yet many particular Perſons removed, to 1njoy the truce Worſhip 9: e God, and joyned themſelves to Zuduh, Fer. 50. g. it was prophcticd, that the Cildren of Urael ſhould come, they, and the Children of Judah ! together, going, and weepin? #9 feeh the Lord their God. Whit ter t ather Phanuel was, we r<ad not; ſhe is aifo further ſaid to he a 7:4. 1 pheteſs. Such there werc among!t the Jews. We read of Det:1zh, t Miriam, and Huldah, to whom King 7ojruh ſent. T hey vere cl. r led Propnets, and Propheteſſes who revcaled the Will of God untoth: Pcoplc, but 1 the 0/4 Zeſtament 1t moſt general fignified, ſuch f God enavicd to 3:retel things which were to come. Ihe Spirit of Prophecy had muc” ' T2mong the Jews fur four hundred vers [ before Chriit 5 © : C. ming it degan to revive, This Wo- man fſcems t& * «6 3440 of an hundred vears old, if we ac- tl count the ©}: 10 vp vears here mentioned from her Widowhood, Je not 'f2, if wa cornnut them from hr Birth. She was but {cyen vers (1 Marricd, al: the rer of her life ſhe had ſpznt iv Widow hood. 15): {2 departed ni from the Temple Night or Bay, ] That is, ſhe wis fre- hy quently there, giving up her ſelf wholly to Religious Excrcic, fo Prayer and Faſting, that tlie might be more fit for Prayer, This ral Woman coming 1n at that inſtant, wizce Simeon took up Clhiiſt in of his Arms, Qc. | gave thanks likewiſe unto the Lord, and ſpike of him for to ſuch as the knew 1n Feraſalein, who looked for the Red. mption. bir of Iſrael. 1 There is no place where Cod hath had a Name, but [19 the ever it be Corrupted, and Debauched, hath a number that keep lg cloſe to God. God in Ahabs time had ſeven thouſand in 7::!. $ | And 1n this moſt Corrupt time, there was a Simeon, and an 4s, oy” and aiſo others who had a true Notion and ExpeGation of the 3%: a 7 fiah, and theſe the Holy Ghoſt taketh more notice of than of all the = wi Jewiſh Do&ors, all the Scribes and Phariſees, whoſe Names are 5ottei —_ k while what theſe Perſons ſaid, and did, ſhall remain for a 3Mcmor?! re, Or - Pa rd of the "B92 of them, wherever the Goſpel ſhall be Preached to tic ond 7 (1 anſ World. | 39 And when they had performed all things =ccorc- his ing to the law of the Lord, they returned into 6911: = the
to their own city Nazareth.
Ifthe Wiſe-men mentioned Matth. 2. 1, had been with #71 fore this time 3 it is more than probable, that Zerod would hive mans , an end of Chriſt at this time z therefore certainly it was after = time. Luke ſaith nothing of what we have Matth. 2. wer. 13, 1415 19, 20, 21,22,23. of Joſeph going into Egypt, upon the Admonitiui
of the Angel, nor his coming back z but both Matthew and Lite 4g1et | "_ in their dwelling at Nazareth, which he calleth their own Cy, 1! t there Joſeph dwelt, ver. 4. How after this the Wiſe-men Catu- me to find him at Bethlehem, Matth. 2. the Scripture hati 0! toid « us. It is very idle for any. to ſay Joſeph dwelt there ; for ten he ne would not have taken vp his Im there, nor been put fo i"! + 2p, | ſtreſs, as to have his Wife bring forth in a Stable ; Bzlides, 1 7 . Ipa apparent from wer. 4. and this verſe, and from Matth. 2. 22. Fe" ; Be. he dwelt at Nazareth. God, who ordered the Motion of tic | my
Wiſe-men, and thcir Infiructions to be fent to Bet3ichem f0 [09K for Chritt, could eafily find Joſeph fome Bufineis to be dons there | foe at that time; whether ſome Buſinefs of tiis Trade, or tine 07 | thas fit ro his Friends, we cannot fay,
of God, or how God ſhould have any ſuch tore-knowledge without
; "IT al / * A ! -
o * Ar.4 the child grew, and waxed ſtrong in ſpi-
, 32 on him-
This Verſc ſhortly ſummeth up all that we have in the Goſpel, of they underſtond no: the Cavins
the Hiſtory ofthe firlt rwelve Years of our Saviour's Life, there could be no Acceſſion to the pertettion of the Divine Nature 1 Chriſt, yet as fo h1s Humane Nature, he was (as we are ) capa- ble of Accefſion 0! Habits, and Witdom of Knowledge; for tho the Divine Nature was perfonally united to the Humane. Nature, et there was no Communication oz Propertics. 1 Now his parents went to * Jeruſalem eyery year |, *ar the feaſt of the paſlover. i Tic Law of God enjoyned all the Males of the Iſraelites to appear mf -4, at Jeruſalem bzforc him, three times each year, of which the Feaſt 48 4 of Unleavened Bread was one z but the Women ſeem not to have been all under the ſame Obligation; but many of them went, of which JHary was one , but we read not of Chriſt's going till he was +wolve Tears old. Some think that the Women uſed to go once 1n 1 Year : we read that E/kanah's Wife went, 1 Sam. 1. 5,6, 7. but whether they generaily did ſo or no, the Scripture ſaith not. One thing is obſervab'e : The Phariſees and Scribes, and Prieſts, had in thoſe days much corrupted the Worſhip of God by their Traditons, yet they ret1ined the Subſtance of God's Inſtitutions, We find both our Saviour and his Diſciples, and other People of God, not wholly frfaking the Jewiſh Church, becauſe of its Corruptions 3 yet we cannof think thev joyned with them in any thing of their Will-Wr- ſn; from whence we may learn, a Tendernefs 2s to a tot2! Separa- tion from a Church, and tie Lawfulneſs of attending Divine Min1- ſirations, tho attended with Uſages which we approve not of,provi- dd there be no Idolatry in the Service. 42 And when he was twelve year old, they went
up to Jeruſalem,after the cnſtom of the fealt.
it 15 {id by thoſe who are learned in the Jeviſh Writings,that till z Child was of thisage, hz was not obliged by the Law to go. We have 1a Scripture nothing to aſcertain us in the Caſe ; it 1s certain that our Saviour went at this age, after the Cuſtom of the Feaſt. that is, ſo as to be there about the fourteeth Day of the Month Nijan,
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jeſus tarried behind in Jeruſalem, and Joſeph and his mother knew not of ie.
44 But they ſuppoſing him to have been in the com- pany, went a days journey, and they ſought him amayg their kinsfolk and among their acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back