And because hee shall be God and Man therefore he shall be called Emanuel This is he of whome the Prophet Esay cap. 9. foretold saying Vnto vs a childe is borne and vnto vs a sonne is giuen and the gouernment is vppon his shoulder and he shall cal his name Wonderfull Counseller the Mighty God the euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace The encrease of his gouernment and peace shall haue no end He is also called The Sonne of the Virgin Emanuel God with vs Es 7. Shiloh the acceptable child Gen. 49. The bright day starre Luke 3 The Seede of the woman Gen. 3 The Phisition to the helplesse The proclaymer of the acceptable yeare of the Lord The starre and Scepter that should dash all the sonnes of Seth Numb 24 The stone cut out of the mountaine without hands that now filleth all the earth with his glory euē he that should punne Nebucadnetzars image to dust Dan. 2 The sprigge of the root of Iessaj Esay 11 The most holy The annointed of the Father That great Prophet The Tabernacle The Temple The Altar The mercie seate The way that leadeth to the heauenly Ierusalem The truth that directeth to eternall happinesse The life that redeemed Adam from death The true Israelite in whome there is no guile The law-giuer of the Gentiles The propitiatory for our sinnes The mediator betwixt God and man The first begotten Sonne of the Father The euerlasting our Righteousnesse The great sheepheard of his sheepe whome Angels worshipped to whom Kings brought sweet odors as to Salomon to whome the sheepheards of the ends of the earth came to worship He is also called Palmony the secret Numberer who weigheth numbreth and diuideth The Messias Dan. 9. The sonne of Dauid The Lion of the tribe of Iuda The sonne of man The spirituall Rocke The true bread that came from heauen The word that created all things The beloued of the Lord The light and life of man The true vine The dwelling of God with men Michael who thought it no robbery to be equall with God He to whome the Crowne and Diademe doth belong The King of the Iewes Alpha and Omega The Lambe that was killed from the beginning of the world The place where he was borne was Bethlehem of Iudah which the Prophet Micheas calleth Little to be among the thousands of Iudah yet saith the prophet out of thee shall he come forth vnto me that shal be the ruler of Israel whose goings forth haue been from the beginning and from euerlasting The prophet calleth it Little because according to the custome of the Iewes who diuided their countrie into thousands for euery thousand a chiefe Captaine Bethleem was not able to make a thousand But S. Mathew Chap. 2. in respecting the greatnes of the Ruler of Israel that was borne there saith And thou Bethlehem art not the least of the cities of Iudah The time of his birth was in the 42. yeare of Augustus Caesar who Luc. 2. gaue a commandement that all the world should be taxed Therfore went euery man to his owne citie and Ioseph went from Galile out of a citie called Nazaret in Iudea vnto the citie of Dauid which is called Bethleem because he was of the house and lineage of Dauid to be taxed with Mary that was giuen him to wife which was with child And there shee brought forth her first begotten sonne and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a cribbe because there was no roome for them in the Inne And there were in the same countrie sheepheards abiding in the field and keeping watch by night because of their flockes loe the Angel of the Lord came vpon thē and the glory of the Lord shone about them and they were sore afraide Then the Angell said Be not afraid for behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to al people that is vnto you is borne this day in the citie of Dauid a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord. And strait way there was with the Angell a multitude of heauenly souldiers praysing God and saying Glory be to God in the highest heauens and peace in earth and towards men good will And these sheepheards following the starre it vanished away where fore they came to Ierusalem and asked saying Where is he that is borne King of the Iewes The purpose of God in this was that the Iewes who by the Prophets might and were bound to haue knowen this by the diligence of the heathen might bee vnexcusable in the day of wrath But departing from Herod the Starre which they before had seene appeared vnto them and went before them till it came stood ouer the place where the Babe was and they went into the house and fell downe and worshiped him and opened their treasures and presented vnto him gifts euen gold and incense and mirhe Heere is performed Esay 60. They of Sheba and Seba shall bring forth gold and incense vpon mine Altar meaning Christ And I will magnifie the house of my glory These were the first fruits of the Gentiles And these Gentiles also were of Abraham by Keturah to whome when he died he gaue gifts and sent them away to the East There was Iob found a iust and perfect man when all the world else had forsaken God And the Sheepheards returned glorifying and praysing God for all they had heard and seene And after eight daies they circumcised the child his name was then called Iesus which was named of the Angell before hee was conceaued in the wombe Herod another Pharaoh proceeding of Esau the old enemie to Iacob destroyeth the little children not by water as the first Pharaoh did Exod. 2. but by the sword Math. 2. Rachel weepeth for her children and would not be comforted because they were not that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Ier. 31.15 Ioseph taketh the Babe and Marie his Mother and goeth into Egypt vntill the death of Herod and then returneth againe that it might bee fulfilled which was written Oseas 11.1 Out of Egipt haue I called my son There is a great doubt of the time of the yeare of Christs birth which because it is very necessary to bee knowne I thinke it not amisse to lay it downe in the treatise following SAint Mathew reckoning the kindred of Christ brings them down but from Abraham to make the number of his generations Fortie two that is six seauens or three fourteenes and bringeth him also from Salomon thereby to prooue him King of the Iewes But in reckoning the Kings to make the number answerable to a sweet proportion of a former storie that is of the two and fortie standings in the wildernesse and the two and fortie flowers bowles knobbes of the candlesticke in the tabernacle which figured Christ leaueth out three Ioas Amasias and Azarias S. Luke reckoning his kindred bringeth thē from Adam and from Dauid by Nathan thereby to prooue him to be the Seede of the woman
perfect Sabbath hee had performed some part of the Lawe and thereby beene partaker with Christ in the worke of our Redemption Againe if Adam had continued in the image of God which is in righteousnesse and true holinesse vntill the Sabbath hee would haue performed the ordinances of the Sabbath which was to eate of the tree of life which was made for a Sacrament of conseruation vnto him and should not haue needed a Redeemer Hee did not eate of the Tree of Life for God after his fall setteth Cherubims to keepe the way of the Tree of Life least Adam eating should liue for euer Whereby it appeareth that if hee had eaten thereof before hee had not fallen Therefore it cannot be that Adam continued perfect vnto the Sabbath And further it is written Psal 49. Adam being in honour continueth not one night but is like to the beasts that perish Cedrenus a Greeke writer saith that Adam fell the sixt day of the first weeke Saint Augustine saith the woman streight way after her creation before she accompained with Adam became into the transgression otherwise Kaine had beene conceaued without sinne Theophilact vpon Matthew sayth that as man was formed the sixt day and did eate of the tree the sixt howre so Christ reforming man and healing the fall was fastened to the tree the sixt day and the sixt howre And in the storie of the creation in Genesis presently after the fall Moses speaketh of the Redemption And without wee compare the Creation with the Redemption wee misse of all For Adam to bee compared with Christ is the summe of all And wherefore should all the actions of the Redemption bee accomplished in such rarenesse except to bee aunswerable both to the fall and to the time of the fall Wherefore it is needfull wee should know our thraldome if wee will receaue comfort by the Redeemer thus First Christ the Restorer was borne of a Virgine Why because by a Virgine destruction came to the world Chrysostome compareth Eue and Marie together thus Eue beeing a Virgine hearing the wordes of the SERPENT and beleeuing them brought foorth DEATH The Virgine Marie hearing the wordes of the Angell Gabriel and beleeuing them brought foorth Life Againe why should Christ die on the sixt day rather than on the fifth or fourth And why was there darkenesse vntill the coole of the day rather than till the Sunne setting but to make the Redemption answerable to euery part of the fall because God according to the secret counsell of his owne will before the foundations of the earth were laide would make the Art of saluation so easie and the harmonie of the Bible so tuneable that no musicke in the world can bee more pleasant to the eare than the meditation of the loue of God towards vs in Christ is comfortable to the heart of man Therefore the meditation of Adams fall and the victorie of Christ ought to bee continually in our mindes Now compare Christ with Adam Adam Christ The first Adam was made a soule hauing life of earth earthly therefore by the earthly one came disobedience sinne iudgement condemnation death was created on the sixt day and did eate of the tree the sixt howre was made a man without a Father made not inferiour to the Angels lost all was tempted lost saluation at the time of eating was made ruler of the world and did not hold it did fall in the Garden his soule was in darkenes from the sixt houre vntil the ninth howre by breaking one commandement lost all was called to account at the ninth howre was debarred of the tree of life was driuen out of Paradise was the head of his Wife was a King Prophet Sacrificer liued a thousand yeeres wanting seuentie The second Adam was made a spirit giuing Life from heauen heauenlie thetefore by the heauenly one came obedience grace forgiuenesse iustification life reforming man healing the fall is fastened to the tree the sixt day the sixt howre was made a man without a Father made lower then the Angels is crowned with glory and all the Angels worship him being man whereby wee may know the world was made subiect to a man was tempted brought saluation to all at the time of eating was made ruler of the world and did hold it went into a Garden to recouer Adams fall in the garden when he suffered caused darkenes to couer the whole earth from the sixt howre till the ninth howre by fulfilling all the commaundements brought life to all at the ninth howre yeeldeth vp the Ghost and goeth to giue account to his Father is the true Tree of Life on that day openeth Paradise to the poore theefe the head of his Church was a King Prophet Sacrificer was borne seuentie yeeres before foure thousand BEcause these two Tables consist onely of numbers and that numbers in the scripture are great helpes for the vnderstanding of the same before wee come to speake of Seth it is not amisse to lay downe what numbers are of most vse in the Bible namely 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 12. 1 Expressing the vnion of the Godhead and from thence the vnitie of all godly as being members of one head Christ Iesus which is made plaine Psal 133. Behold how good and comely a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie c. 3 The distinguished Trinitie within which number many excellent things fall out still to put vs in minde of the vndeuidable coeternitie of Father Sonne and holy Spirite To shew that neither in eldest yongest or middlemost but in Gods free election standeth our eternall happinesse Adam Kaine Of Adam the eldest extreame wicked Abel Of Adam the eldest extreame wicked Seth. Of Adam the eldest extreame wicked Noah Iaphet Of Noah the youngest wicked Sem Of Noah the youngest wicked Cham. Of Noah the youngest wicked Terah Haran Of Terah the middlemost was wicked Nachor Of Terah the middlemost was wicked Abram Of Terah the middlemost was wicked Three Angels appeared to Abraham in his Tent. Three Fowers of precious stones were set in Aarons breast Three Things reserued in the Arke Three Taken vp in the old Testament and 3 in the new The Booke of the Lawe The pot of Manna and Aarons rod that did alwaies flourish Three Parts was Ierusalem diuided into Three Letters the root of euerie word in the Hebrew tongue Three Captiuities of the Iewes Three Times was the Temple grosly poluted by the Babilonians Antiochi Romanes Three Times a yeere were the Iewes bound to come to Ierusalem to giue account of their Religion Three Dayes and Nights was Ionas in the Whales belly Nights and dayes was Christ in the graue Iohns viz. Iohn Baptist Luk. 1. Iohn Euangelist Mat. 4. Iohn Marke Act. 12. Iob saued 3 Eliphaz Sophar Bildad Daniel saued 3 Ananias Azarias Mishael Noah saued 3 Sem. Cham. Iaphet In the 3. seuenth Iubile the Iewes felaway and then Ieremie said O earth earth earth Heare the word of the Lord
the workes of the fathers and bred by them maintaineth manifest absurdities we must seeke for another exposition If we consider the old Testament we shall find that Eliphaz in the booke of Iob preacheth the same doctrine that Saint Peter doth and therefore will serue for an exposition Eliphaz reasoneth with Iob thus Haste thou O Iob marked the way of the world wherein wicked men haue walked which were cut off by time and whose foundation was couered with waters which said vnto God depart from vs And yet what could he doe more for them he filled their houses with good things yet they refused the way of the Almightie So Saint Peter speaketh that the spirit of God went in like manner as he is said to come downe at the ouerthrow of Babell by confounding their tongues and when he destroyed Sodome and Gomorrah and preached in Noah to wit the time while the Arke was in making To whom to the spirits now in prison why because they said to God depart from vs we wil none of thy wayes Thus you see the words of Saint Peter made plaine This time of 120. yeeres Saint Peter calleth the patience and long suffering of God The Iewes in a booke called Zoar expound S. Peters words in this sort The Lord commeth to plague the wicked for their vnbeliefe sixe moneths with water sixe monethes with fire hot and cold and sent them all to Gehenna which is hell Not that they meant so the story of the word by plaine eye-sight controleling it but that the anger of God was as grieuous to their soules as the waters of the flood which wrinkled their bodies Christ in the Gospell compareth the flood with the end of the world for in the dayes of Noah they had rich Iubal to feast them and cunning Tubalkain to delight them in building or such like deuises and faire Naamah that they might marry according as their eyes lusted till the waters of the flood ouerwhelmed them so shall it be in the end of the world Eliphaz counselleth Iob that considering the ende of these men hee should bee at peace with God before our substance be cut off and the fire consume the rest of them Iaphet borne HIs name signifieth Perswaded He was the eldest sonne of Noah whereof many seeme to doubt which being examined by Scripture will appeare most certaine in Gen. 5. It is sayd Noah being 500. yeres old he begetteth Sem Cham and Iaphet Now it is certaine that they were not borne all at once for the plaine storie crosseth that In Gen. 6. Noah is said to be 600. yeeres old and the flood commeth then he must needes haue a sonne that is 100. yeeres old It could not be Sem for hee was but 100. yeeres olde two yeeres after the flood Gen. 11. Neither was it Cham for he was yonger than Sem For Noah said hee knew what his yongest sonne had done The reason of the doubt ariseth because Sem is named first in Gen. 5. Whom Moses penning the storie long after placed first to shew that Sem was the most worthie and had the prerogatiue of first borne because Christ was to come from him according to the promise made to Eua in Paradise The seede of the woman shall breake the head of the Serpent Sem borne WHich signifieth Name or Renowne Whereby we are to vnderstand that Noah had a wonderfull assurance of the promise in Christ in calling him Sem or as we say Name And withall we are to seeke by the like faith to be renowned that our names may be written in the booke of life For Salomon saith Pro. 22. A good name is more worth than a precious oyntment But God will put out their names from vnder heauen that flatter themselues in their wickednesses and whose roote beareth gall and wormewood as he commaunded Deut. 25. Put out the name of Amalecke from vnder heauen he is the beginning of Nations but his latter end shall perish vtterly 93. Lamech died Fiue yeeres before the flood being 777. yeeres olde His name runneth vpon seuens For what he wanted in long life he had it in casting a sweet account If Lamech had the age of his fathers he might haue seene the flood 98. Methushelah dieth Being 969. yeeres old and the seuenth that died after Adam as his Father Henoch was the seuenth that was borne after Adam Hee died but a few dayes before the flood to shew that he being a iust man kept away the flood and lacked but 31. yeere of 1000. Now it is not to be vnderstood that he liued full 969 yeeres for hee liued but a fewe dayes of his last yeere For if his yeeres be cast you shall see hee dieth in the yeere of the flood Now the flood came not in the first moneth because Methushelah then liued the tenth day of the second moneth the flood came Methushelah was dead before that time his dayes were the exact rule of the flood for so long as hee liued the waters could not ouerflow the earth he being dead the waters might aske God whether they should now worke vengeance to the wicked No saith God Noah shall mourne him a moneth as the children of Israel mourned Iacobs death Afterwards this moneth of sorrow being ended then they demaund of God againe whether now the wicked should be ouerwhelmed with waters God answereth No For Noah shall haue a Sabbath of preparation This being finished the flood couereth the face of the earth Methushelah Spoile death or Speare death Christ Died and rose againe and reuiued that he might be Lord of quicke and dead Suffered death that by his death he might ouercome him that had the power of death This halfe sheweth that at the flood the dayes of man were shortned halfe in halfe as Psal 89. The Lord hath shortned the dayes of youth These numbers are the summe of the yeares from the Creation to the floud which are gathered by the particuler natiuities of the Ten Fathers before the floud These particulers being added they make the yeares of the world at the floude 1656. Adam 130 Seth. 105 Enosh 90 Kenan 70 Mahalaleel 65 Iared 162 Henoch 65 Methushelah 187 Lamech 182 Noah 600. The floud is brought vpon the olde world c. THe floude is a resemblance of the destruction of the world and was the greatest iudgement of the world till the world shal be consumed with fire Therfore the story of the floud doth cause vs to consider of things past and to haue iudgement of things to come For in the floude are rare examples concerning waighing numbring and diuiding It was 40. daies in rayning the like time in abating God hath numbred waighed and diuided The second day of the seuenth moneth The times do shew that God doth waigh and number wonderfully all the affaires of men but men did not then know what God would doe because he had hardned their hearts and scorning Noah all his life time they were ashamed then to fly vnto him
and fetch a Kid that thereof she might make pleasant meat for Isaack Iacob is affraid she comforteth him for she had her warrant from God that the elder should serue the yonger and therefore shee boldly aduentureth He commeth to Isaack who supposeth him to bee Iacob by his voyce but feeling the roughnesse of his handes and necke is perswaded that it is Esau and blesseth him When hee was blessed in commeth Esau with his venison and prayeth his Father to blesse him Isaack was now astonied to thinke of this subtiltie His spirite must needs be full of feare to thinke how hee whom he would haue blessed the Lord would not choose Isaack therefore seeing the euent acknowledgeth the election of God in Iacob and concludeth that he shall be blessed Now here is a question to be handled When Iacob saith I am thy Sonne Esau And Isaac answereth It is Iacobs voice Whether Iacob doth lye or no. This answere of Iacobs if we expound in the best sence is no lye for then it is no more but a kind of scoffing called Ironia So God speaketh in Gen. 3. Behold the man is become as one of vs to know good and euill So Christ in the Gospell commeth to his Disciples and finding them a sleepe saith Sleepe henceforth Wee may answere it further thus Iacob in respect of the purpose of God which chose him for the blessed might verie well bee called the onely Sonne Besides in regard of ciuill right now hee was his eldest Sonne seeing hee had bought the birth-right of Esau Whether it were a lye or no we will leaue it to God and wee cannot altogether condemne this answere seeing God approoueth it by giuing Iacob the blessing Plato saith When men are dead wee cannot aske them what they meant Therefore we must expound their speeches and their actions to the best meaning And further words are not alwayes to be taken in proper kinde of speaking For Abram defendeth himselfe that Sara was his Sister to wit the Daughter of his Father but not the daughter of his mother Ioseph sweareth by the life of Pharaoh if you take the words as they lye in proper sence he sinned greatly and was euen for his oath the worst of all Iacobs Sonnes But Salmo Iirki expoundeth him thus by the life of Pharaoh you are Spies that is Pharaohs life is a wormes life which in account is no life euen so are ye no Spies in truth though you may seem so to be So likewise Hushai answereth Absalom for when Absalom saw Hushai Dauids Counsellor he asketh him Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Why wentest thou not with thy friend meaning Dauid Hushai answereth Nay but whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel chose his will I be and with him will I dwell This sentence hath a double meaning either that he meant to serue Absalom or King Dauid Therefore when thinges are spoken doubtfully we must marke how men may in wit expound them 2183. Abraham died Gen. 25. Being One hundred Seuentie and fiue yeares old He was buried in Hebron 2188. Heber died Gen. 11. Being Foure hundred Seuentie and fiue yeares old He was the longest liuer of any that was borne after the flood 2231. Ismael died being 137. yeares old THe prophet Esay Cap. 66. prophecying of the calling of the Gentiles nameth the two eldest Sonnes of Ismael Nebaioth and Kedar saying The Rammes of Nebaioth shall serue thee and the sheepe of Kedar shall be gathered vnto thee Againe hee nameth two of Abraham by Ketura Sheba and Seba which two names doe also containe the Gentiles by Cham and the Gentiles of Sem by Iocktan So that vnder the names of the most worthy Gentiles which are the Gentiles by Abraham he sheweth the calling of all the Gentiles in the world Wherby we are taught that Ismaels posteritie was not wholy rooted out of the fauour of God as Ameleck was 2245. Iacob goeth to Laban Gen. 28. HE goeth into the Countrey of Mesopotamia to Laban There he serueth Twentie yeares This Laban was the Sonne of Bethuell and brother to Rebecca and of the house of Nachor the Brother of Abraham and Haran who remained in the Land of the Chaldees after Abrahams departure So that Laban though of Mesopotamia yet is neere kinsman to Iacob Iacob in this Iourney goeth ouer Iordan with his staffe and skrip as closely and secretly as hee could that thereby Esau might not know of his departure for Esau was mightie and as it appeareth afterwards had a band of Foure hundred men Alexander Polyhistor writeth of this flying of Iacob for feare of his brother Esau of his abode in Mesopotamia his seuen yeares seruice his marrying with two Sisters the number of his children the rauishing of Dina the slaughter of Sichem the selling of Ioseph and of his imprisonment his deliuerance for expounding of dreames his authoritie in Egipt his marrying with Putifars daughter his two Sons by name that were borne of her the comming of his Brethren into Egypt the Feast that he made them the Fiue parts that he gaue to Beniamin whereof this Author intendeth to yeeld a reason the comming of Iacob and his whole houshold into Egypt of what age euerie of them was and how many children euerie one of them had and so he bringeth vs downe from Noah to the flood from the flood to Abraham from Abraham to Leui and from Leui to Moses notwithstanding euer among faults in recording the times with some other additions of small importance Which plainely shew that he had not those Histories immediately out of the Bible but out of some other bookes which he had seene elsewhere Iacob going to Haran stayeth by the way all night because the Sunne was downe and layd of the Stones of the place vnder his head and slept There hee seeth the Vision of the Ladder and when hee awaketh hee saith Surely the Lord was in this place and I was not ware of it Then he rose and tooke vp the stones and made a pillar and called it Bethel for he said This is no other but the house of Iehouah and the gate of heauen He seeth a Ladder c. THis Ladder representeth Christ the foot on the earth his humanitie and the top reaching to heauen his deity The Angels of God ascending and descending the meditations betwixt God and vs And the Lord standing aboue vppon it the readinesse of the Father to receiue our prayers This is expounded Ioh. 1.51 Ye shall see the heauens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending vppon the Sonne of man In this Vision of the Ladder we see the whole meditation of Christ is shewed to Iacob And if we duly consider it there could not bee a fitter similitude in the whole course of nature to represent the meditation than the Ladder For euen as in the Ladder if two or three steps be broken the Ladder is to no vse seeing wee can neither ascend nor goe downe by
belongs not to the chronicle this is the vse of al Christ is Palmoni the secret nūberer who weigheth numbreth and diuideth yea euen the haires of our head By these also the Eight and twentie Iubilees are made plaine and perfect The certentie of these falling out so iust may assure our consciences that God is faithfull who hath promised Dan. 9. Christ the King after seuenty Seuens shall be slain but not for himselfe c. is the full accomplishment hereof and to which they are to to be referred for so Othoniel the first Iudge of the Tribe of Iudah represented him of all these Iudges Saint Paul speaketh Heb. 11. By faith all these saw the Promise a farre off and beleeued and receiued it not God prouiding a better thing for vs that without vs they should not be made perfect To conclude in the ninth of Esay the Lord bringeth in the conquest of the Iudges both of Zabulon and Nephtali and the ouerthrowe of Madian and then how the Battell of the Warriour was with great noyse and with tumbling his garments in blood but when Christ shall come to subdue all Nations vnto himselfe whome these Conquerours signified his gouernment shal be with peace and righteousnesse and of his Kingdome there shall be none end Thus much for the Storie of the Iudges THE NEXT VVHICH IS TO be handled are Samuel and Saul and first for Samuel The Seuenth Iubilee HEre you haue in the Seuenth Iubilee a rare man Samuel to teach Religion where God purposed to establish a Kingdome It may be demanded why Christ did not die in the Fourth Iubilee seeing it is a square number and representeth the forme of the heauenly Ierusalem Because Iosephs house had not then receiued his full glorie Why then died he not in the Seuenth Iubilee seeing it is a holy number and figureth the rest of our soules Because the Scepter which Iacob promised was not yet come to Iudah and when he had it must haue a double glory ouer Ioseps house but multiply the number of Seuen by the number foure you haue Eight and Twentie the verie yeare of Christs death Thus you see in what a sweet harmonie all the actions of God are lincked if men will marke and not be amazed at manifest truthes Samuel and Saul Fortie yeares IN Samuels Storie we are to consider three things First the time of the gouernment Secondly the place where hee ruled Thirdly his person The time was in Seuenth Iubilee this is a speciall note They were Seuen yeares in conquering the Land Theodoretus applies this to this Storie that so in the Seuenth Iubilee they should looke for some rare euent In the first Iubilee Othoniel of the Tribe of Iuda hath a great victorie and is the first Iudge and recouereth the Kingdome In the Seuenth Iubilee there is a great conquest for Samuel recouereth the Kingdome from the Philistines restoreth the Arke to Iuda and erecteth the Kingdome in Israel This is a wonderfull matter and these times are to be noted because Saint Paul in the Acts saith That God gaue them Iudges after a kinde of reckoning Foure hundred and Fiftie yeares vnto the time of Samuel the Prophet which foure Hundred and Fiftie yeares wee must finde out by casting the particulars So likewise Daniel reckoning the death of Christ by seuentie Seuens compelleth vs to remember the Seuentie yeares of the Captiuitie the foure Seuens of Iubilees and the other Seuens through the scripture These things hange together like a golden chaine that euen as by breaking one linke all is disturbed so by not marking or neglecting one the other become hard and by obseruing this order the word of God is made plaine and easie to those which delight in it Samuels time may bee compared to the newe world after the flood for euen as in Noahs time at the flood all good men were dead euen so now none aliue of any rare blessing so that Samuel beginneth as it were to reuiue the world againe Now for the place HE was borne at Aramathia which signifieth a hye Bancke Here is no mysterie in this But hereby wee may remember a like Storie for Ioseph of Aramathia buried Christ equall with Ioseph which buried Iacob Now followeth the circumstance of his person IN his person first we may consider his name which signifieth I haue asked him of God Plato bringeth in a man Theaitetes which signifieth asked of God The heathen tooke great delight to giue names full of signification This Samuel was of the Tribe of Leui answereable for rarenesse to Moses Moses birth was verie strange his Mother being an hundred and thirtie yeares so the Hebrewes cast her age This they cannot prooue exactly but yet she must be verie old because she was sister to Moses Grandfather so Samuels mother verie old The strangenesse of their birth must needs cause those which liued with them to expect great thinges of them and diligently to obserue their actions Here is yet the difference betweene Moses and Samuel Moses had some notable of his Auncestors which were not touched with any notable blemish Samuel is of Chore which familie is most wicked And here is a great matter to be considered Dauid and Samuels Sonnes are of one age and yet from Leui to Samuel you haue Seuenteene generations and his Sonnes make one generation which maketh Eighteene Generations But in the Tribe of Iuda to Dauid you haue but fiue Generations that is to say Salmon Booz Obed Iessai and Dauid There is mention made in the Psalmes of Ten psalmes of the Sonnes of Chore they be all psalmes of comfort but the Eightie and Foure psalme is a speciall one for there he sheweth how God hath been fauourable vnto the Land because hee brought againe the captiuitie of Iacob when in mercie hee forgaue their sinnes And this mercie will he alwayes shew to them that feare him and then the Lord shall dwell in their Land For mercie and truth shall meete righteousnesse and peace because truth shall budde out of the earth and then righteousnesse shall looke downe from heauen In the 87. Psal thus they speake The Lord loueth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob for in it the Temple was built I will thinke vpon Rahab and Babell Behold yee Philistines and they of Tyre with the Morians loe there was hee borne The meaning of this last sentence is thus much The Lord will write this man that man born in Salem by regeneration where in the conflict betweene Moses and Dathan Chore and Abiram which were destroyed Moses writeth that the Sonnes of Chore did not perish Wee must expound this as a Prophecie and referre it to the present time For he as a Prophet saw that some of them should be godly the perfourmance whereof appeareth in these daies Hereby we may learne that diuers wicked Fathers may haue children inheritors of saluation And the heathen were not hindred for being called because of the ignorance of
a time or 42. monthes alluding to the time of Antiochus gouernment For as Antiochus polluted the Temple of God changing the lawes of Moses forbidding that which God commanded placing idolatry in his sanctuary and persecuting such as would not forsake the Religion of God so the Romanes haue polluted the Temple of God changing the lawes that Moses teacheth and forbiddeth that which God commandeth compelling open idolatry and persecuting such as will not forsake the truth of Gods Religion Againe these legges meaning the fourth kingdome are called in Dan. 11. the King of the North and the King of the South that is Syria which is North from Iudea and Egipt which is South from Iudea therefore not the Romanes Againe the corporation of the Romanes is described in the Reuelation to be one beast with seauen heads and ten hornes This fourth beast in Daniel hath but one head and ten hornes therefore it cannot be meant of the Romanes But in truth the Romanes hauing conquered the whole world imbracing the impieties of the Babylonian Lyon the cruelty of the Persian Beare the fiercenes of the Grecian Leopard and the most tyrannicall and prophane blasphemies of the fourth beast The holy Ghost could not by fitter resemblances describe them than by these beastes therefore hee nameth them vnder the name of one monstrous beast hauing property of all the former that is A beast with seauen heads and ten hornes mouthed like the Babylonian Lyon footed like the Persian Beare bodyed like the Grecian Leopard and hath ten hornes and the blasphemous wordes of the fourth beast whose inhumane cruelty was such that no beast in the earth could be likened vnto it Thus much for the parts of the image and for the foure beasts in generall Now followeth to be handled the Persians Storie particularly And first for Cyrus HE deliuered the people from captiuity the same yeare that hee tooke Babylon and gaue them great treasures to build vp the Temple of Ierusalem whither he sent them vnder the conduct of Zorababel 2. Chro. 36. In the first yeare of Cyrus King of Persia when the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Ieremie was finished the Lord stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus and he made a Proclamation throughout all his kingdome saying Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia All the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lord God of heauen giuen me and he hath commanded mee to build him an house in Ierusalem that is in Iudah Who is among you of all his people with whome the Lord his God is let him goe vp and build the house of the Lord God of Israel he is the God which is in Ierusalem Then the chiefe Fathers of Iudah and Beniamin and the sacrificers and Leuites rose vp with all them whose spirite God had raised to goe vp to build the house of the Lord which is in Ierusalem Also Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebucadnetzar had taken out of Ierusalem and counted them vnto Sheshbatzar the Prince of Iudah whome the Caldeans called Zorobabel and the number of the vessels of gold and siluer were 5400. Sheshbatzar brought vp all with them of the captiuity that came vp from Babel to Ierusalem the whole congregatiō of them together which came from captiuity were 42360. besides their seruants and maides of whome were 7337. and among them 200. singing men and women And certaine of the chiefe Fathers when they came to Ierusalem gaue after their ability vnto the treasure of the worke 60000. drammes of gold and 5000. peeces of siluer and 100. sacrificers garments the summe of the money in our account amounts to 94493. pounds 6. shillings 8. pence for the dramme is the eight part of an ounce and the ounce the eight part of a marke which according to our estimation amounteth allowing the French crowne for 6. shillings 4. pence the dramme to 24826. poundes 13. shillings 4. pence And the peeces of siluer are called Minaes and euery peece conteine 26. shillings 8. pence so 5000. Minaes make 550000. frankes which in our account is 69666. poundes 13. shillings 4. pence But the Israelites that were beyond the riuer in Samaria placed there by the King of Ashur enuying the prosperous proceeding of the building of the Citie and Temple caused it to be hindred vnto the second yeare of Darius King of Persia But Haggai and Zachariah prophesied vnto the people and encouraged them So they continued in the worke one hand on the trowell the other on the sword vntill it was finished So the foundation is laid in the fourth yeare of Cyrus as the first Temples foundation was laid in the fourth yeare of Salomon This Darius is also called Artaxerxes which in the Persian tongue signifieth an excellent Warriour Some thinke it was Cambyses Darius sonne but Cambyses Cyrus sonne was neuer King but Lieutenant in his fathers absence This Darius was also called Assuerus he was not supreme King but deputie to Cyrus For Cyrus hauing conquered the kingdome of the Medes against Astyages left the said kingdome to his brother Darius by whose ayde he tooke Babylon and transported the kingdome of the Babylonians to the Persians Two yeares after the said Darius returned into Madai and Cyrus raigned alone in Babylon Then he mooued warre against the Scythians and marched towards them and in the meane while left Cambyses his sonne King of the countrey in his absence according to the custome of the Persians which was to appoint the neerest of the Kings bloud to be King ouer the countrie when the King went out to fight against any strange Nation this is the cause why Cambyses was not set in the successiue order of the kingdomes Neither is there mention of two brethren which were Magitians which guilefully vsurped the kingdome but their guile being known they continued but a fewe monthes and Darius sonne to Hystaspis was chosen King Xerxes the sonne of the said Darius succeded him but is not heere placed in the number of the Monarchies for that he left his kingdome to Darius Long-hand his sonne according to the custome of the Persians when he went to warre against the Grecians The Greeke Historiographers not respecting the custome number the said Xerxes Cambyses among the said Monarchies successiuely in order which is the cause that they count more yeares in the Persian Monarchy than were that is 226. yeares whereas their whole gouernment was not aboue 120. yeares or thereabouts Cyrus raigned twelue yeares And after Cyrus death Assuerus Artaxerxes obtayneth the kingdome of the Persians twelue yeares in his third yeare beganne the Storie of Hester After him succeeded Darius Assirius Esdr 6.22 This Darius King of Ashur encouraged the people in the worke of the house of the Lord. He is heere called King of Ashur because he was King of the Medes Persians and Assirians After him succeeded Artaxerxes the godly the sonne of Darius Hystaspis Esdr 7. Neh. 2. 2519. The Temple built in
some will say If God decreeth euerie thing why punisheth hee any thing It is answered That punishment commeth from God by the iust desert of the ranckor of mans minde Election is of his free grace which hee bestoweth vpon whome he will as he saith I will haue mercie on whome I will haue mercie Therefore the first thing wee ought to knowe is our Election the last is true holynesse That this Election or louing kindnesse of God towards vs is of the will of God according to the counsell of his owne will and not drawne from him by force by helpe of Saints or as being by workes meritorious of the same it may appeare Esay 43. Abraham knoweth vs not neither is Israel acquainted with vs but thou Lord art our Father and Redeemer and of very louing kindnesse thou hast redeemed vs thy name is euerlasting Rom. 8. It is Christ onely that maketh intercession for vs. Esay 43. I am he onely that for mine owne selues sake doe away thine offences and forget thy sinnes For what hast thou for thee to make thee righteous Thy first father offended sore and thy rulers haue sinned against mee Thou art like to a thing of naught thy time passeth away like a shadowe Iere. I loue thee with an euerlasting loue therefore by my mercy haue I drawne thee vnto mee and Iohn 6. No man can come to me except the father draw him as it is written Esay 54. They shall bee all taught of God Esay 26. Lord thou hast wrought all our workes Phil. 2. It is God that worketh in you both the will and also the deed euen of his good will 2. Cor. 3. Wee are not sufficient of our selues to thinke any thing as of our selues but if wee bee able the same commeth of God which made vs able Esay 51.12 Yea I euen I am he that in all things giueth you consolation Psal 130. For with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption 1. Pet. 1. We are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father through the sanctifying of the spirit vnto obedience and sprinckling the blood of Iesus Christ Psal 90. Before the mountaines were brought foorth or euer the earth and the world were made thou art our God from euerlasting to euerlasting thou turnest man vnto dust and sayest returne yee sonnes of Adam Rom. 9. Before the children were borne and when they had done neither good nor euill that the purpose of God might stand not by workes but by the Caller it was sayd The greater shall serue the lesser as it is written Mal. 3. Iacob haue I loued Esau haue I hated Iohn 13. I know whom I haue chosen Psal 135. Whatsoeuer the Lord pleased that did he in heauen and in earth and in the sea and in all deepe places Rom. 11. There is a remnant left according to the election of grace If it be of grace then it is not now of workes for then grace is no more grace But if it be of workes then is it now no grace what then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh but the election hath obtained it 2. Thes 2. We are bound to giue thankes alwayes to God because that God hath from the beginning chosen vs to saluation through sanctifying of the spirit and through beleeuing of the truth to obtaine the glory of our Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 8. Moreouer whom hee appointed before them also hee called And whom he hath called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them hee also glorified Now followeth the effect of Election either in respect of the Elect or Reiect And first for the Elect. THe Elect whome God in his mercie hath saued for his righteousnes sake and not for their deserts he guideth by the grace of his holy spirit as Rom. 8. As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the Sons of God Esay 43. All those that are called by my name I haue created fashioned and made for my honour Yet he leaueth them sometimes vnto themselues that they may acknowledge the weaknes of their owne nature as Noah Lot Iacob Dauid Salomon Peter and others but neuer suffereth them to fall quite away as appeareth Esay 54. A little while haue I forsaken thee but with great mercie will I take thee vp vnto me When I was angrie with thee I hid my face from thee for a little season but through euerlasting mercie haue I redeemed thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer The mountaines shall moue and the hils shall fall downe but my louing kindnes shall not mooue and the bond of my peace shall not fall downe from thee saith the lord thy mercifull louer Psalme 37. The lord ordereth a good mans going and maketh his way acceptable vnto himselfe though he fall hee shall not be cast away for the lord vpholdeth him with his hand Psalme 103. He dealeth not with them after their sins nor rewardeth them according to their wickednes but looke how the heauen is in comparison of the earth so great is his mercie towards them that feare him for he knoweth whereof they be made and he remembreth that they are but dust He saueth their life from destruction and crowneth them with mercie and louing kindnes Esay 54. Lo this is the heritage of the lords seruants and their righteousnes commeth of me saith the lord The Reiect he leaueth to their owne selues hardening their hearts that hee may haue occasion of Iudgement against them Esay 57. They are like to the raging Sea that cannot rest whose water fometh with the myre and grauell for they haue no peace with God The winde shall blowe them forth and vanitie shall take them all away they are like to dust before the winde and like to the chaffe in a summer floore Psal 73. The lord suffereth them to come in no perrill of death but are lustie and stronge they come in no daunger like other folke neither are they plagued like other men and this is the cause that they be so holden with pride and ouerwhelmed with crueltie their eyes swell for fatnesse and they doe euen what they lust They corrupt others and speake of wicked blasphemie their talking is against the most highest Tush say they how shall God perceive it is their knowledge in the most highest Loe these are the vngodly and these haue riches in posession Such were Kaine the wicked mockers before the floode Cham the builders of Babel the vncleane Cities Ismael Esau Pharaoh Moab Ammon The wicked oppressors Saul Absalom the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Babel Antiochus the vild Herod Pilate and Iudas the traitour many others who brought vpon themselues iust cause of eternall condemnation Psal 73. The Lord hath set them in slipperie places and casteth them downe and destroyeth them Oh how suddenly doe they consume and perish and
abideth still in the solenesse of his vnitie which thing farre exceedeth all abilitie of vnderstanding This is the originall patterne of him that is called both Father to himselfe and sonne to himselfe and is the Father of one alone and God verily good indeed Aemelius the disciple of Plotine notwithstanding how great an enemy he was to Christians speaking of the second person yeeldeth to this which Saint Iohn speaketh Surely saith he this is the Word that was from euerlasting by whom al things that are were made As Heraclitus supposed and before God saith he it is the very same Word which that barbarous fellow auoucheth to haue bene with God at the beginning in the ordering and disposing of things when they were confused and to be God by whom all things were absolutely made and in whom they bee liuing and of whom they haue their life and being And that the same Word clothing it selfe with mans flesh appeared a man insomuch that after he had bene put to death he tooke his Godhead to him againe and was very God as he had bene before yer hee came downe into body flesh and man Another of Platoes imitators speaking to the same effect said That the beginning of S. Iohns Gospell was worthy to be written euery where in letters of gold And the deuill himselfe being asked of the King of Egypt who he was that raigned before him and who should raigne after him answered in these foure verses Suidas First God and next the Word and then their Sprite Which three be one and ioyne in one all three Their force is endlesse get thee hence fraile wight The man of Life vnknowen excelleth thee Seeing then that Iewes Philosophers and the Deuill are compeld to glorifie God in their speeches making as it were large volumes of the creation of God by his word and that the same Word is his sonne How can they escape the wrath of God for not embracing it And againe seeing they but through a mist did see a clearenesse of his brightnesse How skilfull ought we to bee whom hee hath noursed in his owne bosome and comforted with the grapes of his owne vineyard and fedde with the bread of his owne flesh and bathed in the blood of his owne heart in prouing the truth of this doctrine against Iew Turke or Pagan Let vs shew a word or two what the Poets themselues speake of the Beginning Architas saith that he accounteth no man wise but him which reduceth all things to one selfe same originall First to God who is the Beginning Middle and end of all things Empedocles hath these verses All things that are or euer were or shall hereafter bee Both man and woman beast and bird fish worme herbe grasse tree And euery other thing yea euen the ancient Gods each one Whom we so highly honour heere come all of one alone Simplicius saith Whatsoeuer is beautifull commeth of the first and chiefest beauty All truth cōmeth of Gods truth all beginnings must be reduced to one beginning which must not be a particular beginning as the rest are but a beginning surpassing all other beginnings and gathering thē all into himselfe yea giuing the dignitie of beginning to all beginnings as is conuenient for euery of their natures Also one good saith he is the originall and wel-spring of all things It produceth all things of it selfe both the First the Middlemost and the Last The one goodnesse bringeth forth many goodnesses the one vnitie many vnities the one beginning many beginnings Now as for Vnitie Beginning Good and God they all be but one thing For God is the first cause of all and all particular beginnings are first setled and grounded in him he is the cause of causes the God of gods and the Goodnesse of goodnesses The vnderstanding of the stories of the Bible do giue a great light to the minde of man and the practise giueth life vnto euery one that embraceth them as Deut. 8. and Mat. 4. Man liueth not by bread onely but by euerie worde which proceedeth out of the mouth of God The despisers of Religion continue in darkenes and light to them is death as 1. Ioh. 2.9 Hee that saith he is in light and yet hateth his brother is in darknes and walketh in darknes and knoweth not whether he goeth because the darknes hath blinded his eyes 1. Ioh. 5.11 But God hath giuen vs eternall life and that life is in his Sonne who laid downe his life for his sheepe Ioh. 10.15 Wherfore while we haue light let vs walke and beleeue in the light that we may be the children of the light Ioh. 12.36 The first Adam was made of the earth earthly c. The second Adam was made a soule giuing life c. HEre before the comparison betweene Adam and Christ we are to consider the creation wherein we are to vnderstand the creation of Heauen Earth and Sea and all the host of them which doe consist of wights visible and inuisible Inuisible as Angels visible as Sunne Moone and Starres fishes fowles plantes hearbes grasse Beasts and such like which God created before hee created Adam by Christ for Adams sake because he purposed not to take the nature of Angels or of any other creature but of Adam and that he might be knowne in his power and louing kindnes to Adam by his workes For he fore-purposing to make Adam both King and Father of all the earth would not haue his witts entangled with cares for this life but to haue his affections setled on heauenly things that hee might continue holie and blameles before him as Mat. 6. Take no care what you shall eate or what you shall drinke nor yet for your bodie what rayment you shall put on Behold the fowles neither sowe nor reape and your heauenly Father feedeth them are ye not much better than they how much more then shall hee doe the same for you for hee knoweth that yee haue neede of all these things but first seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnes thereof for no mans life standeth in the aboundance of things which he possesseth Now followeth Adams creation HE was made the sixt day as it is gathered of September of the dust of the earth vppon Mount Moriah which is a Mountaine adioyning to the gates of the garden of Eden into which garden he was put to labour the earth about six of the cloke in the morning as wee account when men commonly goe to labour as should appeare by Psal 104. Where it is sayd Adam goeth forth in the morning to his labour This is not particularly meant of Adam but generally of all men no doubt alluding to the time of Adams creatiō He had dominion giuen him ouer all things and witte like to an Angell to giue names to all beasts free libertie to eat of all the trees in the garden the tree of knowledge of good and ill onely excepted As if God should haue sayd to him as Moses afterwards
for the pleasantnesse of the taste and the vnlawfull desire that shee had of diuilish knowledge not long before was driuen out of Paradise whose blessing of procreation was ioyned with sorrow of conception whose innocent soule by breaking but one commaundement became guiltie of eternall death and lost the whole glory of Paradise and was driuen out into mountaines as not worthy to enioy the benefit of the tree of life in the garden of Eden But Enosh being a godly man and knowing that the fruits of worldly sorrow are likewise eternal death of godly sorrow repentance which word signifieth a changing of iudgement from ignorance to true knowledge to the renewing of the spirit nameth his sonne Kenan Contrite or repenting or a looking backe into their impieties detesting their vaine conuersation to the killing of sinne in himselfe and to the embracing of righteousnesse For it is not onely required of a man to eschew euill but withall to doe good to flee darkenesse if wee will enioy light to follow the right way if wee will not erre to auoid the mire and durt if we will be cleane and without spot and forbeare to be euill if we will begin to be good for it is not enough for a valiant man to doe what he may but also he is bound to attempt nothing but what he ought And as repentance is the fruit of godly sorrow so thankefulnesse to God for deliuerance from like trials proceedeth from repentance Therefore Kenan the Contrite nameth his sonne Mahalaleel my praise God which none can doe effectually without a lowly mind sanctified first by grace to the subduing of the flesh Mahalaleel knowing that such fruit is required of such a tree nameth his sonne Iared the lowly which gifts of grace God bestoweth vpon such onely as he accepteth vnto himselfe as it is written Blessed is the man vnto whom God imputeth not his sinne c. So that a man hauing thus purged himselfe from the iniquitie of wicked men marking the rules of Gods eternall wisedome he shal be a vessell sanctified vnto honour meete for the vses of the Lord 2. Tim. 2. Therfore Iared the lowly nameth his sonne Henoch the holy Now God commaunding all men to direct their steppes by the straight line of his word first layeth downe his will what we ought to doe to please him and then induceth vs thereto not onely by hope of eternall life but promiseth vs in this life long and happy daies as in the eternall lawe is expressed Loue God aboue all and thy neighbour as thy selfe that thy dayes may bee longe in the Land which the Lord thy God giueth thee c. Henoch therefore being assured of the infinite mercies of God towards him and his seede by faith still beholding as in a glasse the redemption by the Sonne of God the summe of all saluation nameth his sonne Methushelah long life or Speare-death For euen as the point of a Speare keepeth off that which would otherwise destroy euen so Methushelah kept away the Floud a longe time from drowning the World But because men should not thinke that any liueth without calamities least outward happinesse should make men to forget God Methushelah hauing heard his fathers and himselfe also being a Prophet preach of the destruction of the world by the floud calleth his sonne Lamech that is Stroken or Hart-wounded which is to be vnderstood that in respect that he being neere those times of dangers many of his posteritie were like to be drowned not only in the floud but eternally tormented for ioyning with the wicked mockers which despised the preaching of the Fathers But although God throweth mens consciences downe for a while with griefe of other mens iust punishment yet hee rayseth them vp againe giuing them hope of his assured promises and a sweet comfort of eternall life Lamech being thus strengthned with the faith of his Fathers ayming still to the sentence of saluation pronounced in Paradise calleth his Sonne Noah Restorer or Comforter saying This Sonne shall comfort vs concerning the sorrow of our hands and concerning the earth which the Lord hath cursed Wherein he sheweth that he both looked backward to the creation and forward to the Redemption by Christ the Seede of the Woman that should bruse the head of the Serpent Thus much for the vse of the names of the Ten Fathers before the floud in generall ⧠Now follow their liues and deaths in particular and first for Adam There is a great doubt made of the time of the yeere of Adams creation and of the day of his fall and is refused as a thing vnprofitable to be knowen and vnpossible to be proued First for the time of his Creation IT is certaine he was created in September at the time that fruits be ripe which is at the fall of the leafe and that was the fittest time seeing in the course of nature there was no fitter time to expresse the nature of Adams fall And as the fall of Adam being answerable to the fall of the leafe because by his fall death was brought vpon all So the death of Christ beeing contrarie to Adams fall because it brought life to all the fittest time to resemble this life in the course of nature was the spring therefore Christ dyed at the spring to deliuer vs out of the spirituall prison when as all thinges shewe themselues to bee deliuered out of this earthly prison Now for the day of Adams fall IT was on fryday the sixt day the day of Adams creation at the time of eating For wee doe not reade that euer Adam did eate before he did eate of the forbidden fruit Therefore when by the storie the time of eating cannot be separated in time reason sheweth vs to ioyne them in time for Satan was a Murtherer from the beginning and we must bring it from the beginning as neere as can be not crossing any Scripture The searching of this matter is not of small importance for from the true vnderstanding of the creation we see the cleerenesse of the Redemption and not marking the creation aright is the cause of much follie and they that misse of the lawes of creation are sure to misse of the lawes of Redemption And Moses making mention of many times hee would not haue omitted the time of the fall except it had beene done presently after the creation thetefore Adams fall must needes bee layd as neere the beginning as may bee not crossing the story The bare narration sheweth that no famous action went betweene the commaundement and the fall and the shortnesse of the time doth shewe the force of the aduersarie Besides it is a great sinne to say that euery man except Christ could fulfill any one point of the Lawe for thereby wee darken the glory of Christ and prooue him not to haue performed the whole lawe If Adam had continued vntill the Sabbath in his innocencie no doubt he would haue kept a perfect Sabbath and if hee had kept a
Noah that would haue a name and turned their speech into babling He plagued that flouting Ismael and quailed that doughtie Esay Hee drowned stout Pharaoh in the red sea and ouerthrew the iron charets of Sisera at the waters of Mageddon He smote diuers nations and slue mightie Kings Sehon King of the Ammorites and Ogg the King of Basan and all the kingdomes of Canaan he foiled that proud Philistine and hewed the horne of Agag in peeces He made Iesabel a pray for dogges and wicked Achab to be slaine in the valley of Iesreel He made King Ioakim to be buried like an asse and prophane Nebucadnetzar to eat grasse like an oxe He made drunken Baltasar to tremble like a leafe and Antiochus the vild to be deuoured of wormes to shew that he regardeth not proud lookes or feareth the Kings displeasure for he setteth vp Kings and putteth downe Kings as Luke 1. He looked on the low degree of his handmaid he hath shewed strength with his arme he hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts he hath put downe the mightie from their seats and hath exalted the humble and meeke As Ioseph out of the dungeon Dauid from the sheepecoats Daniel from the Lyons denne Peter and Iohn from mending their nets and made them rulers ouer mightie Nations teachers to the Princes of the earth Matth. 5. Therefore blessed are the meeke for they shall receiue the inheritance of the earth Christ being meeke was ledde as a sheepe vnto the slaughter not opening his mouth 162. Henoch borne HIs name signifieth Holy or Dedicated to God The name sheweth his fathers affection in giuing him vnto God answerable to Abraham in offering Isaack Henoch of Kaine was contrarie in signification to this Henoch the one dedicated to God the other to the possessions of this world For Kaine after his curse wandring to the land of Nod buildeth a Citie and calleth it after the name of his sonne Henoch The other Henoch though indeed a rare man yet was 65. yeres without any mention of his integritie and after that his holinesse is made manifest in this that he found fauour with God His calling was very glorious being made a preacher to declare salvation to all that would beleeue in Christ and his owne actions of life to be performed in the highest degree of vertue Whereby we are taught to bee holie and blamelesse before God not giuing our members subiects vnto wantonnesse or pleasures of this life but esteeming the world as though it were not and possesse it as though wee possest it not putting on the new man Christ Iesus that we may be holy euen as he is holy 7. You haue heere the number of seuen to shew that Henoch is the seuenth from Adam for so is he called in the Epistle of Iude. He was no doubt a very rare man seeing that hee is commended of the holy Ghost to haue walked with God to haue his yeeres answerable to the dayes of the sunne and registred to be the seuenth from Adam a Sabbath keeper for his yeeres doe agree with the number of the Sabbath Which number of seuen or of the Sabbath throughout the Bible doth still put vs in mind of the Creation and so of the true keeping of the Sabbath For in the beginning God made the world in sixe dayes and rested the seuenth and hallowed and sanctified the same and commaunded it to be kept holie throughout all generations and to resemble the same in his Creation before there was a Sabbath He made seuen starres in the heauens which Philosophers call planets which haue force in the whole course of nature which he in his wisedome placed there that the very heathen and such as would not take notice of the Sabbath might haue the name thereof in their mouthes although they made no vse thereof in their hearts 65. Methushelah borne His name signifieth Long life or Speare death 187. Lamech borne HIs name signifieth Striken or heart-wounded He is called so in respect of some inward griefes that he should beare for the afflictions of the world You haue an other Lamech of Kaines house but of contrarie nature to this Lamech Lamech of Kaine was a striker Lamech of Seth striken the one a Preacher of destruction to the world the other an example of impietie to the world and being 1600. yeeres after Kaine knew Kaines storie He had two wiues it was not so from the beginning Some hold that he was the first that had two wiues but doubtlesse many others had the like but God in one doth shew the manners of the rest Hee saith to his wiues I will kill a man c. So that as the world began with killing so it continueth in wickednesse and violence The other Lamech doth make a confession full of contrition and in naming his sonne Comforter 600. yeeres before the flood sheweth that he was a Prophet of verie liuely skill Compare him with Christ CHrist is both outwardly striken and inwardly wounded Outwardly when in the open hall he was buffetted scourged and spitted at and vpon the crosse pierced both handes feete and sides Inwardly when hee was reuiled with blasphemous speeches at his death and when in stead of drinke to comfort him they gaue him gall and mirhe mingled together but most especially when his guiltlesse soule did suffer the torments of hell to redeeme our guiltie soules and bodies from the thrall of Satan as may appeare when from his sides issued water and blood 56. Adam dieth THe Hebrewes descant very straungely vpon the Arithmeticke of Adams yeares which hee liued which were 930. Vpon a sentence in the 24 of Iob. where it is sayd All the daies of man vpon earth are but a shadow As if he should say all the dayes of Adam are but Abell for Adam in Hebrew signifieth earth and Abell signifieth shadow or vanitie whereby we are taught that from the earth we came and to the earth we must returne according to Ge. 3. We are also to vnderstand from hence that although God deferre his punishments yet he is mindfull of his promises for not one tittle or iot of his word shall passe as appeareth in Adams death which God before had promised and was accomplished though it were 930. yeares after Wherefore howsoeuer we be setled on the pleasures of this life or bee aduaunced to thrones of Maiestie as Adam was we are to know that it is but a Steward shippe bestowed vpon vs for a season and that in this world wee are to looke for no abiding place for we are but grasse wee are consumed as smoke our daies come to an end A Thousand yeares in Gods sight is as yesterday He turneth Adam to dust and saith Returne ye sonnes of Adam He bringeth our yeares to an end as it were a tale that is tould Wherefore let vs pray to God with Moses to teach vs to number our daies aright that wee may apply our harts vnto wisedome Adam cometh
short of 1000. yeares so much as is the dayes of mans life Iared Methushelah and Noah ouerreached Adam in long life because of the power of the word of God He died about mount Moriah where he was made He liued till he saw many kings he himselfe the greatest and vntill he had erected a stately gouernment and taught them humane arts And he was fittest to do it beeing a King to commaund whome hee would and what hee would and hauing wit excelling all the men in the world And as in a Princes Court it is requisite to haue Noble men some higher and some lower and men of all degrees so Adam liued vntill he might haue a stately Court Now if a King should coÌ„maund a Diuine to make Adams will from his storie he would make it in this sort O my sonnes gather you together and harken vnto the words of your father Adam the last that euer he shall speake vnto you I was voide of saluation and enioyed not happinesse by disobeying which disobedieÌ„nce I theÌ„ practised wheÌ„ I harkened to the perswasion of Heua did eat the forbidden fruite I then felt the heauy iudgements of God against sinne and sawe my nakednes whereof I was ashamed 〈…〉 not remooued it by offering a blessing in the 〈◊〉 of the woman 〈…〉 you all the dayes of my life as a father that you may learne 〈…〉 gouernours which resemble fathers in behauiour I haue instructed you to loue and obey their gouernement you must know that as my saluation râ—â—â—th vpon beliefe in the sâ—ede of the woman so must yours But the house of Kaine despising this and killing Abel a figure of him who by dying shall ouercome the power of the Serpent will cause the flood to destroy the earth Few shall embrace this doctrine for though eight bee saued by the Arke yet seuen onely shall keepe sincerely the beliefe in this promise of the seede of the woman My daies haue beene long with the rest of your fathers but the end of all flesh is come vpon me for out of the earth I came and to the earth I must returne 113. Henoch is taken vp being 365. yeres old HIs yeres are answerable to the dayes of the sunne 65. yeres a yere for a day And as the sunne excelleth all other starres in brightnesse so did his life excell all other men then aliue in the world for vertue He is also sayd to haue walked with God to be a preacher of righteousnesse to bee taken vp These foure speciall commendations are of equall glory and wee may be assured by these testimonies that his godlinesse was very rare The Grecians say that hee left a booke behind him of his preaching But thereby as much as in them lyeth they call into question the truth of the Scriptures For first by this opinion they derogate from the glorie of Moses that he should not be the first writer Secondly from the wisedome of God which tooke order to lay downe the liues of the fathers in so short Arithmatique and would thereby haue his wisedome wonderfull to those which should come after which had bene to small purpose if Henoch had left a booke of his preaching But the Grecians thus being answered it followeth that Henochs prophecie was against the wordes of the wicked and against the contempt of religioÌ„ which wicked men shewed in not beleeuing the preaching of the flood Saint Iude in his Epistle from the circumstances of the men and manners of the people to whom Henoch preached gathered what might be the summe of Henochs preaching in this sort Behold the Lord commeth how as at the giuing of the law with thousands of his Angels to give iudgement against all men to rebuke all the vngodly among them of all their wicked deeds which they haue vngodly committed and of all their cruell speakings which wicked sinners haue spoken against him Vpon which words the Grecians not knowing the course of the Hebrewes in their fained speeches say that Henoch left a booke of his preaching behind him His taking vp did shew what should be the state of the godly Hee was taken vp in despite of the wicked and in recompence of his own faith Hee was taken vp 57. yeeres after Adams death all the fathers then being aliue And it may be the fathers did see him taken vp as a figure of Christs ascension The wicked might then say where is the appearance of the flood For Adam is dead and Henoch is taken vp and all things continue as from the beginning In that God bestowed so short life vpon Henoch it sheweth that hee would bestow greater blessings of him in another kind Now compare him with Christ Henoch Christ Was a Prophet for he prophecied of the destruction of the world by the flood Walked with God His dayes were as the dayes of the sunne Was taken vp being the seuenth from Adam Was a Prophet and prophecied of the destruction of the world Did the will of his Father Is the bright sunne of Iustice whose dayes in the Psalmes are likened to the dayes of the sunne In the Scripture is the seuenth that ascended To wit 1. The sonne of the widow of Sarepta 1. King 17. 2. The Shunamites sonne whom Eliseus brought againe to life 2. King 4.32 3. The souldier buried by Eliseus corps 4. Iayrus daughter Mat. 9. 5. The widowes sonne Luke 7. 6. Lazarus Luke 11. 7. Christ That is 3. in the olde Testament new Testament and the Lord was the seuenth 1042. 168. Seth died being 912 yeeres olde 1056. 182. Noah borne HIs name signifieth Comforter or Restorer The faith of Lamech no doubt was cleare concerning saluation by the seede of the woman in that he named his sonne Comforter or Restorer As if he had said though for impietie all the world be destroyed yet I am assured that the promise made to Adam must of necessitie be performed or else no flesh can be saued In this faith Adam after he had transgressed by eating of the forbidden fruite was saued In this faith Abell offered vp a greater sacrifice than Kaine In this faith Henoch walked with God and was no more seene for he was taken vp In this faith all the Fathers obtained eternall life In this faith Noah became a preacher of righteousnesse and an executor of true iudgement and prepared the Arke to the sauing of his houshold c. Heb. 11. 10. This ten is to shew that Noah is the tenth from Adam multiply Henoch by Noah that is the number of of the Sabbath by the full number 10. you haue the number 70. which throughout the Bible is famous and of great force for light in the storie In this tenth age Gods iustice ouer all flesh was extended Compare him with Christ Noah Christ Was a preacher of righteousnesse Found grace before God Was a King Prophet Sacrificer Was the true preacher of righteousnesse Dan 9. Grew in fauour with God and man Luke 2. Was a King Prophet Sacrificer Enosh
the godlie endure many harde thinges in the frowarde generations This Heber is from the Creation the fourteenth two seuens a double Henoch He is the fourth after the flood as Iuda is the fourth sonne of Iacob of whom Christ came He is the seuenth from Henoch a man for rare blessings to be compared with Henoch and is the same in force that Henoch is although you would thinke them cleane contrary and so they are in signification but in effect of diuinitie all one For Henoch signifieth Dedicated to God and Heber Pilgrime or Stranger and he that is a stranger vpon earth despising the state of worldly pompe is a Citizen with God therefore whosoeuer will be a true Henoch must also be a true Heber And if we will be holy before God and acceptable vessels for the vse of his Temple we must beare palme boughes in our hands singing Hosanna to the highest and be estraunged from the vaine conuersation of this earthly Paradise so shall our names continue famous through many generations as Hebers did we shall speake the praises of God in our owne tongue for we will not consent with Nimrod to the building of our owne confusion whereby we might be shaken of from the fauour of God as he and his adherents were Hebers glory is further enlarged in that the Hebrew tongue taketh the name from him The Iewes kept this sincerely till they went into captiuitie into Babylon but when they came from thence they began to stammer for there they learned the tongue of the Babilonians Malachie endeth the old Testament and the Hebrew tongue for though schollers write Hebrew yet vpon the first sight it is apparant to be the writing of man so far it diffreth from the stile of the holy spirit There be one thousand seuen hundreth fifty and eight roots in the Hebrew tongue And this is a wonderfull thing that the bare actions of the creatures should expresse Hebrew words as a horse running vpon a causey the sound of his feet is much expressing this noyse Ratsat which in Hebrew is to run The noyse which birdes make by clapping their wings when they flie is of this sound Gnoth which in Hebrew signifieth a fowle The Grecians cannot find out the rootes of their tongue The Lord tooke such order in penning of the olde Testament that one skilfull in the Hebrew tongue will easily know if there be a sentence or a word put in nay if there be but a letter added so that they are very vnwise that perswade others or beleeue themselues that the bookes of Iudith and Tobie are Canonicall Scriptures For they are not Hebrew neither were they receiued at any time by the auncient Hebrewes who were so perfect and ready in the text of the olde Testament that they could tell how many times the letter Alpha was vsed in the Bible so that to beleeue these bookes to be Scripture is to crosse the testimonie of the Iewes for their owne story and if they knew our opinions herein they would condemne vs for missing of Religion This Heber was a very happie man and his happinesse made manifest in that none which liued after him came to his dayes For he being a Prophet knew how heauy the curse of God would be vppon the sonnes of men for building the tower of Babell therefore he nameth his sonne Peleg Diuided The Hebrew name is halfe the abridgement of the story as it falleth out for the most part He had also great cause of sorrow and heauinesse in that thirteene families of Iocktains sonnes to whom Heber was Grandfather went quite away and were farre from Ierusalem and being out of the fauour of God were bereaued of saluation So that Chams house might seeme to haue greater blessings For they dwelt neere to Ierusalem and Iacobs sonnes in Egypt married with Chams daughters Iacob sons called themselues Hebrewes because the story of Heber is the most famous of all the auncient fathers Heber a pilgrime or stranger The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the aire haue nests but the Son of man hath not where to hide himselfe 1757. Peleg borne HIs name signifieth Diuision In his dayes the tongues of those that built the Tower of Babell were confounded In the consideration of which Story Time are to be vnderstood Time at or a little before Pelegs birth Place are to be vnderstood Place a plaine in the land of Shinear Persons are to be vnderstood Persons 70. of Sem. 27. Iaphet 14. Cham. 29. These 70. spake one language the tongue of Heber and going from the East they found a plaine in the land of Shinear where they abode and made bricke in stead of stone and slime in stead of morter and ioyning with Nimrod sayd Let vs make vs a Sem that is a name euen in despight of the blessing of Noah bestowed vpon Sem. But God scattered them from that place into the vpper face of all the earth and they left off to build the Citie therefore the name of it is called Ba-bell that is Come confusion because there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth Babell is Babling both in Hebrew and in English As at the confusion of tongues there was great falling out about words because one could not vnderstand another so hitherto all the world is at variance for the vnderstanding of the words And as the builders of Babell fell to babling so the despisers of Diuinitie shall fall to babling Therefore it were to be wished that euery man in the world vnderstood the Hebrew tongue All Nations in the earth are compelled to take notice of this story whensoeuer they heare any man speake in an other tongue which they vnderstand not For entring into the consideration thereof they are driuen presently to examine the story of the tenth of Genesis in which they may see the iust and seuere dealing of God to such as enuy the blessing of their brother for going from sinne to sinne they had their tongues deuided and their dwellings scattered It appeareth by this storie that the dealings of Cham and his sonnes were in the same kind that Kaines were Kaine after his curse wandring like a vagabond from the place of true Religion into the land of Nod which signifieth Fugitiue buildeth a citie and calleth it after the name of his son Henoch C ham after his curse goeth wandring about from the place that Noah liued and Sem sacrificed at vnto the land of Shinear which signifieth Shake of and there hee built a Citie of Confusion From which story also we may obserue the iudgements of God that wherein a man offendeth he or his seed is commonly punished for it is certaine that all the actions of wicked are a harmonie with Gods dealings though in respect of the wicked they agree not with vertue The sonnes of Sem for ioyning with rebellious Nimrod of Cham as it were flouting their fathers blessing to furnish vp the number of 70. made bricke for the building
yeeres olde and three quarters answerable to the death of Christ at his death seeing his death was a figure of the death of Christ There is nothing precisely determined by the Scriptures and therefore it is left for vs to follow which we will This Isaack in respect of the commaundement of God that he should be offered vp and the obedience of Abraham in offering him was dead and was restored to Abraham as if he had beene risen from the dead He was offered on mount Moriah a part of the mountaine of Sion called afterwards Ierusalem Of this Christ speaketh O Ierusalem Ierusalem that thou sawest those things that concerne the peace but now they are hid from thine eyes therefore thou art Iebus that is troden downe God altereth the name of Moriah to Ierusalem because he would haue kept in memorie Abrahams obedience Sems religion and therefore giueth it a name comprehending both for in respect of Abraham he calleth it Iire Abraham giuing it the name Iehouah Iire that is in the mount will the Lord be seene In respect of Sem he keepeth the name of Salem still and so it is called Iire Salem the Sight of peace From this storie the Iewes might haue knowne the death of Christ seeing Christ compareth them together and yet by putting Christ to death haue saued the world though not heaped condemnation on their owne heads For as it was prophecied that one man must die for all the people so they might haue thus reasoned We know this is the Messias and that he must die for the sinnes of the people Isaack beeing a figure and this time wherein hee nowe is on the earth agreeing with Daniels seuens Therefore as Abraham offered vp Isaack so let the high sacrificer according to the lawe put him to death But then as Saint Peter speaketh if they had knowne this they would not haue crucified the Lord of glorie But as the windowes of Salomons Temple bee narrow without and wide within so Christ speaketh of parables that they are therefore spoken that in hearing they should not heare and in seeing they should not see least they should repent and bee saued The Authour to the Hebrewes sayth By faith Abraham offered vppe Isaack and hee that receiued the promise offered his onelie begotten sonne to whome it was saide In Isaack shall thy Seede bee called for thee considered that God was able to raise him vppe euen from the dead from whence hee receiued him also after a sorte Christ in the Gospell affirmeth That Abraham sawe my dayes that is in Isaack and reioyced God speaketh from heauen to Abraham in this sorte By my selfe haue I sworne because thou hast done this thing and haste not spared thine onely sonne therefore will I surely blesse thee In Rom. 8. Saint Paul speaketh thus What shall we say then to these things If God be on our side who can be against vs who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him to death for vs how shall he not with him giue vs all things also Compare Isaack with Christ Was not Abraham our father iustified by workes when he offered his son Isaack vpon the Altar Iam. 2. Isaack was bound Isaack after 3. daies was offred vp to death and after a sort reuiued to life God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all to death Christ was bound Hauing suffred death riseth vp againe the third day to life 2145. Sara died Being 127. yeeres old She was buried in Canaan in the field of Machpelah which Abraham bought of the Hittites This place they would haue giuen Abraham freely for they confessed that hee was a prince of God amongst them but he would buy it because they should not say that they had made Abraham rich wherefore we must know if we will be godlie that all our life is but a pilgrimage and that wee are but straungers and that all our inheritance is nothing else but a place for buriall The Hebrewes expound Sarahs death a mortification and dying vnto sinne Rebecca is married to Isaack Gen. 25. When he is 40. yeeres old She is the daughter of Bethuel the sonne of Nachor the sonne of Terah and brother of Abraham her Grandfather Nachor was an idolatrer but her grandmother Milka is thought to bee of a good Religion in that two of her sonnes Bethuel and Kemuel haue El. the mightie God in their names Isaack goeth to Mesopotamia for a wife of his owne kinred for in Canaan there were none of his kinred and of the women of the lande he might not marrie Iacob his sonne likewise goeth to Mesopotamia to Laban the Brother of Rebecca and there taketh him wiues of the same kindred 2158. Sem died Gen. 11. This Sem was a great King and liued Sixe Hundred yeares as Noah before the flood He is called Melchisedech the King of peace Hee dwelt at Salem where his name continued Sixtie and fiue ages halfe One hundreth and thirtie answerable to Seth till that the Apostles receiued the holy Ghost after the ascention of Christ Hee is resembled to the Sonne of God Sems house beleeued that Christ should come till hee came and when he came they denyed him and were cut off 2160 Esau and Iacob borne Gen. 25. The first matter in this storie to bee considered is how the two twinnes in Rebeckahs wombe are called two nations Malachi speaking in the person of God saith I haue loued Iacob and hated Esau So Saint Paul saith to the Romanes Cap. 9. Ere they were borne it was sayd The elder shall serue the younger as it is written Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued ESaus description is thus layd downe in the Scriptures First that he was hayrie that hee was of great courage and at his birth Iacob holdeth him by the heele God thereby shewing at their birth what should be the course of their liues afterwards Homer maketh mention that Vlisses ouerthrew Aiax by striking him on the leg The Greeke translators handle it so and call him Thermistes that is to say a Heeler Esau was a Hunter liuing like the Ruffians and Roysters of our time He selleth his birth-right for a messe of pottage for Iacob would not giue it vnto him except Esau would first sweare to sell him his birth right Saith Esau I am contented for it will bee so long ere it will be enioyed that I and my sonnes Sonne shal be dead first So with an oath he sold Iacob his birth-right therefore hee was called Edom Redde pottage No doubt Isaacks men knew this to bee a rare blessing and seeing he had despised it they must needs whensoeuer they called him Edom keepe his wickednesse in memorie for by this sale he despised Noah Sem Heber and Abraham and all his victories in the faith of which blessing Abraham ouercame so gloriously This is the first combate by the which Iacob a Heeler supplanteth Esau The whole posteritie of Esau bare the name of this infidelitie hee thought it a
Chams house and yet God of his especiall grace gaue her the light of his countenance and was mercifull vnto her because she beholding the impieties of the vncleane Cities of Canaan and their reward and the Storie of Lots wife which no doubt was famous the loathsome life of the Egyptians and their plagues embraced the Couenant to Abraham and the oath that hee sware vnto Isaack The manners of these Egyptians are expressed by the woman in the Gospell which had her daughter possessed with a Deuill Christ telleth her that it is not lawfull to take the Childrens bread and to cast it to Dogges As if Christ should say Moses in his lawes and religion hath cut you off like Dogges to whome precious things must not bee throwne and therefore I am not in mercie to regard you She answereth It is true Lord that wee are cursed and by Moses law cut off from saluation and it is likewise true that wee are not the Children yet wee see that the little Dogs eat of the crummes which fall from the Childrens table And Moses himselfe hath a law that if any will learne the Religion of Iuda hee shall be admitted so that yet there is some hope for the Dogs Goe thy way saith Christ thy faith hath saued thee And no doubt as this poore womans daughter was possessed with a Deuill in bodie so the mindes of the Egyptians had many Deuils seeing they were full of superstition witchcraft and coniuring They worshipped one Ammon a Deuill yet there were many of Chams house saued This I inferre because Rahab was of Cham. And this opinion is confirmed by her Storie who was saued when Iericho was destroyed Shee telleth the Spies I knowe that the Lord hath giuen you the Land for we haue heard how the Lord dryed vp the Redde Sea before you for the Lord your God hee is the God in heauen aboue and in the earth beneath thereby shewing that she embraced the promise made to Abraham that in his seede all Nations in the earth should bee blessed It is testified of both these women that their faith did saue them The Lord likewise in the dayes of his flesh went into Iericho the Citie of Rahab long agoe accursed 2610. The first Iubilee IT hath his name from Iobal a Horne because in the beginning of the Feast trumpets of Rammes hornes were to bee blowne and thereby the yeare was proclaimed It was the Fiftieth yeare after the setling the people in the Land as Leuit. 25. You shall reckon to you seuen Seuens of yeares and the Fiftieth shall be a yeare of Iubilee c. And it was to be kept solemnely vntill the death of Christ The cause of keeping it was to put them in minde of the great victories which God had giuen them ouer their enemies in the Land of Canaan so that by this ceremonie likewise the Redemption by the conquest of Christ ouer our spirituall enemie which the yeare of Iubilee signified was also proclaymed For if they considered the promise made to Abraham concerning this Land and their deliuerance out of Egypt being in bondage and how they were placed in the Land by Iesus their Captaine the death of Christ which deliuered them from the snares and bondage of the Deuill must needes bee made plaine vnto them Iobal doth signifie Ioyfull In it all Lands that were bought of any of the Tribes was to returne to the old Possessor then all prisoners were set at libertie Figuring that ioyfull yeare of the Lord wherein we should be freed from the bondage of Satan wherof Esay speaketh He shall heale the broken heart and bring the gladsome tidings of the Lord Iustice shal be the girdle of his loynes and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reynes then the Woolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard shall lye with the Kidde and the Calfe and the Lion and the fatte beast and a little Chila shall lead them the sucking Child shall play vppon the hole of the Aspe and the wayned Child shall lay his hand vppon the Cockatrice hole then shall none hurt nor destroy in the mountaine of mine holynesse for the earth shall bee full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that couer the Sea Es 11. The meaning is that the prophane beasts of the world which nowe know not Christ shall in this ioyfull yere be lightned with the brightnesse of his glorie and shall reioyce and be glad for so great saluation and shall be members of one head Christ Iesus louing one another as Christians whose ioy is expressed verie largely in the 35. of Esay The desert and the Wildernesse shall reioyce and the wast ground shall flourish as a Rose it shall flourish aboundantly and shall greatly reioyce also and ioy the glorie of Lebanon shall be giuen vnto it the beautie of Charmell and of Sharon they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellencie of our God strengthen the weake hands and comfort the feeble knees say vnto them that are fearefull Be stronge feare not behold your God commeth euen God with a recompence will come and saue you then shall the eyes of the blinde be lightned and the eares of the deafe be opened then shall the lame man leape as an Hart and the dumbe mans tongue shall singe for in the Wildernesse shall water breake out and riuers in the desart and euerlasting ioy shall bee vppon their heads they shall obtaine ioy and gladnesse and sorrow and mourning shall flye away To returne to the obseruation of the time of the Iubilee Moses saith You shall reckon to you seuen Seuens of yeares and the Fiftiet◠shall bee a Iubilee Leuit. 25. Wherein wee may behold the wonderfull prouidence of God for them so long as they kept his Sabbaths for the Nine and fortieth yeare did yeeld corne for three yeares No doubt this must needs make the Nations astonished to see that the Children of Israel had such a God as could in one yeare giue them corne for three yeares so that they should neither sowe nor reape when themselues had scarce corne with great labour for one yeare Amos in his prophecie findeth great fault with those which hoard vp corne and pronounceth a woe vnto them for so doing But wee are to vnderstand that when the Israelites neglected their Sabbaths and forgot the great benefites they had receiued becomming Idolatrers and polluted with the abhominations of the land into which they came their ioy was turned into sadnesse and their Iubilees vnto their destructiō For in the seuenteenth Iubilee they hauing despised the prouidēce of God they haue Sedechias a most wicked King set ouer them and in Iehoiakims time they are carried quite away into Babylon and there are as dead bones for Seuentie yeares vntill the land had payd her owne Sabbaths which they had omitted when they dwelt vpon it Therefore wee are to note that wee shall neuer keepe our religion easie and plaine but by casting the Iubilees right which we
though he speaketh good things of him and knewe he should succeed him in the Kingdome yet hee persecuteth him This is to runne headlong against the light of Gods truth So the Deuill tempted Christ though he knew thereby he encreased his damnation Sauls punishment was verie great for he is slaine at Easter by himselfe then vndertaking battailes when he should haue celebrated the Lords feasts That it was at Easter it may be gathered by the Witch preparing him vnleauened bread Ionathan the Sonne of Saul loued Dauid as his soule therefore it may be concluded he was saued for hee loued Dauid the beloued of the Lord and therefore beleeued in Christ of whome Dauid was a figure This may be prooued by the new Testament for in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chap. 11. the Battailes of Gedeon Baracke Sampson and of others are rehearsed of whome this is added that they all by faith subdued Kingdomes and receiued the promise and in these Ionathan is included This testimonie of the holy spirite is of no small glorie Saul goeth to a Witch called Ob which had a Hobgoblin Herein he sinned greatly against the gouernment of God layd downe in Moses The hid things for God those reuealed for you and your children to doe them He fell to this wickednesse because hee killed those which ware the Ephod and therefore God answered him not by Vrim and Thummim God suffereth him to take reuenge of himselfe for being a King hee was the highest Magistrate and not to be put to death by his inferiours His posteritie was likewise plagued because they kept not the Couenant with the Gibeonites which Iosua had made Thus much for Saul Dauid borne in Bethlehem Which the Prophet Micheas Cap. 5. calleth Little because it was a little Village and little in quantitie The Euangelist Math. 2. calleth it not little because it was famous in that Christ and Dauid were borne there His name signifieth The beloued of God so is Christ called in Hoseas and Ezechiel by this name and oftentimes in the song of songs So that after the heart of God and this name Dauid is all one Bethlehem is as much to say as the House of Bread there Dauid the Shepheard the feeder of Israel was borne as a figure and token that Christ the great Shepheard and true bread of life should bee borne there Dauid raigneth Forty yeres Seuen yeares and a halfe in Hebron and Thirtie two yeares and a halfe in Ierusalem HErein is a comparison with Christ for as Dauid was King proclaimed at Easter ouer Iuda so Christ by his resurrection at Easter was prooued King ouer the whole world Dauid after the death of Saul asketh God whether hee shall goe God answereth To Hebron This is not without speciall obseruation that God should commaund him to goe thether The monuments of places are of great force to bring Stories into remembrance For in Hebron Sara was buried being the first purchase which Abraham made Isaacke and Rebecka were buried there Iacob and Leah there there Caleb challenged his inheritance So that Dauid being King there is ioyned in a kind of purchase with these Fathers and their glorie herein matched So the Hebrewes apply it Hebron is called Consociation The Seuen yeares King is a comparison with the Seuen yeares of conquering the Land so that looke what glorie is reaped in the conquest thereof the same you may gather in the time of Dauids gouernement in Hebron Further it was requisite there should be proofe of the sufficiencie of his gouernment by gouerning Hebron before hee should rule so stately a kingdome as Ierusalem was His Two and thirtie yeares and sixe Moneths haue a comparison with Christs liuing on earth He began his gouernment there exactly One thousand yeares before Christ was baptized at the verie same time that Christ began so you see all Gods dealings cast in a fine and sweet proportion Dauid commeth of Iessai in this respect Christ is called the roote of Iessai The ages of Dauids Auncestors calleth in minde Abrahams yeares at the birth of Isaacke and so remembreth his Storie About Seuen yeares before he was King he fights with Goliah the Philistine who came of Mitzraijm which filled Egypt the cursed Nation of Cham. Dauid is hereunto encouraged by a miracle being made Victor ouer a Lion and a Beare and thereupon hee concludeth This vncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them Goliah challengeth all Israel and defieth them Dauid trusting in the strength of the Lord vnarmed onely with stones in his bagge and his sling slayeth the Philistine He was about this time Three and Twentie yeares old This is the vse Looke what this Goliah and the Philistines were to the state of Israel so is the Deuill and his Angels to the children of God And as Dauid the beloued by trusting in the beloued Sonne of God ouercame so shall we if we beleeue as he did putting on the armor of God The summe in regard of the Iewes is this that as he being of Iuda subdued this Philistine so likewise in all other battailes they should couragiously follow him seeing he of Iuda should come after the flesh which fought for them from heauen Saul giueth Dauid his Daughter to wife it hath been a receiued opinion that the Iewes might not marrie out of their Tribes This is onely to be vnderstood of the heires because inheritance might not goe from one Tribe to another but if they were not heires they might As we see Dauid of Iuda marrieth one of Beniamin Now for his Victories THe 60. and 108. Psalme speaketh shortly of them in this sort Giliad is mine Manasses is mine Ephraim the strength of my head Iuda is my Law-giuer Moab is my Washpot ouer Edom will I cast out my shooe vppon the Philistines will I triumph The meaning of it is Christ will come and subdue all Nations vnto himselfe and erect his kingdome for euer And yet as all these Nations Moab and Ammon and Edom striue against Dauid so will the Gentiles against Christ And yet why doe the Gentiles rage and the people imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the earth stand vp and the Rulers counsell together against the Lord and against his annointed and yet all in vaine for hee will bruse them with a rodde of yron for hee hath giuen him the ends of the world for his Dominion therefore are the heathen fooles In the Reuelation you haue the like striuing by the Emperours against Christ but the Mountaine is cast into the fire In the Acts of the Apostles Pontius Pilate and the rest did that which the Lord decreed In these battailes of Dauid Saint Paules rule taketh place the sound of them was heard to the ends of the world For Dauids victories being gained not in one but being fortie yeares allotted to the accomplishment of them no doubt were an astonishment vnto the nations and by them to be greatly obserued Here wee haue the like comparison of the Fortie yeares
shall come and carrie away captiue these excellent things and thy Sonnes shall bee courtiers in the court of the king of Babell He hath Fifteen yeares longer allowed for the time of his life in this world and hath this warranted by the course of the Sun going fifteen degrees backward He knew the end and period of his life and thereby no doubt had a wonderfull glorie This is certaine that none can tell by outward blessings how farre he is in the fauour or disfauor of God Ezechias dieth to the end hee should not see the euill dayes 3311. Manasses his Sonne raigneth 55. yeres being wonderfull wicked HEre the long patience of God appeared calling men to repentance as in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was in preparing 3366. Amon his Sonne raigned Two yeares HE committed euill in the sight of the Lord as did Manasses his Father For Ammon sacrificed to all the Images which Manasses his Father had made and serued them and he humbled not himselfe before the Lord as Manasses his Father had humbled himselfe but this Ammon trespassed more and more and his Seruants conspired against him and slue him in his owne house And the people of the Land made Iosias King and hee raigned One and Thirtie yeares and hee did vprightly in the sight of the Lord and walked in the wayes of Dauid his Father and bowed neither to the right hand nor to the left He taketh vp the Prophets bones and burneth them vppon their Altars and purged Iudah and Ierusalem So hee fulfilleth that prophecie Read the 3. King 23.16 He was verie godly at Sixteen yeares of age at Eighteen the Booke of the Lawe is found It is a great question what Booke of the Law it was It is certaine that the prophets had the law to studie as Esay Amos and Ezechiel Therefore the meaning cannot be that before this finding they had no copies of Moses but the truth is Now was found the verie originall which Moses wrote for wicked Manasses was the occasion of hiding thereof Vpon this finding and reading thereof God saith 2. Chron. 34. Because thy heart did melt and thou hast humbled thy selfe before the Lord therfore thou shalt be gathered vnto thy fathers and shalt be put into thy graue with peace He was slaine by Pharaoh Neco at Megiddo for the Lord turned not from his fierce wrath wherewith he was angrie against Iudah because of the prouocations of Manasses therefore hee determined to put Iudah out of his sight Vpon this Ieremie writes the Lamentations of his death In his dayes Ieremie and Sophony prophecied 3399. Ioakim Eleauen yeares HE would not beleeue the iudgments of God against Iudah and Ierusalem pronounced by Ieremie 22. Thus saith the Lord against Ioakim they shall not lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Sister neither shall they mourne for him saying ah Lord or ah this glorie he shall be buried as an Asse is buried euen drawne and cast forth without the gates of Ierusalem And then began Nebuchadnetzar to besiege Ierusalem and Ioakim cuts Ieremies Lamentations in peeces Therefore he was buried like an Asse and here the succession ended Gregorie Martin herevpon keepes a stirre as if the Scriptures were not true because Saint Mathew saith that Ioakim begat Ieconias and his brethren whereas in truth Ioakim died childlesse The Scripture is true for this word Sonne is taken for any kinsman and so vsed in the scripture He was his Vncle in proper sence and Sonne by succession Here is now the saying fulfilled Ierem. 22. O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord write Iehoiakim voide of Children Nathaniel he saith of Christ Ioh. 1. Thou art the King of Israel The purpose of God in this Kingdome was this that Christ should bee King for euer whose gouernment they in some sort shadowed and yet seeing they could not performe ciuile Iustice for this life how shall wee if wee trust in our owne righteousnesse appeare in the sight of God The next in order of time to be handled is Nebuchadnetzar and the Storie of the Captiuitie but because before I could not conueniently handle the Kings of Israel before I come to the captiuitie I will heere handle their Stories in generall termes TIll Ieroboams time Iuda ruled ouer all the Tribes but when Salomon was dead and Roboam succeedeth the Ten tribes fall away from Iuda and then those Tribes make another Kingdome by their diuision and frō this time Israel is a kingdom diuided the ten Tribes bearing the name of Israel and the other Tribes Iuda and Beniamin the Kingdome of Iudah This diuision continueth vnto Ezechias time and there endeth the ten Tribes being carried captiue by Salmanasar The Prophet Oseas expresseth their state in this sort Cap. 1. GOe take vnto thee a wife of Fornications and hee tooke Gomer which signifieth a whole bodie or multitude the Daughter of Diblaim which signifieth Barrennesse which was a name of one of the standings in the wildernesse And she conceiued and bare a Sonne and called him Isreel So God calleth the whole state of Israel a whole bodie as barren as the wildernes She conceiued againe and bare a daughter and called her Loruhamah not pitied She bare againe another Sonne and called his name Lognamj that is not my people The meaning is thus much Goe to the multitude of Israel whose Fathers pitched their Tents in the wildernesse of Diblaim and because they fall to Idolatrie worshipping molten Calues as their fathers did in the wildernesse not regarding the glorie of Shiloh tell them that their state shall be as Israel that is like the slaughter of Iehu vpon Achab in the valley of Isreel and they shall be so vnpitied that they shall be as though they were no people vntill they know I am the Lord. Of these calamities Oseas preacheth vnto them in Ieroboams time telleth them vnder these termes of three alterations the one by Iehu which he expresseth by his first Sonne Isreel because a little while and I will visite the blood of Isreel vppon the house of Iehu and will make the gouernment of the house of Israel to cease and at that day will I also breake the bowe of Israel in the valley of Iesrell The Second by his Daughter Loruhamah without mercie For I wil no more haue pitie vpon the house of Israel but I will vtterly take them away which was performed in Tighath Pelesars daies without mercie The Third Lognammi no people for yee are not my people therefore will I not be yours This was performed when Salmanasar caried them cleane away It is not expressed of what Tribes the Kings of Israel were because the Lord keepeth not the wicked in remembrance If any be mentioned it is for some speciall vse in the Storie as Iehu may be supposed to be of Gad because there is mention made that he came from a Towne in that Tribe Ieroboam is of Ioseph and is a plague to Israel when hee erected
the vision wherein God restored these bones to life some reason they had thus to esteeme of themselues for they were carried away captiue the land of Iuda desolate for religion and the neighbours about them amazed In Babylon policie they could haue none nor any exercise of Religion If they prayed it must be after the manner of Daniel in his Chamber and so no doubt Ezra and Salathiel and the rest did So that their age was euen as a dead time in the world Besides God sayth Esay 52. My name is euill spoken of because of you amonge the heathen so that one of Babylon might say to his neighbour You see here a Nation vild and of no account yet they haue a hope that they shall be deliuered out of captiuitie after Seuentie yeares and here is one Ieremie which taketh a stone and casteth it into the Sea and so saith he head-long shall Babylon bee ouerthrowne and they haue one Daniel who prophecieth that the great King Nebuchadnetzar shall be a beast that is shall haue the heart of a Beast giuen him because hee doth not worship their God but haue destroyed their temple They despise to march with vs looking still for their deliuerance This no doubt would cause them to be hated and the name of God ill spoken of From this wee may gather a deepe meditation for our owne estate and to looke to our wayes that they be the Lords wayes and not our owne least through misbeleefe wee fall into the like sorrowes As Ezechiel compareth them to dead bones so they themselues were as men in graues for so the 126. Psalme speaketh When thou leddest captiuitie captiue then were wee like men that dreamed for wee thought no more that this had come to passe than the dreames which appeare from the vanitie of our thoughts Now if wee make vse of these things by comparing our state in this life with theirs in Babell wee shall doe well for may not euerie one of vs say with Iacob Genes 47. Our dayes are fewe and euill and full of sorrowe and wee doe not attaine to the dayes of our Fathers All the Kingdomes of the earth since this time in respect of their policie are called Babell In the Reuelation the godly are admonished to come out of Babell seeing they are Gods people otherwise they shall bee partakers of their plagues and as longe as wee liue wee shall bee in Babell and confusion our tongues so confounded as not able to speake the mysteries of God aright this is the case of euerie one of vs. Now the Iewes in Babylon seeing they cannot restore policie they perfourme outward obedience for ciuill actions and turning their faces to Ierusalem the sight of peace they praise God in their soules so we seeing our case is no better than theirs in this life wee must meditate on the Sonne of righteousnesse and settle our affections on high that after this life wee may enioy the heauenly Ierusalem our conscience hauing embraced that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding not going about to restore policie but in intreating the Lord to teach vs to number our dayes that yet so we may apply our selues vnto wisedome To this purpose the 137. Psalme is full of comfort for we must consider there is no Land nor no law that can hinder vs to be godly And though there bee wicked lawes decreed as when Nebuchadnetzar erected the Image and commanded a worshipping of it yet their end is but to trie the faith of Gods Children that euen as Gold seuen times purified is not consumed but made more glorious so the Furnace seuen times more hot shall not so much as make our garments to smell thereof for God is in the middest of his chosen Thus much for the Seuentie yeares in generall Now a little for the particulars IT had three captiuities The one when Daniel was carried away The second Seuen yeres after when Ieconias was caried away The third eleauen yeres after when Sedechias was carried away so they were wholy but Fiftie yeares in captiuitie in Babel a full Iubilee this opinion hath been crossed but you shall see it must needs be so Then it is sayd that captiuitie begins when men are led captiue Besides seeing God calleth the people of the Iewes Daniels people and the Citie his Citie shall we thinke that hee being in such fauour with God God made no account of his captiuitie seeing by these titles giuen vnto him it is apparant God esteemed more of him than of all the men in the earth Further if you reckon it from Iehoiakims you then make it Seuentie seauen which is more than the scripture warrants Now for the place in Ezechiel from the time of our captiuitie It is certaine the Prophet there speaketh onely of the carrying away of the Kings Ieremie telleth that the Babylonians shall rule but Seuenty yeares and they must be in captiuitie but to them and therefore you must beginne your captiuitie from the time that Daniel was carried away otherwise you will make more or lesse than Seuentie Now if we examine why the Iewes would not beleeue this we shall finde the reason by a common disease amongst our selues For we all know we shall die but yet there is none so old but thinketh hee may liue till to morrow euen so they knewe they should bee ledde away captiue but euerie one perswaded himselfe not in his daies and so destruction came suddenly vppon them Besides there was a prophecie Habac. 1. I will worke a worke in your daies which you will not beleeue though one should tell you Saint Paul speaketh this to the Gentiles and applies it to Christ We may marke another thing Israel is carried away captiue in Hoseas time of whome this is not added that hee continued in the sinnes of Ieroboam and by this we may gather hee was the best of the Kings of Israel Iuda is carried captiue in Iehoiakims time and yet Manasses as wicked a King as he From hence wee see that Christ is Palmoni who numbreth wayeth and diuideth and the wicked shall drink vp their portion the iudgment of God which neither the goodnesse nor wickednesse of any can hinder to cause to come sooner or later Babylon the Lion 3401. Nebuchadnetzar raigned 45. yeares HIs name signifieth The bewayling of iudgment or the sorrowing of pouertyâ— this was true both in himself in the Iews whom he captiued In himselfe in that God being a fiery iudge sitting vpon a throne exalting Kings and putting downe Kings abased the high estate of Nebucadnetzar King of Babel and threw him from the house which he had built wherby he continued not in honour but was made like to the beasts that perish and compelled to bewaile his owne miserie It was true in the Iewes in that they forgetting the law of Moses Leuit. 26. neglected their Sabbaths erected Altars worshipped strange Gods and forsooke not the abhominations of the Nations whose land they possessed but in
of iron and clay and brake them to peeces then was the iron the clay the brasse the siluer and the gold broken all together that no place was found for them and the stone that smote them became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth Dan. 2. Daniel sawe some great beasts come vp from the sea the first a Lyon the second a Beare the third a Leopard the fourth vnlike the former with teeth of iron and tenne hornes Dan. 7. These great beasts which are foure are foure Kings which shall take the kingdome of the Saints of the most high In the thirteenth of the Reuelation Iohn sawe a beast rise out of the sea hauing seauen heads and tenne hornes mouthed like a Lyon bodied like a Leopard footed like a Beare and the Dragon gaue him his power And Daniel beheld till the thrones were set vp and the Ancient of daies did sit whose garment was white as snowe and the haire of his head like the pure wooll his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheeles as burning fire a fiery streame issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred vnto him and tenne thousand thousands stood before him the iudgement was set and the bookes opened the beasts were slaine and their bodies cast into the burning fire and behold one like the Son of man came in the clowdes of heauen and came to the Ancient of daies and he gaue him dominion and honour and a kingdome that all people nations and languages should serue him his kingdome shall neuer be destroyed so as Reuel 20. Iohn sawe a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face flied both the earth and the heauen and he sawe the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which was the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those thinges which were written in the bookes according to their workes and whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire Dan. 3. Nebucadnetzar erecteth an Image and commaundeth to worshippe it Sidrach Mishach and Abednego refused This sheweth that wicked lawes cannot compell godly men to doe that which God forbiddeth for the faithfull are alwaies assured that God wil defend them this is the meaning of this place and will not feare him that can throwe the body into the fire but stand in awe of him that can throwe both body and soule into eternall fire so in Apoc. 1◠As many as would not worship the image of the beast were killed 3409. Ioachin three moneths HE was eight yeares old when he beganne to raigne and hee ruled three monthes and ten dayes in Ierusalem and did euill in the sigh of the Lord. And when the yeare was out King Nebucadnetzar sent and brought him to Babel with the pretious vessels of the house of the Lord. He beganne his raigne at eight yeares and raigned ten yeares when his father was aliue and after his fathers death which was the eighteenth yeare of his age he raigned alone three monthes and ten dayes So he was brought prisoner to Babel and Zedechias his brother but in truth his Vncle was made King in his steede so he continued in prison all the daies of Nebucadnetzar that is seauen and thirtie yeares after Nebucadnetzar had carried him captiue vnto the first yeare of euill Merodach King of Babel who succeeded Nebuchadnetzar This was foretold him by the Prophet Ieremie cap. 22. Thou that dwellest in Lebanon and makest thy nest in the Cedars how beautifull shalt thou be when sorrowes come vppon thee as the sorowes of a womā in trauaile as I liue saith the Lord though Coniah that is Ioachin or Ieconias the sonne of Iehoiachim King of Iuda were as the signet of my right hand yet would I plucke thee thence and I will giue thee into the hand of them that seeke thy life and into the land of them whose face thou fearest euen into the hand of Nebucadnetzar King of Babel and into the hand of the Chaldeans and I will cause them to carry thee away thy mother that bare thee into another countrie where ye were not borne and there shall yee die but to the land whereunto they desire to returne they shall not returne thither But after the death of Nebucadnetzar euill Merodach his sonne did lift vp the head of Ioachin or Ieconias King of Iudah out of the prison and spake kindely to him and set his throne aboue the throne of the Kings that were with him in Babel changed his prison garments and he did continually eate meate before him all the daies of his life and his portion was a continuall portion giuen him by the King euery day a certaine all the daies of his life 3410. Zedechias Eleauen yeares HIs name was first Mattamah but Nebucadnetzar changed his name to Zedechiah Hee was one and twentie yeares olde when he beganne to raigne And he did euill in the sight of the Lord according to all that Iehoiakim had done Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Ierusalem and Iudah vntill he cast them out of his sight And Zedechias rebelled against the King of Babell and in the ninth yeare of Zedechias raigne the tenth month and which day of the month Nebucadnetzar King of Babel came he and all his host against Ierusalem and pitched against it and they built forts against it round about So the citie was besieged vnto the eleauenth yeare of King Zedechias and the ninth month the famine was so great in the citie that there was no bread for the people of the land So that the fourth of Ieremies Lamentations was trulie performed that mothers did eate their owne children So the citie was broken vp and the King Zedechias fledde but the armie of the Caldees pursued after him and tooke him in the deserts of Iericho and all his host was scattered from him Then they tooke the King and carried him vp to the King of Babel to Riblah where they gaue iudgment vpon him and they slue the sonnes of Zadechias before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedechias and bound him in chaines and carried him to Babel Heere is performed the wordes of Ieremie the Prophet chap. 24. I will giue Zedechias the King of Iudah and his Princes and the rest of Ierusalem for a terrible plague to all the kingdomes of the earth and for a reproch and for a prouerb for a common talke for a curse in all places where I shall cast them and I will send the sword the famine and the pestilence among them till they be consumed out of the land that I gaue to them and their Fathers And Ier. 5. For the house of Israel and the house of Iudah haue grieuouslie transgressed against me saith the Lord they haue denied the Lord and said It is not he neither shall the plague come vpon vs neither shall wee see sword nor famine
ond the Prophets shall bee as winde and the word is not in them Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hostes because yee spake such wordes I will bring a Nation vpon you from farre O house of Israel which is a mighty Nation and an ancient Nation and a Nation whose language thou knowest not neither vnderstandest what they say whose quiuer is an open sepulchre they are all very strong and they shall eate thine haruest and thy bread and they shall deuoure thy sonnes and thy daughters they shall eate vp thy sheep and thy bullockes they shal eate thy vines and thy figge trees they shall destroy with the sword thy fenced cities wherein thou didst trust Neuerthelesse saith the Lord at those daies I will not make a full end of you And when you shall say Wherefore doth the Lord these things vnto vs then shalt thou answere them Like as you haue forsaken me and serued strange Gods in your land so shall yee serue strangers in a land that is not yours Declare this in the house of Iacob and publish it in Iudah for among my people are found wicked persons that lay waite as he that setteth snares and as a cagefull of birdes so is their housefull of deceit they do ouerpasse the deeds of the wicked they execute no iudgment no not the iudgment of the fatherlesse And shall not visite for these things saith the Lord or shall not my soule be auenged on such a Nation as this an horrible and filthy thing is committed in the land the Prophets prophesie lies and the Priests receiue gifts in their hands ard my people delight therein Here the crowne and kingdome is ouerthrowen according to that prophecie I will ouerturne ouerturne ouerturne the kingdome vntill he come vnto whome the crowne and diademe doth belong meaning Christ And indeede the Iewes after this time had neuer an established kingdome seuerall to themselues free from forraine gouernment 3414. Ezechiel prophecieth WHo cap. 1. sawe the heauens open and foure beastes that is Angels like a man a lyon an eagle and an oxe full of eyes and with foure winges and aboue the firmament that was ouer their head was the fashion of a throne like vnto a Saphir stone and vpon the similitude of the throne was by appearance as the similitude of a man vpon it and the likenesse of the bow that is in the clowd in the day of raine so was the apparance of the light round about it this was the apparance of the similitude of the glory of the Lord. Ezechiel being in Chaldea in a vision is carried into Ierusalem and there seeth the glory of God as before and sawe horrible idolatrie The similitude of creeping things and abhominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel painted vpon a wall whence the wrath of Christ kindled against them is thus signified one from the throne of Saphir stone clothed with linnen filleth his hands with coles of fire scattereth them ouer Ierusalem So in the fall of the Church Ap. 8. The Angell tooke the censure and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thundrings and earthquakes 3419. Temple burnt IN the Nineteenth yeare of king Nebuchadnetzar king of Babel came Nebuzaradan cheefe Steward and seruant of the king of Babel to Ierusalem and burnt the house of the Lord and the kings house and all the houses of Ierusalem Also all the pillars of brasse the bases the brasen sea did the Chaldees breake and carried the brasse of them to Babel The pots also and the besomes the instruments of musick and the incense ashes and all the vessels of brasse that they ministred in tooke they away It is to be noted that so long as the Temple stood there was peace in all the earth but it being once ouerthrowne there was after that generall warres the Persians against the Babylonians and the Babylonians against all Nations and the Grecians against the Persians For when God once plagued his owne people his iustice was extended ouer all and as it was Seuen yeres in building so Nebuchadnetzar was Seuen yeares a beast for destroying it that is the heart of a man not the bodie of a man was taken from him Megastenes an ancient author writeth that Nebuchadnetzar at his return home was striken with madnes and died crying incessantly to the Babilonians that a great mischiefe was nere them which all the power of their Gods could not stay For quoth he a Hafeasse of Persia shall come make vs thrals The man that he spake of was Cyrus who as Alexander Polihistor witnesseth builded vp the temple of Ierusalē againe Here is performed Iere. 20. I will make this Citie desolate and an hissing so that euerie one that passeth by shall be astonished and hisse because of all the plagues thereof for the people are all rebellious traytors they are brasse and yron they all are destroyers And Ierem. 7. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Is this house become a denne of Theeues wherevpon my name is called before your eyes This our Sauiour Christ in the 21. of Mathew vseth to the mony changers Behold I see it saith the Lord. But goe ye now to Silo where I set my name at the beginning and behold what I did to it for the sinnes of my people Israel euen so will I doe to this house wherein also ye trust euen to the place that I gaue to you and to your Fathers as I haue done vnto Silo. And I will cast you out of my sight as I haue cast all your brethren euen all the children of Ephraim For seest thou not what they doe in the Cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem The children gather wood the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead the dough to make Cakes to the Queene of heauen and to powre out drinke offerings vnto other Gods that they may prouoke mee vnto anger Therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold my anger and my wrath shall be powred vpon this place vpon man and vpon beast and vpon the tree of the field and vpon the fruite of the ground and it shall burne and not bee quenched Ezech. 4. And behold I will breake the staffe of bread in Ierusalem and they shall eat bread by waite and with care and they shall drinke water by measure and with astonishment And Ezek. 5. the third part of thee shall die with pestilence and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee and another third part shall fall by the sword and I will scatter the last third part into all the winds and I will draw a sword after them saith the Lord so thou shalt be a reproach and shame a chastisement and astonishment vnto the Nations when I shall execute my iudgments For I will send vpon you a famine and beasts and pestilence and blood shall passe thorough thee I the Lord haue spoken it These plagues were
foretold should come vpon them in the Lawe of Moses Leuit. 26. In these wordes If you will not bee reformed but walke stubbornly against me c. I will appoint ouer you fearefulnesse a consumption and the burning ague to consume the eyes and to make the heart heauie and you shall sowe your seede in vaine for your enemies shall eat it I will breake the pride of power and I will make your heauen as yron and your earth as brasse This was perfourmed when Elias was constrayned to pray for raine Your strength shall be spent in vaine neither shall the Land giue her increase neither shall the trees of the Land giue their fruit I will also send wilde beasts vpon you which shall spoyle you and destroy your cattell and a sword that shall auenge the quarrell of my couenant and when yee are gathered in your Cities I will send the pestilence vpon you and ye shall be deliuered into the hand of the enemie when I shall breake the staffe of your bread then tenne women shall bake your bread in one Ouen and they shall deliuer your bread againe by weight and ye shall eat but not be satisfied and yee shall eat the flesh of your Sonnes and the flesh of your Daughters shall yee deuoure I will make your Cities desolate and bring your Sanctuarie to nought Vpon this destruction Ieremie lamenteth the state of Ierusalems miserie and sheweth therewith the cause of her punishments How doth the Citie remaine solitarie that was full of people she is as a widowe she weepeth continually in the night her teares run downe her cheekes amonge all her louers she hath none to comfort her Iudah is caried away captiue because of affliction and because of great seruitude shee dwelleth amonge heathen and findeth no rest all her persecutors tooke her in the straights The wayes of Sion lament because no man commeth to the solemne feasts all her gates are desolate her Priests sigh her Virgins are discomfited and shee is in heauinesse her Aduersaries are the chiefe and her enemies prosper for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions and her children are gone into captiuitie before the enemie And from the Daughter of Sion all her beautie is departed her Princes are become like Harts that finde no pasture and they are gone without strength before the pursuer Ierusalem remembred the dayes of her affliction and of her rebellion and all her pleasant things that she had in times past when her people fell into the hand of the enemie and none did helpe her the aduersaries saw her and did mocke at her Sabbaths Ierusalem hath greeuously sinned therefore she is in derision all that honoured her despise her because they haue seen her filthinesse yea shee sigheth and turneth backward her filthines is in her skirts she remembred not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully she had no comforter shee hath seen the heathen enter into her Sanctuarie whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy Church Sion stretcheth out her hands and there is none to coÌ„fort her The Lord hath appointed the enemies of Iacob round about him Ierusalem is as a menstruous woman in the middest of them The Lord is righteous for I haue rebelled against his commaundement Heare I pray you all people and behold my sorrow my Virgins and my young men are gone into captiuitie I called for my Louers but they deceiued me my priests and mine Elders perished in the Citie while they sought their meate to refresh their soules how hath the Lord darkened the Daughter of Sion in his wrath and hath cast downe from heauen vnto the earth the beautie of Israel and remembred not his foot-stoole in the day of his wrath The Lord hath destroyed all the habitations of Iacob and not spared hee hath polluted the Kingdome and the Princes thereof he hath destroyed his Tabernacle as a Garden he hath destroyed his congregation the Lord hath caused the feasts and Sabbaths to bee forgotten in Sion He hath forsaken his Altar hee hath abhorred his Sanctuarie he hath giuen into the hand of the enemie the walles of her Pallaces they made a noyse in the house of the Lord as in the day of solemnitie her gates are sunke to the ground he hath destroied and broken her barres her King and her Princes are amonge the Gentiles the lawe is no more neither can her Prophets receiue any vision from the Lord all that passe by the way clappe their hands at thee they hisse and wagge their head vpon the daughter Ierusalem saying Is this the Citie that men call the perfection of beautie and the ioy of the whole earth thy enemies hisse and gnash their teeth against thee saying Let vs deuoure it surely this is the day that wee looked for we haue found and seene it The Lord hath done that which hee purposed hee hath fulfilled his word that he had determined of old 3431. Ezechiel seeth a Vision of the restoring of the Temple THe name of Ezechiels Temple is The Lord is there This Temple had more spirituall ornaments than the first for all the Nations of the earth came thither Christ himselfe taught there a greater than Aaron The old Temple had gold that is the spirite of prophecie which the new Temple had not All the lawes and ceremonies of the former Temple was deliuered vnto them againe anew and Israel and Iudah brought all vnder one head as in the dayes of Dauid and Salomon In the fiue and Twentieth yeare of our being in captiuitie in the beginning of the yeare in the Tenth day of the Moneth in the Fourteenth yeare after the Citie was smitten the hand of the Lord was vpon me and brought mee into the Land of Israel in a diuine vision and set me vpon a verie hye Mountaine wherevpon was as the building of a Citie And behold there was a man with a reede to measure it So in the Ap. 21. Iohn sayth The Angell caried me away in the spirite to a great and a hye Mountaine and he shewed me the great Citie holy Ierusalem descending out of heauen from God and I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almightie and the Lambe are the Temple of it 3446. Euilmerodach two and Twentie yeres OF him no euill is spoken in the Scripture something is spoken in his praise that he entreated fauourably Ieconias King of Iudah Zorobabel His name signifieth Free from confusion This was perfourmed in him when as hee with Iesus the Son of Iehosadach Ezra 3.2 ledde the people from Babell which signifieth Confusion and builded the Altar of the Lord to offer burnt offerings thereon as it is written Exod. 23. This deliuerance was prophesied of Zorobabell by Haggai the prophet Cap. 2. I will take thee O Zorobabel the Sonne of Selathiel and make thee as a signet vpon my right hand 3469. Baltazar Three yeares HIs name signifieth a searcher of treasuâ—â—â— He was verie wicked as was
the thinges hid in secret places that thou mayest know that I am the Lord which call thee by thy name euen the God of Israel For Iacob my seruants sake and Israel mine elect I will euen call thee by thy name and name thee though thou hast not knowne me I whose hands haue spread out the heauens I haue euen commaunded all thine armie I haue raysed thee vp in righteousnesse and I will direct all thy wayes thou shalt build my Citie and let goe my captiues not for price nor reward saith the Lord of Hostes The labour of Egipt and the marchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans men of stature shall come vnto thee and they shall be thine they shall follow thee and make supplication vnto thee saying Surely God is in thee and there is none other Gods besides And Esay 46. For I call a bird from the East and the man of my counsell from farre as I haue spoken so will I bring it to passe I haue purposed and I will doe it Heare me yee stubborne hearted and that are farre from iustice I bring neere my iustice it shall not be farre off and my saluation shall not tarrie for I will giue saluation in Sion and my glorie vnto Israel These people here mentioned were tributaries to the Persians Cyrus was a figure of Christ For as Cyrus deliuered the Iewes from the bondage of Babel so Iesus Christ deliuered vs from the bondage of the spirituall Babel Thus much for the Prophecie of the persons who should destroy Babylon Now followeth the Prophecies of the destruction thereof BEL is bowed downe Nebo is fallen they are bowed downe and fallen together for they could not rid them of their burden and their soule is gone into captiuitie And Esay 47. Come downe and sitte in the dust O Virgin daughter Bahel sitte on the ground there is no throne O Daughter of the Caldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate Take the mill stones and grinde meale loose thy lockes make bare thy feete vncouer the leg and passe through the flouds Thy filthinesse shall be discouered and thy shame shall be seene I will take vengeance and not meete thee as a man meaning that he would vse no humanity nor pittie towardes it Our Redeemer the Lord of hostes is his name the Holy one of Israel Sit still and get thee into darknesse O daughter of the Caldeans for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdomes I was wrath with my people I polluted mine inheritance and gaue them into thine hands and thou diddest shew them no mercie but thou laidst the very heauie yoke vpon the ancient and thou saidst I shall be a Lady for euer so that thou didst not set thy heart to these things neither didst thou remember the latter end thereof Therefore now heare thou that art giuen to pleasures and dwellest carelesse Thou saist in thy heart I am and none else I shall not sit as a widdowe neither shall know the losse of children but these two things shall come to thee in one day the losse of children and widdowhood for the multitude of the diuinations and for the great abundance of thine enchanters haue caused thee to rebell and thou hast said in thy heart I am and none else Stand now among thy enchanters and in the multitude of thy sooth-sayers let now the Astrologers the starre gasers and Prognosticators stand vp and saue thee from these things Behold they shall be as stubble they shall burne like fire and shall not deliuer their owne liues from the power of the flame For Babell is fallen it is fallen and all the images of her Gods are broken to the ground this is the time of the Lords vengeance he will render vnto her a recompence Babell hath beene as a golden cuppe in the Lords hand that made all the earth drunken the Nations haue drunke of her wine therefore doe the Nations rage Babell is sodainely fallen and destroyed howle for her bring balme for her sore if she may be healed We would haue cured Babell but shee could not be healed Forsake her and let euery one goe into his own cuntrey for her iudgment is come vp into heauen and is lifted vp to the clowds O thou that dwellest vpon many waters aboundant in treasures thy end is come euen the end of thy couetousnesse Behold I come vnto thee O destroying mountaine which destroyest all the earth saith the Lord and I will stretch out my hand vpon thee and roll thee downe from the rockes and will make thee a burnt mountaine They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations but thou shalt bee destroyed for euer saith the Lord. A Poste shall runne to meete the Poste and a Messenger to meete the Messenger to shew the King of Babell how his citie is taken on a side therof and that the daughter of Babel is like a threshing floore and the time of her threshing is come saith the Lord. The spoile of me and that which was left of me is brought vnto Babel shall the inhabitant of Sion say and my bloud vnto the inhabitants of Caldea shall Ierusalem say Therefore Babel shall be as heapes a dwelling place for Dragons an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant They shall roare together like Lions and yelle as the Lyons whelpes In their heate I will make them feastes I will make them drunken that they may reioyce and sleepe a perpetual sleepe and not wake saith the Lord. How is Sheshack taken how is the glory of the whole world taken how is Babell become an astonishment among the Nations her cities are desolate the land is dry and a wildernesse a land wherein no man dwelleth neither doth the Sonne of man passe therby Though Babell should mount vp to the heauens and though she should defend her strength on high yet from me shall come her destroyers saith the Lord. For the Lord God that recompenceth will surely recompence and I wil make drunke her Princes and her Wisemen her Dukes and her Nobles and they shall slâ—epe a perpetuall sleepe and not wake saith the King whose name is the Lord of hostes And Ieremie tooke a great stone and cast it into Euphrates and said Thus shall Babylon be ouerthrowen Thus the word of the Lord remayneth for euer as it is written If any leade into captiuity hee shall goe into captiuity and if any kill with a sword he must be killed with a sword Ap. 13. Now compare the impieties of Rome or misticall Babylon with these times and you shall find them the very same and therefore the Holy Ghost layeth downe her destruction as the destruction of Babel ANd Ap. 14. I sawe an Angell flie in the middest of heauen hauing an euerlasting Gospel saying with with a loude voice Feare God and giue glory to him for the houre of his iudgment is come And there followed an other Angel saying It is
mee vinegar to drinke they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talke how they may vexe him whome thou hast wounded Thou hast layd me in the lowest pit in a place of darkenesse and in the deepe This text the Iewes haue striuen with great malice to corrupt for in stead of Caru that is to say they pierced the Iewes will needs read Caari that is as a Lion but the Massorets who registred the number of the words and letters in the Bible doe testifie that in all good copies it is written Caru they pierce Also the Seuentie Interpreters haue translated into greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They pierced my hands c. Also the Prophet Zacharie sayth I will powre out the spirite of grace and mercie vpon the house of Dauid and vpon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem and they shall looke vnto me whome they pierced Christ suffered at Easter to end the ceremony of the paschall Lambe For now the true Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world is offered vp for vs. As of the paschall Lambe no bone was broken so of Christ the immaculate Lambe no bone was broken As the redde Cowe in Moses accompanied with all the people was conuayed out of the host and burned with the campe so also was Iesus ledde out of the Citie accompanied by the people and crucified without the Citie He went ouer the brooke Kedron the way that Dauid fled from Absalom He went into a garden to pray to recouer Adams fall in the garden He suffered on friday being the Iewes sixt day the day wherein Adam was created He suffered at noone the time when Adam disobeyed He suffered on the crosse to take the curse vpon him He openeth Paradise to the poore theefe out of which Adam that day was driuen Two theeues were crucified with him and hee was reckoned amonge the wicked as Esay forespake Esay 53. Generall darknesse at his death was ouer all the world from the sixt houre vntill the ninth houre Adams soule was in darknesse hiding himselfe from the presence of God from the sixt houre vntill the ninth houre At the ninth houre he called on God whose voice Adam could not abide As Ioseph buried his Father Iacob so now Ioseph burieth Christ the true Iacob After three dayes and three nights hee riseth againe as Ionas after three dayes and three nights was deliuered out of the Whales belly After his resurrection hee appeareth twelue times as Iosua sent twelue to view the Land of Canaan He walked on the earth fortie dayes as Iosua viewed the Land fortie dayes On the Fiftieth day hee sendeth the holy Ghost vpon the Apostles so after eating the Lambe on the Fiftie day the Law was giuen Now Christ the couragious white horse shineth and his Kingdome is established and Satan is bound for a thousand yeares For the preaching of Christ and his Apostles hath opened the eyes of some of all the Gentiles in the world whereby the power of Sathan is weakned and the rage of the cruell Hornes of the beast of Rome that is the tyrannie of the persecuting Emperors Nero Domitian and the rest plagued by the hand of God Plagues of blood famine and pestilence resembled by horses red blacke and leane the great beast also hauing one head cut off lyeth dead vntill the end of the thousand yeares and the gracious Gospell of Christ flourishing in Iaphets borders these be the ends of the earth Sems house not regarding the peace of Ierusalē Iaphets Sons are perswaded to come to his tents to fetch precious stones from Sion to lay the foundation of the spirituall Salem to perfourme the blessing of Noah Gen. 10. And God will perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem. The earthly Ierusalem is now destroyed by the Romanes vnder whome Christ was crucified called in Dan. 9. the abhomination of desolation whose Citie in respect of their impieties is called Ap. 11. a spirituall Sodome Egipt and therfore vnto Iohn figured by one monstrous beast hauing seuen heads and ten hornes answearable to the number of the heads and hornes of Daniels foure beasts one of whose heads Constantine the great cutteth off by remoouing the imperiall seat of the Romane Empire to Constantinople which he called new Rome so that the beast lay wounded about three hundred yeres one while being ouercome by Vandals another while by Lumbards another while by Germanes one while by one and another while by another and withall such plagues lighted vpon the afflicters of the Church of God that they in effect desired the mountaines to fall vpon and couer them Thus it was of no glorie vntill the end of the thousand yeares then Satan is let loose and suffered to goe roaring about to deceiue the hearts of the people seeking like a ramping and a roaring Lion whome hee might deuoure and hee putteth life into this dead beast hauing power giuen him from God Reuel 13. And hee spake as did the Dragon and hee did all that the first beast could doe in his presence and hee caused the earth with them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed and he did great wonders so that hee made fire to come downe from heauen in the sight of men and deceiued them that dwelt on the earth by the meanes of those signes which hee had power to doe in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image vnto the beast which had the wound of a sword and did liue And hee had power to giue a spirite vnto the image of the beast and that the image of the beast should speake and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should bee killed And hee caused all both small and great rich and poore free and bond to receiue a marke in their right hand or in their foreheads or the number of his name Here is wit let him that hath wisedome count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is sixe hundred threescore and sixe When Gregorie the seuenth forbiddeth mariages who taketh vpon him not the forme of the former beast and hornes but the shape of a Lambe with two hornes pretending all holynesse of whome Christ forbad long before to take heed saying Mat. 7. Take heed of such as come in sheeps clothing and say here is Christ and there is Christ and to colour this Religion to be good they strengthen the throne of Sathan they erect houses for deuout persons patternes as they say of chastitie good life and all vertue sequestring themselues from the glorie of the world whome the holy Ghost compareth in Ap. 8. to Locusts that is monstrous Serpents sprung frō the seed of that old serpent Sathan the Deuill and are described to haue faces like men to shew that they should bee but priuate men haire like women signifying that they should