Andrewes - Heaven Collection BV4655 .A6 1675b

Chap', 94 ne: Metas not aTemporal Introdu&}. 2. That Jefus is not that Meffias. 3. That the Meffias isnot yet come. I. For the firft,if they would give crcdit to the Caldee Paraphraft, and all theAn- tient Rabbins, as Rabbi ?snathan, Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Mofes, Rabbi Hakkedsfb, that lived before the coming of Chrift , the Controverfie would foon be at an end ; but they give molt credit to their late Writers, who were all moved with envy againft Chrift: z. It was foretold by the Prophet, that the Lord bath laid upon himthe iniquity of toall. But this they thilt off, faying, it was meant of the whole people. But in a few Verfes after the Prophet faith, Morietur pro popul. fits, he{hall die for the peo. pre. And itwere abfurd to fay, that the people fhould die for the people ; and there- fore it mutt needs be meant of Chrift. 3. It is faid in the Pfalm , They have pierced my hands and my feet. They part my Garmentsamong them, andcanLots upon myYeflar.e.. Which words cannot be under- ftood to be meantof David, but of Chrift. 4. The Prophetfaith, Rejoice O Daughter í}erufafem, behold thy King cometh un to thee meekand humble fitting upon an Afs, &c. And the Prophet Daniel faith, 'After 6z week!, i. e. feventy fevens of years, (ball Mefflahbe cut off. This the elder Jews could not conceive, and `Philp 7odaus underftood it of the fanaification of the High Prieft : but he might eafily have gathered, that this place was meant of theMel- fias, by yobn Baptifl fending two of his Difciples to Chrift, to knowwhether he was theChrift or not: But that place of Daniel fo troubleth.the Rabbins, that Rabbi A?o- fesBen Nifa fell into blafphemous fpeeches, and laid that the Prophet was deceived and overfcen. 5: The Prophet Agge calleth him the delire or expeEtation of the Gentiles : but if the Meffias Mould be only King of the Jews, .what delire or expeaationcould the Gentiles have of him 2 it being fmall comfort for a Nation to have a ftranger to rule over them; and indeed it was a thing forbidden the I fraelites inthe Law. 6. Forafmuch as it cannot be denied, that the Meffias lhould bring felicity toall the world ; how can Abraham, Ifaac, and jzacob, and the dead be benefited.by him, if his Kingdom lhouldbeupon earth, they being dead many hundred yearsbefore? And in putting this off, by Paying that all true Jews fhall return to life again, they be- come more abfurd thanbefore; for how could that littleLand of Judea,or the City of Jerufalem, or the Temple (which they fay lhouldbe no bigger than it was) be able tocontain all the Jews that ever were. 7. Lally, they are by ( this Pofition) utterly injurious to the Souls of the faithful, to callthem out of a heavenly Paradife, Abrahams bofome to an earthly Paradife. - Their fecund erroneous tenet is, That Jefus is not that Meffias. a. It is laid in the Prophetic of 7acob, The Sceptre (hall not depart from 7udah, nor a Law-giver from betwixt his feet, until Shalo come. It is certain, that before the Captivity it was always in fudah, and in the Captivity they had one of their Brethren, who wascalled Rex Captivitatis, the King of Captivity. After the Cap- tivity it continued, till Ariflobalus and Hyrcantu ftriving for it, theyweie both difpof3eft,and Herodan Idamean placed in their room, in whole time Chrift came according to the Prophetie and then the Scepter departed quite from 7adah. The Jews denied Chrift their King : and ever lince havebeen fubjeCt to the Scepters of fe- veral Gentiles. z. Ifthey Objeft againft this Prophetic, that the Maccabees were not of the Tribe of 7aidah, but of the Tribe of Levi : we anCwer, that wemuttdihtinguifh of the.Pro. phefic, thùs, That either a Kingor a Lawgiver lhould be of the Tribe of ?udah : and it is apparently manifeft, that there was a Lawgiver in that Tribe till Christ came. For they cònfefs, that Simon Muflus, whofe Nunc dimittis we have in our Lyturgy, was the fait Of them, and that ever frnce, the whole company of their Sanedrim was dif perfed, and the number never made up again. 3. And if they underftand or conceive that the word doth not lignifie a Scep- ter, but a Tribe, and that it is meant, that ?udah lhould be and continue a Tribe till Shiloh _come, they affect to us Chriffians , far theTribe of tud.eh continued diftinft and unconfounded till Chrift the true Meffias carne : fo that our Saviour Jefus was known

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