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<DATE>2008-09-23</DATE>
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<NAME>Taryn Hakala</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A Vindication OF THE Holy Scriptures. Or the Manife&s;tation of JESUS CHRIST The <HI>TR&V;E MESSIAH</HI> Already Come.</P>
<P>Being the <HI>Chri&s;tians Antidote</HI> again&s;t the poy&s;ons of <HI>Judai&s;me</HI> and <HI>Athei&s;me</HI> of this pre&s;ent Age.</P>
<P>Proved out of <HI>Sacred Scripture,</HI> An|cient <HI>Hi&s;torians,</HI> and <HI>Jewi&s;h Rabbins.</HI></P>
<P>By that Learned, and late Eminent Divine, JOHN HARRISON.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. M.</HI> and &s;old by <HI>J. Ben&s;on,</HI> and <HI>J. Playford,</HI> at their &s;hops in <HI>Dun&s;tans</HI> Church-yard, and in the Inner Temple. 1656.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>The AUTHORS EPISTLE To the forlorn and di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Jews in <HI>Barbary;</HI> and in them, to all o|thers now groaning under the heavie yoke of Captivity, in what Nation &s;oever; &s;cattered and di&s;|per&s;ed throughout the world. <HI>Grace, Mercy,</HI> and <HI>Peace</HI> be mul|tiplyed, in <HI>Christ Je&s;us</HI> the true <HI>Me&s;&s;iah.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>BEing employed not long &s;ince into</HI> Barbary, <HI>the land of your Capti|vity, where at this pre&s;ent you live in great Bondage and Slavery, and &s;o have done this long time (as do al&s;o the re&s;t of your Brethren and Nation el&s;e|where, disper&s;ed throughout the world,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Account|ing from their fir&s;t entrance to the day of their depar|ture thence. Exo. 12.40.</NOTE> <HI>groaning under the yoke of their cruel Task-ma&s;ters, as did your forefathers in the land of Egypt four hundred and thirty yeers; this Captivity of yours having continued now almo&s;t four times four hundred yeers; the la&s;t and great|e&s;t
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of all, then the which was never heard nor read of greater of any peo|ple, from the Creation of the World to this day, nor &s;hall be) The King at that time of my arrival, upon his ex|pedition towards</HI> Fez, <HI>I appointed to &s;tay at</HI> Saphia <HI>till his return back from tho&s;e wars; where I remained in the lower Ca&s;tle almo&s;t &s;ix moneths, &s;olita|ry, and in &s;u&s;pen&s;e, expecting the doubtful event thereof. Whether re|&s;orted to me often to accompany me, and for my better in&s;truction in the Hebrew (whereof I had a little ta&s;te before) one of the chief Rabbins of that your Sy|nagogue,</HI> Rabbi Shimeon, <HI>a man of grave and &s;ober carriage, and plea&s;ant otherwi&s;e, of who&s;e company I was ve|ry glad. Now and then (among other matters) arguing and rea&s;oning of the</HI> Me&s;&s;iah (<HI>as ye &s;ay,</HI> yet to come, <HI>but as we &s;ay, and are able to prove, by invincible arguments and demon&s;trati|ons, both out of your own Law and Rabbins,</HI> already come) <HI>which gave me occa&s;ion (having little el&s;e to do, and not knowing how to pa&s;s that tedious time better) to gather together all tho&s;e arguments and rea&s;ons I had read, or
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for the pre&s;ent could conceive of my &s;elf, drawn out of the &s;acred Scripture, and other Books, as touching that con|trover&s;ie. Whereby I might be the more able, over and be&s;ides the matter of employment and bu&s;ine&s;s I came about, to maintain that Religion profe&s;&s;ed in my Country, and the &V;ndoubted Faith, whereof his Maje&s;ty, the King of great Britain (as others his Predece&s;&s;ors have done) pro<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="2 letters">&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">th him&s;elf a chief Defen|der; according to that his most ju&s;t Title,</HI> Defender of the Faith. <HI>And afterwards, when the King &s;ent for me to</HI> Morocus, <HI>being lodged among&s;t you by his appointment in the</HI> Judaria, <HI>in one of your principal hou&s;es; where I &s;taid, before I could get a di&s;patch from the King, three moneths and an half; where al&s;o I grew familiarly acquaint|ed with divers of your Nation and was pre&s;ented at &s;undry times (e&s;pecially at your Marriages and &s;olemn Fea&s;ts) with divers of your Dainties, which I took very kindly, and ever &s;ince have &s;tudied what Chri&s;tian Dainties I might &s;end you back again in recom|pen&s;e; or rather Duties in&s;teed of tho&s;e Dainties. Seeing al&s;o in the mean time
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(which I could not chu&s;e but &s;ee with much pity and compa&s;&s;ion) the great and grievous oppre&s;&s;ion under which you groan; taxations, vexations, ex|actions;</HI> grammings <HI>(as you call them) even with torments rather then fail;</HI> drubbings <HI>(&s;o many hundred blows at once, as my &s;elf have both &s;een and heard) with that ba&s;e &s;ervile and mo&s;t contemptible &s;tate and condition (other|wi&s;e above any other Nation or Peo|ple) under which you live: not only in</HI> Barbary, <HI>but in all other parts of the world be&s;ides, as a fatal effect of that heavie cur&s;e laid on you by your own forefathers long ago upon the death of Chri&s;t</HI> (<HI>when</HI> Pilate <HI>the Judge wa&s;hed his hands, &s;aying,</HI> I am innocent of the blood of this ju&s;t man, look ye to it) they cryed <HI>with one con&s;ent,</HI> his blood be upon us, and on our chil|dren. <HI>As al&s;o of that Prophe&s;ie of our Saviour in his life time, when he wept over Jeru&s;alem, &s;aying,</HI> Oh if thou had&s;t even known, at the lea&s;t in this thy day, tho&s;e things which belong to thy Peace, but now are they hid from thine eyes, <HI>&amp;c. And more particularly to his Di&s;ciples, he
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reneweth it over and again;</HI> When ye &s;hall &s;ee Jeru&s;alem be&s;ieged with Souldiers, then know ye that her de|&s;olation is at hand. For the&s;e be the days of vengeance, to fulfil all things that are written. For there &s;hall be great di&s;tre&s;s in this land, and wrath over this people. And they &s;hall fall on the edge of the Sword, and &s;hall be lead captive into all Na|tions, <HI>&amp;c. Which heavie cur&s;e of your own forefathers, and Prophe&s;ie of his, how truly they have been fulfilled both the one and the other, all the world &s;eeth, and ye your &s;elves feel the effect, as before. The Lord in mercy take a|way the vail from your hearts, that at length ye may</HI> know tho&s;e things which belong to your peace, which now are hid from your eyes: For why will ye die, O ye hou&s;e of I&s;ra|el? <HI>The&s;e con&s;iderations (I &s;ay) and rea&s;ons, with &s;ome others, have moved me; and partly in recompen&s;e of tho&s;e your Defina's and Dainties, whereof I ta&s;ted &s;o often while I was among&s;t you, to &s;end you here a &s;mall banquet, of &s;uch Dainties as Chri&s;tendome can af|ford; wi&s;hing you would but ta&s;t &s;ome
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part of mine (as I did of yours) being indeed Sabbath days dainties:</HI> Ta&s;t <HI>(I &s;ay)</HI> and &s;ee how &s;weet the Lord is.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.8.</NOTE> <HI>And the rather do I invite you to this Banquet, yea rather provoke you there|unto,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.11.</NOTE> <HI>even to your own</HI> &s;alvation, which through your fall is come to us Gen|tiles to provoke you; <HI>as it as in that place, for that now</HI> the time of your redemption draweth near (<HI>with ours,</HI> much neerer now then when we be|lieved) <HI>foretold al&s;o both by Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, as was your de&s;olation; and &s;hall one day as &s;urely and certain|ly come to pa&s;s, the one as the other. For God that hath promi&s;ed, is of power to perform it, he will do it;</HI> He is able to graff you in again into your own O|live Tree.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 13.35.</NOTE> Verily I tell you <HI>(&s;aith our Saviour to the Phari&s;ees)</HI> ye &s;hall not &s;ee me, until the time come, that ye &s;hall &s;ay, Ble&s;&s;ed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord <HI>Therefore &s;uch a time &s;hall come, without all doubt, wherein ye &s;hall &s;o &s;ay, that is to &s;ay, mo&s;t willingly obey the heavenly cal|ling, without any more</HI> re&s;i&s;ting the holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.51. Luk. 21.24.</NOTE> as did your forefathers, <HI>Al&s;o in another place,</HI> And Jeru&s;alem
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&s;hall be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gen|tiles be fulfilled: <HI>So long, and no long|er, there is the period. And</HI> Paul <HI>the Apo&s;tle in a mo&s;t fervent manner, both prayeth and prophe&s;ieth to this effect:</HI> Brethren, my hearts de&s;ire and pray|er to God for I&s;rael is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.1.</NOTE> that they might be &s;aved. <HI>Then prophe&s;ieth at large in the chapter following, and that mo&s;t divinely, as of their fall, &s;o of their general call in due time, with ma|ny arguments and rea&s;ons to that pur|po&s;e. Which Prayer and Prophe&s;ie of h<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">, proceeding from a Divine In&s;tinct and Revelation, no doubt &s;hall one day take effect.</HI> For it cannot be but that the word of God &s;hould take effect. For it is the power of God unto &s;al|vation to every one that believeth to the Jew fir&s;t, and al&s;o to the Greci|an: <HI>To the Jew fir&s;t, there is the pro|mi&s;e, there is the priviledge. Lift up your heads now therefore O ye Jews, &s;ons of</HI> Abraham, <HI>children of the pro|mi&s;e,</HI> to whom pertaineth the adopti|on, and the glory, and the covenants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.4.</NOTE> and the giving of the Law, and the &s;ervice of God, and the promi&s;es: of
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whom are the Fathers and of whom concerning the fle&s;h, Chri&s;t came. <HI>I &s;ay, lift up your heads, and li&s;ten to the heavenly calls of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tle</HI> Paul, For your Redemption draweth neer. This is the generation of them that &s;eek him, of them that &s;eek thy face:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 24.6.</NOTE> Jacob, Selah. Lift up your heads ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everla&s;ting doors and the King of glory &s;hall come in. <HI>And let us Chri&s;tians al&s;o</HI> (upon whom the ends of the world are come) lift up our heads and know <HI>(remembring that pa|rable of the Fig-tree)</HI> when we &s;ee the&s;e things begin to come to pa&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.28.</NOTE> that the Kingdom of God is near, even at the doors.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.32.</NOTE> Verily, I &s;ay unto you, This generation &s;hal not pa&s;s, till all the&s;e things be done:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.32</NOTE> Heaven and Earth &s;hall pa&s;s away, but my words &s;hall not pa&s;s away. <HI>They are the words of our Saviour.</HI></P>
<P>And now Brethren (<HI>to return to</HI> Paul) I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are &s;anctified.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.18.</NOTE> Be favourable unto
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Zion, for thy good plea&s;ure build the walls of Jeru&s;alem. Then &s;halt thou accept the &s;acrifice of righteou&s;ne&s;s, even the burnt Offering and Oblati|on, then &s;hall they offer Calves up|on thine Altar.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 53.6.</NOTE> O give &s;alvation un|to I&s;rael out of Zion; when God turneth the captivity of his people, then &s;hall Jacob rejoyce, and I&s;rael &s;hal be glad.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 126.1</NOTE> When the Lord brought again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream; then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with joy: Then &s;aid they a|mong the Heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 106.47.</NOTE> The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we rejoyce. O Lord bring again our Captivity, as the Rivers in the South.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90.15.</NOTE> Save us (O Lord our God) and gather us from among the hea|then, that we may prai&s;e thine holy Name, and glory in thy prai&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 102.13.</NOTE> Com|fort us according to the days that thou ha&s;t afflicted us, and according to the yeers that we have &s;een evil. Thou wilt ari&s;e and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to have mercy thereon, for the appointed time is
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come. For thy &s;ervants delight in the &s;tones thereof, and have pity on the du&s;t thereof. Then the Heathen &s;hall fear the Name of the Lord, and all the Kings of the Earth thy glory: When the Lord &s;hall build up Zion, and &s;hall appear in his glory: and &s;hall turn unto the Prayer of the de|&s;olate, and not de&s;pi&s;e their prayer. This &s;hall be written for the genera|tion to come, and the people which &s;hall be created &s;hall prai&s;e the Lord, for he hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary, out of the heaven did the Lord behold the earth: That he might hear the mour|ning of the Pri&s;oner, and deliver the children appointed unto death; that they may declare the Name of the Lord in Zion, and his prai&s;e in Jeru&s;a|lem. For God will &s;ave Zion, and build the Cities of Judah,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69.35.</NOTE> that men may dwel there, and have it in po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion: The &s;eed al&s;o of his &s;ervants &s;hall inherit it, and they that love his Name &s;hall dwell therein. Surely the Lord will not fail his people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.8.</NOTE> neither will he for&s;ake his Inheritance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 94.24.</NOTE> He hath alway remembred his Covenant
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and promi&s;e, that he made to a thou|&s;and generations.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 74.2:</NOTE> Thou wilt think upon thy Congregation which thou ha&s;t po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of old, and on the rod of thine Inheritance, which thou ha&s;t redeemed, and on mount Zion wherein thou ha&s;t dwelt. <HI>Yea when the Lord turneth again the captivity of his people, which will be when they turn unto him by hearty repentance, not be|fore;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 107.6.</NOTE> when they cryed unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivered them out of their di&s;tre&s;s; <HI>then will he make even their very enemies to become their friends, and give them grace and fa|vour in the &s;ight of all tho&s;e Kings and Princes under whom they now live, and groan in mo&s;t mi&s;erable &s;lavery and bondage (as in their former captivities may be ob&s;erved)</HI> He &s;aw when they were in affliction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 106.44.</NOTE> and heard their cry. He remembred his Covenant to|wards them, and repented, according to the multitude of his mercies, and gave them favour in the &s;ight of all them that led them captive;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 21:1</NOTE> <HI>for</HI> the hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord, as the Rivers of waters, he turneth them which way &s;oever it
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plea&s;eth him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 1.1.</NOTE> So the Lord &s;tirred up the &s;pirit of <HI>Cyrus</HI> King of Per|&s;ia <HI>(after that their &s;eventy yeers ca|ptivity in Babylon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">chap. 6.1.</NOTE> <HI>as al&s;o</HI> Darius <HI>and others, to write in their behalf, &s;undry mo&s;t favourable Edicts for their return into their own Country again, with large liberality for the re-edifying of the Temple of God in Jeru&s;alem:</HI> For the Lord had made them glad,<NOTE PLACE="marg">chap. 6.22.</NOTE> and turned the heart of the King of A&s;|&s;hur unto them, to encourage them in the work of the hou&s;e of God even the God of I&s;rael. <HI>Therefore</HI> Ezra <HI>ble&s;&s;eth the Lord for all the&s;e extraor|dinary favours,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">chap. 7.28.</NOTE> <HI>&s;aying,</HI> ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord God of our Fathers, which &s;o hath put in the Kings heart to beauti|fie the Hou&s;e of the Lord that is in Je|ru&s;alem, <HI>&amp;c. Yea rather then fail of his promi&s;ed deliverance to his people, when they cry unto him in their di&s;tre&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 105.14.</NOTE> He will rebuke even Kings for their &s;akes: <HI>As he did</HI> Pharaoh <HI>King of Aegypt, in the days of old; with this peremptory command by the hand of</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>over and over;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7.16&punc; &amp; 8.1.20. &amp; 9.1.13. &amp; 10.3.</NOTE> Let my people go, that they may &s;erve me, or if thou wilt not, <HI>&amp;c. inflicting upon them one
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plague after another, till at length they were forced to drive them away (as it is in that place)</HI> Ri&s;e up,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exo. 12.31.</NOTE> get you out from among my people, and go &s;erve the Lord, as ye have &s;aid. And the Egyptians did force the people, be|cau&s;e they would &s;end them out of the Land in ha&s;t (for they &s;aid, we die all) giving them favour in the mean time in the &s;ight of the Egy|ptians: Al&s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was very great in the land of Egypt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 11.3.</NOTE> in the &s;ight of Pharaohs &s;ervants, and in the &s;ight of the people. Behold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 7.1.</NOTE> I have made thee Pharaohs God <HI>(&s;aith the Lord)</HI> &s;o he brought out I&s;rael from among them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 136.11. Account|ing the time as be|fore.</NOTE> for his mercy endureth for e|ver; with a mighty hand, and out|&s;tretched arm, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> after four hun|dred and thirty yeers <HI>captivity in Ae|gypt.</HI> And when the four hundred and thirty yeers were expired, even the &s;elf &s;ame day departed all the ho&s;ts of the Lord out of the land of Egypt.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exo. 12.41,</NOTE> And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 13.21.</NOTE> and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. He divided the Sea in two parts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 236.13.</NOTE> and
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made I&s;rael to pa&s;s through the mid&s;t of it, and overthrew Pharaoh and his ho&s;t in the red Sea, for his mercy endureth for ever. <HI>So leading them through the wilderne&s;s, and feed|ing them forty yeers with Manna from heaven; till at length he brought them &s;afe and &s;ound</HI> (<HI>as it were upon</HI> Eagles wings) <HI>maugre all difficulties and oppo&s;itions of enemies what&s;oever, even to the promi&s;ed Land of Canaan,</HI> the lot of their Inheritance. <HI>Where thy continued in peace and pro&s;perity &s;o long as they &s;erved him, and kept his Commandments; but when once they &s;inned again&s;t him (or rather as often as they &s;inned, for it was not once, but often) and</HI> forgate the Lord their God, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the hou&s;e of Bondage: <HI>then he &s;uffered their enemies to prevail again&s;t them, and tyrannize over them, &s;omtimes one, and &s;omtimes another, till at length they were carried captives to Babylon. Yet ever (as the Burden of that P&s;alm is)</HI> when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble, he delivered them out of their di&s;tre&s;s, <HI>rai&s;ing up from time
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to time</HI> Judges <HI>as he did</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>and</HI> Jo&s;hua <HI>at the fir&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 2.16</NOTE> which delivered them out of the hands of their Op|pre&s;&s;ors.</P>
<P>Othoniel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>who delivered them out of the hands of the King of Aram, as it is in that place, where it is &s;aid, That</HI> the children of I&s;rael did wickedly in the &s;ight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and &s;erved Baalim; therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled again&s;t I&s;rael, and he &s;old them into the hand of Chu&s;han-ri|&s;hathaim, King of Aram, whom they &s;erved eight yeers. But when they cryed unto the Lord the Lord &s;tir|red them up a Saviour, even <HI>Othoniel,</HI> &amp;c. So the land had re&s;t forty yeers. Ehud,<NOTE PLACE="marg">chap. 3:12.</NOTE> <HI>who delivered them out of the hand of</HI> Eglon, <HI>King of Moab.</HI> Then the children of I&s;rael again commit|ted wickedne&s;s in the &s;ight of the Lord, and the Lord &s;trengthned <HI>Eglon</HI> King of Moab, &amp;c. So they &s;erved <HI>E|glon</HI> King of Moab eighteen yeers. But when they cryed unto the Lord, the Lord &s;tirred them up a Saviour, <HI>Ehud</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Gera,</HI> &amp;c. So the land had re&s;t eighty yeers. And after
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him was <HI>Shamgar</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Anath,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 3.30.</NOTE> which &s;lew of the Phili&s;tims &s;ix hun|dred men with an Ox-goad, and he al&s;o delivered I&s;rael. <HI>Deborah and Barack who delivered them out of the hand of</HI> Jabin,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 4.1.</NOTE> <HI>King of Canaan.</HI> And the children of I&s;rael began again to do wickedly in the &s;ight of the Lord, and the Lord &s;old them into the hand of <HI>Jabin</HI> king of Canaan, who&s;e chief Captain was <HI>Si&s;era.</HI> Then the children of I&s;rael cryed to the Lord, <HI>&amp;c.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 4.4.</NOTE> And at that time <HI>Deborah</HI> a Prophete&s;s judged I&s;rael; Then &s;he &s;ent and called <HI>Barack</HI> &amp;c. And the Lord de&s;troyed <HI>Si&s;era,</HI> and all his Chariots, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And the Land had re&s;t forty yeers.<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 5.31.</NOTE> Gedeon, <HI>who delivered them out of the hands of the Midia|nites.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 6.1.</NOTE> Afterward the children of I&s;|rael committed wickedne&s;s in the &s;ight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian &s;even yeers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> So was I&s;rael exceedingly, impoveri&s;hed by the Midianites:<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 6.6.</NOTE> therefore the children of I&s;rael cry|ed unto the Lord, <HI>&amp;c. and he rai&s;ed them another Saviour, even</HI> Gedeon, that valiant man, who with three
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hundred men <HI>(and no more)</HI> &s;uch as lapped water with their tongues <HI>(the re&s;t &s;ent away by the Lords command)</HI> overthrew the whole ho&s;t of Midian,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 6.12. &amp; 7.5.</NOTE> with this cry,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 7.20.</NOTE> The &s;word of the Lord and of Gedeon.<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 8.28.</NOTE> Thus was Midian brought low before the children of I&s;rael, &s;o that they lift up their heads no more: And the Country was in quietne&s;s forty yeers in the days of Gideon. But when Gideon was dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 8.33.</NOTE> the children of I&s;rael turned away, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and remembred not the Lord their God which had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every &s;ide, &amp;c. <HI>After him &s;ucceeded</HI> Abimelech <HI>his &s;on, after</HI> A|bimelech Tola: <HI>after</HI> Tola, Jair <HI>the Gileadite. After the&s;e aro&s;e</HI> Jepthe, <HI>who delivered them out of the hand of the Ammonites.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 10.6.</NOTE> And the children of I&s;rael wrought wickedne&s;s again in the &s;ight of the Lord, and &s;erved Baalim, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and for&s;ook the Lord, and &s;erved not him. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled a|gain&s;t I&s;rael, and the Lord &s;old them into the hands of the Phili&s;tims, and into the hands of the children of
<PB REF="11">
Ammon, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Then the children of I&s;rael cryed unto the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 10.10</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c. So the Lord rai&s;ed them up another vali|ant man, even</HI> Jepthe. Then the &s;pi|rit of the Lord came upon <HI>Jepthe, &amp;c.</HI> So <HI>Jepthe</HI> went unto the children o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> Ammon to fight again&s;t them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 11.1. &amp; 11.29.</NOTE> and the Lord delivered them into his hands. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children o<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> I&s;rael. And <HI>Jepthe</HI> judged I&s;rael &s;ix yeers.<NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 12.7.</NOTE> After him <HI>Ibzan</HI> of Bethle|hem judged I&s;rael. After him <HI>Elon.</HI> After <HI>Elon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 13.1.</NOTE> <HI>Abdon</HI> But the children of I&s;rael continued to commit wic|kedne&s;s in the &s;ight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Phili&s;tims forty yeers. <HI>Then God rai&s;ed up</HI> Samp&s;on, <HI>who with the Jaw bone of an A&s;s &s;lew a thou&s;and of the Phili&s;tims at once.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 25.15. v<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i. 20.</NOTE> And be judged I&s;rael in the days of the Phili&s;tims twenty yeers.</P>
<P><HI>Thus may we &s;ee by at the&s;e exam|ples (and make u&s;e thereof, if we be wi&s;e) what the &s;tate and condition of Gods people hath been ever of <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">old, the effect in brief, or burden of the Song, nothing el&s;e but this:</HI> When they &s;in|ned
<PB REF="11">
again&s;t the Lord, he delivered them into the hands of their enemies: but when they cryed to the Lord in their trouble <HI>(that is to &s;ay, repented)</HI> he &s;traightway delivered them out of their di&s;tre&s;s, <HI>rai&s;ing up from time to time one Saviour or Deliverer after another, and &s;o immediately governing them by Judges till the day of</HI> Samuel. <HI>When this people growing wor&s;e and wor&s;e, and not contented with this &s;a|cred kind of Government, immediately from God him&s;elf, but de&s;iring a King like all other Nations:</HI> Make us a King to judge us, like all other Na|tions: <HI>He gave them a King in his anger, &s;aying to</HI> Samuel: Hear the voice of the people in all that they &s;hall &s;ay unto thee;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 8.5.</NOTE> for they have not ca&s;t thee away, but they have ca&s;t me away, that I &s;hould not reign o|ver them, <HI>&amp;c. And as before under the Judges, &s;o now under the Kings &s;till as they &s;inned and multiplyed their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, &s;o did the Lord inflict and multiply upon them his judgements one plague after another, til at length they were carried captives into Baby|lon. After which long captivity, yet re|&s;tored
<PB REF="12">
again upon their repentance, the time was not long, but they fell again to their old byas, and forgate the Lord their God, which</HI> had done &s;o great things for them&punc; <HI>yea, rather now wor&s;e then ever, per&s;ecuting the Prophets from time to time, whom God rai&s;ed up a|mong&s;t them, and killing them one after another, even till the coming of the Me&s;&s;iah, and him al&s;o they crucified. Whereupon en&s;ued this la&s;t and final de|&s;olation as the full mea&s;ure of their &s;ine de&s;erved, and as them&s;elves de&s;ired, &s;aying,</HI> His blood be upon us, and up|on our children; <HI>which hath continued now almo&s;t the&s;e &s;ixteen hundred yeers; the longe&s;t captivity, and greate&s;t mi&s;e|ry that ever hapned to any people; and, &s;o &s;hall continue, till they (as did their forefathers) turn to the Lord by true and hearty repentance, &amp;</HI> cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and then will the Lord deliver them out of their di&s;tre&s;s, <HI>according to the former exam|ples, and not before. And this is the &s;tate and condition of the Jews at this day the mi&s;erable &s;tate I &s;ay, with the cau&s;e and the remedy which God grant they may make u&s;e of,</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="12">
<HEAD>AN ALLARUM TO THE JEWS, Or the MESSIAH already come.</HEAD>
<P>FIr&s;t for the promi&s;es and prophe&s;ies of old, as tou|ching the coming of a Me&s;|&s;iah, whom we cal CHRIST, both they and we agree; both of us reading dayly in our Churches and Synagogues, teaching and hol|ding for canonical the very &s;elfe
<PB N="2" REF="13">
&s;ame Scriptures, even the Law and the Prophets. In &s;o much that the Gentile is often times enforced to marvail, when he &s;eeth a people &s;o extreamly bent one again&s;t another, as the Jewes are again&s;t Chri&s;tians, and yet do &s;tand &s;o peremptorily in defence of tho&s;e very principles, which are the proper cau&s;es of their di&s;agreement, But in the Interpre|tation and Application thereof ari|&s;eth all the Controver&s;ie, they un|der&s;tanding and applying all things literally and carnally to their long looked for Me&s;&s;iah yet for to come: We after a Spiritual manner, under|&s;tanding all tho&s;e promi&s;es and pro|phe&s;ies to be mo&s;t truely and real<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> fulfilled in the per&s;on of our ble&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> Me&s;&s;iah already come, they expe|cting a temporal King to rule and conquer in this world, we acknow|ledging a &s;piritual King, who&s;e Kingdom is not of this world, as him&s;elfe did many times prote&s;t while he was in the world: <HI>My king|dom is not of this world.</HI> To begin with <HI>Adam,</HI> and &s;o forward.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="3" REF="13">
<HEAD>Gods promi&s;e to <HI>Adam.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe fir&s;t promi&s;e, as touching the Me&s;&s;iah is this made to <HI>Adam</HI> af|ter his <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">all,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gen.</HI> 3.15</NOTE> for the re&s;toring of mankind to wit <HI>that the &s;eed of the Woman &s;hould break the Serpents head,</HI> that is to &s;ay, one of her &s;eed to be born in time, &s;hould conquer the Devil, Death and Sin, as the an|cient Jews under&s;tand this place, which being a &s;piritual conque&s;t, and again&s;t a &s;piritual enemy the Devil, he (I mean the Me&s;&s;iah) mu&s;t needs be a &s;piritual, and con&s;equently not a temporal King, as the Jewes ima|gine.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Gods promi&s;e to <HI>Abraham.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe &s;econd to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> often repeated. To <HI>Abraham,</HI> Gen. 12.3. <HI>In thee &s;hall all the Families of the earth be ble&s;|&s;ed.</HI> To <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> Gen. 26.4. <HI>In thy &s;eed &s;hall all the Nations of the earth be ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> To <HI>Jacob</HI> Gen. 28:14.
<PB N="4" REF="14">
<HI>In thee and in thy &s;eed &s;hall all the Families of the earth be ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> Therefore the Gentiles as well as the Jewes, the ble&s;&s;ing is general without exception, <HI>all the Families of the earth, all Nations,</HI> no Prero|gative of the Jew, no exception of the Gentile, as touching the Me&s;|&s;iah, I mean the benefit of this &s;o general and great a ble&s;&s;ing, though otherwi&s;e <HI>much every way,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.2. Rom. 9.4.</NOTE> as the A|po&s;tle rea&s;oneth to the Romans. Whereupon I infer as before, that the Me&s;s&s;iah mu&s;t be a &s;piritual, and not a temporal King: otherwi&s;e it had been but a very &s;mall benedi|ction to <HI>Abraham,</HI> or others after him (who never &s;aw their Me&s;&s;iah actually) if he mu&s;t have been only a temporal King, and much le&s;s ble&s;&s;ing had been to us Gentiles, if this Me&s;&s;iah of the Jews mu&s;t have been a worldly and temporal Mo|narch, to de&s;troy and &s;ubdue all tho&s;e Nations formerly ble&s;&s;ed <HI>(and ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall they be)</HI> to the &s;ervitude of <HI>Jury,</HI> as the latter Teachers do imagine.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="5" REF="14">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>Jacob.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe third, (which confirmeth the former) is the prophe&s;ie of <HI>Ja|cob</HI> at his death, <HI>Gen.</HI> 49.10. <HI>the rod or &s;cepter &s;hall not depart from</HI> Judah. <HI>nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come, and the People or Na|tions &s;hall be gathered unto him.</HI> Which the Chalde Paraphra&s;e, as al|&s;o Onkelos, both of &s;ingular autho|rity among the Jews, do interpret thus. Until Chri&s;t or the Me&s;&s;iah come (which is the hope and ex|pectation of all Nations, as well Gentiles as Jews) the government &s;hall not cea&s;e in the Hou&s;e or Tribe of <HI>Juda.</HI> Whence I infer the &s;ame conclu&s;ion as before, that if the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be the hope and ex|pectation, as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews, then can he not be a temporal King to de&s;troy the Gen|tiles, as the latter Jews would have it, but a &s;piritual King, as before hath been declared.</P>
<P>Secondly, if the temporal King|dom of the hou&s;e of <HI>Juda,</HI> whereof
<PB N="6" REF="15">
the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t com, &s;hal cea&s;e and be de&s;troyed at his comming, and not before, that being a certain &s;ign of the time of his manife&s;tation, how then can the Jews expect yet a temporal King for their Me&s;&s;iah, the Scepter already departed and gone, their Kingdom and Prie&s;thood defa|ced, their City and Temple de&s;troy|ed, them&s;elves &s;cattered among&s;t all Nations, and &s;o have continued al|mo&s;t this &s;ixteen hundred years, yea &s;uch a fatal and final de&s;olation by Gods ju&s;t judgement brought upon that woful Nation, and that not ma|ny years after the death and pa&s;&s;ion of our Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.42</NOTE> according to his prophe&s;ie in his life time, as may fully &s;ettle our faith in this point.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe fourth is that of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to the people of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dut. 18.13</NOTE> <HI>The Lord thy God will rai&s;e up unto thee a Pro|phet like unto me, from among you, even of thy brethren, unto him ye &s;hall
<PB N="7" REF="15">
hearken,</HI> &amp;c. and in the ver&s;es fol|lowing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 18.</NOTE> <HI>I will rai&s;e them up a Pro|phet from among their brethren like unto thee</HI> (&s;aith God to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>) <HI>and will put my words into his mouth, and he &s;hall &s;peak unto them all that I &s;hall command him, and who&s;oever will not hearken unto my words, which he &s;hall &s;peak in my name, I will re|quire it of him.</HI> Which words can|not be under&s;tood of any other Pro|phet that ever lived after <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a|mong&s;t the Jews; but only of the Me&s;&s;iah, as appeareth mo&s;t plainly in another place in <HI>Deutrenomy,</HI> where it is &s;aid, There aro&s;e not a Pro|phet in <HI>I&s;rael</HI> like unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.30</NOTE> whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord &s;ent him to do, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> no &s;uch Prophet except the Me&s;&s;iah ever af|ter to be expected: but the Me&s;&s;iah he it is that mu&s;t match and over|match <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> every way, he mu&s;t be a man as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was in re&s;pect of our infirmities, even according as the people of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> them&s;elves de&s;ired the Lord in <HI>Horeb,</HI> &s;aying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 18.14</NOTE> "Let me hear the voice of the Lord God no
<PB N="8" REF="16">
more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deu. 18.16.</NOTE> nor &s;ee this great fire any more, that I dye not. And the Lord &s;aid unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> they have well &s;po|ken, I will rai&s;e them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee. <HI>&amp;c.</HI> He mu&s;t be a Law|giver, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was, but of a far more perfect Law, as hereafter &s;hal appear, he mu&s;t be &s;uch a one whom the Lord hath known face to face, as he did <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> but of a far more divine nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.8.</NOTE> For as it is in <HI>I&s;aiah, Who &s;hall declare his age?</HI> La&s;tly, he mu&s;t be approved to the world by miracles, &s;igns and wonders, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was, which the Lord &s;hall &s;end him to do, as he did <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> But no &s;uch Prophet hath ever yet appeared in the world, nor ever &s;hall, who hath &s;o fitly an&s;wered this type, &s;o perfectly ob&s;erved the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> (which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elf could not do) giving us in&s;tead ther|of a far more excellent Law, as was prophe&s;ied long before, that he &s;hould. And finally, &s;o miraculou&s;ly approved him&s;elfe to the world, to be &s;ent from God, by &s;igns and wonders done both by him&s;elf and
<PB N="9" REF="16">
his Apo&s;tles, as hereafter &s;hall ap|pear) except this Chri&s;t which we profe&s;s, therefore he alone is the true Me&s;&s;iah, and no other to be expected.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>David.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe fift, is the Prophe&s;ie of <HI>David,</HI> a type al&s;o of the Me&s;&s;iah, who for that he was a holy man, a man after Gods own heart, out of who&s;e linage the Me&s;&s;iah was to come, had this My&s;tery mo&s;t manife&s;tly revea|led unto him, for the a&s;&s;urance whereof as of a great my&s;tery, even that of Chri&s;t and his Church, God bindeth him&s;elfe by an Oath, &s;aying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89.3.</NOTE> <Q>I have made a Covenant with my cho&s;en, I have &s;worn unto <HI>David</HI> my &s;ervant, thy &s;eed will I e&s;tabli&s;h for ever, and &s;et up thy Throne from generation to generation, <HI>Se|lah.</HI></Q> Which words although the lattter Jews will apply to King <HI>Solo|mon</HI> (and &s;o in &s;ome &s;ort they may, for that he al&s;o was a type of the Me&s;&s;iah) yet properly the&s;e words,
<PB N="10" REF="17">
I <HI>will e&s;tabli&s;h the throne of his king|dom for ever,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 7.13</NOTE> &s;o often repeated, can|not be verified of <HI>Solomon,</HI> who&s;e earthly Kingdom was rent and torn in pieces, &s;treight after his death, by <HI>Jer<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">boam,</HI> and not long after, as it were extingui&s;hed, but they mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood of an eternal King and Kingdom,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 12,</NOTE> as mu&s;t al&s;o tho&s;e other words of God in the P&s;alms:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.7.</NOTE> <Q>Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, ask of me, and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, Thou &s;halt cru&s;h them with a rod of Iron, and break them in pieces like a Potters Ve&s;&s;el:</Q> which pro|phe&s;ie was never fulfilled in <HI>Solo|mon,</HI> nor in any other temporal King in <HI>Jury</HI> after him. And much le&s;&s;e this that followeth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72.5.</NOTE> <Q>They &s;hal fear thee as long as the Sun and Moon endureth, from Generation to Generation. In his days &s;hall the righteous flouri&s;h, and aboun|dance of peace &s;o long as the Moon endureth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 7.</NOTE> His dominion al|&s;o &s;hall be from Sea, to Sea, and
<PB N="11" REF="17">
from the River unto the ends of the Earth. They that dwell in the Wilderne&s;s &s;hall kneel before him, and his enemies &s;hall &s;lick the du&s;t. The Kings of <HI>Thar&s;hi&s;h,</HI> and of the I&s;les &s;hall bring pre&s;ents: the Kings of <HI>Sheba</HI> and <HI>Seba</HI> &s;hall bring gifts, yea all Kings &s;hall wor&s;hip him, all Nations &s;hall &s;erve him. His Name &s;hall be for ever, his Name &s;hall endure as long as the Sun, all Nations &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed in him, and &s;hall ble&s;s him. And ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord God, even the God of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> which only doth wondrous things. And ble&s;&s;ed be his glorious Name for ever, and let all the Earth be filled with his glory, <HI>Amen, Amen.</HI></Q> And &s;o he endeth; as it were, in a trance, ravi&s;hed beyond mea&s;ure, with the &s;weet and Heavenly con|templation of this &s;piritual and ever|la&s;ting Kingdom of the Me&s;&s;iah, for to him, and to no other can all the&s;e Circum&s;tances, and Hyperbolical &s;peeches of <HI>David</HI> (rapt with the Spirit of Prophe&s;ie) properly and primarily appertain, though literal|ly
<PB REF="18">
the Jews under&s;tand them of <HI>So|lomon,</HI> as they do many other places in like ca&s;e, applying them only to the type, never looking to the &s;ub&s;|tance, whereof tho&s;e types and fi|tures were but &s;hadows and &s;em|blances; God of his mercy in his good time take away the vaile from their hearts, that at length they may &s;ee the true <HI>Solomon</HI> in all his roy|alty, not any longer to grope at noon days, winking with their eyes again&s;t the clear Sun like their fore-Fathers, as it is in <HI>I&s;aiah:</HI> a mo&s;t fearful judgement of God laid upon that Nation of old, objected to them many times and oft, both by Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, but in vain, <Q>Go and &s;ay unto this people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.5.</NOTE> ye &s;hall hear indeed but &s;hall not under|&s;tand, ye &s;hall plainly &s;ee and not perceive, make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and &s;hut their eyes, lea&s;t they &s;ee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and under&s;tand with their hearts, and convert And be healed.</Q> Whereupon en&s;ueth (even upon this winking and wilful ob&s;tina&s;ie)
<PB N="13" REF="18">
a mo&s;t &s;evere denunciation of final de&s;olation. Lord how long (&s;aith the Prophet) and he an&s;wered, Un|till the Cities be wa&s;ted without in|habitant, the hou&s;es without a man, and the Land be utterly de&s;olate, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But yet a tenth re&s;erved to re|turn, a holy &s;eed remainig in due time to be converted. This judg|ment and de&s;olation hath been a long time upon them, they feel it and groan under the burthen of it, as their forefathers did in <HI>Egypt</HI> un|der <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> and yet winking, &s;hut their eys, and will not &s;ee it, I mean, acknowledge the true cau&s;e of the&s;e &s;o great judgements revealed from Heaven upon them, even the con|tempt of Gods holy Prophets &s;ent unto them from time to time, but e&s;pecially of the Me&s;&s;iah, who&s;e blood lyeth heavily upon them, even to this day, as their forefathers de|&s;ired, <HI>His blood be upon vs and on our Children,</HI> which all the world &s;eeth is come to pa&s;s yea they them&s;elves feel it, yet winking with their eye they will not &s;ee it. But there is a tenth to return, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The re&s;t which
<PB N="14" REF="19">
will not this Me&s;&s;iah to reign over them, let them look into that Parable in the Go&s;pel, there &s;hall they find a far more fearful de&s;tru|ction denounced then the former. The fir&s;t being but for a time, but a type of the other, but a beginning of woes, the other eternal, for ever and ever. The fir&s;t he pronounceth with tears over <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> the &s;e|cond he denounceth as an angry Judge, provoked at length to exe|cute his fierce wrath upon them, without any compa&s;&s;ion at all. His words are the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.27</NOTE> <Q>Moreover, tho&s;e mine enemies, which would not that I &s;hould reign over them bring them hither, and &s;lay them before me.</Q> Which words of our Savi|our although they will in no wi&s;e believe, no more then they did the former, yet &s;hal they find his words one day, as truly fulfilled to them in the one as they have done already in the other. And how&s;oever hi|therto they have e&s;teemed of him as a fal&s;e Prophet, a Deceiver, yet hath he been to them but too true a Prophet in all their cala|mities
<PB N="15" REF="19">
both fir&s;t and la&s;t. And &s;o af|ter this long digre&s;&s;ion I come to the next.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>Jeremy.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe &s;ixt, which confirmeth the former, is that of <HI>Jer.</HI> 23.5. <Q>Be|hold the dayes come, &s;aith the Lord that I will rai&s;e up unto <HI>David</HI> a righteous branch, and a King &s;hall reign, &amp;c. And this is the name whereby they &s;hall call him, The Lord our righteou&s;|ne&s;s.</Q></P>
<P>This was &s;poken of <HI>Davids</HI> &s;eed about 400. years after <HI>David</HI> was dead and buried, which proveth ma|nife&s;t, that the former promi&s;es were not made unto him for <HI>Solomon</HI> his Son, or any other temporal King of his line, but only for the Me&s;&s;iah, who was called &s;o peculiarly the Son and Seed of <HI>David.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>Ezekiel.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe &s;eventh which al&s;o confirmeth the other, is that of <HI>Ezek.</HI> 34.23. <Q>I will &s;et up a Shepherd over them, he &s;hall feed them, even my &s;er|vant
<PB N="16" REF="20">
<HI>David,</HI> &amp;c.</Q> In which words the Jews them&s;elves do confe&s;&s;e in their <HI>Talmud,</HI> that their Me&s;&s;iah is called by the name of <HI>David,</HI> for that he &s;hall de&s;cend of the &s;eed of <HI>David,</HI> and &s;o it mu&s;t needs be, for that King <HI>David</HI> being dead &s;o long before, could not now come again in his own per&s;on to &s;eed them him|&s;elfe.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The Prophe&s;ie of <HI>I&s;aiah.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe eighth is the Prophe&s;ie of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> 2.2. <Q>It &s;hall be in the la&s;t days, that the mountain of the hou&s;e of the Lord &s;hall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and &s;hall be exalted above the hills, and all Nations &s;hall flow unto it, &amp;c. For the Law &s;hall go forth of <HI>Sion,</HI> and the Word of the Lord from <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI> He &s;hall judge among the Nations.</Q> Which very words <HI>Michah</HI> repeateth, Chap. 4.1. and are applied there as al&s;o here unto the Me&s;&s;iah, they can have no other meaning, by the judgment of the
<PB N="17" REF="20">
Jews them&s;elves.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 4.2.</NOTE> <Q>In that day &s;hall the Bud of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth &s;hall be excellent.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> Unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given, and the Government is upon his &s;houlders, he &s;hall call his name Wonderful, Councellour, the Mighty God, the Everla&s;ting Fa|ther, the Prince of Peace, the in|crea&s;e of his Government &s;hall have none end.</Q> And in the 11. Chapter, <Q>There &s;hall come a rod forth of the &s;tock of <HI>I&s;hai,</HI> and a graff &s;hall grow out of his root, and the &s;pirit of the Lord &s;hall re&s;t upon him. Behold your God com|meth, &amp;c. Then &s;hall the eyes of the blind be lightened, and the ears of the deaf &s;hall be opened; then &s;hall the &s;ame man leap like a Hart, and the dumb mans tongue &s;hall &s;ing, &amp;c. Chap. 35.4. 'And he &s;aid, It is a &s;mall thing that thou &s;hould&s;t be my &s;ervant, to rai&s;e up the Tribes of <HI>Jacob,</HI> and to re&s;tore the de&s;olations of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> I will al&s;o give thee for a light of the Gen|tiles, that thou mai&s;t be my &s;alvati|on
<PB N="18" REF="21">
unto the ends of the earth, Chap. 49.6.</Q></P>
<P>Out of all which places before a|ledged, I conclude, fir&s;t the com|ming of a Me&s;&s;iah, which the Jews will not deny: &s;econdly, that he mu&s;t be King, as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews, which they cannot deny: thirdly, that he mu&s;t be a &s;piritual &amp; a temporal King, as they imagin. It followeth next to be proved, that he mu&s;t be both God and man, even the Son of God: the &s;econd per|&s;on in Trinity to be ble&s;&s;ed for ever|more, which al&s;o they &s;hall not de|ny.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>That the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be both God and Man.</HEAD>
<P>THe Jews at the fir&s;t agreed with us in all, or mo&s;t points, as tou|ching the Me&s;&s;iah for to come, de|nying only the fulfilling or applica|tion thereof in our Saviour, but &s;ince the latter Jews finding them|&s;elves not able to &s;tand in that i&s;&s;ue again&s;t us, they have devi&s;ed a new
<PB N="19" REF="21">
plea, &s;aying, that we attribute ma|ny things unto Je&s;us, that were not foretold of the Me&s;&s;iah to come, namely, that he &s;hould be God, and the Son of God, the &s;econd per&s;on in Trinity, which we will prove both by Scriptures, as al&s;o by the writings of their own forefathers. For Scrip|tures, it is evident by all (or the mo&s;t) alledged before, that the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be God, even the Son of God, indued with mans nature, that is, both God and man. <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> where he is called <HI>the &s;eed of the woman,</HI> it is apparent he mu&s;t be man, and in the &s;ame place, where it is &s;aid, <HI>he &s;hall break the Serpents head,</HI> who can do this but only God? So in <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 4.2.</NOTE> where he is called <HI>the bud of the Lord,</HI> his Godhead is &s;ignified, and when he is called the <HI>fruit of the earth,</HI> his Manhood.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 7.14.</NOTE> And &s;o in an|other place. <Q>Behold a Virgin &s;hal conceive and bare a Son and thou &s;halt call his name <HI>Immanuel,</HI> that is to &s;ay, God with us; which name can agree to none, but to him that is both God and man.</Q> And who can interpret the&s;e &s;peeches,
<PB N="20" REF="22">
<Q>That his Kingdom &s;hall be ever|la&s;ting, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 9. That his name &s;hall be for ever, it &s;hall endure as long as the Sun and the Moon. That all Kings &s;hall wor&s;hip him, all Na|tions &s;erve him, <HI>P&s;a.</HI> 72 wor&s;hip him all ye Gods, <HI>P&s;.</HI> 97. That no man can tell his age, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 53, That he mu&s;t &s;it at the right hand of God, <HI>P&s;.</HI> 110.</Q> Who, I &s;ay, can under&s;tand or interpret them but of God, &s;eeing in man they cannot be verified, with which place of Scrip|ture the Evangeli&s;ts do report, that Je&s;us did put to &s;ilence divers of the learned Phari&s;ees: for, &s;aith he, <Q>If the Me&s;&s;iah be <HI>Davids</HI> Son, how did <HI>David</HI> call him Lord?</Q> &s;ignify|ing thereby, that albeit he was to be <HI>Davids</HI> Son, as he was man yet was he to be <HI>Davids</HI> Lord, as he was God, and &s;o do both <HI>Rab. Jonathan,</HI> and their own publick Commentaries in|terpret this place.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Michah 5.2</NOTE> <HI>Michah</HI> is plain, <Q>His going forth is from the begin|ning, and from everla&s;ting.</Q> And <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> is bold to proclaim him by his own name, even God, and to give him his right &s;tile, with all additions,
<PB N="21" REF="22">
(as Herolds to great Kings and Princes u&s;e to do) <Q>He &s;hall call his name Wonderful, Councellor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.6.</NOTE> the mighty God, the everla&s;ting Father, the Prince of peace, &amp;c.</Q> In vaine therefore is that objection of the Jewes, that <HI>El,</HI> or <HI>Elohim,</HI> &s;ignifying God, is &s;ometimes a ply|ed to a creature, here it cannot be &s;o, nor in the next place following, <HI>P&s;.</HI> 45.6. <Q>Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever. &amp;c. Wherefore God even thy God hath annoyn|ted thee with the oyl of gladne&s;s above thy fellows:</Q> Which cannot, be applyed to <HI>Solomon,</HI> but as a type of the Me&s;&s;iah. How&s;oever the name JEHOVAH, which is of &s;uch reverence among the Jewes, that they dare not pronounce it, but in place thereof read <HI>Adonai,</HI> that I am &s;ure they will never grant to be|long to any creature. Then what &s;ay they to that of <HI>Jer.</HI> 23.6. where the Me&s;&s;iah is called in plain terms <HI>Jehovah,</HI> <Q>And this is the name whereby they &s;hal cal him, <HI>Jehovah</HI> our righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</Q> So likewi&s;e Chap. 33.16. over again is he cal|led
<PB N="22" REF="23">
by the &s;ame name <HI>Jehovah our rightou&s;ne&s;s.</HI> And &s;o do the ancient Jews them&s;elves expound this place, namely, <HI>Rabbi Abba,</HI> who asketh the que&s;tion what the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hal be called, and an&s;wereth out of this place, he &s;hall be called the Eternal <HI>Jehovah.</HI> The like doth <HI>Mi&s;dra&s;ch,</HI> upon the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the 20. P&s;alm. And <HI>Rabbi Moy&s;es Hader&s;an</HI> upon <HI>Gen.</HI> 41 expounding that of <HI>Zephany</HI> 3 9. concludeth thus: In this place <HI>Jehovah</HI> &s;ignifieth nothing el&s;e but the Me&s;&s;iah. And &s;o did one of the Jews at unawares acknowledge to me, alledging that place out of the P&s;almes, <HI>The Lord doth build up Je|ru&s;alem, &amp;c.</HI> that their Me&s;&s;iah at his comming &s;hould build a new City and Sanctuary, much more glo|rious then the former. So did he al|&s;o interpret that place of <HI>Hag.</HI> 2.10. of a third Temple. Whereupon I inferred, &s;eeing in tho&s;e words he alledged, <HI>The Lord doth build up Je|ru&s;alem,</HI> the Hebrew word is <HI>Jeho|vah,</HI> therefore by his own intepre|tation the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be <HI>Jehovah</HI> which he could not well &s;hift off, but
<PB N="23" REF="23">
&s;aid that <HI>Adonai</HI> (for <HI>Jehovah</HI> they dare not name) mu&s;t there be un|der&s;tood, which point of the God|head of the Me&s;&s;iah the mo&s;t an|cient Jews did ever acknowledge, proving by &s;undry places of Scrip|ture, not onely that he &s;hould be the Son of God, but al&s;o the word of God incarnate.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t that he &s;hould be the Son of God, they prove out of <HI>Gen.</HI> 49.10. <Q>The Scepter &s;hal not depart &amp;c. til <HI>Shiloh</HI> come.</Q> Which <HI>Rabbi Kimhi</HI> proveth to &s;ignifie his Son, that is the Son of God Oat of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 4.2.</NOTE> where he is called, 'The bud of the Lord Out of the P&s;alms, where it is &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.7.</NOTE> <Q>Thou art my Son, this day have I begot|ten thee. And a little after 'Ki&s;s the Son lea&s;t he be angry, and ye peri&s;h, ble&s;&s;ed are all they that tru&s;t in him.</Q> Which la&s;t words can|not be under&s;tood of the Son of any man, for it is written, <Q>Cur&s;ed be the man that tru&s;teth in man, <HI>Jer.</HI> 17.5.</Q></P>
<P>Secondly, that he &s;hall be the Word of God, they prove out of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> as al&s;o out of <HI>Ho&s;ea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 1.7.</NOTE> where it is &s;aid, <Q>I will &s;ave them by the Lord
<PB N="24" REF="24">
their God.</Q> <HI>Ionathan</HI> tran&s;lateth it thus, I will &s;ave them by the Word of their God. So where it is &s;ayd, <Q>The Lord &s;ayd to my Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 110.1.</NOTE> &s;it at my right hand, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> The Lord &s;aid to his Word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 107.20</NOTE> &s;it at my right hand. Al&s;o where it is &s;ayd, <Q>He &s;ent his Word and healed them.</Q> <HI>Rabbi I&s;aack Arama</HI> upon <HI>Gen.</HI> 47. ex|poundeth it to be meant of the Me&s;|&s;iah, that &s;hall be Gods Word: So likewi&s;e that of <HI>Iob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 19.16.</NOTE> <Q>I &s;hall &s;ee God in my fle&s;h, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> <HI>Rabbi Sime|on</HI> upon <HI>Gen.</HI> 10. gathereth there|upon, that the Word of God, &s;hall take fle&s;h womans womb. Ano|ther out of the&s;e words;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.4.</NOTE> <HI>Jehovah</HI> our God is one <HI>Jehovah,</HI> proveth the ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, &s;aying, by the fir&s;t Iehovah, is &s;ignified God the Father, by the next, which is <HI>Elohim,</HI> God the Son, and by the other <HI>Johovah,</HI> God the Holy Gho&s;t proceeeding of them both: to all which is added the word <HI>one;</HI> to &s;ignifie, that the&s;e three are indivi&s;ible, but this &s;ecret (&s;aith he) &s;hall not be revealed until the coming of the Me&s;&s;iah. The&s;e are the words of <HI>Rabbi Ibda,</HI> repor|ted
<PB N="25" REF="24">
by <HI>Rabbi Simeon</HI> in a Treati&s;e called <HI>Zoar,</HI> of great authority a|mong the Jews, where al&s;o they &s;aid <HI>Rabbi Simeon,</HI> interpreteth tho&s;e words of <HI>I&s;aiah, Holy, Holy Holy, Lord God of Ho&s;ts,</HI> in this manner. <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> by repeating three times <HI>Holy</HI> (&s;aith he) doth &s;ignifie as much as if he had &s;aid, Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit: which three <HI>Holies</HI> do make but one Lord God of Ho&s;ts, which my&s;tery of the ble&s;|&s;ed Trinity. <HI>Rabbi Hacado&s;ch</HI> ga|thereth out of the very letters of JEHOVAH,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 13.6.</NOTE> upon tho&s;e words of <HI>Jeremy</HI> before recited, the two na|tures of the Me&s;&s;iah, both Divine and Humane, his two filiations, the one whereby he mu&s;t be the Son of God, the other whereby he mu&s;t be the Son of Man: concluding there|upon, that in him there &s;hall be two Di&s;tinct Natures, and yet &s;hall they make but one Chri&s;t, which is the &s;ame that we Chri&s;tians hold. <HI>Philo</HI> that learned Jew &s;hall end this fir&s;t con&s;ideration, touching the Nature and Per&s;on of the Me&s;&s;iah, as him|&s;elf writeth in his Book <HI>De Exulibus,</HI>
<PB N="26" REF="25">
By tradition we have it, &s;aith he, that we mu&s;t expect the death of an high Prie&s;t, which Prie&s;t &s;hall be the very Word of God, void of all &s;in, who&s;e Father &s;hall be God, and this Word &s;hal be the Fathers wi&s;dom, by which all things in this world were created, &amp;c. Therefore the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be both God and Man, both by the Scriptures, as al&s;o by their own Writers they cannot deny it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>That the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t change the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be both God and Man, even the natural and onely begotten Son of God, and the very Word of God incarnate, void of all &s;in, able to &s;atisfie the wrath of his Father, and to fulfil the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> for us: which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him|&s;elf could not do, nor any other af|ter him. It was a burthen&s;ome law to the Children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts. 15.10</NOTE> <Q>A yoak which neither they nor their forefathers were able to bear:</Q> &s;o having once in his own per&s;on mo&s;t exactly accompli&s;hed the &s;ame here on earth, together with all Rites,
<PB N="27" REF="25">
Ceremonies, Prophe&s;ies, Types, Fi|gures and Circum&s;tances, of his com|ming clearly fulfilled in him, and by him. It was nece&s;&s;ary (I &s;ay) the &s;ub&s;tance being once come, tho&s;e &s;hadows and ceremonies &s;hould cea&s;e and be aboli&s;hed, I mean the ceremonial Law totally, for as tou|ching the moral Law, or the Com|mendments he &s;aith, <Q>I came not to de&s;troy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them,</Q> only thus far hath he aboli&s;hed that too, he hath taken away the cur&s;e of it, hanging it on his Cro&s;&s;e; even <Q>the hand writing that was again&s;t us, together with him&s;elfe crucified.</Q></P>
<P>This ceremonial Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> (I &s;ay) con&s;i&s;ting of &s;uch a multitude of Ceremonies, Figures, Types, Sa|crifices, &amp;c. all of them for the mo&s;t part pointing at the Me&s;&s;iah to come; for by tho&s;e outward &s;igns and &s;ervices appointed by God to his people, they were &s;till put in mind of his Covenant, and a&s;&s;ured of his promi&s;e, that the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould come. Moreover it being proper and peculiar to one only Na|tion
<PB N="28" REF="26">
in all the world, namely <HI>Jury,</HI> the exerci&s;e thereof permitted, but in one onely place of that Country, namely <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> whither every man was bound to repair three times every year, to wit, at the Pa&s;qua, Penteco&s;t, and the Fea&s;t of Taber|bernacles, there and no where el&s;e to offer &s;acrifice. I &s;ay this Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> being altogether Ceremo|nial, and peculiar to that Nati|on, it was nece&s;&s;ary at the coming of the Me&s;&s;iah, the &s;ame &s;hould be aboli&s;hed, and a more general and perfect Law given and e&s;tabli&s;hed, a Law that &s;hould be common to all men, &s;erve for all countries, times, places, and per&s;ons, otherwi&s;e how could the Gentiles be made parta|kers of the Covenant, as well as the Jews, how could all the&s;e nations &s;o far di&s;tant from <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> repair thrice every year thither, how &s;hould every woman dwelling in the Ea&s;t or we&s;t India's repair thither for her purification, after every Childbirth, as by the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;he was commanded, <HI>Levit.</HI> 12. Therefore it is manife&s;t, that this Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="26">
was given to continue but for a time even till the comming of the Me&s;|&s;iah, and then another to come in place to continue, till the worlds end. This &s;ignified <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to the people, after he had delivered the former Law to them, &s;aying, <Q>The Lord thy God will rai&s;e up unto thee a Prophet like unto me, from among you, even of thy brethren,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deu. 18.15.</NOTE> unto him &s;halt thou hearken.</Q> As if he had &s;aid, ye &s;hall hear me till he come, who mu&s;t be a Lawgiver as my &s;elfe but of a far more ab&s;olute and perfect Law, and therefore more to be reverenced and obeyed. And then he addeth in the per&s;on of God him&s;elf, this thundering &s;en|tence again&s;t all mi&s;-believers: <Q>Who&s;oever will not hearken unto my Word, which he &s;hall &s;peak in my name, I will require it of him.</Q> Which words cannot be verefied in any other Prophet after <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> un|til Chri&s;t, for that of tho&s;e Prophets 'there aro&s;e none in <HI>I&s;rael</HI> like un|to <HI>Mo&s;es, Deut.</HI> 34.10. They had no authority to be Lawgivers, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had, but were all bound to
<PB N="30" REF="27">
the ob&s;ervation of his Law till Chri&s;t &s;hould come, whom <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> here calleth a Prophet like unto him|&s;elf, that is, a Lawmaker, exhorting all men to hear and obey him. Here|unto the Prophets &s;ub&s;cribe, none of them all pre&s;uming to take upon them that priviledge to be like unto him. A Prophet like unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> they mu&s;t let that alone to the Me&s;|&s;iah, who&s;e office it is to change the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> given upon mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> and in &s;tead thereof to pro|mulgate a new Law, to begin at <HI>Si|on,</HI> as &s;aith the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> <Q>The Law &s;hall go forth of <HI>Sion,</HI> and the Word of the Lord from <HI>Jeru&s;alem.</HI></Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2.3.</NOTE> Which cannot be under&s;tood of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law, publi&s;hed eight hun|dred years before this Prophe&s;ie, and that from <HI>Sinai,</HI> not from <HI>Sion,</HI> but of the preaching of the Go&s;pel, which began at <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and from thence was &s;pread over al the world. Which the &s;ame <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> fore&s;aw, when talking of the Me&s;&s;iah, he &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 29.28.</NOTE> <Q>In that day &s;hall five Cities in the Land of <HI>Egypt</HI> &s;peak the lan|guage of <HI>Canaan,</HI> &amp;c. In that day
<PB N="31" REF="27">
&s;hall the Altar of the Lord be in the mid&s;t of the Land of <HI>Egypt,</HI> and a pillar by the border thereof, unto the Lord. And the Egyptians &s;hall know the Lord in that day, and do &s;acrifice and oblation, and &s;hall vow vows, &amp;c.</Q> which could not be verified of the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> for by that Law, the Egyptians could have neither Altar nor Sacrifice, but it was fulfilled upon the coming of Chri&s;t, when the Egyptians were made Chri&s;tians. Al&s;o in another place, <Q>And the I&s;les &s;hall wait for his Law.</Q> The &s;ame was likewi&s;e foretold by God in <HI>Malachy,</HI> where he &s;aith to the Jews, and of the Jew|i&s;h Sacrifices, <Q>I have no plea&s;ure in you, neither will I receive an of|fering at your hands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 42.4. Mal. 1.10.</NOTE> for from the ri&s;ing of the Sun, until the going down of the &s;ame my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place incen&s;e &s;hall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name is great among the Gen|tiles, &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts.</Q> Wherein we &s;ee, fir&s;t a reprobation of the Jewi&s;h Sacrifices, and con&s;e|quently
<PB N="32" REF="28">
of the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> which dependeth principally thereupon. Secondly, that among the Gentiles there &s;hould be a pure manner of Sacrifice, more grateful unto God then the other, not limitted either in re&s;pect of time or place, as the Mo&s;aical Law and Sacrifice was. For &s;o &s;aith God in <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> <Q>I gave them &s;tatutes which were not good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 20.25</NOTE> and judgements, wherein they &s;hal not live, that is not good to continue perpetually, nor &s;hal they live in them any longer, but til the time by me appointed.</Q> Of which time he determineth more particularly by <HI>Jeremiah</HI> in the&s;e word, <Q>Behold the days come, &s;aith the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 31.31</NOTE> that I will make a new Covenant with the hou&s;e of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> and <HI>Judah,</HI> not according to that Covenant which I made with their Fathers, &amp;c.</Q> Where you &s;ee a new Covenant or Te&s;tament promi&s;ed different from the old, Whereupon I conclude, the old Law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> by the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be changed into a New.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="33" REF="28">
<HEAD>The time of his manife&s;tation with all other circum&s;tances.</HEAD>
<P>NOw for the time of his manife|&s;tation, with all other circum|&s;tances, of his birth, life, death, re|&s;urrection, a&s;cen&s;ion and tho&s;e things al&s;o that fel out afterwards, if we &s;hal con&s;ider how particularly, and preci&s;ely they were all foretold by the Prophets, and how long before (&s;ome hundreds, &s;ome thou&s;ands of years) before they fel out; as al&s;o how exactly they were all fulfilled in the per&s;on of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour: all directed like &s;o many lines to one Center: we &s;hal (as it were in a mirrour) &s;ee and behold both the truth of Chri&s;tan Religion &s;etled up|on a mo&s;t firm and unmoveable cen|ter; as al&s;o the vanity of all other Religions what&s;oever, e&s;pecially this mo&s;t vain expectation of the Jews to this day, of their Me&s;&s;iah yet for to come, as vain and fond altogether, as was that opinion of one of the Philo&s;ophers which the word Cen|ter hath put me in mind of, that the
<PB N="34" REF="29">
Earth, for&s;ooth, did move, and the Heavens &s;tand &s;till: and how far they are degenerate, not only from all true light and under&s;tanding in heavenly matters, but al&s;o even from common &s;en&s;e and rea&s;on it &s;elf in things of that nature tending there|unto.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t for the time. <HI>Daniel</HI> who lived in the fir&s;t Monarchy, foretold that there &s;hould be three Monarchies more, the la&s;t the grea|te&s;t of all, to wit, the Roman Em|pire, and then the Eternal King or Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould come, his words are the&s;e. <HI>In the days of the&s;e Kings, &s;hall the God of Heaven &s;er up a Kingdom which &s;hall I never be de|&s;troyed,</HI> Dan. 2.44. And ju&s;t accor|ding to this time was the Me&s;&s;iah born, namely in the days of <HI>Au|gu&s;tus Ce&s;ar, Luk.</HI> 2. (as both we Chri&s;tians account and the Jews ac|knowledge) even in tho&s;e Halcyon days of peace, when the Temple gates of <HI>Janus</HI> were commanded to be &s;hut, and upon that very day when <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> commanded that no man &s;hould cal him Lord, was this
<PB N="35" REF="29">
Prince of Peace born. Therefore to him agreeth this circum&s;tance of time very fitly, mo&s;t vainly there|fore do the Jews after this time ex|pect another.</P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>Jacob</HI> who lived many yeares before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.10.</NOTE> prophe&s;ied of this time very preci&s;ely, as already hath been alledged, that the Me&s;&s;iah whom he there called <HI>Shiloh,</HI> &s;hould come at that time, when the Scepter or Government Regal was departed from the hou&s;e of <HI>Judah,</HI> which was in the days of <HI>Herod,</HI> and never till then, who fir&s;t u&s;urped that govern|ment, his Father-in-Law King <HI>Hir|canus</HI> with all his off-&s;pring of the blood Royal of <HI>Judah,</HI> together with the <HI>Sanhedrim</HI> put to death. The Genealogies of the Kings and Princes burned. A new pedegree for him&s;elfe devi&s;ed. In a word, all au|thority regal what&s;oever belonging to that Tribe, at that time, quite extingui&s;hed. And ju&s;t according to this time was our Saviour born, namely in the days of <HI>Herod, Mat.</HI> 2.1. Therefore to him agreeth this circum&s;tance of time very fitly:
<PB N="36" REF="30">
mo&s;t vainly therefore do the Jews after this time expect any lon|ger.</P>
<P>Thirdly, God him&s;elfe &s;aith by his Prophet <HI>Haggai,</HI> that the Me&s;&s;iah whom he there calleth <HI>The de&s;ired of all Nations:</HI> &s;hall come in the time of the &s;econd Temple, which was then but new built, far inferiour in &s;tateline&s;s and glory to the former built by <HI>Solomon,</HI> which the old men in the book of <HI>Ezra</HI> te&s;tifie by their weeping when they &s;aw this &s;econd Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezr. 3.12.</NOTE> and remembred the glory of the fir&s;t. The words of the Lord by his Prophet <HI>Haggai,</HI> are the&s;e. <Q>Speak unto <HI>Zerubbabel,</HI> who is left among you that &s;aw this hou&s;e in her fir&s;t glory, and how do you &s;ee it now?</Q> it is not in your eyes in compari&s;on of it as nothing? yet now <Q>be of good cheer O <HI>Zerubbabel,</HI> for thus &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts, yet a little while and I will &s;hake the Heavens and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land. And I will move all Nations, and the de|&s;ire of all Nations &s;hal come, and I wil fil this hou&s;e with glory, &s;aith
<PB N="37" REF="30">
the Lord of Ho&s;ts.</Q> The glory of <Q>this la&s;t hou&s;e &s;hal be greater then the fir&s;t, &amp;c.</Q> which mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood of the comming of the Me&s;&s;iah, to wit, his per&s;onal pre&s;ence in this &s;econd Temple, in whom is the fulne&s;s of glory, and therefore could he and none other, fil it with glory, being him&s;elf indeed the <HI>King of glory.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 24.7</NOTE> <Q>Lift up your heads O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye e|verla&s;ting doors, and the King of glory &s;hal come in.</Q> So doth <HI>Ma|lachy</HI> prophe&s;ie in the&s;e words. <Q>The Lord whom ye &s;eek &s;hal &s;pee|dily come to his Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.1.</NOTE> even the Me&s;&s;enger of the Covenant whom ye de&s;ire, behold he &s;hal come, &s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts, &amp;c.</Q> And &s;o indeed he did, for Chri&s;t Je&s;us came into the world during this &s;econd Temple, and did him&s;elf likewi&s;e foretel the de&s;truction thereof, which came to pa&s;s even in that age. There|fore to him agreeth this Circum|&s;tance of time very fitly, mo&s;t vain|ly therefore do the Jews after this time, to wit, the de&s;truction of the &s;econd Temple expect any further.</P>
<P><PB N="38" REF="31">Fourthly, the Me&s;&s;iah by the true computation of <HI>Daniels</HI> Prophe&s;ie, accounting his Hebdomades or Weeks for &s;o many years to be mul|tiplyed by &s;even: that is to &s;ay, Weeks of Years (as they mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood) was to come ju&s;t ac|cording to the time before mention|ed, his words are the&s;e: <Q>Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thine holy City: know therefore, and under&s;tand, that from the going forth of the Commandement to bring again the people, and to build <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> un|to Me&s;&s;iah the Prince, &s;hal be &s;e|ven weeks, and three&s;core and two weeks. And after three&s;core and two weeks &s;hal the Me&s;&s;iah be &s;lain and not for him&s;elf. And the peo|ple of the Prince that &s;hal come, &s;hal de&s;troy the City and Sanctu|ary, and he &s;hal confirm the Co|venant with many for one week, and in the mid&s;t of the week he &s;hal cau&s;e the &s;acrifice and obla|tions to cea&s;e.</Q> Which Hebdo|mades, or weeks of years, whether we account from the fir&s;t year of
<PB N="39" REF="31">
<HI>Cyrus</HI> who fir&s;t determined the Jews reduction, or from the &s;econd of <HI>Darius,</HI> who confirmed, and put the &s;ame in execution, or from the twentieth year of <HI>Darius,</HI> for that he then made a new Edict in the favour of <HI>Nehemias,</HI> and &s;ent him into <HI>Jury:</HI> every way they will end in the reign of <HI>Herod</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;tus,</HI> under whom Chri&s;t was born, or in the reign of <HI>Tiberius,</HI> under whom he &s;uffered. And by no interpreta|tion can it be avoided, but that this time is now our, above one thou&s;and five hundred years. Be&s;ides this being a clear prophe&s;ie of the Me&s;|&s;iah (how&s;oever &s;omewhat more intricate and ob&s;cure, in re&s;pect of the years, wherein the Prophet al|ludeth to the Captivity of <HI>Babylon,</HI> as &s;ome think) mu&s;t needs be inter|preted according to the former pro|phe&s;ies al&s;o of the Me&s;&s;iah. And &s;o doth the Prophet expound him&s;elf in the former words, namely, That the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould be &s;lain, before the de&s;truction of the City and San|ctuary. Yet is there one week more to make up the number of &s;e|venty,
<PB N="40" REF="32">
in the mid&s;t of which week the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould be &s;lain, which came to pa&s;s accordingly, for in the mid&s;t of that week, that is, about three years and an half after his bap|ti&s;me&punc; Chri&s;t Je&s;us the true Me&s;&s;iah was &s;lain, <HI>and not for him&s;elf,</HI> for <HI>Pilate</HI> could find no fault in him: <HI>I finde no fault in the man, I find no cau&s;e of death in him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.14.22. Mat. 27. I&s;a. 53.5.</NOTE> <HI>I am innocent of the blood of this ju&s;t man, look ye to it.</HI> Not for him&s;elf, but for us was he wounded (as &s;aith the Pro|phet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI>) <HI>He was wounded for our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions.</HI> Therefore to him doth this circum&s;tance of time bear witne&s;s, and con&s;equently the Jews after the&s;e times by God him&s;elf ap|pointed for the Me&s;&s;iah, expecting yet for another, be&s;ides the vanity of this their expectation, they make God him&s;elf a lyar, yea and all their forefathers, <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 8.56. Act. 3.21. Chap. 8.44.</NOTE> and all the holy Prophets (who&s;e Children they hold them|&s;elves to be) who all of them &s;aw the&s;e days, and prophe&s;ied of them, <HI>Abraham rejoyced to &s;ee my day</HI> (&s;aith our Saviour) <HI>and he &s;aw it, and was
<PB N="41" REF="32">
glad.</HI> All the&s;e make they Lyars with them&s;elves whereby they &s;hew them&s;elves, rather to be the Chil|dren of the Devil, <HI>who is the Father of lyes,</HI> then of <HI>Abraham,</HI> who is the Father of the Faithful only. For &s;o did that vile Serpent at the fir&s;t, even dare to give God him&s;elf the lye (as it is in <HI>Gene&s;is</HI>) God &s;aith there to <HI>Adam: In the day that thou eate&s;t of &s;uch a tree thou &s;halt dye the death:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.17. Gen. 3.4. Mat. 3.7.</NOTE> No (&s;aith the Devil) it is not &s;o, <HI>ye &s;hall not dye at all.</HI> So do the&s;e Imps of Satan, <HI>Generation of Vipers,</HI> as <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t in his time called them, even ju&s;t after the &s;ame man|ner. For &s;aith God by his Prophets, at &s;uch a time will I &s;end the Me&s;&s;i|ah into the world, and by &s;uch and &s;uch marks ye &s;hall know him: no &s;aith this froward Generation, it is not &s;o, he hath not yet &s;ent him, he is not yet come, we acknowledge no &s;uch marks, as that he &s;hall be poor and of no reputation in this world, put to death. We look for a mag|nificent Prince, we will none of &s;uch a ba&s;e fellow, as this Je&s;us to reign over us, a fal&s;e Prophet, a deceiver,
<PB N="42" REF="33">
and &s;o forth, with what&s;oever el&s;e their malicious hearts can imagine, their bla&s;phemous tongues being &s;et on fire of hell, are ready to utter to his di&s;grace. But let them look in|to that Parable of our Saviour, and there they &s;hall find him another manner of per&s;on then they imagin, I will repeat it unto them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.27</NOTE> <HI>More|over tho&s;e mine enemies who would not that I &s;hould reign over them, bring them hither and &s;lay them before me.</HI> God of his mercy give them repen|tance in time of their heinous and high bla&s;phemies, that they may mourn for him whom they have pierced, every Family and Tribe a|part. <Q>Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, And think not to &s;ay with your &s;elves. We have <HI>Abraham</HI> to our Father, for I &s;ay unto you, that God is able of the&s;e &s;tones to rai&s;e up children unto <HI>A|braham.</HI> Now is the Ax put to the root of the Tree.</Q> The la&s;t Trumpet will blow, and then it will be too late, when ye &s;hall hear that &s;hril voice ringing in your ears, <HI>ari&s;e ye dead and come to judgment,</HI> that
<PB N="43" REF="33">
voice wil awake you out of all your dreams, and mate you ari&s;e whether you will or no, when ye &s;hal &s;ee the Son of man come in his glory, even your long looked for Me&s;&s;iah, like a magnificent Prince indeed, but lit|tle to the comfort of tho&s;e that re|main ob&s;tinate. Awake therefore to your &s;alvation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.14.</NOTE> that ye be not a|wakened hereafter to your condem|nation; <Q>Awake thou that &s;leepe&s;t, &s;tand up from the dead, and Chri&s;t &s;hal give thee light;</Q> &s;hake off all your idle dreams and fooli&s;h fanta|&s;ies of our imaginary Me&s;&s;iah, fit|ter for Children then Men of di&s;cre|tion; con&s;ider with your &s;elves at length, how long you have over&s;lept your &s;elves, how many ages are now pa&s;t and gone, &s;ince both by com|putation of Scriptures (as afore&s;aid) as al&s;o by the ob&s;ervation of your own Doctors and Teachers, your Me&s;&s;iah was to come, and yet you &s;ee him not, no nor any likelyhood at all of his comming, more then at the fir&s;t, yea rather all evidences and probabilities to the contrary that may be; look into your <HI>Tal|mud,</HI>
<PB N="44" REF="34">
and there you &s;hal &s;ee plainly, if you be not blind there al&s;o, as you are in the Scriptures, the vanity of vanities of this your expectation, for &s;o it is indeed.</P>
<P>It is often repeated in your <HI>Tal|mud,</HI> that one <HI>Elias</HI> left this Tradi|tion, that the world &s;hould endure &s;ix thou&s;and years, that is, two thou|&s;and before the Law, two thou&s;and under the Law, and two thou&s;and after that, under the Me&s;&s;iah. Which la&s;t two thou&s;and years, by all com|putation, could not begin much from the birth of Je&s;us. And your <HI>Rabbins</HI> long &s;ince complained in that their <HI>Talmud,</HI> that there &s;eem-to them in tho&s;e days &s;even hundred and odd years pa&s;t &s;ince the Me&s;&s;i|ah by the Scripture &s;hould have ap|peared; therefore they do marvaile why God &s;o long deferreth me &s;ame, much more then may ye mar|vail upon whom the ends of the world are come.</P>
<P>Another ob&s;ervation Cabali&s;tical they have upon tho&s;e words of <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 9 7. <HI>The encrea&s;e of his Government and Peace &s;hall have no end,</HI> where
<PB N="45" REF="34">
the Hebrew word is <HI>Lemarbeh,</HI> &s;ig|nifying to encrea&s;e or multiply <HI>ad multiplicandum:</HI> In which word, becau&s;e they find <HI>mem</HI> to be &s;hut, which is not u&s;ual in the middle of a word they gather many &s;ecrets, and and among other, that &s;eeing <HI>mem</HI> &s;ignifieth 600 years, &s;o long it &s;hould be from that time of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> until the time of the Me&s;&s;iah, which accompt of theirs falleth our &s;o ju&s;t, that if you reckon the years from <HI>Acha<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> King of <HI>Judah,</HI> in who&s;e time <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> &s;pake the&s;e words, until the time of <HI>Herod</HI> under whom Chri&s;t was born, you &s;hal finde the number to fail in little or nothing.</P>
<P>A much like ob&s;ervation hath <HI>Rabby Mo&s;es ben Maimon</HI> in his Epi&s;tle to his Country men the Jews in <HI>Africa,</HI> concerning the time of the Me&s;&s;iah, which he thinketh to be pa&s;t, according to the Scriptures a|bove a thou&s;and years (he lived about the year or Chri&s;t one thou|&s;and, one hundred and forty) but that God deferreth his manife&s;tati|on for their &s;ins, &s;ince which time, hath pa&s;&s;ed almo&s;t 500. years more
<PB N="46" REF="35">
and yet ye hear nothing of his com|ming. Con&s;ider this ye Jews of <HI>Barbary,</HI> for to you partly &s;eemeth this Epi&s;tle to be written. Wil you then &s;tay &s;til, and &s;ay &s;til after &s;o many hundred years pa&s;t and gone, that for your &s;ins God referreth yet his comming, putting it off from one five hundred years to another, and &s;o <HI>in infinitum?</HI> it is all one as if you &s;ay, that for your &s;ins God hath broken his promi&s;e now, 1 thou&s;and and &s;ix hundred years; and con&s;e|quently it may be for your &s;ins the Me&s;&s;iah will never come, this mu&s;t be your la&s;t refuge, you may as wel &s;ay the one as the other. But how|&s;oever you make your &s;elves &s;inful, yea out of mea&s;ure &s;inful,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 71.4. Rom. 3.4.</NOTE> yet <HI>let God be ju&s;t and righteous</HI> in his promi&s;e (as it is Written) make not him a lyar as you have done hitherto.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e al&s;o appertaineth the Narration of one <HI>Elias</HI> (as <HI>Rab|by Jo&s;ua</HI> reporteth it in the <HI>Talmud</HI>) that the Me&s;&s;iah was to be born in|deed according to the Scriptures before the de&s;truction of the &s;econd Temple, for that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> &s;aith of the
<PB N="47" REF="35">
Synagogue: <HI>before &s;he travailed, &s;he brought forth, and before her paine came,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 66.7.</NOTE> <HI>&s;he was delivered of a man child,</HI> that is, &s;aith he, before the Synagogue was afflicted and made de&s;olate, by the Romans &s;he brought forth the Me&s;&s;iah. But yet, &s;aith he, this Me&s;&s;iah for our &s;ins doth hide him&s;elf in the Seas and other De|&s;arts, till we be worthy of his com|ming. Which is as much in effect as if he had &s;aid (the one as proba|ble as the other) that perhaps for our &s;ins and unworthine&s;s the Me&s;|&s;iah may not come at all, but return to Heaven back again from whence he came. And why I pray have you not &s;tayed as wel in Heaven all this while, rather then in the Seas and De&s;arts for &s;o many years, to no purpo&s;e, I am per&s;waded if <HI>Ba|laams</HI> A&s;s were alive again, and did hear the&s;e, and &s;uch like your idle fanta&s;ies and dreams touching your Me&s;&s;iah, the very A&s;s would reprove you to your faces, and make you a|&s;hamed of them, whereof though I have read &s;omewhat in divers Au|thors, yet could I hardly beleeve
<PB N="48" REF="36">
any &s;uch ab&s;urdities to be delivered, much le&s;s defended by any rea&s;on|able creatures, till I had heard &s;ome|thing my &s;elf. I urged that place of <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> to one of them, to wit, that the Scepter &s;hould not depart from <HI>Judah</HI> till <HI>Shiloh</HI> came, that is, the Me&s;&s;iah, which being &s;o long &s;ince departed and gone, I asked what rea&s;on they had, as yet to expect for a Me&s;&s;iah, he an&s;wered, the Scepter was not departed, they had their <HI>Sheckes,</HI> that is to &s;ay, chief men of their Tribes, in all parts where they inhabit. Moreover that &s;ome of the <HI>Moores,</HI> for&s;ooth had brought them word of a People or Nation of the Jewes, inhabiting in a far Coun|try, he could not tell me the place where, but fir&s;t there is a River to be pa&s;&s;ed, two Trees growing on either &s;ide directly one again&s;t ano|ther, which two trees every &s;aturday, and no day el&s;e, do of their own accord bow one towards ano|ther, making, as it were, a bridg for men to go over. Now the Jews by rea&s;on that day is their Sabbath, may not attempt to pa&s;s over it.
<PB N="49" REF="36">
But the Me&s;&s;iah at his comming &s;hal bring them altogether, into the Land of promi&s;e they know not how, rebuild the City and Sanctuary in a trice, much more glorious then ever it was before. To which pur|po&s;e he alledged that place out of the P&s;alms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 147.2.</NOTE> <Q>The Lord doth build up <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> and gather together the di&s;per&s;ed of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI></Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hag. 2.10.</NOTE> So likewi&s;e interpreting that of <HI>Haggai</HI> (<Q>the glory of this la&s;t hou&s;e &s;hal be grea|ter then the fir&s;t) of this third imaginary Temple.</Q> So literally ap|plying that of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.6.</NOTE> <Q>that in tho&s;e days the Wolfe &s;hould dwell with the Lamb the Leopard lie with the Kid, the Calf and the Lyon, and the fat bea&s;ts together, and a little child to lead them, &amp;c.</Q> That the&s;e things &s;hould thus come to pa&s;s litte|rally, according to the very Hebrew Characters. This is all the know|ledge they have in the Scriptures, the bare Hebrew letters, and no more. Yet can they not &s;peak one word of the true &s;piritual language of <HI>Canaan,</HI> but in &s;tead of <HI>Shiboleth</HI> (like tho&s;e Ephraimites,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 12.6</NOTE> they pro|nounce
<PB N="50" REF="37">
<HI>Siboleth,</HI> no interpretation &s;piritual of the Cele&s;tial <HI>Canaan,</HI> the Heavenly <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> of the &s;piritu|al Temple, of the my&s;tical body of the Me&s;&s;iah, that is to &s;ay, his Church no reli&s;h at all of the &s;pirit of God, or any &s;piritual wor&s;hip among&s;t them. And yet, for&s;ooth, they will be the people of God alone, and who but they, the Children of <HI>A|braham,</HI> and of the promi&s;e, and none but they, yea they are &s;o vainly puft up with the fooli&s;h pride of this their high pedigree, that they think veri|ly, and will &s;peak it confidently (I have heard it from them) that none of them, unle&s;s for very heinous of|fences, as Perjury or &s;uch like &s;hall be judged after this life, or be in danger of hell fire, they only to have their puni&s;hment in this world, and not el&s;e. As though hell fire were only prepared for us Gentiles, and Heaven only for the Jews, which unle&s;s they repent, they &s;hall finde quite contrary, if the words of our Saviour be found true, which hither|to they have found but too true, to their wo, as I noted before. <Q>I &s;ay
<PB N="51" REF="37">
unto you that many &s;hall come from the Ea&s;t, and from the We&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.11.</NOTE> and &s;hal &s;it down with <HI>Abraham,</HI> and <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> in the King|dom of Heaven, and the Children of the Kingdom &s;hall be ca&s;t out into utter darkne&s;s, there &s;hall be weeping and gna&s;hing of teeth.</Q> Where are now the Jews with their lofty pedigree, Even as <HI>E&s;au</HI> &s;old to <HI>Jacob</HI> his birth-right for a me&s;s of pottage, &s;o have the Jews to us Gen|tiles their birthright to the King|dom of Heaven, for a me&s;s of idle dreams and fanta&s;ies they imagin to them&s;elves, Towers and Ca&s;tles in the air, Crowns and Kingdoms in expectance, even in this world, ano|ther Paradice here on earth. But in the end they &s;hall find them&s;elves to have been all this while in a fools Paradice, and as it were in a dream, which when one awaketh vani&s;heth, and &s;o I leave them to their dreams and profound &s;leep, till it &s;hal plea&s;e God of his mercy to awake them.</P>
<P>Thus then it is manife&s;t both by Scripture, Tradition, and Ob&s;erva|tion of the Jews them&s;elves, that a|bout
<PB N="52" REF="38">
the time before mentioned, to wit, in the days of <HI>Augu&s;tus Ce&s;ar,</HI> the new Roman Emperor, and of <HI>Herod</HI> the u&s;urper King of <HI>Jury,</HI> who was the fir&s;t that took away the Scepter from <HI>Judah,</HI> even in the time of the &s;econd Temple, the true Me&s;|&s;iah was to be born. And hence it was that the whole nation of the Jews remained &s;o accent at this time, more then ever before or &s;ince in expecting the Me&s;&s;iah. Whereup|on &s;o &s;oon as ever they heard of <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> in the De&s;art.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 19.</NOTE> <Q>The Jews &s;ent Prie&s;ts and Levites from <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> to ask if he were the Me&s;&s;iah. And in another place it is &s;aid, 'As the people waited and all men mu&s;ed in their hearts of <HI>John</HI> if he were the Me&s;&s;iah, <HI>John</HI> an&s;wered and &s;aid unto them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lu 7.3.15.</NOTE> &amp;c.</Q> So that you &s;ee in tho&s;e days the whole people of the Jews waited for his comming, all men mu&s;ed up|on their Me&s;&s;iah, So did al&s;o <HI>John</HI> him&s;elfe being in pri&s;on, &s;ent two of his Di&s;ciples to Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.3.</NOTE> demanding, <Q>Art thou he that &s;hall come, or &s;hall we look for another:</Q> and a|gain
<PB N="53" REF="38">
at the fea&s;t of the Dedication, they came flocking to him from all parts, they came round about him, as it is in that place, &s;aying, <Q>How long do&s;t thou hold us in &s;u&s;pen&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 10.24.</NOTE> if thou be that Chri&s;t tell us plainly.</Q> All which importeth the great ex|pectation wherein the people remai|ned in tho&s;e days, of which fame, expectation, and greedy de&s;ire of the people divers deceivers took oc|ca&s;ion to call them&s;elves the Me&s;&s;i|ah, <HI>Judas Galilaeus, Judas</HI> the Son of <HI>Hezechias, Atonges</HI> a Shepherd, <HI>Theudas</HI> and <HI>Egyptus,</HI> all notable deceivers. But above all one <HI>Bar|cozham,</HI> who as the <HI>Talmud</HI> affir|meth, for thirty years together was received for the Me&s;&s;iah by the Rab|bins them&s;elves, till at la&s;t they &s;lew him, becau&s;e he was not able to de|liver them from the Romans. Which facility in the people, when <HI>Herod</HI> &s;aw, he cau&s;ed one <HI>Nicholaus Dama&s;cenus</HI> to devi&s;e a pedigree for him from the ancient Kings of <HI>Juda,</HI> and &s;o he as well as the re&s;t took up|on him the title of the Me&s;&s;iah, whom divers carnal Jews that expe|cted
<PB N="54" REF="39">
the Me&s;&s;iah to be a magnificent King, as <HI>Herod</HI> was, would &s;eem to beleeve and publi&s;h abroad, where|upon they are thought to be called <HI>Herodians</HI> in the Go&s;pel, who came to tempt Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.16.</NOTE> But all the&s;e de|ceivers are vani&s;hed and gone, their memorial is peri&s;hed with them: whereunto our Saviour, &s;eemeth to allude,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.8.</NOTE> where he &s;aith, <Q>All that e|ver came before me are theeves and robbers, but the &s;heep did not hear them.</Q> I &s;ay all the&s;e fal&s;e Me&s;&s;iahs with their followers, they are vani&s;h|ed and gone; onely Je&s;us Chri&s;t and his Religion, contrary to all o|ther Religions in the world, without either &s;word, &s;pear or &s;hield, again&s;t all world &s;trength and policy hath increa&s;ed and multiplied, and &s;hall do to the end of the world, as <HI>Ga|maliel</HI> long ago prophe&s;ied to the Jews, wilfully bent, put all in vain, even in the very fir&s;t infancy thereof to have de&s;troyed it. His words are the&s;e. 'And now I &s;ay unto you, refrain your &s;elves from the&s;e men, and let them alone: for if this coun|cel, or this work be of men it will
<PB N="55" REF="39">
<Q>come to naught, but if it be of God, ye cannot de&s;troy it, le&s;t ye be found even fighters again&s;t God.</Q></P>
<P>Wherefore to conclude, at length this main point of the time of Chri&s;ts appearing, which cutteth the very throat of the Jews vain expectation, &s;eeing at or about that time there concurred &s;o many &s;igns and argu|ments together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.44.</NOTE> as 1 the e&s;tabli&s;h|ment of the Roman Empire newly erected (for then by <HI>Daniels</HI> pro|phe&s;ie <HI>was the God of heaven to &s;et up his Kingdom.</HI>) 2. The departure of the Rod or Scepter from the hou&s;e of <HI>Juda.</HI> 3. The de&s;truction of the &s;econd Temple, foretold by our Sa|viour, and comming to pa&s;s accor|dingly even in that age. 4. The ju&s;t calculation of <HI>Daniels</HI> Hebdomades, or weeks of years. 5. The ob&s;erva|tion of Rabbins. 6. The publique fame and expectation of all the Jews together with the palpable experi|ence of more then &s;ixteen hundred years pa&s;t &s;ince Je&s;us appeared; wherein we &s;ee the Jewi&s;h people in vain do expect another Me&s;&s;iah,
<PB N="56" REF="40">
they being di&s;per&s;ed over all the world without Temple, Sacrifice, Prophet, or any other pledge at all of Gods favour, which never hap|pened to them, till after the death of our Saviour, for that in all other their bani&s;hments, captivities and afflictions, they had &s;ome prophe&s;ie, con&s;olation or promi&s;e left to them for their comfort, but now they wan|der up and down (God having &s;et a mark upon them as he did upon <HI>Cain</HI>) as a people forlorn, and a|bandoned both of God and Men.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His Linage or Pedegre.</HEAD>
<P>SEcondly, the Me&s;&s;iah by the Scripture was to be born of the Tribe of <HI>Judah,</HI> and to de&s;cend li|neally from the hou&s;e of <HI>David.</HI> <Q>There &s;hall come a rod out of the &s;tock of <HI>I&s;hai,</HI> &amp;c.</Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 11.1.</NOTE> So did our Sa|viour, as appeareth by his Genealo|gy &s;et down by his Evangeli&s;ts, <HI>Mat.</HI> 1. <HI>Luk.</HI> 3. as al&s;o by the <HI>Thalmud</HI> it &s;elf, which &s;aith, <Q>That Je&s;us of <HI>Nazareth</HI> crucified, was of the
<PB N="57" REF="40">
blood royal from <HI>Zerabbabel</HI> of the hou&s;e of <HI>David,</HI> confirmed by the going up of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> his Mother to <HI>Bethlehem</HI> to be tax|ed, 'Which was the City of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.4.</NOTE> who was born there, as al&s;o it is ma|nife&s;t, for that the Scribes and the Phari&s;ees, who objected many mat|ters of much le&s;s importance again&s;t him: as that he was a Carpenters Son, &amp;c. yet never objected they again&s;t him, that he was not of the hou&s;e of <HI>David,</HI> which could they have proved, would quickly have ended the whole controver&s;ie.</Q></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His Birth with the Circum&s;tances thereof.</HEAD>
<P>THirdly the Me&s;&s;iah by the Scrip|ture was to be born of a Virgin, &s;o &s;aith <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> <Q>Behold a Virgin &s;hal conceive and bring forth a &s;on:</Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 7.14.</NOTE> the Hebrew is <HI>He emphaticum,</HI> the Virgin. And <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> appointeth this to <HI>Achaz,</HI> for a wonderful and &s;trange &s;ign from God&punc; therefore, &s;aith he, <Q>The Lord him&s;elf will give
<PB N="58" REF="41">
you a &s;ign behold, which he could not have done in rea&s;on, if the He|brew word in that place had &s;igni|fied a young woman only, as &s;ome latter Rabbins will affirm, for that is no &s;uch &s;ign nor &s;trange thing, but very common and ordinary for young women to conceive and bring forth Children, and &s;o did the elder Jews under&s;tand it, as <HI>Rabbi Simeon</HI> noteth.</Q> And <HI>Rabbi Mo&s;es Hadder|&s;an,</HI> upon tho&s;e words, <Q>Truth &s;hall bud forth of the Earth, &s;aith thus.</Q> Here <HI>Rabbis Joden</HI> noteth, that it is not &s;aid, Truth &s;hall be engendered, but Truth &s;hall bud forth, to &s;igni|fie that the Me&s;&s;iah, who is meant by the word <HI>Truth,</HI> &s;hall not be be|gotten as other men are, in carnal copulation. To the &s;ame effect, and after the &s;ame manner to be inter|preted is that of <HI>Jeremy,</HI> <Q>The Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth, a Woman &s;hall compa&s;s a Man.</Q> And <HI>Rabbi Haccado&s;ch</HI> pro|veth by <HI>Cabala</HI> out of many places of Scripture, not only that the Mo|ther of the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be a Virgin, but al&s;o that her name &s;hall be <HI>Ma|ry.</HI>
<PB N="59" REF="41">
<Q>Now the birth of Je&s;us Chri&s;t was thus, &amp;c, that is to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.18.</NOTE> after this &s;trange and extraordinary man|ner, therefore mu&s;t he needs be the true and undoubted Me&s;&s;iah.</Q></P>
<P>The Me&s;&s;iah by the Scripture was to born at <HI>Bethlehem</HI> in <HI>Judea,</HI> for &s;o it is written by the Prophet.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 5.2. Mat. 2.5.</NOTE> <Q>And thou <HI>Bethlehem Ephrathah</HI> art little to be among the thou&s;ands of <HI>Ju|dah,</HI> yet out of thee &s;hall he come forth unto me, that &s;hall be the Ruler of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> &amp;c.</Q> which place the chief Prie&s;ts them&s;elves quoted to that purpo&s;e to <HI>Herod,</HI> deman|ding of them where Chri&s;t &s;hould be born, and they an&s;wered him, at <HI>Bethlehem</HI> in <HI>Judea,</HI> for &s;o it is writ|ten by the Prophet, as before. So al&s;o <HI>David</HI> after much re&s;tle&s;s &s;tudy and indu&s;trious &s;earch to find out this my&s;tery, &amp;c. <Q>I will not enter into the Tabernacle of my hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 132.3.</NOTE> nor come upon my pallet or bed, nor &s;uffer mine eyes to &s;leep, nor mine eyelids to &s;lumber, until I find out a place for the Lord, &amp;c.</Q> At length, the my&s;tery being revealed unto him, he doth as it were, point
<PB N="60" REF="42">
to the very place in the words fol|lowing, <Q>Lo we heard of it at <HI>Ephra|tah,</HI> which is <HI>Bethlehem, Gen.</HI> 35.19. and found it in the fields of the Forre&s;t. Then addeth, 'We will enter into his Tabernacle, and wor|&s;hip before his foot&s;toole:</Q> fore|&s;hewing that divine wor&s;hip there afterwards done to Je&s;us by tho&s;e <HI>Magi</HI> or wi&s;e men, who came from the Ea&s;t to wor&s;hip him in that place, even in the Cratch, and before his foot&s;toole, <Q>Pre&s;enting unto him gifts of Gold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.1.</NOTE> Frankincen&s;e and mirrh:</Q> as was al&s;o prophe&s;ied in another place, that pre&s;ents and gifts &s;hould be brought unto him from far countries and by great per|&s;onages.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 72.10.</NOTE> <Q>The Kings of <HI>Tar&s;hi&s;h</HI> and of the I&s;les &s;hal bring pre&s;ents, the Kings of <HI>Sheba</HI> and <HI>Seba</HI> &s;hall bring gifts.</Q> <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;aith, it is an old tradition of the Church, that tho&s;e <HI>Magi</HI> or wi&s;e men were Kings, or rather little Lords of particular places, which is to be under&s;tood, &s;uch little Kings as <HI>Jo&s;uah</HI> &s;lew thirty in one battel:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> 12.</NOTE> how&s;oever it is mani|fe&s;t they were men of place and re|putation
<PB N="61" REF="42">
in their countries (neither are prophe&s;ies always &s;o &s;trictly and literally to be under&s;tood) They brought with them a great trea&s;ure, Gold, Frankincen&s;e and Mirrh, yea both <HI>Herod</HI> and all <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> took notice of their comming. They had private conference with the King, as touching the &s;tar that appeared un|to them, leading them to that mo&s;t bright morning &s;tar whereof <HI>Ba|laam</HI> long before prophe&s;ied, &s;aying, <Q>I &s;hall &s;ee him, but not now, I &s;hall behold him, but not neer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 24.17.</NOTE> there &s;hal come a &s;tar of <HI>Jacob,</HI> &amp;c.</Q> Je&s;us then being born at <HI>Bethlehem</HI> in <HI>Judea</HI> (as was prophe&s;ied long before the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould be) and indeed it &s;tandeth with great rea&s;on, that he that was to be the Son of <HI>David,</HI> &s;hould al&s;o be born in the City of <HI>David:</HI> the circum&s;tances al&s;o of his birth duely con&s;idered both before and after, fir&s;t the Angels &s;alutation to his Mother <HI>Mary,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.28. Chap. 2.21.</NOTE> foretelling that his name &s;hould be Je&s;us, before ever he was conceived. So <HI>E&s;dras</HI> prophe&s;ied in the per&s;on of God him&s;elfe, &s;aying, <Q>Behold, the time
<PB N="62" REF="43">
&s;hall come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 E&s;d. 7.26.</NOTE> that the&s;e tokens which I have told thee &s;hal come to pa&s;s, &amp;c. for my &s;on Je&s;us &s;hal appear, &amp;c. and after the&s;e &s;ame years &s;hal my &s;on Chri&s;t dye:</Q> Here is both his birth and pa&s;&s;ion, both his names, Je&s;us, Chri&s;t, plainly expre&s;&s;ed. Which book, though it be not cano|nical, yet was it extant in the world before ever Chri&s;t was born. Al&s;o <HI>Rabbi Haccado&s;ch</HI> proveth by art Cabali&s;t out of many places of Scrip|ture, that the name of the Me&s;&s;iah at his comming &s;hall be Je&s;us, and among other he addeth this rea&s;on, that as the name of him who fir&s;t brought the Jews out of bondage into the Land of promi&s;e, was Je&s;us or <HI>Jo&s;ua</HI> (which is all one) &s;o mu&s;t his name be Je&s;us, that &s;hal the &s;e|cond time deliver them. Secondly, the Angels appearing to the Shep|herds in the night of the Nativity, with this joyful me&s;&s;age from Hea|ven, <Q>Behold I bring you tidings of great joy, that &s;hal be to all peo|ple, that unto you is born this day in the City of <HI>David,</HI> a Saviour, which is Chri&s;t the Lord:</Q> And this
<PB N="63" REF="43">
is &s;hall be a &s;ign unto you, ye &s;hal find the child &s;wad' led and laid in a cratch.</P>
<P>Thirdly, the &s;tar that appeared, notifying his comming into the world, whereof not onely the wi&s;e men before mentioned, but al&s;o generally, all the A&s;tronomers and Sooth&s;ayers of that age took &s;pecial notice, adjudging it to portend u|niver&s;al good to the earth, &s;ome ga|thering thereupon, that &s;ome God de&s;cended from heaven to the bene|fit of mankind, and for that cau&s;e had that &s;tar an image erected to it in <HI>Rome,</HI> and as <HI>Plinies</HI> words are, <HI>Is Cometa unus toto orbe colitur.</HI> That onely Comet in all the world is adored. Fourthly, his pre&s;entation in the Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.</NOTE> according to the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> where openly came old <HI>Simeon</HI> by the motion of the &s;pi|rit (<Q>for he had a revelation from God, that he &s;hould not &s;ee death, till he had &s;een the Lords Chri&s;t) took the child in his arms, acknow|ledged him for the Me&s;&s;iah, prophe|&s;ied that he &s;hould be a light to be revealed unto the Gentiles, appoin|ted
<PB N="64" REF="44">
for the fall and ri&s;ing again o many in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> with other events, which afterwards came to pa&s;s.</Q> So did likewi&s;e <HI>Anne</HI> the Prophete&s;s, as it is in the &s;ame Chapter. Fiftly, that mo&s;t pitiful murder of all the Infants in and about <HI>Bethlehem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16.</NOTE> upon this occa&s;ion, as was prophe&s;ied by <HI>Jere|my,</HI> &s;aying, <Q>A voice was heard on high, mourning and bitter weeping. <HI>Rachel</HI> weeping for her children, and refu&s;ed to be comforted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.15.</NOTE> be|cau&s;e they were not, <HI>Rachel</HI> was buried in the way to <HI>Ephrath</HI> which is <HI>Bethlehem:</HI></Q> and for that cau&s;e tho&s;e infants were called her children,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 35.19.</NOTE> albeit &s;he were dead above two thou&s;and years before they were &s;lain, and above one thou&s;and and five hundred before <HI>Jeremy</HI> wrote this pro|phecy. Among which Infants <HI>Herod</HI> al&s;o for more a&s;&s;urance, &s;lew an infant of his own, for that he was de&s;cended by the Mothers &s;ide, of the line of <HI>Ju|dah.</HI> Which cruelty comming to <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> his ears, he &s;aid he had rather be <HI>Herods</HI> &s;wine, then his
<PB N="65" REF="44">
&s;on, for that he being a Jew, was prohibited by his religion to kill his &s;wine, though not a&s;hamed to kill his Son.</P>
<P>Sixtly his flying into <HI>Egypt</HI> here|upon, as al&s;o to fulfil that prophe&s;ie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.13. Ho&s;. 11.1. I&s;a. 19.<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">. Eu&s;eb. lib.</NOTE> 'out of <HI>Egypt</HI> have I called my Son; which <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> enlargeth further, &s;ay|ing, <Q>Behold the Lord rideth upon a light cloud (which is his fle&s;h or humanity) and &s;hal come into <HI>E|gypt,</HI> and all the Idols of <HI>Egypt</HI> &s;hal tremble at his pre&s;ence:</Q> Which latter point <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> &s;heweth, was fulfilled mo&s;t evidently in the &s;ight of all the world, for that no nation came to Chri&s;tian Religion with &s;o great celerity and fervour, as did the Egyptians, who threw down their Idols before any other Nation. And as they had been the fir&s;t in Idolatry to other countries, &s;o were they the fir&s;t by Chri&s;t his comming unto them that afterwards gave ex|ample of true return unto their Creator. It followeth in <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> <Q>I wil deliver the Egyptians into the hands of cruel Lords (the&s;e were the Roman Lords and Princes, <HI>Pom|pey,
<PB N="66" REF="45">
Cae&s;ar, Antony</HI> &amp;c.) 'And a migh-King &s;hal reign over them, &amp;c.</Q> this mu&s;t needs be <HI>Augu&s;tus</HI> the Emperor, who after the death of <HI>Cleopatra</HI> the la&s;t of the blood of the <HI>Ptolomies,</HI> took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all <HI>Egypt</HI> and &s;ubjected it as a Province to the Roman Empire. But after the&s;e tem|poral afflictions threatned again&s;t <HI>Egypt,</HI> behold a mo&s;t Evangelical promi&s;e of deliverance: <Q>In that day &s;hal five Cities of the Land of <HI>E|gypt</HI> &s;peak the Language of <HI>Cana|an,</HI> &amp;c. In that day &s;hal the Altar of the Lord, be in the mid&s;t of the Land of <HI>Egypt,</HI> &amp;c. They &s;hal cry unto the Lord, becau&s;e of their op|pre&s;&s;ors, and he &s;hall &s;end them a Saviour, and a great man, and &s;hal deliver them, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The Lord of Ho&s;ts &s;hall ble&s;s them &s;aying, Ble&s;|&s;ed be my people of <HI>Egypt,</HI> &amp;c.</Q> This ble&s;&s;ing (I &s;ay) the Egyptians obtained by our Saviours being in <HI>Egypt,</HI> whom here the Prophet cal|leth by his own name Je&s;us, a Savi|our, a great man. Finally the com|ming of <HI>John</HI> Bapti&s;t, his forerunner or Me&s;&s;enger, as was prophe&s;ied,
<PB N="67" REF="45">
<Q>Behold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.1.</NOTE> I will &s;end my Me&s;&s;enger and he &s;hal prepare the way before me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. 4.5.</NOTE> and the Lord whom ye &s;eek &s;hal &s;peedily come to his Temple.</Q> And again, <Q>I will &s;end you <HI>Eliah</HI> the Prophet, that is to &s;ay,</Q> <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, in the &s;pirit and power of <HI>Eliah,</HI> as an Angel from Heaven expoundeth it, appearing to <HI>Zacha|rias</HI> his Father in the Temple, &s;ent to foretel him both of his birth, as al&s;o by what name he &s;hould call him, even <HI>John,</HI> &s;aying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.13.</NOTE> <Q>Thou &s;halt call his name <HI>John,</HI> he &s;hal be great in the &s;ight of the Lord, he &s;hall go before him in the power and &s;pirit of <HI>Eliah.</HI></Q> And therefore out Saviour in plain terms he calleth him <HI>Eliah,</HI> Mat. 11.14. <Q>And if you will receive it, this is that <HI>Eliah</HI> which was to come, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.</Q> And as our Saviour gave him his due, be|fore a multitude then a&s;&s;embled, cal|ling him <HI>Eliah:</HI> So did this <HI>Eliah</HI> al&s;o give our Saviour his due, in ac|knowledging him for the Me&s;&s;iah, not a&s;&s;uming unto him&s;elf that ho|nour offered unto him by the Jews,
<PB N="68" REF="46">
but refu&s;ing it ab&s;olutely, and laying it upon Je&s;us our Saviour the true owner. <Q>Then this is the record of <HI>John,</HI> when the Jews &s;ent Prie&s;ts and Levites from <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> to ask him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 1.19.</NOTE> who art thou? and he con|fe&s;&s;ed and denyed not, and &s;aid plainly, I am not the Chri&s;t. I am not the Me&s;&s;iah; I Baptize you with water, but there is one among you, whom you know not, he it is that cometh after me, which is pre|ferred before me, who&s;e &s;hoe latchet I am not worthy to unloo&s;e, The&s;e things were done in <HI>Betha|bara,</HI> beyond <HI>Jordan,</HI> where <HI>John</HI> did Baptize. The next day <HI>John</HI> &s;eeth Je&s;us comming to him, and &s;aith behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the &s;in of the world. This is he whom I &s;aid, af|ter me commeth a man that is pre|ferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew him not, but be|cau&s;e he &s;hould be declared to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> therefore am I come bapti|zing with water. So <HI>John</HI> bare re|cord &s;aying, I &s;aw the &s;pirit come down from Heaven, like a Dove,
<PB N="69" REF="46">
and abiding upon him. And I knew him not, but he that &s;ent me to baptize with water, he &s;aid unto me, upon whom thou &s;halt &s;ee the &s;pirit come down, and &s;tay &s;til up|on him, that is he which baptizeth with the Holy Gho&s;t. And I &s;aw and bare record that this is the Son of God.</Q> According as it is, in the other three Evangeli&s;ts more at large expre&s;&s;ed, how that <Q>Je&s;us when he was baptized came &s;trait out of the water, and lo the Hea|vens were opened unto him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.16. Mar. <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.10. Luk. 3.21.</NOTE> And <HI>John</HI> &s;aw the &s;pirit of God de|&s;cending like a Dove; and light|ing upon him. And loe a voice came from Heaven, &s;ay|ing, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am wel plea&s;ed. The next day <HI>John</HI> &s;tood again, and two of his Di&s;ciples, and he beheld Je&s;us walking by and &s;aid:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.31.</NOTE> Behold the Lamb of God, and the two Di&s;ciples heard him &s;peak, and followed Je|&s;us.</Q> All this was done at <HI>Betha|bara,</HI> beyond <HI>Jordan,</HI> in the &s;ight and hearing of a number of people there pre&s;ent, as three of our Evan|geli&s;ts
<PB N="70" REF="47">
do report, which they would never have pre&s;umed to have done, had not the matter been mo&s;t evi|dent, and without all compa&s;s of de|nial or contradiction. And truely no one thing in all this &s;tory of Je&s;us life, doth more e&s;tabli&s;h certain|ty of his being the true Me&s;&s;iah, then that <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, who&s;e wi&s;dom, learning, vertue and rare &s;anctity is confe&s;&s;ed, and recorded by the wri|tings of all our adver&s;aries, &s;hould refu&s;e the honour of the Me&s;&s;iah offered unto him&s;elf, and lay it upon Je&s;us, and al&s;o &s;hould direct tho&s;e Di&s;ciples that depended upon him, to the onely following and imbra|cing of Je&s;us doctrine which is mo&s;t evidently proved, that he did, for that &s;o many followers and Di&s;ciples as him&s;elf had, not one appeared ever after, that was not a Chri&s;ti|an.</P>
<P>The&s;e circum&s;tances I &s;ay of the birth and comming of the Me&s;&s;iah into this world, &s;o long before fore|told by the Prophets, and fulfilled &s;o exactly in the per&s;on of our ble&s;|&s;ed Lord and Saviour wel con&s;ide|red;
<PB N="71" REF="47">
I may at length conclude. Heaven and Earth concurring. Men and Angels with all other Creatures applauding thereunto, yea and God him&s;elf from Heaven pronouncing it <Q>This is my beloved Son, in whom I am wel plea&s;ed.</Q> That therefore as &s;ure as God is God, and cannot lye nor give Te&s;timony to any un|truth, &s;o &s;ure is Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Son of God, the true Me&s;&s;iah and Savi|our of the world, no other to be ex|pected.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His preaching or doctrine.</HEAD>
<P>THus having evicted by the birth of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, together with the circum|&s;tances, both before and after, that he was by birthright the only legiti|mate (as I may &s;ay) and true born Me&s;&s;iah, all others that were before him, or &s;ince, have &s;prung up, or &s;hal do hereafter to the worlds end, but ba&s;tards and u&s;urpers, yea theeves and robbers, and that in the highe&s;t degree of thee very that may be, e|ven
<PB N="72" REF="48">
robbing God of his honour&punc; which he wil not impart to any o|ther: it remaineth yet further to demon&s;trate the &s;ame by his life, death, re&s;urrection, and a&s;cen&s;ion, with all other accidents and circum|&s;tances accordingly to be ob&s;erved, which may make this my&s;tery more and more manife&s;t, or rather palpa+ble as the Apo&s;tle witne&s;&s;eth, &s;ay|ing that <Q>which was from the begin|ning, which we have heard, which we have &s;een with the&s;e our eyes, which we have looked upon, and the&s;e hands of ours have handled, &amp;c. that I &s;ay which we have &s;een and heard, declare we unto you:</Q> what can be more palpable?</P>
<P>After his bapti&s;me he began to preach (having before gotten his living (as mo&s;t conjecture) with his own hands, and eaten his bread with the &s;weat of his brows, to &s;hew him&s;elf true man, and that he was made a cur&s;e for us (as it is written, <Q>In the &s;weat of thy brows &s;halt thou eat thy bread) and what was his doctrine?</Q> of this world, or worldly delights, of plea&s;ure, or pro|fit,
<PB N="73" REF="48">
no, no, quite contrary to the humors of this wicked world, and to the corruptions of fle&s;h and blood, which procured him the more hatred (as in all the four Evan|geli&s;ts, <HI>Matthew, Mark, Luke</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> who recorded both his &s;ayings and doings may appear) wholly tending to the &s;incere &s;er|vice of God in &s;pirit and truth, to the exaltation of Gods glory, the beating down of mans pride, by di&s;covering his mi&s;ery, to the con|tempt of this wicked world, and vain pomp thereof, to the mortifica|tion of all &s;ins in us, patience, peace of con&s;cience, &amp;c. in a word, all directed to the manife&s;tation of his Fathers will, and amendment of mans life; tending wholly to this one ground or principle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.5. Mat. 22.37.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;halt love the Lord thy God with all thy &s;oul, which is the fir&s;t and great command|ment; and thy Neighbour as thy &s;elf, on which two hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets.</HI> The manner of his Doctrine was &s;imple, plain, and ea&s;ie, altogether according to the evidence of the Spirit, not in the en|ticing
<PB N="74" REF="49">
words of mans, wi&s;dom, like the Heathen Orators and Phylo&s;o|phers, nor like the Scribes and Pha|ri&s;ees, but with power and authori|ty, without either fear or flattery of any mans per&s;on, rebuking all mens &s;ins even to their faces, which (I &s;ay) procured him &s;uch a general hatred. It took away no one &s;piri|tual point of Mo&s;es Law (but the Ceremonial only and Provincial, which by the coming of the Me&s;&s;iah was to be taken away) yea rather revived, interpreted, and made per|fect the &s;ame, corrupted much by the Jews fal&s;e interpretations and glo&s;|&s;es. That (as they taught) com|manding external ob&s;ervance only, this adding internal obedience al&s;o. For whereas that enjoyned (accord|ing to the letter, and as they inter|preted) to love our neighbours and friends, and no further; this adjoyn|eth <HI>love al&s;o your enemies, ble&s;s them that cur&s;e, you,</HI> Matth. 5.43. Where that prohibited actually to commit Adultry and no more (as they ima|gined) this forbiddeth the adultry of the eye, and of the very heart. And
<PB N="75" REF="49">
&s;o of all the re&s;t of the decalogue, our Saviours doctrine is nothing el&s;e but a mo&s;t exact and &s;incere expo&s;i|tion, according to the true intent of the Law-giver, God the Father. Therefore I conclude this doctrine &s;o quite contrary to the gro&s;s hu|mors of this wicked world, and &s;o repugnant to fle&s;h and blood, &s;o wholly devoted to Gods glory, and the &s;incere ob&s;ervation of his Law, is the doctrine proper to the Me&s;&s;iah, which the Prophets of God foretold &s;hould be delivered by him (at his coming) into the world.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His life and conver&s;ation.</HEAD>
<P>FOr his life and conver&s;ation (the expre&s;s Image of his Doctrine) it was &s;tainle&s;s, and without reproof, even by the te&s;timony of his very e|nemies; acknowledged al&s;o by the Divels them&s;elves. A man of &s;uch gravity, as never in his life he was noted to laugh, but often to weep: of &s;uch humility, as being the Son of God, yet &s;carce took upon him
<PB N="76" REF="50">
the dignity of a &s;ervant; of &s;o mild and &s;weet a nature, as all the inju|ries of his enemies never wre&s;ted from him an angry word, but on the contrary prayers and tears in their behalfs. In prayer often; the day he &s;pent in the Temple, and el&s;e|where, preaching to the broken hearted, doing good to all men, healing all manner of di&s;ea&s;es, as the Prophets foretold the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould do; the night on mount O|livet, and other places in prayer. In fa&s;tings often, forty days and forty nights together, that the Jews might know he was more then a man. Fi|nally he was &s;uch a one as was de|&s;cribed by God in I&s;aiah &s;o many a|ges before he was born. <HI>Behold my &s;ervant</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 42.1. Zach. 9.9. Porph. lib. De laud. Philo.</NOTE> <HI>he &s;hall not cry. A brui&s;ed reed he &s;hall not break.</HI> As al&s;o in Zachary, <HI>Behold thy King cometh unto thee, he is ju&s;t, and having &s;alvation, lowly,</HI> &amp;c. Such an one I &s;ay was our Saviour as touching his integrity &s;anctity, piety, humility, and all other vertues, even by the te&s;timony of his greate&s;t enemies, Porphyry, and o|thers, yea of the Divels them&s;elves, <HI>Ergo.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="77" REF="50">
<HEAD>His Miracles.</HEAD>
<P>FOr his miracles which he wrought for the confirmation of his do|ctrine, and approbation of his per|&s;on, as &s;ent from God, the Jews them&s;elves do grant, and record the &s;ame in divers places of their Thal|mud; yea they make mention of many wonderful things that Je&s;us did, which are not written by our Evangeli&s;ts. So doth Mahomet in his Alcoran, affirming him to have been a great Prophet, and to have wrought his miracles by the only power and &s;pirit of God; and they were &s;uch as fir&s;t were foretold by the Prophets that the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould work, as namely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 35.5.</NOTE> <HI>to give &s;ight to the blind, to open the ears of the deaf, to make the lame to leap, the dumb to &s;peak,</HI> &amp;c. Secondly, &s;uch as were altogether unpo&s;&s;ible for any mortal man to effect, but by the meer pow|er and finger of God, as the rai&s;ing of the dead to life again, as he did <HI>Lazarus</HI> after he had lain four days
<PB N="78" REF="51">
&s;tinking in the grave. <HI>Jairus</HI> his daughter, a chief Ruler of the Sy|nagogue.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 11.17. Mark 5.22. Luke 7.11.</NOTE> The <HI>widdows &s;on</HI> before the gates of the City Nain in the pre&s;ence of a multitude of people there a&s;&s;embled to the funeral, with many other &s;trange miracles record|ed by &s;uch faithful witne&s;&s;es (the E|vangeli&s;ts I mean) four in number, though <HI>two</HI> or <HI>three</HI> had been &s;uffici|ent in Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deu. 19.15.</NOTE> who afterwards &s;ealed the truth thereof even with their deare&s;t blood, as did infinite others after them. Neither could the Jews of tho&s;e times, compa&s;&s;ed about with &s;uch a cloud of witne&s;&s;es, ever deny the truth thereof; the parties them&s;elves then living, and conver|&s;ing among&s;t them, upon whom they were wrought. They had no other eva&s;ion but this, to &s;ay (and that mo&s;t bla&s;phemou&s;ly, contrary to their own knowledge and con&s;cience and therefore our Saviour layeth it to their charge as that fearful &s;in a|gain&s;t the holy Gho&s;t not to be prayed for) that he wrought the&s;e his miracles by the help of Beelze|bub the Prince of Divels. Whereas
<PB N="79" REF="51">
it is mo&s;t apparent the Divel him&s;elf had never that power given him to rai&s;e one from the dead; and though he had, yet would he &s;ooner by his good will take away both life and breath from all men at once (if it were po&s;&s;ible) wi&s;hing all men in the world had but one head or neck, like that cruel Tyrant in Rome, rather then give life to any one; for <HI>he is a murtherer from the beginning.</HI> And yet the Jews them&s;elves in their Thal|mud do acknowledge, that the Me&s;|&s;iah at his coming &s;hall be mo&s;t wonderful in working miracles. And in their publike commentary upon Eccle&s;ia&s;tes they have the&s;e words. All the former miracles of the Pro|phets or Saints &s;hall be nothing to the miracles of the Me&s;&s;iah when he cometh. But &s;uch were the mi|racles of our Saviour, the whole multitude applauding hereunto:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.33.</NOTE> <HI>the like was never &s;een in I&s;rael, he hath done all things well; never man &s;pake leke this man.</HI> Seeing al&s;o it is impo&s;|&s;ible, yea bla&s;phemy to think that God &s;hould give te&s;timony to any untruth, it mu&s;t needs follow that
<PB N="80" REF="52">
all was true which Je&s;us affirmed, and therefore &s;eeing he affirmed him&s;elf to be the Son of God, and the Me&s;|&s;iah, it mu&s;t needs follow (I &s;ay) by the&s;e his miracles, that he was &s;o in|deed, according to that &s;peech of his to the Jews;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 10.25.37.</NOTE> <HI>the works that I do in my Fathers name, they bear witne&s;s of me:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 7.20.</NOTE> And again, <HI>If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do them, though ye believe not me, yet believe my works.</HI> As al&s;o that an|&s;wer of his to Johns Di&s;ciples &s;ent to enquire of him as touching that my&s;terie of the Me&s;&s;iah, <HI>Art thou he that &s;hall come?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 7.20.</NOTE> &amp;c. <HI>Je&s;us an|&s;wered, Go and tell John what things ye have &s;een and heard, the blinde &s;ee, the halt go, the Lepers are clean&s;ed, the deaf hear, and the dead ri&s;e a|gain,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The calling of his Apo&s;tles.</HEAD>
<P>HEreunto (as an <HI>Appendix</HI> to his miracles) I may well annex the calling of his Apo&s;tles, Di&s;ciples, and Followers, whereof <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> maketh
<PB N="81" REF="52">
mention as of a great miracle, who being of divers callings, &s;tates, and conditions in the world, yet all on the &s;udden upon his call left both Father, Mother, Wife, Children, and other temporal re&s;pects, and followed him, who had nothing to give or promi&s;e them in this world, but cro&s;&s;es and afflictions:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.24&punc;</NOTE> <HI>He that will be my Di&s;ciple, let him take up his cro&s;s and follow me.</HI> A man that never &s;pake them fair, but ever cro&s;|&s;ed them in their humors favouring of fle&s;h and blood; <HI>Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence unto me:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cha. 16.23.</NOTE> His doctrine ever har&s;h, hard, and repugnant to fle&s;h and blood; <HI>This is an hard &s;aying, who can hear it?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6.60.</NOTE> A man in di&s;grace with the higher Powers, the Rulers, high Prie&s;ts, Scribes and Phari&s;ees,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ch. 7.48.</NOTE> <HI>Do any of the Rulers, or of the Phari&s;ees believe in him?</HI> A man that had neither friends in the world to bear him out, nor a hou&s;e to put his head in:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.20.</NOTE> <HI>The fox|es have kotes, and the Fowls of the hea|ven have ne&s;ts, but the Son of man hath not whereon to re&s;t his head.</HI> And yet notwith&s;tanding all this, that
<PB N="82" REF="53">
worldly men and women, and &s;ome al&s;o notorious &s;inners, and loo&s;e livers before, &s;hould leave all their worldly hopes, ea&s;e, profit, plea|&s;ure (and their &s;weet &s;ins too) to fol|low &s;uch a man, with &s;o great incon|veniences, lo&s;&s;es, dangers, and di&s;graces (as they did) and &s;hould continue with him in all his afflicti|ons, temptations, and per&s;ecutions, and be content to die, and lo&s;e their lives, rather then for&s;ake him, or a|bandon his &s;ervice; this I &s;ay is &s;uch a miracle, as never in the world fell out the like, and mu&s;t needs be grant|ed by the enemy to be &s;upernatural. We read of an Emperour that taking in hand to conquer the world, made this Proclamation for winning men unto his party:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plut. Apo. Pri&s;c. re|gum.</NOTE> Who&s;oever will come and be my &s;ervant, if he be a Footman, I will make him a Hor&s;e|man; if he be an Hor&s;eman, I will make him ride with Coaches; if he be a Farmer, I will make him a Gentleman; if he po&s;&s;e&s;s a Cottage, I will give him a Village; if he have a Village, I will give him a City; if he be Lord of a City, I will make
<PB N="83" REF="53">
him Prince of a Region or Country; and as for gold, I will pour it forth unto them by heaps and weight, and not by number. This was the Pro|clamation of <HI>Cyrus</HI> the great King of Per&s;ia to his followers, very glo|rious (as we &s;ee) in pomp of words, and to the eye of fle&s;h and blood.</P>
<P>Let us now compare herewith the proclamation of our <HI>Cyrus,</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to his Di&s;ciples and Follow|ers; the entrance and preface where|of was this, <HI>Repent,</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 1.15.</NOTE> And then it followeth (in&s;tead of who&s;oever will come and be my &s;ervant, if he be a Footman, I wil make him a Hor&s;e|man) <HI>If any man wil follow me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.24.</NOTE> &s;aith Chri&s;t, <HI>let him for&s;ake him&s;elf, and take up his cro&s;s and follow me;</HI> not on hor&s;eback, as the Pope doth, with all his proud Cardinals &amp; Bi&s;hops, in his pontificalibus;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 107.</NOTE> I have &s;een &s;ervants on hor&s;es, and Princes walking as &s;er|vants on the ground: So did an Em|perour bare-footed to his Holine&s;s: But what would Solomon have &s;aid if he had &s;een a Prince hold his &s;tir|rop? and yet for&s;ooth will this proud Prelate be <HI>Servus &s;ervorum,</HI> a
<PB N="84" REF="54">
follower of Chri&s;t, and <HI>Peter</HI>'s Suc|ce&s;&s;or. In&s;teed of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing lands and Lord&s;hips, gold and trea&s;ures, he &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.9.</NOTE> <Q>Po&s;&s;e&s;s not gold nor &s;ilver, nor money in your pur&s;es, nor a &s;crip for the journey, neither two coats, neither &s;hoes, nor &s;o much as a &s;taff in your hands.</Q> In&s;teed of the&s;e preferments and plea&s;ures of the world, &s;aith Chri&s;t, contrary to <HI>Cyrus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 16.33.</NOTE> <Q>In this world ye &s;hall have affliction:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 13.9.</NOTE> yea which is more, 'Ye &s;hall be delivered up to the Coun|cels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ch. 13.13. Luk. 21.16.</NOTE> and to the Synagogues, ye &s;hall be beaten, and brought be|fore Rulers and Kings for my &s;ake, ye &s;hall be hated of all men for my names &s;ake, ye &s;hall be betrayed al|&s;o of your Parents, brethren, kin&s;|men and friends.</Q> And which is mo&s;t of all, <Q>Ye &s;hall be put to death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 36.25.</NOTE> for who&s;oever will &s;ave his life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 14.26.</NOTE> &s;hall lo&s;e it: Finally, If any man come to me, and hate not his Father and Mother, and Wife and Children and Brethren and Si&s;ters, yea and his own life al&s;o, he cannot be my Di&s;ciple. And who&s;oever beareth not his cro&s;s, and cometh
<PB N="85" REF="54">
after me, he cannot be my Di&s;ci|ple: For which of you minding to build a Tower, &s;itteth not down before and counteth the co&s;t? <HI>&amp;c.</HI> So likewi&s;e who&s;oever he be of you that for&s;aketh nor all that he hath, he cannot be my Di&s;ciple.</Q> This was the Proclamation and Edict of Chri&s;t to his followers. This was the entertainment propo&s;ed by Je&s;us to &s;uch as would come and &s;erve un|der his colours, with expre&s;s prote|&s;tation that him&s;elf was &s;ent into the world not to bring peace, re&s;t, and ea&s;e to fle&s;h and blood, but rather to be the cau&s;e of &s;word, fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.34.</NOTE> and tri|bulation. <Q>Think not that I am come to &s;end peace into the earth, I came not to &s;end peace, but the &s;word:</Q> and yet with the&s;e cold offers pre|&s;ented to the world, fir&s;t by him&s;elf to his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples won thereby to follow him, even upon the fir&s;t call, they left all and fol|lowed him; and by them to all o|thers afterwards: I &s;ay, by this Do|ctrine &s;o cro&s;s and oppo&s;ite to mans nature, inclination, and &s;en&s;ual appe|tite, he gained more hearts unto
<PB N="86" REF="55">
him within the &s;pace of forty yeers, then ever did Monarch in the world po&s;&s;e&s;s loving &s;ubjects, by what&s;oe|ver temporal allurements they did or might propo&s;e; which argueth the omnipotent pui&s;&s;ance of him, that contrary to mans rea&s;on in &s;o &s;hort a time could bring to pa&s;s &s;o miraculous a conque&s;t, were there no other argument in the world of the truth of Chri&s;tian Religion, this were &s;ufficient.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His Death and Pa&s;&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>FOr his Death and Pa&s;&s;ion, with all the di&s;grace, de&s;pite, and indigni|ties were done unto him by the Jews, it was al&s;o foretold by the Prophets, and &s;o expounded by their own Rabbins, as al&s;o by our Saviour him&s;elf: Behold we go up to Jeru|&s;alem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.31.</NOTE> and all things &s;hall be fulfilled to the Son of man that are written by the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21.2.</NOTE> &amp;c. He made his entrance into the Citie upon an A&s;s, in all humility as was prophe&s;ied the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould do,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 9.9.</NOTE> <HI>Rejoyce greatly,
<PB N="87" REF="55">
O daughter Zion, &s;hout for joy,</HI> &amp;c. Fulfilled even at the &s;ame time, when the people &s;pread their garments in the way, cut down branches from the Trees, and &s;trewed them in the way, crying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21.8.</NOTE> <HI>Ho&s;anna to the Son of David,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>He was betrayed by his own Di|&s;ciple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.13.</NOTE> as <HI>David</HI> in divers places had foretold, under a type of tho&s;e his &s;ecret enemies, in the days of <HI>Saul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">&amp; 109.4.</NOTE> as al&s;o him&s;elf prophe&s;ied beforehand, &s;aying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> <HI>He that dippeth his hand with me in the di&s;h, he &s;hall betray me.</HI></P>
<P>Being apprehended, he was mo&s;t barbarou&s;ly entreated by the Jews. according to that of <HI>I&s;ai,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.67. I&s;a. 50.6.</NOTE> <HI>I gave my back to the &s;miters, and my cheeks to the nippers, I hid not my face from &s;hame and &s;pitting.</HI></P>
<P>After all this inhumane dealing, he was nailed to the cro&s;s hand and foot, according to that of <HI>David:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.33. P&s;al. 22.16. Zach. 12.10</NOTE> <HI>They pierced my hands and my feet, I may tell all my bones; they beheld and looked upon me, they parted my gar|ments among them, and ca&s;t lots upon my ve&s;ture.</HI> And in another place, <HI>They gave me gall in my meat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69.21.</NOTE> <HI>and in
<PB N="88" REF="56">
my thir&s;t they gave me vineger to drink.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.32.</NOTE>He was crucified between two ma|lefactors or evil doers, one on the right hand, the other on the left; according to that of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.12</NOTE> <HI>He was counted with the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors;</HI> yea <HI>Barrabas,</HI> a murderer in the e&s;teem of the Jews, preferred before Je&s;us, and quit by a common con&s;ent, and cry <HI>away with him, and deliver unto us Barrabas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.18.</NOTE> <HI>crucifie him, crucifie him.</HI></P>
<P>He prayed for his enemies and per|&s;ecutors; <HI>Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,</HI> according to that of I&s;aiah, <HI>He bare the &s;in of many,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.12.</NOTE> <HI>and prayed for the tre&s;pa&s;&s;ers.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 19.36. Exo. 12.46.</NOTE><HI>Not a bone of him was broken,</HI> ac|cording to that Law of the Pa&s;sover, a lively type thereof.</P>
<P>To conclude, that Chri&s;t &s;hould die for the &s;ins of the world, it was a received opinion of the Jews in all a|ges, both prefigured and foretold throughout all the Scripture prefi|gured by the &s;acrifice of I&s;aac,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 22.1. Num. 21.8.</NOTE> the lifting up of the brazen Serpent, and by all other &s;acrifices in the Law. Foretold not only by the Scriptures
<PB N="89" REF="56">
before mentioned, but al&s;o by <HI>Daniel</HI> in mo&s;t plain terms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dau. 9.26.</NOTE> <HI>After three&s;core and two weeks &s;hall the Me&s;&s;iah be &s;lain,</HI> &amp;c. acknowledged al&s;o by <HI>Cai|phas</HI> him&s;elf, high Prie&s;t even the &s;elf &s;ame year that Chri&s;t &s;uffered; his words are the&s;e to the Phari&s;ees, tax|ing their great blindne&s;s in this point and in them the whole Nation of the Jews to this day:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 11.49.</NOTE> <Q>Ye perceive no|thing at all, nor yet do you con&s;ider that it is expedient for us that one man die for the people, and that the whole Nation peri&s;h not, &amp;c.</Q> But he that will read the whole &s;tory of Chri&s;t crucified, with the particulars de&s;cribed many hundred yeers be|fore the &s;ame fell out, let him turn to <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> and acknowledge him for an Evangeli&s;t, who to &s;ignifie the &s;trangene&s;s of the ca&s;e, beginneth fir&s;t with a preface,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 53.</NOTE> <HI>Who will believe our report?</HI> &amp;c. All which narration Rabbi <HI>Jonathan,</HI> the author of the Chaldy Paraphra&s;e applyeth to the murder of the Me&s;&s;iah by the Jews, whereunto agree Rabbi <HI>Simeon,</HI> Rab|bi <HI>Hader&s;an,</HI> and others: proving further out of <HI>Dan.</HI> 9.27. That after
<PB N="90" REF="57">
the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hall have preached half &s;even yeers he &s;hall be &s;lain: which di&s;agreeth little or nothing from the account of us Chri&s;tians. Al&s;o in their Thalmud it is &s;et down for a princi|ple, and the &s;entence pronounced be|forehand peremptorily, and in plain terms, that the Me&s;&s;iah at his coming &s;hall be put to death. So then I may conclude upon all the&s;e particulars of Chri&s;t his Death &amp; Pa&s;&s;ion, fore|told by the Prophets, prefigured in the Law, and &s;o expounded and ac|knowledged by the Jews them&s;elves, the ancient Rabbins before mention|ed, and finally, &s;o exactly fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour (as by the quotations in the margent may ap|pear) together with the mild manner of his death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.</NOTE> praying for his enemies, <HI>Father forgive them:</HI> and meekly re|commending his &s;oul into the hands of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.</NOTE> <HI>Father, into thy hands I com|mend my &s;pirit,</HI> with other &s;trange ac|cidents and circum&s;tances, that mira|culous eclip&s;e of the Sun at that very in&s;tant, from the &s;ixt to the ninth hour there was darkne&s;s over all the land, the vail of the Temple rent in
<PB N="91" REF="57">
twain, from the top to the bottome, and the earth did quake, and the &s;tones were cloven, and the graves did open them&s;elves, and many bo|dies of the Saints which &s;lept, aro&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I &s;ay, upon all the&s;e particulari|ties and circum&s;tances, I hope, I may conclude (as it is in that place) with the Centurion, and tho&s;e that were with him watching Je&s;us, who when <Q>they &s;aw the earthquake, and the things that were done, they feared greatly, &s;aying, Truly this was the Son of God. And all the people that came together to that &s;ight, beholding the things which were done, &s;mote their brea&s;ts, and re|turned.</Q> So may I conclude, <HI>Truly this was the Son of God,</HI> truly this is the Me&s;&s;iah, and let all the people of the Jews come together again to this &s;ight, and behold him whom they have pierced, and &s;mite their brea&s;ts, <HI>pricked in their hearts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.37.</NOTE> like tho&s;e Jews in the Acts, and cry out. <HI>Men and Brethren, what &s;hall we do?</HI> and re|turn to the Lord, and <Q>be bapti&s;ed every one in the name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t for the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins,
<PB N="92" REF="58">
which God grant.</Q> And the Lord pour upon them the &s;pirit of grace and of compa&s;&s;ion, that in &s;oul and &s;pirit they may look upon him whom they have pierced,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.10</NOTE> and lament for him (as it is in the Prophet) every Tribe and Family apart.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His Re&s;urrection.</HEAD>
<P>FOr his Re&s;urrection it was al&s;o foretold by the Prophets, and pre|figured in <HI>Jonas. David</HI> &s;aith in the per&s;on of the Me&s;&s;iah, of whom he prophe&s;ied in divers places, and was a type,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <Q>I have &s;et the Lord always before me, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Wherefore mine heart is glad, and my tongue rejoy|ceth, my fle&s;h al&s;o doth re&s;t in hope, for thou wilt not leave my &s;oul in the grave, nor &s;uffer thine holy One to &s;ee corruption.</Q> Al&s;o <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 6.2.</NOTE> <Q>After two days will he revive us, and in the third day he will rai&s;e us up.</Q> Us in the plural number, pointing (as it &s;hould &s;eem) both at the Re&s;urrection of our Sa|viour the third day, as al&s;o the rai|&s;ing
<PB N="93" REF="58">
of a number of the Saints toge|ther with him at the &s;ame time, pre|figured in <HI>Jonas,</HI> together with the time of his abode in the Sepulcher,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jonah 1.17</NOTE> and fore&s;hewed many times by our Saviour him&s;elf to his Di&s;ciples, &s;uch and &s;uch things &s;hall be done to the Son of man: <Q>He &s;hall be appre|hended, evil entreated, mocked,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.31.</NOTE> &s;courged, put to death, but the third day he &s;hall ri&s;e again.</Q> Al&s;o to the Jews demanding a &s;ign, he an&s;wered, <Q>De&s;troy this Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 2.18.</NOTE> and in three days I will rai&s;e it up again.</Q> And at another time, <Q>An evil and adulte|rous generation &s;eeketh a &s;ign,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.38.</NOTE> but no &s;igne &s;hall be given them, &s;ave the &s;igne of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly, &s;o &s;hall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.</Q> Which Prophe&s;ie of his they full wel remembring, and fearing the event, immediately upon his burial they went to Pilate, &s;aying, <Q>Sir,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ch. 27.62.</NOTE> we remember that Deceiver &s;aid while he was living, within three days I will ri&s;e again: Command therefore
<PB N="94" REF="59">
the Sepulcher to be made &s;ure till the third day, le&s;t hit Di&s;ciples &s;teal him away by night, and &s;ay unto the people, he is ri&s;en from the dead: and &s;o the la&s;t error be wor&s;e then the fir&s;t.</Q> All which was done ac|cording to their de&s;ire: a &s;trong watch appointed, the Sepulcher &s;eal|ed up, all things made &s;o &s;ure by the Jews as might be: for they had got|ten from Pilate a &s;pecial commi&s;&s;ion for that purpo&s;e to whom he was as forward to grant it, as they to ask it, and that in as large and ample man|ner as them&s;elves knew or could de|vi&s;e. All which, notwith&s;tanding after a mo&s;t miraculous manner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.2.</NOTE> <HI>The An|gel of the Lord de&s;cending from heaven with an earthquake, and rolling back the &s;tone from the Door of the Sepul|cher, the Keepers a&s;tonied, and become as dead men:</HI> Je&s;us our Saviour ac|cording to the former prophe&s;ies is ri&s;en again, and hath appeared to his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples his faithful witne&s;&s;es, a number of them, at di|vers &s;everal times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>to whom he pre&s;ent|ed him&s;elf alive</HI> (as S. <HI>Luke</HI> writeth) <HI>by many infallible tokens, being &s;een of
<PB N="95" REF="59">
them by the &s;pace of forty days, and &s;peaking of tho&s;e things which apper|tain to the Kingdom of God:</HI> how&s;o|ever the Jews &s;uborned the Soldiers, giving them largely, to &s;ay, <HI>His Di|&s;ciples came by night and &s;tole him a|way, while they &s;lept; which &s;aying is noi&s;ed among the Jews to this day.</HI> How probably (the former circum&s;tances con&s;idered) let the world judge. Therefore I will conclude this point al&s;o (with that of <HI>Paul</HI>) touching the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Savi|our,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.4.</NOTE> <HI>He hath declared him&s;elf mighti|ly to be the Son of God by the Re&s;ur|rection from the dead,</HI> and con&s;equent|ly, that Me&s;&s;iah <HI>promi&s;ed before by the Prophets in the holy Scriptures,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.2.</NOTE> as the &s;ame Apo&s;tle urgeth.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>His A&s;cention.</HEAD>
<P>FOr his A&s;cen&s;ion, it was al&s;o fore|told by the Prophets, and nece&s;&s;a|rily followeth upon his Re&s;urrection to be believed&punc; to wit, that having fini&s;hed the work of our Redempti|on here one earth, he a&s;cended up into
<PB N="96" REF="60">
heaven, and there &s;itteth at the right hand of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 68.18.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Thou art gone up on high, thou ha&s;t led captivity captive, and received gifts for men,</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 110.1.</NOTE> And in another place, <HI>The Lord &s;aid to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,</HI> &amp;c. which is the place alledged by our Saviour, wherewith he put the Jews to &s;ilence, both as touching the Deity and the Humanity of the Me&s;|&s;iah; for &s;aith he, <HI>If David call him Lord, how is he then his Son?</HI> Where we may &s;ee <HI>David</HI> acknowledgeth him his Lord, and con&s;equently his God, even the Son of God, &s;itting at the right hand of God (for the pre&s;ent, as touching his Divinity) af|terwards to be accompli&s;hed al&s;o in his Humanity, which <HI>David</HI> believed as verily &s;hould come to pa&s;s, and fore&s;aw by the eye of Faith, as did <HI>Thomas,</HI> when it was come to pa&s;s, putting his hand into his &s;ide, and crying, <HI>My Lord and my God;</HI> &s;o &s;aith <HI>David</HI> here, <HI>my Lord: The Lord &s;aid unto my Lord,</HI> &amp;c. I &s;ay, this ar|ticle of our Faith, as touching his A&s;cen&s;ion, it followeth nece&s;&s;arily to be concluded upon his Re&s;urrection
<PB N="97" REF="60">
it needeth no other proof. For that who&s;oever &s;eeth and acknowledgeth that Je&s;us being dead could rai&s;e him&s;elf to life again, will ea&s;ily be|lieve al&s;o that he was able to a&s;cend up to heaven at his plea&s;ure. And hereof we have al&s;o all his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples for witne&s;&s;es, eye wit|ne&s;&s;es; in who&s;e pre&s;ence and &s;ight he a&s;cended: as it is in that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.10</NOTE> <HI>They looked &s;tedfa&s;tly towards heaven as he went:</HI> and in witne&s;s thereof gave up their lives, and &s;ealed the &s;ame with their blood.</P>
<P>Therefore I conclude upon all the&s;e premi&s;&s;es &s;o nece&s;&s;arily follow|ing and depending one upon ano|ther, to wit, his birth, life, doctrine, actions, death, re&s;urrection, &amp; a&s;cen|&s;ion; &s;eeing nothing hath hapned in the &s;ame which was not foretold by the Prophets of God, nor any thing foretold by the &s;ame Prophets con|cerning the Me&s;&s;iah, which was not fulfilled mo&s;t exactly in the per&s;on of our Saviour; We may mo&s;t cer|tainly a&s;&s;ure our &s;elves, that as God is truth, and therefore can neither foretel an untruth, nor yeild te&s;timo|ny
<PB N="98" REF="61">
to the &s;ame; &s;o it cannot be but that the&s;e things which have been &s;hewed to be &s;o manife&s;tly fore pro|phe&s;ied, and &s;o evidently accom|pli&s;hed in the per&s;on of this our ble&s;|&s;ed Lord and Saviour; mu&s;t needs (I &s;ay) a&s;&s;ure us Chri&s;tians, that he was indeed the true Me&s;&s;iah: and quite confound the Jews in their vain imagination and expectation of another.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t, with the first Plantation, and wonderful in|crea&s;e of the Church.</HEAD>
<P>NOw for tho&s;e things that fol|lowed after his A&s;cen&s;ion, as arguments and effects of his Divine power, they were al&s;o foretold by the Prophets: to wit, the &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t (that Comforter) from on high, with the &s;udden, &s;trange, and miraculous increa&s;e of his Church throughout the world, even again&s;t all worldly power and policy, by the only power and mini|&s;try
<PB N="99" REF="61">
of his word, confirmed with &s;igns and wonders that followed, wrought by his Apo&s;tles, Di&s;ciples, and other his faithful &s;ervants and witne&s;&s;es in the Primitive Church: then the which there can be no grea|ter argument in the world of the truth of Chri&s;tian Religion; if we con&s;ider how all other Religions in the world have grown and been maintained by force of Arms, Fire, and Sword; this only by the preach|ing of Chri&s;t crucified, in all Nations hath encrea&s;ed and multiplyed, and &s;hal do more and more to the end of the world; this mu&s;t increa&s;e, all o|thers decrea&s;e; how&s;oever the Turks have po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed the greate&s;t part of the world at this day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.14.</NOTE> yet our Savi|ours prophe&s;ie in the end &s;hall be found true: this Go&s;pel of the king|dom &s;hall be preached throughout the whole world, for a witne&s;s unto all Nations Now for the fir&s;t increa&s;e of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.47</NOTE> How &s;mall a number were there gathered together after the a&s;cen&s;i|on at Jeru&s;alem, from whence they were to march (even the twelve A|po&s;tles, no great army God wot) to
<PB N="100" REF="62">
conquer the world?<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 2.3.</NOTE> as it is in that place, <HI>The Law &s;hall go forth from Zion, and the Word of God from Jeru|&s;alem.</HI> There was the Rendevous, there they &s;tayed, there they re&s;ted, there they continued in prayer and fa&s;ting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 14.26. ch. 15.26. and 16.7.</NOTE> till &s;uch time as Chri&s;t after his a&s;cen&s;ion, according to his pro|mi&s;e, &s;ent them the Comforter, even the holy Gho&s;t, enduing them with power from on high, and arming them at all points for &s;o great a work. When and where being ga|thered together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>all with one accord in one place, &s;uddenly there came a &s;ound from heaven, as of a mighty wind, and filled all the hou&s;e where they &s;ate. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like fire, and it &s;ate upon each of them, and they were all filled with the holy Gho&s;t, and began to &s;peak with other Tongues,</HI> as there is mentioned. And with the&s;e fiery cloven tongues the&s;e twelve &s;illy &s;ouls without any means, men, money, or munition, in a very &s;hort time conquered a great part of the world; in&s;omuch that at one Sermon of S. <HI>Peter, at the &s;ame time there were added to the Church
<PB N="101" REF="62">
three thou&s;and &s;ouls:</HI> and &s;o multiply|ed &s;ucce&s;&s;ively from time to time, and from place to place, &s;preading it &s;elf from one Country to another, and from one Nation to another and &s;o at length into all Nations: <HI>There is neither Speech nor Language where their voice is not heard, Their line is gone forth through all the earth, and their words into the ends of the world:</HI> as we &s;ee it is come to pa&s;s this day. Of which coming of the holy Gho&s;t in the time of the Me&s;&s;iah, <HI>Joel</HI> pro|phe&s;ied &s;aying;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 2.28.</NOTE> <HI>And it &s;hall be in the la&s;t days, that I will pour out my &s;pirit,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>and on my &s;ervants and on my handmaids I will pour out my &s;pi|rit,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>It filled all the hou&s;e where they &s;ate, and it &s;ate upon each of them, and they were all filled with the holy Gho&s;t</HI> Here is a deluge of Gods grace poured upon the world immediately upon the a&s;cen&s;ion of our Lord and Saviour. Fir&s;t upon his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples of tho&s;e times in greater mea&s;ure, as the fir&s;t fruits of his &s;pi|rit by the which they wrought mira|cles, &s;pake all manner of languages, healed all manner of di&s;ea&s;es, ca&s;t out
<PB N="102" REF="63">
Divels, rai&s;ed the dead, and la&s;tly &s;ealed the &s;ame with their blood. Poor Fi&s;hermen and &s;uch like of no reputation in the world, without learning, without credit, without means (as before) yet by this means conquered the world to the &s;ubjecti|on of their ma&s;ter Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118 22 Act. 4 11.</NOTE> that <HI>&s;tone ca&s;t a&s;ide of the Builders, but now be|come the head-&s;tone of the corner; this the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The &s;incerity of the Evangeli&s;ts.</HEAD>
<P>NOw for the Evangeli&s;ts, or wri|ters of the Go&s;pel, that is to &s;ay, the regi&s;ters of his Birth, Life, Doctrine, and Death: It is to be noted, that our Saviour being God, took a different way from the cu|&s;tome of man, in delivering unto us his Laws and Precepts. For that men who have been law-makers unto the world, knew no &s;urer way of publi&s;h|ing their Laws, and procuring autho|rity to the &s;ame, then to write them with their own hands, and in their
<PB N="103" REF="63">
life time to e&s;tabli&s;h their promulga|tion So <HI>Lycurgus, Solon,</HI> and others among the Grecians, <HI>Numa</HI> to the Romans, <HI>Mahomet</HI> to the Sara&s;ins. But Je&s;us (to &s;hew his Divine power in directing the Pen and Stile of the Evangeli&s;ts, would not leave any thing written by him&s;elf, but pa&s;&s;ed from this world in &s;implicity and &s;i|lence, without any other &s;hew or o|&s;ten<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ation of his own doings. Mean|ing notwith&s;tanding afterwards, to his glory, and the edification of his Church here on earth, by four irre|fragable witne&s;&s;es or remembran|cers (the four Evangeli&s;ts) every word &s;hould be e&s;tabli&s;hed and re|corded: as may appear by that place where he &s;aith.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.25</NOTE> <Q>The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you being pre&s;ent with you, but the Comforter, which is the holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my name, he &s;hall bring all things to your remembrance which I have told you.</Q> Whereupon I infer, that the Evangeli&s;ts and Apo|&s;tolical writers were all of them gui|ded and directed by one and the &s;ame &s;pirit, even the &s;pirit of God,
<PB N="104" REF="64">
for the regi&s;tring of all things either &s;aid or done by our Saviour, &s;o far forth as &s;eemed be&s;t to his Divine will and plea&s;ure, to be regi&s;tred and recorded for the benefit and edifica|tion of his Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.30.21.25.</NOTE> <Q>For there were many other things which Je&s;us did (as <HI>John</HI> the Evangeli&s;t te&s;tifieth) which are not written:</Q> that is to &s;ay, which the holy Spirit of God thought needle&s;s to faith and &s;alvati|on, but &s;aith he, <Q>The&s;e things are written that ye might believe, that Je&s;us is the Chri&s;t the Son of God, and that in believing ye might have life through his name.</Q> Now for the&s;e Evangeli&s;ts four in number, (which &s;ome have re&s;embled to the <HI>four Bea&s;ts</HI> in Ezekiel) the fir&s;t and la&s;t are Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 1.</NOTE> that wrote as they had &s;een; the two middle are Di&s;ci|ples, who regi&s;tred things as they had under&s;tood by conference with the Apo&s;tles. The fir&s;t Go&s;pel was writ|ten by an Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.2.</NOTE> to give light to the re&s;t; and the la&s;t al&s;o by an Apo&s;tle, to give authority and confirmation to the former. The fir&s;t was written in the Hebrew Tongue, for that all
<PB N="105" REF="64">
tho&s;e miracles which Je&s;us wrought were done in that Country;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.24</NOTE> <HI>He was not &s;ent but to the lo&s;t &s;heep of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael,</HI> to the end that either the whole Nation might believe them, or the ob&s;tinate impugne them, which yet never any of their Rabbins took in hand to do. The o|ther three were written in the mo&s;t famous and populous language of all Nations at that time, to wit, the Greek Tongue. They wrote their &s;tories in divers Countries, far di&s;tant one from another and yet agreed they all mo&s;t exactly in one and the &s;ame narration (as is to be &s;een) though diver&s;ly related, yet in truth and &s;ub&s;tance all one: one &s;ometimes &s;upplying what another hath not, ac|cording to the di&s;cretion of one and the &s;ame &s;pirit, wherewith they were all guided and directed, like tho&s;e four Bea&s;ts in Ezek. 1.12. <HI>Every one went &s;treight forward, whither their &s;pirit led them they returned not.</HI> They wrote in divers times, one after ano|ther; and yet the latter did neither correct nor reprehend any thing in the former, as Heathen writers u&s;e to
<PB N="106" REF="65">
do. They publi&s;hed their writings when infinite were alive that knew the facts, and of them no &s;mall num|ber, who de&s;ired by all means to im|pugne them. They &s;et down in mo&s;t of their narrations, the time the day, the hour, the place, the village, the hou&s;e, the per&s;ons, with all other cir|cum&s;tances, which the mo they are in number, the more ea&s;ie to be refuted, if they were not true. Neither did they write of things done in far Countries or places remote, but in the &s;ame Country where they were born, in Towns and Cities that were publikely known, in <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> it &s;elf, in <HI>Bethania</HI> and <HI>Beth&s;aida,</HI> Vilages hard by <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> in the Suburbs and Hills about the City, in &s;uch a &s;treet, at &s;uch a gate, at &s;uch a porch of the Temple, at &s;uch a Fi&s;h-pool, publike places, familiarly known to every one,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 26.26</NOTE> <HI>for the&s;e things were not done in a corner,</HI> as &s;aith the Apo&s;tle. All which circum&s;tances duly con&s;i|dered (never yet impugned) me|thinks (&s;hould per&s;wade any man of rea&s;on to become a Chri&s;tian: as <HI>A|grippa</HI> in that very place acknow|ledgeth
<PB N="107" REF="65">
to <HI>Paul,</HI> &s;aying, <HI>almo&s;t thou per&s;wade&s;t me to be a Chri&s;tian.</HI> They publi&s;hed their writings in their life time. They altered not their writings afterwards as other Authors are wont in their latter editions, nor ever corrected they one jot of that which they had fir&s;t &s;et down. And (that which never hapned in any other writings in the world be&s;ides, nor e|ver Monarch was able to bring to pa&s;s for credit of his Edicts) they gave their lives for defence and ju&s;ti|fying of that which they had writ|ten. Their manner of writing is &s;in|cere and &s;imple, as becommeth &s;o di|vine a Hi&s;tory; without all art or Rethorical amplifications, as Hi&s;tori|ans u&s;e. They flatter none, no not Je|&s;us him&s;elf, whom they mo&s;t adore, nor in confe&s;&s;ing him to be their God, do they conceal his infirmities of fle&s;h, in that he was man: as his hunger and thir&s;t, his being weary,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21.18. Luk. 19.41. Mat. 14.33.</NOTE> how he wept, his pa&s;&s;ions of fear, and the like. Nay, the&s;e Evangeli&s;ts were &s;o &s;incere and religious in their nar|rations, as they noted e&s;pecially the imperfections of them&s;elves, and of
<PB N="108" REF="66">
&s;uch others, as they principally re|&s;pected.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.3. Mar. 14.67.</NOTE> <HI>Matthew</HI> nameth him&s;elf <HI>Matthew</HI> the Publican. <HI>Mark</HI> (<HI>Pe|ters</HI> Di&s;ciple) recordeth how S. <HI>Peter</HI> thri&s;e denyed his Lord and Ma&s;ter, and &s;o of the re&s;t. The&s;e mens wri|tings were publi&s;hed for canonical, and received for undoubted truth by all that lived in the very &s;ame age, and were privie to every particular circum&s;tance therein contained. They were copied abroad into infinite mens hands, and &s;o con&s;erved with all care and reverence, as holy and divine Scripture. They were read in Churches throughout all Countries and Nations, expounded, preached, and taught by all Pa&s;tors, and Com|mentaries made upon them by holy Fathers from time to time. So that no doubt can be made at all either of the authority of them, as originally and immediately proceeding from the holy Gho&s;t, or of the certainty: but that we have the very &s;ame in|corrupt, as the Authors left them, for that it was impo&s;&s;ible for any enemy to corrupt &s;o many Copies over the world, without di&s;covery and re&s;i|&s;tance.
<PB N="109" REF="66">
And thus much for the cre|dit and authority of our Evangeli&s;ts.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The confe&s;&s;ion of Martyrs.</HEAD>
<P>NOw for the Martyrs (or witne&s;|&s;es) appointed by God for the &s;ealing and delivery of this Doctrine of the Go&s;pel of our Lord and Sa|viour Je&s;us Chri&s;t to all the world, they were fir&s;t and principally his own Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.48</NOTE> <HI>Now ye are witne&s;&s;es of the&s;e things:</HI> who both heard his Doctrine, and &s;aw his Miracles: as S. <HI>John</HI> te&s;tifieth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>That which we have heard, which we have &s;een with our eyes,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>That I &s;ay which we have &s;een and heard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>declare we unto you.</HI> And S. <HI>Peter, For we followed no deceivable Fables when we opened unto you the power and coming of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, but with our eyes we &s;aw his Maje&s;ty.</HI> This Do|ctrine (I &s;ay) of the glorious Go&s;pel of our Lord and Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.2.</NOTE> <HI>whereof they were &s;o fully per&s;waded,</HI> they did not only profe&s;s it with their mouths, <HI>yea even before Kings,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 23.12.</NOTE> <HI>and
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were not a&s;hamed,</HI> as God &s;aith to <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ch. 27.24.</NOTE> <HI>as thou ha&s;t te&s;tified of me in Jeru&s;alem, &s;o mu&s;t thou bear witne&s;s al&s;o at Rome: thou mu&s;t be brought before Cae&s;ar:</HI> but in witne&s;s thereof they gave up their lives, and by their deaths &s;ealed and delivered to the world the truth of that which in their lives they profe&s;&s;ed, they have &s;ealed that God is true: The&s;e are witne&s;&s;es worthy to be believed, the&s;e are Martyrs. Next to the&s;e are all tho&s;e holy Di&s;ciples of theirs, all tho&s;e holy Confe&s;&s;ors of the Primi|tive Church put to death with mo&s;t exqui&s;ite torments, under tho&s;e cru|el Roman Tyrants, during tho&s;e ten famous per&s;ecutions upon record, called the ten per&s;ecutions, <HI>Catexo|chen,</HI> in re&s;pect of the rage, fury and cruelty thereof: and all again&s;t poor harmle&s;s and innocent Chri&s;tians, daylie torn in pieces, and butchered by tho&s;e Wolves, as Sheep appointed for the &s;laughter: whereof our Sa|viour long before had forewarned his Di&s;ciples:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.16. Rev. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>Behold I &s;end you as Lambs among Wolves</HI> &amp;c. per&s;ecuted even to the death, <HI>for the Word of
<PB N="111" REF="67">
God, and for the te&s;timony which they maintained.</HI> In which extream and mo&s;t incredible &s;ufferings of Chri&s;ti|ans, three points are worthy of great con&s;ideration. The fir&s;t, what in|finite multitudes of all e&s;tates, condi|tions, &s;exes, qualities and age, did &s;uffer daylie for te&s;timony of this truth. The &s;econd, what intolerable and unaccu&s;tomed torments, not heard of in the world before, were devi&s;ed by Tyrants for afflicting this kind of people. Thirdly and la&s;tly, What invincible courage, and un|&s;peakable alacrity the&s;e Chri&s;tians &s;hewed in bearing out the&s;e afflicti|ons and torments, which the enemies them&s;elves could not attribute but to &s;ome Divine power, and &s;uperna|tural a&s;&s;i&s;tance.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The &s;ubjection of Spirits.</HEAD>
<P>ANother con&s;ideration follow|eth of his Divine power and omnipotency, declared and exerci&s;ed upon the &s;pirits infernal, which in tho&s;e days &s;pake in the Oracles, and
<PB N="112" REF="68">
till that time had po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed and delu|ded all Nations. Hear the complaint of one of them&punc; <HI>Hei mihi, cogemi&s;ci|te, hei mihi, hei mihi, Oraculorum de|fecit me clari<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">as.</HI> Wo unto mes la|ment ye with me, wo, wo to me, for that the honour of Oracles hath now for&s;aken me. Which woful com|plaint is nothing el&s;e but a plain con|fe&s;&s;ion that Je&s;us was he of whom a Prophet &s;aid divers ages before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zeph. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hall con&s;ume all the Gods of the earth, and every man &s;hall wor&s;hip him from his place, even all the I&s;les of the Hea|then.</HI> This confe&s;&s;ed al&s;o the wicked &s;pirits them&s;elves, when at Chri&s;ts appearing in Jewry they came and did their homage to him, and be|&s;ought him not to afflict or torment them before the time, nor command them pre&s;ently to return to hell, but rather to permit them &s;ome little time of entertainment in the Sea, or Mountains, or among herds of Swine or the like; which confe&s;&s;ion they made openly before all men, and de|clared the &s;ame afterwards by their deeds. For pre&s;ently upon Chri&s;t his death, and upon the preaching of his
<PB N="113" REF="68">
Name and Go&s;pel throughout the World, the Oracles in all places cea|&s;ed, whereof the Poets them&s;elves bear witne&s;s:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Juv. Sat. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Ce&s;&s;ant Oracula D<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">l|phis.</HI> Whereupon <HI>Plutarch</HI> that lived within an hundred yeers after Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plut. de defectu Oraculor.</NOTE> made a &s;pecial Treati&s;e to &s;ift out the cau&s;es why the Oracles of the Gods (as they deemed them) were cea&s;ed in his time. And after much turning and winding many ways, at length re&s;olved upon two principal points, or cau&s;es thereof. The fir&s;t, for that in his time there was more &s;tore of wi&s;e men then before who&s;e an|&s;wers might &s;tand in&s;teed of Oracles: and the other, for that perhaps the Spirits accu&s;tomed to yeild Oracles were by length of time grown old and dead. Both which rea&s;ons, in the common &s;en&s;e of all men mu&s;t needs be fal&s;e, and by <HI>Plutarch</HI> him|&s;elf cannot &s;tand with probability. For fir&s;t in his Books which he wrote of the Lives of Famous Men, he confe&s;&s;eth, that in &s;uch kind of wi&s;|dom as he mo&s;t e&s;teemed, they had not their equals among their po&s;te|rity. Secondly in his Treati&s;e of Phy|lo&s;ophy
<PB N="114" REF="69">
he pa&s;&s;eth it for a ground, that Spirits cannot die, or wax old. And therefore of nece&s;&s;ity there mu&s;t be &s;ome other cau&s;e yeilded of the cea&s;ing of the&s;e Oracles: which cannot be but the pre&s;ence and com|mandment of &s;ome higher Power: according to that &s;aying of S. <HI>John,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.8</NOTE> for <HI>to this end and purpo&s;e appeared the Son of God,</HI> to wit, <HI>that he might de&s;troy the works of the Divel.</HI> Neither did Je&s;us this alone in his own per|&s;on, but gave al&s;o power and autho|rity to his Di&s;ciples and Followers to do the like; according to that their Commi&s;&s;ion in the Go&s;pel.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.7.</NOTE> <HI>Then called he the twelve Di&s;ciples together, and gave them power over all Divels,</HI> &amp;c. And not only to the&s;e twelve did he give this ab&s;olute power and authority over unclean Spirits, but to the re&s;t likewi&s;e; as may appear in the next chapter following upon the return of their Commi&s;&s;ion:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>And the &s;eventy returned with joy, &s;aying, Lord, even the Divels are &s;ubdued to us through thy Name. And he &s;aid unto them, I &s;aw Sathan like light|ning fall down from heaven:</HI> and &s;o
<PB N="115" REF="69">
reneweth their Commi&s;&s;ion, &s;aying, <HI>Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy</HI> (that is to &s;ay the Divel) <HI>Neverthele&s;s</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>in this rejoyce not, that the Spirits are &s;ubdued unto you, but rather rejoyce becau&s;e your Names are written in Heaven.</HI> And this authority over the Spirits Infernal given by Je&s;us to his Di&s;ciples in the primitive Church, extended it &s;elf &s;o far, that not only their words and commandments,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lact. l. 2. Div. In&s;t. c. 16.</NOTE> but even their very pre&s;ence did &s;hut the mouths, and drive into fear the mi&s;erable Spirits, as both <HI>Lactantius</HI> and others do witne&s;s; whence it proceeded, that in all Sacrifices, Con|jurations, and other My&s;teries of the Gentiles, there was brought in that phra&s;e recorded by &s;coffing <HI>Lucian, exeant Chri&s;tiani,</HI> Let Chri&s;tians de|part, for that while they were pre|&s;ent, nothing could be well accom|pli&s;hed. And that profe&s;&s;ed enemy of Chri&s;tianity, <HI>Porphyry,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Porph. l. 7. cont. Chri&s;t apud Eu&s;eb. l. 5. c. 1. de prep. Evan.</NOTE> who of all o|ther mo&s;t earne&s;tly endeavoured to impugne us Chri&s;tians, and to hold up the honour of his enfeebled I|dols,
<PB N="116" REF="70">
yet di&s;cour&s;ing of the great plague that reigned mo&s;t furiou&s;ly in the City of Me&s;&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">a in Sicily, where he dwelt, yeildeth this rea&s;on, why <HI>Ae&s;culapius</HI> the god of Phy&s;ick (much adored in that place) was not able to help them in that extremity. It is no marvel (&s;aith he) if this City &s;o many yeers be vexed with the plague, &s;eeing that both <HI>Ae&s;culapi|us,</HI> and all other gods be now de|parted from it by the coming of Chri&s;tians: for &s;ince that men have begun to wor&s;hip this Je&s;us, we could never obtain any profit by our gods. Thus much confe&s;&s;ed this Pa|tron of Pagani&s;m concerning the maim that his gods had received by the power and coming of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t: which albeit he &s;pake with a malicious mind, to bring Chri|&s;tians in hatred yet is the confe&s;&s;ion notable, and confirmeth that &s;tory, which <HI>Plutarch</HI> in his forenamed Book doth report, That in the lat|ter yeers of the reigne of the Em|perour <HI>Tiberius,</HI> a &s;trange voice, and exceeding horrible clamour, with hideous cries, &s;creetches, and howl|ings
<PB N="117" REF="70">
were heard by many in the Grecian Sea complaining, <HI>That the great God Pan was now departed.</HI> And this affirmeth <HI>Plutarch</HI> (that was a Gentile) to have been alledged and approved before the Emperour <HI>Ti|berius,</HI> who marvelled greatly there|at, and could not by all his Diviners and Sooth&s;ayers, whom he called to that con&s;ultation, gather out any rea&s;onable meaning of this wonder|ful accident. But we Chri&s;tians com|paring the time wherein it hapned, unto the time of Chri&s;t his death and pa&s;&s;ion and finding the &s;ame fully to agree, we may more then probably per&s;wade our &s;elves, that by the death of their great god <HI>Pan</HI> (which &s;ignifieth all) was imported the ut|ter overthrow of all wicked Spirits, and Idols upon earth; according to that Vi&s;ion of our Lord and Saviour before mentioned, <HI>I &s;aw Sathan like lightning fall down from heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12.31. 2 Cor. 4.4. Eph. 2.2.</NOTE> &amp;c. and again in another place, <HI>Now is the judgement of this world, now &s;hall the Prince of this world be ca&s;t out,</HI> even this great god <HI>Pan,</HI> who in ano|ther place is called <HI>the god of this
<PB N="119" REF="71">
world, the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr,</HI> and therefore may well be &s;aid by our Saviour to fall down from heaven, being before time wor&s;hipped in tho&s;e Idols Oracles, and heatheni&s;h Prophanations, as a God in all the world and exalted (as it were) into the highe&s;t heavens. But behold as <HI>Dagon,</HI> that Idol of the Phili&s;tims,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 5.2.</NOTE> <HI>fell flat on his face</HI> (and that twice) <HI>his head and hands di&s;|membred before the Ark of God in A&s;hdod;</HI> &s;o did Sathan this great god <HI>Pan,</HI> the god of this world, the Prince of the Ayr, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> (let me give the Divel his due, yea rather more then his due, as doth the holy Scri|pture) &s;o did Sathan (I &s;ay) immedi|ately upon the coming of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t into this world, and preaching of his Go&s;pel (the Ark of his everla&s;ting Cove|nant) fall flat on his face to the ground, his head and hands di&s;mem|bred: according to that fir&s;t pro|mi&s;e and covenant to our fir&s;t pa|rents, which was this: that <HI>he</HI> (to wit the Me&s;&s;iah) <HI>&s;hould break the Serpents head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> &amp;c. which he had
<PB N="118" REF="71">
done not only in his own per&s;on, by &s;ubduing Sathan with all his whole legions of Divels and Powers infer|nal, trampling them under his feet, but al&s;o in his members, to whom he gave like authority; as before, <HI>he gave them power and authority over all Divels; yea over all the power of the enemy:</HI> which argueth again the power and omnipotency of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who not only in his own per&s;on here on earth but al&s;o in his &s;ervants, di&s;ciples, and followers, was able to conquer and &s;ubdue even the Divels them&s;elves, as they them&s;elves acknowledge; <HI>Je|&s;us I acknowledge, and Paul I know,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.15</NOTE> &amp;c. And thus much of the &s;ubjection of Spirits.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The puni&s;hment of Enemies.</HEAD>
<P>NOw re&s;teth this his Divine Power and Omnipotency yet further to be manife&s;ted, by another con&s;ideration of his Ju&s;tice and &s;e|verity &s;hewed from heaven upon di|vers his greate&s;t enemies here on
<PB N="120" REF="72">
earth, after his departure out of this world:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. Ant. l. 17. c. 10.</NOTE> as we may read in <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> of <HI>Herod</HI> the fir&s;t, who per&s;ecuted Chri&s;t even in his cradle, and &s;lew all tho&s;e Infants in and about Bethle|hem: and that other <HI>Herod,</HI> Tetrarch of Galilee, who put <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> to death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.12.</NOTE> and &s;corned Je&s;us before his pa&s;&s;ion: him&s;elf &s;corned afterwards by the Emperour, and di&s;gracefully &s;ent into exile:<NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. 18. c. 9.</NOTE> fir&s;t to Lions in France, and after that to the mo&s;t de&s;ert and inhabitable places in Spain, where he with <HI>Heredias</HI> wan|dred up and down in extream cala|mity all their life time, and finally ended their days, as forlorn and a|bandoned of all men. In which mi&s;e|ry al&s;o it is recorded,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Niceph. l. 1. cap. 10.</NOTE> that the dan|cing daughter of <HI>Herodias,</HI> who de|manded <HI>John Bapti&s;ts</HI> head, being on a time to pa&s;s over a frozen River, &s;uddenly the Ice brake, and &s;he in her fall had her head cut off by the &s;ame Ice, without hurting the re&s;t of her body. So likewi&s;e it is recorded in the Acts of <HI>Herod Agrippa,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>Who &s;tretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church, killed James the brother
<PB N="121" REF="72">
of John with the &s;word, and impri&s;on|ed Peter,</HI> how immediately thereup|on (as it is in that chapter) going down to Ce&s;area, he was there in a &s;olemn a&s;&s;embly &s;triken from heaven with a mo&s;t horrible di&s;ea&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. Ant. l. 19. c. 7.</NOTE> where|by his body putrified, and was eaten of worms: as al&s;o <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> maketh mention.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eutr. Hi&s;t lib. 7.</NOTE> <HI>Pilate</HI> that gave &s;entence of death again&s;t our Lord and Savi|our, we read that after great di&s;|grace received in Jurie, he was &s;ent home into Italy, and there &s;lew him|&s;elf with his own hands. And of the very Emperors them&s;elves who lived from <HI>Tiberius</HI> (under whom Je&s;us &s;uffered) unto <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the great, under whom Chri&s;tian Religion took Dominion over the world (which contained the &s;pace of &s;ome three hundred years or thereabouts) very few or none e&s;caped the manife&s;t &s;courges of Gods dreadful ju&s;tice, &s;hewed upon them at the knitting up of their days. Whereas &s;ince the time of <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> (whiles Empe|rors have been Chri&s;tians, as one hath ob&s;erved) few or no &s;uch ex|amples can be &s;hewed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Evag. Schol. l. 3. hi&s;t. c. 41</NOTE> except upon
<PB N="122" REF="73">
<HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tata, <HI>Valens</HI> the Ar|rian heretick, or &s;ome other of like dete&s;table and notorious wickedne&s;s. And thus much of particular men cha&s;ti&s;ed by Je&s;us. But if we de&s;ire to have a full example of his ju&s;tice upon a whole Nation together, let us con&s;ider what befel Jeru&s;alem, and the people of that place, for their barbarous cruelty practi&s;ed upon him in his death and Pa&s;&s;ion. And if we believe <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> and <HI>Phylo,</HI> the Jewi&s;h Hi&s;toriograpers, who lived in tho&s;e times, it can hardly be expre&s;|&s;ed by the tongue or pen of man, what in&s;ufferable calamities and mi|&s;eries were inflicted upon that peo|ple pre&s;ently after his a&s;cen&s;ion, fir&s;t of all by <HI>Pilate</HI> their Governour un|der <HI>Tibarius&punc;</HI> and then again by <HI>Pe|tronius</HI> under <HI>Caligula,</HI> after that by <HI>Cumanus</HI> under <HI>Claudius,</HI> and la&s;tly by <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> and <HI>Albious</HI> under <HI>Nero;</HI> through who&s;e cruelties that Nation was enforced at la&s;t to rebel, and take arms again&s;t the Roman Em|pire: which was the cau&s;e of their utter ruine and extirpation by <HI>Titus</HI> and <HI>Ve&s;pa&s;ian.</HI> At what time, be&s;ides
<PB N="123" REF="73">
the overthrow of their City burning of their Temple, and other infinite di&s;tre&s;&s;es (which <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> an eye witne&s;s, prote&s;teth, that no &s;peech or di&s;cour&s;e humane can declare) the &s;ame Author likewi&s;e recordeth ele|ven hundred thou&s;and per&s;ons to have been &s;lain, and four&s;core and &s;eventeen thou&s;and taken alive: who were either put to death afterward in publike Tryumphs, or &s;old open|ly for Bond-&s;laves, into all the parts of the world: And in this univer|&s;al calamity of the Jewi&s;h Nation, being the mo&s;t notorious and grie|vous that ever hapned to any people or Nation either before or after them (for the Romans never practi|&s;ed the like upon others) it is &s;ingu|larly to be ob&s;erved, that in the &s;ame time and place in which they put Je|&s;us to death before; that is, in the time of P<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cha when their whole Nation was a&s;&s;embles at Jeru&s;alem, from all Parts, Provinces and Coun|tries, they received th<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters"> their mo&s;t pitiful &s;ubver&s;ion and overthrow, and that by the bands of the Roman <HI>Ca&s;ar,</HI> to whom by publike cry
<PB N="124" REF="74">
they had appealed from Je&s;us not long before: <HI>We have no King but Cae&s;ar,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.15.</NOTE> &amp;c. Yea further it is ob&s;erved, that as they apprehended Je&s;us, and made the entrance to his pa&s;&s;ion up|on Mount Olivet, where he u&s;ed much to pray and meditate: So <HI>Ti|tus</HI> (as <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> writeth) upon the &s;ame Mount planted his fir&s;t &s;iege for their final de&s;truction. And as they led Je&s;us from <HI>Caiphas</HI> to <HI>Pilate,</HI> afflicting him in their pre&s;ence; &s;o now were they them&s;elves led up and down from <HI>John</HI> to <HI>Simon</HI> (two &s;editious Captains within the City) and were &s;courged and tormented before the Tribunal &s;eats. Again, as they had cau&s;ed Je&s;us to be &s;coffed, beaten, and vilanou&s;ly entreated by the Souldiers in Pilates palace: &s;o were now their own principal Ru|lers (as <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> writeth) mo&s;t &s;corn|fully abu&s;ed, beaten, and crucified, and that by the Souldiers: Which latter point of crucifying or vilanous putting to death upon the Cro&s;s, was begun to be practi&s;ed by the Ro|mans upon the Jewi&s;h Gentry, im|mediately after Chri&s;t his death, and
<PB N="125" REF="74">
not before. And now at this time of the war, <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> affirmeth, that in &s;ome one day, five hundred of his Nation were taken, and put to this opprobrious kind of puni&s;hment: in&s;omuch that for the great multi|tude, he &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 5. c. 28</NOTE> <HI>Nec locus &s;ufficeret Crucibus, nec Cruces corporibus.</HI> This dreadful and un&s;peakable mi&s;ery fell upon the Jews about forty yeers af|ter Chri&s;ts a&s;cen&s;ion, when they had &s;hewed them&s;elves mo&s;t ob&s;tinate, and obdurate again&s;t his Doctrine delivered unto them, not only by him&s;elf, but al&s;o by his Di&s;ciples; of which they had now &s;lain S. <HI>Steven</HI> and S. <HI>James,</HI> and driven into bani&s;h|ment both <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Paul,</HI> and o|thers that had preached unto them. This then was the providence of God for the puni&s;hment of the Jews at that time. And ever after their e&s;tate declined from wor&s;e to wor&s;e, and their mi&s;eries daylie multiplied throughout the world. Whereof he that will &s;ee a very lamentable Nar|ration, let him but read the la&s;t book of <HI>Jo&s;ephus, De Bello, Judaico,</HI> where|in it is reported, be&s;ides other things,
<PB N="126" REF="75">
That after the War was ended, and all the publike &s;laughter cea&s;ed, <HI>Ti|tus</HI> &s;ent three&s;core thou&s;and Jews as a pre&s;ent to his Father to Rome there to be put to death in divers and &s;undry manners. Others he applyed to be &s;pectacles for pa&s;time to the Romans that were pre&s;ent with him. Whereof <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> &s;aith, that he &s;aw with his own eyes two thou&s;and and five hundred murdered and con&s;u|med in one day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. de Bell. l. 7. c. 20, 21.</NOTE> by fight and com|bate among them&s;elves and with wild Bea&s;ts, at the Emperours ap|pointment. Others were a&s;&s;igned in Antioch, and other great Cities, to &s;erve for Faggots, in their famous Bonfires at times of Tryumph. O|thers were &s;old to be Bond&s;laves. O|thers condemned to dig and hew &s;tones for ever. And this was the end of that war and de&s;olation.</P>
<Q><L>Quis talia fando,</L>
<L>Myrmidonum, Dolopumve, aut duri miles &V;ly&s;&s;i,</L>
<L>Temperet a Lachrymis?</L></Q>
<P>After this again under <HI>Trajan</HI> the Emperour there was &s;o infinite num|bers of Jews &s;lain and made away by
<PB N="127" REF="75">
<HI>Marcus Turbo</HI> in Affrica, and <HI>Lucius Quintus</HI> in the Ea&s;t, as was wonder|ful And in the eighteenth year of Adrian the Emperour one <HI>Julius Severus</HI> being &s;ent to extingui&s;h all the remnant of the Jewi&s;h generati|on, de&s;troyed in a very &s;hort time ninety and eight Towns and Vilages within that Country, and &s;lew five hundred and four&s;core thou&s;and of them in one day. At which time al&s;o he beat down the City of Jeru|&s;alem in &s;uch &s;ort, as he left not one &s;tone &s;tanding upon another of their ancient Buildings, but cau&s;ed &s;ome part thereof to be re-edified, and in|habited only by Gentiles. He chang|ed the name of the City, and called it <HI>Aelia,</HI> after the Emperors name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aelius Adrianus.</NOTE> He drove out all the Progeny and Off-&s;pring of the Jews forth of all tho&s;e Countries, with a perpetual Law confirmed by the Emperour, That they &s;hould never return, no nor &s;o much as look back from any high or eminent place to that Coun|try again. And this was done to the Jewi&s;h Nation by the Roman Em|perors, for accompli&s;hing that de|mand
<PB N="128" REF="76">
which their principal Elders had made not long before to <HI>Pilate</HI> the Roman Magi&s;trate (after he had wa&s;hed his hands before the multi|tude to clear him&s;elf, at lea&s;t wi&s;e in outward &s;hew, from the blood of Je&s;us, &s;aying, <HI>I am innocent of the blood of this ju&s;t man, look you to it:) Then an&s;wered all the people and &s;aid, His blood be upon us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.24</NOTE> <HI>and upon our children:</HI> and &s;o it came to pa&s;s ac|cordingly, even in that very age. Then the which what greater argu|ment of the Deity and Omnipoten|cy of our Lord and Saviour, who from heaven was able in &s;o &s;hort a time, and that in &s;o full mea&s;ure, to revenge him&s;elf upon his enemies here on earth. Yea, a whole Nation together brought to final de&s;olati|on. And &s;o much for the puni&s;hment of enemies.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>The fulfilling of Prophe&s;ies.</HEAD>
<P>THe la&s;t con&s;ideration followeth, and &s;o an end; which is, The fulfilling of Prophe&s;ies, all tho&s;e
<PB N="129" REF="76">
Prophe&s;ies uttered by our Lord and Saviour, while he was here upon earth: E&s;pecially this one of the de&s;truction and de&s;olation of the Jewi&s;h Nation already declared, might &s;uffice for all, which over and over while he was conver&s;ant among them, he denounced again&s;t them: and foretold &s;hould &s;hortly be ac|compli&s;hed upon them, in mo&s;t fear|ful manner, as namely at one time, after a long and vehement commi|nation made to the Scribes and Pha|ri&s;ees (in which he repeateth eight &s;everal times that dreadful threat, <HI>Wo</HI>) he concludeth, That <HI>all the Righteous blood</HI> injuriou&s;ly <HI>&s;hed from the fir&s;t Martyr Abel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.35</NOTE> and &s;o &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ively, &s;hould very &s;hortly be re|venged upon that generation: <HI>Veri|ly I &s;ay unto you, all the&s;e things &s;hall come upon this generation:</HI> and in the next words threatneth that popu|lous City Jeru&s;alem, that it &s;hould be made utterly de&s;olate. <HI>Jeru&s;alem, Jeru&s;alem, which kille&s;t the Prophets, and &s;tone&s;t them that are &s;ent unto thee, How often would I have gather|ed thy children together, as the Hen ga|thereth
<PB N="130" REF="77">
her Chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your Ha|bitation &s;hall be left unto you de&s;olate.</HI> And at another time, even that &s;o|lemn time of his Entry and Riding into Jeru&s;alem before his Pa&s;&s;ion, it is &s;aid in the Go&s;pel, That <HI>when he was come neer,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 19.41.</NOTE> <HI>he beheld the City, and wept over it, &s;aying, O if thou hadst even known at the lea&s;t in this thy day, tho&s;e things which belong unto thy place, but now are they hid from thine eyes;</HI> then denounceth that fearful de&s;olation following, That not one &s;tone &s;hould be left upon another, but all thrown down even to the ground: Executed upon them, and made good by <HI>Titus</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Ve&s;|patian,</HI> and finally, accompli&s;hed by <HI>Julius Severus,</HI> who in the days of <HI>Adrian</HI> (as before is rehear&s;ed) ut|terly defaced the very ruines of that City in &s;uch &s;ort, as he left not one &s;tone &s;tanding upon another of all their ancient Buildings, but laid them even with the ground. Again at ano|ther time, as &s;ome &s;pake of the Tem|ple, how it was garni&s;hed with good|ly &s;tones, and con&s;ecrate things, he
<PB N="131" REF="77">
&s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.6.</NOTE> <HI>Are the&s;e the things you look upon? The days will come wherein a &s;tone &s;hall not be left upon a &s;tone, that &s;hall not be thrown down</HI> And yet more particularly in the &s;ame chap|ter he foretelleth the &s;igns whereby his Di&s;ciples &s;hould perceive when the time was come: <HI>When ye &s;hall &s;ee Jeru&s;alem be&s;ieged with Souldiers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 21.20.</NOTE> <HI>then know ye that her de&s;olation is at hand.</HI> This foretold Je&s;us of the mi&s;e|ry that was to fall upon Jeru&s;alem, and upon that people (by the Ro|mans) when the Jews &s;eemed to be in mo&s;t &s;ecurity, and greate&s;t amity with the Romans, when they could away with no other government but that: <HI>We have no King but Cae&s;ar;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.15 ver&s;. 12.</NOTE> <HI>He that maketh him&s;elf a King &s;peak|eth again&s;t Cae&s;ar:</HI> and con&s;equently at that time they might &s;eem in all humane rea&s;on to have le&s;s cau&s;e then ever to mi&s;doubt &s;uch calami|ties. And yet how certain and a&s;&s;u|red fore-knowledge, and as it were mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible feeling Je&s;us had of the&s;e mi&s;eries, he declared by tho&s;e pitiful tears he &s;hed upon &s;ight and con&s;ideration of Jeru&s;alem (as be|fore
<PB N="132" REF="78">
is mentioned) when he wept o|ver it; as al&s;o by that tender &s;peech he u&s;ed to the women of that City who wept for him as he was led to be crucified,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.28.</NOTE> per&s;wading them to weep rather for them&s;elves, and for their children (in re&s;pect of the mi|&s;eries to follow) then for him. All which Prophe&s;ies and Predictions of Je&s;us, with &s;undry other his &s;peech|es, fore&s;hewing &s;o particularly the imminent calamities of that Nation, and that at &s;uch time when in human rea&s;on there could be no probability thereof; when a certain Heathen Chronicler named <HI>Phlegon</HI> (about a hundred yeers after Chri&s;ts depar|ture) had diligently con&s;idered, ha|ving &s;een the &s;ame al&s;o in his days mo&s;t exactly fulfilled (for he was &s;er|vant to <HI>Adrian</HI> the Emperor, by who&s;e command the final &s;ubver&s;i|on of that Jewi&s;h Nation was brought to pa&s;s) This <HI>Phlegon</HI> (I &s;ay) though a Pagan, yet upon con&s;idera|tion of the&s;e events, and others that he &s;aw (as the extream per&s;ecution of Chri&s;tians foretold by Chri&s;t, and the like, he pronounced, That never
<PB N="133" REF="78">
any man foretold things &s;o certainly to come, or that &s;o preci&s;ely were accompli&s;hed, as were the predicti|ons and prophe&s;ies of Je&s;us. And now albeit the&s;e predictions and pro|phe&s;ies concerning the puni&s;hment and reprobation of the Jews, fulfilled &s;o evidently in the &s;ight of all the world, might be a &s;ufficient demon|&s;tration of his divine pre&s;cience and foreknowledge in things to come; yet were there al&s;o many other things be&s;ides fore-&s;hewed by him, which fel out as exactly as the&s;e did, which by no humane rea&s;on or learning could po&s;&s;ibly be fore&s;een; as for example, The foretelling of his own Death, Re&s;urrection, and A&s;cen&s;ion, with all their &s;everal cir|cum&s;tances; the manner time, place, and all other particularities, as pre|ci&s;ely as if they had been already ac|compli&s;hed: and that not only to his own Di&s;ciples, but even to the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, who came of purpo&s;e to tempt him; as he that &s;hall but examine the quotations following, which for brevity &s;ake I have but only cyphered, and (as it
<PB N="134" REF="79">
were) pointed at in figures) may ea|&s;ily perceive. Fir&s;t to his Di&s;ciples, Matth. 16.21. chap. 17.9.22. chap. 20 17. chap. 26.1.11.31.45. Joh. 13.33. chap. 16.16. and 13.3. and 18.4. and 14.2.28. Then to the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, Matth. 12.38. chap. 21.38. Luke 13.31. John 2.18. chap 3.12. chap. 7.33. chap. 8.21.28. chap. 12.31. Al&s;o how his Di&s;ciples &s;hould be &s;cattered and for&s;ake him: John 16.32. Of <HI>Peters</HI> denyal. Matth. 26 34. And by what manner of death he &s;hould glorifie God, John 21.18. How <HI>Judas</HI> one or his own Di&s;ciples &s;hould betray him, John 6.64.70. chap 13.10.26. chap. 17.12. Matth. 26 21.49. Of the &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t&punc; John 7.38. chap. 14.16.26. chap. 15.26. chap. 16.7. Luke 24 49. Of his his Di&s;ciples Miracles which they &s;hould work in his name, Mark 16.17. Luke 10.18. John 14 12. The cruel per&s;ecution that &s;hould ari&s;e to the Profe&s;&s;ors of his Name in all places, Matth 10.16. chap. 24.9. John 16.1. The building of his
<PB N="135" REF="79">
Church notwith&s;tanding (in de&s;pite of the Divel, and all oppo&s;itions) upon a rock, with this &s;ure word of promi&s;e never to fail, <HI>That the gates of hell &s;hall not overcome it,</HI> Matth. 16.18. And again, <HI>I am with you alwaies, even to the end of the world,</HI> Matth. 28.20. The &s;igns and to|kens that &s;hould go before the end of the world; as fir&s;t, the fal&s;e Chri&s;ts, and fal&s;e Prophets that &s;hould ari&s;e here and there with the Church, yea and in the Church: that abomination of de&s;olation &s;po|ken of by <HI>Daniel</HI> the Prophet, to be &s;et in the holy place; Matth. 24.5. 11.15.23. Meaning (and &s;o I think would the holy Gho&s;t have all men to under&s;tand it, when he addeth this parenthe&s;is; <HI>Let him that read|eth con&s;ider it</HI>) even that <HI>arch Anti|chri&s;t,</HI> now <HI>&s;itting in that holy place,</HI> or church (for &s;o it was in times pa&s;t <HI>who&s;e Faith was one &s;o famous in all the world,</HI> Rom. 1.8. <HI>Wars, and rumors of wars, Pe&s;tilence, Famine, and Earthquakes,</HI> Matth. 24.6. Per|&s;ecution, as before; <HI>Then &s;hall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and &s;hall
<PB N="136" REF="80">
kill you, and ye &s;hall be hated of all Na|tions for my Names &s;ake.</HI> Matth. 24.9. So were Chri&s;tians in the Primitive Church under the Roman Emperors tho&s;e cruel <HI>Cae&s;ars;</HI> and &s;o have been of latter times al&s;o, under the Tyrannie of this arch Antichri&s;tian <HI>Cae&s;ar, that abomination of De&s;olation,</HI> now &s;itting in the &s;elf &s;ame place, <HI>drunken with the blood of the Saints,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 17.6.</NOTE> <HI>and with the blood of the Martyrs of Je&s;u&s;,</HI> who&s;e de&s;truction &s;leepeth not, <HI>Come I will &s;hew thee the dam|nation of the great Whore&punc;</HI> &amp;c. Finally, the preaching of the Go&s;pel to all Nations, Matth. 24.14. and the u|niting and gathering together both of Jew and Gentile into one Fold, under one Shepherd even that great Shepherd of our &s;ouls, <HI>that there may be one Sheepfold, and one Shepherd</HI> John 10.16. This is one of the la&s;t &s;ignes foretold by our Saviour, and but in part remaineth to be accom|pli&s;hed: and what hindreth? Even <HI>that abomination of De&s;olation</HI> before &s;poken of, which hath been a &s;tum|bling block to all Nations hitherto, both Turks and Jews, for coming to
<PB N="137" REF="80">
Chri&s;tianity; which the Lord in due time will remove&punc; For Babylon &s;hall fall (as it is in the Revelation) <HI>It is fallen, it is fallen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.2.</NOTE> <HI>Babylon that great City:</HI> In part it is fallen al|ready, and what hindreth but that daylie and hourly we may expect the final de&s;olation thereof? Daylie and hourly I &s;ay, for with &s;uch cele|rity and violence (when it &s;hall plea&s;e God to put in their hearts whom it may concern, to fulfil his Will, Rev. 17.17.) &s;hall this &s;en|tence be executed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">chap. 18.8.</NOTE> <HI>In one day &s;hal her plagues come upon her, death, and &s;or|row, and famine; and &s;he &s;hall be burnt with fire,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>In one hour &s;he &s;hall be made de&s;olate.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 18.1<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Rejoyce over her thou heaven, and ye holy Apo&s;tles and Prophets; for God hath given your judgement on her. And a mighty Angel took up a &s;tone, like a great Mil&s;tone, and ca&s;t it into the Sea, &s;ay|ing: with &s;uch violence &s;hall that great City Babylon be thrown down.</HI></P>
<P>And here I might ca&s;t up together in like manner (making but one to|tal &s;um of all) the Prophe&s;ies of all tho&s;e holy Apo&s;tles, and Di&s;ciples of
<PB N="138" REF="81">
our Lord and Saviour; both as touching divers particulars whereof they prophe&s;ied in tho&s;e times, ful|filled mo&s;t exactly&punc; as al&s;o touching the general &s;tate of the Church &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ively in all ages, even to the end of the world and of the end of the world it &s;elf. Fir&s;t for the particulars, I will but point at them, as before. One of tho&s;e <HI>holy Prophets</HI> prophe|&s;ied of a general dearth to fall out in tho&s;e times: which hapned accord|ingly under <HI>Claudius Cae&s;ar,</HI> Act. 11.27. Al&s;o of <HI>Pauls</HI> Impri&s;onment, Acts 21.10. <HI>Paul</HI> in his &s;ayling to|wards Rome, foretelleth the Centu|rion and the re&s;t, of the tempe&s;tuous weather to en&s;ue, Acts 27.10. Of their &s;hipwrack; but yet with &s;afety of their lives, ver&s;. 22. and preci&s;ely the place where they &s;hould be ca&s;t a&s;hore; to wit, <HI>upon a certain I&s;land,</HI> ver&s;. 26. In one of his Epi&s;tles he prophe&s;ieth of his own death, 2 Tim. 4.6. So doth al&s;o <HI>Peter.</HI> 2 Pet. 1.14. Secondly, for the future &s;tate of the Church in the&s;e la&s;t days, with the coming of Antichri&s;t into the world, and all his damned crew, tho&s;e helli&s;h
<PB N="139" REF="81">
Furies: See how preci&s;ely the&s;e holy Apo&s;tles and Prophets foretel of the&s;e times, <HI>the&s;e perillous times,</HI> and how lively they &s;et him out in his co|lours, with all his additions (as well becometh &s;uch an infernal King) <HI>the Angel of the bottomle&s;s pit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 9.11.</NOTE> <HI>who&s;e name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon: That Antichri&s;t, that man of &s;in the &s;on perdition, that wicked one,</HI> &amp;c. with all other adjuncts, and circum&s;tances &s;o lively de&s;cribed, as if he had been then already come; for even in the&s;e days (as the Apo|&s;tle &s;peaketh <HI>did this my&s;terie of ini|quity begin to work.</HI> See then I &s;ay, 2 The&s;. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 1 Joh. 2.18. chap. 4.1. 2 Joh. v. 7. yea the whole Revelation is nothing el&s;e but a continued prophe&s;ie of all &s;uch things as &s;hould happen to the Church militant, even from the A|po&s;tles times to the end of the world. All which prophe&s;ies we &s;ee accom|pli&s;hed&punc; except before excepted, the final de&s;truction of Babylon, and the calling of the Jews, whereof both our Saviour him&s;elf, as al&s;o <HI>Paul</HI> hath prophe&s;ied, <HI>Rom.</HI> 11. both which
<PB N="140" REF="82">
we daylie expect: and then (as it is in the Revelation) <HI>Come Lord Je&s;us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.20.</NOTE> Of which &s;econd coming, or general doom, with the manner of it, and all other circum&s;tances, we have al&s;o &s;undry prophe&s;ies both of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, which here I will joyn in one as proceeding all from one and the &s;ame Spirit; for here all prophe&s;ies mu&s;t come to a full peri|od, <HI>nil ultra.</HI> I will only quote them as formerly, Matth. 16.27. chap. 19.28. chap. 20.1. chap. 24. chap. 25. chap. 26.64. John 5.25. <HI>&amp;c.</HI> 1 Cor. 85. 1 The&s;. 4.14. chap. 5.1. Jam. 5.8. 1 Pet. 4.7. 2 Pet. 3. Jude v. 6. <HI>&amp;</HI> 14: Rev. 21. where you &s;hall &s;ee <HI>a new heaven, and a new earth</HI> &amp;c. <HI>New Je|ru&s;alem de&s;cending from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride trimmed for her Husband.</HI></P>
<P>Thus have I brought you at length (as after a long and tedious pa&s;&s;age by Sea) to &s;ee land, and as it were the Sea-mark whereunto after &s;o many variable winds, and &s;o often tacking to and again, we have direct|ed our cour&s;e, even from the fir&s;t Prophe&s;ie made to <HI>Adam</HI> in Para|di&s;e,
<PB N="141" REF="82">
Gen. 3.15. to the very la&s;t peri|od of all Prophe&s;ies in the Revelati|on, &s;hut up in the &s;econd <HI>Adam,</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t; who is <HI>the fir&s;t and the la&s;t, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending;</HI> in whom all Prophe|&s;ies ki&s;s each other, and have their con&s;ummation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 14.44</NOTE> <HI>The&s;e are the words</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>which I &s;pake unto you while I was yet with you: That all mu&s;t be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law of Mo&s;es, and in the Prophets, and in the P&s;alms,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer&punc; and to ri&s;e again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins &s;hould be preached in his Name among all Nations, begin|ning at Jeru&s;alem.</HI> I &s;ay from this Jeru&s;alem, which now lyeth de&s;o|late, I have brought you to the <HI>New Jeru&s;alem, coming down from heaven, as a Bride adorned for her Husband:</HI> from an earthly, to a heavenly Para|di&s;e, and there I leave you.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="summary">
<PB N="142" REF="83">
<HEAD>A Collection DEMONSTRATIVE, OR Sum of the former Proofs.</HEAD>
<P>THe <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> mu&s;t be a &s;pi|ritual King to conquer the Divel, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">eath, and Sin: b<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">th by Scripture, as al&s;o by the Interpretation of the ancient Jews them&s;elves, upon that place of Gene&s;is, <HI>He &s;hall break thine head:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> There|fore not a Temporal King, as the lat|ter Jews imagine.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> mu&s;t be King over the Gentiles as well as the Jews, both by Scripture, as al&s;o by their own Wri|ters: Therefore not a Temporal King, to reign <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ver the<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> only; much le&s;s to &s;ubdue the Gentiles to the &s;ervitude of Jewry, as &s;ome of them imagine</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> mu&s;t be both God and Man, the Son of God, the Word of
<PB N="143" REF="83">
God incarnate, The &s;econd per&s;on in Trin<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ty, both by the Scriptures, as al&s;o by their own Writers: Therefore no &s;uch earthly Monarch as they expect.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> at his coming (being to be both King of Jew and Gentile) mu&s;t change the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> to wit, the Ceremonial and Provincial proper to the Jews only, and in&s;tead thereof, give a general Law to both, ab&s;olute and p<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">rfect, to &s;erve for all per&s;ons, times, and places, to endure even to the end of the world: th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">refore no &s;uch Temporal Monarch<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> to be expe<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ed, as they look after For one and the &s;ame conclu&s;ion followeth upon all th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter"> pre|mi&s;es, beating upon <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">heir main gro<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">nd (to wit a temporal or Earthly King|dom&punc; which bei<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">g once &s;haken, the re&s;t falleth to the ground.</P>
<P>All Prophe&s;ies what&s;oever, with e|very particular circum&s;tance foretold by the Prophets of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> were both &s;ub&s;tantially and circum&s;tantial|ly fulfilled in the per&s;on of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour; both as touching his Birth, Life, Doctrine Miracles, Death, Re|&s;urrection, A&s;cen&s;ion; and other ef|fects afterwards of his Divine Power,
<PB N="144" REF="84">
in &s;ending of the holy Ghost, and the miraculous encrea&s;e of his Church, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Therefore was he indeed the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> no other to be expected.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah,</HI> by <HI>Daniels</HI> Prophe&s;ie, was to appear immediately upon the e&s;tabli&s;hment of the Roman Empire: for (&s;aith he) <HI>In the days of the&s;e Kings, &s;hall the God of heaven &s;et up a Kingdom, which &s;hall not be de&s;troyed,</HI> Dan. <HI>2.44.</HI> which mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood of the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, or the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah.</HI> And in the&s;e days was our Saviour born, even in the days of <HI>Augu&s;tus Cae&s;ar;</HI> Therefore in him is the circum&s;tance of time ve|rified.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> by <HI>Jacobs</HI> Prophe&s;ie was to appear immediately when the Rod or <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cepter was departed from the hou&s;e of <HI>Judah.</HI> Then appeared <HI>that Star of Jacob,</HI> our Lord and Saviour; <HI>Ergo.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> by the Prophe&s;ie of Haggai (as al&s;o by their own Thal|mud) was to come during the &s;econd Temple: Then came our Lord and Saviour, <HI>Ergo.</HI> And con&s;equently the Jews after this time (to wit the de&s;tru|ction
<PB N="145" REF="84">
of the &s;econd Temple) in vain ex|pect another.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> by the true account, and calculation of <HI>Daniel</HI>'s <HI>Hebdo|mades,</HI> or weeks of years, was to come ju&s;t according to the times before men|tioned: So did our Saviour (as is a|fore&s;aid) therefore to him doth this cir|cum&s;tance of time bear witne&s;s: And con&s;equently the Jews, after the&s;e times by God him&s;elf appointed for the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> (or rather one and the &s;ame time, for there is no other difference, but only in adjuncts and circum&s;tan|ces) expecting yet for another; be&s;ides their vain expectation make God him|&s;elf a Lyar.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> by the Scriptures was to be born of the Tribe of <HI>Judah,</HI> of the hou&s;e of <HI>David,</HI> So was our Saviour: Therefore he alone the legitimate and true born Me&s;&s;iah by Birth-right (as I may &s;ay) as al&s;o by Pre&s;cription, after &s;o long time of peaceable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion no other to be expected.</P>
<P>The <HI>Me&s;&s;iah</HI> by the Scripture, as al|&s;o by their own Rabbins, was to be born of a Virgin, &s;o was our Saviour: <HI>Ergo,</HI></P>
<P><PB N="146" REF="85"><HI>All other particulars foretold of the</HI> Me&s;&s;iah, <HI>&s;ee them fulfilled as fol|loweth, to wit,</HI></P>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW ROLE="label">
<CELL>Prophe&s;ies.</CELL>
<CELL>&nbsp;</CELL>
<CELL>fulfilled.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Mich. <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.2.</CELL>
<CELL>That the place of his Birth &s;hould be Bethlehem.</CELL>
<CELL>Luke 2.4.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Jer. 31.15.</CELL>
<CELL>That at his Birth all the Infants thereabouts &s;hould be &s;lain.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 2.16.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al. 72.10.</CELL>
<CELL>That Kings or great Per|&s;onages &s;hould come and a|dore him, and offer gold, and other gifts unto him.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 2.1.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Mal. 3.1.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be pre&s;ent|ed in the Temple of Jeru&s;a|lem, for the greater glory of that &s;econd Temple.</CELL>
<CELL>Luk. 2.22.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Ho&s;. 11.1.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould flee into E|gypt, and be called thence a|gain.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 2.13.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Num. 24.17.</CELL>
<CELL>That a Star &s;hould appear at his Birth to notifie his com|ing into the world.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 2.9.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Mal. 3.1. &amp; 4.5. I&s;a. 40.3.</CELL>
<CELL>That <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> (who came in the power and &s;pirit of <HI>Eliah,</HI> and therefore was called <HI>Eliah.</HI> Luke <HI>1.17.</HI> Matth. <HI>11.10.14.</HI>) &s;hould be the Me&s;&s;enger to go before him, and to prepare the way, and to cry in the De&s;ert.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 3.1</CELL>
</ROW>
<PB N="147" REF="85">
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 42.2.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould begin his own Preaching with all hu|mility, quietne&s;s, and clemen|cy of Spirit</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 5.1.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be poor, ab|ject, and of no reputation in this world</CELL>
<CELL>Luk. 2.7.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 35.5.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould do &s;trange Miracles, and heal all Di&s;|ea&s;es.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 4.23.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.12, Dan. 9.26.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould die and be &s;lain for the &s;ins of his people.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 27.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al. 55.13.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be betrayed by one of his own Familiars</CELL>
<CELL>Mat 26.47.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Zac. 11.12.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be &s;old for thirty pieces of &s;ilver.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 26.15.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Zac. 11.13.</CELL>
<CELL>That with tho&s;e thirty pie|ces there &s;hould be bought af|terwards a field of Pot&s;heards</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 27.<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Zac. 9.9.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould ride into Jeru&s;alem upon an A&s;s.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 27.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 50.6.</CELL>
<CELL>That the Jews &s;hould beat and buffet his face, and defile the &s;ame with &s;pitting.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 26.67.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.5.</CELL>
<CELL>That they &s;hould whip, rend and tear his body before they put him to death.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 26.27</CELL>
</ROW>
<PB N="148" REF="86">
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.12.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be put to death among Thieves and Malefactors.</CELL>
<CELL>Luk. 23.33.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.7.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould be &s;ilent be|fore his enemies, as a &s;heep be|fore his &s;hearer.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 27.14.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>I&s;a. 53.12.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould pray for his enemies and per&s;ecutors.</CELL>
<CELL>Luk. 23.34.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al. 22.18. &amp; 69.21.</CELL>
<CELL>That they &s;hould give him vinegar to drink, divide his apparel, and ca&s;t lots for his upper garment.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 27.34.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al. 22.16. Zac. 12.10.</CELL>
<CELL>That the manner of his death &s;hould be crucifying, that is, nayling of his hands and his feet to the Cro&s;s.</CELL>
<CELL>Joh. 19.18.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Zac. 12.10.</CELL>
<CELL>That his &s;ide &s;hould be pierced, and that they &s;hould look upon him whom they had &s;o pierced.</CELL>
<CELL>Joh. 19.34.37.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>Exo. 12.46.</CELL>
<CELL>That not a Bone of him &s;hould be broken, figured in the Pa&s;sover by that &s;potle&s;s Lamb without blemi&s;h, a type thereof; and therefore is he called in the New Te&s;tament, <HI>The Lamb of God that ta|keth away the &s;ins of the world: The Lamb &s;lain from the beginning of the world.</HI></CELL>
<CELL>Joh. 19.36.</CELL>
</ROW>
<PB N="149" REF="86">
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al. 16.9. Ho&s;. 6.2.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould ri&s;e again from death the third day.</CELL>
<CELL>Mat. 28.1.</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>P&s;al 68.18. &amp; 110.1.</CELL>
<CELL>That he &s;hould a&s;cend into heaven, and there &s;it at the right hand of his Father try|umphantly for ever.</CELL>
<CELL>Luke 24.51. Act. 7.55, 56.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<P><HI>All the&s;e particulars foretold of the</HI> Me&s;&s;i|ah, <HI>&s;ee (I &s;ay) and examine how exactly they were all fulfilled in our Saviour: and there|withal con&s;ider tho&s;e things which fell out af|terwards as effects of his Divine power; to wit, the &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t immediate|ly after his A&s;cen&s;ion; with the miraculous encrea&s;e of his Church even in the mid&s;t of per&s;ecution. The &s;evere puni&s;hment of all his enemies, e&s;pecially that of the Jewi&s;h Nation. The &s;ubjection of the Divel, with all his Infer|nal power under his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ciples feet, together with the cea&s;ing of Oracles. And finally, the fulfilling of all his Prophe&s;ies (with tho&s;e likewi&s;e of his Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ci|ples) mo&s;t exactly. I &s;ay, all the&s;e, with the
<PB N="150" REF="87">
former, put together, and well con&s;idered, may &s;ettle the heart of any Chri&s;tian man, again&s;t all</HI> Judai&s;m, Pagani&s;m, <HI>yea and</HI> Athei&s;m <HI>too, in the mo&s;t undoubted Truth of his profe&s;&s;ion, to wit, the Chri&s;tian Religion; with this full and final per&s;wa&s;ion (wherewith I will knit up all) That</HI> there is no other Name under heaven given to the &s;ons of men, whereby to be &s;aved, but the name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. <HI>And therefore to Him be the honour of our Salvation a&s;cribed, and to no other. To</HI> Him <HI>(I &s;ay) with the</HI> Fa|ther, <HI>and the</HI> Spirit, <HI>even that ble&s;&s;ed Trinity,</HI> Elohim, <HI>be all Honour and glory, now and evermore,</HI> Amen, Amen.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="87">
<HEAD>Table of the Contents of the &s;eve|ral matters of this Book.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM>OF the Promi&s;es and Prophe&s;ies of old <HI>1</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Gods promi&s;e to Adam <HI>3</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Gods promi&s;e to Abraham <HI>3</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> Jacob <HI>5</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>6</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> David <HI>9</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> Jeremy <HI>15</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> Ezekiel <HI>15</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Prophe&s;ie of</HI> I&s;aiah <HI>16</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>That the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t be both God and man <HI>18</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>That the Me&s;&s;iah mu&s;t change the Law of Mo&s;es <HI>26</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The time of his Manife&s;tation, with all other circum&s;tances <HI>33</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Linage or Pedegree <HI>56</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Birth with the Circum&s;tances thereof <HI>57</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Preaching and Doctrine <HI>71</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Life and Conver&s;ation <HI>75</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Miracles <HI>77</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the Calling of his Apo&s;tles <HI>80</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Death and Pa&s;&s;ion <HI>86</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of his Re&s;urrection <HI>92</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="88">Of his A&s;cention <HI>95</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t, with the fir&s;t plantation and wonderful Increa&s;e of the Church. <HI>98</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the &s;incerity of the Evangeli&s;ts <HI>102</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the Confe&s;&s;ion of Martyrs <HI>109</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the &s;ubjection of Spirits <HI>111</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the Puni&s;hment of Enemies <HI>118</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the fulfilling of Prophe&s;ies <HI>128</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>A Collection Demon&s;trative, or the &s;um of former Proofs. <HI>142</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
