hearts can desire euen the fulnes of that true happines which is all that you or any man can desire is only to be sought in Christ in whom it may be found by all For confirming your particular Interest in him and in the blessednes which heere he promiseth the right receiuing of this blessed Sacrament is of all other meanes most effectuall For your better preparation to the due receiuing of it it will bee auaileable to consider the doctrine which my Text affoords that although Christ be a fountaine of happines infinite and inexhaustible although his death whose memory we celebrate whose vertue in this Sacrament we seeke be as it were the opening of this fountaine yet are the streames of blisse and happines which issue from him by his death deriuable onely vnto such as are not offended in him Though the Gospell as our Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. ver 16. be the power of God vnto saluation yet as my Text saith the poore in spirit only take the impression of it Euen power it selfe and goodnesse infinite sufficient in it selfe to saue all though in number infinite is effectuall only in such as are of an humble and contrite heart Of their humiliation or contrition or their poorenes in spirit which is heere mentioned in my Text that might be truely said which our Sauiour doth of Thomas the Apostle his faith Thomas thou beleeuest because thou hast seene happy are they which haue not seene and yet beleeue The most of these men were therefore poore and humble in spirit because the Lord had humbled broken or chastised them some with bodily blindnes others with lamenes some with deafenes others with leprosie or like grieuous sicknes some with death Howeuer becōming once truely humble and poore in spirit though by these and like meanes all of them were truely happy in Christ but much happier and more blessed shall they be whom the Lord hauing not so grieuously chastised in body yet doe become as humble and poore in spirit as they were The best consideration I can commend vnto you for working this humiliation and contrition of spirit is this that as the Ceremonies of the Law were but shaddowes of these things which are now fulfilled in Christ so all the bodily calamities which Christ heere cured in so many seuerall bodies were but as so many sensible types or shaddowes of more grieuous maladies in euery mans soule although by nature wee doe not feele them Some of them were dead in body and all of vs as our Apostle saith are by nature dead in trespasses Now if we doe as truely and heartily bewayle this deadnes of our soules as the poore Widdow of Naim did the bodily death of her onely sonne then as our Apostle saith in the same place Wee are quickned in Christ and he will deliuer our soules vnto vs safe and sound as he did him vnto his mother Some of those were blind in body all of vs were darke in mind euen from the wombe and if we supplicate vnto him with like earnestnes to enlighten our minds as these poore men did to receiue their bodily sight wee shall bee as happy in this cure as they were in the other Some of them were halt and lame and not able to go and we after we haue seene and knowne the wayes of God are more vnable to walke in them than they were to runne a race Some of them were Leapers in body so are we all by nature Leapers in soules But whatsoeuer lamenes infirmitie or disease hath befalne our soules by Adams transgression or by our owne corruption he is both able and willing to worke more miraculous cures vpon our soules than hee did vpon these pooremens bodies so we intreat him as earnestly and heartily as they did 23. None of you I hope conceiueth Christs bodily presence to be either necessary or expedient for curing or healing your soules No mans faith in Scripture is more commended than the Centurions which did not desire our Sauiours bodily presence when he offered it for the healing of his seruant His answere was Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come vnder my roofe but speake the word onely and my seruant shall be healed Matth. 8. 8. If this acknowledgement were a document of liuely faith and Christian modesty in this Centurion what can it be but arrogancy and vnbeliefe in the Romanist to thinke himselfe worthy not only of Christs bodily presence vnder the roofe of his house but vnder the roofe of his mouth yea in his stomach But farre bee all such vncleane and carnall thoughts from any heere present Let vs stedfastly belieue that Christs Word is now as powerfull in heauen as it was on earth yet haue wee not onely his Word but the visible pledges of his body and blood for the healing of our soules Whateuer other defect there may be in our preparation for receiuing these pledges of his passion let vs be sure that our intention to humble our selues and amend our liues be sincere and without hypocrisie The second Member of the generall diuision proposed in the former Discourse Parag. 8. What satisfaction this Answere of our Sauiour did giue to Iohn § 24. VErbum sapienti sat est A man of vnderstanding and experience in part acquainted with any businesse on foot perceiueth more by a word or Hint than another of lesse vnderstanding or experience altogether vnacquainted with the same busines would doe by instructions giuen in Folio Now Iohn we know was a man of extraordinary vnderstanding and experience in matters spirituall specially such as concerned Christ to whom hee was the immediate fore-runner vnto which office he was qualified or set apart from the wombe yea sanctified vnto it euen in the wombe as you may reade Luke 1. verse 41. As this qualification made him more docile or capable of good instructions than other children were so his father Zacharias was better able to instruct him in the knowledge of Christ of whose Kingdome and Office he had prophesied than any other Priest or sonne of Aaron could For Zacharias was for ought that wee can gather the onely Prophet then in Israel at least the spirit of Prophesie which for a long time had bin as a fountaine dryed vp did first breake forth in him After that Iohn himselfe came to maturitie of age and vnderstanding he was directed by speciall commission from his God to vsher Christ into the world to induct him into his Propheticall function to declare him to be the Redeemer of Israel to proclaime him to be the high Priest of our soules that was to make the full atonement for the sinnes of the whole world Now vnto Iohn thus well qualified and instructed in matters concerning Christ and in particular acquainted with the carriage of all businesses concerning Christs baptisme or other actions vntill his imprisonment this Answere of our Sauiour Christ especially being framed out of that Prophets words which had penned Iohns Cōmission for being
of their falling vpon the fiue Kings of the Amorites truely miraculous and sure ratifications of Ioshuah's and his followers beliefe Yet whether Satan permitted by God applicare actiua passiuis to make choyce of his owne Agents or Instruments bee not able so farre to improue the strength of naturall causes or so combine them that they should produce as great hailestones as those were is more than any sober Philosopher will take vpon him to define Howeuer the production of the like or greater tempest then this was is not enough to perswade this or that point of controuersed doctrine For suppose some poore Amoritish Widdow pittifully oppressed by one or more of these fiue Tyrants had out of the bitternesse of her soule about this time presented her complaints to Nemesis at Rhamnus a place wherein the power of this reuengefull Lady was in the conceit of the heathen vsually manifested in as remarkeable and peculiar sort as the vertue of our Lady in the opinion of the Romish Catholikes is at Hall or Lâ—retto in respect of other places Imagine againe those hailestones had falne vpon the fiue Kings vpon the poore Widdowes returne into Canaan from Rhamnus how easily might the supplyant haue bin perswaded by Satan that this great miracle had bin effected for her sake and by the power of the imaginary Goddesse Nemesis whom she serued It was not then this miraculous storme but the consonancy of its miraculous effect vnto Gods promise or prediction made to Ioshuah to wit the manifest execution of that GODS sentence whom Ioshuah worshipped maugre all the Gods whose ayde these Kings of the Amorites had supplicated against Israel which was to confirme the faith of the Israelites vnto Gods promises For the Lord had said vnto Ioshuah when the Gibeonites supplicated his assistance against the Kings of the Amorites that dwelt in the mountaines Feare them not for I haue deliuered them into thine hand there shall not a man of them stand before thee Ioshuah vpon this request of the Gibeonites warranted by God came vnto them suddenly and went vp to Gilgal all night And as the Lord had promised so it came to passe for the Lord discomfited them before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goeth vp to Bethoron and smote them vnto Azekah and vnto Makkedah And it came to passe as they fled from before Israel and were in the going downe to Bethoron that the Lord cast downe great stones from heauen vpon them vnto Azekah and they dyed they were moe which dyed with haile-stones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword Iosh. 10. v. 8 9 10 11. 36. For conclusion the greatest wonderment or miracle that in this age can be wrought must be tryed by this onely touch-stone of faith Gods written Word whether it proceed from God and his messengers or from Satan and his Instruments Now seeing the Scriptures or Rule of faith hath manifested vnto vs wherein the Kingdome of Christ and the Kingdome of Satan or Antichrist doe consist the point wheron euery miracle or wonderment must be examined is this Whether it tend to the establishment of the Kingdome of God or of Christ in our soules or to the erection or propogation of the Kingdome of Antichrist through this world Suppose some man or woman amongst vs were really possest of a whole legion of Diuels that some Turkish Iewish Muscouitish Greeke or Romish Priest should take vpon him by exorcisme to make all the Diuels goe out of the Parties body possessed one after another in as visible and conspicuous manner as hee could driue bees out of their hiue through a quill or pen and cause euery one of them to tell you his name or what place he holds in Hell yet the true vse of such miracle or wonderment could be no other than to resolue you that there may be a reall possession of some bodies in this age and a reall dispossession of these Diuels which had taken possession of it But if the party which had thus really dispossest them should vpon this wonderment exhort or require you to beleeue that that visible Church whereof he is a Priest or member is the onely true Church of God whose proposals or doctrines you are absolutely bound to beleeue without further examination or tryall of them by the written Word of God the rule of faith this were a true infallible argument that the wonder was wrought by the power and slight of Satan not by the vertue and power of God or of Christs true messengers For if wee duely consider what aduantage or possession Satan might by this means gaine ouer our soules if any Diuell in hell would bee so proud so obstinate or wilfull as to refufe to obey any Priest Iew or Turke that would adiure him to depart vpon these conditions out of any mans body which he did possesse reason common sense might instruct vs that Beelzebub the Prince of Diuels his assistants would vse all the power they could to vexe or tormeÌ„t such a wilfull Diuell as an Apostata a Rebell or Traitor that would not aduance their kingdome when he might Wherefore if any Priest or other shall at any time tempt you to admit of the infallibility of the Romish Church or to beleeue in all poynts as that Church beleeueth only vpon fame or sight of such a wonder wrought by one of her children yee stand bound in conscience and vpon the allegiance which you owe to Christ to craue respite vntill you can informe your consciences whether the acknowledgement of such absolute infallibility as the moderne Priests and Iesuites ascribe vnto the moderne Romish Church or the submission of your beliefe vnto all her doctrines especially to this be not a flat Apostasie from Christ vnto Satan and a true acknowledgment of his Soueraigntie made vnto the Church of Rome as to his proxie or deputy for this purpose Againe if any Priest should worke such a wonder as hath beene mentioned by such exorcisme as they vse as by applying the consecrated Hoast as they call it their crucifixes or holy-water vnto the partie affected or by examining the Diuels by oath vpon the SacrameÌ„t you are bound in conscience likewise to craue respit to be resolued whether these or the like solemnities or ceremonies as they haue vsed of late in this Land bee not magicall sacrifices true and proper feats of witcherie and sorcerie These are points wherein no exorcist no Romish Priest or Iesuite this day liuing in this Land can giue any ingenious vnderstanding man any tolerable satisfaction The former poynt concerning the infallibility of the Romish Church is else-where handled at large and I shall be willing to acknowledge my selfe a thankfull debtor vnto any Priest or Iesuite or other wel-willer of the present Romish Church that shall giue mee occasion or ground of reason to thinke better of their Religion in this
Nazareth had power ouer all these and whatsoeuer other creature else that was at Satans command Hee had seene that of the Psalmist Psalm 91. vers 13. fulfilled in him Thou shalt tread vpon the Lyon and Adder the young Lyon and the Dragon thou shalt trample vnder feete yet he hoped our Sauiours confidence in the authoritie and power which hee exercised ouer wilde beasts and venemous creatures in the Wildernesse might animate him to try another conclusion which he thought had as faire and plausible premises in the Scriptures to inferre it Then the Deuill taketh him vp into the Holy Citie and setteth him on a Pinacle of the Temple and saith vnto him If thou be the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe for it is written Hee shall giue his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall be are thee vp lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Where was it written that the Angell should take charge of him lest he should dash his foot against a stone In the very same place and in the words immediately going before wherin it was said that he should tread vpon the Lyon and the Adder c. The Lyon the Adder and other noysome creatures would euer and anon bee in his way whilest his way was in the Wildernesse and to tread on them was no tempting of God The Angels of God in this case were to protect him but to cast himselfe head-long from the Pinacles of the Temple was no part of his way The Prophet had fore-told no such miraculous protection of him or his followers For him to haue tryed this conclusion had beene a tempting of God This and the like were feates better beseeming Simon Magus or others of Satans Schollers For this reason our Sauiour after his resurrection bequeatheth no such power or authority vnto his Disciples vnto whom notwithstanding he communicated the former power of treading vpon Serpents of conuersing with wild beasts or venemous creatures in such manner as the fore-cited place Isay the 11. vers 6 c. according to the plaine literall and natiue signification of the words importeth I beheld Satan saith our Sauiour as lightning fall from heauen Behold I giue vnto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and ouer all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any meanes hurt you Luke 10. vers 18 19. This Commission beeing first drawne about the time that this answere was returned vnto Iohn by our Sauiour was more fully ratified vpon our Sauiours resurrection and as I take it before that time not put in execution by his Apostles or Disciples Thus much the literall meaning of Saint Markes words chap. 16. v. 16 17 18. to my vnderstanding doth import He that beleeueth and is baptized shall be saued but hee that beleeueth not shall be damned And these signes shall follow them that beleeue In my name shall they cast out Deuils they shall speake with new tongues they shall take vp Serpents and if they drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sicke and they shall recouer He saith not that they should leape downe from the Pinacles of the Temple or from the tops of high Towers and not hurt themselues 59. Againe I would not deny but that the forementioned Prophesie Isay 40. 14. which was exactly fulfilled according to the literall Allegory or emblematicall sense might bee in part fulfilled according to the plaine literall and proper sense Not at the time of Iohns Baptisme but some yeeres before yet after Iohn was of age and experience to obserue the signes of the time and their prognosticks Amongst other symptomes of that terrible Earth-quake which ouerthrew twelue famous Cities in Asia about the sixth or seuenth yeere of Tiberius Tacitus relateth this for one sedisse immensos montes visa in arduâ— quae plana fuerint The Grammaticall sense of his words so farre as they reach is so exactly paralell to the plaine literall sense of Isaias Prophesie that I cannot English them better than by borrowing the English translation of the Prophet The Logicall extent of whose words is farre more ample than the others historicall relation Some valleyes according to Tacitus were exalted and some mighty Hills were brought low The Prophet saith Euery Valley shall bee exalted and euery Mountaine and Hill shall be brought low According to this Logicall extent or vniuersalitie this Prophesie neither hath been nor can bee fulfilled in its plaine literall and historicall sense Howbeit this and the like visible wonders wrought by the hand of God though answerable but in part to the plaine literall meaning of this Prophet were true and exact emblemes of that which the Prophet principally meant and which the mouth of the Lord since hath spoken Whosoeuer exalteth himselfe shall bee brought low and euery one that humbleth him selfe shall be exalted Luke 14. vers 11. The exact accomplishment of this sentence according to the vtmost extent of its vniuersality is not to bee expected till the last Day Howbeit there was a true Crisis of it exhibited at the Baptisme of Iohn which was as Saint Luke telleth vs in the fifteenth yeere of Tiberius From that time the Publicans and Sinners were aduanced and the Children of Abraham which gloried in their birth-right debased Poore Fishermen became Heads of the Tribes of Israel greater men in the House of God than Moses and Aaron had beene whilest Moses successors the chiefe Priests and Doctors of the Law were infatuated and became like salt without taste or sauour Of this miraculous change the forementioned prodigies were as wee said before the types or emblemes As Mineralists vsually find some homogeneall earth or metall neerer the Day as they vse to speake which directs them vnto the metall or treasure which they seeke so before the exact accomplishment of diuers Prophesies God vsually giues his people a glimpse or hint by the signes of the time by some reall euent or matter of fact answerable in some measure to the plaine literall sense of the Prophet but true emblemes or more immediate prognosticks withall of greater mysteries approching That Earth-quake which happened in Iewry whilest Augustus Caesar and Anthony tryed their fortunes in that great and famous Sea-fight at Actium was in part an accomplishment of the Prophet Haggai his literall meaning chap. 2. vers 6 7. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heauens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land And I will shake all Nations c. This shaking of the Nations and of the Earth at that time was a sure prognosticke of that mystery which the Prophet in the Verses following fore-telleth to wit that the glory of the latter Temple should be greater than the glory of the former and that the desire of all Nations who was the glory of both Temples the Prince of that peace which God had promised to giue in Ierusalem
scape-Goat was by the prescript of Moses Law to be led thither to the end that Iohn and such as were present might beleeue and acknowledge that the mystery fore-shaddowed by the legall ceremony of the scape-Goate was fulfilled in this Iesus of Nazareth whom they had seene and known baptized of Iohn Wherefore in as much as it is euident out of Scripture that the scape Goate was to bee led into the Wildernesse vpon the Feast-day of the Atonement and inasmuch as our Sauiour was led into the Wildernesse immediately after he was baptized the conclusion will directly follow that our Sauiour was baptized vpon the Feast of the Atonement which was the tenth of September So that Iohn by this account was a quarter of a yeere aboue thirty and declining towards the wane and our Sauiour growing vp into his full age beeing a quarter vnder thirty when hee was baptized of Iohn The end of our Sauiours going into the Wildernesse was as you heard before to bee tempted of the Diuell and amongst other meanes to be tempted especially by fasting This temptation doubtlesse did not befall him for his owne sake but that hee might fully expiate the sinnes commited by the Israelites in the Wildernesse from whose curse their posterity was not acquitted vntill hee which was prefigured by the Scape-Goate had really and bodily vndergone the burthen of it as the Scape-Goate in shaddow or ceremony onely had done One speciall end of his going vpon this day into the Wildernesse was to carry thither the sinnes of all that came vnto Iohns baptisme For as many as were baptized by Iohn confessed their sinnes And if Iohn did not no question but He who was to accomplish as well that which was fore-shaddowed by Aaron as by the Scape-Goate did put all the sinnes which had beene confessed to Iohn or to God in Iohns presence vpon himselfe as Aaron did put all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions beeing first confessed vpon the head of the Goate before hee sent him into the Wildernesse Leuit. 16. vers 21. Where wee are by the way to note that this people did alwayes with their owne sinnes solemnely confesse the sinnes of their fore-fathers The especiall sinnes which the Israelites had committed in the Wildernesse were their tempting of God saying Is the Lord amongst vs or no and their rebellious murmuring against God and his seruant Moses in their grieuance of hunger and thirst or in their intemperate longings after their Aegyptian dyet For this sinne they were stung with fiery Serpents the reliques or Off-springs of their first Parents curse whom the old Serpent had feduced and made subiect to annoyance by the venemous Creatures And this sinne was remarkably and fully expiated by our Sauiours fasting forty dayes and forty nights in the Wildernesse and by his vanquishing the Tempter himselfe the olde Serpent in this temptation as we say at his owne weapon For at this time hee escaped the malice of the Deuill the powers of darknesse had no power ouer him And this was prefigured by the Scape-Goate which beeing led into the Wildernesse was to be let goe by the man that led him 64. Probable it is that Iohn Baptist from his obseruance how exactly our Sauiour had fulfilled the type of the Scape-Goate did vpon his returne from the Wildernesse pre-collect or prognosticate that hee should as exactly fulfill the type or mystery of the Paschall Lambe and hence proclaimes him to be that Lambe of God which was to take away the sinnes of the World more than three yeeres before our Sauiours Apostles or Disciples did know the meaning of this mystery or the congruitie betweene the shaddow and the body It is remarkeably said by our Apostle That our Sauiour is the body whereof legall ceremonies were the shaddowes But you must vnderstand a body so heterogeneall and compleat that no one or few legall ceremonies could perfectly fore-shaddow it But as the Ceremonies were many and almost infinite so euery one did fore-shaddow some part or piece of this compleat body no remarkeable part of it that is no speciall euent or action which concerned our Sauiour Christ but was fore-shaddowed by some or other legall ceremony As his leading into the Wildernesse vpon the day of the Atonement was fore-shaddowed by the Ceremony of the Scape-Goate so his Baptisme vpon the same day was as expresly fore-shaddowed or prefigured as any euent concerning him eyther was or could be by the Legall Ceremony which Aaron or his Successour the High-Priest were to obserue vpon the same day to wit vpon the Feast of the Atonement And Aaron shall come into the Tabernacle of the Congregation and shall put off the Linnen garments which hee put on when hee went into the holy place and shall leaue them there And hee shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place and put on his garments and come forth and offer his burnt Offring and the burnt Offring of the people and make an Atonement for himselfe and for the people Leuit. 16. ver 23 24. Aaron was to wash his body in the holy place as standing in neede of Legall sanctification from it So vnable was hee to sanctifie himselfe or it Our Sauiours body was washed in Iordan and by his bodily presence sanctified both the water and the place yea Heauen it selfe or that heauenly Mansion whereof the Aaronical holy place was but a shaddow was now purified by our Sauiours Baptisme as it was afterwards to be cleansed and sanctified by his bloud Betweene the circumstance of the time when and the circumstance of the place wherein our Sauiour was baptized the confort is sweet 65. Our Sauiour was baptized by Iohn at Bethabera beyond Iordane as is euident from Saint Iohn the Euangelist Chap. 1. vers 28. This was the place as the name imports where the Israelites vnder the conduct of Ioshua or Iesus the sonne of Nun first entred into the Land of Canaan the Land of their promised rest And in token that this was the Land which God had promised vnto Abraham and that this was the time and place wherein God did tender performance of his promise vnto Abraham and his seede so farre as it concerned the blessing or Inheritance temporall the Riuer of Iordane in that very season wherin it was accustomed to ouer-flow his bancks did diuide it selfe and retract the streame to giue the seede of Abraham as safe and dry a passage into the Land of Canaan as the Red sea had giuen them ouâ— of Aegypt The reason why Iesus the Sonne of God would bee baptized at this place rather then at any other and the reason why the heauens did open ouer him being in this place baptized was to shew that Hee was the Iesus which was to conduct them into their rest indeed into that Land wherof the Land of Canaan was but the Mappe that he was the man in whom Gods promise vnto Abraham performed in part by Iesus