accomplished and no mention of any evening in the seaventh day which God did sanctify for a day of rest wee may with the Ancients safely admit the first sixe daies to be as a Map or Calender of the sixe ages of this transitory world wherein there is a continuall vicissitude of light and darknesse no joy or pleasure without sorrow and griefe for their Successors and companions and the Mosaicall description of the seventh to be an embleme or shadow of the everlasting Sabbath in the heavens which shall be a day of joy and gladnesse without mixture of darknesse or succession of night without any medly of paines or griefe 2 By perfect analogy to this and the like not more mysticall then orthodoxall interpretation of Scripture not merely authoriz'd by the Greeke or Latine Fathers but presuppos'd by our Apostle as unquestionable among the ancient Iewes we may inferre our intended conclusion What was that That the omission of every mans Genealogie whose name or deeds are specified in the sacred Story is alwayes a signe or token of some latent mystery No but rather thus Seeing no King or Priest of Abraham's lineage were he good or bad seeing no Patriarch from whom God's blessings did lineally descend but hath a Genealogie upon sacred record the omission of so great a mans Genealogie as was Melchisedech who was a King and Priest of the most high God a Priest which solemnely and really blessed him in whose seed all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed unto whom Abraham paid Tithes of all that he had The omission of such a mans genealogie doubtlesie includes some great and weighty mystery And if wee stand not as in many like cases we ought not upon the logicall inference which the assertive letter affords but follow the emblematicall or characteristicall sense of the story we may behold this man to be as the Apostle speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is one transformed or turned out of his proper shape or likenesse that hee might be like the Sonne of God The absimilation of this man whosoever he were from himselfe that he might be liâ—e the Son of God consists especially in the abandoning or putting off all references to father or mother to wife or children For these references in man necessarily represent a beginning and end of dayes and by consequency a dissimilitude to the person of the Son of God who is eternall and to his endlesse Priesthood 3 It was the speech of one man but is universally true of all Mortalis mortalem genui and it is as necessarily and essentially true of God Immortalis immortalem gignit For seeing God is more essentially and more immutably immortall more truly eternall then we are mortal Then he which is as truly the Sonne of God as we are the Sonnes of men or Adam must needs be as absolutely eternall as the Deitie or divine nature or as God the Father himselfe Otherwise the generation should be equivocall and imperfect not univocall as contrary to nature it selfe and as prodigious as for a mortall man to beget an immortall Sonne as for a woman to conceive a God And if there were no other places of Scripture as God be praised there are plenty to inferre the absolute eternitie or eternall generation of the Sonne of God against the Arrian or other heretique the very foundation of our Apostles similitude between Melchisedech and Christ in the Chapter following doth clearly represent thus much to all that look not on it with Iewish spectacles To conclude then as the greatnesse and height of Melchisedech's calling serves as a map to represent the high Majestie of the everlasting Priesthood So the omission of his genealogie is an embleme or shadow of the infinite duration or eternitie of the Sonne of God Howbeit if we should take off this borrowed shape or wipe out the artificiall colours wherewith it hath pleased the spirit to set forth this lively picture of Christ yet the very table it selfe whereon the picture is drawne is more apt then any other tree in all the garden of God besides to be made an heavenly Mercurie The fitnesse of it for this purpose will more easily be apprehended if we suppose what the ancient Iewes whose traditions where they are no parties are in no wise to be rejected take as granted viz. That hee whom Moses in the fourteenth of Genesis calls Melchisedech was Shem the great the sonne of Noah This Shem was a man begotten of his father before the world that then was our high Priest our heavenly Mercurie is the Sonne of God begotten of his Father before all worlds before any period or instant of imaginary time even from eternitie it selfe CHAP. 9. What manner of blessing it was which Melchisedech bestowed on Abraham That the manner of the blessing argues Melchisedech to have beene Sem the great as the Iewish Rabbins enstile him the eldest sonne of Noah not by birth yet by prerogative of the first borne IDare not obtrude this tradition of the ancient Iewes as a point of our beliefe yet the matter of it is as probable as any Doctrine whatsoever that is grounded only upon the analogy of faith not upon expresse testimonies of Scripture or conclusions deduced from such testimonies by demonstrative consequences The allegations for this opinion were they exactly calculated or put together amount so high as no assertion contained within the spheare of probability can overtop them The exceptions of Pererius and Maldonate against them are too weake albeit they touch not halfe so many as are diligently and accurately gathered by Dr Willet unto whose labours I referre such as desire further satisfaction in this point neither absolutely necessary nor altogether needlesse One or two reasons not alleaged by him come now to be discussed The first what manner of blessing it was which Melchisedech bestowed on Abraham Heb. 7. The second how the matter and manner of this blessing proves this Melchisedech to be Sem. 2 But what kind of blessing did our Apostle meane Verball only or by way of salutation So the people may blesse their Priests the worst of men their godliest Prelates and wretched'st beggers greatest Kings of such kind of blessing the maxime undoubtedly affirmed by our Apostle cannot be true Of what blessing then is it most undoubtedly true Of reall and solemne blessings authentiquely imparted ex officio as when a Bishop confirmeth children or by way of bequest as when the father bestowes an heritage with his blessing upon the Son As Abraham blessed Isaac Isaac Iacob Iacob Iuda and his Bretheren 3 Whom then may we imagine this man should be which in this sort blesled Abraham who was a man than whom there was none greater amongst the Sonnes of men none in his time Melchisedech only excepted so great in the Church of God No analogie either of sacred rule or of tenets joyntly maintained by the English and Romish Church concerning the never interrupted Succession of the true
of God in which the Godhead dwelleth personally it is of force and vertue sufficient to purifie and cleanse our sinfull nature and to make us partakers of the divine nature CHAP. 18. What the Interposition of God's oath for more abundant Confirmation of his promise to Abraham did import over and above all that which was included in the literall or assertive sence of the League betwixt God and Abraham LEaving it to the learned Professors of Lawes Canonicall Civill or Municipall what speciall obligement a solemne oath induceth more then a meere Covenant or paction without an oath can require our next inquiry must be what the Interposition of God's oath first made to Abraham and afterwards renewed with more expresse exemplifications unto David did import according to the Charactericall or Emblematicall sence This is a point of Divinitie often mentioned in this long worke of Commentaries upon the Creed and diverse other of my meditations in my younger and better dayes and the oftner intimated because it hath been so seldome handled or thought upon by most Commentators or Controversy-writers although in my opinion continued ever since I began these Commentaries it be the very key without which there can be no Lawfull entrance into no safe retire out of those usuall debates concerning Election Predestination or other positive Points of Divinitie whereon the resolution of these doth most depend Now the resolution of this point wee are to learne not from any practice of humane Courts Iudiciall or Coercive for determining Pleas or Controversies betweene partie and partie For in all Processes of this nature the determination must be according to the literall grammaticall and assertive sence of Lawes in this case provided and of Testimonies produced or exhibited according to Law The Question now in handling with its decision depends much upon Tradition or received rules whether of ancient heathen Iewes or Christians What oath made either by the true and only God or by the imaginary Gods of the heathen did import more then ameere promise or threatning To begin first with the ancient heathen 2 Albeit that which the Apostle saith of the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that hee had no greater by whom hee could sweare could have no place at least suitable to the estimation of the Gods by which the heathens did sweare or call to witnesse yet when Iupiter the greatest God amongst them was either provoked or voluntarily pleased to sweare by such parts of this universe as were conceived to be his coequalls his full peeres if not his betters it was generally presumed or beleeved that the doome or sentence so pronounced were it bliffull or dismall was irreversible For this reason the oath by Styx is called by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grand or greatest oath But so called I take it by a Synecdoche For if Iupiter had sworn by Phlegeton or by the Elysian fields it had beene all one as if hee had sworne by Styx or other parts of the infernall Region all or every one of which were in heathenish Divinitie more venerable then this middle visible region wherein we live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Not Iupiter only but Iuno in Homer's Divinitie did hold the oath By Styx to be inviolable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libro 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such doome or sentences as the heathens accounted fatall even the awards of the weyred sisters themselves the conceived Spinsters of fates and fortune did derive the necessitie of their execution from interposition of some oath or other And in case the fates or weyred sisters had sworne the destruction of any Nation or people Iupiter had no authoritie to release the parties thus design'd from destruction but a power only to punish ultra condignum or beyond the measure of punishment decreed by the weyred sisters or fates A memorable speech to this effect a stately Roman Poet hath put into Iupiter's mouth Vos ô superi meus ordine sanguis Ne pugnate odiis neu me tentare precando Certetis sic sat a mihi nigraeque sororem Iuravere colus Manet haec aborigine mundi Fix a dies bello populique in praelia nati Quod nisi me veterum poenas sancire malorum Gentibus diros sinitis punire nepotes Arcem hanc aternam mentisque sacraria nostrae Testor Elysios etiam mihi numina Fontes Ipse manu Thebas correptaque moenia fundo Excutiam versasque solo super Inacha tecta Effundam turres ac stagna in caerula vertam Imbre superjecto licet ipsa in turbine rerum Iuno suâ—s colles templumque amplexa laboret The last clause of this patheticall oath beares a counterfeit or adulterate character of that solemne oath of the true and only God As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence and I will give thee into the hand of them whose face thou fearest even into the hand of Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans And I will cast thee out and thy mother that bare thee into another Country where yee were not borne and there shall yee die Ierem. 22. 24. 25. 26. c. But unto the land whereunto they desire to returne thither shall they not returne Is this man Coniah a despised broken I dol Is he a vessell wherein is no pleasure Wherefore are they cast out he and his seede and are cast into a land which they know not O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord write yee this man childlesse a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for no man of his seede shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Iudah 3 With the Hebrew Rabbins this tradition or received rule concerning the importance of God's oath is so authentique as it makes them more peremptory in their resolution for the expiration of Soloman's Line in Ieconiah then most Christian Interpreters upon that place have beene unlesse it be such as in this point follow them Yet can I not perswade my selfe nor conceive any suspicion that either the Iewish Rabbins should take their hints for thus interpreting the fore-cited or any other place of Scripture wherein God's oath is interposed from the Divinitie of the heathen Much lesse did the ancient Poets or Philosophers who were the best Divines the heathens had borrow their fancies or conjectures from the Iewish Rabbins who were their punies nor were the Fathers of the Greeke and Latine Church the Fathers or first Authors of this Catholique rule or tradition All of them rather were beholding to the ancient Hebrewes or to Mosaicall or Propheticall writings for such prenotions or confused apprehensions as in this subject they had The consent of the ancient Christian Writers or
Fathers the diligent Reader may find in their Comments upon those places of Scriptures wherein God's oath is mentioned but especially in their Cōments upon the 110 Psalme from which place and the like not they only but our Apostle to my apprehension in the sixt and seventh Chapters to the Hebrewes tooke his directions The Lord saith David Psalme 110. v. 4. hath sworne and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever c. This in the language of Canaan and by consent of many fathers is as much as if hee had said The Lord will not repent or reverse his promise to mee and my seed because hee hath sworne that hee should be a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedech 4 That God doth repent him either of the evill which he denounceth or of the good which he promiseth is a phrase most usuall in Scripture the true and punctuall meaning of which phrase is that God did change or revoke either his sentences of calamity or of good which hee in both cases truly intended and irresistibly meant to put in execution And all this hee might doe and often did without any change or alteration in his will or intention but alwaies upon some change or alteration in the parties either truly interessed in his promises or lyable to his heavy judgments when the one party did change from good courses to evill hee was immutably free to reverse his promise as hee himselfe somewhere speaketh to breake his Covenant And when wicked men did turne from their wicked wayes he was as free and more willing to reverse sentences of woe not only threatned but decreed against them This freedome in God is perpetually presumed or taken as granted by his Prophets whensoever the promise decree or Covenant is not revealed unto them with the seale of an Oath But the sentence whether for good or evill being revealed under Oath was in their judgment fully declared to be irreversible For this reason the Prophet sometimes wished the speedy execution of plagues threatened by God unto their owne Nation or kindred as knowing it bootlesse either to intreat God's favour after his wrath against them was denounced by oath or to sollicite the fulfilling of his gracious promises towards their posteritie untill his wrathfull sentences confirmed by oath were put in execution In one and the same Chapter it is said oftner then once that God did repent him of making Saul King of Israel What is the reason Hee was made King without an oath yet with sincere promise of continuing the Kingdome to himselfe and to his seede with this condition in the Prophet's construction implyed though not expressed Si bene se gereret But when the Prophet Samuel denounceth the sentence of deposition upon him 1. Sam. 15. 29. The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for hee is not a man that he should repent The meaning is that the strength of Israel will not revoke his sentence denounced by oath against Amaleck and his Associates and Saul by sparing Amaleck incidit in hanc sententiam doth fall under this sentence though not as principall yet as an accessory 5 A true parallel to the history concerning the anointing and deposition of Saul had beene exhibited before by the same Prophet in the election and deposition of Eli who was possessed of the Priesthood by legall title under divine promise to himselfe and to his house The promise we have 1. Sam. 2. 30. and the reversing of the promise or blessing promised in the same verse and verses following Wherefare the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy Father should walke before me for ever but now the Lord saith be it farre from me For them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Behold the daies come that I will cut off thine arme and the arme of thy Fathers house that there shall not be an old man in thy house c. This lamentable message was sent unto him by the Man of God mentioned v. the 27. The same sentence or curse upon him his house is afterwards denounced by Samuel under oath And the Lord said to Samuel behold I will doe a thing in Israel at which both the eares of every one that heare it shall tingle And in that day I will performe against Eli all things which I have spoken against his house when I begin I will also make and end For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity that hee knoweth because his sonnes made themselves vile and he restraied them not And therefore I have sworne unto the house of Elie that the iniquity of Elie's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever verses 13. 14. 15. c. Now when Samuel had imparted this fearefull sentence unto Eli being thereunto adjured he replied no more then this It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good v. 18. Had this message beene delivered by that man of God which brought the former not ratified by oath unto this good old man though an impotent Governour haply he would have sleighted it as 't is probable he did the former or have called the messenger's Commission in question But this later and more terrible doome being delivered to him by a child who for his maintenance and being did depend upon him as upon his foster-Father by a child so farre from secular cunning or sophismes of corrupt Priests or Levites that hee knew not the voice of the Lord from the voice of his Tutor untill he was instructed by him his Commission was to Eli more authentique and his message both for matter and tenour more free from all suspicion of imposture The ananswer of Eli is of the same alloy with Iob's reply unto the sad newes which his servants brought to him The Lord saith Iob hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Iob. 1. 21. Thus he spake after hee had seene himselfe and his familie utterly undone for worldly substance deprived of all earthly contentment Eli knew this sentence against him being denounced by oath as certaine and impossible to be reversed as if it had been already put in execution For this reason I take it the old man did thinke upon a more submissive answer unto Samuel then he had vouchsafed unto the Man of God who was sent unto him upon the same errand The humility and modesty of his answer perswades me that the fearefull sentence denounced against him did extend no further then to the irreversible deposition of him and his family from the legall or temporarie Priesthood unto the poore and meane estate wherein his posteritie after the disaster of his two sonnes were to live here on the earth Nor have I nor any man for ought I know any warrant from God's word to say and Christian charity forbids me to thinke or from this