use of this Sacrament might shew that they renounced their Judaism and professed the Faith and Oeconomy of the Gospel III. Our Communion therefore in this Sacrament is not so much Spiritual as External and declarative of our common and joynt profession of the Christian Faith We are far from denying that the Saints have a Spiritual Communion with God and among themselves in the use of the Eucharist yea we assert there is a most close Communion between true believers and God But what is that Spiritual Communion of Saints among themselves Mutual love one heart prayers for one another c. But they may exercise the same Communion and do exercise it when they meet together to any other part of Divine Worship They may and do act the same thing when they are distant from one another Therefore their Communion in this Sacrament which is distinctly called the Communion of the Eucharist is that they meet together and by this outward sign openly and with joynt minds profess that they are united in one sacred knot and bond of Christian Religion renouncing all other Religions IV. When therefore we approach to the Eucharist in any Church we do not only communicate with that congregation with which we associate at that time but with the whole Catholic Church in the profession of the true Evangelic Religion VERS XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye do shew the Lords death IT is known what the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Passover Supper was namely a Declaration of the great works of God in the deliverance of the people out of Egypt The same as it seems would these Judaizing Corinthians retain in the Lords Supper as if the Eucharist were instituted and superadded only for that commemoration The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does very well answer to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Declaration and while the Apostle admonisheth them that the death of Christ is that which is to be declared it may be gathered that they erred in this very thing and looked some other way VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unworthily THE Apostle explains himself vers 29. Where we also will speak of this verse VERS XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let a man examine himself c. HE had said before verse 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they which are approved may be made manifest And in the same sense he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let a man approve himself in this place not so much Let him try or examine himself as Let him approve himself that is Let him shew himself approved by the Christian Faith and Doctrine So Chap. XVI 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whomsoever ye shall approve We meet with the word in the same sense very often VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not discerning the Lords body THIS is to be meant of the proper act of the understanding viz. Of the true judgment concerning the nature and signification of the Sacrament If it were said indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not discerning the Lord it might be rendred in the same sense as He knew not the Lord that is he loves him not he fears him not he worships him not But when it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not discerning the body it plainly speaks of the act of the understanding He does not rightly distinguish of the body of the Lord. And this was a grievous error of these Judaizing Corinthians who would see nothing of the body of Christ in the Eucharist or of his death their eyes being too intent upon the commemoration of the Passover They retained the old Leaven of Judaism in this new Passover of the Eucharist And this was their partaking of the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unworthily as assigning it a scope and end much too unworthy much too mean Ther are alas among Christians some who come to this Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unworthily but whether this unworthily of the Corinthians be fitly applied to them I much doubt How mean soever I am let me speak this freely with the leave of good and pious men that I fear that this discourse of the Apostle which especially chastized Judaizers be too severely applyed to Christians that Judaize not at all at least that it be not by very many Interpreters applied to the proper and intended scope of it Of these Corinthians receiving the Eucharist unworthily in the sense of which we spake the Apostle speaks two dreadful things I. That they became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of the body and blood of the Lord vers 27. With this I compare that of the Apostle Heb. X. 29. He hath trampled under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant by which he the Son of God was sanctified a common thing And Heb. VI. 6. They crucify again to themselves the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put him to an open shame Of whom is the discourse Not of all Christians that walked not exactly according to the Gospel rule although they indeed esteem and treat Christ too ignominously but of those that relapse and Apostatize from the Gospel to Judaism whether these Corinthians too much inclined and are admonished seasonably to take care of the same guilt for when any professing the Gospel so declined to Judaism that he put the blood of Christ in subordination to the Passover and acknowledged nothing more in it than was acknowledged in the blood of a Lamb and other Sacrifices namely that they were a mere commemoration and nothing else oh how did he vilify that blood of the eternal Covenant He is guilty of the blood of the Lord who assents to the shedding of his blood and gives his vote to his death as inflicted for a mere shaddow and nothing else which they did II. That they ate and drank 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment to themselves But what that judgment is is declared vers 30. Many are sick c. It is too sharp when some turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Damnation when the Apostle saith most evidently vers 32. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When we are judged we are chastened that we should not be condemned Thus as in the beginning of the Mosaical Dispensation God vindicated the honour of the Sabbath by the death of him that gathered sticks and the honour of the worship in the Tabernacle by the death of Nadab and Abihu and the honour of his Name by the stoning of the Blasphemer so he set up like monuments of his vengeance in the beginning of the Gospel Dispensation in the dreadful destruction of Ananias and Sapphira for the wrong and reproach offered to the Holy Ghost in the delivery of some into the hands of Satan for contempt of and enmity against the Gospel in this judgment for the abuse of the Eucharist in the destruction of some by the Plague for Nicolaitism Revel II. 23 c. VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
at the mountain where he had appointed them The two times that he had appeared to them before this this Evangelist giveth account of before namely one time when Thomas was not present and another time when he was After dinner he putteth Peter to a threefold confession answerable to his threefold denial and foretelleth his Martyrdom but telleth that John should live till he should come meaning in that sense as his coming and coming in glory is oft used in the Gospel namely his coming to take vengeance of the unbelieving Jewish Nation Peter should be Martyred by them but John should live to see them receive their deserts SECTION XCII MATTH Chap. XXVIII from Ver. 16. to the end MARK Chap. XVI Ver. 15 16 17 18. LUKE Chap. XXIV Ver. 49. A sixth appearing at the mountain in Galilee to all the eleven and 500 more HIs appointing them into Galilee to such a mount it is like to that mount near Capernaum where he had chosen the Apostles and made his Sermon Matth. 5. was not barely to appear to the eleven for that had he done before and that could he have done at Jerusalem but it was an intended meeting not only with the eleven but with the whole multitude of his Galilean and other Disciples and therefore he published this appointment so oft before and after his Resurrection and we cannot so properly understand his being seen of above five hundred brethren at once of which the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 15. 6. of any other time and place as of this He had appointed the place and the concourse argueth that he had appointed the time too or at least this concourse waited at the place till his time should come And here may we conceive that he kept the Lords day or the first day of the week for the Christian Sabbath with this multitude of his Disciples revealing himself clearly to them and preaching to them of the things that concerned the Kingdom of God Particularly he gives command and commission to go and Disciple all Nations For whereas hitherto he had confined them to preach only to Israel now must they preach to every creature Mark 16. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Colos. 1. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Jews ordinary language that is to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solomon in his Proverbs makes known Theory and Practice to the creatures Kafvenaki in Prov. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He causeth the Holy Ghost to dwell upon the Creatures Midr. Til. in Psal. 135. Nimrod made Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and caused the creatures to erre Tanch fol. 8. 4. The Lord requires that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the creatures should pray before him Id. fol. 16. 4. In which and an hundred other instances that might be given the word Creatures signifieth only Men and their charge and commission to preach the Gospel to every creature means to all men the Gentiles as well as the Jews Warrant then and charge is given for the fetching of them in the great Mystery Ephes. 3. 4 6. who had lain subject to vanity of Idolatry and under the bondage of all manner of corruption ever since their casting off at Babel 2203 years ago They had been taught of the devil his oracles and delusions c. but now they must all be taught of God Isa. 54. 13. by the preaching of the Gospel They had in some few numbers in this space been taught by Israel to know the Lord and proselyted into their Religion but now such proselyting should not need for all must come to the knowledge of God Heb. 8. 11. the Gospel carrying the knowledge of him and it being carried through all Nations Those of them that had come into the Church of Israel and the true Religion had been inducted and sealed into it by being baptized Talm. in Jebam per. 4. c. And so that proselyte Sacrament as I may so call it must be carried and continued among all Nations as a badge of homage and subjection to Christ to whom all power is given in Heaven and earth and of the profession of the true God The Father Son and Holy Ghost against all false Gods and false worship Infants born of Christian Parents are to bear this badge though when they undertake it they understand not what they do because none in Christian Families should continue without the note of homage to Christs soveraignty and this distinctive mark against Hethenism that worshippeth false Gods as no male among Israel after eight daies old must be without the badge of Circumcision Discipling was not of persons already taught but to that end that they should be taught and if the Disciples understood this word in Christs command after any other sense it was different from the sense of the word which the Nation had ever used and only used For in their Schools a person was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scholar or Disciple when he gave in himself to such a Master to be taught and trained up by him and in the Discipling of Proselytes to the Jews Religion it was of the very like tenour That sense therefore that many put upon these words viz. that none are to be baptized but those that are throughly taught is such a one as the Apostles and all the Jewish Nation had never known or heard of before That wretched and horrid opinion that denieth the Godhead of Christ and the Godhead of the Holy Ghost little observeth or at least will not see why the administration of Baptism among the Gentiles must be in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost whereas among the Jews it was only in the Name of Jesus Act. 2. 38. namely for this reason that as by that among the Jews Jesus was to be professed for the true Messias against all other so by this among the Gentiles who had worshipped false Gods The Father Son and holy Ghost should be professed the only true God And it would be but a wild as well as an irreligious Paraphrase that that opinion would make of this passage Go preach the Gospel to every Creature and Baptize them in the Name of the Son a Creature and the holy Ghost a Creature He promiseth the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost to them that should believe not to all but to some for the confirmation of the Doctrine and chargeth the Disciples to return to Jerusalem and there to stay till he should pour down the holy Ghost upon them to inable them for this Ministry among all Nations to which he had designed them Mark and Luke do briefly add the story of his ascension because they will dispatch his whole story but that is related more amply Act. 1. A seventh appearing To Iames. After the appearing to above five hundred Brethren at once which we suppose and not without ground to have been that last mentioned the Apostle relateth that he was seen of James 1 Cor. 15. 7. and then of all
Pharisees for the Sanhedrim And 2. From those words of Christ to the Woman Hath no man condemned thee Which seem to imply that those that brought her had power to judge and condemn her To give one instance more In the Handful of Gleanings upon Exod. Sect. XLIX he treats of the manner of giving forth the Oracle of Urim and Thummim and so he does also in his Sermon upon Judg. XX. 27 28. but with this variety there he relates it to be by an Audible Voice from the Lord from off the Propitiatory and this being heard by the Priest was told to the people But here he corrects his former thoughts telling us it was by no heavenly Voice but that God presently inspired the High Priest with the Spirit of Prophesie and by that he resolved the doubt and question put to God by the people Which we may conclude to be his last and ripest thoughts in that matter I need not particularize any other passages in these Sermons where notions mentioned elsewhere in the Authors Books are repeated with no small advantage And where they are not so they are either wholly left out where it might be done without making a chasm and break in the thread of the discourse or where it could not without that inconvenience they are only mentioned briefly in transitu Perhaps some few passages may be censured as seeming to reflect upon the Doctrine or practice of our Church But to this I answer That they only seem to do so And if the Reader will but calmly and deliberately view those passages again he will find that they may admit of a very fair construction and the most that they speak is against placing the sum of Religion in Ceremonies and outward Formalities or the needless multiplying of them not against a sober and intelligent use of the Rites of the Church as they are appointed to be used for the preserving decency and order and promoting edification And he is very severe that will not overlook some things and pass a favourable construction upon others considering the times wherein our Author lived and what Doctrines then prevailed and carried away many good though unwary Men as with a strong and scarcely to be resisted torrent And allowance may the more reasonably be given to some few things seemingly obnoxious to censure for the sake of many others which do greatly inculcate peace and conformity and the Authority of the Church and decry separation from the National established Church I instance only in that excellent Sermon Preached in the late unhappy times in a publick Audience upon John X. 22. Where the argument of our Saviours holding communion with the Jewish Church in the publick exercise of Religion is so fully and incomparably managed that it was within these few years almost resolved to be made publick by it self for the use and information of our Dissenters which if read and considered by them with a candid and unprejudiced mind would certainly set them clear of their scruples and bring them with abundance of satisfaction into the bosom and Communion of our Church And beside that in his Sermon upon Jude vers 12. he discourseth against Praying by the Spirit and Enthusiastical pretences to revelation In that upon Luke XI 2. He argues most excellenty for set Forms of Prayer and particularly for the use of the Lords Prayer that was at that time ready to be quite justled out of Gods Worship And it was observable at that time that the Doctor ended both his Prayers both before and after that Sermon with the Lords Prayer In that Sermon speaking about casting away Religious usages because abused he hath these remarkable words Now I cannot but think how wild it is to reject a good thing in its self because another hath used it evilly This is just as if a Man should cut down Vines to avoid drunkenness How subject is he that makes it all his Religion to run from superstition to run he knows not whither And again in the same Sermon I know not what reformers should more study than to observe how near Christ complied with things used in the Jewish religious practice and civil converse that were lawful Once more in his Discourse upon 1 Cor. XIV 26. towards the conclusion he propounds two things to be considered by them who scrupled at the Religious exercise of singing Psalms because it is no where commanded to sing after that manner and with those circumstances that we do 1. That there is no plain grounds why to refrain but most plain why to sing 2. Where a duty is commanded and a scruple ariseth from some circumstance it is safer to go with the command than from it The reason I have selected these passages is to shew how our Author stood affected to the Church And indeed by these and many other expressions that are scattered in his Sermons we may plainly see that peaceableness and keeping Communion with the Church was his great principle and that his great aim in the late times was to keep up the honour of the publick Ordinances and the publick Ministry in reputation and to maintain the necessity of good Works against Antinomianism and the divine Authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures and the necessity of humane Learning in the Clergy against Enthusiasm then the great prevailing Errors And I make no doubt that by such means and Doctrines as these the blessing of God accompanying our Author did very good service to Religion and Truth then and did educate and train up young Students in the University and other Christians his Auditors into a readier and more chearful conformity to our present Church In a word All his Sermons breath a true Spirit of piety and inward goodness and an intire desire to be instrumental to the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures for the propagation of Gods glory and the building up of Christians in real substantial piety and true saving knowledge And they carry a plain easie unaffected strain of humble Oratory condescending to the meanest capacity and which hath something peculiar in it to raise attention and to make a wonderful impression upon the affections I mean by offering frequently something new and surprizing and intermixing sudden Apostrophes and affectionate and close Interrogations And now in the last place I must account for my self and for what I have done in the publishing these discourses Mr. John Duckfield Rector of Aspeden in Hertfordshire the Authors Son in Law and one of his Executors to whom the World is in the first place beholden for permitting them to be made publick kindly imparted to me the deceased learned Mans scattered Papers and MSS. and among the rest his Sermon-notes From the love and honour I had to his memory and his Learning I diligently set my self to the perusal of them and being not a little pleased with many of the Notes I resolved to select a few out of a great many with a design to let them see
Nor do we say this upon conjecture alone but by very many examples among the Israelites and indeed among other Nations and this in that very Nation of which we are speaking In Gen. XXXVI Zibeon was the son of Seir vers 20. and the whole Nation and Land was called The Nation and Land of the sons of Seir. But now that that Seir was of the Canaanite pedegree appears sufficiently hence that his son Zibeon was called an Hivite vers 2. After the same manner therefore as the Seirites who were of Canaanite blood were so named I make no doubt the Perizzites were named from one Perez a man of great name in some Canaanite stock SECT IV. The Kenites OF the same rank were the Kenites the Knizzites Cadmonites by original indeed Canaanites but so named from some Cain and Kenaz and Cadmon men of famous renown in those families If so be the Cadmonites were not so called from their antiquity or rather from their habitation Eastward Which is the derivation of Saracens from Saracon the East The Masters of the Traditions do not agree among themselves what to resolve concerning these Nations In the Jerusalem Talmudists you have these passages h h h h h h Hieros Kiddush fol. 61. 4. Your Fathers possessed seven Nations but you shall possess the Land of ten Nations The three last are these the Kenites the Kenizzites the Cadmonites R. Judah saith These are the Salmeans the Sabeans and the Nabatheans R. Simeon saith Asia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Damascus R. Lazar ben Jacob saith Asia and Cartagena and Turky Rabbi saith Edom and Moab and the first fruits of the children of Ammon In the Babylonian Talmudists these passages i i i i i i Bab. Bathra fol. 56. 1. Samuel saith All that Land which God shewed to Moses is bound to tithes To exclude what To exclude the Kenites the Kenizzites the Cadmonites A Tradition R. Meir saith These are the Naphtuchites the Arabians and the Salmeans R. Judah saith Mount Seir Ammon and Moab R. Simeon saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asia and Spain l l l l l l Berish. rab fol. 28. 2. These Nations were not delivered to Israel in this age but they shall be delivered in the days of the Messias In m m m m m m Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 8. the days of the Messias they shall add three other Cities of refuge But whence From the Cities of the Kenites the Kenizzites and the Cadmonites Concerning whom God gave a promise to our father Abraham but they are not as yet subdued We may borrow light concerning these Nations from those words of Moses Gen. X. 18. Afterwards the families of the Canaanites were dispersed First They replenished Phenicia and the Northern Country of the Land of Canaan by little and little the whole Land of Canaan within Jordan Then they spread themselves into the Land which afterwards belonged to the Edomites and there they were called Horites from Mount Hor and the children of Seir from Seir the father of those families he himself being a Canaanite On the East they spread themselves into those Countries which afterwards belonged to the Moabites the Ammonites the Midianites and they were called Kenites Kenizzites Cadmonites from one Cain one Kenaz and perhaps one Cadmon the fathers of those families if so be the Cadmonites were not so called from the aforesaid causes The mention of a certain Cain calls to my mind the Town or City Cain which you see in the Maps placed not far from Carmel in that of Do et adorned shall I say or disfigured with a Dutch picture of one man shooting another with this inscription Cain wert geschoten van Lamech Cain was shot by Lamech Gen. IV. A famous monument forsooth That place indeed is obscure Gen. IV. and made more obscure by the various opinions of Interpreters and you Do et have chosen the worst of all If the words of Lamech may be cleared from the Text and if you clear it not from the context whence will you clear it they carry this plain and smooth sense with them He had brought in Bigamy that also had laid waste the whole World Gen. VI. For so wretched a wickedness and which by his example was the destruction of infinite numbers of men Divine Justice and Vengeance strikes and wounds him with the horror and sting of conscience so that groaning and howling before his two bigamous wives Adah and Zillah he complains and confesseth that he is a much more bloody murtherer than Cain For he had only slain Abel but he an infinite number of young and old by his wicked example SECT V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephaim THE Samaritan Interpreter always renders these Aseans in Gen. XV. 20. written with Cheth But in Deut. II. 20. with Aleph If they were called Aseans as they were by him so by all other speaking Syriac and Chaldee I know not whence the word Asia may more fitly be derived than from the memory of this Gygantic race living almost in the middle of Asia and monstrous and astonishing above all other Asiatics The LXX call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Titans 2 Sam. V. 18. 22. The word used by the Samaritan denotes Physicians and so it is rendred by me in the Polyglot Bible lately published at London Deut. II. partly that it might be rendred word for word but especially that it might be observed by what sound and in what kind of pronunciation he read the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephaim So the LXX render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Physicians Esa. XXVI 14. c. HORAE Hebraicae Talmudicae OR HEBREW AND TALMUDIC EXERCITATIONS upon the Gospel of St. MARK CHAP. I. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of the Gospel THE Preaching and Baptism of John was the very gate and entrance into the state and dispensation of the Gospel For I. He opened the door of a new Church by a new Sacrament of admission into the Church II. Poynting as it were with the finger at the Messias that was coming he shewed the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the world to come III. In that manner as the Jews by Baptism admitted Gentile Proselytes into the Jewish Church he admits both Jews and Gentiles into the Gospel Church IV. For the doctrine of justification by works which the Schools of the Scribes had defiled all Religion with he brings in a new and yet not a new and truly saving doctrin of Faith and Repentance VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As it is written in the Prophets HERE a doubt is made of the true reading namely whether it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Prophets or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Esaias the Prophet These particulars make for the former I. When two places are cited out of two Prophets it is far more congruously said As it is witten in the Prophets than As it is written
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
went indeed to preach but withal he joyned with the Congregation in other parts of Divine Service as he desired that they should joyn with him in that We will alledge but one example having a further hint about this to give hereafter It is said Luke IV. 16. That as his custom was he went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read It had been his constant custom to go to that Synagogue of Nazareth his Parish Church every Sabbath day but this is the first time that he Preached there And in the clause He stood up for to read there is more than every one observes He Preached in other Synagogues but he Read in none but this For he that read in the Synagogue was a member of the Synagogue and he by reading shewed that he owned himself and was owned to be one of This. Now what a kind of people the Congregation of Nazareth was we may somewhat guess from that passage Can any good thing come out of Nazareth But plainly enough from what follows in the same story that they would have murthered him because his Doctrine pleased them not vers 29. And yet did he keep himself till then to that Congregation owned himself a member of it read in it as a member of it till his function called him and the fear of his life forced him thence And thus much be spoken of his Publick Devotions from thence we pass to his Gospel Institutions and they speak to the very same tenour that the other did that he held Communion with the Church of the Jews in which he lived Of which I shall give you these four instances I. His Institution of Baptism Think not that Baptism was never used till John Baptist came and baptized It was used in the Church of the Jews many generations before he was born and for the very same end that he used it and it hath been used ever since viz. for Introduction and Admission into the Church The Jews did not only use Baptism in their legal Washings and Purifications but also in the way that we do viz. to admit into their Church There own Records enemies sufficient to our Christian Baptism yet thus far bear witness also to it and an Enemies testimony is a double witness For they tell that when any Proselytes came in from among the Heathen to embrace the Faith and Religion of the Jews they first Circumcized them and when they were whole then they Baptized them and that they so Baptized the whole family where the Master came in even Wife and Children with him So that Baptism of Men Women and Children was no new thing among them when John Baptist came Baptizing but a thing as well known as with us now And hence it was that Christ gave no rule how to Baptize or when to Baptize because they knew the manner and knew that Men Women and Children were Baptized as we know it now It pleaded no precept to Baptize Infants and no example It needed not for Christ took up Baptism as he found it a thing commonly known and it was needful only to give a precept to make it an Evangelical Ordinance As for other circumstances how to Baptize and when to Baptize there needed no such rule since common custom and use of the Ordinance had taught that for many ages before The Parliament makes a Law let every one resort to the publick Congregation on the Sabbath and expresses no more He would be laughed at that in after times should deny that Praying Preaching Singing Psalms c. should not be used in the Congregation because there is no such Command in the Parliaments Act. Common and known custom and the constant use of such things in the Congregation made it needless to insert those particulars And so it is in this case Doth not this speak Christs Communion with the Church of the Jews and his compliance with the publick exercise of their Religion when he would take one of their Ordinances and no one knew who first instituted it among them and make it an Evangelical Ordinance I might speak the like of his Institution of the other Sacrament the Lords Supper but I need to speak no more of that than what I said about his keeping of the Passover before II. His Institution of a standing Ministry under the Gospel speaks also his conformity to the Church of the Jews They had a standing Ministry so would he They ordained their Teachers by Imposition of Hands he ordained the like Ordination Remarkable is that of the Apostle Heb. VI. 2. Observe here the Doctrine of Imposition of Hands in Ordination is a fundamental Point as well as the Doctrine of Faith and Repentance See vers 1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God of the doctrine of Baptism and of laying on of hands c. As the Doctrine of Faith is a fundamental point so this That a Gospel principle so this And what a point of Faith it is may be seen by proposing this Question with the Church when the Apostle wrote would propose Whither must we go for instruction when the Apostles and inspired men are gone Why saith the Apostle this is a fundamental Point that Christ hath set up a standing Ministry by Ordination Hence that Evangelical promise and prediction Esa. LXVI 21. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. Not Priests and Levites as they offered Sacrifices at the Temple but as they were the standing Ministry through the Nation And see v. 20. They shall bring all their brethren for an offering unto the Lord. Think you if Christ had despised the current of the publick practise of Religion among the Jews he would have so confirmed to it in a thing of such weight III. His institution of Gods publick worship under the Gospel speaks also the same conformity The publick worship of God among the Jews was twofold At the Temple and in the Synagogues At the Temple Sacrificing Washings Purifyings c. In the Synagogues Reading Preaching Hearing Praying That at the Temple was Ceremonial and that Christ abolished having fulfilled what Ceremonies meant But the worship in the Synagogue was moral and perpetual and so translated by him into the Christian Church In that great Controversie that hath been so much canvased about Church Government I should first lay down this for a foundation which may I conceive be very clearly made good That Christ by himself and his Apostles platforming the model of Churches under the Gospel did keep very close to the platform of Synagogues and Synagogue-worship under the Law This might be shewed by shewing parallel practises in the Apostolick Churches to those that were in the Synagogues As a publick Minister Deacons Reading Preaching Praying Collections for the Poor and Love-Feasts or entertainment of strangers at
sin should never be changed the contents of the Flesh and the World should never have an end And how sadly and miserably do we feel the contrary to our eternal sorrow Oh! Satan thou hast deceived us and we have been deceived thou hast proved stronger than we and hast undone us For indeed Satans strength lies in his Cosenage cut but these locks of his like Sampsons and he is weak and can do little Satan with all his strength and power cannot force any man to sin and therefore his way is to cheat them to sin If Satan could force any soul to sin all souls must go to Hell and no flesh should be saved for he would spare none but since he cannot force and compel the Will he cheats and cosens the Understanding and so perswades the Will The subtil Serpent winds into the Will and Consent by deceiving the Fancy and Intellect as the Apostle speaks of sin Rom. VII 11. Sin deceived me and so slew me Satan deceives and so destroies How he does insinuate and inject his deceit and illusions upon the minds of men how he strikes fire that the tinder of the soul may take some kindling is not so easie for discovery as it is sad in experience It is a depth of Satan hard to be known as to his managing of it but too well known in the effect and operation I shall not therefore trouble you with any discourse upon that subject though something might be said about it both from Philosophy and Divinity II. It is a Masterpiece of his cheating to cheat men in matter of Religion To deceive the Nations with a false Religion instead of a true as he did the Heathen before he was bound and as he hath done the greatest part of the World with Popery and Mahumetism since he was let loose As it is the great work of Christ to propagate the truth and to promote the Gospel which is the great Truth of God and Mystery of Salvation so Satan makes it his business to sow tares among the wheat to corrupt the truth as much as possible and to muddy the wholsom waters of Religion of which the Sheep of Christ should drink as much as he can that no man may drink but durt and puddle As he himself abode not in the truth Joh. VIII so he cannot abide that men should abide in it if he can prevent it In 2 Cor. IV. 4. The God of this World blindeth mens minds that the brightness of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ should not shine to them The Devil plays not the small game of cheating men of their mony of their lands and worldly interests as men cheat one another but of their Religion of the soundness of truth of solid and wholesom principles Whence else such Idolatrous principles among the Heathen such damnable traditions among the Jews such cursed heresies among Christians The enemy hath done this who cannot abide the fair growing of the Wheat but if possible he will choke it with Tares Do you not hear of Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. IV. 1. and of damnable heresies 2 Pet. II. 1. T is the Devils damnable plot and design to destroy men by their very principles of Religion to poyson the fountains out of which they should drink wholsom water that they drink death and damnation where they should drink wholsom refreshing It is a cheat too sad when the Devil cosens men to the hurt of their souls by their chusing and using things for their bodies outward condition but it is a Mastery of his delusions when he cheats them in matters and principles of Religion which they chuse and use for their souls T is a great and a sad mastery of his when he brings men to sin out of the very principles of their Religion to establish mischief by a Law As the vilest Act that ever was committed in the World viz. the crucifying the Lord of life the Jews did it out of the very Principles of their traditional Religion which ingaged them not to endure such a Messias And the horrid fact that this day commemorates which even amazeth all stories and the like to which no Age or Nation can produce or parallel they did it out of the very principles of their Religion their Faith being Faction and their Religion Rebellion as our Churches have many a time heard that character of them It is not a trifling business for men to take up principles and practises in Religion out of fancy and humor and self conceit though that hath been very much in fashion in our days It is Satans masterpiece of Policy to make men forsake the Waters of Siloam that run softly and to dig themselves Cisterns that will hold no water and so to perish for thirst Is it not a desperate cheat of Satan that men should out of principles of Religion refuse the publick Ministry out of principles of Religion should rant and become Atheists out of principles of Religion should do as they were about to have done by us this day to destroy those that are not of the same principles and Religion A sad thing when that which should be a mans balm becomes poison and those things which should have been for his greatest good should turn to his greatest evil when his principles of Religion become his greatest ruine Surely a very powerful cheat of Satan is there when men chuse darkness to be their light poison their diet and doctrines of Devils to be their way of Salvation I shall only mind you of the Apostles counsel 1 Joh. IV. 1. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God for many false Prophets are come into the World And that of another Apostle Prove all things and hold that which is good And Be not led away with every Doctrine The present occasion calls upon us to remember what men seduced by Satan would have done to us and what the God of truth and mercy hath done for us and we cannot better do either than with reflection upon Religion The Text before us tells us that Satan deceives all he can and musters an Army of those that he hath deceived to fight against those that will not be deceived For ask that Army why do you fight against the Camp of the Saints and why do you besiege the beloved City And what answer in the World can they give but this Because they will not be deceived by Satan as we are And ask our Gunpowder Plotters Why do you go about to destroy King Parliament and Nation What quarrel have you against them that you would bring so horrid a ruin upon them What wrong have they done you that you will take so severe and cruel a revenge Why they will not be as we are blind as we are blind befooled and deceived as we are befooled and deceived A sad case that a Nation must be destroyed because it will not be cheated by Satan because it will not put
out its own Eyes and chuse to be blind and live in darkness when it hath Eyes and light A doleful thing that men should be killed because they will not be fools Think of the hundreds that have gone to the fire and faggot because they could not believe Transubstantion because they could not believe that which is contrary to Reason Religion and the trial of the Sences therefore they must be put to a most cruel death Poor England because she will not be Popish must be no more because she will not lose her wits she must lose her life Poor Abel must be murthered because he will not be such a wretch hypocrite and vilain as Cain This is all the quarrel they had against us because we would not be of such a Religion as they are of and had no mind to build our Salvation upon straw and stubble Think of this and of the constant practise of Rome to seek to destroy those that will not be of her mind and Religion then guess who is the Gog and Magog in the Text that takes up persecution and fighting against those that will not be deceived by Satan as they themselves are The design of this day engageth us to hate Popery that must be maintained and propagated with blood and force I shall not dispute which is the true Religion the Protestant or the Popish Only set Jacob and Esau before you whether of the two is more lovely Popery is rough and rugged witness the Inquisition the Massacre the Marian days and the fift of November Think of these and hate Popery Let me enlarge my self a little upon this subject what a great cheat Satan puts on men when he deceives them to become enemies to true Religion There was hardly ever any persecutor of the truth in the World but he would confess this truth so that I might need no other proof of it but the confession of such enemies Paul when he murthered the members of Christ without mercy or measure he would be ready enough to say Oh! it s a cursed cheat the Devil puts upon men when he sets them to be enemies to persecute the true Religion but this Sect of Nazarens that I persecute they are Hereticks Apostates and t is a good deed to persecute them for they are fallen from the Religion of their Fathers Bonner that Butcher of Hell that so bloodily murthered so many of the Saints of God in Queen Maries time he would be ready enough to say Oh! it s a cursed cheat of the Devil to set men upon persecuting true Religion but these Lollards these Protestants are desperate Hereticks horrid Apostates that have fallen away from holy Mother Church of Rome and it is fit such men should not live And none that hates and persecutes another for Religion but he will be ready to say in the like kind this being one arrand and very general cheat of Satan to make all men though of the falsest worst and most damnable Religion or profession of Religion to believe theirs is the best The greatest Dispute in the World is which is the true Religion and as the Apostles upon Christs speaking of one betraying him every one asked Is it I So will every Religion in the World upon this Question Which is the true Religion answer It is I. The Jew saith His the Turk His the Papist His the Protestant His one Protestant his manner of worship and profession is best another His and a third His. Like the two Hostesses before Solomon about the living and dead child one saith the dead Religion is thine and the living mine and another nay my Religion is the living but thine the dead How is it possible to determine this controversie about which there hath been so much quarreling and so many many vast Volumes written And if we do not determine which is true Religion we can make nothing of the Doctrine before us which speaks of Sataus cheating men to be enemies to it It would speak high to undertake to determine when dispute is betwixt so Learned Men. But let me give you these two marks of it which also may help to give some caution against being enemy to it I. That is the true Religion and true Religiousness that the Devil hates most That is the King of Israel that the Captains of the Syrians bend themselves most to fight against 1 Kings XXII Need I to tell you how the Devil in the Revelations is continually fighting against the true Saints of God and their Religion It hath been his quarrel ever since God set the enmity between the Womans seed and him Gen. III. 15. Now certainly it may be a very pregnant mark of discerning what a mans Religion and Religiousness is by computing whether the Devil have reason to hate it or no. In the great question twixt Papists and us whether is the true Religion Bring them to the touchstone hath the Devil any cause to hate worshiping of Images to hate the casting away the Scripture and taking up the wretched Traditions of Men to hate their nurseling of the people in Ignorance and the blind leading the blind into the ditch to hate the Popes pride and arrogance against God and Christ and Kings and Princes the Clergies domineering over the Consciences of Men to keep them blind and so as they may make a prey of them In a word hath the Devil any reason to hate that Religion that is nothing but paint and show and outside and no life of Religion at all in it These things make for him and are on his side and bring him Souls to Hell heaps upon heaps and he hath no reason to be an enemy to these Hath the Devil reason to hate or hinder the Religion and Devotion of him that is huge devout in the Church in all ceremonial and formal appearance and they would take him for a Saint or an Angel but out of the Church he is loose covetous malicious cruel prophane and no better than a Devil Such mens Religion will never do the Devil any disadvantage or be any diminishment to his Kingdom But that Religion that gives God his due in holy and spiritual Worship in holy and spiritual walking that devotion that serves God in Spirit and Truth that Ministry that in care and constancy and conscientiousness is always striving to bring Souls to God and to bring them beyond the form to the power of godliness and to deliver them from the power of darkness to the Kingdom of Gods dear son Let any man of reason and understanding guess whether Satan do not cannot choose but hate such a Religion Devotion Ministry So that as Solomon judged this live child is that Womans because her bowels earn towards it so may we very well judge that to be the true and best Religion and Religiousness that the Devils bowels earn against that he cannot but hate and be enemy to II. That is the best and truest Religion and Religiousness that sheweth forth
the Numen of Rome which was by no means named or known before Rev. XIII 2. The Dragon gave it his power and seat For that Rome is there meant hath not only the consent of the Interpreters of old and of the Protestants at this day but even of the Romanists themselves if you will but allow them the distinction of Rome Heathen and Christian. And can any good thing be expected thence where the Dragons donation is the Founder of the power I doubt more truly than Constantines And can the Gospel but sind opposition there when there is such a power delegated from the great opposer For you read not of any revocation or alienation of that Conveyance of Power II. As to her Religion in after times and at this day give me leave to use the words written upon the wall of Belshazzers dining room Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin 1. Mene. Number the Doctrines of that Church and Religion one by one and how great a company of them will prove to be like those of the Jews but dreams of men lying under the spirit of slumber Universal Bishopship Primacy Infallibility Power to pardon Purgatory and Deliverance thence Transubstantiation and multitudes more of the like fancy the believing of which is but like his case in the Prophet that dreameth that he eateth and behold he is still hungry and dreameth that he drinketh but behold he is still thirsty and his soul fainteth in him 2. Tekel Weigh their Doctrines in the ballances of Scripture reason and impartial judgment and how great a company of them will prove again like the Jewish of no greater weight than fond traditions and the vain inventions of men even from the Chair wherein the King sitteth upon the Throne to the Souls in Purgatory or the servant behind the Mill. 3. Lastly Perez Divide their Doctrines that every one may have his part to whom it belongs and how great a share will fall to the unbelieving Jew and how great a share to the Apostatizer or him that once believed but was revolted and fallen away These two were the great Enemies and Opposers of the Gospel in the Apostles times before ever the Heathen Rome began to persecute it And these two if my conjecture do not very much deceive me made up the full measure of the stature of the Antichrist that the Apostles St. Paul and St. John speak of as extant in those very times The former the unbelieving Jew was the man in the Parable out of whom the unclean spirit was not yet cast The Apostatized Jew was he out of whom indeed that spirit had been cast but was returned with seven other spirits worse than himself and dwelt there again The former opposed the Gospel by inforcing against it the rites and ceremonies of the Law and justification by it The latter by that also as it would serve his turn but withal abusing the liberty of the Gospel against the Sanctification of it These were the Opposers of the Gospel before the Heathen Roman persecution began to meddle with it And when that ceased after long succession of time whether the same spirit and principles were not metempsychosed into Rome now grown Papal let any impartial Censure judge by comparing her strictness for Mosaick rites and the loosness of her Libertine Doctrines I am deceived if the Jubilee now coming speak not very fair and far toward the attestation of both these Mosaick strictness in proclaiming a Jubilee and Libertine loosness in indulging so easie pardons If mens practises speak their principles as this mans in the Text did we need not to â—ip so much into the principles of this Church elementing and indoctrinating to the opposing of the power purity and sincerity of the Gospel her practises do make them legible abundantly as written in Capital letters of fire and blood This days memorial gives evidence sufficient that I may not trouble you with raking into any more Which commemorates a design of cruelty and horror a design full of all subtilty of all mischievousness of all inhumanity that remote ages to come will hardly believe that a Church that takes on her to be the only holy Catholick Church should ever â—â—eed so horrid a monster And why so cruel against a harmless Nation What had we done that we must be so destroyed Abimelechs plea to God was Lord wilt thou also destroy an innocent Nation And God accepted his plea as good and would not destroy it But these men were deaf to any such pleading and an innocent Nation must perish because it was so innocent As all the crime of Abel that must cost him his life was that he was more righteous than his Brother so all our guilt was because we had the more righteous and pure Religion And therefore Mother and Child our Religion and we must perish together As God by fire sent from Heaven in the days of Elias did determine the question who was the true God the Lord or Baal so he by preventing this fire from Hell hath determined the question betwixt Rome and us which is the true Religion theirs or ours O! England happy in thy Gospel and Religion a Religion doubly lovely and beautiful Tirzah-like both because thou deservest the hate of such a people and because God hath so owned thee against thy haters Blessed be the great God of Grace and Truth that hath planted thee watered thee preserved thee and so shines upon thee And so may it grow and prosper and flourish and bring forth blessed fruit under the same influence of Heaven and let all the people say Amen Hallelujah A SERMON PREACHED AT Guildhall LONDON Jan. XXIV MDCLXXIV REV. XXI 2. And I Iohn saw the holy City the new Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven AND no wonder if there be a new Jerusalem when at the fifth verse of this Chapter God proclaims that he makes all things new And that new Jerusalem must needs be a holy City when it is sent down from God and comes out of Heaven And that holy City coming from Heaven could not but be a most lovely prospect to him that saw it when the old Jerusalem on Earth had been once so lovely that it was the glory and joy of the whole Earth Psal. XLVIII Who it was that saw it he himself tells you speaking out his name John by which I suppose there is none here but understands the blessed Apostle and Evangelist of that name though time hath been that some have dreamed of another John but no account could be given who he was or whence he came I shall therefore in this matter which I believe needs but little dispute now only say these three things I. That it is disagreeable to all reason to think that our Saviour when he intended to do some man so much honour and favour as to impart such noble and glorious visions and revelations to him as are recorded in this Book that he should pass by and skip over his own
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
de Lara which our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Professor Buxtorph much desired he might live to see finished t is said to be now near its period at the Press And News of the same import the Learned Mr. Bernard communicated to him from Oxon about the year 1673 4. which let it not be too tedious to peruse also it ran thus Reverend and Right Learned I cannot but acquaint you that the Learned and Pious Mr. Robert Huntington present Minister of the Church of the English Factory at Aleppo hath lately sent over hither a good Samaritane Pentateuch together with an account of the Religion of the Samaritans of Sichem written by themselves there upon his request and sent as it were to their Brethren here in England as they mistook Mr. Huntington who told them that there were Hebrews here he meaning Jews and they their own Sect. The Translation whereof into Latine out of the Samaritane which is nothing but the Biblical Hebrew save some Arabismes here and there for that is the Language commonly made use of by them at Sichem I have here sent and if you think it worthy the while I will also transmit a Copy of the Samaritane unto you Mr. Huntington acquaints me that there are about thirty families of these Samaritans at Sichem and not more that they desire correspondence here But care is to be taken that we do not dissemble with them but beg their History of Joshua and their Liturgy and also examine them upon points that may be material If you please to send what Questions you would desire resolution from them in I will send them to Mr. Huntington to whom I shall write about three weeks hence The said good Mr. Huntington hath likewise sent over an hundred and fifty MSS. Arabic and Hebrew Among which are Cosis in Hebrew R. Saadias his Sepher Emunah in Arabic Bar Bahlul's Lexicon well written Maimonides his Yad entire except two Tracts which are not quite compleat R. Saadias his Version and Notes on Job in Arabic Maimonides's Moreh both in Arabic and Hebrew Maimonides his Sons Notes on his Fathers Yad Gregorius's Syriac Grammar pieces of R. Tanchum and his Lexicon or Murshed Kimchi's Michlol R. Alphes and Tanchuma and other good Books in Hebrew MSS. Besides he hath sent over a Catalogue of Books to be had now at Damascus in Arabic and Persian and some in Hebrew He is skilful himself and ready to serve you in any thing Jewish or Oriental that may be had there This opportunity I would not let you be ignorant of knowing how you have recommended above all others the Study of Jewish Learning as plainly necessary to the right understanding of the New Testament as well as the Old And then by way of Postscript As for Greek MSS. he could meet with none that were classical but Ascetics enough The account of their Calendar in the Samaritanes libel is somewhat obscure and defective Whether these two Gentlemen or either of them are yet alive my Country retirement and want of Society gives me not opportunity to know But if they be I am confident such an intire respect they have to the memory of this excellent Man that they will not be unwilling these their Letters should be exposed to the publick or any thing else that I have mentioned from them that may any ways tend to the preserving his fame or honour If it be said that these matters are no news now though they were then I answer Probably divers things here related are not so common and ordinarily known at least to many but that they may be read with satisfaction But the truth is I produced them not so much to inform the World of News as to discover some of the Learned matters of the Doctors correspondence VIII An account of his imperfect pieces BEsides the Works of this our Learned Man that saw the Light and of which we have spoken somewhat he had several other considerable things upon the Anvil which shew as well his abilities as his inexhaustible and continual labour and industry Of which give me leave to give this Catalogue In Latine I. Historia Quadripartita◠Chronica Universalis Judaica Romana Ecclesiastica De rebus Gestis Imperante familia Flaviana Vespaciano Tito Domitiano The Chronica begins at the birth of Christ and is digested under six Columns viz. The first contains the year of the World the second of Rome the third of the Emperor the fourth of Christ the fifth Rerum Gestarum the sixth of the Consuls Pars Secunda viz. Iudaica CAP. I. Cineres Hierosolymorum Vastatae terrae facies CAP. II. Synedrium magnum collocatur in Iabne This is sufficient to shew the design of that Book II. Computus Temporum Iudaicorum ab Urbis Excidio ad conscriptum Talmud Hierosolymitanum III. Index aliqualis Talmudis Hierosolymitani IV. Disquisitio modesta de LXX de Graeca Versione V. Discrepantiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX a textu Hebraeo in Pentateucho VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX Giving an account of all the errors of all kinds at large VII Hillel a short discourse VIII De spiritu prophetiae A discourse occasioned from 1 Cor. Chap. XIV IX Concio ad Clerum Habita in Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae Ian. 12. 1651 2. pro Gradu Doctoratus X. Disputatio in publicts Comitiis pro Gradu Doctoratus XI Orationes Determinationes cum Procancelariatu functus est XII Aetates Rabbinorum XIII Quaedam de Israelitica sparsim collecta XIV Annotationes in primum quartum Caput Geneseos XV. Memorabilia quaedam sub Ezra Synagoga ejus magna Chronologice disposita XVI Correctiones observationes in Textum Samaritanum XVII Adversaria e Rabbinis collecta in Iosuam in quaedam Capita Exod. Numerorum XVIII The Minor Prophets in the Vulgar and LXX translations compared with the Hebrew and the various readings and additions taken notice of XIX Divers other loose papers concerning the destruction of Ierusalem situation of places in the Holy Land Chronology History c. In English I. The Book of Chronicles of the Kings of France and of the Kings of the House of Otoman the Turk Written in Hebrew by Ioseph the Priest and Translated in English by I. Lightfoot II. The Consent of the four Evangelists A Century Perfect III. A plain and easie Exposition of the Prophesie of Hosea IV. An Exposition upon the Old and New Testament by way of Chronology and Harmony with a preface instructing how to understand the Scripture V. The Motions and Stations of Israel in their March out of Egypt VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things appropriated by the Iews Traditions to the Land of Israel VII Names of places in the Holy Land explained out of the Rabbins set down by way of Alphabet VII Of the Creation A Chapter IX A Discourse upon Joh. XIII 27 30. X. History beginning from the fall of Ierusalem XI Historical passages in the first year of Trajans reign XII
per. 2. By which it is apparent that they accounted all of their own Religion and them only to come under the title Neighbour to which opinion how our Saviour speaketh you may observe in Luke 10. 29 30 c. So that in the Iewish Church there were those that went under the notion of Brethren that is Israelites who were all of one blood and those that went under the name of Neighbours and those were they that came in from other Nations to their Religion They shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother Jer. 31. 34 c. Now under the Gospel where there is no distinction of Tribes and kinreds the word Brother is ordinarily used to signisie in the same latitude that Neighbour had done namely all that come into the profession of the Gospel and it is so taken also as that had been in contradistinction to a Heathen Any man that is called a Brother 1 Cor. 5. 11. If thy brother offend thee c. Let him be as a Heathen Matth. 18. 15 17. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English rendereth Is in danger of translates the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are as ordinarily used among the Iewish Writers as any words whatsoever as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guilty of cutting off c. Every page almost in either Talmud will give you examples of this nature 3. Gehenna It is well known that this expression is taken from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The valley of Hinnom of which and of the silthiness and abominableness of which place there is so much spoken in Scripture There was the horrid Idol Molech to which they burnt their children in the fire And thither as D. Kimchi saith was cast out all the filth and unburied carcases and there was a continual fire to burn the filth and the bones In Psal. 27. From hence the Iews borrowed the word and used it in their ordinary language to betoken Hell And the Text from which they especially translated the construction seemeth to have been the last verse of the Prophesie of Isaiah which by some of them is glossed thus And they shall go forth out of Jerusalem into the valley of Hinnom and there they shall see the carcases of those that rebelled against me c. Vid. Kimch Ab. Ezr. in loc It were endless to shew the frequency of the word in their Writers let these few examples suffice Chald. Paraph. in Isa. 26. 15. Lord thou wilt drive all the wicked to Gehinnom And on Isa. 33. 14. The wicked shall be judged and delivered to Gehinnom the everlasting burning And on ver 17. Thou shalt see those that go down to the Land of Gehinnom R. Sol. on Isa. 24. 22. They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and shall be shut up in prison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that guilty of Gehinnom into Gehinnom Targ. in Ruth 2. 12. Be thou delivered from the Judgment of Gehinnom Midras Mishle fol. 69. Do you think to be delivered from the Judgment of Gehinnom Baal Tur. in Gen. 1. 1. Because of the Law they are delivered from the Judgement of Gehennah c. See the phrase Matth. 23. 33. And now we have done with words let us come to sentences and consider the offences that are prohibited which are easily acknowledged to be gradual or one above another About the first viz. Causeless anger there needeth no explanation the words and matter are plain enough The second is Whosoever shall say to his brother Racha A nick-name or scornful title usual which they disdainfully put one upon another and very commonly and therefore our Saviour hath specified in this word the rather because it was of so common use among them and they made no bones at it Take these few examples A certain man sought to betake himself to repentance and restitution His wife said to him Rekah if thou make restitution even thy girdle about thee is not thine own c. Tanchum fol. 5 Rabbi Jochanan was teaching concerning the building of Jerusalem with Saphires and Diamonds c. One of his scholars laughed him to scorn But afterward being convinced of the truth of the thing he saith to him Rabbi Do thou expound for it is fit for thee to expound as thou saidest so have I seen it He saith to him Rekah Hadst thou not seen thou wouldest not have believed c. Midras Tillin fol. 38. col 4. To what is the thing like To a King of flesh and blood who took to wife a Kings daughter he saith to her Wait and fill me a cup but she would not whereupon he was angry and put her away She went and was married to a sordid fellow and he saith to her Wait and fill me a cup She said unto him Rekah I am a Kings daughter c. Idem in Psal. 137. A Gentile saith to an Israelite I have a dainty dish for thee to eat of He saith What is it He answers Swines flesh He saith to him Rekah even what you kill of clean beasts is forbidden us much more this Tanch fol. 18. col 4. The third offence is to say to a brother Thou fool which how to distinguish from Racha which signifies an empty fellow were some difficulty but that Solomon is a good Dictionary here for us who takes the term continually for a wicked wretch and reprobate and in opposition to spiritual wisdom So that in the first clause is condemned causeless anger in the second scornful taunting and reproaching of a brother and in the last calling him a reprobate and wicked or uncharitably censuring his spiritual and eternal estate And this last doth more especially hit the Scribes and Pharisees who arrogated to themselves only to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisemen but of all others had this scornful and uncharitable opinion This people that knoweth not the Law is cursed Joh. 7. 49. And now for the penalties denounced upon these offences let us look upon them taking notice of these two traditions of the Iews which our Saviour seemeth to face and to contradict 1. That they accounted the command Thou shalt not kill to aim only at actual murder So in their collecting of the six hundred and thirteen precepts out of the Law they understand that command to mean but this That one should not kill an Israelite Vid. trip Targ. ibid. Sepher Chinnuch ibid. Maym. in Rotseah per. 1. And accordingly they allotted this only violation of it to judgement Against this wild gloss and practise he speaketh in the first clause Ye have heard it said Thou shalt not kill and he that killeth or committeth actual murder is liable to judgment and ye extend the violation of that command no further but I say to you that causeless anger against thy brother is a violation of that Command and even that maketh a man liable to
about to judge in such a matter The Woman was espoused and not yet married as see Deut. 22. 24. for their Judicials punished him that lay with an espoused maid with stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. but him that lay with a married wife with strangling Ibid. per 11. halac 1. Christs words at ver 25. I am even the same that I said to you from the beginning refer to his open and manifest asserting himself for the Messiah a year and a half ago before the Sanhedrin Joh. 5. Their words to him ver 57. Thou art not yet fifty years old mean Thou art not yet come within the compass of old age no not to the first skirts of it for fifty years was the beginning of superannuation to the Levites at the Temple Numb 4. and the Jews had a common opinion that whosoever died before fifty or at least fifty two died untimely and as it were by cutting off SECTION LX. LUKE Chap. X. from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter And Chap. XI and XII and XIII to Ver. 23. THe observing of the beginning and end of this Section will cleer the subsequence of this to the preceding and the order of all the stories comprehended in it It begins with the seventy Disciples returning from the imployment upon which their Master had sent them Now that they returned to him at Jerusalem whither he was gone to the Feast of Tabernacles appears by this that after they are come up to him he is in Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha Luke 10. 38 39. The Section ends with this relation And he went through the Cities and Villages teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem Luke 13. 22. So that in Chap. 10. 17. he is at Jerusalem having come thither to the Feast of Tabernacles And in Chap. 13. 22. He hath been abroad and is now travelling up to Jerusalem again to the Feast of Dedication Therefore this whole Section is the story of his actions from the one Feast to the other Chap. X. Upon the Disciples relating that the Devils were subject to them in his Name he answers I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning Which referreth partly to his death shortly to be by which Satan was overthrown and partly if Heaven mean the Church of the Jews and the state of Religion there as it means not seldome to the power of the Gospel this very year and forward among them casting him out With these words of Christ and the consideration of the time they refer to we may fitly compare several places which give and receive light mutually with it As Matth. 12. 45. where Satan cast out of this nation returns again 1 Cor. 6. 3. Rev. 12. 9. Rev. 20. 1 2. c. Unto a Lawyer Christ defineth who is a Neighbour by the Parable of the wounded man and the good Samaritan vastly differing from the Doctrine of the Pharisees in that case Take these two or three assertions of their own Schools for some illustration of this Parable 1. They accounted none under the term Brother but an Israelite by blood and none under the term Neighbour but those that were come into their Religion Aruch in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By using the word Neighbour are excluded all the Heathen Maym. in Retseah per. 2. An Israelite that slayeth a stranger sojourning among them is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin for it because it is said If a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbour By which it is apparent they accounted not such a one a Neighbour 2. They have this bloody and desperate tenet Hereticks that is Israelites that follow Idolatry or such as commit provoking transgressions as to eat a carcass or to wear linseye woolsey for provocation this is an Heretick And Epicurians which are such Israelites as deny the Law and Prophets it is commanded that a man kill them if he have power i◠his hand to kill them and he may boldly kill them with the sword but if he cannot he shall subtilly come about them till he can compass their death As if he see one of them fallen into a well and there was a ladder in the well before let him take it up and say I must needs use it to fetch my Son from the top of the House and then I will bring it thee again But Heathens betwixt whom and us there is no war as also the feeders of small Cattle in Israel and such like we may not compass their death but it is forbidden to deliver them if they be in danger of death Observe this As if one see one of them fall into the Sea he shall not fetch him up for it is said Thou shalt not stand up against the blood of thy Neighbour But such a one is not thy Neighbour 3. Of all other people in the World they abhorred Samaritans as appeareth by John 4. 9. 8. 43. and by exceeding many expressions to that purpose in their own writings and therefore our Savious urging for cleer and free charity in this Parable exemplifieth in a Samaritan the unlikeliest man in the world to do any charitable office for a Jew and he a Neighbour though so remote in blood religion and converse Christ is at Bethany ver 30. in the house of Mary and Martha Martha was an usual Womans name in the Nation Joshua the Son of Gamla married Martha the Daughter of Baithus Juchas fol. 57. Abba the Son of Martha Id. fol. 72. and Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isaac bar Shemuel bar Martha Jerus in Shab fol. 3. col 4. c. And now let the Reader cast his eye back from hence and calculate when or how it was that Christ came so acquainted with this family and he will find no time or occasion so likely as when the Woman-sinner washed his feet Luke 7. which we proved there was Mary the sister of Lazarus who was also called Magdalen Chap. XI ver 2. The Lords prayer rehearsed Christ had taught it almost a year and a half ago in his Sermon in the Mount and now being desired to teach them to pray he gives the same again They that deny this for a form of prayer to be used either know not or considered not what kind of prayers the eminent men among the Jews taught them John had taught his to pray after the same manner and use of the Nation and Christ being desired to teach the Disciples as John had taught his rehearseth this form which he had given before They that again deny this Prayer is to be used by any but real Saints because as they say none but such can call God Our Father either know not or consider not how usual this compellation was among the Nation in their devotions and Christ speaketh constantly according to the common and most usual language of the Country At ver 14. and forward there is a story of casting out a Devil so like that in Sect. 35. the Jews
his Consulship beginning the first of January it was so next impossible that those things should be done at Rome and Agrippa provide for his journey and travel it and come to Jerusalem and murder James and apprehend Peter and all before the Passover unless he hasted as it had been for a wager that he that can believe Peter to have been imprisoned in Claudius his second year of Consulship and reign must exceedingly straiten the time of these occurrences to make room for his belief 3. In the third year of Claudius therefore are those stories in Chap. 12. to be reputed only the last about Herods death in the beginning of his fourth for a Passover in his fourth Herod lived not to see 4. It may be observed that Luke hath placed the going up of Paul and Barnabas with the alms of the Church of Antioch to the poor of Judea before the murder of James Chap. 11. 30. but their return thence not till after that and Herods death Chap. 12. 25. not that thereupon we are necessarily to think that they staid there so long as while all those things in Chap. 12. were acting but that by that relation the story of Paul and Barnabas is begun again and we may very well conceive for all that postscript of Luke after the story of James his Martyrdom Peters imprisonment and Agrippa's death their return to Antoich and going from thence among the Gentiles Chap. 13. to have been at that time while some of the things in Chap. 12. occurred We will therefore take the Chapters up in the order in which they lye and only carry along with us in our thoughts a supposal that some of the stories in either might concur in time And because we have found here some need to look after the Years of the Emperour which we have not had before and shall have much more forward especially when we come up to the times of Nero it may not be amiss to affix their Years also as they went along concurrent with the Years of our Saviour CHRIST XLII CLAUDIUS II The famine begun the Church of Antioch send relief into Judea CHRIST XLIII CLAUDIUS III ACTS CHAP. XII from the beginning to Ver. 20. JAMES beheaded by Herod for so doth the Jews Pandect help us to understand these words He slew James with the sword Talm. in Sanhedr per. 7. hal 3. They that were slain by the sword were beheaded which also was the custom of the Kingdom that is of the Romans The ceremonious zeal of Agrippa in the Jewish way bending it self against the Church may be construed as a Jewish act wicked as upon the score of that Nations wickedness and guilt The underling condition in which they had lain all the time of Caius he having no good affection to that people being now got loose and aloft knows no bounds and being somewhat countenanced by the Edict of Claudius they cannot be content with their own immunities unless they seek also the suppression of the Christian Church Though Claudius his Proclamation had this special clause and caveat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should not go about to infringe the liberty of other mens Religion This unbounded incroaching of theirs did within a little time cause the Emperor who had now made a Decree for them to make another against them Peter designed by the murderer for the like butchery escapes by miracle and the Tyrant before that time twelve month comes to a miraculous fearful end ACTS CHAP. XIII from beginning to Vers. 14. THE Divine Historian having hitherto followed the Story of the Church and Gospel as both of them were dilated among the Jews and therein pitched more especially upon the Acts of Peter and John the singular Ministers of the Circumcision more peculiarly Peters he doth now turn his Pen to follow the planting and progress of the Gospel among the Gentiles and here he insisteth more especially upon the Story of Paul and Barnabas the singular Ministera of the uncircumcision more peculiarly Pauls There were now in the Church of Antioch five men which were both Prophets and Teachers or which did not only instruct the people and expound the Scriptures but had also the Prophetick spirit and were partakers of Revelations For though Prophets and Teachers were indeed of a distinct notion 1 Cor. 12. 28. Ephes. 4. 11. and their abilities to teach were according of a distinct original namely the former by revelation and the latter by study yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which phrase may not pass without observation according to the state of the Church then being they not only had prophetick Teachers but there was a kind of necessity they should have such till time and studdy had inabled others to be Teachers which as yet they could not have attained unto the Gospel having been so lately brought among them Among these five the names of Barnabas and Saul are no strangers to the Reader but the other three are more unknown 1. Simeon who was called Niger If the word Niger were Latin it might then fairly be conjectured that this was Simon of Cyrene the Moorish complexion of his Country justly giving him the title of Simeon the black but since the Patrionymick Cyrenean is applied only in the singular number to the next man Lucius and since the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was then used among the Jews in several significations as may be seen in Aruch we shall rather conceive this man a Cypriot from Chap. 11. 20. and as Barnabas also was Chap. 4. 36. and his surname Niger whatsoever it signified used to distinguish him from Simon Peter and Simon the Cananite 2. Lucius of Cyrene Held by some and that not without some ground to be Luke the Evangelist which it is like hath been the reason why antiquity hath so generally held Luke to be an Antiochian true in regard of this his first appearing there under this name Lucius though originally a Cyrenian and educated as it may be supposed in the Cyrenian Colledge or Synagogne in Jerusalem Chap. 6. 9. and there first receiving the Gospel In Rom. 16. 21. Paul salutes the Roman Church in the name of Lucius whereas there was none then in Pauls retinue whose name sounded that way but only Luke as we shall observe there 3. Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch Juchasin fol. 19. mentioneth one Menahem who was once Vicepresident of the Sanhedrin under Hillel but departed to the service of Herod the great with fourscore other eminent men with him of whom we gave some touch before It may be this was his son and was called Manaen or Menahem after the father and as the father was a great favourite of Herod the great the father so this brought up at Court with Herod the Tetrarch the son As these holy men were at the publick ministration with fasting and prayer the Holy Ghost gives them advertisement of the separating of Paul and Barnabas for the Ministry among
education parts and hopes and some remarkable Prophesies and predictions had been given concerning him what an instrument he should prove in the Gospel which made Paul to fix upon him as one designed for him from Heaven They set forth an◠travel Phrygia and Galatia and when they would have gone into Asia and Bithynia the Spirit forbad them because the Lord would hasten them into Macedonia unto a new work and such a one as they had not medled withal till now and that was to preach to a Roman plantation for so the Text doth intimate that Philippi was ver 12. and ver 21. and so saith Pliny lib. 4. cap. 11. He had indeed been always in the Roman dominions but still among other Nations as Jews Greeks Syrians and the like but we read not that he was in any City of Romans till here And his going to preach to that people is so remarkable that the Text seemeth to have set two or three notable badges upon it For that Nation lieth under so many sad brands in Scripture and lay under so great an abominating by the Jews that the Gospels entring among them hath these three singular circumstances to advertise of it 1. That the Spirit diverted Paul from Asia and Bithynia to hasten him thither 2. That he was called thither by a special vision the like invitation to which he had not in all his travels to any other place 3. The Penman doth not joyn himself in the story till this very time For hitherto having spoken in the third person he and they as He came to Derbe ver 1. They went through the Cities vers 4. c. he cometh now to joyn himself and to use the word We and Us. After he had seen the vision immediately we indeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us vers 10. Yet was this City mixed also of abundance of Jews living among them as that people was now dispersed and sowed in the most places of the Empire from Rome it self Eastward however it was on this side On the Sabbath by a river side where the women it seemed used their bathings for purification and where was a Synagogue they preach and convert Lydia a proselytess and she is instantly baptized and her houshold before she go home for ought can be found otherwise in the Text from whence we may observe what believing gave admission to Baptism to whole housholds In this Roman Colony it is observable that the Synagogue is called proseucha and that it is out of the Town Paul casteth out a spirit of divination and is thereupon beaten and imprisoned he and Silas but inlarged by an earthquake and the Jaylour is converted and he and his family instantly baptized After a little while Paul and Silas depart having laid the foundation of a very eminent Church as it proved afterward from which Paul in his Epistle thither acknowledgeth as many tokens of love received as from any Church that he had planted and to which he made as many visits afterward When he departeth he had ordained no Ministers there for ought can be gathered from the Text and it may be he did not till his return thither again which was the course he had used in other Churches Acts 14 23. He speaketh of divers fellow-labourers that he had there in the Gospel both men and women Phillip 4. 3. which cannot be understood of preaching but that these being converted they used their best indeavour to perswade others to imbrace the same Religion c. ACTS CHAP. XVII PAUL and Silvanus and Timothy come to Thessalonica where they make many converts but withal find very much opposition In three weeks space or very little more they convert some Jews many Proselytes and not a few of the chief Gentiles women of the City which number considered with the shortness of the time in which so many were brought in and the bitterness they indured from the unbelieving made their piety to be exceedingly renowned all abroad 1 Thess. 1. 6 7 8. Persecution driveth the Apostles to Beraea another Town of Macedonia Plin. l. 4. c. 10. there they found persons better bred and better learned then that rabble mentioned ver 5. that they had met withal at Thessalonica The Jews called their learned men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filii nobilium it may be Lukes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 11. translates that The rabble from Thessalonica brings the persecution hither also so that Paul is glad to depart to Athens but Silas and Timothy abide at Berea still At Athens there was a Synagogue of Jews and Proselytes ver 17. so that it is undoubted the Scholars of the University had heard from them the report of the true God therefore Paul is not so much cried out upon for telling them of the true God in opposition to the false as for preaching of Jesus crucified risen and glorified which neither they nor even the Jews Synagogue there had ever heard of before for this he is convented before their great Court of Areopagus where his discourse converts one that Bench Dionysius ACTS CHAP. XVIII FROM Athens Paul cometh to Corinth Urbs olim clara opibus post clade notior nunc Romana colonia saith Pomp. Mela. lib. 2. cap. 3. A little view of the City may not be useless It stood in the Isthmus or that neck of Land that lay and gave passage betwixt Peloponesus and Attica upon which Isthmus the Sea pointing in on either hand made Corinth a famous and a wealthy Mart Town by two Havens that it had at a reasonable distance from it on either side it the one Jochaeum at which they took shipping for Italy and those Western parts and the other Cenchraea at which they took shipping for Asia Merchandise arriving at these Ports from those several parts of the World were brought to Corinth which lay much in the middle between them and so this City became the great Exchange for those parts It lay at the foot of a high promont called Acrocorinthus or the Pike of Corinth The compass of the City was some forty furlongs or five miles about being strongly walled In it was a Temple of Venus so ample a foundation that it had above a thousand Nuns such Nuns as Venus had to attend upon it The City was sacked by L. Mummius the Roman General as for some other offence that it had given to that state so more especially for some abuse shewed to the Roman Embassadors there But it was repaired again by the Romans and made a Colony Vid. Strabo lib. 8. Plin. lib. 4. cap. 4. Paul coming hither findeth Priscilla and Aquila lately come from Italy because of Claudius his Decree which had expelled all the Jews from Rome Of this Decree Suetonius speaketh as he is generally understood In Claudio cap. 25. Judaeos impulsore chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit Claudius expelled the Jews out of Rome who continually tumultuated because of Christ.
punishments but they had of corporal namely of scourging to fourty stripes save one Hence it is that Christ foretels his Disciples In the Synagogues you shall be beaten Mark 13. 9. and hence had Paul his five scourgings 2 Cor. 11. 24. So that in every Synagogue there were Elders that ruled in Civil affairs and Elders that laboured in the Word and Doctrine And all things well considered it may not be so monstrous as it seems to some to say it might very well be so in those times in Christian Congregations For since as it might be shewed that Christ and his Apostles in platforming of the model of Christian Churches in those times did keep very close to the platform of the Synagogues and since the Romans in those times made no difference betwixt Jews in Judaism and Jews that were turned Christians nor betwixt those Religions for as yet there was no persecution raised against Christianity why might not Christian Congregations have and exercise that double Function of Ministry and Magistracy in them as well as the Jewish Synagogues And if that much controverted place 1 Tim. 5. 17. should be interpreted according to such a sense it were neither irrational nor improbable Nor to interpret Paul speaking to such a tenour here Only his appointing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the less esteemed in the Church to be appointed for that work is of some scruple what if it allude to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Committee of private men Of which there is frequent mention among the Hebrew Doctors See Maymon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 253. col 1. 3. It was the old Jewish garb when they went to pray to hide head and face with a vail to betoken their ashamedness and confusion of face wherewithal they appeared before God And hence is the conjunction of these two words so common in their Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He vailed himself and prayed And this for a current rule The wise men and their schollars may not pray unless they be vailed Maymon in Tephillah per. 5. To which let us add that of Sueton. in Vitell. cap. 2. Lucius Vitellius saith he had an excellent faculty in flattering he first set afoot the worshipping of Caius Caesar for a God when returning out of Syria he durst not go to him but with his head vailed and then turning himself about he fell prostrate Again it was the custom of the Jewish women to go vailed or their faces covered whensoever they went into publick A woman saith Maymony may not go into publick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if she have not a vail on In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per. 24. And this the Talmudists call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jewish Law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The garb of modesty Chetubboth per. 7. and Alphes ibid. Where they say that that those women transgress the Jewish Law that go forth unvailed or that spin in the streets or that talk with every man Now in this Church of Corinth the men retained the Jewish custom that they prayed vailed or with their head and face covered but the women transgressed their Jewish Law for they went unvailed and bare faced into the publick Congregation and their reason was as it seemeth by the Apostles discourse because they in regard of their beauty and comly feature needed less to be ashamed before God in his worship then the men The Apostle reproves both and argues that if the man pray vailed who is the Image and glory of God then much more should the woman who is but the glory of the man But he cries down the mans praying vailed as dishonouring his head and exhorts that the woman have power on her head because of the Angels cap. 11. 10. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we observed instantly before out of Maymony signified a womans vail doth also signifie power or dominion and accordingly the Apostle speaketh Let the Woman have power on her head But what means he by Because of the Angels I should answer Because of the Devils for these he had called Angels also a few Chapters before viz. Chap. 6. 3. And his words may be construed to this sense that Women should not expose their faces openly in the Congregation lest the Devil make a bait of their beauty and thereby intangle the eyes and hearts of the men who should be then better imployed then gazing and longing after beauty There are that by Angels understood the Ministers and interpret it that Women should be vailed lest the Ministers eyes should be intangled by their faces which exposition if it be admitted it may speak for the admission of that also which we give which provides for the eyes of the whole congregation as well as of the Ministers 4. In the same eleventh Chapter he also blameth their disorder in receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the height of their heats and contestations Wherein they did not only not discern the Lords body a Symbole and tye of communion but they even transgressed that rule now Christians which those of them that were Jews would not have done in their Judaism It was then a Canon current and binding amongst them that none should eat and drink in their Synagogues and none should sleep Jerus in Megilla fol. 74. col 1. Maym. in Tephillah per. 11. and Gloss. in Maym. in Shabb. 30. But now as they ate and drank the Bread and the Cup in the Sacrament in their Churches and that warrantably so did they also presume unwarrantably to eat their own common Suppers there and that only in defiance one of another the rich to outface the poor and one party another with their good commons some banketing and feasting to the full whilst others sat hungry by and looked on See how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 21. signifies in the LXX Gen. 43. 34. Cant. 5. 1. Thus did they eat and drink judgement to themselves in the Sacrament whilst they would receive the symbole of communion and yet shew such signs and evidences of disunion at the very instant And the Lord accordingly overtook some of them with evident judgements weakness sickness and death avenging at once upon them the indignity done to his Sacrament and the indignity done to their brethren Much like surfeting Nabals case and end 5. And as the people were thus irregular in this part of worship in their publick assemblies so were their Ministers faulty in others namely about the managing of spiritual gifts there The pretence to the Spirit where indeed it was not hath alwaies been the great usherer in of all errour and delusion And to this the very unbelieving Jews pretended and often backed their pretences with magical impostures and of this the Apostle speaks Chap. 12. 3. No man speaking by the Spirit of God as these men took on them to do can call Jesus accursed as they called him And on the other hand some that had spiritual gifts indeed failed in
times when he was not grown a monster and not by way of crimination of them or for the salving of his own credit as he did in his tenth year 2. There is mention of Pomponia Graecina tried for her life about the beginning of Nero's reign for matter of Religion as we mentioned before 3. This imprisonment of Epaphras and it may be of Aristarchus at this time and certainly of Timothy presently after may also confirm it for what should these men be imprisoned for but for Religion It is very probable therefore that Nero had by some Act or Edict suppressed Christianity not only at Rome but also in Judaea as it seemeth by that clause in Tacitus Rursus erumpebat non modo per Judaeam c. and if so that might be a forwarder of that defection that was so general in the Churches of the Jews that had received the Gospel they falling to Moses again or joyning the adhesion to the Law with the profession of the Gospel for thus hâ—ding their Christianity they might retain their liberty of their Christianity such as it was the Religion of the Jews not being at all suppressed by him However if there were such a suppression at Rome as it is very like there was Pauls deliverance from the Lions mouth was the more remarkable since he was to answer not only to his accusers about his profession but before a judge that was prejudiced against it so deeply But since we have heard of no stirring at Rome of all this time to such a tune nor any mention of any imprisoning but only of Paul how comes the matter to wax so hot now since Nero's heat against any Christianity seemeth to have been some years or at least a good while ago Here we cannot but remember that passage in the Epistle to the Philippians so lately written Philip. 1. 15 16. Some preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will The one preach Christ of contention not sincerity supposing to add affliction to my bonds By which it may be conjectured that some enemies of Pauls and his companies taking opportunity of Nero's declaration against Christianity did bussle and make ado in preaching the Gospel aiming at nothing more then this that hereby the ringleaders in the Gospel Paul and his company as no doubt they were noted so to be might be the more narrowly looked after and this might well be some occasion of the imprisonment of Epaphras and Timothy at this time and of Aristarchus if so be he were not a prisoner before CHRIST LXI NERO. VII THIS year is Timothy a prisoner and Paul himself at liberty for his two years imprisonment expired the later end of the last year or the beginning of this You have intimation of this Heb. 13. 23. where he saith Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom if he come shortly I will see you For I cannot interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otherwise then in reference to restraint and then we may out of this passage observe that Timothy had been a prisoner and that the Hebrews had known of his imprisonment but now he was at liberty and Paul too ready to come away with him when he should come He had written to the Philippians that he hoped shortly to send Timothy to them Philip. 2. 19. and to Philemon to provide a lodging for him for he hoped ere long to come into those parts Philem. ver 22. By which we may conclude that upon his inlargement he intended not to have staid long at Rome or that Timothy at the least should not have been long from them but that his imprisonment as it proved hindred them both Therefore we may not cast his commitment beyond this year but how long he lay under restraint we cannot tell only we may conceive him at liberty the next for in that year we suppose the writing of the Epistle to the Hebrews which speaks of his inlargement In our thoughts about Nero's suppressing Christianity and these mens bonds thereabout we may also look with admiration at the wondrous workings of God observe that even at these times there was Christianity in Nero's houshold Phil. 4. 22. This year some occurrences befalling in this our own Country of England though they are besides the argument that we are upon yet may they not unfitly be taken into mention for Countries sake Suetonius Paulinus was now General for the Romans here He assails to take the Isle of Man Incolis validam receptaculum perfugarum saith Tacitus Strong in the inhabitants and a refuge for fugitives He bringing on his men near the shore finds an Army guarding and ready to forbid his landing Among the men there were women running up and down In modum furiarum veste ferali crinibus dejectis faces praeferebant Like furies in a dreery garb with their hair about their ears and they carried torches The Roman souldiers for a while stood amazed at such a sight but at last falling on they enter and destroy them and possess and Garrison the Island Excisique luci saevis superstitionibus sacri Nam cruore captivo adolere aras fibris hominum consulere Deo fas habebant And they cut down the groves that were devoted to bloody superstition For they used to sacrifice captives at their Altars and to look into their inwards by way of auguration It is a remarkable and true saying of Pliny concerning Italy or Rome That it was a Country Quae sparsa congregaret imperia ritusque molliret tot populorum discordes ferasque linguas sermonis commercio contraheret ad colloquia humanitatem homini daret Nat. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 5. which in short is this that it civilized the world and taught barbarous Nations humanity A strange assertion if we consider the barbarous bloodiness and superstitions of the Romans themselves yet if we look upon the thing it self it is very true they being a people of Learning Discipline and Education and planting these wheresoever they got footing And this was one means in the Lords providence whose ways are past finding out to harrow the worlds ruggedness and to fit it the better for the sowing of the Gospel In what temper our Land of Brittain was as to civility before they came in may be guessed by this garb of the Isle of Man so near relating to it if we had no more evidence Whilest Suetonius was thus busied here he hears of a revolt and rebellion in Brittain caused partly by the cruel exaction of Decimus Catus the Governour who revived some impositions that Claudius the Emperour had remitted partly by the grinding usury and exactions of Seneca who having put them even unwilling to take vast sums of money of his to most unsufferable usury he now called it and the use in with all extremity and mercilesness And partly by an unhappy obsequiousness of Prasuiagus King of the Iceni or at least by an unhappy abusing of his
8. Matth. 3. 4. Seventhly Both of them had Heaven opened to them near Jordan To which two parallels more might be added if these two opinions of the Jews concerning Elias might be believed First That he was of the Tribe of Levi for they take him to be Phinehas as see R. Lev. Gersh on 1 King 17. Secondly That he restored circumcision when it was decayed from those words in 1 King 19. 14. They have forsaken thy Covenant To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children That is The hearts of the Jews to the Gentiles For first the hatred of a Jew against a Gentile was deadly and it was a special work of the Gospel and consequently of John that began to Preach it to bring both these to imbrace Christ and for and in him to imbrace one another Secondly Experience it self confirmeth this exposition for as the Gospel belonged to the Gentiles as well as the Jews and as John came for a witness that all through him might believe so did he convert and baptize Roman Souldiers as well as Jewish Pharisees Thirdly Baptism at its first institution was the Sacrament for admission of Heathens only to the Church and true Religion when therefore the Jews also begin to desire it and to consent to the Heathens in the undertaking of it then was the heart of the fathers turned to the children Fourthly It is the common and constant use of the Prophets to stile the Church of the Gentiles by the name of children to the Church of the Jews as Isa. 54. 5 6 13. 60. 4 9. 62. 5. 66. 12 13. Fifthly The Talmud expounding these words in Malachi seemeth to understand them of such a communion or reconciliation as is spoken of Vid. R. Sol. in loc Malach. Herod saith Josephus Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 7. slew John the Baptist being a good man and injoyning the Jews that exercising vertue and using right dealing one towards another and piety towards God they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convene or knit together in Baptism And the disobedient c. In Malachi it is And the hearts of the children to the fathers But first the Holy Ghost is not so punctual to cite the very letter of the Prophet as to give the sense Secondly It was not very long after the Baptizing and Preaching of John that the Jews ceased to be a Church and Nation nay even in the time of John himself they shewed themselves enemies to the Gospel and the professors of it as concerning the general or the greatest part of them therefore he saith not that the heart of the children the Gentiles should be turned to their fathers the Jews which should cease to be fathers and should cease to be a people but to the wisdom of the righteous ones The disobedient As in this clause he refuseth to use the term of Fathers for the reason mentioned so doth he also of the correlative children because of his refusing that And yet he coucheth the sense of that title under the word disobedient which word in its most proper and natural signification reflecteth upon untowardly children disobedient to their parents As therefore by his omitting to call the Jews fathers he insinuateth their opposition against the Gospel so by terming the Gentiles disobedient in stead of children he sheweth what they were before they imbraced it In the wisdom of the righteous For so is it in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in and not to Wisdom in Scripture is often taken for Religion As Psal. 111. 10. Deut. 4. 6. c. and so is it to be understood here And this Wisdom is not to be held the terminus ad quem or the ultimate end to which these disobedient Gentiles were to be converted but in this wisdom or religion unto God For first let the two clauses of this speech be laid in Antithesis or opposition one to another as naturally indeed they lie the one aiming at the Jews as the proper subject and the other at the Gentiles and it appeareth plainly that two several acts were to be performed by the Baptist as concerning the Jews and their conversion First That he should turn their hearts or affections to God as in the verse preceding He shall turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God And secondly That he should turn their hearts and affections also to the Gentiles whom they hated before as here He shall turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children Secondly According therefore to this double work of John upon the Jews in that part of the Angels speech must the like duplicity be looked for in this that concerneth the Gentiles and to be understood though it be not expressed For the Angel in this part purposely changeth his stile and neither calleth the Gentiles children but disobedient because they were generally so before the coming of Christ nor the Jews Fathers because they ceased to be so shortly after nor mentioneth he the Gentiles turning to God but includeth it partly because he had set that as the chiefest work and bent of the Baptist of all to go before the Lord and turn men to him and partly he includeth it in this phrase In the wisdom of the righteous Thirdly It is not without divine reason that the hearts of the Gentiles are not said to be turned to the Jews as on the contrary it was said of the Jews to the Gentiles but that they should be turned in the wisdom of the righteous For the enmity feud and detestation that was betwixt Jew and Gentile and Gentile and Jew proceeded not from the same cause and Original The Jew abhorred the Gentile not of ignorance but of scorn and jealousie partly because they stood upon their own dignity of being the people of God which the other were not and partly because they were provoked with suspition that the other should be the people of God when they should not And therefore when the reconciliation is to be wrought between them it is said that their hearts or affections should be turned to them for they were point blank or diametrically against them before But a Gentile abhorred a Jew out of ignorance because of his Religion hating him as a man separate from and contrary to all men and accounting that to be singular and senseless superstition which was indeed the divine command and wisdom of God and not so much detesting his person for it self as for his religion and profession Therefore when the Gentiles must be brought to affect and to unite to the Jews it must be in the wisdom of the righteous or in the understanding knowledge and imbracing of that religion which the righteous ones professed which the Gentiles till they knew and understood what it meant accounted but vanity singularity and foolishness Ver. 18. Whereby shall I know this The Jew requireth a sign 1 Cor. 1. 22. And his so doing in these times when miracles had been ceased so long
exact performance Do this and live and He that doth not all the words of this Law is cursed But John called for repentance and for renewing of the mind and for belief in him that was coming after disclaiming all righteousness by the works and performance of the Law but proclaiming repentance for non-performance and righteousness only to be had by Christ. So that here were new Heavens and a new Earth begun to be created a new Commandment given a new Church founded justification by the works of the Law cryed down and the glorious Doctrine of Repentance and Faith set up Secondly Whereas Baptism was used before among the Jews only for admission of Proselytes or Heathens to their Church and Religion as Vid. Aben Ezra Gen. 35. Rambam in Issurei Biah per. 13. now it is published and proposed to the Jews themselves to be received and undergone shewing unto them 1. That they were now to be entred and transplanted into a new profession And 2. That the Gentiles and they were now to be knit into one Church and Body The Ministery of John being of so high concernment as being thus the beginning of the Gospel and of a new World it is no wonder that St. Luke doth so exactly point out the year by the Reign of the Emperor the rule of Pilate Herod Philip and Lysanias the High Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas that so remarkable a year might be fixed and known to all the World and that the condition and the state of the times might be observed when the Gospel began And here it might have been proper to have begun the second part of this our task and not to have driven over this Period of time and to stop half a year after it at the baptism of our Saviour but since his preaching and appearing to the World is the great and main thing that the Evangelists look after and since the preaching of the Baptist was but a Preface and forerunner unto that of his it is not unproper and may be very excusable to make that our entrance to another part and take this with us in our motion to our lodging and resting there §. Of Jesus Christ the Son of God This title of The Son of God is proclaimed of Christ from Heaven at his baptism when he is to begin to preach the Gospel as it is said here to be the Gospel of the Son of God And it was necessary that so much should be intimated and learned concerning him as the author of the Gospel Because 1. The Gospel was the full revealing and opening of the will of the Father 2. The overthrow and ruine of the Rites and Ceremonies of Moses 3. The admission of heathen and strangers to be the Church and people of the Lord whereas Israel had been his peculiar before 4. It was a Doctrine of trusting in another and not ones self for salvation and who was fit for doing the three former or for being the object of the latter but Jesus Christ the Son of God who came from the bosom of the Father was the substance and body of those shadows and Ceremonies might raze that partition wall which in the giving of the Law himself had reared and did not only preach the Doctrine of the Gospel but also fully perform the Law Vers. 2. As it is written in the Prophets It seemeth by the Syrian Arabick Uulgar Latine Victor Antiochenus Origen cited by him and others that some Copies read As it is written in Esaias the Prophet and so Jansenius thinketh it was so written by Mark himself but purposely changed by the Doctors of the Church as we read it now to avoid the difficulty which the other reading carried with it But first it were a very strange and impious though an easie way of resolving doubts to add to or diminish from the Text at pleasure as the Text shall seem easie or difficult This is not to expound the Bible but to make a new one or a Text of ones own head Secondly In ancienter times then any of theirs that are produced which read In Esaias the Prophet it was read as we do In the Prophets as Jansenius himself sheweth out of Irenaeus lib. 3. chap. 11. Thirdly The one half of the words alledged in the Text are not in Esay at all but in Malachi and the first half also for that is considerable For though sometime the New Testament in Allegations from the Old do closely couch two several places together under one quotation as if they were but one yet maketh it sure that the first always is that very place which it takes on it to cite though the second be another as Acts 7. 7. Steven alledgeth a speech of God as if uttered to Abraham alone whereas it is two several quotations and two several speeches tied up in one the one spoken to Abraham indeed but the other to Moses almost four hundred years after and that to Abraham is set the first for he is the subject whereupon the allegation is produced Fourthly It is a manner of speech not used in the New Testament to say it is written or it is said in such or such a Prophet but by him We find indeed It is written in the Law Luke 10. 26. And It is written in the book of Psalms Acts 1. 20. Yea It is written in the Prophets Joh. 6. 45. but no where that it is written in a single Prophet Fifthly To read as we do As it is written in the Prophets agreeth with the ordinary and usual division of the Old Testament by the Hebrews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Oraietha Nebhyim Chetubbim The Law the Prophets and the Holy writs approved and followed by our Saviour Luke 24. 44. and alluded to by the Evangelist here Before thy face c. Thy way before thee The former is neither in the Hebrew nor in the LXX at all the latter is in them both but clean contrary for they both have it The way before me But first The Evangelists and Apostles when they take on them to cite any Text from the Old Testament are not so punctual to observe the exact and strict form of words as the pith of them or sense of the place as might be instanced in many particulars so that the difference of the words would not prejudice the agreement in sense were there not so flat difference of person as me and thee Secondly The Majesty of Scripture doth often shew it self in requoting of places in this that it alledgeth them in difference of words and difference of sense yea sometimes in contrariety not to make one place to cross or deny another but by the variety one to explain and illustrate another as in corresponding places in the Old Testament might be shewed at large as Gen. 10. 22 23. cited 1 Chron. 1. 17. Gen. 36. 12. compared with 1 Chron. 1. 36. 1 Sam. 25. 44. paralleled 2 Sam. 21. 8. 2 Chron. 3. 15. with Jer. 52. 21. and very
and not like Enoch and Elias as is plain by the Text for that speaketh of shutting up heaven turning water into blood and plaguing the earth which had been the actings of Elias and Moses and none but they and no mention of Enochs ever doing such a thing at all We have therefore from that place as little warrant to look for Elias his bodily coming before the end of the world as we have for the bodily coming of Moses 3. The proper meaning of that Prophesie concerning the two Witnesses is to set forth the state of the Church towards the end of the world when the Jews shall be called and knit together into one Church with the Gentiles shewing that God will raise up a powerful Ministery among either people which the Holy Ghost characters by Moses the first Minister and Prophet of the Jews and Elias the first Minister and Prophet of the Gentiles These two people and this double Ministery are as two olive trees and two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the whole earth This Ministery shall be opposed by Antichrist and almost destroyed and brought to nothing And as Antichrist hath caused a general defection and apostasie already in the world having even slain Religion and the preaching of the Truth till in the age last past they revived again So shall he cause a defection and falling away for a season in the Church of the Jews after their calling so that Religion and the truth shall be in a manner extinguisht among them that Antichrist may make the measure of his iniquity full And as Rome in her heathenish power did first destroy the old Jerusalem and then persecute the new so must she do in her Antichristian power and mischievousness first undo the Christian Church consisting of Heathens only as it hath done already in the dark time of Popery over all the world and then undo the Church consisting of Gentiles and Jews united together but God shall revive it and then the true Religion and the Ministery of the Truth shall live again by the power and Spirit of God put into them That this is the aim of that prophecy in the eleventh of the Revelation might be shewed if it were seasonable by many arguments and consequently that the expectation of Enoch and Elias to come bodily and to fight with Antichrist c. hath not the least colour or ground from thence at all but this is not a place to dispute that Text. §. Art thou that Prophet There is some question whether to read it in the force of the Article or no there are some that do read it so and some that do not The Syriack and the Vulgar Latine take no notice of the Article at all but read it as if it were without Art thou a Prophet And so doth the margin of our English Bible But others with our English Text do interpret the words as speaking of some peculiar Prophet which was neither Christ nor Elias but some other pointed at and intended by that prediction Deut. 18. 15. Vid. Cyril and Chrysost. c. It is hard to guess at the mind of these Jews that speak these words we have in hand for both the Greek expression in this Text and the Jews exposition of that in Deuteronomy do so indifferently carry it either to a Prophet in general or to some singular Prophet in particular that it may be an equilibrious case whether to take it the one way or the other I rather take it the former and cannot but apprehend that their questioning of the Baptist in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is indefinitely meant art thou a Prophet Not this or that Prophet but art thou a Prophet at all For prophesie had been long decayed amongst them and when they saw one appear now of so prophetical a character as the Baptist was and when he had resolved them he was neither Christ nor Elias their properest question then was art thou then any other Prophet come after so long a time as there have been no Prophets among us And he answers No that is not in their sense not a Prophet of the same Ministery with those in the Old Testament but of another nature or not one of those Prophets of the Old Testament revived as Matth. 16. 14. but a Minister foretold of by one of those Prophets as Esay 40. 3. The reason that I refuse the strict interpretation of this question Art thou that Prophet as if they spake of some particular man is partly because the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not always to be construed in such a strictness as pointing out a particular thing or person but is very commonly nay most commonly of a more large and general signification But chiefly because I find not in the Jewish Writers any particular Prophet mentioned whom they expected to come as they did Christ and Elias and for ought I find they do not interpret that place in Deut. 18. 15. of any such a particular person but of the succession of Prophets in generall It is true indeed that Aben Ezra understands it of Joshua and Rab. Sol. on Jer. 1. understands it of Jeremy but this was of Joshua and Jeremy in their times but of any such singular person that they expected in the last times I find no mention unless the Priest of righteousness spoken of a little before or Messias ben Joseph should be reduced under this notion and name of That Prophet Ver. 25. Why baptizest thou then It is observable that they never question what he meant by his baptism but what he meant to baptize they inquire not concerning the thing but concerning his person and authority And in all the time of his course and ministery we never find that they made the least scruple what his Baptism was or what it meant but only they look on him and wonder and question what he hath to do to baptize And the reason of this was because the rite and custom of baptizing had been in common and ordinary practice and use among that Nation many hundreds of years before John ever appeared among them And as this common and known custom of Baptism used among them continually and ordinarily so long before and then made them that they never wonder nor question nor make strange of Johns baptizing as to the thing it self so the consideration of this very thing may give us much light and satisfaction in that controversie that is now afoot among us concerning the baptizing or not baptizing of Infants It is urged by those that deny Infants baptism that there is neither command for it nor example of it in the Scripture as there was for Infants circumcision Now this consideration giveth one ready answer if there were no other to be given If baptism and baptizing of Infants had been as strange and unseen and unheard of a thing in the world till John Baptist came as circumcision was till God appointed it to Abraham there is no
because of the cattel turned out there and Lebanon was a large hilly Country from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be white because of the snows that lay upon it so seemeth Aenon to mean a fountainous place or some compass of ground full of springs from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fountain And so the words there were many waters there may be construed as giving the Etymology of the word Aenon John was baptizing in Aenon a place so called because there were many waters there There is mention of Abel Majim or The plain of waters a part of Galilee 2 Chron. 16. 4. And such another manner of speech is that in 2 Chron. 20. 26. They assembled in the valley of Berachah for there they blessed the Lord i. e. the valley so called because they blessed the Lord there Now because this Text is commonly alledged for the proof of dipping in Baptism and the words Because there was much water expounded as giving the reason rather of his baptizing there than giving the Etymology of the word as that John could not baptize but where there was much water for the dipping of the many people that came unto him It may not be amisi a little to look upon the words with reference to such a construction and to examine first what was the manner of baptizing among the Jews before John Baptist came And secondly how far the Baptist did imitate them in their manner Concerning the first We observed upon the first Chapter of this Gospel of John at ver 25. that the rite of baptizing was in use amongst the Jews and for that very end that it is amongst us namely for admission of persons into the Church many years before the Gospel began to be preached or John Baptist appeared and this was shewed from the Jews one writings and testimonies though they be enemies to our baptism And now it may not be impertinent from the same Authors to give some account of the manner of the administration of that rite amongst them or in what manner they used to baptize Towards that we must first take up that traditional maxime mentioned by Maymony in Issure Biah per. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In such a gathering of waters as is fit for the washing of a woman from her separation there they baptize Proselytes Now the waters fit for such a washing they describe thus A man that had an issue was not purified but in a Fountain but a woman that had an issue and all other unclean persons or things were washed in a gathering of waters For this was the Law that in any waters that are gathered together thy wash in as it is said A gathering of waters even in any place Now it must be so that there be therein so much water as amounts to the washing of the whole body of a man at one dipping The wise men have measured this preportion to be a cubit square three cubits deep And this measure contained forty seabs of water Id. in Mikvaoth per. 1. 4. Talm. in Mikvaoth per. 2. 3. c. As for the manner of their washing it was thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one that was washed or baptized must dip his whole body as he was naked at one time And wheresoever in the Law washing of the flesh or washing of garments is spoken of it is no other than washing of the whole body For if a man shall wash himself all over the tip of his little finger only excepted he is yet in his uncleanness And if he be a man of much hair he must dip all the hair of his head for that is as his body And though they were in their cloaths yet their washing was good because the water went through them and they hindred it not Maym. ubi supr Now when there came a Proselyte or a Proselytess to be admitted into the Jews Church and Religion they enquired of them whether they entred not into that Religion for riches or preferment or fear And of a man they inquired whether he had not set his eyes upon some maid of Israel and of a woman whether she had not set her eyes upon some young man of Israel And if no such matter were found out then they acquainted them with the weight of the yoke of the Law and the labour of performing it If they saw that they came out of love to the Law they receive them as it is said When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her Ruth 1. 18. When they receive a proselyte of righteousness and have enquired of him and find none of the causes mentioned they say unto him What sawest thou that caused thee to become a Proselyte Knowest thou not that Israel is at this time poor and oppressed and many calamities are upon them If he say I know it I am one unworthy They receive him out of hand and acquaint him with the fundamentals of the Law namely the Unity of the Godhead and the prohibition of Idolatry and they are large in discourse upon his matter Then they rehearse to him some of the less and some of the greater commandments in the Law but they are not large upon that Then they do acquaint him with the fault of a mans gathering what he had left Deut. 24. 19. and the corner of the field Lev. 23. 22. and about the second tithing Also they acquaint him with the penalties of the Law saying thus to him Know that before thou comest into this Law if thou eatest fat thou wast not punished with cutting off and if thou didst prophane the Sabbath thou wast not punished with stoning but now after thou art proselyted if thou eatest fat thou must be punished with cutting off and if thou prophanest the Sabbath thou must be stoned And they add no more for they are not too punctual with him left cause him to start and decline from the good way to the bad For at the first they draw not a man but with gentle words as it is said With the cords of a man will I draw them Therefore as they acquaint him with the penalties of the commandment so they acquaint him with the reward thereof and shew him that by keeping of these commandments he shall obtain the life of the world to come and that there is no perfect righteous man but he that knoweth these commandments and doth them Moreover they say unto him Know thou that the world to come is not reserved but for the righteous that is for Israel And therefore though thou see Israel in affliction in this world yet there is good laid up for them for they cannot receive much in this world among the Nations lest their heart should be lifted up and so they err and spoil their reward in the world to come as it is said Jesurum waxed fat and kicked Nor doth the blessed God bring upon them much vengeance lest they should perish for all
of Jozedek the High Priest was Priest in this Temple And then Sadoc and Baithus also became famous being the Scholars of Antigonus and this was the beginning of Heresie for they went in the time of Antigonus their Master to the Temple of mount Gerizim and became chief men there And that Temple stood about two hundred years It was built forty years after the building of the second Temple Juchasin fol. 14. col 2. And thus was Temple set up against Temple High Priest against High Priest and Worship against Worship and now are the two Nations grown into a greater detestation one of another than ever they were before And many of the Jewish Nation became Samaritans enemies to their own Country kindred and Religion And it became a common quaere and quarrel among them whether was the truer Religion and whether the truer Temple that at Jerusalem or that one Gerizim as the woman questioneth in this Chapter vers 20. and Josephus saith the Jews and Samaritans mutined upon this dispute in Egypt Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 1. lib. 13. cap. 6. And this difference and heart-burning of the Nations in regard of Religion brake out often into open hostility and acts of violence as the same Josephus giveth examples Antiq. l. 12. c. 3. l. 18. c. 3. l. 20. c. 5. c. The Jews in their writings do commonly call the Samaritans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutheans from Cutha a Country and River of Persia 2 King 17. 24. Joseph Ant. l. 11. c. 4. l. 9. c. 14. but since Christianity came into glory their hatred to Christians being equal to what it was towards the Samaritans they so commonly call Christians by the same name that it is hard in many places to judge when they speak of Samaritans and when of Christians Three things saith the Talmud make a man transgress against the mind of himself and against the mind of his Creator and those are an evil spirit the Cutheans and the rules of poverty Erulhin cap. 4. And again They say not Amen after a Cuthean that giveth thanks Beracoth c. 8. c. From these Samaritans Elias Levita conceiveth that the wandering generation of Gipses came Vid. Tishbi in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers. 10. If thou knowest the gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The article prefixed saith Beza sheweth that he speaketh of some excellent gift and that is of himself whom the Father offered now unto the woman And indeed the latter clause expoundeth the former unto this sense and sheweth that by this gift of God Christ is to be understood not only as given to the world Joh. 3. 16. for this the Samaritan woman knew well enough that the Messias was to come a Redeemer vers 25. but as now come and offering himself unto her and this our Saviour calleth the gift of God in such a sense as he saith to his Disciples To you it is given but to others it is not given Mar. 13. 11. For though Christ were the goodness of God to all his people as Hos. 3. 5. yet was it a peculiar gift of God to some particular ones to see and hear Christ work miracles and preach for their conversion as Luke 10. 23 24. §. Thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water The Vulgar Latine puts a forsitan to it Perhaps thou wouldest have asked leaving it as doubtful whether the woman would have begged grace from Christ if she had known him for the Messiah Whereas Christ knew well enough what she would have done and none that knoweth Christ can do less than beg this living water of him Were it not that I observe the Author of the vulgar translation to render the particle Av by forsitan in other places as Chap. 5. 46. 8. 19. I should have thought that he put a perhaps upon it because of the carnal apprehensions that the Nations both Jews and Samaritans had about the coming and Kingdom of the Messias but I shall not trouble my self and the Reader about the searching of his thoughts Christ knew the womans and if she had but known him how ever it might be a pertinent inquiry how the generality of the Nation would have intertained Christ if they had known him and what they would have asked of him because of their earthly thoughts of his Kingdom and because of their high thoughts of their own legal performances he himself saw that she would have asked grace from him I ask of thee if thou knewest thou wouldest ask of me as John the Baptist that knew him came on in such a kind of tenor I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me Thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee as Mark 7. 7 8. That by the living water here spoken of is meant the Spirit of Grace is apparent in vers 14. and past denial and therefore I cannot think that Cyprian did give it as the very meaning of this place but that he meant it allusively only when he saith that this living water is baptism and that because baptism once received is not to be reiterated therefore it is said that whosoever drinketh of this water shall never thirst Lib. 1. Epist. 3. The Spirit in Scripture is compared to fire and water two the greatest purifiers and refreshers for water purifieth from filth fire from dross water refresheth against heat fire against cold and how the work of the spirit of Grace is sutable to these needeth not to spend time to demonstrate Vers. 14. But whosoever shall drink of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst It is made a great scruple by Expositors and that deservedly how he that hath received grace may be said never to thirst for it more Since the more grace the more desire of grace still and various answers are given to the doubt which I shall omit To me it seemeth needful that by thirsting here is not to be understood barely desirousness of drink but fainting and failing for thirst and so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used by the Syriack here for thirsting is used by the Chaldee Paraphrast Lam. 2. 19. for fainting for whereas the Hebrew text hath it lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faint for hunger the Chaldee hath rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thirst for hunger And so Esay 48. 21. They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts which the Chaldee rendreth He suffered them not to thirst is so to be understood of not perishing for thirst or not languishing for it for that they thirsted in the wilderness and cried out for water it is related more than once In the verse before our Saviour said He that drinketh of this water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may thirst again but in this verse he useth not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again
Heaven And it is also written Lowly and riding upon an Asse Now how agrees this If they be good he comes with the clouds of Heaven If they be not good then lowly and riding upon an Ass Also in their words Rabbi Eliezer saith If Israel repent they are presently redeemed Rabbi Joshua saith to him And is it not somewhere said Ye were sold for nought and ye shall not be redeemed with silver but by repentance and good works So that we see that they scrupled amongst themselves whether the gathering of the captivity should be by the means of repentance or no. And the reason of this was because of the diversity of these Texts But it is possible thus to reconcile them That many of Israel shall repent after that they see some signs of redemption And hereupon it is said And he saw that there was no man because they will not repent till they see the beginning of redemption In such a sense did the Jewish Nation hold repentance an ingredient to the entertainment of the Kingdom of Heaven when it should appear and so both our Saviour and John the Baptist in this argumentation Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand do but apply themselves to them even upon their own doctrines and conclusions Now whereas we said in the explanation of the story of Nicodemus that they expected that the appearing of the Messias would take them as they were and that without more ado they shoul be translated into a glorious condition and happiness should drop into their mouths it doth not cross it though it be said here that they had thoughts of repentance as an ingredient to the intertainment of Messiah when he came for exceeding many of them thought they needed no repentance and for those that needed they allotted such a kind of repentance as we shall see by and by as was far from any inward alteration of spirit or change of mind 3. Nor doth this manner of arguing Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand suit only with the Jews own maxim and opinion and so might convince and win them the sooner but it also agrees most properly with the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven it self For 1. if by the term be understood the coming and appearing of the Messias as that indeed is the first sense of it what fitter intertainment of his appearing than repentance For men when he came to save them from their sins Matth. 1. 18. to repent of their sins and when he came as the true light they to forsake their dark ways And when the Lord by the appearance of Christ for mans redemption did shew as it were that he repented of evil against man how fit was it for man to meet this great mercy by repenting of his own evil And 2. If the term the Kingdom of Heaven be taken for the state of the Church and Religion under the appearance of Christ and the Gospel in comparison of what it was under the Ceremonious administrations in the Law there could be no fitter intertainment of it than by repentance namely by washing purifying and sacrificing the heart when there was no other washing purifying or sacrificing in Religion to be had and such external Ceremonies should be gone out of date 3. And lastly if by this phrase be meant the Kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles and their calling by the Gospel as it also reacheth that sense it was a proper kind of arguing used to the Jews to move them to repentance by minding them of the calling of the Gentiles whose calling in they knew would be their own casting off if they repented not II. A second thing worth our consideration in this our Saviours doctrine is the word by which he calleth for repentance What Syriack word he used speaking that language it is uncertain the Syriack translater useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Return or be converted but the word which the Holy Ghost hath left us in the Original Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is exceeding significant and pertinent to that doctrine and occasion The word is frequently used in the Septuagint concerning God when he is said to repent or not repent as 1 Sam. 15. 29. Jer. 3. 9. Amos 7. 3. 6. c. but the use of it applied to man is not so frequent in them as of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ezek. 18. 30. because that word doth most Grammatically and verbatim translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word most commonly used in the Hebrew for Repenting and yet do the Septuagint sometimes use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for mans repentance as Jer. 8. 6. c. The word doth first signifie a reviewing or considering of a mans own self and condition as Lam. 3. 40. and so Brucioli doth render it in the Italian Ravedete vi view your selves or take your selves into consideration Secondly it betokeneth a growing wise or coming to ones self again as Luk. 15. 1. 7. and thereupon it is well rendred by our Protestant Divines Resipicite Be wise again for so the word were to be construed in its strict propriety And thirdly it signifieth a change of mind from one temper to another Now the Holy Ghost by a word of this significancy doth give the proper and true character of repentance both against the misprisions that were taken up concerning it by their traditions in those times and those also that have been taken up since The Jews did place much of repentance in a bare confession of the offence and much of pardon in the Scapegoats sending away and in the service of the day of Expiation and much in induring the penalty inflicted by the Judges And undoubted pardon at the day of death We will take their mind in their own words He that transgresseth against an affirmative command and returns presently he stirs not till God pardon him and of such it is said Return O ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings He that offends against a negative command repentance keeps him off from punishment and the day of Expiation atones for him and of such it is said For to day he will expiate But he by whom the name of Heaven is blasphemed repentance hath no power to shield him from punishment nor the day of Expiation â—o atone for him nor chastisements by the Judges to acquit him But repentance and the day of Expiation do expiate a third part and chastisements à third part and death a third part And of such it is said If this iniquity be purged till you dye Behold we learn that death acquitteth Talm. Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 27. Observe by the way how directly our Saviour faceth this opinion when he saith the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall neither be-forgiven in this life nor in the life to come Matth. 12. 32. that is no not by the expiation of death as they conceived Now what a kind of repentance they mean we may observe
Thirdly To the Holy Ghost compare Esay 6. 8 9 10. with Act. 28. 25 26. For he is the Spirit of Truth and giver of being to the promise The name Jehovah and the significancy of it to the utmost did the holy Fathers know before Moses But they saw not experience of the last signification named namely the faithfulness of God in his promise made to Abraham concerning his delivery of his seed from bondage and bringing them into a Land flowing with milk and honey God gave them the promise by the name of El Shaddai God Omnipotent and they relied upon his omnipotency because he that promised was able to perform but they beheld it afar of and tasted not of my performance of it but now will I shew my self Jehovah faithful to bring to pass and accomplish what I promised SECTION XI Putiel Exod. 6. 25. MANY and the most of them far fetcht notations are given upon this name and when all is said of it that can be said the last resolution lieth but in a conjecture and then may we guess as well as others Eliezer married his wife in Egypt and of the Egyptian Idiom doth this name of her Father seem as probably to sound as of any other Now among the Egyptian names or titles these two things may be observed First That among them Gentry Nobility and Royalty seem to have been denoted and distinguished by these increasing Syllables Phar Phara and Phara-oh The Gentry by Phar as Poti-phar a Captain Gen. 41. 45. The Nobility by Phara as Poti-phara a Prince Gen. 41. 45. And Majesty by Phara-oh the common name of all their Kings There was another title of dignity given to the Governour of the Jews in Alexandria in that Land in after times namely Alabarcha as is to be seen in Josephus which though he and others would derive from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salt yet since we are yet to seâ—k for the latter part of the word it may as probably be conceived to be compounded of the Article All so common in the Arabick tongue and Abrech which hath relation to dignity and honour Exod. 41. 43. Secondly The Egyptians delighted to affix or joyn to their names and titles the word Poti or Puti whether in memorial of their Uncle Put Gen. 10. 6. or in reverence of some Diety of that name or for what else is not so easily resolved as it may be conceived they did the thing by the names forecited Potiphar and Potiphara and of the same nature seemeth to be Putiel the word that is now in hand This Putiel therefore may seem to have been some convert Egyptian imagine him to have been of the posterity of Puti-phera among whom Joseph had sowed the seeds of true Religion who changing his Idolatry and irreligiousness for the worship of the true God did also change the latter part of his name Phera into the name of that God which he now professed and instead of Puti-phera to be called Puti-el The best resolution as was said before that can be given in this point can be but conjectures and in a matter of this nature it is as excusable if we err as difficult to hit a right SECTION XII Of Moses words Glory over me Exod. 8. 9. THE Plagues of Egypt began answerable to their sins the waters wherein the childrens blood had been shed and they poor souls sprawled for life are now turned into blood and sprawle with Frogs The former Plague of blood was not so smart as the other of Frogs for by digging they found fresh water and so had that remedy against that Plague But they had none against the Frogs for they came into every place and seised upon all the victuals that lay in their way and devoured them nay they spared not to raven upon men themselves Therefore the Psalmist saith Frogs destroyed them Yet for all this doth Pharaoh make but a mock at Jehovah in all this his doing and scornfully and in derision bids Moses and Aaron try what Jehovah could do for the removing of them To whom Moses answers Glory over me mock me hardly with my Jehovah yet appoint when I shall pray and I will pray that thou mayest know that there is none like my Jehovah And Pharaoh appoints him the next day for his prayer which he would never have put off so long had he in earnest thought that Jehovah could have removed them upon Moses prayer SECTION XIII The Plague of Lice The speech of the Sorcerers This is the finger of God Exod. 8. 19. not a confession of the Lord but an hideous and horrid blasphemy AT the Plague of Lice the Sorcerers are put to a non-plus and in the least creature can do nothing for besides that it was the will of God to bring their devices to nought and to shew himself maximum in minimis if they should have imitated this miracle they must have done two things first they must have produced dust and then of the dust Lice for the Text saith That all the dust of the Land became Lice throughout all the Land of Egypt vers 17. Neither of which they can do and therefore say This is the finger of God For the understanding of these their words observe these things First That in the two foregoing Plagues of blood and Frogs Moses gave warning of them before they came but of this he did not Secondly That the Lice were also in the land where Israel dwelt as well as in other parts of Egypt for there is no severing betwixt Goshen and Egypt mentioned till the next Plagues of Flies In that day I will sever the Land of Goshen in which my people dwell And I will put a division between my people and thy people vers 22 23. whereas none had been put before For when Moses turned the waters of Egypt into blood the Sorcerers did so also with their inchantments and turned the waters of Goshen into blood likewise Here Pharaoh thinketh his Sorcerers have matched the Jehovah that Moses so talked of and that they could do as much against his people as he could do against theirs And so when Moses from Jehovah brought Frogs upon Egypt the Magitians also by their inchantments bring Frogs likewise upon Goshen and still they think their God is hard enough for Israels Jehovah Thus is blood and Frogs through all the Land of Goshen but neither were these real Blood or Frogs nor was this any punishment at all upon Israel for it was not from the Lord but only vain delusions permitted by the Lord that at last he might catch the crafty in their own net But when the Plague of Lice cometh it cometh also upon Goshen from the Lord himself and this is a Plague indeed upon his own people laid upon them by him as well as upon Egypt For Israel that had partaken in so many of Egypts sins must also think to partake in some of her punishments For this it is why the man of God in
of the feast of Dedication nor at the evening sacrifice on those days when there was an additional sacrifice added to the dayly These Stationary men in the week of their attendance might neither be trimmed by the Barber nor might they wash their cloaths in all that time And the reason of this was because they were to do these things before they entred their attendance and to come neat to it and not to have these things to do when they were entred CHAP. VIII Concerning their Sacrifices and Offerings THE right of sacrificing had these several ends 1. To represent and to be a memorial of the great sacrifice of Christ who should once be offered up in behalf of sinners 2. To lecture unto them the desert of sin and sinners death and fire in the death and firing of the sacrifice before their eyes 3. To acknowledge their goods received from God in offering up unto him something of all they had 4. To be a matter of Worship and Religion in those times of ceremoniousness wherein all did acknowledge their homage to God and true believers acted their faith on Christs sufferings 5. To be signs of repentance and pledges of expiation Their oblations were either of living Creatures or of other things Of living Creatures they offered only these five kinds Bullocks Sheep Goats Turtles Pigeons Their offerings of other things were Tithe First-fruits Flower Wine Oil Frankincense Salt c. Their sacrifices of living Creatures were either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most holy sacrifices or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the Jews own distinction sacrifices of an inferiour alloy Those that they call the most holy sacrifices were Burnt-offerings sin-offerings trespass-offerings and the Peace-offerings of the whole Congregation Their inferiour sacrifices were Peace-offerings of particular persons Paschal-lambs firstlings and tenths Some of their offerings were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacrifices of duty and to which they were bound and some were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voluntary sacrifices which they offered of their own free will SECT I. Burnt-offerings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IT is disputed among the learned of the Jews what should be the occasion of burnt-offerings and whereupon they became due And I find the debate concluding in this resolution that either they were to expiate for the evil thoughts of the heart as sin-offerings and trespass-offerings were to do for evil actions or to expiate for the breach of affirmative precepts as those did for negative a a a Tosapht in Menachoth per. 10. Rabbi Akibah questioned For what doth a burnt-offering expiate For matters whereupon there is a penalty c. or concerning affirmative precepts and concerning negative precepts whereunto some affirmative precept doth refer And b b b Ab◠Ezra in Lev. 1. the body of the Beast saith Aben Ezra that is offered to expiate for that that comes up into the heart is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the offering for a sin or a trespass is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which sense the Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan also speaketh when rendring those words in Lev. 6. 9. This is the Law of the burnt offering c. he glosseth thus This is the Law of the burnt offering which cometh to expiate for the thoughts of the heart upon which the Hebrew marginal glossgiveth this explanation It is so written in Vajikrah Rabbah that a burnt-offering cometh not but for the thoughts of the heart and there is an intimation of this in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That that is come up into your heart shall in no wise come to pass Burnt-offerings were of any of the five living Creatures named and the manner of their offering was thus If his burnt offering were a Bullock he might take him c c c Id. ibid. from eight days old and upward and so also might he do by a Lamb or Kid And it must be a male because the burnt offering being the noblest offering faith Aben Ezra it required the noblest of the kind that was to be offered 1. He was to bring it into the Court for the law was express that he must present his offering before the Lord Lev. 1. 3. Now this Phrase before the Lord was understood d d d Talm. Ier. in Sotah per. 1. from the gate of Nicanor and inward and the bringing of the Sacrifice into the Court was of so strict and an inviolable obligation e e e Tosapht in Erachin per. 2. that women who otherwise were absolutely forbidden to come into the Court yet if they brought a Sacrifice they were bound and necessitated to go in thither as was touched but even now 2. He must lay his hand upon the head of it whilest it was yet alive Lev. 1. 4. f f f Maym. in Corbanoth per. 3 All the Sacrifices that any single man offered of beasts whether it were an offering of duty or an offering of free will he must lay his hand upon it while it is yet alive except only the firstling the tenth and the Passover This laying on of hands was a Rite of transmission as it were of the mans sin unto the Sacrifice that was to dye for him and in his death which was now ready he acknowledged his own desert to dye and so it was a figure of the laying of our sins upon Christ and an emblem of repentance About the laying on of the hands they had these divers Traditions as 1. That it was to be in the Court and if he laid his hands on him before he came into the Court he must do it there again and if the offerer of the Sacrifice stood without the Court and put his hands within and laid it on the head of the Beast within it served the turn as is observed elsewhere about the Leper in the gate of Nicanor 2. The owner of the beast must lay on his hands himself and might not do it by proxy which is to be understood in reference to particular mens sacrifice for some of the Sacrifices of the whole Congregation had their Deputies or Proxies to lay their hands on them as was observed even now 3. If divers men joined in one Sacrifice f f f Id. ibid. R. Sol. in Lev. 1. as divers might every one was to lay on his hand particularly one after another 4. There is some dispute among the Hebrew Doctors whether they laid on one hand or both and there are assertors on both sides but all conclude in this that whether one or both he must lay them on with all his strength and all the stress he can And so the Targum of Jonathan which holds for one hand only saith He shall lay on his right hand with all his force and Maimonides which holds for both the hands saith he was to lay on both his hands and that with all his might 5. The place where he stood to lay on his hands was ordinarily the place where the
manifest my self thus openly to the view of all Some there be that have hardly censured of me for idleness and sloth as they make it because it seems I intrude not every moment into the supply of other mens Ministries since it hath not yet pleased God to prefer and promote me to a Charge of mine own I know well the saying of the Apostle Rom. 1. 14. belongs to all Ministers To Greeks and Barbarians The Syrian to that verse adds a word which may well serve for a Comment mehhaâ—obh leakrez I am a debtor or I ought to Preach to the wise and foolish they are all debtors and as the Syrian adds leakrez they are debtors to Preach And whoso is necessarily called and refuseth is as bad as the false Prophets were that would run before they were sent nay he may seem rather worse that when he is sent will not go From this censure how far I am free my Conscience tells me though I must confess that I am not so hasty as many be to intrude my self where is no necessity This hath among some purchased me the skar of slothfulness to vindicate which I have here ventured as Children do to shoot another arrow to find one that is lost so have I hazarded my Credit one way to save it another I know mine own weakness and that this my pains to Scholars may seem but idle yet had I rather undergo any censure than the blot of the other Idleness the begetter of all Evil and of Unthankfulness the hinderer of all Good This is the cause that brings me to a Book and my Book to you That by the one I may testifie to the World that I love not to be Idle and by the other witness to you that I love not to be Unthankful Accept I beseech you of so small a Present and so troublesom a Thankfulness and what I want in Tongue and Effect I will answer in Desire and Affection suing always to the Throne of Grace for the present prosperity of your Self and your Noble Lady and the future Felicity of you both hereafter From my Study at Hornsey near LONDON March 5. 1629. Yours devoted in all Service JOHN LIGHTFOOT TO THE READER Courteous Reader for such a one I wish or none I May well say of writing Books as the wise Greek did of marriage For a young man it is too soon and with an old man his time is out Yet have I ventured in youth to become publick as if I were afraid that men would not take notice of my weakness and unlearnedness soon enough If I fall far short of a Scholar as I know I do my youth might have some plea but that mine attempt can have no excuse but thy Charity To that I rather submit my self than to thy Censure I have here brought home with me some gleanings of my more serious studies which I offer to thee not so much for thy Instruction as for thy harmless Recreation I bear in mind with me the saying of Rabbi Josihar Jehudah in Pirke Abhoth He that learns of young Men is like a man that eats unripe Grapes or that drinks Wine out of the Wine-press but he that learneth of the Ancient is like a Man that eateth ripe Grapes and drinketh Wine that is old For fear thy Teeth should be set on edge I have brought some Variety I have not kept any Method for then I should not answer my Title of Miscellanies I have upon some things been more Copious than other and as Rab. Salomon observes of Ruth I have sometime but stood to Glean and sometime sitten down I hope thou wilt not censure me for Judaizing though I cite them for it is but as the Musician in Plutarch did setting a Discord first that you may better judge of the Consort and seeing Error you may the more embrace the Truth If this my Youthful attempt shall provoke any one that is Young to Emulation in the Holy Tongues I shall think I have gained Adjourn thy severe Censure till either future Silence or some second Attempt either lose all or make some Satisfaction For the present Quisquis haec legit ubi pariter certus est pergat mecum ubi pariter haesitat quaerat mecum ubi errorem suum cognoscit redeat ad me ubi meum revocet me Aug. de Trinit Lib. 1. Cap. 3. Thine ready and willing but unable I. Lightfoot OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. CHAP. I. OMNE tempus te puta perdidisse c. saith one All time is lost that is not spent in thinking of God To be full of thoughts of him is a lawful and holy prodigality And to spend time in such meditations a gainful lavishing For this end were the Scriptures given to lead us to meditate of God by meditating in them day and night Psal. 1. 2. Herein those fail that never think of God at all and those also that think not of him aright The Prophet makes this the mark of wicked men that God is not in all their thoughts That like the Jews they murder Zechariah the remembrance of God even between the Temple and the Altar Commendable in some sort was the devotion of the Philosopher that in so many years spoke more with the Gods than with Men. Had his Religion been towards the true God what could have been asked of him more I would Christians hearts were so retired towards their Creator that so he that made the heart might have it The Heathens thought there was a God but knew not what to think of him They prayed and sacrificed and kept a stir to something but they might well have marked their Churches Altars and Prayer with the Athenian Altar Motto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the unknown God Act. 17. Plato attained to the thought of one only God the Persians thought he could not be comprehended in a Temple and Numas thought he could not be represented by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. p. 131. image and for this saith Clem. Alex. he was helped by Moses yet came all these far short of the knowledge of God Nature when she had brought them thus far was come to a non ultra and could go no further Happy then are we if we could but right prize our happiness to whom the day spring from an high hath risen and the Son of Righteousness with healing in his wings upon whom the noon-tide of the Gospel shineth and the knowledge of God in its strength Even so O Lord let it be still told in Gath and published in the streets of Ascalon to the rancour and sorrow of the uncircumcised that God is known in Britain and his Name is great in England CHAP. II. Of the Names of GOD used by Jews and Gentiles NO Nation so barbarous saith Tully that hath not some tincture of knowledge that there is a Deity And yet many nay most People of the World fall short of the right apprehension of God through
the Wall encompassing the Holy ground according to our English measure what p. 1051. * The height and breadth of the Gates in the Wall encompassing the holy ground p. 1052. * The Wall over the East-gate lower than the rest and why p. 1051. * All within the Wall incompassing the holy ground was called the First Temple Page 1963. * Washing four forts in the days of Christ. 585 Washing put for Purification exceeding curiously performed 324 Washing of hands Tables Cups and Platters what and how performed among the Jews 544 Washing of dead Bodies a custom among the Jews 841 Watch in the Night divided by four of three hours a piece 428 Water being born of it what at large 571 572 57◠Water-gate described 2011. * Waters Living Waters what the Phrase alludes to 2011. * We know signifies that the thing is well and openly known 566 567 Well the Draw-Well Room described 2011. * Whale Jonas his Whale 1002 c. Whipping or Scourging upon the Censure of the Judges viz. the receiving of forty or thirty nine stripes what 901 902 Whoredom put for Polygamy p. 15. Whoredom great and abominable 887 888 889 Widdows what sort of them provided for 309 Wife suspected her Trial and her Offering how performed 982 c. Wine that which was offered Christ at his Crucifixion was to intoxicate him 267 Wisdom chosen above all things at twelve years of Age. p. 73. It is often taken in Scripture for Religion 409 Wisemen their coming to Christ on the thirteenth day after his Birth or within forty days shewed to be improbable and that they came not till about two years after his Birth p. 432 433 434. Wisemen or Magi several Authors give them a good Character but the Scripture ever a bad p. 436. Who they were 437 Without those that are without i. e. the Gentiles 240 Witnesses what the meaning of the Prophesie concerning the two Witnesses p. 524. Witnesses laying down their Cloaths c. what the meaning of the Phrase 2007. * Wizard the same with Magician Wiseman c. 436 820 Women they had some Office at the Tabemacle and Sanctuary p. 53. Text. Marg. They laboured to advance the Gospel though they did not preach p. 294. See how p. 315. The Court of the Women described p. 1090. * It is not called by that name in Scripture p. 1090. * They might come into the Court through the Gate of the Women when they brought Offerings p. 2020. * A Woman began Idolatry in Israel p. 45. They were not bound to appear at the three solemn Feasts of the Jews yet they usually did p. 956. To them is ascribed barrenness throughout the Scripture 397. Marg. 400 Wood the Wood room described p. 2013. * Priests that had blemishes searched the Wood for Sacrifices to see if it were not worm eaten 1093. * Word what kind of Word Christ is p. 392. Marg. Why he is so called from Scripture and Antiquity 393 394 395 Word of God variously understood 505 Words inverted frequent in Scripture 84 88 122 Working with the Hands thus Paul did when out of Mony and in a strange Place 295 World the World i. e. the Gentiles 214 World to come Maranatha Raka Jannes and Jambres Beelzebub are Phrases taken from the Jews 1005 Page 1006 Worthies of David 61 Writings the Oldest in the World is Psalms 88 and 89. penned before Moses was born 699 700 Writings of the Jews upon Scriptures fly all in an higher Region than the Writings of the Christians p. 860. As see a Taste out of the Writings of Rhilo Judeus 861 862 Y. YEAR the Beginning of the Year from the Creation was in September p. 707. But just before Israel came out of Egypt the beginning was changed into March and why Page 707 708 Year of Christ Year of Our Lord the proper reckoning of every Year ought to be from September to September Page 777 Years it s very common in Scripture in reckoning of the years either of Man or Beast to account the year they are now passing for a year of their Age be it never so newly or lately begun 487 You put for some of you or Posterity 468 Z. ZACHARIAS the Priest whether of the course of Abia. p. 202. He was not a High Priest p. 407. Zacharias the Son of Barachias who he was Page 2040. * Zebedee what became of him 635 FINIS THE WORKS OF THE REVEREND LEARNED John Lightfoot D. D. LATE Master of KATHERINE Hall in CAMBRIDGE The Second Uolume In two Parts PART I. CONTAINING HORAE HEBRAICAE TALMUDICAE Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations upon the four Gospels the Acts of the Apostles some Chapters of the Epistle of S. Paul to the Romans and the first Epistle of the same Apostle to the Corinthians translated into English Published by the Care and Industry of Iohn Strype M. A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by William Rawlins for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIV TO THE Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON MY LORD THIS second Volume of Dr. Lightfoots Works the effect of great Learning and as great Industry being brought to a conclusion it seemed to want nothing to make it compleat and to recommend it to the World but some Great Name to stand before it And since the Choise of this laid in me the poor Instrument employed in preparing these Labours for the Press I could fix upon none so proper so suitable as your Lordship upon two accounts The one is mine own private Obligations unto your Lordship being my very Reverend Diocesan under whose Paternal care I live and discharge my ministerial function in peace and from whom I have received Favour and Countenance and lastly to whom I ought to account for the spending of my time as I find in some antient injunctions of our Church the inferior Clergy were bound to do The other is the Book it self which contains some of the last and best Labours of a Man of as great worth and abilities as fame in all the Pages of whose Writings appear lively stroaks of Learning Religion and a Love of the Churches Peace and Prosperity Of which most sacred things your Lordship is so known and eminent a Patron Pardon me then My most Honoured Lord that I have presumed to grace this Piece with your Venerable Name and vouchsafe to take these Pious and Learned Labours under your Honours favour And if there shall be any thing found herein that will not bear the censure of your Lordships severer Eye whether it be the Publishers or the Authors error I do earnestly recommend both to your Lordships great Candor and Charity I cannot take my leave without my Prayers for your Lordship That God would prosper your pensive thoughts and weighty cares for retrieving the distressed condition of our poor Church occasioned in a great measure by contentious and unpeaceable Spirits Spirits that even from the very first times of
the Reformation have been undermining its welfare and exercising the skill and patience of its earliest Bishops In so much that it was long since the judgment of one of your Lordships * Grindal Predecessors in the See of London and one that had been charged with too much favour and gentleness towards them that severity was necessarily to be used For thus he writes in a Letter which I have seen to a great Minister of State Anno 1569. Mine opinion is that all the Heads of this unhappy faction should be with all expedition severely punished to the example of others as people fanatical and incurable And the same New Reformers as they were then termed created so much affliction to the Church that it made * Sands another very Reverend Prelate of this See quite weary of his Bishoprick and drew this complaint from him in a Letter dated 1573. I may not in conscience I cannot flee from the afflicted Church otherwise I would labour out of hand to deliver my self of this intolerable and most grievous burthen I make no doubt but your Lordship being in the same place and having to do with Men of the same temper feel the same burthen God Almighty strengthen and encourage succeed and bless You in all the wise methods You use in the Government of Your Church and Clergy But I forbear any further to interrupt Your precious hours only recommending my pains to Your Lordships acceptance and my self to Your Blessing being My Lord One of the meanest of Your Clergy and Your Lordships most humble and dutiful Son and Servant IOHN STRYPE Low-Leighton May 14. 1684. THE PREFACE I AM not unsensible this Second Volume may lye under some prejudice as Translations and Posthumous pieces usually do which have not the last polishing of the Authors own Hand nor his consent to make them Publick Therefore to prevent any too hasty censures and to give this Book the advantage of a fair light and thereby to justifie what hath been done in sending it abroad to bear its fellow company is the chief design of this Preface And here I am to account for two things according to the two Parts that this Volume consists of The former is the Translation of the Horae Hebraicae and the second the Publishing of the Sermons I. For the former it cannot be denied that a Translation labours under the same disadvantage that the Copy of a good Picture doth which seldom reacheth to the Truth and Perfection of the Original And it needs not be said that among those fatal things such as Epitomies wilful Interpolations ignorant and careless Transcriptions and the like whereby the Books of the Antients especially Ecclesiastical Writers have suffered no small damages unskilful Translations have contributed their share damages rather to be deplored than ever to be redressed But as to the present Translation I have this to apologize for if not to justifie it That seeing these Latine pieces were the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last result and perfection of our Authors long and elaborate Oriental Studies the very marrow and compendium of all his Rabbinical Learning and since that great knowledge he had attained in that way is in these Latine Exercitations maturely and after many years pensive thoughts digested and reduced to be admirably subservient to the Evangelical Doctrine and by a peculiarly divine skill he hath made the Rabbies more bitter enemies than whom the Gospel never had to be the best Interpreters of it it was thought pity that his Countrymen should be deprived of these his last and best labours and seemed somewhat unjust that Strangers and the Learned only should reap the benefit of them Besides it is to be considered how much a right understanding of the four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles which contain the History of the great Founder of our Religion and his holy Institution would contribute to the burying of unhappy differences which have arisen in a great measure from mistaken Interpretations of matters in those Books and to the furthering peace and unity among us and how highly all that call themselves Christians are concerned to attain to the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scriptures on which our Faith and Hope is built and lastly that these our Authors labours administer such considerable help to us herein it was resolved so small an impediment as the Latine Tongue should not obstruct so great a Good I hope there will be no occasion to accuse the Translation for any defect of care or faithfulness or skill but rather that it may merit some approbation upon all those accounts The work of a Translator chiefly consists in carrying along with him the sense of the Author and as much as another Language will allow the very air of his expression that he may be known and discovered though he wear the dress and habit of another Nation I trust those who undertook this employment will be found to have duly attended to both I will not be so confident as to vouch it so absolutely free of all mistake as if the Translators had been inspired by the Author himself it being morally impossible in a Work of that critical nature and considerable length not to make a stumble or a slip It will satisfie reasonable Men I hope if the errors are but few and the Work be generally accompanied with a commendable diligence The judicious Reader will not like our pains the less that we have not much regarded curious and smooth Language For none will look for a fine and florid style in a Translator who is bound up to follow close his Author and considering that he that presumes to vary too freely from his words t is a great venture but he varies often from his sense too And indeed affectation of soft words and handsom periods would have been a Vice here for it would have made the Author look unlike himself whose style was generally rough and neglected his mind being more taken up about sense and inquiry after truth than those things And therefore I hope none will place this among the blemishes of the Translation If the words be easie and intelligible and naturally expressive of the sense the more plain and unaffected the better I will advance a step further in behalf of this English Translation there are some things in it that may give it the advantage even of the Latine Exercitations themselves Namely that they are all with a diligent and careful Eye revised and corrected in abundance of places besides what the Errata directed to The Addenda Printed at the end of the Horae upon S. Luke and S. John are here reduced to their proper places in the body of the Book excepting one passage only which was neglected I know not how but now Printed at the end of this Preface The Annotations upon the eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ignorantly and carelesly thrust in among the Exercitations upon the Acts of
And hence the sons of Proselytes in following generations were circumcised indeed but not baptized They were circumcised that they might take upon themselves the obligation of the Law but they needed not baptism because they were already Israelites From these things it is plain that there was some difference as to the end between the Mosaical washings of unclean persons and the baptism of Proselytes and some between the Baptism of Proselytes and John's baptism Not as though they concurred not in some parallel end but because other ends were added over and above to this or that or some ends were withdrawn II. The Baptism of Proselytes was the bringing over of Gentiles into the Jewish Religion The Baptism of John was the bringing over of Jews into another Religion And hence t is the more to be wondered at that the people so readily flockt to him when he introduced a Baptism so different from the known Proselytical baptism The reason of which is to be fetcht from hence that at the coming of the Messias they thought not without cause that the state of things was plainly to be changed and that from the Oracles of the Prophets who with one mouth described the times of the Messias for a new World Hence was that received opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God at that time would renew the World for a thousand years See the Aruch in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after in Chap. 24. 3. And that also that they used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come by a form of speech very common among them for the times of the Messias which we observe more largely elsewhere III. The baptism of Proselytes was an obligation to perform the Law that of John was an obligation to repentance for although Proselytical baptism admitted of some ends and Circumcisiou of others yet a Traditional and erroneous Doctrine at that time had joyned this to both that the Proselyte covenanted in both and oblig'd himself to perform the Law to which that of the Apostle relates Gal. V. 3. I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law But the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance Mark I. 4. which being undertaken they who were baptized professed to renounce their own legal righteousness and on the contrary acknowledged themselves to be obliged to repentance and faith in the Messias to come How much the Pharisaical doctrine of Justification differed from the Evangelical so much the obligation undertaken in the baptism of Proselytes differed from the obligation undertaken in the baptism of John Which obligation also holds amongst Christians to the end of the World IV. That the baptism of John was by plunging the body after the same manner as the washing of unclean persons and the baptism of Proselytes was seems to appear from those things which are related of him namely that he baptized in Jordan that he baptized in Enon because there was much water there and that Christ being baptized came up out of the water to which that seems to be parallel Act. VIII 38. Philip and the Eunuch went down into the water c. Some complain that this rite is not retained in the Christian Church as though it something derogated from the truth of baptism or as though it were to be called an innovation when the sprinkling of water is used instead of plunging This is no place to dispute of these things Let us return these three things only for a present answer 1. That the notion of washing in John's baptism differs from ours in that he baptized none who were not brought over from one Religion and that an irreligious one too into another and that a true one But there is no place for this among us who are born Christians the condition therefore being varied the rite is not only lawfully but deservedly varied also Our baptism argues defilement indeed and uncleanness and demonstrates this doctrinally that we being polluted have need of washing but this is to be understood of our natural and sinful stain to be washed away by the blood of Christ and the grace of God with which stain indeed they were defiled who were baptized by John But to denote this washing by a Sacramental sign the sprinkling of water is as sufficient as the dipping into water when in truth this argues washing and purification as well as that But those who were baptized by John were blemished with another stain and that an outward one and after a manner visible that is a polluted religion namely Judaism or Heathenism from which if according to the custom of the Nation they past by a deeper and severer washing they neither underwent it without reason nor with any reason may it be laid upon us whose condition is different from theirs 2. Since Dipping was a rite used only in the Jewish Nation and proper to it it were something hard if all Nations should be subjected under it but especially when it is neither necessarily to be esteemed of the essence of baptism and is moreover so harsh and dangerous that in regard of these things it scarcely gave place to Circumcision We read that some leavened with Judaism to the highest degree yet wish't that Dipping in Purification might be taken away because it was accompanied with so much severity b b b b b b Hieros Beracoth fol. 6. 3. In the days of R. Joshua ben Levi some endeavoured to abolish this dipping for the sake of the women of Galilee because by reason of the cold they became barren R. Joshua ben Levi said unto them do ye go about to take away that which hedges in Israel from transgression Surely it is hard to lay this yoke upon the neck of all Nations which seemed too rough to the Jews themselves and not to be born by them men too much given to such kind of severer rites And if it be demanded of them who went about to take away that dipping Would you have no purification at all by water It is probable that they would have allowed of the sprinkling of water which is less harsh and not less agreeable to the thing it self 3. The following ages with good reason and by Divine Prescript administred a Baptism differing in a greater matter from the Baptism of John and therefore it was less to differ in a less matter The application of water was necessarily of the essence of Baptism but the application of it in this or that manner speaks but a circumstance The adding also of the word was of the nature of a Sacrament but the changing of the word into this or that form would you not call this a circumstance also And yet we read the form of Baptism so changed that you may observe it to have been threefold in the history of the New Testament Secondly In reference to the form of John's Baptism which thing we have propounded
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
would do him no more wrong than you would do his brother Matthew when you should say that he was a Publican 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscariot It may be ennquired whether this name was given him while he was alive or not till after his death If while he was alive one may not improperly derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Skortja which is written also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Nedarim fol 55. 2. Iskortja Where while the discourse is of a man vowing that he would not use this or that garment we are taught these things He that tyes himself by a vow of not using garments may use sackcloth vailing cloth hair cloth c. but he may not use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which words the Gloss writes thus These are garments some of leather and some of a certain kind of clothing The Gemara asketh What is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iskortja Bar bar Channah answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Tanners garment The Gloss is A leathern Apron that Tanners put on over their cloths So that Judas Iscariot may perhaps signifie as much as Judas with the Apron But now in such Aprons they had purses sown in which they were wont to carry their mony as you may see in Aruch in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we shall also observe presently And hence it may be Judas had that title of the purse bearer as he was called Judas with the apron Or what if he used the art of a Tanner before he was chose into Discipleship Certainly we read of one Simon a Tanner Act. IX 43. and that this Judas was the son of Simon Joh. XIII 26. But if he were not branded with this title till after his death I should suppose it derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara Which word what it signifies let the Gemarists speak k k k k k k Bab. Berac fol. 8. 1. Nine hundred and three kinds of death were created in the World as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the issues of death Psal. LXVIII 20. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Issues arithmetically ariseth to that number Among all those kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara is the roughest death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the easiest Where the Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iscara in the mother Tongue is Strangulament By Learned Men for the most part it is rendred Angina The Quinsie The Gemara sets out the roughness of it by this simile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Schabb. fol. 33. 1. The Iscara is like to branches of thorns in a fleece of Wool which if a man shake violently behind it is impossible but the wool will be pulled off by them It is thus defined in the Gloss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Iscara begins in the bowels and ends in the throat See the Gemara there When Judas therefore perished by a most miserable strangling being strangled by the Devil which we observe in its place no wonder if this infamous death be branded upon his Name to be commonly stiled Judas Iscariot or that Judas that perished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by strangling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who also betrayed him Let that of Maimonides be observed m m m m m m In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 8. It is forbidden to betray an Israelite into the hands of the Heathen either as to his person or as to his goods c. And whosoever shall so betray an Israelite shall have no part in the world to come Peter spake agreeably to the opinion of the Nation when he said concerning Judas He went unto his place Act. I. 25. And so doth Baal Turim concerning Balaam Balaam went to his place Numb XXIV 25. that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He went down to Hell VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not OUR Saviour would have the Jews priviledges reserved to them until they alienated and lost them by their own perversness and siâ—s Nor does he grant the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles or Samaritans before it was offered to the Jewish Nation The Samaritans vaunted themselves sons of the Patriach Jacob Joh. IV. 12. which indeed was not altogether distant from the truth they embraced also the law of Moses and being taught thence expected the Messias as well as the Jews nevertheless Christ acknowledges them for his sheep no more than the Heathen themselves I. Very many among them were sprung indeed of the seed of Jacob though now become Renegades and Apostates from the Jewish Faith and Nation and hating them more than if they were Heathens and more than they would do Heathens Which also among other things may perhaps be observed in their very language For read the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch and if I mistake not you will observe that the Samaritans when by reason of the neerness of the places and the alliance of the Nations they could not but use of the language of the Jews yet used such a variation and change of the Dialect as if they scorned to speak the same words that they did and make the same language not the same II. In like manner they received the Mosaic law but for the most part in so different a writing of the words that they seem plainly to have propounded this to themselves that retaining indeed the law of Moses they would hold it under as much difference from the Mosaic Text of the Jews as ever they could so that they kept something to the sense n n n n n n Hieros Sotah fol. 21. 3. Bab. Sotah fol. 33. 2. R. Eliezer ben R. Simeon said I said to the Scribes of the Samaritans Ye have falsified your Law without any manner of profit accruing to you thereby For ye have writ in your Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Near the Oaken Groves of Morâ—h which is Sichem c. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added Let the Samaritan text at Deut. XI 30. be looked upon III. However they pretended to study the religion of Moses yet in truth there was little or no difference between them and Idolaters when they knew not what they worshipped which our Saviour objects against them Joh. IV. 22. and had not only revolted as Apostates from the true religion of Moses but set themselves against it with the greatest hatred Hence the Jewish Nation held them for Heathens or for a people more execrable than the Heathens themselves A certain Rabbin thus reproaches their idolatry o o o o o o Hieros Avodah Zarah fol. 44. 4. R. Ismael ben R. Josi went to Neapolis that is Sâ—chem the Samaritans came to him to whom he spake thus I see that you adore not this Mountain but the Idols which are under it for it is written Jacob hid the strange Gods under the
return into the body But when it sees that the form or aspect of the face is changed then it hovers no more but leaves the body to its self d They do not certifie of the dead that this is the very man and not another but within c Jevamoth fol. 120. 1. Maimo◠in Gerushin cap. 13. the three days after his decease For after three days his countenance is changed VERS XLIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. With Grave-cloths c. THE Evangelist seems so particular in mentioning the Grave-cloths wherewith Lazarus was bound hand and foot as also the Napkin that had covered his face on purpose to hint us a second miracle in this great miracle The dead man came forth though bound hand and foot with his Grave-cloths and blinded with the Napkin VERS XLVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Romans shall come I Could easily believe that the Fathers of the Sanhedrin had either a knowledge or at least some suspition that Jesus was the true Messiah I. This seems plainly intimated by the words of the Vine-dressers in the Parable Mark XII 7. This is the heir come let us kill him They knew well enough he was the Heir and it was come to this in the struggle betwixt them either he will inherit with his doctrine or we will with ours come therefore let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours II. They could not but know that Daniel's weeks were now fully accomplished and that the time of the Messiah's appearing was now come This that * * * * * * Act. II. conflux of Jews from all Nations into Jerusalem doth testifie being led by Daniel's Prophecy and the agreeableness of the time to fix their residence there in expectation of the Messiah now ready to be revealed Compare also Luke XIX 2. III. When therefore they saw Jesus working miracles so very stupendous and so worthy the character of the Messiah and that in the very time wherein the manifestation of the Messiah had been foretold they could not but have a strong suspition that this was HE. But then it is a wonderful thing that they should endeavour his death and destruction What destroy the Messiah the expectation and desire of that Nation Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Such mischiefs could religious zeal perswade But it was a most irreligious Religion made up of Traditions and humane inventions a strange kind of bewitchery rather than Religion that they should chose rather that the Messiah should be cut off than that Religion be changed They had been taught or rather seduced by their Traditions to believe 1. That the Kingdom of the Messiah should be administred in all imaginable pomp and worldly glory 2. That their Judaism or the Religion properly so called should be wonderfully promoted by him confirmed and made very glorious 3. The whole Nation should be redeemed from the Heathen Yoke But when he who by the force of his miracles asserted himself so far to be the Messiah that they could not but inwardly acknowledge it appeared notwithstanding so poor and contemptible that nothing could be less expected or hoped for of such an one than a deliverance from their present mean and slavish state and so distant he seemed from it that he advised to pay tribute to Cesar taught things contrary to what the Scribes and Pharisees had principled them in shaked and seemed to abrogate the Religion it self and they had no prospect at all of better things from him Let Jesus perish though he were the true Messiah for any thing that they cared rather than Judaism and their Religion should be abolished Obj. But it is said that what they did was through ignorance Luke XXIII 34. Acts III. 17. and XIII 27. 1 Cor. II. 8. Ans. True indeed through ignorance of the person they did not know and believe the Messiah to be God as well as Man they apprehended him mere Man Though they suspected that Jesus might be the Messiah yet did they not suspect that this Jesus was the true God Let it then be taken for granted that the Fathers of the Sanhedrin under some strong conviction that this was the true Messiah might express themselves in this manner all men will believe on him and the Romans will come c. and so what Caiphas said It is expedient that one man should dye c. But where does the consequence lye in all this All men will believe on him Ergo the Romans will come c. I. It is not altogether wide of the mark what is commonly returned upon this question The Romans will come against our Nation taking us for Rebels to the Emperor in that without his consent our people have entertained this Jesus for the King Messiah II. Nor is it impertinent to this purpose what was the antient observation of the Jews from that of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. X. 34. and XI 1. Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one and there shall come forth a rod out of the stemm of Jesse viz. That the coming of the Messiah and the destruction of the Temple should be upon the heels one of another e e e e e e Hieros Beracoth fol. 5. 1. The story is of an Arabian telling a certain Jew while he was at Plow that the Temple was destroyed and the Messiah was born which I have already told at large upon Matth. II. 1. But the conclusion of it is R. Bon saith what need we learn from an Arabian is it not plainly enough written Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one And what follows immediately there shall come forth a rod out of the stemm of Jesse If therefore the Sanhedrin suspected Jesus to be the Messiah they might by the same reason from thence also gather that the destruction of the City and Nation was not far off especially when they see the people falling off from Judaism to the Religion of Jesus III. The Fathers of the Sanhedrin judge that the Nation would contract hereby an unspeakable deal of guilt such as would subject them to all those curses mentioned Deuter. XXVIII particularly that their turning off from Judaism would issue in the final overthrow of the whole Nation and if their Religion should be deserted neither the City nor the Commonwealth could possibly survive it long So rooted was the love and value they had for their wretched Traditions Let us therefore frame their words into this Paraphrase It does seem that this man can be no other than the true Messiah the strange wonders he doth speak no less What must we do in this case On the one hand it were a base and unworthy part of us to kill the Messiah but then on the other hand it is infinitely hazardous for us to admit him For all men will believe on him and then our Religion is at an end and when that is once gone what can we look for less than that our whole Nation should perish under the Arms
Apostle was propounded and when the choice was made too And therefore why the ALL in this place ought not to have reference to this very number also who can alledg any reason Perhaps you will say this reason may be given why it should not namely that all those that were here assembled were endu'd with the gift of Tongues and who will say that all the hundred and twenty were so gifted I do my self believe it and that for these reasons I. All the rest were likely to publish the Gospel in foreign Countries as well as the Apostles and therefore was it necessary that they also should be endow'd with foreign Tongues II. The Apostles themselves imparted the same gift by the imposition of hands to those whom they Ordained the Ministers of particular Churches It would seem unreasonable therefore that those extraordinary persons that had been all along in company with Christ and his Apostles and were to be the great Preachers of the Gospel in several parts of the world should not be enricht with the same gift III. It is said of the seven Deacons that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of the Holy Ghost even before they were chosen to that office which doth so very well agree with what is said in this part of the story ver 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost that we can hardly find out a more likely time or place wherein these Deacons had been thus replenisht than when the Apostles themselves were so that is upon the coming down of the Holy Ghost IV. The dignity and prerogative of the Apostles above the rest of the Disciples did not so much consist in this gift of Tongues being appropriated to themselves but in this amongst other things that they were capable of conferring this gift upon others which the rest could not do Philip the Deacon doubtless did himself speak with Tongues but he could not confer this gift to the Samaritans that they also should speak with Tongues as he did this was reserv'd to Peter and to John the Apostles V. The Holy Ghost as to the gift of Tongues fell upon all that heard Peter's discourse in the house of Cornelius Chap. X. 44. it may seem the less strange therefore if it should fall on these also at this time and in this place VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A sound as of a rushing mighty wind THE sound of a mighty wind but without wind so also Tongues like as of fire but without fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is fitly and emphatically enough added here but I question whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was so properly put by the Greek Interpreters in Gen. I. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God was carry'd upon the face of the waters and yet the Paraphrast and Samaritan Copy is much wider still from the meaning and intention of Moses when they render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he breath'd upon the waters I conceive they might in those words the Spirit of God mov'd upon the face of the waters have an eye to those waters that cover'd the earth whereas Moses plainly distinguisheth between the Abyss that is the waters that cover'd the earth upon the face of which deep the darkness was and those waters which the Spirit of God mov'd upon that is the waters which were above the firmament ver 6 7. And by the moving or incubation of the Spirit upon these waters I would rather understand the motion of the Heavens the Spirit of God turning them about and by that motion cherishing the things below as the bird doth by sitting upon its young than of any blowing or breathing of the Spirit or the wind upon them or that the Spirit was carry'd upon the waters as a wind is upon the Sea or upon the Land VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cloven Tongues like as of fire THE confusion of Languages was the casting off of the Gentiles and the confusion of Religion for after once all other Nations excepting that of the Jewish came to be deprived of the use and knowledg of the Hebrew Tongue in which Language alone the things of true Religion and all Divine truth were known taught and deliver'd it was unavoidable but that they must needs be depriv'd of the knowledg of God and Religion Hence that very darkness that fell upon the Gentile world by that confusion of Tongues continued upon them to this very time But now behold the remedy and that wound that had been inflicted by the confusion is now heal'd by the gift of Tongues that Veil that was spread over all Nations at Babel was taken away at mount Zion Isai. XXVII 7. We meet with a form of prayer in the Jewish writings which was used on the solemn fast of the ninth month Ab of which this is one clause m m m m m m Hieros Taanith fol. 65. 3. Have mercy O God upon the City that mourneth that is troden down and desolate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thou didst lay it wast by fire and by fire wilt build it up again If the Jews expect and desire their Jerusalem should be rebuilt by fire let them direct their eyes toward these fiery Tongues and acknowledg both that the building commenc'd from that time and the manner also how only it is to be restor'd VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These men are full of new wine RAbba saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man is bound to make himself so mellow on the Feast of Purim that he shall not be able to distinguish between cursed be Haman and blessed be Mordecai Rabbah and R. Zeira feasted together on the Feast of Purim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they were sweeten'd or made very mellow The Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they were sweeten'd i. e. they were got drunk So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is nothing but what they were wont to express in their common Dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are sweeten'd that is are drunk But may we not rather judg those drunk who by saying the Apostles were full of new wine imputed that sudden skill of theirs in so many Languages to wine and intemperance The Rabbins indeed mention a Demon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cordicus who possesseth those that are drunk with new wine n n n n n n Gittin cap. 7. But is he so great a Master of Art and wit that he can furnish them with Tongues too These scoffers seem to be of the very dregs and scum of the people who knowing no other Language but their own Mother-tongue and not understanding what the Apostles said while they were speaking in foreign languages thought they said nothing but meer babble and gibberish VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is but the third hour of the day THAT is with us nine a Clock in the morning before which time especially on the Sabbath and other
time be delivered from the bondage of their sinful corruption that is the bondage of their lusts and vile affections under which it hath lain for so long a time into a noble liberty such as the Sons of God enjoy VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The whole creation groaneth together c. IF it be enquired how the Gentile World groaned and travailed in pain let them who expound this of the Fabrick of the material World tell us how that groaneth and travaileth They must needs own it to be a borrowed and allusive phrase But in the sense which we have pitcht upon the very literal construction may be admitted CHAP. XI BEFORE we apply our selves to the Exposition of this Chapter let me make these few enquiries I. Whether the Jewish Nation as to the more general and greater part of it had not been rejected and blinded before such time as our Saviour manifested himself in the flesh I know well enough that the casting off of that Nation is commonly assigned to that horrid wickedness of theirs in murdering the Lord Christ and persecuting the Gospel and his Apostles a wickedness abundantly deserving their rejection indeed but were they not blinded and cast off before They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generation of Vipers at the time that the Baptist first appeared amongst them and this bears the same signification as the seed of the Serpent Our Saviour preacheth to them in Parables that they might neither see nor hear nor be converted nor their sins be forgiven them Mark IV. 11 12. which may give ground of suspicion that that people were cast off to whom Christ preaches in such a form and manner of Oratory on purpose that they should not be converted If they were Jews to whom S. Peter directs his first Epistle as who indeed doth deny it then there is some weight in those words Chap. II. 10. Ye were in times past not a people II. Is it not very agreeable to reason and Scripture to suppose that Nation cast off for the entertainment they had given to their fond and impious Traditions A reprobate people certainly they were whose Religion had made void the Commandments of God A reprobate Nation who in vain worshipped God after the Commandments of Men Matth. XV. and by such Commandments of Men that had leven'd yea poisoned their minds with blasphemy and hatred against the true Messiah and the pure truth of God Isa. XXIX 13. Because the fear of this people toward me is taught by the precept of men therefore the wisdom of their wise men shall perish c. May we not from this original derive the first original of the rejection of this people And by how much the more they are bewitcht with the love of their Traditions by so much the more we may suppose them separated from God hardened and cast off That the Apostle seems to look back to times before the murdering of our Lord when he is discoursing about the casting off of that Nation III. Was not the Gospel brought unto and publisht amongst the ten Tribes as well as amongst the Jews when the Apostle wrote this Epistle The determination of this matter seems to conduce something toward the explaining of this Chapter seeing throughout the whole Chapter there is no mention of the Jews singly but of Israel The Gospel was to be preacht to the whole World before the destruction of Jerusalem Matth. XXIV 14. And was it not to the ten Tribes as well as other Nations It makes for the affirmative that S. James directs his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those ten Tribes as well as the other two But the Apostles wrote to none but to whom the Gospel was now come VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hath God cast away his people WE may observe what it is the Apostle propounds to discourse viz. not of the universal calling in of the Nation but of the non-rejection of the whole Nation Hath God so rejected his people that he hath cast them away universally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid For I my self am an Israelite and he hath not cast me away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Tribe of Benjamin So Phil. III. 5. The Jasper stone upon which was inscribed the name of Benjamin in the Brest-plate was the first foundation in the New Jerusalem Revel XXI 19. In memory as it should seem of this Benjamite the chief founder of the Gentile Church e e e e e e Hieros Peah fol. 15. 3. Kiddush fol. 60. 2. The Jasper of Benjamin fell one day out of the Brest plate and was lost Dama ben Nethinah having one like it they bargained with him to buy it for an hundred pence c. VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How he maketh intercession c. f f f f f f Lev. Gâ—r in 1 Kings XIX ELijah begs of God that he would take vengeance on the Israelites for the wickednesses they had committed VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have digged down thine Altars THY Altars What Altars of God should they be that the Israelites had thrown down in Samaria The Altar in the Temple was whole at that time And what Altar had God besides R. Sol. upon 1 Kings XIX Tells us these Altars were private Altars raised to the Name of God Such an one was that that Elijah repaired being broken down 1 King XVIII 30. There were indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high places built up to Idols but there were some also built up to God And that as the Jews grant lawfully enough before the Temple was built which were used afterward but the use of them became faulty because they were bound to go only to that Altar that was in the Temple These Altars were unlawfully built amongst the two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin because the way lay open for them to the Altar at Jerusalem but it was not so unlawful for the ten Tribes within the Kingdom of Samaria because they could have no such access It is questionable therefore whether Elijah would call the high places or Altars in Judaea though dedicated to the true God the Altars of God which being so dedicated in Samaria he calls by the name of thine Altars VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the image of Baal THOSE who would have the Hebrew Bibles corrected by the Greek Version and contend that those Interpreters were inspired with a Prophetick Spirit let them tell us here who it was that mistook these Interpreters or St. Paul For so they in 1 King XIX 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thou shalt leave in Israel seven thousand men all the knees which have not bowed the knee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Baal So the Roman and Alexandrian Edition But the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have reserved to my self seven thousand men all that have not bowed the knee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Baal To pass by the
these entertainments of strangers were those Agapae concerning which St. Jude speaks in terms and Peter in the same sense though not in terms 2 Pet. II. I. Since the Apostolic Churches imitated the laudable customs of the Synagogues in all things almost which might more largely be demonstrated if this were a place for it it is by no means to be thought that this so piouss so Christian so necessary a custom should be passed over by them I say it again so necessary For II. When the Apostles and Disciples travailed up and down preaching the Gospel poor enough both by the iniquity of the times and by the very command of our Saviour and when at that time not a few were banished from their own dwellings for the profession of the Gospel the honor of the Gospel the necessity of the thing and Christian piety and charity required that they should be sustained by some such relief III. When Gaius is said to be the host of the whole Church Rom. XVI 23. You can scarce take this in another sense than that he was deputed by the Church over the public Hospital where he discharged his office so laudably that he carried away a testimony of praise if he be the same Gaius which it is probable he was from St. John in his third Epistle vers 5. IV. When mention is made of Widdows washing strangers feet 1 Tim. V. 10. And when Phebe is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Servant of the Church at Kenchrea Rom. XVI 1. to omit other women who are said to labour much in the Lord you will scarcely fix a better sense upon these Charecters than that they ministred in that public Hospital of which we are speaking V. And this sense agrees excellently well above all others with the place of Jude alledged as also with that of Peter who treats of the same thing For Jude speaks of Apostate Heretics Seducers the most wicked of all mortal men whom he saith were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spots in their Agapae And do you think these were of the same Church where they so fasted Were these admitted without any scruple to the Agapae if they were appendages to the Lords Supper For Jude saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feeding themselves without fear c. How much more probable is it to think that these strangers were unknown persons under the form of believers wandring up and down and received in the common Hospital of the Church and there scattering their errors and that so much the more boldly as they were themselves the more unknown We are far from denying that some Agapae Love-feasts were used as appendages of the Lords Supper in more antient ages of the Church but whether in the times of the Apostles we ask and whether Jude means such we very much doubt and that such are here pointed out by the Apostle we do not at all believe Those banquetings of the Corinthians before the Eucharist unless we are very much mistaken look far another way and I fear lest while some pursue this place concerning the Lords Supper with such Commentaries of dread and terror that some being moved and terrified thereby do altogether avoid this Sacrament as some deadly thing and not to be medled with I fear I say that they do hit upon the fault and error of the Corinthians in this business and that they do not reduce that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unworthily to their proper crime We believe the Jewish part of this Church although converted to the Gospel yet retained somewhat of their old Leaven and as they Judaized in other things so in this about the Eucharist so grievously erring concerning the proper end of it that they thought it only an appendage of the Passover or some new or superadded form of the commemoration of the going out of Egypt Into which error they might be the more apt to fall they especially who were so inclinable to Judaism both because it was instituted in bread and wine which were in the Passoveâ—â— and because they had drunk in this from their very cradles That the Messiah when he should come would banish or change nothing of the rites of Moses but would promote and raise all unto a more splendid form and pomp That this was the error of the Corinthians about the Eucharist these observations make evident which the Apostle hints both in this verse and those that follow of which in their order as we meet with them And first let us weigh this that is under our hands I. It is clearer than the Sun that the Apostle sharply reproves the Corinthians for these very Suppers I say for the very Suppers and not only for an abuse happening in the Suppers For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Supper he calls that which was to be eaten at home if any were so hungry before the Eucharist that he could not abstain He dishonoureth the Church with the Supper which was brought into it Weigh these things and think whether these Agapae were those that are supposed II. The Corinthians placed somewhat of Religion in these Suppers when they brought them into the Church But what was that Thus doing they retained the shaddow and memory of keeping the Passover and very willingly they imitated the example of Christ in the Ante-supper that they might the more freely serve their Judaism in so doing yea they dreamt that the Eucharist was instituted for the same commemoration with the Passover It was Epidemical among the Jews converted to the Gospel that they embraced Christianity but did not forgoe Judaism yea that they brought over the things of the Gospel as much as could be to the doctrins and practices of the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another is drunken There is none that we know that applies not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One is hungry to the poor and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another is drunken to the rich which we also once believed but they seem rather to be applied to the different Nations Drunken to the Jews celebrating the Passover in their Ante suppers before the Eucharist and Hungry to the Gentiles not being hungry so much out of poverty or necessity as that they would not embrace such an Ante-supper as savouring of Judaism We may interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another is drunk more favourably than to extend it to extream drunkenness For all know what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 means in Gen. XLIII ult They drunk largely with him and Cantic V. 1. Drink abundantly O Beloved Where the LXX read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were drunk with him and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye drunk Brethren But if you will attribute an ignominious sense to it it does not much differ from that liberal pouring in of wine which was allowed and used by some in their celebrating the Passovers But the Apostle seems to inveigh against the very use of the thing namely against the Suppers
Hearers while those things were rendred truly which that Mystical and Sacred Language contained in it The foundations of Churches were now laying and the foundations of Religion in those Churches and it was not the least part of the Ministerial task at that time to prove the Doctrine of the Gospel and the person and the actions and the sufferings of Christ out of the Old Testament now the Original text was unknown to the common people the Version of the Seventy Interpreters was faulty in infinite places the Targum upon the Prophets was unconstant and Judaized the Targum upon the Law was as yet none at all so that it was impossible to discover the mind of God in the Holy Text without the immediate gift of the Spirit imparting perfect and full skill both of the Language and of the sense that so the foundations of Faith might be laid from the Scriptures and the true sense of the Scriptures might be propagated without either error or the comments of men The Apostle saith Let him pray that he may interpret vers 13. And Interpretation is numbred among the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit Now let it be supposed that he spake Latine Arabick Persian either he understood what he spake or he did not if he did not then how far was he from edifying himself And yet the Apostle saith He that speaks in a Tongue edifies himself If he understood what he spake how easie was it for him to render it in the Corinthian Language There are many now Learned by study who are able to translate those Tongues into the Corinthian or the Greek without that extraordinary gift of Interpretation immediately poured out by the Holy Ghost But let it be supposed which we do suppose that he spake in the Hebrew Tongue that he either read or quoted the holy Text in the original Language and that he either preached or prayed in the phrases of the Prophets it sufficed not to the Interpretation to render the bare words into bare words but to understand the sense and marrow of the Prophets Language and plainly and fully to unfold their mysteries in apt and lively and choise words according to the mind of God which the Evangelists and Apostles by a divine skill do in their writings Hear the judgment of the Jews concerning a just Interpretation of the holy Text. a a a a a a Bab. Kiddush fol. 49. 1. They are treating of the manner of espousing a woman Among other things these passages occur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rabbins deliver If he saith Be thou my Espouser if I read If he read three verses in the Synagogue behold she is espoused R. Judah saith Not until he read and interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be interpret according to his own sense But the Tradition is this R. Judah saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that interprets a verse according to his own form behold he is a lyar If he add any thing to it behold he is a Reproacher and Blasphemer What therefore is the Targum Or what Interpretation is to be used Our Targum The Gloss there writes thus He that Interprets a verse according to his own form that is according to the literal sound For example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. XXIII 2. He that interprets that thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not testifie against judgment is a lyar for he commands that judgment be brought forth into light But let him so interpret it Thou shalt not restrain thy self from teaching any that enquire of thee in judgment So Onkelos renders it If he add any thing to it If he say Because liberty is given to add somewhat I will add wheresoever it lists me he sets God at nought and changeth his words For wheresoever Onkelos added he added not of his own sense For the Targum was given in Mount Sinai and when they forgat it he came and restored it And Rab. Chananeel explains those words He that Interprets a verse according to his own form by this example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. XXIV 10. He that shall render it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they saw the God of Israel is a lyar for no man hath seen God and shall live And he will add to it who should render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they saw the Angel of God For he attributes the Glory of God to an Angel But let him interpret it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they saw the Glory of the God of Israel So Onkelos again So great a work do they reckon it to interpret the sacred Text. And these things which have been said perhaps will afford some light about the gift of Interpretation But although the use of the Hebrew Tongue among these Ministers was so profitable and necessary yet there was some abuse which the Apostle chastiseth namely that they used it not to edification and without an Interpreter and further while I behold the thing more closely I suspect them to Judaize in this matter which we have before observed them to have done in other things and that they retained the use of the Hebrew Language in the Church although unknown to the common people and followed the custom of the Synagogue Where I. The Scripture is not read but in the Hebrew Text yea as we believe in the Synagogues even of the Hellenists as we dispute elsewhere of that matter II. Publick prayers in the Synagogue were also made in Hebrew one or two excepted which were in Chaldee b b b b b b Gloss. in Beracoth fol. 3. 1. They were wont to repeat the prayer whose beginning is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after Sermon For the common people were there present who understood not the holy Language Therefore this prayer they composed in the Chaldee Tongue that all might understand The rest they understood not III. He that taught or preached out of the chair spoke Hebrew and by an Interpreter c c c c c c Gloss. in Joâ—a fol. 20. 2. The Interpreter stood before the Doctor who preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Doctor whispered him in the ear in Hebrew and he rendred it to the people in the mother Tongue And there in the Gemara a story is related of Rabh who was present as Interpreter to R. Shillah and when R. Shillah said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cock crows Rabh rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he should have rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence there is very frequent mention in the Books of the Talmudists of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Interpreter of this and that Doctor While I consider these things used in the Synagogues of the Jews and remember that a great part of the Church of Corinth consisted of Jews I cannot but suspect that their Ministers also used the same Tongue according to the old custom Namely that one read the Scripture out of the Hebrew Text
prove that he was admitted to Communion with the Church by Circumcision That stamped him for an Israelite and joyned him to Israel In Exod. XII 44. But every mans servant that is bought for money when thou hast circumcised him then shall he eat thereof Circumcise him and thou bringest him into Communion then he may eat nay then he must eat the Passover III. Now as he was a member of the Church of the Jews as a Jew and admitted to the full Communion with it by Circumcision so there were two things besides ingaged him that he did not that he might not depart from that Communion 1. The obligation of the Law was upon him for things of Divine Institution And 2. The tenderness of his own Heart not to give offence in things indifferent First The Apostle tells us Gal. IV. 4. That he was made under the Law He was under the Moral Law as Man bound to observe it upon duty as all men are He was also put under it as Mediator that he might fulfil it and so he saith himself Matth. V. 17. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil It is a strange quotation the Apostle makes in Heb. III. to prove that Christ was not ashamed to call his Saints brethren vers 12. I will declare thy Name amongst my brethren that is plain and pregnant but vers 13. And again I will trust in him How doth the proof speak to the thing proposed Why very properly thus As the Saints trusted in God so did he as it was their duty so it was his he being bound as Man to the obedience of the Moral Law as well as any of his and to it as Mediator for the fulfilling of it in behalf of his Nay he was put under the whole Law and oeconomy of Moses the Ceremonial Law which was the great Law of their Religion as well as the Moral Take their Ceremonial Religion in all its relations and he was under the bond of all 1. As it was a badge of distinction to difference an Israelite from all other Nations so he was bound under it as being a Jew 2. As it was a way of Gods instituted Worship so he was bound under it as one Religious 3. As it was the bond of Israels Communion in Gods Worship so he was bound under it as a member of that Church True you will say he was bound to these rites that were of Divine Institution but a great part of their Religion consisted then of Humane Inventions which neither were of Divine Authority nor some of them seemed of any great Solidity Yet Secondly Even in these things whilst they were not sinful in themselves he would not break off Communion from the way of their Religion because he would not give offence That reason that he gives about paying the half Shekel went along with him in other things Matth. XVIII 27. Lest we give them offence He might have stood upon the argument that he useth in vers 26. his own immunity from such payments as being the great Kings Son to whom they were paid He might have stood against the present imployment of the mony so paid It was for the repair of the Temple and now the Temple was become a den of thieves It was for buying things for the service at the Altar and he might have pleaded the corruption of the Priests and of the service but he stands not out but complies upon this account lest we should give them offence When he had healed a Leper in Matth. VIII 4. He commands him to go and shew himself to the Priest and to offer his gift due upon such occasions And why should he injoin him the ordinary observance when his cleansing was extraordinary Why should he send him to undergo the common rites of cleansing when he was intirely cleansed already And these rites also seeming not to carry much solidity with them For he must stand in the Court gate of the Temple and not himself go in but thrust his head in that the blood of his offering might be put upon the tip of his ear For neither might the blood be brought out of the Court because it was holy nor might he go into the Court because he was not yet cleansed but thus standing and thrusting in his head he saved both cautions A strange rite and posture you will say yet will Christ for all that have the man to undergo those common rites used in that part of Service because he would not give offence either by crossing or hindring His own precept speaks not only his own practise but even his own mind and sence and he would never go contrary to that to which he exhorted others in Matth. XXIII 1. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair they are the chief Magistrates and sit in the Legislative chair therefore whatsoever they command you in things not sinful do And it was a great deal easier to bring in sinless humane inventions into Divine Worship then than it is under the Gospel For when even their whole Religion given and appointed by God himself consisted namely of Ceremony it was less to add Ceremony to Ceremony than it is now under the Gospel whose simplicity hath excluded such Ceremoniousness altogether God by Moses had given general rules for Sacrifice Purifications Worship and other things Now there were some particulars necessary for the carrying on of those generals which either were not at all or not plainly set down by Moses Now if the Learned Leaders of that Nation finding it needful that something should be stated in those particulars and did according to their best judgment determine such and such things it was but helping forward Ceremoniousness by Ceremoniousness and stating particular practises suitable to the general end and intent which how any Ceremoniousness may be to the Gospels is not so easie if possible at all to find out or digest And therefore although I would set before you the great example of our Lord and Master of holding Communion with the Church yet upon this very thing that we are now speaking of it may give every one a time to consider whether Humane Inventions do so well and sinlesly comply with Divine Worship now as they might do then And thus having considered Christs obligations to hold Communion now let us come to observe his practise And that we shall take up in these two heads His Publick Devotions and his Gospel Institutions And the former in observing his demeanor at the Festivals in Jerusalem and in the Synagogue As to the first God appointed the three Festivals Passover Pentecost and of Tabernacles for Religion and for Communion and for Communion the rather I say for Communion the rather For the Services that Israel were to perform at them at Jerusalem might have been done by them there had they severally gone up thither but God would have them to go up and meet there altogether and to do those things altogether that he might tie them
the publick charge but I shall fix particularly upon the publick Minister All the Titles that are given to Ministers of the Gospel are the very same that were given to the publick Minister in the Synagogue A Gospel Minister is called Angelus Ecclesiae so was the Minister in the Synagogue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel or Messenger of the Congregation The Ministers of the Gospel are called Episcopi Bishops or Overseers so was the Minister in every Synagogue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chazan Hacconeseth the overseer of the Congregation They are called Rulers Elders and those that are set over the people so were the Ministers of the Synagogue called in every title Now doth not all this speak Christs owning conformity to the Plat-form Discipline and Worship in the Synagogues when he thus translated all into the Christian Church And this doth plainly shew what we hinted before that Christs resorting constantly to the Synagogue was to joyn with them in the Worship there as well as to preach or to heal what diseased he met with there IV. His institution of the Lords Prayer tells that he held Conformity with the Church in the publick exercise of Religion They that are of opinion that the Lords Prayer was not given for a form to be used toâ—idem verbis that it is not fit to be joyned with our Prayers that it is not fit to be said by all because all may not call God Our Father did they but clearly see in what conformity to the practise in the Jewish Church both the Prayer was given and every petition and phrase in it doth go they would be of another opinion if they be not espoused to their own The surest and safest construction of phrases and passages in the New Testament is not by framing a sence of our own which we think fair and probable but by observing how such phrases and passages wereunderstood by them to whom they were then uttered according to the common use and signification of such phrases and passages in the vulgar sence and use of the Nation It is not what conceits or constructions we can mint out of our invention to maintain the opinions about this Prayer that I mentioned before but it is best to cast how the Disciples to whom it was given did or could conceive of it upon such observations on it as these They knew that such short forms of Prayer were usual in the Nation That such forms were given by Masters to their Scholars to be used verbatim That such were to be subjoyned to their other Prayers That the most common title whereby the whole Nation called God was Our Father which art in Heaven That every petition in this Prayer was such as was also usual in the Nation So that they saw that Christ had given this Prayer directly according to the custom stile and form of the Nation and that he had given no exception to them about it Therefore how could they understand or conceive of it according to the common custom of the Nation in such cases but that it was to be used in terminis and to be joyned to their Prayers By these few examples indeed of multitudes that might be produced you see an evident proof of his holding communion all along his practise Thus have I done with the former part of the Doctrine viz. That our Saviour held in communion with the Church of the Jews in the publick exercise of Religion I should now take up the latter That he conformed to the common customs of the Nation in civil converse And here we are come into as large a field as the other if not larger a subject of abundant proof and clearness and which if I should go about to evidence by all examples that might be produced the day would fail me I shall say no more upon it but this That besides that what is said already doth abundantly prove it one that hath perused the Jews Writings and observed both the common dialect and the customs of the Nation in those times may observe Christs conformity almost to their customs in every one of his actions and his conformity to their Phrase Language and Manner of speech almost in every one of his Speeches And as here is Wisdom so here is Learning from knowledge of their Customs and Languages to unlock the phrases and passages of the New Testament to which it alludes all along It is not what we can guess upon these and the other speeches of Christ where he is obscure but the best way to find out the sence is to observe how such words which are their own Language would be taken according to the common acceptation of them in the Nation and how they understood them to whom they were spoken I might be large in Application And indeed in our divided times one can never speak too much upon this subject But what need I do more among Christians than to leave so plain a copy of Christ before them I shall leave only this request with you concerning what hath been spoken Deal as the Bereans Search the Scriptures diligently Let this hint your poor Countryman hath given you go along with you as you read the New Testament See there whether ever you find Christ but going on in that communion I have spoken And till you find him dividing I hope there is none here but will account his Example a rule inviolable And let me give you caution against that Opinion that by mistake of a Text or two sticks not to say that the Gospel doth naturally produce division Matth. X. 34 35. Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth I come not to send peace but a sword For I am come to set a man at variance against his father c. And Luke XII 51 52. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather Division c. It were strange if these should be natural effects of the Gospel of peace and how doth such production agree with that of Esa. II. 4. They shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation c. And Chap. XI 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain And it were strange that Christ and his Gospel should be of so different tempers he to keep so close to communion himself and to give a Gospel that should break it But mistake not the Texts They speak not that Christ would send those divisions by the Gospel but by his vengeance He was most fearfully to destroy the cursed unbelievers the Nation of the Jews and one dreadful way of the execution of that vengeance was by sending a Spirit of division among the Nation whereby they even destroyed themselves The stories of their horrid Civil Wars Burnings Plunderings Assassinations one of another the like example is in no stories is a most plain exposition of those Texts and a
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
that Royal Father that said All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth and it is a copy of her father He himself hath drawn his own picture in it in little as he sitteth in his Royal Domination and given that image of himself to you to wear always about you Let me therefore only tell you the story of a King that always wore his Fathers picture who had been a worthy Prince about him and ever and anon would look on it and say Ne quid unquam faciam indignum tali patri O may I never do any thing unworthy such a father Your wisdom and worth will make the Application A good Magistrate hath one part of the image of Christ more than other good men as Adams dominion over the Creatures was part of the image of God upon him as well as holiness and righteousness was the image of God in him So is his Power and Commission to rule Kingdoms in the World the very image of Christ ruling and judging if Righteousness and Holiness be added and Adam in all his glory was not arraied like such a Person I am unwilling to insist and spend time to prove that Magistracy is Christs ordinance lest I speak but as he did at Rome who had written a large discourse in praise of Hercules he was but jeered for his pains and folly to go about so seriously to commend Hercules whom none said they did ever discommend What sober man does or can deny Kingship and Magistracy to be of Christs ordaining and I am unwilling by being urgent in the proof of it so much as to seem to undervalue the judgment of any in the Congregation so far as to think this great and important truth needs any proof to him Only let me say this to those that do deny it That it is a very strange Logick they make when they conclude thus Jesus is King Jesus and he is Lord and Ruler of all therefore he will endure no Kingship else no Potentates no Civil Government Thou thoughtest me like unto thy self is the complaint of God against the prophane in Psal. L. 21. Men that would Rule and would have none to Rule but themselves would perswade you Christ is of that mind and so make that perswasion a stalking-horse to their ambition I am sure God himself concludes after another manner in the second Psalm I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion what infers he thereupon Not Therefore O ye Kings give up your Kingship Nor O ye Judges of the Earth judge the Earth no more But therefore be wise O ye Kings c. and do your duty in your places When our Saviour Christ came to set up his Kingdom of the Gospel as among the Jews he took away and abolished only that of their Laws and Ordinances that were Ceremonial and that that related only to them as peculiar people but let that stand that was Moral and that that was not of that peculiar relation so among them Gentiles when he made them his Church he took away and destroyed only that that was sinful and abominable among them and which did most properly denominate them Heathenish as strangers and enemies to all Goodness and Religion but that that was innocent useful and necessary he perpetuated among them Among the Jews he abolished the worship at the Temple as purely Ceremonious but he perpetuated the Worship of the Synagogue Reading the Scriptures Praying Preaching and Singing of Psalms c. transplanted it into the Christian Church as purely Moral So among the Gentiles he destroied their ignorance Idolatry corruption of manners delusions of Satan as purely Heathenish But he perpetuated Kingship Magistracy civil Government as useful and profitable and taken up upon the very pure light of nature and inevitable necessity I may compare what he did in this to what he did about Baptism He found when he came that it had been in use among the Jews for admission of Proselytes to their Church many hundred of years before he himself or John Baptist were born and hence he was not sollicitous to give rules what persons and ages were to be baptized nor in what manner now for that was known both then and many generations before he came as well as we know it now but he took up Baptism as he found it continued in the Christian Church only he inhanced the dignity of it by Sanctionating it for a Gospel Sacrament So when he came among the Gentiles he found that Magistracy and Civil Government had been among them in all generations and he takes it up as he found it and continues in the Christian Church only he inhanced the dignity of it in Sanctionating it now for a Gospel Ordinance And I must add for a Gospel Mercy II. And that is it that I observe from the second clause in the Text They sat upon them A Christian Magistracy is a Gospel Mercy Christian Kings are Inthroned and Christian Magistrates are Impoured for a mercy unto Christians The context for several verses together speaks of several things as Gospel mercies and my Text coming in the midst of them speaks of that that is of the same nature and qualification It was a Gospel Mercy that the Devil was chained up that he should deceive the Nations no more as he had done in the verse before the Text. It is a Gospel Mercy that those that suffer for Christ and die for Christ are not lost but reign with him in glory in this same verse with the Text. It was a Gospel Mercy that the Heathen that had been so long dead in ignorance and all manner of sinfulness should have a Resurrection and come to the life of grace and glory in the fifth verse And it is a Gospel Mercy in the Text that Christians are set up to be Kings Rulers and Judges among Christians We need not go far for proof of this for the flourishing condition of England both in Church and State under such Government and Governors gives evidence and example sufficient in this case And vox populi the universal joy and acclamations of all the Nation upon the happy restoring of his Sacred Majesty speaks the sense and attestation of the whole Nation nay of the three Nations unto the truth and their sensibleness of this mercy The shout of a King of a most Christian King was among them I know your own thoughts prevent me in the proof of this and read the truth of it in this days occasion who is here that is a lover of right and honesty that is a son of peace and order and deserves indeed the name of a Christian whose heart rejoyceth not within him to see such occasion as these Justice looking down upon us from Heaven Deputies sent us from our great King in Heaven as well as from his Sacred Majesty and they of our own Nation Religion Profession of the same Body Church and Nation with our selves administer Judgment among us to relieve the
of the Covenant I need not instance hundreds of places do evidence it But what could any one see in the Ark that might speak Gods Covenant There was indeed the Mercy seat upon it and the two Cherubims at the several ends of it and the cloud oft between and this was all that any Israelite could see that looked upon it But this was not that that intitled it to that Title but the two Tables of the Law that were in it And so Moses himself doth make the exposition Exod. XXXIV 28. He wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments Deut. IX 11. At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two Table of stone the Tables of the Covenant And to spare more instances you find the terms Covenant and Commands to be convertible or to mean one and the same thing Psal. CV 8. He hath remembred his Covenant the word which he Commanded And Psal. CXI 9. He Commanded his Covenant for ever He Commanded his Covenant a strange expression and a comfortless expression as one would think his Covenant to be nothing but a company of impossible Commands his Covenant to be nothing but a Law the Ministration of which the Apostle tells us was the Ministration of death II Cor. III. As he I thought he would have stroked his hand over the sore and prayed and he bids only Go wash in Jordan So one would think it should be said He hath promised tendred ingaged his Covenant and it comes off only with this He hath Commanded his Covenant And here we are come to the great question Under what notion the Moral Law stands in the Covenant of grace You know who they were that have held and I doubt too many hold it at this day that to Israel it was a Covenant of Works and thereupon infer that Christians are delivered from the obligation of the Moral Law because they are not under the Covenant of Works but the Covenant of Grace And accordingly they understand that distinction of the old Covenant and new mentioned so much by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the old Covenant means the Moral Law and the new Covenant the Gospel To these men let me first speak in the style of God to Abraham Gen. XV. 5. Look up to Heaven and count the Stars if thou canst number them So look up to Heaven and see the old Moon and the new and observe them Are they really two several Moons No but one and the same Moon under various shapes Or look on the Earth upon a person now Regenerated he was before an old Creature now he is a new II Cor. V. 17. What is he now a really distinct person from what he was before No but of a different condition only the same man but his condition and temper changed So the Covenant of Grace is the same like Christ the chief Tenor of the Covenant yesterday and to day and the same for ever the same from the first day that it was given to Adam to the last day of the World and till Time shall be no more The same under the Law the same under the Gospel but clothed in different garments in administrations of various fashions The Covenant of Grace to the Jew was Believe in Christ and be saved as it is to us as the Apostle clears in all his Epistles more particularly in Heb. XI But to them God added thus Because the Doctrine of Christ is not yet so clear use these Ceremonies which figure out the actings and Office of Christ the Priesthood his Mediating the Sacrifices his Death cleansing with Blood his purging of Sin and the like And because no other people is yet to be admitted to the Church and true Religion but themselves use these Ceremonies to distinguish you from all other people till time come that the Gentiles come to be admitted So that these Ceremonies were not the Covenant of Grace to them nor a Covenant of Works to them but only the manner and mode of the administration of the Covenant of Grace till the Gospel should come which when it came and Christ was come then the Doctrine of Christ was clear and all Nations were come in then were these Ceremonies laid aside and a clean different administration of the Covenant of Grace brought in and under these reasons are these different administrations called the old and new Covenant So that the Ceremonial part of the Law is called the old Covenant but the Moral doth not fall under that title nor vanish as the other did And secondly To these that we are speaking of let me propose this question Did God go backward in his Covenanting first to give a Covenant of Grace to Adam when he had broke his Covenant of Works and after to give a Covenant of Works to Israel and to lay by his Covenant of Grace The Sun in the sky stood still once and went backward once but the glorious Son of Righteousness that rose in the Covenant of Grace the first day of Adam never stood still never went back but is still keeping his course to save by Grace to save in the Covenant of Grace and not by Works If I go to Jonathans house again saith Jeremy I shall surely die and if God send man back to a Covenant of Works when Adam himself failed in his Covenant of Works man is but lost for ever And thirdly Let us read the Draught of the Covenant it self This Indenture made betwixt the great God and poor dust and ashes sinful and miserable witnesseth That God of his infinite Love and Grace and Mercy doth promise and demise and let to this poor creature Grace and Glory interest in himself and Heaven Provided always That man keep his Law and do those Commands that God lays upon him For God could not make a Covenant of Grace but it must include Commandments and a Law unless he would have conditioned thus with him Do what thou wilt live as thou wilt Eat Drink Revel be Epicure be Atheist and yet thou shalt enjoy me for ever thou shalt be blessed for ever We may tremble at such Language The Stool of wickedness could do no more And how cheap and vile a thing were God if to be enjoyed on such terms as these Man as he is a Creature must have a Law from his Creator or else God should resign his authority and let man be his own God Our obedience to God is founded in God himself If God be God serve him an argument so urgent that t is never to be dissolved And therefore that clause is set before the ten Commandments and set after divers Commands afterwards I am the Lord as an argument sufficient to challenge obedience There is nothing can dissolve the bond of mans obedience to his Creator unless God would cease to be God for if God be God serve him And therefore the Covenanting for Grace is so far from abating of a
otherwise where had their expectation been The verses immediately before speak nothing but devastation and ruine of Heaven and Earth and if there had been nothing beyond that to be looked after their hopes and expectancy had been ruined also but we says our Apostle look for new Heavens and a new Earth But of what nature they is all the question I doubt some men construe these words of the Apostle as far distant from his sense almost as the Earth is distant from the Heavens whilst they conceive from hence that after the dissolution of all things yet there shall be a renewing of Heaven and Earth and they shall be as before as to their substance and form only their quality changed To this they apply Rom. VIII 19 20. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God c. They would make our Apostle say Sibboleth whether he will or no whereas he speaks Shibboleth plain enough to a far differing sense For the discovery of his meaning have patience a little whilst I make this observation clear unto you which may be useful to you in reading several places of Scripture That the ruine and destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish commonwealth and oeconomy is set forth in Scripture in such expressions as if it were the destruction and dissolution of the whole world Moses beginneth this stile in Deut. XXXII 22. where he is speaking of that vengeance For a fire is kindled in mine anger and it shall burn to the lowest hell and it shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains Would you not think that the dissolution of all things were in mention Look upon the context and you find it to mean no other than the destruction of that Nation Jeremy yet higher Chap. IV. 23. I beheld the earth and â—o it was without form and void and the heavens and they had no light You would think all the world were returning there to her old chaos again Add yet further I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills moved lightly I beheld and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens were fled You would think that the whole universe were dissolving but look but in the 27 vers and it speaks no other than the dissolution of that people For thus hath the Lord said The whole land shall be desolate Our Saviour yet higher Matth. XXIV 29. The sun shall be darkned and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man c. who would not conclude that these expressions mean no other thing in the world than the last dissolution of the World and Christs coming to Judgment yet look well upon the context and it speaketh plainly that the meaning is only of the dissolving of the Jews City and State and Christ speaks it out most plainly at vers 34. where he afferts that that present generation should not pass till all those things were fulfilled The beloved Disciple follows his Masters stile upon the very same subject in the sixth of his Revelation where after he had described the means of the destruction of this wretched people under the opening of certain seals by Sword Famine and Plague he comes at last in vers 12 13 14. to speak their final dissolution it self in the very like terms The Sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the Moon became as blood And the Stars of Heaven fell unto the Earth and the Heavens departed as a scroll that is rolled together and every mountain and Island were removed out of their places One would think the final dissolution of all the world were spoken of but look in the 16th verse and you find the very same words that our Saviour applies to the destruction of that people Luke XXIII 30. They said unto the mountains fall on us and hide us c. Our Apostle Peters meaning is no other in the expression before my Text where when he speaks of the Heavens being dissolved by fire the Earth and the works therein burnt up and the elements melting with fervent heat he intends no other thing then the dissolving of their Church and oeconomy by firy vengance the consumption of their State by the flame of Gods indignation and the ruine of their elements of Religion by Gods fury Not the Elements in Aristotles sense of Fire Air Earth and Water but the Elements in his brother Pauls sense whom he mentions presently after my Text the carnal and beggerly Elements of their Mosaick rites and traditionary institutions By this time you plainly see in what sense The new Heavens and the new Earth is to be taken in the Text but for the fuller and clearer understanding of these things still give me yet a little further patience to shew you that as the destruction of that old World of the Jewish people and oeconomy is uttered by such expressions as if it were the destruction of the whole universe so the times going near before and concurrents going along with that destruction are phrased by expressions also sutable And this I shall observe to you in four heads I. There is much mention of the last days in Scripture which in most places is not to be understood of the last days of the World as some take them and so mistake but of the last days of Jerusalem and the Jewish State And indeed the greatest mercies that were promised to that people were promised to occur in those last days as Esa. II. 2. Hos. III. 5. Joâ—l II. 28. as he is cited by this our Apostle Act. II. 17. these things are not to be allotted to the last days of the World but to the last days of that City as Peters very allegation out of Joel makes it plain if there were no more proof Now saith he is fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel In the last days I will pour out c. These are the last days there intended and now the thing hath received its accomplishment For how improper is it to construe him in such a sense as some do This is that which Joel foretold should come to pass in the last days of the world two or three thousand years hence And so on the contrary the worst of men and times are foretold to be in those last days of Jerusalem because they did not improve those mercies I Tim. IV. 4. and II Tim. III. 1. and our Apostle in the third verse of this Chapter let the Apostle John explain all I Joh. II. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time II. In such a sense are such Phrases as these to be understood I Cor. X. 11. Upon
Sea of horror and confusion and sink and be drowned And so much be spoken or rather so little of much that might be spoken concerning the first thing that lay before us to be spoken to viz. Conviction of Conscience A SERMON PREACHED AT HERTFORD Assise Time July 16. 1665. JOHN XIV 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions c. THE words are the words of our Saviour and much mistaken if I am not much mistaken by many as to the time when they were spoken and by many as to their sence which they intend The first verse of the thirteenth Chapter and the last verse of this state the time of their speaking and the consideration of the case of the persons to whom they were spoken must state their meaning Very many conceive that the story of the foregoing Chapter was at the Passover-supper that it was at the Passover-supper when Christ washt his Disciples feet gave Judas the â—op and foretold Peter of his denial whereas the very first words in that Chapter do plainly tell it was before the Feast of the Passover came and the nine and twentieth verse of it tells us that when our Saviour said to Judas what thou doest do quick the Disciples thought he meant Buy those things that we have need of against the Feast which was not yet come Matthew and Mark resolve us both of the time and place namely that it was not at the Passover but two days before and that it was not at Jerusalem but at Bethany two miles off Matth. XXVI 2. 6. Mark XIV 1. 3. Two days therefore before the Passover at Bethany at a common supper Christs head is anointed he washeth the Disciples feet Judas receives the sop and the Devil with it goes in the night to Jerusalem and ploâ—â— for the betraying of his Master against the Passover come And after his departure Christ speaks of his own departure from them and tells Peter The Cock shall not crow till thou have denied me thrice That very passage hath bred that mistake about the time as if it were on the Passover night and that no Cock should crow till Peter had so denied him Whereas it is apparent that he denied him but once before the Cock crew Mark XIV 68. and forward and that he denied him twice after the Cock had once crowed But our Saviours meaning is that he should deny him thrice in the time of Cock crowing This matter is the more material for consideration because of that assertion of some That Judas received the sop at the Passover-supper but that he stayed not till the administration of the Lords Supper but went out whereas indeed he had received the sop two nights before the Passover-supper came At the same place at Bethany though not exactly at the same time with the story before Christ utters his discourse of this Chapter and you see how he concludes his discourse at the last verse of the Chapter Arise let us go hence that is from Bethany to Jerusalem on the Pass-over day He begins his discourse of this Chapter with Let not your hearts be troubled c. and presently comes on with the words of the Text In my Fathers house are many mansions About the juncture of which words there is some scruple Some apply them thus though I go alone yet there is room for you also where I go Others thus That whereas he had said to Peter Chap. XIII 36. Thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards he saith now to the rest let not your hearts be troubled there are many mansions in my Fathers house There is room for you as well as for Peter Some understand many mansions so for much room some for divers degrees of glory But we shall the better discover the bent of his words if we observe the three stays that he gives to their troubled minds in the three first verses We must take notice withal of the three things that might especially trouble their minds The three stays are Believe in me In my Fathers house I will come to take you And of the discomfiture that troubled their minds I. The first and not the least was that he had told them that he was going from them and that could not but go very near their hearts so loving so divine a Master to be taken away from their heads They had forsaken all to follow him and he now to forsake them that they can follow him no more they no more to enjoy the sweet delight of his company the saving and favoury flavor of his discourses and rare example of his life and converse Of all this they were very sensible but most of all that he should be taken from them in such a manner As the Children of the Prophets said to Elisha Knowest thou that thy Master this day will be taken from thine head Disciples know ye that your Master will presently be taken from you Yes we know it he hath told us so But do you apprehend that he is to be taken from you by such a shameful cruel horrid death That he was to be taken away from them at all how might it justly trouble their hearts but overwhelm their hearts if they knew the manner how Against this sadness he chears them with all the arguments and comforts that we meet with in the Text and Context ye will not see me any more yet believe in me I go from you but I go to prepare a place for you Though I leave you yet I do not forsake you for I will come and take you to my self But besides this There was a two fold trouble and discomforture might lie upon their hearts by looking upon themselves with reflexion upon two common and received opinions and tenets of the Nation in which they themselves had been trained up even from their infancy till they met with their Master And the first was that if a Jew forsook his Judaism he should have no part in the World to come A sowre sauce that no doubt the unbelieving Jews would lay in the dish of the Disciples and all other of the Nation that were turned Christians Oh! ye have forsaken your Religion and what will become of you The Apostles discourse seems directly to face such a reproach in I Thes. IV. 13 14. I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that sleep that ye sorrow not as others that have no hope What were they Sadducees that denied any Resurrection And did they account them that were dead to be dissolved into nothing and quite lost and gone Or acknowledging the Resurrection did they think their fellow Christians that were dead were gone to perdition and were in a damned estate Or was not this old Jewish Maxim rather cast in their teeth for the first foundation of this Thessalonian Church was of Jews You and your Sect have turned your back upon your Judaism and forsaken your Religion and where are they that are dead and what
will become of you when you die When as you have been taught from your child-hood He that forsaketh his Judaism shall have no part in the World to come You forsook to follow a certain Jesus have forsaken the Religion of your Fathers and what will you do in the latter end when ye come to die Why saith the Apostle Doubt not but as many as sleep in Jesus Jesus will bring with him and raise them even as God raised Jesus Now this might trouble the minds of the Apostles They had forsaken their Judaism and turned their backs upon the Religion they had been trained up in from their cradle to follow the new doctrine and precepts of their Master and now their Master is going from them and what have they to comfort themselves against that dagger-doctrine He that forsakes his Judaism c. why Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God be not affraid to believe also in me on the terms that I have told you even to the forsaking of your Judaism and to the embracing of my new way of administration For in my Fathers house are many mansions Mansions for you that believe in me as well as for them that under Judaism believe in the Father mansions for them under the Gospel administration under which I have brought you as well as for them that are under Legal administrations which you have left If it were not so I would have told you and will not deceive you III. It was a common and received doctrine and opinion of the Nation that Messias should have a pompous Kingdom that he should give splendid entertainment to his followers upon earth feasting banqueting great state and bravery And the Apostles themselves were not yet cleared of that opinion as appears by the request of Zebedees sons that one of them might sit on his right hand and the other on his left in his Kingdom and by that question of the Disciples Act. I. 6. c. Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel c. Now these poor men took Jesus indeed for the Messias but as yet they have seen no such entertainment at all They poor and their Master poor too He so far from giving any such treatment that he had not where himself to lay his own head and they so far from finding any such entertainment that they had met with nothing but poverty danger contempt and obloquy And now their Master is going from them and what is become now of their expectation of that bravery and Kingdom Why Let not your hearts be troubled I have noble entertainment for you but that is not to be here but in my Fathers house and thither I am going to prepare it and a place for you and I will come again and take you to my self to treat you there So that reading the words with the foil and set off of those two opinions which help to illustrate the sence by reflexion you may observe in them these Two things I. That Christs entertainment of his people is in Heaven II. That there they all meet in that blessed entertainment though here they were under various and different administrations Many mansions in the Text speaks not several and divided places in Heaven as the several Cabbins in Noahs Ark but it reflects upon the many administrations they were severally under upon earth though under various and different and almost contrary administrations on earth yet all meet in his Fathers house for there are many mansions and there is the place of his entertaining them I shall not need to prove that by his Fathers house he meaneth Heaven the very words following I go to prepare c. make that plain enough But I shall speak to both the Propositions before us as it were twistedly together in the method in which Christ acteth as to the things spoken of And first this I. Christ saw it good to bring his Church through various administrations of the matters of Religion and of the way of Salvation I say not through various Religions and ways of Salvations but through various administrations of the matters of Religion and of the way of Salvation before the Law under the Law and under the Gospel I shall not need to clear this in particulars it is so conspicuous and so well known to all that it were but expence of time to insist upon the proof of it Only let me say this upon it that God used these various administrations to his Church according to the diversity of the age of that mystical body Child-hood nonage and consistency And this the Apostle speaks plainly for me Gal. IV. at the beginning where he tells us that as the heir in nonage differs nothing from a Servant but is under Tutors and Governors and subjection so we when we were Children that is while Christs body was under age were in bonduge under the rudiments of the World till the fulness of time come Before the Law the Church was in its child-hood small and little confined within the compass of one or few families and then God brought it up upon his own knees documenting it as a mother does her child beford she send it to School with his own lively Voice in Visions Revelations or his own Words spoken from Heaven When it grew bigger and so very numerous in Egypt God then set it forth to School under the written Law a School-Master as the Apostle calls it and a sharp one too and it was no more than needed that it should be put under the lash and ferule of so severe a discipline For now the youth began to wax wanton and to forsake God that had so tenderly brought it up and to betake it self to the Idols of Egypt as Ezekiel tells you in his twentieth Chapter Therefore to School child to School under the lash of a seveer Law to keep under that youthfulness that was so ready to grow exorbitant And in this School the Church yet under age was under a twofold administration viz. under the Law with Prophets and Revelations under the first Temple and under the Law without Prophets and Revelations under the second At last comes in the Gospel and the Church is taken from School and put to the University and how it comes up to perfect manliness the Gentiles are called in and that makes up the compleat body It might be an Inquiry why the Church was to grow up towards consistency three thousand nine hundred twenty eight years viz. ere Christ came That is the perfect man and the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ which the Apostle speaks of Ephes. IV. 13. which some conceive to mean the stature of the bodies of the Saints when they shall rise from the dead just proportionated to the stature of Christs body when he died which is as far from the meaning of the Apostle as it is from hence to the Resurrection but he means the perfect growth and full
Atheist Oh! give me that word Christian again that I speak not contradictions And yet there are too many in our times O! that I might not say in our Nation that were Baptiz'd into the Christian Faith that live in a Christian Church and would go under a Christian Name and yet that deny these great points of Christian Religion and greater too if there may be greater There are too many of Atheistical principles now adays that say what you can for the assuring that there is an Eternal Judgment yet you never assure them Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris You cannot perswade them though you do perswade They will make but a puff at such a Doctrine and tell you that Religion and such Doctrines preached are but as bugbears of policy to keep men in awe and order I need not to inlarge their sayings to this purpose they are but too large and broad in themselves I have only this to say to them at this time Let me mind you of that passage Zech. XI 8. where the Prophet speaking in the person of Christ hath these words Three Shepherds also I cut off in one month and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me The three Shepherds that he means were the Pharisee Sadducee and Essean the ringleaders and the wrongleaders of the Jewish Nation Shepherds that caused the unfortunate sheep to go a stray and there fed them not but did destroy them Now how can it be said that Christ cut them off and especially now in one moneth When it is most apparent that these three Sects and Heresies continued many years many scores of years after our Saviour was ascended into Heaven Nay Pharisaisme is alive among all the Jewis Nation unto this day The meaning is this that Christ delivered a Truth and Doctrine enough and enough again to confound and destroy those cursed Heresies and to direct into the way of Truth but if those Hereticks will not be convinced and imbrace that Doctrine and Truth that Doctrine and Truth in time will confound condemn and destroy them The World that I speak saith Christ shall judge you at the last day God gives his Word and whether men will hear or whether they will forbear it is and will be the Word of God for ever And if men will not believe it God will not be beholden to them to believe it let them believe it at their own peril A Papist will not believe the Divine Authority of the Scriptures for themselves God and the Scripture will never be beholden to him to believe it they need not to beg his believing of it but let him look to it if he do not believe it If God have given such demonstrations of the Judgment to come as may assure all the World of the certainty of it and an Atheist an Epicure a Fool will not believe it if he will not believe what a Felix believed and trembled at if he will not believe what Devils believe and tremble at God will never come crouching to him to beg of him that he will believe it but let him disbelieve it at his own peril and take what comes When God gave the Scriptures he never intended they should stand at the curtesie of every curious carping Atheist whether they should be of Authority and be believed or no but God gives them in their Divine Authority and Majesty and laid them a sure foundation in Sion elect precious and glorious that he that will build upon them may build and prosper but if any cross or quarelsom or wilfully blind Bayard will stumble at them where he might walk plain let him take his own hazard and stumble and fall and be broken and snared and taken while in the mean while the foundation of God remaineth sure and the Divine Scriptures will be the Divine Scriptures and retain their Truth and Author when such a wretch is dasht all to pieces III. There cometh the Disputer of this World such as these Scholers of Athens that Paul was now discoursing with that will have nothing believed but what may be grasped by humane reason and he will tell that it is very unlikely there should be an universal judgment because it is very unlikely there should be a Resurrection That bodies in the grave that have been dust these thousand thousand years should live and rise again the same Oh! how many arguments he frames to shew you that it is against all Logick Philosophy nature reason I shall first reply to him as Paul to Agrippa King Agrippa believest thou the Scriptures I know that thou believest Oh! thou disputer believest thou there is a God I hope thou believest If not I shall give thee the answer much like that I gave the Atheist before God will be God whether thou wilt or no as Scripture will be Scripture whether thou believest it or no. But if thou believest that God is and that he is what he is then why doest thou go about to measure the great things of God by the pitiful scant measure of poor humane reason I remember the check in the story of him that went about such a thing He was deeply studying upon the mystery of the Trinity and went about to fadom it by reason and to suit it to reason as he was thus studying at the Sea side he saw a child that was about to empty the ocean into a ditch with a spoon and when he told him how simple and vain a thing he went about Even so dost thou saith the child or an Angel in likness of a child when thou goest about to draw out the profound and bottomless mystery of the Sacred Trinity by thy silly reason What Must we then believe things that are clear contrary to reason I Answer There are no points in all the mysteries of Divinity contrary to reason if we resolve them into the right Principle that is if we resolve them into the power will and working of God That this vast Universe should be created of nothing in a moment that God should become man that dead bodies should be raised again that this mortal should put on immortality are high mysteries many regions above natural reason but not a whit contrary to reasonâ— if you resolve them as I said before into the Power Will and Working of God Let Philosophy and humane reason therefore cavil as much as they can against the Resurrection as a thing unlikely incredible impossible I shall only answer in the tune of them that when they saw a thing as unlikely and incredible yet brought to pass by Divine Power viz. Elias pouring water on and about the Altar and bringing fire they fell on their faces and cried The Lord he is God the Lord he is God And if the Lord he be God the Lord be God he can raise all the dead in a moment and bring them to Judgment as he Created the World in a moment by the Word of his Power If it be but his
a Messias for their turn nor that he was likely to answer their expectation in what their wretched traditions had taught them to look for from Messias For I. From Messias they expected Pomp and Stateliness a royal and victorious Kingdom they see him appear in a low condition and contemptible poverty II. From Messias they expected an advancing and heightening the rites of Moses they saw that he began to take them down III. By the Messias they expected to be redeemed and delivered from their subjection to the Roman yoke He taught them to give Caesar his due and to submit to the government God had set over them IV. By the Messias they expected that the Gentiles should be subdued trod under their feet and destroyed He taught that they should be called converted and become the Church So that if they took him for Messias they thought he was a Messias that would mar all and was far unlike the Messias their traditions had taught them to look for And therefore be he Messias or no they will rather kill the heir than they themselves lose the inheritance which they thought they should have done if he should have liyed It were worth the labour if that were the task that were before us to trace these two Nations Jew and Roman after this fact as I may say by the blood and to consider as they made themselves yoke-fellows like Simeon and Levi in this guilt and evil so whether God yoked not them also together under the like curse and vengeance Yokefellows indeed are the Jew and Romanist above all the people of the World in a deluded fancying their own bravery and privilege above all the World besides He that comes to read the Jewish Writings especially those that are of the nature of Sermons will find this to be the main stuffing of them almost in every leaf and page How choise a people is Israel how dearly God is in love with Israel what a happy thing it is to be the seed of Abraham how blessed the Nation of the Jews above all Nations and such stuff as this all along And is not the style of the Romanist to the very same tune How holy the Church of Rome how glorious the Religion of the Church of Rome what superiority and preeminence hath the Church above all Churches and all the men in the World are Hereticks and Apostates and Castaways if they be not Romanists Whereas if both the Nations would but impartially look upon themselves they would see that there are such brands upon them two as are upon no Nation under Heaven now extant I shall but glance at these few particulars I Is not the Jew Antichrist viz. Thes. II Examine the place seriously and compare it with 1 Joh. II. 18. and with II. Joh. 7. and other places in the Epistles and you may see it plain And is not Rome Antichrist in the Revelations Rome her self doth not deny it if you allow her but her distinction of Heathen and Christian. II. Have you not observed a horrid Apostasie in the Apostles time in the Church of the Jews of those who had imbraced the Gospel Evidences are abundant in the New Testament I shall name but two 2 Tim. I. 15. All Asia is fallen away and departed from Paul at one clap This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia are turned away from me And in XII Matth. 49. our Saviour compares that generation to one that had the Devil cast out of him but he returns again into him with seven worse Devils so shall it be saith he to this wicked generation And who also hath not observed a horrid Apostasie in the Church of Rome They themselves only excepted who will not see from that Faith and Religion for which that City was once renowned through the whole World I. Rom. 8 And that direful Apostasie in the Christian Church of the Jews was never so matched and paralleld in the World as by the Apostasie in the Church of Rome III. Were there ever two Nations two Churches under Heaven so besotted with Traditions and the Doctrines of Men as the Jew and Roman Weigh them well together and is not that as true of the Roman to every tittle that our Saviour speaks of the Jew XV. Matth. 3 9. That they had made the Commandment of God of none effect by their traditions and that they taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men He that shall seriously compare their Doctrines together about Opus operatum Sin venial the merit of Works Purgatory Freewil the point of Justification and multitudes of other points in Religion and Divine Worship will see the Romanist has gone to School to the Jew and indeed the Scholar is not a whit behind the Master IV. And to spare more Is not the Jew doomed to a perpetual curse in that passage Esay LXV 15. Ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen And in other passages of like nature that might be produced not a few And is not Rome doomed to perpetual perdition in that passage Numb XXIV 24. Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim and shall afflict Assar and shall afflict Eber and he Chittim shall perish for ever Where Chittim is Rome or Italy by the consent both of Jews and Christians both of Protestants and even Romanists themselves And thus much concerning the persons before us Pilate and the Jews Representatives of the Jewish and Roman Nation Actors of the Jewish malice and Roman tyranny And now let us consider their words the handling of which will bring our discourse nearer the present occasion Pilate said Take him c. for he very well knew they might do so for any restraints the Romans who were their Lords had put upon them in that case Josephus tells us the Romans suffered them to live by their own Laws and Religion and he records a speech that Titus their Conqueror made to them while he besieged their City to perswade them to yield in which he useth this argumentation The Romans have always permitted you to live by your own Laws and why then should you rebel against them And he also records a speech that himself made to them to the same purpose to perswade them to yield in which he useth the very same argument And certainly Pilate did not speak it in a way of jearing of them when he bid them Take him c. as knowing they were restrained by the Romans They though such a restraint were not upon them yet answer It is not lawful c. It is not lawful i. e. we cannot we may not it is not in our power for such a construction will the Greek expression very well bear and if they used their own Jerusalem language I doubt not but their words were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an expression very obvious and frequent in the writers in that Language and signifies in that latitude as to mean we have not liberty power privilege Now how
distinction is taught by phrases that speak both parties viz. them that profess and them that do not and sometimes by a single word that speaks them that profess only I will mention these few 1. 1 Cor. VII 12 13. But to the rest speak I not the Lord. If any brother hath a wife that believeth not and she be pleased to dwell with him let him not put her away And the woman which hath an husband which believeth not and if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him Brother in opposition to unbeliever The Apostle here starts the point of Christians married with infidels whether they should divorse because of Religion and what rank their Children were in To the rest speak I not the Lord. He spake not without the Lord but he means that there was not a Text for this case in the Law See vers 10. And unto the married I command yet not I but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from her husband And see Chap. IX 8. Say I these things as a man or saith not the Law the same also If any brother i. e. Christian. See 1 Cor. V. 11. If any man that is called a brother be a Fornicator or Covetous c. whereby Brother is plainly meant a Christian. A wife that believeth not viz. a Pagan And so along The same case is handled 2 Cor. VI. 15. What concord hath Christ with Belial and what part hath he that believeth with an Infidel There Believer and Infidel are opposed Believer here is as large as professor in opposition to Jew or Pagan 2. Those Phrases Within and Without 1 Cor. V. 12. What have I to do to judge them that are without do not ye judge them that are within It is a Jewish phrase and they straiten the sence that take those that are without to be meant of Christians In one word sometime Believer alone the opposite not named Act. II. 44. And all that believed were together and had all things common And here whole families children and all are understood Sometime Disciples and Christians Act. XI 26. The Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch In this sence Church most commonly is taken viz. for the Professors of Christ in opposition to Jews and Pagans that professed him not XVI Matth. 18. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church Which is meant of the Church of the Gentiles in general So III. Ephes. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God So by Saints are meant nothing else but Professors of Christian Religion 1 Cor. VI. 1 2. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law befare the unjust and not before the Saints Do ye not know that the Saints shall Judge the World And VII Chap. 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband else were their children unclean but now are they holy Now are they Saints answering to the usual Hebrew phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Sanctitate Here is a study for a young Divine to be setled in the sense of these words There are great divisions and great misconstruction of one another from mistake of these things II. That God hath appointed Sacraments as external and visible marks whereby to sign out this distinction Badges of Homage as in the Text Disciple all Nations baptizing them So under the Law Circumcision served for that end to be a mark of a Jew and therefore the Heathen are called uncircumcised And when some of the circumcised seed degenerated that they wanted that mark to distinguish them then God ordained the Passover So under the Gospel Baptism is the Mark as in the Text. Children are baptized that there may be none in our families that bear not the badge of Homage Christ ordained it for this end to badge out the owning of his Power and to introduce into the Profession of him III. Gal. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. See Joh. III. 5. Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Speech is there had of Christs Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth or the state under Christ. See vers 2 3. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said unto him Rabbi we know thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou dost except God be with him Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Where mark how Christs answer suits He observed in Nicodemus words signifying that he thought he saw the dawning of the Kingdom of Heaven and now it was that the Jews thought it would come upon them and this further confirmed him that Christ was the Messias To this therefore Christ answers and intimates to Nicodemus to be baptized Why would Christ himself be baptized Because he would own the proper way of introduction into the Gospel which he was now to preach So the Lords Supper is a badge of this distinction See 1 Cor. X. 14 16. Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ As much as if he should have said because we have the Sacrament of the Communion of the body and blood of Christ therefore avoid Idolatry It is the badge of those that profess Christ in opposition to Heathenism I might speak how the word Sacrament speaks such distinction but that is well enough known III. As Baptism hath several coordinate ends so all or most of them are suitable to that that we are speaking of viz. introducing into the Profession of Christ. Both Sacraments have several ends therefore it is proper in the dispute now about them to consider whether it is fit to apply them to one only end 1. Baptism hath a doctrinal end It is a visible word Loquitur Deus ut videas As it is a visible sign so a visible doctrine As God speaks in Jer. II. 31. O generation see ye the Word of the Lord. The Lord to come home to our capacity brings divine things to our eyes 1 Joh. I. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon Thus Baptism when we see it administred reads the doctrine of our natural defilement and purging from it Ezek. XXXVI 25. is so understood Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you So circumcision in the member of generation shewed a check to our
True indeed the Adults that were baptized confessed their sins but this restrains not baptism to them alone because there are several ends of it applicable to those that know not especially that in the next particular As to the second That Baptism belongs to none but such as are in the Covenant and that it is a seal of our righteousness This phrase is fetched from IV. Rom. 11. And he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the Faith Which place is expounded to mean a seal of the persons righteousness that receives it But to examine this place 1. It is said to be a sign now a sign is to help unbelief and to confirm doctrine Exod. IV. Moses miracles there mentioned were to be signs to make the Israelites believe his message 1 Cor. XIV 22. Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not And to that purpose is that of our Saviour Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe 2. The Doctrines there delivered are well worth such a Confirmation namely first That a sinner upon his believing in Christ becomes righteous this is the greatest truth Secondly That he becomes righteous by another this was a wonder to the Jews Thirdly That it is by a better righteousness than Adams Fourthly That it is by a righteousness infinite viz. A righteousness that outvies condemning righteousness and that very same righteousness that God gives to Christ. So that the meaning of those words the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the Faith is that it was a Seal to confirm that great Doctrine So Sacraments are to Seal the truth of God He hath put to his Seal in the Sacrament as a Seal to a Dead confirms the truth of it So that Circumcision is a Seal of the same truth to Esau Judas c. else it loses its nature which is to confirm Gods truth And so the Sacraments are Seals of Gods truth Baptism seals that truth that washing by the blood of Christ cleanseth us from our sins So that though children know not what baptism means yet it hath this nature III. They were all baptized unto Moses i. e. unto his discipline They were circumcised unto God viz. unto true religion Now they are baptized into Moses that is into his Way Baptism is to enter us into the true profession Matth. XXVIII 19. Baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost that is into the profession of the true God So in the Name of Jesus that is into his belief and religion Hence also Infants are capable of Baptism as it is a distinctive body that marks us out for Christians And therefore we are said to be all baptized into one body 1 Cor. XII 13. So the children of Israel were circumoised though they were born Israelites that they might be marked for Gods people As to the fourth observable in the Text baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea I cannot now insist on that The Conclusion is that we retain this Sacrament without doubting It carries its warrant in its institution and in its own nature I will leave two directions with you I. Rest not in a negative Religion only II. Let the practise of the Church have authority with you A SERMON PREACHED AT S. MARIES Cambridge Febr. 24. 1655 6. LUKE XI 2. When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven THE words are our Saviours And they are a sweet condescention to a pious request in the verse before where Christ praying publickly as it seems among his Disciples one affected with it prays Lord teach us to pray Where was this Disciple at the Sermon in the Mount Matth. VI. 9. where Christ had taught them to pray Was he absent or had he forgot Or did he not rightly understand However it was Christ yields to his request and gives the same directions again here as he had done there There it is After this manner pray ye Here When ye pray say In the Text are two things contained The one is Christs giving a Platform of prayer When ye pray say The other is The form given Our Father which art in Heaven c. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When leaves us not at liberty but commands us and is of the same import with another saying of our Saviour when he instituted his holy Supper As oft as ye do this do it in remembrance of me Out of the former I Observe two things I. That we had need to pray II. That we had need to be taught to pray Two truths confirmed by three witnesses John this Disciple and Christ. Ask John why he taught his Disciples to pray he will answer these two things viz. because they had need to pray and because they had need to be taught to pray Ask the Disciple why he asked Christ to teach him to pray he will answer so Ask Christ why he taught his Disciples to pray he will answer so also As there are many Comments on these subjects so there is as copious handling them So that I shall not handle them at large but speak to them in a few illustrations and so pass to insist rather on the second viz. The Form it self I. That we had need to pray And that first because of our Duty Secondly Because of our Wants In regard of what we owe to God and in regard of what we expect from him These both draw and drive us Accordingly the Lords Prayer consists of two general parts first we pray in adoration to his Name Kingdom Will in the three first petitions and then for our wants in the last I shall not now speak how Prayer is Adoration of God nor how it is commanded by Scripture on that account I shall only at present shew First That it is a duty and that we had need pray because of our Duty And for ◠that purpose observe 1. It is a Duty written in nature That in Gen. IV. ult Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord however understood shews it from the beginning Hence the Heathen prayed though they mistook in the manner of praying Matth. VI. 7. 2. It is a Duty for every man and woman in the World to perform All flesh come to thee LXV Psal. 2. And Psal. CL. ult Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. T is a Duty due upon our creature-ship It is the Duty of the holiest men Psal. XXXII 6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee And of the wickedest also even Magus was to pray to God Act. VIII 22. It is so a Duty for the holiest that it lay upon Adam in innocency It lay upon Christ in the Flesh he prayed both because of his Duty and because of his wants V. Heb. 7. Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
construe it according to their own ignorance and to frame stories upon it according to their construction I shall give but one Example and that big enough for many viz. that huge story of John the Evangelist his being boyled in scalding oyl and yet not kild and when buried at Ephesus yet his grave beating as if he lived within it If you trace to the proper spring head you will find it founded upon ignorance of the meaning of those words in XXI John 22. If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Which were mistaken when first spoken as if that Apostle should not dye I might speak how ignorance in other Stories and Sciences hath brought in multitudes of falsities as Domitians killing Davids line c. A second original is over-officiousness of the Relator And that hath outshot the other many bow-lengths Ignorance hath bred its thousands but this its ten thousands The undoing of History is the overdoing When Historians over-sedulous and over-officious to advance the honour of Religion and religious men have thought they could never say enough and said they cared not what and like Poets have never thought enough said till so much is said as none can believe I shall give but one example and that in the very beginning of Ecclesiasticul History Menologia Surius c. will afford thousands The example is this that there is hardly one named in the New Testament with any credit or without a brand but in Ecclesiastical Story he is made either a Planter of Religion in some Country or a Bishop or a Martyr or all See Dorotheus his Synopsis and other Histories of those times and you will find this so Now this is not true neither is it from Ignorance nor indeed from their believing it was so who first asserted it but from officiousness to do these men honour that they might have more than bare naming in the New Testament There is a particular fabulousness in Ecclesiastical History that I know not whether to refer to ignoronce or this or to make it a mungrel of both Such as that That Christ laid in a manger betwixt an Ox and an Asse because it is said Esa. I. 3. The Ox knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters crib And that That the wise men Matth. II. were three Kings because it is said Psal. LXX 10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring Presents the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts Whether this was the effect of ignorance or officiousness or both its Father was an Amorite and its Mother a Hittite Thirdly A third original of this is studium partium favour to a party This is officiousness sworn and engaged to a side What this hath done in all stories he knows but little of story that hath not observed Officiousness to Religion in general and to good Men in general who were unknown and unrelated to hath done much this more When Writers in their Relations were minded to honour singular places persons actions t is hard to find them keeping within bounds He is an Historian indeed that can keep ab odio procul favore free from envy and affection especially when he writes near that time of those persons and actions which he writes of When I read Eusebius de Vita Constantini and Sozomen and Julian in Coesaribus De Constantino I cannot but be suspitious on both hands that studium partium odium favor have made the contrary parties lay on so much black and white that it is impossible to discern the true visage Thousands of such Relations thus tainted might be produced Hence are more Martyrs in the Calendar than ever were in the World and more miracles than ever men of reason especially that knew Scripture did or well or can believe But to pitch near the case in hand How hath it ever been a partiality and Studium sui in Countries and Cities to father their original upon some transcendent person or other the Heathens on some Deity So Livy Datur haec venia antiquitati ut miscendo humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora fiant Christian Cities or Countries have the like ambition to refer the original of their Religion to some chief Apostle Saint or Martyr Fourthly A fourth origine of falshood in Ecclesiastical history is Animus decipiendi a mind and purpose to deceive And this hath been sometimes done pia fraude out of an holy craft because histories do affect and men are led by example And therefore if Piety and Religion be promoted no matter whether it be done by truth or falshood But sometimes this hath been done impiissima impudentia out of a most wicked shamelesness Some there have been who have made it a trade to impose upon the belief of mankind either to amuse mens minds or to abuse them or to interrupt their study and believing of better things II. Now which of these four originals shall we refer this opinion unto It is no doubt but animus decipiendi in this last and worst sence hath maintained that St. Peter was at Rome but that was not the first cause of that Position Therefore let us try the Original of it by the three forementioned First Might it not be occasioned by ignorance and misconstruction of Scripture To make this appear the more probably to be a cause of it let me preface these few things 1. That from the death of Peter to the asserting of this opinion by authors of less suspition was not an hundred and fifty years 2. Observe that the Scripture is silent of the place of Peters death unless it be to be collected from hence 3. Credulity in those times was better cheap partly because deceit was not then suspected nor discovered partly because neither were Copies of the New Testament so common nor generally were men so well versed in them 4. How easie was it to misconstrue this place and take Babylon to signifie Rome and so to use it as an argument to confirm Peters being there And this mistake might be the original of that opinion But however this might administer some occasion to this error I should ascribe more influence to the two other things before mentioned viz. Officiousness to Peter and a study to advance Rome For observe First In story we find that the Church of Rome was always much spoken of and of great authority And Secondly Observe therefore how History that it might dignifie that Church in respect of its Original hath brought Paul and Peter to be martyred at Rome and John near it and he undoubtedly had been brought thither and Martyred had not the misconstruction of Joh. XXI 22. hindred supposing from that Text that he never died I presume James would have been brought thither too but that Josephus had prevented it by his story relating he was slain at Jerusalem And Ignatius is brought thither from Antioch Thirdly It was thought an honour to have such Patrons And Rome being chief
proved both by the order of Ezekiels prophesie especially comparing that prophesie with the book of Daniel and by the story of that Kingdom and that King himself In all that large Prophesie I take up but vers 17. of Chap. XXXVIII Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the Prophets of Israel which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them His meaning is No thou art not he My Prophets prophesie of the King of Assyria and the King of Babylon that these should come up against them to avenge my quarrel upon them and to be my scourge to punish them for their iniquities But thou art an upstart risen of thy self not to do my work but to work against me and against mine ordinances Read Dan. VII 25. that speaks of this cursed King He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hands for a time c. And of the same Wretch and the same actions speaks he Chap. XII 11. He took away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination that maketh desolate Upon which he that readeth 1 Maccab. I. will find a large comment that he enjoyned upon pain of death the Jews to take up the manner of the Heathen not to circumcise their Children not to use the Law that he caused abominable things to be offered on the Altar Idols and Groves to be set and in a word not to use their own Religion upon pain of death The like may be read of him in Josephus and other Authors and that not only he but other Kings of the same Kingdom bore the same enmity and exercised the same persecution against the Jews and their Religion This is that Gog and Land of Magog that Ezekiel speaks of so bitter and grievous enemies unto Israel To him our Apocalyptick alludes in this place and speaking of a Kingdom and party of the like temper and that imitated him in enmity and persecuting the true Religion he useth the very same name and meaneth that Satan should deceive men into a false Religion that they should hate and persecute the true as Gog and Magog the Syro-Grecians and Antiochus had once done And be it Pope that he intends or be it Turk or both I do not dispute but by the currant of the discourse along the whole Chapter to me the Papacy is plainly meant more especially and how properly it belongs to Rome sad experience hath so copiously evidenced that I need not to insist on any parallel About the fortieth year of Christ the Gospel was brought among the Gentiles then Satan began to be bound and imprisoned that he should not deceive the Heathen as he had done Count a thousand years thence and look what times were in the World about the year of Christ MXL and methinks I see the World turned purely Heathen again for blindness and superstition and Idolatry that Satan was then plainly let loose and the Nations as much deceived then as they were under Heathenism before Christs coming One thing by the way may not be passed unobserved That in one sense he was loose when he was bound and did a World of mischief one way when he was tied up from doing mischief another Within those thousand years from the first going forth of the Gospel among the Gentiles counted thence forward you find as bitter persecution of the Gospel as bloody murthering of the Saints of God as ever was in the World till he was loosed again and Popery fell to that trade a fresh Within the thousand years that Satan is said to be imprisoned were those Ten bloody Persecutions that Ecclesiastical History speaks of in which so many hundred thousand precious Christians were horridly and barbarously murthered for the profession of the truth And is not the hand of Joab in all this Had not Satan a hand in all that butchery No he was imprisoned But can such mischief be wrought and Satan not there All that persecution and cruelty and murther committed and the great Murtherer from the beginning not there By which very thing you may observe that there is a great deal more danger in Satans deceiving than in his persecuting for his persecuting is not here mentioned while he is said to be tied up from deceiving Upon the whole thus unfolded we may Observe these three things I. That Satans great work and business that he follows is to deceive II. That it is his great Masterpiece to deceive in matter of Religion III. That it is his ultimate refuge to raise persecution when he cannot deceive How all these arise out of the Text I suppose none but may easily observe His work before his imprisonment was to deceive the Nations and he sets to the same again when loosed from imprisonment His deceiving of the Nations was by cheating them into false principles and practises of Religion Heathenism before and Papacy after And when he cannot deceive the camp of the Saints and the beloved City he hath his Gog and Magog his army as the sand of the Sea to sight against Need I to spend much proofs to shew that it is Satans trade and work and business that he follows to deceive It was the first thing he did after he was Satan the Serpent deceived me saith Eve and I did eat and he hath been doing the same ever since and will be ever doing whilest he is He is a Lyer and the Father of Lies Joh. VIII 44. And that very name and profession of his speaks cheating and deceit There was a lying Spirit in the mouth of Ahabs prophets to cheat both him and them and there is a lying Spirit in the heart of thousands and thousands to deceive and ruine them I fear lest Satan have beguiled you as he beguiled Eve saith the Apostle to some that were a thousand fold better than some thousands in the World How abundant proof of this that it is Satans work to deceive might be fetched from Scripture how abundant from experience But what testimony would be given of this in Hell If it were asked there Do you think that Satan is a Deceiver Oh! what a howl would be given up of the attestation of this felt by woful and miserable experience Oh! he hath deceived and cheated us all hither he hath led us like the Syrians blindfold into Samaria into the midst of their enemies so us into this misery merely with his cousening and we never dreamed of any such thing He made me believe says one and to say in my heart that there was no God and now I feel there is an angry one with a witness He cheated me say others to think the threatnings and curses of the Word of God were but Bugbears to fright men but now we feel them heavier than Rocks and Mountains He cousened us to believe that the pleasures of
the most power of godliness There is a form and a power of godliness and as much difference between them as between a picture taken to the Life and the live person of whom the picture is taken A form of godliness is like an apparition of a dead person that carries the resemblance of him when he was alive but it is but an empty airy Phantasm an apparition no substance but the power of godliness is that that is substantial and hath life in it a living Religion a fruitful Religion a Religion with power as it is 2 Tim. I. 7. God hath given us not the Spirit of fear but of power I cannot but observe that in 1 Tim. IV. 8. the distinction betwixt bodily exercise and godliness Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all things By bodily exercise he means strictness or austerity used upon the body upon a Religious account much fasting watching lying hard faring hard and even severity upon a mans self The Papists will tell you brave stories of such persons and brag of the stupendious austerity of their Saints Hermits Anchorits Cloisterers how hard they faired how they watched how hard they lay what cold what heat they endured whereas when all is done all that may prove a clean distinct thing from godliness and may prove but little profitable I might speak at large what godliness is as distinct from this what the power of godliness is as distinct from the form and wherein true Religiousness shews forth the power of godliness but I will give you only the Apostles brief description of all Jam. I. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and the Widdows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World True Religion is that that brings forth the fruits of charity and purity The power of godliness is that that appears in charity and purity to visit the Fatherless and Widdows and to keep unspotted from the World Need I much discourse to shew what a sad cheat Satan puts on them that he deceives to be enemies to the power of godliness If time would permit I might reckon by particulars First Is it not a base cheat of Satan to make men his drudges and deputies to vent his spleen In the Fable the Fox uses the Cats foot to take the apple out of the fire Satan puts such mens fingers into the fire to serve his own turn Sometimes wicked men are instruments in the hand of God to punish the wicked and God when he hath done with the rod throws it into the fire but to be an instrument in the hand of the Devil to persecute godly men is a dreadful cheat of the Devil to bring men to it and if that rod scape fire you might say There is no God Secondly T is a base cheat to bring men to account it godliness to hate godliness to do God service by doing him disservice to cheat men even out of their wits to think it Religion to hate persecute and destroy those that will not be as irreligious ceremonial profane and evil as themselves An old trick that began in Cain 1 Joh. III. 12. and hath been in fashion too much in all time Thirdly To deceive men that profess the Gospel to persecute the Gospel is to cheat men to the very height of iniquity Some think this carries a great smatch of the sin against the Holy Ghost Certainly it will be hard for you to name a greater impiety Error in Religion is sad and lamentable corruption in manners is sinful and deplorable but to persecute and hate the power of godliness breaths the very breath and lungs of the Devil A SERMON PREACHED AT ELY Novemb. V. MDCLXXII 2 PET II. 15. Who have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness THE last days of Jerusalem are charactered in Scripture in one regard the best of times in another the worst The best in regard of the dealing of God the worst in regard of the dealing of men For I. As to the dealing of God In the last days of that City for so is that expression to be understood most commonly when we meet with mention of the last days God sent his Son Heb. I. 2. In the last days of that City God poured down his Spirit Act. II. 17. In the last days of that City was the mountain of the Lords house exalted above the mountains and many Nations flowed unto it Es. II. 2. And in a word in the last days of that City were accomplished all the great things that God promised concerning Christ the coming of the Gospel and calling of the Gentiles The happiest times that ever came in regard of Gods actings II. But in regard of the actings of men the most unhappy and wretched For in those last days were perillous times 2 Tim. III. 1. In those last times there were those that departed from the faith 1 Tim. IV. 1. In those last times were Mockers 2 Pet. III. 2. And in a word in those last times were many Antichrists 1 John II. 18. By which saith the Apostle we know that they are the last times And hence the generation of those times are pictur'd so black and ugly all along the New Testament An evil and adulterous generation Mat. XII 39. An untoward generation Act. II. 40. A generation of vipers Mat. XXIII 33. And in a word a generation that no man can speak out their wickedness for so the Prophet means Esay LIII 8. Who shall declare his generation Meaning the wickedness of the generation wherein Christ lived The men the Apostle speaks of in the words of the Text are the worst of that generation as that generation was the worst of all before it That the very dregs of time and these the very dregs of those dregs In so much that if you would give forth a lot to find out the wickedest generation of men and the wickedest men of the generation that had been from the beginning of the world till those times that generation and those men would be taken How these men are pictured at large in their proper ugly colours and complection in those places in the Epistles to Timothy in the Epistle of Jude and this Chapter all along you may read at leisure What their Character is in the words that are before us gives a fair conjecture what they are in their full description and the words speak them bad and bad again though they say no more of them They have forsaken the right way and are gone astray c. They are gone out of the right way and have betaken them to the wrong and have chosen even the worst of wrong ways the way of Balaam Of him and of his actings you have the story in Numb XX and forwards and the Apostle gives a very fair Epitome of it here in a very few
Apostles and Disciples and should pick out a man that we all know was no Apostle that no one knows whether he were a Disciple or no. But II. It is agreeable to all reason to conceive that as the man to whom God vouchsafed the revelation and discovery of the times and occurrences that were to intervene betwixt his own times and the fall of Jerusalem was Daniel a man greatly beloved so that the John to whom Christ would vouchsafe the revelation and discovery of the times and occurrences that were to intervene betwixt the Fall of Jerusalem and the end of the World was John the Disciple greatly beloved III. Of that Disciple Christ had intimated that he would that he should tarry till â—e came Joh. XXI 22. that is till he should come in vengeance against the Jewish Nation and their City to destroy them for that his coming both in that place and in divers other places in the New Testament doth mean in that sense it were very easie to make evident should we take that subject to insist upon Now as our Saviour vouchsafed to preserve him alive to see the Fall and destruction of that City so also did he vouchsafe to him the sight of a new Jerusalem instead of the old when that was ruined laid in ashes and come to nothing He saw it in Vision we see it in the Text and upon that let us six our Eyes and Discourse for we need not speak more of him that saw it In the verse before he sees a new Heaven and a new Earth and in this verse a new Jerusalem I. Something parallel to which is that in Esa. LXV 17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth And in the verse next following Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing The expressions intimate the great change of affairs that should be in the World under the Gospel from what had been before A new Heaven or a change of Church and Religion from a Jewish to a Gentile Church and from Mosaick to Evangelical Religion A new Earth or a change in the World as to the management or rule of it from Heathenism to Christianity and from the rule of the four Heathen Monarchies Dan. VII to the Saints or Christians to iudge the World 1 Cor. VI. 2. or being Rulers or Magistrates in it And the new Jerusalem is the emblem and Epitome of all these things under this change as the old Jerusalem had been before the change came There is none but knoweth that Jerusalem in Scripture language is very commonly taken for the whole Church then being as well as it is taken particularly and literally for the City it self then standing That City was the Church in little because there were eminently in it all those things that do make and constitute a true Church viz. the administration of the Word and divine Ordinances the Assemblies of the Saints the Worship of the true God by his own appointment and the presence of God himself in the midst of all And can any doubt but that the new Jerusalem meaneth in the like sense and upon the like reason The Church of God under the Gospel this inriched with all those excellencis and privileges that that was yea and much more There was the Doctrine of Salvation but wrapped up in Types and Figures and dark Prophesies but here unfolded to the view of every Eye and Moses vail taken off his face There Ordinances of divine Worship but mingled with multitudes of carnal rites here pure adoration in Spirit and Truth There an assembly only of one People and Nation here a general assembly compacted of all Nations There God present in a cloud upon the Ark here God present in the communication of his Spirit Therefore it is the less wonder that it is called the holy City because of these things II. which is the second circumstance considerable in the words I saw the new Jerusalem The holy City It is observable that the second old Jerusalem for so let me call the Jerusalem that was built and inhabited after the return out of Captivity was called the holy City when goodness and holiness were clean banished out of the City and become a stranger there When the Temple had lost its choisest ornaments and endowments that contributed so much to the holiness of the place and City The Ark the cloud of Glory upon it the Oracle by Urim and Thummim the fire from Heaven upon the Altar these were all gone and Prophesie was utterly ceased from the City and Nation yet even then it is called the holy City in this her nakedness Nay when the Temple was become a Den of Thieves and Jerusalem no better if not worse when she had persecuted the Prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her when she had turned all Religion upside down and out of doors and worshiped God only according to inventions of men yet even then and when she is in that case she is termed the holy City Matth. IV. 5. Then the Devil taketh him up into the Holy City and setteth him on a pinacle of the Temple Nay when that holy Evangelist had given the story of her crucifying the Holy of Holies the Lord of life and glory even then he calls her the holy City Chap. XXVII 53. The bodies of many Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared to many Call me not Naomi but call me Marah might she very well have said then and so might others say of her for it might seem very incongruous to call the holy City when she was a City so very unholy She was indeed simply and absolutely in her self most unholy and yet comparatively The holy City because there was not a place under Heaven besides which God had chosen to place his Name there and there he had and that was it that gave her that name and title And while she kept the peculiarity of the thing she kept the name but at last forfeited both and then God finds out another City where to place his Name A new Jerusalem A holy City a holier City her younger sister fairer than she Holy under the same notion with the other because God hath placed his Name only III. there Holier than she because he hath placed it there in a more heavenly and spiritual manner than in her as was touched before And Holier still because she shall never lose her holiness as the other did as we shall touch hereafter And she cannot but be holy as I said before when she comes down from Heaven and is sent thence by God And this is the third thing remarkable in the Text I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven The Apostle S. Paul calls her Jerusalem which is above Gal. IV. 26. Our Apostle sees her coming down from above and the Prophet Ezekiel in his fortieth Chapter and forward seeth her pitched here below when she is
come down She is above and yet she is beneath much as the case was at Mount Sinai there was a Tabernacle above the heavenly pattern on the top of the Mount and there was a Tabernacle beneath the material building and fabrick at the foot Jerusalem that is above intimating that it is not a material building but a spiritual that the Builder is not man but God and yet that Jerusalem is come down and is also here below because it is among men and consists of men Men as lively stones being built up into a spiritual house and building as it is 1 Pet. II. 5. Most commonly in this book of the Revelations she is called by the very name of Heaven it self that where you read Heaven you must understand the Church partly because she is the only Heaven that is upon Earth partly because of the presence of God in the midst of her as in Heaven and partly because of the holy and heavenly things that are in her and partly because she is the gate of Heaven and the only passage whereby to come thither Upon all which accounts together it is no wonder that she carries the name of the heavenly Jerusalem the holy City and the holy City that came down from God And let this suffice to be spoken concerning the meaning of the New Jerusalem or what it is viz. the Gospel Church The great question and dispute is where it is And whereas our Apocalyptick saw it coming down from Heaven the great inquiry is where it lighted pitched and took its station Where is the house of the Prince and where is this City of the great King Where is the true Church this new Jerusalem The finding where it is not will be some direction how to seek it where it is and let us begin there first I. First therefore Let me say in this case much like what was said of old by the Historian concerning the City Samnium You may look for Samnium there where Samnium stood and cannot find it If you look for the new Jerusalem there where the old Jerusalem stood you will not find it there though the Jew would have you to look no where else and have it to be found no where else It is well known what the conception and expectation of that Nation is in this point how they look for a most stately Jerusalem to be built where the old one stood for a pompous Kingdom setled in the Land of Canaan sutable to such a City and for a pompous Messias riding in the midst of both with stateliness sutable to both I shall say no more to this opinion but briefly only this for it is not worth speaking much unto That this opinion helped forward the murther of the true Messias when he came among them And I much wonder whether the opinion that produced so bad an effect then can come to any good effect at any time Because our Saviour Poor Jesus did not bring so much pomp and gallantry with him as that opinion expecteded he was looked upon by them as a false Messias and under that notion they made him suffer And it is more than suspitious that such an opinion can prove good solid and succesful never that proved so very fatal and mischievous then It is true indeed that the Prophet Ezekiel doth delineate his visionary Jerusalem as seated in the very place where the old had been for indeed there was then a Jerusalem to be built there as it was after the return out of captivity But whosoever shall take measure of the dimensions that he giveth to his City in space and compass will find it to come near if not to equal the space and compass of the whole Land of Canaan And this Apocalyptick the best interpreter of that Prophet measuring his square new Jerusalem at vers 16. of this Chapter finds it to be twelve thousand furlongs or fifteen hundred miles upon every side of the square six thousand miles about and the wall about it also fifteen hundred miles high The wall of Salvation Esa. XXVI 1. So that these things considered a mystical or spiritual sense is enforced here and for a literal one there is left little or no room at all And we must look for the new Jerusalem somewhere else then where the old one stood for there is not room for it Where then shall we seek next since we cannot find it there Here II. I cannot but remember the story in 2 Kings VI. The Syrians are seeking Elisha at Dothan and he strikes them blind and this is not the way says he this is not the City but follow me and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek and he brought them to Samaria We are seeking the new Jerusalem and there are those that will tell you but you must let them blindfold you the first that you of London we of England are out of the way if we look for any new Jerusalem any true Church here among us but follow them and they will lead you where it is and they will bring you to Rome A place where I should as little seek for the new Jerusalem as I should have sought for the old Jerusalem in Samaria or as I should have sought for true worshippers and the place of true worship at Sichem and mount Gerizim When they pretend to lead you to the new Jerusalem and bring you to Rome they could hardly lead you to any place under Heaven more unlikely where to find the new Jerusalem then there Our Divines in their writings have evidenced this abundantly and I shall not trouble you with rehearsing any thing they have spoken I shall only lay these four Scriptural considerations before you easie to understand and carry away and even out of them let any impartial judgment censure and determine in this case And first Two concerning the place and City And then two concerning the Church and Religion I. Concerning the Place and City First As the new Jerusalem is never mentioned in Scripture but with an honourable and noble character so Rome on the contrary is never spoken of under any name or title but with a character as black and dismal One Memoir only excepted which is in her story as Abijah was in the family of Jeroboam 1 King XIV 13. the only one there in whom was found any thing that was good And that is that there was once a Church there whose faith was renounedly spoken of through the whole world Rom. I. 8. There was so indeed and there could not be an Antichristian Church there unless there had been a Christian Church there first since There must be a falling away first that the man of sin might be revealed 2 Thes. II. 3. The first mention that you have of Rome in Scripture is in Numb XXIV 24. under the name of Chittim and there it is branded for the great oppressor and afflicter of Nations and it is finally doomed to perish for ever Secondly
You have mention of her armies Dan. IX ult but with this brand upon them that they are called The abominable army that maketh desolate there styled by their Vulgar Latine as in Matth. XXIV the abomination of desolation But thirdly That which tops up all is that she is called Babylon in this Book of the Revelations and described there as she is For that by Babylon is meant Rome the Romanists themselves will readily grant you if you will grant them the distinction of Rome Pagan and Christian Imperial and Pontifical And the last verse of Chap. XVII puts the matter out of all doubt where it says that the Woman the scarlet Whore which thou sawest is the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Upon which every one that is acquainted with the Rome-history must needs conclude that no City can there be understood like the City Rome Now it is a very improper inquest to look for the new Jerusalem in a place that must perish for ever to look for the holy City among the abominable armies and to look for Sion the City of God in Babylon that Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth Secondly Whereas old Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation incurred so great a curse and guilt for the murther of the Lord of life as we all know it did it requireth very cogent arguments to prove that Rome that had a hand as deep in that murther should obtain so great a blessing and happiness on the contrary as to be the only Church in the World and the Mother of all Churches There is no Christian but knoweth how deep a hand Jerusalem had in that horrid fact and he knoweth but little that knoweth not that Pontius Pilate was Deputy for Rome there and how deeply also he was ingaged in it as her Deputy And so much be spoken concerning the very Place and how unlikely it is to find the new Jerusalem there How improper it is to imagine that that should be the City of God of which God himself in his Word speaks not one good Word but evil to imagine that he should choose that of all Cities for his dearest spouse that of all Cities had the deepest hand in the murther of his dear Son II. Concerning their Church and Religion If these men that pretend to lead men to the new Jerusalem and lead them to Rome would but speak out and plain and tell them that they will lead them to the old Jerusalem and so lead them to Rome they speak something likely For what is the Church and Religion of Rome but in a manner that of old Jerusalem translated out of Judaick into Roman and transplanted out of Palestina into Italy And there is hardly an easier or a clearer way to discover that she is not the new Jerusalem then by comparing her with the old as God doth most clearly discover the Jerusalem then being Ezek. XXIII by comparing her with Samaria and Sodom divers hours would scarce serve to observe the parallel in all particulars and punctually to compare the Transcript with the Original I shall only and briefly hint two things to you to that purpose And First Let me begin with that distinction that the Jews have in their writings once and again of the Mosaick Law and the Judaick Law or the Law of Moses and the Law of the Jews And they will tell you such and such things are transgressions of the Mosaick Law and such and such are transgressions of the Judaick Law And as they themselves do make the distinction so they themselves did cause the distinction What they mean by the Mosaick Law we all understand and by their Judaick Law they mean their Traditional Law which they call the Law unwritten While they kept to the Law of Moses for a rule of faith and life as they did under the first Temple they did well in point of Doctrine and no heresie and heterodoxy tainted them but when they received and drank in Traditions as they did under the second Temple they drank in their own bane and poison There is in Scripture frequent mention of the last days and the last times by which is meant most commonly the last days of old Jerusalem and of the Jewish oeconomy when they were now drawing toward their dissolution But from what date or time to begin her last days may be some question If you date them from the time she first received and entertained her traditions you do but fit the calculation to the nature of the thing calculated For then did she fall into the consumption and disease that brought her to her grave then did she catch that infection and plague that never left her but grew upon her till it made her breath her last in a fatal end Traditions spoiled her Religion and brought her to worship God in vain teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men Matth. XV. 9. Traditions spoiled her manners and trained her up in a vain conversation received by tradition from the Fathers 1 Pet. I. 18. In a word Traditions as they made the Law so they made the Gospel of no effect and the doctrine of Christ the death of Christ the belief in Christ to be but needless business and things to no purpose Nay Traditions leavened them to hate the Gospel to murther Christ and to persecute his Disciples For by the principles of their Traditions they could do no less than all these Now surely Jerusalem that is above is above this infection and the new holy City certainly brought no such infection from Heaven nor was tainted with this contagion which was the death of the old as a Priest in Israel could hardly be infected with Leprosie But you may see the tokens upon the Church of Rome very thick traditions upon traditions some of so like stamp to those of old Jerusalem that you can hardly know them asunder but all of the like effect and consequence that they make the Gospel of none effect as those did the Law and causing men to worship God in vain while they are taught for Doctrines the commandments of men How great a part of their Religion is nothing else but the commandments of men and other Traditions and how great a part of their Church is built upon nothing else The very chief corner stone in all their fabrick is of no better substance and solidity viz. that S. Peter was Bishop there and there was martyred when the Scripture and reason gives a far fairer probability that he was Apostle to the circumcision in Babylonia and there ended his days Secondly You would hardly think that there was a worse brood in the old Jerusalem than those that we have spoken of the men so infected with the Plague and with a Frenzy with it of traditions And yet I can name you a worse and that was those that had forsaken their Judaism and entertained and embraced the Gospel but at last apostatized from it and revolted to their old
Judaism again to their old Mosaick rites which sometime had been right but now antiquated and to their traditional principles which had never been right but now least of all to have been embraced and to a deadly hatred and persecution of the Gospel that they once professed How the Apostles speak of and against this Apostasie in their Epistles I need not tell you he that runs may read it But he that stands still and reads presely will find that they find The Antichrist that then was in that Apostasie I say the Antichrist that then was For the Scripture gives a hint of a twofold Antichrist one in the Epistles and the other in this Book of the Revelation one that was in those times and the other that was to be afterwards one among the Jews that had embraced the Gospel and the other among the Gentiles which should embrace it And if you will let the unbelieving Jew to be one part of the Antichrist that then was the Apostatized Jew was much more Many Antichrists in those times as this our Apostle tells us 1 Joh. II. 18. but those were they especially of whom he speaks immediately after They went out from us but they were not of us And the like character do these Apostates carry in other places in the Epistles in terms equivalent Now therefore the nearest way to discover the Antichrist that was to be in after times among the Gentiles is by observing his likeness and similitude to the former viz. in apostatizing from the pure and sincere profession of the Gospel to Judaism or to Mosaick manner of worship and Judaick principles and Religion Which how the Church of Rome hath done it would require a long time to compare in all particulars but it will require a far longer time for her to clear her self from that just accusation How near doth she come to Judaism in the doctrine of Justification how near in the doctrine of opus operatum How near in the doctrine of expiation by bare Confession How near in the doctrine of the value of Traditions And one for all how near in turning all Religion into Ceremony Their present year of Jubilee is it not Mosaick And were you there at it and saw the manner of their devotions their formal Services and Ceremonious Worship would you not think you were in the old Jerusalem among the Scribes and Pharisees rather than in the the new where the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth So that when we departed from the Church of Rome we did but the same thing that the Apostles Disciples and other holy converts of the Jewish Nation did they forsook Judaism to embrace the purity of the Gospel And so did we And in the way that they call Heresie we worship God If I have trespassed too much upon your patience by so prolix a discourse upon so unpleasing a subject I must crave your pardon We enquiring after the new Jerusalem where we might find it come to the place where your ways parted and one went right and the other wrong The wrong way is the broader pleasanter and more trodden and not a few that stand in it and cry This is the right way and no other It is good to give warning it is needful to take warning that we be not misled that the men and the way do not deceive us And having thus far observed where the new Jerusalem is not to be found let us now look where it is And first we must not expect to find it in any one particular place as you might have done the old Jerusalem but it is dispersed here and there abroad in the World It is the Catholick Church as we are taught in our Creed and it is not in one only but in this and that and the other Nation When the new Jerusalem is to be measured in Zach. II. an Angel bids O run after yonder young man that is to measure it and tell him that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a City without walls for the multitude of men and cattel that shall be therein It is a City unlimited and therefore not to be bounded within this or that compass We may use this Paradox of it That it is a fluid and yet a fixed body nay fixed because fluid that is it is moving sometime into one place sometime into another and therefore it shall never fade or perish The Jews accused S. Stephen of Heresie and blasphemy because he said that the Church and Religion should not alway be pinned to that City and Temple but taken away In his answer he sheweth that the Church and Religion is a Pilgrim one while in one place another while in another in Mesopotamia in Charran in Canaan in Egypt And our own observation may tell us that when it failed in Egypt and Israel followed the Idols and manners of that Land as Ezek. XX. that then God found himself a Church in the family of Job and his three friends The saying of our Saviour may suffice for this The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a people that shall bring forth the fruits of it And this is that that makes it fixed or never failing because when it decayeth in one place it groweth in another And that promise of our Saviour will ever maintain it in life and being Upon this rock will I build my Church of the Gospel and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it as they have done against the Church of the Jews In Matth. XXIV when Christ foretels of the desolation of that City Church and Nation that their Sun and Moon and Stars Religion and Church and State should be darkned and fall and come to nothing and they should then see the Son of man whom they would never own coming in a thick cloud and storm of vengeance against them it might be questioned where then will God have a Church when that is gone He gives an answer That the Son of man should send his Angels or Ministers with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet of the Gospel and gather him a Church from all the corners under Heaven To which may not improperly be applied that Heb. XII 22. Ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels God will never want his Church but if it be not in one place it will be in another Secondly There is an invisible Church as well as a visible Pauls Jerusalem which is above and out of sight as well as Ezekiels Jerusalem pitched here below There is commonly some invisible Church within the visible as Ezekiels wheel within a wheel But there is sometimes an invisible Church where there is none visible as those seven thousand men in the days of Elias when he could not discern one The Apostle speaking of the new Jerusalem that we are speaking of in that place of the Epistle to the Hebrews before alledged among other things saith Ye are not come to the Mount that might
we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and firy indignation which shall devour the adversary Which is spoken peculiarly of Apostasie or else it were a passage too terrible for all flesh Hannibals father took him at nine years of age to an Altar and there swore him never to have confederacy and friendship with Rome If all the World had alway been under such a tye it had been happy for it I hope our Religion our Hearts our God will keep us from entring into league and society with that City that had so deep a hand in the murther of our dear Saviour and in the blood of his dear Saints III. Lastly Let us strive to adorn our Religion with a sutable conversation to beautifie our Church with the beauty of Holiness We desire to be owned for Citizens of the new Jerusalem and whereas our Religion may give us some title to it it is holiness of conversation that must naturalize and enfranchise us The new Jerusalem doth chalenge a new conversation and doth not a new London new Hearts and Lives The City so stately and sumptuously built up if such top stones be laid on we may comfortably and joyfully cry Grace grace Peace peace unto it A SERMON Preached upon EXODUS XXX 15. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an attonement for your Souls IT is our Duty to love all men and a reason of it is our likeness to all men they have Souls like ours their Souls have all the image of God as well as ours and capable of the fruition of God and eternal glory as well as ours Which Parity whether it be not fairly intimated in the words of the Text judge you when God for attonement for Souls sets a value to all people alike the Rich and Poor to meet in one and the same sum and not one to pay more or less than another but all alike The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel This may seem to be something an unequal rating and the rich to be set too low and the poor too high But to give a clear account of this matter let us consider I. Of the sum that was to be given Half a shekel II. The end for which it was given To be a ransom or attonement for souls And then III. The parity that is to be in this payment None to exceed above nor none to abate beneath another but all to pay alike I. The sum is half a shekel Now their shekel was of the value of our half crown and the half shekel was half as much And as our half crown is either in one piece or hath five six pences to make it up in value So they had their shekel either in one piece or four pieces to make it up Those four pieces in the Greek language were called Drachmes in the Hebrew Zuzees in Latine Pennies And so the Greek renders the half shekel here two Drachmes And the two Pennies that the good Samaritane gave Luke X. 35. is the very same sum viz. half a shekel the Roman penny being seven pence half penny and two of them making half a shekel or fifteen pence And that sum of two pence that the good Samaritane lays down is very properly mentioned in that case For as here the half shekel which was in value two pence is to be given for attonement of Souls so there the two pence which was in value half a shekel is given for recovery of life Two things concerning this half shekel here mentioned are observable in the New Testament First That the mony changers Tables that our Saviour overthrew in the Temple were the Tables of the Collectors and Receivers of this half shekel And why then should he overthrow their Tables when the mony they received was of Gods appointment It was indeed but the wretched Receivers made a base trade of getting gain by changing their mony And for giving them single mony for their whole shekel or half crown piece they must be paid some profit This is that that made our Saviour kick down their Tables and not any crosness against the sum which was of Gods own appointment Secondly In that story Matth. XVII 24. It is this half shekel mony that they come to demand which Christ rather than he will not pay will fetch it by miracle out of a fishes mouth Now II. What was the end or reason of this gift or payment It was for the ransom of a Soul for the attonement of a Soul Where by Soul is not strictly meant that inward part of man properly so called but his life and person for so the word Soul signifies also in Scripture very often As instead of more for the first signification viz. Soul for Life take that of David Let them be cut off that seek after my Soul For the last Soul for Person that in Exod. I. 5. All the Souls that came out of the Loins of Jacob were seventy Souls The meaning is that this parcel of mony was yearly to be paid as a payment or tribute to God for the preservation of their lives and persons And that may be observed by these two things First This was an extraordinary oblation and not the like commanded in the whole Law i. e. any offering of mony Lambs and Goats and Bullocks were commanded to be offered but as for the offering of mony there was this payment only Now the Sacrifices of Lambs and Bullocks were more properly for the attonement of their Souls viz. for the pardon of their sins and the withholding or removing of judgment But this peculiar and extraordinary one of mony was for the peculiar and extraordinary end viz. for the ransom or preservation of their life and person Secondly This you may find hinted in vers 12. When thou numbrest the people they shall give every one a ransom for their Souls lest there be a plague among them This must be a ransom for their lives to keep the plague or any other deadly occurrence away that might take away their lives or destroy their persons III. The parity or equality in the payment of this sum The rich no more and the poor no less The reason of which when we come to weigh let us be sure to do it in Gods own ballances or we may easily be mistaken What the rich pay no more than the poor and the poor as much as the rich A Gallant would scorn to be so ranked with the poor to pay no more than he and the poor would grudge to be rated with the rich to pay as much as he But he that ordained the payment saw very good reason for what he did and would that they rest in his ordaining and learn somewhat from such appointing The rich shall not give
things considered it is past all doubting that when he saith Whatsoever cometh out to meet me that he meaneth some man or woman or child of his family And child he had none but only this one daughter vers 33. And it is very like he little thought of her when he made his Vow but some of his men or maids And whereas our English hath rendred it favourably because of the great question that is raised upon his Vow Whatsoever cometh out the Hebrew original will most properly bear it He that cometh forth and so the Greek Latine and other Translations bear it For he was now upon an extraordinary and very great design viz. To go and fight with the potent army of the Ammonites his forces not being very great And therefore it is very likely that he makes an extraordinary Vow to his extraordinary design he was upon Now this had been but an ordinary and common business to Vow if I return from the children of Ammon with victory I will offer the first Lamb or Ram or Bullock I meet withal at my coming to mine own house Had this been any great Vow for the imploring his prospering in the great undertaking he went about But to dedicate a man or a woman to God spoke high and something like the greatness of the design And how he served his daughter when she came first to meet him is the great question and dispute Some tender of Jepthahs credit and reckoning it not fit to lay more hard things on him than the story will well bear therefore to make the best of it hold that he did dedicate to God not sacrifice his daughter he devoted her to God in keeping her a Recluse and Nun and never to be married though he had no other child and so his family was like to fall But on the contrary First Nunship and Vow of Virginity by the Papists indeed is pretended to be a great piece of devoting and consecrating the party to God But that it is so never was nor ever will be proved but only pretended and with a loud noise cried up as they did in the great hubbub at Ephesus Great is Diana of the Ephesians when none could understand or see any reason for such a hubbub and outcry Certainly among the Jewish Nation they were so far from accounting the Vow of Virginity a piece of Devotion and Religion that they accounted it a reproach for a woman to be childless nay a reproach for a woman not to be married You remember that saying of Elizabeth that had thitherto been barren Luke I. 25. Thus the Lord hath dealt with me in the days when he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men A great reproach for a woman to live and die childless but God hath taken away that reproach from me in giving me a child And a greater reproach it was for a woman not to be married And hence is that in Psal. LXXVIII 63. Their young men were slain by the sword and their maidens were not praised for so it is in the Original which our English hath rendred were not given in marriage For it was a dispraise for a woman not to be married Nay the Jews in their Traditional Law by which they were led too much did not only account it a shame not to be married but a sin and a breach of Gods command For those words Gen. I. 28. Be fruitful and multiply they account not only a blessing but a Command and reckon it the first Command of the six hundred and thirteen commands that are in the Law And to this opinion of theirs it is that the Apostle reflects 1 Cor. VII 25. Where treating concerning virginity and marriage he saith Now concerning Virgins I have no command from the Lord but I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful Secondly To this may be added that Persons dedicated to the Lord were not thereby bound to perpetual Virginity For we read of some that were so dedicated that yet for all that married As Samson a dedicate Nazarite yet took him a wife and that of the daughters of the Philistins And Samuel dedicated by his parents and yet afterwards married and had children So that whereas the Papists account vowed Virginity so great a piece of Religion and Devotion and thereupon their Nuns and their Priests must not marry they will hardly find the least warrant for it either in the Old Testament or the New It is meerly an invention of their own as indeed is most of their Religion and clearly without any warrant or allowance of God It is very unlikely therefore that vowed Virginity should be ever so much in fashion or request in the Jewish Nation as for them to account it so great a piece of Religion or that Jephtha should account that a noble performance of his Vow and account it a great Vow to devote his Daughter to perpetual Virginity But if that were not the intent and action of his Vow what did he to his Daughter Did he really sacrifice her and offer her up for a burnt offering Thaâ— was less Religion and less in custom in the Nation to sacrifice a person And can it be imagined that Jephtha that the Apostle reckons among the faithful should do such a thing I answer Very true But may we not think him though faithful yet for the present that he might fall under ignorance and a blind zeal It is indeed something hard and strange to think so uncharitably of such an one as he was But The Fathers of old were almost unanimously of the mind that he really sacrificed his daughter They that have purposely handled this question will tell you that Tertullian Athanasius Nazianzen Hierom Ambrose Chrysostom Austen Theodoret and others were of that mind Besides Jewish Writers that might be produced I will name but two the Chaldee paraphrase and Josephus And divers modern Christians are of the same mind But still the objection will return What such a man as Jephtha murther his own Daughter and offer her in sacrifice Would the Apostle ever have reckoned him among the noble army of Faithful ones had he done such a thing as this I answer First That comes but a little short of this that is said of Solomon 1 King XI 5. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians and Milcom the Abomination of the Ammonites Let the Jews plaister the case the best they can and say that he himself did not worship these Gods but only suffered his wives to worship them and that he did not build those high places for Chemosh and Molec vers 7. but only suffered his wives to build them Yet how deeply was he guilty in suffering such a thing But the Text tells you that he himself went after these Gods which in Scripture language signifies commonly the real committing Idolatry with such Gods And do but remember what the service of Molec was and offering
in his two great works viz. His offering himself a sacrifice by his death and his offering the continual incense of his mediation And how methodically did the representation proceed suitable to the reality For first the Priest offered the Sacrifice upon the Altar and then went in within the Tabernacle and offered incense So Christ first offered himself at his death and then went into the highest Heaven to make Intercession The Papists in their Mass take upon them to offer Christ as a Propitiatory sacrifice for quick and dead So they are the Altar and Christ is the offering But we learn better to make Christ the Altar and we our selves and our services the offering offered upon it For the clearing of the thing before us and to reduce these words of the Apostle to a Doctrine of Faith whither he intends them let us premise these four things I. That every Christian hath three spiritual Sacrifices to offer to God Himself his Devotions and Religious services and his good works and Religious walking 1. Himself Rom. XII 1 2. I beseech you Brethren that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God 2. His prayers Devotions and Religious services Mal. I. 11. In every place incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure offering And 3. His holy walking 16 ver of this Chapter To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifice God is well pleased Christ is to be offered to God no more as Papists take on them to offer him every Mass but man is to offer himself to God the only sacrifice that God now requireth Now II. On what Altar is this spiritual Sacrifice to be offered and presented to God On some spiritual Altar as it is a spiritual offering Those Sacrifices that were earthly and material required an earthly and material Altar but those that were spiritual must be offered on some spiritual Altar else the manner of offering them contradicts their nature Now what the Apostle speaks concerning the Rock in the Wilderness The Rock was Christ so we may say concerning the Altar under the Gospel The Altar is Christ. In the Law the offering was to be put into the hands of a Priest or it could not be accepted so our services are to be put into the hands of Christ to be presented to God else no acceptance And the sacrifice was to be laid upon the Altar or it could not be accepted so must ours be laid on the altar Christ or no acceptance For III. The Altar must sanctifie the Sacrifice to make it acceptable and so our Saviour tells Mat. XXIII 19. It was not enough that the Sacrifice was a clean Beast and not unclean nor that it was without fault or blemish to make it an acceptable Sacrifice But it must be laid upon the Altar for that to sanctifie it and to make it a right Sacrifice IV. And here I cannot but take up the Jewish Doctors most true and pertinent explication of that point about the Altars sanctifying the gift viz. The Altar sanctified that that was fit for it The Altar could not sanctifie an unclean Beast a Dog or an Ass or a Cat to make it a Sacrifice but only a Beast that was clean And if the Beast were a clean Beast in his nature yet if he had faults or blemishes the Altar did not sanctifie him for a sit Sacrifice but it sanctified only that that was fit for it By all which laid together we may learn and observe the great Doctrine of Faith about our acceptance with God only by Christ. Which to view particularly let us begin from this First None can come to God to find acceptance with him but he must first give himself into the hand of Christ to bring him to God for acceptance The Apostle tells us that all acceptance is in the Beloved and to be expected no other way Ephes. I. 6. This is the great mystery of the Gospel For the want of which duly owned Turks and Jews are at loss and are lost from God for ever They both pretend for Religion pretend for Heaven but they both miss the door by which alone they are to enter and so are excluded eternally missing of Christ by whom only we come there Our Saviour indeed speaks of entring and getting into the sheepfold some other way than at the door but he saith they are thieves and robbers His meaning is of false teachers that can find a way to creep into the sheepfold the Church to seduce and destroy the sheep some other way than at the right door But whosoever will get either into Heaven or indeed into the true and sincere Religion that leadeth thither must enter by Christ the Door or he will never come there Joh. XIV 6. I am the Way the Truth and the Life none can come to the Father but by me Consider of that I am so the Way that none can come to the Father but by me Then sure the Papists are out of the way as well as Turks and Jews when they think to come to God by the mediation of Saints and Angels None can come to God but by me saith our Saviour but I can come to God saith a Papist by the Virgin Mary by Peter Paul and the mediation of other Saints in Heaven Certainly they must have some nice distinction here or they contradict Christ to his face and take his honour and give it to another Heb. VII 25. Christ having an unfailing Priesthood is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him If you come to God you must come by him and that only is the way to be saved But if you expect to come to God by any other means whatsoever you are out of the way and will be lost 1 Pet. III. 18. Christ suffered once for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God If there were any other way to come to God than by Christ the death of Christ was but to little purpose and our believing in him to as little And we may justly say with the Apostle 1 Cor. XV. 14. Our preaching is in vain and your faith is also vain It is said of Christ that he is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek Psal. CX Though he died and offered himself the great Sacrifice for sinners yet he is a Priest for ever still offering sacrifice to God but no more himself but his peoples sacrifice And that offering is twofold viz. offering the persons of his people to God as an acceptable living sacrifice and offering their services as an acceptable spiritual sacrifice to God Of the former you have testimony from his own words Isa. VIII 18. Behold I and the children which the Lord hath given me Of the later Revel VIII 3. where you read of his offering the prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne What the manner of Christs mediation is is
been blessed and honoured withal clean departed and gone away And hence it was that the Samaritans durst compare with the Jews for the better Religion and mount Gerizim at Sechem compares with Jerusalem as the truer and purer place of worship For the honour and ornaments of Jerusalem were gone her Prophets and the Spirit of Prophesy It is observable what is said in the last clause of the Text The Pharisees confess both III. Why He had spoken of three things that the Sadducees denyed The Resurrection Angel Spirit And therefore it seems more proper to have said The Pharisees confess all when he speaks of three than to say they confess both when he speaks of three But he makes these two later but as one and so distinguishes the things into two parts the Resurrection was one thing the Sadducees denied and Angels and Spirits was another one thing And so by the addition of the word Spirit he intimates that the Sadducee denyed all Angelical and Spiritual Substance And so Expositors observe upon this That he thought that even God himself is not a Spiritual but a Corporeal or bodily substance That the Good or Evil Angels that are mentioned mean nothing but good and evil motions of mens minds And that the Soul of man is not a Spirit but a Crasis or mixture of some certain humors and temperaments And that by the Spirit of God is meant only his Mind and by the Spirit of man his breath Strange and mad Divinity and Philosophy And a strangeworld that this man conceives A world that hath neither Angel in it nor Devil and only a Corporeal God in it Souls that are bodily in the midst of the body and that must dye as well as the body when the body dies And a world that must comprehend all that ever must be And that there is to be no world to come nor any other world but this Men of gross and thick and muddy minds that either could not believe but what they saw or could not but believe that what they saw not was like to what they saw That could not believe that there were Angels or Spirits because they saw them not and could not but believe that God and Souls were like to bodily thing that they saw Their sad and fatal case and blindness may justly give us warning and advise what clear minds we ought to get to judge of divine things and rightly to apprehend of things that are above sense or seeing The greatest things of our concernment are out of sight viz. God our Souls Guilt Grace Hell Heaven and Eternity to omit to speak of Angels and Devils We are not to look to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen as the Apostle gives us intimation 2 Cor. IV. ult and in divers other places Now what are we to do in this case Not believe them because we do not see them This is Thomas his faith or infidelity rather not to believe that Christ is risen unless we see in his hands the print of the nayls Or shall we cavil with God for that he hath not made these things visible and not laid them conspicuous to our eyes as he hath done bodily things God would be loved served feared Why doth he not shew himself visibly to us that we might see him and so love and serve and fear him He would have us to avoid sin and guilt if he had made these things visible as a dangerous pit or gulph or precipice is visible we should then avoyd them But now we must avoid a thing we see not We are bidden to resist the Devil Why we cannot see him and we would not see him And we are bidden to take care of our Souls They are things invisible and we cannot see what they are and how they are Yes God hath given us an eye to see those things an invisible eye to see things invisible So it is said of Moses that he saw him that was invisible For the discerning of any thing there are three things requisite an Eye to see and Light to see by and a just or competent distance that the thing to be seen be not too far for then it is not to be seen God hath provided for us all these things for our seeing and knowing the things which it concerns us to know though they be invisible if we be not wanting to our selves How much is comprehended in those words of God which he uses when he is about to create man Let us make man after our own image And God made man after his own image Now you must refer this Image or Similitude more especially to the Soul for the Body can little be said to be the Image of God who is not a Body But in how many things doth the Soul resemble him God is Invisible And so is the Soul God is Spirit And so is the Soul God is Immortal And so is the Soul But more especially doth the Soul resemble God in the faculty and constitution of the mind God being a pure Intellect or Mind and all-knowing and the mind of man representing him in its great capacity of knowledge and understanding That the Soul represents God in being Invisible Spiritual Immortal as He is we may call it a passive representation of God pictured upon the constitution of the Soul But the Souls representing God in knowing understanding discerning of things we may very properly call an active representation of him laying forth in action as he also acteth The Serpent in tempting Eve concludes that the proper and most compleat resemblance of God is in Knowledge Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil And he guessed not amiss as relating to that representation of God that is in the Essence of the Soul For observe that of the Apostle Col. III. 10. And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him And the only specimen or evidence and declaration that Adam gave of the perfection of his nature while he stood in innocency was the demonstration of his wisdom or knowledge in that he could and did name all creatures according to their nature God brought all creatures to him to see what he would name them and he had the knowledge upon the very first sight of them to understand their nature and he named them according to their nature Knowledge and Understanding was natural and essential to Adam as he was a man a reasonable creature Therfore by his fall he did not lose that Faculty though he abated of the measure of it For it was essential to his Soul to be an understanding Soul and it could not be a Soul without it Let us compare the Angels that fell and Adam falling together They were both created holy and righteous alike For I make no question but Adam was created every whit as holy as those Angels were created And they were both created of great knowledge
K its situation 497 Canaan what p. 202. It was only a part of Canaan p. 328. The earthly Canaan is not to be sought after 1224 Candle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Candle used for a Person famous for life or knowledge 550 Capernaum its situation a City in a pleasant place p. 72. Where p. 308. There were two Places of that Name 496 497 Caphar Chittim the same with Ziddim 71 Caphar Hananiah was the middle of Galilee 58 Caphar Karnaim was of Heathen Jurisdiction 317 Caphar Tebi what Village and whence the Name 18 Caphar Tsemach something observed about its Name 316 Cappadocia rendred by the Vulgar Palusium was Sin of old but in the Talmudists Cappadocia c. 290 291 Captains of the Temple what 471 Carmel a mountainous Country 59 Casiotis and Casius the Mount where situate c. 291 Castara what place and by whom inhabited 515 Castor and Pollux what how pictured and how fatal their Feast to the Lacedemonians 705 706 Caves and Dens vastly large and very numerous in the Land of Israel many of these were digged out of Mountains and Rocks by the Gygantick Canaanites for the use of war 88 89 Causes capital the Sanhedrim lost the power of Judging in Capital Causes by their own neglect being so remiss to the Israelites with the reason of it 611 to 614 Cesarea how named by Arabians and Jews how far from Jerusalem Herod built it after it was destroyed the Schools and Doctors of the Jews flourished there 54 55 Cesaria Phillippi where situated 63 317 Chabul what 311 Chagigah the Festival this was the second part of the Passover being kept with joy mirth and sacrifices p. 356 c. Paschal Chagigah what part of the Passover When the time of bringing it 610 611 618 Chains for the hands used among the Jews 683 Chalamish what place and by whom inhabited 515 Chaldee Language from their return out of Babilon was the Jews Mother Tongue 545 Chaldee Paraphrast addeth to the Hebrew Text. 707 Chaluch was a woolen shirt next the skin worn by the Jews 457 Chamber of the Counsellors and chief Men what 358 Chambers and Gates lying on the South side of the Court of Israel what 31 32 Chammath this is Ammaus of Josephus so near Tiberias as to be computed almost one City computed by some to be the warm Bathes of Tiberias 68 69 308 Chaphar Acon what 60 Chaphenatha where and what 516 Charity towards our neighbour is the top of Religion and a most undoubted sign of love to God p. 219. Saint Paul had three steps or degrees in his Charity 1300 Charms Mutterings Exorcisms c. were several sorts of Enchantments practised by Jews 243 Chel was the second Inclosure about the Temple 29 30 Chephar what place and by whom inhabited 515 Cheth and He Aleph and Ain the Mystical Jewish Doctors did not distinguish them 79 Chethib and Keri are the differing Readings of the Hebrew Text. 139 140 Chezib it and Achzib changed into Ecdippa the name of a place 61 Chief Men and Counsellors their Chambers what 358 Chijun or Remphan or Rephan what c. 673 Child a Child with two Bodies from the Navel upward which acted as two Children c. born at Emmaus 373 Children were born and brought up in some Courts near the Temple under ground to be made fitter to sprinkle the Purifying water p. 34. Little Children admitted Disciples by Christ. p. 219. Among the Jews when Children were grown to twelve years of age they were put close upon business both Secular and Divine p. 394. Children born crooked maimed or defective according to some sin of the Parents was the Opinion of the Jews p. 568. Children in the womb supposed by the Jews to be in a capacity to commit some sin p. 569 570. Holy Children a term for such as are born of Christian Parents p. 759 760. Why Children were and are to be baptized p. 1125 1127 1128 Why there is no particular Precept in Scripture for their Baptism p. 1128 1133. Children of the Jewish Proselytes were Baptized in the Jewish Baptism and why p. 1128 1132 1133. Why Children suffer for their Parents sin the Justice thereof p. 1316 1317. Good Children being part of their Parents are punished for their Parents sins 1318 1319 Children of the Bride-chamber what their priviledge and business 172 Chipper what place and by whom inhabited 515 Chorazin where seated 83 84 Christ is added to Jesus in numberless places in the New Testament to shew that Christ was the true Saviour and that Jesus was the true Messias p. 96. Jesus Christ is called the Son of David in a Communion term in the New Testament the Talmudick Writings also use the same term for the true Messias p. 96 97. Christ was born in the thirty first year of Augustus Caesar. p. 104 105. In the thirty fifth year of the Reign of Herod p. 106. In the Month of Tisri answering our September at the Feast of Tabernacles p. 107. This Month Tisri was ennobled before Christs time by many excellent things done in it p. 107. He fulfilled the typical Equity of the three great Feasts Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles p. 107. The Jewish Writers seem to intimate the time of Christs birth p. 107 108. There was a general expectation of him when he came p. 108. Manaben i. e. the Comforter is taken for Christ. p. 108. He conversed upon Earth two and thirty years and an half p. 128 Many Miracles were done by him p 174. Ben Satda a blasphemous name given by the Jewish Writers to Jesus Christ whom they make a Magician c. p. 189. Signs of Christs coming what from the Doctrin of the Jews p. 240 241. His coming in Glory and in the Clouds signifie only his taking vengeance on the Jewish Nation p. 244 1074. His death and the manner of it in several things differed from the Jewish custom in putting Persons to death p. 266. Christ had Perfections and Excellencies which flowed from the Hypostatical union of the two Natures and such also as flowed from the Donation and anointing of the Holy Ghost both mentioned p. 351 352. Christ or Messiah and the Son of God are convertible Terms against the Jews p. 548 549. Christ in his Agony and Passion exercised obedience and holiness not the Divine Power to bear up under the utmost that an enraged Devil could do p. 591. Whether God was then angry with him is questioned p. 591. Christs dew is his quickening Power p. 691. His Resurrection shews him to be the Messiah p. 691. His entrance into his publick Ministry and the time of his death and the several Actions which he did about the time of each c. p. 1033. He held communion with the National Church of the Jews in the publick Exercise of their Religion proved by manifold instances p. 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041. He was a Member of the Church of the Jews proved and under the obligation of the Law p. 1037.
Yea he was under the obligation of the Ceremonial Law and that in three respects p. 1037. Christs lineage or discent was most of younger Brothers p. 1089 1090. Why Christ was Baptised p. 1125. Christ conformed to many things received and practised in the Jewish Church and civil converse in several instances p. 1137 1139. Christ sets himself against them that set themselves against Religion p. 1164. Christ sending his Gospel bound the Devil from his former abominable cheating p. 1171. He delivered the Law on Mount Sinai and is called the Angel by Stephen the Proto-Martyr upon that account this proves him to be God against the Arian and Socinian p. 1229. He was sanctified by his own blood p. 1254. Christs blood called the blood of the Covenant and why p. 1254. He suffered as much as God could put him to suffer short of his own wrath p. 1255. The wrath of God not inflicted upon Christ in his sufferings p. 1255. His victory over Sin and Satan in his sufferings was by his holiness not by his God-head p. 1255 1256. The obedience of Christ made his blood justifying and saving p. 1255. His obedience conquered Satan and satisfied God p. 1256. He died meerly out of obedience p. 1257. He was sanctified by his own blood to the Office of Mediator p. 1254 1257. Acceptance with God and coming to him is only through Christ. p. 1261 1262. Christs obedience does not dissolve the obedience of a Christian. p. 1263. What it is to be separate from Christ. p. 1297. The Church of the Jews was only a Child under age till Christ came p. 1334. His descent into Hell the improper meaning as to what the Church of Rome understands by it p. 1341 to 1347. Where was the Soul of Christ when separate from the body p. 1344. His victory and triumph over Devils what p. 1345 1346. His Kingdom began at his Resurrection p. 1345 1346. His descent into Hell is supposed by some to be the Torments he suffered on the Cross. p. 1347. He did not undergo the anger or wrath of God but the Justice of God in his sufferings p. 1348 1349 1350. It was impossible Christ should suffer the Torments of Hell or be in the case of the damned p. 1350. His expiring upon the Cross considered both in it self and in the manner of it Page 1354 Christian Churches were modelled by our Saviour very near the Platform of the Jewish Synagogue worship 1041 1139 Church of the Jews Christ had a peculiar care of the Jewish Church though but too much corrupted while it was to continue a Church and therefore sends the Leper to shew himself to the Priests p. 165 166. How it may be said to have been a National Church p. 1036. It was only a Child under age till Christ came p. 1334. Wherein its Childhood did consist 1334 Churches in Houses what 794 795 Churches Christian Churches under the Gospel were by Christ himself and his Apostles modelled very like to the Platform of the Synagogues and Synagogue worship under the Law proved in several instances p. 1041 1139. The several Ages and Conditions of God's Church from the beginning of the World p. 1088 Churches in the Apostles days had many Ministers belonging to each and the reason of this 1156 1157 Circumcision at it Children received their Names p. 387. Circumcision as given by Moses gives a right understanding of the Nature of the Sabbath p. 557. Peter was a Minister of the Circumcision among the Hebrews p. 741. An Israelite may be a true Israelite or a Priest a true Priest without Circumcision 760 761 Cities of Refuge their Number and Names p. 47 48. Cities of the Levites the Lands about them large called their Suburbs these Cities were Cities of Refuge and Universities p. 86. A great City was such an one as had a Synagogue in it p. 87. Not any thing troublesom or stinking were to be near a City p. 87. Cities Towns and Villages how distinguished p. 333. 334. What number of Officers in Cities and what their Places and Employments 638 Cleansing what the Leper was to do for his cleansing 165 Climax of the Tyrians what place 61 Cock-crowing at what time p. 262. Whether there were Cocks at Jerusalem being sorbid by their Canons p. 262 The Jewish Doctors distinguish Cock-crowing into first second and third 597 Collections were made by the Jews in forrain Nations for the poor Rabbins dwelling in Judea 792 Comforter was one of the Titles of the Messiah 600 Coming of Christ in the Clouds in his Glory and in his Kingdom are used for the Day of his Vengeance on the Jews 626 Coming to Christ and believing in him how distinguished 1261 1262 Commandments or Commands Commands of the second Table chiefly injoyned in the Gospel and why p. 1064 1114 1115. God will not have his Commands dallied and trifled withal p. 1227. Why we are to keep the Commands of God p. 1130. The Commandments of the Law were given for Gospel ends 1231 Communion of the Jews what and how made p. 768. Christ had Communion with the National Church of the Jews in the publick Exercise of their Religion proved by many instances 1036 1037 1039 1040 1041 Confession of sins at the execution and death of Mulefactors say the Jews did expiate for their sins 1275 Confusion of Languages was the casting off of the Gentiles and the confusion of Religion 644 Conjuring so skilful were the Jews in Conjuring Enchantments and Sorceries that they wrought great Signs and Wonders and many villanies thereby 244 Conscience how to clear the state and nature of it when it is doubting some heads for such an undertaking hinted p. 1054 The great power of conviction of Conscience p. 1082 1803 1804. Conscience is an assurance given by God of the last Judgment 1104 1119 Consistories that were of more note out of the Talmud 85 Consolation of Israel It was an usual Oath among the Jews Let me see the Consolation or Let me see the Consolation of Israel 393 Conviction of Conscience the great power of it p. 1082 1083 1084 Corban signifies a thing devoted and dedicated to sacred use p. 201. Corban was the Treasury there was a Corban of Vessels or Instruments and a Corban of Mony p. 299. The Corban Chests how these were imployed to buy the dayly Sacrifice and Offerings p. 300 301. The Corban Chamber p. 300 301. The Corban Chests and the Treasury were in the Court of the Women p. 301. Corban a Gift what 345 Corinth where seated 737 Covenant the blood of it put for the blood of Christ. 1254 Covenant of Grace Souls raised in the first and second Resurrection by the vertue of this but not alike p. 1235. The Tenor and vertue of this Covenant distinguished 1236 Covetousness called an evil Eye 162. What it caused Balaam to do what he got by it and how many Israelites were destroyed by it p. 1181. The sad fruits of Covetousness and Apostasle 1181 1182 Councellors Chamber
the Doxology is added to it by Saint Matthew and omitted by Saint Luke 1139 Prayers were sometimes performed with great silence in the Temple p. 351. Prayers of the Jews consisted in Benedictions and Doxologies p. 427. Private Prayers in what part of the Temple they were performed p. 464. Dayly Prayers of the Jews were eighteen in number what they were 690 Praying for the dead founded by the Rhemists on that Text 1 John 5. 16. refuted 1094 Preaching was one part of Prophesie Singing Psalms and foretelling of Things from Divine Revelation were the two others 785 Precepts there were say the Jews six hundred thirteen Precepts in the Law of Moses 1114 Pre-existence of Souls some of the Jews held it 569 1352 Preparation of the Sabbath what 358 Presbyters and Elders were to judge in Pecuniary Affairs 755 Preservation of God how he preserves all Men alike and yet not all alike Page 1213 Presumption Monuments of Mercy were never set up in Scripture to be encouragements to Presumption 1276 Priestess one born of the Lineage of Priests of these the Priests commonly took themselves wives 379 Priesthood and High Priesthood only differed in two things 585 Priests married Gentlemens Daughters p. 42. One hundred sixty Priests were married in Gophna all in one night p. 52. Priests were the setled Ministry of the Church of Israel they always lived upon Tithes when they studied in the University Preached in the Synagogues and attended on the Temple Service p. 86. They were called First Plebeian Priests for Priests were not made but born so some of them were poor yet being of Aaron's seed though unlearned they had their Courses at the Altar Secondly Idiots or Private because still of a lower Order Thirdly Wâ— thier being besides the High Priest Heads of the Courses Heads of Families Presidents over Offices And such as were Members of the chief Sanhedrim p. 110. The Marriage of the Priests was a thing of great concern on purpose to keep them uncorrupt p. 379. Priests and Levites what was lawful and unlawful in them p. 382. Priests were examined by the Great Council whether they had any blemishes which if they had they were sent away arraied in black p. 388. Chief Priests Elders and Scribes how distinguished 469 Prince of this World the Devil how so called 591 592 Probatica or the Sheep Gate was not near the Temple contrary to the common Opinion 507 Prodigies very memorable which happened forty years before the destruction of the Temple what 248 Prophane or polluted and unclean distinguished 199 200 Promises given to Israel in the Law are most generally and most apparently Temporal Promises p. 1331 c. Scarcely any Spiritual much less any Eternal Promises in the Law of Moses p. 1332. In the Books of Moses they were all for earthly things as they belonged to the Jews p. 1332. Why God gave them such Promises p. 1333. There were spiritual Promises before the Law p. 1333. The Gospel State happy in the better Promises p. 1332 1333. God intended Spiritual Things under Temporal Promises p. 1333. Why God did not speak out Spiritual and Eternal Things but only obscurely hinted them in such Temporal Promises 1333 1334 Prophesie comprehends the singing of Psalms to Preach and Foretel something from Divine Revelation p. 785. From the death of the later Prophets the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Prophesie ceased from Israel p. 802. Prophesie expired at the fall of Jerusalem p. 1048. Prophesie was one of the two extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit p. 1157. Prophesie Revelation and Urim and Thummim was gone from the Jews for four hundred years before Christ came p. 1284 1288 1289. Prophesie was sometimes performed by ill Men as Caiaphas and Balaam 1288 to 1291 Prophesying what it was in Saint Paul's time 1157 1158 Prophets Schools of the Prophets were little Universities or Colledges of Students their Governor some venerable Prophet inspired with the Holy Spirit to give forth Divine Revelations c. p. 86. Prophets how divided by the Jews p. 407. How unrolled and distant Places put together p. 407 408. Prophets put for Prophetical Books of Scripture p. 458. From the days of Zachary and Malachy the Jews expected no Prophets till the coming of the Messiah p. 522. Prophets were not the standing Ministry of the Church neither under the Law nor under the Gospel but occasional and of necessity p. 1034 1049. The Books of the Law and Prophets only were read by the Jews in their Synagogues the rest they read not 1102 Proselyte what Page 234 Proselytes Fearers of the Lord are used for Proselytes every one of them are blessed 689 Prosperity of the wicked did once occasion both weeping and laughing p. 706. Prosperity or Peace outward in the things of this World is no sign of Peace with God p. 1053. It 's sometimes a sign of God's enmity proved from Ecclesiastes 5. 13. and from Mal. 2. 2. p. 1053. The Prosperity of wicked Men is an Argument of the Last Judgment and future state 1104 Protestant Church and Religion where they were before Luthers time 1201 Providence of God not a Rule for Men to go by but his Word 1276 Psalms put for the Hagiographa p. 265. Singing of Psalms was one part of Prophesie p. 785. Singing of Psalms in Christian Congregations is a great and heavenly work p. 1158. The Primitive Christians sung David's Psalms in their publick Congregations p. 1158. The singing whereof is a Duty incumbent upon Christians p. 1158 to 1162. Our Saviour the Apostles and the Primitive Church practised it 1159 to 1162 Ptolemais also called Acon a City of Galilee how situate 60 Ptolomy is in something amended 320 Publican what his business p. 171. Publican Heathen what 215 Publicans were odious to the Jews p. 152 c. They were of several Degrees 466 467 Purgatory the Doctrine of it p. 1341. The improbability ridiculousness and irreligion of the Papists holding that the Patriarchs were in it 1342 1343 Purification days of a Woman after Child bearing when accomplished p. 391 392. Purification after touching a dead Body what 790 Purifying water Children were born and brought up in some Courts under ground to be made fitter to sprinkle the Purifying water 34 Purifyings some were performed in a longer and others in a shorter time 586 Purim the Feast of Purim opposed by some of the Jews 578 Putting away for divorcing what p. 146. Putting away a Husband by the Wife c. among the Jews what With the Form thereof 759 Pythons what 175 Q. QUAKARISM Popery and Socinianism are great Heresies Page 1280 1281 R. RAbban Jochanan ben Zaccai something of his History Page 652 653 Rabbi an haughty Title not common till the times of Hillel which in later times was much affected 232 233 Rabbins of Tiberias were mad with Pharisaism bewitched with Traditions blind guileful doting and magical and such a like work is the Jerusalem Talmud which they made there it 's not possible to suppose that
these Men pointed the Bible it savours of the work of the Holy Spirit 73 34 Rachab supposed to marry Joshua famous among the Jewish Writers 97 Rain former and later what 409 Raka a word used by one that despiseth another in the highest scorn 141 Rakkath a fortified City from the days of Joshua 67 Rama was the Name of very many Towns in the Land of Israel because they were seated in some high place Page 80 Ramah and Ramathaim Zophin there were two of the Name whence derived 41 Ransom or Attonement for Souls how much and for what end p. 1204 1205 1208. At what time it was paid p. 1205. Why the Poor therein was to give as much as the Rich. p. 1207. And why the Poor in Worldly matters gave more than the Rich did in those that referred to God 1207 Retaliation it's Laws 150 151 Ravens which brought bread and flesh Morning and Evening to Elias are supposed to be the People of Orbo 317 Ravished Saint Austin's determination about chaste Matrons and Virgins Ravished by the Enemy when they broke into the City what 1098 Readers of the Low part of their work 803 Reason the mysteries of Divinity not contrary to it how to be understood 1103 Redemption or new Creation was performed on the day Adam was created 1325 Refuge Cities of Refuge their Number and Names 47 48 Regeneration what kind of Regeneration the Jews thought to be necessary to Proselytism 533 Region round about Jordan what 298 299 Registers or Scribes of the Sanhedrim were two the one sat on the right the other on the left hand one wrote the votes of those that quitted the other of those that condemned 337 Religion the Religion of the Pharisees Sadducees and Esseans was not the National Religion of the Jews but Sects and Excrescences from it p. 1036. Christ sets himself against them that set themselves against Religion p. 1164. The Principles of the Traditional Religion of the Jews made them Crucifie the Lord of Life p. 1175. What Religion the Devil hath most reason to hate p. 1177. And which is the best and what it is p. 1177. Which is the true Religion A difficult Question two marks of it p. 1176 1177. The Jewish Religion was very corrupt under the second Temple p. 1199 1200. The Romish Religion comes very near to Judaism p. 1200. Whether a Man may be saved in that Faith that is in the Religion of Rome doubted p. 1202. Some maintain that a Man may be saved in any Religion or Opinion so he live but honestly towards Men and devoutly towards God 1279 Rempham or Rephan what 673 Renting of Cloaths what 263 Repentance a Doctrine highly fit for the Jews when it was preached to them by John the Baptist The Schools of the Pharisees did ill define Repentance p. 113. The Jews supposed the Redeemer was to come at a time when Repentance was to be p. 114. Repentance not to be put off till death p. 1227. There is nothing more desirable to God Christ and Angels than the Repentance of a Sinner p. 1269. What it is that moves God Christ and Angels to desire this p. 1270. Repentance is the gift of God as well as Pardon p. 1277. The Rule to arrive at Repentance is to take Gods time as well as way 1277 Repetition of the same words in Prayer how practised condemned by Christ. 157 Rephaims what 363 Reproof and Excommunication what they were with the difference between them 747 Resurrection the first Resurrection what 1233 1235 Resurrection of Christ the Epoche of the Messias is stated from the Resurrection of Christ. p. 180. The Resurrection of Christ shews him to be the Messiah p. 691. How it argues and gives assurance of the last Judgment p. 1105. Christ Resurrection and the Creation whether the greater work 1330 Resurrection of the dead was in the days of Ezra denyed by some p. 216. How it is proved out of the Old Testament by Rabban Gamaliel p. 541. How the Sadducees came to deny the Resurrection from the dead p. 542. The Jews looked for the Resurrection from the dead p. 549 552. It is proved out of the Talmud p. 702. Proved out of the Law p. 787. Resurrection and last judgment proved p. 1101 1102 1103 c. The objections of the Sadducees and Atheists answered p. 1101 c. Resurrection of the last day demonstrated against the Sadducees and Atheists p. 1236 1237. Denyed by the Sadducees Page 1282 c. Resurrection of the Saints expected even by the Jews at the beginning of the Kingdom of the Messias 269 Revelation Prophesie Utim and Thummim were gone from the Jews for four hundred years before Christ came 1284 1288 1289 Rhinocorura a River of Egypt what 9 291 Riches worldly Riches and grandure countervail nothing with God 1210 1211 1212 Righteousness why Alms are taken for Righteousness p. 153 c. Righteousness inherent and justifying 504 505 Rings of the Altar what and for what use 33 34 Robbers were very numerous among the Jews and did strange mischiefs how there came to be so many of them 267 268 362 Rock for Christ not Peter 205 Roman Empire when it began p. 388 389. When and how it was measured p. 389. When and how taxed 389 390 Romanists and Jews how they may be said to be yoak-fellows 1110 Romans there were Garisons of them dispersed over the Land of Israel what they were p. 324. The Romans are brought in by the Jewish Writers owning themselves and boasting of their being the Children of Esau or Edom and shew that Esau ought to rule over Jacob. p. 694 695. The Epistle to the Romans when and where it was written by Saint Paul 1051 Rome is put for Edom. p. 292. Rome guilty of our Saviours death as much as Jerusalem p. 1109. It is also guilty of Apostasie p. 1110. Part of the character of Rome at this time as referring to England p. 1165 The proper Name of Rome say Roman Historians is a Secret p. 1165. The Tutelar Deity of it also unknown p. 1166. Rome is the Devils Seat his Deputy and Vicegerent p. 1166. Rome commissioned by the Devil to fight against Christ his Religion and People p. 1166 1167. When first and last spoke of in Scripture p. 1168. Rome Heathen could not be Antichrist because the character of Antichrist is Apostasie p. 1168. Rome Papal hath exceeded Rome Heathen p. 1169. Rome is ever spoken of in Scripture with a black and dismal character p. 1199. Rome and the Religion thereof comes very near to Judaism p. 1200. Whether a Man can be saved in the Faith that is in the Religion of Rome doubted p. 1202 Rome compared with the Old Jerusalem State 1200 Rule God's extraordinary Actings are not Mens ordinary Rule 1276 Rulers the false Logick of those who are for no Rulers over them but King Jesus refuted 1060 S. SABBATH when it ended p. 166 167. The Jews ate nothing on the Sabbath till the Morning Prayers of