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.

VERS. III.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?

THE Reason of the Message of John to Christ is something obscure.

First, That it was not, because he knew not Christ, is without all Controver∣sie, when he had been fully instructed from Heaven concerning his person, when he was baptized, and when he had been again and again, most evidently attested before him, in those words, This is the Lamb of God, &c.

Secondly, Nor was that Message certainly, that the Disciples of John might receive satisfaction about the person of Christ: for indeed, the Disciples were most unworthy of such a Master, if they should not believe him, without further Argument, when he taught them concerning him.

Thirdly, John therefore seems, in this Matter, to respect his own imprisonment, and that his Question, Art thou he which should come? &c. tends to that. He had heard, that Miracles of all sorts were done by him, that the blind received their sight, the dead were raised, Devils were cast out, &c. And why therefore, among all the rest, is not John set at liberty? This Scruple, as it seems, stuck with the good man, why do all receive bene∣fit and comfort from Christ, but only I? Perhaps, he laboured under that dim-sighted∣ness which the Disciples of Christ and the whole Nation did, concerning his earthly King∣dom, Victories and Triumphs: from which, how distant, (alas!) was this, that his Fore-runner, and chief Minister should lye in Chains?

If thou art he, concerning whose Triumphing, the Prophets declare so much, why am I so long detained in prison? Art thou he, or is another to be expected, from whom these things are to be looked for?

To Johns▪ double Question, Christ renders a double Solution.

First, 'That I am He that should come, these things which I do, bear witness, The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, &c.

Secondly,

As to the present case of John, who expects some body to come to deliver him out of bonds, and to free the people from the yoak of Men, Let him, saith he, ac∣quiesce in my Divine dispensation, and, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me, however, all things are not according to his mind, which he hath expected to fall out, for his present and bodily advantage.

And the words of our Saviour, vers. 11. seem to express some secret reproof of this error in John, He that is less in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. The vulgar Version renders well the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 less, not least: as if he should say,

When ye went out, into the desert, to John, ye neither looked for trifles, nor earthly pomp, (neither a reed shaken with the wind, nor a man clothed in soft raiment) but ye looked in good earnest, for a Prophet: and in that ye did very well, for he was the greatest of Prophets, nay of Men, as to his Office, honoured in this, above all others, that he is the fore-runner of the Messias. Howbeit there are some, which indeed, in respect of Office, are much less than he, in the Kingdom of Heaven, or in the Common-wealth of Christ, who yet are greater than he in respect of the Knowledge of the state and condi∣tion of his Kingdom.

A comparison certainly is not here made, either in respect of Of∣fice, or in respect of Dignity, or in respect of Holiness, or in respect of Eternal Salvati∣on: (For who, I pray, exceeded the Baptist, in all these, or in any of them) but in respect of clear and distinct knowledge, in judging of the Nature and Quality of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let the austerity of Johns life, and the very frequent Fasts which he enjoyned his Dis∣ciples, be well considered, and what our Saviour saith of both, and you will easily be∣lieve, that John also according to the universal conceit of the Nation, expected tempo∣ral Redemption by the Messias, not so clearly distinguishing, concerning the Nature of the Kingdom, and Redemption of Christ. And you will the more easily give credit to this, when you shall have observed, how the Disciples of Christ themselves, that conver∣sed a long time with him, were dim sighted, likewise, in this very thing.