Treatise of the Four Degenerate Sons, Treatise · Part 4 · Section 1
SECT. 1. Of the threefold eſtate of the Iewes, and firſt when they were gnammi my people.
THe Iewes are to be conſidered in a threefold eſtate; firſt, as they were gnammi, my people: Secondly, as they were lo gnammi, not my people: and thirdly, as they are Ruchama, to be pittied.
When they were gnammi his people then he carried them as a girdle about his loynes, Gnammi.Ier. 13. then he had them graven upon the palmes of his hands; The great dignities of the Iſraelites when they were his people.Then he loved them as the aple of his eye, Pſal. 17.8. and he reckoned them as his peculium, 1 Pet. 2.3. Then they were the head and not the taile, Deut. 28.37.
In this eſtate he made choiſe of them to be his ſonnes,Foure ſorts of ſonnes. The Lawyers make foure ſorts of ſonnes: firſt naturall and Legittimate; Secondly Legittimate but not naturall: Thirdly, naturall but not Legitimate: Fourthly, neither naturall nor Legitimate.
Naturall and Legitimate ſonnes are thoſe who are begotten in honourable marriage, And thoſe the Hebrewes call Caſhirim rectos; foreignand to thoſe they oppoſe peſulim who are not begotten in lawfull marriage.
Legitimate, but not naturall they call aſuphim collectos; foreignThoſe were called Collecti by the Hebrewes, who were caſt out by their parents, but yet others tooke them up when their father and their mother left them, Pſal. 27.10. my father and mother have left me, but the Lord hath gathered me up: Thoſe by the Greekes were called foreign, caſt out by their mothers, and projecti Pſal. 71.9. Caſt me not off.
Thirdly, naturall and not Legitimate ſonnes, were thoſe who were not begotten in lawfull marriage, yet the mother contented her ſelfe with one, and was not common to many; And thoſe children were called beni neker, foreignPſal. 144. And foreign filii extranei.
The fourth were thoſe who were neither naturall nor Legitimate,Spurius filius, non filius. Ben Syra foreign who were borne of common harlots; Such a one the Hebrewes called mamzer from mum zer aliena labes and the Latines called them incertos, and filios vulgi, and varit: Quia ex vario ſemine, and from foreign, quia nihil divinum in illis.
The Lord adopted them.When God choſe them to be his ſonnes, he adopted them: Adoption was found out for the comfort of thoſe who had not children, 2 Sam. 21.8. Barren Micoll had five ſonnes; that is, five legall or adopted ſonnes: So the daughter of Pharaoh adopted Moſes Act. 7. But God although he had a naturall ſonne of his owne, yet he adopted the Iewes for his ſonnes. When men adopt children, it is for want; but Gods adoption of his children comes of abundance of his grace.
As the Lord adopted them, ſo hee would have them brought up under his law, as under a tutor Gal. 4.He taught them. And as a man teacheth his ſonne, ſo the Lord taught them, Deut. 5.5. And as Pharaoh his daughter, when ſhe adopted Moſes to be her ſonne Act. 7. cauſed him to bee brought up in all the ſciences of Egypt; So the Lord, when he adopted the Iewes for his children, he taught them by his Law.
When they were his people, many were converted from Gentilſme, to Judaiſme, and they were called Proſelytes: This they thought to be the greateſt honour, to be made members of the Church: the Queene of the South came from a farre Country to ſee the wiſedome of Salomon, and the order of his houſe, and of his ſervants, 2 Chron. 9.4. So the proſelytes came from farre Countries to heare the wiſedome of God, and to ſee the order of his houſe, and the comelineſſe thereof: David thought the ſwallow and the ſparrow happie, that built their neſts neare the Altar of God, Pſal. 84.3. might not they then thinke themſelves happie, who came ſo neare to the houſe of God as to heare his Law expounded unto them, and to have theſe myſteries of ſalvation revealed unto them, which the Gentiles knew not of? The proſelytes were thoſe;The Proſelytes that came to the Iewiſh Church. of the Madianites Iethro, of the Huzzites Iob, of the Syrians Naaman the Syrian, of the Iebuſites Arauna the Iebuſite, of the Hittites Vriah the Hittite, of the Gittites Ittai. 2 Sam. 18.2. of the Canaanites the woman of Canaan, of the Ethiopians Ebedmelech the Blacke-moore, and the Eunuch of the Queene of Candaces an Ethiopian, Act. 8.27. of the Philiſtines David had the Cherethites for his guard, 2 Sam. 15. of the Moabites Ruth, of the Samaritanes the tenth man of the Lepers Luke 17. and the Samaritane woman Iohn 4. of the Idumeans Herod, and of the Gibeonites the Nethinim who hewed the wood, and drew the water for the Temple, Iohn 9.21. And at the birth of Chriſt the three wiſe men that came from the Eaſt to worſhip Math. 2.11. And the Grecians from the Weſt, Iohn 12, 20. of the Romans Cornelius the centurion, and from Antioch Nicolas a proſelyte Act. 6.5. and on Kelos the ſiſters ſonne of Titus, who pharaphraſed in Chaldee the prophets.Women proſelytes. So the women proſelytes, as Hagar the hand-maid of Sara, Aſhuer, the wife of Ioſeph, Zipporah Moſes his wife, Siphrah and Puah the two mid-wives of Egypt; ſo the daughter of Pharaoh, Rachab, Ruth, Iael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, Now the whelps beganne to eate of the crummes which fell from the childrens table, but it was a miſerable caſe when the children refuſed the meate which was ſet upon the Table, and began onelyonly to gnaw the bones; as Ierome ſpeakes of them.