may venture to say to the joy of the Senses more pleasant and drunken than the Wine it self But Jesus Christ by the Mystery of his Cross came to impress into their hearts the Love of Sufferings in the room of Pleasures The Idols which they outwardly adored were destroyed because those which they inwardly worshipped subsisted no longer the purified heart as Jesus Christ himself hath said Matth. 5.8 became capable of seeing God and then Man was so far from making God like to himself that he rather strove as much as his Infirmity would suffer him to become like unto God The Mystery of Jesus Christ hath discovered to us how the Divinity without impairing it self may be united to our Nature and be clothed with our Weaknesses The Word was made Flesh He that had the form and nature of God without losing any thing that he was took upon him the form of a Servant Inalterable in himself he yet appropriates to himself a stranger Nature O ye Men you would need have Gods that were indeed but Men and those too that were vitious Was not that a great blindness But here is a new Object of Adoration proposed to you 't is God and Man both together but such a Man that hath lost nothing of what he was in taking upon him to be as we are The Divinity remains immoveable and without a possibility of being degraded that cannot but raise up what it unites But let us consider What is it that God hath taken from us are they our Vices and our Sins God forbid he only took from Man what he made in him and it is most certain that he neither made Sin nor Vice in him Nature was made and that he took We may say that he made Mortality and Infirmity to accompany it because although it was not in the first design it was the just punishment of Sin and in that respect it was the work of the Divine Justice So God has not disdained to take it and in taking upon him the punishment of Sin without the Sin it self he shewed that he was not a Guilty one that was punished but the Just that died to expiate the Sins of the world So that instead of the Vices which men put into their Gods all the Vertues appeared in that God-Man and that they might appear in him in the last Trials they were seen to attend him in the midst of the most dreadful Torments Let us not therefore look for any other visible God after him he alone is worthy to abolish all Idols and the Victory he was to gain over them was fastened to his Cross That is to say it was fastened to a most apparent folly 1 Cor. 1.22 23 24 25. For the Jews as St. Paul goes on require a sign whereby God in putting even the whole Frame of Nature into a Convulsion as he did at the Israèlites coming out of Egypt set them visibly above their Enemies and the Greeks or the Gentiles seek after wisdom and laboured discourses as those of Plato and Socrates were but we continues the Apostle preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and not a Miracle and unto the Greeks foolishness and not wisdom but unto them who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of Men and the weakness of God is stronger than the mightiest of Humane Power This this was to be the last blow as I may say to be given to our proud Ignorance The wisdom to which that brings us is so sublime and lofty that it appears foolishness to our wisdom and the Rules of it are so high and eminent that every thing in it seems to us a Wilderness wherein we are lost But tho' that Divine Wisdom was in it self impenetrable to us yet it sufficiently declared it self by its effects A virtue comes out of the Cross and all the Idols are shaken We see them fall flat on the ground although they were kept up and maintained by all the Roman Power 'T was not the Wise nor the Noble nor the Mighty that wrought so great a Miracle The work of God was followed and what he had begun by the Humiliation of Jesus Christ he perfected and compleated by the Humiliation of his Disciples Ye see your Calling Brethren goes St. Paul on with that admirable Discourse of his the calling of which that victorious Church of the World was framed and composed 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28 29. how that not many wise men after the flesh whom the World has in admiration not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his Presence The Apostles and their Disciples the Off-scouring of the World and even Nothing it self in beholding them with Humane Eyes have prevailed over all the Emperours and all Empire Men had forgot the Creation and God renewed it by bringing out of that Nothing his Church which he hath made all powerful against what Errour soever With the Idols hath he confounded all the Humane Greatness which was engaged in their Defence and he hath wrought as great a Work as he did when he made the World by the alone power of his word XII Divers ways of Idolatry Sense Interest Ignorance a false respect of Antiquity Policy Philosophy and Heresies came to its Succour but the Church triumphs over all Idolatry now appears to us to be weakness it self and we can scarce tell how to imagine there should ever need so much power to destroy it But however its extravagance shows what a difficulty there was to vanquish it and so great an Immersement of right Sense and Understanding sufficiently discovers how much the first Principles of Mankind were wasted The World was grown old in Idolatry and being enchanted by its Idols it became deaf to the voice of Nature which cried out against them What power did it require to retrieve into Man's mind the true God who was so totally as it were forgot and to recover Mankind from so deep and prodigious a besottedness and lethargy All the Senses Passions and Interests stood up for Idolatry It was contrived for Pleasure Diversions fine Spectacles and down-right Libertinism constituted one part of that Divine Worship Their Feasts were only Sports and there was no Scene of Humane Life from whence modesty was more industriously banished than it was from the Mysteries of Religion How to accustom minds so corrupted to the Regularity of the true chast severe Religion which was an Enemy of the Senses and only set upon invisible good things St. Paul spake to Felix
the event and you will find how God confounded the proud Princes The holy Fathers and the Ecclesiastical Historians do with one common consent report it and justify it by Monuments which remain still from their time But the matter ought to be attested by Heathens themselves Amm. Marcel l. 23. init Ammianus Marcellinus a Gentile in his Religion and a zealous defender of Julian hath recorded it in these Terms Whilst Alipius being assisted by the Governor of the Province was advancing the Work with all the Might he could terrible Globes of Fire broke forth from the very Foundations which they before had shaken by violent Assaults the Workmen who several times essayed to begin the Work anew were many times burnt the place became inaccessible and so the undertaking fell The Ecclesiastical Authors who are more exact in representing so memorable an Event do joyn with that of the Earth the Fire of Heaven too But after all the Word of Jesus Christ abides firm and sure St. John Chrysostome cryes out Orat. in Judaeos He hath built his Church on the Rock nothing shall be able to overthrow it the Temple nothing shall be able to build up again None can pull down what God erects nor can any build up again what God pulls down Let us now make an end of our Discourse on Jerusalem and the Temple and cast our Eyes a little on the People themselves heretofore the living Temple of the Lord of Hosts and now the Object of his â—â—arred The Jews are more levelled than their Temple and their City The Spirit of Truth is no longer among them Prophecy is quite at an end with them the Promises on which the stress of their Hopes depends are vanished all things are topsy turvy with that People and there is not one Stone left upon another And do but observe how far they are delivered up to Error Jesus Christ told it them I am come in my Fathers Name John 5.43 and ye receive me not if another shall come in his own Name him ye will receive From that time the Spirit of Seduction hath been so predominant among them that they are ready still at every moment to let themselves be carried away by it It was not enough that the false Prophets should deliver Jerusalem into the Hands of Titus the Jews were not as yet banished Judea and the Love they had for Jerusalem had obliged several of them to choose their Place of Abode among its Ruines Behold a false Christ arose up who was absolutely to compleat their Destruction Fifty Years after the taking of Jerusalem in the Age of the Death of our Lord the famous Barchochebas a Robber a wicked Wretch because his Name signified the Son of the Star impiously called himself the Star of Jacob foretold in the Book of Numbers and pretended he was the Christ Akibas Numb 24.17 Euseb Hist Eccles 4.6 8. a Man of greatest Authority among the Rabbi's after whose Example all those whom the Jews call their Sages came over to his Party tho' the Impostor gave than no other sign of his Mission but that Akibas told them the Christ could not be very far off The Jews revolted throughout all the Roman Empire under the Conduct of Barchochebas â—alm Hier. de jejuâ— â—5 in ver Comm. sup Lam. Jerem. Maimonid li. de jur Reg. c. 12. who promised them the Empire of the World Adrian killed six hundred thousand of them The Yoke of those miserable Wretches was very heavy and they were for ever banished Judea Who is there but sees that the Spirit of Seduction had seized their hearts Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. for that cause God sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness There is no Imposture so gross but what deceives them In our days an Impostor called himself Christ in the East and all the Jews began to run in Flocks about him we have seen them in Italy in Holland in Germany and at Metz ready to leave all for the sake of following him They imagined already that they were becoming the Masters of the World when they learnt that their Christ was made a Turk and had forsook the Law of Moses We need not to wonder if they be fallen into such Dispersions X. The Progress of the Jewish Errours and the manner how they explain the Prophecies nor if the Tempest has scattered them after they had forsaken their own way That way was pointed out to them in their Prophecies especially in those which designated the time of our Saviour Christ But they let slip those precious Opportunities without any whit benefitting themselves by them wherefore we have seen them afterwards given up to believe a lye and they never knew since what course to take Give me leave a little to recount to you the course and progress of their Errors and all the Methods they have taken to sink themselves into this Abyss The ways by which we come to wander tend always to the broad Road and by considering where our wandring hath begun we may more securely go on in the right way Your Highness hath seen that two Prophecies have set forth to the Jews the time of Christ's coming that of Jacob and that of Daniel They both did foretell the ruine of the Kingdom of Judah at the time of our Saviour's Advent But Daniel revealed how that a total Destruction should come upon that Kingdom after the death of Christ and Jacob said plainly that in the Declension of the Kingdom of Judah that Christ which should then come should be the Expectation of the People that is to say that he should be the Deliverer of them and that he should erect to himself a new Kingdom not only framed out of one single People but out of all the People of the World The words of the Prophecy can admit of no other sense and it was the constant positive Tradition of the Jews that they were thus to understand it From thence that Opinion which was spread abroad by the ancient Rabbies and which is yet to be seen in their Talmud Gem. tr Sanhed c. 11. that at the time that Christ was to come there should be no more Magistracy so that there was nothing more necessary to make them know the time of their Messias than only to observe when they were falling into that woful Condition In fine they had begun well and if they had not had their minds prepossessed with the worldly Grandeurs which they hoped to find in their Messias and which they thought to have a share of under his Empire they could never have been mistaken in Jesus Christ The Foundation they had laid was certain for as soon as the Tyranny of the first Herod and the change of the Jewish Commonwealth which happened
of the Ancient People all the Particularities of Time and every thing else concurring as much as possibly can be expected in so remote and distant an Antiquity II. Epocha Noah or the Deluge 2. Age of the World After the Flood is observable the shortning of Man's Life and a change and alteration of the way of Living and a New Nourishment substituted in stead of the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2348 Fruits of the Earth some Precepts given Years of the World 1656 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2347 to Noah only viva voce the Confusion of Years of the World 1657 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2247 Tongues at the Tower of Babel the first Years of the World 1757 Monument and Mens Weakness the Division of Noah's three Sons and the first Distribution of Lands The Memory of the three first Authors of Nations and People is preserved among Men. Japhet who Peopled the greatest part of the West continues there in great veneration under the Name of Japhet Cham and his Son Canaan have been no less known among the Aegyptians and Phoenicians and the Remembrance of Shem has been always held Sacred among the Hebrews who came from him A little after this first Division of Mankind Nimrod a Wild Man became by his violent Humour the first of Conquerors and this was the Origine of all Conquests He established his Kingdom in Babylon Gen. x. 9 10 18. in the same Place where the Tower was begun and had been carried up to a strange height but yet it seems not up to that stature the Vanity of Man intended or desired it Round about it much-what at the same time Niniveh was built and some other ancient Kingdoms setled They were but small in those first and early Times and there was even in Aegypt it self Four Dynasties or Principalities that of Thebes that of Tine that of Memphis and that of Tanis which was the Chief of Lower Aegypt To much about this time may be referred the beginning of the Laws and Policies of the Aegyptians that of their Pyramids which remain to this day and that of the Astronomical Observations of as well those People Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2233 as of the Chaldeans We may likewise Years of the World 1771 bring up to about this time and no higher the Observations which the Chaldeans for they were without dispute the first Observers of the Stars gave in Babylon to Callisthenes for Aristotle Porphyr ap Simp. l. ii de Caelo Every thing begins There is no antient History wherein there appears not only in these first times but a long time after some manifest Vestigia of the newness of the World We see Laws were to be made and established Manners to be amended and Empires to be formed Mankind coming out by degrees from Ignorance Experience instructs them and Arts are either invented or perfected Accordingly as Men multiplyed the Land was populated and Inhabitants came to live nearer to one another Mountains and Precipices were passed over Rivers crost and at last the Seas and Men established new Habitations The Earth which in the Beginning was but a wild Forest now took another Form the grub'd-up Trees gave way to Fields Pasturages Hamlets Burroughs and at length to Cities They began then to have the Art and Cunning of taking some kind of Beasts of tarning others and bringing them up to Labour and Service At first they were used to ingage and fight with wild Beasts The first Heroes made themselves signal in these sort of Exercises Gen. x. 9. This gave occasion to the inventing of Arms which afterwards Men turned one against another Nimrod the first Warrior and first Conqueror is called in Scripture a mighty Hunter But Man's Skill lay not only in Beasts he knew also how to bring up Plants and ripen Fruits He likewise reduced Metals to his use and by degrees made them serviceable to all Mankind And as it was but natural that time should invent and find out a great many things so likewise time made several other things be forgot at least to most Men. Those first Arts which Noah had preserved and which are always kept up in some Countries where â—ver there is a first Establishment of Mankind that is to say in new Plantations are lost proportionably as they are distant from that Country For either they must be learned over again with time or else those who had preserved them must carry them over to those others Wherefore we see all things to come from Lands that have been always inhabited where the Grounds and Foundations of Arts remain in their Perfection and there also is to be learned every day things very considerable The Knowledge of God and the Remembrance of the Creation was preserved there but it did daily degenerate and grew weaker and weaker The Ancient Traditions were either quite forgot or at least obscure and dim The Fables and Stories that have succeeded them retain'd only the gross Ideas of them False Deities multiplied and became more numerous and that gave occasion to the calling of Abraham III. Epocha The Call of Abraham 3. Age of the World Four hundred twenty six Years after the Deluge as every Body walked after their own ways and never were mindful of that God that made them this great Creator to hinder the Progress of so abominable a Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1921 Wickedness in the midst of their Sins began Years of the World 2083 to set apart to himself a chosen People Abraham was elected to be the Father of the Faithful God called him in the Land of Canaan where he resolved to establish his Worship and to settle the Children of that blessed Patriarch whom he said he would multiply as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand on the Sea-shore To the promise that he made of giving this Land to his posterity he joyn'd another far more great and illustrious and that was that mighty blessing which was to extend to all the people of the World in Jesus Christ coming forth from his off-spring Heb. vii 1. 2 3 c. This was that Jesus Christ whom Abraham honoured in the Person of the great High-Priest Melchisedeck unto whom he gave the tent of the Spoils which he had got returning from the slaughter of Kings and by whom he was blest In the midst of these vast Riches and of a Power commensurate to that of Kings Abraham still kept to his old ways and customs he ever led a plain simple and pastoral Life which yet had its due Magnificence and the Patriarch made it principally appear in his generous Hospitality to all People Heaven Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1856 at last was pleased to send him Guests Years of the World 2148 the Angels revealed to him the Counsels of God he believed them and appeared in all things full of Faith and Piety In his time Inachus the most antient of all Kings known by the Grecians founded
the Kingdom of Argos After Abraham there was Isaac his Son and Jacob Grandson the Imitators and followers of his Faith and Simplicity in the same pastoral Life God did also to them reiterate the same Promises he had made to Abraham their Father Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1759 and as he had done him he conducted them Years of the World 2245 in all things Isaac blessed Jacob to the prejudice as well as grief of Esau his elder Brother and deceived in appearance in effect and reality he executes the Counsels and Determinations of God Jacob whom God protected was in all things to be preferred to Esau An Angel with whom he mysteriously fought gave unto him the Name of Israel from whence his Posterity were called Israelites From his Loins came the Twelve Patriarchs Fathers to the Twelve Tribes of the Hebrew People among others Levi from whence issued the Ministers of Sacred things Judah from whom came CHRIST the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and Joseph whom Jacob loved above all the rest of his Children In him were made manifest some new Secrets of Providence But above all things was seen the Innocence and Wisdom of young Joseph who was always an utter Enemy to Wickedness and Vice and careful to repress and hinder it in his Brethren his Mysterious and Prophetick Dreams his Brethren jealous and Jealousie twice the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1728 Cause of a Parricide the selling of this Years of the World 2276 their Great Brother his Fidelity to his Master and his most admirable Chastity the dangerous Calamities it brought upon him Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1717 his Prison and his Constancy his Predictions Years of the World 2287 his miraculous Deliverance that Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1715 Famous Interpretation of Pharaoh's Dreams Years of the World 2289 the Desert of so Great a Man required his Genius elevated and fitted for his Place and God's Protection which made him to Rule Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1706 where-ever he was his Foresight his wise Years of the World 2298 Counsels and his absolute Power in the Kingdome of the Lower Aegypt By this means here was the Safety of his Father Jacob and his Family This Family cherished by God was thus setled and established in that part of Aegypt whereof Tanis was the Capital and of which the Kings took Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1689 the Name of Pharaoh Jacob dies and a Years of the World 2315 little before his Death he delivers this most celebrated Prophecy where discovering to his Sons the Patriarchs the State of their Posterity he particularly points out to Judah the time of the Messiah's coming into the World who was to proceed from his Race This Patriarch's Houshold became a very great People in a little time and this prodigious increase and multiplying raised the Aegyptians Jealousie The Hebrews are unjustly hated and without any pity persecuted God raises up Moses their Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1571 Deliverer whom he preserved from the Years of the World 2433 River Nilus and made him fall into the Hands of Pharaoh's Daughter She brought him up as her own Child and instructed him in all the Wisdom of the Aegyptians At that time the People of Aegypt setled themselves in several Places of Greece The Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1556 Colony that Cecrops brought out of Aegypt Years of the World 2448 founded twelve Cities or rather Towns of which he made the Kingdom of Athens and where he established with the Laws of his Country the Gods that were to be worshipped there Marm. Arund seu Aera Att. A little after hapned the Deucalion-Flood in Thessaly confounded by the Greeks with the Universal Deluge Hellen the Son of Deucalion reigned in Phtie a Country in Thessaly and gave his Name to Greece The People which before were called Greeks ever since have born the Name of Helleneses tho' the Latins have called them by their old Name Moreover about this time Cadmus the Son of Agenor transported into Greece a Colony of Phoenicians and founded the City of Thebes in Boeotia The Syrian and Phoenician Gods came along with him into Greece In the mean while Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1531 Moses grew up in years and about the Fortieth Years of the World 2473 of his Age he despised the Riches of the Court of Aegypt and touched with the Wickedness of his Brethren the Israelites to appease and moderate them he ventured his own Life But these Men were so far from receiving any Benefit by his Zeal and Courage that they exposed him to the Fury of Pharaoh who was resolved on his Ruine Moses flies out of Aegypt into Arabia to the Land of Midian where his Virtue which was always ready to relieve the Oppressed made him find a safe Retreat Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1491 This Great Man without any hopes of delivering Years of the World 2513 his People or expectation of better Times had spent Forty years in keeping the Flock of Jethro his Father-in-Law when he saw in the Desart a Burning Bush and heard the Voice of the God of his Fathers who sent him back into Aegypt to bring forth his Brethren the Children of Israel out of Captivity There appeared the Humility Courage and Miracles of that Divine Legislator the Hardness of Pharaoh's Heart and the terrible Plagues which God sent upon him the Passover and the next day the Passing over the Red Sea Pharaoh and the Aegyptians drowned in those Waters and the absolute Deliverance of the Israelites IV. Epocha Moses or the Written Law The Time of the Written Law now begins It was given to Moses Four hundred and thirty years after the Calling of Abraham Eight hundred fifty six years after the Flood and the same year that the Hebrew Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1491 People came out of Aegypt This Date is Years of the World 2513 very observable because it is very useful for designating the whole time that has elapsed ever since Moses unto Jesus Christ All this Time is called the Time of the Written Law to distinguish it from the precedent Time which is called the Time of the Law of Nature wherein Men had only for their Guide and Rule of Governance Natural Reason and the Traditions of their Ancestors God then having freed his People from the Tyranny of the Aegyptians and brought them into the Land where he designed to be served and worshipped before ever he established it there he proposed to him the Law according to which he was to live He wrote with his own Hand upon two Tables of Stone which he delivered to Moses upon the top of Mount Sinai the Foundation of this Law that is to say the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments which contain the First Principles how God is to be worshipped and Humane Society preserved He dictated to the same Moses the other Precepts by which he established the Tabernacle Heh ix 9 23. the
Figure of Future Time the Ark wherein God discovered himself to be present by his Oracles and in which the Tables of the Law were kept the Advancement of Aaron the Brother of Moses the High-Priest the Ceremonies of their Consecration and the Form of their mysterious Habits the Priests Functions the Sons of Aaron those of the Levites with the other Observances of Religion and that which is most beautiful and decent the Rules of good Manners the Policy and Government of his chosen People of whom he would be himself the Legislator This is what is observable in the Epocha of the Written Law Afterwards we see the Journey continued in the Wilderness the Revolts the Idolatries the Punishments and Consolations of the People of God whom this Almighty Legislator reduced by these means by degrees the Anointing of Eleazor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1452 the High-Priest and the Death of his Years of the World 2552 Father Aaron the Zeal of Phineas the Son of Eleazor and the Priesthood secured to his Posterity by a particular Promise During this time the Aegyptians continued the Establishment of their Colonies in divers Places chiefly in Greece where Danaus the Aâ—gyptian was made King of Argos and dispossess'd the Ancient Kings that came Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1451 from Inachus Towards the end of the Israelites Years of the World 2553 Journying in the Wilderness we see the Beginnings of Wars which are rendred successful through the Prayers of Moses But he dies and leaves to the Israelites their whole History which he had carefully digested from the beginning of the World even to the time of his Death This History is continued by the command of Josuah and his Successors This afterwards was divided into several Books and hence it is that we have the Book of Josuah the Book of Judges and the Four Books of Kings The History which Moses wrote and in which all the Law was included was also divided into Five Books which are called the Pentateuch and which are the Ground of Religion After the Death of that Man of God we read of the Wars of Josuah Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1445 the Conquest and Division of the Holy Land Years of the World 2559 and the Rebellions of the People punished and re-established at divers times There Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1405 are likewise the Victories of Othoniel the Son Years of the World 2599 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1325 of Kenaz the Brother of Caleb who delivered Years of the World 2679 him from the Tyranny of Chausan-Rishathaim King of Mesopotamia and Eighty years after That of Ehud the Son of Gera Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1322 over Eglon King of Moab About this Years of the World 3682 time Pelops the Phrygian the Son of Tantalus reigned in Peloponnesus and called that famous Country by his Name Bel the King of the Chaldeans received from those People Divine Honours The ungrateful Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1305 murmuring Israelites fall again into Servitude Years of the World 1699 Jabin King of Chanaan subjecteth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1285 them but Deborah the Prophetess who Years of the World 2719 judged the People and Baruc the Son of Ahinoam overcame Sisera the General of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1245 that Kings Army Thirty years after this Years of the World 2759 Gideon that mighty Man of Valour even without fighting pursues and overcomes the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1236 Medianites Abimelech his Son usurped the Years of the World 2768 Authority by the Murther of his Brethren exercised it after a Tyrannical manner and Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1187 at last loseth it and his Life together Jephtha Years of the World 2817 makes his Victory bloody by a Sacrifice that was not to be excused but by a secret Order and Dispensation from Heaven concerning which it hath not pleased him to reveal any thing to us In this Age there hapned very remarkable things among the Gentiles Herod l. 1. c. 26. For according to Herodotus his Account which seems to be the most exact Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1267 we are to reckon for that time 514. years Years of the World 2737 before Rome Gen. x. 11. and from the time of Deborah Ninus the Son of Bel and the Foundation of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Court was established at Nineveh an Ancient City and then pretty Famous but it was made more Splendid and Glorious by Ninus Those who ascribe 1300 years to the first Assyrians have their Foundation from the Ancientness of the City and Herodotus who allows them but 500 speaks only of the Empires Duration since its beginning under Ninus the Son of Bel to extend it self into the Upper Asia A little after and in that Conqueror's Reign Jos xix 20. Joseph Antiq 8.2 we are to fix the Foundation or the Renewal of the ancient City of Tyre whose Navigation and whose Colonies rendred it so Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1252 considerable At last a little after Abimelech's Years of the World 2752 time we meet with the memorable Combates of Hercules the Son of Amphitryon and those of Theseus King of Athens who made but one great City of the twelve Towns of Cecrops and instituted a better Form of Government among the Atheninians During Jephtha's time whilst Semiramis who came from Ninus and was the Governess of Ninyas inlarged the Assyrian Empire by her Victories The Famous City of Troy already taken once by the Greeks under Laomedon its third King was Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 utterly reduced again by the Greeks under Years of the World 2820 Priam the Son of Laomedon after a Siege of ten years V. Epocha The Taking of Troy The fourth Age of the World This Epocha of the Ruin of Troy which hapned about the year 308. after the Departure out of Aegypt and 1164 years after the Deluge is very considerable as well because of the Importance of so great an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 Event celebrated by two of the greatest Years of the World 2820 Poets of Greece and Italy as because that every thing may be brought to this Date which was most remarkable in those called the Fabulous or Hâ—roick Times the Fabulous by reason of the Fables in which the Histories of those Times are wrapt and Heroick by reason of those whom the Poets have called the Sons of the Gods and Heroes Their Lives were not far from this Overthrow For in the time of Laomedon the Father of Priam were all the Heroes of the Golden Fleece Jason Hercules Orpheus Castor and Pollux and all the others that are known to you and in the time of Priam likewise during the last Siege of Troy there were Achilles Agamemnon Menelaus Vlysses Hector Sarâ—edon the Son of Jupiter Aeneas the Son of Venus whom the Romans acknowledged for their Founder and several others from whom the most Illustrious Families and even
whole Nations boast that they descend This Epocha therefore is proper to recollect whatsoever the Fabulous Times had that was most certain and most eminent But what is seen in the Sacred History is in all Points most remarkable Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1177 the prodigious Strength of Samson Years of the World 2887 and likewise his marvellous Weakness Eli Years of the World 1176 the High-Priest Venerable by his Piety Years of the World 2888 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1095 and unhappy by the Guilt of his Sons Samuel Years of the World 2909 an irreproachable Judge and a Prophet chosen by God to anoint Kings Saul the first King of Gods People his Victories his presumption to Sacrifice without the Priests his Disobedience pitifully excused under the pretence of Religion his Reprobation his fatal Fall About this time Codrus King of Athens gave up himself to death for the safety of his People and by his Death they got the Victory His Sons Medon and Nileus dispute for the Kingdom Upon this occasion the Athenians abolish all Regality and declare that Jupiter was their only King They created Governours or perpetual Presidents but they were subject to render an account of their Administration These Magistrates were called Archontes Medon the Son of Codrus was the first who exercised this Magistracy and it continued a long while in his Family The Athenians extended their Colonies into that part of Lesser Asia which was called Ionia The Aeolick Colonies were set up much-what about the same time and all the Lesser Asia was filled with Greek Towns Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1055 After Saul came David that admirable Years of the World 2949 Shepherd the Conqueror of the fierce Goliah and of all the Enemies of the People of God a great King a great Conqueror and a great Prophet worthy to sing out the Praises and wonderful Works of his great Creator in a word a Man after God's Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1034 own Heart as he himself stiles him and Years of the World 2970 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1014 who by his Repentance did even turn his Years of the World 2990 Offences to the Glory of his Maker To this Pious Warriour succeded his Son Solomon Wise Just Peaceful whose Hands Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1012 undefiled with Blood were accounted worthy Years of the World 2992 to build the Temple of God VI. Epocha Solomon or the Temple finished 5. Age of the World This was about the year 3000. of the World the year 488. since the Departure out of Aegypt and to adjust the Times of Sacred History with those of the Profane 180 years after the taking of Troy 250 years before the Founding of Rome and 1000 years before Jesus Christ when Solomon Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1004 finished that stupendious Edifice He Years of the World 3000 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1003 celebrated the Dedication of it with an extraordinary Years of the World 3001 Piety and Magnificence And this famous Action was followed with several other Wonders of the Reign of Solomon which ended in shameful Weaknesses He gave up himself to the Love of Women which debased his Mind made his Heart grow wavering so that at last his Piety degenerated into Idolatry God tho' justly provoked yet spares him for the sake of David his Servant however he would not suffer his Ingratitude utterly to go unpunished he divides his Kingdom after his death under his Son Rehoboam The Brutish Pride of that young Prince causes Ten of his Years be ∣ fore J. C. 975 Tribes to be cut off from him which Jeroboam Years of the World 3029 separated from their God and from their King For fear lest they should return to the Kings of Judah he forbids them going to Sacrifice at the Temple of Jerusalem and he sets up his Golden Calves to which he ascribes the Name of the God of Israel that so the Innovation might appear less strange The same Reason made him retain the Law of Moses which he interpreted according to his own Will and Pleasure but almost all the Politie of it he caused to be observed as well the Civil as Religious so that the Pentateuch remained still in veneration among the separated Tribes Thus was the Kingdom of Israel set up against the Kingdom of Judah In that of Israel Impiety and Idolatry reigned and triumphed But Religion tho' it was several times clouded in that of Judah yet it was always preserved there About this Years be ∣ fore J. C. 971 time the Kings of Aegypt were very powerful Years of the World 3033 The Four Kingdoms had been re-united under that of Thebes It is believed that Sesostris that famous Conqueror of the Aegyptians is that Sesac King of Aegypt whom God made use of to chastise the Impiety of Rehoboam In the Reign of Abijah the Son of Rehoboam is observable that great and mighty Victory which the Piety of that Prince gained him over the Schismatical Tribes Hâ—s Son Asa whose Piety is commended Years be ∣ fore J. C. 917 in Scripture is taken notice of there Years of the World 3087 to be a Man who in his Sicknesses relied more upon the Humane Help of Medicines than of the Goodness and Power of God Years be ∣ fore J. C. 924 In his time Amri King of Israel built Samaria Years of the World 3080 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 914 where he established the Seat of his Years of the World 3090 Kingdom This Time is followed with the admirable Reign of Jehosaphat wherein flourished Piety Justice Navigation and the Military Art Whilst he appeared in the Kingdom of Judah another David Ahab and his Wife Jezabel who then reigned in Israel joyned to Jeroboam's Idolatry all the Impieties Years be ∣ fore J. C. 899 of the Gentiles They perished both of Years of the World 3105 them miserably God who had bore with their Idolatries was resolved to revenge upon them the Blood of Naboth whom they had caused to be slain because he had refused as the Law of Moses required to sell them the Fee of his Paternal Inheritance Their Sentence was pronounced by the Mouth of the Prophet Elijah Ahab was killeâ— some time after notwithstanding all Years be ∣ fore J. C. 987 his â—ircumspection to save himself About Years of the World 3107 this time we are to râ—ckon the Foundation of Carthage which Dido wâ—o was come from Tyre built in a Place after the Example of Tyre which was very convenient for Traffick as it was likewise for becoming Mistress of the Sea It is somewhat hard to assign the Time when it formed it self into a Republick but the mixing of the Tyrians and Africans made it become equally Warlike and Trafficking The ancient Hâ—sâ—orians who place its Origine before the Ruine of Troy seem to fancy that Dido rather enlarged and fortified it than that ever Years be ∣ fore J. C. 888 she laid the Foundations of it Affairs began
Years of the World 3116 to change Figure in the Kingdom of Judah Athaliah the Daughter of Ahab and Jezabel carried Impiety along with her into the House of Jehosaphat Jehoram the Son of so pious a Prince chose rather to imitate his Father-in-Law than his own Father Years be ∣ fore J. C. 885 The Hand of God was upon him His Years of the World 3119 Reign was short and his End dreadful In the midst of his Chastisements God wrought unheard-of Prodigies even in favour of the Israelites whom he would now recaâ—l to Repentance They saâ— without ever being converted the Wonders of Elijah and Elisha who prophesied during the Reign of Ahab Mâ—rrâ— Aâ—â—na and five of his Successors At this time Hâ—mer flourished as Hesiod had done Thirty years before The Ancient Manners aâ—d Customs which they represent to us and the Vestigia that they still keep with much Grandeur and with the ancient Simplicity does not a little serve to let us understand the Antiquities that are a great deal more remote and the Divine Simplicity Years be ∣ fore J. C. 884 of the Scripture There had been terrible Years of the World 3120 Spectacles in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Jezabâ—l was thrown down out of a Tower-window by the command of Jehu who valued not the painting her Face and tyring her Head but fulfilled the Word of the Lord in causing his Horses to tread her under their Feet He killed Jehoram King of Israel the Son of Ahab even all the House of Ahab was destroyed and it wanted but a little of drawing that of the Kings of Judah into its own Ruine King Ahazia the Son of Joram King of Judah and of Athaliah was slain in Samaria with his Brethren as an Ally and Friend to the Children of Ahab As soon as this News was brought to Jerusalem Athaliah resolved to cut off all that remained of the Seed-Royal without sparing her own Children and so to reign and govern by the loss of her own Only Jehoash the Son of Ahaziah a Child that then hung at the Breast was stole away from her Fury by Jehosheba his Aunt Jehosheba the Sister of Ahaziah and Wife of Jehoiada the High-Priest hid him in the House of the Lord and saved that only precious Remainder of the House of David Athaliah who thought him dead with the rest lived without fear Plat. de Repâ—◠〈…〉 Arist â—olit l. 2. c. 9. Lycurgus prescribed Laws to the Lacedemonians He is rebuked for having made them all Martial after the Example of Minos whose Institutions he had followed and for having but little provided for the Womens Modesty for that so he might make all his Men Soldiers he obliged them to a very laborious and temperate Life Nothing was stirring in Judah against Athaliah and therefore she thought her self established during a six years Reign But God raised her up an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 678 Avenger in the holy Sanctuary of his Temple Years of the World 3326 When he was come to be seven years old Jehoiada made him known to some of the Rulers over Hundreds with the Captains of the Guard and the Royal Army whom he had carefully managed and being assisted with the Priests he anointed the young King in the Temple Easily were the People persuaded to acknowledge the Heir of Davâ—d and of Jehosaphat At the noise whereof Athaliah ran to dissipate the Conspiracy but being forced without the Ranges of the Temple she there received the Reward of her Crimes As long as Jehoiada lived Joash reigneth well keeping to the Law of Moses After the Death of this holy Man of God corrupted by the Flatteries of his Courtiers he falls in with them to downright Idolatry The High-Priest Years be ∣ fore J. C. 840 Zacharias the Son of Jehoiada was resolved Years of the World 3164 to reprove him for it but Jehoash without ever being mindful of what he owed to his Father caused him to be stoned But Vengeance followed close at the heels of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 839 this for the next year Jehoash being beaten Years of the World 3165 by the Syrians and fallen into contempt was assassinated by his own Subjects and Amaziah his Son a better Man than himself was set upon the Throne Years be ∣ fore J. C. 825 The Kingdom of Israel being wasted and Years of the World 3179 depressed by the Victories of the Kings of Syria and by Civil Wars re-assumed its Forces under Jeroboam II. who was more pious than his Predecessors Hoziah otherwise called Azariah the Son of Amaziah also governed the Kingdom of Judah with no less Honour and Glory This is that Years be ∣ fore J. C. 810 Famous Hoziah that was smitten with Leprosie Years of the World 3194 and often reproved in Scripture for having towards his latter days presumed to take upon him the Priestly Office and against the Prohibition of the Law had himself offered up Incense upon the Altar of Perfumes He was to be set aside though he was a King according to the Law of Moses and Jotham his Son who was afterwards his Successor did wisely govern the Kingdom Under the Reign of Hoziah the Holy Prophets the Chief of whom at that time were Hosea and Isaiah began to publish their Prophecies in Writing and in particular Books the Originals of which they deposited in the Temple to serve as a Monument to Posterity The Lesser Prophecies which were given only vivâ voce were as was usual registred in the Rolls of the Temple with the History of the time The Years be ∣ fore J. C. 776 Olympic Games instituted by Hercules and Years of the World 3228 long discontinued were re-established and from that re-establishment came the Olympiades by which the Grecians counted their Years Aboâ—â— this time ended that which Varro calls thâ— Fabulous because the profane Histories then were full of confusion and falsities and the Historical times began wherein the affairs of the World were reported with more exactness and fidelity The first Olympiad is marked out by the victory of Corebus They were renewed every five years and after four years Revolution There in the Assembly of all Greece at Pisa first and afterwards at Elida those famous Combats were celebrated where the Conquerors were crowned with incredible Applauses The Exercises likewise were in great honour and Greece every day became more strong and more cultivated Italy as yet was almost all over savage The Latin Kings of Aeneas's Race reigned at Alba. Phul was King of Assyria 'T was believ'd he was the Father of Sardanapalus called according to the Eastern Custom Sardan Pul that is to say Sardan the Son of Phul. 'T was also thought that this Phul or Pul had been King Years be ∣ fore J. C. 771 of â—ineveh who joined with his People in Years of the World 3233 Repentance at the Preaching of Jonas That Prince invited by the Confusions of the Kingdom of Israel went to invade it but
young Emperor's Sister did believe she was capable of very great Affairs The Empire of Theodosius upheld it self by the prudence and piety of this Princess That of Honorius seemed to be near its last ruin He caused Stilicon to be put to death and then knew not where to fill the place with so great and able a Minister The Years of J. C. 409 Revolt of Constantine the absolute loss of Years of J. C. 410 Gallia and Spain the taking and sacking of Rome by the Arms of Allaricus and the Visigoths were the attendances upon Stilicon's death Ataulphus more furious than Alaricus pillaged Rome anew and resolved on nothing less than utterly abolishing the Roman name But for the happiness of the Empire he took Placidia the Sister of the Emperor Years of J. C. 413 The Goths treated with the Romans Years of J. C. 414 and settled themselves in Spain and reserved Years of J. C. 415 among the Gauls the Provinces which drew toward the Pyrenees Their King Vallia wisely managed those great designs Spain shewed her constancy and her Faith changed not under the domination of the Arians In the mean while the Burgundians a German People were got all about the Rhine from wheâ—â— by degrees they gained that Country that still bears their Name The Franks did not forget themselves being resolved to Years of J. C. 420 make new efforts to open Gallia to them they raised Pharamond the Son of Marcomir to the Regality and the Monarchy of France being the most Antient and Noble of any in the World began under him The Years of J. C. 423 Unfortunate Honorius dyed without any Issue and left the Empire to it self without providing for it Theodosius named Emperor his Cousin Valentinian III. Son of Placidia and Constance her Second Husband and put him during his Minority under the Tutelage of his Mother to whom he gave the Title of Empress In those times Celestius and Years of J. C. 412 Pelagius denyed Original Sin and the Grace Years of J. C. 413 by which we are Christians And notwithstanding Years of J. C. 416 their dissimulations the Councils of Years of J. C. 417 Africa condemned them The Popes St. Innocentius and St. Zozimus whom Pope St. Celestin followed afterwards authorized the condemnation and extended it through all the Universe St. Austin confounded those dangerous Heretics and gave a Light to all the Church by his admirable Writings The same Father seconded by St. Prosper his Disciple stopt the mouths of the Demi-Pelagians who attributed the beginning of Justification and Faith to the peculiar power of Free-will An Age so unhappy to the Empire and wherein so many Heresies sprang up yet was not unhappy to Christianity No trouble shockt it no heresy corrupted it The Church fruitful in great men confounded all their Errors After the Persecutions God was pleased to make the Glory of his Martyrs to shine forth conspicuously all Histories and all Writings are full of the Miracles which their implored Succour and their honoured Tombs and Sepulchres wrought all the earth over Vigilantius who opposed and Years of J. C. 426 contradicted such received Opinions Hier. cont Vigil Gen. Deser Ecc. refuted by St. Jerom was alone without a Follower The Christian Faith gathered Strength and inlargement every day But the Western Empire could no longer hold out Being attacqued by so many Enemies it was also weakened by the Jealousies of its Generals Years of J. C. 427 By the Artifices of Aëtius Boniface the Count of Africa became suspected by Placidia The Count being ill-treated caused Genseric and the Vandals whom the Gauls had driven away to come out of Spain and repented his calling of them when it was too late Africa was taken from the Empire The Church suffered very great evils by the violence and cruelty of the Arians and saw a World of Years of J. C. 429 Martyrs crowned Two furious Heresies rose up Nestorius the Patriarch of Constantinople divided the Person of Jesus Christ and twenty years after Eutyches the Abbot confounded the two Natures of them St. Cyril the Patriarch Years of J. C. 430 of Alexandria opposed Nestorius who was condemned by Pope St. Celestin The third General Council of Ephesus in execution of this Sentence deposed Nestorius and confirmed Years of J. C. 430 the Decree of St. Celestin whom the Years of J. C. 431 Bishops of the Council called their Father in their definition Part. 2. Conc. Eph. act 1. Sent. Depos Nestor The holy Virgin was acknowledged for the Mother of God and the Doctrin of St. Cyril was celebrated throughout the earth Theodosius after some Embarassments submitted himself to the Council and banished Nestorius Eutyches who could not otherwise combat this Heresie than by running himself into another excess Years of J. C. 448 was as violently rejected Pope St. Leo the Great condemned him and wholely refuted him by a Letter which was greatly revered Years of J. C. 451 by all people The fourth General Council of Chalcedon where this Great Pope held the first place as well by his Learning as by the Authority of his See anathematized Eutyches and Dioscorus the Patriarch of Alexandria his Protector The Council's Letter to S. Leo shewed that that Pope presided there by his Legats as the head over its Members The Emperor Marcian was himself present at this great Assembly Relat. S. Syn. calc ad Leo. Conc. Part. 3. following the Example of Constantine and received the Decisions of it with the same Respect A little before Pulcheria had advanced him to the Empire by marrying him She was owned as Empress after the death of her Brother who left never a Son But it was necessary for the Empire to have a Master and the Vertue of Marcian procured him that Honour During the time of these two Councils Theodoret Bishop of Cyr made himself famous and his Doctrine was without spot if the violent Writings which he published against St. Cyrill had not too much needed Illustrations He gave them sincerely and was reckoned among the Orthodox Bishops The Gauls began to acknowledge the Francs Aëtius had defended them against Pharamond and against Clodion the Hairy But Meroveus was more happy and made there a more solid Establishment near about the same time as the English Saxons got the possession of Great Brittain They gave their Name to it and found there several Royalties In the mean time the Huns a People of Pannonia desolated all the World with an immense Army under the Conduct of Attila their King the most dreadful and terrible of all Men. Aëtius who got the better of him in Gallia could not prevent his ravaging of Italy The Isles of the Adriatick Sea served as a Retreat to Years of J. C. 452 several against his Fury Venice raised it self up out of the midst of the Waters Pope St. Leo who was more puissant than Aëtius and the Roman Armies made that barbarous King and Heathen to respect him and saved Rome
Footstep of it to be found in him Pushed on by that blind Impression which absolutely swayed him he plunged himself into Idolatry and nothing could stay him So great a Mischief made a very strange Progress For fear lest all Mankind might be infected and the knowledg of God be utterly extinguished that great God called from on high his Servant Abraham in whose Family he resolved to establish his Worship and preserve the antient Faith as well of the Creation of the World as of the particular Providence with which humane things are governed Abraham hath always been celebrated in the East and it was not only the Hebrews that looked on him as their Father The Idumeans boasted of their Extract from him Ishmael the Son of Abraham is known among the Arabians as the Parent from whom they came Gen. 16.17 Gen. 17.25 Joseph Ant. l. 13. Circumcision still is used among them as the mark of their Original and they have received it at all times not only on the eighth day after the manner of the Jews but at thirteen years of Age as the Scripture informs us it was given to their Father Ishmael a Custom which continues still among the Mahometans There are other Arabian People who yet remember Abraham and Ketura Alex. Polyb. apud Joseph ant l. 16. and they are the same that the Scripture makes to come from that Marriage That Patriarch was a Chaldean and those People famous for their Astronomical Observations have reckoned Abraham for one of their most learned Observators Beros Hecar Eup. Alex. Polyb al. apud Joseph an t l. 8. Eus praep Ev. 9.16 17 18 19 20. 13.11 Nic. Damas lib. 4. Hist univ in excerpt Vales p. 491. ap Jos an t l. 8. Eus praep Ev. 9.16 Gen. 13. c. The Historians of Syria have made him King of Damascus though a Stranger and come from the Borders of Babylon and they report that he left the Kingdom of Damascus to settle himself in the Country of the Canaanites since called Judea But it will be best for us to observe what the sacred History relates to us of this great Man We have seen that Abraham followed that way of living which was led by his Ancestors before that all the World was reduced into Kingdoms He reigned in his Family with which he embraced the pastoral Life so much renowned for its simplicity and Innocence rich in his Flocks in his Slaves and in his Silver but without Lands and Demeans and yet he lived in a strange Kingdom but was respected and independent as a Prince His Piety and his Uprightness protected by God attracted that respect to him He treated as an Equal with Kings who sought his Alliance and it was from thence came that antient Opinion that he made himself a King But tho' his life was simple and peaceable yet understood he the Arts of War but then it was only to defend his opprest Allies Gen. 14. He defended them and revenged them by a most signal Victory He restored to them all their Riches re-taken from their Enemies without reserving any thing but the Tythe which he offered up to God and the Quota which belonged to the Auxiliary Troops which he had brought along with him to the Battle But after so great a service he refused the Presents of the Kings with an unparallel'd Magnanimity and could not indure that any man should boast he had inriched Abraham He would be indebted to none but to his God who had protected him and whom he solely followed with a most perfect Faith and Obedience Guided by that Faith he had forsaken his Native Countrey to come to a Land which God had shewn him God who had called him and made him worthy of his Alliance Articled it upon these Conditions He declared to him that he would be his God Gen. 12.17 and the God of his Posterity that is to say he would be their Protector and that they should serve him as the only God the Creator of Heaven and Earth He promised him a Land 't was that of Canaan to serve for a fixed habitation to his Posterity Ibid. and for a place for his Religion He had no Children and his Wife Sarah was barren God swore to him by Himself and by his Eternal Veracity Gen. 12 2.1â—.4 5.17.19 that from him and from his Wife should come a Race that for number should equal the Stars in the Firmament and the Sand on the Sea-shore But the most remarkable Article of all of the Divine Promise was this All the People should presently fall into Idolatry God promised to this Holy Patriarch that in him and in his Seed should all those blind Nations that had forgotten their Creator be blessed that is to say re-called to the knowledge of him Gen. 12.3.18.18 wherein the true Benediction is to be found By that promise was Abraham made the Father of all the faithful and his Posterity was chosen to be the source from whence the Blessing was to go upon all the Earth In that Promise was included the Advent of the Messiah so often foretold to our Fathers but always foretold as Him who was to be the Saviour of all the Gentiles and of all the people of the World Thus that blessed Branch promised to Eve became also the Branch and Cion of Abraham This was the foundation of the Covenant and these the Conditions of it Gen. 17. Abraham received the sign of it in Circumcision a Ceremony whose proper effect was to shew that that Holy Man belonged to God with all his Family Abraham was childless when God began to bless his Race And God left him for several years without giving him any Afterwards he had Ishmael who was to be the Father of a great People Gen. 12.15.2.16.3 4 17.20.21.13 but not of that chosen People so much promised to Abraham The Father of the chosen People was to proceed from him and from his wife Sarah Gen. 21.2 who then was barren At length when Ishmael was thirteen years old came this so much desired Son he was called Isaac that is to say Laughter a Son of Joy a Son of Miracle a Son of Promise who shewed by his Birth that the true Children of God are born of Grace He this Child of blessing was grown to some considerle statute and of an age from which his Father might hope to have other Children of him when of a sudden God commands him to offer him up as a Sacrifice Gen. 22. To what a tryal is Faith exposed Abraham carrys Isaac to the Mountain which God had shewn him and he went to sacrifice that Son in whom alone God promised to make him the Father both of his People and of the Messiah Isaac presented his naked Bosom to the Sword which his Father held out ready to strike him God being satisfied with the obedience both of Father and Son demanded no further of them After
God he thus pursues his Discourse For I would not Brethren Id. 25 26 27. that ye should be ignorant of his Mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Isa 59.20 For this is my Covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins That passage of Isaiah which St. Paul cites here according to the Septuagint which he used to follow because their Version was known all over the World comes up more strongly in the Original For the Prophet foretold there before all things the Conversion of the Gentiles by those words So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the West Isai 59.19 20 21. and his glory from the rising of the Sun Afterwards under the Type and Figure of a rapid flood driven by an impetuous wind Isaiah saw afar off the Persecutions which should make the Church increase At length the Holy Ghost told him what should happen to the Jews and declared to him That the Redeemer shall come out of Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever He hath made it plain therefore that after the Conversion of the Gentiles the Redeemer which Zion had mistaken and the Children of Jacob had rejected should turn again to them blot out their sins and should restore unto them the understanding of the Prophecies which they should have utterly lost for a long time to go down successively and from hand to hand through all Posterity never to be forgotten Thus should the Jews one day return and so as never to go astray again but they should not return until after the East and the West that is to say all the World should be filled with the fear and the knowledge of God The Holy Ghost made St. Paul see that that happy return of the Jews should be the effect of that Love which God had had for their Fathers wherefore he thus concludes his Discourse As concerning the Gospel says he which we now preach to you they the Jews are enemies for your sake if God hath cast them away it hath been O Gentiles that he might call you but as touching the Election by which they were chosen from the time of the Covenant which was made and sworn to Abrahaâ— they are beloved for the Fathers sake For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief God having been pleased to choose you in their stead Even so have these also the Jews now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy for God hath conclâ—ded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all and that so they might all confess the need they have of his grace and mercy O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Foâ— who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed to him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen This is what St. Paul hath said concerning the Election of the Jews their Fall their Return and at last concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles who were called to fill up their place and to bring them back in the fulness of time to the blessing that was promised to their Fathers that is to say to that Christ whom they had denied This great Apostle hath discovered to us the Grace which goes from one People to another to keep them all in fear lest they should lose it and hath also manifested its invincible force and power in that after it had converted Idolaters it should reserve it self for its last work the convincing the Jews of their hardness and contumacious perfidiousness By this profound Counsel of God the Jews remain still among all Nations whither they were dispersed and carried captive but they remain likewise with the branded Character of their Reprobation being visibly fallen by their Infidelity of the Promises which were made to their Fathers banished from the Land of Promise having not any Land to cultivate but are Slaves in all Countreys whereever they are without honour without liberty and without any form of being a People They fell into this deplorable estate eight and thirty years after they had crucified Jesus Christ and after they had in persecuting his Disciples mis-spent the time which had been given them to come to the knowledgâ— of themselves But whilst the ancient People were under a state of Reprobation for their Infidelity the new People were daily increasing among the Gentiles the Covenant formerly made with Abraham reached according to the Promise to all the People of the World that had forgot God the Christian Church called all men to her and being in tranquillity for several Ages amidâ—t unheard of Persecutions she plainly convinced them that they were not to expect their happiness here in this World This was the most worthy Fruit of the knowledge of God and the effect of that great Blessing which the World was to look for by Jesus Christ It was still daily more and more hung up in every Family and all People were to have it Men opened their eyes more and more confessing the blindness into which they had been plunged by Idolatry and notwithstanding all the Româ—â— Power Christians were seen without revolting without making any disturbance and only by patient suffering all sorts of Inhumanities to make a new World as it were in dispersing themselves throughout the Un-verse The unheard of suddenness with which that great Change was made was a visible Miracle Jesus Christ had foretold that his Gospel should soon be preached over all the Earth and that Wonder was to fall out presently after his Death and he had said that after he was lifted up from the Earth John 8.28.12.32 that is to say after they had nailed him to the Cross he would draw all men unto him His Apostles had not yet finished their course but St. Paul said then to the Romans that he thanked God through Jesus Christ Rom. 1.8 that their Faith was spoken of throughout the whole World He told the Colossians Coll. 1.5 6 23. that the Gospel was heard and preached to every Creature under Heaven that he was
fatal presage and those ungrateful wretches having rejected one JESUS who preached up to them grace mercy and life God sent them another JESUS who was only to pronounce to them woes irrecoverable and remediless and the inevitable decree of their approaching Ruine Let us search a little farther into the Judgments of God under the Conduct of the Scriptures Jerusalem and the Temple thereof were twice destroyed once by Nebuchadnezzer and the other time by Tituâ— But in each of those times the Justice of God was made manifest by the same ways though it was more conspicuous in the latter For the better understanding the order of the Councells of God let us first lay down this Truth so often established in the sacred Oracles that one of the most terrible effects of Divine Vengeance is when in the Punishment of our precedent Sins it delivers us up to a reprobate Mind so as that we are deaf to all wise and wâ—olesome Admonitions blind to the ways of Salvation which are shewn to us ready to believe every thing that ruins us provided it does but flatter us and bold and daring to undertake any thing without ever measuring our own Strength with that of our Enemies whom we provoke Thus Jerusalem and its Princes were destroyed the first time under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon Weak and always beaten by that victorious King they often found they made but vain Efforts against him and were obliged to swear Fidelity to him The Prophet Jeremiah declared to them from God that God himself had delivered them up to that Prince and there was no Safety for them but in submitting to the Yoke He told to Zedekiah King of Juda and to all his People saying I spake also to Zedekiah King of Juda according to all these Words saying 2 Chron. 36.12.13 Jer. 27.12 17. Bring your Necks under the Yoke of the King of Babylon and serve him and his People and live for why will ye die wherefore should this City be laid waste But they believed not his Word Whilst Nebuchadnezzar kept them strait shut up by the prodigious Intrenchments he had made round about the City they suffered themselves to be deceived and bewitched by their false Prophets who puffed up their Minds with imaginary Victories and told them in the Name of the Lord although the Lord had not sent them Jer. 28.2 3. 2 Kings 25. I have broken the Yoke of the King of Babylon within two full Years will I bring again into this place aâ—l the Vessels of the Lords House that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon took away from this place and carried them to Babylon The People being seduced by these Promises suffered Famine and the hardâ—st Extremities imaginable and attempted so much by their audacious Madness that there was no room left to shew them Mercy The City was overthrown the Temple was consumed by Fire and all things were destroyed With these Marks the Jews confessed that the Hand of God was upon them But that the divine Vengeance might be as plain and manifest to them in the last Destruction of Jerusalem as it had been in the former there was seen in them both the same Seduction the same Temerity and the same Hardness and Obduracy Tho' their Rebellion had brought upon them the Roman Arms and they had rashly shook off a Yoke under which all the World then bowed Titus would not destroy it But on the contrary he made them several offers of Pardon not only at the beginning of the War but also then when they could no longer escape his Hand He had already raised round about Jerusalem a long and vast Wall fortified with Towers and Redoubts as strong as the City it self when he sent to them Josephus their fellow Citizen one of their Captains one of their Priests who had been taken in that War in the defence of his Country What did he not say to them to move them to accept of Caesar's Terms What powerful Arguments did he make use of to invite them to return to their Obedience He made them see that both Heaven and Earth conspired against them and their Ruine if they resisted was inevitable and that their absolute Safety was in the Mercy and Clemency of Titus Save said he to them the Holy City save your selves save this Temple Joseph 7. de bel Jud. c. 4. the Wonder of the World which the Romans pay Reverence to and which Titus will not see destroyed but with Regret and Sorrow But what way was there to save People that were so obstinate on their own Ruine Being led away by their false Prophets they would not hearken to such wise and salutary Discourses They were reduced to Extremity Famine destroyed greater Numbers of them than the Sword and Mothers slew and then dressed and eat up their own Children Titus touched with their sad Calamities called his Gods to witness that he was not the cause of their Ruine During these miserable Times they still gave Faith to the false Predictions which promised them the Empire of the World Nay more the City was taken the Fire was already blasing on all sides And yet those mad People still believed their false Prophets who assured them that the Day of Salvation was come that so they might still resist and there be no hopes of Mercy left for them In fine they were all massacred the City was utterly overthrown and saving some Remains of Towers which Titus reserved to serve as a Monument to Posterity there was not one Stone left upon another Your Highness sees then that the same Vengeance broke out now upon Jerusalem as did befal it under Zedekiah Titus was no less sent by God than Nebuchadnezzar The Jews were destroyed in the same manner There was seen in Jerusalem the same Rebellion the same Famine the same Extremities the same ways of Salvation opened the same Seduction the same Obduracy the same Fall and in a word that every Circumstance was like the other The second Temple was burnt under Titus the same Month and the same day of it as the first was under Nebuchadnezzâ—r Ibid. c. 9 10. Every thing was remarkable and the People could not doubt but that the Vengeance was from Heaven However there is between these two Destructions of Jerusalem and of the Jews very memorable Differences but which all tend to make us see in this latter a Justice more declared and rigorous Nebuchadâ—â—zzar commanded that Fire should be set to the Temple Titus forgot no Arguments to save it tho' his Counsellors represented to him that so long as it should stand the Jews who were resolved to destroy them iâ— they could would never leave off their Rebellions But the fatal Day was come which was the tenth of August which had once before seen the Temple of Solomoâ— burnt down to the Ground Notwithstanding all the Prohibitions of Titus openly declared before the Romans and the Jews and notwithstanding the natural Inclination of the
42 at least in this thy day which is yet given thee for repentance the things which belong unto thy Peace but now they are hid from thine eyes For the days shall come upon thee that thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy Children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knowest not the time of thy Visitation This was a plain and sufficient setting forth both of the manner of the Siege and of the last effects of Wrath and Vengeance But Jesus could not yet go to his Cross without declaring to Jerusalem the heavy Punishment that was one day to fall on her for that unworthy Treatment he had received among them As he went to Mount Calvarie bearing his Cross on his Shoulders There followed him a great Company of People and of Women who also bewailed and lamented him he stood still and turning about to them he breaks forth into these passionate Expressions Daughters of Jerusalem Luke 23.27 28 29. weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children For behold the days are coming in the which they shall say Blessed are the Barren and the Wombs that never bare and the Paps which never gave suck Thee shall they begin to say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us For if they do these things in a green Tree what shall be done in the dry If the Innocent if the Just must suffer so severe a Punishment what may then the Guilty expect Did Jeremiah ever more bitterly deplore the destruction of the Jews what more powerful and efficacious words could our Saviour speak to make them understand their Misery and Despair and that horrible Famine so fatal to the Children so fatal to their Mothers who should behold their Breasts dried up and they to have nothing left them but their Tears to feed their crying staring Children with and then who at last should be forced themselves to eat up the Fruit of their Wombs to abate the extremity of their own Hunger IX Two memorable Predictions of our blessed Saviour are explained and their accomplishment justified by History These were the Predictions he openly declared to all the People Those he gave in private to his Disciples deserve a more particular attention still They are comprized in that long and admirable Discourse where he joyns together the Ruine of Jerusalem with that of the Universe That Unity was mysterious and this the design of it Jerusalem that happy City which our Lord had chosen as long as it kept in the Covenant and in the Faith of the Promises was the Type of the Church and the Figure of Heaven where God discovers himself to his Children That is the reason we oft-times see the Prophets to joyn in the Thread of the same Discourse Matth. 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. what respects Jerusalem to that which regards the Church and the Celestial Glory 'T is one of the Secrets of the Prophecies and one of the Keys which opens the Understanding of them But Jerusalem as it was reprobate and ungrateful towards her Saviour was to be the Type and Image of Hell Her perfidious Citizens were to represent the damned and the terrible Judgment which Jesus Christ was to execute upon them was to be the Figure of that which he was to bring on all the World when he should come at the end of all things in his glorious Majesty to judge the quick and the dead 'T is the way of the Scripture and one of the methods it makes use of for the imprinting of Mysteries into our minds to mingle for our Instruction Types and Truth together Thus our Lord hath intermingled the History of desolated Jerusalem with that of the end of the World and this has been plainly visible in all our Discourse of it But however let us not imagine that these things were so confounded that we could not discern what belonged to each of them Jesus Christ has distinguished them by certain Characters which I could easily make out if there were any question about them But I will content my self with giving you to understand what relates to the Desolation of Jerusalem and the Jews The Apostles for it was then at the time of the Passion being got together round about their Master shewed him the Temple and the delicacy of the Buildings they admired the Stones thereof Matth. 24.1 2. Mark 13.1 2. Luke 21.5 6. their disposition their Beauty and their strength and he said to them See you these great and goodly Buildings verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one Stone upon another Being astonished at his words they asked him when would come the time of so terrible a Destruction and he who would have them by no means surprized in Jerusalem when it should be sacked for he had a mind there should be in the sacking of that City a Type and Image of the last Separation of the Good from the Bad began to relate to them all the sad Calamities as they were to fall out one upon the heels of the other Matth. 24.7 Mark 13.3 Luke 21.8 9. First he observes to them that there should be Plagues Famines and Earthquakes in diverse places and the Histories do bear testimony that those things had never been more frequent nor more remarkable than they were during those times He added that there should be all the World over Troubles rumours of Wars bloody and dreadful Wars for Nation should rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and all the Earth should be in an uproar and confusion Could he better represent to us the last years of Nero when all the Roman Empire that is to say all the World so quiet and peaceful since the Victory of Augustus and under the power of the Emperours began to be shaken and the Gauls the Spaniards and all the Kingdoms of which the Empire was made up were in tumult all of a sudden four Emperours to rise up almost at the same punctuality of time against Nero and each against the other the Pretorian Cohorts the Armies of Syria Germany and all the others that were dispersed both in the East and West to shock and traverse one another under the Conduct of their Emperours from one end of the World to the other to decide their quarrels by bloody Battels All these things were to come to pass said the Son of God but the end would not be yet The Jews should suffer like the rest in that Universal Commotion of the World but there should come upon them quickly after more particular Calamities and thâ—se to be but the beginning of Sorrows too He adds that his Church which had been evermore afflicted from its fâ—rst establishment should see Persecution kindling against her Matth. 24.9 Mark 13.9 Luke 21.12 more terrible and
spoken of in the Gospel and whom the Heathen confessed Matth. 22.16 Mark 3.6.12.13 Pers Vet. Schol. Sat. v. 11. 180. Joseph de bell Jud. 3.14 for Persius and his Schoâ—iast informs us that even in the time of Nero the Birth of King Herod was celebraâ—ed by his Followers with the same Solemnity as the Sabbath Josephus stumbles into the like Error That Man being instructed as he says himself in the holy Books of the Prophets and himself a Priest as his Parents â—ere acknowledged that indeed the coming of that King so much promâ—sed by Jacob exactly agreed with the time of Herod where he shews us himself with that industrious care a manifest beginning of the ruine of the Jews but as he saw nothing in his own Nation which filled up those ambitious Ideas that it had conceived of its Christ he went on somewhat further before the time of the Prophecy Lib. 3. de bell Jud. 14.7.12 and applying himself to Vespasian he assured that the Oracle of the Scripture signified that Prince the delared Emperour in Judea Thus did he wrest the holy Scriptures to authorize his Flattery and being miserably blind he bestowed upon Strangers the hopes of Jacob and Judah he sought in Vespasian the Son of Abraham and of David and to an Idolatrous Prince attributed the Title of him whose light was to draw off the Gentiles from Idolatry That conjuncture of time favoured it much But whilst he was attributing to Vespasian what Jacob had spoken of Christ the Zealots who defended Jerusalem attributed it to themselves And it was upon that only Foundation that they promised themselves the Empire of the World Joseph de bell Jud. lib. 7. as Josephus relates it more reasonable than himself in that aâ— least they went not out of the Nation 〈◊〉 seek for the accomplishment of the Promisâ—â— made to their Forefathers How blind were they to that great advantage which the preaching of the Gospel thâ—â— made among the Gentiles and to that nâ—â— Empire which Jesus Christ was setting up over all the Earth What was more glorious and beautiful than an Empire in which Piety was to reign the true God to triumph over Idolatry Eternal Life to be published and declared to Infidel Nations and was not even the Empire of the Caesars a piece of pompous vanity in comparison with this But however that Empire seemed not illustrious enough to charm the Eyes of the World How ought we to be disabused from these earthly Grandeurs before we can come to any true knowledge of Jesus Christ the Jews understood the time the Jews saw the People called to the God of Abraham according to Jacob's Prophecy by Jesus Christ and his Disciples and yet for all that they mistook even that Jesus who was signalized to them by so many signs And altho' throughout the whole course of his life and after his death he confirm'd his Mission by so many extraordinary Miracles yet those besotted and infatuated Wretches rejected him because they could see nothing in him but a solid Grandeur which was void of all that splendid Decoration which strikes the Senses and because he seemed rather come to condemn than to reward their vain Ambition And yet however forced by the Conjunctures and Circumstances of time in spight of their blindness and obduracy they sometimes seemed to vail to their Prepossessions Every thing at the time of our Lord was so exactly fitted to the Manifestation of the Messiah that they were in great suspicion lest St. John the Baptist might be he Luke 3.15 1 John 19.20 His manner of life which was austere extraordinary and very surprizing touched them sensibly and tho' the Grandeurs of the World was wanting yet they appeared at first as if they were willing to be satisfied with the lustre of so amazing and prodigious a life The simple and common life of our Jesus Christ was offensive to those gross as well as proud Spirits who were only capable of being taken by their Senses and who otherwise being far enough from a sincere Conversion would admire nothing but what they looked on as inimitable So that St. John the Baptist who they thought deserved to be the Christ was not believed when he declared to them the true Christ and Jesus Christ whom they must have imitated as soon as they had believed on him appeared to the Jews too humble and meek for them to follow him But yet the Impression that was made upon them that Christ must appear about that time was so strong and powerful that they could not wear it off for almost a whole Age. They thought the fulfilling of the Prophecies might have a certain extent and was not still wholly determined to a precise particular point of time so that for almost an hundred years they talked of nothing but of false Christs that got themselves to be followed and of false Prophets who declared them The foregoing had never seen any thing like it and the Jews made no such brags of the Name of Christ neither when Judas Maccabeus gained so many Victories over their Tyrant nor when his Brother Simon freed them from the Yoke oâ— the Gentiles nor yet when the first Hyrâ—â— got so many Conquests The time and the other signs did not then agree to it and it was only in that Age of Jesus Christ that they began to speak of all those Messiahs The Samaritans who read the Prophecy of Jacob in the Pentateuch made themselves Christs as well as the Jews and a little after Jesus Christ they called to mind their Dositheâ— Orig. Tract 27. in Matt. Tom. 14. in Joh. 1. cant Cels Iren. 1. 20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 4.25 Simon the Magician of the same Country boasted also that he was the Son of God and Menander his Disciple called himself the Saviour of the World Whilst Christ was living and amongst them the Samaritans believed the Messias was near coming so generally was it expected in the Nation and among all those who read the ancient Oracle of Jacob that Christ was to appear in those days When the time was so past that there was no further expectation of him and that the Jews had seen by Experience that all the Messiahs whom they had follow'd were so far from delivering them from their Evils that they had but the more emerged them in 'em it was then a good while e're was seen among them any more new Messiahs and Barchochebas was the last whom they owned as such in those first and early times of Christianity But the old Impression could not yet utterly be done away In stead of believing that Christ had appeared as they had done in the time of Adrian under the Antonines his Successors they thought upon â—his to say that Christ was in the World â—ho ' he did not then make himself visible because he tarried for the Prophet Elias who was to come to consecrate him This was a common Discourse amongst
Governour of Judea Acts 24.25 of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come and he trembling answered Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I wil call for thee 'T was a Discourse to be rejected or put off by him that was resolved to enjoy whatever came on 't the Blessings of this World with full swinge Will you see Interest moved that powerful Ressort and Spring which gives motions to all Humane things In that great cry against Idolatry which the preaching of St. Paul began to cause over all Asia the Crafts-men who got their living by making Silver Shrines for Diana of Ephesus were called together by Demetrius a Silver-Smith and he being of greatest credit harrang'd to them how their Mystery was like to signifie nothing Nay says he Acts 19.27 not only this our Craft is in danger to be set at nought but also the Temple of the great Goddess Diana is like to be despised and her Magnificence destroyed whom all Asia and the World worshipped How powerful is Interest and how bold and daring is Man when he can but cloak himself under the pretence of Religion There was nothing more needful to open the Mouths of those that were of like Occupation with him They ran out all together full of Wrath crying Great is Diana of the Ephesians and dragging Paul's Companions in Travel into the Theatre where the whole City was met in Confusion Then they redoubled their cries and for two whole hours the Publick Hall sounded nothing but Great was Diana of the Ephesians and St. Paul and his Companions were with great difficulty delivered from the hands of the People by the Magistrates who were afraid lest greater disorders might happen from that Tumult Add now to the Interest of private Men the Interest of the Priests who were also like to fall with their Gods and to all that superadd the Interest of Cities which were eminently famous by their false Religion as the City of Ephesus which owed her Priviledges to her Temple and the great Conflux of Strangers whereby she grew rich in Wealth what a Tempest was like to be raised against this new-born Church and is there any need to wonder that we see the Apostles so often beaten stoned and left for dead among the Populace But a greater Interest was to move a greater Machine the Interest of the State was to stir up the Senate the Romans and the Emperours For a long time before the Decrees of the Senate had defended the strange Religions and the Emperours were entred into the same Policy and in that great Consultation about reforming the Abuses of the Government Liv. lib. 39. c. Orat. Maecen ap Dion 52. Tertul. Apolog. 5. Euseb Hist Eccles 2.2 one of the principal Regulations that Mecaenas proposed to Augustus was to prevent Novelties in Religion which were always sure to cause dangerous Commotions in States The Maxim was true for what is there that more violently stirs up mens minds and carries them out to more strange Excesses But God was resolved to make us see that the establishing of the true Religion did not create such Troubles and that was one great Token that he was interessed in that work For who can choose but wonder when he considers that for three hundred years together whilst the Church was suffering all the Cruelties that the Rage of Persecutors were able to invent amidst so many Seditions so many Wars and so many Conspiracies against the Persons of Emperours Tertul. Apol. 35 36 c. there should never be found so much as one single Christian either good or bad The Christians challenged their greatest Enemies to name one but they could not find one out so great a Veneration for those in Publick Power and Authority did the Doctrine of Christianity inspire them with and so deep an Impression did that Saying of our Saviour make in their minds Matth. 22.21 Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods That beautiful distinction filled their minds with so clear a light that never did Christians fail in their respect to the Image of God in Princes tho' they were Persecutors of the Truth That Character of Submission so shone in all their Apologies that they do to this day inspire those that read them with a Love of Publick Order and do show that they expect only from God the establishment of Christianity Men so determined to death that they filled the whole Empire and were in all the Armies never made once an Escape Tertul. Apol. 37. during those several Ages of Persecution they forbad among themselves not only Seditious Actions but even Murmurings and Complaints The finger of God was in that work and no other hand than his could have preserved those that were driven to the last Extremities by so many Injustices Indeed it was hard for them to be treated as Publick Enemies and as Enemies to Emperours Those I may say who breathed nothing but Obedience and whose most devout and servent Prayers were still for the safety of their Princes and the happiness of the State But the Roman Polity thought themselves attacked in their Foundation seeing they despised their Gods Rome boasted of her being a holy City by her Foundation consecrated from her first beginning by Divine Auspices and dedicated by her Author to the God of War She scarce believed but that Jupiter was more present in the Capitol than in the Heavens She fancied she owed her Victories to her Religion and by that had subdued both Nations and their Gods for so at that time was their reasoning so that the Roman Gods were to be superiour to all other the Romans were Masters of other men Cic. Orat. pro Flac. Orat. Sym. ad Imp. Val. Theodos Arc. ap Amb. tom 5. l. 5. Ep. 30. Zozym hist lib. 3 4 c. Rome in subjecting Judea reckoned the God of the Jews among those other Gods she had vanquished The desire of reigning was the overthrow or the Foundations of the Empire the hating of the Victories and Power of the People of Rome Thus the Christians who were Enemies of their Gods were at the same time looked upon as Enemies of the Republick The Emperours took more care to exterminate them than to drive out the Parthians the Marcomans and the Dacians Christianity beaten down appeared in their Inscriptions with as great pomp and triumph as the Samaritans defeated But they were out in their Boastings that they had destroyed a Religion which grew tho' insensibly greater under its Persecution of Fire and the Sword Calumnies in vain were added to Cruelty Men who were vertuous in their Practices even above Mankind were yet condemned as being guilty of those Vices which are a shock and horrour to Humane Nature Those were reproached for incestuous Persons who made Chastity to be the glory of their Lives and others were accused of eating up their own Children who
were kind and beneficent to their very Persecutors But notwithstanding all that publick hatred the force and power of truth drew from the mouths of their most violent Enemies very favourable Testimonies of them Plin. l. 10. Ep. 97. Every one knows what Pliny the younger writ to Trajan concerning the Behaviour of the Christians They were justified but yet they were not exempted from the severest Punishments for thus it behoved them to undergo this worst of treatment to effect in them the Image of their crucified Jesus and they ought as he did to go to their Cross with a publick declaration of their spotlese Innocence Idolatry did not put all its force to the last violence Although its Foundation was a brutish Ignorance and an entire deprivation of Humane Sense yet it was willing to set it off with the colour of some Reason How often has it endeavoured to be in disguise and masque and in how many ways has it been transformed that so the shame of it may be concealed Sometimes it was for paying all imaginable respect to the Divinity saying whatsoever was Divine must needs be unknown For only the Divinity can understand it self 'T is not for such groveling Dust as we to discover things so high and elevated wherefore it becomes us to believe the Antients and every one ought to follow the Religion he finds by Law established in his Countrey And by these Maxims those gross as well as impious Errors which had spead themselves over all the habitable World were remediless and the voice of Nature which declared the true God was stifled and not allowed to speak There was then great ground to think that the weakness of our strayed Reason had need of an Authority to call it back to its first Principle and that it ought from Antiquity to learn the true Religion Thus have you seen the continued constant course and proâ—ress of it from the very beginning of the World But from what Antiquity can Paganism boast it self which can't read its own Historie but in them must find the Original not only of its Religion but also of its Gods De natur Deorum lib. 1. 3. Varro and Cicero not to mention other Authors have sufficiently made this plain Or shall we have recourse to those numberless Thousands of Years which were filled up by the Egyptians with confused and impertinent Fables for the establishing of that Antiquity of which they boasted so much There we shall still see in them the Rise and Fall the Birth and Death of the Gods of Egypt and that People cannot pretend to their Antientness but they must at the same time shew us the beginning of their Gods But let us see another Form and Manner of Idolatry that directed every one that went by us to be look'd on as Divine The Roman Polity which so severely interdicted strange Religions yet permitted Adoration to be given to the Gods of the Barbarians so that it had adopted tliem Thus it endeavoured to appear equitable as well towards all Gods as towards all Men. Sometimes it offered Incense to the God of the Jews together with all the rest Jul. Ep. ad comm Judaeor And we find a Letter of Julian the Apostate whereby he promises the Jews to re-build the Holy City and with them to sacrifice to God the Creator of the Universe 'T was a common Error We have seen the Heathen willing to worship the true God tho' not to worship him alone and the Emperors did not stick even to give Jesus Christ himself whose Disciples they persecuted some Altars among the Romans What then Could the Romans ever imagine they should honour him as God whom their Magistrates had condemned to the cruellest as well as the vilest of Punishments and whom several of their Authors have loaded with very reproachful Calumnies And yet we need not wonder at it for the thing is beyond all Controversy First let us distinguish what in general a blind Hatred says from positive Facts the Proofs whereof are alledged 'T is certain that the Romans though they condemned Jesus Christ yet never reproached him for any Crime in particular So Pilate condemned him with Repugnance being violently carried away by the Clamors and Menaces of the Jews But that which is more to be wondered at is the Jews themselves at whose Importunities he was crucified have not preserved in any other of their antient Books the Remembrance of any one single Action which might cast a Blemish upon his Life so far have they been from observing any that might make him to deserve so severe a Punishment as his Crucifixion whereby is confirmed in a most plain and manifest manner what we read in the Gospel that all the Crime of our Lord was for calling himself Christ the Son of God Indeed Tacitus tells us of the Punishment of our blessed Saviour under Pontius Pilate and during the Empire of Tiberius but says not a word of any Crime that might make him worthy of Death but only that of being the Author of a Sect convicted for hating Mankind or at least for being odious to it Such was the Crime of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Christians and their greatest Enemies could never accuse them but in dubious terms for they were never able to alledge one positive Fact as could fairly be imputed to them 'T is true in the last Persecution and three hundred Years after Christ the Heathen who were at a loss how then to lay any Reproach either upon him or his Disciples published some â—â—w Acts of Pilate by which they pretended th y saw the Crimes for which he had been crucified But as not a word of those Acts were ever heard spoke of in all the precedent Ages and that neither under Nero nor under Domitian who reigned in the beginning of Christianity how great Enemies soever they were of it there is nothing at all sound concerning them it is very probable they were made out of their own Fancy and among the Romans there are found so few constant Proofs of Jesus Christ that his Enemies have been forced to fly to their Inventions to make some Here then is one and the first thing to be considered of the Innocence of our Blessed Saviour irreproachable Let us now subjoin a second the Holiness of his Life and his known and exemplary Doctrine One of the greatest Roman Emperors to wit Lamprid. in Alex. Sev. c. 45.51 Alexander Severus admired our Lord and caused to be written in the publick Works as well as in his Palace some Sentences of his Gospel The same Emperor commended and proposed for an Example the holy Precautions wherewith the Christians ordained the Ministers of Sacred things That was not all neither There was seen in his Palace a kind of Chappel where he sacrificed in the Morning Ibid. c. 29.31 He had consecrated the Images of Holy Souls among which he placed with Orpheus Jesus Christ and Abraham He had
Sacrifice to Libertinism Now can you believe that impiety did not lead them without any necessity in the World into all these Absurdities you have seen if against the testimony of Mankind and against all the Rules of good Sence it strives to take away from the Pentateuch and the Prophecies their constantly avowed Authors to dispute their dates with them For the dates are all in all as to this matter for two reasons First because Books that were full of so many miraculous deeds which are seen in them attended with the most particular Circumstances and advanced not only as publick but as present if they had been capable of being false would have carried their own Condemnation with them and instead of keeping themselves up by their own weight they wouâ—d long ago have fell of themselves Secondly because their dates being once fixed we can no more efface the Infallible mark of divine Inspiration which they bear impressed in the great number and the long course of memorable Predictions which we find them filled withal 'T is to shift off these Miracles and these Predictions that the wicked have run themselves into all these Absurdities that have surprized you But let them not think they shall escape God He hath reserved for his Scriptures such a mark of Divinity as can never suffer any prejudice 'T is the relation there is between the two Testaments They do not dispute at least that all the old Testament was written before the new here there is no new Esdras which can perswade the Jews to invent or to falsify their Scripture in favour of the Christians whom they Persecuted There needs no more By the relation of the two Testaments we prove that both are Divine They have both the same design and the same Consequence The one prepares the way to that Perfection which the other shews openly to all the World the one lays the Foundation the other finishes the Building in a word the one foretells what the other shews us accomplished Thus all the times are united together and the eternal design of divine Providence is revealed to us The tradition of the Jews and that of the Christians make together but one and the same Progress of Religion and the Scriptures of both Testaments are but one and the same Body and one and the same Book And because the discussion of the particular Predictions tho' in it self it be full of Light depends on many Deeds which all the World cannot equally understand God hath therefore chosen some of them which he hath made plain to the most Ignorant Those illustrious those bright and conspicuous Facts of which all the World is a witness are those Facts which I have here endeavoured to make your Highness comprehend that is to say the desolation of the Jews and the Conversion of the Gentiles happening together and both precisely at the same time as the Gospel was Preached and Jesus Christ appeared These three things united in order of time were yet much more so in the order of God's Decrees You have seen them go together in the old Prophecies but Jesus Christ the faithful Interpreter of the Prophecies and of the Will of his Father hath still better explained unto us that Bond of Unity in his Gospel He does it in the Parable of the Vine-yard so familiar in the Prophets The Father of the Family had planted this Vine that is to say the true Religion founded upon his Covenant and had let it out to Husbandmen that is to say to the Jews Matt. 21.38 And that he might receive the fruits of it he sent several times his Servants who are the Prophets But these unfaithful Husbandmen cause some to be put to death his goodness leads him to send them his Son and yet him they treat worse than they did his Servants At last he takes away his Vineyard from them and gives it unto other Husbandmen he takes away from them the Grace of his Alliance to bestow it on the Gentiles These three things ought therefore to concur together the sending of the Son of God the Reprobation of the Jews and the Calling of the Gentiles There needs no further a Commentary upon the Parable which the event has it self interpreted You have seen the Jews confess that the Kingdom of Judah and the State of their Commonwealth began to fall in the time of Herod and when Jesus Christ came into the World But if the Alterations which they made to the Law of God have brought upon them so visible a Diminution of their Power their last Desolation which yet continues must be the Punishment of a fat greater Crime That Crime is plainly their Ingratitude against their Messiah who came to instruct them and to make them free And it is from that time too that an Iron yoke has been over their heads and they have been long ago crushed with it but that God keeps them to acknowledge one day and to serve that Messiah whom they have crucified You then already see one averr'd and publick Fact that is the total Ruine of the State of the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ The Conversion of the Gentiles which was to happen at the same time is no less averr'd neither At the same time when the ancient Worship was destroyed in Jerusalem with the Temple Idolatry was attacked on all sides and the People who for so many thousands of years had forgot their Creator were now wakened from so long a seeming death of sleep And that all things might accord the Spiritual Promises are displayed by the Preaching of the Gospel in the Time when the Jews who had only received the Temporal ones being openly reproved for their Incredulity and made Captives over all the face of the Earth had no longer any worldly Grandeur to expect Then was Heaven promised to those who suffered Persecution for Righteousness sake the Secrets of the Future Life were preached and the true Blessedness was shown for from that abode where Death reigns where Sin and all manner of Evils do abound If we do not discover here a design always kept up and always followed it we see not here one and the same order of the Counsels of God who prepared from the beginning of the World what he finished in the fulness of time and who under different Estates but with a Succession still constant perpetuated to the eyes of all the World that holy Society by whom he would be served we deserve to see nothing and to be delivered up to our own hardness as to the most just and rigorous of all Punishments And that this Course of God's People might be conspicuous to the most undiscerning God made it sensible and palpable by Matters of Fact which none could be ignorant of unless he purposely shut his eyes against the Truth The Messiah expected by the Hebrews he came and he called the Gentiles as it had been foretold The People that owned him as come were incorporated with
Not that they had disputed any thing against Kings or that any one had a right to constrain them but on the contrary they were looked upon as Gods but an ancient Custom had regulated them all and they resolved to live no otherwise than their Ancestors So that they patiently suffered themselves not only to be regulated in their manner of Victuals and Drink for it was an ordinary thing in Egypt where all People were sober and where the Air of the Country was a friend to Frugality but they were content that their very hours should be set them In waking at break of day Herod 2. Diod. §. 2. when their Minds were most refined and their Thoughts most clear they read their Instructions that they might have a more exact and true Idea of the Matters they were to decide As soon as they were drest they went to Sacrifice in the Temple There being incompassed by all their Court and the Victimes at the Altar they assisted at a Prayer full of Instructions where the Chief Priest prayed to the Gods to confer on the Prince all Royal Vertues so that he might be religious to the Gods placid towards Men moderate just magnanimous sincere and far from falshood liberal a Master of himself punishing below but rewarding above desert The Chief Priest afterwards spake of the faults that Kings might commit but he always supposed they fell into them by surprize or ignorance charging with Imprecations the Ministers that gave them evil Counsels and concealed the Truth from them This was the manner of instructing Kings Ibid. They thought Reproaches did only sower their Spirits and that the most effectual way of inspiring Vertue into them was to point out to them their Duty in Praises conformable to the Laws and gravely delivered before their Gods After Prayer and Sacrifice they read to the King in the Sacred Books the Counsels and the Actions of great Men that so he might govern his Kingdom by their Maxims and maintain the Laws which had made his Predecessors happy as well as their Subjects That which shews that these Remonstrances were made and hearkened to seriously was that they had their effect Among the Thebans that is to say in the chief Dynasty that where the Laws were in force and which came at last to be the Mistress of all the rest the greatest men were Kings The two Mercurys Authors of Sciences and of all the Institutions of the Egyptians the one near the time of the Deluge and the other whom they called Trismegistus or Teâ— maximus a Contemporary of Moses were both Kings of Thebâ—s All Egypt profited by their light Herod l. 2. and Thebes owes to their Instructions their having had very few bad Princes Those were spared during their lives the Publick Repose would have it so Diog. 1. §. 2. but they were not exempt from the Judgment they were to undergo after death Ibid. Some have been denied Burial but there are few Examples of them but on the contrary most of the Kings have been so much made of by the People that every one have bewailed their Death as much as that of their Parents or Children This Custom of judging Kings after their Death seemed so holy to the People of God that they have always practised it We read in the Scriptures that wicked Kings have been deprived of the Burial of their Ancestors Ant. 13.23 and we learn from Josephus that that Custom lasted even to the time of the Asmonâ—ans That gave Kings to understand that if their Majesty put them above Humane Judgments in this Life they were not above them when Death equalled them with other men The Egyptians had an inventive Geninâ— and they turned it to things that were profitable Their Mercuries have filled Egypt with wonderful Inventions and scarce have left it ignorant of any thing that might make Life tranquil and commodious I cannot give to the Egyptians the honour they have conferred on their Osyris Diod. l. 1. § 1. Plut. de Isid Osir for having invented Tillage because it was found at all times in the neighbouring Countries of the World where Mankind was spread and questionless it was known ever since the World began The Egyptians themselves likewise give so great an Antiquity to Osiris that it is plainly seen they have confounded his time with that of the beginning of the World and they would fain attribute some things to him whose Original was long before all times known in their History But if the Egyptians were not the first Inventors of Agriculture nor of the other Arts which we see before the Deluge they have yet brought them to such perfection and have taken so great a Care to establish them among the People where Barbarism had made them forget that their Honour comes very little short of those that were the first Inventors Indeed there are some things of great usefulness the Invention whereof cannot be disputed with them Plat. Epin Diod. 1. § 2. Herod l. 2. For as their Country was united and their Heaven always clear and uncloudy they were the first that observed the Course of the Stars and they were the first also that regulated the year Those Observations threw them naturally into Arithmetick and if it be true what Plato says Plat. in Tim. That the Sun and the Moon taught men the knowledge of Numbers that is to say that they began the Accounts regulated by that of Days Mouths and Years then the Egyptians werethe first who hearken'd to those marvellous Instructers The Planets and other Stars were no less known to them and they found out that great Year which brings back all the Heaven to its first point To know their own Lands every year covered over by the over-flowing of Nile they were forced to betake themselves to Surveying which quickly taught them Geometry They were great Observers of Nature which in an Air so serene and under a Sun so burning was very strong in its Products amongst them 'T was that which made them find out or perfect Physick Thus all Sciences were in great esteem with them The first Inventors of usefull things received Diod. 1. §. 2. Herod 3. init both whilst they lived and after their deaths rewards worthy of their labour 'T was that consecrated the Books of their two Mercuries and made them to be looked on as Divine Books Diod. l. 1. § 2. The first People of all that had Libraries were those of Egypt The title that was given them made them very desirous to peruse them and to search into the Secrets of them they were called The Treasure of the Remedies of the Soul Thereby it was cured of the most dangerous Ignorance of its Maladies and the Source of all the others One thing which made the greatest impression on the Minds of the Egyptians was the esteem and love of their Country It was they said the Mansion-House of the Gods they had reigned there
wise goes staggering reeling and as it were besotted because the Lord hath shed the Spirit of Dizziness and Confusion in all her Councils She no longer knows what she does she is lost to her self But that Men may not herein be deceived God repaireth when he seeth good the stragling Senses and he that insulted over the Blindness of others falls himself into more Egyptian Darkness and often times without any thing else to confound his Sence and Understanding than his too long Prosperities Thus it is that God Reigneth over all People Let us no longer talk of Chance or Fortune or speak of it only as a Name wherewith we conceal our Ignorance That which is Chance in respect of our uncertain Councils is a concerted Design in a higher Council that is to say in that eternal Council which circumscribes all Causes and all Effects in one and the same Order Thus all concurs to the same end and it is for want of understanding the all that we find of Chance or of Irregularity in particular Accidents and Emergencies By that is verified the Saying of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.15 that God is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Blessed whose Repose is unalterable who seeth every thing to change without changing himself and who makes all Changes by an Immutable Council who gives and who takes away Power who transfers it from one Man to another from one House to another from one People to another to shew that they have it only by way of Loan and that it is he alone in whom it naturally resides Wherefore all Governors find themselves the Subjects of a greater Power They aâ—t more or less than they think for and their Councils have ever more had unforeseen Effects They neither are Masters of the Dispositions which Ages past have made in their Affairs nor can they foresee what Coâ—rse the times to come will take so far are they from being able to force it He alone holds all things in his Hands who knows the Name of that which is and that which is not yet who presides at all times and anticipates all Councils Alexander little thought he laboured for his Captains nor that he ruined his House when he gained his Conquest When Brutus animated the Romans with such an excessive Love of Liberty he as little thought he was casting into their Minds the Principle of that unbridled and masterless Licence by which the Tyranny he designed to destroy was one day to be re-established with greater Severity than under the Tarquins When the Caesars flattered the Souldiers they had no designs of giving Masters to their Successors and to the Empire In a word there is no humane Power but what do what it can serves for other Designs than it aims at at present God alone knows how to bring about all things according to his own Will Wherefore every thing is surprising if we only look to particular Causes and yet nevertheless every thing goes on in an orderly manner This Discourse makes you see it clearly and not to speak of other Empires you see by how many unforeseen Councils but yet always connected in themselves the Fortune of Rome hath been carried on from Romulus down to Charlemain Your Highness might perhaps have thought I should have told you somewhat more of your own Country and of Charlemain who was the Founder of the new Empire But besides that his History makes a part of that of France which you your self have wrote and which you have already so far proceeded in I reserve to make you another Discourse of that wherein I shall be necessarily obliged to speak to you of France and of that great Conqueror who being equal in Valour to those which Antiquity hath the most boasted of doth yet exceed them in Piety in Wisdom and Justice That some Discourse shall discover to you the Causes of the prodigious Successes of Mahomet and this Successors That Empire which began two hundred Years before Charlemain may find its place in that Discourse but I though it would be much better to shew you in one continued Series its beginning and its declension So that I have no more to tell you in this first Part of my Universal History You will discover all the Secrets of it and you will have nothing to do but to observe in it all the Progress of Religion and that of the great Empires down to Charlemain Whilest you will see almost all fall of themselves and Religion only support it self by its own Strength you will easily then discern what is solid Grandeur and where a wise and considerate Man is to place all his Hopes A TABLE TO THE FIRST PART OF THIS DISCOURSE I. EPocha Adam or the Creation First Age of the World Pag. 1. II. Epocha Noah or the Deluge Second Age of the World Pag. 4. III. Epocha The Call of Abraham Third Age of the World Pag. 7. IV. Epocha Moses or the written Law Pag. 11. V. Epocha The taking of Troy Fourth Age of the World Pag. 15. VI. Epocha Solomon or the Temple finished Fifth Age of the World Pag. 17. VII Epocha Romulus or Rome founded Pag. 25. VIII Epocha Cyrus or the Jews re-established Sixth Age of the World Pag. 43. IX Epocha Scipio or Carthage Conquered Pag. 71. X. Epocha The Birth of Jesus Christ Seventh and last Age of the World Pag. 89. XI Epocha Constantine or the Peace of the Church Pag. 110. XII Epocha Charlemain or the re-establishment of the new Empire Pag. 149. A Table to the Second Part. THE Course of Religion Pag. 155. I. The Creation and the first Times ibid. II. Abraham and the Patriarchs Pag. 178. III. Moses the Law written and the bringing of the People into the promisid Land Pag. 189. IV. David the Kings and the Prophets Pag. 209. V. The times of the second Temple Pag. 247. VI. Jesus Christ and his Doctrine Pag. 267. VII The Descent of the Holy Ghost the Establishment of the Church the Judgments of God both on the Jews and on the Gentiles Pag. 298. VIII Particular Reflections upon the Punishment of the Jews and upon the Predictions of Jesus Christ who had taken Notice of it Pag. 316. IX Two memorable Predictions of our blessed Saviour are explained and their Accomplishment justified by History Pag. 330. X. The Progress of the Jewish Errors and the manner how they explain the Prophecies Pag. 345. XI Particular Reflections on the Conversion of the Gentiles The profound Councils of God which resolved to convert them by the Cross of Jesus Christ The Arguing of St. Paul upon this manner of their Conversion Pag. 366. XII Divers ways of Idolatry Sense Interest Ignorance a false respect of Antiquity Policy Philosophy and Heresies came to its Succor but the Church triumphs over all Pag. 376. XIII General Reflection on the Progress of Religion and the Relation there is between the Books of the Scriptures Pag. 401. A Table to the Third Part. THE Empires Pag. 437. I. That the Revolutions of Empires are regulated by Providence and serve to humble Princes Ibid. II. The Revolutions of Empires have particular Causes which Princes ought to study Pag. 445. III. The Scythians the Ethiopians and the Egyptians Pag. 447. IV. The Assyrians both antient and new the Medes and Cyrus Pag. 475. V. The Persians the Grecians and Alexander Pag. 48â— VI. The Roman Empire Pag. 505. VII The Successive Changes of Rome Explained Pag. 543. FINIS
signifies an Idol and who does not know that the Roman Armies bore in their Ensigns the Images of their Gods and of their Caesars who were had in greater Reverence than all their Gods Those Ensigns were to the Souldiers an Object of worship and because Idols according to God's Decrees were never to appear in the holy Land the Roman Ensigns were banished from thence Also we see in Histories that whilst among the Romans there remained any tho' never so little Consideration for the Jews the Roman Ensigns were never seen in Judea Therefore it was that Vitellius when he went into that Province to carry the War into Arabia caused his Troops to march without any Colours for the Jewish Religion was at that time had in Reverence Joseph l. 18. c. 7. and they would not force that People to indure things that were so contrary to their Law But in the time of the last Jewish War it is very much to be believed that the Romans did not any whit spare a People whom they were resolved utterly to destroy So that when Jerusalem was besieged it was surrounded with as many Idols as there were Roman Ensigns in the Army and the Abomination did never appear so great standing where it ought not that is to say in the holy Land and round about the Temple Was this then may some say that great Sign that Jesus Christ was to give Was it then high time to fly when Titus besieged Jerusalem and when he so closely blâ—cked up the Avenues that there was no place left for them to make their escape at This was the Marvel of the Prophecy Jeruâ—alem was besieged twice in those times The first by Cestius the Governor of Syria in the sixty eighth Year of our Saviour the second by Titus four Years after that is to say in the Year seventy two Joseph 2. de beâ— Jud. c. 23 24. Ibid. l. 6 7. In the last Siege there was no possible Means of saving themselves Titus made that War with so much heat and violence he surprized all the Nation being then in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles and not one made their escape and that formidable Circumvallation which he made round the City put its Inhabitants out of all manner of Hopes But there was no such thing in the Siege of Cestius who was incamped fifty Furlongs that is to say six Miles from Jerusalem His Army was dispersed all round it but without making any Intrenchments Joseph lib. 2. c. 23 24. and he managed the War so negligently that he slipt the Opportunity of taking the City tho' their Terror Seditions and even their Intelligences open'd the Gates to him At that time so far was their Retreat from being impossible Joseph Ibid. that the History expresly takes notice that many of the Jews did retire into the Towers and other Places of Safety and Defence Then it was that they ought to have made their Flight That was the Signal which the Son of God gave to his own People So likewise did he most exactly distinguish the two Sieges The one was When their Enemies should cast a Tren h about them and compass them round Luke 19.23.21.20 21. and keep them in on every side then nothing but Death was to be expected by those who should be shut up in the City The other was when it should be only compassed with Armies and rather Invested than really Besieged then was it that they were to flee and retire unto the Mountains The Christians obeyed the Command of theâ—r Messias Tho' there were many Thousands of them both in Jerusalem and in Judea we do not read either in Josephus Euseb 3. Hist Ecâ—les c. 5. Epiph. Haer. 7. Nazar lib. de ponâ— mensur or in the other Histories that one of them was found in the City when it was taken On the contrary it is positively affirmed in the Eâ—clesiastical Histories and in all the Monuments of our Ancestors that they did withdraw into a little City call'd Pella in a mountainous Country near to the Desart towards the Confines of Judea and Arabia We may be by that satisfied how exactly they were forewarned of it and there is nothing more remarkable than that separation of the incredulous Jews from those Jews who were converted to Christianity the one remaining in Jerusalem to undergo the Punishment of their Infidelity and the others being retired as Lot was from Sodom to a small City where with trembling they considered of the Effects of the divine Vengeance from which Almighty God had been pleased to rescue and preserve them Besides the Predictions of Jesus Christ there were likewise several others from many of his Disciples and among the rest those of St. Peter and St. Paul As they were dâ—agging to their Deaths those two faithful Witnesses of Jesus Christ's being risen they declared openly to the Jews who should deliver them to the Gentiles their approaching Ruine telling them That Jerusalem was utterly to be destroyed Lact. divin Instit l. 4. c. 21. that they should dye with Famine and Despaire that they should be for ever banished from the Land of their Fathers and sent into Captivity thro' all the World that the time was nigh at Hand and all those Miseries should come upon them for having with so many cruel Reproaches insulted over the well-beloved Son of God who had declared himself to them by so many Miracles Pious Antiquity has preserved to us this Prediction of the Apostles which was to be attended with so close and sudden an Accomplishment St. Peter had given them several others either from a particular Inspiration Phleg. l. 13 14. Chron. apud Orig l. 2. cont Cels or from his explaining the Words of his Master And Phlegon a Heathen Author whose Testimony Origen produces hath written that all this Apostle had foretold was to a tittle accomplished uppon them So that nothing befel the Jews but what was before hand prophesied of them The Cause of their Ruine is clearly painted out to us in the Contempt they cast upon Jesus Christ and his Disciples The time of Grace was past and their Destruction was ineviâ—able Your Highness may see therefore that it was in vain for Titus to attempt to save Jerusalem and the Temple The Decree was gone out from on high there was not to be one Stone left upon another And if one Roman Emperor vainly attempted to hinder the Ruine of the Temple another Roman Emperor did yet more vainly attempt to rebuild it Julian the Apostate after he had declared War against Jesus Christ thought himself powerful enough to frustrate his Predictions In the design he had of raising up on all sides Enemies to the Christians he stooped so low as to seek to the Jews who were the Refuse and Off-scowring of the World He excited them to build their Temple he gave them vast sums of Mony and assisted them with all the Power of the Empire But hearken to