23 And he came and dwelt in a City called Na- Zareth, that ir mighr be tulfilled which was ſpoken by the Prophets, He ſhall be called a Nazarene.
Ic appearech by Luk, 2. 4. that Joſeph dwelr in Nazareth be- fore our Saviour was born; and Luk. 2. 39. atter Mcry's Purifie cation, 1t is ſaid, They returned into Galilee to their own City Nas Kreth, and Luk. 4.16. he was chere brought up. Hence, oh, 1.45. he 1s called by Philip, Feſus of Nazareth, Bur the - ftollow- ing Words of this Verſe atford as great Dirhiculcies as any other in Holy Writ. 1, How Chit could be called a Nazarene, who ap- parently was born at Bethlehem. 2, How the EvangeliS ſaith, That was fulfilled which was ſpoken by the Prophet, he ſhall be called a Nazarene, whenas there there 1s no ſuch Saying in all the Prophets. There is a ſtrange variery of Opinions as to theſe Queſtions, Spanhemings acquieſceth in that which ſeemeth leaſt liable ro Ex- ceprion; viz. Thar Chriſt was ro put a Pericd to thar Order of Nazarites amongſt the Jews, whoſe Rules we have, Numb. 6. 2, 3- Of which Order Samſon was, as appears by 7ud. 13. 7. and Fojeph was called T7) Ne-zir,Gen.q9.26.the very ſame word which 1s uſed 7ud.13.7. Both Joſeph and S'1mſon were eminent Types of Chriſt, And 1t was ſpoken of Chriſt by the Prephers, (the Holy Men of God who wrote the Scriptures)that Chriſt ſhould be called
VT7 Nexir, as it is in the Hebrew ; in that it was ſpoken of choſe that were his Types, who are both expreſly fo called. The word
f1gnifiech an holy Perſon ; one ſeparated to God, and from ordi-
nary converſe with Men. Chriſt was co be ſuch a Nazarite, ſes parated to God forthe Accomplithmenr of our Redemption; and,
like Joſeph , ſeparated from his Brethren, Ia. 53. 3- He was
rejected of Men : — We hid as it were our faces from him ,- and we eſteemed him not. God by his fingular Providence ſo ordered it, chat he who was the Antitype to all the Nazarites, and the true Nezir, or Perſon ſeparated , ſhould be Educated at Nazareth, a poor contemptible Town. Fo. 1.46. Nathaniel ſaid, Can there any Good come out of Nazareth * That while his Education there gave the Fews an occafion to reproach him as a Nazarene, becaufe born at Nazareth; believers amongſt the Fews might underſtand him ro be the true Nazarite, underſtuod in Foſeph and Samſon called by this Name, as Types and Figures of him who was to come ſeparated by God to a more excellent End, and fm Men in a more eminent manner. So that what the Prophets ſpake of this Nacure concerning Chriſt, chey ſpake of thoſe who were the true Types of Chriſt. Thoſe who will read Spanhemius and Poli Critica, will find large Diſcourſes about the Difficulties of chis Text ; bur this ſeemeth ro be Spanhemins his Opinion, improving rhe Notion of Mr. Calvin.
CHAP. I
John in theWilderneſs Preacheth Repentance + Hus Life and Baptiſm, i—6. Fe reproveth the Phariſees for placing Salvation, in veing Abraham's Children, 7—10. Sheweth the Dignity of the Perſon, Baptiſm and Do@rine of Chrift, 11—12. and Baptizeth him in Fordan, 13—17.
1 FN thoſe days came* John the Baprift, preach- in the Wilderneſs of Judea.
Thar is, in the 15th year of Tiberius C&/ar (as Luke expounds it, Luk. 3.1.) when 7o-n the Bapri8?, and Christ all”, were about thirty years of Age, Luke 3.23. For chere was no great difference berwixt che Age or Christ and John, as may be learned from Luk, 1.31, 41,57. In thye days, while Fojeph and Mary, and our bletied Lord dwelt in Nazareth. See Exod. 2.11. This Phraſe, in thoſe Days, 1s the lame with in thyſe Tears. Ir 15 an ordinary thing in the Hebrew, to contound che words figmitvying a Day, and a 7ear; and the Greeks did the ſame, as appears by the Seventy Interpreters , 1 Sam. 1.3, 7. The Evangel:iſts paſs over with a great deal of Silence our Saviour's Minority, only mentioping Luk. 2, 42. his Diſpuring with the Dodors in the Temple , | came Fohn che BuptistR.) John, the Son of Zacharias, Luk. 3. 2. called the Bapti$; eicher, becauſe he baptized Chrift ; or becauſe by him God inſticured rhe Ordinance of Baptiſm , which betore that time the Fews uſed in the Admiſſion of their Proſelytes, [ Preaching ] ac- cording to his Commiſſion, Luk.3.2. where it 1s faid, The Word of the Lord came t9 him, ( in the Wilderneſs of Fudea, | ſome parts of Zudea,where Houſes and Inhabirants were very tew. None muſt think char che Hiſtory of the ſecond Chapter 1s conrinued in this; there was a diſtar.ce of rwenty-eight or twenty-nine years. The Evangeliſts deſigning nor to farisfie Men's Curiotity, tur only to give us thar part of Chriſt's Story, which might be proficavle ro us
to know.
2 And ſaying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The Evangeliſt only gives us the Sum and Sccpe of the Bap- tis Dodrine; the other Evangeliſts give es a more full Account of his preſſing alſo Faith in Chrift, 7oh. 1.29. &f 3-23, 35. 1 Aff-s 19. 4 « Repentance. Faith and new Obedience ought to be the Subſtance and Scope of all our Sermons. Repentance f1gnifierh the Change of the Heart, and Reformation of the Life : A turning from Sin unto God, [ Fr the Kingdom of Heaven #s at hand. | That
blefled Stare of the Church (forerold by the Prophets) under the Z 2 Meſſiss,
Chap. IIT,
*Mar. 1.4» Luk. 3. 2»
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Meſs, whercin Gcd will exhibir his Son, as the King in Zion, and excrt his Power and Kingdom; both Extenſively ſubduing all Nations to the Obedience of his Goſpel, and Intenſrvely 1n all the Adminiſtrations of his Government : For the Kingdom of Hea- won, is not to be underſtood here of the Kingdom of Glory, but of the Kingdom of Grace, in all the Adminiſtrations of ir. This Paſ- ſage conrainerh the Argument upon which the Bapti$? in his Ser- mons preited Repentance and Faith, and Obedience ro the Will of God revealed. |
2 For this is he that was ſpoken of by the Prophet Efaias, ſaying, The voice of one crying in the Wil- derneſs, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths {traight.