here handleth before the humane Harmony and Explanation FRom Gen. 1. 1. the Evangelist sheweth that the redemption was to bee wrought by him by whom the Creation was namely by the Word or the second Person in the Trinity as being fittest for that great worke as whereby coâ—fusion both in the externall workes of the Trinity as also in the terme of Sonship might bee avoided In the externall workes of the Trinity when the Creator of man became his Redeemer and in the terme of Sonship when the Son of God and the Sonne of Man were but one and the same person Ver. 1. The Word Hee is so called in the Old Testament First as the Authour of the Creation Psal. 33. 6. Secondly as the Authour of the promise 2 Sam. 7. 2. compared with 1 Chron. 17. 19. Thirdly as the very Subject of the Covenant and promise it selfe Hag. 2. 5. Deut. 30. 12. compared with Rom. 10. 6 7. So that these things being laid together and well considered they shew why John calleth the Son of God the Word rather then by any other name First because hee would shew that as the world was created by the Son so it was most fit it should bee redeemed Secondly that as in him the promise was given so in him was fit should bee the performance Thirdly that as hee was the Subject of the Covenant in the Old Testament so also was hee the Substance of it in the New From such places as these forenamed where the Son of God is called the Word in the Old Testament it became most familiar and ordinary among the Jewes to use this title personally for him And this may bee a second reason deduced from that that was named before why the Evangelist here useth it namely as a name most familiarly and commonly known amongst his own people Examples hereof might bee alledged out of the Chaldee Paraphrasts even by hundreds It will suffice to alledge some few Gen. 28. 20 21. If the word of the Lord will bee my helpe c. The word of the Lord shall bee my God Exod. 19. 17. Moses brought forth the people to meet the word of the Lord Esai 1. 14. Your appointed Feasts my word abominateth and ver 16. Put away the evill of your doings from before my word and Chap. 45. 2. My word shall goe before thee c. So Esay 48. 11. 49. 5. 15. 51. 5. Jer. 24. 6. 27. 5. 18. 29. 14. 23. Hos. 1. 7. 9. Zach. 2. 5. and in hundreds of other places And so likewise in some of the writings of the Talmudists and Philo Judaeus in lib. De mundi opificio explaineth this title This terme and in this sense also was got even among the Heathen for so Mercury Trismegistus useth it often in Pimandro as The will of God contained his word And God with his word produced another intellect which is a fiery God and a Divine Spirit And againe The word of God compacted the pure workmanship of nature And The working intellect together with the Word So likewise Orpheus as hee is alledged by Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But Mahomet in his Alcaron goeth yet further Eise or Jesus saith hee is the word of God and this being the word of God is reputed among the Saracens as the proper name of Jesus Christ so that no other man is called by this name but Jesus onely whom in Arabick they call Eise Sam. Maroch lib. de advent Messiae cap. 27. Drus. in praeter in loc And the word was with God c. The Evangelist goeth not about so much immediately to shew the eternity of the word or of the second Person in the Trinity as hee doth to declare how requisite it was that that Person should bee incarnate rather then the first or the third because by him the Creation was wrought and answerably by him it was fittest should bee the redemption c. Therfore the words in the beginning have not reference to the words eternall being but to his giving of being to the Creature For as they are Moses his owne phrase Gen. 1. 1. so are they to bee taken in his sense and further back then the Creation it is not possible to bring his words and by those of his must these bee understood They trace not therefore his Divinity beyond the Creation nor yet doe they find it to have begun there but this they say onely that then the word was and by him were all things made And this was enough for the answering of Ebion and Cerinthus which held that Christ was not before the Virgin Mary And this being concluded that the word was in the beginning and created all things his eternall being before the Creation will readily inferre it selfe The Evangelist useth this manner of speech The word with God First to shew the subsistence of the Son of himselfe and his co-existence with the Father his subsistence hee was his co-existence Hee was with God Secondly the distinction of the persons Hee was with God and the unity of Essence hee was God Thirdly the relation between the Father and the Son The Son is said to bee with the Father as children are apud Patrem but not è contra Fourthly the Phrase Hee was with God is in Antithesis or opposition to that that is said afterward The word dwelt among us And this doth illustrate the doctrine and benefit of the incarnation the more when it shall bee observed that hee that in the beginning was the word and was with God and was the Creator did in the fulnesse of time become flesh and dwell with men and became their Redeemer And the word was God God in the clause next preceding is taken personally for God the Father but here essentially for the Godhead Moses all along the Story of the Creation called God Elohim by a word plurall to denote the distinction of Persons but at last in Gen. 2. 4. hee calleth him Jehovah Elohim to signifie also the unity of Essence So David when hee had spoken of the Lord and his word 2 Sam. 7. 21. amd the Lord and his Servant 1 Chron. 17. 19. Hee presently concludeth that there is but one God though those titles might seem to make them more There is none like thee neither is there any God besides thee ver 22. So the Evangelist here when hee hath named The Word and God and the word being with God as two persons distinct one from another lest this distinction should breed the supposall of difference and the mention of more persons the surmisall of more Gods hee preventeth betimes and stoppeth all such misconstructions by saying The word was God Ver. 2. The same was in the beginning with God Hee had said the same thing immediately before but not in the same respect For there hee spake of the words co-existency with the Father as hee explaineth himselfe after it The word was God but here
of his incarnation and of his owne Nation the Jewes amongst whom hee came and conversed in humane flesh yet they refused him They were his 〈◊〉 by choice Deut. 7. 6. by purchase Exod. 19. 4 5. by Covenant Deut. 26. 18. and by kindred Heb. 2. 16. Ver. 12. Power to become the Sons of God The people of the Church are called the Sons of God Gen. 6. 2. And after the dispersion at Babel where the Heathen became the Sons of men Gen. 11. 5. this title was appropriated onely to the Jewes Exod. 4. 22. Hoâ— 11. 1. But now when the Jewes Christs owne people should not receive him when hee so came amongst them this priviledge should bee conferred upon what Heathen or Gentiles so ever should receive him that they should bee henceforward as the Jewes had been hitherto the Sons of God or the Church of Christ. That beleeve on his Name That is In or On him For the Name of God in Scripture doth often stand for God himselfe as Psal. 71. 1. Mic 6. 9. Act. 3. 16. c. For God is without any 〈◊〉 or composition on but a most pure and simple essence and therefore his name and himselfe are not two severall things as they bee in the creatures but one and the same R. Menahemâ— on Exod. 6â— Ver. 13. Which are born Not of God Greek Not of blâ—â—dâ— in the plurall number That is not of the kindred descent or continued Pedegree from the Patriarchall line or the blood of Abrahâ—m Isaac Jacob and successively For John the Evangelist speaketh much to the same tenor here that John the Baptist doth Mat. 3. 9. That Christ would adopt the Heathen for the Sons of God as the Jewes had beene though they had no relation at all to the Jewish blood or stock Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man The Evangelist hath traced Moses all along from the beginning of the Chapter and so he doth here He used the phrase of the Sons of God in the Verse preceding from Gen. 6. 2. And this Clause that wee have in hand he seemeth to take from the very next Ver. after My Spirit shall no more strive with man because hee also is flesh Where as Moses by flesh understandeth the brood of Cain men that followed the swinge of lust sensuality and their owne corruption and by Man the Family of Seth 〈◊〉 Adam that was regulated by Religion and reason till that Family grew also fleshly like the other so doth John here the like For having in the next foregoing words excluded one maine thing that was much stood upon from any claime or challenge towards the adopting of the Sons of God or forwarding of the new birth and that is descent from Abraham and from those holy men successively that had the promise So doth he here as much for two other which onely can put in for title to the same and those are first the will of the flesh or ability of nature Secondly the will of man or power of morality Verse 14. And the word became Flesh Now hath the Evangelist brought us to the great Mystery of the Incarnation in the description of which may be observed First the two termes the word and Flesh expressing Christs two natures and the word was made or became their hypostaticall union Secondly the word flesh is rather used by the Evangelist then the word man though oftentimes they signify but the same thing as Gen. 6. 12. Psal. 65. 2. Isa. 40. 5 6. First to make the difference and distinction of the two natures in Christ the more conspicuous and that according to the common speech of the Jewes who set flesh and blood in opposition to God as Matth. 16. 17. Gal. 1. 16. Secondly to magnifie the mercy of God in Christs incarnation the more in that flesh being in its owne nature so farre distant from the nature of God yet that hee thus brought these two natures together as of them to make but one person for the reconcilling of man and himselfe together Thirdly to confirme the truth of Christs humanity against future Heresies which have held that he had not a true and reall humane body but only Fantasticall or of the aire Fourthly to explaine what he said before that Peleevers became the Sonnes of God that is not by any change of their bodily substances but by participation of divine grace for Christ on the contrary became the Sonne of Man by assuming of flesh and not by changing into it Fifthly to shew the Plaister fitly applyed unto the Sore and the Physicke to the Disease for whereas in us that is in our flesh there dwelleth no good but sin death and corruption hee tooke upon him this very nature which we have so corrupted sequestring onely the corruption from it that in the nature he might heale the corruption Sixthly he saith he was made or became flesh and not hee was made man lest it should be conceived that Christ assumed a person for he tooke not the person of any man in particular but the nature of man in generall Was made flesh Not by alteration but assumption not by turning of the God-head into flesh but by taking of the Man-hood into God not by leaving what hee was before that is to be God but by taking on him what he was not before that is to be man And the Evangelist saith rather He was made flesh then he assumed it i. e. that he might set out the truth and mystery of the incarnation to the life both for the hypostaticall union of the two natures and their inseparability being so united For first whereas Nestorius said that the word was not that man that was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary but that the Virgin indeed brought forth a man and hee having obtained grace in all kind of vertue had the word of God united unto him which gave him power against uncleane Spirits And so he made two severall Sons and two severall persons of the two natures his Heresie is plainly and strongly confuted by this phrase he was made flesh which by the other he consumed it might have had more pretext and colour Secondly whereas Eâ—tyches Valentiâ—us and otherâ— averred that Christ had not a true humane body but onely a body in appearance This also confuteth them home and taketh away all probability of any such thing which the word assumed might have left more doubtfull since we know that Angels assumed bodies and those bodies were noâ— truly humane So that in this manner of speech The word was made flesh is evidently taught First that there are two distinct natures in Christ the God head and the Man-hood for hee saith not the Word was turned into but was made or became flesh Secondly that these two natures doe not constitute two persons but onely one Christ for he saith hee was made flesh and not assumed it Thirdly that this union is hypostaticall or personall for he saith the
the beginning of the world from Tisri or September so that that yeere was his first yeere and 3929. his second yeere at the which the wise men came to visit him 3930. his third yeere and so 3960. halfe passed or at Easter his two and thirtyeth and an halfe at which age hee dyed And now hee that desireth to know the yeere of the world which is now passing over us this yeere 1644. will finde it to bee 5572. yeeres just now finished since the Creation and the yeere 5573 of the worlds age now newly begunne this September at the Aequinox THE HARMONY OF THE FOVRE EVANGELISTS SECTION I. S. LVKE CHAP. I. The Preface or Epistle Dedicatory The occasion and warranty of Lukes writing the Gospel FORASMVCH as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely beleeved among us 2 Even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and Ministers of the Word 3 It seemed good to mee also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus 4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed Reason of the Order FOrasmuch as none of the Evangelists have made a Preface to their story but onely Luke this of his may serve as a generall one for all the rest And like the beautifull gate of the Temple may bee as an entrance or inlet into the glorious and royall Fabrick of the Gospels Harmony and Explanation Ver. 1. Many have taken in hand HEE condemneth not the undertakings of these men as very many Expositors hold hee doth for first hee saith they had taken in hand a declaration of those things which were most surely beleeved Secondly Hee saith they had done it even as the eye-witnesses and Ministers had delivered it Thirdly Hee maketh his own undertaking of the like nature with theirs when hee saith It seemed good to mee also But hee mentioneth these their writings as only humane Authorities undertaken without the injunction of the Holy Ghost which his divine one was to exclude So the Books of Jasher of Gad of Iddo of the warres of the Lord c. are cited by the Old Testament neither as altogether disapprooved nor yet approoved above humane In the losse of them there perished none of the Canonicall Scriptures but onely the works of men no more did there in the losse of these Vers. 2. Eyewitnesses these were the twelve Apostles Ministers these were the 70 Disciples From their Sermons and Relations many undertook to write Gospels of a godly intention and holy zeale Of which the Evangelist here speaking aimeth neither at the Gospel of Matthew nor Marke though they were written when hee thus speaketh for the first was an eyewitnesse and one of the twelve and the other it is like a Minister or one of the 70◠and so wrote not from the intelligence of others as those did of whom the Evangelist speaketh but by their owne Vers. 3. It seemed good to mee also having had perfect understanding of all things from above For so might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee best translated And so it signifieth John 3. 3. 31. 19. 11. James 1. 17. c. And thus taken it sheweth Lukes inspiration from heaven and standeth in opposition to the many Gospels mentioned ver 1. which were written from the mouthes and dictating of men ver 2. but his intelligence for what hee writeth was from above Most excellent Theophilus In most probability a Nobleman of Antioch and fellow Citizen with Luke converted by Paul at his Preaching there Act. 11. 26. Luke adhered to his Master and forsook him not 2 Tim. 4. 11. but Theophilus staying at Antioch after Pauls departure what hee wanted in verball instructions from the mouth of his Master when hee went away Luke doth in this his Gospel supply by writing that so hee might know the certainty of these things wherein hee had been Catechized Theophilus in Greek is the same in signification with Jedidiah in Hebrew the name of Solomon the Lords Beloved or with glorious title of Abraham the Friend of God And thus was that Prophecy most sweetly fulfilled Esai 60. 14. The sonnes of the afflicters shall come bending to thee c. when in that Town which had been the residence and bare the name of Antiochus the sharpest enemy that ever Israel groaned under the professors of the Gospel were first named Christians and such an Evangelist hath his Originall SECT II. S. JOHN CHAP. 1. The fitnesse and necessity of the second Person in the Trinity his being incarnate and his being the Redeemer rather then either of the other asserted and prooved by his being the Creator the given of the promise and substance and tenor of the types and Prophecies of the Old Testament IN the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 2 The same was in the beginning with God 3 All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made 4 In him was life and the life was the light of men 5 And the light shined in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John 7 The same came for a witnesse to beare witnesse of the Light that all men through him might beleeve 8 Hee was not that Light but was sent to beare witnesse of that light 9 That was the true Light which lighteth every man that commeth into the world 10 Hee was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not 11 Hee came unto his own and his own received him not 12 But as many as received him to them gave hee power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve on his name 13 Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God 14 And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and wee beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Reason of the Order THe Preface being made the story is to begin and that it doth here from Christs Divinity most Divinely For whereas the other Evangelists begin their relations no further back then from the birth or conception of our Saviour or at the furthest of his forerunner John draws the Reader back to behold him in the Old Testament in the Creation of the world and in the promises to the Fathers And therefore this portion is first to bee begun withall and of it selfe will justifie its own order Especially it being considered that the person of Christ is first to bee treated of before his actions and in his person the divine nature which John
and divers of the Papiâ—â—s have more strangely expounded it a 〈◊〉 volens tradâ—cere not willing to taker her to himselfe or to his oâ—ne house and why Because hee thought himselfe unworthy of her society and because the brightnesse of her face was such that he could not looke upon it And he thought it more possible for a woman to conceive without a man then for Mary to sinne And thus will they make Joseph to divorce his wife or at least to use unkindly for her too great excellencies To put her away privily The Law bound him not to bring her either to shame by triall before the Priest Numb 6. or to punishment by the sentence of the Judges The adulteresse indeed was to bee put to death if shee were accused prosecuted and convicted but to accuse and prosecute her the Law bound not but upon deprehension in the very act Joh. 8. 4 5. Deut. 22. 22. Numb 25. 8. If a man tooke a wife and hated her Deut. 22. 1â— hee might bring her to tryall and upon conviction to punishment but it hee love her for all his suspition and will connive at her fault and not seeke her death hee is at liberty to connive and tolâ—â—ated by the Law so to doe and blamelesse if hee did it as Judg. 19. 2 3. But if a couple were deprehended in the act of adultery then must there bee no connivence Deut. 22. 22. explaining Levit. 20. 10. And the case of the unbetrothed Damosell Deut. 22. 28. explaining the case of the betrothed And thus is that question easily answered which hath so toiled many Expositors How Joseph can bee said to be just when in this very matter that is now in hand hee violateth It is answered by denying that hee violated the Law For that tolerated him thus to doe Vers. 21. Jesus for hee shall save Rabenn haccadesh saith Because Mâ—ssias shall save men he shall bee called Joshua But the Heathens of another Nation which shall imbrace the beleefe of him shall call â—is name Jesus And this is intimated in Gen. 49. Chi jabho shilob untill Shilâ—h come Vid. Galatin lib. 3. cap. 20. Vers. 23. Behold a Virgin The Jews seeke to elude this Prophecy of Isaiah by expounding it either of the Prophets wife as Isa. 8. 3. or of the Kings wife and from Prov. 30. 19. they plead that Almah doth not strictly signifie a virgin but a woman that hath knowne a man Answ. 1. There are three words in the Hebrew that signifie and betoken Virginity but this most properly First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Virgin but not alwayes for it properly denoteth a young woman yea though shee bee not a virgin but hath been touched Secondly Bethulah is the common word used to denote Virginity yet as Galatine observeth out of Prov. 30. it seemeth sometime to bee taken otherwise But thirdly Almah properly importeth a young Virgin and not at all one touched So that Naarah signifieth any young Woman though she bee not a Virgin Bethulah a Virgin though shee bee not young but Almah importeth youth and virginity both Secondly the Lxx in the place of Isaiah cited translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denoteth no otherwise then a Virgin Thirdly it is given for a signe to Ahaz that Almah should beare a Sonne now for one that had known a man to doe so were no signe at all See Galatine lib. 7. cap. 15. They shall caâ—l his Name Emmanuel Nomen naturae not impositionis they shall owne him for God in our nature and not denominate him Emmanuel for his imposed name See the like Phrase Esa. 60. 18. Ezek. 4. 35. Which is being interpreted First this and other passages of the same nature in this Evangelist argue strongly that Matthew wrote not his Gospel in the Hebrew tongue as is very commonly held For first then had this word needed no interpretation and it had been very hard to have interpreted it but by the same word againe Secondly the Jewes in those times that Matthew wrote understood not the Hebrew tongue in its purity but had degenerated into the use and speech of the Syrian Thirdly Jonathan Ben Vzziel translated the Prophets out of Hebrew into Chaldee a little before the comming of Christ and Onkelos did as much by the Law a little after and both did so because the Jews could not at that time understand or read the Bible in its owne Hebrew tongue and how improper then was it for Matthew to write his Gospel in that language Fourthly all the world that used the Old Testament at those times unlesse it were such as had gained the Hebrew tongue by study used it in the translation of the Lxx or the Greeke and it was requisite that the Pen-men of the New Testament should write in that language and according to their stile as Paul writing for and to Romanes and Matthew and hee to Hebrewes that their quotations out of the Old Testament might be examined by the Greek Bible Fifthly let those that hold the opinion we are confuting but seriously consider that Christ calleth himselfe by the name of two Greeke letters and why Rev. 1. 8. Verse 25. He knew her not till she had brought forth This properly falleth in order at Luke 2. 7. and there shall it bee taken up againe SECTION V. S. LVKE CHAP. 1. The Birth and Circumcision of John the Baptist and the tongue of his father restored c. Vers. 57. NOw Elisabeths full time came that she should bee delivered and shee brought forth a Son 58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her and they rejoyced with her 59 And it came to passe on the eighth day they came to circumcise the childe and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father 60 And his mother answered and said Not so but hee shall bee called John 61 And they said unto her There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name 62 And they made signes to his father how he would have him called 63 And he asked for a writing table and wrote saying His name is John and they marvailed all 64 And his mouth was opened immediatly and his tongue loosed and hee spake and praised God 65 And feare came on all that dwelt round about them and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill Countrey of Judea 66 And all they that had heard them laid them up in their hearts saying What manner of child shall this bee and the hand of the Lord was with him 67 And his Father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophecied saying 68 Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people 69 And hath raised up a horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 As hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have beene since the
this with the Visions of Jacob and Moses with their flocks Gen. 31. 10. Exod. 3. 3. and of Sampsons mother in the field SS Keeping watch over the flocke by night Greek Keeping the watches of the night For the night was divided by the Jewes into foure watches of three houres a piece The first or beginning of watches is mentioned 〈◊〉 8 19. The second and third Luke 12. 38. The fourth Mat. 14. 25. this was called also the morning watch Exod. 14. 24. Howbeit the Talâ—â—ud from Judg. 7. 19. divideth it only into three Be it the one or the other these Shepheards it seemeth observed such an order as that they watched by course while others slept or not to take it so very strictly they lay now in the fields and watched their flocks all night which had been in a manner impossible to have done in the deepe of winter at which time our Kalendar hath placed Christs Nativity Vers. 9. The glory of the Lord 〈◊〉 c. That is an exceeding great glory for so doe the Hebrewes heighten their expressions as Cedars of the Lord that is goodly Cadars Such an exceeding great glory shone about Paul Act. 26. 13. That at noone day this in the dead of the night Vers. 13. A multitude of the Heavenly best c. It might not unproperly be rendred The multitude as importing that all the Quire of Angels or the whole multitude of that â—â—lestiall Militia was now knit together in a consort for the praises and acknowledgment of Christ according to that of the Apostle Heb. 1. 6. When hee bringeth in the first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him And thus as all the Angels sang at the beginning of the old world of at the Creation Job 38. 7. So doe they at the beginning of the new and of the redemption Angels are called the Heavenly host 1 King 22. 19. Job 25. 3. And in this sense Rab. Menahem understandeth Gen. 2. 1. Thus were the Heavens and the Earth finished and all their Host that is faith hee the Angels whose Creation Moses nameth not elsewhere Vers. 14. Glory to God in the Highest c. The last words of this verse the Vulgar Latine readeth to men of good will contrary to the Syrian Arabicke and to the ancient Greek Copies as appeareth by Greg. Naziâ—nzen Orat. 42. Andreas Jerusolomitanus in Orat. de Salutatione Angeli c. The whole Verse is but one Proposition or Axiome in which the last clause of all is the subject and the two former are predicated of it And it lieth in this sense The good will of God to men shewed in the Incarnation of our Saviour when God himselfe disdained not to take the nature of man is glory to him in the highest and is peace upon the earth And that this is the genuine and proper meaning and posture of the words may be observed First by the conjunction 〈◊〉 And put betweene Glory to God and peace on earth and none between them and good will And secondly the very sense and matter it self inforceth this construction For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beareth the same sense here that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth Mat. 3. 17. and 17. 5. of Gods good-will or will-pleasednesse with men Now secondly this well-pleased nesse of his with men was expressed and evidenced at this time in the birth of our Saviour in that God had assumed the nature of men and it had never been so cleered and demonstrated before So that thirdly the birth of Christ being the occasion of the Angels singing this song the good will of God towards men revealed in this his birth must needs bee the subject of their Song And then fourthly the other two things expressed in the two other clauses glory on High and peace on Earth must needs be understood as Predicates seeing that being laid to this expression of God of his good will towards men they are but as fruits and consequences of it And this reading and construction how facil and plaine is it in comparison of these intricacies and obscurities that those readings bring with them that either breake the verse into three distinct axiomes or into two or that read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Genitive case or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Dative as may bee seene in Expositors Now how the good-will and well-pleasednesse of God towards men exhibited and shewed in the incarnation and birth of our Saviour did glorifie God in the highest in all his attributes of wisedome truth justice power mercy c. And how it wrought peace on earth betwixt man and himselfe and man and Angels and man and man and man and his owne coâ—â—cience might bee shewed at large if wee were common placing in stead of commenting Ver. 21. And when eight daies were accomplished for the circumcising c. It was necessary that Christ should bee circumcised that hee might both beare the badge of a childe of Abraham and have upon him an obligation to the keeping of the Law For hee that was circumcised was a debter to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. Ver. 22. And when the dayes of her purification c. At forty daies old Levit. 12. 1 2 3 4. the Lord commeth to his owne Temple and by an old man and an old woman is proclaimed both to young and old that expected redemption Herod had heard no tidings of him as yet by the Wisemen for otherwise this had beene an opportunity for him to have put in practice his bloody and malicious intent Mary is purified according to the custome of the Law although shee had contracted no pollution by her childing and bringing forth partly that Christ in nothing might bee wanting to the Law and partly that this might bee an occasion for the first publicke declaration of him by Simeon and Anna. Ver. 25. A man whose name was Simeon This Simeon seemeth to bee hee whom the Jewish Authours name for the son of Hillel and who was the first that bare the title of Rabban the highest title that was given to their Doctors and which was given but to seven of them Hillel was the famous head or principall of that Schoole that is so renowned in the Jewish Authours by the name of Beth Hillel Out of which as they relate there came thousands of Schollers but fourescore especially of most renowne Hillel the old they are the words of the Talmud had fourescore Schollers Thirty of them were fit on whom the divine Majesty should rest as it did on Moses Thirty of them were worthy for whom the Sun should stand still as it did for Joshua and twenty were of a middle râ—â—â—e between The greatest of them all was Jonathan ben Uzziel that Paraphrased the Prophets in the Chaldee tongue and the lowest of them was Johanan the son of Zaccai Such a Father had this our Simeon and so renowned but himselfe infinitely were renowned in the thing that is now in
this Story after our Saviours presentation in the Temple yea and to suppose him to bee two yeeres old or thereabout when the Wisemen came because the text saith in plaine termes That Herod sem and slew the children from two yeeres old and under according to the time that he had diligently inquired of the Wisemen Now his inquiry was of the time of the Starres appearing Vers. 7. and he slew from two yeeres old and under according to the time that he had inquired and therefore how can it be thought otherwise then that it was two yeeâ—es or thereabout since the starre appeared and consequently so long since Christ was borne But that this may appeare past all exception and that the opinions that bring the wisemen to Christ before his presentation in the Temple for there are two severall ones to that purpose that of the thirteenth day mentioned before and another of some that hold they came not so soone as on that day but yet within the forty dayes of Maries lying in or before her Purification let it not be too tedious to the Reader to take a view of all the Arguments that are or can bee used for ought I yet understand either for the confirmation of the two opinions which we refuse viz. of the Wisemens comming before Christ was forty dayes old or for the overthrow of this which we imbrace that he was two yeeres old or thereabout Object 1. The very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Vers. 1. doth import that his birth was but newly past being of that nature as to signifie a thing but very lately done or even in doing Answ. This Grammaticall observation is not constantly and currently true For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 1. 18. a word of the very same tense and forme yet signifieth it a thing done above a quarter of a yeere before and the word it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our daily Creed and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. speake of things past sixteene hundred yeeres agoe Object 2. The Starre appeared two yeeres before our Saviours birth but the Wisemen came not to him till thirteene dayes after Answ. This Argument is used by some but those but a few not considering how impossible it was that the Wisemen should know the exact time of his birth but by the time of the Starres appearing And it is not only the generall opinion even of all but also dictated by reason it self that the Star was not the Harbinger of his birth much lesse so long before but the concomitant and attendant upon it Object 3. The Wisemen came while Mary lay in at Bethlehem but Herod either in policy or for some other occasion deferred the murder of the children till two yeeres after Answ. This both the Text and common sense contradicteth For first in Reason what policy could there be in deferring when the longer he forbare the harder it would bee for him to find him for whom he sought Secondly the Text telleth that assoone as hee saw himselfe mocked by the Wisemen he fell to the murdering of the children and he might see whether hee were mocked by them or not within a short space after their departure from him at Jerusalem Object 4. In that speech of the Evangelist Herod slew all the male children from two yeeres old and under according to the time that hee had inquired of the Wisemen the latter words according to the time that hee had inquired have relation to the words and under and to the words from two yeeres old For this seemeth to bee added by the Evangelist to this purpose that he might signifie that all under two yeeres old were not slain but onely those that were there-about and which were borne before the Starres appearing and not after For hee thought not that this royall child was borne after it appeared But all that were about two yeeres old hee slew lest if happily Christ had been borne before it appeared or miraculously growne above the quality of such an age he might have escaped out of his hands And therefore as hee dilated his murther for place comprehending the coasts of Bethlehem under the cruelty as well as the Towne it self so also did he it for a time slaying those that were borne before the Starres appearing as wel as at it Answ. This as Baronius confesseth is a new found glosse upon that Text and hee tooke himselfe for the inventor of it till he met with it in Jansenius who like a great wit had jumped with him Both straining the utmost of their invention to gild over their Kalendar tenet of the Wisemens comming on the thirteenth day But first to omit the strange shape and uncouthnesse of this Exposition which easily sheweth it selfe to any eye that is not bleered with prejudice and partiality As also secondly their confident scrutiny and knowledge of Herods thoughts Let it but thirdly be weighed in the ballance of indifferency what colour of sense or equality of policy can be seen in this carriage of Herod to slay all that were born two yeeres before the Starre and none of a day after or very few For might hee not suspect thâ—â—â—he Starre was a fore-runner of the birth as well as a consequent and that Christ might bee borne a weeke or fortnight after it as well as before Judge therefore how these men that hold and that truly that it appeared but just at Christs birth can handsomely stitch that opinion and this together Object 5. But the wisemen found Christ at Bethlehem and what should hee doe there at two yeeres old For S. Luke also saith Chap. 2. 29. that when Joseph and Mary had performed all things according to the Law he meaneth at the time of her purification when Christ was now but forty dayes old they departed to Nazareth So that if the wisemen came after these forty daies they must have found Christ at Nazareth and not at Bethlehem Answ. And first to the question How came he to be at Behelehem at two yeeres old An answer hath been framed to this long agoe by some few that have been of this opinion that we imbrace namely that some of the three festivals in which every male was to appeare before the Lord drew his Parents and him with them to Jerusalem and they tooke Bethlehem in the way and there the wisemen find him A resolution with which if there were no other to be had one might rest satisfied reasonably well yet a more serious searching into the Text will give a more warrantable reason and better assurance then this which is but mens supposall And that is this that as the parents of Jesus knew that it was necessary that he should be born in Bethlehem because of the Prophecy that had told of it before so also did they think it as necessary that he should live and be brought up there because of his alliance to the house of David And from thence they durst not remove him till they
and usuall division of the Old Testament by the Hebrews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Oraictha Nebbyim Chetubhim The Law the Prophets and the Holy writs approved and followed by our Saviour Luk. 24. 44. and alluded to by the Evangelist here Before thy face c. Thy way before thee The former is neither in the Hebrew nor in the Lxx at all the latter is in them both but clean contrary for they both have it The way before mee But First the Evangelists and Apostles when they take on them to cite any Text from the Old Testament are not so punctuall to observe the exact and strict forme of words as the pith of them or sense of the place as might bee instanced in many particulars so that the difference of the words would not prejudice the agreement in sense were there not so flat difference of person as mee and thee Secondly The Majesty of Scripture doth often shew it selfe in requoting of places in this that it alledgeth them in difference of words and difference of sense yea sometimes in contrarietie not to make one place to crosse or deny another but by the variety one to explaine and illustrate another as in corresponding places in the Old Testament might bee shewed at large as Gen. 10. 22 23. cited 1 Chron. 1. 17. Gen. 36. 12. compared with 1 Chron. 1. 36. 1 Sam. 25. 44. paralleled 2 Sam. 21. 8. 2 Chron. 3. 15. with Jer. 52. 21. and very many other places of the like nature wherein the Holy Ghost having penned a thing in one place doth by variety of words and sense inlarge and expound himselfe in another And the same divine authority and Majesty doth hee also use in the New Testament both in parallell places in it selfe and in citations in it from the Old So that this difference in hand betwixt My face in Malachi and thy face in Mark is not contradictory or crossing one another but explicatory or one explaining another and both together do result to the greater mystery For Christ is the face or presence of the Father and so is hee plainly called Exod. 33. 14. and in Christ the Father came and revealed himselfe among men and the words in both places both in the Prophet and in the Evangelist are to bee taken for the words of the Father in the one spoken of the Sonne and in the other to him In Malachi thus Behold I send my Messenger before mee to prepare the way before my face that is before the Sonne as hee is in his own nature the very brightnesse of the glory of the Father and the expresse image of his person Heb. 1. 3. and in Marke thus to prepare the way before thy face that is before thee O Sonne when thou commest to undertake the work of redemption and to publish the Gospel And this change of persons in Grammaticall construction is usuall in the Hebrews eloquence and Rhetorique as 1 Sam. 2. 23. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord I rejoyce in thy Salvation There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee c. Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon mee whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Luk. 3. ver 1. In the fifteenth yeere of Tiberius Caesar. This Tiberius was the third Emperour of the Romanes the son of Livia the wife of Augustus and by him adopted into the family of the Caesars and to the Empire A man of such subtilty cruelty avarice and bestiality that for all or indeed for any of these few stories can shew his parallell And as if in this very beginning of the Gospel hee were produced of such a constitution to teach us what to look for from that cruell and abominable City in all ages and successions Now Tiberius his fifteenth was the yeere of the world 3957. And the time of the yeere that John began to Baptize in it was about Easter or the vernall equinox as may bee concluded from the time of the Baptisme of our Saviour For if Jesus were baptized in Tisri or September as is cleered hereafter hee being then but just entring upon his thirtieth yeere as the Law required Numb 4. And if John being six moneths elder then our Saviour as it is plaine hee was did enter his Ministery at the very same age according to the same Law it readily follows that the time mentioned was the time when hee began to Preach It was indeed Tiberius his fifteenth when John began to baptize but it may very well bee questioned whether it were so when our Saviour was baptized by him For the exact beginning of every yeere of Tiberius his reign was from the fourteenth of the Kalends of September or the eighteenth of August at what time Augustus dyed Sueton in Aug. cap. 100. That fifteenth of the Emperour therefore in the Spring time of which John began to baptize was expired before September when our Saviour was baptized and so his baptisme is to bee reputed in the yeere of the world 3958. which was then but newly begunne and in the sixteenth yeere of Tiberius but newly begun neither unlesse you will reckon the yeere of the Emperour as the Romanes did the yeere of the Consuls from January to January But this wee will not controvert nor crosse the common and constant opinion of all times that holdeth our Saviour to have been baptized in Tiberius his fifteenth SS Pontius Pilate being governour of Judea Hee is called Procurator Judeae by Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. and hath this brand set upon him by Egisippus that hee was Vir nequam parvi facient mendacium De excid Jeruf l. 2. c. 5. A wicked man and one that made little conscience of a lie from which unconscionable disposition those words of his What is truth Joh. 18. 38. seem to proceed in scorn of truth and derision of it Hee succeeded Gratus in the government of Judea managed it with a great deale of troublesomenesse and vexation to the nation and at last was put out of his rule by Vitellius and sent to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours Joseph Antiq. lib. 18. c. 3 4 5. Philo in legatione SS Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee This was Antipas the sonne of Herod the great and called also Herod after his Father a man that after a long and wicked misdemeanour in his place was at last banished by Caius upon the accusation of his Nephew Herod Agrippa and Herodias his incestuous mate with him as shall bee shewed in a more proper place SS Tetrarch Some tying themselves too strictly to the signification of the Greek word understand by Tetrarch him that governeth the fourth part of a Kingdome for the Originall word includeth foure and accordingly have concluded that the Kingdome of Herod the great was divided by Augustus after his death into foure parts and given to his foure Sonnes Archelaus in whose roome they say succeeded
and equally strained is the Exposition of Augustine that John knew indeed that hee was the Christ and that it was hee that should baptize with the holy Ghost but till hee saw the descending of the holy Ghost hee knew not that it was onely bee that should baptize with the holy Ghost or that hee reserved the propriety of the power of baptizing to himselfe alone and did not communicate it to his Ministers And this propriety the Schooles make to consist in these foure particulars 1. That hee reserved to himselfe the power of instituting baptisme though hee communicated the power of baptizing to others 2. That hee can conferre the grace or effect of Baptisme without the administration of the Sacrament which the Ministers cannot 3. That hee giveth efficacy to baptisme by his death 4. That baptisme is administred and given in his name Which glosse as the Father strained out of the Text to retort upon the Donatists that maintained that this Sacrament administred by a wicked minister availed nothing so is it but strained and that strangely too for how can it possibly bee collected that John should collect any such thing from the descending of the holy Ghost Fifthly More plausible is their resolution that hold that John knew Christ indeed in some measure before his baptisme but not so fully as after when the holy Ghost descended But Sixthly a plenary and sufficient satisfaction to the question may bee had by these three observations First That John though hee knew the mystery of the incarnation of the Messias and his excellent and divine graces and that hee was neere at hand yet had hee never seen his face till now nor knew hee him by sight till hee came to bee baptized Secondly That then hee knew him by a present revelation as Samuel knew Saul 1 Sam. 9. 15. 17. For if in his Mothers womb hee leaped at the approach of Christ in the womb◠of his Mother much more may it bee conceived that by the revelation of the Spirit hee knew him and acknowledged him now Thirdly That the signe which was given him when hee beganne to baptize On whomsoever thou shalt see the holy Ghost descend c. was not given him for his first knowledge of Christ but for the confirmation of that knowledge that hee had of him before and for his assurance and confidence to point him out unto the people And such a one was the signe given to Moses Exod. 3. 12. not for his first instruction that hee was sent by God but for his confirmation in that wherein hee was before instructed nor that neither so much for himselfe as for the people SS I have need to bee baptized of thee Hee meaneth not with the baptisme of water which hee himselfe administred to others but with the baptisme of the holy Ghost For first Christ himselfe baptized none with water at all Joh. 4. 2. but referred the administration of this Sacrament to others Secondly the Baptisme wherewith hee baptized was of the holy Ghost ver 11. and it cannot bee doubted that when John speaketh of beeing baptized by Christ hee meaneth the proper baptisme wherewith Christ baptized Thirdly it is not consonant to reason that John should complaine of the want of that which hee so plentifully afforded unto others but though hee himselfe were not baptized in water yet his speciall deputation from God to bee the first and chiefe batized made that hee needed it not Fourthly bee it granted that John speaketh of baptizing with water as some Commentators would have it yet are not his words to bee understood simply of any absolute necessity that hee had of baptisme but comparatively betwixt him and Christ that it was fitter that hee should bee baptized by Christ then Christ by him For so the phrase I have need is used not alwayes to import necessity but sometimes conveniency And so doth the Rabbin word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indifferently signifie and diverse words that signifie necessity in other tongues Ver. 15. Suffer it to bee so now The Emphasis of this clause is held to bee in the word now As shewing that howsoever Christ was the Sonne of God and should in time reveale himselfe mightily so to bee as Rom. 1. 4. yet now the time required that that his glory should bee veiled under his humiliation and his divinity concealed till its proper season to bee revealed This exposition is as currant as any among Expositors how substantiall let the Reader judge For First the baptizing of Christ by John was not so great a meanes to veile his Divinity as it was to reveale it for then hee had the testimony from Heaven that hee was the Sonne of God Secondly there needeth no other reason to bee looked after why Christ saith suffer it to bee so now then what hee himselfe giveth in the very next words following For thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse The word now as it lyeth in the English might bee taken for the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ordinary in the Hebrew words of intreating or perswasion and might very well also suite with that sense here if the Lxx translated them but by the Greek word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but they doe not therfore may wee the more justly suppose the word to bee emphaticall in some respect and the respect seemeth to bee this Whereas John had told the people before of Christs baptizing with the holy Ghost and had told Christ in the verse preceding that hee had need of that baptisme to that it is that our Saviour giveth this answer Suffer it to bee so now as meaning thus That it was true indeed that hee was hee that should come after him and hee that should baptize with the holy Ghost of which baptisme John had more need from him then hee of Johns yet the time of that his baptizing was not yet come for first must hee fulfill all the righteousnesse required of himselfe before hee was to powre out or bestow that baptisme of the Spirit upon others And therefore must John suffer him to bee baptized now with the baptisme of water for that baptisme of his with the Spirit was not yet to bee exhibited SS For thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnesse The greatest doubt and difficulty in this clause is what our Saviour meaneth here by righteousnesse which being resolved upon the other smaller words and lesse scrupulous in it will offer themselves the more readily to bee understood First Hilary though somewhat obscurely seemeth to construe it of the righteousnesse of the Law for by him saith hee all righteousnesse was to bee fulfilled by whom alone the Law could bee fulfilled Secondly but Hierome speakes it out more plainly and fully and understandeth it of all righteousnesse of the Law and of nature either of which indeed were not a◠unproper glosse to bee applyed unto Christ alone but since the word us joyneth the Baptist
descending of the Holy Ghost was first partly for the sake of John for this token had been given him when hee first began to preach and baptize whereby to know Christ when hee should come Joh. 1. 33. Secondly partly for Christ that hee might thus receive his consecration and institution for the Office that hee was now to enter upon the preaching of the Gospell This was as his anointing to install him into his function as Aaron and his Sonnes were with materiall oyle to enter them into theirs as Isa. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee therefore hath hee anointed mee hee hath sent mee to Preach the Gospel And Thirdly partly for the businesse and matter that was now to goe in hand namely Christ beginning to preach accordingly For First the Gospel is the Spirituall Kingdom and Scepter of Christ in and by which hee was to rule all Nations for ever and therefore it was agreeable that the Spiritualnesse of that should bee sealed and confirmed by the holy Spirits shewing himselfe even in the beginning of it The carnall rites of Moses were now to vanish and his corporall and ceremoniall observances to bee changed into a spirituall worship and neither at Jerusalem nor at mount Gerizim nor elsewhere must there bee any more adoration with fleshly and earthly Ceremoniousnesse but hee that will worship God must worship him in spirit as Joh. 4. 21. Therefore it is no wonder if the Holy Ghost do now reveale himselfe now when his sway of spirituality and dominion by sanctification is to begin Secondly The Holy Ghost was departed from Israel after the death of the last Prophets as was observed before and now hee is to bee restored againe therefore himselfe commeth visibly and apparently at this his restoring and lighteth upon him to whom it belonged to give and distribute the gifts of the Spirit to whom hee pleased For as John had told that Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost so is that power and priviledge now sealed unto him in the sight of John when the Holy Ghost commeth down upon him and there abideth SS Descended in a bodily shape God is said to descend not that hee moveth from place to place or commeth where hee was not before for hee is incircumscriptible and every where and filleth all places but in that hee sheweth this his presence upon earth in such or such a place by some externall sign and visible apparence And so hee is said to come downe to see whether the wickednesse of Sodome were according to the cry that was come up unto him because hee revealed himselfe to Abraham Lot and the Sodomites in the visible and conspicuous representation of men So is hee said to have come down upon Mount Sinai because of the outward revealing and expression of his presence there And so the Chaldee Paraphrast understandeth the Trinities descending Gen. 11. 5. for a conspicuous appearance of it for hee translateth The Lord revealed himself to take vengeance c. And so is the Holy Ghost said to descend in this story and in that in Act. 2. not but that hee was present in the same places before by his power and Godhead but that hee revealed and expressed his presence by so sensible an evidence and by and in so revealed a worke SS In a bodily shape First It was convenient that the Holy Ghost should reveale himselfe at this time First for the sake of John who was to have a sensible signe whereby to informe him which was the Messias as Joh. 1. Secondly In regard of the Holy Ghost himselfe whose worke in the Church was now in a more speciall and frequent manner to bee shewed under the Gospel namely that hee might bee expressed and revealed to bee a personall substance and not an operation of the Godhead onely or qualitative vertue For qualities operations and acts cannot assume bodily shapes nor ought but what is in it selfe substantiall Thirdly That a full and cleere yea even a sensible demonstration of the Trinity might bee made at this beginning of the Gospel For it may bee observed in Scripture that the Holy Ghost hath a speciall regard to expresse this mystery upon singular occasions that we might learne to acknowledge the three Persons in one Godhead as hee also doth the two natures of Christ that wee might acknowledge them in one person So the very first thing that is taught in all the Bible is this very mystery For when Moses beginneth the story of the creation hee beginneth also to teach that the three Persons in the Trinity were co-workers in it God Created there is the Father God said there is the Word or the Sonne And the Spirit of God moved there is the Holy Ghost And the very same mystery is intimated by the Prophet treating upon the very same Subject Isa. 42. 5. Thus saith God the Lord hee that created the Heavens and they that stretched them out That wee might learne that Of him through him and to him the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost are all things Rom. 11. 36. So Moses also when hee is to teach concerning the creation of man hee first teacheth that it was the Trinity that created him Gen. 1. 26. And God said Let us make man after our Image Hee saith Let us to shew the Trinity of Persons and hee saith In our Image not in our Images to shew the unity of essence That every man even from the reading of the story of his Creation might learn to remember his Creators in the dayes of his youth as Solomon with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boraiecha answereth the same mystery Eccles. 12. 1. So likewise at the confusion of tongues the Trinity is expressed Gen. 11. 7. Let us goe down and confound their language as it is also at the gift of tongues I will send the Comforter from the Father Joh. 15. 26. Act. 1. 4. Such a one also was the blessing pronounced by the Priest upon the people when hee dismissed them from the daily service of the Temple in the name of the Trinity Num. 6. 24 25 26. the name Jehovah or the Lord three times repeated for denotation of the three Persons as Paul explaineth it 2 Cor. 13. 13. When Moses also beginneth to rehearse the Law to Israel and to explaine it the first thing hee teacheth them is the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity Deut. 6. 4. Heare O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one Three words answering the three Persons and the middle word our God deciphering fitly the second who assumed our nature as is well observed by Galatinus To these may bee added the entrance of Moses his revelation with the name of the Lord three times rehearsed Exod. 34. 6. The Vision of Esay with three Holies Isa. 6. 3. The beginning of Psal. 50. and of Psal. 136. and many again of the like nature which the heedfull reader will observe himself How fitting then was it that at the beginning of
hath revealed my secrets to the 〈◊〉 of men And when he went about to explaine the 〈◊〉 or the bookeâ— of Holy Writ there came a Bath Kol or a divine voyce againe 〈◊〉 said It is enough What is the reason Because in them it revealed the end of the Messias In Megillah Now here it may bee doubly questioned First why they called it Bath Kol The Daughter of a voyce and not a voyce it selfe And secondly whether this voyce that wee have in hand were such a voyce as that or no To the first if the strictnesse of the Hebrew word Bath bee to bee stood upon which it alwayes is not it may bee answered that it is called the Daughter of a voyce in relation to the Oracle of Vrim and Thummim for whereas that was a voyce given from off the Mercy Seate within the vaile and this upon the decay of that Oracle came as it were in its place it might not unfitly nor unproperly bee called a Daughter or successor of that voyce But to the second and which is more materiall and pertinent to the subject in hand it may bee answered that this voyce was not of the nature of their Bath Kol upon these two reasons First because this voyce came descendingly from heaven but their Bath Kol cannot bee proved to have descended or at least to have constantly come from heaven For the 〈◊〉 hinc which gave warning of the destruction of the City came not from above but from the Temple as Isa. 66. 6. And this can hardly bee denyed to have been one of their Bath Kol voyces And if wee will beleeve the Jewish Authours in every place where they give examples of this their Bath Kol it will appeare rather to bee such a voyce as came to Samuel which was so farre from a perpendicular descending that hee could not distinguish whether it were the call of â—li Secondly because whereas the Jewes repute their Bath Kol both the last and the lowest kind of divine revelation among them this kinde of a voyce from heaven was both ancient as Gen. 21. 17. and 22. 11. and also most honourable Exod. 20. 22. Deut. 4. 33. 36 SS From Heaven The opinion that these words were spoken by an Angell deputed by God for that purpose which some do hold is not onely improper but also dangerous improper because it crosseth a plain and facile Text and dangerous because it bringeth a created Angell into a kind of equality and compartnership with the sacred Trinity For First Why should there bee any surmise of such an Angell uttering these words unlesse it might bee thought that God could not utter them himselfe Secondly as Paul saith To which of the Angels said God at any time Thou art my Sonne so may it bee said much more which of the Angels ever durst or might call Christ his Sonne Thirdly Peter speaking of the Parallel or like voyce to this which was uttered at our Saviours transfiguration hee saith it came from the excellent glory which doubtlesse sheweth more then from an Angell 2 Pet. 1. 17. Mat. 3. Ver. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased In Marke and Luke it is Thou art my beloved Son c. whereas Matthew expresseth it This is which though it shew some difference yet is it not materiall nor doth the difference breed so much difficulty as it doth satisfaction to the Reader and fulnesse to the story For the two Evangelists first named relate it as spoken to Christ for the sealing of his person and in answer to his prayer but the other expresseth it onely as spoken of Christ and not to him but pointing him out to the notice of John Now this whole speech is taken from 2 Sam. 7. 14. Psal. 89. 26 27. and Isa. 42. 1. and when it is uttered again from heaven at our Saviours transfiguration this addition Heare him is put to it Mat. 17. 5. Luk. 9. 35. sealing him then for the great Prophet of his Church whom all must heare Deut. 18. 15. as it sealeth him now for the high Priest of his Church being now to enter into his Ministery Luk. 3. Ver. 23. And Jesus himselfe beganne to bee about thirty yeeres of age Agreeable to this age of Christ when hee beganne his Ministery was the age of the Priests when they entred their Office Numb 4. 3. the age of Joseph when hee came to promotion Gen. 41. 46. and the age of David when hee began to Reigne 2 Sam. 5. 4. Now how this is to bee understood is some controversie Some there are that take it thus that Jesus was now fully and perfectly thirty Others thus that hee now beganne or drew on to bee full thirty and so preaching three yeeres and six moneth that hee dyed at thirty three yeeres old and an halfe But this interpretation the phrase used by the Evangelist and the common and ordinary manner of the Scriptures reckoning of the ages of men and of other things doth sufficiently contradict For First in that Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee was baptized beginning to bee as it were thirty the word beginning to bee denyeth his being thirty compleat and the word as it were denyeth his drawing upon thirty compleate likewise For if hee were full thirty then hee beganne not to bee so and if hee were drawing on to full thirty then was hee not drawing to as it were thirty but to thirty indeed By the phrase therefore is to bee understood that hee was now nine and twenty yeeres of age compleat and just now entring upon his thirtieth and this the Evangelist hinteth so clearely that it needeth not much confirmation For that hee was in his thirty current and not compleated is plaine by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were thirty that is thirty yeeres old after a certain reckoning and that hee was but now entring upon this his thirty current is as plain by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee began but to bee so To which also secondly may bee added the common and current use of Scripture in reckoning of ages either of men or beasts to account the yeere which they are now passing for a yeere of their age bee it never so newly or lately begun Examples of this it is needlesse to give the thing is so usuall and obvious to every eye So that now to take up the times of the world and of our Saviour according to this computation they result to this First That since hee was borne in the yeere of the world 3928. stilo veteri but newly begunne hee was baptized in the yeere of the world 3957. but newly begunne by the same stile likewise Secondly That since hee was borne in Tisri hee was also baptized in Tisri Thirdly That since his last residence in Bethlehem to his first appearing publickly in the worke of the Gospell were full seven and twenty yeeres all which time hee had lived either in Nazareth the Town of his
18. * or Priviledge dignity or licence as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ— used 1 Cor. 8. 9. and 9. 5 6. 〈◊〉 5. 4. Mat. 7. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eâ—h 8. Apollinaris from this clause the word became flesh would wickedly conclude that the word assumed not an humane soule but onely humane flesh and that the Godhead served that flesh instead of a reasonable soule Confuted Luke 5. 52. Mat. 26. 38. †Herod written with Cheth in the beginning signifieth feare or trembling as the trembling cowardise of Gedeons souldiers named the well Harod Judg. 7. 1. c. But the Syr and Arab. write this with He. a John Baptist of the Priestly line both by Father and Mother b The Seventy call the wife of Aaron the first Priest by the same Name Exod. 6. 23. c Such couples were Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebeccah Elkâ—nah and Hannah both righteous and a long time childlesse d Throughout the Scripture want of Children is ascribed to the woman e An Hebraisme as Gen. 18. 11. 1 Kings 1. 1. c. f The Worship of God in the Temple was said to Hee before him Exod 23. 17. Lev. 1. 3. 11. And the ARke being the representation of Christ is called his face Psal 105. 4. yea even God himselfe Psalme 132. 5. ¶ Compare the appearing of the Angel Gabriel to Daniel about the time of Incense Dan. 9. 21. g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Lxx. to expresse Pharaohs trouble upon his dreame Gen. 41. â— and his Servants upon theirs Gen. 40. 6. Compare Judg. 6. 22. 13. 22. Dan. 8. 17. Job 4. 14. h As Gen. 15. 12. †John the same with Jochanan so frequent in the Old Testament 〈◊〉 Chron. 3. 19. 6 9. 12. 12. 26. 3. and 2 Chron 17. 15. 23. 1. and 28. 12. Jer. 40. 8. i As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 3. 12. The Arab. addeth thou shalt have great joy k As Gen. 21. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Lxx. for it Lev. 10. 9. Numb 6. 3. Esa. 5. 11. and 28 7. c. which sometimes signifieth Wine as Num 28. 7. but most commonly any thing that will cause drunkennesse Wine of fourty dayes old is called Shikar saith R. Menehem on Lev. 10. and so the Chaldee paraphraseth it Numb 6. 3. and 8. 7. Judg. 13. 4. But any thing that will make one drunke is called Shekar whether it bee made of Corne Honey or Fruits Ab. Ezr. on Lev 10. P. Kâ—â—nch in Miclol Brucioli his Italian and the French expresse it by Cerevisia Ale or Beere ¶ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Moses Act. 7. 20. Jer. 1. 5. m Heb. Elijahu 1 King 17. c. and there turned by the Lxx Eliâ—n but in Mal 4. 5. the Hebr. hath it Eliah and the Lxx. Elias ¶ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In or by the wisdome n As Gen. 18. 1. o Dan. 8. 2. 9. 21. p This â—elateth to his assuming a visible shape q So a signe is given to 〈◊〉 with a Behold Isa. 7. 14. compare Ezek. 3. 26. r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 2. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8 23. * At the fist burning of Incense the Priests miscarried Lev. 10. and thus that rite which the Jews value for the highest of all legall offerings beginneth with ignorance and concludeth with unbeliefe Prophecy was struck dumbe a great while agoe and now is the Priesthood so as well as it ¶ Observe the same space Gen. 7. 24. if cast into moneths and Rev. 9. 5. * So read also the Syrian and Arab. though the words on me be not expressed in the originall unles included in the preposition in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s See 1 King 9. 11. Isa. 9. 1. and in the Lxx in Joel 3. 4. Ezek 47. 8. †This dalleth to remembrance the old renowned Patriarch Joseph Gen. 37. both of them were sent into Egypt and both by dreames and there the one nourished his Father and the other his redeemer There were also of this name Joseph of Arimathâ—â— Joseph surnamed Justus * Gr Marriam by which word the Lxx render the name of Moses sister Exod. 15. c. The name plainly and properly signifieth both their rebellion and their bitter affliction for the wickednesse of Israel in Egypt had brought them into great misery when Miriam was so named v Gen. 6. 9. 1 He useth the common manner of speech among the Hebrews as Gen. 4. 1. c. to shew the true conception and reall birth of our Saviour Confuting that Heresie That hee came through the Virgins wombe as through a Conduit Pipe without partaking of her nature And that That he was not really borne but fanastically onely and in appearance These words referre to Isa. 7. 14. 2 Shall be called the Son of the Highest that is shall bee his Son as Isa. 1. 2. and 4. 3. and shall be so confessed 3 Gen. 14. 19. 4 Jehovah Elohim 5 Isa. 2. 5. 6 Isa. 9 7. Dan. 7. 14. Mic. 4. 7. Psal. 145. 14. Heb. 7. 17. 7 How in Scripture is sometime a strong asseveration or negation Lam. 1. 1. Gen. 39. 9. and 44. 34. sometime a question of doubting as Job 6. 52. and 3. 5. And sometime a question of ignorance onely without diffidence or a question desiring information or resolution as Joh. 7. 15. Luke 20. 44. And so is it here for the Virgin beleeveth the thing Verse 45. but desired to bee satisfied of the manner for she â—â—ith not How can 〈◊〉 How shall this be 8 A modest phrase for carnall copulation First used of Adam presently after the relation of his eating of the â—ee of knowledge Gen. 4. 1. as if it would shew that all the knowledge he gained by that was but carnall he knew his wife and experimental of misery they knew they were naked 9 Borne of thee so read the Syr. Arab. Justin Martyr in Dial. Nazianz. Orat. 59 Aponius in Cantic Titus in Loc. c. but some copies dangerously want it as the Text of Theophylact H. Steven 1604. of Amsterdam 1632 Erasmus c. 10 The certaine bond of their kindred cannot be determined but Elisabeth or her mother might be sister to Maries father or mother or Maries mothers might be so to hers or to Zacharie or his However it sheweth that Christ and John the Baptist were neerely allyed according to the flesh yet John knew him not till hee was revealed to him by the Spirit 11 Gen. 18. 11. 12 The division of Judea is famous and frequent into the mountaines the plaine and the South Numb 13. 30. Jer. 32. 44. c. The South lay towards Seir and Amalek from the inlets into the Land at the utmost part or the dead Sea having the Philistines upon the west This part reacht to the rising of the mountaines not farre below Hebron and there the mountaines began and ran along
Northward to and beyond Jerusalem having the flat or the plaine of Jordan skirting up all along upon their Eastside till Samaria and Galilee brought in another denomination 13 Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same to some with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which with Physitians importeth the childs stirring in the wombe as every live child doth more or lesse but this is a word of an higher activity and motion Plato in Pol. 9. useth it to expresse the â—â—ascivious fancies of men or women in their dreams when that part of the soule saith hee which is rationall gentle and master of reason is laid asleep then the other which is bestiall and brutish being puffed up with meats and drinks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leapeth or frisketh and putting away sleepe from it doth seeke to satisfie its owne desires 14 The Messias shall be blessed with six blessings viz. with the spirit of wisdome understanding counsell strength knowledge and feare of the Lord R. Solom on Ruth 3. 15. and the Chaldee Paraph. there 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this here translates not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Psal. 110. 1. 16 Vulg. lat Blessed art thou that didst beleeve mistaking as lansenius conceiveth the Grammaticall spirit in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reading it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17 Or That there shall be a performance for so doth the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifie as Job 3. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I might sucke so Psal. 11. 3. The wicked bend their bow c. That the foundations may bee destroyed which the righteous hath made 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes is used for setting apart to holy use as in the Lxx Exod. 29. and christian Writers use it sometimes for Baptisme and Martyrdome because they consecrate men to God It is used of Christ Heb. 2. 10. 19 Ludolphius upon this place observeth to little purpose that the Virgin is found in Scripture speaking but seven times 20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mighty one A full and proper sense of the word Elohim which the Lxx indeed and the New Testament after them have constantly expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the mystery of the Trinity included in it Gibbor applyed to God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Lxx Psal. 24. 8. * Psal. 103. 17. 21 Psal. 8. 10. 13. and 98. 1. and 136. 12. Esa. 53. 1. 22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 5. 13. 1 Cor 3. 10. Gen. 11. 8. 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Lxx Isa 41. 9. from which verse this seemeth to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Arme Psal. 83. 9. and a Shield Psal. 89. 18. 24 Greek To remember Syr. and Arab. And remembred his mercy 25 This hath so good dependance upon severall words that it is hard to fix it First as he spake for ever or in all ages to our Fathers Secondly to the seed of Abraham which shall last for ever Thirdly He hath for ever remembred his mercy Fourthly that mercy which is for ever Fifthly which is to bee shewed to Abraham and to his Seed for ever and this last or the two last together are most proper †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Lxx 1 Chro. 9. 33. to translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chambers of the Temple if it be not mis-written * On Gen. 7. The first Moneth The second Moneth From the middle of our September to the middle of October Part of October part of November The third Moneth The 〈◊〉 Moneth Part of December part of January Part of November part of December The fifth Moneth The 〈◊〉 Moneth Part of February part of March. Part of January and part of February Tâ—â— first Moneth stilo novo The 〈◊〉 Moneth stilo 〈◊〉 Part of Aprill 〈◊〉 of May. Part of March and part of Aprill The third Moneth stilo novâ— The fourth Moneth stilo novâ— Part of June part of July Part of May part of June The fifth Moneth stilo novo The sixth Moneth stilo novo Part of August part of September Part of July and part of August †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Lxx for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 7. 1 and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 1. 1. Thus Emphaticall and giveth a cleere resolution of this place which hath scrupled many into strange and harsh expositions for not observing it as that she should hide her selfe for feare that she should not prove with childeâ— Otherâ— that she did it for shame lest she should be reputed lascivious for being with childe c. Judicet lector a Gen â— 1. b It might be understood The Booke of the History as geâ—â—neration is taken Gen. 2. 4. and 37. 2. and so it might beâ— the title not of this Chaptâ—â— onely but oâ— the whole booke But since the Evangelists intention is to set downe Christs alliance to the Royall line by his Father Iyseph the phrase must be understood accordingly and so the Chaldee useth the very Grecke word to translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Family of Râ—m Job 32. 2. See a third sense of 〈◊〉 in Jam. 1. 23. 3. 6. c Judas for 〈◊〉 in Hebrew For the Greeke cannot utter â— before a vowest in the middle of a word nor after one in the end therefore in the middle it leaveth iâ— our as in Jofaphaâ— Joram and thâ—s word Judâ— and in the end it changeth it in â— as in this and many other words in this Chapter d Or Ram. 1 Chron. 2. 8â— Ruth 4. 19. e called Salma Ruth 4. 20. f He is hâ—ld by the â—ewes to be Ipsan Judg. 12. 8. g David in the Arabick signifieth a worme to which he may seeme to allude Psal. 22. 6. h Rehobâ—am in naming this his Son Abi-jah which signifieth God is my father seemeth to have had his eye upon the promise to David I will be his father 2 Saâ— 7. 14. which Because hee imbraced not 〈◊〉 lively faith but challenged onely by a pâ—esumptuous 〈◊〉 patioâ— for hee walked not in the wayes of David therefore doth the reâ—â— elsewhere conceale the name of God in the name of his Son and calleâ—â— him Abâ—â—â—â— My father is a Sea For so unconstant in good was Reâ—obâ—am as Jam. 1. 6. being a child at forty yeeres old 2 Chron. 13. 17. i The Arabick reaâ—eth â— Asaph k Called Conias Jer. 22. 24. For God by taking away the first syllable of his name sheweth that he will notestablish the throne or race of Solomon any more upon it as his Father lehojakim belike is so naming him had presumed The Jewes delighted to joyn the name Jehovah to their owne Names but somewhat shoâ—med For in the beginning of the name it was but Jeho as Jeho-shaphat Jeho-ram c. And in the end it was Jahu as Mica-jahu Eli-jahu And sometime in the very same name it was set
Word was made flesh and not joyned to it And lastly that this union is indissoluble and never to be separated For Angels in assumed bodies laid them by againe and were parted from them but the the word being made flesh the union is personall and not to bee dissolved And dwelt 〈◊〉 us c. That is among us his Disciples for so the next clause we saw his glory importeth And this Evangelist speaketh the same thing more at large 1 Joh. 1. 1. Full of grace and truth For these words follow next in Grammaticall construction and connexion lying thus And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth The reason of the Parenthesis and we saw his glory may seeme to bee First because hee would explaine what he meant by Vs before he left it viz. us Disciples that saw his glory Secondly because the Apostles be held not the very fulnesse of his grace and truth till they had beheld the fulnesse of that glory which he shewed on earth Grace and truth As the Soule hath two noble faculties the understanding and the will the objects of which are verâ—â—◠〈◊〉 truth and goodnesseâ— so the whole tenor of Scripture doth run upon these two and they are indeed the summe of all as Psal. 25. 10. and 40. 12. and 36. 5. and 138. 2. Hos. 2. 19. c. Now Christ being the substance of the promises which had their originall from grace and their performance in truth they being in him yea and in him Amen the Evangelist saying that he dwe among us full of grace and truth holdeth out that hee was the performance and accomplishment of all the promises of grace and the truth of all the types and prophecies before the Law and under it that tended to such a purpose and in him was the fulnesse of that mercy and truth that the Patriarchs Prophets and holy men looked after and hee the whole tenor scope and subject of the Scriptures SECT III. S. LUKE CHAP. I. The Conception and Birth of John the Baptist and of Christ foretold by the Angell Gabriel c. Ver. 5. THere was in the dayes of Herod the King of Judea a certaine Priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia and his wife was of the Daughters of Aaron and her name was Elisabeth 6 And they were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse 7 And they had no child because that Elisabeth was barren and they were both now well stricken in yeeres 8 And it came to passe that while He executed the Priests office before God in the order of his course 9 According to the custome of the Priests office his lot was to burne Incense when he went into the Temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of Incense 11 And there appeared unto him an Angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the Altar of Incense 12 And when Zacharias saw him hee was troubled and feare fell upon him 13 But the Angel said unto him feare not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elisabeth shall heare thee a Sonne and thou shalt call his nams John 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladnesse and many shall rejoyce at his birth 15 For he shall bee great in the sight of the Lord and shall drinke neither wine nor l strong drinke and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his Mothers wombe 16 And many of the Children of Israel shall bee turne to the Lord their God 17 And he shall goe before in the spirit and power of Elias to turne the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the disobedient to the wisdome of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. 18 And Zacharias said unto the Angel whereby shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife well stricken in yeers 19. And the Angel answering said unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto thee and to shew thee these glad tydings 20 And behold thou shalt be dumbe and not able to speake untill the day that these things shall hee performed because thou believest not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season 21 And the people waited for Zacharias and marvelled that hee tarryed so long in the Temple 22 And when he came out hee could not speake unto them and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the Temple for he beckened unto them and remained speechlesse 23 And it came to passe that assoon as the dayes of his ministration were accomplished he departed to his owne house 24 And after those dayes his Wife Elisabeth conceived and hid her selfe five moneths saying 25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the dayes wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men 26 And IN THE SIXTH MONETH the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a City of Galilee named Nazareth 27 To a Virgine spoused to a Man whose Name was Joseph of the house of David and the Virgins Name was Mary 28 And the Angel came in unto her and said Haile thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women 29 And when saw him she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of Salutation this should bee 30 And the Angel said unto her Feare not Mary for thou hast found favour with God 31 And behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus 32 Hee shall be great and shall be called the Son of the most Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David 33. And he shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end 34 Then said Mary unto the Angel How shall this bee seeing 1 know not a man 35. And the Angel answered and said unto her The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thee shall bee called the Son of God 36 And behold thy Cousen Elisabeth she hath also conceived a Son in her old age and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren 37 For with God nothing is impossible 38 And Mary said Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word and the Angel departed from her 39 And Mary arose in those dayes and went into the hill Countrey with haste into a City of Juda. 40 And entred into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elisabeth 41 And it came to passe