ceremonies and chang'd into the Lords day And the Lords day besides the representation of God's rest from his workes of creation upon the Seventh day containes a weekly commemoration of our Redemption from the bondage of finne and powers of darknesse represented by the thraldome of Israel in Egypt through the Resurrection of our Lord and Redeemer Againe no solemnity in all the sacred Calender of legall foasts was more peremptorily enjoyned or strictly observed then the feast of Expiation or Attonement yet was not this anniveriary feast so properly abolished as accomplished or advanced by that one everlasting attonement made once for all by the Sonne of God upon the Crosse For albeit that attonement in respect of the sacrifice or offring was but once made yet the vertue or efficacy of it is not circumscriptible by time nor interruptible by any moment or instant of time Though hee dyed but once to make satisfaction for us yet he liveth for ever to make intercession for us and is a perpetuall propitiation for the sinnes which we dayly and hourely commit and for his sake and through his propitiation all our sinnes who truly beleeve in him and supplicate unto him for his intercession shall be not in generall only but in particular freely pardoned Not doth the absolute everlasting perfection of this attonement any way prohibite us Christians to keepe a solemne commemoration of the day whereon it was made once for all But whether this commemoration were ordained or observed by the Apostles themselves or taken up by voluntary tacite consent of the Church after the Apostles had finished their pilgrimage here on earth I dare not take upon mee to determine But whether from this or that authority or example most Christians are ready to humble themselves on the Friday before Easter acknowledge it to be a good day because it is the Commemoration of our Saviour's Passion and attonement made by it And albeit this humiliation were much more ritually and severely observed by all of us then it is by some few we should not transgresse any Law of God nor swerve from the analogie of Christian faith but rather accomplish the true intent and purport of the Law given by Moses for the strict observation of the day of legall Attonement The humbling of our selves upon that day by fasting and Prayer is a like common and lawfull both to the Iew and Christian and the representation or Commemoration of Christ's bloody Death upon that day by Communication of his Body and Blood under the sacramentall signes and pledges is rather an accomplishment then an abolishment of the legall sacrifices or other ceremonies of the Priest's entring into the Sanctum Sanctorum upon the tenth day of the month Tisri A commemoration of which day the moderne Iewes to this day celebrate with foolish and phantasticke ceremonies as by tormenting of a cock especially a white one Yet these phantasticke practices serve as an imprese or embleme of that sacred truth which wee Christians beleeve and acknowledge as hath beene observed at large in the fift Book of Commentaries upon the Creed Chap. 4◠Parag. 2. 3. 4 May wee Christians then call the Friday be fore Easter our day of Attonement or the Dominicall next after it the great Sabbath For assoiling this or the like Querie about the use of words especially such as are legall I know no fitter distinction then that plaine maxime of the Schooles Omne maius continet in se suum minus non formaliter tamen sed eminenter Every greater containeth the lesse of the same kind not formally but by way of eminencie It were no branch of untruth to say that a quadrangle is two and that a five-angled figure is three triangles yet would it be a solecisme to say the one were three triangles and the other two triangles If wee should be directly demanded what manner of figure this or that were the only true and punctuall answer must be that the one is formally a quadrangle the other a quinqangle To deny any King of England for the time being to be Duke of Lancaster would be censured for more then an errour or Logicall untruth for since the annexion of that great Dukedome to the Crowne every King of England hath had as just and full a Title to it as to the Kingdome it selse or ancient Crown-lands And yet if a Lawyer or other skilfull in drawing legall instruments should in those very Charters or donations which the royall power grants not as King of England but as he is Duke of Lancaster enstile him only thus H. by the grace of God Duke of Lancaster c. doe give and grant to N. omitting his royall Titles it would be a dangerous solecisme in Law Now the legall titles or names of feasts or of the services are so contained in the Evangelicall services and solemnities as two triangles are in a quadrangle or as Duke of Lancaster is in the royall Title of King of England It is no sinne to say that the Friday before Easter is the day of our Attonement or that the first day of the weeke on which Christ rose from the dead is the Christian Sabbath but the more Evangelicall or royall Style is to nominate the one the Lords day rather then the Sabbath and the other rather Good-Friday or feria quinta in hebdomade sancta that is the fift day besides the precedent dominicall in the holy weeke then the day of our Attonement The like may be said of all other Christian festivals instituted as solemne commemorations in testimony of the accomplishment of the legall rites or services by the suffrings Resurrection and other glorious actions of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ To conclude this short digression with Erasmus his resolution of a question lesse needfull then the former yet agitated by some as it seemes in his dayes or before him Non hic agitab◠quaestionem An in Christum competat servi vocabulum qui favent ejus dignitati malunt filium dici quam servum quirespiciunt ejus humilitatem ad mortem usque obedientiam non horrent servi vocabulum Filii nomine magis gaudent sacrae literae ipse dominus patrem saepius appellat quam Dominum aut Deum suum tamen Paulus scribit illi susceptam formam servi hoc est hominis ut interpretantur quidam nec servi modo verùm etiam servi mali verberibus digni quemadmodum dictus est eidem venisse in similitudine carnis peccati Sed absit hac de re inter conservos contentio qui servum appellare gaudent imitentur illius obedientiam quibus magis arridet filii nomen imitentur illius charitatem qui utrolibet nomine agnoscunt Dominum Iesum utrumque pro viribus exprimant In rebus enim spiritualibus nihil vetat eundem nunc servum nunc filium appellari Erasmus in Psal 85. ver 2. 5 But seeing wee Christians affirme that our high Priest did
of being granted prove only thus much that the only begotten Son of God or first born to Abraham and to David had a just title to the eternall Priesthood They doe not directly prove that Iesus whom the Iewes have crucified to be that Sonne of God and seed of David meant by the Psalmist in the Psalme fore-cited Or this being granted all put together doe not manifest his Consecration or actuall admission to the high Priesthood by whose erection the Priesthood of Aaron was changed which is the conclusion punctually intended by our Apostle 4 For a more satisfactory declaration of the strength of this argument we are to take the words of the Psalmist into a further and more punctuall consideration then hitherto wee had occasion to take them As first of what GENERATION these words ego hodie genuite are principally meant whether meant at all of David or how of him and how of Christ the Sonne of God and Sonne of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many of the Ancients being seconded by more of the Schoolmen and middle ag'd allegorizing Commentators understand this Psalmist's Oracle of that GENERATION of the Sonne of God which is mentioned in the NICEN Creed or that Creed which is to be publiquely read in the second service of our Church Begotten of his Father before all worlds and in these mens construction by the word HODIE is meant HODIE AETERNITATIS the day of eternity or eternal day wherein there is no succession of parts of houres or minutes But this interpretation is dislik'd by Calvin who is alwaies zealous for the literall though sometimes with prejudice to the mysticall or principally intended sense Yet that sense in this place cannot be exprest by HODIE AETERNITATIS or by the eternall Generation of the Sonne of God That it cannot be the literall sense of this Psalmist is apparent because neither the Resurrection of the Son of God nor his Consecration to the everlasting Priesthood can with any colour of probability be inferred or pretended from it much lesse can it be the mysticall or true allegoricall sense of this Oracle for these alwaies must be grounded upon the literall and no Scripture can be said to be fulfil'd according to the mysticall or true allegoricall sense untill it hath been first verified according to the literall sense Now the eternall GENERATION of the Sonne of God cannot follow either his Resurrection from the dead or his Consecration to his everlasting Priesthood nor could ever any Periphrasis or notation of it be either fulfil'd or verified in time seeing it is before all times 5 May we say then with good Commentators as with Calvin for one that these words this day have I begotten thee have no manner of reference to the Son of God's Generation before all worlds Certaine it is that this Generation is no part of the object no part of the immediate subject whether according to the literall or mysticall sense of the Psalmist's words whether we consider them written or intended by him or as avouched by S. Paul and other Apostles for the further confirmation of Christ's Resurrection from the dead All that can be said on their parts whom Calvin censures is this that the eternall GENERATION of the Son of God might be taken as a common notion or presuppos'd truth both by the Psalmist when he writ and by the Apostle when hee avouched these words ego hodie genuite That the Word or Sonne of God was from Eternity this was a common prenotion to all the Ancient learned or faithfull Hebrewes And that he who was the only begotten Sonne of God before all worlds should be begotten by him from the dead that is prov'd at large by S. Paul Act. 13. And that the raising of that Iesus the Sonne of David whom the Iewes had crucified from the dead unto immortall endlesse life was an authentique declaration that this Sonne of David was likewise the Sonne of God their expected Lord and Messias is most sweetly deduced by our Apostle Rom. â— v. 1. 2. 3. 4. Paul a Servant of Iesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God Which hee had promised before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son Iesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the Resurrection from the dead This passage rightly infers that Christ was the Son of God the uncreated Word by whomall things were created before hee was made the Son of David â—â—â— he was made so only according to the flesh or humane nature but this eternity of his uncreated Person or essence was no part of our Apostles divine discourse or most concludent argument Act â—3 Men and Brethren children of the stock of Abraham and whosoeuer among you feareth God to you is the word of this salvation sent For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their Rulers because they know â—â—â— not nor yet the voiceâ— of the Prophets which are â—â—â—â— every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him And though they found no cause of death in him yet desired they Pilat that he should be â—â—â—ine And when they had fulfilled all that is written of him they tooke him downe from the tree and laid him in a Sepulchre But God raised him from the dead and he was seene many daies of them which came up with him from Galileo â—â— Ierusalem who are his witnesses â—â—to the people And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus againe as it is also written in the second Psalme Thou are my Sonne this day have I begotten theâ— And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to returne to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David from v. 26. to 34. For the clearer fuller explication of this passage we are to enquire what manner of testimonies or predictions in which the Apostle instances were as whether propheticall only or typically propheticall 6 To begin with the former Ego hodie genui te this day have I begotten thee that with submission of my opinion to better judgments is a prediction typically propheticall which kind of prediction as hath been observed before is the most concludent and this one of the highest ranke in that kind that is an Oracle truly meant of David according to the literall sense and yet fulfil'd of Christ the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead both according to the most exquisite literall and the mysticall or principally intended sense David without all question was the composer of the second Psalme and the joyfull occasions or extraordinary matter of exultation which raised his spirit to that high and majesticke straine of divine
of God's Election which estate is possible to be obtained in this life if we seeke it as wee ought and as the Apostle in that place doth injoyne us This distinction betwixt the active and passive signification of the same words since my first entrance into the ministry I ever wish'd heartily might have been or yet be taken into consideration by many in our dayes by many who have skill abundant as well in Logick as in the learned tongues c. to deceive themselves and such as take their resolutions upon trust but litle skill to allay the bitternesse of contention or comprimise many verball differences very comprimisible in themselves and lesse will to exhort instruct reprove their Auditors in the spirit of meeknesse in points of necessary and usefull Doctrines to set any Copy or give any Character of Christian charity either by their Doctrine or practise 5. And here I had set a period to this Chapter had not the discussion of the former Questions Act. 13. called to my remembrance the saying of the same Apostle He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of Circumcision the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles Galat. 2. v. 8. Of which observation we have a lively document or experiment in the admirable successe of S. Peter's Sermon Act. 2. grounded for the most part upon the same Text and arguments which S. Paul useth Act. 13. Three thousand soules were converted by S. Peter but all or most of them of the Circumcision or seed of Abraham his brethren according to the flesh for unto them he directs his speech v. 29. Men and Brethren c. But with S. Paul's perswasions though most powerfully prest upon them few of the Iews or men of Israel unto whom in the first place hee tenders the fruits of his ministry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men and brethren children of the stock of Abrahā were much taken but of the proselites of the gentiles to whom specially in the second place was directed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is and all such as are not the stock of Abraham yet living amongst you feare the God of Abraham scarse one that heard him but was overjoyed with his discourse Hence saith S. Luke ver 42. And when the Iewes were gone out of the Synagogue the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath So many there were which were thus taken that when the Iewes saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should have first been spoken to you but seeing yee put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life loe we turne to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us Act. 13. ver 45. 46. 47. It were a point worthy the discussion were it not extravagant from my present argument How Paul and Barnabas did deduce a necessity of command of preaching to the Gentiles upon themselves from the words of the Prophet Isaiah 49. 6. I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou should'st be for salvation unto the end of the earth The same command they might and no doubt did deduce from Isay 55. v. 4. 5. Behold I have given him for a witnesse to the people a leader and commander to the people Behold thou shalt call a Nation that thou knowest not and Nations that knew not thee shall runne unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy one of Israel for he hath glorified thee By the manner of the Apostle's inference of deduction of command upon himselfe and Barnabas the Reader may easily informe himselfe that many things are undispensably enjoyn'd the ministers of the Gospell by force and vertue of the Old Testament which are neither exprest nor repeated in legall forme throughout the New Testament Though not so repeated or exprest they may be concludently inferred by more then analogie by full equivalency to expresse legall commands But this point I shall commend to the serious consideration of some learned Divines who in the just defence of orthodoxall Doctrines which they are well able to maintaine have engag'd themselves to dispute in such matters as come in only upon the by Thus much we know in generall that we are injoyn'd to preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead as Paul and Barnabas did submitting the successe of our labours unto him who hath reserved the appointment of times and seasons or fitting opportunities to all occurrences unto himselfe that Paul himselfe was not taken at all with that most heavenly Sermon of S. Steven with part of which or with some speciall arguments used by that blessed Martyr he at the time appointed won many thousand soules unto God CHAP. 33. That our Saviour's departure and passing out of this world to his Father or his entring into his Glory through afflictions was exquisitely fore-shadowed by divers solemnities in the legall passeover and by the Israelites passing through the red Sea THough such testimonies of the Old Testament as are typically propheticall be as hath been intimated in diverstreatises before most pregnant proofes for points of faith delivered in the Gospell Yet this rule requires some limitatiō or some allowances to make it full current the comparison betwixt this and other sorts of testimonles must be secundum simpliciter ad simpliciter that is The most cleer and pregnant testimonies of this kind are more exquisite then the most cleere and pregnant of any other ranke But every testimony of this sort is not more concludent and admirable then any testimony of another ranke not more pregnant then some fore-significations of mysteries to come which are meerly typicall or speak to us only in the Old Testament by matter of fact Of this ranke was the type or signe of the Prophet Ionah then which there can be none more pregnant in respect of the Article of Christ's Resurrection the force or concludency of it is warranted by our Saviour's owne authority and for this reason haply not insisted upon since by the Apostles and Evangelists after his death to whom it was all sufficient that he himselfe had avouch'd it But seeing this Type or signe implies diverse circumstances or references as well to our Saviour's Ascension as to his Resurrection the discussion of it shall be differ'd as the binding or coupling of this present edifice For finishing that part of it which concernes the Article of the Resurrection only the next inquisition must be how our Saviour's passage to immortall endlesse life thorow death was prefigured or fore-typified by the legall rites or solemnities of the passeover or feast of unleavened bread 2 The occasion and first institution of the passeover I doubt not every ordinary Reader either knowes or will easily call to mind It is set downe Ezod 12. which is the first lesson appointed
or rather of the difficulty which had perplext so many of the ancients who made it greater then in his opinion it needed to have been to be this that they made their calculations according to the scale of other Nations or languages not by the Hebrew computation which doth not oppose day unto night but take day and night for one naturall day His observation is true and helps in part to salve the truth of the literall sense if hee had given the true reason of this their account But yet under correction the instances which he brings from the Hebrew accompt of the fasting of Moses and Elias both which are expressed to have fasted forty daies and forty nights doe rather prejudice then cleare the true meaning of our Saviour's prediction That he was to continue three daies and three nights in the belly of the earth For certainly Moses and Elias and so our Saviour in the wildernesse did fast as well forty nights as forty daies or forty naturall daies compleat without any Synecdochicall abatement either of one day or night whereas from the three daies and three nights wherein our Saviour fore-told he was to continue in the wombe of the earth we must abate the one halfe of a naturall day besides the space of one houre or one houre and an halfe at the most This abatement being fully made hee did continue in propriety of sacred dialect in the Grave three daies and three nights if we would measure his divine prediction by the most ancient and originall scale of the Hebrew accompt which Moses used throughout the history of the Creation 9 Briefly the three daies and three nights in the 12 of Mathew are equivalent to three of those evenings and mornings which made up halfe of the six naturall daies wherein the World was created The evening we know was in order of time before the morning whence it is that the Hebrewes begun their naturall day from the vespers ortwilight that which we call Saturday-night was to them the beginning of the first day of the weeke our Sunday at night the begining of their second Munday at night of their third Tuesday night of their fourth Wednesday night of their fifth Thursday night of their sixth Friday night of their seventh day or Sabbath Moses in his description of the six daies of the World's Creation gives the true hint for interpreting our Saviour's words as we have done when he said The evening and the morning were the first second and the third day c. For this is all one as if he had said the heaven and the earth were created in six daies and six nights and albeit he made no mention of any evening or morning of the seventh day wherein God did rest from his worke Yet may we not think but that day consisted of the same parts whereof the other six daies did only the vicissitude of the evening and morning is omitted in the description of that day to represent the everlasting Sabbath whereof it was a Type wherein is no night as the genealogie of Melchisedech in respect of Predecessors or Successors is not mentioned by the same Moses because the holy Ghost by whose direction he wrote would have him brought in without genealogie because hee might resemble the eternitie of our high Priest the Son of God From these premises wee may safely conclude that when our Saviour fore-told he should be three daies and three nights in the belly of the earth this is all one as if he had said hee should be three evenings and mornings in the wombe of the earth The conclusion being granted the former Synecdoehe is in this case most allowable for 't is evident that our Saviour was interred in the sixth evening and morning that is on Friday which was the sixth day of the weeke according to the Hebrewes accompt before the setting of the sun or the evening following which was the beginning of the seventh naturall day or Sabbath during all which as well the whole evening as morning hee rested in his Grave at least untill the dawning of the first day during whose evening or night preceding he likewise rested there So that he was in the wombe of the earth in part of the sixth evening and morning or sixth night and day and all the Sabbath as it consists of night and day and all the whole night succeeding the Sabbath and part of the morning following for he did not arise till after the breake of day or till the sun begun to approach the Horizon 9 This forme of accompting the weeâ—ke by day and night or by evening and morning doth more lively character the sâ—â—â—ession of times or vicissitude of seasons then if we should measure the same space either by nights alone or by daies alone as when wee English describe the space of a compleat week by seven nights or the space of halfe a month by a fortnight or of a yeare by three hundred threescore odde daies minuts But this by the way the Reader may find more for his satisfaction in good Commentators upon these words of Daniel Chap. 8. ver 26. And the visian of the evening and the morning which was told is true c. 11 Bt to returne unto my taske which is the unfolding of our Saviour's prediction in the 12â— of Mathew That as many other prophecies hath his peculiar mysticall sense whose explication must be grounded upon the former literall sense as it hath been now explain'd For that he should be interred in the Grave in part of the sixth day and there remaine in the residue of it and all the Sabbath or Seventh day and for a great part of the first day or of the first evening and moraing wants not a peculiar yea a triple mystery For the illustratioÌ„ whereof it will not be amisse to premise the sweet harmony between the six daies of the Worlds Creation by the Consecration Death and Passion of Him by whom it was first made As there was a weeke of Creation which could not be fore-shadowed by any time precedent So there was a solemne weeke appointed for Redemption for-shadowed partly by the weeke of Creation and God's rest from his workes partly by the weeke of Aarons Consecration and his accomplishment of it upon the eighth day To parallel the acts or workes of every day whether of the weeke of the first Creation or of the weeke of Aaron's Consecration with the like acts or workes of heb dâ—madae sanctae or the weeke of man's Redemption by our Saviour's Consecration would be a worke more difficult to the undertaker whether by pen or preaching then profitable to the Auditor or Reader It shall suffice me to exhibite the Evangelicall Cycle from the first day of our Saviour'e Consecration which was the first day of the week following taking the day as opposed to night or evening or of the time interjacent betwixt the great Feast of the Passion and the Pentecost-following 12 Vpon
A TREATISE OF THE CONSECRATION OF THE SONNE OF God to his everlasting PRIESTHOOD AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENT of it by his glorious Resurrection and Ascention BEING THE NINTH BOOK of Commentaries upon the Apostles CREED CONTINVED BY THOMAS IACKSON Doctor in Divinity Chaplaine in ordinary to his MAIESTY and President of C. C. C. in OXFORD OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD printer to the Famous Vniversity AN. DOM. 1638. TO THE ROYALL Ma tie OF OVR MOST GRACIOVS AND PIOVS SOVERAIGNE CHARLES KING OF GREAT BRITAINE c. Most gracious Soveraigne THE only ends or scopes at which my desires in the first draught of this long worke of comments upō the Apostles Creed did ayme were first and principally the glory of God which is the supreme Cause of causes the maine End of all other ends intended by good men or Angels The second subordinate to this was to give satisfaction to my longing desires of discharging my duty to the Church my Mother by doing her such service as I was able in setting forth the true worship of God and in maintaining the faith professed by her The third subordinate to the second but principally to the first was to give an accompt unto my middle age how I had spent my youth and to leave a Constat unto my old age at which by Gods good providence beyond my hope or expectation I am now arrived that I had not altogether spent my best daies in a drowsie sleepe or which is worse in waking dreames or wandring projects after pleasure riches ambitious hopes or private ends But being first called unto Your Majesties service in my declining yeares I tooke the boldnesse upon me about some five yeares agoe in supplement of my weake performances in my Ordinary attendance to dedicate these three Bookes concerning the knowledge of Iesus Christ of him crucified unto Your Highnesse these being to mine owne apprehension the best fruites of my best and flourishing yeares The matter or subject of them will not I take it be denied by any to be the fittest Theme for the meditations of all good Christians according to their severall capacities And no subject under heaven can be either more profitable or more delightfull for contemplative or stronger wits to worke upon unto whom especially unto such of them as have better meanes or abilities then God hitherto hath blessed me withall I leave to amend or finish what I have long agoe begun thus far prosecuted Ful time it is for me but no time I hope as yet overpast to consecrate the rest of my labours unto death-bed-learning and devotions which is the best service that can be expected from me at these yeares and which the elder I grow the better able I trust I shall be to performe as having by long experience found my selfe to bee then the strongest in this kinde of exercise of minde and spirit when I am in greatest weakenesse of body Now of these my devotions and daily prayers unto God a great part must be consecrated to this end that he would vouchsafe to continue his gracious favours and mercies towards your Royall person and that the Crownes of these Kingdomes whereof you are next and immediatly under him and his Christ the supreame Lord and governour may long flourish upon your own head the heads of your Posteritie that after this life ended he may invest you with a Crowne of endlesse glory Your Ma ties most humbly devoted Servant and Chaplaine THOMAS IACKSON To the Christian Reader IT was in my thoughts when this Coppy of my meditations upon the consecratiō of the Son of God to his everlasting Priest-hood was first licenced for the Presse to have annexed unto it one or two Sermons or short Treatises of the like argument But being called from my studies by urgent occasions before the impression of this 9 th Book of Commentaries upon the Creed was neare finished I am constrained to publish it in a lesser volume then I first intended it though I take it in as many lines or more words then either of the two former Bookes upon the same argument to wit the knowledge of Christ and of him crucified doe containe The matter is not great and so much the lesse because I have ready in adversariis divers Sermons or short Treatises as appendices or appertinences to all these three Books respectively to another intitled Christs answer to Iohns disciples or an Introduction to the knowledge of Christ c. to be published as soone as God shall be pleased to grant me ability and opportunity Other three Bookes I have in like readinesse for the Presse to wit the 10 th Book of Comments upon the Creede or a treatise of the naturall mans servitude to sinne and of that poore remnant of Free-will which is left in the Sonnes of Adam before they be regenerated in Christ by the spirit together with directions for the right use or imployment of Free-will after our Baptisme for the accomplishment or rather for performance of the conditions on our parts required that mortification may be accomplished in us by the spirit of God The next of the three Bookes promised is the 11 th Booke of these Commentaries containing a treatise upon the Articles of Christs comming to judgement of the Resurrection of the dead of the Life everlasting which is the finall setence which at his comming to Iudgement shall passe upon all men as well upon them which have bin long dead as those that shall be found alive at his comming The last Booke of these Comments containes the second part of a treatise heretofore begun and in part published concerning the Articles of the holy Catholique Church of the Communion of Saints and the Forgivenesse of sinnes What I here promise or may occasion the Readers especially young students in divinity to expect shall by Gods assistance be shortly or in good time performed either by myselfe or by my Executors unto whose disposalls I am not likely to leave much scarce any thing else besides Books and Papers Thine ever in Christ Iesu THOMAS IACKSON A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL Arguments of the severall Sections and Chapters contained in this BOOKE SECTION I. OF Consecration and of the Qualifications of those that were to be consecrated high Priests CHAP. 1. Of the true value or signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of being made perfect Pag. 3. 2. Of the separation of the high Priest from men and of the compassionate temper which was the speciall Qualification of every high Priest Heb. 5. v. 2. Pag. 7. 3. What were those strong cryes which the Sonne of God did utter in the dayes of his flesh how farre his prayers were heard and from what death and danger he was delivered Heb. 5. v. 7. Pag. 11. 4. The Consecration of the Sonne of God was not finisht immediately after his Agony in the Garden nor was he then or at the time of his sufferings upon the Cross◠an 〈…〉 or
solemne calling to be the Sons of God And this part of redemption is common to all who are baptized according to Christs commission given to his Apostles and their Successors to this purpose Another part of our Redemption whether that be altogether distinct from the former or but a consequent to it is our actuall exemption from the rage or tyranny of sinne within our selves whilst we live here in the flesh And this degree of redemption is proper only to those who though they live in the flesh doe not live according to the flesh or the fashions of the world as having their hearts purified by a lively faith in Christs death The last part or finall accomplishment of our Redemption is the exemption of both body and soule from the powers of hell and death by Resurrection unto endlesse glory which is the everlasting salvation here meant And this is proper only unto such as finally shall be sayed by continuance in faith and obedience But let us not deceive our selves for God will not be mocked and wee shall but mock him if we presume to goe to heaven by curious Distinctions or nice Doctrines without a constant progresse in syncere unpartiall obedience Nor will externall conformitie to orthodox all rites or Religion or eye-service suffice to obtaine the salvation here promised to such as obey him or if we be addicted to eye-service or obedience let us performe our obedience not in our own eyes or as in the eyes of sinfull men but as in the eyes and view of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by our Apostle Chap. 4. of this Epistle ver the 9. In whose sight every Creature is manifest all things are open and naked This is that eternall word who is now made our high Priest and shall hereafter come to be our Iudge Let us then account it a principall part of our present and future obedience to powre out our soules in prayers and supplications to this our high Priest for the remission of all our sinnes past and seeing hee was consecrated once for all through afflictions or sufferings for so the current of our Apostles discourse implyes to be a compassionate and mercifull high Priest to his Father for us let us all publiquely and privately dayly and houâ—ely beseech him by his agony and bloody sweat by his Orâ—sse and bitter passion not only to make intercession for us but to powre out the spirit of prayer upon us â—o strengthen us with supplies of grace for â—ubduing the body of sinne which is within us unto the spirit and to quicken our spiâ—ies unto newnesse of life that so we may be able to stand before him in that great day of Iudgment SECT 2. Of the calling or designement of the Sonne of God to be an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech Of the differences and agreements in some particulars betweene the Preisthood of Aaron and the Priesthood of Melchisedech CHAP. 6. Of the Signification or Importance of the word calling used by our Apostle Heb. 5. with the generall Heads or Points to be handled and discust in this 2. 3. 4. Sections THat the making of the Sonne of God perfect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 9. implyes a solemne Calling or Consecration to his high Priesthood is yet more apparant from the words following v. 10. Calledan high Priest after the order of Melchisedech This word Called imports somewhat more then a name imposed upon him though at his Circumcision or at his Baptisme more then a mere title of dignitie But what more then so A solemne Calling or Designement unto this high Office or Prelacy Such a calling but more solemne then Aaron had unto the legall high Priesthood Vnto this Priesthood Aaron is said Chap. 5. v. 4. that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by speciall Designement or destination advanced to the office of the high Driest during the Law But when the same Apostle speakes of the calling of the Sonne of God unto the high Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech v. 10. The word in the original is more significant and more solemne then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it referres to Aaron for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solemnly declared or pronounced by God to be an high Priest after the order of Mechisedech 2 The method of our present inquiry or search into this grand mysterie must be this First who this Melchisedech was according to whose order the Sonne of God was called to be a Priest or how Melchisedech whosoever he were did represent or shadow out the person of the Sonne of God Secondly wherein the Priesthood of Melchisedech did consist or wherein it differred from the Priesthood of Aaron and what calling hee had to such a Priesthood Thirdly what divine Designement or calling the Sonne of God had to his everlasting Priesthood Fourthly a parallel betweene the Consecration of Aaron or other of his Successors to this legall Priesthood and the Consecration of the Sonne of God to his everlasting Priesthood prefigured or foreshadowed not by Aaron or his Successors but by Melchisedech before the Law was given Fiftly the peculiar acts or exercises of the Sonne of God's everlasting Priesthood This fift or last Point must be referred as an appendix unto the Articles of the Sonne of God's Ascension and his sitting at the right hand of God the Father All these are Points of good use and worthy of deeper and better consideration then they usually are taken into by most Interpreters of sacred Writ or Controversywriters The first Question only may seeme to be too curious And so perhaps it is indeed if wee should take upon us to determine the individualitie of Melchisedech's person after whose order the Sonne of God was consecrated or made a Priest But on the other side it would be presumptuous absolutly to deny this Melchisedech to have been the same individuall person whom the later Iewes generally and many late learned Christian writers take him for The greatest difficulty in this Point ariseth from the Apostles description of Melchisedech Chap. 7. v. 3. Without father without mother without descent having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but made like unto the Sonne of God abideth a Priest continually 3 From this place some would peremptorily conclude that Melchisedech could be no mortal man no sonne of Adam but either the holy Ghost or the sonne of God then appearing to Abraham in the similitude or likenesse of man For of this Melchisedech save only in the history of Abraham Gen. 14. and 110. Psalme there is no mention at all in the old Testament To wave or rather dismisse their opinion who think Melchisedech was the holy Ghost the third person in Trinitie seeing it is but a conjecture of some few who rather wave then prosecute it Let us see what probabilitie there is that this Melchisedech should be the eternal Word or Son of God appearing to Abraham in the likenesse of man and exercising
cases because they are commanded to be holy as he is holy But can there be any case or businesse betwixt God and man of so great consequence that his sole word or meere promise might not suffice to determine it His word in it selfe no doubt is more firme and sure then all the oaths of men and Angels It is therefore in the second place presumed or granted by all good Writers that our Gracious God confirmed this promise by oath ex abundanti for the support of mens infirmities which too often measure the goodnesse of God and the fidelitie of his promises by their owne notions of goodnesse or by their experience of such fidelitie as is found in promises amongst good men But albeit wee may take surer hold of any mans word or promise then of his indefinite overtures or inclinations to doe us good yet a very honest mans word is no sheateanchor for a wise man to rely upon in a violent storme The fest sometimes may be sure and firme when the cable is slender and weak Or the cable very strong when the fest or Anchor-hold is slippery Hence ordinary promises or professions of reall kindnesses by a tacite or implicite consent of most men admit diverse exceptions or dispensations whereof solemne oaths are uncapable In what termes soever ordinary promises or professions of kindnesses be expressed their tenour is to be understood or construed with this Proviso Rebus sic stantibus Vnexpected disaster or rare mischance is in common equitie a sufficient release for non performance of that which was sincerely promised upon probable hopes of better meanes or abilities or at least of the continuances of such meanes as the party had when hee made promise Many men who will hardly straine their oaths for their life will dispense with their honest words or good intentions rather then subject themselves to any incompensable worldly mischiefe or remedilesse inconvenience which may certainely follow upon the performances of what they promised For this reason every wise man must be more wary to what he swears then to what he promiseth For matter of promise concernes things temporall only whereas hee that takes a solemne oath doth sequester his immortall soule and estate in the life to come into the hands of the Almighty Iudge and Revenger of perjury Hence was it that the noble Romane Regulus did chuse rather to returne to the Carthaginians resolving to endure all the tortures and paines that they could inflict upon him then to violate the solemne oath which they administred unto him And albeit the Carthaginians knew him to be a man for his fidelitie and due observances of his promises as just and righteous as Rome had any a man more faithfull and true if wee believe ancient histories then the Carthaginians ordinarily were yet out of discretion and politick obseruance they held it more safe to trust to Regulus upon his oath then upon his meere promise No wise man or prudent Statist unto this day will trust the best man living over whose person or estate hee hath no command or jurisdiction in matter of greater consequence without a solemne oath A grave * Civilian observes absque iureiur ando alicui in foederibus contrahendis confidere est piscari in aere venari in mediâ— maris CHAP. 16. God's oath to Abraham was an oath for Confirmation of the league betwixt them Of the severall manner of leagues NOw God's oath to Abraham was an oath of league a solemne confirmation of that Covenant which God had entred with Abraham at the Circumcision of his Son Isaac Wee may observe in the sacred story that Abraham had first God 's meere promise and on that he faithfully relyed Gen. 12. 13. 14. c. Afterwards this promise grew into a solemne everlasting Covenant signed on Abraham's part by the Circumcision of himselfe and his sonne Isaac and afterwards confirmed on God's part by solemne oath and lastly signed and sealed by the bloody death of the only Sonne of God For the Readers better conduct in the passages which follow it will be requisite first to entreate briefly of the nature of Covenants and Leagues Secondly to display the Evangelicall importances of the oath by which this League was first confirmed and afterwards renewed The word Covenant in our English is sometimes equivalent to that which the Latines call pactum or conventum to wit any contract or bargaine wherein there is quid pro quo somewhat given and somewhat taken And in this sense every Covenant or bargaine is an act of commutative Iustice wherein there is ratio dati accepti a mutual bond betweene the parties contracting upon some valuable considerations A Covenant of this ranke there cannot any be properly said or imagined betwixt God and meere man as Abraham was for who can give any thing unto God which was not his owne before by a more soveraigne right and more peculiar title then it is or can be his that would take upon him to make God his Debtor by deede of gift And for this very reason the acutest Schoolemen resolve us that commutative Iustice cannot be formally in God But when wee read that Iustice is one of God's essentiall Attributes or when we say that God is truly and formally Iust this must be meant of distributive Iustice the ballance of whose scales are poena and praemium matter of punishment and matter of reward For God as a just Iudge doth truly and accurately render unto every man according unto all his wayes without any respect of any advantage gaine or profit that can redound unto him by mans doing good but meerely out of his unspeakable love unto mercy it selfe unto bounty it selfe or unto Iustice it selfe But though there cannot be such a Pactum or Covenant betweene God and man betweene God and Abraham himselfe as is a proper act of commutative Iustice wherein there is ratio dati accepti For Abraham had nothing to give unto God from whom hee had received all that hee had and from whom hee did expect to receive his sonne Isaac in whom the very Covenant was to be establed yet there may be betweene God and man and there was betweene God and Abraham a true and proper Covenant in another sense that is asmuch as the Latines call foedus a true or proper league of amitie or association And thus the word in the originall especially in Genesis 17. 7. is to be taken 2 This kind of League or Covenant may be of two sorts foedera iniqua quae victores victis dabant Such as the Conquerors would give unto the Conquered which was alwayes upon unequall termes or conditions and yet better for the conquered and weaker part to admit of then to be altogether without league or securitie for their safety or protection Or they were foedera aequa leagues entred upon equall termes or condition such as usually are the leagues betweene neighbour-Kingdomes free-States or Soveraignties independent each on other
a lie unto salvation The elegancy of which word in the original is well expressed by our vulgar English an hors is but a vain thing to save a man But why alie or vanitie Because he that relies upon it too much or more then upon God may come to suddaine destruction according to the same dialect that fest or Anchor-hold unto which the Iewes in stormes of warre or calamitie did too much trust to wit Templum Domini Templum Domini were as the Prophet calls them lying words And no better are many mens perswasions of the absolute certainty of their owne salvation only because they beleeve in Christ alone and seeke unto no other Meditators or Intercessors Indeed if they beleeve in Christ as Abraham and Isaac and Ioshua did in God that is if they follow the footsteps of these men or rather the wayes of God wherein these walked with a faithfull and unfeigned heart then their Election is sure and firme in it selfe although in many cases to them uncertaine But the principall meaning of our Apostle is that the blessing promised by oath unto Abraham is immutable and everlasting in the life to come and this wee are bound to beleeve certitudine fidei by assurance of faith without doubt But whether we our selves in particular shall be undoubtedly actuall partakers of such salvation wee have no better assurance from this place then the assurance of hope and strong consolation for so it followeth this hope or as Oecolampadius would have it this consolation wee have as an anchor of the soule both firme and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile The implication is that this hope is not of temporarie blessings but of everlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lord now King and Priest in our nature of the coelestiall Sanctuary CHAP. 20. The former Importance of God's Oath to Abraham and the contents of it specified in the two immediately precedent Chapters more fully confirmed by the tenour of God's oath to David and to his seed described at large by the author of 98 Psalme most concludently by the Apostle Heb. 7. ALL that which hath beene observed out of the tenour of God's Oath to Abraham is implyed in the Psalmist's paraphrase upon the same Covenant renewed by speciall Oath unto David Psalme 89. That the Author of this Psalme should be David himselfe no Interpreter which I have read doth affirme besides some few and those of no great skill for interpreting Scriptures who thinke that all these Psalmes were written by David himselfe But this opinion may be clearely convinced both from the matter and forme of this Psalme besides the inscription For if we should acknowledge David to be the Author of this Psalme there will be no affinitie betwixt the matter of subject of it and the character or expression Evident it is that the house and linage of David were in great distresse and subject to grievous temptations of distrusting God's promises at the time wherein this Psalme was written And hee that will diligently peruie the sacred history from David's Election or nomination to the Kingdome of Israel untill the returne of God's people from Babylonish Captivity or the death of Zerubbabel will hardly find more periods of time then two wherein the occasion or matter of this Psalmist's complaint can have any cognation with his character or expression which is a fundamentall rule for all Intelligent Writers to follow and most exactly observed by such as wrote by divine inspiration The two periods of time wherein this Psalme can with probability be imagined to be written are either from the death of good Iosiah unto the Babylonish Captivity or as my conjecture leads me shortly after the forraging of Iudah and ransacking of Ierusalem by Sesac King of Aegypt in the dayes of Rehoboam after the departure of the tenne Tribes from Iudah The best determination of this doubt or Quaerie depends upon Chronologies or certaine discoveries of the time wherein Ethan the Ezrahite did live The Psalme it selfe as the title sheweth is a Psalme of instruction and begins with praise and thankesgiving and ends with praiers and benedictions As for the intermediate complaints or seeming expostulations with God as if hee had forgotten his Covenant made to David these I take it are rather lively representations of the murmuring and discontentments of the people in that age then true expressions of the Psalmist's owne apprehensions concerning the true tenour of God's promise unto David For this is usuall to most Psalmists in times of calamity a point which if the Spanish Iew or Rabbin mentioned by many good Authors had considered hee would not haue interdicted his Country-men or Scholars to read this Psalme 2 But to come to the explication of this Psalme it selfe or the meaning of the holy Ghost in it After many ejaculations of praiers and thankesgiving or recitations of God's mercy The Lord is our defence and the holy one of Israel is our King Then Thou spakest in vision to thy holy one and saidst I have laid helpe upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen from among the people I have found David my servant with my holy Oyle have I anointed him c. The text upon which he made this sublime and long paraphrase following is recorded 2. Sam. 7. 11. And as since the time that I commanded Iudges to be over my people Israel and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house and when thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleepe with thy Fathers I will set up thy seede after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his Kingdome v. 13. He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever I will be his Father and he shall be my sonne If he commit iniquitie I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men But my mercy shall not depart from him as I tooke it from Saul whom I put away before thee And thine house and thy Kingdome shall be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever According to all these words and according to all this vision so did Nathan speak unto David Divers passages aswell in this Text as in the fore-cited paraphrase in the Psalm upō it have been literally verified so me in David others in Salomon but exactly fulfilled according to the mysticall sence in David's seede by promise unto whose person and to no other some few speciall passages according to the literall sense doe referre The next labour is so to distinguish betwixt these severall passages as that David and his sonne Salomon may have their due without derogation to the prerogative of David's seede by promise who was to be and now is both Salomon's and David's Lord. The 12 th and 13 th verses according to
the meate which perisheth but for that meate which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man shall give unto you For him hath God the Father sealed And againe ver 32. 33. Then Iesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven For the bread of God is hee which cometh downe from heaven and giveth life unto the world And ver 35. I am the bread of life Hee that cometh to me shall never hunger And he that beleeveth on me shall never thirst In all these and the like passages whether avouched by our Saviour himselfe or by his Apostles after him we are taught no other Doctrine then the Prophet in his name and by his spirit had taught the people verse 3. Incline your eare and come unto me heare and your soule shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Was this Covenant yet to make being made before first with Abraham then renewed with David The Apostle for conclusion tells us Heb. 11. v. 39. Neither Abraham nor any other of the Patriarchs or holy men though in their generations renowned for their faith did receive the promise and if not the promise then not the everlasting Covenant whereof the Prophet here speakes What was that The reall object of the Covenant or blessing promised But if it be demanded what this blessing promised was It was Christ Iesus not only as he was exhibited in the flesh but raised from the dead as is more largely declared in a treatise upon v. 40. Chap. 11. to the Heb. to be annexed unto this present Treatise 2 All this hath been implied or intimated before in that of our Apostle Heb. 5. And being made perfect he became the Author of eternall Salvation to all them that obey him v. 9. that is to reflect upon the Prophet Esay's expression of this mystery to all that incline their eares unto him and faithfully heare him THE EVERLASTING COVENANT taken in this sense that is for the everlasting blessednesse or that degree of blessednesse exprest in the Gospell is not actually made with any none are reall partakers of it but such as are true and lively members of Christ's body such members of it as Abraham and David were not before the Son of God the Son of David was consecrated to his everlasting Priesthood and Kingdome 3 According to the most strict and genuine sense of the Prophet and our Apostle's interpretation of it Christ Iesus being raised from the dead is the very Covenant it selfe For so the words of the Prophet and our Apostle's interpretation of them runne verbatim without any interruption or obliquitie in construction I will make an everlasting Covenant to wit the sure mercies of David or as the Latine more fully misericordias illas stabiles Davidis That these words directly signifie the Person of Christ and his benefits is most cleere from v. 4. Behold I have given him for a witnesse to the people a leader and commander to the people So that Christ is called the sare mercies of David because in him and through him all God's promises or mercies promised to David are Yea and Amen that is were actually perform'd and made everlasting not in promise only but in esse Betwixt the Hebrew Text and the seventy Interpreters whose translation S. Paul in the fore-cited place doth follow a meere Grammarian or curious critick might observe some variation in words yet no difference or diversity in sense worthy the notice of a true Linguist or rationall Divine The Apostle when hee avoucheth this propheticall Oracle Esay 55. 3. as a confirmation of the concludency of the former testimony out of Psal 2. Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee omits the first part of it I will make an everlasting Covenant with you as being fully contained in the later part which is indeed an authentique exegeticall exposition of the former to wit God's promise or Oath to give this people and Nation in the time appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the holy and faithfull things of David saith our English But the full and punctual expression of our Apostles meaning will best appeare from the manner how he inferres that conclusion which he twise in this place avoucheth from the often mentioned place of the Prophet Isaiah For after that inference * v. 33. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he addes for confirmation v. 34. 35. And as concerning that he raised him from the dead now no more to returne to corruption hee said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David Wherefore hee saith also in another Psalme ◠Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption The briefe or extract of the Prophet Isaiah's meaning in S. Paul's construction is this THAT GOD BY RAISING VP CHRIST IESUS from the dead never to die againe did really exhibite or actually performe that Covenant made by Oath to David Psal 89. ver 28. My mercy will I keepe for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him c. and v. 35. Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not faile David his seede shall endure for ever and his throne that is not the successive throne of David but the throne of David's SEED as the Sun before me 4 David in the dayes of his flesh did receive the the promise or Covenant if you take it in the active or formall signification as for promissio quâ Deus promitit or pactum quo Deus paciseitur but if wee take this promise or Covenant in the passive sense id est for the blessing promised or covenanted that was not perform'd till Christ was raised from the dead and glorified as it followes Esay 55. v. 5. In this sense Zacharias calls the exhibition of the promised seed though yet in the wombe the performance of the Oath which God had sworne to give unto Abraham and his offspring So that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the faithfull things of David is contradistinct not to dissimulation or any suspicion of faining in the promiser but to the reversible or mutable state of the blessing promised It implies the immortalitie of the Son of David according to the flesh or the immutability of his holy Priesthood and Kingdome Briefly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is equivalent and somewhat more then so unto the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is used by S. Peter Epist 2. Chap. 1. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure or rather firme and strong v. 10. in which place the word election must of necessitie be taken not in the formall or active sense but in the passive materiall or reall sense not for electio quâ Deus nos eligit but for the irreversible state in grace which is the effect
by the Church for the feast of the Resurrection The institution or occasion of it you have set downe from ver 2. unto the 12. The meaning of the word or quid nominis we have in the 12. v. It is the Lord 's Passeover for I will passe through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the first borne in the land of Egypt both man and beast And against all the Princes of Egypt I will execute judgment I am the Lord. And the blood to wit of the paschal Lamb shall be to you for a token upon the houses where yee are and when I see the blood I will passe over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt So then it is called the Passeover because the Lord when he passed through Egypt and visited every house with a fearfull visitation he passed over all the houses of the Israelites which lived amongst them upon whose door-poast the blood of the paschal Lambe was shed Whether this visitation of the Egyptians were held by some good Angell or by that spirit or Angell whom S. Iohn calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Moses Exod. 12. 23. entitles this visitor the destroyer I will not dispute seeing it is certaine the visitation or judgment it selfe was the Lords And by his appointment the visitor or executioner whosoever hee were good Angell or bad one or more was to passe over the houses of the Israelites as being exempted from his commission whil'st he smote the first borne of man and beast that pertained to any house of the Egyptians But at this present Passeover wherein the Saviour of the world became a sacrifice hell as we say was broken up and let loose the powers of darknesse were become as a raging Sea or swelling tyde overflowing her bankes and had wrought a more ruefull desolation upon all mankind upon the face of the whole earth then the flood of Noah had done unlesse by God's providence they had been restrained The flood in the time of Noah was a flood of waters only this was a streame of fire and brimstone which the breath of the Lord had kindled unlesse his wrath had been appeased and the flame quenched by the blood of the paschall Lambe The commission of the destroying Angell throughout Egypt did extend no further then to the first borne of man and beast and was to endure but for one night the powers of darknesse did aime at all and lye in waite till the worlds end to devour all whose hearts are not sprinkled with the blood of this paschall Lamb which was shed not for a few houses but for all Every house in Israel was to have their severall Lambe or two houses at the most could be priviledged by the blood of one Lambe but our paschall Lambe as he was slaine by the whole congregation of Israel cryed down to death by the Priests the Scribes and Pharisees and the whole multitude so his blood was sufficient to redeeme all the Israel of God from the Destroyer even as many throughout all ages and Kingdomes as will submit themselves unto his Lawes and acknowledge him for their Redeemer And for this reason he was slaine without the City as a publique sactifice in the open aire The Crosse whereto he was nailed was as the doore-posts of that house of which hee is the Builder and Maker that is of the whole world it selfe Now it is to be presumed that the blood of that sacrifice which was to redeeme and sanctifie all unto the worlds end which seek Redemption and Sanctification by him should not be as blood spilt upon the earth which cannot be gathered up As hee was to give life to others by his blood so he was to give life to himselfe againe 3 But is it imported in the institution of the Passeover or in any solemnitie belonging unto it that the Lambe of God which was to take away the sinnes of the world by his Death should himselfe be restored unto life againe Yes This word Passeover besides the former signification of passing over the houses of the Israelites hath another fignification or importance to wit That all those families which were priviledged from the power of the destroying Angel which smote the Egyptians should passe out of the land of Egypt or house of bondage through the red sea into the land of their rest and liberty under the conduct of Moses who had the great Angell of the Covenant for his guide in this passage For the Reader 's better apprehension how the mysteries of the Gospell concerning our Saviour's Passion and Resurrection were fore-shadowed in the solemnitie of the Passeover we are to consider that there is a two-fold sense of Scripture the one literall the other mysticall The literall sense consists in the immediate or grammaticall sense or signification of the words The mysticall sense is that which the Facts or Persons immediately signified by the literall or grammaticall sense of the words doe fore-shadow Thus by Israel in the sacred story sometimes Iacob the Father of the twelve Tribes sometimes the twelve Tribes themselves are literally meant And Israel taken in this sense is literally called the Son of God but by this name Israel Christ Iesus is mystically meant He it is alone qui tanti mensuram nominis implet Hee it is which prevailed with God and is more properly called the Son of God then either Iacob or his posterity were And that which according to the literall sense was meant of Iacob's posteritie When Israel was a child then I loved him and called my Son out of Egypt Hos 11. 1. was literally fulfilled of Christin a more full and exquisite sense as the Evangelist instructs us Math. 2. 15. For God called this his only Son out of Egypt literally taken that is out of the same land or Kingdome wherein Iacob's seed had been sojourners into the selfe-same land of Canaan into which he had brought them so that every word in this prophecy is in the literall sense truly verified as well of Christ as of Iacob's seed But Egypt and Canaan besides this literall sense and signification have a further mysticall sense or importance The state of Israel or the Sons of Iacob in Egypt was a map or shadow of our slavery and bondage unto the powers of darknesse Their passage out of Egypt into the land of Canaan through the red sea was a type of our passage from the bondage of sinne into the Kingdome of light through the region of death it selfe Thus the paschall Lambe literally taken was a picture of Christ's sacrifice upon the Crosse and so was Moses which instituted the sacrifice and conducted God's people out of Egypt but a shadow of Christ Ioshuah or Iesus the Son of Nun which brought them into the land of Canaan was no more The great Angell of the Covenant which was with Moses and with Ioshuah as their guide and protector
Creator both of sea and land The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the World and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the seas that is in such a sense as wee say townes and cities are situated upon the rivers on whose bankes they stand and established it upon the flood ver 1. 2. Yet may we not deny that this Psalme may literally referre to the bringing in of the Arke into the hill of Sion and to the exhortation of the Psalmist to admit and entertaine it as the feat of the King of Glory God blessed for ever But this literall sense doth no way prejudice but rather strengthen the force of their argument who hence conclude the deity of the Son of God then admitted in triumph into the hill of Sion or the Tabernacle pitched in it according to his divine nature only this triumphant admission being a sure pledge or earnest of his future admission into his heavenly Sanctuary the place of his everlasting residency as Lord and Christ in our nature No man who acknowledgeth or rightly esteemeth the authority of the Psalmist unlesse abundance of wit hath besplitted his understanding can imagine that the King of Glory whom the Psalmist here mentioneth should be any other party or person besides the Son of God Christ Iesus whom the Iewes when he came to the materiall Temple or Tabernacle wherein his divine nature did in peculiar manner reside did not entertaine in such manner as David enjoyned their fore-Fathers to entertaine the Arke of his presence They would not acknowledge him to be their Messias because they knew him not nor the Scriptures which did foretell this his comming For as our Apostle with speciall reference to the words of this Psalmist teâ—s us had they knowne him to be that Lord of Glory unto whose honour David consecrated this hymne they would not have crucified him But by crucifying or rather by his humiliation of himselfe unto the death of the Crosse he was consecrated as man unto his everlasting Priesthood and made both Lord and King of Glory CHAP. 36. At what time and upon what occasions th 68 Psalme was composed What reference it hath in the generall unto our Saviour's Ascension ANother Psalme there is appointed by the wisedome of the ancient and continued by the discretion of the English Church even since the first reformation to be read or sung as a proper hymne to the festivall of our Saviour's Asoension A Psalme full of mysteries and divine raptures apt to enkindle our hearts with zeal and admiration could we find out or rightly seeke after either the historicall occasions which ministred the matter or ditty of this divine song or the severall parts of Scripture unto which most passages in it according to the literall or historicall sense doe respectively referre The occasion of composing the Psalme to wit 68. Some Iewish Rabbins conjecture to have been that glorious victory which Ezekiah or rather the Lord of hosts in Ezekiah's daies got over Senacherib and his mighty army But the most of the more judicious Christian Commentators with greater probability or discretion referre the occasion of composing this Psalme to that solemne translation of the Arke of God from Kyriath Iearim into Mount Sion at large described 2. Sam. 6. David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel thirty thousand And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Iudah to bring up from thence the Arke of God whose name is called by the Lord of hosts that dwelleth betweene the Cherubbims or at which the name even the name of the Lord of hosts was called upon 2 This later opinion is in it selfe perswasible or rather deserves full credanee from the first words of the Psalme Let God arisâ— let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him ver 1. These were verba solemnia the accustomed solemne forme of prayer used so often as the Arke of the Covenant which was to this people the most authentique pledge of God's peculiar presence and protection and for this reason called by his name did remove from one place to another during their pilgrimage in the wildernesse And they departed from the Mount of the Lord three daies journey And the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three daies journey to search out a resting place for them and the Cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the Campe. And it came to passe when the Arke set forward that Moses said rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested hee said Returne O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Numb 10. ver 33. 34. 35. 36. Moses prayed conceptis verbis that God would arise and take part with his people David out of the fresh experience of God's mighty protection over him his subjects and allies so long as they worshipped him in truth and syncerity in this symbole of his presence seemes to utter Moses song rather by way of congratulation for victories already gotten then by way of instant prayer for present assistance A great part of this most divine most sublime ditty is a recapitulation of the glorious victories which the God of Israel had purchased for his people and upon their deliverance out of Egypt and their other peculiar protections or succours which private men or women in their distresse had found when they were helplesse in the sight of men or oppressed by their neighbours Sing unto God sing praises to his name extoll him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Iah and reioyce before him A Father of the fatherlesse and a Iudge of the widowes is God in his holy Habitation God setteth the solitary in families he bringeth out those that are bound in chaines but the rebellious dwell in a dry land ver 4. 5. 6. The verses following referre to the publique deliverance out of Egypt and the majesticke apparitions about Mount Sinai O God when thou wentest forth before thy people when thou didst march through the wildernesse the earth shooke the heavens also dropped before the Lord even Sinai it selfe was moved at the presence of God the God of Israel c. 7. 8. Some good Interpreters here observe that the Arke itselfe is called Iehovah or the Lord God of Israel by the same forme of speech that the sacrament all pledges are called the one the Body the other the Blood of Christ 3 Now the sweet singer of Israel was confident that the God of their Fathers would be as gracious to himselfe to his people and their successors after he came to dwell in Mount Sinai as he had been to Moses and Ioshun in the wildernesse â—or unto Samuel while the Taber nacle was in Shiloh or elsewhere either in motion or pitched Hence sprung those encomiasticall expressions throughout the Psalme of the
place to conjecture that either Eli himselfe his two lewd sons or his posterity were absolutely that is irreversibly decreed from this time to everlasting damnation Many decrees or sentences denounced by divine oath may be and are absolutely irreversible when as the plague or matter of the curse denounced is only temporary not everlasting But to determine with the life of the party against whom 't is denounced or at the worst to his Successors here on earth it no way reacheth the state of the one or of the other in the life to come CHAP. 19. Of the two things wherein our Apostle saith it was impossible for God to lie THis is our comfort there is no curse nor woe denounced by oath throughout the whole Scripture which either in the assertive or charactericall sense can be extended so farre as the blessing sealed by oath to Abraham and to all the heires of promise So God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the stablenesse of his counsaile bound himselfe by an oath So our former English reads The later thus wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsaile confirmed it by an oath or as the margine interposed himselfe by an oath but with submission of my verdict in this caseto competent Iudges there is somewhat more implyed in the originall then either our English or Latine translations which I have read doe expresse Three or foure words there are in this passage which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or solennia words of form or peculiar to the facultie of Theology First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is somewhat more then to shew as much as authentiquely or solemnely to declare Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports a great deale more then the stablenesse or immutabilitie of his counsell For that God's will or counsell is as he is most absolutely immutable was a point so well knowne to Abraham and to the Sages of the heathen which lived after him as it needed no solemn avouchment or declaration by oath That God most immutably wills mutability in the works of nature and in the government of this inferior world as sometimes though seldome in the course of starres and often in the erection or extirpation of greatest Kingdomes or of royall or sacerdotal succession was a point not doubted of by any that acknowledged there was a God The mysteries in this place declared by solemne oath were these That the blessing before promised and now first ratified by oath unto Abraham his seede not according to the flesh but the spirit should not be only irreversible but unchangeable That the promised womans seede should be one of Abraham's seede That this seede after his Consecration to the office of blessing should not be subject to any change or chance That his Kingdome and Priesthood should be everlasting This last clause may be made more cleare from the renewing and restraining of his glorious promise unto the seede of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our former English hath two animadversions upon this place which are rather imperfect then erroneous Again what those two things were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what the importance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in this place is a point not so fully determined by most Interpreters but that it is free for every later Interpreter to conjecture or demurre upon the point Our English marginall note implyes that the two things in which it was impossible for God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were his word and his oath I should rather thinke his promise made to Abraham and his solemne oath made for the ratification of his promise But whether wee understand his word or promise and his oath for ratification of either they must be taken coniunctim not divisim not severally but conjunctively For God's meere promise without an oath though most sure in it selfe is not so firme an Anchor for poore men to rely upon in temptations as his promise confirmed by oath nor doth the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place imply any possibility or impossibilite of lying or unsincere dealing in God himselfe but referres to the stabilitie or unstabilitie of the blessing promised A blessing whether of this life or the life to come under meere promise may be subject to contingency or change because the promise it selfe by reason of causes best knowne to divine wisdome may be reversed but a blessing promised by oath is exempted from all possibilitie of reversion if it concerne this life or if it referre to the life to come it must be as that life is not only irreversible but also unchangeable either for qualitie or degree of joy 2 By the two things our Apostle saith it was impossible for God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to suffer his blessing promised to Abraham and to the heires of promise to faile wee may understand without violence to the text or incongruity of sence the oath it selfe and the object of the oath which was God himselfe Hee sware by himselfe saith the originall Genesis 21. v. the 1. The true meaning of which place is most elegantly expressed by our Apostle Hebr. 6. v. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he interposed himself as our English noteth or word by word â—e meâ—â—â—ted by an oath thereby binding as well the person of the sonne who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Mediator between God and man as his owne Almighty Person And this merces magna promised by God himselfe by oath in the Person of the Father and the Sonne is most suitable to the obedience not of Abraham only but of Isaac whom God as it hath beene observed before did still reward in kind But whatsoever the two immutable things in this place meant by our Apostle were it is evident that his oath was interposed for the consolation and comfort of Abraham and his posteritie so the Apostle tells us expressely v. 18. and 19. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye wee might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us The sheat Anchor of this strong hope or consolation is first the irreversibilitie of the promise Secondly the immutabilitie of the blessing promised of which it is impossible that any such heire of promise as Abraham was when God vouchsafed thus to sweare unto him should either faile or come short This I take to be the true meaning of that uncouth phrase wherein it is impossible for God to lie that is to suffer the blessing promised to faile or change or them to perish who are possessed of it by vertue of this Covenant sealed by oath Every thing in sacred dialect is called a LIE which is subject to mutability hazard or change or on which one too much relying may be deceived or fall into danger So saith the Psalmist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an horse is