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
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
when the strain of Opinions in Divinity ran generally another way after the first Forreign Reformers before things were so calmly impartially and perhaps judiciously examined He lived and publickly appeared principally when Factions grew high and were in great ferment when the Populacy the worst of Masters all being done the most ignorant selfish and ungenerous were courted when publick accusation was the fashion and all things found fault with right or wrong when affairs were carried with clamour confidence and violence with pretences and appearances of Religion and Reformation backed with a present success And it was no wonder if some good and innocent men especially such as he who was generally more concerned about what was done in Judea many Centuries since than what was transacted in his own Native Country by the intrigues and designs of Enthusiastical or Hypocritical Polititians I say it is no wonder if some such were born away to some compliances in some opinions and practises in Religious and Civil matters which they themselves afterwards upon more sedate and serious reflection did not allow And yet it seems his innocency from any self-interest or design together with his Learning secured him from the extravagancies and follies of the Demagogues the peoples Oracles every one of which affected to distinguish and signalize himself by some peculiar Doctrine or Custom but in truth were no more fit for Teachers and Governors in Religion than Mountebanks to compose Dispensatories or to be Presidents of Colleges of Physicians For one little proof of which when in the University it self the use of the Lords Prayer was generally laid aside He did in the University Church as I remember both produce and discourse his own opinion concerning the obligations to use the form of it in Publick and accordingly to testifie his more than ordinary assurance and zeal recited it both before and after his Sermon His preaching in the University in his course which he seldom omitted was to the most judicious and best disposed and there were many who began carefully to examine things when heats were over very acceptable For he always brought with him some new and considerable notion either in the explication of some place of Scripture or confirmation of it which was usually followed with some application delivered with a very sensible and grave Piety He was for his temper as far as I know or have heard from those who knew him better and may be gathered from many of his Prefaces of as great modesty as learning humble and mean in his own opinion perhaps to an excess Where the greatness of that amiable virtue a thing rare seems to have betrayed him to an errour in judgment concerning himself and his own value and too long Commendations and Elogiums of others As he was most obliging and kind himself to others so by what I have heard he was the most sensible of their obligations to him which might be the cause why he was in some cases so liberal in his acknowledgments and praises Having more regard to the favour he received than to the right or other qualities and circumstances of the person who bestowed it He was most assiduous and laborious in his Study where he spent almost the whole time and peradventure somewhat too much when he was in a station of some action and government His Learning is best known from his Works It lay principally in History Chronology Systematical Divinity the Oriental Tongues but above all in Rabbinical and Talmudical Authors In these last doubtless he had spent a great deal of time and taken a vast deal of pains and I do believe I have reason to say as far as appears by writings that he had been the most conversant and was the most skilled in the two Talmuds the principal part of Jewish Learning being their Canon and Civil Law of any man in Europe And his Ability in this sort of Knowledge and Learning was so well known and esteemed in the time of the edition of that Herculean and incomparable Work of the English Polyglot-Bible though now too low prized that he was often consulted and did as freely communicate his Observations and Collections In the Apparatus to it are Printed his animadversions upon the Chorographical Tables or Maps of the Holy-land made by Adrichomius Trinius c. in which he discovers and corrects a great number of gross errours and his opinion is more than once cited in the Prolegomena All which is but very little in compare with what he hath since done in his Chorographical disquisitions before his Horae Hebraicae on Matthew Mark Luke and John but of this others perhaps ere long will give an account It is not so forraign to the Argument and design of this Preface to take notice here by the way and upon this occasion of the French Critick now so much in vogue with us Father Simon who as he hath indeed in that Book of his given very just commendations to so great a performance so he hath been pleased to find some faults therein and to make many other observations and reflections concerning other matters with reason little enough As for example perhaps because he saw the compilers of those many great Volumes so good husbands as to give us the Alexandrine Copy of the Septuagint as it were in the Margin by noting only the differences from the Vatican Copy He thought they would have done well to have given us in like manner the Samaritan Text and Version of the Pentateuch whereas there are not the same reasons Perhaps there are more and more considerable differences between the Hebrew and Samaritan than between the two Copies of the Seventy and then the reading of the Hebrew in Samaritan letter and that without any points as also the being acquainted with the dialect of the Samaritan Version so very remote from the Hebrew and somewhat different from all other of the Chaldee Paraphrasts were sufficient reasons besides others for the Printing them as they are done entirely And indeed they would have been much to blame if they had omitted them and followed some such advice as that of this Author But his reflection upon the Protestants in another place wants either judgment or sincerity where when he hath shewed as he thinks the very great difficulty in translating the Holy Scriptures he infers the great ignorance of the Protestants or the little pains they have taken in finding out their difficulty when they affirm that the Word of God contained in the Scriptures is plain and not at all intricate But what Protestant saith so They say indeed that the matters necessary to salvation are plainly contained in the Scriptures which in my opinion is so certain and easie a truth that neither he nor any other will be able to confute it and for my part I am so far from believing that all necessaries to salvation are not plainly contained in the Scriptures that I think both they and a multitude of not necessaries
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
four speak the same story of Christs miraculous feeding many thousands in a Desert Mark and Matthew do plainly link this story to the preceding as is conspicuous to the eye of whosoever shall view in them the last verse of the foregoing Section and the first of this Johns Disciples with the tidings of their Masters death and Jesus Disciples from their Preaching abroad came in to Jesus much about the same time and it may be Johns Disciples clave to him and depart no more from him Upon the tidings Jesus withdraws into a desart place over the Sea of Galilee Joh. 6. 1. not over to the other side beyond Jordan but he coasted by Sea from one place to another on the same shore namely from Capernaum to the Desart of Bethsaida for it is said the people followed him afoot and came up to him and when his Disciples return by Sea again they are said to go over to Bethsaida Mark 6. 45. and from thence over to Capernaum John 6. 17. coasting still upon the same side John in this story hath mention of the Passover neer at hand vers 4. because he only of all the four hath undertaken to give account of all the Passovers betwixt Christs Baptism and his death for the better reckoning The third PASSOVER since Christs Baptism of the time of his publick Ministry It may be the coming on of the Passover had brought all the Apostles in to attend their Master thither They fall in at Capernaum his own City whether it is like he had appointed them to come in at such a time When Christ intends to feed the multitude he propounds to Philip among all the Disciples Where shall we buy bread for this was in the Desert of Bethsaida which was Philips City John 1. 44. SECTION XLVIII JOHN Chap. VI. from Ver. 22. to the end of the Chapter Jesus teacheth in Capernaum Synagogue concerning eating his flesh c. THe first words in the Section The day following asserts the order Divers of those that had been feed by Christ miraculously in the Desert of Bethsaida remained upon that ground all night expecting Jesus to come again among them who was departed away from them but as they saw not with his Disciples therefore they the next morning follow him to Capernaum and there find him It was Synagogue day there namely either the second or fifth day of the week and in the Synagogue Christ speaketh of eating his flesh and drinking his blood which seemeth a Doctrine so monstrous to many that divers that had followed him do now depart from him What would these people have They had been fed miraculously yesterday and yet to day they say to him What sign shewest thou that we may see and believe ver 30. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert c. ver 31. They looked for a continued miraculous feeding as Moses fed Israel with Manna in the wilderness and to that the words of Christ refer ver 26. Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye ate of the loaves It is said When they had seen the miracle that Jesus did they said This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the world and they went about to make him King ver 14 15. They thought they saw in this miracle the sign of the Messias they looked for who should feed his people miraculously as Moses had done and therefore when they now require a sign to be still shewed in that nature Christ tells them they must expect no other food to be provided for them by him then his own flesh and blood which sounds so coldly in some of their ears that they will follow him no more SECTION XLIX JOHN Chap. VII Ver. 1. After these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walke in Jury because the Jews sought to kill him BEtween the time of this Section and that preceding we are to imagine the Passover to have passed of which there is mention John 6 4. So that after this passage in Capernaum Synagogue Christ goeth up to the Passover at Jerusalem and there the Jews that is the Sanhedrin sought to kill him At the passover the last year they convented him before them to answer for his violation of the Sabbath in healing the man at Bethesda John 5. and he plainly affirms and proves himself to be the Messias and he comes off with safety but after what manner is not expressed But now the increase of his Disciples the spreading of his frame and Doctrine by the preaching of the twelve and it may be the example of the murdering of the Baptist had so stirred them up to seek his life that he perceiving it gets away from Jerusalem into Galilee and will not yet come into Judea again SECTION L. MARK Chap. VII all the Chapter And Chap. VIII from begin to Ver. 22. MATTH Chap. XV. all the Chap. And Ch. XVI from the begin to V. 13. Scribes and Pharisees impious traditions The Woman of Canaans Daughter healed A man Dumb and Deaf healed Four thousand fed miraculously Pharisees require a sign c. Leaven of Pharisees c. THese two Evangelists joyn this portion to the end of Sect. 47. Now what we have laid between in Sect. 48. 49. is of so plain subsequence and order that no more needeth to be said of this or them Certain Scribes and Pharisees that were sent purposely from Jerusalem as may be conjectured because the Sanhedrin there sought to destroy Jesus seeking to intrap and oppose him and to make a party against him quarrel his Disciples for not washing before meat Their preciseness about this matter may bee seen in Talmudick Treatise Jadaim and in Maymony in his Tract Mikvaoth and occursorily almost in every place in the Jewish Writers where they have occasion to speak of their meales and of their manner of eating 1. Washing of the hands or dipping of them is if the institution of the Scribes they are the words of Maymony in Mikvaoth per. 11. 2. Hillel and Shammai decreed about washing the hands But R. Jose the son of R. Ben saith The tradition about it had come to their hands but they had forgot it These therefore decreed but according to the mind of those that had gon before them Talm. Jerus in Schabb. fol. 3. col 4. 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The eating of their common meat in cleanness is very much spoken of in their Writings and most highly extolled Insomuch that the Gloss upon Chagigah per. 2. doth determine a man of Religion by this that He eats his common meals in cleanness and the Gemarists in the place of the Jerusalem Talmud last cited have this saying Whosoever hath his dwelling in the Land of Israel and eats his common meals in cleanness and speaks the Holy tongue and saies over his Phylacteries morning and evening that man may be consident that he shall obtain the life of the world to come And again in
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
to express that but not any fixed time The Jews themselves have learned to make the same construction of it when they say Adrianus besieged Bitter three years and an half Jerus Taanith fol. 68. col 4. And this also that comfort might stand up against misery was the time of our Saviours Ministry when he restored decaied and ruined Religion in so happy a manner Dan. 9. 27. And this the Jews also have observed in that saying we have mentioned before The divine glory shall stand upon mount Olivet three years and an half and shall preach c. So that according to this interpretation of the numbers the things they are applied unto are facil The Gentiles shall tread the Lords Courts fourty two months and the two Witnesses shall Prophesie a thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth Meaning that the Gentiles shall worship God and attend upon him in a Gospel Ministry and for that allusion is made to the space of time that Christ administred the Gospel but this ministring and attending shall not be without persecution and trouble and for intimation of that allusion is made to the bitter times of Antiochus Two witnesses is a phrase taken from the Law In the mouth of two or of three witnesses every word shall stand and it means all that should bear witness to the truth in the times spoken of But more especially the Ministry which is charactered by the picture of Moses and Elias the two great Reformers in their several times the former the first Minister of the Jews the later of the Gentiles These are two Olive trees See Zech. 4. 3. Rom. 11. 17 24. and two Candlesticks See Chap. 1. 20. gracious in themselves and having light and holding it out to others They must finish and accomplish their work that they had to do and then be overcome by Antichrist and slain Their case is clearly paralleled with Christ their Masters by comparing it with which it is best understood He preached three years and six months in trouble and sorrow so they in sackcloth He having finished his Ministry was slain so they He revived and ascended so they likewise Now this that especially states the case and the counting of the progress of proceedings intended here is this That as Christ laid the foundation of the Gospel and when he having finished his Ministry was slain risen and ascended the Gospel was not extinct with him but increased more and more by the Ministry that followed after So seems this that alludes thereunto to be understood As that the two Witnesses should mean the first Ministry and bearing witness to the truth at the first breaking of it out of Popery which was followed with horrid persecutions and multitudes of Martyrdoms but these first Witnesses having so done their Testimony and vast numbers of them having sealed it with their blood and being gone to Heaven yet the Gospel increased and shook down a part of Rome even at these first beginnings Their dead bodies must be cast in the streets of the great City where our Lord was crucified The term The great City resolves that Rome is meant if there were no other evidence which see explained Chap. 17. 18. And by her power and sentence our Lord was crucisied and for a quarrel of hers being accused and condemned by Pilate as a Traytor to the Roman power for saying he was a King This is the rather mentioned now there is speech of Romes last bloodiness against Christs Witnesses that it might be shewed that it persevered the same to his that it had been to him and that to the last and that these Witnesses drunk but of the same cup that their Master had drunk before them She is called spiritually ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Jews speak Sodom and Egypt Sodom for filthiness and Egypt for Idolatry and mercilesness Never did place under Heaven wallow in fleshly filthiness and particularly in the Sodomitick bestiality as Rome did about those times that John wrote and how little it hath been mended under the Papacy there are Records plain enough that speak to her shame He that reads Marâial and Juvenal to name no more may stand and wonder that men should become such beasts and it had been better that those Books had been for ever smothered in obscurity then that they should have come to light were it not only for this that they and others of the like stamp do give that place her due character and help us the better to understand her description It is observable what Paul saith Rom. â1 21 22 23 24. that because the Heathen had brutish conceptions concerning God abasing him he gave them over to brutish abasing their own bodies by bestiality or indeed by what was above bestial And so he shews plainly that Gods giving up men to such filthiness especially Sodomy was a direct plague for their Idolatrous conceptions of God and their Idolatry And to this purpose it may be observed that when the Holy Ghost hath given the story of the worlds becoming Heathenish at Babel for and by Idolatry Gen. 11. he is not long before he brings in mention of this sin among the Heathen and fearful vengeance upon it Gen. 19. Apply this matter to the case of Rome and it may be of good information The casting their dead bodies in the streets speaks the higher spite and detestation against them and in this particular they are described different from their Master And as they had prophesied three years and an half so they lay unburied three days and an half till there was no apparent possibility of their recovery But they revive and go to Heaven and a tenth part of the City falls by an Earthquake and seven thousand perish but the rest of that part of the City that fell who perished not gave glory to God Nine parts of the City left standing still whose ruine is working still from henceforward by the Gospel that these Witnesses had set on foot which brings in the Kingdoms to become the Kingdoms of Christ c. REVEL CHAP. XII AS Daniel Chap. 2. giveth a general view of the times from his own days to the coming of Christ in the mention of the four Monarchies in the four parts of Nebuchadnezzers Visionary Image which should run their date and decay and come to nothing before his coming and then in Chap. 7. handles the very same thing again in another kind of scheme and something plainer And then in Chap. 8. 10. 11. 12. doth explain at large and more particularly some of the most material things that he had touched in those generals So doth our Apocalyptick here and forward He hath hitherto given a general survey of the times from his own days to the end and now he goes over some of the chief heads again with explanation And first he begins with the birth of Christ and the Christian Church and the machination of the Devil to destroy both The Church
Christ did with the Beast and those that carried his mark he fought against them always and when he saw his time destroyed them here the Holy Ghost tells us what he did with the Devil that set them on You heard of Christ fighting with the Dragon Chap. 12. and the Dragon foiled and cast out sets to prosecute the Womans seed but what course takes he for that He resigns his Throne and Power and Authority to the Beast Rome and it must do and it did his business for him Chap. 13. 3. and how throughly it did its masters work is shewed all along from that place forward But what becomes of the old Dragon the master of mischief He sits by as it were and looks on while his game is played and hisses on his Deputy Rome first Imperial then Papal They at the last receive their due wages for their work Imperial and Papal go to perdition But what must become of the Dragon that set them on It would be very improper to tell so largely of the fearful vengeance and destruction upon the agents and to say nothing of the principal and chief mover That therefore is done here and this Chapter takes at Chap. 13. 3. and tells you what became of the old Dragon after the resigning of his Throne to the Beast namely that he sate not at his own quiet as if Michael had nothing to do with him or let him alone having so much to do with his instruments but that he curbed and destroyed both principal and agent and cast them both together into the bottomless pit The Devil had two ways of undoing men the Church by persecution the world by delusion of Oracles Idolatry false Miracles and the like His managing of the former by his Deputies the former Chapters have related and how they sped in his service and this comes to tell how he speeds about the other The great Angel Michael the Lord Christ who hath the key of the bottomless pit in his hand as Chap. 1. 18. chains him by the power of the Gospel that he should no more deceive the Nations for a thousand years Weigh the phrase Not deceive the Nations it is not not persecute but not deceive nor is it the Church but the Nations His persecuting of the Church hath been storied before and here is told how he is curbed for deceiving the Nations and indeed when he deputed Rome and let that loose for the former he was chained up as for the later It is easily construed how Satan deceived the Nations by Idols which are called a lie Isa. 44. 20. Rom. 1. 25. by his Oracles in which was no light Isa. 8. 20. and by magical miracles which were meer delusion Hence the world for the time of Heathenism is said to be in his Kingdom of darkness Act. 26. 18. Colos. 1. 13 c. Now the spreading of the Gospel through the world ruined all these before it and dissolved those cursed spels and charms of delusion and did as it were chain up Satan that he could no more Deceive the Nations ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Heathen as he had done by these deceits so that the words speak the ending of Satans power in Heathenism and the bringing in of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the truth out of darkness and delusion The date of this his chaining up was a thousand years Now the Jews counted the days of the Messias a thousand years as we touched before The Babylon Talmud in Sanhedrin in the Chapter Helek doth shew their full opinion about the days of Messias and amongst other things they say thus as Aruch speaks their words in voce ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is a tradition of the house of Elijah that the righteous ones that the blessed God shall raise from the dead they shall no more return to their dust but those thousand years that the holy blessed God is to renew the world he will give them wings as Eagles and they shall flee upon the waters The place in the Talmud is in Sanhedrin fol. 92. where the Text indeed hath not the word thousand but the marginal gloss hath it and shews how to understand the thousand years And Aruch speaks it as a thing of undeniable knowledge and intertainment And so speaks R. Eliezer in Midras Tillin fol. 4. col 2. The days of the Messias are a thousand Years As John all along this Book doth intimate new stories by remembring old ones and useth not only the Old Testament phrase to express them by but much allusion to customs language and opinion of the Jews that he might speak as it were closer to them and nearer their apprehensions so doth he here and forward This later end of his Book remembers the later end of the Book of Ezekiel There is a resurrection Ezek. 37. Gog and Magog Ezek. 38. 39. and a new Jerusalem Ezek. 40. and forward So here a resurrection ver 5. Gog and Magog ver 8. and a new Jerusalem Chap. 21. 22. There a resurrection not of bodies out of the grave but of Israel out of a low captived condition in Babel There a Gog and Magog the Syrogrecian persecutors Antiochus and his house and then the description of the new Jerusalem which as to the place and situation was a promise of their restoring to their own Land and to have Jerusalem built again as it was indeed in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah but by the glory and largeness of it as it is described more in compass then all the Land of Canaan they were taught to look further namely at the heavenly or spiritual Jerusalem the Church through all the World Now the Jews according to their allegorical vein applied these things to the days of Christ thus that first there should be a resurrection caused by Messias of righteous ones then he to conquer Gog and Magog and then there must come ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The brave World to come that they dreamed of Besides what they speak to this tenour in the Talmudick Treatise last cited there is this passage in Jerus Megillah fol. 73. col 1. They are applying particular parts of the great Hallel to particular times what the great Hallel was we shewed a little before And that part say they I love the Lord because he hath heard me refers to the days of Messias that part Tye the sacrifice with cords to the day of Gog and Magog And that Thou art my God and I will praise thee refers to the world to come Our Divine Apocalyptick follows Ezekiel with an Allegory too and in some of his expressions alludes to some of theirs not as approving them but as speaking the plainer to them by them Here is a resurrection too but not of bodies neither for not a word of mention of them but of souls The souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus lived and reigned ver 4. and yet this is called The first resurrection ver 5.
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
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
stile of the continuance of the house of Omri into which Family his Father had married and was become so prophane as to worship their Idols The Son of the two and forty years was Ahaziah when he began to reign That is of the last of the two and forty of the house of Omri in which it fell and Ahaziah with it Ver. 11. Josias begat Jechonias So readeth the Syrian Arabrick and the most and best Greek Copies And so the Evangelist himself requireth that it be read to make fourteen generations from David to the Captivity into Babel And so readeth D. Kimchi on 1 Chron. 3. 15. Josias indeed begat Joachim and Joachim begat Jechonias but he that was neither fit to be lamented nor to be buried like one of the Kings of Judah Jerem. 22. 18 19. was much more unfit to come into the Line of the Kings of Judah that leadeth to Christ. Ver. 12. Jechonias begat Salathiel Jechonias was Father to Salathiel as Baasha was to Ahab 1 King 20. 34. not by generation but by predecession For Jechonias in very deed was childless Jer. 22. 30. and the natural Father of Salathiel was Neri Luke 3. 27. yet he is said to beget him because he declared and owned him for his next heir and Successor As God is said to beget Christ on the day of his Resurrection Psal. 2. 7. Act. 13. 33. that is declared him thereby to be his Son Rom. 1. 4. The Scripture affecteth to speak short in relating of Stories that are well known before as to spare more you may find an example far harsher than this in 1 Chron. 1. 36. where Timna the Concubine of Eliphaz is named as Eliphaz his Son And in 1 Chron. 3. 16. Zedechia the Uncle of Jechoniah is called his Son because he succeeded him in the Roialty The Jews in their Talmud give this rule for a fundamental point That there is no King to be for Irael but of the house of David and of the seed of Solomon only And he that separateth against this Family denyeth the Name of the blessed God and the words of his Prophets that are spoken in truth Sanhedr Perek 10. R. Samuel in Ner. Mitsvah fol. 153. With which opinion although Matthew seem to comply at the first appearance in that he deriveth our Saviour from Solomon because of the Hebrews for whom he wrote which looked for him from thence yet the carnal sense of it which aimeth only at the earthly Kingdom of the Messias and at the exact descent from Solomon he closely confuteth to the eyes of the intelligent Reader by these two things First in that he bringeth the Line along to Jechonias in whom the seed of Solomon and the regal dignity also with it failed Secondly in that he deriveth the interest of Christ in that dignity if it were any only by Joseph which according to the flesh had no relation at all to him save the marriage of his Mother The Jews to disgrace the Gospel of S. Luke do hold that Jechonias was the natural Father of Salathiel and that upon his repentance in Babel God gave him Children as Assir and Salathiel D. Kimchi on 1 Chron. 3. But God had sworn Jer. 22. 28. and he will not repent Psal. 110. 4. that he should die childless to the Throne and his repentance could no more repeal this Oath of God then the prayer of Moses did the decree of his not entring into the Land And Salathiel begat Zerobabel Salathiel begat Pedaiah and Pedaiah begat Zorobabel 1 Chron. 3. 18. 19. But because when the masculine Line of Solomons house failed in Jechonias the dignity turning over to the Line of Nathan first setled upon Salathiel but first shewed it self eminent in Zorobabel therefore constantly when mention is made of Zorobabel he is not called the Son of Pedaiah a man of no action but obscure but the Son of Salathiel in whom the honour of that Family began For Jechonias was a signet plucked off Jer. 22. 24. and Zorobabel was set on again in his stead Hag. 2. 23. Ver. 13. And Zorobabel begat Abiud Among the children of Zorobabel mentioneth 1 Chron. 3. 19 20. there is no memorial either of Abiud his Son named here or of Rhesa his Son named by St. Luke But as in Scripture it is ordinary for one man to have several names so is it to be understood of these The eldest Son then of Zorobabel to whom the honour lately faln upon that house was to descend was called Mesullam Either in memorial of Solomon the glory of whose house was transferred to him and so he also calleth a daughter of his Shelomith the name by which the wife of Solomon is called Cant. 6. 13. as being but the feminine of Shelomoh Or from the significancy of the word which importeth requited For whereas Jeconias was also called Shallum that is finished because the race and line of Solomon did end in him when a recompence of the failing of that is made by the succession of Salathiel in its stead well might Zorobabel in whom it first shewed call his Son Meshullam or requited Or from their peaceable building and inhabiting Jerusalem after their return from Babel The Son Meshullam was called also Abiud in remembrance of his Fathers glory And his second brother Hannaniah was also called Rhesa that is The chief or principal because of Christs descending from him These things we have now but by conjecture but that we may take the bolder because the Text in the place alledged in the Chronicles hath set these two Sons of Zorobabel apart and distinct from the rest of their brethren as if for some special thing more remarkable then they But there is no doubt but the Evangelists in naming them by these names had warranty from known and common Records to justifie them in it Ver. 17. Fourteen generations In every one of these several fourteens they were under a several and distinct manner of Government and the end of each fourteen produced some alteration in their state In the first they were under Prophets in the second under Kings and in the third under Hasmonean Priests The first fourteen brought their state to glory in the Kingdom of David The second to misery in the Captivity of Babylon and the third to glory again in the Kingdom of Christ. The first begins with Abraham that recived the promise and ends in David that received it again with greater clearness The second begins with the building of the Temple and ends in the destruction of it The third begins with their peeping out of misery in Babel and ends in the accomplished delivery by Christ. The second that terminateth in the peoples captiving into Babel fixeth not no Jehoiakim in whom the captivity began nor in Zedekiah in whom it was consummate but in Jechonias who was in the middle space between And from the same date doth Ezekiel count and reckon the captivity through all his book as Chap. 8. 1. 20. 1.
many other places of the like nature wherein the Holy Ghost having penned a thing in one place doth by variety of words and sense inlarge and expound himself in another And the same divine authority and Majesty doth he also use in the New Testament both in parallel places in it self and in citations in it from the Old So that this difference in hand betwixt My face in Malachy and thy face in Mark is not contradictory or crossing one another but explicatory or one explaining another and both together do result to the greater mystery For Christ is the face or presence of the Father and so is he plainly called Exod. 33. 14. and in Christ the Father came and revealed himself among men and the words in both places both in the Prophet and in the Evangelist are to be taken for the words of the Father in the one spoken of the Son and in the other to him In Malachy thus Behold I send my Messenger before me to prepare the way before my face that is before the Son as he is in his own nature the very brightness of the glory of the Father and the express image of his person Heb. 1. 3. and in Mark thus to prepare the way before thy face that is before thee O Son when thou comest to undertake the work of Redemption and to publish the Gospel And this change of persons in Grammatical construction is usual in the Hebrews Eloquence and Rhetorique as 1 Sam. 2. 23. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord I rejoyce in thy salvation There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee c. Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Luke 3. ver 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. This Tiberius was the third Emperor of the Romans the son of Livia the wife of Augustus and by him adopted into the family of the Caesars and to the Empire A man of such subtilty cruelty avarice and bestiality that for all or indeed for any of these few stories can shew his parallel And as if in this very beginning of the Gospel he were produced of such a constitution to teach us what to look for from that cruel and abominable City in all ages and successions Now Tiberius his fifteenth was the year of the world 3957. And the time of the year that John began to Baptize in it was about Easter or the vernal Equinox as may be concluded from the time of the Baptism of our Saviour For if Jesus were baptized in Tisri or September as is cleared hereafter he being then but just entring upon his thirtieth year as the Law required Numb 4. And if John being six months elder then our Saviour as it is plain he was did enter his Ministry at the very same age according to the same Law it readily follows that the time mentioned was the time when he began to Preach It was indeed Tiberius his fifteenth when John began to baptize but it may very well be questioned whether it were so when our Saviour was baptized by him For the exact beginning of every year of Tiberius his reign was from the fourteenth of the Kalends of September or the eighteenth of August at what time Augustus died Sueton. in Aug. cap. 100. That fifteenth of the Emperor therefore in the Spring time of which John began to baptize was expired before September when our Saviour was baptized and so his baptism is to be reputed in the year of the world 3958. which was then but newly begun and in the sixteenth year of Tiberius but newly begun neither unless you will reckon the year of the Emperor as the Romans did the year of the Consuls from January to January But this we will not controvert nor cross the common and constant opinion of all times that holdeth our Saviour to have been baptized in Tiberius his fifteenth §. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea Here is called Procurator Judeae by Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. and hath this brand set upon him by Egisippus that he was Vir nequam parvi faciens mendacium De excid Jerus l. 2. c. 5. A wicked man and one that made little conscience of a lie from which unconscionable disposition those words of his What is truth Joh. 18. 38. seem to proceed in scorn of truth and derision of it He succeeded Gratus in the government of Judea managed it with a great deal of troublesomness and vexation to the nation and at last was put out of his rule by Vitellius and sent to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours Joseph Antiq lib. 18. c. 3. 4 5. Philo in legatione §. Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee This was Antipas the son of Herod the great and called also Herod after his Father a man that after a long and wicked misdemeanour in his place was at last banished by Caius upon the accusation of his Nephew Herod Agrippa and Herodias his incestuous mate with him as shall be shewed in a more proper place §. Tetrarch Some tying themselves too strictly to the signification of the Greek word understand by Tetrarch him that governeth the fourth part of a Kingdom for the Original word includeth four and accordingly have concluded that the Kingdom of Herod the great was divided by Augustus after his death into four parts and given to his four sons Archelaus in whose room they say succeeded Pontius Pilate Herod Antipas Philip and Lysanias In this strictness hath the Syrian Translator taken the word rendring it thus Herod being the fourth Ruler in Galilee and Philip the fourth ruler in Iturea And the Arabick thus Herod being head over a fourth part even Galilee and so in the rest But if the opinion be narrowly examined these absurdities will be found in it First It maketh a Tetrarchy to be nothing else but exactly the fourth part of a Kingdom whereas Pliny lib. 5. cap. 18. speaketh of Tetrarchies that were like Kingdoms and compacted into Kingdoms and he nameth Trachonitis for one His words are these Intercurrunt cinguntque has Uerbes Tetrarchiae regnorum instar singulae in regna contribuuntur Trachonitis Paneas in qua Caesarea cum supradicto fonte Abila And in chap. 23. he saith Caelosyria had seventeen Tetrarchies Tetrarchias in regna descriptas barbaris nominibus decem septem Secondly It divideth Herods kingdom into four parts whereas it was parted only into three to his three Sons Joseph Ant. lib. 17. Thirdly It maketh Lysanias to be Herods son which he was not at all A Tetrarch therefore seemeth rather to be one that was in the fourth rank or degree of excellency and government in the Roman Empire the Emperor that was Lord of all the Empire being the first the Proconsul that governed a Province the second a King the third and a Tetrarch the fourth So Mishueh and Shalish in the Hebrew
They had both the same end repentance For though our Christian baptism is called the Baptism for remission of sins Act. 2. 38. c. and a great deal of preeminence of this above that of John picked as is thought out of that title yet is it no more then what is said of the baptism of John Mark 1. 4. Fourthly Whereas it is commonly said that one end of our Saviours being baptized was that he might sanctifie our baptism how can this be supposed if he received not our baptism but one different from it Fifthly The Disciples were baptized with no baptism but that of John for Christ baptized them not and who other should do it cannot be imagined and therefore if this of ours be more excellent then Johns we have a better baptism then the Apostles that first administred it Sixthly and lastly Howsoever the Schools without any stumbling do hold rebaptization of those that had received the baptism of John this crosseth their own tenet that his was a degree above the washings under the Law for their imperfection was shewed by their reiteration and in this they make his to differ nothing at all And whereas it is said Act. 19. 5. that some that were baptized with the baptism of John upon Pauls instruction of them were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus it was rather their renewing to their baptism then their baptism to them and not that they took any other then that of John but that they now began to entertain and apply it to the right intent As it may be exemplified in circumcision in any heathen son of Abraham as in Jethro for an instance He was circumcised while he was an unbeliever because he was a Midianite a child of Abraham now when he came to be a convert and imbraced the true Religion he was not to be circumcised again for that was not possible but he then began to know and apply the right use and meaning of his circumcision and so was renewed to it and not it to him Or those words When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus may be understood to be the words of Paul and not of Luke as see Beza in loc This phraze of baptizing with the Holy Ghost sheweth first the restoring of the Holy Ghost which long ago was departed from Israel and gone up Secondly The abundance and plenteousness of that gift when it should be exhibited that it should be as water poured upon them as the word is used Joel 2. 28. Thirdly It sheweth whither all the washings and purifyings of the Law aimed and had respect namely to the washing and purging of men by the Holy Ghost §. You. That is some of you as 1 Sam. 8. 11. He will take your sons that is some of them or You that is the people as Deut. 18. 15. The Lord shall raise to thee a Prophet that is to thy people and unto him you shall hearken that is the Nation of your posterity §. And with fire From Isa. 4. 4. The Lord shall wash the filthiness of the Daughter of Zion and purge the blood of Jerusalem out of the middest thereof by the spirit of Judgment and by the spirit of burning It is easily to be resolved what John meaneth here by fire seeing our Saviour himself hath applied the other part of his speech to the coming down of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost day when we know he appeared in the visible shape of Tongues of fire Act. 2. Now Christs baptizing in this manner with fire was 1. That the giving of the Holy Ghost might fully answer the giving of the Law both for time and manner for both were given at Pentecost and both in fire 2. To express the various operations of the Holy Ghost which are fitly resembled and represented by the effects of fire As 1. To inlighten with knowledge 2. To inflame with zeal 3. To burn up corruption 4. To purifie the nature 5. To turn the man to its own qualification of sanctity as fire maketh all things that it seiseth like it self 3. To strike terror in the hearts of men lest they should despise the Gospel and to win reverence to the Holy Ghost for fear of the fire 4. Hereby was clearly and fully shewed the life and significancy of the sacrifices under the Law upon whom there came a fire from Heaven intimating that they are lively sacrifices and accepted who are inflamed by the Holy Ghost from above And thus the two elements that have and shall destroy the world water and fire hath God been pleased to use for the benefit and salvation of his chosen Vers. 17. Whose fan is in his hand By the fan in the hand of Christ the most Expositors understand the power of judgement that God the Father hath committed to him For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son Joh. 5. 22. And thus some take it for an argument against security to all and others against Apostasie to those that have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and that as the Baptist in the former words hath told what Christ would do at his first coming and appearance so in these what he will do at his second but I rather adhere to the interpretation of them that by the Fan of Christ understand the Gospel and his preaching and publication of the same and that upon these reasons First Because unless it be thus taken we have not here any testimony at all given by the Baptist to the people concerning that part of the Office of Christ. Now that being a matter of so great importance as that the Prophets do more insist upon the preaching of Christ and his power in the Gospel then upon any other thing that concerned him in the work of Redemption and this being in several respects more regardable then his baptizing with the Holy Ghost it cannot be imagined that John should omit to bear witness of him for such a thing nay it had been to neglect to bear witness of him for the chief thing of all Secondly Because the Gospel or the Word of God is the proper touchstone that trieth and differenceth betwixt gold and dross truth and falshood pure and vile and this is the instrument wherewith he confoundeth every strong hold that exalteth it self against himself Isa. 11. 4. 2 Thes. 2. 8. Revel 1. 16. 2. 16. And Thirdly Because John speaketh of Christ as he should presently shew himself among them as it is apparent in the verse preceding and not as he should shew himself at the end of the world §. His floor If these words and those that follow be applied to the whole Church in all places and at all times in general the application may be very profitable and pertinent as giving warning to all men to bring forth the fruits of repentance for fear of the judgement to come and so the end of this verse may be of the same use
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
ãâã ãâã in this speech of the Baptist must needs have a distinct and different sense because the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã between them doth shew that the one is made the reason of the other He was before me in place and preheminence because he was before me in time and being Now the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which seemeth to refer to the time past and which hath occasioned ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by some to be understood concerning priority of time is to be construed in such a construction as the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is in Matth. 21. 42. and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Acts 4. 11. words not of the present tense and yet necessarily to be rendred in the present time I become the head of the corner Ver. 16. And of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace I. These are the words of the Evangelist and not of the Baptist and so they are held to be by Cyrill Chrysostom Chemnitius and some others though there be that hold that they are the Baptists words and some that think no matter whether's words they be taken to be either the one or the other They appear to be spoken by the Evangelist 1. By their agreement with his words in ver 14. for there he speaketh of Christs being full of grace and truth and here of their enjoying of his fulness 2. By the agreement of the next following verse which no question proceeded from the same speaker with the 14 verse also 3. By the agreement of vers 18. which as doubtless proceeded from the same speaker likewise with the same words of the same Evangelist 1 Joh. 4. 12. 4. Those that the Baptist was speaking to in the verse preceding were as yet altogether ignorant of Christ and unacquainted with his appearing and therefore it was most improper for John to say of himself and of them together All we have received when they had yet received little or nothing at all 5. The very sense of the words will demonstrate them to be the speech of the Evangelist and not of the Baptist as will appear in taking them up II. The verse consisteth of two several and distinct clauses and the word and in the middle of it though it be a conjunctive particle yet plainly forceth this distinction for though it is not to be denied that there is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã very frequent in Scripture that is the word and very oft bringing on a latter clause which speaketh but the very same thing though in plainer terms with the former and in explanation of it yet is this here unlikely to be such a one though held by divers so to be for I suppose it will be very hard to match or parallel this verse in all the Scripture with a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is of such a tenour The verse therefore being thus two distinct and several clauses it is inevitably and necessarily to be construed in such a kind of syntax and construction Of his fulness we have received somewhat and we have also received grace for grace And this was well observed by Austine long ago He saith not saith he of his fulness we have received grace for grace but of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace so that he would have us to understand that we have received somewhat of his fulness and grace over and above III. Although it be most true that all the Saints of God have received all their graces of the fulness of Christ for so Chrysostom and Cyrill understand and interpret the word âe and though it be as true that the holy Patriarchs and Prophets that were before John received all their gifts and endowments from the same fulness for so some others interpret that word we as if John should mean them and joyn himself with them when he saith We have all received yet it seemeth that the meaning and intention of the Evangelist in this place is neither the one nor the other but that by the word we in this place he understandeth himself only and his fellow Disciples For 1. he had used the word in that sense vers 14. he dwelt among us and we saw his glory where the words us and we do necessarily signifie the Apostles or Disciples only as was shewed there and how can the same word we be taken in this verse which is but two verses off any way so properly as in the same sense as it was there 2. The Evangelist is in this place shewing how Christ was declared and published by his Ministers as well as he shewed himself in his own person And as John the Baptist was the first so we the Apostles and Disciples were next appointed to be Preachers and proclaimers of him as we shall see by the scope of these verses that lye together by and by IV. Now that the Apostles received exceeding much from or of Christs fulness there needeth no proving to those that have read the Gospel They received of that exceeding much favour exceeding much sanctification exceeding much knowledge exceeding much miraculous power exceeding much of the Spirit and over and beside all this they received grace for grace V. This latter clause hath almost as many several interpretations given of it as there be words in the whole verse I shall not spare to present the Reader with the variety because I will not deny him his choice Austine in the place lately alledged paraphraseth it thus We received of his fulness first grace and then again we received grace for grace What grace received we first Faith walking in faith we walk in grace What meaneth grace for grace By faith we * * * * * * Promeremur obtain God justification and life eternal Phâl 3. 6. Rom. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 4 c. Chrysostome in Homil. 14. on John gives it thus Grace for grace which for which The New for the Old for as there is a righteousness and a righteousness a faith and a faith adoption and adoption a glory and a glory a law and a law a worship and a worship a covenant and a covenant a sanctifying and a sanctifying a baptism and a baptism sacrifice and sacrifice temple and temple circumcision and circumcision so is there a grace and a grace but they as types these as the truth And much in the same tract goeth Cyrill lib. 2. on John cap. 21. comparing the Evangelical grace given by Christ with the legal grace under Moses and of the same judgment is Beza Tolet on this place glosseth it thus Grace is given to us because of the grace that is in Christ and we are made acceptable to God because of him or as Camerarius that embraceth the same sense doth express it We have received the favour towards us because of the favour of God towards the Son Maldonat saith Grace for grace is that some have received one
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
Christs coming into Galilee or from his conference with Nathaneel and this difficulty hath the rather risen because this is another Chapter for certainly if this verse had been in the Chapter before they that date this third day from Christs coming into Galilee would more readily have inclined to another date namely from the testimony of John And truly for all it is a new Chapter yet I see not why it should not be linked to that chain of time that is in the Chapter before Now there it is said John stood and two of his Disciples and he testified of Jesus and they followed him And the day following Jesus would go into Galilee and meeteth with Philip and Nathaneel and the third day there was a marriage what doubt can there be of those three days thus linked together especially it being considered that the Holy Ghost doth here date the time of Christs first acting and moving in the Ministery of the Gospel and will shew how soon he wrought miracles after he began the third there was a marriage in b b b b b b The Syr. readeth In Catna of Galilee and so doth it again Chap. 4. 6. 21. 2. And so doth the Hebrew Map of Canaan mention ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Catna in Galilee for into this name it seems it was grown in after times and the Syrian calleth it by the name it bare in his time as we find it common with the Chaldee Paraphrast to do by names of places in the Old Testament as he calleth Kadesh-barnea constantly Reham he calleth Argob Trachona or Trachonitis Deut. 3. 4. and so might be instanced in exceeding many Cana of Galilee and the mother of Iesus was there 2. And both Iesus was called and his Disciples to the c c c c c c Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. the marriage Feast for a Feast ever attended a marriage see Gen 29. 22. Judg. 14. 10. marriage 3. And when d d d d d d ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Some by the tense would collect that the wine was but now failing and was not utterly spent and upon this collection would interpret those words mine hour is not yet come to this sense that Christ would not work the miracle till the wine was clean gone but neither is the tense of so strict a signification nor are those words of such a meaning as might be shewed at large for the former and shall be touched upon for the latter by and by see those instances about the tense Matth. 26. 26. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 27. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 30. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which to spare more do clearly intimate the action past as Christ brake not the bread nor gave the cup while he was blessing and giving thanks but after c. they wanted wine the mother of Iesus saith unto him They have no wine 4. Iesus saith unto her Woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come 5. His mother saith unto the servants Whatsoever he saith unto you do it 6. And there were set there e e e e e e Hydriae The same word is used by this same Evangelist Chap. 4. 28. And the very notation of the word in this place conduceth to the heightning of the miracle and the confirming of the truth of it For these Vessels were Hydriae water-vessels destined and used only for holding of water and therefore no bottom or dregs of wine could be conceived in them as by which some colour or taste might be given to the water to resemble wine The vessels which women used to fetch water in from the wells were also called Hydriae as is apparent by the place lately alledged Joh. 4. 28. these in Hebrew were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gen. 24. 14. c. which the three Targums express by three several words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but those vessels were either earthen or wooden or of leather or some such light and portable matter but these here spoken of were of stone because they were not to be carryed from place to place but stood constantly in their dining rooms or thereabouts to have water ready for them to wash against they came to meat six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Iews containing two or three f f f f f f ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The LXX render three Hebrew words by this 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in 1 Kings 18. 32. where it is said Elias made a trench that would contain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã two measures of seed the Greek hath it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in 2 Chron 4. 5. Solomons brasen Sea held 3000 baths ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the LXX have it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Hag. 2. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã where either they take ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for a measure which indeed signifieth a winepress or else they express the measure which the Hebrew hath understood What this measure ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã contained shall be examined in the explanation of the verse firkins apiece 7. Iesus saith unto them Fill the water-pots with water and they filled them up to the brim 8. And he saith unto them Draw out now and bear unto g g g g g g ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There are three words couched and compacted in this one and every one of the three refers and draws us to look upon three several things of the customs and fashions of those times 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a bed because it was their manner of old to sit upon beds as they sate at meat Esther 7. 8. The King returned to the place at the banquet of wine and Haman was fallen upon the bed where Esther was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plat. in Sympos He rested on the bed on which he had supped which was near to mine 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it intimateth three beds for that was the common number that they had in their dining-rooms and from whence that room was commonly called by the Latins Triclinium or the room with three beds But of these things they speak at large that write of the Jewish and the Roman antiquities whither the Reader is referred And 3. as for the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Governor of the Feast who he was shall be seen anon the Governour of the Feast And they bare it 9. When the Ruler of the Feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was but the servants which drew the water knew the Governour of the Feast called the Bridegroome 10. And saith unto him Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunke then that which is worse but thou hast kept the good wine untill now 11. This beginning of miracles did Iesus in
it might not be contrary either to truth or to good sense so to construe it But the phrase We know is often taken to import that such a thing is commonly and certainly known not so much with regard to such or such particular or definite persons knowing of it but with regard to the thing it self that it is well known and of open cognisance and so it is clearest to understand it here see the phrase Joh. 4. 22. 9. 31. 1 Joh. 5. 18. c. Vers. 3. Except a man be born Expositors do use great variety of piecings to tie these words of our Saviour to those of Nicodemus before in some sutableness or conformity together Chrysostome thus Thou holdest me for a Prophet only here thou comest exceeding far short of the full truth and art not come so much as into the utmost porch of a right knowledge Verily I say unto thee except thou partake of the Spirit by the laver of regeneration thou canst not have a right judgement concerning me And much in the same steps treadeth Theophylact. Cyrill thus Nicodemus thought he had done enough in coming to Christ and confessing him but this is not enough saith Christ but thou must also be born again And much after the same manner goeth Tolet Augustine thus Nicodemus thou comest to me as to a Teacher come from God but I tell thee there is no trusting my self and the Gospel with thee unless thou be born again Beza conceiveth that Christ saw that it was in Nicodemus his thoughts to enquire of him about the Doctrine of Regeneration and he prevents his question Jansenius that he did inquire concerning the way to eternal life but the Evangelist hath not mentioned it and divers more like offertures of connexion between the words of Nicodemus and our Saviviours might be produced which are tendered by several expositors but I shall spare more alleadging and first take up the consideration of what is meant by the Kingdom of God and that understood the connexion that appears so difficult will be made the better §. The Kingdom of God 1. This phrase and The Kingdom of Heaven are but one and the same in sense though they differ in a word as will plainly and easily appear by comparing these places Matth. 4. 7. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 5. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. 14. Suffer little children c. for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. 23. A rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 11. 11 12. The least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than be Matth. 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Vers. 3. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustardseed Vers. 33. The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven Mark 1. 15. The Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye Luke 6. 20. Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God Mark 10. 14. Suffer little children c. for of such is the Kingdom of God Luk. 18. 24. How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God Luk. 7. 28. The least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he Luk. 8. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luk. 13. 18 19. The Kingdom of God is like a grain of mustardseed Vers. 20 21. The Kingdom of God is like leaven And many more such like parallel places in the Evangelists might be produced in which by the indifferent use of these expressions they shew abundantly that The Kingdom of Heaven and The Kingdom of God do mean and signifie but one and the same thing And the reason of this indifferent use of it is because the Jews usually called God Heaven as Dan. 4. 25. Matth. 21. 25. Luke 15. 21. Joh. 3. 27. and their Authors infinitely in such passages as these ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A man is to fear his Teacher as he is to fear Heaven ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Such a one casts off the fear of Heaven ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The service of Heaven ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Death by the hand of Heaven ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let a man always fear Heaven in secret ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The name of Heaven is blasphèmed c. And they call God Heaven saith Elias Levita because Heaven is the place of his Habitation In Tishbi The Talmudick writers do sometimes use the term or phrase of The Kingdom of Heaven in a wild sense for the strictness height and pompousness of their Ceremoniousness in Religion and most especially about the business of their Phylacteries Rabbi Joshua the son of Korchah saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let a man first take upon him the Kingdom of Heaven and afterward let him take upon him the yoke of the command Thus the Mishueh of the Jerusalem Talmud readeth in Beracoth per. 2. and so likewise doth R. Alphes But the Babylon Mishueh hath it let him first take upon him the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven c. which saying meaneth but this Let a man but first put on his Phylacteries and then fall to his Devotions And so the Gemara in the place cited doth expound it Rabbi Joshua saith He that will take on him the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven let him wash his hands put up his Phylacteries rehearse the sentences of them over say his prayer and this is the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven complete On whose words Alphesi glosseth and descanteth thus Since he reads And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be frontlets between thine eyes If he put not his Phylacteries on he is found bearing false witness against himself for what he saith is not true And although he perform the command of saying his prayers so as to discharge his duty of saying over his Phylactery sentences yet he transgresseth on the other hand because he witnesseth falsly against himself And Rabbi Jochanan meaneth that even the command is not perfectly done if he take not on him the Kingdom of Heaven And he is like to one that offereth a Thanks offering without a meat offering because he rehearseth those sentences without taking on him the Kingdom of Heaven In the same place is another story related and to be understood in the same sense concerning Rabban Gamaliel who on his wedding day at night said over his Phylacteries His Disciples said unto him Sir hast not thou taught us that a Bridegroom is free from saying over his Phylacteries the first night He saith unto them I will not hearken unto you to lay from me the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven no not one hour And the same construction is to be made of that which the Author of Juchasin records of Rabbi Akiba ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That he died taking on him the yoke of the Kingdom of
Tephillah To account the day of expiation afflictions and their very death to be expiatory Idem in Teshubah To expect Messias and undoubted happiness when he came c. How was it imaginable that ever the Doctrine of the New birth should be dreamed of among them who looked for salvation upon such principles and terms as these And therefore it is a scruple and quaere not impertinently nor undeservedly moved by some here why Christ should make such a matter of Nicodemus his ignorance in this point since such ignorance was epidemical to the whole Nation and none of their great Doctors ever dreamed of such Doctrines They could tell you of traditions about carnal rites of curious and quaint explanations of the Law and swimming notions and Cabalisms to fill the brain and they would exhort to a strict ceremonious life to make up a self righteousness but the great things of Faith Renovation spiritualizedness and such kind of Divinity as this was a mear stranger in their Schools not once heard of or looked after Our Saviour therefore in pressing Nicodemus so hard about this his ignorance 1. Would shew him the folly and silliness of that way of Divinity which was read among them and which he undertook to teach which was but as Mint Annise and Cummin to the great things of the Law dross trash and nothing in comparison of the sound and saving doctrines of Salvation 2. He would reprove him as justly he might for daring to be a teacher and leader of others in things which concerned their souls and eternal state and yet himself knew not the chief choicest and first doctrines that concerned the one or the other 3. These very doctrines that Christ is speaking of to him are so copiously and fully taught in the Old Testament that a Student and expounder of the Old Testament such as Nicodemus took himself to be might deservedly be blamed and did fall under a most just reproof when he proved so ignorant of them and unseen in them as he shewed he was How Regeneration is taught in Ezek. 11. 19. and Psal. 51. and other like Texts and how a new birth by Baptism and the Spirit is taught in Ezek. 36. 25 26. he and the rest of his Nation might have learned but they had eyes and saw not c. It was not the deficiency of the Doctrines but it was the blindness of the Doctors that was the cause that they were so ignorant of them 4. If Nicodemus did question only de modo when he saith How can these things be Then that answer hath something in it which some do give to this objection which is that he being a Doctor might have collected the possibility of this matter for all it seemed so wonderful from the powerful works and miracles that he read of in the Law But it appeareth by the words of Christ in the next verse Ye receive not our testimony that he questioned de ipsa re or of the truth of the thing it self Vers. 11. We speak that we do know c. Here is first an opposition plainly set between the ignorance of the Jewish Doctors and their blindfold teaching they knew not what twitted and reproved in the verse before Art thou a teacher and knowest not these things and spoken of 1 Tim. 1. 7. and between the Doctrine and glorious teaching of Christ and the other then Ministers of the Gospel who taught nothing but what they knew and understood And there is also a secret insinuation of that opposite or contrary carriage which indeed being regarded either nakedly and singly or as it lay in opposition one kind of carriage to another was exceeding strange and wonderful and that was that the Doctors of the Jews that taught for Divinity they knew not what should be believed so much as they were and that the preaching of Christ and his Disciples which taught nothing but what they knew and had seen should be believed so little Where as this speech is uttered by Christ in the plural number We speak what we know c. it hath bred some debate among expositors how to understand and determine whom he joyneth with himself in this word We Some conceive that he meaneth himself and the Prophets others that he meaneth himself and John the Baptist others that he intendeth himself only though he speak plurally as of more and some think that he meaneth himself with the Father and the Holy Ghost For the fixing of a setled and proper acceptation of the words though indeed any of these ways they make a fair and harmless construction it is to be observed that there is a we and a ye stand in opposition in the verse we teach ye believe not and they may help one to explain another When Christ saith ye believe not or ye receive not our testimony it doth not so naturally argue that there was company that came with Nicodemus and that Christ speaketh to them as Caietan conceiveth as it doth properly lye to be construed that Christ meaneth the whole fry of the Pharisees and of the other Jews that were carried away with their vain and fond opinions and traditions in matter of Religion as opposite and contrarying the Doctrine of the Gospel And as Except ye be born again vers 7. is but the same in sense with Except one be born again vers 3. so are the we and the ye in this verse to be rendred in such another kind of construction and they mean but thus The Gospel is preached among you and the Doctrine of it is of things certainly known and throughly understood but the people among you are so carried away with your Divinity which is you know not what that this Doctrine because so different from yours is not believed and the testimony of it is not entertained And so the we and the ye do not so punctually aim at any particular persons of this contrary acting as they do at the very acting of these contrary things themselves But if the we must be confined to any peculiar person or persons I should understand it of Christ himself speaking of himself in the plural number as he doth the like Mark 4. 30. when he speaketh of his preaching of the Gospel because all that should preach it should but preach his words and so this we is but I and whosoever shall preach these things and particularly the called Disciples that were now present with him may be joyned with him in this word and that not only because they were to be the eminent preachers of the Gospel hereafter but even because as it may be supposed they had begun in some sort to do so now for though their deputation for that function were more visible and punctual afterward yet can I not conceive them to be altogether dumb and silent now in that matter especially since the very next story tells us that Christ set them to baptize vers 22. compared with Chap. 4. 2. They had now been
with Christ near upon half a year seen his miracles heard his Doctrine and never been from him and therefore it is not imaginable but that they had learned exceeding much concerning Christ and the Gospel and it cannot be conceived but they would be uttering and publishing those things And so the whole verse may be understood in much facility to this sense I and these my Disciples that do and whosoever shall preach these things of the Kingdom of God speak things known and tried not as your Doctors do that teach you know not what and yet thou and the rest of thy judgment and opinion will not intertain and believe our Doctrine Christ and his Disciples had known and seen he al-knowing and they in experience the reality and truth of the New birth and divers other mysteries of the Kingdom of God but how is his taxation of the others unbelief proper upon this ground when they were as ignorant or knew as little that he and they had known and seen these things as they were ignorant of the things themselves Answ. 1. He speaks this in that style of opposition that was mentioned before Ye are believed though ye teach ye know not what and yet will not ye believe us that know and have seen what we teach 2. He seemeth to allude to that that was taken for a competent witness before any of the Judicatories for he is speaking to one that was a Judge in the highest Court and that was this that the witness saw and knew the fact Lev. 5. 1. And is a witness whether he hath seen or known of it if he spake upon certain knowledge or sight his witness was intertained but we speak what we know and testifie what we have seen but ye receive not our witness 3. Nicodemus had confessed Christs miracles to be most admirable and divine and therefore Christ might very well conclude that he would also give weight unto his words and acknowledge the truth of this that he spake though he knew not the certainty of it upon his own knowledge and experience Vers. 12. If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not c. By earthly things divers understand diversly Some conceive Christs speech to look so far back as to his discourse with the people at Jerusalem at the Passover about building up of the Temple in three days and that his words do result to this sense It is no wonder that thou dost not believe this high mysterious doctrine of Regeneration when the Jews could not entertain that more facil and plain Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Messias on the third day Others retaining the same opinion that heavenly and earthly things do signifie the difference of more sublime and more facil doctrines do expound it thus If ye believe not these plain and first rudiments of the Doctrine of the Gospel namely about Regeneration how will you believe those high and sublime mysteries about the eternal generation of the Son the procession of the Holy Ghost c But the most received construction of these words is this If ye believe not when I speak to you in a plain and low style and explain things by earthly comparisons as Gal. 3. 15. How will you believe if I should teach the great things of salvation in their own abstract and simple notions lingua Angelorum as Grotius expresseth it for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as is the common Rabbinick Maxime The Lord speaketh in the Scripture in such expressions as best suit with the capacity of the hearers that they may understand for the simple abstract Doctrines of Divinity are too hard for dull apprehensions Christ is discoursing with Nicodemus about the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Gospel state He first teacheth him about denying of his birth priviledge from Abraham and about the Doctrine of Baptism by which a man is brought into that visible Gospel-state And now saith Christ If you believe not when I tell you of the earthly things of the Kingdom of Heaven that is those things that are most visible and apparent to be understood how will you believe if I should speak of the high things of the Kingdom the incarnation righteousness by Faith peace and joy in the Holy Ghost c Vers. 13. And no man hath ascended up into Heaven c. To clear the conjuncture of these words with the preceding is of some difficulty and that hath caused variety of guesses upon it Some tie them not to the last words of all but to some that lie a great way off namely to Nicodemus first words to our Saviour in verse 2. Whereby he sheweth that he took Christ only for a Prophet Now these words of this verse satisfie him say they against that bare opinion when Christ telleth him that he is not as the Prophets were who indeed were sent of God but never were off the earth but lived continually upon it but he himself came down from Heaven c. Others that do tie them to the very last words preceding do give them in this sense and juncture How will you believe if I speak unto you heavenly things And yet if I should speak such things I deserve to be believed because I came down from Heaven and though none ever preached such things before me nor though I can produce no witnesses with me of what I speak yet am I to be believed because though no man had been in Heaven yet I have been there for I came thence c. Others conceive that they fall in with the last words thus that whereas in the former verse he had spoken of uttering heavenly things he comes on now and doth speak of some such things as namely of his two natures in this verse and of Salvation by his passion and Faith in him in the next Other conjectures at this matter might be alleadged which are severally made but they shall be spared and we will fall upon the words themselves and hearken after their meaning and connexion with the former by the observation of these three things 1. That in all the words of Christ following to the end of his speech viz. to vers 22. his main aim is apparently this namely to shew that he is set up as the object of Faith or he who is to be believed and to be believed in and by believing in whom everlasting life is to be obtained as this scope is most plain in verse 14 15 16. 18. 2. That by the phrase No man hath ascended his meaning is No man can ascend into Heaven as No man hath seen God at any time Joh. 1. 18. meaneth No man hath seen him or can see him 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who hath known the mind of the Lord Rom. 11. 34. meaneth his ways are unsearchable and his Judgments past finding out ver 33. and who can know them c. 3. That Ascending into Heaven is intended to the same purpose and sense with that in Deut. 30.
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
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
the sound and powerful and self-grounded word of God And in that he doth so constantly avouch his own Authority Verily verily I say unto you and But I say unto you c. he doth not only assert his divine and oracular authority of delivering the truth but he also faceth that common manner of teaching of theirs which was pinned upon the sleeve of other mens traditions And when he biddeth call no man Father that is Teacher upon Earth he crosseth that vain Divinity that they taught which was but the Traditions of their Fathers that is their Doctors 2. All the teaching of the Scribes was especially about external carnal and trivial rites ceremonies and demeanours as appeareth infinitely in their Talmudical Pandect which was but hay straw stubble nothing in comparison of the sound doctrines of Salvation Hardly a word in all their Traditions that spake any thing but bodily and carnal matter as he that shall read their Talmuds from end to end will find but little discourse but tending to such a purpose And we need not to go far for a patern of what kind of divinity it was that these great Doctors of the people taught these places in the Gospel give copy enough Matth. 15. 1 2. 23. 16 18 23 25. John 18. 28. Acts 10. 28. Col. 2. 21. c. But the tenor of Christs teaching was the spiritual and soul-saving doctrine of Faith Repentance Renovation Charity Self-denial and such heavenly things as these which by how much the more they had been strangers in the pulpits of the Scribes and never heard of before by so much the more did they now take the people with affecting and admiration being delivered in power and piercing and pressing upon the heart 3. The teaching of the Scribes was litigious and in endless disputes as Rom. 14. 1. 1 Tim. 6. 5. Their Doctors and Traditionaries whom they took upon them to build upon were of so many and so different minds that they that followed them knew not what to follow He that is never so little versed in the Talmuds will easily see such experience in this matter that he will find it readier to tell what those Doctors severally held than to choose what to hold from them if one would follow them But our Saviour taught one only constant and undivided truth plain convincing and so agreeing with the Doctrine of the Old Testament that it was the same but only in a brighter and a clearer garnish The people therefore in this great difference of teaching between their own Doctors and Christ would easily perceive an alteration and by how much the more our Saviours doctrine was more spiritual and speaking to the concernment of the Soul and by how much more it was delivered in the demonstration of a divine power by so much the more it could not but convine the hearers of its own value and dignity and work in them an astonishment at so high and so powerful truths Vers. 23. And there was in their Synagogue a man with an unclean spirit c. Here is the first place in the story of our Saviour where we meet with mention of any possessed or seised on bodily by the Devil and therefore it will be something needful to speak a little in general concerning this case of which we have very frequent example in the process of the Evangelical story I. It cannot but be observed how common this sad condition of being possessed by the Devil was in the time of our Saviours ministery and thereabout above all the times of the old Testament and beyond any examples in any other Nation See Mat. 4. 24. 8. 28. 9. 32. 10. 8. 12. 22. 15. 22. 17. 18. Mark 1. 39. 3. 11. Luke 10. 17. Acts 10. 38. c. Which whether it were 1. In regard that the Spirit of Prophesie had been so long departed from them as 1 Sam. 16. 14. Or 2. that the Lord would in justice confute by this dreadful experience the cursed doctrine of the Sadduces that was now rife among them that there was no spirit Acts 23. 8. Or 3. that he did evidence his great displeasure against the sinfulness and erroneousness of those times which was now grown extream by this visible delivery over of so many to the power of the father of sin and error Or 4. that he would by this doleful experience read to all men a Lecture what misery it is to be in the power and subjection of Satan and so make them more intent to hearken after him that was to break the head of the Serpent or were it all these together Certainly 5. it did highly redound to the honour of Christ and to the magnifying of his divine power and did mightily evidence that he was come the destroyer of the works of the Devil when finding so very many that lay so visibly under his power he inlarged them all and brought them from under his force and bound the strong one and he could not resist And the same tendency to his glory had the like powerful working of his Apostles by derived vertue from himself Mat. 10. 8. Luke 10. 17. Acts 8. 7. 19. 12. II. It is observable that we do not find that any were healed of this sad malady till Christ came and began the work It is true indeed that David by the power of the Prophetick Spirit that was upon him did calm the raging of Sauls evil Spirit when he grew turbulent but neither did he nor any other at any time till now cast either his or any other evil spirit out You must give Josephus leave to tell his story of Solomons skill which he left behind him of driving out the Devil out of the possessed by applying a certain root unto his nostrils Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 2. pag. apud me 230. as well as the Apocrypha of Tobit hath had leave a long time to tell of the Devil smoked away with the broyling of a fish liver Tob. 8. 3. but you may easily smell them both what sent and sense they carry with them As it was reserved for Christ utterly to break and bruise the head of the Devil so was it reserved to him to shew this mastery first upon him by casting him out where he had taken possession and no man might nor could do it before him I have observed in another place that as the two first miracles wrought in the World which were turning a rod into a Serpent and the Serpent into a Rod again the hand into leprosie and the leprosie into soundness again did shew the great power of him in whose power they were wrought and did refer to the present occasion which Moses was then going about so did they more singularly refer to the miracles of Christ To whom as it belonged to cast the Devil the old Serpent out of the Soul and to heal the leprosie of sin so to him was it reserved to cast the Devil out of the
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
c c c Ioh. 20. 1. while it was yet dark Mary Magdalen and the other Mary d d d Ioh. 19. 25. the wife of Cleopas and e e e Luke 24. 10. Mark 15. 48. mother of James and Joses and f f f Mark 16. Salome g g g Compare Matth. 27. 56. Mark 15. 40. the mother of Zebedees children and h h h Luke 24. 10 Joanna the wife of Chusa Herods Steward and other women that were with them set out to see the Sepulchre and brought the Spices with them that they had prepared i i i Luke 8. 3. And as they went they k k k Mark 16. 3 said Who shall roul the Stone away for ââ But when they came to the Sepulchre l l l Mark 16. 2. the Sun being by this time risen they found the stone rolled away For there had been m m m Matth. 28. 2 a great earthquake and the Angel of the Lord had descended from Heaven and rouled back the stone from the door and sate upon it as the Women came unto the Sepulchre they saw this n n n Mark 16. 5 Angel like a young man sitting on the right hand of the entry in in a long white robe and they were sore troubled o o o Matth. 28. 5 Mark 16. 6. But he said unto them Fear ye not I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified he is not here for he is risen come see the place where they laid him And p p p Luke 24. 3. they entred into the Cave and found not the Body in the Sepulchre but there they see q q q Ioh. 12. 12. two Angels more in shining garments the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body had lain r r r Luke 24. 5. who spake to them Why seek ye the dead among the living s s s Ibid. 9. Mark 16. 8. The Women having seen this go in hast and tell the Disciples t t t Joh. 20. 2 3 4 c. Whereupon Peter and John run to the Sepulchre and see the linnen cloaths but see not the Angels u u u Ibid. 10. 11. c. When they were gone home again Mary Magdalen who had again followed them to the Sepulchre standing at the door seeth the Angels again within and turning her self she seeth Jesus without whom at first she took for the Gardiner So that the first apparition of our Saviour being risen was to her alone Joh. 20. vers 1. Apparition 11. to 19. The same day he appeareth to the two men that went to Emmaus Luke 24. 13. the 2. Apparition one of them was Cleopas vers 18. the Father of James and Joses and the husband of the other Mary Compare John 19. 25. and Matth. 15. 40. and the other was Simon Peter Luke 24. 34. 1 Cor. 15. 5. That night he appeareth to the twelve as the Apostle calls them 1 Cor. 15. 5. or to the 3. Apparition eleven and them that were with them Luke 24. 36 39. John 20. 19 20. and sheweth them his hands and feet and eateth a piece of broiled fish and an honey-comb with them Luke 24. 43. Eight days after he appeareth to the Disciples and convinceth Thomas Joh. 20. 26. 4. Apparition At the Sea of Tiberias he appeareth again to seven of his Disciples and fore-telleth 5. Apparition Peter of his suffering for the Gospel Joh. 21. This John calleth his third appearing vers 24. namely which he had made to any number of his Disciples together and which John himself had mentioned On a mountain in Galilee he sheweth himself to the eleven Matth. 28. 16. and to five 6. Apparition hundred brethren at once 1 Cor. 15. 6. for so it may be supposed seeing Galilee and this mountain was the place of rendevouz that he had appointed not only from the time of his resurrection Matth. 28. 7. but even before his passion Matth. 26. 32. and to this convention seemeth the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the next verse to have reference of which in its proper place The Apostle mentioneth another appearance of his to James 1 Cor. 15. 7. But neither 7. Apparition do any of the Evangelists tell when or where it was nor make they mention of any such thing nor doth Paul determine which James it was Lastly He appeared to all the Apostles 1 Cor. 15. 7. being gathered to Jerusalem by 8. Apparition his appointment Acts 1. 4. and thence he led them forth to Bethany and was taken up Luke 24. 50. §. By many infallible Proofs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã By many Signs say the Syrian and Arabick Arguments saith the Vulgar Latine But the word includeth Signs of undoubted truth and arguments of undoubted demonstration and accordingly hath our English well expressed it By infallible proofs These were very many exhibited and shewed by Christ which evidenced his resurrection and they may be reduced to these three purposes First To shew that he was truly alive again as his eating walking conferring and conversing with his Disciples Secondly To shew that he had a true and real body as offering himself to be handled as Luke 24. 39. Thirdly To shew that it was the same body that suffered when he sheweth the scars in his hands feet and sides as Joh. 20. 20 27. Every apparition that are reckoned before and are mentioned by the Evangelists had one or more of these demonstrations and yet were there certain appearances and divers such proofs which are not recorded Joh. 20. 30. §. Being seen of them forty days ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Theophylact not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For that Christ was not continually conversing with his Disciples but he came among them at certain times Yet do the Syrian and Arabick translate it in Forty days Forty years after this a year for a day as Numb 14. 33 34. was Jerusalem destroyed and the Nation of the Jews rooted out because they would not believe in Christ who had so mightily declared himself to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead and who had so plainly declared his Resurrection from the dead by so many appearings and infallible proofs for forty days And that the sin might be fully legible in the Judgment they were besieged and closed up in Jerusalem at a Passover as at a Passover they had slain and crucified the Lord of life Now that this remarkable work of the Lords Justice upon this Nation in suiting their judgment thus parallel to their sin and unbelief in regard of these years and this time of the year may be the more conspicuous to the mind of the Reader for the present it will not be much amiss to lay down the times of the Roman Emperors from this time thitherto for even by their times and stories this time and truth may be measured and
Suetonius Quid scribam vobis P. C. aut Sueton in Tibââ c. 67. quomodo scribam aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore Dii me Deaeque pejus perdant quem perire quotidie sentio si scio What I shall write to you O fathers conscript or how I shall write or what I shall not write at all at this time the gods and goddesses confound me worse than I feel my self to perish daily if I can tell Whereupon Suetonius saith that being weary of himself he almost confesseth the sum of his miseries But my other author thus largely Thus did even his villanies and flagitiousness turn to punishment to himself Nor was it in vain that the wisest of men was wont to affirm that if the minds of Tyrants were but opened tortures and stripes might be spied there seeing that the mind is butchered with cruelty lust and evil projects as the body is with blows For not solitariness not fortune could protect Tiberius but that he confesseth the torments of his breast and his own punishment PART III. The affairs of the JEWS §. 1. A commotion of them IF the Method of Josephus were Chronical and the order of his ranking of Stories to be presumed for the order of their falling out at this time or hereabout should be taken in that * * * Egesip de ââcid âeâus l. 2. cap â famosum ludibrium as Egesippus calleth it or villanous abuse of Paulina a noble chaste and vertuous wife and Lady of Rome by Mundus a Knight under pretext of the god Anubis in the Temple of Isis for this hath * * * Ioseph Antiq lib. 18. c. 4. he mentioned the very next thing after the mention of our Saviours death and with this link of connexion About the very same time another grievance troubled the Jews and shameful things happened about the Temple of Isis at Rome c. But since the story concerning the troubles of the Jews that he relateth after seemeth to have some near dependence and consequence to this of the Lady and that * * * Annal. lib. 2 Tacitus hath laid that occurrence of the Jews expulsion out of Rome thirteen years before this under the consulship of Junius Silanus and Norbanus Flaccus we will omit to meddle with them and will take in another story of the Jews which though Josephus hath placed a little before Christs death yet Eusebius hath set it after and upon his word shall it be commended to the reader for its time and upon the others and Philoes for its truth Pilate as * * * Antiq. lib. 8. cap. 4. de bello Iud. 2. c. 1â saith Josephus having secretly brought into Jerusalem by night certain Images of Caesar and set them up the people when the matter was known repaired to him to Caesarea begging that they might be taken down which when he denied as a thing prejudicial to Caesar they fell flat upon the ground and there lay five days and five nights and stirred not thence On the sixth day he pretending to give them an answer from the judgment seat doth suddenly inviron them with armed men threatning their death if they cease not their importunity But they falling upon the ground again and laying their necks bare return him this answer That they would gladly imbrace death âather than transgress the wisdom of their Laws Whose resolution when Pilate saw he caused the Images to be fetched away from Jerusalem to Caesarea To this purpose Joseâhus but Philo far differently thus * * * Philo in lâgat ad Cajâââ Pilate saith he dedicated golden shields in the Palace of Herod in the holy City not so much for the honour of Tiberius as to vex the people of the Jews upon them there was neither picture nor any thing that was forbidden but only the inscription shewed who had dedicated them and to whom Yet when the multitude had understanding of the thing and the matter was divulged they chose certain of the highest rank among them for their advocates who besought him that the innovation might be taken away and that their Laws might not When he roughly denied for he was naturally inflexible and self-wilfully sturdy they make fair before him as if they would petition to Tiberius Now that fretted him worst of all for he was afraid lest they should do so indeed and accuse him for his other crimes his bribery wrongs rapines injuries oppressions murders and horrid cruelties and yet durst he not take down again what he had dedicated nor had he any mind to pleasure the people Which when they perceived they sent a most humble petition to Tiberius who understanding what Pilate had done and what he had threatned rebuked and checked him for his innovating boldness and commanded him speedily to take the shields away and so they were removed from Jerusalem to Caesarea Thus Philo and thus differently these two Country men and that in a matter which so nearly concerned their own Country and which also befel so near unto their own times For Philo was now alive and in his prime and so was Josephus less than thirty years after Be it referred to the readers choice which of these relations he will take and when he hath made his choice another difference falleth under his arbitration concerning the time betwixt Eusebius which placeth this occurrence after our Saviours passion and Baronius that hath set it three years before his baptism The Cardinal certainly too forward in bringing it in in the first year of Pilate for it appeareth by Philo that he had done a great multitude of villanies among the Jews before he did this and the Father if any whit too backward in ranking it after our Saviours death yet excusable for a thing of so pregnant application as to shew how soon the Jews that had chosen Caesar before Christ have now their belly full of their Caesar in his Images §. 2. Of James his being Bishop of Jerusalem The two last cited Authors though they differ about the time of the story forenamed yet have they agreed unanimously and many others with them about this in hand namely that James was made this year the Bishop of Jerusalem For thus Eusebius Ecclesiae Hierosolymorum primus Episcopus ab Apostolis ordinatur Jacobus frater Domini But Baronius far larger that he was ordained Bishop by Peter that his chair was preserved and reverenced to posterity that he wore a plate of gold upon his head like the High Priest in the Law from whence he would derive the Miter that he alone might go into the Sanctum Sanctorum that he refrained from wine and flesh that he was a Nazarite that his knees were hardned with continual praying till they were unsensible and such like stuff for which he citeth his seveal Authors that if common sense were not a better informer than common fame we should be made to believe any thing whatsoever The question indeed whether James
at Ephesus 56 1 Nero. Paul at Ephesus 57 2 Paul writeth the second Epistle to Corinth And now may we in some scantling fix those Stories to their times which hung loosely before namely the choosing of the Deacons the death of Stephen conversion of Samaria and the Eunuch and conclude that they were about the beginning of the next year after Christs ascension PART II. The Roman Story § 1. Velleius Paterculus TIBERIUS keepeth himself still in the Countrey but not stil at Capreae * * * Dion sub his coss for this year he draweth near unto Rome and haunteth in some places about four miles off but cometh not at all unto the City This seemeth to be his first journey towards it that Suetonius speaketh of * * * In Liber cap. 17. when he came by water to the Gardens beside the Nanmachy or the Pool in Tiber where they used their sportting sea-fights and returned again but the cause not known The first thing mentioned of him under these Consuls both by Tacitus and Dion is his marrying forth the Daughter of Drusus which they name not and Julia and Drusilla the Daughters of Germanicus Drusilla to L. Cassius Julia to M. Vinicius This was a Son of that M. Vinicius to whom Paterculus dedicated his short and sweet Roman History And the nearness of the time would very nearly perswade that this was that very Vinicius himself but that Paterculus sheweth that his Vinicius was Consul when he wrote his book to him and that as himself and Dion agreeing with him sheweth An. V. C. 783. or the next year after our Saviours Baptism but this Vinicius Tiberius his Son in Law as Tacitus intimateth was only a Knight but a Consuls Son Howsoever in these times shone forth and flourished the excellent wit and matchless pen of that Historian an Author known to all learned men and admired by all that know him His Original was from the Campanians as himself witnesseth not very far from the beginning of his second book when he cometh to speak of the Italian war in the time of Sylla and Marius No pen is so fit to draw his pedegree and Character as his own and therefore take only his own words Neque ego verecundia domestici sanguinis gloriae dum verum refero subtraham c. Nor will I for modesty derogate any thing from the honour of mine own blood so that I speak no more than truth for much is to be attributed to the memory of Minatius Magius my great-Grandfathers Father a man of Asculum who being * * * Or grandchild Nephew to Decius Magius a renowned Prince of the Campanians and a most faithfull man was so trusty to the Romans in this war that with a Legion which he had banded Pompey took Herculaneum together with T. Didius when L. Sulla besieged and took in Consa Of whose vertues both others but especially and most plainly Q. Hortensius hath made relation in his Annals Whose Loyalty the people of Rome did fully requite by enfranchising both him and his and making two of his Sons Pretors His Grandfather was C. Velleius Master of the Engeneers to Cn. Pompey M. Brutus and Tyro a man saith he second to none in Canâpany whom I will not defraud of that Testimony which I would give to a stranger He at the departure of Nero Tiberius his Father out of Naples whose part he had taken for his singular friendship with him being now unweldy with age and bulk of body when he could not accompany him any longer he slew himself Of his Fathers and of his own rank and profession thus speaketh he joyntly At this time namely about the time that Augustus adopted Tiberius after I had been Field-Marshal I became a Souldier of Tiberius and being sent with him General of the Horse into Germany which Office my Father had born before for nine whole years together I was either a spectator or to my poor ability a forwarder of his most celestial designs being either a Commander or an Ambassadour And a little after In this war against the Hungarians and Dalmatians and other Nations revolted my meaness had the place of an eminent Officer For having ended my service with the Horse I was made Questor and being not yet a Senator I was equalled with the Senators And the Tribunes of the people being now designed I led a part of the. Army delivered to me by Augustus from the City to his Son And in my Questorship the lot of my Province being remitted I was sent Ambassadour from him to him again Partner in the like employments and honours he had a brother named Magius Celer Velleianus that likewise attended Tiberius in the Dalmatian war and was honoured by him in his Triumph and afterward were his Brother and he made Pretors When he wrote that abridgement of the Roman History which we now have extant he had a larger work of the same subject in hand of which he maketh mention in divers places which he calleth justum opus and justa volumina but so far hath time and fortune denyed us so promising and so promised a piece that this his abstract is come short home and miserably curtailed to our hands So do Epitomes too commonly devour the Original and pretending to ease the toil of reading larger Volumes they bring them into neglect and loss In the unhappiness of the loss of the other it was somewhat happy that so much of this is preserved as is a fragment of as excellent compacture as any is in the Roman tongue wherein sweetness and gravity eloquence and truth shortness and variety are so compacted and compounded together that it findeth few parallels either Roman or other § 2. Troubles in Rome about Usury This year there was a great disturbance in the City about Usury the too common and the too necessary evil of a Common-wealth This breed-bate had several times heretofore disturbed that State though strict and rigorous courses still were taken about it At the first the interest of mony lent was proportioned and limited only at the dispsal of the lender a measure always inconstant and often unconscionable Whereupon it was fixed at the last by the twelve Tables to an ounce in the pound which is proportionable in our English coin to a penny in the shilling Afterward by a Tribune Statute it was reduced to half an ounce and at last the trade was quite forbidden But such weeds are ever growing again though weeded out as clean as possible and so did this Partly through the covetousnes of the rich making way for their own pofit and partly through the necessities of the poor giving way to it for their own supply Gracchus now Pretor and he to whom the complaint was made at this time being much perplexed with the matter referreth it to the Senate as perplexed as himself He perplexed because of the multitude that were in danger by breach of the Law and they because they were in
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
had no other surety for the Truth of the Old Testament Text these mens pains me thinks should be enough to stop the mouth of a daring Papist CHAP. XIV Of the marginal Readings THAT the margin should so often help the Text as I may so say as in 848 places may seem to tax the Text of so many errors But the Learned can find a reason why it is so I hope I may satisfie my self without any hurt with this reason till my Learning will afford me a better Namely that when they took in hand to review the Bible after the Captivity as all hold Ezra did that they did it by more copies than one which when they thus varied they would not forsake either because they were loath to add or diminish therefore they took even their varying one in the Text and the other in the Margin Yet do I not think it was done only thus without some more special matter in some places for the writing of Nagnarah so often Nagnar does make me think if I had nothing else to perswade me that these Marginals are not only humane corrections CHAP. XV. Ex Kimchio in Ionah 1. KImchi questioning why the Book of Jonah should be Canonical c. gives one most comfortable reason which upon reading I could not but muse on His words are observable and they are these It is questionable why this Prophecy is written among the Holy Scriptures since it is all against Niniveh which was Heathenish and in it there is no remembrance or mention of Israel and among all the Prophets besides this there is not the like But we may expound it that it is written to be a * * * Heb. Musar Instruction check to Israel for lo a strange People which were not of Israel was ready to repent and even the first time that a Prophet reproved them they turned wholly from their evil But Israel whom the Prophets reproved early and late yet they returned not from their evil Again this Book was written to shew the great miracle that the blessed God did with the Prophets who was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish and yet lived and the fish cast him up again Again to teach us that the blessed God sheweth mercy to the repentant of what Nation soever and pardons them though they be many Haec Kimchi Upon whose last words I cannot but enter into these thoughts Could we look for a Truth from a Jew or Comfort from a Spaniard And yet here the Spanish Jew affords us both comfortable Truth and true Comfort God will pardon the Repentant there is a comfortable Truth and he will pardon them of what Nation soever if they repent there is most true Comfort When a Jew thus Preaches repentance I cannot but hearken and help him a little out with his Sermon That as God is ready to forgive the Repentant of what Nation soever so for what Sins soever if they be truly Repented Here I except the impardonable Sin the sin against the Holy Ghost which what it is the Scripture conceals in close words partly because we should not despair if we fall our selves and partly because we should not censure damnably of our Brethren if they fall into a sin that is nigh this so that not into it To maintain the Jews words and mine own for pardon of Nations and of sins I have as large a field as all the Countries and all the Sins of the World to look over I will only for Countries confine my self to Niniveh and for Sins to Mary Magdalen Niniveh a Heathen Town built by a Wicked Brood inhabited by a Wicked Crew yet Repenting Niniveh is Pardoned Mary Magdalen a manifold Sinner a customary Sinner a most deadly Sinner yet Repenting Mary Magdalen is Forgiven The Jew brings me into two Christian Meditations about Niniveh or into two wholsom Passions Fear and Hope God sees the Sins of Niniveh then I know mine are not hid this breeds in me Fear of punishment But God forgives the sins of Niniveh then I Hope mine are not unpardonable this breeds hope of forgiveness Col debhaurau she amar âehareang libhne Adam saith the Rabbin bithnai im lo jâshubhu All the evils that God threatens to men are threatned with this condition if they do not Repent As before the Jew spake Comfort and Truth so here he links Comfort and Terror God threatens Evil there is Terror but it is with Condition there is Comfort Niniveh finds both in the story Forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed there is a threatned Terror But the Lord repented of the Evil that he spake to do unto them and did it not there is a Comforting Condition So that as David does so will I hopefully and yet fearfully sing of Mercy and Judgment First Mercy then Judgment Mercy upon my Repentance lest I be cast down and Judgment upon my Sins lest I be lifted up Mercy in Judgment and Judgment in Mercy Is there any one that desperately rejects Ninivehs exhibited Mercy Let him fear Ninivehs threatned Judgment or is there any that trembles at Ninivehs threatned Judgment Let him comfort himself by Ninivehs obtaining Mercy But in the mouth of two witnesses let the Mercy be confirmed Let me take Mary Magdalen with Niniveh and as I see in it the forgiveness of a multitude of Sinners so I may see in her of a multitude of Sins Those many Sinners pardoned as one Man those many Sins made as none at all Saint Bernard speaking of her washing of Christs feer says she came thither a Sinner but she went thence a Saint She came thither an Aethiope and a Leopard but she went thence with changed Skin and cancelled Spots But how was this done She fell at the feet of Christ and with sighs from her heart she vomited the Sins from her soul. Prosternere tu anima mea as saith the same Bernard And cast thou thy self down oh my soul before the feet of Christ wipe them with thine hairs wash them with thy tears which tears washing his feet may also purge thy soul. Wash his feet and wash thy self with Mary Magdalen till he say to thee as he did to Mary Magdalen thy sins are forgiven CHAP. XVI Of Sacrifice SAcrifice is within a little as old as sin and sin not much younger than the world Adam on the day of his creation as is most probable sinneth and sacrificeth and on the next day after meditates on that whereunto his sacrifice aimeth even Christ. Cain and Abel imitate the matter of their fathers piety Sacrifice but Cain comes far short in the manner Abel hath fire from Heaven to answer him and Cain is as hot as fire because he hath not Noah takes an odd clean beast of every kind into his Ark for this purpose to sacrifice him after his Delivery And so he does but for the Chaldee Paraphrasts fancy that he sacrificed on the very same Altar whereon Adam and Cain and Abel had
upon one of the mountains Gen. 22. May we not safely say here that God lead Abraham into temptation But as it follows liberavit a malo God delivered him from the evil of the temptation which is being overcome And Saint James saith sweetly though at first he may seem to cross this Petition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Brethren account it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations Jac. 1. 2. to be in temptation is joy for God chastiseth every son that he receiveth and yet pray lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil let the latter comment upon the first lead us not into the evil of temptation which in the Apostles Phrase is suffer us not to be tempted above our strength CHAP. XXII Septuaginta Interpreters I Will not with Clemens Josephus Austen Epiphanius and others spend time in locking them up severally in their closets to make their Translation the more admirable I will only mind that They did the work of this Translation against their will and therefore we must expect but slippery doing And that appears by them Their additions variations and without doubt oversights may well argue with what a will they went about this business It were easie to instance in thousands of places How they add men and years Gen. 5. 10. 11. 46. How they add matter of their own heads as how they help Jobs wife to skold Job 2. adding there a whole verse of female passion I must now saith she go wander up and down and have no place to rest in and so forth And so Job 1. 21. Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away even as pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass blessed be the Name of the Lord which clause even as pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass is not in the Hebrew but it is added by them and so is it taken from them into our Common Prayer Book in that part of the manner of burial To trace them in their mistakes is pretty to see how their unpricked Bible deceived them As to instance in one or two for a taste Hebrew Septuag Gen. 15. 11. It is said that the birds light upon the carcasses and Abraham drove them away in Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vaijashhebh They read in stead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vajashhebh he drove them away ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vajeshhebh he sat by them and of this Saint Austen makes goodly Allegories Judges 5. 8. The Hebrew saith they choose new gods then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lahhem shegnarim was war in the gates They say they chose new gods as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lehhem segnorim * * * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã barly bread Judges 7. 11. The Hebrew saith and he and Phurah his servant went down to the quarter or side of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hhamushim the armed men They say he and his servant Pharah went down to the quarter of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hhamishim fifty men Thus do they vary in a world of places which the expert may easily see and smile at I omit how they vary names of men and places I will trouble you with no more but one which they comment as it were to help a difficulty 1 King 12. 2. It is said of Jeroboam that he dwelt in Egypt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vaijeshhebh bemitzraijm 2 Chron. 10. 2. It is said that he returned from Egypt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vaijashobh mimmitzraijm The Septuagint heals this thus Translating 2 Chron. 10. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And he had dwelt in Egypt and he returned out of Egypt Such is the manner of that work of the Greek Now to examine the Authority of this we shall find it wonderful That some of the Jewish Synagogues read the Old Testament in Greek and not in Hebrew Tertullian seemeth to witness But those were Jews out of Canaan for they were not so skilful in the Greek Tongue in Canaan for ought I can find as to understand it so familiarly if they had been I should have thought the Septuagint to be the Book that was given to Christ in the Synagogue Luke 2. 17. Because his Text that he reads does nearer touch the Greek than the Hebrew But I know their Tongue was the Mesladoed Chaldee The greatest authority of this Translation appeareth in that the holy Greek of the New Testament doth so much follow it For as God used this Translation for a Harbinger to the fetching in of the Gentiles so when it was grown into Authority by the time of Christs coming it seemed good to his infinite Wisdom to add to its Authority himself the better to forward the building of the Church And admirable it is to see with what Sweetness and Harmony the New Testament doth follow this Translation sometime even besides the letter of the Old to shew that he that gave the Old may and can best expound it in the New CHAP. XXIII The Septuagint over-authorized by some SOME there were in the Primitive Church like the Romanists now that preferred this Translation of the Greek as they do the Vulgar Latine before the Hebrew fountain Of these Saint Austen speaks of their opinion herein and withal gives his own in his fifteenth book de Civitate Dei Cap. 11. 13 14. where treating of Methushelahs living fourteen years after the Flood according to the Greek Translation Hence came saith he that famous question where to lodge Methuselah all the time of the Flood Some hold saith he that he was with his father Enoch who was translated and that he lived with him there till the stood was past They hold thus as being loath to derogate from the authority of those books quos in autoritatem celebriorem suscepit Ecclesia which the Church hath entertained into more renowned Authority And thinking that the books of the Jews rather than these do mistake and err For they say that it is not credible that the seventy Interpreters which translated at one time and in one sense could err or would lie or err where it concerned them not But that the Jews for envy they bear to us seeing the Law and Prophets are come to us by their interpretation have changed some things in their books that the Authority of ours might be lessened This is their opinion Now his own he gives Chap. 13. in these words Let that Tongue be rather believed out of which a translation is made into another by Interpreters And in Chap. 14. The truth of things must be fetched out of that Tongue out of which that that we have is interpreted It is apparent by most of the Fathers both Greek and Latine how they followed the Greek though I think not so much for affectation as for meer necessity few of them being able to read the Bible in Hebrew I will conclude with Clemens Alex. his reason why God
would have the Bible turned into Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Strom. 1. Pag. 124. That is For this were the Scriptures interpreted in the Grecians Tongue that they might have no excuse for their ignorance being able to understand our Scriptures if they would CHAP. XXIV Phrases taken from Iews in the New Testament THESE Phrases are by the great Broughton called Talmudick Greek when Jewish and Talmudical Phrases are used in Holy Writ Such is Gehenna frequent in all Rabbins Maranatha 1 Cor. 16. 22. the bitter excommunication The world to come so often used in the Gospel and nothing more often among the Jews and Chaldees Raka Matth. 5. 22. of which see Chap. 19. Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3. 8. whose names I find in the Chaldee Paraphrast with very little difference and a goodly legend of them As in Exod. 1. 15. Pharaoh slept and saw in his dream and behold all the land of Egypt was put in one scale and a * * * Chal. Taâla bar imera young lamb in the other scale and the lamb weighed down the scales of himself * * * Chal. Mliadh out of hand a Phrase most usual in Iews Authors and the very same in Eng. oât of hand out of hand he sends and calls all the Sorcerers of Egypt and tells them his dream Out of hand Janis and Jimbres chief of the Sorcerers opened their mouths and said unto Pharaoh there is a child to be born of some of the Congregation of Israel by whose hands all the land of Egypt shall be wasted therefore the King consulted with the Jewish midwives c. And in Exod. 7. 11. He calls them Janis and Jambres And that you might the better understand who these two were the Hebrew comment upon the Chaldee Text saith They were Scholars for their art of enchanting to the noble wizard Balaam and so he fetches Zophar for authority to maintain them And to prove Janis and Jambres either very constant enemies and opposers to Moses or else very good dutiful Scholars to Balaam the Chaldee saith that these two were the two servants that went with Balaam Numb 22. 22. when he went to curse Israel Beelzebub or as the New Testament Greek calls it Beelzebul is a wicked phrase used by the Jews of Christ Mark 3. 22. and elsewhere Now whether this change of the last letter were among the Jews accidental or of set purpose I cannot determine Such ordinary variation of letters without any other reason even use of every Country affords So Reuben is in the Syrian called Rubil Apoc. 7. 5. So the Greek and Latine Paulus is in the Syrian Phaulus in Arabian Baulus But some give a witty reason of l in Beelzebul that the Jews in derision of the Ekronites god Baalzebub which was a name bad enough the god of a flie gave him a worse Baalzebul the god of a Sir-Reverence for so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies in Chaldean To omit any more Jewish Phrases honoured by the New Testament using them this very thing does shew the care is to be had for the right reading of the Greek since so many idioms and so many kinds of stile are used by it CHAP. XXV Ninivehs conversion Jonah 3. THE book of Jonah is wholly composed of wonders Some hold Jonah to be wonderful in his birth As that he should be the son of the Sarepta widow whom Eliah raised to life And because the mother of the child said Now I know that the word of God in thy mouth is true therefore he is called Ben Amittai the son of my truth whether the story may be called Ben Amittai or a true story let the Reader censure by the two Towns of Sarepta and Gath-hepher Howsoever Jonah was wondrous in his birth I am sure he was wondrous in his life A Prophet and a runnagate before his shipwrack a man drowned and yet alive in his shipwrack and a Preacher of Repentance and yet a Repiner at Repentance after The least wonder in the book is not the conversion of Niniveh It was a great wonder as D. Kimchi says that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights and yet lived And it was another wonder that he was not stupid but continued in his senses and intellectuals and prayed And do but well consider it and it will appear almost as great a wonder that Niniveh so great a Town so long wicked in so short time should be converted To say as Rabbi Joshuah doth That the men of the Ship were got to Niniveh and had told all the occurrence about Jonah how they had thrown him over hatches and yet he it was that was among them and therefore they believed the sooner as it is without Authority so doth it lessen the wonder of the Towns conversion Jonah an unknown man of a forraign people to come into so great a City with a Fourty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed was strange But for the King upon so short a time to send a cryer to proclaim Repentance is as strange if not stranger Jonah proclaims the Town shall be destroyed the King in a manner proclaims the Town shall not be destroyed by proclaiming the means how to save it Repentance To say as * * * Aben Ezra gives 2. Reasons of poor force to provt that Ninlveh feared God in old time 1. Because otherwise he would not have sent his Prophet to them and so he lessens the wonder of Gods mercy 2. Because we read not that they brake their images therefore they had not any How far the Rab. is besides the cushion both for construction and reason one of small skill may âedge Aben Ezra does That because the City is called Gnir gedholah leelohim a great City of God that therefore they feared God in old time but now in Jonahs time began to do evil is still to lessen the wonder about their conversion a stranger repentance than which the world never saw The old world had a time of warning of years for Ninivehs hours and yet eat and drunk till the flood came and then in the floods of many waters Repentance and Prayers would not come near God Psal. 32. Fair warning had Sodom by the preaching of Lot whose righteous soul they vexed and would not repent till their Hell as it were began from Heaven and fire and brimstone brought them to the lake of fire and brimstone and when the wicked seed of him that derided his fathers nakedness perished for their naked beastliness and their flames of lust brought them to flames on Earth and in Hell The men of Niniveh shall rise up in Judgment against the generation of the Jews and condemn them because these at the Preaching of Jonah Repented and they not for the Preaching of a greater than Jonah that was among them When the Master of the Vineyard sent his Servants nay his own Son they put him to Death In the Conversion
and Delivery of Niniveh I cannot but admire a double mercy of God who to use a Fathers words Sic dedit poenitentibus veniam qui sic dedit peccantibus poenitentiam Who was so ready upon their Repentance to grant them Pardon who was so ready upon his Threatning to give them Repentance Other kind of entertainment than Jonah had had he that came from Gregory Bishop of Rome to Preach to our Realm of England The passage of which story our Countryman Bede hath fully related That when Austen had Preached the Gospel to the King and Dehorted him from his Irreligious Religion your words saith the King are good but I have been trained up so in the Religion â now follow that I cannot forsake it to change for a new This Argument too many ââperstitious Souls ground upon in these days choosing rather to Err with Plato than to follow the Truth with another Desiring rather to be and being as they desire of a false Religion than to forsake the Profession of their Parents and Predecessors Not refusing like good fellows to go to Hell for company rather than to Heaven alone Such a boon companion was Rochardus King of the Phrisons of whom it is Recorded that whereas a Bishop had perswaded him so far towards Christianity as that he had got him into the water to Baptize him the King there questions which way his forefathers went which died Unbaptized whether to Heaven or Hell The Bishop answers That most certainly they were gone to Hell Then will I go the same way with them saith the wicked King and pulls back his Foot out of the water and would not be Baptized at all Hoc animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit CHAP. XXVI Of the Iews Sacraments Circumcision and Passover BOTH these Sacraments of the Jews were with Blood both in Figure the one to carry the Memory of Christ till he came and the other the Passion of him being come Abraham received the sign of Circumcision the seal of the Righteousness of Faith which he had when he was Uncircumcised Rom. 4. The Israelites received the Institution of the Passover in Egypt Exod. 12. I will not stand to Allegorize these matters of the time and manner of receiving these two but only of the things themselves Circumcision given in such a place is not for nothing but in the place of Generation it is given Abraham as a Seal of his Faith that he should be the Father of all those that believe Rom. 4. And especially a Seal to him of Christs coming from those Loins near to which his Circumcision was And appertaining to this I take to be the Oath that Abraham gives his Servant and that Jacob gives Joseph with their Hands put under their Thighs * * * As the Iews think not to swear by their Circumcision but by Christ that should come from those Thighs Circumcision was also used for distinction of an Israelite at the first and hence were they distinguished but in time Ismael had taught his race so much and Egyptians Phaenicians Arabians and the Countries about them grew Circumcised So was Pythagoras Circumcised that he might have access to the recluse Misteries of the Egyptians Religion Circumcision was also used with the Jews as Baptism with us for admission into the Church of Israel And it was Gods express command that the Child on the eighth day should be Circumcised And on that day more than any other saith Saint Austen to signifie Christs resurrection who rested the weeks end in the grave and rose on the eighth day And if Aristotle say true one may give a reason why not before the eighth day because a Child for the seven days is most dangerous for weakness A stranger was so admitted to their Congregation Exod. 2. 48. And of this does Rabbi Eliezer fantastically expound that verse in Jonah 1. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered sacrifice whereupon the wandring Jew saith thus As soon as the Mariners saw when they drew near to Niniveh all the wonders that the blessed God did to Jonah they stood and cast every one his gods into the Sea They returned to Joppa and went up to Jerusalem and Circumcised the flesh of their fore-skin as it is said And the men feared the Lord exceedingly and sacrificed Sacrifices what Sacrifice But this Blood of the Circumcision which is as the Blood of a Sacrifice And they vowed to bring every one his Wife and Children and all that he had to fear the Lord God of Jonah and they vowed and performed This was indeed the way to admit Proselytes by Circumcision but in Salomons time when they became Proselytes by thousands they admitted them by Baptism or Washing as some Jews do witness Whether the neglect of Circumcision as I may so term it in the Wilderness were meerly Politick because of their more fitness for any moments removal and march or whether some Mystery were in it I will not decide Nor need I relate how the Jews use to Circumcise their Children for the great Buxtorfius hath punctually done it Nor can I relate how highly the Jews prise their Circumcision for one might gather volums out of them upon this subject For they consider not that he is not a Jew which is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one within and the Circumcision is of the Heart in the Spirit not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God CHAP. XXVII Of the Passover THE Passover was a full representation of Christs passion though to the Jews the Passover was more than a meer shadow To run through the parts of it might be more than copious A word and away At the Passover the beginning of the Year is changed So. At Christs Passover the beginning of the Week is changed The Passover was either of a Lamb to signifie Christs innocency or of a Kid to signifie his likeness to sinful Flesh as Lyranus The Lamb or Kid was taken up and kept four days to see whether he were spotless and it may be to scoure and cleanse himself from his Grass The Passover slain at Even So CHRIST slain at Even His Blood to be sprinkled with a bunch of Hysop So CHRISTS Blood sprinkled And of this I think David may be understood Psal. 51. Cleanse me with Hysop That is besprinkle me with the Blood of the true Paschal Lamb Jesus Christ. He was to be roasted with Fire So So Christ tried with Fire of Affliction These parts were to be roasted His Head His Legs His Inward parts So was CHRIST Tortured His Head with Thorns His Hands and Feet with Nails His Inwards with a Spear Their Eating of him as it concerned the Israelites in their estate so may it instruct Christians for the eating of the true Passover the Lords Supper The Passover Eaten Without Leaven With bitter Herbs With Loins girt With Feet shod With Staff
answer in the very words of their vulgar Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis Take heed you do not make them your Justification CHAP. XLII An Emblem A Wall in Rome had this picture A man painted naked with a whip in one hand and four leaves of a book in the other and in every leaf a word written In the first Plango I mourn Is the second Dico I tell In the third volo I will and in the fourth facio I do Such a one in the true repentant He is naked because he would have his most secret sins laid open to God He is whipped because his sins do sting himself His book is his repentance His four words are his actions In the first he mourns in the second he confesses in the third he resolves and in the fourth he performs his resolution Plango I mourn there is sight of sin and sorrow Dico I tell there is contrition for sin and confession Volo I will there is amending resolution Facio I do there is performing satisfaction CHAP. XLIII Mahhanaiim Gen. 32. 2. AND Jacob went on his way and the Angels of God met him And Jacob said when he saw them This is the Host of the Lord and he called the name of the place Mahanaim The word is dual and tels of two Armies and no more what these two Armies were the Jews according to their usual vein do find strange expositions To omit them all this seems to me to be the truth and reason of the name There was one company with Jacob which afterwards he calls his army and there was another company of Angels which he calls the Army of God These are the two Armies that gave name to Mahanaim two Armies one heavenly and the other earthly and from this I take it Salomon compares the Church * to the company of Mahanaim for so the Church consisteth Cant. 6. 12. of two Armies one heavenly like these Angels which is the Church triumphant and the other travailing on earth like Jacobs Army which is the Church militant CHAP. XLIV The book of Psalms THE Psalms are divided into five books according to the five Books of Moses and if they be so divided there be seventy books in the Bible the unskilful may find where any one of these five books end by looking where a Psalm ends with Amen there also ends the book As at Psal. 41. 72. 89. 106. and from thence to the end These may even in their very beginnings be harmonized to the books of the Law Gensis The first book of Moses telleth how happiness was lost even by Adams walking in wicked counsel of the Serpent and the Woman Psal. 1. The first book of Psalms tells how happiness may be regained if a man do not walk in wicked counsel as of the Serpent and Woman the Divel and the Flesh. This allusion of the first book Arnobius makes Exodus The second book of Moses tells of groaning affliction in Egypt Psal. 42. The second book of Psalms begins in groaning affliction Psal. 42. 43. Leviticus The third book of Moses is of giving the Law Psal. 73. The third book of Psalms tells in the beginning how good God is for giving this Law This allusion Rab. Tanch makes very near Numbers The fourth book of Moses is about numbring Psal. 90. The fourth book begins with numbring of the best Arithmetick numbring Gods mercy Psal. 90. 1. and our own days vers 12. Deuteronomy The last book of Moses is a rehearsal of all Psal. 107. So is the last book of the Psalms from Psal. 107. to the end In the Jews division of the Scripture this piece of the Psalms and the books of the like nature are set last not because they be of the least dignity but because they be of least dependance with other books as some of them being no story at all and some stories and books of lesser bulk and so set in a form by themselves The Old Testament books the Jews acrostically do write thus in three letters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã every letter standing for a word and every word for a part of the Bible ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for Aorajetha or Torah the Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for Nebhiim the Prophets ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for Cethubhim or books of Holy Writ this division is so old that our Saviour himself useth it in the last of Luke and vers 44. All things written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms By the Psalms meaning that part of Cethubhim in which the Psalms are set first CHAP. XLV Of the Creation TWO ways we come to the knowledge of God by his Works and by his Word By his Works we come to know there is a God and by his Word we come to know what God is His Works teach us to spell his Word teacheth us to read The first are as it were his back parts by which we behold him a far off The latter shews him to us face to face The World is as a book consisting of three leaves and every leaf Printed with many Letters and every Letter a Lecture The leaves Heaven the Air and Earth with the Water The Letters in Heaven every Angel Star and Planet In the Air every Meteor and Soul In the Earth and Waters every Man Beast Plant Fish and Mineral all these set together spell to us that there is a God and the Apostle saith no less though in less space Rom. 1. 20. For the * * * In the Syrian translation it is the hid things of God invisible things of him that is his eternal Power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the World being considered in his Works And so David Psal. 19. 1. It is not for nothing that God hath set the Cabinet of the Universe open but it is because he hath given us Eyes to behold his Treasure Neither is it for nothing that he hath given us Eyes to behold his Treasure but because he hath given us Hearts to admire upon our beholding If we mark not the Works of God we are like Stones that have no Eyes wherewith to behold If we wonder not at the Works of God when we mark them we are like Beasts that have no Hearts wherewith to admire And if we praise not God for his Works when we admire them we are like Devils that have no Tongues wherewith to give thanks Remarkable is the story of the poor old man whom a Bishop found most bitterly weeping over an ugly Toad being asked the reason of his Tears his answer was I weep because that whereas God might have made me as ugly and filthy a creature as this Toad and hath not I have yet never in all my life been thankful to him for it If the works of the Creation would but lead us to this one Lecture our labour of observing them were well bestowed How much more
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
book of the Maccabees it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The plain of Nasor 1 Macc. XI 67. CHAP. LXX The lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee and Tiberias JORDAN a a a a a a Joseph de bell lib. 3. cap. 35. is measured at CXX furlongs from the lake of Samochonitis to that of Gennesaret That lake in the Old Testament is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Sea of Cinnereth Numb XXXIV 11. c. In the Targumists ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Sea of Genesar sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Genesor sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Ginosar it is the same also in the Talmudists but most frequently ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Sea of Tiberiah Both names are used by the Evangelists The lâke of Genesareth Luk. V. 1. The Sea of Tiberias Joh. XXI 1. And the Sea of Galilee Joh. VI. 1. The name Chinnereth passed into Genesar in regard of the pleasantness of the Country well filled with Gardens and Paradises of which we shall speak afterwards It is disputed by the Jerusalem Talmudists why ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cinneroth occurs sometimes in the plural number as Jos. XI 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The South of Cinneroth and Jos. XII 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Sea of Cinneroth b b b b b b Jerus Megill fol. 70. 1. Thence say they are there two Genesareths Or there were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but two Castles as Beth-Jerach and Sinnabris ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which are Towers of the people of Chinnereth but the sortification is destroyed and fallen into the hands of the Gentiles You see by the very sense of the place what the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã means Perhaps it is the same with the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Aruch and with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the c c c c c c Bab. Becoroth fol. 55. 1. Babylonian Writers In whom the Glosser being interpreter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are two Presidentships in the same Kingdom The Gemara affords an Example in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But in the Aruch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are two Castles between which is a bridge under which notwithstanding is no water And it yields an Example in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But we make no tarrying here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sinnabri in the Talmudtsts is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sennabris in Josephus being distant from Tiberias thirty furlongs For he tells us that Vespasian encamped thirty furlongs from Tiberias d d d d d d Joseph de bell lib. 3. cap. 31. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at a certain station that might easily be seen by the Innovators called Sennabris Hâ speaks also of the Town ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ginnabri not far distant certainly from this place For describing the Country about Jordan e e e e e e Id. ibid. lib. 4 cap. 17. he saith that from both regions of it runs out a very long back of mountains but distant some miles from the River on this side from the region of Scythopolis to the Dead Sea on that side from Julius to Somorrha towards the Rock of Arabia and that there lies a Plain between which is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the great Plain laying along from the Town Ginnabris to the lake Asphaltites The same Josephus writes thus of the lake of Gennesaret f f f f f f Id. ibid. lib. 3 cap. 35. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Lake Gennesar is so called from the adjacent Country being forty furlongs in bredth and moreover an hundred in length it is both sweet and excellent to drink Pliny thus g g g g g g Plin. lib. 5. cap. 15. Jordan upon the first fall of the Vallies pours it self into the Lake which many call Genesar sixteen miles long and six miles broad ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã h h h h h h Hieros Avod Zar. fol. 42. 1. The Sea of Tiberias is like the gliding waters While the Masters produce these words they discourse what is to be thought of those waters where the unclean fish swim together with the clean whether such waters are fit to boyl food or no and it is answered Flowing and gliding waters are fit those that do not glide are not and that the Lake of Gennesaret is to be numbred among gliding waters The Jews believe or feign that this Lake is beloved by God above all the Lakes of the land of Canaan i i i i i i Midras Tillin fol. 4. 1. Seven Seas say they have I created saith God and of them all I have chosen none but the Sea of Genesaret Which words perhaps were invented for the praise of the University at Tiberias that was contiguous to this Lake but they are much more agreeable to truth being applied to the very frequent resorts of our Saviour thither CHAP. LXXI Within what Tribe the Lake of Genesaret was BY comparing the Maps with the Talmudie Writers this question ariseth for there is not one among them as far as I know which does not altogether define the Sea of Genesaret to be without the Tribe of Nephthali but the Talmudists do most plainly place it within ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a a a a a a Bab. Bava Kama fol. 81 2. The Rabbins deliver The Sea of Tiberias is the portion of Nephthali yea it takes a full line for the nets on the South side of it as it is said Possess the Sea and the South Deut. XXXIII 23. The Gloss is Nephthali had a full line in the dry land on the South coast that he might draw out his nets So also the Hierusalem writers b b b b b b Hieros Bathra fol 15. 1. They gave to Nephthali a full line on the South coast of the Sea as it is said Possess the Sea and the South They are the words of Rabbi Josi of Galilee So that Talmud that was written at Tiberias so R Josi who was a Galilean The words of Josephus which we cited before are agreeable to these c c c c c c Jos. Antiq. lib. 5. cap. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Tribe of Zabulons portion was to the Sea of Genesaret stretched out also in length to Carmel and the Sea On the South the land of Zabulon was bounded by that of Isachar extending it self in bredth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to Genesaret touching only upon Genesaret not comprehending Genesaret within it So the same Josephus speaks in the place alledged that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the men of Nephthali took those parts that ran out Eastwardly unto the City of Damascus It would be ridiculous if you should so render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unto the City of Damascus as to include Damascus within the land of Nephthali The Maps are guilty of the like Soloecism while they make Zabulon which only came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
would do him no more wrong than you would do his brother Matthew when you should say that he was a Publican ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iscariot It may be ennquired whether this name was given him while he was alive or not till after his death If while he was alive one may not improperly derive it from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Skortja which is written also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i i i i i i Bab. Nedarim fol 55. 2. Iskortja Where while the discourse is of a man vowing that he would not use this or that garment we are taught these things He that tyes himself by a vow of not using garments may use sackcloth vailing cloth hair cloth c. but he may not use ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of which words the Gloss writes thus These are garments some of leather and some of a certain kind of clothing The Gemara asketh What is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iskortja Bar bar Channah answered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Tanners garment The Gloss is A leathern Apron that Tanners put on over their cloths So that Judas Iscariot may perhaps signifie as much as Judas with the Apron But now in such Aprons they had purses sown in which they were wont to carry their mony as you may see in Aruch in the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we shall also observe presently And hence it may be Judas had that title of the purse bearer as he was called Judas with the apron Or what if he used the art of a Tanner before he was chose into Discipleship Certainly we read of one Simon a Tanner Act. IX 43. and that this Judas was the son of Simon Joh. XIII 26. But if he were not branded with this title till after his death I should suppose it derived from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iscara Which word what it signifies let the Gemarists speak k k k k k k Bab. Berac fol. 8. 1. Nine hundred and three kinds of death were created in the World as it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the issues of death Psal. LXVIII 20. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Issues arithmetically ariseth to that number Among all those kinds ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iscara is the roughest death ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the easiest Where the Gloss is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iscara in the mother Tongue is Strangulament By Learned Men for the most part it is rendred Angina The Quinsie The Gemara sets out the roughness of it by this simile ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã l l l l l l Schabb. fol. 33. 1. The Iscara is like to branches of thorns in a fleece of Wool which if a man shake violently behind it is impossible but the wool will be pulled off by them It is thus defined in the Gloss ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Iscara begins in the bowels and ends in the throat See the Gemara there When Judas therefore perished by a most miserable strangling being strangled by the Devil which we observe in its place no wonder if this infamous death be branded upon his Name to be commonly stiled Judas Iscariot or that Judas that perished ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by strangling ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who also betrayed him Let that of Maimonides be observed m m m m m m In ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cap. 8. It is forbidden to betray an Israelite into the hands of the Heathen either as to his person or as to his goods c. And whosoever shall so betray an Israelite shall have no part in the world to come Peter spake agreeably to the opinion of the Nation when he said concerning Judas He went unto his place Act. I. 25. And so doth Baal Turim concerning Balaam Balaam went to his place Numb XXIV 25. that is saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He went down to Hell VERS V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not OUR Saviour would have the Jews priviledges reserved to them until they alienated and lost them by their own perversness and siâs Nor does he grant the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles or Samaritans before it was offered to the Jewish Nation The Samaritans vaunted themselves sons of the Patriach Jacob Joh. IV. 12. which indeed was not altogether distant from the truth they embraced also the law of Moses and being taught thence expected the Messias as well as the Jews nevertheless Christ acknowledges them for his sheep no more than the Heathen themselves I. Very many among them were sprung indeed of the seed of Jacob though now become Renegades and Apostates from the Jewish Faith and Nation and hating them more than if they were Heathens and more than they would do Heathens Which also among other things may perhaps be observed in their very language For read the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch and if I mistake not you will observe that the Samaritans when by reason of the neerness of the places and the alliance of the Nations they could not but use of the language of the Jews yet used such a variation and change of the Dialect as if they scorned to speak the same words that they did and make the same language not the same II. In like manner they received the Mosaic law but for the most part in so different a writing of the words that they seem plainly to have propounded this to themselves that retaining indeed the law of Moses they would hold it under as much difference from the Mosaic Text of the Jews as ever they could so that they kept something to the sense n n n n n n Hieros Sotah fol. 21. 3. Bab. Sotah fol. 33. 2. R. Eliezer ben R. Simeon said I said to the Scribes of the Samaritans Ye have falsified your Law without any manner of profit accruing to you thereby For ye have writ in your Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Near the Oaken Groves of Morâh which is Sichem c. the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is added Let the Samaritan text at Deut. XI 30. be looked upon III. However they pretended to study the religion of Moses yet in truth there was little or no difference between them and Idolaters when they knew not what they worshipped which our Saviour objects against them Joh. IV. 22. and had not only revolted as Apostates from the true religion of Moses but set themselves against it with the greatest hatred Hence the Jewish Nation held them for Heathens or for a people more execrable than the Heathens themselves A certain Rabbin thus reproaches their idolatry o o o o o o Hieros Avodah Zarah fol. 44. 4. R. Ismael ben R. Josi went to Neapolis that is Sâchem the Samaritans came to him to whom he spake thus I see that you adore not this Mountain but the Idols which are under it for it is written Jacob hid the strange Gods under the
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
should live should proceed to that degree of impiety and wickedness that it should surpass all expression and history We have observed before how the Talmudists themselves confess that that Generation in which the Messias should come should exceed all other Ages in all kinds of amazing wickedness III. That Nation and Generation might be called Adulterous literally for what else I beseech you was their irreligious Polygamy than continual Adultery And what else was their ordinary practise of divorcing their wives no less irreligious according to every mans foolish or naughty will VERS XXXIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But the sign of Ionah the Prophet HERE and elswhere while he gives them the sign of Jonah he does not barely speak of the Miracle done upon him which was to be equalled in the Son of Man but girds them with a silent check instructing them thus much that the Gentiles were to be converted by him after his return out of the bowels of the earth as Heathen Niniveh was converted after Jonah was restored out of the belly of the Whale Than which doctrine scarce any thing bit that Nation more sharply VERS XL. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth I. THE Jewish Writers extend that memorable station of the unmoving Sun at Joshua's Prayer to six and thirty hours for so Kimchi upon that place According to more exact interpretation The Sun and Moon stood still for six and thrity hours For when the fight was on the Eve of the Sabbath Joshua feared lest the Israelites might break the Sabbath therefore he spread abroad his hands that the Sun might stand still on the sixth day according to the measure of the day of the Sabbath and the Moon according to the measure of the night of the Sabbath and of the going out of the Sabbath which amounts to six and thirty hours II. If you number the hours that passed from our Saviours giving up the Ghost upon the Cross to his Resurrection you shall find almost the same number of hours and yet that space is called by him three days and three nights when as two nights only came between and only one compleat day Nevertheless while he speaks these words he is not without the consent both of the Jeâish Schools and their computation Weigh well that which is disputed in the Tract x x x x x x Cap. 9. Haâ 3. Schabbath concerning the uncleanness of a woman for three days where many things are discussed by the Gemarists concerning the computation of this space of three days Among other things these words occur R. Ismael saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã y y y y y y Bab. fol 86. 1. Sometimes it contains four ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Onoth sometimes five sometimes six z z z z z z Bab. Avod Zar. fol. 75. 1. a Schabb. fol. 12. 1. But how much is the space of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an Onah R. Jochanan saith Either a day or a night And so also the Jerusalem Talmud a R. Akiba sixed a day for an Onah and a night for an Onah But the Tradition is That R. Eliazar ben Azariah said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Day and a night make an Onah and a part of an Onah is as the whole And a little after ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã R. Ismael computed a part of the Onah for the whole It is not easie to translate the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Onah into good Latin For to some it is the same with the half of a natural day to some it is all one with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a whole natural day According to the first sense we may observe from the words of R. Ismael that sometimes four ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Onoth or Halves of a natural day may be accounted for three days And that they also are so numbred that one part or the other of those halves may be accounted for an whole Compare the latter sense with the words of our Saviour which are now before us A day and a night saith the Tradition make an Onah and a part of an Onah is as the whole Therefore Christ may truly be said to have been in his Grave three Onath or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Three natural days when yet the greatest part of the first day was wanting and the night altogether and the greatest part by far of the third day also the consent of the Schools and Dialect of the Nation agreeing thereunto For The least part of the Onah concluded the whole So that according to this Idiom that diminutive part of the third day upon which Christ arose may be computed for the whole day and the night following it VERS XLV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So shall it be to this evil Generation THESE words foretel a dreadful Apostasie in that Nation and Generation I. It is something difficult so to suit all things in the Parable aforegoing that they may agree with one another 1. You can hardly understand it of unclean spirits cast out of men by Christ when through the whole Evangelick History there is not the least shadow of probability that any Devil cast out by him did return again into him out of whom he had been cast 2. Therefore our Saviour seems to allude to the casting out of Devils by Exorcisms which art as the Jews were well instructed in so in practising it there was need of dextrous deceits and collusions 3. For it is scarcely credible that the Devil in truth finds less rest in dry places than in wet But it is credible that those Diabolical Artists have found out such kind of figments for the honour and fame of their Art For 4. It would be ridiculous to think that they could by their Exorcisms cast out a Devil out of a man into whom he had been sent by God They might indeed by a Compact with the Devil procure some lucid intervals to the possessed so that the inhabiting Demon might deal gently with him for some time and not disturb the man But the Demoniacal heats came back again at last and the former outrages returned Therefore here there was need of deceits well put together that so provision might the better be made for the honour of the Exorcistical Art as that the Devil being sent away into dry and wast places could not find any rest that he could not that he would not always wander about here and there alone by himself without rest that he therefore returned into his old mansion which he had formerly found so well fitted and prepared for him c. Therefore these words seem to have been spoken by our Saviour according to the capacity of the common people or rather according to the deceit put upon them more than according to the reality or truth of the thing it self taking a parable from something commonly believed and entertained that he might express the thing which
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
pretending to be Pharisees whose works are as the works of Zimri and yet they expect the reward of Phineas The Gloss is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Those painted men are such whose outward show doth not answer to their nature they are coloured without ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but their inward part doth not answer to their outward and their works are evil like the works of Zimri but they require the reward of Phineas saying to men that they should honour them âs much as Phineas They had forgot their own axiom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Disciple of the wise who is not the same within that he is without is not a Disciple of the wise e e e e e e Bab. Joma fol. 72. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But within ye are full of hypocrisie and iniquity The Masters themselves acknowledg this to their own shame f f f f f f Bab. Jom fol. 9. 2. They enquire what were those sins under the first Temple for which it was destroy'd and it is answered Idolatry Fornication and Bloodshed They enquire what were the sins under the second and answer Hate without cause and secret iniquity and add these words To those that were under the first Temple their end was revealed because their iniquity was revealed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But to those that were under the second their end was not revealed because their iniquity was not revealed The Gloss They that were under the first Temple did not hide their iniquity therefore their end was revealed to them as it is said After seventy years I will visit you in Babylon but their iniquity under the second Temple was not revealed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Those under the second Temple were secretly wicked VERS XXIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ye garnish the Sepulchres of the Righteous ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã g g g g g g Shakalim Chap. 2. Hal. 5. The Glossers are divided about the rendring of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Some understand it of a kind of building or pillar some of the whiting or marking of a Sepulchre above spoken of the place referred to speaks concerning the remains of the Didrachms paid for the redemption of the soul and the question is if there be any thing of them due or remaining from the man now dead what shall be done with it the answer is Let it be laid up till Elias come but R. Nathan saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let them raise some pillar or building upon his Sepulchre Which that it was done for the sake of adorning the Sepulchres is proved from the words of the Jerusalem Gemara upon the place h h h h h h Fol. 47. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They do not adorn the Sepulchres of the righteous for their own sayings are their memorial Whence those buildings or ornaments that were set on their Sepulchres seem to have been sacred to their memory and thence called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as much as Souls because they preserved the life and soul of their memory These things being considered the sense of the words before us doth more clearly appear Doth it deserve so severe a curse to adorn the Sepulchres of the Prophets and righteous men Was not this rather an act of piety than a crime But according to their own Doctrine O ye Scribes and Pharisees ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Their own Acts and Sayings is a sufficient memorial for them Why do ye not respect follow and imitate these But neglecting and trampling upon these you perswade your selves that you have performed piety enough to them if you bestow some cost in adorning their Sepulchres whose words indeed you despise VERS XXXIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The damnation of Hell ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Judgment of Gehenna See the Chaldee Paraphrast on Ruth II. 12. Baal Turim on Gen. I. 1. Midras Tillin i i i i i i Fol. 41. 2 3 c. VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wise men and Scribes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wise men and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Scribes Let them observe this who do not allow the Ministers of the word to have a distinct calling The Jews knew not any that was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A wise man or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Scribe but who was both learned and separated from the common people by a distinct order and office VERS XXXV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Unto the blood of Zacharias Son of Barachias THAT the discourse here is concerning Zacharias the son of Jehoiada k k k k k k 2 Chr. XXIV killed by King Joas we make appear by these arguments I. Because no other Zacharias is said to have been slain before these words were spoken by Christ. Those things that are spoke of Zacharias the father of the Baptist are dreams and those of Zacharias one of the twelve Prophets are not much better The killing of our Zacariahs in the Temple is related in express words and why neglecting this should we seek for another which in truth we shall no where find with any author of good credit II. The Jews observe that the death of this Zacharias the son of Jehoiadah was made memorable by a signal character and revenge Of the Martyrdom of the other Zacharias they say nothing at all Here both the l l l l l l Hieros in Taanith fol. 69. 1 2. Bab. in Sanhedr fol. 96. 2. Talmuds R. Jochanan said Eighty thousand Priests were killed for the blood of Zacharias R. Judah asked R. Acha whereabouts they killed Zacharias Whether in the Court of the Women or in the Court of Israel He answered neither in the Court of Israel nor in the Court of the Women but in the Court of the Priests And that was not done to his blood which useth to be done to the blood of a Ram or a Kid Concerning these it is written And he shall pour out his blood and cover it with dust But here it is written m m m m m m Ezech. XXIV 7. Her blood is in the midst of her she set it upon the top of a rock she poured it not upon the ground And why this n n n n n n Vers. 8. That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance I have set her blood upon a rock that it should not be covered They committed seven wickednesses in that day They killed a Priest a Prophet and a Judg they shed the blood of an innocent man they polluted the Court. And that day was the Sabbath day and the day of Expiation when therefore Nebuzaradan went up thither he saw the blood bubbling so he said to them what meaneth this It is the blood say they of Calves Lambs and Rams which we have offered on the Altar Bring then said he Calves Lambs and Rams that I may try whether this be their blood They brought them and slew them and
only to the words of Esaiah But who they are in Esaiah is plain enough CHAP. X. VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cometh into the Coasts of Iudea by the farther side of Iordan HERE is need of a discerning eye to distinguish of the true time and method of this story and of Christs journey If you make use of such an eye you will find half a year or thereabouts to come between the uttering of the words immediately beforegoing and this travail of our Saviour however it seems to be intimated by our Evangelist and likewise by Matthew that when he had finished those words forthwith he entred upon his journey When in truth he went before to Jerusalem through the midst of Samaria to the Feast of Tabernacles Luke IX 51 c. Joh. VII And again From Galilee after he had returned thither through the Cities and Towns to Jerusalem Luke XIII 22. to the Feast of Dedication Joh. X. 22. And again beyond Jordan indeed Joh. X. 40. but first taking his way into Galilee and thence beyond Jordan according to that story which is before us The studious Reader and that in good earnest imployeth his labour upon this business has no need of further proof his own eyes will witness this sufficiently Thus the Wisdom and Spirit of God directed the pens of these holy Writers that some omitted some things to be supplyed by others and others supplyed those things which they had omitted and so a full and compleat history was not composed but of all joyned and compared together I wish the Reverend Beza had sufficiently considered this who rendreth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not Beyond but By Jordan and corrects the vulgar Interpreter and Erasmus who render it Beyond Jordan properly and most truly As if by Perea saith he or the Country beyond Jordan Christ passing over Jordan or the lake of Tiberias came into Judea out of Galilee which is not true But take heed you do not mistake Reverend Old-man For he went over Jordan from Capernaum as it is very probable by the bridge built over Jordan between Chammath near to Tiberias at the Gadaren Country He betook himself to Bethabara and stayed some time there Joh. X. 40. thence he went along Perea to the bank over against Jericho While he tarrieth there a Messenger sent from Mary comes to him concerning the death of Lazarus Joh. XI and thence after two days he passeth Jordan in Judea VERS XVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Kneeled to him SO Chap. I. 40. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Beseeching him and kneeling to him This is variously rendred Procidit ad pedes Genu flexo Genu petens Ad genua procidens c. He fell at his feet Bowing the knee Beseeching upon his knee Falleng down at his knees Which rendrings are not improper but I suspect something more is included For 1. It was customary for those that so adored to take hold of the knees or the legs 2 King IV. 27. Mat. XXVIII 9. 2. To kiss the knees or the feet See what we have said at Mat. XXVIII 9. When a a a a a a Bab. Chetub fol. 63. 1. R. Akiba had been twelve years absent from his Wife and at last came back his Wife went out to meet him and when she came to him falling upon her face ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã She kissed his knees And a little after When he was entred into the City his Father-in-Law knowing not who he was but suspecting him to be some great Rabbin went to him and falling upon his face ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Kissed his knees b b b b b b Id. Bava Bathr Speaking of Job ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Satan came and he kissed his knees But in all this Job sinned not with his lips c. c c c c c c Sanhedr fol. 27. 2. When a certain Rabbin had discoursed of divers things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bar Chama rose up and kissed his knees VERS XXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Loved him THAT is by some outward gesture he manifested that this man pleased him both in his question and in his answer when he both seriously enquired concerning attaining eternal life and seriously professed that he had addicted himself to Gods Commandments with all care and circumspection Let us compare the customs of the Masters among the Jews Eliezer d d d d d d Hieros Chagigah f. 77. 1. ben Erech obtained leave from Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai to discourse of some things before him He discoursed of Ezekiels Chariot ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chap. I. or Of Mystical Divinity When be had made an end Rabban Jochanan arose up ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And kissed his head R. e e e e e e Id. Hâraioth fol. 48. 3. Abba bar Cahna heard R. Levi disputing profoundly When he had made an end R. Abba rose up and kissed his head There is a story of a certain Nazarite young man that exceedingly pleased Simeon the Just with a certain answer that he gave Whereupon said Simeon f f f f f f Id. Nederim fol. 36. 4. I bowed towards him with my head and said O Son let such as you be multiplyed in Israel This story is found elsewhere g g g g g g Nazir fol. 51. 3. Where for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I bowed towards him with my head it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I embraced him and kissed his head h h h h h h Baâ Megil fol. 14. 1. Miriam before the birth of Moses had prophesied My Mother shall bring forth a Son who shall deliver Israel When he was born the whole house was filled with light His Father stood forth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And kissed her upon the head and said thy prophesie is fulfilled And when they cast him into the River ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He struck her upon the head What if our Saviour used this very gesture towards this young man And that the more conveniently when he was now upon his knees before him Some gesture at least he used whereby it appeared both to the young man and to the standers by that the young man did not a little please him both by his question and by his answer So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have loved Psal. CXVI 1. in the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have loved one may render well Complacet mihi It pleaseth me well So Josephus of Davids Souldiers 1 Sam. XXX Those four hundred who went to the battle would not impart the spoils to the two hundred who were faint and weary ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and said that they should love that is be well pleased that they had received their wives safe again In some parity of sense John is called the Disciple ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom Jesus loved not that Jesus loved him more than the rest with his eternal infinite saving love but that he favoured him more with
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
elsewhere is expounded d ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Devil Ashmodeus For in both places we have this ridiculous tale There was a certain Woman brought forth a son in the m Beresh rabb fol 39. 3. night time and said to her son a child newly born you must know go and light me a Candle that I may cut thy Navel As he was going the Devil Asmodeus meeting him said to him go and tell thy Mother that if the Cock had not crowed I would have killed thee c. The very name points at Apostacy not so much that the Devil was an Apostate as that this Devil provoked and entised people to apostatize Beelzebul amongst the Gentiles and Asmodeus amongst the Jews the first Authors of their apostacy Whether both the Name and Demon were not found out by the Jews to affright the Samaritans See the place above quoted n n n n n n Bâresh rabb col 4. Whenas Noah went to plant a Vineyard ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Demon Asmodeus met him and said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let me partake with thee c. So that it seems they suppose Asmodeus had an hand in Noah's drunkenness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã when he that is Solomon sinned Asmodeus drove him to it c. They call the Angel of death by the name of Prince of all Satans because he destroys all mankind by death none excepted VERS XXXI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Queen of the South c. I. I Cannot but wonder what should be the meaning of that passage in o o o o o o Fol. 15. 2. Bava bathra ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Whoever saith that the Queen of Sheba was a Woman doth no other than mistake ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What then is the Queen of Sheba The Kingdom of Sheba He would have the whole Kingdom of the Sabeans to have come to Solomon perhaps what is said that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with an exceeding great Army for so is that clause rendred by some might seem to sound something of this nature in his ears But if there was any kind of ambiguity in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as indeed there is none or if Interpreters doubted at all about it as indeed none had done the great Oracle of truth hath here taught us that the Queen did come to Solomon but why doth he term her the Queen of the South and not the Queen of Sheba II. There are plausible things upon this occasion spoken concerning Sheba of the Arabians which we have no leisure to discuss at present I am apt rather to apprehend that our Saviour may call her the Queen of the South in much a like sense as the King of Egypt is called in Daniel the King of the South the Countries in that quarter of the world were very well known amongst the Jews by that title but I question whether the Arabian Saba were so or no. Grant that some of the Arabian Countries be in later ages called Aliemin or Southern parts yet I doubt whether so called by antiquity or in the days of our Saviour Whereas it is said that the Queen of the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon is it worth the patience of the Reader to hear a little the folly of the Jews about this matter Because it is said that she came to make a proof of his wisdom by dark sayings and hard questions these Doctors will be telling us what kind of riddles and hard questions she put to him p p p p p p Midr. Mis. about the beginning She saith unto him if I ask thee any thing wilt thou answer me He said it is the Lord that giveth wisdom She saith what is this then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There are seven things go out and nine enter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Two mingle or prepare the cup and one drinks of it He saith there are seven days for a Womans separation that go out and nine months for her bringing forth that come in Two breasts do mingle or prepare the cup and one sucks it Again saith she I will ask thee one thing more what is this A Woman saith unto her Son thy Father was my Father thy Grandfather was my Husband thou art my Son and I am thy Sister To whom he answered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Surely they were Lot's Daughters There is much more of this kind but thus much may suffice for riddles VERS XXXIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. No man when he hath lighted a Candle c. THE coherence of this passage with what went before seems a little difficult but the connexion probably is this There were some that had reviled him as if he had cast out Devils by the Prince of the Devils others that had required a sign from Heaven Vers. 15 16. To the former of these he gives an answer Vers. 17 18. and indeed to both of them Vers. 19. and so on This passage we are upon respects both but the latter more principally q. d. You require a sign of me would you have me light a Candle and put it under a bushel Would you have me work miracles when I am assured beforehand you will not believe these miracles Which however of themselves they may shine like a candle lighted up yet in respect to you that believe them not it is no other than a candle under a bushel or in a secret place VERS XXXVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The whole shall be full of light THIS clause seems so much the same with the former as if there were something of Tautology ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. If thy whole body therefore be full of light c. our Saviour speaketh of the eye after the manner of the Schools where the evil eye or the eye not single signify'd the covetous envious and malicious mind Do not bring such a mind along with thee but a candid benign gentle mind then thou wilt be all bright and clear thy self and all things will be bright and clear to thee If you had but such a mind O! ye carping blasphemous Jews you would not frame so sordid and infamous a judgment of my miracles but you would have a clear and candid opinion concerning them VERS XXXVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That he had not first washed before dinner HAD the Pharisee himself washed before dinner in that sense wherein ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies the washing of the whole body it is hardly credible when there was neither need nor was it the custom to wash the whole body before meat but the hands only This we have spoken larglier upon elswhere q q q q q q Vid. Notes upon Mât XV. Mark VII from whence it will be necessary for us to repeat these things that there is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a washing of the hands and there is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a dipping of the
speaking according to the vulgar conceptions of the Jews For whereas it had been plain enough to have said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to day is the third day but he further adds ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã beside all this and the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this too there seems a peculiar force in that addition and an emphasis in that word As if the meaning of it were this That same Jesus was mighty in word and deed and shewed himself such an one that we conceived him the true Messiah and he that was to redeem Israel And besides all these things which bear witness for him to be such this very day bears witness also For whereas there is so great an observation amongst us concerning the third day this is the third day since he was Crucified and there are some Women amongst us that say they have been told by Angels that he is risen again VERS XXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. He took bread and blessed it c. IT is strange that any should expound this breaking of bread of the Holy Eucharist when Christ had determined with himself to disappear in the very distribution of the bread and so interrupt the Supper And where indeed doth it appear that any of them tasted a bit For the Supper was ended before it began ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If three eat together they are bound to say grace f f f f f f Beracoth fol. 45. 1. That is as it is afterwards explained One of them saith let us bless but if there be three and himself then he saith bless ye g g g g g g Ib. fol. 49. 1. Although I do not believe Christ tyed himself exactly to that custom of sayiny let us bless nor yet to the common form of blessing before meat yet is it very probable he did use some form of blessing and not the words this is my body VERS XXXII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Did not our heart burn within us BEZA saith In uno exemplari c. In one Copy we read it written ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was not our heart hid Heinsius saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in optimis codicibus legitur It is written hidden in the best Copies Why then should it not be so in the best Translations too But this reading favours his Interpretation which amounts to this were we not fools that we should not know him while he was discoursing us in the way I had rather expound it by some such parallel places as these My heart waxed hot within me while I was musing the fire burned Psal. XXXIX 3. His word was in mine heart as a burning fire Jerem. XX. 9. The meaning is that their hearts were so affected and grew so warm that they could hold no longer but must break silence and utter themselves So these were we not so mightily affected while he talked with us in the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures that we were just breaking out into the acknowledgment of him and ready to have saluted him as our Lord That is a far fetcht conceipt in Taanith h h h h h h Fol. 20. 2. R Alai bar Barachiah saith If two disciples of the wise men journey together and do not maintain some discourse betwixt themselves concerning the Law they deserve to be burnt according as it is said It came to pass as they still went on and talked behold a Chariot of fire and Horses of fire c. 2 Kings II. VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Saying the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon I. THAT these are the words of the Eleven appears from the case in which the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is put ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They found the Eleven and them that were with them saying They having returned from Emmaus found the Eleven and the rest saying to them when they came into their presence The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared unto Simon But do they speak these things amongst themselves as certain and believed or do they tell them to the two Disciples that were come from Emmaus as things true and unquestionable It is plain from St. Mark that the Eleven did not believe the Resurrection of our Saviour till he himself had shewed himself in the midst of them i i i i i i Mark XVI 11. 13. They could not therefore say these words The Lord is risen and hath appeared to Simon as if they were confidently assured of the truth of them But when they saw Simon so suddenly and unexpectedly returning whom they knew to have taken a journey toward Galilee to try if he could there meet with Jesus they conclude hence Oh! surely the Lord is risen and hath appeared to Simon otherwise he would not have returned back so soon Which brings to mind that of the Messenger of the death of Maximin k k k k k k In Iul. Capitol The messenger that was sent from Aquileia to Rome changing his Horses often came with so great speed that he got to Rome in four days It chanced to be a day wherein some games were celebrating when on a sudden as Balbinus and Gordianus were sitting in the Theatre the Messenger came in and before it could be told all the people cry out Maximin is slain and so prevented him in the news he brought c. We cannot well think that any worldly affairs could have called away these two from the Feast before the appointed time nor indeed from the company of their fellow Disciples but something greater and more urgent than any worldly occasions And now imagine with what anguish and perplexity poor Peter's thoughts were harrast for having denyed his Master what emotions of mind he felt when the Women had told him that they were commanded by Angels to let Peter particularly know that the Lord was risen and went before them into Galilee and they might see him there Mark XVI 7. That it seems to me beyond all question that one of these Disciples going toward Emmaus was Peter who assoon as he had heard this from the Women taking Alpheus as a companion of his journey makes toward Galilee not without communicating before hand to his fellow disciples the design of that progress They therefore finding him so suddenly and unexpectedly returned make the conjecture amongst themselves that certainly the Lord had appeared to him else he would never have come back so soon Compare but that of the Apostle 1 Cor. XV. 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He was seen of Cephas then of the twelve and nothing can seem exprest more clearly in the confirmation of this matter Object But it may be objected that those two returning from Emmaus found the Eleven Apostles gathered and sitting together Now if Simon was not amongst them they were not Eleven Therefore he was not one of those two Answ. I. If it should be granted that Peter was there and sate
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
them Their dwellings are clean So that he might enter thereinto eat or lodge there Their roads are clean So that the dust of them did not defile a Jew's feet The method of the Story in this place by compairing it with other Evangelist may be thus put together Herod had imprisoned John Baptist under pretence of his growing too popular and that the multitude of his followers encreasing tended to innovate c c c c c c Jos. Antiqu. lib. 18. cap. 7. Our Saviour understanding this and withal that the Sanhedrin had heard something of the increase of his Disciples too withdrew from Judea into Galile that he might be more remote from that kind of thunder-bolt that St. John had been strook with VERS V. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Near to the parcel of ground that Iacob gave to his Son Ioseph GEN. XLVIII 22. Jacob had bought a piece of Land of the Children of Hamor for an hundred Lambs Gen. XXXIII 19. But after the Daughter of the Sechemites he with his Family being forced to retire to places more remote viz. to Bethel Bethlehem and Hebron the Amorites thrust themselves into possession and he âain to regain it with his Sword and Bow VERS VI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Now Iacob's well was there OF this Well doth Jacob seem to speak in those last words of his about Joseph Gen. XLIX 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a Well For Joseph's Off-spring inceased to a Kingdom in Jeroboam and that in Sichem hard by Jacob's Well He adds ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã where if you will render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Enemy as it is Psal. XCII 11. and perhaps Psal. XVIII 29. for it is from the Chaldee only that it signifies a wall as Buxtorf tell us then the words might be interpreted as a Prophecy concerning those Daughters of Joseph at Shiloh who passing over to the Enemy restored the hostile Tribe of Benjamin that otherwise were likely to have perished for want of issue Judg. XXI 19 c. I would render the words the Daughters go over to the Enemy and so in the verse are foretold two very signal events that should make the off-spring of Joseph more peculiarly illustrious partly that hard by that Well it should encrease into a Kingdom and that the daughters of that Tribe should restore and rebuild a Tribe that had almost perisht in its hostility against them The Greek Interpreters and Samaritan both Text and Version instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã read ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã my youngest Son whether on purpose or through carelesness I know not so the Greeks instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã read as it should seem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Turn thou unto me VERS VI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He sat thus HE sat thus as one weary'd The Evangelist would let uâknow that Christ did not seemingly or for fashion sake beg water of the Samaritan woman but in good earnest being urg'd to it by thirst and weariness So 1 King II. 7. Shew kindness to the Sons of Barzillai ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for so that is in a great deal of kindness they came to me Act. VII 8. He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so being circumcised he begat Isaac VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã To buy meat IF the Disciples were gone into the City to buy food how agrees this with v. 9. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans and with that rule of the Jews ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let no Israelite eat one mouthful of any thing that is a Samaritans for if he eat but a little mouthful he is as if he eat swines flesh A mouthful that is of nothing over which a blessing must be pronounc'd d d d d d d Tanchum fol. 17. 4. Ezra Zorobabel and Joshua gather'd together the whole Congregation into the Temple of the Lord and with three hundred Priests three hundred Books of the Law and three hundred Children anathematiz'd shammatiz'd excommunicated the Samaritans in the name of Jehovah by a writing indented upon Tables and an Anathema both of the upper and the lower house Let no Israelite eat one morsel of any thing that is a Samaritans Let no Samaritan become a proselyte to Israel nor let them have a part in the resurrection of the dead And they sent this curse to all Israel that were in Babylon who also themselves added their Anathema to this c. But Hierosol Avodah Zara tells us e e e e e e Fol. 44. 4. R. Jacob bar Acha in the name of R. Lazar saith That the victuals of the Cuthites are allow'd if nothing of their wine or vinegar be mingled amongst them Nay further we meet with this passage in Bab. Kiddustin f f f f f f Fol. 76. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The unleavened bread of the Cuthites is allow'd and by that a man may rightly enough keep the Passover If the unleaven'd bread for the Passover may be had of the Samaritans much more common bread And grant that the Samaritans were to the Jews as Heathens yet was it lawful for the Jew to partake of the Edibles of the Gentiles if there was no suspicion that they had been any way polluted nor been offer'd to Idols as may be largely made out from Maimon in his Treatise about forbidden meats Which suspicion was altogether needless as to the Samaritans because they and the Jews in a manner agreed upon the same things as clean or unclean and they were very near as free from Idolatry VERS IX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For the Iews have no dealings with the Samaritans I. THAT translation The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans which the French and English follow seems to stretch the sense of the word beyond what it will well bear For 1. granting the Samaritans were meer Heathens which some of the Rabbins have affirm'd yet did not this forbid the Jews having any kind of dealings with them for they did not refuse Merchandising with any of the Gentile Nations whatever See Nehem. XIII 16 c. 2. But if the Samaritans were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã true proselytes as R. Akibah asserts or as the Israelites in all things as Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel saith of them g g g g g g Hieros Shekalim fol. 64. 2. then much more might the Jews have dealing with them II. That Version non utuntur Judaei Samaritis as Beza or non contuntur as the Vulgar hardly reacheth the sense of the word or comes fully up to the truth of the thing h h h h h h Gloss. In Kiddush fol. â6 1. It is lawful to eat the unleaven'd bread of the Samaritans nor is there any suspicion as to their leaven'd bread neither This is to be understood if the Samaritan should knead it in the house of an Israelite
assert or argue for the calling of the whole Nation but of that remnant only and that he discourses concerning the present calling of that remnant and not about any future call of the whole Nation V. That is a vast mystery the Apostle is upon ver 25. of that Chapter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Blindness hath severally happen'd to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in I render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã severally or by parts not without warrant from Grammar and according to the meaning and intention of St. Paul for the mystery mention'd by him is that blindness severally and at several times happen'd to the Israelites First the Ten Tribes were blinded through Idolatry and after many ages the two Tribes through Traditions and yet both those and these reserv'd together to that time wherein the Gentiles who had been blinded for a longer space are called and then both Israelites and Jews and Gentiles being all call'd together do close into one body It is observable that the Apostle throughout this whole Chapter doth not so much as once make mention of the Jews but of Israel that he might include the Ten Tribes with the two within his discourse And indeed this great Shepherd had his flock or his sheep within the Ten Tribes as well as within the two and to me it is without all controversie that the Gospel in the times of the Apostles was brought and preacht as well to the one as the other Doubtless St. Peter whiles he was in Babylon preached to the Israelites dispersed in those Countries as well as to the Jews VI. Some of the Gemarists do vehemently deny any conversion of the Ten Tribes under the Messiah let them beware lest there be not a conversion of their own p p p p p p Sanhedr fol. 110. 2. The Ten Tribes shall never return as it is written And he cast them out into a strange land as it is this day Deut. XXIX 28. As this day passeth and shall never return so they are gone and shall not return again They are the words of R. Akibah It is a Tradition of the Rabbins that the Ten Tribes shall not have a part in the world to come as it is written the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation and cast them out into another land He rooted them out of their own land in this world and cast them out into another land in the world to come They are the words of Rabbi But in truth when the true Messiah did appear the Ten Tribes were more happily call'd if I may so speak that is with more happy success than the Jews because amongst those Jews that had embrac'd the Gospel there happen'd a sad and foul Apostacy the like to which we read not of concerning the Ten Tribes that were converted VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. By the door into the sheepfold c. THE sheepfold amongst the Talmudists is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some Inclosures or Pen wherein I. The sheep were all gathered together in the night lest they should stray and where they might be safe from thieves or wild beasts II. In the day-time they were milked As ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã â Iliad ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Trojans as the rich mans numerous flocks Stand milked in the fold III. There the Lambs were tythed r r r r r r Becoroth fol. 38. 2. How is it that they tythe the lambs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They gather the flock into the sheepfold and making a little door which two cannot go out of at together they number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and the tenth that goes out they mark with red saying this is the tythe The ews are without and the lambs within and at the bleating of the ews the lambs get out So that there was in the sheepfold one larger door which gave ingress and egress to the flock and shepherds and a lesser by which the Lambs past out for tything ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Is a thief and a robber ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In Talmudick language s s s s s s Maimon Ginebah cap. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who is a thief He that takes away another mans goods when the owner is not privy to it as when a man puts his hand into another mans pocket and takes away his money the man not seeing him but if he takes it away openly publickly and by force ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this is not a thief but a robber Not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã VERS III. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Porter I Am mistaken if the servants that attend about the flock under the shepherd the owners of them are not called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Eccles. XII 11. i. e. those that fold the sheep at least if the sheepfold its self be not so called And I would render the words by way of Paraphrase thus The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastned by those that gather the flock into the fold Goads to drive away the thief or the wild beast and nails to preserve the sheepfold whole and in good repair Which goad and nails are furnisht by the chief Shepherd the Master of the flock for these uses Now one of these servants that attended about the flock was call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Porter Not that he always sat at the door but the key was committed to his charge that he might look to it that no sheep should stray out of the fold nor any thing hurtful should get or be let in VERS VII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I am the door PURE Israelitism among the Jews was the fold and the door and all things For if any one was of the seed of Israel and the stock of Abraham it was enough themselves being the Judges for such an one to be made a sheep admitted into the flock and be fed and nourisht to eternal life But in Christs flock the sheep had another original introduction and mark VERS VIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All that ever came before me are thieves OUR Saviour speaks agreeably with the Scripture where when there is any mention of the coming of this great Shepherd to undertake the charge of the flock the evil Shepherds that do not feed but destroy the flock are accused Jer. XXIII 1 c. Ezek. XXXIV 2 c. Zach. XI 16. And our Saviour strikes at those three Shepherds before mention'd that hated him and were hated by him the Sadduces and Essenes under whose conduct the Nation had been so erroneously led for some ages I should have believed that those words All that ever came before me are Thieves and Robbers might be understood of those who having arrogated to themselves the name of the Messiah obtruded themselves upon the people but that we shall hardly or not at
and fury of the Romans I beg your pardon for that saith Caiphas you know nothing neither consider for be he the Messiah or be he not it is expedient nay it is necessary he should dye rather than the whole Nation should perish c. VERS LI. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He Prophesied IS Caiphas among the Prophets There had not been a Prophet among the Chief Priests the Priests the People for these four hundred years and more and does Caiphas now begin to Prophesie It is a very foreign fetch that some would make when they would ascribe this gift to the office he then bore as if by being made High-Priest he became a Prophet The opinion is not worth confuting The Evangelist himself renders the reason when he tells us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Being the High-Priest that same year Which words direct the Reader 's eye rather to the year than to the High-Priest I. That was the year of pouring out the Spirit of Prophesie and Revelations beyond whatever the world had yet seen or would see again And why may not some drops of this great effusion light upon a wicked man as sometimes the Childrens crums fall from the table to the Dog under it that a witness might be given to the great work of Redemption from the mouth of our Redeemer's greatest enemy There lies the emphasis of the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that same year for Caiphas had been High-Priest some years before and did continue so for some years after II. To say the truth by all just calculation the office of the High-Priest ceased this very year and the High-Priest Prophesies while his office expires What difference was there as to the execution of the Priestly Office between the High-Priest and the rest of the Priesthood none certainly only in these two things 1. Asking counsel by Urim and Thummim 2. In performing the service upon the day of Expiation As to the former that had been useless many ages before because the Spirit of Prophesie had so perfectly departed from them So that there remained now no other distinction only that on the day of expiation the High-Priest was to perform the Service which an ordinary Priest was not warranted to do The principal ceremony of that day was that he should enter into the Holy of Holies with blood When therefore our great High-Priest should enter with his own blood into the Holiest of all what could there be left for this High-Priest to do When at the death of our great High-Priest the Veil that hung between the Holy and the Holy of Holies was rent in twain from the top to the bottom Math. XXVII 51. there was clear demonstration that all those Rites and Services were abolished and that the Office of the High-Priest which was distinguished from the other Priests only by those usages was now determined and brought to its full period The Pontificate therefore drawing its last breath prophesies concerning the Redemption of mankind by the great High-Priest and Bishop of Souls that he should dye for the people c. That of the Apostle Acts XXIII 5. I wist not that it was the High-Priest may perhaps have some such meaning as this in it I knew not that there was any High-Priest at all because the Office had become needless for some time For grant indeed that St. Paul did not know the face of Ananias nor that Ananias was the High-Priest yet he must needs know him to have been a Magistrate because he had his seat amongst the Fathers of the Sanhedrin now those words which he quoted out of the Law Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People forbad all indecent speeches toward any Magistrate as well as the High-Priest The Apostle therefore knowing Ananias well enough both who he was and that he sate there under a falsely assumed title of the High-Priest does on purpose call him whited wall because he only bore the colour of the High-Priesthood whenas the thing and office it self was now abolished Caiaphas in this passage before us speaketh partly as Caiaphas and partly as a Prophet As Caiaphas he does by an impious and precipitate boldness contrive and promote the death of Christ and what he uttered as a Prophet the Evangelist tells us he did it not of himself he spoke what himself understood not the depth of The greatest work of the Messiah according to the expectation of the Jews was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the reduction or gathering together the Captivities The High-Priest despairs that ever Jesus should he live could do this For all that he either did or taught seem'd to have a contrary tendency viz. to seduce the people from their Religion rather than recover them from their servile state of bondage So that he apprehended this one only remedy left that care might be taken so as by the death of this man the hazard of that Nations ruin might blow over If he be the Messiah which I almost think even Caiaphas himself did not much question since he can have no hope of redeeming the Nation let him die for it himself that it perish not upon his account Thus miserably are the great Masters of Wisdom deceiv'd in almost all their surmizes they expect the gathering together of the Children of God in one by the life of the Messiah which was to be accomplisht by his death They believe their Traditional Religion was the establishment of that Nation whereas it became its overthrow They think to secure themselves by the death of Christ when by that very death of his their expected security was chiefly shaken O blind and stupid madness VERS LV. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã To purifie themselves R. f f f f f f Rosh hashanah fol. 16. 2. Isaac saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Every man is bound to purifie himself for the Feast Now there were several measures of time for purifying He that was unclean by the touch of a dead body he requir'd a whole weeks time that he might be sprinkled with the water of Purification mixt with the ashes of the red heifer burnt the third and the seventh day which ceremony we may see and laugh at in Parah cap. 3. Other purifyings were speedilier perform'd amongst others shaving themselves and washing their garments were accounted necessary and within the Laws of purifying g g g g g g Moed-katon fol. 13. 1. These shave themselves within the Feast he who cometh from an heathen Country or from captivity or from prison Also he who hath been excommunicated but now absolv'd by the wise men These same also wash their garments within the Feast It is suppos'd that these were detain'd by some necessity of affairs that they could not wash and be shav'd before the Feast for these things were of right to be perform'd before lest any should by any means approach polluted unto the celebration of this Feast but if by some necessity they were hinder'd from doing it before
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
honour l l l l l l Hieros Jevamâth fol. 3. 1. Bab. Jevamâth fol. 16. 1. in a far different signification the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã taking its derivation from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to decline from VERS XII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Deputy THIS is a word much in use amongst the Talmudists with a little variation only in the reading m m m m m m Hieros Beraceth fol. 9. 1. R. Chaninah and R. Joshua ben Levi passed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã before the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Deputy of Caesarea He seeing them rose up to them His own people say unto him Doest thou rise up to these Jews He answered them and said I saw their faces as the faces of Angels See the Aruch upon the word VERS XIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They came to Perga in Pamphylia FROM Paphos in Cyprus whether old or new both being Maritim places situated on the Western shore of the Island they seemed to Sail into the mouth of the river Cestrus concerning which Strabo hath this passage n n n n n n Geograph lib. 14. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Then there is the river Cestrus which when one hath sailed sixty furlongs he comes to the City Perga near which is the Temple of Diana of Perga in an high place where every year there is a solemn convention Ptolomey also speaks of the river Cestrus and of the Cataract concerning which Strabo hath some mention But Mela o o o o o o Mela lib. 1. cap. 14. hath this passage Thence there are two strong rivers Oestros and Cataractes Oestros is easily navigable but Cataractes hath its name from the violence of its running amongst these is the City Perga c. One may justly suspect an error in the Writer here writing Oestros for Cestros and it is something strange that Olivarius hath taken no notice of it We may conjecture there was no Synagogue of Jews in Perga because there is no mention of it nor any memorable thing recorded as done by the Apostles here only that John whose Sirname was Mark did in this place depart from them for what reason is not known VERS XIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They came to Antioch in Pisidia STrabo reckons up thirteen Cities in Pisidia p p p p p p Strabo lib. 12 from Artemidorus amongst which he makes no mention of Antioch But Pliny q q q q q q Plin. lib. 5. cap. 27. tell us Insident vertici Pisidiae quondam Solymi appellati c. There are that inhabit the top of Pisidia who were once called Solymites their Colony is Casarea the same is Antioch And Ptolomey ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The inland Cities in Pamphilia are Sileucia of Phrygia and Antioch of Pisidia Where the Interpreter most confusedly Civitates sunt in Provincia Mediterranea Phrygia quidem Pisidiae Seleucia Pisidiae Antiochia that is there are Cities in the midland Country Phrygia of Pisidia Seleucia of Pisidia Antioch and in the margin he sets Caesarea VERS XV. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã After the reading of the Law and the Prophets BUT in what Language were the Law and the Prophets read in this Synagogue It is generally supposed that in the Synagogues of the Hellenists the Greek Bible was read But was that Tongue understood amongst the Pisidians Strabo at the end of his thirteenth Book tells us The Cibratian prefecture was reckoned amongst the greatest of Asia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Cibyrates used four Languages the Pisidian the Solyman the Greek and Lydian Where we see the Pisidian Tongue is expresly distinguisht from the Greek If Moses and the Prophets therefore were read here in the Greek Tongue were they understood by those in Pisidia Yes you will say for the very name of the City Antioch speaks it to have been a Greek Colony Grant this but then suppose a Jewish Synagogue in some City of Pisidia that was purely Pisidian such as Selge Sagalessus Pernelissus c. or in some City of the Solymites or of the Lydians in what Language was the Law read there Doubtless in the same Tongue and the same manner that it was read in the Synagogue of the Hebrews i. e. in the Original Hebrew some Interpreter assisting and rendring it to them in their mother Tongue ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They sat down So it is exprest commonly of any one that teaches ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he sat down And if the Rulers of the Synagogue had no other knowledge of Barnabas and Saul they might gather they were Preachers from this that when they entred the Synagogue they sat down according to the custom of those that Taught or Preached VERS XVI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And ye that fear God THAT is Proselytes r r r r r r Bemedv rab fol. 227. 2. Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways Psal. CXXVIII 1. He doth not say Blessed is Israel or blessed are the Priests or blessed the Levites but blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these are the Proselytes the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they that fear the Lord. According as it is said of Israel Blessed art thou O Israel so is it said of these blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. Now of what proselyte is it said that he is blessed It is said of the proselyte of justice Not as those Cuthites of whom it is said that they feared the Lord and yet worshiped their own Gods VERS XVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He suffered their manners THE particle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã seems to exclude the reading of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which word we meet with in the Seventy Deut. I. 31. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God did indeed bear with them full forty years and so you will say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is not wide from the truth But the Apostle adding the particle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã about the time of forty years seems chiefly to respect that time which went between the fatal decree that they should not enter the land and the going in VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Seven Nations THE Rabbins very frequently when they mention the Canaanitish people give them this very term of the Seven Nations ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã VERS XX. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã About the space of four hundred and fity years AMongst the many things that are offerd upon this difficulty I would chuse this that in this number are reckoned the years of the Judges and the years of those Tyrants that opprest Israel computing them disjunctly and singly which at first sight any one would think ought to be so reckoned but that 1 Kings VI. 1. gives a check to a too large computation 1. The years of the Judges and Tyrants thus distinguisht answer the Sum exactly The Iudges Othniel XL. Eliud LXXX Deborah XL. Gideon
For so was he indeed distinguished from all mortals and Sons of men And God saith he had then begotten him when he had given a token that he was not a meer man by his divine power whereby he had raised him from the dead And according to the tenor of the whole Psalm God is said to have begotten him then when he was ordained King in Sion and all Nations subdued under him Upon which words that passage of our Saviour uttered immediately after he had arisen from the dead is a good Commentary All power is given unto me c. Matth. XXVIII What do those words mean Matth. XXVI 29. I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom They seem to look this way viz. I will drink no more of it before my Resurrection For in truth his Resurrection was the beginning of his Kingdom when he had overcome those enemies of his Satan Hell and Death from that time was he begotten and established King in Zion I am mistaken if that of Psal. CX v. 3. doth not in some measure fall in here also which give me leave to render by way of paraphrase into such a sense as this Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power it shall be a willing people in the beauties of holiness it shall be a willing people from the Womb of the morning thine is the dew of thy youth Now the dew of Christ is that quickning power of his by which he can bring the dead to life again Isai. XXVI 19. And the dew of thy youth O Christ is thine That is it is thine own power and vertue that raiseth thee again I would therefore apply those words from the womb of the morning to his Resurrection because the Resurrection of Jesus was the dawn of the new world the morning of the new Creation VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The sure mercies of David IT hath been generally observed that this phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is taken from the Greek Version in Isai. LV. 3. But it is not so generally remarked that by David was understood the Messiah which yet the Rabbins themselves Kimchi and Ab. Ezra have well observed the following Verse expressly confirming it The Resurrection of our Saviour therefore by the interpretation of the Apostle is said to be the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The sure mercies of Christ. And God by his Prophet from whence this clause is taken doth promise the raising again of the Messiah and all the benefits of that Resurrection He had fortold and promised his death Chap. LIII But what mercies could have been hoped for by a dead Messiah had he been always to have continued dead They had been weak and instable kindnesses had they terminated in death He promises mercies therefore firm and stable that were never to have end because they should be always flowing and issuing out of his resurrection Whereas these things are quoted out of the Prophet in the words of the LXX varying a little from the Prophets words and those much more ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold ye despisers and wonder c. vers 41. it might be enquired in what language the Apostle preached as also in what language Moses and the Prophets were read in that Synagogue vers 15. If we say in the Greek it is a question whether the Pisidians could understand it If we say in the Pisidian language it is hardly to be believed the Bible was then rendred into that language It is remarkable what was quoted above out of Strabo where he mentions four tongues amongst them the Greek and the Pisidian distinct from one another But this I have already discusst in the Notes upon Verse 15. of this Chapter VERS XLI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Behold ye despisers c. DR Pocock a a a a a a Poc. Miscell 3. here as always very learnedly and accurately examines what the Greek Interpreters Hab. I. read saving in the mean time the reading which the Hebrew Bibles exhibit for it is one thing how the Greek read it and another thing how it should be truly read VERS XLII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Gentiles besought c. IT is all one as to the force of the words as far as I see whether you render them they besought the Gentiles or the Gentiles besought them the later Version hath chiefly obtained but what absurdity is it if we should admit the former And doth not the very order of the words seem to favour it If it had been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one might have inclined to the later without controversie but being it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there is place for doubting And if it were so that the Jews resented the Apostles doctrine so ill that they went out of the Synagogue disturbed and offended as some conjecture and that not improbably we may the easilier imagine that the Apostles besought the Gentiles that tarried behind that they would patiently hear these things again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã On the next Sabbath I. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Lexicons tell us amongst other things denotes hence forward or hereafter Now this must be noted that this discourse was held in the fore noon for it was that time of the day only that they assembled in the Synagogue in the afternoon they met in Beth Midras Let us consider therefore whether this phrase will not bear this sense They besought that afterwards upon that Sabbath viz. in the afternoon they would hear again such a Sermon And then whether the Gentiles besought the Apostles or the Apostles the Gentiles it dot not alter the case II. Let us inquire whether the Apostles and the Christian Church did not now observe and celebrate the Lord's day It can hardly be denyed and if so then judge whether the Apostles might not invite the Gentiles that they would assemble again the next day that is upon the Christian Sabbath and hear these things again If we yield that the Lord's day is to be called the Sabbath then we shall easily yield that it might be rightly called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Sabbath after And indeed when the speech was amongst the Jews or Judaizing Proselytes it is no wonder if it were called the Sabbath As if the Apostles had said to morrow we celebrate our Sabbath and will you on that day ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã have these words preached to you III. Or let ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be the week betwixt the two Sabbaths as that expression must be rendred ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I fast twice in the week then as the sense is easie that they besought them the same things might be repeated on the following week so the respect might have more particularly been had to the second and fifth day in the week when they usually meet together in the Synagogue
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
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
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
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
such a day and such a Judgment and such a Judge and you and you and you then Men and Brethren what have we to do Let me first propose this supposal Suppose this very day were the day that God hath appointed to Judge all the World and that this Assise of our County should be turned into the universal Assises of all the World Suppose that instead of the sounding of the High Sheriffâ trumpets we should have the great trump sound and call Arise ye dead and away you living and come to Judgment Art thou prepared to meet thy God O Israel Art thou prepared to meet that Judgment O Israel How many or rather how few of us are able to say My heart is ready my heart is ready come Lord Jesus come and welcom Such a call will undoubtedly once come and we cannot tell how soon and when it comes it will not be at that lenity that Festus used with Paul Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem and be judged before me of these things but For all these things God will bring thee to Judgment whether thou wilt or no. Oh! what shrugging and unwillingness and drawing back would there be with too many Oh! a little more time a little more respite a little more space of repentance and making ready No Time must be no more no way else but thou must away and go to judgment How wholesom therefore is that Counsel and oh that there were such a heart in this people as to take the lesson out II Pet. III. 11 14. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness And seeing beloved that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless How large a discourse might be made for the setting on of this exhortation from the several particulars in the Text that the day is certainly appointed that the Judgment will be of all the world that it will be in righteousness that it will be by Christ. Another hour would be too little a whole day would be little enough and the meditation of it may well take up our whole lives The same Apostle that speaks the words here hath epitomized them all into two words in the place I cited before Heb. VI. 2. Eternal Judgment Bonarges two was of thunder Judgment and that Eternal words of a dreadful sound and yet I know not a fitter motto to be written over all our occasions Eternal Judgment a very fit sentence to be written over a bench of Judgment over a Jury's chamber door in all our chambers over all our doors in all our hearts that looking upon and remembring always Eterternal Judgment we may learn righteousness Every Assise is a picture in little of this great Assise that is to be of all the World And that that draweth the truest lineaments of it and most to life is Righteous and impartial dealing I say Righteous and impartial dealing rather than Righteous and impartial Judging because there may be Righteous and impartial judging where there is unrighteous and partial dealing You will say this is a paradox or rather a contradiction and you will say the like or rather much more if I should say That there may be righteous Judging when there is not righteous Judgment and yet if you weigh these things in your thoughts you will find that they are the words of Truth and soberness A worthy upright good Judge he judgeth according to the evidence that is given in and the testimony that is laid before him here his Judging is right and righteous because he judgeth according to his Conscience and according to his evidence but it proves that the evidence was false and the testimony deceiving here the Judgment is not right because not according to the very truth of the case although the judging of the Judge be righteous because according to his Conscience and sincerity of his heart And herein indeed our Assises seem short of picturing the great Assise to the full proportion as the thing signifying commonly comes short of the thing signified because there can be no surprizal of the Judge Eternal by any false information here the best and wisest Judge may be so surprized And so was once as good and as wise a Judge as any we have upon record and that was David being deceived by the false information of wretched Ziba to pass a most unjust sentence against innocent Mephibosheth and to give away all his land to the cheating informer Therefore if I should apply my self to give direction to those that have to do in this great business that lies before you I should not be so arrogant as to offer to do it to you my Honoured Lords who know your works far better than my self No I shall not so much as offer to give you a caution that you be not surprized by false information your own wisdom and grave prudence prevents all need of such exhortation I should rather apply my self to Witnesses and Juries which it may be are not many of them here to admonish them to deal in the fear of the Lord and in remembrance of the Eternal Judgment that they go not about to deceive the Lords and the Kings Vicegerents by any false colours or dissimulation that they bring not double and redoubled guilt upon their own heads that there be no coseâing Ziba among them that for base or by ends of their own shall go about to wrong an innocent Mephibosheth or to abuse a good David by fair but false suggestions to induce him to do contrary to right and equity A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise August 6. 1669. S. JOHN XVIII 31. Then Pilate said unto them Take ye him and Iudge him according to your Law The Iews therefore said unto him it is not lawful for us to put any man to death A Strange Assise is the Evangelist recording in his story here the Judge of all the World judged and condemned and he before whose tribunal all sinners must once stand standing and falling before a sinful tribunal such a person sentenced such injustice in that sentence that the World never did never must see its parallel But who is he and where is he that durst presume in his heart to do such a thing As Ahasuerus once in a far lesser matter And the answer may be given in the words of Esther that immediately follow the name only changed The adversary and the enemy is this wicked Pilate The adversaries and the enemies are these wicked Jews whom you have discoursing in the words of the Text and whom you have acting all along this Tragedy Whose persons Logical method calls upon us first to consider and then to consider of their words and discourse Pilate said and the Jews answered Persons if you look wistly upon them you may see more than their bare persons For you may read the Roman power 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
II. Concerning this great Judges judging all the World at the last day I shall but offer to you that Prospect Rev. XX. 12. I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and Heaven fled away and there was no place found for them And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and they were judged Heaven and Earth fled away before God but no fleeing for small and great but they must be judged Heaven and Earth that were in being are dissolved and gone but the dead small and great that were not in being are brought into being that they may be brought to judgment And so Chap. VI. 14. Heaven departs as a scroll that is rolled up together and every mountain and Island is removed out of his place But in the next verse there is a World of wretches that would fain be gon too but it will not be would fain be hid fince they cannot go but that will not be neither That say to the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand II. Now what assurances or earnests as I may call them hath God given of this that II. he will Judge all the World which is the second thing I mentioned I might mention divers The Apostle makes the destruction of the World by water and Sodome by fire to be such 2 Pet. II. 9. Another Apostle makes the raising him from the dead that is to be Judge to be such assurance Act. XVII 31. But I only name three more That he hath set up Judicatures in the World That he hath set up a Judicature in every mans soul. And that he hath given his Law and Word by which men must be judged I. Are not the Tribunals and Judicatures that he hath set up in the World evidence and assurance given that he will Judge the World Magistracy whose image and superscription doth it carry The great Caesars the great Magistrate of Heaven and Earth And if that deal in matters that concern the body may we not read in it that he that ordained it will dispose both of bodies and souls Take to thoughts that of the Apostle 1 Cor. VI. 2. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World i. e. That a Christian Magistracy shall judge among men And Know ye not that we shall judge Angels i. e. That a Christian Ministry shall judge against Devils Weigh the words seriously and I believe you will find them to rise to this sence And then know you not that the ultimate judging of Men and Devils must rest in him that instituted Magistracy and Ministry both I said you are Gods for in your function you carry his representation and character but I said he is much more God that ordained you Gods and he much more Magistrate and Judge that ordained you Magistrates and Judges In you Judgment is drawn in little in him it is in full proportion Filia exscripsit Patrem as he of old of a good daughter that she had copied out a good father Your function hath copied out Divine Authority but yours is but a Copy the original incomparably fairer II. Is not the Judicature that God hath set up in every mans soul an undoubted assurance of Gods judging of all When a very proper definition of Conscience is That it is Praejudicium judicii a foretaste a preface to the judgment to come doth it not give assurance of the judgment to come And that to every soul when there is a conscience in every soul. That as our Saviour when the Jews ask him what appearance was there of the Kingdom of Heaven gives them this answer The Kingdom of Heaven is with in you as some read it so if any one ask what proof and assurance is within you Ask Felix also Act. XXIV 25. As Paul reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled And how comes a Roman valour to be so shaken at the word of a poor Jew A great Judge trembling at the words of his prisoner He had that within him that gave testimony to every word that Paul spake that it was true A strange thing to him as well as a dreadful to hear of the Judgment to come in manner as the Divine Orator set it out But there was that within him that could not but assent to the truth of all he spake III. Gods very giving of his Law to the World is an assurance abundant that he will once judge the World Let me draw your thoughts to the foot of mount Sinai to stand with Israel there while the Law is giving Do you not see the dreadful terror in which it is given fire and smoke and earth-quake and sound of trumpet And do you think that the great Lawgiver that comes in such dread to give it will never come to demand an account of it how men have dealt with it Must those Words be scattered in the Air and God never take more care or account of them And let me lead your eyes to mount Calvary and there let them observe the great God sealing his Covenant and Gospel in the blood of his own Son See Christ bleeding there hands feet and heart bleeding out his last drop of blood to confirm and seal that Truth and Gospel that he had preached to the World And will God and Christ never take account how men use the Gospel that as I may say cost so dear engrossing This very thing is an undoubled assurance that God will Judge all the World because he cannot but call men to account how they have demeaned themselves to his Law and revealed will As sure as a Law and a Gospel have been given so sure a judgment to come to inquire what usage Law and Gospel have found among men and a reward accordingly The Jews in their writings do oft bring in the Law complaining to God of injuries done to her by such and such persons and begging that he would do her right Hath a despised Law a contemned Gospel a scorned Word of God no cry in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and hath the Lord no care to plead their cause Are they only to cry to men and if men abuse them have they no cry to God And hath the despised blood of Christ and trodden under foot no cry to God I cannot but remember the Talmudish story about Zacharies blood that was shed betwixt the Temple and the Altar that no rains no pains no water could wash it off the pavement of the Temple but still and still it was bubbling there and would never be quiet till execution of judgment quieted it the King of Babylon slaying near an hundred thousand persons in the same place The application is easie The judgment of wicked men lingreth not and their damnation slumbreth not 2
True indeed the Adults that were baptized confessed their sins but this restrains not baptism to them alone because there are several ends of it applicable to those that know not especially that in the next particular As to the second That Baptism belongs to none but such as are in the Covenant and that it is a seal of our righteousness This phrase is fetched from IV. Rom. 11. And he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the Faith Which place is expounded to mean a seal of the persons righteousness that receives it But to examine this place 1. It is said to be a sign now a sign is to help unbelief and to confirm doctrine Exod. IV. Moses miracles there mentioned were to be signs to make the Israelites believe his message 1 Cor. XIV 22. Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not And to that purpose is that of our Saviour Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe 2. The Doctrines there delivered are well worth such a Confirmation namely first That a sinner upon his believing in Christ becomes righteous this is the greatest truth Secondly That he becomes righteous by another this was a wonder to the Jews Thirdly That it is by a better righteousness than Adams Fourthly That it is by a righteousness infinite viz. A righteousness that outvies condemning righteousness and that very same righteousness that God gives to Christ. So that the meaning of those words the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the Faith is that it was a Seal to confirm that great Doctrine So Sacraments are to Seal the truth of God He hath put to his Seal in the Sacrament as a Seal to a Dead confirms the truth of it So that Circumcision is a Seal of the same truth to Esau Judas c. else it loses its nature which is to confirm Gods truth And so the Sacraments are Seals of Gods truth Baptism seals that truth that washing by the blood of Christ cleanseth us from our sins So that though children know not what baptism means yet it hath this nature III. They were all baptized unto Moses i. e. unto his discipline They were circumcised unto God viz. unto true religion Now they are baptized into Moses that is into his Way Baptism is to enter us into the true profession Matth. XXVIII 19. Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost that is into the profession of the true God So in the Name of Jesus that is into his belief and religion Hence also Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a distinctive body that marks us out for Christians And therefore we are said to be all baptized into one body 1 Cor. XII 13. So the children of Israel were circumoised though they were born Israelites that they might be marked for Gods people As to the fourth observable in the Text baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea I cannot now insist on that The Conclusion is that we retain this Sacrament without doubting It carries its warrant in its institution and in its own nature I will leave two directions with you I. Rest not in a negative Religion only II. Let the practise of the Church have authority with you A SERMON PREACHED AT S. MARIES Cambridge Febr. 24. 1655 6. LUKE XI 2. When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven THE words are our Saviours And they are a sweet condescention to a pious request in the verse before where Christ praying publickly as it seems among his Disciples one affected with it prays Lord teach us to pray Where was this Disciple at the Sermon in the Mount Matth. VI. 9. where Christ had taught them to pray Was he absent or had he forgot Or did he not rightly understand However it was Christ yields to his request and gives the same directions again here as he had done there There it is After this manner pray ye Here When ye pray say In the Text are two things contained The one is Christs giving a Platform of prayer When ye pray say The other is The form given Our Father which art in Heaven c. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When leaves us not at liberty but commands us and is of the same import with another saying of our Saviour when he instituted his holy Supper As oft as ye do this do it in remembrance of me Out of the former I Observe two things I. That we had need to pray II. That we had need to be taught to pray Two truths confirmed by three witnesses John this Disciple and Christ. Ask John why he taught his Disciples to pray he will answer these two things viz. because they had need to pray and because they had need to be taught to pray Ask the Disciple why he asked Christ to teach him to pray he will answer so Ask Christ why he taught his Disciples to pray he will answer so also As there are many Comments on these subjects so there is as copious handling them So that I shall not handle them at large but speak to them in a few illustrations and so pass to insist rather on the second viz. The Form it self I. That we had need to pray And that first because of our Duty Secondly Because of our Wants In regard of what we owe to God and in regard of what we expect from him These both draw and drive us Accordingly the Lords Prayer consists of two general parts first we pray in adoration to his Name Kingdom Will in the three first petitions and then for our wants in the last I shall not now speak how Prayer is Adoration of God nor how it is commanded by Scripture on that account I shall only at present shew First That it is a duty and that we had need pray because of our Duty And for â that purpose observe 1. It is a Duty written in nature That in Gen. IV. ult Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord however understood shews it from the beginning Hence the Heathen prayed though they mistook in the manner of praying Matth. VI. 7. 2. It is a Duty for every man and woman in the World to perform All flesh come to thee LXV Psal. 2. And Psal. CL. ult Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. T is a Duty due upon our creature-ship It is the Duty of the holiest men Psal. XXXII 6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee And of the wickedest also even Magus was to pray to God Act. VIII 22. It is so a Duty for the holiest that it lay upon Adam in innocency It lay upon Christ in the Flesh he prayed both because of his Duty and because of his wants V. Heb. 7. Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
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
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 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
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
meditate therein when thou sittest down and risest up when thou sittest in the house when thou walkest in the way and various such passages as these require and ingage all sorts and conditions of people to this study and meditation according to their several capabilities and atcheivances In some important points of Divinity some men have sometimes mistaken in stating them by mens benefit rather than by their duty If you did so in this point it would make one very good piece of an argument study the Scriptures for you may benefit by study of them But take the other and it argueth more strongly study the Scripture for it is your duty God calls for it lays his command upon you to do it the best you can II. Therefore upon this we may make such another inference as Samsons mother doth Judg. XIII 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have accepted an offering neither would he have shewed us all these things If the Lord were pleased that the Scriptures should not be understood he would never have written them he would never have charged all to study them God never writ the difficulties of the Scripture only to be gazed upon and never understood never gave them as a book sealed and that could never be unsealed that learned and unlearned alike might never see what is in them but that they might be more seriously read more carefully studied that so being understood and practised they might become the means of Salvation unto all A SERMON Preached upon DANIEL XII 12. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days 13. But go thou thy way till the end for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of days DOTH he not speak riddles T is hard to tell whether verse is harder And I have chosen to speak to them partly that I may explain them partly in subsequence to my late discourse about Gog Rev. XX 8. I shewed that meant an enemy to true Religion and more particularly the Pope styled by the name of the old Enemy Ezek. XXXVIII XXXIX I shewed that Gog was Antiochus that laid wast the Jews Religion and would force them to turn to the manners of the Heathen that forbad them Circumcision Law Religion forbad the daily Sacrifice and profaned the Altar with Swines flesh and sacrifices abominable and offered to Idols I cited that that speaks concerning him Chap. VII 25. He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High c. until a time and times and the dividing of time that is a year two years and half a year or three years and an half In the verse before the Text there is mention of the same matter and there are reckoned only a thousand two hundred and ninety days From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days For the Holy Ghost reckons by round sums near about three years and an half which he calls a time times and half a time and does not punctually fix upon the very exact sum And so in the Book of the Revelations where allusion is made to the same space of time viz. three years and an half it is sometimes expressed by a thousand two hundred and sixty days as Rev. XII 6. The woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days Sometimes by forty two months Chap. XIII 5. And there was given to the beast a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given him to continue forty and two months You have both in Chap. XI 2. They that tread the holy City under-foot forty and two months And vers 3. I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days Now let your thoughts conceive the case and state of the people and Temple in this time a thousand two hundred and ninety days three years and an half or there abouts no Law no Religion no Sacrifice but what is abominable the Temple filled with Idols the Heathen there sacrificing swines-flesh and other abominable things to their abominable gods Ah! Poor Jerusalem what case art thou in How is the gold become dim nay changed to dros What desolation of Religion is come upon thee and what bondage and thraldom under irreligion How it goes against their heart not to circumcise their children But they dare not do it How grievous to see the Books of the Law burnt and they upon pain of death dare not save them nor use them How bitter to see Altar Temple Holy of Holies all defiled with abomination and all Religion laid in the dust and they cannot help it dare not resist it What should these poor people do Wait Gods deliverance for Haec non durabunt in secula These things will not always last Stay but till one thousand three hundred thirty five days but forty five above the thousand two hundred and ninety of the Temples defilement in the verse before and there is deliverance And read two verses together From the time that the dayly sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days Add but forty five days further the sum to come up to a thousand three hundred thirty five days and there is some remarkable thing done as pleading the cause of the people and Religion that had been so abused which in all probability was the death of the Tyrant that had brought this misery upon them or at least some signal thing done by God for the relief of the people who had been so oppressed But I rather believe the former The story of whose actions and death you may read in the first Book of the Maccabees Chap. I. beginning The story of which book goes almost step by step with Josephus However his death was the Mercy or some other special providence the words afford plainly these two Truths I. That the time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God II. That it is a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination The former Observation lies in the latter clause the latter in the former The two things the latter an inference upon the former or the former a Doctrine the latter the Use and Application of it I shall handle in the same method and order The time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God Therefore it will prove a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination In prosecuting either I shall not so much prove as clear
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
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
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
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
to that especially and speak to the Comparison as occasion offers it self The Positive being this There is joy in Heaven for a sinner that repenteth Joy in Heaven when a sinner repenteth Or for a sinner that repenteth When we have wondred a while at the thing it self then we may ask Joy among whom And truly we have very just cause to wonder at the thing it self And it is as feeling a passage as likely we can meet with in all the Scripture Joy in Heaven upon a sinners repenting How then may you construe that expression Well done good and faithful servant enter into thy Masters joy Mutual joy thou rejoycing in thy Master and thy Master rejoycing in thee The good servant by his very repentance rejoycing his Lord as well as his salvation with his Lord rejoycing him I cannot but think of that passage concerning the Eunuch Act. VIII That when he was converted and baptized he went away rejoycing And there was rejoycing in Heaven for it by our Saviours relation here as well as there was with him on earth one deep calling upon another through the noise of the water-pipes And like two Lutes tuned in Union the very same string of joy sounding in Heaven that was struck here upon Earth Not much unlike the stile of that passage What ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven We read of some that upon reading or hearing some particular Texts of Scripture have been converted and become new men So was S. Austin by reading a verse or two in Rom. XIII Junius by reading three or four verses of Joh. I. And so others by others Now can you find a more winning melting piercing passage almost any where in all the Bible than this if we well consider of it There is joy in Heaven over a sinner that repenteth That for yours or mine or any of our repentances there should be joy in Heaven Alas if we were all in Hell what were Heaven the worse for it And yet that it should be joyful news to Heaven if we repent Do we not know how joyful news takes upon Earth And do we not wonder that our repentance should bring joyful news to Heaven We read how Jacob was ravished and revived when the joyful news came to him that his son Joseph was alive And are there those in Heaven would be so affected if we repent Yes the great King of Heaven tells us so That there is joy in Heaven c. How full are we if we have good news to tell till we tell it Ahimaaz and Cushi ran as if they ran for their lives who shall first bring the good news of Victory over Absalom And is it possible for any of us to bring good news to Heaven Yes the Text tells us we may For our repentance would set Heaven a rejoycing and be very gladsome tidings there And who is it that runs astrife that he may first bring such rejoycing news thither As the four Lepers said at the Camp of the Syrians We do not well that we tarry here for this is a day of good tidings and we are to blame if we go not and tell them Men and Brethren more joyful news cannot come to Heaven than of our repenting And are we not moved at the thoughts of it and do we not blame our selves for delaying to send such news thither Do we by muddling here for mony and pleasures and preferments and I know not what as those Lepers did in the Tents of the Syrians when our repenting and turning to God would set Heaven it self on rejoycing for us It is no wonder if a Soul rejoyce when it gets to Heaven but it may ravish us with wonder and amazement that Heaven should rejoyce for a mans making thither For what need hath Heaven of such poor wretched creatures as we are Who would not dwell upon such a subject as this But it must be rather in Meditation than Elocution For astonishment at the thing may swallow up words that we are not able to speak of it to speak it out Make out by your memory meditation and admiring what my Tongue wants in expressing and uttering Let such a ravishing truth as this That there is joy in Heaven c. never slip out of your memory Cherish the warm thoughts of it in your spreading meditation Meditate your selves into rapture at such comfortable tidings from Heaven that your repentance would be joyful tidings to Heaven that there would be joy in Heaven for your repenting But joy among whom there And let that be a second thing to meditate of and to warm II. our meditation The Text only tells of joy in Heaven and particularizes no more but the rest of the Chapter speaks out with whom The last Parable in the Chapter tells you there is joy with God the Father by that intimation How the Father rejoyced upon the return of his lost Prodigal son The first Parable in the Chapter tells you there is joy with Christ the great shepherd by that intimation How the man rejoyced upon the finding and bringing again his wandring and lost sheep And the application of the middle Parable speaks it out vers 10. That there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Joy with God the Father joy with Christ the Son joy with the holy Angels Do we need to enquire whether with the blessed Saints in Heaven We have more reason to stand admiring at this that is so plain before us than to intricate our selves with that that is more obscure God and Christ and the Angels know a mans repenting here which the glorified Saints in Heaven for ought we know know not And God and Christ and Angels can be helpful to a Soul in the ways of repentance here which the glorified Saints in Heaven cannot be I know who they be that will maintain that the Saints in glory know a mans repentance and can be helpful to him in the ways of repentance And that therefore they are to be prayed unto But we leave them to their proofs and practises we have no such Doctrine nor custom nor the Churches of Christ. We doubt not but First The Saints in glory desire the consummating of the mystical body of Christ in glory It is their desire here and it leaves them not there Rom. VIII 23. They grone here for the Adoption that is the Redemption of the Body And they carry the same affection of desire of it into Heaven Secondly We may very well conceive that the Saints in glory rejoyce as this his mystical Body comes on to be glorified when a Soul comes to Heaven But that they know what men do here below is neither proved nor is it material to be believed Therefore I shall not intangle my self in that question but leave it to them that do believe it to prove it when they are able That God and Christ and Angels rejoyce over a sinner that repenteth is that
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
shews they are hard set when they must make Caiaphas a copy after whom to write the Infallibility of their Papal chair But they gazed so much upon the chair when they wrote this Note that they clean looked off the Book and Text they had before them For had they looked well upon that that would have given them a more proper reason of his prophesying and indeed the proper reason of it namely not so much because he was High Priest as because he was High Priest that year This he spake not of himself but being High Priest that year High Priest that year Why He had been High Priest several years before So Luke tells us Chap. III. that he was High Priest when Christ was baptized three years and an half ago and Josephus tells us as much and more and of his being High Priest after this year also And therefore why that circumstance added He was High Priest that year To speak the proper reason of his prophesying First I might say That was the year nay even the hour of the last gasp of the High Priesthood It prophesied and instantly breathed out its last There is much dispute upon those words of Paul Act. XXIII 5. which our English renders I wist not Brethren that he was the High Priest If I should render it I knew not that there is an High Priest I am sure it hath warrant enough of the Original Greek and warrant enough of the truth of the thing it self Did not the High Priesthood dye and cease and was no more when the great High Priest of Souls died and by death made expiation for his people If you will allow the other Priesthood and the employment of it to live still after the death of Christ and his sacrifice offered by the eternal Spirit till the fall of Jerusalem and dissolution of the Temple yet can you find nothing that the High Priest had then to do that it should survive any longer after Christ was sacrificed The other Priesthood had something to do besides what was most plainly typical in it and referred to the death of Christ as sacrificing and sprinkling of blood did For they had to offer the first fruits of the people for their Thankfulness to purifie women after child-birth to present the first born to the Lord c. But the distinctive work of the High Priest in diversity from the other Priesthood was on the day of Expiation to go within the Vail into the most holy place with blood and make an Attonement Which when Christ had done through the Vail of his flesh through his own blood as the Apostle tells us Heb. X. 20. what had the High Priesthood to do any more To this peculiarly related that which occurred at the death of the great High Priest Matth. XXVII 15. The vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom Which when you come narrowly to examine you will find to be the vail that hung between the holy and most holy place Which the Jews in their writings call by a Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This was the vail that the High Priest turned aside as we do hangings at a door to go into the room And he went into the most holy place only once a year But now it is rent in pieces no such distinction or separation thenceforward to be had and no such work of the High Priest to be done any more So that if we take these words of Paul to the sense I mentioned viz. I knew not Brethren that there is now any High Priest or any High Priesthood at all that Function is long ago laid in the dust it was spoken like a Paul boldly and as one that very well understood and could well distinguish twixt substance and shadow and how long those Ordinances of that Oeconomy were to last and when to decay And if accordingly we take that circumstance in the Text He prophesied as being High Priest that year in the sense I mentioned namely that last year of the being and life of the High Priesthood it gives a story not much unlike that of the son of King Crâsus Who when he had been dumb from the birth and never spake word at last seeing in a battel an enemy ready to run his Father through he forced his Tongue so as that he broke the string of silence and cryed out O man do not kill Croesus So the High Priesthood having been dumb from Prophesying for above four hundred years together and never spoken one Prophetick word when now the King is ready to be slain its Tongue is loosed in Caiaphas and prophesieth of the Redemption of all the Israel of God and presently expireth But Secondly That year was the great year of pouring down the Spirit of Prophesie and Revelation as in Act. II. the great year of sealing Vision and Prophesie as in Dan. IX And then it is the less wonder if this dog get some crumbs that fell from that plentiful table of the children and some droppings from that abundant dew that fell upon the Fleece of Gedeon Something like the case of Eldad and Medad but they were better men Numb XI 26. that in that great pouring out of the Spirit there had their share though they were not in the company of those that were assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation And thus was the case with Caiaphas as it was with Balaam that wretch inspired till then by the Devil but then by God Who went purposely to curse Israel but God so overpowered and turned the stream that he could not but bless them So this wretch inspired with malice from the Devil to plot and compass the death of Christ is now also inspired by the Spirit of Prophesie to foretel his death and to proclaim it Redemption to his people A very strange passage that while he was sinning against the Holy Ghost he prophesied by the Holy Ghost and that in those very words that he spake against Christ to destroy him he should prophesie of Christs death and Redemption to magnifie it So can the Spirit of God overpower the Hearts and Tongues and actions of Men to serve the design of his own glory And this is that that I shall speak to I might observe obiter how great diversity there is twixt the Spirit of Prophesie and Revelation and the Spirit of grace and holiness The same Spirit indeed is the Author of both but there is so much diversity in the thing wrought that a Balaam a Caiaphas have the Spirit of Prophesie who are as far from having the Spirit of Sanctification as the East is from the West Hell from Heaven A mistake hath taken the Spirits of too many to account this good Language and Divinity I am a believer converted sanctified therefore I have the Spirit of Revelation and I can preach and expound Scripture by that Spirit little considering the vast diversity of the gift of Prophesie
taking on him to be Esau when he was Jacob He serveth in hardship in his marriage week and bringeth festivity to others but labour to himself Joseph Zebulun and Asher were in their mothers wombs at the same time but Joseph born last Dinah was not born in these seven years unless she were a twin with Zebulun Reuben about âive years old following the reapers findeth Mandrakes and bringeth the Apples thereof to his mother for which poor rate Jacob is in manner sold for a time by Rahel CHAP. XXXI Rahel stealeth Labans Teraphim for a civil use to preserve the memory of some of her ancestors whereof they were the pictures and which Laban had impiously Idolized CHAP. XXXII Jacob for distrust in the Promise so far upon Esaus approach that he sendeth him above a thousand cattel of all sorts of which he had vowed the Tithes to the Lord and before he paid them is met by the way by the Lord and in danger to be killed by him but by prayer and supplication he prevaileth with the Lord and escapeth only with a lame leg This lameness of Jacob was not reputed to him for a maim but like the honourable scars of a valiant Captain for a special dignity For at Bethel he exerciseth the part and office of a Priest which if his halting had been reputed for a maiâ he had been disabled to do and his posterity in all succeeding ages reserve the honorable memory of this his lameness in not eating the sinew that shrank That was the first Ceremony that distinguished Israel for a peculiar people because with this his lameness Jacob is first dignified with the name of Israel Circumcision differenced them not from the other seed of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah but this curiosity in meats first beginneth Judaism They refrained not to eat the joint where the sinew was as a leg of Mutton or of Beef for the legs of the Passover were to be eaten Exod. 1â 10. but they spared the sinew And that not in abomination or abhorring of it but in honour and special respect because it bare the memorial of their first naming Israel The portion of meat that Elkanah gave to his beloved Hannah Manah Ahhath Appaiina the portion of representation may not unfitly be understood of this joint and the same piece of the meat did Samuel reserve for Saul in honour The Cook took up the leg 1 Sam. 9. 24. CHAP. 33 34. Shechem an Hivite by original chap. 34. 2. is an Amorite by habitation chap. 48. 22. So Anah the Hivite by descent chap. 36. 2. Beeri the Hittite by habitation in one place chap. 26. 36. and an Horite by habitation in another chap. 36. 30 24. Judah was not at the murder at Shechem but at Chezib upon the borders of the Philistims married and resident there many miles distant CHAP. XXXV The Proselytes of Shechem admitted to Jacobs family by Baptism for circumcision to the Shechemites was become deadly Benjamin born by the strength of the promise vers 11. for Jacob was now past the natural vigour of generating and therefore he justly calleth his name Benjamin the son of the right hand CHAP. 36. Strange alteration of names in this Chapter from what they are in others Judith Chap. 26. 34. called Aholibamah because of her Idolatry Anah her father Chap. 36. 2. an Hivite by original is Beeri an Hittite Chap. 26. 34. because he dwelt among them about Beer-la-hai-roi Bashemath Chap. 26. 34. is Adah here to shew Gods dislike against Esaus matches Mahalath is Pashemath to shew the Canaanitish qualities of a daughter of Ismael Compare this genealogy in this Chapter with the same in 1 Chron. 1. and Timna which is here a woman and a mans concubine is there made that mans son for the Scripture useth to speak short in known stories CHAP. 37. When the Text hath dispatched with Esau the hater of his brother that lost his birth-right by his own fault it falleth upon Joseph the hated of his brethren that obtained the birth-right by the fault of another He feeding the flocks with his brethren joyneth in company with the sons of the handmaids for Leahs children cared little either for them or him Among them where he thought to have respect he found hardship for they made him as their slave or servant Vehu nagnar and he was a servant with the sons of Bilhah and Zilphah vers 2. This evil report of his brethrens usage of him he told his father whereupon he made him a coat of divers colours as a badge of the birth-right which his father intended to confer upon him that his brethren for this should respect him the more But this procureth their greater hatred Reuben only excepted who sought his good though he had gotten his birth-right which sheweth that the incestuous man was now become a penitent and holy CHAP. 38. Judah punished in his children and his own shame for the sale of his righteous brother He was married about eight years before Joseph was sold being then not above twelve years of age if he were so much Therefore the words in the beginning of the Chapter At that time have not so much any reference to the exact time of Judahs marriage as to the miscarriage of Er and Onan which befel not long after Joseph was sold and so teach of his requital in his children for the sale of his righteous brother CHAP. XXXIX XL XLI Joseph made a slave his Blackmoor mistress lusteth after his beauty and whiteness By the interpretation of other mens dreams he is promoted as by the relating of his own he was sold into misery Pharaoh giveth him a new name after their Oracular God Baal Zephon Zophnath Paanea CHAP. XLII Josephs words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vers 15 16. not an oath by the Creature but an apprecation and prayer for Pharaohs life So let Pharaoh live as ye are spies as Lev. 25. 36. helpeth to explain the verb. CHAP. XLVII Pharaoh having never seen so old a man as Jacob nor so grave a head nor so gray a beard in all his life in admiration asketh him no other question but concerning his age CHAP. XLVIII The birth-right which Jacob intended for Joseph before his sale is conferred and confirmed upon him when Ephraim and Manasseh are taken by him for his sons as Reuben and Simeon and hence came Ephraim to be first born among the Tribes and therefore Moses chooseth Joshua one of that Tribe for their conductor into Canaan CHAP. XLIX Jacob blesseth every one of the Tribes vers 28. therefore in his words to Reuben Simeon and Levi which are the most bitter we must find a blessing or we lose his sence His words also concern the future events of the Tribes as much or more than the twelve Patriarks that stood before him vers 1. These ground-works being then thus laid for the understanding of these his last words as necessarily they must let it be tolerated to touch upon some of
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
now in Capreae having forsaken the City living in all filthiness and cruelty 770. Divers cruelties ibid. Strange accusing 771. The boldness of Sejanus and Terentius 772. Divers cruelties more and other occurrencies ibid. Tiberius troubled in mind 773. Among the Jews A Commotion among them occasioned by Pilate ibid. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXXIV Tiberius XIX In the Church Hellenists murmuring against the Hebrews Act. 6. Seven Deacons chosen And their office 777. c. Stephen Martyred 780 c. Act. 7. Bitter persecution against the whole Church 785. Act. 8. Dispersion of the hundred and eight upon the Persecution ibid. Samaria receiveth the Gospel 786. Simon Magus ibid. The Holy Ghost given by imposition of hands 787. The Ethiopian Eunuch converted 789 c. Paul converted and baptized ibid. Act. 9. to ver 10. In the Empire Velleius Paterculus flourisheth 795. Troubles in Rome about Usury 796 c. Tiberius still most bloudily cruel ibid. Strang accusations among the People ibid. Marius and his daughter wrongfully slaughtered ibid. The miserable end of Asinius Gallus and Nerva ibid. The miserable end of Agrippinâ and Drusius ibid. Other Massacres ibid. Occurrences in the Year of Christ XXXV Tiberius XX. In the Church No particular occurrence of the Church mentioned this year 801. In the Empire Tiberius Reign proclaimed for ten years longer and the Consuls punished for it ibid. Many cruelties of the Emperour 802. A feigned Drusus ib. Among the Jews A commotion and slaughter of them caused by Pilate 803 Philip the Tetrach of Trachonitis dyeth ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXXVI Tiberius XXI In the Church No particular Occurrence mentioned this year Among the Jews Vitellius Governour of Judea he cometh to Jerusalem is courteous to the Iews 809. Caiaphas removed from the High Priesthood 810. In the Empire A Rebellion in Parthia ib. Tiberius still cruel and shameless 811. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXXVII Tiberius XXII In the Church Paul cometh to Jerusalem 813. Act. 9. vers 23 c. to vers 32. The Disciples afraid of him 814. Persecution lasteth yet ib. Paul presented to the Apostles preacheth boldly is persecuted and goeth to Tarsus 815. In the Empire The Parthian War yet uncomposed 816 817. Artabanus restored to his Kingdom ib. A commotion in Cappadocia ib. Cruelties at Rome ib. Mishaps there through fire and water ib. The death of Thrasyllus the Astrologer ib. Among the Jews A commotion in Samaria 818 c. Pilate put out of Office ib. Agrippa his journey to Rome ib. His imprisoment there ib. War betwixt Herod the Tetrach and Aretas King of Arabia ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXXVIII Tiberius XXIII Being also the first year of Caius No particular Occurrence of the Church specified this year In the Empire Macro all base 823. A wicked woman 824. Preparations of War against Aretas 825 c. An Omen to Agrippa in Chains ib. Tiberius near his end ib. His choice of a successor ib. Tiberius his Death ib. Caius his successor ib. Tiberius in a manner cruel being dead ib. Agrippa in perplexity and enlarged 825 c. His dissimulation ib. He beginneth to shew himself in his own colours ib. His cruelty ib. Young Tiberius brought to a miserable end ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXXIX Caius II. No Occurrence of the Church mentioned this year In the Empire Cruelties at Rome 831. An end of Macro 832. Among the Jews Great troubles of the Jews in Alexandria 832 c. Agrippa at Alexandria abused ib. A Pageant of one and more madmen ib. Sad outrages upon the Jews ib. Caius will be a God ib. More of their Miseries ib. Agrippa in his own kingdom ib. Yet more Occurrences in the Empire Caius the new God little better than a Devil 836 c. Many and many cruelties of his ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XL. Caius III. In the Church Peter visiting divers parts 839 840. Act. 9. ver 32. Yet not at Antioch in this visitation ib. Dorcas raised 841. Act. 10. Cornelius converted 842. The keys of the kingdom of Heaven now only used 845. The Holy Ghost given to the Gentiles 847. In the Empire Caius still cruel 848 c. A most inhumane cruelty ib. Caius his luxury and prodigality ib. His strange bridge of Ships ib. His covetousness ib. Among the Jews Herod and Herodias before the Emperour 852. The Alexandrian Jews still perplexed ib. Flaccus his downfall ib. The Jews still distressed for all that ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XLI Caius Caligula IV. In the Chuhch Antioch receiveth the Gospel 855. Barnabas cometh thither ib. Act. 11. ver 19. to ver 26. Among the Jews Troubles at Jamnia 856 c. Caius his image to be set up in the Temple causing troubles ib. Petronius his Letter hereupon to the Emperour ib. Agrippa his mediation for the Jews ib. Flaccus Avilius his end ib. The Ambassadors of the Alexandrian Jews before the Emperour Apion ib. Philo the Jew and his Writings ib. In the Empire Caius still foolish and cruel 862. Caius profane ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XXII Caius V. Claudius I. In the Empire Caius his death contrived 865 c. The manner of his death ib. The sequel ib. Dissention about the government ib. Claudius ib. Caesonia and her child slain ib. Claudius made Emperour ib. His demeanour at the beginning ib. In the Church The name of Christian first used 871. Act. 11. ver 26. Among the Jews The Theraputae 872. The affairs of the Jews in Alexandria and Babylonia ib. The rebellion of some Jews ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XLIII Claudius II. In the Church A famine in Judea and all the world 877. Paul rapt into the third heaven ib. Act. 11. ver 28. Peter not this year at Rome 888. Among the Jews Herod Agrippa his coming to Jerusalem 879 c. Imperial acts in behalf of the Jews ib. Peter not imprisoned this second year of Claudius ib. In the Empire The Moors subdued 881. Claudius beginneth to be cruel and his Empress Messalina wicked ib. Occurrences in the year of Christ XLIV Claudius III. In the Church The martyrdomn of James the great 883. Concerning the Apostles Creed 884. Concerning Traditions 885. Peters imprisonment and delivery ib. In the Empire Some actions of Claudius 887. Messalina abominably wicked ib. An expedition into England ib. A whorish trick of Messalina ib. Among the Jews The fatal end of Herod Agrippa 889. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES CHAP. I. Vers. 1. The former Treatise have I made c. THE Syrian and Arabick render it The former * * * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by which word they render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Matth. 1. 1. book have I written and so is the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã used in Heathen Authors not only for an oration by word of mouth but also for a Treatise or Discourse that
is done in writing as might be proved by many examples I shall only give one as parallel to the phrase that we have in hand as the Author himself is unparallel to our Evangelists in matter of truth and that is Lucian in his title of the first book of true History ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Now the Evangelist at his entry into this History mentioneth the former Treatise of his Gospel because this Treatise of The Acts of the Apostles taketh at that and as that contained the Life and Doctrine of our Saviour himself so doth this the like of his Apostles And therefore the words immediately following Of all that Jesus began to do may not unfitly be interpreted to such a meaning that Jesus began and his Apostles finished though it is true indeed that in Scripture phrase to begin to do and to do do sound to one and the same sense as Matth. 12. 1. compared with Luke 6. 1. Mark 6. 2. compared with Matth. 13. 54. c. Now the method that the Evangelist prescribes unto himself and followeth in this Book is plainly this From the beginning of the Book to the end of the twelfth Chapter he discourseth the state of the Church and Gospel among the Jews and from thence forward to the end of the Book he doth the like of the same among the Gentiles and therfore accordingly although the title of the Book be The Acts of the Apostles as of the Apostles in general yet doth he more singularly set himself to follow the story of the two Apostles Peter and Paul Peters to the 13 Chapter and Pauls after because that these two were more peculiarly the fixed Ministers of the circumcision and of the uncircumcision Gal. 2. 8. and so doth Moses intitle a reckoning of the heads of the Fathers houses of all the Tribes of Israel in general Exod. 6. â4 and yet he fixeth at the Tribe of Levi and goeth no further because the subject of his Story lay especially in that Tribe in Moses and Aaron §. Of all that Jesus began to do and to teach Not that Luke wrote all things that Jesus did nor indeed could they be written John 21. 25. but that 1. He wrote all those things that were necessary and not to be omitted Theophylact and Calvin 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may be taken for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all for many as it is frequently done in Scripture 3. And chiefly that he wrote something of all the heads of Christs actions and doctrine for he saith not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Camerarius Or 4. As the woman of Samaria saith that Christ had told her all things that ever she did Joh. 4. 29. whereas he told her but some few particulars but they were such as whereby she was convinced he could tell her all So though Luke did not specifie all and every action and doctrine of Christ that ever he did and taught yet did he write of such as whereby it was most clear that Christ was the Messias Vers. 2. After that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments to the Apostles whom he had chosen There is some diversity in pointing and reading this Verse some take it in the order and posture that our English hath it applying the words through the Holy Ghost to Christs giving commandments and read it thus after ââ had given commandments through the Holy Ghost and so doth the Vulgar Latine Theophylact Marârat and indeed the pointing in the best Copies Others as the Syrian Arabick and Beza with them conjoyn it thus Giving commandments to the Apostles whom he had chosen by the Holy Ghost Now in the main thing it self there is not so much difference as to make any great scruple or matter how the words are pointed for Christ may as well be said to command his Disciples by the Holy Ghost as to chuse them by the Holy Ghost and so e contra But it is material to consider First That it is more proper by far to conceive Christ acting the Holy Ghost upon the Disciples and that when they were called than his acting him in himself in calling them Secondly That there is no mention at all of such an acting of the Holy Ghost in the Disciples choosing but there is expresly at their receiving their charge and therefore not only the pointing of the Text and the consent of divers Copies Expositors and Interpreters that read as our English doth but even the very thing it self and truth and evidence of Story require that it should be so read Now why Christ should be said to give commandment through the Holy Ghost and what commandment this was that was so given to them is much in controversie There is mention indeed of Christ breathing of the Holy Ghost upon them Joh. â0 22. and of a commandment or two given them afterward as To go teach all Nations Matth. 28. 19. and to abide at Jerusalem till the promise of the Father Act. 1. 4. And the exposition and interpretation that is commonly given of these words doth sense them thus That Christ by the vertue of the Holy Ghost in himself did give them these commands Whereas it is far more agreeable to the stile and phrase of Scripture to expound them in another sense namely that Christ by the Holy Ghost infused into his Disciples did command them not by the words of his own mouth but by the direction of his Spirit within them and so the Prophets were commanded Zech. 1. 6. where the LXX use the same Greek word For first else to what purpose did he breath the Holy Ghost upon them and bid them receive it Sure they had something beside the Ceremony of breathing bestowed upon them and what can that be conceived to be if not the Holy Ghost to inform them of what they yet knew not and to direct them what he would have them to do Secondly It is therefore observable that on Pentecost day they received ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâ¦ã 8. and Luke 24. 49. Power and abilities to execute their charge for indeed their charge was given them by Christ before Now Christ was not with them continually to talk with them and to instruct them but came by times among them and away again and therefore on the very first night that he appeared unto them he distributed the Holy Ghost among them to be their constant instructer and injoyner what they were to do in that calling and employment to which they were ingaged and the fruit of one of these instructions and injunctions by the Holy Ghost within them was the choosing of Matthias Vers. 3. To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs §. The History of the resurrection and Christs several apparitions after it On the first day of the week a a a Luke 24. 1. very early in the morning b b b Matt. 28. 1. when it began to dawn
flux of him that hath the Gonorrhea from his spittle from his urine from the bloud of a menstruous woman from a prostuvious man c. By these a man was so polluted that it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A days washing and he must plunge his whole body But for smaller uncleannesses it was enough to cleanse the hands II. Much less is it to be understood of the things bought as if they when they were brought from the market were to be washed in which sense some Interpreters render the words And what they buy out of the market unless they wash it they eat it not when there were some things which would not endure water some things which when bought were not presently eaten and the Traditional Canons distinguish between those things which were lawful as soon as they came from the market and those which were not III. The Phrase therefore seems to be meant of the immersion or plunging of the hands only and the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Fist is here to be understood also in common Those that remain at home eat not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unless they wash the fist But those that come from the Market eat not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unless they plunge their fist into the water being ignorant and uncertain what uncleanness they came near unto in the Market The e e e e e e Maimon in Mikvaoth cap. 11. washing of the hands and the plunging of the hands were from the Scribes The hands which had need ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of plunging they dipped not but in a fit place that is where there was a confluence of forty Seahs of water For in the place where any dipped Vessels it was lawful to dip the hands But the hands which have need ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of washing only if they dip them in the Confluence of waters they are clean whether they dip them in waters that are drawn or in Vessels or in the pavement They do not cleanse the hands as to washing until waters are poured upon the hands out of a Vessel For they do not wash the hands but out of a Vessel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pots It is doubtful whether this word be derived from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Sextary a certain measure or form ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vessels plained or engraven To take it as speaking of Sextaries is indeed very agreeable to the word and not much different from the matter And so also it is if you derive it from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by which word are denoted Vessels plained or turned that is of Wood. And perhaps those Vessels which are called by the Rabbins ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Flat and are opposed to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as may contain something within them are expressed by this word Of that sort were Knives Tables Seats c. Concerning which as capable of polution See Maimonides f f f f f f In Kelim cap 4. and the Talmudic Tract g g g g g g Chap. 21. Kelim Where are reckoned up 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The very Table at which they eat 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The little Table or the Wooden Side-Table where wine and fruits were set that were presenttly to be brought to Table 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Seat 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The footstool for the feet under the Seat ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Brazen Vessels ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of Beds Beds contracted uncleanness either that which they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or that which they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã One can hardly put these into good English without a Paraphrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Was a bed on which a profluvions man or woman or a menstruous woman or a woman in chid-birth or a leper had either sate or stood or laid or leaned or hung ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Was a bed which any thing had touched that had been touched before by any of these The word therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã washings applyed to all these properly and strictly is not to be taken of dipping or plunging but in respect of some things of washing only and in respect of others of sprinkling only VERS XI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Corban that is a Gift THE word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A gift was known and common among the Talmudists ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã h h h h h h Zevachin fol. 7. 2. Rabba saith A burnt sacrifice is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a guift Where the Gloss writes thus A burnt sacrifice is not offered to expiate for any deed but after repentance hath expiated the deed the burnt sacrifice comes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the man may be received with favour As when any hath sinned against the King ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and hath appeased him by a Paraclete an Advocate and comes to implore his favour he brings ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Gift ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i i i i i i Pesachin fol. 118. 2. Egypt shall bring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Gift to the Messiah VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Draught ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The house of the secret Seat CHAP. VIII VERS XII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Why doth this generation seek after a sign IN stead of a Comment take a story a a a a a a Bav Mezia fol. 59. 2. On that day R. Eliezer answered to all the Questions in the whole world but they hearkened not to him He said therfore to them If the Tradition be according to what I say Let this Siliqua a kind of Tree bear witness The Siliqua was rooted up and removed an hundred cubits from its place there are some who say four hundred They say to him a proof is not to be fetched from a Siliqua He saith to them again If the Tradition be with me let the rivers of waters testifie the rivers of waters are turned backward They say to him a proof is not to be fetched from the rivers of waters He said to them again if the tradition be with me let the walls of the Schools testifie The walls bowed as if they were falling R. Josua chid them saying if there be a controversie between the Disciples of the wise men about Tradition what is that to you Therefore the walls fell not in honour of R. Josua Yet they stood not upright again in honour of R. Eliezar He said to them moreover If the Tradition be with me let the heavens bear witness The Bath-Kol went forth and said Why do ye contend with R. Eliezar with whom the Tradition always is R. Jonah rose up upon his feet and said It is not in Heaven Deut. XXX 12. What do these words It is not in Heaven mean R. Jeremiah saith when the Law is given from Mount Sinai we do not care for the Bath Kol Shall we laugh at
the Fable or shall we suspect some truth in the story For my part when I recollect with my self how addicted to and skilful that Nation was in Art Magic which is abundantly asserted not only by the Talmudists but by the holy Scriptures I am ready to give some credit to this story and many others of the same nature namely that thing was really acted by the art and help of the Devil by those Ensign-bearers and Captains of errors the more to establish their Honour and Tradition Therefore from the story be it true or false we observe these two things I. How tenacious the Jews were of their Traditions and how unmoveable in them even beyond the evidence of miracles That Eleazar was of great same among them but he was a follower of Shammai Hence he is called once and again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Shammean b b b b b b Hieros Trumah fol. 43. 3. Iâm Tobh fol. 60. 3 c. When therefore he taught something against the School of Hillel although he did miracles as they themselves relate they gave no credit to him nay they derided him The same was their practise the same was their mind against the miracles of Christ. And to this may these words of our Saviour tend Why does this generation seek a sign A generation which is not only altogether unworthy of miracles but also which is sworn to retain their Traditions and doctrines although infinite miracles be done to the contrary II. You see how the last testimony of the miracles of this conjurer is fetched from Heaven For the Bath Kol went forth c. Which the followers of Hillel nevertheless received not and therein not justly indeed when they feign such a voice to have come to themselves from Heaven as a definitive Oracle for the authority of the School of Hillel not to be gainsaid concerning which the Talmudists speak very frequently and very boastingly After the same manner they require a sign from Heaven of our Saviour not content with those infinite miracles that he had done the healing of diseases the casting out Devils the multiplying of loaves c. They would also have somewhat from Heaven either after the example of Moses fetching Manna from thence or of Elias fetching down fire or of Joshua staying the Sun or of Esaias bringing it backwards CHAP. IX VERS I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Kingdom of God coming in power IN Matthew it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Son of man coming in his Kingdom The coming of Christ in his Vengeance and power to destroy the unbelieving and most wicked Nation of the Jews is expressed under these forms of Speech Hence the day of Judgment and Vengeance I. It is called the great and terrible day of the Lord Act. II. 20. 2 Thes. II. 2 3. II. It is described as the end of the world Jer. XXIV 24. Mat. XXIV 29. c. III. In that phrase In the last times Esa. II. 1. Act. II. 17. 1 Tim. IV. 1. 2 Pet. III. 3. That is in the last times of that City and Dispensation IV. Thence the beginning of the new World Es. LXV 17. 2 Pet. III. 13. V. The Vengance of Christ upon that Nation is described as his coming Joh. XXII 21. Heb. X. 37. His coming in the clouds Rev. I. 7. In glory with the Angels Mat. XXIV 30. c. VI. It is described as the inthroning of Christ and his twelve Apostles judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. XIX 28. Luke XXII 30. Hence this is the sense of the present place Our Saviour had said in the last verse of the former Chapter Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his father with his holy Angels to take punishment of that adulterous and sinful generation And he suggests with good reason that that his coming in Glory should be in the life time of some that stood there VERS II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Into an high mountain NOW your pardon Reader I know it will be laughed at if I should doubt Whether Christ were transfigured upon Mount Tabor for whoever doubted of this thing But let me before I give faith to the thing reveal my doubts concerning it and the Reader laying before his eyes some Geographical Map of Galilee perhaps when he shall have heard me will judge more favourably of my doubting I. Let him consider that Christ in the story next going before was in the Coasts of Cesarea Philippi Mat. XVI 13. Mark VIII 27. Luke IX 18. and for any thing that can be gathered out of the Evangelists changed not his place before this story Who will deny those words There are some that stand here who shall not tast of death c. were uttered in those coasts of Cesarea Philippi And presently the story of the Transfiguration followed II. Six days indeed came between in which you will say Christ might travail from Cesarea Philippi to Tabor He might indeed But 1. The Evangelists intimate no change from place to place saying only this that he led up into the Mountain three of his Disciples 2. It seems indeed a wonder that our Saviour would tyre himself with so long a journey to choose Tabor whereon to be transfigured when as far as we read he had never before been in that Mountain and there were Mountains elsewhere where he conversed frequently 3. Follow the footsteps of the History and of Christ in his travail from his transfiguration onwards When he came down from the Mountain he healed a child possessed with a Devil and when he betook himself into the house they said Why could not we cast out the Devil c. And they departed thence and passed through Galilee And came to Capernaum Mark IX 30. 33. III. And now Reader look upon the Chorographical Map and how incongruous will this travailing seem 1. From Cesarea Philippi to Mount Tabor through the whole length almost of Galilee 2. From thence from Mount Tabor by a course back again to Capernaum a great part of Galilee especially as the Maps place Capernaum being again passed over When Capernaum was in the way from Cesarea Philippi to Tabor and there was a Mountain there well known to Christ and very much frequented by him IV. So that it seems far more consonant to the History of the Gospel that Christ was transfigured in some Mountain neare Cesarea Philippi perhaps that which Josephus being witness was the highest and hung over the very fountains of Jordan and at the foot whereof Cesarea was placed In that place formerly called Dan was the first Idolatry set up and now in the same place the Eternal Son of God is shewn both in the confession of Peter and in the unspeakably clear and illustrious demonstration of the Messias VERS XXXVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We saw one in thy name
Feast-days the Jews were not wont so much as to tast any thing of meat or drink nor indeed hardly of other days o o o o o o Maimo Sch ib. cap. 30. This was the custom of the Religions of old first to say over his morning prayers on the Sabbath-day with those additional ones in the Synagogue and then go home and take his second repast For he had taken his first repast on the evening before at the entrance of the Sabbath Nothing might be tasted before the prayers in the Synagogue were finisht which sometimes lasted even till noon-day for so the Gloss upon the place When they continue in the Synagogue beyond the sixth hour and an half which is the time of the great Minchah for on a Feast-day they delay'd their coming out of the Synagogue then let a man pray his prayer of the Minchah before he eat and so let him eat And in those days it was that that commonly obtain'd which Targ. in Coheleth noteth p p p p p p Cap. 10. 16. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã After they had offer'd the daily Sacrifice they eat bread in the time of the four hours i. e. in the fourth hour In Bava Meziah q q q q q q Fol. 83. 2. a certain officer of the Kings teacheth R. Eleazar the Son of R. Simeon how he should distinguish betwixt Thieves and honest men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã go saith he into the Taberne on the fourth hour and if thou seest any person drinking Wine and nodding while he holds his Cup in his hand c. Where the Gloss hath it The fourth hour was the hour of eating when every one went into the Taberne and there eat So that these whom ye deride O ye false mockers are not drunk for it is but the third hour of the day that is it is not yet the time to eat and drink in VERS XVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the last days THE Prohet Joel hath it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã After these things Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã After these things Where Kimchi upon the place hath this note ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And it shall come to pass after these things is the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it shall come to pass in the last days We have elsewhere observed that by the last days is to be understood the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish Oeconomy viz. when the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the end of the Jewish world r r r r r r Vide Matth. XXIV 3. 1 Cor. X. 11. drew near And there would be the less doubt as to this matter if we would frame a right notion of that great and terrible day of the Lord that is The day of his vengeance upon that place and Nation Which terror the Jews according to their custom and fashion put far off from themselves and devolve it upon Gog and Magog who were to be cut off and destroyed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh The Jews cautiously enough here though not so honestly apply this Prophesie and promise to Israel solely as having this for a Maxim amongst them That the Holy Ghost is never imparted to any Gentile Hence those of the Circumcision that believed were so astonished when they saw That on the Gentiles also was poured out the Gift of the Holy Ghost Chap. X. 45. But with the Jews good leave whether they will or no the Gentiles are beyond all question included within such like promises as these All flesh shall see the Salvation of God Isai. XL. 5. And All flesh come and worship before the Lord Isai. LXVI 23 c. VERS XIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And vapor of smoke THE Prophet hath it in the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and pillars of smoke St. Luke follows the Greek who as it should seem are not very solicitous about that nice distinction between ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pillaring smoke or smoke ascending like a staff and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Smoke dispersing it self here and there A distinction we meet with in Joma s s s s s s Fol. 38. 1. where we have a ridiculous story concerning the curiosity of the Wisemen about the ascending up of the smoke of Incense As to these prodigies in blood fire and smoke I would understand it of the slaughter and conflagrations that should be committed in that Nation to a wonder by seditious and intestine broils there They were monsters rather than instances than which there could never have been a more prodigious presage of the ruine of that Nation than that they grew so cruel within themselves breathing nothing but mutual slaughters and desolations VERS XXIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Him being delivered by the determinate Council and fore-knowledge of God ye have taken c. WE may best fetch the reason why St. Peter adds this clause from the conceptions of the Jews Can he be the Messiah think they that hath suffered such things What! The Messiah Crucified and slain Alas how different are these things from the character of the Messiah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã t t t t t t Rambam in Artic. fid Iud. Sanhedr fol. 121. 1. To him belongs honour and glory and preeminence above all Kings that have ever been in the world according as all the Prophets from Moses our Master to whom be peace to Malachy to whom be peace have Prophesied concerning him Is he then the Messiah that was spit upon scouged thrust through with a Spear and Crucified Yes saith St. Peter these things he suffered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God And these things had been foretold concerning him from Moses to Malachy so that he was never the less their Messiah though he suffered these things nor did he indeed suffer these things by chance but by the determinate counsel of God What the learned have argued from this place concerning God's decrees I leave to the Schools VERS XXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Having loosed the pains of death LET these ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be either the pains of death or the hands of death yet is it doubtful whether St. Peter might speak only of the death of Christ or of death in general so that the sense may be that God raised him up and by his Resurrection hath loosed the bands of death with respect to others also But supposing the expression ought to be appropriated to Christ only whom indeed they do chiefly respect then by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we are not to understand so much the torments and pangs in the last moments of death as those bands which followed viz. the continued separation of Soul and Body the putrefaction and corruption of the body in the Grave which two things are those which St. Peter acquits our Saviour from in the following words For however it be a great
truth that death is the wages of sin yet is it not to be understood so much of those very pangs whereby the Soul and Body are disjoyned as the continuation of the divorce betwixt Soul and Body in the Grave VERS XXVII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell IT is well know what the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies in Greek Authors viz. the state of the dead be they just or unjust And their Eternal state is distinguished not so much by the word it self as by the qualities of the persons All the just the Heroes the followers of Religion and Vertue according to those Authors are in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hades but it is in Elysium in joy and felicity All the evil the wicked the unjust they are in Hades too but then that is in Hell in torture and punishment So that the word Hades is not used in opposition to Heaven or the state of the blessed but to this world only or this present state of life which might be made out by numberless instances in those Authors The Soul of our Saviour therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã descended into Hell i. e. he passed into the state of the dead viz. into that place in Hades where the Souls of good Men went But even there did not God suffer his Soul to abide separate from his body nor his body to putrifie in the Grave because it was impossible for Christ to be holden of those bands of death seeing his death was not some punishment of sin but the utmost pitch of obedience he himself being not only without sin but uncapable of committing any VERS XXIX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Let me speak freely c. IT is doubted whether ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã should be rendred I may or let me If that which R. Isaac saith obtained at that time viz. Those words my flesh shall rest in hope teach us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That neither worm nor Insect had any power over David u u u u u u Mâdr Till fol. 13. 4. then was it agreeable enough that St. Peter should by way of Preface crave the leave of his Auditory in speaking of David's being putrified in the Grace and so the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is well rendred let me But I may pleaseth me best and by this Paraphrase the words may be illustrated That this passage Thou shalt not leave my soul in Hell c. is not to be applied to David himself appears in that I may confidently averr concerning him that he was dead and buried and never rose again but his Soul was left ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the state of the dead and he saw corruption for his Sepulchre is with us unto this day under that very notion that it is the Sepulchre of David who dyed and was there buried nor is their one syllable any where mentioned of the Resurrection of his body or the return of his soul ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the state of the dead I cannot slip over that passage w w w w w w Hieros Chaâig fol. 78. 1. R Jose ben R. ben saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã David dyed at Pentecost and all Israel bewailed him and offered their Sacrifices the day following VERS XXXIV ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. The Lord said unto my Lord. c. SEEING St. Peter doth with so much assurance and without scruple apply these words to the Messiah it is some sign that that Comment wherewith the later Jews have gloz'd over this place was not thought of or invented at that time Glossing on the words thus The Lord said unto Abraham sit thou on my right hand x x x x x x Sanhedr fol. 108. 2. Sem the great said unto Eleazar when the Kings of the East and of the West came against you how did you do He said unto him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God took up Abraham and made him sit at his right hand He threw dust upon them and that dust was turned into Swords Stubble and that Stubble was turned into Darts so it is said in David's Psalm the Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand Where the Gloss very cautiously notes that these words The Lord said unto my Lord are the words of Eleazar whose Lord of right Abraham might be called y y y y y y Nederim fol. 32. 2. R. Zechary in the name of R. Ismael saith God had a purpose to have drawn the Priesthood from Sem according as it is said he was the Priest of the Most high God But when he pronounced his blessing of Abraham before his blessing of God God derived the Priesthood from Abraham For it is said and he blessed him saying Blessed be Abraham of the Most High God possessor of Heaven and Earth and blessed be the Most High God Abraham saith unto him doth any one put the blessing of the Servant before the blessing of his Lord Immediately the Priesthood was given to Abraham As it is said The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand It is written afterward thou art a Priest for ever ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for the words of Melchizedek who had not placed his blessings in due order And forasmuch as it is written And he was a Priest of the Most High God it intimates to us that he was a Priest but his seed was not Can we think that this Gloss was framed at that time when St. Peter so confidently as though none would oppose him in it applied this passage to the Messiah which also our Saviour himself did before him to the great Doctors of that Nation and there was not one that opened his mouth against it Matth. XXII 44. VERS XXXVIII ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Be Baptised every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ. BEZA tells us That this doth not declare the Form of Baptism but the scope and end of it Yet this clause is wanting in the Syriack Interpreter Wherever he might have got a Copy wherein this was wanting yet is it not so in other Copies But to let that pass What he sayeth that this doth not declare the Form of Baptism is I fear a mistake for at that time they Baptised amongst the Jews in the name of Jesus although among the Gentiles they Baptised in the Name of the Father and the Son and holy Ghost that Jesus might be acknowledged for the Messiah by them that were Baptised than which nothing was more tenacionsly and obstinately denyed and contradicted by the Jews Let the Jew therefore in his Baptism own Jesus for the true Messiah and let the Gentile in his confess the true God three in one VERS XLI ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There were added about three thousand souls AND Chap. IV. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã About five thousand To which I would referr that passage in Psal. CX 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã