Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

what is that present persuasion of the Jews which they prefer before the faith of their forefathers, and what they conceive of that Messiah, for whose sake they reject Him in whom alone there is salvation: I shall therefore give an account of the most important heads of their opinions and conjectures about him, as also of the principal occasions of their being hardened in their impenitency and unbelief.

§ 9. Our apostle tells us, 1 Tim. iii. 16, ‘That without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. All things which concern the Messiah, his person, office, and work, are exceedingly mysterious, as containing the principal effect of the eternal wisdom and goodness of God, and the sacred depths of the counsel of his will. Hence the things spoken of him in the Old Testament, are unto carnal reason full of seeming inconsistencies. As for instance, it is promised of him that he should be the seed of the gwoman, Gen. iii. 15, of the seed of Abraham, Gen. xxii. 18, and of the posterity of David; and yet that his name should be, ‘the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,’ Isa. ix. 6, and of him it is said, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, Psal. xlv.6. And again we are told, that he is the Lord our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6, that he is the Lord of hosts, Zech. ii. 8. Moreover it is declared, that he shall se wpon his throne for ever, and reign whilst his enemies are made his footstool, Isa. ix. 7, Psal. ii. 7—8; xlv. 6, 7. And yet we are as certainly informed that he shall be cut off, Dan. ix. 26, that he shall be pierced in his hands and feet, Ps. xii. 16, slain by the sword of God, Zech. xiii. 7, and that in his death he shall have his grave made among the wicked and with the rich, Isa. lili. 9. We are told, that he shall come with great glory, sth the clouds of heaven, Dan. vii. 13, 14; but also that he shall come /ovly, riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass, Zech. ix. 9. We are assured that the soul of the Lord was well pleased with him, and always delighted in him, Isa. xli. 1, and yet that it pleased the Lord to bruise hum, and to put him to grief, Isa. liii. 10, to forsake him, Ps. xxii. 1. That he was to be a King and a Priest upon his throne, Zech. vi. 13, and yet these things were inconsistent, the kingdom being annexed unto the family of David, and the priesthood to the posterity of Aaron by divine constitution. It was foretold, that he should be honoured and worshipped of all nations, Ps. xlv. 11,12. Ps. Ixxii. 10,11, 15, and yet that he should be rejected and despised as one altogether undesirable, Isa. hii. 3. That he should ‘stand and feed, or rule, in the name and majesty of God, Micah ν. 4, and yet he should complain, ‘I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people, Ps. xxii. 6. All which, with other passages of the like nature eoncerning his office and work, are clearly reconciled in the New Testament, and their concurrence in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ openly and fully declared.

§ 10. At the time of his coming, the Jews were generally as ignorant of these things as Nicodemus was of regeneration; they knew not how they might be. And therefore, whenever our Saviour intimated unto them his divine nature, they were filled with rage and madness, John viii. 58, 59. They would stone him, because, being a man, he declared himself to be God, John x. 30—33. And yet, when he proved to them that the Messiah was to be God, seeing, though he was Dayid’s son, yet David in Spirit called him Lord, they were confounded, not being able to answer him a word, Matt. xxu. 42—46. When he told them, that the Son of man the

Messiah must be lifted up, that is in his death on the cross, they objected unto him out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever, John xii. 34, and they knew not how to reconcile these things. Hence some of his own disciples thought that he could not be the Messiah, when they saw that he died, Luke xxiy. 20, 21, and the best of them seemed to have expected an outward temporal kingdom. But of all these difficulties, as was said, and seeming inconsistencies, there is a blessed reconciliation revealed in the gospel, and an application made of them to the person of the Lord Jesus, to the office which he bare, and to the work that he accomplished. This the Jews refusing by unbelief, they have invented many fond and wicked imaginations to free themselves from these difficulties and entanglements. Some things they deny to be spoken concerning the Messiah; some things they wrest and pervert to their own apprehensions, and some of the things which were indeed promised, they allow and look for.

§ 11. First, To his person, and to the things spoken concerning it, they apply the principal engine which they have invented for their relief. For whereas the Scripture hath declared unto us such a Messiah, as should have the natures of God and man,in one person, which person should in the nature of man suffer and die, and reign for spiritual ends and purposes, they have rejected the divine nature of this Person, and split that which remaineth into two persons; to the one whereof they assign one part of his work, as to sorrow, suffer, and die; to the other another part, namely, to conquer, rule, and reign, according unto their carnal apprehensions of these things. They have, I say, feigned two Messiahs, between whom they have distributed the whole work of him that is promised, according unto their understanding of it. Andone of these is to come, as they say, before the other, to prepare his way for him.

_ This first they call Messiah Ben Joseph, because he is to be of the tribe of Ephraim; the other Messiah Ben David, of whom afterwards. Both of them are mentioned together in the Targum on Cant. iv. 5. F°pp pan DPN 13 Mw TW ja Mw PpwDd pny, ‘Thy two deliverers which shall deliver thee, Messiah the son of David, and Messiah the son of Ephraim, are like to Moses and Aaron.’ The same words are repeated again, chap. vii. 3. And in those places alone, in the whole series of Targums, is there any mention of this fictitious Messiah; the author of that paraphrase on the Canticles being Josephus Czcus, who lived after the finishing of the Talmuds, whereof he maketh mention. In other parts of the Targum, this fictitious Messiah appeareth not. But in the Talmud, he is frequently brought on the stage. So Tractat. de Festo Tabernacul. Distinct. Hachalil Chamesha. ‘It is a tradition of our masters, that the holy blessed God shall say unto Messiah the Son of David who shall redeem us, (Let him do it suddenly in our days!) Ask somewhat of me, and I will give it thee: as Ps. ii. And when he shall hear that Messiah the Son of Joseph is slain, he shall say before the Lord, Lord of the world, I only ask life of thee; for it seems that he shall be much terrified with the death of Ben Joseph. Unto this Messiah, Ben Joseph, they assign all things that are dolorous, (and include suffering in them, which they call mw “dan,) that are in the Scripture assigned to the Messiah; especially that prophecy,..Zech. xii..10. ‘They shall look upon me when they have pierced. And hereby they sufficiently discover the occasion of the whole figment to have been that before intimated, namely, a necessity of an evasion from those testimonics of Scripture and ancient traditions, which assign sorrows and sufferings unto the Messiah, which they will not allow to belong unto the Son of Dayid.

. δ 12. A brief account may be given of what it is that they now ascribe unto this Messiah, and what it is that they expect from him. The whole of his story depends on that of one Armillus, against whom he shall fall in battle, whose leyend we must therefore also touch upon. And this‘is given us at large in 5277 ΠΡῚΝ 7D in the seventh sign of the coming of the Messiah, and with some variation in 2723275 15D, or the Colloquy between Zerubbabel, and Michael the archangel. A fable it is of no small antiquity; for we have mention of Armillus, not only in the latter Targums on the Hagiographa, but in that of Jonathan also on the prophet, Isa. xi. 4, SWNT DDN Nn mmpo 55009, ‘and by the word of his mouth he shall slay the wicked Armillus.” And yet this invention is not older than the Talmud, however it came inte that Targum, which for the main. of it was certainly written long before. The mother of this Armillus is, they say, to be a statue of stone at Rome, wrought into the similitude of a beautiful woman. This, saith the Dialogue of Zerubbabel, is the wife of Belial; and Armillus that is to be born of her is to be the head of all idolatry. ms> dy pnt maaw ww jax ya oda. ‘ Armillus the son of the stone, which is in the house of filth of the scorners, (that is the churches of the Christians,) shall be the tenth king that shall afflict Israel.’

The author of Abkath Rochel, gives us somewhat another account of his nativity. The people οὗ all nations, saith he, allured with the beauty of the image, shall come to Rome, and commit fornication with it, from whose uncleanness at length Armillus shall be born. The same author, after a description of his stature and bigness, (for he shall be twelve cubits high, and as broad as he is long,) with his hair, eyes, and whole complexion, gives us also an account of his actions and proceedings. First, therefore, he shall give himself out to the }21, heretics, (that is Christians,) to be their Messiah, who gave them their law, saying unto them, ‘28 MW 28 ὈΞΠΣΝ Iam Messiah, Iam your God; and they shall presently embrace him, and give him their m55n, or Prayer Books, acknowledging him to be. the author of them. After this, by the help of the Edomites (Romans,) he shall conquer many nations, until coming unto the Jews, he shall require of them to receive himas their Messiah, and the author of their law. But these good Jews shall with one consent oppose him, under the conduct of Messiah Ben Joseph, and Nehemiah the son of Husiel says one, of Menachem the son of Ammiel says another. And in this war shall Messiah Ben Joseph be slain, as it is written, Zech. xii. 10.

§ 13. I shall stay a little by the way, to unriddle this enigmatical fable, it having not been by any attempted. The name Armillus some suppose to be formed of ἐρημολαος, ‘a waster of the people, for such they intend he shall be. But the truth is, as Broughton first observed, and sundry others have assented unto him, it is no other than Romulus, with the usual _ Chaldee formation by Aleph. For whereas he contends that it should be- read Romulus, and not Armillus, or Armilus, there is no necessity for it.

For the coiners of the fable might either ignorantly mistake the name, as is usual with these masters, or they might obscure it on purpose, that it might not at first view be known by the Christians, of whom they were afraid. And by Romulus, who was the first founder of the city and empire, they intend a prince of Rome, for such they declare this Armillus to be. And the whole story of him is derived from some prophetical passages and expressions in the Revelation of St. John, or is feigned by themselves from the event of things; mixing their own conceits with the opinions of some Christians concerning antichrist. For they plainly say, that this Armillus is called by the Christians, Dww*7D"waX, ‘ antichristus.’ Imageworship in the Revelation, as in the Old Testament, is expressed by the name of fornication; and Rome, because of her abounding therein is called the Mother of Harlots. Hence the image at Rome in the church, is become the mother of Armillus; and that by the people of all nations committing fornication with it, which is the rise assigned unto Antichristian power in the Revelation. This, then, is that which in their way they aim at: The worship of images in churches begun and promoted at Rome, furthered by the consent of the nations, shall bring forth that Roman power, which shall seek to destroy the Israel of God.

_ And TI am the rather inclined unto this conjecture, because I find that some of them are not utter strangers unto the book of the Revelation; as those of them who are cabalistical have a great desire to be inquiring into things mystical which they understand not, which they wrest and corrupt unto their own imagination. Besides, it may be, they are pleased with that description that is in it of the New Jerusalem, which some Judaizing Christians of old wrested, so as to make it refer to a restoration of the earthly city of Jerusalem, and the renewed observation of the law of Moses. Thus, the author of the Questions and Answers published by Brenius, Quest. 26, inquires how ‘ Christians interpret those words of the Revelation, ch. xii. 18. “ Here is wisdom: let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666;”’ to which he adds, ‘I have heard of none who hath clearly interpreted this place, but I can give a good interpretation of it.’ It is very likely that he had considered it, though possibly his interpretation, which he was not pleased to declare, was little worth. And the visions of Rabbi Joshua about the heayenly paradise, with the gates of it made of precious stones, wherein are mixed many fables, not unlike those about Mahomet’s entrance into heaven, in the Alcoran, were originally taken from the allegorical description given us of the New Jerusalem, in the book of the Revelation, and abused to their superstitions. And from the same fountain it is, that they have got a tradition among them that they shall not be delivered until Rome be destroyed. For understanding Rome by Babylon in that prophecy, they apply unto themselves that which is foretold upon its destruction concerning the church of Christ. So Rabbi in WaT WY, or ‘ Bundle of Myrrh, a commentary on the law, says more than once, ἼΣΓΘῚΝ MAN Wa NAM ἸΞΤΤΣ, ‘ upon the destruction of Rome, our redemption shall ensue out of hand.’ And it is by many observed, that an alteration is made in the later editions of the commentary of David Kimchi, on Obad. i. in those words, M82 DVN JAINA DN? WAND 77) AIM 53 yraw> OMA DIP MMA Mywra “pw wD Wax oN Sy DT Sys ΤΙΣῚΝ oon ‘a1. ‘That which the prophets speak concerning the destruction of Edom in the latter days, they spake it of Rome, as I have expounded it on that of Isaiah; Draw nigh ye nations to hear, (ch. xxxiv. 1.) for when Rome shall be destroyed, then shall be the redemption of Israel; but the name of Rome is left out in the later editions, though it abide in that of Robert Stephens, which he published on the minor prophets. Sayings also unto the same purpose are cited out of Rabbi Bechai in Cad Hakkemach, Rabbi Solomon on Ley. vi. and sundry others.

§ 14. And this will yet farther appear, if we consider the account they give concerning the original and first building of Rome itself. Mention is made of it in the Talmud, Tract. Saned. and more largely declared im Midrash Rabba Cantic. Cantico. cap. 1, 6, as it is from thence reported by Buxtorf in his Lexicon Talmud. Rad 0. And their words are to this purpose. ‘Rabbi Leyi said, that on the day that Solomon was married unto the daughter of Pharaoh, Michael the great Prince descended from heaven, and fixed a reed im the sea, so as that mud and dirt might on all sides be gathered unto it. And this place afterwards becoming a wood, was that place where Rome was afterwards built. For at the time that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat made the two golden calves, there were two small houses built at Rome, which presently fell down; and being again set up immediately fell down again. But there was then present an old man, whose name was 115} NaN, ‘Abba Kolon, who said unto them, Unless you bring water hither out of the river of Euphrates and mix it with this clay, and build the houses therewith, they will never stand. They said therefore unto him, and who shall bring it unto us? He answered that he would. He went therefore, and took on him the habit of one that carries wine to sell, and so went from one city unto another, from. one country unto another, until he came at length unto Euphrates. When he came thither, he took water out of the river; which when he had brought unto them, they mixed it with their clay, and therewith built up the houses which stood firm and stable. From that time it was a proverb amongst men, Every city or province where there is not an Abba Kolon, deserves not the name of acity or province, or of a metropolitan city; and they called that place Rome, Babylon.’ And the gloss adds, ‘ This is the place where Rome that afflicted Israel was built. Cartwright, in his Mellifictum Hebraicum, lib. 1, cap. 9, reporting this story out of Buxtorf, adds, ‘ Haud dubitandum videtur, eos sub isto verborum involucro, Romam tanquam alteram Babylonem perstringere voluisse, quod nimirum que prius a Babyloniis, eadem atque etiam graviora postea a Romanis passi fuerint. Quin et Romanam idololatriam in eo perstringi arbitror, quod eodem die quo Jeroboamus filius Nebat vitulos aureos constituit, Rome (i. e. in loco ubi postea condita est Roma) duo tuguria edificata esse dicunt.’ So he, who alone hath conjectured what the intention of this enigmatical story was, and that to good purpose, as I shall make it more fully to appear. Rome they have learned to call Babylon, out of the Revelation, as was declared; and thence conclude, that upon the destruction of Rome they shall be delivered. Two things were eminent in Babylon; first, that it was itself the beginning of all false worship and idolatry in the world, and therein the mother of harlots; the other, that God made use of it to punish the idolatries of the Jews. Hence, they say that Rome, this new Babylon, had its foundation when Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, and that it began to be built when Jeroboam set up his calves: which they look upon as the two first fatal instances of the declension of Israel into false worship and idolatry. And hereby they intimate, partly that Rome should set up idolatry, as Solomon and Jeroboam did, and partly that God had then provided a new Babylon to punish and destroy them. The Abba Kolon isa mon- _ ster, the purport of whose name no man hath as yet attempted to explain. But it is no other but Capitolium, as they will easily grant, who know how usual it is with them strangely to metamorphose things and words; instances whereof I shall elsewhere give.. Thence is the proverb they speak of: No Abba Kolon, no Capitol, or temple of idolatry, no city; the Capitol answering to the tower of Babel, which was a temple of Belus. Neither is that proverb any thing but an allusion to that in the Roman history: ‘Capitolium est, ubi quondam Capite humano inyento, responsum.

est eo loco caput rerum, summamque imperii fore, Tit. Livy. lib. 5. And the tempering of the clay of Rome with the water of Euphrates, by the help of Abba Kelon, is nothing but an expression of the succession of Rome in the stead of Babylon, which was built on that river, by the means of the Capitol, that great seat of idolatry. Nor do they at all distinguish between _ the present idolatry of Rome and that of old. So that although all things are confounded by them with monstrous fictions and expressions, which it may be they invented on purpose to obscure their intention, yet their aim in the whole is manifest.

But, to return, for the remaining part of the story concerning this Armillus, 1 know not whether they have borrowed it from those of the Roman church, or these from them; but it is evident that they strive to impose the odium of antichrist upon one another. The Papists say that antichrist shall be a Jew, of the tribe of Dan, and that he shall persuade the Jews that he is their Messiah; that by their help, and others joining with them, he shall conquer many nations, destroy Rome, slay Enoch and Elias, and afterwards be destroyed himself by fire from heaven, by the power of Christ. The Jews say that,their Armillus shall be a Roman, born of idolaatrous fornication, that he shall persuade the Roman Christians that he is the head of their religion, and author of their Prayer-books; that he shall conquer many nations, fight against Jerusalem, slay Messiah Ben Joseph, and afterwards be consumed with fire from heaven, through the power of Ben David. To which of the two the glory of this invention is to be assigned, I am uncertain; the story for the substance of it, is the same on both sides, only variously fitted unto their several interests.

§ 15. And this shall be the end of Messiah Ben Joseph, or Ephraim; Armillus haying received a defeat by Nehemiah Ben Husiel, 45 yap yon pray> Dyin ΠΥ ΟΝ sor, ‘he shall gather the forces of all the nations of the world into the valley of decision,’ Sx py ond», ‘and shall fight with Israel? 4 mwa A wy ΣΝ. ΒΡ Ye eT wa 1, ‘And they shall slay of them (of the army of Armillus) heaps (or multitudes) on heaps, and they shall smite a few of Israel; and they shall slay the Messiah of the Lord. ns Dum INN Poo Mw DN ἸΝΞῚ ndiyit man oy, ‘And the ministering angels shall come, and perfuming his body, shall lay it up with the ancient fathers; where it is to be kept many days without putrefaction, as Hector’s body was, (in Homer) after he was slain by Achilles. And it is not unlikely but that they may allude somewhat to the prophecy of the two witnesses, Rev. xi., who were to be slain, and afterwards called up to heaven. Thus do they, at their pleasure dispose of this creature of their own; for having framed him themselves, he is their own to do with him what they will, alive and dead. But that which is the poison and sting of this fable is, that the death of this fictitious Messiah, must amongst them bear all that is spoken in the Scripture, or continued by tradition, concerning the humiliation, suffering, and death of the true Messiah of the Lord.

§ 16. We need not stay long in the removal of this Mormo out of our way. Should they invent twenty other Messiahs, as they have done this, and which on the same grounds, and with as good authority they may, the case would still be the same. Who gave them power to substitute themselves in the place of God, to give new promises, to appoint new Saviours, and to invent new ways of deliverance? The Scripture is utterly silent of any such person, nor have they any antitalmudical tradition concerning him. And what their masters have invented in the Talmutls, is of no more authority than what they coin every day themselves. The truth is, this whole story of Armillus and Ben Joseph is a Talmudical romance, the one the giant, the other the knight. But these fictions seria ducunt. Poor creatures are hardened by them unto their eternal destruction. But is the world bound to believe what every one whom they are pleased to call Rabbi can imagine, though never so contrary to the principles of that religion which they pretend to own and profess? So indeed some of them say, that if their masters teach the right hand to be the left, yea, heaven to be hell, yet their authority is not to be questioned; and, as 1 remember others say some such things of the pope. But God I hope of his goodness will not suffer poor men to be always so deluded. All the promises of God, all the prophecies from the foundation of the world, concern only one Messiah, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family of David. All the faith of the church of old, as we have proved, respected that one only. And who will lay any weight upon what is spoken, foretold, or promised concerning him, if the Jews have power to invent another at their pleasure?

§ 17. Again, their masters have not only dealt dishonestly and blasphe mously, but foolishly also in this matter, in that they have not suited their own creature unto the ends for which they have made him. The end, as was shown before, why they advanced this imagination, was that it might correspond with what is spoken in the Scriptures, or retained by themselves in tradition, concerning the sufferings of the Messiah. And it is somewhat strange to me, that having raised up this Ben Joseph, they did not use him worse than they have done, but by a little foolish pity have spoiled the whole of their design. They have a tradition among themselves, that the Messiah must bear a third part of all the afflictions or persecutions that ever were, or shall be in the world. And what proportion doth a man’s being slain in battle, where his army is victorious, which is all the hardship that this Ben Joseph is to meet with, bear unto the afflictions which befal the church in every age? And for the language of Scripture, it is mere lost labour to compare the death of this warrior with what is delivered there concerning the sufferings of the Messiah. Every one not judicially blinded, must needs see that there is no affinity between them.

The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is acknowledged by their Targum, and by several of the principal masters of their faith, to be a prophecy concerning Messiah; and this we shall afterwards undeniably prove. Now, the person there spoken of is one whom the Jews are to reject and to despise, whom God is to afflict and bruise, by causing the sins of the whole church to meet upon him. One, who by his sufferings is to fulfil the pleasure of the Lord, making his soul an offering for sin, justifying the elect, and conquering Satan by his death. This fictitious Messiah is to be honoured of all the - Jews, to raise armies, to fight a battle, and therein, after the manner of other men, to be slain. So that a story was never worse told, nor to less purpose. No other use can be made of it that I know of, but only to consider it as a proof of the blindness of poor obstinate sinners, given up unto hardness of heart, and to a spirit of folly; for the rejection of him whom God sealed, anointed, and sent to be the Saviour of the world. Leaving them, therefore, to enjoy the poor satisfaction which this story can afford, we may now consider the other expected Messiah, whom they call Ben David, in whom principally they place their confidence.

δ 18. As the endless fables of the Jews about their Messiah have been in part discovered By others, so I design not here at large to recount them.

Their chief masters in the Talmud, are full of disputes and contradictions about him, and those of after ages succeed them in their uncertainties. Such will the conceptions of all men be, when they take up fancies and opinions of their own in matters of divine revelation. But there are some things in which they all generally agree, and these relating to his person, work, and office, which it shall suffice to give an account of, as answering our present design. First, then, they contend that he shall be a mere man; and there is nothing that they strive to avoid more than the testimonies of Scripture, which show that the promised Messiah was to be God and man in one person, as hath been already evidenced. They contend also, that he shall be born after the manner of all men, not of a virgin, but of a married woman, and be begotten by her husband. About the place of his birth they are not fully agreed; for although they all acknowledge that the prophecy of Micah about Bethlehem relates to him, ch. v. 2, yet knowing that this town has now been desolate for many generations, and waste without inhabitant, which would seem to prove that he is come already, they contend that it is said that he shall be born at Bethlehem, because he is to spring of David who was born there; for of the tribe of Judah and family of David he must proceed, although they have neither distinction of tribes, nor succession of families, left in the world amongst them. To relieve themselves from that difficulty, they feign that he shall restore unto them all their genealogies. About the time of his coming they are woefully perplexed, as we shall see afterwards. But many tokens they have of it when it doth come; for they heap up, out of some allegorical passages in the Scripture, such stupendous prodigies as never were, nor shall be in the world. One of the principal of them is the sounding of the great trumpet, which all Israel shall hear, and at which the world shall tremble, from Isa. xxvii. 13. The finding of the ark, and the sacred fire, which things were talked of in the late rumours about them, are indeed a part of their creed in this matter. His office, when he comes, is to be a king, to which he shall be anointed by them, when they are gathered together. And the work he is to do, is in war to fight with Armillus, Gog and Magog, to conquer the Edomites and Ishmaelites, that is the Romish Christians, and Turks or Saracens, and in so doing to erect a glorious kingdom at Jerusalem. In peace, he is to rule righteously, not only over Israel, but also all the nations of the world, if they have any difference amongst them, shall refer all unto his judgment and determination. In religion, he shall build the third temple mentioned by Ezekiel, restore the sacrifices, and cause the law of Moses to be most strictly observed. But that which is the head of all, he shall free the Jews from their captivity, restore them to their own land, make princes and lords of them all, giving them the wealth of all nations, either conquered by him, or brought voluntarily unto him, feast them on Behemoth, Zis, and the, wine of paradise; so that they shall see want and poverty no more. This is the substance of their persuasion, concerning his coming, person, office, and work. When he shall come, whether he shall live always, or die at an hundred years old; whether he shall have children, and if he have, whether they shall succeed him in his throne; whether all the Jews that are dead shall rise at his coming, and their Galgal, or rolling in the ἡ earth from all parts of the world into the land of Canaan, shall then happen or no; whether the general resurrection shall not succeed immediately upon his reign, or at least within forty years after; or how long it will be tu the end of the world, they are not at all agreed. But this, as hath been declared, is the substance of their persuasion and expectation, that he shall be a mere man, and that the deliverance which he shall effect, shall be by mighty wars, wherein the Jews shall be“always victorious; and that in the dominion and rule which they shall have over all nations, the third temple shall be built, the law of Moses be observed by him and them, and the Noachical precepts be imposed on all others. As for any spiritual salvation from sin and the curse of the law; as to justification and righteousness by him, or the procurement of grace and glory, they utterly reject all thoughts about them.

ὁ 19. With these opinions, many of them have mixed prodigious fancies, rendering their state under their Messiah in this world, not much inferior to that which Mahomet hath promised unto his followers in another. And some of them on the other hand, endeavour to pare off what superfluities they can spare, and to render their folly as plausible as they are able. Wherefore that the utmost height may appear of their conceptions in this matter, and that in the language of the most contemplative persons amongst them, I shall subjoin a description of him and his kingdom in the words of Maimonides, one of the wisest and soberest persons that hath been amongst them since their last fatal dispersion. ‘This man then in his exposition of the tenth chapter of Tractat. Saned., observing the fond and frivolous imaginations of their Talmudical masters about the Messiah, gives many rules and instructions about the right understanding of their sayings, to free them from open impieties and contradictions. And hereunto he subjoins, as he supposeth, the true notion of the Messiah and of his kingdom in the ensuing words. ‘ As to the days of the Messiah, they are the time when the kingdom shall be restored unto Israel, and they shall return unto Palestine. And this king shall be potent, the metropolis of whose kingdom shall be Sion; and his name shall be famous unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He shall be greater and richer than Solomon, and with him the nations shall make peace, and yield him obedience, because of his justice, and the miracles that he shall perform. If any one shall rise against him, God shall give him up into his hand to be destroyed. All the Scripture declares his happiness, and the happiness which we shall have by him. Howbeit, nothing in the nature of things shall be changed, only Israel shall have the kingdom; for so our wise men say expressly, there is no difference between these days and the days of the Messiah, but only the subduing of the nations under us. So indeed says Rab. Samuel, and others of them: TAY ΝῸΝ wan mad min Dhyr pa ps meron. He goes on, ‘ In those days, victuals shall be had at an easy rate, as if the earth brought forth cates and clothes.’ And afterwards, ‘The Messiah shall die, and his son, and his son’s son, shall reign after him; but his kingdom shall endure long, and men shall live long in those days, so _ that some think his kingdom shall continue a thousand years. But the days of the Messiah are not so much to be desired that we may have store of corn and wealth, ride on horses, and drink wine with music; but for the society and conversation of good men, the knowledge and righteousness of the king, and that then, without wearisomeness, trouble, or constraint, the whole law of Moses shall be observed.’

§ 20. This is the sum of the creed of the most sober part of the Jews concerning the Messiah whom they look and long for, if any are so sober as to embrace it. or the same author tells us, that there were very few so minded, it may be scarce another in an age besides himself: generally they look after nothing but rule, dominion, wealth, and pleasure. But he, and they, all own him as a temporal king, a mighty warrior, subduing the nations unto the Jews, a Furius Camillus, or an Alexander, or a Cesar. Of redemption from sin, death, and hell, of pardon of sin, justification, and righteousness, of eternal salvation by him, they know, they believe nothing. Maimonides thinks indeed, that his kingdom shall continue long, not like Manasseh of late, who supposeth that it might not abide above forty years, and those immediately preceding the day of judgment.

§ 21. It is sufficiently evident that this opinion and persuasion of the Jews, which is catholic amongst them, and hath been so ever since they rejected the true Messiah, contains an absolute renunciation of the faith of the church of old, and an utter rejection of all the ends for which the Messiah was promised. I shall not therefore enter here upon a particular refutation of it, for it will occur in our ensuing discourses. Neither is this the person about whom we contend with them, nor have we any concern with him. When he comes, let them make the best of him: we have already received the Captain of our salvation. What also they plead for themselves, as the ground of their obstinacy in refusing the true Messiah, must afterwards be particularly discussed. At present, therefore, I shall only reflect on those depraved habits of their minds, which in concurrence with occasions and temptations suited unto them, have seduced them into these low, carnal, and earthly imaginations about the promised seed, about his person, office, and the work that he was to perform.

§ 22. In things therefore of this kind, ignorance of their miserable condition by nature, both as to sin and wrath, justly claims the first place. For although, as was by instances before manifested, the evidence of truth, and power of traditions amongst them, have prevailed with some to avow the notion of the sin of Adam, and the corruption of our nature thereby, yet indeed there is not any of them that have a true sense and conviction of their natural condition, and the misery that doth attend it. The Messiah as we have proved at large, was first promised to relieve mankind from that state whereunto they were cast by the apostasy of Adam, the common root and parent of them all. Such as are men’s apprehensions of that condition, such also will be their thoughts concerning the Messiah, who was promised to be a deliverer from it. They who know that they are cast out of the favour of God by sin, and that they are made obnoxious unto his eternal displeasure, and are unable to do any thing that shall please him, as being cast into a state of universal enmity against him, must needs look on the Messiah promised in the grace, goodness, and wisdom of God, for a Saviour and Deliverer, to be One that must by suitable ways and means, free them from sin and wrath, procure for them the fayour of God, enable them to serve him again acceptably, and so bring them at length unto their chief end, even to the everlasting enjoyment of God. As these things answer one another, and are on both sides fully revealed in the Scripture, so believers of old, who had a due apprehension of their own condition, looked for such a Messiah as God had promised. Ignorance therefore of this condition, is no small cause of the present Judaical unbelief. Whatever may be the state of other men, about which they do not much trouble themselves, for their parts they are children of Abraham, exempted from the common condition of mankind, by the privilege of their nativity; or at least they are relieved by their circumcision, by the pain of which, they make sufficient satisfaction for any ill they bring with them into this world. That they are dead in trespasses and sins, standing in need of being born again; that they are by nature children of wrath, ob- noxious unto the curse of God; that the sin of our first parents is imputed unto them, or if it be, that it was of such demerit as Christians teach, they believe not. Indeed, they know no misery but what consists in poverty, captivity, and want of rule and dominion. And what should a spiritual Redeemer do unto these men? What beauty or comeliness can he have in him, for which by them he should be desired? Accordingly, they see no reason for understanding the promises concerning the Messiah in a spiritual sense; for by understanding them thus, they would exclude themselves from all advantage from him, seeing they have no wish for a spiritual redemption. And this blindness had in a great measure possessed their minds at the first promulgation of the gospel; see John viii. 33, 34; ch. ix. 40, 41. And therefore our apostle, in his Epistle unto the Romans, wherein he deals both with Jews and Gentiles, before he declares the propitiation that was made, with the justification that was to be obtained by the blood of Christ, proveth that they all are in a miserable lost condition, on the account of sin, original and actual, ch. i. 11. τ΄. Until therefore his pride, self-fulness, and ignorance of themselves, be taken from them, and rooted out of their hearts, all’promises of a spiritual Redeemer must needs be unsavoury unto them. They stand in no need of him, and why should they desirehim. An earthly king that would give them liberty, wealth, ease, and dominion, they would gladly embrace, and have long in vain looked for. ᾿

§ 23. Secondly, Ignorance of the righteousness of God, both as to what he requireth, in order that a man may be justified before him, and as to his judgment concerning the desert of sin, hath the same effect upon them, Rom. x. 3, 4. The great end for which the Messiah was promised, as we have in part declared, and shall afterwards farther evince, was to make atonement for sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. A righteousness was to be brought in, that might answer the justice of God, and abide its trial. Of what nature this righteousness must be, the Scripture declares in the revelation which it makes of the holiness of God, Ps. v. 4,5; Joshua xxiv. 19; Hab. 1. 13; of the purity and severity of his law, Deut. xxxiii. 2; ch. xxvii. 26; and of the absolute perfection of his justice in the execution of it, Ps. 1. 21. An universal spotless innocence, with a constant unerring obedience in all things, and that in the highest degree of perfection, are required that a man may find acceptance with this holy and righteous God. Of the nature and necessity of this righteousness, the Jews are ignorant and regardless. ‘They and their masters were so of old, Matt. v. 20. An external, partial, hypocritical observance of the law of Moses, they suppose will suffice; see Rom. ix. 31. And indeed there is not any thing that more openly discovers the miserable blindness of the present Jews, than the consideration of what they insist upon as their righteousness before God. ‘The faith and obedience of their forefathers, the privilege of circumcision, some outward observances of Mosaical precepts, with anxious scrupulous abstinences, self-macerations in fasts, with prayers by tale and number, Sabbath-rests from outward labour, with the like bodily exercises, are the sum of what they plead for themselves. Now if these things, which are absolutely in their own power, will compose and make up a righteousness acceptable unto God, cover all the sins whereof they know themselves to be guilty, to what end should they look for a Redeemer to bring in everlasting mghteousness, or to make atonement for sin? Why should they look out in this case for relief, seeing they have enough of their own to supply all their wants? Let them that are weary and heavy laden seek after such a Deliverer, they have no need of him or his salvation. According therefore as this building of self-righteousness went on and prospered amongst them, faith in the Messiah as to the true ends for which he was promised, decayed every day more and more, until at length it was utterly lost. For as our apostle tells them, if righteousness were by the law, the promise of the Messiah was to no purpose; and if the law made things perfect, the bringing in of another priesthood and sacrifice was altogether needless.

§ 24. So is it also with them, as to their apprehension of the judgment of God concerning the desert of sin. With the natural notion hereof, the vilest hypocrites amongst them were sometimes perplexed; see Isa. xxxiil. 14,15; Micah vi.8. But the generality of them have long endeavoured, by prejudicate imaginations, to cast out the true and real sense of it. That God is angry at sin, that in some cases an atonement is needful, they will not deny. But so low and carnal are their thoughts of his severity, that they think any thing may serve to appease his wrath, or to satisfy his justice, especially towards them whom alone he loves. Their afflictions ‘and persecutions, the death of their children, and their own death, especially if it be of a painful distemper, they suppose to make a sufficient propitiation for all their sims. Such mean and unworthy thoughts have the of the majesty, holiness, and terror of the Lord. Of late also, lest there should be a failure on any account, they have found out an invention to give their sins unto the devil by the sacrifice of a cock, the manner whereof is at large described by Buxtorf, in his Synagoga Judaica. And this also hath no small influence on their minds, to pervert them from the faith of their forefathers. Let the Messiah provide well for them in this world, and they will look well enough unto themselves, as to that which is to come..

§ 25. And hence ariseth also their ignorance of the whole nature, use, and end of the Mosaical law, which likewise contributes much to the producing of the same effect upon them. To what end the law was given, whereunto it served, what was the nature and proper use of its institutions, shall be declared as occasion is offered, in the exposition of the Epistle itself. For the present, it may suffice unto our purpose to consider their apprehensions of it, and what influence these have on their misbelief. In general, they look on the law, and on their observance of it, as the only means of obtaining righteousness, and making an atonement with God. So they did of old, Rom. ix. 32—34. In the observation of its precepts, they place all their righteousness before God, and by its sacrifices they look for atonement for all their sins. That the law was not given, that the sacrifices were not appointed for these ends, that the fathers of old never attended unto them absolutely with any such intention, shall be afterwards declared. In the meantime it is evident, that this persuasion corrupts their minds as to their thoughts about the Messiah. For if righteousness may be obtained, and atonement made without him, to what end serves the promise concerning him? But having thus taken from him the whole office and work, whereunto he was designed by God, that he might not be thought altogether useless, they have assigned to him the work and employment before mentioned. — For looking on righteousness and atonement, with that which is the consequence of them, eternal salvation, _ as the proper effects of the law, they thought meet to leave unto their Messiah the work of procuring unto them liberty, wealth, and dominion, which they found by experience that the law was not able to do. But had their eyes been indeed opened to the knowledge of God and of themselves, they would have found the law no less insufficient to procure by itself a heavenly than an earthly kingdom for them. Against their obstinate prejudices in this matter, doth the apostle principally reason in this Epistle.

§ 26. But here by the way, some may possibly enquire how the Jews, if they look for atonement and the remission of sins by the sacrifices of the law, can now expect to have their sins pardoned, without which they cannot be eternally saved, seeing they are confessedly destitute of all legal sacrifices whatever? Have they found out some other way, or do they utterly give over seeking after salvation? This very question being put unto one of them, he answers; that they now obtain the pardon of their sins, by repentance and amendment of life, according to the promises made in the prophets unto that purpose; as Ezek. xviii. 20. And concludes, ‘Quamvis jam nulla sint sacrificia, que media erant ad tanto facilius impetrandam remissionem peccatorum, eadem tamen per pcenitentiam ac resipiscentiam, declinando a viis malis impetratur.’ ‘Although there are now no sacrifices which were a means the more easily to obtain the forgiveness of sins, yet it may be obtained by repentance, and a departure from ways of evil. This is their hope, which, like that of the hypocrite, is as the giving up of the ghost. For, Ist, It is true, that repentance and amendment of life, are required in them who seek after the forgiveness of their sins, and many promises are made unto them; but is this all that God required, that sin might be forgiven? They are sufficient indeed in their own way and place, but are they so absolutely also? Did not God moreover appoint and require, that they should make use of sacrifices to atone for sins, without which they should not be done away? See Levit. xvi. And, 2dly, What is the meaning of that plea, that by sacrifices indeed remission of sins might more easily be obtained, but obtained it may be without them? Doth this more easily respect God or man? if they say it respects God; I desire to know, if he can pardon sin without sacrifice, why he cannot do it as easily as with them? or what is he eased of, by ‘sacrifices? If it respect themselves, as indeed it doth, then it may be inquired what it is that they shall be eased of, in the obtaining of the pardon of sins, by the use of sacrifices, when that is again restored unto them? this can be of nothing but of that which they are now forced to make use of, for that end and purpose, and what is that? Why repentance and amendment of life. If then they had their sacrifices, these might be spared, or at least much of them abated, which at present is necessary. This then it seems was the end why God instituted sacrifices, namely, that these Jews might obtain pardon of sin, without either repentance or amendment. And this is that which they love as their souls; namely, that they may live in their sins, and be acquitted of all danger by sacrifices and outward services. 3dly, Atonement for sin is expressly necessary, or all the institution of sacrifices for that end of old, were vain and ludicrous. At the same time when sacrifices were in use, repentance was also required, and therefore repentance could never be designed to serve as a cause or means for the same end, in the same kind with sacrifices. And therefore notwithstanding their pretence of repentance, no Jew upon his own principles, can now in the total cessation of all sacrifices, obtain either pardon of sin here, or salvation hereafter. But to proceed.

§ 27. Their corrupt carnal affections have moreover greatly contributed, and yet do contribute, unto their obstinacy in their unbelief. Hence have they coined their self-pleasing imaginations about the Messiah, and the work that he hath to do. That he should be a king and reign gloriously, that his dominion should be over all the world, and endure throughout all generations, was promised concerning him from the beginning. They therefore dwell much on the thought of the advantage which this kingdom may afford unto them, comparing it in their minds with those other empires which they see in the world. Wealth, ease, liberty, dominion, or a share in power and rule, are the things that please their carnal minds, and evidently fill them with envy and wrath against those by whom these things are possessed. These they look after and hope for, as the only things that are desirable, as the only pledges indeed of the favour of God. No persons on the earth have their thoughts more fixed on them than they. As their oppressions increase, so do their desires after liberty and rule; and they have learned nothing by their poverty, but to grow in a greedy eagerness after riches. And when they would at any time set out the care of God towards their nation, they declare that such a one, in such a place, was worth so many thousand crowns; or drove such a trade, or was in such favour as that he rode in a coach or chariot; as may be seen in the address of Manasseh unto the English., This covetousness, and ambition, with revenge - ful thoughts against their oppressors, possessing their minds, makes them desire, hope, and believe, that the kingdom of their Messiah shall be of this world, and that therein their enjoyments shall be as large as their fancy can now reach unto. And so perfectly are they under the power of these lusts and earthly desires in this matter, that take away their hopes of satisfying themselves in the good things of this world, and they will on very easy terms bid adieu unto their Messiah, or grant that he is already come. But while they are obstinately fixed in the expectation of grandeur, to tell him of a spiritual and heavenly kingdom, wherein the poorest and most persecuted person on the earth may have as good an interest, and enjoy as much benefit by it, as the greatest monarch in the world, and you do but cast away your words to the wind.

§ 28. Secondly, Since the propagation of the gospel and its success in the world, Envy, (another corrupt lust,) against the Gentile believers, hath exceedingly perverted their minds, in their notions about the Messiah. And with this passion they are filled on a twofold account.

First, Upon account of the spiritual privileges which they saw claimed by the Gentiles. That the Gentiles, or nations of the earth distinct from Israel, should be fellow-heirs in the promise with the posterity of Abraham according unto the flesh, was declared by all the prophets of old. But yet, as we have shown, this was done by them in that obscure manner, in comparison of the revelation made of it in the gospel, that the grace and counsel of God therein is called a mystery hid from the ages that went before. Wherefore when this design of the love and wisdom of God was brought to light, it filled the Jews who had lost the faith of it with envy and wrath. See Acts xiii. 45—47, 50, ch. xxii. 21—23; 1 Thess. i. 15, 16. The stories of all ages from thence unto this day testify the same, nor do they yet stick to express these corrupt affections, as occasion is offered. And this envy being greatly predominant in them, hardens them in their imagination of a Messiah, by whom the Gentiles may receive no benefit, but what may accrue unto them in becoming their servants. They cannot to this day endure to hear that the Gentiles should be equal sharers with themselves in the promise of the Messiah. They would have him unto themselves alone, or not at all. And this keeps up their desires and expectations of such an one as they have fan- ‘cied for their own ends and purposes.

§ 29. Again, their envy against the Gentiles is greatly increased and excited by the oppressions and sufferings inflicted on them by the Gentiles. This adds hatred and desire of revenge unto their envy, rendering it unruly though impotent. I speak not now of their present and past sufferings from Christians, which in many places have been unrighteous and inhumane, and so undoubtedly a great occasion of hardening them in their obstinacy; but of their long continued oppressions under the power of the Gentiles in general. Having been greatly harassed and wasted by them in most ages, and having a deliverer promised unto them, they are strongly mclined to fancy such a deliverance as being peculiarly theirs, should enable them to avenge themselves on their old enemies and oppressors. And this they think must be done, not by a heavenly spiritual king, ruling in the things concerning religion and the worship of God, but by one, that having a mighty kingdom in this world, shall by force and power subdue their enemies under them. Such an one therefore they desire and look for; and how hard it is for them to extinguish these thoughts, unless they are freed by the grace of God from the carnal affections mentioned, it is not difficult to ess. And these are some of those especial occasions whereby the Jews through their own blindness are hardened in their unbelief and disobedience unto the gospel, whereunto others of the like kind may be added.

§ 30. Such then is the faith and expectation of the present Jews all the world over, concerning the Messiah in whom they place their confidence. A mere man he is to be; a king over the Jews at Jerusalem, who shall conquer many nations, and so give peace, prosperity, and plenty unto all the Israelites in their own land. But what great matter is in all this? Have not other men done as much or more for their citizens and people? Can they fancy that their Messiah should be more victorious or successful than Alexander? they dare not hope it. At a disputation before the Pope and Cardinals at Rome, which they have recorded in Shebat Jehuda, they openly professed that they never expected so great glory by their Messiah, as that with which they saw them attended. And Manasseh confesseth that it is no great or extraordinary matter which they looked for by him. ‘ De Resur. lib. 2. cap. 21. Non est, saith he, ‘tantum miraculum, si Messias veniat subjugatum regna sibi et imperia multa, cum non raro accidisse videamus, ut humiles aliqui abjectique ad regna et imperia pervenerint, terrarumque multarum Domini fierent.’ ‘It is no such miracle that the Messiah should come and subdue many kingdoms and empires unto himself, seeing it often falls out that men of mean and abject condition, do come unto kingdoms and empires, and are made lords of many countries.’ It is so indeed; they say nothing of him but what may be equalled in the stories of the nations of the world, especially considering the shortness of his reign, which they begin to think shall not be above forty years.

§ 31. But do these things answer the promises made concerning him from the foundation of the world? Is this the meaning of the promise given unto Adam? Was this the end of the call and separation of Abraham? this the intention of the promise made unto him, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed? Is this only the import of it, that towards the end of the world many of them shall be conquered? Was this the intent of the oath made unto David, and of the sure mercies confirmed to him, and his, thereby? Do all the promises in the prophets, ex- pressed in words glorious and magnificent, end in a warrior, inferior it may be unto many of those whose destruction they prophesied of? Or is not this rather a way to expose the whole Old Testament unto scorn and re~ proach, as making the promises thereof not to extend to that degree of glory, which in other warriors the penmen of it despised; or at least making these promises to have a respect to things only of the same nature with the worldly success of these conquerors? Was this the expectation of the fathers of old? Is this that which they desired, prayed for, longed for, esteeming all the glory of their present enjoyments as nothing in comparison of it? Was it for this the Messiah was to be the hope and desire of all nations? Did God set him forth as the great effect of his love, grace, goodness, and faithfulness towards men, and then bring forth a military king, in whose exploits they were not all to be concerned? Was the church in trayail for so many generations to bring forth this fighter? Had they no eye of old unto spiritual and eternal things in the promise of the Messiah? Of late indeed Josephus Albo tells us that the doctrine of the coming of the Messiah is not fundamental. And Hillel of old maintained that Hezekiah was the Messiah; he should have been so, saith another, had he composed a song unto God. Barcosba a seditious necromancer is the Messiah, says R. Akiba. He shall come, it may be, immediately before the resurrection, saith Manasseh. But do these thoughts suit the faith, hope, prayers, and expectations of the church of eld? Do they answer any one promise of God concerning him? No man not utterly unacquainted with the Scripture can give the least countenance unto such imaginations.

§ 32. What all this while is become of the work every-where in the Scripture assigned unto the Messiah? To whom is that work abandoned? Who shall break the serpent’s head? Who shall take away the curse that entered on sin? Who shall be a blessing unto all nations? To whom shali the Gentiles be gathered to be saved by him? Who shall be a priest after the order of Melchizedek? Who shall have a body prepared for him to offer instead of the sacrifices of the law? Who shall have his hands and feet pierced in his suffering, and his vesture parted by lot ὁ Who shall make his soul an offering for sin? Who shall be bruised, grieved, and afflicted by God. himself, because he shall bear the iniquities of his people? Who shall make atonement for transgressors and bring in everlasting righteousness? Whe shall for ever make intercession for transgressors? And who shall sit at the right hand of God in his rule over the whole world? All these things, and sundry others of the like kind, are openly and frequently promised concerning the true Messiah, not one of which is to be accomplished in or by him whom they look for. But these men indeed take a way to destroy all religion, and to turn the whole Bible into a story of earthly things, without either life, spirit, or heavenly mystery in it.

§ 33. It is acknowledged that there are many promises of mercy and glory unto the church in the days of the Messiah expressed in words, whose first literal sense represents things outward and temporal. And there is a threefold interpretation of them contended for. The first is that of the Jews, who would have them all understood according to their literal import, without the allowance of any figure or allegory in them. But nothing can be more vain than this imagination; nor do they make use of it, but where they suppose that it will serve their present design. For the wisest of them do grant, that in the days of the Messiah the nature of things shall not be changed, but only their use; yet many of these promises in their first literal sense, import a full and direct alteration in the heavens and earth —_ all N things contained in them. So Isa. xi. 6, 7, 8. Lions, bears, leopards, cockatrices, asps, calves, and young children, are said all to live, feed, and play together. And ch. 1x. 7. That the flocks of Kedar, and the rams of Nebaioth, should minister unto the church; ver. 16, that they should suck the milk of kings; and ver. 19. that the sun should no more give light by day; and yet ver. 20. that it should no more go down. Ch. Ixv. 17. That new heavens and a new earth shall be created, and that the old shall be remembered no more; that trees and fields shall rejoice and clap their hands for gladness; with other things innumerable in the same kind. Now if they grant, as they must do, unless they intend to expose all sacred truth to the scorn and contempt of atheists, that these expressions are figurative and allegorical; they must do the same in all other promises of earthly things, as of peace, plenty, victory, long life, dominion, wealth, and the like, these being set out in the same kind of allegorical expressions. At least they cannot make them in the strict literal sense of the words the object of their faith and expectation, unless they can by some infallible rule declare, what is figuratively to be understood in them, and what properly, or which promises are expressed allegorically, and which not. And this they can never do. The event therefore is the only infallible interpreter of the meaning of such prophetical predictions; whatever precedes that, 1s but conjecture. Wherefore,

§ 34. Secondly, Some interpret all these promises and prophecies spiritually, without the least respect unto those outward terrene things, which in figurative expressions are used only to shadow out those spiritual, heavenly, and eternal things, which are intended in them. And, indeed, this way of interpretation which Calvin follows in all his commentaries, is attended with great probability of truth. For as the main ends and work for which the Messiah was promised, are, as we have proved, spiritual and eternal, and, as it is evident, that many promises of things relating unto him, and of the condition of them that believe in him, are allegorically expressed, (it being the constant way of the Old Testament to shadow out - spiritual and heavenly things, by things earthly and carnal,) this way of interpreting the promises, seems to have great countenance given unto it, both from the nature of the things themselves, and from the constant tenor of the prophetical style. According unto this rule of interpretation, all that is foretold in the Psalms and Prophets, of the deliverance, rest, peace, glory, rule, and dominion of the church, of the subjection and subserviency of nations, kingdoms, rulers, kings, and queens to the church; intends only either the kingdom of grace, consisting in faith, love, holiness, righteousness, and peace in the Holy Ghost, with that spiritual beauty and glory which is in the worship of the gospel; or the kingdom of heaven itself, where lies our happiness and reward. And, indeed, this interpretation of the promises, as in respect of many of them it is evidently certain, true, and proper, they being so expounded in the gospel itself; so in respect of them all it is safe, and satisfactory to the souls of believers. For they who are really made partakers of the spiritual good things of the Messiah, and are subjects of his spiritual kingdom, do in this find and acknowledge such liberty, rest, peace, and glory, such durable riches, as they are abundantly content with, whatever their outward condition in this world may be. And to this exposition, as to the main and prime intention of the promises, the whole doctrine of the gospel gives countenance.

§ 35. Thirdly, Some acknowledging the kingdom of the Messiah to be heavenly and spiritual, and the promises generally to intend spiritual and heavenly glory and riches, that is, grace and peace in Christ Jesus, do yet suppose, moreover, that there is in many of them an intimation given of a blessed, quiet, peaceable, flourishing state of the church even in this world, through the power of the Messiah. But this they do with these limitations. lst, That these promises were not made unto the Jews as they were the seed of Abraham according unto the flesh, primarily and absolutely, but unto the church, that is the children of Abraham according unto the promise, heirs of his faith and blessing. That is, they are made unto all them who receive and believe in the promised Messiah, Jews and Gentiles with whom, as we have proved, the privilege of the church, and interest in the promises was to remain. 2d, That the accomplishment of these promises is reserved to an appointed time, when God shall have accomplished his work of severity on the apostate Jews, and of trial and patience towards the Gentiles who have been called. 3d, That upon the coming of that season, the Lord will by one means or other take off the veil from the eyes of the remnant of the Jews, and turn them from ungod~ liness unto the grace of the Messiah; after which, the Jews and Gentiles being made one fold under the great Shepherd of our souls, shall enjoy rest and peace in this world. This they think to be intimated in many of the promises of the Old Testament, which are brought over unto the use of the church as yet unaccomplished, in the book of the Revelation. And herein lies all the glory which the Jews can or may expect, and that only on such terms as they as yet will not admit of. But these things must all of them be spoken unto at large, when we come to answer the objections which they take from them, to our faith in Jesus Christ.

§ 36. That which above all things manifests the folly and irreligion of the imagination of the Jews about the person and work of the Messiah, is the event. The true Messiah is long since come, and hath accomplished the work assigned unto him. He hath thus made known the nature of the first promises, and of the promises consequent on these; he hath thus also made known the nature of the salvation which he was to effect. And in nothing has he answered the expectation of the Jews, who had departed from the faith of their forefathers, except in his genealogy according unto the flesh. And this fact, namely, that the Messiah is already come, is the second ground on which all the discourses and reasonings of the apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews is founded, and which being absolutely destructive of the Judaical infidelity, shall be fully confirmed in our ensuing dissertations.

§ 2. Second principle supposed by the apostle Paul in his discourses with the Hebrews. The promised Messiah was then come, and had done his work. § 2. The first promise recorded, 95D m>222. Promise with the limitation of time for his coming necessary. § 3. First determination hereof made by Jacob, Gen. xlix. The promise eonfined to Judah, afterwards to David, no more restrained. § 4. Jews self-contradieting exceptions to the words of Jacob’s prophecy. ᾧ 5. Interpretation of Jarchi. §6,7. Of Aben Ezra examined. Who meant by Judah. § 8,9. The tribe. Not his person proved. § 10. Sceptre and Scribe how eontinued in Judah. The same polity under various forms of government. How long they continued. § 11. Did not depart on the conquest of Pompey. Nor reign of Herod. § 12. Continuance of the Sanhedrim. The name pomp, whence. Συνεδριον. “The place and court of judges. Jews’ etymology of the word. §13. Institution of that court, Num. xi. 16. ᾧ 14. The order of the court. § 15. Place of their meeting. Λιθοστρωτος pmax. John xix. 13. § 16. Qualifications of the persons. Who excluded. § 17, Their power. § 18. Punishments inflicted by them. § 19. The lesser courts. Mistake of Hilary. § 20, 21. Shiloh who, and what the word signifies. § 22. Judaical interpretation of sary refuted. ὃ 23. Argument from the words. § 24. Rule granted unto Judah. Proved by the context. § 25, 26. Consent of Targums. § 27. Judaical evasions removed. § 28. Rise and signification of the word Shiloh. § 29. Messiah intended thereby. ἃ 30. Θ᾿» map. 15 opened and vindicated. § 31. Consent of Targums. § 32. Talmuds, and most learned Rabbins. § 33. Sceptre tong since departed. ὃ 34. Story of Benjamin Tudelensis examined. Messiah long since come.

§ 1. Tur second great principle which the apostle supposes in all his discourses with the Hebrews in his Epistle to them, and which he lays as the foundation of all his arguments, is, that the Messiah whom we have proved to have been promised from the foundation of the world, had actually come, and had finished the work appointed for him, before the epistle was written. This the Jews pertimaciously deny unto this very day, and this denial is the centre in which all the lies of their unbelief do meet; and, in consequence of their unbelief, they continue in a deplorable condition, crying for and expecting his coming, who came long ago, and was rejected by them. Now this is the great difference between them and Christians, and that such a difference as hath a certain influence upon their eternal condition. As they have endeavoured to evade the force of the testimonies and arguments by which our faith and profession is confirmed, so are we to use diligence in the vindication and establishment of these, which we hope to do unto the satisfaction of the sober, and godly, and wise, in our ensuing discourse.

§ 2. The first great promise of the Messiah, at large insisted on before, declared only his coming, and the end of it in general. This promise was recorded "HD nd222, Psa, xl. &, or, as our apostle, Heb. x. 7, ev κεφαλιδὲ βιβλιου, in the beginning, head, or first roll of the book of God, namely, Gen. iii., as a stable foundation of all the rest that ensued. And it respected all the posterity of Adam, that they might have a refuge to which they might repair in all their distresses. When the world in unbelief rejected all care for, or respect to this promise, God left it to ways of its own choosing: &a0¢ πάντα ra e0vy πορέευεσϑαι Taig ὁδοις avrwy, Acts xiv. 16. But in his sovereign grace and pleasure, he renewed the promise unto Abraham, with a restriction and limitation of it unto his family; as the family which was to be separated from the rest of mankind, and dedicated to the bringing forth of the Messiah in the appointed season, as we have declared. Upon the giving of that promise, with the call and separation of Abraham, by which the church became in a special manner visible, there was nothin wanting to confirm the faith, and fix the expectation of those that desired his coming, but only the determination of the time when he should actually come.

And this was necessary upon a double account: 1. That those who were to live before his advent, might not only by faith see his person afar off, and be refreshed, as Cant. ii. 8, but also behold his day, or the time limited and fixed for his coming, and rejoice therein; and that not only as Abraham, who knew that such a day should be, John viii. 56, but also as those who had a certain day so limited, as that by diligent inquiry, 1 Pet. i. 11, they might take some special prospect of it. 2. To guide them who were to live in the days of the accomplishment of the promise, to a more earnest expectation of him, and desire after him, as Daniel had for the return of the people from the captivity, when he understood by books, that the time limited for it was accomplished, Dan. ix. 2, 3. Accordingly, in consequence of the prophecies representing the time of his coming, we read that at that season when he was exhibited, all men were in expectation of him, and prepared thereby to inquire after him, Luke i. 15..

§ 3. Now this determination of the time inquired after, was first made by Jacob, Gen. xlix. 8—10, accompanied with the name of that patriarch in his family, from whom the Messiah was to proceed. And after this, there was only one other restriction of the promise, as to the persons in whose line Messiah was to be born. By this additional restriction, that privilege, which originally rested in Abraham and his family, and which was afterwards restrained unto Judah and his posterity, was lastly confined unto David and his offspring, and was ever after left at large unto any branch of that family. And this I mention by the way, to prevent any difficulties about his genealogy. For as in the very first instance of the regal succession in the house of David, there was no respect had to primogeniture, 1 Kings ii. 22, so there was no necessity that the Messiah should spring from the royal family, although he did so; but only that he should be of the seed of David. For as after the promise given unto Abraham, the Messiah might have sprung from any family whatever of his posterity by Isaac, until the limitation made by Jacob unto the person of Judah; and as after that limitation, he might have sprung from any family of this tribe, until the limitation of that privilege to the person of David; so no restriction or limitation being afterwards added, his production by any person of David’s posterity in an alliance nearer to, or farther from the reigning line, was all that was included in the promise. To return, the words of the place above quoted are, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thine hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse him up, ppm) MN? ὍΘ ND* nd ὍΣΩΝ nop 1 mw wa oy wba pan: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver or Scribe from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him the gathering of people.” These last words are the basis of our argument; the former, therefore, we shall no otherwise consider, but as they give light and evidence to the interpretation of those which follow

§ 4. The great masters among the Jews are exceedingly perplexed with this testimony, and have therefore invented an endless variety of ways for enervating it, openly and loudly contradicting one another almost about every word in the text. Some would evade the sense of it, by interpreting vay to be only a rod of correction, of support, say others; and ppt, they would only have to be a Scribe, such as they fancy their present Rabbins to be. Some by 717, understand the person of Judah, unto whom they ascribe I know not what preeminence, and not his family and tribe. Some would have ἽΝ to be separated from “5, that follows, because of the accent Jethib, and to signify for ever. Some by the Shiloh would have Dayid intended, some Ahijah the prophet, some the city Shiloh, and most know not what. mmp%, some would have to be destruction, some instruction and obedience. And on every one of these cavils do they build various interpretations, and provide various evasions for themselves, all which we shall either obviate or remove out of the way in the ensuing discourse.

ὃ 5. It were endless to consider all their several expositions; and it would be useless, because they are fully confuted by one another. But whatever seems of importance in any of their exceptions, will be fully answered in our exposition and vindication of the text and context. Only to give the reader a specimen of their sentiments, I shall briefly consider the sense and exposition of one of them; and he of such reputation, that he hath generally obtained the name of ὈΞΥΤΙΤ, the wise; and this is R. A. B. Meir, Aben Ezra. And that we may the better see the perverseness of this man, and therein of his followers, I shall briefly give an account of the exposition of Rashi, his companion, in annotations on the Pentateuch, in their rabbinical Bibles. First, By 03W, sceptre, he understands rule and government; as he doth scholars in the law by ppm, from these words, 537 Pan, Jrom between his feet; expressing, as he conceived, the posture of disciples. By Judah, he understands the house of David, the ruling family amongst them, the authority whereof was preserved in the nda ΟΝ, or heads of the captivity, while they were in Babel. -And on these words, ΤΡ ΝΞ ΠΟΘ ἼΝ, waving all the former trivial exceptions, he adds expressly, mynm 74> TTX WIT DYpax yawn jo) Hw wsbmMw, ‘Until the Shiloh come, that is Messiah the King, to whom that kingdom belongs, as the words are interpreted by Onkelos in his Targum, and in Midrash Agadah. And Day nap’, he expounds Dwaym ND‘ON, the collection or gathering together of the people. Thus he agrees with the Targum, and with the truth, in the most material passages of the text.

δ 6. But Aben Ezra, as we observed, is otherwise minded; and in him, we have an example of the wilful blindness of the residue of them, who will not endure the light of that evidence which is tendered unto them in this testimony. First, By Shebet, he grants rule to be intended, or preeminence above others, being in this somewhat more modest than their later masters. ‘This,’ saith he, ‘shall not depart from Judah, 797 Naw ἫΝ, until David come; and why David? m7 ΠΣ) ΠΟΤῚ NT, < for he was the beginning of the kingdom of Judah.’ So that it seems the meaning of the words is, that ‘ the sceptre shall not depart until the sceptre come;’ that is, they should have rule until they had rule. For as he himself well observes, the kingdom of Judah began in David. But what sceptre had the house of Judah before? Four hundred years the people were ruled under judges, of which but one was of that tribe. At length a kingdom was set up in the house of Benjamin; where was all this while the sceptre of Judah, if that was the space of time designed for its continuance? Two instances he gives hereof. First, M7)WN72 Yor) WNT b4 sD, ‘The standard of Judah marched first in the wilderness 7 m>nn3 ΓΟ). WT OWT WAN Da, ‘Again, God said, Judah shall go up first.’ But what was this to a sceptre and a lawgiver? The first belonged only unto the order of the tribes in the wilderness, while Moses was prince of the tribe of Levi, and afterwards Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim; nor was that privilege, if any it were, peculiar unto Judah, but common to the other tribes joined with him. The other was only an occasional expedition, in which Judah had a peculiar interest, which gave him no power nor sovereignty amongst his brethren. So that we have here no small instance, how the wisest of their masters do befool themselves, in seeking evasions from this testimony. Of the sense of the following words, abstracting from the design of the whole, he gives a tolerable account, ‘“‘ Nor a lawgiver from between his feet.” 1510 ppm 79d dy pirrw, " Mechochek is a Scribe, who engrosseth any thing on a roll or books; PEP D2 pa awr nvm ἼΒῚΟ 55 ΤΥΊ Jow Ὁ 5 pan oy, and that expression of from between his feet, is taken from the common custom of such Scribes, to sit at, or between the feet of the prince;’ namely, to record and enrol the laws of his kingdom, although the phrase seems to incline to another sense; but about this we will not differ with him.

§ 7. He next proceeds to the interpretation of the word Shiloh, which before he applied unto David; and to show the uncertainty and wanderings of all who reject the true and only intendment of the Holy Ghost in this expression, he gives us the various opinions of his masters, not knowing himself what to adhere to. ὉΣ)ῚΝ ὯΝ, ‘Some, he says, ‘ there are, who interpret it from the Syriac,’ as it were as much as 75, unto him, or cujus omnia. But this yields him no advantage. Sundry learned men suspect some such sense in the word, or derivation of it, 7 being put for 1; and the translation of the LXX. reading φ ἀπόκειται, seems to have had respect thereunto. But then the Messiah is signally denoted, whose the kingdom was, whom the promises especially respected, and to whom the gathering of the people was to be. Some, he adds, derive it from >*>w, which signifies ‘the embryo in the womb;’ and in allusion hereunto, many interpret the word his son, from >“, which is as much as 13, from m>w, the after-birth, or certain membranes of the womb; and he adds afterwards, that ΤΙΣ may be-as much as 953, 7 being put for ἢ. But yet neither can he hence obtain any thing towards his design. Wherefore, he proceeds, some expound it of the city Shiloh; and then they interpret N12», shall come, WMT ΝΞ 1793, as that, the sun cometh; that is, sets, or goes down, Eccles. iv., that is T° jt Nas sD-TY, ‘until the end of Shiloh come; for so it is written, ‘ He rejected the tabernacle at Shiloh, and chose David his servant.’ But it is evident unto all who use the least attention unto these things, how forced, indeed foolish, this exposition is. Until Shiloh come; that is, until the city Shiloh be deserted, or forsaken, or destroyed; so that, until it comes, signifies, when it shall be no more. The application of that word to the setting of the sun, YAW N2), and the sun goeth down, is clearly from the nature of the thing itself; and the preceding words, TM wrawn, the sun riseth; but thence to draw it here to express the destruc~ tion of a city, in which sense it is never used, is a conceit purely rabbinical. Besides, we have shown already that the sceptre and lawgiver could in no sense be said to abide with Judah until David came; for before his days, that tribe had no special interest in the government at all. But this catching at relief from a word no way suited to contribute the least assistance in the case in hand, is a strong argument of a desperate sinking cause, which rather than men will abandon, they will reach after help from the shadow of the least twig that seems to be nigh unto them. I shall not contend with him about what he next asserts, namely that this wnt doth not prove the ceasing of rule and government when the Shiloh comes. It is enough for us, that it was not to cease before Shiloh came, as shall further be manifested in our ensuing explication and vindication of this prophecy. I have only by the way more particularly considered the evasions of this man, who is called amgngst the masters of the present Judaical profession, the Wise, that the reader may know what thoughts to entertain concerning the expositions and objections of others of them who have not attained that reputation.

§ 8. The subject here spoken of, is Judah; and that not as merely declaring the person of the fourth son of Jacob, but the tribe and family that sprang, and was to spring from him. So the whole tribes are every-where called in Scripture by the name of him from jwhom they sprang’; and that principally from the prophecy and blessing in this chapter, wherein the common stream of patriarchal blessing, hitherto running in one channel, is divided into twelve branches; each son of Jacob being constituted a distinct spring of benediction unto his posterity.

Now that this prediction relates not to the person of Judah, but to the tribe of Judah, as from him the whole received its denomination, and as he is included therein, is evident from various considerations. For, 1. The things mentioned in this great patriarchal benediction, were such as should befal the posterity of his children, to whom he spake, OWA‘ NINN3, in the latter days, or in the end of the days, as were all the blessings of them that went before Jacob also. Now that expression in general signally denotes the times of Messiah, as we shall afterwards declare, and as hath in part already been made manifest. And as it relates in particular unto any of the tribes, it denotes the whole continuance of their times, until that sea- ~ son should be accomplished. So that it cannot be restrained unto the persons of any of them. 2. Nothing that is spoken of any of the rest of the sons of Jacob belonged unto them personally, no, though it had its foundation in their persons, or in an allusion unto their personal actings. Thus the dividing of Simeon and Levi in Jacob, and the scattering of them in Israel, belonged not unto their persons, though the events of that nature which befel their posterity, had a special relation to the misconduct of these patriarchs, ver.5—-7._ Neither was any thing here spoken of Judah in any measure fulfilled in his person, who spent his days in Egypt, without any preeminence among his brethren, and without any rule with conquest and terror, like a lion, over others. It is then the family, tribe, or posterity of Judah, that by that name is here intended.

§ 9. Now this tribe of Judah may be considered either absolutely in itself, as it was in its separate state and condition in the wilderness, without the mixture of any not of his posterity, or with respect unto that accession, which was afterwards made unto it occasionally from the other tribes. And this was fourfold: First, From the lot of Simeon falling within its lot in the first inheritance of the land, Josh. xix. 1, whence that tribe, though still keeping its distinct genealogy, was reckoned unto Judah, and became one people with them. Secondly, By the cleaving of the tribe of Benjamin, (whose lot lay next to that of Judah, and mixed with it in the very city of the kingdom,) to the reigning house of David, in the fatal division of the people, 1 Kings xii. 20, 21, 27, upon which both those tribes were after called by the name of Judah, ver. 20, and the people of both by»nm, Judei or Jews. Thirdly, By the tribe of Levi, with multitudes of other good men joining themselves to it out of all the tribes of Israel, upon the idolatries and persecution of Jeroboam, 2 Chron. xi. 13—17, by which means, that one tribe quickly became more numerous and. potent than all the rest. Fourthly, By the mixture and addition of those great numbers, which out of all the tribes of Israel joined themselves unto them upon their return from Babylon, and the restitution of the worship of God amongst them in its proper place. Now it is Judah, with all these accessions, that is intended in this prophecy and benediction, yet so, as that in many things, as, namely, in the production of the Messiah, the natural genuine offspring of Judah was still to have the preeminence.

§ 10. That which is foretold concerning this Judah, is, that it should have UAW and pp, a sceptre, and lawgiver, or a writer of laws for the observation of others. That rule, power, and government are hereby intended, shall be afterwards evinced. What time this should come to pass, is not limited; only after it did so, it was not to cease until the Shiloh came. The foundation of the fulfilment then of this promise, in the erection of polity and government in that tribe, was not laid until about six hundred and twenty years after this time. So certain is that which we before observed, that these patriarchal benedictions concerned not the persons of his sons, and their then present condition, but that of their posterity in the latter days. And this was done when the kingdom was given to David of the tribe of Judah. Neither is the kind of government or rule, which should be erected in that tribe, expressed in the words; only a rule and polity is promised unto it; or that they should be a people having the principle of rule or government in and among themselves. While they continued such, the sceptre and scribe departed not from them; and thus did continue till the end of the time specified, though not without some intercisions of rule. And though there were many changes in the outward form of government, yet the law and polity amongst them were still the same. And where the law and polity are still the same, accidental alterations in the modes and manner of governing, make no essential change in the state of the people, or nature of the government. Thus the first constitution of rule in that tribe, was in a way of government absolutely monarchical: this being imprudently managed by Rehoboam, he lost the ten tribes who would never afterwards submit unto the regal family of Judah. The form of government after an intercision made of it in the Babylonish captivity, was ducal, or by an honorary president, with a mixture both of aristocracy, and of the power of the people. Upon the ceasing of these rulers extraordinarily called, the aristocracy in the Sanhedrim prevailed; whereunto sueceeded a mixed monarchy in the Hasmonzans; and their interest being ruined by intestine divisions, Herod by craft and external force intruded into their power and place.

Neither did his usurpation make any essential change in the rule or polity of the nation, although in his own person he was a foreigner. For even during the turbulent government of the Herodians, with the mterposition of the Roman arms, the nation, with that which constitutes a people, its laws and polity, was still continued, though the administration of su-