Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1.
VERSE 1. The Book]
THat is, a roll or register, a catalogue or calendarGen. 5. 1. (Heb. foreign) a cyphering and summing up.This is Sepher toledoth, foreign, say the Septuagint.
Of the generations]
That is, of the Genealogies, as touching his Humanity (St Matthews main drift:) for as touching his Divinity (St Johns chief scope and subject,) who can declare his generation? Isa. 53. 8. What is his name? and what is his sonnes name, if thou canst tell? Prov. 30. 4. He is without descent or pedegree, as Melchisedech, Heb. 7. 2.
Of Jesus Christ]
Jesus shews he was God (for besides me there is no Saviour, …. 45. 21.) Christ, that he was man, the Anointed, for in respect of his manhood, chiefly, is this anointing with gifts and graces attributed to Christ. The name of Jesuits therefore favoureth of blasphemous arrogancy. One of their ownRem … e Christi …, non …. gives the reason; because he hath communicated unto us the thing signified by the name Christ, but not by the name Jesus. And yet, it is notoriously known (saith Dr Fulke, out of another of their own Writers) that the most honourable name of Christian, is in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach; and usually abused, to signifie a Fool or a Dolt.…. on Act. 11. …. …. 4. cut … …. …. Col le …. in ….
The sonne of David]
Gods darling,*David amasius vel amabilis. …, … Solomon dictus est …. one that observed all his willes, Acts 13 22. and faithfully served out his time, ver. 36.
The sonne of Abraham]
The friend of God, and father of the faithfull, reckon'd here (for honours sake) as the next immediate father of Christ; whose day indeed he saw and rejoyced, he laughed, yea leapt sor joy of this man-childe to be born into the world. Whose children we are, so long as we walk in the steps of his faith; that Christ, being formed in us, may see of the travell of his soul, and be satisfied: he may see his seed, and prolong his daies upon earth. Such honour have all his Saints, Psal. 149. 9.Joh. 8. ….
Verse 2. Abraham begat Isaac]
The fruit, not more of hisforeign. flesh, then of his faith: Whence he is said to be born after the Spirit, …. 10. 11.Gal. 4. …9.Verè fuit Isaac beatae senectu… & … dei filius.
Isaac begat Iacob]
After twenty years expectance, and many an hearty prayer put up therewhile. So, Adam lived an hundred and twenty years ere he begat Seth; whom God set as another…. seed instead of Abel, Gen. 5. 3. with Gen. 4. 25. when Cains familyGen. 2…. …1. The Hebrew word is, to frequent and multiply prayer.flourished, and grew great in the earth. God usually stayes so long, that he hardly findes faith, Luk. 18. 8. till men have done expecting, and then he doeth things that they lookt not for, Isa. 64. 3. Wait therefore upon him who waits to be gracious; and know this, that he is a God of judgement, Isa. 30. 18. that is, a wise God, one that chuseth his times, and knows best when to deal forth his favours. See Isa. 49 8. with Psal. 69. 13. Every thing isEccles …. 11. beautiful in its season, saith Solomon.
Iacob begat Iudah and his brethren]
Brethren in iniquity (the most of them) a part of their fathers punishment, for thatGen. 17 …, &c. three-fold lye in a breath. Reuben was the beginning of his strength, excelling in dignity and power, Gen. 45. 3. that is (saith the Chaldee Paraphrast) in the Principality and the Priesthood. Both which he forfeited by his foul offence; the … to Iudah, the later to Levi. Howbeit, upon his return to God (though disinherited of the birth-right, yet) he had this honour of an elder-brother, that he was first provided for. But Iudah was he, whom his brethren Gen. …. 8.should praise (saith Iacob) in allusion to his name, and in reference to his priviledge; for it is evident, that our Lord sprang foreign.out of Iudah, Heb. 7 14. that branch from on high, Luk. 1. 78.foreign. that Shiloh, which some interpret, His sonne: Others, Tranquillator, R David.Salvator, the Prosperer, Pacificatour, Safe-maker, &c.Tranquillator, …, a themate Shalah, …. Others, the son of her secundines, which is the Tunicle that wrappeth the childe in the wombe.
Verse 3. And Iudah begat Phares and Zarah]
Hierome is deceived, that deriveth the pedegree of the Pharisees from thisUnde etiam lat. Salvere, Salvus, Salvare, …. Phares. They took their name either of Pharash, to expound, as Interpreters of the Law, Rom. 2. 18. Or of Pharas to separate, with a stand further off, for I am holier then thou. Iosephus saith, That the Pharisees seemed to outstrip all others, both in height offoreign de bel. …. cap. 4. holinesse, and depth of learning. As for Phares, he was a breachmaker (whence also he had his name, Gen. 38. 29.) He violently took the first-birth-right; and became both a father of the Messias, and a Type. For Christ by his strength broke the power of death, and hell: he broke down also the … wall that was betwixt the Jews and Gentiles: who when they shall be … born, then shall the Jews (typified by Zarah, who thrust forth the hand first, as those that willing to be justified by their works, and thinking to regenerate themselves, had the … threed of the Laws condemnation bound upon their hands, which therefore they drew back and fell from God,) then shall they, I say, come forth again, Rom. 11. 11, 12, 25. 26.
Of …]
A …, but probably, a proselyte. The Jews, say, she was Melchisedechs daughter the High-Priest, and was … to be burned, Lev. 21. 8. But this may well passe for a Jewish fable: Howbeit, that Melchisedech was a Canaanite, but a most righteous King and Priest of the most high God, and was therefore not molested or medled with by Kidar-laomer and his complices, I judge, not unlikely. This …, out of desire, partly of revenge, and partly of issue, fell into the sin of …. Rahab was an harlot, Bathsheba an …; yet all these, grandmothers to our Saviour: Who as he needed not to be ennobled by his stock, so neither was disparaged by his Progenitours; but took flesh of these greatest sinners, to shew that we cannot commit more then he can …: and that by his purity he washeth off all our spots; like as the Sun wasteth and wipeth away all the ill vapours of the earth and aire.
And Phares begat Esrom,]
When he was but 14 years of age,Pareus in …. the year before they went down to Egypt, say some: Others assoil… in …. Com. Anno …. it otherwise. Let him that readeth understand as he can. Christ (the Arch-Prophet) when he comes again, shall teach us all things.
Esrom begat Aram]
While they sojourned in the Land of Egypt; a miserable home, where was nothing but bondage and tyranny. And yet, in reference to it, Moses (who was likewise born there) calls his son, Gershom, or a stranger there, because born in Midian. The sons of Ephraim, about the birth of Moses, sought to break prison before Gods goal-delivery: but this … a great mischief to themselves, and no small heart-break to their aged father, 1 Chron. 7. 21, 22. Psal. 78. 9. Besides that, it gave occasion, likely, to that cruell edict of Pharaoh; Let us deal wisely (St Stephen saith, sophistically, subtilly) lest they multiply foreign.and join also to … enemies, and fight against us (as now theyActs 7. 19. have fought against the Gittites, their own enemies, who detained from them the promised Land, till their sins were full) and so get them up out of the Land, as lately they had assayed to do. Therefore they d d set over them taskmasters, to … them with their burdens, and to keep them from spawning so fast, after theExod. …. manner of fishes (as the word imports) which multiply beyond measure. But God turned their wisedom into folly; they took a wrong course. For who knows not that your labouring men have the most and the strongest children? And notwithstanding this … Pharaohs craft and cruelty.
Verse 4. Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Naasson]
Who was hang'd up in the wildernesse, among … rest of the Rulers, for folly committed with their mistresses of Moab. Neither scaped the common sort scot-free, for they fell in one … three and twenty thousand, saith St Paul. Four and … 1 Cor. …. 8.thousand, saith Moses; whereof a thousand were the chief Princes, the other were inferiours, provoked to sin by their example. But why doth the Apostle insist in the speciall punishment of the people? to shew, saith learned Iunius, how frigid and slender their…. lib 2. …. 37. defence is, how short their covering, who plead and pretend for their sins the example of their superiours.
And Naasson begat Salmon]
Called 1 Chron. 2. Salmah. There was also a Mount of this name (as touching the sound, though with difference of one letter in the Originall) whither Abimelech and his host resorted, Iudg. 9. 48. And … the Psalmist speaketh; When the Almighty scattered Kings, they shall be white as snow in Salmon. Now it is storied of Andronicus, the old Emperour of Constantinople, that, all things going crosse with him, he took a Psalter into his hand, to resolve his doubtfull minde: And opening the same, as if it were of that heavenly oracle to askeTurk. Histo. fol. 164. counsell, he lighted upon this verse, and was thereby comforted and directed what to do for his greatest safety. To be white as snow Psal. 68. 14. explained.in Salmon, is to have joy in affliction, light in darknesse. Salmon signifieth shady and darke: so this mount was with dens and glimnes; but made lightsome by snow. Hoe … obitèr.
Verse 5. And Salmon begat Boos of Rahab.]
This the Evangelist might have by tradition. Salmons genealogy is set down, 1 Chron. 2. Ruth. 4. but whom he married, nothing is reported.
And Boos begat Obed of Ruth]
Whiles Orphah wants bread in her own Countrey, Ruth is grown a great Lady in Bethlehem; and advanced to be great grandmother to the King of kings.foreign. There's nothing lost by Gods service.
And Obed begat Iesse]
A good old man, but not very famous. Retired it seems he was, and drawn much up into himself; neither thinking great things of himself, nor seeking great things for himself;foreign, Vive tibi, quantum que , potes, … vita but living among his own people; much of his son Davids disposition, who loves his hook the better since he saw the Court, and sings,
Beatus ille qui procul …, &c.
Non vixit …, qui natus … fellit.
Hee's not the least happy that is least observed.….
Verse 6. And Iesse begat David the King.]
But that was not his chief title: He gloried more in stlling … the servant of the Lord, Psal. 36. 1: &c. So Theodosius esteemed it a greater honour, that he was membrum Christi, then Caput Imperij. Numa etiam foreign, existimabat. Numa held thePlut. in …. service of God the highest honour.
David the King begat Salomon]
Whom Bellarmine reckoneth for a reprobate: but (besides that he was Gods Corculum, and by him called Iedidiah,) he calleth himself in his sacred Retractations, Coheleth: which being interpreted, The Preacher, is a word of the foeminine termination, and by some rendered Aggregata, where understanding the substantive Anima, they conclude here-hence, that he was renewed by repentance, and reunited to the Church.
Of her that had been the wife of Uriah.]
His best children he…, … in …. Aug. had by this wife: … fruit of his humiliation doubtlesse. The barren womens children are observed to have been the best, as Isaac, Samuel, Iohn Baptist, &c. for like reason.
Verse 7. And Solomon begat Roboam.]
A childe of fourty years old, a soft-spirited man, the Scripture notes him, a foreign, easily drawn away by evil counsell. Green wood will be warping. Of him it might be said, as once it was of a certain Prince in Germany, Esset alius, si esset apud alios. But a man would wonder, that…. by so many wives Solomon should have but one sonne, and him none of the wisest neither. Herôum filij …. He might (likely) bewail his own unhappines in Rehoboam, Eccles. 2. 18, 19. as he is thought to do in Jeroboam, Pro. 20. 21. His mother was an Ammonitesse: the birth followes the belly: the conclusion followes the weaker proposition.
And Roboam begat Abiah]
A man not right, yet better then his father: and for this to be commended, that he held and pleaded the true worship and service of God as the beauty and bulwark of his Kingdom: relying also upon God, he discomfited Jeroboam; Deo confisi, nunquam confusi.
And Abia begat Asa.]
A better son, sprung of the seed of bad Abia, of the soil of … Maachah, whom St. Jerome makes to be a worshipper of that abominable idol Priapus, otherwise called Baal-peor. For thus he translates that, 1 King. 15. Insuper & Numb. 25. 5.Maachan matrem … amovit, ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi, In 4 ….& in luco …. Nos, pudore pulso, stamus sub Iove, coleis apertis, said the worshippers of Priapus. The people that … D. … Apolog.thereto (the sacrifice being ended) all stepped into a thicket, which was alwaies planted neer the altar of this God; and there, like brute beasts, … satisfied their lusts: thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their God. This villany Maachah may seem to have been guilty of, and was therefore worthily removed by her son Asa, from … Queen. Sedes prima, & … ima, suit not well together. Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. Honour in a … man, is as a jewell … Gold in a swines snout.foreign
Verse 8. And Asa begat Josaphat.]
A godly King, but late ….witted: and therefore paid for his learning, twice, at least, in holy2 Chron. 17. history. One thing in the narration of his acts is very remarkable. He placed forces in all the fenced cities: yet is it not said thereupon, that the fear of the Lord fell on the neighbour Nations. But when he had established a preaching ministry in all the Cities, then his enemies feared, and made no warre: Solidissima regiae politiae In ….basis, (saith Paradinus) est verum Dei cultum ubivis stabilire: Alias, quî potest aut Deus Reges beare, a quibus negligitur, aut populus fideliter colere, qui de obsequio suo non recte instituitur. The ordinances of God are the beauty and bulwark of a place and people.
And Jehosaphat begat Joram]
That lived undesired, and died unlamented. While he lived, there was no use of him, and when he died, no misse of him: no more then of the paring of the nails, orforeign sweeping of the house. He lived wickedly, and died wishedly, asDan …. of Eng. 14. it is said of King Edwin.
And Joram begat Ozias]
Here Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah Gen. 17.are written in the earth, not once set down in the roll: perhaps it was, because they were imped in the wicked family of Ahab. This Uzzias, though a King, yet he loved husbandry, 2 Chron. 26. Thrift is the fuell of magnificence. He was at length a leper, yet still remained a King. Infirmities may deform us, they cannot dethrone us. The English laws (saith Camden) pronounce, thatCamdens Elizabeth, fol. 8. the crown once worne, quite taketh away all defects whatsoever: Sure it is, that when God once crowns a man with his grace and favour, that man is out of harms-way for ever.
Verse 9. And Ozias begat Joatham.]
A pious Prince, but not very prosperous. Grace is not given to any, as a target against outward affliction.
And Joatham begat Ahaz]
A sturdy stigmatick, a branded rebell. The more he was distressed, the more he trespassed. This Humiliantar, & humiles non sunt, …. in … 34.is that Ahaz, 2 Chron. 28. 22. How many (now adaies) are humbled, yet not humble? Low, but not lowly? Qui nec fractis cervicibus inclinantur, as Hieron complaineth: quos multo facilius In Epist.fregeris, quam flexeris, as another hath it. These are like…, capi non …. Plin. the … called Monoceros, who may be kild, but not caught. Plectimur a Deo, saith Salvian, nec flectimur tamen: corripimur, sed non corrigimur. But if men harden their hearts against correction: God will harden his hand, and hasten their destruction.
Ahaz begat Hezekiah]
Who stands betwixt his father Ahaz, and his sonne Manasseh, as a lily between two thornes, or as a Fuller between two …: or, as that wretched Cardinall of Toledo in his preface before the Bible, printed at Complutum in Spain, said; that he set the Vulgar Latine betwixt the Hebrew and Greek, as Christ was set betwixt two theeves. Here observe (by the way) that Judah had some enterchange of good Princes; Israel, none: and that, under religious Princes the people were ever religious: as under wicked Princes, wicked. Most people will…. be of the Kings religion, be it what it will be, as the Melchites were of old, and the Papists still, if M. Rogers (our Protomartyr in Q. Maries daies) may be beleeved. The Papists, saith he, apply themselves to the present state: yea, if the state should change ten times in the year, they would ever be ready at hand to change with it, and so follow the cry, and rather utterly forsake God, and be of no Religion, then that they would forgoe lust or living,…. and Mon. for God or Religion.
Verse 10. And Ezechias begat Manasses]
Who degenerates into his grandfather Ahaz, as the kernell of a well-fruited plant doth, sometimes, into that crab or willow, which gave the originall to his stock. This man was (till converted) as very a Nonsuch in Judah, as Ahab was in Israel; Yet no King of either Iudah or Israel reigned so long as he. It was well for him that he lived so long, to grow better: As it had been better for Asa to have died sooner, when he was in his prime. But they are met in heaven, I doubt not: whither, whether we come sooner or later, happy are we.
And Manasses begat Amon]
Who followed his father in sin, but not in repentance. And thou his son, ô Belshazzar, hast not Ban. 5. 22.humbled thine heart, though thou … all this: But hast lifted up thy self against the Lord, &c. It is a just presage and desert of ruine, not to be warned. This was a bloody Prince, therefore lived not out half his daies. Q. Maries raign was the shortest of any since the Conquest, Richard the third onelyonly excepted: Yet she was non natur â, sed … arte ferox, say some.
And Amon begat Iosias]
Of whom that is true, that S. … writes of another, In brevi vitae … virtutum multa replevit: Or as M. Hooker speaketh of K. Edward 6. He departed soon, but lived long: for life consists in action: In all these is the life of my spirit, saith Hezekiah, Isa. 38. 15, 16. but the wanton widow is dead while she liveth, 1 Tim. 5 6. That good King… se unius … rei paenitere dixit. lived apace, and died betime, being … Orbis, as Titus was called: and Mirabilia mundi, as Otho: having at his death (as it is said of Titus) one thing onelyonly to repent of, and that was his rash… autem quid … non …, nec … certó novit. Dio in Tito. engaging himself in a needlesse quarrell, to the losse of his life, and the ruine of that state. … Epaminondas was once slain, his countreymen were no longer famous for their valour and victories, but for their cowardise and calamities. When Augustine departed this world, we feared, saith one, the worlds ruine, and were readyNec … sed cladibus infignes Nea …. to wish that either he had never been borne, or never died. When God took away Theodosius, he took away with him almost all the peace of that Church and State: So he did of this, with Josiah, Orbis … timueramus.that heavenly spark, that plant of renown, that precious Prince,
Qui Regum decus, & invenum flos, spes que bonorum,Paterculus.
Deliciae saecli, & gloria gentis ….
Par. …. ….as Cardanus sang of our English Iofiah, K. Edward the sixth.
Verse 11. And Iosias begat Iechonias.]
Rob. Stephanus restorethLudovico. 12. …, … est mutatio, … qui prius digito coelum … vi …, nunc … serpere, … esse … eres. Budaeus. and rectifieth the text thus; Iosias begat Iakin and his brethren, and Iakin begat Iechanias. For otherwise, the middle fourteenth, (whereby S. Matthow reckoneth) would want a man. Iehoahaz, younger brother to Iakin had, after his fathers death, stept into the Throne, but was soon ejected. … prospers not. Abimelechs head had stollen the crown, and by a blow on his head he is … at Shechem. What got most of the Caesars by their hasty advancement, nisi ut citius inter ficerentur? Some think … Pedaiah (whose naturall son Zorobabel was, … Chro. 3. 19) should be … reckoned, though he be …, … he was … and died: obscurely in ….As one hath it. Notandum, saith the Chronologer, quod nullus Pontificum, egregij aliquid a tempore Bonifacij tertij pro sedis Romanae tyrannide constituens, diu supervixerit. Quod & huic Bonifacio accidit. It is remarkable that no Pope, of any note for activity in his office, was long of life.
Verse 12. And after they were brought to Babyton]
This the Evangelist …, and rings often in the ears of his impious Countreymen, as a notorious publike judgement on a Nation so incorrigibly flagitious, so unthankfull for mercies, so impatient of remedies, so uncapable of repentance, so obliged, so warned, so shamelesly, so lawlesly wicked, quorum maxima beneficia, …, supplicia, as the Centurists … it forth. Abused mercy … ….into fury.….
Iechonias begat Salathiel]
Neri begat him, naturally, Iechonias, ….legally; adopting him for his childe, that was his nephew, 1 Chro. 3.Prefat. … Centur. 5. 17.
And Salathiel begat Zorobabel]
Who brought forth the head…. …. 8. 9. stone of the second Temple with shoutings, crying Grace, Grace, unto it. He was a Chieftain in the first year of Cyrus, Ezra 2. 2. and he lived to see the building of the Temple, about the sixth year of Darius Nothus, which is a … of a hundred years between.… of the … Monarchy. So he had a longer life then ordinary, which God granteth to some, because he hath something to be done by them. A short life in some cases is a blessing, 1 King. 13, 14. as grapes gathered afore they be ripe, are freed from the violence of the winepresse: as lambs slain before they be grown, escape many storms and sharp showres that others live to taste of. Some wicked live long, that they may aggravate their judgement; others die sooner, that they may hasten it. But they are blessed, that whether they live they live unto the Lord, or whether they die they die untoRom. 14. 8. the Lord, and in the Lord, their works following them.…. …. 13.
Verse 13. And Zorobabel begat Abind]
S. Luke saith, …: Hence the diversity of number and names. Matthew descends by the posterity of Abiud: Luke, of Rhesa, down to Ioseph.
And Abiud begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Azor, &c.]
These lived in … calamitous times of the people of God after the captivity: and were not Kings and Captains, as being held under by other Nations: but Law-givers they were, as Iacob prophesied, and principall men among that people, till Shiloh came, Gen. 49. 10.
… 14. And Azor begat Sadoc, and Sadoc begat Achim]
Of these and the rest, as the Scripture sets down nothing more then their bare names, so neither is there any Jewish record, at this day extant, of their acts. So many … they had, one in the neck of another, that little liberty was left them to write: though I doubt not, but the posterity of David were then carefully observed, by as many as lookt for the consolation of Israel. But among the …, since our Saviours time, after the sealing up of the Babylonish Talmud, that is, after the year of Christ 500. to the year 1000. there was … or nothing written, by reason of the grievous calamities that seized upon them.
Verse 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar, &c.]
These might be private …, some of them, as Ioseph and Mary were: it being the care and endeavour of … Herods, and those afore, that … the Iews in subjection, to suppresse, as much as might be, the posterity of David: at least to keep them in a low condition; for as much as it was a certain and received truth among that people, that … the Prince, Dan. 9. 26. should shortly come of that family. And this was that that held up the fainting hearts of the good people of those sad times, (when prophecie failed them, and prosperity too,) they looked for the Desire of all Nations, for the Consolation of Israel, having little else to releive them, for the externall means: Unlesse it were that foreign, that eccho heard in the Temple, they tell us of, which served them for an oracle: And the miracle of the pool of Bethesda granted by God to strengthen them in the true worship of God, under the persecution of Antiochus and other tyrants, till the daies of John Baptist, and the Lord Christ.
Verse 16. And Iacob begat Ioseph,]
Whose genealogie is here recorded, and not Maries: it being not the custom of that people …, to set forth the genealogies of women. As at this day, theBlunts voyage into the Levant. p. 121. Jews have an over-base conceit of that sex; saying that they have not so divine a soul as men, but are of a lower creation, &c. and therefore they suffer them not to enter the Synagogue, but appoint them a gallery without.
The husband of Mary, of whom was born Iesus]
This is the summe of all the good news in the world, such as surpasseth the joy of conquest, or of harvest, Isa. 9 3, 5, 6. and should therefore swallow up all discontents whatsoever.
Who is called Christ]
The name of Jesus is mel in ore, melos in Bern.aure, jubilum in cord: as it was to St Paul, who therefore names it nine severall times in the ten first verses of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, as loth to come off it. Yet is not the name Jesus alone half so sweet, as when Christ is added to it, as here. For Iesus Christ betokeneth such a Saviour as is anointed and appointed thereunto by God, consecrated to the office, according to his Godhead, and … for it, according to his manhood: In both … a Saviour, and that ex professo (as you would say) and by … of all three persons: The Son being anointed by the Father, … the Holy Ghost: And as Sampson when clothed with the spirit, saved the people: so Christ much more.
Verse 17. So all the generations, &c. are fourteen generations]
… cades.For memory sake, Matthew summeth up the genealogy of our Saviour into three fourteens: like as some of the … are, … the same reason, set down in order of the Alphabet. Discere voluit …. ….Socrates, … aliud esse quàm …, saith Tully. Magis autem. Christi meminisse debemus, quam respirare. The soul should be as the Ark of God, the memory like the pot of Manna, preserving holy truths touching him that is the Way, the Truth, and the life.
Verse 18. Now the birth of Iesus Christ]
foreign ad foreign transit. And being to relate a strange thing, and till then never heard of, he elegantly stirs up the hearers minde with this preface.
Whenas his mother Mary was espoused]
An ancient and commendable custom. Adam took his wife the first day of their creation, (she was espoused to him) but knew her not, till after the fall: Lots daughters were espoused, yet had not known man, Gen. 19, 8, 14. See Deut. 22. 22. Yea, the very Heathens had their …, Iudg. 14. 1, &c. Placuit, despondi: … hic dictus est dies, saith … in Terence. We agreed, were contracted, and the wedding-day appointed.
To Ioseph, before they came together,]
Espoused they were by a speciall providence. 1. That Mary might not be held an harlot. 2. That being big, and needing … help, she might be provided for. 3. That the mystery of Christ might be made known by degrees.
She was found with childe of the holy Ghost.]
This wonderfullMirari …, … non licet. conception of our Saviour is a mystery, not much to be pryed into, and is therefore called an overshadowing, Luk. 1. 35. Where also, … any should mistake this (Of) in the text, for the materiall cause: as if the holy Ghost had begotten him of his own substance (as fathers do their children,) the whole order and manner of this conception, so far as concerneth us to know, is declared by the Angel.
Verse 19. Then Joseph her husband … a just man]
And yet withall a mercifull tender man of the Virgins credit. Hence that conflict and fear within himself, lest he should not doe right.
And not willing to make her a publike example]
That is, to foreign.wrong her, as the same word is used and expounded by the Authour to the Hebrews of the Son of God, as here of the mother of… ipse eam … paenis, nec …, … risui exponere. Aret. in loc. God. Heb. 6. 6. with Heb. 10. 29.
Was minded to put her away privily]
Which yet he could hardly have done, without blame to …, and blemish to her. So farre out we are (the best of us) when destitute of divine direction. How shamefully was that good Josiah miscarried by his passions to his cost, when he went up against Pharaoh Necho, without once advising with Ieremiah, Zephany, Huldah, or any other prophet of God then living by him?
Verse 20. But while he thought on these things]
And was not so well advised upon his course, God, who reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift, expedites him. The Athenians had a conceit, that Minerva (their goddesse) drove all their ill counsels toJun Emblem. a happy issue. The superstitious Romanes thought that an Idol,Ab erroribus viarum Dea Vibilia liberat. which they called Vibilia, kept them from erring out of their way. The divine providence is our Vibilia, that will not suffer us to misearry, so long as we have an eye to the paterne that wasArnob. adver. Gentes. shewed us in the …, Exod. 25. 40. In the Mount will theGen. 22. 14. Lord be seen.Prov. …. 26.
Behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him]
As of old… in … (ait Rab. Solomon ex Talmud. he had done to Daniel, being caused to flee swiftly or with … of flight (as the Hebrew hath it) with so good a will he did it, as thinking he could never come soon enough.Hierosol.) i e. in rebus in quibus es slultus, aderit tamen tibi Dominus.
Joseph, thou sonne of David]
Albeit a poore Carpenter. A man may be as high in Gods favour, and as happy in russet, as in Tissue. I know thy poverty (saith Christ to that Church,) but, … nothing, thou art rich.…. 9. 21.
Feare not to take unto thee) viz. From the hands of her parents,Rev. 2. 9. who have, by all right, the dispose of their children, as a cheif part of their goods: Therefore when Satan obtained leave to vex Job, and to touch him in his possessions, he dealt with hisJob. 1. children also.
For that which is conceived in her]
That holy thing, Luk. 1. 35. that Holy of Holies wherein the Godhead dwelleth bodily, that is, personally; and is called the Sonne of God, saith the Angel there. Yet not in respect of his humane nature, for then there should be in the person of Christ two sonnes, viz. one of the Father, and another of the holy Ghost. Besides, Heb. 7. 3. he is without father, as Man, and without mother, as God. All that can be gathered out of that place in Luke, is, that he, that was so conceived of the holy Ghost, … the naturall Son of God. The union of three Persons into one nature, and of two natures into one Person,foreign. these are the great mysteries of Godlines. The well is deep,Joh. 4. …. as she said, and we want wherewith to draw.
Is of the Holy Ghost.]
As the Efficient, not as the Materiall cause. The virtus formatrix, the formative faculty which the Virgin had not, is ascribed to the power of the Holy Ghost, framing and fashioning Christ of the substance of the Virgin sanctified miraculously, and without mans help. But if no mother knows the manner of her naturall Conception; what presumption shall it be for flesh and bloud, to search how the Sonne of God took flesh of his creature? It is enough for us to know, that he was conceived of the holy Ghost, not spermatically, but …, yet secretly and mystically, the Virgin her selfe knew not how. Fearfully and wonderfully he was made, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Psal. 139. 14, 15. with Ephes. 4. 9.
Verse 21. And she shall bring forth a Sonne]
Shiloh the Son of her secundines: that Son, that Eve made account she had got, when she had got Cain: For, said she, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Or as others read it (and the Original rather favours it) I have gotten the man, the Lord. But how farre she was deceived, the issue proved. … spes bona … suo. Hope comes halting home many times.
And thou shalt call his name Iesus]
Not of foreign to heale, as some Hellenists would have it: Although it be true that he is Iehovah Rophe, the Lord the Physician, by whose … we are healed: Exod. 15. 26.But of Iashang, whence …, Iesus. Two in the old Testament had this name. The first when he was sent as a spy into Canaan, …. 13. 16. had his name changed from Oshea, Let God save, to …, God shall save. Under the Law (which brings us as it were into the wildernes of SIN) we may wish there were a Saviour: but under the Gospel we are sure of salvation, … our Iehoshuah hath bound himself to fulfill all righteoufnes, and had therefore this name imposed upon him at his circumcision. For he assumed it not to himself (though knowing the end of his coming, and the fullnesse of his sufficiency, he might have done it) nor received it from men, but from God; and that with great …, by the ministery of an Angel, who talked with a woman about our salvation, as Satan sometime bad done about our destruction.
For he shall save his people from their sinnes]
This is the notation and Etymon, or reason of his name, Jesus, A name above all names, Phil 2. 9. foreign, saith the Heathen Oratour, is a word so…. …. … …. emphaticall, that other tongues can hardly finde a word fit to expresse it. Salvation properly notes the negative part of a Christians happinesse: viz. preservation from evil; chiefly from the evil of sin, (which is the mother of all our misery:) from the damning and … power thereof, by his merit and Spirit, by his value and vertue. Jesus therefore is a short Gospel, and should worke in us strongest affections, and egressions of soul after him, who hath saved us from the wrath to come. The … being1 Thes. 1 10. foreign. set free but from bodily servitude, called their deliverer a Saviour… in vita Flamin. to them: and rang it out, Saviour, Saviour, so that the fowls in the aire fell down dead with the cry. Yea they so pressed to come neer him, and touch his hand, that, if he had not timely withdrawn himself, he might have beseemed to have lost his life. The Egyptians preserved by Joseph, called him Abrech, or Tender-Father. … in his Annotat.The daughters of Ierusalem met David returning from the slaughter of the Philistims with singing and dancing. When the Lord turned again the captivity of his people, they were like them that dream, Psal. 126 1. And Peter enlarged, could scarce beleeve his own eyes; with such an extasie of admiration was he rapt, upon that deliverance. Oh then how should our hearts rejoice, and our tongues be glad, Act. 2. 26? and how should we be vext at the vile dullnesse and deadnesse of our naughty natures, that can be no more affected with these indelible ravishments? Iacob wept for joy at the good news, that Ioseph was yet alive. Ioannes Mollius, whensoeverFox … f. 855. he … of the Name of Jesus, his eyes dropt. And another Reverend Divine amongst us, being in a deep muse, after some discourseM. Welse. that passed of Jesus, and tears trickling abundantly from his eyes, before he was aware, being urged for the cause thereof, confessed …, it was because he could not draw his dull heart to prize Christ aright. Mr Fox never denied begger that asked inWards Serm. that Name: And good Bucer never disregarded any (though different in opinion from him) in whom he could discern aliquid Christi: None but Christ, said that blessed Martyr at the stake.… Lambert. And another in the flames, when judg'd already dead, suddenly, as… Palmer. waked out of sleep, moved his tongue and jaws, and was heard toAct. and Mon. …. …. pronounce this word, Jesus.
Here also we have an excellent argument of our Saviours divinityforeign. and omnipotency; forasmuch as the Angel ascribeth untoC hristus autem non Pater, … est foreign. him, that which the Psalmist affirmeth of Jehovah, that he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities, Psal. 130. 8. with Hos. 13. 4.
Verse 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled]
An Angels testimony is not to be taken, if it be beside or against the written word. I am of them that keep the sayings of this book, saith the Angel to the Apostle. For ever, O Lord, thy word is setledRev. …. …. in Heaven, Psal. 119. ….
Verse 23. Behold, a Virgin, &c.]
foreign, that Virgin, foreign, that famous Virgin fore-told, Isa. 7. 14. That he should be the seed of the woman, was made known, to Adam, but not of what Nation, till Abraham, nor of what Tribe till Iacob, nor of what sex, till David, nor whether born of a virgin, till Esay. Thus by degrees was that great mystery of godlinesse revealed to mankinde. If any Jew object, saith Chrysostom, How could a Virgin bring forth? Dic …, … peperit … & vetula? Ask him, How could Sarah, when old and barren, bear a childe? The Bees have young, yet know not marriage. The Phaenix, they say, hath no parents. This head-stone of the corner was cut out of the mountaine…. …. without hands: this flower of the …, this rose of Sharon, hath Heaven for his father, and earth for his mother. Was it not as easie to frame this second Adam in the wombe, as that first Adam out of the mire? Herein see a miracle of mercy, that the incomprehensible…. God, that circle (whose center is every where, whose circumference no where) should be circled and coop'd up for 9 moneths together, in the narrow womb of a pure Virgin.
And shall bring forth a Son]
Who in the birth opened the womb, Luk. 2. and so put her to pain, likely, as other women. He hid the glory of his eternall nativity under a mean and temporary birth, to purchase for us an heavenly and eternall birth. Whether the blessed Virgin were Deipara, the Mother of God, raised great storms in the … of Ephesus, and came to commotions in the secular part, and excommunications among the Bishops; insomuch as the Emperour declared both sides Hereticks. But forasmuch as she brought forth a Son that was God, we doubt not to stile her the Mother of God; not Mall Gods maid, as one hath latelyThe female Glory. slandered some of us in print. At Rome (it is said) was seen, at the same time, about the Sun, the likenesse of a woman carrying a childe in her armes: And a voice heard, Pan the great God is now… on the Creed. about to be born, &c.
And they shall call his name Immanuel, &c.]
By a wonderfull and unsearchable Union; the manner … is to be beleeved, not …; admired, not pried into: personall it is, yet not of persons: of natures, and yet not naturall. As soul and body are one man; so God and man are one person, saith Athanasius, And as every beleever that is born of God, … another, remains the same intire person that he was before, receiving neverthelesse into him a divine nature, which before he had not: So Emmanuel, continuing the same perfect person, which he had been from eternity, assumeth neverthelesse a humane nature, which before he had not, to be born within his person for ever. This is so much the more wonderfull, because the very Angels (which are far greater in glory then man) are not able to abide the presence of God, Isa. 6. 2. But this is our ladder of ascension to God, Ioh. 3. 12. Faith first layes hold upon Christ as a man; and thereby, … by a mean, makes way to God, and embraceth the Godhead, which is of it self a consuming fire. And whereas sin is a partition wall of our own making, denying us …, God is now with us: and in Christ, we have boldnesse and accesse Ephes. 2. 12.with confidence by the faith of him. Christs humanity serves as a skreen to save us, from those everlasting burnings; and as a conduit, to derive upon us from the Godhead, all spirituall blessings inEphes. 1. 3. heavenly places. If any … invade us, we may cry as theyIsa. 8. 8. of old, The stretching out of his wings doth fill thy Land, O Immanuel; and we shall have help.
Verse 24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep, did as the Angel, &c.]
As well assured that it was of God, whom he was ready prest to obey without sciscitation.
Jussa sequi, tam velle mihi, quàm posse, necesse est.
Laelius Caesari apud Lucan.If some Princes will not endure that subjects should scan their laws, but require absolute obedience: If Generals excuse not in a souldierIn … mortis … obire, non impetratà a superiore, …. the neglect of their commands, but severely punish even prosperous disorders: If Jesuits exact blinde obedience of their wretched novices (our Throgmorton durst not give up the ghost till he had obtained leave of his Superiour) should not we much more … God in his commands, counsels, promises, prohibitions, comminations,De Prid. … Eudaem. all?
Verse 25. And knew her not till she had brought forth.]
We thinke hardly of him that taketh to wife the widow and relict of another, that is left great with childe, before she hath laid down her burden; how much more in this case? Besides this might be part of the Angels charge to him: that after she had brought forth her Son Jesus: she continued still a virgin, …: but it is neither Article of our Creed, nor principle of our Religion. But that she vowed virginity, is both false and absurd. For how … she promise virginity to God, and marriage to Joseph: sure it is, the blemish will never be wiped off from some of the Ancients, who, to establish their own Idol, of I know not what virginity, have written most wickedly, and most basely of marriage, which both Christ honoured with his first miracle, and the holy Ghost, by over shadowing the … virgin. As for the Papists that disgrace it, they appear herein more like devils then Divines. If the1 Tim 4. 1. same God had not been the authour of virginity and marriage, he had never countenanced virginity by marriage, as he did in the Virgin Mary.