there be an end says St. Paul when he shall resign the Kingdom to his Father The Kingdom of Christ was from eternity it shall likewise end within age and eternity For this cause all times were made by Christ Heb. 1. and Christ was called the Prince of time Timothy 1. cap. 1. Yea the Kingdom of Christ is called the Kingdom of all ages Psal 144. For which cause St. Paul calls Christ Blessed unto all ages God the Father reign'd before ages before the times of eternity before he had ordained wisdom and had given her command over all things God the Father shall likewise reign after ages after that wisdom who is Christ the Son hath yeilded up the Kingdom to the Father in the end of ages God the Father reigned before eternity and shall after eternity God the Son reign'd from eternity and shall to eternity In which sense understand that in the 90 Psalm From age to age thou art God As also which David sings 4 Chron. chap. 16. Blessed be the Lord from eternity to eternity CHAP. XII Eternity uses to be understood in Scripture by the duration of the Sun and Moon Of an age Of eternal times St. Paul expounded Eternity indefinite JEremie to signifie the eternity of that Law â—nd Covenant by which God had taken the Jews to himself to eternity as also the eternity of that Covenant which God had made with Messias and with his servant David by things undoubted and very well known If says he the Laws of the Sun and Moon and the Stars fail then the seed of Israel shall fail before him And again If the Covenant of the Lord with the day and night can be frustrate then can the Covenant of the Lord be frustrate with David his servant Therefore both of them are set down indubitable and unmoveable the eternity of the seed of Israel as also of the Kingdom of Messias as also the eternity of the Sun and Moon Stars Days and Nights And as they are conveniently joyned so are they conveniently convertible thus The seed of Israel shall never fail before the Lord for the Sun and Moon and Stars can never fail before him It is impossible that the Covenant of God should be in vain which he made with his Servant David that he should be and remain for ever It is likewise impossible that the Covenant which God made with the Day and Night should fail but they should be to eternity and remain continually God meant that impossibility of his Law which should never perish and of his Covenant never to be broken In the 6 chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke It is easier for the heaven and earth to passe away than that one tittle of the Law should passe away Of the Law that is of the Coâ—enant which God made with Israel and with his Messias The whole world is here understood by the heaven and the earth and that impossibility he clears by another as great an impossibility that is the least tittle of the Law shall never passe away nor shall ever the world passe away Such is that which we read Psalm 72. The Messias shall endure with the Sun and Moon unto eternity Which is convertible thus The Sun and Moon shall endure together with Messias for ever It is written Genesis 1. Let us make lights in the midst of heaven that they may divide the day and night and be for signs and times for days and years Which the author of Ecclesiasticus rehearses in these words chap. 43. The Sun and Moâ—n shew the time and appoint the age Times are made up of days and nights months and years and ages which the Sun and Moon divide and dispense and appoint the measure of them especially the Sun who for excellency is called the Father of times and ages by the ancients For which cause holy Writ measures out the eternity of ages by the Sun It is common in holy authors to reckon weeks of years months of years years of years and with them you have many times also ages of ages which comprehend many myriads of years of which an eternity is made up Which you may well call the year of the world or the great world whose times ages are reckon'd innumerable Which you shall not need to wonder at if you wonder that the day of days the year of years the age of ages and all ages of ages have descended from eternal times and shall endure to eternity I thought upon the days of old I have the eternal years in remembrance I have counted the years which were from the beginning says David Psalm 76. The Prophet counted those days but could neâ—er find the number of them For there is no remembrance of things past Ecclesiast chap. 1. And truly For the memory of men being finite and fading can no way extend it â—eif to the knowledge of those former things which are infinite and derived from years eternal As if St. Paul had meant in those places which I mentioned before in the former chapters where he said that the mysterie of the Gospel was hid from eternal times and ages to expresse a thing so much secret and remote that the mystery had been hidden since the world was made with Adam from whom to the Apostle was not above four thousand years That had been indeed to have thrown four drops of water into the midst of the Sea or to have thrown four grains of sand upon the Sea shore according to what is written in the 18 chapter of Ecclus. As a drop of the water of the Sea or a grain of sand so little are a thousand years in the days of eternity The author of the Ecclesiasticus here meant that whatsoever proportion a drop has to the whoâ—e Sea or a grain of Sand to the whole shore a thousand years should have the same proportion to the day of eternity which containâ— the beginning and ending of all things created in the endlesse volums of years For eternity here is taken in the second acception which is from eternity and shall remain to eternity Which times are compounded of ages which ages are accounted by years Nor think here that age to be the first and pure eternity which admits of no distinction of years of no composition or comparison with this second eternity which is secular compounded For although the author of Ecclesiasticus seems to have taken this out of the 88 Psalm where it is said A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday It is to be observ'd that the Psalmist in that place meant that there could be no proportion or comparison betwixt 1000 years Gods eternity which 1000 years he compar'd with a day that is past with that which is not For there is no proportion betwixt an entity and a non entity But in this place the author of Ecclesiasticus admits a perfect proportion betwixt a thousand years and the day of eternity betwixt a drop of water and
evidenc'd this to us in the last Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and in the third Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians and in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians when he call'd the Gospel in these places An opening of the mysterie which was hidden and conceal'd from ages and eternal times In his 1 Epist to the Cor. 2. Chap. he defined tother The hidden wisdom of God which he appointed before all times As also in his second Epistle to Tim. Chap. 1. The Grace which was given to us in Christ before the times of eternity And in his Epistle to Titus The hopes of eternal life which God had promis'd before eternal times St. Peter speaking of the same in his first Catholick Epistle ch 1. sayes That Christ was foreknown before the foundations of the world were laid By which places that difference of eternities which I observ'd is evidently found That eternity is call'd first before ages and eternal times That eternity is called secondly from all time and from all things That the eternity which is before eternity and before eternal times is the same which Peter calls before the foundation of the world Therefore the eternity from the foundations of the world is the same with that from eternal times and that therefore the foundations of the World were laid from eternal times or from eternity in regard of us or from times and ages to us unknown or from that beginning of which there is no certain knowledge That eternity of the world is not that eternity of God but the resemblance of it according to that of Mercurie in Asclepius God eternal says he had the World before it was found within himself But as the World is the image of God it is also the imitation of eternity CHAP. XI Of eternity beyond eternity Of eternity to eternity The Kingdom of Messias how eternal AS God is call'd eternal before eternity he is likewise call'd eternal after eternity or beyond eternity God shall reign to eternity and beyond it said Moses in his â—ong When the Scripture would expresse the continuance of any thing not to eternity which is only attributed to God but to eternity according to the duration of the world it uses to expresse it by the eternity of the Sun and the eternal course of the Moon and Stars Thus says the Lord who gives the Sun for the light of the day and the Moon and Stars for night If these Laws be left before me then shall the seed of Israel fail before me that it shall be no mâ—â—â—a Nation before me That Covenant made with the Israelites is call'd an eternal Covenant Genesis 17. Isay 55. Ieremie 32. Ezech. 37. and many other places eternal and for ever which is the same The Sun then and the Moon and the Stars are plac'd with Israel for eternity Take that eternity not beyond eternity but to eternity in which sense Ecclesiasteâ— is to be understood But the earth continues to eternity God does prove that the Kingdom of Messias shall continue to eternity by this argument Ieremie 33. If says he my Covenant with the day can be frustrate and my Covenant with the night that night and day be not in their own time then can my Covenant be in vain with my servant David which not in the same words but in the same sense the 72 Psalm has â—et down and it shall abide with the Sun and Moon from generation to generation Where observe that the Sun and Moon there answer to the night and day of Jeremy that is expounded in the 72 Psalm In generation and generation In the 88 Psalm I have once sworn to my holy one if Iâ—le to David his seed shall last for ever and his throne as the Sun in my sight and as the Moon perfect unto eternity as a faithfull witnesse in heaven Where a faithfull witnesse is the same with one permanent and eternal The tenth Psalm speaks that openly The Lord shall reign for ever And in the tenth of Daniel His kingdom shall not perish As also in the 6 of Chronicles I will confirm his Throne for ever That was it which was written in the 11 Chapter of Iohn Christ endures for ever But that the Kingdom of Messias should be eternal and for ever The Angel did most expresly say speaking to the blessed Virgin concerning her Son and of his Kingdom there shall be no end And notwithstanding there shall be an end of the Kingdom of Messias as Paul firmly bears witnesse of in the 15 chapter 1 Cor. And then an end shall be when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to the Father but he must reign till he have put all his enemies under his fect The eternity then of the Kingdom of Messias in the forementioned places is to be underhood of that only which being taken in the second acception shall continue till eternity and not beyond eternity as in the same regard there was no beginning of the eternal beginning What the Kingdom of Messias was and what it shall be we may clearly see out of the forementioned Chapter of the Proverbs as also out of this place of St. Paul to the Corinthians thus says the Wisdom of the Father who is the Messias and Christ Proverb 8. The Lord hath possessed me from the beginning of his ways before he made any thing in the beginning the great depth was not when I was conceived and the fountains of water had not as yet broke out nor the mountains were rais'd up before the hills I was brought forth As yet he had not made the earth the winds and the hinges of the world which are to be understood of the eternity of Christ before eternity of that eternity I say which was before ages before the times of eternity and before the foundations of the world I was ordained from the beginning says the same Wisdom or I had a rule from the head from the beginnings of the earth when he prepared the heaven I was there when he confin'd the depths when he placed the heaven above and weigh'd the fountains of waters when he gave bounds to the Seas and gave a law to the waters least they should passe their limits when he weigh'd the foundation of the earth I was with him Framing all things Which are to be understood of the eternity of Christ by whom all things were made who moderates all things and rules over all things of that eternity I say which was from ages from eternal times from the foundations of the world The Kingdom of Messias begins thâ—n from the creation of the world from the laying of the foundation of the world and from eternal times It was from the beginning which was without beginning And that Kingdom shall also end within that eternity which shall have no end by which the world which had its beginning from ages times eternal shall be swallowed in eternal times and in the end of ages Then shall
Gentiles whom being made a man he call'd and took to himself To this calling and assumption he had invited the Gentils in Wisd aforesaid If there be any little one let him come unto me and she spake to the unwise Come eat my bread and dâ—ink my wine which I have provided for you leave your childishness and live and walk in the ways of Wisdom Christ invites whom he there signifies by unwise and little ones to the participation of the gospel to the eating of his body and the drinking of his blood In them who renounce childishnesse and the prudence of men life eternal is begotten and wisdom which is of God is acquir'd The Princes of the Jews took it ill that the children in the Temple should call Jesus the son of David that is King and cry Hosanna but Christ alluding from the little ones to the Gentiles who were called children and little ones thus answer'd the Jews Did you never read the cause Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings thâ—u hast perfected praise This was the Lords meaning You O Jews reject and speak evil of me but the Gentiles as it is written shall receive me and perfect my praise for by children and sucklings he meant the Gentiles who are call'd children and little ones These word in the 18 Chapter of Lukes gospel are likewise to be taken figuratively Let the children come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of heaven Which is suffer the Gentiles to come unto me for they shall hear my voice and believe in my name But the kingdom of heaven belongs to such who shall hear me and believe me Certainly the simplicity of infants and children which was that likewise of the first creation is not that alone by which we enter into the kingdom of heaven by which comes Election and Salvation but the grace of the gospel which is the faith of the Gentiles in Christ Which that you may more clearly understand take heed to that which follows Whosoever says Christ receives not the kingdom of Christ as a little Child shall not enter into it Which thus interpret and explain Whosoever receives not the doctrine of the gospel as a little child that is to say like a Gentile who believe me and humbly relies upon my grace not as a Jew who believes Moses and is gloriously addicted to the works of the Law he shall not be partner of the salvation and glory which is in the kingdom of God The disciples of Christ were striving and the Jews themselves who should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven Matth. 18. And Jesus calling a little one plac'd him in the midst of them and said Verily I say unto you unless you be converted and made like little ones you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little one doth he shall be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven The words and the actions of our Saviour certainly were for the most part Parables Therefore he spake here figuratively and parabollically to the Jews swell'd with vain-glory because they were call'd great and a great Nation unlesse their stomachs fell and they were turn'd to little ones as the Gentiles they should not have entrance into the kingdom of heaven Here God apparently meant the Gentiles by those Little ones because he sayes after Whoever shal offend one of these little ones who shal believe in me c. Which could not be taken of no infants or children which were so by age whose faith was yet stammering but of the Gentiles of riper age who believed in Christ as men of age and ripe reason believe in him but the Jews used to defame the Gentiles whom they esteemed vile humble and nothing worth Besides it is manifest that the Gentiles were types of Christian humility which by infants and children is represented and the Jews only bubbles of vain-glory from that Parable wherein the Pharisee marches so stately into the Temple casting his merits to God Luc. 18. Lord sayes he I thank thee that I am not like other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even like this Publican I fast twice in the week I give the tenth of all that I possess But the Publican standing afar off would not lift up his eyes to heaven but struck his blest saying God be merciful to me a sinner The Pharisee without doubt in that place was the Jew for which cause he said I am not like other men that is like the Gentiles for thâ— Publican was a Gentile But he said Be merciful to me a sinner that is to me a Gentile As also those that exacted tribute from the Jews were Gentiles as we have said Certainly the humility of the Gentiles which was the default of their vilenesse and rejection became a Christian vertue under the Gospel On the contrary that glory by which the Jews exalted themselves to be a great Nation before the Gospel was turn'd into the smoake of idle pride under the Gospel And bence it came to passe that the Gentiles who were truly humble were exalted to be Jews really great On the contrary the glorious Jews became a base and an abject people I say to you saith the Lord The Publican went to his house justified that is to say made a just man or a Jew of a Gentile The Pharisee on the contrary not being heard left off to be just and to be a Jew and fell off to be a Gentile To which apply that of Matthew now cited Chap. 18. Who shall humble himself like a little one or a Gentile shal be greatest in the kingdom of heaven We must moreover narrowly consider that of St. Paul Romans 2. Thou O Jew believest that thou art a leader of the blind a light of those who are in darknesse a teacher of the unwise an instructer of children By those who are blind by those who are foolish by infans to â—certainly the Gentiles are here understood who seteachers instructers and leaders the Jews presum'd themselves to be by that prerogative by which they esteem'd themselves for a light to the Nations Isay 42. All this Chapter is design'd against the Jews who mis-regarded and set at nought the Gentiles That instructer of children is the same meant by St. Paul as a teacher of little ones Isay 33. Where sayes he is the learned Where the expounder of the Law Where the teacher of little ones The learned and the teacher of the Law is the Jewish Doctor who is both reacher of the Little ones and of the Gentiles in this place because the Jews taught the stranger and the Proselyte their Laws because I say they boasted themselves given as a light to all Nations and a light to those that were in darknesse that is to the Gentiles to whom God was in a cloud nor did manifest himself to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek in Latine an Infant who can not speak and is commonly