trained up and which had been as it were an inheritance to them from their fathers This bred this disturbance at the present and in time an Apostacy from the Gospel of exceeding many Antiquity hath held that Cerinthus was the chief stickler in this businesse but whosoever it was that kindled it it was a spark enough to have fired all had it not been timely prevented Paul and Barnabas who had chiefly to deal in the ministration to the Gentiles are sent from Antioch to Ierusalem to consult the Apostles about this matter This is the same journey and occasion that is spoken of Gal. 2. Then fourteen years after I went up again to Ierusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me And I went up by revelation c. Not but that he was sent by the Church as Luke hath asserted here ver 2. but that the Church was directed by revelation to take this course for the setling of the question namely to send up to the Apostles at Ierusalem And hence we may fix the time of this business if it be resolved from whence the beginning of these fourteen years is to be dated namely whether he mean fourteen years after his first conversion or fourteen after his former journey to Ierusalem mentioned Gal. 1.18 which he took three years after his conversion The later is the more undoubted upon these two observations 1. It were exceeding obscure and is exceeding unagreeable to Scripture accounting to reckon the later summe of fourteen years from the time of his conversion and not from the number or time that went next before which was his being at Ierusalem three years after he was converted 2. His scope in that his discourse is not to shew barely what journeys he took to Ierusalem after his conversion but to shew how long he preached among the Gentiles and abroad out of Iudea time after time and yet when he came to the Apostles to Ierusalem they found no fault with him nor with the course he took in his Ministry After I was converted I went not to Ierusalem to consult the Apostles but went into Arabia and back again to Damascus and so preached up and down one utterly unknown by face to the Apostles yet when after three years thus doing I came up to Peter the Minister of the Circumcision he was so farre from contrarying the course that I had gone that he gave me fifteen daies entertainment And after that time I went through Syria and Cilicia and abroad among the Gentiles yet after fourteen years imployment in this kinde when I went up to Ierusalem again I found fair respect with the Apostles and they gave me the right hand of fellowship This drift of the Apostle being observed in that place which cannot be denied if his main purpose through the whole Epistle be observed it evidently stateth the time of this journey to Ierusalem to be seventeen years after his conversion When Paul and Barnabas came to Ierusalem they applied themselves singularly to Peter Iames and Iohn the Ministers of the Circumcision and imparted to them the doctrine and manner of dealing that they had used among the Gentiles Gal. 2.2 And this they did that they might clear themselves of all false rumours that might be laid to their charge as if they crossed the doctrine and minde of the Apostles and that they might have their judgement and concurrence along with them With Paul there was Titus who hitherto had been uncircumcised all along in his attending and accompanying Paul and even now at Ierusalem though he were before the Apostles of the Circumcision yet was he not forced to be circumcised there neither because there were some false brethren who lay upon the catch to observe and scandall the liberty of the Gospel that the Apostles used and they were unwilling to give way to them in any such condescension least they should have wronged the Gospel For though Paul allowed the Circumcision of Timothy and though even these Apostles perswaded Paul to use some of the Mosaick ceremonies Act. 21.24 for avoiding offence to the weak and for the more winning of those that were well satisfied yet would they not yield an inch in any such thing to these catchpoles that lay upon the lurch to spy out something if it might have been whereby they might have disgraced the Gospel Well the result of the Apostles conference is that the three of the Circumsion neither detracted from what the two of the uncircumsion had done already nor added any more things to be done by them hereafter But they agree that Paul and Barnabas should go to the Heathen and they themselves to the Circumcision desiring only that though they went among the Gentiles yet they would remember the poor of the Circumcision which they consented to and all was well concluded betwixt them But they that urged for the imposition of Moses his yoke would not be so satisfied but the matter must come to a publick canvasse and so the Elders also met together with those Apostles to consider of it Peter would have none of Moses burdens laid upon the Gentiles because he himself had seen them to have been partakers of the holy Ghost in as free and full a measure as they had been that had been most Mosaicall Paul and Barnabas affirmed that they had seen the like and therefore what needed the Gentiles to be troubled with these observances seeing they were so eminent in gifts of the Spirit as well as they of the Circumcision and what could these adde to them But Iames findeth out a temper betwixt those that would have all these yokes imposed and those that would have none that so the Jews might have the lesse offence and the Gentiles no burden neither And that was that the Gentiles might be required to refrain from eating things offered to Idols and strangled and blood and fornication The three first were now become things indifferent however strictly they had been imposed by the Law before Christ having by his death done down the partition wall and laid these things aside as uselesse when there was to be no distinction of meats or Nations any more yet because the Jews were so glewed to these things that the tearing of them away suddenly would in a manner have fetched up skin and flesh and all therefore the whole Councill upon the motion of Iames think it fit that the Gentiles should thus farre Judaize till time and fuller acquaintance with the Gospel might make both Jews and Gentiles to lay these now needlesse niceties aside The Jews about these things had these Canons among many others Avodah Zarah per. 2. These things of Idolatry are forbidden and their prohibition meaneth the prohibition of their use Wine and vinegar used in Idolatry which at first was wine c. And flesh that was brought in for Idolatry is permitted to be used viz. before it was offered but what is brought out is prohibited And bottles and cans used in Idolatry and
an Israelites wine put in them are prohibited to be used Maymon in Avoda Zarah per. 7. A beast offered to an Idol is forbidden for any use yea even his dung bones horns hooss skin yea though there were only a hole cut in the beast to take out the heart and that alone offered Divers other things used in Idolatry are mentioned and prohibited The observing of all which helpeth to clear the distinction of the words used in the text namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for these properly were not one and the same thing for every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but è contra every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For divers things were used at an Idolatrous offering which themselves were not offered as knives dishes and the like which cannot be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet by these traditions were prophane and unclean and prohibited to be used About not eating of blood they expounded the prohibition of the Law in that point unto this purpose He that eats blood to the quantity of an olive if presumptuously he is to be cut off and if ignorantly he is to bring a sin offering Talm. in Cherithut◠per. 1. 5. Maym. in Maacaloth Asuroth per. 6. By things strangled their Canons understood any thing that died of it self or that was not killed as it ought to be And he that ate to the quantity of an olive of the flesh of any cattell that died of it self or of any beast or any fowl that died of it self was to be whipt as it is said Ye shall eat no carcaise and whatsoever was not slain as was fitting is reputed as if dying of it self Talm. in Zevachin per. 7. Maym. ubi supr per. 1. Therefore they had their rules about killing any beast that they were to eat of which the Talmudick Treatise Cholin discusseth at large Now as concerning fornication it is controverted first whether it mean bodily or spirituall and secondly how it cometh to be ranked among things indifferent as the other named were it self being of no such indifferency whethersoever is meant the one or the other The former certainly is not meant for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reacheth that the full and more needed not to be spoken to that point The later therefore is meant but why named here with things indifferent Not because it was indifferent as well as they Nor because it was so very offensive to the Jews as were the other for they made but little of fornication themselves according to the common taking of the word fornication but fornication here seemeth to translate their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that meaneth with them marriage in degrees prohibited which the Gentiles made no matter about and so the Apostles would bring the convert Gentiles under obedience of the Law Levit. 18. Before we part from this Councill as it is commonly called we may thus farre take notice of the nature of it as to observe that it was not a convention premeditated and solemnly summoned but only occasionall and emergent and that it was only of those Apostles and Elders that were at Ierusalem at the instant when the matter from Antioch was brought thither and the other Apostles that were abroad were not fetched in nor indeed needed any such thing for the message from Antioch required not so much the number of voices as the resolves of those Apostles that had especially to deal with the Circumcision and whom the Antiochian Church doubted not to finde ready at Ierusalem The matter being determined Letters are dispatched with the Decrees unto the Churches by Paul and Barnabas and Iudas and Silas they come to Antioch and there abide a while and at last go their severall waies Iudas to Ierusalem and Paul Barnabas and Silas away among the Gentiles It was the agreement between Paul and Barnabas on the one party and Peter Iames and Iohn on the other that those two should go among the Gentiles and these three among the Circumcision Gal. 2.9 Iames abode at Ierusalem as the residentiary Apostle of that Country Gal. 2.13 Act. 21.18 and there at last he suffered Martyrdom Peter and Iohn went abroad among the Jews dispersed in forreign parts so that at last you have Peter at Babylon in the East and Iohn at Patmos in the West and by this we may guesse how they parted their imployment between them When Paul and Barnabas are to set forth they disagree about Marks going with them Barnabas being his uncle would have had his company but Paul denied it because of his departure from them before Mark it seemeth was at Antioch at this time and it may be a quaere whether Peter were not there also Gal. 2.11 and when the contest twixt Paul and Barnabas was so sharp that they part asunder Barnabas taketh Mark and Paul Silas and go their severall waies and it is questionable whether they ever saw one anothers faces any more Onely Paul and Mark were reconciled again and came into very near society as we shall observe afterward ACTS CHAP. XVI CHRIST LI CLAVDIVS XI PAUL and Silas having travelled through Syria and Cilicia come to Derbe and Lystra there he Circumciseth Timothy whom he intended to take along with him and to breed him for his successor in the Ministry after his death Timothy was a young man of very choice education parts and hopes and some remarkable Prophesies and predictions had been given concerning him what an instrument he should prove in the Gospel which made Paul to fix upon him as one designed for him from heaven They set forth and travell Phrygia and Galatia and when they would have gone into Asia and Bithynia the Spirit forbad them because the Lord would hasten them into Macedonia unto a new work and such a one as they had not medled withall till now and that was to preach to a Roman plantation for so the text doth intimate that Philippi was ver 12. and ver 21. and so saith Pliny lib. 4. cap. 11. He had indeed been alwaies in the Roman dominions but still among other Nations as Jews Greeks Syrians and the like but we reade not that he was in any City of Romans till here And his going to preach to that people is so remarkable that the text seemeth to have set two or three notable badges upon it For that Nation lieth under so many sad brands in Scripture and lay under so great an abominating by the Jews that the Gospels entring among them hath these three singular circumstances to advertise of it 1. That the Spirit diverted Paul from Asia and Bithynia to hasten him thither 2. That he was called thither by a speciall vision the like invitation to which he had not in all his travels to any other place 3. The Penman doth not joyn himself in the story till this very time For hitherto having spoken in the third person
only at the Temple and to maintain the Priests in the ceremonious worship there and upon this conceit look upon them only as Leviticall are farre deceived for as some were indeed paid at the Temple upon such an account so others and that the greatest part we paid to the Priests and Levites in their 48 Universities Iosh. 21. to maintain them whilest they were studying there to inable them for the Ministry and to teach the people for which they were designed Deut. 33.10 Mal. 2.7 and when they were dispersed through the Land into the severall Synagogues to be Ministers in them tithes were also paid for their maintenance there He speaketh of provision to be made for poor widows even much according to the Jews own rules that they went by in their Synagogues which herein were good The Talmudick Treatise Ievamoth speaketh of this matter at large and see Maym. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per. 18. 20. The widows he allows to be taken in to be maintained of the publick stock he would have not to be widows by divorce nor widows young but of 60 years of age and of grave and holy qualifications Not that these were to vow the vow of continency as see what a miserable ado the Rhemists make upon this place but that they must be such as were likely to bring no more charge then themselves upon the Church nor bring any shame or reproach by the lightnesse of their lives to it and might be serviceable in their places to attend upon strangers to wash their feet c. But as for younger widows their age and those times were dangerous when the Nicolaitan doctrine without which taught communicating with things of Idolatry and fornication and mixing and marriage indifferently with heathen meeting with the heat of youth within might make such to wax wanton against Christ and deny the faith and marry with Heathens or at least to bring charge upon the Church if they continued in it He injoyns prayers to be made for all sorts of men whereas the Jewish custom was to curse the Heathen and to pray for none but themselves and their own Nation He cals the Church the pillar and ground of truth Chap. 3.15 the very title by which the great Sanhedrin was ordinarily stiled Vid. Maym. in Mamrin per. 1. the observing of which may be of good use for the explanation of it here After some stay in Macedonia and preaching up and down in those parts Paul turns back again and goes for Greece Act. 20.2 and by the way visiteth Creete and there leaveth Titus Tit. 1.5 thinking that he should presently after a little stay in Greece have set towards Ierusalem and that Titus should have staied there till further time For if what hath been spoken lately concerning Titus be considered how Paul sent him with his first Epistle to the Corinthians and that after their parting at Ephesus upon that occasion they never met till Titus cometh up to him when he was come from Ephesus to Macedonia 2 Cor. 7.5 6. it will readily resolve that in that first journey to Macedonia he left him not in Creet for Titus and he were not yet met again since their parting at Ephesus And that he left him not there at his second coming up to Macedonia namely after his travelling in Greece and when he was prevented of his intended journey into Syria Act. 20.2 3. it is apparent also by this that instantly upon his return from Greece and from his prevented journey he sendeth for Titus to come to him upon warning Tit. 3.12 which two particulars joyntly observed do make it plain that he left Titus in Creet when he came back from Macedonia in his journey into Greece and when he intended after his perambulation of Greece to have gone for Syria but the lying in wait of some Jews for his life turned him again to Macedonia In his return thither or upon his coming there he writeth THE EPISTLE TO TITVS It is not much materiall to controvert whether he sent this Epistle in the way as he went towards Macedonia or when he was come up into Macedonia it is enough to know that it was in this scantling of time either in his journey thither or instantly upon his coming there The postscript hath dated it from Nicopolis because of his words in Chap. 3.12 Come unto me to Nicopolis for there I have determined to winter from which words as the affixer of the postscript hath gathered some ground to date it thence so others have gathered better ground to hold that it was not dated thence because he saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There I have determined to winter as if he were not yet come thither Who first planted the Gospel in Creete may he an endlesse inquiry certain it is that some Cretans were present at the first powring out of the holy Ghost in the gift of tongues Acts 2.8 but whether they embraced the Gospel and returned with it into their own Country is an inquiry as endlesse Whether Barnabas ever preached there we may question also but when we have done all we can never resolve It is more then probable that Paul was there himself from that expression I left thee in Creete but his stay there when he left Titus could not be long as is easily cleared from the time of his journeys lately mentioned Whether he had been there some time before or whether he had sent the Gospel thither by some of his Ministers or however it came there there wanted something to the constituting of the Church which he leaveth Titus to accomplish And his work is just the same that he left Timothy at Ephesus for as is easily seen by laying together the two Epistles viz. to stop the mouth of the Heterodox and to direct and advise the Orthodox in Doctrine and Discipline and to ordain Elders or Ministers in the Churches This matter of ordaining Elders hath made the postscripts of the Epistles to these two men to intitle them Bishops the one of Ephesus and the other of Creete who how little they stayed or setled in either of these places he readeth but dimly that seeth not The Apostle in this Epistle urgeth him to dispatch the businesse that lay before him that upon notice from him he might be ready to come up to him to Nicopolis a City that bare the name and badge of the victory that Augustus obtained against Antony Dion Cass. pag. 426. 443. Titus according to his appointment came to him and when winter began to draw over and Paul began now to think of journying ere it were very long he sends him upon an imployment to another place which because it was when winter was going off we must place it in another year WORLD CHRIST LVI NERO. II A New year being now entred and Paul intending for Syria as soon as the Spring was a little up he sendeth Titus before hand to Corinth to
his life none of the Church that was at Rome nor any of those that were of his own retinue durst own him or stand by him in his exigent but the Lord was with him and brought him off safe from the Lions mouth He being assured by this providence of God to him and for him in his great danger that he was reserved for the further benefit of the Church and propagating of the Gospel applieth himself to that work the best way he can considering his condition oâ— imprisonment and whereas he cannot travell up and down to the Churches to preach to them as he done he visiteth divers of them by his Epistles And first he writeth THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS and sendeth it by Crescens as may be conceived from 2 Tim. 4.10 For though Demas and Crescens and Titus their departure from Paul be reckoned altogether in that verse yet the reason of theâ—r departure cannot be judged to have been alike for however Demas started upon some carnall respect yet Crescens and Titus are not so branded nor will the eminent piety of the later suffer us to have any such opinion of him and the judging of him doth also help us to judge of Crescens who is joyned with him The postscript of this Epistle both in the Greek Syriack Arabick and divers other Translations doth generally date it from Rome Beza from Antioch Erasmus from Ephesus but all upon conjecture for there is no intimation in the Epistle it self of the time or place of its writing Beza upon these words in Chap. 1. ver 2. And all the brethren which are with me saith thus Puto sic totum Antiochenae Ecclesiae Presbyterium significari inde scriptam hanc Epistolam c. I think by this he meaneth the whole Presbytery of the Church of Antioch and that this Epistle was written from thence at that time that passed between Paul and Barnabas their return into Asia from their first journey forth and the coming of those troubles to Antioch Acts 14.28 But that Apostacy in the Churches which the Apostle crieth out against in this Epistle and in others was not then begun and moreover it may well be questioned whether the Churches of Galatia were then planted And the former answer may likewise be given to the opinion that this Epistle was written from Ephesus namely that at the time of Pauls being at Ephesus the Apostacy which ere long did sorely and almost Epidemically infest the Churches was but then beginning And this is one reason why I suppose it written from Rome at this time that we are upon because that gangrene in the Eastern Churches was now come to ripenesse as it appears by the second Epistle to Timothy which was written this same year See 2 Tim. 1.15 False teachers had brought back the Galatians from the simplicity of the Gospel to their old Ceremonious performances again and to reliance upon the works of the Law for Justification which miscarriage the Apostle taketh sharply to task in this Epistle And first he vindicates his Apostleship as no whit inferiour to Peter and Iames and Iohn the Ministers of the Circumcision and those that chiefly seemed to be pillars and he shews how these approved of him and it And then he most divinely states the nature of the Law at which was the great stumbling and especially speaks to that point that they most stood upon their living in it The Lord had laid a stone in Sion which the Jews could not step over but stumble at even to this day and that is that which is said in Levit. 18.5 Ezek. 20.11 and in other places which the Apostle also toucheth in this Epistle Chap. 3.12 from whence they concluded that no living no justification but by the works of the Law The Apostle in the third Chapter of this Epistle laies down two conclusions that determine the case and resolves all into faith The first is in ver 17. namely that the Law was not given to crosse the Covenant of grace but to be subservient to it The second in ver 10. that the Law did plainly shew of it self that no man could perform it but it left a man under the curse Observe that he saith not As many as fail of the works of the Law but As many as are of the works of the Law shewing that the Law did not only denounce a curse upon all that performed it not but plainly demonstrated that none could perform it and so left all under a curse and these words Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things c. conclude both So that the Law was not given for justification but to be subservient to the Covenant of Justification not to crosse the Covenant but to serve it not purposely to leave under the curse but to shew the curse and to drive men to get from under it So that men might live in it but not by it It was the way in which men were to go to seek for Justification but it was not the cause or means whereby they were justified See Gal. 3.5 The Jews made the Morall Law crosse to the Covenant of grace whilest they sought to be justified by works and they made the Ceremoniall Law crosse the Morall whilest they resolved all duty into Ceremony and so the Law which in it self was holy and pure and good they turned to death unto themselves by their abuse They might have lived in the Morall Law had they used it aright though not by it for the more a man sets himself to the exact performance of it the more he sees he cannot perform it and therefore he is driven the more to Christ But they resolved all into Ceremonious performance and so lost sincerity toward the Morall and hereupon the Ceremoniall Law good in it self became to them Statutes not good and Iudgements wherein they could not live Ezek. 20.25 From Rome also and reasonable early in this year Paul wrote THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY and in it urgeth Timothy to come to him before Winter Timothy was now at Ephesus when this Epistle was directed to him as may be observed out of the Epistle it self by these collections 1. In that he willeth him to salute the houshold of Onisephorus Chap. 4.19 who was an Ephesian Chap. 1.16 18. 2. In that he biddeth him take Troas in â—is way as he comes to him Chap. 4.13 which had been the way that Paul himself had gone from Ephesus 2 Cor. 2.22 and to Ephesus again Act. 20.5 3. In that he warneth him of Alexander Chap. 4.14 who was an Ephesian 1 Tim. 1.20 Act. 19.33 There is one passage in this Epistle which hath caused some to doubt about the time of its writing for about the place there is no doubt and that is what he saith Chap. 4 6. I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand which would make one think that he was now ready to be martyred and taken
V. Ver. 1. The twelve Apostles chosen LUKE and Mark do methodize and fix the time of the Sermon in the Mount which Matthew hath laid very early in his Gospel because he would first treat of Christs Doctrine and then of his Miracles In a mount neer Capernaum he ordaineth a Ministry for the Church of the Gospel and delivereth the doctrine of the Gospel as Moses at Sinai had done the like for the Law The number of the present Ministers appointed whom he calleth Apostles was twelve agreeable to the twelve Tribes of Israel that as they were the beginning of the Church of the Jews so are these of the Gentiles and to both these numbers of twelve joyned together the number of the four and twenty Elders the representative of the whole Church Rev. 4. 5 c. hath relation Rev. 21.12 14. The text allotteth these ends of their appointment 1. That they might be with Christ to see his glory Ioh. 1.14 and to be witnesses of all things that he did Acts 10.39 41. Luk. 24.48 2. That he might send them forth to preach 3. To heal diseases and cast out Devils Before they were completed in all their divine endowments they grew on by degrees They were auditors a good while and learning the doctrine of the Gospel that they were to preach before they set upon that work for though Christ chose them now yet it is well towards a twelve moneth before he send them abroad a preaching as will appear in the processe of the story So that besides the time that they had spent before this their choosing they also spent that in hearing and learning from the mouth of their Master what they were to teach when he should employ them So that even the Apostles themselves at the first setting forth into the Ministry did not preach by the Spirit but what they had learned and gotten by hearing study conference and meditation As the Lord under the Law and from the first founding of that Church did set apart a peculiar order and function of men for the service of the Sanctuary so did he under the Gospel a peculiar order and function for the Ministry of the Gospel and this no more to be usurped upon then that Now as under the Law there were severall sorts of men within that function as High-Priests Chief-Priests ordinary Priests and Levites but all paled in with that peculiarity that no other might meddle with their function so likewise at the first rising of the Gospel there were Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors Teachers according to the necessity of those present times but all hedged in with a distinctive ministeriall calling that none other might nor may break in upon All the Titles and Names that Ministers are called by throughout the new Testament are such as denote peculiarity and distinctivenesse of order as Wise men and Scribes Mat. 23.34 Now the Jews knew not nor ever had heard of Wise men and Scribes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the learned of their Nation distinguisht for others by peculiarity of order and ordination And if they understood not Christ in such a sense namely men of a distinct order they understood these Titles Wise men and Scribes in a sense that they had never known nor heard of before Ministers in the new Testament are called Elders Bishops Angels of the Churches Pastors Teachers now all these were Synagogue termes and every one of them denoted peculiarity of order as might be shewed abundantly from their Synagogue antiquities The Jews knew no Elders but men by their order and function distinguisht from other men A Bishop translates the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chazan An Angel of the Congregation translates the title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheliach tsibbor A Pastor translates the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parnas And a Teacher translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divinity Reader Now these termes had never been known by any to signifie otherwayes then men of a peculiar function and distinct order SECTION XXVIII MATTH Chap. V and VI and VII LUKE Chap. VI. from Ver. 20 to the end of the Chapter The Sermon in the Mount THe proof of the order doth not need to be insisted upon Luke doth manifesâ—ly assert it It had been foretold by the Prophet All thy children shall be taught of God Isa. 54.13 which if applied to the Gentiles they had been taught by the Devill his Oracles and Idols If applied to the Jews they indeed had been taught by the Lord in his Prophets but these were but men like themselves but this Prophecy foretells the preaching of Christ who was God himself he teaching and conversing amongst them he then the great teacher of the world Isa. 2.2 and 51.4 doth from the mount Capernaum deliver his Evangelicall Law not for the abolishing of the Law and Prophets but for their cleering and fulfilling He first beginneth with pronouncing blessings as the most proper and comfortable tenour of the Gospel and hereby he calls us to remember Gerizim and Ebal Deut. 27. For though Israel be enjoyned there to pronounce both blessings and curses upon those mountains yet are the curses only specified by name and number for the curse came by the Law but he that was to blesse was to come which thing taketh place very comfortably and harmoniously here Luke addeth that he also denounced woes as Blessed be the poor Blessed are ye that hunger now c. But woe unto you that are rich Woe unto you that are fuâ—â— c. according to which form the Jews conceive the blessings and curses were pronounced by Israel from those two mountains mentioned Talm. in Sotah per. 7. Tosapht iâ—i per. 8. How did Israel pronounce the blessings and the curses Six Tribes went up to the â—op of mount Gerizim and six to the top of mount Ebal the Priests and the Levites and the Aâ—k stood below in the middest between They turned their faces toward mount Gerizim and began with blessing Blessed is the man that maketh not any graven or molten Image an abomination to the Lord c. And both parties answered and said Amen Then turned they their faces towards mount Ebal and began with cursing Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image an abomination to the Lord c. and both parties answered Amen And so of the rest 2. He proceedeth laying out the latitude of the Law according to its full extent and intention and sheweth the wretchednesse of their traditionall glosses that had made the Law of no effect They understood the Law Thou shalt not kill only of actuall murder and that committed by a mans own hand for if he hired another to kill him or turned a wilde beast upon him which slew him this they accounted not murder for which to be questioned by the Sanhedrin though it deserved the judgement of God Talm. in Sanhedr per. 9. Maym. in Retsâ—a per. 2. but shews that the command extends to the prohibiting
farre as the bounds of Iudea extended then some of them stepped our as farre as into Phaenice Cyprus and Syria but all this while dealing with the Jews only At last some of them at Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spake to the Hellenists ver 20. Here the word Hellenists is of doubtfull interpretation only this is doubtlesse in it that it means not Iews as the word doth Acts 6.1 for it is set in opposition to them ver 19. Doth it mean Proselytes then That it cannot neither for they were reputed as Jews to all purposes Means it Heathens Yes that is undoubted it doth both by the scope of the story here and by the quarrell urging these believers at Antioch to be Circumcised Chap. 15. But why then should they be called Hellenistae rather then Hellenes Some conceive because they were become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proselyte sojournours meaning that they had forsaken their Idolatry as Cornelius had done his though he were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Proselyte circumcised But what if these were native Syrians by pedegree and language could they then for that be called Hellenists or Greeks The word therefore must mean that they were such as were Syrogrecians Antioch it self indeed having been once the head of the Syrogrecian Empire Hellenes or purely Greeks they could not be called though it will not be denied they spake that Language because they were not only no inhabitans of that Country but not altogether of that blood but such as were of a mixture of Syrian and Greek the progeny of the old plantations and infranchisments of the Syrogrecian Monarchy Whatsoever their title Hellenists includeth they being undoubtedly Heathens it sheweth that these Ministers preached to them understood of the liberty given to preach to the Gentiles and the passage betwixt Peter and Cornelius or they durst not have been bold to have gone beyond the partition wall without their warrant And the readinesse of the Church at Ierusalem to send Barnabas to them shews that they also were satisfied in this matter and so this evidenceth that this story was after that about Cornelius Their sending Barnabas and his fetching Saul to the same work with him giveth some confirmation of that which was touched before namely that it is very probable that Barnabas knew of his own being designed for a Minister to the uncircumcision and of Pauls being joyned with him in that work a great while before they were sent away from Antioch upon it They now spend a whole year in the Church there and there the Name Christian is first taken up and that in a Gentile Church Antioch of old had been called Hamath but now it bare the name of one that had been as bloody a persecutor of the Church and truth as the Church of Israel had ever seen Antiochus The very name of the place may raise a meditation ACTS CHAP. XII XIII HEre we meet with some scruple in Chronology and about the precedency of the story in these two Chapters for though the actions in Chap. 12. be laid first and that very properly that the story of Peter may be taken up together and concluded before the story of Paul come in which is to be followed to the end of the Book yet there may be just question whether the sending of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to preach among the Gentiles which is handled in the beginning of Chap. 13. were not before some if not all those things related in Chap. 12. And the question ariseth from these two scruples 1. Because it is doubtfull in what year of Claudius the famine was that is spoken of Chap. 12.28 And 2. because it is obscure how long Paul and Barnabas staid at Antioch after their return from Ierusalem Chap. 12.25 before they were sent away among the Gentiles But about this we need not much to trouble our selves since as to the understanding of the stories themselves there can be little illustration taken from their time save only as to this that the publick Fast in the Church of Antioch may seem to have some relation to some of the sad stories mentioned before as coincident with them or near to them namely either the famine through the world Chap. 11.28 or the Persecution in the Church Chap. 12. We shall not therefore offer to dislocate the order of the stories from that wherein they he the Holy Ghost by the intertexture of them rather teaching us that some of them were contemporary then any way incouraging us to invert their order Only these things cannot passe unmentioned toward the stating of their time and place partly of coincidency and partly of their succeeding one the other and which may help us better to understand both 1. That whereas Dion the Roman Historian lib. 60. hath placed a sore famine at least at Rome in the time of Claudius in his second year Iosephus carries it Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 2. as if the bitternesse of it at Ierusalem were in his fourth which Euseb. in Chron. determines positively both may be true for for famines to last severall years together is no strange thing in History Divine or Humane nor in experience in our own age 2. That Agrippa's murdering of Iames and imprisoning of Peter could not be before the third year of Claudius for Iosephus a witnesse impartiall enough in this case informs us that Claudius in his second Consulship which was indeed the second year of his reign made an Edict in behalf of the Jews and sent it through the world and after that sent Agrippa away into his own Kingdom Now his Consulship beginning the first of Ianuary it was so next impossible that those things should be done at Rome and Agrippa provide for his journey and travell it and come to Ierusalem and murder Iames and apprehend Peter and all before the Passeove unlesse he hasted as it had been for a wager that he that can believe Peter to have been imprisoned in Claudius his second year of Consulship and reign must exceedingly straiten the time of these occurrences to make room for his belief 3. In the third year of Claudius therefore are those stories in Chap. 12. to be reputed only the last about Herods death in the beginning of his fourth for a Passeover in his fourth Herod lived not to see 4. It may be observed that Luke hath placed the going up of Paul and Barnabas with the alms of the Church of Antioch to the poor of Iudea before the murder of Iames Chap. 11.30 but their return thence not till after that and Herods death Chap. 12.25 not that thereupon we are necessarily to think that they staid there so long as while all those things in Chap. 12. were acting but that by that relation the story of Paul and Barnabas is begun again and we may very well conceive for all that postscript of Luke after the story of Iames his Martyrdom Peters imprisonment and Agrippa's death their return to Antioch and going
in the Talmud upon that subject called Taanith and the like in Maymony that beareth witnesse and it was no whit unsutable to the Gospel upon the like exigencies to use the like kinde of service and devotion And the present famine that was upon all Countries might very well minister occasion to this Church at Antioch at this present for such a work for we cannot but suppose that the famine was now in being Whatsoever the occasion was the Lord in the midst of their humiliation pointeth out Paul and Barnabas for an imployment of his own who were but a while ago returned from an imployment of the Churches And so the other three Simeon Lucius and Menaen understanding what the Lord meant and having used another solemn day in fasting in prayer lay their hands upon them and set them apart by Ordination According as the ordaining of Elders among the Jews was by a Triumvirate or by three Elders Sanhedr per. 1. halac 3. This is the second Imposition of hands since the Gospel began which did not confer the Holy Ghost with it for these two were full of the Holy Ghost before and this is the first Ordination of Elders since the Gospel that was used out of the Land of Israel Which rite the Jewish Canons would confine only to that Land Maym. Sanhedr per. 4. Which circumstances well considered with the imployment that these two were to go about and this manner of their sending forth no better reason I suppose can be given of this present action then that the Lord hereby did set down a platform of ordaining Ministers in the Church of the Gentiles to future times Paul and Barnabas thus designed by the Lord and ordained and sent forth by this Triumvirate and guided by the Holy Ghost they first go to Seleucia most likely Seleucia Pieriae of which Strabo saith that it is the first City of Syria from Cilicia Geogr. lib. 14. to which Pliny assenteth when he measureth the breadth of Syria from Seleucia Pieriae to Zeugma upon Euphrates Nat. hist. lib. 5. cap. 12. The reason of their going thither may be judged to be that they might take ship for Cyprus whither they intended for that this was a Port appeareth by what follows in Strabo when he saith That from Seleucia to Soli is about a thousand furlongs sail and so it is plain in Lukes text when he saith they departed unto Seleucin and from thence they sailed to Cyprus where let us now follow them Cyprus was a Country so exceeding full of Jews that it comes in for one in that strange story that Dion Cassius relates in the life of Trajan The Iews saith he that dwelt about Cyrene choosing one Andrew for their Captain slew the Greeks and Romans and ate their flesh and devoured their inwards and besmeared themselves with their blood and wore their â—kins Many they sawed asunder from the head downward others they cast to wilde beasts many they made to slay one another so that there were two hundred and twenty thousand destroyed in this manner There was the like slaughter made in Aegypt and Cyprus where there also perished two hundred and fourty thousand From whence it is that a Iew may not since come into Cyprus and if any by storms at sea be driven in thither they are slain But the Iews were subdued by others but especially by Lucius whom Trajan sent thither This was the native Country of Barnabas Act. 4.36 Although these two Apostles were sent to the Gentiles yet was it so far from excluding their preaching to the Jews that they constantly began with them first in all places where they came They begin at Salamis the place next their landing and there they preached in the Synagogues of the Iews having Iohn Mark for their Minister From thence they travailed preaching up and down in the Iland till they come to Paphos which was at the very further part of it toward the Southwest Angle There they meet with a Magicall Jew called Barjesus and commonly titled Elymas which is the same in sense with Magus Such Jewish deceivers as this went up and down the Countries to oppose the Gospel and to shew Magicall tricks and wonders for the stronger confirming of their opposition Such were the vagabond Iews exorcists Act. 19.13 and of such our Saviour spake Matth. 24.24 and oâ— some such we may give examples out of their own Talmudicall Writers And here we may take notice of a threefold practice of opposition that the Jews used in these times and forward against the Gospel and the spreading of it besides open persecution unto blood 1. Much about these times was made the prayer that hath been mentioned which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The prayer against Hereticks which became by injunction one of their daily prayers Maymony speaketh the matter and intent of it in his Treatise Tephillah in these words In the daies of Rabban Gamaliel Hereticks increased in Israel by Hereticks he meaneth those that turned from Judaism to Christianity and they troubled Israel and perswaded them to turn from their Religion He seeing this to be a matter of exceeding great consequence more then any thing else stood up he and his Sanhedrin and appointed a prayer in which there was a petition to God to destroy those Hereticks and this he seâ— among the common prayers and appointed it to be in every mans mouth and so their daily prayers became nineteen in number Pereh 2. So that they daily prayed against Christians and Christianity 2. The Jews had their emissaries every where abroad that to the utmost in them cried down the Gospel preached against it went about to consute it and blasphemed it and Christ that gave it Of this there is testimony abundant in the New Testament and in the Jews own Writings And 3. they were exceeding many of them skilled in Magick and by that did many strange things by such false miracles seeking to outface and vilifie the Divine miracles done by Christ and his Apostles and striving to confirm their own doctrines which opposed the Gospel by backing them with such strange and wondrous actings Iuchasin speaks of Abba Chelchiah and Chamin and Chamina Ben Dusa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men skilled in miracles fol. 20. And the Ierus Talmud speaks of their inchantings and magicall tricks in Shabb. fol. 8. col 2. 3. Sanhedr fol. 25. col 4. nay even of their charming in the Name of Iesu. Shabb. fol. 14. col 4. Paul miraculously strikes Elymas blind and inlightens Sergius Paulus with the light of the Gospel This was at Paphos where old superstition dreamed of the blinde God Cupid Doting Elymas grope for thy fellow The first miracle wrought among the Gentiles is striking a perverse Jew blinde which thing may very well become an Allegory From Paphos they go to Perga in Pamphylia and there Iohn departs from them and returns to Ierusalem but what was the occasion is hard to conjecture Whether it were that
he heard of Peters trouble and danger that he had been in at Ierusalem and desired to see him for that he had some speciall interest and familiarity with Peter may be collected from 1 Pet 5.14 and in that Peter was so well acquainted at his mothers house Act. 12.12 c. Or whether in regard of this his relation to Peter the Minister of the Circumcision he made it nice to go among the Gentiles into the thickest of which he saw they were coming every day more then other For at Paphos where they had last been was a Temple of Venus and at Perga where they now are was a Temple of Diana Strab. lib. 14. Pomp. Mela. lib. 1. cap. 14. Or whatsoever the matter was his departure was so unwarrantable that it made a breach betwixt him and Paul for the present nay it occasioned a breach betwixt Paul and Barnabas afterward And so we leave him in his journey to Ierusalem whither when he came he staied there till Paul and Barnabas came thither again ACTS CHAP. XII from Ver. 20. to Ver. 24. CHRIST XLIV CLAVDIVS IV HERODS death was in the beginning of this year the fourth of Claudius or neer unto it according as Iosephus helpeth us to compute who testifieth that the third year of his reign was compleated a little before his death Vid. Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. He left behinde him a sonne of seventeen years old in regard of whose minority and thereby unfitnesse to reign Claudius sent Cuspius Fadus to Govern his Kingdom His daughters were Berenice sixteen years old married to Herod King of Chalcis her fathers brother And Mariam ten years old and Drusilla six who afterward married Felix ACTS CHAP. XIII from Ver. 14. to the end of the Chapter And CHAP. XIV CHRIST XLV XLVI XLVII XLVIII XLIX CLAVDIVS V. VI. VII VIII IX AT the fifteenth Chapter we have some fastnesse of the time viz. in what year the Council at Ierusalem as it is commonly called did occurre which certainty we have not of the times of the occurrences henceforward thitherto so that since we cannot determinately point any passage to its proper year we must cast them in grosse under this grosse summe of years and distribute them to their proper seasons by the best conjecture we can From Perga in Pamphilia Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch in Pisidia and on the Sabbath day going into the Synagogue are invited by the Rulers of the Synagogue after the reading of the Law and Prophets to speak a word of exhortation to the people But how could the Rulers know that they were men fit to teach It may be answered By former converse with them in the City and it is very like that the Rulers themselves had drunk in some affection to the Gospel by converse with them which made them so ready to urge them to preach For it is not imaginable that this was the first time that they had seen them nor that they came to Town that very day but that they had had some converse before Paul preacheth and the Synagogue broke up and the Jews gone out the Gentiles desired that the same words might be preached to them in the week between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely on the second and fifth daies of the week following which were Synagogue daies on which they met in the Synagogues as on the Sabbath day And which daies their traditions said were appointed for that purpose by Ezra Talm. in Bava Kamah per. 7. R. Sol. and Nissim in Chetubboth per. 1. in Alphes Their preaching on those daies had so wrought that on the next Sabbath almost all the City was gathered together to hear the word and many of the Gentiles receive it but the Jews stirred up some female unbelieving proselytes against them and some of the chief of the City so that they drave them out of those coasts and they shaking off the dust of their feet against them go to Iconium This Ceremony injoyned them by their Master Matth. 10.14 was not so much for any great businesse put in the thing it self as that even from a tenet of their own they might shew how they were to be reputed of It was their own Maxime That the dust of a Heathen Country or City did defile or make a person unclean Tosaphta ad Kelim per. 1. hath this saying In three things Syria was like unto any Heathen Land The dust of it made a person unclean as the dust of any other Heathen Country did c. So that their shaking off the dust of their feet against them was to shew that they reputed them and their City as Heathenish ACTS CHAP. XIV AT Iconium they continue long and with good effect but at last they are in danger of stoning and thereupon they slip away to Lystra and Derbe Cities of Lycaonia and to the region that lieth round about That region Strabo describeth lib. 12. where among other particulars he tels that Derbe lay coasting upon Isauria and in his time was under the dominion of Amyntas At Lystra or Derbe Paul converteth Lois and Eunice and Timothy and as some will tell you here or at Iconium he converteth Tecla For healing a Creeple they are first accounted Gods but presently by perswasion of some Jews Paul is stoned but being reputed dead recovereth miraculously From thence they go to Derbe and return to Lystra Iconium and Antioch and ordain Elders in those Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 24. is unproperly rendred here Per suffragia creantes Presbyteros for so they could not do there not being a man in all these Churches fit to be chosen a Minister or qualified with abilities for that Function unlesse the Apostles by Imposition of hands bestow the holy Ghost upon them which might inable them For the Churches being but newly planted and the people but lately converted it would be hard to finde any among them so thoroughly completed in the knowledge of the Gospel as to be a Minister but by the Apostles hands they receive the Holy Ghost and so are inabled It is true indeed the Greek word in the first sense denoteth suffrages but that is not the only sense And so doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the proper sense signifie laying on of hands yet there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordination that was without it Maym. in Sanhedr 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How is ordination to be for perpetuity Not that they lay their hands on the head of the Elder but call him Rabbi and say Behold thou art ordained c. ACTS CHAP. XV. CHRIST L CLAVDIVS X WE are now come up to the Council at Hierusalem The occasion of which was the busie stirring of some who would have brought the yoke of Mosaick observances upon the neck of the converted Gentiles Multitudes of the Jews that beleeved yet were zealous of the Law Act. 21.20 and it was hard to get them off from those Rites in which they had been ever
hasten their collections for the Saints in Iudea that they might be ready against Paul should come thither And with Titus he sendeth two other brethren and by them all he sendeth THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS The proof that it was written and sent at this time and in this manner is plain by these places and passages in it Chap. 9.2 3 4. I know the forwardnesse of your minde for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia Yet have I sent the brethren lest our boasting of you should be in vain left haply they of Macedonia come with me c. Chap. 12.14 Behold the third time I am coming to you Chap. 13.1 This is the third time I am coming to you And Chap. 8.16 But thanks be unto God who put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you 17. Being more forward of his own accord he went unto you 18. And with him we have sent the brother whose praise is in the Gospel 22. And we have sent with them our brother whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things c. Who these two namelesse persons should be will require some inquiry The later I suppose was Erastus both because his diligence had been approved before Acts 19.22 c. and also because it is said Erastus abode at Corinth 2 Tim. 4. yet he not named among Pauls retinue when he set out for Asia Act. 20.4 because he was gone to Corinth before As for the other brother whose praise is said to be in the Gospel that very phrase and expression hath caused many to conceive that it was Luke and that the words mean Who is famous in all the Churches for the Gospel he hath written whereas besides that groundlesse strictnesse that is put upon the words limiting them to the writing of a Gospel which according to that most usuall manner of speech are rather to be understood of his renown in preaching the Gospel it is apparent by the words of Luke himself that he went not either before Paul to Corinth as this brother spoken of did nor did he go before Paul to Troas as the rest that are named by him did but he went in Pauls company for observe his speech These tarried for us at Troas And we sailed away from Philippi c. The words Vs and We do plainly associate the penman himself with Paul at his setting out and shew that he was none of those that were sent before Others therefore do guesse that this brother that went along with Titus was Silas because it is said Who also was chosen by the Churches to travell with us c. Which very thing which they use for an argument to prove it Silas proves against it for Silas was not chosen by the Churches to go with Paul any more then Timothy or Titus were but he was chosen by Paul alone as they also were See Act. 15.40 That clause then Who was also chosen of the Churches to travell with us doth deal the matter betwixt Barnabas and Mark for none other can be named to whom the words can be so properly applied as to one of them and of the â—wo most properly to Mark and he I doubt not is the man that is here intended For 1. the words with us joyn Paul and Barnabas together in their travell and the third man who was chosen to travell with them was none but Mark. For 2. he was chosen by the Church at Ierusalem for that purpose Act. 12.25 and by the Church at Antioch Act. 13 5. as these words he was chosen by the Churches do well explain those verses 3. It is true indeed that Paul had taken distast at Mark and so bitter that Barnabas and he had parted upon it Act. 15.39 yet in his second Epistle to Timothy he desires Timothy to bring Mark to him for that he is profitable to him for the Ministry 2 Tim. 4. by which it appears that he was not only reconciled to him but also that he had made use of him and found him usefull When it was that they knit into amity and imployment again is not discoverable but that they had done so the passage newly alledged doth make past deniall and if his imployment of Mark were not now or before he can no more imploy him before he himself become a prisoner When we come to the time and order of the second Epistle to Timothy we shall have occasion to speak to this matter again and shall finde something there to help the confirmation of this assertion nay to raise it higher then yet it hath spoken namely that Mark was not only sent by Paul to Corinth at this time but also that he was at Corinth when Paul sent for him to come to him to Rome And thus if these words Whose praise is in the Gospel were to be understood of one that had written a Gospel here is a subject to apply them to in that sense for this Mark wrote a Gospel as well as Luke The Apostle in this second Epistle to Corinth doth first excuse his not coming to them according as he had promised in his first Epistle 1 Cor. 16.5 clearing himself from all lightnesse in making and from all unfaithfulnesse in breaking that promise and pitching the main reason upon themselves and their present condition because he had not yet intelligence when he went first into Macedonia of any reformation among them of those enormities that he had reproved in his first Epistle therefore he was unwilling to come to them in heavinesse and with a scourge This his failing to come according to his promise had opened the mouths of divers in his disgrace and false teachers took any other occasion to vilifie him which he copiously satisfies and vindicates himself all along the Epistle His exceeding zealous plainnesse with them and dealing so home and throughly against their misdemeanours as he did was one advantage that false teachers and his ill-willers took to open their mouth against him and to withdraw hearts from him and withall and mainly because he was so urgent against the works of the Law as to Justification and those rites which the Jews even the most that were converted to the Gospel too much doted on About the former their taunt and scorn against him was His Letters are weighty and powerfull but his bodily presence is weak and speech contemptible Chap. 10.10 A poor contemptible fellow say they to be so sharp and supercilious in his Letters this is more then he durst speak if he were here c. But let such know saies he that what I am by Letters in absence I will be by words and in deed in presence Concerning both this and the latter named they passed Festus his censure upon him as Act. 26.24 that he was besides himself This he mentions and answers Chap. 5.13 Whether we are besides our selves it is for God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ