greater glory then the clowd did that of Salomons When in this Temple hee taught that his Body was the true Temple indeed and that the Father and he were all one vrging the search of Scriptures that testified so much of him their credit vnto Moses that wrote concerning him and the witnesse of that burning Candle the Baptist who pointed preached him to be the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world Hee then was the Branch that should build the Lords Temple the Crowne of glory and royall Diadem in the hand of his God More worthy of glory then Moses more excellent then Dauid and greater then Ionas or Salomon And that this his comming was the acceptable time and yeere of the Lord whereunto Salomon in his Song had the relation when hee alludeth vnto the time of the true Turtles sacrifice in his heauenly hymne wherein most sweetely hee singeth thus When the winter was past and the raine gone away the flowers appeared and the singing of birds was come then the voyce of this Turtle was heard in the land For when the frozen dregs of sinne lay both in the inward heart and outward action then hee that offered a Bullock was as if he had slaine a man and hee that sacrificed a sheepe as if he had cut off a dogges neck then were the oblations as the offerings of Swines bloud and the remembrance of incense as the blessing of an Idoll So that when sacrifice and offerings were not desired burnt offering and sinne offrings not required then said he Lo I come for in the rolle of the booke it is written of me I desired to do thy will O my God And as touching the abrogation of the old thus saith Ieremy They shall say no more the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord neither shall it come in minde neither shall they visit it neither shall it be magnified But I will plant saith the Lord by that Prophet my Law within them and in their hearts I will write it I will be their God and they shall be my people And by Ioel hee crieth In those dayes I will poure out my spirit vpon all flesh your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dreame dreames your yong men shall see visions and vpon your seruants and handmaides I will poure out my Spirit They shall allknow the Lord from the least of them to the greatest of them and the Cities in Egypt shall speake the pure language of Canaan And of this knowledge it seemeth the woman of Samaria spake when to our Sauiour shee said I know well that Messiah shall come which is called Christ when he is come hee will tell vs all things These and infinit more speeches concerning Christs comming his Gospell and grace are so frequent in the Prophets as both Esay and Ieremy doe vrge the obseruation by the examples of the vnreasonable Creatures the Beasts Birds for the Oxe saith Esay knoweth his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Yea the Storke in the heauen saith Ieremy knowethher appointed times the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow abserue the times of their comming but my people know not the iudgement of the Lord. And the complaint in Hosea is My people perish for lacke of knowledge But for the close of all let vs vrge the same precept to these stamering Iewes that themselues vrge vnto their Disciples namely To giue eare to the Prophets so farre as they speake and where they cease to bow downe their â—…ares to the sayings of Wisemen whereof themselues tel vs of a ceâ—…ten succession which should not faile till the comming of the Messiah And from Hillel their holy Rabbâ—…n bring a continuation of Disciples vnto Simeon surnamed the Righteous in whom they say the spirit of the great Synagogue did vtterly cease Consider then well O yee lisping Iewes what yee haue said and read what our Luke writes concerning this Simeon There was a man saith he in Ierusalem whose name was Simeon this â—…an was iust and feared God and â—…ted for the consolation of Israell and the holy Ghost was vpon him 26. And 〈◊〉 was giuen him by the holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seene the Lord Christ. 27. And he came by the motion of the spirit into the Temple and when the Parents brought in the childe Iesus to do for him after the custome of the Law 28. then 〈◊〉 tooke him in his armes and praised God and said 29. Lord â—…ow lettest thou thy seruant depart inpâ—… according to thy Word 20. For mine eyes haue seeâ—… thy saluation 21. which thou hast prepared before the face of all people 32. A Light to be 〈◊〉 to the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israell Which was likewise witnessed by a Prophetesse of your owne euen Anna the daughter of Phanuel of the 〈◊〉 of Aâ—…r a widow of great yeeres who went not out of the Temple but serued God with fasting and prayâ—…rs 〈◊〉 and day Shee comming vpon them confessed likewise the Lord and spake of him to all that looked for the redemption of Ierusalem Doth not then our Euangelist confirme that which your Doctors haue told and Siâ—…on himselfe witnesse what they haue said namely that his eyes theÌ„ saw the Messiah the glorie of Israel the light of the Gentiles And Zachary your Priest of the course of Aâ—…ia when his tongue was loosed speake of the borne of saluation that should shortly be raised in the house of Dauid and that the babe his sonne then new borne should be his messenger to goe before him to prepare his waies Of which messenger heare Iosephus your owne Historian how with our Euangelist he agreeth Iohn surnamed the Baptist saith hee replenished with all vertue exhorted the Iewes to adict themselues to execute Iustice towards men and pitie towards God and to bee Baptised and to renounce since Vnto whom so many resorted that Herod fearing a reuolt for it seemed they would subscribe in all things to his aduice caused him to be put to death in the Castle Macheron for which deed saith he the Iewes were of opinion that in reuenge of this so grieuous a sinne Herods Army against whom God was displeased had been subiected to their vtter ruine and ouerthrow I wil not vrge the sayings of Esdras in naming my sonne Iesus and my sonne Christ foure hundred yeers before Christs death because the Booke is not Canonicall neither the testimonies of the Sybils whereof Erithraea more ancieÌ„t then Romulus composed verses whose first letters being onely taken make this sentence IESVS CHRIST SON OF GOD THE SAVIOVR These I say I will not vrge because they are Gentiles but this I note that in all her verses shee hath not one word
the best learned of euery Tribe were sent These comming to Alexandria entred vpon the Translation taking each of them a part of the old Testament amounting about foureteene chapters as wee now distinguish them for a man as saith the learned Hebrecian Master Broughton But well knowing the Kings desire was more to adorne his famous Library then any deuotion hee had to their Lawes they many times hid their minds in translating and being among themselues different in gifts left the rellish of their vaines in a differing degree as by their parts in translating doth euidently appeare For the Translaters of Moses were very eloquent so were they who delt with the stories and they that translated the Psalmes and Prouerbs The Grecian on Iob saith hee was a Poet reader and cared not to yeeld euery saying strictly but what might be to Greekes familiar The Translaters of Ecclesiastes was yonger in Hebrew then in Greeke he of Amos not the best he of Ezekiel very learned so that the diuersities of their gifts telles vs that all did not all Oftentimes they rather abridge then translate as on Hester and infinitely in the Prophets and sometimes they enlarge the Text more like free commenters then bound Translaters In misteries and hard phrases often they deale exceeding well but their now hitting and now missing shewes that they followed copies which were neither vowelled nor accented which without exceeding great skill and paines could not bee truly translated nor vnderstood and the neerenesse in forme of many of the Hebrew Characters might cause a mistaking especially in them that saw no reason of exact care when their labour was required onely for a braue Library Besides Iesus the sonne of Syrac who was a child when these Docters translated telles how hard it is to translate Hebrew into another Language whose words saith hee carry another force in themselues then when they are translated But wee must acknowledge that neuer since their time any age afforded so learned through all the Prophets Emblemes Hebrew subtilties and Greeke elegancy as these seauenty two Translaters were notwithstanding they liued in those disquiet times of the poore Iewes oppressions and the Hebrew tongue for daily vse lost fiue hundred yeeres before But how this narration of their ouerslips and variances doe agree with Iosephus for their exactnesse vnto Moses I see not onely doe I say though an errour be admitted to haue beene committed by these Septuagints yet in the holy Euangelist can be none the Spirit of truth being the only inditer Or that these Hebrew Doctors should mistake the Hebrew Characters they being so learned is not like either so godlesse as to alter and adde vnto Moses knowing it death so to doe Why then may we not rather with Austin thinke that the first Septuagint hath beene corrupted both in matter and meaning seeing they haue beene so infinitely maymed by the Translations of Aquilas Symmachus Theodotion and the namelesse interpretet called the fifth Edition with them of Origens named the Octaplun Yea and Hierome thinketh these seuenty two Doctors translated but only the fiue books of Moses which howsoeuer had been approoued before his time yet in his time stood farre differing and was much corrupted from the Hebrew phrase and therefore not like to be theirs Againe in those bookes of Moses wee see that translation to differ in it selfe for albeit both in Genesis and in Exodus it accounteth seuenty fiue persons to descend into Egypt yet doth it in Deuteronomy reckon but seuenty saying Thy fathers went downe into Egypt with seuenty persons and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the Starres of the heauen in multitude And againe their departing from Moses his text is apparant for wheras he recordeth by name all the seed of Rachel and rekoneth the number to be fourteene they translate them to bee eighteene and for the two soules borne vnto Ioseph in Egypt they translate fiue and not as bound Translaters but as free Commenters from the first book of the Chronicles adde Shuthelah and Tahan the sonnes of Ephraim and Eden his nephew and Machir the sonne of Manasseh and Gilead his nephew to bee the fiue persons that filled the number of seuenty fiue that descended into Egypt And surely this moued Saint Austin to conceiue some great and hid miserie to be contained therein for so reuerend an opinion hee hath of the first Septuagint as hee holdeth firmely that the same Spirit that spake in the former Prophets spake also in these Translators and where they dissent from the Hebrew we must saith he hold it their Propheticall depth for that which was not originally in the Hebrew it pleased God in them to supply But he might haue done well to haue added this saying withall It is I that so speake and not the Lord who hath so perfited his Word that it is eternal death to adde or to diminish Of the like opinion is Ioseph Ben Gorion who will haue these Septuagints likewise indued with the Spirit of the Prophets For saith d he they being separated into diuers chambers apart and not permitted to see each others copies notwithstanding agreed exactly in phrase and in words and in thirteene places of Scripture of purpose altred the text with so vniforme consent as if it had been done by one man and one pen. Vnto the which likewise S. Chrysostome and Saint Augustine do agree but Saint Hierome nothing at all Nor the famous Iosephus Ben-Matthias maketh no such miracle vnlesse it bee in saying that the translation was finished in 72. dayes according to the number of the Translaters But touching the number descending into Egypt hee saith they were seuentie soules and accounting Iacobs seede by his foure wiues summeth vp each particular as Moses hath done Which is a great inducement vnto me to thinke that the first Septuagint was not corrupted before Iosephus wrote nor that the Euangelist Saint Luke followed the faultie but the faithfull copie of those learned Rabbins done in the dayes of Phyladelphus King of Egypt yet will I not herein preiudice any opinion of the learned Fathers ancient and moderne who haue diligently laboured to vnclaspe this great doubt Some thinking as Augustine Pererius that the Septuagint S. Stephen speaking from them are inno error but that the fiue thereunto added being borne in Egypt while Ioseph liued are added by way of anticipation And Eugubinus the Romanist will admit no fault in the originall but that it was rather corrupted by some ignorant pen-man in translating the copie And so Beza the Protestant coniectureth that the word Pantes all by the ignorance of the transcriber was writ pénte fiue contrary to the Text of Moses Iunius iudgeth that Iacobs foure wiues and Iudahs two sonnes Er and Onan Iacob himselfe being deducted make the number to bee seuentie fiue but Rachel Er and Onan were dead
the wombe of the Virgine the Rabbins themselues confesse and the successe sheweth because at the comming of this Shiloh or birth of Christ Iesus the gouernment of Iudah was taken cleane from them and their Crowne worne by Herod an Idumean stranger Vntill which time the line of the lawfull Kings of the Tribe of Iudah had beene exactly and distinctly recorded and kept But in one generation following were so confounded scattered and shufled together among other Tribes and the Tribes each amongst others so mixed as to this day there is not a Iew knowne in the world that can distinctly shew of what tribe he is descended And their faire Dominions with such desolations ouerrunne that all hope is lost of any recouery and for the obedience prophecied vnto him the preaching of the Gospell hath gotten that through the world It was the faire land that Moses from mount Nebo did behold that Ioshuah from mount Hermon to mount Hor did conquer At first diuided among the twelue Tribes and after established a kingdome vnder Saul of whom the spirituall could not be intended neither was it in him figured And that kingdome possessed and crowne worne by him was taken from Beniamin and giuen to Iudah and in Dauid setled with promise that a sonne out of his loynes should sit vpon the throne thereof and should raigne King for euer and euer which none euer did or could doe but onely his Sonne Iesus the Prince Messiah to whom be praise for euer and euer and that he alone is the heire vnto that right is witnessed by the sacred Texts and shall be our paines heere to declare First then this terrestriall Kingdome was seated as saith the Prophet in the midst of nations did containe the Prouinces of Iury Samaria and Gallely the Land of Gilead also without Iordan was a portion of the twelue Tribes The whole so rich in earthly blessings as it is often in Scriptures called A Land flowing with milke and hony and so pleasant for situation as of some it is held to haue been Adams Paradise And as the Kingdome was glorious so were many of her Kings such were Dauid Salomon Asa Iohoshaphat and others godly that ruled well their owne and ouer-ruled others till their successors became godlesse and prouoked the ruine of both as when Nebuchadnezzer King of Babell captiuated the Land and led away Ieconias prisoner who was the last man that wore that glorious Crown After whom the Persians with-held it from Zorobabel the most lawful heire thereof And the Grecians and Syra-Grecians from Abiud and his successors vnto Ioseph the husband of Mary These being as foure beasts tooke this earthly Kingdom for the heauenly they could not from those the high Saints of God that should possesse a Kingdome for euer and euer with such desolation of that goodly Land till lastly the Romans made conquest of all and placed the Idumean Herod vpon Iudahs throne where Iacobs prophecy had the full euent And thus we see no temporall Crowne worne of any of Iudah from the captiuity of Babylon till Christ Iesus with thornes was crowned shewed and acknowledged King of the Iewes the abhomination of desolation set in the holy place and the place neuer called holy after Christs death And thus much of the earthly Kingdome promised to Abraham and the first point the second followeth That the expectation of the Iewes was set vpon an earthly Kingdome and powerfull King wee may see by the practise of the common multitude who hauing fedde vpon the fiue barley Loues and two small fishes acknowledged Iesus to bee the Prophet expected but withall presently assaied to haue him their King Againe when he told them that the sonne of man was come to seeke and to saue that which was lost their apprehension was of a temporall restauration of their down-cast estate And vpon that opinion the Apostles themselues as it seemeth were set when they demanded whether at that time Christ would restore the Kingdom of Israel And againe we trusted that it had been he that should haue deliuered Israell And to the same purpose were the answeres of the ignorant women of Samaria touching the Messias and the learned Nicodemus of Gallile touching mans new birth both of them aiming as we see only at outward things And indeed so generall was the opinion of an earthly and powerful Monarchie as that euen the common people expected it and had a prophecy touching the same among them which was That a King out of Iury should rule the whole world Which so terrified the Romans included in that prophecy as that they denied aide to their supplicant Ptolomie King of Egypt and so troubled the assembly of the elders in Ierusalem that their high Priest Caiaphas gaue counsell to kill Iesus lest the Romans should come and take away their Kingdome which was none otherwise meant then of the temporall And a temporall King and terrestriall kingdom it was that Herod so feared and sought to retaine when Christ was sought after by the stile of King of the Iewes And of that earthly kingdome likewise Pilat gaue Iesus the title though to the preiudice of Caesar his Emperour Neither meant the Scribes and Pharisees more then of the temporall when themselues expounded Moses without all spirituall vse the cheife Priests so ignorant that they knew not whether the Baptisme of Iohn was from Heauen or of men nor none of them how Dauids sonne could be Dauids Lord And the Sadduces taught that there was no Resurrection of the body neither Angell nor spirit so farre were they from that which is eternall Finally all of them apply euery Text in the Prophets touching the calling of the Gentiles of Christ and his Kingdome to be meant of a powerfull terrestriall Monarch Monarchie and promise themselues conquests attendance pleasures as in another earthly Paradise all Nations yeelding them seruice and obedience And now wee come to speake of Christ his title vnto Iudahs Crowne the third point Iesus legally descending from Iechoniah and lineally from Zorobabel by his ancestor Salathiel who was made a sonne to a childlesse man is borne the next in bloud and succession to sit vpon Dauids throne and by that right is often called by each of the Euangelists King of the Iewes For the right of Zorobabel resting in Ioseph the husband of Mary and he dying issulesse in Mary her selfe Christ Iesus their Sonne then must bee heire vnto both and by Father and Mother haue the iust title to Iudahs Crowne That Ioseph then in his dayes was the next successour to Salomons Throne is apparant by Saint Matthew in whose Catalogue without any colaterall he is brought downe from Salomon among his successors And by Saint Luke is recorded to be of Iudah of Bethlehem of the house and lineage of Dauid vnto which Tribe and
Aaron the mouth to worke and denounce great plagues vnto Pharoah and were neuer turned and ioyned againe But the state standing in a setled pollicy in Dauids daies Daui◅ stood in state both of King an Priest from his fathers Abraham I saac and Iacob and was both a kingly Priest and a priestly King in the land for the Scepter of Iudah hee bare whereunto all were obedient and the Leuites of Aaron he ordered for their seruices in the Temple though the ministeriall still lay in Leui. So did Salomon in assembling the Priests to bring the things of the Tabernacle into the Temple and in praying for and blessing the people This kingly authority and priestly dealings to remooue the defects of Church and commonweale we see in Ezekiah by the reforming the land of their Groues and grauen Images and in breaking to peeces the Brasen Serpent that Moses had set vp when the people thereunto burned incense and committed Idolatry And by the yong king Iosiah in his care for the Temple and continuance of the Passeouer which hee commanded to be kept And this power of Scepter and Censer made the whole throne of Dauid wherein Christ the true substance was to sit for euer as had beene promised to Dauid of Iudah that he should not want one to sway the Scepter nor Leui a Sacri◅cer to stand and minister before the Lord for euer which none could doe but Iesus the sonne who liueth blessed for euer and euer And that Iesus in these things was heire to Abraham Isaac and Iacob to Dauid Salomon Ezekiah and Iosiah and in truth to all the Patriarkes Promises in the law is witnessed by the Apostle who calleth him the Heire of all things the Heire of the World And in the person of Melchizedek proueth his function both of King and Priest A King of Peace without beginning of daies or ende of time and a Priest not made after the Law but after the power of the endlesse life that continueth for euer Dauids Lord he is called by Dauid himselfe greater then Salomon in his wisdome and workes and for zeale to the Lords house exceeded both Ezekiah and Iosiah cleansing the Temple of prophane marchandizings and instituting for the Pasouer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and for the Lambe of the Law the figure his owne body the substance The Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world and raigneth after death Dauids Lord for euer But the date of that earthly pollicy now neerely expired Christ came not to continue it further but as a better Ioshuah to bring the people into a better rest then that transitory Canaan was euen into that kingdom of glory which was appointed vnto him by his Father and which himselfe appointed to his Apostles where they shuld sit vpon twelue Thrones and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israell And therefore to draw their mindes from the one and to fix them on the other he vsed neither worldly pomp nor worldly power but refused al offers of magistracy yet to no preiudice of his right but rather as impedimēts to his functiō For surely had he executed any tēporall authority among them then temporal strength had bin imputed to his spirituall actions so forward were the people to outward things For preuention whereof wee see all outward meanes failing His father was a poore Catpenter of small esteeme read of among the people his mother noted by the pen of the Euangelist to bee of the meanest estate as appeareth by the offering for her purification which was but a paire of Turtle Doues or two yong Pigions the oblation enioyned for the poorest sort of weomen as the Law had said If shee bee not able to bring a Lambe shee shall bring two Turtle Doues or two yong pigions vnto the Priest which Mary did And in the person of Iesus himselfe all outward appearance were likewise preuented For his first entertainment was poore his birth Chamber a Stable and his Cradle a Crach for there was no roome for his Parents in the Inne The prouision for his liuely-hood were scanter then the world affoorded vnto vnreasonable Creatures for the Foxes had holes and the birds nests but the Sonne of man no place to lay his head And in the short passage of his kingly triumph when with concourse he was followed and with shouts of Hosanna saluted King of Israell his reioycing was teares with sighes for Ierusalem that knew not of that her visitation Neither after his death had hee the preheminence as most of them had to bee buried in the graues of their fathers but was laid in the Sepulchre of another man and at another mans charge intombed such fauours the world affoorded vnto this great king And therefore as it hath been of him prophesied that he should be a man despised without forme or beautie meeke lowly as a Sheep to the slaughter a iust and a poore King so was it expedient that all these parts in the person of Iesus should bee fulfilled And so himselfe taught in the way to Emaus when hee began at Moses and all the Prophets and by them proued that Christ ought so to haue liued so to haue suffered as he did And therefore the obiection made by Iulian and others that had Christ beene really king of the Iews than had he exercised the authority really of King of the Iewes deserueth no answeare For as he was called and verily was the Sonne of Man although he had no immediate father among men vpon the earth so was he called and verily was king of the Iewes though he vsed no kingly authority among men on the earth And why should that be obiected more against Iesus then against all his Ancestors the high Saints from Abiud to Ioseph who by birth were the vndoubted heires to that Crowne which notwithstanding was vsurped vpon by the Gentiles aboue the space of 400. yeeres Neither had they any promise that they should euer recouer that that terrestriall kingdome but rather that they should possesse the eternall which none could take from them And that Christ Iesus was King of that Kingdome promised and that Sonne that should sit vpon Dauids Throne for euer which none besides him could euer doe wee may further proue by his life after death For as hee assumed the flesh of Dauid and in the same flesh was the vndoubted heire of Dauid to the very instant of his death and in his death also had the same title devulged to the open view of all which hee caried with him to his graue so after his sleepe for his death was but a sleepe vnto him in his person onely it remained as before and in his person onely shall remaine for euer For the same humane body that was borne
would destroy the Iews his owne kindred the vnbeleeuing Vnto which opinion Tremelius likewise consenteth And these Expositers that by the word Haba Nagid the Prince to come will haue the Romans meant yet meane not as master Liuelie doth for ioynt Gouernours with the Iewes in Ierusalems estate but rather for destroyers of that Commonwealth to fulfill Gods wrath vpon the place as vnder Titus the sonne of Uespasian they did to an vtter desolation both of Citie and Sanctuarie as with a floud To make then this most plaine text of holy Scripture concerning Christ his sealing of mans redemption to be but a Gouernment established betwixt the Gentile Roman and the faithlesse Iew is to adde darknes to night and to make the ignorant more ignorant still But as the day cannot be separated from the Sunne nor mount Sions situation from before Ierusalem so the text in Daniel to finish wickednes to abolish sinnes to make reconciliation for 〈◊〉 to bring righteousnesse euerlasting to seale vp â—…ion and Prophet and to shew Christ the holy of holies cannot bee separated from that which immediatly in the next verses doe follow namely that the Messiah should be killed to make a sure couenant for many and to end sacrifice and oblation The one being so linked into the other with such glory and strength as the go dâ—…n Chaines that bound the Brest-plate vnto the Ephod vpon Aarons breast was nothing so glorious or strong But as Master Liuelies conceit hath been touching Daniels Messiah in making that holy name to import none other then a ioynt gouernment of Iewes and Romans ruling together in the new erected estate vnder the second Temple so is his conceit likewise touching the ceasing of Daniels Sacrifices who will in no wise admit them to end in Christ Iesus when he offered himselfe the most acceptable sacrifice vpon the Altar the Crosse at his death but will haue them to con tinue fortie yeeres after euen to the siege and sacking of Ierusalem for saith he when Uespasian was come into Iudea and wasted the Countrey then the vnruly Rebels abolished the lawfull custome of sacrificing and the Priests being slaine by them for want of men there was no oblation any more And therefore not without cause saith hee in my iudgement may those words of Daniel touching the sacrifice ceasing in the middest of the last weeke bee referred vnto these times of this warre wherein by meanes thereof the sacrifices of the Lords house were hindred so many waies some were quite abolished and others done either not by those to whom they pertained or not so safely and freely as thy ought In which his sayings who seeth not onely Iudaisme maintained but also the very soule of Christianitie offended in shaking these maine principles of eternall saluation For if the paschall Sacrifice did not end in Christ then did not Christ at his death change the ordinances which Moses had giuen as Stephen said hee should nor sealed vp sinnes vision and prophecie as the Angell had foreshewed and then as Saint Paul in another case said We are yet in our sinnes and the Iewes haue exceptions that our Iesus of Marie is not the sauing Messiah It is by Moses forbidden not to lay a stumbling block before the blind nor to suffer a beast to lie vnder his burden But what blocks are heere laid before the blind Iews and what burdens vpon the weake Christians by these interpretations who can reade without griefe wherein the straight waies to the Lords holy Temple are made crooked and the Crosse of Christ not the altar wheron the Lambe that tooke away the sinnes of the world was sacrificed if sacrificing after his death was a reconciliation for sinnes But that the Curtaines are still vndrawne before the Arke and Mercie-seate of Gods couenants vnto the vnbeleeuing Iewes and the vaile of Moses in reading the Law and the Prophets vntaken from before their fleshie hearts with griefe of hart we see when after the most manifest breaking downe the stop of the partition wall and the liuing way laid open into the holiest of holies by the renting his flesh as the earth and vaile did at Christs death they still continue separates and doe straine all their strengths to diuert these texts from Iesus our Immanuell and to attribute the name Messiah to any other rather then vnto him Some making the Messiah there mentioned to be King Cyrus the deliuerer of Gods people as Rabbi Solomoh from Isaiah doth and some will haue him to be Zorobbabel the builder of the Lords Temple as the Hebrew Scholiasts generally doe Some thinke him to bee Ioshuah the High Priest that accompanied the Returned to build againe Ierusalem of which opinion is Rabbi Leui ben Gershon and some hold him to be Nehemiah that finished the walles of Ierusalem of which mind is the enuious Iew Aben Ezra Some will haue the Messiah to be none other then a Succession of Priests and Macchabees gouerning the Common wealth of Iudea as the conuerted Iew Paulus Burgensis thinketh and some will haue him to bee Agrippa the last Gouernour of that state in the time of their miserable calamities vnto which conceite some later haue inclined And all of them almost in their infidelitie attribute the title Messiah Nagid vnto any rather then vnto Iesus our Sauiour the true Annointed indeed Had not then the Apostle iust cause to account these Rabinicall Genealogies both vaine and foolish and to forewarne his Disciples Timothie and Titus not to giue heed to such vnprofitable questions fables and contentions as breede strife and not godly edifying For albeit that most of these Gouernours were nursing Fathers to the Iewes then Gods only people in the time of their liues yet by their deaths for death was the set marke or Seale of Redemption no benefit accrued to the meanest Iew read of And Cyrus the first of them dying long before the last seuen and Agrip pa the last of them liuing after the destruction of the Citie meet not their accomplishments in the last seuen and yeere of Iubilee as the death of Iesus the true Messias did where ended the ceremonies and policie of the place For when the gold of the Temple was become greater then the Temple it selfe righteousnesse vrged in circumcision and the Law Moses expounded no further then the literall sense led the Iewes boasting of Abraham and a continued succession then looke what was done vnto Shiloh as Ieremy had threatned must be done to Ierusalem and with such desolation that a stone must not be left standing vpon a stone but as in the destruction of Sodome all cast downe For the chosen Citie the Royall Seate of the King and place of f holy worship now being become the valley of slaughter and Den of the eues grew towards her period when Christ the great Prophet weeping pronounced this iudgement
as he wished himselfe separated from Christ and we the wilde Oliue graffed in and now made partaker of the same roote ought to feede their dead branches with our liuing sap by opening vnto them that Iesus whose side they pierced was the Lambe slaine for the sinnes of the world and the substance of the Sacrifices commanded in the Law Among many other things in the old Testament shewed in the Angel in Aaron the Scepter and brasen Serpent and in the new seene in his humanity Doctrine miracles and death both of them in euery line either speaking of or pointing vnto the Messiah the annointed of God and agreeing in his person parantage and place of birth meete each other as the wings of the Cherubins did vpon the Mercy seate in Salomons Temple the one affirming and the other confirming that he was the Sonne of a Virgin his birth in Beth-lehem his kindred of Dauid and Tribe Iudah Hls infancy answering the types of the old Testament was seene a Starre vnto the Gentile Prophet Balaam and was found by a Star of the Gentiles that sought him In Rama was weeping as Ieremy had heard out of Egypt he was called as Hosheah had said was brought vpin Nazaret to fulfill the Prophets and for wisedome at twelue yeeres of age as much admired among the Doctors as Salomon was in deciding the strife of the harlots His life was vnreproueable fulfilling all righteousnesse in whom the Prince of this world could finde nothing amisse His doctrine was as the dewe of Hermon preaching comfort to all that mourne in Zion and was a light of saluation giuen vnto the Gentiles vnto the end of the world His Miracles were so many and manifest as testified his Godhead by curing the blinde healing the diseased clensing of Lepers casting out Diuels and raising the dead In transfiguration he was more glorious then Moses in feeding the hungry with fewer loaues hee exceeded Elisha and had more power to command Angels then Elias had to shut heauen for raine or to open it for fier And the parts of his passion were as effectually acted as in the old Testament they had been predicted and all accomplished as had beene prescribed For Zachariah saw the Shepheard the Lords fellow smitten and the sheepe scattered sold for thirty peeces of siluer and them the purchase of the potters field Dauid told that his hands and feete should be pierced his garments diuided and lots cast for his vesture And Daniel saw him slaine to confirme the Couenant and to seale vp vision and Prophet His bones were not broken to answere the Law of the Lambe his side pierced to assure his death And his death done amongst Malefactors with such signes from Heauen in the earth in the renting of the vayle as his be holders smiting their breasts confessed he was the Sonne of God But to gather al in one and from thatone against whom the Iewes dare not speake euen Esay the Prophet and of their Bloud royall let vs lay downe his text as it lieth in his words whose preface vnto his speech beginneth thus Who will beleeue our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord reuealed 2. But he shall grow vp before him as a Branch and as a roote out of a drie ground he hath neither forme nor beautie when we shall see him there shall bee no forme that we should desire him 3. He is despised and reiected of men hee is a man full of sorrowes and hath experience of infirmities we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not 4. Surely hee hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrowes yet wee did iudge him as plagued and smitten of God and humbled 5. But hee was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was vpon him and with his stripes we are healed 6. All we like sheepe haue gone astray wee haue turned euery one to his owne way and the Lord hath laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all 7. He was oppressed and hee was afflicted yet did he not open his mouth he is brought as a sheepe to the slaughter and as a sheepe before her shearer is dum so hee opeâ—…ed not his mouth 8. He was taken out from prison and from iudgement and who shall declare his age for he was cut out of the Land of the liuing for the transgression of my people was he plagued 9. And hee made his graue with the wicked and with the rich in his death though hee had done no wickednesse neither was any deceit in his mouth 10. Yet the Lord would breake him and make him subiect to infirmities when hee shall make his soule an offering for sinne he shall see his seed and shall prolong his daies and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand 11. He shall see of the trauell of his soule and shall bee satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous seruant iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities Herein I appeale to your selues O yee children of the Prophets what haue our Euangelists written that this your Prophet did not write before for substance so much and for words so agreeing as they seeme to fall from his pen who saw the passion himselfe and beares record that his sayings are true or to what other person can his text be applied then vnto Iesus so borne so liuing so despised and so crucified that to fulfill all his death was done without the gate as the Bullock was burnt without the Campe. And that the times drawne the actions onely to that age heare how the Scriptures are loude Iacob told Iudah that the d Scepter should not depart from his Tribe vntill Shiloh came and how Iudahs gouernment ended by the cruelty of Herod in slaughtering their Sanhedrin Phylo a man of their owne doth declare And their Rabbins likewife in their Talmud Seder olam thus cry out Woe vnto vs for the Scepter is now taken away from Iudah and the Law-giuer from betweene his feete Which things happened immediately before the birth of Christ when that Idumean tyrant by the fauour of Antonius had first set and after by Agustus surer setled Iudahs crowne vpon his owne head whose faire lustre made him so to persecute the lawfull heire thereof as lest hee should escape hee slaughtered all the male Infants in those coasts of Iewry and among them his owne sonne as Macrobius reporteth The Iubile likewise for freedome the onely Feast in the yeere and that yeere appointed to bee euerie fiftieth must haue an end in the substance as all other Ceremonies had Which great yeere that the people did expect it our Luke declareth for in his time they thought that the