Psalme the holy ghost very sweetly and comfortably setteth forth Christes ascension glorification and ample kingdome saying thus All people clap your handes sing loud vnto God with a ioyful voice for the lord is high and terrible a great king ouer all the earth God is gone vp with triumph euen the Lord with the soundes of the trumpet Sing prayses to God sing praises sing praises to our king sing praises For god is the king of all the earth Sing prayses euery one that hath vnderstāding God raigneth ouer the heathen God sitteth vpō his holy throne In this Psalme all nations are stirred vp to laud and prayse the Lord who in Christ raigneth now ouer all the world If then all these thinges ought to be accomplished through the whole earth it could not be that Christ should continue in death especially seing it was prophesied that Christ should deliuer the world out of the bandes of death himself be exalted placed in the highest type of honor glory The prophet Dauid also speaketh of the battail victory of Christ in the 68. psal telling how he ouercame death and Satan and by his mighty deuine power deliuered al thē from Satans tiranny which were his captiues ascended into heauen And this psal Paul citeth to the Ephes saying He ascended vp on high he led captiuity captiue S. Augustine here vnderstandeth by captiuity captiue euen death it selfe which held al the children of Adam as sinners in captiuity and mightily ruled ouer them yea euen ouer good christiās which lay bound and captiue vnder the yoke and captiuity of Satan but by Christs death and resurrection are deliuered and redemed Dauid saith The lord raigneth and is clothed with maiesty the lord is clothed and girded with power The world also shal be established that it cānot be moued Thy throne is established of old thou art from euerlasting the floudes haue lifted vp O lord the flouds haue lifted vp their voice the floods haue lifted vp their waues The waues of the sea are maruelous through the noise of many waters yet the lord on hie is more mighty Thy testimonies are very sure holines becommeth thy house O lord for euer Here God the holy ghost prophecieth of the kingdome of Christ to wit how Christ the king of all glory so wonderfully kepeth surely establisheth strōgly fortifieth his kingdom that it cannot fall and be ouerthrown although the sea of this world by violence and huge stormes inuade it set vpon it and seke cleane to subuert it The Iewes did all they could vpō good Friday quite to extinguish this king And now that he is risen again from the dead both Iewes Gentiles Turkes heretikes and false christians with the world and Satan al their power resist him and his kingdom They forge most impudēt and shameful lies against him they lay snares by subtleties to intrap him they fill all places with slaughter of him they assay euery way to hurt him and they doe the worst they can both by force and cunning agaynst him But though they try euery thing they shall preuayle nothing Al their deuises shal be frustrate al their trauaile shal not preuaile yea all their power shall not profite them for he died once and henceforth dieth no more Now he sitteth at the right hand of God aboue the heauens and is the euerlasting and eternall God himselfe whose throne is builded and standeth on so sure a foundation and ground worke that it cannot be moued or ouerthrown Yea the very gates of hell cannot preuail against the poore church in as much it only dependeth vpon this head Christ that glorious kyng of heauen that most sure and vnmouable rocke He which falleth on this stone shal be broken but on whomsoeuer it shall fall it will grind him to pouder Seing then the habitatiō of this king shal endure for euer it must nedes follow that he shal both liue for euer and also giue euerlasting lyfe vnto vs. Againe Dauid saith The lord raigneth let the people tremble he sitteth betwene the Cherubins let the earth be moued The Lord is great in Sion and he is high aboue all people They shall prayse thy great and fearefull name for it is holy and the kings power that loueth iudgement for thou hast prepared equitie thou hast executed iudgement and iustice in Iacob exalt the lord our God and fall downe before his footestoole for he is holy This king is Christ who ruleth the church which is the spirituall Sion thorough the whole world He hath placed his throne in a high place euen in the very heauens and all the earth is his footestoole and he ruleth for euer But Sathan and the world beyng set on euill cannot abide this And when they are not able to throwe downe Christ from the seat of his maiesty they fret and fume agaynst the godly and cruelly persecute them But for all that they cannot take away their saluation although they indeuour it neuer so much For where this king is there shall all those be also which beleue in him Therefore the vngodly cannot hurt the righteous so as may truely bee called hurting For when they kill them and take their lyues from them which to the world seemeth the greatest hurt that can be then do they most profite them For death is vnto them the gate and redy way to lyfe but the enemies of Christ and his church shal in the end be thrown vnder foote troden downe and be more vile and filthy then any rubbish dirt or dung And agayne Dauid sayth Thou wilt arise and haue mercy vpon Sion for the tyme to haue mercy theron for the appoynted tyme is come For thy seruantes delight in the stones therof and haue pity on the dust thereof Then the heathen shall feare the name of the Lord and all the kinges of the earth thy glory when the Lord shall builde vp Sion and shall appeare in his glory and shall turne vnto the prayer of the desolate and not despise their prayer This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shal be created shall prayse the Lord for he hath looked downe from the height of his sanctuary out of the heauen did the lord behold the earth that he might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliuer the children of death In this Psalme we see how earnestly the godly Christians which were before Christes natiuitie did in feruency of prayers looke for his kingdome wherin onely or els not sinnes are pardoned and death is vanquished These true Christians desire and praye that Zion that is the church may be builded euery where and the glory of Christ seene and propagated through all the world as did Dauid Samuel and the rest of the Prophetes who with spirituall eyes saw long before that Messias should first be debased but afterward exalted and glorified through the whole world Neither were they offended at
precious bloude of Christ Although many hurtfull beastes inuirone it and goe about by craft to burst into it and vtterly to destroy it yet shall it growe and be fruitfull because the lord him selfe keepeth it and is a watchman and keper thereof which keepeth it with all care and diligence And the new testament in Mathew speaketh of the church after the same sort Although this vineyard abide great tempests violent assaults and grieuous stormes yet is it not torne in pieces broken downe lesned or cutte shorter and made straighter but euery day becommeth more flourishing greater and greener For the church encreaseth and is dilated and spred into the foure quarters of the whole world The Apostles which were to spring of the seede of Iacob and Israel according to the flesh propagated and spread the Gospell abroade through all the world And the Lord by their planting and wateryng gaue such encrease that throughout the whole world there sprong vp of the Gentils spirituall Iacobites and Israelites which haue the fayth of their heauenly father Iacob and by their lyfe professe and witnes that they are endued with the fayth of the Patriarkes and are their children by fayth And thus the true Iacob or Israel that is the true church spreadeth it selfe through the whole world which before was onely in Iudea For many shall come from the East and West and shall sitte downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen And it was conuenient that the trumpe of the gospel should at the same tyme of grace be blown through the whole worlde that the grace of Christ myght appeare and be opened and offered to all men And that both the Iewes and Gentiles might be gathered out of the whole earth into one church and worship the lord Iesus Christ in hys holy hyll Ierusalem to wit the catholike church which is the hill of the Lord and the heauenly Ierusalem For the earthly Ierusalem hath now hys ende and lyeth wasted and destroyed and was but onely a type of the heauenly Ierusalem And now that the truth it selfe and the thyng figured is come and is present there needeth not any more figures In vayne therfore and frustrate is the expectation and hope of the Iewes which vnderstande these prophesies of the earthly Ierusalem which shal neuer be restored to his former state and dignity as Daniel prophesieth in his 9. chapter ¶ Anna. If this vineyard or catholike church that is christian religion should flourish thorough the whole world If also the Gentils should worship Christ and if they should become true Israelites and by the helpe and ayde of Christ flourish and waxe greene then surely was it conuenient that Christ should rise from the dead to plant and kepe the great and ample vineyarde and so saue and deliuer not only Israel according to the flesh but euen vs Gentiles which be the spirituall Israelites But these two disciples considered not this ☞ Vrb. If these prophesies be well and diligently waied and considered we may plainely see and gather out of euery one of them the resurrection of Christ true christians This is the true deliueraunce of Israel not only from the king of Assiria or Babilon but from that great and horrible tirant of hel Satan and euerlasting death Esay prophesieth in other places also of that gracious tyme of the new testament wherin Christ came and the holy ghost was sent into the Apostles by whō the chiefe and true quietnes and peace of consciēce was giuen in the kingdom of Christ And thus he prophesieth in the 32. The pallace shal be forsaken c. vntill the spirit be powred vpon vs from aboue and the wildernesse become a fruitfull field and the plenteous field bee counted as a forest And iudgement shall dwel in the desert iustice shal remaine in the fruitful fields And the worke of iustice shall be peace euen the worke of iustice and quietnes and assuraunce for euer And my people shall dwell in the tabernacle of peace and in sure dwellings and in safe resting places Esay had tolde the Iewes that both their city and kingdome should bee destroyed as it came to passe afterwarde by the Chaldes And so it ought to bee before the commyng of Messias who should ende all calamities and before the holy spirit of Christ should be poured vpon thē from heauen which was fulfilled in Ierusalem on Whitsonday whē Christ sent his spirit visibly vnto his Apostles Then at the last was the true Ierusalem builded by the Apostles on Christ the head corner stone Then the desert that is the remnant of the Iewes and Gentiles shall be as a field well tilled and they shall bring forth aboundance of fruite in the fayth of Christ And the fielde which before flourished to wit the Sinagoge shall be made a forrest and wildernes Then shall true righteousnes dwell in this kingdome of Christ to wit fayth in Christ which bringeth forth most pleasaunt and delectable fruites namely peace euen true peace in the lord peace of conscience with true and euerlasting security He calleth the church of Christ also the habitation of peace the tabernacle of trust or most sure habitation because we can fynde peace and safety from the tiranny of the wicked spirite from sinne and from death in no other place but onely in the churche of Christ For he which kepeth and defendeth the church is the Lord of hostes himselfe which hath ouercome Sathan and established Sion that is the churche on a strong and sure foundation and in all places strongly defendeth it from all euils that hang ouer it He onely deserued and made our reconciliation The church is his heauenly body the church is his temple the church is his kyngdome wherein he dwelleth And therefore there can bee no true peace at all any where but onely in the church in which we haue true peace with GOD thorough our mediator and reconciler Iesus Christ Without this dwelling place of God is very whote indignation wrath and wretchednesse For in hym which beleeueth not in Christ dwelleth the wrath of God therefore he must needes perish But the true peace and securitie which we haue here but in fayth by the holy ghost the earnest peny of our inheritaunce shall then in deede at the last in the lyfe to come haue his beginnyng when our last enemy death shal be vtterly abolished There is also in the 35. of Esay a comfortable prophesie of Christ and of the kingdome of hys church of the doctrine of his Gospell of the miracles and signes of Christ and of our true deliuerance through Christ and of the eternall ioy of faythfull Christians The wordes are these The deserte and the wildernesse shall reioyce and the waste grounde shall bee glad and flourish as the rose it shall flourish aboundantly and shall greatly reioyce also and ioy The glory of Libanus shall be geuen vnto it the beauty of
Christ when the welsprings of liuyng water shall flowe from place to place in the desert where God before was not knowen nor heard of because that out of one church or congregation of the godly the gospell shall flowe and spread abroade into other places that there they may learne to know Christ And where the serpentes before spewed out theyr poyson of false doctrine superstition and idolatry thither shall the sounde doctrine of the truth now bee brought and there shall it bring forth most plentifull fruites ¶ Anna. What way and holy pathe is that which is here spoken of in this prophesie by which he sayth no sinner goeth ☞ Vrbanus Hee speaketh in this prophesie of the Gospell of Christ and of hys Church The holy way therefore whereof he speaketh here is fayth in Iesus Christ true God and perfect man borne here of the seede of Abraham and Dauid In this way walked Abraham Isaac Iacob Dauid Mary and the Apostles neyther is there any other way but this vnto the liuyng God as Christ sayth I am the way and the truth and the lyfe no man commeth vnto the father but by me There is no other true faith but the christian and catholike fayth All other sectes though they seeme neuer so holy are nothing els but errours and Satanicall superstitions No man was euer saued vnlesse he beleued in Christ And therfore this Christian fayth is called the true right onely and holy way vnto euerlasting saluation He that walketh this way whosoeuer he be though he be a very foole in worldly matters yea a most simple ideot or vilest sinner hee can not but must needes be pertaker of euerlasting lyfe But whosoeuer goeth any other way although he seeme to the worlde learned holy wyse and of great experience yet he wandereth all wyde and goeth astray nay he hasteth hedlong vnto hell Furthermore this way onely is most sure and safe In this way Lions and wylde beastes can not hurt vs For neither tirantes nor false teachers can hurt them whosoeuer they be that abide in this way and goe not out thereof For though they take from them both their goodes and lyues yet shall they haue no losse but gayne thereby For all thinges happen vnto their health so long as they are kept of Christ who hath such care ouer them and so preserueth them that he suffereth not the least haire of theyr heade to perishe ¶ Anna. But who are these redemed of the Lord ☞ Vrban Euen both Iewes and Gentils which beleue in Iesus Christ namely all true Christians These were once seduced by Sathan and brought into the horrible captiuity of sinne and death and therin had remayned for euer if the lord had not himself come and by his precious bloud deliuered thē But the Lord himselfe came and vanquished and spoiled Satan And so these redemed turned to Sion that is into the holy catholike church by faith and the sacraments and they come with prayse ioy and exultation For the more vile and horrible the captiuity was so much greater is the ioy of the prisoners which are redeemed But this was a most vile and horrible continuall captiuity wherin we should haue bene for euer most miserably tormēted both in body and soule with al kind of calamities tortors I say which are such that they passe all our sences and capacity And therfore this our ioy in the Lord in Sion is and that by right infinit incomprehensble and more then hart can conceiue The world also hath his ioy but the ioy therof is momentany and very short for it hath his ende and continueth not But the ioy of the faythfull christians is eternall It beginneth here in fayth but afterward whē our last enemy death shal be swalowed vp and Satan with the wicked and deceitfull world cast downe into the pit of hell there to bee tormented for euer then at the last it shall burst forth and shew it selfe And all they that beleued in Christ to wit his whole kingdom shal frō that tyme forth be no more afflicted with enemies Then shall the true and euerlasting ioy of the faithfull christians begin heauines sorow and griefe shal then haue an ende For that kingdom when the glory therof shall be made manifest shall then at the last haue no more sinne nor feele death sickenes persecution calamity troubles or aduersitie for all causes of sorrows and sadnes are then through Christ taken away As Christ witnesseth in Iohn I wil see you againe and your hartes shall reioyce and your ioy shall no man take from you And in the Apocalips the voyce saith That GOD shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shal be no more death neither sorow neither crying neither shal there be any more payne ¶ Anna. Seyng that we through our Messias should haue such full and perfect redemption from all our sinnes death and damnation and enioy euerlasting lyfe felicity out of doubt he neither could nor should remayne in death And would to God we could beleue this and alwayes reioyce in the Lord. Vrban Truely so we should in deede alwayes beleue and reioyce But that euill spirit through his wicked temptations oftentymes doth so with thick clouds darcken this cleare sonne of ioy and fayth in vs that sometymes we cannot see it Yea he maketh vs sometymes so heauy that we either altogether forget this great and iuestimable promise of euerlasting life or els waigh it not so diligently nor print it so deeply in our harts as we ought But let vs alwayes keep in our hands the sword of the spirite that is the gospell and therewithall defend our selues from the fiery dartes of our enemies We must stir vp and exercise our faith by diligent vsing reading hearing and handling the scripture least we sleep in carnal security Yea we must say euery foot with the holy prophet Dauid Behold heare me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes that I sleepe not in death lest mine enemy say I haue preuayled against him and they that afflict me reioyce when I slide Esay prophesyeth again of Christ O Syon that bringest good tidings get thee vp into the high mountaynes O Ierusalem that bringest good tidings lift vp thy voice with strength lift it vp be not afrayd say to the Cities of Iuda Behold your God behold the Lord God will come with power and his arme shall rule for him Behold his wages is with him and his worke before him Here Syon and Ierusalem are warned that they preach the comming grace power of God in Christ As if he should say to other cities in Iuda ye haue looked long for Messias which was promysed in the law and prophets now looke vp now lift vp your eares and harts behold here is your God Messias the most mighty Lord who hath shewed his power in that he hath redeemed you from those mighty and cruell
commaundements and word of God. Is not this promise full of comfort where he sayth I will heale Israells backsliding that is he will pardon all their offences and neuer be angry with them any more for their sinns In which promise Christ the throne of grace is included and comprehended For these determinations of God is that he will forgeue sin to no man that he wil loue no man and that he wil receaue none vnto grace by any other meanes but by his deerely beloued sonn who is become our onely redeemer mediator recōciler bishop priest propiciatory or throne of grace as Paule affirmeth saying We are accepted in his beloued by whome we haue redemption through his bloud euen the forgeuenes of sinns according to his rich grace It is manifest therfore by the firme foūdation of the apostles doctrine that Hoseas here speaketh of Christ although he name him not seing that there is no other reconciler which can turne the wrath of God from vs but onely Iesus Christ Wherefore I haue often sayd that where the Lord promiseth his grace redemption forgeuenes of sinns righteousnes lyfe and health that there is Iesus Christ promised by whose death and pretious bloud we are reconciled to God the father and receaue forgeuenes remission of our sinns true righteousnes and lyfe euerlasting There followeth in the text more promises but expressed in figuratiue wordes For he taketh a similitude of the dew of roses of Libanō and of the oliue tree which wordes import nothing els but the great felicitie of Israell or christifidelians after that they beleue and are receaued in the grace of God and obtaine forgeuenes of their sinns Is it not an exceeding great felicitie to obtaine forgeuenes of our sinns to be counted righteous before God and to receaue the holy ghost with all his gifts and by the same to be healed vp in fayth Which is the receauing of that great pretious and heauenly earnest peny that is the spirite of God the father and the son which doth assure vs that we be the children of God and so his heyres and coheyres with Iesus Christ what I pray you can he want which hath the Lorde for his inheritance This prophesy chefely taketh place in the tyme of Christ when the gospell brought forth fruite throughout the whole world and christs heauēly kingdome was builded in euery place that Christ the king of glory be imbrased for our God and sauiour through fayth by which we are made the children of God and shall prayse him for euer together with his holy angells to whome we shall be like in the world to come in the resurrectiō of the dead the glory whereof exceedeth all that the hartes of earthly creatures can conceaue but it is now hid For we are as yet but blessed in hope but when our king the prince of glory shall come in his maiestye to iudgement then shall our felicitie be made manifest To be short the Lord shall be the defence bulwark comfort helpe solace and sound felicitye of Israel But the Prophet speaketh of a greater defence comfort helpe and benefit thē this world hath or can vnderstand The kingdome therfore of Christ is a kingdome of blessing wherin we inioy aboūdance of all goodnes The prophets prophesied that this deliueraunce helpe comfort and kingdome should be a continuall and spirituall not a tēporall kingdome which aboundeth in fraile vayne and transitory welth of this world as the carnall Iewes dreame and imagine ¶ Anna. What I pray you doth Iohell the prophet prophecy of Christ ☞ Vrba Ioell in his 2. chapiter prophesieth that the kingdome of Christ shall be illuminated and beutified with the rich knowledge of God and that it shall receaue the holy ghost with all his gifts and that espetially in the mount Sion to wit in the catholicke church where shall be true deliueraunce helpe and redemption from sinn and death and that afterwarde there shall be no more respect of persons betwene the Iewes and Gentiles but whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord Messias shall be freely deliuered from all his sins These are the wordes of the prophesye Ye shall also know that I am in the middest of Israell and that I am the Lord your God and none other and my people shall neuer be ashamed And afterward as Peter cited this prophecy on whitsonday in his sermon at Ierusalem In those dayes that is in the tyme of Messias I will powre out my spirit vpon all flesh And your sons and daughters shall prophesy your ould men shall dreame dreames and your young men shall see visiōs and also vpon the seruants and vpon the maydens in those dayes will I power my spirite and I will shew wonders in the heauens and in the earth bloud and fier and pillers of smoke The sun shal be turned into darknes and the moon into bloud before the great and terrible day of the Lorde come But who so euer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued For in mount Sion and in Ierusalem shall be deliueraunce as the Lord hath sayd and in the remnant whome the Lord shall call This prophesy tooke place in Christs time for Israell had then experience in deed that god was with thē in mans flesh And the holy ghost was then much more gloriously royally and aboundātly geuē them thē before the natiuitie passiō resurrectiō of Messias For before they were but few which had the spirit of prophesying but when Iesus Christ was ascended vnto the right hand of his father then the holy ghost withall his giftes was wonderfully and richly geuē vnto many as the hebrew word Eschpoch declareth which signifieth to poure out The holy ghost was visibly poured vpon faythfull Christians when they were baptised and the Church in all places had his teachers who had the spirite of prophesying And the knowledge of Christ is now spread abroad and dispersed throughout the whole world But where the prophet speaketh of Sion and Ierusalem it must be vnderstood of the church of faythfull Christians wherein Christ hath his habitation as in his owne kingdome Who so euer will be saued from sinne death and tyranny of Sathan he must beleue in Christ call vpon Christ and be brought into the church of christ for without that Church is neither health nor forgeuenes of sins Neither is there any cause why any sinner should respect this or the citie aboue other as the Iewes did earthly Sion Ierusalem seeing Ioell sayth that the Lord would poure out his spirite vpō all flesh not only vpon the Iewes in Ierusalem or in the land of Canaan but euery where through the whole worlde where the Gospel is beleued It followeth therfore that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of god shall be safe and not the Iewes onely which serued and called vpō God at Ierusalem for then was that time come of which Christ sayth in Iohn that the heauenly father requireth
deadly sicknes of sinne and ouercome the power of darknes thorough the might and power of this signe Christ crucified But it is especially to be marked that the prophet saith All nations shal seke vnto him The 70. translaters haue interpreted these wordes thus Which shall rise again to be the king of the Gentiles that is of all people in the earth in him shal the Gentils trust Like as the patriarke Iacob said according to the exposition of the 70. translaters in these wordes Siloh shall be the hope or expectation of the Gentils Here haue we a plaine euident testimony of the calling of the Gentiles to the grace of the gospell For they shal enquire after Christ or seeke him as their only sauiour put all their hope trust in him What els is this but that they shall acknowledge Christ to bee true GOD and true man of the stocke of Dauid For hope in the first commaundement is the honour due onely and soly vnto the true and liuing god And thus the kingdome of Christ according to this prophesy shall be as wide and large as the whole worlde so that the Iewes shall bee the least and smallest parte of Christes kingdome And euen all the Iewes vnderstande this chapter of Messias who should recouer and restore the kingdome of Israel And where as the Prophet sayth His rest shall be glorious that is his death and buriall shall be glorious for his body is neither corrupt nor rotten He died an innocent whose death brought all vs the childrē of Adam out of eternall death and shame into euerlasting honour and glory For Christ by this his most holy and sacred death entred into his glorious and euerlasting kingdome and so after his death began his raigne in lyfe And when as the Iewes supposed that hee was dead in deede and quite extinguished al those things which he had promised and spoken to be vaine and of none effect as Cleophas also and his companions supposed then beeing risen from death to life came forth and ouercame and quite destroyed and killed death and became glorious and was made kyng both of the Iewes and Gentiles and raigneth for euer throwyng downe his enemies with euerlastyng shame First therfore in these wordes is contained the deth of Christ for the prophet sayth his rest And afterward is noted his glorious victorious resurrection For the prophet saith that his rest shal be glorious but his rest or death could not haue bene glory or glorious or honorable if he had abiden still in death wrought done nothing by it In Exodus it is written that the lord stretched out his hande and by his great miracles declared his power that he might deliuer his captiue afflicted and oppressed people out of Egypt and bring them vnto the promised land of Canaan And here the Prophet doth agayne promise such a deliueraunce but a much more glorious and meruailous deliueraunce then that was when hee drowned Pharao with all his hoste in the red sea and brought his people out of all danger into the land of promise without hurt and harme The deliuerance out of Egypt was but onely a figure of this deliueraunce of which the prophet speaketh here For God wil deliuer the remnant of the Iewes and Gentiles out of the eternall captiuity of Satan by Iesus Christ and gather them all together into the kingdom of heauen where they shall neuer suffer eyther damage detriment or losse And he calleth all nations throughout all the whole worlde For saluation hath extended it selfe to all the world that the dispersed and wandring children of god might be gathered together out of all quarters of the earth as Christ himselfe saith in Iohn And I if I were lift vp from the earth will draw all men vnto me And agayne Christ should dye for the nations not for the nations onely but that he should gather together in one the children of God which were scattred abroade The prophet Esay singeth a notable Psalme of this great and inexplicable benefite of the true and spirituall redemption in Christ wherby we be deliuered from euerlasting damnation And in that Psalme he meruailously setteth forth the goodnes of god in Christ saying Behold God is my saluation I will trust and wil not feare for the lord God is my strength and song he also is become my saluation If Cleophas and his companion had known him to be the sauiour and deliuerer of Israel as well as Esay did they had neuer bene in harte so heauy as they were It followeth in the prophet Esay Therefore with ioye shall ye drawe waters out of the welles of saluation And yee shall say in that daye prayse the Lorde call vppon his name declare his workes among the people make mention of them For hys name is exalted Syng vnto the Lorde for he hath done excellent thinges This is known in all the world Cry out and shoute O inhabitant of Sion for great is the holy one of Israel in the midst of thee Note here how greatly and aboundantly the prophet reioiceth in spirit or the bountiful grace of god offred in Christ our only sauiour and deliuerer When the gospel of God is taught vnto vs then is the holy ghost with all his graces giuen vnto vs to wit remission of sinnes peace of conscience true ioy He is the true fountain spring of the liuing water of which Christ speaketh in Iohn saying The water that I shall giue him shall be in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life And againe Christ sayth If any mā thirst let him come to me drinke he that beleueth in me as saith the scripture out of his belly shal flow riuers of water of life He spake this of the spirit which they that beleue in him should receiue For he obtained this holy ghost by his deth for vs and he mightily shewed forth to vs how that by his death the victory of his resurrection he ouercame sinne death and Satan The true Sion that is the catholike church of the faithfull doth in dede and not without good occasion reioice shout for ioy yea she may well and worthily glory For she hath gotten forgiuenes of sinnes righteousnes the holy ghost peace of conscience and euerlasting saluation For Paul sayth to the Corinthiās That God hath giuen vs a glorious victory triumph ouer the law sin death hel through our lord Iesus Christ Esay prophesieth in like maner in his 25. chapter of the victory of Christ saying God Messias will destroy death for euer and the Lord God will wipe away the teares from all faces and the rebuke of his people wil he take away out of all the earth For the lord hath spoken it Now then if Christ hath swallowed vp death then are we surely deliuered from it For death neither hath nor euer had power ouer Christ because he was
be named a Citye sought out and nōt forsaken In these wordes the prophet commaundeth that the word of the Gospell should be diligently painefully and continually tought in all places where men be to heare it The gates of the Church doe stand alway open all thinges are now ready there lacketh nothing but that you diligently vrge and beleue the doctrine of the word and that ye remoue take vp and sweepe away all thinges whatsoeuer hinder the crosse and increase of the Gospell that it may haue better successe Preach you Christ crucified and he shall by his spirite gather and draw all men vnto him To be short the Gospell ought to be published and preached through all the world Tell the daughter Sion that is you must declare to all the electe both Iewes and Gentiles that their Sauiour Christ Iesus is at hand and whatsoeuer he promiseth or enterpriseth for the sauing of his people that is to say the spiritual Sion the same he mightely performeth For the captiuitye wherein he was and the passion which he suffered is our redemption and saluation and his death is our lyfe And though Sion that is the Church be counted but base and vile in the eyes of the world yet shall it be glorious famous of great dignity before God and it shall haue this worthy name and title to be called the holy people of God whom God himself in mannes nature which hee tooke vpon him hath redeemed And although the world supposeth that God hath reiected and forsaken the church and that God himself is sore displeased with it because they see it in misery calamity and vnder the cros yet neuertheles shall it both be called and in deed be found that perfect citye of God which God in no case can forsake And here you see the articles of the creed I beleeue the holy Catholick church the communyon of saints For he that beleeueth in Christ is a citizen in this Citie and a saint in Christ which forgeueth our sinnes and sanctyfieth the church by his word and holy spirit Now then if you wil not haue this work of Christ our Sauiour to be fruitles it is necessary that the gospel should be preached in all the world and that there should be in all places faithful beleeuers in Christ and that the same beleeuers be delyuered from death to the end the church may be made this beutifull citie fayre dwelling or house of god which he cānot forsake Here also it is euydent that it behoued Christ to rise again from death to the end this citie might be builded in all the world and that the faithfull in Christ may be delyuered from all their calamities sinne death and damnation This did not Cleophas and his companion while they were on their way to Emaus vnderstād and that was the cause that they were so sad But let vs now goe to the 63. chapter of Esay in which the magnificall and glorious tryumph of Christ is descrybed to wit how by his cros bloudsheding he marueilously ouercame his and the churches enemies namely sinne death Sathan and the sinagogue of the vnbeleeuing Iewes and valiantly vanquished them by his own strength and vertue Esay in this chapter also vseth after his maner a figuratiue speech saying Who is this that commeth from Edom with red garments from Bosrah He is glorious in his apparrell and walketh in his great strength Here the prophet wondering at the passion of christ vseth an interrogatiue speech Edom signifyeth red ruddy or redly colored Bosrah signifyeth a vine branch from whence the clusters of grapes be gathered which are troaden and prest in the wine pres He calleth the Sinagogue of the Iewes Edom or red because they all bestayned and defyled them selues with the bloud of the prophets and Christ when they sayd his bloud be vpon vs and our children The prophet therfore saw in the spirite how that bloudy Sinagogue tormented afflicted Christ all be slubbered and berayd him in blod as we see the grape treders are besprinkled bestaind with the wine in the vintage He saw also in the same place by the spirit what Christ by his blodsheding hath wrought and done to wit how he hath by his own strength and vertue without the help and ayd of any other ouercome and vanquyshed his enemyes admirably tryumphed as a most fortunat and worthy warryar in his triumphes conquest and signes of victory worthy to be beholden of all men For when the Iewes thought verely he had been dispatched and deead in deed then rose he again from death and began his kingdome and declared him selfe to be a valyaunt vanquisher of sinne death and all the kingdome of darcknes and punished with the horrible plague of captiuity hardnes of hart and apostacy the Iewes in all the world whersoeuer they be for this horrible and cruel fact of sheding of innocent bloud Vnto this interrogatiō of the prophet doth the Messias answere saying I speake in righteousnes and am mighty to saue That is to say why marueilest thou what I am I am he whom God hath sent to teache righteousnes nay euen to help that is to say iustifye and saue of mine own hability But by and by the prophet addeth another interrogation If thou be the true Sauyour which shalt help and geue life in deede wherfore then is thy apparrell red and thy garmentes like his that treadeth in the wine pres How doth this agree and stand with thy promyses wherin thou takest vpon thee to help and saue vs To this Christ answereth I haue troaden the wine pres alone and of all people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and tread them vnder foot in my wrath and their bloud shal be sprinkled vpon my garments and I wil stayn all my rayment For the day of vengeance is in my hart and the yeare of my redeemed is come and I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to vphold Therefore mine own harme helped me and my wrath it self sustayned me Therfore I wil tread down the people in my wrath and make them dronken in mine indignation and will bring down their strength to the earth In this answere of Christ we see how he would by his passion enter into his glory and thorowly delyuer vs for euer He sayth thou shalt not maruail to see my rayment red For this is the true and redyest way and meanes to saue the world God hath so ordayned it I haue troadē the wine pres alone that is to say I alone haue born the sinnes of the world vpon the crosse No man els was able to satisfy God for the sinnes of the world but I alone It was my bloud only that both could and ought to doe it and nothing els There was no other meanes nor way to saue you from your sins And in that my infirmity I shewed great strength and I
Quirinus Hilary vpon the 52. Psalme Ambros in hys book of fayth and resurrection and in hys third book of the holy ghost Gregory Nazianzene in his funeral sermō of Basill Gregory the great in hys xx homely vpon Ezechell And the Prophet Ezechel chapiter 40. discribeth a wonderful merueilous city and temple of Ierusalē But all these things are to be vnderstood spiritually of the heauenly Ierusalem the eternall Citie of God. But let vs see nowe what Daniell sayth of Christ And as for those things which I opened a little while a goe out of the 2. and 9. thap it shall not bee needfull now to repeat them agayne But in his 7 chapter he prophesieth most sweetly of the kingdome of Christ of his saynts to wit how his kingdome should be euerlasting propagated and spread abroad throughout all the world he sayth As I beheld in visions by night behold one lyke the sonn of man cam in the cloudes of heauen and approched vnto the aūciēt of dayes and they brought him before him And he gaue him dominiō honor and a kingdome that all people nations and language should serue him His dominion is an euerlasting dominion which shall neuer be taken away and hys kingdome shall neuer be destroyed And a little after he addeth and they shal take the kingdome of the Saints of the most high and possesse the kingdome for euer euen for euer and euer You know this to be a generall rule and necessary for the vnderstāding of the prophets wheras any thing is spoken in the Prophets of the eternall kingdome of Christ of Christifidelians and of euerlasting lyfe that there we both may and ought to groūd the resurrectiō of Christ faythfull Christians For if they shall lyue and raigne for euer then must they needs rise againe which thing Daniell prophecieth in his 12. chapiter as plainely and euidently as if some of the Euangelists had written it This prophecy is to be referred vnto the last day wherein this world shall haue an end And these be the wordes of the prophet And at that time thy people shall be deliuered euery one shall be found written in the booke And many of them that slepe in the dust of the earth shal awake some to euerlasting lyfe and some to shame perpetuall cōtempt they that be wise shal shine as the brightnes of the firmamēt and they that turne many to righteousnes shall shine as the stares for euer and euer Doe you not here see the indowted resurrection of all men as wel good as euil But you maye see also here that there shall be great difference amongest them which shall rise For they which are the people of God to wit christifidelians which are written in the booke of lyfe shal be deliuered from the wrath of God which shall come vpon the vnbeleuing and wicked world that is they shall be deliuered from the euerlasting punishment of hell and be brought into euerlasting lyfe But the wicked which haue not in their lyfe time beleued the gospell shall not be saued but the wrath of God shall abide on thē for euer for they haue denied to receue the tru life Christ Iesus and therfore shal they be confounded and perish for euer Dani. also here describeth the glory which Gods childrē shal haue after the resurrectiō saying that they shal be as bright as the sun stars of the firmament for euer world without end And this out of doubt is the true and last deliueraunce of Israell that is of the children of god which we do with firme fayth and hope looke for For as verely as all other thinges which in the prophets are promised are perfitly finished as the birth of Christ with his passiō resurrectiō ascētion calling of the gentills so also at the last day shall this be fulfilled to wit the resurrection of dead with the true deliueraunce of all faythfull Christians These and such lyke promises are our gospell and the ground worke and foundation of our fayth ¶ Anna. What sayth Hose concerning Christ ☞ Vrb. Hose is one of the small prophets but yet he hath many noble prophesies of the misteries of the gospel as of the calling of the gentils vnto the gospel And though the Iewes should haue a greeuous fall yet he promyseth vnto them the grace of God and that at the length they shall beleue and reeeaue Christ and acknowledge him to be their Lord and king whō before they had reiected He prophesyeth also of the great and glorious kingdome of Christ that is of the catholick church of faithfull christians and of that spirituall maryage betweene Christ and all Christifidelians and of the victory of Christ how he should ouercome and abolish sin and death and of the resurrection of Christ and of our rysing agayn He reproueth also the ten trybes of Israell for their Idolatry threatning them euerlasting captiuity vnder the Assirians but he promyseth grace and help to Iuda that is to those two trybes Iuda and Beniamin which fel not away from the house of Dauid In the first chapter he threatneth Samaria with the captiuity of Asiria saying I wil no more haue pity vpon the house of Israell but I will vtterly take them away Yet I will haue mercy vpon the house of Iuda and wil saue thē by the Lord their god And will not saue thē by the bow nor sword nor by battayle by horses nor by horsemen Cleophas and his companyon might here haue learned that the kingdome of Christ is not an earthly kingdome seeing that Hoseas threatned vnto the gretest part of the Iewes such captiuity that they should neuer return to their wonted state or dignity of kingdom as when they had a king of their own in Samaria or Israell If therfore the 12. tribes of Israel shold vnder Messias haue had such a kingdome wherin they might corporally haue ruled ouer the gentils and haue abounded in all pleasures and worldly felicity which carnall opinion all the Iewes had of Messias then consequently had it been necessary that they should all haue been delyuered and redeemed out of Assiria But here you heare how it should come to pas that the very remembrance of Israel should be blotted out Which thing is signifyed by Lorichamoh the prophets daughter Which name by interpretation signifyeth without mercy But seeing the delyuerance of Israell was neuertheles promysed by all the prophets it must needes of necessity be true For the word of God cannot lye or deceaue vs. Seeing therfore their delyueraunce by which they should be delyuered from the Assirian king and be restored into that land whence they were remoued shold not be corporall nor earthly it must needes follow that it should be spirituall For there is no meane nor other way by which they could be delyuered Which thing the words following proue where he promysed such help vnto the trybe of Iuda as cold not be
will reioyce ouer thee in great gladnes that is he will poure forth all his faythfulnes vpon thee and his fatherly good will towards thee that at the last the world may be compelled to see and palpably feele but especially the children of God shall know that the Lord loueth thee aboundantly as Paul writeth to Titus And he promiseth Christian liberty because he will take away these toyes to wit the lyfe and tradition of men we knowe the pharasies taught the law naughtely and went a horing with the doctrine of men teaching that men should do the workes of the law to the end that they should be iustified and haue remission of sinnes by the workes of the law and not by the mere grace of God and Christ alone And he promiseth the Church such a helpe as by which her enemies should be destroyed but she continew still Wherfore though hereticks lye and deceaue neuer so much though tyrantes murder and kill neuer so many though false Christians berwaye and betray all they can and though Sathan rage and rore neuer so much Yet in the end shall the Church the kingdome of Christ ouercome and the enemies of christ yea death the last enemy of Christ Christians shall be destroyed The Church as Sophony sayth hath a mighty Sauiour which can mightely saue and deliuer her And as Math. sayth a rock whereon it is builded against which euen the gates of hell can not preuaile And although gods children are a miserable afflicted and calamitous poore people though they be crippells and outcasts and though they be outwardly in body persecuted inwardly in the soule shakē and tormented with the terrors of death and with feare of damnation yet will Messias helpe them and ayde them and bring them to honor and gather them into his kingdome as Luke sayth in the 11. chapiter where Christ calleth the halt and lame to his supper Is it not a marueilous great honor and glory that he pronounceth of the Iewes that saluation shall come of them and of the Church that it is the Citie of God which the Lord himselfe hath foūded and builded and that there is no other true ioye peace safety righteousnes fortitude riches honor lyfe or saluation but onely that which is in the catholicke Church in the time of grace and Messias I will bring you that is I will by the Gospell call you on all sides from amōgest the wicked vnto Christes kingdome and I will gather the disparsed children of the Lord and I will exault them to honor when I shall haue turned away their captiuitie Man speaketh not these thinges but God himselfe whose will or purpose no man can let or hinder He sayth that he will gather his seruaunts into the kingdome of Christ and therein make them honorable in deede For as it is the vildest shame and greatest ignominy that can be to be a sinner and bondslaue of Sathan so on the other side it is the greatest glory laud and honor that can be to be deliuered from sin and Sathan and to be made the childe of God by the gospell To conclude in that we be made by grace children by adoption so that now we may lyue and raigne with Christ for euer who can either speake or thinke of this glorious glory gloriously enough ¶ Anna. Hath Aggeus any promises of Christ ☞ Vrba Yea forsooth For he prophecied after the captiuitie of Babilon and he moueth the people earnestly to build vp the temple agayine that the worship of God might be restored For this second temple should become very honorable because the true God of Israell himselfe should personally come into it as Mallachy prophecieth And afterward he promiseth Christ and sayth that the time of his comming draweth nye his wordes be these Thus sayth the Lord of hostes yet a little while and I will shake the heauē and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will moue all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory sayth the Lord of hostes The glory of this last house shall be greater then the first sayth the Lord of hostes and in this place will I geue peace sayth the Lord of hostes This prophecy forespeaketh of the former comming of Messias into the world how he should come to Ierusalem into the temple and how there should be a great change both in heauen and earth For the Lord hath sent the Angell of the great counsell euen his son in the flesh that by Christ he might summarily restore all thinges in heauen and earth wherefore it was of necessitie to follow that Iudaisme should be abrogated and that the Iewes should reuolt and that the gētiles should be made the people of God and that great wōders should be don at which euen the Angels should maruell for euer And he sayth that Christ is the hope of all nations For all men are borne sinners and sinn dayly but he which sinneth doth the worke of the deuill and is the seruaunt of Sathan and child of death From the which kingdome of sin death and damnation no man can otherwise be deliuered but by Messias who onely was sent of God to take away the workes of the deuill and destroy the kingdome of Sathan to wit sin and death and to geue vs true life And therefore he is the hope of the whole world neither is there any comfort helpe forgeuenes of sinnes righteousnes peace safety ioy lyfe or health any where els to be found but onely in Christ Therefore all the elect euen from the beginning haue very carefully and earnestly desired Christ because no man either could or ought to helpe the wretched world or deliuer it from euerlasting misery and calamity and bring it to euerlasting ioy but only Iesus Christ Whē Christ in the last week of Daniel came into this world then came our true preacher our onely reconciler and mediator who made and confirmed the euerlasting couenāt of peace betwen God and vs And the prophet repeateth this word the Lord of Zebooth 5. times that the faint harted Iewes ready to fall to desperation should in no wise be discouraged but finish the worke which they had begun and stedfastly waight for the comming of Messias seeing the almighty God who is the truth it selfe had so often and so earnestly made promise of him And so we haue Christ the comfort of all nations of all sinners the true peace of the whole world and that in the temple that is in the Churche of Christ who him selfe is our peace as Paule sayth And seeing Christ is the comfort of all nations it followeth that both they ought to beleue trust in him and that his kingdome also should be among all nations both Iewes gentiles through the whole world And therefore shal they hope to haue also surely receaue of him forgeuenes of their sinnes righteousnes reconciliation
calling for helpe cryeth as one helpeles My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And where as he had sayd that who so beleued in him should not see death for euer yet he himself both suffered death and was buryed in the sepulcher Here if we were led by humayne reason we should with Cleophas and his companion say Wee hoped that he had bene the redemer of Israell whiche should haue saued vs all but now he himself is dead Howe shal a dead man saue vs and how can he which is slain haue an euerlasting kingdom You see howe this name Pele was not without special cause geuen to this child whō it doth by that name of sauiour represēt For so he is in deed the true sauior redemer which deliuereth vs from all our sinnes and miseries And so it pleased him by hys pouerty to blesse vs with spirituall riches by the tauntes and checkes which he suffred to deliuer vs from euerlasting shame by his crosse to bring vs to eternall honour and glory by his weaknesse to giue vs eternall strength and by his death to giue vs a flourishyng lyfe and to abolish our death by dying hymselfe All these he hath done and daily doth in vs when he maketh vs like himself that is to say weake in body but strong in spirite base lowe and contemptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very ofscouringes before the world but the vessels and instruments of glory in the sight of god And thus he suffereth vs to dye that the Infidels may thinke there is no difference betwene a Christian and no Christian as Turke or iewe But yet our death is precious in the sight of the lord neither doth he suffer vs to abide in death All these things are great meruelous wonderful and far passing our reason and vnderstāding yea far exceding all the strength power effect working of our nature An other name is Ioetz that is councel For though this Pele doth lead and gouerne vs thus wonderfully by his crosse ignominy maketh vs glorious yet are we ignorant rude fayntharted fearfull and therfore is it necessary that he merueilously prouide for coūsail and help vs For it is not in our power and strēgth to endure and stand in trouble and persecutiō But what counsel geueth he verely cleane contrary to the world The world willeth vs to beware flie and eschue the cros affliction to reuenge our selues But Christ casteth hys seruantes into trouble and vexations and therein trieth them as gold is tryed in the fire furnace But yet so that he comforteth them alwayes most louingly as it appereth in Ioh. where he saith vnto the Apostles Be of good chere I haue ouercome the world And a little before he sayth Ye shall weep and lament the world shall reioyce ye shall sorrow but your sorrow shal be turned to ioy and your ioy shal no man take from you What els I pray you is the whole sacred scripture but a plentifull and rich Pharmacopole whence wee may fetch present help and most fruitfull and sound comfort for all sicknes calamities and euils as Paule witnesseth saying what soeuer things be writtē afore tyme are written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might haue hope For hee whiche speaketh in the scriptures is almighty and both can will help vs alway His word is not spoke in vayne but al things are done which he hath promised Yea the holy ghost himselfe whiche is the spirit of truth is our comfort and help For thus we read in the book of wisdome O Lord neyther herbe nor plaister healed thē but thy word which healeth all things hath made vs safe And Ionathas the high priest saith vnto the Spartanes We Iewes stand no nede of the societie and friendship of the Gentiles hauing the holy bookes which are in our hands for our cōfort And now I pray you what trouble what affliction what calamity or what dāger in al this world cā be so great how great so euer it be against which the word of god that most holesome and holy gospel cannot minister giue most holesom plētiful perfect sound consolation and comfort seeyng that it promiseth not only corporal but heauenly help And the promises therof are by Christ confirmed established and sure yea and Amen If you read better read all the workes of the Heathen philosophers you shal find nothing in them and yet their whole study trauel was to find some comfort against death wherin you may take true cōfort All their arte al their knowledge all their wisdom and all the remedies that euer they found are nothing if thei be compared but with these two comfortable sentences in Mat. The first is Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule Here you see the immortalitie of the soule of which the Ethnikes speake euen as blynde men of coulors But the words folowing which is the second are not vttred by any philosopher but by Christ himself the euerlasting truth and very true lyfe Euery one sayth he that beleueth in the sonne of God hath euerlastyng lyfe and I wil raise him vp in the last day Here you haue the resurrection or rising againe of the flesh of which the Gentils and the whole world with all their wisdome had no knowledge Go to then if any be in the agony of death or assailed with the tempests of persecution afflictiō either els vexed pinched with the bitter dolors terrors of conscience for his sinnes as soone as he shal lay hold on these two sentences by faith lay them vp in his hart he shall find comfort haue true and plenteous consolation For he hath forgiuenes of his sins sure hope of euerlasting life nay rather he hath life alredy because he is in Christ Christ in hym This in dede is true counsell For all mens counsels consolations are vaine momentany cannot help deliuer vs in extremity peril danger but the counsel of the lord doth abide continue for euer God the father commaunds vs to heare this counsailor saying Heare him The 70. interpreters haue expounded this word Ioetz the angel of the great counsail beautifiyng Christ with the notable and apt epitheton giuing him the proper title For Christ is the legate angel of the great counsail of the triple vnitie and most holy trinity and is also the eternal wisdom of the father The third epitheton or name of the child is El it signifieth strēgth fortitude or God as the 70. interpreters haue translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the mighty god This name conteineth a singuler cōfort For it telleth vs that Christ doth not only prouide for vs by the word of his gospel but also is presēt with vs doth mightily help vs faithfully perform to vs those
things which in his word he hath promised vs For he geueth vs the holy ghost who giueth vs faith confirmeth vs with his word that we may depēd vpō him cōstantly cleaue to him as to a most strong rock so in all aduersities calamities stande stedfast vnmoueable against the assaults iniuries of our enemies so the at the last we may ouercome them vanquish them with the Psalmist reioyce say the lord our God is my strength And with Paul to the Phil. I am able to do al things through the helpe of Christ which strengthneth me The fourth name is Gibbor that is the lord or giant In the former names we are taught what maner and meane Christ vseth and how he handeleth vs when he wil bring vs to his kingdome First of all he handleth vs straightly mortifieth our olde Adam which seemeth vnpleasant to the flesh worketh al things so by contrarieties that our reason is confounded and knoweth not how to vnwynd it selfe Secondly he comforteth vs by his gospel Thirdly he is present with vs in all his might and strength deliuereth vs out of al extremities and perill But this 4. name telleth vs how Christ vseth and handleth his and our enemies Christ is called in the scriptures Gibbor that is lord or giant for his inuincible might and power For seyng he is king and will gouerne his kingdome peaceably he must nedes suppresse and vanquish the enemies of his kingdome that christians may liue safely without feare and hurt but he cannot beat down and breake the force of his enemies without great power seyng Satan with the world and sinne with death are most horrible vgly strong and outrageous enemies Death is stronger then the whole world And Satan as Iob witnesseth is of such might strength that al men in the world are not to be compared to him He is the prince of all the children of pride and disdaine And he is that strong mā armed that kepeth his palace so that all that he possesseth is in peace But Christ is much stronger who ouercommeth the euil spirite and deliuereth vs from all power of darknes wherof Dauid saith He reioiceth like a mighty man or giant to run his course Christ hath ouercome death the deuil now alone the lord of all things is with great triumph rightly honored by these titles He is lord to whō euery knee doth bow and lord ouer the quicke and the dead And Iohn saith Christ the sonne of God appeared that he might loose the workes of the deuil And Paul to the Col. saith He hath spoiled the principalities power hath made a shew of thē openly and hath triumphed ouer thē in the same crosse He is called in Esay Maher schalal that is make hast to pray As if one should say a quicke spoiler Hashbaz that is make hast to spoile or a spedy spoil We were the miserable seruants of the deuill sold vnder sinne and he held vs vnder his tiranny molested vs at his pleasure will. Thē came the mighty giant our lord Christ a lion of the tribe of Iuda fought with that prince of darknes which had rule ouer death got the victory and by his death destroyed the power of the enemy set vs being deliuered out of his tiranny at liberty according to that of Iohn If the sonne shall make you free you shal be free in deed The 5. name is Abiad that is a father for euer or always and euermore a father world without end By this name we feele and perceiue the mercy clemency pity grace of this child toward vs Because he will not be such a king amongst vs his poore people as at whose maiesty the godly shold be amased feare quake trēble but he loueth vs fatherly he embraceth vs louingly he wil norish defēd cherish vs singularly And as a godly louing father is by the instinct of nature wel affected to his welbeloued son as he is careful ouer his child alwais thinking how to prouide for him honestly how to bring him vp vertuously how to instruct frame tech chastē gouern rule defēd him fatherly make him apt fit for his heritage So doth Christ in his kingdom with vs Here is nothing but natural loue fatherly affectiō toward vs nothing but a vehement loue nothing but a care and desire to do vs good nothing but infinite beneuolence towards vs. But in this simile there is great difference betwene a worldly father Christ our father For we haue much greater better and fatherly gifts of Christ thē any beloued sonne hath of his earthly father though he be a most louyng intreater of his children The earthly father which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in deede loueth his children careth for them fostereth them cherisheth them fedeth them and bringeth them wel vp yet this care regard good will and diligence of earthly parents is temporal and cannot continue abide for euer And it happeneth oftentimes that when the children stande most need of their parents helpe or counsaile then are theyr fathers constrained to leaue them and dye But Christ is always our perpetual euerlasting eternal father for he suffred once for vs his childrē now he suffreth no more And he neither can nor wil leaue vs without helpe he both can wil maintaine feed care for kepe and defend vs here for euer God prepareth vs here for his own inheritance that after this temporall lyfe we may liue with him for euer And hereunto accordeth very well the translation of the 70. interpreters who cal this word Abiad father of the world to come or of the lyfe that shall be to the ende they may thereby signify the mystical resurrection into lyfe euerlasting of all that beleue in Christ At which tyme shal be plainly opened and reueled in what honor and dignity the godly shal be and how derely Christ hath loued them how he hath embraced them and what care he had ouer thē Let therfore euery godly mā kepe this title of Christ in his mynd whē death approcheth he shal find therby a singuler comfort For then he knoweth that Christ is not only here but shal be for euer a most louing father Which thing Paule knew very well and was thereof throughly persuaded yea he had so grounded it in hys hart that euē in death he was of good courage saying Christ is to me life and death is to me aduauntage I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ Why then do we not desire to be dissolued why then are we not desirous to die how happeneth it that we feare death truly because we do not firmly and constantly beleue the scriptures because our faith is weake little And because we let not this heauenly and deuine comfort of Gods
lyue and are remaining in the comming of the Lord shal not preuent them which sleepe For the Lord himselfe shal descend from heauen with a shout and with the voice of the Archangel with the trump of God the dead in Christ shal rise first Thē shal we which liue and remain be caught vp with them al in the clouds to mete the Lord in the ayre and so shall we euer be with the Lord wherfore comfort your selues one another with these wordes An. I haue oftentimes bene tēpted about our resurrectiō these cogitatiōs greuously vexe me Christ did rise in his owne power strength as true God but how shal we poore wretches rise which cannot remooue or driue away from vs euen the lest sicknes that hapneth to vs wherfore I besech you tell me how Christes resurrection maketh vs to rise Vrb. Whose sinnes were they which Christ did beare An. It is manifest certain that he bare our sinnes Vrb. What maner of nature was it which Christ tooke vpon him An. It was our nature For we beleue that he toke vpon him our very humaine nature Vrb. Wherfore did the son of God take vpon hym our nature in the vniō of his deuine euerlasting person why did he take vpon him our sinnes An. He became true man for our sakes toke vpō him our sins that he might be a true oblation and sacrifice for them on the crosse and wipe them away and reconcile God the father vnto vs. Vrb. I heare you say that our sinnes were the cause of Christes death but what hurt did sinne vnto vs men An. It brought vpon vs an horrible destruction decay of al mans strength as wel of body as soule together with euerlasting death and condemnation Vrb. Seyng then that Christ by his death satisfied for our sinnes and suffered death for them that he might put them away it is not to be doubted but that he also abolished and destroyed death which had rule dominion ouer vs But if he destroyed death in vs as I say he did it followeth well that we shall rise agayne to lyfe For he did not these most worthy workes to wit that he suffred that he dyed that he rose again for himself or for his own cause for he is innocent free frō all sin so that he had no nede to do any of al these for himself nay there was no cause why he should do these things in respect of himself or in his owne behalfe but for vs Yea whatsoeuer he did or suffred he did it suffred it al for our sakes profit he gaue vs that his victory ouer deth This therfore is a good consequēt Christ died for our sins rose again for our iustificatiō Therfore shal we also rise in our flesh otherwise should we deny the vertue operation of Christs passion resurrection in our nature and be worse and more wicked thē Turks or Ethnikes which deny Christ An. Now you bring into my remembrance the 15. cha of the first to the Corrinthians which you do so highly and often commend vnto me wherin you say that Paule hath so coupled and ioyned Christes and our resurrection together that they can in no wise be seperated ☞ Vrb. That chap. hath such and so much sweete and sound comfort in it that I wish all christians in the worlde would wel faithfully remember it Paul in that cha reasoneth thus Christ is risen from the dead therefore shal we also rise againe from the dead because he dyed and rose againe only for our sakes for our saluation If we should stil abide in death then the death and resurrection of Christ had nothing profited vs neyther had they wrought any alteration in our nature but we had still bene should so haue continued in death euen as in our earthly father Adam we were borne to die But god forbid it were so our hope is sure For as it is certaine that Christ rose from death sitteth at the right hand of God so certain is it that we shal rise again because Christ is our head our bridegrome our redeemer our life And therfore wheresoeuer Christ remaineth and is there must nedes we also be abide for euer There is no cause why you should dout left Christ our head should leaue vs his beloued members spirituall body here behynde him in earth Marke what Paul teacheth vs in the 5. to the Eph. Note how he bindeth vs tieth vs to Christ We are saith he the members of his body of his flesh and of his bones ¶ Anna. Blessed be God our louing fauorable and heauenly father for euer euer for these infinite riches of his grace These wordes of Paul do greatly comfort ioy vs for if we be the members of Christ of his flesh surely there is no doubt but as Christ did rise again in his owne body euen so shal we also rise agayne in our bodies vnto euerlasting life by the power of the glorious resurrection of Christ Vrb. This is as certaine as you see now your selfe and heare your selfe speake ¶ Anna. But the condicion state of our bodies shal not then be such as they be now for now our bodies eate drinke slepe are subiect to wearines We eate disgest and waxe hungry and they that do not eate and drink must nedes decay and die But though we do eate and drinke yet can not these earthly meates or drinkes maintayne our lyfe here for euer For when we be olde and sickly and when our stomacks leese their naturall heate and disgesture then can neither meat nor drinke help preserue or prolong our life But when the natural helth strength is gone we end our dayes and die It must nedes therfore be a strange kinde of meate which we shal eate in the world to come which maketh vs liue for euer And the condicion and state of our body which shal be then must nedes be far differing from this and much better more excellent happy and blessed thē either hart can thinke or we desire ☞ Vrb. Paul hath taught this euidently plainly manifestly in his epistle to the Phil. where he saith Christ in the last day shal change our vile body that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodye according to the working wherby he is able euen to subdue al things vnto himself Lo both in this place to the Cor. he saith the our bodies in the last resurrection shal be pure cleare and vnspotted like the stars of the firmament and lyke the sunne moone And among other things he saith that this body of ours is as a graine of corne sowen in the earth in corruption and is raised in incorruption it is sowne in dishonour and raysed in glory it is sowen in weaknes and is raised in power it is sowen a natural body is raised a spiritual body that is to say
moueth sedition bloudshed warre strife brauling grudging debate hatred He neuer slepeth he is alwayes watching he daily traueleth laboureth very sedulously and all to this ende that he may hurt man bryng him into some misery destructiō of body soul name goods He stirreth vp most cruel persecutiōs sharp stormes and poisonfull hatred against the godly To be short what euil calamity wickednes abhominations diuelishnes is done in al the earth he is the causer therof and to speake at a word he hindereth as much as in him lieth the gospel kingdom of Christ and laboreth both day night with all his might with hand and foote with tooth nayle that the territories therof be not augmēted enlarged But al his force studies and practises shall be frustrate For we haue on our side with vs the angels the good spirits of god which repugn and resist Satan Yea we haue Christ himself with vs who is a fiery brasen wall about al that faithful that the euil spirits do thē no harme nor iniury but that they may be in safety and with out danger Satan is an horrible enemy in deede so forceable that vnles god by his holy angels hindered and destroied his deuises withstood and resisted his assaults there should be no family in the whole world in which he should not euery day cause worke wickednes slaughter calamity tumultes sorrow debates mourning all kind of mischief nay rather he would disturbe destroy dissolue ouerthrow and make a confusion hauocke of the whole world he is an euerlasting irreconcilible bloudy deadly sworn enemy to al the godly And he maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellum continual war without any truce vpon the godly euen to the last day And therfore we must both morning euening euery day giue thanks to God because that of his fatherly mercy towards vs he doth so wondrously so mightily and so gloriously defend and kepe vs from so cruell horrible mischieuous mighty and noisome enemies ¶ Anna. We ought so to do in dede And I wil do it with all my hart with all diligence as my duty is For we are bound to be thankfull to our good father God almighty because he hath in such great dangers so carefully prouided for vs preserued vs from all enemies and euils For we haue often seene how these wicked sprites lay wait for vs and seke by al meanes to endamage vndo and destroy vs But God hath opēly frustrated all their assaults And now I pray you recite expound the prophesies of the mystery of our fayth to wit of the death resurrection and kingdome of Christ which we haue now in hand ☞ Vrb. I wil first begin to recite the testimonies of the Psalmes as I haue done before For of al the prophets Dauid is the floure for he prophesieth much plainly euidently of Christ who should be born of his familie or tribe according to his humanity of all his workes mysteries You haue heard before how the kingdom of Christ was described in the 2. Psal. where God the father did not onely constitute his sonne king ouer the Iewes but also gaue him the Gentils of the whole world for his inheritance Wherupon it followeth that Christ should not abide in death although he died as true mā of the seed of Dauid For it was requisite that accordyng to the decree and statute of God the father he should be king ouer the whole world Which thing could not haue bene in any corporall worldly maner as the Iewes dreamed that Messias should rule haue in this world a great corporall kingdom And therfore it was necessary that the state and condicion of Christes kingdome should be altogether of another sort then the kingdomes of this brickle frail life are Christs kingdom was to be euerlasting he which is in that kingdō shal for euer haue euerlasting righteousnes peace safety life felicity eternal saluation And therfore he endeth the psal with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conclusiue exclamation Blessed are all they which trust in the lord But he speaketh not of a tēporal blessing here in this world For the king himself and his chief nobles his welbeloued prophets and apostles had no great plenty here of worldly welth and pleasure of this life but were miserably afflicted and always subiect to many grieuous perils calamities In the 3. Psal. Dauid saith I take my rest and sleepe I rise agayne for the lord sustaineth me The old church a thousand yeres ago vnderstood this prophesie of the true death and resurrection of Christ as appeareth by Arnobius And againe Dauid saith O giue saluatiō vnto Israel out of Sion when the lord turneth the captiuitie of his people then Iacob shal reioyce and Israel shal be glad Here Dauid in sprite desireth and godly and feruently prayeth Messias who onely is called in the holy scriptures the true sauiour and redeemer seeing both the Iewes and Gentiles by him are deliuered from all euils and perils that they may through him and in him enioy euerlasting blessednes S. Augustine also taketh these wordes to bee ment of Christ And take this wife for an infallible rule for you in the scripture that in so much as there is but one onely deliuerer giuen of God vnto men by whom they may be iustified and saued that Christ is truely properly certainly ment signified and vnderstood in all those and such places where there is mention made eyther of saluation sauiour redeemer or deliuerer whether it be spoken in figures or playne and manifest wordes For seyng Israel and Iacob that is the catholike church beyng congregated of the Iewes Gentils should be glad reioyce in Christ they must liue in peace and security That cannot be vnles such troubles be taken away the conscience be comforted death abolished These words therfore importe and plainly shew that our redemer out of Sion or as it is in Thargum our redemption saluation which is Christ himself shal take away destroy all those things that trouble afflict that godly to wit an euil conscience tribulation sinne persecution and all kind of vexation death it self c. For of necessity he must lead captiuity captiue that is he must ouercome Satan who hath vs in captiuity and he must deliuer vs from his tiranny Christ in the Psalmes sayth My flesh also doth rest in hope For thou wilt not leaue my soule in hel or in the graue neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruptō Thou wilt shew me the path of life In thy presence is the fulnes of ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore We can haue no surer nor better expounders of the prophets then the Apostles and Euangelistes And Peter and Paul haue expounded this prophesie to be ment of Christ saying that he should
dye and be buried but not corrupt and rotte as our sinfull flesh doth and that his blessed deuine soule should not be cast in hell or graue but be vnited againe to the body that he should rise agayne from death sit at the right hand of God giue vs euerlasting lyfe It was meet that he should be the first fruites of thē which were dead that by his glorious resurrection he might open vs the true gate vnto lyfe and make the way for vs by which we also must go to him But Peter and Iohn the other Apostles before Christs rising againe vnderstood not this although they had heard it oftentymes vntill they saw the lord aliue agayne Wherfore it is no wonder though Cleophas and his companion vnderstood it not Dauid saith O lord my God I cryed vnto thee and thou hast restored me O lord thou hast broght vp my soul out of the graue Thou hast reuiued me from them that go downe into the pitte Arnobius and Augustine vnderstande this prophesie of the death and resurrection of Christ And againe he sayth God shall deliuer my soule from the power of the graue for he will receiue me Selah The church vnderstādeth these wordes also to be ment of the death descending into hell and risyng agayne of Iesus Christ And in another place he sayeth Thou hast shewed me great troubles and aduersities but thou wilt returne reuiue me And wil come again take me vp frō the depth of the earth These wordes also doth Arnobius expound of the death of Christ of his descendyng into hel and of his resurrection And againe in the 86. Psal. Christ saith to God the father Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lowest graue S. Augustine and with him the whole church of Affrica vnderstand this to bee vndoubtedly ment of the descending of Christ into hell of his rising againe The 22. psalm doth more fully and plainly then any other describe the passion resurrectiō and euerlasting kingdom of Christ And there are the very same wordes in which Christ in his great agony his extreme necessitie called vnto his father vpon the crosse And that psalm describeth Christ his passion also setteth forth the fruite of his death resurrection saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All they which see me haue me in derision they make a mo nod their hed saying He trusted in the lord let him deliuer him let him saue him seyng he loueth him They perced my handes and my feet I may tel al my bones yet they behold and looke vpon me They part my garments amōg them and cast lottes vpon my vesture Behold how exactly how liuely how truly and how excellently the holy ghost foretold Christes passion vsing the very same wordes which the Iewes vsed when they mocked Christ hanging on the crosse And the Euangelists are witnesses that al these things happened in his passion which were fore told of it And they recite the very same words to the end they may proue that it was the good will both of God the father and the son that Christ suffered seing the holy ghost prophesied many yeres before that all these things should happen vnto Christ Yea the spirite foreshewed also that Christ by this his passion should enter into his glory be lord ouer al things As before ye haue heard in the 8. psalm But in this 22. psal he saith I will declare thy name vnto my brethren and in the middest of the congregation will I praise thee Do you see he shal first suffer his passiō but he shall not bide in his passion and death For euen thē shal he magnify his fathers name and make it famous and wel known through the whole world by this glorious and famous preaching of Gods mercies in that he spared not his owne onely sonne but gaue him for our sakes to the death of the crosse that we might therby obtaine the benefite of euerlasting lyfe For so it followeth in the psalm The poore shal eate and be satisfied they that seeke after the lord shal prayse him their harts shall liue for euer This eating and satisfieng of the poore is a spiritual satisfieng when the poore sinners eate the true bread of heauen that is when they heare the gospel of Christes humanity passion and resurrection and kepe it in their hartes by fayth For then are they fed by it vnto euerlasting life according to that of Iohn I am the liuing bread which came down from heauen if any man eate of this bread hee shall liue for euer Neither can mans cōscience be otherwise satisfied and set at quiet that it be not vexed and troubled by any other thing but onely by Christ apprehended by fayth It followeth All the endes of the world shall remember themselues and turne to the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee For the kingdome is the lordes and he ruleth among the nations This is when men by the preaching and doctrine of the Gospell are put in mynd of gods great benefites and are constrayned to acknowledge worship confesse glorify and call vpon Christ their lord who is appointed of God the father to be the head of all things and king ouer all nations of the whole world Here haue ye the kingdome of Christ which is the holy catholike church spread ouer the face of the whole earth And now in all things and places where that euill spirit the deuill before ruled by lying hauing seduced all people and led them into all kindes of errors and idolatry that they might be as Paul sayth without Christ without the worde without hope and without God in the world there I say in those partes shall Christ now be heard It followeth their seede shall serue him and the lord shal be preached from age to age But if Christ shal haue seede that is to say spirituall children borne by the gospell as well of the Iewes as Gentiles as you see by this text he must then can he not be ouercome by deth nor abide in the graue For how could he then regenerate and congregate the Gentiles together into the catholike fayth and rule such an empire which should fill the whole world whose dominion should not extende through one piece of the earth onely but thorough the whole circuit of the wide world and so cōtinue for euer world without end For whosoeuer beleueth in Christ shal be partaker of euerlasting lyfe Wheresoeuer therfore the prophets set down the kingdom of Christ saying that it shall haue continual peace health and felicitye there is set downe and in dede declared the deth and resurrection of Christ and all christian men For if Christ shal be a king and set vp and haue an heauenly and euerlasting kingdome it must needes follow that he should leaue this temporall mortall lyfe by death
briefe they are true Israelites in whō there is no deceit or fraude because Christ their king blesseth and gouerneth them by his holy spirite and renueth regenerateth them maketh them which were bloud-thirsty and enuious very myld men and patient sufferers of all harmes that happen so that beyng hurt they hurt not agayne nay they wish well vnto their enemies they blesse them that curse them and doe good to them that hurt them Forasmuch then as appertayneth vnto themselues they neede no swords but only for the infidels and wicked which must be ruled restrayned by the sword and by force least that the godly and good liuers be oppressed hurt by them As Esay sayth of the kingdom of Christ They shall do no hurt neither do any iniury in my holy hill because the earth shal be filled with the knowledge of God euen as the sea with flowing waters And Micheas prophecieth of the peace which shall be in the kingdom of Christ saying But they shall sit euery man vnder his vine and vnder his fig tree and none shall make them afrayde And Hose sayth I will make a couenaunt for them in that day that is when Messias shall rule with the wild beastes and with the foules of the heauen and with that that creepeth vpon the earth and I will breake the bow and the sword and the battail out of the earth and will make thē to sleep safely And Zachary saith I will cut of the chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Ierusalem the bowe of the battail shall be broken and he shall speake peace vnto the heathen These things are not to be vnderstood corporally and grosly as the blinded Iewes and Chiliastes did dreame but spiritually of the heauenly peace in the spirituall kingdom of Christ If therfore the Gentiles through all the world according to this prophesie ought to run vnto the Lord into the church or christian religion and receiue the doctrine therof and be partakers of that true peace it was needefull that Christ should rise agayne that he might erect restore and establish that great kingdom which consisteth of the Iewes and Gentils For as yet the Gentils when he dyed knew not who he was Nay the very Iewes themselues could not abide this their king wherupon the prophet warneth euen the Iewes in the ende of his prophesie saying O house of Iacob come ye and let vs walke in the light of the lord that is in his gospell in the fayth of Christ And Esay comforteth the people of the Iewes prophesieng vnto them that although the Iewes should suffer a great destruction and haue a miserable fall yet many of the Israelites should escape all those euils obtaine that euerlasting ioy and incomparable comfort which God promised saying In that day shall the bud of the Lord be beautifull and glorious and the fruite of the earth shall be excellent and pleasaunt for them that are escaped of Israel Then he that shal be lost in Sion and he that shall remayne in Ierusalem shal be called holy and euery one shall be written among the liuyng in Ierusalem when the Lord shall wash the filthines of the daughter of Sion and purge the bloud of Ierusalem out of the midst therof by the spirit of burning In these wordes the prophet foretelleth how glorious and honorable this kingdome of Messias should be And he speaketh properly of the tymes of the new Testament wherein Christ adourned hys kyngdome his Church with beauty aboue measure and with all the giftes of the holy ghost For he washeth cleanseth and sanctifieth his daughter Sion that is the church with holy baptisme by his bloude Hee mortifieth the olde Adam by the spirite of iudgement and of fire And seeing that the churche her selfe must fight here in the fleshe against most wicked and vile enemies and seing that she is here on earth in great daunger Christ her almighty king doth promise her comfort defence ayde and helpe in all aduersities and calamities that she may bee safe vnder the protection of the most high For hee shall be a cloude for his church in the day tyme and a fire lightnyng it in the night as hee visibly deliuered his people out of the house of bondage as we read in Exodus where it is sayd And the Lord went before them by day in a piller of a cloude to leade them the way and by night in a piller of fire to geue them light that they might goe both by day and by night hee tooke not away the piller of the cloud by day nor the piller of fire by night frō before the people Note here that the prophet calleth our Lord Christ the budde or blossom of God and the fruit of the earth because Christ is the sonne of God naturally and also the true sonne of man to wit of the perpetuall and pure Virgin Mary of the tribe of Dauid He is called the fruite of the earth because he tooke his holy humanitie of the daughter of Adam which Adam was made of earth This prophesie the Iewes vnderstood both in Babilon and afterward also of Christ For Thargum Ionathan sayth At this tyme the Messias of the lord shal be our ioy and glory ¶ Anna. Cleophas and his companion by this prophesie might easily haue vnderstood that Israel should not quite perish because Christ died For if it was meet that he should bee the fruite of the earth that is to say naturall man what meruaile is it then if he died But in that he was the budde of the Lord it was not possible that he should abide in death For then should God himselfe haue remayned in death which thing is vnpossible Wherfore he was able both to raise vp and deliuer hymself and other from death Moreouer seyng that not all which were in Ierusalem and in Sion but the remnant only should be holy and numbred amongest the elect it must needes be that there were some wicked men in Ierusalem and so consequently enemies to Christ For holines and wickednes cannot agree What maruayle was it then that these prophayne and wicked bishops and princes deliuered Christ to death But yet for all that he was able to deliuer Israell yea death it selfe was the way and meane whereby God had determined to saue Israel as the Prophetes haue sayde and yet not by force armour and the sworde as the Iewes dreamed but euen by his holinesse as it seemed good vnto the Lorde But it appeareth in Luke that those good disciples as then neither knew nor vnderstood the person and ministery of Messias to wit that he both could and should by death destroy death ☞ Vrbanus You say well and therfore doth Christ call them fooles and slow of hart to beleue and vnderstand all thinges which the prophet spake of Messias But marke what Esay sayth of Christ First he giueth Christ this worthy warriours name calling him Maher
pure free frō al sinne All mankind in deed is subiect to it But Christ paied the price of all our sinnes and in his owne person ouercame death and so destroyed it that henceforth it cannot vtterly vndo vs and deuour vs Because all we which beleue in Christ shall rise again by the vertue of Christes resurrectiō This also might haue comforted Cleophas and his companion haue certified them that Christ was a spirituall king which should not restore that corporall kingdome of Israel but redeme the true Israelites to wit the children of promise through the whole world from the kingdome of Satan and bring them into the heauenly and spiritual kingdom of euerlasting lyfe and immortalitie Esay in his 26. chapter hath a notable song of the kingdom of Christ of the church of the faithfull and of the fortitude and security therof where he sayth We haue a strong city saluation shall God set for walles bulwarks That is to say the walles and armour of it are the sauing helth and victory of Christ which are sure and inuincible fortresses Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which kepe the truth may enter in Here are the citizens of this city described to wit the righteous which beleue in Iesus Christ It followeth By assured purpose wilt thou preserue perfect peace because they trusted in thee This is spokē of the king which ruleth this heauenly city because he doth alwayes and in all places giue and maintayne true pleasant and perpetuall peace against Satan the world and the flesh This peace is in consciēce through faith in Iesus Christ A little after Esay doth prophesie of the resurrection of those dead which shal haue beleued in Messias and are citizens of that heauenly Ierusalem saying Thy dead men shall liue euen with my body shall they rise Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust For thy dew is as the dew of herbes and the earth shal cast out the dead Come my people enter thou into my chambers and shut thy dores after thee Hide thy selfe for a very litle while vntill the indignation passe ouer for loe the Lord commeth out of his place to visite the iniquity of the inhabitauntes of the earth vpon them and the earth shall disclose her bloud and shall no more hide her slaine Now if the righteous which yet lye in the earth shall rise in theyr owne bodies then must it needes be that Christ should rise before who is the head kyng by whome they are iustified and deliuered from theyr sinnes and by whom they shall rise agayne The prophet therefore vndoubtedly speaketh here of the resurrection of Christ and christians and calleth the faythfull of Christ the lordes dead that is pertayning vnto the lord or which are the lordes of whome God will take an accompt and whome he will preserue and not leaue them in death but bring them to euerlasting lyfe For if God be theyrs and they Gods then out of all doubt can not they continue in death neither hath death totally swallowed them vp and cōsumed them but it hath for a short tyme separated their body and soule For God is not the God of the dead but of the liuyng The soule is with Christ and the body in the ground But at the last day the lord will purge and purifie theyr bodies and adorne them with infinit and vnspeakable glory Esay teacheth vs what maner of lyfe we shall haue after our death when he sayeth Awake and sing If the godly must sing and vndoubtedly they shall syng that euerlastyng Alleluya that is a thankesgiuyng because death is swalowed vp in the victory of Christ then out of doubt shall our lyfe after this temporall lyfe be a most happy and blessed lyfe and we shall haue continuall ioyes without any tast of payne or sorrowes perpetuall health without sickenesse eternall and true pleasures delightes and comfortes without any wearisomnesse or molestations After that day sicknesses shall trouble our bodies no more neyther shall olde age wither our bodies or decrease our strength but we shal alwayes haue a continual spring euerlasting pleasure and perpetuall beauty Therefore sayth the prophet Thy dewe shall be as the dewe of a greene medowe That is after your resurrection you shall not fade or decay but flourish alwayes and for euer and be as a fayre medow and greene garden which by her sweete dew comfortable buddes and pleasaunt delectation feedeth the eyes of all men But before this most ioyfull day of the resurrection of the faythfull we must suffer much affliction and heauinesse as Christ warneth vs in Iohn saying In the world ye shall haue affliction and bee made conformable vnto hys death This must be suffered paciently and moderately that be suffering we may be made lyke vnto Christ and so according to our portion be partakers of glory And so Paul sayth to the Philippians The thinges which were vauntage to me the same I counted losse for Christes sake that I might winne Christ and that I might knowe hym and the vertue of hys resurrection and the fellowship of his affliction and bee made conformable vnto his death if by any meanes I might attayne vnto the resurrection of the dead In the meane while we sit as it were shut vp vnknowen to the world in our parlor or closset of the holy church beleuing the doctrine of the sacred Gospell and confirmyng our fayth and hartes with the sweete promise of GOD in hys worde euen vnto the last iudgement that the wrath of GOD may passe ouer and that which ought to be iudged receiue iudgement Our afflictions here are not continuall but for a short tyme which compared vnto eternitie is not the twinckling of an eye And this tyme once finished the Lord will come to iudgement and giue vnto euery one accordyng to his workes Then shall the godly and guiltlesse Abel ryse from the dust of the earth and then shall not the earth any longer couer the bodye of the righteous but it shall giue them vp that together with their soules they may be glorified And the Prophet in his 27. chapiter prophesieng of Christes kingdome and the catholike church calleth it a vineyarde saying In that day sing of the vineyarde to wit the church of red wyne I the Lorde do keepe it and will water it euery moment least any assaile it I will keepe it day and night Hereafter Iacob shall take roote Israel shall flourish and growe and the worlde shall bee filled with fruite And in that day also shall the great trumpet be blowen and they shall come which perished in the land of Ashur and they which were chased into the land of Egypt and they shall worship the lord in the holy mount at Ierusalem This vineyarde is the church of the faythfull which is enclosed and hedged about with the worde of God adourned with the holy spirite and moystened and watered with the
with the church Wheras men which are without knowledge of God being in heresies superstition idolatry exercised and blinded are by that euil destroying and disturbing spirit dispersed and the heritage deuided Cōtrarily Christes faithfull are by the gospell and doctrine of the church gathered together into the vnity of faith which iustifyeth ¶ Anna. But what saith the church to them which yet beleeue not ☞ Vrb. It saith that which Esay speaketh of here saying Goe forth and shew your selues as if he should haue sayd ye sit in Sathans prison in darknes of vnbeleef but if you abide in that pryson and darknes you shall die for euer And therfore arise and come out and fly speedely out of sathans kingdome repent amend your selues and beleeue the gospel and then shal your harts be lighted with knowledge then shall you both learn to know your selues you shall also receiue true holynes be saued In the kingdome and dungeon of sathā is nothing els but euerlasting hunger penury of al things but in the church which is the kingdome of Christ are most delectable pleasant pastures For the gospel is a most ioyful messenger and comfortable word of life which floweth with al delites comforts ioyes in which we finde and haue plenty and ful store of al pleasure goodnes to wit forgeuenes of sinnes true holynes peace with God ioy of spirite and peace of conscience and life yea true and perfect consolation And this is the meaning of these strange words of the prophet where he saith They shal feed in the wayes and their pastures shal be in the plaines or in al the tops of hils they shal neither be hungry nor thirsty and the heat of the day shal not touch them But whence haue they such delights and pleasures The prophet answereth because their deliuerer wil rule gouern thē They are as you here in the kingdome of mercy Christ conducteth thē by his word spirit These three to wit the word the sacraments and the holy spirit are the welsprings and flouds by which only this spirituall thirst may in all places and for euer be quenched And least this spirituall thirst shold not be quenched or these pastures of life be hid and not easely found the Lord wil make all the mountaines into a way that is there shal be in all congregations or companies of Christians place that euē easely with no troble mē may come vnto him There shal be a very broad frequented way redy and easy to be found so that no man shall haue need to aske which is the way lest therby the free acces to Christ might be hindered For in what kind and state of life so euer any man shal be so that it be not quite cōtrary to gods word if he beleeue in Christ doubtles he shall both haue forgeuenes of sinnes and be inheritor of euerlasting life whether he be Iew or Gentil master or seruant mistres or mayd maiestrate or subiect and they shal come from far Before the people of god was in the litle land of Chanaan and the church of God was straitly laced hēmed in but now it shal be let lose through the wholl world and as Christ saith in Luke they shal come frō the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit in the kingdome of God. Then the prophet biddeth all creatures reioyce and be glad for al creatures which are are in two places to wit in heauē earth now the occasion cause why they ought to triumph and reioyce is this First because God the father hath sent his sonne into this earth geuen vs his gospel from heauen which is a messuage of reconciliation betwixt God man and the word of grace remission of sinnes Secondly because that now the people of God faithful christians are out of al danger and in a happy ease for death is subdued But he calleth the good christians poore or afflicted because while they liue in this earth they are heauy troubled inwardly with feare terror of death and gods iudgement and outwardly they are shaken with persecutions and all kinds of calamities But this is our consolation that god calleth vs his people for if we be his people he our comforter protector thē may we in deed reioyce For if God be with vs who can be against vs what hurt can the creature doe vs how cā it dismay vs seeing the creator himself doth comfort help vs the flesh is very weak and when the tempest thick mistes of aduersitie and tribulations come vpon vs when we are ouerwhelmed with vehement crosses when we are something sharply assaulted with sorowes feares and temptations then doe these comfortable promises of gods grace and help vanish away and fly out of our sight in so much that we think God hath forsaken vs and that he is angry and so plagueth vs because he intendeth to destroy vs For thus saith Sion to wit the miserable afflicted godly in their infirmities and greeuous temtations The Lord hath forsaken me the Lord hath forgotten me my sinnes O Lord are haynous great greeuous and to heauy for me to beare What shal become of me O wretch that I am what shall I doe how shal I escape euerlasting death and the wrath of God ¶ An. Truely husband it is oftentimes so with me for I am many times so afflicted and am in such heuynes feares and temtations that I thinke God careth not for me and that he will euē in these trobles feares afflictions and temtations leaue and destroy me most miserable woman ☞ Vrb. Our weake fearfull flesh cannot alwayes expel such feares cogitations For though the promises of God be neuer so plentiful manifold though god euery foot help vs yea and that so manifestly and redely that we may euen grope and feel him yet whē troble and greef come again we are so vnmindful of al the former helps which we haue had and we are so trobled soroful as if the lord could forget or forsake vs which in deed he can neuer doe For he hath promised both to help comfort vs and surely he will performe his promise for he is true therfore he wil doe it he is of such might that whatsoeuer he saith he can perform it Wherfore Esay addeth to this complaint of the godly which mourn vnder the cros a most ioyfull comfortable consolation by which we may help this our dastardly weaknes and desperation and comfort our heuy harts thus wrastling vnder the cros pressed down with aduersitie desperatiō And to doe it the liuelier he boroweth a similitude of nature which is commōly knowen amongst all men to wit the louing and motherly affection of women which of all other are most naturall to their children We know that God hath planted in the
children neither could it be thought that of them should come such a famous people Notwithstanding it came so to pas that this seed was so multiplyed that it was like the sand of the sea according to the promise of the lord And so though the litle flock of Gods people in this world be as a desolate barrain and only widow in comparison of the great number of the vngodly yet shall it come to pas that thou shalt increase grow and be exceeding famous For although thou hast in this world many enemies which do all they can and imploy themselues totally to subuert thee to root thee out and to ouerthrow thee yet can they not hurt thee Their councels and deuises shall all be frustrate yea they them selues how great soeuer they be are nothing nay much les then nothing For the moth shall eat them as a garment and the worme shall consume them like a vesture but my righteousnes remayneth and abideth for euer from generation to generation Yea and he addeth a saying that is ful of comfort The Lord shal comfort Syon he shall comfort all her desolations and he shall make her desert like Eden and her wildernes like the garden of the lord Ioy and gladnes shall be found therin praise and the voyce of singing Which is to say although the church be like vnto Abraham solitary and forsaken yet shall she be blesssed and florish like as a most pleasaunt garden And therfore we ought in no wise to be offended at the base estate of Christ and his former comming or at the homely state of the church while she walketh in this crooked world like to a pilgrim And a litle after in the same chap. the Lord speaketh to his people I euen I am he that comforteth you This is a greate and worthy mistery for we vnderstand here Christes humanitye as if he should say my seruants the prophets haue much and diuersly hetherto comforted you but yet came not that true comfort of Israell Now therfore will I far otherwise comfort you and that much more liuely and in greater aboundance then before For now euen I my selfe will come in mine own person and comfort Sion This came to pas when Christ was made man and liued among men For he sent not a Prophet or an Angel but he himself at the fulnes of time came in the flesh that he might comfort vs in the flesh Those two discyples plainly felt that comfort on Easter day when God him selfe in mans nature glorifyed and reuiued them and cheered vp their heuy harts by the scriptures And Esay saith further Arise put on thy strength O Syon c. And here again doth the prophet comfort gods people making them promise of Christ their redeemer as if he should say goe to Sion thou which art so often afflicted and troubled thou which art now prisoner vnto thy enemies and now again set free and yet afterward captiue and laid wast so that thou maist truely be called most miserable and wretched Now reioyce Now be glad and leap for ioy for thy miseries shal once haue end For I promise thee a better and more blessed state in time to come Hethertowards thou hast bene for a time redeemed from thy enemies and for a tyme thou hadst tranquility and wast afterward afflicted agayn But now thou shalt enioy at last sound consolation which shall neuer decay after which no captiuity or destructiō shal follow Wherfore put all heauines from thy hart be of good courage and awake for the time wil once come wherin thou shalt truly be set at fredome And thus the prophet speaketh of that euerlasting deliueraunce which we haue in Christ who hath vanquished our enemies by whom we were afflicted and vexed in captiuity and hath deliuered vs from them and restored vs to our old fredome and all this he did of his own mere grace cleane without our desert though it cost him euen the best chiefest and most precious humain thing he had For he offered vp his body for a sacrifice and shed his most precious bloud for our redemption that thereby he might put away our sinnes ouercome death and vanquish and destroy hel And by these works of his euerlasting and infinite person he obtayned for vs euerlasting redemption Sion the spirituall citie is vexed and troubled because it is constrayned to harborow and beare the vngodly It can in no wise paciently suffer such griefe and blasphemies against god and his name Therfore God by the prophet promiseth that the vncircumcised and vnclean that is the vnbeleuers whose hartes in Christ Iesus are not purified nor cleansed but hate the church of God shall not haue their habitation there But this thing in this world is done spiritually For whosoeuer beleeueth not in Christ yea though he sit in Peters chaire or were head of the church as Annas and Caiphas were in the Sinagogue and other many wicked Iewes which would be counted righteous yet is he no member of true Syon that is of the Church for he hath not the spirite of Christ and how then can Christ be hys head or he his member for such a one is without the communion of saynts But at the day of redemption when Christ shal come to geue sentence then at the last shall all the wicked infidels and false Christians be euen corporally seperated from the faythfull Then shall Sion be most beautifull and delectable when all which shall dwell in her shall put on their wedding garments then shall the Church be clean without blot or wrinkle and then he which hath not on his wedding garment shall with his hands and feet fast bound be cast into vtter darcknes In the meane tyme Sion in outward apparance hath a heuy countenance because we wander yet in this flesh and because the old man is not yet mortifyed and because sathan and the world doe iniury vs persecute vs and torment vs and because tirants vexe and trouble vs with the doctrine and traditions of men But we must not sleep in security we must rise and lift vp our selues and shake of slouthfulnes And although with our body we cannot come vnto that wished marke and full perfection yet in hart we must aspire fly vp to Christ our redeemer as Paule teacheth to the Philip. saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our conuersation is in heauen Moreouer we must still stand in our freedome which Christ by his pretious and inestimable price wrought for vs And we must by pure and vnspotted faith cleaue closely in all we can to Christ and cast the bonds of humain traditions quite and clean out of our consciences that so Christ may rule in our harts otherwise we shall neuer be able to stand And then the prophet speaketh of a twofold captiuity and transmigration The first is corporall when as they were most miserable captiues in Egipt and afterward amongst the Assirians and Caldeans who at that time
and condemned to the death of the cros but that heuy and vnspekable payn that the Lord of all things and iudge both of the liuing and dead suffered himself to be iudged and condemned by sinful men was not to continue longer then three dayes After which torments he should at the last being rysen agayn raigne with great glory ouer Israell He dyed once and dyeth no more Death henceforth hath no more power ouer him but he is ruler ouer it for euer Whereupon sayth the prophet who shal declare his age or generation or tel of the time of his raign When the Iewes supposed he had bin dead and quite destroyed then at the last he passed from time which perysheth into eternity which neuer shall haue end and he rose from death into the glory of the euerlasting ioy and immortality This is that infinite merite of Christes passion by which he deserued for vs forgeuenes of all our sinnes and euerlasting life He was cut of and taken away by his passiō out of the land of the liuing which liue here in this transitory life Our life verely is miserable and short and alwayes caryeth death about with it and is euery moment in danger of death and hath death following it euen as the shadow doth follow the body But Christ then in his passion passed from death to euerlasting life where he doth now raign our Lord and king for euer and euer ¶ Anna. Why saith Esay the Lord made his sepulchre with the wicked or suffered him to be buryed as the wicked ☞ Vrb. The prophet speaketh of the outward passion of Christ Paul to the Gala. calleth him a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is cursed or maledcition and there he sayth that for our sakes he became accursed as though he should say although Christ as touching his own person was innocent and that blessed seed of Abraham againste whom neither sinne nor death had any power yet of his own free wil he became in his outward man contemned and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accursed and suffered himself to be slain vpō the cros for vs poore miserable sinners this kind of deth is due only to those who for their offēces and wicked life are condemned He suffered this most shameful death became for our cause the curse that we through him might obtayn blessednes Thus then suffered he on the cros for great offences wherewithall the blinded Iewes did most vniustly charg him They accused him of blasphemy and sedition saying that he trespassed against God Cesar so rightly deserued that cruel death wheras in deed he suffered willingly for our sakes that vile ignominye false accusation which they falsly forged against him For he him self neuer sinned neither could offend but so was the wil of our heauenly father He spared not his deerely beloued Sonne that we poore sinners might by that his most shameful and contemptuous death but vnto vs sure saluation be delyuered from all our sinnes Esay teacheth in the words following what commodity we haue by this miserable and ignominious death of Christ and he sayth The figures or types of the sacrifices in Moyses law are fulfilled by this onely Sacrifice of Christ These be his words when he shall spend his life for our sinne when he shall make his soule an offering for sinne or when he shall geue his life a sacrifice for sinne then shal he haue seede his age shall be prolonged that is when he shal haue offered himselfe vp in Sacrifice vpon the cros to his heauenly father for our sinnes then shall he haue seed or children that is faithfull beleeuers in him And his yeares shall be so long that the life of him and all faithfull christians shal be without end It is otherwise with erthly kings for they when they dye depart from their kingdomes their Successors possesseth thē But this our king of glory Christ dyed another holesome and liuely kinde of death by which he entereth into true life and most mightely beginneth the administration of his eternall kingdome And here again is the resurrection of Christ and faithful Christians foretold For this is the right and true ruling gouerning erection and establishing of a kingdome whē the king erecteth such a kingdome as wil neuer decay in which the subiectes alwayes haue continuall and perfect safety protection peace surety felicity and all good things aboundantly and this can no earthly king doe For all earthly kings dye their kingdomes perish and decay with them as we see all dominions princely power and kingdomes continue in this world but a while and not for euer but within a few ages to come vtterly to ruine Wherupon Esay saith that the wil of the Lord is in his own hand or his determination or purpose by the hand of Messias shal haue prosperous succes For what thing soeuer the father commaunded Christ to doe for vs all that hath he fully finished with perfection yea with faithfulnes and to our great commodity and he plainly declareth that this was done by Christes merite where he saith his soul was in payn that is he suffered much vexatiō greef sorrow misery for our sake but shall haue a great reward or worthy hire For after so many tribulatiōs he shal see those things which wil make him ioyfull that is the catholick church or the true godly who through sincere faith doe openly honor Christ glorify Christ preach Christ and confes the Lord Christ and so highly esteem these his labors miseryes and greefes that they doubt nothing but that by the same they shal attain euerlasting saluation peace rest and consolation And therfore they wil not be afraid to suffer temporall death for the glory of Christ For they know that true righteousnes euerlasting life eternall saluation and aboundant treasures of all goodnes and felicity are to be found in Christ Iesu Now haue you heard how Christ bare our sinnes and satisfyed for them In the words following Esay teacheth vs how we may be iustifyed and made partakers of that most holsome passion and merits of christ And he sayth his knowledge or the vnderstanding of Christ is the mean wherby we receaue attain that great treasure Wherfore wife if you beleue this prophecye to wit that Iesus Christ the true sonne of God God man tooke away from you your sinnes satisfyed for them and offered him self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacrifice for you and that he became your sauiour hath by his myserable and innocent death reconcyled you to God These I say if you beleue by this faith shal you receue forgeuenes of your sinnes and be reputed before God both iust and holy as the Euangelists and Apostles and especially S. Peter Paul and Iohn in euery place witnes This is the righteousnes of Christians to acknoledge and beleeue that Christ is our onely Mediator Sauyour and Redeemer whom God sent to take our sinnes vpon him and satisfy for them
the prophet say that their former troubles are forgott put out of sight and hide from them seing that in the kingdome of Christ that as in the Church there is neuertheles outwardly nothing but affliction vexation and tribulatiō in this lyfe insomuch that euen the most holy men many tymes fall into such trouble of mind that they need the comfort of other men ☞ Vrb. You must acquaint your selfe with the prophets phrase of speach The prophets speake of the kingdome of Christ as if we were now already deliuered out of these troubles and as if the glory of his kingdome which is yet to come had now already apeared nay as if the euerlasting lyfe which is yet to come were already begun where as yet it is but only in fayth And so it behoued thē to speake of it For if they should paint forth the kingdome of Christ in his proper colors and set it forth aright as it ought to be they must not looke vpon that base and homely outward appearaunce in which here vpon earth it lyeth couertly hid vnder the crosse but they must behold the glory also in which it shall florish in the day of our perfect regeneration when all kindes of euills incommodities stombling blockes shal be remoued out of the kingdome of Christe and when we shall be free from all kind of crosses and calamities In as much as we being iustified be fayth in Christ are freed and deliuered from our sinnes and in as much as we beare Christ by fayth in our hartes and are now made the sons of God and haue our lyfe hid and preserued with Christ in God and haue the holy spirite the earnest penye of our inheritance and so spiritually are risen agayne frō the death of sin and haue nothing els to looke for but that this mortall bodye should dye and rise agayne the prophets I say because of these so excellent thinges because we are saued in hope vsed sometimes in that they knew what fayth in Christ could doe and should doe to speake of the kingdome of Christ as if now already we were translated out of this fraile and corruptible lyfe and out of these troubles cares calamities and afflictious into that lyfe that continueth for euer And this certainely is our sure plentifull comfort consolatiō nay it is our spirituall blessing wherwith we now are already blessed And these first fruites of the spirite are such heauenly treasures that no tongue can vtter the excellency and dignitie therof And this is the cause that when we be indued with these heauēly treasures we beare the heuy crosse of persecution trouble more patiētly Before this we were in the kingdome of the deuill the kingdome of the euerlasting curse but now we are in the kingdome of eternall blessing in which onely and els not at all we finde and enioy the grace of God righteousnes helth and euerlasting lyfe It followeth in the prophet For loe I will create new heauens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde But the Lord sayth bee you glad and reioyce for euer in the thing that I shall create For behold I will create Ierusalem as a reioycing and her people as a ioy And I will reioyce in Ierusalem and ioy in my people and the voyce of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voyce of crying Behold here how exceeding glorious the kingdome of Christ shall be after this lyfe God for his childrens sake his faythful which be heyres of all things in Christ will wake a new heauen and a new earth And then all thinges shall reioyce with the Children of God all affliction and trouble which we suffered here in this earth shall then be forgot For heauines hath then his end and eternall Ioy beginneth Now it is called the earth and so it is in deed euen a vale of misery and a sea of sorrow For which way soeuer a man turneth his eye there is nothing here to be seene but daunger and affliction The water drowneth vs the fire burneth vs and the ayre with tempest stormes thunder lightning haile molesteth vs In the earth we see our graues and the burying places of the dead dens of theeues and here the tortor and there the racke to torment vs To be short there is no place but that of misery and mischiefe it is a place For as yet Sathan with this his world swelleth rageth turneth tosseth euery thing vpside downe and bringeth in all kinde of calamity and mischiefe vpon vs but when he with his incredulous and wicked world shall be hurled hedlong downe to hell when our God shall renew the earth when the true Christians shall only appeare in all places and nothing but true iustice inhabite the land then shall the memory of that former earth the vale of misery in which was nothing but present perill sicknes sorrow affliction and death be vtterly extinguished and forgot then at the last shall the true heauenly Ierusalem be builded where shall be nothing but sure pure and vnspekable ioy and there we shal reioyce in the Lord for euer and euer and God shall be to vs all in all And wheras the Iewes and Chelieasts draw and wrast this text to the lande of Iuda they are foolishly and doultishly deceaued For all Iudaisme with their tempell Ierusalem priesthoode and principalitye had their limites and time appointed and ought to continue but onely till Iesus Christ should come and fulfill the scriptures who together with his Church was by the law priest sacrifice temple and Ierusalem prefigured and signified For Esay a little after in the 66. chapiter prophesyeth of the Iewes ceremonies that they shall haue an end that after for euer in the Church of the faythfull in Christ there shall be month after month and Saboth after Saboth that is to say in this church shall be a perpetuall and continuall Saboth Saboth after Saboth still one vpon one wheras the Saboths of the Iewes were numbred and knowne In this last of Esay also we haue a notable worthy prophesy of the kingdom of Christ or of the church of the faythfull The wordes of it be these Reioyce ye with Ierusalem and be glad with her all ye that loue her reioyce for ioy with her all ye that morne for her that you may suck and be satisfied with the brestes of her consolation and that ye may milke out and be delighted with the brightnes of her glory For thus sayth the Lord Behold I will extend peace ouer her lyke a floud and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing streame then shall ye suck ye shall be born vpon her sides and be ioyful vpon her knees As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Ierusalem And when ye see this your hartes shall reioyce and your bones shall florishe like an
set my sanctuary among them for euer more Thy tabernacle also shall be with them yea I will be their God and they shall be my people Thus the heathen shall know that I the lord doo sanctify Israell when my sanctuary shall be among them for euermore This prophecy was corporally fulfilled after they had ben captiues 70. years when the Iews returned into their countrye and assēbled themselues together and multiplied vntill the comming of Christ which was to come .490 yeares after that captiuitye then in deede had they one king But this prophesye was truely fulfilled in the last weeke spoken of by Daniell at the former comming of Christ when both he and his disciples conuerted thē in the land of Chanaan and els where where they were dispersed and gathered them by the gospell into that onely spirituall shepfold the Church of Christ before times Iudah Beniamin had a king of their owne and the ten tribes which fell from the house of Dauid vnder Roboham had another king of their owne but when Christ the true Dauid came all the Iewes were made one people vnder one true king Christ In this kingdome shall not the question be curiously asked whether you are of the tribe of Ruben Leuy Isachar Zebulon Dan Gad or Ashur c but it shall be asked art thou a Christian doest thou acknowledge and confesse Iesus of Nazareth to be the true Messias whom the patriarkes prophets and all the tribes of Israel did loke for They euen vnto this time carefully looked for Christ But when Christ himselfe came the true sheppard and king of Israell then was that euerlasting couenaunt of grace betwixt God and man ratified and then that true throne of grace wherein all fulnes of the Godhed corporally dwelleth that is Iesus Christ true God and true man was conuersant here himselfe in earth amongst men That ould Caporeth and their materiall temple and Leuiticall priesthood was then no more to be regarded for all tipes and figures then ceased the truth it selfe appered Christly fidelians who layd hould of Christ in their hartes by true fayth were then made the liuely temple and sanctuary of God. As Paule well and learnedly expoundeth such figures saying Know ye not sayth he that you are the temple of God and that the spirite of God dwelleth in you for the temple of God is holy which ye are And to the Corrinthians he teacheth what is true holynes and the fulfilling of al figures to wit Christ himselfe Who sayth he was geuen vs of the Father to be our wisedome holynes righteousnes sanctificatiō and redēption And as the Lord himselfe sayth a little after in Ezech. My righteousnes that is my sanctuarye or habitation shall be for euer among them This is the circumstaunce and prophets drift in the prophesye afore sayd to perswade and proue this congregation of the Israelites to be an euerlasting and spiritual kingdome vnder their owne king christ For the land of Canaan Ierusalem and the temple were brittle and but for a tyme euen as this visible world is Therefore that habitation could not continew for euer wherefore the prophet speaketh here of spiritual and eternal things which cannot by continuaunce of time decay dy but must stand for euer These things which are earthly and of this world vanish decay but the king Messias his habitation the house of Iacob and his kingdome abideth for euer Wherefore they are not earthly nor carnall but euerlasting and spirituall ¶ Anna. Yf according to this prophesye the house of Iacob or the kingdome of Messias should be the sanctuary of God for euer and this spirituall Dauid be the king of the faythfull Christians or Israelites for euer then must it needes follow that he should rise agayne and gather the disparsed Israelites or children of god together that he might erect an euerlasting kingdome and rayse his people from death and geue them lyfe and saluation in euerlasting peace This is that true holynes and full deliueraunce of Israell from all all euilles temporall and eternall If Cleophas and his companion had vnderstode and beleued this prophesy they would neuer haue said We thought that it had beene he that should haue redeemed Israell but they would haue sayd we hope and beleue that it is he that hath and shall redeeme Israell although he hath now suffred death For the promise of the Lord is sure and certaine and can neuer deceaue vs Farthermore in as much as Messias is called Dauid because he was born of Dauids stock and in as much as he is true man what maruaile is it if he be subiect to death and dyed But in that he should keepe and gouerne Israell for euer he could not abide in death but must needes rise agayne thereby to fulfill this and other prophesies concerning his euerlasting kingdome But there is one thing in this prophesye which moueth a doubt you sayd yesterday that Ezechiell in this chap. did prophesye of that generall and vniuersall resurrectiō which should be at the last day Wherefore then doth the prophet say that these dry bones were the house of Israell which was in captiuitie at Babilon how can you here by proue the vniuersall resurrection of the dead Vrba I confesse in deede that Ezechiel in this chap. doth speake of the deliueraunce and restitution of Israell and that he prophesieth also of their returne and as it were by law recouer their land lost in their absence But iudge you seing God by this similitude would comfort his people that they should not doubt of their deliuerance whether our resurrection maye not heare be gathered of this place as a certayne and vndoubted truth or no. For if our resurrection were vncertayne and doubtfull he could not by it haue proued or ministred vnto them any sownd and sure cōfort For then they would haue sayd loke how slender and small hope there is that these bones should liue agayne euen so small hope is there that we should be redeemed out of the captiuitie of Babilon But here the prophet bringeth in and alleageth the resurrection of their bones as a thing most sure of which no good nor godly man may doubt euen as if he had sayde looke how certayne and sure it is that these bodies shall rise and liue againe by the power of God euen so sure also it is that you shall be deliuered out of the captiuitie of Babilon and restored to your owne countrye agayne Moreouer wee know that the catholicke Church both in the east and west hath hetherto without all cōtrouersie by the instinct light of thy holy ghost expounded this prophesy of the resurrection of the fleshe Of which thing the holy Byshops and Doctors are plentifull witnesses as Ireneus Turtulian Ciprian Hillary Ambrose Gregory Nazianzenus and Gregory the great in his booke agaynst Valent. Turtulian in hys treatise of the resurrection of the flesh Cyprian in his third book to
wrought by corporall and earthly armour as bowes swords and such like but euen by the Lord their god What other thing is this but that God would after another way and meane bles and help Iuda that is Dauids kingdome and all other Israelites and confessors of God then worldly princes vse to helpe their subiects The Lord will haue mercy on them That is wil pardon them iustify them and saue them and so bring and delyuer them out of Sathans kingdome of which the Psalmist speaketh thus The Lord wil redeem Israell from all his iniquities This is the sole hope and redemption of Israel from his iniquity and consequently from all his euils which cursed sin had brought vpon man and all mankind that is from that horryble death and captiuity wherein the faithles reuolting murdering and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frauduler spirit did holde vs as Paul briefly expoūdeth this prophecye to the Eph. saying we haue in Iesus Christ the sonne of God redēption through his bloud euen the forgeuenes of sinnes according to his rich grace And although we vnderstand that temporall help by which God delyuered Iuda from Senachari◠and brought the Iewes from Babylon to Ierusalem yet was that temporal deliuerance angore of the true and euerlasting saluation by which Christ hath delyuered all true Iewes that is his elect from sinne death and the tyranny of hel by his crosse without all externall force But now see how the lord wil at the last forsake and abolish Iudaisme all their earthly and figuratiue priesthood The priests wife brought out a sonne whō the Lord called Loam that is not my people and he addeth the cause Because sayd he you are not my children neither will I be your God Hereby might the Iewes haue seen that there was a notable change to come And they ought thus seriously to haue reasoned the matter with them selues How shall we I pray you vnderstand the word of God He promiseth vnto Israel and Iuda great and infinite treasures in all the prophets he sayth he will be their king and they shall be his people and that he wil haue mercy on them and geue them on euerlasting kingdome and he made an eternall couenant of grace with them How then agree these thinges with this prophecye wherin it is prophesyed that Israel shall be captiue God wil forget them and neuer after haue compassion vpon them Are we the true Israelites or no truely it is like and must nedes be ment of vs And in the 6. chapter the Lord sayth For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge in God more then burnt offerings By these words of Hose they might easely haue vnderstood that the foundation of true religion consisted not of ceremonies but that God requyred faith that worketh by loue and is ready to doe good for which Abraham Isaac and Iacob were cōmended and called the seruants of God rather then for their corporall circumsition Here might the Iewes haue seene what was the matter and cause that the Lord denyed them to be his people Anna. I would heare the cause and see this question answered For I doubt not but as all thinges are come vpon the vnbeleeuing Iewes which God thretned so all things shall be performed which he promysed I pray you confer these places and reconcile them ☞ Vrb. God sayth in deed in the psalmes that he wil not reiect or cast of his people and forsake his inherytance And Paul saith That God hath not cast away his people And the Psalmist sayth The Lord hath remembred his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israell Like as also Mary the blessed mother of Christ sayth in her psalme of thankesgeuing And Zacharye sayth that God will not forget his mercy which he promysed to his people Israell Know you therfore that God is true and constant in all his promyses and that he perfourmed vnto the Iewes all thinges which he promysed them But the maner of Gods promyses must be marked for they are of two sorts Some of them are temporal or corporall and are made vpon condition As when God promysed that the land of Canaan and the materiall temple should contynue and such like These promises pertain to Iudaisme and haue this condition annexed If the Iewes would keep the law of God as it was to be kept then that promise should be fulfilled but they kept not the law and yet notwithstanding being blindly bewitched they looked for the fulfilling of those promises The Lord in deed performed those promises rightly as they were to be performed But figures ought of right to geue place when the truth commeth God sent also his sonne the Messias vnto thē that he might be born a Iew of the Iewish family of Abraham Dauid And for this his sōnes sake he brought them out of the land of Egipt and gaue them the land of Cannan for their inheritance and he separated them from all the people of the world by an earthly kingdome by an outward priesthood by an holy worship and by a propper forme in religion to be a people vnto himself and he preserued and defended thē afterward by great wonderfull miracles yea he brought them out of the captiuity of Babilon To be breef he preserued their law religion temple citie and politicall gouernment by a singular care and marueilous zeale euen vntil the promised Messias the true and eternal king of Israel was come of them Wherby in deed they receiued a great glory and prerogatiue aboue all the world and many of them by Messias were deliuered from sinne death and damnation and so at the last were brought into that true Ierusalem and Syon And these are called in the prophet the remnant of his people the remnant of Iacob and Israell whom God amongst others had chosen to himselfe and predestinated to saluation in Christ of which sort there be many But if they be cōpared to the great number of the vnbeleeuers they are but a few There are other free promises of the meere grace and mercy of God without all mans desart and worthynes These doe appertayn to the new testament and consist in the merits and worthynes of Messias These haue a firme sound and vnshaken foundation to wit the great and wonderfull mercy of God and his fatherly goodnes and truth and they depend not of our worthynes at all Wherfore they are firme and certayn and cannot be called back agayn And they are promises of the spirituall and euerlasting treasures to wit of the victory by which sinne death and Sathan were extinguished of the forgeuenes of sinnes of the true and euerlasting righteousnes and of life and saluation in Christ These kind of promyses doe not only appertayn to Israelites Iudaisme and the Iewes according to the flesh but all respect set aside without difference not regarding whether they be Iewes or Gentils to the true Iewes Israelites according to the spirit
of Israell should come after the captiuity of Babylon as we haue sayd before out of the 9. chap. of Danyel And that your Iudaisme should then haue an end and that that earthly kingdome of Iuda should be an eternal and heauēly kingdome Goim that is the Gentils should also come out of all the parts of the earth and be partakers with true Israell of all Gods blessings promised in Messias Wherfore Abdias must be vnderstood here to speak of this spirituall possession which is that Messias And the Apostles and true beleeuers shal through the gospel bring all nations vnder the sweet yoke and obedience of the christen faith that they may acknowledge Christ for their only and euerlasting king and confes the Apostles of Christ with all faithfull Christians conuerted by the Apostles to be the Church their spiritual mother and glorious Citie of God to whom they doe readely and willingly yeeld them selues and obay as you haue heard out of Amos. Now I will expound the prophesy and then shall you more easely vnderstand it Mount Siō you know is the Church of Christ it is also a holy hill because the Lord dwelleth in it and Christ the holyest of all holy consecrateth and sanctifieth it by his word and spirite to be his holy habitatiō for euer as Esay sayth when you reade this hebrew word Kodesch it signifieth the holynes For true holines righteousnes is no where but in this holy mount the Church of Christ Many do reade Kodosch and then it signifieth holy as we haue spoke before The house of Iacob is called the scripture the house of Dauid the tribe of Iuda which alwayes taryed with the house of Dauid And when it is called Iudah and the house of Iacob and Ierusalem and the house of Dauid it is for the most part all one And this was a figure of the great kingdome of Christ Iesus And therefore the Archangell Gabryell in Luke calleth Christes kingdome the house of Iacob the trone of Dauid in which Christ shall rule for euer For the spirituall kingdome of Christ begun in Sion the earthly kingdome of Dauid and from thence spred it selfe through out the whole world when the Apostles according to Gods commandement begun to preach the gospel of christ to all creatures and in the name of Christ preached repentaunce and remission of sinns amongest all nations beginning at Ierusalē as Luke witnesseth Note also how God promised the Patriarkes Abraham Isaac and Iacob seed of their owne flesh and bloud in which all the earth should be blessed that is should be freed and deliuered from the euerlasting cursse of sinn from death and from the bondes o Sathan and be made the children of God who should raigne together with the same seede Christ in the kingdome of innocēcy lyfe and saluation for euer and euer This was a great promise and therefore doth the scripture in euery place make mention of these patriarkes For when this seed was promised them and whē god promised that their childrē should be in number as the sand of the sea then was Christ the eternall king and his eternall kingdome promised them and vs And therfore is this kingdome of Christs also called the house of Iacob the seate or trone of Dauid that is the Church of Christ The house of Ioseph in the scriptures is the very same that the other 10. tribes of Israell be which fell away from the house of Dauid and chose vnto themselues a king of their owne This kingdome seperated by it selfe is called Samaria of that head and Metrapolitaine citie It is called also Ephraim because of Ieroboham which was of the tribe of Ephraim and it is also called Ioseph or the house of Ioseph because Ioseph was the father of Ephraim The house of Esau is the kingdome of the Edomits which tooke their beginning of Esau and had their dwelling in mount Seiar ny to the great desart which lyeth from Ierusalem Southwardes The Southrē menare they which dwelt in the tribe of Iuda Those which dwelt in the champion coūtries are Lidda Emaus as Saint Heirome saith Those v. Citties Gaza Ascalon Azotus Accaron and Geth which lye westward be the Phelistians Ephraim is a country of Samaria wherin dwelt the tribe of Ephraim who was the son of Ioseph Beniamin is a peculier and propper tribe of the Iews but it is counted in the kingdome of Iudah Saint Herome sayth that Gallaad is Arabia The citye Zarphad was betwen Tier and Sidon wherof Iosephus speaketh Siphrad was a citye in the land of Babilon This therefore is the meaning of the prophets he prophecied of the captiuitie of his people and how Edome should be layed wast but now he comforteth the Iewes least they should haue ben discouraged as if therehad bin no hope for Siō in the captiuitie of Babilon as if Messias should not haue come And he promiseth also vnto the Iewes deliueraunce that they should come agayne into Sion though they yet layed wasted by the Babilonians and Edomits For he saith the Lord will bring deliuerance helpe and redemption vnto Sion which came so to pas in deed For hard after that the Iewes came from Babilon and that the citie of Ierusalem with the temple and deuine seruice was restored came Messias our true Sauiour and deliuerer into Sion The Lorde had often times before helped the mount Sion and the Citye Ierusalem but they were not the true helpe or sure saluation which Messias in his owne person should bring But when the king of Israell borne of the tribe of Dauid was come into Sion thē came there also with him all felicitye saluation and aboundance of all good thinges For he began by his word and spirite to call back and redeeme his people from that spirituall captiuity which they suffered vnder Sathan and other false teachers He fulfilled the prophets and obtained a true and euerlasting deliuerance vnto his people by his blessed death and glorious resurrection This was that true Pletho that is redemptiō all other deliuerāces were but only figures of this deliueraunce Reade the acts of the Apostles and note how saluation by the gospell begunne in Sion and thus spread forth it selfe through the whole world Peter redeemed and conuerted 3000. men at on sermon and from that time forth the Lorde mightely increased the kingdome of Christ as luke witnesseth saying the Lord added daily to the congregation such as should be saued This saluation was shewed forth with such powre of the holy spirite that the remnant of Israell the Apostles and their fellow laborers being the true house of Iacob and Ioseph were a flame of fier which lyke straw burnt and consumed the house of Esau that is the Edomits who before were mortall enemies to the house of Iacob Ioseph so that many of the Edomits were in deed won to the gospell and the wickednes and hatred of their Father
the 7. chapiter he doth wonderfully and aboue measure land and extoll the great and inestimable riches of Gods mercies which were promised vnto vs in Christ and which were promised vnto Abraham Isaac and Iacob of whose stock Christ the king of glory should come according to his humanitye These are the wordes of the prophecie Who is a god like vnto thee that taketh away iniquitie and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his wrath for euer because mercy pleaseth him he will turne againe and haue compassion vpon vs he will subdue our iniquities and cast al their sins in the bottom of the sea Thou wilt performe thy truth to Iacob and mercy to Abrahā as thou hast sworne vnto our Fathers in ould time This was a very necessary comfort in the captiuitie of Babilon vnto the Iewes least they should haue fallen into dispaire and doubt of the mercy of God as if the Lord would altogether haue forsakē his people and reuoke his promises of grace in Messias for the sinnes of the people For it is as if he should haue sayd go to we shall be led into captiuitie but it is the iudgement of the Lord and his will. We haue in deede aboundantly deserued all kinde of calamities yet must we not therfore doubt of the mercy of god For his grace in Christ Iesus is very great deepe and a bottomlesse sea wherein all our sins may be drowned and swallowed vp The Lord hath made a couenāt of grace with our fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob that in their seede Messias all nations of the earth should be blessed that is receaue forgeuenes of their sins be deliuered from death and be saued from euerlasting damnation and receaue the free gift of innocensie and euerlasting life This promise will neuer deceaue vs For the Lord sware vnto vs by a holy and faythfull oth that so the rather he might confirme vs in fayth and make vs the lesse doubt that all those thinges should come to passe which he had promised and that for Messias his sake he would helpe vs be gratious vnto vs and deliuer vs from all our calamities This grace and truth can not be called backe but as sure as god is good so sure is it that we shall be partakers of his grace if we beleue his promises Wherfore let vs be of good chere Our sins shall not nor cannot hinder nor make frustrate those thinges which God promised to our forefathers He hath promised Christ therfore out of doubt he will send Christ for our deliueraunce And this was the hope of Israell to wit of all faythfull Christians from the beginning of the worlde euen vnto this day And this in deed is the true Gospell which Messias by his death and bloudshedding confirmed namely that the sonne of God should be made man and borne of Abrahams seede that he might geue vs the heauenly benediction that is righteousnes life and health that we might by him be freed from our sinnes and deliuered frō death and be raysed vnto euerlasting life and raigne with him for euer in euerlasting glory And this is the chiefe summe of all the prophets touching Christ and his kingdome according as God after the captiuitie of Babilon fulfilled them and sent Iesus Christ our true king and deliuerer vnto the world ¶ Anna. What sayth that comforter Nahum of Christ For he may well be called Nahum that is cōforter ☞ Vrba He agreeth with the 52. of Esay vpon the gospell saying Behold vpon the mountaine the feete of him that declareth and publisheth peace O Iuda keepe thy solemn feastes performe thy vowes for the wicked shal no more passe through thee he is vtterly cut of That you may more easly vnderstand what Nahū prophecieth note first he prophesieth against the Monarchy or kingdome of Assiria especially against Niniue the great citie of Assiria which the prophet Ionas conuerted afore that. These thinges therfore was their comfort namely the the enemies of Iuda to wit Sanherib his kingdome who before had proudly and cruelly triumphed ouer Israell and conceaued an opinion of them selues that they could deuour Iuda should be wasted destroyed as Esay in 36.37 comforteth Ierusalem and the king Hischia by the commaundement of God in his 36. and 37. chapiter saying And he will cast vnto it that which shall be escaped of the house of Iuda and that which shall remaine to plant and he will make it to take roote downward and beare fruite vpward For out of Ierusalem shall a remnaunt go and they that escape out of mount Sion the zeale of the Lord of hostes shall doe this Therefore thus sayth the Lord concerning the king of Ashur He shall not enter into this citie nor shoote an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a moūt agaynst it By the same way that he came he shall returne and not come into this citie sayth the lord For I will defend this Citie to saue it for mine owne sake and for my seruaunt Dauids sake Then the Angel of the Lord went out smote in the campe of Asshur an hūdreth foure score and fiue thousand So whē they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses So Sanherib king of Asshur departed and went away and returned and dwelt at Niniueh And as he was in the temple worshipping of Nisroch his god Adramelech and Sharezer his sonnes slew him with the sworde and they escaped into the land of Ararat and Esarhaddon his sonne raigned in his stead You haue heard the history note therefore this also that Nahum comforteth Gods people in this his prophesy bydding them be of good cheare and dispayre not For although the king Asshur will besiege and afflict Ierusalem yet shall there be no danger For God will helpe them they shall heare ioyfull tidings to wit that the enemy shall not hurt their citye but dye miserably that they may yet againe celebrate their feastes merely reioyce in quiet peace And this was fulfilled as you heard of late out of Esay But you must know that this temporall deliueraunce in which earthly Ierusalē was deliuered was onely a figure of the true and euerlasting deliueraunce which we haue in Christ The Angel of the great counsell which was sent to prostrate and destroy the enimies of the spiritual Ierusalem that is of the catholick church and to ouerthrow and abolish that wicked spirite or Sanherib that very Belliall with all his hellish hoste and to deliuer vs from him which thing he performed and by his owne power ouercame those enemies The euangelists and the preachers of the new testament bringe vnto vs this ioyfull and gratious tidings to wit that Sathan is conquered and we beleuers truely deliuered These preach in all congregations perpetuall and euerlasting peace and saluatiō by Christ Iesus And this is the meaning of this prophecye and of Christ and his