our Works are the Subject of Reward and the same Merit of Christ makes differing works capable of a different Reward Their other Objection hath a little more likelihood and seems therefore somewhat more difficult to answer It is taken from the Parable Matt. 20. where the Kingdome of Heaven is compared to a Vineyard the Master whereof went out in the morning to hire labourers and agreed with them for a peny a day Three hours after or at the third hour he went out and hired more and so again at the sixth and ninth hours yea at the eleventh but an hour before Sun went down he did likewise And when they came all to receive their wages he gave the last hired as much as he had agreed for with the first to wit every one a peny neither more not less Whence it seems to follow that the reward to come signified by this peny shall not be proportioned according to the difference of works but be one and the same to all I answer First The Parable proves no more but this That the sooner or later coming of men into the Vineyard of the Church for all were not to be called at one time nor in one age shall not make their reward greater or lesser not that the reward shall not be different according to the diversity of our works Secondly I add That this Parable hath respect to the Churches of the Iews and Gentiles not called nor to be called at the same time For the Iews were hired into the Vineyard betimes in the morning the Gentiles not till the day was far spent yet shall they by the goodness of their heavenly Master receive the same reward of eternal life which was promised to the Iew with whom the Covenant was first made and who bare the heat of the day whilst the other stood idle Besides in the new Vineyard of the Gospel the turn is changed for into it because the Iews would not the Gentiles have first been hired though at several hours the Iew being not to come in until the eleventh hour yet when Christ comes to give us wages shall receive his peny that is eternal life as well as we This to be the genuine scope of the Parable may be gathered by that which is presently subjoyned by our Saviour as it were to be the Key thereof So the last saith he shall be first and the first last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for many are called but few are chosen which I understand thus The last that is the Gentiles who came in last shall be the first partakers of Christ's Kingdom The Iews who were first in Covenant and had wrought so long before us in God's Vineyard shall be last in the Covenant of Christ and not converted till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in For though many of them were invited at the first coming of Christ yet few or none obeyed and to the Nation became not of his peculium but stands yet rejected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the like purpose is the same speech used by our Saviour Luk. 13. 29 30. They shall come saith he from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God And behold there are last which shall be first and there are first which shall be last What means this Out of S. Matthew 8. 11 12. where the same passage is related we shall hear it expounded for there the words run thus Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of heaven But the children of the Kingdom that is the whole generation of Israel who received not the Gospel at the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles and all the generations since who have continued in unbelief shall be cast out into outer darkness And here by the way because the Parable useth the notion of a Day to signifie a time of many Ages it will not be altogether unseasonable to note that the Metaphor may appear the easier how that the Scripture often elsewhere calls the whole time of man's pilgrimage in this world by the name of a Day As To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts And Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day whilest it is called to Day Where we see Day to include every day And I believe we are thus to understand Day in the Lord's Prayer in that Petition Give us this day our daily Bread that is the whole time we live in this world For in stead of S. Matthew's This Day spoken after the Hebrew notion S. Luke hath in the same Petition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is every day Therefore S. Matthew's This day must comprehend S. Luke's Every day if the sense of the Petition in both of them be the same as I believe it is Nay more than this The world to come even Seculum aeternitatis or Eternity it self is likewise termed a Day by S. Peter 2 Ep. 3. 18. our Lord saith he and Saviour Iesus Christ to whom be glory both now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Day of Eternity A long Day indeed But this obiter Thus having cleared my Proposition in thest or in general That there shall be differing degrees of glory in the Reward to come it remains that I make it good in the hypothesis concerning a Prophet namely That to them who instruct others in the ways and will of God which is the Office of a Prophet there belongs a preeminence of Reward above and besides that which is common to all Saints This preeminence of glory the School-men term Aurâ—ola that is an Additament of felicity to that essential glory in the Vision of God which they term Aurea This Aureola or Coronet to be added to the Crown of glory they ascribe to three sorts of persons to Virgins to Martyrs and to Doctors of Prophets The two first are out of my scope The third of Prophets let us see how it is proved out of Scripture First therefore it is apparent from my Text He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward Ergo there is some special or peculiar Reward belonging to a Prophet and that to an eminent one otherwise our Saviour's speech will have no enforcement in it as he that considers thereof may easily see The second is Dan. 12. 3. where the Angel prophesying of the Resurrection to be at the end of Time and saying That many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt he addes And those that be wise that is have learned the true wisdom which consists in the fear of God shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament but those that turn many unto righteousness that is the Teachers and Instructers as the Stars for ever and ever
the Devil is loose but for a little season I. M. A PARAPHRASE AND EXPOSITION Of the PROPHECIE OF S t. PETER CONCERNING The Day of Christ's Second Coming DESCRIBED In the Third CHAPTER of his Second EPISTLE AS ALSO How the CONFLAGRATION or Destruction of the WORLD by FIRE whereof S. Peter speaks and especially of the Heavens is to be understood BY IOSEPH MEDE B. D. The Fifth Edition corrected in sundry places and enlarged with some Additional Observations out of the Author 's own Manuscripts A PARAPHRASE and EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECIE of S. PETER CONCERNING The Day of Christ's Second Coming DESCRIBED In the Third CHAPTER of the Second EPISTLE Verses 1 2. SAint Peter exhorts the believing Iews unto whom he writes to be mindful of the words of the holy Prophets Esay Daniel and Malachi concerning the coming of Christ to Iudgment and the Restauration then promised it being also confirmed by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Verses 3 4. For howsoever it were then believed both by Iews and Christianed Gentiles yet in the last days should come those who walking after their own desires or humors should deny and deride the expectation of any such promise of the Day of Christ saying Where is the promise of his coming Where is the New heaven and New earth you talk of Verse 4. pars altera The reason of this their unbelief being because they imagine there hath never yet since the creation of the World been any example of such a destruction and change ensuing it as this at the coming of Christ should be For since the Fathers fell asleep say they even since Adam died all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation Therefore the expectation of any such change of the World and the state of things therein as is supposed is vain and frivolous and never to be fulfilled Verses 5 6. But those who suppose this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there hath never yet any such destruction and change befallen the Creation and thence conclude there is no such nor shall ever be they weigh and consider not the universal Deluge in the time of Noah when the curse laid upon the creature for man's sin first solemnly took place brought as a like destruction so a like change upon the world for the degeneration of the creature as this at the second coming of Christ shall be for the restauration and renovation of the same in the day of the glorious liberty of the children of God For the Heavens were of old and the globe of the Earth consisting partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of water viz. that of the Great deep and partly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst water to wit the clouds and floud-gates of heaven hanging about it all framed by the word of God By which waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world which then was being overwhelmed with water perished as it is written Gen. 7. 11 c. In the 600. year of Noah's life in the second month the 17. day of the month were all the Fountains of the Great deep broken up and the Floud-gates or Cataracts of heaven were opened and verse 18. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth And all flesh died that moved upon the earth both of fowl and of cattel and of beast and of every creeping thing and every man verse 21. Verse 7. But the Heavens and the Earth that is the World which is now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto a From this proportion which the Iudgment to come by Fire hath unto that which was by Water in the Deluge Irenaeus calls it Diluvium ignis Lib. 5. cap. 29. juxta Edit Fevardentii fire at the Day of Iudgment and perdition of ungodly men according to the prophecy of Daniel c. 7. v. 10 11. who saw a fiery stream issuing and coming forth before the Iudge of the world and the body of the fourth Beast burned therewith And of Esay chap. 66. 15 16. who saith of that day That the Lord shall come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire And that by fire and by his sword i. e. by his sword of fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord would plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many b It may be it is of this day the same Prophet Esay also speaks chap. 9. 5. where he saith The battel of the Messiah should not be as the battel of the warriour with confused noise and garments rolled in bloud but with burning and fuel of fire For the old Prophets for the most part speak of the coming of Christ indefinitely and in general without that distinction of First and Second coming which the Gospel out of Daniel hath more clearly taught us And so consequently they spake of the things to be at Christ's coming indefinitely and altogether which we who are now more fully informed by the revelation of the Gospel of a two-fold coming must apply each of them to its proper time those things which befit the state of his First coming unto it and such things as befit the state of his Second coming unto his Second and what befits Both alike may be applied unto Both. So also Mal. 4. 1. That the great and terrible day shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble which at the coming of that day shall be burnt up Verse 8. But whereas I mentioned saith S. Peter the Day of Iudgment lest ye might mistake it for a short day or a day of a few hours I would not beloved have you ignorant that One day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day a Thus I expound these words by way of a preoccupation or premunition because they are the formal words of the Iewish Doctors when they speak of the Day of Iudgment or Day of Christ as S. Peter here doth viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 una dies Dei Sancti Benedicti sunt mille anni And though they use to quote that of the ninetieth Psalm Mille anni in oculis tuis sicut dies hesternus for confirmation thereof yet are not those words formally in the Psalm So that S. Peter in this passage seems rather to have had respect to that common saying of the Iews in this argument than to the words of the Psalm where the words One day with the Lord is as a thousand years are not though the latter part of the sentence A thousand years as one day may allude thither as the * Trad. R. Ketinae in Gemara Sanâ—edrin Midrasch iâ—hillim super Ps. 90. Iews also were wont to bring it for a confirmation of the former 2. These words are commonly taken as an argument why God should not be thought slack in his promise which follows in
as one Day This is the Day of the great Assises beginning with the Seventh Trumpet Apocal. 11. 15. wherein Christ shall give reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear his Name and shall destroy them that destroy the earth vers 18. The Process of this wonderful Day S. Iohn describes by a twofold Iudgment and a twofold Resurrection and the glorious Reign of the Saints between them The morning Iudgment shall be of Antichrist and all his partakers whom Christ shall destroy at the appearing of his coming 2 Thess. 2. 8. and then shall be the first and particular Resurrection The evening Iudgment shall be upon the remainder of the living enemies of Christ Gog and Magog and conclude with the last and universal Resurrection of the dead and so the last enemy Death being now wholly vanquished he shall surrender his Kingdom into the hands of his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 24 c. Nor ought it to seem strange that the name Day should signifie so long a time as a Thousand years The Iews who first imposed it understood it so And in the end of S. Peter we shall find yet a longer Day even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dies AEternitatis a Day of Eternity 2 Pet. 3. 18. The Prophets have many such long Days when they say In Die illo Vide. The whole time of Christ's first coming is called a Day Ioh. 16. 26. 2 Cor. 6. 2. The whole time of the Iews fourty years abode in the wilderness is called a Day Heb. 3. 8 9. Their first Captivity of seventy years a Day Vide Prophetas Their last and long Captivity a Day as Deut. 32. 35. alibi apud Prophetas And what if in our daily prayer Give us this day our daily bread Day be to be taken for the whole time of our life For in stead of S. Matthew's This day speaking after the Hebrew notion S. Luke hath in the same Petition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is every day So S. Paul Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day whilest it is called To Day Doth not Day here include many days Now if the Thousand years of the Reign of Christ be the Day of Iudgment then it will follow that though we may know by the fulfilling of things to be fulfilled whether it be nearer or farther off yet the precise time of the coming thereof cannot be known because it is to come upon the world unawares as a Thief in the night II. Nevertheless it is true that the Primitive Fathers especially those who believed the Chiliad conceived the World should last and the Church therein labour 6000 years and that the Seventh thousand should be the Day of Iudgment and Sabbath in which the Saints should reign with Christ their Lord. So Irenaeus Lib. 5. c. 28. Quotquot diebus hic factus est mundus tot Millenis consummatur Si enim Dies Domini quasi Mille anni in Sex autem diebus consummata sunt quae facta sunt manifestum est quoniam consummatio ipsorum Sextus millesimus annus est Idem eodem Libro cap. 30. Cùm vastaverit Antichristus hic omnia in mundo regnans annis tribus mensibus sex tunc veniet Dominus de coelis in nubibus in gloriae Patris illum quidem obedientes ei in stagnum ignis mittens adducens autenâ— justis Regni tempora hoc est requietionem i. Sabbatum septimam diem sanctificatam restituens Abrahae promissionem haereditatis c. Iustinus Martyr Dialogo cum Tryphone Iudaeo loquens de Mellennio Regni Christi Novimus inquit dictum illud quòd Dies Domini sit sicut mille anni huc pertinere Cyprianus Lib. de Exhortatione Martyrii Primi in dispositione Divina Septem dies annorum Septem millia continent ut consummatio legitima impleatur Lactantius de Divino praemio Lib. 7. c. 14. Quoniam Sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt per secula Sex id est annorum Sex millia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est Dies enim magnus Dei Mille annorum circulo terminatur Et ut Deus Sex illos dies in tantis rebus fabricandis laboravit ità religio ejus veritas in his Sex millibus annorum laborare necesse est malitiâ praevalente dominaute Et rurius Quoniam perfectis operibus requievit die Septimo eúmque benedixit necesse est ut in fine Sexti millesimi anni malitia omnis aboleatur è terra regnet annos Mille Iustitia sitque tranquillitas requies à laboribus quos mundus jamdiu perpessus est III. The ancient Iews also had a Tradition to the same purpose as appears by these testimonies recorded in the Gemara or Glosse of their Talmud Cod. Sanhedrim cap. Kol Iisrael For there concerning that of Esay chap. 2. Exaltabitur Dominus solus die illo thus speaks the Talmudical Gloss. Dixit Rabbi Ketâ—â—a Sex annorum millibus stat Mundus uno Millenario vastabitur de quo dicitur AT QUE EXALTAEITUR DOMINUS SOLUS DIE ILLO Note By Vastabitur they mean the Vastation of the world by Fire in the Day of Iudgment whereby it shall become New or a New Heaven and New Earth Sequitur Traditio adstipulatur R. Ketinae nempe ista Sicut ex septenis annis Septimus quisque Annus Remissionis est ità septem millibus annorum mundi Septimus Millenarius Millenarius Remissionis erit ut Dominus solus exaltetur in die illo Dicitur enim Psal. 92. Psalmus Canticum de Die Sabbati id est de eo Die qui totus Quies est Note they understand this Psalm of the Great day of Iudgment and the Sabbath mentioned in the Title of the great Sabbath of a Thousand years Dicitur item Psal. 90 Nam mille anni in oculis tuis velut dies hesternus Sequitur Traditio Domûs Eliae Sex mille annos durat mundus Bis mille annis Inanitas bis mille annis Lex denique bis mille annis Dies Christi At verò propter peccata nostra plurima enormia abierunt ex his qui abierunt These last words Petrus Galatinus proves to be added to this Tradition by the later Iews And surely this Elias lived under the second Temple and before the birth of Christ. And though there be no mention here of the Seventh thousand years yet that this R. Elias acknowledged it as well as the rest appears by a former place of the same Gemara Talmudica which is this Traditio Domûs Eliae Iusti quos resuscitabit Deus c. IV. The concinnity of this conceit hath made me I confess sometimes inquisitive whether it could be brought to accord with the received computation of the Age of the World and with our experience of the beginning and continuance of the times of Antichrist now revealed But the
probably would have given light to some hard places of Scripture which now may remain dark and unassoiled till the last Day of Iudgment 24. As these various Perfections and useful Accomplishments made his company very desirable to Scholars so the goodness of his Disposition made him equally Communicative and free to impart his Knowledge to those who came to him either out of the same University or from abroad To these he used to impart himself with that willingness that it seem'd questionable whether had the greater desire they to hear or he to communicate his Studies to them Which made a familiar Friend of his once merrily to say to one that having been partaker of his discourse gave him thanks That he might spare his thanks for that they were not so much beholding to him for delivering himself to them as he was to them for hearing him For this great advantage he made himself of the Civility which he shew'd to others that by the communication of his Notions to his Friends they became so fixed in his memory that he was afterward able readily to deliver them in a well-form'd discourse and was wont as often as he had occasion to express himself in publick especially in those Colledge-exercises which they call Common-places to make use of the fore-mentioned Discourses which with a little labour he could put into an apt form Some of which are those excellent Diatribae which with the rest of his Works are published for the common Benefit of the Church Which though but few in comparison of that great store wherewith so rich a magazine was furnished yet even in those few he hath discovered more rare pieces of recondite Learning than are to be found in some vast Volumes of many much-admired Authors 25. Concerning which Diatribae this is fit to be advertis'd That though there are in some of them several things of a strain that transcends the capacities of common Readers yet it would be a great mistake for that reason to suspect this worthy person as guilty of Ostentation or Affectedness For as they were Academical Exercises and not fitted for a vulgar Audience so he himself was of all knowing men the greatest Hater of that vanity He always disapprov'd the unnecessary quotations of Authors and the use of Forein Languages and Terms of Art in popular Sermons and expressing his dislike of such practices too much in use among some not only young Fellows of Colledges and other young Preachers but even those of more age and experience would sometimes say That they savoured of as much Inconsiderateness as if Shooe-makers should bring Shooes to be drawn on with their Lasts in them judging it a scarce pardonable folly for men going about the instruction of the ignorant to propound things in such Terms as themselves understood not till they had spent many years at the School or University and which how significant soever in themselves and to the Learned yet were but as so many Stumbling-blocks to common Auditors or at the best but as Stiles which though some might possibly leap over yet they interrupted the progress of their attention 26. Nay to give this Excellent person his just right he was so far from the vanity of Ostentation that it is hard to say whether he was more eminent for his rare Knowledge or for his singular Humility and Modesty in valuing his own Abilities insomuch as he could not without trouble hear of that great Opinion and Esteem which some deservedly enough had conceived of his great Learning he owning only some diligence freedom from prejudice and studium partium as his best abilities as himself hath excellently express'd it in a Letter of his to his friend Mr. Samuel Hartlib To which may be added That having received some notices of the great value which some Learned men both at home and in a forein University put upon his Apocalyptick Labours he made only this modest return to a Friend who perhaps thought he might highly please him with that news That he saw no great cause for all that why he should think much better of himself adding withal That he had frequently observ'd it to be the hap of many a Book that had little or no worth in it to find applause in the world when in the mean while a well-deserving Book is scarce taken notice of So far was this Good man from all proud self-reflections from glorying in his wisdom and strength of Parts or in any performance of his own Of this rare Temper of Spirit this also may be remembred as another pregnant Instance That when he was earnestly importun'd by some to write in difficiliora loca S. Scripturae for which task he was incomparably furnished he answered with a sigh No and being pressed to give a reason besides many things which he offered as That it required â— more time than he could reckon upon he had to live and 2 more and better Books than he had at present or could command and 3 that such a work must be done in an Age when mens thoughts are not imprison'd or circumscrib'd within the pale of over-ruling parties he added this also 4 That it would require more Learning than he had or was capable of 27. To omit many other Instances of his Humility for his life was full of them we shall add The little desire which he had either to Academical Honours or to great Preferments and worldly Advantages For the former this may not unfitly be here remembred That he was studiously regardless of Academical Degrees as being unwilling to make any great noise and report in the world And but that he was over-power'd to do it by the then Master of the Colledge he had never so far proceeded as to have been Bachelour in Divinity Thus he express'd himself to some in private A Master of Arts he was and a great Master of them too before he was so call'd but more than so to be he affected not An argument that that Grace was eminent in him wherein others most commonly are too short and defective And for the latter how far he was from any ambitious and eager pursuing the advantages and great things of this world appear'd as by his refusing the offer made him by his Unkle and that also by the then Bishop of Ely which we intimated before so likewise by his modest denial of the Provostship of Trinity Colledge near Dublin in Ireland to which he was elected upon the recommendation of another great Prelate the L. Primate of Armagh and by his unwillingness the second time to accept of it when he was in danger to be put into that Preferment The height of his Ambition was only to have had some small Donative sine cura made additional to his Fellowship or to have been placed in some Collegiate Church or Rural Colledge Some such place of quiet retirement from the noise and tumults of the world with a Competency moderated by Agur's wish Neither Poverty
manage of so holy and glorious a work seeing the experience of all ages sufficiently witnesseth how prone the nature of man is in flying one extreme to run too far towards the other Why then should we think it unlikely or rather not think it very likely that we also may have miscarried in the same manner unless we will arrogate unto our selves that priviledge of infallibility and freedom from error which we condemn as intolerable presumption in our Adversaries Besides it is to be taken notice of because of the prejudicate misprision of many to the contrary That the measure of Truth and Falshood Best and Worst is not the greater or lesser distance from Popery forasmuch as Popery also containeth much of Christianity nor that which is most destructive of the Man of Sin always most warrantable and safe to be embraced If it were there be some in the world whose religion we would be loth to admit of that would be found more orthodox and better reformed Christians than any of us all Nay give me leave without offence for the better awakening of some out of their deafness to whatsoever else may be said to this purpose to propound such a Demand as this Who knoweth whether this transgression I speak of be not a main and principal ingredient of that guilt which the Divine Majesty admonisheth us to take notice of in this his so long and so severe visitation of our neighbours and brethren whether he doth not visibly or if some passages be considered almost vocally upbraid them Thou that hatest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge I know right well that rashly to assign the particular causes of God's judgments without rule or precedent of Scripture is a sin of presumption and a bold intrusion into God's secrets and therefore I affirm not but demand only whether there be not here some cause which may minister such a suspicion But whatsoever it be the compassion of their woful affliction calls upon me rather to pray for them than to follow this harsh and unpleasant passage any further Only thus much If that which the Apostle saith in particular of the things which befel the Israelites God's first people in the Wilderness These things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come if this be to be extended also unto those punishments and their analogy which besel them afterwards then may perhaps two things further not unseasonably be enquired into First For what other sins it is remembred in Scripture that God gave his people during that his first Covenant especially after they came to dwell in their own Land under the sword of an external enemy or his worship thereby at any time to be troden under foot besides these two Idolatry and Prophanation of that which was holy or Sacriledge Examples of the first who knows not Of the second see the Story of Achan Iosh. 7. of Eli'sons 1 Sam. 2. the punishment of the Sacriledge of the seventh or Sabbatical year 2 Chron. 36. and the parallel places for by the Law every seventh year not only the whole Land but all servants and debts were holy unto the Lord and therefore to be released Lev. 25. 2 4. Deut. 15. Exod. 21. Secondly What was that Transgression after the return from Babylon mentioned in that Prophesie of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 8. 12. for which it is there foretold that An host should be given him against the daily Sacrifice and that it should cast down the truth unto the ground and practise and prosper Perhaps the Story in the 2 3 and 4. Chap. of the second Book of Maccabees will tell us To that which is commonly alledged That such distinction and reverent regard of things Sacred as we contend for opens a way for Idolatry I answer No otherwise than the eschewing of Idolatry may also through the preverseness of men be made a bridge to prophaneness that is by accident not from its own towardness but our distemper Otherwise this Discrimination or Distinction if we would understand or heed the ground thereof prompts the clean contrary For we should reason thus If the things which are God's eo nomine in that name and because they are His are therefore to be held segregate in their use then surely God himself who is the Fountain of Holiness ought to have a prerogative of segregation in the most eminent and absolute manner namely such an one as that the worship due unto him must not be communicated with any thing else besides him And indeed unless both be done God's Name is neither fully nor rightly sanctified AND here I should now make an end but that there is one thing yet behind of principal consequence which I have deferred hitherto because I could not elsewhere bring it in conveniently without somewhat disturbing the coherence of my Discourse There is an eminent species or kind of Sanctification which I may seem all this while to have neglected forasmuch as it seemeth not to be comprehended under this notion of discretion and separation wherein I place the nature of Holiness and that is Sanctification or Holiness of life To which I answer That all notions of Sanctity and Sanctification in Scripture are derived from discretion and separation and that this now mentioned is likewise derived thence For it is to be reduced to the Sanctification of Persons Sacred and set apart unto God By which though in the strict and proper sense are intended only Priests and such as minister about Holy things yet in a larger sense and as it were by way of resemblance the whole body of the People of God are a Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation which the Almighty hath selected unto himself out of the rest of the world and set apart to serve him in a peculiar and different manner from the rest of men For you have heard it is a requisite of that which is Holy to be used in a peculiar and singular manner and not as things common Hence it is that the observation of that peculiar and different form of life which God hath commanded those whom he hath called and set apart from the world unto himself in Scripture carries the name of Holiness or Sanctity especially in the New Testament that is of such as becometh those that are Holy according to that Be ye Holy as I am Holy And here I might have a large field of discourse to shew how the Name of God is sanctified by the lives of his Children when they conform not themselves to the fashions of the world but as the Apostle speaks are crucified theretoâ— and keep themselves unspotted from the pollutions and vanities thereof But this I leave to be supplied by your meditations according to the general intimation given thereof DISCOURSE III. Acts 17. 4. There associated themselves to Paul and Silas of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude PAVL and Silas preaching in the Iewish Synagogue
votes are tendered Secondly He praies for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his Word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawful to pray unto God for a blessing from an Instrument which he is wont to give us by an Instrument Secondly It may be said it being a Salutation that the words Grace and Peace need not be taken in that special and strict sense but in the large and general wherein Grace sounds favour at large and Peace all manner of prosperity In which sense no man will deny but the blessed Angels have an interest in the dispensation of the favours and blessings of God to his Church and so God may be prayed to to give them as he is wont by their Ministery Grace and Peace from him which is which was and is to come as the Author and Giver and from the Seven Spirits as the Instruments and from Iesus Christ as the Mediator There is yet one place more in the Apocalyps to confirm this Tradition Chap. 8. 2. I saw saith S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seven Angels which stood before God Is not this as plain as Tobit Why should then the one be accounted Magical rather than the other I add moreover that these Angels are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principes primarii or chief Princes mentioned in the 10. of Daniel 13. Michael one of the chief Princes saith the Angel there came to help me Now Michael we know is one of the Arch-angels and why therefore may not these chief Princes be those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof S. Paul speaks in his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the Elect Angels not the good Angels at large but those Angeli eximii the Seven Arch-angels which stand before the Throne of God And it may not without reason be conjectured that those Seven chief Princes famed in the Persian Monarchie took their beginning from hence namely that Daniel who in respect of his account for wisdom and of his power under Darius the Mede had a main stroke in the moulding and framing the Government of that State caused the Persian Court to resemble that of Heaven ordaining Seven chief Princes to stand before the King Of which we find twice mention in Scripture as in the Book of Esther where they are recorded by name and styled the seven Princes of Media and Persia who saw the King's face and sate first in the kingdom and in the Commission granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 14. they are called the King's seven Counsellors Forasmuch as thou art sent by the King and his seven Counsellors c. And it may be the Church of Ierusalem when they chose Seven Deacons to minister unto their Bishop had an eye the same way HITHERTO of the Number of these Arch-angels now a word or two of their Office And that is First to be the universal Inspectors of the whole world and the Rulers and Princes of the whole Angelical host which appears in that they are called Principes primarii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Princes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archangels i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chief of the Angels their universal jurisdiction is meant by the words sent forth into the whole world whereas the rest are limited to certain places Secondly to have the peculiar Charge and Guardianship of the Church and affairs thereof whilst the rest of the world with their Polities Kingdoms and Governments is committed to the care of subordinate Angels who according to their several charges may seem to carry those names of Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions That the charge of the Church quà talis belongs thus peculiarly and immediately to the Seven Arch-angels may appear by S. Iohn's saluting the Churches with a Benediction of Grace and Peace from their ministery and the typing of them by the Seven Eyes and Horns of the Lamb as Powers which the Father since he exalted Him to be Head of his Church hath annexed to his Iurisdiction Hence it comes to pass that we find these Angels peculiarly both before and in the Gospel to have been employed about the Church-affairs In the Old Testament the Angiel Gabriel one of the Seven revealed to Daniel the time of the restauration of the Iewish State and coming of Messiah and the Angel Michael one of the chief Princes was his assistant when he strengthened Darius the Mede who founded the Monarchy which should restore them and is in special termed Dan. 12. 1. the Prince that stood for Daniel 's people In the Gospel we find the same Angel Gabriel imployed both to Zachary and the Blessed Virgin with the Evangelical Tidings and that Zachary might take notice that he was one of the Seven he says unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Likewise in the Churches combate with the Dragon Apocal. 12. 7 c. Michael and his Angels are said to be her Champions and in her quarrel to have cast the Dragon and his Angels down to the Earth And in this Prophecy of Zachary it is said that these Seven eyes of the Lord took care of one stone which Zorobabel laid for the foundation of the Temple and therefore the work could not be disappointed but should certainly at length be finished So as by this time we may guess the meaning of that which Hanani the Seer told King Asa 2 Chron. 16. 9. The Eyes of the Lord that is these Seven Eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him DISCOURSE XI S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour when he cast the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers out of the Temple and forbad to carry any vessels through it Concerning which story it is worth observâ—â—â—on that our Saviour whilst he was upon earth never exercised any Kingly or coactive Iurisdiction but in vindicating his Father's House from prophanation And this he did two several times Once at the first Passeover after he began his Prophesie whereof you may read Iohn 2. 14 c. and now again at his last Passeover when he came to give his soul a sacrifice for sin This is that which S. Mark relates in this place as do also two other of the Evangelists S. Matthew and S. Luke The vindication of God's House from Prophanation how little account soever we are wont to
before the Lord. The reason of this Prelation of the works of Mercy at that great day is because all we can expect at the hands of our Heavenly Father is merely of his Mercy and Bounty we can hope for nothing but mercy without mercy we are undone according to that of Nehemiah in his last Chap. Remember me O Lord concerning this and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Now in those that are to be partakers of Mercy the Divine wisdom requires this congruity that they be such as have been ready to shew mercy unto others judging them altogether unworthy of mercy at his hands who have afforded no mercy to their brethren For so the Scripture tells us that they shall have judgment without mercy that have shewn no mercy The tenour of our Petition for forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Prayer runs with this condition As we forgive them that trespass against us And who can read without trembling the Parable of the unmerciful servant in the Gospel to whom his Lord revoked the Debt he meant to have forgiven him because he shewed no mercy to his fellow-servant who owed him a far lesser Debt Shouldst thou not saith he Vers. 23. have shewed compassion to thy fellow-servant as I shewed compassion unto thee This rule of congruity I say is the reason why at the day of our great account we shall be judged according to our works of mercy and bounty To do as we would be done to hath place not only between man and man but between God and men Nor is this I speak of manifest by the Form of our last Sentence only but by other Scriptures beside what else means that of our Saviour Luke 16. 9. Make unto your selves friends of the unrighteous Mammon that is of these slippery and deceitful riches for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture's Dialect is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Tabernacles Or what means that of S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 17 18. Charge them that be rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Laying up a good foundation c. in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here it is observable that works of Beneficence are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Foundation of the reward we shall receive in the life to come If any but S. Paul had said so we should have gone near to have excepted against it for an error Works the Foundation of eternal life No that shall not need but the Foundation of that blessed Sentence we shall receive at the last day for them and that is evident by the form thereof which we have alledged Whatsoever is meant a great priviledge sure is hereby implied that these works have above others Where give me leave to tell you what a late sacred Critick hath observed concerning the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place of Timothy namely That the signification thereof there is not Vulgar but Hellenistical agreeable to the use of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereto it answers for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as it doth Radix vel fundamentum the root or foundation But besides this in the Rabbinical Dialect it is used for Tabulae contractûs a Bill of contract a Bond or Obligation whereby such as lend are secured to receive their loan again That therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first sense doth answer the same likewise in the second and accordingly the Apostle's meaning to be That those who exercise these works of Beneficence do provide themselves as it were of a Bill or Bond upon which they may at that day sue and plead for the award of eternal life Vi pacti but not Vi meriti In the same sense he takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth or calleth upon the name of Christ depart from iniquity The mentioning of a Seal here implies a Bill of contract for Bills of contract had their Seals appendant to them each side whereof had his Motto the one suiting with the one party contrahent the other with the other That to this S. Paul alludes God 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he standeth sure that is God's Bill of contract or his Chirographum having a Seal according to the manner the one side whereof carrieth this Motto The Lord 〈◊〉 oweth them that are his the other this Let every one that calleth upon the name of Christ depart from iniquity YOU have heard how God remembreth the Righteous or Charitable man in the world to come He remembreth him also in this For that which the Apostle saith of Godliness that it hath the promise of this life as well as of that to come is most properly and â—eculiarly true of this Righteousness of Bounty and Mercy other Righteousâ—â—â—â—â— â—eed must not look for its reward till hereafter but this is wont to be rewaâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Spiritual blessings we have the example of Cornelius who for his Alms-deeds found 〈◊〉 our with God to have S. Peter sent unto him to instruct him in the saving knowleâ— of Câ—â—â—st Thy Prayers and thine Alms-deeds said the Angel are come up in rememâ—râ—nce before God Now therefore send to Ioppa and inquire for one Simon Peter c. For Temporal blessings hear what David sayes Psal. 37 25 26. quoted before I was young saith he and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread He is ever merciful and lendeth therefore his seed is blessed This blessing is the merciful and charitable man's peculiar that his children shall not want who was liberal and open-handed to supply the want of others But think not that God remembers the charitable man with a Temporal blessing in his posterity only for he remembers him also in his own person Thus the same David Psal. 41. 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 2. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing c. And doth not his Son King Solomon say the same Prov. 19. 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given he will pay him again But this perhaps some will think may be applied to the reward in the life to come If it be it would much
Good spell that is the good speak or say the good tidings the word of good news Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born Behold saith the Angel I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2. 10 11. I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ for so much the name of Saviour implies And saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Neither is there saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12. Salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The next words I used shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men and the means whereby it is attained through him namely by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father that we through him might turn unto God and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life All which was foretold by Daniel chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming he said Seventy weeks were determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin I shall not need No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God and liable to eternal wrath Christ by taking our sins upon him abolished this enmity and set us at peace with God his Father according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good-will towards men that is Glory be ascribed to God forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth and Good-will towards men All this is plain But that which the greatest part of men as may be guessed by their practice seem to make question of is that last parcel of my Description That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father that we might through him whose righteousness is imputed to us perform works of piety and obedience which God should accept and crown with eternal life But that this is also a part of the Gospel as well as the former is plain and evident First by that of S. Peter 1 Ep. ch 2. ver 24. where he tells us That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness Secondly by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men Wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Is not this plain Thirdly by that of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works that is not according to the Covenant of works wherein the exact performance was required lest any man should boast namely that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them As if he should say Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in yet now God hath as it were new created us in Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us or them Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father that is that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father For and is here to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that Kings to subdue the world the flesh and the Devil Priests to offer Sacrifices of prayer thanksgiving works of mercy and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father Moreover and besides these express Scriptures this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul Or to use a similitude from weaving Repentance is the warp of the Gospel and the Gospel the woof of Repentance Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel by the shuttle of Faith runs through as the woof whence proceeds the web of Regeneration Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repent and believe the Gospel Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins which is the Gospel should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel which argues that the Gospel of Christ and consequently our Faith in the same supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon So S. Peter in his first Sermon Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them Repent saith he and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins as if he had said Repent and that thy Repentance may be available betake
And thus far we have in a manner yielded to our Adversaries for a time That the time of fulfilling this Prophecy hath already been for we would deny them no favour willingly which we could lawfully yield them Nevertheless I verily believe that this Prophecy hath never yet received his full accomplishment nor is to do Vntil as S. Paul saith Rom. 11. 25. the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved For we shall find in the Prophecies of the Scriptures that there are two Sorts and Times of the Calling of the Gentiles The first is that which should be with the rejection and casting off of the Iews and as S. Paul saith to provoke them to jealousie such a Calling as should be in a manner occasional that God might not want a Church the time the Iews were to be castâ—out for this is that which S. Paul means Rom. 11. 15. That the casting away of the Iews is the calling of the Gentiles or reconciling of the world whence we may see that the Apostles were not to preach Christ to the Gentiles until being first offered to the Iews they refused him And this is that Calling of the Gentiles which hitherto hath been for many Ages But there is a second and more glorious Calling of the Gentiles to be found in the Prophecies of Scripture not a Calling as this is wherein the Iews are excluded but a Calling wherein the Iews shall have a share of the greatest glory and are to have a preeminence above other Nations when all Nations shall flow unto them and walk in their light For the calling of the remainder of the world which is not yet under Christ is reserved for the solemnizing of the Iews restitution This is that Calling and that Time which he calls the Fulness of the Gentiles I would not brethren saith he have you ignorant of this mystery that blindness in part is hapned to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved This is that Time whereof he speaks that if the present fall of the Iews be the riches of the world and their decay the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their fulness be the fulness of the Gentiles This is that glorious Time which the Prophecy of this Text principally if not altogether intended For if the fulness of the glory and inlargement of the Church be here described then it must needs be that the time hereof hath never yet been because as yet the Fulness of the Gentiles whereof S. Paul speaks is not come in While the Romans and Iron part of Nebuchadnezzar's Image was yet standing a Stone was hewn out of the mountain without hands This is the First state of the Kingdom of Christ and Calling of the World which hath been hitherto But at length this Stoneâ— when the time of the Image's brittle feet came smote the Image upon those feet so that the wind blew the whole Image away and there was no more place found for any part thereof which was no sooner done but the Stone which smote the Image swelled into a great Mountain and filled the whole earth This is the Time of the Fulness of Christ's Kingdom the Fulness of the Gentiles This is the Time when the Mountain of the Lord's House should be established upon the tops of the Mountains namely when the small Stone of Christ's Kingdom which is now in being shall smite the brittle feet of the last Remainder of the Roman State now subsisting in the Popedom in whom the divided Toes of too many Kingdoms are in a sort though but brittlely united together and so that great seven-hilled City still Ladies it over the Nations of the Earth DISCOURSE XXX IUDGES 1. 7. As I have done so God hath requited me THESE are the words of Adonibezek one of the Kings of Canaan whom the sons of Iudah and Simeon having taken prisoner in war they cut off the thumbs of his hands and great toes The justness of which punishment so evidently sampling his fore-past sin forced him though with a heavy heart to give glory unto God and say Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and great toes cut off gathered their meat under my table As I have done so God hath requited me These words without any longer Preface may be considered two ways either simply or abâ—olutely in themselves or with reference to him who spake them In themselves they are an Affirmation or Historical narration That as Adonibezek had done so God requited him If we consider them with reference to the speaker they are a Confession as being spoken by him who did the fact and suffered now the punishment Adonibezek himself it is who saith As I have done so God hath requited me In the First Consideration I observe four things 1. That God punisheth sin with temporal punishment in this life as well as with eternal in the life to come Thus this miserable King here feels the hand of God fall so heavy upon him while he was yet in the world that it makes him bitterly cry out I have done cruelly and God hath even here requited me 2. That God doth not always presently inflict his Iudgments while the sin is fresh but sometimes defers that long which â—e means to give home at the last So saith our King here As I have done not as I did even now but as I did long ago and thought by this God had forgotten me yet now I see he requiteth me 3. That these Divine Iudgments by some conformity or affinity do carry in them as it were a stamp and print of the sin for which they are inflicted So saith this unhappy King As I have done even just as I have done to others now I suffer my self Seventy Kings thumbs in my cruelty I cut off and in my pride made them to feed like dogs under my table now the measure which I mete unto others is measured unto my self for just as I have done so God hath requited me 4. That the Profit and Pleasure which men aim at when they commit sin will not so much as quit cost even in this life For if God's punishments be requitals certainly the profit we have gotten by sin he will make us lose in the punishment the pleasure we hope to find and seek after in sin will be over-poised in the pain we are sure to feel when the just hand of the Almighty shall requite us And thus have you heard already the Summ of what I mean to speak of in the First consideration of these words Now I will return again and speak more largely of them all and that in the same order I gave them out The first Collection therefore which I made was That God punisheth the sins of men with temporal punishment in this life as well as with eternal in the life to come This verity to use the words
only holy one All the Land of Canaan was the Lord's The Land is mine saith he and therefore it could not be alienate beyond the year of Iubilee and yet for all this there were some parts of the Land specially called Holy unto the Lord. All the increase of corn all the increase of wine all the fruit of the field was the Lord's and yet the Offerings alone were called Holy unto the Lord. God himself calls them his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his inheritance and therefore gave them unto that Tribe alone which alone he had made his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tribe of his inheritance So the offered Tribe lived of God's offerings the holy Tribe on the holy things Again why may we not call our Clergy God's inheritance when God himself calls the Levites his Levites Thou shalt saith he Num. 8. 14. separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levite shall be mine that is my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Clergy Why may not we call the Ministers of Christ his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inheritance when he himself calls them the gift his Father gave him out of the world for so he saith Ioh. 17. 6. I have declared thy name unto the men thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me and again ver 11. Holy Father keep them in thy name even them whom thou hast given me If you say he speaks here of all his Elect the words following v. 12. prove the contrary for those saith he whom thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost but the child of perdition Here he plainly affirms he lost one of those his Father gave him wherefore he speaks not of his Elect ones for those no man can take out of his hands Again ver 18. As thou didst send me into the world saith he so I sent them into the world but I hope all the Elect are not sent as Christ was sent by his Father I conclude therefore So long as God in the Law says specially of the Levites They are mine So long as Christ in the Gospel of his Apostles They are mine O Father which thou hast given me out of the world it is neither arrogancy nor injury to stile those who minister about holy things by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inheritance of the Lord. WHAT LEVI was and what is meant by this Title God 's Holy one we have now shewed sufficiently It remains we should come unto the words containing the Blessing it self which is called Vrim and Thummim the words themselves signifie Light and Perfection Illumination and Integrity good endowments certainly whosoever shall enjoy them But because they are not only Appellative words but also Proper names of certain things we must enquire further what is meant by them and that in a twofold consideration First specially and properly as they are names of certain things belonging in special unto the High Priest Then generally as they are applied by Moses unto the whole Tribe of Levi. The first again shall be twofold What they were in the High Priest personally or what they signified in him typically himself being also a Type For the first What is meant by these things as they belong unto the High Priest personally is a matter full of controversie and therefore that we may the better proceed we will first see the Generals wherein all or the most agree and after come unto the particulars wherein they disagree The first wherein all agree is that this Vrim and Thummim was something put in the Breast-plate which was fastned to the Ephod over against the Heart of the High Priest And thus much the Scripture witnesseth Exod. 28. 30. where God saith to Moses And thou shalt put in the Breast-plate of Iudgment the Vrim and the Thummim and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And for this cause as most think was the Breast-plate made double that the Vrim and Thummim might be enveloped therein The second thing wherein all agree is That this Vrim and Thummim was a kind of Oracle whereby God gave answer to those that enquired of him and from hence the Septuagint call the whole Breast-plate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn Rationale but might more truly be turned Orationale for an Oracle is as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voice of God though this Voice or Revelation were of divers kinds for at sundry times and in divers manners saith S. Paul God spake in old time to our Fathers The Iews therefore make four kinds of Divine Revelation First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prophecy which was by Dreams and Visions The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost as was in Iob David and others The third Urim and Thummim which was the Oracle The fourth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Voice from heaven which was usual in the second Temple after the Oracle had ceased as Matt. 3. 17. at Christ's Baptism there came a Voice from heaven saying This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and Ioh. 12. 28. when Christ said Father glorifie thy name There came a Voice from heaâ—â—â— like thunder saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again But to return again to our purpose That Urim and Thummim was an Oracle of God besides the consent of Iews and others it is plain by Scripture Num. 27. when God had commanded Moses to put his hands upon Ioshua and to set him over the congregation in his stead he addes Vers. 21. And he that is Ioshua shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsel for him by the judgment of Urim before the Lord. So 1 Sam. 23. when David was to ask counsel of the Lord he called for the Ephod wherein the Oracle was and whereas before he had once or twice asked counsel of the Lord concerning Keilah to prevent the objection how the Lord answered it follows in the next by way of a Prolepsis That Abiathar then Priest when he fled to David to Keilah brought the Ephod with him vers 6. Lastly in the second of Ezra when certain of the Priests which returned from Captivity could not find their names written in the Genealogies it is said vers 63. that the Tirshatha commanded they should not eat of the most holy things till there rose up a Priest with Urim and Thummim that is till God should by Oracle reveal whether they were Priests or no whereby it also appears that this Oracle had then ceased And for more light to that we have in hand it will not be amiss to observe that Teraphim among the Idolaters was answerable to the Urim and Thummim of the holy Patriarchs Both were ancient For Rachel is said to have stollen away her Father 's Teraphim and Urim and Thummim seems to have been used among the Patriarchs
of Psal. 8. 6. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet and then adds For in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him But now mark it we see not yet all things put under him If any say that the Apostle speaks here of the Kingdom of Glory in heaven and not of the Kingdom of Grace on earth I reply 1. out of the former place That he speaks of such a subjection whereof the rising of the dead shall be the last act of all and which shall be before he yields up the Kingdom to his Father But neither of these can be affirmed of the Kingdom of Glory but the contrary viz. The rising of the dead is at the beginning and not at the end of the Kingdom of Glory and so is also the yielding up of his kingdom unto his Father 2. I reply out of this place That the Apostle speaks of that Kingdom and subjection of the Earth or state of the Earth which was to come For so he speaks ver 5. Vnto the Angels he hath not put in subjection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth or state of the Earth which shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which we speak Here he affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that of whose subjection he meaneth If then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie only the Earth and the Earth's inhabitants and is no where in the whole Scripture otherwise used I cannot see how this place can well bear any other exposition First then to confirm this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same which the Hebrews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the Septuagint render it whose use of speaking I doubt not but the Apostle follows But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most constantly signifies the habitable earth or the earth with the things that live and dwell thereon whence the Septuagint though they commonly render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet sometimes they render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The earth sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is under heaven Therefore with the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The earth and That which is under the heavens If this suffice not we may yet consider That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Participle of the feminine gender and therefore understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earth which is inhabited Lastly Wheresoever elsewhere this word is found in the New Testament it is most expresly used of the earth and inhabitants thereof In the beginning of this Epistle we read Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the heavens are the works of thine hands Matth. 24. 14. This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over all the earth and then shall the end come Luke 2. 1. Then went a decree from Augustus that all the world should be taxed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rest behind are far more express but I leave them to your own leisure and will only add this one thing That our English rendring in this place of the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The world to come makes it not only ambiguous but seeming to mean The Kingdom of Glory But we shall find that The world in that sense is always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no where in all the Bible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so I leave this with submission to the judgement of others My next Reason shall be from that we read in the Revelation where the Church by the conquest of Michael set free from the Dragon's fury is said to escape into the wilderness that is into a state though of safety peace and security yet of hardship misery and scarcity For it seems to be an allusion to the Israelites escaping the tyranny of Pharaoh by going into the wilderness In this wilderness or place of hardship scarcity misery and much affliction the Church must remain saith S. Iohn a time times and half a time or as he elsewhere speaketh a thousand two hundred and threescore days that is a year years and half a year and when this time shall be expired that is as learned Divines think when so many years shall be ended as those days are taking the beginning of our reckoning from Michael's Trophee then saith our Apostle shall the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 11. 15. Whereby it should seem that the Church is yet in the Wilderness and that the promised happiness of the ample and flourishing glory thereof before the end of the world is yet to come My last Reason shall be from Rom. 11. where S. Paul speaking of the future restoring and calling of the Iews saith it shall be when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in I would not saith he that ye should be ignorant of this mystery c. v. 25. Now because the Iews are not yet called it followeth that the fulness of the Gentiles is yet to come and what should then this Fulness be but the Fulness of the Gospel's extent over all the nations of the world which our Apostle ver 15. of the same chapter calls life from the dead For if the casting away of the Iews be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead As if the Church of the Gentiles were as yet half dead if it be compared with that glorious vigour and accession which shall come unto it when the Iews shall be again received into favour In brief The Fulness here spoken of is either a Fulness of grace a Fulness of extent or a Fulness of time A Fulness of time only it cannot be because our Apostle saith this Fulness shall enter in namely shall enter into the Church of Christ but this I see not how it can be spoken of a period of time As for a Fulness of grace and spiritual gifts that was greater when S. Paul spake than ever it was since and therefore if it be meant it must be yet to come And for the Fulness of extent it was as large for the number of Nations in the Apostles times as it is now in ours For as for the American Christians they are only so in name being forced only to seem so by the Spaniards Whatsoever Fulness then the Apostle here meaneth is yet to come I will add only one thing more and so end this point Some think that S. Paul in this place hath reference unto that speech of Christ Luke 21. 24. where he foretells That the Iews should fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all nations and Ierusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles should be
22. 8. and so he did indeed I shall need gather no more Examples Let no man therefore be discouraged for fear of danger to do his duty in that calling and vocation wherein God hath set him If God hath bid thee hope thou likewiâ—e he will protect thee But if thou neglect his commandment so to avoid what thou fearest be sure then that thou fearest or a worse will come upon thee take heed thou goest not out of God's blessing into the warm Sun Let Saul's example be our warning who to prevent as he thought the scattering of the people from him and the evil which longer delay might occasion if he should stay for Samuel presumed to offer Sacrifice himself but he was called a fool for his labour and made to know at length that Obedience was better than Sacrifice And so shall every one that makes so ungodly an experience find his policy in the end plain foolery and Obedience to God's Commandment better than all the Policy in the world AND thus I come to the third thing considerable viz. The place where every Male was to appear In the place the Lord shall chuse namely in the place where the Ark and Tabernacle of God should be which at the first was at Shiloh in the Country of Samaria and Tribe of Ephraim afterwards at Ierusalem in the Tribe of Iudah where David first pitched a new Tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant after it had been taken by the Philistins and returned home again and in the same place his son Solomon built that glorious Temple which was the Beauty of the whole earth Of these two places spake the Samaritan woman in the Gospel to our Saviour Iohn 4. 20. Our Fathers said she worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship By Our Fathers she means the old Ephraimites from whom the Samaritans falsly vaunted they were descended upon which ground she likewise calls Iacob Our Father Iacob v. 12. For they were indeed the off-spring of those strange Nations which Shalmaneser transplanted into the Cities of Samaria when he had carried Ephraim and the rest of Israel captives into Assyria as we read 2 Kings 17. 24. By this Mountain she means Mount Ephraim where Shiloh was and the Ark and Tabernacle of God in ancient time had been For when Manasses the brother of Iaddus the High Priest was excommunicated and driven from the Priesthood because he had married the daughter of Sanball at the Horonite as it is in the last of Nehemiah v. 28. he with his faction to vex his own Nation procured a Temple to be built in Gerizim on Mount Ephraim whereof himself was the High Priest and to draw a company of Transgressors like himself from the Temple at Ierusalem unto this it was coloured as if this were the only place which the Lord had chosen because the Tabernacle was first pitched at Shiloh in Mount Ephraim and not at Sion on Mount Moriah and this was the bone of everlasting division and capital hatred between the Iews and Samaritans Thus we have seen where This place was first and last which the Lord had chosen Now let us further consider why it is thus called The place which the Lord shall chuse First therefore these words imply That the place for holy Assemblies was a select place For they were not to assemble in every place as occasion and opportunity served but to have a choice and select place for that purpose Secondly This place for Legal worship was to be one only place and no more and therefore here the singular number is used I say there was but one only place for Legal worship meaning Sacrifices and the Service accompanying them for otherwise they had many Synagogues for heaâ—ing the Law read and expounded Ierusalem it self had four hundred and in those the Scribes bore rule as the Priests did in the Temple But the reason why there was but one Temple and place of Sacrifice and Prayer was for a Type of that one only Mediator Iesus Christ in whom alone our sins are expiated and our prayers and thanksgivings accepted before God So that in the time of the Law to build an holy Altar or offer Sacrifices any where but here though it were unto the true God was a Typical Idolatry because it implied a multiplicity of Mediators of whose Oneness the one only place of worship and the one Altar was a sign which was the reason why it was so unlawful to sacrifice in the high places though it were unto the Lord their God And yet because it was but a ceremonial sin God did in the confused times of that Church sometimes pass by it as it were because of the hardness of their hearts as our Saviour saith in another kind But he that did dispense with an irregularity in figure because of the state of the times will never allow Idolatry in deed such as is that of the Church of Rome who fulfil the very substance of that whereof the Iewish sin was but a Type whose Mediators are so many that they are not easily numbred and though they for excuse subordinate them all to Christ as the chief and derive their Mediatorship from the virtue of his merits yet is this but like unto that of the erring Church of the Law which notwithstanding God's commandment to the contrary had a conceit that they might sacrifice in any high place so it were unto the Lord their God only The third and last thing which these words imply is That this select and only place should be of the Lord 's own chusing The place he shall chuse But how should the Lord chuse it it seems by giving some extraordinary sign of his allowance in accepting their Sacrifice or it may be they did consult him in this case by the Oracle of Vrim and Thummim For of the first place in Shiloh we have nothing expressed but only read Ioshua 18. 1. That the whole Congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle of the Congregation there But of the second place in Mount Sion we read That the Angel of God commanded Gad to say to David that he should set up an Altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan and that when David offered thereon burnt-offerings and peace-offerings the Lord answered him from heaven by fire upon the Altar of burnt-offering and that David hereupon designed that place for the Tabernacle and future Temple saying This is the house of the Lord God and this is the Altar of the burnt-offering for Israel 1 Chron. 22. 1. Now to make some application of this to the times of the Gospel The two last circumstances of this place concern us not For that of one place was a Type and so is gone the second of God's immediate choice seems to be so also and to be a figure of that which the Angel Gabriel said to the blessed Virgin
priviledge that whatsoever ships come to their shores should be theirs And again Cilicia where the Roman navy used to lie was the lot of Tarshish not of Cittim for Strabo says the Cetii or Cetians lay West from Cilicia where we placed them Another Colony of Cittim Balaam will tell us of in Numb 24. 24. where he says that ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict the Assyrians and shall afflict the Hebrews which is meant of Alexander King of Macedonia whereby it seems that the Macedonians were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the mixture of the sons of Madai and Cittim as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so Macedonia is called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Maccetims for an en in are terminations plural in diverse languages And that ye may fully believe that a Colony of Cittim went into Macedonia ye shall read in 1 Maccab. 8. 5. Perseus king of Macedonia expresly called King of Cittim which reading Iunius would fain change if he had any authority to make his opinion good that those ships also are called ships from the coasts of Cittim because they came out of the havens of Cilicia And thus much of the Colonies of the Cittaeans Now to speak a word or two of the Colonies of the rest Of the off-spring of Gomer who were of him called Cimmerii and had a City in their lot called Cimmeris of these Cimmerians or Gomerians Thogarmah lies only open by the AEgean Sea to the Mediterranean and therefore sent his ancient Colonies that way and gave original to the old Gaules whom the Grecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and contractly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cimbri and of these Gaules proves Cambden came our ancient Britans who yet retain the name of their Grandfire Gomer and call themselves Cumrah Askenaz another family of these Cimmerians lies open to the North-west and therefore sent his Colonies that way and gave name to Cimmerius Bosphorus and going along by Danubius gave beginning to the Germans whom Diodorus Sicâ—lus affirms to have their Original from the Cimmerians and the Iews to this day call them Askenazim of Askenaz and themselves retain the name of their Grandsire Gomer both in Cimbri and calling themselves Germen that is Gomeraeans as the Syrians call the Aramaeans Armin of which the Greeks form their Armenia so of Gemren or Germen the Latines formed Germania for en is a German plural and it is no harder thing to form of Gomer Gemren than of Brother Brethren for we English are the Germans brethren and therefore also the sons of Askenaz Riphath lies only open to the Euxine Sea Northward and West to Askenaz and therefore sent his Colonies something Westward but North of Askenaz and so he gave beginning first to those Riphaei above the Euxine Sea and after to the Rutheni and Prutheni both which found of Riphath for Pruthen is that but contractly for Riphathen that is Riphathaeans for en as I said is a termination plural We call them Prussians and Russians and their language is the Polonian tongue or a dialect thereof not the Askenazim or Dutch Meshech also lies only open Northward and therefore sent his Colonies beyond Palus Maeotis who are of him called Muskovians Tubal lies on the North-west of the Euxine Sea and therefore sent his ancient Colonies by it but whither it is hard to say but it is like Northward upon the East of the Muskovite Magog lies open to the North and hath scope enough and might go if he would he and Tubal both even as high as Nova Zembla There remain Tiras and our Iaphetian Madai and Madai lies open both to the Adriatick Sea and to the confines of Illyricum and Moesia but it is not like he went by Sea so long as he might by land and therefore I think he gave beginning to the Illyrians and to the Moesians for so Pliny calls them which methinks comes near to Maethians for â— and â— are changeable one for the other as we see in Rutheni and Prutheni whom we call Russians and Prussians and Russia and Prussia for Ruthia and Pruthia Tiras lies open both to the North and the West but I think he went no further Northward than a River on the edge of Russia which of him is called Tyras his other Colonies went more Westward and gave beginning to the Dacians and Geâ—ae and their off-spring And thus we have seen the First Seats of the Off-spring of Iaphet and also whither they have been since scattered over the face of this Western world And now we have occasion to consider the Blessing of Iaphet That God would enlarge him into the tents of Sem and that Cham should be his servant For there hath never yet been a son of Cham that hath shaken a sceptre over the head of Iaphet Sem hath subdued Iaphet and Iaphet subdued Sem but Cham never subdued either And this Fate was it that made Hannibal a child of Canaan cry out with the amazement of his soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis See Livy in l. 27. in fine The Saracens indeed once spoiled us but they were no Chamites but Arabians of the seed of Ishmael and yet because a great number of their kind were after of the Moors and Chamish Arabians we see they were in a moment shaken off by Iaphet and made to keep themselves within their African limits And we may see likewise how God hath enlarged Iaphet into the tents of Sem and how he that was once the God of Sem is now the Blessed God of Iaphet For almost only the Off-spring of Iaphet yea and all the Off-spring of Iaphet are at this day Christians only Magog except whom he seems to have reserved as he did some of the Canaanites in the land of Israel to prove and punish us withal But let us desire him That he would at length deliver us from this Belial and that he would daily enlarge us more and more into the tents of Sem that he would remember the Blessing and never forget his Promises so often made to the Isles of the Gentiles Hear O Lord the groanings of those who are in bondage and let their cry come up unto thy Holy Seat Why should the Heathen any longer rage and gather themselves together against thy Christ How long Lord how long wilt thou be angry with them for ever It is enough Lord it is enough Arise and send them an Ezra send them now an Helper and make thine Holy Name known in the midst of thy people DISCOURSE LI. PSALM 50. 14. Offer unto God praise and pay thy Vows unto the
Eleemosyna or Alms. The first is done to God immediately and is when we give ought to the use and maintenance of his Worship The Second is done to our Neighbour immediately as when we supply his wants out of our abundance and this is done to God only mediately unless it be done unto the stranger fatherless and widow for they in the old Law were in a special manner Cura Dei God's care together with the Levite Of these two kinds I have hitherto extended the first though I exclude not Alms so far as God is worshipped by the good we do unto our brother I COME now unto the last point I proposed namely The Practice of the ancient Church in the use of this Offering or Oblatory Praise and Thanksgiving at the celebration of the Lord's Supper and here I will shew first What their custom was secondly What ground and reason they had for the same To begin with the first Among the ancient Christians the whole Office of this Sacrament I mean the whole Body of Rites and Actions about the same consisted of three parts namely as they are distinguished by Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an act of Oblatory praise and prayer by addressing or applying Bread and Wine unto the use of the Sacrament and other Gifts to the use of God's service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice the consecration or mystical changing of Bread and Wine thus sanctified into the Body and Bloud of our Lord Iesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the eating or receiving of the same in sign of Communion with Christ and all the fruits of his Incarnation whence Nazianzen defines this Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Communion of the Incarnation of God To these three acts answer three words To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Oblation hallowed Bread and hallowed Wine but no more To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Consecration the Body and Bloud of the Lord To the third the Communion of the Body and Bloud of the Lord. The first act of common Bread and Wine made holy and sanctified Bread and Wine called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Bread and Wine of Blessing and Thanksgiving The second act of holy Bread and Wine made most holy that is holy signs of the Lord's Body and Bloud The third of holy signs in general holy signs in special applied to the soul of each receiver The first was done by being used to Prayer and Thanksgiving The second by pronouncing the words of Institution at the breaking of the Bread and pouring of the Wine The third by receiving it with Amen or So be it The first and last were acts of Priest and People the second of the Priest alone Thus was there as it were a mutual commerce between God and the People the People giving unto God and God again unto his People the People giving a small Thanksgiving but receiving a great Blessing offering Bread but receiving the Body offering Wine but receiving the mystical Bloud of Christ Iesus I know that the names of these are often confounded all being used for the whole and often one for another but especially the Sacrament it self is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oblation or Offering by a Metonymic of the matter because the matter was offered Bread and offered Wine For the same reason is it called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eucharist because the matter of it was Eucharistia Bread of Blessing and Thanksgiving not as some think because the End thereof is Thanksgiving It is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice I think of the matter also which was taken out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some will have it so called because it was a sign of Christ's sacrifice But I return again unto the Oblation which as you have seen was as it were a Prologue unto the Sacrament and had the full nature of the Heave-offering which I have so long spoken of First it was in every part complete having all the degrees or parts of a true offering namely of the Heart of the Tongue and of the Hand all formally expressed in the ancient Liturgies For when the people began to bring their Offering unto the Altar the Priest was to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lift up your hearts to which they answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We lift them up unto the Lord This was the use of those Versicles in ancient time When this was done then came the calves of their lips offered both to Praise and Prayer 1. To Praise and Thanksgiving When the Priest cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us give thanks unto the Lord the people answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is meet and just we should do so and so they went on to give God thanks or to make a thankful remembrance of the Creation of the World and all things therein for the use of man for the Providence of God in governing the same for the Oeconomy of his Church afore the Law and in the Law recounting in brief as they went the principal Histories of the Bible in all these particulars This part of Oblatory Thanksgiving is now called the Preface in the Mass though something diverse from the ancient But because Christ had commanded that in this service they should chiefly remember him they made in the next place a large Thanksgiving unto God that he so loved the world as to give his own Son for the same that the Son of God would abase himself so low as to take upon him the nature of sinful man and by his death and passion to redeem us out of the jaws of death and pit of hell And this is now for the greater part called The Hymn and here ended The offering of Praise and Thanksgiving 2. Next comes the Offering of Prayer or Prayer with an Offering for Kings and Princes the whole Catholick Church and so along as we have it in our Litany or in the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church both which are beaten out of that mint And our Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church is yet Oblatory if the Rubrick were observed which enjoyns the Church-wardens to gather the Alms of the people and then to make this Vniversal Prayer and in the very beginning thereof we desire Almighty God to accept our Alms and to receive our Prayers In no other sense did the ancient Church use their word Offer so often repeated in those Prayers but that God would accept of their Obedience in thus honouring him and so according to his promise in Christ to hear their Prayers And hence it is that sometimes they say We offer sometimes We beseech thee one expounding the meaning of the other But this is now made to be the Canon of the Mass and all this Offering of Prayer is turned into an Offering of Expiation for the quick and the dead For this offering of
should get Faith and know Christ to be their Redeemer But they would have some new things taught them these common things are tedious the Minister must teach them something they never knew before or if they must have the old things still their stomachs are so queasie that they must needs have them drest and set out with delicious words and gay shews of Learning that so they may go down the better that is They would have Gold to be gilded and find want of knowledge in the noblest piece of Learning in the world These men are like unto the Israelites Num. 11. who when God gave them Manna from heaven and fed them with the food of Angels after they had a while been used to it they began to murmure and said Our souls loath this Manna what nothing but Manna what still Manna every day Manna Manna O that we had the flesh-pots of Egypt our onions and our cucumbers I As if they had said What though this Manna be an heavenly Manna we had rather have that which comes from the Earth so it be rare and geason we regard not the goodness of the meat but the variety of fare But what befel these dainty-mouthed murmurers Many they had their wish they had flesh of the best the flesh of Quails sent them but while the meat was in their mouths the wrath of the Lord came upon them and they died not because it was unlawful for them to eat flesh but because they made more account of this grosâ—â—r food because 't was rare then of the Manna which fell from heaven Take heed therefore you that are too-too choice in hearing and had rather hear rare and new things than profitable things because you hear them often The Knowledg of Christ is this Manna which came from heaven If the Minister of God feed you with this it is the best food he can give you What more soveraign Diet can be unto your souls than that which makes them live for ever What more pleasing News can you hear than Tidings that God will be at peace with men This made the very Angels of heaven to sing for joy at the birth of Christ Glory be to God on high and peace amongst men Account not that common which so few men tast of account not that tedious which the best of you all have need of and which if you could once but relish the sweetness of you would think you never had enough of I speak not all this as quite disallowing a moderate shew of Learning in Sermons but because I would have you know that in respect of the Manna it self they are but leeks and cucumbers the onions and garlick of Egypt AND so I come to the next thing I observe out of the First part of my Text and that is from these words we are sure or we know as in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it comes all to one for he that knows he knoweth Christ is sure he knows he that knows he hath a thing is sure he hath it Mark then from hence That a man may be sure he shall be saved he may be sure that the Benefits of Christ's death belong unto him For to know Christ I told you was to know him to be our Redeemer that is to have Faith in him or to believe him to be our Christ. If every one therefore that knows him aright and believes in him truly shall be saved he that is sure he knows him he that knows he believes truly in him this man must needs know also and be assured of his Salvation But you see the words of my Text do plainly imply that a man may be sure he knows Christ or else in vain should the Apostle tell us of the means how to get that which was impossible to be gotten But if the words of my Text be not sufficient to persuade you then call to mind the firm Assurance of S. Paul who was perswaded that neither life nor death neither principalities nor powers nor any thing else in the world could sever him from the love of God Call to mind again the words of Iob who saith he was sure that his Redeemer liveth and that his eyes should see him But perhaps you will say that these were extraordinary men Apostles and Prophets might know so much by special inspiration but every man must not look for that which they had All are not Apostles all are not Prophets and therefore all must not look to be like unto Apostles and Prophets But mark again the words of my Text We are sure or we know that we know him He says not I Iohn am or may be sure or that the other Apostles might be sure but we know or we are sure we know him that is I and you both not I alone who am an Apostle but all you also to whom I write who have believed through the preaching of the Apostles and Disciples of the Lord Iesus we all of us may be sure or know we know him if we keep his Commandments And surely if this be not so why doth S. Peter 2 Ep. chap. 1. 10. bid us endeavour to make our calling and election sure why is the Spirit of God called the Earnest and Seal of our Salvation The Seal we know confirms and makes a thing sure and he that hath given earnest is bound to stand to his bargain whosoever then doth feel the Spirit of God to be within him as every one may and must do before they shall be saved this man hath God's promise sealed unto him and God hath given him the Earnest of his Salvation and certainly God useth not to break covenants he will not break promise with us if we keep promise with him for he is not as the sons of men that he should be changed the Lord hath sworn and it shall not repent him the counsel of the Lord remains for ever and his decree from generation to generation Wouldest thou then have comfort in thy misery wouldest thou have joy in all thy sorrows wouldest thou find rest in the greatest troubles of thy life wouldest thou entertain Death as a messenger of joy wouldest thou welcome the Lord Iesus at his coming O labour then to make thy election sure never cease till thou hast gotten the seal and earnest of thy Salvation renounce all kind of peace till thou hast found the peace of conscience discard all joy till thou feelest the joy of the Holy Ghost Do this and there is no calamity so great but thou mayest undergo no burthen so heavy but thou mayest easily bear it Do this and thou shalt live in the fear dye in the favour and rise in the power of God the Father and help to make up the heavenly Confort singing with the Saints and Angels Hallelujah Hallelujah All glory and honour and praise be ascribed to the Lamb and to him that sitteth upon the throne for
Scripture speaks there is no one word to express that Compages of the superior and inferior bodies which we call Mundus but those two words Heaven and Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned and put together only So that when S. Peter saith The World which then was perished by water but the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved to fire he might as well have said according to his meaning The Heavens and the Earth which then were perished by water as the World that now is shall by fire For the words Heaven and Earth joyned imply no more in the one according to the Scripture's notion than the single word Mundus or World doth in the other being applied to the history of the great Deluge As also a New heaven and a New earth is the same notion with that in our expression when we say a New World that is to say Nova rerum facies nova rerum conditio which we otherwise apply to very small and even particular and domestical changes when we say Here is a new World which the Hebrew would or might express Here is a new Heaven and a new Earth 2. That it is not like that any other World or Heaven and Earth shall perish by Fire than such a one as heretofore perished by Water For so the Antithesis imports viz. The World or Heaven and Earth which then was perished by water the Heaven and Earth which now is is reserved for a destruction by fire Now the World which perished by water was no other than the sublunary World the Heaven whereof is that which we call Aire but the Scriptures Heaven which sublunary Heaven together with the Earth was marred by that general Deluge and the creatures belonging to them both either wholly destroyed or marvellously corrupted from that they were before Such a World therefore and no other Heaven and Earth shall undergo this second deluge of Fire for restauration which before suffered the deluge of Water for corruption 3. Observe also for the better understanding of S. Peter's meaning That the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we in this place are wont to turn Elements is not like to be understood in the notion of the Greek Philosophy whose terms and notions the Scripture useth not but otherwise divideth the World Nay further in this place it cannot be so understood for that the Hebrew division of the World into Heaven and Earth is here expressed and these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distinguished from them both But when the whole World is divided into Heaven and Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Earth is meant the Earthen Globe which S. Peter saith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Water and Earth are both included in the sole name of Earth in Heaven the Air is included Thus three of the Philosophical Elements are bestowed The fourth is the Fire but this is that which is to burn the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so none of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be burnt And if any of these Elements could be exempted from this division into Heaven and Earth besides the Fire as namely the Air yet could not that nor any one of them alone be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes more than one It must needs therefore be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here meaneth something else Let us see if we can find out what it is Mark then S. Peter's order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which correspondence it should seem that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be some furniture belonging to Coelum as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the buildings and whole furniture of Creatures belonging to Terra which furniture of both but especially that of the Heaven the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the host of them Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and the earth were finished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all the host of them LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Ornatus eorum Nay seeing the whole World is nothing else but the Heaven and the Earth and what is contained in them i. e. exercitus eorum and seeing Heaven and Earth are both here distinctly named and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put for the host of the Earth it must needs be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 named as a distinct thing from all three should note the host of heaven and so the meaning of S. Peter should be when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heavens and the host thereof or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth and the works therein But how will some man say should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come to have this notion I answer thus The Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth in ordine militari sto incedo and so answers to the Greek verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in ordine militari incedo Vide Scap. ex Etymolog Accordingly the LXX render the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in procinctu sto instructâ acie sto Now if the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie the same with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why may not the Hebrew Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we turn exercitus be rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hellenists or Greekish Iews as in other words so here following the Etymology from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having an eye more to their own native language than to the use of Greece It would be long to shew in how many words they and the Greek Scriptures written according to their Dialect use notions which the Greeks used not namely respecting some conformity or other in their own tongue The works of the learned in sacred Criticism are of late full of such observations whereby many difficulties and obscurities in Scripture become clear and easie Nevertheless the Gentile Greeks themselves use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which come of the same verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same sense we plead for viz. for ordo militaris Military array Why may not then the Hellenists so the Greek Iews are called do the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being for the Etymology every way as fit seeing also they are otherwise wont to permute significations from vicinity of sound For a further confirmation of this notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I contend for I will add what I have met with to that purpose Schickardus a learned professor of the Oriental tongues at Tubing in his Bechinath happeruschim pag. 44. hath discovered out of Ramban's or R. Moses ben Nachman's Preface in Perusche hattorah two passages taken out of the Chaldee copy of the Wisdom of Solomon which that Rabbi had seen whereby the said Schickardus proveth against S. Ierome that the Greek is not the Original
but was translated out of Chaldee The passages which this Ramban quoteth thence are chap. 7. v. 5 6 7 and part of the 8. and again v. 17 18 19 20 21. In the last of which quotations because there is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I greedily looked what word in the Chaldee answered here to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I found to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which those who have skill know to signifie the Planets 12 Signs or Constellations of Heaven as being the same with the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore here are Stars and Planets which I shall not need prove to be the host of the Ethereal heaven yea and perhaps too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are derived of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ire as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now we know the Scriptures make three heavens 1. The Air or Sublunary heaven 2. The Ethereal or Starry heaven 3. The heaven of Glory or Empyreal heaven Every of these heavens have their host or army The host of the heaven of Glory or the third heaven are the Angels and blessed Spirits The host of the Ethereal heaven are the Stars and Planets The host of the Aereal or Sublunary heaven are either visible as the Clouds of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and other Meteors as also the rest of the creatures mansioning therein as the Fowls of heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or invisible viz. the wicked Spirits and Devils whose Prince Satan is called the Prince of the power of the Air Eph. 2. 2. and his host 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rulers of the world that is of the Sublunary world and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wicked spirits in heavenly places namely in the lowest or sublunary heavens Eph. 6. 12. And whether S. Paul Gal. 4. 8 9. and Gol. 2. 8 c. includes not some of those under his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot affirm let the Learned further consider it when namely he speaks to and of Gentiles and not Iews HAVING hitherto prepar'd the way let us now come closer home to S. Peter whose words evidently import that some of these Heavens or all of them shall suffer a Conflagration at the Day of Christ. Not all of them for who ever put the Empyreal heaven in that reckoning And for the Ethereal heaven he that considereth both the supereminent nature and immensity thereof and of those innumerable bodies therein in regard of which the whole Sublunary world is but a point or centre and that it no way can be proved that ever those bodies received any curse for mans sin or contagion by the world's deluge or that any enemies of God dwell in them to pollute them he that considereth this will not easily be induced to believe that the Fire of the day of Iudgment should burn them It remaineth therefore that the Sublunary heavens only with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are to be the subject of this Conflagration These Heavens saith S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. solventur shall be dissolved and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall melt with fervent heat 'T is a Metaphor taken from the refining of metalls quae igne solvuntur ut purificentur which are melted in order to their purifying and refining So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as Coeli igne adhibito constabuntur This to be the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appears because S. Peter himself interprets solvi to be liquefieri For having in the tenth verse said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. shall be dissolved he in the twelfth verse repeating it says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. shall melt Now melting is for refining and purifying Nor is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 averse from this notion the LXX using 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the Psalms more than once The words of the Lord are as refined or tried silver LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 12. and so elsewhere But when the Sublunary heaven shall be thus refined even the Ethereal lights of the Stars of the Sun and Moon c. will appear to those on earth much more glorious than now they do as sending their raies through a purer Medium so that all the world to us-ward shall be as it were renewed As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or passing away verse 10. it is an Hebraism signifying any change or going of a thing from the state wherein it was and answers to the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth both transire and mutari as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also in Chaldaism doth And Schindler notes that Psal. 102. the Arabick for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutabuntur hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transibunt In the twelfth verse it is expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have already shewed is commuted with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They therefore all three of them signifie one and the same thing and I see no reason why we should imagine a greater emphasis in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an utter abolition in the destruction by fire than was before implied in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he spake of the destruction by water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 6. But what shall become of the invisible host which I named as part of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this Sublunary heaven viz. those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the army of wicked and unclean spirits shall the Fire of the last Iudgment touch these I answer Though the operation of the Fire shall not be upon them to burn them yet shall they also suffer by this fiery judgment being thereby to be exiled and dejected from those high mansions and bestowed in some lower place For so that of Iude seems to imply The Angels saith he which kept not their first estate but left their own or proper habitation he hath reserved to be bound with everlasting chains of darkness at the Iudgment of the great Day Vide Piscat in hunc locum And this seems to me to be the most literal and unforced exposition of this description of S. Peter of the Heaven and Earth's conflagration at the Day of Christ and so to be preferred before any other BUT if a Prophetical strain or Scheme may be here admitted there is another way of explication which yet in the conclusion will come to the same purpose the former did although the way thereto be not the same And certainly our Saviour in the Gospel describing the coming of this Day useth a Prophetical expression The Sun saith he shall be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken For if this be taken literally whither shall the Stars fall from heaven which are either
they had two sorts of Gods some were Immortals and others were as we may term them Mortallists Thus saith Philo Byblius out of the Phoenician History From which Testimony we may borrow some more light concerning those Baalims in Scripture For Baal or Belus whose worship Iezabel the daughter of Ithobaal King of Tyre brought into Israel was a deified Phoenician King of that name as Virgil will tell us in that verse concerning the Phoenician Queen Dido ImplevÃtque mero pateram quam Belus omnes A Belo soliti Nay Baal or in the Chaldee Dialect Bel for all is one was the first King of Babel after Nimrod and the first as is written that ever was deified and reputed a God after death whence afterward they called all other Daemons Baalim even as because the first Roman Emperor was called Caesar thence were all the Emperors after him styled Caesares And it may be this is part of that which Philo Byblius out of Sanchuniathon would tell us That the Barbarians especially the Phoenicians c. gave names from their Kings to such as were canonized after death For so we see here that the Babylonians and the neighbouring Countries which spake the Hebrew tongue or some Dialect thereof called all Daemons Baalim of the first Daemon or deified King in the world Baal or Belus For at that time when Belus reigned in Babel was Phoenicia with the neighbour people under the Kingdom of Babel Whence may seem also to have come their community of language and ceremonies And here note a wonderful mystery That old Babel the first Pattern in the world of ambitious Dominion was also the Foundress of Idols and the Mother of the fornication and abominations of the earth And because we have fallen upon the naming of Daemons let us observe another mystery of names out of Plutarch De defect Orac. which may help us out of or prevent some difficulties namely That Daemons are sometimes called by the names of those Celestial Gods whose Ministers and Proctors they are and from whom they receive their power and Divinity as Apollo's Daemon Apollo Iupiter's Daemon Iupiter and so the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Like as here among us men one is called Iovius from Iupiter another Athenaeus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Minerva another Dionysius from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Bacchus c. Thus Plutarch which Cleombrotus there saith he learned of a wonderful and profound AEgyptian Eremite who lived about the red Sea c. To which is agreeable what Eusebius Praepar Evang. lib. 3. cap. 3. quotes out of Diodorus viz. That the AEgyptians affirmed such as had been great Benefactors where they lived to be Deified after their death and some of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be called by the very names of the Celestial Gods The same Plutarch in the same place doth acquaint us with this pretty conceit which being to the purpose I will not omit namely That the Souls of men took degrees after death First they commenced Heroes who were as Probationers to a Daemonship then after a time sufficient Daemons and after that if they deserved well to a more sublime degree Howsoever it be Daemons and Heroes differed but in more and less antiquity the more ancient Heroes being called Daemons and the younger Daemons Heroes But that we may return again more close to the matter in hand This order of Daemons or Soul-gods as I may call them found place in the Religion of the elder Romans who called them Penates Lares and Manti Dii and when once they began to Canonize their deceased Emperors which was from the time of Augustus they called them Divi which word before that time was more general Tully in his second Book De Legibus shall be my witness that his countrey-men acknowledged this distinction of Sovereign Gods and Soul-deified powers for there you shall find this Law Divos eos qui Coelestes semper habiti colunto ollos quos in coelum merita vocaverint Let them worship the Gods both those who were ever accounted Celestial and those whom their own merits have advanced to heaven And again Deorum Manium jura sancta sunto Hos letho datos Divos habento Let the Rights of separate Souls be kept unviolable and let them account the deceased Worthies as Gods Would God the present Christian Romans had not renewed this Law Yea so strongly was this Doctrine embraced amongst the Gentiles that some of their latter Theologists thought That even the Souls of wicked men and Tyrants had a power after death and that of these came mali Daemones which hurt men and yet to these they ordained Temples and Sacrifices to keep them from hurting them as well as to the good Daemons for helping them But the Ancients gave this honour to the Souls of vertuous men only Thus have you heard the Original of Daemons according to the ancient and general opinion of the Gentiles But besides these Daemons whose Original you have heard I mean besides Soul-Daemons and Canonized mortals their Theologists bring in another kind of Daemons more high and sublime which never had been the Souls of men nor ever were linkt to a mortal body but were from the beginning or without beginning always the same So Apuleius tells us in his De Deo Socratis Est superius aliud augustiúsque Daemonum genus qui semper à corporis compedibus nexibus liberi certis potestatibus procurentur Ex hac sublimiori Daemonum copia autumat Plato singulis hominibus in vita agenda testes custodes singulos additos This sort of Daemons doth fitly answer and parallel that sort of spiritual Powers which we call Angels as the former of Soul-Daemons doth those which with us are called Saints CHAP. V. The manner and way of worshipping the Daemons and retaining their presence viz. by consecrated Images and Pillars That Images were as Bodies for Daemons to animate and dwell in The worshipping of Images and Columns a piece of the Doctrine of Daemons This proved out of Trismegist Porphyry Arnobius Minutius Felix c. The worshipping of Daemons in their Reliques Shrines and Sepulchres another piece of Daemon-doctrine That the Gentiles Temples were nothing but the Sepulchres of dead men The gross Idolatry of the AEgyptians BUT lest I might seem to have no measure in raking up this Ethnical dunghil I will now leave the Theology of the Original of Daemons and shew you yet another piece of that Doctrine namely Concerning the manner how Daemons were to be worshipped and as it were brought to the lure of men when they had occasion of devotion with them And this was done by sacring of Images This you shall hear from an ancient Author and passing skilful in the mysteries even Hermes Trismegistus who in his Asclepius speaketh in English thus It is a wonder saith he beyond all wonders and he saith truly that man should
the Hebrews call Seculum futurum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence Mark 10. ver 30. Luke 18. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which notion Apoc. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Psal. 71. 18. Esay 27. 6. Esay 44. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulgat ventura quae futura sunt Thus I construe the Text and understand by Populus Principis futurus the people of the Roman Empire where Christ was principally to have his Church and Kingdom whilst Israel should be rejected Cornelius therefore the first Gentile converted was a Roman Centurion S. Paul who is called the Apostle of the Gentiles went not beyond the bounds of this Empire This was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof Christ said Matth. 24. 14. That before the Destruction of Ierusalem the Gospel should be preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the world as Augustus is said Luke 2. 1. to have taxed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as the Romans themselves used to call it Imperium Orbis Terrarum c. Antichrist who was to sit in the Temple or Church of Christ sits in the midst of this Empire whence it appears that the Church which Christ should have after Israel disclaimed him should chiefly be in it This People therefore which was in Israel's stead to be the People of Messiah the Prince should destroy the City and Sanctuary with such a Destruction as should like a Floud overwhelm the whole Nation and as an unresistible torrent break down and wash all away before it All which we know they did And unto the end of War Desolations are determined That is Until the end of the Fourth Kingdom of the Gentiles whose last period is that Time Times and half a Time whereof it is said Dan. 7. ver 21 25. that Antichrist the eyed and mouthed Horn should make War with the Saints and prevail against them and they shall be given into his hand until a Time and Times and half a Time Until the end of this War the Iewish Desolations are determined But of this more in the next VERSE 27. Nevertheless he shall confirm a covenant with Many one week and in half a week being a Desolator he shall cause the Sacrifice and oblation to cease and that being over a wing of Abominations and until the final time even that which is determined it shall continue upon the desolate HERE the Angel tells us what should be done in the last Week both of the first Computation and of the second that is the last of the LXX and the last of the LXII And of this first as coming first in time Nevertheless saith he he shall confirm a Covenant with Many one Week That is Though the Body of the Iewish Nation should be cast off and be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None of the people of the MESSIAH yet for one whole week he should offer himself unto them and gather many of them into the Covenant of the Gospel And this Week was the last Week of the Threescore and two Weeks which as I shewed before was wholly spent in preaching to those of the Circumcision This therefore is as it were a Prolepsis lest Daniel might think that none of his people should enter into the Covenant under Messiah These Many therefore are that Remnant whereof S. Paul speaks Rom. 11. That though Israel were cast off yet was there A Remnant according to the election of grace and therefore he limits the hardness happened unto Israel by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as not being universal And in half a Week being a Desolator he shall cause the Sacrifice and offering to cease A Desolator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word which otherwise much troubleth the Translator but being thus made a suppositum or Nominative case to the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath no other near it it both much clears the sense and retains its propriety of signification Nor is the postposition of the Nominative case to the Verb against the use of the tongue nor the trajection here so great but the Latine will admit the same order of the words viz. Et abolebit sacrificium munus atque erit super alam abominationum Desolator or Et abolebit sacrificium munus qui erit super alam abominationum Desolator Howsoever the Translation be this Week the Angel now speaks of is the last of the Seventy which should be but half run out when the Temple and City should be destroyed and the Legal service made to cease For if we reckon as I think we should the Seventy Weeks from the sixth year of Darius Nothus when the Temple was finished the Destruction thereof by Titus will fall out as is shewed in the midst of the last Week the whole half thereof from the beginning till then having been spent in warlike preparations and exploits which ended with the burning and desolation both of City and Sanctuary Of those who end the Seventieth Week compleatly with the Destruction of Ierusalem some seem so to understand this first part of the verse as if the one Week here mentioned were the last of the Seventy and the confirmation of the Covenant to be therein to respect only the first half thereof wherein Christ made good his Covenant of preservation to the believing Iews namely as I would explain it by sending Cestius Gallus President of Syria in the middle or fourth year of the last Week about seven days to environ Ierusalem with an Army for to be that sign and watch-word mentioned in the Gospel of the near approaching Desolation thereof Luke 21. 20. that so those which were in Iudaea being warned might flee into the Mountains of Arabia Petraea to Pella and deliver themselves from those days of vengeance and wrath upon their people and in the other half of the Week which remained he should cause the sacrifice and offering to cease by sending Vespasian with that second and fatal Army which should bring those wofull and vengefull Desolations upon them As for the phrase of Confirming a Covenant if the rest suted well it would be no straining to interpret it to be meant of preservation and exemption from a common calamity For we have the like speech Gen. 6. 17 18. where God having said to Noah that he would destroy by the Floud every thing that breathed upon the earth addeth But with thee will I establish my Covenant and thou shalt come into the Ark thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee c. Thus much of the Week and Half-Week But for the Desolator who should cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease whether and how it may be applied to Messiah himself or otherwise construed we shall better understand when the next is expounded And that being over a Wing of Abominations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think literally rendred as was the former If any man would also have the order of
Haud temerè suspicatus sum de argumento nam eandem planè tuetur de Die suo Novissimo sententiam quam ego de Die Iudicii conceperam Ut Libro prelecto non mediocriter in sententia mea confirmatus sim tum propter hoc ipsum tum quòd multa Scripturae loca in eo reperi adeò ad meam mentem interpretata ut consensionem in talibus à communi sententia abeuntibus oppidò mirarer Vides Reverende Praesul quò me rapit Contemplatiunculae meae nimium fortaâ—se studium ut etiam tibi hisce narrandis importunus sim. Sed ultrà Paternitatem tuam à gravioribus tuis meditationibus non distinebo Deus te Reverendissime ac Illustrissime Domine quà m diutissimè incolumem superstitem velit Ecclesiae Patriae tuae bono E. Collegio Christi 24 Aprilis An. 1628. Reverendissimae Paternitatis tuae studiosissimus Iosephus Medus EPISTLE IV. Mr. Mede's Second Letter to Archbishop Usher touching the Millennium and the Chronology of the Samaritan Pentateuch c. My Reverend Lord HAving understood by Mr. Lowe's Letter to Mr. Chappel that my Books were lost between Dublin and Droghedah as they were coming to your Lordship I presumed a second time to obtrude upon your Grace three or four more of them howsoever the worth were not such that the first loss was much material I sent with them a Letter and a Speculation or two with it which yet through some defect in sending I fear will come after them I beseech your Lordship pardon me if I have offended as I am afraid I have either against discrâ—tion or good manners For I confess I have been since somewhat jealous that the Books I first sent were not so lost but that they were found again which if they were how can I but blush to think that I have with such either shew of self-love or unmannerly importunity again troubled your Lordship with them who should noâ— have presumed at the first to have offered any more than one But my confidence is in your Grace's experienced humanity to accept any thing in good part from a Scholar's hand though perhaps accompanied with some melancholick vanity My Lord I sent in the Letter I mention the last Paragraph or piece of some Specimina Interpretationum Apocalypticarum namely that which concerned the Millennium Whereto I added for further probability of my Conceit somewhat more out of my Adversaria and in special that one of Carpentarius's Com. in Alcinoum Platonis p. 322. Septimum Millenarium ab universa Cabbalistarum Schola vocari MAGNVM DIEM IVDICII Wherein I had no intent or thought not yet have to avow that old conceit of the Chiliasts That the World should as it were labour 6000 years and in the Seventh thousand should be that glorious Sabbath of the Reign of Christ I inclined to think it much nearer But only to shew how fitly in the Hebrew notion not only a long time of some Years and Ages but even this very time of a Thousand years might be styled a Day Howbeit I desire your Lordship to give me leave if but for your recreation to relate the event of a piece of my Curiosity since that time the rather because the means thereof is beholding to your Grace I chanced to light upon Mr. Selden's Marmora Arundelliana and found therein together with an honorable and deserved mention of your Grace's name the Chronology of your Samaritan Pentateuch published to the view of the whole world I had thereby opportunity to take more curious notice thereof than I had done when your Lordship was in England and observed that it much more exceeded the Iewish in the Genealogy of the Patriarchs after the floud then it came short in those before it It came therefore into my mind to try how near the 6000 years of the world would be by that computation I found it would be Anno AErae Christianae 1736 which is just the very year when the 1260 years of the Beast's reign will expire if it be reckoned from the Deposition of Augustulus the last Roman Emperor Depositio Angustuli Anno AErae Christ. 476 Anni Regni Bestiae 1260 Sum. 1736 A Condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. juxta Scaligerum 3949 Adde quadriennium quo idem anticipat initium Nebuchadnezzaris nam in caeteris nihil muto 4 Excessus Chronologiae Samaritanae supra Iudaicam 311 Ità à condito Mundo ad AEram Christ. erunt Ann. 4264 Adde annos AErae Christ. quando exibunt Tempora Bestiae seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si ducantur à depositione Angustuli 1736 Sum. 6000 I began here to consider whether this difference of the Account of the years of the world were not ordered by a special disposition of Providence to frustrate our Curiosity in searching the time of the Day of Iudgment My Lord I would trouble your Lordship with a Conceit or two more if I had time As that I conceive Nebuchadnezzar's dream Dan 2. to have been some years before he sought for the interpretation which was the reason he had forgotten it the words in ver 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken for the dream and may be well so construed viz. That his dream came upon him or came into his mind Also that the 40 years Ezek. 4. 6. should be the time of Manasses Idolatry for which God threatens so often that he would destroy that Kingdom But Mr. Provost will not stay for me I beseech the Almighty long to bless your Grace and grant you life and thus I end with my humble Service and am Christ's Coll. 22 May 1628. Your Lordship 's most ready to be commanded Ioseph Mede EPISTLE V. Mr. Hayn his First Letter to Mr. Mede about several passages in Daniel and the Revelation SALUTEM in CHRISTO Worthy and Learned Sir SOme kind friend have lately imparted to me your Synchronisms of the Apocalyps printed and some other written passages on Daniel's times and other parts of Scripture The world must needs give good entertainment to your painful and learned labours who have undertaken paths troden by few with much care of sure footing especially in your Synchronisms Yet see how it falls out as in this kind it cannot be avoided in all things you shall not find assent For my part I know well quà m sit mihi curta supellex yet partly that I may be better instructed my self partly to give you occasion of further clearing the Truth I have sent here included some Positions with Arguments confirming them contrary to some of your Tenets desiring your favourable interpretation of my meaning and your Answer at your best leisure and assuring you that I do this not contradicendi studio sed amore veritatis indagandae and minding if you encourage me thereto to shew hereafter my Reasons of some dissent in other matters I commend you and your studies to God's blessing and rest From Christs-parish in London Iune 5. 1629.
come and promising them by some Oracle to shew them a Country far better than their own which he might soon do pleasant large where never man yet inhabited he conducted them over those desart Lands and Islands which are many in that Sea by the way of the North into America which none would ever have gone had they not first been assured there was a passage that way into a more desirable Countrey Namely as when the world apostatized from the Worship of the true God God called Abram out of Chaldee into the Land of Canaan of him to raise him a Seed to preserve a light unto his Name So the Devil when he saw the world apostatizing from him laid the foundations of a new Kingdom by deducting this Colony from the North into America where since they have increased into an innumerable multitude And where did the Devil ever reign more absolutely and without controll since mankind fell first under his clutches And here it is to be noted that the story of the Mexican Kingdom which was not founded above 400 years before ours came thither relates out of their own memorials and traditions that they came to that place from the North whence their God Vitzliliputzli led them going in an Ark before them and after divers years travel and many stations like enough after some generations they came to the place which the Sign he had given them at their first setting forth pointed out where they were to finish their travels build themselves a City and their God a Temple which is the place where Mexico was built Now if the Devil were God's ape in this why might he not be so likewise in bringing the first Colony of men into that world out of ours namely by Oracle as God did Abraham out of Chaldee whereto I before resembled it But see the hand of Divine Providence When the off-spring of these Runnagates from the sound of Christ's Gospel had now replenisht that other world and began to flourish in those two Kingdoms of Peru and Mexico Christ our Lord sends his Mastives the Spaniards to hunt them out and worry them Which they did in so hideous a manner as the like thereunto scarce ever was done since the Sons of Noah came out of the Ark. What an affront to the Devil was this where he had thought to have reigned securely and been for ever concealed from the knowledge of the followers of Christ Yet the Devil perhaps is less grieved for the loss of his servants by the destroying of them than he would be to lose them by the saving of them by which latter way I doubt the Spaniards have despoiled him but of a few What then if Christ our Lord will give him his second affront with better Christians which may be more grievous to him than the former And if Christ shall set him up a light in this manner to dazle and torment the Devil at his own home I will hope they shall not so far degenerate not all of them as to come in that Army of Gog and Magog against the Kingdom of Christ but be translated thither before the Devil be loosed if not presently after his tying up And whence should those Nations get notice of the glorious happiness of our world if not by some Christians that had lived among them Thus have I told you out my fancy of the Inhabitants of that world which though it be built upon mere conjectures and not upon firm grounds yet may have so much use as to shew a possibility of answering such scruples as are wont to run in mens heads concerning them which consideration is not always to be despised BUT because I see you entertain to favourably my Notions concerning the Kingdom of Christ at his appearing I will make bold to acquaint you with another Notion which draws deeper I think than those you have yet heard I doubt not but you have felt some scruple as well as others at our Saviour's demonstration of the Resurrection in the Gospel Matth. 22. Mark 12. God said to Moses in the bush I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Ergò Abraham Isaac and Iacob must one day rise againe from the dead How doth this Conclusion follow Do not the Spirits of Abraham Isaac and Iacob yet live God should then be the God of the living though their bodies should never rise again Therefore some Socinians argue from this place that the Spirits of the Iust lie in the sleep of death until the Resurrection Or might not the Sadducees have replied the meaning to be of what God had been not of what he should be viz. That he was that God who had once chosen their Fathers and made a Covenant with them I am the God that brought Abraham out of Chaldee who appeared to Isaac and Iacob whilest they lived c. But how would this then make for the Resurrection Surely it doth He that could not erre said it Let us therefore see how it may I say therefore the words must be understood with supply of that they have reference unto which is the Covenant that the Lord made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in respect whereof he calls himself their God This Covenant was to give unto them and to their seed the land wherein they were strangers Mark it Not to their seed or off-springs only but to themselves Vide loca To Abraham Gen. 13. 15. ch 15. 7. ch 17. 8. To Isaac Gen. 26. 3. To Iacob Gen. 35. 12. To all three Exod. 6. 4 8. Deut. 1. 8. ch 11. 21. ch 30. 20. If God then make good to Abraham Isaac and Iacob this his Covenant whereby he undertook to be their God then must they needs one day live again to inherit the promised Land which hitherto they have not done For the God that thus covenanted with them covenanted not to make his promise good to them dead but living This is the strength of the Divine argument and irreâ—ragable which otherwise would not infer any such Conclusion And this to be our Saviour's meaning may appear in that the Iews at that time used from these very places thus understood to infer the Resurrection against the Sadducees out of the Law As it is to be seen expresly of two of them Exod. 6. 4. Deut. 11. 21. in the Talmud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi in Gemara sic habetur Traditio Rab. Simai Quo loco astruit Lex Resurrectionem mortuorum Nempeubi dicitur Atque etiam constabilivi foedus meum cum ipsis ut dem ipsis terram Canaan Non enim dicitur vobis sed ipsis Iterum rogârunt Sadducaei Rabbi Gamalielem Praeceptor fuit Pauli Apostoli Vndenam probaret Deum mortuos resuscitaturum Non quieverunt usque dum produceret ipsis istum versum Quam terram juravit Dominus patribus vestris se daturum
Evidence and exactness with another To which I received no other answer but that they doubted much I would fall short and that howsoever it was not good to make such Comparisons wherein it may be they said not amiss That observation of mine of Rome's Latitude to be 41 degrees and 51 minutes was upon the suddain For looking into Stadius his Catalogus Locorum Vrbium in his Ephemerides I found the Latitude of Rome to be there 41 degrees and 50 minutes but in Origanus his Catalogus 42 degrees and 4 minutes which is 14 minutes more in Maginus as I remember 42 degrees and 2 minutes for I have him not in my Study as I have the other two I supposed that Stadius had followed Ptolemy but when I looked some days after I found in him but 41 degr 40. min. 'T is somewhat strange there should be no better agreement if not of Ptolemy with the Neotericks yet of the Neotericks with themselves about so famous a City But that of Stadius is nearest the middle between the extremes Whatsoever it be I make no account of it yet I do not very well understand what Mr. P. means in his Letter when he saith That both the Numerator 41 and the Denominator 51 must be applied to divisions of the same Denomination and yet the one to be part of the other c. But I have no time to consider it I doubt that the Meridian of 41 degr of Longitude and the Parallel of 41 degr Latitude will not cross each other in any part of S. Peter's Patrimony nor scarce any where upon Land whether we count the first Meridian with Ptolemy in the Canaries or with the later Cosmographers in the Azores the later accounting 10 degrees more or less than the other which uncertainty also will make that other Application of the Parallel and Meridian 51 to be the Boundaries of the Papal dominion Eastward and Northward at the time of the Council of Trent to be obnoxious and unuseful Concerning the translating of M. Potter's Book into Latin I could wish it but I believe you mistake the possibility of getting it done in Cambridge He that should do it must have a threefold qualification 1. He must be ready and master of his Style 2. He must be one that can understand it 3. He must be well-affected to the Argument How hard will it be think you to find all these concurrent in the same man here For my self I express my self with my pen with as much difficulty if not more than I do with my tongue and so I want the first qualification though it may be not the other two And for others I know not any that are able so well affected to the Argument that they would be willing to undertake it you may imagine divers impediments that way which I will not name But were it not fit rather that Oxford that bred it should do this office for it I think Mr. P. in his Letter guesseth aright I forgot to answer to one thing in Mr. Potter's namely concerning my Copy of his Book Mr. Hartlib was earnest somewhile since to borrow it of me to transcribe another conformable to it I stipulated with him not to let it go out of his house It is a mistake that I had written any marginal Annotations upon it I affirmed only that I had written all his Margins with mine own hand lest the alteration of the pages should confound them only perhaps I added here and there some numeral references in the Margin where the Text refers to somewhat spoken of before or to be spoken of afterward That which I did to it was the distinguishing thereof into 8 Sections and prefixing in the beginning of the Book the Contents of each of them ad leniendum taedium Lectoris and to represent unto him the sum of the Discourse in a short view Also by breaking of lines I distinguished each Section as it were into Paragraphs c. NOW Sir for my Book I sent it not to you as an Auctoramentum or Presse-mony to bind you to be of my opinion but only as a testimony of that honour I thought I owed you and yet so much the more willingly because the Argument confirmed some grounds of Mr. Potter's if I am not deceived It was my New-years-gift to my Lord's Grace after he had taken me under his name which some Friends informed me was a Ceremony of decorum that I could not now at the first omit and would serve in stead of a journey to London to thank his Grace c. I had this ready and sent it in that name with the Inscription you see save only that the words In novi anni auspicium gratique c. now appear not being thought by some fit to be omitted when it was to go to the press To which honour the Author if I know his mind had no ambition it should have been preferred Well but howsoever it came about you say that part of the Elogium in the Inscription you doubt will do me wrong viz. Sublati inter sacrum profanum discriminis Assertori although you know the contrary to what they will be ready to conceive thereupon 'T is true there be some men that will never find the true sense or reason of any thing quod dictum aut factum nollent I have heard of the constructions of my new relation but God forgive them I have witnesses enough which they are not aware of of their Vnadvisedness that I may give it no worse term I am beholden yea exceedingly beholden to my Lord's Grace for his good opinion of me notwithstanding he well knows that in some things I differ from him and I am bound to acknowledge it howbeit he yet knows not his Chaplain de facie nor his Chaplain him But because there are some that forget there is a Ninth Commandment as well as a Second and have given me cause to speak I would have them know what I now say That I defy them whosoever they or he be that says He is less ambitious or less discontented with his present condition than I am or were when this happened unto me And this by the way I come again to the Elogium where I am not so narrowly pent that I should be confined to the discrimen between sacrum profanum in Places only to make it true You may remember that once upon occasion with you I made 4 sorts of things Sacred to wit 1. Personae sacrae 2. Res sacrae 3. Loca sacra 4. Tempora sacra Personae sacrae as the Clergy Res sacrae specially so called as Bona Ecclesiastica c. Now I think the world takes notice that my Lord is Assertor eximius of the Discrimination of the first Three from common and I hope an Instance of One particular amongst Four against the other Three doth not make an Indefinite affirmation not true Besides I add the word Sublati but the Discrimination of sacred Time with
But it is no unwonted thing for Scholars thus to outgo their Masters There are some Papers of mine walking I know not where concerning Bowing towards the Altar which were written by way of Answer to some body and a man of note demanding of me what I thought thereof One was my first Answer Another more large replying to the Exceptions he made against that first and the whole opinion and practice being somewhat larger than I use to write Letters and written with some intention of mind after my thoughts that way had been long asleep I by chance kept a Copy of it which how it came to be so much dispersed I profess I know not That so-long-since-written Discourse of mine De Sanctitate Relativa c. savours too much of my infancy in Divinity and first thoughts and affection of style ever to see the publick light And indeed I had resolved to enjoy my self and such contentment as I could find in my Cell and never to have come in print again either to please or displease any man but only to vent such Notions as I had conceived privately by a new way I took of Common-placing changing my Theme qualibet vice When now on a sudden before I was aware and little expected any such matter one of my Straglers is perkt into the Press telling the world he was one of those Common-places What his destiny is I know not but if it be good some body can say He hath flung many a stone in his days but never hit the mark till now and that too by mere chance and not so much as intending it For writing to Sir W. B. I think it is not tanti upon this occasion 'T is a Pamphlet and I had rather it should come to his hands with a kind of neglect on my part than with too much pomp But I thank you for what you have done and for your further offer Thus with my best affection I commend you to the Divine blessing and am Your old and assured Friend Ios. Mede Christ's College Iuly 3. EPISTLE XCVIII Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib touching some Socinian Books and Tenets together with his resentment of the Difficulties which Mr. Dury's Pacifick Design met with and of the Evil of Prejudice and Studium partium Mr. Hartlib I Received yours with the Discourse inclosed of Schism That Extract of the Letter to you is but a Symptom of Studium partium of which kind he that will be an indifferent and moderate man must look to swallow many Therefore Transeat Only thus much to be nearer or further off from the Man of sin is not I think the measure of Truth and Falshood nor that which would be most destructive of him always true and warrantable If it be there be some in the world that would be more Orthodox and Reformed Christians than any of us The Socinians you know deny That Souls live after death until the Resurrection or That Christ hath carnem sanguinem now in Heaven both as most destructive of the idolatrous errours of the Man of sin the first of Purgatory and Invocation of Saints which they say can never be solidly everted as long as it is supposed Souls do live the other of Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ. Is not this to undermine Antichrist with a vengeance as they say I have not been very obtrusive unto men to acquaint them with my notions and conceits in that kind for some of them that are but lately known have lien by me above these twenty years and not shewn to any unless they urge me and ask me what is my opinion and yet my freedom to utter my mind than to such as are prejudiced the contrary way does neither them nor me any good Therefore Cupio defungi if it would be and to be troubled no more either with Quaesita or Reciprocations in that kind For the Discourse you sent me It proceeds from a distinct and rational Head but I am afraid too much inclined that way that some strong and rational wits do It may be I am deceived The Conclusions which he aims at I can more easily assent to than to some of his Premisses I have yet looked it but once over But any more free or particular censure thereof than what I have already given look not for left I be censured my self 'T is an Argument wherein a wise man will not be too free in discovering himself pro or con but reserved Thus with my wonted affection and prayers I rest Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Coll. Aug. 6. 1638. After this Mr. Mede wrote another Letter the last Letter he wrote to Mr. Hartlib about a month before he died wherein besides matters of News and his repeating what he had said in the foregoing Letter concerning the great Learning of the Author of that Discourse of Sschism he expresseth his resentment of the Difficulties which Mr. Dury's design of Pacification met with in these words Mr. Dury and such as wish well to his business must comfort themselves as the Husbandman doth who though he sees no appearance of his Seed awhile after it is sown especially in dry weather yet despaireth not but as soon as the Rain from above shall water the ground to see it begin to spring up You see what an invincible mischief Prejudice is and Studium partium It leaves no place for admission of Truth that brings any disadvantage to the side That 's the Rule which they examine all by Will so many Rents of the Church as we see ready to sink it never make us wiser Thus with my prayers and best affection I rest Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede Christ's Colledge Aug. 28. 1638. The End of the Fourth Book THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE WORKS OF The Pious and Profoundly-Learned Ioseph Mede B. D. SOMETIME Fellow of CHRIST'S Colledge in CAMBRIDGE CONTAINING FRAGMENTA SACRA OR MISCELLANIES OF DIVINITY Io. 6. 12. Colligite quae superfuerunt Fragmenta ne quid pereat Chrysost. Homil. in 1 Tim. 5. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE CONTENTS OF THE FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. The disposition of the years of Iehoiakim according to the several Events mentioned in Scripture pag. 889 CHAP. II. The Mystery of S. Paul's Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews pag. 891 CHAP. III. An Answer concerning a Discourse inferring from the Septenary Types of the Old Testament and other Arguments That the World should last 7000 years and the Seventh Thousand be that happy and blessed Chiliad pag. 892 CHAP. IV. An Explication of Psal. 40. 6. Mine ears hast thou bored compared with Hebr. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me pag. 896 CAP. V. D. HIERONYMI Pronunciata de Dogmate MILLENARIORUM cum Animadversionibus pag. 897 CAP. VI. Verba GAII apud EUSEBIUM Lib. 3. cap. 22. Hist. Eccles. cum Animadversionibus pag. 899 CAP. VII De Nomine Antichristi apud S. Ioannem pag. 900.
him Ans. I suppose in the last year of his reign and life and that his ill usage at that time was the occasion of his so miserable death before he was yet gone from Ierusalem And yet perhaps those who came to fetch him went not home empty but carried those 3023 mentioned Ier. 52. 28. though I had rather refer them to Iehoiachin's going which was immediately Object The first deportation of the Iews was in the 7. of Nebuchadnezzar Ier. 52. 28. Therefore not the 4 but the 11. of Iehoiakim's reign Ans. Ieremy intended not a rehearsal of all the Captivities nor of the full number of captives as appears by the smalness of the number It may be those numbâ—rs contain men of particular quality and such as were disposed of in one and the same place But here I am resolved I. M. CHAP. II. The Mystery of S. Paul's Conversion or The Type of the Calling of the Iews 1. 1. PAVL among the sons of men the greatest Zelot of the Law and Persecutor of the way of Christ. THE Iews among the Nations most obstinate Zelots of Moses and the most bitter Enemies of the Followers of Christ. 2. 2. Paul in the height of this his zeal and heat of his persecuting fury found mercy and was converted The Iews though persisting unto the last in their extremity of bitterness and mortal hate to Christians yet will God have mercy on them and receive them again to be his People and be their God 3. 3. Paul converted by means extraordinary and for manner strange not as were the rest of the Apostles by the Ministerie of any Teacher upon earth but by visible Revelation of Christ Iesus in his glory from Heaven the light whereof suddenly surprising him he heard the voice of the Lord himself from Heaven saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me The Iews not to be converted unto Christ by such means as were the rest of the Nations by the Ministerie of Preachers sent unto them but by the Revelation of Christ Iesus in his glory from Heaven when they shall say not as when they saw him in his humiliation Crucifie him but Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord. Whose coming then shall be as a lightning out of the East shining into the West and the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the clouds of Heaven and every eye shall see him even of those which pierced him and shall lament with the Spirit of grace and supplication for their so long and so shameful unbelief of their so merciful Redeemer 4. 4. Those who accompanied Paul at the time of this Apparition saw the light only and were amazed but Paul alone saw the Lord and heard the voice which he spake unto him This Revelation of Christ from Heaven like to be most apparent to the Iews in all places where they are dispersed but not so perhaps to the Gentiles with whom they live The light of his glorious presence shall be such as the whole world shall take notice of but those only to see him and hear his voice who pierced him 5. 5. Paul no sooner converted but was immediately inspired with the knowledge of the Mysteries of Christ without the instruction of any Apostle or Disciple for he received not the Gospel which he preached of Man neither was he taught it but by the Revelation of Iesus Christ. He consulteth not with the rest of the Apostles but after 14 years preaching communicated to them the Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles who added nothing unto him but gave him the right hand of fellowship The Iews together with their miraculous Calling shall be illuminated also with the knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith even as it is taught in the Reformed Churches without any Instructers from them or Conference with them and yet when they shall communicate their Faith each to other shall find themselves to be of one communion of true belief and give each other the right hand of fellowship 6. 6. Paul the last called of the Apostles The Iews to be called after all the Nations in orbe Romano or in the circuit of the Apostle's preaching 7. 7. Paul once converted the most zealous and fervent of the Apostles The Iews once converted the most zealous and fervent of the Nations 8. 8. Till Paul was converted the Gospel had small progress amongst the Gentiles but when he became their Apostle it went forward wonderfully Till the Calling of the Iews the general Conversion of the Gentiles not to be expected but the receiving of Israel shall be the riches of the world in that by their restitution the whole world shall come unto Christ. 9. 9. The miracle of S. Paul's Conversion the person so uncapable till then a Persecutor and most bitter Enemy of Christians the manner so wonderful as by an Apparition and Voice from Heaven was a most powerful motive to make all those who heard and believed it Christians and therefore so often by S. Paul himself repeated The miracle of the Iews Conversion so much the more powerful to convert the Nations of the world not yet Christians by how much their opposite disposition is more universally known to the world than was S. Paul's and by how much the testimony of a whole Nation living in so distant parts of the world of so divine a miracle as a Vision and Voice from Heaven exceeds that of s. Paul being but one Man 10. 10. Paul reproveth Peter one of the chief Apostles for symbolizing with Iudaism May not the Iews likewise reprove if not more the Church of Rome the chief of Christian Churches for symbolizing with Gentilism S. Paul to Tim. 1 Ep. c. 1. v. 16. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth ill long-suffering for a Pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life CHAP. III. Answer concerning a Discourse inferring from the Septenary Types of the Old Testament and other Arguments That the World should last 7000 years and the Seventh Thousand be that happy and blessed Chiliad I. THE Millennium of the Reign of Christ is that which the Scriptures call The Day of Iudgment the ancient Iews and S. Iude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnus Dies Iudicii or Dies Iudicii magni Septimus Millenarius ab universa Cabbalistarum Schola saith Carpentarius vocatur Magnus Dies Iudicii Comment in Alcinoum Platonis pag. 322. A Day not as our languages commonly import of a few hours but according to the Hebrew notion from whence the name is derived of many years For with them Day is Time and not a short only but a long Time A Day whereof S. Peter speaking 2 Epist. chap. 3. tells the believing Iews his brethren as soon as he had named it vers 8. That he would not have them ignorant that one Day with the Lord was as a Thousand years and a Thousand years
Anno Christi 486. which is presently after the deposition of Augustulus in whom the Empire of Western Rome expired And this comes much nearer the point than 792. Howbeit far be it from me to affirm any thing thereof or of the verity of the Samaritan Computation or to prefer it in the general before our Hebrew though some things be found therein which dissolve a knot or two which make our Chronologers at theiâ— wits end As one for example How Abraham could come into Canaan after the days of his Father as S. Stephen says and yet be but 75 years old Gen. 12. 4. whenas his Father Terah lived 205 years and himself was born in the 70 year of his age Gen. 11. 26. But the Samaritan saith chap. 11. 32. That the days of Terah were but 145 years which is just for then Abraham was 75 years old at his Father's death and Moses and S. Stephen are reconciled which yet no man can imagine that the Samaritan Scribe ever thought of But the thing â—aim at in representing these differences and would propound to the consideration of the pious sober and judicious and with due reverence to the Divine Writ is Whether there may not be some secret disposition of Divine Providence in this variety of Computation to prevent our Curiosity in counting the exact time of the Day of Iudgment and second appearing of Christ. And that as the ambitious Tower of Babel was hindred by the Confusion of Languages so our Curiosity in this particular be not by a like Providence prevented by such a diversity of Computationsâ— For these things concern not matter of Salvation We know the first Ages of the Church followed the Computation of the Seventy altogether though it were most wide of truth and the chiefest Doctors the Church then had through ignorance of the Hebrew for a long time knew not or believed not there was any other Computation But for contents of Faith and the way of Salvation over such the Providence of God watcheth with a careful eye though man be heedless wicked and careless of preserving the integrity of that precious treasure committed to their custody Besides I nothing doubt if our Books be in any such particular as we speak of deficient or corrupted but that the true reading is yet extant in some of the two named or some other Copy some-where preserved by Divine Providence though we cannot yet know and discern which those righter readings be The Iews having a saying Cùm Elias venerit dissolvet nodos And without doubt when they shall be called and meet together from all places of the world which must be before that great Day cometh strange things will be discovered which we little dream of Now if any man ask if such a corruption of Computation be suppoâ—ed where it is most like to be I answer Not in those generations before the Floud where the Hebrew Computation being the middle between the excess of the Septuagint and defect of the Samaritan seems to be crucified as our Saviour between two Thieves but in the generations immediately after the Floud 1. Because in those the Seventy and the Samaritan for the most part agree which argues their difference from our Bibles not to have been voluntary 2. Because S. Luke in the Genealogy of our Saviour inserts as the Seventy do the generation of Cainan immediately after Arphaxad which our Bibles have not who knows what it means or whether it argue not a defect thereabout in the Hebrew Copies Time may discover the meaning thereof 3. Because Peleg at whose birth the Scripture seems to say the Earth was divided was born according to our Copies but 101 years after the Floud which troubles our Chronologers as seeming too small a time for eight persons to multiply unto such a number as may be presumed to have been at the building of the Tower of Babel and at their dispersion thence which will be much holpen if either Cainan be to be inserted to whose generation the Septuagint allow 130 years or if any of the other generations of Arphaxad Salah and Eber be to be read as both the Septuagint and Samaritan have them To conclude if the years of but three of those generations between the Floud and Abraham as of Arphaxad Salah and Nahor should prove to be as the Septuagint and Samaritan agreeingly read them and the generation of Cainan mentioned by S. Luke and four times by the Septuagint also to be added unto them the duration of the World hitherto will have been 350 or 360 years more than we count of If therefore such Suppositions as these may be admitted which I determine not but leave to such as are able and fit to judge Apagite indocti prophani then that Tradition of the Seventh Thousand year to be the Day of Iudgment and of the glorious Reign of Christ will in respect of those Septenary Types of the Old Testament have good probability of Truth Otherwise I cannot see how possibly it can be admitted 1 Thess. 5. 21. Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete I. M. CHAP. IV. An Explication of Psal. 40. 6. Mine ears hast thou bored compared with Hebr. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me PSalm 40. v. 6 7. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not have mine ears hast thou bored Burnt-offering and Sin-offering thou hast not required Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God In which words an allusion is made to a Custom of the Iews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual Servants and to enroll their names in a Book or make some Instrument of the Covenant Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have but because I am thy vowed Servant bored with an awl and enrolled in thy Book I said Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God These words of the Psalm are alledged by S. Paul Heb. 10. But the first of them with a most strange difference For whereas the Psalmist hath according to the Hebrew Verity Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not mine ears thou hast bored or digged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Paul reads with the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A body thou hast prepared or fitted me What Equipollency can be in sense between these two This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most Interpreters make the life of the Quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is viz. That the words A body thou hast prepared me are brought by the Apostle to prove our Saviour's Incarnation whereunto the words in the Psalm it self Mine ears hast thou bored or digged or opened take them how you will will in no wise suit I answer therefore That the life of the Quotation lies not in the words of difference nor can do because this Epistle was written to the Hebrews and so first in the Hebrew tongue
〈◊〉 614 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 49. 10. 35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. 24. 16. 668 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esth. 7. 5. 116 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 170 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manna 245 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meat-offering what 287 358 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahuzzim Dan. 11. 38. 669 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To revolt put for Idolatry 625 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 27. 706 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie both poenam culpam 911 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To despise provoke blaspheme is put for Idolatry 502 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esai 26. 19. 578 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 24. 697 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 11. 37. 668 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 8. 2. why rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 536 705 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 474 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 26. 507 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 110. 3. 115 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 60 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idols why so called 268 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Foundation and a Bond or a Bill of contract 82 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facere is both to do and to sacrifice 674 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paraclete Pag 496 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 614 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almes why so called 80 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rock a Title given to God 670 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 4. 25. 52 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To melt and To resiâ—e 615 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy what it imports Page 6 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The â—ast why Arabia so called 467 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how it differs from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 402. 860 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 19. 24. why the Heave-offering so called 288 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coetus Gigamum why Hell was so called 32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voices signâ—â— Thunder 458 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apocal 12. 10. why Satan is so call'd 496 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corban what 286 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 485 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 25. 700 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 7. 9. mis-translated 762 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 206 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signif â—evens of daies not of years Page 599 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signiâ— the Supreme Poner 35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 25. 700 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shiloh why Christ was so called 35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shechinah what 343 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace 94 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace-offerings what 287 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven and Earth put for the World 613 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To hear and To obey 351 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles. 5. 1. 347 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idols 707 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 10. 13. 42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the habitable Earth Page 196 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idols 707 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wave-offerings what 288 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Dragon 493 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heave-offerings what 288 513 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 9. 25. 709 The Greek Words explained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 470 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 391 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 384 391 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 516 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 358 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 39 40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 907 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 515 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 246 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 518 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 331 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 60 324 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peccatum Sacrif pro peccato p. 910 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 122 123 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 824 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 900 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 322 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 519 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 513 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 625 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 522 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 43 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 288 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 909 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro quibusvis Summatibus p. 711 911 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 708 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 501 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 389 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 689 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 391 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 752 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 279 283 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 59 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 29 627 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 29 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 635 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 488 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 638 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 444 918 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 345 346 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 610 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 635 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 26 27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 8 402 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 626 634 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 80 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 10 913 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 914 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 344 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 171 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 915 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 361 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercitus robur p. 499 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 321 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 468 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 473 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 78 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro loco p. 319 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 80 176 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 14 93 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 519 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 566 569 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 915 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 119 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 474 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 614 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 476 676 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 915 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 506 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 93 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 775 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 125 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 801 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 907 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 266 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 166 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 652 663 664 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 653 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 609 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Events in Scripture 889. Iehoiakim not carried captive into Babylon Pag. 890 Ieremy's Prophesies not digested in order 834 Iews had a Second tender of Christ and upon their refusing it were cast off 164 though some of them believed yet the Body or Nation of the Iews rejected Christ and was therefore rejected 750. the manner and external means of their Conversion to be by Vision and Voice from Heaven 761. This argued from the manner of S. Paul's Conversion 761 891. and from the story of a miraculous conversion of many Iews as a Praeludium to their General Conversion 767. why God gave the Iews peculiar Rites and Observations 181 Ignatius his Epistles 327 Images were at first made for Daemoâ—s to dwell in c. 632 Image-worship brought in and promoted by lying stories 687. the great Opposition in the Greek and Eastern Churches against it for the space of 120 years 683 c. Impotency pretended doth not excuse us from our duty 308 Iohn Baptist a forerunner of Christ in his Nativity Preaching and Suffering 97 Isaac a Type of Christ. 50 51 Islands not taken always in Scripture for Countries encompassed by the Sea 272. Countries divided from the Iews by Sea were called Islands ibid. c. what they signifie in the Apocalyps according to the Prophetick style 450 Iudgment The description of the Great Iudgment when Christ shall sit on his Throne 841. a farther description of the Great Day of Iudgment 762 c. whence Christ and his Apostles received that term 754. the precise time thereof not to be known 895. K. KEri and Kerif See Hebrew Text King or Kingdom sometimes in Scripture put for any State or Polity 667 711 911. Kings of the East in Apocal. 16. 12. who are meant thereby 529 Kingdom of God or Heaven sometimes in Scripture signifies the Kingdom of Messiah 103. why it is so called 104. whence the Iews gave this term to the Kingdom of Messiah 103. a twofold state of Christ's Kingdom 104 the first state thereof called Regnum Lapidis the second Regnum Montis 743. the Time designed and prefixed for the coming and beginning of Christs Kingdom 104. it was to be set up in the Times of the Fourth Kingdom 745 754 c. That the Kingdom of Christ and the Saints in Dan. 7. is the same with that of 1000 years in Apocal. 20. 763. a twofold Kingdom one whereby Christ reigns in his Saints the other whereby they reign with him 573 Kingdoms 4 Kingdoms represented by Nebuchaduezzars Image of 4 sundry metals Dan. 2. and by 4 Beasts Dan. 7. the purport of them 743 c. why these 4 are singled out 712 713. That the Fourth is the Roman proved by 3 Arguments from p. 712 to 716. That these 4 Kingdoms are a Prophetical Chronology and the Great Kalendar of Times 654 The Kiss of Peace why so called 96 Kissing of the Pax whatâ— ibid. L. LActantius vindicated from the Antichiliasts 812 836 Lake of Fire and Brimstone why Hell so described 33 Lamps That the 7 Lamps in the Temple signified the 7 Archangels 833 Larvati why Mad-men so called 29 Last hour or time the End of all are meant of the End of the Iewish State and Service and not of the End of the World 664 Last times a twofold acception of them in Scripture 652. That the times of the Fourth Beast or Roman Kingdom are the Last times 654 c. their Epocha or beginning 656. their duration and length 655 Latter times of the Last times are the times of the Apostasie under Antichrist 653 655 Law may be considered either 1 as a Rule or 2 as a Covenant of works how Believers are not under the Law 114 In what respects the Law is dissolved or not dissolved by Christ 12 How Gods Law alone binds the conscience 208 209 Lawenus his Stricturâ— in Clavem Apocal. 541. the occasion of his writing them 783. his way of interpreting the Apocalyps 754 782. a full answer to his Stricturâ— 550 Law-giver why Christ so called in Genes 49. and what is meant by that phrase Law-giver from between his feet 35 Lay-Elders See Elders Legends Fabulous Legends their grosseness and the design of them 678 681 c. Levi what the name signifies 178. why Levi was chosen for the Priesthood 179 180. why called Gods Holy one 180 181. his Favoured one 181 Locusts what they signifie in the Prophetick style 467 c. Lords-day why observed by Christians 57. a Testimony for it out of Euseâ—ius 851 Lords-prayer twice delivered by Christ 2. intended not only for a Pattern but a Form of Prayer ibid. Lords-supper See Christian Sacrifice Lying unto the Holy Ghost what is meant thereby 118 M. MAgog See Gog. Mahuzzim in Dan. 11. the word signifies Fortresses Bulwarks Protectors Guardians c. That Saints and their Reliques were so called at the beginning of Saint-worship 673 c. Manna why so called 245. how it differed from the Apothecaries or the Arabian Manna 245 246. how it was Spiritual meat and a Type of Christ. 247 Mark To have the Mark of the Beast in the right hand or in the forehead Apocal. 〈◊〉 what it means 509 511 Marriage the Roman laws for it discountenanced by Constantine 672. Prohibition of Marriage a character of Monastick profession 688 Martyrs their privilege to riâ—e first 604 771 775. their Reign misinterpreted to an Idolatrous sense 759 why Christians anciently kept their assemblies at their Monuments 679. Martyrium Omeritarum 768 Mass Reasons against the lurching Sacrifice of the Mass wherein the Priest receives alone 253 254. In the Mass the ancient Offering of Praise is turned into an Offering of Expiation 293. How the Oblation of the ancient Church differed from that in the Mass 295. The Blasphemous Oblation in the Mass justly taken away 376. That the ancient Church never intended any Hypostatical oblation of Christ. 376 c. Meat put in Scripture for all necessaries of life 689. Abstinence from meats a character of Monastick profession 688 Meekness in the Scripture-use is of a larger signification than in Ethicks 161 Melancholia and Mania how they differ 29 Memorial why that which was burned upon the Altar was so called 342 Memorial of Gods Name what 341 Merit the word abused and in what sense tolerable 176 Messiah the Prince in Dan. 9 meant only of Christ. 700 Methodius Bishop of Tyre a passage out of him touching the Millennium 843 Michael in Apocal. 12. who 495 Middle estate or a Competency the best and safest condition 129 Millennium or the 1000 years Reign of Christ not to be understood in any gross carnal sense 603 836 837. to be asserted modestly and warily so as not to clash with any Catholick Tenet of the Christian Faith 603. to be propounded generally not particulatim seu modatim 571. a General description of it 603. no necessity of asserting Christs visible converse upon Earth Ibid. this Opinion of Regnum Christi Sanctorum was universally held by the
champion against the opinion of the world's renovation to be in the days of Messiah and that upon this ground Quòd mundus retinet sequitur consuetudinem suam which saying he ascribeth to some other Rabbins of the same opinion before him which for the sense and meaning is the self-same with that here of the scoffers All things say they continue as they were from the beginning of the creation Nevertheless Aben Ezra who lived not long after Maimonides maintained still as also others did the contrary and there are extant certain Discourses and Tractates amongst them purposely written of this Argument and confuting the opinion of R. Moses ben Maiemon and his followers as one called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coeli novi proving the necessity of the Renovation of the World and directed against cap. 29. lib. 2. of Maimonides his More Nebochim Another by R. Isaac Abarbinel called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opera Dei out of Psal. 66. 5. wherein all the arguments brought against the Renovation are confuted And no doubt there are more of the like nature which we know not of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies inter amongst or in the midst of as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Herodotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter insulas Howsoever we render the Preposition I suppose S. Peter by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 means the superior water which together with that of the Sea or Great deep concurred to the drowning of the World as appears by the place of Genesis alledged * 2 Tim. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter multos testes Vide Notas B. See the Syriack Acts 9. 29. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are â—uâ—ned Iudaei qui loquebanâ—ur Gracé * I have since looked in the Preface of Ramban where I found those Chaldee passages mentioned which the Rabbi translates into Hebrew and for the Chaldee which answereth to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— he renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Compare Lam. 2. 1. * Respicit Deut. 4. 19. 17. 3. 2 Theâ—â— 1. 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic pro poena posita videtur non virtuteâ— quam poenam in moâ—a resurrectionis constituit Tertul. a Apocal. 6. b Ap. 15. 16. c Ap. 17. d Ap. 19. e Ap. 20. a Ap. 20. b Rom. 8. c Isa. 11. d 1 Cor. 19. * Martyrio câ—ronatus est ad extremum novissimae persecutionis vel ut alii sub Decio Valeriano Petar * Doctrinâ—s Deastrorum * See this proved in Chap. VII of this Treatise The Apostasie of the latter Times PART I. * Hyperius so expounds it in his Comm. on this Epistle * See this further treated of in Part 2. Chap. 1. The Apostasie of the Iatter Times PART I. * Hence the phrase in Scripture Fornicarid Des To apostatize from God by spiritual fornication vide Psal. 73. Hos. 9. ch 4. Ezek. 23. See Concord Kirâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chaldâ—eâ— Targumustis est Idolum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est Idola colere lâ—ortari Rom. 1. 27. 2. Thess. 2. 11. 2 Pet. 2. 1◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 3. 16. Phil. 3. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Theâ—â— 2. 13. Consider them Col. 2. 8. Verse 9. Verse 18. * For cutting and launcing were Funeral riâ—â— as appears Levit. 21. 5. and chap. 19. 28. and Deut. 14. 1. Ier. 48. 37. and chap. 16. 6. and therefore retained in this Funeral-worship as they call it of those that were Deified after death Quare Did not God forbid his people this Rite because abused to Daemon-Idolatry yet did some transgressit as Ier. 41. 5. Moses body therefore hidden I may add to this observation That for this cause the Scripture calls those false Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such as had been sorrowed for such as were mourned for as being dead The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used of David's mourning for Absalom Quare whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies so properly the Images as the supposed Gods themselves See Psal. 106. 36 37. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are explained to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devils See Esay 48. 5. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is distinguished from graven and molten-Images Where the word seems otherwise it may be taken Metonymicé Hence Hosea 13. 2. may be thus interpreted They have made molten-Images of their silver which are according to their understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 informed as they supposed with those mourned-for-ones That these Baalim were the Deified souls of the dead is manifest from divers places of Scripture Numb 25. 2 3. The Midianites called the people to the sacrifices of their Gods and the people did â—at And Israel joyned himself to Baal-Peor But Psal. 106. 28. it is said They joyned themselves unto Baal-Peor and aâ—e the sacrifices of the dead Whence Apollinariâ— expresseth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the prophetical Song of Israel's Apostasie Deut. 32. 15. They sacrificed unto Daemons not to God to Gods whom they knew not to new ones that came newly up whom their Fathers feared not The Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Isai. 65. 4. Idololatra in sepulchris Item cap. 8. verse 19. Pro vivis ad mortuot Loc. Isa. 8. 19. Targ. vertit Nonne haec viâ— est populorum colentium Idola Vnusquisque populus ab Idolo suo requirit vivi à mortuis LXX sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loc. Isa. 65. 3 4. Targ. sic In hortis sacrificant Idolis adolent aromata super lateres 4. Qui babitant in domibus quae aedificantur de pulvere sepulchrorum cum cadaveribus filiorum beminum morantur LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Videatur etiam Isa. 26. 14. Targum in locum Multa huc adducâ— possunt de Gigantibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quorum Moses meminit Quin Hieronymus in hunc locum Isaiae per Dominos alienos in vers 13. intelligit Idola falsos Deoâ— per Gigantes mortuos in vers 14. Simulachra itsque assidenâ—es Daemones Idololatria pqtent 〈…〉 species Tertul. de spâ—ctaculis cap. 12. Praepar Evang. lib. 1. cap 9. * Hieron in cap. 23. Ezech. Idolum autem Baal sive Bel Assyriorum religio est consecrata a Nino Belis filio in honorem patris Idem in Hos. cap. 2. Ninus in tantam pervenit gloriam ut patrem suum Belum referret is Deum qui Hebraice dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mulu Prophetis maxÃméque in Daniele juxta Theodorionem sub Idolo Babylonis hoc appellatur nomine Hunc Sidâ—nii Phâ—nices appellant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Eusebii Chron. Chronicon Aleâ—andrin seu Fasti Siculi Hieron paulò post locum proximè citatum
example many other of the Iews of the best rank having married strange wives likewise and loth to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertains them and makes his son-in-Law Manasse their Priest For whose greater reputation and state when Alexander the Great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Garizim where his son-in-Law exercised the office of High Priest This was exceedingly prejudicious to the Iews and the occasion of a continual Schism whilst those that were discontented or excommunicated at Ierusalem were wont to betake themselves thither Yet by this means the Samaritans having now one of the sons of Aaron to be their Chief Priest and so many other of the Iews both Priests and others mingled amongst them were brought at length to cast off all their false gods and to worship the Lord the God of Israel only Yet so that howsoever they seemed to themselves to be true worshippers and altogether free from Idolatry nevertheless they retained a smack thereof inasmuch as they worshipped the true God under a visible representation to wit of a Dove and circumcised their Children in the name thereof as the Iewish Tradition tells us who therefore always branded their worship with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or spiritual Fornication Iust as their predecessors the Ten Tribes worshipped the same God of Israel under the similitude of a Cals This was the condition of the Samaritan Religion in our Saviour's time and if we weigh the matter well we shall find his words here to the woman very pliable to be construed with reference thereunto You ask saith he of the true place of worship whether Mount Garizim or Ierusalem which is not now greatly material forasmuch as the time is at hand when men shall worship the Father at neither But there is a greater difference between you and us than of Place though you take no notice of it namely even about the Object of worship it self For ye worship what ye know not but we Iews worship what we know How is that Thus Ye worship indeed the Father the God of Israel as we do but you worship him under a corporeal representation wherein you shew you know him not But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and Truth In Spirit that is conceiving of him no otherwise than in Spirit and in Truth that is not under any corporeal or visible shape For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not fancying him as a Body but as indeed he is a Spirit For those who worship him under a corporeal similitude do beli◠him according as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1. 23. of such as changed the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man Birds or Beasts They changed saith he the truth of God into a lie and served the creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 juxta Creatorem as or with the Creator who is blessed for ever v. 25. Hence Idols in Scripture are termed Lies as Amos 2. 4. Their Lies have caused them to erre after which their Fathers walked The Vulgar hath Seduxerunt eos Idola ipsorum Their Idols have caused them to erre And Esay 28. 15. We have made Lies our refuge And Ier. 16. 19 20. The Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth and shall say Surely our Fathers have possessed the Chaldee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have worshipped a lie vanity wherein there is no profit Shall a man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods This therefore I take to be the genuine meaning of this place and not that which is commonly supposed against external worship which I think this Demonstration will evince To worship what they know as the Iews are said to do and to worship in Spirit and Truth are taken by our Saviour for one and the same thing else the whole sense will be inconsequent But the Iews worshipped not God without Rites and Ceremonies who yet are supposed to worship him in Spirit and Truth Ergo To worship God without Rites and Ceremonies is not to worship him in Spirit and Truth according to the meaning here intended DISCOURSE XIII S. LUKE 24. 45 46. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day OUR Blessed Saviour after he was risen from the dead told his Disciples not only that his Suffering of death and Rising again the third day was foretold in the Scriptures but also pointed out those Scriptures unto them and opened their understanding that they might understand them that is he expounded or explained them unto them Certain it is therefore that somewhere in the Old Testament these things were foretold should befall Messiah Yea S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. will further assure us that they are I delivered unto you saith he first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Both of them therefore are somewhere foretold in the Scriptures and it becomes not us to be so ignorant as commonly we are which those Scriptures be which foretell them It is a main point of our Faith and that which the Iews most stumble at because their Doctors had not observed any such thing foretold to Messiah The more they were ignorant thereof the more it concerns us to be confirmed therein I thought good therefore to make this the Argument of my Discourse at this time to inform both you and my self where these things are foretold and if I can to point out those very Scriptures which our Saviour here expounded to his Disciples Which that I may the better do I will make the words fore-going my Text to be as the Pole-star in this my search These are the things saith our Saviour which I spake unto you while I was yet with you That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me Then follow the words I read Then opened he their understanding c. These two events therefore of Messiah's death and rising again the third day were foretold in these Three parts of Scripture In the Law of Moses or Pentateuch in the Nebiim or Prophets and in the Psalms and in these Three we must search for them And first for the First That Messiah should suffer death This was fore-signified in the Law or Pentateuch First in the story of Abraham where he was commanded to offer his son Isaac the son wherein his seed should be called and to whom the promise was entailed That in it should all the Nations
of the world be blessed What was here acted else but the Mystery of Christ's Passion to wit That the promised seed should make all the Nations of the world blessed by becoming a sacrifice for sin which that it might be the more evident the Place is also designed the region of Mount Moriah there Abraham was bid to offer his â—on Isaac even where Messiah who was then in the loins of Isaac was one day to be offered upon the Cross. The Second prediction in the Law of Messiah's suffering death was by the slaying of Beasts for atonement of sin in their Sacrifices which were nothing else but shadows and representations of that Offering upon the Cross which Messiah was one day to make of himself for the sins of the world Which Mystery of the end of those Legal sacrifices was shewed in the former story of Abraham's offering Isaac For when he had now brought his son to the place appointed and had built an Altar and was now ready to stay him as he was commanded the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand and shewed him a Ram caught in a thicket by the horns which Ram Abraham took and offered for a burnt-offering in stead of his son to signifie that the offering of the Blessed seed was yet to be suspended and that God in the mean while would accept the offerings of Bulls and Rams as a pledge of that expiation which the Blessed seed of Abraham in the loins of Isaac should one day make And thus much for the Law Now I come to the Prophets wherein I find Three evident Prophecies That Messiah should suffer death The first is that famous one the 53. of Esay the whole Chapter through I will not repeat it all but some two or three passages thereof Verse 5. He was wounded saith the Prophet for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Ver. 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Ver. 8. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken Now that this Prophecy was one of those by which the Apostles used to prove this Verity appears by the stroy of the conversion of the Eunuch Acts 8. unto whom Philip coming whilst he was in his Chariot reading this place of Scripture and he thereupon asking Philip of whom the Prophet spake these words the Text tells us that Philip began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Iesus The Second place in the Prophets which foretells That Christ should suffer is that in the ninth of Daniel who pointing out the time of Messiah's coming by Seventy weeks limits his count not at his Birth but at his Suffering as the most principal moment of his story From the going out of the commandment saith he to restore and build Ierusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks And after sixty two weeks shall Messiah be cut off What can be more plain than this A Third place in the Prophets is to be found Zachary 12. 10. where at the time when the Iews shall be converted Christ is brought in speaking in this manner I will pour out saith he upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced Hence it follows that the Iews should have pierced Messiah before they received him to be their Redeemer And that this place also was one of those applied by the Apostles to this purpose appears by S. Iohn's twice alledging it Once in his Gospel when a Souldier with a Spear pierced our Saviours side Then saith he was fulfilled that Scripture which saith They shall look upon him whom they pierced Again in the beginning of his Revelation Behold saith he he cometh in the clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him Now for the Third division of Scripture the Psalms the chief at least and principal place there which I dare warrant is that of the 16. Psalm v. 9 10. quoted both by S. Peter and S. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles My â—lesh shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave neither suffer thine Holy One to see corruption For David as S. Peter and S. Paul say was buried and his body saw corruption therefore it cannot be spoken of him but of Messiah in the person of David as a Type in whose loyns Messiah was Now then if Messiah's body were to be laid in the grave it follows he was to die and to be in the state of the dead AND thus I have done the First part of my task and proved That Messiah was to suffer death according to the Scriptures namely foretold in that Threefold division of Scripture mentioned here by our Saviour the Law the Prophets and the Psalms Now I come to prove the other part That it behoved him also to rise again the third day according to the Scriptures And this was first foreshewn in the same story of Isaac wherein his sacrifice or suffering was actedâ— For from the time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt-offering Isaac was a dead man but the third day he was released from death This the Text tells us expresly that it was the third day when Abraham came to Mount Moriah and had his son as it were restored to him again which circumstance there was no need nor use at all to have noted had it not been for some Mystery For had there been nothing intended but the naked story what did it concern us to know whether it were the third or the fifth day that Abraham came to Moriah where he received his son from death Now that I have not misapplied this figure S. Paul is my witness who expresly makes this release of Isaac from slaughter a figure of the Resurrection For thus he speaks of this whole story Hebrews 11. 17 18 19. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten Son Of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure The same was foreshewed by the Law of Sacrifices which were to be eaten before the third day some Sacrifices were to be eaten the same day they were offered but those which were deferred longest as the Peace-offerings were to be eaten before the third day The third day no sacrifice might be eaten but was to be burnt If it were eaten it was not accepted for an atonement but counted an abomination namely to shew that