fitly pretended for the first composing of it then the extraordinary joy of the whole Communitie of the people of Juda and Israel aswell Priests as Laicks upon the erection or finishing of the second Temple For within the compasse of this season Haggai had prophecied that the desire of all Nations should come unto that Temple The precise time according to exact calculation of his comming to Jerusalem and of his death there had beene notified by Daniel not long before The sacred history of the times wherein Zerubbabel Ieshua Haggai and Zechariah lived beare plentifull record that the people of Judah Benjamin or Israel had no just cause or great occasions of rejoycing according to that scale of joy and gladnesse which is charactered in the 118. Psalme immediately after their returne from Babylonish captivitie For both neighbour Nations and the principal Officers of this side Euphrates of those kings unto whom they were subject did partly by violence partly by malicious suggestions for divers yeares prohibite the erection of the Temple and the re-edifying of Jerusalem More feare then joy did possesse this great people when they begun to erect the Altar of the Lord as may appeare from Ezra 3.4 And that was divers months before the foundation of the Temple was laid at which time indeed there was much joy especially amongst the people and younger sort Yet joy mixt with many teares of the Ancient especially Priests and Levites which had seene the former Temple at least the foundation of it Ezra 3.12 13. 5 However it is probable that this 118. Psalm was in part composed upon the sight or view of the first foundation of the second Temple For Ezra tells us that the Priests and Levites after the ordinance of David King of Israel sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel And in this forme of thanksgiving the 118. Psalme begins and ends O give thanks unto the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever ver 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever ver 29. I am not forgetfull nor can the Reader be ignorant that there is another Psalme videlicet 136. in which this forme of praise is more perpetuall as being the close or fall of every verse But that Psalme as I have many inducements to conceive was composed long before the foundation of the Temple was laid But other Psalmes of thanksgiving there are besides these two which were composed upon speciall occasions and afterwards continued in their solemne feasts with further additions and amplifications as the like occasions of publique joy did minister For later Prophets or men otherwise inspired by the holy Ghost for that purpose to intersert or adde more plaine or fuller expressions of Davids or former Prophets intent or meaning in their forme of thanksgiving or to paraphrase upon them was never unlawfull although they had added the same curse to such as should adde unto or diminish their writings which is annexed unto the law of Moses and the booke of the Revelations For no addition is forbidden but such as includeth a vitiation of the text or such as pretendeth Divine authority when it hath it not 6 But however this 118. Psalme or most part of it might be begunne upon the occasions forementioned by Ezra yet some passages in it there are which in particular refer unto some one of the three great and anniversary solemnities as that This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Save now O Lord I beseech thee c. ver 24 25. Now after the foundation of the Temple was laid there was no solemn feast in which this peoples expression of joy and thanksgiving was so remarkeable or so peremptorily required as in that feast of Tabernacles or booths recorded by Nehemiah cap. 8. A feast of Tabernacles there was some few months after the foundation of the Temple was laid by Zerubbabel and Ieshua the sonne of Iozadeck recorded by Ezra 3.4 c. But that feast of Tabernacles was solemnised secundùm quid onely in respect of the peculiar daily sacrifices which the Law in that month appointed to be offered There is no mention in Ezra of their dwelling in boothes either in their publique streets upon their publique houses or in the Courts of the Lords house which was not at that time builded This part of that great solemnity had not beene observed from the daies of Ioshua the sonne of Nun untill Nehemiah had put his peremptory commission for re-edifying Jerusalem in execution Nehemiah which is the Tirshatha and Ezra the Priest the Scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people This day is holy unto the Lord your God mourne not nor weepe for all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law c. And they found written in the Law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that the Children of Israel should dwell in boothes in the feast of the seventh month And that they should publish and proclaime in all their Cities and in Ierusalem saying Goe forth unto the Mount and fetch Olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and Palme branches and branches of thick trees to make booths So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths every one upon the roofe of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the street of the water gate of Ephraim And all the congregation of them that were come againe out of the captivity made boothes and sate under the boothes for since the dayes of Ioshua the sonne of Nun unto that day had not the Children of Israel done so and there was very great gladnesse Also day by day from the first day unto the last day he read in the booke of the law of God And they kept the feast seven dayes and on the eighth day was a solemne Assembly according unto the manner Nehem. 8.9 10 11. c. This great day of the feast was that anniversary solemnity wherein our Lord and Saviour after the revolution of many years how many I leave to the calculation of Chronologers did make that solemne proclamation unto the people assembled at the feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7.37 In the last day that great day of the feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that beleeveth on mee as the Scriptures have said out of his belly shall flow rivers of running water But this spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeve on him should receive For the holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified 7 It is very observable which is recorded by Saint Iohn Chap. 7.14 That about the midst of the feast Iesus went into the
temple and taught and so taught that the Iews marveiled saying How knoweth this man letters seeing he never learned But to my apprehension it is more observable and wanteth not a mystery though for the present I cannot sound it why our Saviour should begin to teach in the Temple in the midst of the feast not from the first day untill the last as Ezra the Priest and Scribe had done in the same feast mentioned by Nehemiah His friends and kinsfolkes had advised him to be at Jerusalem to shew himselfe at the beginning of the feast Now the Iews feast of Tabernacles was at hand His Brethren therefore said unto him Depart hence and goe unto Iudea that thy Disciples also may see the works which thou doest For there is no man that doth any thing in secret and he himselfe seeketh to be knowne openly· If thou dost these things shew thy self unto the world c. Then Iesus said unto them My time is not yet come but your time is alwaies ready c. Goe yee up unto this feast I goe not up yet unto this feast for my time is not yet come When he had said these words unto them he abode still in Galilee Howbeit after his teaching three or foure daies at the least and his solemne invitation of all men to come unto him in the great day of the feast he was not publickly acknowledged for the Christ but so acknowledged by some and with demurre or contradiction of others Then the Iews sought him at the feast and said Where is he And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him For some said hee is a good man Others said nay but he deceiveth the people Howbeit no man spake openly of him for feare of the Iews John 7.11 12 c. But this verdict of him was given up before he taught in the Temple After which time their suffrages varied not onely one from another but from themselves For upon that part of doctrine which hee delivered from the 15. verse to the 25. Some of them of Ierusalem said Is not this he whom they seeke to kill But lo hee speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him Do the Rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ Howbeit we know this man whence hee is But when Christ commeth no man knoweth whence he is Then cryed Iesus in the Temple as he taught saying Ye both know me and whence I am and I am not come of my self but he that hath sent me is true whom ye know not But I know him for I am from him and he hath sent mee Then they sought to take him but no man laid hands on him because his houre was not yet come And many of the people beleeved on him and said when Christ commeth will he doe more miracles then these which this man hath done Iohn 7.25 c. But in the great and last day of the feast many of the people after they had heard his solemne invitation said Of a truth this is the Prophet Others said this is the Christ But some said Shall Christ come out of Galilee Hath not the Scripture said that Christ commeth of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethleem where David was So there was a division among the people because of him And some of them would have taken him but no man laid hands on him ver 40 41 c. For when the chief Priests and Pharisees asked of the Officers whom they had employed upon the demurr or debatement of the people to attach him verse 32. Why have ye not brought him The onely answer they could get was this Never man spake like this man verse 45 46. 8 But however in this great feast he suffered such contradictions of sinfull men open contradictions one to another and secret contradictions in most individuals to their owne consciences For as he had told them Iohn 7.28 That they both knew him and whence he was and that he came not of himself Albeit their passions would not permit them so to acknowledge him Yet his entertainement for the present was not so harsh and churlish at the peoples hand especially as it was at the next solemne feast in which he againe did publish his Commission to wit in the feast of the Encoenia or dedication of the Temple immediately ensuing the forementioned feast of Tabernacles There was a division saith Saint Iohn again among the Iews for these sayings And many of them said He hath a devill and is mad why heare ye him Others said these are not the words of him that hath a devill Can a devill open the eyes of the blind And it was at Ierusalem the feast of the Dedication and it was winter And Iesus walked in the Temple in Solomons porch Then came the Iews round about him and said unto him How long dost thou make us doubt If thou be the Christ tell us plainly Iesus answered them I told you and ye beleeved me not The works that I doe in my Fathers name they bear witnesse of me c. Ioh 10.19 20 c. Upon this avouchment that God was his Father and that hee and his Father were one the Jews took up stones to stone him Iesus answered them many good works have I shewed from my Father for which of these works do ye stone mee The Iews answered him saying For a good work we stone thee not but for blasphemy and because that thou being a man makest thy selfe a God But he escaped out of their hands and went away againe beyond Iordan into the place where Iohn at first baptized And there he abode and many resorted unto him and said Iohn did no miracle but all things that Iohn spake of this man were true And many beleeved on him there verse 39 40 c. more then had done at Jerusalem unto which hee did not come till the great and last feast of the Passeover albeit he were invited or advised to repaire thither rather then to remaine in Herods dominions Luke 13.31 Then came certaine Pharisees Inhabitants of Jerusalem or their Complices saying unto him Get thee out and depart hence for Herod will kill thee And he said unto them Goe tell that foxe c. It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Ierusalem c. verse 33. He finally resolves them Yee to wit of Ierusalem Behold your house is left unto you desolate Yee shall not see me untill the time come when ye shall say Blessed is he that commeth in the Name of the Lord. verse 35. And after this manner hee was saluted by Men Women and Children by all sorts unlesse it were the Scribes and Pharisees at his comming to this great and last Passeover whereof I now treate However their crucifying of him some few daies after whom they acknowledged for their Lord and Messias did both deserve and portend that utter desolation of City and Temple which hee had foretold in the words immediately going before O Ierusalem
lived here on earth No type at all not so much as a shadow of Christs humilitie and patience in all his sufferings but rather a foile by his impatience to set a lustre upon the unparalleld meeknesse of this true Nazarite of God by an Antiperistasis Sampsons last prayers unto the God of his strength were that he would give him power at the houre of his death to be revenged on his Enemies for the losse of his eyes Jesus of Nazareth the true Nazarite of God when he came unto the crosse on Mount Calvarie the stage and theatre for his enemies sport and triumph over him in this solemne feast prayes heartily even for those that hoodwinckt him and bid him prophecy saying Who was it that smote thee And for the Roman Souldiers which were the Executioners of their malicious merriment he prayes for both in such a sweet and heavenly manner as no Prophet had ever done for his Persecutors Father forgive them for they know not what they doe He did not so much as either lift up hand or voice or conceive any secret prayer against one or other of his persecutors during the time of his lingring but deadly paines as knowing this was the time wherein his body was to be made as an anvile that he might doe the will of his Father by the Sacrifice of himself and sufferance of all other indignities more bitter to a meere man than twenty deaths though of the crosse The effect or purpose of Gods will in this sacrifice as our Apostle instructs us was our Sanctification But the will of God which he was now to doe was his will passively taken to wit for the body of CHRIST offered up once for all as our Apostle interprets the meaning of the Author or rather of the Holy Ghost who did inspire the Author of the fortieth Psalme with the spirit of Prophecie 2. As in perusing many other Psalmes so in this I cannot but bewaile the negligence of most Interpreters as well ancient as moderne for not inquiring more accurately after the Authour but especially the historicall occasions of composing it I had many yeares agoe sundry probable notions or conjectures that this Psalme though inscribed a Psalme of David or revealed to David for this inscription will well beare both senses as some other Psalmes which have the same Inscription were if wee may beleeve good Authors penned or paraphrased upon by Ieremiah for the peoples use in the Babylonish captivity But these conjectures and the perusall of such notes as I had then gathered concerning the Author of this Psalme I now wave or rather altogether omit But whether the Author of this Psalme suppose David did act his owne part as having some speciall Cōmission from the Lord to instruct the people that to doe Gods will in some peculiar service then required was better then sacrifice much better then burnt offering or whether he spake this divine vision or rapture in the person of the Messias alone this however is most certain that the 6 7 8. verses of that 40. Psalme do containe a concludent Prophecie of the abolition of legall sacrifices by the sacrifice of Christs body The argument or demonstration is most divinely gathered and irrefragably prest home to this purpose by our Apostle Heb. 10. from the 4. verse to the 11. It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sinnes Wherefore when hee commeth into the world hee saith Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared mee in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sinne thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Loe I come In the volume of the booke it is written of mee to doe thy will O God Above when he said Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sinne thou wouldest not neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the Law then said hee Loe I come to doe thy will O God hee taketh away the first that hee may establish the second By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of JESUS CHRIST once for all 3. The onely difficulty about the reconciliation of the Psalmist in the originall and the Translation of the Seuenty which the Apostle follows Heb. 10. and his approbation of it makes it to mee in this particular altogether as Authentick as the Hebrew or a better expression of it then moderne Interpreters without him could make The resolution of this difficulty will much depend upon the literall meaning or importance of the Hebrew phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some Latine Interpreters render it thus aures perfodisti mihi others aures perforasti mihi others aures aperuisti mihi thou hast digged through boared or opened my eares And some of these conceit an allusion in the literall sense to the legall custome of boaring the eares of such as were content to continue perpetuall servants to their present Masters and not use the priviledge of the yeare of Iubilee But this conjecture is rejected by many moderne Writers and in particular to my remembrance by Pineda Aures perfodere saith the Tigurine Note upon this place symbolicâ oratione est in servitutem mancipare as much as to make one a perpetuall servant This Interpretation I take supposeth the former allusion to such as were made perpetuall servants by boring their eares But our Saviour although for a time hee tooke the forme of a servant upon him and was qualified for the performance of the hardest part of this service by opening the eare yet was he not made nor did hee become a perpetuall servant but shortly after to bee made both Lord and CHRIST 4. Ribera who doubtlesse had read very many and with great judgement saith Of all the Interpreters which hee had perused Genebrard comes neerest to the meaning of the Holy Ghost To exhibite Genebrards Interpretation in his owne words Aures mihi aperuisti id est corpus per Synecdochen e Paulo Heb. 10. Mihi aptasti corpus humanum in vtero virgineo Rabbini non satis perceptâ metaphorâ Aures fodisti sive aperuisti mihi ad tuae obtemperandum voluntati aurem revelasti retexisti ab aure abstulisti velum tegmen ut acutiùs audiret Effecisti ut te audirem ac tuae voluntati libens parêrem Me docilem obsequentem ad audiendum reddidisti Chald. Aures ad auscultanda tua praecepta formasti mihi Nostris congruenter Quia enim agitur de corporatione sive incarnatione Domini est metaphora simul Synecdoche ad quorum troporum difficultatem explanandam Apostolus appositissimè posuit Corpus aptasti mihi Est enim primùm metaphora a figulis qui manu fodicant ducunt argillam e quâ cupiunt vas aptare currente rota Quare Deus figulus fictor plastes nuncupatur ut alludatur ad Genes 2. quando ex humo humanum corpus duxit Est deinde Synecdoche pars pro toto aures
Saviour was crucified at what houre taken downe from the Crosse and of the mysteries ensuing his death 370 FINIS PErlegilibrum hunc cuì titulus est The humiliation of the Son of God c. in quo nihil reperio quo minus summâ cum utilitate imprimatur Ex Aedibus Fulham June 22. Sa Baâ—â—er R. P. Episc Lond Cap. domest Errata Page 27. line 7. for else be read else there be p. 60. l. 4. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 70. l. 24. for the first way r. the fittest way p. 95. l. 27. for nor r. not p. 283. l. 21. for unto by him r. unto him by THE HVMILIATION OF THE SONNE OF GOD OR The eighth Booke of Commentaries upon the Apostles CREED THat the man CHRIST JESUS was truely and properly the Sonne of God not from his conception birth or circumcision but from eternitie That the Sonne of God was so made man in time that whilst the man Christ Iesus was conceived borne and circumcised He who was the Sonne of God and God our Lord from eternity was conceived borne and circumcised in our flesh hath been though not the entire subject yet the maine scope of a former Treatise Unto which by the assistance of this JESUS and his holy Spirit we now endeavour to annexe this present Treatise or Eighth Book of Commentaries upon the Apostles Creed the subject and scope whereof is to shew that the same God and our Lord who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary c. did according to the Scripture afore extant suffer under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buryed c. Besides that which hath been delivered concerning this Iesus and our Lord all that we are in these Comments to prosecute or meddle with untill wee come unto the article of his comming to judge the Quick and the Dead and the accomplishment of a Treatise already begun concerning the Holy Catholique Church will fall under these generals The Humiliation The Exaltation And Consecration of the Sonne of God to the everlasting Priesthood Of his Humiliation his death and sufferings Of his Exaltion his resurrection from the dead his ascension into heaven and sitting at the right hand of God were the periods or accomplishments Of his CoÌ„secratioÌ„ to his everlasting Priesthood his Agony and bloudy death his rest three dayes and three nights in the grave and resurrection thence were the principall though not the onely parts To begin with his Humiliation SECTION I. Of the Humiliation of the Sonne of God and the end why he did so humble himselfe in the generall CHAP. I. In what sense the Sonne of God is said to have humbled himselfe 1 ALbeit the humiliation of the Son of God our Lord be not expresly mentioned in the Apostles Creed yet is it so emphatically exprest in Canonicall Scriptures whence the Articles of our Creed are taken by whose rules they are to be interpreted that no man which admits the Scripture to be a rule of Christian faith and practice can deny this humiliation of the Sonne of God to be a fundamentall point of beleefe and rule of manners and practice truely Christian As to omit other Texts for the present that one of our Apostle S. Paul shall suffice Let nothing be done through strife or vaine glory but in lowlinesse of minde let each esteeme others better than themselves Looke not every man on his owne things but every man also on the things of others Let this minde be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the forme of God thought it not robbery to be equall with God But made himselfe of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a servant and was made in the likenesse of men And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse If we consider this humiliation of Christ our Saviour in its generall or abstract notion not as restrained unto particular circumstances of his death and sufferings it is in some sort more peculiar to him as hee was and is the Son of God than the matter of any other article following in this Creed For when wee say as we must beleeve that the onely Son of God was borne was circumcised did suffer under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried these and the like speeches can be no other wayes verified of him as he is God than per communicationem idiomatum That is the matters signified by these and the like speeches had their beginning and reall existence in his humane nature For that alone was really capable of weaknesse sorrow infirmity and of death Yet in as much as the whole humane nature it selfe was but an Appendix of his divine person no person distinct from it whatsoever Christ Jesus did doe or suffer in this nature was done and suffered by the eternall Sonne of God The Sonne of God was truely humbled in and according to this nature in all his naturall and more than naturall sufferings from his birth to his death Yet may we not say that this Son of God did humble himselfe onely in these or the like undertakings whereof the humane nature alone was really capable That exinanition or nullifying of himselfe mentioned by our Apostle Phil. 2.7 did not take its beginning from or in the manhood but in and from the divine person of the Sonne of God For it was no physicall passion or naturall affection no passion at all either naturall or supernaturall yet a true and proper humiliation more than civill though better resembled by humiliation civill than by naturall His obedience did not meerely consist in his patient suffering but in the submission of himselfe to his Fathers will before he suffered Most willing he was to take upon him the forme of a servant before hee actually tooke our nature upon him for our redemption before the Angell Gabriell was sent unto the blessed Virgin before the Psalmist had said on his behalfe Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a bodie hast thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifice for sinne thou hast had no pleasure then said I loe I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to doe thy will O God This unconceiveable manner of his unexpressible willingnesse to doe his Fathers will was the very life and soule of that most admirable obedience of his humane will to doe and suffer whatsoever hee did or suffered in our flesh That which gave the infinite value and everlasting efficacy to his everlasting sacrifice which was offred once for all 2. For taking a true though an imperfect scale for such is the best that man can take of his humiliation and obedience wee are to scan the meaning of our Apostle in the forecited place more particularly Hee was saith our Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 in the forme of God the originall implyeth the very essence or nature of God As much as wee are taught to beleeve in the Nicene or Athanasius Creed where it is said Hee was of one substance with the Father c. He was so in the forme of God or so truely God that he thought it no robbery no usurpation of any dignity which was not his owne by right of nature to account himselfe equall with God It was no robbery so to account himselfe because hee knew himselfe so to be Yet saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did as it were empty himselfe or sequester this his greatnesse and became lesse or lower than the sons of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by taking upon him the essentiall state or condition of a servant being first made substantially man that hee might be for a time essentially and formally a servant For though every man be not a servant yet every servant must be a man Now the Son of God being thus found in the forme and garbe of a man and in the formall condition of a servant He humbled himselfe yet lower and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse And that was a kind of death unto which by the Roman Laws whereunto he yeelded obedience none but slaves or malefactors of servile condition were lyable And how ever many of this state or condition were put unto this ignominious death yet none besides the man Christ Iesus did ever suffer it out of obedience or willingly but for want of power to resist or eschew it Had it beene in the power of the most abject slaves that ever did suffer it to have called in but half so many Roman soldiers to their rescue as Christ Iesus could have commanded of celestiall Angels they would have sould their lives at a dearer rate than the Emperors did which were slain in battaile or mutiny 3. But the man CHRIST JESUS who was also the true Sonne of God and who in that hee was the wisedome of God did better know the horror or paines of a lingring death before he had experience of it as man than any creature man or Angell can doe when HE was afflicted and tormented yet he opened not his mouth but was brought unto his Crosse like a Lambe unto the slaughter and as a sheepe before his shearer is dumbe so opened he not his mouth Isa 53.7 This far exceeded all obedience of any man whether free borne or a slave His patience in all his sufferings did farre exceed the patience of dumb creatures of Lambs themselves of wormes or meaner sensible passives For none of them doth dye a violent death without striving or reluctance without endeavour to annoy such as afflict or torment them Whereas this Lamb of God to shew himselfe to be the mirrour of patience and obedience did pray for his persecutors after the pangs of death more then naturall had seized upon him after he had been buffetted spit upon scourged and every way most disgracefully abused whilst hee endured the lingring and cruell torments of the Crosse exasperated with bitter scoffes and revilings of his unrelenting persecutors uncessantly pouring vinegar in stead of oyle into his wounds gave not the least signification of discontent either by word or gesture towards God or man unlesse some haply will put a sinister interpretation upon that exclamation when he was ready to dye My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But of the purport of this exclamation by Gods assistance in its due time and place In the interim without prejudice to any mans person or authority I rest perswaded that this speech beareth no character of discontent much lesse of despaire To conclude this point As there never was any sorrow like to his sorrow in his sufferings so was there no obedience nor ever shall be any obedience like to his from the beginning to the end of his sufferings This did farther exceed all his sorrows than his sorrowes did the paines and sorrowes of other men CHAP. 2. That the dignity from which the Sonne of God had descended and unto which the Sonne of man was to be exalted were testifyed by many signs and documents during the time of his humiliation 1. VNto this admirable lowlinesse of obedience God awarded a correspondent degree of exaltation For so the Apostle inferreth in the words immediately following Philip. 2.9 c. Wherefore or for this cause God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confesse that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father The same Apostle Rom. 14.9 tells us To this end Christ both dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living As man he was made Lord from his resurrection but as the Sonne of God and a distinct person from his Father he was Lord from eternity as to omit other places before cited our Apostles inference in the 14. of the Romanes ver 10.11 will make cleare to any Christian that can take it into due consideration We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ How is this proved or whence had our Apostle himself this revelation From the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 45. ver 10. For there it is written As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confesse unto God Christ then not as man but as God was that Lord in whose name the Prophet speaketh this As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me 2. Had this Lord the onely Sonne of God taken our nature upon him though adorned even from the first moment of its assumption with such majestie and glory as now it is yet the assumption of it would have beene an humiliation of the Sonne of God not physicall but rather as I said civill or ad modum civilis humiliationis an incomparable and unparalleld affabilitie an incomprehensible loving kindnesse But for this Lord to be incarnate for us of a Virgin to take our nature upon him charged with mortality and infirmities to surcharge our ordinary humane conditions with the extraordinary estate of a servant to burden this hard servitude with paine and torture with disgrace and ignominies more than servitude humane is capable of This was that unexpressible humiliation and incomprehensible loving kindnesse towards us miserable men which our Apostle so emphatically setteth forth for our patterne in submitting our wills to his most holy will as he did his unto his Fathers And our Lord himself requireth that we should be humble as he is humble not according to the measure of his humiliation for that is as impossible for us as to be as perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect or as holy as he is holy Yet must we be truely holy as our
him These were the weapons by which he foiled the old Serpent and obtained the victory by managing our weaknesse and infirmities better then our first Parents did those great abilities wherewith their Creator had endowed them to resist temptations The weapons which the old Serpent used in the conquest of our first Parents and by which hee retained their posterity in continuall slavery were their owne desires and affections these hee improved so farre that they became unweeldy And he having gotten as wee say the better end of the staffe did wrest our wills at his pleasure to doe those things which God forbids us to do and make us furious executioners of his cunning contrivances against our own soules The particularities of his sleights or cunning for bringing us into thraldome inextricable unlesse the Sonne of God set us free are elswhere deciphered These two are the maine generals First the extension of our naturall desire of things within their bounds good and pleasant Secondly the improvement of our feare of things distastfull to nature as of death disgrace or torture Now that the Sonne of God might thus beate him at his owne weapons it was necessary that he should first take upon him the forme or essentiall condition of a servant for without this first voluntarily undertaken by him the rule of justice could not possibly have suffered him to have suffered so much as he did for our redemption Wherein then did the state or condition of a servant which he tooke upon him formally consist Or when did he first become a servant from the first moment of his birth or conception 2. I cannot brooke their opinion who think our Saviour was by birth a legall servant as being filius ancillae the sonne of an handmaid or bond-woman This grosse heresie hath been well refuted by some late Schoolemen whose names I now remember not nor the names of the Authors or abettors of this opinion The mother of the Sonne of God was indeed ancilla an handmaid but to him onely whose service is perfect freedome So the Psalmist in the person of the Sonne of God to be manifested in our flesh or as his type directs his prayer Psal 116.16 O Lord truely I am thy servant and the sonne of thy handmaid CHRIST as all Christians grant was the Sonne of Gods Handmaid after such a manner and in such a sense as never any man besides him was For hee was the promised womans seed and the sonne of a woman in such a sort as hee was not the sonne of any man Againe hee was the servant of God after such a peculiar manner as neither man or woman had been or ever shall be But how doth this peculiar service of his fit our servitude unto sinne Even as the medicine doth the disease or as the plaister doth the wound for which it is prepared In the Sonne of God made man there were two distinct wills the one truely Divine the other truely humane To deny this distinction of wills in Christ were to revive the heresie of the Monothelites so called because they held but one will in Christ to wit the Divine An errour into which they haply fell as many since their time have done into a worse by not distinguishing betweene voluntas and arbitrium Our Saviour CHRIST whilest hee lived here on earth had a reasonable will of the same nature or quality our will is of sinne excepted And by this will he could not but desire his owne particular good as health welfare and other lawfull contentments of the humane nature which are requisite to true joy or happinesse But in as much as the Sonne of God from the beginning of mans servitude unto Satan became our Surety to make satisfaction for our sins did in the fulnesse of time take our nature upon him hee did wholly submit his reasonable will all his affections and desires unto the will of his heavenly Father And in this renouncing of the arbitrament of his will and in the entire submission of it unto the will of his Father did that forme of a servant whereof our Apostle speakes formally consist For unto the essentiall definition or constitution of a servant these two onely concurre First the use of reason for fooles infants or reasonlesse creatures cannot bee servants Secondly Carentia arbitrii proprii want of right or arbitrary power to dispose of their bodily actions or employments according to the desire or lawfull choise of their reasonable will So then the generall definition or abstract forme of a servant is univocally the same 1 in legall servants 2 in servants to sin and 3 in the Sonne of God during the time of his humiliation here on earth or whilest hee became hostage for our Redemption But the service of these three sorts of servants is in the concrete most different And the difference ariseth from the matter or subject in which they are respectively deprived of proper right or arbitrary power to dispose of themselves or of their actions A legall servant wants power to dispose of his employments or bodily actions in matters temporary concerning this life Servants to sin such all the sonnes of Adam are by nature want power to dispose of their actions or course of life in matters morall spirituall or such as concerne their consciences All and every one of us have a desire to be happy and yet all of us until we be freed by the Son of God from this naturall servitude are by the prince of darknesse usually diverted from this strait way which leads to happinesse unto the crooked by-paths which tend to death and inextricable misery The Sonne of God although according to his humane nature hee had a reasonable will and desire of happinesse which could never in any particular become exorbitant or diverted from that which is most holy and just yet even hee in the dayes of his humiliation wanted power to reape the wages of righteousnesse or fruits of holinesse Though joy and comfort was as pleasant to him as to any man besides though compleat happinesse was due unto him as hee was a most just and righteous man personally united to the Son of God yet having taken upon him the forme of a servant hee did with unspeakeable patience and obedience beare all the griefes and sorrows which Satan and his instruments by divine permission could invent against him and cheerefully undergoe the heaviest burden which his heavenly Father was pleased to lay upon him for our redemption 3. From this peculiar condition of a servant which the Sonne of God did voluntarily take upon him that maine objection which some moderne Arrians or Photinians make against the absolute satisfaction of our Lord Redeemer for our sinnes may easily bee answered or rather will dissolve it selfe God say these men could not without tyrannicall injustice require full satisfaction for the misdemeanors of all wicked and naughty men from one most just and holy man To slay the righteous with the wicked that
to the humane nature of Christ from the Godhead or Divine person of the Sonne rather all indignities and harmes which were done unto the man CHRIST JESUS by Satan and his instruments did redound unto the Sonne of God The humane nature was the onely subject of the wound and paine The Sonne of God was the onely subject if wee may so speake of the wrong the onely party or person wronged by Satan and his instruments but no way wronged by the Father much lesse by himselfe as having free power to put that part of our nature which he assumed unto what service soever his Father would require Concerning this last qualification of the Sonne of God I have nothing more to say in this Treatise save onely how it was foretold or foreshadowed The predictions that the Sonne of God or the Messias should become a servant are frequent in the old Testament and will here and there interpose themselves in some ensuing discussions of his undertakings for dissolving the works of Satan The next inquirie is how it was foreshadowed or typically foretold CHAP. IX Gods servant Job the most illustrious Type of the Sonne of God as hee was invested with the forme of a servant 1 THe forme of a servant which the Sonne of God did take upon him was foreshadowed by all those holy men Prophets or other which are by sacred Writers instiled the Servants of God A title not usually given to many Kings or Priests not once I take it by God himselfe unto Abraham though he were the greatest of holy men which were but men the father of the faithfull whether Kings Priests or Prophets the onely Prophet Priest or other which to my remembrance was instiled the friend of God Moses Aaron and David are sometimes instiled the servants of God by God himselfe Yet were these three respectively more illustrious types of the Sonne of God as he was to bee made King Priest and Prophet than of him as hee tooke the forme of a servant upon him Of CHRIST JESUS as hee was in a peculiar sort the servant of God Iob the most remarkable paterne of patience before this Son of God was manifested in the flesh is the most exact type or shadow not for his qualifications onely but in his undertakings Iobs conflicts with Satan and wrestlings with temptations are more expresly recorded and more emphatically exprest than any mans besides before the onely Sonne of God became the Sonne of man and servant to his heavenly Father Satan by speciall leave obtained from God but so obtained by God as challenger did combat or play his prizes with this servant of God at two the most prevalent weapons which his cunning and long experience upon all aduantages which the weaknesse of men from the fall of Adam did afford him could make choise of And these two weapons were hope of good things and feare of evills temporall which this great usurper did presume were at his disposall either by right of that conquest which hee had gotten over the first man or could obtaine by Gods permission to ensnare the first mans posterity The direct and full scope of all our hopes is felicitie and so is misery the period of all our feares Unto felicity three sorts of good things are required Bona animae bona fortunae bona corporis The endowments and contentments of the reasonable soule health with ability and lawfull contentments of the body competency of meanes or worldly substance which are subservient to both the former endowments and contentments of soule and body No misery can befall man but either from the want of some one or more of these three good things which are required to happinesse as the Philosophers conceived it or from their contraries All the evills which men naturally feare are either evills incident to the body as sicknesse paine torments death want or losse of goods or worldly substance losse of good name disgrace or ignominy imputation of folly which are no lesse grievous to the rationall part of man than paine or griefe are to the part sensitive more grievous by much to ingenuous men than losse of goods than want or penury For as an heathen Satyrist well observed Nil habet infoelix paupertas durius in se Quam quòd ridiculos homines facit The shrewdest turne that poverty can doe to any mortall creature is to expose him unto contempt or scorne By feare of all these three evills Satan driveth most men into his snare of servitude as many if not more as hee drawes into the same snare by hope of good things By every one of these three evills by the very least of them if we take them single hee had caught so many as hee thought sufficient to make up this generall induction That none could escape his snares or springes so hee might be permitted by God to take his opportunities for setting them 2. Iob was a man as happy as any man before him had been according to that scale of happinesse which Philosophers could hope for in this life or could make any probable ground of better hopes for the life to come There was a man saith the Text in the land of Vz whose name was Iob and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evill This is a fuller expression than any Philosopher could make of the principall part of happinesse that is of a minde richly endowed with all kinde of vertues moral and more than so with spirituall graces And there were borne unto him seven sons and three daughters these were more than bona corporis more than parts of his personall constitution which besides these was exceeding good His substance also was seven thousand sheepe and three thousand Camels and five hundred yoke of Oxen and five hundred shee Asses and a very great houshold or husbandry great store no doubt of servants which were part of his worldly substance so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East Here was a great measure of those things which Philosophers call bona fortunae goods of fortune or as we now say goodly meanes faire revenues Iob was a richer man for those times in respect of others than any man this day living is in respect of our times Yet this goodly Cedar in his full height was sound within and straight without unshaken by any blasts of former temptations untill the Lord himself appointed him to bee a Dueller with Satan The challenge made by Satan is very remarkable There was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them And the Lord said unto Satan whence commest thou Then Satan answered the Lord and said From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Iob that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareth God and
escheweth evill ver 6 7 8. Satan would not beleeve the Lords commendations of this righteous man for hee answered the Lord and said Deth Iob feare God for naught Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that hee hath on everie side Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land But put forth thine hand now and touch all that hee hath and hee will curse thee to thy face After the Lord had permitted Satan to try the utmost of his skill at this first weapon losse of goods and losse of children Iob by his Antagonists confession came off with honour hee still continued Gods faithfull servant He arose saith the text upon the heavy newes of his universall losse of goods and children and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground and worshipped and said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the Name of the Lord. In all this Iob did not sinne ver 20 21 22. Yet is not Satan his Antagonist daunted with this baughle but craves leave to try his skil at another weapon for so it followes Againe there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himselfe before the Lord c. And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Iob that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill and still hee holdeth fast his integrity although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without a cause And Satan answered the Lord and said Skin for skinne yea all that a man hath will hee give for his life But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and hee will curse thee to thy face And the Lord said unto Satan Behold hee is in thine hand onely save his life Chap. 2. ver 1 3 4 5 6. Having this licence granted him hee foreslowes no time for putting it in speedy execution So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Iob with sore boiles from the sole of his foote unto his crowne and he tooke him a potsheard to scrape himselfe withall and hee sate downe among the ashes ver 7 8. 3. In the first temptation which was losse of goods Iob did not sinne so much as in word So farre hee was from sinning in word so farre from murmuring at this sudden change that he setteth a copy not of patience onely but of thanksgiving for temporall crosses or calamities In the second temptation which was more terrible hee so far a while resisted as if hee had purposed to make an atonement for Adams sinne in rashly yeelding to his wives suggestion For when Iobs wife did seeke to misperswade him Dost thou still retaine thy integrity Curse God and die hee thus replied Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evill ver 9 10. Yet that Iob in the continuance of this second temptation did not sinne is more than the word of God will warrant us to avouch Certainely he was a sinner and did actually sinne in this temptation though not in so high a degree as his miserable comforters supposed him to have sinned long before this misery did befall him They thought the excesse of his afflictions in respect of the ordinary afflictions which other men did suffer did presuppose an excesse of sinne in him and that his present sufferings did convince him of former hypocrisie which is the worst of sins Yet some ground they had of this perswasion or suspition for few or none within their memory or before their times had fallen into such a depth of misery as Iob now had done without some excessive height of sinne in some one kind or other Yet Iobs friends in the extent of their collections did if not grosly sinne yet fowly erre in their particular application For Iobs case was extraordinary his temptations were without all former example In respect or order of time hee was the first and most remarkable paterne of patience which the Scripture hath proposed unto us No righteous man or true servant of God before him had been so afflicted either in body in losse of goods or esteeme with men with friends especially as this most upright and faithfull servant of God was The titles given him by God himselfe of perfectnesse and uprightnesse extraordinary if wee compare them with his extraordinary temptations and grievances doe argue that hee was the servant of God after a more peculiar maner than others had been a remarkable servant not onely in respect of his sanctity and integrity but as a speciall type and figure of the Sonne of God who was in succeeding ages to take the forme of a servant upon him and in this forme to be exposed to more terrible combats with Satan than Iob had been although as man he were more upright and righteous than Iob. And besides such Saints of God as were peculiar types of the Sonne of God or of the man CHRIST JESUS in the dayes of his affliction That induction made by Eliphas Iob 4. ver 7 8 9. was universally true in respect of those times and these ensuing Remember I pray thee who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off Even as I have seene they that plough iniquity and sow wickednesse reape the same By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nose-thrills are they consumed That of the Psalmist whether David or some other was universally true not of his times onely but of after-times also though true of later times with the former allowance or exception of such as were speciall types of Christ in his affliction I have been young and now am old yet have I not seene the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread Psal 37.25 CHAP. X. How the Sonne of God did conquer Satan at those weapons wherewith hee had conquered our first Parents 1. THat the Sonne of God was manifested to dissolve the works of the Devill our Evangelist S. Iohn hath taught us and S. Iohn Baptist had told him and others as much before I knew him not saith this his forerunner but that he should be manifested unto Israel therefore I come baptizing with water And Iohn bare record saying I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a Dove and it rested upon him Ioh. 1.31 32. But did this manifestation declare or manifest his purpose to dissolve or destroy the works of the Devill Yes Immediatly upon his baptisme hee gave Israel and the world just proofe that the end of his manifestation was to take away the sinnes of mankinde and for this reason hee began to untwist that triple cord
noster with the Lords prayer the Creed and the ten Commandements For I dare undertake to make good that there is not either branch or fruit blossome or leafe in that sacred garden of devotions which doth not naturally spring and draw its life and nourishment from one or other of the three former roots to wit from the Lords prayer or from the Creed set prayer wise or from the ten Commandements And hee that is disposed to reade that most Divine part of our Liturgie with a sober minde and dutifull respect shall finde not onely more pure devotion but more profound Orthodoxall Divinity both for matter and forme then can bee found in all the English Writers which have either carped or nibled at it Not one ejaculation is there in it which hath the least relish of that leven wherewith their prolix extemporary devotions who distaste it are for the most part deepely sowred But here I had ended my Treatise of the qualification and undertakings of the Sonne of God for dissolving the works of Satan had not a new Quaere presented it selfe to my meditations in the latter end of these disquisitions and the Quaere is this 3. Why our Saviour in his Agony or his other sufferings upon the Crosse should not tender his petitions unto God in the same forme or tenor wherein the Psalmists or other holy men which were types or figures of him in his sufferings had done theirs in their anguish or distresse or in the same forme which he once and no oftner than once did use upon the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The ancient stile of prayer used by Gods servants or Ambassadors as well in their humble supplications as in their gratulatory hymnes but especially in their fervent and patheticall ejaculations for deliverance from present dread or danger was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my God and my Lord or my Lord and my God Besides the observations before made to this purpose out of Masius or rather out of the Liturgie of the Ancient Jews avouched by him and of the Primitive Church well observed by Faber many passages in the Psalmes which did respectively both forepicture and foretell his Agony and sufferings upon the Crosse are most pregnant Of the ingratitude of his people toward him of the indignities and cruelties done unto him by the Jews no Psalmist the Author of 22. onely excepted hath a more lively punctuall representation than that which is Psal 35. and 38.40 David in the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or paroxysme of the grievances which he suffered from such of Sauls followers as he had well deserved of delivereth his petitions in this forme Avenge thou my cause my God and my Lord Psal 35.23 Iudge me according to thy righteousnesse O JEHOVAH my Lord Psal 35.24 and 38.16 whether David or some other were the Author of it Quia ad te expecto tu respondebis Domine Deus mi. And againe Psal 40.6 Multa fecisti tu JEHOVAH Deus meus c. 4. But when the houre was come wherein all these Propheticall ejaculations of the Psalmists were to be exactly fulfilled in our Saviour Christ and by him hee preferres his supplications stilo novo in a forme or stile unusuall before but familiar and usuall to him when his passion and death drew nigh as Ioh. 12. Father not Lord God what shall I say save mee from this houre c. And Ioh. 17. Father glorifie me c. Hee used the same forme in his Agony thrice Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me And in the last words which hee uttered in the forme of a servant hee said not My God my God or my Lord God But Father into thy hands I commend my spirit This variation betweene this most faithfull Servant of God and other holy men Gods faithfull servants in the forme of their supplications or gratulatory ejaculations conceived and uttered upon the like occasions suggests thus much unto us if I mistake not that of all Gods servants or holy men the man CHRIST JESUS onely was his true Sonne not by adoption as others were and wee now are but his Sonne by right of inheritance and yet being such a Sonne was for a time as truely his Servant as his Sonne He who alwayes had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God the Lord Hee whose title it was to heare his peoples prayers and unto whom all flesh shall come Psal 65.2 doth now tender his prayer not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that had been to preferre a petition unto himselfe whereas hee was now to preferre his petition unto his Father whose Servant he now was as man but did not thereby cease to be as truely his Sonne Had hee been his Sonne by creation onely or in respect of the admirable integrity and superexcellencie of his performances as man hee had doubtlesse tendred his petitions in the same stile or forme which other godly men and Gods faithfull servants before had used though much better than they did But however hee was the Servant of God after a more peculiar maner than any other had been yet he presents his supplications in such a stile as hath relation to himselfe rather as he was a Son than as a Servant The eternall Sonne of God was the party supplicant unto the eternall Father for his mortall servant For hee was a servant onely according to his humane nature and according to that onely as it was mortall whereas he still remaineth Mediator betwixt God and man not as man onely much lesse as a mortall man but according to his eternall person and his immortall manhood This his manhood is now dignified with the reall and actuall title of Lord. He was our Lord and Mediator before he assumed our flesh into the unity of his Person but then Mediator according to his Divine Person or as God onely When he is instiled by the Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God the Lord this later title was more Propheticall than historicall and did import as much as that he who was then Iehovah our God at the time appointed should come to be our Lord by peculiar right of dominion purchased by his sufferings for our redemption And for this reason I take it his Apostle Thomas being convinced of incredulity unto the report of his resurrection supplicates to him for pardon in the same stile or forme as the Psalmist and other godly men had done in their distresse My Lord and my God which is the full and punctuall expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For now hee was not onely spe but re become both Lord and Christ SECTION 3. Of the harmonicall parallel betweene the predictions or types of the old Testament and the Evangelicall relations concerning our Saviours triumphant comming unto Ierusalem and of his entertainment there untill the institution of
them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings Zephaniah 3.6 7. That this Prophecy unto what other times soever it be concludently appliable doth in speciall referre unto the calamities brought upon the Nations by Alexander the great is apparent from Zephan 2.4 5. But to returne to the literall meaning of the Prophecie now in handling that as I take it is as if the Prophet had spoken in more words to Jerusalem thus Thine eyes in the generations following shall behold the flourishing pride of sundry Nations each endeavouring to overtop others in height of glory and temporall state each driving to keepe others under by humane policie and strength of warre And whilst the sight of their mutuall Conquests shall possesse thy thoughts thou wilt bee ready in the pride of thy heart to say Jerusalem and Judah one day shall have their turne and in that day shall the sonnes of Iacob the seed of Abraham and David bee like the Monarchs of Greece or Persia farre exalted above the Kings of other Nations every one able to beare Armes glistring with his golden shield and leading the Princes of the Heathen as prisoners bound in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of iron The beauty and riches of their costly Temples shall deck the Chariots of my children which their captives shall draw in triumph But thou shouldest remember that the promised Prince of peace of benignity and Justice should not bee sought amongst the tumultuous hosts of warre Or canst thou hope that the desire of all Nations should bee thy Leader or Generall to destroy themselves It is glory and honour enough for thee glory and honour greater than the greatest Conquerer on earth could ever compasse that the King of kings and Lord of lords shall be anointed and proclaimed King upon the hill of Sion that the inviolable decrees of everlasting peace shall bee given to all the Nations under heaven from thy Courts And therefore whilst horses and Chariots or other glorious preparations of warre shall present themselves to thy view suffer them to passe as they come and rest assured that thy King of whose comming thou hast often beene admonished by the Prophets is not amongst them The maner of his comming unto thee so thou wilt mark it bodes farre better tidings to thee and all the Nations besides than can accompany the prosperous successe of warres or any victory which is stained with blood What King of Judah or Israel did ever levy an Army though in just defence of their Countrey and people on so faire termes that no poore amongst them were pinched with taxes for the supply What victory did they ever obtaine so good cheape that many of their children were not inforced to sit downe with losse many wounded others maymed and some alwayes slaine But loe now I bring thee unusuall matter of exultation and uncouth joy For behold thy King commeth unto thee whensoever he commeth attended with justice for his guide and salvation for his traine Hee shall execute judgement without oppression hee shall save thee so thou wilt be saved without destroying any able and ready to make thy lame to goe to give life to the dead without hazard either of life or limb to any who rests within thy territories Such shall bee the maner of his comming and such his presence that the silliest wretch amongst thy children may think himselfe more happy than any King of Judah or Israel which was before him so hee will conforme himselfe to his garb or demeanor For hee commeth unto thee poore and lowly riding upon an Asse and a Colt the foole of an Asse to weane thee from the vaine hopes of the Heathen from which the Prophets have so often dehorted thy forefathers Some put their trust in horses some in chariots but thy confidence must bee in the Lord thy God who will alwayes bee thy King to defend thee to protect thee and strengthen thee through his weaknesse For by the weaknesse of his appearance he will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Ierusalem and the battell bow shall bee cut off and hee shall speake peace unto the heathen His Dominion shall bee from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth Zach. 9.10 The mark whereat the Prophet Zachariah in this place aimes is the very same with that which the Prophet Haggai his coaevall had set up a little before him Neither of them as I take it conscious of the others predictions Yet now bee strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong O Ieshua sonne of Iosedech the high Priest and bee strong all the people of the Land saith the Lord and work for I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts according to the word that I covenanted with you when yee came out of Egypt so my spirit remaineth among you feare yee not For thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this later house shall bee greater than the former saith the Lord of Hosts And in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts Haggai 2.4 5 c. And the Prophet Zachariah had touched before on the same string Chap 2. ver 10. Sing and rejoyce O daughter of Sion for loe I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord. And many Nations shall bee joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent mee unto thee c. Every branch of these forecited Prophecies were exactly fulfilled according to their plaine literall sense in our Saviours triumphant ingresse into Jerusalem and visitation of the second Temple which by the bounty of Herod the great and of many other Nations was made even to secular eyes more beautifull and glorious than the Temple of Solomon was The extraordinary contributions of severall Nations and Princes of the Roman Empire for the beautifying of this second Temple and Herods speciall care in the right imployment of his owne and others expences upon this glorious worke might have taught the Jews had they not been blinde to expect that the desire of all Nation their promised King was speedily to come unto it yet not to come in such pomp specially of warre as they expected but in such humility and meeknesse of spirit as the Prophet Zachariah in the ninth Chapter and tenth verse hath expressed And so it had been foretold in the building of Zerubbabels Temple Not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Who art thou O great mountaine before
triumph 2. Some goe a great way further and would perswade us that the people or multitude being sory that they had so sleighted our Saviours presence or invitations in the last feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7. to which this solemnity of carying branches was at the least originally proper did seeke to redeeme their former neglect and regaine the opportunity of tendring their allegiance unto him not as hee was the Sonne of David onely but as the God of their Fathers who had brought them out of Aegypt into the land of Canaan and redeemed them from Babilonish captivity to honour him with solemne feasts and other services in Jerusalem But that the multitude either all or most or any should have a more distinct explicite apprehension of his Deity or of the great mystery of salvation which hee was now to accomplish then his Disciples and Followers had is very improbable That his very Disciples though Actors in this businesse had no such distinct apprehension of the great mystery imported by this solemnity is unquestionable For S. Iohn upon a distinct review of all the circumstances of this Solemnitie whether congratulatory or precatory or both tells us These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Iesus was glorified then remembred they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him Chap. 12.16 3. Amongst the things which are written of him this was one that he should be acknowledged and publickely proclaimed for the Sonne of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the often promised and long expected Messias and Redeemer of the whole world And all this was acknowledged and proclaimed by the multitude as well by the forme of prayer which they used as by their reall congratulations First that the word Hosanna was uttered by way of prayer by the multitude is cleare from that passage in the Psalmist whereunto the word Hosanna with the matters of fact which did accompany it doe referre For so it is agreed upon by all sides that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psalme 118.25 is a solemne and formall prayer Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperitie to wit unto the Sonne of David and unto his people by him And thus farre at least the apprehension or intention of the people when they cried Hosanna to the Son of David did reach For they thought this was the day which the Lord had made and did therefore rejoyce and were glad in it as in the day of their long expected redemption from the hands of all their enemies As they heard these things he added and spake a parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem and because they thought that the kingdome of God should immediately appeare Luke 19.11 This prenotion that the kingdome of God was now to be manifested did facilitate the assent or obedience as well of the owner of the Asse and the Colt whereon hee rode to Jerusalem as of the Master of the family wherein he did eate his Passeover unto the intimation or direction of our great Lord and Master The one story concerning their present obedience we have Matt. 21.5 The other more at large Luke 22.7 to the 14. Nor did they erre in taking this to be the day of their Redemption but in the confused notion of the enemies from which they were to bee redeemed They expected onely a deliverance from the tyranny of the Romans and other hostile Nations over whom they hoped the Sonne of David should exercise royall and temporall Jurisdiction And it is no wonder if the multitude whether of inhabitants of Jerusalem or strangers which went out to meet him and congratulate his approach did apprehend no more then thus seeing the two Disciples which accompanied him toward Emaus upon the day of his resurrection had no better a notion of the redemption promised then this though even this notion did fleet or vanish after they had seene him put to death Wee trusted that it had been hee which should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 This argues that their former trust was for the present extinguished till he by opening the Scriptures unto them did revive and kindle it 4. Againe when they cry Hosanna to the Son of David in the Highest not from heaven this no way argues that their salutation should not be formally precatory especially if Maldonats observation be without exception that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be equivalent according to the Hebrew dialect unto ab excelsis from the highest Heavens However taking the word Hosanna as in its primary signification forasmuch as the Lord send help or grant salvation and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the native Greek in the highest the naturall meaning or literall expression of the congratulation will amount to this that God would bee pleased to ratifie their petitions for prosperity of the Sonne of David in heaven not doubting but that God so doing his blessings upon him and them might bee established here on earth For so they further expresse themselves in the Psalmists words Blessed bee the King that commeth in the Name of the Lord Peace in heaven and glory in the highest Luk. 19.38 But though Maldonat with other judicious Commentators doe clearely evince this forme of congratulation Hosanna to be precatory yet was Maldonat more to blame then such as thinke it onely to have been congratulatory when hee avoucheth that this solemnity of carying branches of Palms and Olives had no speciall reference to the feast of Tabernacles and more to blame when hee thinketh that the feast of Tabernacles had nihil commune cum Christo no type or figure of this solemnity or that this solemnity did include no Emblematicall acknowledgement or testification that CHRIST JESUS was as truely the Sonne of God as of David as well Davids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord as his Sonne CHAP. XX. At what time and upon what occasions the 118. Psalme was composed And at what solemne Feast especially used 1 FOr giving such as it may concerne more full satisfaction in the points late handled and for setting forth the sweet harmony betwixt the Propheticall song and the peoples acclamations and cry at this great and last solemne Festivity the best method I can conjecture would bee to make diligent enquiry at what time and upon what occasions the 118. Psalme was first written and at what solemne Feast it was principally used Mollerus a man of commendable paines in this particular search and one who had read very many telleth us that the major part of learned Interpreters whom hee had perused are of opinion that this Psalme was composed by David himselfe upon occasions of his victory over his enemies and freedome from disturbance or danger from the house of Saul upon the death of Ishbosheth And for strengthening this conjecture hee referreth us to the 2. of Sam. 6. And Coppen a most Ingenuous and exact Examiner of such Commentators as he had read seemeth rather
feast of Tabernacles had reference unto the feast of Pentecost and that the commandements of carnall rejoycing in that feast were spiritually accomplished in the Pentecost next following our Saviours passion But what speciall reference had the same feast of Tabernacles unto the solemnity of the Passeover Surely the same which other solemne feasts of the Seuenth moneth which was a moneth of legall solemnities had Now that the feast of Atonement or Expiation which was the tenth day of that moneth next after the feast of Trumpets and some foure dayes before the feast of Tabernacles was punctually accomplisht at the feast of the Passeover wherein our Saviour was crucified Maldonat himselfe the most rigid Opposer of the harmony betwixt these solemnities and the last feast of this Passeover would not have denied if this interrogatory had been put unto him It is true that the mysteries foreshadowed at this Feast by the scape Goat by the washing of the high Priest and by some other Ceremonies were fulfilled in die suo that is upon the tenth day of the seventh moneth in which our Saviour as with the consent of best moderne Writers I have elsewhere observed was baptized But for the mysteries prefigured by the Sacrifices whose blood was brought into the Sanctuary upon the tenth of the seventh moneth these were not accomplisht untill the entrance of our Redeemer CHRIST JESUS into the most Holy place was visibly signified by the rending of the Vaile in the Temple It is most true againe that the legall feasts of Trumpets which was the first solemnity of the seaventh moneth was Evangelically fulfilled by S. Iohn Baptists Proclamation and Baptisme in the beginning of the same moneth But as for the feast of Tabernacles albeit the solemnity thereof was in part fulfilled at our Saviours appearance and Proclamation of his celestiall Ambassage by himselfe upon the great day of that Feast as was but now observed Yet the full accomplishment of the solemnities then used or of the mysteries prefigured by their publique rejoycing in that feast especially was not exhibited untill our Saviours triumphant ingresse into Jerusalem foure dayes before the feast of the Passeover wherein hee suffered for us Many amongst the multitude at the feast of Tabernacles immediatly before did acknowledge him for the expected Messias or for the Prophet whom God had promised to raise up amongst them like unto Moses None of them then did either out of expresse apprehension of his Deity or by Emblematicall significations of their allegiance unto him acknowledge or proclaime him to be the God of their Fathers who had spoken to Moses in the wildernesse or that very God unto whose honour the feast of Tabernacles was first instituted and so continued to their posterity This acknowledgement was first made though unwittingly by the multitude which came to greet his welcome when he came from Bethany to Jerusalem over the Mount Olivet But how was hee at that time though unwittingly so acknowledged by the multitude 4. Although man bee a reasonable and projecting Creature yet the cunningest contrivances of wisest men are alwayes moderated by the Al-seeing wisedome of their Creator And the execution of their projects although they reach unto or hit the mark proposed by them doe often glance or fall upon some other Object then they thought of And oftentimes as well the intention as contrivance for its execution are put upon them by secret instinct As in that good woman which powred the precious ointment on our Saviours head whilest hee sat at meat in the house of Simon the Leper Matt. 26.7 Few I thinke upon good consideration will suspect any further intent then a longing desire to testifie her love her loyalty and observance of him as a gracious man and a speciall Benefactor Yet in the disposition of Divine providence working in her by secret instinct to testifie her love rather in this kinde then in any other shee did exhibite an undoubted presage of his death and buriall approaching as our Saviour himselfe interprets the fact When his Disciples saw it they had indignation saying To what purpose is this waste for this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poore When Iesus understood it he said unto them Why trouble ye the woman for shee hath wrought a good work upon mee For yee have the poore alwayes with you but me yee have not alwayes For in that shee hath powred this ointment on my body she did it for my buriall Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall bee preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done bee told for a memoriall of her Matth. 26.8 9 10 c. As he was willing to receive the accustomed funerall rites of his Countrey at this womans hands before his death so was it his pleasure to have his Coronation over the kingdome of David the Dedication of his glorious Temple his triumph ouer the grave death and hell solemnely celebrated before his resurrection from the dead For it was lawfull for this Lion of Iuda to triumph over death before the victory which was to bee purchased by his death The honour done unto him at this solemnity and the severity of his sentence against Jerusalem in the midst of this Jubilee me thinks exhibits such a glimpse of his second appearance in Majesty unto judgement as the transfiguration on the Mount did of his glory after his resurrection Hee had told the Jews Iohn 5.23 As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them Even so the Sonne quickeneth whom hee will For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement unto the Sonne that all men should honour the Sonne even as they honour the Father Hee that honoureth not the Sonne honoureth not the Father which hath sent him A full proofe of his power to pierce the monuments by his word and to make the graves give up their dead had been a few dayes before this solemnity exhibited in his raising of Lazarus which as was before observed did specially occasion the multitude assembled at Jerusalem to meet and congratulate him not as the Sonne of David onely but as Davids Lord. For greater honour though they intended not so much had not been done either by David before the Ark of the Lord or by their Forefathers unto God himselfe in the feast of Tabernacles 5. That the feast of Tabernacles was a feast of joy instituted to the honour of that God who had redeemed Israel from Aegyptian bondage who had protected them in Succoth and in the wildernesse in their whole journey towards Canaan is a point unquestionable either amongst good Christians or malignant Jews That the carying of Palme branches in triumphant maner skipping dancing or singing was the peculiar character or expression of that joy wherewith this people was commanded to rejoyce before the Lord their God in this feast of Tabernacles above all others may bee ratified by the tradition and practise of
see one joyfull day the light of Gods Countenance did not shine upon them as the history of the Old Testament especially of the Bookes of Kings and Chronicles do sufficiently testifie Nor did this Nation from the day of our Saviours death enjoy one quiet or secure day not one houre wherein there either was not apparent danger or some secret breeding of new calamities nor shall they enjoy any till it please him whom they crucified to restore them againe to the land of their Inheritance from which they are scattered or at least to their spirituall state from which they are fallen 6 That the forementioned lamentation or threne did in the literall and historicall sense referre unto the untimely death of good Iosiah that the calamities which ensued upon his death did typically portend just matter of greater sorrow for the death of the Lords Anointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messias that one place of the Prophet Zachariah to omit others perswades me They shall mourne for him as one who mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne In that day shall there be a great mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zachar. 12.10 11. c. For in the valley of Megiddo Iosiah was slaine as it is recorded 2 Chron. 35.22 23. And all Ierusalem and Iudah mourned for Iosiah and Ieremiah lamented for Iosiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Iosiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations This disaster occasioned by his owne oversight or forwardnesse to fight with Necho befel Iosiah after he had wrought that remarkable reformation in the house of the Lord and after hee had celebrated the Passeover with such solemnity as had not been seen before in Jerusalem nor after It was the eminency of Iosiah his zeale and fidelity in setting forth that solemnity and other services of God which occasioned this people even the Prophets first to conceive that they should prosper under his shadow and after these hopes had failed to lament his death in such passionate expressions as the faithfull amongst his people even our Saviours Disciples did his death But we trusted that it had beene he who should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.20 The extremity of sorrow upon our Saviours death foreshadowed by the Lamentations for Iosiahs losse was fulfilled pro illâ vice in that compunction of heart and spirit in Saint Peters Auditors Acts 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we doe But the full accomplishment of those mournfull Lamentations for our Saviours death whether foreshadowed or foretold or inchoated whether in the Old Testament or in the New is not to be expected before the conversion of the Jews which will not be publick or Nationall untill they seriously and publiquely repent them of their owne sinnes and of the sinnes of their forefathers for putting the Lord of life and King of glory to a bitter and shamefull death Nor is the Nation of the Jews onely but all the kinreds of the Earth to bewaile him and repent for all were causes of his death Behold he commeth saith Saint Iohn with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kinreds of the earth shall waile because of him Rev. 1.7 7 A fitter Subject for meditations to make either a private Christian truely wise or wise men especially Governors whether Ecclesiasticall or civill truly Christian I could not commend unto the one or other though bound so to doe upon my deathbed then the sacred historie concerning the estate of Judah from the death of good Iosiah to the end of the Babylonish Captivitie and the history of Iosephus and others who have decipherd the estate of the Jews since they put the Lord of life to death This parallel betweene Jerusalems two progresses to her first and second destruction was the maine theame of my first ministerial meditations the contents wherof would bee too laborious to collect and their expressions too long to bee interserted in this Treatise To returne therefore to the former path from which I have somewhat though not impertinently digressed 8 Of that glory of Christ which shall be revealed when every eye shall see him when they that crucified and pierced his body shall mourne after such a manner as Zacharie and St. Iohn in the places forecited import Hee himselfe in the houres of his greatest humiliation immediately after his agony in the garden and as I take it before Iudas did deliver him up to the high Priest and Officers did exhibite some rayes or glimpses by striking the Armed band which came to attach him backwards downe to the ground with the sole words or breath of his mouth And again by the deliverance of his followers from such rage and tyranny as they practiced against him that the words of the Prophets not their projects and his exposition of their meaning might be fulfilled I will smite the Shepheard and the sheep shall be scattered This prophecy wee have Zachar. 13.7 The accomplishment of this prophecy was in part exemplified by the scattering of his Apostles and Disciples upon his apprehension and death And so were the words immediately following in the Prophet punctually verified and really exemplified in recollecting them again after his Resurrection and the feast of Pentecost next ensuing The full accomplishment of the prophecy as it concerns the scattering of the flock or sheep was not publiquely declared or exemplified before the destruction of the second Temple and dispersing of the Jewish Nation The other parts of the same prophecy must be afterwards accomplisht in the conversion of the Jews CHAP. XXIIII Of the predictions or prefigurations of our Saviours sufferings after his apprehension in the High Priests hall c. 1 ALL these rayes or glimpses of the Sun of Righteousnesse did interpose themselves in the dayes of his humiliation and obscuritie before he was led bound to Caiaphas the high Priest But after Iudas of a close Ahitophel or cunning traitour became an open Dalilah and had betrayed his Master into their hands with a kisse this Sampson the Sun of righteousnesse became like another man or like the moone in eclipse More weak and impotent for any attempt of resistance or escape then Samson was after the razor had gone over his head and taken off the Ensigne of the Nazarite These enemies of the God of Israel did sport themselves more cruelly with the bodily miseries and calamities of the true Nazarite then the Philistines had done themselves with Sampson untill he resumed his former strength by dying So then Sampson in his strength and weaknesse or dejected estate was a lively type of JESUS of Nazareth in both his estates and conditions of life whilest he
up the sea I make the rivers a wildernesse their fish stinketh because there is no water and dieth for thirst I clothe the heavens with blacknesse and I make sackcloth their covering Verse 1 2 3. c. But in the 4. verse hee altereth the person if not of the Speaker yet of him to whom he speakes The Lord God hath given to me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary He wakeneth morning by morning he wakeneth mine ears to heare as the learned This was the Prophets own comfort in particular and in this qualification he was a type or shadow of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had thus qualified him And so no doubt hee was in that resolution which hee took upon him from the opening of the eare verse 4. before cited In both places it is remarkeable that he doth not instile the God of his strength and comfort by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by the Name of 4 letters onely but thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned the Lord God hath opened mine eare And this as was observed before was the peculiar title of God the second person in the Trinitie or God to be incarnate unto whom the Prophets his forerunners in all their anguishes and distresses did under this peculiar title direct their prayers as then seeing that this Lord God was to beare their sorrows and to be partaker of all their infirmities that he might be a faithfull Comforter and such an high Priest as our Apostle describes Hebr. 2. They intreated him by the foresight of his future sufferings as the faithfull now do beseech him to be compassionate towards them by the memory or experiēce of his afflictions past There is no incongruitie then to say that this prophecie of Isaiah was literally and respectively meant of himself as of the type but really fulfilled of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he praiseth not onely in the mysticall but also according to the most exquisite literall sense For however this Lord God had opened his eare yet the resolution which hee professed was greater then hee had occasion to put in practice at least with such undaunted patience as our Saviour did Yet doe we never reade that our Saviour in the daies of his humiliation or houre of his agony did direct his prayers unto GOD under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Lord and God but unto God as his Father And this is to mee a pregnant argument that not only the forecited place of Isaiah but many other hymnes or Psalmes especially in or after Davids time were literally meant of the Prophets which composed them especially in respect of this circumstance of the person or party to whom they prayed seeing our Saviour in his prayers to God did never use the same title they did The Prophet David himself had many and just occasions in his own person to conceive that excellent prayer Bow downe thy care O Lord and heare me for I am poore and needy c. Psal 86. Yet were the occasions and matter of this Psalme really accomplisht in the Sonne of David whom David here as in the 110. Psalme twice instileth his Lord and God as verse 12. I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy Name for evermore And verse 15. And thou O Lord art a God full of pitty compassion gracious long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth Moses had said the same in effect long before onely he doth not give the title of Lord nor intimate such a cleare distinction of the persons in the Trinitie as David in this 110. Psalme did For David as was observed before had a cleare prevision that albeit the Messias or promised seed was to be his Sonne yet was withall to be the Sonne of God therefore to be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto whom he and other holy men did continually pray in their calamities and so much magnifie either for their comfort or strength to endure their grievances 7. But to returne to the forecited place of the Prophet Isaiah the words immediately following the forecited place verse 8. Hee is neere that justifieth me who will contend with me c. Behold the Lord God will help me who is he that shall condemne mee were literally and respectively meant not only of Christs forerunners but of his followers and are so applyed by our Apostle Romanes 8.30.31 If God be for us who can be against us And againe verse 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The Apostle in this had the same confidence in Christ the Lord and in his sufferings which the Prophet Isaiah had in the Lord his God to whom he directs his prayers And so may all others have that faithfully beleeve in him that is all such to whom their owne consciences can testifie such a true conformitie unto Christ in his sufferings as our Apostle Paul and the Prophets were conscious of in their Soules and Spirit And any other mark of Election besides this I know none nor will it be easie for the Reader whosoever he be to find any other in the day of tryall or temptation 8. The Evangelicall parallel to the Prophet Isaiahs prediction we have in part Luke 22.63 64. And the men that held Iesus mocked him and smote him and when they had blindfolded him they stroke him on the face and asked him saying Prophecie who is it that smote thee Thus they dealt with him in the high Priests Hall before his examination or sentence given against him And so again they used him at his examination Iohn 18.19 The high Priest asked Iesus of his Disciples and of his doctrine Iesus answered I spake openly to the world c. Why askest thou me Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them behold they know what I said And when hee had thus spoken one of the Officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palme of his hand saying Answerest thou the high Priest so Unto this indignity he replies with such meeknesse and patience as no Prophet in like case ever used onely thus If I have spoken evill beare witnesse of the evill but if well why smitest thou me To the like indignities done unto by him the Roman Souldiers by Herod he maketh no reply at all So that however the forecited words of the Prophet Isaiah and of the Psalmist Psalme 40. and the 86. might be respectively verified of themselves yet were they never exactly fulfilled save onely of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Lord to whom they direct their prayers None of them ever had a bodie so fitted or their
any man to death Iohn 18.31 How true or pertinent this answer was I will not here dispute But thus they answered as the same Evangelist there tells us that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled signifying what death he should die and by whom This saying or prophecy of our Saviour to which St. Iohn refers is punctually set downe by S. Matthew 20.17 18 Iesus going up to Ierusalem took the twelve Disciples apart in the way and said unto them Behold we goe up to Ierusalem and the Sonne of man shall be betrayed unto the chief Priests and unto the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucifie him Unto this death of the crosse they brought him by their importunate and subtill sollicitations of Pilat to proceed against him upon another capital crime then they by their pretended law had condemned him for For they pronounc'd him as worthy and guilty of death by their law for blasphemy whereas now before Pilat they frame a new accusation against him for rebellion against Caesar because he profest himself to be King of the Jews as in truth he was for royall pitty and compassion towards them but without any purpose to move the people to take armes or to exercise any royall authority over them or any others upon earth because his kingdome was not of this world 2 Whilest the high Priest and Elders sate as Judges in their owne Councell-house they suborn'd false witnesses against him but whilest they accuse him before Pilat they themselves become the most malicious and falsest witnesses that ever were produced or offered themselves voluntarily to testifie in open Court against any living man in a cause criminall or capitall All these malicious practices against him were clearly foretold by the Psalmist his forerunner in the like sufferings and in particular I take it by David himselfe Psalme 35. False witnesses did arise they laid to my charge things that I knew not They rewarded me evill for good to the spoyling of my soule But as for mee when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloth I humbled my soule with fasting and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome I behaved my selfe as though he had beene my friend or brother I bowed downe heavily as one that mourneth for his mother But in mine adversity they rejoyced c. ver 11 12 13. c. Thus did the Composers of this Psalme and of some others to the like effect complaine every man respectively in their owne persons and upon just occasions And however they did not in their murmuring complaints yet in the causes or occasions of the sufferings they did really prefigure juster occasions more grievous matter of complaint on the behalf of their expected Redeemer And he must have uttered the like complaints in a farre higher straine if he had beene but a meere man not armed with patience or long suffering truly divine The indignities done unto him by Pilat and the Roman Souldiers by Herod and his men of warre were perspicuously foretold by David Psal 2. Why do the Heathens rage and the people imagina vaine thing This parallel between the prophecy of David and the historicall events answering to it not the Apostles onely but other inferiour Disciples did unanimously acknowledge upon the deliverance of Peter and Iohn and the rest of the Apostles from such violence intended against them by the Rulers and Elders of the Jews as had been practised by them upon our Saviour for working of a miracle in his name When they had further threatned them they let them goe finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people for all men glorified God for that which was done For the man was above forty yeares old on whom this miracle of healing was shewne And being let goe they went to their owne company and reported all that the chief Priests and Elders had said unto them And when they heard that they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy Servant David hast said Why do the heathens rage and the people imagin vaine things The Kings of the Earth stood up and the Rulers were gathered together against the Lord and his Christ For of a truth against thy holy childe JESUS whom thou hast annointed both Herod and Pontius Pilat with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsaile determined before to be done Acts 4.21 22. c. 3. All of our Saviours Persecutors whether Jews or Gentiles per dicta facta malè ominata did reade their own doome and the doome of all such unto the worlds end as shall continue the course that they begun The Roman Souldiers clothing him in a purple robe by putting a crown of thornes upon his head and by crying All haile unto the King of the Jews did act that part in jest or comicall merriment which they must one day act in earnest and more then tragicall sorrow For he had sworne it long before That all knees should bow unto him and in that day they which crowned him with thornes shall see him crowned with Majesty and glory Herod in sending him back to Pilat in a white or candid robe did beare witnesse of his innocency and integrity and withall of Herod his fathers scarlet sinnes in putting so many poore Innocents to a bloudy death upon the notice of his Nativitie And as for Pilat and the Roman state by whose authority he was scourged with rods here on earth hee whose seat is in the heavens did even then laugh them to scorne and since hath broken the whole race of Roman Caesars with a rod of iron and dasht them and their Monarchie to pieces like a Potters vessell What more shall be done against these cruell Actors or Abetters of their cruell practices against this King of Kings I leave it wholly with all submission to his sole determination But that the Indignities done unto him by the Jews by the Roman or other heathen Governors and the visible revenge which hath since befalne them were punctually foretold by David Psalme 2. the testimony before cited Acts 4. is a proofe most authentick and most concludent 4. Yet of all the sufferings which he suffered under Pontius Pilat besides the indignities done unto him in the extremities of his paines upon the Crosse at which Pilat was not present the rejection of him by the Jews when this heathen Governor out of a good nature or well meaning policy had proposed him with an infamous theef or murderer was far the worst and doth deserve the indignation of all that loved him And this circumstance is prest home to them by S. Peter Acts 3.13 14. The God of Abraham and of Isack and of Jaacob the God of our Fathers
hath glorified his Sonne JESUS whom ye delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilat when he determined to let him goe But ye denyed the holy One and the lust and desired a Murderer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of life whom God hath raised up from the dead c. In this preposterous and sacrilegious choise they did the Devill a more peculiar and more immediate service then their Idolatrous forefathers had ever done either in adoring the brazen Serpent which was the most perverse Idolatry that ever they committed or in sacrificing their sons daughters to the infernall spirits In those services they declare themselves to be servants to Devils In this sinister choise they prove themselves to be the Devils own sonnes and exactly fulfill our Saviours prophecy or discovery of their inclinations before they themselves did know them For when Jesus had told such Jews as did in a sort beleeve on him that they were servants to sinne and could not be made free but by the Sonne who abideth in the house for ever they cholerickly reply that they were the sonnes of Abraham Our Saviour rejoynes Yee are of your Father the Devill and the lusts of your Father you will doe hee was a murtherer from the beginning Iohn 8.30 c. and the 44. And so they now desire Barabbas one whose name imports the sonne of their father and by quality the sonne of the Devill an infamous murderer to be delivered unto them in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt and importunately sollicite the murder of the Sonne of God of that very God who had delivered them out of Egypt who spake to Moses in Mount Sinai that Lord God unto whom Ioshua and all the Judges that succeeded him were but Generals in the time of warre unto whom in time of peace or counsaile for direction of publick affaires the best of the Priests and Prophets unto the dayes of Samuel were but Deputies For the Lord God of Israel all that time was their immediat and proper King Governors and Deputies they had successively many but none endued with royall Authority besides him No matter of consequence whether of warre or peace was undertaken by their Governors without speciall revelation or answer from him by Vrim and Thummim untill Samuels old age Then all the Elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah and said unto him Behold thou art old and thy sonnes walk not in thy wayes now make us a King to judge us like all the Nations But the thing displeased Samuel when they said give us a King to judge us and Samuel prayed unto the Lord 1. Sam. 8.4 5. This unseasonable ill aboding desire did displease the Lord unto whom they prayed as much as it did Samuel And yet so far is he from forcing obedience by irresistible coaction that hee perswades Samuel to descend to their importunat suit but first to make protestation against it Now therefore hearken to their voice howbeit yet protest solemnely unto them and shew the manner of the King that shall raigne over them ver 9. This protestation against their petition and his patheticall forewarning of them what hard usage they should find under the King whom they would choose are set down at full from the 10. of this Chap. unto the 19. Neverthelesse the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said Nay but we will have a King to rule over us that we may be like all Nations and that our King may judge us and goe out before us and fight our battels And so after Samuel had rehearsed their resolution in the eares of the Lord their present King notwithstanding the protestation and their forewarning concerning their future Kings manner of government they are permitted for the hardnesse of their hearts to goe to a free Election of a new King Yet the calamities and oppressions which Samuel forewarnes would follow upon this their not approved Election was scarce so much as verified in the daies of Saul of David or Solomon never exactly fulfilled by any King of their owne nomination or by any King imposed upon them untill they solemnely and openly disclaime their Native King that very God whom Samuel in all this businesse had consulted and cryed We have no King but Caesar After this nomination of Caesar for their King whatsoever calamities foretold by Samuel were in any part verified by their owne unruly Kings were most exactly accomplisht by the race of Caesars unto whom they solemnely dedicated that allegiance which was due to Iesus their ancient Lord and King At the same time and not before were the words of the Lord unto Samuel Chap. 8.7 8. exactly fulfilled The Lord said unto Samuel hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not raigne over them According to all the works which they have done since I brought them out of Egypt even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods so do they also unto thee But of the fulfilling of this prophecy both according to the literall sense and prefigurations or matter of fact and how the Priests and Scribes with their projects against our Saviour did bring Iacobs dying curse or ominous predictions against Simeon and Levi upon themselves and their posterity more hath been said in the Commentaries of the first Book of the Creed then I now exactly remember more at least then I will trouble the Reader with a repetition of what he may find there published CHAP. XXVII Of such repentance as Judas found of his casting downe the thirty pieces of silver in the Temple and of the difficulties or varietie of opinions by which of the Prophets it was foretold 1 ONe historicall relation concerning Iudas and his fearefull end there is which is by S. Matthew who of all the foure Evangelists citeth the testimonie of the Prophecie wherein part of it was foretold left somewhat ambiguous for the circumstances of time wherein it happened Some perhaps would at the first sight conceive from St. Matthews words that Iudas did cast downe the hire of his treason in the Temple immediatly after the chief Priests and Elders had bound our Saviour and led him to Pontius Pilat the Governour But if wee consider other circumstances of time related by S. Iohn and S. Luke it is farre more probable that Iudas was not touched with sorrow or grief whether of mind or of body or of both untill our Saviour was sentenced to the death of the Crosse by Pontius Pilat For the first thing which the chief Priests and Elders did after they themselves had past sentence on our Saviour was the delivery of him to the Secular power and their importunat sollicitation of Pilat to put their sentence in execution It was a memorable document of deadly hypocrisie in the Priests and Elders that
they would not enter into the Common-hall or publique Court of Justice to indite him there being immediatly after to celebrate the usuall service for that day in the Temple It was againe an extraordinary courtesie in Pilat towards them that he would vouchsafe to take their accusations in the pavement or Court adjoyning to the Pretorium But as well the curtesie of the one as the hypocrisie of the other friendly conspired to accomplish the will of God which was to have his onely Sonne made that day a sacrifice of atonement for the sinnes both of the Jews and Gentiles whereas if Pilat had stood upon points of Authoritie or prerogative it is more then probable the Priests and Elders would rather have deferred their accusations for that instant then have entred into the Pretorium or Common-hall But having once obtained their desire in the Pavement they immediately returned into the Temple where Iudas attended them And having resolved as hee thought to have set his house or worldly businesse in such order as Ahitophel had done his hee went forth and hanged himself So that albeit Iudas had seene his Master dead in law that is sentenced to death by the high Priest and Pontius Pilat upon the Jews importunat accusations and testimonies against him Yet the Traitor having no witnesse produced against him besides his owne conscience No Judge or appointed Executioner besides himself did die an accursed death before his Master had made an atonement for the sinnes of the world So the Psalmist by way of imprecation had foretold Let sudden destruction come upon him unawares or as others let destruction come upon him and let the net that hee hath made for others catch himself into that very destruction let him fall Psalm 35.8 How this imprecation though not directed against Iudas alone did punctually fall upon him will better appeare anon in the discussions how the imprecations reiterated in the 109. Psalme were most punctually fulfilled in him That which for the present I intended to advertise the Reader of is briefly this That if we referre the time of Iudas death unto this point of time intimated the parallel betwixt St. Matthews relation of his fearefull end and other sacred passages in the Evangelists and Apostles will be more cleare St. Matthews relation yee have in the 27. Chapter 3. Then Iudas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought againe the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priests and Elders saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood And they said What is that to us See thou to that And hee cast downe the pieces of silver in the Temple and departed and went and hanged himself And the chief Priests took the silver pieces and said It is not lawfull to put them into the Treasury because it is the price of blood And they tooke counsell and bought with them the Potters field to bury strangers in Wherefore that field was called The field of blood unto this day Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Ieremiah saying And they took the thirty pieces of silver the price of him that was valued whom they of the children of Israel did value and gave them for the Potters field as the Lord appointed mee 2. But where this casting downe of the thirtie pieces of silver in the Temple was foretold or by whom there is and hath been great varietie of opinions amongst learned Interpreters as well Ancient as Moderne so great that many of them have rather soiled then any way cleared the meaning of the Evangelist and left the investigation of the truth more difficult to the ingenuous and sagacious Reader then if they had not medled with it or left it untoucht to his privat search The first difficulty is about the Grammaticall signification of some words in the Originall The second pitcheth upon a misnomer of the Prophet as whether that Prophecie which the Evangelist said was fulfilled in this fact of Iudas was uttered or written by Zachariah or the Prophet Ieremiah or respectively by both The third admitting thus much was either onely foretold or both foretold and forepictured either by Ieremiah or by Zachariah or by both whether they spoke in their owne persons or in the person of Iudas or of Christ or of both The first difficulty or rather discord about the literall sense of the Prophets words as they are related by the Evangelist hath been occasioned partly by the Translation of the Septuagint and partly by the Author of the vulgar Latin For whereas wee reade as well in St. Matthew as in the Prophet Zachariah And I cast them ad figulum to the Potter the vulgar Latine hath it And I cast them ad Stataarium to the Statue maker in the house of the Lord. The Septuagint thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cast them into the furnace or to the metal-melter The Greek might import though not so directly as the Latine a Potters furnace But if we take Statuarius which is the expression of the vulgar Latine in its proper sense for a Statue maker whether in stone or of metall wrought with toole or molten there could be no use of such an Artificer in that Temple wherein all Statues or Images of what stuffe soever they could be made were most strictly forbidden Or in that people among whom the erecting or making of them was a crime capital To avoid this absurditie in their Authenticated Translation the Sectaries of the Romish Church by the Statuarie would have us understand GOD himself who is the former or fashioner of all things And for this Interpretation they alledge some ancient Greek Fathers but whose Authority they themselves will sleight or passe such censures upon their Authors as they will not permit us in like case to doe whensoever they make against their pretended Catholick tenets The most learned Interpreters in the Romish Church do partly bewray and sometimes openly professe that this Interpretation is too farre fetcht and farre wide from the meaning of the Prophet whosoever he was as he is alledged by the Evangelist What then could move so many of them to embrace or rather not to disclaime these roving collections Onely the authority of the Trent Councell which hath so fettered them in this and other like points that they dare not say that their reasonable Soules are under God their owne but are content to sacrifice learning reason and common sense to many illiterat resolutions of wilfull partial and corrupt men in that Councel assembled If the ingenuous Reader will not beleeve me in this particular let him take the pains to satisfie himself by observing how Ribera and Castrus with some other men very well learned and ingenuous so farre as they durst have utterly lost themselves in their Commentaries upon the 11. of Zacharie 3. Concerning the second difficultie many both in the Romish and reformed Churches will in no case admit of a misnomer in
importance of the word Ecce in this place as in many others is the present exhibition of that which was promised or portended The mystery foreshadowed or portended by the anniversary sacrifices of the Paschal Lamb by the daily morning and evening sacrifices by those sacrifices of the Atonement whose blood was brought by the high Priest unto the Sanctuary was in brief this that all these rites or solemnities should expire upon the death or sacrifice of the true Lamb of God and thus much and more is sealed unto us by that speech of our Saviour a little before his death Consummatum est All is finished Iohn 19.30 Now the rending of the vaile immediately after our Saviour had commended his Spirit into his Fathers hands did betoken that now and not before the entrance or passage into that most holy place which was prefigured by the materiall Sanctum Sanctorum was set open not to Priests onely but to all true beleevers That the coelestiall Sanctuary whether that be coelum empyr aeum the seat of our future blisse or some other place was now instantly to be hallowed or consecrated by the blood of the high Priest himself as the terrene Tabernacle or Sanctuary was by the legal high Priest with the blood of bullocks or goats c. 5. Whithersoever the soule of this our high Priest went that day wherein he offered the sacrifice of himself as whether into the nethermost hell or into the place where the soules of the righteous men did rest there is or should be no question among good Christians but that he was that evening in Paradise For so had he promised unto the penitent Malefactor who was crucified with him with an asseveration equivalent to an oath Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in paradiso Verily I say unto thee this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise As for those sophisticall Novelists to say no worse who thus mispoint the words of his promise Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Verily I say unto thee this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise to wit sometimes hereafter as at the generall resurrection of the just though not this very day they declare themselves to be in this particular as in most others more unfit to interpret sacred Oracles then Apes to be principall Actors in stately dolefull Tragedies For our Lord and Saviour did most graciously grant this poore soule more then he durst petition for and with better expedition then he could hope for to wit a present estate of blessednesse whereas he requested onely to be remembred with some mercy or favour without indenting any point of time after our Saviour had entred into his Kingdome And his entrance into that Kingdome was not upon the same day wherein he suffered nor within forty dayes after The Kingdom of heaven was not set open to any beleevers not to Abraham himself upon our Saviours passion or resurrection whether that Kingdome import the same place wherein Abraham before that time was or some other For it is one thing to say that the soules of righteous men deceased were in heaven before our Saviour ascended thither another to say they were in the Kingdome of heaven or Citizens of that Kingdome which upon the day of our Saviours victory over death was not erected And he who denyeth the souls of the Patriarchs to be partakers of the Kingdome of heaven before our Saviours death cannot be concluded to grant that they were either in Limbo or in any other region under the earth or under the stars 6. But to waive further dispute about this point for the present Our Saviours soule upon the same day wherein he dyed was in paradise and so was the soule of the penitent Malefactor yet not at the same instant perhaps not within the compasse of the same houre wherein our Saviours soule went thither in what region soever whether of heaven or earth this paradise was seated For it is evident out of the Evangelicall histories that our Saviour did surrender his soule into his fathers hand before either of them who were crucified with him did expire For as was before recited out of S. Matthew 27.50 immediatly upon the ninth houre our Saviour yeelded up the Ghost This testimony alone or this at least with the like Mark 15.37 had been sufficient to prove the Article of our Saviours death But for the more full satisfaction of all posterity as well of Jews as of Gentiles God would have the death of his onely Sonne to be remarkably recorded by the solemn testimony of the Roman Centurion taken upon examination before Pilat And now when the even was come that I take it was betwixt five and six of the clock because it was the preparation that is the day before the Sabbath Joseph of Arimathea an honourable Counsailer who also waited for the Kingdome of God came and went in boldly to Pilat and craved the body of JESUS And Pilat marvailed if he were already dead and calling unto him the Centurion he asked him whether he had been any while dead And when he knew it of the Centurion he gave the body to Joseph Mark 15.42 43 c. That our Saviour died before the other which were crucified with him is more apparant from the parallel testimony of S. Iohn 19.31 32 c. The Iews therefore because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the crosse on the Sabbath day for that Sabbath day was an high day besought Pilat that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away Then came the Souldiers and brake the legs of the first and of the other which was crucifyed with him But when they came to JESUS and saw that he was dead already they brake not his legs 7. And thus we may observe that aswell the malignant Jews as Christs Disciples of the Jewish Nation and the Roman Souldiers though unwittingly did strangely combine for the accomplishment of divers prophecies or prefigurations concerning the death of the Sonne of God Had hee not died before the other two which were crucified with him his legs had been broken with theirs and his body had not been interr'd before the setting of the Sunne as is probable from Pilats demand to the Centurion whether he had been any while dead before he would give Ioseph leave to bury his body Now if his body had not been interr'd before the Sun-set or at least before the starrs appeared the mystery prefigured by the imprisonment of Ionas three dayes and three nights in the belly of the whale could not by any Synecdoche have been exactly fulfilled by his blessed rest in the grave but of this hereafter Again if the breaking of his legs had not been prevented by his dying before the other two which were crucifyed with him the harmony betwixt the manner of his death and the death of the Paschal Lamb could not have been so exact for no bone of it
was to be broken Exodus 12.46 Numb 9.12 Nor should that which David spake of himself but of himself as he was the type of Christ when he was in some perill of breaking his leggs or armes or some better joynts have found its accomplishment in the circumstance of our Saviours death These things were done saith S. Iohn that the Scripture might be fulfilled A bone of him shall not be broken Iohn 19.36 This allegation of S. Iohn if my observation faile not referrs as literally and properly to that saying of David Psal 34.20 when he was driven by Saul into the cave of Adullam as unto the rite of the Paschal Lamb before cited He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken This was not a meere historicall narration but a speech typically propheticall that is first verifyed of David and afterwards to be more exactly accomplished in the Son of David Of the same rank was that which followeth Evill shall stay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate The Lord redeemeth the soule of his Servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate verse 21 22. The truth of this observation was never so punctually proved or exemplifyed as in the death of the two Malefactors which were crucifyed with our Saviour Though neither of them had any interest in the former promise He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken yet the soule of the one who trusted in the Lord was instantly redeemed and taken up into Paradise by him the soule of the other which did hate and revile him was to say no worse left desolate 8. Again the law concerning the taking down of such as were hanged on a tree though not strangled before the night went over them had not been accomplished in our Saviour unlesse the day wherein he dyed had been the preparation to the great Sabbath For it was not the zeale of the Jews unto the due observation of this law but feare of polluting this great Sabbath which mooved them to become petitioners unto Pilat that the bodies of all that were then crucifyed might be taken downe and carryed away before the beginning of the Sabbath which was in the twilight following The law which out of this feare they occasioned to be observed and fulfilled is extant Deuteron 21.22 23. And if a man have committed a sinne worthy of death and be be to be put to death and thou hang him on a tree his body shall not remaine upon the tree but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God that thy land be not defiled which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance That this law had a speciall reference or pre-aspect unto our Saviours death upon the crosse S. Paul hath taught us Galat. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Lastly however the Centurion and the Souldiers apprehended no necessity of breaking our Saviours legs as being perswaded that he had been a good while dead and fit to be buryed Yet one of them to make all as we say sure pierced his side while he was yet hanging upon the crosse with a speare striking him as by the posture of his body is probable under the short ribbs through his very heart otherwise he might have broken one or more of his bones And this as S. Iohn instructs us was done that another Scripture might be fulfilled And they shall look on him whom they have pierced Iohn 19.37 The prophecy which by this accident was exactly fulfilled we have Zachar. 12.8 9 c. In that day shall the Lord defend the Inhabitants of Ierusalem and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angell of the Lord before them And it shall come to passe in that day that I will seek to destroy all the Nations that come against Ierusalem And I will poure upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his onely sonne c. 9. This sacred passage lieth punctually under that line or rule for interpreting sacred oracles which in these commentaries hath been oft heretofore mentioned that is it is a passage which cannot be literally verifyed of any person besides God himself nor could it have been fulfilled in God himself otherwise then as he was incarnate made subject to death and violent percussion after death But whether this passage either according to the literall sense of the Prophet or to the intention of S. Iohn in avouching the fulfilling of it amount to any more then hath been said or in particular to inferre that reall communication of properties between the divine and humane nature of Christ which some of the most learned in the Lutheran Church would from this place in speciall presse upon us is a disquisition more proper to the Article of the holy Catholique Church then to this Treatise of the Humiliation of the Sonne of God That humiliation as I conceive did expire with his death or at least when he was taken downe from the crosse after his sacred sides had been so pierced as S. Iohn relates by that rude Roman Souldier whose name by unwritten tradition was Longius but a name as I suppose mistaken for the weapon wherewith he pierced him which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Conclusion of this Treatise IT followeth in the Apostles Creed that he was buried that he descended into hell In what sense soever we take this word buried the historicall truth of it is most punctually recorded by the Evangelists The onely quaere which this article or this part of the article will admit is whether by his buriall we are to understand the interring or depositure of his body in the monument or rather his imbalming by Ioseph or Nicodemus who did accomplish that work which the good woman before his death did foresignify or begin by pouring out that precious ointment on his head This quaere hath been long agoe proposed by some learned men in the French and German Churches who seem to deny the locall descension of his soule into hell either into the place of the damned or into Limbum patrum But this truth they have denyed or questioned with better moderation and discretion then such of our Native English as either have questioned or opposed our Churches meaning in this Article For by his descending into hell these men would have us understand the interring or depositure of his body in the monument or sepulchre wherein no man had been laid before being before imbalmed as the manner of the Iews was to bury Iohn 19 40. But for pleading one way or other
stand sure before thee much lesse wee silly vessells of clay Have mercy on us O Redeemer which art easie to bee intreated not that we be worthy of thy mercy but give thou this glory unto thine owne Name Suffer not that the Jews Turks and the rest of the Panims which either have not known thee or doe envy thy glory should continually triumph over us and say Where is their God where is their Redeemer where is their Saviour where is their Bridegroome that they thus boast on These opprobrious words upbraidings redound unto thee O Lord while by our evills men weigh and esteeme thy goodnesse they think wee be forsaken whom they see not amended Once when thou sleptst in the ship and a tempest suddenly arising threatned death to all in the ship thou awokest at the outcry of a few disciples and straightway at thine Almighty word the waters couched the winds fell the storme was suddenly turned into a great calme the dumbe waters know their makers voice Now in this farre greater tempest wherein not a few mens bodies be in danger but innumerable soules wee beseech thee at the cry of thy holy Church which is in danger of drowning that thou wilt awake So many thousands of men doe crie Lord save us we perish the tempest is past mans power yea we see that the indeavours of them that would help it doe turne cleane a contrary way It is thy word that must doe the deed Lord Jesu Onely say thou with a word of thy mouth Cease ô tempest and forthwith shall the desired calme appeare Thou wouldest have spared so many thousands of most wicked men if in the City of Sodom had been found but ten good men Now here be so many thousands of men which love the glory of thy Name which sigh for the beauty of thy house and wilt thou not at these mens prayers let goe thine anger and remember thine accustomed and old mercies Shalt thou not with thy heavenly policy turne our folly into thy glory Shalt thou not turne the wicked mens evills into thy Churches good For thy mercy is wont then most of all to succour when the thing is with us past remedie and neither the might nor wisedome of men can help it Thou alone bringest things that bee never so out of order into order againe which art the onely Author and maintainer of peace Thou framedst that old confusion which wee call Chaos wherein without order without fashion confusely lay the discordant seeds of things and with a wonderfull order the things that of nature fought together thou diddest ally and knit in a perpetuall band But how much greater confusion is this where is no charity no fidelity no bonds of love no reverence neither of lawes nor yet of rulers no agreement of opinions but as it were in a misordered quire every man singeth a contrary note Among the heavenly Planets is no dissention all foure Elements keep their place every one doe their office whereunto they bee appointed And wilt thou suffer thy Spouse for whose sake all things were made thus by continuall discords to perish go to wrack Shalt thou suffer the wicked spirits which bee authors and workers of discord to beare such a swinge in thy Kingdome unchecked Shalt thou suffer the strong Captaine of mischief whom thou once overthrewest againe to invade thy tents and to spoile thy souldiers When thou wert here a man conversant amongst men at thy voice fled the devills Send forth we beseech thee O Lord thy Spirit which may drive away out of the breasts of all them that professe thy Name the wicked spirits masters of riot of covetousnesse of vaine glory of carnall lust of mischief and of discord Create in us O our God and King a cleane heart and renew thy holy Spirit in our breasts pluck not from us thy holy Ghost Render unto us the joy of thy sauing health and with thy principall Spirit strengthen thy Spouse and the Herdmen thereof By this Spirit thou reconciledst the earthly to the heavenly by this thou didst frame and reduce so many tongues so many Nations so many sundry sorts of men into one body of a Church which body by the same Spirit is knit to thee their head This Spirit if thou wilt vouchsafe to renew in all mens hearts then shall also these forreigne miseries cease or if they cease not at least they shall turne to the profit and availe of them which love thee Stay this confusion set in order this horrible Chaos O Lord Jesu let thy Spirit stretch out it self upon these waters of evill wavering opinions And because thy Spirit which according to thy Prophets saying cōtaineth al things hath also the sciēce of speaking make that like as unto all them which bee of thy house is all one light one Baptisme one God one hope one Spirit so they may also have one voice one note and song professing one Catholique truth When thou diddest mount up to heaven triumphantly thou threwest out from above thy precious things thou gavest gifts amongst men thou dealtest sundry rewards of thy Spirit Renew againe from above thy old bountifulnesse give that thing to thy Church now fainting growing downward that thou gauest unto her shooting up at her first beginning Give unto Princes and Rulers the grace so to stand in awe of thee that they so may guide the Common-Weale as they should shortly render accompt unto thee that art the King of kings Give wisdome to bee alwayes assistant unto them that whatsoever is best to bee done they may espy it in their minde and pursue the same in their doings Give to the Bishops the gift of prophecy that they may declare and interpret holy Scripture not of their owne braine but of thine inspiring Give them the threefold charity which thou once demandedst of Peter what time thou didst betake unto him the charge of thy sheep Give to the Priests the love of sobernesse and of chastity Give to thy people a good will to follow thy Commandements and a readinesse to obey such persons as thou hast appointed over them So shall it come to passe if through thy gift thy Princes shall command that thou requirest if thy Pastors and Herdmen shall teach the same and thy people obey them both that the old dignity and tranquillity of the Church shal returne again with a goodly order unto the glory of thy Name Thou sparedst the Ninevites appointed to be destroied as soone as they converted to repentance and wilt thou despise thy house falling downe at thy feet which in stead of sackcloth hath sighes and in stead of ashes teares Thou promisedst forgivenesse to such as turne unto thee but this self thing is thy gift a man to turne with his whole heart unto thee to the intent all our goodnesse should redound unto thy glory Thou art the maker repaire the work that thou hast fashioned Thou art the Redeemer save that thou hast bought Thou art the
to him if his case or condition were the same But if of a private master he should become a publike Judge and shew the same favour to him that had been his servant being arraigned for the like offence committed against another hee should hereby grievously transgresse both the Law of God and man The true reason whereof is not because the former rule Of doing as hee would bee done unto doth hold as one of late out of the spirit of contradiction rather than judgement hath taught not universally or alwayes but ad plurimum for the most part or now and then or more certainly in private men than publike Magistrates For they especially are most strictly tied to that fundamentall rule of justice and equity of doing as they would bee done unto But seeing as the great Casuist Gerson somewhere observes Every Judge sustaines a double person one of his owne as he is subject to the like infirmities with other men another of the Publike Weale or Community wherein hee liveth Hence it is or should bee that how mercifull or gracious soever he be by naturall disposition or grace yet when he ascends the seat of Justice hee must lay aside his private person all private considerations and arme himselfe with the publike Now the object of the observance of the former rule of doing as hee would bee done unto is not the person or party accused or arraigned but the persons whom hee wronged or may hereafter wrong The greatest Judge in this case must do to the Commō Weale whereof he himselfe is a member as he desires is should be done to himselfe in like case that is to right them when they are wronged and to protect them from further danger by putting wholesome lawes in execution for cutting off noisome members of publike Society 4. But what of all this God is no member of any Community being in himselfe farre greater and better than the whole Universe of things visible and invisible and for this reason not bound to conforme himselfe to any of the former rules which greatest Princes are by his Law bound to observe However hee is immutable goodnesse it selfe more than the rule of all those rules of mercy justice and goodnesse which hee enjoines us to follow It is most true he can doe whatsoever he will yet cannot any thing be willed by him that is contrary to goodnesse justice or mercy Though his mercies exceed the mercies of the best of men yet some sinnes there are which exempt men from participation of his mercies sinnes unpardonable to mercy it selfe So saith our Saviour Mar. 3.28 29. Verily I say unto you all sinnes shall be forgiven unto the sonnes of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme But hee that shall blaspheme against the holy Ghost hath never forgivenesse but is in danger of eternall damnation And S. Matthew more fully Chap. 12. ver 31 Wherefore I say unto you All manner of sinne and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men And whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of man it shall bee forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the holy Ghost it shall not bee forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come It is not the sole infinitie of that Majestie against which wee sinne that makes the sinne so unpardonable For the Father is of infinite Majesty the Sonne is of infinite Majesty and the holy Ghost can bee no more their Majesty and glory is coeternall and coequall The sinne here meant then cannot bee any speciall sinne more offensive against the person of the holy Ghost then against the person of the Father or the Sonne Nor is it whatsoever else it be any one sinne specifically distinct from other sinnes as murther is from lust or lust from pride and envie but rather a confluence of many grievous sinnes It alwayes presupposeth a great measure of long continued contempt of Gods speciall favour gifts or goodnesse Those whom our Saviour in the forecited places forewarnes as being at the pit brink of this infernall bottomlesse sinne were as S. Marke tells us Scribes that came downe from Ierusalem Mark 3.22 and as S. Matthew addes Pharisees too Matth. 12.24 Both of them had seene or heard our Saviours miracles which were so pregnant that they could not deny the truth of them The particular miracle which occasioned this discourse was the healing of one possessed of a Devill insomuch that being blind and dumbe before he both spake and saw and all the people were amazed and said Is this the sonne of David And when the Pharisees heard it or as S. Marke addes the Scribes which came downe from Jerusalem they said this fellow doth not cast out Devils but by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Matt. 12.22 Mark 3.24 And S. Marke giving the reason why our Saviour after hee had called the Scribes and Pharisees to him and debated this controversie with them did forewarne them in speciall of this dangerous sinne addeth Because they said he hath an uncleane spirit Mark 3.30 5. Into this fearefull sinne or rather high measure of sinne of whose danger our Saviour so graciously forewarnes these Scribes and Pharisees those convert Hebrews to whom S. Paul wrote that excellent Epistle were ready without his like admonitions to fall It is impossible saith he for those men who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them againe unto repentance seeing they crucifie unto themselves the Sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft upon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bringeth forth thornes and briers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to bee burned Heb. 6.4 5 c. Others perhaps in those times had either incurred this sentence here denounced or stood in greater danger than these Hebrews did of whom our Apostle at this time had good hope But beloved wee are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speake For God is not unrighteous to forget your worke and labour of love which yee have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred towards his Saints and doe minister Heb. 6.9.10 Of our Apostles punctuall meaning or sense in these two verses last cited as of all the rest unto the end of the Chapter I shall have occasion hereafter to treat Of the former verses I have no more for this present or hereafter for ought I know to say then this That their meaning if any be disposed to scan them more exactly may I take it bee best illustrated by the type or parallel exhibited in the dayes of
Moses in those men which were excluded by oath from the land of Canaan Num. 14.20 21 22 23. And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word But as truely as I live all the earth shall bee filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seene my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have tempted mee now these ten times and have not hearkened to my voice Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it All these which were all the Males of Israel above twenty yeares of age save Caleb Ioshua and Moses who was in part involved in this sentence did beare a true type or shadow of those who offending in like manner against Christ and his Gospel we call Reprobates yet not so true types of such a sinne against the holy Ghost as those which went to search the land of Canaan And the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the Congregation to murmure against him by bringing up a slander upon she land Even those men that did bring up the evill report upon the land after they had seene the goodlinesse and tasted the pleasant fruits of it died of the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the sonne of Nun and Caleb the sonne of Jephunneh which were of the men that went to search the land lived still and many happy dayes after that time Numb 14.36 37 38. 6. Very probable it is though I will not determine pro or con that the irremissible sinne whereof our Saviour and S. Paul speake for which there remaineth no satisfaction was if dot peculiar yet Epidemicall unto those primitive times wherein the kingdom of heaven was first planted here on earth by our Saviour and the holy Catholike Church was in erection by the ministery of the Apostles or in times wherein the extraordinary gifts of the holy Spirit were most plentifull and most conspicuous Even in those times into this wofull estate none could fall which had not tasted of the heavenly gift of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come and had not beene partakers of the holy Ghost Nor did such men fall away by ordinary sinnes but by relaps into Iewish blasphemy or heathenish Idolatry and malicious slander of the kingdom of heaven of whose power they had tasted God was good to all his creatures in their creation and better to men in their redemption by Christ of this later goodnesse all men werein some degree partakers The contempt or neglect of this goodnesse was not irremissible the parties thus farre offending and no further were not excluded from the benefit of Christs satisfaction or from renewing by repentance but of the gifts of the Spirit which was plentifully poured out after our Saviours ascension all were not partakers This was a speciall favour or peculiar goodnesse whose continued contempt or solemne abrenuntiation by relapse either into heathenisme or Jewish blasphemy was unpardonable not in that it was a sinne peculiarly committed against the person of the holy Ghost but because it did include an extraordinary opposition unto the indispensable law of justice or goodnesse which God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost are 7. Some sinnes then there be or some measure of them which being made up no satisfaction will be accepted for them It is impossible according to the sacred phrase that the parties thus delinquent should bee renewed by repentance But whether according to this dialect of the holy Ghost that grand sinne whereof our Saviour and the Apostle speakes be absolutely irremissible untill death hath determined their impenitency which committed it or onely exceeding dangerous in comparison of other sinnes I will not here dispute much lesse dare I take upon me to determine either branch of the maine question proposed As whether satisfaction were absolutely necessary for remitting the sinnes of our first Parents or their seed Or whether the Son of God could have brought us sinners unto glory by any other way or meanes than that which is revealed unto us in his Gospel It shall suffice me and so I request the Reader it may doe him to shew that this revealed way is the most admirable for the sweet concurrence of Wisdome Justice Mercy and whatsoever other branches of goodnesse else bee which the heart of man can conceive more admirable by much than wisdome finite could have contrived or our miserable condition desired unlesse it had been revealed unto us by God himselfe 8. For demonstration of this conclusion and for deterring all which pretend unto the priviledge or dignity of being the Sonnes of God from continuance in sinne no principle of faith or passage in the sacred Canon can bee of better use then that 1. Ioh. 3.8 He that committeth sinne is of the Devill for the Devill sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Sonne of God was manifested that hee might destroy the works of the Devill However the words which severall translations doe render one and the same word in the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee of different signification in point of Grammar yet is there no contradiction betwixt them upon the matter Our later English which I alledged readeth that he might destroy the former that hee might dissolve the works of the Devill Neither of them much amisse and both of them put together or mutually helping one another exceeding well Some works of the Devill the Sonne of God is said more properly to dissolve others more properly to destroy Sinne it selfe as the Apostle tells us is the proper worke of the Devill his perpetuall worke for he sinneth from the beginning And for this cause the man that committeth sinne is of the Devill the Devills workman or day labourer so long as hee continues in knowne sinnes Sinne the best of men dayly doe But it is one thing to sinne and doe a sinfull Act another to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the phrase used by our Apostle a worker or doer of evill operarius iniquitatis Such workmen the sonnes of God or servants of Christ cannot be at lest so long as they continue sonnes or servants The points most questionable in those forecited words of S. Iohn now to bee discussed in this preamble to the manner how the Son of God did dissolve or destroy the works of the Devill are two The first from what beginning the Devill is said to sinne or to continue in sinne The second what speciall workes of the Devill they were which the Sonne of God did or doth undoe or for whose dissolution or destruction hee was manifested in our flesh CHAP. IV. From what beginning the Divell is said by S. John to sinne Whether sinne consist in meere privation or have a positive entity or a cause truely efficient not deficient onely 1 THe word Beginning is some times taken universally and absolutely