all this scarcely did they then beleeve the Prophets For how soon had they forgotten the miracles which Moses did before them when being told more then once that God had promised to bring them into the land of Canaan to give it them for a possession after that he had performed his promise in bringing them out of the land of Egypt had led them by a pillar of fire and a cloud yet being pursued by the Egyptians they murmured against the Lord beleeved not his servant Moses concluding they should be then slain by the Egyptians Exo. 14. 12. Isaiah who was so far acquainted with the Lords mind that he expresly told King Hezekiah as a signe which was required by the king by the going back of the shade of the Sun on the Diall of Ahaz ten degrees the recovery of the king and the lengthening of his life fifteen years 2 King 20. yet complaineth the Prophet that what he prophesied was neither understood nor beleeved Isa 53. 1. Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Likewise when Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews and what he foretold of their captivity came fully to pass then false Prophets which prophesied of their sudden return were more credited by the People For that remnant of the People which was left behind by Nebuchadnezzar in Jerusalem after thrise carrying them away into Chaldea the first in the third year of Jehojakim Dan. 1. 2. the next in Jehojakims the third in Jehojachins reign and with him plainly did not beleeve Jeremiah nor Ezekiel prophesying unto them the destruction and burning of their City and Temple boasting notwithstanding that they should not be nor the City any more taken calling Jerusalem the Caldron and themselves the flesh Ezek. 11. 3. concluding thereby that the City was made for them and they for the City so as that they should not be parted So for the Necessity of the work that the children of God might have a firm foundation on which their faith should be built the Holy Pen-men of Scripture were fully inspired by God so as no word in Holy Scripture written by the Prophets and Apostles is there found which God did not miraculously inspire into the mindes of those Holy men Concerning his Apostles and Evangelists Christ promised that they should be guided into all truth Joh. 16. 13. and Peter saith 2 Pet. 1. 20. That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation whose meaning is not as the Papists pretend That no private or single person may expound the Scripture nor as it is by us commonly expounded That every Pen-man of the Books of God was inspired by Gods Spirit and wrote not his own private conceits but this No Prophecy of the Scripture so called because it contains the Almighty's counsel is of any private interpretation not only as it is free from the mixture of humane inventions which are contrary to the mind of God but there is not one word therein nor syllable which was not dictated unto them by the holy Ghost And this is fully to my purpose For we know that the Scripture is the Word of God and he that expoundeth and applieth it as he ought preacheth nothing but the Word of God but the first is of no private but the other is of private interpretation But for the times which followed the Lord promised they should be such as that in them old men should dream dreams and young men should see Visions and that their Sons and their Daughters should prophesie Act. 21. 17. and that their servants and handmaids should have Gods Spirit poured upon them Joel 12. 29. signifying that in those times which began sooner after our Lords Ascension and now are very ordinary and mean persons should have such an extraordinary measure of Divine knowledge exceeding the foregoing ages as that they may be accounted all Prophets and Prophetesses But Daniel declareth in what manner and by what means this great knowledge shall be attained thereby expounding what the Prophet Joel and out of him S. Luke speaketh Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased Where by running to and fro is to be understood Labour and Search that is Study So for that these times are within the ages of great light which as it was promised so we have by experience found it fullfilled that common people which are bred up under able Teachers and Prophets and which give themselves to search into the written Mysteries of Salvation are not so fat-hearted and stupid as not to understand and not to beleeve the Word of God preached unto them but are able by Gods Spirit to search the Scriptures and to discern whether those things which are delivered unto them from their Prophets be true or not And therefore for this cause there is no need of a fully illuminated Prophet to be among us either lest we should want sure guides or be deluded with errors having both the Old and New Testament for our direction which sure word of Prophecy the ancients were partly or wholly without As for the foreknowledge of things which are to come there is neverthelesse still and will be a profitable use and necessity thereof and a part thereof contained in the Visions which are written in Holy Scripture and the searching of them commended unto us by the Spirit of God saying Whatsoever was written in former time was written for our learning another part in those Signes which God hath sent and will send into the world as miracles to be considered by us For the words of our Saviour fully declare that there should be Signes of things which were to follow in the heavens on the earth and in the waters Luk. 21. 25. And there shall be Signes saith he in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and upon the earth distress of Nations with perplexity the Sea and waters roaring v. 26. Mens hearts failing them for fear and looking after those things which are coming on the earth But to what purpose had the Prophecies and Visions of Daniel and Ezekiel and the most mystical Vision of the Canticles and those of the Revelation of S. John with others been as they are left unto us unexpounded if God had denied wholly unto us a Prophetical Spirit to presage what was to be afterward and what was contained in the Holy Visions For there is little difference whether the Lord sends the Vision to us at first or by them unto us what he intends to do Therefore it is to be gathered from the fore-named Scriptures by diligently weighing and comparing them one with another that the distinction of the Old Prophets which lived and prophesied before our Saviours Incarnation I understand Prophets or Seers most properly so called for the other were their ordinary Preachers as may be collected from sundry Scriptures especially from Neh. 6. 7. from those which have since and now live under the Gospel doth
is the effect and fruit of burning as we see in ashes of wood 2. for that salt whether it be taken inwardly or applied outwardly causeth a sense of burning We use to say As salt as fire understanding so salt as if we were burnt with it as with fire Touching the continuance of the Pains of Hell Salt signifieth that also for the property of salt is to keep from corruption and decaying In which sense the phrase of Holy Scripture is a Covenant of salt signifying a Covenant which is never to be broken but to endure for ever The Lake of Sodom the moniment of Gods vengeance upon those sinsul Cities Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities about them is used by the Holy Ghost as a Type of Hell the place and condition of the damned and called the Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Rev. 19. 20. because in that lake called the Dead Sea and Asphaltitis is found much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Bitumen which by the Poet Ovid is shewn to be a matter apt to take fire and unquenchable though by him distinguisht from Brimstone and is a pitchy substance known to Apothecaries although in some place it is by the Interpreters of the Bible called Slime Gen. 14. 10. it is called by another Hebrew word and by a Greek word so interpreting it Brimstone Deut. 29. 23. and in the above-named place in the Revelation Ovids words make it of the nature of Brimstone notwithstanding Metamorph. Book 14. Lurida supponunt faecundo Sulphura fonti Incenduntque cavas fumante Bitumine venas Blew-burning Brimstone's cast into the Spring And smoaking Earth-pitch fires the veins within This place as it is a Figure of Hell in respect of the matter of unquenchable fire contained in it being a remainder of that Brimstone which being kindled fell from Heaven and destroyed those Cities and so likewise was it a Type of Hell in relation to the saltnesse of that Lake called also the Salt-sea being so exceeding salt that no living creature is found therein as it were painting unto us the Duration of their Torments and their bodies preserved from Corruption All the qualities of this Lake for which it is by God Almighty constituted a Modle of Hell are not necessarily to be reckoned up but some of them are sufficient to have been exprest to instruct and direct us while the other are not mentioned that we may take pains to search after them For thus we finde in an expression of that Lake Brimstone sometimes left out of the description and only Fire mentioned Rev. 20. 14. And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire But of the Saltnesse of that place and as to a Punishment it is confirmed Deut. 29. 23. And that the whole land thereof is Brimstone and Salt and Burning that it is not sowen nor beareth nor any grasse groweth therein like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrha Admah and Zeboim which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath I might take a view of some other things pertaining to this disease of the Leprosie wherein some other matters are pointed at but what I have already spoken will be enough to denote what it typifies in the Nature of Sin and the Punishment But the great thing which was intended by this strange disease and for which cause it was sent and when that was come ceased to be any more and the chief Scope unto which the Leprosie by the Wisedom of the Lord aimed was his Son Christ Jesus which was then to come the Leprosie the Shadow Christ the Substance And as when the Body comes the Shadow thereof gives place in like manner when our Lord and Saviour had suffered the pains of death for the sins of the world and made us clean being our High-priest from our uncleannesse so many as he ordained to eternal life whom he pronounced clean as a good and skilful Priest saying Joh. 13. 10. You are clean but not all then afterward began the Leprosie quickly after his death to depart For the chief thing which was signified by the Leprosie was now come and the Mystery sulfilled our Priest was come and made us clean For now no such Leprosie found in Palestina nor any where among the nation of the Jews And the Ceremonies and Rites used in cleansing the Leper do point out our Saviour and what he did and suffered for us In the Cleansing of a House healed of the Leprosie use was made of two living Birds Cedar-wood Scarlet and Hyssop one of which birds was to be killed over running water in an earthen vessel and dipping the living bird the Cedar-wood Scarlet and Hyssope in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water and sprinkling the House seven times it is said Lev. 14. 52. that with all the fore-named things the Priest shall cleanse the House and ver 53. But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields and make an atonement for the House and it shall be clean Who to whom God hath given but an ordinary understanding willl not acknowledge here that the shedding of the blood of one bird and the other let fly into running water and in an earthen vessel into running water as to go into the Sea whither all running water is carried and all rivers run to be conveyed all the world over for from thence come all fountains did signifie so much touching the shedding of our Saviours blood for all the world Or who can then doubt that the receiving of it in an earthen vessel did betoken our Saviours taking our flesh upon him whose bodies as his being originally from the earth are called earthen vessels Nor can we gainsay the flying away of the other bird one of the same kinde did declare our Saviours resurrection and ascension into Heaven as birds are called fowls of Heaven It will certainly be granted that the Cedar signified two things his Cross as it is a tree on which he suffered death and the excellency of his person above all other men as the Cedar in loftinesse excelleth all trees And eminent men are metaphorically by the Prophet called Cedars Ezek. 17. 3. 22 31. and by the Holy Penman 2 King 14. 9. The Scarlet being lambs wool so died figured his innocent patient and bloody death But the Hyssope a low shrub growing upon the wall as Scripture calleth it and in a relation of Solomons History of Trees is opposed unto the Cedar the lowest to the highest and in the Ceremonials appointed in cleansing the leprous House being joyned to the Cedar pointeth at our Saviour Jesus Christ in his humility who humbled himself to take our trail nature upon him yea the form of a servant descending from heaven and disrobing himself of his transcendent glory With this dipt in blood of the Paschal Lamb were the lintels and two side-posts of the Israelites doors to be sprinkled for ever Exod. 12. 22 23 24. And a sponge filled with
last words of Ailredus Ammirantibus qui aderant tantam c. declaring that those which saw this cure performed by the King were thereupon amazed seeing so strange an effect do argue that this kinde of cure was not performed by any other King before nor by himself until this time And to this Prince Tagautius a French Writer ascribes the first cure of this disease in such manner in England Institution Chirurg lib. 1. In the next place let us consider the Nature of the Kings-evil which is a Malady most like to the Disease in Isaiah spoken of before consisting in Bruises and putrified and corrupt Sores and to this we may joyn the other part of the Description in Wounds also For what are those apostemous Swellings in this Disease but of the nature of Bruises which contain corrupt blood or 〈◊〉 in them And nothing more common in the Disease then Corrupt and Mattury Ulcers And wounds are properly taken for solution of continuity as Physicians call it without sanics or corruption and from an outward cause so the word here expounded wounds signifies such a solution of continuity and is a part of the disease of that state not of sin but of suffering from cruel men and unjust as in this disease of the Kings-evil where the swellings if the bones be rotten or the corruption cannot otherwise easily break out are oftentimes wounded by the Chirurgians knife Thirdly We are to consider more accurately the Person to whom the Lord first gave this great Gift of Healing the Kings-evil First in respect of his DIGNITY and DESCENT Secondly in regard of his ORDER and PLACE of SUCCESSION Thirdly in the addition of his new SIR NAME Fourthly In respect of his ADVENTURES For all which in few words this may suffice First he was by his DIGNITY King of England and by his DESCENT King Edward III before the Conquest was the natural and legitimate son of Egelred which Egelred was the son of King Edgar and yonger brother unto King Edward II who for that he was innocently murdered by the counsel of his Stepmother as is supposed Queen Alfrith after that he had reigned King a very short time was sirnamed the Martyr according to Ailredus in the said History pag 409. speaking thus Aâ—â—rat interim boati regis martyris Edwardi hujas nostre pricipis patrui praeclara solemnitas qui ab impiis sine culpâ percâ—â—ptus creditur innocentiae martyriâ— coronatus that is to say It was upon the great Feast day of S. Edward King and Martyr Uncle to our Soveraign that now is who for that he was causlesly murdered by wicked 〈◊〉 is beleeved to have received the crown of martyrdome for his innocence Thus much for this K. Edwards DIGNITY and DESCENT who first of our English Kings healed the KINGS-EVIL Secondly for what concerns this King Edward in his ORDER and PLACE of SUCCESSION he being the brothers son as was abovesaid to Edward the Martyr was notwithstanding the Fifth King in ORDER and COURSE of reigning from the former Edward taking both terms inclusively and accounting those Kings which reigned together for one and by the name of one of which Holy Scripture affords us more then one example Thus Edward the Martyr the First Egelred the Second Edmund Ironside the Third Hardicanutus the Fourth Edward the Confessor the Fifth Thirdly for his new SIRNAME the CONFESSOR that he was ordinarily called Edward the Confessor and for his HOLINESSE witnesseth Henry Knighton Canon of Leicester in his first book ch 8. De Eventibus Anglia Iste supradictus rex sanctus Confessor dictus est Edwardus III saith he that is This holy King Edward III was named the Confessor Whereunto adde the words of the Chronicle attributed unto John Brompton Abbot of Jereval pag. 956. of the Edition 1652. Iste rex Edwardus ab infantiâ deum diligens bonas consuetudines suas primarias pro honore terreno non commutavit fed cunctis diebus magis ac magis omni sanctitate casitute humilitate munditiâ Deum sanctam Ecclesiam dilexit panperesque ob amorem Dei tanquam fratres suos charos habuit dilectos nos largis elecmosynis aperto corde voluntate bona saepe respexit plures in Angliâ statuit leges bonas quae pro majari parte adhac in regno tenentur Which in English is This King Edward the Confessor from his childehood fearing God did not change his wonted goodnesse for earthly honour but daily encreased in all kinde of sanctity chastity humility and purity loving God and holy Church and such was his love toward God that he loved the poor tenderly accounting them his brethren and bestowing large and continuall almes upon them in singlenesse of heart and true affection and enacted more good laws in England then were before which for the most part are of force in the kingdome at this day Fourthly In what pertains to King Edward the CONFESSORS ADVENTURES he was by reason of an Usurper forced to shift for himself and to live as a banished man in Normandy for so writes Ailredus De Sancto Edwardo Confessore ac Virgine pag. 366. in the forenamed Volume of Historians Edwardus frater Edmundi filius Edelredi qui in Normanniâ exulabat that is Edward the brother of Edmund Ironside who lived in Normandy in Banishment From which place of his exile he was sent for by the testimony of the History called John Bromptons Abbot of Jerevall not written but set out by him Edwardus à Normanniâ vocatus King Edward saith the Historian was sent for out of Normandy But how welcome the King was and to whom Let us hear the words of Ailredus in the place aforesaid Veniens igitur in Angliam Edwardus ab universo clero populo cum maximâ exultatione suscipitur But when King Edward came into England saith he he was welcomed by all the Clergy and People of the land with all expressions of joy and some of the reasons of that great and universal gladness are in the same place exprest by the same Ailredus in this manner Homo mansuetus magis pace quà m armis regnum protegens habebat animum irae victorem avaritia contemptorem superbiae expertem which is He was a milde Prince who defended his Kingdom more by peace then by war of such a frame of minde that he could bridle his anger hated covetousness and was void of all prids Now I shall by Gods grace shew unto you in what manner it hath pleased Almighty God out of these Two Diseases the REKETS and KINGS-EVIL to foreshew unto us our Publike SINS and MISERIES and the AUTHORS of them and DELIVERANCE from them in One and the SINS we have been publikely guilty of and our MISERIES which we have within these twenty years undergone with the PERSON who shall by GODS mercy deliver and set us free from these long and miserable afflictions in the Other KING CHARLES II our DELIVERER Of which