insist That our Saviour held in Communion with the Church of the Iews in which he lived in the publick exercise of Religion And I might add in conformity to the common custom of the Nation in Civil Converse An Observation that the Text plainly affordeth those considerations laid to it that I have mentioned For look upon this Feast as a thing of Religion and Religious Observation he is present at it as holding Communion with the Church in the publick exercise of Religion or look upon it only as a civil Commemoration and of a civil Institution he is present at it because he kept in conformity with the common customs of the Nation in civil Converse I begin with the former And we are upon a Subject very seasonable in these times of our great Divisions and Separations and not unseasonable for your Meeting and Feast of Love and Unity And I know no point that may more usefully and profitably be studied and looked into toward the reconciling our great Separations than this if so be the example of our Saviour be of Authority and value with us For clearing the way of our discourse let me first Observe these things to you I. That when I say he held Communion in the publick exercise of Religion I mean their National Religion by which indeed they were a National Church A National Religion and a National Church are phrases that will not now be allowed of by many among Christians though they will allow them for current among the Jews Though indeed there can be no clear reason given of the difference T is true indeed that no Nation can now be said to be a National Church in that restriction that the Jews were who were so a National Church that no people were of the Church besides yet is there the very same cause that made them a National Church that may make other Nations so now Their being a peculiar people did not make them a National Church for that made them only an only Church Nor did their Ceremonial Rites in Religion make them a National Church for that made them only a distinct Nation But that that did properly make and denominate them a National Church was the Worship of God and the exercise of Religion went through the whole Nation And I see not why Christian Nations where there is the very same reason may not also cary the very same name In the Apostles times indeed there was no National Church of the Gospel and that is most true that they plead that hold the contrary to what I assert namely that it is not said the Church of Achaia the Church of Galatia Indaea Macedonia c. but the Churches And there is very good reason why it is so said For those whole Nations had not yet received the Gospel but as there was a Christian Church in one place so there was a Heathen Temple in another and a Jewish Synagogue in another nay it may be three for one ten for one But when the whole Nation came to profess the Gospel and there were no Church but Christian then whole Achaia whole Macedonia c. were National Churches Observe that in Esay XIX 24 25. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the Earth When the Lord of Hosts shall bless saying Blessed be Egypt my people c. Assyria the work of my hands and Israel mine inheritance Israel was a National Church because the whole Nation professed Religion and Worshipped God Egypt and Assyria could not be called so when Heathen Temples and Idolatrous Worship and Jews Synagogues and Judaismes were intermixed but when all Egypt and all Assyria came to own the same Religion and Worship of God in the way of the Gospel why might they not hear the same name of National Churches as well as Israel We mean then that Christ held Communion with the Church of the Jews in the publick exercise of that Religion which was the seated and fixed Religion of the Nation and which went through the Nation II. The Religion of the Pharisees Sadduces and Esseans was not the National Religion but Sects and excrescences from it therefore it no whit denies Christ Communicating with the Religion of the Nation though he did not Communicate with the Religion of these Sects You may take up in your thoughts the whole Nation of the Jews when Christ came among them in two parts and you may very well so take them up under the representation of an overflowing flood Let Jordan their own River be the instance It is said in Jos. III. 15. That Jordan overflowed his banks all barley harvest Then a great part of the water ran in the channel and another part flowed over the banks and wasted what was in the way So the greatest part of the Nation kept in the channel of their National Religion and a great part namely these Sects overflowed the bounds went beyond the proper current especially the first and the last and spoiled all with overdoing Now out of whether of these two parts did Christ gather those thousands nay those several ten thousands as Act. XXI 20. that came into the profession of the Gospel Some indeed from among those Sects but the far greatest part from among them that kept in the channel of the National Religion For observe what sad doom the Scripture passes upon those Sects severally and jointly The Pharisees single Christ curseth and denounceth wo against Matth. XXIII over and over again The Pharisees and Sadducees together John proclaimeth a generation of Vipers Matth. III. The Pharisees and Sadducees and Esseans altogether the three evil Shepherds that mislead the people Christ professeth that he hated them as they did him Zech. XI 8. Now it is no wonder if Christ Communicated not with the Religion of them that were so abominable in themselves and to him and their Religion so wild and it had been a wonder if he should not have Communicated with them to whom he came more especially to be a Minister and from among whom he was to gather so great an harvest And now having premised these things to come to prove and clear the assertion before us we shall first consider the obligations that lay upon Christ and bound him to hold Communion with the Church wherein he lived and the examples and instances that shew he did so The former will evince de jure the latter de facto I. Need I to prove that Christ was a member of the Church of the Jews And if that be granted it can hardly be denied that he was bound to keep Communion with the Church of which he was a member The Apostle in Rom. IX 5. tells us that Christ was of the blood of the Jews and was he of their Nation only and not of their Church He was Minister of the Circumcision and was he not of the Church of which he was Minister II. I need as little to
such as I described unto you false Teachers that pretended to the Spirit and to preach and work Miracles by the Spirit And I shall discourse a little concerning the great delusion that is by pretence of the Spirit and this the rather that I may speak something like in subsequence to that I treated upon at our last Meeting Then I exhorted you to hold Communion by the example of Christ. For separation I then told you was the undoing of our Church Now I give caution against the pretence of those that Preach and Expound Scripture by the Spirit For that is the cause of Separation and hath proved the ruine of Religion And although this change of times doth seem to promise that this delusion in time will dye so that the present discourse may seem not so very pertinent yet doth that mischief now live move delude and captivate silly souls little less than it hath done all along Therefore give me leave a little to discover this delusion to you that you may not only be the better fenced against it that it do not deceive you but that you may be the better furnished to stop the mouths of those that pretend to it For the prosecuting this argument you must distinguish between the false pretence to the Spirit of Sanctification and to the Spirit of Revelation By the former men deceive themselves by the latter others They deceive themselves by conceiving they have the former because they have something like it but these deceive others by the pretence of the latter though they have nothing like it There is no grace but there is a false coin minted by the Devil to dissemble it As the Harlot takes the live-child from the unwitting mother and fosters the dead one in the room and so lyes the poor woman deceived and so the poor man is deceived and thinks he hath saving grace when t is but common and the Spirit of Sanctification when t is but the Spirit of Bondage But I shall not insist on this But proceed to the other pretence viz. to the Spirit of Revelation and Prophesie whereby these in the Text deceived others I shall not need to shew you how this hath been the great cheat in all times There were false Prophets before the captivity and false Prophets after it such pretenders almost in all times I shall strip this delusion naked and whip it before you by observing these four things I. No degree of holiness whatsoever doth necessarily beget and infer the Spirit of Revelation as the cause produceth the effect It is the first cheat that these men put upon themselves and others by concluding I am a Saint therefore I have the Spirit and I preach and expound Scripture by the Spirit whereas I say no degree of Sanctification doth necessarily beget and produce that of Revelation I clear this from the nature of the thing it self and by examples First From the nature of the thing The Spirit of Holiness and Revelation are far different therefore the one is not the cause of the other The cause and the effect have a parity and similitude one with another but these are far from being so 1. They are impartible to different subjects Holiness only to holy men the Spirit of Revelation sometimes to wicked men So it was imparted to Balaam Numb XXIII so likewise to Judas and Caiaphas 2. They are bestowed upon different ends Holiness for the good of him that hath it Revelation for the benefit of others 3. They are of different manners and operations The Spirit of Sanctification changeth the heart Paul is a Saul no more Revelation doth not Judas is Judas still 4. They are of different Diffusion in the Soul Sanctification is quite through I Thess. V. 23. Revelation only in the understanding 5. They are of different Effects Sanctification never produceth but what is good Revelation may produce what is evil Knowledge puffeth up Now see what a cheat they are in This to themselves if they believe it themselves and to others that believe it in this argumentation I am holy therefore I have the Spirit of Revelation To the further confuting of this add but two Examples 1. The first Adam He was as holy as created nature could be and yet had he the Spirit of Revelation Not the Spirit at all He was most holy yet had not the Spirit of Sanctification most full of knowledge yet had not the Spirit of Revelation but all his holiness was founded only in his nature as he was created God made him holy and left him to stand upon his own holiness and had not the assistance of the Spirit at all So he had great knowledge yet not the Spirit of Revelation either to know things to come or to know things beyond their natures and causes But 2. Consider the second Adam He was holiness it self yet had he not the Spirit of Revelation by that holiness In Christ there were two things The holiness of his person by union with the Godhead and the Indowment of the Spirit upon his person He was so holy that he was not only without sin but he was impeccable Rom. VIII 2. as we are a Law that cannot but sin so he contra Now this holiness of Christs person or nature is to a clean different end to what the guifts of the Spirit upon him were His person was so holy that he might perform the Law satisfie justice pay obedience conquer Satan But the guifts of the Spirit were to fit him for Mediatorship to cast out Devils to reveal the will of God to work Miracles to confirm that Doctrine As these differ in their ends so are they from different originals holiness from the purity of his nature indowments by extraordinary donation If he had the Spirit in extraordinary guifts of Revelation and Miracles by vertue of his holy nature why was that Spirit given so visible Matth. III. and given when he was to begin his Mediation Consider his own words Mark XIII 32. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Some are ashamed to confess their ignorance of any thing yet he doth it plainly For the Divine Nature in Christ acted not to the utmost of its power T is clear from this passage of Christ that by his nature he had not the Spirit of Revelation but he had it by the immediate guift of God For it pleased not God so to reveal that day and hour to him while he was here on Earth So that by this example you may see much more the fallacy of that argument I am a Saint therefore I have the Spirit of Revelation Whereas Christ himself could not say so II. The Spirit of Revelation is given indeed to Saints but means little that sence that these men speak of but is of a clean different nature The Apostle prays Ephes. I. 17. That God would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom
be touched meaning Mount Sinai but ye are come to Mount Sion One would think when he spake of Mount Sinai he should rather have called it the Mount that might not be touched for God charged that neither man nor beast should touch it Exod. XIX But you may see the Apostles meaning That the Mystical Mount Sion is not such a gross earthly thing as Mount Sinai was that was subject to sense and feeling to be seen and felt and trod upon but that Sion is a thing more pure refined and abstract from such sensibleness spiritual and heavenly And from this undeniable notion of a Church invisible we may easily answer that captious and scornful question that you know who put upon us Where was your Church and Religion before Luther Why it was in the Jerusalem that is above out of the reach and above the ken of mans discerning it was upon Mount Sion above the sphere of sight and sense It was in such a place and case as the Church and Religion was in when there were seven thousand men that never bowed the knee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Golden Heiser at Dan or Bethel and yet the greatest Prophet then being could not discern the least sign of any Church at all Now Thirdly The new Jerusalem must be known by her Pearls and Jewels upon which it is founded and built up True Religion is that that must distinguish and discover the true Church And where that is it is like the Wisemens Star over the house at Bethlehem that points out and tells Jesus and his Church is hero I must confess I do not well understand that concession of some of our Protestant Divines that yield That the Church of Rome is a corrupt Church indeed but yet a true Church For I do not well understand how there should be a true Church under a false Religion If the Church of the Jews under the great corruption of Religion that was in it might be called a true Church that was all it could look for And it must have that title rather because there was never a Church in the World beside it than from any claim by Religion But what do you call true Religion 1. First That which is only founded on the Word of God as the Wall of the new Jerusalem in vers 14. of this Chapter is founded upon twelve pearls engraven with the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 2. That Religion that tends directly to the honouring of God and saving of souls and is adequate to these ends In short That Religion that can bring to Heaven For I so little believe that any man may be saved in any Religion that I believe there is only one Religion in which any man may be saved And when Moses can bring Israel only to the skirts of the Land of Promise I hardly believe that any Religion will bring them into it Though one should not stick to grant that a person may be saved in the Church of Rome yet should I question whether in the Faith of Rome And it is the Faith or Doctrine of a Church more especially that I mean by the Religion of it Let a Romanist ride all the stages of his Religion from his uncouth kind of Baptism to his extream Unction through his auricular Confessions and Absolutions through his Penances and Pardons through his Massings and Crossings through all his Devotions and Austerities will all these bring to Heaven if the main fundamentals of Faith be faulty and failing Nay if the main fundamentals of belief be clean contrary to the way of God to Heaven A Scribe or Pharisee in old Jerusalem is as devout in Religion and as strict and severe in outward conversation as is imaginable that you would think sanctity it self were there yet will all this bring to Heaven when the chief principles of his Faith are directly contrary to the way of Salvation while he believes to be justified by his own works and places all in opere operato in a little formal and ceremonial service Like him in the story and on the stage that cried O! Heaven and pointed down to the Earth these pretended for Heaven in their practical Devotions but pointed downward in their Doctrinal principles I shall not insist to illustrate those particulars that I mentioned I suppose they carry their own proof and evidence with them that they are most proper touchstones whereby to try the truth of a Church and Religion And it is our comfort that we can that we do that we desire to bring our Religion to such Tests and touchstones and refuse not but most gladly appeal to the impartial Judge the Word of God to give judgment of it I shall not therefore undertake so needless a task as to go about to prove the truth of our Faith and Religion since so many Protestant pens have so clearly and so abundantly done it far more learned than my Tongue And since I may make such an Appeal to you as the Apostle did to King Agrippa King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know thou believest Fathers and Brethren believe you the Truth of our Religion I know you believe it Then I have no more to do but to offer two or three words of humble exhortation and entreaty viz. Prize it Cleave to it Beautifie it I. Prize it for it is the chiefest jewel in all our Cabinet And the wisest Merchant in all your City cannot find out a Pearl of greater price It is the life of our Nation at home and it is the honour of our Nation abroad It is that that makes our Land a Royal Street of the new Jerusalem It is that that must make your City a holy City We see a new London as our Apocalyptick saw a new Jerusalem The buildings stately and magnificent the furniture sumptuous and very splendid the shops rich and bravely furnished the wealth great and very affluent but your Religion the all in all As it was said in old time that Athens was the Greece of Greece and as it may be said at this time that London is the England of England so let your Religion be the London of London It is that by which your City must stand and flourish by which your prosperity must be watered and maintained and the Anâ—ile which kept in safety will keep us in safety II. Keep therefore close to your Religion and leave it not Dread revolting from the true Religion The Apostasie in the Apostles times was the sin unto death in our Apocalypticks first Epistle and last Chapter And there is an Apostasie in our time but too common and to be deplored with tears to a Religion but too like to that to which they then revolted I would therefore that those that are tempted either by the lightness of their own hearts or by the Emissaries of Rome to revolt from their Religion would remember that dreadful saying of the Apostle Heb. X. 26. If we sin wilfully after
he Noah and his sons at their going forth of the Ark but with this difference in the last That whereas Adam in innocency had rule over the creatures with amity and love sin did now put such a difference that Noah must have it with fear and dread And whereas he had restrained Adam from eating of flesh and consined his diet to the fruit of the ground he inlargeth Noah to feed upon beasts and alloweth them for the sustentation of his life for he had been the preserver of theirs This was that that his father Lamech had foretold by the spirit of prophecy when he was born namely That he should comfort them concerning their labour and toil which they had when they might eat nothing but the fruits of the ground which cost them hard labour in the tillage and culture to get them but Noah should be a comfort in reference to this because to him and in him to all the world God would give liberty to eat flesh But with the flesh God permitteth him not to eat the blood partly for avoiding of cruelty and partly because blood was to be atonement for sin And this prohibition of eating blood to Noah now and afterward renewed to Israel was because of that custom which God foresaw would grow and which in the time of Israel was grown common of eating flesh raw as appeareth 1 Sam. 14. 32. And by the prohibition of eating the Paschal Lamb so Exod. 12. 9. This very law of not eating the flesh with the blood confuteth the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or the eating of the very flesh and blood of Christ to all the world The Rain-bow which naturally is a sign of rain is sacramentally made a sign of no more destruction by it The drunkenness of Noah was at some good space after the flood but the very time uncertain for Canaan who was not born of some years after they came out of the Ark is then active and of capacity and is doomed to slavery and subjection his land bequeathed to Sem and the calling of the Gentiles prophecied of The death of Noah is mentioned in the end of this Chapter because Moses would totally conclude his story but as it may be seen in the insuing Table he died not till within two years of Abrahams birth CHAP. X. SEventy heads of Nations grown from the three sons of Noah by the time of confusion of Tongues These became not seventy several languages then though they were so many Nations for it is undoubted that divers Nations joyned in one language as Ashur Arphaxad and Aram in the Chaldee and the most if not all the sons of Canaan in one Tongue When the most High divided the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel Deut. 32. 8. With this 10 of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. from Vers. 5. to Vers. 24. CHAP. XI HEathenism beginneth at Babel when the Hebrew Tongue is lost to all the world but only to one family in that Tongue alone was God preached and the doctrine of salvation published and when that is lost Religion is lost with it and all the earth become strangers to God and closed up in blindness and superstition and in this estate did it continue for the space of 2203. years till the gift of Tongues at Sion began to recure the confusion of Tongues at Babel and the Heathens thereby were so far brought into the true Religion that even Babel it self was among those that knew the Lord Psal. 87. 4. and a Church there elect as well as the Jews 1 Pet. 5. 13. The second Age of the World From the Flood to the Promise given to Abraham The ten Fathers after the Flood Flood World Noah Sem 2 1658 602 100 Arphaxad born 37 1693 637 135 35 Shelah born 67 1723 667 165 65 30 Eber born 101 1757 701 199 99 64 34 Peleg born Languages confounded about the time of his birth 131 1787 731 229 129 94 64 30 Reu born 163 1819 763 261 161 126 96 62 32 Serug born 193 1849 793 291 191 156 126 92 62 30 Nahor born 222 1878 822 320 220 185 155 121 91 59 29 Terah born 292 1948 892 390 290 255 225 191 161 129 99 70 Haran born 340 1996 940 438 338 303 273 239 209 177 147 118 48 Peleg dieth 341 1997 941 439 339 304 274 Â 210 178 148 119 49 1 Nahor dieth 350 2006 950 448 348 313 283 Â 219 187 Â 138 58 10 9 Noah dieth 352 2008 Â 450 350 315 285 Â 221 189 Â 130 60 12 11 2 Abraham born 370 2026 Â 468 368 333 303 Â 239 207 Â 148 Â 30 29 20 18 Reu dieth 393 2049 Â 491 391 356 326 Â Â 230 Â 171 Â Â 52 43 41 23 Serug dieth 427 2083 Â 525 425 390 360 Â Â Â Â 205 Â Â 86 77 75 57 34 Tera dieth Gen. 11. 32. The Promise given to Abraham Gen. 12. 1. With this latter part of the eleventh of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. Vers. 24 25 26 27. Sem in the very front of the generations of the new world standeth without mention of father or mother beginning of days or end of life as Heb. 7. 3. The age of man was shortned at the confusion of Babel for Peleg and those born after him live not above half the time of those born before He dieth the first of all this line to shew Gods dislike of that rebellion which befell in the year of his birth Nahor dieth the next year after him having lived a shorter life then he to shew the like displeasure against the Idolatry which was begun in that line also Terah at seventy years old hath his son Haran and Abraham is born to him when he is an hundred and thirty this appeareth by casting Abrams age when he departs out of Haran to go for Canaan after his fathers death Men frame intricacies and doubts to themselves here where the Text is plain if it be not wrested God in Ur of the Caldees calleth Abram out of his Idolatry and out of that Idolatrous Country where he had caught it to leave his Country and kindred and to go for a Land that he would shew him Acts 7. 2. Abram leaveth his Idolatry and imbraceth this call and so also doth his father Terah and therefore the conduct of the journy is ascribed to him for honours sake Gen. 11. 31. and they depart from Ur and go to Haran and there they dwell and there at last Terah dieth After his death God giveth Abram another call to leave his Countrey kindred and fathers house too now and to follow him whither he calls him and so he did and he was seventy and five years old when he departs from Haran Now taking seventy and five out of two hundred and five years of Terah at which age he died it is
is called both Ahashuerus and Artaxerxes Ezra 4. vers 6 7. for Artaxerxes was a common name of the Kings of Persia as Pharaoh was of the Kings of Egypt DANIEL X XI XII DANIEL mourning for the hindrance of the Temple seeth Christ as John did in Patmos And hath a Revelation of the condition of his own people under their powerful Enemies till the madness of Antiochus Epiphanes was over He should violate the Sanctuary and cause Religion and Moses Law to lie in the dirt for a time two Times and half a time or three years and an half or one thousand two hundred and ninety days But he that waiteth and liveth to see five and forty days more or till those one thousand two hundred and ninety days be made up one thousand three hundred and thirty five days he should see an end of Antiochus Artaxerxes Ahashuerus World 3474 Artax Ahashuerus 1 The building of the Temple lieth forgot and forlorn by the command of Artaxerxes Ahashuerosh the present King of Persia Hereupon divers of the Jews that had gone up to Jerusalem in the first of Cyrus return back again in this Kings reign to their old residence in Babylonia or in Persia again Artax Ahashuerus 2 The building of the Temple lieth still quite forlorn ESTHER I. World 3476 Artax Ahashuerus 3 ARTAXERXES who was also called Ahashuerosh after his great Grandfather of the Median blood Dan. 9. 1. is a greater Potentate and Prince by seven Provinces then Cyrus and Darius were compare vers 1. with Dan. 6. 1. To shew and to see his own glory and pomp he maketh a Feast half a year together to his Nobles and seven days more to all Susan and when all this glory of his great command hath been shewed he cannot command his own wife c. ESTHER II. Artax Ahashuerus 4 THREE whole years and above is Ahashuerus without a Queen Artax Ahashuerus 5 his servants and officers in several Countries are making inquiry after Artax Ahashuerus 6 who may be fit for a Queen for him World 3480 Artax Ahashuerus 7 Esther taken into the Kings Palace in the seventh year of his reign in the tenth month vers 16. a Daughter of Benjamin born for the good of her people Mordecai had been captived with Jechoniah above seventy years ago and had been at Jerusalem when the Captivity was sent back to their own Country again and there had helped forward their settlement and prosperity as long as the work of the Temple would go forward but when not he returns to Persia and there doth his people good in that Court when he could no longer do it in their own City Artax Ahashuerus 8 Bigthan and Teresh two of the Kings Porters hanged for Treason The matter discovered by Mordecai and revealed to the King ESTHER III. Artax Ahashuerus 9 HAMAN promoted by the King to the highest honour in the Artax Ahashuerus 10 Kingdom obtaineth not one bowing or cringe from Artax Ahashuerus 11 Mordecai Mordecai disdaineth to homage or to shew reverence to an Amalekite for so Haman was of the Seed of Agag whom Samuel hewed to pieces in Gilgal World 3485 Artax Ahashuerus 12 Haman would buy all the Jews in the Persian Monarchy for ten thousand Talents of silver but they are given him for nothing He goes not about the destruction of them but first useth direction by Magical Lots what day fittest to speed of his request and the Devil allots him the thirteenth of the first month and what month fittest for the execution and the Devils Lot telleth him the month Adar On the thirteenth day of the first month Letters are dispatched through all the Provinces of the Monarchy for the destruction of the Jews at such a time ESTHER IV V. ALL the Provinces perplexed at the tidings the Jews in Shushan keep a Fast of three days and three nights long this time is measured exactly as the three days and three nights of our Saviours death for on the third day Esther puts on the Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and obtains the Kings favour ESTHER VI VII HAMAN prepares a Gallows for himself and bespeaks Honours for Mordecai his Wife and friends knew the curse upon Amaleck because of the Jews and read his fall ESTHER VIII IX ON the twenty third day of the month Sivan Mordecai and Esther obtain Letters to revoke Hamans bloody purpose and that the Jews should stand in their own defence against their enemies which they do at the time appointed for their destruction and slay 75810 men The feast of Purim instituted ESTHER X. Artax Ahashuerus 13 AFTER this great and wonderful deliverance and prosperity of the Artax Ahashuerus 14 Jews Artaxerxes or Ahashuerosh layeth a Tax upon the whole Empire but in what year of his reign is uncertain and how long he reigned after this is not easily determinable For the Scripture is utterly silent to express the number of the years of his reign or any of the Kings of of Persia that come after him in clear expressions Of this King it saith no more at all of the next it mentioneth his second year Ezra 4. 24. his fourth year Zech. 7. 1. his sixth year Ezra 6. 15. his seventh Ezra 27. 8. his twentieth Neh. 1. 1. his thirty second Neh. 13. 6. but how long he reigned further there is no account at all neither By collection from other places and passages it may be concluded and upon very good ground that this King Artaxerxes Ahashuerosh reigned but fourteen years in all the ground is this Because Zechariah in the second year of Darius doth then but reckon the time of some captivity seventy years The Angel of the Lord answered and said O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years Zech. 1. 12. And in Chap. 4. there are some people sent from Babel to Jerusalem and they have this quaere among the rest of the business they came about to speak to the Priests which were in the house of the Lord of Hosts and to ask Should I weep in the fifth month as I have done these seventy years Compare ver 3. 5. Now from the beginning of the seventy years or the fourth of Jehoiakim to the second of Darius were many years above seventy namely the three years of Cyrus all the years of Ahashuerosh which were twelve mentioned in Scripture before his taxing the Empire and two of Darius himself eighty seven in all by this account from the time that the seventy years captivity beginneth to be counted therefore these seventy years mentioned in Zechary must be counted from some other date or else there will be exceeding much hardness and impropriety in the speech Now this date is from the destruction of Jerusalem and firing of the Temple in the nineteenth year of Nebuchad-nezzar to Darius his second namely fifty one years of the seventy of Babell three of Cyrus
2. 14. 2 Thess. 1. 4. gave the Apostle just occasion whilest he was present with them to discourse with them and to inform them concerning the condition and carriage and end of that Nation that they might be setled and resolved to bear all whatsoever they should suffer from that accursed people and generation and here he taketh up the same discourse again for their further establishment Besides outward molestation and affliction of their bodies there were false teachers that troubled their minds and especially with these two puzzles 1. To make them to doubt what became of them that died in the faith and profession of Jesus for whereas the Apostle handles the matter of the resurrection in the former Epistle Chap. 4. 14. I cannot suppose that he doth it to them as to men of the Sadducee opinion denying the resurrection or as to men that had never heard of the resurrection before for all the Jews set the Sadduces aside did assuredly believe it but because that the opposers of the Gospel had buzzed to them their lost condition after death for their revolting from the Jewish Religion and becoming Apostates as they reputed it to the Gospel The tenth Chapter of the Treatise Sanhedrin that names certain sorts of people that must not inherit the world to come gives us good cause to suppose that this was no small terror that those envious opposers would perplex the minds of those withal who had forsaken the Jewish Religion and betaken themselves to the profession of Christ. The Talmudick place cited speaketh thus All Israel hath a share in the world to come as it is said Thy people shall all of them be righteous But these have no share in the world to come He that saith The resurrection is not taught in the Law and that the Law is not from God and Epicurus Now by Epicurus they mean not luxurious ones as the word Epicure is commonly used by us but as the Gemara explains it there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One that despiseth their Doctors and elsewhere they yoke it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostates and Epicures Rosh hashanah per. 1. and so they brought all that started from the vain doctrine of their traditionaries under this title and under that terror of having no share in the world to come 2. They went about to perplex the mind of these converts with urging how near the day of the Lord was The Scripture and the Apostle had spoken of the day of the Lords coming when he should come to take vengeance of the Jewish Nation for their wickedness and unbelief and these would terrific this Church with inculcating the nearness of it pretending for this partly revelation and partly the words or writing of the Apostle The aim in this terror was to amaze the new believers and to puzzle them about what to hold and what to do in that sad time which they pretended was ready to fall upon their heads The Apostle resolves that there was some good space of time to be before for there was to be a falling away and the man of sin to be revealed The phrase The man of sin and child of perdition is plainly taken from that place Isa. 11. 4. With the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked one and the Apostle makes it clear that he referreth to that place by using the very words of the Prophet at ver 8. Whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth The Jews put an Emphasis upon that word in the Prophet The wicked one as it appeareth by the Chaldee Paraphrast who hath uttered it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall destroy the wicked Roman And so the Apostle puts an Emphasis upon it and translates it the Man of sin And in that Christ is introduced in the Prophet as having a special quarrel and vengeance against him he is called the son of perdition or he that is so certainly and remarkably to be destroyed It is true this meaneth the Roman as the Chaldee and our Protestant Divines by the warrant of John in the Revelation do interpret it but in the first place and sense it meaneth the Jewish Nation which proved Antichrist as well as Rome ever did and as far as Rome ever did and before Rome ever did and as long and longer then Rome hath yet done As Jews and Rome joyned in the murder of Christ so are they joyned in this character of Antichrist but the Jews to be understood first See ver 7. the mystery of iniquity was already working when the Apostle wrote this Epistle which cannot possibly be understood but of the Jewish Nation and so it is explained again and again 1 John 2. 18. 4. 3. 2 Joh. v. 7 c. The several characters that the Apostle gives of the Man of sin agree most throughly to that generation and Nation and so the Scripture plainly applies them to it 1. There was a falling away in that Nation of multitudes that had imbraced the Gospel See Matth. 24. 12. Christ foretelling it and Paul from thence 1 Tim. 4. 1. by the later times that he there speaks of meaning the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish state as the phrase is used in that sense abundantly Such apostacy may be observed hinted in the Epistle to the Galatians to the Hebrews Colossians Rev. 2. 4. 2 Tim. 1. 15 and to spare more observe the conclusion of that Parable Matth. 12. 43 44 45. So shall it be with this wicked generation The Devil once cast out of it by the Gospel but returned by their Apostacy 2. How this Nation was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great opposer of the Gospel needeth no instance to any that hath read the New Testament And he that reads the Jewish Records shall find evidence enough of it of which we have given some brief account at Acts Chap. 13. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which exalts himself against every thing that is called God or worshipped were it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Against God it were most true to the very letter their Scribes in the Temple of God it self sitting and setting up their traditions above the commands of God Matth. 15. 6. But how they exalted themselves against every thing called God or the Magistracy and those that were set over them we may observe in such passages as these 2 Pet. 2. 10. They despise government c. Jude v. 8. They despise dominion and speak evil of dignities c. and in their own stories to endless examples 4. As for the fourth mark mentioned vers 9. namely his coming after the working of Satan with all Magical power and delusion our Saviour had foretold it of that generation Matth. 24. 24. compared with vers 34. of that Chapter and it is abundantly asserted by Scripture by Josephus and other of their own Writers as we have given some examples before Now what the Apostle meaneth when he
for he that is watered with grace doth thirst for the same water of grace again and again but he saith whosoever shall drink of this water which I shall give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall never so thirst as to fail or perish by it but this water shall preserve him to eternal life Compare Esay 41. 17. Vers. 15. The woman saith Sir give me of this water c. The woman doth now fall from questioning as vers 11 12. to plain mocking and derision for this can be construed no other in her I know these words of hers are taken by divers to intimate her inclining to and imbracing this doctrine of Christ though she knew not well how to understand it and they shew say some Simplicitatem credendi her simplicity or sincerity of believing who so soon doubted not to ask for this so excellent water But be it considered 1. That as yet she took Christ but for an ordinary man until he hath told her of her secret villanies and then she takes him for a Prophet vers 19. And 2. that taking him for an ordinary man she talks with him as a Samaritan huswife would do with a common Jew between whom there was so deadly a scorn and fewd 3. The thing that Christ spake of of giving water after which the party that had it should never thirst were things so strange and would seem so ridiculous to any Samaritan nay to any flesh and blood that knew no more of him than as yet she did those words proceeding from so mean a man as he seemed to be that her words in reply thereunto Sir give me of this water c. can be no other but a jeer and scorn of what he had spoken And her calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sir doth no whit take off this construction since that was but a word of ordinary compellation or if she used it in a higher sense she used it but in the higher scorn Vers. 17. I have no husband The reason why Christ bids her call her husband may be supposed to be partly that he might check and stop her jeering by minding her of her own faults and chiefly that he might shew her that he was another kind of person then she judged of him by telling her of such things as she knew he could not tell her but divinely Now her denial that she had any husband is ascribed by some to her modesty to conceal her adultery by others to this because she knew not what Christ would do with her husband but till it can be shewed why a Samaritan quean should talk with any reverence or civility with an ordinary Jew for she took Christ for no other as yet especially when he spake to her of such unlikely things as he did it is the most proper and undisputable interpretation of her words I have no husband to take them for a scoffing and regardless answer to a question and to a person that she was careless whether she gave any any answer to or no. Vers. 18. He whom thou now hast is not thine husband It seemeth by the numerousness of her former husbands and by the same expression used concerning them and this thou hast had five and this that thou hast that she was a divorced woman and now lived in an adulterous marriage and it may be married to him who had adulterated her in her former husbands days But be it either thus or that she lived in adultery out of wedlock her conscience is convinced of the truth of the thing that Christ speaketh and withal she findeth that he had told her that which a meer stranger could not tell her but by the spirit of Prophecy and therefore she owns him for a Prophet Vers. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mount Conceiving him to be a Prophet she sodainly desireth to hear what he will determine upon that great dispute that was between the Jews and the Samaritans continually namely whether was the truer and righter place of worship Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim She called Jacob Our Father Jacob ver 12. for so the Samaritans would be a kin to the Jews when they thought good but the Fathers she speaks of here were as far from the Religion and Worship that Jacob used as Jacob was from the Religion of Hamor and Sichem Josephus tells one story that gives this woman but little cause to boast of her Fathers worshipping in that Mount and that is this That when Antiochus Epiphanes did so heavily oppress the Jews and persecute their Religion these Samaritans thinking that their Religion also looked somewhat like that of the Jews and that Antiochus might happily suspect that they and the Jews and both their Religions were something a kin and so they suffer as well as the other they fairly send to Antiochus and betime disclaim any such kindred And whereas indeed they could not deny but they had a Temple they besought him that it might be dedicated to the Grecian Jupiter and called by his name and so by the Kings command it was Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 7. Here was worshipping in that Mount with a witness and much to be bragd of but see the impudence of Hereticks when such a Temple shall compare with the Temple at Jerusalem Abraham Zaccuth saith This Temple of Gerizim was destroyed by Jochanan the son of Simeon the son of Mattathias and the Hereticks slain Juchas fol. 14. Vers. 21. Woman believe me The Hour cometh c. As she owned him for a Prophet so he challengeth to be believed of her as a Prophet and as a Prophet he foretels her of what was now ready to come to pass namely that Ceremonious Worship should cease and be no more confined to particular place or Nation That there should be no Sacrifice at Jerusalem no Image at Samaria no Ephod at Jerusalem no Teraphim at Samaria as Hos. 3. 4. but that those places and that manner of worship should fail and be abolished And so he answers her question in the first place to this purpose that it was needless for her or any other to trouble themselves about that dispute whether Jerusalem or Gerizim were the more eminent place of Worship for the time was just now in coming when neither the one nor the other should be the place of worship at all And then he determins the question indeed that Jerusalem had ever been and was at that present the right place of worship but Gerizim a Temple of error and usurpation and he proves his determination by this reason We know what we worship c. Vers. 23. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth In the term The true worshippers he looketh at the womans question and the two Nations controversie They tugged for it and she inquires about it whether of the people had the true worship amongst them why saith Christ ere long there shall be no worship at all either among the one or the other And
we have produced is plain and without any difficulty as if he should say It is an old Tradition which hath obtained for many ages VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I say unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I say the words of one that refutes or determines a question very frequently to be met with in the Hebrew Writers To this you may lay that of Esaiah Chap. II. vers 3 And he will teach us of his ways c. When Kimchi writes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Teacher is King Messias And that of Zacharias Chap. XI vers 8. Where this great shepherd destroys three evil shepherds namely the Pharisee and the Saduâ—ee and the Essene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause c. First let us treat of the Words and then of the Sentences With his Brother The Jewish Schools do thus distinguish between a Brother and a Neighbour that a Brother signifies an Israelite by nation and blood a Neighbour an Israelite in religion and worship that is a Proselyte The Author of Aruch in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Son of the Covenant writes thus The Sons of the Covenant these are Israel And when the Scripture saith If any ones Ox gore the Ox of his Neighbour it excludes all the Heathen in that it saith of his Neighbour Maimonides writes thus t t t t t t in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ch. 2. It is all one to kill an Israelite and a Canaanite Servant for both the punishment is death But an Israelite who shall kill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A stranger inhabitant shall not be punished with death because it is said Whosoever shall proudly rise up against his Neighbour to kill him Ex. XXI 14. And it is needless to say he shall not be punished with death for killing a Heathen Where this is to be noted that Heathens and stranger Inhabitants who were not admitted to perfect and compleat Proselytism were not qualified with the title of Neighbour nor with any privileges But under the Gospel where there is no distinction of Nations or Tribes Brother is taken in the same latitude as among the Jewes both Brother and Neighbour was that is for all professing the Gospel and is contradistinguished to the Heathen 1 Cor. V. 11. If any one who is called a Brother And Mat. XVIII 15. If thy Brother sin against thee c. ver 17. If he hear not the Church let him be a Heathen But Neighbour is extended to all even such as are strangers to our religion Luk. X. 29 30 c. He shall be guilty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words signifying guilt or debt to be met with a thousand times in the Talmudists Es. XXIV v. 23. They shall be gathered together as Captives are gathered into prison Where R. Solomon speaks thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of Hell unto Hell which agrees with the last clause of this verse Of the Councel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Sanhedrin that is of the Judgment or Tribunal of the Magistrate For that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment in the clause before is to be referred to the Judgment of God will appear by what follows Raka 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A word used by one that despiseth another in the highest scorn very usual in the Hebrew Writers and very common in the mouth of the Nation u u u u u u Tanchum fol. 5. col 2. One returned to repentance his wife said to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raka if it be appoynted you to repent the very girdle wherewith you gird your self shall not be your own x x x x x x Id. fol. 18. col 4. A Heathen said to an Israelite Very sutable food is made ready for you at my house What is it saith the other To whom he replied swines-flesh Raka saith the Jew I must not eat of clean beasts with you y y y y y y Midras Tillin upon Psal. CXXXVII A Kings daughter was married to a certain durty fellow He commands her to stand by him as a mean Servant and to be his Butler To whom she said Raka I am a Kings daughter z z z z z z Id. fol. 38 col 4. One of the Scholars of R. Jochanan made sport with the teaching of his Master but returning at last to a sober mind Teach thou saith he O Master for thou art worthy to teach for I have found and seen that which thou hast taught To whom he replied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raka thou hadst not believed unless thou hadst seen a a a a a a Bab. Berac fol. 32. 2. A certain Captain saluted a religious man praying in the way but he saluted him not again He waited till he had done his prayer and saith to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raka It is written in your Law c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into Hell fire The Jews do very usually express Hell or the place of the damned by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gehinnom which might be shewn in infinite examples The manner of speech being taken from the vally of Hinnom a place infamous for foul Idolatry committed there for the howlings of Infants roasted to Molech filth carried out thither and for a fire that always was burning and so most fit to represent the horror of Hell b b b b b b Bab. Erubhin fol. 19. 1. There are three doors of Gehenna one in the Wilderness as it is written They went down and all that belonged to them alive into Hell Num. XVI 33. Another in the Sea as it is written Out of the belly of Hell have I called thou hast heard my voice Jon. II. 2. The Third in Jerusalem as it is written Thus saith the Lord whose fire is in Sion and his furnace in Jerusalem Esai XXXI 9. The Tradition of the School of R. Ismael Whose fire is in Sion this is the Gate of Gehenna The Chaldee Paraphrast upon Esai ch XXXIII ver 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gehenna eternal fire c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gehenna of eternal fire We come now to the sentences and sense of the Verse A threefoid punishment is adjudged to a threefold wickedness Judgment to him that is angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is without cause Judgment also and that by the Sanhedrin that calls Raka Judgment of Hell to him that calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fool. That which is here produced of the threefold Sanhedrin among the Jewes pleases me not because passing over other reasons mention of the Sanhedrin is made only in the middle clause How the Judgment in the first clause is to be distinguished from the Judgment of the Sanhedrin in the second will very easily appear from this Gloss and Commentary of the Talmudists Of not killing c c c c c
blessed for ever So that the great Angel Christ at the giving of the Law was the speaker and all the created Angels his silent Attendants And this Observation might be useful in some points of Divinity that Christ gave the Law as well as he gave the Gospel But Thirdly The Prophets and Ministers in Scripture phrase are usually called Angels Do I need to give instance Eccles. V. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say before the Angel or Minister at the Temple that it is an error Mal. II. 7. The Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger or Angel of the Lord of Hosts And Chap. III. 1. Behold I send my Angel i. e. my messenger before thy face And to spare more you remember that in Revel I. ult The seven stars are the Angels or Ministers of the seven Churches So that the words before us may be reduced to this sense Ye received the Law by the disposition preaching and explaining of the Prophets and Ministers and have not kept it And to this sense speaks that Heb. II. 2. For if the word spoken by Angels that is Gods messengers the Prophets were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. That is If the word in the mouth of the Prophets might not be transgressed but there was a just recompence of reward paid to the transgressor much more he must be paid that neglects the Salvation spoken by the Lord Christ. And to the like sense may that be taken in Gal. III. 19. The Law was added because of transgression being ordained disposed of preached by Angels i. e. Prophets and Ministers in the hand of a Mediator And this sense of Angels in the Text agrees very well with the words of Steven a little before Your Fathers persecuted and killed the Prophets the Lords Angels or Messengers and ye have received the Law by such Angels or Ministers but have not kept it For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Angel in the Greek Tongue signifies any messenger among men as frequently as it does the Angels in Heaven And so taking all these constructions together the words do fairly lead us to consider what cause or reason God hath given men to keep his Law and Commandments but men will not keep them Some have written large and excellent Discourses concerning the equity and reasonableness of Christian Religion And how large a discourse might be made upon this particular in our Religion How it is agreeable to all the reason in the World to obey and keep Gods Commandments which he hath given The Socinian requires a natural reason for what is supernatural or else he must not believe it Because it cannot be demonstrated in Logick Philosophy Mathematicks how three should be one and one should be three therefore we must not believe that there are three Persons in the Trinity and but one God But the wiser and more solid discourse would be rather to shew a reason why we are to believe such a thing than to seek a reason why or how such a thing is For there may be a plain reason to believe an article of Faith the reason of which thing reason cannot fathom So it may be but a sawcy wild inquiry what reason God had to give such and such particular commands But it may be a pious and humble inquiry to search what reason we have to keep his Commandments now he hath given them I. And the first reason we meet withal in all regular method and order is because he hath given them therefore we should keep them Ye received the Law by the disposition of Angels therefore ye should have kept it The Command in it self does not only challenge our obedience of it but the very giving of it does also challenge it There is a bond in the giving as well as a bond in the Command it self viz. a bond of love and mercy that would impart his Will and Commands David in Psal. CXLVII ult accounts it an incomparable mercy that Israel had above other Nations That God made his Law known to Jacob and his statutes to Israel And dealt not so with any Nation besides neither had they knowledge of his Law And God himself instituted the Feast of Pentecost at that just time of the year when the Law was given that they might celebrate the Memorial of that great mercy as he had instituted the Feast of the Passover at that just time of the year when they were delivered out of Egypt that they might commemorate the memory of that mercy He would have them to own the giving of the Law an equal mercy with their delivery out of bondage And what was the treasure of the Ark or the precious things that were laid up there The two Tables and Pot of Manna The Pot of Manna that minded them of the merciful and miraculous food wherewithal the Lord fed their bodies and the two Tables which minded them of the divine and heavenly food of their Souls that Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God That passage is worthy a great deal of meditation Luke XII 47 48. He that knew his Masters will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew it not and committed things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with a few stripes Now whether do you think it better to know our Masters will or not to know it To have God to impart his Commands to us or not to impart them Herein it might seem better not to know his Commands because it we keep them not not knowing them there will follow the fewer stripes but the more if we know them and break them But this weighs the ballance down on the other side that it is impossible to avoid stripes if there be not the knowledge of Gods Commands it is possible to avoid them if there be knowledge More stripes indeed will be added if we keep them not but if we keep them no stripes at all If we should dispute this question whether God shewed more mercy in giving his Law and Commandments or in giving the Gospel and promises This might make some stand about the determination because though the promises are given of an infinite mercy yet there is no possibility of coming up to the attaining of the promises but in the way of the Commandments In the Promises God shews that he would do good to us and save us and in the Commandments he shews that he would have us to do good to our selves and save our selves Say not therefore that it was any severity in God to lay any such binding Commandments upon men acknowledge it mercy that he would make known his Will and Commandments to thee Wouldst thou
meditate therein when thou sittest down and risest up when thou sittest in the house when thou walkest in the way and various such passages as these require and ingage all sorts and conditions of people to this study and meditation according to their several capabilities and atcheivances In some important points of Divinity some men have sometimes mistaken in stating them by mens benefit rather than by their duty If you did so in this point it would make one very good piece of an argument study the Scriptures for you may benefit by study of them But take the other and it argueth more strongly study the Scripture for it is your duty God calls for it lays his command upon you to do it the best you can II. Therefore upon this we may make such another inference as Samsons mother doth Judg. XIII 23. If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have accepted an offering neither would he have shewed us all these things If the Lord were pleased that the Scriptures should not be understood he would never have written them he would never have charged all to study them God never writ the difficulties of the Scripture only to be gazed upon and never understood never gave them as a book sealed and that could never be unsealed that learned and unlearned alike might never see what is in them but that they might be more seriously read more carefully studied that so being understood and practised they might become the means of Salvation unto all A SERMON Preached upon DANIEL XII 12. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days 13. But go thou thy way till the end for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of days DOTH he not speak riddles T is hard to tell whether verse is harder And I have chosen to speak to them partly that I may explain them partly in subsequence to my late discourse about Gog Rev. XX 8. I shewed that meant an enemy to true Religion and more particularly the Pope styled by the name of the old Enemy Ezek. XXXVIII XXXIX I shewed that Gog was Antiochus that laid wast the Jews Religion and would force them to turn to the manners of the Heathen that forbad them Circumcision Law Religion forbad the daily Sacrifice and profaned the Altar with Swines flesh and sacrifices abominable and offered to Idols I cited that that speaks concerning him Chap. VII 25. He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High c. until a time and times and the dividing of time that is a year two years and half a year or three years and an half In the verse before the Text there is mention of the same matter and there are reckoned only a thousand two hundred and ninety days From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days For the Holy Ghost reckons by round sums near about three years and an half which he calls a time times and half a time and does not punctually fix upon the very exact sum And so in the Book of the Revelations where allusion is made to the same space of time viz. three years and an half it is sometimes expressed by a thousand two hundred and sixty days as Rev. XII 6. The woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days Sometimes by forty two months Chap. XIII 5. And there was given to the beast a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given him to continue forty and two months You have both in Chap. XI 2. They that tread the holy City under-foot forty and two months And vers 3. I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days Now let your thoughts conceive the case and state of the people and Temple in this time a thousand two hundred and ninety days three years and an half or there abouts no Law no Religion no Sacrifice but what is abominable the Temple filled with Idols the Heathen there sacrificing swines-flesh and other abominable things to their abominable gods Ah! Poor Jerusalem what case art thou in How is the gold become dim nay changed to dros What desolation of Religion is come upon thee and what bondage and thraldom under irreligion How it goes against their heart not to circumcise their children But they dare not do it How grievous to see the Books of the Law burnt and they upon pain of death dare not save them nor use them How bitter to see Altar Temple Holy of Holies all defiled with abomination and all Religion laid in the dust and they cannot help it dare not resist it What should these poor people do Wait Gods deliverance for Haec non durabunt in secula These things will not always last Stay but till one thousand three hundred thirty five days but forty five above the thousand two hundred and ninety of the Temples defilement in the verse before and there is deliverance And read two verses together From the time that the dayly sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days Add but forty five days further the sum to come up to a thousand three hundred thirty five days and there is some remarkable thing done as pleading the cause of the people and Religion that had been so abused which in all probability was the death of the Tyrant that had brought this misery upon them or at least some signal thing done by God for the relief of the people who had been so oppressed But I rather believe the former The story of whose actions and death you may read in the first Book of the Maccabees Chap. I. beginning The story of which book goes almost step by step with Josephus However his death was the Mercy or some other special providence the words afford plainly these two Truths I. That the time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God II. That it is a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination The former Observation lies in the latter clause the latter in the former The two things the latter an inference upon the former or the former a Doctrine the latter the Use and Application of it I shall handle in the same method and order The time of the affliction of the people of God is determined with God Therefore it will prove a blessed thing for the afflicted to wait his time and determination In prosecuting either I shall not so much prove as clear
and understanding but not both alike for I make no question but the Angels were endued with the more knowledge But how was it with them when they fell First they both did quite lose their holiness and righteousness For that was not essential to their being but additional to their perfection And their perfection they lost by their Fall their Essence and being they could not lose Now though they both alike lost and quite lost their Holiness and Righteousness yet their loss of it was not alike For the fallen Angels lost also the capacity the possibility of ever being holy and righteous again fallen man did not so Secondly As to their Knowledge and Understanding they neither of them utterly lost that nor what they retained of that did they retain alike For fallen man lost the greatest and main part of that knowledge wherein he was created but the fallen Angels lost not so much Whatsoever they lost of the knowledge of Spiritual things they lost little of the knowledge of Natural But fallen man lost the knowledge of both But he lost not the capacity of recovery of the better part viz. the knowledge of Spiritual things again Those Hebrew words of Moses Gen. I. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English hath rendred Let there be lights in the Firmament of Heaven some would have rendred Let there be Light-fats or Light-Vessels viz. to receive and hold that light that had shone the three first days of the Creation before Sun and Moon were made As if the Sun and Moon were not light bodies of themselves but only bodies fitted to hold that light that shone before Our minds now under our Fall God knows are opacous and dark things and we can know nothing as we ought to know But yet our minds are Vessels capable to receive and hold that knowledge and understanding that we have lost And it is not impossible for us to receive and recover that knowledge the loss of which hath undone us As the Schools distinguish between Potentia and Actus so are we here between Capacity and Activity Our natural minds as of themselves are far from knowing spiritual things as we ought to know them but there is a possibility a capability in our minds to know them Any one mind is able to receive and hold all the knowledge that is in the world if God put it there The mind is capable to know things distant things out of sight things invisible all things that are needful to be known and to know them as they ought to be known And if a Sadducee will not believe what he cannot see it is not through any uncapability in his mind wanting in the constitution of his Soul but it is through his own perverting of his mind that he will not labour his mind to discern what he might do It is an old question in the Schools An animae sint aequales Whether all Souls are alike Is the Soul of him that sits upon the throne and of the servant behind the mill alike Are the Souls of the learned Doctors in the chair and of him could never read a letter alike All Souls are mine saith God Ezek. XVIII And all Souls are his alike under divers notions But are all alike in themselves Yes as to the essential constitution of the Soul they are alike The beggars Soul Intellectual Spiritual Immortal as well as the Soul of the Prince or Potentate The Soul of the most unlearned indued with Will with a Conscience I and with capacity of knowing as well as the profoundest Scholar viz. Of knowing those things that are needful for him to know If there be concurrence of those circumstances that may bring that capacity into act You know who they are that cry up so much the light within them Which when IV. they have the made best of they can they can make no more of it than The light of nature which is but a dim light to lead to Heaven May we not distinguish between the light of Morality and the light of Divinity The light of nature is the light of Morality And even a natural unregenerate person hath the light of Morality within him that teacheth him Thou shalt not steal thou shalt not kill nor commit adultery nor be a false witness and Thou shalt do to another as thou wouldest be done to thy self Though too commonly such persons put the light under a bed or under a bushel But can this light teach him the great misteries of salvation Grace Faith Justification Eternity Hell and Heaven Another kind of light is required for this than the dim candle of the light of nature David made the Word of God the light to his feet and the lantern to his paths and the light within him did not serve his turn And the very reason why both Sadducees and Pharisees fell and continued in their error and blindness was because they would not use the Scripture for their guid to lead them better The Sadducees refused the other parts of Scripture besides Moses which would have instructed them better about the Resurrection and the World to come And the Pharisees abused both Moses and the other parts of Scripture by their Glosses and Traditions Whereby they made them speak their own mind and not the mind of God And it is no wonder if they both walked blindly in the dark when they refused the light that should have guided them It is true that there is a capability in the minds of all men to know what they ought V. to know for their salvation but that that capacity should come into act and reality is required more than the more composure of our natural minds For the Apostle tells us That the natural man receiveth not the things of God nor can he discern them because they are spiritually to be discerned The Lamps in the Tabernacle and Temple were to burn continually but the Priest was to dress them morning and evening else they would not burn as they should do The mind or Spirit of man within him as Solomon tells us is the Lords candle But every man is to be a Priest to himself in this regard to dress and snuff and take care of this candle that it may burn bright For you read of a corrupt mind of a fleshly mind of a vain mind and such a candle is like to burn but coursly if there be not constant care to mend it The word Mind or the thing the Mind of man doth signifie and import two things VI. viz. The Understanding and the Bent or Inclination of the Soul The Mind and the Spirit of the mind as the Apostle expresses it Be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind Eph. IV. 23. The mind knows and understands such and such things but the Spirit of the mind may sway clean contrary to what it understands And it is too commonly the cause of mens erring about things of Religion that the bent of their mind is