The Holy Genealogy of Jesus Christ, To the reader
The holy Genealogie of Ieſus Chriſt, both his naturall Line of Fathers, which S. Luke followeth, chap. 3. And his Kingly line, which S. Matthew followeth, chap. 1. with fit notation of their Names. By H. Br.
To the Chriſtian Reader.
THE holy Genealogie of Ieſus Chriſt (may not be reckoned in the number of thoſe prophane ones, which S. Paul condemneth in 1. Tim. 1.4. for it) doth not conſiſt in a vaine repetition of Names, (as many doe thinke) neither is the knowledge thereof ſuperfluous, (as ſome doe affirme;) But verily (if it be rightly vnderſtood) it is of exceeding great vſe and conſequence; not onelyonly to prooue Chriſt to be the promiſed Seede, (which is a weightie poynt;) But alſo it ſerueth as a ſpeciall guide, to direct vsus in the true vnderſtanding of all the Holy Storie: For the natiue iudgement of all men teacheth, that Hiſtories cannot be learned rightly, without knowledge of the Perſons vponupon whom the Narrations goe. That beeing ſo, all that looke for Saluation by Scripture, which calleth vsus vntounto our Sauiour, ſhould hauehave a ſpecial care to know our Lords Line: for vponupon it, all the Stories go principally; either in open phraſe of words, or elſe with ſome cloſe relation: as hee that will take but a ſerious view of our Lords line of Fathers, ſhall ſoone ſee, how all the Holy ſtorie dependeth vponupon it, and from it, as from a Fountaine, doth branch it ſelfe into a moſt pleaſant varietie of all Gods holy proceedinges, in the wonderfull preſeruation of his Church, and in the fearefull ouerthrow of all the enemies thereof.
The Ebrew hath kept a perfect Regiſter of all their Names vntounto Dauid; but after that Dauid had the promiſe of the Celeſtiall Throne, (2. Sam. 7. Then our Lords kindred was kept in priuate Recordes, all ſauing foure: As Nathan for the firſt, and three others of him, that inherited Salomons right: And yet notwithſtanding the God of Wiſedome, hath not ſuffered thoſe Names (which the Ebrew hath omitted in the old Teſt.) to periſh in obliuion; But the Holy Ghoſt hath been exceeding carefull, to ſet downe (in Greeke) a perfect Regiſter of them all, in the very forefront, (euen like a moſt ſtately Vlam or Porch,) before the Temple of the New Teſtament.
And yet, it is a moſt lamentable thing to conſider, how many men doe peruert and obſcure this glorious entrance of the bleſſed Goſpel, to the great hurt of all Chriſtianitie, & to the great hardoning of the poore blind Iewes in their obſtinate reſiſting of all our Goſpel: For ſay they, If ſo many groſſe errours (as many Chriſtians hauehave broched for currant truth) be ſet in the very forefrunt of all the N. Teſtament; then Chriſt is not come in the fleſh, neither is our N.T. from God. Which aſſertion cannot be denied, if it be true, as many doe affirme: Firſt, That Salomons houſe did end in Achazias. Secondly, That King Ioas in Mat. 1. and Simeon in Luk. 3. are all one man. Thirdly, That Ioachaz a younger Brother, was made Father to Ioakim two yeares his elder. Fourthly, That Salathiel was the naturall Sonne of Iechonias, notwithſtanding Gods Oath, that he ſhould die childleſſe. Ier. 22.
But to cleare the holy Genealogie of Ieſus Chriſt from theſe, and many other groſſe errours, it will not be amiſſe, firſt to lay downe a briefe Table, to reconſile S. Matthew and S. Luke: which ſhall begin no higher then Dauid; becauſe the maine errours, are chiefly found in his poſteritie. And after this, ſhall follow a more large Table of all our Lords Fathers, with briefe obſeruations vponupon their Names; which ſhall be layde downe in their true diſtinctions, and with notations agreeable to the Ebrew, and to occaſions, holden fitte to giuegive them names at their birth times: And herein we may conſider the wonderfull prouidence of God, cloſely diſpoſing their Names, to that which in Storie ſhould be moſt famous: For it is euident, that the Names of our Lords line, were ſagely giuen by the guidance of Gods ſpirit, and in more wiſe ſort, then euer any fieigner could thinke vponupon; as the diſcreete Reader may eaſily diſcerne, by the correſpondance of their Names, which abridge the Holy Story. The Syria que or Chaldy, Arabi que and Ethiopian, are as Ebrew.
H. Broughton.