A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the…

Among these who grant him a mere man, very many, following the Opinion of the Jews, contend he was Shem the Son of Noah, who was certainly then alive, and of great Authority in the World by virtue of his Primogeniture. But this also riseth up in Contradiction unto our Apostle, beyond all possibility of Reconciliation. The ⟨p. 93⟩Jews who are no further concerned in him but as to what is declared by Moses, may safely, as to their own Principles, though not truly, conjecture him to be Shem. But whereas our Apostle affirms that he was without Father, without Mother, without Genealogy, having neither beginning of Days, nor end of Life, we are not allowed to Interpret these things of him concerning whom most of them are expressly Recorded. Nor will it suffice to say that these things indeed are written of him under the Name of Shem, but not under the Name of Melchizedek: For this were to make the Apostle to lay the weight of so Important an Argument as that in hand, and from whence he infers the removal of all the Ancient Legal Institutions out of the Church, upon a Nicety, and to catch as it were at an Advantage for it. Besides, let him be called as he will, it is his Person in the discharge of his Office which the Apostle speaks of, and the things affirmed of him are not true concerning, or not truly applicable unto Shem. And we may observe by the way, what a blessed effect it is of the Care and Wisdom of God towards the Church, that there are so few things in the Scripture that seem to administer occasion unto the Curiosities and Conjectures of Men, and of those not any of them needful unto our Faith and Obedience, so as that they should receive the least prejudice by our Ignorance of the precise sense of those places. The whole is filled with such Depths of Wisdom and Truth, as require our Humble, Diligent, Reverend, Careful search into them, all the days of our lives. But particular Passages, Historical or Mystical, such as seem to leave room for variety of Conjectures, are very few: Had they been Multiplied, especially in Matters of any Importance, it could not have been avoided, but that Religion would have been filled with Fruitless Notions and Speculations.

Among these who grant him a meer man, very many, following the Opinion of the Jews, contend he was Shem the Son of Noah, who was certainly then alive, and of great Authority in the World by virtue of his Primogeniture. But this also riseth up in Contradiction unto our Apostle, beyond all possibility of Reconciliation. The ⟨p. 93⟩