were not that Egyptian that not long before that time had made an insurrection Iosephus giveth his story Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 6. thus At that time there cometh one to Ierusalem out of Aegypt pretending himself to be a Prophet and he counselled the common people that they should go with him to Mount Olivet and that there he would shew them how at his command the walls of Ierusalem would fall But Felix understanding this sent some horse and foot against them and slew 400 of them our text here saies 4000 and took two hundred prisoners ACTS CHAP. XXII PAUL Apologizeth to the people telleth his Education Conversation and Conversion and relating how by a Divine Vision he was appointed to go to the Gentiles they begin a new commotion which the chief Captain again pacifieth but yet thinks Paul some notable villain or else that there would never have been so terrible cries against him He would now have scourged him but that he understood he was a Romane therefore he turns to another course and the next day brings him before the Sanhedrin The sitting of that Bench was little at Ierusalem now For as we have observed they were unnested from Ierusalem divers years ago and their most constant residence at present was at Iabneh only they were now come up to the Festivall ACTS CHAP. XXIII XXIV to Ver. 27. RAbban Simeon the sonne of Rabban Gamaliel Pauls Master was President of the great Councill at this time for Gamaliel was dead some two or tâ—ree yeares ago Of him the Jewes have this saying in Sotah per. 9. From the time that old Rabban Gamaliel died the honour of the Law ceased for till then they read and learned the Law standing but after his death sitting Onkelos the Targumist of the Law burne a great quantity of frankincense for him at his Obsequies Iuchasin fol. 53. Whether Rabban Simeon the President were present at this Session or no Ananias the Highpriest is as busie as if he had been chief President himself But Paul cares for him as little as he busied himself much He cals him whited wall or arrant painted hypocrite And when he was checked for reviling Gods Highpriest I knew not brethren saith he that he is Highpriest for if I took him for such a one I would not â—o have spoken to him since it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of my people It is not possible that Paul should not know who and what Ananias was but 〈◊〉 is very indifferent whether we understand this as not owning this man for a lawfull Highpriest or not owning any lawfull Highpriesthood now at all The man base and usurping and the Function of the Highpriesthood disanulled by the great Highpriest who had accomplished all that it typified and the place of the Highpriesthood being become a common Merchandise obtained by money and favour and disâ—â—â—ching one another By a holy policy he divides the Councill and professing himself by education a Pharisee and of that belief in the point of the Resurrection he not only sets Phariseâ— and Sadduces to a hot contestation between themselves but he makes the Pharisâ—â—s so farre as to that opinion to take his part It had been possible to have set the Hilâ—elian and Shammaean party together by the ears by a bone handsomly cast 〈◊〉 them for the Councill had these factions in it and their feud was as deadly bâ—t Paul could own no article of their divisions that was worth his owning they were so 〈◊〉 and below his cognisance It is the confession of the Ierusalem Gomarists in Iâ—ma fol 38. col 3. That the fault of their great ones under the second Temple was love of money and hatred one of another Paul in the hubbub is rescued again by the Souldiery and that night by revelation is warranted to appeal to Caesar by being informed he must go to Rome A Conspiracy of a pack of cut-throats to murder him is prevented and he is sent to Caesarea to Felix where he lies prisoner two years By such packing and combining of murderers it may easily be conjectured what temper the Nation was now in Iosephus his character of it at these times is That the affairs of the Iews grew daily worse and worse 〈◊〉 that the Country was full of theeves and sorcerers but Felix was daily picking them up to penalty after their desert the greater thief the lesse for his character yields 〈◊〉 no better Tacitus saies enough of him when he speaks but this Antonius Felix per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit Histor. lib. 5. cap. 2. Upon which Iosephus will give you a large comment of his intolerable covetousnesse polling cruelty sacriledge murderings and all manner of wickednesse His injuriousnesse to Paul in the story before us and the very naming 〈◊〉 wife Drusilla may be brand enough upon him for her by inticements and magicall 〈◊〉 he allured to himself from her husband and married her And him he kept prisoner two years wrongfully because he would not bribe him In his pleading before him he makes him tremble but it is but a qualm and away CHRIST LVII NERO. III PAUL is a prisoner this year at Caesarea under Felix A great City of Jews and Greeks mixtly the place where the first spark of Jews Warres kindled afterward A famous University of Jews in time if so be it was not so at this time ACTS CHAP. XXIV Ver. 27. CHRIST LVIII NERO. IV PAUL still a prisoner at Caesarea under Felix for the first part of this year Then cometh Festus into the Government and Felix packeth to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours ACTS CHAP. XXV XXVI PAUL answereth for himself first before Festus alone then before Agrippa and his sister Bernice this Agrippa was his sonne whose death is related Acts 12. he by the favour of Claudius the Emperour succeeded his brother in Law-Uncle Herod for such relations did that Incestuous family finde out in the Kingdom of Chalcis For Berenice his sister had married Herod King of Chalcis her Uncle and his who was now dead and this Agrippa succeeded him in his Kingdom being also King of Iudea Of this Agrippa as it is most probable there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Writers as particularly this that King Agrippa reading the Law in the later end of the year of release as it was injoyned and coming to those words Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt not set a stranger King over thee which is not of thy brethren the tears ran down his cheeks for he was not of the seed of Israel which the Congregation observing cried out Be of good comfort O King Agrippa thou art our brother He was of their Religion though not of their blood and well versed in all the Laws and customs as Paul speaks chap. 26.3 Berenice his sister now a widow lived with him and that in more familiarity then was for their credit afterward she fell into the like
Talmud also in Erubhin fol. 29. saith thus Rabba saith Behold I am like ben Azzai in the streets of Tiberias The Glosse thereupon saith thus Ben Azzai taught profoundly in the streets of Tiberias and there was no man in his daies that was a remover of mountains like him By removing of mountains meaning how able men they were and how they could overcome the greatest difficulties in Divinity Which common phrase Christ useth to face that wretched boasting of theirs of their own parts and worth and to set up faith in its proper dignity as that that is only able for all things SECTION LXXV MATTH Chap. XXI from Ver. 23. to the end of the Chapt. MARK Chap. XI from Ver. 27. to the end And Chap. XII from the beginning to Ver. 13. LUKE Chap. XX. from the begin to Ver. 20. CHRIST in the Temple posing them about Johns Baptism The parable of the Vineyard c. THe continuation of the order is apparent CHRIST cometh again from Bethany into the Temple and there being questioned by what authority he did what he did he stops their mouth by proposing a question again What they thought of Iohns authority by which he made that great change in Religion that he did and intraps them in such a dilemma as they are not able to get out of He proposeth the Parable of the Vineyard and Husbandmen and by it sheweth the priviledges and yet the perversness of the Jewish Nation and their destruction from Isa. 5. c. See R. Tanchum fol. 54. col 4. SECTION LXXVI MATTH Chap. XXII from the beginning of the Chapter to Ver. 15. The Parable of the Wedding Supper THe order is plain of it self The Parable setteth forth the Jews despising of the means of grace and evil usage of those that were sent unto them ver 5 6. and for this their destruction and ruine of their City and the calling of the Gentiles c. SECTION LXXVII MATTH Chap. XXII from Ver. 15. to the end And Chap. XXIII all the Chapter MARK Chap. XII from Ver. 13. to Ver. 41. LUKE Chap. XX. from Ver. 26. to the end of the Chapt. Tribute to Cesar. The resurrection asserted in the Law The great Commandment Christ how Davids sonne Wo against the Scribes and Pharisees THe Evangelists are so clear in their order both here and a good way forward that there can be no scrupling in it The question proposed Whether it were lawfull to give tribute to Cesar proceeded from that old maxime among them upon mistake of Deut. 17.15 that they ought not to be subject to any power or potentate which was not of their own blood or Religion the holding to which maxime cost them the ruine of their City and Nation His answer from the Image of Cesar upon their coin was according to their own concessions The Ierusalem Talmud doth personate David and Abigail talking thus Abigail said What evil have I done or my children or my cattell David saith to her Because thy husband vilified to Kingdom of David She saith Art thou a King then He saith to her Did not Samuel anoint me King She saith to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Coin of our Lord Saul is yet current In Sanhedr fol. 20. col 2. Maym. in Gezelah per. 5. A King that cuts down the trees of any owner and makes a bridge of them it is lawfull to go over it c. How is this to be understood Of a King whose Coin is current in these Countries for the men of the Country do thereby evidence that they acknowledge him for their Lord and themselves his servants But if his Coin be not current then he is a robber c. The topick from whence he argueth the resurrection against the Sadduces is also acknowledged by the Writers of that Nation Tanchum fol. 13. col 3. The holy blessed God doth not joyn his Name to the Saints while they are alive but when they are dead as it is said To the Saints which are in the earth c. But behold we finde that he joyns his Name to Isaac meaning he cals himself the God of Isaac while he was alive c. Jerus in Beracoth fol. 5. col 4. Whence is there proof that the righteous are called living when they are dead c. He poseth the Pharisees in their very Catechism they used it as a common name for the Messias to call him the son of David and yet when they are put to it to observe that David cals him Lord they are so farre nonplust that they have not only not what to answer for the present but this silenceth them from future disputes Now therefore he fals upon them with their deserved character and doom and as in Matth. 5. he had pronounced beatitudes so here in Matth. 23. he denounceth woes and curseth these men from Isa. 65.15 c. This Chapter as it is a speech to and of the Scribes and Pharisees and treateth of their doctrines and demeanours so from their own Pandects and Authors may it be explained from point to point those speaking out their doctrines and practises to the full Their sitting in Moses chair ver 1. meaneth them as Magistrates to whom Christ injoyneth all lawfull obedience Vid. Sanhedr per. 1. halac 6. Their heavy burdens ver 4. translates their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which they speak so much and so highly Their Tephillin are called Phylacteries ver 5. which meaneth not only Observatives because they were memorials of their duty and devotions being four portions of the Law written in two parchments and the one worn upon their forehead and the other upon their left arm but Preservatives as being reputed by them a fence against evil spirits Ierus Beracoth fol. 2. A man hath need to say over his Phylacteries every evening in his house to fright away evil spirits They loved to be called Rabbi Rabbi ver 7. R. Ahibah said to Eliezer Rabbi Rabbi Jerus Meed Kaâ—on fol. 81.1 And yet they had this rule against it Love the work but hate the Rabbiship Maym. in Talm. Torah per. 3. Call no one father ver 9. in that sense as they owned their Doctors by the title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 relying upon the authority of humane doctrines Their permitting and practising to swear by the Temple ver 16. came into a common custom Juchas fol. 50. col 1. Baba ben Bota sware by the Temple and so did Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel and this was a custom in Israel Their tithing mint annise and cummin ver 23. explained in the Talmudish treatises Demai whited sepulchers ver 27. Shekalim per. 1. halac 1. In the moneth Adar they whited the sepulchers And the reason is given by the Gomarists that people hereby might have the better discovery of them the better to avoid defilement by them which well observed sets on Christs invective against these wretches the more Gomar utriusque Talm. in loc Ierus in Maasar Sheni fol. 55.3 Their
he heard of Peters trouble and danger that he had been in at Ierusalem and desired to see him for that he had some speciall interest and familiarity with Peter may be collected from 1 Pet 5.14 and in that Peter was so well acquainted at his mothers house Act. 12.12 c. Or whether in regard of this his relation to Peter the Minister of the Circumcision he made it nice to go among the Gentiles into the thickest of which he saw they were coming every day more then other For at Paphos where they had last been was a Temple of Venus and at Perga where they now are was a Temple of Diana Strab. lib. 14. Pomp. Mela. lib. 1. cap. 14. Or whatsoever the matter was his departure was so unwarrantable that it made a breach betwixt him and Paul for the present nay it occasioned a breach betwixt Paul and Barnabas afterward And so we leave him in his journey to Ierusalem whither when he came he staied there till Paul and Barnabas came thither again ACTS CHAP. XII from Ver. 20. to Ver. 24. CHRIST XLIV CLAVDIVS IV HERODS death was in the beginning of this year the fourth of Claudius or neer unto it according as Iosephus helpeth us to compute who testifieth that the third year of his reign was compleated a little before his death Vid. Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. He left behinde him a sonne of seventeen years old in regard of whose minority and thereby unfitnesse to reign Claudius sent Cuspius Fadus to Govern his Kingdom His daughters were Berenice sixteen years old married to Herod King of Chalcis her fathers brother And Mariam ten years old and Drusilla six who afterward married Felix ACTS CHAP. XIII from Ver. 14. to the end of the Chapter And CHAP. XIV CHRIST XLV XLVI XLVII XLVIII XLIX CLAVDIVS V. VI. VII VIII IX AT the fifteenth Chapter we have some fastnesse of the time viz. in what year the Council at Ierusalem as it is commonly called did occurre which certainty we have not of the times of the occurrences henceforward thitherto so that since we cannot determinately point any passage to its proper year we must cast them in grosse under this grosse summe of years and distribute them to their proper seasons by the best conjecture we can From Perga in Pamphilia Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch in Pisidia and on the Sabbath day going into the Synagogue are invited by the Rulers of the Synagogue after the reading of the Law and Prophets to speak a word of exhortation to the people But how could the Rulers know that they were men fit to teach It may be answered By former converse with them in the City and it is very like that the Rulers themselves had drunk in some affection to the Gospel by converse with them which made them so ready to urge them to preach For it is not imaginable that this was the first time that they had seen them nor that they came to Town that very day but that they had had some converse before Paul preacheth and the Synagogue broke up and the Jews gone out the Gentiles desired that the same words might be preached to them in the week between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely on the second and fifth daies of the week following which were Synagogue daies on which they met in the Synagogues as on the Sabbath day And which daies their traditions said were appointed for that purpose by Ezra Talm. in Bava Kamah per. 7. R. Sol. and Nissim in Chetubboth per. 1. in Alphes Their preaching on those daies had so wrought that on the next Sabbath almost all the City was gathered together to hear the word and many of the Gentiles receive it but the Jews stirred up some female unbelieving proselytes against them and some of the chief of the City so that they drave them out of those coasts and they shaking off the dust of their feet against them go to Iconium This Ceremony injoyned them by their Master Matth. 10.14 was not so much for any great businesse put in the thing it self as that even from a tenet of their own they might shew how they were to be reputed of It was their own Maxime That the dust of a Heathen Country or City did defile or make a person unclean Tosaphta ad Kelim per. 1. hath this saying In three things Syria was like unto any Heathen Land The dust of it made a person unclean as the dust of any other Heathen Country did c. So that their shaking off the dust of their feet against them was to shew that they reputed them and their City as Heathenish ACTS CHAP. XIV AT Iconium they continue long and with good effect but at last they are in danger of stoning and thereupon they slip away to Lystra and Derbe Cities of Lycaonia and to the region that lieth round about That region Strabo describeth lib. 12. where among other particulars he tels that Derbe lay coasting upon Isauria and in his time was under the dominion of Amyntas At Lystra or Derbe Paul converteth Lois and Eunice and Timothy and as some will tell you here or at Iconium he converteth Tecla For healing a Creeple they are first accounted Gods but presently by perswasion of some Jews Paul is stoned but being reputed dead recovereth miraculously From thence they go to Derbe and return to Lystra Iconium and Antioch and ordain Elders in those Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 24. is unproperly rendred here Per suffragia creantes Presbyteros for so they could not do there not being a man in all these Churches fit to be chosen a Minister or qualified with abilities for that Function unlesse the Apostles by Imposition of hands bestow the holy Ghost upon them which might inable them For the Churches being but newly planted and the people but lately converted it would be hard to finde any among them so thoroughly completed in the knowledge of the Gospel as to be a Minister but by the Apostles hands they receive the Holy Ghost and so are inabled It is true indeed the Greek word in the first sense denoteth suffrages but that is not the only sense And so doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the proper sense signifie laying on of hands yet there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordination that was without it Maym. in Sanhedr 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How is ordination to be for perpetuity Not that they lay their hands on the head of the Elder but call him Rabbi and say Behold thou art ordained c. ACTS CHAP. XV. CHRIST L CLAVDIVS X WE are now come up to the Council at Hierusalem The occasion of which was the busie stirring of some who would have brought the yoke of Mosaick observances upon the neck of the converted Gentiles Multitudes of the Jews that beleeved yet were zealous of the Law Act. 21.20 and it was hard to get them off from those Rites in which they had been ever
Corinth had this power yet when Pauls spirit with the power of the Lord Iesus Christ went along in the action as Chap. 5.4 there can be no doubt of the effect 2. Their animosities were so great that they not only instigated them to common suits at Law but to suits before the tribunals of the Heathen which as it was contrary to the peace and honour of the doctrine of the Gospel so was it even contrary to their Judaick traditions which required their subjection and appeals only to men of their own blood or of their own Religion The Apostle to rectifie this misdemeanour first cals them to remember that the Saints should judge the world and this he mentioneth as a thing known to them Chap. 6.2 and it was known to them from Dan. 7.18 27. And the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatnesse of the Kingdom shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most high How miserably this is misconstrued by too many of a fifth Monarchy when Saints shall only Rule is to be read in too many miseries that have followed that opinion The Apostles meaning is no more but this Do you not know that there shall be a Christian Magistracy or that Christians shall be Rulers and 〈◊〉 the world and therefore why should you be so fearfull or carelesse to judge in your owâ— matters Observe in what sense he had taken the word Saints in the former verse nameâ—ly for Christians in the largest sense as set in opposition to the Heathen And he speaks in the tenour of Daniel from whence his words are taken that though the world and Church had been ruled and judged and domineered over by the four Monarchies which were Heathen yet under the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel they should be ruled and judged by Christian Kings Magistrates and Rulers Secondly he minds them Know ye not that we shall judge Angels ver 3. Observe that he saies not as before Know ye not that the Saints shall judge Angels but we By Angels it is uncontrovertedly granted that he meaneth evil Angels the Devils Now the Saints that is all Christians that professed the Gospel were not to judge Devils but we saith he that is the Apostles and Preachers of the Gospel who by the power of their Ministry ruined his Oracles Idols delusions and worship c. Therefore he argueth since there is to be a Gospel Magistracy to rule and judge the world and a Gospel Ministry that should judge and destroy the Devils they should not account themselves so utterly uncapable of judging in things of their civil converse as upon every controversie to go to the Bench of the Heathens to the great dishonour of the Gospel And withall adviseth them to set them to judge who were lesse esteemed in the Church ver 4. Not that he denieth subjection to the Heathen Magistrate which now was over them or incourageth them to the usurpation of his power but that he asserteth the profession of the Gospel capable of judging in such things and by improving of that capacity as farre as fell within their line he would have them provide for their own peace and the Gospels credit We observed before that though the Jews were under the Roman power yet they permitted them to live in their own Religion and by their own Laws to maintain their Religion and it may not be impertinent to take up and inlarge that matter a little here As the Jews under the Roman subjection had their great Sanhedrin and their lesse of three and twenty Judges as appears both in Scripture and in their Records so were not these bare names or civil bodies without a foul but they were inlivened by their juridicall executive power in which they were instated of old So that though they were at the disposall of the Roman Power and Religion and Laws and all went to wrack when the Emperour was offended at them as it was in the time of Caligula yet for the most part from the time of the Romans power first coming over them to the time of their own last Rebellion which was their ruine the authority of their Sanhedrins and Judicatories was preserved in a good measure intire and they had administration of justice of their own Magistracy as they injoyed their own Religion And this both within the Land and without yea even after Ierusalem was destroyed as we shall shew in its due place And as it was thus in the free actings of their Sanhedrins so also was it in the actings of their Synagogues both in matters of Religion and of civil interest For in every Synagogue as there were Rulers of the Synagogue in reference to matters of Religion and Divine worship so were there Rulers or Magistrates in reference to Civil affairs which judged in such matters Every Synagogue had Beth din shel sheleshah a Consistory or Judicatory or what you will call it of three Rulers or Magistrates to whom belonged to judge between party and party in matters of money stealth damage restitution penalties and divers other things which are mentioned and handled in both Talmuds in the Treatise Sanhedrin per. 1. Who had not power indeed of capitall punishments but they had of corporall namely of scourging to fourty stripes save one Hence it is that Christ foretels his Disciples In the Synagogues you shall be beaten Mark 13.9 and hence had Paul his five scourgings 2 Cor. 11.24 So that in every Synagogue there were Elders that ruled in Civil affairs and Elders that laboured in the Word and Doctrine And all things well considered it may not be so monstrous as it seems to some to say it might very well be so in those times in Christian Congregations For since as it might be shewed that Christ and his Apostles in platforming of the modell of Christian Churches in those times did keep very close to the platform of the Synagogues and since the Romans in those times made no difference betwixt Jews in Judaism and Jews that were turned Christians nor betwixt those Religions for as yet there was no persecution raised against Christianity why might not Christian Congregations have and exercise that double Function of Ministry and Magistracy in them as well as the Jewish Synagogues And if that much controverted place 1 Tim. 5.17 should be interpreted according to such a sense it were neither irrationall nor improbable Nor to interpret Paul speaking to such a tenour here Only his appointing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lesse esteemed in the Church to be appointed for that work is of some scruple what if it allude to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Committee of private men of which there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Doctors See Maymon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 253. col 1. 3. It was the old Jewish garb when they went to pray to hide head and face with a vail to betoken their ashamednesse and confusion of face wherewithall they appeared before God And hence is
have intimation of this Heb. 13.23 where he saith Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom if he come shortly I will see you For I cannot interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otherwise then in reference to restraint and then we may out of this passage observe that Timothy had been a prisoner and that the Hebrews had known of his imprisonment but now he was at liberty and Paul too ready to come away with him when he should come He had written to the Philippians that he hoped shortly to send Timothy to them Philip. 2.19 and to Philemon to provide a lodging for him for he hoped ere long to come into those parts Philem. ver 22. By which we may conclude that upon his inlargement he intended not to have staied long at Rome or that Timothy at the least should not have been long from them but that his imprisonment as it proved hindred them both Therefore we may not cast his commitment beyound this year but how long he lay under restraint we cannot tell only we may conceive him at liberty the next for in that year we suppose the writing of the Epistle to the Hebrews which speaks of his inlargement In our thoughts about Nero's suppressing Christianity and these mens bonds thereabout we may also look with admiration at the wondrous workings of God observe that even at these times there was Christianity in Nero's houshold Philip. 4.22 This year some occurrences befalling in this our own Country of England though they are besides the argument that we are upon yet may they not unfitly be taken into mention for Countries sake Suetonius Paulinus was now Generall for the Romans here He assails to take the I le of Man Incolis validam receptaculum perfugarum saith Tacitus Strong in the inhabitants and a refuge for fugitives He bringing on his men near the shore findes an Army guarding and ready to forbid his landing Among the men there were women running up and down In modum furiarum veste ferali crinibus dejectis faces praeferebant Like furies in a dreery garb with their hair about their ears and they carried torches The Roman souldiers for a while stood amazed at such a sight but at last falling on they enter and destroy them and possesse and Garrison the Iland Excisique luci saevis superstitionibus sacri Nam cruore captivo adolere aras fibris hominum consulere Deo fas habebant And they cut down the groves that were devoted to bloody superstition For they used to sacrifice captives at their Altars and to look into their inwards by way of auguration It is a remarkable and true saying of Pliny concerning Italy or Rome That it was a Country Quae sparsa congregaret imperia ritusque molliret tot populorum discordes ferasque linguas sermonis commercio contraheret ad colloquia humanitatem homini daret Nat. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 5. which in short is this that it civilized the world and taught barbarous Nations humanity A strange assertion if we consider the barbarous bloudinesse and superstitions of the Romans themselves yet if we look upon the thing it self it is very true they being a people of Learning Discipline and Education and planting these wheresoever they got footing And this was one means in the Lords providence whose waies are past finding out to harrow the worlds ruggednesse and to fit it the better for the sowing of the Gospel In what temper our Land of Brittain was as to civility before they came in may be guessed by this garb of the I le of Man so near relating to it if we had no more evidence Whilest Suetonius was thus busied here he hears of a revolt and rebellion in Brittain caused partly by the cruell exaction of Decimus Catus the Governour who revived some impositions that Claudius the Emperour had remitted partly by the grinding usury and exaction of Seneca who having put them even unwilling to take vast summes of money of his to most unsufferable usury he now called it and the use in with all extremity and mercilesnesse And partly by an unhappy obsequiousnesse of Prasutagus King of the Iceni or at least by an unhappy abusing of his obsequiousnesse For he dying and leaving Nero and his own two daughters his heirs by Will the Roman Centurions as in claim to Nero's Legacy ransack and catch all they can and pull his Kingdom all to pieces and abuse his wife and two daughters barbarously and inhumanely and spare not either his friends kindred or Nobles This stirres all to commotion which is eagerly prosecuted by Bondicea or Bunduica the widow of the King deceased in so much that they destroy the Colony at Camalodunum the Roman Garrison and associates at London and the like at Verulam in all to the number of 70000 persons Suetonius at last comes in and fights them they being near upon 230000 in armes under Bunduica he routeth them slayes upon 80000 of them Bunduica for vexation poisons her self and the Roman destroyes with fire and sword all the Towns before him that were of the adverse party or adhered to it Divers prodegies are mentioned by the Historians that relate these bloody occurrences as presages of it as the sea bloody strange voices and howlings heard sights seen in the Thames of houses under water as a Colony overturned c. CHRIST LXII NERO. VIII PAUL in the Epistle to the Colossians Chap. 4.10 intimateth that Mark who was then with him at Rome was likely ere long to come to them into the East and he willeth them to receive him as from him though there had once been disagreement betwixt Mark and him Whether Timothy's imprisonment delayed Mark 's journey may be some question for Paul having sent for them two to come to him together 2 Tim. 4.11 it is like he could ill part with the one when the other was made uselesse to him by restraint and so we have some cause to suppose that while Timothy was in prison Mark remained with Paul However whensoever it was that he went for the East we have this reason to think that Paul wrote and sent by him THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS and that he having delivered it where Paul had appointed him went away to Peter to Babylon in Chaldaea because Peter there mentioneth Mark now with him 1 Pet. 3.15 And this Epistle 2 Pet. 3.15 It is observable that these two great Apostles Peter and Paul the severall Ministers of the Circumcision and Uncircumcision had their interchanged agents Sylvanus or Silas Pauls Minister residen◠with Peter and imployed by him to carry his first Epistle 1 Pet. 5.12 And Mark Peters Minister resident with Paul 2 Tim. 4.11 Col. 4.10 and very probably imployed by him to carry this Epistle to the Hebrews And thus in the interchanged agencies of their Ministers the parties with whom they had to deal might own the joynt agreement of both the Apostles Although we dare not punctually
well write to the Hebrews in Iudaea in the Greek tongue when that tongue was in so common a use even in an University of Iudaea it self To these testimonies for the Greek tongue might be added that which is spoken in the Treatise Shekalin per. 3. halac 2. Vpon the three Treasure Chests of the Temple were written Aleph Beth Gimel But Rabbi Ismael saith It was written upon them in Greek Alpha Beta Gamma They that hold that this Epistle and the Gospel of Matthew were written in Hebrew should consider how that tongue was now a stranger to all but Scholers and how God in his providence had dispersed and planted the Greek tongue throughout all the world by the conquest of Alexander and the Grecian Monarchy and had brought the old Testament into Greek by the Septuagint As this Apostle in all his Epistles useth exceeding much of the Jews Dialect Language Learning allusion and reference to their opinions traditions and customs so doth he more singularly in this and he doth moreover in a more peculiar manner apply himself to their manner of argumentation and discourse For his intent is if he can to argue them into establishment against that grievous Apostacy that was now afoot so many revolting from the purity of the Gospel either to a totall betaking themselves to Moses again or at least mixing the Ceremonious rites of the Law with the profession of the Gospel Comparing his style here with his style of discourse and arguing in the Talmuds Zohar and Rabboth and such like older writings of the Jews you might easily tell with whom he is dealing though the Epistle were not inscribed in syllables To the Hebrews and the very stile of it may argue a Scholer of Gamaliel but now better taught and better improving his learning then that master could teach him He first begins to prove the Messiah to be God and Iesus to be he about the former of which the Jews mistook and about the latter they blasphemed In proving the former he among other places of Scripture produceth that of Psal. 102.25 Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth c. To which a Jew would be ready to answer I but this is to be understood of God the Father and how could this objection be answered Yes even by their own concessions upon which he argueth in this place For they understood that in Gen. 1.2 The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters of the Spirit of Christ and so do they interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Spirit of Messias as their mind is spoken in that point by Zohar Berishith Rabba and divers others If the Spirit of Christ then was the great agent in the Creation by their own grant they could not but grant this alligation to be proper He sheweth Christ therefore greater then Angels as in other regards so into whose hands was put the world to come chap. 2.5 and here the phrase is used in the Jews dialect for the Kingdom of Messias as we mentioned before He proveth him a greater Lawgiver then Moses a greater Priest then Aaron and a greater King and Priest then Melchizedek He sheweth all the Leviticall oeconomy but a shadow and Christ the substance and the old Covenant to be abolished by the coming in o◠a better By the old or first Covenant meaning the Covenant of peculiarity or the administration of the Covenant of Grace so as whereby Israel was made a peculiar and distinct people This Covenant of peculiarity they brake as soon almost as they had obtained it by making the golden Calf and thereupon followes the breaking of the two Tables in sign of it for though the Law written in the two Tables was Moral and so concerned all the world yet their writing in Tables of stones for Israel and committing them to their keeping referreth to their peculiarity To his handling of the fabrick and utensils of the Tabernacle and contexts of the Ark Chap. Talm. Ierus in Shekalim fol. 49. col 3 4. and Sotah fol. 22. col 3. may be usefully applied for illustration He hinteth the Apostasie now afoot which was no small induction to him of the writing of this Epistle and sheweth the desperate danger of it Chap. 6.4 5 c. and Chap. 10.26 27 c. In which his touching of it we may see how farre some had gone in the Gospel and yet so miserably far fallen from it as that some of them had had the extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost and yet now sinned willingly and wilfully against it In describing their guilt one of his passages that he useth is but harshly applied by some Chap. 10.29 Hath trodden under foot the Sonne of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing when they say that this horrid Apostate wretch that treads Christ under foot was once sanctified by the blood of Christ whereas the words mean Christs being sanctified by the blood of the Covenant according to the same sense that Christ is said to be brought again from the dead by the blood of the Covenant in this same Epistle Chap. 13.20 And the Apostle doth set forth the horrid impiety of accounting the blood of the Covenant a common thing by this because even the Sonne of God himself was sanctified by it or set apart as Mediator And so should I understand the words He hath trodden under foot that Sonne of God and counted the blood of the Covenant by which he the Sonne of God was sanctified an unholy thing He magnifieth faith against those works that they stood upon and sought to be justified by and sheweth that this was the all in all with all the holy men both before the Law and under it When he gives them caution Lest there be any fornicatour or profane person as Esau c. Chap. 12.16 he doth not only speak according to the common tenet of the Nation that Esau was a fornicator as see Targ. Ierus in Gen. 25. but he seemeth to have his eye upon the Nicolaitan doctrine that was now rife that taught fornication to which he seemeth also to refer in those words Chap. 13.4 Marriage is honourable c. And now henceforward you have no more story of this Apostle what became of him after the writing of this Epistle it is impossible to finde out by any light that the Scripture holdeth out in this matter The two last verses but one of this Epistle trace him as far forward as we can any way else see him and that is but a little way neither Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom if he come shortly I will see you By which words these things may be conjectured 1. That after his inlargement out of bonds he left Rome and preached in Italy He mentioneth in his Epistle to the Romans his desire and intent to go preach in Spain Rom 15.24 but that was
intended and their meaning is easie to be understood but to come to allot them severally to this or that time or place is but to do that that when ye have done all you can will come to no surer bottom to rest upon then your own conceit and supposall The matter of them is expressed as to the most part by allusion to the plagues of Egypt as boils blood darknesse and so it clears the thing intended namely in generall to shew how the mysticall Egypt Chap. 11.8 after all her oppression and persecution of the Israel of God should at last come to receive her just reward as old Egypt had done and that God would follow her with plagues till he had destroyed her They are somewhat like the plagues of the seven Trumpets some of which as we observed did in generall speak the state of the world till the rising of Antichrist and those Vials may be understood as the generall description of his plagues and ruine We observed in Chap. 6. and that upon good Scripture ground that the six Seals did all but speak one effect namely the destruction of the Jewish Nation but brought to passe by severall judgements and the like interpretation may be made here The first Viall brings a noisom Boyl upon the worshippers of the Beast this was the sixth plague of Egypt but here the first for that plague in Egypt came home to Iannes and Iambers the Magicians that they could not stand before Moses Exod. 9.11 And that both this and all the rest might be shewed to reach home even to the veriest deceivers and ringleaders of mischief in Antichristian Egypt this is justly set in the first rank The second and third here referre to the one plague of blood in Egypt and these exceed that For there all the rivers and ponds were indeed turned into blood but the Egyptians digged for water about the river to drink Exod. 7.24 and found it and it was not turned into blood The question and answer of Aben Ezra is pertinent It is said there was blood throughout all the Land of Egypt And the Magicians did so with their inchantments Now how could the Magicians turn water into blood when there was no water left but all was blood And he answers Aaron only turned the waters that were above ground into blood not those that were under ground but here sea and rivers and fountains and all are become blood still to shew how throughly the plagues should come home At these plagues there is mention of the Angel of the waters ver 5. which since all the Angels here are characted in the garb of Priests as hath been said may also be understood as alluding to that Priest whose office it was to have care of the waters and to look that there should be water enough and fitting for the people to drink that came up to the three Festivals Among the offices of the Priests at the Temple this was one Maym. in Kele Mikdash per. 7. and Nicodemus whom the Talmud speaks of was of this office Aboth R. Nathan per. 6. The fourth Viall poured into the sunne brings scorching heat this seems to allude to Ioshua's or Deborah's day when the starres from heaven fought the sunne standing still so long did not only give light to Israel but probably heat and faintnesse to the Canaanites and Psal. 121 6 seems to referre thither The sun shall not smite thee by day As in the fourth they are plagued by the sun so in the fifth by want of it The seat of the Beast darkened as Pharoahs Throne and Kingdome was and this darknesse bringing horrour and pains as Egypts did through dreadfull apparitions in the dark The drying up of Euphrates for the Kings of the East under the sixth Viall seems to speak much to the tenour of the sixth Trumpet the loosing of the four Angels which were bound at Euphrates Those we conceived the Turks to plague Christendom these we may conceive enemies to plague Antichrist The allusion in the former seems to be to the four Kings from beyond Euphrates that came to scourge Canaan Gen. 14. this to the draining of Euphrates for Cyrus and Darius to take Babylon For having to treat here of a Babylon as ver 19. the scene is best represented as being laid at the old Babylon Now the Historians that mention the taking of Babylon by Cyrus tell us it was by draining the great stream of Euphrates by cutting it into many little channels The Egyptian plague of frogs is here translated into another tenour and that more dangerous three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast and false Prophet spirits of devils working miracles c. This is named betwixt the sixth and seventh Viall though the acting of the delusions by miracles were all the time of the Beast and false Prophet because of the judgement now coming for though all deluders and deluded received their judgements in their severall ages yet being here speaking of the last judgements of Antichrist they are all summed together He is here called the false Prophet as being the great deluder of all The fruit of all these delusions is to set men to fight against God whose end is set forth by allusion to the Army of Iabin King of Canaan Iudg. 5.19 broken at the waters of Megiddo The word Armageddon signifies a mountain of men cut in pieces Here that solemn caution is inserted Behold I come as a thief Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments The Priest that walked the round of the Temple guards by night had torches born before him and if he found any asleep upon the guard he burnt his cloathes with the torches Middoth per. 1. halac 2. The seventh Viall concludes the Beasts destruction The great City is said to be divided into three parts either as Ierusalem was Ezek. 5.11 12. a third part to pestilence a third part to the sword and a third part to dispersion and destruction in it or because there is mention of an Earthquake this speaks its ruining in generall as Zech. 14.4 5. A tenth part of it fell before Chap. 11.13 and now the nine parts remaining fall in a tripartite ruine REVEL CHAP. XVII MYSTICAL Babylon pictured with the colours of the old Babylon Rome so called as being the mother of Idolatry as Babel was the beginning of Heathenism and the mother of persecution Babylon destroyed Ierusalem so did Rome and made havock of the Church continually She is resembled to a woman dockt with gold c. as Isa. 14.4 sitting upon a seven-headed and ten-horned Beast as Chap. 13.1 Which Beast was and is not and yet is it shall ascend out of the bottomlesse pit and shall go to perdition Rome under the Papacy was not the same Rome it had been and yet it was Not Rome Heathen and Imperiall as it had been before and yet for all evil Idolatry persecution c. the same Rome to all purposes
honey Biceurim fol. 64. col 2. Rabbi Iudah sate here seventeen years and he applied that to himself Iacob lived in the Land of Egypt seventeen years and Iudah lived in Tsipporis seventeen years There are these two memorable stories of this place That a Butcher cousened the Jews here with carcases and beasts torn and made them eat them nay he made them eat dogs flesh Ierus Trumoth fol. 45. col 3. And divers of Tsipporis were glad to wear patches on their faces to disfigure them that they might not be known when inquisition was made after them Id. Ievamoth fol. 15. col 3. and Sotah fol. 23. col 3. The numerous passages about the Doctors and disputes and Scholastick actions in this place would be too tedious to mention though with the briefest touch we could From Tsipporis the Sanhedrin removed to Tiberias upon the brink of the lake of Genesaret This was about eight or nine miles from Tsipporis Id. Sanhed fol. 21. col 1. the Jews hold it to be the same with Rakkath in Iosh. 19.35 Megil fol. 70. col 1. And that Chammath there mentioned also was a place that joyned to it Erubbin fol. 23. col 4. so called from the hot bathes there Bab. Megil fol. 6.1 How long Rabbi sate here is uncertain Their Records do make him exceedingly in favour with Antoninus the Emperour but whether Pius or Philosophus they name not it is generally held to be Pius whethersoever it was there are abundance of discourses twixt R. Iudah and him dispersed in their Writings and they stick not to tell you that he became a Proselyte and when the Proselytes of righteousnesse shall come in the world to come Antoninus shall come in the head of them Jerus Megil fol. 74. col 1. Antoninus Philosophus or Marcus Aurelius was the likelier to converse with Scholars R. Iudah out-lived them both and Commodus also Two famous things as that Nation reputed it did this man in his time First he gathered up and compiled into one Volume all the traditionall Law that had runne from hand to hand to his time the Mishnah that we have now in our hands which is the Jews great pandect according to which they live He saw their state wane daily more and more and though they had now many Learned Schools yet their Cabbala or great stock of traditions he thought might fail and be lost now the Sanhedrin failed therefore he thought to make sure work and committed it to writing that it might be preserved to the Nation and so he helped to rule them And a second thing that he did was that he took care that there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scribes and Teachers of the Traditions in all the Cities in the Land of Israel Ierus Chagigah fol. 76. col 3. In the same Tract fol. 77. col it is reported of him that at six portions of the Scripture when he came to reade them he wept He compiled the Mishnah about the year of Christ 190 in the later end of the reign of Commodus or as some compute in the year of Christ 220 an hundred and fifty years after the destruction of Ierusalem §. VIII The Schools and Learned men after the death of Rabbi Iudah BEsides the places where the Sanhedrin had sitten which yet continued Schools when it was removed there were divers other places that were great Schools and copiously furnished with Learned men both in Galilee and Iudaea and hence that distinction that the reader of the Ierusalem Talmud will meet with of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Southern man and a Galilean Chagig fol. 79. col 3. that is a Scholar of the one or of the other Hence there is mention of R. Iacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Southern man Erubh. fol. 24. col 2. and the Elders of the South ibid. col 3. R. Ioshuah of the South Challah fol. 57. col 2. Of all the places in Iudaea next Iabneh and Bitter Lydda was most eminent where R. Akibah sate as President of a School before he was of the Sanhedrin at Iabneh Rosh hashanah per. halac 7. and this continued a School all along to these times of Rabbi Iudah In Galilee there was Mugdala Chammath and Caesarea if you will reckon that in Galilee besides others R. Iudah left two sonnes behinde him Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Simeon Rabban Gamaliel was promoted in his fathers life time but after R. Iudah was dead R. Chaninah sate chief and that by R. Iudahs appointment and with him were R. Chaâ—ia R. Hoshaiah Rabba R. Ioshua ben Levi Kaphra Bar Kaphra Rabh and Samuel which two last went away to the University in Babylonia This generation is the first of the Gomarists explaining the Mishnah and producing the opinions of the Ancients upon it After R. Chaninah who sate ten years R. Iochanan was President eighty years He compiled the Ierusalem Talmud as is generally held in the year of Christ 230 or thereabout which was about the middle of the reign of Alexander Mammaeae yet there is that in the Talmud it self that would make you beleeve that you meet with the name of the Emperour Dioclesian there Beracoth fol. 6. col 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When King Docletinus to speak it acording to the letters came hither R. Chaiia bar Abba was seen getting upon a grave to see him Sheviith fol. 38. col 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dicletianus afflicted the men of Paneas c. In Kilaim fol. 38. col 3. and Chetuboth fol. 35. col 2. They say the Land of Israel was incompassed with seven seas and the last of them they name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sea of Apamia The Samaritan version on Numb 34.11 10. renders Sepham Apamia Now this they say is the sea or lake Mahaz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dicletianus gathered the rivers and made it And it might very well be that R. Iochanan that compiled the Talmud might live beyond the times of Diocletian but in Trumoth fol. 46. col 3. this Dicletianus they speak of is plainly asserted to be in the daies of Rabbi Iudah haccadosh in this story The sons of R. Iudah princeps beat Diclot the swine-heard who afterward was made a King He comes to Paneas and sends letters to the Rabbins See ye be with me at the going forth of the Sabbath c. When they come to him he saies to them You despise the Kingdom They answer him Diclot the swine-herd we despise but Diocletianus the King we despise not which is farre from meaning Dioclesian the Emperour If this were a place to dispute about the exact time of writing this Talmud we might also take into examination the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of in Chagigah fol. 79. col 4. whether it mean Denarius Gordiani or no but we shall not insist upon that here After the compiling of this Talmud there is little further mention of the Schools or Scholars of Iudaea or