered together In biath hammikdasâ per. 5. By waters gathered together he meaneth ponds or cisterns gathered of rain water or any waters that did not spring or run The Latinists also used the like expression to the Hebr. for springing or running water as in the Poet Donec me flumine vivo Abluero Virg. Aeneid 2. living water 12. Art thou greater than our Father Iacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattel 13. Iesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15. The woman saith unto him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw 16. Iesus saith unto her Go call thy husband and come hither 17. The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesus said unto her Thou hast well said I have no husband 18. For thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thine husband in that saidst thou truly 19. The woman saith unto him Sir I perceive that thou art a Prophet 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship 21. Iesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Ierusalem worship the Father 22. Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth 25. The woman saith unto him I know that Messias cometh * * * * * * These are the words of the Evangelist interpreting the word Messias to the reader and not the words of the woman interpreting it to Christ the Syriack translater hath omitted these words as not necessary to a Syrian reader which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things 26. Iesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he 27. And upon this came his Disciples and marvailed that he talked with i i i i i i ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The various construction of the word either with the strength of the article or without hath caused various causes to be conceived of the Disciples wondring at his talking with her Some read it without the force of the Article thus they marvailed that he talked with a woman as unfit say some and uncapable of his serious and divine discourse but others ascribe their wonder to this that he was thus entred into discourse with a strange woman alone and no company near And they that so understand it are confirmed by this because they think it was no more to be wondred at that he should talk with a Samaritan woman than it was that they should go into a Samaritan City to buy provision for why might not he as well talk with a woman as they with the men or women of whom they bought meat if her being a Samaritan were all the matter But the case was not the same for the Jews might buy meat of them and sell meat to them with whom they might
the time is now come that he that will be taken for a true worshipper must neither worship as the Jews do ceremoneously but in spirit nor as the Samaritans do erroneously but in truth Thus may we very well divide the two words Spirit and truth to serve these two purposes as thus to answer about the worship of either Nation the one whereof worshipped God altogether in external Rites and Ceremonies and the other worshipped they knew not what and they knew not how But generally the word Spirit and truth are taken by Expositors to signifie but one and the same thing and stand in opposition only to the carnal Rites and shadowy types in which their whole Worship in a manner did consist His using of the term Father for God is not so much in reference to the other persons in the Trinity or because the woman was acquainted with that mystery but because the Jews and it is like the Samaritans also used the word very commonly in their prayers and speeches as Our Father which art in Heaven do to us as thou hast promised by the Prophet And Let the prayers and requests of all the House of Israel be accepted before their Father which is in Heaven c. Maym. in Tephilloth Vers. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him c. Here ariseth a question upon the very first reading of the verse the words Spirit and truth being interpreted as is mentioned immediately before and that is why did God so punctually ordain and so long continue a Typical and Ceremonious Worship if those that worship him must worship in spirit and truth Answer That very worship was for this end and purpose that men should learn to worship God in spirit and truth For all these rites and types were but doctrines of the way of Salvation through Christ till Christ came and the very use of them was to this end that out of them men should spel this spiritual and true worship namely to worship God in Christ and to look after his benefits for their salvation which those rites doctrinally held unto them and which lesson the true worshippers or believers did attain unto Vers. 25. I know that Messiah cometh c. he will teach us all things The Samaritans had learned from the Jews to expect Messias and how the Jews expected this to be the time of his coming we have shewed before and it may be the woman speaketh this as meaning that she looked for Messias to come shortly which occasioned Christs answer I am he as taking at her words in that sense Thou sayest Messias will come shortly and resolve all things I tell thee Messias is come already and I am he Now her referring the resolution of this doubt to Messias his coming it sheweth she did not throughly digest and entertain Christs answer to her question although she took upon her to acknowledge him for a Prophet She had no mind the thing should be so as he had resolved and therefore she had no mind to believe it How Christ was expected as the great teacher we shall observe afterward Vers. 29. A man which hath told me all things that ever I did The Disciples having now bought all things that they would have for dinner for it was now dinner time return to the well to their Master and upon their return Christs discourse and the womans is broken off and she slips a way into the City and bids come see a man that hath told me all things that ever I did But Christ did not so for he told her only of one particular or two about her husbands but besides that the word All in Scripture is not always stretched to the utmost extent of its signification he had told her so much that she concludes that he that could tell her that could have told her also all things else such expressions as these in earnest and pathetical narrations are not strange Vers. 35. Say ye not there are yet four months c. The coherence and connexion of this verse with those before which is the first thing to be looked after in it lyeth thus The Disciples had been in the City and bought some meat and when they had set it ready they invite him to dine He answers No he hath other meat to feed upon than they are aware of and that was to do the will of him that sent him and to finish his work And what work was that Why the very work that he had been just now about preaching the Gospel and converting a soul and which work he knew was increasing upon him by the coming of the Samaritans to hear him whom either he now saw coming in flocks towards him or knew they would come In these words therefore he answers his Disciples to this purpose You would have me to eat but I have somewhat else to do which is meat to me which is to finish my Fathers work in preaching the Gospel for look you yonder whereas ye say it is four months to harvest see what a Gospel harvest is coming yonder what a multitude of people is yonder coming to hear me ready for the harvest therefore it is not a time to talk of eating of meat that perisheth but to fall to this harvest work which is my meat in doing the will of him that sent me The harvest of the Jews began at the Passover for on the second day of the Passover the Law injoyned them to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of their harvest and wave it before the Lord and from that day they counted seven weeks to Pentecost See Levit. 23. 10. 15. Four months therefore before the Passover which was the fourteenth day of the first month falls to be towards the latter end of our November or thereabout as is easily cast by any This therefore helps to set the clock of the time reasonable well both for the reckoning of what times are past and for the better fixing of the next Passover that is to come As 1. It shews about what time Johns imprisonment befel and how long he preached namely from Passover was twelvemonth to this November a year and a half and a month and some days above for it is like that Christ stayed not long in Judea after Johns imprisoning 2. It shews that Christ had spent some eight months in Judea from the Passover hitherto and had in this time converted abundance of people to his doctrine 3. It will help to clear that the feast of the Jews spoken of in the next Chapter is the next Passover that was to come as we shall observe when we come there In the former part of the words Say ye not There are four months and then cometh harvest He speaketh literally of their harvest of corn but in the latter the fields are already white to harvest he speaketh parabolically or spiritually of the multitudes of people both among Jews and Gentiles that were ready to be reaped and gathered
saith to him That is not lawful For as the Law was given in fear and terror so must it be used with fear and terror The same man went into a Synagogue and saw the Angelus Ecclesiae reading and setting no man by him no Interpreter as Alphesi expounds it He saith to him That is unlawful for it was given by the hand of a Mediator so is it to be used by the hand of a Mediator He also went into a Synagogue and saw a Scribe reading his interpreting out of a Book He saith to him That is unlawful for what by word of mouth by word of mouth and what out of the book out of the book The Reader of the Haphtaroth or portion out of the Prophets was ordinarily one of the number of those that had read the Law he was called out to read by the Minister of the Congregation he went up into the desk had the Book of the Prophet given him began with Prayer and had an Interpreter even as it was with them that read the Law And under these Synagogue rulers are we to understand Christs reading in the Synagoue at this time namely as a member of the Synagogue called out by the Minister reading according to the accustomed order the portion in the Prophet when the Law was read and it is like he had read some part of the Law before and having an Interpreter by him to render into Syriack the Text he read he then begins in Syriack to preach upon it Now if it be questioned Under what notion may the Minister of the Congregation be thought to call him out to read It may be answered 1. It is possible he had done so many a time before while Christ lived amongst them as a private man for though none but men learned and in orders might Preach and Teach in their Synagogues yet might even boys and servants if need were read there if so be they were found able to read well And Christ though his education was but mean according to the condition of his parents John 7. 15. yet it is almost past peradventure that he was brought up so as to read as generally all the children of the Nation were 2. Christ in other parts of Galilee had shewed his wisdom and his works and his fame was spread abroad and no doubt was got to Nazareth where he was best known and this would readily get him such a publick tryal in the Synagogue if he had never been upon that imployment before to see what evidences he would give of what was so much reported of him Vers. 17. And there was delivered to him the Book of Esaias It is a tradition and so it was their practice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That they read not in the Synagogues in the five books of Moses bound together but every book of the five single by it self And so also may it be conceived they did by the Prophets that the three great Prophets Esay Jeremy Ezekiel were every one single and the twelve small Prophets bound together And we may conclude upon this the rather because they had also this Tradition and practice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That the Maphtir or he that read in the Prophets might skip from passage to passage that is from one text to another for illustration of the matter he read upon but he might not skip from Prophet to Prophet but only in the twelve small Prophets The delivering of the Book unto him by the Minister to whom he also delivers it again when he hath read vers 20. doth confirm what was said before that Christ stood up to read as a member of the Synagogue and in the ordinary way of reading used there for so it was the custom of the Minister to give the book to those that did so read But if Christ had gone about to read beside or contrary to the common custom of the place it can little be thought that the Minister would so far have complied with him as to give him the Book that he might read irregularly or beside the custom To which may also be added that if our Saviour intended only to rehearse this passage of Esay that he might take it for his text to ground his discourse upon he could have done that by heart and had not needed the Book but it sheweth that he was the Reader of the second Lesson or of the Prophets this day in the ordinary way as it is used to be read by some or other of that Synagogue every Sabbath § He found the place where it was written c. Not by chance but intentionally turned to it Now whether this place that he fixed on were the proper lesson for the day may require some dispute They that shall peruse the Haphtaroth or Lessons in the Prophets which were precisely appointed for every Sabbath to be read will find some cause to doubt whether this portion of the Prophet that our Saviour read were by appointment to be read in the Synagogue at all But not to insist upon this scrutiny in the reading of the Prophets they were not so very punctual as they were in the reading of the Law R. Alphes ubi supr but they might both read less than was appointed and they might skip and read other where than was appointed And so whether our Saviour began in some other portion of the Prophet and thence passed hither to illustrate what he read there though the Evangelist hath only mentioned this place as most punctual and pertinent to Christs discourse or whether he fixed only upon this place and read no more than what Luke hath mentioned it is not much material to controvert his reading was so as gave not offence to the Synagogue and it is like it was so as was not unusual in the Synagogue He that read in the Prophets was to read at the least one and twenty verses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But if he finished the sense in less he needed not to read so many Megill Maym. ubi ante Vers. 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me The Jews in the interpretation of this Scripture do generally apply the sense and truth of it to the Prophet himself as the Eunuch was ready to apply another place in this same Prophet Acts 8. 34. So the Chaldee renders it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Prophet saith The spirit of Prophecy from before the Lord is upon me And David Kimchi These are the words of the Prophet concerning himself In which application they did not much amiss to bring the meaning of the words to Esay himself if they did not confine and limit the truth of them there For the words do very well speak the function of the Prophet his calling and Ministery being to those very ends and purposes that are named here but to restrain it to him only is to lose the full and vigorous sense of it which the words hold out and which the Prophet could not reach unto to have
them of the most difficulty as far as Grammatical construction and truth of history will warrant and justifie Reuben thou art my first born my might and the beginning of my strength There is a remnant of dignity for thee and a remnant of strength For so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth many times in the Bible and so was Reuben dignified in leading the Van in the wars of Canaan Josh. 4. 12. And so had he a residue of strength in being frontier against the Hagarens 1 Chron. 5. 10. Vers. 4. Unstable as water in affecting the Priesthood Numb 16. 1 2. and in refusing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ne relinquas of the Land of promise Numb 32. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Leave no remnant of thine instability c. Vers. 5. Simeon and Levi brethren their traffickings are instruments of cruelty for their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Venditionis Ipsorum pretence of trading with Shechem they made an instrument to execute their bloodiness Vers. 6. For in their anger they slew a man as for their will they would hough an ox For they used Circumcision as a means to master and murder me as if they should have cut the sinews of an Ox to bring him under to their will Vers. 13. Zebulon shall dwell at the haven of the Seas the Sea of Galilee or the lake of Genezaret East and the Sea of Phaenicia or the Mediterranian North-West Vers. 14. Issachar is an Asse of bone couching down between two burdens of the Kingdom of Phaenicia on the one side and the Kingdom of Samaria on the other Vers. 22. Joseph is a son of fruitfulness his fruitfulness in sons shall be by the well In daughters it goeth even to the Enemy This Interpretation of that part of Josephs blessing be referred to the censure of the learned Reader as conjectured at rather than boldly averred and that upon these considerations First That there is a plain Antithesis betwixt Ben and Bavoth and therefore is to be construed accordingly of sons and daughters Secondly That the word Ben is by his place in regimine but by his vowel not so is Porah by his last letter in regimine but not by this place and therefore both of them to be rendered something answerable to this their double condition Ben-Porath Joseph is a son of fruitfulness here they have the due of their place and Porath Ben fruitfulness of sons here they have the due of their vowels and letters Thirdly That Porath also is to be understood in the latter clause Porath Bavoth fruitfulness in daughters Fourthly That Shur signifieth natively in Hebrew an Enemy Psal. 92. 12. and it is but from the Chaldee idioms that it betokeneth a wall Josephs fruitfulness in sons then did chiefly shew it self by the well of Shechem where Joshua of Joseph aslembleth all the Tribes as Prince over them and there also Jeroboam of Joseph raiseth up that house to a Kingdom From these words of Jacob the inhabitants of Sychar had their warrant to maintain that their well was Jocobs well and that his sons and cattel drank of it For it might not have been digged of a thousand years after Jacob was dead and gone for ought any Samaritane alive could tell if he fetched not his authority from these words of Jacob who having given that portion of ground to Joseph Gen. 48. 22. doth here intimate that there was a well in it and besides that well in his house should rise to honour His fruitfulness by daughters you may see in Judg. 21. where the daughters of Jabesh Gilead and of Shiloh both of Joseph make up the breach of an hostile Tribe the Tribe of Benjamin or else it had decayed AN Handful of Gleanings OUT OF THE BOOK OF EXODUS SECTION I. Israel afflicted in Egypt about 120 years FROM the giving of the promise to Abraham Gen. 12. to the deliverance out of Egypt and the giving of the Law were 430 years Exod. 12. 40. Gal. 1. 17. This sum of years divided it self into two equal parts for half of it was spent before their going into Egypt and half of it in there being there Two hundred and fifteen years were taken up before they went into Egypt thus From the promise given to Abraham to the birth of Isaac five and twenty years compare Gen. 12. 4. with Gen. 21. 5. From the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob threescore Gen. 25. 26. from thence to their going down into Egypt a hundred and thirty Gen. 27. 9. The other two hundred and fifteen years they spent in Egypt namely ninety four before the death of Levi the longest liver of all the twelve Tribes and a hundred and twenty one betwixt his death and their deliverance For Levi and Joseph were both born in the seven years of Jacobs second apprentiship Gen. 29. 30. Levi in the fourth and Joseph in the seventh so that there were three years between them Now Joseph when his Father and brethren came down into Egypt was nine and thirty years old Compare Gen. 41. 46. 51. 45. 6. And then was Levi forty three And Levi lived an hundred thirty and seven years Exod. 6. 16. out of which those forty three being deducted which he had spent before their coming down into Egypt it appeareth they were in Egypt ninety four years before his death And those ninety four being deducted out of the two hundred and fifteen which they spent in that land it appeareth also that a hundred twenty one years passed betwixt his death and their delivery and till his death they felt no affliction Exod. 1. 6 7 8. SECTION II. The 88 89 Psalms penned in the time of this affliction THESE two Psalms are the oldest pieces of writing that the World hath to shew for they were penned many years before the birth of Moses by two men that felt and groaned under this bondage and affliction of Egypt Heman and Ethan two Sons of Zerah 1 Chron. 2. 6. In Psalm 88. Heman deploreth the distress and misery of Israel in Egypt in most passionate measures and therefore titles his Elegy Gnal Mahalath Leannoth concerning sickness by affliction and accordingly he and his brethren are called the Sons of Mahol 1 King 4. 31. In Psal. 89. Ethan from the promise Gen. 15. sings joyfully their deliverance that the raging of the Red Sea should be ruled vers 9. and Rahab or Egypt should be broken in pieces vers 10. and that the people should hear the joyful sound of the Law vers 15. Object But David is named frequently in the Psalm who was not born of many hundreds of years after Ethan was dead Answ. 1. This might be done Prophetically as Samuel is thought to be named by Moses Psal. 99. 6. for that Psalm according to a rule of the Hebrews is held to have been made by him 2. It will be found in Scripture that when some holy men indued with the Spirit of God have left pieces
matter if we can be sure it was not in the forty years in the Wilderness And that appears to be so by the very scope of Stevens speech for 1. he telleth that they made a golden calf in the verse before and that God for this Idolatry gave them up to worship all the host of heaven whereupon it is evident that this Idolatry with the calf was neither of these mentioned in this verse neither with Moloch nor Remphan but as it were a cause of these for for it the Lord gave them up to these 2. He seemeth to handle this justice of God upon them in giving them up to Idolatry under these two heads 1. In neglect of Gods own service in the Wilderness ye offered me no sacrifice for forty years And 2. in their choosing of Idols to worship afterward So that the two verses seem to run in this sense O house of Israel ye were not content to offer me sacrifices for forty years together in the wilderness but ye were well content to sacrifice to Idols and to worship all the host of heaven afterward III. The Tabernacle of Moloch In the Hebrew in Amos it is Siccuth Malkekem which is rendred by some Siccuth your King by others the Tabernacle of your King by a third sort the observance of your King as if it were derived from the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Deut. 27. 9. Vid. Ab. Ezr. in loc Kimchi in Michlol The Seventie in the unprickt Bible read it Succoth a Tabernacle which Steven followeth and they both do not cross but illustrate the sense of the Hebrew Now Molech or Moloch was the Idol of the children of Ammon 1 King 11. 17. prohibited to Israel in a singular manner Lev. 18. 21. and 20. 2. yet did they worship him most familiarly 2 Chron. 28. 3. Jer. 7. 31. And Solomon built an high place for him on mount Olivet before Jerusalem 1 King 11. 7. The Valley between was called Tophe and the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom 2 King 23. 10 c. This Idol and Idolatry is thus described by the Rabbins Our Rabbins of happy memory say Although all houses of Idolatry were in Jerusalem Molech was without Jerusalem and the Image was made hollow set within seven Chappels Now whosoever offered flower they opened to him the first of them who so offered Turtles or Pigeons they opened to him the second whosoever offered a Lamb they opened to him the third whosoever offered a Ram they opened to him the fourth whosoever offered a Calf they opened to him the fifth whosoever offered an Ox they opened to him the sixth but whosoever offered his Son they opened to him the seventh Now his face was like a Calf and his hands were stretched out as a mans that reacheth out to receive something from his neighbour And they set him over a fire and the Priests took the child and put him between the arms of the Idol and there the child gave up the Ghost D. Kimch on 2 King 23. 10. He was made of brass and was heat with fire under till he was glowing hot and then the Priests put the child into his arms and there he was burnt and the Priests made a noyse in the mean while with Drums that the Father might not hear the childs cry And therefore it was called Tophet from Toph a Drum or Taber Vid. R. Sol. on Jer. 7. 31. These seven Chappels if there be truth in the thing help us to understand what is meant by Molechs Tabernacle and seem to give some reason why in the Prophet he is called Siccuth or the Covert God because he was retired within so many Cancelli for that word Kimchi useth before one could come at him And so the translation of the Seventy is but a gloss or exposition of that phrase in the Prophet ye took up Siccuth or the Covert God your King which they render according as the Nation readily understood the thing the Tabernacle of Moloch that Idol you so highly prize as your chiefest King Now Molech or Moloch or Milchom or Malcham for all these names are but one and the same was also called Baal in a special and distinctive sense as is apparent by Jer. 7. 31. and 19. 5. compared together and this consideration helpeth to understand divers places where the word Baal is singly used as 1 King 16. 31 32. and 18. 19 c. And according to this sense should I understand the matter of Baal-peor in which Israel was joyned to him to have been sacrificing their children to Molech And answerably should I interpret that speech of the Psalmist They ate the sacrifices of the dead Psal. 106. 28. that is sacrifices offered up when they offered up their children to be burnt And this was the first time they committed this horrid Idolatry in the very close of the forty years in the Wilderness in which forty years they had not cared to offer any sacrifices to God And this abomination with Molech they committed also presently after they were come into the Land Psal. 106. 35 36 37. Judg. 2. 13. IV. And the Star of your God Remphan Here is the main difficulty of this Verse and that not only in regard of the difference of these words of Stephen from those of Amos but also in regard of the obscurity of the matter it self Amos readeth thus Chijun your Images the Star of your God Now the question in the first place is what is meant by Chijun and it may be scrupled whethere it be the proper name of an Idol as some think or a word appellative to another sense I should rather take it the latter way although I know generally it is construed for an Idols name either for Hercules who among the Egyptians was called Chon or for Saturn who among the Arabians was called Chevan as see Aben Ezra on Amos and Beza on this place For there are two things in this passage of Stephen and Amos very considerable toward the understanding of this place 1. That Stephen saith God gave them up to worship all the host of heaven now if Chijun betoken but one Idol or one Planet this cometh very short of the intent that he aimeth at their worshipping of all 2. That Amos saith Chijun Tsalmekem the latter word in the plural number and as it seemeth by the very posture of it the latter of two Substantives and not in apposition For if Chijun were but one Idol it is somewhat improper to say Chijun your images as speaking of more I should therefore construe Chijun appellatively for the ordering or disposing of their Images as that it meaneth thus that they had their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or representations as Stephen calls them of the whole heaven and host of it in one Series or in one body as see Ezek. 8. 10. beset with variety of Stars and Figures representing this or that Planet and this or that constellation And that Amos meaneth thus you took up Siccuth
Apostle or Antioh a chief Church above others more than by humane preferring or Antioch yet a Church and were all these proved which never will be yet is the inference or argumentation thereupon but of small value and validity 6. His last Argument is from Authorities which at last he gathereth into the Center of a Councel at Rome pag. 332. But Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica veritas As for his answers to Eusebius that calleth Evodius the first Bishop of Antioch his answer to Ignatius that saith he was placed there by the Apostels more than one and to Onuphrius that maketh Peter Bishop of Rome before he was Bishop of Antioch be they referred to the perusal of his own Text for the matter is not worth the labour of examining them Vers. 32. Lydda This seemeth to be the same with Lod 1 Chron. 8. 12. A City in the Tribe of Benjamin mentioned Ezra 2. 33. Vers. 35. Saron Heb. Sharon A fertile valley famous in Scriptures as 1 Chron. 27. 29. Esa. 33. 9. Cant. 2. 1 c. where the Targum renders it the garden of Eden and the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a field or plain the masculine Article sheweth it is not named of a City And so do the LXX article it Esa. 33. 9. There is mention of a Sharon beyond Jordan 1 Chron. 5. 16. inhabited about by Gileadites by which it seemeth it was a common name for plain champion grounds wheresoever Vers. 36. Tabitha which by interpretation is called Dorcas Tabitha the Syriack and Dorcas the Greek do both signifie a Hind or Doe Capream as Beza renders it Now the reason why Luke doth thus render the one into the other seemeth to be because Tabitha was a Grecizing Jewesse and so was commonly called by these two names by the Syrian among the Hebrews and by the Greek among the Greeks Vers. 37. Whom when they had washed Whether it were a common custom among the Jews to wash all their dead bodies before they buried them as is concluded by many upon this place we will not insist to question nor whether it were in token of the resurrection or no as some apply it only the other application that they make hereupon I cannot pass over untouchââ which is that Paul spake in reference to this custom and to that intention is this custom when he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. 1 Cor. 15. 29. Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead c. as our English reads it as if the Apostle produced this custom as an argument for the resurrection as meaning to what purpose should dead bodies be washed if not to betoken this thus he is conceived to argue whereas by the juncture of the thirtieth verse to this it seemeth that he intended a clean contrary or different thing by being baptized ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã namely being baptized so as baptism signifieth death by matyrdom or suffering for the truth as Matth. 20. 22 23. Luke 12. 50. And his arguing is to this sense if the dead rise not again what will become of those that are baptized with a martyrial baptism or that do suffer death for the profession of the truth why are they then baptized for the dead yea and why stand we in jeopardy every hour of such a baptism and matyrdom also Why do they suffer and why are we daily in danger to suffer for the truth if there be no resurrection And so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to signifie not vice or supra but pro that is in such a sense and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to mean In such a sense as baptized meaneth dead or martyred As ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is taken in this clause ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Fabius delivered the power or Army to Minucius under this intent and meaning or condition that he should not fight Plut. in Fab. § They laid her in an upper chamber This probably was the publick meeting room for the believers of that Town Dorcas being a woman of some good rank as may be conjectured by her plenteousness of good works and alms-deeds Now they purposely disposing of the dead corps that Peter if he would come might exercise a miracle upon it they lay it in that publick room that the company might be spectators of the wonder but Peter would not suffer them so to be for some singular reason vers 40. Acts X. § Some things remarkable about the calling in of Cornelius First the Gospel had now dilated it self to the very utmost bounds of the Jews territories in Canaan Judaea Samaria and Galilee had been preached to and through and now is it got to the very walls of their dominions round about And there wanteth nothing but laying the partition wall flat that the Gospel may get out unto the Gentiles and that is done in this Chapter where the great partition and distance that was betwixt Jew and Gentile is utterly removed and taken away by God himself who had first pitched and set it betwixt them Secondly the two first and mainest stones of interposition that were laid in this wall were circumcision and diet the one in the time of Abraham Gen. 17. the other in the time of Jacob Gen. 32. 32. And in reference to these two it is that they of the Circumcision contend with Peter upon his return to Jerusalem for they are grieved that he went in to men uncircumcised and ate with them Chap. 11. 3. These were the proper distinguishers betwixt Israel and other Nations for all their other Ceremonies were not so much to distinguish them from other people as to compose them among themselves and towards God they being first distinguished from others by these Of these two singularity of Dyet or Prohibition of certain meats was the more proper difference and the more strict distinctive For all the seed of Abraham was circumcised and so in regard of that Ceremony there was no difference betwixt an Ismaelite and a Jew But abstaining from such and such meats was a proprium quarto modo a singularity that differenced an Israelite from all the world besides Thirdly therefore it was most proper and of most divine reason that the liberty of eating any meats did denote and shew a liberty of conversing with any nation and that the inlarging of the one is the inlarging of the other Fourthly the first-fruits of this inlargement and entertainment beyond the partition wall is Cornelius a Convert but not a Proselyte a man that was already come in to God but not come in to the Church of Israel a man as far contrarily qualified for such a business in all humane appearance as what could be most contrary as being a Roman a Souldier a Centurion and yet he of all men chosen to be the first-fruits of the Gentiles that God herein might be the more plainly shewed to be no respecter of persons Fifthly it had been now 2210 years since the Heathen were cast
is thy brother again But the beating with the Rebels stripes very ordinarily cost the life This then was the sure guard of the Temple that kept it from defilement and pollution the dreadful penalties that were sure to light upon those that were discovered to be unclean and to know so much and yet to have dared to enter there Nay he that knew not of his uncleanness if he came in there was not so entirely excused by this his ignorance but that whensoever he came to know in what case he was he was bound to bring an Offering for this his sin and so was he to do in the other cases whose witting and wilful committing them deserved cutting off if he did any of them unwillingly and not knowing Did he eat fat or blood and not know what he eat or come into the Sanctuary in uncleanness and not know that he was unclean or commit any of the other transgressions mentioned and not know that he transgressed there was an Offering appointed to atone for him which he was to bring as soon as he came to know that he had misdone but he that knowingly and wilfully would run into those faults there was no Sacrifice to atone for him but he fell under the indignation of God and liableness to divine vengeance and humane penalty and expectation when it would seize upon him And to this the Apostle writing to the Hebrews who were very well acquainted with these things seemeth to allude in those words Heb. 10. 11. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there is no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation c. Heb. 10. 26 27. CHAP. II. Of the several ranks of Priests and several Officers of the Temple THE distinction of the Priests that attended the Temple Service was into these several ranks and degrees 1. The High-Priest of whom there is so known and common mention in the Scripture 2. a a a Vide Maym. in kâlâ hammik dash per. 4. The Sagan or second Priest as Jer. 52. 24. where the Chaldee Paraphrast useth the word Sagan and which word in this sense is most ordinary in all Jewish Writers betokening the Vice-high-priest or one next substitute to him 3. There were two Katholici ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which were substitutes to the Sagan as the Sagan was to the High-priest 4. There were seven Amarcalin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word is used by the Chaldee Paraphrasts exceeding often 5. There b b b Talm. in Shekalim per. 5. were three Gizbarin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Treasurers these were in a manner under the Amarcalin 6. The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã chief Priest of every course that served interchangeably its week 7. The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã chief of any family that served in that course 8. And lastly there was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã An ordinary Priest or one that was of none of these ranks but an inferiour Now these degrees were one above another as they are named the High-priest above the Sagan the Sagan above the Katholici the Katholici above the Amarcalin the Amarcalin above the Gizbarin the Gizbarin above the chief of any course and the chief of the course above the Head of any Family These several ranks of the five first especially were as a constant and standing Council for the continual regulating and ordering of the Affairs of the Temple Service and attendance there These are those that are called the Beth din shel cohanim The Consessus or Consistory of Priests spoken of by the Talmud in the Treatise Ketubboth in these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c c c Ketubboth per. 1. It is all one whether she be the Widow of an Israelite or the Widow of a Priest her contractive dower is a Maneh The Consistory of Priests demanded 400 Zuzims for a Virgin and the Wise Men did not contradict them which may be confirmed by hat passage of Maimonides d d d Maym. in ââchosere Capaâah per. 1. who relating how Women after Fluxes and Childbearing brought Money to buy Turtles and Pigeons and put it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã into the Treasury ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. saith that the Consistory of Priests departed not thence till they had taken out all the money and offered Turtles and Pigeons answerable to it And these also we may well understand to be the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã e e e Ioma per. 1 Elders of the Priesthood to whom the High-priest was delivered by the Sanhedrin that they might prepare him for the service of the day of Expiation and these were the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Counsellers of the Temple of which we have had occasion to speak elsewhere Besides these there were f f f Vid. Shekalim per. 6. Maymon in Kele Mikdash per. 7 fifteen Overseers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Presidents over fifteen several companies in so many several employments 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer concerning the times He or one of his Deputies when it was now time to begin the service cried aloud O ye Priests to your service O ye Levites to your Desks to sing and O ye Israelites to your station and all of them upon his Proclamation went to their several duties 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer for shutting of the doors by whose appointment they were opened and shut and by whose appointment the Trumpets founded when they were opened He was some one appointed by the Amarcalin for this care for they seven had the keeping and disposing of the keys of the seven Court gates 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer of the Guards This was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã g g g Mid. per. 1 The man of the mountain of the House He went about among the Levites guards every night walking as it were the round and if he found any one asleep he cudgelled him and set fire on his Coat 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer of the Singers He appointed who should be every days Songs-men and blowers of the Trumpets 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer of the Cymbal Musick As the other appointed the Voices Trumpets and strung Instruments so did this take care for the Musick by the Cymbal which was of another kind as shall be shewed ere long 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer of the lots Who by lots every morning designed the Priests their several services at the Altar 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Overseer about birds He provided Turtles and Pigeons ready that those that needed them might have them for their money and he gave account of the money to the Treasurers 8. The Overseer of the Seals ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã These Seals were such kind of things as the Tickets or Stamps that Ministers have used to give to those they admitted to the Sacrament h h h Shekalim
Altar and thence took some burning coals and came down These two must go into the Temple now as they go there was a great vessel or instrument or what shall I call it they call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Migrephah which being rung or struck upon made an exceeding great sound and so great that they set it out by this hyperbole ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã One man could not hear another in Jerusalem when the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Migrephah sounded It was as a Bell that they rung to give notice of what was now in hand And the ringing of it as saith the Treatise Tamid served for these three purposes * * * Tam. per. 5. 1. Any Priest that heard the sound of it knew that his brethren were now ready to go in and worship and he made haste and came 2. Any Levite that heard it knew that his brethren the Levites were going in to sing and he made haste and came And 3. the head or chief of the Station hearing the sound of it brought up those that had been unclean and had not yet their atonement made into the gate of Nicanor to have them there atoned for The two men then that are going into the Temple to burn Incense ring upon this Migrephah as they go by it for it lay between the Altar and the porch to give notice to all who were to attend that now the service was in beginning and to chime them in As they go up the steps they two that had been in before to cleanse the Incense Altar and to dress the Lamps go up before them He that had cleansed the Altar goeth in and taketh up his dish Teni and worshippeth and cometh out He that had dressed the five Lamps before dresseth now the other two and taketh up his dish Coz and worshippeth and cometh out He that went in with the Censer of coals after a little office done towards the disposing of the Incense leaves the other there and he also comes out Now he that is left there alone for the burning of the Incense he offers not to kindle it till the president from without with a loud voice give him notice when he shall begin yea though it were the High priest himself that offereth the Incense yet he begins not to do it till the President have called to him Sir offer and assoon as he hath given the signal to the Incense offerer that he shall begin and offer all the company in the Court withdraws downward from the Temple and fall to other of their Prayers SECT VI. The rest of their Prayers BEsides the Prayers and Rehearsal of the Decalogue and of their Phylacteries mentioned before they had three or four Prayers more which they used at the morning Service and they were these * * * Tam. ubi supr The first they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Emeth and Jatsib because it began with those two words and it referred to their Phylacteries and it was of this form Truth and stability and firm and sure and upright and faithful and beloved and lovely and delightful and fair and terrible and glorious and ordered and acceptable and good and beautiful is this word for us for ever and ever The truth of the everlasting God our King the Rock of Jacob the shield of our salvation for ever and ever He is sure and his Name sure and his Throne setled and his Kingdom and Truth established for evermore c. â â â Ib. Maym. ubi supr The second is called by the Talmud Text ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Avodah but by Maymony ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Retseh yet they both agree in one as to the prayer it self only the one names it after the first word in it and the other after one of the chiefest words in it The tenor of it was thus Be pleased O Lord our God with thy people Israel and with their prayer and restore the service to the Oracle of thy house and accept the burnt offering of Israel and their prayer in love with well pleasedness and let the service of Israel thy people be continually well pleasing to thee And they conclude thus We praise thee who art the Lord our God and the God of our Fathers the God of all flesh our Creator and the maker of all the Creation blessing and praise be to thy great and holy Name because thou hast preserved and kept us so preserve and keep us and bring back our captivity to the Courts of thy holiness c. A third prayer ran thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Appoint peace goodness and blessing grace mercy and compassion for us and for all Israel thy people bless us O our Father even all of us as one man with the light of thy countenance for in the light of thy countenance thou O Lord our God hast given us the Law of life and loving mercy and righteousness and blessing and compassion and life and peace let it please thee to bless thy people Israel at all times In the book of life with blessing and peace and sustentation let us be remembred and written before thee we and all thy people the house of Israel c. And a fourth prayer was used on the Sabbath as a blessing by the Course that went out for a farewel upon the Course that came in in these words He that caused his name to dwell in this house cause to dwell among you love and brotherhood and peace and friendship Compare 2 Cor. 13. 11. Now whereas there is some seeming doubtfulness among the Talmudical writers about the time of these prayers they leaving it somewhat uncertain whether they were uttered immediately before the offering of the Incense or in the very time of its offering the Evangelist Luke hath determined the question and resolved us that the multitude was praying at the very time of the Incense Luke 1. 10. and even the Gloss upon the Talmud it self doth tell us that these prayers were the peoples prayers the last only excepted When those prayers were done he whose lot it was to bring up and lay the pieces of the Sacrifice upon the Altar did that business in that manner as hath been mentioned before namely first flinging them into the fire and then taking them up again and laying them in order After which things performed the Priests especially those that had been in the holy place with the holy vessels in their hands that they had used standing upon the stairs that went up into the porch lifted up their hands and blessed the people Compare Luke 1. 22. Not to insist upon the large disputes and discourses * * * Taanith per. 4 Maym. in Tephil Bircoth cohanim per. 14. 15. that are among the Jews about their lifting up their hands the blessing they pronounced was that in Numb 6. 24 25 26. The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be
the Reformation have been undermining its welfare and exercising the skill and patience of its earliest Bishops In so much that it was long since the judgment of one of your Lordships * Grindal Predecessors in the See of London and one that had been charged with too much favour and gentleness towards them that severity was necessarily to be used For thus he writes in a Letter which I have seen to a great Minister of State Anno 1569. Mine opinion is that all the Heads of this unhappy faction should be with all expedition severely punished to the example of others as people fanatical and incurable And the same New Reformers as they were then termed created so much affliction to the Church that it made * Sands another very Reverend Prelate of this See quite weary of his Bishoprick and drew this complaint from him in a Letter dated 1573. I may not in conscience I cannot flee from the afflicted Church otherwise I would labour out of hand to deliver my self of this intolerable and most grievous burthen I make no doubt but your Lordship being in the same place and having to do with Men of the same temper feel the same burthen God Almighty strengthen and encourage succeed and bless You in all the wise methods You use in the Government of Your Church and Clergy But I forbear any further to interrupt Your precious hours only recommending my pains to Your Lordships acceptance and my self to Your Blessing being My Lord One of the meanest of Your Clergy and Your Lordships most humble and dutiful Son and Servant IOHN STRYPE Low-Leighton May 14. 1684. THE PREFACE I AM not unsensible this Second Volume may lye under some prejudice as Translations and Posthumous pieces usually do which have not the last polishing of the Authors own Hand nor his consent to make them Publick Therefore to prevent any too hasty censures and to give this Book the advantage of a fair light and thereby to justifie what hath been done in sending it abroad to bear its fellow company is the chief design of this Preface And here I am to account for two things according to the two Parts that this Volume consists of The former is the Translation of the Horae Hebraicae and the second the Publishing of the Sermons I. For the former it cannot be denied that a Translation labours under the same disadvantage that the Copy of a good Picture doth which seldom reacheth to the Truth and Perfection of the Original And it needs not be said that among those fatal things such as Epitomies wilful Interpolations ignorant and careless Transcriptions and the like whereby the Books of the Antients especially Ecclesiastical Writers have suffered no small damages unskilful Translations have contributed their share damages rather to be deplored than ever to be redressed But as to the present Translation I have this to apologize for if not to justifie it That seeing these Latine pieces were the very ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the last result and perfection of our Authors long and elaborate Oriental Studies the very marrow and compendium of all his Rabbinical Learning and since that great knowledge he had attained in that way is in these Latine Exercitations maturely and after many years pensive thoughts digested and reduced to be admirably subservient to the Evangelical Doctrine and by a peculiarly divine skill he hath made the Rabbies more bitter enemies than whom the Gospel never had to be the best Interpreters of it it was thought pity that his Countrymen should be deprived of these his last and best labours and seemed somewhat unjust that Strangers and the Learned only should reap the benefit of them Besides it is to be considered how much a right understanding of the four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles which contain the History of the great Founder of our Religion and his holy Institution would contribute to the burying of unhappy differences which have arisen in a great measure from mistaken Interpretations of matters in those Books and to the furthering peace and unity among us and how highly all that call themselves Christians are concerned to attain to the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scriptures on which our Faith and Hope is built and lastly that these our Authors labours administer such considerable help to us herein it was resolved so small an impediment as the Latine Tongue should not obstruct so great a Good I hope there will be no occasion to accuse the Translation for any defect of care or faithfulness or skill but rather that it may merit some approbation upon all those accounts The work of a Translator chiefly consists in carrying along with him the sense of the Author and as much as another Language will allow the very air of his expression that he may be known and discovered though he wear the dress and habit of another Nation I trust those who undertook this employment will be found to have duly attended to both I will not be so confident as to vouch it so absolutely free of all mistake as if the Translators had been inspired by the Author himself it being morally impossible in a Work of that critical nature and considerable length not to make a stumble or a slip It will satisfie reasonable Men I hope if the errors are but few and the Work be generally accompanied with a commendable diligence The judicious Reader will not like our pains the less that we have not much regarded curious and smooth Language For none will look for a fine and florid style in a Translator who is bound up to follow close his Author and considering that he that presumes to vary too freely from his words t is a great venture but he varies often from his sense too And indeed affectation of soft words and handsom periods would have been a Vice here for it would have made the Author look unlike himself whose style was generally rough and neglected his mind being more taken up about sense and inquiry after truth than those things And therefore I hope none will place this among the blemishes of the Translation If the words be easie and intelligible and naturally expressive of the sense the more plain and unaffected the better I will advance a step further in behalf of this English Translation there are some things in it that may give it the advantage even of the Latine Exercitations themselves Namely that they are all with a diligent and careful Eye revised and corrected in abundance of places besides what the Errata directed to The Addenda Printed at the end of the Horae upon S. Luke and S. John are here reduced to their proper places in the body of the Book excepting one passage only which was neglected I know not how but now Printed at the end of this Preface The Annotations upon the eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ignorantly and carelesly thrust in among the Exercitations upon the Acts of
Pharisees for the Sanhedrim And 2. From those words of Christ to the Woman Hath no man condemned thee Which seem to imply that those that brought her had power to judge and condemn her To give one instance more In the Handful of Gleanings upon Exod. Sect. XLIX he treats of the manner of giving forth the Oracle of Urim and Thummim and so he does also in his Sermon upon Judg. XX. 27 28. but with this variety there he relates it to be by an Audible Voice from the Lord from off the Propitiatory and this being heard by the Priest was told to the people But here he corrects his former thoughts telling us it was by no heavenly Voice but that God presently inspired the High Priest with the Spirit of Prophesie and by that he resolved the doubt and question put to God by the people Which we may conclude to be his last and ripest thoughts in that matter I need not particularize any other passages in these Sermons where notions mentioned elsewhere in the Authors Books are repeated with no small advantage And where they are not so they are either wholly left out where it might be done without making a chasm and break in the thread of the discourse or where it could not without that inconvenience they are only mentioned briefly in transitu Perhaps some few passages may be censured as seeming to reflect upon the Doctrine or practice of our Church But to this I answer That they only seem to do so And if the Reader will but calmly and deliberately view those passages again he will find that they may admit of a very fair construction and the most that they speak is against placing the sum of Religion in Ceremonies and outward Formalities or the needless multiplying of them not against a sober and intelligent use of the Rites of the Church as they are appointed to be used for the preserving decency and order and promoting edification And he is very severe that will not overlook some things and pass a favourable construction upon others considering the times wherein our Author lived and what Doctrines then prevailed and carried away many good though unwary Men as with a strong and scarcely to be resisted torrent And allowance may the more reasonably be given to some few things seemingly obnoxious to censure for the sake of many others which do greatly inculcate peace and conformity and the Authority of the Church and decry separation from the National established Church I instance only in that excellent Sermon Preached in the late unhappy times in a publick Audience upon John X. 22. Where the argument of our Saviours holding communion with the Jewish Church in the publick exercise of Religion is so fully and incomparably managed that it was within these few years almost resolved to be made publick by it self for the use and information of our Dissenters which if read and considered by them with a candid and unprejudiced mind would certainly set them clear of their scruples and bring them with abundance of satisfaction into the bosom and Communion of our Church And beside that in his Sermon upon Jude vers 12. he discourseth against Praying by the Spirit and Enthusiastical pretences to revelation In that upon Luke XI 2. He argues most excellenty for set Forms of Prayer and particularly for the use of the Lords Prayer that was at that time ready to be quite justled out of Gods Worship And it was observable at that time that the Doctor ended both his Prayers both before and after that Sermon with the Lords Prayer In that Sermon speaking about casting away Religious usages because abused he hath these remarkable words Now I cannot but think how wild it is to reject a good thing in its self because another hath used it evilly This is just as if a Man should cut down Vines to avoid drunkenness How subject is he that makes it all his Religion to run from superstition to run he knows not whither And again in the same Sermon I know not what reformers should more study than to observe how near Christ complied with things used in the Jewish religious practice and civil converse that were lawful Once more in his Discourse upon 1 Cor. XIV 26. towards the conclusion he propounds two things to be considered by them who scrupled at the Religious exercise of singing Psalms because it is no where commanded to sing after that manner and with those circumstances that we do 1. That there is no plain grounds why to refrain but most plain why to sing 2. Where a duty is commanded and a scruple ariseth from some circumstance it is safer to go with the command than from it The reason I have selected these passages is to shew how our Author stood affected to the Church And indeed by these and many other expressions that are scattered in his Sermons we may plainly see that peaceableness and keeping Communion with the Church was his great principle and that his great aim in the late times was to keep up the honour of the publick Ordinances and the publick Ministry in reputation and to maintain the necessity of good Works against Antinomianism and the divine Authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures and the necessity of humane Learning in the Clergy against Enthusiasm then the great prevailing Errors And I make no doubt that by such means and Doctrines as these the blessing of God accompanying our Author did very good service to Religion and Truth then and did educate and train up young Students in the University and other Christians his Auditors into a readier and more chearful conformity to our present Church In a word All his Sermons breath a true Spirit of piety and inward goodness and an intire desire to be instrumental to the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures for the propagation of Gods glory and the building up of Christians in real substantial piety and true saving knowledge And they carry a plain easie unaffected strain of humble Oratory condescending to the meanest capacity and which hath something peculiar in it to raise attention and to make a wonderful impression upon the affections I mean by offering frequently something new and surprizing and intermixing sudden Apostrophes and affectionate and close Interrogations And now in the last place I must account for my self and for what I have done in the publishing these discourses Mr. John Duckfield Rector of Aspeden in Hertfordshire the Authors Son in Law and one of his Executors to whom the World is in the first place beholden for permitting them to be made publick kindly imparted to me the deceased learned Mans scattered Papers and MSS. and among the rest his Sermon-notes From the love and honour I had to his memory and his Learning I diligently set my self to the perusal of them and being not a little pleased with many of the Notes I resolved to select a few out of a great many with a design to let them see
great Pandect of our Faith and Religion and to promote Truth and Goodness And now nothing remains but to beseech God to grant a good success to the Labours of this Reverend and Learned Man that Mens minds being more freed from ignorance and prejudice and instructed in a right understanding of the Word of God the blessed effects thereof may be Piety and Peace That Men may better know and practice their duty to God and their Neighbour to the Church in whose bosom they were born and to their Prince under whose happy and peaceable influence they dwell Low Leighton Jan. 3. 1683. IOHN STRYPE The Reader is desired to add this at the end of the Hebrew Exercitations upon the Evangelist S. John which by an oversight was omitted in its place PAge 545. line 37. After He burnt it and said c. add And let that he well considered in Siphra * Fol. 18. 1 where a Dispute is had upon those words Levit. VI. 27. If the blood of the sacrifice for sin be sprinkled upon a garment c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When the discourse is of a garment I would understand it of nothing but a garment Whence is to be added ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The skin when it is pulled off The Text saith Upon whatsover the blood shall be sprinkled ye shall wash Perhaps therefore one may add the skin before it is pulled off The Text saith A garment As a garment that is capable of uncleanness so whatsoever is capable of uncleanness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Except the skin before it be pulled off They are the words of R. Juda. Mark the skin as yet cleaving to the beasts back and not flayed off is not capable of uncleanness HORAE Hebraicae Talmudicae HEBREW AND TALMUDIC EXERCITATIONS I. Upon the CHOROGRAPHY of the LAND of ISRAEL II. Upon the GOSPEL of St. MATTHEW By JOHN LIGHTFOOT D. D. and Master of Katharine-Hall or College in the University of CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by William Rawlins for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIV THE PREFACE AMONG all those who have either published their own Chorographical Tables of the Land Canaan or have corrected others you can hardly find any that have consulted with the Writers of the Talmud in this matter Whereas certainly their Consent is by no means in this case to be despised if indeed it be not rather especially to be regarded For besides that they above all other men do most curiously enquire of the affairs and of the places of that Land all the Doctors of the Mishnah and the Gemarists also of Hierusalem were inhabitants and dwellers there and not a few also of those of Babylon well viewed it Eye witnesses and who any Reader being Iudge could not but have beyond all others a most familiar knowledg of that Land dwelling in it and not only so but being such as thought themselves bound by a religious necessity to inquire after the Situation and Nature of the places in that Land and to trace them out with an exact search and curiosity Let Reason therefore determine whether they above all others are either justly or prudently cast aside in the business of Chorography Whether among all the means used for the correcting and polishing this the means that the Talmud affords should with any merit or equity be only refused Why the Jewish Chorography of the Jewish Country should not be admitted Certainly it is unjust out of prejudice to reject or out of ignorance not to entertain those things which either might yield us the Profit of the Chorography of that Land or stir up no unprofitable search into it If a man would engrave Maps of Palestine surely it is very fit that he should together with others consult those Authors as being the nearest witnesses inhabiters of the Country and such who most studiously and most religiously describe it And though you esteem them not worthy of credit because they are Jews yet certainly they are worthy of examination and may have leave to relate as they are Chorographers When in the reading of these Writers I collected all those things which I met with relating hitherto and compared them with the Maps and Tracts already published I plainly saw if my eyes deceived me not that very many things might be fetched and drawn out of these Authors which might correct the Maps very many things which might discover places unknown very many which might fix those that were uncertain very many which might illustrate those that were certain and infinite things which might some way or other hold out a light to Chorography And if any dextrous and happy Artist versed in the Talmudic writings and skilled in Chorography would undertake a task and work of this nature I should expect from such a hand a more polite and correct Map and a more full plain and certain description of the Lands of Israel than any the Christian World hath yet seen We are far from daring to enter upon such a thing Nor is our Hand sufficiently taught for so great a Work or indeed teachable That only which we have attempted in the following Century was this that by some instance we might a little demonstrate those things which we speak concerning the Writers of the Talmud and that some specimen might be set before our eyes whereby the Reader may judge of their study style use benefit in the thing propounded Nor did we think it the part of Modesty to burthen the Reader with too much of those things which perhaps are of dubious acceptation with him nor the part of prudence to expose and commit together at once all that we have to one wind and fortune From our Study May the XXII MDCLVIII We have quoted Josephus according to the distinction of Chapters in the Greek Edition of Frobenius Anno MDXLIV A Chorographical Century SEARCHING Out some more memorable places of the Land of Israel chiefly by the light of the Talmud CHAP. I. The Division of the land THE Jewish Writers divide the whole World into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The land of Israel and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Without the land that is the Countries of the Heathen Both which phrases the Book of the Gospel owns The land of Israel Matth. II. 20. And it calls the Heathen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã those that are without 1 Cor. V. 13. 1 Tim. III. 7. c. And sometimes the unbelieving Jewes themselves as Mark IV. II. They distinguish all the People of the World into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Israelites and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Nations of the World The Book of the Gospel ownes that Phrase also Mat. VI. 32. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã After all these things do the Gentiles or Nations seek Which in Luke XII 30. is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Nations of the World Hence the word World is most commonly used for the Gentiles Joh. III. 16 17. 1 Joh. II. 2 c. Somewhere
cap. 3. hal 2. One is bound to swear to his neighbour and he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vow or swear to me by the life of thy Head c. VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Swear not at all IN the Tract Demai t t t t t t Cap. 2. hâlac 3. are some rules prescribed to a religious man among others That he be not too much ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in swearing and laughing Where the Gloss of R. Solomon is this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã means this Be not much in oaths although one should swear concerning things that are true for in much swearing it is impossible not to profane Our Saviour with good reason binds his followers with a straiter bond permitting no place at all for a voluntary and arbitrary oath The sense of these words goes in the middle way between the Jew who allowed some place for an arbitrary oath and the Anabaptist who allows none for a necessary one VERS XXXVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou canst not make one hair white or black That is Thou canst not put on gray hairs or lay them aside VERS XXXVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let your communication be yea yea nay nay IN Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã u u u u u u Maimon in Pâab cap. 5. Giving and receiving that is business among the disciples of the wise men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let it be in Truth and Faith by saying Yes yes No no or according to the very words concerning Yes yes concerning No no. x x x x x x Gittin cap. 7. hal 1. If it be said to a Lunatick shall we write a bill of Divorce for your wife And he nod with his head they try thrice and if he answer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to No no and to Yes yes they write it and give it to his wife VERS XXXVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye c. THIS Law he also cites as clothed in the Gloss of the Scribes and now received in the Jewish Schools But they resolved the Law not into a just retaliation but into a pecuniary compensation y y y y y y Bava Kama cap. 8. Maimon in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cap. 1. Does any cut off the hand or foot of his neighbour They value this according to the example of selling a servant computing at what price he would be sold before he was maimed and for how much less now he is maimed And how much of the price is diminished so much is to be paid to the maimed person as it is said An eye for an eye c. We have received by Tradition that this is to be understood of pecuniary satisfaction But whereas it is said in the Law If a man cause a blemish in his neighbour the same shall be done to him Lev. XXIV 19. It means not that he should be maimed as he hath maimed another but when he deserveth maiming he deserveth to pay the damage to the person maimed They seemed out of very great charity to soften that severe Law to themselves when nevertheless in the mean time little care was taken of lively charity and of the forgiving an offence an open door being still left them to exaction and revenge which will appear in what follows VERS XXXIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek THAT the Doctrine of Christ may here more clearly shine out let the Jewish Doctrine be set against it to which he opposeth his z z z z z z Bava Kama cap. 8. hal 6. Does any one give his neighbour a box on the ear let him give him a shilling R. Judah in the name of R. Josi of Galilee saith Let him give him a pound ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Does he give him a blow upon the cheek Let him give him two hundred Zuzees if with the other hand let him give four hundred Compare with this passage ver 39. If any shall strike thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Does he twitch him by the ear or does he pull off his hair or does he spit so that his spittle falls upon him or does he take away his coat Note this also and compare ver 40. with it He that will take away thy coat c. or does he uncover a womans head in publick Let him give four hundred Zuzees They fetch the reason of so severe a mulct chiefly from the shame done him that is thus injured and from the disgrace of the thing it self and moreover from the dignity of an Israelite which is declared at large by the Gemarists upon the words cited and by a a a a a a In ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cap. 1 2 3 c. Maimonides ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Those mulcts say they are established and inflicted according to the dignity of the person injured But R. Akibah said Even the poorest Israelites are to be esteemed as though they were persons of quality divested of their estates because they are the Sons of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Hence the entrance to our Saviours Doctrine lyes easie 1. He cites the Law of retaliation that by laying one against the other Christian charity and forgiveness might shine the clearer 2. He mentions these particulars which seemed to be the most unworthy and not to be born by the high quality of a Jew that he might the more preach up Evangelical humility and patience and self-denial But why was the law of retaliation given if at last it is melted down into this On the same reason as the Law of death was given concerning Adultery Namely for terror and to demonstrate what the sin was Both were to be softned by charity this by forgiveness that by a bill of divorce or if the husband so pleased by forgiveness also VERS XL. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. And if any will sue thee at the Law and take away thy coat c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã coat that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Talith So in the words of the Talmud alledged ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He takes his Coat Of this garment thus the Aruch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Talith is a cloak And why is it called Talith Because it is above all the garments that is because it is the outermost garment In this upper garment were woven in those fringes that were to put them in mind of the law of which there is mention Numb XV. 38. Hence is that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã b b b b b b Bab. Sâhabb fol. 23. 2. He that takes care of his skirts deserves a good coat Hereupon the disgrace was encreased together with the wrong when that was taken away concerning which they did not a little boast nay and in which they placed no small religion Mat. XXIII 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
inheritance of Jacob is promised to those that sanctifie the Sabbath because he sanctified the Sabbath himself Yea and more backwards yet even to the beginning of the world q q q q q q Targ. Id Cant. â The first Psalm in the world was when Adams sin was forgiven and when the Sabbath entred he opened his mouth and uttered the Psalm of the Sabbath So also the Targum upon the title of Psalm XCII The Psalm or Song which Adam composed concerning the Sabbath day Upon which Psalm among other things thus Midras Tillin What did God create the first day Heaven and Earth What the second The Firmament c. What the seventh The Sabbath And since God had not created the Sabbath for servile works for which he had created the other days of the week therefore it is not said of that as of the other days And the evening was and the morning was the seventh day And a little after Adam was created on the Eve of the Sabbath the Sabbath entred when he had now sinned and was his Advocate with God c. r r r r r r âab Sanhedr fol. 38. 1. Adam was created on the Sabbath Eve that he might immediately be put under the Command c. III. Since therefore the Sabbath was so instituted after the fall and that by a Law and Condition which had a regard to Christ now promised and to the fall of man the Sabbath could not but come under the power and dominion of the son of Man that is of the promised seed to be ordered and disposed by him as he thought good and as he should make provision for his own honour and the benefit of Man VERS X. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days THESE are not so much the words of Enquirers as Denyers For these were their dicisions in that Case s s s s s s Maimon in Schabb. c. XXI Let not those that are in health use physic on the Sabbath day Let not him that labours under a pain in his loyns anoynt the place affected with oyl and vineger but with oyl he may so it be not oyl of Roses c. He that hath the tooth ach let him not swallow vineger to spit it out again but he may swallow it so he swallow it down He that hath a soar throat let him not gargle it with oyl but he may swallow down the oyl whence if he receive a cure it is well Let no man chew Mastich or rub his teeth with spice for a cure but if he do this to make his mouth sweet it is allowed They do not put wine into a sore eye They do not apply fomentations or oyls to the place affected c. All which things however they were not applicable to the cure wrought by Christ with a word only yet they afforded them an occasion of cavilling who indeed were sworn together thus to quarrel him that Canon affording them a further pretence t t t t t t Talm. Schabb. cap. XIX This certainly obtains that what soever was possible to be done on the Sabbath Eve driveth not away the Sabbath To which sense he speaks Luke XIII 14. u u u u u u ân Hieros Avodah Zaraâ fol. 40. 4. Let the Reader see if he be at leisure what diseases they judge dangerous and what physic is to be used on the Sabbath VERS XI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. If a sheep fall into a ditch on the Sabbath days c. IT was a Canon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã x x x x x x Hieros Jom Tobâ fol. 62. 1. We must take a tender care of the goods of an Israelite Hence y y y y y y Maimon in Schabb. â 25. If a beast fall into a ditch or into a pool of waters let the owner bring him food in that place if he can but if he can not let him bring clothes and litter and bear up the beast whence if he can come up let him come up c. If a beast or his foal fall into a ditch on a holy day z z z z z z Hieros in the place above ââ R. Lazar saith Let him lift up the formes to kill him and let him kill him but let him give fodder to the other lest he die in that place R. Joshuah saith Let him lift up the former with the intention of killing him although he kill him not let him lift up the other also although it be not in his mind to kill him VERS XVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That they should not make him known BUT this not that he refused to heal the sick nor only to shun popular applause but because he would keep himself hid from those who would not acknowledge him This prohibition tends the same way as his preaching by Parables did Mat. XIII 13. I speak to them by parables because seeing they see not He would not be known by them who would not know him VERS XX. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A bruised reed shall he not break THESE words are to be applied as appears by those that went before to our Saviours silent transaction of his own affairs without hunting after applause the noise of boasting or the loud reports of fame He shall not make so great a noise as is made from the breaking of a reed now already bruised and half broken or from the hissing of smoking flax only when water is thrown upon it How far different is the Messias thus described from the Messias of the expectation of the Jews And yet it appears sufficiently that Esaiah from whom these words are taken spake of the Messias and the Jews confess it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Till he send forth judgment unto victory The Hebrew and LXX in Esaiah read it thus He shall bring forth judgment unto truth The words in both places mean thus much That Christ should make no sound in the world or noise of pomp or applause or state but should manage his affairs in humility silence poverty and patience both while he himself was on earth and by his Apostles after his Ascension labouring under contempt poverty and persecution but at last he should bring forth judgment to victory that is that he should break forth and shew himself a judg avenger and conqueror against that most wicked Nation of the Jews from whom both he and his suffered such things and then also he sent forth judgment unto truth and asserted himself the true Messias and the Son of God before the eyes of all and confirmed the truth of the Gospel by avenging his cause upon his enemies in a manner so conspicuous and so dreadful And hence it is that that sending forth and execution of judgment against that Nation is almost always called in the New Testament his coming in Glory When Christ and his Kingdom had so long lain hid under the vail of humility and
shall say when their disease did first invade him write a Bill of Divorce for my wife c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã l l l l l l âittin cap. 7 Hal. 1. If any whom Kordicus vexeth say Write a Bill of Divorce for my wife c. Kordicus say the Glossers is a Demon which rules over those that drink too much new Wine ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What is Kordicus Samuel saith When new Wine out of the press hath caught any one m m m m m m Gemar Bab. which see Rambam upon the place hath these words Kordicus is a disease generated from the repletion of the Vessels of the Brain whereby the understanding is confounded and it is a kind of Falling-sickness Behold the same a Demon and a disease to which the Gemarists applied Exorcisms and a Diet. See n n n n n n Fol. 67. 2. Bab. Gittin o o o o o o Aruch In Shibta Shibta is an evil Spirit who taking hold on the necks of infants dries up and contracts their nerves p p p p p p Bab. Berac fol. 51. 2. He that drinks up double cups ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Is punished by the Devil From this Vulgar opinion of the Nation namely That Devils are the Authors of such kind of diseases one Evangelist brings in the Father of this child saying of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He is lunatick another ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He hath a spirit He had been dumb and deaf from his birth to that misery was added a phrensie or a Lycanthropy which kind of disease it was not unusual with the Nation to attribute to the Devil and here in truth a Devil was present VERS XVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. O faithless and perverse generation c. THE edge of these words is levelled especially against the Scribes See Mark IX 14. and yet the Disciples escaped not altogether untouched Christ and his three prime Disciples being absent this child is brought to the rest to be healed they cannot heal him partly because the Devil was really in him partly because this evil had adhered to him from his very birth Upon this the Scribes insult and scoff at them and their Master A faithless and perverse generation which is neither overcome by Miracles when they are done and vilifie when they are not done The faith of the Disciples vers 20. wavered by the plain difficulty of the thing which seemed impossible to be overcome when so many evils were digested into one deafness dumbness phrensie and possession of the Devil and all these from the cradle VERS XX. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Faith as a grain of mustard seed c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As a seed of Mustard or As a drop of Mustard in Talmudick Language See Chap. XIII vers 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Ye shall say to this mountain c. See what we note at Chap. XXI vers 21. VERS XXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting IT is not much unlike this which is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã q q q q q q Bab. Taanith fol. 22. 2. By reason of an evil spirit a singular or religious man may afflict himself with fastings VERS XXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They that receive the Didrachma tribute-money TWO things perswade me that this is to be understood of the Half Shekel to be yearly paid into the Treasury of the Temple 1. The word it self whereby this tribute is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Concerning this thus Josephus writes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã * * * * * * De bell lib. 7. cap. 27. He laid a tax upon all the Jews wheresoever they were namely two Drachmes commanding every one of what ever age to bring it into the Capitol as before they had paid it into the Temple at Jerusalem And Dion Cassius of the same thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. r r r r r r Lib. 66. He commanded all to bring the Didrachm yearly to Jupiter Capitolinus The Seventy Interpreters indeed upon Exod. XXX 13. render it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Half a didrachm but adding this moreover ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which is according to the holy didrachm Be it so the whole Shekel was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The holy didrachm then let the half shekel be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The common didrachm However the thing is he that paid the half Shekel in the vulgar dialect was called He that paid the Shekels and that which is here said by Matthew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They that receive the Didrachm the Talmudists express ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They that demand or collect the Shekels The Targumists render that place Exod. XXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The half of the Shekel the reason of which see if you please in * * * * * * Shekal cap. 1. Maimonides The Shekel saith he concerning which the Law speaks did weigh three hundred and twenty grains of barley but the wise men sometime added to that weight and made it to be of the same value with the money ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Selah under the second Temple that is three hundred eighty four midling grains of barley See the place and the Gloss. 2. The answer of Christ sufficiently argues that the discourse is concerning this Tax when he saith He is the son of that King for whose use that Tribute was demanded for from thence were bought the dayly and additional sacrifices and their drink offerings the sheaf the two loaves Levit. XXIII 17. the Shew bread all the sacrifices of the Congregation the red Cow the scape Goat and the crimson Tongue which was between his horns s s s s s s Shekal cap. 4 Hal 1. 2. c. But here this Objection occurs which is not so easie to answer t t t t t t Shekal cap. 1. Hal. 3. The time of the payment of the half Shekel was about the feast of the Passover but now that time was far gone and the feast of Tabernacles at hand It may be answered 1. That Matthew who recites this Story observed not the course and order of time which was not unusual with him as being he among all the Evangelists that most disjoynts the times of the Stories But let it be granted that the order of the History in him is right and proper here It is answered 2. Either Christ was scarcely present at the Passover last past or if he were present by reason of the danger he was in by the snares of the Jews he could not perform this payment in that manner as it ought to have been Consider those words which John speaks of the Passover last past Chap. VI. 4. The Passover a feast of the Jews was near and Chap. VII 1.
that blood still bubbled but their blood did not bubble Discover the matter to me said he or I will tear your flesh with iron rakes Then they said to him this was a Priest a Prophet and a Judg who foretold to Israel all these evils which we have suffered from you and we rose up against him and slew him But I saith he will appease him He brought the Rabbins and slew them upon that blood and yet it was not pacified He brought the children out of the School and slew them upon it and yet it was not quiet He brought the young Priests and slew them upon it and yet it was not quiet So that he slew upon it ninety four thousand and yet it was not quiet He drew near to it himself and said O Zacharias Zacharias Thou hast destroyed the best of thy people that is they have been killed for your sake would you have me destroy all Then it was quiet and did not bubble any more c. The truth of this story we leave to the relators that which makes to our present purpose we observe That it was very improbable nay next to impossible that those that heard the words of Christ concerning Zacharias slain between the Temple and the Altar could understand it of any other but of this concerning whom and whose blood they had such famous and signal memory and of any other Zacharias slain in the Temple there was a profound silence In Josephus indeed we meet with the mention of one Zacharias the son of Baruch which is the same thing with Barachias killed in the Temple not long before the destruction of it whom some conjecture to be prophetically marked out here by our Saviour But this is somewhat hard when Christ expresly speaks of time past ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ye slew and when by no art nor arguments it can be proved that this Zacharias ought to be reckoned into the number of Prophets and Martyrs There are two things here that stick with Interpreters so that they cannot so freely subscribe to our Zacharias 1. That he lived and dyed long before the first Temple was destroyed when the example would have seeemed more home and proper to be taken under the second Temple and that now near expiring 2. That he was plainly and notoriously the Son of Jehoiada but this is called by Christ the Son of Barachias To which we after others who have discoursed at large upon this matter return only thus much I. That Christ plainly intended to bring examples out of the old Testament and he brought two which how much the further off they seemed to be from deriving any guilt to this generation so much heavier the guilt is if they do derive it For a Jew would argue what hath a Jew to do with the blood of Abel killed almost two thousand years before Abraham the father of the Jews was born And what hath this generation to do with the blood of Zacharias which was expiated by cruel plagues and calamities many ages since Nay saith Christ this generation hath arrived to that degree of impiety wickedness and guilt that even these remote examples of guilt relate and are to be applied to it And while you think that the blood of Abel and the following Martyrs doth nothing concern you and believe that the blood of Zacharias hath been long ago expiated with a signal punishment I say unto you that the blood both of the one and the other and of all the righteous men killed in the interval of time between them shall be required of this generation 1. Because you kill him who is of more value than they all 2. Because by your wickedness you so much kindle the anger of God that he is driven to cut off his old Church namely the people that hath been of a long time in covenant with him For when Christ saith That on you may come all the righteous blood c. It is not so much to be understood of their personal guilt as to that blood as of their guilt for the killing of Christ in whose death the guilt of the murder of all those his types and members is in some measure included and it is to be understood of the horrible destruction of that generation than which no former ages have ever seen any more woful or amazing nor shall any future before the funeral of the world it self As if all the guilt of the blood of righteous men that had been shed from the beginning of the world had flowed together upon that generation II. To the second which has more difficulty namely that Zacharias is here called the Son of Barachias when he was the Son of Jehoiada we will observe by the way these two things out of the writings of the Jews before we come to determine the thing it self 1. That that very Zacharias of whom we speak is by the Chaldee Paraphrast called the Son of Iddo For thus saith he on Lament Chap. III. vers 20. Is it fit that the daughters of Israel should eat the fruit of their womb c. The rule of Justice answered and said Is it also fit that they should slay a Priest and Prophet in the Temple of the Lord as ye slew Zacharias the Son of Iddo the High Priest and faithful Prophet in the house of the Sanctuary on the day of expiation c. 2. In the place of Isaiah o o o o o o Chap. VIII 2. concerning Zachariah the Son of Jebarichiah the Jews have these things p p p p p p Bab. Maccâth fol. 24. 1. 2. It is written I took unto me faithful witnesses to record Uriah the Priest and Zachariah the Son of Barachiah o ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã writ without Jod prefixed Esa. VIII 1. But what is the reason that Uriah is joyned with Zachariah For Uriah was under the first Temple Zachariah under the second but the Scripture joyneth the prophesie of Zachariah to the prophesie of Uriah By Urias it is written For your sakes Sion shall be plowed as a field By Zachariah it is written As yet old men and ancient women shall sit in the streets of Jerusalem When the prophesie of Uriah is fulfilled the prophesie of Zachariah shall also be fulfilled To the same sense also speaks the Chaldee Paraphrast upon the place And I took unto me faithful witnesses The curses which I foretold I would bring in the prophesie of Uriah the Priest behold they are come to pass likewise all the blessings which I foretold I would bring in the Prophesie of Zachariah the son of Jebarechiah I will bring to pass See also there R. R. Jarchi Kimchi From both these we observe two things 1. If Iddo did not signifie the same thing with Jehoiada to the Jewish nation why might not our Saviour have the same liberty to call Barachia the father of Zacharia as the Chaldee Paraprhast had to call him Iddo 2. It is plain that the Jews looked
feet their own Canons III. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã when it was morning This was the time of saying their Phylacteries namely from the first day-light to the third hour s s s s s s Beraâ chap. 1. hal 2. But where was these mens Religion to day Did you say your Phylacteries this morning my good Fathers of the Council before you came to sit on the Bench Another business that you had in hand effectually to destroy Jesus either rob'd you of your prayers or robbed your prayers of charity IV. Now appears ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first Feast-day of the Passover when they used to present themselves in the Temple and offer their gifts Exod. XXIII 15. But when and how was this performed by them to day They take heed of going into the Judgment or Pretors hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Chagiga or Passover s but you will scarce find what time they allow'd to day for that ãâ¦ã 28. ãâã cap. 1. ãâã Sanâedr fol. 63. 1. purpose nor indeed was it lawful for them to eat any thing on that day it being provided by a Canon That when the Council shall have adjudged any one to die let them not tast any thing that day t t t t t t Sanhedr fol. 63. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Took counsel to put him to death Let that be considered tt tt tt tt tt tt Sanhedr in the place quoted cap. 4. Cases of money are heard in the day-time and may be determined in the night Capital causes are tried in the day and finished in the day Judgment in cases of money is passed the same day whether it be for sining or acquitting Judgment in capital causes is passed the same day if it be for acquitting but if it be for condemning it is passed the day after The reason of this difference is given by the Gemarists whom see The reason of the latter is thus expressed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Blessed is the Judg who leaveneth his judgment that is as the Gloss who delays his judgment and lets it rest all night that he may sift out the truth The difference between ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is greater than the Reader may perhaps think at first sight by the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they signifie the whole process of the trial the examining of the Plaintiff and Defendant and of the Witnesses the taking the votes of the Council and the entring of them by the Scribes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies only the passing of judgment or giving a definitive sentence You may better perceive the difference from the Glossary on Bab. Sanhedr u u u u u u Fol. 35. 1. In the Text this is decreed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let them not judg on the eve of the Sabbath nor on the eve of a Feast-day which is also repeated in other places x x x x x x Hieros Chetub fol. 24. 4. Moed Katon fol. 63. 1. The reason of the prohibition is this namely that the trials which were begun on the eve of the Sabbath or a Feast-day should not be finished on the Sabbath or Feast-day Which indeed saith the Gloss is observed in pecuniary trials and care is taken that there be no writing for it is forbid to write so much as a letter on the Sabbath but in capital causes it takes not place upon that account for the votes of those that acquitted or condemned were written the day before You see in the History of the Gospel 1. The Trial concerning our Saviour's life dispatched at one and the same sitting 2. And that too on a Feast-day VERS V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hanged himself STrangulatus est was strangled namely by the Devil who had now been in him three days together The words of Peter Act. I. 18. do not suffer me to understand this of hanging himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst Interpreters take a great deal of pains to make these words agree with his hanging himself but indeed all will not do I know the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is commonly applied to a mans hanging himself but not to exclude some other way of strangling And I cannot but take the story with good leave of antiquity in this sense After Judas had thrown down the money the price of his Treason in the Temple and was now returning again to his mates the Devil who dwelt in him caught him up on high strangled him and threw him down headlong so that dashing upon the ground he burst in the midst and his guts issued out and the Devil went out in so horrid an Exit This certainly agrees very well with the words of Peter now mentioned and also with those that follow This was known to all that dwelt at Jerusalem It agrees also very well with the deserts of the wicked wretch and with the title of Iscariot The wickedness he had committed was above all example and the punishment he suffered was beyond all president There had been many instances of persons who had hanged themselves this would not so much have stirred up the people of Jerusalem to take notice of it as such a strangling and throwing down headlong which we suppose horrible above measure and singular beyond example See what we have said at the tenth Chapter concerning the word Iscariot VERS IX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That which was spoken by Ieremy the Prophet HOW much this place hath troubled Interpreters let the famous Beza instead of many others declare This knot hath hampered all the most ancient Interpreters in that the testimony here is taken out of Zachary and not from Jeremy so that it seems plainly to have been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a failing of memory as Augustine supposes in his third Book De consensu Evangelistarum Chapter the seventh as also Eusebius in the twentieth Book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Demonstration But if any one had rather impute this error to the transcribers or as I rather suppose to the unskilfulness of some person who put in the name of Jeremy when the Evangelist had writ only as he often doth in other places ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Prophet Yet we must confess that this error hath long since crept into the holy Scriptures as Jerome expresly affirms c. But with the leave of so great men I do not only deny that so much as one letter is spurious or crept in without the knowledg of the Evangelist but I do confidently assert that Matthew writ Jeremy as we read it and that it was very readily understood and received by his Countrymen We will transcribe the following monument of antiquity out of the Talmudists and then let the Reader judg y y y y y y Bab. Bova Bathrâ fol. 14. 2. A Tradition of the Rabbins This is the order of the
truth as to the thing it self for from the Resurrection of Christ the glorious Epoch of the Kingdom of God took its beginning as we said before which he himself also signifieth in those words Mat. XXVI 29. and when he arose not a few others arose with him What they thought of the Resurrection that was to be in the days of Messias besides those things which we have already mentioned you may see and smile at in this one example y y y y y y Jerus Cheâubboth fol. 35 â R. Jeremiah commanded when you bury me put shoes on my feet and give me a staff in my hand and lay me on one side that when the Messias comes I may be ready VERS LIV. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Truly this was the Son of God THAT is This was indeed the Messias Howsoever the Jews deny the Son of God in that sense in which we own it that is as the second person in the holy Trinity yet they acknowledged the Messiah for the Son of God not indeed by nature but by adoption and deputation see Mat. XXVI 63. from those places I Chron. XVII 13. Psal. II. 12. LXXXIX 26 27. and such like The Centurion had learnt this from the people by conversing among them and seeing the Miracles which accompanied the death of Christ acknowledged him to be the Messias of whom he had heard so many and great things spoken by the Jews In Luke we have these words spoken by him z z z z z z Chap. XXIII 47. Certainly this was a righteous man Which I suppose were not the same with these words before us but that both they and these were spoken by him Certainly this was a righteous man Truly this was the Messias the Son of God Such are those words of Nathaniel Joh. I. 49. Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Peter when he declared that Christ was the Son of the living God Mat. XVI 16. spoke this in a more sublime sense than the Jews either owned or knew as we have said at that place VERS LVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mary Magdalen THAT Magdalen was the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus Baronius proves at large a a a a a a Annal. ad An. Christ. 32. pag. 147 148 c. whom see It is confirmed enough from this very place for if Mary Magdalene was not the same with Mary the sister of Lazarus then either Mary the sister of Lazarus was not present at the Crucifixion of Christ and at his burial or else she is past over in silence by the Evangelists both which are improbable whence she was called Magdalene doth not so plainly appear whether from Magdala a Town on the Lake of Genesareth or from the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies a playting or curling of the hair a thing usual with harlots Let us see what is spoken by the Talmudists concerning ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mary Magdala who they say was Mother of Ben Satda b b b b b b Bab. Sanhedr fol. 67. 1. They stoned the Son of Satda in Lydda and they hanged him up on the evening of the Passover Now this Son of Satda was Son of Pandira Indeed Rabh Chasda said the husband of his mother was Satda her husband was Pandira her husband was Papus the Son of Juda but yet I say his mother was Satda ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã namely Mary the plaiter of women's hair as they say in Pombeditha ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã she departed from her husband These words are also repeated in Schabbath c c c c c c Fol. 104. 2. c Chagigah fol. 4. 2. Rabh Bibai at a time when the Angel of death was with him said to his Officer Go ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bring me Mary the plaiter of womens hairs He went and brought to him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mary the plaiter of young mens hair c. The Gloss The Angel of death reckoned up to him what he had done before for this story of Mary the Plaiter of women's hair was under the second Temple for she was the mother of N. as it is said in Schabbath See the Gloss there at the place before quoted d d d d d d Gittin fol. 90. 1. There are some who find a fly in their cup and take it out and will not drink such was Papus ben Judas who lockt the door upon his wife and went out Where the Glossers say thus Papus ben Juda was the husband ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Mary the Plaiter of womens hair and when he went out of his house into the street he lockt his door upon his wife that she might not speak with any body which indeed he ought not to have done and hence sprang a difference between them and she broke out into adulteries See Alphesius on Gittim e e e e e e Fol. 605. I pronounce ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ben Satda not that I am ignorant that it is called Ben Stada by very learned men The reason of our thus pronouncing it we fetch from hence that we find he was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ben Sutdah by the Jerusalem Talmudists f f f f f f Sanhedr fol. 25. 4. to which the word Satda more agrees than Stada By the like agreement of sounds they call the same Town both ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Magdala and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mugdala as we have observed elswhere As they contumeliously reflect upon the Lord Jesus under the name of Ben Satda so there is a shrewd suspition that under the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mary Magdala they also cast reproach upon Mary Magdalen The title which they gave their Mary is so like this of ours that you may with good reason doubt whether she was called Magdalene from the Town Magdala or from that word of the Talmudists ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Plaiter of hair We leave it to the learned to decide VERS LVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ioses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Josi A very usual name in the Talmudists g g g g g g Jerus ââvamâtâ fol. 2. 2. five were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Be R. Josi Ismael Lazar Menahem Chelpatha Abdimus Also h h h h h h Ibid. fol. 4. 3. R. Jose ben R. Chaninah c. g g g g g g See Jathasiâ fol. 61. 62. One may well enquire why this Mary is called the mother of James and Joses and not also of Judas and Simon as Mark VI. 3. VERS LVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Begged the body of Iesus IT was not lawful to suffer a man to hang all night upon a tree Deut. XXI 23. Nay nor to lye all night unburied ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Whosoever suffers a dead body to lye all night unburied violates a negative precept but they that were put to death
thus They do not breed such cattel in the Land of Israel that they feed not down the fields now the fields in the Land of Israel do belong without doubt to some Israelite But they fed in the deserts that is where field was not distinguished from field but all was common Hence you may understand what is signified by the Desert of Ziph of Maon of Tekoah c. namely a Region or Country near to Cities where also were scattered houses but especially either Champaign where no fences were to make distinction of Lands or Mountainous and that which was barren and without improvement III. There is no need to speak of the deserts that were altogether desolate and without inhabitant such as the Deserts of Arabia of Lybia c. SECT II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Wilderness of Iudah PErhaps I shall be laughed at if I distinguish between the Wilderness of Judah and the Wilderness of Judea And formerly such a distinction did deserve laughter but when the name of Idumea as I have shewed swallowed up a great part of Judea then it was not only to be born with but necessary also to distinguish between the Wilderness of Judah of which Josh. XV. 61. and the Title of Psal. LXIII and the Wilderness of Judea where John Baptized The Title of that Psalm in the original Hebrew is thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah But the Greek Interpreters render it A Psalm of David when he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the wilderness of Idumea And the Vulgar A Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Idumea acting the part of no good Interpreters but of no ill Paraphrasts So Jer. IX 26. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Upon Idumea and upon Edom. If you ask where David was when he composed that Psalm it is answered 1 Sam. XXIV 1. In the wilderness of Eugaddi and if you search further for the precise place it was there where the Castel Masada was afterwards built For I doubt not at all that that place as c c c c c c De Bell. lib. 7. cap. 13. Josephus describes it was the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Rocks of the wild Goats I appeal here to the Maps and their Authors in whom Engedi and Masada and Lots Cave are placed not very far from the utmost North coast of Asphaltites let them say whether Idumea stretched out it self so far If not let them correct the Interpreters whom we have named and though it be so they might shew by what authority they place those places there and let them friendly correct me putting them far elswhere SECT III. A Scheme of Asphaltites and of the Wilderness of Judah or Idumea adjacent WE are now indeed out of our bounds but we hope not out of the bounds of truth Therefore in one or two words we thus confirm the situation that we have assigned to these places I. In Gen. X. 19. Gaza and Sodom are made to lye in a parallel line II. Lasha is Callirrhoe So Jonathan renders ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Unto Lasha ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Unto Callirrhoe So also d d d d d d Sect. 37. Bereshith Rabba and the e e e e e e Megill fol. 71. 2. Jerusalem Talmudists in the places cited at the Margent You have the situation of it in Pliny on the same coast with Macherus f f f f f f Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 16. Arabia of the Nomades looks upon Asphaltites on the East Macherus on the South On the same side is Callirrhoe a warm spring of a medicinal wholsomness And now let it be observed from the place alledged out of Genesis that after the same manner as Sidon and Gaza the limits on the West part are placed so are Sodom and Lasha seated on the East one on the South and the other on the North and the other Cities stood in this order From Lasha Southward Zeboim after it Admah after it Gomorrha and after it on the utmost Southern coast Sodom III. g g g g g g De Bell. lib 4. cap. 27. The Asphaltites saith Josephus is extended in length ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unto Zoar of Arabia and Deut. XXXIV 3. Moses from Mount Nebo beheld Zoar from the utmost bounds of the land on that side as he had beheld the utmost bounds of it from other sides IV. Engedi is Hazezon Tamar so the Targum Onkelos in Gen. XIV 7. See 2 Chron. XX. 2. and Tamar was the utmost South border Ezek. XLVII 19 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã h h h h h h Bereshith Rabba Sect. 26. V. i i i i i i Solin cap. 38. The border of Judea saith Solinus was the Castle Masada And that not far from Asphaltites l l l l l l Plin. lib. 5. cap. 17. m m m m m m De Bell. lib. 4. cap. 24. Josephus indeed saith that this Castle was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not far from Jerusalem which seems to thwart me in placing it as I have done But besides that we might contend about that reading when it is very usual with Historians to use the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not far off and near in a very wide and loose sense one can hardly build any thing upon this So Solinus n n n n n n Solin in the place above Callirrhoe is a fountain very neer Jerusalem when yet how far off was it And in Strabo o o o o o o Geograph lib. 8. Lecheus is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Port neer Italy when yet it was distant many hundreds of miles Masada in Hebrew is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Matsada which implies fortification and that with good reason when that Castle was fortified even to a miracle The name is taken from 1 Sam. XXIII 14 24. where the Seventy the Syriack and Arabick seem to have read ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Resh and not with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Daleth For they read in the former place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the strait places and in the latter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Maserem otherwise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Masereth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the strait places The Syriack and Arabick read Masroth as though they had read in the Original ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So p p p p p p Antiq. lib. 6. cap. 14. Josephus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He David with those that were with him went up to the strait place of Mastheri SECT IV. The Wilderness of Iudea where Iohn Baptist was THUS far we have lanched out into the Wilderness of Judah or Idumea and that the more willingly because in describing it I have described also some part of new Idumea of which discourse was had in the Chapter aforegoing Now we seek ãâã ãâã
Kimchi upon the place There are some who by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã understand Merchants according to that which is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The men of Orbo of thy merchandize Ezech. XXVII 27. Hence you may smell the reason why the Arabic renders it Orabimos To which sense our R. Judah who thinks that they were not âavens but the Inhabitants of the City of Orbo that ministred to Elias But here the objection of Kimchi holds God commanded Elias saith he that he should hide himself that none should know that he was there And we see that Achab sought him every where c. But omitting the triflingness of the dream we are searching after the Chorogaphical concern and if there be any truth in the words of R. Judah that there was a City by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Orbo by name near Bethshan we find the situation of the brook Cherith or at least where he thought it ran That brook had for ever laid hid in obscurity had not Elias lay hid near it but the place of it as yet lies hid There are some Maps which fix it beyond Jordan and there are others fix it on this side some in one place and some in another uncertainly without any setled place But I especially wonder at Josephus who saith that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã z z z z z z Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 7. He went away towards the North and dwelt near a certain brook When God in plain words saith And thou shalt turn thee or go towards the East ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For he was now in Samaria God adds Hide thee at the brook Cherith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is before Jordan So you will say was every brook that flowed into Jordan But the sense of those words which is before Jordan is this which brook as thou goest to Jordan is flowing into it on this side Jordan So that although the Rabbin mistakes concerning the creatures that fed Elias yet perhaps he does not so mistake concerning the place where the brook was The story of the Syrophenissian Woman beseeching our Saviour for her possessed daughter and of his return thence by Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee hath occasioned a discourse of the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and the Region of Decapolis And now having finished the search after the places let us speak one word of the woman her self She is called by Mark ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Syrophenissian Greek which is without all scruple but when she is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Canaanitish woman by Matthew that is somewhat obscure If those things which in our animadversions upon Matthew we have said upon that place do not please any let these things be added 1. That Canaan and Phenicia are sometimes convertible terms in the LXX Jos. IV. 1. 12. c. 2. If I should say that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Greek woman and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Canaanitish woman were also convertible terms perhaps it may be laughed at but it would not be so among the Jews who call all Men servants and Women servants not of Hebrew bloud Canaanites It is a common distinction ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã An Hebrew Servant and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Canaanite Servant and so in the feminine sex But now a Canaanite Servant say they is a servant of any nation besides the Hebrew nation Imagine this woman to be such and there is nothing obscure in her name because she was a Servant woman of an Heathen stock and thence commonly known among the Jews under the title ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of a Cnaanite woman Servant CHAP. VIII Some Measurings I. The Measures of the Iews II. Their measuring of the Land by diets III. And the measuring of the length of the Land within Iordan IV. Ptolomy consulted and mended V. Pliny to be corrected VI. The length of the Land out of Antoninus VII The bredth of the ways VIII The distance of the Sepulchres from the Cities SECT I. The Measures of the Iews IT obtained among the Jews a a a a a a Gloss in Bava Mezia fol. 28. 1. That the Land of Israel contained the square of four hundred Parsae And they are delighted I know not how nor why with this number and measure b b b b b b Megil f. 3. 1. Jonathan Ben Uzziel interpreted from the mouth of Haggai Zachariah and Malachi and the Land of Israel was moved ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Four hundred Parsae every way c c c c c c Bava Kama fol. 82. 2. When a hog was drawn up upon the walls of Jerusalem and fixed his hoofs upon them the Land of Israel shook four hundred Parsae every way ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Parsa contains in it four miles Ten d d d d d d Gloss in Pesach fol. 93. 2. Parsae saith the Gloss at the place in the Margin are forty miles Which might be proved largely elsewhere if need were So that four hundred Parsae or so many thirty furlongs made a thousand six hundred miles Which measure why they ascribed it to the Land of Israel on every side of the square of it whether from the measurings of Ezechiel or from somewhat else we do not here enquire But we cannot but observe this that the same number is mentioned and perhaps the same measure understood Revel XIV 20. Bloud issued out of the Lake to the horses bridles for a thousand six hundred furlongs Where the Arabic reads ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for the space of a thousand six hundred miles The Talmudists measure sometimes by miles sometimes by Parses sometimes by Diets Every one of these you will meet with in them very frequently Of the Talmudic mile take this admonition of theirs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Namely that it e e e e e e Bava Mezia fol. 33. 1. consisted not of eight as the Greek and Roman did but of seven furlongs and an half For by what other word to render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I know not nor do I think it to be rendred by any other And of the Diet take this f f f f f f Pesachin fol. 93. 2. R. Jochanan saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã How much is a mans journey in one day ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ten Parses From the first dawning of the morning to Sun rise five miles From Sunset until stars appear five miles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There remain thirty Fifteen from morning to noon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Fifteen from Noon till Even Behold a days journey of forty miles in one sense that is as much as may be dispatched in one day and of thirty in another that is as much as most usually was wont to be dispatched Where you are admonished by them also that these are computed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã according to the Equinoctial day They g g g g g g Midr. Till fol. 7.
is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is the terrors and the sorrows which shall be in his days i i i i i i Shâaâ fol. 118. 1. He that feasts thrice on the Sabbath day shall be delivered from three miseries ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã From the sorrows of Messiah from the judgment of Hell and from the War of Gog and Magog Where the Gloss is this From the sorrows of Messias For in that age wherein the Son of David shall come there will be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an accusation of the Scholars of the Wise men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotes such pains as women in child birth endure VERS XXXII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But of that day and hour knoweth no man OF what day and hour That the discourse is of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem is so evident both by the Disciples question and by the whole thread of Christs discourse that it is a wonder any should understand these words of the day and hour of the last judgment Two things are demanded of our Saviour ver 4. The one is When shall these things be that one stone shall not be left upon another And the second is What shall be the sign of this consummation To the latter he answereth throughout the whole Chapter hitherto To the former in the present words He had said indeed in the verse before Heaven and Earth shall pass away c. not for resolution to the question propounded for there was no enquiry at all concerning the dissolution of Heaven and Earth but for confirmation of the truth of thing which he had related As though he had said ye ask when such an overthrow of the Temple shall happen when it shall be and what shall be the signs of it I answer These and those and the other signs shall go before it and these my words of the thing it self to come to pass and of the signs going before are firmer than Heaven and Earth it self But whereas ye enquire of the precise time that is not to be enquired after For of that day and hour knoweth no man We cannot but remember here that even among the Beholders of the destruction of the Temple there is a difference concerning the Day of the destruction that that day and hour was so little known before the event that even after the event they who saw the flames disagreed among themselves concerning the Day Josephus an eye witness saw the burning of the Temple and he ascribed it to the Tenth day of the month Aâ or Louâ For thus he l l l l l l De Bell. lib. 6. cap. 26. The Temple perished the tenth day of the month Lous or August a day fatal to the Temple as having been on that day consumed in flames by the King of Babylon Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai saw the same conflagration and he together with the whole Jewish Nation ascribes it to the ninth day of that month not the tenth yet so that he saith If I had not lived in that age I had not judged it but to have happened on the tenth day For as the Gloss upon Maimonides m m m m m m In Taanith cap. 5. writes It was the evening when they set fire to it and the Temple burnt until sun-set the tenth day In the Jerusalem Talmud therefore Rabbi and R. Josua ben Levi fasted the ninth and tenth days See also the Tract Bab. Taanith n n n n n n Fol. 29. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Neither the Angels For o o o o o o Bab. Sanhedr fol. 99. 1. the day of Vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed comâth Esai LXIII 4. What means The day of Vengeance is in my haert R. Jochanan saith I have revealed it to my heart to my members I have not revealed it R. Simeon ben Lachish saith I have revealed it to my heart ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but to the ministring Angels I have not revealed it And Jalkut on that place thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã My heart reveals it not to my mouth to whom should my mouth reveal it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nor the Son ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is Neither the Angels nor the Messias For in that sense the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Son is to be taken in this place and elsewhere very often As in that passage Joh. V. 19. The Son that is The Messias can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do ver 20. The Father loveth the Messias c. ver 26. He hath given to the Messias to have life in himself c. And that the word Son is to be rendred in this sense appears from verse 27. He hath given him authority also to execute judgment because he is the Son of man Observe that Because he is the Son of man I. It is one thing to understand the Son of God barely and abstractly for the second person in the Holy Trinity another to understand him for the Messias or that second person incarnate To say that the second Person in the Trinity knows not something is blasphemous to say so of the Messias is not so who nevertheless was the same with the second Person in the Trinity For although the second Person abstractly considered according to his mere Diety was co-equal with the Father co-omnipotent co-omniscient co-eternal with him c. Yet Messias who was God-man considered as Messias was a servant and a messenger of the Father and received commands and authority from the Father And those expressions The Son can do nothing of himself c. will not in the least serve the Arians turn if you take them in this sense which you must necessarily do Messias can do nothing of himself because he is a Servant and a Deputy II. We must distinguish between the execellencies and perfections of Christ which flowed from the Hypostatical union of the two natures and those which flowed from the donation and anoynting of the Holy Spirit From the Hypostatical Union of the Natures flowed the infinite dignity of his Person his impeccability his infinite self-sufficiency to perform the Law and to satisfie the divine justice From the anoynting of the Spirit flowed his Power of miracles his fore-knowledg of things to come and all kind of knowledg of Evangelic Mysteries Those rendred him a fit and perfect Redeemer these a fit and perfect Minister of the Gospel Now therefore the fore-knowledg of things to come of which the discourse here is is to be numbred among those things which flowed from the anoynting of the Holy Spirit and from immediate revelation not from the Hypostatic Union of the Natures So that those things which were revealed by Christ to his Church he had them from the revelation of the Spirit not from that Union Nor is it any derogation or detraction from the Dignity of his Person
there were Israelites only and no Priests or Levites nor on the other hand that there ever was a Sanhedrin wherein there were only Priests and Levites and no Israelites The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã therefore or the Scribes seem in this place to denote either the Levites or else together with the Levites those inferior ranks of Priests who were not the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Chief Priests And then the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Elders may be the Israelites or those Elders of the Laity that were not of the Levitical Tribe Such an one was Gamaliel the present President of the Sanhedrin and Simeon his Son of the Tribe of Judah VERS XXXVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. He calleth the Lord the God of Abraham c b b b b b b Shemoth rabba fol. 159. 1. WHY doth Moses say Exod. XXXII 13. Remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob R. Abin saith the Lord said unto Moses I look for ten men from thee as I looked for that number in Sodom Find me out ten righteous persons among the people and I will not destroy thy people Then said Moses behold here am I and Aaron Eleazar and Ithamar Phineas and Caleb and Joshua but saith God these are but seven where are the other three When Moses knew not what to do he saith O Eternal God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do those live that are dead Yes saith God Then saith Moses if those that are dead do live remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob. VERS XLII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Lord said unto my Lord c. WHereas St. Matthew tells us c c c c c c Matt. XXII 46. That no man was able to answer him a word to that Argument whereby he asserted the Divinity of the Messias it is plain that those evasions were not yet thought of by which the Jews have since endeavoured to shift off this place For the Talmudists apply the Psalm to Abraham the Targumist as it seems to David others as Justin Martyr tells us to Hezekia which yet I do not remember I have observed in the Jewish Authors His words are in his Dialogue with Tryphon d d d d d d Pag. 250. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I am not ignorant that you venture to explain this Psalm when he had recited the whole Psalm as if were to be understood of King Hezekiah The Jewish Authors have it thus e e e e e e Sanhedr fol. 148. 2. Sem the great said unto Eleazar Abraham's servant when the Kings of the East and of the West came against you what did you He answered and said The Holy blessed God took Abraham and made him to sit on his right hand And again f f f f f f Nedarim fol. 32. 2. The Holy blessed God had purposed to have derived the Priesthood from Shem according as it is said thou art the Priest of the most high God Gen. XIV but because he blessed Abraham before he blessed God God derived the Priesthood from Abraham For so it is said And he blessed him and said Blessed be Abraham of the most high God possessor of Heaven and Earth and blessed be the most high God Abraham saith unto him who useth to bless the servant before his Lord Upon this God gave the Priesthood to Abraham according as it is said The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand And afterward it is written the Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever for the speaking for so they render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Melchizedech Midras Tillin and others also in the explication of this Psalm referr it to Abraham Worshipful Commentators indeed VERS XLVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That desire to walk in long robes IN Garments to the feet which their own Rabbins sufficiently testifie g g g g g g Bava bathra fol. 57. 2. R. Johanan asked R. Banaah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what kind of Garment is the inner garment of the Disciple of the wise men It is such an one that the flesh may not be seen underneath him The Gloss is It is to reach to the very sole of the foot that it may not be discerned when he goes bare-foot ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What is the Talith that the Disciple of the wise wears that the inner Garment may not be seen below it to an hand bredth What is that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke XV. 22. the first Robe Is it the former robe that is that which the Prodigal had worn formerly or the first i. e. the chief and best robe It may be quaeried whether it may not be particularly understood the Talith as what was in more esteem than the Chaluk and that which is the first Garment in view to the beholders h h h h h h Sanhedr fol. 44. 1. I saw amongst the spoils ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Babylonish Garment Jos. VII Rabh saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a long Garment called Melotes The Gloss is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Talith of purest Wool CHAP. XXI VERS XXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled JERUSALEM shall be troden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled And what then in what sense is this word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã until to be understood Let every one have his conjecture and let me be allowed mine I am well assured our Saviour is discoursing about the fall and overthrow of Jerusalem but I doubt whether he touches upon the restauration of it Nor can I see any great reason to affirm that the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled before the end of the world it self But as to this controversie I shall not at present meddle with it And yet in the mean time cannot but wonder that the Disciples having so plainly heard these things from the mouth of their Master what concerned the destruction both of the place and nation should be so quickly asking Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel Nor do I less wonder to find the Learned Beza expounding the very following Verse after this manner Then shall there be the signs in the Sun c. That is after those times are fulfilled which were alloted for the salvation of the Gentiles and vengeance upon the Jews concerning which St. Paul discourses copiously Rom. XI 25 c. When indeed nothing could be said clearer for the confutation of that Exposition than that of Vers. 32. Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled It is strange this should be no more observed as it ought to have been by himself and diverse others when in truth these very words are as a gnomon to the whole Chapter All the other passages of the Chapter fall in with Matth. XXIV and Mark XI where we have placed those Notes that were proper and shall
Curses Deut. XI 29. XXVII 12 13. Josh. VIII 33. but mark the impudence of the Samaritans who in their Text Deut. XXVII 4. instead of Ye shall set up these stones which I command you this day ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã on mount Ebal they have put Ye shall set up these stones c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã on mount Gerizim Compare with this falsification of theirs that in Sotah R. Eliezer ben Jose saith I have Fol. 33. â said to you O Samaritans Ye have falsified your Law for ye say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the plain of Moreh which is Sichem Deut. XI 30. they add Sichem of their own we our selves indeed confess that the plain of Moreh is Sichem c. Seeing he blames the Samaritans for falsifying their Text in so little a matter wherein the truth is not injur'd namely in adding Shechem why did he not object to them that greater fault of suborning Gerizim for mount Ebal The truth is this very thing giveth me reason enough to suspect that this bold and wicked interpolation of the word Gerizim for Ebal hath stolen into the Samaritan Text since the time that this Rabbin wrote The thing is not unworthy our considering SECT IV. Why it is written Sychar and not Sychem IF Sychem and Sychar be one and the same City why should not the name be the same I. This may happen from the common Dialect wherein it is very usual to change the letters So Reuben in the Syriack Version is Rubil and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rubelus in Josephus by what Etymology let him tell and explain it if you can Speaking of Leah bringing forth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lib. 1. cap. 19. Reuben he thus expresseth himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And having brought forth a male-child and obtaining favour from her husband by it she call'd his name Rubel because it happened to her according to the mercy of God for this his name signifies Perhaps he might at that time think of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which imports the encrease of God It would be endless to reckon up such variations of letters in proper names but as to the letter R which is our business at present take these few instances Nebuchad-nezzar is elswhere Nebuchad-rezzar Belial is Beliar Shepham by the Greek Interpreters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sephamar Numb XXXIV 11. so Sychem Sychar and this so much the rather because the letters R and M have obtain'd I know not what kind of relation and affinity one with another So Dammesek and Darmesek in the Holy Scriptures and the Sarmatians are the Samatians in Dionysius Afer c. Or secondly it might happen that the Jews by way of scoff and opprobrium might vulgarly call Sychem Sychar either that they might stigmatize the Samaritans as drunkards Isa. XXVIII 1. Wo to the drunkards of Ephraim Or as the word might be variously writ and pronounc'd might give them some or other disgraceful mark as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies prevaricating ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a mercenary or hireling ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a sepulchre So Aruch in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sochere i. e. sepulchres He quotes a place where the words are not as they are by him Soââb fol. 67. 1. cited nor is he consistent with himself in the Interpretation But Munster hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a sepulchre If it be thus perhaps ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sychem might be call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sychar because there the twelve Patriarchs were bury'd and under that notion the Samaritans might glory in that name SECT V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ain socar in the Talmud MAY we not venture to render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the well of Sychar we meet with both the Bava Kama fol. 82. 2. place and name in Bava Kama There was a time when the sheaf of the first-fruits was brought ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from Gaggoth Zeriphin and the two loaves those which were to be offer'd by the High Priest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the valley of the well of Sychar So give me leave to render it Gloss The sheaf was wont to be fetcht from places in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem but now the fruits having been destroy'd by war they were fain to fetch it afar off Take if you will the whole story It is a Tradition among the Rabbins that when the Hasmonean family mutually besieged one another Aristobulus without and Hyrcanus within every day they that were besieged within let down their money by the wall in a little Box which those that were without receiv'd and sent them back their daily Sacrifice It came to pass that there was an old man amongst them skill'd in the wisdom of the Greeks that told them so long as they within perform their Worship you will never be able to subdue them Upon this the next day they let down their money and the besiegers sent them back an Hog when the Hog had got half up the wall fixing his feet upon it the land of Israel shook four hundred leagues round about from that time they said Cursed be he that breedeth Swine Cursed be he that teacheth his Son the wisdom of the Greeks from that time the sheaf of the first-fruits was fetcht from Gaggoth Zeriphin and the two loaves from the valley Ein Sychar This story is told with another annext in Menachoth When the time came about Menach fol. 64. 2. that the sheaf should be brought no body knew from whence to fetch it they made enquiry therefore by a publick cryer there came a certain dumb man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and stretcht forth one hand toward a roof ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the other hand toward a cottage Mordecai saith to them Is there any place that is call'd Gaggoth Zeriphin or Zeriphin Gaggoth They sent and found there was When they would have offer'd the two loaves but knew not where to get them they made enquiry again by a publick cryer the same dumb man comes again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he puts one hand to his eye ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and another hand to the hole of the door-post where they put in the bolt Quoth Mordecai to them Is there such a place as Ein Sychar or Sychar Ein they enquir'd and found there was But what had Mordecai to do with the times of the Hasmoneans one of the Glossators upon this place makes this objection and the answer is that whoever were skill'd either in signs or languages had this name given them from Mordecai who in the days of Ahashuerus was so skill'd And now let the Reader give us his judgment as to name and place whether it doth not seem to have some relation with our Well of Sychar It may be disputed on either side I shall only say these things Menachoth as before It is commanded that the sheaf be brought from some neighbouring place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but if it
thus Thou wilt be call'd the Rock and let us apprehend our blessed Lord speaking Prophetically and foretelling that grand error that should spring up in the Church viz. that Peter is a Rock than which the Christian world hath not known any thing more sad and destructive VERS XLVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Come and see NOthing more common in the Talmudick Authors than ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Come and behold come and see sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã VERS XLVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã An Israelite indeed COmpare it with Isai. LXIII 8. I saw thee saith Christ when thou wert under the fig-tree What doing there doubtless not sleeping or idling away his time much less doing any ill thing This would not have deserv'd so remarkable an Encomium as Christ gave him We may therefore suppose him in that recess under the fig-tree as having sequestred himself from the view of men either for prayer meditation reading or some such Religious performance and so indeed from the view of men that he must needs acknowledg Jesus for the Messiah for that very reason that when no mortal eye could see he saw and knew that he was there Our Saviour therefore calls him an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile because he sought out that retirement to pray so different from the usual craft and hypocrisie of that Nation that were wont to pray publickly and in the streets that they might be seen of men And here Christ gather'd to himself five Disciples viz. Andrew Peter Philip Nathanael who seems to be the same with Bartholomew and another whose name is not mention'd ver 35. 40. whom by comparing Joh. XXI 2. we may conjecture to have been Thomas VERS LI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Verily Verily IF Christ doubled his affirmation as we here find it why is it not so doubled in the other Evangelists if he did not double it why is it so here I. Perhaps the asseveration he useth in this place may not be to the same things and upon the same occasion to which he useth the single Amen in other Evangelists II. Perhaps also St. John being to write for the use of the Hellenists might write the word in the same Hebrew letters wherein Christ used it and in the same letters also wherein the Greeks used it retaining still the same Hebrew Idiom III. But however it may be observ'd that whereas by all others the word Amen was generally used in the latter end of a speech or sentence our Lord only useth it in the beginning as being himself the Amen Revel III. 14. and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Isai. LXI 16. The God of Truth So that that single Amen which he used in the other Evangelists contained in it the Gemination Amen Amen I the Amen the true and faithful witness Amen i. e. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of a truth do say unto you c. Nor did it become any mortal man to speak Amen in the beginning of a sentence in the same manner as our Saviour did Indeed the very Masters of Traditions who seem'd to be the Oracles of that Nation were wont to say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I speak in truth but not Amen I say unto you IV. Amen contains in it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Yea and Amen II Cor. I. 20. Revel I. 7. i. e. truth and stability ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Isai. XXV 1. Interlin Veritas firmitas Faithfulness and truth The other Evanglists express the word which our Saviour useth St. John doubles it to intimate the full sense of it I have been at some question with my self whether I should insert in this place the blasphemous things which the Talmudick Authors belch out against the Holy Jesus in allusion shall I say or derision of this word Amen to which name he entitled himself and by which asseveration he confirm'd his Doctrines But that thou mightest Reader both know and with equal indignation abhor the sâarlings and virulency of these men take it in their own words although I cannot without infinite reluctancy alledg what they with all audaciousness have utter'd a a a a a a Schabb. fol. 116. 2. They have a Tradition that Imma Shalom the wife of R. Eliezer and her brother Rabban Gamaliel went to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a certain Philosopher the Gloss hath it a certain Heretick of very great note for his integrity in giving judgment in matters and taking no bribes The woman brings him a golden candlestick and prayeth him that the inheritance might be divided in part to her Rabban Gamaliel objects It is written amongst us that the daughter shall not inherit instead of the son But the Philosopher answer'd Since the time that you were removed from your land the Law of Moses was made void ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Aven was given he means the Gospel but marks it with a scurrilous title and in that it is written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the son and the daughter shall inherit together The next day Rabban Gamaliel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã brought him a Lybian Ass then saith he unto them I have found at the end of Aven i. e. the Gospel that it is written there ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I Aven came not to diminish but to add to the Law of Moses where he abuseth both the name of our Blessed Saviour and his words too Mat. V. 17. And now after our just detestation of this execrable blasphemy let us think what kind Judg this must be to whose judgment Rabban Gamaliel the President of the Sanhedrin and his sister wife to the great Eleazar should betake themselves A Christian as it should seem by the whole contexture of the story but alas what kind of Christian that should make so light of Christ and his Gospel However were he a Christian of what kind soever yet if there be any truth in this passage it is not unworthy our taking notice of it both as to the History of those times as also as to that question whether there were any Christian Judges at that time ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Ye shall see heaven open and the Angels of God There are those that in this place observe an allusion to Jacob's Ladder The meaning of this passage seems to be no other than this Because I said I saw thee under the fig-tree believest thou Did this seem to thee a matter of such wonder Thou shalt see greater things than these For you shall in me observe such plenty both of revelation and miracle that it shall seem to you as if the heaven's were opened and the Angels were ascending and descending to bring with them all manner of revelation authority and power from God to be imparted to the Son of man Where this also is included viz. that Angels must in a more peculiar manner administer unto him as in the vision of Jacob the whole Host of Angels had been shew'd and promis'd to him in
Religion because himself is the way the truth and the life in a sense much more proper and more sublime than the Law could be said to be It had been happier for the Jew if he could have discerned more judiciously concerning the Law if he could have distinguished between coming to God in the Law and coming to God by the Law as also between living in the Law and living by the Law It is beyond all doubt there is no way of coming to God but in his Law for what Out-law or one that still wanders out of the paths of God's Commandments can come unto him So also it is impossible that any one should have life but in the Law of God For who is it can have life that doth not walk according to the rule of his Laws But to obtain admission to the favour of God by the Law and to have life by the Law that is to be justified by the works of the Law this sounds quite another thing For it is by Christ only that we live and are justified by him alone that we have access to God These are the fictions of the Rabins There was one shewed a certain Rabbin the place where Corah and his Company were swallowed up and listen saith he what they say So they heard them saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Moses and his Law are the truth Upon the Calends b Bava bathra fol. 74. 1. Bemidb. rabb fol 271. 1. of every Month Hell rolls them about as flesh rolls in the Cauldron Hell still saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Moses and his Law are truth a It is indeed a great truth what is uttered in this most false and ridiculous legend that the Law of Moses is truth But the Jews might if they would attain to a much more sound way of judging concerning the truth of it and consider that the Law is not the summ and ultimate of all truth but that Christ is the very truth of the truth of Moses Joh. I. 17. The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. VERS VII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. If ye had known me c. IT was a very difficult thing to spell out the knowledge of the Messiah from the Law and the Prophets under the first Temple but it was doubly more difficult under the second For under the first Temple Moses had only his own veil over him and the Prophets only their own proper and original obscurity but under the second Temple the obscurity is doubled by the darkness and smoke of Traditions which had not only beclouded the true Doctrines of Faith and Religon but had also brought in other Doctrines diametrically contrary to the chief and principal Articles of Faith those for instance concerning Justification the Person Reign and Office of the Messiah c. What measures of darkness these mists of Tradition had covered the minds of the Apostles with it is both difficult and might be presumptuous to determine They did indeed own Jesus for the true Messiah Joh. I. 41. Matth. XVI 16. But if in some things they judged amiss concerning his Office undertaking and government we must put it upon the score of that epidemical distemper of the whole Nation which they still did in some measure labour under And to this may this clause have some reference If ye had known me and had judged aright concerning the Office undertaking and Authority of the Messiah ye would in all these things which I teach and do have known the Will Command and Authority of the Father ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And from henceforth ye know him We may render it Henceforward therefore know him Henceforward acknowledge the Father in all that I have done brought in and am to introduce still and set your hearts at rest in it believing that you see the Father in me and in the things that I do VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us WHEN the Law was given to Moses the Israelites saw God in his glory do thou therefore now that thou art bringing in a new Law and Oeconomy amongst us do thou shew us the Father and his glory and it will suffice us so that we will have no more doubt about it VERS XVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He shall give you another comforter ALthough the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is in frequent use amongst the Jews to signifie an Advocate and that very sense may be allowed to the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in this place yet may it seem more fit and proper to render it by comforter at present For I. Amongst all the names and titles given to the Messiah in the Jewish Writers that of Menahem or the Comforter hath chiefly obtained and the days of the Messiah amongst them are stiled the days of Consolation c c c c c c Bab. Sanhedr fol. 98. 2. The names of Messiah are reckoned up viz. Shiloh Jinnon Chaninah Menahem And in Jerusalem Beracoth d d d d d d Fol. 5. 1. we are told how the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem under the name of Menahem Luke II. 25. Waiting for the consolation of Israel Targumist upon Jerem. XXXI 6. Those that desire or long for the years of consolation to come This they were wont to swear by viz. the desire they had of seeing this Consolation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So let me see the Consolation Now therefore bring these words of our Saviour to what hath been said q. d. You expect with the rest of this Nation the Consolation in the Messiah and in his presence Well I must depart and withdraw my presence from you but I will send you in my stead another Comforter II. The minds of the Disciples at present were greatly distressed and troubled so that the promise of a Comforter seems more suitable than that of an Advocate to their present state and circumstances VERS XVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Spirit of truth LET us but observe how the whole world at this time lay in falsehood and error the Gentiles under a Spirit of delusion the Jews under the cheat and imposture of Traditions and then the reason of this title of the Spirit of truth will appear as also how seasonable and necessary a thing it was that such a spirit should be sent into the world VERS XXVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He shall teach you all things SO Chap. XVI 13. He shall lead you into all truth Here it might be very fitly enquired whether any ever beside the Apostles themselves were taught all things or led into all truth It is no question but that every believer is led into all truth necessary for himself and his own happiness but it was the Apostles lot only to be led into all truth necessary both for themselves and the whole Church VERS XXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Prince of this world cometh SEEING this
office there At the due time the Sacrifices appointed for the Chagigah were slain those parts of them that pertain'd to the Altar or to the Priest were given to them the rest of the beast was shar'd amongst the owners that had offer'd it and from thence proceeded their Feastings together and their great mirth and rejoycings according to the manner of that Festival This was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ver 14. The preparation of the Passover and that was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Passover to which the Elders of the Council reserving themselves would by no means enter into the Judgment-hall Chap. XVIII 28. II. That day drawing toward night those that were deputed by the Sanhedrin to reap the sheaf of the first-fruits went out f f f f f f Menacoth fol. 65. 1. Those that were deputed by the Sanhedrin to reap went forth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the evening of the Feast-day the first day of the Feast and bound their corn in sheafs pretty near the ground that the reaping might be the easier All the neighbouring Towns about gather'd together that it might be done with the greater pomp When it grew duskish he that was about to reap said The Sun is set and they answer'd Well The Sun is set and they answer'd Well With this Sickle Well With this Sickle Well In this Basket Well In this Basket Well And if it happen'd to be on the Sabbath-day he said On this Sabbath and they answer'd Well On this Sabbath Well I will reap and they said reap I will reap reap And so as he said these things thrice over they answer'd thrice to every one of them Well well well And all this upon the account of the Baithusians who said the sheaf of the first-fruits ought not to be reaped on the close of the Feast-day About that hour of the day wherein our Saviour was buried they went forth to this reaping and when the Sabbath was now come they began the work for the Sabbath it self did not hinder this work g g g g g g Ibid. fol. 63. 2. R. Ananias the Sagan of the Priests saith on the Sabbath-day they reap'd the sheaf only to the measure of one Seah with one Sickle in one Basket but upon a common day they reapt three Seahs with three Sickles in three Baskets But the wise men say The Sabbath-days and other days as to this matter are alike III. This night they were to lodg in Jerusalem or in Booths about so near the City that they might not exceed the bounds of a Sabbath-days journey In the morning again they met very early in the Court as the day before the Sacrifices are brought for the peoples appearing before the Lord the sheaf of first-fruits is offer'd in its turn the rites and usages of which offering are described in the place above quoted So that upon this high day there happen'd to be three great Solemnities in one viz. the Sabbath the sheaf-offering and the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the appearing of the people in the Court before the Lord according to the command Exod. XXIII 17. VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã With a Spear pierced his side THE Arab. Vers. of the Erpenian Edition adds the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he pierced his right side afraid as it should seem lest the miracle should not be great enough if the blood and water should have been suppos'd to have issued from his left-side because of the water that is said to be contain'd in the Pericardium which being pierced it is conceived blood and water could not but upon natural reasons flow out of it But this issue of blood and water had something of mystery in it beyond nature if nothing preternatural had been in it I hardly imagin the Evangelist would have used that threefold asseveration concerning the truth of the thing as we see he doth And he that saw it bare record c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There came out blood and water It is commonly said that the two Sacraments of the New Testament Water and Blood flow'd out of this wound but I would rather say that the Antitype of the Old Testament might be here seen I. The Apostle teacheth us that the ratification of the old Covenant was by Blood and Water Heb. IX 19. Moses took the blood of calves and of goats with water c. I confess indeed that Moses makes no mention of water Exod. XXIV but the Apostle writing to the Hebrews does not write without such authority as they could not tell how to gainsay And if my memory do not fail me I think I have read some where among some of the Jewish Authors but the place its self is unhappily slipt from me that when there was some pause to be made betwixt the slaying of the Sacrifice and the sprinkling of the blood upon the Altar such a kind of pause as Moses made when he read to the people the articles of their Covenant they mingled water with the blood lest it should congeal and coagulate However the authority is sufficient that the Apostle tells us that the first Testament was dedicated by Blood and Water The Antitype of which is clearly exhibited in this ratification of the New Testament and hence is it that the Evangelist by so vehement asseverations confirms the truth of this passage because it so plainly answers the Type and gives such assurance of the fulfilling of it II. I must not by any means let pass that in Shemoth rabba h h h h h h Fol. 122. 1 He smote the rock ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the waters gushed out Psal. LXXVIII 20. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies nothing else but blood as it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the woman that hath an issue of blood upon her Levit. XV. 20. Moses therefore smote the rock twice and first it gusht out blood then water The rock was Christ 1 Cor. X. 4. Compare these two together Moses smote the rock and blood and water saith the Jew flow'd out thence The Souldier pierced our Saviour's side with a Spear and water and blood saith the Evangelist flow'd thence St. John concludes this asseveration of his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that ye might believe It is not without moment what is commonly said viz. that by this flowing out of water and blood it is evident his Pericardium was pierced and so there was an undoubted assurance given of his death but I hardly believe the Evangelist in this clause had any direct eye toward it would he be so vehement in asserting he that saw bare record and he knoweth that he saith true that ye may believe that Jesus was indeed dead surely there was no need of such mighty asseverations for that questionless therefore he would intimate something else viz. that you may believe that this is the true blood of the New Covenant which so
this was in Sichem you will say what became then of the Sichemites faith which Christ himself had already planted amongst them Joh. IV. It may be answered though in so very obscure a thing I would not be positive that it was some years since the time when Christ had conversed in that City and when as he had done nothing that was miraculous there Simon by his Magicks might obtain the easier reception amongst them But however grant it was Sebaste or any other City of Samaria that was the scene of this story yet who did this Simon give out himself to be when he said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he himself was some great one And what sort of persons did the Samaritans account him when they said of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this man is the great power of God I. Did they take him for the Messiah It is commonly presumed that Simon was a Samaritan by birth but should Messiah spring out of the Samaritans It is no impertinent question whether the Samaritans when they looked for the Messiah Joh. IV. 25. yet could expect he should be one of the Samaritan stock when they admitted of no Article of Faith that had not its foundation in the Books of Moses Could they not gather this from thence that the Messiah should come of the Tribe of Judah A Samaritan perhaps will deny this and elude that passage in Gen. XLIX 10. by some such way as this It is true the Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come but then this does not argue that Shiloh must derive his Original from the Tribe of Judah only that some Dominion should continue in Judah till Shiloh should appear Where by the way it is worth our observing that the Samaritan Text and Interpreter in that place instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã reads ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without the Jod and instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from between his feet that Text reads ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from between his banners and the Interpreter hath it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from between his Ranks or Companies That figment concerning Messiah ben Joseph or Messiah ben Ephraim for he goes by both those names whether it was first invented by the Jews or by the Samaritans is not easily determined The Jewish Writers make very frequent mention of him but the thing it self makes so much for the Samaritans that one might believe it was first hatcht amongst themselves only that the story tells us that Messiah was at length slain which the Samaritans would hardly ever have invented concerning him And the Jews perhaps might be the Authors of it that so they might the better evade those passages that speak of the death of the true Messiah II. However it was impiety enough in Simon if he gave out himself for a Prophet when he knew so well what himself was and if you expound his giving out himself to be some great one no higher than this yet does it argue arrogance enough in the knave I would not depress the sense of those words concerning John Baptist Luke I. 15. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He shall be great in the sight of the Lord but if we take it in the highest degree he shall be a Prophet before the Lord Christ it carries both an excellent truth along with it and also a most plain agreeableness with the office of John And when Stephen expresseth Moses to have been a Prophet in these terms ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He was mighty in words and deeds perhaps it bears the same sense with what the Samaritans said and conceited concerning this Simon that he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the great power of God VERS XIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Then Simon himself believed also THAT is He believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah and so was made capable of Baptism as in vers 37. and was indeed baptized in the Name of Jesus vers 16. And now O Simon what thinkest thou of thy self if hitherto thou hadst exhibited thy self as the Messiah Darest thou after this pretend to be the Son of God That which is commonly told of him and which Epiphanius reports without alledging any others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã To the Samaritans he gave out himself to be the Father to the Jews to be the Son betrays not only the blasphemy but the madness of the man that amongst the Jews he should pretend himself to be the Son of God when they would acknowledge no Son of God at all VERS XVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. They sent unto them Peter and Iohn c. c c c c c c Hâres 21. EPIPHANIUS here very apositely tells us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Philip being but a Deacon had not the power of imposition of hands so as by that to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost It was the Apostles peculiar Province and Prerogative by laying on of their Hands to communicate the Holy Ghost that is in his extraordinary gifts of Tongues and Prophesie for as to the Spirit of Sanctification they never dispensed that Peter and John besides the eminent station they held amongst the Apostles were also to be the Apostles of the Circumcision in forreign Countries James the brother of John was now alive who with those two made up that noble Triumvirate that had a more intimate familiarity with Christ. And one would believe he ought also to have been sent along with them but that they were sufficient and that this was only as a prologue to their future charge and office of dealing with the Circumcision in forreign Countries They lay their hands upon some whom the Holy Ghost had pointed out to be ordained Ministers And by so doing they did communicate the gifts of Tongues and Prophesie so very visible and conspicuously that it is said that Simon saw how through the laying on of the Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given Amongst the Jews persons were ordained Elders by three men But here this duumvirate was abundantly more valuable when they could not only promote to the Ministry but further confer upon those that were so promoted a fitness and ability for the performance of their office VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Give me also this power c. HOW infinitely mistaken is this wretch if he think that the gifts of the Holy Ghost could be bought and procured by Silver or Gold and how much more mistaken still if he think that the power of conferring these gifts to others could be thus attained The Apostles had a power of imparting these gifts but even they had not a power of enabling another to impart them Paul by laying hands on Timothy could endow him with the gifts of Tongues and Prophesie but he could not so endow him that he should be capable of conveighing those gifts to another This was purely Apostolical to dispense these gifts and when
the Version of the last clause wholly intimating that the river Orontes pours it self into the Sea not far from this place And to this the situation and distances in Ptolomy do agree Seleucia of Pieria 68. 36. 35. 26. The mouth of the River Orontes 68. 30. 35. 30. Pliny also affirms that Seleucia in Pieria is the very first Coast of Syria from Cilicia i i i i i i Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 12. Latitudo Syriae a Seleucia Pieriae ad oppidum in Euphrate Zeugma DXXV M. p. The latitude of Syria from Seleucia of Pieria to Zeugma a Town upon Euphrates is DXXV Miles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã From thence they sailed to Cyprus How great a multitude of Jews there were in Cyprus may be somewhat conjectured from the times of Trajan backward from this story k k k k k k Diââ Cass. in Vit. Trajani ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. In the mean time the Jews who dwelt about Cyrene under the conduct of one Andrew fall both upon the Romans and the Greeks feed on their flesh eat their bowels besmear themselves with their blood and cover themselves with their skins Many of them they sawed asunder from the crown of the head down the middle many of them they threw to the wild beasts many of them they forced to fight amongst themselves till they had destroyed above two hundred and twenty thousand men In Egypt and Cyprus they committed the same kind of outrages the leader of the Cypriots being Artemion where two hundred and forty thousand men were lost whence it came to pass that a Jew might not come into Cyprus But if by chance and stress of weather he put in upon the Island he was killed But the Jews as by others so especially by Lucius whom Trajanus sent upon that expedition were all subdued VERS VI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Whose name was Bar-jesus VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Elymas the Sorcerer for so is his name by interpretation I. IT may be enquired whether ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jesus in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Barjesus be a proper name or an appellative In the Arabic in the Polyglot Bible it is writ as a proper name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jesu But in the Arabic of the Erpenian edition it is writ as an appellative ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jesus and under the same notion the Syriac taking the word for Bar-Jesus hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bar-Shumah the Son of a Name as Beza would have it but trulier the Son of a Swelling or a Wound for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is a Tumor or Pustle in the Targumists of Jonathan and of Jerusalem upon Levit. XIII 2. and in the Syriac it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Wound is by that translated ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Isa. I. 6. and LIII 5. And indeed Elymas can no way be the interpretation of Bar-jesus if Jesus here be a proper name and especially if it must be writ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã II. I would therefore write Bar-jesus in Hebrew letters thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a word derived from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies to waste away or be corroded and worn by a Disease So Psal. VI. 8. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã mine Eye is consumed or as the Interlinear corroded because of grief And that the Syriac had reference to this radix when he renders it by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Son of a Wound or a Swelling proceeding from a Disease is little to be doubted and with the etymology the word Elymas agrees excellently well III. There are those that would have it to be the interpretation of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is that the Arabic word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so Elymas is the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Sorcerer which does not seem very distant from truth once indeed such a conceipt pleased me well enough but since these two things well considered have led me another way 1. Because it may reasonably be doubted whether St. Luke would explain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a well known word by a word far more unknown Besides why should this Sorcerer only be called Elymas when as according to that etymology all persons of the same art might have the same name 2. Because the Syriac and Arabic do not begin the word Elymas with the letter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ain but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Aleph I little doubt therefore but this name Elymas takes its original from the Arabic word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Alima or Elima which signifies to grieve or be tormented And how this sense agrees with the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã any one may see For what can be nearer akin than to consume away and to grieve and to waste away by a distemper and be under torment So that I suppose this Sorcerer was called in his own Hebrew name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bar-Jesus and went by that name among the Hebraizing Jews but amongst those that speak Arabic Elymas which in the Arabic Tongue signifies the same thing I confess it is something an unusual thing for St. Luke to render an Hebrew name by Arabic and not by Greek which the Evangelists commonly do But it seems that this Magician was born and bred in some place or Country where the Arabic was the mother Tongue inhabited by Jews also that used their own Language and from thence he came to be known by this twofold name I am mistaken if Jabneh it self a known Academy of the Jews and sometime the seat of the Sanhedrin was not in such a Country For it may be made out elsewhere that it is very probable the whole Philistine Country at least the greatest part of it did use the Arabic as their mother Tongue VERS IX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Then Saul who is also called Paul HERE is both his Hebrew and Roman name too upon the account of that relation he had to both Nations He was by his parentage a Jew and so called Saul but withal he was a free denison of Rome and thence had the name of Paul Under the same notion Silas is called Silvanus for he also was a Citizen of Rome as may be collected out of Acts XVI 37. The Apostle having hitherto conversed chiefly amongst the Jews retains his Jewish name but being now declared the Apostle of the Gentiles and traveling amongst the Gentiles St. Luke gives him his Gentile name only VERS X. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou child of the Devil IS not this much of the same import with that in the Old Testament ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Son of Belial ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at first hearing seems to sound very harshly and indeed at first sight might appear as if it signified the first-born of Satan but it is given to a certain Rabbin to his praise and as a title of
ãâã ãâã ãâã Every Generation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Wise men of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Every Generation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Scribes of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Every Generation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Governors of it These words are recited with some variation elsewhere g g g g g g Avodah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fol. 5. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Wise man who taught others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Scribe Any learned many as distinguished from the common people and especially any Father of the Traditions ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Disputer or Propounder of questions he that preached and interpreted the Law more profoundly VERS XXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the Wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God THAT is the World in its Divinity could not by its wisdom know God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Wisdom of God is not to be understood that wisdom which had God for its author but that had God for its object and is to be rendred Wisdom about God There was among the Heathen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wisdom about natural things and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wisdom about God that is Divinity But the World in its Divinity could not by wisdom know God CHAP. II. VERS VI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But the Wisdom not of this World THE Apostle mentions a fourfold Wisdom I. Heathen Wisdom or that of the Philosophers Chap. I. 22. which was commonly called among the Jews ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Grecian Wisdom Which was so undervalued by them that they joyned these two under the same curse Cursed is he that breeds hogs and cursed is he who teacheth his son Grecian Wisdom a a a a a a Bava Kâma fol. 82. 2. II. Jewish Wisdom that of the Scribes and Pharisees who crucified Christ vers 8. III. The Wisdom of the Gospel vers 7. IV. The Wisdom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of this World distinguished as it seems from the rest where This World is to be taken in that sense as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is as it is opposed to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The world to come And he speaks of the last and highest Wisdom which who is there that could obtain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In this World before the revelation of the Gospel in the coming of Christ which was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The World to come And this is that the Apostle does namely to shew that the highest yea the soundest Wisdom of the Ages before going was not in any manner to be compared with the brightness of the Evangelick Wisdom VERS IX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Which eye hath not seen c. R. b b b b b b Bab. Sanhedr fol. 99. 1. Chaia bar Abba saith R. Jochanan saith All the Prophets prophesied not but of the days of the Messias ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But as to the world to come eye hath not seen O God besides thee c. These words are repeated elsewhere c c c c c c Schabb. f. 63. 1 upon another occasion Where the Gloss The eyes of the Prophets could not see these things You see here the Rabbin distinguishes between the Days of Messiah and the World to come which is sometimes done by others but they are very commonly confounded And you see upon what reason yea upon what necessity he was driven to this distinction namely that he supposed somethings laid up for those that waited for God which the eyes of the Prophets never saw But saith he the Prophets saw the good things of the days of the Messiah therefore they are laid up for the world to come after the days of the Messiah Rabbin learn from Paul that the revelation under the Gospel is far more bright than the Prophets ever attained to CHAP. III. VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As unto babes THE Hebrews would say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã little children from a word that signifies to give suck Hence that saying is very common ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Children in School d d d d d d Chetub fol. 50. 1. Rabh said to Rabh Samuel bar Shillah the Schoolmaster Take a child of six years of age and give him food as you would do an Ox. The Gloss is Feed him with the Law as you feed an Ox which you fatten ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let a man deal gently with his son to his twelfth year The Gloss there If he refuse to learn let him deal gently with him and with fair words c. VERS XII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wood hay stubble THAT the Apostle is speaking of Doctrines is plain by the Context I. He supposeth these builders although they built not so well yet to have set themselves upon that work with no ill mind vers 15. He himself shall be saved II. By the several kinds of these things Gold Silver Wood Hay Stubble we may understand not only the different manner of teaching but even the different kinds of Doctrines taught For if they had all propounded the same Truth and Doctrine it had been no great matter if they had not all declared it in the same manner But while some produce Gold Silver Wood precious pure sound Doctrine others bring Hay Stubble Doctrine that is vile trifling and of no value or solidity the very Doctrines were different and some were such as could endure the trial of the fire and others which could not III. There were some who scattered grains of Judaism among the people but this they did not as professedly opposing the Gospel but out of ignorance and because they did not as yet sufficiently understand the simplicity of the Gospel Paul calls these and such like Doctrines Hay and Stubble to be consumed by fire Yet while they in the mean time who had taught such things might escape because they opposed not the Truth out of malice but out of ignorance had broached Falshood VERS XIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For the day shall declare it because it is revealed by fire TWO things shall discover every mans work The Day and The Fire Both which you may not understand amiss of the Word of God manifesting and proving all things For the light of the Gospel is very frequently called the Day and the Law of God called Fire Deut. XXXIII 2. But I had rather in this place understand by the Day the day of the Lord that was shortly coming and by Fire the fire of Divine indignation to be poured out upon the Jewish Nation And I am the more inclined to this interpretation because there is so frequent remembrance of that Day and Fire in the Holy Scriptures When therefore there were some who built Judaism upon the Gospel foundation and that out of unskilfulness and ignorance of the simplicity of the Gospel for of such the Apostle here speaks he foretels
be Converted the Spirit of Grace reveals these to him in feeling and experience And further Revelation as to the understanding of Scripture there is not the least ground-work in Scripture whereupon to expect it III. When God had committed the New Testament to writing he had revealed all that he would reveal to men on Earth of his will and way of Salvation The words in Joh. XVI 13. are appropriate to the Apostles None ever were or will be whom God led into all Truth save the Apostles He leads indeed every Saint he hath into all Truth needful for him but the Apostles into all Truth needful both for themselves and the whole Church Because God by them was to give the rule of Faith and Manners to all the Church Now when all the Truth that God would reveal was revealed and compact in the New Testament as all Light in the body of the Sun must we still look for further Revelation to explain this Revealing It was foretold that the Light that God would exhibit under the Gospel should be as the Light of the Sun sevenfold and must we look for another Sun of Revelation to give Light to this Sun The New Testament revealed the Old and must we look for Revelations to reveal the New And so we may look in infinitum IV. The main difficulty of the New Testament requires study to unfold it rather than Revelation The Old Testament needed further Revelation to unfold it and further was promised And accordingly the New Testament was a further Revelation that did unfold it For the great difficulty of the Old Testament was in the Sence the Language every Child could understand for it was their Mother-tongue But when they could understand what the words meant they could not understand what the Sence meant nor was it possible to find it out in abundance of places without further Revelation But the main difficulty of the New Testament is in the Languages unlock that clearly and the Sence ariseth easie The Old Testaments difficulty was in the Kernel the New in the Shell For besides that Greek the Original is not the Native Tongue now of any part of the World there is such intermixture of Septuagint Greek Hebrew Idioms Talmudichal Phrases and Allusions to the Jews Opinions and Customs that the greatest difficulty is to explain the Language that done the Sence is plain Now certainly it is more likely to obtain understanding of Languages by Study than to attain it by Revelation unless any one will yet expect that miraculous gift of Tongues which I suppose there is none will make himself so ridiculous as to say they expect But this only by the way In the Text as there are two Verses so are there two distinct things observable In the former a Festival mentioned in the latter Christs presence there intimated and either of them illustrated by three circumstances I. The Festival 1. By its Name It was the Feast of Dedication 2. By the Place It was at Jerusalem 3. By the Time It was Winter II. Christs presence there 1. By the place where he was In the Temple 2. The particular place in the Temple Solomons porch 3. His posture there He was walking He was at the Feast at Jerusalem though it were Winter and he walked in the Temple belike to get him heat because it was Winter The Feast of Dedication as the Authors before mentioned do inform us was instituted upon this occasion Antiochus Epiphanes one of the Kings of Syria one of the Horns of the fourth Monarchy Dan. VII 24. having the Nation of the Jews under his Power and Tyranny raised against them and their Religion a very sad Persecution He forbad them to Circumcise their Children he restrained the exercise of their Religion burnt the Books of the Law set up idolatry defiled the Temple set up an Idolatrous Altar upon the very Altar of the Lord in the Court of the Temple And all this for a Time two Times and half a Time as Daniel styles it Dan. VII 25. or three years and an half The Jews had never felt such misery of that nature before and Daniel in his twelfth Chapter foretelling of that a long time before it came saith That it should be such a time of trouble as had never been since they were a Nation At last Judas Maccabaeus prevails against his Power and Tyranny shakes off that Yoak restores the People and Religion destroies his Idolatry purges the Temple pulls down his Idol-Altar that he had erected there yea also the Altar of the Lord which it had stood upon and defiled reareth up a new Altar and on the 25th day of the month Cisleu which was the ninth month or their November dedicates the Altar and sets the Publick Service of the Temple afoot again And thereupon he and the generation ordained that day and seven days forward for the Feast of Dedication to be kept annually throughout all succeeding Generations as may be read at large in 1 Macc. IV. and in the Authors beside that I named I might Observe from hence How joyful a thing it is and how joyful and perpetual a Memorial it ought to carry when decayed Religion is restored to a Nation Oh! that England might see that day and come to such a Feast of Dedication But I desire to fix upon the latter Verse of the Text and to observe Christs presence at that Feast which is the more remarkable and strange because there were three things that might not only have warranted his absence thence but even perswaded and urged it according to the three circumstances we observed in the former verse the Feast it self the Time and the Place I. The Time It was Winter An ill time to travail and Jerusalem was a very long journey from Capernaum the place of Christs habitation And the Evangelist seems to have added this circumstance the rather that we might look upon his presence there as the more remarkable II. It is said that Christ was at this Feast at Jerusalem whereas he might have kept it in his own Town For although indeed the three Festivals that God had appointed by Moses Passover Pentecost and of Tabernacles required mens personal appearance at Jerusalem yet the two Feastâ that were ordained afterwards Purim and Dedication as the Jews Records tell us might be kept at their own homes III. And that which was the main thing indeed this Feast was not ordained either by the immediate appointment of God as those three were to Moses nor was there then any Prophet in those times that by Divine Warrant could authorize its institution but it was only of a Civil and Ecclesiastical Sanction appointed by the Higher Powers in that Generation As our fift of November is indeed of Religious observation and yet but only of Humane Institution These reasons might have kept Christ from going up to Jerusalem at this Feast and yet you see that he is there From whence I Observe and on which I shall
2. Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the World i. e. know ye not that there shall be a Christian Magistracy that Christians shall be Kings and Magistrates to rule and judge the World And the very same sense speaketh Dan. VII 18. 26 27. from whence both my Text and that passage of Paul are taken know ye not saith he that the Saints shall judge the World How should they know it Why Plainly enough out of that place in Daniel where in vers 18. it is foretold That the Saints of the most High should take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for ever and ever And in vers 26 27. The Judgment shall sit as in the Text and the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven should be given to the people of the Saints of the most High Two considerations will put the matter out of all question I. That the word Saints means not strictly nor really Sanctified in opposition to men not really sanctified but it means Christians in general in opposition to Heathens And so the Apostle himself clears it in the verse before that I cited Dare any of you go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints What is meant by the unjust there Heathens or Infidels as he calls them vers 6. And then what is meant by Saints But Christians in opposition to Heathens II. Observe the tenor of the contents in Daniel and that will illustrate the sense of these verses that I produced He speaks before of the four Heathen Monarchies the Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syrogrecian that had had the Kingdom and Dominion and Rule in the World and had tyrannized in the World especially against the Church that was then being but at last they should be destroyed and upon their being destroyed Christ should come and set up his Kingdom through the World and then the Kingdom and Rule and Dominion in the World should be put into the hands of Saints or Christians and they should Rule and Judge in the World as those Heathen Monarchies had done all the time before And thus you have the words unfolded to you and I hope according to the meaning of the Holy Ghost And now my Lords and Gentlemen you may see your own picture in the glass of the Text for you are of the number of those of whom it speaketh In it you may see your selves Imbenched Commissioned and your work put into your hands In the first clause The institution of the Function the ordaining of Magistracy and Judicature I saw Thrones set In the second The Commissionating of Christians unto that Office and Function They sat upon them In the last The end of this Office and the employment they are set upon in it Judgment was given unto them Thrones set by whom By him that had been the great agent in the verse before Christ that had bound the Devil and chained him up They sat upon them Who They that are the persons mentioned in the verse before Men of the Nations undeceived from the delusions of Satan and brought into the truth of the Gospel Judgment was given them for what end For Judgment sake that they might execute judgment and righteousness among the Nations And so I have my words fairly cut out before me and the matter and the method of the Text calls upon me to speak unto these three things I. Of the institution of Magistrates as an ordinance of Christ. II. Of Christian Magistracy as a Gospel mercy III. The great work the all in all of Magistracy The execution of Judgment I. Of all the offices of Christ he executed only one of them peculiarly and reservedly himself without the communicating of any acting in it to any other but as to the execution of the other two he partly acteth himself and partly importeth some acting therein by deputation to others His Priestly office that that most concerned and had the greatest stroke in mans redemption he executed intirely himself and no other had share no other could have share in the executing of that with him None could be capable of offering any of his all-sufficient Sacrifice with him none could be capable of offering the incense of mediation with him But in his Kingly and Prophetick offices he acteth himself and he deputeth others to act for him As the great Prophet he teacheth his Church himself by giving of the Scriptures and instructing his holy ones by his Spirit yet withal hath he deputed Ministers to be her Teachers And as the great King of the Church and of all the World he ruleth in both himself in the hearts of his people by his Word and Spirit and amongst his enemies with a rod of Iron yet withal hath he deputed Kings Judges and Magistrates to be Rulers for him These two great Ordinances you have couched in this very place In the verse before the Text Christ chaineth up the Devil that he should no more deceive poor men as he had done before And how did he this By the Ministry of the Word and Preaching of the Gospel And in the words of the Text he setteth up Thrones and sets men upon them for what To execute Magistracy and to administer Judgment And so likewise are they closely hinted in that place of the Apostle that I cited I Cor. VI. Know ye not that the Saints shall iudge the World or Christians be Magistrates and in the next verse following know ye not that we shall judge Angels or we Apostles and Ministers judge Devils and overthrow their Idols Oracles Miracles and Delusions by the Ministry of the Gospel And so if I should take Pastors and Teachers Ephes. IV. 11. for Magistrates and Ministers I believe there were no soloecisme in the thing and I am sure the Jews called their chiefest Magistrates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pastores in their common speech And if the Apostle may be shewed there to speak in their vulgar dialect as he doth indeed all along his Epistles it would save a controversie and question that is raised upon that place These two Functions are the two standing Pillars and Ordinances the Jachin and Boaz that our great Solomon hath set up in his Temple to stand with the Temple while it standeth These are two choice strainings and distillings of the precious ointment that was poured on the head of our great Aaron that runs down upon the skirts of his clothing Yours my Lords and Gentlemen is a beam of that lustre that shineth in the Royal Crown of Christs Kingly office It is a coin stamped with the Image and superscription of the great Cesar of Heaven and Earth sitting in his Empire and Dominion over all I remember a Phrase of Pliny in his Epistles speaking of a vertuous and gallant daughter that imitated to the life the vertues and gallantry of a noble Father Filia patreni exscripserat the daughter had copied out her father to the life Magistracy is a daughter of
shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall dye an hundred years old That is there shall be so clear and great means of knowledge by the Gospel that none needed to be a child in understanding if they would but labour to know and that even the young child might speak it self to be as it were an hundred years old for knowledge if men would apply themselves to the means afforded for knowledge They produce that in I Joh. II. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you c. Whereas the Apostle himself doth explain what that anointing is namely Truth But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is Truth which is the very common title of the Gospel in the Gospel To speak fully to this matter I should clear this I. That after God had compleated and signed the Scripture Canon Christians must expect Revelations no more It was promised by God that he would pour down of his Spirit in the last days but it means the last days of Jerusalem and when she had finished her days and seen her last the Spirit in such kind of effusion is to be looked for no more II. I should shew that the Scripture containeth all things necessary for us to know or to enquire of God about T is not for you to know the times and the seasons Act. I. T is not for Peter to enquire what should become of John What is that to him Joh. XXI 22. But what is necessary for us to know to the Law and to the Testimony there you may learn it I need not to tell you that you may enquire there and learn what to believe what to do what to avoid how to demean your selves towards God towards your Neighbours towards your Selves how to come to Heaven and the like For I hope none come hither at this time upon the present occasion but have consulted with this Oracle to direct them Whether to go to suite with their Neighbour or no how to bear Witness how to Counsil how to Determin But the common curiosity of men is ready to enquire how should I know my Fortune Why I may tell them from this Oracle if I may use the term Fortune in such a case Esa. III. 10 11. Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him But shall I propose a case of the greatest concernment that a man can possibly enquire about and that is How shall I know whether my sins are pardoned whether I have the favour and love of God whether I shall be saved At Urim and Thummim they never enquired about any of these things and I believe such questions were rarely proposed by any to any Prophet And yet this Oracle we are speaking of the Law and Testimony will resolve this Quaere as far as is needful for any man to know so little are we behind them in the advantage of inquiring of God Is there any here that proposeth this question from a good heart and for a good end Let me close with him in the words of God Esa. XXI 12. If ye will enquire enquire ye But first let me tell him That a man may be saved though he do not know he shall be saved till he come to Salvation And I doubt not but there are many in Heaven that were never certain that they should come there till they came thither A good man may die doubting fearing trembling and yet his estate be sure for blessedness though he be never assured of it till he enjoy it For it is Faith that secures Salvation and is absolutely necessary for it Assurance is not so absolutely necessary If he kill me yet will I trust in him saith Job A strong Faith but little Assurance and yet his eternal state secure enough Secondly A man may have Faith and yet not know that he hath it As how many of the dear Saints of God have groned under this doubtfulness And answerably a man may have Certainty of Salvation as to the thing it self though not Assurance as to his own apprehension I deny not all this while that Assurance may be had though it be not obtained by all and that it is to be striven after according to that give all diligence to make your calling and election sure But to the coming to satisfaction upon this inquiry do as the Priest in his inquiries put on the brest-plate and go and stand before the Ark of the Covenant and there inquire Bring your Covenant to face the Law and then consult with it For this purpose consider these properties of Conscience 1. The actings of Conscience are only about things twixt us and God 2. The actings of Conscience in this case and indeed in all are not directly but by reflexion the very name of Conscience imports no less a knowledge by reflection Thus a sinner by his Conscience knows he hath sinned How By reflecting on the Law knows he hath deserved wrath by the Law 3. As Conscience condemns in the same method it comforts and acquits In Rom. II. 15. Conscience accuses or excuses in the same way both by reflexion upon a Law For 4. The ultimate resolution in this inquiry must be from the Mandatory part of the Covenant not the Promissory Many a man deceives himself undoes himself by judging his case from the promises and not taking his Resolution thence whence it should come viz. his Conscience and Gods Commandments laid together God hath promised pardon mercy salvation therefore I doubt not saith a secure soul but all will be well with me But how knowest thou these promises belong to thee Go to the Mandatory part of the Covenant the Moral and Evangelical Law and lay Conscience to that as face and glass and there what seest thou The Law commands thus and thus look in Conscience hast thou done thus If so thou mayst conclude that thou shalt participate of the promises that are affixt to such Commandments Thou canst not look on the Sun in Heaven but mayst see it in a pail of water Thou canst not immediately discover whether God loves thee has pardoned thee intend thee for Salvation but thou canst do it by reflexion twixt Law and Conscience twixt this and the Conditions of the Covenant Peter does not conclude Lord thou lovest me but Lord I love thee Look on the Command Love the Lord then look in Conscience and that gives the reflexion and so thou mayest be secured A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 29. 1663. II. PET. III. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousnes IT is well they might so and had warrant of promise so to do
to strike Elymas with blindness and to deliver Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan but from that Apostolick power which Christ granted to the Apostles in these words Well might not these sins very well be called sins unto death that were overtaken with such deadly and dreadful penalties Was not that sin a sin unto death that was to be retained as retaining is set in di rectopposition to remitting Thus may we bring the subjectum quaestionis into a farnarrower compass than the Rhemists bring it who do bewray their ignorance one way that they may serve their own turn another their ignorance of the proper original of the Phrase sin unto death that they may serve their turn about praying for the dead The greatest difficulties of the Scripture lie in the Language for unlock the Language and Phrases and the difficulty is gone And therefore they that take upon them to preach by the spirit and to expound the Scripture by the spirit let them either unlock to me the Hebrew Phrases in the Old Testament and the Greek in the New that are difficult and obscure or else they do nothing Now to attain to the meaning of such dark and doubtful Phrases the way is not so proper to put on them a sense of our own as to consider what sense they might take them in to whom and among whom the things were spoken and written in their common Speech If it were well considered how the Jewish Nation understood binding and loosing in their Schools and in their common Speech we should never need to mint such senses of our own to put upon the Phrase it would so be done to our hands Such an obscure Phrase is that of our Saviours about the sin against the Holy Ghost that it shall never be forgiven neither in this life nor c. And the collection that the Rhemists make upon it may seem very Logical for in that he saith that sin shall not be forgiven in the World to come doth it not argue that some other sins are then forgiven But this is their own sense and Logick it is not our Saviours Now how should we know our Saviours sense By considering how they would understand it to whom the words were spoken in their common acceptation and Language viz. they would soon understand it to be a direct facing and confuting of their foolish opinion concerning forgiveness of blasphemy against God which was that repentance and the day of expiation expiated a third part of the sin corporal punishment inflicted by the Magistrate expiated another third part but death did quite wipe it clean out for say they it is written This sin shall not be purged from you till you die which argues that it was purged by death No saith our Saviour neither in this life either by repentance nor day of expiation nor corporal punishment nor pardon in the life to come by the purging and wiping out of death Such an obscure Phrase is this before us A sin unto deâth and it seems a fair sense which the Rhemists have put upon it of their own viz. that it should mean A sin a man liâes in till he die But this is their own sense it is not the Apostles Now how should we know the Apostles sense By considering how they understood this Phrase in their common Language to whom he wrote And how was that Take it up by this Observation That in the Jewish Schools and Nation and Language this was a most frequent and ordinary saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If a man do such or such a thing as should not be done ignorantly he is to bring a sin offering and that attones for him But ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if he do it wilfully he is bound over to cutting off And in this they speak but the words of the Law in Numb XV. 27 28. If any soul sin through ignorance he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering And the Priest shall make an attonement for him that sinneth ignorantly But the soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the Land or a Stranger the same hath reproached the Lord That soul shall be cut off from among his people Now what is meant by cutting off If you ask some they will put a sense of their own upon the Phrase and tell you it means a cutting off or separating a person from the Congregation and publick Assemblies by Excommunication But ask the Jews to and among whom the thing was spoken what it means in their common speech and acceptation and they will tell you cutting off means ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Death by the hand of Heaven Death or destruction by the hand of God Interpreting the matter to this purpose that if a person sinned wilfully and presumptuously there was no sin offering allowed in that case but the party so offending fell immediately under liableness to divine vengance to be destroied or cut off by the hand of Heaven And this interpretation of the Phrase of cutting off the Apostle Paul doth justifie in that passage Heb. X. 26. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment c. That Text of Moses lots out the family of the Achan that we are speaking of the sin unto death and this Text of the Apostle takes him by the poll and tells what sin it is It tells you what sin it is viz. Sinning wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth It limits to you why it is called a sin unto death because there is no other way upon the committing of it but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation And it gives you some intimation why no praying for it because no sacrifice for it Before we come to speak upon the words we have some cause to muse and mourn over them As it is said Origen wept over that passage of the Psalmist that after his Apostasie stung him in Psal. L. 16 17. But unto the wicked God said what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and casteth my words behind thee If there be no sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation when we have sinned wilfully after we have once received the knowledge of the truth Men and brethren what shall we do Take the truth in the sense that may help most to favour us for the Gospel as it means there indeed And take sinning wilfully for as exclusive a term as you can to shut and exclude us out of the guilt here intended yet who can say but he hath sinned wilfully since he received the knowledge of the Gospel over and over If I should take Jeremiahs course in his fifth Chapter and vers 4. and forward sending first to the poor or inferior rank and ask
sin unto death viz. that brought to an immediate liableness to cutting off by divine vengeance Now this was a sin of presumption and despising the Word of God as Moses explains what that presumptuous sinning is in a high degree which as the Apostle tells in the same Chapter that it was a treading under foot the Son of God c. Therefore it is no wonder if with Paul there be no Sacrifice for it and with this Apostle no praying for it But why does not this our Apostle speak out and say I say he should not pray for it but says only I do not say that he should Let me lay to this expression that passage of our Saviour Matth. XVIII 17. If he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen or a Publican By which our Saviour doth not excommunicate such a one out of the Church for he saith not let him be to the Church but thee as a Heathen But he dischargeth and acquitteth the party injured from those duties and offices which he ought otherwise to him as a brother Our Apostles expression is much like to the same tenor He takes care of the Consciences of the people of God as well as he sheweth the two conditions of the sinner he speaketh of There were some that might be in a strait what to do in this case They were commanded by their Lord and Master to pray for their enemies these enemies of theirs were become so like their Father the Devil that it might pose their Consciences whetheâ they should pray for them or no. Therefore this divine Apostle useth a happy temper that he will lay no charge on them that are so pinched to pray for them nor indeed forbid those to pray for them that are more inlarged for undoubtedly the indifferent expression of the Apostle as I may call it seems plainly to carry with it such a consideration Ye see here in the Text a deadly wounded wretch like Amasa II Sam. XX. wallowing in his own blood if you call in Moses and Paul to give their Coroners verdict concerning the manner and cause of his death from those Texts of theirs that we have cited they will tell you that he is felo de se that he destroied himself and they will tell you that it was by wilful sinning after the knowledge of the truth wilful sinning against the Word of God That sin is the more desperately deadly by how much it is the more desperately wilful Hos. V. 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the Commandment One would think it should be because he did not willingly walk after the Commandment but by Commandment is meant the idolatrous Commandment of Jeroboam the Statutes of Omri and Ephraim was broken in pieces because he walked after them and broke the more because he walked after them willingly If the motions of sin which are by the Law do work in them to bring forth fruit unto death as the Apostle says Rom. VII 5. much more the motions of sin which are clean against the Law I must confess I do not understand the irritating or provoking power of the Law which some collect from this place for to me it is without doubt that the meaning of the Apostle is The motions of sin that were by the Law mistaken not efficiently for such was the Judgment of the Jews concerning the Law viz. That it did restrain only the outward action but regarded not the internal motion and so the Apostle seems to give some hint of his own mistake a while of the Law about the point of lust Now if the fruit of those motions of sin which are by the mistake of the Law be so deadly how must the actings of sin which are against the known Law wilfully committed be much more deadly Among the grains shall I call them or the talent weights that are cast into the scales to make sin weigh exceeding sinful this adds not the least aggravation if it do not indeed the greatest that it was done knowingly and wilfully And therefore in that cousen german sin to this we are speaking of for to me they are clearly distinct the sin against the Holy Ghost the grievousness of it in comparison of sinning against the Son lies not in regard of the persons sinned against as if the Holy Ghost were a nobler person than the Son but in regard of the manner of sinning the Son they knew not in so much humility and so blasphemed him out of ignorance but they saw the apparent evidence of the Holy Ghost in the miracles they saw and yet blasphemed him wilfully This dies the sins of wicked men of so deep a dye above the sins of the Saints of God because those sin with whole propensity of mind these of infirmity and against their wills And I cannot but remember the determination of St. Austin in a point of this nature About chaste Christian matrons and virgins that were ravished by the enemy when he broke into the City he determines well that they were not defiled though they were defiled their minds pure though the body polluted and he concludes Duo fuerunt ast unus adulterium commisit there were two in the action but one of them in the adultery And that here one sinned wilfully the other had no mind to the sin at all This then if there were nothing else doth sufficiently aggravate the grievousness of wilful sinning that it carries the very image and superscription of the sin of the Devil it is as it were flesh and bone of his bone and sin of his sin very Devil of very Devil Does any ask me what was that sin of the Devil It has been conceived by many that it was such a Pride as made him aspire to be equal with God or above him to set his Throne even with God or to unthrone him and to this purpose have those words been applied Esa. XIV 12 13. How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning c. For thou hast said in thine heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God c. I will be like the most High Which words indeed mean only the arrogance and haughtiness of the proud King of Babylon Does any one then ask me what was the sin of the Devil I should answer desperate malicing the honour and happiness of man in which God had placed him and desperate despising and scorning of that charge and command that God had laid upon Angels concerning man that they should attend him and keep him in all his ways And both these desperately wilful for he could sin at no lower rate for he could not sin of ignorance being an Angel and an Angel could have no tempter to sin but himself I shall not go about to define or circumscribe exactly the bounds wherin to conclude wilful sinning I shall not confine this evil spirit with any circle
because I would have every one to look well about lest the case be his own and not I but every mans own Conscience to judge whether he be guilty of wilful sinning or no. What thinks the Conscience of a false witness of a forsworn deponent that knowingly and resolvedly takes a false oath perverse justice and seeks the injury of his neighbour doth not this man know his sins wilfully What thinks the common swearer the common prophaner of the Lords day the unclean person the riotous and wanton the deceiver oppresser scoffer of the power of godliness does he not know or think that he sins wilfully If they will not know it nor think so but be more wilful still in wilful shutting their eyes against conviction let me leave that saying of the Lord himself written as it were upon these walls for a witness against them shall I say or as a doom upon them which you have Esa. XXVI 11. They will not see but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people yea and the fire of Gods enemies shall devour them The Apostle Ecchoes the last words in that passage we cited expectation of fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries I might shew the deadliness of such wilful sinning especially by two Observations I. That it is a most deadly symptom when the actus primus voluntatis when the will is so desperately poisoned at the bottom The acting of any sin is deadly enough of it self but when it is committed by the full bent of the first act of the will it is as poisoning the bullet to make it the more deadly which was killing enough of it self before Chistian how readest thou Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind and withal thy heart But wilful sinner how actest thou To oppose the counsel and command of the Lord with all the heart and mind and soul. To love and follow and commit wickedness with all the heart and mind and soul. If this be not a deadly wound under the fifth rib a mortal Plague at the bottom of the Will what can you call the Plague of the Heart II. Such sinning doth not only proceed from such a deadly principle but it adds more deadliness to that principle Every wilful sinning doth add more hardness and more wilfulness of sinning to the Heart still A hard Heart doth harden by sinning and the more the sin is wilful the more the Heart gathers hardness The Jews fein this the creeping on of the tempter to Eve that the Serpent asked the Woman why not eat of this Tree She answered Because God hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye dye First he drew nigh to it and said Thou seest I am nigh it and yet do not dye then she toucht it and then eat of it So do wilful sinnings draw on one another and from one the Heart is imboldned to another If such sinners would but find time with an impartial candle of self examination to look into their own Hearts they would find the too sad experience of this truth written there in black letters indeed But because few such will read their own Hearts let me leave that verse of the Apostle with them to read and to see what construction they can make of it to save their own stake If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise March 27. 1669. ACT. XVII 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead OCcasional meditations are Samsons hony gathered out of a dead carcase Heavenly thoughts taken up from Earthly occurrences the Sun and Heaven seen in looking downward into the Water from the Earthly objects that man meets with here below the Heart raising meditation upon them to some Heavenly purpose The true Philosophers stone indeed that turns what a man meets withal into some golden meditation And this divine Elizir our Saviour used very much From the occasion of the Samaritan Womans fetching water he raiseth his discourse and her thoughts to consider of the water of his Grace Joh. IV. And upon the occasion of the peoples following him for loaves he would raise their minds to think of the meat that perished not but indureth to Eternal Life Joh. VI. And in all his parables which were so exceeding frequent with him wherein he was still teaching some Spiritual and Heavenly things by some Earthly resemblance whatsoever the particular intent of every several parable was yet this intimation went in general with them all That there was to be an improvement of the observation of Earthly things and occurrences to Heavenly thoughts and meditations As he in the story that looked toward the Earth and pointed toward the Earth and yet cried O Câlum Methinks such a noble and remarkable occasion as we now meet withal should not be let pass without some elevated meditation And when we see our Assises Judges Trials Sentencings methinks a sursum corda may do very well in thoughts taken of the great and dreadful Judgment As Esa. XXXIII 17 18. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty Thy heart shall meditate terrors A right occasional meditation The right of an Earthly King in his royalty may justly move and stir up the heart to meditate the terrors of the King of glory The sight of a Judge in his authority and honour and the sight of the day and of the passages of an Assise may very properly and should indeed stir up the heart to meditate the terrors of that great day which the Lord hath appointed wherein he will judge the World in righteousness by the man which he hath ordained of which c. Such a reflection caused me to choose these words to discourse upon at this time at the Assise of our County to stir up the remembrance of the greatest Assise of all the World a meditation that can never be but useful and more especially at such a time as this that gives some specimen and Idea in little of the thing and does as it were in landskip lay the thing before us The Apostle in this place is discoursing to the University men of Athens It is said vers 21. That the Athenians spent their time in nothing but to tell or hear some new thing And here was strange business for them to purpose Strange news to them to hear such a Sermon against their Idolatry to hear speak concerning the Resurrection of the dead and an universal Judgment of all the World and all the World to be judged by a man that God had ordained Such riddles to flesh and blood and
when the Judge cometh to plead their cause and behold the Judge standeth before the door If we should take the words in this sence and pointing at such a time and matter I suppose it might not be far from the Apostles meaning But do his words reach no further Are not these things written for our learning as well as for theirs to whom he wrote Is it not a truth spoken to us as well as it was spoken to them Behold the Judge standeth before the door Dispute it not but rather down on our knees and bless and magnifie the patience and goodness of this Judge for that he is standing at the door and hath not yet broke in upon us In handling of the words I suppose I need not to spend time in explaining the Phrases For none that hears of this Judge but he knows who is meant and none can but know what is meant by his standing at the door viz. as near at hand and ready to enter And if the Apostle speak here of the nearness of the destruction of Jerusalem our Saviours words of the very same subject may help to explain him Matth. XXIV 33. So likewise ye when ye see all these things know that it is near even at the doors So behold the Judge is near even at the door But the Judge of whom And at the door of whom These shall be the two things that my discourse shall enquire after The Jews in their Pandect mention several things of which they say they are two and yet are four and when they explain themselves they shew they speak very good sence I may speak much like of the Propositions that rise out of the words that they are two but indeed are four The two are these That there is a Judge or God is a Judge and That this Judge stands before the door But the very stile and expression doth double it That God is the Judge of all and That this Judge stands at the door of all Because there is no exception about whom he judgeth nor any exception at whose door he standeth I cannot say it is as essential to God to be a Judge as it is essential to him to be holy infinite eternal good c. because he had been there had these never been creature to judge as he was these from eternity before the creature was but since there is a creature to judge I may say it is as essential to God to be Judge of his creature as it is to be God For we may truly say if he were not Judge he were not God For what kind of God were that that had not to do about judging the creature I need not to produce places of Scripture to prove that that is before us for what more plain what more frequent than such testimonies That God is Judge himself Psal. L. 6. That he is the Judge of all the Earth Gen. XVIII 25. That he is the Lord the righteous Judge 2 Tim. IV. 8. That he sits upon the Throne judging right Psal. IX 5. That with righteousness he shall judge the world and the people with equity Psal. XCVIII ult But because the language of the Text is Behold the Judge let me speak as I may say unto your eyes according to the expression O generation see ye the word of the Lord Jer. II. 31. So let me lead your eyes to behold some specimens of this great Judges judging and some demonstrations and assurances that he hath given that he will so judge Eternal Judgment is one of the first principles of Christian Religion Heb. II. 6. viz. the judgment that doth determine of every mans state for eternity for of Gods temporal judgments we shall not speak here And that judgment is either particular passed upon every one at death or general which shall be at the last day Of either of these I shall take some prospect I. Concerning the particular Judgment When mans day is done the day of the Lord begins with him and when his work is done he is to receive his wages according as his work hath been good or evil Lazarus and the rich man no sooner dead but the one is in torment and the other in Abrahams bosom And how come they there Conceive you see their passage The souls of all good or bad as soon as ever departed out of the body are slipt into another world And what becomes of them there Do they dispose of themselves Do they go to Heaven or Hell by their own disposal There would never soul go to Hell if it were at those terms But the departed soul meets with its Judge as soon as ever it is departed and by him it is doomed and disposed to its eternal estate The Judge stands at the very door of that World of Spirits to dispose of all that come in there to their everlasting condition according as their works have been here good or evil So that those words of the Apostle as they speak the subsequence of judgment to death so they may very well speak this nearness It is appointed for all men once to die and then cometh the judgment Heb. IX ult Those words of our Saviour are very regardable Luk. XX. 30. He is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Though dead and gone to the World and to themselves yet to him they are not dead but alive and he deals with them as such as are alive And though he be not the God of all that so live yet he is the Judge of them all He calls himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob when they had been now dead and in the dust a long time for they lived though they were dead And so Cain and Cham and Pharaoh lived though they were dead that is were not utterly extinct and yet God was far from owning himself the God of Cain Cham and Pharaoh but he was their Judge And do but think how these men looked upon their Judge when they met him A carnal wretch that never thinks of God never dreams of judgment but is all for his pleasures and delights here when he dies and instantly meets his dreadful Judge to doom him Can any tongue express what a horrid surprizal that soul is taken at I cannot but take some scantling of conception of it from that passage Rev. I. 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead The beloved Disciple to be thus terrified at the sight of his beloved Master He that used friendly to lean in his bosom now to fall at his feet for fear as dead And Christ not coming to him neither with any message of terror but in a friendly manner with instructions concerning things that were to come to pass thereafter And if so dreadful a consternation fell upon him upon meeting and seeing the glory of his dear what is the wretched souls case when it so unexpectedly meets with the dreadful terrors of its angry Judge
him from death and was heard in that he feared It lies upon glorified Saints in one part of it viz. Thanksgiving It is so a Duty for the unholiest that though they sin in their prayers yet they sin worse if they pray not Your prayers are not sin as to the Act but because of other things External adoration is absolutely required to be given to God by all his creatures and if that be not yielded they doubtless sin This the wicked man when he prays gives to God They mistake foul that say Pray not till the Spirit move you Truth saith Pray because Duty requires you and in doing your duty wait for the Spirit 3. It is a Duty that makes out and sanctifies all our duties As 1 Tim. IV. 5. Every creature of God is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer So is every religious duty that we perform What is our hearing reading meditation if we pray not that God would sanctifie it and make it beneficial to holy ends and purposes to us 4. We had need to pray in reference to our Duty lest God turn us out of all and own us not for Tenants because we pay not our Rent You read in XXX Exod. 12. c. That every Israelite was to give half a shekel for the Redemption of his Soul the rich was not to give more nor the poor less This Christ himself paid Matth. XVII 24. c. Prayer is that half shekel to us The rich can give no more and the poor hath this to give viz. To make our humble acknowledgments to God for our lives and our comforts This is the greatest owning of our homage and none is so poor as to be without it The words that signifie Prayer speak this viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Judging our selves and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Depending upon grace We hold all upon grace The acknowledgment of this is the payment of our Homage to our Creator Would you comfortably enjoy your Houses Lands Studies Comforts pay your Rent Pray Pray Pray See what becomes of them that pay not this Homage Jerem. X. 25. Pour out thy sury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not on thy Name Secondly We had need pray because of our wants This is the only way for our supply II. This is the bucket to draw our Water Ask and you shall have Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee Yea though God know our wants we must pray for the supply of them That is a strange motive to prayer in Matth. VI. 8. Your heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask them What need then is there to tell them If he will give he will give whether we ask or ask not Yes pray for what ye stand in need of though ye are sure of the grant of those things Daniel prayed for the restoration of the Captivity which he knew certain David for the pardon of his sin which he knew God would pardon And that for these reasons First God will have his Homage T is reason Elias should have his cake first that provides meal for the maintenance of the whole family 1 Kings XVII 13. Secondly We pray not to shew God our wants as if he were ignorant of them but to shew that we are sensible of them and to signifie that we know he only is able to supply them Saints are called poor because they know their wants and know they live on Gods Alms. See Rev. III. 17 18. Because thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I counsil thee to buy of me gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich c. God would that this Church of Laodicca should know her wants and buy by prayer the supply of them Thirdly I may add We had need to pray because of our advantage and benefit yea though we receive not particularly what we pray for Though as Psal. XXII 2. We cry in the day time and God heareth not and in the night season we take no rest Though God seem as in Psal. LXXXVIII 14. to cast off our Soul and hide his face from us yet we had need to pray still because we still want and if we never receive particularly what we pray for yet these benefits we shall reap by our prayers 1. We keep up and refresh our communion with God Constant prayer hath this advantage that it suffereth not God to forget us Lord why hast thou forgotten me saith David Prayer permits not God to forget no more than a Mother can forget a crying child He that prays is Gods Remembrancer and gives him no rest 2. The more we pray the better God will know our faces at the day of judgment I know you not shall Christ say to some why They never looked towards him Psal. XIV 2 3. The Lord looked down from Heaven to see if there were any that did understand and seek God They are all gone aside c. And I. Esay 4. There t is said of wicked men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that they are estranged backward or turned backward To these methinks the great Judge will say another day Ye were always strangers to me such as turned their backs upon me I could never see your face and therefore verily I know you not But on the contrary he that now confesses Christ and makes himself known to him by prayers and humble addresses he will know and confess him at the day of Judgment 3. The more we pray the more the heart is in Heaven and with God So that Prayer it self is a blessed benefit Phil. III. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven This of all other Conversations is the heavenly Conversation As Christ when he prayed was transfigured Luke IX 29. So in prayer the Christians heart is changed the soul is winged and mounts up till it gets hold of God as Jacob had him in his arms when he prayed 4. Time will come that all our prayers and tears shall meet us God puts our tears in his Bottle God reserves our prayers not one of them is left and we shall in time receive the fruit of them In 1 Kings VIII 59. There Solomon prays Let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night that he maintain the cause of his Servant c. Prayers are nigh unto God And thus I have finished the first Observation viz. That we had need to pray I come to the second II. That we had need to be taught to pray There is no doing spiritual work but according to the Patern in the Mount God prescribed Forms As at the offering of the first-fruits of the Land of Canaan XXVI Deut. 3 4. c. Thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days and
Word The Spirit gave the Scriptures and he useth them for the end why they were given viz. mans Salvation The Spirit unhingeth not the Essential actings of the Soul but works with them Now the acting of the Soul is by reasoning and perswasion The Will chooseth being perswaded by the Understanding and the Understanding is perswaded by the object And so the Spirit does in the work of Grace Gen IX 27. God shall perswade Japhet 2 Cor. V. 11. We perswade men Now this is not done but by the Word The heart is moulded by the Spirit to receive perswasion but by the Word he works perswasion in us Common grace first grace growth of Grace are thus all wrought by the Word I mean Common grace where sanctification is to follow Sometime there is stirring of Conscience in wicked men from horror and affrightments and sometimes from the Law for the glorifying of it but where healing must come the wound is made by the Word and the healing is effected by the Word A man is perswaded and satisfied that he is in an undone condition How is he so perswaded By the Word The Law does it Rom. VII 9. before mentioned A man is perswaded to rest on Christ. The Word doth it Faith comes by hearing That in Joh. VI. 45. will illustrate this It is written in the Prophet And they shall be all taught of God Taught of God who had been taught of the Devil Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me Cometh unto me as Teacher And how did they hear and learn from the father but from the Word of the Father Growth of grace also is built up by the Word 1 Pet. II. 2 3. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby What sets man upon obedience and striving against sin longing after God c The Word continually applied Man lives by the Word grows by the Word This is the means that the Spirit useth They that speak of a Light within them that serves for all if they mean Light from the Word let them then own the Word if they mean the Light of nature that never yet lighted man to Heaven That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World viz. The Gospel that went through the World t is clear that the Evangelist means that there Joh. I. 9. VI. Having the Spirit speaks not perfection in him that hath it It speaks Holiness not Sinlesness Take this in the mouth of two witnesses as holy as any First S. Paul Rom. VII 17. Sin dwelleth in me and 25. vers with the flesh I serve the Law of sin Secondly S. John 1 Ephes. I. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us To them that distinguish not betwixt holiness and perfection but say they are perfect because they think they are holy I say two things 1. They are little seen in their own hearts 2. Little seen in the Scripture and Divinity For the Scripture is abundant to the contrary and Divinity makes the contrary most plain and facil to be understood It is a Paradox Adam had perfection though not the Spirit a Believer hath the Spirit yet not perfection and yet the Believers imperfection is more excellent than Adams perfection I might instance First in the foundation of eithers holiness Adams from his Creation and nature a Believers from the Spirit and grace Secondly In the amissibleness of Adams Adams was liable to losing a Believers not Thirdly In the manner of Acting of which anon I cannot but observe that in Ephes. IV. 24. The new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is rendred two ways and both to the present purpose The English well and according to the Hebrew Idiom reads true holiness and so the Apostle seems to compare the holiness of the new man with Adams His was true holiness but this truer and more excellent though imperfect It is rendred also The holiness of truth The Gospel is oft called Truth and if it be so to be rendred here then it means Evangelical holiness not only in opposition to Legal but to Adams Evangelical holiness is the holiness and that that indeed restores the Image of God After God created in righteousness and the holiness of truth Hence is that in 2 Pet. I. 4. That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature Adam was not partaker of Gods holy nature but only of his creation if his holiness were any yet it was mans only but a Believer is partaker of the Spirit when he hath holiness Let me ask this Question and Answer it and that will clear all Why are we justified by perfect justification and righteousness for so we are because it is by the righteousness of Christ which is called the righteousness of God when we are not sanctified by perfect sanctification and holiness though sanctified by the Spirit of Christ I answer First It is needful that Justification be perfect for if we are not justified from every sin it is all one as if we were from none As break one Command and break all so unjustified from one sin and unjustified from all For 1. Such persons are not accepted of God 2. They are liable to condemnation therefore Justification must be perfect But in sanctification t is not so as I shall observe by and by A man may be truly though not perfectly holy Secondly It is Gods will and disposition to glorifie his grace in holiness by its living and acting in and against contrariety As it was Abrahams glory in Rom. IV. 18. Who against hope believed in hope Whether is it greater to be holy in the midst of sinfulness or as Adam to be holy when no sin touched him Which was greater for Lot to be holy in Sodome or in Abrahams house Compare a Believer with Adam Adam had Gods Image the Believer hath Gods Image restored What was Gods Image in Adam It consisted first in the Essence of his Soul and made him spiritual intellectual immortal and secondly in the qualification of his person and made him holy righteous The former is not lost nor extinguished by sin nor could only spoiled and soiled The Devils for all their sin yet are spiritual intellectual immortal substances The latter did embalm and keep fresh the former His holiness kept his spiritualness his intellectual nature in the right temper while he kept it Now to a Believer there is so much holiness as to do the same thing He is spiritual though he be flesh his Holiness makes his intellect right viz. To know God and love him and preserves him to immortality nay goes beyond Adam in operation As namely 1. He knows God in Christ which full revealing of God Adam did not attain to 2. He loves God more excellently than Adam did or could do Adam had no pul-back
Text When the thousand years are expired Satan III. shall be loosed upon which passage and providence we cannot but stand and muse a little to see Barabbas the Vilain and Murtherer let out of prison and at liberty again Can you but wonder at it that such a horrid Vilain as he should not be kept fast when he was caught and laid fast That Satan did break prison and loose himself from his bands I suppose none can imagine that remember that Christ laid him up and Christ was too strong and too watchful to let such a prisoner escape from him whom he had so fast And the very expression in the Text Satan was loosed from his prison hint that he got not loose himself but was loosed by him that had tyed him up And this in some reflection may speak comfort that the Devil whom God hath in a chain is not at his own disposal and liberty but that God restrains or enlarges binds or looses him at his pleasure He reserves him in chains of the darkness of his wrath and displeasure that he shall not finally escape him and he hath him in the chains of his providence and disposal that at his pleasure he curbs and restrains him rage he never so much and be he never so furious But there are two things here that are a just cause of sadness for this one of comfort First That Christ should let him loose when he had him fast seeing with him there is nothing but mischief Had he broke loose it had been another matter but that Christ should loose him it is something the more bitter to think of as it is very well worth the thinking of Let me relate this story for answer to this strangeness When the cruel and bloody Phocas was Emperor of Greece and the Church and Kingdom lay under very much sadness and affliction under so wretched a Ruler a good and holy man in his zeal and devotion made bold to question God why he had set so wicked a Governor over his People And he received this answer That Phocas indeed was as vile and wicked a Ruler as could be set over them but that the sins of the People had deserved that such a Tyrant should be set over them If any one in like zeal and bitterness of Spirit should be so bold as to question Christ Lord Jesus why shouldest thou let Satan loose when thou hadst him fast seeing thou knewest that he being loose would only do mischief and destroy He might very well receive this most true and just answer That it is indeed a very woful thing that Satan should be let loose to go and deceive the Nations and to lead them into blindness and error but the Nations had deserved that they should be so served And let the Apostles be the Lords interpreters 2 Thes. II. 10. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God sent them strong delusions the great deluder that they might believe a lye God had chained Satan that he should not deceive them in that he had brought in the Gospel among them But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked The World grew wanton with the Gospel and toyed with it They prized it not as they should improved it not as they should slighted the truth embraced error followed their own ways and follies Therefore saith Christ as it is in Esa. LXVI I also will chuse their delusions to give them up to them and because decipi vult hic Populus decipiatur Therefore among them Satan and let them have enough of falshood deceiving and delusion because this people love to have it so Wantoning with the Word of God and dallying with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is but too justly punished with the loss of it and with removing the Candlestick out of its place if men care not to walk by the light of the candle When men will shut their eyes against the light it is no wonder if God make them dwell in darkness This is one sad business that Satan is thus let loose to deceive but behold a second we cometh after it viz. Secondly That he being thus loosed you never find that he is bound again He had been loose before and was bound but loosed here and for ought we find loosed ever Read the Chapter henceforward and you find no end of his deceiving till you find an end of his being In the Text he is deceiving and his army is mustered and marching against the beloved City and what is the next news vers 9. Fire came down from Heaven and devoured them and vers 10. The Devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone Ask you how long shall Satan be thus loose and deceive how long shall his army battel against the Camps of the Saints and besiege the beloved City The Apocalyptick here tells you till his army be destroyed by the fire of Gods vengeance from Heaven and till Satan himself be cast into fire and brimstone A passage which I think is very well worth their considering which look for and speak of such golden and glorious times yet to come before the end of the World Fourthly Satan loosed you see falls to his old trade again of deceiving the Nations IV. A right Jail-bird indeed a Theif that delivered out of prison falls to his old course of theiving again and will not leave till the Gallows ended him Would you not think that a thousand years imprisonment should have wrought some change in him and amendment upon him But bray a fool in a mortar and he will come out a fool still Satan is no changling but will be Satan still Who what he is we shall have occasion to speak to more hereafter Fifthly Among the Deceived by him Gog and Magog is particularly named And V. what is meant by them is variously and by some wildly guessed I might make a long Discourse concerning Gog and Magog and tell you 1. That the Jews from Ezek. XXXVIII XXXIX where there is a dreadful Prophesie concerning Gog do hold that such a dreadful enemy shall appear a little before Messias shall appear and that Elias shall come to fight with him and they tell terrible things about the War of Gog framed out of their own fancy 2. That some Christians by Gog and Magog understand the Turk some the Pope some both Not to trouble you with things more immaterial our Apocalyptick alludes to that Gog in Ezekiel he means not the same person with that Gog there mentioned but one of the same temper and qualities with him So he calls the City where our Lord was crucisied Sodom and Egypt Chap. XI 8. because that City was a place of the like wickedness with them Now that Ezekiel by Gog and the Land of Magog means the Kingdom of the Syro-Grecians or Greek-Syrian more especially Antiochus the great Persecutor of the Jews and their Religion might be copiously
sin should never be changed the contents of the Flesh and the World should never have an end And how sadly and miserably do we feel the contrary to our eternal sorrow Oh! Satan thou hast deceived us and we have been deceived thou hast proved stronger than we and hast undone us For indeed Satans strength lies in his Cosenage cut but these locks of his like Sampsons and he is weak and can do little Satan with all his strength and power cannot force any man to sin and therefore his way is to cheat them to sin If Satan could force any soul to sin all souls must go to Hell and no flesh should be saved for he would spare none but since he cannot force and compel the Will he cheats and cosens the Understanding and so perswades the Will The subtil Serpent winds into the Will and Consent by deceiving the Fancy and Intellect as the Apostle speaks of sin Rom. VII 11. Sin deceived me and so slew me Satan deceives and so destroies How he does insinuate and inject his deceit and illusions upon the minds of men how he strikes fire that the tinder of the soul may take some kindling is not so easie for discovery as it is sad in experience It is a depth of Satan hard to be known as to his managing of it but too well known in the effect and operation I shall not therefore trouble you with any discourse upon that subject though something might be said about it both from Philosophy and Divinity II. It is a Masterpiece of his cheating to cheat men in matter of Religion To deceive the Nations with a false Religion instead of a true as he did the Heathen before he was bound and as he hath done the greatest part of the World with Popery and Mahumetism since he was let loose As it is the great work of Christ to propagate the truth and to promote the Gospel which is the great Truth of God and Mystery of Salvation so Satan makes it his business to sow tares among the wheat to corrupt the truth as much as possible and to muddy the wholsom waters of Religion of which the Sheep of Christ should drink as much as he can that no man may drink but durt and puddle As he himself abode not in the truth Joh. VIII so he cannot abide that men should abide in it if he can prevent it In 2 Cor. IV. 4. The God of this World blindeth mens minds that the brightness of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ should not shine to them The Devil plays not the small game of cheating men of their mony of their lands and worldly interests as men cheat one another but of their Religion of the soundness of truth of solid and wholesom principles Whence else such Idolatrous principles among the Heathen such damnable traditions among the Jews such cursed heresies among Christians The enemy hath done this who cannot abide the fair growing of the Wheat but if possible he will choke it with Tares Do you not hear of Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. IV. 1. and of damnable heresies 2 Pet. II. 1. T is the Devils damnable plot and design to destroy men by their very principles of Religion to poyson the fountains out of which they should drink wholsom water that they drink death and damnation where they should drink wholsom refreshing It is a cheat too sad when the Devil cosens men to the hurt of their souls by their chusing and using things for their bodies outward condition but it is a Mastery of his delusions when he cheats them in matters and principles of Religion which they chuse and use for their souls T is a great and a sad mastery of his when he brings men to sin out of the very principles of their Religion to establish mischief by a Law As the vilest Act that ever was committed in the World viz. the crucifying the Lord of life the Jews did it out of the very Principles of their traditional Religion which ingaged them not to endure such a Messias And the horrid fact that this day commemorates which even amazeth all stories and the like to which no Age or Nation can produce or parallel they did it out of the very principles of their Religion their Faith being Faction and their Religion Rebellion as our Churches have many a time heard that character of them It is not a trifling business for men to take up principles and practises in Religion out of fancy and humor and self conceit though that hath been very much in fashion in our days It is Satans masterpiece of Policy to make men forsake the Waters of Siloam that run softly and to dig themselves Cisterns that will hold no water and so to perish for thirst Is it not a desperate cheat of Satan that men should out of principles of Religion refuse the publick Ministry out of principles of Religion should rant and become Atheists out of principles of Religion should do as they were about to have done by us this day to destroy those that are not of the same principles and Religion A sad thing when that which should be a mans balm becomes poison and those things which should have been for his greatest good should turn to his greatest evil when his principles of Religion become his greatest ruine Surely a very powerful cheat of Satan is there when men chuse darkness to be their light poison their diet and doctrines of Devils to be their way of Salvation I shall only mind you of the Apostles counsel 1 Joh. IV. 1. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are come into the World And that of another Apostle Prove all things and hold that which is good And Be not led away with every Doctrine The present occasion calls upon us to remember what men seduced by Satan would have done to us and what the God of truth and mercy hath done for us and we cannot better do either than with reflection upon Religion The Text before us tells us that Satan deceives all he can and musters an Army of those that he hath deceived to fight against those that will not be deceived For ask that Army why do you fight against the Camp of the Saints and why do you besiege the beloved City And what answer in the World can they give but this Because they will not be deceived by Satan as we are And ask our Gunpowder Plotters Why do you go about to destroy King Parliament and Nation What quarrel have you against them that you would bring so horrid a ruin upon them What wrong have they done you that you will take so severe and cruel a revenge Why they will not be as we are blind as we are blind befooled and deceived as we are befooled and deceived A sad case that a Nation must be destroyed because it will not be cheated by Satan because it will not put
These most abominable ones in that most abominable generation we have been speaking of and the Text speaks of were such as had been once in the right way in the profession of the Gospel but now were utterly revolted from it and become most contrary to it And so our Saviour shews the very topping up of the wickedness of that generation in that Parable of the Devil cast out by the Gospel but come in again with seven evil Spirits worse than himself So saith he shall it be with this generation Mat. XII 45. Of such the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. IV. 1. Some that should depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils And he saith that such a falling away would discover the man of sin and child of perdition 1 Thes. II. 3. And the Apostle 1 Joh. II. 19. saith that many Antichrists were abroad come out from them that professed the Gospel but now were become Antichrists And this our Apostle in this Chapter vers 2. intimates that they had once known the way of righteousness but were turned from the holy commandment that was delivered to them And being thus turned out of the way and fallen from the truth they were fallen into all manner of abomination Read but this Chapter and the Epistle of Jude at your leisure and you will see the full Character of them In little take this account of them 1. That like Balaam for love of filthy lucre they made merchandize of souls and cared not what became of them that they might get gain And accordingly 2. That they led them into all loosness and libertinism to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to Idols to âiot in the day time and indeed to account any thing lawful I might produce Scriptures for all these but I suppose you remember them 3. They were direct enemies to the power and purity of the Gospel and bitter persecutors of the sincere professors of it The Apostle gives evidence enough of this in those few words 2 Tim. III. 8. As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth I shall spare more picturing of them read but the places I have cited and you will see them in very sad colours And now let us look upon them as very justly we may as a very sad spectacle such another as the spectacle of the fallen Angels once Angels but now Devils these once Christians but now brute beasts Atheists Devils incarnate In the cursed copy and example before us Balaam and these his disciples or followers we may see the fruits of two as cursed trees as any grows by the lake of Sodom Covetousness in Balaam and Covetousness and Apostacy or revolting from the truth in these that came after him Covetousness that makes him to sell a whole Nation to Gods curse and plague and their own ruine for the wages of unrighteousnes He hath got a bag of mony and twenty four thousand men of Israel are destroyed for it and the anger of the Lord brought upon the whole Camp And what cares Balaam for all this so long as he hath got the mony Oh the cursed fruits of covetousness that might be reckoned heaps upon heaps I shall but mention one and that may be enough Covetousness made Judas sell the very son of God for mony A monster of villany that the very Devils themselves might stand amazed at but that he played their own game And as for Apostacy or revolting from the truth how horrid fruits and effects have followed and do follow upon it Scripture and History give such evidence and instance that to speak of them would take up more time then even this whole day would afford us We shall only speak of one perticular wherein all Apostacy and all the fruits of Apostacy are met and convened and that is that which this day gives us occasion to commemorate and remember viz. the Church of Rome When you read of those that have forsaken the right way and gone astray remember Rome for who is there that hath done so more and when you read of following the way of Balaam and loving the wages of unrighteousness remember that Church and City for who hath done the one and who doth the other more than she she cavils at us as if we had forsaken the right way when we forsook her but we most truly answer that we forsook her because she hath forsaken the right way The Church at Rome was once in the right way indeed and celebrated for it through the whole world as the Apostle tells us Rom. 1. 8. But how long did it continue in that way I may very well answer as long as it was built upon the rock Christ but when it began to build it self upon Peter then and thenceforward did it forsake the right way For certainly he forsakes the right way that leaves to build upon the sure foundation Christ and builds upon the sand the person of a meer man If I were to render an account of my belief concerning the first Founders of a Church at Rome I should have recourse to that passage Act. II. 10. That there were at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured upon the Apostles Strangers of Rome Jewes and Proselytes Did not some of these believe and returning to Rome carried the Gospel thither with them If any doubt it I shall name two of them that did Rom XVI 7. The Apostle from Corinth saluting the Church that was then at Rome among others names there Salute Andronicus and Junius my kinsmen and Fellow-prisoners who are renowned among the Apostles and who were in Christ before me Here are two men that were very highly respected among the Apostles and that before Paul was an Apostle and where and when could this possibly be but at that time at Jerusalem these being of those that are mentioned in those words There were then at Jerusalem Strangers of Rome Jews and Proselytes By these men and some other that we cannot name a Romanist must give me leave to believe that the Gospel was first planted in Rome and a Church first founded there And I must believe that the Church by them planted there was watered by Paul and that before ever he came to Rome That ye may think a Solaecism to say that he watered the Church of Rome before ever he came at it But the Church came to him For if you observe that Act. XVIII 2. That Claudius had expelled all the Jews out of Rome and that the Apostle met with Priscilla and Aquila and divers others of that Church mentioned Rom. XVI you must conclude that when they returned to Rome again after the death of Claudius as it is plain they did they returned fully furnished with the doctrins and instructions of that blessed Apostle and so there is a Church there then pure and holy and in the right way and renowned as the Apostle tells us through the world but how
not what spirit you are of His meaning was that they understood not what spirit the Disciples of Christ should be of not so fiery but meek charitable and forgiving Did these men think you ever consult Christ and his oracle when they went about to fire Parliament and State and Kingdom Would Christ think you ever have given such counsel and would he have owned such a spirit for the spirit of a true Chistian Certainly they are gone astray from his right way that breath nothing but fire and sword and blood and slaughter I have heard it more then once and again from the Sheriffs that took all the Powder Traitors and brought them up to London that every night when they came to their lodging by the way they had their musick and dancing a good part of the night One would think it strange that men in their case should be so merry And was it think you because God had prevented their shedding so much innocent blood as Divid once rejoyced for such a prevention by the Counsel of Abigail No it was because they were to suffer for such an undertaking accounting they should dye as Martyrs in such a cause Let them dance and make themselves merry with such a fancy I am sure we have cause to rejoyce and to leap for joy because their design was prevented For where had England been had their design taken effect It may make us even to tremble to think where England had been had their design taken effect Blessed be the God of our mercies that hath given us cause only to think of it and that we did not feel it that only shewed us the pit and did not shut us up in it The great Memorandum to Israel was I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of Egypt out of the house of bondage To England it may be I am the Lord thy God which kept thee out of Egypt and from the house of spiritual bondage And our keeping from falling into that servitude was little less if not as much as their delivery out of it A SERMON PREACHED AT ELY Novemb. V. MDCLXXIII 2 TIM III. 8. As Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth IF any one be of that curiosity as to desire to see the picture of incarnate Devils let him look here for the Apostle is charactering such from the beginning of the Chapter hitherto A generation of men as black as Hell and of that linage and kinred An ungodly breed of worthies that like the Devil himself sinned as deeply as they could against God as irrecoverably as they could against themselves and as destructively as they could to others That whereas the Lycaonians said concerning Paul and Barnabas The Gods were come down to them in the likeness of men Paul and Barnabas might very well say concerning these That fiends were come up among men in the same likeness of men From such turn away is the Apostles counsel at the fifth verse of this Chapter which words compare but with those words of another Apostle Resist the Devil and he will flee from you and guess what kind of creatures these were A man may make the Devil flee from him but there is no putting of these to flight but you must flee from them Impudent untractable ones that will by no means be moulded to Religion Reason or Humanity that will never be convinced answered satisfied that there is no way to deal with them but not to deal with them no way to deal with them but to flee from them Their manners the Apostle begins to describe as vers 2. That they were lovers of themselves lovers of money proud boasters blasphâmers desobedient c. so he goes on to the 5th verse There he describes their Religion That they had a form of godliness as a Devil in shape of an Angel of light but that they denied the power of it resisted the truth of it and that not in an ordinary manner and degree but as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses So that in the words you have mention of a cursed Copy and a cursed Company that wrote after it The Copy Jannes and Jambres withstanding Moses and the cursed Company that wrote after it those also resist the truth The former obscure who they were and the latter obscurer I. Of Jannes and Jambres you have no more mention by name in all the Scripture For Moses himself nameth no such men though the Apostle say They were the men that did resist him And the Apostle gives no other signification of them but only that they resisted Moses Who then were they and whence had the Apostle their names From the common received opinion and agreement of the Jewish Nation that currently asserted that the Magicians of Egypt was called by these names So their own Authors tell us in their Babylonian Talmud in the Treatise Menacoth Aruncha Talmudical Lexicon in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Chaldee Paraph. of Jonathan upon Exod. I. to omit more So that the Apostle takes up these two names neither by revelation as certainly asserting that the Sorcerers of Egypt were of these names but as he found the names commonly received by the Jewish Nation so he useth them Such a passage is that of the Apostle Jude about Michael contending with the Devil about the body of Moses which he neither speaketh by inspiration nor by way of certain assertion but only citing a common opinion and conceit of the Nation he takes an argument from their own Authors and concessions The observation of such a thing as this is useful upon general places of the New Testament which is more worth discoursing upon ââ it suited with the time and pâace Thus have we intâlligencâ who Jannes and Jambres werâ the Sorcerers or Magicians of Egypt that withstood Moseâ helped to haââen Pharââh âeceived the people with lying wonders affronted the real miracles of God and opposed the deliverance of Israel Wretches that one would think they should never find their matches and yet the Apostle hath found mates for them For where was there ever copy of villany set but some or other was found that hath written after it Even the crucifying of the Lord of glory when it cannot be done literally because he is not here again to be crucified yet there are but too many that in our sense crucifie the Lord of âlâry Heb. VI. 6. And if he had been again upon Earth do you not think he would have been crucified again before this II. Who these are whom the Apostle compares with Jannes and Jambres is harder to find than to find who Jannes and Jambres were For the mark whereby the Apostle would discover them seems rather to cloud than to clear their discovery viz. the circumstance of the time wherein they lived which he calls the last days vers 1. This know that in the last days shall perilous times come So 2 Pet. III. 3. In the last days
shall come mockers walking after their own lusts the very same men that our Apostle speaks of here But which are these last days A threefold conception is taken up concerning the thing 1. That by the last days is meant all the time of the Gospel from its first coming into the World to the Worlds end But that is too wide a compass to be a mark of such an occurrence as the Apostle speaks of here 2. By the last days some understand the last days of the World and so will apply the things and men spoken of here to these times wherein we live and hereabout and so to the Worlds end but this construction will hardly agree to what the Apostle aimeth at here when he bids Timothy Turn away from such men nor agree with other places of Scripture that speak of the same men Therefore 3. The proper meaning of the expression in the common use of the Phrase in Scripture is The last days of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state when both of them drew near their end and desolation And for confirming of this among numerous evidences that I might produce I shall give you but two places of Scripture and the reason of the expression Act. II. 17. The Apostle Peter citing those words of the Prophet Joel It shall come to pass in the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh c. He plainly and positively asserteth that the Prophesie was fulfilled at that time when now it was but forty years to their destruction The Apostle John 1 Epistle chap. II. 18. plainly tells Little children It is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh so there are now many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time And the reason of the expression Because the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state is charactered in Scripture as the destruction of the whole World which might be evidenced by abundance of instances Therefore the last days of that City and State are named as the last days of that World Now who these were of whom in those last days of Jerusalem the Apostle speaketh may be some question viz. whether unbelieving Jews or some that had professed the Gospel but had revolted from it and had corrupted it by their false doctrine and evil lives I doubt not he means the latter which might be cleared out of several other places in Scripture and even out of this place also when the Apostle saith they had a form of godliness and that concerning the faith or doctrine of the Gospel they were reprobate The mystery of iniquity he calls it 2 Thes. II. i. e. iniquity under a mask or visor of Religion for the opposition of the unbelieving Jew against the Gospel was barefaced iniquity Iniquity above board and that had no mask or mystery in it But these under the mask of the profession of the Gospel opposed the purity and resisted the truth of it And of such Apostates the Epistles of all the Apostles are full of complainings as instances might be produced which would take up the whole time now allotted I shall alledge but these two places Act. XX. 29 30. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them And 1 Joh. II. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us And to the same tenor tends that parable Matth. XII ad âin So that you have here the wickedest men of the wickedest generation that ever was upon the earth For so was that generation wherein they lived and they the very dregs of that generation that generation resisting Christ and the Gospel with open face these under a mask of Religion and the Gospel that generation proclaimed open enmity against the truth these practising it under pretence of friendship Those came against Christ with swords and staves these saluted Christ with a Hail Master but betrayed him They pretended to the Gospel as Herod pretended to worship Christ when he was new born but intended to murther him And herein they outvied Jannes and Jambres their samplar as commonly in writing after a wicked Copy the Transcript exceeds the Original For Jannes and Jambres had never owned the Truth as they had done for these had owned it bet now resist it I need not I suppose either to trouble my self or you by insisting to prove that the Apostle by the truth here does mean the Gospel And do I need to clear why the Gospel is called by that title of the truth If any desire that let me briefly propose these things to him I. First look upon the heathens Theology and Religion and that were but a mere lie Those poor wretches as Esa. XLIV 20. Fed on ashes and a deceived heart turned them aside that they could not say there is a lie in my right hand though there was nothing but a lie there The Devil foisting the greatest lie upon the World that all the anvils of Hell could forge viz. to perswade men to worship Devils for God 1 Cor. X. 20. The thing which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrificed to Devils and not to God That I may well remember to you that passage about the mad Emperor Caligula that would needs be a God and for that purpose had dressed himself in accoutrements possible to make him seem such a one A sober man that saw all being asked what he thought of him why saith he I think he is magnum delirium A great piece of foolery Stand and look on the Divinity of the Heathen as it is charactered by the Poets and all is but a great fable Mark the Religion of the Heathen as it was prescribed by their Augurs Pontiffs Philosophers and it is nothing but a great lie That the Gospel that was to uncharm those delusions to release those poor creatures from those cheats and impostures is most deservedly called The truth II. Look upon the Religion of the Jews that was all but types and shadows Moses face vailed Israel in the cloud all Divinity and Religion under mysteries and figures The Tabernacle was filled with a cloud as soon as it was set Exod. XL. ad finem and all the Ordinances given out of it cloudy and shadows Hereupon the Gospel is called the Truth because it unridled those mysterious Hieroglyphicks unvailed the face of Moses and shewed the substance and body which those vails and shadows did infold Thereupon it is that the Evangelist makes that most pertinent opposition Joh. I. 17. The Law was given by Moses The moral Law was given by Moses the ministration of condemnation as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. III. but grace came by Jesus Christ against
condemnation The ceremonial Law was given by Moses a ministration of types and shadows but truth came by Jesus Christ substantiating and resolving all III. Look into the Gospel it self It is the greatest and most Divine truth that can be given And as the Devil when he brought in the Heathen Religion brought in the greatest lie that could be imposed upon men So when God brought in the Gospel he brought in the greatest Truth that could be received by men And should I exceed my bounds if I said The greatest Truth that could be revealed by God For what could God reveal to mortal men more than he hath done in it himself his Son his Spirit his Grace his Salvation More than what is revealed in the Gospel shall never be revealed to men on this side Heaven And is not Heaven it self revealed very plainly in it And yet there are men in the Text and men in the World that make it their work to resist this Truth This light to lighten Gentiles they would put out This glory of the people Israel they would corrupt and this great and Divine Oracle of God they would silence and stop its mouth Very fitly resembled in the Emblem where the candle being lighted and set up the Devil the Turk the Pope and a company of Hereticks and Persecutors set with all their earnestness and indeavour to blow it out More than an Emblem of such an indeavour was the great plot and design of this day from the stroke of which we are here met to render our acknowledgment and thanksgiving An indeavour to have blown up and blown out the Truth of God and the purity and power of the Gospel out of this nation for ever In the words before us you plainly see two things an Act and the Agents resisting of the Truth and the men that resisted it But do you not also observe one out of sight or behind the vail viz. the providence of God looking on and permitting such a thing to be done A mystery of iniquity in the cursed acting of the persons and a mystery of providence and dispensing in suffering them so to act I. Concerning the persons and their acting The Truth might take up the complaint and expostulation of David It was not an open enemy that did me this evil for then I should have born it neither was it an open adversary that magnified himself against me for then peradventure I might have hid my self from him but it was thou my companion and familiar which took counsel with me together and we walked to the House of God as friends He that eateth at my table hath lift up his heel against me These men and the Truth or Gospel had been old acquaintance they had conversed and been familiar together they had taken counsel together and gone to Church too as friends but now they become her enemies because she is Truth They had approved the Gospel been initiated into it profest it and it may be some of them had preached it but now they become its enemy because she is Truth They had once received the knowledge of the Truth but now they wilfully sin against it Heb. X. 26. They had once known the way of Righteousness but now were utterly turned away from it 2 Pet. II. 21. They had once run well as Gal. III. but now they run clear counter to what they had done and seek to destroy the Gospel which they had once professed and resist the Truth with as much nay more fervency and earnestness than ever they owned it It was Pauls honour and comfort that He now preached the Gospel which he once destroyed Gal. I. 22. but it was these wretches dread and condemnation that they destroyed the Gospel which they once preached That general Apostasie or revolting from Truth that was then in the Church brought forth twins of a clear contrary complexion as different as Jacob and Esau if I may use Jacobs name with such persons when both of them are of the manners and conditions of Esau and you could hardly tell which of them was the worse For some Apostatized to pure Judaisme some to meer or worse than Heathenism some to dote upon the rites of Moses and to look to be justified by the works of the Law and to betake themselves to a Pharisaical austerity hoping thereby to be justified Others revolted to all loosness of life and Atheism abusing the liberty of the Gospel to libertinism and turning the grace of God into wantonness and accounting all things lawful that might content the flesh and please a carnal mind Now the Apostles give intimation of both these and sadly complain and invey against them I need not to particularize he that runs may read it more especially in the Epistle to the Galatians concerning the former and in 2 Pet. II. and Jude concerning the latter I might speak how these wretches did resist the Gospel or what instruments or machinations they used for the opposing of it As 1. Venting damnable Heresies and Doctrines of Devils as our two Apostles tell us 1 Tim. III. 1. 2 Pet. II. 2. Using the trade of Jannes and Jambres conjuration and sorcery and lying miracles as our Law had foretold Matth. XXIV 24. That they should shew signs and wonders to deceive the very elect if it were possible And the Apostle tells it was so as our Saviour had foretold 2 Thes. II. 9. That the coming of this mystery of iniquity was according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and lying wonders 3. They used the trade that the Roman Emperors afterward used of bitter sharp and cruel persecution Of which you have several memorials in the Epistles ravening Wolves breaking into the Church in sheeps clothing and making sad havock of the flock all before them This was the judgment that begun at the house of God 1 Pet. IV. 17. The hour of temptation that came upon all the Earth Rev. III. 10. I might by the way observe How far a man may fall from the true profession of the Gospel viz. so far as to become the worst of men and the Gospels most bitter enemy And that the bitterest enemies of the Gospel have ever been some that have pretended to the Gospel Persecution never did that mischief in the Church that Heresie hath done And the sorest wounds that the Gospel ever received were like his in Zach. in the house of her friends but this I shall not insist on You see Jannes and Jambres have here met with their match but is there any match to be found for these men that have matched them Yes look at Rome and you find them there As many Protestants and Papists by the last days do indeed understand the last days of the World So many Protestant Divines do attribute all the characters of those wretched men to the Papacy And indeed they are so like that it is no wonder if they be not clearly discerned asunder Though the Papacy would
be taken for a Jacob yet she must give leave to standers by to take her for Esau when her hands and neck and other parts be as rough as his Set her and this mystery of iniquity we have been speaking of together and can you know them asunder Though I am not perswaded the Apostle speaks of Rome in 2 Thes. II. but of these first Apostate Christians yet comes not Rome an inch behind what is charactered there I. Both of them Apostatized from the truth she as well as those in the Text before us It s very true Rome had once been a famous Church whose Faith was renowned through the whole World as the Apostle intimates once and again in his Epistle thither But as the Historian Quaeres Samnium You may seek for Samnium where Samnium was and not find it so may you seek for such a Church there where once such a Church was and be far enough from finding it Corruptio optimi The corruption of that best Church that then was is become the worst corruption And if you would find either truth or a right Church there you do but look for the living among the dead They brag of their incorruption and that their Doctrine and Worship hath descended pure all along and that that Church hath not been tainted from its first foundation by Peter and Paul So the Jews of old cried The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord when they had made it a den of thieves You can hardly perswade me but some taint was got into that Church in the time of Peter I do not say for I am assured he never was there but even before Paul came there and while he was there and sure he must be of a large faith that can believe she hath kept pure so many hundred years together above a thousand When I read that Rom. XVI 17. I beseech you brethren mark those that cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine ye have learned and avoid them For they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly I cannot but strongly suspect that there were some such wretched ones as these we have been speaking of then tampering in the Church of Rome and it was well if she received no taint from them hardly any Church in the World but did And when I read that Philip I. 16. Some preach Christ of envy and contention not purely thinking to add affliction to my bonds I cannot but suspect that that was in Rome it self where the Apostle then lay prisoner And that then the quarrel I am of Paul I am of Cephas or Peter was set afoot in the Church of Rome as it was in the Church of Corinth How ever I believe that that Star that fell from Heaven to whom was given the key of the bottomless Pit and he opened the Pit and let out horrid smoke and so horrid Locust Rev. IX beginning is most truly understood by our Protestant Divines of the Bishop of Rome or the Papacy For a Star in the Revelation-language is a Doctor or Minister of the Church and falling from Heaven is falling from the Truth and the true Church II. As the Apostasie of the men in the Text and in the Apostles description in this Chapter and elsewhere was into the two contraries strictness in outward ceremony and looseness of life and conversation he that knows not the like in the Papacy is little acquainted with their story As great strictness injoyned in the one and as great loosness permitted in the other in that Church as that the Jews themselves were not more strict in the one nor the Heathens themselves more loose in the other Like Solomons Temple windows if it were fit to compare so noble a thing with so base narrow without and broad within strict in outward formality loose in inward conversation III. As these in the Text resist the Truth so that the Papacy doth none that is a child or disciple of the Truth but he knows with grief and can they of the Papacy but know it themselves How many witnesses of this matter have been in every corner of the World especiall in those where the truth or purity of the Gospel hath appeared Were you to name the greatest contrariety to the truth of the Gospel that you could name could you name any thing so directly contrary as Popery The smoke out of the bottomless pit that is as contrary to the purity of the light as what can be most contrary I should but do what is done again and again in large and numerous volumes if I should go about to prove and evidence this to you viz. That the Papacy is the great resister of the Truth and Gospel and the great contrariety to the purity of the Gospel There are two things that speak it out though all Protestants hold their peace And those are 1. Their corruption of the Scriptures and the Fathers As the messengers for Micaiah would have corrupted him to speak as the false Prophets did so do these by the Scriptures and Fathers to make them speak according to their own mind Their Index expurgatorius shews that they are void of all shame in this point as well as void of all conscience And crueller then the Gileadites that slew so many for saying Sibboleth these make those say Sibboleth whether they will or no that they may destroy the Truth that they once spoke out 2. The bitter and bloody persecution that the Church of Rome hath ever used against the true profession of the Gospel is a testimony written in blood how incomparable a resister of the Truth the Papacy is And had Christ been at Rome any time for those many and many years he had tasted of their kindness that way It is compounded of such principles that the Truth and it cannot live together but it cannot but seek to destroy the Truth The very temper of the Devil himself who not only strives to destroy the Gospel but cannot do it with all his endeavour Aut tu illum aut ille vi He must either destroy it or it will destroy him What resistance the Papacy practiseth against the Truth by persecution I suppose it needless to speak of unto any that hath heard of the bloody days of Queen Mary the Massacre in France and the Powder Treason in England that you need go no further for instance And blessed be the Lord for that we have these testimonies only to our ears and have not seen Popish resistance of the Truth by persecution with our eyes The Lord grant that England never see it Thus have we briefly taken some view of the mystery of iniquity hinted in the Text and verse whence it is taken Men of corrupt minds reprobated concerning the faith resisting the truth as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses Now how large a discourse might we take up of the mysterious dispensation of God in permitting his most sacred Truth to be so affronted and resisted His
more and the poor shall not give less And now let us look over these three things again and consider what may be learned from them I will transpose a little these particulars and speak of the second first viz. I. The end and purpose for which this sum was given to wit as an acknowledgment and an owning that their lives and persons were in the hand of God and that to him they looked for their Preservation And therefore it was that they paid this sum for the ransom of their lives So that as the payment of this mony was a Duty so it was a Doctrine teaching them to own their depending upon God for their lives and beings So that hence we learn That every man is to own his dependance upon God for his life and being The Jews were taught it by their being bound to pay a yearly tribute to God for the preservation of their life and being and we taught it from their example And I speak to this subject the more willingly because the thing and the time do concur so fair together so that the subject we speak of is not only useful and necessary but seasonable and agreeable both to their time and ours Concerning their payment of this Pol-mony or dependance mony their own writers tell us that the Collectors of this Tax began upon the Collection of it the last month of their year and so went on gathering in the beginning of the new year That we are come to the last month nay the last week of our year doth very justly give us occasion to remember our preservation the year that is now gone over our heads and all the years of our life hitherto and to consider of that merciful and good Providence that hath preserved us all along those years And this and hardly a more seasonable discourse can we take up at this time than such an one as shall remind us and if it may be warm us with a feeling of our Dependence upon God for our preservation Need I to divide the Theme before us and prove apart That our Dependence is upon God for our preservation And That we are to be sensible of this Dependence We can hardly find a place in Scripture that proves the one but it proves both together and none there is hardly but if they acknowledge the truth of the thing that mens dependence is upon God for their preservation but they acknowledge also their sense of it and that they so own their preservation I might instance multitudes of places but do I need when there is not a holy man through all the Bible that speaks of his own preservation but he owns it to have been from God and shews himself to have been sensible of it Job X. 12. Thou hast given me life and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Lam. III. 22. It is the Lords mercies that we are not consumed And Act. XXVI 22. Having obtained help of God c. There is not a person in Scripture that takes notice of the preserving of his life and person but he always turns it that way to own God the Author of it unless it be such a fool as he that bids Soul take thine ease c. or as he Is not this great Babylon that I have built c. or they that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and buy and sell and get gain and never mention God or his providence in the bargain I hope I need not prove that all our lives persons and the preservation of both are in the hand of God and at his disposal but I may sum up all in this challenge and appeal Dare any defie Gods Providence and Preservation and take upon you your own preservation and to maintain your life and person of your selves But let not such a thing be once mentioned among Christians but the great business is that Christians would become rightly sensible of their dependence upon God I cannot omit one thing in this Law about paying this half shekel viz. vers 14. that every one that was twenty years old and upward was to pay it And why then And why not before Not but that they that were under twenty years old were under the same preservation and had reason to acknowledge the same preservation but at twenty years of age they were come to that age as should be the age of discretion and that men should now consider under what tuition they lived and that then it was time to own it though folly and vanity of youth had not suffered them to do so before And twenty years of age was the time when they were in their prime and strength and flush and when it was the likeliest time to think of their own strength and vigor and that they stood upon their own subsistence Then and forward it was most seasonable to admonish them upon what it was that they subsisted and who it was that preserved them The acknowledgement that it is God that doth preserve our life and being may be of the Tongue only and nothing but words or bare conviction of the truth of the thing and but little more than words neither But a feeling acknowledgment of Gods preservation is such a thing as speaks it self by some evident demonstration It is the Apostles saying That saving faith worketh by Love we may say the like of Historical Faith if it work at all it worketh by some evidence or demonstration of action And such evidences or demonstrations in this case are various I. Such a person who owns and feelingly believes his dependence upon God for his preservation is careful to commit himself to Gods protection and his preserving providence the best he can We read of persons being under the wings of the Almighty and putting themselves under his wings and they are there because they put themselves there Psal. XCI 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust How comes he there He puts himself there by committing himself to Gods providence as he ought to do As Ruth did II. Chap 12. Psal. XXXVI 6 7. Thou savest man and beast How excellent is thy loving kindness O God therefore shall the sons of men put their trust under the shaddow of thy wings There is a general providence that preserves man and beast but a peculiar protection for them that put themselves under the shaddow of his wings Can we say that man is under Gods protection that never put himself under Gods protection Can we say God keeps that that was never committed to him Such an one as a Worldling an Epicure that minds not God nor his duty of committing himself to him Yes you will say for this man lives and is preserved as well as the best he is kept out of danger as well as the holiest he is in health wealth and a thriving condition as well as another man and therefore sure God keeps him as well as another
that with God the times of the afflictions and Condition of his people are most certainly determined because all times are determined by him For the further clearing of this Point I might discourse distinctly of these two things I. That it is Gods determination that his children shall be afflicted II. Gods determining of their afflictions leaves not the time they shall last undetermined It is the latter of these I shall prosecute The Providence of God herein is not like the Ostrich that lays Eggs and leaves them in the sand as if he determined of the thing and left the time of its lasting at random but he weigheth and setteth the one as well as the other In Mene Mene Tekel Upharisin the two latter words are either of them two several Languages Tekal in Chaldee is He hath weighed Tekel in Hebrew Thou art light Parsin in Hebrew is the Persians in Chaldee They divide And accordingly Daniel doth render them So in Gods determination of the Saints affliction as those words speak of Gods determining that Kingdom there are two several providences viz. as to the thing it self and as to the manner and time of it these two are twins born together in Gods decree and when he determines the one he determines the other In those passages in the Revelations where the Church is in the Wilderness in a sad and solitary condition a thousand two hundred and sixty days Chap. XII 6. And where the beast blasphemes and tyrannizes forty two months Chap. XIII 5. though the time be not that time definitely yet the very expressions shew the times defined and determined with God Allusion is made to the time of Antiochus tyrannizing over Religion three years and an half not as though the Church was to be bewildred three years and an half and no more and no less but by using the memorial of that sum of three years and an half he speaks the sad condition of the Church in that time it was in the wilderness as the times under Antiochus were sad And so concerning the Beasts blaspheming t is not meant as though he were to blaspheme and tyrannize forty two months exactly take them either of days which make three years and an half or of years a thousand two hundred and sixty years but by the memorial of the time of Antiochus rage and mischief the rage and mischief of the Beast is intimated So I say though the time intended be not exactly and punctually the time named yet when so punctual a sum is named it must needs argue that the time intended is punctually determined with God But need I to spend time to prove this to them that have learned that not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father and that the hairs of our heads are all numbred Matth. X. 29 30. which last passage puts me in mind of that Luk. XXI 18. There shall not an hair of your head perish Observe vers 16. Some of you they shall cause to be put to death And yet Not a hair of your head fall to the ground not a hair perish With many a Saint of God head and all have fallen to the ground as it was with them Revel XX. 4. that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus And yet not an hair of their head perish Some Expositors take this to have its accomplishment in the Resurrection when the Saints say they shall rise with all their hair Which granted yet the Exposition is far fetched The expression is a Proverbial speech as appears by 1 Sam. XIV 45. Shall Jonathan die who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel God forbid as the Lord liveth there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground The meaning is he shall not suffer the least hurt or injury And to apply it to that passage of our Saviour and it speaks this comfortable Doctrine That the Saints of God in the bitterest persecution yea in death it self suffer not the least hurt or damage But however take it in what sense you will if our hairs be numbred and it be promised that not one of them shall fall to the ground then undoubtedly nothing befalls the Saints concerning affliction fortuitous or by hap hazzard but the thing matter manner measure time of affliction is determined by God Is there not an appointed time for man on Earth Job VII 1. There is an appointed time for every man which he shall not pass Job XIV 5. Be his end never so casual accidental in the Eyes of men yet it is prefixed by God and he cannot pass it or go beyond it And can we think any thing occurs to a Saint of God in the way to his end that is not likewise fixed A SERMON Preached upon HEBREWS X. 29. And hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing THE whole Verse runs thus Of how much sorâer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace The spring head of this verse is at vers 26. and that bubbles out fire and brimstone Not a more dreadful portion of Scripture at the first reading and hearing in all the Bible A Text which speaks much like as the Law was spoken in Fire and Thunder If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin But a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries No sacrifice for sin if any sin wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the Truth and nothing but fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation If the Truth mean here the Gospel as undoubtedly it doth then Men and brethren what shall we do Who hath not sinned wilfully since he received the knowledge of the Gospel Nay our English translation is as favourable as may be for the word in the Original is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã willingly and that makes the case still sadder For who hath not sinned willingly nay who not wilfully since he received the knowledge of the Truth of the Gospel against Knowledge against Truth against the Gospel That Chyrurgeon had need of a tender hand that is to dress a wounded heart gashed with the keen and cutting edge of this dreadful Scripture If any heart should be darted through with this arrow of the Almighty and that the reading or hearing this Text wounds his heart to the very root as the story is Origens heart after his Idolatry was wounded with reading those words in Psal. L. 16 17. But to the wicked God said What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or to take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee So that upon reading them he sat down and wept and all the Congregation wept with
revolted from that and expects to be saved by his actings and puts a scorn and reproach upon the Spirit of grace A sad wretch Look on him look on his villany and of how sore punishment do you think him worthy The Apostle reads his doom I. That there is no more sacrifice for his sin to keep off vengeance when he hath trod under foot the great sacrifice and counts the blood of attonement but a common thing II. That that could not but follow when there was no sacrifice for attonemenr viz. A fearful expectation of judgment and firy indignation III. That that at last was to seize as sure and sorer than the punishment of him that despised Moses Law who yet died without mercy In the words that I have chosen to insist upon which speaks the second part of this wretches villany He accounted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing A great question is who is the He that is here said to be sanctified Doth it mean this wretch himself He ever sanctified Ever sanctified by the blood of the Covenant that he now so undervalues I am not ignorant what is disputed upon this case which dispute I shall not take upon me to determine but the sense of the place it self I suppose may be otherwise determined without any great difficulty or dispute viz. that the He here mentioned to be sanctified is the Son of God mentioned in the clause next preceding And I should read the two clauses together to this sense He hath trod underfoot the Son and hath accounted the blood of the Covenant wherewith He the Son of God himself was sanctified an unholy thing And I am induced to believe that this is the Apostles meaning in this place upon these two or three reasons First Because the same Apostle hath much like such an expression in this very Epistle Chap. XIII 20. Where he saith that God brought Christ again from the dead by the blood of the everlasting Covenant Now if it be proper to say Christ was raised by the blood of the Covenant it is not improper to say Christ was sanctified by the blood of the Covenant For Secondly As the words both in the Original and your English do as fairly carry that sense that I put upon them in Grammatical construction so do they in that sense carry a most undeniable truth in Theological Doctrine That Christ was sanctified by his own blood Not indeed as a Saint of God is sanctified by the blood of Christ who was once unholy but by it now is made holy But as the word signifies to separate set apart and capacitate to a holy use or office As Aaron is said to be sanctified by his cloths and unction i. e. set apart fitted accomplished for his office and Priesthood So Christ sanctified by the blood of the Covenant i. e. fitted capacitated to be perfect Mediator And so Thirdly The Apostle that he may aggravate the sin of this wretch that he is speaking of doth enhance the blood of the Covenant by the highest dignity and excellency that is possible to intitle it to This wretch accounts it an unholy common trivial thing Whereas the Son of God himself was sanctified by it by it capacitated and fitted to be a perfect Redeemer An High Priest who by his own blood entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us I shall not be urgent with any to entertain and espouse this construction that I make of the words If the fairness and probability of the sense I propose will not speak and plead for it let it alone and remember that of the Apostle Prove all things hold fast that that is good But that that I shall insist upon shall be to consider of the meaning of the blood of the Covenant And in our consideration of that we shall see the infinite preciousness and value of that blood which yet the wretch in the Text doth so undervalue that he accounts it but unholy and common And there are but too few too few that value it at its proper rate I need not tell among Christians that the blood of the Covenant means the blood of Christ of which such glorious things are spoken in Scripture viz. that we are washed redeemed justified saved by his blood the blood of the everlasting Covenant And this very intimation parts our discourse into two branches viz. to consider it as the blood of Christ and to consider the blood of Christ as the blood of the Covenant It is observed by a pious pen how Malice cankers things where it comes For those words Sanguis ejus super nos c. His blood be upon us and our children spoken in a right Christian pious sense speaks a thing that a more excellent happy and desirable cannot be prayed for viz. The blood of Christ to be upon us and upon ours as it is upon all true believers to wash clense justifie save But in their cursed cankered sense the Nation finds it to this day their direful and doleful infelicity that the blood of Christ is upon them as they wished So there is much spoken and much of comfort spoken concerning the sprinkling of Christs blood and the sprinkling of his blood in that Scripture sense brings all happiness with it But take it according to the bare letter there is no such thing nay there is the contrary in some respect Take his blood barely to mean that substance of his blood that issued from his wounds as he hung upon the Cross and some of it was sprinkled upon the Cross and some of it ran upon the ground and what happiness either to the Cross or ground from such sprinkling Nay some of it was sprinkled and dashed upon his murtherers and proved so little happiness to them that it made them the more unhappy nay the most unhappy men under Heaven Therefore as the Scripture saith The life is in the blood so are we to look for something besides the bare substance of his blood that flowed from him and besides the bare flowing of his blood from him something that was as the life of that blood that gave it the vigor virtue and efficacy of justifying and saving And what was that You will say His infinite sufferings let me add His infinite obedience In both which is concluded the supposal of the Dignity of his person and the whole is spoken I shall not much insist upon his sufferings because his obedience to those sufferings was the life of those sufferings the very life of his death as I may so phrase it and that the Dignity of his Person computed in that gave virtue vigor efficacy to his sufferings death and blood Of his sufferings I shall only say thus much That he suffered as much as God could put him to suffer short of his own wrath and that he suffered as much as the Devil could put him to with all his wrath You will say I speak too
averse to embrace and receive that that their mind doth or might know In a natural and unregenerate Soul the Will generally sways both Understanding and Conscience But in a good Soul Understanding and Conscience sways the Will it is moved by those wheels but it moves not them You remember that saying of the Apostle they would not receive the love of the truth therefore c. And this is a very common cause of ignorance and error because men will not know and embrace the truth My people love to have it so as God complains in the Prophet There is no ignorance like the ignorance that is wilful and none so blind as he that will not see but will put out his own eyes These Sadducees might have seen better might have known better but they would not know nor see The Pharisees might have taught them better in those poynts about which they erred but they scorned to be taught by them The Word of God would have taught them better if they would have embraced it But they were prejudiced against it and forestalled by their own opinion They had drunk in their error about No resurrection and no Angel nor Spirit from their Teachers and from their Youth and to that they will stick and hear nothing against it As he of old Though I see reason in that thou teachest when one taught the Gospel yet I have been taught and trained up otherways and there I must and will hold And this is all the reason that the most in the Romish Religion can give of their Religion It is the old Religion the Religion in which their Fathers Grandfathers and Ancestors were born bred lived and dyed and by no means must they forsake their Fathers Religion As he in the story that professed that he would go to Hell whether he was told his Ancestors were gone because they were Heathen rather than to go to Heaven alone In enumerating the immediate causes of heresie and error this comes not in the last rank of them that men are and will be wedded to their own opinion and will not be moved from the fancy that they have enclined to and taken up And those words of the Apostle may hint another cause and reason of it 2 Pet. III. 5. For this they are willingly ignorant of And that willing and wilful ignorance is most commonly the parent of such a paradox and strange brood The only Inference I shall make from the whole discourse is that we labour to know the truth and to keep it Christians it is not a small promise that our Saviour maketh Joh. VIII 32. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free There is a wheel within a wheel one promise within another First the truth shall make you free Secondly Ye shall know the truth without which the other promise would little avail them The freedom he speaks of is freedom from sin as he shews in his discourse following and the way the only way to come to attain this freedom is by the knowledge of the truth So great a thing is it to know the truth to embrace the truth and to keep in it And it is not so slight and small a thing as men commonly make of it to take up new opinions either impertinent to the truth or contrary to it By our standing to the truth or falling from it we must stand or fall And as we have stood to it or fallen from it we must be judged at the last day But in the different and various opinions that are abroad in the world how shall I do to pitch upon the right I am unlearned and cannot sist differing opinions with reason and argument as learned men can and therefore how should I do to chuse the right and keep in it An objection that a stander by at Jerusalem that was neither Pharisee nor Sadducee might have made about the poynts in controversie between these two Sects The Pharisee says There is a Resurrection of the dead there are Angels and Spirits And the Sadducee denies both How should I that am unlearned know whether side to take and whether opinion to cleave to The first answer I should make not to wade into any Scholastic dispute upon this matter should be Pray earnestly to God for his direction to the God of truth that he would direct you into the way of truth At the Tabernacle and Temple when the Lamps were dressed and mended Incense also was offered at the same time Prayer is to go along with the dressing of the candle of our minds It was Davids constant prayer for himself that God would inlighten his understanding and it was the Apostles prayer for Timothy The Lord give thee understanding in all things It was the Profession once of a very good man and a very learned I ever obtained more knowledge of divine things by prayer than by all my study He took the right way to attain knowledge following the rule prescribed by the Holy Apostle If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God Jam. I. 5. And he had Solomons copy before him Lord give me wisdom And it is not the least cause of the ignorance that is in the world that men do no more pray for understanding How needful is such prayer every Lords day morning but how few do conscientiously make it We think we are wise enough and know enough and that a little ado will help us to stock enough of understanding So did the great wise ones among the Jews They were called the Wise men and they thought they were Wise men And This people that knoweth nât the Law are cursed but they knew it And The people are blind but Are we blind also And yet those Wise men knew not the things of their Peace nor the day of their Visitation Secondly A means and an only means to know truth to avoid error and to judge clearly of the things we ought to know is to get and keep our minds clear from lusts If thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light And 2 Pet. III. 1. Stir up your pure minds Such minds are likely to receive the truth in love As the pure in heart shall see God So they shall see the things of God Lusts like coloured glass make men misjudge Heresie seldom proceeds from bare ignorance but from one lust or other A SERMON PREACHED upon JOHN XI 51. This spake be not of himself but being High Priest that year be Prophesied That Iesus should dye for that people AND is Caiphas among the Prophets And is his counsil among the Prophesies He the wickedest man then upon Earth excepting Judas Iscariot and His the wickedest counsil that ever was given since the Serpent counselled Eve to destroy mankind Had not the Spirit of Prophesie by the pen of this our Evangelist made this Interpretation of it who could ever have thought it of such a construction If it may be wished I would the same
and of Grace in its nature and end But that that I shall insist upon shall be to consider something concerning the Spirits overpowering of Men their Actions Tongues Hearts or all And though here was no overpowering the Heart of this wretch but of his Tongue only yet I shall speak more especially of overpowering of ââe Heart as most material in this subject and which understood the Spirits overpowering of the Tongue and Action will be understood with little ado I shall couch what I have to speak under these following Obrvations I. I may take up that Gen. VI. 3. And the Lord said My Spirit shall not always strive with man He saith not with this or that or the other man in particular but with man in general Because the Spirit of God strives with every man in the World at some time and in some degree or other Act. VII 51. Ye stif-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost The Spirit strove with those wretches though this striving was to no purpose or effect because of their resistance And so in that exhortation 1 Thes. V. 19. Quench not the Spirit is intimated that they that quench the Spirit and let not his sparks grow to any thing yet that they have these sparks striving together if they would let them alone Christian I shall not be solicitous to prove this because it needs not And I must tell thee it is not so well and right with thee as it should if thou findst not the proof and experience of this truth in thine own Heart if thou find not some knocking 's at that door that calls and tells It is time to awake out of sleep and set to work some checkings of Conscience when thou goest about knowingly to sin and some reprovings of Conscience when thou hast so sinned some stirrings of Heart upon hearing the threatnings and curses of the Law of God in a powerful Ministry some trouble of Soul upon sight of Gods judgments upon thy self or others in a word if thou find not thy Conscience as a voice behind thee calling after thee This is the way walk in it If thou find any such things listen and improve them It is the voice of my beloved putting as it were his finger in at the hole of the door to see whether thou wilt open It is the Spirit of God striving with thy Heart But if thou find not any such thing take heed lest thou hast wearied the Spirit of God that he will strive no more II. The Spirit is able to overpower any Heart that he strives withal I need not to prove this neither to any that understand what the Spirit of God is which I hope you all understand A Macedonian or Socinian that denies the Godhead of the Holy Ghost yet I see not how he can deny this if he do but confess the Holy Ghost to be the Spirit of God Let me even challenge of you that have been better taught to attest this truth with me and to look up towards Heaven with due consideration of the sacred Spirit and to acknowledge in the words of Job Chap. XLII 2. I know thou canst do all things and that no thought can be holden from thee God in Jer. XXXII 27. proclaims Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh Is there any thing too hard for me If we should take the words as spoken particularly of the holy Spirit are they not most true to every tittle Is not the Holy Ghost Jehovah Is he not the Lord Is he not the God of all flesh and all Mens Spirits And then can any thing can any Heart be too hard for him But if any desire a particular proof of the thing we assert viz. That the Holy Spirit is able to overpower any Heart whatsoever that he strives withal Let him either look at a prophane wretch that always resisted the strivings of the Spirit now come under horror of Conscience Or let him well ponder upon the state of the damned in Hell who were such resisters while they were here And first let him read that Esa. XXX 33. The breath or Spirit of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it In that horrid torture of Conscience of theirs where the worm ever gnaweth and never dieth do you not think their Hearts are overpowered Are not now those brazen gates and iron doors that would bar out the overcomings of the Spirit broke open and broke all to pieces Vicisti Galilaee as Julian once so do not they everlastingly confess that God is proved too hard for them And how is this alto-shattering of their Hearts and Consciences come upon them The breath or Spirit of the Lord like a river of brimstone is gushed in upon them and overflows them with horror and they cannot resist It is the everlasting vengeance of the Spirit of God upon them thus to crush their Consciences with everlasting confusion and torture because they did they would resist his strivings while they were here No no resist damned Souls now resist and keep the doors fast barred that the power the vengeance of the Spirit cannot break in No it will not be the Spirit is all powerful if he will is able to overpower any Heart he strives with here he will with vengeance do it to him that resists hereafter III. The first aim of the Spirit in his striving is to try men It is apparent by Scripture that God by the motions of his Spirit comes to try those men who he knows will not receive the motions of his Spirit As in 2 Chron. XXXII 31. In the business of the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his Heart God withdrew or suspended the acting of the Spirit of grace to try him So God doth on the other hand employ some actings of the Spirit to try whether men will entertain them God tries men by his Word whether they will obey him or no Exod. XX. 20. God is come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not saith Moses to the people of Israel concerning Gods giving them his Law Mat. XXIII 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gâthereth her chickins under her wings and ye would not I tried whether thou wouldest be gathered but thou wouldest not He tries men likewise by his Providences how they will demean themselves under them Deut. VIII 2. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the Wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine Heart whether thou wouldest keep his Commandments or no. So he doth by his Spirit in that noted place Revel III. 18. Behold I stand at the door and knock He that stands at the door could break down the door
but he tries whether the door will be opened to give him entertainment And in this regard it is no wonder if men be said to resist and quench the Spirit because he comes only to try whether they will imbrace or resist quench or cherish This work of his differs from the effectual working of grace when he comes resolvedly to overcome and overpower A SERMON PREACHED upon ROMANS IX 3. For I could wish that I my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh A Dreadful passage at the first reading and which may make us even to tremble a man to wish himself to be accursed from Christ accursed from Christ The very words may make us to quake to think of such a thing And can we believe that a Paul should make such a wish that he might be accursed of Christ who knew so well what it was to be blessed of him Can he make such a wish Or rather can any one but such an one as he make such a wish upon such a ground upon such a condition upon such a warrant The Apostle is here beginning his Discourse concerning the casting off of the Jewish Nation and seed of Israel as at the nineteenth verse of the Chapter foregoing he is beginning his Discourse about the Calling of the Gentiles Them there he stiles by the title of the whole Creation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an expression usual among the Jews to signifie in that construction These here he calls his Brethren and Kinsmen for so nature had made them he and they coming of the same stock and original He speaks there of some mourning out of desire that the Calling of the Gentiles should be accomplished Here he speaks of himself mourning out of grief for the casting off of his own Nation There the whole Creation of the Gentiles themselves groaning to be delivered from the bondage of their sinful corruption Here himself grieving for the not delivering of his own people from theirs at ver 2. he hath grief and great grief and sorrow and continual sorrow for them and could wish himself to be accursed from Christ on condition it might be better with them And one would think he had very small cause to be thus affected towards them if it be well considered how they had continually demeaned themselves toward him They had continually bred him trouble always persecuted him five times beaten him constantly sought his life and contrived his death And yet the good man grieves for them that grieved not for themselves and that always were grieving him and could wish himself to be accursed for them that could wish him cursed to the pit of Hell A strange wish and a strange charity that he himself might be accursed that they might not be so that he might be separated from Christ that so they might be united to him A passage so strange that it hath but one parallel viz. that of Moses Exod. XXXII 32. where he prays God to blot him out of his Book when God was now ready to cut off the seed of Israel A passage so strange that it seems directly to cross the whole course of his profession and practise He professeth Phil. III. 8. That all things in the world were but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus And yet here he can upon some condition be content to lose him He practiseth 1 Cor. IX ult to bring his body into subjection lest when he had preached to others he himself might be a cast-away And yet he could wish upon some condition to prove a cast-away So strange a passage that some Expositors cannot endure to look upon it in its full proportion but take as it were a diminishing glass to look upon it withal and they make those words of the Apostle to speak less a great deal than ever they meant They will have his meaning to be but this For my Brethrens sake the seed of Israel I could be content to be separate from Christ for a while and to continue upon earth from that glory that is prepared for me in Heaven that I might labour for their salvation Do you think that being Anathema or accursed from Christ means no more than this Others conceive that the Apostle only useth an high expression whereby to signifie how intirely he desireth the good of his own Nation As if he had needed so full and feeling an asseveration as I speak the truth in Christ Jesus my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost ver 1. to intimate that he so intirely desired their salvation But to omit more by this strong asseveration it is plain that he thinks as he speaks and speaks as he thinks For it was so strange a wish that he himself sees reason to use many asseverations to shew that he speaks in good earnest otherwise he would hardly be believed As First His double asseveration affirmatively and negatively ver 1. I speak the truth I lye not Secondly He lays his Conscience for earnest that he did not lye but spoke truth My Conscience bearing me witness Thirdly He doth as it were call Christ and the Holy Ghost to witness I speak the truth in Christ my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost And so under the attestation of three witnesses his Conscience Christ and the Holy Ghost he would have what he says to be confirmed for a truth and that he may be believed Well we believe that he speaks from his very heart and as he thinks that he wishes himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren his Kinsmen according to the flesh Doth he piously in so wishing or prudently St. Austin once wished that he might have heard him Preach but what would he have thought think you at such a wish as this Doth he not curse himself when he wisheth to be accursed And doth he not undervalue Christ when he could wish to be separate from Christ That passage My conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost doth plainly evidence that what he doth is neither rashly done nor impiously nor imprudently but from a good conscience good affection and not without the Warrant of the Holy Spirit Indeed at ver 38. of the Chapter next going before He is perswaded that neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor any creature is able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus And yet at this place he could wish that he were separate from Christ on the condition he proposeth Not that either he undervalueth his uniting to Christ or that he thought he should be separated from him or that he simply desired it but comparatively he could wish it on condition the seed of Israel his Brethren and Kinsmen might be united to him He could wish to be damned on condition they might be saved Which may seem a dreadful wish but so much doth he value the salvation of so
lost the power of Judging Malefactors p. 1111 1112 c. They had a high conceit of their own Nation p. 1112. They were highly severe and strict about little inconsiderable Customs but very remiss about things of great Moment and Necessity p. 1113 1114. They were rejected by God not only for putting our Saviour to death but before also for their cursed Traditions and crying wickedness p. 1114. The calling in of the Jews expected by some is not probable and why p. 1123. The Jews were dispersed before our Saviours time p. 1144. They were cast off to a reprobate sense before the destruction of Jerusalem p. 1145. They crucified the Lord of Life out of the very Principles of their Traditional Religion p. 1177. The Jews and the Jewish Religion were very corrupt under the second Temple p. 1199 1200. The Church of the Jews was only a child under age till Christ came 1334 Jezabelites impudently oppose the Decrees of the Apostles 695 696 Ignorance and Error the common cause of them is because Men will not know and embrace the Truth 1286 1287 Image of God in Adam what p. 1153. Image of God upon Man not lost by sin though the likeness of God be 1302 Images in the Church of Rome are Idols 1312 1314 Imposition of Hands in ordination a fundamental Point as well as the Doctrin of Faith and Repentance proved from Hebrews 6. 2. 1040 Imputation of the sins or good Deeds of Parents to the Children supposed by the Jews not to be in the days of the Messias p. 569. Imputation of Parents sins to Posterity is real and rational 1316 1317 Incense the way of burning it with the manner of the Priests and Levites getting ready in order thereunto 380 381 Indifferent Things and such as were not sinful of themselves although of humane invention and used in the Jewish worship did not cause our Saviour to leave that communion nor to forsake the way of Worship but he joyned therein rather than he would give offence 1037 1038 1039 c. Infant Baptism argued for 273 274 Infants in the womb supposed by the Jews to be in a capacity to commit some sin 569 570 Institution divine defiled by corruption but not extinguished Page 165 Intercallated Month or Year what 185 226 Interpretation of the Holy Text the judgment of the Jews concerning a just Interpretation 784 Interpreters in the Synagogues stood by the Readers of the Law and Prophets to turn the words of the Hebrew Text into the Language understood by the people at the same time Commenting or Preaching upon the words p. 132 134 707. Interpreters of the Law part of their work what 803 Invention humane less dangerous to be brought into Divine Worship under the Jewish Law than under the Gospel and why 1038 Invisible Things are the greatest things of our concernment 1284 Jod of it s not passing away or eternal duration 137 138 John Baptist in all probability was no Eremite 387 388 John the most punctual of all the four Evangelists especially in giving an account of the Festivals that intercurred between Christ's entrance into his publick Ministry and the time of his death p. 1033. John the beloved Disciple was him to whom the Revelation was delivered 1196 Jordan the waters thereof were opened twelve miles when Israel passed through p. 46. The Country beyond it what p. 363. Little Jordan was from the spring of Jordan to the Lake Samochonitis but from that Lake being much a larger stream it was Jordan the greater p. 62 63 64 298. Jordan had over it two bridges at least besides other passages 492 Jordan-transmarine its division 363 Jose and Joseph are one and the same Name 640 Joshua where buried 373 374 Jot of it s not passing away or eternal duration 137 138 Journey Sabbath days Journey the length of it was two hundred cubits or one mile 485 486 Joy wicked in a strange instance in the Gunpouder Traytors 1184 Joy in Heaven over a sinner that is converted what 1267 Isaiah the Prophet say the Jews was cut in two by Manasses the King 593 Iscariot a Name given to Judas the Traytor whether given before or after his death If after his death it emphatically shews his miserable end p. 176. As a Betrayer he was to have no part in the World to come his going to his place intends his going to Hell 176 177 Iturea its situation 365 366 Juda for Jehuda and why 97 Judaism the twofold sense of the Word p. 1051. The Jews held this Maxim That if a Jew forsook his Judaism he should have no part in the World to come p. 1087. Judaism and Nicolaitism were two Errors on each hand the Gospel into which some Primitive Christians did fall 1097 Judas was present at the Eucharist p. 261. He was carried by the Devil into the Air there strangled and then cast down to the Earth and there burst assunder 264 639 Judea a sight and division of it p. 9. It was priviledged above other Parts of the Land of Israel p. 10. A description of the Coast of it p. 10. The Mountainous Country of Judea what p. 11. The South Country of it what p. 13. The North Coast of it 19 Judges what Benches of them there were among the Jews 755 Judgment Judgment to him that is angry what p. 141 142. Judgment might be unrighteous when the Judging was righteous 1106 Judgment the Day of Judgment put for Christ's coming with vengeance to Judge the Jewish Nation six differing ways of expressing it p. 346. The Last Judgment proved p. 1101 1102 1103 The objections of the Sadducces and Atheists answered p. 1101 c. Noah's Flood was a prognostication and an assurance of the Last Judgment p. 1104. The destruction of Jerusalem is set forth in Scripture terms seeming to mean the Last Judgment p. 1104. The several and providential assurances that God hath given of the Last Judgment p. 1103 1104 1109. The prosperity of wicked Men is an argument of the Last Judgment p. 1105. Assizes are an assurance and a fit representation of the Last Judgment p. 1104 1117 1119. Conscience is an assurance given by God of the Last Judgment p. 1104 1119. The manner of giving the Law is an assurance of the Last Judgment Page 1119 Judgments Capital always began on the Defendants side among the Jews and not on the Accusers p. 609. Judgments were distinguished into Pecuniary and Capital among the Jews 754 Julian the Apostate part of his character or part of what he was and did 1238 Julias There were two Cities of this Name one built by Herod the other by Philip the later was before called Bethsaida where situate 83 Just a just person or the just two sorts of them p. 448. How distinguished from the Penitent p. 449. Just Men distinguished by the Jews into two sorts and to which of them they gave the preference 1266 Justification is a great Mystery in several respects p. 1051 1052. What it is
vengeance upon the Jews the enemies of this Gospel But in the Jewish Schools this was their conceit of him that when he came he should cut off all those Nations that obeyed not his i. e. the Jewish Law redeeming Israel from the Gentile yoke establishing a Kingdom and Age amongst them that should be crowned with all kind of delights whatever In this they were miserably deceived that they thought the Gentiles were first to be destroyed by him and then that he himself would reign amongst the Israelites Which in truth fell out just contrary he was first to overthrow Israel and then to reign amongst the Gentiles It is easie to conceive in what sense the Pharisees propounded that question when the Kingdom of God should come that is when all those glorious things should be accomplished which they expected from the Messias and consequently we may as well conceive from the contexture of his discourse in what sense our Saviour made his reply You enquire when the Messias will come His coming will be as in the days of Noah and as in the days of Lot For as when Noah entred the Ark the world perisht by a deluge and as when Lot went out of Sodom those five Cities were overthrown so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man shall be revealed So that it is evident he speaks of the Kingdom of God in that sense as it signifies that dreadful revenge he would e're long take of that provoking Nation and City of the Jews The Kingdom of God will come when Jerusalem shall be made like Sodom vers 29. when it shall be made a Carkass v. 37. It is plain to every eye that the cutting off of that place and Nation is emphatically called his Kingdom and his coming in glory Nor indeed without reason For before he wasted the City and subverted that Nation he had subdued all Nations under the Empire and obedience of the Gospel according to what he foretold i i i i i i Matt. XXIV 14. That the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached in all the world and then should the end of Jerusalem come And when he had obtained his dominion amongst the Gentiles what then remained toward the consummation of his Kingdom and Victories but to cut off his Enemies the Jews who would not that he should rule over them Of this Kingdom of God he speaks in this place not answering according to that vain apprehension the Pharisee had when he propounded the question but according to the thing its self and the truth of it There are two things he saith of this Kingdom 1. That it comes not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not with observation Not but that it might be seen and conspicuous but that they would not see and observe it Which security and supineness of theirs he both foretells and taxeth in other places once and again 2. He further tells them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this Kingdom of God is within you you are the scene of these triumphs And whereas your expectancies are of that kind that you say behold here a token of the Messias in the subduing of such a Nation and behold there in the sudbuing of another they will be all in vain for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it is within you Within and upon your own Nation that these things must be done I would lay the emphasis in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã you when commonly it is laid in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã within Besides those things which follow vers 22. do very much confirm it that Christ speaks of the Kingdom of God in that sense wherein we have supposed it they are spoken to his Disciples that the days will come wherein they shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man but shall not see it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The days of the Son of Man in the Jewish stile are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the days of the Messias days wherein they promise themselves nothing but pleasing prosperous and gay enjoyments and questionless the Pharisees put this question under this notion only But our Saviour so applies the terms of the question to the truth and to his own purpose that they signifie little else but vengeance and wrath and affliction And it was so far from it that the Jews should see their expected pleasures that the Disciples themselves should see nothing but affliction though under another notion CHAP. XVIII VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And not to faint THE discourse is continued still and this Parable hath its connection with the Chap. XVII concerning Christ's coming to avenge himself upon Jerusalem Which if we keep our eye upon it may help us to an easier understanding of some more obscure passages that occurr in the application of this Parable And to this doth the expression ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not to faint seem to have relation viz. that they might not suffer their hopes and courage to languish and droop upon the prospect of some afflictions they were likely to grapple with but that they would give themselves to continual prayer VERS II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. There was a certain judge c. IF the scene of this Parabolical History must be supposed to have been amongst the Jews then there would some questions arise upon it 1. Whether this Judge were any way distinguisht from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an Elder or Presbyter For the Doctors are forced to such a distinction from those words in Deut. XXI 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Elders and Judges a a a a a a Hieros Sotah fol. 23. 2. If ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Judge be the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an Elder which the Babylonian Sotah b b b b b b Fol. 44. 2. approve of then might it be enquired whether it was lawful for one Elder to sit in judgment which the Sanhedrin deny c c c c c c Cap. 1. But I let these things pass The Parable propounded is of that rank or order that commonly amongst them the Jews had the title ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and usually ended in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is when it is argued from the less to the greater If that judge the wickedest of men being overcome by the endless importunity of the Widow judged her cause will not a just merciful and good God appear for his own much more who continually solicite him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Who feared not God c. How widely distant is this wretch from the character of a just Judge d d d d d d Maimon Sanhedr cap. 1. Although in the Triumviral Court all things are not expected there which are requisite in the Sanhedrin yet is it necessary that in every one of that Court there should be this seven fold qualification Prudence gentleness piety hatred of Mammon love of truth that
they be beloved themselves and of good report VERS V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lest by her continual coming SO is the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã rendred by the Greek Interpreters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Job XIV 20. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou prevailest against him for ever Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã * * * * * * Vid Job XX. 7. Psal. XLIV 24. XLIX 10. Hence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the titles of Psalms is rendred ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which whether it be rightly rendred in finem to the end is a question VERS VII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Though he bear long with them SO 2 Pet. III. 9. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is long-suffering toward us In both places the discourse is concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the times immediately preceding it In which the Lord exercised infinite patience toward his elect For in that slippery and unsteady state of theirs when Apostacy prevailed beyond measure and it was an hard thing to abandon Judaism people were very difficulty gained over to the Faith and as difficulty retained in it when they had once embraced it And yet after all this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã long-suffering and patience ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shall he find Faith on Earth VERS XII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I fast twice in the week I. THERE were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Fasts of the Congregation and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Fasts of this or that single person And both principally upon the account of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã afflictions or streights e e e e e e Maimon Taanith cap. 2. These are the calamities of the Congregation for which they fast Being besieged by Enemies the Sword Pestilence an hurtful Beast Locusts the Caterpillar Mildew Blasting Abortions Diseases scarcity of Bread Drought f f f f f f Ibid. cap. 1. As the Congregation Fasts upon the occasion of general calmities so does this or that person for his particular afflictions If any that belong to him be sick or lost in the wilderness or kept in prison he is bound to Fast in his behalf c. II. g g g g g g Ibid. The Fasts appointed by the Congregation by reason of general calamities are not from day to day because there are few that could hold out in such a Fast but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã on the second and fifth day of the week On those days they assembled in their Synagogues to Publick Prayers and to this I would refer that of Acts XIII 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as they ministred before the Lord and Fasted much rather than to the celebration of the Mass which some would be wresting it to III. It was very usual for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the single person to devote himself to stated and repeated Fasts for Religions's sake even when there was no affliction or calamity of life to urge them to it And those that did so chose to themselves those very days which the Congregation was wont to do viz. the second and the fifth day of the week h h h h h h Taanith fol. 12. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The single person that taketh upon him to fast on the second and fifth day and the second day throughout the whole year c. Let me add this one thing further about these Fasts R. Chasda saith the Fast upon which the Sun sets is not to be called a Fast. And yet they take very good care that they be not starved by Fasting for they are allowed to eat and drink the whole night before the Fast. i i i i i i Hierosol Taanith fol. 64. 3. It is a Tradition Rabbi saith it is lawful to eat till day-light ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I give Tithes of all that I possess This Pharisee in the profession he maketh of himself imitates the profession he was to make that offered the first-fruits k k k k k k Deut. XXVI 13. I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and given them to the Levite and to the stranger to the Fatherless and to the Widow c. But tell me O thou Pharisee dost thou thus strictly give Tithes of all things out of an honest mind and pure justice viz. that the Priest and Levite and poor may have every one their own and not rather out of mere fear and dread because of that rule He that eateth of things that are not tithed is worthy of death l l l l l l Sanhedr fol. 83. 1. VERS XIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. And the Publican standing afar off c. I. THAT the Israelites when they went into the Temple to put up their own private Prayers went beyond the outward Court or the Court of the Gentiles into the Court of the Women This amongst other things makes it evident viz. That in that Court were placed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thirteen Eleemosynary Chests into which they threw in their voluntary Oblations which was done by the Widow with her two Mites in that place II. It is a question whether any person for his private praying might come as far as the Gate of Nicanor or the Court of Israel much less into the Court of the Priests unless the Priests only We read of our Saviour's being in the Court of the Gentiles viz. in Solomon's Porch and that he was in the Treasury or the Court of the Women but you will hardy find him at any time in the Court of Israel And the negative upon their entrance into that Court is confirmed at least if that rule avail any thing which we meet with in Hieros Beracoth m m m m m m Fol. 8. 4. R. Joshua ben Levi saith he that stands to pray iâ is necessary that he first sit down because it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã blessed are they that sit in thy house Now it was lawful for no person to sit down in that Court but the King only III. That therefore this Publican stood so much further off while he prayed than the Pharisee was probably more from his humility than any necessity that lay upon him so to do For though the Heathen and Publican go together in those words of our Saviour Let him be unto thee as an Heathen and Publican yet it is a question whether the Publicans if they were Jews were bounded to the outward Court only as the Heathens were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He would not lift so much as his eyes up to Heaven What needed this to have been added when this was the very rule of praying n n n n n n Maimon in Tephillah Let him that prayeth cover his head and look downward o o o o o o Ibid. Peah cap. 5. The Disciple of the Wise men when he stands praying let him look downward But were those of the Laity
we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and firy indignation which shall devour the adversary Which is spoken peculiarly of Apostasie or else it were a passage too terrible for all flesh Hannibals father took him at nine years of age to an Altar and there swore him never to have confederacy and friendship with Rome If all the World had alway been under such a tye it had been happy for it I hope our Religion our Hearts our God will keep us from entring into league and society with that City that had so deep a hand in the murther of our dear Saviour and in the blood of his dear Saints III. Lastly Let us strive to adorn our Religion with a sutable conversation to beautifie our Church with the beauty of Holiness We desire to be owned for Citizens of the new Jerusalem and whereas our Religion may give us some title to it it is holiness of conversation that must naturalize and enfranchise us The new Jerusalem doth chalenge a new conversation and doth not a new London new Hearts and Lives The City so stately and sumptuously built up if such top stones be laid on we may comfortably and joyfully cry Grace grace Peace peace unto it A SERMON Preached upon EXODUS XXX 15. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an attonement for your Souls IT is our Duty to love all men and a reason of it is our likeness to all men they have Souls like ours their Souls have all the image of God as well as ours and capable of the fruition of God and eternal glory as well as ours Which Parity whether it be not fairly intimated in the words of the Text judge you when God for attonement for Souls sets a value to all people alike the Rich and Poor to meet in one and the same sum and not one to pay more or less than another but all alike The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel This may seem to be something an unequal rating and the rich to be set too low and the poor too high But to give a clear account of this matter let us consider I. Of the sum that was to be given Half a shekel II. The end for which it was given To be a ransom or attonement for souls And then III. The parity that is to be in this payment None to exceed above nor none to abate beneath another but all to pay alike I. The sum is half a shekel Now their shekel was of the value of our half crown and the half shekel was half as much And as our half crown is either in one piece or hath five six pences to make it up in value So they had their shekel either in one piece or four pieces to make it up Those four pieces in the Greek language were called Drachmes in the Hebrew Zuzees in Latine Pennies And so the Greek renders the half shekel here two Drachmes And the two Pennies that the good Samaritane gave Luke X. 35. is the very same sum viz. half a shekel the Roman penny being seven pence half penny and two of them making half a shekel or fifteen pence And that sum of two pence that the good Samaritane lays down is very properly mentioned in that case For as here the half shekel which was in value two pence is to be given for attonement of Souls so there the two pence which was in value half a shekel is given for recovery of life Two things concerning this half shekel here mentioned are observable in the New Testament First That the mony changers Tables that our Saviour overthrew in the Temple were the Tables of the Collectors and Receivers of this half shekel And why then should he overthrow their Tables when the mony they received was of Gods appointment It was indeed but the wretched Receivers made a base trade of getting gain by changing their mony And for giving them single mony for their whole shekel or half crown piece they must be paid some profit This is that that made our Saviour kick down their Tables and not any crosness against the sum which was of Gods own appointment Secondly In that story Matth. XVII 24. It is this half shekel mony that they come to demand which Christ rather than he will not pay will fetch it by miracle out of a fishes mouth Now II. What was the end or reason of this gift or payment It was for the ransom of a Soul for the attonement of a Soul Where by Soul is not strictly meant that inward part of man properly so called but his life and person for so the word Soul signifies also in Scripture very often As instead of more for the first signification viz. Soul for Life take that of David Let them be cut off that seek after my Soul For the last Soul for Person that in Exod. I. 5. All the Souls that came out of the Loins of Jacob were seventy Souls The meaning is that this parcel of mony was yearly to be paid as a payment or tribute to God for the preservation of their lives and persons And that may be observed by these two things First This was an extraordinary oblation and not the like commanded in the whole Law i. e. any offering of mony Lambs and Goats and Bullocks were commanded to be offered but as for the offering of mony there was this payment only Now the Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks were more properly for the attonement of their Souls viz. for the pardon of their sins and the withholding or removing of judgment But this peculiar and extraordinary one of mony was for the peculiar and extraordinary end viz. for the ransom or preservation of their life and person Secondly This you may find hinted in vers 12. When thou numbrest the people they shall give every one a ransom for their Souls lest there be a plague among them This must be a ransom for their lives to keep the plague or any other deadly occurrence away that might take away their lives or destroy their persons III. The parity or equality in the payment of this sum The rich no more and the poor no less The reason of which when we come to weigh let us be sure to do it in Gods own ballances or we may easily be mistaken What the rich pay no more than the poor and the poor as much as the rich A Gallant would scorn to be so ranked with the poor to pay no more than he and the poor would grudge to be rated with the rich to pay as much as he But he that ordained the payment saw very good reason for what he did and would that they rest in his ordaining and learn somewhat from such appointing The rich shall not give