come And now having shewn so plain and so unanimous a consent of the Evangelists as to the time of our Saviour's last Supper I am not obliged to expose all the Evasions in which the Patrons of the Roman opinion take shelter yet that the thing may appear still more plain and that I may not seem to avoid any difficulty or any objection I will consider a little Bochartus his Evasions meddling with others onely so far as they are included in him or borrowed by him from them for Baronius and Toletus have already been considered by Isaac Casaubon in his Exercitations upon the Annals of the former and Cloppenburge has been taken to task by Lud. Capellus To the first place of Saint John he answers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the feast is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the entrance upon the feast or in the beginning of it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a part of an Oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of an House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of the Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of the Hair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of the Forehead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of a City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of a Wall and the like But supposing there were such a word as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I believe it will be difficult to find yet I deny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the same no more is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so in the rest of the Instances the Preposition with the Genitive case annext being manifestly of greater latitude of signification than any of the compound words It is true indeed that Greg. Nazianzen has somewhere put two such words together as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but then he understands it not of the beginning of a Feast but of the day before it which will not serve Bochartus his turn Dr. Lightfoot though with no better success has deny'd that which ought onely to be deny'd if any thing ought and that is that this Chapter of Saint John does any way concern our Saviour's last Supper with his Disciples But if you consider that this was that Supper from whence Judas went out to betray him that this was that Supper in which he preached Charity and mutual Condescention to his Disciples which he is found to doe likewise in Saint Luke's Gospel that the story of that Supper which Dr. Lightfoot refers to is manifestly contained in the twelfth Chapter of the same Gospel and that it is not likely we should have two several relations of the same Supper in two several Chapters immediately following one another Lastly If you consider that that expression which immediately follows those words now before the feast of the Passover viz. when Jesus knew that his hour was come when he should depart out of this world unto the Father having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end cannot so properly be applied to any Supper as to his last you will then easily conclude with me and with Grotius who in this matter concurrs very strongly in opinion with me that it was indeed his last Supper and that it could be no other To that Text of the same Evangelist c. 18. v. 28. they themselves went not into the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover he answers after several others that by the Passover is meant the Chagigah or Peace offerings which were to be eaten together with the Unleavened-bread for all the seven daies of the Feast but to this it is enough to answer that this is by no means the most natural and easie sense and therefore when there are other places which in their most genuine and first acceptation do so unanimously conspire to prove the same truth That our Saviour kept his Passover the night before the Jews observed theirs it ought by no means to be allow'd but yet though I am not obliged to put the cause upon this Issue being supported by so many Authorities besides that of this Text if so much as one single place can be produced besides this which is in question and must not therefore be alledged to justifie it self where the word Pesach or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the singular number is used for the chagigah or Peace-offering of any of the seven daies of Unleavened-bread then I will be content to allow that Bochartus and those whom he follows in this particular are in the right notwithstanding that supposing the chagigah or Peace offering of the daies of Unleavened-bread to be understood in this place by the Passover yet this would have been no reason of their not entring into the judgment-hall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might not be defiled For in the first place there was not that Purity required to the feeding upon the chagigah which was requisite for the Passover it self and therefore though the first and last day of the seven were a Sabbath and an Holy Convocation yet the other five daies were not of a sabbatical nature as you may see plainly in Exodus where the Institution of this Solemnity is appointed sed ita erant Festi as Grotius expresseth it ut tamen essent ex aliqua sui parte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were daies of a middle state and condition between the work of the week daies and the Rest of the Sabbath and if the later Jews have taken so solicitous a care by the Rubrick as I may call it of their Calendar to hinder the concourse of two Sabbaths together of which I shall speak more by and by much less can we think as indeed it is not possible to be done that either they or their Ancestours ever kept seven daies together with a sabbatical of observation But secondly it is agreed on all hands If our Saviour did not suffer upon the Passover it self yet that it was upon the first day of Unleavened-bread which being a Sabbath and kept among the Jews with all the religion and strictness that can be conceived it would have been no reason of their not entring into the judgment-hall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might eat the Chagigah but that they might not be defiled upon the first day of Unleavened-bread which was so sacred among the Jews that there needed no other reason to make them afraid of being defiled From all which it follows plainly that by the Passover in this place the Paschal-lamb in its utmost strictness and propriety of acceptation is to be understood To the Text of c. 19. v. 14. and it was the preparation of the Passover he answers that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the preparation the Friday in every week was ordinarily understood which I should readily have granted him though he had not confirmed it out of Beresith Rabba and the Arabian testimony of
so it is to be feared that in not many more the animosities between a Calvinist and whoever differs from him being irreconcileable and everlasting it will prâ—ve the ruin of that once powerfull but now declining State Neither was there any thing in the late unhappy times next to the Title of an incomparable Prince to whom the Sceptre of these Kingdoms did of right belong and the Affections of a loyal Party which all the republican Cruelties were not able to extinguish that contributed so much to put a period to the Usurpation which was never establish'd upon any certain bottom as the bandying of the several Factions against one another which made it both necessary for the Usurpers to support their power by the Sword and that Sword it self not being all of it of the same metal and the Army that was to wield it being it self canton'd into Sects and Factions they began at length not to understand one anothers language but were forced to leave working any longer and to desist from building that Babel of Religion cemented with bloud instead of mortar which is inconsistent with the quiet of the Earth and by which men in vain expect to climbe to Heaven It is a prodigious thing for a man to consider what irreconcileable feuds the smallest differences in Religion have created and still the smaller those differences are the higher usually are those animosities that are produced by them as if it were the nature and genius of mankind to make up in passion what they want in reason as the Turks and Persians though agreeing in all other parts of the Maâ—ometan Superstition yet about a very small Punctilio they are at mortal jars with one another and being so near neighbours as they are they never want an opportunity of expressing their resentments by the frequent and bloudy Wars betwixt those two formidable Empires The Calvinists pursue the Lutherans and Arminians who on their own parts are not wanting to retaliate the kindness with every whit as great if not greater hatred than those who do toto coelo errare the Popish I mean the Mahometan and the Pagan World nay so apt are men to fall out with one another that the most inconsiderable niceties of difference that can be conceived when they are used as marks of distinction when men shall obstinately persist in such discriminations and when they shall place an opinion or affectation in them will produce in them a dislike and aversation for one another and let the difference be never so small yet it will alwaies be true to the World's end that Birds of a feather will flock together so many distinctions as there are bating those distinctions which Trade and Functions and the Necessities of humane life have made for the mutual support and maintenance of each other so many several Parties and Factions you shall have in that Common-wealth or Kingdom where those distinctions are found Though in this case it will alwaies happen that the smaller Fishes will associate and unite together against the Leviathan or prevailing Party that overballances the rest but when that King of the Waters is destroy'd they will then begin to prey upon one another and contend which of them shall ingross the Dominion of the Seas which is the case of all the Republican Factions against the Church of England at this day though as well reason as former sad experience may instruct us when they have obtained their end if ever they do obtain it which God forbid what miserable work they will make of it among themselves It is to be confess'd indeed that there are abroad very great heats and contentions to be found which are not of such dangerous consequence to the publick Peace such as are those feuds which will never be extinguish'd betwixt the Seculars and the Regulars and betwixt the regular Fraternities with one another and I believe there are but very few monastick Societies will be found that are at peace within themselves of which and of the causes of it which I have well considered I could say more if it would not be a digression but whether it be that common obedience which they pay their Holy Father the Pope which keeps them in somewhat better order or that being men of a single life not encumbred with any secular interest or concern their animosities cannot so easily embroile the State as those who have a greater interest in it and who may with a better countenance pursue secular designs than they can doe or whether it be that the Laiety think it not worth their while any further than it is matter of common entertainment and discourse to take any part in the quarrels of Beadesmen and of Beggars or whether it be that their contentions are not of such a popular nature as to have an influence upon any but themselves who make them or that the perpetual austerities of their respective rules which are a constant emploiment to them hinder them from being capable of prosecuting any dangerous design with that address and diligence which is requisite to its success or that all the heat of these contentions is spent by men that know better how to use their tongues than swords in complaints to the Pope and in writing against and censuring one another or lastly whether it be that their way of life in the retirement of their cloysters and in the little formalitie of their cells and convents renders them unexperienc'd in affairs listless and unactive in business and unfit to doe any great good or mischief in the World or whatever the true reason be there is no question but they are found by long experience by giving an example of poverty and contentment and by the reputation of their sanctity and holyness of life to be rather an advantage than detriment to the places where they are suffered and they make sufficient amends for their intestine divisions by their being united together in the Papal Interest and in the support of the Romish Tyranny over the Consciences of men But let the reason be what it will it is certain that no reason can justifie the lawfullness of separate and independent Congregations in a Christian Commonwealth or Kingdome which are in their own nature and have been found so by experience to be so destructive to the welfare and happiness of the World which are so big with inconveniences not to be foreseen till they are felt which are surrounded on every side with infinite and unspeakable dangers to which no possible remedy can be apply'd but by the removal of their necessary cause and by destroying the Independencie it self that I make no scruple to pronounce it as a self-evident Maxim that an aggregate of separate and disunited Congregations unaccountable to one another or to any superior temporal Head invested with a power of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Censure is contrary to the Law of Nature destructive of the Peace of the World and of the design of Christianity
Giauhari with which his admirable skill in Oriental Learning hath supply'd him but that the Passover if it happen'd to fall upon a Friday was ever called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is that which he and divers others contend for this is that which I deny because first it must be acknowledged to be precarious having no Authority of any Hebrew Calendar to vouch it in the second when the Friday is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is an elliptical way of speaking which must be supply'd thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if it be asked What is meant by those words the answer will be that It is the day before the Sabbath and so a man would think by the same way of construing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the day before the Passover and not the very day of the Passover it self but thirdly if the Jewish Calendar must be called in to determine this important Question which has exercised the wits of so many Learned men we may remember that in the sixth of Saint Luke's Gospel there is mention made of the second Sabbath after the first which in the Greek is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which no question was a day of special remarke in the Calendar of those times and because it is very apposite to my purpose after the vain attempts of Scaliger Cloppenburge Capellus and Grotius I will now give a clear Explanation what is meant by it It is plain therefore that the Sabbath being a period or revolution of seven daies the first Sabbath of Nisan must of necessity fall upon one of the daies inclusively of seven and for the same reason the Passover being a Feast of seven daies it must alwaies have a Sabbath for one of the number which being either the Passover it self or one of the daies of Unleavened-bread it was for that reason of greater Solemnity because it was at once a commemoration of the Divine Rest after the Creation of the World and of his Goodness in their Deliverance out of the Land of Aegypt and it had besides the daily morning or evening Sacrifice the celebration of the Passover or the Chagigah into the bargain and this Sabbath is that which is properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second Sabbath after the first of Nisan which must of necessity fall either upon the Feast of the Passover it self supposing the first day of that month to fall upon the Sabbath or else upon one of the daies of Unleavened-bread Now if you consider how many places of Scripture there are which have been already produced which do manifestly savour its falling upon the Sabbath that year when our Saviour suffered upon the Cross if you consider what Solemnity the conjunction of the Sabbath would add to that of the Passover if you reflect upon this that no Execution could be done upon the feast-Feast-day it self which was a Sabbath in which it was not lawfull to doe any Work Exod. 12. 16. or for the Bodies of men to remain or be upon the Cross Joh. 19. 31. and that upon the first day of Unleavened-bread in the morning they that lived at a distance from Jerusalem were used to repair to their respective homes Deut. 16. 7. because it not being without great detriment to their affairs that many of them were forced to repair from the uttermost parts of Judaea to Jerusalem while God by a Miracle preserved their Flocks and their Substance at home from the Incursion of the neighbour Nations Exodus c. 34. v. 24. who not being miraculously restrained would have made use of this occasion at once to enrich and revenge themselves for the Injuries they had received he was pleased upon so necessary an occassion to dispense so far with the fabbatical Rest as to suffer every man to depart to his own home upon the first day of Unleavened-bread notwithstanding it had in other respects all the solemnity and strictness of a Sabbath by which means it would have come to pass if our Saviour had been crucify'd upon that day that he would not have been slain by all the Congregation of Israel as the Law required the Paschal-lamb to be Lastly If you shall observe what in this case is very material to be considered that if our Saviour had not suffered upon the usual time when the Passover was to be considered that if our Saviour had not suffered upon the usual time when the Passover was to be killed that is to say upon the fourteenth of Nisan but upon the fifteenth or upon the first day of Unleavened-bread he would not in this have represented the Passover but the Chagigah or Peace-offering of the days of Unleavened-bread neither would he so fully have answered the Legal Types being no otherwise typify'd by the Chagigah than he was by all Sacrifices whatsoever which though they did all of them point at that great Sacrifice which was in the fulness of time to be offered up once for all yet the Passover and the Sin and Trespass-offering had some sort of preheminence above the rest in this umbratical designation as is manifest from his being called so frequently the Lamb and the Lamb of God and the Lamb without blemish and Christ our Passover and from his suffering without the Gate to answer the typical adumbration of the Sin offering which was for this reason burnt without the Camp certainly from all this you cannot chuse but see it absolutely necessary to confess that on the year of our Lord's Passion the first day of Unleavened-bread and the Sabbath were co incident with one another and that the Sabbatum Deuteroprotum was alwaies either upon the fifteenth of Nisan or else inclusively from that to the one and twentieth What the true meaning of this Sabbatum Deuteroprôtum or the second Sabbath after the first as we render it should be has been a Mystery which has been hid from Ages and which it is now my happiness for the better adjusting the true time of our Saviour's Passion and for the farther vindication of the Scripture History which receives at once light and credit by being solidly explained now first of all to discover Erasmus upon this occasion gives a pleasant Specimen of Monkish Ignorance and Saint Jerom so long ago have Learned men been ignorant of the true meaning of this passage in Saint Luke consulting Gregory Nazianzen upon this question was answered onely with a Jest instead of giving his opinion De vocis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretatione saith Grotius dici ferme potest quot capitatot sententioe Syrus Arabs Tanto quam nos sumus illi seculo loco propiores satis manifeste ostendunt se quid hoec vox velit ignorâsse and of this disagreement among the Ancients as to the meaning of this place you may see abundance more in Isaac Casaubon in his fourteenth Exercitation against Baronius Neither have any
legally be eaten by any but the Priests and for the same reason the plucking a Sheep out of a pit the pulling of ears of Corn and healing of the blind on the sabbath-Sabbath-day are allowed not to be a violation of the Sabbath though expresly contrary to the words of that Commandment wherein the observation of the Sabbath or a feriation from all manner of work or labour is enjoyned which how strictly it was observed not only by the superstition of the Jews but by the appointment of God himself in cases where there was no such absolute necessity we know by the punishment of him who was stoned by the whole congregation for gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day If therefore a divine Law may be dispensed with in cases of necessity at the prudence and discretion of men what can be more plain than that upon the same account a humane law may justly be enacted For this reason because a dispensation of any divine Law in cases not particularly excepted in the Law it self is every whit as much an humane institution as any positive humane Law and if there be the same reason of necessity in both cases that is for the welfare of a particular person and much more of a whole society they are both of them of equal obligation neither will it avail any thing in this case to distinguish betwixt humane institutions in sacred and in civil Matters for certainly the observation of the Sabbath belongs to the former of these and if humane laws may determine in what particular instances the Sabbath is violated and in what it is not that is in what manner the Sabbath shall be observed then it may as well determine nay and much more any other bare external circumstance of Worship whatsoever But above all things we can never too frequently reflect upon what hath been said as to the prohibition of reading the Law and Prophets to the Jews of old which being a thing drawing so great inconvenience after it and which could have no other good meaning than to preserve the peace and unity of the Jewish Church which I have shown plainly without this prohibition could never have been preserved this certainly extends in its consequence with much more conclusiveness to all those expedients of publique peace and safety whatever they be which have no such inconvenience attending which to be sure must be the case of all indifferent matters which would otherwise cease to be indifferent and by being manifestly hurtfull would lose their name But let not any man for all this think or suggest that in this I favour the cause of the Papists who deny the Populace the use of Bibles in the vulgar tongue for in the first place I only represent matter of fact without making any application in the second I say there is great disparity of reason betwixt the Papists and the Jews for had the Vowels been added to the Consonants in the Hebrew Bibles so as the sense might have been more plain and less subject either to errour or design which is the case of all our Bibles in the Modern Tongues there had not then been the same reason to keep them lock't up among the Priests that there was and it would have been as safe to permit every man the use of the Law and Prophets for his own private reading as it was after the seventy had compleated their Translation after which the knowledge of the Law was diffused in common among all the Jews Again If the Law had contained only matters of Morality and rules of Life which is the main business of the Gospel it could not have been so lyable to any dangerous corruption because it would be more difficult for any Doctrine to gain credit among men which contradicted the common sense and the common interest of Mankind but in a book of Rituals and Formalities of external worship as different readings must have produced different rites so those different rites would have produced so many different Parties and Factions among the Jews Fourthly It was absolutely necessary before the appearance of our Saviour in the world that the Scriptures of the Old Testament should be lay'd open to the knowledge both of Jew and Gentile to prepare them for the reception of the Messias that was to come and to render them the more inexcusable especially the former if at his appearance they did not give him that welcome and respectfull entertainment which was due to the greatness of his character and person Fifthly We are expresly commanded in several places of the N. T. to search the Scriptures we are told that all Scripture is written for our instruction and Timothy is commended by St. Paul for his knowledge of the Scripture from his youth upwards and since all these places in the New Testament where the Scripture or Scriptures are mentioned are to be understood of the Old this is sufficient to show how necessary it was sometime before our Saviour's appearance and at that time it self and ever since that the Scriptures of the Old Testament should be lay'd open and exposed to the view of Jew and Gentile because Moses and the Prophets did testifie of the Messias and it would have been impossible to understand how all the Prophecies and Types of the Old Testament were fulfilled in the person and by the sacrifice of the Messias without comparing the Life and History of that person and those types and prophecies together Sixthly Since we are commanded in the Scriptures of the New Testament to study and search into the Scriptures of the Old and that only for this reason because they bear their testimony to the Messias whose types and shadows are explained and unfolded in the Gospel this is sufficient to show the obligation we are under to search the Scriptures of the New Testament also because they can neither be sufficiently understood without one another and the reading of the Old is enjoyned us only for that reason that we may compare it with the New for our better understanding of both and especially the latter Seventhly Since the History of our Saviour's Birth and Life and Miracles and Sufferings are so faithfully and particularly set down in the Gospels as this was unquestionably intended for the benefit of all succeeding generations who would otherwise have lost that History or have received it corrupted and imbezled by foolish and ridiculous Fables so the greatest benefit which any man can receive from a Narrative of this nature is to be expected from the Original Narrative it self or from such a faithfull translation as keeps the closest to the literal and Grammatical sense of the Original besides that such Translations made by men of learning and integrity in all ages into the vulgar tongue for the use of the common people are a perpetual security against all the corruptions and impostures of superstitious ignorant or designing men Eighthly As there is matter of History in the books of the New Testament