of Zechary under the name of Ieremy doth but alleadge a Text out of the volume of the Prophets under his name that stood first in that volume And such a manner of speech is that of Christ Luke 24.44 All things must be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalmes in which he follows the generall division that we have mentioned only he calleth the whole third part or Hagiographa by the title the Psalmes because the Book of Psalmes stood first of all the Books of that part In that saying Matth. 16.14 Others say Ieremy or one of the Prophets there is the same reason why Ieremy alone is named by name viz. because his name stood first in the volume of the Prophets and so came first in their way when they were speaking of the Prophets CHRISTS Arraignment before Pilate The chief Priests and Elders bring Iesus to Pilate but would not go into his house the house of a Heathen lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passeover Ioh. 18.28 Why They had eaten the Passeover over night at the same time that Jesus ate his and well they had spent the night after it But this day that was now come in was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their day of presenting themselves in the Temple and offering their sacrifices and peace offerings of which they were to keep a solemn feasting and this Iohn cals the Passeover In which sense Passeover bullocks are spoken of Deut. 16.2 2 Chron. 30.24 35.8 9. The School of Shammai saith their appearing was with two pieces of silver and their chagigah with a Meah of silver But the School of Hillel saith their appearing was with a Meah of silver and their chagigah with two pieces of silver Their burnt offerings at this solemnity were taken from among common cattell but their peace offerings from their tithes He that keepeth not the chagigah on the first day of the feast must keep it all the feast c. Chagigah per. 1. Pilate conceives him brought to him as a common malefactor and therefore he bids them take him back and Judge him by their own Bench and Law and in these words he meant really and according as the truth was that it was in their power to judge and execute him and needed not to trouble him with him And when they answer We may not put any man to death Joh. 18.31 They speak truly also and as the thing was indeed but the words of Pilate and theirs were not ad idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a tradition that fourty years before the Temple was destroied capital Iudgements were taken away from them Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 18 col 1. But how Not by the Romans for they permitted them the use of their Religion Laws Magistracy capitall and penall executions and judgements in almost all cases as freely as ever they had and that both in their Sanhedrins within the Land and in their Synagogues without as far as the power of the Synagogues could reach at any time as might be proved abundantly if it were to be insisted on here The words then of these men to Pilate are true indeed That they could put no man to death but this was not as if the Romans had deprived the Sanhedrin of its power but because theeves murderers and malefactors of their own Nation were grown so numerous strong and heady that they had overpowred the Sanhedrins power that it could not it durst not execute capitall penalties upon offenders as it should have done And this their own Writings witnesse Juchasin fol. 21. The Sanhedrin flitted fourty years before the destruction of the Temple namely from that time that the Temple doors opened of their own accord and Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai rebuked them and said O Temple Temple Zechary of old prophecied of thee saying Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may enter c. And also because that murderers increased and they were unwilling to judge Capitall matters they flitted from place to place even to Iabneh c. which also is asserted in Shabb. fol. 51. Avodah Zarah fol. 8. When they perceive that Pilate no more received the impression of their accusation of him as a malefactor like others they then accuse him of Treason as forbidding to pay Tribute to Cesar and as saying that he himself was a King and this they thought would do the businesse Pilate hereupon takes him in into his Judgement Hall for hitherto the Jews conference and his had been at his gate and questions him upon this point and Iesus plainly confesseth that he was a King but his Kingdom not of this world and therefore he needed not from him to fear any prejudice to the Romane power and so well satisfies Pilate that he brings him out to the gate again where the Jews stood and professeth that he found no fault in him at all Then the Jews lay in fresh accusations against him to which he answereth not a word Brought before Herod Pilate by a word that dropt from them understanding that he was of Galilee Herods Jurisdiction sent him to Herod who was now at Ierusalem partly because he would be content to have shut his hands of him and partly because he would court Herod towards the reconciling of old heart-burnings between them And now Iesus sees the monster that had murthered his forerunner Herod was glad to see him and had desired it a long time and now hoped to have got some miracles from him but he got not so much as one word though he questioned him much and the Jews who had followed him thither did vehemently accuse him The old Fox had sought and threatned his death before Luke 13.31 32. and yet now hath him in his hands and lets him go only abused and mocked and gorgeously arraied and so sends him back to Pilate that so he might court him again more then for any content he had that he should escape his hands See Acts 4.27 Before Pilate again Pilate at his gate again talks with the Jews and motions the release of the Prisoner and whether him or Barabbas and leaves it to their thoughts and goeth to his Judgement seat again By this time is his Lady stirring and understanding what business was in hand she sends to him about her dream He goes to the gate again inquires what is their vote about the Prisoners release they are all for Barabbas He puts it to the vote again and they are the same still he urgeth a third time and pleadeth the innocency of Iesus but they still urge for his crucifying Then cals he for water and washeth his hands but instantly imbrues them in his blood By this time it was the third hour of the day or about nine a clock the time of the beginning of the morning Sacrifice Hence Mark begins to count Mark 15.25 namely from the time that Pilate delivered him up He is whipped by Pilate led into the
the Maonite interpreted in the Synagogue in Tiberias these words Hear ye this all ye people Why do not ye labour in the Law have not I given the Sanhedrin to you for a gift And hearken O house of Israel Why do you not give the Sanhedrin the gift I appointed you at Sinai And hearken O house of the King for the judgement is to you I speak it to you but the judgement is to the Priests I will come and sit with them in judgement and end and destroy them out of this world So Christ in reading the Lesson out of the Prophet becomes his own Interpreter and Paraphrast both SECTION XVIII MATTH Chap. IV. Ver. 13 14 15 16 17. MARK Chap. I. Ver. 14 15. CHRIST at Capernaum in the coasts of Zebulon and Nepthali c. WHereas Matthew in the beginning of this Section telleth that Christ left Nazareth Luke in the end of the preceding shewes the reason why namely because he was in hazard of his life there and so the connexion is made plain In the coasts of Zebulon and Nepthali captivity had first begun 2 King 15.29 and there Christ first beginneth more publikely and evidently to preach the neer approach of the Kingdom of Heaven and redemption In the first plantation of the Land after the captivity Galilee escaped from being Samaritan and was reserved for this happy priviledge of being the first scene of Christs preaching the Gospel And as that country was inhabited by a good part of the ten Tribes before their captity so upon the return out of Babel in the times of Zorobabel and Ezra it may well be held to have been planted with some of the ten Tribes again For 1. Observe in Ezra 1. that there is a Proclamation from Cyrus that any of the blood of the Jews wheresoever within his dominions should have liberty to go up to Ierusalem ver 3 4 5. Now undoudtedly the ten Tribes were then residing within his dominions and it is harsh to conceive that they had all so far utterly forgot God and their country as none of them to desire to go to their own Land again when permitted 2. There is a summa totalis in Ezra 2. of fourty two thousand three hundred and threescore ver 64. that returned out of captivity upon that Proclamation and there are the number of severall families reckoned as making up that summe whereas if the totall of these particulars be summed up it reacheth not by sixteen thousond or thereabout to that number of fourty two thousand three hundred and threescore Where then must we finde those sixteen thousand since they arise not in the number of the families there named The families there named are of Iuda and Benjamin and then certainly those sixteen thousand can hardly be imagined any other then oâ— the ten Tribes And 3. Whereas it is apparent that the returned of Iuda and Benjamin planted Iudaea whom can we imagin but some of the ten Tribes to have planted Galilee And hence their difference in language from the Jews of Iudaea and in severall customs And hence the reducing of some after the captivity to the line of some of the ten Tribes as Hannah to the Tribe of Asher Luk. 2.36 Ben Cobisin of the line of Ahab Talm. Jerus in Taanith fol. 68. col 1. And here is the first returning of the ten Tribes to be supposed and it carrieth fair probability that the most of the twelve Apostles and many of the rest of the Disciples that were of Christs most constant retinue were of the progeny of some of the ten Tribes returned SECTION XIX LUKE Chap. V. from the beginning to Ver. 12. MATTH Chap. IV. Ver. 18 19 20 21 22. MARK Chap. I. Ver. 16 17 18 19 20. Peter and Andrew c. called to be fishers of men THe method and series is confirmed by the transition of Matthew and Mark but in the order of Luke there is some difficulty 1. He relateth the calling of these Disciples differently from the relation given by the other for they say Christ called Peter and Andrew as he walked by the sea side but he storieth their call when Christ was with them in the ship they say he called Iames and Iohn at some distance beyond Peter and Andrew but he carrieth it as if he called them all together But this is not contrariety but for the more illustration they all speak the same truth but one helps to explain another The story at full in them all is thus As Iesus walked by the sea of Genezareth he saw two ships standing there the one whereof belonged to Peter and Andrew and the other to Iames and Iohn All these men being partners had been fishing all night but had caught nothing and were now stepped down out of their ships to wash their nets Christ pressed with multitude on the shore entreth into Peters ship and thence teacheth the people And thence putting off a little into the main he helpeth Peter to a miraculous draught of fishes which was so unwieldy that he was glad to becken up Iames and Iohn from the shore to come and help them The draught of fishes was got up and boated and then Iames and Iohn return to the shore again and fall to mending their net which was rent with helping at so great a draught Peter seeing what was done adoreth Christ and he and Andrew being yet at sea are called by him for fishers of men and bringing their ship to shore they leave all and follow him Christ and they coasting a little further along the shore came to Iames and Iohn and he calleth them And thus lieth the story at the full 2. A second scruple in the order of Luke is this that he hath laid the two miracles of casting out a Devill in Capernaum Synagogue and the healing of Petrs mother in law before the calling of these Disciples which apparently by this Evangelist were after But the reason hereof may be conceived to be especially this In Chap. 4. ver 30 31. he had related that Iesus escaping from Nazaret came down to Capernaum and being now in the mention of his being there he recordeth these two miracles that he did there though not at that very time that he hath brought them in having an eye in that his relation rather to the place then to the time And so we shall observe elsewhere that the very mention of a place doth sometimes occasion these holy penmen to produce stories out of their proper time to affix them to that their proper place These Disciples hitherto were only as private men following Christ and here is the first time that they are but mentioned to the Ministeriall function to be fishers of men How then did they baptize before Ioh. 3.22 with Ioh. 4.2 And the starting of this question calleth to remembrance that saying of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.17 Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel Is baptisme administrable by private men and is
their mouthes here and there when the same rotten principle was every where in their hearts Observe how scornfully they require a sign from Heaven when they had but newly seen a most heavenly sign The word Beelzebul was taken up for the more detestation as importing The god of a dunghill and the sacrificing to Idols they called dunging to an Idoll R. Jose ben R. Ben saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that seeth them dunging to an Idoll must say He that sacrificeth to other gods must be destroyed Talm. Jerus Baracoth fol. 12. col 2. What Christ speaketh about the unpardonablenesse of blasphemy against the holy Ghost is in direct facing of their Tenet which held that blasphemy was attoned for by death though by nothing else He say they by whom the name of Heaven is blasphemed repentance hath no power to save him from punishment nor the day of expiation to attone for him nor chastisements of the Iudges to acquit him But repentance and the day of expiation attone for a third part and chastisements a third part and death a third part And of such it is said If this iniquity be purged till you die Behold we learn that death acquitteth Talm. Jerus Sanhed fol. 27. col 3. The Jews defamed the miracles done by Christ as done by Magick as appeareth not only by this and other places in the Gospel but even in Talm. Bab. Schabb. fol. 104. col 2. R. Eliezer said to the wise men Did not Ben Sarda this is a blasphemous name they give to Iesus of Nazareth as was said a little before bring inchantments out of Egypt in incisions in his flesh But when they saw they were not able to contradict and decry the credit of the great miracles that he did and they saw that this would not serve their turn to say he did them by the power of the Devill the Devill taught them to betake themselves to another shift clean contrary and that was to say and maintain that when Messias came he should do no miracles at all which they assert in Sanhedr per Helek and Maym. in Melachim per. ult SECTION XXXVI MATTH Chap. XII from Ver. 46 to the end MARK Chap. III. from Ver. 31. to the end LUKE Chap. VIII Ver. 19 20 21. CHRISTS Mother and Brethren seek him c. THe Order is cleered by the transition of Matthew While he yet talked c. Luke hath set the coming of Christs mother and brethren after the Parable of the Sower whereas the other two Evangelists have set it before and that in its proper place thereby intimating the end and prosecution of the errand they came upon which was to take him up from preaching with which intention and importunity they follow him from place to place Here is an evidence of the Virgin Maries sinfullnesse as well as other womens if going about to stop Christs Ministry were a sinne as certainly it was proceed that intention from what pretence soever Mark 3.21 His friends went to lay hold on him for they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie that word what it will whether he is beside himself or he is faint or he is in a rapture c. their errand and intention was to take him off from the course he was in which he knew well enough and therefore he gives so smart an answer Who is my Mother c Compare Deut. 33.9 SECTION XXXVII MATTH Chap. XIII from the beginning to Ver. 54. MARK Chap. IV. from the beginning to Ver. 35. LUKE Chap. VIII from Ver. 4 to Ver. 19. The Parable of the Sower and divers other Parables MATTHEWS transition doth again cleer the order here The same day went Iesus c. The same day that his Mother and brethren came to him as is apparent in the twelfth Chapter So that this consideration helpeth to methodize the order of Luke for whereas the other two have set the coming of Christs mother and brethren before his uttering of the Parable of the Sower c. he hath set it after and that without contrariety though with diversity For both the occurrences were on the same day and he hath by this order shewed how the mother and friends of Christ having once found him went along with him whether to prosecute the intention they came upon or better convinced to attend him and his doctrine CHRISTS speaking of Parables which he doth so exceeding much through the Gospel was according to the stile and manner of that Nation which were exceedingly accustomed to this manner of Rhetorick The Talmuds are abundantly full of this kinde of oratory and so are generally all their ancient writers and they commonly enter upon their Parables with this preface 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Parable To what is the thing like which stile he also useth not seldom And sometime they enter upon it more abruptly with such an entrance as this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To a man or To a King of flesh and blood c. meaning It is like to a man or like to a King c. I beleeve there are very many in the world that have not been further acquainted with the writings of the Jews then what they have seen quoted by other writers and yet are ready to censure them of lies and falshoods which indeed they are not free from meerly upon want of acquaintance with their stile of Parables and hyperboles Very good use may be made of the Talmudish treatises Peah Demai and Kilaim which treats intentionally concerning sowing and seeds for illustration of these Parables In Kilaim they dispute of sowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon rocks and upon stones and of mingling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wheat and tares c. cap. 1. In Peah in Tal. Ierus fol. 20. they speak of a tree of mustardseed that one might climbe into like other trees c. And in divers other passages in these Parables some light may be fetched from those tracts seeing Christ all along speaketh of things usuall and most particularly usuall among that Nation SECTION XXXVIII MATTH Chap. VIII Ver. 18 19 20 21 22. MARK Chap. IV. Ver. 35 LUKE Chap. IX Ver. 57 57 58 59 60 61 62. A Scribe will follow CHRIST c. THe story of CHRISTS preparing to go over the water is evidenced by Mark to come in here in its proper place for he saith The same day at even c. Matthews laying it where he hath done may seem to be because of its neernesse to Matthews or Levies feast as will appear in the following current of the story which feast he hath laid at Matthews call and so hath accordingly brought here divers stories together though farre distinct in time as some being neer the time of his call some neer the time of his feast But a greater scruple ariseth namely Whether this story in Matthew of two that would follow Christ and that in Luk. 9.57 c. of three that would do so be one and
Representatives of the whole Church built from twelve Tribes and twelve Apostles In the hand of him that sate on the Throne was a Book sealed which no creature could open This justly cals us back to Dan. 12. v. 4. where words are shut up and a Book sealed unto the time of the end and now that that is near drawing on the Book is here opened REVEL CHAP. VI. THe opening of the six Seals in this Chapter speaks the ruine and rejection of the Jewish Nation and the desolation of their City which is now very near at hand The first Seal opened ver 2. shews Christ setting forth in Battell array and avengement against them as Psal. 45.4 5. And this the New Testament speaketh very much and very highly of one while calling it his coming in clouds another while his coming in his Kingdome and sometime his coming in Power and great Glory and the like Because his plagueing and destroying of the Nation that crucified him and that so much opposed and wrought mischief against the Gospel was the first evidence that he gave in sight of all the world of his being Christ for till then he and his Gospel had been in humility as I may say as to the eyes of men he persecuted whilest he was on earth and they persecuted after him and no course taken with them that so used both but now he awakes shews himself and makes himself known by the Judgement that he executeth The three next Seals opening shew the means by which he did destroy namely those three sad plagues that had been threatned so oft and so sore by the Prophets Sword Famine and Pestilence For The second Seal opened sends out one upon a red Horse to take Peace from the earth and that men should destroy one another he carried a great Sword ver 4. The third Seals opening speaks of Famine when Corn for scarcity should be weighed like spicery in a pair of ballances ver 5 6. The fourth Seal sends out one on a pale Horse whose name was Death the Chaldee very often expresseth the Plague or Pestilence by that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it ' is to be taken Revel 2.22 and Hell or Hades comes after him ver 8. The opening of the fifth Seal reveals a main cause of the vengeance namely the blood of the Saints which had been shed crying and which was to be required of that generation Matth. 23.35 36. These souls are said to cry from under the Altar either in allusion to the blood of creatures sacrificed poured at the foot of the Altar or according to the Jews tenet that all just soules departed are under the Throne of Glory Answer to their cry is given that the number of their Brethren that were to be slain was not yet fulfilled and they must rest till that should be and then avengement in their behalf should come This speakes sutable to that which we observed lately that now times were begun of bitter persecution an hour of temptation Rev. 2.10 3.10 the Jews and devil raging till the Lord should something cool that fury by the ruine of that people The opening of the sixth Seal ver 12 13. shews the destruction it self in those borrowed termes that the Scripture useth to expresse it by namely as if it were the destruction of the whole world as Matth. 24.29 30. The sunne darkened the starres falling the heaven departing and the earth dissolved and that conclusion ver 16. They shall say to the rocks fall on us c. doth not only warrant but even inforce us to understand and construe these things in the sense that we do for Christ applies these very words to the very same thing Luke 23.30 And here is another and to me a very satisfactory reason why to place the shewing of these visions to Iohn and his wring of this Book before the desolation of Ierusalem REVEL CHAP. VII IN the end of the former Chapter was contained the intimation of the desolation of Ierusalem and in the beginning of this the ceasing of Prophesie under the similitude of the four windes restrained from blowing upon the earth Compare Cant. 4.16 Ezek. 37.9 only a remnant of Israel are sealed unto salvation and not to perish by that restraint and with them innumerable Gentiles Ezekiel helpeth here to confirm the explication that we have given of the Chapter before for he hath the very like passage upon the first destruction of the City Ezek. 9. 10. 11. Compare the marking in the foreheads here with Exod. 28.38 Dan not mentioned among the Tribes in this place Idolatry first began in that Tribe Iudg. 18. 1 King 12. REVEL CHAP. VIII THe opening of the seventh Seal lands us upon a new scene as a new world began when Ierusalem was destroyed and the Jews cast off The six Seals in the two former Chapters have shewed their ruine and the appearing of the Church of the Gentiles and now the seven Trumpets under the seventh Seal give us a prospect in generall of the times thence forward to the end of all things I say in generall for from the beginning of the twelfth Chapter and forward to the end of the nineteenth they are handled more particularly Silence in heaven for a while and seven Angels with seven Trumpets may call our thoughts to Ioshua 6.4 10. and intimate that the Prophetick story is now entred upon a new Canaan or a new stage of the Church as that businesse at Iericho was at Israels first entring on the old Or it may very properly be looked upon as referring and alluding to the carriage of things at the Temple since this Book doth represent things so much according to the scheme and scene of the Temple all along And in this very place there is mention of the Altar and Incense and Trumpets which were all Temple appurtenances It was therefore the custom at the Temple that when the Priest went in to the Holy place the people drew downward from the Porch of the Temple and there was a silence whilest he was there yea though the people were then praying incomparably beyond what there was at other times of the service for the Priests were blowing with Trumpets or the Levites singing The allusion then here is plain When the sacrifice was laid on the Altar a Priest took coals from the Altar went in to the Holy place and offered incense upon the Golden Altar that stood before vail that was before the Ark and this being done the Trumpets sounded over the sacrifice Here then is first intimation of Christs being offered upon the Altar then his going into the Holy place as Mediatour for his people and then the Trumpets sounding and declaring his disposals in the world His taking fire off the Altar and casting it upon the earth ver 5. is a thing not used at the Temple but spoken from Ezek. 10.2 which betokeneth the sending of judgement which the Trumpets speak out These seven Trumpets and
phrase used by the Jews Onkelos renders Deut. 33.6 thus Let Reuben live and not die the second death And Ionathan Isa. 65.6 thus Behold it is written before me I will not grant them long life but I will pay them vengeance for their sins and deliver their carcases to the second death And ver 15. The Lord will slay them with the second death Observe in the Prophet that these verses speak of the ruine and rejection of the Jews now a cursed people and given up to the second death and in Chapter 66. ver 29 30 31. is told how the Lord would send and gather the Gentiles to be his people and would make them his Priests and Levites And then see how fitly this verse answers those In stead of these cursed people these are blessed and holy and might not see the second death and Christ makes them Priests to himself and his Father In this passage of Iohn scorn is put again upon the Jews wild interpretation of the resurrection in Ezekiel They take it litterally think some dead were really raised out of their graves came into the Land of Israel begat children and died a second time Nay they stick not to tell who these men were and who were their children Talm. Babyl in Sanhedr ubi supra After the thousand years are expired Satan is let loose again and fals to his old trade of the deceiving the Nations again ver 8. Zohar fol. 72. col 286. hath this saying It is a tradition that in the day when judgement is upon the world and the holy blessed God sits upon the Throne of judgement then it is found that Satan that deceives high and low he is found destroying the world and taking away souls When the Papacy began then Heathenism came over the world again and Satan as loose and deceiving as ever then Idolatry blindnesse deluding oracularities and miracles as fresh and plenteous as before from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles these had been beating down and Satan fettered and imprisoned deeper and deeper every day and though his agent Rome bestird it self hard to hold up his Kingdom by the horrid persecutions it raised yet still â—he Gospel prevailed and laid all flat But when the Papacy came then he was loose again and his cheatings prevailed and the world became again no better then Heathen And if you should take the thousand years fixedly and literally and begin to count either from the beginning of the Gospel in the preaching of Iohn or of Peter to Cornelius the first inlet to the Gentiles or of Paul and Barnabas their being sent among them the expiring of them will be in the very depth of Popery especially begin them from the fall of Ierusalem where the date of the Gentiles more peculiarly begins and they will end upon the times of Pope Hildebrand when if the devil were not let loose when was he He cals the enemies of the Church especially Antichrist Gog and Magog the title of the Syrogrecian Monarchy the great persecutor Ezek. 38. 39. Pliny mentions a place in Caelosyria that retained the name Magog lib. 5. cap. 23. So that Iohn from old stories and copies of great troubles transcribeth new using known terms from Scripture and from the Jews language and notions that he might the better be understood So that this Chapter containeth a brief of all the times from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles to the end of the world under these two summes first the beating down of Idolatry and Heathenism in the earth till the world was become Christian and then the Papacy arising doth Heathenize it again The destruction of which is set down ver 9. by fire from heaven in allusion to Sodom or to 2 King 1.10 12. and it is set close to the end of the world the Devil and the Beast Rome imperiall and the false Prophet Rome Papall are cast into fire and brimstone ver 10. where Iohn speaks so as to shew his method which we have spoken of The devill was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are He had given the story of the beast and false Prophet the devils agents and what became of them Chap. 19. v. 20. And now the story of the devill himself for it was not possible to handle these two stories but apart and now he brings the confusion of all the three together and the confusion of all with them that bare their mark and whose names were not written in the Book of life REVEL CHAP. XXI THe Ierusalem from above described The phrase is used by Paul Gal. 4.26 and it is used often by the Jews Zohar fol. 120. col 478. Rabbi Aba saith Luz is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ierusalem which is above which the holy blessed God gives for a possession where blessings are given by his hand in a pure Land but to an impure Land no blessings to be at all Compare Rev. 21.27 22.15 Midras Till in Psal. 122. Ierusalem is built as a City that is compact together R. Iochanan saith The holy blessed God said I will not go into Ierusalem that is above untill I have gone into Ierusalem that is below c. Ezekiels Ierusalem as we observed was of a double signification namely as promising the rebuilding of the City after the Captivity and foretelling of the spirituall Ierusalem the Church under the Gospel and that most especially At that Iohn taketh at here and that is the Ierusalem that he describeth And from Isa. 65.17 18. joyneth the creating new heavens and a new earth and so stateth the time of building this new Ierusalem namely at the coming in of the Gospel when all things are made new 2 Cor. 5.17 A new people new Ordinances new Oeconomy and the old world of Israel dissolved Though the description of this new City be placed last in the Book yet the building of it was contemporary with the first things mentioned in it about the calling of the Gentiles When God pitched his Tabernacle amongst them as he had done in the midst of Israel Levit. 26.11 12. That Tabernacle is pitched in the fourth and fifth Chapters of this Book And now all tears wiped away and no more sorrow death nor pain ver 4. which if taken litterally could referre to nothing but the happy estate in heaven of which the glory of this Ierusalem may indeed be a figure but here as the other things are it is to be taken mystically or spiritually to mean the taking away the curse of the Law and the sting of death and sinne c. No condemnation to be to those that are in Christ Iesus The passages in describing the City are all in the Prophets phrase Ezekiel and Isaiah as compare these The Bride the Lambs wife ver 9. Sing O barren Heathen that didst not bear c. Thy Maker is thine Husband thy Redeemer c. Isa. 54.1 5. Ver. 10. He carried me away in the