Law to divorce her Deut. 24.1 in the former shewing the desert of the fact in the latter permitting to mitigate of the rigour of that Law and as our Saviour here interprets it to prevent those cruel effects that their hardnesse of heart might have produced had there been no mitigation They brag of that Law of divorce as if favoured them as a peculiar priviledge Ierus kiddushen fol. 58.3 R. Chaijah Rabbah said Divorces are not granted to the nations of the world meaning not to the Gentiles as they were to the Jews whereas truth here informs us that it was permitted only because of the hardnesse of their hearts and to avoid greater mischief When permission of divorce was given after a Law to punish adultery with death for a mitigation of it it requires most serious weighing whether a Law to punish adultery with death should be undispensable now after the Law of divorce given and continued by our Saviour in case of fornication SECTION LXIV MATTH Chap. XIX from Ver. 13. to the end of the Chapt. MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 13. to Ver. 32. LUKE Chap. XVIII from Ver. 15. to Ver. 31. INFANTS brought to Christ. A rich man departs sorrowfull MATTHEW and Mark do evidence the order and as Luke had helped out their briefnesse before so do they now also again help us out about his order Whose children were these that were brought to Christ Not unbeleevers doubtlesse but the children of some that professed Christ Why did they bring them Not to be healed of any disease doubtlesse for then the Disciples would not have been angry at their coming for why at theirs more then at all others that had come for that end Their bringing therefore must needs be concluded to be in the name of Disciples and that Christ would so receive them and blesse them And so he doth and asserteth them for Disciples and to whom the Kingdom of heaven belonged taking the Kingdom of heaven in the common acceptation of the Gospel Observe Mark 10.19 c. that mention being made by Christ of the Commandments as if he spake of the whole Law yet he instanceth only in the second table And see the like again Rom. 13.8 c. Iames 2.8 9 10 c. The demeanour of men toward the second table is a sure triall how they stand to the first It is easier for a Camell to go through the eye of a needle An expression common in the Nation Talm. Bava meria fol. 38. facie 2. It may be thou art of Pumbeditha where they can bring an Elephant through the eye of a needle SECTION LXV MATTH Chap. XX. from the beginning to Ver. 17. Labourers in the Vineyard c. THe first word For makes plain the order and connexion joyning this speech to that before The Ierus Talm. in Beracoth hath a Parable somewhat like to this but wildly applied to a far different purpose A King hired many workmen and there was one of them hired for his work for more then what was enough What did the King He took him and walked with him up and down At the time of the evening the workmen came to receive their wages and he also gave him his full wages with them The workmen repined and said We have laboured all the day and this man laboured but two hours and thou hast given him full wages with us The King said to them This man hath laboured more in two hours then you have done all day So R. Bon laboured more in the Law in twenty nine years then another in a hundred c. fol. 5. SECTION LXVI JOHN Chap. XI from the beginning to Ver. 17. Tidings come to Christ of Lazarus sicknesse AT Sect. 63. Christ goeth beyond Iordan the occasion of his coming back was the message of Mary and Martha to him to desire his help to their sick brother The story of this therefore is necessary to be related before the story of his coming thence which is the next thing that the other three Evangelists fall upon after they have done with what is set down in the preceding Sections The words of the second verse It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with oyntment and wiped his feet with her hair are most generally construed as pointing to that story in the next Chapter Ioh. 12.3 Then took Mary a pound of oyntment of Spikenard very costly and anointed the feet of Iesus and wiped his feet with her hair Which seemeth very improper and unconsonant upon these reasons 1. To what purpose should Iohn use such an anticipation It was neither materiall to the story that he was entring on Chap. 11. to tell that Mary anoynted Christs feet a good while after he had raised her brother nor was it any other then needlesse to bring in the mention of it here since he was to give the full story of it in the next Chapter 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of such a tense as doth properly denote an action past and is so to be rendred if it be rendred in its just propriety It was Mary which had anointed 3. Whereas no reason can be given why Iohn should anticipate it here if he meant it of an anointing that was yet to come a plain and satisfactory reason may be given why he speaks of it here as referring to an anointing past namely because he would shew what acquaintance and interest Mary had with Christ which did imbolden her to send to him about her sick brother for she had washed and anointed his feet heretofore The words of Iohn therefore point at an action past and indeed they point at that story of the woman-sinner washing the feet of Christ with â—ears and anointing them with ointment and wiping them with her hairs Luke 7. It is true indeed that Iohn who useth these words that we are upon had not spoken of any such anointing before whereunto to refer you in his own Gospel but the passage was so well and renownedly known and recorded by Luke before that he relateth to it as to a thing of most famous notice and memoriall SECTION LXVII LUKE Chap. XVIII Ver. 31 32 33 34. MARK Chap. X. Ver. 32 33 34. MATTH Chap. XX. Ver. 17 18 19. CHRIST foretelleth his suffering THe message from Mary and Martha about their sick brother inviteth Christ from beyond Iordan into Iudea again He staies two daies after he had received the message in the same place where the messenger found him and in the story of this Section he is set forward And being now upon his last journey to Ierusalem he foretelleth to his Disciples what should become of him there They followed him with fear and amazement before foreseeing that he went upon his own danger and yet when he had spoken the thing out to them at the full they understood him not SECTION LXVIII MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 20. to Ver. 29. MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 35. to Ver. 46. The request of Zebedees sons They
are told of their Martyrdom THe order is plain of it self and yet the connexion is somewhat strange for in the last words before Christ had foretold of his death yet the sons of Zebedee here desire to sit on his right hand and left in his Kingdom Galatius resolves it thus Discipuli in errore aliquando fuerunt credentes Christum illicò post resurrectionem terreni regni sceptro potiturum unde quidam eorum super caeteros primatum ambientes c. The Disciples sometimes were mistaken conceiving that Christ presently after his resurrection should obtain the scepter of an earthly Kingdom whereupon some of them ambitious of priority above the rest desired to sit on his right hand and left c. lib. 4. cap. 1. It is true indeed that the Jewish Nation and the Disciples with them erred in judging about Messias his Kingdom Act. 1. but they erred as farre also about Messias his resurrection till experience had informed them better Therefore it cannot well be imagined that the wife and sons of Zebedee thought of Christs resurrection in this their request but conceived of his temporall Kingdom according to the notions of the rest of the Nation about it What therefore our Saviour had spoken instantly before of his being scourged crucified killed and Rising again they understood in some figurative sense or other but the Evangelists plainly tell us they understood it not in the sense that he spake it It may be his naming these two The sons of thunder gave them some blinde incouragement to such a request Christ foretels his own death and their suffering Martyrdom under the title of Baptism in which sense the Apostle also useth the word 1 Cor. 15.29 The Jewish baptizings or dippings in their purifications was a very sharp piece of Religion when in frost and snow and wind and weather they must over head ears in cold water from which the phrase was used to signifie death and the bitterest sufferings The Ierusalem Gomarists do tell us that the women of Galilee grew barren by reason of the cold in their purifyings R. Aba in the name of Tanchum bar R. Chaia saith In the daies of R. Ioshua ben Levi they sought to abolish this dipping because of the women of Galilee which were made barren by reason of the cold R. Ioshua ben Levi saith Do ye seek to abolish a thing that fenceth Israel from transgression c. Beracoth fol. 6. col 3. SECTION LXIX LUKE Chap. XVIII from Ver. 35. to the end MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 29. to the end MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 46. to the end Blinde healed CHRIST in his journey from beyond Iordan to Bethany for the raising of Lazarùs passeth through Iericho and he healeth one blinde man as he entreth into Iericho of which Luke speaketh and another as he goeth out of which the other two Matthew indeed speaketh of two healed as he came out of Iericho comprehending it may be the story of him that was healed on the other side of the Town and this together in one story for briefnesse sake Or if there were two healed on this side the Town Mark only mentions one because he rather aimeth at shewing of the manner or kinde of the miracle then at the number as we have observed the like before at Sect. 39. SECTION LXX LUKE Chap. XIX from the beginning to Ver. 29. Zaccheus a Publican converted THe order lies plain in ver 1. Christ was passed through Iericho before he met with Zaccheus c. Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai hath made the name Zaccai or Zaccheus renowned in Jewish Writings His father Zaccai might very well be now alive and for any difference of the times might well enough be the Zaccheus before us but that some other circumstances do contradict it Whosoever this man was it is observable that though his name Zaccheus speak him a Jew yet Christ reputes him not a child of Abraham till he beleeve ver 19. Ver. 11. They thought that the Kingdom of heaven should immediatly appear Observe this this they had learned from Dan. 9. where the time is so punctually determined that they that looked for the consolation of Israel could not but observe it and they that observed could not but see it now accomplished SECTION LXXI JOHN Chap. XI from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter Lazarus raised Caiaphas Prophecieth NOw is Christ come up to Bethany Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Talm. Bab. Pesachin fol. 53. facie 1. where they speak of the figs of Bethhene and the dates of Tubni be the same with this Bethany we shall not dispute here Both a Town and some space of ground about it was called by this name Bethany As he had staied in the place where he was when heard of Lazarus sicknesse purposely that he might die before he came to him that God might be the more glorified by his raising ver 15. so did he make sure to stay long enough after he was dead before he came that the glory might be the more He had been four daies dead ver 39. Compare with this these sayings of the Jews Maym. in Gerushin per. ult If one look upon a dead man within three daies after his death he may know him but after three daies his visage is changed Jerus in Moed Katon fol. 82. col 2. Three daies the soul flies about the body as if thinking to return to it but after it sees the visage of the countenance changed it leaves it and gets it gone Upon the miracle wrought the Jews seek to kill Iesus and Lazarus both whereupon Iesus goeth to a City called Ephraim ver 54. Talm. Bab. in Menachath fol. 85. fac 1. Iuchnâ— and Mamrâ— Iannes and Iambres said to Moses Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Gloss. Ibi Iuchâ—e and Mamre were the chief Sorcerers of Egypt they when Moses began to do miracles thought he had done them by magick they said Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Ephraim was a place that exceedingly aboundeth with corn and darest thou bring corn thither meaning Doest thou bring Sorceries into Egypt that abounds so with Sorceries Aruâ—h in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephraim was a City in the â—â—nd of Israel where there was abundance of corn Where is the chiefest provision for Offeringâ— The chiefest for fine slower are Micmash and Zanoah and next to them Ephraim in the Vale. JOHN Chap. XII from begin to Ver. 12. A Supper at Bethany Iesus his feet anointed THe connexion of this story to the preceding Chapter is plainly made by the Evangelist himself Compare ver 55. of Chap. 11. and ver 1. of this Though there were a Proclamation out against Jesus for his life Chap. 11.57 yet cometh he for Ierusalem and Lazarus at Bethany is not afraid to entertain him He may well venture his life for him who had received it from him It was their Sabbath day at night when he had this Supper a time that they used to have
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
Matth. 5. was not barely to appear to the eleven for that had he done before and that could he have done at Ierusalem but it was an intended meeting not only with the eleven but with the whole multitude of his Galilean and other Disciples and therefore he published this appointment so oft before and after his Resurrection and we cannot so properly understand his being seen of above five hundred brethren at once of which the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 15.6 of any other time and place as of this He had appointed the place and the concourse argueth that he had appointed the time too or at least this concourse waited at the place till his time should come And here may we conceive that he kept the Lords day or the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath with this multitude of his Disciples revealing himself clearly to them and preaching to them of the things that concerned the Kingdom of God Particularly he gives command and commission to go and disciple all Nations For whereas hitherto he had confined them to preach only to Israel now must they preach to every creature Mark 16.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Colos. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Jews ordinary language that is to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solomon in his Proverbs makes known Theory and Practice to the creatures Kafvenaki in Prov. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He causeth the holy Ghost to dwell upon the creatures Mid◠Til. in Psal. 135. Nimrod made Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and caused the creatures to erre Tanch fol. 8.4 The Lord requires that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the creatures should pray before him Id. fol. 16.4 In which and an hundred other instances that might be given the word Creatures signifieth only Men and their charge and commission to preach the Gospel to every creature means to all men the Gentiles as well as the Jews Warrant then and charge is given for the fetching of them in the great mystery Ephes. 3.4 6. who had lain subject to vanity of Idolatry and under the bondage of all manner of corruption ever since their casting off at Babel 2203 years ago They had been taught of the devil his oracles and delusions c. but now they must all be taught of God Isa. 54.13 by the preaching of the Gospel They had in some few numbers in this space been taught by Israel to know the Lord and proselyted into their Religion but now such proselyting should not need for all must come to the knowledge of God Heb. 8.11 the Gospel carrying the knowledge of him and it being carried through all Nations Those of them that had come into the Church of Israel and the true Religion had been inducted and sealed into it by being baptized Talm. in Iebam per. 4. c. And so that proselyte Sacrament as I may so call i◠must be carried and continued among all Nations as a badge of homage and subjection to Christ to whom all power is given in heaven and earth and of the profession of the true God The Father Sonne and holy Ghost against all false Gods and false worship Infants born of Christian parents are to bear this badge though when they undertake it they understand not what they do because none in Christian families should continue without the note of homage to Christs soveraignty and this distinctive mark against Heathenism that worshippeth false Gods as no male among Israel after eight daies old must be without the badge of Circumcision Discipling was not of persons already taught but to that end that they should be taught and if the Disciples understood this word in Christs command after any other sense it was different from the sense of the word which the Nation had ever used and only used For in their Schools a person was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scholar or Disciple when he gave in himself to such a Master to be taught and trained up by him and in the Discipling of Proselytes to the Jews Religion it was of the very like tenour That sense therefore that many put upon these words viz. that none are to be baptized but those that are throughly taught is such a one as the Apostles and all the Jewish Nation had never known or heard of before That wretched and horrid opinion that denieth the Godhead of Christ and the Godhead of the holy Ghost little observeth or at least will not see why the administration of Baptism among the Gentiles must be in the Name of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost whereas among the Jews it was only in the Name of Iesus Act. 2.38 namely for this reason that as by that among the Jews Iesus was to be professed for the true Messias against all other so by this among the Gentiles who had worshipped false Gods The Father Sonne and holy Ghost should be professed the only true God And it would be but a wild as well as an irreligious Paraphrase that that opinion would make of this passage Go preach the Gospel to every creature and Baptize them in the Name of the Son a creature and the holy Ghost a creature He promiseth the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost to them that should beleeve not to all but to some for the confirmation of the Doctrine and chargeth the Disciples to return to Ierusalem and there to stay till he should pour down the holy Ghost upon them to inable them for this Ministry among all Nations to which he had designed them Mark and Luke do briefly adde the story of his ascension because they will dispatch his whole story but that is related more amply Act. 1. A seventh appearing To Iames. After the appearing to above five hundred Brethren at once which we suppose and not without ground to have been that last mentioned the Apostle relateth that he was seen of Iames 1 Cor. 15.7 and then of all the Apostles which doth plainly rank this appearance to Iames between that to the five hundred Brethren on the mountain in Galilee and his coming to all the Apostles when they were come again to Ierusalem Which Iames this was Paul is silent of as all the Evangelists are of any such particular appearance It is most like he means Iames the lesse of whom he speaks oft elsewhere and so doth the story of the Acts of the Apostles as one of specialler note in the time of Pauls preaching among the Gentiles We reade oft in the Gospels of Peter and Iames and Iohn three Disciples of singular eminency in regard of the privacy that Christ vouchsafed to them at some speciall times more then to the other Apostles and in that he badged them with a peculiar mark of changing their names and did not so by any of the other But that Iames was the sonne of Zebedee Now when he was Martyred Act. 12. you finde that Iames the sonne of Alpheus called Iames the lesse came to be ranked in the like
we touched before The Babylon Talmud in Sanhedrin in the Chapter Helek doth shew their full opinion about the daies of Messias and amongst other things they say thus as Aruch speaks their words in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a tradition of the house of Elijah that the righteous ones that the blessed God shall raise from the dead they shall no more return to their dust but those thousand years that the holy blessed God is to renew the world he will give them wings as Eagles and they shall flee upon the waters The place in the Talmud is in Sanhedrin fol. 92. where the text indeed hath not the word thousand but the marginall glosse hath it and shews how to understand the thousand years And Aruch speaks it as a thing of undeniable knowledge and intertainment And so speaks R. Eliezâ—r in Midras Tillin fol. 4. col 2. The daies of the Messias are a thousand years As Iohn all along this Book doth intimate new stories by remembring old ones and useth not only the Old Testament phrase to expresse them by but much allusion to customs language and opinions of the Jews that he might speak as it were closer to them and nearer their apprehensions so doth he here and forward This later end of his Book remembers the later end of the Book of Ezekiel There is a resurrection Ezek. 37. Gog and Magog Ezek. 38. 39. and a new Ierusalem Ezek. 40. and forward So here a resurrection ver 5. Gog and Magog ver 8. and a new Ierusalem Chap. 21. 22. There a resurrection not of bodies out of the grave but of Israel out of a low captived condition in Babel There a Gog and Magog the Syrogrecian persecutors Antiochus and his house and then the description of the new Ierusalem which as to the place and situation was a promise of their restoring to their own Land and to have Ierusalem built again as it was indeed in the daies of Ezra and Nehemiah but by the glory and â—â—rgenesse of it as it is described more in compasse then all the Land of Canaan they were taught to look further namely at the heavenly or spiritual Ierusalem the Church through all the world Now the Jews according to their allegoricall vein applied these things to the daies of Christ thus that first there should be a resurrection caused by Messias of righteous ones then he to conquer Gog and Magog and then there must come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The brave world to come that they dreamed of Beside what they speak to this tenour in the Talmudick Treatise last cited there is this passage in Ierus Megillah fol. 73. col 1. They are applying particular parts of the great Hallel to particular times what the great Hallel was we shewed a little before And that part say they I love the Lord because he hath heard me refers to the daies of Messias that part Tye the sacrifice with cords to the daies of Gog and Magog And that Thou art my God and I will praise thee refers to the world to come Our Divine Apocalyptick follows Ezekiel with an Allegory too and in some of his expressions alludes to some of theirs not as approving them but as speaking the plainer to them by them Here is a resurrection too but not of bodies neither for not a word of mention of them but of souls The souls of those that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus lived and reigned ver 4. and yet this is called The first resurrection ver 5. The meaning of the whole let us take up in parts There are two main things here intended First to shew the ruine of the Kingdom of Satan and secondly the nature of the Kingdom of Christ. The Scripture speaks much of Christs Kingdom and his conquering Satan and his Saints reigning with him that common place is briefly handled here That Kingdom was to be especially among the Gentiles they called in unto the Gospel Now among the Gentiles had been Satans Kingdom most setled and potent but here Christ binds him and casts him into the bottomlesse pit that he should deceive no more as a great cheater and seducer cast into prison and this done by the coming in of the Gospel among them Then as for Christs Kingdom I saw Thrones saith Iohn and they sate upon them c. ver 4. here is Christ and his inthroned and reigning But how do they reign with him Here Iohn faceth the foolish opinion of the Jews of their reigning with the Messias in an earthly pomp and shews that the matter is of a farre different tenour that they that suffer with him shall reign with him they that stick to him witnesse for him dye for him these shall sit inthroned with him And he nameth beheading only of all kindes of deaths as being the most common used both by Jews and Romans alike as we have observed before at Acts 12. out of Sanhedr per. 7. halac 3. And the first witnesse for Christ Iohn the Baptist died this death He saith that such live and reign with Christ the thousand years not as if they were all raised from the dead at the beginning of the 1000 years and so reign all together with him those years out as is the conceit of some as absolute Judaism as any is for matter of opinion but that this must be expected to be the garb of Christs Kingdom all along suffering and standing out against sinne and the mark of the Beast and the like whereas they held it to be a thousand years of earthly bravery and pompousnesse But the rest of the dead lived not again untill the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Not that they lived again when the thousand years were finished but it means that they lived not in this time which was the time of living when Satan was bound and truth and life came into the world The Gentiles before the Gospel came among them were dead in Scripture phrase very copiously Ephes. 2.1 2. 4.18 c. but that revived them Ioh 5.25 This is the first resurrection in and to Christs Kingdom the second is spoken of at the 12th verse of this Chapter that we are upon Paul useth the same expression to signifie the same thing namely a raising from darknesse and sin by the power of the Gospel Rom. 11.15 Now when this quickning came among the Gentiles Satan going down and Christs Kingdom advanced and the Gospel bringing in life and light as Ioh. 1.4 those that did not come and stick close to Christ and bear witnesse to him but closed with the mark of the Beast sin and sinfull men these were dead still and lived not again till the thousand years were finished that is while they lasted though that were a time of receiving life Blessed therefore and holy are they that have part in this first resurrection for on them the second death hath no power ver 6. The second death is a