A discourse concerning prodigies: wherein the vanity of presages by them is reprehended. And their true and proper ends asserted and vindicated / By John Spencer, B.D.

John Spencer

Date:: 1663

Credit: A discourse concerning prodigies: wherein the vanity of presages by them is reprehended. And their true and proper ends asserted and vindicated / By John Spencer, B.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

119/150 (page 97)

$Verf. i. There wereprcfent at that time3 feme that told Him of the Ga¬ lileans} whofe blond Pilate had mingled with their facrifices, %. And J efus anfwering faid unto them fuppojeye thatthefe Galileans were finners above all theGalileans becaufe they fuff'ered fuch things ? 3. 1 tell you nay but except ye repent je Jhall all lifiewtfeperijb. which words I choofe (with Grotrn) to render, ad modum cundem, after the fame manner, for I conceive our Saviour doth not vary his fpeech [verf. 5.] when difcourfing of thofe which pe- rifiit by the tower of Siloam, thus [opioicat ye fhall perifli ad modum fimilem, in a manner life them, but upon fome reafon of mo¬ ment, which I thus explain. Thefe Galileans were a faftionof fudas of Galilee {of whom we read. Aft. $, 37. J whofe great doftrine it was, that it was unlawfull qbfjv Tvis Va^cuoti 'TiXedv, to pay tribute to the Romanesj or to acknow- Jofeph- de 1 edge ptilcir- tew d-wlSt A<aTinzLf any mortal Lords after God had Bel. Judaic* been their Kingi orto offer facrifice for the Romane Governours : l,z.c. 12. Now Pilate (provokt by the difhonours or the dangers wrapt up in this doftrine ) ftains the Altar with the bloud of thele feditious facri- ficers, fetting upon them now come to Hiemfalem to attend the re¬ ligion of the palchal rites. Now this perfonal judgement was a little Map wherein the lines and figures of that terrible calamity which afterward fell upon the whole Nation,were excellently reprefented^, fome of them perifliing ad modum cundem^ and others ad modum fimi~ lem. For as thefe Galileans perifht on the feaftof Pafsoverin afedi- tion varnifht over with the lpecious colours and pretences of religion and confcience, fo did a great part of the Nation afterward fall in a rebellion again# Ccefar for Gods fake, [pious pretences that they efpe- daily were Abrahams children3 God’s free people} and to pay no faneluary viu.Grot. Jbelicl to a Heathen Ruler.] and that on the very pafsover day., in the m Temple the place of facrifice. And the perions upon whom the Tower of Siloam fellt were a kind of type of the many thoufandsbe- Tides, which perifht in the ruins ofthe City (of which that Tower carried the image and reprefentation) in which they Were furpriz’d by the Roman army; fothat they did periih [optoica ] in a manner fimilar unto them. Concerning which ftrange examples, I mud confefs I fee no rea¬ fon to receive them (with the Reverend D. tfactifon) abfolutely and in themfelves confiderM, as any intendedfigns of the time to thatGe- jn Ssrm* Deration^ nordoe I think the Jews had any ground to think thofe on Luk. fad accidents rumt gwAGcu.'ov \khvok happened unto them as any true 123 and proper types and figures of an analogous dedruftion to fall upon J J 5' themfelves in the revolution of a few years • for could any mere man certainly forefee, or butfufpeft, that any fuch itorms and fhours of evils Would fuddainly fall upon the Jewifli date, upon therifingof th:s cloud no bigger then a mans hand (the death of a few private and inconfiderable perfons?) As a forain Divine fpeaking of the Englifh art of preaching faid truly, pitta eft in Artifice quaminarte} it derives more from the Artift, then any fet rules of art*, fo we may fay upon our Saviours prophecies and forefight expred upon this occafion,$