The Resurrection Revealed, Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Section 8
SECT. VIII.
Wherein is alledged, Deut. 32. ver. 15, &c. to ver. 44. for the proofe of the maine generall Propoſition.
In Deut. 32. ver. 15. to ver, 19. are ſet downe the ſins of the Iewes;
But Ieruſalem waxed fat, and kicked, &c. Then he forſook God, &c. they provoked him to jealouſie with strange gods, and they ſacrificed to Devils, not to God, &c. In ver. 19. &c. to ver. 35. is ſet downe the wrath and revenge that God would exerciſe upon them for thoſe ſins; When the Lord ſaw it, he abhorred it, or deſpiſed them, becauſe of the provoking of his ſonnes and daughters. And he ſaid, I will hide my face from them, &c. They have moved me to jealouſie, &c. and a fire is kindled in my anger, and it ſhal burne, &c. I wil heap miſchiefe upon them, &c. I ſaid I would ſcatter them into corners, &c. In ver. 35. &c. to 44. is ſet downe Gods comforting of the Iewes, and his terrour to their enemies, ver. 35. To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their (enemies) foot ſhal ſlide in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand; and the things that ſhal come upon them make haſte, ver. 36. For the Lord ſhal judge his people, (or ſhal plead the cauſe of his people)*So Piſcator, Cauſam populi ſui age…. and REPENT HIMSELFE for his SERVANTS, when he ſeeth that their POWER IS GONE, and there is none ſhut up, or left. Ver. 37. And he ſhal ſay, where are their gods, their rock in whom they truſted? &c. ver. 38. Let them riſe up and help you, and be your protection. ver. 39. See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God with me; I kill, and I make alive; I would, and I heale; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. ver. 4. For I lift up my hand to Heaven, and ſay, I live for ever. ver. 41. If I whet my glittering ſword, and mine hand take hold on judgement, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and I will reward them that hate me. Ver. 42. I will make mine arrowes drunke with bloud (and my ſword ſhal devour fleſh) and that with the bloud of the ſlaine, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Ver. 43. Rejoyce O yee Nations (or GENTILES, as the Apoſtle renders it, Rom. 15.10.) with his people; for he wil avenge the bloud of his Servants, and will render vengeance to his adverſaries, and will be merciful to HIS LAND, and to HIS PEOPLE.
§. 1 THeſe Sins of the Jewes we have knowne, and thoſe Judgements of God, viz. their power to be gone, and them to ſee ſcattered into corners, we ſee to this day; but we never ſaw or heard theſe Promiſes fulfilled, according to their Tenor here mentioned.
§. 2 Firſt, we never knew by Scripture, Hiſtory, or Experience, that the Nations of the GENTILES rejoyced with the Iewes, as ſharers in the ſame generall ſalvation, ſpiritual and temporall, as this Text imports, according to the letter here, and the ſpirituall extent in Rom. 15.10. For in Chriſt, or the Apoſtles time (the likelieſt time) this was not effected. A few particular Jews and Proſelyte Gentiles (in the Acts) are as nothing, to make up Nations of Gentiles, or the generality of the Jews, to which comprehenſiveneſſe this Text amounts. The two great ſtreams ran croſſe in this manner: Whiles Chriſt was on earth, nor he, or his Diſciples preached in the way of the Gentiles, but kept cloſe the loſt ſheep of the houſe of Iſrael, Matth. 10.5. And when the Gentiles received the Goſpel, the Jews had refuſed it, Act. 13.45, 46. The Jewes generally decryed their Chriſt with Crucifie him, Crucifie him. And of the Gentiles no Nation became Chriſtian, till after Conſtantine the Great his time, which was above three hundred yeers after Chriſts incarnation, and above two hundred yeers after the death of the laſt of the Apoſtles. Indeed St. Paul doth in expreſſe quotation of the 43. verſ. of this 32. of Deut. in his Ep. to Rom. Chap. 15. v. 10. aſſert, this muſt be fulfilled, that Jewes and Gentiles muſt rejoyce in the common Goſpel-ſalvation. But withall he had told you before, Chap. 11. that at that preſent the generality of the Jewes were under ſpiritual blindneſſe, and were ſo to be, till the fulneſſe of the Gentiles were come in, and ſo they continue blinde to this very day. So that inſtead of a reciprocal rejoycing in one anothers ſpirituall ſalvation, they conceive with great indignation us to bee in an errour, and we with equal ſorrow, conceive them to be in an errour. And for temporal ſalvation, both Jews and Gentiles were as equally intereſted in the ſorrowful defect thereof, in, and after the Apoſtles time, both being then under the Heathen Roman ſlavery, and from thence forward were the Gentile Chriſtians bloodily perſecuted for three hundred yeers in the ten perſecutions, and after under the Pope, as all the Jewes to this day are either diſperſed as a deſpiſed people, by and among all Nations, or under the Turkiſh ſlavery, the more is the griefe of every good Chriſtian.
Theſe premiſed (being ſo apparent) the next promiſe not yet to have been performed, viz. of Gods taking a general bloody vengeance on all the enemies of the Jewes (according to the many, and amplified high expreſſions in this 32. of Deut. to that ſenſe) is of it ſelfe moſt manifeſt. For neither the Romans, nor the Turks (both the grand oppreſſours of the Jewes, for above this ſixteen hundred yeers between them) are with any ſignall ſigne, or conſiderable marke, deſtroyed with a corporall deſtruction. As for the deſtruct on the enemies of the Jews in the Macchabean warres, it doth not in any proportion amount to the elevation and latitude of theſe Deuteronomian promiſes. Wee know all thoſe Heroick attempts of the Jews were ſoon ſquatted flat, under after-ſlavery. The Apoſtle mentions their ſore ſufferings in thoſe times, Heb. 11. latter end. Of thoſe warres we may ſay as in Dan. 11.32. to 36. The people that knew their God did exploits, they inſtructed many (in War, as well as in Religion yet they fall by the ſword. And though they are holpen with a little helpe (little in time, as well as in ſtrength) yet they fall. And for other victories, wherein the Romans having captivated Jeruſalem, according to Dan. 11.36. the King of the North and South (Dan. 11.40.) that is the Saracens and Turks come and lead that Captivity captive; the Jewes all this while doe but ſhift and change their oppreſſours, but their oppreſſion is not taken away. At the ſame rate we may value the Holy war, as they call it, managed by Kings called Chriſtians, maintained by a ſtock gathered firſt by the order of Templars, next of St. John of Jeruſalem, thirdly, of Knights of Malta, to beat the Turke, and to regaine the holy land; for the Turke keeps his footing to this day, with inlargements. Chriſtian Kings have been ſo buſie in bangling with them of their owne Religion, that whiles they divide, that grand Blaſphemer moſt inſolently reignes as the greateſt Monarch now on earth.
§. 4 Therefore wee conclude that this place of Deuteronomy is not fulfilled till that come to paſſe, in Rev. 19.20, 21. That when the Beaſt and the Kings of the earth, and their Armies made war againſt Chriſt: the Beaſt was taken, and with him the falſe Prophet, and caſt alive into the lake, &c. And the remnant were ſlaine with the ſword, and the fowles are filled with their fleſh; So that according to the intent and termes of this Text of Deut. 32. there is an avenging of all the ſervants of God, viz. of Jews and Gentiles, and a totall corporall ruine of all their enemies yet to be performed. Of which ſort of deſtruction there is none ſuch at the ultimate judgement. As it can be of no uſe to the fulneſſe of Iewes and Gentiles, if it come not afore; therefore they muſt have it afore, that they may, as is ſaid afore, joyntly rejoyce together in each other.