Book V. plain by the Example of Abel, who was cruelly murdered by his Brother; of Ifaiah, who was famn in pieces; and of the seven Brethren in the Maccabees, who, together with their Mother, were miferably tormented, and put to death. The very Jews themselves fing the Seventy ninth Pfalm; wherein are thefe words, The dead bodies of thy fervants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven: the flesh of those whom thou loveft, O God, unto the beafts of the earth. Their blood have they fhed, like water, round about Ferufalem: and there was none to bury them. And whofoever confiders the words of Ifaiah, in the 53d. Chapter, cannot deny that the Meffias himself ought to have paffed thorow much Affliction, and Death, to come into his Kingdom, and obtain Power to adorn his Houfhold, or Church, with the most excellent Bleffings.

The words in the Prophet are thefe: Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he fhall grow up before him as a tender plant,and as a root out of the dry ground: He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall fee him, there is no beauty that we should defire him. He is defpifed and rejected of men; a man of forrows, and acquainted with griefs: And we bide as it were our faces from him, he was fo defpifed, and in fo fmall esteem among us. Surely he bath born our griefs, and carried our forrows; yet we did efteem him stricken, fmitten of God, and af flicted. But he was wounded for our tranfgreffions: he was bruifed for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his ftripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone aftray; we have turned every one to his own way: And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He

was

was oppreffed, and he was afflicted; yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a Lamb to the Laughter; and as a Sheep before her fhearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth. After imprisonment, and fentence paffed on him, he was taken away: but who fhall worthily declare his duration when he was restored to life again? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, but for the tranfgreffion of my people he was stricken; and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death: though he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. But though it hath pleafed the Lord to bruife him, and he hath put him to grief; Tet because he made himself an offering for fin, he fhall fee his feed, he shall prolong his days; and the pleafure of the Lord fhall profper in his hand, He Shall fee of the travail of his foul, and shall be fatisfied: By his knowledge fhall my righteous fervant justifie many; by taken away their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and be fhall divide the spoil with the ftrong: because he hath poured out his foul unto death. And he was numbered with the tranfgreffors, and he bare the fin of many, and made interceffion for the tranfgreffors. Who is there, either among the Kings, or Prophets, to whom these things can be appli ed? Surely, none. As touching that shift which fome later Jews have invented, telling us, that the Prophet speaks here of the Hebrews difperfed thorow all Nations; that by their Example and Persuasion, they might every where make many Profelytes: This fence is first of all repugnant to many teftimonies of holy Writ, which louldly proclaim, that no evil is befaln the Jews, which they have not deferved (and a great deal more befide) for their evil Deeds. He also, of whom

Efaias treats, was to deprecate God for the Heathen; which the Jews do not. And lastly, the very order and feries of the prophetical discourse will not bear that interpretation; for either the Prophet (which feems more proper to that place) or God faith, This evil hapned unto him for the iniquities of my people. Now the people of Isaiah, or the peculiar people of God, are the people of the Hebrews; therefore he who is faid by Isaiah, to have fuffered fuch grievous things, cannot be that fame People.

But the ancient Doctors of the Hebrews more ingeniously confefs, that these things were spoken of the Meffias: Whereupon fome later among them have devised two Meffiafes; the one they call the Son of Jofeph, who was to fuffer many miferies, and a bloody death; the other is the Son of David, to whom all things fhould fucceed profperously. When it would be far more eafie, and more confonant with the Writings of the Prophets, to acknowledge but one Meffias, who was to país unto his Kingdom through many difficulties, and death it felf; which we believe of Jefus, and the thing it felf declares to be most true.

SECT. XX.

And, as though they were honeft Men that put him to death.

M Any of the Jews are kept back from receiving the Religion of Jefus, by a certain pre-conceived opinion of the vertue and

bonefty

honesty of their Ancestors, and especially of the Priefts, who out of prejudice condemned Jefus, and rejected his Doctrine. But what kind of Men their Ancestors oft-time were, (that they may not think I defame them) let them hear the words of their own Law and Prophets, wherein they are often called uncircumcifed in heart and ears; a people that honoured God with their lips, and with the garnish of Ceremonies, but their hearts were far from him. It was their Ancestors that went about, and were very near to have killed their Brother Jofeph; and, in very deed, fold him into bondage. It was their Ancestors alfo, that, by their continual mutinies and feditions, made Mofes weary of his life, who was their Leader and Redeemer; whom the Earth, the Sea, and the Air obeyed. These were they that loathed the Bread that was fent from Heaven; complaining as though they had been in greatest want and scarcity, even when they belched up again the Fowl that they had eaten. It was their Ancestors that, forfaking David, fo excellent and good a King, followed Abfolon, his rebellious Son. It was their Ancestors that flew Zachariah, the Son of Jehojada. in the most holy place; making their Priest himself a Sacrifice of their cruelty. Now, as concerning the Chief Priests, they were fuch as confpired the death of Jeremy by a falfe accufation; and had killed him indeed, unless they had been hinder'd by the authority of fome of the Nobles: Notwithstanding which, they prevailed fo far, as to have him imprisoned until the very moment that the City was taken. If any Man imagine thofe were any thing better that lived in the times of Jefus, Jofephus will fhew him his Errour; who defcribes their villainous

Acts,

Acts, and grievous Punishments, fuch as the like were never heard of, and yet, as he thinks, below their Defert. Neither may we conceive more favourably of their great Councel, or Senate; specially because at that time the Senators were not chofen after the old Custom, by laying on of hands, but by the pleasure or fway of powerful Men: As the High Priefts alfo were not elected for term of life, but obtained that Dignity only from year to year, and that oftentimes for Money. We need not then wonder, if Men that were puffed up with Pride, unfatiable in their Ambition and Covetousness, did break out into fury and madness when they beheld a Man that, by his holy Precepts, and upright Behaviour, reproved their far different Life, and vicious Conversation. Neither was there any other thing laid to his charge, but what the best of Men had been accufed of long before. Thus that Micaiah, that lived in the time of Jehoshaphat, was caft into Prifon, because he boldly fpake the Truth, againft Four Hundred lying Prophets. Ahab upbraided Elijah, juft as the Priests did Jesus; faying, that he was the Man that troubled the peace of Ifrael, So likewife Jeremy was accufed, as well as Jefus, for prophefying against the Temple. Add moreover, what the ancient Doctors of the Hebrews foretold; how that in the times of the Meffias, Men fhould be as impudent as Dogs, as stubborn as Affes, and as cruel as wild Beafts. God himself, foreseeing long before, how most of the Jews would stand affected in the time of the Meffias, faid, it would come to pass, that they should become his people, who were not his people; and of all the Cities and Towns of the Jews, fcarce one or two would go to the holy Mountain: How