The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

SECTION XIX. (Book 19)

St. LUKE Chap. V. (Book 19)

NOW it came to pass as the people pressed on him to hear the Word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesareth. 2. And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fisher-men were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3. And he entred into one of the ships which was Simons, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land: and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. 4. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Lanch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5. And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6. And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multi∣tude of fishes, and their net brake. 7. And they beckned unto their partners which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8. When Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Iesus knees saying, Depart from me, for I am a sin∣ful man O Lord. 9. For he was astonished and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. 10. And so was also Iames and Iohn the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Iesus said unto Simon, Fear not, for from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him.

St. MATTH. Chap. IV. Vers. 17.

FROM that time Iesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the King∣dom of Heaven is at hand. 18. And Iesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, ca∣sting a net into the Sea (for they were fishers.) 19. And he saith unto them: Follow me and I will make you fisher of men. 20. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. 21. And going on from thence he saw other two brethren Iames the son of Zebedee and Iohn his bro∣ther, in a ship with Zebe∣dee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22. And they immediate∣ly left the ship and their Fa∣ther, and followed him.

St. MARK Chap. I. Vers. 14.

JESUS came into Gali∣lee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. 15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the King∣dom of God is at hand, re∣pent ••e and believe the Go∣spel. 16. Now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his bro∣ther, casting a net into the Sea, (for they were fishers.) 17. And Iesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18. And straightway they forsook their nets, and follow∣ed him. 19. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw Iames the son of Zebedee, and Iohn his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20. And straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

Reason of the Order.

THERE is not so much doubtfulness of the subsequence of this Section, or at the least of some of it, to the Section preceding (for the transition in Matthew doth make it clear) as there is of something contained within the Section it self. Luke had re∣lated Christs unkind usage and danger by his Townsmen of Nazareth, and that thereupon he slipt away from them and went to Capernaum: There Matthew takes at him, and tells how divinely that Prophesie of Esay came now to be fulfilled by his dwelling in those parts, The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthali, &c. And then he comes on with a special note of conjuction of the stories, From that time Jesus began to preach, &c. And how Mark doth joyn with him in bringing on this story before us, in the present Section, though he doth it very briefly, not mentioning any of his actions in Galilee till this in hand, yet is it so apparent and conspicuous that there needeth nothing to be said of it: But in the body of the Section now under hand lie these two queries.

Quest. 1. Whether is this story in Luke about Peter, and Zebedees sons, the same with that in Matthew and Mark? For some particular circumstances do seem to difference them: as whereas Matthew and Mark say Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and saw Peter and Andrew casting a net into the Sea and called them, Luke relates how he was in Peters ship, and spake to him to cast his net into the Sea, &c. Again Matthew and Mark say, when he had gone a little further he saw James and John mending their nets, &c. but Luke re∣lateth that James and John came up to Peters ship, where Jesus was to help to draw up the great draught of fishes that was taken, &c.

Answ. Now though there seem to be these different, yea contrary circumstances in the Evangelists relation, yet is the story but one and the same, but only related more largely by Luke than by the other: The texture of it may be taken up thus: As Jesus walked along the Sea shore of Gennesareth, and the people pressed on him to hear the word, he stepped into Peters ship and there taught: and having ended his speech he causeth Peter to cast down his net for a draught, and he had a great one; (this is that that Matthew and Mark speak of when they say, He saw Peter and Andrew casting a net into the Sea, they speaking short, and Luke giving the story in its full relation) Peter unable to ma∣nage so great a draught, beckens for James and John to come and help him, which they did: upon the draught Christ calls Peter to be a fisher of men, and he lands and follows him: But James and John returning to their station and to mend their nets, as he comes by he calls them and they follow him also: And thus is the story at large as it may be composed out of all the three, one helping to explain another, and all relating but the same story.

Quest. 2. If this order of St. Luke be proper, as that this action of our Saviour in calling these Disciples, must come so near his coming to Capernaum as Matthew hath laid it, how is it that Luke hath laid two miracles done in Capernaum before this story, viz. the casting out a Devil in Capernaum Synagogue, and healing Peters wifes mother? Chap. 4. 33. 38. which Mark hath placed after the story of the calling of Peter and the other fish∣ers; and so it may seem to be after their call, and this story in Luke to be after those mi∣racles, and another story different from that, of their call.

Answ. Mark, whose method of all the three Evangelists is most constantly according to the order of time in which things were done, hath given one undoubted hint of the or∣der of this story, that it was before the two miracles done there, for when he hath re∣lated the calling of the Disciples, he saith, And they, that is, Christ and these Disciples now called, went in to Capernaum, vers. 21. And Matthew also in laying the healing of Pe∣ters mother in law, (which was one of the miracles mentioned) so very far after the story of the Disciples called, doth also confirm this method that it was not before.

Now, two things are observable in St. Luke as to his method: 1. That Christ refused to do any miracles in his own Town of Nazareth, though they expected he should shew some great works there) as he had done in Capernaum: Not that he would have refused Nazareth, had not Nazareth refused him, as was said before, but that he would by that his speech have made them to have closed with him the more. But now that that Town had so basely and so cruelly cast him off (as that if they could they would have cast him down a rock) the Holy Ghost doth presently set down what he did in Capernaum, as by the one story to set off the other the more: to shew what Nazareth had lost by what Capernaum had gained. And whereas in Nazareth Synagogue, he had had so little respect and intertainment, Luke hath presently shewed, that yet he taught constantly in Capernaum, and there found more acceptance, and they found benefit, for there he wrought a miracle. 2. The Evangelists aim to the end of the Chapter is apparently this, to set forth Christs Preaching and Ministration in the Syna∣gogues of Galilee upon his return thither: He lays his groundwork at vers. 14, 15. Jesus

returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and he taught in their Synagogues: And then he dilateth upon that relation: as first that he taught in the Synagogue of Nazareth, and there he was ill used, and thence he went to the Synagogue of Capernaum, and there he cast out a Devil, and then he went over the Synagogues of Galilee: And having given this account of what he intended, namely to speak of Christs publick and open Mi∣nistery in the Synagogues, then he cometh to his more particular actions and demeanour: And being in speech of Capernaum Synagogue, he mentioneth two miracles done there, somewhat before the proper order of their time, because having no more to say of that Town of a long space he would conclude all the occurrences there now altogether.

Harmony and Explanation.

AS Moses, David, Elisha, and Amos were called from their mean and homely imploy∣ment, of feeding sheep and following the plow, to those great functions in which they were so eminent and renowned afterwards: so are these four, (the chiefest of Christs Disciples, if we may think of any Disparity in that glorious society) called from a mean and poor vocation of catching fish in the Sea of Gennesareth, to the high and honourable imployment of catching souls with the net of the Gospel, See 1 Cor. 1. 27, 28.

Galilee as base as it was in the repute of the Jews of Judea, Joh. 7. 52. yet had it been renowned in many atchievements, and for several occurrences, and now was come to be most honourable of all other places for the residence of Christ, and original of the Go∣spel. Moses had foretold that Zabulon and Issachar, Galileans, should call the people unto the mountain of the Lords house to offer Sacrifices of righteousness, Deut. 33. 19. And Jacob be∣fore him, That Nephthali the Galilean should give goodly words, Gen. 49. 21. Both evident and glorious predictions of this original of the Gospel in both places. Zabulon and Neph∣thali had done renownedly in the overthrow of Sisera, Judg. 5. 18. and in the wars of Gideon, Judg. 6. 35. see also 1 Chron. 12. 33, 34. &c.

Matth. 4. vers. 17. From that time Iesus began to preach, &c.

There are two dates to be conjoyned from which this preaching of our Saviour is da∣ted by the Evangelist, and both which he intimateth and mentioneth in the verses before. 1. From Johns imprisonment vers. 12. for when he had now run his race, and prepared what people he could for Christs appearing, and sealed his Ministery with suffering, then from that time beginneth Christ most plainly to shew himself, and to preach the Gospel. 2. When he was now come into Galilee into those parts, where captivity first began, and where it was foretold that comfort and appearance of redemption should first begin also: It is indeed a good space of time since John was shut up in prison, for Christ since that had come out of Judea, been in Samaria, travailed in Galilee, and been refused at Naza∣reth, and yet till now he beginneth not to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Because he would first try what intertainment would be given to the Gospel of the King∣dom, before he declares how near that Kingdom is to come.

Mark 1. vers. 15. Saying, The time is fulfilled.

Quest. 1. Why was it so long in the age of the world, as that almost four thousand years of it were expired before Christ came, and before the Kingdom of Heaven did ap∣pear? Had it not been more agreeable to the end for which Christ came, which was to save sinners and to call the Gentiles, for him to have come sooner, and nearer the time when sin began, and the Gentiles were cast off, than to suffer the one to grow so much and the other to perish so long ere he appeared?

Answ. Aquinas disputeth this point, part. 3. quest. 1. Art. 5. and he giveth these answers. 1. It was not convenient that Christ should appear so very soon after sin was entred into the world, because it was needful, that man by the Law, should first be taught to know his own estate and misery, and to see the need he had of the great Physitian. 2. Because it was needful that he that was the great Lord and Judge, should have his harbengers and messengers to be sent before him, as the Prophets were, before he himself came: other reasons he giveth, but these two are of the greatest weight. To which may be added. 3. That the coming of Christ, and preaching of the Gospel •••• it was the highest mercy, that could be shewed to mankind, so it was last to be shew•…•…s the last trial, whereby the Lord would see what was in man, and how he would in•…•…ain this greatest mercy: God had tried the world before with divers trials, the light of nature, the promise of Christ, a publick service, a succession of Prophets, &c. (for Israel to whom these things were allowed were as the Epitome of the world) but all these things being abused, there

was but one trial more, the Lord said, I will send my son, they will surely reverence my son, &c.

Quest. 2. Why did Christ appear at that very time of the world rather than any other?

Answ. 1. As Christ came a deliverer from sin, so he appeared when sin was at the highest (so the Jews observe from Esa. 63. 5.) for if ever it were at height in the world, it was then. Not only among the Gentiles (the Romans, the wicked and bloody Nati∣on, being now as high in all manner of impiety as they were in power) but even among the Jews, they having after all other their sins, and killing of the Prophets, even killed the Scriptures and the Word of God by their irreligious and accursed traditions. It was not only seasonable, but it was time for Christ to come to revive the Scriptures, which were thus murdered. 2. The Jews were now in as great bondage, of greater than ever they had been, both spiritually and bodily: for they were not only inslaved in their souls by blind Teachers, but their outward man was under the double bondage, of the Romans and of Herod. He of the posterity of cursed and hated Edom, and they the great afflicter, that had now laid that yoke upon the Nation, that it must never come from under till Jerusalem be destroyed. 3. The Antichristian Nation or that state that was to be the continual 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or opposer against the truth, was now risen, and the wisdom of God disposed that the Gospel and this enemy should rise together.

Now therefore when Christ thus began to declare himself, the time was fulfilled. 1 Which God from the foundation of the world had determined for this great occasion. 2. Which all the Prophets did point out and foretel of the coming of the righteous one. 3. Which the Jews themselves had in expectation. 4. The last days were come (to which the Prophets still pointed in their predictions concerning his appearing, as Esa. 2. 2. Mic. 4. 1. &c.) namely the last days of Jerusalem, for she was now come under the bondage of that Nation that was to be her ruine. And 5. Elias, Baptist, was come and had run his course.

§. And the Kingdom of God is at hand, Repent ye and believe the Gospel.

Matth. 4. vers. 17. Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

1. Both Christ and John the Baptist use this same doctrine and argumentation, Matth. 3. 2. not only exhorting to repentance because of the necessity of the thing it self, but al∣so persuading it from this reason, because The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. For 1. That was the peoples great expectation, Luke 2. 25. 38. & 19. 11. Mark 15. 43. And 2. It was their own opinion that their Redemption by Messias must be upon their repentance: This point is disputed at large by the Gemarists in the Treatise Sanhedrin per. 10. and Da∣vid Kimchi on Esay 59. 16. His words, for he alleadgeth the words of the other, are to this purpose. And he saw that there was no man, &c. Behold we find in the Law this saying, And thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice: And he saith al∣so: And the Lord thy God shall turn thy captivity and shall pity thee. And so he saith likewise: And from thence ye shall seek the Lord thy God, and thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Behold the gathering of their captivity shall be by the means of repentance. Now whereas Esay saith, And he saw that there was no man, therefore his own arm brought Salvation, &c. And so likewise, And I looked and there was none to help, &c. And he saith, I have seen his ways. And whereas Ezekiel saith, Not for your sakes do I this O house of Israel, &c. And again, I will bring you from among the people. And yet again, I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against me, I will bring them out of the Country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And also in the Law he saith, I will remember for them the former Covenant, &c. It may seem that they come not forth upon their own goodness, but upon the mercy of God, and the goodness of their Fathers. And also by the words of our Rabbins of blessed memory we find, that they were intricated about this matter, whether they should come forth by means of repentance or no. For they say thus, Rabbi Jochanan saith, The son of David cometh not, but either in a gene∣ration all righteous, or a generation all wicked. In a generation all wicked as it is said, And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no Intercessour, and then it follows, Therefore his own arm brought Salvation: In a generation all righteous, as it is written, Thy people are all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever. They say moreover thus. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi saith, It is written, Behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of Heaven, And it is also written, Lowly and riding upon an Asse. Now how agrees this, If they be good he comes with the clouds of Heaven, If they be not good, then lowly and riding upon an Ass? Also in their words Rabbi Eliezer saith, If Israel repent, they are presently redeemed. Rabbi Joshua saith to him, And is it not somewhere said, Ye were sold for nought and ye shall not be redeemed with silver: but by repentance and good works? So that we see that they

scrupled amongst themselves, whether the gathering of the captivity should be by the means of repentance or no. And the reason of this was because of the diversity of these Texts. But it is possible thus to reconcile them: That many of Israel shall repent after that they see some signs of redemption. And hereupon it is said, And he saw that there was no man: because they will not repent till they see the beginning of redemption.

In such a sense did the Jewish Nation hold repentance, an ingredient to the entertain∣ment of the Kingdom of Heaven when it should appear, and so both our Saviour and John the Baptist, in this argumentation, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, do but apply themselves to them even upon their own doctrines and conclusions: Now whereas we said, in the explanation of the story of Nicodemus, that they expected that the appearing of the Messias would take them as they were, and that without more ado they shoul be translated into a glorious condition, and happiness should drop into their mouths; it doth not cross it though it be said here, that they had thoughts of repentance as an ingredient to the intertainment of Messiah when he came, for exceeding many of them thought they needed no repentance, and for those that needed, they allotted such a kind of repentance, as we shall see by and by, as was far from any inward alteration of spirit or change of mind.

3. Nor doth this manner of arguing, Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, suit only with the Jews own maxim and opinion, and so might convince and win them the sooner, but it also agrees most properly with the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven it self. For 1. if by the term be understood the coming and appearing of the Messias (as that indeed is the first sense of it) what fitter intertainment of his appearing than re∣pentance? For men, when he came to save them from their sins, Matth. 1. 18. to repent of their sins, and when he came as the true light, they to forsake their dark ways: And when the Lord by the appearance of Christ for mans redemption, did shew as it were that he repented of evil against man, how fit was it for man to meet this great mercy by repenting of his own evil? And 2. If the term the Kingdom of Heaven be taken for the state of the Church and Religion under the appearance of Christ and the Gospel in com∣parison of what it was under the Ceremonious administrations in the Law, there could be no fitter intertainment of it than by repentance, namely by washing, purifying and sa∣crificing the heart, when there was no other washing, purifying or sacrificing in Reli∣gion to be had, and such external Ceremonies should be gone out of date. 3. And lastly, if by this phrase, be meant the Kingdom of Christ among the Gentiles, and their calling by the Gospel (as it also reacheth that sense) it was a proper kind of arguing used to the Jews to move them to repentance, by minding them of the cal∣ling of the Gentiles, whose calling in, they knew would be their own casting off, if they repented not.

II. A second thing worth our consideration in this our Saviours doctrine, is the word by which he calleth for repentance. What Syriack word he used speaking that language it is uncertain (the Syriack translater useth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Return or be converted) but the word which the Holy Ghost hath left us in the Original Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is exceeding significant and pertinent to that doctrine and occasion. The word is frequently used in the Septua∣gint, concerning God, when he is said to repent or not repent, as 1 Sam. 15. 29. Jer. 3. 9. Amos 7. 3. 6. &c. but the use of it applied to man is not so frequent in them, as of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as Ezek. 18. 30. because that word doth most Gram∣matically and verbatim translate the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which is the word most commonly used in the Hebrew, for Repenting, and yet do the Septuagint sometimes use 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for mans repentance, as Jer. 8. 6. &c.

The word doth first signifie a reviewing or considering of a mans own self and conditi∣on, as Lam. 3. 40. and so Brucioli doth render it in the Italian, Ravedete vi, view your selves, or take your selves into consideration. Secondly, it betokeneth a growing wise, or coming to ones self again, as Luk. 15. 1. 7. and thereupon it is well rendred by our Prote∣stant Divines, Resipicite, Be wise again, for so the word were to be construed in its strict propriety. And thirdly it signifieth a change of mind, from one temper to another.

Now the Holy Ghost by a word of this significancy, doth give the proper and true character of repentance, both against the misprisions that were taken up concerning it, by their traditions in those times, and those also that have been taken up since. The Jews did place much of repentance in a bare confession of the offence, and much of pardon, in the Scapegoats sending away, and in the service of the day of Expiation, and much in induring the penalty inflicted by the Judges; And undoubted pardon at the day of death: We will take their mind in their own words. He that transgresseth against an affirmative com∣mand and returns presently, he stirs not till God pardon him, and of such it is said, Return O ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. He that offends against a negative command, repentance keeps him off from punishment, and the day of Expiation atones for him, and of such it is said, For to day he will expiate: But he by whom the name of Heaven is

blasphemed, repentance hath no power to shield him from punishment, nor the day of Expiation ••o atone for him, nor chastisements by the Judges to acquit him. But repentance and the day of Expiation, do expiate a third part, and chastisements à third part, and death a third part. And of such it is said, If this iniquity be purged till you dye, Behold we learn that death ac∣quitteth. Talm. Jerus. in Sanhedr. fol. 27. Observe by the way, how directly our Saviour faceth this opinion, when he saith the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall neither be∣forgiven in this life nor in the life to come, Matth. 12. 32. that is, no not by the expiation of death as they conceived. Now what a kind of repentance they mean, we may ob∣serve by such like passages as these. All the commandments of the Law, be they preceptive or prohibitive, if a man transgress against any of them, either erring or presuming, when he re∣pents and turns from his sin he is bound to make confession: Whosoever brings a sin or trespass offering for his error, or presumption, his sin is not expiated by his offering, until he make a verbal confession: And whosoever is guilty of death or of whipping by the Sanhedrin, his sin is not expiated by his whipping or his death, unless he repent and make a confession: And because the Scapegoat is an atonement for all Israel, the High Priest maketh a confession for all Israel over him. The Scapegoat expiateth for all transgressions mentioned in the Law, be they great or little. Maym. in Teshubah per. 1.

This their wild doctrine about repentance and pardon being considered, in which they place so much of the one and the other in such things, as that the true affectedness of the heart for sin or in seeking of pardon, is but little spoken of or regarded, we may well observe, how singularly pertinent to the holding out of the true doctrine of repentance, this word is which is used by the Holy Ghost, which calleth for change of mind in the penitent, and an alteration of the inward temper, as wherein consisteth the proper na∣ture and vertue of repentance: and not in any outward actions or applications, if the mind be not thus changed.

And thus as our Saviour, urging the duty of repentance upon them from this reason, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, argueth to them from one of their own confest opinions: so in this original word, by which repentance is called for, another opinion of theirs seemeth also to be looked upon but with gainsaying and confutation, because they placed so much of repentance, if not all repentance, in outward things. And so when the Ministery of the Gospel calleth for Repentance, and in such a word as betokeneth a change and alteration of the mind, it doth at once confute the double error that was amongst them, which was either about not needing of repentance but insisting upon legal righteousness: or if they were to repent, it was to be chiefly performed by confes∣sion, or offerings, or some outward action.

III. Thirdly, It is observable in this preaching of Christ, that to his admonition to re∣pent, he also adjoyneth the other, To believe the Gospel which John the Baptist (that we read of) had not done, Matth. 3. 2. And yet John preached the Gospel too: for his Ministery is called the beginning of it, Mark 1. 1, 2. and he preached that they should be∣lieve, Joh. 1. 7. But his doctrine did mainly aim at the declaring of him that was to preach the Gospel, that when he came to preach it, he might the more readily be believed. Joh. 1. 31. Act. 19. 4. Johns chiefest and most intended task and purpose was to point out Christ, and to bring the people to be acquainted with his person, and to take notice of him as the Messias the great Prophet, to whom it was reserved to publish the great things of the Gospel, that when he came openly to preach it (as now he doth) he might be the better intertained and hearkned after: And thus John makes ready a people prepared for the Lord, Luke 1. 17. And now that this great Preacher (for whom attention and re∣gard was prepared by all the bent of Johns Ministery) is come to preach and publish the Gospel in its full clearness and manifestation, He calleth for repentance and belief of it, as Act. 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith or believing, in order of the work of grace, is before repentance, that being the first and mother grace of all others, yet is it here, and in other places named the latter, 1. Because, though faith be first wrought, yet repentance is first seen and evi∣denced both to the heart of him that hath it, and to the eyes of others. 2. Because a poor broken and penitent heart is the most proper receptacle of the Gospel, Esay 61. 1. Matth. 11. 5.

Now by the Gospel is not only here meant, the good and glad tidings of Salvation, as the word signifies in the original, and as it is taken in other places: but it is also held out here by our Saviour with a singular emphasis and circumstance, namely as the new Law and Covenant which God had promised to give unto his people, and which they expected from the Messias. The Gospel, as it signifies the good tidings of Salvation and Salvation by Christ, was very abundantly held out in the Law and the Prophets: and if Christ proposed the word here but in that sense, he proposed his Ministery but like unto theirs: But as in the Synagogue of Nazareth, he had begun to assert himself the highly anointed one of the Lord, for the singular work of publishing the new Law, Luk. 4. 18. so now

and forward he doth openly proclaim himself to be he whom the Lord had appointed and anointed for that end, and that his Ministry and doctrine was that Gospel or glad tidings, which God had promised to send by the Messias: And in this sense it is, that he calls upon them to believe the Gospel, not only in regard of the tenour, but also in regard of the dis∣penser and dispensation of it, he the great Prophet, and that according to the promises of God, and the expectation of the Nation.

The Lord had foretold them copiously by the Prophets, that Messias should be the great Teacher and Lawgiver in the last days, and this had put them in expectation of a new Law and doctrine when he should come, Esay 2. 1, 2, 3. In the last days the mountain of the Lords house shall be established on the top of the mountains, &c. And many people shall say, Come and let us go up, &c. And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, &c. This Teacher, saith David Kimchi, is the Messias. And wheresoever it is said in the last days, it meaneth the days of Messias. And so in Esa. 11. 4. With righteousness shall be judge the poor and reprove with equity: This the Chaldee Paraphrast expresly and nominatim understand∣eth of Messias: And so he doth that in Esa. 42. 1. &c. And so in Esa. 52. 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, (or that preacheth the Gospel) which though the Apostle in Rom. 10. 15. apply generally to the Ministry of the Gospel, yet doth the Context in the Prophet, shew that it is primarily and especially to be understood of Christ whom the Chaldee Paraphrast nameth Syllabically at vers. 13. Such another Prophesie of Christ being the great Teacher when he should come is that which is so much retched and abused towards the countenancing of Enthusiasm, Esa. 54. 13. And all thy children shall be taught of God, where the Prophet setting forth the glorious state of the Church in the days of the Messiah, (and so the Rabbins understand the place) he ad∣deth this, as a singular and eminent privilege those times should have above the times that had gone before, and that was, that whereas they had been taught by Prophets and by men, in those times God himself in visible appearance conversing among men in humane nature, should be their Teacher. From such prophesies as these whereof there is great store in the Old Testament, the expectation of the Nation was raised, to look that Messias when he came, should preach the glad tidings of deliverance, should give a new Law as Moses at Sinai had done the old, and should be the great Teacher and Instructor of the people. So the Chaldee Paraphrast glosseth the two and twentieth verse of the 2d. Chap. of the Lamentations; Thou wilt proclaim liberty to thy people the house of Israel by the hand of Messias, as thou didst by the hand of Moses and Aaron on the day of the Passover. And the Jeru∣salem Targum on Exod. 12. Moses came out of the midst of the wilderness, and King Messias out of the midst of Rome: The one spake in the head of a cloud, and the other spake in the head of a cloud: and the Word of the Lord speaking between them and they walking together. And the Targum on Cant. 8. 2. When King Messias shall be revealed to the Congregation of Israel, the Children of Israel shall say unto him, Come, be with us as a brother and we will go up to Jerusalem, and will suck in with thee the sense of the Law as a child sucketh his mothers breasts, &c. And I will take thee O King Messias, and will bring thee to the house of my Sanctuary, and thou shalt teach me to fear the Lord and to walk in his Law. King Messias shall say to them: I adjure you O house of Israel my people, &c. Stay here a little till the enemies of Jerusalem be destroyed, and after that the Lord will remember you with the mercies of the righteous, and it will be his good plea∣sure to deliver you.

To such promises of the Prophets and such expectation of the Nation, (examples of which might be given many more if it were needful) that Messias when he came should be as another Moses, not only a Deliverer but also a Lawgiver, and the great Prophet and Teacher, (after the great decay of Prophesie and instruction) it is that Christ looketh and hath reference when he calleth on them to believe the Gospel. As if he should have spoken thus at large: You expect according to the prediction of the Prophets that when Messias comes, he shall be another Teacher and Lawgiver to you as Moses, that he shall preach and proclaim to you deliverance and redemption, that he will instruct you in the ways of the Lord, and shew you how to walk in his paths: Behold this doctrine that I shall now teach, is that great promise and expectation. I am he whom the Lord hath anointed, and sent to preach these glad tidings: believe ye therefore the Gospel which I preach: and as it hath been your great expectation when it would come, so let it be intertained and received now it is come among you.

And here is the reason why John the Baptist joyned not this admonition, to believe the Gospel, to the other of repenting, because John was not to be the preacher of the Gospel in this sense, but he that was to publish it so, was then to come. Now though both these parts of Christs doctrine, Repent and believe the Gospel, were levelled so directly and perti∣nently toward the Jews in reference to their opinions about these things, yet are the doctrines and duties of that perpetuity and necessity, that they reach both Jew and Gen∣tile to the end of the world. And then the word Gospel, doth not only signifie the good tidings of Salvation, nor only as published and preached by Messias, two high and eminent

excellencies, but also as the clearest and last way of God for mans Salvation.

IV. And lastly, whereas he saith The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: it may be questioned whether he mean, it was now come, or near in coming: And indeed it was both. For the term, The Kingdom of Heaven, hath a latitude in its signification as was observed before, and according to that latitude, is the sense of that word also dilated: That meaneth the revealing of the Messias, and the state of Church affairs, and dilating of the Church under his revealing. Now the revealing of Christ was by degrees, as is the dawning of the morning growing to a perfect day. The first Epocha of his revealing was from the beginning of Johns baptizing, Matth. 11. 12, 13. Mark 1. 1, 2. Because then he began to be preached as near at hand, and some change in the Church Oeconomy be∣gan by the introduction of Baptism: But from his own Baptism his revealings increased more and more, in the power of his preaching and infinite miracles, but most especially in his resurrection. So that when he saith The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, he mean∣eth the revealing of the Messias in such evidences and demonstrations, especially by his ri∣sing again from the dead, as Rom. 1. 4. that they that were not wilfully blind, might have seen the Salvation of God to be then revealed. For conclusion of this discourse concer∣ning the great doctrine of the Gospel, repentance and believing, take one Maxime of the Jews more, The day of expiation and sin offerings and trespass offerings do not expiate, but only for those that repent and believe their expiation. Maym. in Shegagah. per. 3.

Luke 5. vers. 1. As the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God.

There were two things that caught the people and made them thus importunate to hear him, and those were, the tenor of his doctrine, which proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven which they so much expected, and the authority of his person, whom they look∣ed on as a Prophet at least, if not as Messias. When it is said, they pressed upon him to hear the Word of God, the expression The Word of God hath its singular Emphasis and those passages, They were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had autho∣rity and not as the Scribes, Mark 1. 22. Mark 7. 28, 29. do readily tell us in what sense the people take the Word of God, namely in a higher strain and signification, than the Doctrines and Preachings of their Pharisees and Scribes: for these look upon Christ as a Prophetick teacher, and from him they desire to hear the Word of God as from a Pro∣phet: And if they took him not for the Messias, yet do they look upon him as one sent from God, and another kind of Teacher than all their Doctors. The long absence of Prophesie, and the present expectation of Messias did easily beget this opinion, when they also saw such demonstrations.

§. He stood by the Lake of Gennesareth.

Whereas Luke saith He stood by this Lake, the other Evangelists say he walked: which difference needeth to breed no scruple: for besides that men in their walking, sometimes do move and sometime stand still, the story of Luke taketh him as he was before he went into Peters ship, and the other Evangelists, as he was come out.

The Lake of Gennesareth, which sometimes in the Gospel is called the Sea of Galilee, and sometimes the Sea of Tiberias, is constantly called in the Old Testament, The Sea of Cin∣nereth, Numb. 34. 11. Josh. 12. 3. 1 King. 15. 20. Now after times had changed the name Cinereth, into Genesar: as divers other names and places had received the like alteration. And so the Chaldee Paraphrasts (who do commonly call places of such changed names by the names they carried in their times) do use the word Genesar or Ginosar in the Texts alleadged: and so do the Jews also in their writings call this Sea by the same name. Jose∣phus hath described it, in these words. The Lake Genesar is so called from the Country ad∣joyning, and it is forty furlongs broad and an hundred long, the water sweet and most fit to drink▪ Pliny thus, Jordanes ubi prima convallium fuit occasio, in lacum se fundit, quem plures Genesaram vocant, &c. As soon as Jordan meets with a valley fit for that purpose, it dilates its self into a lake, which they commonly call Genesara, being 16 miles long, and 6 miles broad, invironed with fair Towns, as on the East with Julias and Hippo: on the South with Tarichea, by which name some also call the lake: on the West with Tiberias, famous for hot baths, Lib. 5. c. 15. Strabo saith it had 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sweet canes growing by it. Lib. Geogr. 16.

About the reason of the name Genesar, Baal Aruch hath these passages. In the Gemara of the first Chapter of the Treatise of the Passover it is said, Why are none of the fruits of Ge∣nesar at Jerusalem? And in the fourth Chapter of Maaseroth it is said: The coast of Genesar is quit, though there be mills and Cocks there. Some interpret it of a place near Tiberias where are Gardens and Orchards. The Targum renders, The Sea of Cinnereth, The Sea of Ginosar: And in Jelammedenis our Rabbins say, why is it called Ginosar? Because of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Gardens of the Princes. These were the Kings that had Gardens there.

Rabbi Judah from Rabbi Simeon saith, why is it called Genosar? Because the portion of Nephthali was there, and it is said of Nephthali, A thousand Princes. And in Jelammedenu it is said again. The border of Nephthali was Ginosar. So that by the Jews Etymology, the name was taken from some royal Gardens that lay upon it, which may very well be, since Herods palace was at Tiberias: and as from the royalty of that City, the Sea was called the Sea of Tiberias, so possibly from the Orchards and Gardens upon it, it might be called Genesar or the place of the Princely Gardens: We cannot but observe the propriety of the Greek utterance, in adding the syllable eth in the latter end of this word, as also in the word Nazareth, whereas in the Hebrew it is only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Netzer, both after the letter r, but we shall not be inquisitive about it.

Vers. 3. And he entred into one of the Ships which was Simons.

Whether these two vessels that stood by the shore, whereof Simons was one, were ship indeed in the proper Bulk and bigness, that we allot to ships now, let them dispute that have a mind to it: The Greek word may well be applied to a boat or barge, or some such a lesser vessel, more convenient for Fishermen, than a ship of unwieldy bulk and burden. The Talmud in the Treatise Zavim per. 3. doth distinguish betwixt a great and little Ship, thus. What is a great ship? Rabbi Judah saith, It is such a one as cannot be mo∣ved by one man. But not to trouble our selves about the quantity of this Ship of, Peters, which belike was but a fisher Boat, let us rather look a little after the Master of it, Peter himself, and consider how he is now become a fisher, since he was a Disciple of Christ be∣fore: for ye have him coming to him and Christ naming him Cephas or Peter, Joh. 1. 42. Did not he follow him from that time? In the several places and occurrences where the Disciples of Jesus are mentioned, as Joh. 2. 2. 17. 22. & 3. 22. & 4. 8. &c. was not he one of the number? And then how come he and Andrew, who were then with him, now par∣ted from him, and following fishing?

Answ. 1. We cannot hold otherwise than that Peter and Andrew followed Christ from their first meeting with him, and that they are to be reckoned in the number of his Dis∣ciples, in the places cited, as well as any other. For though it be said of Andrew and of his fellow that first fell in with him, that they abode with him that day, Joh. 1. 39. as if they left him again on the morrow, it is to be understood in reference to the place, rather than to the limitation of the time, namely that they stayed with him all night at his own house. 2. We cannot conceive that Peter and Andrew being now upon their Fishers∣mans imployment, had left Christ without his permission and consent, but that he had dis∣pensed with them, to retire to their own homes and business for a season. But when and whereupon that dispensation was, is still a question. I see not how we can conjecture the time and occasion more properly than thus: One cause of Johns imprisonment, was the multitude of his Disciples, for that gave Herod suspition of innovation: Now when John was imprisoned Christ heard of it, and of the cause; and withal he heard that the Pha∣risees who were in all the power, did take notice, that he had more Disciples than John had: This makes him to slip aside for his safety out of Judea into Galilee. And when he comes into Herods own jurisdiction, it was for his safety also to disperse his Disciples for a time to their own homes: for as yet he was not to begin to publish the Kingdom of Hea∣ven, and himself the Messias, in the full and clearest demonstration, but a space was yet to pass, and then he begins to preach, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, &c. We may therefore conjecture, that upon his coming up into Galilee, his Dis∣ciples and he, by his own permission, did part for a while, lest Herod observing another man arising in Galilee, followed with many Disciples as John had been, should sodainly have laid hold upon him, and made him drink of Johns cup. But Jesus himself alone go∣eth about to divers Synagogues of Galilee, and is received: cometh home to his own City Nazareth, and is there refused, goeth down to his other home Capernaum, and there be∣ginneth to shew himself for the Messias, and calls his Disciples in again. Peter and Andrew therefore, and it may be, James and John, having been thus dismissed, what had they to do, but to fall to their old imployment? For then to preach or to Baptize in the name of Christ had been against that privacy of Christ which was for his present safety, till he by preaching abroad alone himself, had gotten footing in the hearts of the people. And for them to live idely, was neither for their advantage nor for their piety, and so till Christ call them again to a new imployment, they follow their old: But after this call that they are to have now, they never return to make this a trade again. Peters fishing in Joh. 21. was more for a trial than for a trade, and rather in expectation of a second miracle in evi∣dence of Christs favour to him upon his recovery from his fall, (as here he had a miracle at his call) than in following his old vocation as his business.

¶. And he taught the People out of the Ship.

The living waters of the doctrine of the Gospel that had begun to stream at the Tem∣ple, Joh. 2. 14. (even on the South of the Altar, Ezek. 47. 1. for on that side was the market of Cattel, where Christ first began to shew his zeal) are now come into the Sea: and that Prophesie of Ezekiel accomplished almost to the very letter. The Rabbins say, whither did these waters go? Into the Sea of Tiberias, and into the Sea of Sodom and into the Ocean, R. Sol. and Kimch. in loc. ex Tosapht. in Succah. compare Psal. 29. 3.

Vers. 6. They inclosed a great multitude of Fishes.

1. Here those creatures come in in homage to the second Adam, that had never come in so, to the first: See Gen. 2. 19. Birds and Beasts had come to him to receive their names, but so did not the fish, though they were also in his subjection. 2. Compare the case of Jonah and Simon bar Jonah here together: the one caught of a fish when he refused to Preach when he was sent, and the other catching fish, being now to be sent to Preach, and by that very thing incouraged to it. 3. Christ by this miracle did not only figure out unto them, the imployment upon which he was now to enter them, to be fishers of men, as he himself applies it, but he also shews, how he can provide for them if they follow him, and how he will follow their indeavors in the Ministery with success.

Vers. 8. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

What? Peter on his knees to beg Christ from him? Spirit and Bride say Come, Revel. 22. 17. and Peter desire that he should Depart? So say the wicked, Job 22. 17, 18. but with affections as far different from Peters, as both their words do seem parallel and alike. He speaketh from amazement and fear, and considerancy of the Circumstances of the pre∣sent occurrence. He was amazed at the great miracle, ver. 9. He was afraid at the visible appearance of so great power being so near him: and he considered that the miracle was wrought for his sake, and therefore in all humbleness he disclaims himself as most unfit to be so near Christ either in place or favour. Not that he was weary of him, but that he acknowledgeth himself unworthy of him; parallel to the words of the Centurion, Matth. 8. 8. Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.

Vers. 10. Iames and Iohn the sons of Zebedee.

Concerning these four first called Disciples, the two sons of Jona, and the two sons of Zabdi or Zebedee (for the names are the same) we may observe these things:

1. That Peter is ever named first in the Catalogue of the twelve Apostles, and the reason is, because he was first called to be an Apostle. It is true indeed, that Andrew and another not named, were Disciples and followed Christ before Peter did, Joh. 1. 36. but they then followed uncalled, and they followed only as Disciples, but now Christ cometh to call them, and to call them for Apostles, and Peter is first dealt withal in this call; Andrew indeed was in the Ship and in the call with him, and he saith to him that he should be a fisher of men, as well as to Peter, but the interchange of Discourse that was betwixt Christ and Peter (which Luke relateth) doth sufficiently intimate unto us, that in order Peter had the first call of the two.

2. James or Jacob is commonly called James the great, in distinction from James the son of Alpheus, who is called the less, not for any dignity or superiority of Apostleship that the one had above the other, but either because this James was the elder, or because he was first called, or because of the singular privacy that Christ admitted him to with himself, as he also did Peter and John, of which anon.

3. John is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved, Joh. 13. 23. who leaned in his bosom, to whom he committed his mother, and to whom he imparted the Revelation of the State of the Church till his second coming, as he had done the State of his Church till his first coming to Daniel a man greatly beloved also. Dan. 10. 11. The reason of this title is variously guessed, if any thing in himself might procure that title, I should assoon as any thing con∣ceive it to be because he was Christs first Disciple, as Peter was the first called Apostle: For whereas there is mention of two of Johns Disciples who first followed Jesus, and Andrew named for one of them, there is none so like to be the other as John himself who wrote the story, Joh. 1. 37. &c. And this may appear probable, not only from his partnership with An∣drew in his fishing trade (and so might they go together to Johns Baptism) but also because he concealeth the name of that Disciple (whereas he mentioneth the names of all the rest) as he useth to conceal his own name generally throughout all his Gospel.

4. The name Andrew is used in the Hierusalem Talmud in Midd. per. 4. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Andrew the son of Chinna saith in the name of Rabbi Zacchaeus, &c. The An∣drew that we have in hand, was a Disciple with the first, Yoke-fellow with John in first following Christ, a Disciple before Peter, and a called Disciple before James and John; and yet which may seem somewhat strange, he is ever set after all of them, and in some particulars we find all the three priviledged above him. There is none that hath read the Gospel, but he may observe, how Christ did sometimes put a singular respect upon Peter and James and John, not only above the rest of the Apostles who were called after them, but even above Andrew who was both a Disciple and an Apostle with the first. As when he went to raise up Jairus daughter, he suffered no man to follow him but Peter and James and John, Mark 5. 37. when he went to his transfiguration, he taketh only Peter and James and John, Matth. 17. 1. and when he went to his agony, he taketh only with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Matth. 26. 37. And thus to these three only a part from all the rest did he shew himself in his greatest power, glory, and combat: the reason of which may be supposed to have been twofold.

1. Because he had designed these three in a more singular manner, for the ministry of the Circumcision, James in Judea, Peter to the dispersion in the East, and John in the West: The Apostle in Gal. 2. 9. nameth James and Cephas and John together, as pillars and agents in such a ministration: where the James indeed that he mentioneth, was not the same that we have in hand, for he was James the less, but he was one that came into that place and ministration in stead of James the great, when he was dead. For why should Herod in Act. 12. lay hands upon James the brother of John, and destroy him first, ra∣ther and sooner than any other of the Apostles, but because there was appearance of singular and peculiar activity of James in that place, in the ministration among the cir∣cumcised.

2. Because Christ had designed these three for martyrdom, and for the eminentest witnesses of him of all the rest. He readeth Peters doom to that purpose, Joh. 21. 18, 19. and so he doth to James and John, Matth. 20. 23. The martyrdom of James is recorded Act. 12. 2. and when he was thus taken a way, James the less came in his stead, as special Mi∣nister and Apostle to the Jews or Circumcision within their own Land. And hence it is that he is named first of the three, Gal. 2. 9. and that he is named with such peculiarity, Act. 15. 13. & 12. 17. & 21. 18. &c.

Peter after a long stay at Hierusalem and thereabout, was gotten at the last to the Eastern Babylon, the old place of Idolatry and persecution, but now a Church, 1 Pet. 5. 13. Although there were many thousands of Jews that returned again out of the Capti∣vity of Babylon, under the Proclamation of Cyrus, yet were there exceeding many also that staid behind and returned not; insomuch that they came to have their Universities in Babylonia, and their publick Schools and teachers there as well as in Judea; and were in a kind of a Common-wealth there as well as in their own Country. Among these Peter is sent as a Minister, and among these it is like he sealed his Ministry with his blood, see 2 Pet. 1. 13, 14.

We read of Johns being in the Isle Patmos, but further Westward we find him not in all the Scripture; where he ended his life and sealed the Gospel with his blood, it is hard to determine: Histories have brought him to Rome, in which it may be they have not missed the mark very much, had not some of them told wild stories of him there. It may be as both James's the Ministers of the Circumcision in Judea, were martyred at Jerusalem, so Peter the Minister of the Eastern dispersion was martyred in the Eastern Babylon, and John the Minister of the Western, in Babylon in the West.

What became of Zebedee the father of these two eminent Apostles, when his sons were called away from him, the Scripture is silent; It saith, his sons left him in the Ship with the hired servants, and followed the call that Christ had given them. It is not to be thought that they sleighted their father when they left him; but only they complied with that imployment that he that called them would put them upon, which their father possibly by reason of his age was unable to do. Nor can we think that they left their father in his Judaism and unbelief, or that he so continued: certain it is, their mother Salome was a constant and zealous follower of Christ, Matth. 26. 56. and we have no reason to think of any less faith or piety in Zebedee himself, only whether he followed Christ, as his sons and wife did, or followed still his lawful calling and imployment, it is not revealed in Scripture, nor is it much material to enquire after. The name Zabdi or Zebedee, is a name that is exceeding frequent in mention among the Talmudicks.