yet is it not a prouerbe as poore as Iob. Besides Mathew and Zachaeus Ioseph of Arimathaea were all before rich men but as soone as they followed Christ their riches left theÌ„ and they became poore religious men together Again was it not Dauids coÌ„plaint in the 73. Psal That the wicked are not troubled like other men neither are they plagued like others but their eyes stand out with fatnesse they haue more thâ—n heart can wish And the prophet Ier. as he succeeded him in time so he followd him in his complaint Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talke with thee of thy iudgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deale very deceit fully That we may the better know then V. Why the godly are many times poore how the wicked are often rich in this world WE must learne to distinguish rightly of the times when the children of God are poore and of the persons of wicked men how they are rich There is a time of pouertie and a time of riches and to say true except Gods children were first poore how could Gods blessing enrich them after So Abraham and Dauid and Iacob had their times of pouertie they were poore at first but their end was rich and full of Gods blessing where contrary the wicked man is neuer rich in the conclusion So Dauid tells vs in the 37. and 73. Psalmes when he went into the Sanctuarie to see the end of these men hee saw the end of the vpright to be peace Marke the vpright man for the end of that man is peace sayes the Prophet but what sayes he of the wicked The end of the wicked shall be cut aff So was the end of Diues in the 12. of Luke Hee had no sooner sung the merry Carroll to his soule of Soule eate drinke and bee merry c. he had no sooner ended his Antheme but the same night his soule was begd from him and hee could not get a drop of drinke for it hee had prouided much for his soule but he had not prouided his soule a whit for God the therefore spirituall furies did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soone begd away his soule from al the pleasurns hee had loaded his new built Repositaries to banquet it with and in a moment ingulft it into perpetuall torment for as Iob speakes of the wicked Momento descendunt in infernum Pphylosophy teaches vs that there can bee no motion in an instant but sin lies so heauy vpon the soule of the wicked that it is no sooner out of his body but it is descended in a moment to hell and therefore though it be sayd of Lazarus and the Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome yet it is no sooner sayd The rich man died also but as if there had bin no time betweene his dying and being in hell it streight followes And in hell lift vp hiss eyes c. O how sodainly sings the Psalmist doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Psal 73 18. The new translation turnes it how as in a moment and indeed the originall is Be-raga in momento So Dauids greene Bay-tree Psal 3. 35. a tree that euer beares leaues but neuer fruit therefore fit to shadow vnder the lawes of it a a fruitlesse professour though hee floorisht it for awhile yet suddainly Dauid did but turne him about and he could not finde so much as the place where he stood But let vs graunt Diues the happinesse to die a rich man which he shall neuer doe for as the heathen sings of death I â—uoluit humile pariter celsum caput Aequatque summis infirna Death and the Graue make euen all estates There high and low rich poor are mates Yet the riches they haue are not like Wisedomes durable riches but God blowes vpon them not only cutting off themselues and their remembrance as sparkes from the earth but scattering their estates and blasting their seede and posteritie so that he perisheth both sooner and oftner then other men He spends his daies in wealth Iob 21. 13. and in a moment descends into hell there how soon is his soule lost His bodie is as chaffe that the storme carries awey ver 17. 18. there he loseth his body as soone And what pleasure hath hee in his house after him when the number of his moneths is cut off in the middest ver 21. there perisheth his estate And to conclude God laies vp the punishment of his iniquitie for his children ver 19. there hee dies in his posteritie So that although he flatter himselfe with an opinion of his riches that it will keepe him aliue in his name and memorie and posteritie and houses and lands beyond the condition of other men as Dauid tels vs Psal 49. 11. that this is his very thought yet to speake soothly as the last of the best and the best of the last Poets saies of all morall helpes which Fabricius and Cato and Brutus three of the most famous of the Romane Worthies thought to eternize themselues by Cume sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies Iam vos secunda mors manet So may the vngodly rich more truly say of himselfe and all worldly meanes whereby he hoped to perpetrate his life and memorie The poor man dies but once but O that I Already dead haue yet three deaths to die For being dead in his bodie he still remaines aliue in his soule estate and posteritie to suffer death and therefore death is said to gnaw and feed vpon him Psal 49. 14. And it is worth the obseruing how soone his name rots which that it might flie into eternitie beyond the names of poorer men he so feathered himselfe with houses and lands and children and called them all by his owne name And therefore our Sauiour in the Storie of Lazarus and Diues keepes the poore mans name aliue to the worldes end but industriously leaues the rich mans name at vncertaintie with There was a certaine rich man This is the first and maine difference of the times but there is another For there are some times of persecution and some of peace When we therefore say that a religious man is a Thriuer we meane in the time of peace when God bleses the Land he liues in with quiet and lets the beames of his Gospell freely display themselues but in the times of persecution when clowds and storms arise when the Arke of God is tempested about and failes as it were in the bloud of his Children it is contrarie For as before the poore religious man growes rich with Abraham and Iacob and Dauid and Isaac so in the times of bloudy persecution the rich man that is truly religious voluntarily grows poore as Mathew and Barnabas and Zachaeus did But their riches then left not them for want of Gods blessing but they to get a blessing
in their spirituall riots they will play away the saluation of their soules O the cheap damnation of sinners With how seely baytes their soules are angled into eternall perdition A messe of pottage will buy away Esaus birth-right A small vineyard will make Ahab sell himself to worke sinne and forfeit his kingdome and all his posterity to the wrath of God A fayre-look'd apple pleasant to taste will hooke into the Lake of brimstone a whole world of beguiled soules The Harlots beggerly bread and water Prou. 9. 17. will get more followers then Wisedomes costly banquet choicest wines though the bread bee stollen and the waters hid If GOD should liue amongst vs thirty pence would buy him A cup of fornication is enough to make all the Kings of the Earth wait vpon the Whore the Beast And can it can it be Sathan should hyre vs to bee the seruants of sinne with such small wages and God with a Kingdome should not moue vs to be his sonnes O let not Nature in wicked and prophane vnreasonable Creatures go beyond Grace in profest Christians Balaam the Sorcerer would dye the death of the righteous the naturall good will hee bore himselfe taught him to wish it And it is the obseruation of the Philospher That all Creatures naturally desire to draw and assemble themselues as close to the diuine Being as possibly they can which hee makes to bee the Reason why there is in them all so vehement a desire which hee calls of all other the most naturall of begetting another like vnto themselues because not being able in their owne bodies to be euerliuing they deriue themselues to eternity by their issues thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee sayes partaker of the Diuine being as farre as they are able This is therefore the reason why there is sowne in our Nature Tantus amor prolis generandi gloria but this naturall and lawfull ambition of glory in the Creature is most liuelie exprest in the eight to the Romans of which I spake in the former section Let vs therefore if the wicked desire the death endeuor to obtaine the life of the righteous if the whole creation grone and sigh and trauel to be deliuer'd from the corruption whereunto our sinne hath imbondaged it into the glorious liberty of the children of God at least as S. Paul speakes in the same chapter groan with them and within our selues to bee deliuered from our owne sinne and to bee made partakers of that glory which God diuides among his saints Let vs set before our eyes those Noble examples which the Scripture hath lighted vp for vs to looke vpon For this is that heauenly Countrie which Gods soiourners and Pilgrims heere on earth seeing a farre off sweetly saluted Heb. 11. 13. and trauelling as strangers thorough the world esteemed onely worthy of their ambition Thus Enoch walked with God before his death and therfore without death was translated to him being as S. Iude speakes the seuenth from Adam whom God happily sanctified to himselfe with eternall rest because he was the Sabbaoth of Men. Thus Moses preferred the naked and solitary wildernesse before the delights and treasures of Pharaohs Court and was not this the cause because he looked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the great recompence of the Reward by Faith seeing him who is inuisible Heb. 11. 27. This made Daniel esteeme the Lions Denne better then Darius Palace and the three children aduenture to meete heauen in hell God in the middest of a furnace infernally heated This made not valiant men onely but weak women fearefull by nature but resolute by faith in the midst of all their tortures not accept deliuerance but making their way through all the cruel mockings scourgings and bonds and prisons and stones and sawes swoords of wilde persecuting Tyrants passe on to the Land of promise without desire of liuing or feare of dying Heb. 11. 36. This made the olde Auncient-bearer of Valens the Emperour and elder Souldior of Christ Saint Basil in his Oration of him so much admires that signal Martyr Goelius tell the raging and menacing Prince that he knew his reward shold be greater then his torment and when the Emperour promised him very great matters to aske him smiling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether hee had any thing to giue him more worth then the Kingdome of heauen In a word this carried the heart of olde Simeon into such a holy extasie of religious delight that earth could hold him no longer but he must needs as it were breake prison and leape out of his olde body into heauen O what a desire of departure to it doth a true sight of this saluation kindle Lord saies he now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace c. for mine eyes bane seene thy saluation As if he should say Lord now the child is borne let the olde man die now thy son is come let thy seruant depart now I haue seene thy saluation O let mee goe to enioy it Now I haue beheld the humanity of thy sonne what is worth the looking vpon but the diuinity of such a person which is able to make my young Lord heere euen proud of his Humilitie For so great a ioy of spirit can neuer be thrust vp into so small a Vessell as an olde shrunke-vp body of earth is Since therefore I haue testified of thy Christ since I haue made an end of my dying note and sung thee my Christmasse song since I haue seene thee O thou holy one of Israell whom no flesh can see liue what haue I to do to liue O Lord What should I weare this olde garment of flesh any more Thou hast left thy fatnesse off O thou faire Oliue Tree and the oyle of it hath made mee haue a cheerefull countenance thou hast forsaken thy sweetnesse O thou beautifull Vine and thy fruit hath warm'd thine olde Seruant at the very hart Now therfore being thou hast powred thy new wine into this old vessell O giue the olde bottle leaue to breake O let me depart in peace for I haue enough I haue seen mine eyes haue seene thy saluation These are high-wing'd ambitious indeed whose thoughts creep not vpon the earth nor whose Honours shall be euer layed in the dust but that flye among the Starres and Angells of GOD that boast of their kinred with the Almighty and call themselues the Sonnes of God Wisd 2. whom our Sauiour hath made the fauourites of Heauen companions for his Angels co-heyres with himselfe Temples for his Spirit Parts of his Bodily and partakers of his Diuine Nature whose kingdomes end not with their liues but begin with their deaths whose pleasures vnlike to Ionathans hony kil not with tasting whose gains haue no fire-brands like Sampsons Foxes no hell in their tales whose celestiall banquets are like the feastes of Cana where their water is turned into wine al their teares into ioy not like faire Absolons a Type
by the blessing of God must labour for it FOr as GOD would haue the World cost himselfe sixe daies labour though in one moment he could haue finish'd it so hee sets vs to taske by his owne example to our weekely stint Sixe dayes shalt thou labour Exod. 20. 9. and doe all that thou hast to doe Which is not to bee vnderstood as a Permission but as a Praecept as though God gaue vs onely leaue not charge to labour For hee sayes not sixe daies thou Maist labour but six daies thou Shalt labour If our mouths will eat as Salomon tels vs All the labour of a man is for his Mouth Eccles 6. 7. our browes must sweat for it For as the Heathen had a Prouerbe among them Dij venaunt omnia laboribus Their Gods they sayd sold all for labour so we may truely say of GOD indeed hee hath set the price of all his earthly blessings to be sweat In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread all the daies of thy life Genesis 3. Neither let the Master thinke to wipe off all his sweat to the brow of his seruant as though like our Gallants hee were borne onely to disport pleasure and his seruants to labour and toyle for him No euery Man is Gods Taskeman and it is as naturall for vs to labour as it is for flame to ascend so Eliphaz speaks of vs Iob. 5. ver 7. Man is borne to labour as a sparke to flie vpwards Indeed the labors of men are different some of mind and some of body some in the field some in the Citie some abroad at Sea and some at home but labour will meete a man euery where be hee where hee will It is our portion vnder the Sunne as Salomon tells vs Behold that which I haue seene sayes the wise man Eccles 5. 18. It is good for a man to eate and to drinke and to enioy the good of all his labour which he taketh vnder the Sunne for it is his portion So that euery one that would enioy the good creatures of GOD this subcelestiall happinesse which flourishes vnder the Sunne if hee would eate and drinke or enioy any good it must be of his labour his owne labour not another mans for that is to steale another mans goods and with his sweate to warme our own browes And so seuere was the holy Apostle of Christ in this point that Golden and Elect instrument of Gods grace to vs who in labours excelled them all that were hired into Christs vineyard to worke that hee would haue him starued to death that to maintain his life would not labor Hee that will not labour let him not eate sayes the Apostle 2 Thes 3. 10. It were vnnecessary to adde more out of the word of God to acquaint vs with our duety of labour the places to this purpose and the Scripture in this argument is prodigall Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands Ps 128. 2. Ephes 4. 28. Let him that stole steale no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing that is good that hee may haue to giue to him that needeth Where wee see the Apostle ties not onelie euerie man to his worke but would haue him though hee labour with his owne hands to get his liuing yet to giue something to him that needeth wants hands or feete or health or strength or liberty wherby to labour Looke then as we see a field as long as it hath any heart in it if it be manured and tilled sowne and weeded and well husbanded in euery part neuer deceiues the hopes of the greedy husbandman but paies him in his own seed with the most lawfull vsury of naturall and very plentifull encrease which if it bee neuer wrought vpon with the labour of man but falls perhaps into the hands of the sluggard growes presently full of nothing but thistles and thornes ranke hurtfull weedes as Salomon tels vs Prou 24. 30. I went by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the slothfull man and loe it was al ouergrowne with thornes and nettles had couered the face thereof so is it with the body of man If it be wel and faithfully laboured it is fruitfull both to himselfe his family and the whole Common-wealth but if it sleep away all his time in idlenesse hee growes not onely vnprofitable but full of noysom vices and is as the Poet cals him onely fruges consumere natus a hurtfull Vermin good for nothing but to liue vpon the spoyle Are not al things imbrightned with vse and rustied with lying still Let but the little Bee become our mistresse Is shee not alwaies out of her artificiall Nature either building her waxen Cabinet or flying abroad into the flowry Meadowes or sucking honey from the sweete plants or loading her weake thighes with waxe to build with or stinging away the theeuish Droan that would faine hiue it selfe among her labours and liue vpon her sweete sweat Ignauum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent And shal this Little creature this Naturall good-houswife thus set her selfe to her businesse and shall we droane away our time in idlenesse and which alwaies followes it vicious liuing Shall our fieldes labour so faithfully to reward vs and shall we betray our whole liues to idlenesse and sloath Find mee but one example in the World to countenance and sample a man in his idlenesse GOD himselfe is the watchman of Israel that neuer slumbers sleepes My Father workes sayes our Sauiour and I worke The holy Angels are alwaies either ascending vp vnto God as we may see in Iacobs ladder that is lifting their thoughts vpwards to honour him in their eternall song Holy Holy Holy Lord GOD of Sabbaoth c. or descending from God to Men with his blessings as being his Ministring Spirits sent for the good of the Elect to pitch their pauillions round about and defend vs from many spirituall and blind dangers which alas our soules neuer see Not one of them all was seene to bee idle or stand still Man himselfe which is worthy our obseruing euen then when hee was first paradis'd in the Garden of pleasure yet had something to doe in it and was not suffered to walke idlely vp downe like a Loyterer or Idlesbye that had nothing at all to doe but was set to keepe it dresse it Gen. 2. Labour hee must though sweat he should not and businesse hee had to doe though sweat hee should not and businesse hee had to doe though in the doing of it he felt no wearinesse or toyle And as these most noble creatures of God Angels and man were not suffered to bee idle so if wee looke vp to the heauens themselues we shall there see there that mighty body in continuall motion neuer standing still but flying about the world with incredible swiftnesse that Dauids great Giant who euery morning like a Bridegroome comes out of his Easterne chamber delights
to till the earth then it is now a blessing to haue earth to till so that wee haue learnt to turne by the corruption of our nature our apparell that should couer our shame to proclaime our pride our Lands that should feede vs by our labour to the food of our luxurie In a word Religion was once the Lord of our Reason and our Reason the directer of our vnderstāding and our vnderstāding the guider of our will and our wills the cōmanders of our affections and the affections which the Philosopher calls materiall reasons because by them the soule rules our body the gouernours of our bodies and our bodies the controllers of our desires and lusts but now Lust hath snatched the reynes into his owne blinde gouernment and madde with Iehu driues on the body and the body the affections and they the wil and that the vnderstanding to all vnreasonable and irreligious excesses so that poore Reason carried headlong to the ruine of it selfe sits like a Waggoner or rather like vnhappy Hupolitus without his reynes and is hurried by his wilde horses whither soeuer they please frustra retinacula tendens Fertur equis auriga nee audit currus habenas And from this disorder of mans nature comes it to passe that in the yearely fruits of the earth which wicked men reape all the paines of Nature serue them only to maintain the pleasures of their lust who are alwaies eyther misdoing or doing naught Let vs leaue therefore the Commendation of Husbandry and end with IX A iust reprehension of ill husbands who eyther straggle out of their own Callings or haue vnlawfull vnprofitable or no Callings at all IF therefore thou wouldest call downe Gods rich blessing vpon thy estate rest thy selfe in that vocation God hath set thee as a Souldiour maintaines the station his Generall places him in and breakes not ouer the hedges either to idle courses or other folkes businesse When God meant to enrich Iacob he made him vigilant and laborious when he meant to honor Daniel he made him studious and wise when hee purposed to crowne Dauid hee sowed in his Youth the seeds of Religion and Valour God hath alwaies set the right meanes before the end doe not thou therefore grudge and repine against God and set vp sayles to carry thee to some other coast then GOD hath appointed Delight not thy selfe in planetary motions but moue constantly in thine sphere It is indeede the nature of al men to think other mens liues more happy then their owne Optat ephippia Bos piger optat ar ace Caballus Faine would the Oxe the horses trappins weare And faine the Horse the Oxes yoake would beare The Countrey man admires the brauery of the Court and the Courtier the content of the Countrie But take heede of this leuity of minde goe thou alwaies on in the knowne roade God hath set thee otherwise though thou striue neuer so much and with the two lowing Heyfers that carried the Arke 1. Sam. 6. goest on complaining vnchearfully in the way of thy calling if thou bearest Gods Couenant with thee God will carry thee thither and thou shalt endure much misery by the way Ionas wee know was sent by God to Niniue but he because he knew God was mercifull and feared more his owne shame in being counted a false Prophet then fauoured Gods honour in sparing the Niniuites when hee should haue gone to Niniue set vp his sayles for Tarshish thinking most foolishly to flie him that was euery where but God had soone sent his winds after him to driue him thither whither hee denied to goe and when they were not strong enough but hee chose rather to lose his life then to be thought though for Gods honour a false Prophet would needs be cast into the Sea from his obedience to God GOD had prouided a strong pursuiuant to waft him thither with incredible speed to land him whether he would or no vpon the shoares hee fled frō The Prophet thought he had beene in the belly of hell as hee speaketh of himselfe in the 2. and 2. of his Prophecie when he lay stewing in the stomacke of the Fish and sayling vnder water to the coast God had sent him Follow therefore thou the vocation God hath set thee in Onely take heed that it be a lawfull profitable and honest Calling For some there are like the smoothe-tongued Parasite in the Comedie that get their liuing by flattering and lying lips that traffique with their tungs for their belly in spending their whole liues to finde out merry tales and beyond-Sea newes to feede his eares that feeds them and these with their Attique dialects doe so fleeke and smooth him vp they liue vpon that they make the rich foole halfe besides himselfe with an opinion of his singular goodnesse and rare vertue and so continue to blanch his fowle life spent in riot and gaming and prodigious luxury till they haue made him as poore in his estate at length as before hee was proud in his expence and such harlotrie the young prodigall in the Gospell met with but such callings are neither lawfull for him that liues by thē nor profitable for him that is fed vpon nor honest before God or men And therefore these voces ad placitum that were all borne in the Familie of Gnatho must take heede lest their merry laughing and lying trade of flatterie though it were alwaies quaestus multo vberimus since the begining of the world when Pride first infected our soules to these later times wherein it is prophecied that men should be more then ordinary louers of thmselues and proud boasters be not onely in conclusion punisht with Seuerus his smoake that stifled a Flatterer to death with this derisory motto Fumo perijt qui fumos vēdidit but with Gods fire to which will reward it with the same fire it was kindled with Iames 3. 6. Others spend their liues in Callings ciuilly lawfull but such as are neyther profitable for the Common-wealth nor before God iust and honest Such was the Trade of Demetrius the Siluer-Smith in the 19. of the Acts that made siluer shrines for the worship of the goddesse Diana that is Little temples of siluer in which the image of Diana sate as it did in the great Temple and such are all those curious puppet-dressing trades that serue for nothing else but young Ladies Gallants to dresse and pride themselues vp in the superfluous vanity of ouer-rich and fashionable apparell fit indeede for the corruption of the time but vnfit for vncorrupted persons contrary to the Apostolicall Canon 1. Tim. 2. 9. and the will of God Zephany 1. 8. And among the crowde of this ranke wee may thrust in our idle Pamphleters loose Poets no better then the Priests of Venus with the rabble of Stage-players and Balleters and circumferaneous Fidlers and Brokers all which if they were cleane taken out of the world there would bee little misse of
the wordes of their Prophecie and that Christs Church may see this truth Christ sends out into the whole earth these seauen guifts of his Spirit as Lamps to giue Light both to his Prophets and Apostles So that if any Spirit of Antichrist obtrude vpon the Catholique Church any other witnesses or blinde Light of gouernment interpretation besides these or think that Christ sent his seuen spirits forth into Rome not forth into the whole earth it is to be held a Spirit of Error and not of Truth But to close vp this generall shadow of the Prophets which I haue vnawares vnfolded beyond my first purpose and to open the particular substance of their seuerall Prophecies we shall find thē all so signally point at our Sauiour that if Moses veyle were not taken frō his face and layd vppon their hearts if they did not by a wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the olde Prophecies set the last comming of our Sauiour in glory before his first in humility that so they might grow proud by him who would first learne them to be humble Learne of me for I am humble they could not but now at length see him to be the Glory of Israel who hath beene so long a time already the Light of the Gentiles all the Circumstances of his Birth the Miracles Offices Doctrine and Humilitie of his life the causes manner and other cōcurrences of his death the Place of his buriall and the assurance of his rising againe being so cleerely praeassigned by their owne former Prophets liuing so long before Let vs therefore diligently search into III. The seuerall Prophecies concerning the Birth Life Death and Resurrection of the Sauiour of the world FIrst that his Mother should be a Virgin was foretold Isay 7. 14. and we shal finde it Mat. 1. 18. fulfilled Beholde a Virgin shal conceiue which the Iews most sillily translate a young woman as Trypho the Iew in his disputatiō with Iustin Martyr and Aquila and Theodotion both Iewish Proselites in their Translations But as Iustin replies it were no wonder for a young woman to conceiue whereas the Prophet speaks of it as a wonder Behold the Lord himselfe will giue you a signe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as your ancient Septuagint saith the Father reads it and not as your idle Rabbies newly translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold a young woman shall conceiue making that a very strange wonder then which nothing is more common and vsuall Besides to speake in grammer property 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alma signifieth neyther a Virgin simply nor yet a young woman but one betweene both a Virgin already espoused but not married such as Mary was to Ioseph such as Rebecca was to Isaac when she veyled her face at his sight Gen. 24. 65. and is therefore deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to veyl or hide This being the maiden ceremony of the olde world for Virgins after they had once made choice of their husband to couer their faces to be Nuptae before they were Maritae veyled from al other before they married their owne man The husbands being to become the veyle of her eyes as Abimelech speaketh of Abraham to Sarah Behold he is the veyle of thine eies And this was Gods owne Argument to prooue our Sauiour his Son the Messias Gen. 3. 15. Ier. 31. 22. and in the place now cited And as the person of his Mother so the person of his Messenger was as disertly fore-told by the Prophets Esay 40. 3. Malach the 3. 4. chapters and fulfilled by Iohn the Baptist Luke the 4. who is therefore called Eliah not because he was to be person aeliter but onely personate being to come in the spirit of Eliah and in the manner of his life Eliah fasted often so did Iohn Eliah was girt with a leather girdle so was Iohn Eliah spake all his Prophesie writ none so did Iohn Eliah reproued the people openly to their faces so did Iohn Eliah was sent to renew the worship of God then defaced and changed so was Iohn Eliah told Ahab and Iesabell of their faults plainely so did Iohn Herod and Herodias painted Iesabel sought Eliahs life to slay him dancing Herodias sought and obtained the life of Iohn and slew him So that in his place and apparell in his manners and Prophecies in the prosecution of his life and persecution at his death Iohn though he were not Eliahs persō yet did throughly personate Eliah And this was Iohns crying Argument to proue our Sauiour the Messias The voyce of a Cryer in the wildernes prepare ye the way of the Lord saith Esay Who art thou say the Iewes to Iohn The voyce of a Crier in the Wildernesse prepare yee the waies of the Lord saith Iohn to the Iewes But our Sauiour as he had two Natures so hee had two Messengers Iohn was a burning shining Light on Earth but the Starre burned shined to giue him Light from Heauen A Starre shall come out of Iacob saith Balaam Num. 24. 17. Where is the King of the Iewes saies the Wise men for we haue seene his starre are come to worship him Mat. 2. 2. And this is the heathen mans argument that so much troubled Herod and all Hierusalem with him Now if we search diligently eyther the time when this starre first appeared or the place whether it led the Wise men after it had brought them out of their owne Countrey was it not in the time of the first Herod Luke 3. 1. when the Scepter was departed from Iudah Gen. 49. 10. And the Land was forsaken of both her Kings Esay 7. 16. And this was olde Iacobs argument to proue Iudahs sonne the Messias The Scepter shal not depart from Iudah till Shiloh that is his Sonne come And went it not with them directly to a little Bethleem foretold by Micah the 5. the 2. and in the 2. and 5. of Mathew interpreted by the chiefe Priests and Scribes and people all gathered together at the commmand of Herod to this very purpose who making this quiry Where Christ stould be borne receiued this answere In Bethleem of Iudah And thou Bethleem art not the least among the Princes of Iudah for out of thee shall come the Gouernour that shall rule my people Israell And this was the Argument of all our Sauiours enemies met together against him Herods the chiefe Priests the Scribes and the Peoples to proue him the Messias Wee might now take our Sauiour out of the Cradle of his birth and looke vpon him in the Miracles Offices Doctrine and Humanity of his Life all which wee shall finde curiously foretold by Moyses Dauid Esay Zachary and witnessed not onely by the mouthes of Children and Wise men but forcibly arrested by the Peoples Pilates and the voyce of the very Diuells themselues crying Wee know thee what thou art euen the Holy one of God but because the great Rocke of Scandall whereat both the obstinate Iew
all And this was Caiphas the High-priests blind argument to proue our Sauiour the Messias It is expedient that one man should dye for the people Iohn 11. 50. In a word his Buriall in the graue of rich Ioseph is foretould by Isay 53. He shall make his graue with the rich and his Resurrection by Dauid Psal 16. 10. Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy one to see corruption For God before had made his soule an offring for sinne as Esay tells vs 53. 10. And this was the great argument of the two great Apostles wherewith they conuerted both Iewe and Gentil to the faith of Christ Acts. 2. and 13. Chapters 800. at two sermons I will not adde to these Diuine Attestations the propheticall Acrostique of Sebyd Erythcaea cited by Constantin in his oration which he intitled ad Caetuâ—â— sanctorum the 18. Chapter and translated as he sayes by Tully before our Sauiour was borne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who I doubt not not but might Prophesie of Christ as Balaam did Nor the Aegyptian crosse which among their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diuine Hieroglyphicks signified Saluation as the heathen themselues confest out of Socrates in the 5. booke of his Ecclesiasticall story the 17. Chapter Nor th' illustrious report of Iosephus in th' 18. of his Antiquities both of our Sauiour and Iohn the Baptist which the Iewes ignorantly slaunder as inserted by the Christians mistaking this Iosephus the sonne Matathias who writ in Greeke for another Iosephus of theirs who writ in Hebrew the sonne of Gorion in whom indeed there is no such report Nor the wirtie but not so weighty Arguments of some of the Fathers As of Iustin Martyr who would needs perswade Trypho and his two fellowes that the holding of Moses Armes in the figure of a crosse and the spitting of the Paschalll Lambe with the two shoulders passant prefigur'd the crucifying of our Lord or of Irenaeus speaking of the incredulous Iew who should see our Sauiour the life of the world hang before his eyes and yet obstinate his heart in vnbeleefe out of the eight and twenty of Deut. Et erit vica â—ua pendens ante oculos tuos non credes vitae tuae lib. 4. aduersus Haereses cap. 23. But if any would lay the foundation of his faith wider and hope to himselfe more Arguments to ground his beleefe vpon Let him but aduisedly thinke with himselfe how it became the Sauiour of the world to liue and what other witnesses to beare him testimony of him and then let him adde to the prophesies of his death the innocence of his life For neuer any man liued as he liu'd which of you sayes our Sauiour as to all our enemies can accuse me of sinne And to the innocence of his life the Authoritie of his Doctrine Neuer man spake as this man does say the emissary scouts sent to apprehend him And to the Authoritie of his Doctrine the power of his miracles Wee neuer saw such things in Israel say all the people and to the miracles that hee wrought the miseries that he suffered Behold and see if there were euer griefe like my griefe may our Sauiour truely say of himselfe And to the miseries that he suffered himselfe the constancy of his Appostles and Primitiue Martyres that suffered for him Who who euer had such witnesses as to kindle other men into the same faith with them would set themselues on a light fire of zeale till they were consumed for the honour of their Lord So that the first Imperious Persecutour of the Christians Nero that in humane lumpe of crueltie whom Nature for hast might seeme onely to haue curded vp into a knot of bloud guest not much amisse when anoynting their bodies of the Christians he set them burning in euery street of Rome like so many Torches to giue light to the Cittie as Tacitus reportes in the 15. of his Annales For they gaue light indeed not for awhile onely to that heathenish Cittie but to the whole Christian world for euer after Neuer was there day kindled with halfe so many beames as that night was sure neuer was there night though all the Starres in Heauen should flame out in it to make it glorious that shone halfe so brightly as did this when to meet their Bridegrome in the first watch and morning of their Gospell so many early Virgins had lighted their Lampes And to these liuing Martyres let him adde two dead witnesses the voyce of the Sonne from heauen at his exspiration when the whole world lost the day at Noone the voyce of the Earth at his Resurrection when her mouth opened and let abroad so many Saintly bodies that awakned and leapt out of their graues to tell it in Ierusalem that Christ was risen O the Diuine vertue of this celesticall body If it die heauen that enlightens all extinguishes it selfe if it reuiue the dead worke of the Graue that receiues the dying excludes the liuing and like the barren wombe of Sarah is alust to bring forth the Children of promise in testimonie of the secret influence of life it felt after Christ had layen with her And thus it became the Sauiour of the world to liue thus to be borne thus to die againe these witnesses became him these Miracles And therfore giue me leaue to vse first IIII. A free Reprehension of all fashionable Aggrippaes in faith and farther motiues to winne them to become through beleeuers AFter the voyce of so many Prophesies witnesses art thou yet an Infidell O that there were not in Christs militant Church as there were in Othoes military Campe so many men so few Soldiers so many professors so few Christians Let me but aske thee as St. Paul did Agrippa Beleeuest thou the Prophets and I would I could say as he does I know thou beleeuest but I feare I may better say as the Prophesie it selfe speakes Who hath beleeued our report And what might the reason be of so much infidelitie among so many beleeuers of vs that so many with the Roman Soldiers should kneele downe to Christ and by an open professioÌ„ of their mouthes say to him Hayle King of the Iewes with the smooth voyce of Iacob and yet with their practise and rough hands of Esau smite him on the head face and crucifie him Is it not because they liue neither as iust men by Faith nor as wisemen by reason but wholy by sence so ignorant are they like bruit Beasts before God beleeuing only what they see quae sunt ante pedes as the Oratour speakes what they must needes stumble vpon with their eyes and no more Well hast thou both thine eyes out of Faith and Reason giue me thy hand O thou reasonable Beast and follow me with that one blind eye of Sence that thou hast left thee Thou wilt not beleeue in Christ because thou didst not see the former Prophesies foretoulde of him fulfilled by