Antiquitates christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in two parts.

AN APPARATUS OR Discourse Introductory TO THE Whole WORK, concerning the Three Great Dispensations OF THE CHURCH, PATRIARCHAL, MOSAICAL, and EVANGELICAL.

SECT. I. Of the PATRIARCHAL Dispensation.

The Tradition of Elias. The three great Periods of the Church. The Patriarchal Age. The Laws then in force natural or positive. Natural Laws what; evinced from the te∣stimony of natural conscience. The 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Precepts of the Sons of Noah. Their respect to the Law of Nature. Positive Laws under that dispensation. Eating Blood why prohibited. The mystery and signification of it. Circumcision when commanded and why. The Laws concerning Religion. Their publick Worship what. Sacrifices in what sence natural, and how far instituted. The manner of God's testifying his acceptance. What the place of their publick Worship. Altars, and Groves whence. Abraham's Oke, its long continuance, and destruction by Constantine. The Original of the Druids. The times of their religious Assemblies. In process of time, Genes. 4. what meant by it. The Seventh Day whether kept from the beginning. The Ministers of Religion, who. The Priesthood of the first-born. In what cases exercised by younger Sons. The state of Reli∣gion successively under the several Patriarchs. The condition of it in Adam's Family. The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel, and their different success, whence. Seth, his great Learning and Piety. The face of the Church in the time of Enosh. What meant by, Then began Men to call upon the Name of the Lord. No Idolatry before the Flood. The Sons of God, who. The great corruption of Religion in the time of Jared. Enoch's Piety, and walking with God. His translation, what. The incomparable sanctity of Noah, and his strictness in an evil Age. The character of the men of that time. His preservation from the Deluge. God's Covenant with him. Sem or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 whether the Elder Brother. The confusion of Languages when, and why. Abraham's Idolatry and conversion. His eminency for Religion noted in the several instances of it. God's Covenant with him concerning the Messiah. The Piety of Isaac and Jacob. Jacob's blessing the twelve Tribes, and foretelling the Messiah. Patriarchs extraordinary under this dispensation. Melchi∣sedeck who: wherein a type of Christ. Job, his Name, Country, Kindred, Quality, Re∣ligion, Sufferings; when he lived. A reflection upon the religion of the old World, and its agreement with Christianity.

GOD who at sundry times, and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fa∣thers* 1.1 by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. For having created Man for the noblest purposes, to love, serve, and enjoy his Maker; he was careful in all Ages by various Revelations of his Will to acquaint him with the notices of his duty; and to shew him what was good, and what the Lord did require of him: till all other Methods proving weak and inef∣fectual for the recovery and the happiness of humane nature, God was pleased to crown

all the former dispensations with the Revelation of his Son. There is among the* 1.2 Jews an ancient Tradition of the House of Elias, that the World should last Six Thousand Years, which they thus compute, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Two Thousand Years empty, (little being recorded of those first Ages of the World) Two Thousand Years the Law, and Two Thousand the Days of the Messiah. A Tradition, which if it minister to no other purposes, does yet afford us a very conveni∣ent division of the several Ages and Periods of the Church, which may be considered under a three-fold Oeconomy, the Patriarchal, Mosaical, and Evangelical dispensation. A short view of the two former will give us great advantage to survey the later, that new and better dispensation which God has made to the World.

2. THE Patriarchal Age, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Jews call it, the days of emptiness, com∣menced from the beginning of the World, and lasted till the delivery of the Law upon Mount Sinai. And under this state the Laws which God gave for the exercise of Reli∣gion, and the Government of his Church were either Natural, or Positive. Natural Laws are those innate Notions and Principles, whether speculative or practical, with which every Man is born into the World, those common sentiments of Vertue and Re∣ligion, those Principia justi & decori, Principles of fit and right, that naturally are upon the minds of Men, and are obvious to their reason at first sight, commanding what is just and honest, and forbidding what is evil and uncomely; and that not only in the general, that what is good is to be embraced, and what is evil to be avoided, but in the particular instances of duty according to their conformity or repugnancy to natural light, being conversant about those things, that do not derive their value and autho∣rity from any arbitrary constitutions, but from the moral and intrinsick nature of the things themselves. These Laws, as being the results and dictates of right reason, are, especially as to their first and more immediate emanations, the same in all Men in the World, and in all Times and Places, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 'as the Jewes call them, Precepts that are evident among all Nations, indeed they are interwoven into Mens nature, inserted into the texture and constitution of their minds, and do dis∣cover themselves as soon as ever they arrive to the free use and exercise of their reason. That there are such Laws and Principles naturally planted in Mens breasts, is evident from the consent of Mankind, and the common experience of the World. Whence else comes it to pass, that all wicked Men even among the Heathens themselves, after the commission of gross sins, such as do more sensibly rouze and awaken conscience, are filled with horrours and fears of punishment? but because they are conscious to them∣selves of having violated some Law and Rule of Duty. Now what Law can this be? not the written and revealed Law, for this the Heathens never had: it must be there∣fore the inbred Law of Nature, that's born with them, and fixed in their minds, an∣tecedently to any external revelation. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law,* 1.3 do by nature (by the light and evidence, by the force and tendency of their natural noti∣ons and dictates) the things contained in the Law, these having not a Law, are a Law unto themselves, which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the reasonings of their minds, in the mean while (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by turns) accusing or else excusing one another; that is, although they had not a written Law, as the Jewes had of old, and we Christians have at this day, yet by the help of their natural Principles they performed the same actions, and dis∣charged the same Duties that are contained in, and commanded by the written and ex∣ternal Law, shewing by their practices that they had a Law (some common notions of good and evil) written in their hearts. And to this their very Consciences bear wit∣ness, for according as they either observe or break these natural Laws, their Consci∣ences do either acquit or condemn them. Hence we find God in the very infancy of the World, appealing to Gain for the truth of this, as a thing sufficiently plain and ob∣vious, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? if thou doest well, shalt thou* 1.4 not be accepted, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 be lift up? able to walk with a pleased and a chearful countenance the great indication of a mind satisfied in the conscience of its duty: but if thou doest not well, sin lies at the door; the punishments of sin will be ready to follow thee, and con¦science as a Minister of vengeance will perpetually pursue and haunt thee. By these Laws Mankind was principally governed in the first Ages of the World, there being for near Two Thousand Years no other fixed and standing Rule of Duty, than the di∣ctates of this Law of Nature; those Principles of Vice and Vertue, of Justice and Ho∣nesty, that are written in the heart of every Man.

3. THE Jewes very frequently tell us of some particular commands to the number* 1.5 of Seven, which they call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Precepts of the Sons of Noah, Six where∣of were given to Adam and his Children, and the Seventh given to Noah, which they thus reckon up. The first was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning strange worship, that they should not give Divine honour to Idols, or the Gods of the Heathens, answerable to the two first commands of the Decalogue, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me; thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing, that is in. Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or in the Water under the Earth; thou shalt not bow down thy self to them, or serve them: for, &c. From the violation of this Law it was that Job, one of the Patriarchs that lived under this dispensation, solemnly purges himself, when speaking concerning the worship of the Celestial Lights, the great if not only I∣dolatry of those early Ages, says he, if I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walk∣ing* 1.6 in her brightness, and my heart hath been secretly inticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge, for I should have denied the God that is above. The second 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning blessing, or worshipping, that they should not blaspheme the Name of God. This Law Job also had respect to, when he was careful to sanctifie his Children, and to propitiate the Divine Majesty for them every Morning, for it may be (said he) that my Sons have sinned, and cursed God in their* 1.7 hearts. The third was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning the shedding of blood, forbid∣ding Man-slaughter; a Law expresly renewed to Noah after the Flood, and which pos∣sibly Job aimed at, when he vindicates himself, that he had not rejoyced at the destruction* 1.8 of him that hated him, or lift up himself when evil found him. Nor was all effusion of hu∣mane blood forbidden by this Law, capital punishments being in some cases necessary for the preservation of humane Society, but only that no Man should shed the blood of an innocent Person, or pursue a private revenge without the warrant of publick Autho∣rity. The fourth was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning the disclosing of uncleanness, against filthiness and adultery, unlawful marriages, and incestuous mixtures: If mine heart* 1.9 (says Job in his Apology) hath been deceived by a Woman, or if I have laid wait at my neigh∣bour's door; then let my Wife grind, &c. for this is an heinous crime, yea it is an iniquity to be punished by the Judges. The fifth was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning theft and rapine, the invading another Man's right and property, the violation of bargains and compacts, the falsifying a Man's word or promise, the deceiving of another by fraud, lying, or any evil arts. From all which Job justifies himself, that he had not walked with vanity, nor* 1.10 had his foot hasted to deceit, that his step had not turned out of the way, nor his heart wal∣ked after his eyes, nor any blot cleaved to his hands. And elsewhere he bewails it as the great iniquity of the Times, that there were some that removed the Land-marks, that* 1.11 violently took away the Flocks, and fed thereof, that drove away the Asse of the Fatherless, and took the Widows Oxe for a pledge, that turned the needy out of the way, and made the poor of the Earth hide themselves together, &c. The sixth was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning judgments, or the administration of Justice, that Judges and Magistrates should be ap∣pointed in every Place for the Order and Government of Civil Societies, the de∣termination of Causes, and executing of Justice between Man and Man. And that such there then were, seems evident from the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which Job twice speaks of in one* 1.12 Chapter, the judged iniquity, which the Jewes expound, and we truly render, an iniquity to be punished by the Judges. The seventh 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 concerning the member of any live-creature, that is, as God expresses it in the Precept to Noah, they might not eat the blood, or the flesh with the life thereof. Whether these Precepts were by any solemn and external promulgation particularly delivered to the Ante-deluvian Patriarchs (as the Jewes seem to contend) I will not say: for my part I cannot but look upon them (the last only excepted) as a considerable part of Nature's Statute-law, as comprizing the greater strokes and lineaments of those natural dictates that are imprin∣ted upon the souls of Men. For what more comely and reasonable, and more agreeable to the first notions of our minds, than that we should worship and adore God alone, as the Authour of our beings, and the Fountain of our happiness, and not derive the lustre of his incommunicable perfections upon any Creature; that we should entertain great and honourable thoughts of God, and such as become the Grandeur and Majesty of his being; that we should abstain from doing any wrong or injury to another, from invading his right, violating his priviledges, and much more from making any at∣tempt upon his life, the dearest blessing in this World; that we should be just and fair in our transactions, and do to all men, as we would they should do to us; that we should live chastely and temperately, and not by wild and extravagant lusts and sensualities offend against the natural modesty of our minds; that Order and Government should

be maintained in the World, Justice advanced, and every Man secured in his just pos∣sessions? And so suitable did these Laws seem to the reason and understandings of Men, that the Jewes though the most zealous People under Heaven of their Legal Instituti∣ons, received those Gentiles who observed them as Proselytes into their Church, though they did not oblige themselves to Circumcision, and the rest of the Mosaic Rites. Nay in the first Age of Christianity, when the great controversie arose between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts about the obligation of the Law of Moses as necessary to salvati∣on, the observation only of these Precepts, at least a great part of them, was imposed upon the Gentile-Converts as the best expedient to end the difference, by the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem.

4. BUT though the Law of Nature was the common Law by which God then principally governed the World, yet was not he wanting by Methods extraordinary to supply, as occasion was, the exigencies and necessities of his Church, communicating his mind to them by Dreams and Visions, and other ways of Revelation, which we shall more particularly remarque, when we come to the Mosaical Oeconomy. Hence arose those positive Laws which we meet with in this period of the Church, some whereof are more expresly recorded, others more obscurely intimated. Among those that are more plain and obvious two are especially considerable, the prohibition sor not eating blood, and the Precept of Circumcision, the one given to Noah, the other to Abraham. The prohibition concerning blood is thus recorded, every moving thing that liveth shall* 1.13 be meat for you: but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat. The blood is the vehiculum to carry the spirits, as the Veins are the channels to convey the blood, now the animal 〈◊〉〈◊〉 give vital heat and activity to every part, and being let out, the blood presently cools, and the Creature dies. Not flesh with the blood, which is the life thereof, that is, not flesh while it is alive, while the blood and the spirits are yet in it. The mystery and signification whereof was no other than this that God would not have Men train'd up to arts of cruelty, or whatever did but carry the colour and aspect of a merciless and a savage temper, lest severity towards Beasts should degenerate into fierceness towards Men. It's good to defend the out-guards, and to stop the remotest ways that lead towards sin, especially considering the violent propensions of humane na∣ture to passion and revenge. Men commence bloody and inhumane by degrees, and little approaches in time render a thing in it self abhorrent not only familiar, but delightful. The Romans who at first entertained the People in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 only with wild Beasts killing one another, came afterwards wantonly to sport away the Lives of the Gladiators, yea to cast Persons to be devoured by Bears and Lions, for no other end than the divertisement and pleasure of the People. He who can please himself in tearing and eating the Parts of a living Creature, may in short time make* 1.14 no scruple to do violence to the Life of Man. Besides eating blood naturally begets a savage temper, makes the spirits rank and fiery, and apt to be easily inflamed and blown up into cho∣ler and fierceness. And that hereby God did design to bar out ferity, and to secure mercy and gentleness, is evident from what follows after: and surely your blood of your lives will I re∣quire:* 1.15 at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of every Man's brother will I require the life of man; whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed. The life of a Beast might not be wantonly sacrificed to Mens humours, therefore not Man's; the life of Man being so sacred, and dear to God, that if kill'd by a Beast, the Beast it self was to dye for it; if by man, that man's life was to go for retaliation, by man shall his blood be shed; where by man we must necessarily understand the ordinary Judge and Magistrate, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as the Jewes call it, the lower Judicature, with respect to that Divine and Superiour Court, the immediate judgment of God himself. By which means God admirably provided for the safety and security of Man's life, and for the order and welfare of humane society: and it was no more than necessary, the remembrance of the violence and oppression of the Nephilim or Giants before the Flood being yet fresh in memory, and there was no doubt but such mighty Hunters, men of robust bodies, of barbarous and inhumane tempers would afterwards arise. This Law against eating blood was afterwards re∣newed under the Mosaic Institution, but with this peculiar signification, for the life* 1.16 of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the Altar, to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul: that is, the blood might not be eaten, not only for the former reason, but because God had designed it for particular purposes, to be the great Instrument of Expiation, and an eminent type of

the Blood of the Son of God, who was to dye as the great expiatory Sacrifice for the World: Nay it was re-established by the Apostles in the infancy of Christianity, and observed by the Primitive Christians for several Ages, as we have elsewhere ob∣served.

5. THE other Precept was concerning Circumcision, given to Abraham at the time of God's entring into Covenant with him. God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my* 1.17 Covenant, &c. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy Seed after thee, every Man-child among you shall be circumcised: and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin, and it shall be a token of the Covenant betwixt me and you. God had now made a Covenant with Abraham to take his Posterity for his peculiar People, and that out of them should arise the promised Messiah: and as all foederal compacts have some solemn and external rites of ratification, so God was pleased to add Circumcision as the sign and seal of this Covenant, partly as it had a peculiar fitness in it to denote the promised Seed, partly that it might be a discriminating badge of Abraham's Children (that part whom God had especially chosen out of the rest of Mankind) from all other People. On Abraham's part it was a sufficient argument of his hearty compliance with the terms of this Covenant, that he would so chearfully submit to so unpleasing and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 a sign as was imposed upon him. For Circumcision could not but be both pain∣ful and dangerous in one of his Years, as it was afterwards to be to all new-born In∣fants: whence 〈◊〉〈◊〉 complained of Moses, commanding her to circumcise her Son, that he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 an husband of bloods, a cruel and inhumane Husband. And this the* 1.18 Jewes tell us was the reason, why circumcision was omitted during their Fourty Years Journy in the Wilderness, it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by reason of the trouble and inconvenience of the way, God mercifully dispensing with the want of it, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it should hinder their travelling, the soarness and weakness of the circumcised Person not comporting with hard and continual Journies. It was to be administred the* 1.19 eighth day, not sooner, the tenderness of the Infant not well till then complying with it, besides that the Mother of a Male-child was reckoned legally impure till the seventh Day; not later, probably because the longer it was deferred, the more unwilling would Parents be to put their Children to pain, of which they would every Day become more sensible, not to say the satisfaction it would be to them, to see their Children solemnly entred into Covenant. Circumcision was afterwards incorporated into the Body of the Jewish Law, and entertained with a mighty Veneration, as their great and standing Priviledge, relied on as the main Basis and Foundation of their 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and hopes of acceptance with Heaven, and accounted in a manner equivalent to all the other Rites of the Mosaic Law.

6. BUT besides these two, we find other positive Precepts, which though not so clearly expressed, are yet sufficiently intimated to us. Thus there seems to have been a Law that none of the Holy Line, none of the Posterity of Seth should marry with Infi∣dels, or those corrupt and idolatrous Nations which God had rejected, as appears in that it's charged as a great part of the sin of the old World, that the Sons of God matched* 1.20 with the Daughters of Men, as also from the great care which Abraham took that his Son Isaac should not take a Wife of the Daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt. There was also 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Jus Levirationis, whereby the next Brother to him who died without Issue was obliged to marry the Widow of the deceased, and to raise up seed unto his Brother, the contempt whereof cost Onan his Life: together with many more particular Laws which the story of those Times might suggest to us. But what is of most use and importance to us, is to observe what Laws God gave for the administration of his Worship, which will be best known by considering what worship generally pre∣vailed in those early Times; wherein we shall especially remarque the nature of their publick Worship, the Places where, the Times when, and the Persons by whom it was administred.

7. IT cannot be doubted but that the Holy Patriarchs of those days were careful to instruct their Children, and all that were under their charge (their Families being then very vast and numerous) in the Duties of Religion, to explain and improve the natural Laws written upon their minds, and acquaint them with those Divine Traditions, and positive Revelations which they themselves had received from God: this being part of that great character which God gave of Abraham, I know him, that he will command his* 1.21 Children, and his Houshold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. To this they joyned Prayer and Invocation, than which no duty is more na∣tural and necessary; more natural, because it fitly expresses that great reverence and ve∣neration which we have for the Divine Majesty, and that propensity that is in Mankind

to make known their wants: none more necessary, because our whole dependance be∣ing upon the continuance and constant returns of the Divine power and goodness, 'tis most reasonable that we should make our Daily addresses to him, in whom we live, move, and have our being. Nor were they wanting in returns of praise, and solemn celebrati∣ons of the goodness of Heaven, both by entertaining high and venerable thoughts of God, and by actions suitable to those honourable sentiments which they had of him. In these acts of worship they were careful to use gestures of the greatest reverence and sub∣mission, which commonly was prostration. Abraham bowed himself towards the ground:* 1.22 and when God sent the Israelites the happy news of their deliverance out of Egypt, they* 1.23 bowed their Heads and worshipped. A posture which hath ever been the usual mode of adoration in those Eastern Countries unto this day. But the greatest instance of the Publick Worship of those times was Sacrifices; a very early piece of Devotion, in all probability taking its rise from Adam's fall. They were either Eucharistical, expressions of thankfulness for blessings received, or expiatory, offered for the remission of sin. Whe∣ther these Sacrifices were first taken up at Mens arbitrary pleasure, or positively institu∣ted and commanded by God, might admit of a very large en∣quiry.* 1.24 But to me the case seems plainly this, that as to Eu∣charistical 〈◊〉〈◊〉, such as first-fruits, and the like oblations, Mens own reason might suggest and perswade them, that it was fit to present them as the most natural significations of a thankful mind. And thus far there might be Sacrifices in the state of Innocence: for Man being created under such excel∣lent circumstances as he was in Paradise, could not but know that he owed to God all possible gratitude and subjection; obedience he owed him as his Supreme Lord and Master, gra∣titude, as his great Patron and Benefactor, and was therefore obliged to pay to him some Eucharistical Sacrifices, as a testimony of his grateful acknowledgment, that he had both his being and preservation from him. But when sin had changed the scene, and Man-kind was sunk under a state of guilt, he was then to seek for a way how to paci∣fie God's anger: and this was done by bloody and expiatory sacrifices, which God ac∣cepted in the sinners stead. And as to these, it seems reasonable to suppose that they should be founded upon a positive Institution, because pardon of sin being a matter of pure grace and favour, whatever was a means to signifie and convey that, must be appointed by God himself, first revealed to Adam, and by him communicated to his Children. The Deity propitiated by these atonements was wont to testifie his accep∣tance of them by some external and visible sign; Thus Cain sensibly perceived that God had respect to Abel's sacrifice, and not to his: though what this sign was, it is not easie to determine. Most probably it was fire from Heaven coming down upon the Oblati∣on, and consuming it: For so it frequently was in the Sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensa∣tion,* 1.25 and so we find it was in that famous Sacrifice of Abraham, a Lamp of Fire passed between the parts of the Sacrifice. Thus when 'tis said, God had respect to Abel and to his offering, Theodotion renders it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, he burnt it; and to this custome the Psalmist alludes in that Petition, Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt* 1.26 Sacrifice, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 reduce thy burnt-offering into ashes.

8. WHERE it was that this Publick Worship was performed, is next to be enqui∣red into. That they had fixed and determinate Places for the discharge of their religi∣ous Duties, those especially that were done in common, is greatly probable, Nature and the reason of things would put them upon it. And this most think is intended in that phrase, where it is said of Cain and Abel, that they brought their oblations, that is, (as Aben-Ezra and others expound it) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to the place set apart* 1.27 for divine worship: And this probably was the reason, why Cain though vexed to the heart to see his Brother preferred before him, did not presently set upon him, the so∣lemnity and religion of the Place, and the sensible appearances of the Divine Majesty having struck an awe into him, but deferred his murdrous intentions till they came into the Field, and there fell upon him. For their Sacrifices they had Altars, whereon they offered them, contemporary no doubt with Sacrifices themselves, though we read not of them till after the Flood, when Noah built an Altar unto the Lord, and offered* 1.28 burnt-offerings upon it: So Abraham immediately after his being called to the worship* 1.29 of the true God, in Sichem built an Altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him, and removing thence, to a Mountain Eastward, he built another Altar, and called on the Name of the Lord, as indeed he did almost in every place where he came. Thus also* 1.30 when he dwelt at Beer-sheba in the Plains of Mamre, he planted a Grove there, and

called on the Name of the Lord the everlasting God. This no doubt was the common Chap∣pel or Oratory; whither Abraham and his numerous Family, and probably those whom he gained to be Proselytes to his Religion were wont to retire for their publick adora∣tions, as a Place infinitely advantageous for such Religious purposes. And indeed the Ancient devotion of the World much delighted in Groves, in Woods and Mountains, partly for the conveniency of such Places, as better composing the thoughts for divine contemplations, and resounding their joynt-praises of God to the best advantage, partly because the silence and retiredness of the Place was apt to beget a kind of sacred dread and horrour in the mind of the Worshipper. Hence we find in Ophrah where Gideon's* 1.31 Father dwelt, an Altar to Baal, and a Grove that was by it; and how common the su∣perstitions and idolatries of the Heathen-world were in Groves and High-places, no Man can be ignorant, that is never so little conversant either in prophane or sacred sto∣ries. For this reason that they were so much abused to idolatry, God commanded the Israelites to destroy their Altars, break down their Images, and cut down their Groves: and* 1.32* 1.33 that they should not plant a Grove of any Trees near unto the Altar of the Lord, lest he should seem to countenance what was so universally prostituted to false worship and idolatry. But to return to Abraham. He planted a Grove, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a Tree, which the Ancients gene∣rally make to have been a large spreading Oake; and some foundation there is for it in the sacred Text; for the place where Abraham planted it is called the Plain of Mamre,* 1.34 or as in the Hebrew, he dwelt 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 among the Oakes of Mamre, and so the Syriac renders it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The House* 1.35 of the Oake: The name whereof* 1.36 Josephus tells us, was Ogy∣ges; and it is not a conjecture to be despised, that Noah might probably inhabit in this place, and either give the name to it, or at least derive his from it, Ogyges being the Name by which he is usually described in forreign Writers. This very Oake S.* 1.37 Hierom assures us, and ‖ 1.38 Eusebius intimates as much, was yet standing till the time of Constantine, and worshipped with great super∣stition. And* 1.39 Sozomen tells us more particularly that there was a famous Mart held there every Summer, and a Feast celebrated by a general confluence of the neighbouring Countries, and Persons of all Religions, both Christians, Jews and Gentiles, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 every one doing honour to this Place accord∣ing to the different Principles of their Religion: but that Constantin being offended that the Place should be prophan'd with the superstitions of the Jews, and the idolatry of the Gentiles, wrote with some severity to Macarius the Bishop of Jerusalem, and the Bishops of Palestin, that they should destroy the Altars and Images, and deface all Monuments of Idolatry, and restore the Place to its ancient Sanctity. Which was accordingly done, and a Church 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the Place, where God was purely and sincerely worshipped. From this Oake, the ordinary place of Abraham's worship and devotion, the Religion of the Gentiles doubtless derived its Oakes and Groves, and particularly the Druids, the great and almost only Masters and Directors of all Learning and Religion among the Ancient Brittains, hence borrowed their Original; who are so notoriously known to have lived wholly under Oakes and Groves, and there to have delivered their Doctrines and Pre∣cepts, and to have exercised their Religious and mysterious Rites, that hence they fetch∣ed their denomination, either from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (as the Ancients generally thought) or more probably from the old Cetlic word Deru, both signifying an Oake, and which the Welch, the Descendants of the Ancient Brittains, still call Derw at this day. But of this e∣nough.

9. FROM the place where, we proceed to the times when they usually paid their Devotions. And seeing Order is necessary in all undertakings, and much more in the actions of Religion, we cannot think that Mankind was left at a roving uncertainty in a matter of so great importance, but that they had their stated and solemn times of Wor∣ship: especially when we find among all Nations, even the most rude and unpolished Heathens, times peculiarly set apart for the honour of their gods, and the publick solem∣nities of Religion. And so no question it was in the more early Ages of the World, they had fix'd and appropriate Seasons, when they met together to do homage unto God, and to offer up their joynt-acknowledgments to Heaven. Thus we read of Cain that he brought his oblation in process of time, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 at the end of days, at one of those fix∣ed* 1.40 and periodical returns, when they used to meet in the Religious Assemblies, the word 〈◊〉〈◊〉 denoting not simply an end, but a determinate and an appointed end. I know many with great zeal and eagerness contend, that the Sabbath or Seventh Day from the Crea∣tion was set apart, and universally observed as the time of Publick Worship, and that

from the beginning of the World. But alas the foundation upon which this opinion is built, is very weak and sandy, having nothing to rely on, but one place where it is said, that God resting on the Seventh Day from all his Works, blessed the Seventh Day and san∣ctified* 1.41 it. Which words are reasonably thought to have been set down by Moses by way of Prolepsis, as it was in his time, if they relate at all to the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and are not rather to be understood of God's blessing and sanctifying the Seventh Day, as having complea∣ted all his Works in the creating of Man and in whom as in the crown and glory of the Creation he would sanctifie himself. For that it should be meant of a Weekly Sabbath, hath as little countenance from this Text, as it hath from the practice of those times, there being no foot-steps or shadow of any such Sabbath kept through all the Patriarchal periods of the Church, till the times of Moses, which besides the evidence of the story, is universally owned by the Ancient Jewes, and very many of the Fathers do expresly assert it.

10. THE last circumstance concerns the Persons by whom the Publick Worship was administred. Impossible it is that any Society should be regularly managed, where there are not some peculiar Persons to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, direct, and govern the affairs of it. And God who in all other things is a God of Order, is much more so in matters of Reli∣gion: and therefore no doubt from the beginning appointed those, whose care and busi∣ness it should be to discharge the publick parts of Piety and Devotion in the name of the rest. Now the Priesthood in those times was vested in the Heads of Tribes, and in the first-born of every Family. To the Patriarch or Head of every Tribe it belonged to bless the Family, to offer Sacrifice, to intercede for them by Prayer, and to minister in other solemn acts of Religion. And this Office hereditarily descended to the first-born, who had power to discharge it during the life of his Father; for it was not necessary, that he who was Priest by vertue of his primogeniture, should be also the eldest of the House, Jacob, who succeeded in his Brother's right, offered Sacrifices in the life of his Father Isaac, and Abraham was a Priest, though Sem the Head of the Family, and ten degrees removed from him in a direct line, was then alive, yea survived Abraham near Forty Years. Every first-born had three great Prerogatives, a double portion of the Paternal inheritance a Lordship and Principality over his Brethren, and a right to the Priesthood, to instruct them in the knowledge of Divine things, and to manage the common Offi∣ces of Religion. So that in those times there was a particular Priesthood in every Fa∣mily, the administration whereof was usually appropriate to the first born. Thus No∣ah, Abraham, and Isaac offered Sacrifices, and Job (who lived about that time, or not long after) both for his Children and his Friends. Thus 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was a Priest by his pri∣mogeniture, and that goodly Raiment of her Son Esau which Rebeccah put upon Jacob, when he went in to his Father, is by many not improbably understood of the Sacerdo∣tal Vestments, wherein as first-born he was wont to execute his Office. Of these Priests we are to understand that Place, Let the Priests which come near to the Lord,* 1.42 sanctifie themselves. This could not be meant of the Levitical Priests, (the Aaronical Order not being yet instituted) and therefore must be understood of the Priesthood of the first-born, and so Solomon farchis gloss expounds it. Thus when Moses had built an Altar at the foot of the Mountain, he sent young men of the children of Israel, which of∣fered* 1.43 burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings unto the Lord. Where for young men, the Chaldee Paraphrase and the Hierusalem Targum have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the first∣born of the children of Israel; so has that of Jonathan, who expresly adds this reason, for unto that very Hour the worship remained among the first-born, the Tabernacle of the Cove∣nant not being yet made, nor the Aaronical Priesthood set up. So when Jacob bequeathed his blessing to Reuben, Reuben thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my* 1.44 strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power, the same Jewish Paraphrasts tell us, that there were three things in this blessing conveyed and confirmed to Reuben, the Birth-right, the Kingdom, and the Priesthood, but that for his enormous and unnatural sin they were transferred to others, the primogeniture to Joseph, the Kingdom to Judah, and the Priesthood to Levi. But though the Sacerdotal function ordinarily belonged to the first-born, yet was it not so wholly invested in them, but that it might in some cases be exercised by younger Brothers, especially when passing into other Families, and them∣selves becoming Heads of Tribes and Families. Abraham we know was not a first-born, and it's highly probable that Sem himself was not Noah's eldest Son, Moses was a Priest, yea 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as the Jewes call him, the Priest of Priests, and yet was but 〈◊〉〈◊〉 second Son, and Aaron's younger Brother. So that the case in short seemed to lye thus. The Patriarch or surviving Head of every Tribe was a kind of High Priest over all the Families that were descended from him, the first-born in every Family was the or∣dinary

Priest, who might officiate in his Father's stead, and who after his decease succeeded in his room, the younger Brethren, when leaving their Father's house, and themselves becoming heads of Families, and their seats removed too far distant to make use of the ordinary Priesthood, did themselves take the office upon them, and exercise it over all those that were under them, and sprung from them, though the main ho∣nour and dignity was reserved for the Priesthood of the first-born: Thus Abraham, though but a second Son, yet when become the head of a great Family, and removed into another Country, became a Priest, and that not only during the life of his Father, but of Sem himself, the grand surviving Patriarch of that time. I observe no more concerning this, than that this right of the first-born was a prime honour and privi∣ledge, and therefore the reason (〈◊〉〈◊〉 the* 1.45 Jews) why Jacob was so greatly desirous of the birth right, was because in those days the Priesthood was entail'd upon it. And for this chiefly no doubt it was that Esau is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a prophane person, for selling* 1.46 his birth-right for a mess of Pottage, because thereby he made so light of the sacred ho∣nour of the Priesthood, the Venerable office of ministring before God.

11. HAVING thus seen what were the Laws, what the Worship of those times, it remains briefly to consider what was the face of the Church, and the state of Religi∣on under the several Patriarchs of this Oeconomy. Not to meddle with the story ei∣ther of the Creation or Apostasie of Adam, no sooner was he fallen from that innocent and happy state wherein God had placed him, but Conscience began to stir, and he was sensible that God was angry, and saw it necessary to propitiate the offended Deity by Prayer and Invocation, by Sorrow and Repentance, and probably by offering Sa∣crifice; a conjecture that hath at least some countenance from those Coats of Skins* 1.47 wherewith God clothed our first Parents, which seem likely to have been the Skins of Beasts slain for Sacrifice; for that they were not killed for food is evident, because flesh was not the ordinary diet (if it was at all) of those first Ages of the World. And God might purposely make choice of this sort of covering, to put our first Parents in mind of their great degeneracy, how deep they were sunk into the animal life, and by gratifying brutish and sensual appetites at so dear a rate, how like they were become to the Beasts that perish. And 〈◊〉〈◊〉 this were so, it possibly might give birth to that Law* 1.48 of Moses, that every Priest that offered any man's burnt-offering, should have to him∣self the skin of the burnt-offering which he had offered. But however this was, tis certain that Adam was careful to instruct his Children in the knowledge of Divine things, and to maintain Religion and the worship of God in his Family. For we find Cain and Abel bringing their oblations, and that at a certain time, though they had a different success. I omit the Traditions of the East, that the cause of the difference between Cain and Abel was about a Wife, and that they sought to decide the case by Sacrifice, and that when Abel's sacrifice was accepted, Cain out of envy and indigna∣tion fell upon his brother, struck his head with a stone, and slew him. The present they brought was according to their different ways and institutions of life: Cain as an* 1.49 Husbandman brought of the fruit of the ground, Abel as a Shepherd brought of the first∣lings of his Flock, and of the fat thereof: But the one was accepted, and the other re∣jected. The cause whereof certainly was not that the one was little and inconsiderable, the other large and noble; the one only a dry oblation, the other a burnt-offering; or that Cain had entertained a conceived prejudice against his Brother; the true cause lay in the different temper and disposition of their minds; Abel had great and honourable thoughts of God, and therefore brought of the best that he had, Cain mean and unworthy* 1.50 apprehensions, and accordingly took what came first to hand; Abel came with a grate∣ful sense of the goodness of Heaven, with a mind piously and heartily devoted to the Divine Majesty, and an humble reliance upon the Divine acceptance; Cain brought his oblation indeed, but looked no further, was not careful to offer up himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as being the most reasonable service, too confidently bearing up himself, as we may suppose, upon the prerogative of his primogeniture. By which means Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he ob∣tained* 1.51 witness, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. For he had respect unto* 1.52 Abel, and to his offering: But unto Cain, and to his offering he had not respect. And if in that fire, by which God testified his respect by consuming one oblation, and not the other, there was (as the Jews say) seen the face of a Lion, it doubtless prefigured the late promised Messiah, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, our great expiatory sacrifice, of whom all other sacrifices were but types and shadows, and in whom all our oblations are rendred grateful unto God, The odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well∣pleasing unto God.

12. A. B. E. L being taken away by his envious and enraged Brother, God was plea∣sed to repair the loss by giving his Parents another Son, whom they called Seth, and he accordingly proved a very Vertuous and Religious man. He was (if we may be∣lieve the Ancients) a great Scholar; the first inventor of Letters, and Writing, an accurate Astronomer, and taught his Children the knowledge of the Stars, who having heard from their Grandfather Adam, that the World was to be twice destroyed, once by Fire, and again by Water (if the story be true which Josephus without any great war∣rant* 1.53 reports) wrote their Experiments and the principles of their Art upon two Pillars, one of Brick, the other of Stone, that if the one perished, the other might remain, and convey their notions to posterity, one of which Pillars Josephus adds, was said to be standing in Syria in his time. But that which rendred Seth most renowned, was his piety and devotion; a good man he was, one who asserted and propagated Religion and the true worship of God, as he had received it from his Father Adam, notwith∣standing the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and degeneracy, and possibly oppositions of his Brother Cain and his party. The Eastern Writers, both Jews and * 1.54 Arabians, confidently assure us, that Seth and his retinue withdrew from Cain, who dwelt in the Valley, where he had killed his brother Abel, into a very high mountain (on the top whereof their Father Adam was buried) so high, if we could believe them, that they could hear the Angels singing Anthems, and did daily joyn in with that Heavenly Quire. Here they whol∣ly devoted themselves to the daily worship of God, and obtained a mighty name and ve∣neration for the holiness and purity of their lives. When Seth came to lie upon his death∣bed, he summoned his Children, their Wives and Families together, blessed them, and as his last Will commanded them to worship God, adjuring them by the bloud of Abel (their usual and solemn oath) that they should not descend from the holy Mount, to hold any correspondence or commerce with Cain or his wicked faction. And then breathed his last. A command, say my Authors, which they observed for seven generations, and then came in the promiscuous mixtures.

13. To Seth succeeded his Son Enos, who kept up the glory and purity of Religion, and the honour of the holy Line. Of his time it is particularly recorded, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. The ambiguity of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifying* 1.55 sometimes to prophane, sometimes to begin, hath begotten various apprehensions among learned men concerning this place, and led them not only into different, but quite con∣trary sences. The words are by some rendred thus, Then men prophaned in calling upon the name of the Lord; which they thus explain, that at that time when Enos was born, the true worship and service of God began to sink and fail, corruption and idolatry mightily prevailing by reason of Cains wicked and apostate Family; and that as a sad me∣morial of this corrupt and degenerate Age, holy Seth called his son's name Enosh, which not only simply signifies a man, but a poor, calamitous, miserable man. And this way go many of the Jews, and some Christian writers of great name and note. Nay Maimonides, one of the wisest and soberest of all the Jewish writers, begins his Tract about* 1.56 Idolatry 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 from the times of Enosh, referring to this very passage; he tells us, that men did then grievously erre, and that the minds of the wise men of those days were grown gross and stupid; yea, that Enos himself was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 among those that erred, and that their Idolatry consisted in this, That they worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven. ‖ 1.57 Others there are who expresly assert, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was the first that invented Images, to excite the Spirit of the Creatures, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that by their mediation men might invocate and call upon God. But how in∣firm a foundation this Text is to build all this upon, is evident. For besides, what* 1.58 some have observed, that the Hebrew phrase is not tolerably reconcileable with such a sence, if it were, yet 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as one of the‖ 1.59 Rabbins has well noted, that there wants a foundation for any such exposition, no mention being made in Moses his story of any such false Gods as were then worshipped, no footsteps of Idolatry appearing in the World till after the Flood. Nor indeed is it reasonable to suppose, that the Crea∣tion of the World being yet fresh in memory, and Divine Traditions so lately received from Adam, and God frequently communicating himself to men, that the case being thus, men could in so short a time be fallen under so great an apostasie, as wholly to forget and renounce the true God, and give Divine honours to senseless and inanimate creatures; I can hardly think that the Cainites themselves should be guilty of this, much less Enosh and his Children. The meaning of the words then is plainly this, That in Enosh his time the holy Line being greatly multiplied, they applied themselves to the worship of God in a more publick and remarkable manner, either by framing themselves into more distinct societies for the exercise of publick worship, or by

meeting at more fixed and stated times, or by invocating God under more solemn and peculiar rites than they had done before. And this probably they did the rather, to ob∣viate that torrent of prophaneness and impiety, which by means of the sons of Cain they saw flowing in upon the World. This will be further confirmed, if we take the words as by some they are rendred, then men began to be called by the name of the Lord, that is, the difference and separation that was between the children of Seth and Cain every day ripening into a wider distance, the posterity of Seth began to take to them∣selves a distinctive title, that the World might the better distinguish between those who kept to the service of God, and those who threw off Religion, and let loose the reins to disorder and impiety. And hereof we meet with clear intimation in the story of those times when we read of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the sons of God (who doubtless were the* 1.60 pious and devout posterity of Seth, calling themselves after the name of the Lord, whom they constantly and sincerely worshipped, notwithstanding the fancy of Jose∣phus, and the Fathers, that they were Angels, or that of the Jewish Paraphrasts, that they were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the sons of great men and Princes) in opposition to the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the sons of men, the impure and debauched posterity of Cain, who made light of Reli∣gion, and were wholly governed by 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and sensual inclinations. And the match∣ing of these sons of God with the daughters of men, that is, those of the Family of Cain, and the fatal consequences of those unhappy marriages, was that which provoked God to destroy the World. I have no more to add concerning Enosh, than that we are told, that dying he gave the same commands to his Children, which he had received of his Father, that they should make Religion their great care and business, and keep them∣selves pure from society and converse with the Line of Cain.

14. AFTER Enosh was his son Kenan, who, as the Arabian * 1.61 Historian informs us, ruled the people committed to him by a wise and excellent government, and gave the same charge at his death that had been given to him. Next Kenan comes Maha∣lcleel,* 1.62 who carries devotion and piety in his very name, signifying, one that praises God, of whom they say, that he trained up the people in ways of justice and piety, blessed his Children at his death, and having charged them to separate from the Cai∣nites, appointed his son Jared to be his successor; whose name denotes a descent, pro∣bably either because of the notable decrease and declension of piety in his time, or be∣cause in his days some of the Sethites descended from the holy Mountain to mix with the posterity of Cain. For so the* 1.63 Oriental writers inform us, that a great noise and shout coming up from the Valley, an hundred of the holy Mountaineers agreed to go down to the sons of Cain, whom Jared endeavoured to hinder by all the arts of counsel and perswasion. But what can stop a mind bent upon an evil course? down they went, and being ravished with the beauty of the Cainite-women, promiscuously com∣mitted folly and lewdness with them; from whence sprang a race of Giants, men of vast and robust bodies, but of more vicious and ungovernable tempers, who made their Will their Law, and Might the standard and rule of Equity. Attempting to re∣turn back to the holy Mount, Heaven had shut up their way, the stones of the Moun∣tain burning like fire when they came upon them; which whether the Reader will have faith enough to believe, I know not. Jared being near his death, advised his Children to be wise by the folly of their Brethren, and to have nothing to do with that prophane generation. His son Enoch followed in his steps, a man of admirable strict∣ness and piety, and peculiarly exemplary for his innocent and holy conversation, it* 1.64 being particularly noted of him, that he walked with God: He set the Divine Majesty before him, as the guide and pattern, the spectator and rewarder of his actions, in all his ways endeavoured to approve himself to his All-seeing eye, by doing nothing but what was grateful and acceptable to him; he was the great instance of vertue and goodness in an evil Age, and by the even tenor and constancy of a holy and a religious life shewed his firm belief and expectation of a future state, and his hearty dependence upon the Divine goodness for the rewards of a better life. And God, who is never be∣hind-hand with his servants, crowned his extraordinary obedience with an uncommon* 1.65 reward. By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him: For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. And what that faith was, is plain by what follows after, a belief of God's Being and his Bounty, Without faith it is impossible to please him: For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of them that diligently seek him. What this translation was, and whether it was made, whither into that Terrestrial Paradise out of which Adam was expelled and banished, and whereunto Enoch had de∣sired of God he might be translated, as some fancy, or whether placed among the Stars,

as others, or carried into the highest Heavens, as others will have it, were nice and useless speculations. 'Tis certain he was taken out of these mutable Regions, and set beyond the reach of those miseries and misfortunes, to which a present state of sin and mortality does betray us; translated, probably, both Soul and Body, that he might be a type and specimen of a future Resurrection, and a sensible demonstration to the World that there is a reward for the righteous, and another state after this, wherein good Men shall be happy sor ever. I pass by the fancy of the Jewes as vain and frivolous, that though Enoch was a good Man, yet was he very mutable and inconstant, and apt to be led aside, and that this was the reason, why God translated him so soon, lest he should have been debauched by the charms and allurements of a wicked World. He was an eminent Prophet, and a fragment of his Prophecy is yet extant in S. Jude's Epistle, by which it appears, that wickedness was then grown rampant, and the manners of men very corrupt and vicious, and that he as plainly told them of their faults, and that Di∣vine vengeance that would certainly overtake them. Of Methuselah his Son nothing considerable is upon Record, but his great Age, living full DCCCCLXIX. Years (the longest proportion which any of the Patriarchs arrived to) and died in that very Year wherein the Flood came upon the World.

15. FROM his Son Lamech, concerning whom we find nothing memorable, we proceed to his Grand child Noah, by the very imposition of whose Name his Parents presaged that he would be a refreshment and comfort to the World, and highly in∣strumental to remove that curse which God by an Universal Deluge was bringing upon the Earth, he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 his Name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work* 1.66 and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed; he was one in whom his Parents did acquiesce and rest satisfied, that he would be eminently 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and serviceable to the World. Indeed he proved a person of incomparable sanctity and in∣tegrity, a Preacher of righteousness to others, and who as carefully practised it himself. He was a just man, and perfect in his generation, and he walked with God. He did not warp* 1.67 and decline with the humour of the Age he lived in, but maintained his station, and kept his Line. He was upright in his Generation. 'Tis no thanks to be religious, when it is the humour and fashion of the Times: the great trial is, when we live in the midst of a corrupt generation. It is the crown of vertue to be good, when there are all man∣ner of temptations to the contrary, when the greatest part of Men goe the other way, when vertue and honesty are laughed and drolled on, and censured as an over-wise and affected singularity; when lust and debauchery are accounted the modes of Gallantry, and pride and oppression suffered to ride in prosperous triumphs without controll. Thus it was with Noah, he contended with the Vices of the Age, and dared to own God and Religion, when almost all Mankind besides himself had rejected and thrown them off. For in his time wickedness openly appeared with a brazen Forehead, and violence had covered the face of the Earth, the promiscuous mixtures of the Children of Seth and Cain had produced Giants and mighty Men, men strong to do evil, and who had as much will as power, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.68 as Josephus describes them, a race of men insolent and ungovernable, scornful and injurious, and who bearing up themselves in the confidence of their own strength, despised all justice and equity, and made every thing truckle under their 〈◊〉〈◊〉 lusts and appetites. The very same character does Lucian give of the Men of this Age, speaking of the times* 1.69 of Deucalion (their Noah) and the Flood, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (says he) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. Men exceedingly scorn∣ful and contumelious, and guilty of the most unrighteous and enormous actions, viola∣ting all Oaths and Covenants, throwing off kindness and hospitality, and rejecting all addresses and supplications made to them. For which cause great miseries overtook them: for Heaven and Earth, Seas and Rivers conspired together to pour out mighty Floods upon the World; which swept all away, but Deucalion only, who for his pru∣dence and piety was left to repair Mankind. And so he goes on with the relation con∣sonant to the account of the Sacred story. This infection had spread it self over all parts, and was become so general and Epidemical, that all Flesh had corrupted their ways, and scarce any besides Noah left to keep up the face of a Church, and the profession of Religion. Things being come to this pass quickly alarm'd the Divine Justice, and made the World ripe for vengeance; the patience of God was now tired out, and he re∣solved to make Mankind feel the just effects of his incensed severity. But yet in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy: he tells them, that though he would not suffer his patience to be eternally prostituted to the wanton humours of wicked men, yet that

he would bear with them CXX. Years longer in order to their reformation. So loth is God to take advantage of the sins of men, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance. In the mean time righteous Noah found favour with Heaven (a good man hath a peculiar guardianship and protection in the worst of times) and God orders him to prepare an Ark for the saving of his House. An Hundred Years was this Ark in building, not but that it might have been finished in a far less time, but that God was willing to give them so long a space for wise and sober considerations, No∣ah preaching all the while both by his doctrine and his practice, that they would break off their sins by repentance, and prevent their ruine. But they that are filthy, will be filthy still; the hardned World persisted in their impieties, till the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost; and destroyed the World of the ungodly. God shut up Noah, his Wife, his three Sons and their Wives into the Ark, together with provisions, and so many Creatures of every sort as were sufficient not only for food, but for reparation of the kind (Miracles must not be expected, where ordinary means may be 〈◊〉〈◊〉) and then opened the Windows of Heaven, and broke up the Fountains of the Deep, and brought in the Flood that swept all away. Twelve months Noah and his Family continued in this floating habitation; when the Waters being gone, and the Earth dried, he came forth, and the first thing he did, was to erect an Altar, and offer up an Eucharistical Sacrifice to God for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 remarkable a deliverance (some of the Jews tell us, that coming out of the Ark he was bitten by a Lion, and rendred unfit for Sacrifice, and that therefore Sem did it in his room) he did not concern himself for food, or a present habitation, but imme∣diately betook himself to his devotion. God was infinitely pleased with the pious and grateful sense of the good man, and openly declared that his displeasure was over, and that he would no more bring upon the World such effects of his severity as he had late∣ly done, and that the Ordinances of Nature should duly perform their constant motions, and regularly observe their periodical revolutions. And because Man was the principal Creature in this lower World, he restored to him his Charter of Dominion and Sove∣raignty over the Creatures, and by enacting some Laws against Murder and Cruelty secured the peace and happiness of his life: and then established a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with Noah and all Mankind, that he would no more drown the World, for the ratification and en∣surance whereof he placed the Rain-bow in the Clouds, as a perpetual sign and memo∣rial of his Promise. Noah after this betook himself to Husbandry, and planting Vine∣yards, and being unwarily overtaken with the fruit of the Vine, became a scorn to Cham one of his own Sons, while the two others piously covered their Fathers shame. A wake∣ing out of his sleep, and knowing what had been done, he prophetically cursed Cham and his Posterity; blessed Sem, and in Japhet foretold the calling of the Gentiles to the worship of God, and the knowledge of the Messiah, that God should enlarge Japhet, and that he should dwell in the Tents of Shem. He died in the DCCCCL. Year of his Age, having seen both Worlds, that before the Flood, and that which came after it.

16. SEM and Japhet were the two good Sons of Noah, in the assigning whose primogeniture, though the Scripture be not positive and decretory, yet do the most probable reasons appear for Japhet, especially if we compute their Age. Sem was an* 1.70 Hundred Years old two Years after the Flood (for 〈◊〉〈◊〉 he begat Arphaxad) now the Flood hapned just in the DC. Year of Noah's Age; whence it follows that Sem was* 1.71 born, when his Father was Five Hundred and Two Years old. But Noah being ex∣presly said to have begotten Sons in the Five Hundredth Year of his Age, plain it is that* 1.72 there must be another Son two Years Elder than Sem, which could be no other than Japhet, Cham being acknowledged by all the Younger Brother. And hence it is that* 1.73 Sem is called, the Brother 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of Japhet the Greater, or as we render it, the Elder. They were both pious and devout Men, having been brought up under the reli∣gious Institutions, not only of their Father Noah, but their Grand-father 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and their Great-grand-father Methuselah, who had for some Hundreds of Years conversed with Adam. The holy story records nothing concerning the state of Religion in their days, and little heed 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to be given to the Eastern Writers, when they tell us of Sem, that according to the command of his Father he took the Body of Adam, which Noah had secretly hidden in the Ark, and joyning himself to Melchisedec, they went and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it in the heart of the Earth, an Angel going before, and conducting them to the place∣with a great deal more, with little truth, and to as little purpose. As for the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 born after the Flood, little notice is taken of them besides the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 mention of their names, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber. Of this last they say, that he was a great 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that he instituted Schools and Seminaries for the advancement and propagation of 〈◊〉〈◊〉:* 1.74 and there was great reason for him to bestir himself, if it be true, what the Arabian Hi∣storians

tell us, that now Idolatry began mightily to prevail, and men generally car∣ved to themselves the Images of their Ancestors, to which upon all occasions they ad∣dressed themselves with the most solemn veneration, the Daemons giving answers through the Images wich they worshipped. Heber was the Father of the Jewish Na∣tion,* 1.75 who from him are said to have derived the title of Hebrews, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Josephus tells us, (though there want not those who assign other reasons of the name) and that the Hebrew Language was preserved in his family, which till his time had been the mother-tongue, and the common Language of the World. To Eber succeeded his son Peleg, a name given him out of a Propheti∣cal foresight of that memorable division that hapned in his time. For now it was that a company of bold daring persons combining themselves under the conduct and command of Nimrod, resolved to erect a vast and stupendous Fabrick, partly to raise themselves a mighty reputation in the World, partly to secure themselves from the Invasion of an after-deluge, and probably as a place of retreat and defence, the better to enable them to put in practice that oppression and tyranny which they designed to exercise over the World. But whatever it was, God was displeased with the attempt, and to shew how easily he can basfle the subtillest Councils, and in a moment subvert the firmest projects, on a sudden he confounded the Language of these foolish Builders, so that they were forced to desist from their vain and ambitious design, as not being able to understand and converse with one another. To Peleg succeeded his son Rehu, to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Serug, to him 〈◊〉〈◊〉, to Nachor Terah, who dwelt in Ur of the Chaldaeans, where conversing with those Idolatrous Nations, he laps'd himself into the most gross Idola∣try. So apt are men to follow a multitude to do evil, so fatally mischievous is ill compa∣ny, and a bad example. But the best way to avoid the plague, is to remove out of the house of infection. Away goes Terah to Haran, where by repentance he is said to have recovered himself out of the snare of the Devil.

17. ABRAHAM the second son of Terah succeeds in the Patriarchal Line. In his minority he was educated in the Idolatries of his Father's house, who, they say, was a maker of Statues and Images: And the * 1.76 Jews tells us many pleasant stories of Abra∣ham's going into the shop in the absence of his Father, his breaking the Images, and jeer∣ing those that came to buy, or worship them; of his Father's carrying him to Nimrod to be punished, his witty answers, and miraculous escapes. But God who had de∣signed him for higher and nobler purposes, called him at length out of his Father's house, fully discoverd himself to him, and by many solemn promises and federal com∣pacts peculiarly engaged him to himself. He was a man intirely devoted to the honour of God, and had consecrated all his services to the interests of Religion, scarce any duty either towards God or men for which he is not eminent upon record. Towards God, how great was his zeal and care to promote his worship? erecting Altars almost in eve∣ry place, whereon he publickly offered his prayers and sacrifice. His love to God wholly swallowed up the love and regard that he had to his dearest interests, witness his intire resignation of himself, his chearful renouncing all the concernments of his Estate and Family, and especially his readiness to sacrifice his only son, the son of his old age, and which is above all, the son of the promise, when God by way of trial re∣quired it of him. How vigorous and triumpant was his faith, especially in the great promise of a son, which he firmly embraced against all humane probabilities to the contrary? Against hope he believed in hope, and being strong in faith, gave glory to God. How hearty was his dependence upon the Divine Providence, when called to leave his Father's house, and to go into a strange Country, how chearfully did he obey and go out, though he knew not whither he went? How unconquerable was his patience, how even the composure of his mind in all conditions? in fifteen several journeys that he undertook, and ten difficult temptations which he underwent, he never betrayed the least murmuring or hard thought of God. Towards others he shewed the greatest tenderness and respect, the most meek and unpassionate temper, a mind inflamed with a desire of peace and concord: Admirable his justice and equity in all his dealings, his great hospitality and bounty towards strangers, and for that end (say the Jews) he got him an house near the entring into Haran, that he might entertain strangers as they went in, or came out of the City, at his own table; as indeed he seems to have had that most excellent and Divine temper of mind, an universal love and charity towards all men. But his greatest charity appeared in the care that he took of the Souls of men. Maimonides tells us, that he kept a publick School of institution, whither he gather∣ed* 1.77 men together, and instructed them in that truth, which he himself had embraced, and he gives us an account by what methods of reasoning and information he used to

convince and perswade them. But whatever he did towards others, we are sure he did it towards those that were under his own charge. He had a numerous family, and a vast retinue, and he was as careful to inform them in the knowledge of the true God, and to instruct them in all the duties of Religion. 'Tis the character which God him∣self gave of him, I know Abraham, that he will command his children, and his houshold af∣ter him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. And so he did, his house being a School of piety, wherein Religion was both taught and practised, many reclaimed from the errors and idolatries of the times, and all his domesticks and dependants solemnly dedicated to God by Circumcision. Therefore when 'tis said, that he brought with him all the Souls which they had gotten in Haran, the Paraphrase of* 1.78 Onkelos renders it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Souls which they had subject∣ed to the Law in Haran; Jonathans Targum, and much at the same rate that of Jerusa∣lem, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Souls which they had made proselytes in Haran, or as Solomon Jarchi expresses it, a little more after the Hebrew mode, the Souls which they had ga∣thered, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 under the wings of the Divine Majesty; and he further* 1.79 adds, that Abraham proselyted the men, and Sarah the women. So when elsewhere we read of his trained servants, some of the Jewish Masters expound it by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 those that were initiated and trained up in the knowledge of the Law. Such being the temper of this holy man, God was pleased frequently to converse with him, and to im∣part his mind to him, acquainting him with the secret counsels and purposes of his Pro∣vidence, whence he is stiled the friend of God. But that which shewed him to be most dear to Heaven, was the Covenant which God solemnly made with him, wherein binding Abraham and his seed to a sincere and universal obedience, he obliged himself to become their God, to be his shield and his exceeding great reward, to take his posteri∣ty for his peculiar people, to encrease their number, and to inlarge their power, to settle them in a rich and a pleasant Country (a type of that Heavenly and better Coun∣try that is above) and which was the crown of all, that in his seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed, that is, the promised Messiah should proceed out of his loins, who should be a common blessing to mankind, in whom both Jew and Gentile should be justified and saved, and he by that means become (spiritually) the Father of many Nations. This Covenant was ratified and ensured on God's part by a solemn oath, For* 1.80 when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by him∣self, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. On Abra∣ham's part it was sealed with the Sacrament of Circumcision, which God instituted as a peculiar federal rite, to distinguish Abraham's posterity from all other people. Abra∣ham died in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 year of his Age, and was buried in the Sepulchre which himself had purchased of the sons of Heth. Contemporary with Abraham was his Ne∣phew* 1.81 Lot, a just man, but vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; for dwelling in the midst of an impure and debauched generation, In seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. This endeared him to Heaven, who took a particular care of him, and sent an Angel on purpose to conduct him and his family out of Sodom, before he let loose that fatal vengeance that overturned it.

18. Abraham being dead, Isaac stood up in his stead, the son of his Parents old age, and the fruit of an extraordinary promise. Being delivered from being a sacrifice, he frequented (say the Jews) the School of Sem, wherein he was educated in the know∣ledge of Divine things till his marriage with Rebeccah. But however that was, he was a good man, we read of his going out to meditate or pray in the field at even-tide, and* 1.82 elsewhere we find him publickly sacrificing and calling upon God. In all his distresses God still appeared to him, animated him against his fears, and encouraged him to go on in the steps of his Father, renewing the same promises to him which he had made to Abraham. Nay, so visible and remarkable was the interest which he had in Hea∣ven, that Abimelech King of the Philistines and his Courtiers thought it their wisest course to confederate with him for this very reason, because they saw certainly that the* 1.83 Lord was with him, and that he was the blessed of the Lord. Religion is the truest inte∣rest, and the wisest portion, 'tis the surest protection, and the safest refuge. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Isaac dy∣ing in the CLXXX, year of his life, the Patriarchate devolved upon his son Jacob, by vertue of the primogeniture which he had purchased of his brother Esau, and which had been confirmed to him by the grant and blessing of his Father (though subtilly pro∣cured by the artifice and policy of his Mother) who also told him, that God Almighty would bless and multiply him and his seed after him, and that the blessing of Abraham should come upon them. He intirely devoted himself to the fear and service of God, kept up

his Worship, and vindicated it from the incroachments of Idolatry, he erected Altars at every turn, and zealously purged his house from those Teraphim or Idols which Ra∣chel had brought along with her out of Laban's house, either to prevent her Father's enquiring at them which way Jacob had made his escape, or to take away from him the instruments of his Idolatry, or possibly that she might have wherewith to propitiate* 1.84 and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 her Father in case he should pursue and overtake them, as Josephus thinks, though surely then she would have produced them, when she saw her Father so zealous to retrieve them. He had frequent Visions and Divine condescensions, God appear∣ing to him, and ratifying the Covenant that he had made with Abraham, and chang∣ing his name from Jacob to Israel, as a memorial of the mighty prevalency which he had with Heaven. In his later time he removed his family into Egypt, where God had prepared his way by the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of his son Joseph to be Vice-Roy and Lord of that vast and fertile Country, advanced to that place of state and grandeur by many strange and unsearchable methods of the Divine Providence. By his two Wives, the Daughters of his Uncle Laban, and his two Handmaids he had twelve Sons, who afterwards be∣came founders of the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish Nation; to whom upon his death∣bed he bequeathed his blessings, consigning their several portions, and the particular fates of every Tribe, among whom that of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is most remarkable, to whom it was foretold, that the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 should arise out of that Tribe, that the Regal Power & Political* 1.85 Soveraignty should be annexed to it, and remain in it till the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 came, at whose coming the Scepter should depart, and the Law-giver from between his knees: And thus all their own Paraphrasts, both Onkelos, Jonathan, and he of Jerusalem do expound it, that there should not want Kings or Rulers of the house of Judah, nor Scribes to teach the Law of that race, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 until the time that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the King shall come, whose the Kingdom is. And so it accordingly came to pass, for at the time of Christ's Birth, Herod, who was a stranger, had usurped the Throne, debased the Authority of their great Sanhedrim, murdered their Senators, devested them of all Judiciary power, and kept them so low, that they had not power 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to put a man to death. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. A prophecy exactly accomplished, when in the first Ages of Christianity the Nations of the World 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the standard of Christ at the publication of the Gospel. Jacob died CXLVII. years old, and was buried in Canaan, in the Sepulchre of his Fathers: After whose de∣cease his posterity for some hundreds of years were afflicted under the Egyptian yoke. Till God remembring the Covenant he had made with their Fathers, powerfully re∣scued them from the Iron Furnace; and conducted them through the wilderness into the Land of Promise, where he framed and ordered their Commonwealth, appointed Laws for the government of their Church, and setled them under a more fixed and cer∣tain dispensation.

19. HITHERTO we have surveyed the state of the Church in the constant succession of the Patriarchal Line. But if we step a little further into the History of those times, we shall find that there were some extraordinary persons without the Pale of that holy Tribe, renowned for the worship of God, and the profession of Religion; among whom two are most considerable, Melchisedeck and Job. Melchisedeck was King of Salem in the land of Canaan, and Priest of the most high God. The short account which the Scripture gives of him hath left room for various fancies and conjectures. The opinion that has most generally obtained is, that Melchisedeck was Sem, one of the sons of Noah, who was of a great Age, and lived above LXX. years after Abraham's coming into Canaan, and might therefore well enough meet him in his triumphant re∣turn from his conquest over the Kings of the Plain. But notwithstanding the univer∣sal authority which this opinion assumes to it self, it appears not to me with any tole∣rable probability, partly because Canaan, where Melchisedeck lived, was none of those Countries which were allotted to Sem and to his posterity, and unlikely it is that he should be Prince in a foreign Country: partly, because those things which the Scrip∣ture reports concerning Melchisedeck, do no ways agree to Sem, as that he was without Father and Mother, without genealogie, &c. whenas Moses does most exactly describe and record Sem and his Family, both as to his Ancestors, and as to his posterity. That therefore which seems most probable in the case, is, that he was one of the Reguli, or petty Kings (whereof there were many) in the land of Canaan, but a pious and de∣vout man, and a worshipper of the true God, as there were many others in those days among the Idolatrous Nations; he being extraordinarily raised up by God from among the Canaanites, and brought in without mention of Parents, original or end, without any Predecessor or Successor in his office, that he might be a fitter type of the Royal

and Eternal Priesthood of Christ. And for any more particular account concerning his person, it were folly and rashness over-curiously to enquire after what God seems indu∣striously to have concealed from us. The great character under which the Scripture takes notice of him, is his relation to our blessed Saviour, who is more than once said to be a Priest, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, after the order, in the same way and manner that Melchise∣deck was, or (as the Apostle explains himself) after the similitude of Melchisedeck. Our* 1.86 Lord was such a Priest as Melchisedeck was, there being a nearer similitude and confor∣mity between them, than ever was between any other Priests whatsoever. A subject which S. Paul largely and particularly treats of. Passing by the minuter instances of the parallel, taken from the name of his person, Melchisedeck, that is, King of righte∣ousness, and his title to his Kingdom, King of Salem, that is, of Peace; we shall ob∣serve three things especially wherein he was a type of Christ. First, in the peculiar qualification of his person, something being recorded of him uncommon to the rest of men, and that is, that he was without Father, without Mother, and without descent.* 1.87 Not that Melchisedeck like Adam was immediately created, or in an instant dropt down from Heaven, but that he hath no kindred recorded in the story, which brings him in without any mention of Father or Mother, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Chrysostom glosses, we know not what Father or Mother he had: He was* 1.88 (says S. Paul) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, without genealogie, without having any pedigree extant upon record, whence the ancient Syriack Version truly expresses the sence of the whole passage thus, Whose neither Father nor Mother are written, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 among the gene∣rations, that is, the genealogies of the ancient Patriarchs. And thus he eminently typified Christ, of whom this is really true: He is without Father in respect of his hu∣mane nature, begotten only of a pure Virgin; without Mother, in respect of his Di∣vinity, being begotten of his Father before all Worlds, by an eternal and ineffable ge∣neration. Secondly, Melchisedeck typified our Saviour in the duration and continu∣ance of his office; for so 'tis said of him, that he was without descent, having neither be∣ginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a Priest continu∣ally. By which we are not to understand that Melchisedeck never died, for being a man he was subject to the same common Law of mortality with other men: But the mean∣ing is, that as he is said to be without Father and Mother, because the Scripture speak∣ing of him makes no mention of his Parents, his Genealogy and descent: So he is said to abide a Priest for ever, without any beginning of days, or end of life, because we have no account of any that either preceded, or succeeded him in his office, no mention of the time either when he took it up, or laid it down. And herein how lively and emi∣nent a type of Christ, the true Melchisedeck, who as to his Divine nature was without beginning of days from Eternal Ages, and who either in the execution or vertue of his office abides for ever. There is no abolition, no translation of his office, no expecta∣tion of any to arise that shall succeed him in it: He was made a Priest not after the Law of a carnal Commandment, a transient and mutable dispensation, but after the power of an endless life. Thirdly, Melchisedeck was a type of Christ in his excellency above all other Priests. S. Paul's great design is to evince the preheminence and precedency of Mel∣chisedeck above all the Priests of the Mosaick ministration, yea, above Abraham him∣self, the Founder and Father of the Jewish Nation, from whom they reckoned it so great an honour to derive themselves. And this the Apostle proves by a double in∣stance. First, that Abraham, in whose loins the Levitical Priests then were, paid tithes to Melchisedeck, when he gave him the tenth of all his spoils, as due to God and his Ministers, thereby confessing himself and his posterity inferiour to him. Now consider* 1.89 how great this man was, unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Secondly, that Melchisedeck conferred upon Abraham a solemn benediction, it being a standing part of the Priests office to bless the people. And this was an undeniable ar∣gument of his superiority. He whose descent is not counted from them (the legal Priests)* 1.90 received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises: And without all contra∣diction the less is blessed of the better. Whereby it evidently appears, that Melchisedeck was greater than Abraham, and consequently than all the Levitical Priests that descen∣ded from him. Now herein he admirably prefigured and shadowed out our blessed Sa∣viour, a person peculiarly chosen out by God, sent into the World upon a nobler and a more important errand, owned by more solemn and mighty attestations from Hea∣ven, than ever was any other person; his office incomparably beyond that of the legal Oeconomy, his person greater, his undertaking weightier, his design more sublime and excellent, his oblation more valuable and meritorious, his prayers more prevalent

and successful, his office more durable and lasting, than ever any whose business it was to intercede and mediate between God and man.

20. THE other extraordinary person under this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is Job, concerning whom two things are to be enquired into, Who he was, and when he lived. For the first, we find him described by his Name, his Country, his Kindred, his Quality, his Religion, and his Sufferings, though in many of them we are left under great uncer∣tainties, and to the satisfaction only of probable conjectures. For his name, among many conjectures two are especially considerable, though founded upon very different reasons, one that it is from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifying one that grieves or groans, mystically pre∣saging those grievous miseries and sufferings that afterwards came upon him; the other, more probably, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to love, or to desire, noting him the desire and delight of his Parents, earnestly prayed for, and affectionately embraced with the tenderest en∣dearments. His Country was the land of 〈◊〉〈◊〉, though where that was, is almost as much disputed, as about the source of Nilus: Some will have it Armenia, others Pale∣stine, or the land of Canaan, and some of the Jewish Masters assure us, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 his School, or place of institution was at Tiberias, and nothing more commonly shewed to Travellers than Job's well in the way between Ramah and Jerusalem; others place it in Syria near Damascus, so called from 〈◊〉〈◊〉, the supposed Founder of that City; others a little more Northward at Apamea, now called Hama, where his house is said to be shewed at this day: Most make it to be part of Idumaea near mount 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or else Arabia the Desart (probably it was in the confines of both) this part of Arabia being nearest to the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans, who invaded him, and most applicable to his dwelling among the Sons of the East, to the situation of his friends who came to visit him, and best corresponding with those frequent Arabisms discernable both in the Language and Discourses of Job and his Friends; not to say that this Country produced persons ex∣ceedingly addicted to Learning and Contemplation, and the studies of natural Philoso∣phy, whence the wise men who came out of the East to worship Christ are thought by many to have been Arabians. For his kindred and his friends, we find four taken no∣tice of, who came to visit him in his distress; Eliphaz the Temanite, the son probably of Teman, and grandchild of Esau by his eldest son Eliphaz, the Country deriving its name Teman from his Father, and was situate in Idumaea in the borders of the Desart Arabia: Bildad the Shuhite, a descendant in all likelihood of Shuah, one of the sons of Abraham by his wife Keturah, whose seat was in this part of Arabia: Zophar the Naa∣mathite, a Country lying near those parts: And Elihu the Buzite, of the off-spring of Buz the son of Nahor, and so nearly related to Job himself. He was the son of Barachel, of the kindred of Ram, who was the head of the Family, and his habitation was in the parts of Arabia the Desart near Euphrates, or at least in the Southern part of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 bordering upon it. As for Job himself, he is made by some a Canaanite, of the posterity of Cham; by others to descend from Sem by his son Amram, whose eldest sons name was 〈◊〉〈◊〉; by most from Esau, the Father of the Idumaean Nations; but most probably either from Nahor, Abraham's brother, whose sons were Huz, Buz, Chesed, &c. or from Abraham himself by some of the sons which he had by his wife Keturah, whereby an account is most probably given, how Job came to be imbued with those seeds of Piety and true Religion, for which he was so eminently remarkable, as deri∣ving them from those Religious principles and instructions which Abraham and Nahor had bequeathed to their posterity. His quality and the circumstances of his External state were very considerable, a man rich and honourable; His substance was seven thou∣sand Sheep, and three thousand Camels, and five hundred yoke of Oxen, and five hundred she-Asses, and a very great houshold, so that he was the greatest of all the men of the East; him∣self largely describes the great honour and prosperity of his fortunes, that he washed his steps in Butter, and the rock poured out rivers of Oil; when he went out to the gate through the City, and prepared his seat in the street, the young men saw him, and hid themselves, the aged arose and stood up, the Princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth, &c. He delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless and him that had none to help him, the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, &c. He brake the jaws of the wicked, and pluckt the spoil out of their teeth, &c. Indeed so great his state and dignity, that it has led many into a perswasion, that he was King of Idumaea, a power∣ful and mighty Prince; a fancy that has received no small encouragement from the common but groundless confounding of Job with Jobab King of Edom, of the race of Esau. For the story gives no intimation of any such royal dignity, to which Job was advanced, but always speaks of him as a private person, though exceeding wealthy and prosperous, and thereby probably of extraordinary power and estimation in his

Country. Nay that he might not want fit Companions in his Regal capacity, three of his friends are made Kings as well as he, the LXX. Translators themselves stiling Eli∣phaz King of the Temanites, Bildad of the Suchites, and Zophar King of the Minaeans, though with as little, probably less reason than the former.

21. BUT whatever his condition was, we are sure he was no less eminent for Pi∣ety and Religion, he was a man perfect and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed evil. Though living among the Idolatrous Gentiles, he kept up the true and sincere worship of God, daily offered up Sacrifices and Prayers to Heaven, piously instructed his Children and Family, lived in an intire dependence upon the Divine Providence, in all his discourses expressed the highest and most honourable sentiments and thoughts of God, and such as best became the Majesty of an Infinite Being; in all transactions he was just and righteous, compassionate and charitable, modest and humble, indeed by the character of God himself, who knew him best, There was none like him in the Earth, a perfect and an upright man, fearing God, and eschewing evil: his mind was submissive and compliant, his patience generous and unshaken, great even to a Proverb, You have heard of the Patience of Job. And enough he had to try it to the utmost, if we consider what sufferings he underwent; those evils which are wont but singly to seise upon o∣ther men, all centred and met in him. Plundered in his Estate by the Sabaean and Chal∣daean Free-booters (whose standing livelihood were spoils and robberies) and not an Oxe or Asse left of all the Herd, not a Sheep or a Lamb either for Food or Sacrifice: Undone in his Posterity, his Seven Sons, and Three Daughters being all slain at once by the fall of one House: blasted in his credit and good name, and that by his nearest friends, who traduced and challenged him for a dissembler and an hypocrite. Ruined in his health, being smitten with sore boiles from the crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot, till his Body became a very Hospital of Diseases: tormented in his mind with sad and uncomfortable reflections, The arrows of the Almighty being shot within him, the poy∣son whereof drank up his spirit, the terrours of God setting themselves in array against him. All which were aggravated and set home by Satan, the grand Engineer of all those tor∣ments, and all this continuing for at least Twelve Months (say the Jews) probably for a much longer time; and yet endured with great courage and fortitude of mind, till God put a period to this tedious Trial, and crowned his sufferings with an ample restitu∣tion. We have seen who this excellent Person was, we are next to enquire when he lived. And here we meet with almost an infinite variety of Opinions, some making* 1.91 him contemporary with Abraham, others with Jacob, which had he been, we should doubtless have found some mention of him in their story, as well as we do of 〈◊〉〈◊〉: others again refer him to the time of the Law given at Mount Sinai, and the Isra∣elites travels in the Wilderness; others to the times of the Judges after the settlement of the Israelites in the Land of Promise, nay some to the reign of David and Solomon; and I know not whether the Reader will not smile at the fancy of the Turkish Chronologists,* 1.92 who make Job Major-domo to Solomon, as they make Alexander the Great, the General of his Army. Others go further, and place him among those that were carried away in the Pabylonish Captivity, yea in the time of Ahasuerus, and make his fair Daughters to be of the number of those beautiful young Virgins that were sought-for for the King. Follies that need no confutation. 'Tis certain that he was elder than Moses, his Kindred and Family, his way of sacrificing, the Idolatry rise in his time, evidently placing him before that Age; besides that there are not the least foot-steps in all his Book of any of the great things done for the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 deliverance, which we can hardly suppose should have been omitted, being examples so fresh in memory, and so apposite to the design of that Book. Most probable therefore it is, that he lived about the time of the Israelitish Captivity in Egypt, though whether as some Jews will have it, born that very Year that Jacob came down into Egypt, and dying that Year that they went out of Egypt, I dare not peremptorily affirm. And this no question is the reason why we find nothing con∣cerning him in the Writings of Moses, the History of those Times being crowded up into a very little room, little being recorded even of the Israelites themselves for near Two Hundred Years, more than in general that they were heavily oppressed under the Egyptian Yoke. More concerning this great and good Man, and the things relating to him, if the Reader desire to know, he may among others consult the elaborate exercita∣tions of the younger 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in his Historia Jobi, where the largest curiosity may find enough to satisfie it.

22. AND now for a Conclusion to this Occonomy, if we reflect a little upon the state of things under this period of the World, we shall find that the Religion of those 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Ages was plain and simple, unforced and natural, and highly agreeable to the

common dictates and notions of Mens minds. They were not educated under any for∣reign Institutions, nor conducted by a Body of numerous Laws and written Constitu∣tions,* 1.93 but were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (as Philo calls them) tutor'd and instructed by the dictates of their own minds, and the Principles of that Law that was written in their hearts, following the order of Nature and right Reason, as the safest, and most ancient Rule. By which means (as one of the Ancients observes) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.94 they maintained a free and uninterrupted course of Religion, conducting their lives according to the rules of Nature, so that having purged their minds from lust and passion, and attained to the true knowledge of God, they had no need of external and written Laws. Their Creed was short and perspicuous, their notions of God great and venerable, their devotion and piety real and substantial, their worship grave and serious, and such as became the gran∣deur and majesty of the Divine being, their Rites and Ceremonies few and proper, their obedience prompt and sincere, and indeed the whole conduct of their conversation dis∣covering it self in the most essential and important duties of the humane life. Accord∣ing to this standard it was that our blessed Saviour mainly designed to reform Religion in his most excellent Institutions, to retrieve the piety and purity, the innocency and simplicity of those 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and more uncorrupted Ages of the World, to improve the Laws of Nature, and to reduce Mankind from ritual observances to natural and moral duties, as the most vital and essential parts of Religion, and was therefore pleased to charge Christianity with no more than two positive Institutions, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, that Men might learn, that the main of Religion lies not in such things as these. Hence Eusebius undertakes at large to prove the faith and manners of the Holy Patriarchs, who* 1.95 lived before the times of Moses, and the belief and practice of Christians to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, one and the same. Which he does not only assert and make good in general, but deduce from particular instances, the examples of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Melchise∣deck, Job, &c. whom he expresly proves to have believed and lived 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, altogether after the manner of Christians: Nay that they had the name also as well as the thing, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as he shews from that place (which he proves to be meant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Touch not my Christians, mine Anointed, and do my Prophets no harm. And in short, that as they had the same common Religion, so they had the common blessing and reward.

SECT. II. Of the MOSAICAL Dispensation.

Moses the Minister of this Oeconomy. His miraculous preservation. His learned and noble education. The Divine temper of his mind. His conducting the Israelites out of Egypt. Their arrival at Mount Sinai. The Law given, and how. Moral Laws; the Decalogue whether a perfect Compendium of the Moral Law. The Ceremonial Laws what. Re∣duced to their proper Heads. Such as concerned the matter of their Worship. Sacrifices, and the several kinds of them. Circumcision. The Passover, and its typical relation. The place of Publick Worship. The Tabernacle and Temple, and the several parts of them, and their typical aspects considered. Their stated times and 〈◊〉〈◊〉, weekly, monthly, annual. The Sabbatical Year. The Year of Jubilee. Laws concerning the Persons ministring; Priests, Levites, the High-Priest, how a type of Christ. The Design of the Ceremonial Law, and its abolition. The Judicial Laws, what. The Mosaick Law how divided by the Jews into affirmative and negative Precepts, and why. The several ways of Divine revelation. Urim and Thummim what, and the manner of its giving Answers. Bath-Col. Whether any such way of revelation among the Jews. Revelation by Dreams. By Visions. The Revelation of the Holy Spirit, what. Moses his way of Prophecy wherein exceeding the rest. The pacate way of the spirit of prophecy. This spirit when it ceased in the Jewish Church. The state of the Church under this Dispensation briefly noted. From the giving of the Law till Samuel. From Samuel till Solomon. Its condition under the succeeding Kings till the Captivity. From thence till the coming of Christ. The state of the Jewish Church in the time of Christ more particularly considered. The prophanations of the Temple. The Corruption of their Worship. The abuse of the Priesthood. The Depravation of the Law by false glosses. Their Oral and unwritten Law. Its original and succession according to the mind of the Jews. Their unreasonable and blasphemous preferring it above the written Law. Their religious observing the Traditions of the Elders. The Vow of Corban, what. The superseding Moral Duties by it. The Sects in the Jewish Church. The Pharisees, their denomination, rise, temper and principles. Sadducees, their impious Principles, and evil lives. The Essenes, their original, opinions, and way of life. The Herodians, who. The Samaritans. Karraeans. The Sect of the Zealots. The Roman Tyranny over the Jewes.

1. THE Church, which had hitherto lyen dispersed in private Families, and had often been reduced to an inconsiderable number, being now multiplied into a great and a populous Nation, God was pleased to enter into Covenant, not any longer with particular Persons, but with the Body of the People, and to govern the Church by more certain and regular ways and methods, than it had hitherto been. This Dispensation began with the delivery of the Law, and continued till the final pe∣riod of the Jewish state, consisting only of meats and drinks, and divers washings, and car∣nal Ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. In the survey whereof we shall chiefly consider what Laws were given for the Government of the Church, by what Methods of revelation God communicated his mind and will to them, and what was the state of the Church, especially towards the conclusion of this Oeconomy.

2. THE great Minister of this Dispensation was Moses the Son of Amram, of the House of Levi, a Person, whose signal preservation when but an Infant presaged him to be born for great and generous undertakings. Pharaoh King of Egypt desirous to sup∣press the growing numbers of the Jewish Nation had afflicted and kept them under with all the rigorous severities of tyranny and oppression. But this not taking its effect, he made a Law that all Hebrew Male-children should be drowned as soon as born, knowing well enough how to kill the root, if he could keep any more Branches from springing up. But the wisdom of Heaven defeated his crafty and barbarous 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Among others that were born at that time was Moses, a goodly Child, and whom his Mother was infi∣nitely desirous to preserve: but having concealed him, till the saving of his might en∣danger the losing her own life, her affection suggested to her this little stratagem, she pre∣pared an Ark made of Paper-reeds, and pitched within, and so putting him a-board this little Vessel, threw him into the River Nilus, committing him to the mercy of the waves,

and the conduct of the Divine Providence. God, who wisely orders all events, had so disposed things that Pharaohs daughter (whose name, say the Jews, was Bithia, Thermuth says Josephus, say the Arabians, Sihhoun) being troubled with a distemper* 1.96 that would not endure the hot Bathes, was come down at this time to wash in the Nile, where the cries of the tender Babe soon reached her ears. She commanded the Ark to be brought a-shore, which was no sooner opened, but the silent oratory of the weeping Infant sensibly struck her with compassionate resentments: And the Jews add, that she no* 1.97 sooner touched the Babe, but she was immediately healed, and cried out that he was a ho∣ly Child, and that she would save his life; for which (say they) she obtained the favour to be brought under the wings of the Divine Majesty, and to be called the daughter of God. His Sister Miriam, who had all this while beheld the scene afar off, officiously proffe∣red her service to the Princess to call an Hebrew Nurse, and accordingly went and brought his Mother. To her care he was committed with a charge to look tenderly to him, and the promise of a reward. But the hopes of that could add but little, where nature was so much concerned. Home goes the Mother joyful and proud of her own pledge, and the royal charge, carefully providing for his tender years. His infant state being pass'd, he was restored to the Princess, who adopted him for her own son, bred him up at Court, where he was polished with all the arts of a noble and ingenu∣ous education, instructed in the modes of civility and behaviour, in the methods of policy and government, Learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, whose renown for wisdom is not only once and again taken notice of in holy Writ, but their admirable skill in all liberal Sciences, Natural, Moral and Divine, beyond the rate and propor∣tion of other Nations, is sufficiently celebrated by foreign Writers. To these accom∣plishments God was pleased to add a Divine temper of mind, a great zeal for God, not able to endure any thing that seemed to clash with the interests of the Divine honour and glory; a mighty courage and resolution in God's service, whose edge was not to be taken off either by threats or charms; He was not afraid of the Kings commandment, nor* 1.98 feared the wrath of the King, for he endured as seeing him that is invisible. His contempt of the World was great and admirable, sleighting the honours of Pharoah's Court, and the fair probabilities of the Crown, the treasures and pleasures of that rich, soft and luxurious Country, out of a firm belief of the invisible rewards of another World;* 1.99 He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, chusing rather to suffer 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompence of reward. Josephus relates, that when but a child he was presented by the Princess to* 1.100 her Father, as one whom she had adopted for her son, and designed for his successor in the Kingdom, the King taking him up into his arms, put his Crown upon his head, which the child immediately pull'd off again, and throwing it upon the ground, tram∣pled it under his feet. An action which however looked upon by some Courtiers then present, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 portending a fatal Omen to the Kingdom, did however evidently presage his generous contempt of the grandeur and honours of the Court, and those plausible advantages of Soveraignty that were offered to him. His patience was insuperable, not tired out with the abuses and disappointments of the King of Egypt, with the hardships and troubles of the Wilderness, and which was be∣yond all, with the cross and vexatious humors of a stubborn and unquiet generation. He was of a most calm and treatable disposition, his spirit not easily ruffled with passi∣on; he who in the cause of God and Religion could be bold and fierce as a Lion, was in his own patient as a Lamb, God himself having given this character of him, That he was the meekest man upon the Earth.

3. THIS great personage thus excellently qualified, God made choice of him to be the Commander and conducter of the Jewish Nation, and his Embassador to the King of Egypt, to demand the enfranchisement of his people, and free liberty to go serve and worship the God of their Fathers. And that he might not seem a mere pre∣tender to Divine revelation, but that he really had an immediate commission from Heaven, God was pleased to furnish him with extraordinary Credentials, and to seal his Commission with a power of working Miracles beyond all the Arts of Magick, and those tricks for which the Egyptian Sorcerers were so famous in the World. But Pha∣raoh unwilling to part with such useful Vassals, and having oppressed them beyond possibility of reconcilement, would not hearken to the proposal, but sometimes down∣right rejected it, otherwhiles sought by subtil and plausible pretences to evade and shift it off; till by many astonishing Miracles, and severe Judgments God extorted at length a grant from him. Under the conduct of Moses they set forwards after at least

two hundred years servitude under the Egyptian yoke; and though 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sensible of his error, with a great Army pursued them, either to cut them off, or bring them back, God made way for them through the midst of the Sea, the waters becoming like a wall of Brass on each side of them, till being all passed to the other 〈◊〉〈◊〉, those invisible cords which had hitherto tied up that liquid Element, bursting in sunder, the waters returned and overwhelmed their enemies that pursued them. Thus God by the same stroke can protect his friends, and punish his enemies. Nor did the Divine Providence here take its leave of them, but became their constant guard and defence in all their journeys, waiting upon them through their several stations in the wilder∣ness; the most memorable whereof was that at Mount Sinai in Arabia: The place where God delivered them the pattern in the Mount, according to which the form both of their Church and State was to be framed and modelled. In order hereunto Moses is called up into the Mount, where by Fasting and Prayer he conversed with Heaven, and received the body of their Laws. Three days the people were by a pious and de∣vout care to sanctifie and prepare themselves for the promulgation of the Law, they might not come near their Wives, were commanded to wash their clothes, as an em∣bleme and representation of that cleansing of the heart, and that inward purity of mind, where with they were to entertain the Divine will. On the third day in the morning God descended from Heaven with great appearances of Majesty and terror, with thun∣ders and lightnings, with black clouds and tempests, with shouts and the loud noise of a trumpet (which trumpet, say the Jews, was made of the horn of that Ram that was of∣fered in the room of Isaac) with fire and smoke on the top of the Mount, ascending up like the smoke of a Furnace; the Mountain it self greatly quaking, the people trembling; nay, so terrible was the sight, that Moses (who had so frequently, so familiarly con∣versed* 1.101 with God) said, I exceedingly fear and quake. All which pompous trains of ter∣ror and magnificence God made use of at this time, to excite the more solemn attention to his Laws, and to beget a greater reverence and veneration for them in the minds of the people, and to let them see how able he was to call them to account, and by the se∣verest penalties to vindicate the violation of his Law.

4. THE Code and Digest of those Laws, which God now gave to the Jews as the terms of that National Covenant that he made with them, consisted of three sorts of Precepts, Moral, Ecelesiastical and Political; which the Jews will have intimated by those three words, that so frequently occur in the writings of Moses, Laws, Statutes and Judgments. By 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Laws, they understand the Moral Law, the notices of good and evil naturally implanted in mens minds: By 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Statutes, Ceremoni∣al Precepts, instituted by God with peculiar reference to his Church: By 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Judgments, Political Laws concerning Justice and Equity, the order of humane socie∣ty, and the prudent and peaceable managery of the Commonwealth. The Moral Laws inserted into this Code are those contained in the Decalogue, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as they are called, the ten words that were written upon two Tables of Stone. These* 1.102 were nothing else but a summary Comprehension of the great Laws of Nature, engra∣ven at first upon the minds of all men in the World; the most material part whereof was now consigned to writing, and incorporated into the body of the Jewish Law. I know the Decalogue is generally taken to be a complete System of all natural Laws: But whoever impartially considers the matter, will find that there are many instances of duty so far from being commanded in it, that they are not reducible to any part of it, unless hook'd in by subtilties of wit, and drawn thither by forc'd and unnatural infe∣rences. What provision except in one case or two do any of those Commandments make against neglects of duty? Where do they obligue us to do good to others, to love, assist, relieve our enemies? Gratitude and thankfulness to benefactors is one of the prime and essential Laws of Nature, and yet no where that I know of (unless we will have it implied in the Preface to the Law) commanded or intimated in the Deca∣logue: With many other cases, which 'tis naturally evident are our duty, whereof no footsteps are to be seen in this Compendium, unless hunted out by nice and sagacious reasonings, and made out by a long train of consequences, never originally intended in the Commandment, and which not one in a thousand are capable of deducing from it. It is probable therefore that God reduc'd only so many of the Laws of Nature into writing, as were proper to the present state and capacities of that people to whom they were given, superadding some, and explaining others by the Preaching and Ministery of the Prophets, who in their several Ages endeavoured to bring men out of the Shades and Thickets, into clear light and Noon-day, by clearing up mens obligations to those natural and essential duties, in the practice whereof humane nature was to be advan∣ced

unto its just accomplishment and perfection. Hence it was that our Lord, who came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil and perfect it, has explained the obligations of the natural Law more fully and clearly, more plainly and intelligibly, rendred our duty more fixed and certain, and extended many instances of obedience to higher mea∣sures, to a greater exactness and perfection, than ever they were understood to have before. Thus he commands a free and universal charity, not only that we love our friends and relations, but that we love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use and persecute us: He hath forbid∣den malice and revenge with more plainness and smartness; obliged us not only to live according to the measures of sobriety, but extended it to self-denial, and taking up the Cross, and laying down our lives, whenever the honour of God, and the interest of Re∣ligion calls for it; he not only commands us to do no wrong, but when we have done it, to make restitution; not only to retrench our irregular appetites, but to cut off our right hand, and pluck out our right eye, and cast them from us, that is, mortifie and offer violence to those vicious inclinations, which are as dear to us, as the most useful and necessary parts and members of our body. Besides all this, had God intended the De∣calogue for a perfect summary of the Laws of Nature, we cannot suppose that he would have taken any but such into the collection, whereas the Fourth Commandment con∣cerning the Seventh day is unquestionably Typical and Ceremonial, and has nothing more of a Natural and Eternal obligation in it, than that God should be served and ho∣noured both with publick and private worship, which cannot be done without some portions of time set apart for it: But that this should be done just at such a time, and by such proportions, upon the Seventh rather than the Sixth or the Eighth day, is no part of natural Religion. And indeed the reasons and arguments that are annexed to it, to enforce the observance of it, clearly shew that it is of a later date, and of ano∣ther nature than the rest of those Precepts in whose company we find it, though it seems at first sight to pass without any peculiar note of discrimination from the rest. As for the rest they are Laws of Eternal righteousness, and did not derive their value and au∣thority from the Divine sanction which God here gave them at Mount Sinai, but from their own moral and internal goodness and equity, being founded in the nature of things, and the essential and unchangeable differences of good and evil. By which means they always were, always will be obligatory and indispensable, being as Eter∣nal and Immutable as the nature of God himself.

5. THE second sort of Laws were Ceremonial, Divine Constitutions concerning Ritual observances, and matters of Ecclesiastical cognizance and relation, and were instituted for a double end, partly for the more orderly government of the Church, and the more decent administration of the worship of God; partly that they might be types and figures of the Evangelical state, Shadows of good things to come, visible and sym∣bolical representments of the Messiah, and those great blessings and priviledges which he was to introduce into the World; which doubtless was the reason why God was so infinitely punctual and particular in his directions about these matters, giving orders about the minutest circumstances of the Temple ministration, because every part of it had a glance at a future and better state of things. The number of them was great, and the observation burdensom, the whole Nation groaning under the servility of that yoke. They were such as principally related to God's worship, and may be reduced either to such as concerned the worship it self, or the circumstances of time, place and persons that did attend it. Their worship consisted chiefly in three things, Prayers, Sacrifices and Sacraments. Prayers were daily put up together with their Offerings, and though we have very few Constitutions concerning them, yet the constant pra∣ctice of that Church, and the particular forms of Prayer yet extant in their writings, are a sufficient evidence. Sacrifices were the constant and most solemn part of their publick worship; yea, they had their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 their continual burnt-offering, a Lamb* 1.103 offered Morning and Evening with a Measure of Flower, Oil and Wine, the charge whereof was defrayed out of the Treasury of the Temple. The rest of their Sacrifices may be considered either as they were Expiatory, or Eucharistical. Expiatory were those that were offered as an atonement for the sins of the people, to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Divine displeasure, and to procure his pardon, which they did by vertue of their Typical rela∣tion to that great Sacrifice which the Son of God was in the fulness of time to offer up for the sins of the World. They were either of a more general relation, for the expia∣tion of sin in general, whole burnt-offerings, which were intirely (the skin and the entrails only excepted) burnt to ashes; or of a more private and particular concern∣ment, designed for the redemption of particular offences, whereof there were two

sorts: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or the sin-offering, for involuntary offences committed through errour or ignorance, which according to the condition and capacity of the Person were either for the Priest, or the Prince, or the whole Body of the People, or a private Person. The other 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or the trespass-offering, for sins done wittingly, studied and premeditated transgressions, and which the Man could not pretend to be the effects of surprize or chance. Eucharistical Sacrifices were testimonies of gratitude to God for mercies re∣ceived, whereof three sorts especially. 1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or the meat-offering, made up of things without life, oyl, fine flower, incense, &c. which the worshipper offered as a thankful return for the daily preservation and provisions of life, and therefore it consisted only of the fruits of the ground. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or the peace-offering; this was done either out of a grateful sense of some blessing conferred, or as a voluntary offering to which the Person had obliged himself by vow in expectation of some safety or deliverance which he had prayed for. In this Sacrifice God had his part, the fat which was the only part of it burnt by fire, the Priest his, as the instrument of the ministration, the Offerer his, that he might have wherewith to rejoyce before the Lord. 3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a thanksgiving∣offering, or a Sacrifice of praise, it was a mixt kind of Sacrifice, consisting of living Crea∣tures, and the fruits of the Earth, which they might offer at their own will, but it must be eaten the same day, and none of it left until the morrow. What other provisions we meet with concerning ceremonial uncleannesses, first-fruits, the first-born, tenths, &c. are conveniently reducible to some of these heads which we have already mentioned. The last part of their worship concerned their Sacraments, which were two, Circumci∣sion, and the Paschal Supper. Circumcision was the federal Rite annexed by God as a Seal to the Covenant which he made with Abraham and his Posterity, and accordingly renewed and taken into the Body of the Mosaical constitutions. It was to be admini∣stred the eighth day, which the Jews understand not of so many days compleat, but the current time, six full days, and part of the other. In the room of this, Baptism succeeds in the Christian Church. The Passover, which was the eating of the Paschal Lamb, was instituted as an Annual memorial of their signal and miraculous deliverance out of E∣gypt, and as a typical representation of our spiritual Redemption by Christ from the bon∣dage of sin and that Hell that follows it. It was to be celebrated with a Male-lamb without blemish taken out of the Flock, to note the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World, who was taken from among men, a Lamb without blemish and without spot, holy, harmless, and separate from sinners. The Door-posts of the House were to be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb, to signifie our security from the Divine vengeance by the blood of sprinkling. The Lamb was to be roasted and eaten whole, typifying the great sufferings of our blessed Saviour, who was to pass through the fire of Divine wrath, and to be wholly embrac'd and entertain'd by us in all his Offices, as King, Priest, and Prophet. None but those that were clean and circumcised might eat of it, to shew that only true believers, holy and good men can be partakers of Christ and the merits of his Death; It was to be eaten standing, with their Loins girt, and their staff in their hand, to put them in mind what haste they made out of the house of bondage, and to intimate to us what present diligence we should use to get from under the empire and tiranny of sin and Satan, under the conduct and assistance of the Captain of our Salvation. The eating of it was to be mixed with bitter herbs, partly as a memorial of that bitter servitude which they underwent in the Land of Egypt, partly as a type of that repentance and bearing of the cross (duties difficult and unpleasant) which all true Christians must undergo. Lastly, it was to be eaten with unleavened Bread, all manner of leaven being at that time to be banished out of their Houses with the most critical diligence and curiosity, to represent what infinite care we should take to cleanse and purifie our hearts, to purge 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.104 the old leaven, that we may be a new lump: and that since Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore we should keep the Feast (the Festival commemoration of his Death) not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

6. THE Places of their Publick Worship were either the Tabernacle made in the Wilderness, or the Temple built by Solomon, between which in the main there was no other difference, than that the Tabernacle was an ambulatory Temple, as the Temple was a standing Tabernacle, together with all the rich costly Furniture that was in them. The parts of it were three, the Holiest of all, whither none entred but the High-Priest, and that but once a Year, this was a type of Heaven; the holy place, whither the Priests entred every Day to perform their Sacred Ministrations; and the outward Court, whi∣ther the People came to offer up their Prayers and Sacrifices. In the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holiest of all there was the Golden Censer, typifying the Merits and Intercession of

Christ; the Ark of the Covenant, as a representation of him who is the Mediator of the Covenant between God and man; the Golden Pot of Manna, a type of our Lord, the true Manna, the Bread that came down from Heaven; the Rod of Aaron that budded, signi∣fying the Branch of the Root of Jesse, that though our Saviour's Family should be re∣duced to a state of so much meanness and obscurity, as to appear but like the trunk or* 1.105 stump of a Tree, yet there should come forth a rod out of this stem of Jesse, and a branch grow* 1.106 out of his roots, which should stand for an Ensign of the People, and in him should the Gen∣tiles trust. And within the Ark were the two Tables of the Covenant, to denote him, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who is the end and perfection of the Law: Over it were the Cherubims of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat, who looking towards each other, and both to the Mercy-seat denoted the two Testaments, or Dis∣pensations of the Church, which admirably agree, and both direct to Christ the Medi∣ator of the Covenant. The Propitiatory, or Mercy-seat was the Golden covering to the Ark, where God vailing his Majesty was wont to manifest his Presence, to give An∣swers, and shew Himself reconciled to the People, herein eminently 〈◊〉〈◊〉 our Blessed Saviour, who interposes between us and the Divine Majesty, whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation, through faith in his blood for the remission of sins; so that now we may come boldly to the Throne of Grace, and find mercy to help us. Within the Sanctuary, or the Holy Place was the Golden 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with Seven Branches, representing Christ, who is the Light of the World, and who enlightens every one that comes into the World, and before whose Throne there are said to be seven Lamps of Fire, which are the seven spirits* 1.107 of God: The Table, compassed about with a Border and a Crown of Gold, denoting the Ministry, and the Shew-bread set upon it, shadowing out Christ, the Bread of Life, who by the Ministry of the Gospel is offered to the World: here also was the Golden Altar of Incense, whereon they burnt the sweet 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Morning and Evening, to signifie to us that our Lord is the true Altar, by whom all our Prayers and Services are rendred the odour of a sweet smell acceptable unto God; to this the Psalmist refers, Let my Prayer be* 1.108 set forth before thee as incense, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 up of my hands as the Evening Sacrifice. The third part of the Tabernacle, as also of the Temple, was the Court of Israel, wherein stood the Brazen Altar, upon which the Holy Fire was continually preserved, by which the Sacrifices were consumed, one of the Five great Prerogatives that were wanting in the second Temple. Here was the Brazen Laver, with its Basis, made of the brazen Look∣ing-glasses of the Women that assembled at the Door of the Tabernacle, wherein the Priests washed their Hands and their Feet, when going into the Sanctuary, and both they and the People when about to offer Sacrifice; to teach us to purifie our hearts, and to cleanse our selves 〈◊〉〈◊〉 all filthiness of flesh and spirit, especially when we approach to offer up our services to Heaven; hereunto David alludes, I will wash mine hands in in∣nocency,* 1.109 so will I compass thine Altar, O Lord. Solomon in building the Temple made an addition of a fourth Court, the Court of the Gentiles, whereinto the unclean Jewes and Gentiles might enter, and in this was the Corban or Treasury, and it is sometimes in the New Testament called the Temple. To these Laws concerning 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Place of Worship we may reduce those that relate to the holy Vessels and Utensils of the Tabernacle and the Temple, Candlesticks, Snuffers, Dishes, &c. which also had their proper my∣steries and significations.

7. THE stated times and seasons of their worship are next to be considered, and they were either Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. Their Daily worship was at the time of the Morning, and the Evening Sacrifice; their Weekly solemnity was the Sabbath, which was to be kept with all imaginable care and strictness, they being commanded to rest in it from all servile labours, and to attend the Duties and Offices of Religion, a type of that rest that remains for the People of God. Their monthly Festivals were the New-moons, wherein they were to blow the Trumpets over their Sacrifices and Oblati∣ons, and to observe them with great expressions of joy and triumph, in a thankful re∣sentment of the blessings which all that Month had been conferred upon them. Their Annual Solemnities were either ordinary or extraordinary; Ordinary were those that returned every Year, whereof the first was the Passover, to be celebrated upon the Fourteenth day of the first Month, as a Memorial of their great deliverance out of E∣gypt: The second, Pentecost, called also the Feast of Weeks, because just seven Weeks, or fifty days after the Passover: Instituted it was partly in memory of the promulgation of the Law, published at Mount Sinai fifty days after their celebration of the Passover in Egypt, partly as a thanksgiving for the in gathering of their Harvest, which usually was fully brought in about this time. The third was the Feast of Tabernacles, kept up∣on the Fifteenth day of the Seventh Month for the space of Seven days together; at

which time they dwelt in Booths made of green Boughs, as a memento of that time when they sojourn'd in Tents and Tabernacles in the Wilderness, and a sensible demon∣stration of the transitory duration of the present life, that the Earthly house of our Taber∣nacle must be dissolved, and that therefore we should secure a building of God, an house not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens. These were the three great solemnities, wherein all the Males were obliged to appear at Jerusalem, and to present themselves and their offerings in testimony of their homage and devotion unto God: Besides which they had some of lesser moment, such as their Feast of Trumpets, and that of Expiation. The Annual Festivals extraordinary were those that recurr'd but once in the periodical return of several years; such was the Sabbatical year, wherein the Land was to lye fal∣low, and to rest from ploughing and sowing, and all manner of cultivation; and this was to be every seventh year, typifying the Eternal Sabbatism in Heaven, where good men shall rest from their labours, and their works shall follow them. But the great Sabba∣tical year of all was that of Jubilee, which returned at the end of seven ordinary Sabba∣tick years, that is, every fiftieth year, the approach whereof was proclaimed by the sound of Trumpets; in it servants were released, all debts discharged, and mortgaged Estates reverted to their proper heirs. And how evidently did this shadow out the state of the Gospel, and our Lord's being sent to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind* 1.110 up the broken hearted, to preach liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them* 1.111 that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, that they might lift up their heads, because their redemption drew nigh?

8. LASTLY, They had Laws concerning the persons by whom their publick worship was administred; and here there was appointed an High Priest, who had his proper offices and rules of duty, his peculiar attire and consecration; ordinary Priests whose business was to instruct the people, to Pray and offer sacrifice, to bless the Con∣gregation, and judge in cases of Leprosie, and such like; at their Ordination, they were to be chosen before all the people, to be sprinkled with the water of Expiation, their Hair shaved, and their Bodies washed, afterwards anointed, and sacrifices to be offer∣ed for them, and then they might enter upon their Priestly ministrations. Next to these were the Levites, who were to assist the Priests in preparing the Sacrifices, to bear the Tabernacle (while it lasted) and lay up its Vessels and Utensils, to purifie and cleanse the Vessels and Instruments, to guard the Courts and Chambers of the Temple, to watch weekly in the Temple by their turns, to sing and celebrate the praises of God with Hymns and Musical Instruments, and to joyn with the Priests in judging and de∣termining Ceremonial causes; they were not to be taken into the full discharge of their Function till the thirtieth, nor to be kept at it beyond the fiftieth year of their age; God mercifully thinking it fit to give them then a Writ of Ease, whose strength might be presumed sufficiently impaired by truckling for so many years under such toilsom and laborious ministrations. Though the Levitical Priests were types of Christ, yet it was the High Priest, who did eminently typifie him, and that in the unity and singu∣larity of his office; for though many Orders and Courses of inferior Priests and Mini∣sters, yet was there but one High Priest, There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; in the qualifications necessary to his election, as to place, he was to be taken out of the Tribe of Levi; as to his person, which was to be every ways perfect and comely, and the manner of his Consecration; in his singular capacity, that he alone might enter into the holy of holies, which he did once every year upon the great day of Expiation, with a mighty pomp and train of Ceremonies, killing Sacrifi∣ces, burning Incense, sprinkling the bloud of the Sacrifice before and upon the Mercy∣seat, going within the veil, and making an attonement within the holy place. All which immediately referred to Christ, who by the sacrifice of himself, and through the veil of his own flesh entred, not into the holy place made with hands, but into Heaven it self, now to appear in the presence of God for us. All which might be represented more at large, but that I intend not a discourse about these matters.

9. BESIDES the Laws which we have hitherto enumerated, there were seve∣ral other particular Commands, Ritual Constitutions about Meats and Drinks, and other parts of humane life. Such was the difference they were to make between the Creatures, some to be clean, and others unclean; such were several sorts of pollution and uncleanness, which were not in their own nature sins, but Ceremonial defile∣ments; of this kind were several provisions about Apparel, Diet, and the ordering Family-affairs, all evidently of a Ceremonial aspect, but too long to be insisted on in this place. The main design of this Ceremonial Law was to point out to us the Evan∣gelical state, The Law had only a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of* 1.112

the things themselves, the body was Christ, and therefore though the Law came by Moses,* 1.113 yet grace and truth (the truth of all those types and figures) came by Christ. It was time for Moses to resign the Chair, when once this great Prophet was come into the World. Ceremonies could no longer be of use, when once the substance was at hand: well may the Stars disappear at the rising of the Sun: the Messiah being cut off, should cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease. At the time of Christ's death the veil of the Temple from top to bottom rent in sunder, to shew that his death had revealed the my∣steries, and destroyed the foundations of the legal Oeconomy, and put a period to the* 1.114 whole Temple-ministration. Nay, the Jews themselves confess, that forty years be∣fore the destruction of the Temple (a date that corresponds exactly with the death of Christ) the Lot did no more go up into the right hand of the Priest (this is meant of his dis∣mission of the Scape-goat) nor the scarlet Ribbon, usually laid upon the forehead of the Goat, any more grow white, (this was a sign that the Goat was accepted for the remissi∣on of their sins) nor the Evening Lamp burn any longer, and that the gates of the Temple opened of their own accord. By which as at once they confirm what the Gospel reports of the opening of the Sanctum Sanctorum by the scissure of the veil; so they plainly con∣fess, that at that very time their Sacrifices and Temple-services began to cease and fail: As indeed the reason of them then ceasing, the things themselves must needs vanish in∣to nothing.

10. THE third sort of Laws given to the Jews were Judicial and Political, these were the Municipal Laws of the Nation, enacted for the good of the State, and were a kind of appendage to the second Table of the Decalogue, as the Ceremonial Laws were of the first. They might be reduced to four general heads; such as respected men in their private and domestical capacities, concerning Husbands and Wives, Parents and Children, Masters and Servants; such as concerned the Publick and the Common∣wealth, relating to Magistrates, and Courts of Justice, to Contracts and matters of right and wrong, to Estates and Inheritances, to Executions and Punishments, &c. such as belong'd to strangers, and matters of a soreign nature, as Laws concerning Peace and War, Commerce and Dealing with persons of another Nation; or lastly, such as secured the honour and the interests of Religion, Laws against Apostates and Idolaters, Wizards, Conjurers and false Prophets, against Blasphemy, Sacriledge, and such like; all which not being so proper to my purpose, I omit a more particular enumeration of them. These Laws were peculiarly calculated for the Jewish State, and that while kept up in that Country wherein God had placed them, and therefore must needs determine and expire with it. Nor can they be made a pattern and stan∣dard for the Laws of other Nations; for, though proceeding from the wisest Law-gi∣ver, they cannot reasonably be imposed upon any State or Kingdom, unless where there is an equal concurrence of circumstances, as there were in that people, for whom God enacted them. They went off the Stage with the Jewish Polity, and if any parts of them do still remain obligatory, they bind not as Judicial Laws, but as branches of the Law of Nature, the reason of them being Immutable and Eternal. I know not whether it may here be useful to remark what the Jews so frequently tell us of, that the intire body of the Mosaick Law consists of DCXIII. Precepts, intimated (say they)* 1.115 in that place where 'tis said Moses commanded us a Law, where the Numeral Letters of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Law make up the number of DCXI. and the two that are wanting to make up the complete number are the two first Precepts of the Decalogue, which were not given by Moses to the people, but immediately by God himself. Others say* 1.116 that there are just DCXIII. letters in the Decalogue, and that every letter answers to a Law: But some that have had the patience to tell them, assure us that there are two whole words consisting of seven letters supernumerary, which in my mind quite spoils the computation. These DCXIII. Precepts they divide into CCXLVIII. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, according to the number of the parts of man's body (which they make account are just so many) to put him in mind to serve God with all his bodily powers, as if every mem∣ber* 1.117 of his body should say to him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 make use of me to fulfil the command; and into CCCLXV. Negative, according to the number of the days of the year, that so every day may call upon a man, and say to him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 oh do not in me transgress the Command: Or as others will have it, they answer to the Veins or Nerves* 1.118 in the body of man; that as the complete frame and compages of man's body is made up of CCXLVIII. Members, and CCCLXV. Nerves, and the Law of so many affirma∣tive, and so many negative Precepts, it denotes to us, that the whole perfection and accomplishment of man lies in an accurate and diligent observance of the Divine Law. Each of these divisions they reduce under twelve houses, answerable to the twelve

Tribes of Israel. In the Affirmative Precepts the first House is that of Divine worship, consisting of twenty Precepts; the second, the House of the Sanctuary, containing XIX; the third, the House of Sacrifices, wherein are LVII; the fourth, that of Clean∣ness and Pollution, containing XVIII; the fifth, of Tithes and Alms, under which are XXXII; the sixth, of Meats and Drinks, containing VII; the seventh, of the Passe∣over, concerning Feasts, containing XX; the eighth, of Judgment, XIII; the ninth, of Doctrine, XXV; the tenth, of Marriage, and concerning Women, XII; the eleventh, of Judgments criminal, VIII; the twelfth, of Civil 〈◊〉〈◊〉, XVII. In the Negative Precepts, the first House is concerning the worship of the Planets, con∣taining XLVII Commands; the second, of separation from the Heathens, XIII; the third, concerning the reverence due to holy things, XXIX; the fourth, of Sacrifice and Priesthood, LXXXII; the fifth, of Meats, XXXVIII; the sixth, of Fields and Har∣vest, XVIII; the seventh, of Doctrine, XLV; the eighth, of Justice, XLVII; the ninth, of Feasts, X; the tenth, of Purity and Chastity, XXIV; the eleventh, of Wedlock, VIII; the twelfth, concerning the Kingdom, IV. A method not contem∣ptible, as which might minister to a distinct and useful explication of the whole Law of Moses.

11. THE next thing considerable under the Mosaical Oeconomy, was the methods of the Divine revelation, by what ways God communicated his mind to them, either concerning present emergences or future events, and this was done, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Apostle tells us, at sundry times, or by sundry degrees and parcels, and in diverse manners, by various methods of revelation, whereof three most considerable, the Urim and Thummim, the audible voice, and the spirit of Prophecy, imparted in dreams, visions, &c. We shall make some brief remarks upon them, referring the Reader, who desires fuller satisfaction herein, to those who purposely treat about these matters. The Urim and Thummim was a way of revelation peculiar to the High Priest: Thou shalt put on the breast-plate of Judgment, the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall* 1.119 be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. Thus Eleazar the Priest is commanded to ask counsel after the Judgment of Urim before the Lord. What this* 1.120 Urim and Thummim was, and what the manner of receiving answers by it, is difficult, if not impossible to tell, there being scarce any one difficulty that I know of in the Bible that hath more exercised the thoughts either of Jewish or Christian Writers. Whether it was some addition to the High Priests breast-plate made by the hand of some curious Artist, or whether only those two words engraven upon it, or the great name Jehovah carved and put within the foldings of the breast-plate, or whether the twelve stones resplendent with light, and completed to perfection with the Tribes names therein, or whether some other mysterious piece of artifice immediately framed by the hand of Heaven, and given to Moses, when he delivered him the two Tables of the Law, is vain and endless to enquire, because impossible to determine. Nor is the manner of its giving answers less uncertain: Whether at such times the fresh and orient lustre of the stones signified the answer in the Affirmative, while their dull and dead colour spake the Negative; or whether it was by some extraordinary protuberancy and thrusting forth of the letters engraven upon the stones, from the conjunction whereof the Divine Oracle was gathered; or whether probably it might be, that when the High Priest enquired of God, with this breast-plate upon him, God did ei∣ther by a lively voice, or by immediate suggestions to his mind, give him a distinct and perspicuous answer, illuminating his mind with the Urim, or the light of the know∣ledge of his will in those cases, and satisfying his doubts and scruples with the Thum∣mim of a perfect and complete determination of those difficulties that were propounded to him, thereby enabling him to give a satisfactory and infallible answer in all the par∣ticulars that lay before him. And this several of the Jews seem to intend, when they make this way of revelation one of the degrees of the Holy Ghost, and say that no sooner did the High Priest put on the Pectoral, and had the case propounded to him, but that he was immediately clothed with the Holy Spirit. But it's to little purpose to hunt af∣ter that where fancy and conjecture must decide the case. Indeed among the various conjectures about this matter, none appears with greater probability than the opinion* 1.121 of those who conceive the Urim and Thummim to have been a couple of Teraphim, or little Images (probably formed in humane shape) put within the hollow foldings of the Pontifical breast-plate, from whence God by the ministry of an Angel vocally an∣swered those interrogatories which the High Priest made: Nothing being more com∣mon even in the early Ages of the World, than such Teraphim in those Eastern Coun∣tries,

usually placed in their Temples, and whence the Daemon was wont oracularly to determine the cases brought before him. And as God permitted the Jews the use of Sa∣crifices, which had been notoriously abused to Superstition and Idolatry in the Heathen World, so he might indulge them these Teraphim (though now converted to a sacred use) that so he might by degrees wean them from the Rites of the Gentile World, to which they had so fond an inclination. And this probably was the reason, why when Moses is so particular in describing the other parts of the Sacerdotal Ornaments, nothing at all is said of this, because a thing of common use among the Nations, with whom they had conversed, and notoriously known among themselves. And such we may suppose the Pro∣phet intended, when he threatned the Jews, that they should abide without a Sacrifice, with∣out* 1.122 an Image or Altar, without an Ephod, and without a Teraphim. A notion very happily im∣proved by an ingenious Pen, whose acute conjectures, and elaborate dissertations about* 1.123 this matter justly deserve commendation even from those who differ from it. It seems to have been a kind of political Oracle and to be consulted only in great and weighty cases, as the Election of Supreme Magistrates, making War, &c. and only by Persons of the highest rank, none being permitted (say the Jews) to enquire of it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.124 unless in a case wherein the King, or the Sanhedrim, or the whole Congregation was concerned.

12. A SECOND way of Divine Revelation was by an audible voice, accom∣panied many times with Thunder, descending as it were from Heaven, and directing them in any emergency of affairs. This the Jewish Writers call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the daugh∣ter or Eccho of a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 oice, which they confess to have been the lowest kind of revelation, and to have been in use only in the times of the second Temple, when all other ways of Prophecy were ceased. But notwithstanding their common and confident assertions whether ever there was any such standing way of revelation as this, is justly questi∣onable* 1.125 (nay it is peremptorily denied by one incomparably versed in the Talmudick Writings, who adds, that if there was any such thing at any time, it was done by Ma∣gick Arts, and diabolical delusions) partly because it is only delivered by Jewish Writers, whose faith and honesty is too well known to the World to be trusted in stories that make so much for the honour of their Nation, not to mention their extravagant pro∣pension to lies and fabulous reports; partly, because by their own confession God had withdrawn all his standing Oracles and ordinary ways of Revelation, their notorious impieties having caused Heaven to retire, and therefore much less would it correspond with them by such immediate converses; partly, because this seemed to be a way more accommodate to the Evangelical dispensation at the appearance of the Son of God in the World. A voice from Heaven is the most immediate testimony, and therefore sit∣test to do honour to him who came down from Heaven, and was sure to meet with an obdurate and incredulous Generation, and to give evidence to that Doctrin that he pub∣lished to the World. Thus by a Bath-Col or a Voice from Heaven God bare witness to our Saviour at his Baptism, and a second time at his Transfiguration, and again at the Passover at Jerusalem, when there came a Voice from Heaven, which the People took for Thunder, or the Communication of an Angel, and most of S. John's intelligences from above recorded in his Book of Revelation are ushered in with an, I heard a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from Heaven.

13. BUT the most frequent and standing method of Divine communications was that whereby God was wont to transact with the Prophets, and in extraordinary cases with other Men, which was either by Dreams, Visions, or immediate Inspirations. The way by Dreams was when the Person being overtaken with a deep sleep, and all the ex∣teriour senses locked up, God presented the Species and Images of things to their under∣standings, and that in such a manner, that they might be able to apprehend the will of God, which they presently did upon their awaking out of sleep. These Divine Dreams the Jews distinguish into two sorts, Monitory, such as were sent only by way of instru∣ction and admonition, to give Men notice of what they were to do, or warning of what they should avoid, such were the Dreams of Pharaoh, Abimelech, Laban, &c. or else they were Prophetical, when God by such a powerful energy acted upon the mind and imagination of the Prophet, as carried the strength and force of a Divine evidence a∣long with it. This was sometimes done by a clear and distinct impression of the thing upon the mind without any dark or aenigmatical representation of it, such as God made to Samuel, when he first revealed himself to him in the Temple: sometimes by appari∣tion, yet so as the Man though a-sleep was able to discern an Angel conversing with him. By Visions, God usually communicated himself two ways. First, when something real∣ly appeared to the sight; thus Moses beheld the Bush burning, and stood there while God

conversed with him; Manoah and his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 saw the Angel, while he took his leave, and in a flaming Pyramid went up to Heaven; the three Angels appeared to Abraham a little before the fatal ruine of Sodom; all which apparitions were unquestionably true and re∣al, the Angel assuming an humane shape, that he might the freelier converse with, and deliver his message to those to whom he was sent. Secondly, by powerful impressions upon the imagination, usually done while the Prophet was awake, and had the free and uninterrupted exercise of his reason, though the Vision oft over-powered, and cast him into a trance, that the Soul being more retired from sensible objects might the closer in∣tend those Divine notices that were represented to it. Thus all the Prophets had the Ideas of those things that they were to deliver to the People, the more strongly impres∣sed upon their fancies, and this commonly when they were in the greatest solitude and privacy, and their powers most called in, that the Prophetical influx might have the greater force upon them. In some such way S. Paul was caught up into the third Hea∣ven, probably not so much by any real separation of his Soul from his Body, or local translation of his Spirit thither, as by a profound abstraction of it from his corporeal Senses, God, during the time of the trance, entertaining it with an internal and admi∣rable 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the glory and happiness of that state, as truly and effectually, as if his Soul had been really conveyed thither.

14. THIRDLY, God was wont to communicate his mind by immediate Inspira∣tions, whereby he immediately transacted with the understandings of Men, without any relation to their sancy or their senses. It was the most pacate and serene way of Pro∣phecy, God imparting his mind to the Prophet not by Dreams or Visions, but while they were awake, their powers active, and their minds calm and undisturbed. This the Jews call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Holy Spirit, or that kind of Revelation that was directly con∣veyed into the mind by the most efficacious irradiation and inspiration of the Holy Spi∣rit; God by these Divine illapses enabling the Prophet clearly and immediately to 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.126 the things delivered to him. And in this way the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or holy Writings 〈◊〉〈◊〉 dictated and conveyed to the World, in which respect the Apostle says, that all 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, given by divine inspiration. The highest pitch of this Prophe∣tical revelation was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the gradus Mosaicus, or that way of Prophecy that God used towards Moses, of whom it is particularly said, that the Lord spake unto Moses* 1.127 face to face, as a Man speaketh unto his friend: and elsewhere it is evidently distinguished from all inferiour ways of Prophecy, If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will* 1.128 make my self known unto him in a Vision, and will speak unto him in a Dream: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Servant Moses is not so, with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: Clearly implying a mighty 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in God's way of revelation to Moses above that of other Prophets, which the Jewish Writers make to have lyen in four things. First, that in all God's communica∣tions to Moses 〈◊〉〈◊〉 immediately spake to his understanding, without any impressions upon fancy, any visible appearances, any Dreams or Visions of the Night. Secondly, that Moses had prophecies conveyed to him without any fears or consternations, whereas the other Prophets were astonished and weakned at the sight of God. Thirdly, that Moses had no previous dispositions or preparations to make him capable of the Divine revelation, but could directly go to God and consult him, as a man speaketh with his friend, other Prophets being forced many times by some preparatory arts to invite the Prophetick spirit to come upon them. Fourthly, that Moses had a freedom and liberty of spirit to prophecy at all times, and could when he pleased have recourse to the Sacred Oracle. But as to this the Scripture intimates no such thing, the spirit of Prophecy re∣tiring from him at some times as well as from the rest of the Prophets. And indeed the Prophetick spirit did not reside in the holy men by way of habit, but occasionally, as God saw fitting to pour it out upon them; it was not in them as light is in the Sun, but as light in the Air, and consequently depended upon the immediate irradiations of the Spirit of God.

15. THESE Divine Communications were so conveyed to the minds of the Pro∣phets and inspired 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that they always knew them to be Divine revelations; so mighty and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was the evidence that came along with them, that there could be no doubt, but they were the birth of Heaven. It's true, when the Prophetick spi∣rit at any time seised upon wicked men, they understood not its effect upon them, nor were in the least improved and bettered by it; the revelation passed through them, as a sound through a Trunk, or water through a Leaden-pipe, without any particular and distinct apprehension of the thing, or useful impression made upon their minds, as is evident besides others in the case of Caiaphas and Balaam, of which last the Jews say

expresly 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that he prophesied according to the will of God, but understood not what he prophesied. But it was otherwise with the true Prophets, they always knew who 'twas that acted them, & what was the meaning of that intelligence that was communicated to them. In the Gentile world, when the Daemon entred into the inspired person, he was usually carried out to the furious transports of rage and madness. But in the Prophets of God, although the impulse might sometimes be very strong and violent (whence the Prophet Jeremy complains, Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones shake, I am like a drunken man, like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness) so as a little to ruffle their imagination, yet never so as to discompose their reason, or hinder them from a clear perception of the notices conveyed upon their minds; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.129 says Epiphanius, the Prophet had his Oracles dictated by the Holy Spirit, which he delivered strenuously, and with the most firm and unshaken consistency of his ratio∣nal powers; and afterwards, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉* 1.130 that the Prophets were often in a bodily ecstasie, but never in an ecstasie of mind, their understandings never being rendred useless and unserviceable to them. Indeed it was absolutely necessary that the Prophet should have a full satisfaction of mind concerning the truth and Divinity of his message; for how else should they perswade others, that the thing was from God, if they were not first sufficiently assured themselves; and therefore even in those methods that were most liable to doubts and questions, such as communications by dreams, we cannot think but that the same Spirit that moved and impressed the thing upon them, did also by some secret and inward operations settle their minds in the firmest belief and perswasion of what was revealed and suggested to them. All these ways of immediate revelation ceased some hundreds of years before the final period of the Jewish Church. A thing confessed not only by Christians but by* 1.131 Jews themselves, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 There was no Prophet in the second Temple; in∣deed they universally acknowledge, that there were five things wanting in the second Temple, built after their return from the Babylonish Captivity, which had been in that of Solomon, viz. the Ark of the Covenant, the fire from Heaven that lay upon the Al∣tar, the Schekinah or presence of the Divine Majesty, the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and Thummim, and the spirit of Prophecy, which ceased (as they tell us) about the second year of Darius, to be sure at the death of Malachy, the last of that order, after whom there arose no Pro∣phet in Israel, whom therefore the Jews call, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the seal of the Prophets. Indeed it is no wonder that Prophecy should cease at that time, if we consider that one of the prime ends of it did then cease, which was to be a seal and an assurance of the Divine inspiration of the holy Volumes, now the Canon of the Old Testament being consigned and completed by Ezra with the assistance of Malachy, and some of the last Prophets, God did not think good any longer to continue this Divine and Miracu∣lous gift among them: But especially if we consider the great degeneracy into which that Church was falling; their horrid and crying sins having made God resolve to re∣ject them, the departure of the Prophetick spirit shewed that God had written them a bill of divorce, and would utterly cast them off; that by this means they might be awakened to a more lively expectation of that new state of things, which the Messiah was coming to establish in the World, wherein the Prophetick spirit should revive, and be again restored to the Church, which accordingly came to pass, as we shall else∣where observe.

16. THE third thing propounded, was to consider the state of Religion, and the Church under the successive periods of this 〈◊〉〈◊〉. And here we shall only make some general remarks, a particular survey of those matters not consisting with the de∣sign of this discourse. Ecclesiastical Constitutions being made in the Wilderness, and the place for publick worship fram'd and erected, no sooner did they come into the promised Land, but the Tabernacle was set down at Gilgal, where, if the Jewish Chronology say true, it continued fourteen years, till they had subdued and divided the Land: Then fixed at Shiloh, and the Priests and Levites had Cities and Terri∣tories assigned to them, where it is not to be doubted but there were Synagogues, or places equivalent for prayer and the ordinary solemnities of Religion, and Courts for the decision of Ecclesiastical causes. Prosperity and a plentiful Country had greatly contributed to the depravation of mens manners, and the corruption of Religion till the times of Samuel, the great Reformer of that Church, who erected Colledges, and in∣stituted Schools of the Prophets, reduced the Societies of the Levites to their Primitive order and purity, forced the Priests to do their duty diligently to minister in the affairs of

God's worship, and carefully to teach and instruct the people: A piece of reformation no more than necessay, For the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no open vision. CCCLXIX. years (say the Jews) the Tabernacle abode at Shiloh, from whence it was translated to Nob a City in the Tribe of Benjamin, probably about the time that the Ark was taken, thence after thirteen years to Gibeon, where it remained fifty years; and lastly, by Solomon to Jerusalem. The Ark being taken out to carry along with them for their more prosperous success in their War against the Philistines, was ever after exposed to an ambulatory and unsetled course: For being taken cap∣tive by the Philistines, it was by them kept prisoner seven months, thence removed to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and thence to Kirtath-jearim, where it remained in the house of Abina∣dab twenty years, thence solemnly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by David, and after three months rest by the way in the house of Obed-Edom, brought triumphantly to Jerusalem, and placed under the covert of a Tent which he had purposely erected for it. David being setled in the Throne, like a pious Prince took especial care of the affairs of Religion, he fixed the High Priest and his second, augmented the courses of the Priests from eight to four and twenty, appointed the Levites, and Singers, and their several turns and times of waiting, assigned them their proper duties and ministeries, setled the Nethinim or Porters, the posterity of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, made Treasurers of the revenues belonging to holy uses, and of the vast summs contributed towards the building of a Temple, as a more solemn and stately place for Divine worship, which he was fully resolved to have erected, but that God commanded it to be reserved for the peaceable and prosperous Reign of Solomon, who succeeding in his Father's Throne, accomplished it, building so stately and magnificent a Temple, that it became one of the greatest wonders of the World. Under his son Rehoboam hapned the fatal division of the Kingdom, when ten parts of twelve were rent off at once, and brought under the Empire of Jeroboam, who knew no better way to secure his new-gotten Soveraignty, than to take off the people from hankering after the Temple and the worship at Jerusalem, and therefore out of a cursed policy erected two Golden Calves at Dan and Bethel, perswading the people there to pay their publick adorations, appointing Chaplains like himself, Priests of the lowest of the people; and from this time Religion began visibly to ebb and decline in that Kingdom, and Idolatry to get ground amongst them.

17. THE two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin were loyal both to God and their Prince, continuing obedient to their lawful Sovereign, and firmly adhering to the worship of the Temple, though even here too impiety in some places maintained its ground, having taken root in the Reign of Solomon, who through his over-great parti∣ality and fondness to his Wives had been betrayed to give too much countenance to 〈◊〉〈◊〉. The extirpation hereof was the design and attempt of all the pious and good Princes of Judah: Jehosaphat set himself in good earnest to recover Religion and the state of the Church to its ancient purity and lustre, he abolished the Groves and high places, and appointed itinerant Priests and Levites to go from City to City to expound the Law, and instruct the people in the knowledge of their duty; nay, he himself held a royal Visitation, Going quite through the Land, and bringing back the people to the Lord* 1.132 God of their Fathers. But under the succeeding Kings Religion again lost its ground, and had been quite extinct during the tyranny and usurpation of Athaliah, but that good Jehoiada the High Priest kept it alive by his admirable zeal and industry. While he lived, his Pupil Joas (who owed both his Crown and his life to him) promoted the design, and purged the Temple, though after his Tutors death he apostatized to prophaneness and idolatry. Nor indeed was the reformation effectually advanced till the time of Hezekiah, who no sooner ascended the Throne, but he summoned the Priests and Levites, exhorted them to begin at home, and first to reform themselves, then to cleanse and repair the Temple; he resetled the Priests and Levites in their pro∣per places and offices, and caused them to offer all sorts of Sacrifices, and the Passeover to be universally celebrated with great strictness and solemnity; he destroyed the Mo∣numents of Idolatry, took away the Altars in Jerusalem, and having given commission, the people did the like in all parts of the Kingdom, breaking the Images, cutting down the Groves, throwing down the Altars and high places, until they had utterly destroyed them all. But neither greatness nor piety can exempt any from the common Laws of mortality, Hezekiah dies, and his son Manasseh succeeds, a wicked Prince, under whose influence impiety like a land-flood broke in upon Religion, and laid all waste before it. But his Grandchild Josiah made some amends, he gave signal instances of an early piety; for in the eighth year of his Reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek* 1.133 after the God of David his Father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and

Jerusalem; he defaced whatever had been abused and prostituted to Idolatry and Su∣perstition throughout the whole Kingdom, repaired God's house, and ordered its wor∣ship according to the prescript of the Mosaick Law, a copy whereof they had found in the ruines of the Temple, solemnly engaged himself and his people to be true to Religi∣on and the worship of God, and caused so great and solemn a Passeover to be held, that there was no Passeover like to it kept in Israel from the days of Samuel. And more he had done, had not an immature death cut him off in the midst both of his days, and his pi∣ous designs and projects. Not many years after God being highly provoked by the prodigious impieties of that Nation, delivered it up to the Army of the King of Baby∣lon, who demolished the City, harassed the Land, and carried the people captive unto Babylon. And no wonder the Divine patience could hold no longer, when all the chief of the Priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the Hea∣then,* 1.134 and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. Seventy years they remained under this captivity, during which time the Prophet Daniel gave lively and particular accounts of the Messiah, that he should come into the World to in∣troduce a Law of everlasting righteousness, to die as a sacrifice and expiation for the sins of the people, and to put a period to the Levitical sacrifices and oblations. And where∣as other prophecies had only in general defined the time of the Messiah's coming, he par∣ticularly determines the period, that all this should be at the end of LXX. weeks, that is, at the expiration of CCCCXC. years; which exactly fell in with the time of our Saviour's appearing in the World. The seventy years captivity being run out, by the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the King of Babylon they were set free, and by him permitted and assisted to repair Jerusalem, and rebuild the Temple, which was accordingly done under the go∣vernment of Nehemiah, and the succeeding Rulers, and the Temple finished by Zoro∣babel, and things brought into some tolerable state of order and decency, and so conti∣nued till the Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria, by whom the Temple was prophaned and violated, and the Jewish Church miserably afflicted and distressed; he thrust out Onias the High Priest, and put in his brother Jason, a man lost both to Reli∣gion and good manners, and who by a vast summ of money had purchased the Priest∣hood of Antiochus: At this time Matthias a Priest, and the head of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Fa∣mily, stood up for his Country; after whom came Judas Macchabaeus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Josephus truly characters him, a man of a generous temper, and a valiant mind, ready* 1.135 to do or suffer any thing to assert the Liberties and Religion of his Country, followed both in his zeal and prosperous success by his two Brothers Jonathan and Simon, succes∣sively High Priests and Commanders after him. Next him came John surnamed Hyr∣canus, then Aristobulus, Alexander, Hyrcanus, Aristobulus junior, Alexander, Antigo∣nus; in whose time Herod the Great having by the favour of Antony obtained of the Ro∣man Senate the Sovereignty over the Jewish Nation, and being willing that the Priest∣hood should intirely depend upon his arbitrary disposure, abrogated the succession of the Asmonaean Family, and put in one Ananel, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Josephus calls* 1.136 him, an obscure Priest, of the line of those who had been Priests in Babylon. To him succeeded Aristobulus, to him Jesus the son of Phabes, to him Simon, who being depo∣sed, next came Matthias, deposed also by Herod, next him Joazar, who underwent the same fate from Archelaus, then Jesus the son of Sie, after whom Joazar was again restored to the Chair, and under his Pontificate (though before his first deposition) Christ was born, things every day growing worse among them, till about seventy years after the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost, and brought the Ro∣mans, who finally took away their place and Nation.

18. BEFORE we go off from this part of our discourse, it may not be amiss to take a more particular view of the state of the Jewish Church, as it stood at the time of our Saviour's appearing in the World, as what may reflect some considerable light up∣on the History of CHRIST and his Apostles. And if we cast our eyes upon it at this time, How was the Gold become dim, and the most fine Gold changed! How miserably de∣formed was the face of the Church, how strangely degenerated from its Primitive In∣stitution! whereof we shall observe some particular instances. Their Temple though lately repaired and rebuilt by Herod, and that with so much pomp and grandeur, that Josephus, who may justly be presumed partial to the honour of his own Nation,* 1.137 says of it, that it was the most admirable structure that was ever seen or heard of both for the preparation made for it, the greatness and magnificence of the thing it self, and the infinite expence and cost bestowed upon it, as well as for the glory of that Divine worship that was performed in it, yet was it infinitely short of that of Solomon; besides

that it had been often exposed to rudeness and violence. Not to mention the hor∣rible prophanations of Antiochus, it had been of late invaded by Pompey, who bold∣ly ventured into the Sanctum Sanctorum, and without any scruple curiously con∣templated the mysteries of that place, but suffered no injury to be offered to it. After him came Crassus, who to the others boldness added Sacrilege, seizing what the o∣thers piety and modesty had spared, plundering the Temple of its vast wealth and trea∣sure. Herod having procured the Kingdom, besieged and took the City and the Tem∣ple, and though to ingratiate himself with the People he endeavoured what in him lay to secure it from rapine and impicty, and afterwards expended incredible Summes in its reparation, yet did he not stick to make it truckle under his wicked policies and designs. The more to indear himself to his Patrons at Rome, he set up a Golden Eagle of a vast di∣mension* 1.138 (the Arms of the Roman Empire) over the great Gate of the Temple: a thing* 1.139 so expresly contrary to the Law of Moses, which forbids all Images, and accounted so* 1.140 monstrous a prophanation of that holy place, that while Herod lay a dying the People in a great tumult and uproar gathered together and pull'd it down. A great part of it was become an Exchange and a Market; the place where Men were to meet with God, and to trade with Heaven, was now turned into a Ware-house for Merchants, and a Shop for Usurers, and the House of Prayer into a Den of Thieves. The worship formerly wont to be performed there with pious and devout affections, was now shrunk into a meer shell and out-side, they drew near to God with their mouths, and honoured him with their lips, but their hearts were 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from him; Rites of humane invention had justled out those of Divine Institution, and their very Prayers were made traps to catch the un∣wary People, and to devour the Widow and the Fatherless. Their Priesthood was so changed and altered, that it retain'd little but its ancient Name; the High-priests who by their Original Charter were lineally to succeed, and to hold their place for life, were become almost annual, scarce a Year passing over, wherein one was not thrust out, and another put in, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.141 as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 notes out of their own Historian. Nay which was far worse, it was become not only annual, but venal, Herod exposing it to sale, and scarce admitting any to the Sacerdotal Office, who had not first sufficiently paid for his Patent; and which was the natural consequence of that, the place was filled with the resuse of the People, Men of mean abilities, and debauched manners, who had neither parts nor piety to recommend them, he being the best and the fittest man, that offered most. Nay into so strange a degeneracy were they fallen in this matter, that Josephus reports, that one Phannias was elected High-priest, not only a ru∣stick* 1.142 and illiterate fellow, not only not of the Sacerdotal Line, but so intolerably stu∣pid and ignorant, that when they came to acquaint him, he knew not what the High∣Priesthood meant. And not content to be imposed upon, and tyrannized over by a Forreign Power, they fell a quarrelling among themselves, and mutually prey'd upon one another; the High-priests falling out with the inferiour Orders, and both Parties* 1.143 going with an armed retinue after them, ready to clash and fight where-ever they met, the High-priest sending his Servants to fetch away the Tithes due to the inferiour Priests, insomuch that many of the poorest of them were famished for want of ne∣cessary food.

19. THEIR Law, which had been delivered with so much majesty and magnifi∣cence, and for which they themselves pretended so great a reverence, they had mise∣rably corrupted and depraved (the moral part of it especially) and that two ways. First, by gross and absurd interpretations, which the Teachers of those times had put upon it. The Scribes and Pharisees, who ruled the Chair in the Jewish Church, had by false and corrupt glosses debased the majesty and purity of the Law, and made it to serve the pur∣poses of an evil life: they had taught the People, that the Law required no more than external righteousness, that if there was but a visible conformity of the life, they need∣ed not be sollicitous about the government of their minds, or the regular conduct of their thoughts or passions; that so Men did but carry themselves fair to the eye of the World, it was no great matter how things went in the secret and unseen retirements of the Soul, nay that a punctual observance of some external Precepts of the Law would compensate and quit scores with God for the neglect or violation of the rest. They told Men that when the Law forbad murder, so they did not actually kill another, and sheath their Sword in their Brother's bowels, it was well enough, Men were not restrained from furious and intemperate passions, they might be angry, yea though by peevish and uncomely speeches they betray'd the rancor and malice of their minds. They confessed the Law made it adultery actually to embrace the bosom of a stranger, but would not

have it extend to wanton thoughts and unchast desires, or that it was adultery for a man to lust after a Woman, and to commit folly with her in his heart: they told them that in all oaths and vows, if they did but perform what they had sworn to God, the Law took no further notice of it, when as every vain and unnecessary oath; all customary and tri∣fling use of the name of God was forbidden by it. They made them believe that it was lawful for them to proceed by the rigorous Law of retaliation, to exact their own to the utmost, and to right and revenge themselves; when as the Law requires a tender, compassionate, and benevolent temper of mind, and is so far from owning the rigorous punctilio's of revenge, that it obliges to meekness and patience, to forgiveness and cha∣rity, and which is the very height of charity, not only to pardon, but to love and be∣friend our greatest enemies, quite contrary to the doctrine which these men taught, that though they were to love their neighbours, that is, Jewes, yet might they hate their ene∣mies. In these and such like instances they had notoriously abused and evacuated the Law, and in a manner rendred it of no effect. And therefore when our Lord as the great Prophet sent from God came into the World, the first thing he did after the en∣trance upon his publick Ministry, was to cleanse and purifie the Law, and to remove that rubbish which the Jewish Doctors had cast upon it. He rescued it out of the hands of their poysonous and pernicious expositions, restored it to its just authority, and to its own primitive sence and meaning, he taught them that the Law did not only bind the external act, but prescribe to the most inward motions of the mind, and that whoever transgresses here, is no less obnoxious to the Divine Justice, and the penalties of the Law, than he that is guilty of the most gross and palpable violations of it: he shewed them how infinitely more pure and strict the command was, than these Impostors had represented it, and plainly told them that if ever they expected to be happy, they must look upon the Law with an other-guise eye, and follow it after another rate, than their blind and deceitful Guides did, For I say unto you, Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you can in no case enter into the Kingdome of God.

20. THE other way by which they corrupted and dishonoured the Law, and weak∣ned the power and reputation of it, was by preferring before it their Oral and unwritten Law. For besides the Law consigned to Writing, they had their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 their Law delivered by word of mouth, whose pedigree they thus deduce. They tell us that when Moses waited upon God Fourty Days in the Mount, he gave him a double Law, one in Writing, the other Traditionary, containing the sence and explication of the former: being come down into his Tent, he repeated it first to Aaron, then to Itha∣mar and Eleazar his Sons, then to the Seventy Elders, and lastly to all the People, the same Persons being all this while present. Aaron who had now heard it four times re∣cited, Moses being gone out, again repeated it before them: after his departure out of the Tent, his two Sons who by this had heard it as oft as their Father, made another repetition of it, by which means the Seventy Elders came to hear it four times, and then they also repeated it to the Congregation, who had now also heard it repeated four times together, once from Moses, then from Aaron, then from his Sons, and lastly from the Seventy Elders, after which the Congregation broke up, and every one went home, and taught it his Neighbour. This Oral Law Moses upon his Death-bed repeat∣ed* 1.144 to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, he delivered it to the Elders, they to the Prophets, the Prophets to the men of the great Synagogue, the last of whom was Symeon the Just, who delivered it to Anti∣gonus Sochaeus, and he to his Successors, the wise Men, whose business it was to recite it, and so it was handed through several Generations, the names of the Persons who deli∣vered it in the several Ages from its first rise under Moses till above an Hundred Years after Christ, being particularly enumerated by Maimonides. At last it came to R. Jehu∣da,* 1.145 commonly stiled by the Jews 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 our holy Master, the Son of Rabban Symeon (who flourished a little before the time of the Emperour Antoninus) who consi∣dering the unsetled and tottering condition of his own Nation, and how apt these tra∣ditionary Precepts would be to be forgotten or mistaken, by the weakness of Mens me∣mories, or the perversness of their wits, or the dispersion of the Jews in other Coun∣tries, collected all these Laws and Expositions, and committed them to Writing, sti∣ling his Book Mishnaioth, or the Repetition. This was asterwards illustrated and ex∣plained by the Rabbines dwelling about Babylon, with infinite cases and controversies concerning their Law, whose resolutions were at last compiled into another Volume, which they called Gemara, or Doctrin, and both together constitute the intire Body of the Babylonish Talmud, the one being the Text, the other the Comment. The folly and vanity of this account, though it be sufficiently evident to need no confutation with any

wise and discerning Man, yet have the Jewes in all Ages made great advantage of it, magnifying and extolling it above the written Law with Titles and Elogies that hyper∣bolize into blasphemy. They tell us, that this is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the foundation of the* 1.146 Law for whose sake it was that God entred into Covenant with the Israelites, that with∣out this the whole Law would lye in the dark, yea be meer obscurity and darkness it self, as being contrary and repugnant to it self, and defective in things necessary to be known: that it is joy to the heart, and health to the bones, that the words of it are more lovely and desirable than the words of the Law, and a greater sin to violate the one than thé other; that it's little or no commendation for a Man to read the Bible, but to study the Mishna is that for which a Man shall receive the reward of the other World, and that no Man can have a peaceable and quiet conscience, who leaves the study of the Talmud to go to that of the Bible; that the Bible is like Water, the Mishna like Wine; the Talmud like spiced Wine; that all the words of the Rabbins are the very words of the living God; from which a Man might not depart, though they should tell him his right hand were his left, and his left his right; nay they blush not, nor tremble to assert, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that to study in the holy Bible is nothing else but to lose our time: I will mention but one bold and blasphemous sentence more, that we may see how far these desperate wretches are given over to a spirit of impiety and infatuation, they tell us, that he that dissents from his Rabbin or Teacher, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 dissents from the Divine Majesty, but he that believes the words of the wise men, believes God himself.

21. STRANGE! that Men should so far offer violence to their reason, so far con∣quer and subdue their conscience, as to be able to talk at this wild and prodigious rate: and stranger it would seem, but that we know a Generation of Men, great Patrons of Tradition too, in another Church, who mainly endeavour to debase and suppress the Scriptures, and value their unwritten Traditions at little less rate than this. But I let them pass. This is no novel and upstart humour of the Jews, they were notoriously guilty of it in our 〈◊〉〈◊〉 days, whom we find frequently charging them with their superstitious observances of many little rites and usages derived from the Traditions of the Elders, wherein they placed the main of Religion, and for which they had a far more sacred regard, than for the plain and positive commands of God. Such were their frequent washings of their Pots and Cups, their brazen Vessels and Tables, the purifying* 1.147 themselves after they came from Market (as if the touching of others had defiled them) the washing their hands before every Meal, and many other things which they had recei∣ved to hold. In all which they were infinitely nice and scrupulous, making the neglect of them of equal guilt with the greatest immorality, not sticking to affirm, that* 1.148 he who eats Bread with unwashen hands, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, is as if he* 1.149 lay with an Harlot. This it's plain they thought a sufficient charge against our Lord's Disciples, that they were not zealous observers of these things. When they* 1.150 saw some of his Disciples eat Bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, they found fault; and asked him, Why walk not thy Disciples according to the Tradi∣tion of the Elders, but 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Bread with unwashen hands? To whom our Saviour smartly answered, that they were the Persons of whom the Prophet had spoken, who honoured God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him, that in vain did they worship him, while for doctrines they taught the commandments of men, laying aside and rejecting the com∣mandments of God, that they might hold the Tradition of men. For they were not content to make them of equal value and authority with the Word of God, but made them a means wholly to evacuate and supersede it. Whereof our Lord gives a notorious in∣stance in the case of Parents. They could not say but that the Law obliged Children to honour and revere their Parents, and to administer to their necessities in all straits and exigencies, but then had found out a fine way to evade the force of the command, and that under a pious and plausible pretence. Moses said, Honour thy Father and thy Mo∣ther: and who so curseth Father or Mother let him die the death. But ye say, If a man shall say to his Father or Mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 shall be 〈◊〉〈◊〉: And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his Father; or Mo∣ther. By which is commonly understood, that when their Parents required relief and as∣sistance from their Children, they put them off with this excuse, that they had consecra∣ted* 1.151 their Estate to God, and might not divert it to any other use. Though this seems a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and plausible pretence, yet it is not reasonable to suppose, that either they had, or would pretend that they had intirely devoted whatever they had to God, and must therefore refer to some other custom. Now among the many kinds of oaths and vows that were among the Jews they had one, which they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the vow of inter∣dict;* 1.152

whereby a man might restrain himself as to this or that particular person, and this or that particular thing; as, he might vow not to accept of such a courtesie from this friend or that neighbour, or that he would not part with this or that thing of his own to such a man, to lend him his Horse, or give him any thing towards his maintenance, &c. and then the thing became utterly unlawful, and might not be done upon any conside∣ration whatsoever, lest the Man became guilty of the violation of his Vow. The form of this Vow frequently occurs in the Jewish Writings, and even in the very same words wherein our Lord expresses it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Be it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 or a gift (that is, a thing sacred) whereby I may be any ways prositable to thee, that is, be that thing unlawful or prohibited to me, wherein I may be helpful and assistant to thee. And nothing more common than this way of vowing in the particular case of Parents, whereof there are abundant instances in the writings of the Jewish Masters, who thus explain the forementioned Vow, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Whatever I shall gain hereafter, shall be sacred, as to the maintenance of my Father; or as Maimonides expresses it, That what I provide, my Father shall eat nothing of it, that is, says he, he shall receive no profit by it; and then as they tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He that had thus vowed, might not transgress or make void his Vow. So that when indi∣gent Parents craved relief and assistance from their Children, and probably wearied them with importunity, it was but vowing in a passionate resentment, that they should not be better for what they had, and then they were safe, and might no more dispose any part of their Estate to that use, than they might touch the Corban, that which was most solemnly consecrated to God. By which means they were taught to be unnatural under a pretence of Religion, and to suffer their Parents to starve, lest themselves should violate a senceless and unlawful Vow. So that though they were under the precedent obligations of a natural duty, a duty as clearly commanded by God as words could express it, yet a blind Tradition, a rash and impious Vow, made for the most part out of passion or covetousness, should cancel and supersede all these obliga∣tions, it being unlawful hence forth to give them one penny to relieve them: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 suffer him no more (says our Lord) to do ought for his Father or his Mother, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered.

22. THE last instance that I shall note of the corruption and degeneracy of this Church, is the many Sects and divisions that were in it, a thing which the Jews themselves in their writings confess would happen in the days of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, whose Kingdom should be overrun with heretical opinions. That Church which heretofore like Jerusalem had been at unity within it self, was now miserably broken into 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and Factions, whereof three most considerable, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Pharisees derive their name from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which may admit of a double significati∣on, and either not unsuitable to them: It may refer to them as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Explainers or Interpreters of the Law, which was a peculiar part of their work, and for which they were famous and venerable among the Jews; or more probably to their separation (the most proper and natural importance of the word) so called, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as 〈◊〉〈◊〉 observed of old, because separated from all others in their extraordinary pretences of piety, the very Jews themselves thus descri∣bing* 1.153 a Pharisee, he is one 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that separates himself from all uncleanness, and from all unclean meats, and from the people of the Earth, (the common rout) who accurately observe not the difference of Meats. It is not certain when this Sect first thrust up its head into the World, probably not long after the times of the Macchabees, 'tis certain they were of considerable standing, and great account in the time of our Saviour: To be sure strangely wide of the mark are those Jewish Chrono∣logists* 1.154 who say, that the Sect of the Pharisees arose in the times of Tiberius Caesar, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the AEgyptian, under whom the Septuagint translation was accomplished; as* 1.155 if Ptolomy Philadelphus and Tiberius Caesar had been Contemporaries, between whom there is the distance of no less than CCLX. years. But when ever it began, a bold and daring Sect it was, not fearing to affront Princes, and persons of the greatest quality, crafty and insinuative, and who by a shew of great zeal, and infinite strictness in Reli∣gion, beyond the rate of other men, had procured themselves a mighty reverence from* 1.156 the people; so strict, that (as a Learned man observes) Pharisee is used in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 writings to denote a pious and holy man; and Benjamin the Jew speaking of R. Ascher, says, he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a truly devout man, separate from the affairs of this* 1.157 world. And yet under all this seeming severity they were but Religious villains, spite∣ful and malicious, griping and covetous, great oppressors, merciless dealers, heady and seditious, proud and scornful, indeed guilty of most kinds of immorality, of whose

temper and manners I say the less in this place, having elsewhere given an account of them. They held that the Oral Law was of infinitely greater moment and value than the written Word; that the Traditions of their fore Fathers were above all things to be embraced and followed, the strict observance whereof would entitle a man to Eter∣nal* 1.158 Life; that the Souls of men are Immortal, and had their dooms awarded in the Subterraneous Regions; that there is a Metempsuchosis or Transmigration of pious Souls out of one Body into another; that things come to pass by fate, and an inevitable ne∣cessity, and yet that Man's will is free, that by this means men might be rewarded and punished according to their works. I add no more concerning them, than that some great men of the Church of Rome say with some kind of boasting, that such as were the Pharisees among the Jews, such are the Religious (they mean the Monastical Orders of their Church) among Christians. Much good may it do them with the comparison, I confess my self so far of their mind, that there is too great a conformity between them.

23. NEXT the Pharisees come the Sadducees, as opposite to them in their temper, as their principles; so called (as Epiphanius and some others will have it) from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 justice, as pretending themselves to be very just and righteous men, but this agrees not with the account given of their lives. They are generally thought to have been deno∣minated from Sadock the Scholar of Antigonus Sochaeus, who flourished about the year of the World MMMDCCXX. CCLXXXIV. years before the Nativity of our Saviour. They pass under a very ill character even among the writers of their own Nation, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 impious men, and of very loose and debauched manners: which is no more than what might be expected as the natural consequence of their prin∣ciples, this being one of their main dogmata or opinions, that the Soul is not Immortal, and that there is no future state after this life. The occasion of which desperate prin∣ciple is said to have been a mistake of the doctrine of their Master Antigonus, who was* 1.159 wont to press his Scholars not to be like 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Servants, who serve their Masters merely for what they can get by them; but to serve God for himself, without expecta∣tion of rewards. This, Sadock and Baithos, two of his disciples misunderstanding, thought their Master had peremptorily denied any state of future rewards; and having laid this dangerous foundation, these unhappy superstructures were built upon it; that there is no Resurrection, for if there be no reward, what need that the Body should rise again; that the Soul is not Immortal, nor exists in the separate state, for if it did, it must be either rewarded or punished; and if not the Soul, then by the same proportion of reason no spiritual substance, neither Angel, nor Spirit; that there is no Divine Providence, but that God is perfectly placed as beyond the commission, so beyond the* 1.160 inspection and regard of what sins or evils are done or happen in the World, as indeed what great reason to believe a wise and righteous Providence, if there be no reward or punishment for vertue and vice in another life? These pernicious and Atheistical opi∣nions justly exposed them to the reproach and hatred of the people, who were wont eminently to stile them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Hereticks, 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Epicureans, no words being thought bad enough to bestow upon them. They rejected the Traditions so vehement∣ly asserted by the Pharisees, and taught that men were to keep to the Letter of the Law, and that nothing was to be imposed either upon their belief or practice, but what was ex∣presly owned and contained in it. Josephus observes, that they were the fewest of all the* 1.161 Sects, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but usually men of the better rank and quality; as what wonder, if rich and great men, who tumble in the pleasures and advantages of a pro∣sperous fortune, be willing to take sanctuary at those opinions, that afford the greatest patronage to looseness and debauchery, and care not to hear of being called to account in another World, for what they have done in this? For this reason the Sadducees ever appeared the greatest sticklers to preserve the peace, and were the most severe and im∣placable Justicers against the Authors or fomenters of tumults and seditions, lest they should disturb and interrupt their soft and easie course of life, the only happiness their principles allowed them to expect.

24. THE Essenes succeed, a Sect probably distinct from either of the former. Pas∣sing by the various conjectures concerning the derivation of their name, which when dressed up with all advantages are still but bare conjectures, they began about the times of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, when the violent persecutions of Antiochus forced the Jews for their own safety to retire to the Woods and Mountains. And though in time the storm blew over, yet many of them were too well pleased with these undisturbed solitudes to return, and therefore combined themselves into Religious societies, leading a solitary and contemplative course of life, and that in very great numbers, there being usually

above four thousand of them, as both Philo and Josephus tell us. Pliny takes notice of* 1.162 them, and describes them to be a solitary generation, remarkable above all others in this, that they live without Women, without any embraces, without money, con∣versing with nothing but Woods and Palm-trees; that their number encreased every day as fast as any died, persons flocking to them from all quarters, to seek repose here, after they had been wearied with the inquietudes of an improsperous fortune. They paid a due reverence to the Temple, by sending gifts and presents thither, but yet wor∣shipped* 1.163 God at home, and used their own Rites and Ceremonies. Every seventh day they publickly met in their Synagogues, where the younger seating themselves at the feet of the elder, one reads some portions out of a Book, which another, eminently* 1.164 skilled in the principles of their Sect, expounds to the rest (their dogmata, like the Phi∣losophy of the Ancients, being obscurely and enigmatically delivered to them) in∣structing them in the rules of piety and righteousness, and all the duties that concerned God, others, or themselves. They industriously tilled and cultivated the ground, and lived upon the fruits of their own labours; had all their revenues in common; there being neither rich, nor poor among them: Their manners were very harmless and innocent, exact observers of the rules of Justice, somewhat beyond the practice of other men. As for that branch of them that lived in Egypt, whose excellent Manners and Institutions are so particularly described and commended by Philo, and whom 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and others will needs have to have been Christians converted by S. Mark, we have taken notice of elsewhere in S. Mark's Life. We find no mention of them in the Hi∣story of the Gospel, probably because living remote from Cities and all places of publick concourse, they never concerned themselves in the actions of Christ or his Apostles. What their principles were in matters of speculation is not much material to enquire, their Institutions mainly referring to practice. Out of a great regard to wisdom and ver∣tue they neglected all care of the body, renounced all conjugal embraces, abstained very much from Meats and Drinks, some of them not eating or drinking for three, others for five or six days together, accounting it unbecoming men of such a Philoso∣phical temper and genius, to spend any part of the day upon the necessities of the body: Their way they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, worship, and their rules 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, doctrines of wisdom; their contemplations were sublime and speculative, and of things beyond the ordinary notions of other Sects; they traded in the names and mysteries of Angels, and in all their carriages bore a great shew of modesty and humility. And therefore these in all likelihood were the very persons, whom S. Paul primarily designed (though not excluding others who espoused the same principles) when he charges the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to* 1.165 let no man 〈◊〉〈◊〉 them of their reward in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of Angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 mind, that be∣ing dead to the rudiments of the World, they should no longer 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, be subject to these dogmata or ordinances, such as Touch not, taste not, handle not, (the main prin∣ciples of the Essenian Institution) being the commandments and doctrines of men; which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility, and neglecting of the bo∣dy, not in any honour to the satisfying of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Besides these three greater, there were several other lesser Sects in the Jewish Church, such as the Herodians, supposed to have been either part of Herod's guard, or a combination of men, who to ingratiate them∣selves with the Prince, maintained Herod to be the Messiah, and at their own charge celebrated his Coronation-days, as also the Sabbath, when they used to set lighted Candles crowned with Violets in their windows; an opinion which S. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 justly* 1.166 laughs at as trifling and ridiculous. Probably they were a party that had 〈◊〉〈◊〉 He∣rod's interest, and endeavoured to support his new-gotten Soveraignty. For Herod be∣ing a stranger, and having by the Roman power usurped the Kingdom, was generally hateful and burdensom to the people, and therefore beside the assistance of a foreign power, needed some to stand by him at home. They were peculiarly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in pressing people to pay Tribute to Caesar, Herod being obliged (as S. Hierom observes) by the* 1.167 Charter of his Soveraignty to look after the Tribute due to Caesar, and they could not do him a more acceptable service, by this means endearing him to his great Patrons at Rome. In matters of opinion they seem to have sided with the Sadducees; what S. Matthew calls the leaven of the Sadducees, S. Mark stiles the leaven of Herod. Pro∣bable* 1.168 * 1.169 it is, that they had drawn Herod to be of their principles, that as they asserted his right to the Kingdom, he might favour and maintain their impious opinions. And 'tis likely enough that men of so debauched manners might be easily tempted to take shelter under principles that so directly served the purposes of a bad life. Another Sect in that Church were the Samaritans, the posterity of those who succeeded in

the room of the ten captivated Tribes, a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, they held, that nothing but the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was the Word of God, that Mount Gerizim was the true place of publick and solemn worship, that they were the descendents of Joseph, and heirs of the Aaronical Priesthood, and that no dealing or correspondence was to be maintained with strangers, nor any unclean thing to be touched. The Karraeans were a branch of the Sadducees, but rejected afterwards their abominable and unsound opinions, they are the true Textualists, adhering only to the writings of Moses and the Prophets, and expounding the Scripture by it self, peremptorily disowning the absurd glosses of the Talmud, and the idle Traditions of the Rabbins, insomuch that they ad∣mit not so much as the Hebrew points into their Bibles, accounting them part of the Oral and Traditionary Law; for which reason they are greatly hated by the rest of the Jews. They are in great numbers about 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and in other places at this day. There was also the Sect of the Zealots, frequently mentioned by Josephus, a Generati∣on of men insolent and ungovernable, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and savage, who under a pretence of ex∣traordinary zeal for God and the honour of his Law, committed the most enormous outrages against God and Man; but of them we have given an account in the Life of S. Simon the Zealot. And yet as if all this had not been enough to render their Church miserable within it self, their sins and intestine divisions had brought in the Roman power upon them, who set Magistrates and Taskmasters over them, depressed their great 〈◊〉〈◊〉, put in and out Senators at pleasure, made the Temple pay tribute, and placed a Garrison at hand to command it, abrogated a great part of their Laws, and stript them so naked both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Order and Authority, that they had not power left so much as to put a man to death. All evident demonstrations that Shiloh was come, and the Scepter departed, that the Sacrifice and Oblation was to cease, the Messiah being cut off, who came to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make re∣conciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.

SECT. III. Of the EVANGELICAL Dispensation.

The gradual revelations concerning the Messiah. John the Baptist Christ's forerunner, His extraordinary Birth. His austere Education, and way of Life. His Preaching, what. His initiating proselytes by Baptism. Baptism in use in the Jewish Church. Its Original, whence. His resolution and impartiality. His Martyrdom. The character given him by Josephus, and the Jews. The Evangelical Dispensation wherein it exceeds that of Moses. Its 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and perfection. Its agreeableness to humane nature. The Evangelical promises better than those of the Law, and in what respects. The aids of the Spirit plentifully assorded under the Gospel. The admirable confirmation of this Occonomy. The great extent and latitude of it. Judaism not capable of being communicated to all man∣kind. The comprehensiveness of the Gospel. The Duration of the Evangelical Covenant. The Mosaical Statutes in what sence said to be for ever. The Typical and transient nature of that State. The great happiness of Christians under the Occonomy of the Gospel.

1. GOD having from the very infancy of the World promised the Messiah, as the great Redeemer of Mankind, was accordingly pleased in all Ages to make gradual discoveries and manifestations of him, the revelations con∣cerning him in every Dispensation of the Church still shining with a bigger and more particular light, the nearer this Sun of Righteousness was to his rising. The first Go∣spel and glad tidings of him commenced with the fall of Adam, God out of infinite ten∣derness and commiseration promising to send a person who should triumphantly vindi∣cate and rescue mankind from the power and tyranny of their Enemies, and that he should do this by taking the humane nature upon him, and being born of the seed of the Woman. No further account is given of him till the times of Abraham, to whom it was revealed, that he should proceed out of his loins, and arise out of the Jewish Nation, though both Jew and Gentile should be made happy by him. To his Grandchild Jacob God made known out of what Tribe of that Nation he should rise, the Tribe of Judah; and what would be the time of his appearing, viz. the departure of the Scepter from Ju∣dah, the abrogation of the Civil and Legislative power of that Tribe and People (ac∣complished in Herod the Idumaean, set over them by the Roman power.) And this is all we find concerning him under that Oeconomy. Under the Legal Dispensation we find Moses foretelling one main 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of his coming, which was to be the great Prophet* 1.170 of the Church, to whom all were to hearken as an extraordinary person sent from God to acquaint the World with the Councils and the Laws of Heaven. The next news we hear of him is from David, who was told that he should spring out of his house and family, and who frequently speaks of his sufferings, and the particular manner of his death, by piercing his hands and his feet, of his powerful Resurrection, that God would* 1.171 not leave his Soul in Hell, nor suffer his holy one to see corruption, of his triumphant Ascen∣sion* 1.172 * 1.173 into Heaven, and glorious session at God's right hand. From the Prophet Isaiah we* 1.174 have an account of the extraordinary and miraculous manner of his Birth, that he* 1.175 should be born of a Virgin, and his name be Immanuel, of his incomparable furniture of gifts and graces for the execution of his office, of the entertainment he was to meet* 1.176 with in the World, and of the nature and design of those sufferings which he was to un∣dergo.* 1.177 The place of his Birth was foretold by Micah, which was to be 〈◊〉〈◊〉, the least of the Cities of Judah, but honoured above all the rest with the na∣tivity* 1.178 of a Prince, who was to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth had been from ever∣lasting. Lastly, the Prophet Daniel 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the particular period of his coming, expresly* 1.179 affirming, that the Messiah should appear in the World, and be cut off as a Victim and Expiation for the sins of the people at the expiration of LXX. prophetical weeks, or CCCCXC. years, which accordingly punctually came to pass.

2. FOR the date of the prophetick Scriptures concerning the time of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉's coming being now run out, In the fulness of time God sent his Son made of a Woman, made under the Law, to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 them that were under the Law: This being the truth of which God spake by the mouth of all his holy Prophets, which have been since the World began. But

because it was not sit that so great a Person should come into the World, without an e∣minent Harbinger to introduce and usher in his Arrival, God had promised that he* 1.180 would send his Messenger, who should prepare his way before him, even 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Prophet,* 1.181 whom he would send before the coming of that great day of the Lord, who should turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children, &c. This was particularly accomplished in John the Baptist, who came in the power and spirit of Elias. He was the Morning-star to the* 1.182 Son of Righteousness, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as S. Cyril says of him, the great and eminent Fore-runner, a Person remarkable upon several accounts. First for the extraordinary circumstances of his Nativity, his Birth foretold by an Angel, sent on purpose to deliver this joyful Message, a sign God intended him for great underta∣kings, this being never done but where God designed the Person for some uncommon services; his Parents aged, and though both righteous before God, yet hitherto Child∣less; Heaven does not dispence all its bounty to the same Person, Children though great and desirable blessings are yet often denied to those, for whom God has otherwise very dear regards. Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well stricken in years. But is any thing too hard for the Lord? said God to Abraham in the same case; God has the Key of the Womb in his own keeping, it is one of the Divine Prerogatives, that he makes the barren Woman to keep house, and to be a joyful Mother of Children. A Son is promised, and mighty things said of him: a promise which old Zachary had scarce faith enough to digest, and therefore had the assurance of it sealed to him by a miraculous dumbness imposed upon him till it was made good, the same Miracle at once confirm∣ing his faith, and punishing his infidelity. Accordingly his Mother conceived with Child, and as if he would do part of his errand before he was born, he leaped in her Womb at her salutation of the Virgin Mary, then newly conceived with Child of our Blessed Saviour; a piece of homage paid by one, to one yet unborn.

3. THESE presages were not vain and fallible, but produced a Person no less me∣morable for the admirable strictness and austerity of his 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For having escaped He∣rod's butcherly and merciless Executioners (the Divine providence being a shelter and a covert to him) and been educated among the rudenesses and solitudes of the Wilder∣ness, his manners and way of life were very 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to his Education. His Garments borrowed from no other Wardrobe than the backs of his Neighbour-creatures, the skins of Beasts, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 hair, and a Leathern girdle, and herein he literally made good the cha∣racter* 1.183 of Elias, who is described as an hairy man, girt with a Leathern girdle about his Loins. His Diet suitable to his Garb, his Meat was Locusts, and wild Honey: Locusts, accounted by all Nations amongst the meanest and vilest sorts of food; wild honey, such as the natural artifice and labour of the Bees had stored up in caverns and hollow Trees, without any elaborate curiosity to prepare and dress it up. Indeed his abstinence was so great, and his food so unlike other Mens, that the Evangelist says of him, that he came neither eating nor drinking, as if he had eaten nothing, or at least what was worth nothing. But Meat commends us not to God; it is the devout mind, and the honest life that makes us valuable in the eye of Heaven. The place of his abode was not in Kings* 1.184 houses, in stately and delicate Palaces, but where he was born and bred, the Wilderness of Judaea, he was in the Desarts until the time of his shewing unto Israel. Divine grace is not consined to particular places, it is not the holy City, or the Temple at Mount Sion makes us nearer unto Heaven; God can, when he please, consecrate a Desart into a Church, make us gather Grapes among Thorns, and Religion become fruitful in a barren Wil∣derness.

4. PREPARED by so singular an Education, and furnished with an immediate Commission from God, he entred upon the actual administration of his Office: In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Justin* 1.185 Martyr calls him, the Herald to Proclaim the first approach of the Holy Jesus, his whole Ministry tending to prepare the way to his entertainment, accomplishing herein what was of old foretold concerning him, For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias, saying, The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He told the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, that the Messiah whom they had so long expected was now at hand, and his Kingdom ready to appear, that the Son of God was come down from Heaven, a Person as far beyond him in dignity, as in time and existence, to whom he was not worthy to minister in the meanest Offices; that he came to intro∣duce a new and better state of things, to enlighten the World with the clearest Revela∣tions of the Divine will, and to acquaint them with counsels brought from the bosom of the Father, to put a period to all the types and umbrages of the Mosaic Dispensation,

and bring in the truth and substance of all those shadows, and to open a Fountain of grace and fulness to Mankind; to remove that state of guilt into which humane nature was so deeply sunk, and as the Lamb of God by the expiatory Sacrifice of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to take away the sin of the World, not like the continual Burnt-offering, the Lamb offer∣ed Morning and Evening only for the sins of the House of Israel, but for Jew and Gen∣tile, Barbarian and Scythian, bond and free: he told them, that God had a long time born with the sins of Men, and would now bring things to a quicker issue, and that therefore they should do well to break off their sins by repentance, and by a serious a∣mendment and reformation of life dispose themselves for the glad tidings of the Gospel; that they should no longer bear up themselves upon their external priviledges, the Fa∣therhood of Abraham, and their being God's select and peculiar People, that God would raise up to himself another Generation, a Posterity of Abraham from among the Gen∣tiles, who should walk in his steps, in the way of his unshaken faith, and sincere obe∣dience; and that if all this did not move them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, the Axe was laid to the root of the Tree, to extirpate their Church, and to hew them down as fuel for the unquenchable Fire. His free and resolute preaching together with the great severity of his life procured him a vast Auditory, and numerous Proselytes, for there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and the Region round about Jordan, Persons of all ranks and orders, of all Sects and Opinions, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and Sadducees, Souldiers and Publicans, whose Vices he impartially censured and condemned, and pressed upon them the duties of their particular places and relations. Those whom he gained over to be Proselytes to his Doctrine, he entred into this new Institution of life by Baptism (and hence he derived his Title of the Baptist) a solemn and usual way of initiating Prose∣lytes, no less than Circumcision, and of great antiquity in the Jewish Church. In all times (says Maimonides) if any Gentile would enter into Covenant, remain under the* 1.186 wings of the Schechina, or Divine Majesty, and take upon him the yoke of the Law, he is bound to have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Circumcision, Baptism, and a Peace-offering: and if a Woman, Baptism, and an Oblation, because it is said, As ye are, so shall the stranger* 1.187 be; as ye your selves 〈◊〉〈◊〉 into Covenant by Circumcision, Baptism, and a Peace-offering, so ought the Proselyte also in all Ages to enter in. Though this last he confesses is to be omit∣ted* 1.188 during their present state of desolation, and to be made when their Temple shall be rebuilt. This Rite they generally make contemporary with the giving of the Law. So Maimonides, By three things (says he) the Israelites entred into Covenant (he means* 1.189 the National Covenant at Mount Sinai) by Circumcision, Baptism, and an Oblation; Bap∣tism being used some little time before the Law; which he proves from that place, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the People to day and to morrow, and let them wash their Clothes. This the Rabbines* 1.190 unanimously expound concerning Baptism, and expresly affirm, that where-ever we read of the Washing of Clothes, there an obligation to Baptism is intended. Thus they entred into the first Covenant, upon the frequent violations whereof God having promised to make a new and solemn Covenant with them in the times of the Messiah, they ex∣pected a second Baptism, as that which should be the Rite of their Initiation into it. And this probably is the reason, why the Apostle writing to the Hebrews, speaks of the Do∣ctrin* 1.191 of Baptisms (in the plural number) as one of the primary and elementary Princi∣ples of the faith, wherein the Catechumens were to be instructed; meaning that besides the Baptism whereby they had been initiated into the Mosaic Covenant, there was ano∣ther by which they were to enter into this new 〈◊〉〈◊〉 that was come upon the World. Hence the Sanhedrim (to whom the cognizance of such cases did peculiarly appertain) when told of John's Baptism, never expressed any wonder at it, as a new upstart Ceremony, it being a thing daily practised in their Church, nor found fault with the thing it self, which they supposed would be a federal Rite under the dispensa∣tion of the Messiah, but only quarrelled with him for taking upon him to administer it, when yet he denied himself to be one of the prime Ministers of this new state. They said unto him, why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor 〈◊〉〈◊〉, neither that* 1.192 〈◊〉〈◊〉? Either of which had he owned himself, they had not questioned his right to enter Proselytes by this way of Baptism. It is called the Baptism of Repentance, this be∣ing the main qualification that he required of those, who took it upon them, as the fittest means to dispose them to receive the Doctrine and Discipline of the Messiah; and to intitle them to that pardon of sin which the Gospel brought along with it; whence he is said to baptize in the Wilderness, and to preach the Baptism of repentance,* 1.193 for the remission of sins. And the success was answerable, infinite Multitudes flocking to it, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Nor is it the least part of his happiness, that he had the honour to baptize his Saviour, which though modestly

declined, our Lord put upon him, and was accompanied with the most signal and mi∣raculous attestations which Heaven could bestow upon it.

5. AFTER his Preparatory Preachings in the Wilderness he was called to Court by Herod, at least he was his frequent Auditor, was much delighted with his plain and impartial Sermons, and had a mighty reverence for him, the gravity of his Person, the strictness of his Manners, the freedom of his Preaching commanding an awe and veneration from his Conscience, and making him willing in many things to reform; But the bluntness of the holy Man came nearer, and touched the King in the tenderest part, smartly reproving his adultery and incestuous embraces, for that Prince kept Herodias his Brother Philip's Wife. And now all corrupt interests were awakened to conspire his ruine. Extravagant Lusts love not to be controll'd and check'd, Herodias resents the asfront, cannot brook disturbance in the pleasures of her Bed, or the open challenging of her honour, and therefore by all the arts of Feminine subtlety meditates revenge. The issue was, the Baptist is cast into Prison, as the praeludium to a sadder fate. For among other pleasures and scenes of mirth performed upon the King's Birth-day, Herod being infinitely pleased with the Dancing of a young Lady, Daughter of this Herodias, promised to give her Her request, and solemnly ratified his promise with an Oath. She prompted by her Mother, asks the Head of John the Baptist, which the King partly out of a pretended reverence to his Oath, partly out of a desire not to be interrupted in his unlawful pleasures, presently granted, and it was as quickly accom∣plished. Thus died the Holy man, a man strict in his conversation beyond the ordinary measures of an Anchoret, bold and resolute, faithful and impartial in his Office, indued with the power and spirit of Elias, a burning and a shining light, under whose light the Jews rejoyced to sit, exceedingly taken with his temper and principles. He was the happy Messenger of the Evangelical tidings, and in that respect more than a Prophet, a greater not arising among them that were born of Women. In short, he was a Man loved of his Friends, revered and honoured by his Enemies; Josephus gives this character of him,* 1.194 that he was a good man, and pressed the Jews to the study of vertue, to the practice of picty towards God, and justice and righteousness towards men, and to joyn themselves to his Baptism, which he told them would then become effectual, and acceptable to God, when they did not only cleanse the body, but purifie the mind by goodness and vertue. And though he gives some∣what a different account of Herod's condemning him to dic, from what is assigned in the Sacred History, yet he confesses, that the Jews universally looked upon the putting him to death as the cause of the miscarriage of Herod's Army, and an evident effect of the Di∣vine vengeance and displeasure. The Jews in their Writings make honourable menti∣on* 1.195 of his being put to death by Herod, because reproving him for the company of his Brother Philip's Wife, stiling him Rabbi Johanan the High-Priest, and reckoning him one 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the wise men of Israel. Where he is called High-Priest, probably with respect to his being the Son of Zachariah, Head or Chief of one of the XXIV. Families or courses of the Priests, who are many times called Chief or High-Priests in Scripture.

6. THE Evangelical state being thus proclaimed and ushered in by the Preaching and Ministry of the Baptist, our Lord himself appeared next more fully to publish and confirm it, concerning whose Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection, the Doctrine he deli∣vered, the Persons he deputed to Preach and convey it to the World, and its success by the Ministry of the Apostles, large & particular accounts are given in the following work. That which may be proper and material to observe in this place is, what the Scripture so frequently takes notice of, the excellency of this above the preceding dispensations, espe∣cially that brought in by Moses, so much magnified in the Old Testament, and so passio∣nately admired and adhered to by the Jews at this day. Jesus is the Mediator 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.196 as the Apostle calls it, of a better Covenant. And better it is in several regards; besides the infinite difference between the Persons, who were imployed to introduce and settle them, Moses and our Lord. The preheminence eminently appears in many instan∣ces, whereof we shall remark the most considerable. And first, the Mosaick dispensation was almost wholly made up of types and shadows, the Evangelical has brought in the truth and substance. The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus* 1.197 Christ. Their Ordinances were but shadows of good things to come, sensible representa∣tions of what was to follow after, the Body is Christ, the perfection and accomplish∣ment of their whole ritual Ministration. Their Ceremonies were Figures of those things that are true, the Land of Canaan typified Heaven, Moses and Joshua were types of the Blessed Jesus, and the Israelites after the flesh of the true Israel which is after the Spirit, and all their Expiatory Sacrifices did but represent that Great Sacrifice whereby

Christ offered up himself, and by his own bloud purged away the sins of mankind, in∣deed the most minute and inconsiderable circumstances of the Legal Oeconomy were intended as little lights, that might gradually usher in the state of the Gospel. A curi∣ous Artist that designs a famous and excellent piece is not wont to complete and finish it all at once, but first with his Pencil draws some rude lines and rough draughts before he puts his last hand to it. By such a method the wise God seems to have delivered the first draughts and Images of those things by Moses to the Church, the substance and perfection whereof he designed should be brought in by Christ. And how admirably did God herein condescend to the temper and humor of that people; for being of a more rough and childish disposition, apt to be taken with gaudy and sensible objects, by the external and pompous institutions of the Ceremonial Dispensation he prepared them for better things, as children are brought on by things accommodate to their weak capacities. The Church was then an heir under age, and was to be trained up in such a way, as agreed best with its Infant-temper, till it came to be of a more ripe manly age, able to digest Evangelical mysteries, and then the cover and the veil was taken off, and things made to appear in their own form and shape.

7. HENCE in the next place appears our happiness above them, that we are re∣deemed from those many severe and burdensom impositions wherewith they were clogg'd, and are now obliged only to a more easie and reasonable service. That the Law was a very grievous and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Dispensation, is evident to any that considers, how much it consisted of carnal ordinances, costly duties, chargeable sacrifices, and innumerable little Rites and Ceremonies. Under that state they were bound to un∣dergo (yea even new-born Infants) the bloudy and painful 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Circumcisi∣on, to abstain from many sorts of food, useful and pleasant to man's life, to keep mul∣titudes of solemn and stated times, new Moons, and Ceremonial Sabbaths, to take long and tedious journeys to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices at the Temple, to observe daily washings and purifications, to use infinite care and caution in every place; for if by chance they did but touch an unclean thing, besides their present confinement, it put them to the expences of a sacrifice, with hundreds more troublesome and costly observances required of them. A cruel bondage, heavy burdens, and grievous to be born; under the weight whereof good men did then groan, and earnestly breath after the time of reformation; the very Apostles complained that it was a yoke upon their necks, which* 1.198 neither their Fathers nor they were able to bear. But this yoke is taken off from our shoul∣ders, and the way open into the liberties of the children of God. The Law bore a hea∣vy hand over them, as children in their minority, we are got from under the rod and lash of its tutorage and Pedagogie, and are no more subject to the severity of its com∣mands, to the exact punctilio's and numerousness of its impositions. Our Lord has re∣moved that low and troublesome Religion, and has brought in a more manly and ratio∣nal way of worship, more suitable to the perfections of God, and more accommodate to the reason and understandings of men. A Religion incomparably the wisest and the best that ever took place in the World. God did not settle the Religion of the Jews, and their way of worship, because good and excellent in it self, but for its suitableness to the temper of that people. Happy we, whom the Gospel has freed from those into∣lerable observances to which they were obliged, and has taught us to serve God in a better way, more 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and acceptable, more humane and natural, and in which we are helped forwards by greater aids of Divine assistence, than were afforded under that Dispensation. All which conspire to render our way smooth and plain, Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easie, and my burden is light.

8. THIRDLY, the Dispensation of the Gospel is founded upon more noble and excellent promises: A better Covenant established upon better promises. And better pro∣mises* 1.199 they are both for the nature and clearness of their revelation. They were of a more sublime and excellent nature, as being promises of spiritual and eternal things, such as immediately concerned the perfection and happiness of mankind, grace, peace, pardon, and eternal life. The Law strictly considered as a particular Covenant with the Jews at Mount Sinai had no other promises but of temporal blessings, plenty and prosperity, and the happiness of this life. This was all that appeared above-ground, and that was expresly held forth in that transaction, whatever might otherwise by due inferences, and proportions of reason be deduced from it. Now this was a great de∣fect in that Dispensation, it being by this means, considering the nature and dispositi∣on of that people, and the use they would make of it, apt to intangle and debase the minds of men, and to arrest their thoughts and desires in the pursuit of more sublime and better things. I do not say but that under the Old Testament there were promises

of spiritual things, and of eternal happiness, as appears from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Psalms, and some passages in the Books of the Prophets: But then these though they were under the Law, yet they were not of the Law, that is, did not properly belong to it as a legal Cove∣nant; God in every age of the Jewish Church raising up some extraordinary persons, who preached notions to the people above the common standard of that Dispensation, and who spoke things more plainly, by how much nearer they approached the times of the Messiah. But under the Christian Oeconomy the promises are evidently more pure and spiritual; not a temporal Canaan, external prosperity, or pardon of ceremonial uncleanness, but remission of sins, reconciliation with God, and everlasting life are proposed and offered to us. Not but that in some measure temporal blessings are pro∣mised to us as well as them, only with this difference, to them earthly blessings were pledges of spiritual, to us spiritual blessings are ensurances of temporal, so far as the Divine wisdom sees fit for us. Nor are they better in themselves, than they are clearly discovered and revealed to us. Whatever spiritual blessings were proposed under the former state were obscure and dark, and very few of the people understood them: But to us the veil is taken off, and we behold the glory of the Lord with open face, especially* 1.200 the things that relate to another World; for this is the promise that he hath promised us,* 1.201 even Eternal Life. Hence our Lord is said to have brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Which he may be justly said to have done, inasmuch as he has given the greatest certainty, and the clearest account of that state. He hath given us the greatest assurance and certainty of the thing, that there is such a state. The happi∣ness of the other World was a notion not so firmly agreed upon either amongst Jews or Gentiles. Among the Jews it was peremptorily denied by the Sadducees, a conside∣rable Sect in that Church, which we can hardly suppose they would have done, had it been clearly propounded in the Law of Moses. And among the Heathens the most so∣ber and considering persons did at some times at least doubt of it, witness that confessi∣on of Socrates himself, the wisest and best man that ever was in the Heathen World, who when he came to plead his cause before his Judges, and had bravely discoursed of the happy state of good men in the other Life, plainly consessed, that he could be con∣tent* 1.202 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to die a thousand times over, were he but assured that those* 1.203 things were true; and being condemned, concludes his Apologie with this farewell, And now, Gentlemen, I am going off the stage, it's your lot to live, and mine to die, but* 1.204 whether of us two shall fare better, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, unknown to any but to God alone. But our blessed Saviour has put the case past all peradventure, having plainly published this doctrine to the World, and sealed the truth of it, and that by raising others from the dead, and especially by his own Resurrection and 〈◊〉〈◊〉, which were the highest pledge and assurance of a future Immortality. But besides the security, he hath given the clearest account of the nature of it. 'Tis very probable that the Jews generally had of old, as 'tis certain they have at this day, the most gross and carnal apprehensions concerning the state of another Life. But to us the Gospel has perspicuously revealed the invisible things of the other World; told us what that Hea∣ven is, which is promised to good men, a state of spiritual joys, of chaste and rational delights, a conformity of ours to the Divine Nature, a being made like to God, and an endless and uninterrupted communion with him.

9. BUT because in our lapsed and degenerate state we are very unable without some foreign assistance to attain the promised rewards, hence arises in the next place another great priviledge of the Evangelical Oeconomy, that it is blessed with larger and more abundant communications of the Divine Spirit, than was afforded under the Jew∣ish state. Under the one it was given by drops, under the other it is poured forth. The Law laid heavy and hard commands, but gave little strength to do them, it did not assist humane nature with those powerful aids that are necessary for us in our 〈◊〉〈◊〉* 1.205 state, it could do nothing in that it was weak through the flesh, and by reason of the weakness* 1.206 and unprofitableness thereof, it could make nothing 〈◊〉〈◊〉: 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was this made it an heavy yoke, when the commands of it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 uncouth and troublesome, and the assistances so small and inconsiderable. Whereas now the Gospel does not only prescribe such Laws as are happily accommodate to the true temper of humane nature, and adapted to the reason of mankind, such as every wise and prudent man must have pitched upon, but it affords the insluences of the Spirit of God, by whose assistance our vitiated faculties are repaired, and we enabled under so much weakness, and in the midst of so many temptations to hold on in the paths of piety and vertue. Hence it is that the plentiful effusions of the Spirit were reserved as the great blessing of the Evangelical state, that God would then pour water upon him that is thirsty, and sloods upon the dry ground, that he* 1.207

would pour out his Spirit upon their seed, and his blessing upon their off-spring, whereby they should spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses: That he would give* 1.208 them a new heart, and put his Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in his statutes, and keep his judgments to do them: And this is the meaning of those branches of the Co∣venant, so oft repeated, I will put my Law into their minds, and write it in their hearts, that is, by the help of my Grace and Spirit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 enable them to live according to my Laws, as readily and willingly, as if they were written in their hearts. For this rea∣son the Law is compared to a dead letter, the Gospel to the Spirit that giveth life, thence* 1.209 stiled the ministration of the Spirit, and as such said to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in glory, and that to such a degree, that what glory the Legal Dispensation had in this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is eclipsed into nothing, For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that* 1.210 excelleth, for if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is* 1.211 glorious. Hence the Spirit is said to be Christ's peculiar mission, I will pray the Father,* 1.212 and he will send you another comforter, even the Spirit of truth, which was done immedi∣ately* 1.213 after his Ascension, when he ascended up on high, and gave gifts to men, even the Holy Ghost, which he shed on them abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour: For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Not but that he was* 1.214 given before, even under the old Oeconomy, but not in those large and diffusive mea∣sures, wherein it was afterwards communicated to the World.

10. FIFTHLY, The Dispensation of the Gospel had a better establishment and confirmation than that of the Law; for though the Law was introduced with great scenes of pomp and Majesty, yet was the Gospel ushered in by more kindly and rational methods, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 by more and greater miracles, whereby our Lord unquestionably evinced his Divine Commission, and shewed that he came from God, doing more mi∣racles in three years than were done through all the periods of the Jewish Church, and many of them such as were peculiar to him alone. He often raised the dead, which Moses never did, commanded the winds and waves of the Sea, expelled Devils out of Lunaticks and possessed persons, who fled assoon as ever he commanded them to be gone, cured many inveterate and chronical distempers with the speaking of a word, and some without a word spoken, vertue silently going out from him. He searched men's hearts, and revealed the most secret transactions of their minds; had this mira∣culous power always residing in him, and could exert it when, and upon what occasi∣ons he pleased, and impart it to others, communicating it to his Apostles and follow∣ers, and to the Primitive Christians for the three first Ages of the Church; he never exerted it in methods of dread and terror, but in doing such miracles as were highly useful and beneficial to the World. And as if all this had not been enough, he 〈◊〉〈◊〉 down his own life after all to give testimony to it. Covenants were ever wont to be ratified with bloud, and the death of sacrifices. But when out Lord came to introduce the Covenant of the Gospel, he did not consecrate it with the bloud of Bulls and Goats, but with his own most precious bloud, as of a Lamb without spot and blemish. And could he give a greater testimony to the truth of his doctrine, and those great things he had promised to the World, than to seal it with his bloud. Had not these things been so, twere infinitely unreasonable to suppose, that a person of so much wisdom and good∣ness as our Saviour was, should have made the World believe so, and much less would he have chosen to die for it, and that the most acute and ignominious death. But he died, and rose again for us, and appeared after his Resurrection: His enemies had ta∣ken him away by a most bitter and cruel death, had guarded and secured his Sepulchre with all the care, power and diligence which they could invent. And yet he rose again the third day in triumph, visibly conversed with his Disciples for forty days together, and then went to Heaven. By which he gave the most solemn and undeniable assu∣rance to the World, that he was the Son of God (for he was declared to be the Son of God* 1.215 with power by the Resurrection from the dead) and the Saviour of mankind, and that those doctrines which he had taught were most true, and did really contain the terms of that solemn transaction, which God by him had offered to men in order to their eternal happiness in another World.

11. THE last instance I shall note of the excellency of this above the Mosaical Dis∣pensation, is the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 extent and latitude of it, and that both in respect of place and time. First, it's more universally extensive as to place, not confined as the former was to a small part of mankind, but common unto all. Heretofore in Judah only was* 1.216 God known, and his name was great in Israel, he shewed his Word unto Jacob, his Statutes* 1.217 and his Judgments unto Israel; but he did not deal so with any other Nation, neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Laws. In those times Salvation was only of the Jews, a few

Acres of Land like Gideons Fleece was watered with the dew of Heaven, while all the rest of the World for many Ages lay dry and barren round about it, God suffering all Na∣tions* 1.218 in times past to walk in their own ways, the ways of their own superstition and Ido∣latry,* 1.219 being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the Covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the World, that is, they were without those promises, discoveries, and declarations which God made to Abraham and his Seed, and are there∣fore peculiarly described under this character, the Gentiles which knew not God. Indeed* 1.220 the Religion of the Jews was in it self incapable to be extended over the World, many considerable parts of it, as Sacrifices, First-fruits, Oblations, &c. (called by the Jewes themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 statutes belonging to that land) being to be perform∣ed at Jerusalem and the Temple, which could not be done by those Nations that lay a considerable distance from the Land of promise. They had it's true now and then some few Proselytes of the Gentiles, who came over and imbodied themselves into their way of worship; but then they either resided among the Jewes, or by reason of their vicinity to Judaea were capable to make their personal appearance, and to comply with the pub∣lick Institutions of the Divine Law. Other Proselytes they had, called Proselytes of the Gate, who lived dispersed in all Countries, whom the Jewes call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the pious of the Nations, Men of devout minds, and Religious lives, but these were obliged to no more than the observation of the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah, that is, in effect to the Precepts of the Natural Law. But now the Gospel has a much wider sphere to move in, as vast and large as the whole World it self, it is communicable to all Countries, and may be exercised in any part or corner of the Earth. Our Lord gave Commission to his Apostles to go into all 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and to Preach the Gospel to every Creature; and so they did,* 1.221 their sound went into all the Earth, and their 〈◊〉〈◊〉 unto the ends of the World, by which* 1.222* 1.223 means, the grace of God that brings salvation appeared unto all men, and the Gospel was* 1.224 Preached to every Creature under Heaven. So that now there is neither Jew, nor Greek,* 1.225 neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but we are all one in Christ Jesus, and in every* 1.226 Nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The Prophet had long since foretold it of the times of Christ, that the House of God, that is, his Church* 1.227 should be called an House of Prayer for all People; the Doors should be open, and none ex∣cluded that would enter in. And the Divine providence was singularly remarkable in this affair, that after our Lord's Ascension, when the Apostles were going upon their Commission, and were first solemnly to proclaim it at Jerusalem, there were dwelling there at that time Parthians, Medes, Elamites, &c. persons out of every Nation under Heaven, that they might be as the First-fruits of those several Countries, which were to be gathered in by the preaching of the Gospel, which was accordingly done with great success, the Christian Religion in a few years spreading its triumphant Banners over the greatest part of the then known World.

12. AND as the true Religion was in those Days pent up within one particular Country, so the more publick and ordinary worship of God was confined onely to one particular place of it, viz. Jerusalem, hence called the Holy City. Here was the Temple, here the Priests that ministred at the Altar, here all the more publick Solemnities of Di∣vine adoration, Thither the Tribes go up, the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel,* 1.228 to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. Now this was not the least part of the bon∣dage of that dispensation to be obliged thrice every Year to take such long and tedious Journies, many of the Jews living some Hundreds of Miles distance from Jerusalem, and so strictly were they limited to this place, that to build an Altar, and offer Sacrifices in any other place (unless in a case or two wherein God did extraordinarily dispense) although it were to the true God, was though not false, yet unwarrantable worship; for which reason the Jews at this day abstain from Sacrifices, because banished from Jerusalem and the Temple, the only legal place of offering. But behold the liberty of the Gospel in this case, we are not tied to present our devotions at Jerusalem, a pious and sincere mind is the best Sacrifice that we can offer up to God, and this may be done in any part of the World no less acceptably, than they of old sacrificed in the Temple. The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this Mountain, (Mount Gerizim) nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father,* 1.229 when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, as our Lord told the Woman of Samaria; in spirit and in truth] in spirit, in opposition to that carnal and I∣dolatrous* 1.230 worship that was in use among the Samaritans, who worshipped God under the representation of a Dove: in truth, in opposition to the typical and figurative wor∣ship of the Jews, which was but a shadow of the true worship of the Gospel. The great Sacrifice required in the Christian Religion is not the fat of Beasts, or the first-fruits of the Ground, but an honest heart, and a pious life, and a grateful acknowledgment of our

dependance upon God in the publick Solemnities of his praise and worship. For the Law and the Gospel did not differ in this, that the one commanded publick worship, the other not, but that under the one publick worship was fixed to one only place, under the other it is free to any where the providence of God has placed us, it being part of the duty bound upon us by natural and unalterable obligations, that we should publickly meet together for the solemn Celebration of the Divine honour and service.

13. NOR is the Oeconomy of the Gospel less extensive in time than place; the Old Testament was only a temporary dispensation, that of the Gospel is to last to the end of the World; the Law was to continue only for a little time, the Gospel is an Everlasting Covenant; the one to be quickly antiquated and abolished, the other never to be done away by any other to succeed it. The Jews indeed stickle hard for the perpetual and immutable obligation of the Law of Moses, and frequently urge us with those places, where the Covenant of Circumcision is called an Everlasting Covenant, and God said to* 1.231 * 1.232 chuse the Temple at Jerusalem to place his name there for ever, to give the Land of Ca∣naan* 1.233 to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession, thus the Law of the Passeover is* 1.234 * 1.235 called an Ordinance for ever, the command of the First-fruits a statute for ever, and the like in other places, which seem to intimate a perpetual and unalterable Dispensation. But the answer is short and plain, that this phrase 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for ever (though when 'tis applied to God it always denotes Eternity) yet when 'tis attributed to other things, it implies no more than a periodical duration, limited according to the will of the Law∣giver, or the nature of the thing; thus the Hebrew Servant was to serve his Master for* 1.236 ever, that is, but for seven years, till the next year of Jubilee: He shall walk before mine* 1.237 anointed for ever, says God concerning Samuel, that is, be a Priest all his days. Thus when the Ritual services of the Mosaick Law are called Statutes for ever, the meaning is, that they should continue a long time obligatory, until the time of the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, in whose days the Sacrifice and Oblation was to cease, and those carnal Ceremonies to give way to the more spiritual services of the Gospel. Indeed the very typical nature of that Dispensation evidently argued it to be but for a time, the shadow being to cease, that the substance might take place; and though many of them continued some consi∣derable time after Christ's death, yet they lost their positive and obligatory power, and were used only as things indifferent in compliance with the inveterate prejudices of new Converts, lately brought over from Judaism, and who could not quickly lay aside that great veneration which they had for the Rites of the Mosaick Institution. Though even in this respect it was not long before all Jewish Ceremonies were thrown off, and Moses quite turn'd out of doors. Whereas the Evangelical state is to run parallel with the* 1.238 age and duration of the World, 'tis the Everlasting Covenant, the Everlasting Gospel,* 1.239 the last Dispensation that God will make to the World, God who at sundry times, and in* 1.240 divers manners spake in time past by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his 〈◊〉〈◊〉; in which respect the Gospel in opposition to the Law is stiled a Kingdom that can∣not* 1.241 〈◊〉〈◊〉 moved. The 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in the foregoing Verses speaking concerning the Mosaical state, Whose voice (says he) then shook the Earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the Earth only, but also the Heaven (a phrase peculiar to the Scrip∣ture to note the introducing a new scene and state of things) and this word, Yet once more, signisieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain, that is, that the state of the Gospel may endure for ever. Hence Christ is said to have an unchangeable Priesthood, to be a Priest for ever, to be consecrated for evermore. From all which it appears, how incomparably happy we Christians are under the Gospel, above what the Jews were in the time of the Law; God having placed us under the best of Dispensations, freed us from those many nice and troublesome observances to which they were tied, put us under the clearest disco∣veries and revelations, and given us the most noble, rational, and masculine Religion, a Religion the most perfective of our natures, and the most conducive to our happiness; while their Covenant at best was faulty, and after all could not make him that did the service perfect in things pertaining to the Conscience. Blessed are the eyes which see the* 1.242 things that ye see, for I 〈◊〉〈◊〉 you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

The End of the APPARATUS.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Heb. 1. 1, 2.
• * 1.2

  Talm. Trast. Sanbedr. cap. Halce. & alibi. vid. Menass. Ben Isr. d•• Re∣surrect. lib. 3. c. 3. & Concil. Quast. xxx. in Genes.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 2. 14, 15.
• * 1.4

  Gen. 4. 6, 7.
• * 1.5

  Gem. Babyl. T••. Sanhedr. cap. 7. fol. 56. Mai∣mond. Tr. Me lak. cap. 9. & al •••• passim ap. Judaeos. vid. Sel••en de Jur. N. & G. l. 1. c. 10. & de Sy∣nedr. Vol. 1. c. 2. p. 8.
• * 1.6

  Job 31. 26, 27, 28.
• * 1.7

  Job 1. 6.
• * 1.8

  Job 31. 29
• * 1.9

  Job 31. 9, 10, 11.
• * 1.10

  Vers. 5. 7.
• * 1.11

  Chap. 24. 2, 3, 4, & seq.
• * 1.12

  Chap. 31. 11-28.
• * 1.13

  Gen. 9. 3, 4.
• * 1.14

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Porphyr. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. lib. 1. Sect. 47. p. 39.
• * 1.15

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. V. 5, 6.
• * 1.16

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 17. 11.
• * 1.17

  Gen 17. 9, 10, 11.
• * 1.18

  Talm. Tract. Jeban. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 8.
• * 1.19

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Mor. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 49. p. 506.
• * 1.20

  Gen. 6. 2, 3.
• * 1.21

  Gen. 18. 19.
• * 1.22

  Gen. 18. 2.
• * 1.23

  Exod, 4. 31.
• * 1.24

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉, XVIII, in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 173. Tom. 2.
• * 1.25

  Gen. 15. 17.
• * 1.26

  Psalm 20. 3.
• * 1.27

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 P. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in Gen. 4.
• * 1.28

  Gen. 8. 20.
• * 1.29

  Gen. 12. 7, 8. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. chap. 13. 4. 18.
• * 1.30

  Gen. 21. 33.
• * 1.31

  Judg 6. 25.
• * 1.32

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 13.
• * 1.33

  Deut. 16. 21.
• * 1.34

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 13. 18.
• * 1.35

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. LXX. Ita 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 aliter 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 18. 1.
• * 1.36

  Antiquit. Jd. l. 1. c. 11. p. 19.
• * 1.37

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 loc. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Arboch.
• ‖ 1.38

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.39

  Hist. Ec. l. lit. 2. c. 4. p. 447.
• * 1.40

  Gen. 4. 30 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.41

  Gen. 2. 3.
• * 1.42

  〈◊〉〈◊〉, 19. 22.
• * 1.43

  Exod. 24. 5.
• * 1.44

  Gen. 49. 3.
• * 1.45

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 fol. 71. col. 1. ap. Selden. de suc∣cess. ad leg. Ebr. c. 5. p. 45.
• * 1.46

  Heb. 12. 16.
• * 1.47

  Gen. 3. 21.
• * 1.48

  Levit. 7. 8.
• * 1.49

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Homil.
• * 1.50

  XVIII. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 174.
• * 1.51

  Heb. 11. 4.
• * 1.52

  Gen. 4. 4, 5.
• * 1.53

  Antiquit. Jud. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 8.
• * 1.54

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉. Smeg. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 8. p. 226. & seqq.
• * 1.55

  Gen. 4. 26.
• * 1.56

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 1. Sect. 1.
• ‖ 1.57

  Vid. ap. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. cit. p. 230.
• * 1.58

  Dionys. Voss. not. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 4. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. de Hist. Patr. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. p. 223.
• ‖ 1.59

  R. Eliez. Maas. Beres. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 22. ibid.
• * 1.60

  Gen. 6. 2.
• * 1.61

  Elmacin. ap. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 233.
• * 1.62

  Id. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 234.
• * 1.63

  Elmac. & Patric. apud 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 supr. p. 235.
• * 1.64

  Gen. 5. 〈◊〉〈◊〉
• * 1.65

  Heb. 11. 5, 6.
• * 1.66

  Gen. 5. 29.
• * 1.67

  Gen. 6. 9.
• * 1.68

  Antiqu. Jud. lib. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 4. p. 8.
• * 1.69

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Syria. p. 882. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 2.
• * 1.70

  Genes. 11. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.71

  7. 11.
• * 1.72

  5. 32.
• * 1.73

  10. 21.
• * 1.74

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. & 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 p. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.75

  Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 7. p. 15.
• * 1.76

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. p. 8. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Hotting. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. c. 8. p. 291. con∣ser 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. part. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 29. p. 421.
• * 1.77

  Mor. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Part. 2 cap. 39. p. 301.
• * 1.78

  Gen. 12. 5.
• * 1.79

  Gen. 14. 14.
• * 1.80

  Heb. 6. 13, 14.
• * 1.81

  2 Pet. 2. 7, 8.
• * 1.82

  Gen. 24. 63.
• * 1.83

  Gen. 26. 28, 29.
• * 1.84

  Antiq. Jul. lib. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 19. p. 31.
• * 1.85

  Gen. 49. 10.
• * 1.86

  Heb. 7. 15.
• * 1.87

  Heb. 7 3.
• * 1.88

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 12. in Hebr. p. 1838.
• * 1.89

  Heb. 7. 4, 5, 6, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.90

  Ibid. Ver. 6. 7.
• * 1.91

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. Part. 3. cap. 22. p. 395.
• * 1.92

  Anz. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Tur∣cic. Epist. 1. p. 94.
• * 1.93

  Phil. lib. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 350.
• * 1.94

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Evangel. lib. 7. c. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 304.
• * 1.95

  Demonstrat. E∣vangel. lib. 1. cap. 5. & 6. p. 9, 10. &c. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. supr. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.96

  Antiq. Jud. l. 2. c. 5. p. 56.
• * 1.97

  R. Ellez. c. 48. apud Hotting. Smeg. Orient. c. 8. p. 402.
• * 1.98

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5. 27.
• * 1.99

  Ver. 24, 25, 26
• * 1.100

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. l. 57.
• * 1.101

  Heb. 12. 21.
• * 1.102

  Deut. 4. 13.
• * 1.103

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 29.
• * 1.104

  1 Cor. 5. 7. 8.
• * 1.105

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 11. 1-10.
• * 1.106

  Rom. 15. 12.
• * 1.107

  Rev. 4. 5.
• * 1.108

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 141. 2.
• * 1.109

  Psalm 26. 6.
• * 1.110

  Isa. 61. 1, 2.
• * 1.111

  Luke 4. 18.
• * 1.112

  Heb. 10. 1.
• * 1.113

  John 1. 17.
• * 1.114

  Jom. cap. 4. fol. 39. ap. 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉. p. 218.
• * 1.115

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 33. 4.
• * 1.116

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 ap. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Div. c. 23. p. 338.
• * 1.117

  R. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. de Num. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ap. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.118

  〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊◊◊〉. lib. 2. c. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.119

  Exod. 28. 30.
• * 1.120

  Numb. 27 21.
• * 1.121

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. de Vaticin. lib. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3.
• * 1.122

  Hos. 3. 4.
• * 1.123

  Joan. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉 & Thum. Edit. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1670. 8.
• * 1.124

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jom. cap. 7. Sect. 5. pag. 167.
• * 1.125

  Dr. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. H. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 Matth. 3. 17.
• * 1.126

  Vid. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Mor. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 2. cap. 45. p. 317.
• * 1.127

  Exod. 33. 11.
• * 1.128

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 12. 6, 7, 8.
• * 1.129

  Adv. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. XLVIII p. 176.
• * 1.130

  Ibid. pag. 177.
• * 1.131

  Nizz. p. 159. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Th. Phil. l. 2. c. 3. p. 564.
• * 1.132

  2 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 19. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.133

  2 Chron. 34. 3.
• * 1.134

  2 Chron. 36. 14.
• * 1.135

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jud. lib. 12. c. 19. p. 425.
• * 1.136

  Lib. 15. cap. 2. p. 512.
• * 1.137

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Jud. lib. 7. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 p. 958.
• * 1.138

  Jos 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.139

  Jud. l. 17. c. 8. p. 596. & de
• * 1.140

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jud. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 21. p 772.
• * 1.141

  H. Eccl. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. c. 10. p. 28.
• * 1.142

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. Jud. l. 4. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. p. 872.
• * 1.143

  Joseph. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 l 20. c. 8. pag. 698.
• * 1.144

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. cap. 1. Sect. 1. 2, 3. p. 1.
• * 1.145

  Jad Chozak. ex quo 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 prolixum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Jos. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. div. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 9. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. ubi va∣rias 〈◊〉〈◊〉 de Legis 〈◊〉〈◊〉 origine & 〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.146

  Vid. Buxtorf. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 222. & de Sy∣nag. Jud. cap. 3. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Thes. Phil. lib. 2. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3.
• * 1.147

  Mark 7. 2, 3; & sequ.
• * 1.148

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 1.
• * 1.149

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 cap. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. Syn Jud. c 11. p. 236
• * 1.150

  Mark 7. 2 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.151

  Vid. Lud. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 Corban. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 15. 5 〈◊〉〈◊〉. in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Ge∣mar. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 273. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.152

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Phil. l. 1. c. 1, Sect. 5, p. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.153

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.154

  R. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. p. 104. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.155

  Th. Phil. l. 1. c. 1. p. 27.
• * 1.156

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. not. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. p. 147.
• * 1.157

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 6.
• * 1.158

  Vid. Joseph. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Jud. l. 18. c. 2 p. 617. & de 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Jud. l. 2. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. p. 788.
• * 1.159

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Aboth. cap. 1. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 3. p. in. 1.
• * 1.160

  Joseph. de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jud. l. 2. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. p. 788.
• * 1.161

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. p. 617.
• * 1.162

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. lib. 5. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 17. p. 80.
• * 1.163

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Phil. lib. 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 liber. p. 876, 877.
• * 1.164

  Joseph. Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. p. 617. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jud. lib. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 p. 785. & seqq.
• * 1.165

  Col. 2. 18. 20, 21, 22, 23.
• * 1.166

  Comm. in Matth. 22. p. 66. Tom. 9.
• * 1.167

  〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.168

  Matth. 16. 6.
• * 1.169

  Mark 8. 15.
• * 1.170

  Deut. 18. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 18, 19.
• * 1.171

  Psalm 22. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.172

  Psalm 16. 10.
• * 1.173

  Psalm 68. 18.
• * 1.174

  Psalm 110. 1.
• * 1.175

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 7. 14.
• * 1.176

  -61. 1, 2.
• * 1.177

  -53. 1, 2, 3. &c.
• * 1.178

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 5. 2.
• * 1.179

  Dan. 9 24 26
• * 1.180

  Mal. 3. 1.
• * 1.181

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 4. 5, 6.
• * 1.182

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. in Joan. 1. 15.
• * 1.183

  2 Kings 1. 8.
• * 1.184

  Luk. 1. 80.
• * 1.185

  〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. p. 268.
• * 1.186

  Maim. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. cap. 13. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Jac. Al∣ting. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.187

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. VII. ds 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉. 25. p. 249.
• * 1.188

  Numb. 15. 16.
• * 1.189

  Ibid. Sect. 24. p. 248.
• * 1.190

  Exod. 19. 10. Vid. R. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. 87. col. 2. ibid.
• * 1.191

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 6. 2.
• * 1.192

  Joh. 1. 25.
• * 1.193

  Mark 1. 4.
• * 1.194

  Antiquit. Jud. lib. 18. c. 7. p. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.195

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 David Part. 1. ad Ann. 770. Mil∣len. 4. & 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Templi secund. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. 54. col. 4.
• * 1.196

  Heb. 8. 6.
• * 1.197

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 1. 17.
• * 1.198

  Acts 15. 10.
• * 1.199

  Heb. 8. 6.
• * 1.200

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉 2. 25.
• * 1.201

  2 Tim. 1. 10.
• * 1.202

  〈◊◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊◊〉.
• * 1.203

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 22. p. m. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.204

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. Sect. 23. ad 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.205

  Rom. 8 3.
• * 1.206

  Heb. 7. 18.
• * 1.207

  Isai. 44. 3. 4.
• * 1.208

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 36. 26. 27.
• * 1.209

  2 Cor. 3. 6. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.210

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 10, 11.
• * 1.211

  Joh. 14. 16. 17.
• * 1.212

  Ephes. 4. 8.
• * 1.213

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 6.
• * 1.214

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 7. 39.
• * 1.215

  Rom. 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉.
• * 1.216

  Psal. 76. 1, 2.
• * 1.217

  Psal. 147. 19. 20.
• * 1.218

  Act. 14. 16.
• * 1.219

  E, hes. 2. 13.
• * 1.220

  1 Thes. 4. 5.
• * 1.221

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 16. 15.
• * 1.222

  Rom. 10. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.223

  Tit. 2. 11.
• * 1.224

  Cololl. 1. 13.
• * 1.225

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. 28.
• * 1.226

  Act. 10. 35.
• * 1.227

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 56. 7.
• * 1.228

  Psal. 122. 4.
• * 1.229

  Joh. 4. 21-23.
• * 1.230

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Philo de 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉. p. 755.
• * 1.231

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 17 7.
• * 1.232

  1 〈◊〉〈◊〉 9. 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
• * 1.233

  Gen. 17. 8.
• * 1.234

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 12, 14.
• * 1.235

  〈◊〉〈◊〉. 23, 14.
• * 1.236

  Exod. 21. 6.
• * 1.237

  1 Sam. 2. 36.
• * 1.238

  Heb. 13. 20.
• * 1.239

  Rev. 14. 6.
• * 1.240

  Heb. 1. 1, 2.
• * 1.241

  Heb. 12. 28.
• * 1.242

  Luke 11. 23. 24.