Review of the Paraphrase of the New Testament, Addition 1 – Addition 2
AN ADDITION to be inſerted on Matthew 23.
Verſ. 23. THe weightier matters of the law, f judgement, mercy, and faith.]
But for the great moral duties both of the ſecond & even of the fiſt table, juſt dealing, and workes of mercy towards men, and the ſoveraign duty even of the Law, Faith in God, you are farre from the practice of theſe, which being the moſt conſiderable weighty duties, ought—
Note. f. lin. 4. Read, Nevochim Par. 3. c. 53. lin. 6. Read, foreign and foreign and foreign. lin. 38. Now— blot out from thence to the end of that Note, and read, Now to the two firſt of theſe in Maimonides the two former here [foreign and foreign] are directly parallel, foreign.foreign judgement, literally and clearly anſwerable to the firſt; and foreign mercy to the ſecond;foreign. All the difficulty is of the third, foreign faith, which that it is parallel to and aequivolent with foreign righteouſneſs, may at firſt ſight be thought probable alſo. For the Hebrew foreign which is literally rendred foreign faith, and hath the ſame importance ſometimes, which we gave out of Maimonides to foreign, is by the 72. rendred alſo by the very word foreign righteouſneſs, Gen. 24.49. Iſa. 38.19. The ſame is ſometimes again rendred foreign truth, and ſo foreign, faith, righteouſneſs, truth, are oft taken promiſcuouſly, the one for the other, among the Jewes that write Greek. So Pſal. 85.10. we have foreign and foreign, mercy and truth, but Prov. 3.3. foreign and foreign, mercies and fidelities: and Heſychius renders foreign true, foreign.foreign righteous, and ſo foreign ſeems to be taken Luk. 12.57. foreign,foreign. judge right, or true, and Luk. 16.11. foreign the unrighteous Mammon] is ſet oppoſite foreign to the true riches, agreeable to that of the Targum, Ezec. 23.27. who call it foreign the Mammon of vanity or falſeneſs. All this makes it not improbable that foreign faith here, ſhould be taken in that notion of foreign righteouſnes and ſo rendred not faith but fidelity. And thus Mr. Calvine hath interpreted it in this place. But upon farther conſideration it will appear that there is no place for theſe probabilities, the expreſs words of S. Luke in ſetting down this paſſage inforcing another interpretation of it. For Luk. 11.42. the words are theſe. Ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbes, foreign.and paſs over judgement, and foreign the love of God, where as by judgement muſt be underſtood all the duties of juſtice and charity to our neighbours (ſet down more fully in S. Matthew by judgement and mercy) and ſo under that foreign righteouſneſs alſo is comprehended, viz. that mercy which is our righteouſnes, as being from us due to other men, ſo the love of God, which comprehends all the duties of the firſt table, Matt. 22.37. is ſet down as directly parallel and anſwerable to foreign faith, which muſt therefore neceſſarily be the beleeving in God, as that is the foundation of our love of him, as the Apoſtle affirmes. 1 Tim. 1.5. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart—and of faith unfeigned. And then as the two former may be taken from Mich. 6.8. doing juſtice and loving mercy, ſo this third may be parallel alſo to the third thing mentioned there, walking humbly with thy God; and if ſo, will give us an excellent definition, whether of the faith or the love of God, or indeed of the conjunction of them; Faith perfected by love, that it is an humble fiducial obedience unto, or walking with God, as when Enochs walking with God is by the ſonne of Syrach, Eccl. 44.16 and S. Paul, Heb. 11.5. out of the 72. called his pleaſing of God, and that including faith, without which, ſaith he, it is impoſſible to pleaſe God, v. 5. and that faith a beleeving that God is, and that he is a rewarder— And this faith very fitly here mentioned by Chriſt to the Jewes, who are ſo frequently and juſtly accuſed and reprehended by him for want of faith, or not beleeving in God, and that their guilt evidenced by their not beleeving in him, who had ſo ſignally and powerfully demonſtrated himſelf to be ſent by God. And if it be here demanded with what propriety; Faith in this ſenſe can be called one of the foreign, the weightier things of the Law, when Faith is ſo oft ſet oppoſite to the Law, and ſo is not ſo much as a part of it, and when the Law of Moſes was but the Paedagogie to that faith, which ſhould after be revealed, the anſwer will be clear that the Law, to which Faith is oppoſed, is chiefly the Law of Jewiſh ceremonies, which being but the ſhadow of thoſe things, which are the object of the Chriſtians faith, were to be done away at the preſence of the body it ſelf, and ſo faith ſet oppoſite to them, as perfect is oppoſite to imperfect, clear day to twilight. And of theſe alſo thoſe words are to be taken, which affirme the Law to be a Schoole-maſter, or leader of children to Chriſt, theſe being but thoſe initial elements, fitted for thoſe of tender years, and groſſer underſtandings, yet deſigned alſo to adumbrate thoſe things which are now more clearly taught us by Chriſt. As for the Law of God, as that was given to Moſes, and comprehended all the duties to God and man, 'tis evident that faith in God is a part, and weightier part of that, and ſo reducible to the firſt and great commandment, (as that phraſe Mat. 22.37. comprehends the whole firſt table of the Commandments) being certainly compriſed in the love of God, and ſuppoſed in it, and not onelyonly ſo, but it is particularly contained in the firſt commandment of that firſt table, I am the Lord thy God, thou ſhalt have no other Gods but me; the former part of which are federal words, and ſo are to be anſwered by our beleeving what God promiſeth in his Covenant, viz. that he is our God, a merciful and a gracious Father, and ſo to be filially depended on, truſted in, and obeyed, as well as loved by us, and the latter part commanding us to have God for our God, muſt again be interpreted to require from us a beleeving of him, both as that ſignifies a fiducial relyance, and affiance on him, a beleeving his promiſes, and as it is a beleeving whatſoever he ſhall ſay, whether bare affirmations, (our doctrinal points, either in the Old or New Teſtament, revealed to us) or more eſpecially his commands and threats, as our beleef of them is all one with fearing and obeying him, Gods veracity being one of thoſe his attributes, to which our beleef muſt be anſwerable, if we will be deemed to have him for our God. As for the promiſes of another life, which are a principal part of the object of a Chriſtians faith, if they be not thought to have been revealed under the Law of Moſes, which is conceived to look onelyonly toward an earthly Canaan, and ſo the felicities of this life onelyonly; This ſure is a miſtake, cauſed in many, perhaps, by not diſtinguiſhing betwixt leſs clear revelations (ſuch indeed were thoſe under the Law, in compariſon with the luſtre, that Chriſt brought into the world) and none at all; or perhaps, by moſt, through not obſerving, that thoſe diviner promiſes were revealed before the Law, (and being found inefficacious among the ſenſual world, God was farther pleaſed to adde, under Moſes, thoſe earthy promiſes to attract even ſenſual men, and give them a preſent taſte of thoſe good things, which he had laid up for them that would adhere to him.) Theſe therefore being long before revealed to Adam, and Noah, and by tradition from them ſtedfaſtly beleeved by all the people of God, were ſuppoſed in the Moſaical Law as known already, and therefore needed not therein to be more particularly repeated; Beſides, Moſes in his giving the Law to the Jewes, ſet down, over and above the Law it ſelf, a ſtory from the Creation to his time, wherein many paſſages there are which give certain evidence of another life, and the joyes of that, as the reward of a godly living; as when of Enoch it is ſaid, Gen. 5.24. that Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him, when he was but 365. years old, which muſt needs inferre, that ſomewhat extraordinary befell Enoch (which the Apoſtle calls tranſlating him, Heb. 11.5.) and alſo that that life to which God took him, was much more deſireable than that which here he parted with, elſe his untimely death (farre ſooner than others there recited, both before and after him) could not be propoſed, as a reward of his walking with, i. e. pleaſing God, Heb. 11.5. This tranſlation of Enoch then being known among thoſe in whoſe time it happened, and by Moſes recorded for all the Iſraelites to know that came after, muſt needs be to all them a teſtimony beyond all doubt of this truth, that there remained a bleſſed life, after this, for thoſe who pleaſed God. The like was that of Elias in the time of the Kings, who was viſibly carried up to heaven, and this both by the ſonnes of the prophets foretold, before-hand, and teſtified by Eliſha, who ſucceeded him in his prophetick office, and was an eye-witneſs of it. The ſame appears by that paſſage of Gods being by himſelf ſtyled, in the Law, the God of Abraham, &c. after their death; whence our Saviour concludes againſt the Sadducees, that Abraham lived with God, and that there was another life revealed by God in that ſtyle. To this pertains the ſpeech of Balaam, Num. 23.10. Let me dye the death of the righteous, and let my laſt end be like his. But above all, the expreſs words of Daniel, long before Chriſt, and ſo under the Law, Dan. 12.2. Many of them that ſleep in the duſt of the earth ſhall awake ſome to everlaſting life, and ſome to ſhame and everlaſting contempt. And in a word, though the Law given by Moſes have not, in the letter, the mention of any other life, but that in the land of Canaan, yet all the ceremonies of that Law were principally (no doubt) deſigned to this end, to adumbrate and ſo reveale this truth unto them, and that in ſuch a manner, as was moſt for the turn of ſuch childiſh and groſs and rude minds, viz. by ſenſible repreſentations, which the Apoſtle, that well knew their meaning, interprets to this ſenſe, throughout the Epiſtle to the Hebrewes, and aſſures us, that Abraham, Iſaac and Jacob expected a city that had foundations, whoſe builder and maker was God, Heb. 11.10. meaning heaven undoubtedly by that phraſe; And ſo of Moſes, v. 26. that he had reſpect to the recompenſe of reward, that ſure which was after this life, (for he came not to Canaan) the pleaſures and honours of which were, on this intuition, deſpiſed by him, v. 25. Thus much hath been here added on this occaſion, for the refuting the doctrine of thoſe men, who can diſcern none, but temporal, carnal promiſes, under the Law, whom for farther ſatisfaction (if it be yet needfull) I referre to the judicious and perſpicuous Treatiſe of P. Baro, De praeſtantia & dignitate divinae legis, (dedicated to Archbiſhop Whitgift, but firſt read in his Lady Margarete Lectures at Cambridge) Lib. 1.
Another to be inſerted on Luke 1. Note m.
AFter the teſtimony of Theocritus, Adde, Thus Sibylla, l. 1.
—foreign
foreign.
I will propheſie all things that are paſt, preſent, as well as to come. Adding foreign, And firſt God commands me to ſay, profeſſing to do it from God.