writers in other Churches reformed to be any genuine part of the old Testamēt to be any portion of the rule or Canon of the Hebrews faith received by them before our Saviours incarnation And being no portiō of their Catholique rule or Canon it is no way probable that our Apostle S. Paul when he wrote the divine Epistle directed in speciall to the Hebrews his countrymen would borrow his titles or Attributes of our Saviours glory from this Authors encomiasme of wisdome Nor can any convincing proofe be brought to perswade us that the Author of this booke whosoever he was did make application of these characters of wisdome in the abstract unto Christ or truely beleeve either that Iesus the son of Mary though living haply on earth before his time or that the promised Messias whose coming he did expect should be the wisdome of God which he so magnifies or God incarnate in whom all former Scriptures and his owne encomiasme of Divine wisdome should in particular and punctually be fulfilled That the commendations which he gives to wisdome at least the most of them can really and truely be applied to none but Christ who is the wisdome and sonne of God All this and more being granted will not conclude that he did intend or thinke of Christs birth or incarnation or apprehend the personall union betweene the sonne of God and the sonne of David For Tully and other Heathen writers have made such panegyricall descriptions of vertues morall and intellectuall of wisdome especially or of Philosophy in their abstract notion as can have no reall paterne save only in the divine incomprehensible essence and yet they themselves lived and for ought wee know dyed without any distinct knowledge or apprehension of the true God yea many times committed grosse Idolatry with those vertues whether morall or intellectuall which they so magnified in the abstract 8. Whilest we peruse Authors either Heterodoxall or not Canonicall this rule I take it is of generall good use that for matter of practise or application wee are specially to consider quà m benè not quam bona on the contrary in point of speculation not quà m benè sed quà m bona not how well or to what good end they speake but how good things they speake or write The writings of the moderne Jew are for the most part malicious and morally evill yet unto such as know to make right use of them in their speculations upon the old Testament even in such of them as are professed enemies to our Lord and Saviour and to the Evangelical story there be so many scattered characters or misplaced syllables as being rightly put together and well ordered by some judicious Aristarchus or accurate composer would make up a more exact commentary upon most of those places in Moses and the Prophets which we Christians usually alleage for proving the truth of sundry articles in this Creed then can be gathered out of the Christian Interpreters of the old or new Testament which have not the care or skill to beat those enemies at their owne weapons or to retort those blowes which they offer at us upon themselves Those strange dreames or fancies which they have concerning mysteries to be revealed in the dayes of the Messias are evident signes that the Lord hath cast them into this long slumber for the instruction of us Christians And the right interpretation of their dreames or their application is one of the highest degrees of prophecy which in this later age can ordinarily bee expected And I would to God some sonnes of the Prophets would addresse their paines and studies to this purpose unto which according to our poore talent we shall have occasion to speake in some speciall articles following But to returne unto the point proposed in the beginning of this Chapter one speciall reason why S. Iohn instyles our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word not the sonne was to make up a more exquisite resemblāce of his incōprehensible Essence of the eternity of his person and his eternall generation of his consubstantiality with God the Father then without this particular expression we could have had or perhaps would have sought for Every one of his severall titles whether given to him by S. Iohn or by S. Paul addes something to the better expression of his unexpressible excellence unto the raising of our apprehensions to a higher pitch of admiration of these incomprehensible mysteries then one or two or fewer then are made could have done To informe our understandings or rectifie our faith that the son of God is more exquisitely or more consubstantially like unto his Father then any sonne of man is unto the father of his body he is by the holy Ghost instyled the expresse Image or character of his Fathers person Heb. 1. 3. No man can be altogether so like another as the impression is to the print To instruct us againe that this absolute and perfect expression of the father in the sonne farre exceed any such expression as the Statue can make of man or such as the seale leaves in the waxe he is by S. Iohn instyled by the name of life being the living substantiall image of his Father Againe to rectifie our apprehensions that the sonne of God did not grow into this absolute live image of his Father by degrees after such a manner as the sonnes of men doe for no child is altogether like his father from his birth it hath pleased the holy Ghost further to emblazon his incomprehensible generation or begetting under the character of brightnesse or light He is the brightnesse of Gods glory saith S. Paul and by S. Iohn the light And this is the most exquisite of any resemblāce that can be taken frō things sensible The sunne and fountaine of visible light doth naturally without interposition of time without any labour or operation produce or beget brightnesse or splendour And this it doth so uncessantly so perpetually that if we could imagine there had beene a sunne or fountaine of light without beginning to continue without end of time or dayes we could not but imagine that there should be a brightnesse or splendour perpetually produced without beginning or without ending of such production or of the brightnesse so produced by this fountaine of light Yet this supposition being granted or admitted the resemblance would herein faile That this continual production of light without beginning without ending did yet admit a succession or continuitie of time which the eternall generation of the sonne of God doth not admit for that onely is truely eternall which is not onely without beginning or end of dayes but without all succession in duration without mensuration of dayes or yeares all which are conteyned in eternitie as this visible world and all the power in it are conteyned in his power who is invisible and incorporeall All these resemblances are taken from things sensible Lastly the eternall generation of the sonne of God as most Divines will
after every manner his owne so as our bloud is ours yet his owne by a more proper more full and soveraigne title then our bloud is any way ours 11. Our flesh and bloud may be said to be our owne in two respects either as it is a part of our nature or an appertinence of our person In this last respect the fruit of the Virgins womb was the sonne of Gods own substance the flesh and bloud which hee tooke from her were his after a more exquisite manner or in a fuller measure of the same manner then our flesh and bloud are our owne Or if wee would speake the language of Philosophy her selfe rather then of Philosophers or of such as professe themselves to be her followers though ofttimes as wee say a farre off Our flesh our bloud our limbes are said to be our owne not so much or not so properly as they are parts of our nature as in that they are either parts or appurtenances of our persons That which is immediately next or linkt unto our person is by a more peculiar and soveraigne right our owne then any things whatsoever besides wee do possesse or are Lords of be it Lands goods or servants For whatsoever we possesse being not thus annexed unto our persons are but externalls their possession is communicable their propertie may be so alienated as others may make as good use of them as wee doe A man may be wronged in every thing that is his owne whereof he is by just title possessed but the wrongs done to a man in externalls doe not touch him so neerely as the wrongs done to his person or to any part or appurtenance of it 12. That there is a true and reall distinction betweene the natures and the persons of men or betweene things which are our owne by union of nature or by union unto our persons may thus be gathered Every part of our nature is eyther a part or an appurtenance of our person but every part or appurtenance of our person is not a part of our nature A man may suffer grosse personall wrong without paine or dammage to any part of his nature without losse of any commoditie that could be made of that wherein he suffered wrong it being in it selfe considered uncapable of wrong As in case some joynt or part of a mans body be dead and withered irrecoverably deprived of sense of paine of vitall motion it thereby ceaseth to be a part of the humane nature but it therefore ceaseth not to be an appendance or an appurtenance of his person He that should disfigure mangle or otherwise handle such a dead number any otherwise then the party whose it is were willing to have it handled doth wrong his person in a higher degree than if hee mangled or maymed his live goods or cattell and yet however he handle it he puts the living party to no paine is being as it is supposed no naturall or sensible part of his body nor could it have yeelded any commodity though it had been cut off before it was disfigured Offēces of this nature are not to be valued according to the excellency of the physicall complexion or constitution of the bodily part wounded or contumeliously handled but according to the excellency or dignity of the partie whose flesh or substance it is that is wounded or abused whether it be an entire live part of his nature or an appendix only to his person as being a joynt or member in part maymed or deprived of sense before Generally whether we speake of mens actions or sufferings undertaken for our behoofe to the losse of bloud or limbes we are not to value the one or other so much according to the physicall propertie or naturall worth of the member lost or damnified as according to the dignity of the person which voluntarily undertaketh such hard services for us And thus wee are to rate aswell the indignities and paines which our Saviour suffered in body by the Jews or Roman soldiers as the anguish of his soule in that great conflict with the powers of darknes neither according to the excellencie of his bodily constitution or exquisite purity of his soule but according to the inestimable dignity of his divine person of which aswell his immaculate soule as his undefiled bodie were no naturall parts but appurtenances only 13 Lastly that proper bloud wherewith God is said to have purchased the Church was the bloud of the sonne of God the second person in Trinity after a more peculiar manner then it was the bloud either of God the Father or of God the holy ghost It was the bloud of God the Father or of God the holy Ghost as all other creatures are by common right of creation and preservation It was the bloud of God the son alone by personall union If this sonne of God and high Priest of our soules had offered any other sacrifice for us then himselfe or the manhood thus personally united unto him his offering could not have beene satisfactory because in al other things created the Father and the holy Ghost had the same right or interest which the sonne had hee could not have offered any thing to them which were not as truely theirs as his Onely the seede of Abraham or fruit of the virgins womb which he assumed into the Godhead was by the assumption made so his owne as it was not theirs his owne by incommunicable propertie of personall union By reason of this incommunicable propertie in the womans seede the sonne of God might truely have said unto his Father Lord thou hast purchased the Church yet with my bloud but so could not the man Christ Jesus say unto the sonne of God Lord thou hast payd the ransome for the sinnes of the world yet with my bloud not with thine owne SECT 4. Of the conception and birth of our Lord and Saviour the sonne of God of the circumcision of the sonne of God and the name IESUS given him at his circumcision and of the fulfilling of the types and prophecyes concerning these mysteries CHAP. 31. The aenigmaticall predictions concerning Christs conception unfolded by degrees THat the predictions of the prophets which the Jew acknowledgeth for sacred are of divine infallible authority that according to many of these propheticall praedictions God in the person of the sonne was to become man the eternall word was to be made flesh that is to have our flesh and nature so united unto him that whilest our flesh and nature was conceived and brought forth the sonne of God was also conceived brought forth whilst the man Christ Jesus did suffer in the flesh the sonne of God did also suffer This is the briefe summe or extract of all that hath in this Treatise beene delivered This is the foundation of faith as Christian the radicall article of Christian Theologie It followes in our Apostles Creede that this only sonne of God Christ Iesus our Lord was conceived by the holy Ghost and
before had no actuall existence unto him who was the sonne of God from eternity Now not he that gives but hee that takes the spouse given in marriage is the true husband And the spouse so taken from her espousall becomes the daughter not of him that gives her in marriage but of the Father of her husband with whom shee is now made one flesh Thus God the Father by this espousall thus wrought by the holy Ghost becomes the Father of the humane nature of Iesus which was now united unto his sonne after another manner then before hee had beene of any man and after another manner then the holy Ghost was or is the Father of the man Christ Iesus Christ then as God and man is the only sonne of God the Father The same Iesus only as man is the sonne of David 3. That the promised Messias was according to the Prophecies to be the sonne of David is evident but by what line all descent hee was to be the sonne of David or by what legall right the Kingdome of David was derived unto him is not without question amongst Christians David we know by Gods free donation was King of Iudah and Israel and Solomon by legall right did succeed him in his Kingdome And Solomons heires or Successours by bodily descent had as firme a title to the Kingdome of David as any other Kings or Monarchs have to the Crownes and dignities of their Ancestors But whether Solomons line by bodily descent were utterly extinguished before the conception or birth of our Saviour is a point neither much debated nor agreed upon by Divines If it were extinguished before that time yet Davids line did not determine with Solomons And for this reason haply our Saviour is instyled by the holy Ghost the sonne of David not so of Solomon albeit Solomon was as true a shadow of him as King as David had beene And Solomons Kingdome and raigne a fairer map of his Kingdome then Davids was And though our Saviours intermediate Ancestors according to the flesh from David downward were many as S. Luke and more then S. Matthew relates Yet he did immediatly succeede David in the Kingdom For so by the law of most Countries in case the elder brethrens sonnes or issues faile the third or fourth brother succeeds as lawfull heire not unto his elder brothers or their children but to their Grandfather or first donor Many may be immediate heires unto thē to whō they are no immediate Successours in lineall descent That Solomon and his line had no such perpetuity bestowed upon them by vertue of Gods Covenant with David as that it might not determine before the promised seed of David was exhibited the tenour of that Covenant as it is exemplified by the Author of the 89. Psalme puts out of question I have found David my servant with my holy oyle have I annointed him ver 20. He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first borne higher then the Kings of the earth my mercy will I keepe for him evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven ver 26 27 28 29. This last he speakes of Davids seede as of one not of his seedes as of many For so it followes ver 30. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements if they breake my statutes and keepe not my Commandements then will I visite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes This visitation with rods and stripes imports more then fatherly chastisements true and reall punishments Yea heavie judgements upon Davids other children according to their deserts None are utterly exempted from Gods heavie displeasure besides the promised seede or Davids sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose prerogative is in the next words reserved by oath Never the losse my loving kindnesse will I not take from David nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ver 33. This is in effect as if he had said however Davids other sonnes provoke me I will not repent of that loving kindnesse which I promised to him it shall be accomplished in Davids seede for in respect of things alterable or reversible whether promised for the good of men or threatned for their woe God is usually said to repent but to whatsoever hee sweares of that he never repents Every event ratified by oath is either unalterable or irreversible The Lord hath sworne saith David Psal 110. and will not repent that is he will not change or alter that which hee hath promised To alter that which was only promised but without oath is in the phrase of the holy Ghost as we usually render the originall to faile or breake Covenant that is in more proper language to reverse a blessing promised Hence it is added in the next verse of the 89. Psalme Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David that is I will not make void my covenant His seeds shall endure for ever and his throne as the Sunne before mee It shall be established for ever as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in Heaven This is that throne and that Kingdome which the Angel Luke 1. 32 33. foretold should be given unto the seed or fruit of the Virgins womb As for Davids other children or for Solomons race their title to the temporary Crowne of David was at the first but conditional or rather mutable for every conditionall estate presupposeth a state in being but a state mutable or reversible Such was the state of Solomon or the heires of his bodie aswell unto the kingdome of Judah as of Israel The Kingdome of Israel they utterly lost in the second descent The next Quaere is whether this their estate unto Judah or Israel which was by originall tenour reversible were de facto utterly reversed and the Covenant as it concerned them finally cancelled 4 And of this Quaere the branches are two first whether Salomons line were utterly extinguished before the returne of Iudah from the Babylonish Captivitie or in any age before the son of God and the promised seed of David was manifested in the flesh The second whether in case the utter extinguishment of Salomons line be a point doubtfull or by any authentick Author or record indeterminable This line were not in the same desperate case for recovering the Kingdom that Elies race was for regaining the Priesthood from which it was by solemne oath deposed That Solomons line was utterly excluded from inheriting the Kingdome of Iudah and Iacob the Jews and Christians for the most part agree And the tenour of that terrible sentence against Ieconiah according to the principles acknowledged by both will inferre no lesse As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of
prejudice us Christians of this age halfe so much as the losse of some Iewish traditions or rules for interpreting Scriptures which had beene constantly received amongst the ancient Hebrew Rabbins but rejected by the later Iewish Masters And it would be a worke in it selfe worthy any one mans labours or works of this life to retrieve the footsteps or progresse of the ancient Rabbins whereof some scattered prints here and there may be observed in ancient Writers That such rules there were constantly received in the time of our Saviours conversation here on earth though now either wilfully concealed or through ignorance not acknowledged by later Iewish Rabbins is hence apparent in that the mouthes of moderne Jewes are widest open to bark against our interpretation of those passages of Mosaicall and Propheticall writings whose bare allegation whether made by our Saviour himselfe or by his disciples after his resurrection did stop the mouthes of those cruell dogges which sought their lives What these rules or traditions were in particular is not of facile conjecture nay almost impossible to determine This generall notwithstanding is most certaine that God did shew the incarnation death and passion of his onely sonne even all whatsoever Israel was to beleeve concerning the person or Offices of the expected Messias or wee Christians concerning Jesus Christ and him crucified not by meere Prophecie only or by words literally and expresly assertive but withall by signes of the time by historicall events by matters of fact by rites and ceremonies by types and shadowes By all these wayes God did speake or declare his purpose For as the Psalmist saith That the Heavens declare the glory of God that dayes and nights have their words so loud and shrill that their sound goes throughout all the world Psal 19. so likewise signes and wonders are said to have their voyces And it shall be saith God to Moses Exod. 4. 8. that if they will not beleeve thee nor hearken to the voyce of the first signe which was the reciprocall conversion of Moses rod into a serpent yet they will beleeve the voice of the latter signe and that was the smiting of Moses his hand with leprosie as white as snow and restoring it to perfect sound flesh againe If signes and wonders have their voices then God doth speake unto us by them as well as by his audible and written word but even where his writtē word is for the sense most plaine the matters cōtained in it have their voice or speech This manner of Gods speaking unto men is excellently expressed by Gregory the first in the 20. of his Morals and 1. cap To say nothing of the waightinesse of the matter or subject the Scripture excells all other sciences in its peculiar manner of expression For in plainest and punctuall or textuall narrations it points at mysteries and it so speakes of matters past as in them it foretels things to come and in the very same words records things done and past and discovers things to be afterwards done This passage of S. Gregory referres especially unto historicall narrations in Scripture which besides the plaine literall have a further mysticall and hidden sense of both which we are to speake hereafter The next point in order to be prosecuted is of testimonies or prenotions of Christ meerely typicall CHAP. 10. Of Testimonies in the old Testament concerning Christ meerely typicall and how they doe conclude the truths delivered in the new Testament VNder this title wee comprehend all prefigurations of Christ exemplified in the old Testament by the persons and offices of men by legall rites and ceremonies either annuall and solemne or commanded to be used upon privat speciall occasions or by any matter of fact or event whereto no expresse prophecie no assertive notation of him or application unto him who was to come is annexed And herein the wisdome of God appeares most admirable that the contents of every Article in the Apostles Creed were respectively foreshadowed by some one or other of these wayes mentioned and some of them by all The manner of his conception was clearely prefigured for substantially represented it could not be by the conception of Isaac of Sampson and of Samuel And that Generation wherein hee was conceived and borne was sufficiently warned to obserue these three prefigurations as then to be accomplished by the strange conception of Iohn the Baptist His circumcision with the mysteries implied in it or subsequent unto it were fore-shadowed in the covenant established betweene God and Abraham in the Circumcision of Isaac Of his Baptisme though that be not expressed in our Creed the washing of the high Priests body in the day of atonement was a type Of his leading into the wildernesse upon the same day to be tempted by Satan the ceremony of the scape Goate was a true prognostique Of his appearing in the forme of a Servant and of his performance of all the duties which can be required from a servant in the most exquisite manner that can be imagined holy Iob was more then a type a living shadow Of all his trobles and deliverance from them his Father David was a live example Of his depression by his envious and malicious brethren and of his exaltation by the immediat hand of God the history of Ioseph and of his brethren exhibits an illustrious image Of his death upon the Crosse and the glorious victory obtained thereby over Satan the brazen Serpent erected by Moses in the Wildernesse was a conspicuous Hieroglyphick His inclosure three dayes and three nights in the womb of the Earth and his resurrection from the grave were portended by the imprisonment of Ionas in the Whales belly and by his deliverance thence And of his resurrection in particular the offring of the first fruites in the feast of unleavened bread from the first institution of that solemnity was an annuall signe or token Of this coelestiall Kingdome of peace Salomons glory and peaceable raigne here on Earth was an exquisite map Of his ascension into Heaven the translations of Enoch and Elias were undoubted pledges The Eternity of his person and everlasting duration of his Priesthood were exquisitely fore-shadowed the one by the person the other by the Priesthood of Melchisedech The full view and contemplation of these and the like types and the examination of their congruity with the live body to wit Christ whom in some part or other every one of them did fore-picture wee must referre unto the explication of the severall Articles in this Creed whereunto they do respectively appertaine 2. The rule or Topick for demonstrating the truth of every Article by these the like types is the same with that fore-mentioned in the former Chapters concerning testimonies meerely propheticall or predictions of future events as yet not extant in any causes visible or comprehensible by art To draw an exact picture of a childe as yet unborne or whose parents at this time are not conceived is a skill
the plurall Elohim as Capito well observes doth not want its proper singular Eloah Therefore unlesse the holy Ghost had intended the notification of some mystery in the forme or character of his speech Moses would rather have said Barah Eloah then Barah Elohim 2. I am the more inclined to this opinion because many of the ancient and most orthodoxall writers observe a more distinct expression of the blessed Trinity throughout divers places of the first chapter of Genesis from the repetition of the name of God or Elohim in the more perfect workes of severall dayes as in the workes of the fourth day ver 14. And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heavens This is the voice of God the Father giving out his fiat and it is repeated againe ver 16. And God made two great lights This referres to God the Sonne by whom all things were made and by whom these lights were set in the firmament ver 17. It is lastly added ver 18. And God saw that it was good The note or character of the holy Ghost approving what was made by the Sonne from the authoritie of the Father So Moses againe describes the workes of the first day And God said let the waters bring forth abundantly ver 20. And in the 21. he repeates againe And God created great Whales c. And againe God saw that it was good When it is said ver 22. of the same dayes worke And God blessed them saying Be fruitfull and multiply this may referre unto the three persons joyntly So in the workes of the sixt day ver 24. God said Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kinde c. And it is repeated againe ver 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kinde c. And God saw that it was good But when Moses comes to the accomplishment of the sixt dayes worke ver 16. hee alters the forme or character of speech and makes the Verbe as well as the noune plurall And God said Let us make man in our Image after our likenesse This order observed by the ancients in the first creation of all things is admirably exemplified in the manner of mans redemption wrought by the Father Sonne and holy Ghost joyntly yet not without distinction of order in their joynt working in their undivided worke But of this by the assistance of this blessed Trinity hereafter 3. But however the Ancients or such as follow them may faile in this or the like particular search of mysteries from no better hint then the repetition of the same words or matter Yet their endeavour in the generall to finde out deepe hidden mysteries from these or the like superficiall or charactericall prenotions is warranted by the word of God according to its literall or assertive sense For so we are taught by Moses that such repetition of the same things as in secular sciences would incurre suspition of tautology or superfluity of words may be the undoubted character of some matter more then ordinary and more observable then if it had beene represented but once or after one manner onely A secular Southsayer or professed Interpreter of nocturnall representations would have sought after more interpretations than one of Pharaohs two dreames especially seeing the matter represented to him in the first vision was so unlike to the matter represented in the second Yet Ioseph by the guidance of Gods Spirit discovers these two dreames though distinct in time and manner of representation to be for substance but one And Ioseph said unto Pharaoh The dreame of Pharaoh is one God hath shewed Pharaoh what hee is about to doe The seaven good Kine are seaven yeares and the seaven good eares are seaven yeares the dreame is one And the seaven thin and ill favoured Kine that came up after them are seaven yeares and seaven empty eares blasted with the East winde shall be seaven yeares of famine Gen. 41. 25 26 c. And for that the dreame was doubled unto Pharaoh twice it is because the thing is established by God and God will shortly bring it to passe 4. When we say an honest mans word should be as good as his oath wee suppose that this morall integrity or perfection in man hath a farre more exquisite patterne in God Hee is no lesse immutable in his promises than in his oath It is impossible for him to change his minde or to deceive men in the one as in the other To what end then doth hee so often interpose his oath sometimes when hee denounceth judgement otherwhiles for the consolation of men and confirmation of their beliefe in his gracious promises Sure it is one thing to say Gods purpose will or promise is immutable another that the thing purposed will'd or promised by him is immutable The absolute immutability of his purpose or promise can yeeld us no full assurance that the things promised or purposed by him are unchangeable or that sentence denounced though in terms peremptory is irreversible But unto whatsoever promise or sentence wee finde his oath annexed it is an undoubted character a not most infallible that the thing promised is unalterable that the sentence so denounced is irreversible This is one of the most Catholique rules for the right interpreting of many and for the reconciliation of divers Scriptures which otherwise seeme most opposite But the proofe and use of this rule will come under a more full examination in the treatise of our Saviours consecration to his everlasting Priesthood and in some other discussions in what sense God is said to repent in what cases not to repent For both assertions are frequent in Scriptures 5. Sometimes divine mysteries are represented not in some one word or name but in the very character or frame of some one letter or in the addition of a letter or point There is no question amongst us Christians but that he who called unto Moses Levit. 1. 1. from the mercy seat as we gather from Numb 7. was the sonne of God the eternall word who since hath taken our nature upon him and calleth unto us with a voice and mouth truly humane though the voice and mouth of God But at that time he called to Moses not in a loud and thundring voice like that in Mount Sinai but with a soft and gentle voice And this gentlenesse of the voice as the Hebrew Doctors observe and some good Christian Hebricians approve their observation with the mystery foreshadowed by it is charactered unto us by the extraordinary smallnesse of one letter in the originall word 6. The like mystery is represented unto us after the same manner Isa 9. 7. c. The Prophet displaying the titles of the Messias and his kingdome contrary to the rules of ordinary Orthography mutat quadrata rotundis beginnes the Hebrew word rendred by our English of the increase with Mem rotundum with a round letter instead of a square And this unusuall character the Jewes
themselves acknowledge to be a note of some mystery as one of them being converted to Christianity observes against his brethren which love darknesse more then light The mystery notified in this particular as this Author tells us is by their owne rules in cases wherein they are no parties ingaged the same with that which is immediately after expressed in words assertive and plaine That of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of hoasts will performe this I referre the observation of the like charactericall representations unto the diligent Readers of the old Testament in the original tongue or of ancient Hebrew Commentators whose testimonies in many cases where they are no parties are no way to bee contemned And amongst other branches of that rule for interpreting Scriptures which was constantly received amongst the ancient Jewes as Peter Martyr and Bucer with others somewhere observe this representation of divine mysteries by letters or characters unusuall might for ought I know be one 7. As for the representation of like mysteries by proper names of men especially who by their place or office were types or forerūners of Christ that I presume no sober Christian will except against or call in question And this representaon or prenotification of future mysteries was exhibited either in the first imposition of names or in the change of names or in the severall use of divers names when the same party retained more names than one There was scarce a sonne of Iacob whose name did not imply a kinde of prophecy Rachell did truly prophecy of the state and condition of the Benjamites when she called the Father of that Tribe at his birth Benoni the sonne of her sorrow And Iacob did as truly prophecy when he changed his name into Benjamin the sonne of his right hand Nun the Ephramite did call his sonne Hoseah by divine instinct or direction And Moses did truly prophecie when he changed his name into Iehoshua With what intention Isaac or Rebecca did call their younger sonne Iacob I know not or whether they had any other motive knowne to themselves to give him this name besides that which the manner of his birth did minister for he caught hold of his brothers heele in the birth But this name Iadgnakab hand in heele made afterwards by close composition as it seemes Iagnakab did as the attempt signified by it in the birth portend that he should supplant his elder brother and get the birthright from him 8. After this name given him by his Parents he was in his full age named Israel by God Himselfe by way of addition only without any change or determination of his former name or the Omen of it But it is not without observation why he is sometimes called Iacob sometimes Israel in the same continued historicall Narration the name Iacob characterizing his present infirmity the name Israel notifying his recovering or gathering of strength But one of the most admirable prerepresentations literall not assertive of mysteries plainely afterward avouched and fulfilled which I have either observed or found observed by others is in the Benedictus Luke 1. 68 c. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David c. To performe the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant the oath which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life The summe of that which God had spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets which had beene since the world began was now reavouched by Zacharias being filled with the holy Ghost in a literall assertive sense plaine and easie even to the capacity of the naturall man And yet the summe of all which Zacharias by the Spirit of Prophecie did now utter was clearely represented to men of spirituall understanding in the Scriptures or experienced in their spirituall sense in the very names of Iohn Baptist and of his Parents For Zacharias the Baptists Father is by interpretation the remembrance of God Elizabeth his mother as much as the oath of God And the name Iohn imports the free grace of God And all these put together sound as much as that God did now remember his people with that grace which he had sworne to bestow upon them in his Covenant with Abraham that is with grace of deliverance from their enemies their owne sinnes were their greatest enemies with grace enabling them to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their life Of more particulars in this kinde as they shall fall within the compasse of Prophecies or prefigurations concerning Christ hereafter CHAP. 14. That the Scripture is said to be fulfilled according to all the former senses that one and the same Scripture may be oftner than once fulfilled according to each severall sense THe fulfilling of any thing written supposeth a foretelling or presignification of the same And because matters related by the Evangelists and other sacred writers of the new Testament were of course and of purpose either foretold or prefigured in the old testament hence it is that this phrase of fulfilling that which was written is in a manner peculiar to these sacred writers not in use amongst secular historians Yet the phrase is not therefore barbarous because not used by politer writers in the same subject that is in historicall narrations For it is used by Tully and other most elegant writers in the same sense which sacred writers use it As because every man as was intimated before may foretell those things which were by himselfe projected or promised they are likewise said implere promissa to fulfill their owne promises or to fulfill the Omen or signification of their owne names so an elegant Poet saith Maxime qui tanti mensuram nominis imples Now seing this phrase This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled is so frequent in the new Testament Maldonat did very well and like himselfe in unfolding the severall wayes as he conceived them according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled almost in the very beginning of his learned Commentaries upon the foure Evangelists Yet some question there may be whether he did all this which was so well and wisely attempted by him so well and so judiciously as might in reason have beene expected from him 2. The Scripture saith he so farre as I could hitherto observe is said to be fulfilled foure manner of wayes First when that very thing is done or comes to passe which was meant by the Prophet or other sacred
to him a Father and he shall be to me a sonne was fulfilled in Salomon in the literall sense but in Christ both according to the literall and mysticall sense So was that forecited passage Isay 22. fulfilled in Eliakim according to the literall sense but afterwards fulfilled in Christ both according to the literally symbolicall and the mysticall sense And thus the names given to Iohn Baptist himselfe and to his Parents had their accomplishment when Christ was exhibited in our flesh and yet these and many other of the same rank were more exactly fulfilled after his resurrection Maldonat his fourth rule as was before intimated will hold in all these severall wayes according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled whether according to the meere literall and assertive sense or according to the meere mysticall sense or according to both with their severall branches or according to the charactericall sense or literall representative only not assertive According to every one of these senses may one and the same Scripture be oftner fulfilled than once or twice and in a manner more remarkable at one time than at another though alwayes truly fulfilled and according to the intention of the holy Ghost 5. To beginne with the literall assertive No man I thinke will question whether that of the Prophet Isaiah with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked were literally meant of any besides our Saviour Christ And there is no question but these words were fulfilled within the compasse of that age which brought him forth and so then fulfilled in sundry wicked ones yet doe not these words referre to them or those times alone but are to be fulfilled in a more remarkable manner at the day of Judgement or perhaps before it For from this place of the Prophet Isaiah our Apostle had that revelation 2 Thess 2. 8. Then shall that Wicked he revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Many like prophecies there be concerning the glory of Christs Church and the happy estate of his elect which are even in this life literally fulfilled or verified by way of pledge or earnest but shall not be exactly fulfilled save only in the life to come Ignorance of this rule or non-observance of it hath been the nurse of dangerous and superstitious error as well in the Romane Church as in her extreme opposites in such I meane as beginne their faith and anchor their hopes at the absolute infallibility of their personall election with no lesse zeale or passion then the Romanist relyes upon the absolute infallibility of the visible Church 6. That very instance which Maldonat alleageth for the confirmation of his third rule This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips c. Matth. 15. 8. was literally meant of the Jewes which lived in Isaiahs time yet not properly fulfilled in them or of them for in respect of them it was not a Prophecy but a sharpe reproofe or taxe yet this reproofe or taxe was a most exact prophecy in respect of the Jewes which conversed with our Saviour of whom it was literally meant in a more exquisite sense than of their Ancestors and in this sense often fulfilled The ancient Jewes did not honour God being personally and visibly present with their lips as these later did nor were their hearts so malitiously set at least their malice not so diametrally bent against God at any time as the hearts and malice of these later Jews were against Christ who was the God of their Fathers As these later Jewes did fill up the measure of their Fathers sinnes so whatsoever God did threaten to this stiffenecked people for their rebellion against him was more exactly fulfilled in this last generation then it had beene in any former The severall generations or successions created no difference in the true object of the literall sense that may and did as equally respect many generations as one man infinite transgressions as truly as some few This Scripture may be as truly fulfilled in all as in one though noâ— in all according to the same measure So S. Stephen tells the Jewes Acts 7. 5. 52. Yee stiffenecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares yee doe alwayes resist the holy Ghost at your Fathers did so doe yee Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And they have slaine them which shewed before of the comming of the just one of whom yee have beene now the betrayers and murderers And our Saviour himselfe chargeth the present generation of the Jews with the blood of Zacharias forme of Barachias whom their forefathers had slaine many hundreds of yeares before Matt. 23. 35. adding withall that his blood should be required of that generation present Which is a proofe sufficient that this Zacharias was not the Father as some have supposed of Iohn the Baptist For if he had beene slaine betweene the Temple and the Altar hee must have beene slaine by that present generation to whom our Saviour directs this speech and so there had beene no matter of observation capable of that Emphaticall Epiphonema Luke 11. 51. Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation Now his blood was to bee required of this last generation because they had fulfilled the measure of their forefathers sinnes who had prodigiously slaine their high Priest Zacharias But how the Prophecy of this their high Priest or rather his dying curse was fulfilled more exactly of this last generation than of that generation which put him to death would require a particular treatise not in this place to be inserted His dying speech though uttered by way of imprecation was propheticall And the event of his imprecation though exhibited shortly after his death was typically propheticall of that which happened to this last generation within forty yeares after the death of our Saviour whom Zacharias did in his death though not in his dying speeches exactly foreshadow 7. As one and the same Scripture may be oftner then once fulfilled or exactly verified in different measure only by way of growth or increment of the same literall sense so likewise may it be of one and the same man in respect of severall times For out of question it is that the Scripture Gen. 15. 6. Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse was literally verified of Abraham at that very point of time when God first called him from his owne kindred and his Fathers house into the promised Land And yet S. Iames saith cap. 2. 23. that this very Scripture was fulfilled when Abraham offered up Isaac his sonne upon the Altar and from this last performance of Abraham he had if not the first yet the truest title to bee called the friend of God Not altogether after the same manner but after a manner not much different was that Scripture Isaiah 53. 4. twice fulfilled of
which we have not done but the good works we have done and wholly relie upon the mercies of God in Christ who once for all suffered for our sinnes and daily absolves us from them so oft as in sincerity of heart wee confesse our sinnes and implore his propititation for them Unlesse we knew the fulfilling of the Law whether by habituall or actuall righteousnesse or by doing those things which wee ought to doe or leaving those things undone which we ought not to doe to be impossible for us in this life our reliance on God in Christ could not be so firme or so perpetually constant as the doctrine of our Church so it be rightly imbraced will make it 3. The Socinians wandâ—r in the like but much grosser â—â—st of errours wounding one another whilest they shoot at us who are sufficiently armed against their poysoned arrowes by the armour of God on the right hand on the left to wit the distinction of persons in the blessed Trinity Indeed were there but one party or capacity in the divine nature which were the only party or person offended their arguments for remission of sinnes after their way would conclude against us who presse a necessity or convenience of satisfaction unto God But their strongest Arguments fall either wide or short of all such as maintaine this distinction of parties or persons in the divine nature For if the sonne of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were truely God from eternity and remained God after man did make himselfe the servant of Satan he might without wrong to any man to any party without wrong to himselfe for volenti non sit injuria voluntarily take the forme of a servant upon him and in that forme or low condition of man make perfect satisfaction per translationem paenae for all our debts for all our sinnes and our debts being fully paid restore us to the liberty and priviledge of the sonnes of God He both might and did truly purchase that peculiar dominion over us which he hath over all men an absolute dominion of punishing all Gods ungracious and of crowning all his thankfull and faithfull servants This dominion as it is peculiar to Christ was purchased by true and reall satisfaction made unto God 4. But what it was for Christ the sonne of God to take upon him the forme of a servant or wherin this condition or forme of a servant did properly consist are points which neither the Arian nor the Socinian did ever take into serious consideration If the Socinian would yet doe so he might clearely see that his former objections could not reach us but must rebound upon himselfe For the man Christ Jesus being so just a man as we beleeve and he grants he was unlesse he had been more then man truly God and truly a servant withall it could not have stood with the goodnesse of God nor with any rule of justice divine or humane either to have punished him for our sakes as we say God did or to have suffered him to undergoe such hard and cruell usage at the hands of wicked and sinfull men as the Socinians confesse he did undergo without murmuring or complaint But this is a point which cannot be orderly handled untill we come to the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour which was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or period rather of his servitude or of being in the forme of a servant which was the Basis of his humiliation And albeit I purpose not in that place to dispute whether God could possibly have freely remitted our sinnes without any satisfaction a question to which no wise men will take upon them to give a peremptory answer whether negative or affirmative yet I shall by Gods assistance there make it cleare that no other meanes of manner of remitting out sinnes of absolving or justifying us or of bringing us to glory which either the Socinian or the wit of man can imagine could have been so admirable to sober capacities as that way and manner which the Scripture plainly teacheth and that in briefe is this 5. The divine nature in the person of the Father requires satisfaction for the transgressions of man against the eternall Law and unchangeable rule of goodnesse or those positive Lawes which he had given in speciall to man The same divine nature in the person of the sonne undertooke to make satisfaction for us in taking our nature upon him and Hee having by right of consanguinity the authority and power of redeeming us the same divine nature in the person of the holy Ghost doth approve and seale this happy and ever blessed compromise This ineffable accord betweene the divine persons in the unity of the Godhead concerning the great worke of mans redemption is most exactly parallel to that accord which some of the Ancient have excellently observed betwixt them in that work of creation as hath beene before expressed in that article Not to repeat nor to adde to that which was there delivered but to continue these present discussions concerning the eternity and person of the sonne of God 6. Some there have beene and are who granting all that wee have said or can desire to bee granted concerning the incarnation of God or Trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead further demand why God rather in the person of the sonne then in the person of the father or of the holy Ghost should bee incarnate or made flesh But might not these men some perhaps will say as well have demanded why God the Father did make the world rather by the sonne then by himselfe or by the holy Ghost Or why this title of Him by whom all thing were made should be peculiar to God the sonne And to this question it would be a satisfactory answer to say that we must believe that the world was so made because the Scripture which is the only rule and guide of faith doth so instruct us or because the persons of the blessed Trinity for reasons best knowne unto themselves alone would have it to be so and so to be written But many arguments there be well observed by the ancient and better explicated by moderne Divines some of whose works are extant in print others worthy of the presse unto which I shall be as farre from adding as from detracting These reasons alone abundantly satisfie all the desires which I ever had to be informed in this point First seeing the blessed Trinity was pleased to have satisfaction made for the sinnes of mankinde and by this satisfaction to exhibit an exquisite paterne of justice and equitie Secondly seeing mans sinne did especially consist in rebellion the satisfaction was according to the rule or paterne of equitie and justice to be made by most exquisite obedience Now the most exquisite obedience that can bee performed is from a sonne unto his father or from a servant unto his Lord. Hence it pleased the eternall wisedome and sonne of God to take not the
nature of man only but the forme of a servant for a while upon him to make the most perfect and abundant satisfaction by the most exquisite obedience of which both the state of a sonne and condition of a servant was capable 7. The stone of offence whereat the Socinians who account themselves good Christians and doe not deny Christ to be the Sonne of God doe so much stumble is in part the very same with the prejudice which the Arians had of the orthodoxall truth whose breach or disruption in the Canon of the ancient Catholique faith the first Nicene Councill sought to repaire not by addition or superstruction of any new Articles of beleife but by a gentle diduction or dilatation of that sense which was included in the Apostles Creed or in the ancient rule of faith I beleeve in one God c and in one Lord Iesus Christ the only begotten sonne of God begotten of his father before all worlds and againe very God of very God begotten not made being of the same substance with the Father c. It is not improbable that the Arians and their followers might take offence or pick a quarell at this Title of being the only begotten son of God before all worlds the rather because some of the most ancient and not a few middle-age writers do seek to groūd this article upō that divine oracle Ps 2. Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee as if hodiè in that place did not literally and punctually referre to any peremptory day or time circumscriptible by remarkable circumstances or notable historicall events but were put for bodiè aeternitatis which implyes no time but an indivisible interminable duration And if the allegation were true in this sense there could be no question betweene professors of Christianity about the eternall generation of Christ Jesus as he is the sonne of God But so it often falls out that some one impertinent allegation or weake proofe being too much stood upon doth provoke or embolden such men qui ita veritatem amant ut velint esse vera quaecunque amant to deny the generall truth for whose confirmation weake and impertinent proofes are brought albeit the same truth might be most strongly prooved from many other irrefragable testimonies of Scripture That the Psalmist Psal 2. speakes of our Saviours resurrection from the grave is most cleare from the Apostles testimonie and in what sense it was fulfilled whether in the literall onely or in the mysticall or in both whether according to the plaine literall sense it tooke aswell retrò as antè or have any especiall reference to what is past shall by Gods assistance be discussed in the explitation of that great Article I dare not in this place use the former authority to proove the eternall generation of the sonne of God 8 That hee should bee the onely begotten Sonne of God otherwise then by his begetting from the dead unto glory and immortalitie or that he should be so before the World from all eternity may seeme to imply a contradiction in terminis For the Father must be before the sonne unlesse we take these termes as termes meerely relative not as importing any substance or persons All termes meerely relative quà tales are simul naturâ coaevall for standing Abraham though an ancient man was not Isaacs Father before Isaac was his sonne But if wee respect the persons or substances betwixt whom such relations stand the person of the Father is alwaies before the person of the sonne according to precedence of time or if we consider not the persons or substances but that which they call proximum fundamentum relationis that act or operation from which such relations do immediately result so it is true that generans est prior generato Begetting or to beget hath priority or precedencis though not of time yet of nature of being begotten But if the Sonne of God be coeternall to his Father there can be no place for either of these precedencies or priorities nor for any thing truely proportionable to them seeing in eternitie there is nihil prius nihil posterius no prioritie no succession How then can Christ Jesus be conceived to be the onely sonne of God begotten of his father before all worlds if to be before all worlds be as much as to bee from all eternitie or in eternitie To this wee answer that where the truth of the matter is unquestionable men soberly minded should not wrangle about the strict proprietie of words especially in mysteries whose comprehension far surpasseth mans capacitie and are even to blessed Angels ineffable or unexpressible in any punctuall or proper phrase The truth which the Nicen Fathers sought to establish was this that Christ Jesus was not made the Sonne of God before all worlds but was the sonne of God very God of very God from all eternitie coeternall and coequall to his Father For so they expresse themselves Hee was begotten and not made The manner of his eternall generation or begetting they seeme to resemble to the generation or production of light For so they say light of light very God of very God c. Now that light which the splendid body of the sunne diffuseth through the ayre but especially through caelestiall bodies is coevall with its Fountaine which produceth or begetteth it For it was never held a solecisme to call Lumen filiam lucis to say light is the daughter of the sunne But however it shall please men to expresse the manner of the Sonne of Gods Eternall generation the former inductions that Peter est prior filio naturâ et tempore that the person or substance of the Father hath alwayes precedency both of time and nature in respect of the person and substance of the sonne or that generans is prius naturâ generato to beget hath alwayes precedence of nature though not of time of being begotten are true onely in temporall generations or successions All men and other generable creatures since the world began have beene moratall de facto The first man was but conditionally immortall And albeit he might have lived for ever yet had he a beginning of life in time and so were his sons or successors to have albeit they had been borne immortall or both borne and begotten before he did subject himselfe and them to mortality by sinne If immortall creatures could have sonnes or successors by nature they were to be immortall by nature otherwise they should be a kind of monsters or an equivocall brood If then he who possesseth eternitie have a true and proper sonne which the word only begotten implyes after what manner soever he be his son though by a manner altogether unconceivable to us that son must be coeternall to his Father For the truly eternall God to have beget or produce a sonne which is not eternall but everlasting only à parte pòst is as unconceivable to reason as that an immortall Father should beget a mortall or
a mortall Father an immortall sonne No Schoolemen did ever acknowledge the generation of the Son of God to be univocally like to other generation in all points besides the eternitie of it For even in that wee acknowledge it to be eternall wee difference it from all other generations by such an unexpressible superminencie as eternitie hath over time or diuine immensitie of all bodily magnitudes or the Divine Essence it selfe of Created Natures CHAP 26. That by the Sonne of God and the Word wee are to understand one and the same partie or person that the Word by whom S. John saith the World was made is coeternall to God the Father who made all things by him BUt to wave this point for the present concerning the maner how the eternall God should beget an eternall sonne the thread which we are to unwind as far as possibly we can without knot or ravell is this that Christ Jesus is â—eri bodiè yesterday to day the same only true sonne of God for ever truely coeternall to his Father And this being a point of so great consequence I will not allot one place onely for the clearing of it but insist upon it more or lesse in all the articles which concerne Christ For in all of them wee shall be enforced to incounter the Jew as well as the Arrian or Socinian 2 Whether of these two be the greater sinner or more dangerous enemy to the crosse of Christ that I leave to God the Father and Christ Jesus the judge of quick and dead and to the holy Spirit to determine But seeing it is no sinne to refute or censure both their errours the errour of the moderne Jew who utterly denieth Christ to be the sonne of God in any sense seemes to me more excusable at least lesse inexcusable then the errour of the Arrian or Socinian who granting Christ to be the sonne of God deny him to be coeternall to his Father And my reason is because it is not more plaine or pregnant out of the writings of Moses or the Prophets which the Jews only acknowledge that God was to be incarnate or to become man though that be most pregnant then it is from the Evangelist and other sacred writers of the new Testament whose authoritie the Socinian denies not that Christ is the only sonne of God from all eternitie Two or three testimonies shall suffice for the present Were there no other place besides that of the Apostle Heb. 7. 3. and that of S. Iohn chap. 1. these would captivate my understanding to the obedience of beleife in this point The Apostle speaking of Melchisedech saith he was without beginning without end of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is albeit he had both Father and Mother beginning and end of dayes yet he is represented unto us without beginning or end of dayes that so he might be a type or shadow of the sonne of God But how farre a type of the sonne of God only in this as he was without beginning of dayes or end of life That the Apostle by the sonne of God did meane Christ Jesus and none else none deny The very scope and end of this parallel betwixt Melchisedech and Christ was to shew that Christ the sonne of God was truely and really such as Melchisedech was only by shadow or representation that is really and absolutely without beginning or end of dayes he who is who was is to come perfect characters of eternitie Againe it is evident that the sonne of God who died for us was the same person and party with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that word which was made flesh This consequence is ungainesayable that if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word were without beginning or end of dayes God blest for ever and coeternall with him who said Let there be light Let there be a firmament c. then Christ Iesus the sonne of God who not only we but the Socinians grant did die for us was and is without beginning or end of dayes truely coeternall to God the Father 3 That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of God was absolutely eternall not made so in time is a truth which the wit of man cannot more punctually presse against all that in future times should deny or question it then S. Iohn doth in the beginning of his Gospell And the manner of his reiterate emphaticall expressions of himselfe every later adding strength unto the former confirmes the opinion or tradition of the Ancient that he purposely wrote that maiestick proeme to his Gospell which is but a paraphrase though most divine upon the writings of Moses and the Prophets touching this great mysterie for preventing of the spreading of the Arian or like heresie whose seeds were by the envious man sowne in S. Iohns time after Christs other Apostles were fallen asleepe In the beginning saith S. Iohn the Word was What beginning doth he meane The same which Moses meant when hee said In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth The originall phrase whether used by Moses in the Hebrew or by S. Iohn in the Greeke exactly answers to the Latine in principio Now though every cause be Principium the beginning or that which gives beginning to its proper effect Yet Omne principium every beginning is not a proper cause of that which usually followes upon it For the first dawning or scaring of the morning is the beginning yet no true positive cause of the day following it is first in order of time but not of causality And this ambiguity of the Phrase in the beginning is the same both in the Hebrew and in the Chaldee as the learned in these tongues no parties in this businesse have observed Now in that first of Genesis we must take the word beginning not for the cause of all which followed but for the first in order or precedency of duration For the heavens and the earth if we take them as now they are were not made in that beginning or point of time wherein God is said to have made the heaven and earth Nor did any of these or any other parts of the world spring or result by way of causality from the first masse which was without order of parts or true forme otherwise the distinction of light from darknesse or separation of the waters which are above the firmament could not have beene works of creation properly so called but rather of generation whereas the Scripture tells us that these were the works of the first and second day much lesse could the production of plants or vegetables or substances endued with sense have been any proper works of creation after the heavens and earth were made When then Moses saith In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth this is all one as if he had said the heavens and the earth had a beginning that this unformed masse was the beginning or first draught of them and all things
as they did certifie him of the distinct place of his birth This they learned out of the Prophet Micah Chap. 5. ver 2. 3. That of our Apostle Hebrewes 1. ver 1. is exactly verified in respect of the article now in handling The Prophets and holy men of God or God by their ministery spake of our Saviours conception and birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at sundry times onely or in severall ages of the Fathers but piece-meale or by scattered predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sundry wayes sometimes literally and plainely sometimes mystically or aenigmatically But in this later age he hath spoken unto us by his Sonne or in his Sonne For even the historicall passages of his conception and birth though delivered unto us by his Evangelists spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his very conception his birth and actions as well as the words uttered by him have their plaine and full language and if wee take them as set downe by the Evangelists are as the putting together of all what the Prophets had spoken scatteredly or represented by broken pictures or portions of truth After that maine head or fountaine of Prophecies was opened and had his course drawne by God himselfe not by any Prophet I will put enmity betweene thee and him c. Every succeeding age especially from the deluge addes some new rills or petty streames unto it the full current of which is conspicuous only in the Gospell CHAP 32. Saint Lukes narration of our Saviours conception and birth and its exact concordance with the Prophets TO begin with S. Lukes narration of his cōceptiō Cap. 1. ver 26. In the 6. month the Angel Gabriel was sent frō God unto a Citie of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgins name was Mary In these few lines wee have the exact Chorographie of those generall or more obscure descriptions which Isaias and Ieremiah had made of the place of his conception and in the words following wee have the particular and most exact survey of all Gods promises made to David or related by other Prophets concerning that sonne of David who was to rule over Iacob for ever When Saint Luke saith in the words forecited the Angel Gabriel was sent in the sixth moneth this may referre either to the time of Iohn Baptists conception as in all probability it doth ver 36. Behold thy Cosin Elizabeth shee also hath conceived a sonne in her old age and this is the sixth moneth with her who was called barren Or it may referre unto the sixth moneth of the yeare according to the ancient and civill accompt of the Hebrewes for untill the time of Israels deliverie out of Egypt the moneth wherein Iohn Baptist was conceived which answeres for the past part to our September was the first moneth in which as most later Divines are of opinion the world was created The moneth Abib which answers unto March with us became observable to the Israelites from their deliverance in that moneth out of Egypt and continues in their Ecclesiasticall accompt the first in order In the same moneth the conception of our Lord and Saviour was denounced by the Angell and our deliverance by him from the powers of darknesse afterwards accomplished and well deserves the title of the first moneth since his conception and passion but in whether of these two respects or whether in both the moneth wherein the Angell was sent be termed the sixt moneth is no matter of such moment or consideration as the tenour of his message ver 31. 32. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus Hee shall be great and shall be called the sonne of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David When the Angell said He shall be great and his mother shall call his name JESVS it is implied that as yet he was not great that he had not the beginning of that greatnesse which is here promised And may it not be as rightly implied that when hee saith Hee shall be called the sonne of the highest as yet he was not the sonne of the highest but first to brooke the name of Iesus and then first to be made and called the sonne of God when he was become great and had received the throne of his Father David But it is not without observation that the Angell saith not Hee shall be the sonne of the highest nor doth hee say that the blessed Virgin his Mother should bestow this name upon him as shee did the name of Iesus The intent and meaning of the holy Ghost in this place is that this fruit of the Virgins womb who was to be named Iesus by his mother from his circumcision should be called the sonne of the highest not in regard of his future greatnesse as man or as he was the promised sonne of David but by reason of his peculiar assumption or union into the person of the sonne of God who was Davids Lord before he was conceived and was publiquely to be declared the sonne of God by his resurrection from the dead At which time and not before hee tooke the especiall government of that Kingdome upon him which had so often beene promised to the sonne of David This meaning of the holy Ghost the Evangelist doth open unto us ver 33. Hee shall raigne over the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end 2. Unlesse this holy of holyes who was now to be borne of the blessed virgin Mary had beene the sonne of God before this time hee should in reason be called the sonne of the holy Ghost For unto the virgin Mary demanding how this should be seeing shee know not a man ver 34. The Angel answered The holy Ghost shall come upon thee c. An Emphaticall expression of that which we beleeve in the Creede That the holy Ghost should worke his conception Now hee who is Author of the conception of any person which before such a conception had no existence is in propriety of speech to be reputed the Father of the party or person conceived But this very person whom we now adore under that name or title of Christ Iesus our Lord being before all World 's the true and only sonne of God albeit the holy Ghost was the Author of his conception as man a more principall cause and Author of his conception then any mortall Father is of his mortall sonne yet was not the fruit of the virgins womb to be reputed the sonne of the holy Ghost but of him alone who was the true and only Father of that person unto whom the fruit of the Uirgins womb was by the operation of the holy Ghost personally united The holy Ghost was not then the cause or Author of any new person but onely espoused or betroathed the humane nature of Christ which
then actually made Christ and Lord. Unto these two offices of everlasting Priest and everlasting King hee was not actually anointed or fully consecrated untill his resurrection from the dead Was not then the Sonne of God Lord before his resurrection Yes being God from eternitie hee was also Lord from eternity So we are taught by Athanasius The Father is Lord the Sonne is Lord and the H. Ghost is Lord. Whosoever is truely God is also truely Lord. And in this acception of Lord as there be not three Gods but one God so there be not three Lords but one Lord in the blessed Trinitie The Father is the onely God the onely Lord the Sonne is the only God the onely Lord the holy Ghost is the onely God the onely Lord. But whether this title of Lord as it is here inserted in this article of the Creed import no more then that the Sonne of God is the true and onely Lord with the Father and the holy Ghost or whether it were not before his birth in some sort peculiar to the Sonne is a point neither cleare in it selfe nor easie to be cleared because the ancient Translators especially the Greeke and Latine render the three originall words Elohim Iehâ—vah or the name of foure letters however it be pronounced and Adonai promiscuously by Lord. And yet these three words in the originall have their severall significations or importances To omit the word Elohim About the name of foure letters there is much contention how it should be pronounced yet all agree that it 〈…〉 and essence of God is his most proper name and admits no plurall The proper signification of the name Adonai is as much as Dominus or Lord. 4 The reason as I take it why the Greekes and Latines have usually but one expression of both names is because the ancient Hebrews did not pronounce the name of foure letters unlesse it were in the Sanctuary or in solemne benedictions Nor did they write it so as it might be pronounced that is with any proper vowels but either with the vowells of Adonai or of Elohim Not the Greekes and Latines onely but the Chaldee paraphrase sometimes reads Adonai where wee read Iehovah or the name of foure letters And thus it doth not from mistake of the Hebrew vowells which in the time of Onkelus the later of the two Chaldee paraphrases were not exprest And God said to Moses I appeared to Abraham unto Isaac and Iacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name Iehovah was I not knowne to them Exod. 6. 3. Or as the Caldee by the name Adonai c. Wherfore say unto the Children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burthens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage c. Some good writers in the interpretation of this place observe that albeit Abraham Isaac and Iacob were in high favour with God yet they wrought no miracles as Moses the first among the sonnes of men did And hence they infer that Moses did worke all his miracles in the power and vertue of this name whether Iehovah or Adonai which was first manifested unto to him 〈…〉 many interpretations of this place Fagrus best approves this Although God were knowne to Abraham as Omnipotent and All sufficient to performe whatsoever he hath promised yet was he not knowne unto Abraham or other of the Patriarks by that name or title which did import the instant performance of what he had promised unto Abraham This was immediately imported in the name of foure letters or in those descriptions which God there gave to Moses of his nature and essence or of his present purpose towards Israel in the 3 of Exod. ver 14. I am 〈◊〉 I am c. 5 And the 〈◊〉 paraphrase it is probable did use the name Adonai in stead of the name of foure letters as most pertinent and most significant to this purpose For it properly pertaines to him who is not onely in himselfe Almightie or All sufficient but Lord of all to dispose of Kingdomes and inheritances to depose greatest Lords and advance meanest servants If the name of foure Letters were to the ancient Hebrews as Drusius with some others will have it ineffable this was a true character of his incomprehensible nature which they properly signifie Nor doth the usuall substitution of Adonai for the want of foure letters want matter of more than grammaticall observation This practise was a literall Embleme or Character of that which our Evangelist hath exprest in words assertive Iohn 1. 18. No man hath seene God at any time the onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him In this declaration or exposition of God whose incomprehensible nature was charactred by his ineffable name made by the Sonne of God incarnate there was a greater improvement of mans knowledge of God in respect of that knowledge which Moses and the Prophets had than there was in Moses his knowledge of God in respect of Abrahams Isaacs or Iacobs Moses and his Successors did see the performance of that which the name of Iehovah or Adonai first revealed to Moses did import to wit deliverance from their bodily Enemies and in that deliverance they had a pledge of far greater blessings promised which yet they did not receive For as our Apostle testifies Heb. 11. 39. Though Moses amongst others through faith obtained a good report yet hee did not receive the promise that is the blessing promised nor was the nature of man capable of this blessing promised untill that God who was first revealed unto Moses under the name of Iehovah was made Lord and Christ 6. It had beene a question more worthy of Drusius his paines then all the questions which he makes concerning the name of foure letters whether the name Adonai were not in some sort peculiar to the Sonne of God or to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was to be made flesh That this name Adonai is so peculiar to the Sonne of God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is I dare not affirme For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth no where to my remembrance denote any other person in the blessed Trinity besides the Sonne Whereas the name Adonai is an expression which many times referres unto the Trinity or Divine nature And in this extent it must be taken when it is substituted for the ineffable name of God unlesse some speciall circumstances restraine it to the Sonne But in many passages of the old Testament both names are exprest according to their proper consonants And in all these places the name Adonai referres only to the Sonne as the name of foure letters denotes the Father As in that 110 Psalm where we read The Lord said unto my Lord it is in the originall Iehovah said unto my Lord Adoni or Adonai And in this place the name of foure letters referres onely to God the Father But so doth not the name Adoni
denote either the Father or the holy Ghost but the Sonne alone I durst not have beene so bold as to have gathered this generall rule from mine owne observation unlesse I had found it excellently observed and proved at large by Petruâ— Faber in his Dodâ—â—camenon Cha. 8. It much affected this learned man as it will do any that is wise unto sobriety to see how most of the Ancients as wel in the Greek as in the Latine Church albeit they tooke no notice at all of any difference betweene these two names of God in the originall did yet constantly appropriate the name of Lord to God the Sonne when hee is named in the same prayer or gratulatory Hymne with God the Father But this they might learne either from S. Paul or from the Apostles Creed For so the blessing is The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God not of the Lord God c. And so in the Apostles Creed the title of Lord is appropriated unto the Sonne of God not added either to the Father Almighty or to the Holy Ghost 7. But in many places of the olde Testament wherein both names of God are specified the name of Adonai is placed before the name of foure letters And thus it happens so farre as I can observe especially in the serious supplications or gratulatory expressions of Holy men as in that speech of Gideon Iudges 6. 13. Oh my Lord if God be with us why then is all this befallen us And againe Iosuah 7. 7. Ioshua said Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Iordan c The Evangelicall mysterie implyed in this forme of prayer or supplication is excellently deciphered by Masius in his Comments upon this place with whose words gathered from the tradition or lyturgie rather of the ancient Hebrewes of the Cabbalists I conclude this Treatise Ioshua saith he calls God by 2 names when as chiefe Commander he speaks in behalfe of all the rest The one is Adonai the other Iehova The former setteth out Gods ruling power the later hath respect as else where I have shewed to Gods Essence These 2. names often come together in the most fervent prayers of the Saints in the sacred Story as here they doe Namely they inspired with the Holy Ghost doe as I conceive the Holy Church doth praying for all things from the Father for the Sonnes sake For seeing Adonai as I said hath an eye to Gods ruling power it agrees manifestly to the Sonne and represents him to us by whom as God the Father made the World so hee ruleth it In this point the Diviner sort of Hebrew Authors called Cabbalists assent to us when they teach that the name Adonai is as it were the key by which entrance is opened to God Iehova that is to God as it were hid in his owne Essence and that it is the treasure in which these things bestowed on us by Iehova are all deposited And that moreover it denoteth the great Steward who disposeth of all and â—oâ—risheth and quickneth all things under Iehova And finally that no man can approach neere Iehova but by Adonai because there is no other way or course at all to come to him And that therefore the Church thus begins her holy prayers Adonai that is Lord open my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise These and such like passages are extant in the booke intituled Porta lucis the â—ate of light and in the book called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is The name explicated FINIS A CATALOGVE OF the severall Treatises heretofore published by the Author * ⎠* THe Eternall Trueth of Scriptures and Christian beliefe in two Bookes of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed The third booke of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed containing the blasphemous positions of Iesuits and other later Romanists concerning the authority of their Church Iustifying Faith or the faith whereby the just doe live being the fourth booke upon the Creed A Treatise containing the originall of unbeliefe misbeliefe or misperswasions concerning the Veritie Vnitie and Attributes of the Deitie with directions for rectifying our beliefe or knowledge in the forementioned points being the fifth booke upon the Creed A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes the first and second parts being the sixth booke upon the Creed The Knowledge of Christ Iesus or the seaventh booke of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed containing the first and generall principles of Christian Theologie with the more immediate principles concerning the knowledge of Christ divided into foure sections A Treatise of the holy Catholick Faith and Church Christs answer to Johns question or an Introduction to the knowledge of Iesus Christ and him crucified delivered in certaine Sermons Nazareth and Bethlehem or Israels portion in the sonne of Jesse And mankindes comfort from the weaker sex in two Sermons preached at S. Maries in Oxford Pag. lin Errata Sic corrige 5 15 historians beleefe historicall beleefe 60 31 typicall propheticall 115 26 upon dele 127 18 his assertion this assertion 140 16 violencence violence Ibi. 18 that it that is 166 23 its proper his proper 211 22 in on 214 21 exact expect 258 16 tooke looke 314 1 that but Ibi. 18 did perfectly did not perfectly Ibi. 19 as true a true 344 2 next annext 353 8 spoken were spoken 358 29 many as many 365 5 do to * Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissimis poenis affecit quos per flaegitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat Auctor nominis ejus CHRISTVS qui Tiberio imperitante per Procurator 〈◊〉 Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus est Tacit. Annal Lib. 15. Pag. 255. Sect. 1. Cap. 2. a But then it fel out unfortunately for Nicias who had no expert nor skilful Soothsayer for the partie which he was went to use for that purpose and which took away much of his superstition called Stilbides was dead not long before For this signe of the eclipse of the Moone as Philochorus saith was not hurtfull for men that would flie but contrarily very good for said he things that men doe in feare would be hidden and therefore light is an enemy unto theÌ„ But this notwithstanding their custome was not to keepe themselves close above three dayes in such eclipses of the Moone and Sun as Autoclides prescribes in a booke he made of such matters where Nicias bare them in hand that they should'then tarry the whole and full revolution of the course of the Moone as though he had not seene her straight cleare againe after she had once passed the shadow and darknesse of the earth But all other things laid aside and forgotten Nicias disposed himselfe to sacrifice unto the Gods untill such times as the enemies came againe as well to besiege their sorts and all their campe by land as also to occupy the whole haven by Sea Plutarch in vita Niciae infine b Almirans ob haec ingenti aninâ—
THE KNOWLEDG OF CHRIST JESUS OR THE SEVENTH BOOK OF COMMENTARIES VPON THE APOSTLES CREED CONTAINING The first and generall PRINCIPLES of CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIE With the more immediate Principles concerning the true Knowledge of CHRIST Divided into foure Sections CONTINVED BY THOMAS JACKSON DR. in Divinitie Chaplaine to his Majestie in ordinarie and President of Corpus Christi Colledge in OXFORD LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARKE under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDCXXXIV REcensui hunc tractum cui titulus est The knowledge of Christ Jesus or the seaventh booke of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed in quo nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quò minús cum utilitate Publica imprimatur modò intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Octob. 10. 1633. Guil. Bray A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL Arguments of the severall Sections and Chapters contained in this BOOKE SECTION I. OF the beleefe or knowledge of Christ in generall and whether Theologie be a true Science or no. Page 2 CHAP. 1. Of the principall points that Christians are bound to beleeve 3 2. Of Historicall beleefe in generall and how it doth variously affect Beleevers according to the variety of matters related the severall esteeme of the Historians 5 3. Whether such knowledge of God and of Christ as the Scriptures teach be a science properly so called 11 4. Of the agreements and differences between Theologie and other sciences in respect of their subjects that the true historicall beleefe of sacred Historians is equivalent to the certaintie or evidence of other sciences 18 SECTION II. OF the severall wayes by which the mysteries contained in the knowledge of Christ were foretold prefigured or otherwise fore-signified Of the divers senses of holy Scriptures how they are said to be fulfilled with some generall rules for the right interpretation of them Page 25 CHAP 5. Containing the generall division of testimonies or fore-significations of Christ ib. 6. Of the first rank of testimonies concerning Christ that is of testimonies merely propheticall Page 27 7. What manner of predictions they be or of what matters the predictions must be which necessarily inferre the participation of a divine Spirit 30 8. Of the Sibylline Oracles whether they came originally from God or no that the perspicuity of their predictions doth not argue them to be counterfait or forged since the incarnation of the Sonne of God 38 9. Answering the Objections against the former resolutions that God did deale better with Israel then with other nations although it were granted that other nations had as perspicuous predictions of Christ and of his Kingdome as the Israelites had 46 10. Of Testimonies in the old Testament concerning Christ merely typicall and how they do conclude the truths delivered in the New Testament Page 53 CHAP. 11. Of testimonies concerning Christ typically propheticall or prophetically typicall and of their concludent proofe 58 12. Of the severall senses of Scripture especially of the literall and mysticall 67 13. Of the literall sense of Scripture not assertive but merely charactericall 77 14. That the Scripture is said to be fulfilled according to all the former senses that one the same Scripture may be oftner than once fulfilled according to each severall sense 87 15. Whether all Testimonies alledged by the Euangelists out of the old Testament in which it is said or implyed this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled be concludent proofs of the Euangelicall truths for which they are alledged 106 16. Whether the Prophets did alwayes foresee or explicitely beleeve whatsoever they did foretell or fore-signifie concerning Christ 126 17. Whether divine prophecies or predictions concerning Christ may admit amphibologies or ambiguous senses 139 18. Containing the generall heads or topicks for finding out the severall senses of Scripture especially for the just valuation of the literall sense whether in the old Testament or in the new 160 19. Of the use of sacred or miscellane Philology for finding out as well the literall as the mysticall or other senses of Scripture 179 SECTION III. That the incarnation of God and of God in the person of the Son instiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was foretold prefigured c. in the writings of Moses Of the hypostaticall union betweene the Son of God and seed of Abraham Pag. 201 CHAP. 20. That God according to the literall sense of Scriptures was in later ages to be incarnate and to converse with men with the seede of Abraham especially here on earth after such a peculiar manner as we Christians beleeve Christ God and man did 201 21. That this peculiar manner of Gods presence with his people by signes and miracles was punctually foreprophecyed by the Psalmists 211 22. That the God of Israel was to become a servant and a subject to humane infirmities was foretold by the Prophets according to the strictest literall sense 228 23. That God was to visite his Temple after such a visible and personall manner as the Prophet Jeremie in his name had done 232 24. That the God of Israel was to be made King and to raigne not ever Israel only but over the Nations in a more peculiar manner than in former ages hee had done 241 25. That the former Testimonies doe concludently inferre a pluralitie of persons in the unitie of the Godhead and that God in the person of the Son was to be incarnate and to be made Lord and King 249 26. That by the Sonne of God and the Word we are to understand one and the same partie or person that the Word by whom S. John saith the World was made is coeternall to God the Father who made all things by him 262 27. Why S. John doth rather say the word was made flesh then the sonne of God was made flesh albeit the sonne of God and the word denote one and the same person 281 28. That the incarnation of the Word or of the sonne of God under this title was foreprophecyed by sundry Prophets with the exposition of some peculiar Places to this purpose not usually observed by Interpreters 299 29. Of the true meaning of this speech the word was made flesh Whether it be all one for the Word to be made flesh to be made man or whether he were made flesh and made man at the same instant 320 30. Of the hypostaticall and personall union betwixt the Word and the flesh or betwixt the Sonne of God and the seed of Abraham 330 SECTION IIII. Of the conception and birth of our Lord and Saviour the sonne of God of the circumcision of the sonne of God and the name JESUS given him at his circumcision and of the fulfilling of the types and prophecyes concerning these mysteries Pag. 347 CHAP. 31. The aenigmaticall predictions concerning Christs conception unfolded by degrees ibid. 32. S. Lukes narration of our Saviours conception and birth and its exact concordance with the Prophets 354 33. S
us of Ecce vetera praeterierunt nova facta sunt omnia He concludes CHAP. 9. Answering the objections against the former resolutions that God did deale better with Israel then with other nations although it were granted that other Nations had as perspicuous predictions of Christ and of his Kingdome as the Israelites had BUt if wee acknowledge the Revelation of these and the like divine mysteries unto the heathen to have beene so perspicuous as the Sibylline Oracles whether those which now are extant or those which Virgil did comment upon doe exhibit shall wee not hereby contradict the Psalmists avouchment of Gods speciall favour to his peculiar people Psalme 147. 19 20. Hee sheweth his words unto Iacob his Statutes and his Iudgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his judgements they have not knowne them For how can it rightly be conceived that hee should deale better with Jacob or Israel then with any other people if it bee granted that the Romanes or other Nations which were if not by Gods command yet by his permission depositories of the Sibylline Oracles had in them as perspicuous testimonies or revelations of Christ as Jacob and Israel had either in the Law or in the Prophets Most certaine it is that the measure of Gods gracious dealing with any Nation people or State must be taken from the severall manner or model of Revelations made unto them concerning the incarnation death passion c. of his only sonne for whose only sake and merits all the blessings which have beene which are or which shall be bestowed upō the sons of men were first promised or intended unto them in whom all that have any promise of such blessing receive their interest and immediate title unto them by whom and through whom all caelestiall blessings are actually derived unto and accomplished in all such as having just title make right claime unto them 2. The Psalmist himselfe from whose authority this objection is borowed affords a faire hint for a right answer unto it Hee doth not say that God sheweth his word unto Jacob alone or that no other Nation besides Israel had any knowledge of his word or prenotion of the word which was to be made flesh Wherein then did he deale better with Israel then with any other Nation In shewing his statutes and judgements unto that Nation alone For albeit the Revelations made unto the Sibylls if now wee had the undoubted originalls might be more perspicuous than any prophecy in the old Testament or admitting they had been delivered in the selfe-same words which God did speak to Moses and the Prophets this would not inferre that the ancient Heathens had as good meanes of knowing Christ as Israel had or that the manner of shewing his words unto both was as the words are supposed to bee altogether the same The statutes and judgements which he had given unto Israel only were given unto this purpose that the words which he had spoken by Moses and the Prophets might make more legible impression in their hearts Amongst many statutes and judgements peculiar unto Israel these were principall and fundamentall that the words which God had spoken by Moses and the Prophets should bee publiquely read often inculcated and expounded unto them that all his visitations of this people whether in mercy whilest they obeyed his voice or in judgement for their disobedience should be registred to remaine upon record as so many ruled cases or Presidents 3. To have the mysteries of salvation however revealed is a great blessing to any Nation But it is not one and the same blessing to have the wayes of life perspicuous in themselves and to have them made perspicuous unto this or that age or party This later blessing even those to whom these Sibylline Oracles were imparted did want And want it they did through their owne default in that they made no better use of these particular prophecies then they had done of the common booke of nature Rom. 1. 20 21. The Lord of heaven and earth was good and gratious unto many Heathens in dispensing or suffering these or the like Crummes to fall unto them from his childrens table yet not so gratious to them as he was to his children in that hee gave them no lawes and ordinances for the publication of these mysteries or for observing the times wherein they were to be fulfilled Nor had these Heathens the grace or goodnesse in them to enact publique Lawes for this purpose but like that ungracious servant in the Gospell they held it a point of wisdome to imprison these pretious talents in their Archives not to be looked upon but upon occasion of state 4. But suppose the Heathens had beene as peremptorily admonished by God himselfe or as strictly enjoyned by Lawes of their owne making to acquaint posterity with the Sibylline Oracles as the Israelites were to instruct their children in Gods word delivered by Moses would this have made the meaning of these prophecies in themselves as is supposed most perspicuous either more perspicuous or more effectuall to succeeding generations then they were God knowes that But the dayly experience of this age of this yeare current and of some few late past will not suffer us not to know that abundant plenty either of spirituall food or of medicines in themselves most divine though dayly administred doth not alwaies de facto purifie the hearts of Christians from Heathenish humours or diseases What then is wanting where spirituall meate and medicines doe so abound A want there is first of severe discipline to teach Physitians themselves how to dispence the food or Physick of life aright Secondly a greater want there is of coercive Lawes or of the execution of them for binding our patients to a right posture or diet whilest they are under our cure The lowd out-crying sinnes of these times awake the thoughts of all that are not dead in sinne and the oftner it is thought upon the more it will be lamented by every honest heart That God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost that Christ who is God and man our gracious Lord and Redeemer should be more traduced and more grosly mistransformed through liberty of prophecying as they terme it amongst us Christians then they have beene in any age before amongst Turks or Heathens which have died in their sinnes for want of prophecying But as for Israel of old they wanted no lawes or discipline for these or the like good purposes and prophecies they had in abundance Onely they were wanting to themselves in not exercising the Discipline in not executing the lawes which God had given them And unto this defect they added an excesse of traditions contrary to the lawes appointed them by God and extreamely opposite to wholsome discipline or doctrine 5. But such Iewish traditions as were contrarie to the Law of God how prejudiciall soever they were unto their soules which first invented or followed them doe not
head stone of the Corner doth allude or referre unto some historicall event then fresh in memory They containe no prophecy in respect of the event whatsoever that were yet are they a most true concludent Prophecie of Christs exaltation by his father after his rejection by the Priests and Elders So our Saviour interprets it Matth. 21. 42. All these three testimonies mentioned consisting both of word and matter of fact are first typicall then propheticall But oftentimes the same words though not alwayes according to the same sense are propheticall as well in respect of the type as of the antitype and then the proofe or testimony is prophetically typicall or meerely typicall from their first date and afterwards in processe of time both typicall and propheticall Of this ranke is that prediction made to David 2 Sam. 7. 12 13. c. And when thy dayes be fulfilled and thou shalt sleepe with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowells and I will establish his Kingdome He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his Kingdome for ever I will be his Father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I tooke it from Saul whom I put away before thee And thy house thy Kingdom shal be established for ever before thee thy throne shall be established for ever Of the same rank and order is that repetition of this promise Psal 89. from ver 20. to the 37. Both places conteine an expresse prophecie of Gods favour unto David and to his posterity and both include the prerogative of Salomon above all Kings that had gone before him And yet in as much as Salomon in the height of his glory was but a shadow or picture though a faire one of the sonne of God who was to be made the sonne of David likewise the same words which were undoubtedly verifyed of Salomon in his time were afterwards exactly fulfilled in Christ who was the living person or substance whom Salomon did forepicture No Christian can no Jew will deny these words of the Prophet Isaiah cap. 22. 20 21 22. c. to be propheticall in the first place of Eliakims advancement to be chiefe master or high Steward over the house of David in Shebna's steed And it shall come to passe in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the sonne of Hilkiah And I will cloth him with thy robe and strengthen him with thy girdle and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a Father to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem to the house of Iudah And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulders so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open And I will fasten him as a naile in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his fathers house c. But in as much as Eliakim both by name and office did but prefigure or delineate Christ in his acts and office the same words which were literally meant of Eliakim are in a more exquisite sense fulfilled in Christ But of the severall senses of Scriptures and how the Scriptures are said according to these severall senses to be fulfilled somewhat in the two next chapters following These proofes or testimonies whereof we now treat whether typically propheticall or prophetically typicall are in number many and of all the rest most concludent to Readers but ordinarily observant For they containe the intire force and strength of the two former proofes or testimonies meerely typicall or meerely propheticall by way of union and it is universally true Vis unita semper fortier 3. Imagine a man of ordinarie insight in Architecture should come into some large and curious palace or City newly built and after a diligent survey of the form and fashion of every particular roome house or street should finde a model of elder date then the worke it selfe which did beare the just proportion and inscription of every roome or building this would resolve him that such exact correspondency could not fall out by chance but that the Citie or Palace had beene built by his directions which made the model or by some others which made use of his skill albeit no handy-workman imployed in the building albeit none but the Architect or generall director did perceive as much Thus all historicall events related in the new testament concerning Christ his birth his death and passion c. have their exact Maps or Models drawne in the history of the old testament besides the expresse propheticall inscriptions which instruct us how to referre or compare every part of the legall or historicall model unto the Evangelicall aedifice answering to it This to every observant Reader is a concludent proofe that one and the same spirit did both forecast the models and in the fulnesse of time accomplish the worke it selfe to wit the building up of Sion and Jerusalem though this he effected as master builders in like cases doe by the hands of inferiour workmen not acquainted nor comprehensive of his project or contrivances 4. Every house saith the Apostle Heb. 3. 4. is builded by some man but he that built all things is God This power of God by which he made all things even the materialls of all things whereon men doe work doth not farther exceed the power of other builders then the wisedome of the same God which is manifested in the aedifice of the heavenly temple doth surpasse all skill or contrivance of the most skilfull Architects or Projectors For whatsoever is by them forecast or projected doth never prosper never come to any perfection unlesse the workemen imployed by them follow their rules or directions But this greatest worke of God the erection or edification of his Church did then goe best forward when the workmen or builders imployed about it did forsake his counsell and followed the directions of his malitious adversary who sought the confusion both of it and them He built up the Kingdome of Sion and Jerusalem in peace without let or interruption even whilest the master builders designed by him did lay the foundation or chiefe corner stone of it in blood And after it was so laid did accomplish whatsoever he would have done in this great worke by the hands of such workemen as did nothing lesse then what he would have had them to do Though Judas one of the twelve by Satans suggestion did betray his Lord though the high Priest and Elders became the Devills agents to condemne him and though Pilate lastly turned Satans deputie to sentence him to death yet all these did that which the most wise most righteous and most mercifull God
dwell with the Lamb that the Leopard should lye downe with the Kid and the Calfe and the young Lion and the Fatling together The forme of speech is figurative and in the language of saecular Rhetoritians Allegoricall And so that other of the Vineyard Isay 5 is parabolically figurative And yet the sense of all these places is in the Schoole of Divinity as truly literall as when it is said The womans seed shall bruise the serpents head or that in Abrahams seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed For by the trees wherewith the wildernesse was to be planted by the Wolfe and by the Lamb by the Leopard and the Kid c. divers sorts of men were immediatly meant and to the fulfilling of all or any of the prophecies it was not required that there should be a transformation either of men into trees Leopards Wolfes or Lions c. or of these or like creatures into men For how ever the sense of Scripture in all these places be literall yet it is literally Allegoricall And of the literall or verball Allegory that Maxime is most true Sensus allegoricus non est argumentativus No firme argument can be drawne from the allegoricall parabolicall or other figurative signification of words As wee may not inferre that the wildernesse was to be planted with trees or that the Wolfe and the Lamb the Leopard and the Kid were to consort as well together on dry land as sometimes they did in Noahs Arke whilest the deluge lasted before these prophecies could be fulfilled according to the literall sense as this sense in the language of the holy Ghost is opposed unto the Allegoricall For that in the Apostles language is said to be spoken allegorically which is not immediatly foretold or signified by words whether proper or figurative but fore-shadowed by some reall event by mens persons or their offices or by matter of type or fact It is written saith our Apostle Gal. 4. 22 23. that Abraham had two sonnes the one by a bondmaid the other by a free woman but he who was of the bondwoman was borne after the flesh but hee of the free woman was by promise Which things are an Allegory for these are the two covenants The Evangelicall mysteries implied in this Allegory and vnfolded by our Apostle were not immediatly notified by any words or proposition in the history of Sarah and Hagar and their sonnes but onely fore-pictured by matter of fact or by the things themselves which the words according to the literall sense did immediatly fore-signifie For the word Hagar did in that story literally signifie Sarahs handmayd or bondwoman But this bond-woman and her sonne and their estate or condition of life did excellently represent the estate and condition of such as did adhere unto the Law after the Gospell was proclaimed And the Gospell with the happy estate of such as imbrace it was not fore-signified by the name Sarah or by the name Isaac but by their estate and condition who were so named Most of our Apostles Arguments throughout the Epistle to the Hebrewes are drawne not from the literall but from the allegoricall sense Yet God forbid that wee should say or think that his arguments did not conclude I should rather say if it be lawfull to compare sacred testimonies or authorities one with another that Arguments drawne from the Allegoricall sense of Scriptures are most admirably if not most firmely concludent For they are Arguments of proportion and presuppose foure termes at the least either expressed or implied And the Allegoricall sense of Scriptures alwayes includes the mysticall though the mysticall doth not alwaies include the allegoricall For wheresoever any Evangelicall mystery was fore-shadowed by any type by any historicall event or matter of fact there is a latent mysticall sense though not expressed by words or letters 3. But it oftentimes so falls out and as I take it alwayes in testimonies either typically propheticall or prophetically typicall that there is an inseparable concurrence or combination of the literall and mysticall sense though not alwayes after the same manner Sometimes the literall sense according to the same propriety or signification of words doth fit the Antitype or body as well as the type or shadow As whether wee apply that speech Exod. 12. 46. Yee shall not breake a bone thereof unto the paschall Lamb or to Christ who was mystically fore-shadowed by it the literall sense is the very same there is no variety in the signification of the words Christ had as true bones as the Paschall Lamb and the preservation of his bones was literally fore-prophecied in the Law concerning the Paschall Lamb but withall mystically fore-pictured by the observance or practise of that law Sometimes againe the literall sense doth better befit the Antitype then the type As those words fore-mentioned 2. Sam. 7. 14. I will be his Father and hee shall be my sonne are more proper in respect of Christ who was the Antitype then of Salomon who was the type or shadow of his Sonne-ship So that our Saviours incarnation or nativity is collaterally foreprophecyed with the nativity of Salomon and his royall office and favour with God mystically foresignified by Salomons person and office 4. But many times the expressions of the holy Ghost as well in testimonies typically propheticall as prophetically typicall are like inscriptions or mottoes in Impreses or Emblemes Now these Inscriptions besides the plaine literall native sense of the words have a further Symbolicall importance or morall signification No man that sees that devise of bulrushes couched in a swelling streame with this inscription flectimur non frangimur undis but will acknowledge the plaine literal sense to point immediately at them Yet besides this literall sense they have this Symbolicall importance partly implyed in the words themselves and partly represented by the body of the devise that he which gave this devise had learned that lesson of the Poet Dum furor in cursu est currenti cede furori that he was resolved to stoope awhile unto the iniquity of the times not without hope to beare up his head againe and to overtop his Adversaries after the present tyranny were overpast as bulrushes doe the waters wherein they grow when the flood unto whose violence for a while they yeelded hath spent its strength That forecited saying of the Psalmist Psal 118. 22. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone in the corner This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes according to the literall sense is terminated to an historicall event then present or fresh in memory And if we may relie upon the authority of the Author of the Scholastick History the historicall event or matter of fact to which these words literally and immediately referre was a remarkable stone for which the builders of the Temple could finde no convenient place in the intermediate structure which yet unexpectedly proved the fittest corner stone
writers in the literall and proper sense As when Saint Matthew to use his instance saith Chap. 1. 22. That which was spoken by the Prophet behold a Virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne and shall call his name Emanuel was fulfilled in the blessed virgin The rule is true and without exception but the illustration of it is not so fit as Maldonat supposed For that saying of the Prophet Isaiah was fulfilled more wayes than one perhaps according to all the foure severall wayes which he conceived in the conception birth and name of our Saviour Jesus Christ Secondly the scripture is said to be fulfilled when that comes to passe which was foreshadowed by the proper and immediate subject of the Prophets speech As that saying Exod. 12. 46. Yee shall not breake a bone of it was properly and immediately meant of the paschall Lambe yet fulfilled in our Saviour Christ of whom the paschall Lambe was the type or shadow Unto this second rule or branch hee likewise referres that prophecy 2 Sam. 7. 14. I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a sonne This was fulfilled in Christ as the Apostle teacheth Heb. 1. 5. though properly meant of Salomon as Maldonat takes it for granted although some judicious Commentators of the Romane Church in his time doe question or rather peremptorily yet too boldly deny it However this second rule of Maldonat is good and acknowledged by all only his expression of the two instances needs some correction for the first place alleaged by him was as literally and as properly meant of Christ as of the Paschall Lambe and the second more properly meant of Christ than of Salomon though literally and properly meant of Salomon and fulfilled in him The truth is that both places were two wayes fulfilled both in the literall and mysticall sense and the second twice fulfilled once in the literall and againe both in the literall and mysticall sense 3. Thirdly saith the same Author the Scripture is said to be fulfilled when neither that which was literally and properly pointed at by the Prophet nor that which was fore-shadowed by it comes to passe but some other thing which is so like unto it that the same speech may as aptly and as handsomely be applyed unto it as unto that which was properly and literally meant For illustration of this third rule he alleageth that of the Prophet Isaiah cap. 29. 13 14. For as much as this people draw neere unto me with their mouth and with their lippes doe honour me but have removed their heart farre from me and their feare toward me is taught by the precept of men Therefore behold I will proceed to doe a marvellous worke amongst this people even a marvellous worke and a wonder For the wisedome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid This saith Maldonat was properly meant of the Jewes which lived in Isaiahs time and yet our Saviour Matt. 15. 7 8. gives us to understand that this was fulfilled of the Jewes which conversed and disputed with him Yet Hypocrites well did Isaiah prophecy of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth mee with their lips but their heart is farre me Unto this third rule or observation Maldonat would draw that other saying of the Prophet Isaiah cap. 6. 10. Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Yet this prophecy as our Saviour expresly tells us Mat. 13 14. was fulfilled in the Jewes to whom he spake Ore tenùs in parables And so doth S. Paul Acts 28. 26. where he expounds the Orthodoxall meaning both of our Saviours the Prophets words The truth of this third rule will come in some question in the next chapter but admitting it for the present to be orthodoxall and true yet the instances or illustrations are impertinent For all the passages alleaged by him were more literally and more properly meant of the incredulous Jewes which conversed with our Saviour than of those Jewes which were the Prophet Isaiahs coëvalls as the understanding Reader will easily collect from the 12. of Iohn 41. being compared with the forecited 6 of Isaiah The fourth way by which in Maldonats observation the scripture is said to be fulfilled is when that which was foretold or prefigured though already done in part or begunne to be done is afterwards more constantly and more fully done The observation or rule is unquestionably true but it is not a rule or branch distinct from the two first but rather a transcendent to all the wayes according to which the scriptures may be rightly said to be fulfilled 4. And these wayes can be neither more nor fewer then are the ways by which God did either foretell or prefigure things to come and to be accōplished in Christ Some predictions were meerly prophetical some prefigurations were meerely typical other meerly literal or charactericall And unto these their commixtures all the Testimonies or prenotions cōcerning Evangelical mysteries have bin reduced Now according to all these wayes the scripture is said to be fulfilled Where the testimony is meerly propheticall that is such as is literally applyable to Christ alone the scripture is said to be fulfilled only in the literall sense When the testimony or prenotiō is only typicall as when the representation is made by matter of fact or historicall evēt in this case the Scripture is fulfilled only according to the mysticall sense and after this maner most of the legall ceremonies are said to be fulfilled in Chr. The history of the brasen Serpēt was mystically fulfilled in his death upon the crosse the story of Ionas his imprisōmēt in the whales belly was thus fulfilled in his buriall 3 dayes abode in his grave the Ceremony or rite of offering the first fruits was thus fulfilled in his resurrectiō Where the testimony prenotion is both typical prophetical as is that of the Paschal Lamb of the stone which the builders refused there the Scripture is fulfilled both according to the literall the mysticall sense whether the words as they are referred to Chr. be logicall proper or whether they be allegori or symbolicall yet can we not say that these Scripture were fulfilled as well in the type as in Christ but in Christ alone For neither of these passages Yee shall not breake a bone of it the stone which the builders refused were propheticall in respect of the type but only in respect of the mysteries typified And no Scripture is said to be fulfilled otherwise then as it is either a prediction or prefiguration of somewhat to come But where the testimony is prophetically typicall there one and the same Scripture is twice fulfilled both in the type and in the antitype as that 2 Sam. 7. I will be
amongst the best Divines of this age Theodoret amongst the Ancients Melancthen and Moller amongst moderne writers have better attempted this profitable worke than they have beene seconded The historicall occasions and other circumstances of the times wherein these Psalmes were written were they knowne according to the literall sense would lead us by a faire and safe way as it were by the rule of three unto the just product or capacitie of the true allegoricall and mysticall sense in which they were fulfilled But as our case now stands the luxuriant and perplexed branches of such forced Allegories as men fancie to themselves or frame by guesse without any perfect scale or proportion from the true historicall sense have occasioned many judicious Divines to doubt or question whether those things which by the Evangelists are said to bee done that the Scriptures might bee fulfilled doe alwayes imply some concludent proofe or demonstration of the Spirit Calvin for being sometimes too bold sometimes too sparing in the exposition of such places as the Evangelists say are fulfilled in Christ is deeply taxed by the Lutherans generally and by many of the Romish Church But Christian charity will perswade men of sober passions that it was rather feare lest he should give offence unto the Jewes then any desire or inclination to comply with them which made him sometimes give the same interpretations of Scriptures which they doe without expression of or search after farther mysteries than the letter it selfe doth minister How ever it be if Calvin be lyable to a judgement Iansenius Sasbout and Maldonat three of the most judicious Commentators of the Romish Church for these many yeares are lyable to a Councell for their unadvised presumption in this kinde One of them denyeth that often forecited place I will be to him a Father and be shall be to me a sonne to bee literally meant of Salomon wherein he gives just offence unto the Jewes and by superstitious feare of committing that errour whereof Calvin is often accused doth fall into the contrary The two others question whether that of the Prophet Hosea Out of Egypt have I called my sonne were properly fulfilled in our Saviour or only said to be fulfilled per accommodationem by way of allusion that is in such a manner as we might say that of the Poet Omnis in Ascanio chari stat cura Parentis were fulfilled in any father or mother whom we saw to dote upon or much to deligt in their lovely sonne And this was the explicite meaning of Maldonats third rule before cited in what sense the Scripture is said to be fulfilled 2. That this was his meaning in that place may be gathered from his comment on that other saying of S. Matthew Chap. 13. ver 34 35. All these things spake Iesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things which have beene kept secret since the foundation of the world His observations upon this place are in his owne words englished thus The particle That doth not denote the cause why our Saviour spake in parables for he did not thus speake to the end that Davids sayings might bee fulfilled but because his Auditors were unworthy of such perspicuous declarations as he used to his Disciples in private This he takes as granted from our Saviours speech ver 13 14. Therefore spake I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they heare not neither doe they understand And in them is fulfilled the Prophecy of Isaiah which saith By hearing c. The abstract of his observations upon ver 34 35. is this that it was no part of our Evangelists meaning to teach us that Davids prophecy was properly fulfilled by our Saviours parables seeing Davids discourse as he conceives was indeed no prophecy but an historicall narration of matters past besides that the word which the Psalmist there useth doth not signifie such parables as our Saviour in this 13. chapter meant but rather such pithy sentences as the Greekes call Apophthegmes Maldonats conclusion therefore is that the Evangelist according to his usuall manner did only accommodate that which David had spoken to our Saviours speeches in this place to which they have some affinity or similitude though no concludent congruity and for our better satisfaction hee referres us to his Comments upon Matth. 2. 15. that is indeed to his third rule in what sense the Scriptures are said to be fulfilled But in this and other like passages to the same purpose this Author onely gives us to understand how easie a matter it is for good Divines sometimes to spend a great deale of learning and wit to no good purpose especially when they strive to be hypercriticall or to be censorious of others pious endeavours though perhaps not so accurate 3. To revise these his animadversions ordine retrogrado that is beginning with the last and ending with the first No man did say that the narrations in that Psalme were propheticall in respect of the matters literally and immediately signified by the words themselves Yet in as much as these matters though past as Gods wonders in Egypt and in the wildernesse the conducting of his people to the land of Canaan and their rebellious behaviour in it were true types or shadowes of the like events in future times there is not any thing in that Psalme related which in the mysticall sense doth not fore-represent some parallel event when the God of their Fathers should come in person to expostulate with his people in such a manner as David did with the people of his time which he did not in his owne name or authority but in the name and authority of his Lord and God For so he beginnes that Psalme Give eare O my people to my Law incline your eares to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter darke sayings of old This preamble cannot literally bee applyed to David or any Prophet save only as he was a type or shadow of him that was to come The Psalmists words immediately following though Apophthegmaticall and pithy were plaine in respect of the literall sense if you consider them only as matters of fact forepast were knowne and had been taught at the least by some of their Fathers though perhaps forgotten by posterity However in respect of their mysticall importāce or as they containe a proportionable parallel of the Kingdome of Heaven with the Kingdome of Israel according to the flesh they are sentences both hard and darke and such as did require a better paraphrast upon David or the Author of this Psalme then he was of Moses or of the sacred Historians before his time For by the parables meant in ver 2. of this Psalme if we may beleeve S. Matthewes paraphrase upon these words were meant things which had beene
a review of the different wayes or manner how things future were foretold by the Prophets Now of divine testimonies or predictions some were meerely propheticall others prophetically typicall and both these stemmes againe did divide themselves into more branches Some predictions meerely propheticall were delivered in a plaine grammaticall or historicall sense of words others in termes allegoricall or enigmaticall Of such predictions meerely propheticall as are expressed in the plaine grammaticall or historicall sense of words some did referre to one matter or fact or to some determinate point of time and in the intention of the holy Ghost were to be but once fulfilled Others according to the same literall sense were to be fulfilled sometimes in the same sometimes in a different measure oftner than once at divers times and in severall ages Of such predictions as were to be but once fulfilled and that according to the plaine literall sense this affirmative is universally true The Prophets had alwayes a distinct knowledge or apprehension of the summe or substance of the events which are said to come to passe that their saying might be fulfilled Search all the predictions of our Saviours Incarnation Nativity Circumcision of his Passion Resurrection and Ascension Whatsoever places in the Prophets doe literally referre to these points were to be but once fulfilled For our Saviour was to be but once incarnate but once to be borne to die but once to be raised from death once for all Now if the Prophets which did literally foretell these things had not distinctly foreseene the substance at least of these Evangelicall mysteries they must either have raved in their predictions as it is presumed the heathen prophets or Apollo's priests used to doe or else have foretold them onely after such a manner as Caiaphas did foretell his death And the fulfilling of their prophecies though according to their plaine literall assertive sense could not prove them to have been Prophets properly so called that is men indowed with the true spirit of divination For no man I thinke will say that Caiaphas was thus qualified although hee prophesied in some sort of our Saviours death Ieremy surely did foresee that the promised seed should be conceived of a pure Virgin when he uttered that prophecy chap. 31. 22. So did Esaias foresee that the Messias whom they continually expected should be despised of many should be a man of sorows should dye and rise againe when he uttered that Prophecy chap. 35. v. 3. But we have not the like inducement to beleeve that hee did so distinctly apprehend that the expected Messias should be brought up in Nazareth although this was foretold by him chap. 11. 1. not in the plaine literall sense but enigmatically 4 Where the prediction according to the plaine literall sense was in the intentiō of the holy Ghost to bee oftner fulfilled than once the Prophet which foretold it did alwaies distinctly foresee the evēt in the first place foretold or the first fulfilling of his own predictiō There is not the like necessity for us to beleeve or think that he had the like distinct foresight or apprehensiō of those events in which one the selfesame prophecy was the secōd third or fourth time to be fulfilled Esaias distinctly foresaw the future inclination of these Jewes by their present disposition to draw neere to God with their lips and bee farre from him in their hearts and that their hypocrisie if continued would worke their destruction otherwise he had but raved or but spoken by guesse but that the matter of this his reproofe or Propheticall admonition should be more exactly fulfilled of the Jewes sixe hundred yeares after his time as it was wee cannot determine whether he did foresee this or no. In that vision made unto him chapter the 6. he distinctly foresaw this peoples pronesse to winke withtheir eyes to harden their hearts unto their own destruction and desolatiō of their Country out of his distinct foresight hereof hee did deliver his message in an imperative sense excaeca obdur a make blinde their eyes and harden their hearts which in the propheticall use of these words is usually as much but no more as if he had said I am commanded to forewarne you of such a spirit of slumber and hardnesse of heart now creeping upon you that unlesse you repent your Cities shall be desolate c. But albeit we resume what we formerly granted and cannot now deny that Esaias had a distinct apprehension of our Saviours death and resurrection yet whether he had the like distinct apprehension or foresight of that excecation and obduration of his people which did presage the second desolation of Jerusalem and destruction of the second Temple as he had of the former made by Nebuchadnezzar is questionable And the more probable part of the question is that he had not Of the returne of Iudah from the Babylonish Captivity Esaias as appeares from the 6. chapter had a true prenotion yet neither so full nor distinct as the Prophet Ieremy had when he saw the Captivity come upon them For from the booke of Ieremy not of Isaiah Daniel a Prophet no way inferiour to either of them learned the distinct time of his captived peoples returne to their owne Land As for the time of the second Temples destruction or for the destruction of it at all that Daniel did neither learne from the prophecy of Isaiah or of Ieremy or of any bookes before extant for it was revealed unto him immediately from the Author of truth himselfe and after such a manner as that we cannot reasonably imagine either the substance or circumstance of what was then revealed to have beene knowne to any Prophet before him And yet it is true that divers prophecies both of Isaiah and of Ieremy were more exactly fulfilled in the desolation of Judah by Titus than they had beene fulfilled in the former desolation by Nebuchadnezzar 5 But predictions prophetically typicall as well as testimonies meerely propheticall were of two sorts In some such predictions the plaine literall sense did fit the antitype as well as it did the type as in the prediction before mentioned I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a son in the like Psal 72. In others the literall inscriptiō did fit the type only according to the plaine literall or logicall sense and the antitype only in the morall or symbolicall sense Of both sorts it is true that the Prophets alwaies had a view or apprehension of that which was immediately foretold according to the literall sense or of the first fulfilling of it the case is the same as it was in testimonies meerely propheticall But of that which was immediately signified not by words but by some matter of fact or historicall event whereto the words in the literall sense immediately referre of such second events or of the fulfilling of the Prophecy both according to the literall and mysticall sense the Prophets had not
a speaking picture of the comming of the Sunne of righteousnesse into the world after the light of prophecies or revelations whether by Vrim and Thummim or by voice from heaven had beene farre removed from the Hemisphere of Judaea untill they began to returne againe in Iohn Baptist and his Father Zacharias who were as the day starre or dawning to usher in the Sunne of righteousnesse who was to continue his course from the one end of the Earth to the other with more indefatigable courage and with more comfortable warmth then this visible Sunne doth visite the earth He was that strong man that Gebor unto whom the Psalmist compares the Sunne in its strength for Gebor is its proper title And I make no question but the glory of his kingdome begunne here on earth though descending from heaven where it shall bee accomplished was by the Holy Ghost intended according to the Mysticall sense of that Psalme which is not a History onely but a true prophecy And our Apostles allegation of the fourth verse of this Psalme Rom. 10. 18. Their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the World was not allusive onely but argumentative and fulfilled in the preaching of the Gospell by the Apostles and their Successors in the mysticall sense as it had been before those times dayly verified in the literall 9 But meere ignorance in these and the like parables of our Saviour whose knowledge neerely concerned the generation in which and for whose good hee uttered them however the knowledge of them much concerne us of this age and nation cannot bee so prejudiciall to all good Christians as the ignorance of other parables and proverbiall speeches of his which alike neerely concerne mankinde Yet an ignorance there is of many rites and customes unto which both the words of the Prophets and his explications of them which concerne mans redemption by him punctually referre according to the literall sense Most of us know not him as our Redeemer because were know not our selves nor that miserable bond of servitude which hee did dissolve for us all And this wee know not because wee consider not the state and condition of legall servants unto cruell tyrannicall Lords We were servants to a most cruell Tyrant And the Sonne of God for our Redemption became truely and properly a servant to his Father before he became our Lord in speciall and so must wee be servants to him in speciall before wee become the sonnes of God For we must be sonnes before we be heires and sonnes by adoption before wee bee made Kings and Priests unto his Father I never read that passage of our Apostle Rom. 8. 15. Yee have not received the spirit of bondage againe to feare but yee have received the spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father but I alwaies conceived there was somewhat more contayned in it then was to be found in any lexicon or vulgar Scholiast yet what it should be in particular I learned of late from a learned Professor of another facultie which he hath adorned by his more then ordinary skill in sacred Antiquity and miscellane Philologie Now if wee value the Apostles words per quem clamamas Abba Pater with reference to the legall custome or manner by which some sort of slaves by birth and condition did claime the priviledge of manumission or of Adoption amongst the ancient Jewes the expression is ful of elegancie and most divine the manner of the Adoption to hereditaments temporall was a kinde of typicall prophecy of our Adoptiō to our eternall inheritāce in the heavēs 10. Were we as well acquainted either with boyes playes in ancient times as with our Christmas sports or with the severall kindes of Olympick games as we are with our Countrey May-games or horseraces we might bee more beholden to our selves in many points then to ordinary profest expositors of sacred writ For even unto childish sports the father of the fatherlesse and guardian of the helplesse our Saviour himselfe sometimes referres us for the true meaning of his parables as in Matthew 11 if wee may beleeve Lyra or Theophilact in matter of fact But whereunto shall I liken this generation It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellowes and saying wee have piped unto you and yee have not danced we have mourned unto you and yee have not lamented For Iohn came neither eating nor drinking and yet they say he hath a Devill The sonne of man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a man gluttonous and a wine bibber a friend of Publicanes and sinners But wisedome is justified of her children But whether there were any such positive custome amongst children as Lyra and Theophilact relate I will not dispute pro or con However Maldonats observation upon the place is of very good use for any that either intend to make a comment or to reade Commentators upon our Saviours parables with liberty of judgement or discretion The best is Iansenius hath better expounded this place with reference unto Childrens sports in generall then Lyra or Theophilact have done although wee grant them such a peculiar kinde of sporting as they supposed was then in use Verum ut ludi genus hoc incertum est ita nec convenit literae Non enim in litera dicuntur hi quidem dicere Cantavimus vobis non saltastis alijs vero lamentavimus non plorastis sed utrūque eisdem tribuitur Et vana est Nicolai interpretatio qui ideo dictum put at coaequalibus suis dicūt quia pueri divisi erant in duas aequales partes Coaequales enim proprie dicuntur Coaetanei Graecè in Matthaeo est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest sodalibus Proinde simplicius fuerit sine specialis alicujus ludi imaginatione exemplum hoc intelligere secundùm consuetudinem communem puerorum qui in foro laetioribus locis civitatum congregati inter se student ludendo effingere quicquid ab aliis vident seriò agi Itaque aliquando nupiias effingunt nuptiales laetitias tibiarum aut aliorum instrumentorum cantu imitantur aliquando vero funeralia obsequia expriment in quibus apud Iudaos planctibus lamentatione quorundam ac lugubrium decantatione solent homines ad tristitiam fletum provocari Haec dum imitantur pueri fit frequenter ut quod joco agunt nonsit efficax vel ad tripudia nuptialia vel ad fletus funer ales provocandos 11. But as for the Olympick games or the like whether elsewhere instituted in imitation of them or before them it is evident that the Apostles and other sacred writers S. Paul especially had both seene them and made good use of them for the more lively expressions of many Christian duties And unlesse wee know the particular Customes unto which their words referre wee shall but play at Blinde man-buffe in our expositions of them or in our exhortations to such
then was that in this new Creation in the land of Ephraim not the male or man onely but the mighty male that Geber of whom Gedeon and Sampson were but types and shadowes was to be inclosed in the female or weaker sexe as the first woman or female was in the first male As she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones so was this Geber to be of that females flesh and bones which was to inclose him And this was a worke of Gods Creation a new Creation far surpassing the first Creation wherein the woman was made of man For in this new Creation the Geber the sonne of God himselfe was to be made man of a woman And it is not unworthy the observant Readers consideration that when the Lord doth as it were wooe Ephraim or Israel to returne againe unto their owne Land or to him he doth not intreat them as a husband doth his wife but as a loving Father doth his prodigall son or roaming daughter as ver 20. Is Ephraim my deare sonne Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Set thee up way markes make thee high heaps set thine heart towards he high way even the may which thou wentest Turne againe O Virgin Israel turne againe to the sethy Citties how long wilt thou goe about ô thou backsliding Daughter for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth or in thy Land the woman shall incompasse the man 11 Divers places there be in the new TestameÌ„t which touch not upon any article in this Creede which have tortured many good Interpreters no lesse then some vulgar Interpreters have tortured them I shall at this time instance onely in two First in that of S. Matthew 23. 34 35 36. Behold I send unto you Prophets and wise men c. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias sonne of Barachias whom yee slew betweene the Temple and the Altar verely I say unto you all those things shall come upon this generation The reason why most Interpreters of S. Matthew have wandered as men overtaken with a thicke mist upon a wilde heath or forrest was because they did not consult the Index Mercurialis which S. Luke from the words expressely uttered by our Saviour had set up for their better direction For whereas S. Matthew expresseth the Epiphonema or conclusion of our Saviours speech thus All these things shall come upon this generation S. Luke cap. 11. expresseth it Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation What was to be required of this generation The blood of all the Prophets froÌ„ Abel to Zacharias Zacharias his blood in particular For though this present generation by not repenting for their forefathers sinnes had made themselves guilty of the blood of all the Prophets which stood upon sacred Record from Abels time unto the destruction of the Temple yet Abel and Zacharias the high Priest whose death was in many respects most prodigious were the especiall avengers of blood For the blood of the one after he was dead and the dying voice of the other did cry to God for vengeance For so it is recorded in the second of Cron. 24. 22. of Zacharias When he dyed he said The Lord looke upon it and require it Now our Saviour in the words recorded by S. Luke forewarnes this impenitently stubborne generation that Zacharias his dying curse which had been through his mediatioÌ„ often deferred and often mitigated should be executed upon them as an ungodly race of ungodly Ancestors in a fuller measure then perhaps Zacharias intended The exact parallel betweene the sinnes of this people in the dayes of Ioash King of Judah who caused Zacharias to be stoned to death in the Temple and the sinnes of this present generation who put the High Priest of their soules the Lord of Glory himselfe to an ignominious death in what sense the blood of Zacharias was more required of this generation then the blood of our Saviour or of his Apostles in what manner the death of Zacharias and of our Saviour were the causes of this present generations destruction I have elsewhere discussed at large and if God permit meane shortly to publish amongst other meditations upoÌ„ our Saviours propheticall function or of such prophecies wherin he spake as never man spake which were not to be fulfilled in himselfe as in his death resurrection and ascension or comming to judgement For all prophecies of this ranke which shall come unto my memory or observation will have their fit place in these Commentaries 12 So will not that speech of his Mat. 24. 28. Wheresoever the Carkerse is there will the Eagles be gathered together Yet seeing the exposition of this place hath beene omitted in the explication of some prophecies with which it hath most affinity as with the signes of his comming to Judgement Math. 24. and Marke the 13. I have thought good to say somewhat of it in this place Most Interpreters grant the speech to be proverbiall and yet as uttered by our Saviour to be a Prophecie The mysterie foretold most of the Ancients would have to be the gathering together of Saints unto Christs body at the finall judgement or at least the gathering together of those bodies which being alive shall be raught up into the ayre to meete him at his comming But however the Eagles at least some kinde of Eagles may be fit Emblemes of Gods Saints yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body or Carkeise whereto the Eagles resort hath no handsome or comely resemblance of Christs appearing in glory although it were granted that his wounds or skarres should then be conspicuous I make no question but our Saviour in the forecited place did meane that kinde of Eagles whose properties we have described by God himselfe even by this our Lord God and Redeemer Ioh. 39. 27. Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high she dwelleth and abideth on the Rocke upon the Crag of the Rocke and the strong place from thence she sâ—â—keth the prey and her eyes behold a farre off her yâ—â—â—g ones also suck up blood and where the slaine is chere is shee The Eagle here displayed is either the Vulture or of the Vultures kind and their sagacitie whether in smelling slaine bodies a farre off or in presaging where great slaughters are like to happen as also their swift resort unto the prey is well knowne to secular Philologers But the flocking together of this kinde of Eagles doth rather menace destruction then minister any matter of comfort according to the literall sense either of proverbiall speech or of prophecy So the Prophet Habakuk doth character the fierce and swift incursion of the Caldaeans by this kinde of Eagles hastening
else whereof this masse was the beginning did beginne to be before they had any permanent or determinate kinde of being And when S. Iohn saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the beginning the word was the Phrase in grammaticall construction necessarily implies that the word had a perfect actuall being when all things else did but beginne to be and having then an actuall proper being it could not at that time or any time since not at the beginning of time it selfe beginne to be but was and is and so continues without ending 4. Or lest wits unarmed with arts or unable to untwist arguments subtilly contrived by sophistry should be made to stagger in this article of the eternity of the word he addes the word was with God and the word was God not by extrinsecall or borrowed appellation as Princes and Angells sometimes are called Gods but by nature God the Almighty God Hence he addes the same was in the beginning with God that is had as perfect being as God himselfe had when all things else begunne to be there is his eternity or if this were not enough he further saith ver 3. All things were made by him to wit by the Word This is the character of his Almighty power or coequality with God who made all things by him But here perhaps the Arian or other involved in his error will object at least in favour of this opinion it may be objected that this universall of S. Iohn all things were made by the Word is subject to the same limitation or exception which those two universall before mentioned were the one out of S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. When he saith he hath put all things under his feet he is excepted who hath put all things under him the other out of the Author of the 146 Psal that we may not put trust or confidence in any sonne of man which admits of this limitation unlesse it bee in that sonne of man who is also the sonne of the Lord God of Israel why then may not this universall of S. Iohn All things were made by the Word admit of this or the like restraint All other things besides the word were made by God and by the word as his coagent but the word himselfe made by God alone Indeed if our Evangelist had said only thus All things were made by the Word this limitation would be more tolerable but to prevent this cavill or captious limitation he expressely addeth Without him was not any thing made that was made This clause reacheth home and caries it cleare that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was not any of those things which were made or created otherwise it should have been made or created by it selfe which is impossible The addition of this clause is but an exegeticall or fuller expression of that which S. Iohn said before that the Word was with God in the beginning that is when all things which have beginning did beginne to hee this word was Gods coagent truely eternall and Almighty 5. The same conclusion is contained though more closely couched especially in our English version in that of S. Paul Heb. 1. 2. God in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his sonne whom hee hath appointed heire of all things by whom also hee made the Worlds Though he be appointed heire of all things as he is man yet this right of inheritance was derived unto him as man from the work of Creation as he was the sonne of God For as the Apostle there addes God by him made the Worlds Were there then more worlds then one If there were all were created by the sonne and without him neither any world nor any part of the world was created Howbeit the world in the original doth no signifie this visible or quantitative world non mundos sed saecula non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the heavens the earth the elements or any other part which we see but all things whatsoever which have any duration or succession were made by the sonne of God and he had a perfect being before any thing could hee made by him and is therefore truly eternall The worlds in the originall comprehends all things which heretofore have beene and now are not all things which now are and sometimes were not all which hereafter shall be though after their beginning of being they shall have no end So that S Pauls speech expressely extends it selfe somewhat further then that of S. Iohn All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made S. Iohns speech expressely refers only to things which were then made S. Pauls speech extends it selfe as well to things future as past not only for their making or beginning but for their preservation or supportance For so he saith Heb. 1. ver 3. He upholdeth all things by the word of his power As the father then created all things so were all things created likewise by the sonne The Father preserveth all things and yet the sonne who is the expresse image of his glory preserveth and upholdeth all things And however we render the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightnesse or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the Almighty splendor and the Almighty expression or character of the father Almighties glory and person Finally as hee is heire of all things else so is he heire of the Almighty Essentiall Attributes these he enjoyes not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by adoption or participation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by right of inheritance as being his only begotten sonne yet not his successor but his coequall from eternitie And here by the way I cannot sufficiently admire the care and wisedome of the ancient Church in appointing the gospell for that great festivall wherein we celebrate the memory of Christs nativitie out of the forementioned Chapter of S. Iohn and the Epistle for the same festivall out of the first of the Hebrews to the end that all Christians might bee sufficiently instructed as well in the truth of his eternall generation or eternity of his person as he is the sonne of God as of his nativity in time as he was the sonne of David borne of the Virgine or of his begetting from the dead And as for the errour of the Arians or others who acknowledging the divine truth of the new Testament deny the eternity or eternall generation of the sonne of God The most compendious way to refell them is not as I conceive fiercely to dispute against them but rather to let them be caried with the blast of their owne doctrine or draw them unto these fundamentall Rocks and let them split themselves 6. But to follow S. Iohns expressions a little further which come neerer to the point now in handling ver 4. In him that is in the word was life this is more then if he had said he is the word of life For so is the Gospell by way of efficacy
or efficiency but men only who live by it are the seat and subject of that life which it imparts which is wrought by the preaching of it But when the Apostle saith in the Word was life this implies hee was that seat and fountaine of life from whom both the efficacy of the Gospell and that life which is subjectively in men or Angells is derived or participated And the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darknesse and the darknes comprehended it not All these are Attributs or expressions of a nature truly divine characters of a living essence or of life it selfe before men or the world were made and this is confirmed to us ver 8. The Word was the true light which lightneth every man that commeth into the world And if every man that commeth into the world then the first man Adam was enlightned by this word For he was both the light and life of the world ever since the first beginning of either albeit the world and worldly men did not apprehend him to be such as it is expressed ver 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him but the world knew him not So them he was in the world ever since it was made and the world was in him as in its eminent or ideall efficient cause before it was made He came unto his owne and his owne received him not Who were these his owne If all generations of men or all succession of time or things temporall were made by him all these were his owne Yet before the comming into the world of which the Apostle here speakes all these were not his owne by the same peculiar right He alwayes was Lord of lords and King of kings and supreame ruler of such as ruled the nations yet were not all nations his peculiar inheritance this was the prerogative of Abrahams seed or Iacobs posterity And albeit he had beene in them and with them after a more speciall kinde of presence for many generations yet at this time whereto the Apostles words referre he first came by a peculiar maner both into the world and unto them by becomming an inhabitant or sojourner in the territories bequeathed to Abraham and to his seed But these who were thus his owne by peculiar redemption from the land of Aegypt for the most part received him not Yet his comming though after this peculiar manner to his owne was not lost nor was Gods promise to Abraham any way impeached by their refusing or not receiving of him For to as many as received him whether they were of Abrahams seed after the flesh or of the Gentiles to all of both sorts he gave a right or priviledge to become the sonnes of God ver 12. All were made the true and lively sonnes of Abraham by receiving him who was before Abraham but was now made man of the seed of Abraham Now in that he made all the sonnes of God which received him this presupposeth he was the sonne of God not by making not by taking the seed of Abraham but the sonne of God by nature or eternall generation the true God of Israel For so the Evangelist concludes that heavenly discourse ver 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth 7. Why S. Iohn in the proaeme to his Gospell doth iustyle Christ Jesus the word of God rather then the sonne of God why it is rather said the Word became flesh then the sonne became flesh in what prophecy the words becomming flesh was foretold or foreshadowed with the manner how it was made flesh or the meaning of this phrase must be the subject of some Chapters following This for the present is evident out of places before alleaged that S. Iohn did meane no other party or person by the word then him whom afterwards throughout his whole Gospell he stiles the sonne of God and out of the same places it is as evident that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that very God of Israel who had promised to erect a Tabernacle and dwell in his people or amongst them and to manifest his glory to them after a more peculiar manner then he had done either during the time of the first tabernacle or of both the Temples For that text of S. Iohn Iohn 1. 14. He dwelt amongst us and wee saw his glory the glory as of the only begotten sonne of God imports the exact fulfilling of all those prophecies wherein the manifestation of Gods glory in succeeding ages is promised That the glory of God was to be revealed in the flesh S. Iohn did learne from Scriptures which were extant before our Saviours incarnation though this he learned not by study or art but from Divine revelation But that the man Christ Iesus with whom he conversed here on earth was the word which the Scripture foretold should be made flesh or that the glory which shined in him was the very brightnesse of Gods glory this S. Iohn knew by experiment as having seene his transfiguration upon Mount Tabor and conversed with him after his resurrection This both he and S. Paul beleeved from sensible evidence of experiments exactly answerable to the predictions of Moses and other Prophets concerning the glory of God which was in later times morefully to be revealed then in former 8 To omit those two places before cited Exod. 29. 44 45. and Leviticus 26. 11 12. unto both which places that of S. Iohn chap. 1. 14. doth in speciall referre wee will insist a while upon that text Exodus 33. 14. to the 23. The Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh with his friend The summe of this dialogue is expressed ver 14 15. My presence saith God shall go with thee and I will give thee rest And Moses said if thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence for wherein shall it be knowne here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight But Moses not satisfied with the promise of Gods presence and separation of them from other people requests a sight of his glory and this in part is granted ver 21 22 23. And the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and thou shall stand upon a Rock And it shall come to passe while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a clift of the Rock will cover thee with my hand while I passe by And I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seene For so God had said ver 20. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see my face and live Yet this sight of Gods glory or so much of it as Moses saw left such an impression in his face or Countenance as you may read chap. 34. ver 33. that he was constrayned to put a vaile upon his
face whilest he talked with the people who were not able to behold the glory But this vaile as our Apostle tels us 2 Cor. 3. 14. is put away in Christ It is true Yet this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the word was not the Christ to doe away this vaile till he put on the vaile of flesh The flesh then was a vaile to him but as a glasse or mirrour to us Wee may in Christ with open face behold that glory of God whose reflexe on Moses face the Israelites could not behold but through a vaile Christ then is that glasse or mirrour wherin the brightnesse of Gods glory which the Israelites could not then behold may now be seene But did the Iews or Israelites in the time of the old Testament or in that time wherein the Author of the booke of Wisdome wrote conceive any such matter as our Apostle here inferres that the glory of God should be more fully revealed or that men should be more capable of the participation of his presence in later ages then they had beene in former Some of them did others did not all of them ought even by their owne prenotions or interpretations of Scriptures so to have conceived and beleeved For thus some moderne Iews conceive of Moses his request What was that saith a great Rabbin amongst them which Moses our Master sought to attaine unto when he said I pray thee shew me thy glory 9 He requeged to know the truth of the being or essence of the holy blessed God untill that he were knowne in his heart like as a man is knowne whose face is seen and whose forme is ingravē in ones heart so that man is distinguished or separated in his knowledge from other men So Moses requested that the Essence of God might be distinctly knowne in his heart from the essence of other things so that he might know the truth of his Essence as it is But God answered him that the knowledge of living man who is compounded of body and soule hath no ability to apprehend the truth of this thing concerning his Creator That knowledge of God or sight of his glory whereof Moses was uncapable was truely ingraven in the heart of the man Christ Iesus and in his light wee see light He that saw him with the eyes of faith did see the father he did see the glory of the Godhead The brightnesse of the divine glory is alike inaccessible alike incommunicable in the Sonne as in the Father if we consider them in their divine nature alone but in the man Christ Iesus and in him alone wee may behold the brightnesse of the Divine glory which neither eye nor heart of man could behold in it selfe or in any divine person alone but only in the divine person which was incarnate 10 And it is not here to be omitted that the forecited 29. of Exodus ver 45 I will dwell among the Children of Israel is thus translated by Onkelus in his paraphrase ponam praesentiam divinitatis meae in medio filiorum Israel So Fagius with some others render it and why he so renders it gives the reason And the later Rabbines as one well conversant in their writings saith generally observe that whensoever it is said in the person of God that I will dwell amongst them this may not be understood but of the Majestie of the holy and blessed God To this purpose they alleage the 9. verse of the 8 Psalme His salvation is neere them that feare him that glory may dwell in our Land And Simeon in his dying song doth testifie that Jesus the sonne of Mary whom he imbraced when he was presented in the Temple was the salvation of God Lord now lattest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word For mine eyes have seene thy Salvation And although our Saviour whilest hee lived here on earth had no constant dwelling no place of inheritance yet at this time the Godhead or that glory of the Godhead of which the Psalmist speaketh was incorporated in him These and the like Scriptures S. Iohn did see fulfilled in Christ when he said the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and wee saw his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father that is such glory as could not bee communicated to any but to him who was by nature the sonne of God such glory as no flesh could behold otherwise then as it was in Christ or in the word made flesh such a declaration of the divine Majestie as none besides the sonne of God could declare So the Apostle saith ver 18. No man hath seene God at any time but the only begotten sonne who is in the bosome of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath declared or expounded him But wherein doth this declaration consist or how was it made by the sonne Not by word only or by declaration of his will but by matter of fact or reall representation But of this point more fully in the exposition of the name Iesus Seeing Moses had said that no flesh could see God and live it may seeme strange to men which have not their senses exercised in the search of Scriptures that the Prophet Isaiah should avouch the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Isay 40. 5. Moses speech and that conceipt which the ancient had that man could not see God and live was universally true untill the word or brightnesse of Gods glory was made flesh But this was the very mysterie which Isaiah in that chapter foretold as elsewhere hath beene declared in part and shall be as it comes in order to be handled more fully a little after this Chapter 11 That the moderne Iews can expect the God of their Fathers should dwell with them should walk with them should manifest his glory unto them after such a manner as their owne Doctors interpret his promise made to Moses to al these purposes after any other way or manner then the Evangelist witnessed he did walk with and manifest his glory unto his Disciples This to us Christians is an evident demonstration that the vale which their Forefathers put before their faces when they could not behold the brightnesse of Gods glory which shone on Moses face after he had seene God and talked with him is to this day put before their hearts when they read Moses and the Prophets For this glorious Majestie of God the very expresse or graven Image of his substāce which they say Moses desired to see but could not did so personally dwell in the man Christ Jesus that whilest he walked with his people God did walke with thē whilest he remayned within the territories of Iudah or Galilee salvation glory did dwell in their Land And to this day in whomsoever he dwelleth by faith in him God dwelleth by faith As he is the expresse image of the person of his Father so every one in whom he thus
dwelleth in him is the expresse image of him as he is man he is the Tabernacle or Temple of the living God The inference is our Apostles 2 Cor. 6. 16. Yee are the Tēples of the living God at God hath said I will dwel in thē and walk in thē and I will be their God and they shall be my people Our Evangelist S. Iohn Revel 21. 3. exegetically dilates the former testimonies of Moses and the Prophets a great deale further thē S. Paul here doth I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes And there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shal there be any more paine for the former things are passed away But this mortalitie must put on immortality and our corruptible flesh become incorruptible before this last clause of S. Iohns prophecy can be literally fulfilled in us or begin to beare date in esse And before this happy change of our mortall bodies none of those other prophecies Exod. 29. Levit. 26. Ezek. 37. shall be finally accomplished albeit all of them have beene already fulfilled in differēt measure manner both according to the literall and mysticall sense For God hath dwelt and doth dwel more properly in the man Christ Iesus then at any time he did in the Tabernacle or Temple These were in their times the seats of Gods peculiar presence of the manifest appearances of his divine Maiestie from which all the blessings upon Israell or Abrahams posteritie by bodily descent were derived after such a manner as the visible light in this inferiour world is derived from the body or sphaere of the sunne Yet such as were partakers of these blessings all the particular Synagogues through the land of Iury did not by this participation of his presence in the Temple or Tabernacle become Temples or Tabernacles of the God of Israel these were never conceived to be or instyled the seat of his rest or of his peculiar presence But since the Word was made flesh since the seed of Abraham was made the Temple of the living God every particular Church truely Christian becomes a more proper seat of Gods peculiar presence then the materiall Temple in its glory and splendour was and farre more communicative of all blessings spirituall to every true particular member of them Every individuall or particular man who is incorporated into this Church and made a living member of it doth by the participation of that Spirit which dwelleth in it become a true Temple or Tabernacle of the living God Whosoever truely beleeves in Christ whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood Christ who is the prototypon and true temple of God doth dwell in him and he in Christ he is in God and God in him after a more peculiar manner then either the patriarks or Prophets were in God or God in them But this peculiar manner of Gods dwelling in us by faith and wee in him hath his peculiar place in other principall Articles of the Creed or in the Treatise of the Sacrament concerning the mysticall union betwixt Christ and his members The next Quaere which in this Section offers it selfe to be discussed and must be the Title of the next Chapter is briefly this CHAP. 27. Why S. John doth rather say the word was made flesh then the sonne of God was made flesh albeit the sonne of God and the word denote one and the same person TO this Quaere some judicious Divines make answer that the second person in Trinitie was at least implicitely knowne unto some heathen Philosophers under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long before his incarnation and longer before S. Iohn wrote his Gospell Now it is not improbable that those heretiques which did call the Divinity of Christ in question against whose heresie the Evangelist did put in that Caveat in the beginning of his Gospell at the least such as were in danger to be seduced by them were to his knowledge better versed in the writings of Plato and Trismegist then in Moses and the Prophets And men naturally both conceive and imbrace the truth with more facility when it is delivered unto them in termes whereunto they have been inured Now such as were well read in Plato or Trismegist or would be willing to read them could not be ignorant of an eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called the sonne of the eternall minde or essence And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word or image of the eternall minde was not in their apprehension meerly notionall or representative only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word or reason or however we expresse it truly operative the invisible cause or maker of all things visible Unto these the like prenotions which the heathen Philosophers had of an eternall Father in his eternall sonne S. Iohn in the judgement of some great Divines did purposely apply himselfe and frame his expressions to their capacity whom he sought to reclaime or to instruct Nor is it either unusuall or unbeseeming the Apostles themselves to alter both the matter and forme of speech according to the diversity of the parties whom they seeke to reforme S. Paul did not dispute with the Athenians after the same manner he did with the Jews nor did he instruct the Hebrew converts in the same language or forme of catechisme which he used amongst the Gentiles S. Iohn then in the conjecture of the former ancient Divines did make the 〈◊〉 advantage of the prenotions which the heathens had of this truth which S. Paul did from the inscription of the Athenian Altar that God saith hee whom yee ignorant by worship him declare I unto you But did these harmelesse speculations of these Philosophers require any such reformation from S. Iohn as the Athenians superstitious worship did from S. Paul Sure their followers were to bee better catechized in this truth then they had been or could be by any Philosophy their best speculations though in themselves true were to their Professors altogether fruitlesse and as I take it without any prenotion or expectance that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that word by which they acknowledge all things were made should be made visible in our flesh should exhibit a more exquisite representation of the divine nature and essence in the microcosme or little modell of mans body then had beene exhibited in the making and governing this great universe They knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was truly God without beginning but they did not either adore him as God neither did they adore their eternall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God or by him All this they were to learne from S. Iohn for this is a mystery which farre surpasseth the capacitie of man to conceive or comprehend without
then in the Hebrew But the Chaldee further instructs us that the object of this oath was the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which did not note only God himselfe but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mediator between God and man and the tenor or contents of the oath was that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was God himselfe and the object of this oath should become the seed of Abraham and make mediation by such a sacrifice as God the Father for tryall only did require of Abraham The comming of the sonne of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the world which had long before beene promised was not newly ratified only by oath but from this time the son of God was truly predestinated to be the seed of Abraham or the seed of Abraham to be the sonne of God as afterwards the seed or sonne of David was to wit from that time wherein the Lord had sworne to David that his seed should endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven Psal 89. 29. It is not to be omitted that where the Hebrew Psal 110. hath it The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand c. the Chaldee hath it The Lord said unto his Word sit thou at my right hand untill I make thy enemies thy footstoole And this Word or this Lord for so the Hebrewes expresse it by Adonai was then destinated and declared by oath to become not only the sonne of David but to be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech ver 4. All these three places will require some further consideration in the treatise of Gods Covenant with Abraham and with David or of our Saviours consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Thus much for the present may suffice that S. Iohn was nto the first which conceived the sonne of God God himselfe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much lesse did he need to borrow his expressions from any Writers not truely Canonical For all this was conteyned in the places before alleaged as Ionathan and Onkelus interpret them and was likewise expressely conteyned in the Hebrew in sundry places of the Prophets of some of which God willing in the next Chapter 5 As little probabilitie there is either that S. Paul Heb 1. 1. should borrow his characters of the Sonne of God from the Author of the booke of Wisdome or that Author his though much what the same from S. Paul as that S. Iohn should take his expressions from the former Chaldee paraphrast or the later from S. Iohn Both S. Paul and the Author of the booke of Wisdome had their hints at least from such prenotions as the ancient Hebrews had of the wisdome or sonne of God or of their expected Messias when he should be revealed It is no way improbable much lesse incredible that such Interpreters or paraphrasers upon sacred writ as for ought we know did not expressely beleeve in the sonne of God either before his incarnation or since should have the forementioned prenotions concerning the promised Messias seeing the very Samaritans had the like which they could not gather from the ordinary reading of originall Scripture if at all they read them Such a prenotion that woman Iohn 4. had of the Messias before she did beleeve that Jesus was the promised Messias or Christ I know saith she that Messias commeth which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things ver 25. She had a prenotion and conceit that the Messias should tell them all things in a better manner then the prophets could do For shee had acknowledged our Saviour to be a Prophet ver 19 yet rested not satisfied with his answer to her question there made untill he had told her in expresse termes that hee was the promised Messias 6 But to compare S. Pauls characters of the son of God with the Authors of the booke of Wisdomes characters of the Wisdome of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the prophets Hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heire of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Who being the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his person and upholding all things by the word of the power when hee had by himselfe purged our sinnes sate downe on the right hand of the Majestie on high Being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by inheritance obteyned a farre more excellent name then they For she is the breath of the power of God and a pure influence flowing frō the glory of the Almighty therefore can no undefiled thing sal in to her For she is the brightness of the everlasting light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the image of his goodnesse And being but one she can do all things and remaining in her selfe shee maketh all things new in all ages entring into holy soules she maketh thē friends of God and Prophets For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdome For she is more beautifull then the sun above al the order of stars being compared with the light she is found before it For after this commeth night but vice shall not prevaile against Wisdome 7 There is not one proposition or character in all this passage which for ought I yet know is not Canonicall No attribute of wisdome which can fitly be applied to any person or substance save onely to the son of God or at least to the holy Ghost But whether this Author did so intend them or apply them or whether the holy Ghost did by his peculiar inspiration or God by his speciall providence direct him thus to speake or write after the same manner he did Moses and other Authors of Canonicall Scriptures is not to me so evident Nor is it probable that this booke was written by Solomon albeit the Author of it doth put upon him the person of Solomon and personate himselfe under the habit or Garb of the King of Israel The opinion is not improbable who think this book was written by Philo the Iew to solace himselfe and his Country men upon the ill successe of his Embassage unto Caius the Emperour which was not many yeares after our Saviours death nor many before S. Paul did write his Epistle or S. Iohn his Gospell The book it selfe whosoever was the Author of it is an excellent and a most elegant paraphrase upon many Canonicall Scriptures and conteynes many exquisite expressions of Gods special providence and infinite wisdome in governing the world and in over-ruling both the policie and the power of greatest Princes The same booke notwithstanding is for many reasons justly denyed by S. Ierome by our Church and by many grave
should bee much better in later times then in his age or any age before it was At what time then was this comfort actually exhibited to all flesh which before was but grasse and as the flower of grasse that fadeth Then assuredly when the word of the Lord which endureth for ever did become flesh or was incorporated in our flesh For the life and efficacy of this word as the text literally imports was to be manifested by its admirable effects or operations upon the mortality or weaknesse of flesh Our mortality or miserable condition as the Prophet presumes could not weaken the immortall efficacy of the Word whereas the Word might give life and immortality to all flesh which should see the glory the tast the goodnesse of it By the Word of the Lord then which endureth for ever we are to understand not Verbum Domini not onely the word of the Lord as it is daily preached but the Lord himselfe who if he speake the word great shall be the number of the Preachers of the word both of Prophets and of Prophetesses 2. The best interpretation of the prophet Isa is already made unto our hands partly by S. Peter partly by S. Iohn in the beginning of his Gospell Wee are brone againe saith S. Peter not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1. Pet. 1. 23. By corruptible seed he meanes our corruptible nature as we are the sonnes of Adam For so he expounds his owne meaning in the words of the Prophet before mentioned For that all flesh is as grasse all the glory of man as the flower of grasse the grasse withereth and the flower thereof falleth away Now that which it selfe withereth and falleth away can yeeld no seed of life can minister no comfort unto misery or mortality The antithesis then or opposition requires that by the incorruptible seed of which wee are borne againe we must understand the word of God which endureth for ever or somewhat into which that word doth in speciall manner infuse life or verbum caro factum the eternall word as it is invailed in flesh but in flesh exempted or priviledged from all corruption For it is called the word of God which liveth for ever not so much in respect of its owne life but in regard of its communication of life to such as are destitute of life That this is the true scale of S. Peters meaning we may gather from S. Iohns parallel paraphrase upon the same words of the Prophet Isaiah In the beginning was the word and the word was God c. And hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not but as many as received him to them he grave power or right to become the sonnes of God even to them which beleeve on his name But who are they that rightly beleeve on his name Such as are borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man this is that which S. Peter saith not of corruptible seed but are borne of God And whosoever is borne of God is questionlesse borne of that immortall seed wherof S. Peter speakes The further explication of this point will much depend upon the solution of these two questions The first in what sense we are said to be borne of God The second when miserable and corruptible men were first so borne To assoile the later question in the first place Flesh and blood were not capable of this new birth whereof S. Iohn and S. Peter speake untill that word of God which endureth for ever that word which was with God and was God by whom the world also was made came into the world and being made man was borne of a woman The holy Patriarks Prophets were true heires of this glorious promise but could not be reall possessors of the blessing promised before this time But was the incarnation of the eternall word to this purpose concludently foreprophecyed by Isaiah in that 40. chapter Yes this was the principall part of those glad tidings which the voice of him that cried in the wildernesse was to proclaime as it is expressed ver 5. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together The sight of it was to bee a sight of life and comfort to all flesh and this was the height of that comfort which the sight of this glory exhibited that as they had beene the miserable sonnes of mortall men so they should become the sons of God blessed for ever Now it is evident out of other Scriptures that no flesh could see the glory of God and live save only as the brightnesse of it was to bee alloyed by a vaile a flesh through which the Apostles themselves not all but Peter Iames and Iohn did behold it as weakesighted men do the splendour of the sunne through a cloud Hence saith S. Iohn by way of comment or paraphrase upō the forecited 40. of Isaiah ver 5. The word was made flesh and wee beheld his glory to wit the glory of the word of God which endureth for ever the glory as of the only begotten son of God full of grace and truth And of his fulnesse all that beleeve receive grace for grace When it is said that the sonne of God was made man of a Woman this implies that he was as truely flesh of the womans flesh and bone of her bones as the first woman was flesh of the first mans flesh and bone of his bones But in this the mysteries of the first womans creation is not finally accomplished How was it then so accomplished In this that no sonnes of men none that are borne of women can truely and really become the sonnes of God untill they become flesh of his flesh and bones of his bones who was not made the son of God but was the sonne of God by nature his only begotten sonne before all worlds the light and life of men As thē the word which in the beginning was with God and the sonne of God are but titles of one and the same person so the word of life and the word of God which endureth for ever are but Synonymall expressions of one and the same mystery to wit of the word being made flesh or become visible and sensible unto flesh That saith S. Iohn which was from the beginning which we have heard which wee have seene with our eyes which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of life that wee declare unto you For the life was manifested and we have seen it and beare witnesse and shew unto you even that eternall life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 1 Iohn 1. 1 2. This life was alwaies with God but came not into the world was not manifested to flesh and bloud untill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word and son of God was incarnate 3. The same Antithesis or opposition which the
order and ranke in such a manner as he is not of theirs 3 The resolution of the second Quaere depends upon another more questioned point which I have no minde to dispute and lesse to be tyed to other mens conjectures or voluntary determinations of it without warrant of Scripture or any certaine deductions from it warrantable by reason The point questionable is briefely this whether the humane soule of our blessed Lord was infused into his body immediately upon his conception which as the sacred Text to my apprehension imports was in a moment and immediately upon the blessed Virgins assent unto the Angels message If at the same instant or moment of time the humane soule was inspired into his body the Word was not made flesh before he became man If otherwise the holy seed did after the conception grow by degrees into a live sensitive reasonable substance though neither after the same manner nor by the same meanes yet according to the same measure of time as other Infants do The case is unquestionable that the sonne of God or the Word was made flesh before he was made man For he was not made man before the inspiration or creation of the reasonable soule but even from the very first moment of his conception the Womans seed was hypostically united to the Word or sonne of God The flesh and blood which he tooke of the blessed Virgin became the flesh and blood of the sonne of God from the first moment of their assumption Nor can this opinion be justly charged with any suspition of errour or other difficultie as conteyning nothing which is not exactly parallel to that which wee beleeve concerning the union of his body with the Divine nature in his person after his body was separated from his soule His body in that interim of separation or of its rest in the grave was as truely the body of the son of God as it had beene whilst it was living His soule likewise was as truely the soule of the sonne of God during the divorce as it was whilst it retayned union with its body And whether the blood which was shed from his most pretious body on the Crosse were gathered againe into his veines a point not to be pryed into by mortall men or how ever it pleased him or his heavenly Father to dispose of it yet I think I may say that not a drop of it but remaines unto this day the true blood of the sonne of God it lost no union nor degree of union with his divine person it still retaines the power and efficacy of cleansing or sanctifying our nature 4 Some I know there be who think all others to speake and think unworthily of Christ unlesse they grant that his soule was not only infused into his body in the first conception of it but that it was withall endued with all manner of knowledge which Hee afterwards had Yet to binde any man to beleeve or acknowledge either of these the latter especially is to lay more upon us then God hath in his written Word or in the booke of his Creatures tyed us unto if so these men will give us leave to use the spectacles of reason in reading either booke For if our blessed Saviour during all the time he was in his mothers womb had the perfect use of sense and reason his condition of life had beene more wearisome then in any part of his pilgrimage here on earth it was for he was as mortall and as subject to sad impressions in the womb as he was in the strength of his age and death had beene more welcome to him then such close imprisonment if the excercise of reason or Contemplation had beene as free there as it was when he was endued with libertie of sense and locall motion The only reason I can conceive any man should pretend either for the infusion of the reasonable soule into his body at the first conception or that the reasonable soule whether then or at the time wherein other infants become capable of it shouâ—d be endued with such a measure of actuall or explicite knowledge whilst he was in his mothers womb as afterwards it was must be grounded on the hypostaticall union betweene the womans seed and the word of God But if any reason thus grounded could infer either part of the premisses it would aswell inferre that his knowledge as man should have beene infinite from his conception This I think no Christian wil affirme for the personall union of the divine nature with the humane doth not endow it with the reall titles of the divine Otherwise Christs strength as man should have beene infinite from the womb and his body should have beene every where And it would be lesse unreasonable to say that his body is at this day infinite and his humane nature every where then that his wisdome or knowledge as man should have beene infinite or as great whilst he was in the womb as now it is If the divine nature did not communicate his infinity to the humane nor make the sonne of God so compleat a man for strength of ability of body from the womb as at thirtie yeares he was it exceedeth the bounds of my capacitie to imagine what reason those men have for their opinion who think our blessed Lord Saviour did not as truely grow in wisdome and knowledge as he did in strength or stature of body The Scripture is alike literall for both Luk. 2. 52. Iesus increased in Wisdome and stature and in favour with God and man I make no question but that such as deny his growth in wisdome do this out of a religious feare lest they should speake or conceive any thing of Christ which might be thought either to derogate from his greatnesse or from his goodnesse This feare or zealous care is in the generall very good but hath small ground in this particular For were it either well grounded or well guided it would rather teach us not to deny that Jesus did grow in wisdome and goodnesse then to be peremptory in contradicting others which hold the affirmative Simple nescience can be no sinne in any Child nor in any man unlesse it be of those things which he is bound to know But proficiency in wisdome and knowledge is in the sonnes of men a praise worthy perfection which I should be as unwilling to deny unto my Lord and Saviour in his infancy or his youth as to rob him now of any royall attributes since he was made King That he was without all staine of sinne the most holy Sanctuary of the most holy and blessed God from the womb I stedfastly beleeve but that he had the same measure oâ— knowledge at his circumcision at his presentation in the Temple which he had and gave proofe of when his Parents found him in the Temple disputing with the Doctors or no greater measure of this knowledge at his baptisme then he then had or as great as his baptisme as
scoffe the God of Israel made good in earnest by making this Jesus whom Pilate and the Jews had crucified both Lord and Christ that is a far greater King then Caesar himselfe whom they acknowledge their only King 6 Ioseph his supposed Father in all probabilitie was dead before this time of our Saviours passion so that the lineall right of the Crowne of David was now in Christ as the only sonne of the virgin Mary who had no child by Ioseph her husband nor hee any sonne by any former wife so that the whole right unto the Crowne of David which either or both of them had was by legall descent devolved upon this dying man who after his great humiliation was to be more highly exalted and in him alone that which was said by the prophet Ezekiel was accomplished exalt him that is low and abase him that is high And yet the same Prophecy had beene at severall times verified or fulfilled in part before And first perhaps in Ieconiah who after the debasing of Zedekiah his uncle by Nebuchadnezzar was exalted above other Captives by Nebuchadnezzars sonne Evil-Merodach And againe more punctually according to the prophets meaning in Zorobabel and others of Davids line after Solomons line was either extinguished or deposed but more fully afterwards in the blessed Virgin as shee expresses her thankfulnesse for it in her sweet song Luke 1. 52. Hee hath put downe the mightie from their seate and hath exalted the humble and the meeke Whether the blessed Virgin in her owne right or Ioseph her husbands while he lived were the next heire unto the Crowne of David is disputed by others unto whose determinations I have nothing to say in this place Whatsoever right either or both of them had was I take it derived from David by Nathan not by Solomon or his successors Ioseph and Mary were heires to the kingdome which Solomon did enjoy though not of his seede and so were Salathiel and Zorobabel from whom they directly descended 7 But whether her sonne should be the lawfull heire of David was no part of the blessed virgins doubt or question to the Angel But how shee should conceive a sonne according to the purport of the Angels promise that she questions Luke 1. 24. Then said Mary how shall this be seeing I know not a man To omit the idle fancies of some who would hence collect that the blessed virgin had vowed chastitie in single life as if I know not a man had beene as much as I am resolved never to know man The truth is that however shee was at this time espoused unto Ioseph yet the marriage was not to be consummated til some competent space after the espousals within which time shee did rightly apprehend the conception foretold her by the Angell was to bee accomplished or rather from the very time of this present dialogue and hence shee demands how it was possible that she should instantly conceive seeing she knew not a man yet are not these words of distrust they have no tincture of such incredulitie or slow beliefe as wee finde taxed in Sarah and Zachariah father to Iohn Baptist yet were both Sarah and Elizabeth the wife of Zachariah types or shadowes of the blessed virgins miraculous conceiving So were Hannah and Sampsons mother The conception of all their sonnes and they were respectively their only sonnes was wonderfull and without the ordinary course of nature peculiar blessings of him that maketh the barren to be a joyfull mother of Children Sarah and Hannah and Iohn Baptists parents had beene petitioners to the Lord of life for children and had their petitions ratifyed one by the Preist and others by the Angel of the Lord. But Sampson was promised to Manoahs wife by the Angel of the Lord without any petition on her part made to this purpose and promised withall to be a deliverer of his people from the Philistins And in this particular or in the maner of the Angelicall Annunciation the birth of Sampson was a most lively type of the birth of our Saviour albeit this conception of Sampson was not so strange as that of Isaac That Sarah in her decrepit age should conceive a sonne was a matter incredible and unparalleld in any age of the world before or since yet not properly miraculous Through faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11. 11. Sarah received strength to conceive seede and was delivered of a child when she was past age either for conceiving seede or for bringing it forth conceived yet both shee did because she judged him faithfull who had promised The faith by which shee conceived strength was the gift of God and the strength which shee conceived by this faith was such a wondrous effect as these gifts which are attributed to the faith of miracles But Sarah having received this strength by faith the conception was according to the course of nature it was with her after the manner of women not so with the virgin Mary who became blessed by beleeving the Angel She did not receive strength to conceive seede the performance of those things which were foretold by the Angel were from the Lord himselfe Vnlesse shee had beleeved shee had not beene established yet her beleefe did not cooperate with the effect promised That was the immediate worke of the holy Ghost by marying part of her substance to the person of the Sonne of God after a manner unknowne to her There was not first a marriage and then a conception nor a conception first and then a marriage both were accomplished at once CHAP. 33. S. Mathewes relation of the maner of our Saviours conception and birth and of the harmony betwixt it and the prophecies IT is well observed by divers good writers that S. Mathew begins the Genealogie of our Saviour Christ not from Adam where S. Luke ordine retrogrado ends it but ordine recto from Abraham because the Covenant of the promised seede was first by oath established in Abrahams line and afterwards more particularly in Davids whose sonne and heire our Saviour was though sonne by adoption or next heire in reversion unto Ieconiah who was the last as these Authors think of Solomons line the last at least that could pretend unto the kingdome of David And though it be said in our Saviours Genealogie according to S. Mathew that Ieconiah begat Salathiel yet this cannot be meant of a naturall begetting but of a civil He was the son of Salathiel in such a sense as the holy Ghost useth in the second Psalme ver 7. Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee to wit unto the Kingdome of Israel if this place be literally to be understood of David as the most probable opinion is though afterwards to be mystically fulfilled only in Christ who is not only Gods only begotten sonne from eternity but his first begotten from the dead and so made King of Kings and Lord of Lords But of these points in their due place 2
and before her did conceive and bring forth a sonne This in no wiâ—e may be granted nor any interpretation of any place admitted from which such impious conclusions as this may be inferred To conceive a sonne whilest shee was a virgin was the incommunicable prerogative of the mother of our Lord. Yet will it not hence follow that the Prophet by the emphaticall character of a virgin Hagnalma might not designe some virgin then present not the Prophets wife but rather some virgin of Ahaz kinred or of the house of Iudah for whom hee astipulates that within the compasse of the yeare following shee should conceive and bring forth a sonne not whilst shee was a virgin but by becomming a lawfull wife beyond or before her expectation 7. But here such as are otherwise minded or take this passage to be literally meant of the blessed virgin alone will reply What wonder was it or what matter worthy the ushering in with an Ecce or other like injunction of attention for her who was now a virgin to conceive and bring forth a sonne after the manner that other women within a yeare after they are maried usually do But they who thus object facilè pronunciant quia ad pauca respiciunt they give sentence upon the view of one circumstance only when as they should take a great many more into their consideration The virgin thus particularized according to the literall sense of the Prophet whether then present as is most probable or otherwise so famously knowne that his words in all mens apprehension then present had reference to her might be either for want of yeares or for some other defects as unlikely to bring forth a sonne within the time limited as Sarah after 90 yeares age was more unlikely than the wife of Manoah or Zacharias However it farre surpassed the skill of Astrologers Physitians of men expert in naturall Magick or other kinde of divination whatsoever besides the divination which proceedes from the Father of lights to give such full assurance as the Prophet there doth that any woman should conceive within such a compasse of time or that shee should conceive a sonne not a daughter least of all that shee should conceive and bring forth a Sonne who should deservedly brooke the name and title of Emmanuel that is to be a pledge of Gods speciall presence to the house of David or land of Iudah or to protect them against their potent enemies or to be a demonstrative signe or hostage that before hee could know how to refuse the evill and choose the good the Land which Ahaz abhorred should be forsaken of both their Kings who were now ready and able without Gods speciall ayde to devoure the Land of Iudah Yet for all these and other like consequences of Emmanuels birth the Prophet confidently astipulates in the name of his God which without a speciall warrant from him had beene an intolerable presumption But as for Ahaz himselfe his house and people because they would not beleeve this prediction according to the literall tenour they were to be plagued by that Nation in whose potencie they put their trust by the same enemie which the Prophet had foretold should by Gods appointment defeat the present mischievous designe of Syria and Samaria against Iudah And all this they should have done without any future harme or danger to the house of David by them so Ahaz and his people would have relyed entirely upon Gods promise or faithfully accepted of the signe promised by his Prophet But not beleeving this they were not established ver 9. For so the Prophet immediatly after Ahaz refusall of this signe did threaten Ahaz and his people ver 17. The Lord shall bring upon thee and thy people and upon thy Fathers house dayes that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah even the Kings of Assyria And it shall come to passe in that day that the Lord shall hisse for the Flye that is in the uttermost part of the Rivers of Aegypt and for the Bee that is in the Land of Assyria And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleyes and in the holes of the rockes and upon all thornes and upon all bushes The demerits of Ahaz and of his people which did deserve the denuntiation and execution of the plagues here threatned were their too much confidence in the King of Assyria and their distrust hence occasioned of what the Lord had promised by his Prophet Isaiah and would have performed by other meanes than by the ayde of the Assyrian so they would have relyed upon them Wee do not reade that either Ahaz or his people did distrust much lesse that they were punished for their distrust unto Gods promises concerning the comming of the Messias in the appointed time but for not accepting the signe or pledge as well of his comming as of their instant deliverance from the danger wherein then they stood 8. But what probabilities or just presumptions be there that any woman who was a virgin at the time when Ahaz and Isaiah met in the high way of the Fullers field should upon the occasion mentioned become a married woman and conceive a sonne according to the time intimated by the Prophet All this I take it is more then probable from the true and literall meaning of the 1 2 3 and 4 verses of the 8 Chapter which are no other then an exegeticall exposition of the former prophecie Chap. 7. vers 14 15 16. or a more legall ratification or new assumption of making good the assurance which in the former Chapter he had given Moreover the Lord said unto me take thee a great roule and write in it with a mans penne concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz And I took unto me faithfull witnesses to record Vriah the Priest and Zechariah the sonne of Jeberechiah And I went unto the Prophetesse and shee conceived and bare a sonne then said the Lord to mee Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz For before the Child shall have knowledge to cry my father and my mother the riches of Damascus and the spoile of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria The Child promised Chap. 7. ver 14 and in this place according to the true connexion of the literall sense is in my apprehension one and the same though described by two names the one importing comfort to the house of David and the land of Iudah and this was given him before his conception the later importing the sudden execution of the woes denounced against Syria and Samaria and was given him after his conception And lest wee should doubt whether this Maher-shalal-hash-baz were the same with the Emmanuel promised in the former Chapter hee is instyled again by the very same name Chap. 8. unto ver 8. The Lord spake unto me againe saying Forsomuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that goe softly and rejoyce in Rezin Remaliahs sonne now therefore behold the Lord bringeth up
upon them the waters of the rivers strong and many even the King of Assyria and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels and goe over all his banks Againe that the name Emmanuel did literally import Gods peculiar presence at that time with his people not only to deliver them from Rezin and Pekah but from the potencie of the Assyrian in future times is evidently included in the 9 and 10 verses Associate your selves O yee people and yee shall be broken in pieces and give eare all yee of farre Countries gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall be brought to naught speake the word and it shall stand for God is with us The strange defeat of the confederacie here foretold was not to be expected in the dayes of Ahaz in whose times the Assyrian did attempt no great matters against them but in the dayes of Hezekiah Thus much the Prophets words in the verses following import ver 16. 17. Binde up the testimony seale my law among my Disciples And I will waite upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him This binding up of the Testimony and sealing of this Law doth argue both the Law and testimony to have beene of speciall moment yet not to be put in execution or fully accomplished for the present Of the accomplishment of both whether wholly or in part the Prophets sonnes in the interim were signes and pledges as is imported ver 18. Behold I and the Children whom the Lord hath given mee are for signes and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hoasts which dwelleth in Mount Sion This last passage is alledged by the Apostle amongst others to prove that the Lord of Hoasts himselfe who in the 14. verse of the 8. of Isaiah had promised to be a Sanctuary to his people was to participate with them of flesh and bloud Hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one For which cause hee is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee And againe I will put my trust in him And againe Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Yet that the 18. verse of Isaiah the 8 to which our Apostle in this place referres us was literally meant of the Prophet and his Children is too apparent to be denied nor will it be safe to stand upon termes of contradiction thus farre with the moderne Jew One of the Prophets sonnes was called Shear-iashub which by interpretation is The remnâ—nt shall returne and of this returne or restauration hee was the signe or pledge The other was called Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us a name portending or foretokening Gods speciall presence with his people at more times than one The imposition of both names and their importance were literally fulfilled in the age immediatly following but mistically fulfilled only in Christ whose comming to visit his people was prefigured by both of them The full importance or abode of the name Emmanuel was fulfilled in our Saviours conception and birth the true importance of Shear-iashub shall be mystically fulfilled when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come or when the Jew shall be called to be againe the seede of Abraham according to promise 9. Two points only remaine The first how the prophecie concerning Emmanuel was fulfilled according to the literall sense in the Prophets time and our resolution in this point wee must take from the sacred records of this theame in the old Testament The second how this prophecie was fulfilled according to the mysticall sense and this wee must learne from the Evangelists which alledge the fulfilling of it and other unpartiall Writers which relate either circumstances or signes of those times in which they wrote Out of these two points the parallel betweene the Prophet and Evangelists will of its owne accord without any anxious inquirie or further discussion result 10 The Histories of the old Testament by which Isaiahs literall meaning may be best interpreted are in the 2 of Kings 17 18. 2 Chron. 28. 16 17 c. We have a constat from the prophet Isaiah himselfe Chap. 7. 1 2. That this prophecy concerning Emmanuel was uttered by him in the dayes of Ahaz King of Judah and of Pekah the sonne of Remaliah but in what certaine yeare of either of these two Kings raignes this revelation was made to Isaiah and the matter of it instantly imparted unto King Ahaz is not so certaine Most certaine it is that Isaiah delivered this message from the Lord to Ahaz before the twelfth yeare of his raigne for in that yeare Hoshea the sonne of Elah begun to raigne in Samaria over Israel 2 Kings 17. 1. and this was after Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was dead And though it be not so certaine yet most probable it is that the former prophecy was uttered about the 8 or 9 yeare of Ahaz or about 3 yeares or somewhat more before Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was slaine One yeare or somewhat under we must allow for the conception and birth of the Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz and some two yeares after untill he were upon the point or period of time wherein ordinary Children in those dayes were enabled to know how to refuse the evill and choose the good that is to distinguish between other meats besides milke butter and honey and betweene his parents and other persons Before this Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz were thus enabled to distinguish betweene meate and meat or his parents and other persons but how long before this time it is uncertaine both Pekah sonne of Remaliah and Rezin King of Syria according to the tenour of Isaiahs prophecy and the astipulation made by him upon the signe profered to Ahaz were to be deprived of their Kingdomes or rather their Land and Kingdomes to be quitted of them Isaiah 7. 16. Chap. 8. ver 4. But before their ruine and before this revelation concerning their ruine was made unto the Prophet Isaiah they had brought Judah and the house of David exceeding low 2 Chron. 28. 5 6 7 8. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria and they smote him carryed away a great multitude of them Captives and brought them to Damascus And hee was also delivered into the hand of the King of Israel who smote him with a great slaughter For Pekah the sonne of Remaliah slue in Iudah an hundred and twentie thousand in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers And Zichri a mightie man of Ephraim slue Maaserah the Kings sonne and Azrikam the governour of the house and Elkanah that was next to the King And the Children of Israel caryed away captive
that the prerogative promised to Isaac was firme and not subject to contingencie it is further repeated ver 21. But my Covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall beare unto thee at this set time in the next yeare 2. It is very observable that whereas the Hebrew mentions only the Covenant betwixt God and Abraham and his seed after him the Chaldee paraphrase hath it expresly that God did make this Covenant betwixt his Word and Abraham as ver 2. Dabo foedus meum inter verbum meum et interte And ver 10. Hoc est foedus meum quod servabitis inter verbum meum et inter vos atque inter filios tuos post te ut circumcidatur in vobis omnis masculus What manner of Covenant or rather league this was betwixt God Abraham comes to be discussed in the unfolding of Gods oath to Abraham the consecration of Abrahams seed to his everlasting Priesthood of everlasting blessing The legal covenant afterwards cōfirmed by oath was now begun solemnized on Abrahams part as solemne leagues in those Easterne Countries usually were by effusion of blood his owne and his families and so to be continued in his posterity throughout their generations And in as much as circumcision was the signe or solemne ceremony of this mutuall league betweene God and Abraham and Abrahams seed it is necessarily implyed by the tenour of the same mutuall Covenant that God should subscribe or seale the league after the same manner and to receive the same signe of circumcision in his flesh which Abraham and his seed had done Againe in as much as this league was established with Isaac Abrahams sonne by promise this likewise includes that the only sonne of God who was to be Abrahams seed should be circumcised in his flesh as Isaac had beene And this part of the Covenant was performed on Gods part in the person of his Sonne at the circumcision of the childe Iesus It was impossible that the Covenant should be fully accomplished so long as Abrahams corruptible seede did only beare the seale or signe For it was to be an everlasting Covenant and to seale an everlasting Covenant with an everlasting seale in Abrahams seed or successour according to the flesh was a matter as difficult as to imprint a permanent stamp or character upon a streame of running water This Covenant could not begin to be in esse or beare a true and solid everlasting date untill it were sealed in the flesh of the promised seed As was his person in whom this Covenant was to be accomplished such was the seale and such did the Covenant thus sealed become truely immortall and everlasting never to be reiterated after it was once accomplished in him which was not done but begun upon the eight day after our Saviours birth That which was now begun by him and in part sealed by him by the seale of circumcision in his flesh was afterwards to be accomplished and finally sealed by his bloudy sacrifice upon the Crosse The continuall practise of circumcision by the Jew though he be senselesse and blinde and perceiveth it not is unto us a legible character and an undoubted visible pledge that God who made this Covenant with Abraham was to be incarnate or to assume flesh by assuming Abrahams seed to the end he might interchangeably seale this Covenant in his flesh But seeing as well Abrahams present seed as their Families were still subject to mortality it was most fitting requisite that circumcision should be continued throughout all their generations in testification of their hope and expectance of the promised seed unto whose flesh the seale of circumcision being once put the Covenant sealed was to stand fast for ever without reiteration or addition of any other seale In Him all Gods promises are yea and Amen Whilest hee was circumcised God was circumcised and man was circumcised and this Covenant or league betweene God and man was mutually sealed by God and man with one and the same numericall seale Howbeit as was intimated before this glorious Covenant thus joyntly sealed up in him was not to beare its everlasting date untill it were further ratified and finally sealed by his bloudy sacrifice upon the Crosse unto which service he was initiated by his circumcision The Sacrament of circumcision was not so properly abolished as changed into the Sacrament of Baptisme and so changed by that Commission which this our everlasting Priest gave to his Apostles and Ministers after his resurrection Go yee therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Math. 28. 19. It was by this new Commission so changed that he which now seekes to circumcise others or suffers himselfe to be circumcised doth but labour as much as in him lyes to dissolve and dissipate this glorious Covenant betwixt God and man thus joyntly sealed up in one and the same individuall person with one and the same numericall seale and afterwards authentiquely and finally sealed by the bloudy sacrifice of the same person God and man vpon the Crosse And however the Mahumetans the Sarazens and Persians with other preposterous imitatours of Abrahams faith have run mad with love of this ceremonie of circumcision sometimes most loathsome and odious to flesh and bloud whilest it was pleasing unto God yet the practise of it is now more abominable unto God that gave it for a signe of his everlasting Covenant than it was pleasing to him or displeasing to men whilest the Law of ceremonies was in force And for this reason S. Paul wisheth the same curse or punishment unto such as pressed the necessity of circumcision upon Christs Church which God himselfe had threatned unto such as during the time of the Law did neglect contemne or omit it The uncircumcised manchilde saith God to Abraham Gen. 17. 14. whose flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised that soule shall be cut off from his people I would saith S. Paul Gal. 5. 12. or as some read I would to God they were even cut off that trouble you Such he meanes and such alone as did trouble them by pressing the necessity of circumcision upon them which had beene baptized in Christ 3 That the Heathens were concluded in this league the moderne Jew cannot deny For not only Abrahams sonnes but every Male in his Family though bought with money was to receive the signe of this Covenant in his flesh But saith the Jew seeing they came into this league by receiving circumcision what is this to you Gentiles which will not be circumcised The Apostle S. Paul hath most divinely dissolved this knot Rom. 4. 10. His words are so plaine that they need no Comment but onely to adde this circumstance which is likely S. Paul tooke for granted when he made that excellent Comment upon Moses his words Gen. 15. 6. Abraham saith Moses beleeved in God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse Seeing
of it the hopes of Rezin and Pekah for the extirpation of it were so advanced that they confidently resolved upon the particular man whom they meant to make King of Iudah that was the sonne of Tabeol Isaiah 7. 6. In the height of this their confidence and the perplexitie of Judah and the House of David the Lord sends his Prophet Isaiah to give them assurance of their Delivery by an extraordinary signe In the dayes of Ioseph and Mary his espoused wife the House of David whereof they both were branches was brought much lower then in the dayes of Ahaz it had beene And however no mischief were intended against them in particular as being obscure and private persons neither in possession nor competitors for the Kingdome yet for breaking off the succession of David or preventing any of his line to be Lord of Judah the plot was laid with more cunning then it had been by Rezin and Pekah Three of those ancient Fochoods which had sought to wreak themselves against Judah in the dayes of Ahaz were now revived and united in one man in Herod the great and the Fochood by this union became both greater and stronger He was by birth a Philistine and by royall title bestowed upon him by the Romanes King of Idumaea and Samaria unto which he sought to annex Judea as his inheritance And although the particulars be not mentioned in the new Testament yet is it indefinitely evident out of S. Matthew that Herod had his confederates against the house of David and which assoone as they knew of his birth did seeke the life of the sonne of David When Herod was dead behold an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dreame to Ioseph in Aegypt saying Arise and take the yong Child and his mother and goe into the Land of Israel for they are dead which sought the yong Childs life Math. 2. 19. 20. This argues there were some other that dyed about the same time with Herod which with him had sought the life of Jesus In this low estate whereunto the house of David was brought before the death of Herod and his confederates the Lord did send not a Prophet but an Angel to assure not the continuance only of Davids succession but the restauration enlargement and everlasting establishment of his Kingdome unto Mary the daughter of David and her husband by a greater signe than Isaiah had proffered unto Ahaz The Angel delivers his embassage mostwhat in the same words that Isaiah did to Ahaz Behold saith the Prophet Isaiah 7. 14. this virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne and she shall call his name Emmanuel Unto the blessed virgin then present saith the Angel Luke 1. 30 31. Feare not Mary for thou hast found favour with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus The imposition of this name Jesus is committed to the care of the virgin so was the name of Emmanuel to the virgin to whom the Prophet Isay directs his speech when he delivered his message unto Ahaz For in the originall the word which S. Matthew renders impersonally or in the third person plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to the Hebrew Dialect Hee shall be called is the second person singular and the foeminine tu vocabis thou Virgin shalt call him Emmanuel This variation of the Evangelist from the Prophets precise word is such as breedes no vitiation at all in the reall sense but such as reason it selfe and rules of Grammar require in like cases The Virgin being as wee suppose present when the Prophet exhibited the signe unto Ahaz hee was to speake unto her in the second person But the Evangelist relating the fulfilling of this prophecie not in the literall sense onely but in the mysticall was to change the person or to relate it in the third person plurall which is indeed an impersonall according to the Hebrew Dialect Behold a virgin shall bring forth a sonne and they shall call his name that is he shall be called Emmanuel which is by interpretation God with us 12 But here the Jew demands first how the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is alwayes emphaticall should denote the blessed Virgin and should be transferred from one virgin to another Secondly why the name given our Saviour at his circumcision was not Emmanuel according to the Prophets speech but Jesus To the first demand wee answer that the originall letter is alwayes emphaticall sometimes a note of demonstration or particularity and according to this importance it referres unto the Virgin then present as if the Prophet had said Ecce virgo haec Behold this virgin shall conceive c. Sometime it is a note of Eminencie and according to this importance it referres unto the Virgin of Virgins the blessed Mother of our Lord of whom it is meant not only in the mysticall but in the most exquisite literall sense To the second we say the imposition of the name Emmanuel had beene requisite at our Saviours circumcision if this prophecie had bin meant of Him only in the literall sense But in as much as it was to be fulfilled in Him according to the most exquisite both literall and mysticall sense it was requisite there should be an improvement as well in the significancie of the name as in the thing signified by it Now the name Iesus imports a great deale more than the name Emmanuel as will appeare in the explication of it The importance of the name Emmanuel as it referres unto the Childe instantly promised by Isaiah is applied unto the blessed Virgin by the Angel in his preface to the Annuntiation Luk. 1. 28. Haile thou that art in high favour the Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women The Lord was with her in a more peculiar manner whilest the Angell thus spoke unto her then he had beene with Gideon to whom the like salutation was tendred by an Angel Iudg. 6. 12. Or with Iudah in the dayes of Isaiah or Hezekiah But after the Lord was conceived by her he was both with her and with us after a more admirable manner than at any time he had beene before with Gods dearest Saints This manner of his being with us could not be fully expressed by any other name then the name Iesus 13 Ahaz his distrust unto Gods promise being set aside or rather if wee use it as a foyle to set forth the blessed Virgins facile assent and fidelity unto the Revelation made unto her by the Angell the propheticall and Evangelicall story hold better correspondencie both for substance and circumstance thâ—â— is betweene the Model and the Edifice The Emmanuel promised by Isaiah was an assured pledge that Pekah King of Samaria and Rezin King of Syria should die or be deposed before this Childe could distinguish betweene meates or cry My Father my Mother The accomplishment of this signe or of the promise confirmed by it is registred in
the sacred story For Pekah was slaine by Hoshea the sonne of Elah within two or three yeares after the signe was given and so was Rezin by Tiglath Pileser at Damascus Within the like compasse of yeares after the Evangelicall promise was made to the blessed Virgin that her sonne Iesus should sit upon her Father Davids throne Herod the great who had usurped it did die a miserable death so did his confederates against the house of Iudah as wee gather from Matthew 2. 20. Arise saith the Angel to Ioseph in a dreame and take the young Childe and his Mother and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young Childes life Now Ioseph returned from Egypt two yeares after our Saviour was borne Whom the Evangelist meanes beside Herod when hee saith they were dead which sought the Childes life is no where in sacred story expressed nor is it to mee certaine whether Syria at that time had a King of their own but it is probable they had seeing in S. Pauls time Aretas was King of Damascus 2. Cor. 11. 32. Some there be which mention the death of one Obedas whom they make King of Syria who died about the same time with Herod but from what authority they expresse not The Evangelist might meane the Roman Governour of Syria by whose favour and potencie Herod was emboldned to tyrannize over the Jews Nation and to worke his projects against the house of David Some have accused Quintilius Varus of this great sinne unto whom and to the Legions under his Governement the right hand of the Lord of Hoasts had reached a more terrible blow than Iudah had received from him or Herod within some few yeares after the butcherie of the Infants 14. The second blessing whereof the Emmanuel was a pledge whose conception had beene foretold by Isaiah was not exhibited till many yeares after and it was this that Judah and the house of David should be more admirably delivered from the Assyrian when he should besiege Ierusalem more fiercely then Rezin or Pekah had done And this was in the dayes of Hezekiah for so the Prophet assures the people that the rod of Ashur should be broken as in the day of Midian Isaiah 9. 4. Which is in effect as if he had said The Lord will be with us after as wonderfull a manner as he was with Gideon when Israel was oppressed by the Midianites And so it fell out in the dayes of Hezekiah that Senacheribs mighty Army was destroyed by a more fearefull destruction then the Midianites had beene by Gideon And unto this strange defeat of the Assyrian the Prophets words Isaiah 9. 4 5. do referre Thou hast broken the yoke of his burthen and the staffe of his shoulders the rod of his Oppressour as in the day of Midian For every battell of the Warrier is with confused noyse and garments rolled in bloud but this shall be with burning and fewell of fire Now of this disaster which befell Assyria and the strange deliverance of Iudah and the house of David by it the Emmanuel there promised by Isaiah was the pledge or assurance as the Prophet in the next word intimates For unto us a Childe is borne and unto us a little one is given c. Isaiah 9. 6. That by this Childe the Prophet meant the Emmanuel mentioned Chapter 7. is acknowledged by all even by such as admit of no more Emmanuels then one to wit our Saviour Christ But seeing the Emmanuel there literally meant was given as a pledge or comfort unto Iudah in this particular distresse certainely hee was borne before him though not borne only as a pledge of this deliverance but of a farre greater Deliverer or Saviour to come for whose sake alone this deliverance and all other of his people from their enemies both bodily and ghostly were sent from God And best Interpreters take those words of Isaiah 2. Kings 9. 34. I will defend this Citie to save it for mine owne sake and for my servant Davids sake to be literally meant not of David but of Davids sonne the true Emmanuel But to returne to the 9. of Isaiah upon that vision of that great overthrow of Senacheribs Armie the Prophet takes his rise to view a greater victory a more potent Enemie in the same place where Senacheribs Armie was overthrowne and that was not neere Ierusalem but in the borders of Zebulun and Napthali neere to Libanus in that Country whose Inhabitants Senacheribs predecessour Tiglath-Pileser had first captivated and in the same place our Saviour gave his Apostles power over Satan and his Angels who had his people in greater subjection then the Assyrians had them in the time of Isaiah For hee had possessed many of their bodies after another manner then any earthly Tyrant could have them in possession Now when the Prophet foretels as well the victory of the Angell of the Lord over the Assyrian as the victory of Christs Apostles over Satan he gives this one signe of both For unto us a Childe is borne and unto us a little one is given c. These words may referre both to the type and to the antitype in the literall sense but immediatly after the light of that great mysterie which all this while had beene under the cloude of the literall sense breakes forth in its proper native lustre For the words following can be meant of none but Christ And his name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace Of the encrease of his governement and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the Zeale of the Lord of Hoasts will performe this As for the former passages concerning the Emmanuel and Mahar-shalal-hash-baz they are literally meant of Isaiah his sonne and yet are withall proofes no lesse concludent against the Jew no lesse pregnant testimonies of our beliefe concerning the miraculous birth of our Lord and Saviour Christ than the testimonies last cited out of Isaiah 9. 6 7. or of his Godhead or everlasting Kingdome For however such immediate visions or unvailed revelations of Christ as Isaiah in these two verses and in the 53 Chapter or elsewhere addes were the most sublime kinde of prophecies such as few other Prophets besides David could ever attaine unto these having the like priviledges amongst the Prophets that Peter Iames and Iohn had amongst the fellow Apostles permitted to ascend the Mount with Christ and see the transfiguration or glory of his Kingdom Yet for our instruction predictions of Christ typically propheticall or prophetically typicall are most admirably concludent as was premised before especially when the same words according to the literall sense fit both the pledge and the mysterie pledged or the Evangelicall mysterie according to the improvement in a more exquisite sense then they did the type or