Commentary on Genesis and Exodus

QUEST. I. When the Lord spake these words to Moses.

Vers. 1. NOw the Lord had said to Moses, yet will I bring, &c. 1. Some refer this to the first vision, which Moses saw in the bush, but that cannot be; for when the Lord thus spake to Moses, nine plagues were past, and there was but one to come. 2. Neither did the Lord thus speak to Moses, after he was come out from Pharaoh: for after that he saw Pharaohs face no more, chap. 10.29. and yet here, verse. 8. it is said he went from Pharaoh very angry. 3. Therefore the message, which Moses delivereth in this Chapter to Pharaoh concerning the destruction of the first borne, was done at his last appearing before Pharaoh. when he sent for him after the darkness; and immediately before his going to Pharaoh, the Lord thus said to Moses. Junius.

QUEST. II. Why the overthrow of Pharaoh in the red sea was counted none of the plagues.

I Will bring one plague more, &c. 1. Thus the Lord doth all things in number, weight, and measure; the Lord sendeth ten plagues upon Egypt, not fewer, because he would show his power; nor more, for these were sufficient: Ferus. 2. Beside, this last plague of the first borne, there followed the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the red sea: but this is counted none of the plagues of Egypt, because it was done after the Israelites were gone out of Egypt, Simler. As also these plagues were not a final destruction of the Egyptians, as the other was, but probations, and temptations, Pelican.

QUEST. III. Whether God used the ministry of good or bad Angels in the slaughter of the first borne.

Vers. 4. ABout midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt. That God was the author of this plague in the slaughter of the first borne, it is no question: but the doubt is whether the Angels good or bad were the Lord's ministers in it. 1. In this life it is certain that God sometime useth the good Angels to punish the wicked, as in the destruction of Sodom; and the evil Angels some time to chastise his own children, as Satan tempted and afflicted Job. 2. In the next world, who shall be the ministers of the torments in hell it is not so certain. Pererius thinketh that the evil Angels shall be the executioners of those torments: because of that text: go into everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his Angels. But the contrary rather may be inferred out of this text, that because the Devil and his Angels also are ordained for torment; it seemeth that he shall not be a tormenter of others, who is to be tormented himself. Therefore it is rather to be thought, that seeing the chief use of the ministry of Angels is for the benefit and comfort of the elect in this world, till they be gathered together in the Kingdom of God, Heb. 1.14. that in the next world there shall not be such employment of the ministering spirits, especially of the reprobate Angels. And how the torments of hell shall be continued, the Prophet Isaiah showeth: Tophet is prepared of old, &c. the burning thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it chap. 30.33. The Lord of himself by his own power, in showing the severity of his justice shall hold the wicked in everlasting torment. 3. But concerning this judgment in smiting the first borne: some think that the evil Angels were used in this service; Thostatus, Lyranus. Because it is said, Psalm. 78.49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his wrath, by sending of evil Angels. But this place is answered before, quest. 30. in chap. 7. that either it may be understood of Moses and Aaron, who were God's messengers, for so Angel signifieth; or else they are called Angels of evil, i. of penal, not moral evil, rather than evil Angels. And though they would seem to gather by those words, chap. 12.23. The Lord will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses, that this Angel of himself had a desire to invade the people of God, and therefore was not a good Angel: yet that followeth not, but the words rather show thus much, that the Angel being sent forth by the Lord, was to do all things according to his direction, to strike where God bid him strike, and to forbear where the Lord purposed to spare. 4. Wherefore as the good Angels were the ministers of the former plagues, as is shown before, quest. 30. in chap. 7. so they are to be held to be the Lord's instrument in this, P • rer.

QUEST. IV. Whether one Angel or many were used in this destruction.

ANd for the number of these destroying Angels: 1. Though it be said in the singular number▪ chap. 12.23. the destroyer, yet it followeth not, that one Angel should be the minister: for it is usual in Scripture, to put the singular for the plural. 2. Therefore it is more probable, that many Angels, were employed in this service, not in respect of the multitude that were slain, for in the host of Sennacherib one Angel slew 180. thousand: nor of the distance of place, for one Angel in David's time smote 70000. in three days space from Dan to Beersheba: but in regard of the time, because all the first borne of Egypt were slain at midnight, about the same time, it is like that many Angels in divers places of Egypt, were sent of God to strike the first borne: Perer. Cajetan.

QUEST. V. Upon whom this plague in the smiting of the first borne was executed.

Vers. 5. ALl the first borne in the land of Egypt shall die. All the first borne of every house, as the chief and principal were smitten with death: even from the Kings throne unto the son of the poor servant, that ground at the mill, which they used in the day to do such servile works, and in the night time kept them in hold: and therefore it is said, chap. 12.29. unto the first borne of the captive, that was in prison. So Samson did grind at the mill being in prison, Judge. 16. 2. Beside, all the first borne of their beasts were slain, that is of their domestical cattle: for wild beasts must be here excepted, which were not in their power, and such cattle as bring forth many at once, where there is no difference between the firstlings and the rest: Perer. 3. The third effect of this plague was, that God did execute his judgments upon the gods and Idols of Egypt, chap. 12.12.

QUEST. VI. Whether in every house the first borne were slain.

BUt here this doubt ariseth concerning the first borne, because it is said afterward, chap. 12.30. that there was no house wherein there was not one dead: whether in every house there were a first borne. 1. Ab. Ezra thinketh all to be understood for the greater part. 2. Simler. for the houses of every sort, both of high and low, as the King and captive are named. 3. Hugo S. Victor, doth thus interpret it, that in every house, where was any first borne, there was one slain. But it seemeth, that no house at all was excepted, because all the Israelites were commanded to strike the blood upon the posts of their doors, to escape the plague. 4. Therefore Augustine thinketh that God so disposed at this time by his divine providence, that every house of the Egyptians had one first borne, quest. 44. in Exod. But we need not run unto miracles, where another exposition may be found. 5. Thostatus thinketh that the first borne is here taken, for the first borne of the feminine sex, as well as of the males, whether their parents were alive or dead, whether they were the first borne by the husband or wife. But the name of first borne is not thus taken in scripture▪ neither yet is it like that any females died, but males, as it may appear by the law of the first borne, that are made holy unto God, upon this occasion, because the Lord for Israel's sake killed all the first borne of Egypt, there only the males that first open the womb are set apart, chap. 13.12. 6. Therefore of all the • est I prefer the exposition of Junius, that in every house, either the first, or if there were no first borne, the next principal man was taken instead of the first borne: so also Cajetan.

QUEST. VII. Why the Lord destroyeth the first borne.

NOw the first borne were slain: 1. Because they oppressed Israel, whom the Lord calleth his first borne, Exod. 4. Theodoret. 2. Rather because they put to death the first borne children of Israel, yea all the males, therefore the Lord doth worthily punish them in their first borne: Ferus. 3. And this plague was ordained for them, more grievous than all the rest, (for what can come nearer a man, than the death of his first borne, which also may be his only borne; as Abraham could not have a greater trial, than when he was commanded to sacrifice his only son Isaac ) that the Egyptians should be forced by this last and greatest plague to let Israel go: Perer. 4. Neither was this unjust in God, to take away the life of infants, who are not innocent before God, and the Lord that gave them life may take it away, if it more serve unto his glory. And the parents also that had sinned, were punished herein by the death of their dearest children, being themselves reserved for a greater destruction, Simler.

QUEST. VIII. Why the first borne of the cattle also are destroyed.

THe Egyptians cattle also are killed: 1. because this loss also was a punishment unto the Egyptians, for whose use they served: Simler. 2. And much of their substance also consisted in cattle: Perer. so that both they lost part of their substance, and wanted the use of them. 3. Beside, the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, and wronged them in their cattle: Ferus. 4. The Hebrews also think this was one special cause for that the Egyptians did superstitiously adore divers kinds of cattle, and therefore for detestation of their Idolatry the cattle are punished.

QUEST. IX. How the God's of the Egyptians were judged.

NOw what gods of Egypt were judged is diversely scanned: 1. Some think that by gods the Magistrates and Judges are understood: Osiander. But this was said before, that the first borne should be killed, even from the Princes throne; this was a punishment to Pharaoh and all his great men to have their first borne cut off. 2. Some think that the Egyptian gods were judged, in that their worshippers were punished: Borrh. 3. Others, that the Temples of the Idols were cast down: Jerome: and their Idols thrown down: and beaten to dust, as the Hebrews. 4. Some, that herein they were judged, that is, declared to be vain, because they were not able to defend their worshippers: Iun. 5. And because the Egyptians worshipped certain beasts above the rest, as Apis or Serapis, which was a pide Ox: that kind was specially punished: Perer. As the last sense but one is very agreeable, so I think, that beside some notable accident befell the Egyptian gods and Idols, as there did unto Dagon the Philistines Idol, in the presence of the Ark.

QUEST. X. How the Israelites escaped this destruction of the first borne.

NOw the Israelites though they were intermingled with the Hebrews, were exempt and freed from this judgment after this manner: 1. They were commanded to strike off the blood of the Lamb upon the two side posts, whereupon the door hanged, and upon the upper door post: because in this it was more conspicuous and in sight: and in the other rather than upon the door, which was moveable, and sometime open and sometime shut. 2. This blood was a sign not so much for the Angel, to pass by their houses, for the Angel could have told in whose houses the pascal Lamb was killed, without seeing of the blood: but it was a sign to the Hebrews, both presently to confirm them in the hope of their deliverance, and to be a type and figure of the blood of the Messiah, the only unspotted Lamb, by whose blood sprinkled, on the posts of our hearts by faith, we are saved from everlasting destruction. 3. Now whereas some of the Israelites were so poor and few, that they were not sufficient for the eating of a Lamb, they joined themselves to other families, and returned not unto their own houses that night, and so their houses where no Lamb was killed, were not sprinkled, and marked with blood, they stood empty that night: and such Hebrews as sojourned in the Egyptians houses, left their houses, and went to the houses of the Hebrews: for it is not like, that the Egyptians would have suffered any Hebrew to kill a Lamb in their houses, which thing they counted an abomination, Perer.

QUEST. XI. The mystical application of this last plague upon the first borne.

FOr the mystical application of this last plague: 1. Origen by the first borne of the Egyptians that are slain, understandeth the devil and his angels, the principalities of this world, whom Christ subdued at his coming, likewise Heretics and inventers of strange doctrines, which are overcome by the truth. 2. Augustine maketh a resemblance between this tenth plague, and the tenth Commandment. For as they which cover their neighbors goods, do desire them to enrich their heirs and posterity: so the Lord doth punish their covetousness and oppression in their heirs and first borne. 3. Rupertus by the first borne of Egypt, understandeth the original sin of the world, which is taken away by the death and passion of Christ. 4. But leaving men's uncertain and inconstant fancies, which are as divers, as the heads where they are forged; the Scripture thus applieth this sign of the Passover: that we are by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ delivered from eternal death, as the Israelites were by the blood of the Lamb from a temporal▪ and that as only those houses were exempted that were marked with the blood of the Lamb, so only in the Church is salvation to be found, where the blood of Christ is apprehended by faith: Simler.

QUEST. XII. Of the general application of these ten plagues.

NOw for the general application of all these ten plagues of the Egyptians. 1. We have seen before how Augustine forceth a kind of resemblance and comparison between the ten plagues o • Egypt, and the ten transgressions of the ten Commandments: as the turning of the water into blood, he would have to signify the corrupting of the true worship of God, with the inventions of flesh and blood; by the frogs, the blasphemies of the heathen against the name of God: the plague of the li • e, signify such as have a gnawing, and restless conscience, as the Sabbath betokeneth the rest of the mind. And so in the rest. But by these we may judge, that these allegories are but the superfluity of men's wits, and as every man's conceit is, so he findeth an allegory. 2. Yet Ferus application is more apt, who by these ten plagues, setteth forth the ten torments and pains of hell. 1. There water shall be turned into blood, all things shall be turned to the destruction of the ungodly. 2. Their frogs are horror of conscience. 3. Their lice a restless and unquiet mind. 4. By the flies is signified, that they shall be destitute of all help. 5. By the murrane of beasts, the perpetual punishment of their bodies. 6. By the boils the anguish of mind. 7. By the hail, continual terror. 8. By the Locusts the want of every good thing. 9. By the darkness, their depriving of the favor of God. 10. And everlasting death, by the death of the first borne. But neither is this allegorical application simply to be approved: for how can any man number the plagues of hell which are endless, infinite, and without number? and to make the comparison hold, he is constrained to inculcate the same thing twice or thrice. 3. Wherefore somewhat to content them which delight in such curious applications: these ten plagues which the Egyptians endured, may seem to decipher those ten mercies, & principal benefits, which God vouchsafed unto the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt. 1. As one had water turned into blood, so the other was blessed in their water: they received it out of the rock; and whereas it was bitter it became sweet, Exod. 17. 2. As they had their rivers and fields crawling full of frogs, so the other saw the red Sea full of the Egyptians bodies floating in the water, and rose up upon the land. 3. Their dust was turned into lice: and the Israelites had Manna, that • ay instead of dust upon the ground. 4. They had swarms of noisome flies, and serpents: the other were healed from the biting of serpents. 5. And as the Egyptians lost their cattle by the murrane: so the other were increased and enriched with the cattle of their enemies: as from the Midianites only they • ooke 675000. sheep, 72000 beeves, 61000. asses, Numb. 31, 32, 33, 34. 6. Instead of the Egyptians sore • , and botches, their feet swelled not in all their journey. 7. They were terrified with lightning and thunder, the other received the law in thunder and lightning in mount Sinai. 8. For the Egyptians Locusts the Israelites had quail. 9. Instead of darkness, they had a pillar of fire to guide them in the night, and God's glorious presence in the Tabernacle. 10. And as they were punished with the death of their first borne: so the first borne of Israel are made holy and consecrate unto God, Exod. 13.

Vers. 10. The Lord hardened Pharaohs heart. For the evident and full discussing of this question how the Lord is said to harden man's heart, divers profitable questions come now in order to be handled: for seeing the Lord is here divers times said to harden Pharaohs heart: as chap. 4.21. chap. 7.3. chap. 9.12. chap. 10. verse. 10. and 20. and 27. chap. 11.10. chap. 14. verse. 14. and 8. even nine times in all, it seemeth that Moses of purpose useth this significant phrase, and doth inculcate it often that we should well weigh and consider it.

QUEST. XIII. What the hardness of heart is.

FIrst, then it is requisite to be known, what this hardness of heart is. 1. It may first be described negatively, by the unaptness of an hard heart to anything that is good, it is nei • her passive, active or apprehensive of any good thing: not the first, nec movetur precibus, nec cedit minis: It is neither moved by prayers, nor giveth way to threats, as Bernard saith. For the next, he saith it is ingratum ad beneficia, ad c •• silia infidum, it is unthankful for benefits, unfaithful in counsel, unshamefast in evil things, &c. There is no activity in it to any goodness. And for the third; praeter solas injurias nihil non praeterit, it remembereth nothing that is past▪ but wrongs, nor hath any forecast for the time to come, unless it be to seek revenge. 2. It may be described also by the perpetual companion thereof, the blindness of the mind: for as ignorance blindeth the understanding, so hardness of heart blindeth the will and affection. As the Apostle saith, speaking of the Gentiles having their cogitation darkened through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart, Ephes. 4.18. Both these concurred in Pharaoh, he shown his blindness, in saying▪ I know not Jehovah ; his hardness of heart, in adding, Neither will I let Israel go, Exod. 5.2.

3. The property of hardness of heart is this, that it is not only a great and grievous sin, but also the punishment of sin: that it is a sin, the Apostle showeth, Heb. 3.12. Take heed brethren lest then be at any time in any of you an evil heart to depart from the living God. And that it is a punishment of sin, S. Paul also testifieth, Rom. 1.21. Because when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, &c. Then it followeth, verse. 24. God gave them up to their own hearts lusts, &c. 4. Now the qualities and inseparable adjuncts of hardness of heart are these. 1. Blindness of the judgment and understanding, as Isai. 6.10. Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts. 2. They are obstinate and willful, and refuse to be admonished and instructed: Who say unto God, depart from 〈◊〉 , we desire not the knowledge of thy ways, Job 21.14. 3. Such are rejected and cast out of the presence of God, and left unto themselves: such an on • was Saul, of whom it is said, That the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit sent of the Lord vexed him ▪ 1. Sam. 16.14. 4. They delight in doing of evil, and make a sport of sin: Prov. 2.14. Which rejoice in doing of evil and delight in the frowardness of the wicked. 5. They regard not to do things honest in the sight of men, but contemn and despise all others: Prov. 18.3. When the wicked cometh then cometh contempt. 6. They are incorrigible, and past all hope of amendment: Prov. 1.30. They would none of my council, but despised all my correction. 7. They are not ashamed of most vile sins, Ierem. 3.3. Thou hadst a whores forehead, thou wouldest not be ashamed. 8. When the Lord smiteth them they feel it not, neither have they any sense of God's judgments, whom the wise man compareth to those that sleep in the mast of a ship, and as drunken men that are stricken but know it not, Prov. 23.24.25. 9. They are grown to such an evil custom of sinning, that they can do none other, as the Prophet saith, can the blackamore change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil: Ierem. 13.23. 10. So that the sins of such seem to be inexpiable and indelible, as the same Prophet saith, that the sins of Judah were written with a pen of iron, and with the po • nt of a Diamond, chap. 17.1. 11. They wax daily worse and worse: of whom it is said, Revel. 22.11. He that is filthy let him be filthy still. 12. And as they increase in sin, so they do treasure up God's judgments against themselves, and heap unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.5.

QUEST. XIV. Whether God be the efficient and working cause of hardness of heart.

NOw in the next place, concerning the efficient cause of the hardness of heart. 1. That it cannot be imputed to God, as the worker and Author thereof, it may appear by these reasons. First, the hardness of the heart is a great sin, as is proved in the former question; but God is no ways the Author of sin, seeing he neither tempteth or persuadeth unto it, for God tempteth no man, I am. 1.13. neither hath commanded it, but hath forbidden it by his Law: nor yet worketh with them that do evil: for all that God doth is good, and so there is none good but God, Mark. 10.19. Neither doth the Lord approve sin being done, Psal. 8.4. Thou art not a God, that lovest wickedness. If then God neither move to sin, nor commends it, nor yet assisteth the committers of it, or approveth it, he is no way the Author of sin. Secondly, if God causeth sin, then every man should sin of necessity, and so his punishment should be unjust, being forced to sin. But as Augustine saith, Deus nemini per hoc quod falli non potest, aut necessitatem, aut voluntatem intulit delinquendi: God by this, that he cannot be deceived, hath not brought upon any either a necessity or willingness of sinning. Thirdly, Augustine useth another excellent reason: Fieri non potest, ut per quem à peccatis surgitur, per eum in peccata decidatur: It cannot be, that by whom men rise from sin, by him they should fall into sin. Fourthly, Plato thus reasoneth, Deus qui bonus est, malorum causa dici non potest, &c. God that is good, cannot be said to be the cause of evil, for then he should be contrary to himself. Lastly, if God any way should be the Author of sin, then it should be no sin, for whatsoever God doth is good: Nay, not to do that which the Lord willeth should be sin: Perer. 2. Yet seeing God is said in Scripture to harden the heart, which betokeneth an action: a • d likewise in other terms God is said to give some over to vile affections, Rom. 1.26 and to send upon some strange delusions that they should not believe the truth, 2. Thess. 2.11. and to make the heart fat, the ears heavy, and to shut the eyes, Isai. 6.10. all which phrases do imply an action and operation: it is evident that God some ways concurreth, either directly or indirectly, negatively or positively, by way of working, or giving occasion in the hardening of the heart.

QUEST. XV. God otherwise hardeneth then by way of manifestation.

BUt yet God doth more than by way of manifestation harden the heart: as some do expound it, that the Lord hardened Pharaohs heart (which interpretation Augustine toucheth. qu • st 18. in Exod. ) that is, by his plagues and judgments declared how hard it was. 1. For in this sense God might be said to commit any other sins, when he doth manifest them and bring them to light. 2. And though this exposition might serve here, yet it faileth in other places, as Deut. 2. it is said, that God hardened the heart of Sehon King of the Amorites; and Josh. 10. that God hardened the hearts of the Canaanites; and Rom. 9. God hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. In these places it cannot be so expounded, that God hardened, that is, declared their hearts to be hard.

QUEST. XVI. God hardeneth the heart not only by permission.

SOme do expound it by way of permission, because those that are hardened, God depriveth of his grace, and leaveth them to themselves. So Damascene: Ista non 〈◊〉 Deo agent accipienda sunt, sed ut Deo permittente: these sayings, as God shut up all in unbelief, and God gave them the spirit of slumber, eyes, that they should not see, are not to be taken, as though God did them but permitted them. So likewise the ordinary gloss in 4. Exod. Indurabo cor Phar • onis, i. indurari permittam: I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, that is▪ suffer it to be hardened. So also Chrysostom, Tradidit in reprobum sensum, nihil aliud est quam permisit: He gave them up to a reprobate sense, it is nothing else than that he permitted it: as a Captain leaving his soldiers in the midst of the battle, may be said to deliver them into their enemies hands: in Epist ad Roman. Cajetan to confirm this interpretation showeth how sometime in Scripture, that is called a precept which is permitted, as when Matthew said, chap. 19.8. Moses for the hardness of your heart suffered you to put away your wives: Mark hath, Moses for the hardness of your heart wrote this precept unto you: chap. 10. But although this be most true, that God suffereth such to continue in their hardness of heart, yet this is not all. 1. For so the Lord suffereth also other sins to be done: for there is nothing done in the world, nisi omnipotence fieri velit, vel sinendo ut fiat, vel ipse faciendo; unless the omnipotent God will have it done, either by suffering it to be done, or doing it himself. Then if this were all, the Lord might be said as well to steal, and such like, because he suffereth them to be done. 2. Wherefore Augustine's judgment is rather here to be received: Deum ad indurationem cordis concurrere non modo secundum permissionem vel secundùm patientiam sed etiam secundùm actionem & potentiam, non sane per quem fiat, immediate duritia ipsius cordis, sed per quem multa fiant, à quibus peccator vitio suo concipiat duritiam cor ••• : That the Lord doth concur in the hardening of the heart, not only by permission, or suffering, but according to his power and action, not by the which immediately the hardness of the heart is made, but whereby many things are done, by the which a sinner by his own corruption doth conceive the hardness of heart. 3. And concerning the place alleged out of Mark, a precept is not there strictly taken for a commandment, but for any order or decree that is written.

QUEST. XVII. Whether hardness of heart be of God as it is a punishment of sin.

SOme do hold, because the induration of the heart is two ways to be considered, as it is a sin, and a punishment of sin; in the first God hath no part: but as thereby God punisheth former sins, so he as a just Judge inflicteth hardness of heart as a punishment; as the Apostle showeth, Rom. 2.28. As they regarded not to know God so God delivered them up to a reprobate mind. And 2. Thess. 2.11. Because they received not the love of the truth, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe lies. In these places the Apostle showeth how the Lord punisheth them with blindness and hardness of heart, because of their former sins. This distinction is approved by Augustine, lib. 5. cont. Iulianum. Isidorus thus concludeth the same point: Facit Deus quosdam peccatores, sed in quibus talia jam peccata precesserant, ut justo judicio ejus mercantur in deter • us • re: Therefore God maketh some sinners, but in whom such sins are found before, that by the just judgment of God they deserve to become worse and worse. So Cajetan upon these words, 2. Sam. 12. Behold I will raise evil upon thee out of thine own house, which was verified in Absalom that rose up against his father: thus resolveth, Deus non est author peccati, ut sic, sed ut est poena peccati: God is not the author of sin, as it is sin but as it is the punishment of sin. The same judgment he giveth of Shimei, whom David saith the Lord bid curse David, that God wrought that Shimei cursed David, Non quatenus erat peccatum, sed quatenus erat poena peccati Davidis: Not as it was sin, but as it was a punishment of the sin of David. So Io • senius: Illa Deo tribuuntur non quatenus peccata sunt, sed quatenus poena peccati: they are ascribed to God, no • as they are sins, but as they are the punishment of sin: in chap. 15. Ecclesiastic. But Pererius misliking this opinion, thus reasoneth against it. 1. If God be said to be the Author of the induration of the heart, as it is a punishment of sin, then he may as well be said to be the Author of the other sins, when as a man falleth into them as a punishment of his former sins. Contra. As though all such sins do not proceed from the hardness of the heart that confirmeth and settleth the sinner in his wickedness: therefore God is not said to be the cause of these sins, but of the hardness of heart, which is the cause of those sins: Man by continuing in sin hath his heart hardened by the just judgment of God, and then out of the hardness of his own heart he bringeth forth other sins of himself.

2. The hardness of heart, as it is a great and horrible sin, so it is a punishment of former sins: if God then do cause it to be a punishment, he also causeth it as it is a sin.

Contra. In this argument there are ambiguous terms, for in the first clause, this note of similitude (as) is taken for the being of the thing: hardness of heart as it is sin, so it is a punishment of sin: that is, it could not be a punishment of sin unless it were sin: this we grant. In the next part, the same word (as) signifieth the manner of being; therefore if the first be taken in the same sense, for one and the same manner of being, we deny that hardness of heart in the same respect, is both sin and the punishment of sin. It is both in respect of the subject, and being, but not both in the same quality, affection, and manner of being.

3. He thus proceedeth: All punishments of sin, because they are just stand with the will of God: hardness of heart being a sin, if it should stand with the will of God, then it would follow, that sin should stand with the will of God.

Contr. 1. If sin no way stand with the will of God, then sin should not be committed in the world, for against his will can nothing be done. 2. Here then we must admit a distinction of God's will, there is his will of approbation, and the will of his providence: by the first he willeth not sin, but by the second he willeth it to be in the world, because he knoweth how to dispose of sin even unto good. Origen hath the like distinction: Multa sine voluntate Dei geruntur, nihil sine providentia: providentia est, qua dispensat & providet, voluntas qua vult vel non vult aliquid: Many things are done without God's will, nothing withou • his providence: providence is that whereby he dispenseth, and provideth; his will, whereby he willeth or • illeth anything. The master of the sentences saith: Mala fieri bonum est, it is good that evil should be done ▪ because thereby God's power and goodness is seen in turning evil unto good. lib. 1. distinct. 46. quaest. If God then did not see how to turn evil unto a good end, he would not suffer evil to be done in the world. 3. So then retaining the former distinction, still hardness of heart as it is a sin God willeth it not, but as it is a punishment of sin, it standeth very well with the will and justice of God.

4. And further concerning the former testimonies of their own Writers: Pererius would have them to speak of such sins, which are also punishments of sins in divers subjects: as that the doing of it should be a sin in one, and the suffering a punishment in the other: as the rebellion of Absalom, and railing of Shimei, in respect of themselves they were sin, but in regard of David, they were a chastisement upon him for his sin, and so they were sent of God. But in other things, where the sin and punishment are in one subject, as in the hardness of heart, that distinction hath no place.

Contra. But Pererius by his leave cannot fasten upon them a sense contrary to their words: for thus Cajetan writeth, as Melchior Cano citeth him: De •• non est 〈◊〉 peccata, ut sic, sed qua •• um est 〈◊〉 ips •• peccat •• vel alterius: God is the author of sin, not as it is sin, but as it is a punishment in 〈◊〉 that sinneth, or in any other. And Can •• thereupon collecteth thus: Agnoscit Cajetan maledictionem Shimei, quatenus punalem sibi procedere a Deo. Cajetan acknowledgeth, that the cursing of Shimei, as it was penal to himself did proceed from God: His meaning then is that even in him that sinneth, hardness of heart is a punishment of sin, and not only in another. Their own master of sentences also saith, as I cited him before: Concupiscentia in quantum poena est peccati Deum habet authorem: Concupis • ence, as it is a punishment of sin hath God the author thereof, lib. 2. distinct. 32. But concupiscence is a punishment in him▪ that hath it, not in another.

Wherefore notwithstanding these contrary objections, because of those places of Scripture alleged before, and the testimonies of other Writers: I approve this distinction as sound, that hardness of heart, not as it is sin, but as it is inflicted as a punishment of sin is of God: and in this sense God is said to harden the heart: as Augustine well concludeth, Deus indurabit per justum judicium, Pharaoh per liberum arbitrium: God did harden Pharaohs heart by his just judgment, and Pharaoh by his own free will: de liber. arbitr. cap. 23.

QUEST. XVIII. How God is said to harden the heart by patience and long suffering.

ANother way, whereby God is said to have hardened Pharaohs heart, is by his patience and long suffering, because the Lord doth suspend his judgments, and not presently punish the wicked, whereupon they abusing God's patience and long suffering are hardened. This exposition they ground upon that place of the Apostle, Rom. 2.4. Despisest thou the riches of his bountifulness, and patience, and long suffering, not knowing that the bountifulness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But thou after thine hardness, and heart that cannot repent, heapest unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath. This exposition followeth Origen; Non aliter Deum indurare corda hominum nisi patienter eos tolerando: that God doth not otherwise harden men's hearts than by patience forbearing them. And he maketh it a figurative locution, like as a master should say to his servant, that abuseth his gentleness: a lewd servant, it is I that have made thee thus, because I did not punish thee. Likewise Basil; Obstinavit Deus Pharaonem per longam patientiam: God made Pharaoh obstinate by his long patience. So also Jerome; Patientia Dei induravit Phara • nem: God's patience did harden Pharaoh. And he showeth it by this similitude; as the same Sun hardeneth the clay, and mollifieth the wax: Sic bonitas Dei vasa ira indurat, vasa misericordia solvit: So the goodness of God hardens the vessels of wrath, and mollifieth the vessels of mercy. To the same purpose also Theodoret quast. 12. in Exod. Augustine also after the same manner saith: Pharaonem non divina potentia, sed divina patientia credenda est Deum indurasse: Not the divine power but the divine patience is thought to have hardened Pharaoh. This is true which is affirmed by these ancient fathers, that men by abusing the patience and long suffering of God are hardened: yet this is not all; this phrase, that God hardened Pharaohs heart, showeth that God hath a further stroke in the hardening of their hearts than by connivence and long suffering toward them.

QUEST. XIX. Wherefore the Lord useth patience and long suffering toward the wicked.

YEt it is most true that God useth great patience and longanimity towards sinners, and that for these reasons: 1. That thereby God's goodness and mercy may appear, and the great malice and frowardness of man's heart that cannot be drawn to repentance, by the Lord's rich and bountiful mercy. 2. By this means also God's judgments appear to be most just, when he punisheth the hard hearted and incorrigible, as is evident in the example of Pharaoh. 3. God also teacheth men by his example to be patient and long suffering one toward another. 4. This patience of God, though some abuse it, yet other profit by it, and their hard hearts are mollified; as though Pharaoh by God's sparing of him, became more obstinate, yet Nebuchadnezzar at the length, by the Lord's lenity and goodness, and fatherly correction was brought to know himself, and to confess the true God. 5. And though the evil and wicked should reap no profit by the Lord's wonderful patience, yet the elect and such as are ordained to salvation, are thereby called and brought unto grace, as S. Paul showeth of himself: For this cause was I received to mercy, that Jesus Christ should first show on me all long suffering, unto the ensample of them, which in time to come should believe on him, 1. Tim. 1.16.

QUEST. XX. How God is said to harden by the subtraction of his grace.

BEside, there is another way, whereby the ancient fathers understood God to be said to harden men's heart: namely, by the subtraction and withdrawing of his grace: as Chrysostom: God is said to give over unto a reprobate sense, to harden, to blind and such like: Non quod hac a Deo fiunt, quippe cùm à propria hominis malitia proveniant, sed quia Deo juste homines deserente, hac illis contingunt: Not because these things are done by God, which proceed of man's malice; but because while God doth justly forsake men, these things do happen unto them. So also Augustine; ludurare dicitur Deus, quem mollire noluerit: God is said to harden, whom he will not nullify, & excacare dicitur quem illuminare nolverit: And he is said to blind him whom he will not iluminate. Gregory also upon these words of the Lord to Moses▪ I will harden Pharaohs heart, thus writeth: Obdurare Deus per pos •• iam dicitur, quando cor reprobum per gratiam non 〈◊〉 : God is said by his justice to harden the heart, when he doth not by his grace mollify a reprobate heart. So Thomas Aquinas: Excacatio & obduratio duo important, &c. The blinding and hardening of the heart implieth two things; one is the internal act of the mind, adhering unto evil, and being adverse from God; and so God is not the cause of the hardness of the heart: The other is the subtraction of grace, whereby it cometh to pass, that the • ind is not illuminate to see God, &c. and in this respect God is the cause of induration. This exposition also is true, but it expresseth not all that seemeth to be contained in this phrase, that God is said to harden Pharaohs heart.

QUEST. XXI. How God is said occasionaliter▪ by ministering the occasion which the wicked abuseth to harden the heart.

THere is then a sixth way of interpreting these words: God is said to harden man's heart occasionaliter ▪ by way of occasion, when the wicked take occasion by such things as fall out and are done by God's providence to be more hardened and confirmed in their sin. 1. For as all things, as prosperity, adversity, life, death, fullness, want and whatsoever else do work together unto good to those that fear God, as the Apostle saith, Rom. 8. So on the contrary all things fall out for the worst unto the wicked and impenitent: so the wonders which God wrought in Egypt, served to confirm the Hebrews in their faith, but Pharaoh through his own malice was thereby hardened. 2. The things which the Lord doth, whereby the wicked take occasion to be hardened are of three sorts, either inwardly in the mind, as by stirring their affections, as of anger, fear, hope, desire, which they by their corruption turn unto evil: or else such things as are done about them, as admonitions, corrections, mercies, benefits, which they also ungratiously abuse; or they are things external or without them, as the objects of pleasure, honor, and such like, whereby their hard heart is puffed up and swelleth. And all these things being good of themselves, they through the hardness of their heart pervert unto their destruction: as S. Peter speaketh of some which through ignorance and unbelief do pervert the Scriptures, 2. Pet. 3.16. And S. Paul showeth, that sin took occasion by the commandment, and wrought in him all manner of concupiscence, Rom. 7.8.3. Thus Pharaoh was hardened by occasion of God's works, the plagues and wonders which were shown in Egypt: by the wonders, because he saw his Magicians could do the like: by the plagues, because they touched not him, but happened without, they came not all at once but with some respite between, and because he saw that they continued not long, but were soon removed. 4. To this purpose Augustine, Vt tale cor haberet Pharaoh, quod patientia D • o non m • vera • ur ad pietatem, propri • sunt vitii; quod vero facta sunt ea, quibus cor suo • itio jam mal • gnum divinis jussionibus resisteret &c. dispensationis fuit divina: In that Pharaoh had such an heart, which could not be moved, by the patience of God unto piety, it was his own fault; but that such things were done, whereby his heart being evil of it self did resist the commandment of God, it was of the divine dispensation: quaest. 18. i • Exod. This exposition also of Augustine may be received; but yet there is somewhat further to be considered in God's concurring in the hardening of Pharaohs heart.

QUEST. XXII. God 〈◊〉 s •• d to harden the heart as the event is taken for the cause.

THere is further a seventh exposition: for in the Scripture that is often taken for the cause of a thing▪ which is but the event of it a Chrysostom noteth upon these words, John. 17. None of them perished but the child of perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: here the Scripture, Quae eventus sun • pro causa ponit: putteth that for the cause which was the event: for Judas did not perish to that end that the Scripture should be fulfilled: but it so fell out, that the Scripture in Judas perishing was fulfilled. Damascene giveth the like instance in the 51. Psalm, Against thee only have I sinned and done evil in thy sight, that thou mayest be justified in thy sayings, and clear when thou art judged. But David did not sin to that end, that God might be justified, God had no need of his sin to set forth his glory. So it fell out that God spared David ▪ and by his mercy overcame his sin; yet he sinned not to that end: like as when a man is at his work, and one cometh and so he breaketh off, he should say my friend came today to hinder my work, whereas his friend had no such end in his coming. So Jacob said to his sons, Wherefore dealt ye so evil with me, as to tell the man, whether ye had yet a brother or no? Gen. 43.6. Jacob's sons in so telling intended no evil, or hurt to their father, but it so fell out. The wicked are said to hate their own souls, and to procure unto themselves eternal death: whereas simply they hate not their souls, neither would be damned: but upon their committing of sin it so falleth out that their souls perish by their means, as if they hated them: unruly patients that will not obey their Physicians, whereupon followeth death, are said • o seek their own death, and yet they desire to live: but upon their unruly and disordered behavior, death followeth. So God is said to harden Pharaohs heart, by the like figurative speech, because the hardening of their heart ensueth upon the abuse of those things, which God intendeth not to that end, but they pervert them to their own hurt. Ex Perer. All this may safely be received, and acknowledged; and yet somewhat more is to be added, as shall afterward appear.

QUEST. XXIII. How diversely in Scripture these terms of blinding and hardening are taken.

BUt by the way this word, to blind, to harden, though it signify an action proceeding from him that hardeneth, yet is it not always so taken: therefore we shall find that four ways in Scripture, a thing is said to blind and consequently to harden: 1. Gifts are said to blind the •• es. Deut. 16. Not that they being a dead thing, can corrupt the judgment, but man's corrupt heart taketh occasion, and is thereby enticed to pervert justice. 2. The Devil is said to blind the minds of the wicked▪ • . Cor. 4.4. 3. The malice of a man's own heart is said to blind and harden, as Pharaoh hardened his own heart. 4. God is said to blind the eyes, Isaiah 6.10. and to harden Pharaohs heart: gifts do blind occasionaliter, by way of occasion; the malice of man's heart blindeth merit •••• , by way of desert, and meritoriously, because it deserveth to be further blinded and hardened: the Devil blindeth incitando, by inciting and provoking unto sin. And God as is before shown, by withdrawing his grace and inflicting the punishment of induration upon them.

QUEST. XXIV. How divers ways the Lord forsaketh those which are hardened.

FUrther, God is said to harden man's heart in his diverse leaving and forsaking of them. 1. He suffereth them to follow their own lusts and desires, not giving them power or grace to restrain them, as Rom. 1 24. he gave them up to their hearts lusts. 2. He giveth them ease, abundance, prosperity, whereby they are entangled: therefore the Prophet prayeth, Give me not riches, lest I be full and forget thee: Prov. 3. 3. He denieth them the benefit, of wholesome corrections and afflictions, whereby they should learn to know themselves, as the Apostle saith, the Lord receiveth no child, whom he doth not chastise. 4 God forbiddeth his servants to pray for such, and so they want the benefit of their prayers, as Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for the people, chap. 7.16. 5. God in his justice depriveth them of such as should travel for their souls, and bring them unto God: as the Apostles left the obstinate and willful Jews and shook off the dust of their feet against them, Acts 13. 6. God taketh away from them the preaching and knowledge of his word, as the Lord threateneth by his Prophet Amos, to send upon them a famine, not of bread or water, but of hearing his word, Amos 8.11. 7. God suffereth them to be deceived by flatterers and unfaithful counselors, as • ebobo •• was by his young men. 8. And the more strongly to delude them, the Lord permitteth sometimes false Prophets to show signs and wonders, 〈◊〉 the Apostle saith of the false Prophet Antichrist, whose coming is by the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders, 2. Thes. 2.9. 9. The Lord permitteth Satan to invade them, and to work upon them at his pleasure: as the evil spirit was sent of the Lord upon Saul, and a lying spirit was in the mouth of Baals false Prophets to deceive Ahab. 10. God taketh away from them all helps, whereby they should be defended against the assaults of Satan, as the Lord threateneth to do to his unfruitful vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be • aten up, I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. Isai. 5.4. 11. But the Lord doth not thus forsake any till they have first forsaken God: as Chrysostom saith: Quod autem Deus non derelinquat nos, nisi fuerit à nobis derelictus, aperte ostendit Isaiah; That God forsaketh not us till we have forsaken him, I say showeth, chap. 59.2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Ex Perer.

QUEST. XXV. God hardeneth otherwise than by foreseeing.

BEside these divers interpretations of the hardening of Pharaohs heart by the Lord which I have abridged out of Pererius: there are three other which I will briefly set down: first some think that this, (in that God is said to harden Pharaohs heart) is to be understood of God's prescience, that he is said to harden it, because he foresaw it should be hardened by their own malice. This seemeth sometime to be the opinion of Augustine : in that God is said to harden Pharaohs heart, Non ad operationem Dei, sed ad prascientiam pertinere monstratur: it is shown to appertain not to God's operation or working, but to his prescience. But this cannot b • the meaning, for by this reason, whereas God foreseeth all the sins of men, which are committed in the world, God might be said himself, to kill, steal, do wrong, because he foreseeth, that such things shall be done in the world.

QUEST. XXVI. Whether God may be said to do those things which he disposeth of to a good end.

SEcondly, God may be said to harden Pharaohs heart, because he disposeth thereof, and directeth it to such an end, as he himself propounded: because thereby the Lord did take occasion to work his miracles: as he saith to Moses, I have hardened Pharaohs heart, that I might work these my miracles, Exod. 10.1. So as God ordained the end, he may be said also in some sort, to do those things which help unto that end; as Act. 2.23. Christ is said to be delivered by the determinate council of God: yet was he betrayed and delivered by Judas: whose act is said in some respect, to be the Lord's, because God disposed of it to effect and accomplish his glorious council, in redeeming the world by the death of his Son. But neither can this be safely affirmed, that the Lord should be said to do those things, which he ordereth and disposeth: for God so disposed of that spiritual combat which S. Paul found in his flesh, that it tended further to God's glory and the manifestation of his power: as the Lord saith, My grace is sufficien • for thee, my power is made perfect through weakness: yet God was not the worker of that temptation, but the Apostle imputeth it to Satan, 2. Cor. 12.7. And like as in the creation God made light, but made not darkness, but only made a separation between the light and the darkness, Gen. 14. Whereupon Augustine groundeth this distinction: Aliud fecit Deus & ordinavit, aliud non fecit sed ordinavit: God m • d • s • me things and ordered them also: some things he made not, but ordered: as he giveth instance of the darkness: so the works of darkness God cannot be said to have made, but only he disposeth and ordereth them.

QUEST. XXVII. God otherwise hardeneth then as a general mover of the heart.

THirdly, some refer that work of God, which he showeth in the hardening of the heart, to that general power which he giveth unto the creature, in whom all things move, live, and have their being, Act. 17.28. So that the hardening of the heart as it is an action or work, is of God; but as it is evil it proceedeth from man. So Zwingli: Quatenus est Dei Creatoris, opus est, crimen non est; quantum autem hominis, crimen est, scelus est: As it is of God the Creator, it is a work, it is no faule; but as it is of man, it is a fault, it is a sin. The Master of the sentences hath the like saying: Actus mali in quantum actus 〈◊〉 , boni sunt & à Deo author: Evil acts as they are acts are good, and (proceed) of God the Author, lib. 2. distinct. 35.

But this solution doth not take away the doubt: for as God is the Creator, and so general worker, he only giveth power to move the heart: this moving being the general action, is divided into two parts, for there are good motions, of the heart, and evil, the mollifying of the heart, and the hardening: in the good motions God concurreth two ways, as a general mover by his creating power, and as a particular directer by his regenerating grace: but in the other motions he only hath a stroke as a general mover, in the particular action of hardening as it is evil he concurreth not. Therefore according to that general power the Lord is said only to be a mover, not an hardner of the heart. Some other way therefore yet must be found out, whereby the Lord is said to harden the heart.

QUEST. XXVIII. How the Lord is said indeed to harden the heart.

TO conclude then this question, of all these ways before rehearsed, which are ten in all, I make choice of these three, which may fully satisfy every doubt, namely the third in the 17. quest. before, the fifth in the 20. quest. and the sixth in the 21. The first is, that God is said to harden the heart, by leaving it to it self, and depriving it of his necessary grace, as God is said to have given over the unbelieving Gentiles to their hearts lusts, Rom. 1.24. The second, that beside this, God causeth many things to be done, which are not in themselves causes of the hardening of the heart, yet the wicked take occasion thereby further to be indurate and hardened: as S. Paul showeth how the wicked abuse the patience and long suffering of God, thereby to be further hardened. Thirdly, God by his just judgment, Cum suum in malum, qu • ipse ultro ruit amplius ad finem usque impellit, doth force him to his own hurt, whither he runneth headlong himself, even unto the end: Iun. A • a • ys • n 7. cap. Exod. God as a just Judge, seeing a man's heart to be bent upon wickedness, doth as a just Judge, inflict upon him the spiritual punishment of induration. To this purpose Augustine handling that place, Rom. 1. how the Lord gave up the Gentiles to their own lusts, useth this distinction: that some things there rehearsed are sins and no punishment, as the pride and vanity of their minds, verse. 21. They were not thankful but became vain in their imagination: Some a punishment and no sin, as eternal death which they were worthy of, verse. 31. the rest that came between, are both sins and punishments. By this distinction Augustine in another place answereth this objection of the Pelagians: God, say they, should not take such punishment of sin, Vt peccator per vindictam plura committeret: That the sinners thereby commit more sin: Augustine answereth to this effect: Sic ostendit ista esse peccata, ut etiam poenae fint peccatorum: he showeth these so to be sins, as that they are also punishments of sins ; as the Apostle there saith, verse. 27. Man with man wrought filthiness and received to themselves such recompense of their error as was meet. So the meaning of Augustine is, that God did not send them upon the Gentiles, as they were sins, but they are to be considered as punishments of their sins, as God hath an hand therein. Likewise, whereas Julian the Pelagian objected, that Per patientiam divinam sunt, non per potentiam desideriis traditi: That they were delivered over to their lusts, not by the power but by the patience of God: Augustine to show the contrary giveth instance of that place, Ezech. 14.9. When it is said, If the Prophet be deceived I have deceived him: Patientia an potentia est? Is it the patience or the power of God that doth this? And concerning the hardening of Pharaohs heart Augustine concludeth thus: Deus ejus voluntatem proprio suo vito malam, in hoc peccatum judicio suo justo & occulto inclinavit: God did incline his will▪ being evil by it own faul • , into this sin, by his just, yet secret judgment: If God did incline it, he did more than suffer it, or minister the occasion only, whereby it was inclined. Jerome expresseth as much by this similitude: Vnus est solis calor, & secundùm essentias subjacentes, alia liquefacit, alia indurat; liquatur cera, induratur lutum: there is bu • one kind of heat in the Sun, and according to the matter which it worketh upon, some things it melteth, some things it hardeneth; the wax is melted, the clay hardened. Origen also useth the same similitude, and applieth it thus: Sic indurasse dicitur Deus cor Pharaoni • , quia cor ejus secundùm ea, quae cogitabat, luteum & limosum erat: So God (as the Sun hardeneth the clay) is said to have hardened Pharaohs heart, because his heart according to those things, which he thought, was earthly and muddy. And in another place he bringeth in this Simile: Vt eodem opere pl • viae terra diligenter exculta affert bonos fructus, inculta tribulos: as by the same work of the rain, the earth being well tilled bringeth forth good fruit, and the untilled thistles. Like as then the Sun hardeneth the clay, the rain bringeth forth weeds, not of it self but by reason of the nature of the thing concurring, whereupon it worketh; so by the working of God, after a most secret and hid manner, the hearts of the wicked are hardened, but the cause thereof is in themselves. And thus much shall suffice of this question: see it handled before, 2. Doct. chap. 7. and chap. 8 quest. 12. and confut. 1.

1. Doct. God overruleth men's affections.

Vers. 3. THe Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Hereby we learn, that God hath the ruling and turning of men's affections: he can work them either to favor or disfavour: Piscat. So the Wiseman saith: As the rivers of waters, the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord, • e t •• neth it whither soever it pleaseth him, Prov 21.1. Like as the husband man maketh furrows in his ground, and draweth the water which way it pleaseth him; and as the sternes man in the vessel doth move it which way he listeth: so can the Lord order and govern the streams of men's affections.

2. Doct. Godly men have their passions and affections.

Vers. 8. SO he went out from Pharaoh very angry. Even wise and godly men have their affections: it i • not as the Stoics taught, that there is a vacuity and absence of them in wise and perfect men. They are not without affections, but they rule them by reason, and their reason is sanctified by grace. The Apostle saith, be angry, but sin not, Ephes. 4.26. He alloweth to be angry, but not to sin in anger: Christ the most perfect man that ever was, had his affections, as of anger, Mark 3.5. He looked round about him •• gerly: of joy, Luk. 10.21. Jesus rejoiced in spirit: of sorrow, Matth. 26.38. My soul is heavy unto death; of love, as John. 13.23. The disciple whom Jesus loved.

1. Confut. Against Purgatory.

BEfore in the third question where it is disputed what Angels God used in bringing the last plague of death of the first borne upon Egypt; Pererius showeth the difference between the ministry of the Angels in this life, and in the next, falling to make mention of purgatory (for they cannot do otherwise for there lives, but upon every occasion broach their own fancies) leaveth it as uncertain and undiscussed, whether the good Angels or the bad should be ministers of purgatory: he thinketh not the bad, that they should exercise power over them, which in their life time did conquer the Devil; neither yet will he have them to be the good: It is an unmeet thing, saith he, that they which shortly should become the fellows and partakers of the blessed Angels in heaven, should be punished by them: Perer. 1. dispute. in cap. 11.

Contra. 1. Let any reasonable man judge, whether it be not like, that purgatory should be a mere fancy, where there is supposed to be torments, and yet no tormentor. In that he thinketh, that neither good Angels nor bad, are the ministers of those torments, I condescend to him: who then? not Christ I am sure, for he hath redeemed them; nor yet God himself, for the Apostle saith, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's chosen? it is God that justifi • th, who shall condemn? Rom. 8.33.34. God hath justified them by faith in Christ, and being justified there is nothing further to be laid to their charge. If then there be no tormenter in purgatory, there is no torment in purgatory, and so purgatory fire is quite quenched and put out.

2. Beside this uncertainty, who should be the tormenters, there be other main points not yet resolved of among them concerning purgatory: as of the place, where it is; of the fire, what it is, corporal or spiritual; of the time, how long it shall last, whether hundred years or thousands; of the greatness of the pain, whether it exceed all the torments and punishments of this life. These articles are not yet defined and determined among them, as Bellarmine showeth lib. de purgat. from chap. 6. to chap. 14. Therefore we will leave them to their uncertainties, and as they make question of the circumstances of purgatory: so we will not only make question of purgatory it self, but are most sure, that it is but an invention of their own; for all they which die in the Lord (that is, in the faith of Christ) are pronounced blessed, and to rest from their labors, and their works follow them, Revel. 14.13. Here are three arguments against purgatory They which die in the faith of Christ are blessed; but they which are in hell torments (for purgatory they make part of hell) are not blessed. They do rest from their labors; but they which are in purgatory, are in labor and pain. Their works follow them for their reward; but they which are tormented • nd punished are not rewarded: Therefore we acknowledge no other purgatory but in this life, a perfect purgation of our sins in Christ, Heb. 12.3. and an imperfect, which is by the fiery probation of affliction: as S. Peter calleth it: Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is among you to prove you, 1. Pet. 4.12.

2. Confut. Against the Manichees which reject the Old Testament.

Vers. 10. BVt the Lord hardened Pharaohs heart. Hence the Manichees took occasion to utter their blasphemies against the God of the Old Testament, and to reject the Scriptures themselves of the Old Testament, as proceeding from a God that was a worker of evil, in hardening men's hearts. These Augustine confuteth at large, hom. 88. de tempore, showing how God is said to harden the heart, without any touch of sin: for thus he writeth, Non Pharaonem Dei violentia sed propria impietas obduravit: Not any violence from God but Pharaohs own impiety did harden him. And these words, I will harden Pharaohs heart, he expoundeth thus; Cum abfuerit ei gratis mea, obduret illum nequitia sua: when my grace is from him, then his own wickedness shall harden him. 2. Then he doth illustrate it by this similitude; as the water is frozen, till the Sun shine upon it, then it resolveth, and so soon as the Sun is departed, it is bound with cold again: the Sun is not the cause of the freezing of the water, but the coldness of the water bindeth it self: so properly God causeth not the heart to be hardened, but by the absence of his grace it is hardened. 3. But if the question be asked, why the Lord suffereth any to be hardened; he maketh this answer: Aut illorum iniquitati qui obdurari merentur adscribendum aut ad inscru • abilia Dei judicia referendum, quae plerunque sunt occulta, nunquam autem injusta: This must •• th • r be ascribed to their iniquity, which deserve to be hardened, or it must be referred to the judgments of God, which are often hid but never unjust. It sufficeth 〈◊〉 to know and believe, as the Apostle saith, Rom. 9. Is there iniquity with God?

3. Confut. Against Pererius that thinketh none in this life to be without hope of grace and repentance.

NOw further whereas Pererius in the treatise of induration moveth this disputation, whether any man can be so hardened in this life, as that he become altogether impenitent and incorrigible, and without hope of grace; and resolveth upon the negative part, that none in this life are in such desperate state: it shall not be amiss, first, to examine his reasons, and then to confirm the truth.

1. He urgeth these and such like places, That God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth: And, I will not the death of a sinner. If mercy be offered to all, then the way is open for all to return unto God.

Contra. 1. God indeed offereth himself unto all, and denieth not the external means to any, if they had grace to apprehend them. The Gospel hath been preached to all the world, and is many times to the impenitent and reprobate; so God offereth grace to all, but all will not receive it. Augustine hereof thus writeth: Correctio medecinabiliter omnibus adhibenda est, etiam si salus aegrotantis sit incerta, &c. The wholesome medicine of admonition must be ministered to all, though the health of the sick be uncertain: that if he which is admonished belong to the predestinate, it is unto him a wholesome medicine; if he do not, it is a penal torment. 2. The argument then followeth not; God calleth all to repentance, therefore all may have grace to repent: The Scripture saith, many are called, but few are chosen. Ambrose saith, In aliis praevaluisse gratiam, in aliis re • iluisse natura • : That grace prevaileth in some, in others their obstinate nature resisteth.

2. So long as men are in this life, they are in the way, and are not deprived of all grace, nor utterly forsaken till they come into hell.

Contr. Everlasting punishment in hell is the end and execution of damnation, but men in this life may be in the state of damnation, and be utterly forsaken of God's grace, as Saul and Judas, and they whom the Apostle saith, God gave them over to a reprobate sense: Rom. 1.28.

3. If any had been in this life wholly excluded from grace, Pharaoh of all other was most like; yet his state was not desperate, seeing he was in the same case with Nebuchadnezzar, who repented and confessed God.

Contr. 1. He reasoneth flatly against the Apostle, who propoundeth Pharaoh as a vessel of wrath prepared to destruction, Rom. 9. Now if there be hope for the vessels of wrath to come to grace, then there was hope for Pharaoh. The Apostle maketh these two distinct things, God hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth, Rom. 9.18. As God hardeneth not those on whom he hath mercy, so neither showeth he mercy on those whom he hardeneth. 2. Nebachadnezzar and Pharaoh were most unlike, for the one had not so many wonders shown, as had the other, neither so often dallied and made show of repentance, as did the other: this showeth their state to be most differing, for if Pharaoh had been no more hardened than Nebuchadnezzar was, he would likewise have repented.

4. We are to despair of none in this life, therefore it is possible for all to repent.

Contr. 1. Such as we see and know commit a sin unto death, which is the irremissible sin against the holy Ghost (which I confess is a rare thing now to be discerned) such we may despair of, because the Apostle forbiddeth us to pray for them, 1. John. 5.16. And those for whom the Lord did forbid Jeremiah to pray, chap. 7.16. what hope, I pray you, was there of them? 2. Though we in charity are to hope the best, even of the greatest sinners, yet this followeth not, that all of them may have grace to repent: we judge according to that we see: but the Lord seeth the heart and knoweth from the beginning who are his, and who are not.

But on the contrary side: that some in this life are so hard hearted that they cannot repent, and so are incorrigible and without hope of remission of sins, it is proved thus:

1. Sin against the holy Ghost is irremissible, as our Savior saith, He that blaspphemeth against the holy Ghost shall never have forgiveness, Mark. 3.29. Therefore there are some in this life that cannot repent, neither can have their sins forgiven them. And because Bellarmine and Pererius, and the rest here answer, that the sin against the holy Ghost is said to be irremissible, not because it cannot at all be forgiven, but because it is hardly forgiven: therefore to prevent this objection, that place of the Apostle is also urged: that it is impossible for such to be renewed by repentance, Heb. 6.6. that which is impossible is not only hardly done, but not at all.

2. The foreknowledge and decree of God concerning the rejection of some is unchangeable and cannot be altered: but God hath foreseen some to be damned, and decreed them to be rejected, as Judas is called the child of perdition, John. 17. therefore it is not possible for such to come to repentance to be saved: therefore Gregory saith well, Qua non sunt praedestinata obtineri non possunt: Those things which God hath not predestinate cannot be obtained. But God hath not decreed repentance for them that are rejected and reprobate.

3. There is no hope of forgiveness for that sin for the which it is not lawful to pray, but there is a sin unto death, for the which we are forbidden to pray, 1. John. 5.16. Ergo, &c. Pererius answer here is, that by sin unto death is meant that sin, wherein a man continueth unto death, and so dying therein he is not afterward to be prayed for. Contr. 1. It would follow by this reason, that no sin of any is to be prayed for while he liveth, for how doth any know whether a man may continue in a sin till his dying day? 2. The Apostle speaketh of such sins, which a man seeth his brother to sin: now sins are only seen to be done in this life: neither is a man's repentance known which God may give him in his very passage out of the world. 3. Let them show us any place, in all the Scriptures, that authorizeth prayer for the dead if they can: wherefore they are not to give a sense of Scripture that cannot be warranted by Scripture. 4. The Apostle therefore calleth it a sin unto death; for the which there is no forgiveness, and so is there no sin but blasphemy against the holy Spirit. And thus Ambrose expoundeth it, Non potest ibi exoratio esse veniae, ubi sacrilegis est plenitudo: there can be no entreating of pardon, where there is fullness of Sacrilege.

4. Where there can be no repentance, there can be no remission of sins: but some have such hard hearts that they cannot repent, Rom. 2.4. therefore the sins of such are irremissible.

5. Hereunto may be added the testimonies of Cyprian: Non posse in Ecclesia ei remitti, qui in Deum deliquerit; that he can find no forgiveness in the Church that sinneth against God, lib. 3. de Quirinum cap. 28. Of Ambrose: Cassa erat prodit • ris poenitentia, qui peccavit in spiritum sanctum: The betrayers repentance was in vain, having sinned against the spirit of God in Luc. 22. Of Jerome: Nihil ita repugnat Deo qu • m cor impoenitens; solum crim • n est, quod veniam consequi non potest: Nothing is so against God, as an impenitent heart: it is the only sin that cannot attain pardon.

1. Obs. By the suddenness of God's judgments we are taught to watch.

Vers. 6. ABout midnight will I go forth into the midst of Egypt. God smiteth the Egyptians at midnight, when they were most secure: and the Apostle showeth that the coming of Christ should be sudden, even like the coming of a thief in the night, 1. Thess. 5.2. And therefore this doth admonish us always to be watchful, as our Savior said to his Apostles: These things that I say unto you, I say unto all men, Watch, Mark. 13.37. Ferus.

2. Obs. To be zealous in God's cause.

Vers. 8. SO he went from Pharaoh very angry. God would have us to be zealous in his cause, and not to do the work of God negligently: Simler. The Wiseman saith, that he which is slothful in his work, is the brother of him that is a great waster, Prov. 18.9. And the Lord threateneth the Laodicean • because they were luke warm, to spew them out of his mouth, Revel. 3.

3. Obs. The heart of the wicked is hardened to set forth God's glory.

Vers. 9. PHaraoh shall not hear you, that my wonders may be multiplied. God hardeneth the heart of the reprobate, that his glory thereby might be the more set forth, as the Apostle saith, Rom. 9.17. For this same purpose have I stirred thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared through all the earth. Genevens.

4. Obs. God foreshoweth his servants of their troubles that they should not be offended.

Vers. 10. ANd he suffered not the children of Israel to go. Like as the Lord had foretold unto Moses so it cometh to pass: and this the Lord did, that Moses being forewarned before, should not be offended, to see the malicious obstinacy of Pharaoh. So our Savior saith unto his Apostles, These things have I said unto you that you should not be offended, John. 16.1. The Lord acquainteth his servants with 〈◊〉 troubles and afflictions aforehand, that when they come they should be prepared for them.

QUEST. I. When the Lord thus spake to Moses.

Vers. 1. ANd Jehovah had said to Moses. Not as it is usually read, Then the Lord spake to Moses ; for it is evident, in that the lamb for the Passover was prepared upon the tenth day of the month, and eaten the 14. day, that the Lord thus spake unto Moses four days before the Passover was eaten, which might be upon the tenth day, then followed the three days darkness, the 10.11 and 12. days, upon the 13. Moses appeared the last time before Pharaoh, and upon the 14. day they eat the Passover: So then the history is here transposed, because Moses would not interrupt the former story of the plagues: and for the better evidence and perspicuity of the institution of the Passover, he setteth down both the preparation and the institution thereof together. Iun. in Analys.

QUEST. II. Whether this were a new i • stitution for the beginning of the year or the old renewed.

Vers. 2. THis month shall be unto you the beginning of months. 1. Simplicius in his Commentary upon Aristotle's Physicks, showeth how diversely the account was taken of sundry nations for the beginning of the year. The Athenians began their year from Midsommer, the Romans from the midst of winter: the A • ians from the Autumn; the Arabians and they of Damascus from the spring. The Egyptians also accounted the beginning o • the year from the Autumn, because then Nile was returned within his banks, and so tillage and seed time began. Iun. 2. Some think that this was a new institution to make this month, which was in the spring, answering for the most part unto our March the first of the year, and that the Hebrews always before this time, held the seventh month to be the first month, as they did afterwards for the computation of Jubile, and for other civil matters: so • osep • us, to whom consenteth Pererius: Simler. But this is not like: Indeed the Israelites, while they were in Egypt followed the custom of the Egyptians, that began their year in the Autumn; but before they accounted their year from the spring, as the Persians and Chaldeans did: and at that time of the year it is held that the world was made, as more at large is proved, Qu • st. 16. upon the 1. of Genes. 3. Therefore this rather was a renovation of the former account of the months which the Hebrews had discontinued in Egypt: both to make a difference between them and the Egyptians, and to call to their remembrance the benefit of the creation: Iun. And this may be the occasion thereof, because that month of the Autumn from whence they accounted the beginning of the new year, and the end of the old, Exod. 34.22. was in number not the first but the seventh month, Levite. 25.27. Whereas Moses then in the story of the flood maketh mention of the first and the second, the seventh and the tenth month, he must be understood to reckon from the first month in the spring: unless they will say that the seventh month is so called there after one account, and in Leviticus after another: which cannot be: the seventh month shall be the seventh still.

QUEST. III. How it is said to be the beginning of months.

THe first month of the year. 1. Not only the principal and chief month as Vatablus : but the first in order from whence all the rest should be numbered. 2. Divers nations have had a divers custom in the accompt of their years: the Egyptians in their Hieroglyphikes counted every month a year; the Arabians three months, as from the spring to the Autumn, from thence to midwinter. The Acarnanians counted six months to a year, as from the spring to the Autumn: the Romans and the Hebrews reckoned twelve months, and so is the year to be taken here. 3. It was the first month, for matters ecclesiastical, and belonging to religion: But the civil year began in the seventh month, Levite. 25.9. As the Egyptians began their ecclesiastical year from Midsummer, and their civil from the Autumn: Iun. From thence also they began their Jubile, and the account of the seventh year of rest which if it had begun in the spring, they should have wanted two years fruits: for the seventh year of rest and Jubile should begin before they had reaped the fruits sown in the sixth year: and in the seventh it was not lawful for them either to sow or reap. 4. As it was the first month of the year, so was i • the chief and most famous: in respect of the deliverance of the Israelites: and in this month they went over Jordane and came into the land of Canaan, the 10. day of the first month, Josh. 4.19. Perer. And now all things began to flourish and revive in the spring, so that the earth did also as it were seem to rejoice for the liberty of the people of God: Ferus. From hence the Israelites, for the remembrance of so glorious a deliverance had great cause to begin the computation of their year, as Christians now do from the nativity of our Lord for a commemoration of their spiritual deliverance. Perer.

QUEST. IV. Of the name of this first month called of the Hebrews Abib, of the Chaldes Nisan.

THe name of this first month is not here expressed, but chap. 13.4. it is called the month Abib, so called, because in that month corn began to be ripe. 1. But here I cannot subscribe unto the opinion of Pererius, therein following Paulus Burgensis, that the Hebrews had no names for their months before the captivity of Babylon, but by their number, as the first, second, third, and after the captivity they borrowed the names of the months of the Medes and Persians and chiefly of the Chaldeans, as it is to be found in the books of Nehemiah, Esther, and the prophesy of Zechariah, and the books of the Maccabees. 2. But this appeareth to be otherwise, for in divers places of Scripture, we find the names of some of the months after the calling of the Hebrews before the captivity of Babylon, as the second month Zif, 1▪ King. 6.1. and the 7. month Ethanim, 1. King. 8.2. Pererius saith, that these were not the proper names of these months, but only appellatives, signifying the properties of those months: as the first was called Zif of the opening, because the flowers began then to open and show: the other signified strong, because in that month fruits were gathered whereby man's heart was comforted and made strong: Vatab. Or because they were of strong constitution, which resisted and overcame the diseases incident to that season of the year about the fall of the leaf: Cajetan. Contra. 1. This is no good argument, these names have some special signification, therefore they were not the proper names of the months: Abib signifieth an ear of corn, Levite. 2.14. Was it not therefore a name of the first month which was so called because the corn then eared and began to be ripe? So Bul was the name of the eight month, 1. King. 6.38 so called of the inundation of waters which fall in that month. 2. It is very probable, that those Chaldee names of the months, as Adar, Cisleu, Elul, were not taken up of the Hebrews till after the captivity: as the first is mentioned, Neh • m. 6.19. the second, Zachar. 7.1. the third 1. Ma • chah. 14.27. But the Hebrew names were in use before, as appeareth by these already given in instance.

3. Now the proper names of the months, as they were used after the Captivity were these; the first Nisan, answering to our March, the second Tiar, answering to April, the third Sivan, which is our May, the fourth Tamuz, our June, the fifth Ab, which we call July: then Elul, agreeable to August, the seventh Tisri, sorting to our September, the eight Marches •• an, with us October, the ninth Cisleu, our November, the tenth Tebeth, the same with December, the eleventh Sebath, named with us January, the twelfth Adar, which is correspondent to our February: Ex Pererio.

QUEST. V. When the first month of the Hebrews took beginning.

NOw to know when to begin the first month of the year: 1. Some give this rule, that whereas the Hebrews always count their months from the new Moon as Psalm 81.3. Blow up the trumpet in the new Moon: they will have that to be the first month, whose full Moon is nearest to the equinoctiall. But this rule sometime faileth, for it may fall out that two full Moons are equally distant from the equinoctiall, and then it would be uncertain, which Moon to take. 2. Some say that was the first month with the Hebrews, whose new Moon was nearest to the equinoctiall, whether it were before or after: Ferus. But this rule doth not hold neither: for it may be that one new Moon falleth out as upon the 7. day of March, another upon the fifth of April, and so further off from the equinoctiall (that is, when the night and day is of equal length) and yet this shall rather be the first Moon than the other. 3. Therefore this is a more certain observation, that the first month should be that, whose fourteenth day, falleth out either upon the Equinoctial, or presently after it, and so the new Moon of the first month will fall out, neither before the eight day of March nor after the fifth day of April. 4. Now hence it is evident, that the first month of the Hebrews is never all within March; it may sometime be all without March, though not all without April; as when the Hebrews every third year put in a month to make the year to agree with the course of the Sun, so that they had two Adars, as it might be two Februaries together: then the latter Adar being mensis intercalaris, the month put between, concurring with March, the first month began with April, but for the most part their first month took part of March and part of April.

QUEST. VI. Why the Lamb was commanded to be prepared four days before.

Vers. 3. IN the tenth of this month, let every man take unto him a lamb, &c. They were commanded to set apart the pascal lamb four days afore for these causes. 1. Lest that if they had deferred it till the instant of their departure, they might by reason of other business have forgotten it. 2. That in this while they might see whether there were any blemish or defect in the lamb. 3. That they might by the sight of the lamb be stirred up to a thankful remembrance of their deliverance expected. 4. To confirm them in the assured confidence of God's assistance, against the Egyptians, that whereas they abhorred all these which did kill sheep, either for meat or sacrifice, or any other cattle which they superstitiously adored▪ yet the Israelites did four days set apart their pascal lambes, to that end, without any danger, or hurt intended by the Egyptians: Pererius, Ferus. 2. This preparation of the lamb four days before was peculiar only for this time and first passover: because afterward the cause was taken away: for neither was there fear lest they should forget to take a Lamb for the Passover; and beside they needed no time to examine the wants and defects of the Lamb, being experienced by their daily sacrifices, how to make choice of the fittest beasts: therefore where the law of the Passover is repeated, as Levite. 23. Deut. 16. the rite of preparing the Lamb four days before is omitted. 3. Josephus is here found to be in an error, that saith the lamb was to be prepared upon the 13. day against the 14. when as it is manifestly expressed, that it was to be set apart upon the tenth day: Perer.

QUEST. VII. Whether a Lamb were killed in every house, and how m • ny went to the eating of a Lamb.

LEt every man according to the house of the fathers ▪ &c. 1. This name of house in Scripture is diversely taken: sometime it signifieth all the nation of Israel, which is called the house of Jacob, Psal. 114. sometime for a whole tribe, as the house of Judah, the house of Levi. But here it is taken more strictly, for every family contained in their several houses, as appeareth, verse. 4. where one household or family was too little for the eating of a lamb, there two neighbors were to join together. 2. Every particular man is not charged to provide a lamb, but the masters of the families only: Ferus. 3. Yet not every householder did provide a lamb, as where the household was too little, for in that case they were to join with their neighbors; which was done in two respects, both in regard of the poverty of such as were not able to provide a lamb; and lest that if in every small family, they should kill a lamb, somewhat thereof might remain untouched, which was against the law of the Passover: neither were there more than one lamb killed in any one house. 4. What number was allowed to the eating of a lamb is uncertain: The Hebrews think that ten were allotted to a lamb; but that seemeth not to be generally observed: for the lambs were not all of one bigness, nor every man's stomach and eating alike: yet Josephus seemeth to confirm this opinion of the Hebrews, who writeth, that Ces • ius the Governor of Judea being desirous to certify Nero of the number of the Jews, dealt with the high Priest, who by the number of the pascal lambs which were killed, amounting unto two hundred fifty and six thousand, and counting ten to every lamb, he gathered the whole sum of thirty hundred thousand▪ and seventy thousand, that were gathered together at the celebration of the Passover, Joseph. lib. 7. de bello Iud. cap. 17.

QUEST. VIII. Whether beside the pascal lamb there were any other solemn sacrifices.

NOw whether beside these particular lambes which were slain in every house, there was beside some public solemn sacrifice, it may be questioned. But it is not like that there was any such at this time, because Moses did so propound his request unto Pharaoh, that they might go three days journey to offer sacrifice unto God in the wilderness: therefore it is not like that they kept any public solemn service of God in Egypt: afterward in the time of Hezekiah and Josiah there were many solemn sacrifices offered at the Passover, but they must be distinguished from the Passover it self, which was eaten on the 14. day at night; but these solemn sacrifices were offered on the 15. day, the first solemn day of the Feast, Simler.

QUEST. IX. Of the divers acceptations of the word evening.

Vers. 6. THey shall kill it in the twilight, or between the evenings. It is to be considered, that the word vespera, evening, is taken two ways: 1. properly for the space between the Sun set and the shutting in of the day light altogether, as Judge. 19.9. it is called the lodging of the day, and verse. 14. the going down of the Sun: and this may appear both by the derivation of the Latin word vespera, which is derived of vesper, which is Venus star, and both goeth before the Sun rise, thereof called Lucifer the day star, and followeth immediately his setting, and is also called Vesper, or Hesperus, after the Greek: beside, the Hebrew word ghereb signifieth a commixtion, when as the day light and the darkness seem to be mingled together: so that properly the evening signifieth the twilight: which at Jerusalem where the pole is elevated almost 32. degrees, continueth about the space of an hour and • 5. minutes. Or the evening is taken more generally, and so sometime it signifieth all the time from the declining of the Sun in the afternoon, till the setting thereof: some time it signifieth the whole night, as Gen. 1.5. the evening and morning were of the first day ; the beginning of the day and the night are taken for the whole: Thostat. Iun. It signifieth also sometime the latter part of the night toward the morning, as where it is said, Matth. 28.1. that in the evening, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of the Sabbath when the first day of the week began to d • wne, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the Sepulcher: Mark readeth, that they came 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , very early in the morning.

But Pererius taketh exception here to Thostatus, affirming that in the first place the evening is taken for the day, being the end thereof, and the morning for the night, being the end also thereof: and in the other place the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , dawning, signifieth the beginning of the next day, which the Jews did begin to reckon from the evening: as Luke 23.54. the same word is used where the Evangelist saith: That day was the preparation and the Sabbath appeared, or dawned, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

Contra. 1. The evening is rather taken for the night, both because there was darkness before there was light, and so the night was first and then the day; as also because in Scripture the civil day is counted from evening to evening: Iun. and the beginning of a thing is more properly taken for the whole than the end. 2. It is not denied, but that the word dawning is sometime taken for approaching or drawing near: but seeing S. Mark expoundeth S. Matthews 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , evening, by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , morning, it cannot be avoided, but that S. Matthew meaneth the morning; and till the morning of the third day Christ was not risen: therefore Pererius without cause findeth fault here with Thostatus: yet notwithstanding in this place, the eventide or twilight is not taken any of these three ways, but properly for the shutting in of the day.

QUEST. X. Of the time when the Passover should be killed, between the two evenings.

BUt what should be here meant by the two evenings, there are divers opinions. 1▪ Some take these two evenings for the two twilights of the evening and morning: Lippoman. But that cannot be, for so he alloweth the whole night for the killing of the pascal lamb, which was to be counted with the fifteenth day following▪ whereas they are commanded to kill the Passover on the 14. day at even. 2. Mas • u • in 5. Joshua, reporteth this to be the opinion of most of the Hebrews, that the evening is to be taken from the first declining of the sun in the afternoon until it set: and they are the two evenings, the first when the sun beginneth to turn in the afternoon, the other when it is in the setting; so also Rabbi Solomon. But this seemeth to be somewhat hard to take half the day for the evening: for after the sun beginneth to decline, there is much day behind, as it is called Gen. 29.7. (haio • gadol) which cannot be said to be any part of the evening. 3. Some do take these two evenings, the one to begin at the sun set, the other when it beginneth to be night, and the space between which we call the twilight to be those two evenings: Ibn Ezra, Oleaster, B • rrh. Which space they define to contain about an hour and a third part: Pelican. But this interpretation cannot hold, for after the sun set, began the 15. day to be counted, when they were first to eat unleavened bread, Levite. 29.9. which was upon the eve of the fourteenth day, chap. 12.18. that is, presently following the 14. day: but they were to kill the pascal lamb upon the 14. day, before the 15. day came, so the times must be distinguished between the killing of the lamb, which was between the two eventides upon the 14. day, and the eating thereof with unleavened bread, which was in the evening following after the sun set: Perer. 4. Wherefore there remaineth a fourth exposition, which is this: They divided the natural day, from sun to sun into four parts, which each of them containeth three hours, and the first part was from the break of day, for the three first hours, and was called of the last hour, tertia, the third hour, the second part, sexta ▪ the sixth hour, the third nona, the ninth hour; and the fourth from thence unto night, and was called vespera, the evening: the first evening was toward the sun set, some two hours before, Cajetan, or three, and the other at the sun set: in this space they were to kill the pascal lamb: of this opinion is Josephus, a most expert and skillful man in the Jewish rites and observations: who writeth that the Priests used to kill the pascal sacrifice, from the ninth hour to the eleventh, lib. 7. de bel. Iud. c. 17. and it seemeth that in the twelfth hour, which was the last, they did roast and dress the lamb, and after sun set eat it. And this interpretation may be thus further confirmed: 1. Because they were to kill the pascal lamb on the 14. day; but after the sun was set the fifteenth day began: Perer. 2. If they should not have killed the lamb till the sun set, they should not seem to have sufficient time, the night then coming upon them, to kill the lamb dress and prepare it 3. The example of our Savior doth warrant it, who sent his Disciples before the evening to prepare the Passover, and when even was come he sat down with the twelve to eat it, Matth. 26.14. The Passover was killed and made ready before the evening came: Masius. 4. Beside, the phrase of Scripture doth also approve and justify this interpretation; for when as our Savior fed the five thousand, before they sat down, it is said, the even was come, Matth. 14.11. when the sun was not yet set: for the time would not then have served to have placed them all upon the ground, and given them all bread, there being so few servitors, none but Christ's Disciples; and beside S. Mark saith this was done when the day was far spent, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , chap. 6.35. This then was one evening when the sun began to draw low: then afterward it is said, When the evening was come, Christ was in the mountain alone, Matth. 14.23. this was the other evening when the sun was set: Perer. Iun. Simler.

QUEST. XI. Whether the Passover was killed in the first evening when the fourteenth day began or the latter.

BUt whereas the Hebrews counted the days, and so observed their Feasts, from evening to evening, so that every day civil had two evenings, the one where it began, the other where it ended, the question is, whether the pascal lamb were to be killed on the evening, when the 14. day began, or when it ended. But it doth evidently appear, that was to be killed in the end of the 14. day, and so in the latter evening, and not in the first. 1. Because they were commanded to eat unleavened bread in the end of the 14. day at even, chap. 12.18. when the fifteenth day began, for they were not to eat unleavened bread till the fifteenth day, Levite. 13.6. But if they were to take the first evening, when the fourteenth day began, then they were to eat unleavened bread all the 14. day. 2. Again, it is said that they should eat the flesh the same night with unleavened bread: that is, the same night after they killed the Passover; but if they killed it the evening before, when the 14. day began, then they did eat unleavened bread upon the 14. day, and so eight days in all: for from the evening before the 14. day, till the evening after the 21. day, are eight days: but they were commanded only to eat unleavened bread seven days, from the 14. at even, till the 21. day at even, chap. 12.18. 3. Beside, the practice of our Savior Christ showeth how the Passover was to be kept according to the law: he did eat the Passover the same night wherein he was betrayed, 1 Cor. 11.23. and the next day he suffered, which was the 15. day of the month: for it is the general received opinion that Christ suffered upon the 15. day of the first month, insomuch that Beda saith, Nulli licet dubitare Christiano: No Christian ought to doubt thereof: it must be then of all confessed, that Christ in all respects observed the law: if he suffered upon the 15. day, and the eve before eat the Passover, being immediately before prepared and made ready for him, then the Passover was killed, not on the eve that began the fourteenth day, but on the evening that ended it. This only doubt there is in one Savior's example, that the Passover is said to be prepared for him, upon the first day of unleavened bread, which was the 15. day, Matth. 26.17. which if it were so, then did he not eat the Passover upon the 14. day. But here the answer is, that because the same night began the Feast of unleavened bread when they did eat the Passover, and the Romans used to count the night with the day before going, it is therefore according to that common account, then in use among the Jews, called the first day of unleavened bread, because of the evening following: Beza.

QUEST. XII. Whether it were not indifferent to use a Lamb or a goat for the Passover.

Vers. 5. YE shall take it of the lambs, or of the kids. 1. Some think that it was lawful to offer not only lambs and goats for the pasch, but calves also and bullocks, as it is prescribed, Deut. 16.2. Thou shalt offer the Passover unto the Lord thy God of thy sheep and bullocks ; and they give this reason further, because some families might be so great, that one lamb would not suffice them, and therefore it is like they would choose a beast according to their eating. Cont. 1. If any other beast beside a lamb or goat had been permitted, the Lord would not in the institution of the Passover, which is commanded in every respect so precisely to be kept, have omitted it. 2. In the place, Deut. 16. he meaneth not the pascal lamb, but other sacrifices, which they offered during that solemnity, that they might take them of their sheep or bullocks. 3. Though the family were never so great, one lamb might suffice for everyone to have a part: it was not provided to fill their bellies, it was lawful for them afterwards to eat other meat: but it was prescribed to be used as a sacramental commemoration of their deliverance, and so to be a food rather for their souls than their bodies. 2. Paulus Burgensis is of opinion, that it was not lawful for the Hebrews at any time, neither then nor after to take a goat for their Passover, but only a lamb. 1. For in that month, the sun being in that sign Aries, the Lord by staying of an he or ram lamb would signify that he would therein judge the Egyptian gods, who superstitiously worshipped rams and sheep. 2. This also better shadowed forth Christ, who is called the lamb that took away the sin of the world, not the goat. 3. Therefore the meaning of the words is, that they shall take a lamb, from the flock, where there were mingled together both sheep and goats, to signify that Christ took his flesh both from righteous and unrighteous progenitors, that no man should despair of forgiveness. Cont. 1. If that were the reason, why a lamb was appointed, a ram had been fitter, that was grown, to show the judgment of God upon the rams the Egyptian gods, than a lamb. 2. Christ is called the lamb, because of his innocence, and for that, though at this time, he that had not a lamb might take a goat, yet afterward they did altogether use lamb for the Passover. 3. And to what end should the sheep and goats be mingled together in one flock? what if the lamb were taken out of a flock, where no goats were, was it therefore unfit for the Passover. 4. Against this conceit of Burgen. are all both the Hebrew and Latin expositors, and which is most of all, the Scripture it self, which willeth the pascal beast to be taken either from the lambs, or of the kids, verse. 5. there are three several words here used, sheh, which generally signifieth a small beast either lamb or kid; then • ebesh, the proper name for a lamb, and ghez a goat: If the meaning were, that a lamb should be taken only, what needed any mention be made of goats at all?

3. Some were of opinion, that both a lamb and a kid were killed, the one in every private family upon the tenth day, the other generally of the whole congregation upon the 14. day. But this is contrary to the text, which prescribeth, that every man should take unto him a lamb, sheh, in the singular, not two, but one, and that it should be kept until the 14. day at even, neither at this time was there any public sacrifice, as is shown before, quest. 8.

4. The opinion of the most then is, that it was simple indifferent, in every Feast of the Passover, for the Hebrews to take a lamb, if they had it, or for want thereof a kid: Lyranus. Th • stat. Perer. Fer. Simler ▪ But this liberty seemeth not to have been general for every Passover: for Christ who was the substance of this Sacrament is in the New Testament called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the lamb, as John 1.29. 1 Pet. 2.19▪ Apocal. 5.6. which showeth that the type answering to the body and substance was ordinarily of a lamb.

5. Wherefore I think rather and therein subscribe unto Junius, that this was a liberty only at that time, in that confused estate: but that afterward they used only to kill a lamb for the Passover; and this generally is agreed upon among the Jews themselves. There were divers other rites here prescribed▪ which are peculiar only to this first Passover, as the preparing of the lamb 4. days before, the striking of the blood upon the door posts, the eating thereof with their loins gi • t, and their staves in their hand, for neither are these rites prescribed in the repetition of the Passover, verse. 14. and Numb. 9. and our Savior did not use these ri • es at the eating of the Passover, who in every respect would have observed the pascal rites, if they had been perpetual: sic I • n. in Matt. 26.

QUEST. XIII. Why it is added verse. 5. a male.

Vers. 5. A Small beast without blemish, a male. But whereas the usual reading is, a lamb, &c. a male: ag • us, 〈◊〉 , as the Latin: Augustine moveth a doubt, why that 〈…〉 , a male, is added, seeing the Latin term agnus is of the Masculine gender: 1. To thi • question Augustine 〈◊〉 three answers: First he saith that the Septuagint 〈…〉 , a s • eepe, which is in the Neuter g • nder, and so all the rest will agree; but if it be translated 〈◊〉 a sheep, 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 , the 〈◊〉 doubt remaineth still: Secondly, he saith it might be read pecus which is in the Neuter gender; but then saith he, Aliud intelligeretur nec servaretur sacramentum; Another thing should be understood, and so the Sacrament or type would not hold: because a lamb best resembleth Christ. Thirdly, he saith that it is expressed, a male, for the more full signification, all things being referred to Christ; and this answer may be well received, because the male signifieth strength and perfection, which fitly agree unto Christ.

2. Some other say, that agnus doth not here signify the sex but the kind, as many times we say, a man hath oves and vaccas, sheep and kine, both which words are of the Feminine Gender, and yet our meaning is, that he hath of both sexes: Thostatus. 3. But all this question is moved without cause: for the original word sheb, signifieth not agnus, a lamb, either male or female, but pecus a small beast, noting not the sex but the kind: and so Vatab. and Iun. translate.

QUEST. XIV. The general signification of the rites of the Passover.

Vers. 8. THey shall eat the flesh the same night. The rites and ceremonies of the pascal lamb did betoken these things in general: 1. The great haste and speed that they were to make, which was signified both by the meat which they did eat, it must be roast with fire, which was sooner done than to be boiled or sodden in water: they must eat their bread unleavened, because they had no time to leaven it: neither were they to break a bone of it, they should have no time to pick the bones, and suck the marrow. As also by their manner of eating, with their staves in their hand, and shoes on their feet, as ready for their journie; neither were they to carry anything forth of the doors, verse. 46. the time would not serve them one to visit another, and to send part thereof to their neighbors. 2. The other thing generally signified, was that hard servitude, which they had endured in Egypt, which is insinuated by the sower herbs and unsavory leavened bread, and the roasting of the lamb. 3. So then the celebrating of the Passover, did put them in mind of two great benefits, which they had received, of their deliverance from the plague, when the first borne of Egypt were smitten, and of their freedom from the bondage in Egypt: which later as being the more principal is oftener spoken of in Scripture: and as some have observed it is mentioned 50. several times: Perer.

QUEST. XV. The particular application of the rites and ceremonies of the pascal lamb.

FOr the particular application of these rites: 1. They were to eat the flesh the same night, not the flesh without the sinews, as some Hebrews have strictly taken the word, but whatsoever was apt and fit to be eaten, those parts excepted which because of their uncleanness, and unaptness for nourishment use to be cast away, as the guts and entrails; and they were to eat it the same night, after the sun was set, which was the the beginning of the 15. day.

2. It must not be eaten raw: 1. That is, not thoroughly dressed or prepared, as Rab. Solomon: for they needed not to be admonished, not to eat raw flesh. 2. Oleaster hath here a conceit by himself, that • a, which is here translated of all raw, should signify rather broken or cut, of the word nava, and the meaning to be, that they should not cut it in pieces to be boiled. But beside that, both the Chaldee and Septuagint do interpret raw and all other interpreters, and Oleaster hath this conceit alone by himself: this is expressed afterward, that it should be dressed whole, with the head, feet and purtenance, verse. 9. neither were they divided into pieces, but as they did eat it, after it was roasted, for they were forbidden to carry any of the flesh out of the house, verse. 46. Iun. 3. And for two reasons were they commanded to roast it rather than to boil it, both because of more haste, and roasted meat is held to be stronger food: for in the boiling much of the moisture and substance of the meat goeth out into the water; and they were not to eat it, not thoroughly dressed, lest they might in the eating cast it forth again, Perer. 3. They must eat it also with unleavened bread: 1. Because it was sooner prepared, as Abraham in haste, caused unleavened cakes to be made, Gen. 18. and so did Lot likewise, Gen. 19. to entertain the Angels. 2. By this was signified, that they should leave and forsake all the Egyptian superstitions and corruptions, which are understood by leaven, as in the same sense our Savior biddeth his Disciples to take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees. 3. It is to be considered, that in this first Passover they were not commanded to eat unleavened bread seven days, neither did they intend so much: but they carried their dow forth unleavened, not for any religion in abstaining from leavened bread; but for their haste, as it is expressed, verse. 19. Therefore that prescription to abstain from leavened bread seven days, verse. 14. belonged to the perpetual observation of the pasch: but all the other rites prescribed unto verse. 14. appertained to the first Passover: Josephus thinketh that they did eat unleavened bread 30. days for want of other, and that they had all that time no more sustenance, than they brought out of Egypt: and eat thereof very sparingly only for necessity: and in remembrance of their penury and want, they keep the Feast of unleavened bread eight days, lib. 2. antiquit. cap. 5.

In the which speech of Josephus some things are very probable, as that they lived of the provision which they brought out of Egypt thirty days, until Manna fell, which was upon the sixteenth day of the second month; for in the fifteenth day they came to the wilderness of Sin, where they murmured for meat, and the next day in the morning the Manna was sent, chap. 16.1. and 8. It is also very like that their bread was unleavened all this while, because they made it of that unleavened mass which they brought out of Egypt▪ verse. 39. But it is not like that they kept the Feast of unleavened bread, in remembrance of that penury and want, for then they should have kept it thirty days; but rather it was kept for a commemoration of a benefit, which they received in their deliverance out of Egypt upon the fifteenth day, and the overthrow of the Egyptians in the red Sea the one and twentieth day, seven days after, which was the reason of that observation of the Feast of unleavened bread seven days; and beside they are not commanded to keep it eight days, but only seven.

Vers. 8. With sower herbs shall they eat it. 1. The Latin translator readeth lactu • is agre •• ibu • , with wild l ••• ice; so also Rab. Solomon. 2. The Septuagint 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which are a certain kind of bitter herb, whereof Theophrastus writeth, histor. plane. lib. 7. cap. 11. and Plini • . lib. 19. cap. 8. Theodorus Gaza doth sometime interpret it endive, sometime wild lettice. 3. But it seemeth rather generally to be understood of sower herbs, not of any special kind: Lyranus: as the Chaldee also readeth; so also Vutab. • un. in remembrance of their bitter affliction in Egypt. 4. The Hebrew word is meror • m, bitterness, which sometime is taken for the bitter sorrow of the mind, as 〈◊〉 . 3.15. and so Oleaster taketh it to be mean • here. But because of the word before going with unleavened bread, it seemeth rather to be understood of some sower or bitter thing, to be eaten with the flesh: Iun. Perer.

Vers. 9. Both his head and his feet and his purtenance. 1. That is, the whole should be roasted together, all the parts thereof, for it was not lawful afterward when it was roasted to carry it by peecemeale out of the house: Iun. 2. Then this was the order, they first killed the lamb, and did strike the posts of the door with the blood, then pulled off the skin and took out the inward parts and washed them▪ and put them in again, and so roasted the lamb whole: Thostat. Which is more like man as Cajetan thinketh, that they only pulled out the gall and the entrails, but washed not the inwards at all. 3. So this manner of roasting of the pascal lamb was unusual and unlike all other, for they usually neither roast the feet, with the rest, but cut them off, lest they should be parched and scorched, no • yet the inward parts, as the heart and liver, but by themselves: but this lamb was commanded to be roasted whole because of the haste, Perer.

Vers. 10. Ye shall reserve nothing to the morning. Of this ceremony these reasons may be yielded: 1. Because this was the perpetual law of the eucharistical sacrifices and peace-offerings, of the which sort, this was one, that they should be eaten the same day, and nothing should remain till the morning, Levite. 7.15. Perer. 2. Because the holy flesh should not be profaned nor put to another use, or lest any unclean person should eat thereof, it was (whatsoever remained of the skin, flesh or bones) to be burned with fire: Iun. 3. This also was prescribed because of their haste, that nothing should be an hindrance or impediment unto them in their journey, Perer. 4. To avoid superstition, lest they might make an Idol of the relics of the lamb, as they did of the brazen Serpent: Simler. This ceremony seemeth to be peculiar unto this first celebration of the Passover, Iun.

Vers. 11. Thus shall ye eat it, your loins girded, &c. 1. This was commanded, that they should all be in a readiness for their journey: for so they used to gird their loins, and take a staff in their hand, when they were in haste; as Elisha said to his man Gehazi: Gird thy loins and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: for they used long garments in those countries, which they had need for more speed to truss up. 2. They are bid to have their shoes on their feet, not as some think, because they used to put off their shoes, when they reposed themselves to their meat, because they would not soil their carpets, and cloths whereon they sat, and from their meat they went to bed, for of old time they used to lean upon their beds, when they did eat: Calvin. But rather because in Egypt they used to sit down, rather than to lie at their meat, as may appear in Joseph's Feast w ^ch he made to his brethren, Gen. 43.33. It is rather like that it is understood of these kind of shoes which they used for their journey: Perer. And that they used divers kinds of shoes at home and in their journeys appeareth, in that in one Evangelist, the Apostles are forbidden to take any shoes for their journey (such as travellers carefully provide) Matth. 10.9. and other permitteth them to be shod with sandales, that is, with light kind of shoes, Mark. 6.9. 3. These ceremonies of girding their loins and putting on their shoes, and taking their staff in their hand, were peculiar only for that time, for they are not repeated afterward, verse. 14. no • Numb. 9. not observed by our Savior, when he did eat the Passover, Matth. 26. who would in no point have transgressed the law: Iun. 4. But here it is a question, whether they were also required to stand at the eating of the Passover, Pererius thinketh that this was none of the ceremonies enjoined, because our Savior Christ did sit at the Passover, who did most exactly keep the law. Contra. 1. The judgment of Philo is somewhat to be credited concerning the rites of the Hebrews, who, as Pererius citeth him, thinketh that they stood at the Passover: lib. de sacrif. Cain & Abel. 2. The other rites do show as much, the girding of their loins, and the holding of the staff in their hands, and the reason added, because they did eat in haste▪ but he that standeth is more ready to go, than he that sitteth, and he which sitteth hath no need to stay his hand upon a staff. 3. Beside, the Apostle saying, Stand therefore and your loins girded about, Ephes. 6.13. seemeth to allude to this ceremony. 4. And though our Savior did sit at the Passover, this showeth not that the Hebrews did not then stand, but that it was no perpetual ceremony, only prescribed for that time, as the rest belonging to their habit, which were likewise omitted by our Savior. 5. It is the opinion also of the Hebrews, that they were first to stand in the eating of the Passover, in token of their servitude in Egypt, for so servants use to eat their meat standing. And Simlerus is of opinion, that Christ first stood till the Passover was eaten, and then sat down at the rest of the Supper: for it was lawful after the eating of the Passover to use other meats to make an end of the Feast, as our Savior did; and as the Christians used afterward after the receiving of the Lord's Supper to have their Feasts of love. But it appeareth to be otherwise by the Evangelist, that our Savior did sit at the eating of the Passover, as Matth 26.20. When the even was come he sat down with the twelve: wherefore it is not otherwise to be judged, but that standing at the Passover was a rite only prescribed at this time.

QUEST. XVI. Whence the name pasch is derived.

Vers. 11. IT is the pasch of Jehovah. 1. This is neither a Chaldee word, as Philo thinketh, who erroneously maketh the Hebrew and Chaldee all one. 2. Neither is the Hebrew word pascha, as Nazianzen, or phas • k, as Theodoret, but pesach, which signifieth a passing over. 3. Neither as some think doth it come of the Greek word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to suffer, as though the pasch should signify the passion of Christ; which opinion Augustine confuteth in Psal. 68. which application Nazianzen misliketh not, using these reasons, Cum usus tam recepisset &c. assentientibus ipsis auribus, utpote sanctiori nomini; Use hath received it, it hath a good sound to the ears, and it seemeth a more holy name. Perer. 4. But howsoever the Christians pasch may be very well so called in that sense, yet it is evident that the Septuagint reading 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 derived it from the Hebrew pasch, which name is better retained, than the translation thereof, transitus, the Passover, because the Apostle readeth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , our pasch Christ is sacrificed for us, 1 Cor. 6.7. Iun. Vatab.

QUEST. XVII. Wherefore it was called the pasch or passover.

NOw it was called the Lord's pasch. 1. Not because of the passing or going over of the Israelites through the red Sea, as August. seemeth to think: quod tunc primùm pascha celebravit populus Dei quando ex Egypto fugientes mare rubrum transierunt, because then first the people of God kept the pasch when they fled out of Egypt, and passed over the red Sea, Tract. 55. in Evang. Johan. For the people kept the pasch, and it was so called before they came to the red Sea. 2. Neither as Philo thinketh, because it was migrationis publicae festivitas, a Feast of the public passage of the Israelites out of Egypt, as Nazianzen also thinketh. 3. But the reason is given in this place why it is called the pasch: for I will pass thorough the land of Egypt the same night, and smite all the first borne: it was therefore so called of the passing of the Angel over the houses of the Hebrews, and sparing them, Perer. 4. But it is here to be noted, that there are two words used that signify to pass over, pasach and ghabar, but that betokeneth a passing over in mercy to spare, the other a passing over the Egyptians houses in judgment to smite, Simler.

QUEST. XVIII. The divers significations of the word pasch.

NOw the word pasch is taken to signify three things in Scripture. 1. It betokeneth the pascal Lamb it self, as 2 Chron. 35.11. They slew the pasch ; and verse. 13. they roasted the pasch at the fire. 2. It is taken for the solemnity it self of the pasch, for the whole seven days of unleavened bread, as Act. 3. then were the days of unleavened bread, then it followeth verse. 4. intending after the pasch to bring him (i. Peter) forth to the people. 3. It is used also to signify the very sacrifices, which were offered at the pasch, as Deut. 16.2. Thou shalt offer the pasch unto the Lord thy God, of thy sheep and bullocks. Perer. 4. But here it is taken in a divers sense from any of these; it is called the pasch, because it signified and represented unto them the Lord's passing over, as the next words do show in the 12. verse. Genevens. So circumcision is called the Lord's covenant, Genes. 17.13. My covenant shall be in your flesh, being only a Sacramental sign and seal thereof.

QUEST. XIX. What things are generally commanded concerning the keeping of the day of unleavened bread.

Vers. 15. SEven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 1. The Hebrews had four kinds of ceremonial observations, the first their sacrifices wherein they offered bullocks, sheep, goats, lambs, calves: the second were the holy things, which belonged to the Sanctuary, as the vessels, curtains, Priestly garments; as also to this sort belonged their festivals and solemnities: the third sort was of their Sacraments, which were circumcision and the pascal lamb: the fourth more certain ceremonial rites, which belonged to the cleansing and sanctity of their persons, as in their washings, and legal purgations, in the choice of meats and garments, and such like. This observation of unleavened bread, belongeth to the fourth sort, for it was a principal member and part of the pascal solemnity, Pererius. 2. Four things are here prescribed, concerning the eating of unleavened bread: First how long they should observe it, for seven days: secondly, of the special preeminence and solemnity of two days above the rest, the first and the seventh, with the manner how they should keep them, in abstaining from all work; saving about their meat: thirdly the danger and punishment of him that should not observe this rite: lastly the cause, to put them in mind of their deliverance out of Egypt, Simler.

QUEST. XX. Why they were enjoined to eat unleavened bread.

THe reasons of this observation of unleavened bread were these: 1. They then of necessity were forced to eat unleavened bread, because they had no time to lay leaven, as is shown, verse. 39. Calvin. Perer. 2. But afterward this ceremony was enjoined to put them in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt, when for haste they could not leaven their bread, Simler. 3. As also to call to their remembrance, the great power of God in bringing them out of Egypt, when they had no provision for their journey▪ for when men are best provided of secundarie means, God's grace is more obscured, Calvin. 4. As also to put them in mind of sudden deliverance, even before they had thought, that God made such speed to deliver them, that they had no time to provide bread: for God is more ready to bestow his benefits, th •• we are to ask them: Pelican. 5. This also did put them in mind of their bitter and unpleasant servitude in Egypt, as unleavened bread is not so pleasant to the taste, as leavened, Calvin. And so God did deliver them from their former sorrow. Vatab. 6. It also did move them to consider of God's providence, who nourished them 30. days (even until Manna came) with that provision of unleavened bread & dow which they brought out of Egypt: Josephus. For like as the Manna ceased when they did eat of the fruit of the land, so when their provision was done, it is like that Manna came. Pererius.

QUEST. XXI Why seven days are limited for the keeping, of the Feast of unleavened bread.

BUt why they were commanded to eat unleavened bread seven days, the reason is not; 1. Either because a finite number is taken for an indefinite, as the number of seven is sometime used in Scripture; and so these seven days did bring to their mind those thirty days wherein they did eat unleavened bread. Joseph. Perer. 2. Neither do these seven days so much signify; that at all times they should remember their deliverance even all the year long. Pelican. 3. But this is more likely to have been the reason thereof, because there were so many days from the going out of Egypt, until the overthrow of the Egyptians in the red sea, until when, their deliverance was not perfect, nor they wholly out of danger, for then the Lord is said to have saved or delivered Israel from the hand of the Egyptian, chap. 14.30. Iun. And that this destruction of the Egyptians in the red sea followed seven days after the going of Israel out of Egypt, shall be shown in the 26. quest.

QUEST. XXIII. Whether the 14. or 15. day were the first of the seven.

COncerning the number of these days of unleavened bread: 1. Neither is Josephus opinion to be received, who saith, Festa per octo dies celebramus quos vocamus azymorum: We do celebrate the Feast eight days, which we call of unleavened bread: for the direct words of the text are against him, verse. 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 2. Nor yet is Rupertus reason anything worth, because they did begin to eat unleavened bread on the 14. day at even, and so from the 14. day till the 21. day, numbering the first day, there are eight days: for the 14. day was ended, when at eve after the sun set they began to eat unleavened bread, and then entered the 15. day: wherefore it is said, Levite. 23.6. In the 15. day of this month shall be the Feast of unleavened bread, the 15. day then was the first, and not the fourteenth. 3. Wherefore according to the words of the text we hold that there were only seven days of unleavened bread kept: as is evident Exod. 12. Levite. 23. Numb. 28. Deut. 26. And whereas Rupertus allegeth this text, the first day shall be holy unto you, likewise the eight day shall be aeque venerabilis, as well observed, no such place can be found: but the contrary; in the first day shall be an holy assembly, likewise in the seventh day, chap. 5.16. So that it is to be wondered at how Rupertus was so much overseen to allege a text nowhere extant. 4. And as there were not more than seven days, so neither was there less: For whereas it is said, Deut. 16.8. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and the 7. day shall be an holy assembly: the seventh day is not excluded, as being none of the seven days of unleavened bread, but is named by it self as being a principal and solemn day among the rest. Perer.

QUEST. XXIII. Why he which did not eat unleavened bread was to be cut off.

NOw as touching the festival days of unleavened bread in particular: first there ariseth a question about the first day of the seven; whether the 14. or 15. day should be the first. 1. Here we refuse the opinion of Rupertus seen before, that they began to eat unleavened bread upon the 14. day of the month: for then there should be eight days of unleavened bread, and not seven only, as the Scripture saith: and where it is said, verse. 18. In the first month, and the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread: there the even is joined with the fourteenth day, not as a part thereof, but as immediately following, for then in just account began the fifteenth day, the first of unleavened bread, Levite. 23.6. 2. Neither do we here receive Thostatus opinion, who thinketh that the even when they began to eat unleavened bread, was part of the fourteenth day, but because it was but a small part, it may be counted with the 15. day, and so much was taken out of the 21. day, for before Sun set they began to eat unleavened bread. Contra. 1. The evening began after Sun set, and then the day was ended, that time then that followed was part of the 15. day, and not of the 14. and that the evening began after the Sun went down is evident, because between the first evening, which was before the Sun set, and the latter evening, at and after the Sun set the lamb was to be killed, as is shown before, quest. 10. 2. That before Sun set on the 21. day they brought leaven into their houses cannot be shown, but the contrary rather, that till the even of the 21. day, which was after Sun, they were to eat unleavened bread, till about the same time when they began. 3. Therefore we think, that not the 14. day, but the 15. was the first of unleavened bread, for these reasons: 1. Because otherwise there should be 8. days of unleavened bread, and not seven. 2. Josephus saith, that the Jews kept no festival day without burnt offerings, and ceasing from labor: lib. 3. antiquit. cap. 15. but not on the 14. but the 15. day were they commanded to abstain from work, verse. 16. 3. The same day when they began to eat unleavened bread the Lord brought them out of Egypt, verse. 17. but they went out not upon the 14. day, it was the morrow after the Passover when they went out, Numb. 33.3. for upon the 14. day, which ended at Sun set, they did not go out, seeing about midnight following, the first borne of the Egyptians were slain before the Israelite • departed. Perer.

QUEST. XXIV. In what sense the first day of the seven was called holy.

Vers. 16. IN the first day shall be an holy assembly. 1. It is called an holy day, because it was sequestered and set apart from all profane use, and consecrated as peculiar unto God. In which sense, both certain places, as the sanctuary, and vessels, as they which belonged to the Sanctuary, and certain persons, as the first borne (which were afterward redeemed) were holy and consecrate unto God. 2. This day was holy in three respects: First, because they were not to profane it with any bodily work: secondly, because there were peculiar sacrifices appointed for this first day of the seven, as two bullocks, one ram, seven lambs of a year old, Numb. 23. Thirdly, because upon this day, as likewise on other festivals, they fared better and put on their festival robes: as Nehemiah's prescribed to be done in another festival day, chap. 8.10. Go and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send part unto them, for whom none is prepared, for this day is holy unto our Lord. 3. But here is to be observed a difference between the rest of this day, and of other festivals: upon this day, though all other work be forbidden, yet it was lawful to prepare their meat and drink, and so it was lawful also upon the Feasts of Pentecost, and of the Feast of Tabernacles, but upon the Sabbath it was not lawful to do so much: as they were forbidden to gather Manna upon the Sabbath, chap. 16.5.23.19. and it was not lawful to kindle a fire upon the Sabbath day for their necessary use, Exod. 35.3. Iun. But if this first festival day did fall out upon the Sabbath then they were to rest therein simply from all labor, Perer. 4. It is also called holy in respect of the holy convocation, because the people were therein to be called together to attend the service of God, leaving all other works, Iun.

QUEST. XXV. Of the second solemn day of the pasch.

COncerning the second day of the pascal solemnity, this was peculiar to that day, that therein they brought a sheaf of the first fruit of their harvest unto the Lord; this was the morrow after the Sabbath, Levite. 23.11. Wherein is to be considered: 1. That then all their harvest was not ripe in Palestin • ▪ but only they culled out certain principal ears, and out of the forwardest grounds: for these first fruits the Hebrews hold to have come all out of the tribe of Nepthaly. 2. They were not ears of wheat, which was not ripe till Pentecost, seven weeks after, Exod. 34.21. but ears of barlie which was first ripe. 3. Neither were they fully ripe and hardened, for they did dry the ears at the fire, and then rubd out the corn, Levite. 2.14. 4. The word Sabbath doth not here signify the Sabbath which was the seventh day, but it is taken for any festival day of rest, and may here be translated, the morrow after the rest: Iun. because upon the first day of the pasch they were commanded to rest. 5. This they did in presenting their first fruits unto God both for remembrance of that time, when they came out of Egypt, which was in the month Abib, the month of new fruits, as also to stir them to be thankful unto God, and to acknowledge him to be the giver and author of their abundance and plenty, Pererius.

QUEST. XXVI. Whether the seventh day were more solemn than the first.

Vers. 16. ALso in the seventh day shall be an holy assembly. Here the solemnity of the first and seventh day seem to be alike. But Levite. 23.8. the Latin translator readeth thus, Dies septimus erit celebrior & sanctior: The seventh day shall be more solemn and holy. Unto this objection divers answers are framed: 1. It is called holier, because this day is by special words called a day of restraint or of a solemn assembly, Deut. 16.8. Wherein it being the last day of the Feast, there was a great assembly of the people gathered together to praise God. So in the same sense the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles is called the great day, John. 7.37. 2. Others answer that it was greater, not in comparison of the first day, but of the other coming between: Lyranus. 3. But the best answer is, that in the original there is no degree of comparison: but as it is said of the first day, there shall be therein an holy convocation, so it is said of the seventh; Th •• e shall be an holy assembly or convocation: Perer. So here a question is moved questionless and needless. 4. Now the reason why the first and the seventh day were more solemn than the rest, may be this, because on the first day of the Passover they went out of Egypt, and on the seventh day they passed through the red sea, and these two days in remembrance of these two great benefits, they kept with greater solemnity: this generally is the opinion of the Jews, and the reasons to confirm it may be these two: first, because as in the first day there was an holy convocation, so also was there on the last, when Moses and all Israel gave solemn thanks unto God, Exod. 15. And beside the manner and order of their travel agreeth thereunto: for on the 15. day they came to Succoth, on the 17. to Ethom to Pihahiroth, or the mouth of Chiroth, on the 18. day there they stayed, where Pharaoh overtook them the 20. and the night following they went over the red Sea, Junius.

QUEST. XXVII. Why the seventh day is called a day of restraint, Deut. 16.8.

BUt whereas it is said, Deut. 16.8. on the seventh day (of the pascal solemnity) shall be a restraint o • solemn assembly, where the Latin translator readeth, collecta, there shall be a collection ▪ here ariseth a question about the meaning of these words: 1. They which defend this translation, some do expound it of the collection, which was made toward the expenses of the temple: Thomas. But against this sense both Lyranus his reason may be urged, because the morrow after the pasch it was lawful for the people to return home, Deut. 16.7. and therefore it is not like that collection was made after their departure: as also Paulus Burgensis showeth out of the sentence of the Hebrews, that collection was used to be made for the temple throughout all Palestine upon the first day of the twelfth month: Pererius also allegeth that place, 2 Chron. 7.8. that Solomon, Fecit die octava collectam: Made a coll • ction upon the eight day: but (saith he) it is not like that so rich a King as Solomon made any collection of money: Therefore Pererius interpreteth it of the solemn collection and gathering together of the people upon that day, to give God thanks solemnly and publicly for their mighty and glorious deliverance out of Egypt. But all this business will soon be at an end, if the vulgar Latin interpretation be refused, as not so agreeable to the original word, which signifieth rather a restraint, as even now shall be shown.

2. The Septuagint also are as wide, which do translate the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the going out, because then the Feast was at an end: but this is not the meaning of the word, though it be true that then the people were dismissed, as Solomon upon the eight solemn day of the Feast of Tabernacles sent away the people, 1 King. 8.66. having kept that day as a time of restraint, 2 Chron. 7.7. at even he gave them leave to depart; for so these places are reconciled.

3. Therefore the meaning rather is, that it was a time of restraint, the people were kept and restrained from work upon that day: so the word ghatzer signifies to forbid, or restrain: Lyranus. Montan. Iun. And though the first day also were a day of restraint, wherein they were forbidden all work, save about their meat, yet it seemeth that this was the greater day, being the conclusion and determination of the Feast; as these two are joined together, the last and great day of the Feast, John. 7.37. as i • shown before.

QUEST. XXVIII. Why he which did not eat unleavened bread was to be cut off.

Vers. 19. THat soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. 1. Some do expound this only of the capital punishment, that such as neglected or contemned this observation of unleavened bread should be put to death: and so is this phrase taken, Exod. 30.33. and 31. verse. 14. and in other places▪ Simler. Piscat. But though it be not denied that in some places this phrase to be cut off from Israel, signifieth only the taking away of the life of the offender, as in the places given in instance, yet always it is not so taken: for Genes. 17.14. it signifieth the cutting off from the society and the communion of the Saints, both in this life and in the next, as may appear by the reason there given, because he hath transgressed my covenant. 2. Neither is it referred only to the spiritual punishment, as Osiander expoundeth this place by that of the Apostle, that he which eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damnation, 1 Cor. 11.29. for under the law the punishment of death was used in the like transgressions in the contempt of the law: as for violating the Sabbath. 3. Therefore this sentence pronounced against such contemners includeth a penalty both upon the body and the soul: and of this strict severity two reasons may be given: the one from the authority of the law-maker: God that gave us both bodies and souls, and all other good things beside, hath power to make laws both to bind the body and the soul: and the contempt of his Commandments is worthy of capital punishment: the other reason is taken from the constitution it self: the eating of unleavened bread did both call to their remembrance the benefit of their deliverance received, and was a type also of their deliverance hoped for in Christ, as the Apostle applieth it, 1 Cor. 5. The contempt of this rite then did both bewray an unthankful heart for the benefit received, and an unbelieving heart for the benefit of salvation expected, and so was a renouncing of God and his religion: Iun. in Analys.

QUEST. XXIX. Why none uncircumcised were admitted to the pasch.

43. NO stranger shall eat thereof. 1. Such as either were not of the posterity of those which were delivered out of Egypt, or were strangers from the faith and religion of Israel: Iun. 2. All such must be circumcised as well servants and bondmen, being strangers, or such as were free strangers, and sojourned among the Israelites, with whom mercenary men and hirelings are joined, because they were in some sort free: Iun. 3. These two reasons may be given why none uncircumcised person should be partaker of the Passover: because the circumcision was a seal of their profession▪ which they that were strangers from Israel had no part nor interest in the mysteries and rites thereof: and seeing the pasch was a commemoration of the deliverance of the circumcised people, they who belonged not to that people, had nothing to do with the commemoration: Perer. 4. And whereas the stranger is charged to circumcise all the males that belonged unto him, verse. 48. this must be understood of such strangers as sojourned among the Hebrews, and had their families there; otherwise it sufficed for themselves alone to be circumcised: Simler. 5. Now in that strangers being circumcised were admitted to the pasch, it showeth that it had a manifest reference to the Messiah: for the stranger for all his circumcision gained no part nor inheritance among the tribes: he was not counted as one of the seed of Abraham: therefore if such received no temporal privilege, they hoped, in being thus joined to the people of God, to be partakers of their spiritual blessings: Calvin. 6. But where it will be objected, that whereas there were none circumcised in the wilderness for the space of 40. years, Josh. 5. and yet the Passover was there kept, that it should seem, that some that were not circumcised did eat the Passover: the answer may readily be made to this objection: that the Passover was kept but once in the wilderness, • n the second year of their departure out of Egypt, Numb. 1.1. and 19. & all that came out of Egypt were circumcised, Josh. 5.5▪ so that only the infants of a year or two old were uncircumcised, who did not receive the Passover, Perer.

QUEST. XXX. Whether the servant might be compelled to be circumcised.

Vers. 44. EVery servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, &c. Here a question is moved, whether the Hebrews might force the servants against their will to be circumcised. 1. Thostatus thinketh they might compel their servants and bondmen to be circumcised▪ but not the free men; and so the text seemeth to make a difference: so also Calvin ▪ But this is not like: for though their masters had power over their bodies, yet could they not force their mind and will: as now no man is to be compelled to be bapti • ed, so neither then to be circumcised: Perer. The children indeed of bondmen and strangers, which were 〈…〉 circumcised: Gen. 17.12. But there was a divers reason for those that 〈◊〉 of years of discretion: neither doth the 〈◊〉 make any difference for circumcision, between the bond and free strangers for all strangers there was one law, verse. 49. 2. Cajetan thinketh that 〈…〉 be considered in circumcision, the outward sign in the flesh, and the inward profession therein signified, that the servants might be forced to take upon them the one, but not the other. But as now a man cannot be forced to take the Sacrament of Baptism, and leave the profession of Christianity, for the one dependeth upon the other; so neither then could the outward sign be severed from the inward profession: Perer. 3. Cajetan hath yet another answer, he thinketh it was sufficient for the servant, if he did not resist, but suffered himself to be circumcised, but the free stranger was to show his desire to be circumcised. But no such difference appeareth in the text, it is but his conjecture. 4. Therefore a • it is expressed of the free stranger, if he will observe the Passover of the Lord, let him circumcise: he must be willing to the one as well as to the other: so it is to be understood of the servant, that if he will eat the Passover, he must be willing to be circumcised, his will must stand to the one as well as to the other: Osiander. Perer.

QUEST. XXXI. Why none of the flesh was to be carried out of the house.

Vers. 45. IN one house shall it be eaten, thou shalt carry none of the flesh out of the house. 1. Lyranus judgeth this to be the cause of this precept, for that they were not at leisure one to visit another, because of the business about their journey: for they did one visit another, when they were commanded, if the household were too little for a lamb, to take their neighbor. 2. But rather these reasons may be yielded thereof, to represent unto them the state of the people dispersed before, and now gathered in one: and because they were to roste the lamb whole, no part thereof was to be divided: Iun. As also they are forbidden to carry any part abroad, lest the flesh should be profaned, therefore what remained was to be burned: Perer. 3. This showeth that without the Church of God is no salvation, as the lamb was not to be eaten without the house, Osiander.

QUEST. XXXII. Why a bone of the pascal lamb should not be broken.

Vers. 46. NEither shall ye break a bone thereof. 1. As this shown their present haste, that their leisure served them not to stay by it, to eat the flesh, and to examine the bones: Cajetan. Calvin. 2. So the special signification of it was to be a type of Christ, who had not a bone broken by God's singular providence, whereas the thieves bones were broken, as the Evangelist applieth it, John. 19. 3. But their collection is too curious that do thus interpret it, that Christ's virtue (signified by his bones) decayeth not, though we daily eat his flesh. 4. It may also in some sort be applied to the members of Christ, that though they suffer many troubles in the world, yet their bones are not broken, nothing shall hinder their salvation: as the Apostle saith; We are persecuted but not forsaken; we are cast down, but perish not. 2 Cor. 4.19. Osiander.

QUEST. XXXIII. What rites of the Passover might be dispensed with, and what not.

Vers. 24. YE shall observe for an ordinance. The question is, whether the Hebrews were strictly tied unto the observation of the pasch, as it is here prescribed: for the solution whereof these things are to be considered. 1. Divers rites were enjoined in the celebration of the first pasch, which were not perpetual, such was the preparing of the lamb four days before, Perer. And the indifferent choice of a lamb or kid: Iun. in Analys. Likewise their girding of the loins, eating with a staff in their hand, their standing, were only signs of readiness for that time: which usages and rites, they did not hold themselves tied unto: insomuch that it was an ancient tradition among them afterward to sit at the Passover, in sign of their deliverance obtained: so that our Savior sitting at the eating of the pasch is found to be no transgressor of the law: Iun. in Matth. 26.20. And so generally the rites of the first Passover are set down unto the 14. verse of this chapter, and afterward the perpetual law of the pasch is prescribed. 2. In the perpetual observation of the pasch, some things might be dispensed withal, some not upon necessary occasion, the general time of the month they might keep it in the second month if any were unclean, or in a long journey, Numb. 9.10, 11. As it was practiced in Hezeki • hs time, 2 Chron. 30.1, 2. The King with his Princes consulted to keep the Passover upon the 14. day of the second month because the Priests were not sanctified, neither were the people gathered together to Jerusalem. But concerning the particular time, namely of the day, it could not be altered, but still they kept the pasch upon the 14. day of the month, though the month were changed, as is evident in these places before recited: therefore the opinion of them hath no probability, that think our Savior Christ did eat his pasch upon the 15. day at even. So likewise the place, where they should keep the pasch was necessary, even where the Tabernacle and Sanctuary was, the place which the Lord should choose, as Deut. 16.6. for all their oblations and sacrifices must be brought thither, Levite. 17.4. and Deut. 12. throughout the chapter. And this is the cause why the Jews to this day use no sacrifices nor ablations, Perer.

QUEST. XXXIV. What ceremonies the Jews do hold themselves tied unto at this day.

BUt here further it will be demanded, what legal observations might be kept out of that place where the Sanctuary was: • . Here the Rabbin's do use this distinction, that such legal rites, as had necessary relation to the place of the Sanctuary, as their sacrifices, • blations, tithes, offerings, which were all to be brought to the place, which the Lord should choose, such could not be observed in any other place • as it is commanded, Deut. 12.13. 〈…〉 offerings in every place which thou 〈…〉 ▪ And in the same chapter verse. 17. Thou mayst not eat within thy 〈…〉 of thy 〈…〉 the first borne if thy 〈…〉 observe wheresoever, and to this day they do, as the days of unleavened bread, circumcision, abstinence from certain meats, fasting, resting upon the festivals, and all their judicials they hold themselves bound unto, if they had Judges of their own. So they keep their festivals in part, in respect of resting from work, but in part they keep them not, because the sacrifices and oblations, which were prescribed upon their Feast days, are necessarily omitted, being limited to a certain place. 3. Justinus Martyr hereupon very well collecteth, that seeing the Lord did tie the legal sacrifices to the place of his sanctuary, which he did foresee in time should be destroyed, his intent also was that all such sacrifices and ceremonies should cease at the time appointed: Dialog. cum Triphon. And if the Jews had any grace to consider this, they might think that the wrath of God is upon them▪ and that they worship him not aright, seeing that they are deprived both of the Temple, Priesthood and sacrifices: so that their case is harder now than it was in Egypt, where they did eat the Passover, which now it is not lawful for them to do.

QUEST. XXXV. Whether the sprinkle were of Hyssop or Rosemary, or some other thing.

Vers. 22. TAke a branch of Hyssop. 1. Some have taken this for moss, as Tremellius and Junius in their first edition▪ because, 1 King. 4.32. it is said to spring out of the wall, and is set against the Cedar, the tallest tree, as the vilest plant. But Junius hath reversed his first opinion, and taketh it for Hyssop: because comparisons are not of unlike things, but of the same kind: the Cedar as being the highest tree that groweth upon a body, is set against the Hyssop, which is one of the smallest things that riseth upon a stalk or shaft, as the body thereof. 2. Piscator doth think it to be Rosemarie, both because for the divers branches it is fittest to sprinkle with, and it delighteth to grow in stony places; and beside, that which the Evangelist calleth Hyssop, wherewith they reached unto Christ the spunge of vinegar, John. 19.29. is in Matth. called a reed, Matth. 27.48. which best agreeth to Rosemarie, which hath a stiff stalk like a reed. Contra. All this here alleged agreeth to the Hyssop, as well as to Rosemarie: for it hath many sprigges apt to disperse and sprinkle water; it groweth also upon walls, and in those countries it ariseth up to great bigness, that the stalk thereof might well serve to make a reed of to reach up the spunge; so the mustard seed in Palestine groweth to a tree: and Herodotus saith, that he hath seen milium, millet, which is a kind of wheat in Babylon, of the bigness of a tree: Beza annotat. in Matth. 27.48. 3. Though it be no great matter, whether it be taken for Hyssop or Rosemarie, for the word generally signifieth such herbs as are good against rheums and flixes, and so it comprehendeth as well Hyssop as origanum, marjeram, saturai, savor • e, thyme &c. and this libanotis, rosemarie, among the rest: yet I think with Junius, that it most properly signifieth Hyssop: both because of the similitude of the name ( eezob ) the consent of interpreters, the Chaldee, Septuagint with the rest, and most of all, the Apostles authority, Heb. 9.19. who calleth it Hyssop, having relation to the ceremony, Numb. 19. of sprinkling blood with Hyssop.

QUEST. XXXVI. Whence they took the blood which they laid upon the door posts.

ANd dip it in the blood that is in the basen. Because the Latin translator readeth, in the blood that is on the threshhold, or by the door: Augustine moveth a qu • stio • , what blood that should be. 1. He will not have it so to be taken, as though the lamb were killed hard by the door: but that the blood was saved in some vessel, and set by the door to be there in a readiness, to sprinkle upon the door, quest. 48. in Exod. hereunto subscribeth Perer. 2. But what need so many superfluous questions, seeing in the original, it is, in the basen, not on the threshold or door? all this labor might be spared in seeking such shifts to excuse the oversights and scapes of the vulgar Latin text: what though therein it follow the Septuagint? yet the original is of more authority than both, according to the which all other translations must be corrected.

QUEST. XXXVII. Why they are forbidden to go forth of their doors.

Vers. 22. LEt none of you go out of the door of his house. 1. This was enjoined them, lest not trusting to God's promises, and being incredulous, they should mingle themselves with the Egyptians, and so perish with them: Simler. 2. God could have made a separation between them as well abroad, as in the house, but thus the Lord would have them to think, that they should be preserved under the safeguard of the blood of the lamb: but seeing the blood of a beast was but a simple mean to defend them from God's wrath, the special intendment of this ceremony was, that they should with the eyes of faith look unto that unspotted lamb, the shedding of whose blood should make a perfect atonement between God and them, Calvin. 3. And thus God in commanding them to keep the house, and so to be free from danger, dealeth with that rude people human • more & modo: after an human manner: Pellic. 4. And beside, considering that the darkness is the Minister of God's wrath: as Abraham put his enemies to flight in the night, Gen. 14. S • nacheribs host was smitten by the Angel in the night; Babylon was delivered into the hand of the Persians in the night: the Lord would also in the night execute his judgments upon the Egyptians: and have his people expect their deliverance in the morning, that they should not seem to steal away in the night, but to go forth with an high hand, Borrh.

QUEST. XXXVIII. How the ordinance of the Passover is said to be forever.

Vers. 24. YE shall observe it for an ordinance forever. But seeing that now this pascal solemnity with all the rites thereof, are now ceased and determined, the question is, how they are commanded to keep them forever. 1. Augustine giveth this solution, that the pasch is said to be eternal, not in respect of the sign and outward ceremony, but of the thing signified, which is Christ the pascal lamb, whom the elect shall enjoy forever: quest. 43. in Exod. But Thostatus against this answer objecteth, that some legal rites are prescribed to be kept forever, whereunto nothing in the new law is answerable that should make them perpetual or eternal, as the seven days of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, of blowing the trumpets, and such like. 2. Therefore he findeth out this solution: that is said to be eternal, which continueth so long, as agreeth to the nature thereof to be kept: now seeing it is against the nature of ceremonies to be kept, when the bod • e is come, in this sense they might be said to be perpetual, though determined in the Messiah. 3. But further he saith that in Scripture the term of perpetuity and eternity, is taken sometime not for that time which hath no end, but for a long season: as for the term of 50. years, until the Jubile returned: for so the servant whose ear the master bored thorough, is said to serve his master forever, Exod. 21.6. So all the time of the servitude of the law may be said to be forever, until the true and perfect Jubile began in Christ. 4. Or it is said to continue forever, because the Hebrews should not intermit the pash, or change it by their authority; but this eternity or perpetuity should not prescribe unto God, but that he might change those rites at his pleasure: August. quaest. 43. 5. Some take the time of eternity to be understood for an indefinite term, whereof there is no limitation set: and so because those ceremonies were to continue a long time, even fiftene hundred years, until the coming of the Messiah, it is said to be an ordinance forever: Perer. 6. But there is another sense of this word, which I prefer before the rest: a thing is said to be eternal in respect of the subject spoken of: as that which continueth all a man's life time is said to be forever, as the Prophet David saith, I will sing the mercies of God forever, Psalm. 89 1. that is, as long as I live. And Anna promised that Samuel should abide before the Lord forever, 1 Sam. 1.22. So these ceremonies are said to be an ordinance forever, in respect of that people who are enjoined to observe them, during that policy and common-wealth, and as long as the sanctuary should stand: and so in another phrase they are commanded to keep it through their generations: But now seeing their political state is dissolved, their temple destroyed, where these solemnities were to be kept; that term of perpetuity by the coming of the Messiah, who hath brought a new law, is expired. Sic fer Pelican, Osiander Piscator.

QUEST. XXXIX. Of the divers applications of the sense of Scripture.

WE must first understand, that there are two general ways of interpreting Scripture: first, there is the simple interpretation, and then the compound sense. The first is of two sorts, either concerning the fact or thing done, and this is called the historical sense: or the reason or cause thereof, which the fathers termed aitiologia, the showing of the reason. The compound interpretation or sense is likewise twofold: either in comparing of the words with the thing signified, divers and differing from the words, which is called an allegory, such are the parables of Christ, as of the sower, where the meaning is not according to the words of one that soweth seed in the ground, but of the spiritual seed of God's word sown in the heart: or else in comparing the things historically signified, with the things typically shadowed forth: as the serpent signified Christ, and is called of the fathers the anagogicall sense: Iun. in Analys.

Now concerning the historical and literal sense of the Passover, it hath been hitherto opened: now I will proceed to the mystical and allegorical sense. If this first be observed, that these are not properly divers senses, but divers accommodations and applications of one general sense: And besides, that it is not lawful for every Interpreter according to his own imagination, to draw, or rather wrest the Scripture into allegories, but that therein we must follow the direction and warrant of the Spirit. Now I will descend to the particular mysteries, which are fitly gathered from the pascal lamb, with the rites thereof.

QUEST. XL. Of the particular mystical applications of the pascal Lamb, and the rites thereof.

FIrst concerning the time when this pascal lamb was to be slain, which was in the first Moneth on the 14. day, in the full of the Moon; and at even: these special references are made to Christ, the true pascal lamb: 1. That as then the light overcometh darkness, and the days begin to be longer than the night, so then Christ brought light to the world, the light of righteousness, which chaseth away the darkness of our sins: Rupert. 2. As in March, all things began to revive and spring again, so Christ brought life and refreshing to the world: Ferus. 3. It was a general received opinion among the Jews, that the same time that the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, the deliverance which they expected from the Messiah should be accomplished. A • do. Masius in 5. Josh. And so accordingly Christ the true pascal lamb was slain in the Feast of the Passover. 4. The fullness of the Moon showeth the fullness of time when the Messiah should come: Rupert. 5. The eating at even signifieth that Christ should suffer toward the end of the world, Simler.

Secondly, in the tenth of this month let everyone take a lamb. Like as the lamb was set apart four days before, upon the tenth day of the month; so our Savior came to Jerusalem upon the tenth day of the month, five days before his Passion: for upon the sixth day before Christ came to Bethany, John. 12. and the next day he went to Jerusalem, Ferus.

3. The lamb signifieth Christ, as John the Baptist calleth him the lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, John. 1.29. unto whom all the properties of the lamb do most fully agree: 1. The lamb is taken from the flock, so Christ took the nature of men, in all things like unto us, sin only excepted: Ferus. It was a lamb without blemish, so was Christ without sin: Simler. A male, to show his strength: Iun. of a year old (not above, but under it might be) to show that Christ died at a full and perfect age: Pelican. Beside, Christ is resembled to a Lamb for his patience, he was as asheepe before the shearer, not opening his mouth: Simler. for his innocence: Ferus. And as a Lamb clotheth, so are we clothed with Christ's righteousness: Jerome. As the Lamb feedeth, so are we nourished spiritually by the body and blood of Christ. Simler.

4. The blood of the Lamb was a most lively type and figure of the blood of Christ: 1. As they were delivered from the temporal death of the plague of the first borne, so are we redeemed by the blood of Christ the undefiled Lamb, 1. Pet. 1.19. Iun. 2. The blood was sprinkled or stricked with hyssop upon the door posts: so the blood of Christ doth not profit us, unless it be sprinkled upon our hearts by faith: Calvin. 3. It was stricked upon the door posts, that we should at all times, both going out of our houses, and entering in, think upon the passion of Christ: and it was laid upon the upper door post▪ to show that we should not be ashamed of Christ. Pelican.

5. The Lamb must be eaten whole, so whole Christ must be received and acknowledged, God Christ, and man Christ, perfect God and perfect man consisting of body and soul: both the doctrine and life of Christ▪ Pellic. Ferus. The Arians divided the Lamb that denied his Deity, the Manichees that impugned his humanity, the Apollinarists denied Christ to have a soul: or rather it signifieth our perfect conjunction with Christ: Iun. 2 The eating of unleavened bread signifieth the laying aside of the leaven of malice and wickedness, and that we should keep our feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, as the Apostle expoundeth it, 1. Cor. 6.8. 3. The sower herbs signify the afflictions that accompany the cross of Christ. Iun.

6. Vers. 11. Thus shall ye eat it. 1. By the girding of the loins some understand the bridling of the affections: Gregor. Pelican. rather it showeth we should be ready for the Lord's service, as they which are prepared for their journey: Philo: as the Apostle saith, Stand therefore your loins girded up, Ephes. 6.12. Borrh. 2. The putting on the shoes with Gregory signifieth the imitating of the examples of the Saints departed: as the shoes are made of dead skins: but this is too curious: Pelican would have it to signify our passing thorough this world where we have no abiding City: rather it showeth, that we should be armed and prepared to walk through the crosses of this life, and not to be offended with the troubles, which follow the Gospel, but, as the Apostle saith, we should be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: Borrh. 3. By the staff in hand Pelican understandeth the enduring of labor, Philo direction to guide us in the way: Ferus and Junius better, the word of God, whereby we are both guided and strengthened in the way: Gregory, the pastoral duty: but the use is more general than to belong to one calling. 4. They are bid to eat it in haste, which with Gregory signifieth, ad solemnitatem patriae caelestis a ••• lare, to long for our heavenly country, as they made haste to go to Canaan: as the Apostle saith, I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Some understand it of that fear, which they are in, which do things in haste: and there it is good, semper pavid • m esse ne in presumptione & secur • tate p • rielitamur; always to be fearful lest b • security and presumption we should be endangered: Pelican. Some do thus apply it: Celeriter relinquendum esse Satana regnum: that the kingdom of Satan must speedily be left: Borrh. Ferus, beside the two first collections: Festin • re nos faciant duo, desiderium & timor: Two things cause us to make haste, desire and fear: