a speaking picture of the comming of the Sunne of righteousnesse into the world after the light of prophecies or revelations whether by Vrim and Thummim or by voice from heaven had beene farre removed from the Hemisphere of Judaea untill they began to returne againe in Iohn Baptist and his Father Zacharias who were as the day starre or dawning to usher in the Sunne of righteousnesse who was to continue his course from the one end of the Earth to the other with more indefatigable courage and with more comfortable warmth then this visible Sunne doth visite the earth He was that strong man that Gebor unto whom the Psalmist compares the Sunne in its strength for Gebor is its proper title And I make no question but the glory of his kingdome begunne here on earth though descending from heaven where it shall bee accomplished was by the Holy Ghost intended according to the Mysticall sense of that Psalme which is not a History onely but a true prophecy And our Apostles allegation of the fourth verse of this Psalme Rom. 10. 18. Their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the World was not allusive onely but argumentative and fulfilled in the preaching of the Gospell by the Apostles and their Successors in the mysticall sense as it had been before those times dayly verified in the literall 9 But meere ignorance in these and the like parables of our Saviour whose knowledge neerely concerned the generation in which and for whose good hee uttered them however the knowledge of them much concerne us of this age and nation cannot bee so prejudiciall to all good Christians as the ignorance of other parables and proverbiall speeches of his which alike neerely concerne mankinde Yet an ignorance there is of many rites and customes unto which both the words of the Prophets and his explications of them which concerne mans redemption by him punctually referre according to the literall sense Most of us know not him as our Redeemer because were know not our selves nor that miserable bond of servitude which hee did dissolve for us all And this wee know not because wee consider not the state and condition of legall servants unto cruell tyrannicall Lords We were servants to a most cruell Tyrant And the Sonne of God for our Redemption became truely and properly a servant to his Father before he became our Lord in speciall and so must wee be servants to him in speciall before wee become the sonnes of God For we must be sonnes before we be heires and sonnes by adoption before wee bee made Kings and Priests unto his Father I never read that passage of our Apostle Rom. 8. 15. Yee have not received the spirit of bondage againe to feare but yee have received the spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father but I alwaies conceived there was somewhat more contayned in it then was to be found in any lexicon or vulgar Scholiast yet what it should be in particular I learned of late from a learned Professor of another facultie which he hath adorned by his more then ordinary skill in sacred Antiquity and miscellane Philologie Now if wee value the Apostles words per quem clamamas Abba Pater with reference to the legall custome or manner by which some sort of slaves by birth and condition did claime the priviledge of manumission or of Adoption amongst the ancient Jewes the expression is ful of elegancie and most divine the manner of the Adoption to hereditaments temporall was a kinde of typicall prophecy of our Adoptiō to our eternall inheritāce in the heavēs 10. Were we as well acquainted either with boyes playes in ancient times as with our Christmas sports or with the severall kindes of Olympick games as we are with our Countrey May-games or horseraces we might bee more beholden to our selves in many points then to ordinary profest expositors of sacred writ For even unto childish sports the father of the fatherlesse and guardian of the helplesse our Saviour himselfe sometimes referres us for the true meaning of his parables as in Matthew 11 if wee may beleeve Lyra or Theophilact in matter of fact But whereunto shall I liken this generation It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellowes and saying wee have piped unto you and yee have not danced we have mourned unto you and yee have not lamented For Iohn came neither eating nor drinking and yet they say he hath a Devill The sonne of man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a man gluttonous and a wine bibber a friend of Publicanes and sinners But wisedome is justified of her children But whether there were any such positive custome amongst children as Lyra and Theophilact relate I will not dispute pro or con However Maldonats observation upon the place is of very good use for any that either intend to make a comment or to reade Commentators upon our Saviours parables with liberty of judgement or discretion The best is Iansenius hath better expounded this place with reference unto Childrens sports in generall then Lyra or Theophilact have done although wee grant them such a peculiar kinde of sporting as they supposed was then in use Verum ut ludi genus hoc incertum est ita nec convenit literae Non enim in litera dicuntur hi quidem dicere Cantavimus vobis non saltastis alijs vero lamentavimus non plorastis sed utrūque eisdem tribuitur Et vana est Nicolai interpretatio qui ideo dictum put at coaequalibus suis dicūt quia pueri divisi erant in duas aequales partes Coaequales enim proprie dicuntur Coaetanei Graecè in Matthaeo est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest sodalibus Proinde simplicius fuerit sine specialis alicujus ludi imaginatione exemplum hoc intelligere secundùm consuetudinem communem puerorum qui in foro laetioribus locis civitatum congregati inter se student ludendo effingere quicquid ab aliis vident seriò agi Itaque aliquando nupiias effingunt nuptiales laetitias tibiarum aut aliorum instrumentorum cantu imitantur aliquando vero funeralia obsequia expriment in quibus apud Iudaos planctibus lamentatione quorundam ac lugubrium decantatione solent homines ad tristitiam fletum provocari Haec dum imitantur pueri fit frequenter ut quod joco agunt nonsit efficax vel ad tripudia nuptialia vel ad fletus funer ales provocandos 11. But as for the Olympick games or the like whether elsewhere instituted in imitation of them or before them it is evident that the Apostles and other sacred writers S. Paul especially had both seene them and made good use of them for the more lively expressions of many Christian duties And unlesse wee know the particular Customes unto which their words referre wee shall but play at Blinde man-buffe in our expositions of them or in our exhortations to such
the plurall Elohim as Capito well observes doth not want its proper singular Eloah Therefore unlesse the holy Ghost had intended the notification of some mystery in the forme or character of his speech Moses would rather have said Barah Eloah then Barah Elohim 2. I am the more inclined to this opinion because many of the ancient and most orthodoxall writers observe a more distinct expression of the blessed Trinity throughout divers places of the first chapter of Genesis from the repetition of the name of God or Elohim in the more perfect workes of severall dayes as in the workes of the fourth day ver 14. And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heavens This is the voice of God the Father giving out his fiat and it is repeated againe ver 16. And God made two great lights This referres to God the Sonne by whom all things were made and by whom these lights were set in the firmament ver 17. It is lastly added ver 18. And God saw that it was good The note or character of the holy Ghost approving what was made by the Sonne from the authoritie of the Father So Moses againe describes the workes of the first day And God said let the waters bring forth abundantly ver 20. And in the 21. he repeates againe And God created great Whales c. And againe God saw that it was good When it is said ver 22. of the same dayes worke And God blessed them saying Be fruitfull and multiply this may referre unto the three persons joyntly So in the workes of the sixt day ver 24. God said Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kinde c. And it is repeated againe ver 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kinde c. And God saw that it was good But when Moses comes to the accomplishment of the sixt dayes worke ver 16. hee alters the forme or character of speech and makes the Verbe as well as the noune plurall And God said Let us make man in our Image after our likenesse This order observed by the ancients in the first creation of all things is admirably exemplified in the manner of mans redemption wrought by the Father Sonne and holy Ghost joyntly yet not without distinction of order in their joynt working in their undivided worke But of this by the assistance of this blessed Trinity hereafter 3. But however the Ancients or such as follow them may faile in this or the like particular search of mysteries from no better hint then the repetition of the same words or matter Yet their endeavour in the generall to finde out deepe hidden mysteries from these or the like superficiall or charactericall prenotions is warranted by the word of God according to its literall or assertive sense For so we are taught by Moses that such repetition of the same things as in secular sciences would incurre suspition of tautology or superfluity of words may be the undoubted character of some matter more then ordinary and more observable then if it had beene represented but once or after one manner onely A secular Southsayer or professed Interpreter of nocturnall representations would have sought after more interpretations than one of Pharaohs two dreames especially seeing the matter represented to him in the first vision was so unlike to the matter represented in the second Yet Ioseph by the guidance of Gods Spirit discovers these two dreames though distinct in time and manner of representation to be for substance but one And Ioseph said unto Pharaoh The dreame of Pharaoh is one God hath shewed Pharaoh what hee is about to doe The seaven good Kine are seaven yeares and the seaven good eares are seaven yeares the dreame is one And the seaven thin and ill favoured Kine that came up after them are seaven yeares and seaven empty eares blasted with the East winde shall be seaven yeares of famine Gen. 41. 25 26 c. And for that the dreame was doubled unto Pharaoh twice it is because the thing is established by God and God will shortly bring it to passe 4. When we say an honest mans word should be as good as his oath wee suppose that this morall integrity or perfection in man hath a farre more exquisite patterne in God Hee is no lesse immutable in his promises than in his oath It is impossible for him to change his minde or to deceive men in the one as in the other To what end then doth hee so often interpose his oath sometimes when hee denounceth judgement otherwhiles for the consolation of men and confirmation of their beliefe in his gracious promises Sure it is one thing to say Gods purpose will or promise is immutable another that the thing purposed will'd or promised by him is immutable The absolute immutability of his purpose or promise can yeeld us no full assurance that the things promised or purposed by him are unchangeable or that sentence denounced though in terms peremptory is irreversible But unto whatsoever promise or sentence wee finde his oath annexed it is an undoubted character a not most infallible that the thing promised is unalterable that the sentence so denounced is irreversible This is one of the most Catholique rules for the right interpreting of many and for the reconciliation of divers Scriptures which otherwise seeme most opposite But the proofe and use of this rule will come under a more full examination in the treatise of our Saviours consecration to his everlasting Priesthood and in some other discussions in what sense God is said to repent in what cases not to repent For both assertions are frequent in Scriptures 5. Sometimes divine mysteries are represented not in some one word or name but in the very character or frame of some one letter or in the addition of a letter or point There is no question amongst us Christians but that he who called unto Moses Levit. 1. 1. from the mercy seat as we gather from Numb 7. was the sonne of God the eternall word who since hath taken our nature upon him and calleth unto us with a voice and mouth truly humane though the voice and mouth of God But at that time he called to Moses not in a loud and thundring voice like that in Mount Sinai but with a soft and gentle voice And this gentlenesse of the voice as the Hebrew Doctors observe and some good Christian Hebricians approve their observation with the mystery foreshadowed by it is charactered unto us by the extraordinary smallnesse of one letter in the originall word 6. The like mystery is represented unto us after the same manner Isa 9. 7. c. The Prophet displaying the titles of the Messias and his kingdome contrary to the rules of ordinary Orthography mutat quadrata rotundis beginnes the Hebrew word rendred by our English of the increase with Mem rotundum with a round letter instead of a square And this unusuall character the Jewes
a mortall Father an immortall sonne No Schoolemen did ever acknowledge the generation of the Son of God to be univocally like to other generation in all points besides the eternitie of it For even in that wee acknowledge it to be eternall wee difference it from all other generations by such an unexpressible superminencie as eternitie hath over time or diuine immensitie of all bodily magnitudes or the Divine Essence it selfe of Created Natures CHAP 26. That by the Sonne of God and the Word wee are to understand one and the same partie or person that the Word by whom S. John saith the World was made is coeternall to God the Father who made all things by him BUt to wave this point for the present concerning the maner how the eternall God should beget an eternall sonne the thread which we are to unwind as far as possibly we can without knot or ravell is this that Christ Jesus is â—eri bodiè yesterday to day the same only true sonne of God for ever truely coeternall to his Father And this being a point of so great consequence I will not allot one place onely for the clearing of it but insist upon it more or lesse in all the articles which concerne Christ For in all of them wee shall be enforced to incounter the Jew as well as the Arrian or Socinian 2 Whether of these two be the greater sinner or more dangerous enemy to the crosse of Christ that I leave to God the Father and Christ Jesus the judge of quick and dead and to the holy Spirit to determine But seeing it is no sinne to refute or censure both their errours the errour of the moderne Jew who utterly denieth Christ to be the sonne of God in any sense seemes to me more excusable at least lesse inexcusable then the errour of the Arrian or Socinian who granting Christ to be the sonne of God deny him to be coeternall to his Father And my reason is because it is not more plaine or pregnant out of the writings of Moses or the Prophets which the Jews only acknowledge that God was to be incarnate or to become man though that be most pregnant then it is from the Evangelist and other sacred writers of the new Testament whose authoritie the Socinian denies not that Christ is the only sonne of God from all eternitie Two or three testimonies shall suffice for the present Were there no other place besides that of the Apostle Heb. 7. 3. and that of S. Iohn chap. 1. these would captivate my understanding to the obedience of beleife in this point The Apostle speaking of Melchisedech saith he was without beginning without end of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is albeit he had both Father and Mother beginning and end of dayes yet he is represented unto us without beginning or end of dayes that so he might be a type or shadow of the sonne of God But how farre a type of the sonne of God only in this as he was without beginning of dayes or end of life That the Apostle by the sonne of God did meane Christ Jesus and none else none deny The very scope and end of this parallel betwixt Melchisedech and Christ was to shew that Christ the sonne of God was truely and really such as Melchisedech was only by shadow or representation that is really and absolutely without beginning or end of dayes he who is who was is to come perfect characters of eternitie Againe it is evident that the sonne of God who died for us was the same person and party with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that word which was made flesh This consequence is ungainesayable that if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word were without beginning or end of dayes God blest for ever and coeternall with him who said Let there be light Let there be a firmament c. then Christ Iesus the sonne of God who not only we but the Socinians grant did die for us was and is without beginning or end of dayes truely coeternall to God the Father 3 That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of God was absolutely eternall not made so in time is a truth which the wit of man cannot more punctually presse against all that in future times should deny or question it then S. Iohn doth in the beginning of his Gospell And the manner of his reiterate emphaticall expressions of himselfe every later adding strength unto the former confirmes the opinion or tradition of the Ancient that he purposely wrote that maiestick proeme to his Gospell which is but a paraphrase though most divine upon the writings of Moses and the Prophets touching this great mysterie for preventing of the spreading of the Arian or like heresie whose seeds were by the envious man sowne in S. Iohns time after Christs other Apostles were fallen asleepe In the beginning saith S. Iohn the Word was What beginning doth he meane The same which Moses meant when hee said In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth The originall phrase whether used by Moses in the Hebrew or by S. Iohn in the Greeke exactly answers to the Latine in principio Now though every cause be Principium the beginning or that which gives beginning to its proper effect Yet Omne principium every beginning is not a proper cause of that which usually followes upon it For the first dawning or scaring of the morning is the beginning yet no true positive cause of the day following it is first in order of time but not of causality And this ambiguity of the Phrase in the beginning is the same both in the Hebrew and in the Chaldee as the learned in these tongues no parties in this businesse have observed Now in that first of Genesis we must take the word beginning not for the cause of all which followed but for the first in order or precedency of duration For the heavens and the earth if we take them as now they are were not made in that beginning or point of time wherein God is said to have made the heaven and earth Nor did any of these or any other parts of the world spring or result by way of causality from the first masse which was without order of parts or true forme otherwise the distinction of light from darknesse or separation of the waters which are above the firmament could not have beene works of creation properly so called but rather of generation whereas the Scripture tells us that these were the works of the first and second day much lesse could the production of plants or vegetables or substances endued with sense have been any proper works of creation after the heavens and earth were made When then Moses saith In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth this is all one as if he had said the heavens and the earth had a beginning that this unformed masse was the beginning or first draught of them and all things
prophet Isaiah makes betweene the mortalitie and frailety of flesh and the immortality or everlasting duration of the word of God the Psalmist makes betweene his owne misery and fading estate and the everlasting happinesse of his Lord God And from the contemplation of this opposition takes the same comfort to himselfe which the Prophet Isaiah was commanded to minister unto Gods people and unto Ierusalem My dayes saith he Psal 102. 11 are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grasse but thou O Lord shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations And againe Of old thou hast laid the foundations of the earth and the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed thou art the same and thy yeares shall have no end That this passage of the Psalmist is literally meant of the eternall God the Iews themselves cannot deny And that it is meant of God incarnate of the sonne of God manifested in the flesh S. Paul in the first Chapter to the Hebrews doth assure us Christians For he alleageth this very place ver 10. to prove that Christ God and man was farre above all Angells and principalities and that after his enthronization as King he was to change this world which was made by him The very literall meaning of the Psalmist will enforce thus much that this place was to be meant of God not simply or absolutely but of God incarnate For the eternall duration of the Godhead is not measurable by dayes or yeares but the incarnation of the sonne of God or his duration in the flesh may be accounted by number of yeares for the time past yet are his yeares as man to continue without end without any decay or diminution of that nature which he assumed The Psalmist foresaw his owne interest in the numberlesse yeares of his Lord whose happinesse and immortality was the only comfort of his miserable mortalitie The same comfort the Author of the 103. Psalme whether he were the same with the Author of the 102. Psalme or some other takes to himselfe from the like contemplation of his owne misery and of the happinesse of God incarnate Like as a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust As for man his dayes are as grasse as a flowre of the field so he flourisheth For the winde passeth over it and it is gone and the place therof shall know it no more But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him and his righteousnesse unto childrens children To such as keepe his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandemēts to do them Psal 103. 13 14 15 16 17 18. For the true interpretatiō or application of this passage unto this present purpose it is in the first place remarkable that where in the 13. verse wee read Iehovah or the Lord the Chaldee renders it The word of the Lord hath pity on them that feare him In the second that the mercy of the Lord or of the word of God verse 17 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a word or terme whose full importance cannot bee had from any ordinary Lexicon unlesse it be such as is proper unto Divinitie For it cannot be understood of that mercy or loving kindnesse of God which was ordinarily manifested either towards mankinde in generall or towards the people of Israel in particular Every Novice in the Schoole of the Prophets did know that this mercy of the Lord was perpetuall But what could it availe the Author of this Psalme to consider that this mercy of God had beene manifested to his forefathers before his time and should bee to posteritie in their severall generations after him what comfort could it afford unto the childrens children of such as feared him that this mercy of God should be reserved for them only after the same manner or measure which their forefathers had tasted or had experience of it and yet complaine of their miserable and wretched estate for the present and comfort themselves only in the expectation of that abundant mercy which they hoped afterwards should be revealed The best exposition upon this place of the Psalmist or what is in speciall meant by the mercy of the Lord or of the word of God is given by S. Paul Titus the 3. 3 4 5 6 7. For wee our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another But after the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by workes of righteousnesse which wee have done but according to this mercy he saved i◠by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour That being justified by his grace wee should be made heires according to the hope of eternall life Of this mercy and loving kindnesse the Patriarchs and Prophets as wee said before had the promise but without all hope of enjoying the thing promised for the present It was not then the mercy of God or Iehovah considered in the Godhead only but the mercy of God to be incarnate to be made King and Judge of the earth which did so comfort these and other Psalmists in their greatest distresses and perplexities in al which they had just occasion to say as S. Paul afterwards did If in this life only or in the loving kindnesse of God as it hath been experienced in our dayes we had hope we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. 4 That this place though literally meant of God alone was yet to be punctually fulfilled in God incarnate or in the Word made flesh besides this exposition of S. Paul the very letter and circumstance of the text doth perswade us For the expected comfort wherupon this Psalmist pitcheth is this The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdome ruleth over all And here againe whereas we read the Lord the Chaldee reades the Word of the Lord hath prepared his throne And in that it was prepared it was not from eternitie though after it were prepared to continue from everlasting to everlasting that is as we say world without end And this is that throne and that Kingdome which Daniel foretold that God long after his time would erect Daniel 2. 44. And in the dayes of these Kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdome which shall never be destroyed and that Kingdome shall not be left to other people but it shall breake in pieces and consume all these Kingdomes and it shall stand for ever And of this throne you have a most exquisite description by S. Iohn Revel 4. 1 2. After this I looked and
before had no actuall existence unto him who was the sonne of God from eternity Now not he that gives but hee that takes the spouse given in marriage is the true husband And the spouse so taken from her espousall becomes the daughter not of him that gives her in marriage but of the Father of her husband with whom shee is now made one flesh Thus God the Father by this espousall thus wrought by the holy Ghost becomes the Father of the humane nature of Iesus which was now united unto his sonne after another manner then before hee had beene of any man and after another manner then the holy Ghost was or is the Father of the man Christ Iesus Christ then as God and man is the only sonne of God the Father The same Iesus only as man is the sonne of David 3. That the promised Messias was according to the Prophecies to be the sonne of David is evident but by what line all descent hee was to be the sonne of David or by what legall right the Kingdome of David was derived unto him is not without question amongst Christians David we know by Gods free donation was King of Iudah and Israel and Solomon by legall right did succeed him in his Kingdome And Solomons heires or Successours by bodily descent had as firme a title to the Kingdome of David as any other Kings or Monarchs have to the Crownes and dignities of their Ancestors But whether Solomons line by bodily descent were utterly extinguished before the conception or birth of our Saviour is a point neither much debated nor agreed upon by Divines If it were extinguished before that time yet Davids line did not determine with Solomons And for this reason haply our Saviour is instyled by the holy Ghost the sonne of David not so of Solomon albeit Solomon was as true a shadow of him as King as David had beene And Solomons Kingdome and raigne a fairer map of his Kingdome then Davids was And though our Saviours intermediate Ancestors according to the flesh from David downward were many as S. Luke and more then S. Matthew relates Yet he did immediatly succeede David in the Kingdom For so by the law of most Countries in case the elder brethrens sonnes or issues faile the third or fourth brother succeeds as lawfull heire not unto his elder brothers or their children but to their Grandfather or first donor Many may be immediate heires unto thē to whō they are no immediate Successours in lineall descent That Solomon and his line had no such perpetuity bestowed upon them by vertue of Gods Covenant with David as that it might not determine before the promised seed of David was exhibited the tenour of that Covenant as it is exemplified by the Author of the 89. Psalme puts out of question I have found David my servant with my holy oyle have I annointed him ver 20. He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first borne higher then the Kings of the earth my mercy will I keepe for him evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven ver 26 27 28 29. This last he speakes of Davids seede as of one not of his seedes as of many For so it followes ver 30. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements if they breake my statutes and keepe not my Commandements then will I visite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes This visitation with rods and stripes imports more then fatherly chastisements true and reall punishments Yea heavie judgements upon Davids other children according to their deserts None are utterly exempted from Gods heavie displeasure besides the promised seede or Davids sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose prerogative is in the next words reserved by oath Never the losse my loving kindnesse will I not take from David nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ver 33. This is in effect as if he had said however Davids other sonnes provoke me I will not repent of that loving kindnesse which I promised to him it shall be accomplished in Davids seede for in respect of things alterable or reversible whether promised for the good of men or threatned for their woe God is usually said to repent but to whatsoever hee sweares of that he never repents Every event ratified by oath is either unalterable or irreversible The Lord hath sworne saith David Psal 110. and will not repent that is he will not change or alter that which hee hath promised To alter that which was only promised but without oath is in the phrase of the holy Ghost as we usually render the originall to faile or breake Covenant that is in more proper language to reverse a blessing promised Hence it is added in the next verse of the 89. Psalme Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David that is I will not make void my covenant His seeds shall endure for ever and his throne as the Sunne before mee It shall be established for ever as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in Heaven This is that throne and that Kingdome which the Angel Luke 1. 32 33. foretold should be given unto the seed or fruit of the Virgins womb As for Davids other children or for Solomons race their title to the temporary Crowne of David was at the first but conditional or rather mutable for every conditionall estate presupposeth a state in being but a state mutable or reversible Such was the state of Solomon or the heires of his bodie aswell unto the kingdome of Judah as of Israel The Kingdome of Israel they utterly lost in the second descent The next Quaere is whether this their estate unto Judah or Israel which was by originall tenour reversible were de facto utterly reversed and the Covenant as it concerned them finally cancelled 4 And of this Quaere the branches are two first whether Salomons line were utterly extinguished before the returne of Iudah from the Babylonish Captivitie or in any age before the son of God and the promised seed of David was manifested in the flesh The second whether in case the utter extinguishment of Salomons line be a point doubtfull or by any authentick Author or record indeterminable This line were not in the same desperate case for recovering the Kingdom that Elies race was for regaining the Priesthood from which it was by solemne oath deposed That Solomons line was utterly excluded from inheriting the Kingdome of Iudah and Iacob the Jews and Christians for the most part agree And the tenour of that terrible sentence against Ieconiah according to the principles acknowledged by both will inferre no lesse As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of
the same word which in its prime signification imports waight or heavinesse in the next metaphoricall or translated sense imports praise honour or glory yet if we take it out of the ballance and set it in some other speciall reference it implies depression disgrace or ignominy Now according to the two contrary significations of each of these words whose prime significations are directly contrary that prophecy of Isaiah cap. 9. ver 1. was exactly fulfilled 〈…〉 Primo tempore alleviata est terra Zabulon terra Nepthali novissimo aggravata est via maris trans Iordanem Galilaea gentium Populus qui ambulabat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam So the old vulgar reads it but according to Forerius thus Primo tempore vilis fuit terra Zabulon terra Nepthalin novissimo honorata fuit via maris trans Iordanem Galilaea gentium Populus qui ambulabat in obscuro vidit lucem magnam Zabulon and Nepthali in our Prophets time had beene waighed as Balshazzar afterwards was in the ballance and were found too light They were the first which were swept away by the rod of Ashur and led Captives into a strang Land Yet wore they the first into whom the Gospel of the Kingdome was preached by our Saviour himselfe and so the former prophecy which had beene in our Prophets time fulfilled of them according to the prime signification of the Hebrew Kalal which is to be vile or light was in our Saviours time fulfilled of them according to the second importance of the same word which is to be exalted or advanced and according to the first translated sense or metaphoricall signification of Cabad which is to be honourable or glorious The former fulfilling of this prophecy yee have in the sacred history 2 Kings 15. 29. In the dayes of Pekah King of Israel came Tiglath Pileser King of Assyria and took Ijon and Abelbethmaachash and Ianoah and Kedesh and Hazâ—r and Gilead and Galilee all the Land of Nepthali and carryed them captive to Assyria 12. The second fulfilling of it is exactly related by S. Matthew chap. 4. ver 12 13. c. Now when Iesus had heard that Iohn was cast into prison he departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth hee came and dwelt in Capernaum which is upon the Sea coast in the borders of Zabulon and Nepthali that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the Prophet saying The Land of Zabulon and the Land of Nepthali by the way of the Sea beyong Iordan Galilee of the Gentiles The people which sate in darknesse saw great light and tathem which sate in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up But as Zabulon and Nepthali changed their mindes or opinion of Christ whom at first they honoured so the words of this prophecy did change their signification and were fulfilled of them againe in a contrary sense It was their glory that they were elevated or lift up to heaven at our Saviours first comming to them is was their ignominy and misery that they afterwards became graves or gravati pressed downe with their sinnes to hell For unto this place of the Prophet Isaiah that speech of our Saviour refertes Matt. 11. 20. c. Then beganne he to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty workes were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Cherazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had beene done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long agoe in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement then for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought downe to hell for it the mighty workes which have beene done in thee had beene done in Sodome it would have remained unto this day But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodome in the day of Iudgement then for thee In this our Saviour did speake as never man spake and manifest himselfe to be the Prince of Prophets in that all his solemne speeches as well as deeds if wee would be observant of them direct us to some Propheticall Oracle or other or reveale some mysteries before latent or which is all one some mysticall sense of Scriptures And however no prophecy can be truly said to be fulfilled only by way of accommodation or allusion though there be no allusive sense of Scriptures distinct from the severall senses before mentioned yet shall we not be able to perceive either the manner how many prophecies are fulfilled or the literall sense of many places in the new Testament unlesse besides the grammaticall signification or construction of the words wee know withall the matter be it rite or custome c whereto they allude or referre CHAP. 18. Containing the generall heads or Topicks for finding out the severall senses of Scripture especially for the just valuation of the literall sense whether in the old Testament or in the new SUch qualificatios whether for learning or life as Tully and Quintilian require in a compleat orator Galen in a Physitian or other Encomiasts of any liberall science profession or facultie may require in a perfect professor of it is but a part of these endowments which ought to be in a true divine or professor of Divinitie The Professors of every other facultie may without much skill in any profession besides their owne truly understand the genuine rules or precepts of it All the learning which he hath besides serves but for ornament is no constitutive part of the facultie which he professeth But the very literall sense of many precepts or of many fundamentall rules and Maximes in Divinitie can neither be rightly understood nor justly valued without variety of reading and observations in most other faculties and sciences that be besides the Collation of scripture with scripture in which search alone more industrious sagacitie is required then in any other science there can be use of The references without whose knowledge the positive sense of many scriptures cannot be knowne are respectively almost infinite at least incomprehensible to any one mans reading or observation It shall suffice in this place to comprehend the generalitie of all under this briefe division The matters whereto the Scriptures whether of the old or new Testament referre are either rites and customes civill or naturall experiments not recorded by any Canonicall writers or rites and customes practises and experiments recorded in the Canon of faith It would be no difficult worke to write a large volume of instances in either kinde Of both I present only these few first of customes practises or experiments not expressed in any Canonicall writer 2. Set thou an ungodly man to be Ruler over him and let Sathan stand at his right hand saith the Psalmist Psalme 109. 5. The imprecations in this Psalme of whomsoever else they were literally meant were fulfilled in Iudas
then in the Hebrew But the Chaldee further instructs us that the object of this oath was the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which did not note only God himselfe but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mediator between God and man and the tenor or contents of the oath was that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was God himselfe and the object of this oath should become the seed of Abraham and make mediation by such a sacrifice as God the Father for tryall only did require of Abraham The comming of the sonne of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the world which had long before beene promised was not newly ratified only by oath but from this time the son of God was truly predestinated to be the seed of Abraham or the seed of Abraham to be the sonne of God as afterwards the seed or sonne of David was to wit from that time wherein the Lord had sworne to David that his seed should endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of Heaven Psal 89. 29. It is not to be omitted that where the Hebrew Psal 110. hath it The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand c. the Chaldee hath it The Lord said unto his Word sit thou at my right hand untill I make thy enemies thy footstoole And this Word or this Lord for so the Hebrewes expresse it by Adonai was then destinated and declared by oath to become not only the sonne of David but to be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech ver 4. All these three places will require some further consideration in the treatise of Gods Covenant with Abraham and with David or of our Saviours consecration to his everlasting Priesthood Thus much for the present may suffice that S. Iohn was nto the first which conceived the sonne of God God himselfe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much lesse did he need to borrow his expressions from any Writers not truely Canonical For all this was conteyned in the places before alleaged as Ionathan and Onkelus interpret them and was likewise expressely conteyned in the Hebrew in sundry places of the Prophets of some of which God willing in the next Chapter 5 As little probabilitie there is either that S. Paul Heb 1. 1. should borrow his characters of the Sonne of God from the Author of the booke of Wisdome or that Author his though much what the same from S. Paul as that S. Iohn should take his expressions from the former Chaldee paraphrast or the later from S. Iohn Both S. Paul and the Author of the booke of Wisdome had their hints at least from such prenotions as the ancient Hebrews had of the wisdome or sonne of God or of their expected Messias when he should be revealed It is no way improbable much lesse incredible that such Interpreters or paraphrasers upon sacred writ as for ought we know did not expressely beleeve in the sonne of God either before his incarnation or since should have the forementioned prenotions concerning the promised Messias seeing the very Samaritans had the like which they could not gather from the ordinary reading of originall Scripture if at all they read them Such a prenotion that woman Iohn 4. had of the Messias before she did beleeve that Jesus was the promised Messias or Christ I know saith she that Messias commeth which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things ver 25. She had a prenotion and conceit that the Messias should tell them all things in a better manner then the prophets could do For shee had acknowledged our Saviour to be a Prophet ver 19 yet rested not satisfied with his answer to her question there made untill he had told her in expresse termes that hee was the promised Messias 6 But to compare S. Pauls characters of the son of God with the Authors of the booke of Wisdomes characters of the Wisdome of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the prophets Hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heire of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Who being the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his person and upholding all things by the word of the power when hee had by himselfe purged our sinnes sate downe on the right hand of the Majestie on high Being made so much better then the Angels as he hath by inheritance obteyned a farre more excellent name then they For she is the breath of the power of God and a pure influence flowing frō the glory of the Almighty therefore can no undefiled thing sal in to her For she is the brightness of the everlasting light the unspotted mirrour of the power of God and the image of his goodnesse And being but one she can do all things and remaining in her selfe shee maketh all things new in all ages entring into holy soules she maketh thē friends of God and Prophets For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdome For she is more beautifull then the sun above al the order of stars being compared with the light she is found before it For after this commeth night but vice shall not prevaile against Wisdome 7 There is not one proposition or character in all this passage which for ought I yet know is not Canonicall No attribute of wisdome which can fitly be applied to any person or substance save onely to the son of God or at least to the holy Ghost But whether this Author did so intend them or apply them or whether the holy Ghost did by his peculiar inspiration or God by his speciall providence direct him thus to speake or write after the same manner he did Moses and other Authors of Canonicall Scriptures is not to me so evident Nor is it probable that this booke was written by Solomon albeit the Author of it doth put upon him the person of Solomon and personate himselfe under the habit or Garb of the King of Israel The opinion is not improbable who think this book was written by Philo the Iew to solace himselfe and his Country men upon the ill successe of his Embassage unto Caius the Emperour which was not many yeares after our Saviours death nor many before S. Paul did write his Epistle or S. Iohn his Gospell The book it selfe whosoever was the Author of it is an excellent and a most elegant paraphrase upon many Canonicall Scriptures and conteynes many exquisite expressions of Gods special providence and infinite wisdome in governing the world and in over-ruling both the policie and the power of greatest Princes The same booke notwithstanding is for many reasons justly denyed by S. Ierome by our Church and by many grave