19. 48. 22. Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Iacob gave to his son Ioseph 6. Now Iacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his journy sate f f f f f f Sate thus that is in a weary posture or after the manner as tired men use to sit down De Dieu taketh it only for an elegancy in the Greek which might well be omitted and accordingly the Syriack hath omitted it and not owned it at all But see it Emphatical in other places also 1 Sam. 9. 13. Samuel is come this day to the City for the people have a sacrifice in the high place and when you are come into the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall So find him that is newly come to Town and going to a sacrifice 1 King 2. 7. Shew kindness to the sons of Barzilla c. for So they came to me that is they came kindly to me Act. 7. 8. he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac that is he begat him in circumcision c. thus on the well And it was about the sixth hour 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesus saith unto her Give me to drink 8. For his Disciples were gone away into the City to buy meat 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that thou being a Iew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria For the Iews have no dealing with the Samaritans 10. Iesus answered and said unto her If thou knowest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water 11. The woman saith unto him Sir thou hast nothing g g g g g g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Camerarius out of Plautus Latins this Situlam Beza out of Austin Hauritorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew Esa. 40. 15. Numb 24. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Kimchi in Michol A vessel where withal they drew water the Septuagint in the former place cited renders it Cadus and in the latter they translate the metaphorical sense It seems they brought their buckets with them to draw with as well as their vessels to carry water in unless they made the same vessel serve for both uses by letting it down to draw with a cord to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that h h h h h h Springing or running water was called by the Hebrew living water Gen. 26. 19. Isaacs servants digged in the valley and found there a well of living water The Chaldee renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 springing water for the bubbling of the spring is like the lively beating of the heart or pulse And hence it was that this woman did so readily mistake our Saviours meaning He spake of the lively waters of grace that spring up in him that hath them to eternal life but she interpreted him according to the propriety of the language as if he had spoken only of waters out of a spring And so had Nicodemus misinterpreted another expression in the former Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or living waters were taken in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gathering of waters as Rambam evidenceth saying thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any waters saith he are fit for the purifying of the Priests hands and feet whether living springing or running waters or waters gathered together In biath hammikdas◠per. 5. By waters gathered together he meaneth ponds or cisterns gathered of rain water or any waters that did not spring or run The Latinists also used the like expression to the Hebr. for springing or running water as in the Poet Donec me flumine vivo Abluero Virg. Aeneid 2. living water 12. Art thou greater than our Father Iacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattel 13. Iesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15. The woman saith unto him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw 16. Iesus saith unto her Go call thy husband and come hither 17. The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesus said unto her Thou hast well said I have no husband 18. For thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thine husband in that saidst thou truly 19. The woman saith unto him Sir I perceive that thou art a Prophet 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship 21. Iesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Ierusalem worship the Father 22. Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth 25. The woman saith unto him I know that Messias cometh * * * * * * These are the words of the Evangelist interpreting the word Messias to the reader and not the words of the woman interpreting it to Christ the Syriack translater hath omitted these words as not necessary to a Syrian reader which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things 26. Iesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he 27. And upon this came his Disciples and marvailed that he talked with i i i i i i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The various construction of the word either with the strength of the article or without hath caused various causes to be conceived of the Disciples wondring at his talking with her Some read it without the force of the Article thus they marvailed that he talked with a woman as unfit say some and uncapable of his serious and divine discourse but others ascribe their wonder to this that he was thus entred into discourse with a strange woman alone and no company near And they that so understand it are confirmed by this because they think it was no more to be wondred at that he should talk with a Samaritan woman than it was that they should go into a Samaritan City to buy provision for why might not he as well talk with a woman as they with the men or women of whom they bought meat if her being a Samaritan were all the matter But the case was not the same for the Jews might buy meat of them and sell meat to them with whom they might
for he that is watered with grace doth thirst for the same water of grace again and again but he saith whosoever shall drink of this water which I shall give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall never so thirst as to fail or perish by it but this water shall preserve him to eternal life Compare Esay 41. 17. Vers. 15. The woman saith Sir give me of this water c. The woman doth now fall from questioning as vers 11 12. to plain mocking and derision for this can be construed no other in her I know these words of hers are taken by divers to intimate her inclining to and imbracing this doctrine of Christ though she knew not well how to understand it and they shew say some Simplicitatem credendi her simplicity or sincerity of believing who so soon doubted not to ask for this so excellent water But be it considered 1. That as yet she took Christ but for an ordinary man until he hath told her of her secret villanies and then she takes him for a Prophet vers 19. And 2. that taking him for an ordinary man she talks with him as a Samaritan huswife would do with a common Jew between whom there was so deadly a scorn and fewd 3. The thing that Christ spake of of giving water after which the party that had it should never thirst were things so strange and would seem so ridiculous to any Samaritan nay to any flesh and blood that knew no more of him than as yet she did those words proceeding from so mean a man as he seemed to be that her words in reply thereunto Sir give me of this water c. can be no other but a jeer and scorn of what he had spoken And her calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sir doth no whit take off this construction since that was but a word of ordinary compellation or if she used it in a higher sense she used it but in the higher scorn Vers. 17. I have no husband The reason why Christ bids her call her husband may be supposed to be partly that he might check and stop her jeering by minding her of her own faults and chiefly that he might shew her that he was another kind of person then she judged of him by telling her of such things as she knew he could not tell her but divinely Now her denial that she had any husband is ascribed by some to her modesty to conceal her adultery by others to this because she knew not what Christ would do with her husband but till it can be shewed why a Samaritan quean should talk with any reverence or civility with an ordinary Jew for she took Christ for no other as yet especially when he spake to her of such unlikely things as he did it is the most proper and undisputable interpretation of her words I have no husband to take them for a scoffing and regardless answer to a question and to a person that she was careless whether she gave any any answer to or no. Vers. 18. He whom thou now hast is not thine husband It seemeth by the numerousness of her former husbands and by the same expression used concerning them and this thou hast had five and this that thou hast that she was a divorced woman and now lived in an adulterous marriage and it may be married to him who had adulterated her in her former husbands days But be it either thus or that she lived in adultery out of wedlock her conscience is convinced of the truth of the thing that Christ speaketh and withal she findeth that he had told her that which a meer stranger could not tell her but by the spirit of Prophecy and therefore she owns him for a Prophet Vers. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mount Conceiving him to be a Prophet she sodainly desireth to hear what he will determine upon that great dispute that was between the Jews and the Samaritans continually namely whether was the truer and righter place of worship Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim She called Jacob Our Father Jacob ver 12. for so the Samaritans would be a kin to the Jews when they thought good but the Fathers she speaks of here were as far from the Religion and Worship that Jacob used as Jacob was from the Religion of Hamor and Sichem Josephus tells one story that gives this woman but little cause to boast of her Fathers worshipping in that Mount and that is this That when Antiochus Epiphanes did so heavily oppress the Jews and persecute their Religion these Samaritans thinking that their Religion also looked somewhat like that of the Jews and that Antiochus might happily suspect that they and the Jews and both their Religions were something a kin and so they suffer as well as the other they fairly send to Antiochus and betime disclaim any such kindred And whereas indeed they could not deny but they had a Temple they besought him that it might be dedicated to the Grecian Jupiter and called by his name and so by the Kings command it was Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 7. Here was worshipping in that Mount with a witness and much to be bragd of but see the impudence of Hereticks when such a Temple shall compare with the Temple at Jerusalem Abraham Zaccuth saith This Temple of Gerizim was destroyed by Jochanan the son of Simeon the son of Mattathias and the Hereticks slain Juchas fol. 14. Vers. 21. Woman believe me The Hour cometh c. As she owned him for a Prophet so he challengeth to be believed of her as a Prophet and as a Prophet he foretels her of what was now ready to come to pass namely that Ceremonious Worship should cease and be no more confined to particular place or Nation That there should be no Sacrifice at Jerusalem no Image at Samaria no Ephod at Jerusalem no Teraphim at Samaria as Hos. 3. 4. but that those places and that manner of worship should fail and be abolished And so he answers her question in the first place to this purpose that it was needless for her or any other to trouble themselves about that dispute whether Jerusalem or Gerizim were the more eminent place of Worship for the time was just now in coming when neither the one nor the other should be the place of worship at all And then he determins the question indeed that Jerusalem had ever been and was at that present the right place of worship but Gerizim a Temple of error and usurpation and he proves his determination by this reason We know what we worship c. Vers. 23. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth In the term The true worshippers he looketh at the womans question and the two Nations controversie They tugged for it and she inquires about it whether of the people had the true worship amongst them why saith Christ ere long there shall be no worship at all either among the one or the other And
Judaism again to their old Mosaick rites which sometime had been right but now antiquated and to their traditional principles which had never been right but now least of all to have been embraced and to a deadly hatred and persecution of the Gospel that they once professed How the Apostles speak of and against this Apostasie in their Epistles I need not tell you he that runs may read it But he that stands still and reads presely will find that they find The Antichrist that then was in that Apostasie I say the Antichrist that then was For the Scripture gives a hint of a twofold Antichrist one in the Epistles and the other in this Book of the Revelation one that was in those times and the other that was to be afterwards one among the Jews that had embraced the Gospel and the other among the Gentiles which should embrace it And if you will let the unbelieving Jew to be one part of the Antichrist that then was the Apostatized Jew was much more Many Antichrists in those times as this our Apostle tells us 1 Joh. II. 18. but those were they especially of whom he speaks immediately after They went out from us but they were not of us And the like character do these Apostates carry in other places in the Epistles in terms equivalent Now therefore the nearest way to discover the Antichrist that was to be in after times among the Gentiles is by observing his likeness and similitude to the former viz. in apostatizing from the pure and sincere profession of the Gospel to Judaism or to Mosaick manner of worship and Judaick principles and Religion Which how the Church of Rome hath done it would require a long time to compare in all particulars but it will require a far longer time for her to clear her self from that just accusation How near doth she come to Judaism in the doctrine of Justification how near in the doctrine of opus operatum How near in the doctrine of expiation by bare Confession How near in the doctrine of the value of Traditions And one for all how near in turning all Religion into Ceremony Their present year of Jubilee is it not Mosaick And were you there at it and saw the manner of their devotions their formal Services and Ceremonious Worship would you not think you were in the old Jerusalem among the Scribes and Pharisees rather than in the the new where the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth So that when we departed from the Church of Rome we did but the same thing that the Apostles Disciples and other holy converts of the Jewish Nation did they forsook Judaism to embrace the purity of the Gospel And so did we And in the way that they call Heresie we worship God If I have trespassed too much upon your patience by so prolix a discourse upon so unpleasing a subject I must crave your pardon We enquiring after the new Jerusalem where we might find it come to the place where your ways parted and one went right and the other wrong The wrong way is the broader pleasanter and more trodden and not a few that stand in it and cry This is the right way and no other It is good to give warning it is needful to take warning that we be not misled that the men and the way do not deceive us And having thus far observed where the new Jerusalem is not to be found let us now look where it is And first we must not expect to find it in any one particular place as you might have done the old Jerusalem but it is dispersed here and there abroad in the World It is the Catholick Church as we are taught in our Creed and it is not in one only but in this and that and the other Nation When the new Jerusalem is to be measured in Zach. II. an Angel bids O run after yonder young man that is to measure it and tell him that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a City without walls for the multitude of men and cattel that shall be therein It is a City unlimited and therefore not to be bounded within this or that compass We may use this Paradox of it That it is a fluid and yet a fixed body nay fixed because fluid that is it is moving sometime into one place sometime into another and therefore it shall never fade or perish The Jews accused S. Stephen of Heresie and blasphemy because he said that the Church and Religion should not alway be pinned to that City and Temple but taken away In his answer he sheweth that the Church and Religion is a Pilgrim one while in one place another while in another in Mesopotamia in Charran in Canaan in Egypt And our own observation may tell us that when it failed in Egypt and Israel followed the Idols and manners of that Land as Ezek. XX. that then God found himself a Church in the family of Job and his three friends The saying of our Saviour may suffice for this The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a people that shall bring forth the fruits of it And this is that that makes it fixed or never failing because when it decayeth in one place it groweth in another And that promise of our Saviour will ever maintain it in life and being Upon this rock will I build my Church of the Gospel and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it as they have done against the Church of the Jews In Matth. XXIV when Christ foretels of the desolation of that City Church and Nation that their Sun and Moon and Stars Religion and Church and State should be darkned and fall and come to nothing and they should then see the Son of man whom they would never own coming in a thick cloud and storm of vengeance against them it might be questioned where then will God have a Church when that is gone He gives an answer That the Son of man should send his Angels or Ministers with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet of the Gospel and gather him a Church from all the corners under Heaven To which may not improperly be applied that Heb. XII 22. Ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels God will never want his Church but if it be not in one place it will be in another Secondly There is an invisible Church as well as a visible Pauls Jerusalem which is above and out of sight as well as Ezekiels Jerusalem pitched here below There is commonly some invisible Church within the visible as Ezekiels wheel within a wheel But there is sometimes an invisible Church where there is none visible as those seven thousand men in the days of Elias when he could not discern one The Apostle speaking of the new Jerusalem that we are speaking of in that place of the Epistle to the Hebrews before alledged among other things saith Ye are not come to the Mount that might
upon this occasion from vers 24. of Chap. 22. to the end all the Prophesies that refer to his time and concern his person are also brought up together viz. Chap. 23. and 24. that the matters concerning him might be laid together in one place The 25 Chapter is dated by Jehoiakims fourth year yet laid before Chap. 26. 27. that bear the date of the beginning of his reign because it pointeth out the term and space of the Babylonian Captivity which was indeed the main subject of Jeremies Prophesie and therefore when in the preceding Chapters he had fore-told the captivity both to and of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin and in the five and twentieth he sets himself to fore-tel and measure out the space of the Captivity therefore these Chapters that handle that main and general head of his Prophesie are laid thus forward and together and then particular matters are laid after So that these 26 27 Chap. to ver 12. do joyn in proper current of time and Chronicle to vers 23. of Chap. 22. and the reason of the interposition of the other Chapters may be conceived of as hath been said In Chap. 26. Jeremy is in danger of his life by the Priests and false Prophets but acquitted by the Elders They alledge two contrary examples one of Hezekiah who piously submitted to Micahs Prophesie and troubled him not for it and the other of Jehoiakim who cursedly slew Urijah for Prophesying the truth the former they propose as a Copy to be followed and the other as a caution not to shed more Prophets blood in murdring Jeremy for too much was lately shed already in the murder of Urijah In Chap. 27. to vers 12. Jeremy is injoyned to make yokes and bonds to denote servitude and subjection to Babel but in the entry of the Chapter there is a visible difficulty for in the beginning of Jehoiakims reign Jeremy is commanded to make bonds and yokes and to send them to certain Kings by the messengers that came to Zedekiah King of Judah now how can Zedekiah be called King of Judah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim since Jehoiakim reigned eleven years and Jehoiachin three months before Zedekiah came to reign Answ. These things are to be understood to be spoken Prophetically concerning Zedekiah as well as concerning Nebuchad-nezzars sons for the Lord by the Prophet fore-tels that Nebuchad-nezzar should reign and his son and Grand-child after him and therefore must the Prophet presently make yokes and bonds and put them of his own neck in token of Judahs subjection which indeed begun in the very next year And he fore-tels withal that Zedekiah should reign and that divers Kings should send Messengers to him and by them should Jeremy send those yokes to those Kings c. World 3401 Division 372 Iehoiakim 3 The latter part of this third year of Jehoiakim is the beginning of Nebuchad-nezzars first year for his first year took up part of Jehoiakims third and part of his fourth this is apparent by comparing Dan. 1. 1. with Jerem. 25. 1. The fourth of Jehoiakim is indeed most commonly reckoned as Nebuchad-nezzars first but we shall observe hereafter that there are intimations sometimes in Scripture to teach us to understand that reckoning according to this account DANIEL 1. to vers 8. And 2 KING XXIV vers 1. 2 CHRON. XXXVI vers 6 7. World 3402 Division 373 Years of Captivity 1 Iehoiakim 4 IN this third year of Jehoiakim Nebuchad-nezzar besiegeth and taketh Jerusalem and Jehoiakim he putteth him in fetters to carry him to Babel but restoreth him again to the Throne as a tributary to the crown of Babel and so Jehoiakim becomes his servant three years Here begins the seventy years Captivity and the seventy years of the rule of Babel Jer. 25. 11 12. 29. 10. In this captivity were carried away Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah and now is that sad Prediction to Hezekiah fulfilled 2 King 20. 18. and that of Zephany Zeph. 1. 8. DAN 1. from vers 8. to 18. DANIEL and his three fellow Nobles now in Babel refuse the Court diet and betake themselves to an austerity of diet but once more to be paralleld in all the Scripture and that was in John the Babtist yet they come on and grow fresh and fat to shew that man liveth not by bread only c. JEREMY XXV IN this fourth year of Jehoiakim which was the first year of Nebuchad-nezzar vers 1. Jeremy prepareth a cup of indignation for Jerusalem and for all the Nations round about it and at last for Sheshach or Babylon it self JEREMY XLVI XLVIII XLIX to vers 34. JEREMY prophesieth against Pharaoh Necho and Egypt foretelling the overthrow of his Army at Carchemish which accordingly came to pass this year and then the Lord avengeth the death of good Josiah as vers 10. This Chapter though it fell under the time of Jehoiakim yet is it laid so far in the Book as after the story of Judahs going into captivity and into Egypt for a reason which shall be touched presently and so shall the method of Chap. 48. 49. be taken into consideration JEREMY XXXVI to vers 9. BARUCH writeth the Prophesie of Jeremy in a Book and readeth it in the Lords House on the solemn Fast day the tenth of Tizri probably in the fourth of Jehoiakim vers 1. This Chapter lieth after many Prophesies of the times of Zedekiah because he would lay the relation of historical things and particularly of Jeremies sufferings together In Chap. 36. is told that he was imprisoned in Jehoiakims time vers 5. and his Book burnt by that wicked King In Chap. 37. is told that he was imprisoned in Zedekiahs time vers 15. and in Chap. 38. how he is put into the dungeon JEREMY XLV A Message comes to Baruch from God upon his writing out of Jeremies Prophesie in the fourth of Jehoiakim The looking back upon Chap. 43. 44. and considering the tenour of them will give light and a reason for the placing of this Chapter and the next following so far in the Book though they are of so early a date in the reign of Jehoiakim Upon Johanans carrying the people into Egypt contrary to the express Word of God Jeremy denounceth sad things to the Jews now in Egypt and sure destruction to Egypt it self this in Chap. 43. from vers 9. c. and in Chap. 44. thorow out Then is laid the relation of the comfort and incouragment that Jeremy gave Baruch many years before the time of the other Prophesies Then Baruchs safety in Aegypt and in her miseries might be thence intimated and observed For thither had Johanan brought Baruch Chap. 43. 6. And the like juncture of Stories was observed at Exod. 18. where Jethroes coming to Israels Camp is storied instantly after the story of the curse passed upon Amalek to shew that he fell not under that curse though he lived in that Nation After the intertexture of this 42 Chapter
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
time be delivered from the bondage of their sinful corruption that is the bondage of their lusts and vile affections under which it hath lain for so long a time into a noble liberty such as the Sons of God enjoy VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The whole creation groaneth together c. IF it be enquired how the Gentile World groaned and travailed in pain let them who expound this of the Fabrick of the material World tell us how that groaneth and travaileth They must needs own it to be a borrowed and allusive phrase But in the sense which we have pitcht upon the very literal construction may be admitted CHAP. XI BEFORE we apply our selves to the Exposition of this Chapter let me make these few enquiries I. Whether the Jewish Nation as to the more general and greater part of it had not been rejected and blinded before such time as our Saviour manifested himself in the flesh I know well enough that the casting off of that Nation is commonly assigned to that horrid wickedness of theirs in murdering the Lord Christ and persecuting the Gospel and his Apostles a wickedness abundantly deserving their rejection indeed but were they not blinded and cast off before They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generation of Vipers at the time that the Baptist first appeared amongst them and this bears the same signification as the seed of the Serpent Our Saviour preacheth to them in Parables that they might neither see nor hear nor be converted nor their sins be forgiven them Mark IV. 11 12. which may give ground of suspicion that that people were cast off to whom Christ preaches in such a form and manner of Oratory on purpose that they should not be converted If they were Jews to whom S. Peter directs his first Epistle as who indeed doth deny it then there is some weight in those words Chap. II. 10. Ye were in times past not a people II. Is it not very agreeable to reason and Scripture to suppose that Nation cast off for the entertainment they had given to their fond and impious Traditions A reprobate people certainly they were whose Religion had made void the Commandments of God A reprobate Nation who in vain worshipped God after the Commandments of Men Matth. XV. and by such Commandments of Men that had leven'd yea poisoned their minds with blasphemy and hatred against the true Messiah and the pure truth of God Isa. XXIX 13. Because the fear of this people toward me is taught by the precept of men therefore the wisdom of their wise men shall perish c. May we not from this original derive the first original of the rejection of this people And by how much the more they are bewitcht with the love of their Traditions by so much the more we may suppose them separated from God hardened and cast off That the Apostle seems to look back to times before the murdering of our Lord when he is discoursing about the casting off of that Nation III. Was not the Gospel brought unto and publisht amongst the ten Tribes as well as amongst the Jews when the Apostle wrote this Epistle The determination of this matter seems to conduce something toward the explaining of this Chapter seeing throughout the whole Chapter there is no mention of the Jews singly but of Israel The Gospel was to be preacht to the whole World before the destruction of Jerusalem Matth. XXIV 14. And was it not to the ten Tribes as well as other Nations It makes for the affirmative that S. James directs his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those ten Tribes as well as the other two But the Apostles wrote to none but to whom the Gospel was now come VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hath God cast away his people WE may observe what it is the Apostle propounds to discourse viz. not of the universal calling in of the Nation but of the non-rejection of the whole Nation Hath God so rejected his people that he hath cast them away universally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid For I my self am an Israelite and he hath not cast me away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Tribe of Benjamin So Phil. III. 5. The Jasper stone upon which was inscribed the name of Benjamin in the Brest-plate was the first foundation in the New Jerusalem Revel XXI 19. In memory as it should seem of this Benjamite the chief founder of the Gentile Church e e e e e e Hieros Peah fol. 15. 3. Kiddush fol. 60. 2. The Jasper of Benjamin fell one day out of the Brest plate and was lost Dama ben Nethinah having one like it they bargained with him to buy it for an hundred pence c. VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How he maketh intercession c. f f f f f f Lev. Gâ—r in 1 Kings XIX ELijah begs of God that he would take vengeance on the Israelites for the wickednesses they had committed VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have digged down thine Altars THY Altars What Altars of God should they be that the Israelites had thrown down in Samaria The Altar in the Temple was whole at that time And what Altar had God besides R. Sol. upon 1 Kings XIX Tells us these Altars were private Altars raised to the Name of God Such an one was that that Elijah repaired being broken down 1 King XVIII 30. There were indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high places built up to Idols but there were some also built up to God And that as the Jews grant lawfully enough before the Temple was built which were used afterward but the use of them became faulty because they were bound to go only to that Altar that was in the Temple These Altars were unlawfully built amongst the two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin because the way lay open for them to the Altar at Jerusalem but it was not so unlawful for the ten Tribes within the Kingdom of Samaria because they could have no such access It is questionable therefore whether Elijah would call the high places or Altars in Judaea though dedicated to the true God the Altars of God which being so dedicated in Samaria he calls by the name of thine Altars VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the image of Baal THOSE who would have the Hebrew Bibles corrected by the Greek Version and contend that those Interpreters were inspired with a Prophetick Spirit let them tell us here who it was that mistook these Interpreters or St. Paul For so they in 1 King XIX 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thou shalt leave in Israel seven thousand men all the knees which have not bowed the knee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Baal So the Roman and Alexandrian Edition But the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have reserved to my self seven thousand men all that have not bowed the knee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Baal To pass by the
and as thy soul is risen from the death of sin so mayest thou expect thy bodies rising from death in the grave The Jews speak of a little bone in some part of a mans body they call it Luz which they say will never be consumed in the grave but will be as it were a seed sown in the ground out of which will spring the Resurrection of the whole body I may say graciousness in the soul is rather the seed of the Resurrection of the body that will cause it to rise to life and happiness And thus much concerning the first Observation II. That in the time of the first Resurrection that is the raising the Gentiles from the Death of sin some lost the opportunity and would not be raised The rest of the dead lived not again because they were not raised by a first Resurrection when season and opportunity of living again was in date that is for the thousand years mentioned in the Text. Whether you take the thousand years for a certain determinate time of exactly so many years or that a certain number is used for an uncertain and this number the rather because it is used by the Jews whether the one or the other you are to begin to count from the time the Gospel was first sent among the Gentiles And count such a space of time forward and you will find in story that though the Gospel had gone through the world in that time and made the world Christian and vast numbers were converted to Christianity yet there was still a struggling to have kept the World Heathen and multitudes were unwilling to come off from their old Heathen and Idolatrous Religion For three hundred years the Emperors and all the Magistrates were enemies to the Gospel and if any of them did not persecute the Christians as but few but did yet they maintained their Heathen Religion might and main And the great wise men of the World as they were esteemed the Philosophes and learned ones were the greatest sticklers for the maintaining of the worshiping of their many false and idol Gods all along when the Emperours were become Christians Which may very well make us to remember the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. I. 26. Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise I cannot omit two remarkable passages The one of Julian the Emperor who was brought up a Christian but turned Heathen nay who as stories relate of him had been a Lecturer in a Christian congregation but became the bitter enemy to Christianity He when the Emperors had been Christian for two successions viz. Constantine and Constantius and the Christian Religion had flourished in their times well towards forty years and the Heathen Idolatrous Temples shut up and Christian Churches opened He opens the Heathen Temples shuts up the Christian promotes Idolatry again and the worship of the Heathen Gods and hath many Heathen Philosophers Jamblichus Maximus Ecebolus Libanius and I know not how many more to spur him on to it And the other passage I have is a clause in a letter of Adrian the Emperor to one of his Nobles in which he tells him I have been in Egypt and there I observed the Christians worshiping Christ and Idols yea the Christian Bishops worshiping Christ and Serapis Which Serapis was the great God and Idol of the Egyptians By all which we may see the truth of what is asserted in the Text That the rest of the dead lived not again but continued still in their dead condition of blindness and Heathenism And may also see the reason why they lived not again viz. because they would not but chose death before life to continue in their dead condition of being Heathens rather than to become Christians and live And from this we may see how just it was with God to let Popery and Mahumetism invade the world and to reduce it to its heathenish ignorance blindness and superstition again because it was so unwilling to part with its ignorance blindness and superstition Because they would not receive truth in the love of it as the Apostle sayes it was just with God to give them up to strong delusions to believe a ly And by that sad example we may observe how men lose and let slip the opportunities that God affords them for their own good and so losing them they lose themselves Jerusalem knows not the time of her Visitation and the things of her peace and so poor Jerusalem is lost and her opportunity gone for ever There is a critical time when there is a season opportune for the good of the Souls and the clock strikes Time is but foolish men too commonly take so little notice of it that the brazen head cryes Time is past and breaks to pieces If we should take up the Dispute whether God do not set his time and stint how long he will let men have opportunity of rising from the death of sin are there not many evidences for the affirmative that he doth He sets his stint and date how long he will afford a man the opportunity that his body may live and doth he not the like for the living of the Soul Doth not God shut the gates of mercy against sinful Souls even in this life and doth he not shut the gates of Repentance These in the Text that lived not again was not all possibility of living again taken again from them because they had let the time and opportunity of reviving let slip and go and neglected it Esau lost his opportunity and having lost that he found no place of recovery though he sought it with tears And Joh. XII 39 40. They could not believe because Esaias had said he hath blinded their eyes c. Why were Esaias words a charm to them that they could not believe No they could not believe because those words of Esaias were verified upon them And they had so long wilfully blinded their own eyes and hardned their hearts that God had put to his Seal and blinded and hardned them that they were now past all possibility of believing In that great dispute and iniquiry how God hardneth mens hearts of which there is so frequent mention and intimitation in Scripture the first crisis toward the determination of it is that God hath set such men a time how long they may be in a possibility of repenting and believing which when it is come and they are still impertinent and unbelieving and will not repent and believe he shuts the door against them that they shall not repent and believe Upon the consideration of all which we have advertisement what we have to do viz. to strive after this first Resurrection while the Lord affords time and opportunity and when God offers the advantage of our living again not to be enemies of our own reviving A SERMON Preached upon 2 SAMUEL XIX 29.