conscience and acknowledge God our Father by Iesus Christ the mediator of the new testament And therefore did they so earnestly looke for him as Christ sayth Abraham in spirite saw this day of the new testament in which Christ should by the Gospel and the holy ghost be manifested and declared vnto the world and he was glad The ould testament was a preparatiue of the new testamēt into Christ in which the outward letter doth not onely sownd into the eares but the spirit also doth inwardly quicken illuminate the hart but these thinges were hid and few did knowe it But in the the new testament these are plaine and manifest whereupon Paule calleth the Corrinthians his Epistle written not with ink but by the spirite of the liuing God not in tables of stone but euen in the fleshly tables of the hart The Iewes receaued the law from God who promised them temporall goodes and blessinges and they on the other side againe promised vnto the Lord that they would keepe it but they performed not their promise neither fulfilled they those thinges which the Lord in his law required at their hāds For they assayd indeuored to keepe it of them selues without the help of Messias but it was vnpossible And then the Lorde made a better testament or a new couenaunt with his people which dependeth not of our workes or worthines which are vncertaine wauering weake vncōstant and vnstable but euen of his owne promise of Christ which is most sure and vnfaileable and without our desert This couenaunt was a couenant of grace a sure couenaunt a continuall and firme couenaunt for it is grounded on Gods mercye in our Messias For the truth and mercy of God abideth for euer and the giftes and calling of God are without repentaunce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore first he sendeth Moyses to teach them the law and to shew the world their sinnes and the curse dew for their sinnes that so he might make them come and cōfesse their faultes and humble them selues before god aske his pardon The Lord had promised from the beginning his grace and blessing in Messias the seede of Abraham and Dauid This promise is the gospell or new testament instituted confirmed at the fulnes of tyme by the bloud of Iesus Christ and therfore was it needefull that Christ should come vnto whome the law sendeth and turneth all men that they may haue grace and truth graunted by Iesus Christ ¶ Anna. Cleophas and his companion vnderstoode not this For if they had they would neuer haue been so heauy but haue thought this with them selues The time is now come wherin our Iudaisme with our ceremonies shall haue an end and Iesus of Nazareth by his wonders hath declared him self to be the true Messias Surely Ieremy prophesyeth that the old Testament when the fulnes of time should come should be abrogated and the new couenant of grace should take place And this must be confirmed by bloud but not by the bloud of sheep and calues but by the death of Messias as Esay and Danyel witnes And this couenant which God made with the people of God shall contynue for euer This is that true delyuerance of Israell And now at the last shall the kingdome of Israell in deed be rightly restored erected establisted for euer God wil not recant this and therfore must it needes be done because God hath spokē it And as he hath not hetherto altered the course of the day and night euen so wil he not change this his promise To be short the hope of Israell shall not be frustered but as we trust so according to the promise of God shall it come to pas For God cānot lye neither did he make this promise vpon any such condition that our saluation shold consist vpon our works and therfore it is sound perfect and sure And therefore must Israell and Iuda needes be saued and Christ aryse again from the dead that he might preach and publish the new couenant ☞ Vrb. You say wel And seeing that the circumcision and other rites were to be abrogated they might easely haue coniectured that the kingdome of Israell could no more stand or tary then the externall priesthoode with his outward and figuratiue ceremonies Wherupon it may wel follow that the Gentiles also should haue accesse vnto Messias be receaued into his spirituall kingdome For seeing the externall circumcisiō with the priesthood sacrifices and genealogies which were drawen from Abraham did cease and were no more esteemed and neither ought nor could doe any thing to the iustifying of sinners but the harts were to be circumcised and the law of God by the holy Ghost to be written in mennes minds what differences I pray you is there now between the iustification of the Iewes and Gentils Anna. None in deed at all but as Peter saith God ordayned from the beginninning that the gospel shold be preached euen to the gentils and that they should become as faithfull christians as Abraham Isaac Iacob and the Patriarches Apostles were For God promysed that he would receaue them into his kingdome for he bestowed on them the holy Ghost as wel as on the Iewes Neither did he after make any difference betwen the Iewes and Gentils The stop of the partision wal is broken down and the Lord hath clensed the harts of the gentils through faith so that now Christians or the church of the faithful are onely the people of God without any further differēce and they are as Christ saith faithful only saued Neither can any man be saued any other way but only by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ ☞ Vrb. This is the foundation of our faith And wheras Ieremy promysed afterward that al from the least vnto the greatest should know the Lord in his new testament you must vnderstand it of all the Isralites which are the children of promise For to them the Lord geueth the catholick faith and the holy spirite by his gospel and he draweth them that they may come vnto Christ and that his spirite may teach them and they know the voice of their shepheard and follow not any strange teacher Now harken how Ezechiel prophesieth of the time of the office and of the kingdome of Messias in his 11. chapter where he hath these words Thus saith the lord God I wil gather you again from the people and assemble you out of the countreis where you haue been scattered and I wil geue you the land of Israel and they shall come thether and they shall take away all the Idols thereof and all the abhominations therof from thence And I wil geue them one hart and wil put a new spirite within their bowels and I wil take the stony hart out of their bodies and wil geue them a hart of flesh that they may walke in my statutes and keep my iudgements and execute them and they shall be my people and I wil
be their God. Ezechiel when the Lord had raysed him vp to prophesy of these thinges doth comfort the Iewes beyng prisoners in Babilō by this prophesy And he promised thē that the Lord would deliuer thē out of the bōdage that they were in and bring them safely into their owne country to Ierusalem which thinges came so to pas in deed in the dayes of Zerubabel Iehoschua Esdras and Neemias when they should no more commit Idolatry with Babell and other Idols as before they had done But this deliuerance out of the captiuitie in Babilon was but onely a signe of our true deliuerance by Christ wherby all prisoners and such as remayne captaynes are at the last truely deliuered and saued as soon as they cast away their vngodlines and Idolatry and imbrace the true Christian fayth This prophesy hath respect vnto that time of Messias whē he gaue hys spirit vnto hys people circumcised their harts purified their own blind and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnpenytent hartes and put in place thereof a newe hart which feruently and ardently desireth to obserue and keep the commaundements of god For Christ is the only alone Phisition of our heauy sick and deadly wounded nature He alone regenerateth vs with his spirit he healeth vs and he restoreth vs agayn and he onely is our intercessor who putteth away and remoueth from vs the wrath of God and reconcileth vs vnto the Father so that with a fatherly hart and affection he embraceth vs and maketh vs hys children because Christ hath both purified our hart pardoned our sinnes and brought vs into fauour with the father agayne Moyses by hys lawe could do none of these for vs. He can onely shew vs the curse of the Lord prophesy of the blessed seed of Abraham and this was al that he could do But to take away sins and to worke our iustification was a work which none could do but onely Messias This is the way and meane by which Christ planteth and preserueth his spirituall kingdome when of sinners hee maketh godly and righteous persons and geueth them new harts and lightneth thē by his word and holy spirit and reneweth them that they may be in the inward man enclined with a redy delight and alacritie to do the will and pleasure of God. This is the meaning of Moyses in Deutrinomy when he commādeth that they shoulde circumcise the fore skin of their hart that is their euil thoughts cōcupisences and fleshly desires And he promiseth vnto hys people a spirituall circumcision saying the Lord thy God will circumcise thine hart and the hart of thy seed that thou maist loue the Lord thy God with all thy hart and with all thy soule that thou maiest liue Earthly Kings mayntayne externall iustice and restrayne vices wickednes by the sword but they haue no power to restrayne and bridle the hart For the hart for al that they can do wil abound in concupiscens of al kinde of euils yea it would brust forth into deeds if it were lawfull to do them and satisfy hys own appetite and wallowe in all filthy flagitiousnes And this is che cause that earthly kings defend and maintayn their dominiōs by the galouses torments wheeles swords halters and other punishments and yet notwithstanding all such executions and torments the wickednes and rash bouldnes of louse liuers can scarcely be brideled For so soon as the hart perceiueth that it hath got licence and time by and by it turneth to the olde habit and committeth what lewdnes it listeth But Christ goeth to work after another and better sort For he changeth and cleanseth the hart from euil to good which when he hath once puryfied and changed there followeth by and by honesty holynes and integrity of life in outward conuersation And thus doth he renue those which are indued with true innocency and through faith are drawen cheerefully by a harty desire to work all kind of vertue And thus doth this our king raign spiritually and by his word and spirit preuayleth more then al kings and Caesers in this world can doe by compulsion and all kind of torments though they be neuer so cruel Ezechiel also hath a prophecy and promise of this day of saluation and new league of grace in his thirty six chapter in playn wordes saying Then will I power clean water vpon you and ye shall be clean yea from all your filthynes and from all your Idols wil I cleanse you Here the prophet promiseth the sacrament of baptisme which is most pure and clean water because of the word of God of which it dependeth and hath his excellency And therfore it is caled in Titus The lauer of regeneration and the holy Ghost which God in baptisme by Christ our Sauyour poureth plentifully vpon vs that we by his grace being iustifyed may through hope be made heires of euerlasting saluation This was then fulfilled when the discyples baptysed the people and forgaue sinnes in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ and when the cleansed and godly congregation of the faithfull Christians was first erected who first rightly found forth the Lord God and were dayly more and more increased as we read in the Actes that the spirituall kingdome of Christ by his word did daily more more increase though in their bodyes they suffered great persecutions and dangers And this was the way and maner by which Christ wold gouern his kingdome But the blinded Iewes thought that all these thinges should carnally be fulfilled that Messias wold rule his kingdome in worldly pompe and power God in the 34. chapter of Eze. promyseth his people a true shepherd which hath good and holsome pastures which will keep his sheep faithfully defend thē carefully Which things the pharysies faithles shepheards in Iuda did not but fed and fatted themselues The prophets words be these And I wil set vp a shepheard ouer them and he shal feed them euen my seruant Dauid he shall feed them and he shall be their shepheard and I the Lord wil be their God and my seruant Dauid shal be the prince among them I the Lord haue spoken it And I wil make with them a couenant of peace and wil cause the euil beastes to cease out of the land and they shal dwel safely in the wildernes and sleep in the woods And I wil rayse vp for them a plant of renown and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land neither beare the reproch of the heathen any more Thus shall they vnderstand that I the Lord their God am with them that they euen the house of Israel are my people saith the Lord God. And ye my sheep the sheep of my pasture or men I am your God saith the Lord God. This shepheard is that Messias whom Ezechiell calleth Dauid because he should be borne of Dauides stock And the Iewes thēselues agree with
and with a holy violence as it were forsably entreth in vnto him and voluntarily submitteth yeldeth vp and dedicateth him selfe wholy to him as appeareth in Mat. But now geue care and mark what Siloh doth import why he would by this name vnderstād Christ This noble personage is so rich prosperous flowing with aboundance of all good things that none of the kings of the Iewes nay not all the kings cā match him or compare with him alone And Christs kingdome is another and clean contrary kingdome to the kingdomes of other kings and shal be gouerned after another sort then earthly kingdomes be nay all other kingdomes must geue place to this king which out of doubt could not be if this Siloh should haue bin a king whose kingdome and princely dignity enduring but a short time had ended with the kinges as the kingdome of Dauid Salomon and the rest did or if this kingdome of his should haue looked for another king to succeed him as did the kingdome of Iuda wayt for him It must needes therfore be that here should be a marueilous great change of kings and that this king whose comming is here foretold should be clean another kind of king and prince then others were otherwise the Scriptures would neuer haue named him Siloh which signifyeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a most blessed happy fortunat Lord who in al things he goeth about hath passing prosperous succes Here then in this word may Christes death immortality and eternity be gathered if it be well and throughly pondered For first he was to be true and naturall man and consequently mortall for he was to come of the tribe of Iuda being of the seed of Abraham and sonne of Dauid Secondly he was to be immortal and should rise agayne from death and lyue for euer because the scripture describing him sayth he shal be a royal prince farre differing from other kinges and much more honorable mighty and great then all the former princes of Iuda which orderly succeding one another raigned vnto his comming This king committeth not his kingdom to any other to rule neither hath he any successour he yeldeth not to any man but hauing once taken the scepter in hand in Herodes time he ruleth and raigneth a king for euer Which could not otherwyse be but that he should first die and hauing put of this miserable and short lyfe by death rise agayne death beyng ouercome to immortality and liue for euer That the scriptures might be fulfilled and that Christ might be such a king and Siloh as to whom not only the Iewes might cleaue but also whom all the world might acknowledge receiue worship for their God and king And finally that he might after this sort be true man and king of the stocke of Dauid and yet neuertheles immortall inuisible and eternall and raigne after this sort in fayth spiritually for euer ¶ Anna. If Cleophas and his fellow had well vnderstoode this prophesie which was the testament of that their Patriark Iacob they had not been so offended at Christs death ☞ Vrb. Indeed this prophesie might sufficiently haue instructed them and they might haue learned plainly inough out of it how Gods will and purpose was that Messias or Siloh should be put to death and yet not remayne in death but rise agayn to deliuer Israel and raigne for euer But they as yet beleued not the prophesies as these their wordes of incredulitie do sufficiently argue declare where they say a. We hoped it had bene hee that should haue deliuered Israel For their hartes as yet wauered and were vnconstāt and they supposed that Christ had ben vtterly extinct and dead for euer and themselues cleane frustrate of their hope For seing Christ himselfe was now put to death they dreamed that he could neither help nor deliuer other men from death and therefore Christ sayth vnto them O fooles and slow of hart to beleue all things that the Prophets haue spoken Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory ¶ Anna. Wrote Moses nothing els of Christ in Genesis ☞ Vrb. I haue determined to expound those prophesies onely which most specially plainely and euidently speake of Christ For if I would explicate and run through all the mysteries and types which are in Genesis I could finde many moe of Christ and his church ¶ Anna. Moses in the 14. of Genesis briefly describeth Melchisedech I haue often heard you say that Christ was called Melchisedech I praye you tell me why he was called so ☞ Vrb. There is an excellent and comfortable mystery of Christ in Melchisedech in the 14. of Gen. And Paul in the seuenth chapter to the Hebrewes doth famously and aptly expound the same saying Melchisedech the priest of the most high God is a figure of our Lord Iesu Christ to whome God the father fayth thus in the 110. Psal. Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech ¶ Anna. What was Melchisedechs order in his priesthoode ☞ Vrb. The state and order of his priesthoode is maruelous and altogether differing from the state of the priests of the law In the law of Moses there was a priesthood of the tribe of Leui. That priesthood offered vp sacrifice and prayed for other and for thēselues and they taught the law of God in which euery man might see his sinne and the curse due for his sinne But this priesthood could deliuer none from their sinne or from the curse Moreouer there were many Priestes that succeded one another for they died others came in their places neither was there any one that still enioyed the office of priesthood But Melchisedech was a maruelous priest of whom Moses speaketh but little But the holy ghost expounds the same more at large in the 7. to the Hebrues saying Melchisedech by interpretation is the king of righteousnes after that he is also king of Salem that is king of peace without father without mother without kinred and hath neither beginning of his dayes neither ende of lyfe but is likened vnto the sonne of God and continueth a priest for euer Moreouer he blessed the Patriarke Abraham who notwithstanding had the promises of the blessing of god All these were fulfilled in Christ as Dauid witnesseth saying The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech That is to say Thou art a priest cleane after another sort then Aaron and his successors were For they were mortall men who by the cōmaundement or law of God could condemne and bring al men vnder the curse but could not deliuer or quit any man from the curse And such were both their sacrifices the priesthod itselfe that they could not take away euen the least sinne that is But thou O Christ art the true Melchisedech the euerlasting and true king and priest And this must you after this sort vnderstand
children neither could it be thought that of them should come such a famous people Notwithstanding it came so to pas that this seed was so multiplyed that it was like the sand of the sea according to the promise of the lord And so though the litle flock of Gods people in this world be as a desolate barrain and only widow in comparison of the great number of the vngodly yet shall it come to pas that thou shalt increase grow and be exceeding famous For although thou hast in this world many enemies which do all they can and imploy themselues totally to subuert thee to root thee out and to ouerthrow thee yet can they not hurt thee Their councels and deuises shall all be frustrate yea they them selues how great soeuer they be are nothing nay much les then nothing For the moth shall eat them as a garment and the worme shall consume them like a vesture but my righteousnes remayneth and abideth for euer from generation to generation Yea and he addeth a saying that is ful of comfort The Lord shal comfort Syon he shall comfort all her desolations and he shall make her desert like Eden and her wildernes like the garden of the lord Ioy and gladnes shall be found therin praise and the voyce of singing Which is to say although the church be like vnto Abraham solitary and forsaken yet shall she be blesssed and florish like as a most pleasaunt garden And therfore we ought in no wise to be offended at the base estate of Christ and his former comming or at the homely state of the church while she walketh in this crooked world like to a pilgrim And a litle after in the same chap. the Lord speaketh to his people I euen I am he that comforteth you This is a greate and worthy mistery for we vnderstand here Christes humanitye as if he should say my seruants the prophets haue much and diuersly hetherto comforted you but yet came not that true comfort of Israell Now therfore will I far otherwise comfort you and that much more liuely and in greater aboundance then before For now euen I my selfe will come in mine own person and comfort Sion This came to pas when Christ was made man and liued among men For he sent not a Prophet or an Angel but he himself at the fulnes of time came in the flesh that he might comfort vs in the flesh Those two discyples plainly felt that comfort on Easter day when God him selfe in mans nature glorifyed and reuiued them and cheered vp their heuy harts by the scriptures And Esay saith further Arise put on thy strength O Syon c. And here again doth the prophet comfort gods people making them promise of Christ their redeemer as if he should say goe to Sion thou which art so often afflicted and troubled thou which art now prisoner vnto thy enemies and now again set free and yet afterward captiue and laid wast so that thou maist truely be called most miserable and wretched Now reioyce Now be glad and leap for ioy for thy miseries shal once haue end For I promise thee a better and more blessed state in time to come Hethertowards thou hast bene for a time redeemed from thy enemies and for a tyme thou hadst tranquility and wast afterward afflicted agayn But now thou shalt enioy at last sound consolation which shall neuer decay after which no captiuity or destructiō shal follow Wherfore put all heauines from thy hart be of good courage and awake for the time wil once come wherin thou shalt truly be set at fredome And thus the prophet speaketh of that euerlasting deliueraunce which we haue in Christ who hath vanquished our enemies by whom we were afflicted and vexed in captiuity and hath deliuered vs from them and restored vs to our old fredome and all this he did of his own mere grace cleane without our desert though it cost him euen the best chiefest and most precious humain thing he had For he offered vp his body for a sacrifice and shed his most precious bloud for our redemption that thereby he might put away our sinnes ouercome death and vanquish and destroy hel And by these works of his euerlasting and infinite person he obtayned for vs euerlasting redemption Sion the spirituall citie is vexed and troubled because it is constrayned to harborow and beare the vngodly It can in no wise paciently suffer such griefe and blasphemies against god and his name Therfore God by the prophet promiseth that the vncircumcised and vnclean that is the vnbeleuers whose hartes in Christ Iesus are not purified nor cleansed but hate the church of God shall not haue their habitation there But this thing in this world is done spiritually For whosoeuer beleeueth not in Christ yea though he sit in Peters chaire or were head of the church as Annas and Caiphas were in the Sinagogue and other many wicked Iewes which would be counted righteous yet is he no member of true Syon that is of the Church for he hath not the spirite of Christ and how then can Christ be hys head or he his member for such a one is without the communion of saynts But at the day of redemption when Christ shal come to geue sentence then at the last shall all the wicked infidels and false Christians be euen corporally seperated from the faythfull Then shall Sion be most beautifull and delectable when all which shall dwell in her shall put on their wedding garments then shall the Church be clean without blot or wrinkle and then he which hath not on his wedding garment shall with his hands and feet fast bound be cast into vtter darcknes In the meane tyme Sion in outward apparance hath a heuy countenance because we wander yet in this flesh and because the old man is not yet mortifyed and because sathan and the world doe iniury vs persecute vs and torment vs and because tirants vexe and trouble vs with the doctrine and traditions of men But we must not sleep in security we must rise and lift vp our selues and shake of slouthfulnes And although with our body we cannot come vnto that wished marke and full perfection yet in hart we must aspire fly vp to Christ our redeemer as Paule teacheth to the Philip. saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our conuersation is in heauen Moreouer we must still stand in our freedome which Christ by his pretious and inestimable price wrought for vs And we must by pure and vnspotted faith cleaue closely in all we can to Christ and cast the bonds of humain traditions quite and clean out of our consciences that so Christ may rule in our harts otherwise we shall neuer be able to stand And then the prophet speaketh of a twofold captiuity and transmigration The first is corporall when as they were most miserable captiues in Egipt and afterward amongst the Assirians and Caldeans who at that time
Paul calleth this righteousnes the righteousnes of faith which standeth not on our merits but on the merits of christ He therfore that knoweth Christ and beleeueth that he is the true purger of sinnes and the destroyer of death and apprehendeth him in his hart by true faith and taketh him for his only treasure of life that man is iustyfyed and saued But he which doth not beleeue is already condemned for the Lord hath decreed this thing and told it vs by his law prophetes and euangelists that he wil haue mercy on vs for nothing neither in heauen nor earth but by Christ and for Christ for whose cause he wil pardon our sinnes and geue vs euerlasting life if we will beleeue in him Act. 4.13 Rom. 3. Gal. 23. And therefore not without a cause sayth the prophet he shall beare their sinnes seing that there is no other neither in heauē nor earth who can beare or purg our sinnes but euen that Messias It followeth therfore vndoubtedly that no man can be iustified saued and deliuered from his sinnes vnles he beleue in this onely sauiour Iesus Christ Now then you heare that Christ is the seruaunt of God in the worke of our redemption and that hee is therefore worthely called righteous because he onely is iust iustifieth others as S. Steuen calleth him He iustifieth vs in his owne knowledge and vnderstanding that is he iustifieth vs when we heare in the gospell that he onely and none other hath borne our sinnes and when by sure fayth we retayne it and put all our trust in him both in our lyfe and death and saye both with hart mouth Christ onely hath borne our wickednes and died for our sinnes and onely is our righteousnes before God and this righteousnes which we get thus by fayth because it is founded built on Christ stādeth fast and firme agaynst the gats of hell ¶ Anna. As far then as I can heare if I should be asked how it commeth to passe that I being a sinner am become righteous thus I ought to annswere I am not righteous because I haue not sinned or because I haue done many good deedes or for that I haue satisfied for my sinnes but I am righteous because Christ hath borne my sinnes in whome I beleue and in whome I repose all my trust Vrba You aunswere well and soundly and so haue all the patriarks prophets apostles and true Christians from the beginning of the world to this day beleued neither is there any other beliefe auailable before god He that beleueth not as you haue said isdāned neither can there be any waye found to saue him though he were couered with all the cowles of all the monks in the world and had all the good workes merites crosses sufferinges and penants in himselfe alone that is in the whole world For they all cannot auaile him or healpe him but he must needes be a firebrande of hell there to burne for euer if he doe not beleue as you say Well let vs hold one The prophet furthermore speaketh here of the fruit and reward of Christs passion And he sayth it is an eternall triumph or victory ouer sinne death the world and the deuill For Christ hath ouercome these cruell and bloudy enemies and hath deliuered his elected from them and so hath receaued through the whole world generally for his inheritaunce a great and glorious people or a most beutifull church which is his spirituall kingdome And this hath that the ignominious death of Christ don because he bore our sinnes and suffered himselfe to be hanged betwene ij theeues and prayed for transgressours and sinners as Paule sayth to the Hebrues Christ in the dayes of his flesh did offer vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was also heard in that which he feared and though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the thinges which he suffered and being consecrate was made the author of eternall saluation vnto all them that obay him and is called of god an highe priest after the order of Melchisidech ¶ Anna. What sayth Esaias of Christ in the 54. chap ☞ Vrb. In that chapter he describeth the kingdome of Christ in fayth that is to say the catholick Church which in this word is vnder the crosse poore miserable helplesse and base to behold But he comforteth it promising to helpe it and enrich it so that it shall become most populous with men of all sortes from ech side presing into it in so much that it shall bring forth an infinite multitude of Children of grace and haue many moe sonnes then the malipert synagoge though she seemed neuer so fruitfull and in deede she seemed fruitfull for she had the law and many good workes and worke mongers or worketeachers with all kind of merites these be the prophets wordes Reioyce thou barren that bearest not burst out and sing thou that trauailest not because the desolate hath more Children then the maryed sayth the Lord. This comfort must also be well obserued least taking offence at the smale number of Christians we be dismayd and fall from the fayth For the dayes will come when the number of the faythfull shal be great and populus Thus was Sara barren but our God so blessed her that she became the mother of many Childrē and a great people To be short Abraham must needes according to Gods promise in Genesis and according to the Etimologie and signification of his name be made a father of many people heyre of the earth For his blessed seede with all his blessinges was also promised to the gentiles The prophet moreouer vseth certayne similies taken of tentes which are set vp and spread in the fieldes so largely that many may dwell in them Whereby he geueth vs to vnderstand that the church should be spread all abroad through the whole world and that the day should come that the Gospell should be preached in all landes and that they should receaue Christ These be his wordes Enlarge the place of thy tents and stretch out thy cords make fast thy stakes for thou shalt increase on the right hand on the left He promiseth moreouer to the church Gentiles for inheritaunce But not so that the Churche should inherite the Gentiles after a worldly manner of inheriting as kinges of the earth inherite and haue their people in subiection For Christes kingdome is not of this world It is a spirituall inheritaunce which the Church by the Gospell getteth and it shall dwell there where before through ignoraūce and incredulitye was a deserte and wilde wildernes as it was at Athēs where before the Gospell came they vnderstod nothing of God aright But S. Paule conuerted many at that place and tought them which came and beleeued the Gospell the right fayth And therefore sayth the prophet thy seed shall possesse the Gentiles and dwell in the desolate cities
and drinke but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the holy ghost The words of this prophesy be these heare the worde of the Lord ye gentiles and declare in the Iles a farre of and say he that scattereth Israell will gather him and will keepe him as a sheppard doth his flocke for the Lord hath redemed Iacob raūsomed him frō the hād of him that was strōger thē he Therfore they shal come reioyce in the light of Sion and shall run to the bountifulnes of the Lord euen for the wheate and for the wine and for the oyle and for the increase of sheepe and Bullocks and her soules shall be as a watered garden and they shall haue no more sorrow The Iewes vnderstand not this but suppose that it shall be carnally fulfilled But I haue oftē sayd that the prophets vse to speak figuratiuely of Christes kingdome and of the great vnspeakeable goodnes therof to wit of the word of god and the holy ghost with all his giftes fayth forgeuenes of sinns peace of conscience ioye in the spirite vnderstanding of the scriptures and comfort and hope out of Gods holy promises of all which both Iews and Gentills that beleue shall be partakers And these are the giftes of god by which he adorneth and maketh his kingdome that is the faythfull Christians fruitfull euen as a firtill garden or a greene orchard In this chapiter Ieremye doth comfort the weake in Israell that they should not dowt of the promised Messias but stedfastly beleue the lyke as he had promised a spiritual drliuerance to wit forgeuenes of sins for Messias hys sake so it should come to pas that he should take some peece of Israel for his people and that so the kingdom of Christ should continue and abyde for euer And the new testament tels vs that there is an euerlasting couenant of Gods grace cōfirmed vnto al fayth ful Christiās saying that our sines are pardoned for christes sake the god will be our mercifull father for euer He promiseth also that he will send the holy ghost into our hart to lighten vs with the knowledge of God and to purify our hartes by fayth in Christ that so we may haue the law of God not onely written in papers but euen engrauen in our hartes The law requireth fayth and feare of God with hope and loue towardes God and our neighbors but the hart of man is wicked euen from his youth vp and sustayned with originall sinn that he hath no vnderstanding no ioy no desire no good will to walke in the law of god But the spirite of Messias the finger of God will take away clens all these thinges will write that within our hartes with liuely letters which the law requireth to wit fayth in Christ by which we haue forgeuenes of our snnes and loue which is the fulfilling of the law Then shall all thinges happen well and we shall be in happy and blessed state For there be none in the kingdome of Christ but men instructed blessed by the holy ghost which both know them selues and God and are bent and redy to serue God from a cleane and a pure hart of a good conscience and an vnfayned fayth although they be very weake and compassed about with sin and often times stumble and therefore with all the Saintes they make their prayer saying O Lord forgeue vs our trspasses these are the wordes of the prophet Behold the day is come sayth the Lorde that I will make a new couenaunt with the house of Israell and with the house of Iuda not according to the couenāt which I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egipt the which my couenant they brak although I was a husband vnto them sayth the Lord but this shall be the couenaunt that I will make with the house of Israell After those dayes sayth the Lord I will put my law into their inward parts and write it in their hartes and I will be their God and they shall be my people And they shall teach no more euery man his neighbour and euery man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them vnto the greatest of them sayth the Lord for I will forgeue their iniquity and will remember there sinnes no more Thus sayth the Lord which geueth the sun for a light to the day and the courses of the moone and of the starres for a light to the night which breaketh the sea when the waues thereof rore his name is the Lord of hostes If these ordinaunces depart out of my sight sayth the Lord then shall the seede of Israell cease from being a nation before me for euer Thus sayth the Lord Yf the heauēs can be measured or the foundations of the earth be searched out beneth thē will I cast of all the seede of Israell for all that they haue done sayth the Lord. The apostle expoundeth this prophesye vnto vs in the Hebrue telling vs that it was fulfilled at the former comming of Christ into this world when Christ the mediator of the new testamēt executed his priestly office offering vp sacrifice for vs and was placed at the right hand of the trone of maiestye in heauen being the minister of the holy thinges and of the true tabernacle wrought by God and not by man The ould testament had then continued vnto the time appointed that is vnto Messias who was by the priesthood sacrifices and ceremonies prefigured But when the light or candle cam it was meete that the shaddow should geue place In the ould testament the law was written in tables of stone by it the false double dealing and curse of the people was manifested and reproued but not takē away For it was a killing letter which tould thē what was iust and what was to be done but it could not inwardly change and renew the hart of the ould carnall man to make them gladly and feruenly do those thinges which were of God but it led men to Messias who should circumcise their hartes with his spirite take away their sinnes and write the lawe in their hartes Outward circumcisiō sacrifices the bloud of beasts the leuiticall priesthoode the law of Moyses and other ceremonies had no such strēgth nor force that they could helpe or deliuer sinners And the faythfull Christians before the comming of Christ had experience of this in them selues They saw in deede that their deliueraunce from sin consisted not in ceremonies and that those ceremonies should not alway continue For no sinner had euer by such ceremonies obtayned redemption or helpe but they knew very well that God had promised a new testament and forgeuenes of sinnes by the bloud and sacrifice of Messias and that the spirite of Messias should imprint and fulfill the law in vs so that through our fayth we might both receaue a cleare