Ministers of Christ and disposers of the mysteries of God Of whom were they so to esteem Of Saint Paul himself and every faithfull Minister Doth he then intimate here any such Prerogative above the meanest of his brethren as the Romish Clergie usurps over the whole Christian World any authority to prohibit either the Dispensers of Gods mysteries from administring or men so carnally minded as were these to whom he wrote from communicating Christs bloud as well as his bodie So the Trent Fathers think and as if for their wilfull denial of the Lords Cup unto the people the Lord had given them the cup of giddinesse to cast them into a Babylonish slumber whilest they consulted about this decree and their Scribes through wretchlesnesse had written what their raving Masters in their sickly or drunken dreams had uttered we find in the same Decree another place of S. Paul immediately annexed though as disproportionable to the former as it is placed in their discourse as a mans head to an horses neck both as unsutable to their intended Conclusion as a super-addition of Fins or Feathers would be to such a monstrous Hippocentaurick combination The place is S. Pauls Conclusion of that discourse concerning the Sacraments Other things will I set in order when I come 16 Granting what is not necessary he spake of ordering matters concerning this Sacrament to receive the wine as well as the bread was no part of their present disorder whose misbehaviour at the Lords Table did minister more just occasions to Saint Paul then long Beards did to the Councel of Constance to denie the use of the Cup might Christs blood and bodie which he had jointly tendered to all be upon any occasion justly severed by man in the administration of his last Will and Testament Whatsoever the number or qualitie of the guests be the great Lords Table must be alwayes so furnished as it was at the first Institution for he hath no respect of persons If a rich stately Prelate come in with a gold ring in goodly vestiments and a poor honest Laick in vile raiments he saith not to him in Pontifical robes come sit you here at my messe where you may drink of my wine as well as eat of my bread nor to the poor Laick stand thou there apart or sit down here under my footstool where thou maiest be partaker of the crummes which fall from my Table though not of my cup which must be kept for thy betters High and low rich and poor all were redeemed with one price all at this offering equal all alike free to tast of every dish so they come with wedding-garments without which even the best must be cast out as unworthy to tast of any part if not of all That part which the Councels of Constance and Trent upon pretences of reverence to the Lords Supper have detained from Modern Christians the Corinthians had received unworthily yet was not the Cup for this reason held superfluous by Saint Paul who onely sought to represse the abuse as knowing the use of it to be most necessarie The matters then he meant to order when he came was to set out this Heavenly banquet with greater decencie and solemnitie not to abridge them of any substantial or material part thereof 17 Nor do the Trent Fathers if we may trust them upon their words For they desirous as it seems to make the whole Christian World as sottish as themselves were impious would make men believe they could juggle away the Cup and never touch the very substance of the Sacrament as if the wine were not as substantial a part of the Lords Supper as was his blood of his bodie or humanitie An integral or material part they cannot denie it to be and such if it be there Apologie is as shamelesse as if a man should let out most of anothers blood cut off his arm or leg or maim him in some principal part and plead for himself I did not meddle with his substance meaning as the Councel I take it here doth his Essence seeing he is yet as truly a reasonable Creature as before 18 But to debar them of that refuge it may be they sought or their followers may yet hope to find in the equivocation of this word substance importing as much sometimes as a material or integral sometimes as an essential part If the Cup be an essential and substantial part of this Sacrament the Councel by their own confession did foully erre in prohibiting Communion under both kinds If no such part it be they might by their own rule have altogether denied the use of it so much as to the sacrificer or conficient but so the very use and end on which the essence of the Sacrament as of all other matters of moral practise immediately depends and by whose expiration instantly most determine should utterly have perished The end and use of this sacred Institution as our Saviour expressely teacheth and the Councel grants was to represent the Testators Death yea so to represent it as we might be partakers of his bodie and blood not spiritually onely but withall as the Trent Fathers contend Sacramentally Admitting then all they can pretend against the necessity of the Cup That whole Christ were in the Bread alone yet this will not preserve the true and fruitfull use of the Sacrament nor salve that deadly wound the essence of it must perforce receive from frustration of the end necessarily ensuing the Cups absence For this Sacrament was ordained as to represent so to exhibit Christs body unto all faithful Communicants not as intire and whole his bloud not as it was inclosed in the veines but the one as torne and rent the other as shed and powred out upon the crosse This is my bloud of the new Testament saith our Saviour which is shed for many for all that receive it faithfully for the remission of sins His Bloud then as shed and powred out is as the loadstar of penitent and contrite hearts whereon the eyes of their faith that seek remission of sins in this Sacrament must be fastened for as the ‖ Apostle saith without shedding of bloud is no remission This was the complement of that inestimable all-sufficient Sacrifice that which represents his precious bloud thus poured out the principal part of this Sacrament as wel in respect of representing his death as in applying remission of sins thereby in general purchased and by this Sacramental Type sealed to every one in particular especially if the Trent Councels Doctrine be true that Christs very bloud which was shed upon the crosse is really present in the Chalice and might be as immediately sprinkled at least upon the lips or doors of every faithful receivers heart as the bloud of the Paschal Lamb was upon the door-posts of the Israelites Thus as Satan the Father of lies so false opinions suggested by him draw men with pleasure into those evils for whose practise in the end
causes so to do Without any sure warrant of Scripture to perswade it they bind all likewise to believe this Bare Negative That neither our Saviours Words at his institution of the Sacrament nor any other place of Scripture enjoyn the use of the Cup as necessary by way of precept or commandment Nor doth Christs words in the sixth of John howsoever we understand them according to the diverse interpretations of Fathers either of Sacramental or Spiritual eating enforce any such necessity Will you hear their reasons for this bold Assertion He that said Unlesse ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drick his blood you have no life in you said also If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever And he that said Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life said also The bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World He that said Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwels in me and I in him hath said withall He that eateth this bread shall live for ever 11 Gods Precepts must be very peremptory and conceived in formall termes ere any sufficient authoritie to enjoyn obedience in what subject soever will be acknowledged in them by these men that dare thus deny a necessity of communicating Christ in both kinds imposed upon all in these words Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you onely because it is said in the words going before If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever Of how much beter insight in Scriptures then these grand Seers of Rome would blind Homer had he lived in their time have proved For he never denied his fained Gods their Nectar because Ambrosia was an immortall meat And would he or any man not more blind in heart and mind then he was of bodily sense collect against Christs expresse words that his blood the true Heavenly Nectar was not necessary because his flesh doth strengthen to eternall life especially if he considered their captious interpellation against whom in that place he disputes which caused him not to expresse his mind so fully there as elsewhere he had done albeit afterwards he ingeminates the necessary of drinking his blood as well as eating his flesh in such precise and formall termes as if he had even then bethought himself that such Antichristian Spirits as these Trent Fathers might happily dare to elude his most sacred Precept by such Satanical glosses as in that Decree they have done 12 He had told the Jews as much as was pertinent to their Objection that he was the living bread which came down from Heaven much better then Minna which their Fathers had eaten Bread he called himself in opposition unto Manna not restraining this to his body or flesh onely albeit what he meant by bread he expounds partly by his flesh And the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World Besides that bread in the Hebrew Dialect contains all sorts of food the manner of giving this Ambrosia was such as did affoord Heavenly visible Nectar too For whilest he gave his flesh upon the Crosse he poured out his blood withall But the Jews catch at this speech ere he had expounded his full meaning How can this man give us flesh to eat Then Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Which words considered with the former circumstances to any mans capacity not infatuate import thus much Do ye murmur that I should profer you my flesh Verily I say unto you and ye may believe me Unlesse ye drink my blood as well as eat my flesh ye have no life in you For so he addes my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed that is both are as necessarie to eternal as meat and drink to corporal life 13 For these and many like reasons necessarily arising from the text some as well of their greatest Scholers as best interpreters denie the former places to be meant of Sacramental eating otherwise unable to conceive any possibilitie either of avoiding the inconveniences urged by us or of defending their infallible Church from errour in this Decree Yet saith the Councel howsoever they be understood according to the diverse interpretations of Fathers they infer no such necessity No not if most Fathers as Maldonate contends did hold them to be directly meant of Sacramental eating Why then did Jansenius and Hesselius renounce the Fathers in this surely to defend their Mother whose credit they have much better saved upon supposition that these words are meant onely of spiritual manducation then Maldonate otherwise acute but most perversely sottish in his Apologie for this Decree hath done And yet to speak the truth the same inconvenience will follow as necessarily though not so perspicuously at first sight albeit we grant them to be meant of spiritual Eating primarily For in that they are meant primarily of spiritual they cannot but be meant of Sacramental Eating also seeing these two as elsewhere I have observed are not opposite but subordinate Whence if we grant that Christs Blood as well as his Flesh must be communicated to us by Faith or spirituall manducation the Consequence will be Therefore the Cup as well as the Bread must be administred in the Sacrament because Christ saith in the institution that the Cup is his Blood and the bread his Bodie or flesh that is the one is the sure pledge or instrument whereby his flesh the other whereby his blood which we must spiritually eat as well in the Sacrament as out of it must be communicated unto us For as the Ancient Fathers have observed our Saviour Christ did in his Institution exhibit that unto us sensibly which before he had promised as invisible so that the precept of eating Christs bodie and drinking his blood sacramentally doth bind all capable of this Sacrament as strictly as that other of eating his bodie and drinking his blood Spiritually seeing this latter is the seal and assurance of the other And as our Adversaries acknowledge an absolute necessitie of Precept for eating Christ Sacramentally and Spiritually though that Precept concern not Infants so in all reason they should grant an equall necessity of Precept for eating his flesh and blood distinctly in the Sacrament though this be not necessary to all men at all times if without negligence or contempt they cannot be partakers of both For impossibilitie upon what occasion soever not caused through their own default exempts them from that generall Precept of eating Christ under both kinds as want of yeers or discretion doth children from any injunction divine or humane of communicating so much as in one kind For notwithstanding the
former Precept except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you as peremptorie as any can be for communicating as well sacramentally as spiritually in both kinds it were uncharitable to mistrust Gods mercie towards such poor souls as long for the Cup of Salvation which no man giveth them yea which the Romish Church hath by Decree as peremptorie as she could make denied to all the Laitie without exception to all the Clergie except such as may by a peculiar right challenge his blood as their own by way of exchange because they have made him a Bodie which he had not before 14 Yet is it a small thing with this great Whore to deprive the Christian World of the Lords unlesse she urge it instead thereof to pledge her in the cup of Devils full of the wine of fornication coloured with her adulterate Scriptures authorized no doubt for such purposes Where our Apostle Saint Paul saith that he and his Ministers were Stewards of the mysteries of God the vulgar Roman Edition renders the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Latin Dispensatores and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly rendred in this place elsewhere upon carelesnesse rather then any intention of harm as I am perswaded by the Latin Sacramentum Whether upon set purpose of some more learned in that Councel presuming to gull the simple and illiterate by their cunning as Chemnitius probably thinks or whether the mysterie of iniquitie as is more probable wrought unawares in the brains of the ignorant which were the major part and as some have related did oversway the learned uncapable of such impudencie as should give countenance to this ignominious Decree partly from the equivocation of the Latin Dispensatores partly from the synonymical signification which the vulgar hath made of Mysterium and Sacramentum the Beetle-heads have hammered out an interpretation of Saint Pauls words before cited so scurrilously contrarie to his meaning that the Black Dog which is said to have appeared unto Cardinal Crescentius might he have spoken in the Councel could scarce have uttered it without blushing For the Apostle meant such Dispensatores or Stewards as our Saviour speaks of in the four and twentieth of Saint Matthew such as should give their Fellow-servants their just portions without purloining such as daily expected their Masters Return to call them unto a strict Account of their Stewardship For so it is expressely added Moreover or as much as belongs unto our office it is required of Stewards that they be all found faithfull 1 Cor. 4. 2. 15 Not to dispute of the Churches Authority in disposing of Sacraments nor to exagitate the impietie of this decree be the one for the present supposed as great the other as little as they list to make it onely this I would demand of any that is so himself whether he can imagine any men sober or in their right mindes would not assoon have urged that text The fool hath said in his heart there is no God for establishing Atheisme or S. Peters check unto Simon Magus to prove Simonie lawful as derive the Churches authoritie for detaining the least part of the Word of life much lesse the Cup of Salvation from these words Let a man so think of us as of the Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God What secrets of the Gospel before hid but now to be published to all the World of which the same Apostle elsewhere had said A necessity is laid upon me and wo unto me if I preach it not Of the use or necessity of the Lords Cup not a word in this place not a syllable for the Lord had sent him not to administer this Sacrament but to preach the Gospel of which the Doctrine of the Lords Supper was a part indeed but where expressely and directly he delivers that doth he intimate by any circumstance that either it had been was or might be otherwise administred then according to the patern prescribed by our Saviour at the first Institution Rather his often repetition of these conjunctives This bread and this cup eating and drinking the bodie and bloud c. argue he never thought the one should be received without the other that this prohibition of the Cup was a particular branch of the mysterie of iniquitie not to break out till latter Ages hid from his eyes that had seen the Mysterie it self begin to work As often as ye shall eat this bread saith the Apostle and drink this cup ye shew the Lords death till â—e come Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord. Let a man therefore examine himself and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this 〈◊〉 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own dâ—… tion because he discerneth not the Lords Bodie Yet unto the Trent Councel Saint Paul in the former place where he had no such occasion as not speaking one word either of the Doctrine necessitie or use of the Sacraments seems to intimate and that not obscurelie the Churches Authority in dispensing them as the Trent Fathers have done What then might every Minister of Christ every distributer of Gods secrets have used the like authoritie before the Church representative did at least by tact consent approve the practise This place doubtlesse proves either altogether nothing or thus much for the Apostles words are indefinite for their literal sence equally appliable to every faithfull Minister or private dispenser of such secrets not appropriate to the intire publick bodie Ecciesiastick or the Capital or Cardinal parts thereof Of the Corinthians to whom he wrote one said I am Pauls another I am Apollos the third I am of Cephas all boasting in the personal excellencies of their first Parents in Christ as the Papists now do in Saint Peters and his successours Catholick Primacie To asswage these carnal humours in his children their Father that great Doctor of the Gentiles seeks more in this then in any other place of all his Epistles to debase himself and diminish others high esteem either of his own worth or of his calling Who is Paul then and who is Apollos but the Ministers by whom ye believed and as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase And he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his wages according to his labour For we together are Gods labourers ye are Gods husbandry and Gods building And after a serious incitement of master builders to fidelitie with the like admonition to Gods husbandry or building not to rejoyce in men he concludes as he had begun Let every man esteem us such as I have said
they become their chief accusers That opinion which at first brought in neglect of the Chalice and as the Trent Councel presumed would have warranted them in making this decree doth most condemn them for the measure of their iniquity could not have been so fully accomplished unlesse they had held a transubstantiation of the wine into Christs bloud 19 What part of Scripture can we presume they wil spare that dare thus countermand the most principal of all Gods Commandments what reckoning may we think they make of our Saviour Christ that adventure thus shamefully to disanul and cancel his last wil and testament defrauding almost the whole Christian World of half their Lord and Masters royal allowance partly without any shew of Scriptures either to restrain or otherwise interpret these Soveraign precepts partly upon such idle and frivolous allegations as may further witnesse their sleight estimate of Gods Word save only so far as it may be wrested to serve their turns 20 But grant the places there alledged by the Councel did so mitigate either the form of the institution or the peremptory manner of our Saviours speeches in the sixth of John as to make it disputable in unpartial judgments whether they did plainly injoyn any necessity of communicating under both kinds the former decree notwithstanding would manifestly infer an usurpation of Soveraignty over Gods word quite contrary to the general Analogie of faith reason and conscience by all which in cases doubtful and for the speculative form of truth disputable with equal probability affirmatively or negatively we are taught to frame our choice when we come to practise according to the difference of the matter or of consequences which may ensue more dreadful one way then the other alwayes to prefer either a greater good before a lesse or a lesse evil before a greater though both equally probable Suppose then these two contradictory propositions The denial of the Cup is a mutilation of Christs last will and testament the denial of the Cup is no mutilation of Christs last will and Testament were for their speculative probabilities in just examination equipendent yet the doctrine of faith delivered in Scripture reason and conscience without contradiction instructs us that to alter abrogate or mutilate the son of Gods last Will and Testament is a most grievous most horrible most dreadful sin but to permit the use of the Chalice hath no suspition of any the least evil in it Had the Trent Fathers thus done they had done no worse then our Saviour then his Apostles then the Primitive Church by their own confession did This excesse of evil without all hope of any the least compensative good to follow upon the denial should have swaied them to that practise which was infinitely more safe as not accompanied with any possibility or shew of danger although the speculative probability of any divine precept necessarily injoyning the use of the cup had been none Thus peremptorily to adventure upon consequences so fearful whereto no contrary fear could in reason impel nor hopes any way comparable allure them thus imperiously to deprive the whole Christian World of a good in their valuation testified by their humble supplications and frequent embassages to that Councel so inestimable without any other good possible to redound unto the deniers save only usurpation of Lordly Dominion over Christs heritage plainly evinceth that the Church is of far greater authority with them then GODS Word either written in the Sacred Canon or their hearts then all his Laws either ingrafted by nature or positive and Supernatural For 21 Admit this Church representative had been fully perswaded in conscience rightly examined and immediately ruled by Scripture that the former decree did not prejudice the institution use or end of this Sacrament yet most Christians earnest desire of the Cup so publickly testified could not suffer them to sleep in ignorance of that great scandal the denial of it needs must give to most inferiour particular Churches Wherefore the rule of charity that moved the Father of the Gentiles to that serious protestation If meat offend my brother I will eat no flesh while the world standeth that I may not offend my brother should in all equity divine or humane have wrought these Prelates hearts to like profession If want of their spiritual drink offend so many Congregations and such a multitude of our brethren we will rather not use our lawful authority acknowledged by all then usurp any that may be offensive or suspicious unto others though apparantly just unto our selves for they could not be more fully perswaded this decree was just then Saint Paul was that all meats were lawful to him 22 But may we think these Prelates had no scruple of conscience whether the very form of this decree were not against our Saviours expresse command Bibite ex hoc omnes drink ye all of this For mine own part whiles I call to mind what else-where I have observed that the Jews were never so peremptory in their despightful censures of our Saviours doctrine nor so outragiously bent against his person as when their hearts were touched in part with his miracles or in some degree illuminated with the truth he taught The Councels extraordinary forwardnesse to terrifie all Contravenaries of this decree makes me suspect they were too conscious of their own shallow pretended proofs to elude Gods word whose light and perspicuity in this point had exasperated their hardned hearts and weak-sighted faith to be so outragious in the very beginning of that session as if they had meant to stifle their consciences and choak the truth lest these happily might crosse their proceedings or controul their purposes if this cause should once have come to sober and deliberate debatement For as theeves oftentimes seek to avoid apprehension by crying loudest Turn the Thief so these wolves hoped wel to smother their guilt and prevent al notice taking of their impiety by their grievo us exclamations against others monstrous impious opinions in this point interdicting all upon penalty of the causes following ere they had determined ought to teach preach or believe otherwise then they meant to determin 23 Yet though the Councel accurse all that hold communication under both kinds as a necessary doctrine it doth not absolutely inhibit all use of the Chalice but leaves it free unto their Lord the Pope to grant it upon what Conditions he please either unto private men or whole Nations Upon what conditions then may we presume wil it please his Holinesse for to grant it upon any better then Satan tendred all the Kingdomes of the Earth unto our Saviour For this fained servant of Christ a true Gehazi repining at his Lord and Masters simplicity that could refuse so fair a profer made after Satan in all haste saying in his heart I wil surely take somewhat of him though my Master spared him and pretending a message in his name to whom all power was
this demand Wehn went the â—… the Lord from me to thee As many a proud Prelate would in like â—… upon his poor brother that should crosse his opinion specially â—…er belonging though but a far off unto the State Sirrha I â—… know your place before whom and in what matter you speak Nor did â—… only but 400. more no otherwise discernable for false Pâ—…â—uch trial as we contend for as if they would have bound the â—… followed most voices in besâ—owing victory perswade the King â—… Ramoth Gilead But my former assertion is fully ratified by â—… reply to the others demand When went the c Thou shah see â—… that day when thou shalt go from chamber to chamber to hide thee â—… but such as were neuters before after they see his 〈◊〉 in Ahabs overthrow did take Micaiah for a Prophet as true as 〈◊〉 â—… 3 In like manner when Jeremy a poor Prophet and Priest of Anathoth had â—… Jerusalem among the Prelates and Prophesied the truth but truth â—… to the State beâ—… â—… upon that City and her towns Pashur the son of Immer the Priest which was appointed governour in the house of the Lord intreats him worse then Zidkiah had done Micaiah He could have flouted him with as good applâ—â—se of his complices as the Inquisitors can a Protestant now â—â—u that can read State fortunes a far off can you tell where you shall lodge your self this next night if you cannot take him for a better prophet that can And by Pashurs Prophesie he was to take up his lodging in his way home in the Stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin near unto the house of the Lord whose desolation he had threatned The like entertainment he found again at the whole multitudes hands but by the Priests and Prophets instigation Now when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord bad commanded him to speak unto all the people then the Priests and the Prophets and all the people took him and said Thou shalt die the death Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Lord saying This house shall be like Shiloh and this City shall be desolate without an inhabitant As if the Church of God could possibly erre or the gates of hell prevail against the splendor of it would the Romish Clergie adde should the Lord send a Prophet with such tidings unto Rome And did they not learn this interpretation of Christs promise unto his Church from the hypocritical Jews their predecessors which made the like comment in Jeremiahs time upon Gods words as pregnant for the High Priests succession as S. Peters Come and let us imagin some devise against Jeremiah for the Law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words Away with the Heretick The manifestation of like affection in the Prelates towards Gods Prophets did embolden Shemâ—… the Nehelemite to write from Babylon unto Zephaniah the high Priest and his associates to this effect The Lord hath made thee Priest for Jeâ—oiada the Priest that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord for every man that raveth and maketh himself a Prophet to put him in prison and in the stocks Now therefore why hast not thou reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth which prophesâ—â—d unto you This captivity is long build houses to dwell in and plant gardens and eat the fruits of them 4 But when Pashur found the Omen of that name which Jeremiah gave him when he and his mates proved indeed Magor-Missabib a terror to themselves and all about them when they saw with their eyes all the miseries there expressed then was Jeremiah held for a true Prophet especially by such as out-lived the captivity to see the truth of his Prophesie for their good as exactly fulfilled as this had been for their harm whilest according to his prediction Shemaiah and his seed were rooted out from amongst Gods people happily replanted in their native soil For from the reasons set down before posterity did alwayes better judge of prophesies then the age wherein their Authors lived at the least the younger and meaner sort of that age which out-lived the event usually better digested their doctrine then the ancient or men of dignity that envied them Credit amongst the people yet were not such as lesse maligned them greater believers universally as was said before but only of some few particulars For if a new Prophet should have risen amongst them he was almost as evil entreated by the present Clergie or others whose humors he contradicted This is evident by the Scribes and Pharisees and the chief Rulers of the Jewish Church in our Saviours time They builded the tombs of the Prophets and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous and said as they verily thought If we had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the bloud of the Prophets yet made they the people of their own time so mad as to be partakers with them in the bloud of that great Prophet their long desired Messiah the only Saviour of the world Throughout the whole Story almost of the old Testament the truth proposed may appear that the visible Church if it be taken in such a sence as the Romanists take it was the most corrupt Judge either of the truth or true meaning of Gods word that the people seduced by their goodly shews and glorious titles of Moses successors were stil brought into the combination of bloud until they brought upon themselves their postetity and the holy City All the righteous bloud that was shed upon the earth from the bloud of Abel the righteous until the bloud of their Messiah 5 But though their cruelty and hypocrisie be so notoriously known as it even seems to point out the like in the modern Romanist yet some honestly minded wil perhaps demand how the people of those ages wherein the Prophets lived could possibly know the truth of their Prophesies seeing for the most part they saw a major part of men in Ecclesiastick authority bent against them This happily may tempt unsetled minds to think the Lord had determined his Prophets should have Cassandra's Fates never to be believed till remedy were past The peoples mistaking of their predictions was in a sort Fatal yet not necessary but upon supposition of former neglect God sent them Prophets for their good but their wickednesse turned his blessing into cursings their hypocrisie and folly made them so blind that they could not discem The Signs of the Times until woful experience the fools only School-master began to teach them when their time for lore was ended A prudent man saith the wise-man seeth the plague and hideth himself but the foolish go on still and are punished But wherein doth that prudence consist
did his words give life unto his greatest works his Divinations were to his Miracles as his humane soul was to his body And no question but the conception of their Faith that heard him preach was as immediately from those words of eternal life which issued from his mouth as ours is from the Word preached by his Messengers To what other use then could miracles serve save onely to breed a praeviall admiration and make entrance for them into his hearers hearts though his bodily presence at all times was not yet were his usuall works in themselves truly glorious more then apt to dispell that veil of prejudice commonly taken against the meannesse of his person birth or parentage had it been meerly naturall not occasioned through wilfull neglect of extraordinary means precedent and stubborn opposition to present grace most plentifully offered His raising others from death to life was more then sufficient to remove that offence the people took at that speech If I were lift up from the earth I should draw all men unto me To which they answered We have heard out of the Law that the Christ bideth forever and how sayest thou that the Son of Man must be lift up Who is that Son of Man 18 To conclude then his distinct and arbitrary foretelling Events of every sort any Prophet had mentioned many of them not producible but by extraordinary miracles withall including divine testifications of farre greater glory ascribed to him then Moses or any Prophet ever challenged was The demonstrative Rule according to Moses prediction whereunto all visible signes and sensible miracles should have been resolved by their spectators as known effects lead contemplators unto the first and immediate causes on which their Truth and Being depends That Encomium This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear him with the like given by John Baptist Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world unto all such as took him for a true Prophet did more distinctly point out the similitude peculiar to Him with Moses expressed in the forecited place of Deuteronomy literally though not so plainly as most Readers would without direction observe it seeing even interpreters most followed either neglect the words themselves in which it is directly contained or wrest their meaning Unto him shall ye hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly Their request then was Talk thâ—â— with us and we will hear but let not God talk with us lest we die Here the whole multitude bound themselves to hear the word of the Lord not immediately from his mouth but by Moses For whiles the people stood afar off he onely drew neer to the darknesse where God was This their request and resolution else-where more fully expressed the Lord highly commended I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee they have well said all that they have spoken Oh that there were such an heart in them to fear me and to keep all my commandements alway that it might go well with them and with their children for ever If we observe that increment the literal sence of the same words may receive by succession of time or as they respect the Body not the Type both which they jointly signifie the best reason can be given of Gods approving the former petition and Israels peculiar disposition at that time above others will be this That as posterity in rejecting Samuel rejected Christ or God the second Person in Trinity so here the Fathers in requesting Moses might be their spokesman unto God requested that Great Prophet ordained to be the Author of a better Covenant even that promised womans seed their brother according to the flesh to be Mediator betwixt God and them to secure them from such dreadfull flames as they had seen so they would hearken as then they promised unto his words as unto the words of God himself esteeming him as the Apostle saith so farre above Moses As he that builds the house is above the house And in the Emphasis of that speech Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him purposely resumed by Moses with these threats annexed as if he had not sufficiently expressed his mind in the like precedent Unto ‖ him ye shall hearken The same difference between Moses and the Great Prophet then meant is included which the Apostle in another place expresseth He that despiseth Moses Law dieth without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye he shall be worthy which treadeth under foot the Son of God and counteth the blood of the Testament as an unholy thing Untill the soveraignty of the Law and Prophets did determin that Encomium of Moses did bear date There arose not a Prophet siâ—â—e in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knâ—w face to face but vanished upon the Criers voice when the Kingdom of heaven began to appear The Israelites to whom both promises were made did far exceed all other nations in that they had a Law most absolute given by Moses yet to be bettered by an Everlasting Covenant the Former being as an earnest penny given in hand to assure them of the Latter In respect of Both the name of a Soothsayer or Sorcerer was not to be heard in Israel as in the nations which knew not God much lesse expected a Mediator in whom the spirit of life should dwell as plentifully as splendor doth in the body of the Sun from whose fulnesse ere he visibly came into the world other Prophets were illuminated as those lights which rule the night are by that great light which God hath appointed to rule the day at whose approach the Prince of darknesse with his followers were to avoid the Hemisphere wherein they had raigned In the mean time the testimonies of the Law and Prophesies served as a light or candle to minish the terrors of the night Even Moses himself and all that followed him were but as messengers sent from God to sollicit his people to reserve their alleageance free from all commerce or compact with Familiar spirits until the Prince of glory came in person 19 Thus without censure of their opinion that otherwise think or teach albeit the continuance of Prophets amongst this people were a mean to prevent all occasions of consulting sorcerers or witches yet the chief ground of Moses disswasion from such practises according to the literall connexion of these words The nations which thou shalt possesse hearken unto those that regard the times and unto sorcerers as for thee the Lord the God hath not suffered thee so with those following hitherto expounded The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet was the consideration of their late mighty deliverance by Moses the excellencie of