which in another place we shall speak more at large as in Deut. 26. Thou hast chosen the Lord to be thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to day to be to him a peculâ—ar people and in the 27 Chapter Thou art made this day the people of the Lord thy God Therefore God as he is above Kings and as he is a God not only good but exceeding good was mov'd towards the people of the Jews with all those affections of love compassion and care above all the affections with which good Kings are mov'd towards their people That love by which the Lord chose the Jews to be his people was with command and â—ower inasmuch as he was made both their God and King Inasmuch I say as Kings govern their own people and God goâ—erns and commands the Kings themselves by which right and title God is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords But the Lordship and Government of God over the Jews was with majesty and power for their security and salvation not of tyranny to their ruine and destruction God said to Abraham Do not fear Gen. 15. I am thy defender and thy very great reward As also Deut. 33. Blessed art thou Israel who is like to thee a people who art sav'd by the Lord who is the shield of thy help and the sword of thy glory Therefore Gods chief rule and government was over the Jews for which reason he is called the Lord God of the Jews and the Jews were called the people of God a peculiar people and the Lords own Inheritance A people in respect of God by right of government and Kingly power A propertie in respect of the Lord and by right of Lordship By which signification also the Jews are called the lot and inheritance of the Lord Israel my inheritance Isay 19. To a part of which they come as servants and for which cause the Jews are call'd the servants of God The seed of Israel my servant Chro. 1.16 I have said to thee Israel thou art my servant Isa 14. And Psalm 123. Behold as the eys of the servants are in the hands of his master as the eys of the handmaid in the hands of their mistresses so are our eys towards the Lord our God Where observe that God is Lord and Mistresse of the Jews as he was before their Father and Mother It is so ordinary to call the Jews the propertie lot and inheritance of the Lord his servants his vineyard as also his vessels his houshold-stuff and whatsoever comes under the compass of inheritance and Lordship I say all these things are so frequent in holy Scripture that if I should stay longer in rehearsal of them I should lose time God was bound to the Jews and as it is in the 7. Chapter of Deut. God was joyn'd to them he chus'd and lov'd them that in requital the Jews might chuse God be joyn'd to God and entirely love God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength Deut. 6. Yea which was the greatest relation symnathie and tie of friendship betwixt God and the Jews God exalted the Jews to a name to a praise and to a glory that they might be honoured by thoâ—e who were renowned commended and glorious Praise becomes the upright Psal 33. As a girdle cleaves to the loyns of a man so have I joyn'd to my self all the house of Israel that it might be to me a people a renown a praise and a glory But first of all the Lord call'd the Jews unto holinesse that he might be sanctified by those that were holy Be ye holy as I am holy You shall be holy unto me because I the Lord am holy Levit. 20. and Exod. 19. You shall be to me a Kingly Priesthood and a holy Nation As you also may read every where the Jews anointed and elected to be Kings Priests and Prophets which are most exquisite and choice names of holinesse Because the Jews were elected unto holinesse they are commonly called a Holy Nation and a Holy People in the Bible yea and simply holy In which St. Paul is to be understood Eph. 3. where speaking of himself he says To me the least of the Saints that is to me least of the Jews For Paul who was a great example of Christian humility was not such a one as in regard of his sanctity would boast himself a Saint So must you likewise understand that Acts 16. That the nations may receive their lot amongst the Saints that is to say that the Nations may become partakers of the blessing and election of the Jews for the Saints in that place are the Jews That lot and those Saints the Apostle Peter hath expounded in his 2 Epist Chap. 1. Peter sayes he the Apostle to those who have their lot with us in the common faith which is in Christ But Peter wrote to the Gentiles who had the same faith with the Jews the same blessing the same election in Christ for which cause St. Peters Epistles are call'd General Epistles To this adde what Paul wrote to the Gentiles the Colossians chap 1. Giving thanks to God who makes us worthy of a part of the lot of the Saints in light The Apostle makes himself a gentile of gentiles when he writes who made us worthy In the light was meant the same Christ mentioned by St. Peter Further these things are clear'd by St. John who was himself a Jew in his general Epistle or in his Epistle written to all the Gentiles Chap. 1. That you may likewise have fellowship of blessednesse with us With us that is with the Jews Therefore the Jews are holy and the Nation unholy or the Gentiles Psalm 33. Judge me O Lord and judge my cause against the unholy Nation That is Gentile and not Israelitish For that holinesse from which the Jews were called holy the Lord taught his people as also for that he gave his word to Iacob and his judgements to Israel And in that regard that the Jews were called to the justice of God they were called a just generation Psal 14. The Lord is in the just generation that is the Lord is in the nation and generation of the Jews The Jews were likewise called simply just in which sense take those words of the Wife of Pontius Pilate advising him not to meddle with Christ Have nothing to do with that just man as likewise that of Luke And the Jews observing sent deceiptfull men to take him in his speech by pretending to be just who should feign themselves just that is Jews to whom as the Priests and Scribes believed Christ would easilier discover his opinion of not paying tribute to Caesar As likewise the Histories of the Jews are called the Books of the just Josue 10. Is it not written in the books of the just that is to say in the books wherein the acts of the Jews were written For that cause also was
God so intimate with the Jews that he entrusted them with his laws and decrees that they were admitted to the secrets of God that they were called a wise and understanding people Deut. 4. Nor was there any other Nation so honourable which had those Ceremonies just Judgements and the whole Law In the same Chapter What is all flesh that it should hear the voice of the living God which speaks out of the fire and can live cries out Moses Deut. 5. where observe the prerogative of the chosen Jews and of the second creation of men which is not granted unto flesh that is to say to the first creation for flesh the first creation consumes at the hearing and sight of God here the same Moses in the same Ch. Behold the Lord our God shews unto us his Majesty and his greatness ye have heard his voice from the middle of the fire we have found this day that a man can speak with God and live The holy Prophet could not be satisfied thinking upon the beginnings and first fruits of the Jews regeneration what should be their full election by force of which they received the fery words of God into their eyes and ears and by which they shone and did not burn with that holy lightning Enquire of the days of old which were before thee from that day on which God created man upon the earth from the height of heaven to the foundation of it if at any time there was such a thing done or was ever known that a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire as thou hast heard and lâ—v'd Hence it is that they were the chief and choice in Gods esteem that the Jews were called a Nation drawing near unto God that they were stiled a great Nation nor that there was any other Nation so great which had Gods drawing near to it Ch. 4. For this cause you shall read That God carryed them upon Eagles wings Exod. 9. and very often that he freed them and took them with a strong hand and stretched out arm What Nation is like thy people Israel for whom thou hast done so great and horrible things upon earth to redeem them Sam. 2. Chap. 7. And that was the matter that God appointed the Jews to be the head and not the rail of the Nations Nor did God only chuse the Jews for a time according to the distiny of empires and people but God did chuse his people for ever Thou hast confirmed Israel to thy self for an eternal people As David prophecies Sam. 2. Chap. 7. And many things to that sense we read in the Prophets which I must handle another time and which was a special token of their election The Lord would not have the Jews defil'd by mixture of Nations but set them apart for an inheritance out of all the Nations of the earth 1 Kings Chap. 8. I have set you aside from all people that you might be mine Lev. 20. Hence it is that God is said to have hedg'd enclos'd and as it were with a wall of fence surrounded Israel his possession his land his vine Hence it is that the Church and the Israelitish Spouse is called a fenced garden and a sealed fountain in the Canticles least being plac'd in the high-way it might be trodden by passengers nor the South wind spoyl her flowers nor the Boar spoil her waters Because the Nations were not partakers of that mystical Election by which God had elected the Jews Neither would God that the Jews should enter into fellowship with the Nations either in body or mind either in Matrimony or Religion either in civil affairs or in divine Thou shalt not enter into a league with the Nations or joyn thy self in marriage with them Deut. 7. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son nor take his daughter to thy son that the Jews might not be mingled with other Nations who taught the worshipping of Idols CHAP. III. To the elected Iews an elected Land was given A holy Land because the Land of the holy And the land of Promise because it was promised with an Oath to the Fathers of the Iews A description of the Holy Land That was a choice Land not of its own nature but according to the pleasure of God who bless'd and chus'd it The land of the Iews And for the Iews only to dwell in TO the elected Jews God gave elected ground which was likewise called holy because the Land of the Holy That there is elected and blessed earth as likewise rejected and cursed earth is witnessed in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 6. A land says he drinking the shower that comes upon it and bearing seasonable fruit to them who tills it receives a blessing from God But that which brings forth thorns and bryars is rejected and almost curs'd the end of which is to be burnt Which the Gospel according to St. Matthew express'd in these words Chap. 13. God loves not that earth which is in the way that is commune trodden and unclean nor that which is full of briars but he loves good ground in which the son of man may sow good seed Nor am I ignorant that these things are allegorically spoken of the hearts of the Elect but we must likewise know that Christ here meant literally the Holy Land in which the sanctified Jews who are meant by good seed shall be sown by Jesus Christ which sowing we shall have occasion to set forth more at large That the Land of Canaan which the Jews inhabited was that choice blessed earth and belov'd of the Lord is set down in the 8. of Deuteronomy where Moses call'd it A Land of rivers waters and fountains in the fields of which should break out pools of water A Land of corn barley and vines in which grow olives and pomgranats A Land of oyl and honey where the Iews should eat their bread without want and should enjoy abundance of all things A Land which Ezechiel Chap. 20. calls An excellent Land amongst all Lands and chief of all Lands Which therefore God call'd a high land Deut. Chapt. 32. God hath plac'd Israel upon a high land to eat the fruit of the field to suck honey out of the rock and oyl out of the most hard rock butter from the heard and milk from the sheep with the fat of the Lambs and Rams of the sons of Basan with the marrow of wheat and that he might drink the most choice bloud of the grape Canaan was call'd a high land not for the lying of it for it is a Valley according to that in Numb 14. The Canaanite and Amalekite dwell in the valleys which he had said in the former and thirteenth Chapter By the Sea and near the streams of Iordan For which cause Esdras called that Land a Furrow Book 4. cha 5. Thou hast saies he of all the world chosen one furrow that is Canaan which is a valley Therefore it was
Publicans and sinners Both with the Jews are unlawful either to enter into the Gentiles or to receive them Publicans and sinners are put together in many places of the Gospel because the Publicans or Farmers of the Customes which the Jews paid to the Romans were Gentiles or sinners amongst the Gentiles We must likewise consider the answer which our Saviour gave to the Jews when they enquired of his Disciples why he sat and did eat with publicans and sinners I came not sayes he to call the just but sinners to repentance which is I came not to call the Jews but Gentiles to repentance For Christ did prophesie there should be a call of sinners and Gentiles of all such as would hear his voice and a rejection of the sinners and Gentiles of all such which would not hear his voice Like to this is that Mat. 26. The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners for the Son of man was betrayed into the hands of men or sinners or Gentiles which is the same that by the Romans who were Gentiles and not by the Jews he might be condemned and crucified Moreover by this observation of sins we excellently finde the meaning of that place to the Galathians Chap. 2. where you shall read this But if desiring to be justified in Christ we be found sinners is God the Author of sin c Which you must thus open and understand But if we Jews desiring to be justified in Christ for here he discourses of the Jews who would not live after the manner of the Gentiles If we Jews sayes he desiring to be justified in Christ the God of the Gentiles are found to be Gentiles that is to degenerate into sinful Gentiles shall Christ be the cause that we contrary to the Command of God have departed from being Jews to be Gentiles that leaving the Law of God we have turn'd to the Councel of the ungodly and walked in the way of sinners God forbid sayes the Apostle that we should think any such thing For Christ is not the cause of the Gentiles sins but of Faith which Gentiles who believe in Christ have in Christ Christ destroyes the sins of the Gentiles but is the Author of Faith to the Gentiles and wakens that Faith which he revealed to the Nations of sinners then in name but elected through Faith and called to the holiness of the Jews What then if we be called Gentiles so long as the Faith of the Gentiles is inherent in us and we are justified by Christ the God of the Gentiles CHAP. VIII Gentiles called children little ones and poor VVE must very attentively observe that which we read in the 9 of the Proverbs where Christ the wisdom of the Father speaks to the Gentiles whom being made a man he was afterwards to call in these words My speech unto the sons of men Understand ye little ones wisdom and ye foolish take heed Wisdom cried out standing in the streets and high-wayes speaking to the trivial commune and unclean Gentiles and who are here openly meant by the sons of men and by the unwise and likewise here called lutle ones That voice which was heard from Heaven which stirs up both Jews and Gentiles gathered into one Church Rev. 19. Give praise to God you his servants that fear him small and great did mean these same little ones that is praise the Lord both Jews and Gentiles as you were of old incorporal and unanimous or as Saint Paul translates and reherses it Romans 15. Rejoyce ye Nations with his people But of the agreement of the Jews and Gentiles in praising of God we shall speak more in its due place It is clear that the Gentiles are called little ones Psalm 64. The arrows of the little ones are made their wounds that is the Gentiles are wounded with the same Arrows which they shot against the Jews according to the 35 Psalm The snare which the Gentiles have laid for the Jews hath taken them and they are fallen into the same snare Wisdom cries out Chap. 1. Ye little ones how long will ye love childishness and ye fools those things that are hurtful to you and fools hate understanding The little ones fools and unwise in that place are the Gentiles who stammer like Infants who desire things hurtful to them and hate the knowledge which is of God Solomon calls those same little ones evil and wicked men Chap. 7. of the same Book where he sayes thus I looked out of my window through the casement and I see the little ones I observe the foolish young man who walks in the street by the corner walking in the dark when it 's almost night Understand those little ones here not such are borderers upon Infancy but those that are foolish of untam'd pleasure wicked men who apply themselves to whores which the following words do make appear The Gentiles are call'd little ones in regard of the Jews who are call'd the great Nation nor was there another Nation so great Deut. 4. And higher then other Nations Deut. 26. The Iews were called great and mighty and high not by reason of their stature for they seem'd to be locusts compar'd to the Canaanite whom they had view'd by their Spies and who Numb 13. were of the sons of Anac men of mighty stature and monsters in regard of the Jews who were but little men Therefore the Jews were great in that they were chosen and belov'd by God and because in that regard they excell'd all other Peoples and Nations On the contrary the Gentiles were neither chosen nor belov'd by God but for the contrary reason call'd low little small To this compare what is written in the 24 Rev. And I saw the dead great and small which ascribe not to the ages or statures of those that shall rise again but to the future resurrection of the Iews and Gentiles which St. Paul calls the 24 of the Acts the resurrection of the just and the unjust of which before Solomon gives the reason of this why the Gentiles should be call'd little and small in that Book to which they say he gave the the Title of Wisdom Chap. 12. Because they wander'd says he in the way of error esteeming those things Gods which were superfluous in beasts living like witlesse children for which cause God had given them a judgement as to foolish children In this sense understand these words which the Lord professes in the gospel Matth. 11. I praise thee O my Father that thou hast hidden these things from the prudent and wise and hast revealed them to little ones that is that Gospel which thou hast not reveal'd to the Jews thou hast made manifest to the Centiles For the Jews are called wise and prudent according to Exod. 4. Behold a prudent and a wise people The Little ones are understood the Gentiles For Christ did not come to the Jews whom he was not then rejecting because they believ'd not in him but to the
taken for a foolish and an ignorant person For a fool and an ignorant person hath nothing to say The Jews called the Gentiles foolish and ignorant because they knew not their Law nor thought they that any speech which spake not of the Law of God Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Straight the Prophet would have thought himself dumb if he had spoken any thing besides the praise of God his justice and his law which was the chief duty of the elected Jews whose lips therefore were said to be circumcised but the Gentiles were of uncircumcised lips And therefore were rightly call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Infants The Gentiles were call'd little ones for the same cause as they were esteem'd poor and because God had opend to them as to the Jews his treasures of election and grace Little small and poor the same as Servius upon that of Virgil Take from poor Micon Goddess in good part This wild boar's head these horns of an ag'd Hart. Little Micon that is poor Micon The Gentiles by the poor are chiefly meant by Authors in both Testaments There was not a poor man nor a beggar amongst the Jews because the Law did forbid it And those which begged within the Ports of the Jews were strangers and gentiles nor did the Lord so earnestly recommend the poor to the Apostles as they were meerly poor for the Apostles being likewise poor themselves how should they have holpen the poor but because the Gentiles were poor whom by his comming Christ call'd to the participation of election and grace which is by the Jews and to whom he open'd the door of his gospel CHAP. IX The Gentiles called the sons of wrath the enemies of God beasts and so esteemed by the Jews yea unclean beasts the opposite comparison betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles IN the Epistle to the Ephesians Saint Paul call'd the Gentiles the sons of wrath and reckoned himself amongst the Gentiles being the Apostle of the Gentiles when he sayes And we by nature are the sons of wrath whether we conceive them to be the sons of the first Creation whom the Lord abhors or whether we take them as opposite to the Jews who by the Nature of their Election are esteemed the sons of love The Gentiles likewise called the Enemies of God in as much as the first Creation which is Elesh is enmity with God or because the Gentiles by a narural imbred hatred are Enemies to the Jews Let all thy enemies perish did Deborah sing who had destroyed the Gentiles who were Enemies to the Jews and to God but concerning the Gentiles Enemies to God and the Jews more at large in its due place Furthermore that which is the chief disgrace of the Gentiles is that they are compared every where to Beasts in sacred Authors and are accounted Beasts beneath men by reason of that great opposition by which the Iews are accounted Gods The 22 Psa thus complains of the Nations who had assaulted Israel Many Bulls have encompassed me fat Bulls have beset me they opened their mouth upon me like a ravening and a roar-Lion Psalm 57. Deliver me from the Lion's whelps the sons of men whose teeth are weapons and arrows Yea the 74 Psalm called the Gentiles Beasts Give not the beasts souls that trust in thee that is Deliver not the Jews who acknowledge thee to be the God of the Iews to the Gentiles their enemies who neither know thee nor acknowledge thee to which apply that of Baruch Chap. 3. Where the Princes of the Nations shall have dominion over the beasts of the earth that is over the Gentiles their flocks and their people There is a remarkable place to this purpose in Isaiah Chap. 3. Thou are made honourable and glorious in my eyes said God to the people of the Jews I have loved thee I will give men for thee and Nations for thy soul That is I will expiate and redeem thee by the death of men and people that is of the Gentiles whom like Beasts I will sacrifice for thee There could be no thing granted to the Jews more honourable and glorious than that honour and glory to become honourable and glorious before the eyes of God As likewise the Gentiles are numbred among the Beasts and Creatures walking upon the Earth in the same Chap. Isaiah 24. So sayes the Lord who created the heavens giving breath to the people upon the earth and life to them that tread upon it The people walking there upon the earth is indifferently taken for men and beasts for which cause the Gentiles are called a people not a people Deut. 32. I will provoke you by a Nation which is not a Nation and a people which is not a people in which words Deuterònâ—my meant the Gentiles as also the men of the first Creation who were properly in flocks like Cattle nor made up in Cities and Civil Societies of men The Jews did not value men by their reason but by their understanding I say by that intellect by which the true knowledg of God is gained which is above reason by which the manifestation of the Divine Law was given to the Jews and by which the granting of the Spirit of Christ was revealed to the Jews Hence that famous promise to Israel Psalm 32. I will give thee understanding and inform thee in the way wherein thou shalt walk Then immediately after a Precept given to the Jews Be ye not like to horses and mules which have no understanding And cettainly Divine understanding makes all men quite different from brutes Which although men have excellent beyond horse and Mule yet have they it in a manner commune with horse and mule so really did the Jews believe that the Gentiles were not men because they thought them altogether destitute of the knowledge of God But you shall likewise finde the Gentiles reckoned amongst the unclean Beasts Mat. 15. It is not good to take the bread of the children and throw â—t to the dogs said the Lord to the Gentile a Caâ—aanitish Woman In which the Jews are the sons and the dogs the Gentiles The Lord meaning so likewise said to his Disciples Jews Gave not that which is holy to dogs nor cast your pearls before swine That is beâ—â—ow not that which belongs to the sanctified Jews upon the Gentiles whom the Evangelist here call dogs and swine It is meant that the Apostles ought to preach the Gospel to the Jews first before they addressed themselves to the Nations Lastly it is excellent which the Lord advises us Luke 12. God sayes he caeres not for the sparrows or the crows which are said of the Jews and the Gentiles whom God should esteem and care for without any difference is here meant by the unclean sparrowâ— the Jews the foul Crows the Gentiles The Gentiles are esteemed unclean by thâ— Jews Acts 10. where Saint Peter sayes thuâ— You know how abominable it is to a man who is a
Chanel and easily commanded themselves to be corrupted Little they cared for any right way of living right or wrong good or bad they saw nothing but what pleased their own fancies and gave themselves the Liberty of all manner of sin Men fell through their own wickedness and that I may speak with Jeremiah Chapter 28. They gave free reigns to their own disposition as horses furiously rushing to the battel Men returned for this reason to their own inclination because in the first Creation it being only corrected and amended and the vitiousness of it not quite weeded out in the framing of man and the nature of him it was alwayes in possibility not being quite taken away to return into it self But whatsoever was good in man by the correcting of his faultiness or any perfection which he had by his Creation was quite lost in men being enslaved to their own wills but what was evil in their clay and composition still remained The uprightness of men perished and their sin defaced them being so well created And the fault which was left in their creation and not quite rooted out in the first creation of man was a leven in their hearts more powerfull than their Creation by which they were altogether swelled and depraved Besides those things are stronger which move us inwardly than those things which work upon us outwardly The perfection of the Creation of Men flowed from God and happened to man externally as a thing different nay quite contrary to the flesh and matter of men On the contrary the faultiness of the clay and composition cleaved to them more inwardly as a thing proper and natural to Men. Therefore men returned to their nature because they did according to their own disposition which was shown them from within As also because the faultiness of their inward nature did more strongly move them than the perfection of their creation outwardly conferred upon them yea because the flesh and matter of man was reprobate Earth the Mother of good seed and the Mother of ill weeds The step-mother of all Vertues which God in his creation had sown in the hearts of men and the mother of all Vices which naturally spring in them as in their native soyl and which like watred Herbs grow most plentifully The cursed step-mother hates her Sons-in-Law but like a very loving mother embraces and fosters her Children Hence it happened that nature and the flesh of man refused that tryed and choyce seed of perfection with which they were created and that by the same nature it returned again into it self when it found liberty And that in this regard it was far easier to do evil than good From thence the heart of man was over-run with the briers and thorns of all maner of Vices proceeding from their clay and composition This returning of man from the perfection of their creation to the wickedness of their nature and flesh is that natural sin which we mean whether we may call it natural because it is naturally inherent to us or as St. Paul sayes Because it dwells in us Because there is a Law in the members of men leading men captive to the Law of sin which is in their members Where note the Law of natural sin fixed in the members of men or the natural Law of sin inherent in the flesh and nature of men In which sense it is to be understood 7 Chap. to the Romans Or whether that may be called a natural sin because it was a declination from that nature Law of perfection in which men were created in the beginning For which cause and most properly it might be called a sin That there remains yet some foot-steps of this perfection in the hearts of men yea that men are struck with a natural and tacit conscience of it is manifest because all those who are formed of a better and more perfect mould are naturally more averse from all sin who seem by the sent to hunt and track that perfection to which they perceive themselves created and from which they are fallen by the study of vertue In which sense the Apostle is chiefly to be understood in such places as he sayes Men naturally accuse themselves and are to themselves a Law CHAP. VI. God restor'd men created upright and turn'd backward to the wickedness of their own nature into a better estate by a second creation and lifts them up from men to be Gods Of that which is produc'd and of that which is made Of mutable and immutable Of mortal and immortal Of the Spirit which is in God and of the Spirit of the world BUt God neither despis'd nor relinquish'd men fallen off from their creation and bestain'd with their sins Nor did he so farre suffer them to be restored into the former state of full perfection as they had been perfect men in the beginning but decreed to new create them and advance their perfection above the perfection of men Men were faln headlong from the splendor of their perfection to their filthiness which is also the loathsomness of Beasts God commanded men by a second creation to pass as I may so say from men to Gods to be carried from corruption to incorruption from death to eternal life And which was the chief blessing of God to man he commanded them of wicked evil and bemyred creatures to be exalted to the perfection of his holiness and glory to which they should as with a fiery Chariot be carried by the Spirit of Regeneration Nay if we rightly weigh the councel and decree of God we shall find it his second intention to create men mortal and corruptible but his first to create them incorruptible and immortal Creation was a thing divine Regeneration was a thing more excellent and divine according to that distance of proportion by which incorruptible is preferrible to corruptible and immortal preferrible to mortal But that I may rehearse from the beginning all the business as it concerns Christian doctrine we must know that two things occur in the creation and framing things worthy observation which are not demonstrated by their causes but are aym'd at in the Scriptures and appear by their effects One which immediately flow'd from God another created by God but mediatly One produc'd another made One spiritual another animal material carnal and corporeal One permanent stable eternal another mutable subject to vanity One incorruptible which purifies another corruptible which pollutes One which favours of life another which savours of death One which is able to endure that celestial Lightning with which God thunders and which shines in his sight like gold in the fire another which God consumes with his splendor and which melting at his rayes departs into froth smoak and ashes One thing which God loves another which he disdains One which he chuses another which he rejects One which St. Paul Cor. 1. chap. 2. calls The Spirit which is of God another which the same Apostle calls in that
election advanced its Head above the rest was called the Princess of the Provinces in the first of the Lamentations of Jeremiah which God had peculiarly chosen out of all the Provinces and Cities of Israel it was called Jebus which is a treading under foot when it was numbred among the Cities of the Nations but being chosen and made a City of the Jews it was called by God Jerusalem that is The sight of peace Baruc. 5. Her foundations are in the holy mountains and glorious things are spoken of her Psalm 87. For that called the faithful City a City holy and elected and adorned with other great Titles well known in holy Writ The Temple placed in it was adorned with an Elogy of most choice holiness I have chosen and sanctified that place that my name may be there for ever and my eyes and my heart continue there alwayes 2 Chron. 7. That Temple was built upon the Mount of Sion God laid the foundation of the mount Sion for everlasting Psal 48. Hence those eternal Hills Deut. 33. as also Genesis 49. which are probably those two on the forked Hill of Sion upon the which the Temple of the Lord was built as likewise the City of David or of the King for which cause Jerusalem is said to be built upon the holy Hills Psal 87. now cited It was called The Temple of the Lord the rest of the Lord and his foot-stool the place of the Throne of God the place of his footsteps where he dwells in the midst of the sons of Israel Ezech. 43. for which cause the Hill of Sion is called the City of God because God dwelt in it God is great and very highly to be praised in his City in his holy hill This God is our God for ever Psalm 48. Our God is onely excellent in Sion cries out Isaias in the ravishment of his Spirit Chap. 3. onely that is cheifly by excellency and beyond all others excellent In which sence that Hill is likewise called a fat mountain and curdled Psalm 68. For all the rest of the Land of Canaan and Jerusalem flowed with the milk of election and sanctity of the Lord but the Hill of Sion was the cream of that milk that milk thickned and curdled a fat cheese pressed out of the milk of the election and sanctity of the Lord but that City was likewise called The city of the solemnity of the Jews Isay 33. Because all the Jews met there to pay their Vows and Sacrifices to God as also for their solemn joy and festivals according to the command of the Lord Deut. 12. In Sion you shall be joyful before your God you and your families in all wherein the Lord shall bless you there you shall feast before the Lord your God you your sons and daughters and your Levites there shall be the rest of the Lord and your rest The Temple and Jerusalem are for the most part joyned 2 Kingâ— 12. In this Temple and in Jerusalem will I put my name for ever And in Joel In the hil of Sion in Jerusalem there shall be salvation he that calls upon the Lord there shall be sâ—ved We must hear the Prayer of Solomon wherein he attests God in the behalf of Jerusalem and the Temple Kings 1. Chap. 8. Wheresoever said he thou shalt send thy People they shall pray to thee toward the City which thou hast chosen and towards that house which I have built to thy Name and thou shalt hear their prayer in heaven More I will say of the holy and chosen Land of Jerusalem and of the Temple of God when I shall speak of the return of the Jews which shall be their full Election In the top of the hill of Sion stood the Palace of the King which was called The City of David and which the Lord himself call'd the City of the great King Of this David and of this great King we shall afterwards have a great discourse In the mean time we must speak something of the Kings of the Jews who sat upon the high Throne of the City of David of whom this was the original We said before that the Lord God was King of the Jews A God to help them with heavenly assistance A King to stand for them in the battel to advance the shield draw the sword and put to flight the â—nemies of the Jews But because when the Jews began to be very stiff-necked it often came to passe that God turn'd from them and going from home as the Gospel speaks conâ—inued long absent then the Jews wthout a King and a Defender were open to the incursions of their enemies who spoyl'd them and most cruelly did destroy them utterly They fearing lest this might again befall them when Samuel their Judge was deed as also his Sons not walking in his ways requested a King who might judge them according to the manner of other Nations who might go out before them and fight their battels for them Which troubled Samuel Nor did the Lord slight the Petition of the Jews Hearken to them in all that they say to thee for they have not rejected thee but me Sam. 1. Chap. 8. Which open thus I was saith the Lord God and King of the Jews by Covenant And I appointed thee O Samuel by that Kingly power which I had over the Jews and thy sons to be their Judges Therefore having rejected thee and thy sons from being Judges they have not rejected thee but me who appointed thee And in that wherein they trespasse against thee they more hainously and grievously trespassed against me For in this they plainly discover'd their thoughts how little confidence they have in me and how weakly their hopes are fix'd upon me But because they are so unbeleeving and hardned in the foolishnesse of their hearts Harken to them and set a King over them Yet truly God had promis'd before in the desert that he would set a King over the Jews Deut. 17. Yea God had promis'd the Jews Kings at what time he blessed Abraham and the Jews in Abraham Kings shall come out of thee And Jacob prophâ—cying and in his sons blessing all the Jews The Scepter shall not depart from Juda. CHAP. V. The Gentiles elected in the Jews by a mystical â—lectâ—on Esteem'd the sons of God because elected in the Jews And grafted in the Jews AFter we have spoken of the election of the Jews it is fit that in order we should speak of the election of the Gentiles which sprang from the Jews as our Lord Jesus Christ himself most openly expresses to the Samaritan Woman in the fourth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John Salvation is by the Jews But that which God the Son told this Gentile woman God the Father long before promis'd the Fathers of the Jews first to Abraham Genesis Chapter 12. All the kinreds of the earth shall be blessed in thee Then in the following Chapter That all the Nations of the earth should be
right and manur'd stock Which St. Paul hath taught us Rom. 11. where he compared the Gentiles to a wilde Olive but the Iew in which the Gentile is engrafted to a good and right Olive Likewise Saint Paul in that place made that wild Olive partaker of that juice and fatness which is in the true Olive Therefore the Gentile being sanctified or this wilde Olive turn'd into a a true Olive may well wonder at the new fruits of his works his new sap which is none of his own CHAP. VI. Gentiles different from the Jews in Kinred and Original in as much as they are ingrafted in them Gentiles called Atheists because without a God called simply men and Sons of men and foolish wicked c. WE shall prove the Gentiles different in their Original from the Jews both by their adoption and by their engrafting in the Jews for adoption concerns strange Families and trees of several kindes are grafted one in another Nor am I ignorant that Kinred by the Female side and Cosens might be adopted for Sons but we must observe that Saint Paul Ephes 2. set down the Gentiles that were received into the Family of the Jews strangers aliens unknown far distant from the Family of the Jews which in that place the Apostle calls a Commonwealth and in regard of that calls the Gentiles their fellow-Citizens with the Saints that is to say of the Jews But this Commonwealth so to be understood as that the Jews and the Gentiles are both the Domesticks and Sons of God I know likewise that in Trees of the same kind sweet are grafted in sweet and true stocks in true ones but you must take notice that in Rom. 11. Saint Paul has a two-fold grafting according to Nature and against Nature The Apostle has given us in that place one example of grafting according to nature when he sets down that by which he tells us the Jews shall sometimes be again grafted in their own Olive Again he has given us an instance of grafting against Nature which the Gentiles are grafted in the Jews That against Nature he calls this when the Gentiles different in original from the Jews against the Nature of their stock were grafted the wilde stock in the tame one Nature then which is the Original and Linage of the Gentiles is different and not the same with the Original and Linage of the Jews And by no more distinguishing congruous difference could the Gentiles have been noted different in stock and Original from the Jews thâ—â— by such a presupposition which grants the original of the Gentiles or of the first men to have such a beginning as was determinable from Adam and accounts them created many Ages before Adam and which again affirms that the Jews were later and created in their first Father Adam from whom to us according to the vulgar account there is no more then five thousand six hundred and seventeen yeers Yea you will say If adoption admits onely in imitation of Nature the younger into the Family of the elder according as Sons ought to be younger than their Fathers What Monster of adoption is that by which the Jews being younger adopted the most ancient Gentiles to be their Sons And again if in regard of the same age a Tree is said to adopt a graft I say if a tender and new plant is grafted in an old and strong stock what new manner of grafting is that by which the most ancient Gentiles shall be grafted in the later Jews and if you look upon the original quite green I answer That the Gentiles in their Creation and Nature are indeed ancienter then the Jews but the Gentiles are said to be adopted into the Jews by that mystical Election not by Creation and Nature of which Genesis gives a fair instance where Esau was elder but younger in election The Apostle calls those Gentiles who according to my supposition were the men of the first Creation Atheists or without a God in respect to that opposition by which that true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth was not the God of the Gentiles as he was God of the Jews and as the Gentiles did not enjoy him for their God as did the Jews And that was for this reason because God had discovered himself to the Nation of the Jews and to them alone but not so to other Nations wherefore the Jews are called The people of God Hence it is that God speaks to them friendly Ezekiel 34. You are my flock you are the flock of my pasture you are my men The Jews are the men of God Let the Nations know because they are men sayes David Psal 19. The Gentiles are called Men simply not the men of God in that regard because at first being simply created they could have no rellish of God for God is above men and because they could have no taste of God nor draw neer to him they were without God nor deserved to be called the men of God Wherefore men simply so called in holy writ are meant the Gentiles so in Psal 66. Thou hast put men over our heads that is to say thou hast set the Gentiles over our heads which are to be understood of the Jews vanquished by the Gentiles to which refer that of Jeremiah Thou hast given Israel to the Nations and made him contemptible to men Where Nations Gentiles and men are the same Isaiah exhorts the Jews Chap. 51. Fear not the revilings of Nations Then in the 6 Chap. of restoring the Jews and putting the Gentiles to flight God sayes he shall set the men a far off and she that was desolate shall be multiplied in the midst of the earth Men in that place are the Gentiles whom God â—hould drive out of the Land of the Jews that the Jews might again be restored to it But for the same reason as the Gentiles were called Men they were likewise called the sons of men Of which there is as many witnesses as there are Chapters almost in both Testaments for which cause it will be here in vain to quote those innumerable Autorities The Gentiles were called the sons of men by way of opposition as the Jews were called the sons of God Those Gentiles which were called Atheists and without a God were called wicked foolish corrupt abominable in their iniquities Psal 9. Thou hast reproved the Nations and the wicked shall perish that is the Gentile Again in the Psalm 14. which is likewise the 53. The fool hath said in his heart That there is no God Which are to be understood of the Atheistical Gentile They are become corrupt and abominable in their in quities There is none that doth good God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men that he might see if there were any that understood and sought after God They have all gone astray they are become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one This was a lively portraiture of the Gentiles because they
Gentiles whom being made a man he call'd and took to himself To this calling and assumption he had invited the Gentils in Wisd aforesaid If there be any little one let him come unto me and she spake to the unwise Come eat my bread and dâ—ink my wine which I have provided for you leave your childishness and live and walk in the ways of Wisdom Christ invites whom he there signifies by unwise and little ones to the participation of the gospel to the eating of his body and the drinking of his blood In them who renounce childishnesse and the prudence of men life eternal is begotten and wisdom which is of God is acquir'd The Princes of the Jews took it ill that the children in the Temple should call Jesus the son of David that is King and cry Hosanna but Christ alluding from the little ones to the Gentiles who were called children and little ones thus answer'd the Jews Did you never read the cause Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings thâ—u hast perfected praise This was the Lords meaning You O Jews reject and speak evil of me but the Gentiles as it is written shall receive me and perfect my praise for by children and sucklings he meant the Gentiles who are call'd children and little ones These word in the 18 Chapter of Lukes gospel are likewise to be taken figuratively Let the children come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of heaven Which is suffer the Gentiles to come unto me for they shall hear my voice and believe in my name But the kingdom of heaven belongs to such who shall hear me and believe me Certainly the simplicity of infants and children which was that likewise of the first creation is not that alone by which we enter into the kingdom of heaven by which comes Election and Salvation but the grace of the gospel which is the faith of the Gentiles in Christ Which that you may more clearly understand take heed to that which follows Whosoever says Christ receives not the kingdom of Christ as a little Child shall not enter into it Which thus interpret and explain Whosoever receives not the doctrine of the gospel as a little child that is to say like a Gentile who believe me and humbly relies upon my grace not as a Jew who believes Moses and is gloriously addicted to the works of the Law he shall not be partner of the salvation and glory which is in the kingdom of God The disciples of Christ were striving and the Jews themselves who should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven Matth. 18. And Jesus calling a little one plac'd him in the midst of them and said Verily I say unto you unless you be converted and made like little ones you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little one doth he shall be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven The words and the actions of our Saviour certainly were for the most part Parables Therefore he spake here figuratively and parabollically to the Jews swell'd with vain-glory because they were call'd great and a great Nation unlesse their stomachs fell and they were turn'd to little ones as the Gentiles they should not have entrance into the kingdom of heaven Here God apparently meant the Gentiles by those Little ones because he sayes after Whoever shal offend one of these little ones who shal believe in me c. Which could not be taken of no infants or children which were so by age whose faith was yet stammering but of the Gentiles of riper age who believed in Christ as men of age and ripe reason believe in him but the Jews used to defame the Gentiles whom they esteemed vile humble and nothing worth Besides it is manifest that the Gentiles were types of Christian humility which by infants and children is represented and the Jews only bubbles of vain-glory from that Parable wherein the Pharisee marches so stately into the Temple casting his merits to God Luc. 18. Lord sayes he I thank thee that I am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this Publican I fast twice in the week I give the tenth of all that I possess But the Publican standing afar off would not lift up his eyes to heaven but struck his blest saying God be merciful to me a sinner The Pharisee without doubt in that place was the Jew for which cause he said I am not like other men that is like the Gentiles for thâ— Publican was a Gentile But he said Be merciful to me a sinner that is to me a Gentile As also those that exacted tribute from the Jews were Gentiles as we have said Certainly the humility of the Gentiles which was the default of their vilenesse and rejection became a Christian vertue under the Gospel On the contrary that glory by which the Jews exalted themselves to be a great Nation before the Gospel was turn'd into the smoake of idle pride under the Gospel And bence it came to passe that the Gentiles who were truly humble were exalted to be Jews really great On the contrary the glorious Jews became a base and an abject people I say to you saith the Lord The Publican went to his house justified that is to say made a just man or a Jew of a Gentile The Pharisee on the contrary not being heard left off to be just and to be a Jew and fell off to be a Gentile To which apply that of Matthew now cited Chap. 18. Who shall humble himself like a little one or a Gentile shal be greatest in the kingdom of heaven We must moreover narrowly consider that of St. Paul Romans 2. Thou O Jew believest that thou art a leader of the blind a light of those who are in darknesse a teacher of the unwise an instructer of children By those who are blind by those who are foolish by infans to â—certainly the Gentiles are here understood who seteachers instructers and leaders the Jews presum'd themselves to be by that prerogative by which they esteem'd themselves for a light to the Nations Isay 42. All this Chapter is design'd against the Jews who mis-regarded and set at nought the Gentiles That instructer of children is the same meant by St. Paul as a teacher of little ones Isay 33. Where sayes he is the learned Where the expounder of the Law Where the teacher of little ones The learned and the teacher of the Law is the Jewish Doctor who is both reacher of the Little ones and of the Gentiles in this place because the Jews taught the stranger and the Proselyte their Laws because I say they boasted themselves given as a light to all Nations and a light to those that were in darknesse that is to the Gentiles to whom God was in a cloud nor did manifest himself to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek in Latine an Infant who can not speak and is commonly
brought to Adam all the creatures of the earth and all the fowls of heaven Which it is not likely he did in half a day For thither must the Elephants come from the furthest parts of India and Africk who are of a heavy and a slow pace What shall I speak of so many several species of creatures and fowls unknown to our Hemisphere who must swim so much Sea pass over so much Land to come from America to Mesopotamia and there receive their names Seventhly He saw what he would call them He saw that is that he took notice that he should fitly call every one of them and in every name he disputed with himself that is he had those operations of mind which are distinguishable discursively and in time Nor is it possible that Adam could in one half of a day see all the creatures of the earth and the fowls of heaven and then premeditately give every one of them a convenient name which neither in pronouncing of their names not in a continual rehearsing of them he could have perform'd in so short a time Eighthly God sent a deep steep upon Adam and when he had slept a long and deep sleep God took one of his ribs and filled up the flesh for it Ninthly He made a â—oman of the rib Nor did the Grecian Jews believe that the rib of Adam was made a woman the same day that Adam was made for they affirm That Adam was made in the New Moon that is the first day of the Moon But Eve was made the second day of the Moon Which the famous Salmasius has mentioned in his Climacterical years and refuted the superstition of the Jews and withall has cleared their Opinion who believ'd that there was the distance of a day betwixt their creation Tenthly God brought Eve to Adam If you all reckon these things severally not half a day not a week not a moneth will suffice for half of them Nor is it to be overslip'd that Adam called that Female a woman as being taken out of a man nor call'd her man as the females were in the first creation He created them male and female For this man in the second creation did so much excell all other men who were created before and begotten till his time for which cause he was to be the first and the Father of a Nation chosen by God and by which he was to represent by Gods decree all mankind That he could find no fit helper for him amongst all the women of the former creation But a woman must be fram'd for him more excellent than all oother women And hence it comes to passe that Marriages with the rest of the Nations are strictly forbidden the Jews and that the marriages of the sons of God must not be made with the daughters of men left the holy and elect people should be defiled with the prophane Nations and those that were created altogether in a huddle CHAP. III. Of the marvellous framing of Adam Of the marvellous conceptions of Isaac and Christ Adam was made a type of Christ in all things like him but his justice Eve the wife of Adam was likewise a figure of the Church who was the spouse of Christ THey which take pains in reading of the holy Scripture and are serious in the perusal of them find three men marvellously and peculiarly brought forth The first is Adam The second Isaac The third Jesus Christ The first was Adam whose mother was the Earth God his father The second Isaac whose father was Abraham God was his mother for it left off with Sarah to be according to the manner of women Gen. 18. To which God alluding Isa 46. speaking to the Jews the sons of Isaac says he carryed them in his womb The third is Jesus Christ whose mother was a Virgin and whose father God God was father both to Adam and Christ under whose imputation all the world was sometimes to fall God was the father Adam was the son of God Christ was the son of God and God the son Adam was a sinner Christ was just In all other things Adam and Christ were alike Adam was a type of Christ and opposite to Christ Isaac was a type of Christ and in the middle 'twixt Adam and Christ Christ was a Prototype of Isaac and an Antitype of Adam The common Opinion is That Adam was created by God of a full age of the perfect stature of a man and that the day wherein he was created he might be a man of thirty yeers of age at which age Christ died Truely I shall rather think that Adam was in all things like Christ except the justice of Christ as Christ was made in all things like Adam except the sin of Adam and that Adam not streight nor the first day but by leisure and by several ages successively grew from infancy and youth to man's estate by as many degrees as Christ arived at the same state at which Isaac arived at it being himself likewise miraculously brought forth and as other men begotten after the ordinary manner arise from children to be men And he shall finde this to be most probable whosoever shall seriously peruse the History of Adam from the framing of him till the framing of his wife Eve for God framed Adam out of Paradise whom he afterwards carried into Paradise that he might manure it sayes Genesis Hence I gather that Adam was framed an Infant without Paradise because I read that he was carried into Paradise to till it at such time of his age and strength as he was able to perform it Again I believe that that Paradise was that place of the Holy Land which is called Arabia felix for it is bounded Chap. 2. Genesis By Tigris and Euphrates two Rivers joining their streams in their course towards Arabia fall into the Bay of Persia Arabia felix is likewise to be understood the Paradise of the Lord in that place of Gen. 12. where Lot lifting up his eyes saw all the Region about Jordan which was altogether watered like the Paradise of the Lord and like Egypt as thou comest from Segor for it is probable that Genesis has compared and joyned to Arabia felix and Egypt two neighbouring Regions and two of the most pleasant I think that Adam was brought to that Holy Land even as I finde Abraham led to the same Land that Adam might have the first natural possession of it the first and the father of all the Jews and which by a stricter title and a more peculiar obligation God might afterwards promise give Abraham and to the Jews his posterity being Adam's seed and his own Adam being a young man and cultivating of Paradise God thought of giving him a Wife and being as it were uncertain whom he should bestow upon him he brought unto him all the creatures of the earth and all the Fowls of heaven that he might see what he would call them for every thing whatsoever Adam called it
it is said in the book of the warrs of the Lord. As he did in the red sea so shall he do in the brooks of Arnon But that Book of the Wars of the Lord could not be cited by Moses in which there could be mention made of those things which were done at Arnon in the very place where Moses perform'd this exploit Truly I believe that Moses made a Diarie of all those wonderfull things which God did for the people of Israel under the conduct of Moses From which collections the books of the wars of the Lord might afterwards be taken Which for that cause was neither the Original nor the Original of the Original but indeed a Copy from a Copy That which we read in the third Chapter of Dentronomy does manifest that they are written long after Moses Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the Country of Argob and it is call'd after his name Basan Hanoch Jair to this day Moses could never have said to this day For Jair scarcely had possession of his own Villages at that time when Moses is brought in so speaking And hence it manifestly appears that the author intended to shew whence according to the most antient and first original that City was call'd Jair deriving the cause from Moses to his own time and therfore as was fit call'd it Jair from that antient Jair unto this day The like we read in the same Deuteronomy in the same Chapter Only Og King of Basan was remaining of the race of the Giants His iron bed is shown which is at Rabbath of the children of Ammon For what needed Moses to have said to the Jews that his bed was shown at Rabbath of the children of Ammon that they might learn the bignesse of the Giant Why I say needed he to send the Jews to another place to see the bed of the Giant who had seen him in his own Land and overcome him and measur'd him as he lay along in the fields of Basan It is a great deal more likely to think that this Writer to gain credit to what he wrote concerning the King and Giant Ogâ— of whom he made mention spake of his iron bed as a testimony of the wonderfull spoils of that terrible Giant which were not at that time to be seen at Basan where Og lay but in Rabbath of the children of Ammon the succession of ages having changed the place We read also in the 2. of Deuteronomy The Horraeans first dwelt in Seir whom the children of Esau driving out dwelt there as Israel did in the Land of his possession which the Lord gave him In these words it is said That the Idumeans who are the Sons of Esau inhabited Mount Seir driving out the Inhabitants of those Mountains And that the Jews again inhabited this Mount Seir and gain'd Mount Seir as a possession driving out and destroying those Idumaeans Yet it is most certain that the Idumaeans according to Moses himself were not thrown out in his time as it is in Deutronomy in the same Chapter And the Lord said to me saith Moses You shall pass through the confines of your brethren the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir and they shall be afraid of you Therefore take heed you move not against them for I will not give you of their Land one foot for I have given Mount Seir in possession to Esau Therefore Idumaea was not given to the Jews in the dayes of Moses but long time after as David Prophesies Psalm 108. Over Edom will I cast out my shooe that is I will extend my possession over Idumaea For possession is taken by setting down of the foot and the shoe in this place is the foot the thing containing for that which is contained And David made also good his prophecie 1 Chro. chap. 18. where we read that David consecrated silver and gold Which he had taken from 〈◊〉 Nations Edom Moab and Ammon And befides in the same place Abishai the son of Zervia smtoe Edom in the valley of salt eighteen thousand and put a Garrison in Edom that Edom might serve David Therefore in the time of Davâ—d and not of Moses Edom became a land of possession to Israel as God had promis'd as being a lot and part of the Holy Land And hence it is gather'd that these essayes of Deutronomie were written long after Davids time a great while after Moses I need not trouble the Reader much further to prove a thing in it self sufficiently evident that the five first books of the Bible were not written by Moses as is thought Nor need any one wonder after this when he reads many things confus'd and out of order obscure deficient many things omitted and misplaced when they shall consider with themselves that they are a heap of Copie confusedly taken Those things which we read concerning Lamech Gen. 4. are defective Because I have slain a man to my hurt and a young man to my grief For there is no mention made of that young man whom Lamech slew That History which is related in the fourth book of Moses concerning the circumcision of the son of Moses is desicient and is conjectur'd to be deficient because we see clearly what it should be The The 20 Chapter of Genesis of Abrahams sojourning with Abimelech King of Gerar is misplaced For it is not likely that the King would lust after Sarah who was an old woman and with whom it left off to be according to the manner of women and who was not capable of pleasure As also Genesis 26. the same is to be thought of Rebecca Nor must we think that the King was then in love with Rebecca Jacob and Esau being thâ—n of age That which we read in the 10 of Deuteronomy is misplac'd The Children of Israel remov'd their camp from Beeroth of the sons of Jacan where Aaron dyed And in the same place He separated the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant Though long before the death of Aaron the Levites were seperated to look to the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant according to Gods command often iterated both in Leviticus and Numbers Yea whilst Aaron himself was alive yea still after that the Tabernacle was perfected the Levites carried the Ark as often as the Children of Israel remoâ—ed their Camp And if the Reader will take pains let him but run over this tenth Chapter of Deut. and he shall find the death of Aaron preposterously inserted in that Narration having nothing there to do and nothing beâ—onging to the buâ—nesse Yea he shall find it contrary to the computation of time whilst they were talking of the delivery of the Law of Sinai long before Aarons death You shall likewise find that passage in the 18 of Exodus misplaced And Jethro came the Father-in-law of Moses and his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped by Joâ—dan For how could Jethro come to Moses hiâ— son-in-law after the going
there be an end says St. Paul when he shall resign the Kingdom to his Father The Kingdom of Christ was from eternity it shall likewise end within age and eternity For this cause all times were made by Christ Heb. 1. and Christ was called the Prince of time Timothy 1. cap. 1. Yea the Kingdom of Christ is called the Kingdom of all ages Psal 144. For which cause St. Paul calls Christ Blessed unto all ages God the Father reign'd before ages before the times of eternity before he had ordained wisdom and had given her command over all things God the Father shall likewise reign after ages after that wisdom who is Christ the Son hath yeilded up the Kingdom to the Father in the end of ages God the Father reigned before eternity and shall after eternity God the Son reign'd from eternity and shall to eternity In which sense understand that in the 90 Psalm From age to age thou art God As also which David sings 4 Chron. chap. 16. Blessed be the Lord from eternity to eternity CHAP. XII Eternity uses to be understood in Scripture by the duration of the Sun and Moon Of an age Of eternal times St. Paul expounded Eternity indefinite JEremie to signifie the eternity of that Law â—nd Covenant by which God had taken the Jews to himself to eternity as also the eternity of that Covenant which God had made with Messias and with his servant David by things undoubted and very well known If says he the Laws of the Sun and Moon and the Stars fail then the seed of Israel shall fail before him And again If the Covenant of the Lord with the day and night can be frustrate then can the Covenant of the Lord be frustrate with David his servant Therefore both of them are set down indubitable and unmoveable the eternity of the seed of Israel as also of the Kingdom of Messias as also the eternity of the Sun and Moon Stars Days and Nights And as they are conveniently joyned so are they conveniently convertible thus The seed of Israel shall never fail before the Lord for the Sun and Moon and Stars can never fail before him It is impossible that the Covenant of God should be in vain which he made with his Servant David that he should be and remain for ever It is likewise impossible that the Covenant which God made with the Day and Night should fail but they should be to eternity and remain continually God meant that impossibility of his Law which should never perish and of his Covenant never to be broken In the 6 chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke It is easier for the heaven and earth to passe away than that one tittle of the Law should passe away Of the Law that is of the Coâ—enant which God made with Israel and with his Messias The whole world is here understood by the heaven and the earth and that impossibility he clears by another as great an impossibility that is the least tittle of the Law shall never passe away nor shall ever the world passe away Such is that which we read Psalm 72. The Messias shall endure with the Sun and Moon unto eternity Which is convertible thus The Sun and Moon shall endure together with Messias for ever It is written Genesis 1. Let us make lights in the midst of heaven that they may divide the day and night and be for signs and times for days and years Which the author of Ecclesiasticus rehearses in these words chap. 43. The Sun and Moâ—n shew the time and appoint the age Times are made up of days and nights months and years and ages which the Sun and Moon divide and dispense and appoint the measure of them especially the Sun who for excellency is called the Father of times and ages by the ancients For which cause holy Writ measures out the eternity of ages by the Sun It is common in holy authors to reckon weeks of years months of years years of years and with them you have many times also ages of ages which comprehend many myriads of years of which an eternity is made up Which you may well call the year of the world or the great world whose times ages are reckon'd innumerable Which you shall not need to wonder at if you wonder that the day of days the year of years the age of ages and all ages of ages have descended from eternal times and shall endure to eternity I thought upon the days of old I have the eternal years in remembrance I have counted the years which were from the beginning says David Psalm 76. The Prophet counted those days but could neâ—er find the number of them For there is no remembrance of things past Ecclesiast chap. 1. And truly For the memory of men being finite and fading can no way extend it â—eif to the knowledge of those former things which are infinite and derived from years eternal As if St. Paul had meant in those places which I mentioned before in the former chapters where he said that the mysterie of the Gospel was hid from eternal times and ages to expresse a thing so much secret and remote that the mystery had been hidden since the world was made with Adam from whom to the Apostle was not above four thousand years That had been indeed to have thrown four drops of water into the midst of the Sea or to have thrown four grains of sand upon the Sea shore according to what is written in the 18 chapter of Ecclus. As a drop of the water of the Sea or a grain of sand so little are a thousand years in the days of eternity The author of the Ecclesiasticus here meant that whatsoever proportion a drop has to the whoâ—e Sea or a grain of Sand to the whole shore a thousand years should have the same proportion to the day of eternity which containâ— the beginning and ending of all things created in the endlesse volums of years For eternity here is taken in the second acception which is from eternity and shall remain to eternity Which times are compounded of ages which ages are accounted by years Nor think here that age to be the first and pure eternity which admits of no distinction of years of no composition or comparison with this second eternity which is secular compounded For although the author of Ecclesiasticus seems to have taken this out of the 88 Psalm where it is said A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday It is to be observ'd that the Psalmist in that place meant that there could be no proportion or comparison betwixt 1000 years Gods eternity which 1000 years he compar'd with a day that is past with that which is not For there is no proportion betwixt an entity and a non entity But in this place the author of Ecclesiasticus admits a perfect proportion betwixt a thousand years and the day of eternity betwixt a drop of water and
Ancestors might presume of their salvation upon the same account as all the Patriarchs of the the Jews could conceive hope in their salvation For neither did those Fathers of the Jews know God the Father as Father nor believed in Christ the Son according to the Apostle in the last Chapter of the Romans The mystery of God the Father and God the Son was hidden from eternity to our times Therefore it was hid and unknown to all those Patriarchs that were betwixt Adam and Christ But if any mention the words of our Saviour saying that Abraham and Isay foresaw the day of Christ and were glad I answer they saw the day of Christs coming but cloath'd in shadows and figures as one Who sees in clouds or thinks he sees the Moon They smil'd upon Christ but knew him not as Infants smile upon their Mothers and whom by laughter they are said to know rather poetically than truly for instinct it is rather in Children than knowledge It is also written in the first Chapter to the Ephesians That God did chuse the Gentiles to the Adoption of his own Sons before the creation of the World God forbid that we should think that election was so unprofitable and to so little purpose which we suppose to be from eternity to the framing of Adam and so to Jesus Christ that none of all the Gentiles was elected and called to the participation of salvation which was in Christ all that time which was betwixt the infancy of the world till the death of Christ Melchisedech was a Gentile for he was not a Jew which he has clearly set down in his Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 7 verse 6. And he was the Priest of the most high God Therefore elected yea a vessel of most choice election who received the tenths from Abraham and to whose eternal Priesthood the eternal Priesthood of Christ is compared Iob is thought to be a Gentile a man single and upright fearing God and departing from evil a servant of God and therefore chosen and to whom as God says himself there was not the like upon earth Cornelius the Centurian of the Italian legion was a Gentile a man pious and fearing God with his whole houshold and given to good works I passe by a great many Proselites as also those Gentiles whom Mothanus Vuyerius the Chiron of our Achilles makes a long Catalogue of in his elegant and and learned Treatise of the vertue of Heathens I say I passe by all those good approved and wisemen whom long before the death of Christ its probable yea we may very well believe were chosen by God and called unto the Lord But in the same account were after Adam to Christ in the same account I say were those Gentiles in the first age from the creation of the world till the framing of Adam For this cause I think that all those Gentiles begotten before and after Adam good and meek men to have been Christs chief because I believe they were the bondmen and servants of Christ For if any had the spirit of Christ he was Christs as says the Apostle Romans 8. I think they had the Spirit of Christ because I think they were touched and inspired by the spirit of Christ which by secret operations and thoughts wrought in them salvation to life eternal The spirit of Christ was in the Gentiles as the soul is in Infants by which they are sensible and which the Infants perceive but are not sensible of it The spirit of Christ was in them as reason is in Children which is in them a power to become reasonable but as yet not brought in to act Therefore is that spirit called the power of God unto salvation Rom. chap. 1. The spirit of Christ was in them as in a grain of Corn there is a vegetative power For that grain of Corn grows and increases in the earth without the knowledge of the Husbandman who sowed it Which is observed in the Gospel according to St. Mark For this cause the spirit of Christ which is the kingdom of God is compared to the grain of Corn For that spirit which is in the elect grows and increases whilst the elect in whom it is know not of it That spirit of Christ was given to the Gentiles not knowing being supine and asleep to whom that of the 127 Psalm agreeed very well When he shall give his beloved sleep Behold the inheritance of the Lord The inheritance of the Lord which is the Kingdom of God the spirit of Christ and life eternal The spirit of Christ was in them but it was hidden and unknown nor revealed it self unto them They felt and worshipped that spirit they felt that which they knew not they worshiped that which they were ignorant of They dedicated Altars which they consecrated to the unknown God which unknown God St. Paul himself by name did expound to the Athenians The spirit of Christ was hidden in them therefore were they elect unknown as St. Paul calls others Jews in secret Romans 3. They were shut up to that faith which was to be revealed Which St. Paul also affirms of those holy Jews who lived under the Law from Adam till Christ and might be also well fitted to those just Gentiles who liv'd under Nature before the Law and Adam Those Gentiles were like wandring sheep who knew not the shepheard that led them but which according to Saint Peter in his second Epistle chapter 2. might be turned to the shepheard of their souls They were hidden in their knowledge and profession and only so far known as they could be discern'd by their workes which was the true and real proof of their Election As the Lord says By their works you shall know them More of this I will speake if it shall please God where I shall speak of purpose concerning the calling of the Gentiles which was in force after the rejection of the Jews I will begin the second Part of this Systeme from the rejection of the Jews Because I have spoken enough of the Election of the Jews and of the Gentiles elected in the Jews and will speak no farther of it The End of the first Part.