did the Lord not eat the meat that hee might have eaten but fasted fortie daies and fortie nights Afterward came hee among the people and began to preach salvation saying The time is fulfilled and the kingdome of God is at hand repent and beleeve the Gospell Herewith hath he healed all sores driven out Devils and raised up the dead testifying so by his acts that he is Lord of all things and the true Saviour And of them whom hee healeth asketh he nothing hee commandeth them not to build him a Temple neither to give him blocke or stocke hee requireth no bodily thing but onely stedfast faith and confidence And to them whom hee hath healed hee saith Goe thy way and sinne no more take heed that a worse thing happen not unto thee And herewithall doth hee teach in what thing the substance of true Religion lieth even in a right true faith and in an innocent life that in all our conversation wee keepe our selves from all filthinesse Yea the thing that some man taketh for Gods service refuseth hee as long babling prayers vaine-glorious fasting and like almes giving Hee nothing regardeth mens traditions diversities of sects long garments outward appearance their cleansing nor all their hypocrisie He goeth into the Temple overthroweth casteth downe powreth out every thing that is to bee sold in the Temple he driveth the buyers and sellers out of the Temple with a whip For the Temple was ordained for generall prayer thanksgiving and preaching and not for chopping and changing or other such like things These three points doth hee teach vs diligently to observe First that wee obtaine remission of sinnes true righteousnesse and everlasting life onely through him and by his Passion and death and else by none other meane For hee is the onely Mediatour Priest Intercessour Comforter the onely Righteousnesse Satisfaction Ransome Sanctifying the onely perpetuall Sacrifice the Suretie of grace and salvation Speciall testimonies hereof hast thou Iohn 3.6.14 and 16. Secondly that wee cannot serve and please God with exteriour sacrifices or any outward pompe but with such workes as proceed of love and mercie And thirdly that all the children of God are bound to keepe themselves from the workes of darknesse and to apply them to live in righteousnesse and in the light And herein also is comprehended all godlinesse that is all right good Christian workes So when hee had taught all righteousnesse and disclosed and overthrowen all hypocrisie in religion he offered up himselfe upon the crosse for the remission of all our sinnes For willingly and patiently put he himselfe into the hands of his enemies and of his betrayer suffered himselfe to be taken to be bound to be led from one Iudge to another to be laughed to scorne cried out upon to be spitted on and at the last to be adjudged unto death to be scourged and to be crowned with a crowne of thorne Hee himselfe bare his owne crosse to the place of execution where hee was crucified and hanged up betweene two murtherers Then lived hee in great paine from the sixth houre untill the ninth At the last he cried It is finished Father into thy hands commend I my spirit thus offered he himselfe for our sinnes and died that wee might live But soone after followed the things whereby the fruit of Christs passion might bee perceived For the vaile which in the Temple separated the holy from the most holy did rent from the top to the bottome whereby Christ testified that now with his death all ceremonies and figurative things were at an end and no more of value that the way to eternall salvation was opened that all things significative in the Tabernacle in sacrifices rites and observances were now fulfilled and abrogate that now the bare and onely crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ is altogether unto the faithfull that the heele of the Virgins seed is well trodden upon and his flesh well rent and slaine but that yet also in the meane season he hath trodden the serpent upon the head Therefore did the dead also arise and appeared vnto certaine at Hierusalem For the death of Christ is our life The earth quaked the stones burst asunder For the preaching of the death of the Sonne of God hath altered the whole world and many hard stonie hearts are moved to repentance faith and good works But when the side of the dead bodie of Christ was opened with the speare and the rocke as Zacharie saith was digged up there ran out water and bloud declaring manifestly thereby that unto us out of the death of Christ followeth life and purifying For water cleanseth in the bloud is the life of man And with the bloud of Christ is all bloud stanched and now is Christs bloud only available being sprinkled through faith in our hearts This oblation and passion of Christ the ransome for the sinne of the whole world was done in the 18. yeere of the Empire of Tiberius reckoning from the beginning of the world 4007. yeeres the 25. day of March. So the whole bodie of Iesus was taken downe from the crosse and honourably buried and on the third day after hee rose up againe so that his soule came againe to the bodie and his verie flesh was raised up from death howbeit now no more mortall and passible but glorified For hee is the first in the resurrection of the dead For like as by one man came death so by one man must come the resurrect on of the dead And like as in Adam wee all died in bodie and soule so shall wee be all together restored againe to life in Christ Iesus This hope unto life would the Lord print substantially in us with the resurrection And therefore after his resurrection hee continued fortie dayes with his Disciples that hee might well instruct them of his resurrection and that they should haue no doubt therein So when he had shewed and declared unto them his verie resurrection divers wayes and had performed al that the Father commanded him to finish hee ascended up unto heaven with bodie and soule from mount Olivet in the sight of his Disciples and is set at the right hand of God there to remaine corporally untill the last day in the which hee shall come againe bodily to judge the quicke and dead And all such as have walked in faith shall he take to him with bodie and soule into heaven like as hee himselfe is received into heaven And shall with bodie and soule condemne all them that have walked in the way of the old serpent and have noâ— converted from unrighteousnesse to the righteousnesse in Christ And thus shall salvation bee perfectly finished and Gods children shall live eternally with God through Iesus Christ To whom be praise for ever Amen CHAP. XI That also the elect Apostles preached this old faith and declared that all salvation is onely in Christ THus through Christ Iesus is all fulfilled that the
threatning that in what houre soever he did eat of the same tree he should die an everlasting death But untruly dealt man with his faithfull God transgressed his commandement and gave more credit to the perswasion of the woman and of the serpent than to the true word of God which was nothing else but even as much as to take the forme of good and evill out of themselves or elsewhere rather than of God and not to cleave and be obedient onely unto him as to such an one as wisheth good unto every man For man being deceived through the woman and the Serpent did beleeve that God was not indifferent and that hee had withdrawne from him some of his godly wisdome And for as much as the minde now was departed from God through infidelity and looked not for all good at his hand therefore tooke the hand the noisome apple and the mouth did eat the forbidden meat And thus thought hee to helpe himselfe to Gods Majesty by another meanes rather than by God and so to repaire his necessitie which he thought hee had And so with infidelity unfaithfulnesse disobedience and unthankfulnesse he wrought life and died the death that is he offended against God and fell into the punishment of everlasting damnation Yea he made himselfe bound unto the devill whom he was so diligent to beleeve to follow and to serve Contrariwise he forsooke God and so came he utterly into the bondage of the devill and darknesse And thus have we now the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of God Againe the wickednesse and great unfaithfulnesse of man CHAP. III. The first and right foundation of our holy Christian faith HEre now had the just God occasion and right to expell man to destroy him to damne him and to leave him utterly to the devill And the same also did his righteousnesse and truth require For he had said In what day soever thou eatest of the fruit thou shalt die the death Contrariwise the goodnesse and mercy of God required not utterly to suppresse man a poore and naked creature In the meane season was there found a way whereby the righteousnesse and truth of God should be satisfied and in the which the mercy of God should specially be exercised and declare it selfe that is to say Christ Iesus which is given us by the manifest grace of God was offered for our sinnes satisfied and recompenced the righteousnesse of God and so delivered us out of the bonds of the Devill For hee died for us all in as much as God said In what day soever thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Therefore died Christ for us all that through his death we might live and be taken out of the kingdome of darknesse and be set in the kingdome of the deare beloved Sonne of God This device of Gods wisdome which no doubt was determinate from everlasting was also directly opened unto Adam after the fall in manner following When man had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree immediatly his eyes were opened in so much that he was ashamed when he saw that he was naked Hitherto had hee lived in innocencie therefore began he now to cover himselfe but with simple clothing which they trusted not much to like as it is all unprofitable that man of himselfe will cover his sinne withall saving that they fled from the Lord and hid themselves from him But the Lord followed upon the fugitive put him in minde of his decay miserie and the life that hee was fallen from and said Adam where art thou Or knowest thou what miserie thou art fallen into from great felicitie Now should man have acknowledged his fault but hee shewed himselfe stiffe-necked And the Lord moveth him still to see if he will acknowledge his sinne and said Who told thee that thou art naked Yea to helpe him in the matter and to make him confesse his sinne hee saith moreover Hast thou not eaten of the tree of the which I forbad thee that thou shouldest not eat But man was loth to knowledge his sinne and laid it first upon the woman his companion and the same did he with so froward and unadvised words that a man may easily see that secretly in his heart he wickedly and unreasonably laid the fault upon God For hee said not onely The woman gave me of the tree to eat but added proudly thereto The woman which thou gavest me c. As though he should say Thou thy selfe art in the fault if thou haddest not given mee the woman I had not beene deceived And yet the righteous God gave him not the woman to deceive him but to bee an helpe to him Therefore appeareth it here againe that the sinne of man was the more wilfull grievous Yet for all this did the gracious God proceed further and would prove whether hee might finde any knowledge of the sinne with the woman the beginning and occasion of the sinne But nothing at all could he finde The one person was as the other and they both had no power Therefore like as Adam put all the fault to the woman even so laid the woman all the fault upon the Serpent that is upon the Devill Which nature doth yet to this day cleave in man But what man which hath well considered this foresaid matter by himselfe would now say or durst thinke that any part of the promise of righteousnesse and salvation of man were to bee ascribed to his owne power and deserving For as much as it is so manifest how unable and lost a creature man is of himselfe which doth nothing but heape sinne upon sinne and disobedience upon disobedience Againe who is so blinde but he seeth that all salvation is to be ascribed to the onely meere grace and mercie of God For now followeth it first how God handled this matter Now when all the complaint was made upon the Serpent the Lord asketh and examineth the Serpent nothing at all for the deed was open neither was the Serpent created of God to speake and with the Devill was there no truth Therefore doth the Lord righteously curse the Serpent the Devill Unto the bodily serpent also whom the Devill used as an instrument he giveth a sore curse and saith Vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and earth shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life When this was done it was ordained now first for man that according to the righteousnesse and truth of God he should bee punished also with the curse and with eternall death but for the causes expressed in the beginning of this chapter the curse was directed unto Christ who also with cleare words was promised and so was life in him promised likewise Therefore saith not the Lord now And cursed bee thou man because thou hast done against my Commandement but And I will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman betweene thy seed and her seed the same shall tread thee on
the head and thou shalt tread him on the heele Which is thus much to say Thou hast used the woman to the destruction of men so that from henceforth they bring death and by kinde and nature are damned when they are borne Therefore will I also use the woman but to salvation for of the woman shall a seed or childe bee borne which shall breake thy head power and kingdome sinne damnation and death howbeit in his manhood he shall be trodden down and bitten That is Man with his transgression hath deserved eternall death so that after the rigour of my justice hee should perish and belong to the Devill for ever neverthelesse I Will have mercie upon him and receive him to grace againe But to the intent that my truth and righteousnesse may be satisfied I will cause my Sonne to take the verie nature of man upon him Then will I that hee take upon himselfe the curse and damnation and die and with his innocent death to take away that noisome death and curse and so to set the generation of man out of death into life out of the dominion of the Devill into his owne kingdome out of darknesse into light Thus the right foundation or ground of our holy faith continueth fast and unmoved in so much as all the generation of man is whole and cleansed from sinne and delivered from the curse from the Devill and everlasting damnation onely through the mercie and meere grace of God by Iesus Christ As touching this Paul said when hee wrote to the Romans in the 8. Chapter God sent his Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and through sinne that is to say through the sinne-offering and willing death of Christ he condemned sin in the flesh And in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the first Chapter the same Paul saith Christ Iesus is appointed of God to be our wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that as it is written who so glorieth and rejoyceth let him glorie and rejoyce in the Lord. But for as much as this is the first promise and the first sure Evangelion I will now speake of everie word in especiall First God calleth his Sonne our Lord Iesus the seed of the woman A seed because of the verie nature of man and because that our Lord should not take upon him a fantasticall but a verie true bodie But to these words there is added Of the woman For our Lord was not conceived and borne of mans seed but of the Holy Ghost out of the Virgine Marie Therefore cannot this sentence be understood of Eve but of the Virgine Marie Now whereas she is called a woman it is done because of the kinred For even the daughters also and maidens are reckoned in the womens kinred and yet continue undefiled virgins God also hath spoken here distinctly and said not I will put enmitie betweene thee and this woman but betweene thee and haischah the woman understanding some speciall woman no doubt even such an one as he afterward set forth cleerely by Esay saying Behold a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne c. And this word seed was alway afterward in everie renewing of this promise concerning Christ Iesu among all the Patriarks and Prophets rehearsed used and expressed untill the time of David Of whom the Lord afterward was called a flower the root sprowting or blossome of David The holy Apostle Paul expoundeth this word seed clearely and plainly and saith it is Christ Gal. 3. Moreover it serveth to the praise of the Lords mother that God saith I will put enmitie betweene the woman and thee for he meaneth the difference of both their natures The Devill is proud subtill wicked false and untrue but the mother of Christ is lowly simple vertuous faithfull and upright chaste and cleane And the same pure virgin and gracious mother hath borne unto us him that trod downe the Serpents head The head of the Serpent is the power and kingdome of the Devill even sinne the curse and damnation All this hath that blessed seed broken for his faithfull All which things the holy Apostle Paul also hath taught with these words The Lord is become partaker of our flesh and bloud that he through death might take away the power from him which had the Lordship over death that is to say the Devill and to deliver them which through feare of death were all their life time in bondage For hee tooke not upon him the Angels but the seed of Abraham tooke hee upon him c. And to the same meaning doth this also serve that followeth And thou shalt tread him on the heele The heele is the lowest part in man and here it signifieth the most inferiour thing in Christ even his flesh This hath the old Serpent the Devill persecuted and trodden downe by his members Caiphas Annas Herod and Pontius Pilate For Peter saith Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh The Godhead is impassible and the soule immortall But by this treading downe of the Lord hath God trodden downe the kingdome of the Devill that is to say by his death hath he destroyed death and brought life againe to all them that beleeve Hereof commeth it that Christ saith himselfe Ioh. 12. Now is the judgement of the world now shall the Prince of this world be thrust out And I when I am lift up that is to say crucified from the earth will draw all things to me At the last saith the Lord that he will put enmitie betweene the Serpent and the womans seed This may wee see in the Devill and his members and acts how they are contrarie to Christ and his members and deeds But how strong soever the Serpent is yet shall he be trodden downe through Christ and his faithfull Hereof commeth it that Paul spake so comfortably to the Romans Rom. 16. The God of peace shall shortly tread downe the Devill under your feet And herewithall is the dutie also of the faithfull in Christ shortly comprehended For as touching them that say Is it enough then and is all well when I knowledge that I am a sinner and saved through the blessed seed only To them it is here answered and cleerly given to understand that all they which put their trust in the blessed seed take upon them the kinde of the seed and hate the kinde of the Serpent that is to say sinne and blasphemie and fight alway more and more against the world and the Devill as long as they live yea and occupie themselves most faithfully about that which is Gods will And hereto now serveth it that followeth after For when the Lord had taken away the everlasting death he laid upon man a temporall punishment correction and discipline in the which hee should be exercised as long as hee lived upon earth And upon the woman he laid trouble sorrow and paine when she should beare and bring
forth children Subjection also and service with feare and obedience which she oweth to the man To man hee enjoyneth labour for the Lord cursed the earth and said With sorrow shalt thou get thy living all the dayes of thy life Yea in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Moreover he layeth temporall death upon them both and saith Earth thou art and to earth shalt thou returne Of the first doth Paul speake also 1 Tim. 2. The woman shall be saved by bearing of children if she continue in faith and in love and in holinesse or cleannesse and nurture Of the second speaketh the same Paul likewise to the Ephesians and Thessalonians Let no man undermine or deceive his brother in occupying and who so hath used falshood and deceit let him doe it no more but let him rather labour with his hands some honest thing that he may have to distribute unto such as have need And as touching death Paul also saith to the Hebrewes in the ninth Chapter How that it is appointed unto men once to die and that even so Christ Iesus was offered up and died once for all CHAP. IIII. Of the first faithfull Christians ADAM and EVE ANd hitherto I trust we have had in the first promise of God the foundation and the whole summe of our holy Christian faith namely that the whole generation of man was but lost through his owne fault and wickednesse and fallen into death and damnation so that there remaineth nothing in man but it is displeasant to God Hereof commeth it that there is nothing to be ascribed unto the power and deserving of man save sinne and malediction But God of his abundant mercy had compassion on us and of very grace promised he life unto us againe in his Sonne our Lord Iesus whom he would to become man and to suffer death in his flesh that thereby hee might tread downe the devill death sinne and hell Item he would put enmitie betweene the womans seed and the serpent that is he would endue us which are the seed that is to say the children of Adam if wee beleeve with another heart and power that we might become enemies unto the devils workes resist his suggestion and hold our selves fast by the blessed seed labouring and suffering whatsoever God enjoyneth us to worke and suffer Who is it now which seeth not herein all that is written in the whole Scripture of beleefe of love and innocencie that is to say of a Christian life and faith Who so is disposed let him looke upon the 2.3 and 4. chapters of Paul to the Romanes the first and second to the Ephesians let him compare those chapters toward this summe and he shall finde it none otherwise For as much then as Adam and Eve had faith in God and stood so toward God that they knowledged themselves to be sinners and trusted to be saved only through the blessed seed giving themselves over willingly into the discipline and nurture travell and trouble of this time No man can say contrary but it followeth that our first elders were Christians Neverthelesse we will declare the same yet more clearely by Moyses words following And Adam called his wife Heva because shee should be the mother of all living For as soone as he was now strengthned through the promise of God and beleeved that hee and his posteritie which else were children of wrath of the devill and of death should live through the blessed seed he turned his wives name and called her Heva for the remembrance of the matter and practising of his faith for he beleeved that shee now living in the power of the blessed seed should bring forth not only quicke men temporally as pertaining to this naturall life like as we call other creatures living but living that is to say children of salvation For Adam had lost eternall life from himselfe and from us his posteritie but the same is given unto us againe through Iesus Christ our Lord. Adam for as much as he beleeved changed his wives name like as we finde that for great weighty causes the names of certaine places cities and men were changed Thus was Iacob called Israel Simon Peter Luthz Bethel Eve had now a name of life for Haiah in Hebrew is as much to say as Life Afore was shee called Ischa that is to say Woman because shee was taken from out of the man which in the Hebrew is called Isch Gen. 2. And thus it is manifest what faith Adam had whereby we may well suppose that Eve had none other faith But God used his mercy and loving kindnesse yet furthermore even in the mids of all correction for when he would now expell man out of paradise into miserie he doth unto him in every condition even as a faithfull father which for some misdeed putteth his sonne away from him notwithstanding leaveth him not utterly comfortlesse but provideth him a garment and comforteth him with friendly words and then first sendeth him away from him Even thus doth God the father of heaven also For first he cloatheth Adam and Eve against the frost and tempest of weather in as much as by the meanes of sinne the weather the earth the aire and all creatures were no more so subject tame and obedient unto man as they were afore the fall Therefore even now at this present time whatsoever inconvenience and harme is in the good creatures of God it commeth by the meanes of our sinnes Afterward doth the Lord comfort the miserable wretched man with very loving words after this manner Behold Adam is become like one of us or Loe Adam shall be as one of us and it shall happen unto him as to one of us and he shall know good and evill This doth God speake which is one in substance and three in persons he prophesieth here unto Adam that he shall know or have experience of good and evill that is to say that upon earth he must feele prosperitie and adversitie miserie and trouble sowre and sweet and must suffer necessitie paine and affliction Yet in all this must he be constant and patient forasmuch as nothing shall happen unto him save even the same that shall happen to one of them And he meaneth the Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ the second person in the holy Trinitie With this his passion and through the same doth he comfort Adam As though he would say let the paine sorrow and trouble which thou must suffer upon earth not vex thee and consider that one of us also shall take upon him the kinde and nature of man and that the serpent as it is said afore shall tread him on the heele that is to say he shall die he shall be opprest and have much affliction and trouble all the daies of his life In the same meaning also did the holy Apostle Peter say Christ suffered for our sakes and gave us an example that we should follow
whom they have taken their name The Law also was given 430. yeeres after the promise as Paul made the reckoning Gal. 3. It followeth therefore that our Christian faith is 2048. yeeres elder than the Circumcision and 2449. yeeres elder than the Law the Priesthood and ceremonies of the Iewes For from Adam unto the Floud were 1656. yeeres And from the Floud untill the departing of Abraham out of Caldea 363. yeeres From that time are reckoned 430. yeeres untill the departing of Israel out of Aegypt And on the 50. day after the departing was the Law given unto Israel upon Mount Sinâ— Exod. 19.20 And after certaine daies was the Priesthood and ceremonies appointed them Whereas God then made a covenant with Abraham when he ordained the Circumcision it serveth more to the confirmation of our holy Christian faith than to the maintenance of the Iewish ceremonies Isaac and Iacob were Abrahams children not only after the flesh but also after the spirit For they had the saith of their father and grandfather Abraham put their trust only in God through Iesus Christ and lived a sober and vertuous life Of this doth the Scripture beare them record thorowout Yea Iacob whom the Lord also called otherwise Israel of whom afterward all the people of God received the name Israel had many visions of the Lord Christ as with the ladder that stood upon the earth the top reaching to heaven on the which the Angels of God went up and downe For herewith was represented unto him the Lord Iesus which is the way unto heaven the truth and life without whom no man commeth unto the Father Upon the vision of Iacob saith he also himselfe Iohn 1. Verily I say unto you henceforth shall yee see the heaven open and the Angels of God going up and downe upon the sonne of man And so constant was Iacob in remembring the same that afterward at the commandement of the Lord he set up in the same place an Altar no doubt as it is said before for a figure of the crosse and sacrifice of Christ and there honoured he and worshipped the Lord he commanded all his people also that they should forsake strange gods and give him the Idols that they had brought with them out of Mesopotamia and he buried them under an Oke that stood beside Sichem Gen. 35. And when he would now die he prophesied very clearely of the Lord Christ how he should be borne out of the kinred of Iuda and that hee should be borne the same time that the kingdome should be taken from Iuda Which thing also came to passe in Herods time For in the 32. yeere of the reigne of Herod was CHRIST borne at Bethleem in Iewry Whereof the words of Iacob are these The scepter shall not be taken away from Iuda nor a Ruler from his feâ—t till Schilo come that is to say the Saviour and he in whom all nations shall be blessed and the people shall fall unto him This stedfast faith of Iacob did Ioseph follow also which mortified his owne flesh declared patience in adversitie and prison and exercised great justice and equitie in his governance He was a figure of our Lord Iesus Christ who also being sold of his owne unto the Heathen preserved his brethren alive So that from the beginning of the world untill the death of Ioseph the right Christian faith endured 2300. yeeres And thus all holy Patriarks before the Law were sawed not through the Law nor by their owne strength and deserving but through the blessed seed our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. VI. The law of God given by Moses leadeth unto Christ and maketh mention of all his doings THe Israelites after the death of Ioseph untill their departing and deliverance out of Aegypt were in the land 140. yeeres And like as before in the time of Noe the dwelling among the wicked became occasion of falling unto the righteous Even so now did the Israelites learne idolatry and all unhappinesse of the Aegyptians For the which cause also they were sore oppressed a long season howbeit there remained yet many excellent men which kept still the old faith and hated the abhominations of the Aegyptians For of Moses which was borne 60. yeeres after the death of Ioseph saith Paul Moses through faith when he grew up and was great refused to bee called the sonne of Pharaos daughter and chose rather to suffer adversity with the people of God than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season and esteemed the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt for he had respect to the reward Heb. 11. Now can no man desire to suffer with Christ except hee have knowledge of Christs suffering Therefore Moses in the midds of all persecution had knowledge of Christ and the faith in Christ So is there no doubt but more vertuous people had this true faith which were all oppressed and vexed in Aegypt like as afterward the right faithfull beleevers were somewhat more persecuted as among the heathen in the time of the Iudges and Kings of Iuda and Israel under king Antiochus under the Emperors Nero Traâ—â—nâ—s Domitianus Maximianus Iulianus and other As for the unbeleevers they in such miserable times received the reward of their unthankfulnesse disobedience idolatry and blasphemie But when the appointed time came which God had foreseene opened unto Abraham Gen. 15. he brought the people of Israel by Moses out of Aegypt with and through great wonders and tokens By the which he first declared his power then his loving kindnesse and mercy toward his owne and his terrible justice and vengeance against his enemies whereby all the world might know that there was none other just and true God save the God of Israel in whose hand only consisteth all things which also of his meere mercie preserveth his owne and with right judgement rewardeth his enemies Specially this is most wonderfull that in this great businesse and worke hee hath so mightily set forth the redemption performed by our Lord Iesus Christ yea and expressed it to be a very mighty redemption For the same night when they should depart away and be dispatched in the morning the Lord commanded them to kill a lambe and with the bloud thereof to sprinkle the doores and posts of the house So when the Angell that in the same night slew the first borne of the Aegyptians saw the bloud hee should doe no harme and slay no man therein Exod. 12.3 Now testifieth Paul 1 Cor. 5.7 that Christ Iesus is our Easter Lambe and Passeover So saith Saint Iohn Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Therefore were not the Israelites spared because of the bloud of beasts but for the blouds sake of the blessed seed that was promised for to come And thus the whole deliverance out of Aegypt was a figure of the true redemption by the which we
that used and did such service without faith and lifting up of the minde But they that put their trust in God cleaving only unto him and lifting up their hearts higher and remained not in the visible thing those pleased God Whereas they had but one Altar and one place appointed where they should doe sacrifice it signified the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ and that he should be offered up but once and that in one place for the sinne of the world Therefore whereas the high Priest also every yeere went into the inward Tabernacle with bloud it signified that our Lord Iesus should come into this world and shed his bloud once for all to forgive and cleanse our sinnes and so to ascend unto heaven Yea all oblations and all sheddings of bloud in the sacrifices of the old fathers signified the death of our Lord Iesus Christ Nothing was cleansed among them without bloud which signifieth that all the purging of our uncleannesse is done by the bloud of Iesus Christ And all the Priesthood which was ordained for to teach to pray and make intercession to offer and doe sacrifice represented the office of our Lord Christ which came into this world to teach us the truth and righteousnesse then to offer himselfe to the Father for our sinnes and after the sacrifice done to rise up againe from death to ascend unto heaven there to sit at the right hand of God and even there as a true high Bishop to appeare alway in the presence of God and to pray for us This is the summe of the rites and ceremonies of the old fathers the understanding of the figures and the spirit of the letter whereof holy Paul hath written much in the most excellent epistle to the Hebrewes Out of all this is it easie to understand how that these rites and ceremonies of the fathers were sacraments and given to the people of God Not that they with the letter and outward visible and corporal thing should sufficiently serve God which is a spirit but that they should lift up their mindes above the same to the spirituall things pondering the mercy of God out of the which hee being moved is become gracious unto us And when he might have damned us for our sins and misdeeds he spared us for his Sons sake whom he gave unto death and his innocent death hath he accepted for our sinnes Such a faithfull consideration which is the true beleefe pleaseth God and with such a faith is God served and such a faith would the Lord have taught and planted in us with the foresaid rites and ceremonies Therefore all they that pleased God among the old fathers pleased him not for the letters sake but by reason of the spirit When the sacrifice also and ceremonie was executed after the ordinance of God in the congregation the beloved friends of God had not only respect unto the outward thing but much rather beheld they Christ with the eyes of faith and thought thus Behold the will of God hath ordained to do sacrifice for sinne now are we all sinners and debtors unto God in so much that he hath power and right over us that like as the beast which is now slaine and offred dieth and hath his bloud shed Even so might God now also kill us all and condemne us for ever Neverthelesse he hath taken us to his mercy and promised us a seed which should thus die on the Crosse and cleanse us with his bloud and with his death restore us unto life which thing no doubt shall as surely come to passe as this beast is slaine and offered now afore our eyes And like as the bloud is sprinkled over the people for the bodily cleansing so shall the bloud of Christ be sprinkled upon our soules c. And out of such a thought and faithfull consideration of the sacrifices grew repentance and sorrow for their sinnes a gladnesse praise comfort and thanks-giving unto God the mercifull Father And to this doe serve certaine Psalmes which were made concerning the sacrifices To this also serve all the rebukings of the holy Prophets and the refusing of the oblations For the externall pompe and shew of the offerings without faith in God and the blessed seed is nothing worth yea it is rather abominable unto God as thou seest in the first chapter of Esay Thou wilt aske Might not God have taught and shewed his people the cause of Iesus Christ of true beleefe none other way than through and with such cost pompe and glory of sacrifices and other gorgeousnesse of the Church I answer If the people had not fallen to more wickednesse in Egypt through their dwelling among the Idolaters but had constantly and stedfastly remained as did their fathers Abraham Isaac and Iacob then might they well have continued by the old short simple forme as it was among the holy fathers But now had they seene in Egypt an outward costly Gods service with temples altars sacrifices priesthood holy daies ornaments c. Likewise the idolatry increased daily in all the world so that now there was utterly no people which had not their owne outward ceremonies wherewith they served God To the intent then that God might retaine his people within the compasse of faith in one God and in the blessed seed promised afore to the intent also that they should shew no outward service to any other gods or take upon them to serve God after the manner of the Egyptians or of other heathen he appointed an outward Gods service and commanded to doe the same unto him and else to none and in the same pleased it him to set forth all the cause of the foresaid seed till he came and performed all things in deed that they had figuratively in their sacrifices Moreover God according to his wisdome of his speciall mercy and good heart that he hath unto mans generation would with these outward tokens tender our weaknesse which of spirituall heavenly things hath better understanding when they are shewed unto it by corporall visible things God therefore through such corporall representations laboured to shew unto that grosse and fleshly people the heavenly cause of his Sonne Neverthelesse the corporall visible things were given for no longer but untill the time of the fulfilling But now that Christ hath appeared and fulfilled and performed all that was written and figured of him in the Law and the Prophets the figure ceaseth and the outward sacraments of Moses law are of no more value to be exercised and used Thus much be said of the ceremonies Whereas beside the ceremonies there is much written also in the Law concerning civill policie ordinance judgement to live peaceably and well in citie and land of buying and selling of warre and peace of inheritance and proprieties of lawes matrimoniall of punishment of the wicked of the judgement and counsell of lending and borrowing c. It is no newes at all
and serveth altogether for the declaration of the six commandements of the second Table and is comprehended in the words of Paul Rom. 13. Love thy neighbour as thy selfe And in the words of Christ That thou wouldest not have done unto thee doe not thou to another Matth. 7. Such lawes and rules to live in peace in a civill order and in vertue have also the good holy fathers had from the beginning of the world written in their hearts by God himselfe Now hath God also caused all to be comprehended in writing by Moses to the intent that the world might have all more clearely and perfectly and that no man might excuse himselfe of ignorance CHAP. VII The originall of the holy Scripture and faith thereof THis matter which I have hitherto treated upon have I not fained of my selfe but taken it out of the mouth and word of God For God stirred up Moses to write and leave behinde him all the matter for our learning and knowledge This did now Moses with great faithfulnesse and comprehended all in foure bookes The first is called the booke of the creation from the beginning of the world unto his time of the creation of the world beginning of all nations and of the Patriarks and old righteous servants of God of their faith and conversation of the promises and works of God The same wrote hee as hee was inspired of the Holy Ghost and as he had received of old fathers and somewhat as he found in the bookes of the Aegyptians For Moses was excellently well learned in all wisdome of the Aegyptians as Steven doth witnesse of him Act. 7. The other three bookes wrote he of his owne time according as he himselfe was present saw and knew And specially the second booke concerning the departing out of Aegypt how the people of God were oppressed in Aegypt how the Aegyptians were punished how Israel was delivered received the Law and set up a Tabernacle with a gorgeous serving of God In the third booke which is called Leviticus are written the spirituall Lawes namely such as concerne the Priests and the Priesthood their office living knowledge sacrifices solemne feast dayes rites ceremonies and such like In the fourth which is called Numeri hee writeth at length how they went thorow the wildernesse and came to Iordan with a rehearsall of their order and number of their murmuring also and punishment and of certaine victories with a remembrance of certaine lawes and statutes Beside all this hee made yet an Enchiridion and summe of all the acts of his time and of the Law of God which is called Deuteronomium the same commanded hee to bee laid in the Arke at the motion of God and that it should be read unto all the people as it is mentioned Deut. 31. And in these five bookes given us of God by Moses is the whole ground of our holy faith For all the Prophets afterward grounded themselves upon the same and wrote thereout like as afterward our Lord Iesus and the Apostles point unto Moses Neither did ever any righteous man of understanding and that feared God doubt any thing or blaspheme such Scriptures And from such true servants of God have wee hitherto received our matters in writing Thus much have I said concerning the Law how it is no new thing but even the onely will of God but now comprehended in writing Moreover that all the Law pointeth unto Christ and that all men of right understanding which lived under the Law were Christians For manifest is it that Paul said Rom. 10. Christ is the end of the Law to justifie everie one that beleeveth And Galat. 3. Or ever faith that is to say Christ came we were kept and shut up under the Law unto the faith which should afterward be declared Thus was the Law our schoole-master unto Christ that wee might bee made righteous by faith All this I suppose will bee new and strange in many hearts neverthelesse I trust that all they which have understanding doe see and knowledge that this is the true old right and godly Divinitie and Theologie which ascribeth all honour unto God the Father through our Lord Iesus Christ in the Holy Ghost To whom be glorie and praise for ever Amen CHAP. VIII All vertuous Kings and the people of Israel trusted unto Christ and not to the Law AFter that the Law was given and Gods service set up Moses the servant of God died being an hundred and twentie yeeres old and at the commandement and commission of God he left Gods people to bee ruled and guided by the faithfull valiant Iosue which also was a figure of our Lord Iesus For like as it was not Moses but Iosue that brought the people into the land of promise Even so are we brought into the eternall rest not by the works of the Law nor through our owne deserving but by grace through Iesus Christ like as it is also with many words expressed of holy Paul Heb. 4.3 c. This Iosue no doubt did keepe maintaine and defend Gods faith and religion with the spirit and understanding thereof and taught other to keepe the same like as he through Gods inspiration received it of the fathers by Moses Which thing though it bee evident in many points yet is it manifest specially by this that hee would not suffer the children of Ruben and Gad and the halfe Tribe of Manasse to set up and have another altar beside the onely altar that the Lord had appointed them For herein as it is mentioned afore was figured the vertue and perfectnesse of the onely crosse death and sacrificing of Iesus Christ Therefore would not Iosue that any thing should be set cheeke-mate with the crosse and oblation of Iesus Christ but that all honour of cleansing and forgivenesse of sinnes should bee ascribed onely unto him Whereas Iosue now and other Iudges Rulers Princes and Kings of Israel after him used sore and great warre stroke many horrible battels destroyed much land and people and shed mens bloud without measure he did it as a chiefe head and as an instrument and vessell of God at the commandement of God which would so punish the Idolatrie the great sinne and blasphemie of the ungodly which he had long suffered and exhorted them to amendment but for all his patient abiding they would not convert Those now did hee root out through the sword of his beloved friends sometime delivered he his people with the sword of the righteous and saved them from the hand of their enemies For because of the sinnes of his people he gave them over sometime into the hand of their enemies to nurture and correct them with the rod then fell the people of God and fled before their enemies and were subdued and opprest of the ungodly till they knowledged their sinnes called upon God and amended putting their trust in God onely through the blessed seed worshipping
victorie even in the middest among his enemies It is he that with the spirit of his mouth slayeth the Antichrists This his word also and preachings of the Gospell came forth first from Sion or Hierusalem as Esay Micheas and Luke doe testifie Now followeth the third verse In the day of thy battell or armie shall thy people be well willing the dew of thy birth is unto thee in an holy maiestie out of the wombe of the cleare morning Herewith doth David describe the glorious and victorious faith of the Christian For when the Gospell is preached there ariseth a conflict betweene faith and infidelitie betweene the seed of Christ and the Serpent between idolatrie and true godlinesse And the unbeleevers persecute the Lord Christ in his members that is to say the faithfull but they are well content utterly to give over bodie honour and goods their bloud and life for Gods truths sake For the martyrs and they in the Primitive Church being gathered together of the Apostles and after the Apostles time have thus kept truth and faith toward the Lord Christ and were willing to die for knowledging him Afterward describeth he also in the foresaid verse the pure and holy conception and birth of our Lord Iesus Christ And this doth he with a goodly similitude and saith Thy birth shall be holy and very excellent not uncleane as the birth of other men For like as the dew out of the cleare heaven and out of the faire morning is borne as it were out of a mothers wombe even so also shalt thou be borne holy and cleane of an undefiled virgin Whereof thou findest more instruction Luk 1.31 The Lord hath sworne and it shall not repent him thou-art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech In this fourth verse describeth he the office of Iesus Christ how that he is ordained of God to be one only Priest for ever which should offer up himselfe for the sinne of the world and alway appeare in the sight of God the Father and to pray for us All this doth holy Paul declare at large to the Hebrewes in the 5 7.8·9 and 10. chapters And specially in this verse is grounded all that is read thorowout the Scripture of the merits of Christ of the forgiving of sinnes of righteous making of being Mediatour and that he alone is the only Salvation Advocate Satisfaction and Righteousnesse of the faithfull The Lord is at thy right hand he in the time of his wrath shall wound even Kings This fifth verse teacheth how God will ever more and more stand on his Sonnes side further his cause and bring downe and destroy those Kings Princes and Lords that will not amend and beleeve in Christ but will rather provoke his wrath than desire his grace Which thing Herod Nero Domician Maximine and Iulian have proved Yet followeth the sixt verse declaring the fifth He shal iudge among the Heathen and fill all full of dead bodies and smite the head on the wide ground Christ is also preached unto the Heathen and reigneth among them but many withstand Christ and them doth he judge And like as a King overcommeth his enemies with a battell and covereth the whole plaine with dead bodies visiteth also and smiteth the head of the warre and the head citie of the enemies Even so doth Christ to his enemies and destroyeth their power and kingdome All which things wee have seene in the old unchristian Empire of Rome and in many other potentates and powers But specially he breaketh the head of the old Serpent according to the promise Gen. 3.15 And at the last shall he come to judge the quicke and dead and destroy his enemies for ever Out of the brooke in the way shall he drinke therefore shall hee also lift up the head Finally and in the seventh verse he describeth the passion of Christ and his glorie In the way saith he that is in his life while he is in this misery He shall drinke out of the brooke that is he shall suffer and be overcome For to drinke out of the cup is as much as to suffer But to drinke out of the brooke is to be altogether full of trouble to be vexed and tormented without victorie and utterly to be overwhelmed with a brooke and strong streame of troubles Thus was it his minde to declare the Passion of Christ After the Passion followeth the glory with the Resurrection and Ascension Paul Philip. 2. speaketh of both and saith Christ humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God hath exalted him and given him a name which is aboue all names c. Thus much be spoken of this Psalme and of Davids understanding which hee had of Christ Iesus and of the Christian faith Upon this I marvell if after so evident testimonies there be yet any man which perceiveth not that Davids faith and understanding of Christ was even one faith and understanding with the faith that we knowledge and say I beleeve in one God Father almightie c. as it is in the twelve Articles of the Christian faith For the holy Trinitie in one God-head doth he knowledge not only here but also in the 33. Psalme saying Through the word of God were the heavens made and all their power through the spirit of his mouth For certaine it is that there is but one only God maker of heaven and of earth but here is the Trinitie called Lord or God Word and Spirit Neither is there any thing in the Articles of the Beleefe concerning the God-head and Man-hood of Christ of his conception birth passion crosse and death of the resurrection ascension and judgement but it is cleerely comprehended here in this Psalme The articles of the holy Church of forgiving of sinnes resurrection of the flesh and an everlasting life are contained in this Psalme and are treated upon yet more clearely and with many mo words very substantially in other Psalmes of David Therefore had he our holy faith and knowledged the same was saved therein and of all holy men was called the Father of Christ with high commendation because of the promise that was made unto him Moreover all the holy Prophets following had respect unto David as to another Moses and tooke many things out of his writings For there is scarce any other that so clearely wrote of the cause of Christ as this Prophet David and therefore hath he honour and praise aboue other in Israel Of whom thou readest also Eccles 47.2 Such faith and confidence in God through Iesus Christ had David out of the holy Ghost and out of the doctrine of his Prophets Samuel Nathan and Gad and of other his Priests which also had the same of God and of the holy Fathers specially of Moses And no doubt hee desired the honour of God and of his Sonne not to keepe it only himselfe but also much
Prophets prophesied of him before thus to become the salvation of all faithfull beleevers even the Lambe of God which hath beene sacrificed since the beginning of the world that is this is he whose power and deliverance hath cleansed all them that ever put their trust in God through the blessed seed Herein now is the right true salvation this is the summe of the right and perfect religion Who so perverteth this from him shall God turne himselfe who so addeth ought unto this to him shall God adde his wrathfull hand who so taketh therefroÌ„ his life shall God minish But blessed are they which walk in this simplicitie cleannesse and continue so unto the end even they that heare Gods word and doe thereafter whose onely hope is Iesus Christ This only true and ever during salvation would hee to bee shewed and declared to all nations which came to save all nations but he would it should be declared by the preaching of the holy Gospell and through the ministration of the holy Sacraments And therefore by his life time hee did chuse Apostles whom he received to bee witnesses of all his doctrine and miracles informing them diligently and held nothing backe from them For hee saith unto them Yee are my friends if yee doe all that I command you I will henceforth call you no more servants for a servant woteth not what his Lord doth But I have called you my friends for all that I have heard of my Father have I opened unto you Ioh. 15. But for as much as they yet lacked understanding and were forgetfull and had ever strange imaginations of the kingdome of Christ therefore when hee now ascended unto heaven hee charged them not to depart from Hierusalem but to wait for the Holy Ghost whom he also gave unto them upon the fiftieth day after his resurrection that is upon the tenth day after his ascension even the fifteenth day of May by the which Holy Ghost they being illuminate spake with all manner of languages and were mindfull of all that the Lord had commanded them afore For the Holy Ghost did not endue them with a new doctrine but it that the Lord had taught them out of the Law and the Prophets the same did hee bring to their remembrance and illucidate all things and printed them more clearly in their hearts For so saith the Lord in the Gospell The Comforter even the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance that I have said unto you Therefore so long as the Lord was with them and told them all the matter of his passion they were sorrie and could not beare away all that he said unto them But after that he was taken up from the earth into heaven he sent the Holy Ghost even him whom the Prophets also had before and that led them into all Christian veritie So when they were endued with the Holy Ghost they began according to the Lords commandement to preach in all the world the foresaid matter of salvation purchased and obtained onely by Christ and gotten by true faith For hee had said Goe your way into all the world and preach the Gospell unto all creatures Whoso beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved c. And therewith comprehendeth he both the points which the Apostles used and practised even the preaching of the faith in Iesus Christ and of the ministration of the Sacraments And how the Apostles doctrine was it is manifest out of the Acts of the Apostles But shortly and in a summe they preached amendment of life and remission of sinnes through Iesus Christ That is to say how that the whole generation of man lay in the dominion of the Devill and in the bonds of sinne cursed and damned but God had mercie on us all and sent his Sonne into this world to die and with his death to restore us unto life and to wash us with his bloud that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life All this declared they out of the Law and the Prophets and proved that Iesus Christ whom they preached is the blessed seed promised unto the fathers Whoso is desirous to have a perfect example of this declaration he findeth two Sermons of the famous Apostles Peter and Paul the one in the Acts of the Apostles the second chapter vers 14. the other in the 13. chapter vers 16. There doth the holy Apostle open the mysterie of our holy faith verie excellently declaring it from the time of Abraham unto David and from him unto Iohn the Baptist Thereupon sheweth he how Christ suffered died was buried and rose againe from death All this confirmeth hee with the Scriptures of the Prophets At the last he concludeth the Sermon after this manner Be it knowne unto you therefore ye men and brethren that through Iesus is preached unto to you forgivenesse of sinnes and that by him all they that beleeve are justified from all things from the which yee could not bee justified by the Law of Moses To this agreeth now also the sermon of Peter Yea all the Scriptures of the Apostles doe finally accord to the same effect Hereout also bring they the doctrine of repentance and amendment of life the rebuking of sinne consolations exhortations and drawing to all manner of good works that follow out of faith The speciall Sacraments which the Lord did chiefly institute and command the Apostles to practise in the Church are holy Baptisme and the blessed Supper of our Lord Iesus Christ Concerning the first hee saith thus To mee is given all power in heaven and in earth therefore goe your way and teach all people and baptize them in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost and teach them to keepe all that I have commanded you The other did hee institute at the last Supper For thus is it written in the holy Gospell When they were eating hee tooke bread and when hee had given thanks he brake it and gave them saying Take eat this is my bodie which shall be given for you this doe in the remembrâ—nce of mee So tooke hee also the cup when â—hey had supt and said Drinke yee all out of this this is my bloud of the new Testament which shall be shed for the remission of sinnes With such Sacraments through outward visible formes for our infirmities sake pleased it the Lord to shew and set before our eyes his heavenly and invisible grace not that we should continue still hanging in the visible thing but that wee should lift up our mindes and with a true beleefe to hold fast to print sure in our mindes to worship and to enjoy the things that faith sheweth us by the outward Sacraments With these outward Sacraments also hath it pleased him to open declare and shew unto us his grace and loving kindnesse Namely how