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
by Gods Saints yet doth not this title any way import that they haue absolute independent power or Monarchicall Soueraignety ouer the ayre but onely that He who is supreme Lord of Heauen Earth of all the World and of all in it oft times permitteth those infernall spirits for the iniquity or sins of men to exercise such power in the ayre as hee neuer permitteth them to vse or exercise in the higher Region whence they are vtterly banished or excluded So that albeit they oft times know much and more than man by meanes naturall can doe concerning the alteration or change of weather yet can they know no more concerning these or like effects than God permitteth them to know or suffereth them in his iust iudgements to effect or worke Againe for the managing of ciuill affaires of gouernement of States or Kingdomes GOD by his euerlasting Decree hath left vnto men such variety of choyce such a contingency in their consultations such a freedome of will in contriuing or proiecting their seuerall ends as it is impossible for any man liuing in this Age though he should consult with Witches or familiar spirits to prognosticate or fore-tell what the successe or finall issue of what hee himselfe at this present proiects or plots shall bee an hundred or two hundred yeeres hence From this faculty or rather facility in fore-telling things of this nature which for diuers Generations after shall certainely come to passe the Lord himselfe doth pleade and proue his Title of infinite wisdome that He is the onely wise immortall God that besides him there is none that can doe or say as He doth Produce your cause saith the LORD vnto the Heathen gods and their worshippers Bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Iacob Let them bring them forth and shew vs what shall happen Let them shew the former things what they bee that wee may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare vs things for to come Shew the things that are to come hereafter that wee may know that yee are gods yea doe good or doe euill that wee may bee dismayed and behold it together Behold you are of nothing and your worke of nought an abomination is hee that chooseth you Isay 41. vers 21 22 23 24. And againe chap. 47. vers 5 6 7 8 9. Sit thou in silence and get thee into darknesse O Daughter of the Chaldeans for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdomes I was wroth with my people I haue polluted my Inheritance and giuen them into thine hand thou diddest shew them no mercy vpon the ancient hast thou very heauily layde the yoke And thou saidst I shall bee a Ladie for euer so that thou diddest not lay these things to thine heart neyther diddest remember the latter end of it Therefore heare now this thou that art giuen to pleasures that dwellest carelesly that sayest in thine heart I am and none else besides mee I shall not sit as a Widdow neyther shall know the losse of Children and widdowhood they shall come vpon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments This speech you must consider is directed in particular to the Chaldeans who were the most curious Inquisitors after things to come the cunningest Southsayers as they tooke and professed themselues in the world And for this reason it is that the LORD sendeth that peremptory challenge vnto them v. 12 13 14 15. Stand now with thine Inchantments and with the multitude of thy Sorceries wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth if so bee thou shalt be able to profit if so bee thou mayest preuaile Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy Counsels Let now the Astrologers the Starre-gazers the monethly Prognosticators stand vp and saue thee from these things that shall come vpon thee Behold they shall be as stubble the fire shall burne them they shall not deliuer themselues from the power of the flame there shall not be a coale to warme at nor fire to sit before it Thus shall they be vnto thee with whom thou hast laboured euen thy Merchants from thy youth they shall wander euery one to his quarter None shall saue thee 28. Let mee giue you two instances or examples of things fore-told by God by his Prophet Isay concerning the strange alteration of States or Kingdomes both which predictions were exactly and remarkeably fulfilled and accomplished the one about an hundred the other about one hundred and seuentie yeeres after the Prophet from the mouth of the LORD had fore-told them The former is related in the second Booke of Kings chap. 20. and in the 39. of Isay vers 6 7 8. The summe of both those Stories is this After Hezekiah had shewed his House and all his Treasure vnto the King of Babylons Embassadour which came to congratulate his late recouery from that dangerous sicknesse of which the Prophet Isayas had by Gods appoyntment cured him hauing first secured him not onely of his instant recouery but of the continuance of his former health and prolonging of his dayes by a signe from Heauen the same Prophet came vnto him and telleth him that this his kindnesse or courtesie to the Embassadours in shewing them his Treasury was factum malè ominatum and did abode a future misery to his posterity Heare the Word of the LORD saith Isaiah to Hezekiah Behold the dayes to come that all that is in thine House and that which thy Fathers haue layed vp in store vntill this day shall be carryed to Babylon nothing shall be left saith the Lord. And of thy sonnes that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget shall they take away and they shall bee Eunuches in the Palace of the King of Babylon Now if wee consider the strength of Iudah and of Aegypt in those times and the small power which the Babylonian had in respect of his Neighbour the mightie King of Assyria who then layde clayme to Iudah the accomplishment of this Prediction or Prophesie was in all politique esteeme or humane coniecture more improbable and more incredible than if a man in this Age should take vpon him to fore-tell that the Duke of Saxony or some other Prince of Germany should conquer the Low-Countries France and Spaine and leade all the Royall Race of both those Kingdomes Captiues vnto Dresden or to some other Princely Court of Germanie within these hundred yeeres next following He that should fore-tell thus much at this present would be recoūted a true Prophet or Messenger from God in the ages following by such as liued to see the euent or prediction fulfilled or verified Now there was not one part or circumstance of the former Prophesie but was notoriously and remarkeably accomplished in Iehoiakim Zedekiah and their Children both of them being sons to good King Iosiah both of them being confederates with the King of Aegypt whose ioyned strength could not
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
6. Thou hast multiplyed the Nation and not increased the ioy or as the latter English hath it To him thou hast increased the ioy or perhaps it may be rendred Hast thou not increased the ioy they ioy before thee according to the ioy in haruest and as men reioyce when they diuide the spoyle For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staffe of his shoulder the rodde of his oppressor as in the day of Midian For euery battell of the Warriour is with confused noyse and garments rolled in bloud but this shall be with burning and fuell of fire For vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Son is giuen c. 74. Nothing more vsuall with Gods Prophets than to prefixe denunciations of woe and misery to Prophesies of comfort and to make the experienced accomplishment of woes fore-told the infallible auouchers of insuing ioyes To omit other instances or exemplifications of this obseruation else-where handled the connexion of the fortieth Chapter of Isay whence Iohns Commission for baptizing with water was deriued with that dolefull prediction Isay the thirty ninth vers 7. is remarkeable So is the connexion of the ninth Chapter of the same Prophet with the eighth especially if wee set the full poynt in the Hebrew where Saint Ieremy found it and where Arias Montanus in the great Bible hath placed it For so the first words of the ninth Chapter according to our present English should bee the latter end of the eighth Chapter and should be rendred thus There shall be no flight no hope of escape from the straights or anguish that besets him And according to this reading the former Prophesie of woe and misery should heere end After which the Prophesie of ioy and comfort doth immediately ensue in the beginning of the ninth Chapter to this or like effect The Land of Zabulon and the Land of Nepthaly were the first of all the Tribes of Israel that were found light and swept away by the Oppressor but in latter dayes the way of the Sea beyond Iordane Galile of the Nations shall bee glorious The people that walked in darkenesse haue seene a great light they that dwell in the Land of the shaddow of death vpon them hath the light shined I am the bolder to commend this sense to the iudicious and learned because it sets the Propheticall prediction and the Euangelicall Narration Matth. 4. vers 15. in an euen and paralell course Whereas the ordinary reading and poynting of the beginning of that ninth Chapter of Isay is so perplexed that many good Interpreters by following it haue made the Euangelist for ought that I can see to fall foule vpon the Prophet and the historicall euent if this prediction were historically verified in Hezekias dayes to crosse the Euangelicall mystery related by St. Matthew Vnto both these inconueniences but especially vnto this latter another ouer-sight or non-obseruance not so much in poynt of Grammar as of History or Geography haue giuen great occasion For it is commonly receyued though without all ground yea contrary to the ground of sacred History that Sennacheribs army was destroyed by the Angel neere vnto Ierusalem But could wee as cleerely gather where Sennacheribs army was destroyed as wee can cleerely proue that it was not destroyed about Ierusalem the fulfilling of this Prophesie would bee as perspicuous for the manner or circumstance as it is remarkeable for substance But the search of the place where Sennacheribs army was destroyed wee leaue to the Schooles For the Prophesie it selfe The Land of Zabulon and the Land of Nepthaly c. whether it were not at all verified by any reall euent vntill it was accomplished by our Sauiours transmigration from Iudea into Galile or whether it were ratified by some historicall euent in Hezekias his dayes as by the manner of Sennacheribs ouerthrow certainely the Prophets speciall intent and purpose was to giue posterity notice that as the Land of Zabulon of Nepthaly the way of the Sea c. were first captiuated by the Assyrian so they should be the first spectators of that great victory which the Angel of God the great Angell of the Couenant was to haue ouer those powers of darkenesse which the Assyrian tyranny did but fore-shaddow And this was the reason why our Sauiour vpon Iohns imprisonment leauing Iudea went into Galilee because his Soueraigntie ouer Satan was to be manifested and the Kingdome of Heauen first proclaimed and established there And thus much of the former testimony Isay 35. whereto our Sauiour in this Answer referreth Iohn and of the signes and circumstances of the time wherein the Prophesie was first conceyued or of the times immediately ensuing 75. The second testimony whereto this Answere referreth Iohn and which doth well illustrate ratifie our obseruations vpon the former is Isay 61. vers 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is vpon mee because the Lord hath anoynted me to preach good tidings vnto the meeke I must here giue you notice that whereas our English reades To preach glad tydings vnto the meeke or poore the phrase in the Originall is the selfe-same with this heere in my Text. Onely the Verbe in the Originall is the Actiue because the Prophet fore-tels the Office of CHRIST but in the Euangelist who sheweth the effects or fruits of Christs Office it must needes be as you will easily conceiue a passiue Wherefore I must dissent as well from our English as from our Latine Translations in the translation of the Hebrew in the Prophet as I did before in the translation of the Greeke heere in the Euangelist The vulgar Latine hauing rightly translated the Greeke heere in my Text pauperes euangelizantur doth vary from it selfe and from the truth in the interpretation of the Prophet For so hee renders it as our English doth Misit me euangelizare pauperibus He sent me to preach vnto the poore whereas if this translation had beene constant to it selfe it should haue beene misit me euangelizare or euangelizatum pauperes hee hath â—ent mee to Euangelize the poore in spirit And to Euangelize them is as much as to imprint the Gospell or Kingdome of Grace in their hearts And this interpretation of the Prophet may be necessarily inferred from the circumstances of the Propheticall Text it selfe by the same Arguments which before were vsed for interpreting the Euangelists To preach the Gospell vnto the poore is onely to make them a promise of the Kingdome of Grace which cannot be the true or full meaning of the Prophet in this place for this first clause misit me euangelizatum pauperes is the generall roote wherein all the Clauses following are contained as branches Now this Anoynted of the Lord here spoken of did not only promise to binde vp the broken-hearted but did bind them vp He did not onely promise liberty to the Captiues or the opening of the prisons to such as were shut vp but did set both at liberty As we say