| HE whole Revelation of the Will of God to the Children of Men, is uſually called The Bible, that 7s, The | T Book ( for the word Bible derives from the Greek BicaG- Or Bicary) with a note 0 if Eminency,being indeed | the Book of Books, ſo as Luther ſaid well rhat he ſhould wiſh all his Books burn'd if be could know, that Men by them would be kept from reading the Scriptures. And to diſtinguiſh this from other Books, we have ( in the ordinary Titles of our Bibles) added Holy, with reſpett tothe Authority, the Matter and End of it. This ſacred Book with 145 Chriſtians, is uſually divided into the Old and New Teſtament ; indeed the term Teſtament, doth .not ſo properly belong to the Laws and the Prophets, as to the Books of the Evangeliſts, the Afts and Epiſtles, &c. The Title of New Teſtament z7 Greek 7s, THE KAINHE AIA©HKHS ATIANTA. That 75, the whole of the New Diſpoſition or New Law, or New Covenant, or New Teftament. The word, Originally, and Primarily /iz- nificth a Diſpoſition of things - In regard, that amongſt Men, Things are ordered, or diſpoſed, by a Law, or by Contra&t, or Covenant, or by Will azd Teſtament, the word hath been uſed to fignifie any of theſe. But in regard, that until a Teſtator be dead, a Teſtament zs of no force, Chriſt having not come nor died, be fore all the Law and the Prophets were Finiſhed ( Imean the Writings containing the Law, and what other Holy Men wrote by Inſpiration un God, which the Jews call the Prophets, or the Holy Writings ) 1t 7s not ſo proper ( but that uſe hath now obtained ) to call thoſe Writings by the name of a Teſtament. Eſpecially conſidering, that one part of them (which contarned the Ceremonial Law ) was aboliſhed by the Teftator's Death, and another great part of them, fulfilled, in his Coming and Dying. The name therefore of Teſtament, doth moſt properly belong to the Books of the Evangeliſts, the AQts and Epiſtles, which do not only contain the New Law, ( ſo far as it 7s new, ei- ther in reſpett of the full Interpretation of zhe Moral Law, or 7n reſped of the Law concerning the Worſhip of God under the Goſpel, ard the Government of the Church ) bzt a!/o the New Covenant, which, tho' made with Adam, firſt revealed to him, Gen, 3.15. yet 7s more fully Revealed in thoſe Books, and they are indeed the laſt Will and Teſtament of or bleſſed Lord and Saviour. Theſe Books do obvioufly divide themſelves, into the Go- ſpels, -he Acts of the Apoltles, the Epiſtles of zhe Apoſtles, and the Revelations. The Evangeliſts, or Goſpels are | : Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, whoſe Books are called the Goſpels, that 7s, Books containing The good Tidings ( for ſo the word Wayyixtey ſignifies) which was brought to all People, by-the Coming, Life ard Death of Chrift, the Hiſtory of which, az alſo hs ReſurreCtion, and Aſcenſion into Heaven, zhey relate. So as they are not called Evangeliſts, as the term ſigni fieth ſuch an extraordinary Officer as is mentioned, Eph. 4. 11. ſuch a one as Philip waz, Acts 21. 8. and Timothy, 2 Tim. 4.5. But as they were Evangelical Hiſtoriographets, writing the Hiſtory, as well as publiſhing the Myſtery of the Goſpel ; of the/e, Matthew and John were Apo- les, the other two only Diſciples to the Apoſtles. In tbe Account they give ws of Chriſt, what be did, and what he ſaid, we are not to expett either a full account of all he did or ſpake (we are aſſured of the contrary, John 21. 25.) Nor yet an exatt account of every Speech in any one Sermon,, or all the Circumſtances of any of his Atti- ons : We muſt conceive of them not as exatt Notaries, but ſuch who wrote from their Memories ( not without the Inſpiration of the Holy Spirit ) Hence it is manifeſt, that altho they do not Contraditt one another ( that indeed were inconſiſtent with the Spirit of Truth, therr common Guide ) yet ene Evangeliſt hath whot another hath not,and in the ſame prece of his Hiſtory,one hath more Circumſtances than another : 4nd hardly any of then relates all things in the ſame Order of time, in which they were Spoke or Done, but ſet them down, as their Memory did ſerve them, m_— to the Subſtance, and berng /eſs careful as to Circumſtances : So as where more Evangelifts relate the ſame Hiſtory, or Sermon, what all ſay muſt be taken in to Compleat the Hiſtory, or Dil- courle, ſo far as the Holy Spirit thought fit Chriſtians ſhould be acquainted with it , which zs the Method I have taken in my Notes upon the Goſpel according to St. Matthew. Matthew wa# the Son of Alpheus, Mar. 2. 114. called alſo Levi ; by hzs Imployment he was a Publican, that zs, one who gathered Cuſtom for the Romans (which fort of People were generally hated, and perhaps none of the honeſteſt Ben ) Chriſt colled bim from the receit of Cuſtom 70 be his Diſciple, Matth. 9. 9,10. Mar. 2. 14,15. He was ſent out as one of the Twelve Apoſtles, Matth. TO. 3. So as be wat both an Eye and Ear-witneſS of what be wrote. What became of him after Criſs Aſcenſion, Teannot tell, not knowtng what Credit is to be given towhat Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtorians ſay in the Caſe, who wrote three or four hundred years after. The time of his writing this Goſpel 7s as incertain, ſome joy eight, ſome mine, ſome fifteen Tears after Chriſ?s Aſcenſion. It hath been a Queſtion alſo, whether be wrote 1n Hebrew or Greek: It is moſt probable that he ( as the other Evangeliſts ) twrote it in Greek, ths it hath been once or twice tranſlated into Hebrew. Thoſe who as to that Queſtion have a Curioſity to know what 1s written on both ſides, ( not to mention other Books ) may read enough in Mr. Pool's Prolegomena to this Goſpel in his Synoplis Critico- Tum. The Matter of his Goſpel 7s principally the Hiſtory of the Birth, Life, Dzarh, and Reſurrection of or Sa- viour : The paſſages after his ReſurreCtion, ard before his Aſcenſion, are moſt fully related by St. John; Luke more fully relates the Hiſtory of bis Birth, and what went before it. The Hiſtory of the Wiſe Men commg from the Faſt to inquire for Chriſt 7s related by Matthew alone, jo are ſome Parables, as that of the Virgins,Ch. 25.&c.
CHAF. I
The Genealogy of Chriſt from Abraham to Toſeph, 1—17. His conception
by the Holy Ghoft, and birth of the Virgin Mary, 18. Foſeph's doubt's o her ſatisfied by an Angel, 19, 20. Who interpreteth the names of If, 21—25,
HE Book of * the Generation of Jeſus Chriſt, the Son of David, the Son of Abra-