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
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
vinegar put upon hyssope Joh. 19. 29. was given to our Saviour on the cross both examples declaring unto us that by the blood shedding and sharp sufferings of him that made himself of no account we should be delivered Thus God did guide the hearts and heads of all his enemies though ignorantly and maliicously to set forth the honour of his Son But David expresly doth by the name of Hyssope understand no other thing no not in ceremony but our Saviour Christ himself where he prayeth unto the Lord to purge him with hyssope Psa 51. 7. Purge me with hyssope and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter then snow As for washing liquid and thin substance is proper but no other water whatsoever hath the power to make clean and white bloody sins but the blood of the Lamb of God So much for these two Prodigious Diseases and their Significations Now I shall shew you Reader that some Remedies and Medicines have also been appointed by Almighty God to typifie things of great moment present and to come I could finde out some more of this nature but I hope to satisfie my Reader with two The First of these two Remedies so significative is the precious liquor or oyl of Balm whose plant grew not at first in Egypt and thence by the gift of the Queen Sheba unto Solomon transplanted into the land of Canaan as Josephus inconsiderately affirms For the Holy Scripture declareth the contrary where it first shews that the Ishmaelites transported from Gilead into Egypt Spicery Balm and Myrrhe Gen. 37. 25. which had not been done if the Balm tree had grown and yielded Balm in Egypt Again Balm is by Jacob to his Sons named among the best fruits of the land which he was minded to send as a present into Egypt Gen. 43. 11. And Pliny in his Naturall History Book 12. 25. acknowledgeth that tree to be peculiar to the land of Judea and therefore not elsewhere originally to be found I shall not follow much the praises which are given unto this excellent Oil of Balm by Pliny or other ancient heathen Writers as of the incomparable sweetnesse thereof to the smell above all other liquors nor touching the price thereof which Pliny avers to have been sold for twise the weight thereof in Silver Nor will it make much matter what particular diseases they say it was helpful against which is affirmed to have been very effectuall against the pain of the Head and Dimness of sight But in what God shall here enable me to speak thereof the Scripture shall be my guide and Experience The Scripture doth commend this liquor of Balm as an incomparable medicine taken according to the literall under the mystical sense thereof against diseases otherwise incurable and to be a taker away of pain Jer. 8. 22. Is there no Balm in Gâ—lead Is there no Physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered And cha 46. 2. Go up into Gilead and take Balm O virgin the daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many medicines for thou shalt not he cured Likewise Cha. 51. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed howl for her take Balm for her pain if so be she may be healed These were the natural vertues of Balm but this was not the end and scope of the Prophet as if he would have the people of Judah in their spiritual disease of sin take and use a natural and outward Remedy pertaining to a Bodily Disease For what could natural Balm do in help to recover the miserable and deplorable estate of the Egyptians destined to destruction whose many Remedies mentioned were no other then sundry waies and means affaied to avoid ruine though they should have gone unto the mountain of Gilead and fetched Balm from thence where it grew Besides how could that medicinable oyl prevail to help the fall and destruction of the City of Babylon For it was not the sicknesse of the body under which the Babylonians laboured Wherefore observe that if we must not understand these things according to the Letter because the disease and pain is not to be taken literally it behoves us here to finde out what is meant by Disease and want of health and Pain which are of such a nature as that they can be taken away by Balm in what sense soever taken and by no other thing So doing we shall finde what I did at first affirm concerning natural Balm to be true I said before that sins were named diseases and that Afflictions and Punishments were called by the name of Diseases I shall yet farther prove it unto you Psa 41. 4. Heal my soul saith David for I have sinned and Ezek. 34. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken c. In which place the people are likened to a flock of sheep their sins of errours in Judgement and Life and Troubles in Conscience called by the names of Diseases Sickness and Breaking of Bones their Prophets and Teachers are named Shepherds as often in other places And when Christ healed men he forgave them their sins as healing of men is interpreted forgiving of sins for when our Saviour had made mention of the grosness of the peoples hearts the darknesse of the eyes of their mindes he concludes they were obstinate and refused to be healed Mat. 13. 14. and in the same history repeated by Mark cha 4. 12. this healing is called forgivenesse of sins That saith the Evangelist seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them The heathens themselves esteemed Vices Diseases and Maladies of the Soul Cicero in Tusculane Questions Book 3. hath these words At morbi perniciosiores pluresque sunt animi That is But for the Diseases of the minde they are more hurtful and of greater number meaning then those which are of the body Afflictions and Punishment are called by the name of Diseases when as Sorrow for sin even to despair is called broken bones Psa 51. 8. and the same by Solomon is named wounding of the Spirit Wherefore Sins Transgressions and Afflictions being the Diseases of these people the Jews Egyptians and Babylonians and the Remedy prescribed unto them all being Balm and Balm only what can hereby be signified but He that was the onely Fountain opened for sin and uncleannesse the only Medicine against these maladies He that healeth sickness both of Soul and body the precious blood of him called by David for his humility Hyssope for the medicinable quality of his blood Balm Which counsel in respect of the Times is thus to be applied When the Jews were without Natural Balm as now they are and fick and miserable as they also be and the Spiritual Egypt and Spirituall Babylon both which places typifie and