knowledge of it was improv'd or enlarg'd is most punctually and cleerely related by S. Iohn Chap. 20. This blessed Apostle and S. Peter did at the first believe Mary Magdalen's report more distinctly and expressely then they did the propheticall predictions The first day of the weeke commeth Mary Magdalen early when it was yet dark unto the Sepulchre and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulchre Then shee runneth and commeth to Simon Peter and to the other Disciple whom Iesus loved and saith unto them they have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him Peter therefore went forth and that other Disciple and came to the Sepulcher So they runne both together and the other Disciple did out-runne Peter and came first to the Sepulcher And he stooping downe and looking in saw the linnen cloathes lying yet went he not in Then commeth Simon Peter following him and went into the Sepulcher and seeth the linnen cloathes lie And the Napkin that was about his head not lying with the linnen cloathes but wrapped together in a place by it selfe Then went in also that other Disciple which came first to the Sepulcher and he saw and believed for as yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise againe from the dead Such knowledge or beliefe of the Scripture as for this time S. Iohn had was farther improved by Christ's apparition unto them upon the same day in the evening Then the same day at evening being the first day of the weeke when the doores were shut where the Disciples were assembled for feare of the Iewes came Iesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them Peace be unto you And when he had said so hee shewed unto them his hands and his side Then were the Disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Iesus unto them againe Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when hee had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them receive yee the holy Ghost Whosoever sinnes yee remit they are remitted and whosoever sinnes ye retaine they are retained But Thomas one of the twelve which was called Didymus was not with them when Iesus came The other Disciples therefore said unto him we have seene the Lord But he said unto them except I shall see in his hands the print of the nailes and put my finger into the print of the nailes and thrust my hand into his side I will not beleeve and after eight daies his Disciples were within and Thomas with them Then came Iesus the doores being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace be unto you Then saith he to Thomas Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithlesse but believing And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God Iesus saith unto him Thomas because thou hast seene me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seene and yet have believed Vnto some it may seeme questionable in what sense or how farre that of S. Paul is true faith commeth by hearing seeing S. Thomas professeth that he would not and S. Iohn in this place of himselfe confesseth that hee did not believe one of the fundamentall Articles of Christian faith to wit Christ's Resurrection from the dead untill they had seene what they had to believe Yet if we could accurately sist the internall sense or kernell from the huske or shell of words wherein it is contained it will inferre no more then this that the sight of the eye or miracles seene may be an inducement or introduction unto true beliefe they cannot be the true ground or anchor-hold of Christian faith Such faith must be grounded and hope truly Christian must be pitched upon the testimony of Moses or the Prophets or other sacred and Canonicall writings The reason why S. Iohn did not believe our Saviour's Resurrection before he saw his empty tombe and the linnen cloathes wherein he had been wrapped was because before this sight he knew not the Scripture which hee had often heard read or avouched The sight then of this or of other miracles did but open an entrie or passage unto the true knowledge of that which hee had formerly heard But more strange it may seeme to all of us that two so great Apostles as S. Peter and S. Iohn which had been for three yeares and a halfe together perpetuall auditors of such a Master as spake as never man spake and often eye-witnesses of such workes done by him as no man besides him could doe should now be ignorant of that fundamentall Article of faith whereof at this day to doubt were heresie which now to deny were infidelity For if Christ be not risen from the dead then the dead shall not arise and if the dead doe not arise then were both preaching and hearing vaine our faith were vaine both Priest and people were in a worse case then infidels and we Christians should be of all men most miserable 6 Yet farre be it from us to say or think that either of these two Apostles were at this time in the state of Heretiques or that either of their cases were no better then the cases of Infidels rather it would be a branch of infidelity in us to think that at this time they had no faith The roote of their beliefe in Christ as in their Messias and Redeemer was intire and incorrupt the stemme of it was â—ound although untill this time it had not shut out into this particular branch of faith This was the time wherein the actuall and expresse beliefe of Christ's Resurrection from the dead was to blossome and beare fruit even in these two Apostles That it did now breake forth in them and bear fruit was the work of God that before this time it should keepe in and be in some sort snipt was the ordinance and dispensation of the same God for if the knowledge of our Saviour's Resurrection had beene as expresse as explicite and distinct before his death as it was after his rising from the dead neither had their love either been so hearty in it selfe or so manifest to themselves nor their faith so lively and cheerfull as in the issue both did prove The heartinesse of their love unto him whilst hee lived was manifested even unto themselves by their sorrow for his death which doubtlesse had beene much lesse if in the interim they had actually and expressely believed to have seene him againe within three dayes The strength the livelyhood or cheerfulnesse of their faith was truly manifested and experienced in their joyfull entertainment of the glad tidings which were brought unto them by Mary Magdalen and whereof their outward senses were in part witnesses Their joy could not have been so great nor their embracement of his Resurrection so cheerfull and hearty if it had been expressely and confidently expected by
Israel at all times as the matter shall require v. 49. That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else ver 60. This part is rather accomplished then parallel'd by our Saviour Ioh. 17. I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine ver 9. And for their sakes I sanctify my selfe that they also might be sanctified through the truth Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on mee through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us That the world may believe that thou hast sent me v. 19. 20. 21. CHAP. 39. Into what place or part of heaven our Saviour did ascend or in what manner he sitteth at the right hand of God are points not so fit to be particularly inquired after nor so apt to be proved or determined by Scripture as the other Articles of our Creed BVt however Hee whose prayers were alwaies heard did thus pray for his followers a litle before his agony and bloody Passion and bestow his solemn blessing upon them immediately after his Resurrection and before his Ascension Yet the extraordinary blessings which hee prayed for and promised in his Fathers name were not really conferred untill he was actually enthronized but shortly after showred downe in abundance upon his Apostles and those that beleeved through their report So he fore-told them when he was ready to ascend Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you But tarry ye in the City of Ierusalem untill yee be endued with power from on high Luk. 24. 49. The exhibition of the blessings here promised was Act. 2. ver 32. 33. 34. This Iesus hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and heare For David is not ascended into the heavens but hee saith himselfe the Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thy foes thy footstoole When he saith David is not ascended into heaven this must be understood of his Ascension thither in body and this negative he had strongproved before But whether David's soule had ascended or was carried into heaven before this time this place doth neither warrant us to affirme or deny David's soule before this was in a place of blisse in heaven it selfe not in limbe But whether in that heaven or that part of heaven into which our Saviour did now in body ascend is more questionable then determinable Some good Writers with great probabilitie and equall modesty affirme that Christ did now ascend in body farre higher then the mansions of blisse appointed for the Saints Prophets Apostles c. or for Angels of the highest ranke And to this purpose is that of our Apostle alleaged by them Ephes 4. 10. Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up farre above all heavens that hee might fill all things other like places wherein he is said to be exalted above all powers and principalities Some grave Postillers or discreet Preachers would perswade us that Christ's Throne of Majesty was pitched in luce inaccessâ in that region of light and blisse which is inaccessable to any meere creature man or Angell as being reserved for the peculiar mansion of the invisible God and Father of lights and for his Son both God and man enthronized as as King and Priest on his right hand But whether the exaltation of the Son of God unto the right hand of his Father farre above all Powers Dominions and Principalities doe include a superiority not of soveraignty or dominion only but withall of place according to locall distance or a supereminent Throne of Majesty if the Lutherane will not be too cholerick or Maldonat's associates too censorious may be in fitter place soberly debated 2 But however the one or other of these may be affected the best is we need not be too curious in these points especially with men apt to quarrell about phrases or expressions Other Articles concerning Christ we are bound to beleeve distinctly and explicitely according to the plaine literall or grammaticall sense of the words wherin the Evangelists and Apostles have expressed them without the vail of any rhetoricall trope or allegory And strange it is not if our beliefe of other Articles or knowledge of them be literally required seeing the matter contained in them is sensible and comprehensible to reason sanctified by grace As his conception although it were wrought immediately by a supernaturall cause albeit the manner of it were miraculous yet for substance it was univocally the same with our conception He was as truly and properly conceived as wee are conceived Hee was as truly made of the substance of his Mother as we are made of the substance of our Parents or as Adam was made of the earth Hee was as truly and as properly borne as we are borne He was really and as properly circumcised as any other child of Abraham was He suffered truly and as properly as any man can suffer Hee was as truly and as properly crucified dead and buried and rose againe as any man ever was crucified dead and buried or can rise againe But for the place whither he ascended or for the manner of his sitting at the right hand of God these cannot be so distinctly conceived by us because they are not in such proper termes exprest by the holy Ghost but are wrapt up in a vaile of legall shadowes or representations Concerning the place whither he ascended wee know in generall that it was a place of joy of blisse and glory but which place the Apostle himselfe could not better represent unto us then by the sanctum sanctorum or the most holy place in the Tabernacle or Temple This hope wee have Heb. 6. 19. as an anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast and which entreth within the vaile whither the forerunner is for us entred made an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech So S. Iohn emblazons the glory of Christ by the Pontificall attire and robes of Aaron as likewise he doth the beauty of Christ's Kingdome by the feast of Tabernacles 3 The best and safest meanes for conceiving aright at least for not conceiving amisse of these two heavenly mysteries is not by criticall scanning the literall sense or importance of the Prophet's words in their descriptions of them but by sincere practise of those knowne duties whereto our beliefe of these unknowne mysteries bind us The most generall and necessary duty wherto wee are bound by beliefe of our Saviour's Resurection and Ascension into heaven is that of our Apostle Goll 3. ver 1. 2. 3. 4. If yee then be risen with Christ seeke those
things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Set your affections on things above not on things on earth For yee are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall yee also appeare with him in glory Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanenesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience But if these workes of the flesh be mortified by the spirit the spirit of God having gotten possession of our hearts doth organize them and frame a true model of the heavenly Sanctuary within our breasts albeit we cannot expresse our affectionate conceits or experimentall representations unto others Christ is present with us or in us by this renovation of our mind or by imprinting these heavenly affections in our soules by following love gentlenesse meeknesse temperance patience c. Christ is really fashioned in us not by converting any substance into his substance or by reall converting his substance into ours but by conversion of our earthly affections into the similitude of his heavenly affections Our affections being thus converted Christ hath his Throne and Habitation in our hearts so answering to his heavenly Throne as the light of the sun gathered in some round body apt to reflect his beames or to be penetrated by them doth resemble the sun which really penetrates and enlightens them For effecting this reall conversion of our affections into the similitude of his affections no other presence of Christ is either necessary or expedient besides the presence of his spirit by which ten dayes after his Ascension he enabled his Disciples to conceive aright of these heavenly mysteries and to convert others unto the truth of his Gospel 4 That Christ's body should descend from heaven unto us or be bodily present by trasubstantiation or some other manner as some conceive we have no reason to hope nor warrant to believe to lift up our bodies unto heaven we have no possibility but to lift up our hearts and spirits unto our Lord now placed in his heavenly Throne we have have peremptory precepts many But how shall wee lift them up or what power have we to lift them up Not so much I confesse as we have to cast our selves downe before his Throne but casting our selves downe before him which we cannot performe without his preventing and assisting grace we have a sure promise that he will lift us up Wee are no where to my remembrance commanded to pray to God that he would cast us downe and yet bound to pray that he would give us grace to cast our selves downe As often then as wee meditate upon this Article of Christ's Ascension or sitting at the right hand of God let us beseech God and him that the Priests may truly exhort their charge his people to lift up their hearts and that the people may as truly answer we lift them up unto the Lord And that we may all joyntly sing that hymne in reverence and true devotion With Angels and Arch-Angels and with all the company of heaven we laud thy glorious name O Christ evermore praising thee and saying holy holy holy Lord God of hosts heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high AMEN CHAP. 40. How the time of our Saviour's Ascension into heaven upon the fortieth day after his Resurrection from the grave was prefigured by the signe of the Prophet Ionas with the exposition of that signe given by our Saviour Mat. 12. 39. 40. ONe thing more I should have said in the former treatise but now must commend it to the Reader 's observation And 't is this that many of those propheticall passages specially in the Psalmes of bringing great things to passe by the right hand of the Lord have been are and sahll be most punctually fulfill'd of and in the Son of God incarnate since he was placed at the right hand of God the Father That his placing there includes an extraordinary eminency of power more then hath been formerly manifested the Lutheran I am sure doth not and I hope others cannot deny Two speciall manifestations of the power of the right hand of God were exhibited not long after his Ascension The first spirituall as the descending of the holy Ghost from which time the holy Catholique Church bare date or began to be in esse The other was the destruction of Ierusalem and the dispersion of the rejected reliques of Abraham's seed throughout the Nations 2 The circumstance of the time wherein he ascended which is the only point left to be discust is plainely set downe by the Evangelist S. Luke Act. 13. The Queries upon it are two The first how it was prefigured The second what it did portend 3 For the resolution of both these Queries there can be no firmer ground then the explication of a sacred text uttered by our Saviour himselfe Math. 12. v. 38. 39. c. Then certaine of the Scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying Master wee would see a signe from thee But he answered and said to them an evill and adulterous generation seeketh after a signe and there shall no signe be given to it but the signe of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas was three daies and three nights in the whales belly so shall the son of man be three daies and three nights in the heart of the earth 4 But yet for any helpe we have from most Interpreters the explication of this Text is in it selfe more difficult then most of the former alleaged for our Saviour's Resurrection and Ascension Who so will read as many ancient or moderne expositors as Maldonat had done will haply subscribe to his censure of such as he hath read So farre was any of them from cleering this passage that not one besides Hilarius did in his judgment touch the principall difficulty contained in it And he that shall read this learned Writer's Comments upon this place will perhaps not condemnemy opinion of him delivered in former meditations But my desire is rather to explicate his and other Interpreters meaning whom he dislikes then contradict them and to rectifie the parallels intended by them betweene Types or Figures of the Old Testament and their accomplishment in the New 5 The principall dissiculties in our Saviour's parallel are first what manner of signe it was which the adulterous generation sought for The second to what purpose he gave them such a signe as they did not seeke after Our Saviour before and his Disciples after this time had given the Iewes one and other many miraculous signes How then doth hee say that no signe shall be given them besides the signe of the Prophet Ionas Some are of opinion that these Scribes and Pharisees desired some such glorious signe from heaven as Elias and Samuell had shewed
the function and Priesthood of the most high God CHAP. 7. In what sense Melchisedech is said to be without Father Mother Heb. 7. 3. Whether he were a mortall man a◠Abraham was though more 〈…〉 where in the similitude betweene Melchisedech's Person and the Person of the Sonne of God doth specially consist THis later opinion is broched and 〈…〉 ptorily maintained by a late learned and smartly elegant writer who though hee he as I conceive as yet no Divine or Priest by profession yet hee takes upon him to censure the most Divines or Interpreters of sacred Writ whether ancient or moderne more sharply then I dare censure him From whom notwithstanding I dissent as freely and as I hope upon better grounds then he doth from them specially if the grounds of his exceptions against thē be not better then the grounds of the opinions which he takes upon him to refute The main ground of his exception against such Divines ancient or moderne as think that Melchisedech who blessed Abraham was either some petty King amongst the Cananites or other Inhabitants of the land promised to Abraham and actually possessed by his feede or Sem the Sonne of Noah is this no Inhabitant of Canaan not Sem himselfe the Sonne of Noah was without father or mother without genealogie without beginning or end of dayes These titles this good writer conceives are peculiar to the Sonne of God though more peculiar in the time of Abraham then at this day But was our high Priest or could he have been at that time the true Sonne of God and the God whose Sonne he was not as truly then his Father as now he is Againe if that Melchisedech who apreared to Abraham at least in the likenesse of man and in the realitie of an high Priest were no other person beside the Sonne of God it will concludently follow that the Sonne of God was then an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech or more then so that Melchisedech was the Sonne of God How then saith our Apostle that the Sonne of God was made an high Priest by the word of the oath which was since the Law and by vertue of this oath consecrated for evermore being as the Author of this opinion supposeth the Priest of the most high God long before the Law was given or if Melchisedech was then the true and only Son of God how is it said by our Apostle Ch. 7. v. 3. that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made like unto the Son of God Was the Sonne of God made like unto himselfe by taking the likenesse of man upon him Or rather was the manhood or likenesse in which he appeared to Abraham made like unto the Sonne of God The former part or division of this dilemma is improbable The later altogether impossible For that man or that likenesse of man who blessed Abraham Gen. 14. had a beginning and an end of dayes unlesse the Author of this opinion will maintaine that the manhood or likenesse of man wherein the Sonne of God appeared to Abraham was coeternall to his person was begotten of God not made before all Worlds and to continue united to him world without end Both parts of this assertion respectively contradict two fundamentall Articles of our Creede The one that all things numerable whether visible or invisible were created of God by his Sonne they had no being from eternity The other that the Sonne of God was made man of a woman in time having no permanent body or likenesse of man when he was so conceived whence it is cleare that the Meichisedech who blessed Abraham was not the eternall Sonne of God nor made like unto him for his eternitie by the body of man which he assumed or appeared in 5 But it is not all one to refell other mens opinions or interpretations of Divine oracles and to maintaine our owne assertions or as the present occasion requireth to clear the forecited place Heb. 7. He to wit Melchisedech was made like unto the Sonne of God being without father without mother without genealogie without beginning or end of dayes For there is an opinion or presumed Doctrine which hath gotten so long possession of many publique Chaires as will hardly brooke any opposition either from the Pulpit or from private writers The opinion is that Melchisedech being without father without mother c. was herein like unto the Sonne of God or the Sonne of God like to him in that he hath no Father in earth nor a mother in heaven But be the Authors of this opinion how great soever their followers how many soever both most acute all the strength which the wit of one can adde unto the authoritie of the other is but as if they should joyne hands or forces to take fast hold on the sheath or scabbard having given the hilts of the sword of the spirit into the hands of the Iew who may at his pleasure turne the points of our own weapons upon us unlesse we learne to keepe them more warily and handle them more skilfully then these men have done For he that hath a Father in Heaven may truly and absolutely be said to have a Father For God is more truly our Father then those whom we call Fathers on earth Hence saith our Saviour Call no man father opon earth for there is but one your Father which in Heaven Math. 23. 9. Yet is this God more truly Christ's Father then he is ours Againe he that hath a true Mother on earth may truly and absolutely be said to have a Mother otherwise all of us should be mother lesse children from our birth For none of us had an heavenly Mother none of our Mothers were brought to bed in Heaven 6 It being then granted that our Saviour had a true Father in Heaven and a true Mother on earth he must needs in both respects be more unlike unto Melchisedech who as our Apostle faith was without father or mother then like unto him in that he had no Mother in Heaven no father on earth Whence if wee should maintaine this similitude intended by our Apostle to consist either in whole or part in Christ's being in this sort without father or mother the Iew might thus retort argumento ad homines efficaci That we Christians were a brood of monsters and not the naturall offspring of men and women because none of us have a man for his mother none of us a woman for his father Besides one of the two Propositions whereon they labour to build our faith by this crosse device is no sound pillar but a broken or crased prop. For if Christ be truly stiled the Sonne of Abraham the Sonne of David he had fathers on earth according to the flesh though not begotten by a carnall generation nor was he the Sonne of Mary by carnall conception yet truly her Sonne and shee truly his Mother and by consequence Abraham as truly his Father Againe to be without father without
full issue or product of all three dimensions we shall be everlastingly blessed in him For the first we may not so much as beg any blessing or good thing at God's hand but for his sake Hence it is that all our prayers are conceived in this forme either expressely or implicitely propter merita Iesu Christi Secondly of those blessings which it pleaseth God to grant for his sake wee may not entreat no not expect their conveyance should be made unto us by any other person or meanes then by him and the vertue of his sufferings And for this reason it is that we usually conclude our prayers Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum through Iesus Christ our Lord not propter Iesum Christum That is alway expressed or implyed in the body or beginning of the prayer It was the intention of the Ancients to instruct us by those two usuall clauses of our solemn prayers that whatsoever we aske for Christ's sake wee cannot otherwise obtaine then through him And though the Father be the first granter yet the Sonne immediately bestowes all blessings upon us as the places of Scripture late alleaged testify God's blessings descend to us only by him that they may draw us unto him in whom only we are blessed For that everlasting happinesse of the life to come formally consists in our union with him and cannot be manifested or imparted to us but by the participation of his blessed presence 6 Will yee have a more particular map in what manner the blessing of Abraham descends upon us by this our high Priest Then call to mind in what termes Melchisedech blessed Abraham They were these Blessed be Abraham of the most high God Possessor of heaven and earth Melchisedech if the same be Shem had by vertue of his Father Noah's blessings a manifest right unto the land of Canaan and had some part of it in possession and this right and title hee be queaths to Abraham The chiefe matter of his blessing is that Abrahams posteritie should be Kings and Priests in that land And albeit he were a Priest of the most high God yet his Kingdome was of this world and in this world though a type of the heavenly Kingdome But our Saviour's Kingdome was not of this world for since his Resurrection he hath taken possession of heaven as he is man but in the right and title of the eternall Sonne of God God the Father made all things by God the Sonne whom hee hath made Heire of all things as man which were made by him as God not as an heire in his nonage but as joynt Lord with his Father at whose right hand he is placed so that as man he hath more full and more immediate authoritie to dispose of heaven than Melchisedech had to dispose of Canaan for hee bestowed that upon Abraham by way of prayer as became a Priest of the most high God But this our high Priest who is also the most high God shall dispose of heaven to his servants by royall sentence and authoritie as King Then shall the King say unto them that sit on his right hand Venite benedicti patris mei possidete vobis paratum regnum à constitutione mundi Come ye blessed of my Father possesse yee the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world This is the accomplishment of that blessing which Melchisedech bestowed upon Abraham and the second part of his benediction must be the everlasting song of such as are blessed in Abraham's seed Blessed be the most high God who hath delivered our enemies into our hands who hath enabled us to overcome the world the Divell and the flesh And though Christ our high Priest were the Sonne of David and of Abraham as man according to the flesh yet as man hee is the first begotten from the dead and Father of the world to come Melchisedech himselfe in respect of the everlasting blessing is his Sonne and must have his portion in it at the last day For if all Nations if every one of any Nation that is truly blessed be blessed in Abraham's seed Melchisedech himselfe must be blessed in him not only by him And therefore hee is that most high God Possessor of heaven and earth in whose name Melchisedech blessed Abraham 7 But to return to our Apostles next passage He. 7. 11. c. If therefore perfection were by the Leviticall Priesthood for under it the people received the Law what further need was there that another Priest should arise after the order of Melchisedech and not be called after the order of Aaron For the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessitie a change also of the Law The full discussion of this twelfth verse because it containes matter of Controversie amongst us Christians and betweene severall profest members of reformed Churches as whether Christ were a Law giver or wherein the Law which hee gave did differ from or excell the Law of Moses whether Leviticall or Morall must be referred to another Treatise The Law saith our Apostle made no thing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did So our later English reads the Text yet proffers to us another reading in the margine which in mine opinion is more consonant to our Apostle's meaning to wit That the Law was an introduction of a better hope by which we draw neare to God And this drawing neare to God is that perfection which the Law could not effect But the principall point whereon our Apostle pitcheth forevincing the priesthood of Christ to be farre more excellent then the Leviticall Priesthood was was reserved to the last place and pathetically though briefly avouched v. 20. And in asmuch as not without an oath for those Priests to wit after the order of Aaron were made without an oath but this to wit Christ with an oath by him that said unto him The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech By so much was Iesus made the surety of a better Covenant And they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death But this man because hee continueth for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore hee is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing hee ever liveth to make intercession for them And againe v. 28. For the Law maketh men high Priests which have infirmities but the word of the oath which was since the Law maketh the Sonne who is consecrated for evermore These two last passages require a fuller discussion of a Point often touched upon in some printed Treatises and diverse Sermons A point much neglected by many good Divines and carped at by others through their ignorance in true antiquitie videlicet What the interposition of God's speciall oath doth import more then his largest promises without an oath SECT 3. Of the calling or destination of the Seede of Abraham and Sonne of
especially if such leagues be made when the one hath the other at no advantage And these leagues were of two sorts either mutually defensive only or offensive aswell as defensive as the Greekes say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Latines more fully expresse the nature of them ut eosdem haberent hostes socios that hee which was a friend to one party should likewise be held a friend unto the other partie included in the league that hee that should declare himselfe an enemie to the one party should forthwith and for so doing be taken and reputed for an enemy unto the other party Besides this mutuall aid or assistance in times of warre one speciall end of leagues or association was that one Country might be relieved in their want or pleasured in their prosperity with those blessings wherewith others abounded This mutual intercours or exchange of commodities betweene Nation and Nation is alway cut off or much impaired in time of hostility or warre Neither party can with security enjoy the good things which their owne land affords much lesse can they with safety be partakers of those commodities wherewith God hath blessed their enemies And in case it so fell out that a people rich in money or merchandize but destitute of corne or wine or other such necessaries should fall at variance with those who were accustomed to supply their wants their estate in the middest of their wealth was but miserable and would enforce them to seek peace upon termes unequall So we read Acts 12. 20. When Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon a people for wealth inferior to none they came to him with one accord and having made Blastus the Kings Chamberlaine their friend they desired peace What reason had they to become suitors for peace with him against whom they had been able to have waged warre whom perhaps they were able to out-match with number of men and weight of money S. Luke gives the reason in the next verse Because their Country was nourished by Herod's Country 3 But infinitely more miserable then the forlorne estate of any one people can be in respect of the most potent and cruell Adversary was the estate of all mankind whilst heaven and earth were at enimity For albeit God in mercy suffered his Sunne to rise aswell upon the unjust sonnes of Adam as upon Adam in his integritie yet were all utterly deprived of all commerce with the Inhabitants of heaven All were excluded from the tree of life without whose fruit this bodily life which wee lead here on earth even whilst wee live in greatest pleasure or prosperitie is but as a short walke or progresse from the wombe unto the grave as it were from a prison to a place of torment or execution Reason wee had to desire peace of heaven and to become humble Supplicants for the League or Covenant whereof God here preventeth Abraham Reason wee had to have sought this league upon what termes or conditions soever In respect of the parties which enter this league or association it was a league of the former kind quod victores victis dabant God was our Lord by a higher title then the right of conquest we were worse then his meanest vassailes not his servants but his condemned Prisoners It was in his power to have cut us off from all possibility of any league or amitie save only with hell and death which we and our Fathers had chosen for our confederates And yet the conditions of this league wherewith God preventeth Abraham for he sought it at Abraham's hands when Abraham did not seeke it at his are conditions aequi faederis It is made upon as good termes or conditions as any league betweene free-states and Kingdomes independent was ever proffered or performed It is more then a league offensive and defensive More then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this league is but a ratification of that promise which God had made to Abraham Gen. 12. 2. 3. And I will make of thee a great Nation and I will blesse thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing And I will blesse them that blesse thee and curse him that curseth thee And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed And yet it is said Chap. 17. ver 19. that God would establish his league with Isaac but with Isaac only as in the type or as hee was the pledge only on Abraham's part For it is a thing not to be imagined that the Lord in giving sentence of blessing and cursing would tye himselfe unto such strict conformitie as this promise imports with the parties to be judged by him as that hee would blesse all whosoever blessed Abraham or that he would curse them that cursed Abraham or Isaac or their seed in their own persons or for their own actions How then doth God performe this promise unto Abraham Not in Abraham or Isaac's person but in another seede of Abraham of whom that is expressely avouched Chap. 22. 16. 17. 18. which in the 12. Chap. was implicitely or avouched of him as he was indefinitely comprehended in Abraham's seede or potentially contained in Abraham's person In thee saith God to Abraham Gen. 22. 18. shall all the families of the earth be blessed By my selfe have I sworne saith the same Lord God Chap. 22. 16. For because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Sonne thine only Sonne that in blessing I will blesse thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy Seede as the starres in heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea shore c. Thy Seed shall possesse the gates of his enemies And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice By Abraham's seede in this place hee meant not Isaac with whom this Covenant was established but another seede of Abraham and another sonne of promise in whom this Covenant was to be accomplished So our Apostle interprets this place Galat. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his seede were the promises made He saith not and to his seedes as of many but as of one and to thy seede which is Christ that is as truly the Sonne of God as the seede of Abraham who is as truly and properly God as he is man This interpretation of our Apostle is grounded upon the matter or subject of the promise For it is impossible that all the families of the earth even Abraham himselfe and Melchisedech who blessed Abraham should be blessed either in Isaac or in Abraham's seede either indefinitely or universally taken or in any seede of Abraham who was not as truly God as man or who was not that most high God in whose name Melchisedech blessed Abraham In this seede and by this seede all the Nations are blessed that shall be blessed And whatsoever blessings any man or people receive from God in him as hee is the Sonne of God or for
his merits they shall receive them by him through him as he is the seed of Abraham and sonne of man And in this seede of Abraham this Covenant here established with Isaac shall be performed according to the strict proprietie or utmost improvement of the words or clause of the confederacie or league offensive and and defensive betweene God and Abraham Whosoever shall blesse this seede shall be blessed of God Whosoever shall curse this seede shall be accursed by God and not so only but whomesoever this seede shall blesse them likewise God the Father shall blesse Whomsoever this seed shall pronounce accursed they shall stand accursed without revocation or appeale by God the Father For God the Father hath tyed himselfe to conformity of sentence with this seede of Abraham Vnto whom this seede now made King and Priest and placed at the right hand of God shall award this sentence which he will award as Iudge to all that shall be placed on hisright hand Come yee blessessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the Foundation of the World they shall be blessed by God the Father with everlasting and immortall blisse And unto whom he shall pronounce that other sentence Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels they shall stand accursed likewise by God the Father by an irrevocable and everlasting curse CHAP. 17. The League betweene God and Abraham did eminently containe the most accurate solemnities that were used betwixt Prince and Prince or Nation and Nation AS this League here mentioned betwixt God and Abraham â—â—s for its conditions of the highest ranke of League ut eosdem haberent hostes socios So it was as solemnely concluded and subscribed unto by both parties as any League betwixt man and man was ever concluded and solemnized Albeit the manner of concluding or making Leagues of amity betwixt man and man or people and people was in ancient times specially amongst the Easterne Nations most formall and remarkablely solemne and the manner or solemnitie did vary or differ according to the variety of customes usuall amongst diverse Nations The Macedonians for confirmations of Leagues with others did divide a quantitie of bread betweene the parties consociating giving the one halfe to the one party and the other to the other So Xenophon describes the solemne league of amitie betweene Alexander the great and Cohortanus And though Xenophon expresseth it not it is very probable that they used such solemne imprecations as were usually made in other Leagues concluded with the like solemnitie or sacrifice And that was that so God would divide or smite him or them that should breake the League or violate the conditions agreed upon as they did divide the bread or smite the sacrifice by which the League was concluded Other Leagues of amitie or association as the same Xenophon tels us were concluded betweene party and party which had formerly beene at variance and hostility by mutuall delivery of the same weapons as of lances pikes or other offensive weapons now consecrated by this solemne delivery to be instruments or pledges of peace or not to be used save in their mutuall defence or in offence to them who should prove enemies to their mutuall peace But those Leagues were more solemne which were concluded with Blood either of the parties which entred League or with the blood of beasts sacrificed for making peace between men So Tacitus tels it was the custome amongst some Eastern Kings when they entred a League to clutch their hands and fingers and to tye their thumbs so hard until the blood did rise in the pulp or fleshypart and afterwards to let them both so much blood by a gentle touch that each party might suck others blood Id foedus arcanum habetur quasi mutuo cruore sacratum This kind of League saith Tacitus was accounted sacred as being confirmed by mutuall blood But how sacred or secret soever this League was for the word Arcanum importeth both it was pro illa vice for that turne both openly and shamefully violated by Radamistus Xenophon likewise describes another League betweene the Grecians and the people of Asia concluded by the blood of sacrifices which they mutually killed The Grecians dipped their swords and the Asiatickes their lances in the blood of the Sacrifices which were a bull a beare a wolfe and a ramme being first mingled together in a shield or target as if they had sought to have made peace betweene these offensive weapons of warre by making them pledge each other in a common cup. For so the most solemne manner of plighting faith betwixt some Nations was for the one to take up the same cup from the others hand and to pledge him in it or in case no cup or wine could be presently had they were to lick the dust of the earth at each others hands 2 The manner of solemnizing this present League betwixt God and Abraham at the first draught of it was much what the same with that which Tacitus reports of the Easterne Kings It was solemnized on Abraham's part by the effusion of his owne and his sonne Isaac's blood and so continued throughout the generations of their posteritie by cutting off the fore-skin of their flesh And inasmuch as Circumcision was the signe or solemne ceremony of this mutuall League betweene God and Abraham and Abraham's seede 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 receive the same signe of Circumcision in his flesh which Abraham and his seede hath done 3 This Covenant which was first entred by Circumcision was afterwards renewed on God's part as on Abraham's part by mutuall and solemne sacrifice The manner of God's treatie or processe with Abraham in this Covenant is worthy of serious observation And Abraham's demeanour in all this businesse is the most lively patterne and most exquisite rule for all our imitation who desire the assurance of faith or hope concerning our present or future estate in this gracious League or Covenant Though it be most true which hath been often intimated before that no man can deserve any thing at God's hand because no man can give him any thing which hee hath not received from him seeing no man can bestow upon God or convey unto him any title or right of propriety which he hath received from him which God had not before man received it from him or enjoyed it by him Yet if we be content sincerely to renounce our owne title or interest in the Creatures which wee have received from him or in our selves who are likewise his whose very being is the free gift of his goodnesse he still rewards us for every such service or act of our bounden duty with a larger measure of his bountie then any deservings of man from man can pretend unto And thus he rewarded Abraham alwaies
Apostle Hebr. 7. 26. 27. For such an high Priest became us who is holy harmelesse undefiled seperate from sinners and made higher then the heavens who needeth not dayly as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his owne sinnes and then for the peoples For this hee did once when hee offered up himselfe 2 So farre was our high Priest from standing in need of any sinne-offring or sacrifice for himselfe that hee himselfe became the full and perfect attonement for the sinnes of the whole world even the sinne-offring for the high Priests themselves which yearly made attonement for the people Againe 't was a defect or imperfection in the sacrifices by which Aaron was consecrated in that they were more then one or of diverse kinds for of bloody sacrifices there were three a bullock for a sinne-offring and two Rammes the one for a fire-offring or sacrifice of rest the other the Ramme of Consecration or of filling the hand It argues againe a greater defect in all these sacrifices whether you take them coniunctim or divisim in that they were to be often offered And this defect or imperfection in the substance of these sacrifices or in the sacrificer or his service the Lord sought to recompence or supply by the perfection of the number of severall times or solemnities in which they were offered For these sacrifices were to be offered seven times Aaron and his sonnes were to fill their hands seven dayes together before their Consecration was accomplished Our high Priest as he had no sacrifice but one to wit the sacrifice of himselfe so was he to offer this sacrifice or this sacrifice was to be offered but once either for his owne or for our Consecration And by this once offring of this one sacrifice hee did fully and absolutely accomplish whatsoever was fore-shadowed by the full number of the legall sacrifices or solemnities which were used at the Consecration of Aaron For the number of seven is a full number yea a number full of mysteries and wherein the Spirit of God seemes to delight Herein then as hath been intimated before the high Priest of the New Testament and the high Priest of the Old exactly agree that as the Consecration of the one so the Consecration of the other was to last seven dayes Aaron and his sonnes as you may read Exod. 29. were commanded to attend at the doore of the tabernacle seven dayes together Our Saviour after his entrance into Ierusalem did attend the Temple five dayes together teaching and instructing the people and in curing the blind and lame which were brought unto him Hee was more frequent and diligent in performing those and the like acts of mercy then Aaron and his sonnes were in offering sacrifices or performing other legall services And having purged the materiall Temple from brothery and merchandizing restoring it to the use of prayer which the high Priests of the Law had turned or suffered to be turned into a denne of theeves having thus purged the Temple on the first or second day of his Consecration and afterwards hallowed it by his Doctrine by his presence and exercise of holinesse in it hee went the sixth day into his heavenly Sanctuary into Paradise it selfe to purifie and sanctifie it with his owne blood to consecrate it for us as Moses at Aaron's Consecration did purifie and consecrate the materiall Sanctuary and the Altar with the blood of Bullocks and of Rammes Yet was not this Consecration as yet fully accomplished the period or accomplishing of it is from the moment of his Resurrection or Reunition of his soule and body As Aaron first so every high Priest of the Law after him was to continue seven dayes in his Consecration that the seventh day or Sabbath might passe over him because no man as they conceive can be a compleat Priest untill a Sabbath have gone over his head But the Sabbath of the Lord did never so exactly passe over any high Priest in his Consecratton as it did over the high Priest of the New Testament However it were of Aaron's it was the last day of his Consecration it was to him indeed a Day of rest after six dayes of labour of watching praying fasting and after hee had accomplished the workes which his Father had sent him to doe◠by the torments of his bloody sactifice and whatsoever paines he suffered upon the Crosse But after he had said consūmatum est which was in the end of the sixth day in that day whereon God first had made man and the Son of God had now redeemed man his Consecration was not yet consummate his body was to rest the Seventh day in the grave And his soule in blisse all the Sabbath or Seventh day and after the heavenly Sanctuary had been thus hallowed by the rest and presence of his blessed soule in it on the Seventh day his soule and body were reunited upon the first day in the morning at that time when the light begū to be distinguished from darknesse And this was the time of the accomplishment of his Consecration or of his admission to the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech 3 So then to be seven dayes in Consecration was no imperfection in Aaron and his Priesthood but rather a mystery to be accomplished in the Consecration of the Sonne of God That Aaron should have his hands filled seven dayes together by Moses with the sacrifices which were offered for him was an argument as well of his owne personall imperfections as of the imperfections of his sacrifices Howbe it the mystery or morall implyed by the filling of the hand was no point of imperfection and for this reason was as exactly fulfilled in the Consecration of ou◠high Priest as in the Consecration of Aaron The morall implied by the filling of the hand was to signifie that Aaron did not usurp the dignity of Priesthood or take it up as we say at his owne hand but was hereunto lawfully and solemnly called by God from whom hee had received whatsoever he had The inference hence made by our Apostle is this Heb. 5. 4. 5. No man taketh this honour to himselfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himselfe to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Sonne to day have I begotten thee Hee that had thus said unto him did likewise prepare or fit a body to him for his sacrifice hee did not fill his hand with sacrifices or burnt offrings 4. It was an imperfection likewise in Aaron's person or his sacrifices or in both his Consecration it selfe was imperfect in that his Consecration did not serve for the Consecration of his sonnes or his Successors all of them were to have their severall sacrifices or other solemne rites of Consecration The perfection which this foil sets forth in our high Priest and his Consecration is this that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus
Christ once for all Hebr. 10. 10. Every Priest standeth dayly ministring and offering oftimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sinnes but this man or rather this Priest after he had once offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate downe on the right hand of God and henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool For by one offering he hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified ver 11. 12. 13. 5 As many as have reaped or hereafter shall reape any benefit either from Gods's Oath to Abraham concerning his seede in whom all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed or from the Renewing of this Oath to David concerning his son which was to be the Dispenser of this blessing and to be made a Priest after the order of Melchisedech who blessed Abraham all and every one of them are consecrated to the patticipation of this blessing by the Consecration of this our high Priest the Sonne of God The Law saith the Apostle makes men high Priests which have infirmity but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Sonne high Priest who is consecrated for evermore and by this his Consecration wee even all the Israel of God are consecrated by an everlasting Consecration So saith the Apostle Revel 1. 5. Iesus Christ the first begotten of the dead and Prince of the Kings of the earth hath washed us from our sins in his owne Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests that is Priests after the order of Melchisedech unto God and his Father By this his Consecration likewise to his everlasting Priesthood we are hallowed and consecrated as Temples to our God so saith S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. v. 4. 5. To whom comming as to a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious yee also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priesthood to offer up a spirituall sacrifice acceptable to God by Iesus Christ 5 But to take the severall bloody sacrifices which were offered at the Consecration of Aaron and his sonnes into more particular consideration Albeit these sacrifices were all imperfect not only absolutely or in respect of our high Priest's everlasting sacrifice but even in respect of these spirituall sacrifices mentioned by S. Peter which wee are to offer unto God yet were they all in their kind most perfect The best and chiefest in the whole ranke of legall or Aaronicall sacrifices they are as so many lineaments pourtraying in part or fore-shadowing that body or accomplishment not of them only but of all other sacrifices All meet in it as so many lines in their Center The first bloody sacrifice that was offered at the Consecration of Aaron was a Bullock The Priests might offer no other sacrifice then this for their owne sinne-offering because this was of all other the best and yet in comparison of this saith the Psalmist in the Person of this our high Priest in his affliction I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnifie him with thanksgiving this alâ—o shall please the Lord better then a bullock which hath hornes and hoofes that is beginning to spread the horne and hoofe for at that time they were most fit for sacrifice Psal 69. ver 30. 31. His meaning was that this sacrifice of thanksgiving should be more acceptable unto God then the very best sacrifice of the Law and so it was especially whilst offered by our high Priest even when he offered his bloody sacrifice upon the Crosse and after his enemies had given him vineger in his thirst to drink For after he had uttered that pittifull Song of the Psalmist Psal 22. whether only out of his griefe or anguish or upon other respects and intentions My God my God why hast Thou for saken Me he finally commends his soule his spirit unto his Father in the words of the Psalmists Song Ps 35. Father into thy hands I coÌ„mend my spirit The uttering of both these Songs in this anguish of soule argues hee lov'd his God and our God his Father and our Father with all his soule with all his heart with all his strength and his performance of this great Commandement as the Scribe which approved his answer to the Pharisees to the Herodians and the Sadduces had a litle before confest upon his answer to his Question was more then all whole burnt offrings and sacrifices Mat. 12. from v. 12. to 34. CHAP. 26. In what respects the Bullock offered at the Consecration of Aaron c. and the rites of offering â—â— did prefigure the bloody sacrifice of the Sonne of God especially the circumstances of the place wherein it was offered BVt you will aske wherein did the Sacrifice of the Bullock which was offered for a sinne-offering or Attonement at Aaron's Consecration or the circumstances in offering it punctually fore-shadow the bloody Sacrifice which our high Priest offered at his Consecration or the manner or circumstance of his offering it It did in circumstance at least prefigure the Sacrifice of our high Priest after the same manner or in respect of the same circumstance that the annuall sacrifices of Attonement did prefiure it of which hereafter Inasmuch as the head and flesh c. of the Bullock for sinne-offering or Attonement for Aaron at his Consecation was to be offered or burnt without the campe not to be burnt upon the Altar It fell under the same Law and undergoes the same considerations which the annuall-Sacrifices in the feast of Attonement did For so it is expressely commanded Exod. 29. 14. That the flesh of the Bullock and his skinne should be burnt without the Camp because it was a sin-offering Now it was an universall and peremptory Law that no flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was brought into the Sanctuary to make Attonement should be eaten by the Priests in the Sanctuary 2 It was againe a Law as peremptory that the Priests especially the high Priests might that is had power to eat the flesh of any Sacrifice whose Blood was not brought into the Sanctuary For to this purpose Moses Levit. 10. 17. expostulateth with Aaron's sonnes which were left after the death of Nadab and Abihu Wherefore have yee not eaten the sinne-offering in the holy place for it is the holy of holies and it vz. the flesh of the sin-offring he hath given to you to beare the iniquity of the Congregation to make Attonement for them before the Lord Behold the Blood of it was not brought in behold indeed you should have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded you Aaron in his Apologie for his sonnes against this accusation of Moses in no case questions the truth or extent of this commandement but rather excuseth himselfe and his sonnes for not observing the purport of the Law as the case stood with them his two sonnes Nadab and Abihu being lately consumed with fire issuing out from before the Lord for offering strange fire which
were two The first the solemne memorial the commeration or reiteration of God's Covenant made with Abraham and with his seede or the continuall acceptance of it by performing the obedience which God required at their hands in all their sacrifices The second was a perpetuall representation of the accomplishment of this Covenant on God's part in and by the promised Seede or Messias God had promised by oath to Abraham that in his seede not only Abraham's seede after the flesh but all the Nations of the earth that follow the steps of Abraham should be blessed And in this promise confirmed by oath it was implied as hath beene often mentioned before that the Sonne of God should become Abraham's seede and that the seede of Abraham thus made the Sonne of God should be offered up to God in such a manner as God required Abraham to offer up his sonne Isaac that is in a true and bloody sacrifice Isaac's approach to death was a type a figure or representation of our Saviour's bloody death Isaac's strange deliverance from this bloody death menaced by his Fathers outstretehed hand armed with a bloody knife was a type or shadow of our Saviour's Resurrection from death which God his Father had not only threatned but inflicted upon him Now as that which Abraham intended to have done to his sonne Isaac was accomplished by God upon his only sonne so Abraham's words to Isaack when hee intended to offer him up in bloody sacrifice became a true prophecy of our Saviour's bloody sacrifice Isaac bearing the wood of the burnt offering upon his back and observing his Father to cary fire in the one hand and a knife in the other no creature in the world besides themselves being present moved this question Behold the fire the wood but where is the Lamb for the burnt offring And Abraham answers God will provide himselfe a Lambe for a burnt offering my Sonne Gen. 22. 7. 8. Whatsoever the naturall construction of Abraham's answer in these words might import Abraham at this time had no other intention then to offer up his son Isaack for a burnt offering Howbeit his words without wrong to their grammaticall construction in the originall might imply as much and as the Hebrewes conceive they did to Isaac's apprehension imply as much as if hee had said God will provide himselfe a Lambe for a burnt offering even thee my Sonne or God will provide theâ— my Sonne for a burnt offering And from this apprehension or construction of Abraham's words Isaac as the Hebrewes have a tradition forthwith became willing to be offered up in sacrifice for a burnt offering suffering himselfe to be bound upon the Altar by his Father being able if he had been so disposed to make resistance as being now at least 25 years of age 2 However it were Isaac was as willing to be offered as Abraham was to offer him And yet Abraham's former words are more exactly fulfilled even for the present then if Isaac had been then offered upon the Altar For though God had commanded Abraham to offer his only begotten sonne Isaac for a burnt offering yet hee had been a burnt offering of Abraham's providing but the Ramme which was caught by the hornes in the thicket was a burnt offering of God's provision meerly It was no part of Abraham's store of Abraham's provision fore-cast or fore-sight The Ramme questionlesse came not thither from any neighbour place by chance God did provide it for a burnt offering by a manner extraordinary and miraculous For if David would not offer a sacrifice to God of that which cost him nothing or of that which was another mans by former possession untill he had made it his owne by a better title then by free donation or his owne by a just price or valuable consideration Abraham doubtlesse would not have offered a sacrifice unto the Lord of that which he might justly suspect to be the goods of another man untill he had bought it of the known owner But knowing this Ramme to have been of God's own or meere provision by meanes miraculous or extraordinary hee forthwith offered it for a burnt offring instead of his son So then the League or Covenant betwixt God and Abraham is concluded and subscribed unto on Abraham's part with the sacrifice of a Ramme and was to be continued or accepted of by Abraham's posterity with continuation of like sacrifices The high Priests themselves who were in their ranke and order mediators or intercessors for continuing and establishing this Covenant between God and Abraham's seede were to be solemnely consecrated by the sacrifice of Rammes And in memoriall or commemoration of Isaac's deliverance from death the Iewes did celebrate that day wherein God provided this sacrifice instead of Isaac that was according to their Kalendar the first of September or feast of Trumpets with the sacrifice of Rammes But they considered not that in the words of God's oath to Abraham it was implyed that God would give his Sonne his only Sonne for such a bloody sacrifice or burnt offering as Abraham intended to have made of his sonne Isaac They considered not that in Abraham's answer to Isaac The Lord would provide himselfe of a burnt offering and in the miraculous provision of the Ramme for a burnt offering instead of Isaac it was implyed or fore-signified as well by matter of fact as by expresse word of prophecy that God would provide matter of sacrifice when he should offer his only Sonne after a more excellent miraculous manner then he had now done the Ramme instead of Isaack For seeing the Sonne of God as God could not dye he therefore provides him a mortall body taken from the seede of Abraham the substance of the blessed Virgin and so unites it to his divine person that whilst this seede of Abraham was offered in sacrifice the Sonne of God was likewise offered that whilst Abraham's seede was thus consecrated by bloody sacrifice the Sonne of God was likewise consecrated to be the high Priest after the order of Melchisedech that is to be the Author Donour and Dispenser of that blessing which Melchisedech in the name of the most high God whose Priest he was bestowed on Abraham and which God upon Abraham's readinesse to offer Isaac did by solemn oath bind himselfe to perform and to performe it in Abraham's seede The necessary consequence or abstract of which oath as it is before manifested was this that Abraham's seede should be that most high God in whose name Melchisedech had blessed Abraham 3 The unusuall and unexpected fulfilling of Abraham's words to Isaac Gen. 22. 8. Iehovah lireh the Lord will see or the Lord will provide himselfe a Lambe for a burnt offering gave Abraham occasion to name that place Iehovah â—ireh as also to a common Proverbe taken up from the name of this place and from the event In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seene Gen. 22. 14. or as the originall without straining will more
upon the tip of the right eare of Aaron and upon the tip of the right eares of his sonnes and upon the thumbe of their right hand and upon the great toe of their right foot and sprinkle the blood c. This ceremony or service was literally and punctually fulfilled in the Consecration of our high Priest The high Priest of the Law was consecrated with forreigne blood with the blood of Rammes The high Priest of the New Testament was consecrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his owne blood and in this blood not only his hands his feet or eares were sprinkled or annointed but his whole body was annointed or bathed For though he was alwaies internally sanctified and though this his internall sanctification was most absolute and perfect from the wombe yet would the Lord have him thus visibly and externally consecrated with his owne blood that we by the same blood might be sanctified and consecrated after a better manner then Aaron was by the blood of the Ramme of Consecration The morall implyed in sprinkling of Aaron's right eare the thumbe of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot is this Our eares which are the sense of discipline and the gate by which faith entreth into our hearts must be consecrated and hallowed by the blood of our high Priest that wee may know God's will our hands and feet likewise which are the instruments of service are hallowed and sanctified by his blood that we may walke in his wayes and doe his will Finally as both our bodyes and soules have beene redeemed by his blood so both must be consecrated in it and enabled by it unto his service 7 Another ceremony or service at Aaron's Consecration was the offering up of one loaf of bread one cake of oyled bread and one wafer wherewith Aaron's and his sonnes hands were first to be filled and afterwards to be burnt upon the Altar for a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord. Exod. 29. ver 23. 25. The mystery signified by this and the other bloody sacrifice may best be gathered from that which hath afore been said concerning the circumcision of Isaack and of Abraham's seed or concerning God's demanding Isaac for a burnt offering which was then observed out of Rupertus an ancient Writer God did demand at Abraham's hands that he might thereby tye himselfe to give his own sonne unto Abraham and his seed To which may now be added the testimony of S. Chrysostome in his comments upon our Saviours words to the Woman of Samarin Da mihi bibore give mee to drink The Fountaine of life sitting besides the Fountaine calls for drink not that he was desirous to take but rather to give drink Give me to drink saith he that I may make thee drink the water of immortality I thirst after the salvation of mens soules not that I might drink but that I may give them salvation to drink I imitate my Father who said to Abraham offer me up thy Sonne thy only Sonne Isaac whom thou lovest for a burnt offering this he said not as if he had desired to accept Abraham's sonne but that he determined to give his owne Sonne for the sinnes of the world as S. Iohn saith Chap. 3. ver 16. In like manner God required the flesh and blood of Bullocks and of Rammes with unleavened bread to be offered up in sacrifice unto him at the Consecration of Aaron not that he stood in need to eate the flesh of Bulls or bread of wheat or drink the blood of Rammes but that he then purposed to consecrate for us and to give unto us his only Sonne whose flesh is meat indeed whose blood is drink indeed whose body is the bread of life which commeth downe from heaven which who so eateth shall live for ever for he that truly eateth is consecrated by it to be a King and Priest for ever unto God the Father CHAP. 28. A briefe Recapitulation of what hath been said in this parallel between the Consecration of Aaron and the Consecration of the Sonne of God the conclusion of the whole Treatise concerning it TO recapitulate what hath been said before The beginning of the everlasting Priesthood according to the order of Melchisedch is the determining of the Aaronicall Priesthood unlesse we shall say as perhaps we ought that this Priesthood with the legall rites and sacrifices did expire with the last mortall breath of him who is now immortall 2 The everlasting sacrifice whereby he is consecrated an everlasting Priest was then accomplished and the cessation of the Aaronicall Priesthood proclaimed when hee said consummatum est and commended his spirit unto God Yet is it not probable that his Consecration or the Consecration of the everlasting Sanctuary were at the same instant accomplished His sacred soule perfumed with the fresh odour and fragrancy of his sweet smelling sacrifice annointed with his most precious blood into whatsoever other place it afterwards went instantly repaired into the Holiest of Holies into Paradise it selfe This is the accomplishment of our Attonement prefigured by the high Priest's entring into the holy place with blood and the period of all sacrifices for his owne or our Consecration 3 That the vale through which the high Priest after the order of Aaron did enter into the most holy place should rend asunder at the very instant wherein the soule and spirit of this our high Priest did passe through the vale of his flesh rent and torne into his coelestiall Sanctuary was a lively embleme to all observant spectators that hee was no intruder but called by God And reason they had to observe this signe or accident in that hee had promised to one of them that were crucified with him Hedie mecum erit in Paradiso 4 The publike solemnitie of Consecration hath ever been a speciall testimony or adjunct of lawfull calling and Christ's Consecration was more solemne and publique then Aaron's was Such it was as flesh and blood could not affect such as nothing but filiall obedience to his heavenly Father could have moved this our high Priest to admit because it was to be accomplished by a lingring and a bloody death Moses at the Consecration of Aaron is commanded to gather all the congregation together unto the doore of the tabernacle Levit. 8. Ad tria voluit Dominus populum congregart Primum ut pro eo sacerdos offerret eumque expearet Secundum ad instituendum sacerdotem ut sciret populus Aaron filios ejus praefici sibi in sacerdotes mediatores de caeterâ— commendavit se illi Tertione esset inter eos aliquis qui postea sacerdotium ambiret postquam omnes sciebant Aarâ—nem à Deo sacerdotem institutum Oleaster 5 For the like reasons God would have the Consecration of his Son accomplished at the Passeover that is as a Father speakes at the Metropolis of Iewish feasts the most solemne publique and universall meeâ—ing that any one People or Nation in
sting or teeth upon the Godhead as he did But whilst he sought to swallow the bait of his flesh hee hath lost his sting hee hath broken his teeth and spoiled his jawes by medling with the Godhead 3 But more plainely by much was our Saviour's Resurrection and victory over death fore-pictured by Isaac's narrowescape from death Gen. 22. 9. The Altar was built on purpose for him the wood was couched and Isaac fast bound upon it the knife was in his Father's hand whose arm was stretched forth to strike him But God by his Angell and a voice from heaven delivers him from this imminent danger as it is v. 11. 12. This only Son of Abraham this child of promise the only hope or pledge of that promised seede which was expected from the beginning was to come thus neere unto death and yet to be delivered from it that the faith of Abraham concerning the Death and Resurrection of Christ the promised seed might be tried or rather that by his triall our Saviour's Death and Resurrection might be truly represented or fore-pictured by Isaac's danger and delivery So saith the Apostle Heb. 11. 17. 18. 19. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Sonne of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure to wit of the Reâ—urrection of Christ or the promised seed 4 The later part of this promise belongs meerly and properly unto Christ in whom alone it could be fulfilled For the more in number Abraham's children according to the flesh were before the promised seed did come and the greater their temporall prosperity or happinesse were the worse it must needs goe with other Nations or kindreds of the earth If the Messias or promised seed should have erected such a temporall Kingdome here on earth as the Iewes expected the Nations of the earth could not have beene blessed in him as God promised by Oath to Abraham for it is no part of happinesse but rather misery to have the Iewes or seed of Abraham according to the flesh for their Lords and Masters 5 Notwithstanding the former promise was in part fulfilled in the mighty increase of Abraham's posterity by Sarah this was a pledge of the later part which was to be fulfilled in Christ Through faith saith the Apostle Sarah received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of acâ—ild when shee was past age because shee judged him faithfull who had promised Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the starres of the â—kie in multitude and as the sand which is by the Sea shore innumerable Heb. 11. v. 11. 12. 6 It was one of the great wonders of the world that from a woman that had been barrentill after fourscore yeares of age there should proceed above six hundred thousand men within lesse theÌ„ four hundred yeares Thâ—miracle notwithstanding had been lesse if her children had been more but she brought forth no more sonnes then Isaac and this mighty Nation did spring from Iacob who was but one branch of Isaac â— Sarah was as good as dead when she conceived Isaac and Isaac himself was at death's doore before he gave life to others So powerfull is God to raise strength out of weaknesse and to make the barren a fruitfull Mother of many children How beit this wonderfull increase of Sarah's or Isaac's posterity was but a shadow a draught or mappe of that great miracle which was to be exhibited in the promised seed More admirable it was that the blessed Virgin should beare a Sonne then that Sarah should conceive More strange and miraculous that Christ being put to death should become the Father of more people then Isaac had beene Yet this wee see hath God performed For since his Resurrection hee hath begotten more sonnes to God throughout the Nations then all the children of Abraham or Isaac according to the flesh 7 This miraculous birth of the Church and this mighty increase of her children the Lord did as it were point out to future ages in the fore-mentioned increase of Sarah's posterity that the world might know the body or substance when it should appeare by the picture which hee had made of it And that Abraham's posteritie according to the flesh might stedfastly believe the spirituall promise by the temporall pledge Of which pledge every one of them was a part 8 To this end and purpose saith God himselfe by his Prophet Esay Chap. 51. v. 12. He or ken to mee yee that follow after righteousnesse yee that seeke the Lord Looke unto the Rock whence yee are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence yee are digged Looke unto Abraham your Father and to Sarah that bare you for I called him alone and blessed him and in creased him 9 It was more remarkably true of us Chrstians whether the poore remnant of the sonnes of Abraham according to the flesh which were converted or of us Gentiles the seed of Iaphet then it was of the Israelites which were borne in Egypt Wee were not the greatest but the least of all people or Nations It was not our owne wit or strength made us so great a Nation as we are But the Lord our God which loved Abraham loved us in Christ and bestowed the blessing of Isaac in fuller measure upon us It was his power his love and wisdome that did thus multiply and increase us The Rock whence we were hewen and the hole of the pit whence we were digged was our Saviour's grave After his death saith the Evangelist S. Luke Chap. 23. v. 52. 53. Ioseph of Ariâ—â—t 〈…〉 t to Pilat and begged the body of Iesus and tooke it downe and wrapped it in linnen and laid it in a Sepulchre that was hewen in stone wherein man never before was laid 10 This Rock was the quarrie out of which the whole Church of God which is now spread farre and wide over the face of the whole earth was digged Our Saviour's Resurrection from the dead was the first opening of it And by vertue of his Resurrection such as were dead in sinnes and trespasses such as without it should have consumed to dust in the grave are become living stones even Pillars in the house of God Abraham's children according to proâ—â—se for out of stones hath God raised up children ante Abraham 11 This Application of the Type is warranted by the Prophet Esay Chap. 53. v. 8. Hee was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation What generation did the Prophet meaneâ— The eternall generation of the son of God So indeed some of the ancients have interpreted this place and too many moderne interpreters have herein followed them But this were to runne-counter upon the Text. No print or footstep of the Prophet's progresse in this
in this businesse was with the man Christ Iesus in unity of person and Christ Iesus is with us unto the worlds end as the Arke of the Covenant was with Moses and Ioshuah or with the host of Israel to direct and support us in all our wayes 4 But is this passage from this vale of misery to a better life any where in Scripture called a Passeover Or is it any part of the true meaning or importance of this solemne feast This mystery is unfolded by S. Iohn 13. 1. Now before the feast of the Passeover and it was but a day before when Iesus knew that his houre was come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That hee should depart as our English renders it or rather that he should passe out of this world unto his Father having loved his owne which were in the world he loved them unto the end Some good Interpreters note an elegancy of speech in the originall or an allusion unto the etymologie of the Passeover in Hebrew as if in Latine he had said ante diem festum transitus sciens Iesus quia veniet hora ejus ut transeat But to my observation wheresoever there is the like elegancy of speech or allusion in the original the elegancy is not affected for it selfe as it usually is by secular artists but alwaies denotes some mystery or somewhat in the matter it selfe more usefull to sober minds then any artificiall elegancy of speech can be to curious Artists Now the mystery charactered unto us in that speech of S. Iohn of Christ's passing out of this world unto his Father is this to wit That the legall Passeover which was instituted in memory of the Lord 's passing ouer the houses of the Israelites and their passage out of Egypt through the red sea did fore-shadow the passage of the Son of God out of this world wherein he had lived in the state and condition of a servant unto the land of his rest and liberty he therefore passed out of this world unto his Father that in his sight and presence he might obtaine the liberty and prerogatives of the only Sonne of God begotten of his Father before all worlds but he therefore came into this world that by his death and manner of departing out of it hee might open and prepare a passage for us out of this vale of misery The land or inheritance into which he passed is the inheritance of everlasting pleasure but the passage was on his part bitter and full of sorrow yet this notwithstanding hee willingly endured for the love of his people having loved his owne which were in the world saith the Apostle he loved them to the end that is hee perfectly loved them which would not suffer him to forget them when the houre of his bitter Passion approached willing to suffer whatsoever was laid upon him for their sake And as Moses the night before the Israelites passage out of Egypt did institute the Passeover so our Saviour before his passage out of this world did institute this Sacrament or Supper not only as a memoriall of his passage but as a perpetuall pledge of his peculiar presence for conducting all such as believe on him and to be a vejand or viaticum to strengthen and comfort all such as resolv'd to follow him as the Israelites did Moses Againe as Moses instructed the Israelites in the Lawes and rites of the Passeover before they eate it so our Saviour gave instructions by precept and example for our due preparation unto this service The precepts are generally two Humilitie which he taught by his example in washing his Apostles feete ver 13. to the 17. The second Love ver 34. ver 35. A New Commandement I give unto you that yee love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another by this shall all men know that yee are my Disciples if ye love one another CHAP. 34. The Resurrection of the Son of God and the effects or issues of his birth from the grave were concludently fore-pictured by the Redemption of the firstlings of the flockes and of the first borne males and by the offerings of the first fruits of their corne BVt was the legall sacrifice of the Paschal Lambe the only solemne memoriall either of the Lord's passage over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt or of the Israelites passage out of Egypt through the red Sea Are all the mysteries of the Gospell which immediately concerne our Saviour's Resurrection and passage out of this mortall life to an immortall to be referred unto this one legall Type or modell Is this the only scale by which we are to measure it No the feast of the Passeover was an anniversary kept but once a year whereas the Lord would have as well the deliverance from the destroying Angell in Egypt as their deliverance from the host of Pharaoh to be often imprinted in their memories and their impressions to be renewed upon severall and frequent occasions To this purpose was that precept concerning the first borne directed to Moses before their passage out of Egypt Exod. 13. 1. The Lord spake unto Moses saying sanctifie unto me all the first borne whatsoever openeth the wombe among the children of Israel both of man and beast it is mine and againe ver 11. 12. of the same Chap. Every first-ling of their heards or flocks is expressely markt out for the Lord with the stampe or character of the Passeover And it shall be that when the Lord shall bring thee to the lands of the Canaanites that thou shalt cause to passe over unto the Lord all that open the matrix and every first-ling of the beast which thou hast the male shall be the Lords and every firstling of an asse thou shalt redeeme with a Lambe and if thou wilt not redeeme it then thou shalt breake his neck and aâ—â— the first borne of man amongst thy children thou shalt redeeme The reason of this Law is given ver 14. 15. to wit because the Lord by strength of hand had brought them out of Egypt after hee had slaine the first borne of Egypt both of man and beast therefore they were to sacrifice unto the Lord all that opened the matrix being males But the first-borne of their children they were to redeeme yet these as all other legall rites and sacrifices had a double aspect or reference The one to the first occasion of their institution which is here literally exprest the other to fore-shadow somewhat to come by the legall service or institution The mystery fore-shadowed by the legall sanctifying or sacrificing the first-borne males unto the Lord was the expectation of a first-borne male by whose Consecration or passing over unto the Lord all these and the like legall ceremonies should once for all be accomplished and their children fully sanctified and redeemed That these legall services taken at the best could be no more then shadowes of good things to come common reason might have taught this people
My soule longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God Yea the sparrow hath found an house and the swallow a nest for her selfe where she may lay her young even thine Altar O Lord of hosts my King and my God Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be still praising thee Psal 84. ver 1. 2. c. and againe ver 9. Behold O God our shield and looke upon the face of thine anointed After his restitution to his former freedome the kingly Prophet out of his consciousnesse of his owne integrity and righteousnesse of the cause for which he was persecuted by Saul and by others frames these divine characters of such as have interest in the blessings prefigured by free resort unto the service of the Tabernacle or of the Temple whose erection perhaps was in his project when he composed this 15 th Psal Who shall abide in thy Tabernacle or who shall abide in thy holy hill This Question he proposeth to Iehovah the Lord himselfe desirous to be instructed by him in this great mystery before he tooke upon him to instruct others in it And he receives this answer Hee that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesse and speaketh the truth in his heart ver 2. and thus concludes he that doth these things shall never be moved Which last words could not be exactly fulfil'd of the Tabernacle which it selfe was moveable None but men so qualified as the character of the Psalme imports had any just title or sure hope to be perpetuall partakers or inheritors of the blessings or comforts of this life which did attend the true service of the Tabernacle much lesse of the eternall blessings of the heavenly sanctuary The ungodly and prophane persons of those times or men tainted with the contrary vices unto those good qualifications which he there requires however they might by extraordinary mercies fare de facto did alwaies de jure or by the ordinary course of God's Iustice forfeit their interest in the blessings promised to sincere observants of the Lawes of the Tabernacle 6 So that this 15 th Psalme for its literal sense is a fuller expression of the matter contained in the first Psalme or a more lively character of the blessings there promised Now in as much as the Tabernacle whilst it was moveable in the wildernesse whilst it was pitched in Shiloh or in the Temple it selfe erected by Salomon on Mount Sion was but a Type or Figure of that heavenly Sanctuary which God by his owne immediate hand hath pitched Whatsoever was literally meant or verified of the first Tabernacle or Temple and of the visible Founders of them or sincere resorters to them was in the mysticall sense verified of the heavenly Sanctuary and of the invisible Founder of it Christ Iesus the Son of God who did consecrate it with his owne blood into this holy Temple He alone could enter by the sacrifice of himselfe he alone had right to dwell in it but through his mediation and intercession all such as follow the Psalmist's directions in that Psalme which are indeed the immediate precepts of God himselfe are admitted to be partakers of those joyes which by right as we said belong to the holy one of God alone as all the faithfull people during the Law were partakers of the sacrifices and services of the Temple though these were to be performed by the high Priest alone further in as much as none besides the promised seede of David or David's Lord could exactly performe or solidby expresse the qualifications in that Psalme required none but hee could have just right or tiÌ„tle to enter into that most holy Sanctuary whereof the sanctum sanctorum or holy of holies was but the model nor ascend into that holy Mount whereof the hill oâ— Sion was at the best but the footstoole or lowest step to it Into this Sanctuary the Son of God our high Priest had better right to enter more absolute authority to ascend the royall throne in what part soever of heaven seated then the high Priest of the Law had to enter into the sanctum sanctorum or Sanctuary within the vaile into which he was to enter but once a yeare nor might hee then admit any 〈…〉 or attendants to goe in with him But into this heavenly Sanctuary into which our hopes even in this life doe enter Christ Iesus as saith the Apostle is gone before us being made an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech and by verme of this Priesthood hee hath full power and authority to consecrate us to be Kings and Priests unto God even all us that feelâ—â— to expresse the characters of the Psalmist's blessed man by sanctity of life towards God and syncerity of conversation amongst men 6 That by the Tabernacle or holy hill mentioned Psal 15 th the heavenly Sanctuary whereinto our high Priest is entred is principally intended according to the mysticall sense besides the conclusion of that Psalme the close of the 24 th Psalme makes it more cleere The Question and Answer proposed and made by this Psalmist is the same but more distinct with that mentioned 15. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord And who shall stand in his holy place He that hath cleane hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soule to vanity nor sworne deceitfully Hee shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation ver 3. 4. 5. Psal 24. But there followes another remarkable Question twise proposed in words altogether the same and twise answered in the same words for equivalency of sense with a preface most majesticke Lift up your heads O yee gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of Glory shall come in ver 7. The Question followes ver 8. Who is this King of Glory Sure neither David who composed this Psalme nor Salomon his sonne but Iehovah potens in bello Iehovah the strong and mighty Lord puissant in in battaile ver 8. But least his posterity should not be so observant of these mysteries as was befitting immediately after the reiteration of the former preface Lift up your heads O gates c. and of the same Question Who is the King of Glory hee resolves us somewhat more fully then before ver 10. Iehovah exercituum ipse est rex gloriae the Lord of hosts he is the King of Glory and concludes the whole Psalme with Selah which as to my remembrance hath been observed before is not only a musicall note or modulation of the tone in singing but a character of some peculiar matter or mystery in the ditty deserving attentive meditation 7 Vpon the matter then or reckoning rectaratio being admitted Iudge this Psalmist by King of Glory and Lord of hosts meanes the same Lord and no other then whom in the beginning of this divine hymne he had acknowledged supreame Lord and
and Embassadours not to the end of the earth but to the ends of the World 4 Some of the Ancients and among the rest S. Austin if my memory faile not thinke they have found out S. Paul charactered in the fore cited prophecy there was litle Beniamin their Ruler c. And assuredly 't was not a matter of meere chance or fancy that this great Apostle of the Gentiles should have his name changed from Saul unto Paul a name borrowed as some thinke from Sergius Paulus and Paulus in the Latine signifies a litle one And this was a name better be fitting this great Apostles disposition after his calling then the name of Saul which was the name of the first King of Israel and one of the greatest of his Tribe That Saul was litle in his owne eyes before hee was King but great after whereas this Apostle Paul was litle in his owne eyes but great in the eyes of the Lord after hee was made Ruler of the people but to wave this conjecture of the Ancients and not to dispute the reason why Beniamin should be called litle by David in that Catalogue wherein hee had the precedency in order of Iudah most other passages throughout this 68. Psal from the 19. ver are eminently propheticall Blessed be the Lord who dayly loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Hee that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death ver 19. 20. These are characters of God incarnate or made man or of the man Christ Iesus made salvation it selfe and of this Iesus raised from death for from this title the issues of death or deliverance from it belong to him as his peculiar More apparently are those passages ver 31. c. literally meant at least exactly fulfilled of Iesus Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension to his holy hill or heavenly Sanctuary Princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soone stretch out her hands unto God Sing unto God O yee Kingdomes of the earth O sing praises unto the Lord. To him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens which were of old Loe he doth send out his voice and that a mighty voice Ascribe yee strength unto God his excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Clouds O God thou art terrible out of thy places the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people Bbessed be God ver 31. 32. c. 5 As for the prayer conceived first by Moses afterwards assumed by David after the removall of the Arke Let God arise let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him and all those menaces of fearefull judgments upon God's enemies pronounced by David in this Psalme as appendices to it these were never so exactly fulfil'd either of the Cananites Moabites Philistims or other enemies of Israel whiles the materiall Arke did remove from place to place or setled in Ierusalem as they have been of the seed of Abraham and of Iacob since their God did arise from death in our nature which he consecrated to be the true and living Arke of God Nor can the truth of God's promises unto Abraham David or their seed no not according to the literall sense of the prophecies which concerne them be any way impeached by taking his punishing hand from their heads and laying it more heavily upon his sometimes-chosen people For seeing they became the sworne enemies of the God of their Fathers revealed in the Arke of his flesh the fore-mentioned prayer or imprecation of Moses and David was more literally and punctually directed against them then against Aâ—â—alek Moab Ammon c. For these whether we take them jointly or severally were no greater enemies of God then other heathen Nations were save only in this that they were greater enemies to his Chosen people the seed of Iacob by reason of their vicinity as bordering upon their costs which alwaies nurseth quarrels betweene Nations dis-united in soveraignty or forme of government whereas the Iewish seed of Abraham which had been sometimes God's Elect people without occasion given became the immediate enemies of their God and for his sake more bloody persecutors of the Gentiles yea of their owne brethren according to the flesh after they with the Gentiles had become his Chosen people Now Moses his prayer or David's imprecation did not aime at the persons of men of what Nation soever but at their malicious qualifications or enmities against God whether direct or indirect so that since the seed of Abraham became the enemies of God and his Christ they may be more truly said to have dashed against the Psalmists or Moses curse then it to have falled upon or overtaken them and yet for all this as wee learne from S. Paul Rom. 11. that other prayer of Moses when the Arke rested shall beare date againe shall be fulfilled for the good of these yet cast-awaies When the Ark rested Moses said returnè O God to the many thousands of Israel Numb 10. 36. This strange devolution of God's mercies and judgments from one people to another making the down-fall of one Nation to be the advancement of another to his free grace and mercy not the points of Election and reprobation as there hath been a mist cast upon them by unskilful Controversers whereas S. Paul had left them cleare enough was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whose deeper consideration did extort that patheticall ejaculation from him O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God how unsearehable are his Iudgments and his waies past finding out c. CHAP. 38. That the manner of our Saviours Ascension was more clearly fore seen by Daniel then by David and most exactly fore-shadowed by matters of fact in Mosaicall and other sacred histories A parallel betweene SaloÌ„mon's Consecration of the Temple and our Saviour's Consecration or sanctisying of himselfe and his heavenly Sanctuary WHether David did distinctly apprehend the manner of our Saviour's Ascension and propagation of his dominion over all things in heaven and earth both which he did fore-tell and fore-shadow by matter of fact and service done to the Arke or whether he did at all fore-guesse or suspect the turning of God's heavy hand upon his seed and Iacob's seed according to the flesh is a point not altogether out of question were it fit to be inquired into But as hath been observed heretofore our beliefe or right apprehension of the truth of divine mysteries doth not depend upon their knowledge or appehension which did fore-tell or relate their prefigurations but on the contrivance of divine â—inerting all-seeing providence by whose inspiration and secret instinct both the Prophets and Evangelists did both speake and write But be the former doubt concerning David's apprehension of these mysteries waved or determined as it may be this wee know and may resolve whatsoever in the former Psalme was fore-told or
the first day of that weeke wherein our Redemption was wrought our Saviour came in triumphant manner into Ierusalem not only to fulfill the prophecy of Zachary before expounded at large for that might have been fulfilled at any other time or day for its substance but to testifie withall that hee was the true paschall Lambe appointed pointed for the sacrifice of that great Feast that Lambe of God which â—ame too take away the sinnes of the world For upon that very day of the month Abib were it the tenth or ninth in which our Saviour came to Ierusalem saluted with ecchoing cries of Hosanna the Son of David was the legall paschall Lambe according to first institution of the Passeover brought out of the fields unto the place appointed for the publique assembly with greater pompe perhaps and solemnity prescribed by custome than was expressely required in the Law Vpon the fifth day day of this â—acred weeke being as I take it the fourteenth of the month Abib our Saviour being to be offered in sacrifice at the time wherein the paschall Lambe was eaten by seterall families did eate the Passeover with his Disciples and preoccupated the usuall day for eating the paschall Lambe upon necessity In the night following which was the evening of the sixth day hee was apprehended and arraigned in the morning of the same day condemned by the Iewes â— and upon their solicitation adjudged by Pilate to be crucified and executed by the Roman Souldiers In the sixth day or which is all one the sixth evening and morning of the first weeke of times succession God is said to have finished the workes of Creation by making the first man In the sixth day or in the sixth evening and morning of the weeke of our Saviour's Consecration Hee by whom the world was made did solemnely declare the worke of our Redemption to be accomplished in respect of any labour worke or paines to be further undertaken by him For so farie his solemne proclamation upon the Crosse extends consummatum est And so he went into his rest upon the same day about the same houre wherein God was said to rest from all his workes of Creation that is in the close of that day a litle before the evening of the seventh day or Sabbath CHAP. 41. A Parallel betweene the day wherein Adam is thought to have been cast out of Paradise with the day wherein our Saviour was Crucified And betweene the first day of the world's Creation and our Saviour's Resurrection THere is a a tradition or rather a received opinion avouched by many good Authors in their severall writings that Adam the first man should fall and forfeit his estate in Paradise upon the same day wherein he was created The opinion it selfe we cannot disprove nor justly suspect to be a meere conjecture because we know not what warrant the first or immediate Authors of this Doctrine had to commend it to posterity But their language I take it is much mistaken by some later school-men the first Authors meaning or expression of it must be limited or rather extended to the same sense or construction as hath been before observed in the like words of Daniel Chap. 7. That Belshazer was slaine in the same night wherein after his carousing in the boules of the Sanctuary the hand-writing was seen upon the wall or that other 2. of Kings that Senacherib's mighty army was discomfitted upon the night immediately following that day wherein he sent that blasphemous message unto Hezekiah or the day wherein Isaiah returned his message to the good King In both places the same night cannot be understood of the selfe same naturall day and night but of the same night or day after the revolution of one yeare or more In like manner the first man according to the tenor of the former received opinion did fall upon the same day wherein he was created yet not upon the same day numerically individually or identically taken but upon the same day after the revolution of a weeke at least or more that is upon the sixth day and thrust out of Paradise before the Sabbath ensuing for his stealth or presumptuous usurpation of the forbidden fruit Vpon the same day after revolution of many yeares the Son of God or second Adam now consecrated to be a quickning spirit did restore the sons of the first Adam to their inheritance which their Father had lost by giving a true naturall son of the first Adam a thiefe by practise liverie de sezin or actuall possession of the coelestiall Paradise The bequest or legacy was punctuall and solemne Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Vpon the sixth day of the first week or week of Creation or vicissitude of times Adam's body was taken out of the substance of the earth Vpon the same sixth day was the body of the second Adam the Son of God shut up into the bowels of the earth after he had commended his spirit into his Father's hands which had given it him That temporall curse denounced against the first Adam In the day wherein thou eatest thou shalt die the death was exactly now fulfilled in the second Adam For in the sixth day of the weeke of his Consecration he died the death of the Crosse and was delivered to the earth whence the first man was taken only he was not to be resolved to dust but rested there without corruption For as God had rested the Seventh day from his works of Creation though not of Preservation so the Son of God was to rest from all his labour or toile upon the seventh day of the week of his Consecration not only to blesse and sanctify that day and make it his own but withall to hallow the grave or the wombe of the earth whence all flesh was taken and by the course of nature must returne by his sweet rest and presence in it So saith S. Iohn I heard a voice from heaven saying Blessed are the dead which hereafter die in the Lord even so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14 ver 13. Their sleepe or quiet rest in the grave thus hollowed by our Saviour's Death and rest in it becomes the evenings or vespers of their everlasting Sabbath 2 The night immediately following the legall Sabbath wherein our Saviour did rest from all his Labours was part of the first evening and morning or of the first naturall day of the weeke His Resurrection upon that day and at that time of the day and at that season implieth a two-fold mystery or the accomplishment of two remarkable divine Oracles First that of Gen. Chap. 1. ver 1. 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without forme and void and darknesse was upon the deepe The darknesse made the evening and the separation of the light from
but as full Conquerors as it followeth ver 2. For I will gather all Nations against Ierusalem to battaile and the City shall be taken and the house rifled and the women ravished c. The contexture of this Chapter as the most learned Commentators upon it doe confesse is very perplext and yet in my opinion made so partly by the somnolency of translators and incogitancy of Interpreters or paraphrasticall Expositors of it Leaving the discussion of most particulars in it unto the learned Criticks of sacred Philologers I shall endeavour to unfold one perplexity or knot which hath been rather drawne closer or cast harder by most moderne Interpreters then Eusebius or the ancient Greek Writers did leave it The knot or rub is in v. 3. Then shall the Lord goe forth and fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst or in the mid'st of the Nations ariseth from the ambiguous or various importance of the Hebrew particle or preposition beth which in composition admits as great a multiplicity of opposite or contrary senses as the Latine preposition in or the Greek particle alpha doth both which are sometimes privative or purely negative sometimes vehemently affirmative as in that or other like speech quod dixi indictum volo the word indictum is a meere negative and equivalent to non dictum and implies a revoking or repealing of what was said otherwhiles the same indictum implies a peremptory declaration or denunciation be it of warre or controversie c. The Greek alpha admits more variety sometimes it is 〈…〉 a privative or pure negative as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts no gifts sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an augmentative as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very thick wood or a wood full of trees sometimes againe more then so an augmentative or intensive implication of the contrary or that which it seemes to deny◠as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only a Lawlesse man or one that knowes not the Law but one extremely opposite to all good Lawes the epitheton or synonymum to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest enemy of Christ or of his Lawes The Hebrew particle or preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes equivalent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary or against sometimes no more then cum in intra or infra with in or amongst as in that speech of Balaam Numb 23. v. 23. There is no enchantment bejacob most now render it against Israel though some heretofore have rendred it There is no enchantment to be found in Israel The sense in the vulgar Latine is ambiguous because it is uncertaine whether Israel be the accusative or ablative case if the accusative as some expresse it in Israelem it may be as much according to the Author of the vulgar Latines meaning as adversus Israelem against Israel which is the most probable sense of that place However the most usuall signisication of the same particle is no more then the Latine in or intra or other variations of it according to the nature of the subject wherein it is used The like variation of the Hebrew beth especially when it is prefixed to the infinitive mood ariseth from the different parts of time unto which it referres as in the title of the third Psalm intitled unto David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is verbatim in ipso fugere vel fagiendo or dum fugeret in his flying or in his flight or as our English renders it when he fled from his son Absolon But in that petition of Naaman the Syrian for absolution from the Lord unto whose service he tyed himselfe by vow by the mouth of his Prophet the same particle though a prefixe to the infinitive mood hath another aspect neither to the time present or future but to the time past In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant bebea Adoni not when my Master goeth but in that when my Master hath gone into the house of Rimmon he hath leaned on my hand and I have bowed my selfe in the house of Rimmon that is I worshipped in the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing That this was a supplication for sinnes past not a dispensation for doing the like is apparent from the Prophets answer unto it goe in peace which was the solemne forme of absolution used by the Ancient Hebrewes and by our Saviour himselfe When the same particle beth denotes a place or person it is equivalent to the Latine Adverbe intus or in as bemidber is no more then in or within the wildernesse And so to trust baihovah or Laihovah is no more nor lesse then to trust in the Lord. The same particle beth in many other places is equivalent to the the particle le and in this sense it must both from the necessity of the matter from circumstances precedent and consequent be taken in this 3. v. I will fight in or amongst not against these Nations 2 As in the place of the Psalmist Psal 74. v. 14. Thou hast broken the head of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wildernesse The same particle le is as much as in or within for by the people in the wildernesse the Psalmist meanes such ravenous land-creatures as wolves foxes and the like or amphibious as use to prey upon the earkeises or bodies forsaken by the sea wherein they were drowned or cast upon the shoare as Pharaoh and his mighty host were whose death besides the strangenesse or suddennesse of it was disgracefull and terrible to all spectators For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is aequipollent to bemidber in its formall signification only the word denotes a more solitary and dry place then the wildernsse doth which perhaps was the reason why the septuagint translate this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Aethiopian people whether by that they understood men or crocodiles or other like monsters of Aethiop or Africk is uncertain Arias Montanus renders it populis solitudinicolis which for ought I know may signifie men somewhat more monstrous then the Cannibals which fed upon mens flesh but whether on men cast upon the shore or no I cannot tell To omit other importances or significations of this Hebrew particle beth it must be taken in a sense equivalent to the particle le or to the Latine cum in or pro in this place of Zachary Chap. 14. v. 3. 3 And I cannot but wonder at the incogitancy or oversight of that most learned and ingenious Writer Ribera who having so faire hints and good directions as Eusebius and other Ancients alleaged by him for leavelling this passage made rugged by Latine Interpreters or Translators forsakes the dexter sense which the Greeks had given and embraceth the sinister sense of the Latines The seventy Interpreters had rendred the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee to wit the Lord will command in chiefe and order the battaile of the Nations which he had gathered against