him Doubtlesse such trials are necessary for vs that as the loue of God bearing soueraignty in our hearts should make all the loues and delights of our life sweet so the feare of God in vs exceeding all other feares should make all the euills of this World to seeme lesse bitter Now as touching our purpose We see Abraham which had beene sufficiently tryed before in bearing his Crosse now put to the highest triall of all Whether he can sustaine to sacrifice his Sonne He had passed a long Pilgrimage before these things through many banishments and difficulties to fourescore yeares of Age he held his troubled life in Care in Euils in Danger in Bitternes in Feare He was twise driuen to depart the land to which he was called by promise and for necessity of Famine to flie to Aegypt his deere Wife was twise plucked out of his bosome He warred with foure Kings not without great danger of his life his Wife continued barraine on whose issue the Hope of his life attended When he had a Sonne by Hagar he is driuen to abandon him Now Isack is Borne he hath the Promise sealed in his bosome he hath quiet and rest in his old age But see God thundreth from Heauen and rowseth Abraham out of the onely ioy and content of his life Abraham take now thy only Sonne Izack whom thou louest Let Abraham teach vs what our life is He which bore the greatest loue to God what did hee but sustaine the greatest Triall Hee which held as a great Captaine in the hoste of God the buckler of Faith before vs all how notably doth hee shew the danger of so many sharpe encounters by so many dints of temptation and the impression of so many fiery darts of the Diuell Now as through Faith he ouercame in all so by him wee are taught that our life is nothing else but a certaine order and ranke of temptations where when one endeth another beginneth wherefore the Wise man saith My sonne when thou wilt come into the seruice of God stand fast in righteousnesse and feare and prepare thy soule to temptations But let vs not feare those euills which neuer linne mouing and tumbling vs vntill they haue set vs vpon the Rocke which is higher than they Let vs not feare that fire which can burne nothing but our drosse Let vs not feare those wounds which can let forth nothing but our corruptions but let vs brandish the sword of the Spirit against all spirits against the spirit of the flesh which seeketh sweet things against the spirit of the world which coueteth vaine things and against the lying spirit which was a murtherer from the beginning The iust shall liue by faith By Faith here iust Abraham liued by the Faith in which he offered his sonne Isack he ouerthrew the tentation which otherwise had ouerthrowne him Si credis caues si caues conaris conatum tum neuit Deus voluntatem inspicit luctam cum carne considerat hortatur vt pugnes adiuvat vt vincas certantem spectat deficientem sublevat vincentem coronat If thou haue Faith saith Saint Augustine thou wilt attend to thy Faith and God knoweth thy endeuour and considereth thy striuing with thy flesh and looketh into thy will and exhorts thee to the fight and helpes that thou maist ouercome and beholds thy striuing and proppeth thee when thou art falling and crowneth thee when thou hast ouercome But come we to the temptation it selfe where finding it said that God proued Abraham we learne that God hath his manner of tempting and prouing vs but such as is for our good and the exercise of our faith whose end is no other than to bring forth the light of good workes and a more sweet sauour of our life Neither is that of Saint Iames repugnant which saith No man is tempted of God but of his owne concupiscence For his purpose is onely to refute their damned blasphemy which to acquite themselues would make God the Author of their sinne therefore Saint Iames telleth vs that we must ascribe the causes of sinne to our owne concupiscence For the roote of them is from our owne heart For albeit Satan instill his poison and kindle with his bellowes a fire of euill desires in vs yet it is our owne flesh that is first mouer and our owne will which we obey For as corrūption could not by the heate of the ayre ambient enter into our bodies if our bodies did not consist of such a nature as hath in her selfe the causes of corruption No more could sinne which is a generall rot and corruption of the soule enter into vs through the allurement or prouocation of outward things if our soules had not first of themselues receiued that inward hurt by which their desire is made subiect to sinne as the womans desire was made subiect to the husband and as the Philosophers say the Matter to the Forme Now the forme of this temptation Moses setteth down in the highest sort whereas God doth seeme to shake the faith of his word in the heart of his holy seruant by a contrary engine of the same word To this God citeth Abraham by name twice to obedience that hee might haue no doubt who is the Author of the temptation Had he not beene certainely perswaded that it was the voyce the word of God with which hee stood charged to offer his sonne Izak hee might most easily auoyde any other temptation or whatsoeuer Art or subtilty the Diuell might haue vsed to batter his faith Now hauing no other standing but in the Word no other sword to fight against distrust he seemeth to be entrapped in his standing and with the same Sword himselfe is wounded with which hee should haue hurt the enemy For beloued brethren if this Sword being but taken from vs we must needs fall what shall wee doe when God seemeth to strike at vs with the edge thereof Now this was Abrahams case Let vs then heare the Word speake Take thy sonne Izhak whom thou louest c. We see with what griefe and resisting we endure the searching or cutting of our naturall affections though sinfull how then must it grieue him to vndergoe the rasing out of tender pitty of fatherly compassion which not onely were planted by Nature in his heart but were fed and cherished by Gods owne word If Zipporah could say to Moses thou art a bloudy husband for causing her to circumcise her son might not Abraham vrged by commandement to sacrifice his sonne say This is a bloudy word If the child had beene commaunded to haue attempted some hard thing against the father the like difficulty of execution had not ensued For albeit the commandement biddeth the sonne to Honour his father whereas no word of command vrgeth the father to honour the sonne This is done to no other end but to require the loue of children to
get nothing without labour watching trouble venture fight doe but the same and see Heauen is offered how much difference in the endes and see the meanes of both are one But let vs see how our life is a warfare Arma militiae nostrae non sunt carnalia the weapons of our warfare are not carnal our enimies would esteem these as straw or stubble They would mock such a battaile They beare this armour whom we esteem poore and naked men These fights they fight whom we esteem base and cowardly our enimy the Deuil is a subtile cruel enimy he striks within he wounds the hart whom Christs champions doe vanquish with their bloud-shed and their flesh battered When God shut man for sinne out of Paradise he set the Cherubims and the blade of a Sword shaken to keepe the way of the tree of Life But now Christ is entred into Paradise and hath left the Sword sticking in their flesh which will enter into life so that good Christians must be as E. paminondas Nonsolliciti de vita sed de scuto Is my buckler safe is our Faith sure For our enemy neither the goodnesse of our cause neither the succour and help we haue from heauen can affright Our Innocency shall not shield vs from him he will strike at the elect hee will assault those whose names are written in heauen He careth not for our armour of light but will dart the fiery darts of temptation euen at the buckler of our Faith He stroke at the head hee attempted to shake the Rocke Iesus Christ will he feare the members whether then we fight with Sathan in person or with any of his cursed band Let vs see how farre different this fight is from all other fights If I fight against a man I whet my sword but when I am to deale with my spirituall enemy I must blunt my sword the reason is Against man I vse my owne weapons but heere the Diuell vseth my weapons that is the members of my flesh I must by all means make this flesh vnprofitable for my enemy So Saint Paul did dull his sword Castigo corpus meum I chastice my body Plutarch writes of a man blind and lame which in his Countries cause would aduenture to fight And being asked how hee durst said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may blunt the edge of my enemies sword We doe by deading and mortifying the members of our body blunt the sword of our enemy all care in bodily fight is pro commeatu for viands for the Campe. Our care is to haue no care for these Our Generall will haue vs goe â—…orth without a Scrippe or Wallet Wee goe not to his fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with our breakefast as Neâ—…or in Homer but fasting and praying Our spirites â—…rength consists in our bodies weakenesse Christs â—…rmy consists of poore and lame and blinde of â—…eake and despised men to throw downe powers â—…nd principalities he vseth things which seeme to â—…aue no being to confound the things which are Secondly they which fight against men onely fight with noyse showting crying pressing forth threatâ—…ing with all whether force or slight for dolus an â—…irtus quis in hoste requirat Our warfare is in yeeldâ—…g in silence in simplicity in singlenesse of heart â—…ith sighes and groanes Mihi arma preces lachryâ—… saith Saint Ambrose My Weapons are my Prayrs and my Teares In your patience you shall possesse â—…ur soules the truth of God is our shield and buckler Thirdly in bodily conflicts the more wounds we â—…iue our enemies the sooner we maister them Not 〈◊〉 heere if thy enemy hunger feede him if he thirst â—…ue him drinke A strange fight hee that ouercomes â—…ust be the stronger But if my enemies power of â—…urting me hath ouercome my power of doing him â—…ood he hath the victory ouer me Lastly if I striue with my bodily enemy I seeke 〈◊〉 shed his bloud which till I haue done I preuayle â—…t little that heere I am counted no singular souldiâ—… till mine enemy hath shed my bloud till I beare â—…e markes of his hostilitie engrauen in my flesh For â—…r enemies are fabri sufflantes in igno Prunas the black â—…yths that blow the coales of fire which burning â—…ales of persecution doe try and refine the Crownes 〈◊〉 Martirs and make them shine more glorious Now the manner of our warfare wee shall best attend if wee consider the stratagems and machinations of our enemy like Proteus turning himselfe into all formes and shapes to doe hurt Fiet enim subito Sus horridus atraque Tigris Squamosusque Draco aut fi lva cervice Leaena Aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita vinclis Excidet aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit Sometimes like bristled Bore he foames then to a Tiger turnes Like scaly Dragon now he roames anone like fire burnes Or Lyons fearefull shape he shews to breake the holding bands Or changed into watry dewes will slide out of your hands When he warreth with Michael and the Angells with the Captaines and Leaders of Gods hoste hee fights in likenesse of Dragon to the Church in generall he swells like a floud which would drowne and swallow her vp assayling the weake he is like a roaring Lion if we be zealous of Gods word he will transforme himselfe into the likenesse of an Angell of Light to make the children of Darkenesse The innocent and simple he beguiles as the Serpent did Heuah saying You shall not dye When hee giues the mortall stabbe he will come like a friend and compound and make league hee will not come feasting like a good fellow and throw downe the house he will come like a Diuine with a Psalter in his hand and kill vs if he can with Scriptum est hee will come like a Prince of this world in his ruffe and stake downe haec dabo ready mony All these will I giue thee he will lurke like an Aspe vnder the lippes of our deere friends and parents If hee preuayle not so hee will spit fire out of the mouthes of our enemies Know we this for certaine it is warre whiles hostilitie lasteth whiles our destruction and ouerthrow is sought be the meanes what they may while the enemy is an enemy it is warre Thinke wee not onely Satan our enemy when hee rageth and is at open defiance when he flattereth and beguileth he is the same And the Graecians onely fight when they battered Troy not then also when they sent Sinon the fox for then they tooke the Citty So doth Sathan more hurt in his sheepes skinne than by roaring like a Lyon For as God doth seeke by all meanes to draw vs to him by alluring by threatning by good things by euills by friends by enemies so doth Sathan vse all meanes to draw vs from God Let
vs then haue our eye vpon him that we may know this changeable Proteus vnder what forme soeuer he shrowds himselfe When Peter spake like a friend Maister pitty thy selfe Christ spied the diuell there Auoid Satan When Elymas the Sorcerer perswaded the Deputy Paul eied the diuell thou sonne of the Diuell he found him in men-beasts at Ephesus he spide him lurking in his own flesh whither Sathan had sent his messenger to buffet him And it mattereth not whether he seeke our subucrsion by himselfe or by his sworne seruants For as when a Prince suborneth his subiect to worke treason vpon his enemy the benefit redoundeth to the Prince not to the subject so when men draw vs from God the booty is the Diuells O where doth not this subtile Serpent lurke what station haue the Souldiers of Christ without danger where can we put our selues without perill of falling Wee haue a night and clandesline enemy which neuer ceaseth to subuert ruinate and destroy If we had to doe with a bodily enemy wee might sleepe or intermit the watch there might be something vnperfect in our munitions and he not espie it This enemy spies all aduantages his Dragon eye so called of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see pries into all things he intermits no time Then in a word whensoeuer wee may be subuerted wee are taken by him Wee haue seene this our arch-enemy ruling ouer all the Nations of the world fortifying himselfe like a great Monarch with bands of Atheists and Idolatrous hauing built himselfe Altars and Temples in the heathen as strong holdes bearing visible sway and carrying the Kingdomes of the earth in open triumph We haue seene how hee hath warred with the Saints in the Primitiue Church and how deare the cause of Iesus Christ stoode the Apostles and Martires in which prodigall of their liues and bloud charged the enemy in open fight and cast him out rescuing kingdomes and subduing the Nations of the world to Christ and his Gospell howbeit hee hath made a reentry hauing gotten the signiory in Africke and holds them as a prey More he raungeth ouer the great Asia and hath laid it waste I hee is entred into Europe and like the surging and ouerflowing ocean frets at the shoare seeking to breake the bounds hauing gotten ground of the Church but what doe I speake of outlings which haue yeelded ouer see how he hath drawne the Starres from heauen Euen them which professing Christ in his Church doe take now the contrary part And now when wee see without the Church the common enemies brauing the poore Christians despising our little number yet lesse for sects and schismes intestine and ciuill warre when I see amiddest them which professe Christ in one side hote fiery men whetting their tongues in Pulpits with curses and bitter words preaching common Inuectiues as if they had warre with one part of their hearers holding their scute or buckler of Predestination ouer the side they fauour and powring out plagues and curses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like stormes in winter on the other When againe I see our aduersaries with bloudy Inquisitions with fire and sword armed not onely with poyson in their mouthes as lying slandering blaspheming for that they count too little but with treasons and all cruel instruments of death sharpned with spite and malice implacable and seconded with hellish policy Heu quantae miseris strages Laurentibus instante what warres what massacres doe threaten vs God thou knowest If euer Christs Church had warre heere is warre It is warre when the enemy batters the walls What is it when hostes habet muros When our enemy possesseth our walls So had wee when wee drew within the walls of our Church that monstrum infelix full of armes and armed men as the Trojan Horse which hath not ceased to practise all cruelty and hostilitie in the Church And if euill were then to be feared how is it now when the enemy commeth out of the sides and bowells of the Church when he is gotten into the Pulpits and hath diuided our small number and pretending nothing but the pure Word hath sowen that sedition that parts are taken that it is growne to mutiny to sides that almost through the whole kingdome euery towne is at open faction Preacher against Preacher hearer against hearer One side goes from the Sermon discouraged and marked out for reprobate the other hath grace and comfort as solely elected Then spies are sent abroad for more hearers this man is graced and magnified as the onely Preacher if another come they will not heare him And hath not this fiery disposition attended to ruinate the very foundation of the Church as in Brownists and Barrowists But you will say these are zealous and godly men they minde but to mend the couering and alter somewhat of the old building Be not deceiued for it is to be feared they will downe with all for the new sides doe heare them as the onely Preachers and they haue cast imputation on their fellowes of Errour and Popery But be not deceiued deare Christians these are not they which brought you out of darkenes into light which stoode and fought for your Faith and the Gospell when the Truth was at a lowe ebbe and the Church had neede of stowt Souldiers in the cause of Christ. Non his Inventus orta parentibus Infeâ—…it aequor sanguine No lusty youths nor any of this race Did euer shed their bloud in such a case They were Ridleys Latimers and Cranmers playne Souldiers fighters not boasters which died for Christ and his Gospell in those dangerous times they cared for the body of Religion not striuing for the shadow They had the compleate armour of righteousnesse they did not contend about the guilding and enamelling They fought indeed not beating the Ayre with wordes they warred with the common enemy and left not the sword sticking in the sides of their fellowes But see how the Serpent is still a Serpent He is out of hope to hurt vs by our enemies abroad now he seekes to bring the same ruine on vs by our selues If he cannot procure our downefall for want of preaching he will doe it by preaching if he cannot hurt vs by hiding prayers in a tongue vnknowne hee will make vs despise them in a tongue knowne if he cannot obtayne the rule as he is Prince of darkenesse He will in a counterfeit forme attempt vs like an Angell of Light By these let vs learne what we ought to be not onely good souldiers but labouring suffering euill First is a good souldier then suffring euil For an euill man is no souldier but an enimy of Christ Transfuga a run-away he hath forsaken his colours and giuen ouer the cause If we be good then shall we be sure of enemies when first we become good then the fight beginueth My sonne when thou commest into the seruice of God stand fast and feare and prepare thy soule to
and the marrowes But if the Sword be neuer so sharp what hurt can it doe if there be no hand to strike If Dauid haue neuer so smooth a stone in his scrippe if he want a Sling to throw him out how can hee hit Goliah in the forehead Plutarch writeth of Coriolanus in his life that he vsed his weapons so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the vse made him so familiar that they seemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had beene borne with him or grafted into his hands This benefit we haue from being conuersant in Scriptures that we are able with ease to dart out and sling the word to hit our enemies in their fore-heads For which vse Saint Paul commends Timotheus Because of a childe hee was exercised in holy Scriptures and the word of God in such is like the Arrow in the hand of a Giant which draweth with that vnresistable force that it will diuide the very soule and spirit I should thinke it too little in such a case to haue a strong arme onely both our armes must be strong and practised that our enemy may not know our right hand from our left Plato to good purpose in his Republ. counsailed men to be Ambodexters for this vse in fight And for this Hector is commended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of fighting well I know the Art With left and right to hurle a Dart. But if this be required in any fight it is in ours which haue enemies on both sides on the right hand and on the left therefore Saint Paul exhortes vs to haue a the weapons of righteousnes on the right hand and on the left that which way soeuer he strikes we may ward him whether he charge vs on the right hand of prosperitie or on the left of affliction Whether he fight before as a Lion or sleight it behinde like a Foxe whether he assaile vs without b with his men-beasts or within by feares and temptations whether hee reach at vs from aboue by Presumption or from beneath with Despaire I pray God wee be not found such as Milo which when he looked on those armes with which he had wrestled before for the price at the games of Olympus could say of them At hij iam mortui sunt See these armes are now dead The third thing wee require in our Souldier of Christ is a good eye For what vse is there in battell of either courage at heart or strength of hand to him which is blind See this woful experience in Pagans Heathen people which haue profused zeale and constance to fight for hell in the darkenes of their vnderstanding And this is plaine in our aduersaries whom might zeale persistance resolution onely commend wee might take for vndoubted Souldiers of Christ had not blindnesse of heart turned all those weapons and powres of the spirit to fight against God Iudas when that rich Oyntment was bestowed on Christ said c Ad quid perditio haec But we when the whole forces of our soules and spirits are bent and planted to demolish the truth of the Gospell of Christ To what end serueth this waste Therefore in one word our Sauiour saith If thine d eye be wicked all the body is darke For if we misse in the goodnesse of the cause and the rightnesse of intention all is lost And it is to be noted that he saith not Eyes but thine eye For one of our eyes the left eye it mattereth not if that be out the worldly wisedome For I take it Christ intends the right eye For the Diuell would make a couenant with vs like Naash the Ammonite vpon this condition that he may thrust out our right eyes He careth not how quicke-sighted we be to the world onely hee desires to GOD and his truth to make vs starke blinde O eternall God looke vpon vs and visite vs with light from heauen for the earth is full of darkenes and cruel habitations And in this case the word of God is to vs as those Perspicils were to Nero in which he saw the trickes and cunning of the Fensers and their secret wards and thrusts and the conueyance of their Art From hence may wee see that great Fenser and the mystery of iniquities and learne to shunne his fiery darts God grant wee may see in his light I remember Homer when hee speaks of Aiax fighting in a blacke mist vnder a darke cloude how he makes him cry to God for light with such vehemency of passion as I know not if he expresse the like in all his Workes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loue Father saue the sonnes of Greekes from this darke pitchy night Make cleare the uyre dispell the mist and kill vs in the light Giue vs O Lord the light of Grace remoue from vs all darkenesse of Vnderstanding and kill vs in the light of thy sonne IESVS CHRIST My last part followeth What wee should not be Wee must not be intangled with worldly businesse I take not any of these words metaphorically spoken but in the first and proper sense for bodily fights are but shadowes to this of the spirit which is the onely true fight and say we must borrow words for our better vnderstanding to expresse spirituall things in their kinde earthly things doe lend heauenly things words but heauenly things doe lend earthly things signification So they which fight but for earthly things doe not till they haue gotten the victory meddle with the things of this world much lesse should we which goe in warfare for heauen For this implication or stopping at things in the way is a let to the victory which if it came but single and by it selfe were farre more to be desired of a good souldier than any thing which can be had without it But the victory brings in these spoyles with it and whatsoeuer else mans heart can desire especially this victory after which shall be no more warre no enemy left and the purchase shall bring with it all spoyles riches honour security peace triumph glory and blisse eternall If we could consider the benefit and fruit of this victory all the Kingdomes of the earth could not serue to make one fetter to tie vs heere and those greene cords of the loue of riches and worldly pleasure and honour which so binde our desires we should breake as Samson did his Bands like to Towe when it hath felt the fire So absurdly then doe they which neglect this end to which they are called and lie ensnared with impediments of emoluments which lie in the way as if a man being shewed where a rich treasure lay should neglect to digge it forth contenting himselfe with the Rushes and Bennets which grow vpon the ground I will content my selfe onely to resemble these men to such as catch at the spoyles before the enemy is ouerthrowne or the
in person Shall we gaze now vpon his Image What looseth a childe by growing to a perfect man Doe we complaine after the Sunne is risen that we cannot see the Starres Then this ceasing of the law is not her abrogation but her coâ—…summation For the Arrow moueth while it is shooting at the marke but hauing hit the marke resteth in â—…t So the law which did leuell and shoot at Christ with so many moueable signes and Sacraments doth as I may say cease from her motion of practising them any more hauing attayned to her full end in him the earth bringeth forth fruit of her selfe but first the blade then the eare then after full corne in the eare so did the blade or hearbe spring forth in the law of Nature secondly the eare or culme in the law written but wee haue in the Gospell the pure graine or full corne which is Iesus Christ Therefore as the stalke and eare are of necessary vse till the corne be ripe but the corne being ripe we no longer vse the chaffe with it so till Christ was exhibited in the flesh which lay hidden in the blade and spike of the law these ceremonies had their vse but sithence by this death and passion this pure Wheat corne is threshed and winnowed and by his ascension laid vp in the Garner of Heauen these are of no farther vse By this then it is plaine that the law continued egene and profitlesse and beggarly till Christ came which did indeed and substance exhibite what the law had in figure and vnder promise What iniury is done to a poore man when his debt is payde or what looseth the shadow by the bodies presence We grant that all those shadowes of the law in the times of emptinesse went before Christ f but Christ came in a time of fulnesse euer since they followed Christ. The Iewes were taught by these shadowes that the body should come we know by the same shadowes that the body is come and therefore wee looke into the written law and read it daily that by comparing the Law with the Gospell that is the shadow with the substance we may by these signes and figures and these dimensions know the true body which dimensions the Apostle wisheht that euery true Christian should know to wit what is the length breadth and depth And because he which was made flesh was not man onely but God which is high ouer all he hath one dimension of height which belongs not to a natural body Think we then how should he be counted to euacuate the law or cause emptinesse whose is all fulnesse which came and filled time which was before void and empty which hath fulnesse of power to all power Which hath fulnesse of force fulnesse of truth to whose fulnesse compared not onely the poore figures of the law were empty but the heauens themselues and the Angels in heauen whose is fulnesse of wisedome fulnesse of knowledge to the hidden treasures which is full of the holy Ghost whose is the fulnesse of the Godhead which dwelleth in him bodily Whose is fulnesse of fulnesse euen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all fulnesse and that not onely to be in him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dwell and that not for himselfe onely But for vs all of his fulnesse we haue all receiued Little was it for him to fill those empty vessels of the law which were borrowed for a time and to let runne the oyle of his grace and mercy out of that pitcher of his humane nature to pay the poore widowes I meane the Synagogues debt he was not so contented but let it runne still and it runneth ouer and ouer to pay all our debts for he thus abounded superabounded to them to vs to Iewes to Greekes to all the world to all that were to all that shall be Therefore as soone as Christ is borne see how these vessels beginne to fill Saint Mathew no sooner spake of his birth but he filleth one vessell straight this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it might be fulfilled which God spake by the Prophet Isay when he speakes of his going downe to Aegipt He filleth the Prophet Hoseahs measure that it might be fulfilled c Out of Aegipt haue I called my first borne When he speakes of the place of his birth hee fils a third vessell The Prophet Michaiah And thou Bethlem in the land of Iudah are not the least among the Princes of Iudah for out of thee shall come the ruler which shall feed my people Israell When the children were slaine he fils a fourth vessell namely the Prophet Ieremiah Then was fulfilled that which was spoken c. In Rama was a voyce heard mourning weeping great lamentation Rachell weeping for her children Wheresoeuer he goes he fils To Nazareth that it may be fulfilled c. He shall be called a Nazarite Whatsoeuer he saith he filleth That it may be fulfilled I will open my mouth in Parables Whatsoeuer he doth he fils This when he but rideth vpon an Asse this was done that it might be fulfilled c. Tell ye the daughter of Sion behold thy King commeth vnto thee meeke sitting vpon an Asse Whatsoeuer is done to him maketh for this filling if they beleeue not the Scripture is fulfilled I haue blinded this peoples heart If they hate him the Scripture is fulfilled they hated me without a cause See how this Oyle neuer ceaseth running But what shall I speake of such fillings when he filleth all that is written not onely by speaking but by silence For when he spake not before Pilate a Scripture is fulfilled He was brought as a sheepe to the slaughter and as a sheepe before the Shearer so he openeth not his mouth I he fulfilleth the Scripture not onely by liuing but by dying and the manner thereof which was so necessary that himselfe had neede to say all this was done that the Scripture of the Prophets should be fulfilled I our Sauiour sheweth that hee was bound to the law to suffer and die Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory And therefore as you haue seene from the instant of Iudas his betraying beginning to enter his passion he gaue vs the alarum in that 56. verse of Math. 26. so when he hangeth on the Crosse false witnesse hanging betwixt theeues his drinking of gall parting his garments in all these the oyle runnes in all these the Gospell saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this last when Iesus hauing finished all these cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is finished and so the oyle ceased for the vessels of the law were full they could hold no more Well then may Christ say I came to fulfill the law For by thus comming he hath fulfilled all So the Law and the Prophets wâ—…re that