amongst the best Divines of this age Theodoret amongst the Ancients Melancthen and Moller amongst moderne writers have better attempted this profitable worke than they have beene seconded The historicall occasions and other circumstances of the times wherein these Psalmes were written were they knowne according to the literall sense would lead us by a faire and safe way as it were by the rule of three unto the just product or capacitie of the true allegoricall and mysticall sense in which they were fulfilled But as our case now stands the luxuriant and perplexed branches of such forced Allegories as men fancie to themselves or frame by guesse without any perfect scale or proportion from the true historicall sense have occasioned many judicious Divines to doubt or question whether those things which by the Evangelists are said to bee done that the Scriptures might bee fulfilled doe alwayes imply some concludent proofe or demonstration of the Spirit Calvin for being sometimes too bold sometimes too sparing in the exposition of such places as the Evangelists say are fulfilled in Christ is deeply taxed by the Lutherans generally and by many of the Romish Church But Christian charity will perswade men of sober passions that it was rather feare lest he should give offence unto the Jewes then any desire or inclination to comply with them which made him sometimes give the same interpretations of Scriptures which they doe without expression of or search after farther mysteries than the letter it selfe doth minister How ever it be if Calvin be lyable to a judgement Iansenius Sasbout and Maldonat three of the most judicious Commentators of the Romish Church for these many yeares are lyable to a Councell for their unadvised presumption in this kinde One of them denyeth that often forecited place I will be to him a Father and be shall be to me a sonne to bee literally meant of Salomon wherein he gives just offence unto the Jewes and by superstitious feare of committing that errour whereof Calvin is often accused doth fall into the contrary The two others question whether that of the Prophet Hosea Out of Egypt have I called my sonne were properly fulfilled in our Saviour or only said to be fulfilled per accommodationem by way of allusion that is in such a manner as we might say that of the Poet Omnis in Ascanio chari stat cura Parentis were fulfilled in any father or mother whom we saw to dote upon or much to deligt in their lovely sonne And this was the explicite meaning of Maldonats third rule before cited in what sense the Scripture is said to be fulfilled 2. That this was his meaning in that place may be gathered from his comment on that other saying of S. Matthew Chap. 13. ver 34 35. All these things spake Iesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things which have beene kept secret since the foundation of the world His observations upon this place are in his owne words englished thus The particle That doth not denote the cause why our Saviour spake in parables for he did not thus speake to the end that Davids sayings might bee fulfilled but because his Auditors were unworthy of such perspicuous declarations as he used to his Disciples in private This he takes as granted from our Saviours speech ver 13 14. Therefore spake I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they heare not neither doe they understand And in them is fulfilled the Prophecy of Isaiah which saith By hearing c. The abstract of his observations upon ver 34 35. is this that it was no part of our Evangelists meaning to teach us that Davids prophecy was properly fulfilled by our Saviours parables seeing Davids discourse as he conceives was indeed no prophecy but an historicall narration of matters past besides that the word which the Psalmist there useth doth not signifie such parables as our Saviour in this 13. chapter meant but rather such pithy sentences as the Greekes call Apophthegmes Maldonats conclusion therefore is that the Evangelist according to his usuall manner did only accommodate that which David had spoken to our Saviours speeches in this place to which they have some affinity or similitude though no concludent congruity and for our better satisfaction hee referres us to his Comments upon Matth. 2. 15. that is indeed to his third rule in what sense the Scriptures are said to be fulfilled But in this and other like passages to the same purpose this Author onely gives us to understand how easie a matter it is for good Divines sometimes to spend a great deale of learning and wit to no good purpose especially when they strive to be hypercriticall or to be censorious of others pious endeavours though perhaps not so accurate 3. To revise these his animadversions ordine retrogrado that is beginning with the last and ending with the first No man did say that the narrations in that Psalme were propheticall in respect of the matters literally and immediately signified by the words themselves Yet in as much as these matters though past as Gods wonders in Egypt and in the wildernesse the conducting of his people to the land of Canaan and their rebellious behaviour in it were true types or shadowes of the like events in future times there is not any thing in that Psalme related which in the mysticall sense doth not fore-represent some parallel event when the God of their Fathers should come in person to expostulate with his people in such a manner as David did with the people of his time which he did not in his owne name or authority but in the name and authority of his Lord and God For so he beginnes that Psalme Give eare O my people to my Law incline your eares to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter darke sayings of old This preamble cannot literally bee applyed to David or any Prophet save only as he was a type or shadow of him that was to come The Psalmists words immediately following though Apophthegmaticall and pithy were plaine in respect of the literall sense if you consider them only as matters of fact forepast were knowne and had been taught at the least by some of their Fathers though perhaps forgotten by posterity However in respect of their mysticall importāce or as they containe a proportionable parallel of the Kingdome of Heaven with the Kingdome of Israel according to the flesh they are sentences both hard and darke and such as did require a better paraphrast upon David or the Author of this Psalme then he was of Moses or of the sacred Historians before his time For by the parables meant in ver 2. of this Psalme if we may beleeve S. Matthewes paraphrase upon these words were meant things which had beene
themselves acknowledge to be a note of some mystery as one of them being converted to Christianity observes against his brethren which love darknesse more then light The mystery notified in this particular as this Author tells us is by their owne rules in cases wherein they are no parties ingaged the same with that which is immediately after expressed in words assertive and plaine That of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdome to order it and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever the zeale of the Lord of hoasts will performe this I referre the observation of the like charactericall representations unto the diligent Readers of the old Testament in the original tongue or of ancient Hebrew Commentators whose testimonies in many cases where they are no parties are no way to bee contemned And amongst other branches of that rule for interpreting Scriptures which was constantly received amongst the ancient Jewes as Peter Martyr and Bucer with others somewhere observe this representation of divine mysteries by letters or characters unusuall might for ought I know be one 7. As for the representation of like mysteries by proper names of men especially who by their place or office were types or forerūners of Christ that I presume no sober Christian will except against or call in question And this representaon or prenotification of future mysteries was exhibited either in the first imposition of names or in the change of names or in the severall use of divers names when the same party retained more names than one There was scarce a sonne of Iacob whose name did not imply a kinde of prophecy Rachell did truly prophecy of the state and condition of the Benjamites when she called the Father of that Tribe at his birth Benoni the sonne of her sorrow And Iacob did as truly prophecy when he changed his name into Benjamin the sonne of his right hand Nun the Ephramite did call his sonne Hoseah by divine instinct or direction And Moses did truly prophecie when he changed his name into Iehoshua With what intention Isaac or Rebecca did call their younger sonne Iacob I know not or whether they had any other motive knowne to themselves to give him this name besides that which the manner of his birth did minister for he caught hold of his brothers heele in the birth But this name Iadgnakab hand in heele made afterwards by close composition as it seemes Iagnakab did as the attempt signified by it in the birth portend that he should supplant his elder brother and get the birthright from him 8. After this name given him by his Parents he was in his full age named Israel by God Himselfe by way of addition only without any change or determination of his former name or the Omen of it But it is not without observation why he is sometimes called Iacob sometimes Israel in the same continued historicall Narration the name Iacob characterizing his present infirmity the name Israel notifying his recovering or gathering of strength But one of the most admirable prerepresentations literall not assertive of mysteries plainely afterward avouched and fulfilled which I have either observed or found observed by others is in the Benedictus Luke 1. 68 c. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for hee hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an horne of salvation for us in the house of his servant David c. To performe the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy Covenant the oath which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life The summe of that which God had spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets which had beene since the world began was now reavouched by Zacharias being filled with the holy Ghost in a literall assertive sense plaine and easie even to the capacity of the naturall man And yet the summe of all which Zacharias by the Spirit of Prophecie did now utter was clearely represented to men of spirituall understanding in the Scriptures or experienced in their spirituall sense in the very names of Iohn Baptist and of his Parents For Zacharias the Baptists Father is by interpretation the remembrance of God Elizabeth his mother as much as the oath of God And the name Iohn imports the free grace of God And all these put together sound as much as that God did now remember his people with that grace which he had sworne to bestow upon them in his Covenant with Abraham that is with grace of deliverance from their enemies their owne sinnes were their greatest enemies with grace enabling them to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their life Of more particulars in this kinde as they shall fall within the compasse of Prophecies or prefigurations concerning Christ hereafter CHAP. 14. That the Scripture is said to be fulfilled according to all the former senses that one and the same Scripture may be oftner than once fulfilled according to each severall sense THe fulfilling of any thing written supposeth a foretelling or presignification of the same And because matters related by the Evangelists and other sacred writers of the new Testament were of course and of purpose either foretold or prefigured in the old testament hence it is that this phrase of fulfilling that which was written is in a manner peculiar to these sacred writers not in use amongst secular historians Yet the phrase is not therefore barbarous because not used by politer writers in the same subject that is in historicall narrations For it is used by Tully and other most elegant writers in the same sense which sacred writers use it As because every man as was intimated before may foretell those things which were by himselfe projected or promised they are likewise said implere promissa to fulfill their owne promises or to fulfill the Omen or signification of their owne names so an elegant Poet saith Maxime qui tanti mensuram nominis imples Now seing this phrase This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled is so frequent in the new Testament Maldonat did very well and like himselfe in unfolding the severall wayes as he conceived them according to which the Scripture is said to be fulfilled almost in the very beginning of his learned Commentaries upon the foure Evangelists Yet some question there may be whether he did all this which was so well and wisely attempted by him so well and so judiciously as might in reason have beene expected from him 2. The Scripture saith he so farre as I could hitherto observe is said to be fulfilled foure manner of wayes First when that very thing is done or comes to passe which was meant by the Prophet or other sacred
to bee followed in practise then the other although there be no absolute resolution whether is speculatively more true As suppose it to be equally probable on both sides whether tithes be due Iure divino or no yet it would be the safer way for every man to pay his tithes as duly as if hee were fully resolved that they were due by Gods peremptory Law For so long as any doubt remaines whether they be due by Gods Law or no the detaining of them cannot by any humane law be made ex fide it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whatsoever is so is in our Apostles sense a most grievous sin But to proceed in our assertion 4. Two grave and learned writers in their times and their times were ancient in respect of ours have observed an Amphibologie in the directions which Samuel gave to Saul from Gods owne mouth questionlesse 1 Sam. 10. 8. Thou shalt goe downe before me to Gilgal and behold I will come downe unto thee to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings seaven dayes shalt thou tarry till I come to thee and shew thee what I will doe It was Sauls misfortune shall I say or misdemeanour to make choise of the worse part of that double construction which these words may admit for this Amphibologie was not in scripto but in words uttered though afterwards committed to writing Reason might have taught Saul that if the warre were undertaken it was to be administred likewise by the counsell of the Lord and therefore he did foolishly in adventuring to offer sacrifice or doe any other solemne act before the Prophet who was the Lords Embassadour in this businesse came unto him Although it be said Chap. 13. ver 8. That he tarryed seaven dayes according to the time set by Samuel yet in this doing surely he did not as Samuel appointed him to doe otherwise Samuel had done more foolishly of the two He stayed then the just measure of that time which Samuel had appointed but he did not observe the season the end or purpose which Samuel had appointed The seaven dayes were appointed him to offer solemne sacrifice and if he had not digressed from Samuels direction herein the seaven dayes of sacrifice had beene his solemne inauguration to the Kingdome as may with probability be gathered from the 13. verse of the 13. Chapter Samuel said to Saul thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the Commandement of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee for now would the Lord have established thy Kingdome upon Israel for ever 5. To admit either an Amphibologie in sentences by mutuall transposition of words or clauses or ambiguous signification of words by changing of points can be no greater disparagement to the sacred authority of the originall Text then the equivocall or ambiguous signification of the same word without any alteration of points or letter would occasion if either sort of ambiguities did justly minister any such occasion at all Now that the selfesame word or words may in one and the same sentence admit ambiguous and much different significations no man that reades the Scriptures with as much diligence or observance as reverence can make question There is no difference at all betwixt Christians and Jewes much lesse amongst the Christians themselves about letters or poynts in the 8. Psalme in that verse especially Thou hast made him little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour This word little admits two senses grammatically much different and yet must respectively bee interpreted according to the full purport of both This Psalme by the title and inscription is a Psalme of David and beares the character of Davids pen The subject or matter of it is thanksgiving to God for his extraordinary favour unto man above all other visible creatures That which raysed his thoughts to such an high pitch and his expressions of them in such a loftie Propheticall straine as he here useth was his serious contemplation of the beauty of these Heavenly bodies the Sunne Moone and Starres c all which he knew to be the workes of Gods owne hand and yet he saw them nothing so much regarded by him as man even the meanest of men Enosh or Ben Adam The heavens indeed were farre above men in situation or place but man was further above them in dignity than he was below the Angels or Coelestiall Creatures Elohim Now if we respect onely the plaine literall sense of the Psalmists speech or consider it as it reflects onely upon the history of the first creation the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an adverbe of quantity and is rightly rendred by the Latine paulò or aliquantulum as it is most true that man by the gift of creation was little lower than the Angels being true Lord and King of this inferiour world But most Psalmists David especially whilest they contemplate the sacred Histories of times past not as Polititians doe histories soecular but as vates praeteritorum as men rapt with Gods goodnesse towards their Forefathers become withall vates futurorum true Prophets of better things to come In this admiration of mans first estate which was now lost David had a view or glimpse of his restauration to it or a better Whatsoever his thoughts or apprehensions for the present were his expressions by disposition of divine providence reached the manner of mans restitution to it as they doe the first estate it selfe from which we fell And in respect of this mysticall sense the same Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any alteration at all is an adverbe of time and is most divinely rendred by our Apostle Heb. 2. 5 6. c. Vnto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speake but one in a certaine place testified saying What is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou visitest him Thou madest him lower for a little while than the Angels thou crownedst him with glory and honour and didst set him over the workes of thy hands Thou hast put all things under his feete c. His inference is admirable For albeit the former words thou hast made him but a little lower than the Angels were literally true of the first man Adam yet were they not verified in any sonne of Adam Nor were the words following thou hast given him dominion over the workes of thy hands c ever fulfilled either in the first man or in any other creature nor can they in their exquisite sense be applied to any beside the second Adam or sonne of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is now Lord of all all things are subject to him even as he is the sonne of man And that he might be thus crowned with glory and honour and bring his brethren miserable men and the sonnes of miserable men unto glory he was for a while to bee made lower than the Angels through
upon them the waters of the rivers strong and many even the King of Assyria and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels and goe over all his banks Againe that the name Emmanuel did literally import Gods peculiar presence at that time with his people not only to deliver them from Rezin and Pekah but from the potencie of the Assyrian in future times is evidently included in the 9 and 10 verses Associate your selves O yee people and yee shall be broken in pieces and give eare all yee of farre Countries gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and yee shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall be brought to naught speake the word and it shall stand for God is with us The strange defeat of the confederacie here foretold was not to be expected in the dayes of Ahaz in whose times the Assyrian did attempt no great matters against them but in the dayes of Hezekiah Thus much the Prophets words in the verses following import ver 16. 17. Binde up the testimony seale my law among my Disciples And I will waite upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will looke for him This binding up of the Testimony and sealing of this Law doth argue both the Law and testimony to have beene of speciall moment yet not to be put in execution or fully accomplished for the present Of the accomplishment of both whether wholly or in part the Prophets sonnes in the interim were signes and pledges as is imported ver 18. Behold I and the Children whom the Lord hath given mee are for signes and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hoasts which dwelleth in Mount Sion This last passage is alledged by the Apostle amongst others to prove that the Lord of Hoasts himselfe who in the 14. verse of the 8. of Isaiah had promised to be a Sanctuary to his people was to participate with them of flesh and bloud Hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one For which cause hee is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee And againe I will put my trust in him And againe Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Yet that the 18. verse of Isaiah the 8 to which our Apostle in this place referres us was literally meant of the Prophet and his Children is too apparent to be denied nor will it be safe to stand upon termes of contradiction thus farre with the moderne Jew One of the Prophets sonnes was called Shear-iashub which by interpretation is The remnâ—nt shall returne and of this returne or restauration hee was the signe or pledge The other was called Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us a name portending or foretokening Gods speciall presence with his people at more times than one The imposition of both names and their importance were literally fulfilled in the age immediatly following but mistically fulfilled only in Christ whose comming to visit his people was prefigured by both of them The full importance or abode of the name Emmanuel was fulfilled in our Saviours conception and birth the true importance of Shear-iashub shall be mystically fulfilled when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come or when the Jew shall be called to be againe the seede of Abraham according to promise 9. Two points only remaine The first how the prophecie concerning Emmanuel was fulfilled according to the literall sense in the Prophets time and our resolution in this point wee must take from the sacred records of this theame in the old Testament The second how this prophecie was fulfilled according to the mysticall sense and this wee must learne from the Evangelists which alledge the fulfilling of it and other unpartiall Writers which relate either circumstances or signes of those times in which they wrote Out of these two points the parallel betweene the Prophet and Evangelists will of its owne accord without any anxious inquirie or further discussion result 10 The Histories of the old Testament by which Isaiahs literall meaning may be best interpreted are in the 2 of Kings 17 18. 2 Chron. 28. 16 17 c. We have a constat from the prophet Isaiah himselfe Chap. 7. 1 2. That this prophecy concerning Emmanuel was uttered by him in the dayes of Ahaz King of Judah and of Pekah the sonne of Remaliah but in what certaine yeare of either of these two Kings raignes this revelation was made to Isaiah and the matter of it instantly imparted unto King Ahaz is not so certaine Most certaine it is that Isaiah delivered this message from the Lord to Ahaz before the twelfth yeare of his raigne for in that yeare Hoshea the sonne of Elah begun to raigne in Samaria over Israel 2 Kings 17. 1. and this was after Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was dead And though it be not so certaine yet most probable it is that the former prophecy was uttered about the 8 or 9 yeare of Ahaz or about 3 yeares or somewhat more before Pekah the sonne of Remaliah was slaine One yeare or somewhat under we must allow for the conception and birth of the Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz and some two yeares after untill he were upon the point or period of time wherein ordinary Children in those dayes were enabled to know how to refuse the evill and choose the good that is to distinguish between other meats besides milke butter and honey and betweene his parents and other persons Before this Emmanuel or Maher-Shalal-hash-baz were thus enabled to distinguish betweene meate and meat or his parents and other persons but how long before this time it is uncertaine both Pekah sonne of Remaliah and Rezin King of Syria according to the tenour of Isaiahs prophecy and the astipulation made by him upon the signe profered to Ahaz were to be deprived of their Kingdomes or rather their Land and Kingdomes to be quitted of them Isaiah 7. 16. Chap. 8. ver 4. But before their ruine and before this revelation concerning their ruine was made unto the Prophet Isaiah they had brought Judah and the house of David exceeding low 2 Chron. 28. 5 6 7 8. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria and they smote him carryed away a great multitude of them Captives and brought them to Damascus And hee was also delivered into the hand of the King of Israel who smote him with a great slaughter For Pekah the sonne of Remaliah slue in Iudah an hundred and twentie thousand in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers And Zichri a mightie man of Ephraim slue Maaserah the Kings sonne and Azrikam the governour of the house and Elkanah that was next to the King And the Children of Israel caryed away captive
or finisher that they could have desired This saith he was even then acknowledged not to fall out by meer chance or without some further portending meaning or signification The exceptions taken against this tradition avouched by this Author Petrus Comestor are to men acquainted with the manner of sacred expressions of things to come so weake that they adde strength unto it But whatsoever the historicall event were at which these words in the literall sense immediately point wee Christians know that in the Symbolicall or spirituall sense they referre to Christ His exaltation unto Majestie and glory after the chiefe Rulers of the Temple had cast him aside and rejected him as not fit to be entertained amongst Gods people was mystically foreshadowed by that matter of fact or historicall event whereof the Psalmist speakes whatsoever that were yet not expresly foretold according to the direct literall sense of his words but onely signified according to the Symbolicall importance After the same manner the forecited words of the Prophet Isa 22. 23. The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder so he shall open and none shall shut and hee shall shut and none shall open doe in their literall and native sense immediately point at Eliakim of whose office in the house of David a materiall and visible key was the ensigne or pledge as the like is of some great offices in moderne Princes Courts But according to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance both key and office both inscription and matter of fact referre unto the spirituall invisible power of the sonne of David Who hath the keyes of Hell and of death Rev. 1. The keyes likewise of the Kingdome of Heaven and where he openeth no power in heaven or earth can shut nor open where he is pleased to shut That which some call the morall sense of scriptures is alwayes reducible to this generall branch last mentioned to wit to the emblematicall or symbolicall importance of the words expressed as they concurre with matter of fact or reall representation Only there may be a morall sense where there is no prophecy no representation truly mysticall As when it is written Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corne this law was to be observed according to the plaine literall sense And yet both the law it selfe and its observance from the first date of the letter had that morall which the Apostle makes That such as serve at the Altar should live by the Altar 5. To this branch likewise belong all the significations of legall ceremonies which doe not immediately point at Christ in whom they were exactly fulfilled but at morall duties to bee performed as well by us Christians as by the ancient Jews Christ our Passeover saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. it sacrificed for us Therefore let us keepe the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickednesse but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth This was the true morall of that legall observance of the feast of unleavened bread which was to be kept according to the strict letter of the law whilest the law of ceremonies was in force Concerning this symbolicall or morall sense especially when it is not propheticall Maldonats advise is very good He that will search after such senses must hold close to the letter Propiùs mihi Rupertus videtur in quaerendo morali sensu ad literalem accessisse quod semper faciendum esse ei qui ridiculus esse nolit saepe monumus And of allegoricall mysticall or symbolicall senses which are propheticall or prefigurative none are current or concludent but such as hold exact proportion with the sense historicall 6. Some good Divines there be which would have an anagogicall sense distinct from all these mentioned The Allegoricall Spirituall or Mysticall sense is by them limited to matters already accomplished in the Gospell whereas the Anagogicall reacheth to matters of the world to come But this difference in the subject or time unto which whether words or matters sacred referre makes no formall difference in the sense or manner of the prediction or prefiguration Whatsoever is in Scripture foresignified or intimated concerning the state and condition of the life to come is either literally foretold by expresse words or mystically foreshadowed by matter of fact or notified by some concurrence of prediction and representation and so may be reduced to one or other of the senses mentioned either to the meere literall or to the meerely mysticall or to the literally or symbolically mysticall or spirituall sense CHAP. 13. Of the literall sense of Scripture not assertive but meerely charactericall BUt divine mysteries as was intimated before are sometimes neither notified by expresse prediction or words assertive nor by matter of fact historicall event or type nor by the persons actions or offices of men but represented onely by words or names by notes or letters or other secret characters of speech Now this manner of representing mysteries divine produceth a sense of Scripture distinct from all the former which can hardly be comprehended under one certaine denomination unlesse it be under this negative the literall sense not assertive Or if the Reader desire a positive expression of it he may terme it the charactericall sense To beginne with the first words of Scripture In the beginning saith Moses Bara Elohim The Lord created c. Although these words be assertive yet the mystery of the Trinity is not avouched in Logicall assertion or proposition but only represented or insinuated in the peculiar forme or character of the grammaticall construction if happily it be here either represented or intimated at all For some both judicious Divines and great Hebricians there be as well in the Romish as in the reformed Churches who will acknowledge no intimation of any mystery in this conjunction of a noune plurall with a verbe singular but tell us this forme of speech is usuall in the Hebrew dialect as the like is in some cases in the Greeke For the Graecians as every grammar Scholar knowes joyne nounes of the neuter gender plurall with verbes of the singular number as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These mens authority would sway much with me if I did not finde it counterpoised by observation of Wolphgangus Capito an exquisite Hebrician and discreet searcher of the mysticall sense of Scriptures Now if his observation doe not faile him the construction of verbes singular with nounes plurall is never used amongst Hebrew writers unlesse the noune doe want the singular number In this case alone they doe not extend the signification of the verb into such plurality as is in the noune Contrary to the use of the Latines who to make the adjective and substantive agree in number stretch Vnum one or unity it selfe into a plurall forme as unae literae una maenia which would be a harsh kind of speech in our English or other modern tongues But
alwayes a distinct foresight or apprehensiō Such as they sometimes had was by extraordinary priviledge or dispensation it was no necessary appendix of the ordinary gift of prophecy lesse appendant thereon than the prenotion or foresight of the second or third event was upon the foresight or apprehension of the first For in that case the same prophecy though often fulfilled was yet alwayes fulfilled onely according to a fuller importance or growth of the same literall sense without the intervention or mixture of any matter of fact which could properly be called a real type or map of that which afterwards hapned As if the Prophet Isaiah did not by vertue of the ordinary gift of the Spirit foresee the second or third remarkable fulfilling of that prophecy This people draw neere me with their lips but are farre from me in their hearts it is lesse probable that the Prophet Ieremy should foresee the secōd or more exact accomplishment of that Prophecy Behold the day is come saith the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which brought the children of Israel out of the Land of Aegypt but the Lord liveth which brought up the house of Israel out of the North Country c. Ierem. 23. 7 8. For in the second fulfilling of this prophecy besides the improvemēt or sublimation of the literall sense there was an intervention of matter of fact or type 6 Againe if it be doubtfull whether the Prophets had alwaies or for the most part such a distinct foresight of the antitype as they had of the type or if it be more probable that they had no such apprehensiō of the antitype whē the literall sense of their words did though in a different degree truely fit both then is there no probability that they should foresee the second accomplishment of such prophecies as no way reach the antitype in the plaine literall or grammaticall sense but by symbolicall or Emblematicall importance Isaiah no doubt had a cleare foresight of Eliakims admission into Shebnah's office whose deposition he likewise foresaw But that he foreknew the harmony betweene the deposition of Shebnah which he knew would shortly be fulfilled and the rejection of the Jewish Rulers or betweene Eliakims advancement and our Saviours exaltation after his resurrection wee have no probable inducement to beleeve but inducements many to perswade us that the foreknowledge of things thus foreprophecied and foreshadowed was for the most part reserved unto the holy Spirit not imparted to the Prophets who in foretelling or foreshadowing the antitype were for the most part his Organs onely though his Agents in the prediction of the type and did ingage their credits only for the first fulfilling of the Prophecies or for their fulfilling in generall Of the difference betwixt the knowledge of the Spirit of God and the Prophets whom he did imploy in representation of mysteries to come wee may have a proportionable scale in the difference betwixt the extraordinary Herauld or other inventor of such devices as they give and the ordinary Painter An ordinary Scholar that should see a painted Eclipse of the sun with this inscriptiō totiō adimit quo ingrata refulget would easily apprehend that this word ingrata refers to the Moone but what ingratitude or ingratefull person the Moone in this devise should represent that hee could not learne from skill in painting but from the history of the times or from the Author of this devise which to my remembrance was an Italian Prince who had beene brought under a cloud much prejudiced in his honour fortunes by an unthankfull plant of his stocke whom his favour and countenance had advanced to the dignity of a Cardinall Or if one should intreat a skilfull Painter to represent three small vessels in the same river distant one from another neere upon the same line one of thē using the furtherance of oares and winde to goe speedily against the streame another the benefit of oares to outrunne the streame and a third in the middle moving neither swiftlier nor slowlier then the streame it selfe doth with this motto or inscription videor occursari utrisque the ingrosser of this devise from his owne experience would easily conceave the truth of the inscription in the grammaticall or naturall construction of the words and might conjecture in generall that they imported somewhat more than a bare representation of what we see by dayly experience verified of things floating in the water For whilest we row swiftly by them we thinke they come against us when they goe the same way which wee doe but more gently And this is the condition of such men in our times as will not combine with factions spirits either with such as by helpe of Arts and other potency directly oppose the truth or such as follow it with furious zeale or indiscretion He that seekes to hold the middle course betwixt these opposites regulating as well his affections as his opinions by the placide current of the water of life neither striving against it nor seeking to outrunne it shall be thought to oppose both parties and come in danger of being crusht betweene them But this morall is more then the ingrosser of such a devise could apprehend without further instruction then the review of his owne work or the grammaticall sense of the inscription suppose he understood Latine would afford him Now the Prophets in many cases were but the ingrossers of such visions or representations of mysteries to come as the holy Ghost did dictate unto them whether by word or matter of fact or both wayes The full importance of many such representations neither was nor could be revealed save onely by him which had the spirit of prophecy not by measure 7. If Enoch Moses Elias and the whole fellowship of Prophets which foretold our Saviours comming whether first or second had beene spectators of all his miracles or eare-witnesses of all his words every one of them would have learned more from him then all of them knew before Each of them would have beene able to make better construction of one anothers words then any of thē without his interpretatiōs could have made of his own It is a lamētable negligēce in many interpreters not to observe or seeke after the manifest proofes which our Saviour gave of his immense prophetick spirit from which for the most part they gather only morall doctrines and uses For that saying though delivered by Authors not Canonicall is yet canonicall and universally true Never spake man like this man And thus hee spake as well in interpretation of propheticall predictions or legall Ceremonies as in his expositions of the morall Law 8. Briefely then if wee had no better interpreter of the Prophets then the Prophets themselves or no clearer apprehension of the mysteries now exhibited then they had when they foretold them this would bee sufficient to confirme our faith that they spake by the Spirit of God more then sufficient to leave us without excuse
the sufferings of death as our Apostle hath it ver 9. But to bee made lower than the Angels after this manner was to be made a great deale lower than they or the meanest of men as the sonne of man was though but for a little time 6 But the utmost extent of that varietie of senses which may arise either from the different signification of one and the same word or from amphibologie of construction from diversitie of points or change of letters is not infinite And if we should examine all the possible changes of points or letters which the Rabbins or others imagine there will not appeare any such difference throughout the whole Bible for the qualitie or moralitie of the severall senses thus occasioned as the alteration of one poynt often doth in secular writings not any such as was in that ambiguous answer which a Bishop of this Land sometimes gave to a wicked proposall Edvardum occidere nolite timere bonum est Had be pointed this saying as it might have beene pointed his counsell had beene good and Ghostly but leaving the pointing of it to their discretion which asked his resolution his dealing was impious and diabolicall But the Founder of an Abbey did leave this inscription upon the frontispice thus rightly pointed Porta patens esto nulli claudatur honesto The turning of one point out of his place thus Porta patens esto nulli claudatur honesto did turne the Abbot as the tradition is out of his place Sicque anum ob punctum perdit Robertus Asylum But the varietie of pointing or changing letters which hath beene by divers imagined in the Hebrew exposeth no man to the like danger can give no countenance to any lewd or wicked practises A various reading may sometimes hinder or incumber the true mysticall or spirituall sense it never depraveth the morall sense and oftimes againe it furthereth the true and mysticall sense As that place of Ieremy chap. 25. ver 38. is very ambiguous and variously rendred by divers good interpreters Some read the Land shall be desolate because of the fiercenesse of the Grecian as if Greece had taken the name of Iönia from the Hebrew Ionah which is the word used in that place Others and those of good note reade because of the fiercenesse of the Dove most of moderne writers read because of the fiercenesse of the oppressor or Tyrant The participle or the verball as some good Hebricians observe is both active passive either an oppressor or an oppressed From the passive signification the Dove hath its name in the Hebrew because it is so simple a creature exposed to oppression without active ability to oppresse others Howsoever we translate it in this place or in the like Ierem. 46. 16. there will be no danger in the morall sense nor no controversie about the fulfilling of this prophecy in Nebuchadnezzar who was no Dove for disposition unlesse it were for his folly after his conquest of Aegypt and the neighbour countryes 7 Yet dare I not condemne the vulgar translation or some ancient Interpreters who follow the vulgar or the same translation which the vulgar makes Neither of them as in charity I presume being ignorant that the words may beare the same translation which the most now follow Both of them might have better reasons of the two knowne senses which the originall might well beare to choose that sense which they imbrace than I have to approve the contrary For however the Dove be a silly impotent creature in it selfe yet was it a nursing mother as some ancient writers say unto Semiramis that great Foundresse of Babylon and was the royal ensigne of the Babylonish Empire sometimes as terrible to the Easterne Nations as the Roman Eagles were to the Westerne And it is not unusuall even for sacred writers to decipher the tyrannicall or revenging power of greatest Soveraignties by their Ensignes whether these were by nature terrible or weake And thus our Saviour himselfe describes the sagacity and potency of the Romane forces by their Ensignes This latter reading à facie columbae doth much better characterize the swiftnesse of Nebuchadnezzars comming upon the Aegyptians and the necessity of the Jewes speedy flight from out that Land than if we read froÌ„ the face or wrath of the oppressor or as the seaveÌ„tie have it from the mightie sword The Prophet in that 46. cap. v. 16. implies that unlesse they take their flight in time they should wish when it was too late that they had wings like a Dove to flye away and be at rest The Author of the vulgar Latine differs in many places from our moderne translations not out of ignorance of the different senses which the originall might beare but out of choise And although he sometimes erre yet for the most part Causâ—â— habet error honestas he had some probable reason so to erre nor doth the error howsoever occasioned induce any dangerous depravation either of the morall or propheticall sense Sometimes he aimes at some further mysterie then the contrary reading which the Hebrew supposing it were alwayes pointed as now we have it will reach unto There is as great a difference in the reading of one or two words without alteration of any consonant in the last verse of the second Chapter of Isaiah betwixt the vulgar translation ours as in any place which I have observed That verse we read Cease yee from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accompted of And thus we read it upon supposition that the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was thus pointed The vulgar Latin according to Forerius his emeÌ„dation of it thus Quiescite ergò ab homine cujus spiritus in naribus ejus est quia excelsus reputatus est ipse and thus both he and the former vulgar read it presuming that the originall word was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I referre the determination of this various reading to accurate and unpartiall Criticks of the Hebrew dialect For mine owne part I must confesse the materiall circumstances of the text may in line unto that reading which the vulgar followes and S. Ierom approves yea is very zealous for it But it may bee questioned whether the originall Bamah doe usually or in any other place besides this denote the height or dignitie of any mans person or place though it be the usuall word for expressing those high places which were dedicated unto Idols But this question I submit to the same reference with the former more generall It sufficeth that there is no harme in either sense 8. However if the oracles of God doe admit such amphibologies or various senses as these places last alleaged by us doe why doe we Christians blame the heathen Oracles for giving doubtfull or ambiguous answeres or wherein doe the Scriptures afford more manifest documents of a divine spirit speaking in them if propheticall oracles be as ambiguous for the
a mortall Father an immortall sonne No Schoolemen did ever acknowledge the generation of the Son of God to be univocally like to other generation in all points besides the eternitie of it For even in that wee acknowledge it to be eternall wee difference it from all other generations by such an unexpressible superminencie as eternitie hath over time or diuine immensitie of all bodily magnitudes or the Divine Essence it selfe of Created Natures CHAP 26. That by the Sonne of God and the Word wee are to understand one and the same partie or person that the Word by whom S. John saith the World was made is coeternall to God the Father who made all things by him BUt to wave this point for the present concerning the maner how the eternall God should beget an eternall sonne the thread which we are to unwind as far as possibly we can without knot or ravell is this that Christ Jesus is â—eri bodiè yesterday to day the same only true sonne of God for ever truely coeternall to his Father And this being a point of so great consequence I will not allot one place onely for the clearing of it but insist upon it more or lesse in all the articles which concerne Christ For in all of them wee shall be enforced to incounter the Jew as well as the Arrian or Socinian 2 Whether of these two be the greater sinner or more dangerous enemy to the crosse of Christ that I leave to God the Father and Christ Jesus the judge of quick and dead and to the holy Spirit to determine But seeing it is no sinne to refute or censure both their errours the errour of the moderne Jew who utterly denieth Christ to be the sonne of God in any sense seemes to me more excusable at least lesse inexcusable then the errour of the Arrian or Socinian who granting Christ to be the sonne of God deny him to be coeternall to his Father And my reason is because it is not more plaine or pregnant out of the writings of Moses or the Prophets which the Jews only acknowledge that God was to be incarnate or to become man though that be most pregnant then it is from the Evangelist and other sacred writers of the new Testament whose authoritie the Socinian denies not that Christ is the only sonne of God from all eternitie Two or three testimonies shall suffice for the present Were there no other place besides that of the Apostle Heb. 7. 3. and that of S. Iohn chap. 1. these would captivate my understanding to the obedience of beleife in this point The Apostle speaking of Melchisedech saith he was without beginning without end of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is albeit he had both Father and Mother beginning and end of dayes yet he is represented unto us without beginning or end of dayes that so he might be a type or shadow of the sonne of God But how farre a type of the sonne of God only in this as he was without beginning of dayes or end of life That the Apostle by the sonne of God did meane Christ Jesus and none else none deny The very scope and end of this parallel betwixt Melchisedech and Christ was to shew that Christ the sonne of God was truely and really such as Melchisedech was only by shadow or representation that is really and absolutely without beginning or end of dayes he who is who was is to come perfect characters of eternitie Againe it is evident that the sonne of God who died for us was the same person and party with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that word which was made flesh This consequence is ungainesayable that if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word were without beginning or end of dayes God blest for ever and coeternall with him who said Let there be light Let there be a firmament c. then Christ Iesus the sonne of God who not only we but the Socinians grant did die for us was and is without beginning or end of dayes truely coeternall to God the Father 3 That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of God was absolutely eternall not made so in time is a truth which the wit of man cannot more punctually presse against all that in future times should deny or question it then S. Iohn doth in the beginning of his Gospell And the manner of his reiterate emphaticall expressions of himselfe every later adding strength unto the former confirmes the opinion or tradition of the Ancient that he purposely wrote that maiestick proeme to his Gospell which is but a paraphrase though most divine upon the writings of Moses and the Prophets touching this great mysterie for preventing of the spreading of the Arian or like heresie whose seeds were by the envious man sowne in S. Iohns time after Christs other Apostles were fallen asleepe In the beginning saith S. Iohn the Word was What beginning doth he meane The same which Moses meant when hee said In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth The originall phrase whether used by Moses in the Hebrew or by S. Iohn in the Greeke exactly answers to the Latine in principio Now though every cause be Principium the beginning or that which gives beginning to its proper effect Yet Omne principium every beginning is not a proper cause of that which usually followes upon it For the first dawning or scaring of the morning is the beginning yet no true positive cause of the day following it is first in order of time but not of causality And this ambiguity of the Phrase in the beginning is the same both in the Hebrew and in the Chaldee as the learned in these tongues no parties in this businesse have observed Now in that first of Genesis we must take the word beginning not for the cause of all which followed but for the first in order or precedency of duration For the heavens and the earth if we take them as now they are were not made in that beginning or point of time wherein God is said to have made the heaven and earth Nor did any of these or any other parts of the world spring or result by way of causality from the first masse which was without order of parts or true forme otherwise the distinction of light from darknesse or separation of the waters which are above the firmament could not have beene works of creation properly so called but rather of generation whereas the Scripture tells us that these were the works of the first and second day much lesse could the production of plants or vegetables or substances endued with sense have been any proper works of creation after the heavens and earth were made When then Moses saith In the beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth this is all one as if he had said the heavens and the earth had a beginning that this unformed masse was the beginning or first draught of them and all things