God by the works of his Wisdom that is to say by the Creatures which he had so wisely ordained he took another way it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 that is to say by the Mystery of the Cross which the Wisdom of this World cannot understand A new and admirable design of the divine Providence God had brought man into the World where on what side soever he turn'd his Eyes the Wisdom of the Creator was illustriously eminent in the greatness richness and disposition of so excellent work Yet Blind and Ignorant he mistook him the Creatures which presented themselves to raise up our Minds higher fixed them here below blind and brutish Man fell down to them and not content to adore only the Works of God's Hand they fell adoring the work of their own Even more extravagantly ridiculous fables than those which old Women please Children with constituted their Religion Reason they had forgot and God was resolved to make them forget it in another manner One work the Wisdom of which they understood wrought no impression in them and another work was presented to them where their reason was lost and every thing appeared foolishness to them that was the Cross of Jesus Christ It is not by reasoning that this Mystery is understood it is in casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledg of God 2 Cor 10.4 5. and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ In fine how are we to understand this Mystery where the Lord of Life and Glory is loaded with reproaches where the Wisdom of God is accounted foolishness where he who being in himself assured of his natural Greatness thought he attributed nothing to himself when he said he was equal with God and yet took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men Phil. 11.7 8. and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross all our thoughts are here confounded and as St. Paul said there is nothing which appears more extravagant and unreasonable to those that are not enlightned from above Such was the Remedy which God prepared for Idolatry He knew the Spirit of Man and knew that it was not by reason that an errour must be destroyed which had not its Establishment from Reason There are some Errours we fall into by reason for oft-times Man does embroil and entangle himself by disputation and argument But Idolatry came in by an extreme quite different and opposite by stifling all reason and by giving the Dominion to Sense which loves to cover every thing over with such qualities as touch that with the most agreeable delight and pleasure 'T was by that the Divinity became visible and gross Men attributed their own figures to it and that which was yet more shameful and abominable their very Vices and Passions Reason bore no part in this so brutish an Error 'T was the overthrow of all good Sense a meer delirium a Phrensy Reason or argue with one that is Phrenitick and dispute against a Man whom the violence of a Feaver has made Light-headed you only incense him and make the Distemper more incureable We ought to go to the cause to correct the Temper and calm the Humours that cause by their extravagance such strange transports And so it must not be reason that cures the delirium of Idolatry What have the Philosophers got with all their pompous Discourses with the sublimity of their Stile and with their Arguments so artfully managed Plato with his Eloquence which was thought to have somewhat divine in it what one single Altar has it thrown down where those monstrous divinities were adored On the contrary both he and his Disciples and all the Sages of the Age Sacrificed to a lye because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations Rom. 1.21.22.25 and their foolish heart was darkned professing themselves to be wise they became Fools For contrary to their own light of Understanding they worshipped and served the Creature Was it not therefore with great reason that St. Paul brake out with that passage where is the Wise where is the Scribe 1 Cor. 1.20 where is the disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this World Have they ever been able by themselves to destroy the Fables of Idolatry did it so much as ever come into their thoughts that they ought openly to set themselves against so many Blasphemies and suffer I do not say the heaviest Punishments but the least affront or injury from the Truth So far were they from this that they have held the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 and have laid down for a maxime that in matters of Religion one ought to follow the People the People whom they despised and scorn'd so much was their rule in the most important matter of all and where their illuminations seemed to be most necessary What service then O Philosophy hast thou done hath not God made foolish the Wisdom of this World as St. Paul tell us 1 Cor. 1.19 20. and hath not he destroyed the Wisdom of the Wise and brought to nothing the Vnderstanding of the Prudent Thus hath God shewn by experience that the destruction of Idolatry could not be alone the work of Humane Reason He was so far from committing the Cure of such a Malady to that that God hath perfectly confounded it by the Mystery of the Cross and he hath at once brought the Remedy even to the Source and Root of the Distemper Idolatry if we understand it aright derived its Birth from that profound Love and Inclination we had to our selves 'T was that made us to invent Gods after our own Image Gods who effectually were but Men subject to the like Passions Weaknesses and Vices with our selves so that under the name of false Divinities 't was in effect their own Imaginations Pleasures and Phancies which the Gentiles worshipped Jesus Christ makes us to enter by other ways His Poverty his Ignominies and his Cross make him appear an Object horrible to our Senses We must come out of our selves renounce all and crucifie all to follow him Man rooted out of himself and from every thing which his Corruption made him in love with became capable to adore God and his Eternal Truth whose Rules he is willing for the future to obey Thus all the Idols were destroyed and vanished both those which were worshipped upon the Altars and they which were adored in each man's private Breast These had erected others Venus was worshipped because they attributed to her a Dominion over Love and they were charmed with her Power Bacchus the most wanton of all the Gods had his Altars because men gave up themselves to his Caresses and sacrificed I
Greece Pericles an Athenian began the Peloponnesian Years be ∣ fore J. C. 431 VVar during which Theramenes Thrasybulus Years of Rome 323 and Alcibiades Athenians made themselves famous and considerable Brasydas and Mindarus Lacedemonians dyed there in fighting for their Country This VVar lasted seven and twenty years and ended to the advantage of the Lacedemonians who had brought on their side Darius sirnamed the Bastard the Son and Successor of Artaxerxes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 404 Lysander General of the Lacedemonians Years of Rome 350 Fleet took Athens anc chang'd it's Government But Persia soon was sensible that it had made the Lacedemonians too powerful and therefore the Persians upheld the young Cyrus in his Revolt against Artaxerxes Years be ∣ fore J. C. 401 his eldest Brother called Mnemon because of Years of Rome 353 his great and admirable memory the Son and Successor of Darius This young Person being delivered both from prison and death by his Mother Parysatis resolves upon revenge gains the Noblemen to him by his infinitely obliging carriage traverses Asia the less and goes and offers battle to the King his Brother even in the heart of his Empire wounds him with his own hand and believing himself too soon a Conqueror he perished by his own rashness The ten thousand Greeks that served him make that astonishing retreat where at last commanded Xenophon that great Philosopher and great Captain who hath written the History of it The Lacedemonians continued their attacques Years be ∣ fore J. C. 396 upon the Persian Empire which Agesilaus the Years of Rome 358 King of Sparta made to tremble in the lesser Asia but the Divisions of Greece called him back into his own Country About this time the City of the Veji which almost equalled the glory of Rome after a ten years siege and a great many good Successes was taken by the Romans under the Conduct of Camillus His generosity gained him yet another Conquest Years be ∣ fore J. C. 394 The Falisci whom he besieged rendred Years of Rome 360 themselves to him being touched at what he had done in sending them back their Children whom a School-Master had delivered to him but Rome would not conquer by Treacheries nor take advantages from the perfidiousness of a wretch that turned the Obedience of an innocent Age into such an Abuse A little after the Gauls Senonians came into Italy and besieged Clusium Years be ∣ fore J. C. 391 and the Romans lost against them the famous Years of Rome 363 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 390 battle of Allia Their City was taken and Years of Rome 364 burnt And whilst they were defending themselves in the Capitol their Affairs were re-established by Camillus whom they had banished Polyb. l. 1. c. 6. l. 2. c. 18 22. The Gauls continued seven months Masters of Rome and being called away by other affairs they drew off but it was not without carrying away with them good store of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 371 spoil During the Commotions of Greece Years of Rome 383 Epaminondas a Theban made himself signal by his equity moderation and temper as much as by his Victories It was observed he held this for a constant Rule never to tell a Lye so much as in jest His Actions became dazling and illustrious in the last years of Mnemon and in the first of Ochus Under this so great a Captain the Thebans were victorious and the Power of Lacedemonia abated Years be ∣ fore J. C. 359 and grew less That of the Macedonian Years of Rome 395 Kings began with Philip the Father of Alexander the Great And notwithstanding all the oppositions of Ochus and Arses his Son Kings of Persia and the greater difficulties still which the Eloquence of Demosthenes that mighty Defender of Liberty raised against him in Athens the victorious Prince for twenty years together kept all Greece in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 338 subjection where the Battle of Cheronea Years of Rome 416 which he gained over the Athenians and their Allies gave him a most absolute Power At this famous Field whilst he was breaking the Athenians he had the joy and happiness to see Alexander at eighteen years of age rushing in upon the Theban Troops and among others upon that which they called The Sacred Troop of Friends which they look'd on as Invincible Thus being Master of Greece and supported by a Son of such great hopes his Designs must needs be high and he resolved on nothing less than the absolute Ruine of the Persians against whom he had declared himself Generalissmo But this was reserved for Alexander For in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 337 the midst of the Solemnities of a new Marriage Years of Rome 417 Philip was assassinated by Pausanias Years be ∣ fore J. C. 336 a young Man of a good Family to whom Years of Rome 418 he had not done Justice The Eunuch Bagoas the same year killed Arses King of Persia and caused Darius the Son of Arsames sirnamed Codomannus to succeed him in the Kingdom He deserves bv his Valour to be ranked according to the otherwise most probable Opinion which gives him his Extraction from the Royal Family So that there were two Couragious and Magnanimous Kings began their Reigns together Darius the Son of Arsames and Alexander the Son of Philip. They looked upon each other with Eyes of Jealousie and they seem as born to dispute the Empire of the World betwixt them But Alexander resolved to strengthen himself well before he would engage with his Rival He revenged the Death of his Father reduced those Rebellious People that Years be ∣ fore J. C. 335 contemned his Youth he overcame the Years of Rome 419 Greeks that vainly attempted to shake off their Yoke and ruined Thebes where he spared none but the House and descendant Issue of Pindarus whose Odes were the Admiration of Greece Mighty and Victorious Years be ∣ fore J. C. 334 he marched after these famous Exploits Years of Rome 420 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 333 at the Head of the Greeks against Years of Rome 421 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 331 Darius whom he overthrew in three several Years of Rome 423 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 330 Battels in Array enters triumphantly Years of Rome 424 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 327 into Babylon and Susa destroys Persepolis Years of Rome 427 an ancient Seat and Palace of the Kings of Persia pushes on his Conquests as far as Years be ∣ fore J. C. 324 the Indies and at last returns to die at Babylon Years of Rome 430 being but Three and thirty years of age In his time Manasses the Brother of Jaddus Years be ∣ fore J. C. 333 the High Priest raised Commotions Years of Rome 421 among the Jews He had married the Daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan whom Darius had made a Nobleman of that Country Rather than he would repudiate that beautiful Stranger to which the Council of Jerusalem and
After a long War Childebert and Clothaire the Sons of Clovis conquered the Kingdom of Burgâ—ndy and at the same time sacrificed to their Ambition the younger Sons of their Brother Clodomir whose Kingdom they divided between themselves Some time after and whilest Belisarius was so vigorously attacking the Ostrogoths what they had in the Country of the Gaules was left to the French France extended it self then a good way beyond the Rhine but the Partages of Princes which made up so many Kingdoms kept it from being re-united under one and the same Dominion It s chief parts were Neustria that is to say Western France and Austrasia Years of J. C. 553 that is to say Eastern France The same year that Rome was re-taken by Narses Justinian caused the fifth general Council to be held at Constantinople which confirmed those that went before it and condemned some Writings that seemed favourable to Nestorius That is what we call the three Chapters because of the three Authors long since dead whereof they then treated It condemn the Memory and the Writings of Theodorus Bishop of Mopsueste a Letter of Ibas Bishop of Edessa and among Theodoret his Writings those he had drawn up against St. Cyrill The Books of Origen which pestered all the East for one whole Age were also reprobated This Council which began with but ill designs yet had a happy Conclusion and was received by the Holy See which at first had opposed it Years of J. C. 555 Two years after the Council Narses who had taken Italy from the Goths defended it against the French and obtained an absolute Victory over Bucelin General of the Troops of Austrasia Yet notwithstanding all these Advantages Italy did not long remain under the Government of Emperors Under Justin II. Nephew of Justinian and Years of J. C. 568 after the Death of Narses the Kingdom of Lombardy was founded by Alboün He took Milan and Pavia Rome and Ravenna were scarce safe from his Hands and the Lombards put the Romans to extream sufferings Years of J. C. 570. 571. and calamities Rome was but poorly assisted Years of J. C. 574 by her Emperors whom the Covetous Nations Scythia the Saracens a People of Arabia and the Persians more than all the other grievously tormented on all sides in the East Justin who only believed himself and his Passions was always beaten by the Persians and by their King Chosroes His resentment of so many Losses put him into a Years of J. C. 579 Phrensie so that his Wife Sophia governed the Empire This unhappy Prince too late recovered into his good Senses and confessed as he was dying the Malice of his Flatterers After him Tiberius II. whom he had named Emperor repressed the Enemies comforted the People and enriched Years of J. C. 580 himself by their Alms. The Victories of Years of J. C. 581 Mauritius the Cappadocian General of his Armies broke the heart of the proud Years of J. C. 583 Chosroes Those were recompenced by the Empire which Tiberius gave him at his death with his Daughter Constantina At that time the Ambitious Fredegunda Wife to King Chilperick the first put all France into a Combustion and engaged all the French King in most bloudy and cruel Wars In the midst of the Miseries of Italy and whilst Rome was visited with a most Years of J. C. 590 dreadful Pestilence St. Gregory the Great was advanced maugre all his resistance to the See of St. Peter That great Pope stayed the Plague by his devout Prayers instructed Emperors and did absolutely make a just Obedience to be paid to them comforted Africa and fortified it confirmed in Spain the Visigoths converted from Arianisme and Ricardes the Catholic who was just got in again into the Bosom of the Church converted England reformed the Discipline in France whose Kings being always Orthodox he exalted above all Kings in the World He overcame the Lombards saved Rome and Italy which the Emperors could give no assistance to suppressed the growing Pride of the Patriarchs of Constantinople illuminated the Church by his Doctrin governed both the East and the West with as much resolution as humility and gave unto the World a perfect Model of Ecclesiastical Government The History of the Church hath nothing more glorious than the Monk St. Austin's Years of J. C. 597 Entrance into the Kingdom of Kent with forty of his Companions Beda l. 1. who going before the Holy Cross and the Image of the Great King our Lord Jesus Christ made solemn Vows for the conversion of England S. Gregory who had sent them instructed them by Letters truly Apostolical Greg. lib. 9. Ep. 58. ind 4. and taught S. Austin to tremble amidst the continual Miracles which God wrought by his Ministry Bertha a Princess of France brought King Edhilbert her Husband over to Christianity The Kings of France and Queen Brunehault protected the new Mission The Bishops of France did also engage in this Work and it was they who by the Order of Du Paga consecrated St. Austin The Supply which St. Gregory sent to the new Bishop was productive of new Years of J. C. 601 Fruits and the English Church assumed its Years of J. C. 604 Form The Emperor Mauritius having tryed the fidelity of the Holy Pontiff was corrected by his advice and received from him that commendation so worthy of a Christian Prince as the Heretics durst not open their mouths in his time However that pious Emperor was guilty of a great Fault A Years of J. C. 601 vast number of Romans were destroyed by the hands of the Barbarians for want of being ransomed by a Crown per head Immediately afterwards the good Emperor testifyed his remorse and he poured out a Prayer to God to punish him in this World rather than in the other and then was the revolt Years of J. C. 602 of Phocas who before his eyes cut the throats of all his Family Mauritius being the last that was killed amidst all this sad Scene of calamities was heard to say nothing but only that verse of the Psalmist Psal 119. I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Phocas being advanced to the Empire by so horrid and Years of J. C. 606 detestable a crime endeavoured to gain the Years of J. C. 610 People in honouring the Holy See whose priviledges he confirmed But his Sentence was pronounced Heraclius proclaimed Emperor by the African Army marched against him Then Phocas found that oft-times debauches do more ruin Princes than Cruelties and Photin whose Wife he had vitiated betrayed him to Heraclius who caused him to be killed France a while after beheld a much Years of J. C. 614 stranger Tragedy Queen Brunchault being delivered up to Clothaire II. was sacrificed to the ambition of that Prince her Memory was quite effaced and her virtue so much extolled by Pope S. Gregory was scarce able to be defended The Empire in the mean time was
was clear enough and sufficiently present if we would have been attentive to it was just ready to vanish and be gone Prodigious Fables and such also as were as full of Impiety as Extravagance took their place The time was come where Truth but ill kept in the memory of men could no longer keep it self with being written and God having besides resolved to form his people to Virtue by Laws more express and in a greater number he was pleased at the same time to give them in writing Moses was summoned to this work That great Man recollected the History of past Ages That of Adam that of Noah that of Abraham that of Isaac that of Jacob that of Joseph or rather that of God himself and of his admirable Works He was not to search far for the tradition of his Ancestors He was born a hundred Years after the Death of Jacob. The old Men of his time might have conversed several Years with that Holy Patriarch The memory of Joseph and the Miracles which God had wrought by that great Minister of the Kings of Egypt were yet fresh in their Minds The Lives of three or four Men reached up even to Noah who had seen the Sons of Adam and as I may so say had touched the beginning of time and things Thus the antient traditions of Mankind and those of the Family of Abraham were not hard to be collected the Memory of them was still alive and we need not wonder if Moses in his Genesis speaks of things that happened in the first Ages as things certain whose memorable Monuments are still to be seen both in the neighbouring People and in the Land of Canaan In the time when Abraham Isaac and Jacob inhabited that Land they had in several places erected the monuments of things which had happened to them There is yet shewn there the places where the lived the Wells they had dug and sunk in those dry and sterile Countries to find their Families and their Flocks Water the Mountains whereon they Sacrificed to Almighty God and where he manifested himself to them the Stones which they had laid on Heaps to serve as a memorial to Posterity the Tombs wherein their blessed Ashes are deposited The memory of those great Men were fresh not only in all the Country but likewise in all the East where many of those famous Nations have still remembred that they have come from their Race So when the Hebrews entred into the promised Land every place there did celebrate their Ancestors both the Towns and the Mountains and the very Stones themselves did there speak of those marvellous Men and of those astonishing Visions by which God had confirmed them in the antient and true belief Those who are ever so little conversant in Antiquities do know how curious the first times were to erect and to preserve such Monuments and how industriously careful Posterity has been since to retain the occasions of their setting of them up 'T was one of the ways of their writing History the Stones have since been better fashioned and polished and Statues have succeeded after Pillars to great and solid Masses which the first times erected 'T is also very rational to believe that in the lineage wherein was preserved the knowledg of God were also preserved by writing the remembrances of antient times For Men have never been without that care At least this is most certain that they made Songs which the Fathers taught their Children Songs which were sung at their Festivals and in their Assemblies gave a perpetuity to the remembrance of the most remarkable actions of the past Ages From hence came Poetry which was afterwards changed into various forms and modes the most antient whereof is still preserved in Odes and those heroick ways used by all the Antients and still to this day by those People who have not the use of Letters in Praising God and great Men. The stile of those Songs is bold extraordinary natural always in what it is fit to represent Nature in all its Transports which for that reason is forced by the most lively and impetuous Sallies disengaged from these ordinary Bonds that are requisite in an united Discourse confined besides to just Numbers and Cadences which advances their force surprizes the Ear seizes the Imagination gives an Emotion to the Heart and with more ease imprints it self in the Memory Among all the People of the World none have so much used these kind of Songs as have the People of God Moses takes notice of a great many of them which he denotes by the first Verses because the People knew the rest Numb xxi v. 14.17.18.27 c. Exod. xv 1. He himself hath made two of this Nature The first is his Song for their triumphant passing over the Red Sea and the Enemies of the People of God some already drowned the rest half conquered by the dread and terror of it By the second Deut. xxxii v. 1. Moses confounds the Peoples ingratitude by setting forth Gods Mercyâ— and Vengeance Following Ages imitated him 'T was God and his marvellous Works were the Subject of those Odes which they composed God himself inspired them and it was only to the People of God that Poetry came truly by Enthusiasm Jacob declared in that mystical Language the Oracles which contained the Destiny of his twelve Sons that so every Tribe might the more easily keep in Mind what particularly related to it and learn to praise him who was no less magnificent in his Predictions than faithful in performing them Thus you see the means made use of by God to preserve even down to Moses the remembrance of past transactions That great Man instructed by all those means and raised upon high by the Holy Ghost hath written the Works of God with an exactness and simplicity which attracts belief and admiration not only to himself but even to Almighty God He hath joined to past actions which contained the original and antient Traditions of the People of God the wonders which God actually wrought for their deliverance Of that he produces to the Israelites no other Witnesses than their own Eyes Moses tells them not of things which were done in impenetrable retreats and in profound Caves he speaks not in the Air he particularizes and circumstantiates every thing as a Man that fears not to be caught in an untruth He grounds all their Laws and their whole Republick on the wonders which they themselves have seen Those wonders were nothing else but Nature changed all on a sudden on different occasions for their deliverance and the punishment of their Enemies the Sea divided it self in two the Earth opened herself heavenly Food abundance of Water gushing out of Rocks by a stroke of the Rod and the Heaven which gave them a visible sign to direct their March and such like Miracles which they themselves had seen for forty Years The People of Israel were no more intelligent nor more subtil than other
Authentique Precedents which being carefully reviewed and kept by the Priests and Levites were esteemed as Originals and Records The Kings for Moses had wisely foreseen that these People would at last have Kings as well as other Nations The Kings I say were obliged by an express law in Deuteronomy to receive from the hands of the Priests and Levites one of these Precedents which were so religiously corrected Deut. 17.18 that they might transcribe and read it all their lives The Precedents thus reviewed by publick Authority were held by all People in singular Veneration they looked on them as being immediately derived from the hands of Moses as pure and entire as God had dictated them to him An ancient Volume of this severe and religious Correction having been found in the House of the Lord 2 Kings 22.8 c. 2 Chron. 34.14 c. in the Reign of Josiah and peradventure was that very Original which Moses had caused to be put in the side of the Ark of the Covenant stirred up the Piety of that holy King and thereby was the occasion of bringing that People to Repentance The great effects which all along the publick reading of that Law wrought are innumerable In a word it was a perfect Book which being joyned by Moses to the History of the People of God it taught them their Origine their Religion Polity Manners Philosophy and whatsoever conduced to the regulation of Life whatsoever united and formed Society the good and the bad Examples The Reward of the one and the rigorous Punishments which had attended the other By that admirable Discipline a People brought out of Slavery and Bondage and kept forty years in the Wilderness came all fitted to the Land which they were to possess Moses brings them to the Entrance and being informed of his approaching end he commits the remains of what was yet to be done to Joshua Deut. 31.14 c. But before he dyed he composed that long and most excellent Song which begins with these words Give ear O ye Heavens Deut. 32.1 and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth In that Silence of all nature he speaks first to the People with a sorce that was inimitable and foreseeing their Infidelities he discovers to them the dreadfulness of it All of a sudden he goes out of himself as if he found all Humane Discourse below so great a Subject he reporteth what God saith and it makes him speak with so much elevation and so much sweetness that we know not which inspired him most whether Fear and Confusion or Love and Confidence All the People learnt by heart that Divine Song by the order of God Deut. 31.19 22. and of Moses That great Man after that died content as a Man that had forgot nothing which might preserve in the Memory of his People the Benefits and Precepts of God He leaves his Children in the midst of their Citizens without any distinction and without any extraordinary establishment He hath been admired not only by his People but by all the People of the World and never had any Legislator so great a name as He among all Mankind 'T is believed that he writ the Book of Job The Sublimity of the Thoughts and the Majesty of the Style make that History worthy of Moses For fear lest the Hebrews should be puffed up by attributing the Grace of God to themselves alone it was necessary to make them to understand that that great God had his chosen ones even in the Race of Esau And what Doctrine was more important and what more profitable Consolation could Moses give to the People afflicted in the Wilderness than that of the Patience of Job who being delivered into the hands of Satan to be exercised by all manner of Miseries saw himself deprived of his Wealth his Children and all the Comforts of this World presently after struck with a horrible Disease and moved within by the Temptation of Blasphemy and Despair yet he remaining firm and resolute in his Integrity made it evident that a faithful devout Soul supported by the Divine Relief in the midst of the fiercest and most frightful Trials and in spight of all the blackest thoughts which the Evil Spirit could suggest to it knew not only how to maintain an invincible Trust and Confidence Job 13.15.14.14.15.16.21.19.25 c. but also to raise up it self by his own greatest Afflictions to the highest Contemplation and to acknowledge in the Sufferings it endures with the Vanity and Nothingness of Man the Supreme Empire of God and his Infinite Wisdom This is what the Book of Job instructs us in To keep up the Character of Time here is seen the Faith of the holy Man crowned by Temporal Prosperities but yet the People of God are hereby taught to know what is the virtue of Sufferings and to have a fore-taste of the Grace which was one day to be fastened to the Cross Moses had tasted it when he preferred the Sufferings and Ignominy which he was to undergo with the People of God to the Delicacies and Abundance in the House of the King of Egypt From that time God made him to taste of the Reproaches of Jesus Christ He tasted them also again in his precipitated Flight and in his Exile of forty years Heb. 11.24 25 26. But he drunk even to the bottom of Christ his Cup when being chosen to save that People Numb 14.10 c. he was forced to undergo their continual Revoltings wherein he ran the hazard of his life He learnt what it would cost him to save the People of God and shewed at a distance what a higher deliverance 't was one day to cost the Saviour of the World That great Man had not so much as the consolation of entering into the promised Land he only saw it from the top of a Mountain Numb 20.12 13.27.14 Deut. 32.50 51. and was not ashamed to confess that he was excluded from it by a sin which tho' it seemed but little yet deserved to be punished so severely in a man whose Grace was so particularly eminent Moses served for an example to the severe Jealousie of God and to the Judgments which he executed with so terrible an exactness on those whom his Bounty and Kindness obliged to a more perfect Fidelity But still a higher Mystery is shewn us in this Exclusion of Moses That wise Legislator who by so many Miracles did only lead the Children of God in the Neighbourhood of their Land serves himself to us for an Evidence Heb. 7.19 that his Law made nothing perfect and that without being able to give us the accomplishment of the Promises it makes us only as it were to salute them at a distance or leads us at most but to the gate of our Inheritance It was a Joshua a Jesus for it was the true name of Joshua who by that name and by his office represented the Saviour of
the World it was that Man so much below Moses in all things and superiour only to him by his name it was He I say who was to bring the People of God into the holy Land By the Victories of that great Man before whom Jordan was driven back the Walls of Jericho fell down of themselves and the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven God established his Children in the Land of Canaan out of which by the same means he drove the abominable People By the hatred which his faithful ones had against them he inspired them with an extreme indignation of their wickedness and impiety and the punishment which was inflicted by their Ministry filled them themselves with fear of the Divine Justice of which they executed the Decrees One part of those People whom Joshua drove out ot their Land Procop. lib. 2. de bel Vand. went and planted themselves in Africa where was found a long time after in an ancient Inscription the Monument of their Flight and the Victories of Joshua After those miraculous Victories had put the Israelites in the possession of the greatest part of the Land which was promised to their Fathers Joshua and Eleazar the High Priest Jos 13 14. seq Numb 26.53.34.17 Jos 14 15. with the Heads of the twelve Tribes divided it among them according to the Law of Moses and assigned to the Tribe Judah time the first and the greatest Lot From the time of Moses it was set above the others in Number in Courage and in Dignity Joshua dyed and the People continued the Conquest of the Holy Land God would have the Tribe of Judah to march at the Head Numb 2.3.9.7.12.10.14 1 Chron. 5.2 Judg 1.1 2.4.8 and declared that he had delivered the Countrey into their hands In fine it overcame die Canaanites and took Jerusalem which was to be the holy City and the capital City of the People of God it was the ancient Salem where Melchisedek had reigned in Abraham's time Melchisedek that King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 for that is the meaning of his Name and at the same time too King of Peace for that is King of Salem whom Abraham had owned for the greatest High-Priest in the World as if Jerusalem had then been destined for a holy City and the head of Religion That City was at first given to the Children of Benjamin who being weak and few in number could not drive out the Jebusites the ancient Inhabitants of Jerusalem but they dwelt among them Judg. 1.21 Under the Judges the People of God were variously treated according as they did well or ill After the death of the old men who had seen Miracles from the hand of God the remembrance of those mighty Works decayed and the universal inclination and bent of Mankind warp'd the People to Idolatry As often as they fell into it they were punish'd and as often as they repented they were delivered The Faith of Providence and the Truth of the Promise and the Threatnings of Moses was confirmed more and more in the hearts of the true Believers But God prepared also greater Examples of them The People demanded a King and God gave them Saul quickly reproved for his sins he at last resolved to establish a Royal Family from which e Messiah should come and he chose it in Judah David 1 Sam. 16.11.12 c. a young Shepherd sprung out of that Tribe the youngest of the Sons of Jesse whose merit neither his Father nor his Family knew but yet whom God found to be after his own heart was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem which was his own Country Here the People of God IV. David the Kings and the Prophets to take up a Form more August and Magnificent the Kingdom was setled in the House of David That House began by two Kings of different Characters but both were admirable David a warlike and conquering Prince subdued the Enemies of the People of God whose Arms were dreaded over all the East and Solomon famous for his Wisdom both at home and abroad made that People happy by a profound Peace But the Progress of Religion does here require some particular Remarks upon the Lives of those two great Kingâ— David reigned at first over Judah mighty and victorious and afterwards he was owned over all Israel 2 Sam. 5.6 7 8 9. 1 Chron. 11.6 7 8. 1 Chron 2.16 He took from the Jebâ—sites the strong Hold of Zion which was the Citadel of Jerusalem Being Master of that Fortress he established there by the order of God the Sea of the Kingdom and that of Religâ—on and there he lived He built round about it and called it The City of David Joab his Sister 's built the rest of the City and Jerusalem took up a new form Those of Judah possessed all the Country and Benjamin being few in number dwelt together with them The Ark of the Covenant built by Moses where God dwelleth between the Cherubims and where the two Tables of the Decalogue were kept had then no fixed place David brought it in Triumph 2 Sam. 6.2 16 17. c. with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet into Zion which he had conquered by the Almighty help of God that so God might reign in Zion and that he might be acknowledged there as the Protectors of David 1 Chro. 16.39.21.29 of Jerusalem and of all the Kingdom But the Tabernacle wherein the People had worshipped God in the Wilderness was yet at Gibeon and there it was where they offered their Sacrifices upon the Altar which Moses had built It was but in expectation that there would be a Temple where the Altar should be re-united with the Ark and where should be performed all the Service When David had conquered all his Enemies and had extended his Victories even to Euphrates being at quiet and a mighty Conquerour he at all his thought upon the establishing of the Divine Worship and on the same Mountain where Abraham went to Sacrifice his only Son 2 Sam. 8.11 1 Chron. 18. 2 Sam. 24.25 1 Chron. 21.22 seq Jos an t 7.10 and was stopped by the hand of an Angel he designed by the appointment of God the place of the Temple He said down all his Designs he amassed mighty noâ— and precious Materials for it he dedicated all the Spoils of his conquered Kings and People to it But that Temple which was so designed by the Conquerour was not to be built but by his Son and Successor the peaceable Solomon He built it after the Model of the Tabernacle The Altar of the Holocausts 1 Kings 6,7 8. 2 Chron. 3 4 5 6 7. the Altar of Incense the golden Candlestick the Tables of Shew Bread and all the other consecrated Moveables of the Temple were taken from the like Pieces which Moses had caused to be made in the Wilderness Solomon only added magnificence and grandeur to them The Ark which the Man of God
Chaldees under which they were led captive For fear lest they should be surprized at the glory of the Wicked and of their proud Reign the Prophets have sufficiently told them of their short continuance Isaiah who saw the glory of Nebuchadnezzar and his mad pride long before he was born Isai 13 14 21 45 46 47 48. has foretold his sudden fall together with that of the Empire Babylon was scarce any thing when that Prophet saw its Power and a little while after its Ruine Thus the Revolutions of the Cities and Kingdoms which tormented the People of God or gained advantage by their destruction were written in his Prophecies Those Oracles were followed with a hasty Execution and the Jews tho' so severely punished yet saw to fall before them or with them or quickly after according to the Predictions of their Prophets not only Samaria Idumea Gaza Ascalon Damascus the Cities of the Ammonites and the Moabites their perpetual Enemies but the chiefest of the great Empires Tyre the Mistress of the Sea Tanais Memphis Thebes with its hundred Gates and all the Riches of its Sesostriâ— Nineveh also the Seat of the Kings of Assyria their cruel Persecutors and the proud and mighty Babylon victorious over all the rest and rich with their Spoils 'T is true Jerusalem by her sins was destroyed at the same time but yet God did not leave her without hope Isaiah Isai 44 45. who had foretold her Ruine had likewise seen her glorious re-establishment and had also named him Cyrus who was to be her deliverer tho' it was two hundred years before he was born Jeremiah Jer. 25.11 12. c. 29.10 whose Predictions had been so exactly particular in pointing out that ungrateful People's certain destruction had promised them a most sure Return after they had indured seventy years Captivity During all that time those vanquished People were respected by the Prophets and those Captives foretold both the Kings and the People their terrible Destinies Nebuchadnezzar who would fain be worshipped Dan. 11.46 47 4.1 26. himself worships Daniel being astonished at the Divine Secrets which he had discovered to him he understood from him the Decree that was gone out against him and which was soon after executed upon him That victorious Prince triumphed in Babylon the City whereof he made the greatest strongest and most beautiful that ever the eye of the Sun beheld 'T was there that God heard him thundering out his pride Tho' he 's happy and invulnerable if I may be allowed the phrase at the head of his Armies and throughout all the course of his Conquests yet he was to fall in his own House according to the Oracle of Ezekiel Ezek. 31.3 4 5 6 7. c. Whilst he was standing in admiration of his greatness and the beauty of Babylon and raising himself above Humanity Dan. 4.30 31. saying Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my Power and for the honour of my Majesty God strikes him deprives him of his understanding drives him from men and gives him his dwelling with the Beasts of the Field Ibid. 34. At the time assigned by Daniel his understanding returned unto him and he blessed the most High and praised and honoured him who liveth for ever whose Dominion is an everlasting Dominion and whose Kingdom is from Generation to Generation in acknowledgment of his Almighty Power but his Successors received no benefit by his Example The Affairs of Babylon were embroyled and the time set forth by the Prophecies for the re-establishing of Judah happened amidst all those Troubles Cyrus appeared at the Head of the Medes and Persians all things yield and bow to that dreadful Conquerour Herod liâ— 1. Xenoph. l. 2 3. â—5â— â—aliâ— Jer. 41.46 〈◊〉 l. 7 â—adâ—g He made but slow advances to the Chaldeans and besides his march was often interrupted The news of his coming was spread from one end of the Earth to the other as Jeremiah had foretold at last it was determined Babylon which was often threatned by the Prophets and always proud and impenitent at last came to see her Conquerour whom she despises Her Riches her high Walls her People that were not to be numbred Ibid. her prodigious Extent which included a very great Country as all the Ancients do testifie and her infinite Provisions do swell her up with pride Having felt a very long and sharp Siege without any great Inconvenience she made a scorn and derision of her Enemies and at the Intrenchment which Cyrus made round about her Nothing was heard in her but Feasts and Rejoycings The King Belshazzar who was Nebuchadnezzar's Grandchild and as proud as he too but not so full of address Dan. 5.1 c. made a great Feast to a thousand of his Lords and drank Wine before the thousand That Feast was celebrated with unheard of Excesses Belhazzar sent for the Golden and Silver Vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple of Jerusalem and so intermixes Prophaneness with his Luxury The wrath of God thereupon was declared and at the same time came forth fingers of a man's hand Ibid. 5. and wrote over against the Candlestick upon the plaister of the Wall of the King's Palace where the Feast was celebrated terrible words and the King saw the part of the hand that wrote Daniel interprets the meaning of it and that Prophet who had foretold the direful fall of the Grandfather makes also the Grandchild to see the Thunderclap that was coming to fall upon him for his overthrow In the execution of God's Decree Cyrus on a sudden makes an onset on Babylon Euphrates being turned off into the Trenches which he had so long before prepared discovers to him its vast Channel through which unforeseen passage he makes his Entry Isai 13.17.21.2.45 46 47. and so that proud Babylon as the Prophets had foretold was delivered as a prey to the Medes and to the Persians and to Cyrus So perished with her the Kingdom of the Chaldeans which had destroyed so many other Kingdoms Jer. 50.23 so was the Hammer of the whole Earth cut asunder and broken Jeremiah had plainly foretold it The Lord breaketh the Rod wherewith he had broken to pieces so many Nations Isaiah foresaw it The People accustomed to the Yoke of the Chaldean Kings Jer. 51.20 saw it themselves when they were under the Yoke Art thou also say they Isai 14.10 13 14. become weak as we art thou become like unto us Thou that saidst in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High What the same Isaiah had likewise declared saying Babylon is fallen is fallen That great Babylon Id. 21.9 and all her graven Images are broken to the ground Bell boweth down and Nebo her great
holy Ghost himself hath computed the Years But whilst they renounced them they fulfilled them and shewed the Truth of what they said both as to their Blindness and their Fall Let them answer the Prophecies as they would the Desolation which they foretold came upon them just at the appointed time the Event was of more Efficacy and Force than all their Subtilties and if Christ did not come just upon that fatal Conjuncture the Prophets in whom they trusted very much â—eceived them And for the Complement of their Conviction please to observe two Circumstances which accompained their Fall and the Advent of the Saviour of the World The one is that the Succession of the High-Priests which was perpetual and unalterable since Aaron then came to an end The other that the Distinction of the Tribes and Families allways kept up till that time was then no more by their own Confession That Distinction was necessary till the coming of Messiah From Levi were to be born the Ministers of sacred Things From Aaron were to come the Priests and the Pontifs From Juda the Messiah himself If the distinction of Families had not continued till the Destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of Christ the Jewish Sacrifices would have ceased before the time and David had been frustrated of the Glory of being known for the Father of the Messiah Was the Messiah come Was the new Priesthood according to the Order of Melchizedech begun in his Person And the new Kingdom which was not of this World did that too appear Then was there no longer need of Aaron nor of Levi nor of Juda nor of David nor of their Families Aaron was no more necessary then when the Sacrifices were to cease as Daniel had foretold The House of David and Juda had accomplished their purpose when that the Christ of God was come out from thence Dan. 9.27 And as if the Jew themselves had renounced their own Hopes they particularly at that time forgot the Succession of Families until then so carefully and so religiously kept up Let us not omit one of the Signs of the Messiah's coming and peradventure the chiefest if we can tell how to understand it aright tho' it be to the Scandal as well as Horror of the Jews 'T is the Remission of Sins declared in the name of a suffering Saviour Dan. 9.26 27. of a Saviour humble and obedient even to the Death Daniel had observed among his Weeks the mysterious Week which here we take notice of wherein Christ was to be sacrificed wherein the Covenant was to be confirmed by his Death and the antient Sacrifices were to lose their Power and Vertue Let us joyn Isaiah to Danâ—el and there we shall find all the depth of that so great a Mystery we shall see there the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief Isai 53.3 5. who was wounded for our Transgressions bruised for our Iniquities The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we were healed Open your Eyes ye Incredulous and look about you is it not true that the Remission of Sins was preached to you in the Name of Jesus Christ Crucified Was ever so great a Mystery throughly considered Did ever any other than Jesus Christ either before or after him loudly proclaim that he was come to wash away Sins by his Blood Should he have an express Order to be Crucified only to acquire a vain and empty Honour and to fullfil in himself so bloody a Prophecy 'T is duty here to be silent and adore a Doctrine that is in the Gospel which could not so much as enter into any Man's Conception if it had not been true The Jews are extreamly perplexed and put to it in this point They find in their Scriptures too many Passages describing the Humiliations of their Messiah What then will become of those that speak of his Glory and Triumphs Why their natural Resolution is that he will come to his Triumphs by the Victories he gains and to Glory by his Sufferings What an incredible thing is this the Jews had rather have two Messiah's We see in their Talmud Tr. Succa Comm. sive parraph sup Cant. c. 7. v. 3. and other Books of like Antiquity that they look for a suffering Messiah and a Messiah full of Glory the one dead and risen the other always happy and always a Conqueror The one to whom all the Passages do agree that relate to his weakness the other to whom all those agree which speak of his Greatness the one indeed makes him the Son of Joseph for they could not deny him one of the Characters of Jesus Christ who was the reputed Son of Joseph and the other the Son of David without ever being willing to consider or allow what that Messiah the Son of David was to do according as the Royal Prophet had foreshewn drink of the Brook the way before he should lift up his Head Ps 110. v. ult that is to say he should be afflicted before he triumphed as the very Son of David says himself O Fools and slow of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luk. 24. v. 25 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into his Glory But if we do understand that great Passage of the Messiah wherein Isaiah doth so lively represent to us the Man of Sorrows wounded for our Transgressions Isai 53. and brâ—ised for our Iniquities and disfigured as one that was Leprous we are likewise justified in this Explication as well as in all the other by the antient Tradition of the Jews and in spight of all their Preventions the Chapter so often cited in their Talmud teaches us that that Leper who should be stricken for the Transgression of the People Gem. Tr. Sanhed l. 11. Ibid. should be the Messiah The Afflictions which the Messiah should feel for our Sins are celebrated in the same place and in several other of the Jewish Writings They often speak of his Entrance as humble as it was glorious which he was to make in Jerusalem when riding upon an Ass and that famous Prophecy of Zachariah was applied to him What reason to have the Jews to complain Every thing was pointed out to them in express Terms among their Prophets their antient Tradition had preserved the natural Explication of those admired Prophecies and there was nothing more just than that Reproach which the Saviour of the World made to them saving O ye Hypocrites ye can discern the Face of the Skie Matt. 16.2 3 4. Luke 12.56 but can ye not discern the Signs of the Times For ye say when it is Evening it will be fair Weather for the Skie is red and in the Morning it will be foul Weather to day for the Skie is red and lowring Therefore we may very well conclude that the Jews had all the reason in the World to confess that all the signs and times of