propheticall writings it must be restrained vnto that part of the earth wherevnto hee sollicits these Israelites returne I create a new thing in the land to wit of Israel or the kingdome of Ephraim as it is opposed vnto the two other Tribes as Pomeranus hath learnedly obserued The second originall word is here rendred as well as conveniently it could be in one word by woman yet is it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had said THE FEMALE SHALL COMPASSE THE MALE though some what more bee included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a male or man 5 The sacred mysterie of this speech may best appeare by comparing this new creation of the second Adam in the Virgins wombe with the creation of the first woman in Adam with reference wherevnto this is called a new creation wherein the order of the former is inverted It is said Genes 1. In his image created he him he created them male and female The reason of which aenigmaticall speech whence Plato as I thinke took his fable of Androgyni is because Moses there speakes of Adams creation onely in whom notwithstanding Eue was in a sort created or enclosed as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh Hee speakes of him in both numbers as of vnum actu which was potentia plura The like manner of speech he vseth in the first verse In the beginning God created the heauen and the earth Yet neither was then distinctly created but the masse whence both were afterwards distinguished as it were into male and female that is into such heavens as now are the agents and such an earth as now is the mother whence all earthly creatures are produced In this new creation the Lord encloseth not Zakor Ish or Adam not masculus only but Gever i vir fortis the valiant or strong man the grand heroicke of the world in the female or weaker vessell The female shall incompasse the male not after the vsuall manner of childrens enclosure in the wombe but as Evah was enclosed in Adam or as the shell encloseth the kernell whose first root of existence is from within not from without whose enclosure every way is entire never opened to receiue what it encloseth but only to haue it taken forth This I take it is the naturall and true meaning of these words in this subiect whereof wee speake considered with such references as haue beene specified 6 Our small acquaintance whether with the peculiar signes of these ancient times or with many common prenotions concerning the manner of Messiahs birth or conception which either my Prophet might presuppose as sufficiently knowne to them for whose good hee wrote or this prophecie occasion their successors to enquire after against the time appointed will not suffer vs to apprehend either the appositenesse or efficacie of these breefe perswasions so fully as the observant Israelites before or about our Saviours comming might easily haue done Yet if we may gesse at the force of his argument by such references and circumstances as haue left some print behind them in the revolutions of times vnfolding this prediction which hee had wrapt vp in aenigmaticall generalities it is more fully thus Dost thou therefore stand off and disdaine thy returne to these thy cities O thou Virgin but haughtie and rebellious Israël because the glory of Shiloes birth shall be thy sister Iudahs and not thine Doth it greiue thee that Bethlem Ephratah sometimes so little amongst the thousands of Iudah should now overtop the chiefe cities of Samaria A Prophet from the mouth of the Lord hath said it and it must of necessitie come to passe that out of Bethlem he shal come forth that shal beare rule in Israel whose goings forth haue beene from the beginning and from everlasting Ephratah it was rightly called of old and it happily height Bethlem since ordein'd from eternitie to bring forth the bread of life but neither hath Israel born Ephraims name for naught Fruitfulnesse also is with thee These thy Cities though little and barren in thy sight are not forsaken of thy God thou hast likewise a Prophets word for thy assurance that albeit Iudah must bring him forth yet Israel shall bee the land of his conception of whose kingdome there shall be no end Account it not blind chance but thy good hap that thy name is first mentioned in the reestablishing of my ancient grant Behold the daies come saith the Lord that I will performe that good thing which I haue promised vnto the house of Israel and to the house of Iudah In those daies and at that time will I cause the branch of Righteousnesse to growe vp vnto David and hee shall execute iudgement and righteousnesse in the land Ierem. 33. v. 14 15. Search the Prophets at the time appointed and it shall be shewed thee that whilst one of them made this glorious promise in my name to Bethlem another no enemie to the house of Iudah did foretell thy fathers that the root of Iesse should recover his sap and giue first beginning of life to the branch of Righteousnesse within thy borders Though by birth hee must bee a Bethlemite and of Davids linage yet the name by which hee must be best knowne shall bee taken from one of thy Cities wherein being first conceiued he shall growe vp as a branch out of a decayed trunke or as a root out of a dry ground not as a young plant from the liue seed of a former tree That this place of his conception is not so cleerely named by Isaiah as the place of his birth by Micah doth this dismay thee The greater secrecie is a signe of a greater mysterie I knowe thee of old thou art coy thou art strange and must bee wooed with rarities and new wonderments And what wonder since the world began hath beene heard of like to this new thing which I create in these thy Cities that a woman without the consort of man should enclose him in her wombe whose outgoings haue beene from euerlasting The creation of heauen and earth may in comparison of this new creation be held stale and triviall 7 Of this Aenigma in my text that other forementioned Chap. 33. we may say as Ioseph did of Pharaohs dreames both are one So is that nurserie of mysteries Isaiah 11. v. 1. wherein the place of his conception education is secretly named and the like Isaiah 53. of a root growing vp out of a drie ground This metaphor of the root as also the emphasis of that speech deliuered in Gods own person I will cause the branch of righteousnesse to growe vp aenigmatically fore-shadowe that this grouth should not be by ordinarie generation but by Creation that as trees and plants in the first creation did meerely growe vp out of their mother earth without seed precedent so should this branch of Righteousnesse this root of
a more strange salutation onely demands of the Angell How shall this bee seeing I knowe not a man And the Angell answered her not by way of reproofe or interrogation but for her instruction giuing her a further signe Behold thy Cousin Elizabeth she hath also conceaued a sonne in her old age and this is her sixth month which was called barren for with God nothing shall bee impossible This heavenly dialogue was first vttered and in such particular sort related by St Luke to instruct vs that as the Virgin did now with better grace and decency act that part which Sarah had before somewhat misacted so this her sonne was that promised seed whereof Isaac was but the type his strange and vnvsuall conception as it were a praeludium to this miraculous conception of our Saviour foretold by Ieremie and thus related by the Evangelist Insteed of an exhortation or applicatorie vse which my text being it selfe an exhortation directed to another people and out of date in these our daies will hardly yeeld without wringing giue me leaue to spend the short remainder of time in proposing matter of admiration especially to yonger students happily not so well acquainted with the manner of our Saviours conception birth and education or how farre Israël shared with Iudah or Nazareth with Bethlem in these circumstances or the like 13 I knowe by the folly of my youth how ready yong wits against this good time would be to see Menechmus or some more queint comoedie of like errors acted wherein no one particular considered alone is worth the noting onely the dependance of one vpon another being vnvsuall makes the whole contrivance pleasant yet such as can breed no firme perswasion of anie historicall truth but rather bewraies it selfe to bee a fiction And no fiction can yeeld delight or pleasure saue only ex hypothesi in as much as our imagination supposeth that as true wherein there appeareth no repugnancie or impossibilitie why it might not bee such as the representation makes shew of As poems vsually delight more then true stories only because the Poets faigne a likenesse or image of more amiable and admirable truths then can ordinarily bee found or obserued in the common course of life Yet even in their rarest inventions the Orators argument holds still true of the spectators If they can afford applause in re ficta how would the like reall truth it selfe affect them what would they doe if they should see a solide and substantiall edifice more beautifull and proportionall in every part then the superficiall platforme or draught which they so liked Shall wee then applaud the curious fictions of humane fancie and not be ravisht with admiration at the reall most truely admirable effects of the Almighties providence in our Saviours conception This would be infinitely more preposterous and phantastique then if you should loath or scorne the rarest liue-beautie of most amiable reasonable creatures such as your selues and runne madde with loue of Baboâ—nes shadowes or for an Ape or Monkies picture What effect either so admirable in it selfe or of such vnspeakable consequence for our good was ever presented on the stage of earth seene or heard within the circumference of this mightie amphitheatre or is possible to bee conceaued by the heart of man as the birth and conception of our Saviour Christ yet is the concurrence or contrivance of all circumstances precedent or consequent so vnusuall so farre surpassing humane expectation that if we compare their whole frame with the most curious forme of any humane invention extant Illam homines dicas hanc posuisse Deum you will say that the one might easily bee invented by such as your selues but that the other could not be forecast contriued and acted without the all seeing wisdome of the Almighty God And I am fully perswaded that if either Iewe or Atheist would but search the Scriptures with harts as devoid of preiudice and mindes as free from other thoughts and cares as most men bring to famous plaies or Comoedies this contemplation would enforce the one to acknowledge that prophecies in old time came not by the will of man the other that Iesus the sonne of Marie was he of whom Moses and all the Prophets spake 14 First Isaiah foretells the condition or estate of his mother Micah the place of his nativitie Ieremie the place and manner of his conception the two former more then six the last fiue huÌ„dred yeares before hee was conceiued or borne What hopes could the blessed Virgin haue either in her owne or others sight to bee the mother of so great a Monarch you will say she was of the linage or stocke of David so were many more of farre greater place and dignitie then she all seated in Iurie about Bethlem or Hierusalem the supposed places of his conception and education vntill the event did proue the contrarie Suppose old Samael had beene then liuing and the governours of Iudah should haue presented such of the daughters of Iesse as they thought most likely to see whome he would nominate to bee their Messias mother the election doubtlesse would haue beene farre longer then Davids was to the crowne of Israël To haue fought the blessed amongst women in Galile would haue seem'd more strange to the meÌ„ of Iudah theÌ„ the seeking out of their king amongst the sheepfolds did to Iesse and the men of Bethlehem But God who sees not as man seeth vsually delighteth to crosse our expectation whether of good or bad by contrarie successe It was the absolute nullitie rather then improbability of any such hopes as are now suggested which had excluded Marie from the princely tribe contented to liue an obscure life with her husband in Nazareth a poore Cittie of Zabulon as most thinke or as others bordering on Zabulon in the tribe of Nephthalie however within the kingdome of Ephraim or Israel And thither the Angell of the Lord repaires vnto her The effect of his embassage being to vnfold this aenigmaticall prophecie which had beene sealed vp vntill this time appointed for the fulfilling of it In the sixth month saith the Evangelist the Angell Gabriel was sent from God vnto a Citie of Galile named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Ioseph of the house of David Here some profane companions captiously demand seeing it was Gods will to haue his sonne as Isay had foretold borne of a pure virgin why would hee not make choice of a maid or woman vnbetroathed of whom there could be lesse suspicion As passengers of good respect would ofteÌ„ passe by vnregarded by poore Cottagers did not ill nurtured curres notifie their approach by barking so many divine mysteries would bee lesse obserued then they are did not prophane obiectors become our remembrancers As the former captious demand to what intent soever conceiu'd by vnbeleeuers doth but sollicite this answer from the Orthodoxe The first promise was made vnder this stile Semen mulieris The
and Israël bee more stupid then the Oxe or Asse yet even in this humilitie of his birth Arabia and Sheba shall bring gifts to him as to their king Yet so provident is the Lord least any hand of man should shew it self in his exaltation that these forraigne Princes opeÌ„ profession of allegiance to this new borne child indangers his innocent and harmlesse life But what wil the Atheist say Cannot God protect his sonne from all likelyhood or approach of danger yes he could but his purpose was now to shewe his wisdome not his power in defeating great Herods vigilant and anxious care and all the subtilest proiects of his cunningst polititians by the couÌ„terplots of a poore dreaming man Rahel must haue cause againe to weep for her children about the borders of Beniamin and Herod by striking at the sonne of God must kill his owne sonne whilst hee that was indeed a father to all the sonnes of men because the true and naturall sonne of God he in whose right Israel inioy'd the promises and had an adoptiue title to bee called the son of God must in part of his nonage be sustain'd in Aegypt as Israël had beene by a Ioseph that so what was verified of the one as in the type might be fulfilled in the other as the substance Out of Aegypt haue I called my sonne 18 But whither did God cal his sonne sure if his supposed father Ioseph do not with yong Samuel mistake the callers voice he was to returne into Iudaea the fittest place in his apprehension for the education of him that was borne vnto the crown of David a place wherein if Herods first designes had stood firme and sure hee might haue liued securely But God that directed Iacobs right hand to the head of Ephraim contrary to his father Iosephs expectation hath turned the heart of Herod on a suddaine to affect him most in the last draught of his will and testament whom hee had respected but in the second place in the former And Ioseph approaching the Coasts of Iury advertised that Herod had a successour there not Antipas as hee perhaps with others had expected but Archelaus as bloodie a villaine as the Father suspects as it seemes either the truth of his admonition by a dreame in Aegypt or his construction of it Hee doubts whether they be dead that sought the life of the child for as the Evangelist saith Hee was afraid to goe into Iudaea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet seeing he had beene warned in a dreame or perhaps being warned againe though he avoid Iudah he will at least goe into some part of Israël If he had two warnings this latter was to instruct him in the true meaning of the former whereby he was not directed to Iudaea in particular but into the land of Israël as I take it with opposition to the land of Iudaea And so saith the Evangelist he left his purpose for Iudaea and turned aside into the parts of Galilâ— to the place of Christs conception And thus by his doubtfull resolution the will of the Lord which he had spoken by the Prophet is vndoubtly fulfilled to wit that Christ from the place of his conception and education should be called Nazaraeus A name in their intendment that sought to fasten it first vpon him of disgrace and scorne but by the disposition of the Almightie a knowne title of greatest honour convicting such as vsed it otherwise even whilst they spake it of blasphemie which way soever wee interpret the meaning of it For if this Cities name whose Etymologie is hardly found in the old Testament were Natsoreth or Natzareth or as Elias Leuita saith Netzer tâ—â— word which Isaias vseth it is by interpretatioÌ„ the City of plants or grafts in plain english Graftowne Whence if the Iew captiously demand was it ever heard that any Prophet should arise out of Nazareth Wee may answere as our Sauiour did Pilate Infidell thou hast said it though vnwittingly as Caiphas thy predecessour did foretel his dying for the people For didst thou never heare of a man whose name was the branch never of a plant Netzer that should growe out of the root of Ishai What if thou canst not revile this Iesus whom we preach but thou must acknowledge him Hanotzeri surculus ille or surcularius ille or germen illud The PLANT THE BRANCH For though the obiectour mean to disgrace him yet God had ordained his glorie as well out of his enemies mouths that meant him mischiefe as out of the mouthes of silly babes that meant him neither good nor ill And it is very suitable to the waies of Gods providence to suggest by ambiguous words or speeches vnto the attentiue hearer conceipts quite contrary to their meaning that vtter them So Crassus in his Parthian voyage wills his souldiers disheartned with a dismall way which Abgarus had led theÌ„ to be of good cheere they should not come that way backe againe his meaning was they should returne a better but they take this as the sentence of death from their Generals mouth and so march on drouping in such dead silence to their miserable disastre as meÌ„ condemned doe to the place of â—â—ecution This speech of Crassus was worse taken then it was meant but many of like observation I could here alleage which ill meant by such as vttered them haue beene well interpreted by the parties whom they concern'd as the Apollonians solliciting aid of the Epidamnians against the Illyrians finally put off with this flowting answere VVee will send 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so was the river call'd which ranne by their Citie to your succour cheerefully accept the offer and take heart and courage at the very mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if Aiax who height so in Greeke had bin reviu'd to bee their leader And their confident hopes conceiu'd vpon the imaginarie conduct of such a noble Generall did by divine providence bring forth reall successe and vnexpected victory And so no doubt the faithfull Hebrewes as oft as they heard the Iewes call our Saviour in contempt Hanotzeri did interpret their speech otherwise then they meant it as S. Iohn did that of Caiaphas And this was the Evangelists meaning when hee saith our Saviour went to Nazareth that he might be knowne by this name vsed both by his followers and his enemies 19 Yet doe I no way reiect but most willingly embrace their interpretation of this place who thinke that speech of the Angell vnto Sampsons mother And he shall be a Nazarite from his birth was fulfilled of Christ who was the true Nazarite indeed Nor is this interpretation as most think incompatible with the former both are branches of the tree of life in both shine most glorious rayes of the divine providence would not men be more contradictious then their opinions For first it is a needlesse doubt moued by the one whether this Cities name in Hebrew were writteÌ„ with
NAZARETH AND BETHLEHEM OR ISRAELS PORTION IN THE SONNE OF IESSE AND MANKINDS COMFORT FROM THE WEAKER SEXE TVVO SERMONS PREACHED IN St Maryes Church in Oxford BY THOMAS IACKSON Bachelour of Divinitie and Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford 1. TIM 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse God is manifest in the flesh AT OXFORD Printed by Iohn Lichfield and william Wrench 1617. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND Father in God and my very good Lord JAMES by divine providence Lord Bishop of Winchester T. J. wisheth all Grace and Happinesse RIGHT REVEREND And HONOVRABLE SInce it hath pleased such as haue hitherto beene spectators as well of my weaknesse as of my industry in the Ministery to pardon the one for the others sake it is and ever shall be my care to haue your Lordship vnder whose patronage as Honourable Successor to my worthie Founder I now enioy the continuance of former opportunities no witnesse of my sloth or idlenesse Yet these papers I produce not either in testimonie of my paines which in so little a worke cannot be great or as a proofe of my diligence in polishing what hereafter I meane to set forth Rather out of indulgence to my bodily indisposition diligent fore cast how long my iourny is like to bee I haue begunne after such a manner as by Gods assistance and your Lordships wonted coūtenance I may hope to cōtinue To leaue some fuller explication then I haue found of the admirable consonancie betweene ancient praesignifications whether propheticall typicall or historicall and Evangelicall relations concerning our Saviours conception his birth his baptisme passion resurrection and ascension or other like parts of his humiliation and exaltation is the point whereto my studies haue beene consecrated and my observations principally directed since I vndertooke the ministery And in this respect I may truly call my meditations in this kind the first fruits of all my labours Now of this crop which with reference to my poore harvest is like to be very great as much at least as all the rest and as I trust most acceptable to my God I haue brought this little Sheafe vnto your Lordship humbly desiring that you would vouchsafe to offer it vp vnto Him by whose only blessing all the rest must bee sanctified Thus omitting longer preface vntill I may fit it with a larger worke I humbly commend your Lordship to the gratious protection of our Heavenly Father and this slender pledge of my most intire observance to your benigne acceptance From my study in CORPVS CHRISTI COLLEGE in Oxford Septemb. 6. 1617. Your Honours in all duty and service to be commanded THOMAS JACKSON JEREMIAH 31. VER 21.22 Turne againe O Virgin of Israel turne againe to these thy cities How long wilt thou goe astray O thou rebellious daughter For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compasse a man 1 IT is the observation of a most ancient Father Omnis Prophetia priusquā impleatur aenigma est Every prophecy before it be fulfilled is a riddle And amongst prophecies the latter part of this Text not the least aenigmatical For our better vnderstanding the true meaning of these words in themselues their coherence with the former and my Prophets drift or scope in all may it please you Men Fathers and Brethren to consider the time was now come wherein the Lord had put Iudah also out of his sight and cast of Ierusalem the citie which he had chosen Beniamin was become Ben-oni a sonne of sorrow vnto his mother For a voice was heard in Ramah mourning and bitter weeping Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted because they were not in the land of her buriall their fathers birth But the Lord alwaies more tender and compassionate towards his chidren then a woman towards the children of her wombe yea then tender hearted Rahel her selfe towards her dearest sonne whose birth had cost her life in the midst yea even in the first beginning of these his iudgements remembers mercy He now sends Iudah into captivitie after Israel but as a second arrow to finde out a former lost And Beniamin must goe though as sore against his owne will into Chaldaea as hee had done sometimes against his Fathers into Egypt yet in the Almighties determination as well now as then to redeem his brother from that thraldome wherein he had been long detained For the Lord had put vp Ephraims lamentation with Rahels teares for Beniamin disirous as he himselfe in the verses following protests to prepare one the same medicine for both their maladies Refraine thy voice from weeping Rahel and thine eies from teares for thy work shall be rewarded saith the Lord. And they shall come againe from the land of the enemie and there is hope in thine end saith the Lord that thy children shal come againe to their owne borders I haue heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus thou hadst corrected me and I was chastised c. 2 But as Ephraims intemperancie had beene greater more wilfull and of longer continuance then Iudahs or Beniamins had beene to his recoverie was now more difficult and put his heavenly physitian to a greater plunge then whē it enforc'd him to cry out O Ephraim what shall I doe vnto thee He was become as a man whose nature is so farre spent that no physicke can be safely administred to him Long calamitie and distresse brings oftimes the soules of Gods children so farre out of rast with his sweetest mercies that they loath their very proffer no lesse then sicke men doe the sight of meat The Lord is with thee thou valiant man saith the Angel of the Lord to Gedeon But he replies Ah my Lord if the Lord be with vs why then is all this come vpon vs and where be all his miracles which our fathers told vs of and said Did not the Lord bring vs out of Aegypt but now the Lord hath forsaken vs and deliuered vs into the hands of the Midianites More wayward diffident my Prophet fore saw Ephraim or Israel for the most part would bee The best of them albeit they mistrust not the truth of Gods promises vnto Abraham yet doubt whether theirs and their fathers sinnes haue not forfaited their interest in thē If they acknowledge Gods summons for Iudahs returne theirs to be the same yet with old Anchises in like case they finde a difference in their estates Vos ô quibus integer aeui Sanguis ait soliáaeque suo stant robore vires Vos agitate fugam Such as bad fresh and liuely spirits to weild their strong and able limmes seeing their armes could not defend their country from the violence of their enimies might vse the benefit of their legs to escape their buriall in her ruines Me si caelicole volnissent ducere vitam Has mihi servassent sedes But sure if the Gods intended Anchises any longer lease of his life
seed of the womaÌ„ espoused though a virgin such as Eue was when she sinned shall crush the serpents head Yet the mouth of prophanes not herewith stopt is more ready to quarrell with the message it selfe as too vulgar for an embassadour of such state as the Angel Gabriel Behold what should shee behold thou shalt conceaue in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne Why doe not all women conceiue before they bring forth children or doe others conceaue in their aprons But to dismisse this audience of the Atheists false descant or division vpon this plaine song as he esteemed it Is the phrase in many profest interpreters iudgement any better then a tautologie or at the best then an Hebrew Pleonasme yet even tautologies in sacred language seldome want their weight or observation And Hebrew Pleonasmes in Propheticall or Evangelicall writings are oft times full of mysteries Or what if this phrase be sometimes vulgarly vsed in vulgar narrations yet in extraordinarie subiects it may and by the analogie of orthodoxall interpretation ought to bee taken in the most proper remarkable sence whereto it can literally be extended The expresse mention of the vsuall place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excludes the ordinarie cause and implies an vnusuall maner of conception The interposition of the primitiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was emphatically exprest in the salutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and must here bee repeated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will much alter the sence or importance of the phrase So doth the dependance which the demonstratiue ecce hath with the words which went before Feare not Mary for thou hast found favour with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold thou shalt coÌ„ceaue in thy wombe not from without The importance is fully aequivalent to the Hebrew Tesâ—beb in my Text thy fruit shall be enclosed in thy womb yet shalt thou not bee lesse fruitfull then shee that conceaueth by a consort For thou shalt bring forth not a daughter not a male child only but such a sonne as may well brooke the name of Saviour for he shall be great and be called the sonne of the most high And is not this as much as Geber 15 And yet God in his wisdome would haue the blessed virgin her selfe to be for a while ignorant of this construction that her doubtfull reply might occasion the Angell to enlarge his Comments vpon my Prophets riddle Then said Mary vnto the Angell how shall this be seeing I knowe not a man And the Angell answered and said vnto her the holy Ghost shall come vpon thee and the power of the highest shall over shadowe thee As if he had said what hast thou to doe with a man who hast found this favour with God that it shall not bee with thee as with other women thy conception of this thy sonne is a worke new and vnheard of hetherto in Israel a worke not of generation but of creation it must be wrought by the immediate hand of God But let it not seeme so impossible as new and strange seeing he hath foretold it by his Prophets who is able to bring to passe what ever he fortells Nor would the Evangelist in my opinion haue beene so carefull to specifie the Angels name in these two stories of Iohn Baptists our Sauviours conceptions without reference to his principall message or office which was to annunciate his birth to whom this name Gabriel did best agree one that should bee Geber-ell the strong God or the strength of God Thus you see how this prophecie of the Females enclosing the mightie man or heroick by way of creation not of generation in the land of Israël is in due time fulfilled beyond her expectation that did conceaue him vntill the Angell did instruct her 16 And now it seemes shee apprehends as much as the Angell had told her and no more That the Lord would giue the throne of David to her sonne and whether from expresse notice of Ezechiels words or rather from the same spirit wherby he spake She makes part of his menacing prophecie a straine of her ioyfull song so inverting his words as the Lord had done the line of David making first last and last first Exalt him that is low saith the Prophet and abase him that is high He hath put downe the mightie from their seat saith the blessed Virgin and exalted them of lowe degree The abasing of the high and mightie was verified whilst Ezechiel liued in the sodaine deposition of Zedechiah so perhaps was the exalting of him that was lowe historically experienced in the exaltation of Iehoiakin but not fulfilled vntill this time wherein God from the wombe of his poore handmaid raised vp this light to Dauid vnto whoÌ„ the Diadem of right belonged Yet all this time she thinkes as little how Micahs prophecie should be fulfilled as shee had done before of Ieremies or Isaies she had gone indeed not long after this coÌ„ception into Iury to conferre with her Cousin Elizabeth but as the Evangelist tells vs she was returned againe to Nazareth whence shee and her husband departed a little after against their wills For vnlesse Augustus at this very time had giuen out his commandment for taxing al that were subiect to the Romane Empire there is no intimation of any purpose either in Mary or Ioseph to repaire to Bethlehem Ephrata the Citie of David But the lesse they minded it before the more they are confirmed by the experience of the event and the manner how Gods prophecies are fulfilled 17 Thus by the disposition of the Almighty not by any purpose of Augustus or consultation of man the sonne of God is come first into his owne Citie but his owne receaue him not hee hath not so much as house roome fit for man an ill omen that his subiects will not acknowledge their allegiance to him For as the Lord long since had complained of their more then brutish ignorance and stupiditie The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters cribbe but Israël hath not knowne my people hath not vnderstaod What did not Israël knowe or what would not his people vnderstand It is the note of a iudicious convert Hebrew and I now remember not wether he giue any further reason of it that the verbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there vsed are transitiues and must bee referred to that which went before Israël hath not knowne his owner my people will not acknowledge him for their master that lies swadled in a cratch or manger This is a stumbling blocke to the prowd haughtie Iew that fixeth his eies on loftie towers and stately palaces as if these were the places of his Messiahs birth who in his prime must come to Zion as one too meeke and humble to minde such matters as one that would testifie the place of his birth by riding vpon an Asse and vpon a colt the foale of an Asse But though Iudah