A42767:13
A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey…
A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemn and public humiliation : whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government / by George Gillespie, minister at Edinburgh.A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemne and publique humiliation : whereunto is added a brotherly examination of some passages of Mr. Colemans late printed sermon upon Job 11.20, in which he hath endeavoured to strike at the root of all church-government / by George Gillespie, minister at Edenburgh.
London: printed by F. Neile for Robert Bostock, 1646
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But if you ask again, of what coming or appearing of Christ,1 doth the Prophet speak this? Whether of the first, or of the last, or of any other? The answer of Expositors is not so unanimous. Some understand the last coming of Christ in the glory of his Father, and holy Angels, to judge the quick and the dead. This cannot stand with ver. 34. He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them, &c. But at the last judgement it will be too late for the sons of Levi to be purified and purged; or for Judah and Jerusalem to bring offerings unto the Lord, as in the days of old.
But if you ask again, of what coming or appearing of Christ,1 doth the Prophet speak this? Whether of the first, or of the last, or of any other? The answer of Expositors is not so unanimous. Some understand the last coming of Christ in the glory of his Father, and holy Angels, to judge the quick and the dead. This cannot stand with ver. 34. He shall purifie the sons of Levi, and purge them, &c. But at the last judgement it will be too late for the sons of Levi to be purified and purged; or for Juda and Jerusalem to bring offerings unto the Lord, as in the dayes of old.
- 1The meaning of the Text searched.
Others understand the first coming of Christ; and of these, some understand his Incarnation, or appearing in the flesh: others ⟨p. 2⟩take the meaning to be of his coming into the Temple of Jerusalem, 1to drive out the buyers and sellers, at which time all the City was moved at his coming. This Exposition hath better grounds then the other, because the coming of Christ (here spoken of) did not precede, but soon follow after the Ministry of John Baptist; and therefore cannot be meant of our Saviours Incarnation, but rather of his appearing with power and authority in the Temple. But this also falleth short, and neither expresseth the whole, nor the principal part of what is meant in this Text: For how can it be said, that the Prophecy which followeth, Vers. 3, 4. (which is all of a piece with Vers. 2.) was fulfilled during Christs appearing and sitting in the Temple of Jerusalem? Or how can it be conceived, that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem were pleasant to the Lord at that time, when the Gentiles were not, and the Jews would not be brought in,to offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness? So that whether we understand by Judah and Jerusalem, the Jewish Church, or the Christian; this thing could not be said to be accomplished, while Christ was yet upon earth. And in like manner, whether we understand by the sons of Levi, the Priests, and Levites of the Jews, or, the Ministers of the Gospel, it cannot be said that Christ did in the days of his flesh purify the sons of Levi, as Gold and Silver.