distant the one from the other the one in heaven the other on the earth God would have his image placed in the two extremities of the world as in two several Tables He hath placed the one in the highest story of the Universe the other in the lowest the one at the centre the other in the circumference To the end that on what part soever our soul casteth the eye be it on heaven or on earth we may contemplate God himself in the one or the other of these two kindes of creatures which bear his image What ought to be gathered from this That God imposed names upon the day the night the heavens the earth the sea yet hath given no general name to signifie the whole world God hath given particular names to all the great pieces of the Universe Gen. 1.5 8 10. but hath not given a name to all of it together Likewise the Hebrew Tongue in which God pronounced his first Oracles never nameth the world in one onely word but expresseth always either the heaven or the earth or both of them together when it would say the world I passe by the question Why in the Creation God hath not given a word which should universally signifie this whole bulk in which is comprehended the entire assembly of all his works But we are to learn by his example still to make a difference between heaven and earth The earth in which man was made the heaven for which he was made Without this distinction it is impossible to know what is the world Whence cometh it that the spirit of man is pleased with variety Not onely the Spirit but also the Senses the Sight especially the Taste love variety This instinct proceedeth from a secret intelligence The wisedom of God could not well be taken notice of but in a great diversity of works of matters and forms different unlike yea oft times contrary in qualities motions and circumstances Hence it is that it hath brought forth so many kindes of food so many of savours so many of colours and generally so great a variety of objects as well for the Senses as the Spirit Now to the end that man should study them to know the perfections of their authour God hath given that curiosity to invite him to passe from one object to another as by change of Lecture which ought to render him more knowing Of the Providence of God Why the Scripture oftener nameth the Hand or the Arm of God then the Heart of God VVE see better the works of his hand then the intentions of his heart His works and actions are perceptible to our eyes but the reasons are for the most part hidden from our souls and inclosed in the brest of that great Worker For Who hath known the minde of the Lord Hence it cometh that himself speaking unto us oftener mentioneth his Hand of which we see the effects then his Heart of which we know not the secrets Of the fundamental Law of the Creation and of the excellent instructions which issue from it In the Creation God hath formed the principles of all Laws yea the Creation is a Law visible and speaking If it were well considered many questions would be cleared which remain undecided and many opinions against which we dispute would not â—eed any other confutation then what is found written in this primitive Law I speak not of that which is well known unto all to wit That by this Law it is forbidden to pervert the order established from the beginning to separate what God hath joyned or joyn together what God hath separated Hence it cometh to passe that the Scripture condemneth Polygamie because God created but one wife for Adam Hence also proceedeth the superiority of the man over the woman because he was first created of them 1 Tim. 2. By this Law of the Creation it is forbidden to multiply the number of species which God hath created at the beginning or to confound them one with another Hence it cometh that the Scripture hath noted with infamy him that first invented the procreation of mules a bastard kinde which God created not Gen. 36.24 By the same Law it is forbidden to destroy a whole species of what creature soever even of those that are most contrary to man It was in the power of Noah when he had within the Ark Tygers Vipers and other pernicious creatures to destroy them to cause the whole breed to be lost for then there were no more of them in the world But it was not permitted to him rather to the contrary he had order to preserve them It is lawful for us to destroy the particular of such kindes but not to proceed to a suppression of the whole kinde though it lay in our power for this were to tear out a leaf of that great Book which containeth the catalogue of the works of the Creation By the same Law it is impossible to reduce any creature to nothing that is to say to make it simply nothing One matter may be changed into another as a living body is resolved into dust but it never cometh to be nothing The Church of Rome doth not formally say that the bread wine are annihilated in the Eucharist but it saith that they vanish without withdrawing themselvs to some other place without entering into the body of Christ without being turned into any other matter Now according to these suppositions it is necessary that the bread and wine be annihilated and come to nothing But this pretended annihilation is contrary to the fundamental Law of the Creation It is impossible and unlawful It is impossible for as God alone had the power to create all things out of nothing so he alone can reduce any thing to nothing It is unlawful for God himself though he can yet never did annihilate any of his creatures no not the devils O Eternal God all thy works subsist by thee If thou withdrawest thine hand they will fall into nothing but if thou sendest forth thy Spirit they shall be as of new created How many times the general order of the world hath been interrupted since the Creation Three times it hath had an interruption to wit twice in heaven once on the earth In heaven when the Sun and the Moon were stayed in the time of Joshua and again when the Sun went backward in the days of Hezekiah For these two wonders changed the measures of the day and night prolonging the light in one half of the world and the darknesse in the other beyond their times In the earth also when the waters of the Deluge made it not habitable for the space of a whole yeer and in the six later months of that yeer there was neither born nor died any humane creature nor any beast of the earth nor fowl of the air God having for a time suspended both birth and death For no creature either was born or died within the Ark. An example of instructions wherewith the
nameth the number of young people raised from the dead is greater then that of aged persons of whom we have none but Tobitha and it may be him that was raised in the grave of Elisha Now this also is a short table or patern of the great Resurrection which is to be at the last Day For that shall raise far more young people then old This needeth no demonstration The number of them that die young hath still surpassed the number of them that die old How many human creatures die in their childhood or in their growth or in the flower of their age Those that go beyond all those first seasons of their life and arrive as far as the last are very few in comparison of them whom death intercepteth in the way As therefore the number of the younger sort is the greater among the dead so also it shall be the greater in the Resurrection of the dead And to represent this to us God would by a mysterious Preludium raise more of young people then of old Of the first Resurrection and of the second death mentioned Revel 20. And from whence those terms are extracted THis passage hath divers difficulties For it speaketh of a term of a thousand yeers during which the Saints must raign with Christ It is also said that the rest of the dead are not to rise till those thousand yeers be accomplished and this is the first Resurrection Concerning which the Expositours both ancient and modern have very different opinions And many renewing the opinion of the Millenaries figure to themselves a bodily Resurrection of the faithful which they believe must precede by many ages the Resurrection of other men Now I will not contradict the common exposition which beareth that by the first Resurrection is meant the Regeneration by which we rise again into newnesse of life And by the second Death that which is otherwise called eternal But that which I have to observe here is that these terms the first Resurrection the second death carry with them an excellent allusion which is not considered though it be very visible and that it giveth abundance of light in the obscurity of this text This therefore is to be noted that according to the literal construction of these words there are two Resurrections The one which is or already hath been performed in this world the other which is to be at the last day The one is particular the other is universal Now this is true historically and really For Lazarus Eutychus Tabitha and divers others mentioned in Scripture have been already raised once this is the first Resurrection and shall yet be raised once more to wit in the end of the world with the rest of the dead So that they have two Resurrections having already passed thorow the first This allusion is extended yet farther It is said touching them that have part in this first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them Upon which it is to be considered that it is never said that Lazarus or any of all them which were raised from the dead died the second time It is very true that they died again for Christ is the first of them that rose to immortality Neverthelesse the Scripture which is so exact to set down all that which is worthy of consideration never relateth the second death of them which have been raised no not of one of them It did import as it should seem to know so much the consequents and the effects of the divine power which restored them to life that we should know whether they lived any long time after they were raised from the dead Yet their second death is not read in the Scripture A silence so constant and universal as well in the one as the other Testament is not without some great ground I think therefore that this omission is mysterious as divers others which are seen in the Scripture There is no doubt but that Melchizedek died as well as other men Yet as every one knoweth he is said to be without end of life Heb. 7.3 That is to say in as much as he is presented as such in the holy History the which reciteth not either the birth or the decease of this person but rather produceth him as a man eternal Accordingly howsoever those that have been raised have been returned to the grave yet this is not expressed The Scripture after having raised them leaveth them as living for ever without ever saying that they died afterward So that their second death is not found Where therefore it is spoken Revel 20. of those which have part in the first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them it is evident that this expression is drawn from the history of them whom we read to have been raised from the dead which is the first Resurrection but we read not that they died the second time Thus the Spirit of God draweth matters Historical to frame the images of future events which it setteth to view in Prophecies This Book of the Revelation is all composed of such pictures whereof the stuff and colours are borrowed of that which hath come to passe really according to the letter but animated with a spiritual and mystical sense For it doth not follow that that which is literally in History ought to be understood literally in Prophecie On the contrary it representeth one thing by another quite different though there be a resemblance of one to the other These Prophetick terms that the second death hath no power over them which have a part in the first Resurrection expresse formally the history of Lazarus and the rest which already have had one Resurrection which we read not to have been followed by a second death Shall we therefore yet expect that some shall be raised before the last Day yea a thousand yeers before By the same reason it will be requisite that we expect two men which shall have power to shut up heaven to hinder that it rain not to turn waters into blood to smite the earth with all plagues to consume their enemies with fire coming forth of their mouth Revel 11.5 6. But this if we take it literally is as absurd as if we would make Moses and Elias to come again for this Prophecie is moulded upon their history By the same reason we must imagine Jaspers Amethysts Emeralds in the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21. where the magnificence of it is represented under the figure of those precious stones which were set in the brestplate of the High-Priest Exod. 28. And by the same reason we must rebuild the Altar and Temple of Jerusalem which represent the Christian Church Revel 11. Everlasting life The first and the last of all Miracles THe first Miracle that came to passe after the Creation is as I have already said the translation of Enoch And the last Miracle which shall be wrought in the world shall be the translation of the faithful which
among them which have relation more to the subject of which we treat If we speak of him who hath saved us the name of Jesus is appropriate to him If the question be of the means by which he hath saved us they are comprised under the name of Christ If we mention his Commandment we should say This is the Ordinance of the Lord. If we consider him as authour of the communion which we have with his Father there presenteth it self to us the title of the Son of God There are also other subjects to every one of which there may be referred one or more of these titles It will be said upon this The Scripture it self doth not observe these distinctions useth these names indifferently upon every occasion Now I confesse that in so great a multitude of passages of the New Testament in which these names are repeated it is impossible to say why one is rather expressed then the other Yet there are some reasons And then when all these names or the greater part of them are found joyned together it is to expresse the plenitude and perfection of him to whom all these titles appertain In the History of the Gospel he is almost everywhere called Jesus without other epithet or attribute because this was the onely name which men gave him while he conversed in the world The man whom they call Jesus said the man that was born blinde Joh. 9.11 Sometimes the Apostles themselves call him Jesus of Nazareth but this is when they speak to the Jews who called him so This language would not be so convenient at this day I passe by a question which might be moved Why the Apostle Philip. 2. saith that every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus And why he doth not say at the name of Jesus Christ nor at the name of the Lord Jesus A reason might be given But for the rest We adore not the syllables but him that is represented by that name And the Name of Christ or the Name of the Son of God are no lesse venerable then then the Name of Jesus But I am to make an observation against the ordinary practice of Christians and of the greater part of Preachers themselves When they pronounce the name of Christ alone this is either by way of abbreviation or else by way of custom without thinking whether it be to purpose to say onely Christ or to say Jesus Christ or Our Lord Jesus Christ It is therefore to be noted that when the Scriptures speak of his sufferings and his death ordinarily they give him none other then the onely name of Christ Christ is dead Christ hath suffered It was necessary that Christ should suffer The sufferings of Christ c. This may be forasmuch as the name of Christ includeth that of Priest which is the quality in which Christ offered himself to death The Apostle Rom. 6.8 11. saith that we are dead with Christ but living in Jesus Christ our Lord. I know that there may be opposed some exceptions yet in every one of them there is a particular cause why one of those Names is rather used then another I will produce one example There is no man that thinketh he speaketh amisse when he saith The Supper of Christ or The Supper of Jesus Christ And of a truth this is not an heresie but neverthelesse it is an impropriety For if we will speak according to the Scripture we should say The Supper of the Lord not The Supper of Jesus Christ This is a particularity remarkable that in the whole description of the Supper exhibited by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. and in all the discourse which he maketh of this subject and the authour of it he never giveth other name then that of The Lord. The Supper of the Lord I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto you The Lord in the right in the which he was betraid took bread You shew the Lords death The cup of the Lord The body and blood of the Lord Not discerning the body of the Lord. I forbear to speak why in all this deduction the name of Christ is not once mentioned and that of the Lord is continually expressed But this example teacheth us that we ought to use discretion even then when we pronounce the titles of him to whom God hath given a name above every name Wherefore Jesus who received the Sacraments as well of the one as the other Testament had not that external Anointing which was given to Prophets Priests and Kings He received the Sacraments common to the whole Church to shew among many other reasons the communion which we have with him And for other causes he would not have that material Unction which was particular to certain persons Not the Royal anointing which was a mark of a temporal dominion whereas the Kingdom of Christ is of another nature Not the Priestly that was for Aaron for the Priesthood of Christ is not of that order but according to the Order of Melchizedek Not the Prophetical for when one Prophet anointed any other to be a Prophet by this action he declared him his successour So Elâ—sha was anointed to succeed Elijah But our Soveraign Prophet who preceded all the Prophets succeeded none of them and therefore ought not to receive their Unction Whence cometh it that divers discourses uttered by Jesus Christ seem to be without method And an admirable secret which ought to be observed The History of the Gospel reciteth unto us divers Sermons other excellent discourses which Jesus Christ made when he conversed among men Now we may observe that in the same discourse Jesus Christ passeth oftentimes from one matter to another which is very far distant and seemeth to be quite beside the subject It seemeth to us to see pieces brought from several places ill joyned and without any dependance or tie one with another Expositours labour hard to finde the contexture thereof but their ordinary Logick which they bring with all their Analyses can never attain it I passe by that Jesus Christ preaching had the perfection of Divinity We have but the shreds of this Science a little scantling of this great piece and some few drops of that Ocean but in Christ are inclosed all the treasures of wisdom Now he had the entire body and we have but a few parcels so his style hath other rules and other measures then ours But behold the secret which we ought here to consider Jesus Christ saw the thoughts and the hearts of those to whom he spake If an Oratour had this advantage to see the thoughts of them that hear him he would apply himself to them rather then to the ordinary rules of his Rhetorick which knoweth not this method This desultory style which we see in the discourses of Jesus Christ hath been often occasioned by the thoughts of his hearers According as these were formed in them he addressed himself to them and according as others thoughts
with sleep If he give hearing to the deaf it is after having fetched a deep sigh If he cure him that was born blinde it is after having made clay of his spittle If he cause the figtree to be dried up the occasion of it is the hunger that pressed If he raise Lazarus from death it is after having groned and wept Finally if he cause the earth to tremble if he rend the rocks if he open the sepulchres it is after having given up the ghost In the most glorious demonstrations of his Deity and even before he bringeth them forth he would have us to see that he was truely Man Of an admirable harmony which is found between the three periods of the three fourteens numbred in the first chapter of Saint Matthew The Evangelist beginneth at those generations that descended from Abraham to Christ and at first presenteth to our sight a long rank of Patriarchs and Kings which enrich the frontispice of the New Testament as so many speaking statues so many precious stones set in the brestplate or so many stars that went before the coming of the Sun of righteousnesse All these generations are divided into three fourteens every one of which endeth in some remarkable change For we know that Saint Matthew reckoneth from Abraham to David fourteen generations from David to the Captivity fourteen generations from the Captivity unto Christ fourteen generations The first fourteen therefore ended in David in whom began the Kingdom of Judah the Tribe from whence our Lord sprang The second ended at the Captivity of Babylon which overthrew the Throne of David The third and last ended in Jesus Christ himself who reestablished that Kingdom and concludeth the Genealogies So these three periods have three limits which are 1. David 2. The Captivity of Babylon 3. Jesus Christ Now that which I have to note here is that the life of David who endeth the first fourteen was of seventy yeers The Captivity of Babylon in which was accomplished the second fourteen was of seventy yeers And the time current from the nativity of Christ who boundeth the last fourteen and all the Genealogies to the ruine of Jerusalem in which perished the registers and catalogues of the families of the Jews was seventy yeers For the most exact Chronologie placeth the destruction of Jerusalem presently after the seventieth yeer of Jesus Christ So that the divine providence hath measured Seventy yeers for the life of David from whom Christ was to descend Seventy yeers for the Captivity of Babylon Seventy yeers after the birth of Jesus Christ for the verification of his genealogie in the registers of the Jews An admirable conformity which sheweth among so many lights all of them celestial that never other spirit then that of God could have dictated the Scriptures Two notable preludiums of the birth of Jesus Christ and the agreement of the one with the other Two women brought forth children beyond their age of childbearing and beyond likelihood The one in the Old Testament to wit Sarah the other in the New to wit Elizabeth The one the wife of him who first used Circumcision the other the mother of him who first administred Baptism which succeeded Circumcision God would that Isaac and John the Baptist should be born of mothers who were past the yeers of having children This was to prepare the souls of men to attend yet a greater miracle to wit a man born of a Virgin The shadow then of this mystery passed first by the Old Testament in Isaac afterward to the New in the person of John the Baptist whose birth was immediately followed by that of Jesus Christ God hath never published by miracles the birth of any person except that of Jesus Christ Some few to wit Ishmael Isaac Samson John Baptist have had this honour that their birth hath been foretold and promised by the mouth of Angels but when they have been come into the world none Angel hath published their nativity This glory was reserved for the Saviour of the world whose birth being come to passe as it had also been promised by the Angels so beyond that it hath been published and solemnized by them with applause and great expressions of joy Luke 2. This happie birth hath been also followed by another signe from heaven by the apparition of that star which carried the news as far as the East and served as a guide to the wise men Never the nativity of any other hath been proclaimed or celebrated by miracles This also hath been particular to Jesus Christ Wherefore hath not the Scripture set down the day of the Nativity of Jesus Christ It is not mine aim here to report the divers opinions of them who have searched in what season of the yeer in what month and in what day our Saviour was born Some place his birth according to the common opinion at the Winter-Solstice others in the Autumnal Equinoctial others in that of the Spring and all have nothing but conjectures more ingenuous then concluding For the History of the Gospel by its silence hath left this point in question Now this is it which I will at this present consider to wit Why none of the Evangelists nor other of the sacred Writers have set down a day so remarkable the day I say of the Nativity of our Saviour This is so much the more strange because the Scripture sheweth us the days of divers occurrences which are of lesse consideration It marketh the month and the Day on which the Deluge began the Day on which the Ark rested upon the mountains of Armenia the Day on which the waters were dried from the earth the day on which Noah began to set foot again on the earth afterward the Day on which the Israelites went up out of Egypt the Day of the deliverance of the Jews in the Book of Esther the Day on which the Temple was burned by the Babylonians Wherefore hath it not also set down the day on which Jesus Christ was born It might also be asked why the holy History mentioneth the time of the yeer and the Day of the death of Christ that of his resurrection that of his ascension and never mentioneth either the Day or the season of the yeer of his nativity To say that the Evangelists were ignorant of it or that they had forgotten it or that they were silent through inadvertency or that they neglected it as being not at all considerable this would be to run into a thousand absurdities easie to be confuted There must therefore be other reasons of this silence and something that is mysterious Now I vaunt not my self to have found out the depth onely I will touch the superficies We are therefore to note as a Maxime that the Scripture never setteth down the Birth-Day of any Person It speaketh of the Birth of many it rehearseth their genealogies it reckoneth their yeers and other particularities but never speaketh on what Day they were born We finde that
and satisfied thousands of men But when himself was pressed with hunger and had addressed himself to the fig tree which had no fruit he caused none to be brought forth though he could have done it forthwith So he endured the wearinesse of the way Joh. 4.6 although he might have caused himself to have been carried by Angels or lifted up by the Spirit as Philip afterward was Acts 8.39 40. In sum he never used Miracles for his own refreshment As he came for others so all his Miracles have been for others And this is one part of his annihilation of himself that using his miraculous power for the refreshment of others he never used it for his own Why the Son of God after he was raised from the dead ceased from healing the sick Our Lord being in the world healed corporal maladies so long as he himself was burdened with our infirmities that is to say before his Resurrection After that he was raised from death he remained upon the earth fourty days conversed with men wrought divers Miracles but healed not any that was sick This is not because his power was impaired since it was become more glorious nor that he had lesse charity then afore-time nor that there wanted those that were sick in Israel But that he healed no more was because he had appropriated that kinde of Miracles to the time of his humiliation Wherefore the Scripture Matth. 8.17 rehearsing his curing of divers sick men saith that by such acts was verified that Prophecie that saith that he took our infirmities and bare â—ur sicknesses For that place setteth them down as terms equivalent as far as concerneth bodily infirmities to have undergone them in his person or to have healed them in others for he never wrought these miraculous cures but so long as himself was capable of infirmity Of the Tears of Christ in the days of his Flesh VVE read not that he wept till within a few days before his death and it seemeth that he became every day more sensible of our miseries according as he tried them by experience more and more The Scripture spareth not to say that he learned obedience by those things which he suffered Heb. 5.8 Thrice we read that he wept The first time for one man the second for one nation and the third for all Mankinde For one man when he wept over the Sepulchre of Lazarus for one nation when he wept over Jerusalem foreseeing the ruine of it and the desolation of the whole people of the Jews for all mankinde then when he offered up with strong crying and tears prayers and supplications to him who could save him from death Heb. 5.7 Christ condemned by Pilate A Consideration why the names of divers wicked men are set down in the history of the Passion of Christ SOmetimes the Scripture expresseth the name of a man who seemeth to be of little importance and sometimes it suppresseth the name of another which should be more considerable It tells us the name of the robber whom the Jews preferred before Jesus Christ when Pilate gave them the choice to release to them one of the two Yet it nameth not the thief which was converted although that it should seem that his name ought rather to be mentioned then that of the other Now setting aside the reasons of this silence we will retain this that when the Scripture expresseth the name of a wicked man this is not always onely to set down the circumstances of the History but often for other causes Among all the wicked men which are comprised in the History of the Passion there are seven marked by their names Judas Annas and Caiaphas Malchus Herod Barabbas and Pontius Pilate Now it seemeth that the Scripture which reciteth how all sorts of men contributed to the death of Christ would also name one of every condition One of the houshold of Christ One High Priest and another inferiour One servant One King One Judge yea one thief This doth not exclude the particular reasons for which every one of these men aforesaid hath his name in this History It importeth that Malchus who was none other then a servant was named as well as Caiaphas and Barabbas as well as Pilate though the one be more considerable then the other The name of the Romane Empire hath intervened both in the birth and death of Christ The Edict of Cesar who caused the inrolment mentioned Luke 2 served to prepare the place where Christ ought to be born and the authority of Cesar served to procure the death which Christ ought to die It was requisite that all the mysteries of the Redemption should be fulfilled in that time in which this great Monarchy commanded in Judea yea it was requisite that it should be one of the instruments even in acts quite contrary It lodged Christ coming into the world and afterward caused him to go out of the world It provided a Cradle for his Birth and afterward the Crosse for his Death The Death and Burial of CHRIST Four glorious occurrences distant many ages one from the other and coming to passe on the like day THe calling of Abraham when God drew him from Ur of the Caldeans The going of the Israelites out of Egypt after having kept the Passeover The Decree of the restauration of Jerusalem mentioned by the Angel to Daniel chap. 9.25 And finally the death of Christ are four points of an high consideration and admirable in their correspondencies Now although they are separated the one from the other by divers so long distances in regard of yeers yet they all meet together in the same day The History teacheth us that the Israelites went out of Egypt within that proper day and the same night in which came to be expired the four hundred and thirty yeers which had past after the calling of Abraham That calling then came to passe on the same day Exod. 12. The day also of the death of Christ which is that of the Passeover doth concur with the other and the same day according to the best computation ended the seventy weeks of Daniel whence it followeth that they began on the same day the day on which went forth the Decree to rebuild the holy City This wonderful concurrence presenteth to our eyes Jesus Christ dying on the same day on which Abraham departed out of Caldea that Israel went out of Egypt and that the Decree was pronounced to raise again the walls of Jerusalem Thus the death of Christ extendeth it self as far as those ages that have past long before it and his Day is found also within the fairest days of the Patriarchs An advertisement touching the Name of Altar improperly ascribed to the Crosse I repeat now what I have said in another Treatise There is nothing more ordinary in this subject then to hear named The Alter of the Crosse under the pretext that Jesus Christ was offered on the Crosse But it followeth not that the Crosse had the place
or quality of an Altar in this Oblation Neither doth the Scripture ever call it so although it speaketh so often of the Crosse and of the Sacrifice of Christ Let it not displease so many learned men who have authorized this vulgar phrase That Christ was offered on the Altar of the Crosse The Crosse was not the Altar of this incomparable Sacrifice The name of Altar is of greater importance then many men consider This is an irrefragable Maxime That the Altar is greater then the Offering in as much as it is the Altar which sanctifieth the Offering Matth. 23.19 Whence would follow that which none should dare to think that the Crosse should be more excellent then the Body of Jesus Christ yea that it had sanctified it All that can be said when the name of Altar is given to the Crosse is this that it is not understood so in effect but onely by way of similitude or allusion But such a similitude transferreth to the Crosse a title which appertaineth to none but Christ for on the Crosse himself was the Altar the Sacrifice and the Priest altogether Under the Law these were different things because one of these figures alone could not represent Christ in all these three qualities but in him they are found united and no creature hath had part in this honour Why then should we communicate it to the wood of the Crosse Either this phrase hath helped toward the adoration of the Crosse or it hath proceeded from that Superstition or howsoever it be it hath been unwisely introduced without taking heed to the consequences which it draweth after it Why the Scripture speaketh of what matter the Crosse was made yet expresseth not the form of it It concerneth us to know that it was of wood This particularity should seem little considerable if the Apostle had not opened the mystery shewing that Christ hath delivered us from the curse insomuch as he was hanged on the tree because this kinde of death was cursed by the Law Deut. 20.23 Gal. 3.13 But for the structure of it of how many pieces it was composed how they were placed and in sum what figure it had this is that which the Scripture passeth under silence as not necessary The form which is commonly given to the Crosse is contradicted by the learned which represent it quite another We shall observe from hence that supposing we had the true figure of the Crosse and that it were an object of adoration as the Church of Rome teacheth this honour would not appertain to any but Crosses of wood for Jesus Christ was not crucified on a Crosse of stone or silver Neverthelesse they make Crosses of all things but this is to falsifie that of Christ under pretext to represent it None hath wrought Miracles at his death except the Son of God This is remarkable against the Jews Divers great servants of God have wrought Miracles in their life but never in their death Was there ever man at whose death appeared such wonders as at the death of Christ Whence cometh it that neither Moses nor Joshua nor Samuel nor Prophet nor King nor Patriarch hath wrought any Miracle dying And whence cometh it that this crucified having given up the Ghost rendeth the Veil of the Temple darkeneth the Sun cleaveth the Rocks shaketh the Earth and opened the Sepulchres The exploit of Samson dying howsoever prodigious yet it was not miraculous to speak properly nor doth it approach any thing neer to those great wonders which our Lord wrought in his death Wherefore is Jesus Christ the onely man among all men whose death hath been honoured with visible miracles if not to distinguish him from all other men by a mark so illustrious So as I have observed before as well the Birth as the death of Christ have been signalized by miracles and never any man whatsoever hath had the like honour Three signes from heaven exhibited in three several passages by the which Jesus Christ hath been declared publikely to be the Messiah In the course of the life of Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation we consider his Nativity his Baptism and his Death His Nativity in which he began to appear in the world His Baptism by which he entered into the functions of his Office And his Death by which he finished the work of the Redemption Every one of these mystries was immediately followed and overtaken by a signe from Heaven and that way shewed unto the world His Birth by the Star which carried the news as far as the East preceded by the acclamation of Angels publishing this happie Nativity His Baptism by the opening of the Heavens and the descent of the holy Ghost in the shape of a dove accompanied by the voice of God His Death by the miraculous darkning of the Sun which filled all the earth with darknesse When the Jews demanded that Jesus Christ should authorize his calling by some signe from Heaven they should have learned that which passed at his Birth and his Baptism and afterward they ought to have considered that which happened at his death They had then seen his calling attested by three signes from Heaven Why the High Priest who represented Jesus Christ never came neer to the dead and yet Jesus Christ did the contrary The Law forbade the High Priest to touch a dead corps yea to enter into any house in which there was one deceased yea to shew any signe of grief were it for his own father or mother Levit. 21.10 11. Whence it appeareth that if he found himself in any place where any person was at the point of death it behoved him to depart from thence immediately his presence being incompatible with that of a dead body But on the contrary Jesus Christ entered into the house where lay the dead body of the daughter of Jairus Himself took her by the hand He touched the Coffin of the young man of Naim that was carrying to the grave He shed tears over Lazarus already putrified These particuiars are more important then they seem to be Certainly the defiling which the Law findeth in dead bodies might bear a reflexion upon the Priest because he was not capable of removing the corruption of death But he which is able to give life unto the dead is above this Law and the reach of this infection Here is seen a notable difference The Mosaical Priesthood abandoneth the dead and leaveth them in their uncleâ—nnesse because it cannot remedy it But the true and eternal Priest because he raiseth the dead hath conversed with them and his touch hath restored their life He cometh to search us yea within our graves yea he guardeth our bones Why the fear of death was more excusable in the Saints of the Old Testament then it is now And why we ought not to imitate them in all that which have spoken concerning this subject We should finde it strange that the apprehension of a natural death should make a Christian to
that believed in him hath confessed that he saw him in glory after his Ascension 1 Cor. 9.1 and 15.8 The one is the first that sealed this truth with his blood The other is the last who had charge to publish it as having seen it after he had persecuted it All the other disciples saw Christ conversant on earth but these two onely have seen him raigning in heaven All the miraculous prerogatives which have been severally in divers Saints are found united in one onely Christ iâ— a soveraign degree Among the Saints divers have beet rendered famous Either by their miraculous birth as Isaac and John the Baptist Or by the Miracles which themselves wrought as Moses Elijah Elisha c. Or by the gift of Prophecie as Samuel Daniel c. Or by their Resurrection from the dead as Lazarus c. Or for having ascended into heaven as Enoch and Elijah But never had any man all these prerogatives together except the Son of God Some have had a miraculous birth or else have been Prophets which have not had the gift of Miracles Others have wrought Miracles so far as to raise the dead but themselves have not been raised Others have been raised from the dead but their bodies have not ascended into heaven but were returned once more unto the grave Others are ascended into heaven but they have no power to work upon them that are on the earth On the contrary one alone and the same Christ was conceived miraculously exercised the power of Miracles and that of a Prophet came back from the dead is ascended bodily into heaven and that which appertaineth to none other from above governeth the whole Church The same Christ surpasseth infinitely all the others in every one of those miraculous preeminencies which they have had Some were born of mothers which had passed the age of childbearing but Christ was born of a Virgin Some have been Prophets but Christ received not the Spirit by measure Some have had the gift of Miracles in certain occasions but Christ at all times had that power Some have been raised from death by some other but Christ raised himself Some have been lifted up into heaven but Chriâ—â— was carried thither by his own power And finally as he holdeth the firâ—â— place in all things he alone is set dowâ— at the Right Hand of God Of the last Judgement Why doth the holy History never say the God descended but onely where the bâ—sinesse hath been to do justice or to establish it and protect the innocent WHensoever God hath descended it hath been Either to publish Laws as those which he gave 〈◊〉 old to Israel Exod. 19.18 and 34.5 Or to appoint Judges as were read in Numb 11.17 Or to proceed against the guilty as the builders of Babel and the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 11.5 6 7. and 18.21 Or to give protection to Jacob going into Egypt Gen. 46.4 Or to do justice to the Hebrews which were oppressed by the Egyptians Exod. 3.8 Certainly the Scripture intended not to say that God descended locally yet so it is that he will one day really descend in the person of his Son Now forasmuch as he will not descend but to execute judgement all the other Descents which the Scripture attributeth to him meet in the same scope For it never representeth God coming from above but either to do Justice or to preserve it An observation upon the fâ—ur general Judgements mentioned in the Scriptures All the Judgements which God hath shewed or yet doth shew upon any parts of mankinde are but particulars There are four which have concerned or do concern all the generality The three first have already appeared and the fourth is at the door The first Judgement is that which God pronounced against Adam and his wife who represented all their posterity The second is that which caused all the inhabitants of the world except eight to perish by the waters of the Deluge The third is that which divided the society of men by the confusion of Tongues in Babel The fourth is that of the last Day The first Judgement deprived men of immortality and declared them subject to death which by power of it is come upon them successively The second caused all mankinde to die at one time reserving a very small number of persons The third brake off the communion which was among men bereaving them of their universal language and hindering them from understanding one another Now there are divers resemblances and differences between these three first Judgements which are past already and the fourth which is yet to come But we have onely to consider that in the first three God hath judged the living but at the last he shall judge both the living and the dead Upon this subject I am to propound the following Observation A wonderful Mystery which is seen in the several goings out of the three first men which God took out of the world The life of man hath two different issues Some going out of the world by a violent death others by a natural But those which shall be found alive when our Lord shall come to the last Judgement shall passe neither by the one nor the other of these two ways but by a third which shall be a sudden transmutation of their bodies by the which they shall become incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 So then there are three several kindes of issues ordained to men to dislodge out of this world some by one some by another to wit Violent death Natural death And the transmutation of them that shall be found alive at the day of Judgement Of these three ways the two first have been open to this day and are the ordinary passage of mortals The third is reserved for the last inhabitants of the world All these three several issues have been visibly marked out in the three first men that have parted out of this life for the first that dislodged was Abel the second was Adam the third was Enoch The first went out of the world by a violent death The second by a natural death The third by a change supernatural and miraculous These three went in this order and the one followed the other immediately among them whose departure is mentioned in the Scripture But they went by different ways which represented all those by which men were to passe after them For all those which shall go out of the world after these three first or who shall go out hereafter by which soever of these three ways go but in the footsteps of some one of these three forerunners who are in this regard an abridgement of all mankinde divided as in three bands And particularly as those who ought to passe by that above-named change to be translated from this life without seeing death shall be the last that dislodge so Enoch who represented them parted from this world the last of the three being preceded by Abel who died a violent death and
people since the yeer foregoing it is found that their number was yet justly and precisely six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty men In which is seen a proportion which God held in the multiplication of that people There is also observed a mystery in the exact number of the two and twenty thousand Levites which were then reckoned Numb 3.39 For the rest I contest not against the common opinion touching the hundred fourty and four thousand of the seventh of the Revelation that they ought to be taken for an indefinite number as well as the seven thousand which had not bowed the knee to Baal But it ought to be considered why the holy Ghost who speaketh nothing superfluous is not contented to have named the total sum of them that were sealed in Israel but also divideth it in twelve times twelve thousand distributed by equal portions among the twelve Tribes every one of which is mentioned the one after the other with the expression of its particular number For this sheweth that the number of the Elect and the multitude of Believers are measured by certain proportions which are known to him who is the Authour Certainly the resemblance of the seventy Disciples of Christ to the seventy Judges which were substituted to Moses and to the seventy children which Jacob had when he went down into Egypt is a line of this admirable symmetrie with the which God hath limited and proportioned the body of the Church Now this fortifieth that Maxime That the number of the Elect cannot suffer addition nor diminution And That Election proceedeth not from the will of the Elect but that of God which prevented them For can it be said that all the Elect from the beginning of the world to the end have agreed together to make a company composed precisely of a number certain and regular Of the small number of believers in the three several comings of the Son of God Resemblances on this subject When the Son of God came in the Spirit before the Deluge to preach to the men of that time the Church was found reduced into the sole family of Noah 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. When the Son of God came in the Flesh being made man there were but a few persons that were disposed to receive him And when he shall come finally in Glory shall he finde faith on the earth Luk. 18.8 As there were in the Ark seven creatures of every clean kinde so also there were not above seven that were clean in heart For of the eight which were preserved from the Deluge there was one which was impure to wit Cham. The number of the faithful was somewhat greater when Jesus Christ was born Neverthelesse the Scripture nameth but seven as the most notable to wit Joseph and the Virgin Simeon and Anna the Prophetesse Zacharias and Elizabeth his wife and John the Baptist their son who was born a little before Three several states of the Church in three several times and three several titles of it Before the Law the Church was to use this term Oeconomical Under the Law it was National And under the Gospel it is become Catholike or Universal It is known that God extended it by degrees At the beginning it consisted onely of families which were those of the Patriarchs and continued so till after the death of Joseph and his brethren Afterward these families being multiplied so far as to surpasse the number of the Egyptians it began to make the Body of a Nation and God imposed upon it Laws and Rules afterward gave it a Countrey where it might live apart Finally the Gospel being gone forth from thence and published thorow all the earth the Church hath been no more bounded within an enclosure of one people but of National which it was it is become Universal A difference between the Church of the Old Testament and that of the New iâ— regard of the Communion of thâ—se things which were ordained to sanctity The Law as it is sufficiently known distinguisheth the things that were onely holy or sanctified from those which were most holy that is to say which served also to sanctifie others For example the aromatical confection which was used for the anointing of the Priests Item all Expiatory sacrifices certain kindes of Oblations and the Altar which sanctified the Sacrifices all these things were called thrice holy Lev. 2.3 and 6.14 Num. 18.9 Exod. 28. Now it is to be observed that the Priests onely had the right of touching those things that were most holy This was a priviledge of their Office The people never touched the Altar never might use an ointment like that of the Priests nor might ever taste of any Sacrifice of Expiation as we shall see when we come to treat of the Supper of the Lord. In sum it is a Maxime That every thing which had the quality of most holy was interdicted to the people which in this regard had no communion with the Priests We go not about here to sound the depth of this mystery It sufficeth us to observe that the New Testament hath taken away this difference All Christians at this day are Priests all have received the Priestly Unction all have right to eat that which is most holy and which hath the power to sanctifie to wit the Expiatory Sacrifice that is the Body of Christ Thus the Communion of Saints is now more complete and more universal then it was under the Law Four several buildings of which God hath been the Architâ—ct representing severally the estate of the Church We finde four buildings of which God himself hath set down and ordered the structure The first is the Ark in which he preserved Noah during the Deluge The second is the Tabernacle which was built in the Desert about the which were encamped the Tribes The third is the Temple built upon a mountain where was held the general assembly of the people of God The fourth is the heavenly Jerusalâ—m described Rev. 21. But there is a great difference between these four buildings The first that is the Ark had no oother foundation then the waters upon which it floated The second to wit the Tabernaâ—le was truely placed upon the earth but it was ambulatory having no resting place as being composed of pieces that were taken down and transported from one place to another The third to wit the Temple was fixed founded upon a rock of strong matter that promised a long continuance But it was combustible and subject to be demolished As in effect it was twice overthrown from the top to the bottom But the fourth which is Jerusalem above builded by Gods own hand without any workman possesseth a firmnesse without shaking and a continuance without end This fourth building is the scope and perfection of the three foregoing the which having successively represented the Church in several degrees of weaknesse determine in this estate unmoveable in which it shall be being placed in heaven Why the most notable
in speaking of some it expresseth the Day of their death as we see in the history of the ten sons of Haman Esth 9. but of whomsoever it speaketh be they Patriarchs or Kings or private men or good or bad it never expresseth the Day of their Nativity though such a date may seem to import greatly the sacred Chronologie Now wherefore the Scripture never nameth the Day of the Birth of the children of Adam no nor one of them there is without doubt some reason though to us it be obscure But whatsoever that reason be the Birth Day of Jesus Christ is clouded in the same silence Wherefore Surely to the end that among other things which are common to him with the other children of Adam he might also be comprised among them in this point not to have his Birth-Day expressed in the holy History But what doth it concern us that this day is not expressed more then that of other men As much as it doth concern us that Jesus Christ hath been reckoned among sinners even from his Birth Neither doth it serve for an Objection that he hath been put into their rank more evidently when he was circumcised and when he underwent that purification which the Law imposed upon the first-born for this truth excludeth not others that second it though they be not founded upon expresse words of Scripture It is enough that they are implied This is out of doubt that the Scripture never said on what day a man was born It is also out of doubt that Jesus Christ is comprised in this universal rule The question is Wherfore If I have not found the true reason I have at the least pointed out a principle upon which it may be searched Adde to this that in stead of the Birth Day of Jesus Christ the Scriptures expresse that of his death That is among divers other reasons because he died on the same day on which Adam was created to wit the sixth day of the week The creation of the first Adam and the death of the second met in the same day The impurity of our birth which we have from the first had not been purged but by the death of the second Of the service which the Angels have done to the Son of God from his manifestation in the flesh until his Ascension Ten times they have served him in this space of time 1. They carried the message of his miraculous conception to the Virgin 2. They advertised Joseph whom the ignorance of this mystery had held perplexed 3. They published his birth unto the shepherds 4. They gave order to carry him into Egypt to avoid the fury of Herod 5. They had care to cause him to be brought back into Judea after the death of the tyrant 6. They accompanied him and ministred unto him after his temptation in the wildernesse 7. They comforted him in his agony in the garden 8. They rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre wherein he had been enclosed 9. They declared his resurrection 10. They instructed his disciples who looked up after him ascending into heaven that one day he would return Never did the Angels serve any person so often nor in so great a number of occurrences nor in so high charges nor through such diversity of means as they served the Son of God This also ought to be reckoned among the marks of the preeminence of our Lord. Of the Miracles which our Lord wrought so long as he conversed in the world Of the advantage of the New Testament above the Old in regard of the number of persons which have had the gift of Miracles IN all the extent of the Old Testament there are not above seven men to whom God gave the power of working Miracles Moses and his brother Aaron famous for the wonders wrought by them in Egypt in the Red-sea and in the wildernesse Joshua who stayed the Sun and Moon in their course Samuel who changed the whole face of the air in an instant affrighting Israel by thunders and miraculous rain 1 Sam. 12. A Prophet mentioned 1 King 13. who rent by his word alone the Altar set up against the Ordinance of God and scattered the ashes The same Prophet also healed the hand of Jeroboam which was dried up Elijah who shut and opened heaven caused fire to come down raised from death the son of the widow c. And lastly Elesha famous for divers great Miracles There have been none but these seven men upon whom this power hath been conferred The other Miracles which are recited in the Old Testament or which have gone before the coming of the Son of God have been wrought without the intervention of men There may be to speak this by the way some allusion or reference of the seven Angels of the Revelation working upon the Sun and upon all the elements to these seven men which have heretofore exercised this miraculous power But this matter concerneth not the present subject That which I have here to say is this That the New Testament hath been furnished with a greater number of persons endued with the power of Miraeles then the Old was yea with a very far greater number At one onely time the Lord ordained seventy men with power to heal the sick to cleanse the lepers to raise the dead to cast out devils to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the force of the enemy And this without reckoning the twelve principal disciples who were also provided of the same gift and those which afterward had it as Saint Paul and others I account this point among the advantages of the New Testament that in it the miraculous power of God hath raised so great a number of instruments in comparison of them which it employed for the Old Testament Wherefore till the coming of the Son of God there have passed many ages without that any person hath had the gift of Miracles The last of all those which wrought Miracles before the coming of our Lord was Elisha Now from Elisha till that time when the Son of God began to manifest his glory by Miracles there passed welnigh eight hundred yeers In so long an interval of yeers there was not found a person that had the gift of Miracles although many had that of Prophecie Certainly the wisdom of God would that this great length of time should serve to make them desire that which had not been seen after so many ages to wit Miracles wrought by the hand of man as afterward those that were spectatours glorified God that had done this honour unto men in giving them this power Matth. 9.8 That it should dispose their spirits to the expectation of the Messiah who was to come with miraculous works That it should serve to make them the better to weigh the importance of his Miracles after so long a surcease of the gift of Miracles And lastly that which is the principal that it should serve to distinguish him from other