〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Wise men of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Scribes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Governors of it These words are recited with some variation elsewhere g g g g g g Avodah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 5. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Wise man who taught others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Scribe Any learned many as distinguished from the common people and especially any Father of the Traditions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Disputer or Propounder of questions he that preached and interpreted the Law more profoundly VERS XXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisdom about natural things and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisdom about God that is Divinity But the World in its Divinity could not by wisdom know God CHAP. II. VERS VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Kâ—ma 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this World distinguished as it seems from the rest where This World is to be taken in that sense as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as it is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come And he speaks of the last and highest Wisdom which who is there that could obtain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this World before the revelation of the Gospel in the coming of Christ which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As unto babes THE Hebrews would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little children from a word that signifies to give suck Hence that saying is very common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
with the end of the ninth to all men whatsoever but that by the floor of Christ in this place is meant the Church of Israel or the nation of the Jews alone may be concluded upon these observations First That the title given His floor is but the very Epithet of Isaiah that he giveth to Israel Isa. 21. 10. Oh my threshing and the corn of my floor which though some Expositors both Jewish and Christian apply to Babel yet let the Reader upon common reason and serious examination be the Judge Secondly Because the phrase of fanning of that Nation betokeneth their final desolation Jer. 15. 7. I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the Land and the Baptist seemeth in these expressions his fan and his floor to have reference to these two Prophets Thirdly Because the words being thus appropriated to Israel they have the more agreement with the verses preceding which tell of the wrath to come upon that Nation and of the ax already laid to the root of that tree Fourthly The phrase of throughly purging which the Greek word importeth and the same word is used both by Luke and Mark denoteth a final separation of the Wheat and chaff and an utter consumption of the wicked and this being spoken only to the Jews and to those Gentiles that were mingled with them they cannot so fitly be applyed to any thing as to that Nation and their utter desolation for God had often purged them before but now their thorough purging is near at hand when Christ by the fan of the Gospel shall have sifted and tried them and found them out who was Wheat and who was chaff And Fifthly This Exposition is consented to even by the Jews themselves the more ancient of whom have held that the coming of Christ should be the final desolation of their Nation So doth their whole Sanhedrin confess Joh. 11. 48. This man doth many miracles and if we let him alone all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and Nation And to the same tenor of confession is that collection of the Talmud cited ere while from the last verse of the tenth Chapter of Isaiah and the first of the eleventh where the fall of the forest and Lebanon and the coming of the branch out of the stem of Jesse are laid together And to the same purpose doth the Chaldee Paraphrast render Isa. 66. 7. Before her pains came she was redeemed and before the pangs of her birth Messias her King was revealed A Text from which Rabbi Samuel bar Nachaman in Bereshith Rabba concludeth that the destruction of the Temple and the birth of the Messias should be near together And lastly that this verse as it was spoken only so also is to be applied only to the Jews may be somewhat inferred from the Titles given to the parties spoken of wheat and chaff which both grow from one root and come up upon the same stalk resembling fitly both the believing and unbelieving Jews or the godly and wicked of them both descended from the same National Original And to back this observation it is observable that whereas our Saviour maketh his metaphor of Wheat and Tares because he would only shew the difference betwixt the righteous and the wicked the Baptist doth his of Wheat and chaff because he would not only shew the same difference in condition but also their agreement and identity in Nation §. The Wheat he will gather By Wheat and chaff might very well be understood true and false doctrine and the rather because the Scripture elswhere calleth them by such terms Jer. 23. 28. and maketh the fire of the Word of God the trier and touchstone of them both 1 Cor. 3. 12 13 15. from Deut. 33. 2. and the rather still because the words are spoken to Pharisees and Sadduces which were both very erroneous in their tenets but that it will be very harsh to apply the gathering into the Garner and the unquenchableness of the fire in reference to doctrine therefore the two different titles are severally and properly to be understood of righteous and wicked mens persons differenced in those their several qualifications and under this interpretation may the truth or falsity of doctrine be also understood Now the righteous or Saints of God are fitly compared to Wheat in diverse respects as in goodness usefulness weight and fulness whereas the wicked on the contrary are like chaff in being refuse vile unprofitable light empty and fittest for the fire §. He will gather The observation is not far amiss especially the significancy and force of the Greek word regarded that from hence inferreth that the righteous lie scatteredly and dispersedly among the wicked but the word gathering doth not always necessarily import so much for a Leper was said to be gathered when he was cleansed 2 King 5. 3. which was not from amongst men but unto them and the manner of speech here seemeth to be taken from the gathering of harvest or ripe fruits Exod. 23. 16. or from the gathering of dying men unto their rest as Gen. 25. 8. 17. §. Into the Garner Seeing that the main intent of the verse is to shew forth the destruction of Jerusalem as is proved before by these words might well be understood the care and charge that God took of his faithful ones in that ruine when by the warning of a voice in the Temple that said Migremus hinc let us flit hence he removed them to Pella a place far enough distant from the danger but that our Saviour hath taught us to understand it of the rest in Heaven in his parable of the Wheat and Tares Matth. 13. SECTION X. Christ installed into his Ministry by baptism and by the unction of the Holy Ghost his Pedegree by his Mother Mary St. MATTHEW CHAP. III. Ver. 13. THEN cometh Iesus from Galilee to Iordan unto Iohn to be baptized of him 14. But Iohn forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me 15. And Iesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Then he suffered him 16. And Iesus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him 17. And lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased St. MARK CHAP. I. Ver. 9. AND it came to pass in those days that Iesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized of John in Iordan 10. And straight way coming up out of the water he saw the Heavens opened and the spirit like a Dove descending upon him 11. And there came a voice from heaven saying Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased St. LUKE CHAP. III. Ver. 21 NOW when all the people were baptized And it came
〈◊〉 of two repugnant significations because the Arabick sometimes translating it according to some of their Lexicographers is of that kind I know that the English to lett signifying to permit comes from the Dutch word Belaten not from letten but the word lett in English signifying to hinder is written with the same letters and answers to the Dutch letten in one sense whence one might infer that letten in the Dutch should have the same significations But I fear I shall almost tyre my Reader before I come to that I principally designed which was the benefit and advantages of Talmudical and Rabbinical Learning the chief talent of this learned and laborious Author This kind of study hath now flourished in these Western parts about the space of one Century and somewhat more But at present begins as it seems to be neglected and laid aside partly because it is thought that the best of it is already extracted and prepared to our hands by the hard and assiduous labours of many both Learned and Judicious Men in which may be much mistake partly because it requires much time and pains not attended with such secular Advantages as other Studies more easie and delightful Since its restauration it hath had somewhat the fortune of Chymistry and hath been by degrees inspected improved and used not only by men of whimsey memory or vanity but by the more Wise Judicious and Philosophical Many of both sorts have given us a large account and examples of the great usefulness of it perhaps besides some more instances of what they have observed I may suggest or more insist on one or two which they have not taken so much notice of First then The very knowledge of the opinions and customs of so considerable a part of mankind as the Jews now are and especially have been heretofore is valuable both for pleasure and use It is a very good piece of History and that of the best kind viz. of Humane Nature and that part of it which is the most different from us and commonly the least known to us And indeed the principal advantage which is to be made by the wiser sort of men of most writings is rather to see what men think and are than to be informed in the Natures or Truth of things they write of To observe what thoughts and passions have run through mens minds what opinions and manners they are of Particularly it is of good importance here to take notice of the strange ignorance the putid fables the impertinent trifling the ridiculous discourses and disputes the odd conceits the fantastical observations and explications the childish reasonings the groundless arrogance and self-conceit the superstitious temper of this people universally except Maimonides and one or two Modern more Philosophically given who yet had enough of it too The very Spirit of Hypocrisie Weakness Pride and Superstition which our Saviour and the Prophets those illustrious Preachers of inward and real Righteousness of a solid and intelligent Piety and Virtue reproved and inveighed against in their times runs still generally through their writings It appears yet by them how blindly or hypocritically they prize the smaller matters of their Religion and their own additional circumstances beyond the weightiâ—r and more important They make a great noise of their being Gods peculiar people in special Covenant with him of the Divinity of their Religion and the jus Divinum of all their little institutions and non-sensical mysteries especially of their Cabbala either from the groundless and whimsical interpretation of some command of their Law or from uncertain or false tradition when in the mean time they little mind the great end and design of what is true and useful in them They will dispense with Charity and Humanity it self to observe their own decisions while they think it lawful to compass the Death of an Israelite who wears Linsey-woolsey and unlawful to take up a Heathen out of the Sea ready to perish They talk as if God were so enamoured of their Ancestors and doted on their posterity that he made the World only for their sake and thought himself still so obliged to them for their honour they do to him by preferring and chusing him and his Laws and Religion before others that he must needs be their Protector and Saviour nor ever suffer one of those his dear people to perish or scarce come to any harm This is a disease in all Religions and but too ready to creep into the best of Religions Christianity it self Which hath so expresly discover'd and severely condemned it in the foolish Hypocrites of the Mosaical Religion to which it succeeds We may further also observe how much the Jews and other Oriental people are given to strange uncouth and strong imaginations especially about intellectual things like the Pythagorean's and Platonists who had their Learning and Notions from the East and the South which as it hath its use for invention and discovery sometimes of more than what ever enters into the thoughts of the dull generality of mankind so it is a great disadvantage of nature too stuffing the mind with a great many impertinencies follies and falshoods and that believed with great pertinacity unless it be managed by the supreme faculties of understanding reason and judgment After all this a man may meet with some opinions among them either by chance or Tradition and many Institutions Rites and Laws with the explication and application of them which may be good hints to Wiser Men. Though I have been generally inclinable to believe that the most of the considerable Doctrines among them about intellectual matters in Divinity and Philosophy As concerning the Nature and Attributes of God some things of the Messia the nature and orders of Angels of the Holy Spirit and Divine presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Resurrection of the dead the Immortality of Souls and their states after death of the first and second death of a kind of Purgatory of the day of judgment of original sin c. of some of which there is some account in the Theol. Jud. of Du Voisin I say I have been always prone to think that the Jews especially the Modern such as Ramban Rasi Saadia Kimchi Abarbanel c. have received them though insensibly and not known to themselves and with some mixture and interpolation of their own from Heathen and Christian Philosophers Fathers Schoolmen who first taught them and set them about in the World I have said the most not all and this I think I could make probable in many particulars if this were a place for it But this is enough for the first Advantage A second use of the Talmudical and Rabbinical Authors may be the confirmation of the History of our Saviour Jesus the true Messias That there were such persons as Jesus and his Disciples who lived in such a Country and in such an Age that he performed such actions and delivered such
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be it done 1 Kings 1. 36. where the LXX have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is spoken saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of a truth I say unto you Luke 9. 27. So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Matth. 23. 36. is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the God of truth and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Truth truth Esay 25. 1. § Hereafâ—er ye shall see Heaven opened Observe the manner of our Saviours answer the text saith
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 untouchâ—â— which is that Paul spake in reference to this custom and to that intention is this custom when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie not vice or supra but pro that is in such a sense and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mean In such a sense as baptized meaneth dead or martyred As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in this clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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